From that moment on she resolved to keep an eye on her pink friend. And while Pinkie was right, in that there were indeed tons of things for Fluttershy to do before the holiday, she still made time to drop by the sweets shop at least once a day.
What she saw the first day after seeing Mrs. Rich come in made her Fluttershy Heart sink even further. Some of the locals could be quite rude, but the tourists? Especially those snooty, stuck-up unicorns from Canterlot?
They could be abominable.
She'd just made it into Sugarcube Corner the next afternoon about an hour after lunch when she saw something that made her Fluttershy Blood boil.
She never had any close dealings with unicorns (or Earth ponies!) before moving to Ponyville from Cloudsdale, and since then the only unicorns she considered close friends were Rarity and Twilight. So she didn't know how...elitist some could be. But as she stood there that afternoon in the Corner with her mouth hanging open, that view certainly changed!
"I said fresh carrot juice, Miss!" exclaimed the tourist, as she deliberately poured it out onto the floor. "Now take this cup back and get me a proper beverage!"
Pinkie's smile faltered a bit as she looked for a moment at the new puddle, then back up at her customer, but she soldiered on and said, "I'm super-duper sorry, ma'am, but that was fresh carrot juice! If you like, I can get you something else?"
"Whatever!" huffed the unicorn, not bothering to look at her as she'd already turned back to her companions and continued her conversation. Pinkie took the cup off the table and left to go behind the counter without saying anything, just as another group of Canterlot tourists came in.
The look in Pinkie's eyes as she took a moment to briefly stare at them would have been missed by anypony that wasn't already suspecting something was wrong.
For many years, long after her founding, Ponyville had been largely ignored as a "backwater" hamlet. Her only distinctions were her proximity both to the Capital and the Everfree Forest, and her uniquely mixed population. But that was before the Return of Nightmare Moon, and the events that followed. Now Ponyville was hostess to not only the Elements of Harmony but her very own Alicorn Princess, complete with Castle!
But unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on one's perspective) this meant a much greater influx of tourists. From the perspective of a little yellow introvert, her feelings sat squarely in the former. And after being a model, for however brief a time, only made matters worse. There were still fresh billboards all over Equestria featuring her smiling face (for which she didn't get paid ONE Bit, due to some shady business maneuverings from a disgruntled Photo Finish), which sometimes made the simple act of going to the Market a stressful ordeal. For even in the off-season, at least once or twice a month, she would be buying groceries for herself or her animals or having tea with one of her friends, and a complete stranger would run up to her and insist on getting a picture! Over time, she'd gradually learned to live with it, but during any of the Holidays, it was particularly difficult.
Which made her mission to look after Pinkie all the harder.
So that was why it became extremely frustrating for her when she tried to enlist the help of her other friends. On her way to talk to Rainbow, she was stopped in the street by no less than three strangers who recognized her. "Say!" declared the first one. "I know you! You're in an advertisement right outside my window! I can't believe it's you!" The stallion turned to his buddies, as she tried to slink away. "Hey, guys! Look who it is! It's that pegasus babe from that billboard, 'Butterfly'!"
"Ummm...my name's 'Fluttershy'..."
"Right, right, 'Fluttershy!' Can we get a picture with you?!" Instead of waiting for an answer, two of them crowded next to her with one throwing his hoof over her shoulder, while the third snapped the picture.
Just as the third one was moving in for his turn, they all heard an angry, "Hey! Jerks! Can't you see she doesn't want to be in your stupid pictures?!" They all looked up, only to see a very perturbed rainbow-hued pegasus hovering there. But instead of being frightened, or even indignant at her interruption, they all became excited.
With stars in their eyes, they all gazed up at her in wonder. Finally one breathed, "You...you're Rainbow Dash..."
Taken aback by their unexpected adoration, Dash hesitated. "Well...yes. Yes, I am..." Then she shook herself. "But that's beside the point! You guys are bothering my friend! Cut it out!"
They were still staring up at her, then one managed, "Sure, of course, whatever you say! But...can we get...your autograph?" Soon, there was a crowd of tourists that surrounded Dash, all vying for her attention. Which also unintentionally pushed Fluttershy far to the back of the crowd.
"Say! Isn't that...that...Wonderbolt...what's her name? Dash, something? What's she doing here?" one way off in the crowd asked.
"Rainbow Dash! And you don't know a thing about her! She simply loves this backwater, hick town!" the other answered. Fluttershy startled and looked at the ponies who had spoken, but they took no notice of her.
"Quiet, dummy! If that is her, she might hear you!"
"You're the dummy! How many other ponies do you know with manes like that? I'm gonna go get her autograph!"
Fluttershy sighed and eventually flew away.
Going to see Applejack proved to be no more helpful. As soon as she landed, she could see the place was crowded, with dozens upon dozens of ponies she'd never seen before! But upon noticing they all had the same apple-themed cutie marks, she used her Fluttershy Brain to figure out they were all relatives of Applejack! They were all friendly enough, but when she tried to ask any of them where she could find her friend she got conflicting answers, as nopony knew where anypony was in the giant herd! Just as she had given up and was in the air flying away, she heard, "Fluttershy! Whoa, gal, come on back! Ah heard you was lookin' fer me!"
She breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to land. But just as she was about to tell her about Pinkie, at least six other ponies suddenly rushed up to Applejack and shouted, "Applejack! We're all out of fritters, the banjo player just got sick, we're startin' the dance in a few minutes, the sheep just got loose, Auntie Ester just started another feud with Auntie Goldie, what do we do?!?"
Applejack shot a look of apology at her friend and called out over her shoulder as she rushed off, "Ah'm sorry, sugarcube; Ah gotta take care of this! But don't leave, Ah'll listen to whut you got to say as soon as Ah can!" And off they went.
She watched her go, then heaved a Fluttershy Sigh, and flew away.
This ended up being the result with each of her other friends: Rarity was swamped with work, and too busy to even see her, while Twilight and Spike had both been called off to Canterlot.
Fluttershy eventually had to give up and went back to her cottage, made herself a cup of tea, and sat down on her couch, quietly thinking. All around her were her decorations, which her animals had helped her place: garlands looped along the stairs, tinsel hung from the ceiling, and a living tree had been placed in the center of the room, all sparkles, and twinkles. It was all very festive, but still, her Fluttershy Heart felt heavy.
Then, she sat up and firmed her jaw. Pinkie still needed help, and if her friends couldn't help, then there was only one pony left who could!
"And that would be me!"