A familiar butter-yellow mare was trotting gleefully along a dirt path, heading toward Sweet Apple Acres. The trail stretched out ahead of her, and the clear sky allowed warming rays of Celestia's sun to kiss her similarly colored coat. The grass on either side of the path sparkled visibly with dew and raindrops, as it had rained lightly the night before.
As Fluttershy trotted along, she contemplated what she would do at her friend's home. Would she help the Apple family bake? Would they have another game night? Would she help on the farm? Well, she didn't really like the sound of that last idea. She was not the most physically fit of ponies, and she did not want to exert herself too much. However, she supposed, if it was for her friend, then she probably wouldn't protest.
The reason why she was even going was really... unknown. She had come to enjoy the company of the Apple family. Once again, she didn't know for sure why. They had never really changed. Apple Bloom got her cutie mark, but other than that, everypony stayed the same.
Well, ever since she started visiting often without the fate of Equestria at stake, one pony had been coming out of his shell - and encouraging her to do the same. Whenever they managed to hold a solid conversation, she did most of the talking, much to her own surprise. She wasn’t used to leading conversations. It felt nice whenever she got him to say more than a simple ‘Eeyup.’
Fluttershy began to slow down. She was nearly there, but she had reached the part of the trail that flanked the Everfree, one that was definitely her least favorite of the trip. She plodded along more carefully, making cautious glances back and forth around her. Her head lowered and her wings remained tightly bound to her sides.
It was then that the air seemed to grow hot, and a shadow loomed past, darkening the ground around the timid pegasus. She cowered at the sound of huge wings sifting through the air in massive strokes in the sky above. Fluttershy shuddered fearfully, and looked up just as a massive blue dragon boomed in a terrifying roar, heading down along the border of the forest. It soared high above, but still far too close for comfort. A terrified yellow mare was in shock for a brief moment.
Fluttershy squealed, and fell sideways down the short slope into the Everfree. She tumbled through weeds and brambles, rolling over and over, branches whipping over her coat, squeaking in pain with every bump and bush she hit. Finally, she landed flat on her stomach, limbs sprawled out, and chin flat in the dirt. She groaned in pain, and tried to stand up.
When she finally managed to bring her hooves under her body and push her weight up, she staggered and took a step forward to steady herself... right into a pond. With the unexpected lack of solid ground beneath her hoof, the weight she expected to send to it instead threw her forward into the water. She plunged into its clear depths, just thankful that it wasn't too cold.
Suddenly, the yellow pegasus blinked in confusion. She was about to swim up to the surface, but she felt her weight shift - as though gravity itself was changing. She looked up - or where she thought was up, anyways, only to see the fading black of the bottom of the pond. She spun in the water and swam quickly toward the dull light that indicated the actual surface. Her breath was running out quickly, as she fell in without any time to take a breath beforehand.
Fluttershy burst from the water with a desperate gasp, throwing her hooves up onto solid ground, which didn't taper all that well into the pond. It was almost like an in-ground pool, how abruptly the transition from earth to water happened.
The mare dragged herself out of the water, heaving in her breath, to find no change that she expected in the environment. As she climbed to dry land and struggled to her hooves, she sighed heavily when she realized that she now had to climb back up onto the path she fell from. With a shake of her coat to dry herself, she began to trod uphill.
When she finally found herself back away from the forest, which was a much longer trip than she had expected, she found herself discouraged from her visit. This was already such a bad day.
But I'm already more than halfway there... I can't go back now.
Fluttershy faced her original direction and started trotting again, finally resuming her now odd journey.
Just as the first few apple trees came into view, so did a pony of a familiar orange color. However, as she was about to call Applejack's name, Fluttershy realized that this wasn't her apple-farming friend. At least, she didn't think. This pony was male, with a taller stature than Applejack, a shorter mane and tail, and a much broader physical form. However, she was sure the colors were exactly the same. Even his eyes! Were they related?
This stallion had been heading in her direction as well, and spotted her right after she saw him. She was sure she saw a hint of a friendly smile, and it looked as though he was about to call out to her as well. However, a confused expression crossed his face, and as they grew closer, Fluttershy avoided eye contact.
It was just as she had feared. Just a short distance ahead, the orange stallion stopped to greet her. Well, that's what she assumed anyways. She could only see his hooves slow to a halt, as she had been staring at the ground ahead of her.
Reluctantly, she brought her head up to meet his familiar green gaze. He really did look a lot like Applejack.
"Uh, howdy!" he began, his expression still somewhat confused.
"Hi.." Fluttershy squeaked, shrinking back.
"Ah- Well, I've got to be honest here, ya look a lot like my friend. Well, he's a colt, not a filly, but still. Ah was wonderin'... Uh, are ya'll related? Do ya know where he is? Because I was expectin' a visit from him today, an' he hasn't shown up yet," he explained, smiling somewhat awkwardly.
"Um.. Well.. I... I don't know where your friend is..." Fluttershy replied very quietly, not making any further eye contact.
"Ah, well, that's a bummer. Well, Ah'm Applejack. What's yer name?"