Chapter 4: Suspicions
Jace's jaw was still on the ground by the time Fluttershy landed. The scariest part of the whole scene was the simple fact that she was flying at high speeds.
"How in the world did she get that fast in the air? Or even more important, why is she in the air? She almost never takes flight! More questions flooded his mind. Swallowing his imminent fear, he took the final steps.
Then changed direction, headed for a path that went around, and attempted to try to jump-scare her.
Fluttershy's initial reaction to his attempt was a flurry of wings that ended in Jace pinned to the ground. One hoof planted firmly on his chest.
"What are you?" She interrogated. "Why were you trying to do?"
After the initial shock of the air getting pushed out of his chest, Jace took a closer look at Fluttershy. Her mane was cut considerably shorter than her show self, and her tail was also cut shorter. She was wearing saddlebags and she didn't seem to be anything like her show self. The determined eyes staring into his own said that much.
"I'm not going to ask again. What are you?" She pressed further.
Jace was finally able to get enough air in his lungs to say something.
"Can't. Breathe."
"Oh, sorry." Fluttershy apologize before stepping off of him. "Wait, you can talk?" She said with an incredulous voice.
"Yeah, I can talk. My name's Jace, by the way." He said while getting up and dusting himself off. "Jeez! What was that? Officially adding 'not-so fluttershy' to my list of ponies who aren't who they should be." he thought to himself.
"I can see someone's idea of trying to scare someone else can get a reaction, but I think tackling was a bit uncalled for. Don't you think?" Jace asked trying to both explain what he was doing and get a response for why he was attacked.
"Well, you were trying to sneak up behind me and I didn't know why," She explained. "Still, why were you even trying to scare me like that?" she asked.
"Uh, I guess I just wanted to see your reaction," Jace answered. "Actually, it was to try and see if you were still the same ol' flutters', but apparently not, he secretly thought. "Anyway, what brings you here?" he asked.
"Well," Jackie started. "we were discussing weather for the farm until somepony tried something they shouldn't have."
"Oh, uh, sorry?" Jace tried smiling.
"Yeah. Anyways, from what you were saying, we should have clear skies this week?" Twilight asked, turning to Fluttershy.
"Pretty much. All except for Wednesday night and Friday morning. Some light showers then. Also, you might want to head indoors for the next hour or so. My crew is coming in within at least a minute from now." Finishing on that note, she launched up into the air. Fluttershy then turned to meet some other pegasi with clouds. Only then did Jace have a mental freak-out.
"Fluttershy is the weather captain! What is happening? How did she even get to that rank? How did she get on the team in the first place?" his mind was once again going rapid fire.
"Hey Jace! you should head inside with us," Jackie called from the door.
"Na, I'm good out here," he said nonchalantly. "I need some time to think. I want to be alone for it though."
"Out in the rain?" she tilted her head
"I'm used to it." he replied. "Having lived in Washington for a few years finally came in handy."
"Well, I'll leave the door unlocked if you change your mind." Jackie said, closing the door.
"Um, didn't I tell you to go inside?" Fluttershy asked. She was dragging a small, low cloud.
"It'll take more than some rain to keep me inside." Jace said indignantly, crossing his arms.
She shrugged. "Suit yourself." She placed the cloud and gave a single command. "Hit it!"
The rain was pouring by some people's standards. Jace was completely fine with it. He walked through the orchard to a tree he had marked earlier. The stones he placed had worked nicely. He hopped up and grabbed the lowest limb and hoisted himself up. He then made the short climb to the spot he found earlier. Multiple limbs came together in such a way that it made the perfect place to sit. Once situated, he began to ponder on answers to his questions.
"So Twilight failed the entrance exam. What are reasons for that? Maybe she just didn't do anything due to being put on the spot? No, she's better than that. Well, if she doubted her own abilities, then that could be a possibility. Maybe she just had a split second decision to just not do it?" He facepalmed. "Idiot! She devoted herself to this one goal. She wouldn't have just given up! Maybe I'm overlooking something from her testimony. But if I am, then what?" Jace tried to recall every detail from her story.
Then, it hit him.
"I'm not noticing it because it's not there!" He thought aloud.
"What's not there?" a new voice asked.
"Gagh!" Jace nearly fell off his perch. "Fluttershy! What are you doing!?"
"Well, I didn't know what you would be doing outside in a rain storm, so I followed you." She answered. She hopped down to a lower branch, closer to Jace. "Anyway, what's not there? And in what?" She asked again.
"To answer your second question, Twilight's story," Jace answered plainly. "She told me why she's here on the farm. It opened a lot of questions and I'm trying to answer them."
"How do you get questions when receiving an answer? That doesn't make sense," Fluttershy mentioned.
"Well, if you know what I know, things are different." Jace deadpanned.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I'd rather not tell you. If you knew what I know, you wouldn't look at life the way you do now." Jace warned. "However, I do know want to know something from you. How are you weather captain? That doesn't seem like something that just happens." Jace was trying to both change the subject and see if his hypothesis was correct.
"Well, if you really want to know. To be honest, I could just keep it simple and say that the previous captain left and put me in charge, but I think you want the whole story."
Jace nodded.
"Well then, It all started after Rainbow Dash crashed during a race against some ponies who were harassing me. I was in the hospital visiting her, and she gave me a proposition..."
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Her first response was to laugh, she couldn’t help it. It started as a giggle, little more than a tickle in her throat, but it progressed to a guffaw and then she couldn’t even remain standing. She knew she should stop, knew this was inappropriate, but it was just too bizarre. Fluttershy was helpless before the absurdity of it all.
An irate cyan filly, half mummified in stretch bandages did her best serious scowl. “Flutters, I’m serious, I think you need to try out for the cloud and sky team. You obviously need more practice, but I think you could be a good – hay, a Great – flier given half a chance”. Fluttershy laughed even harder. Rainbow's expression smoothed, only her brow expressed her determination. “Besides, you owe me.”
And as quickly as that, there was nothing to laugh about. Fluttershy rolled into a defensive crouch, tears brimming as she looked to see if this was the scene she had dreaded for a week now. "I, I know it was my fau-"
“DON’T FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" There was a moment of silence. "The race was a mistake. Putting you right in front of us on that tiny cloud was a mistake. Those were my decisions, and I was wrong. You can’t accept responsibility for my mistakes, or bad luck. But… I can’t help you right now. Eventually those idiots are going to get over their sense of guilt, or some other punk’s gonna think they can push you around or laugh at you. You know how you feel when you see me like this?” Rainbow gestured with her restrained wings, “That’s how I feel when people hurt my friends. You, I don’t know. Look, it’s not like you invite people to pick on you, but you make it so Easy for them.” Rainbow’s expression was a plea for understanding.
'I, I won’t cry. She can’t understand how much it hurts to hear her say these things.' “I-I’m sorry. I’m just no good at flying.” 'How could I be? Every time I try to practice people laugh at me.'
“Hey, Shy? Please, look at me. I was practicing all the time. Hay, you know I was. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do anything besides the basic exercises. How can you know if you’re any good if you don’t even try?”
'You don’t see at all, do you?' “I… can’t. Everypony laughs at me. They always do, whenever I try. They can tell that I’m no good-“
“Buck them” the words slipped out, but Rainbow wasn’t embarrassed. “If they wanna laugh, they’re idiots. We’re all foals here, if they’re stupid jerks, don’t listen” Dash waved her hooves to interrupt Fluttershy’s objection. “No, really. It’s like… well ok, like a cloud. You can pass through it, like air, or you can treat it like a wall. It’s as solid as you choose to let it be.” Confusion was reflected on the yellow pegasus’s face, “the taunts, the insults. They can be like air, stupid, noisy air you wouldn’t want to stay in, or they can be as hard as… as… the ground.”
“Please, stop talking … if that’s ok with you. I don’t understand what you’re saying, but I do understand that this means a lot to you, for some reason. So… I’ll do it … somehow.”
“That’s great! I already talked to the coach, he’ll let you practice when there’s nopony else out there, so you can get your strength up. I really think you can do this.”
'Well, that makes one of us. But I’ll try, I can’t let my friend down.'
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And that's when I began training. The first day was kind of scary to begin with, but that initial fear was put aside fairly easily...
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'I can't do this, I can't do this, I ...' Fluttershy looked at the practice range where a handful of fillies and colts milled around, waiting for something to happen. 'I didn't agree to this, I'll tell Rainbow the deal is off. She'll be reasonable... she won't be angry, she... probably won't act upset... no, she'll have that look that says 'I feel like you let me down', but I CAN'T go out-.' "HI FLUTTERSHY!" The Gray Pegasus watched Fluttershy rocket into the air. "Wow! You can jump really high. Are you here for practice?"
"I. I, hello, Ditzy-"
"Derpy."
"Uh? Are you sure you want to use... you can be called what you want but that means... it's"
"Problem?" The Blonde Pegasus grinned as her eyes slid askew.
"Nevermind."
Reaching down, Derpy helped turn the Yellow Pegasus upright and dusted the clinging bits of cloud off. "Boa-constrictor whale bee hair any minute."
Fluttershy surrendered to the inevitable. Eying her peer group, a sinking feeling developed. A stocky white colt with wings smaller than a newborn's flexed and snorted, an adult brown stallion desperately tried to avoid notice, a gray-green filly with silver blue mane scratched absently at the large paper cone around her neck as she turned her head back and forth to make up for her lack of peripheral vision, a tan filly - obviously several years younger than the rest of the group flexed a pair of wings sized for an adult pegasus, and a dark gray colt with yellow/green mane who was... Fluttershy's mind spasmed, trying to find a nice way to phrase 'fat' before giving up in defeat. 'Ok, before I thought I couldn't do this. Now I KNOW I can't!' Turning to flee, Fluttershy bumped into a mass of white fur. Backing up, she saw a snow white mare with an electric blue mane and tail, her cutie mark a blue line picture of a pony sitting in a chair with wheels.
"Hello everyone, welcome to Omega Flight. Let's get a few things straight here." Fluttershy was unable to move, "This is NOT a 'rejects' class, this is NOT an optional event, you WILL learn to fly to the best of your abilities, you WILL discover your abilities are greater than you believe right now. Failure is NOT an option." the mare flexed her wings, something was wrong with them. "Also, I am NOT just your instructor, I am a GRADUATE of this program, and my name is Differently Able." Smooth white wings splayed out gracefully... upside down. "Questions?" The practice field was silent. In Fluttershy's peripheral vision she saw Ditzy-err, Derpy 'accidentally' put her hoof into the white colt's mouth. "Alright, clockwise circle, INTRODUCE yourself by name and tell me what you're here to master." Her hoof swung to point at the blonde over gray pegasus wiping a hoof off on clouds.
Derpy threw a salute, "Derpy Doo, I'm here because I have a lazy eye and tarragon spin gnome"
The white colt pounded the cloud in front of him "Snowflake Horsepower! I'm here because I've got tiny wings. Now how do I get out of this horse-apple outfit?"
"Aha, yes, introductions, fancy that. I'm... Tim E. Turner, and I have never... er, used my wings before aha ha aha..." the brown stallion with dark brown mane looked as uncomfortable as Fluttershy felt.
The Blue over green filly swung her limited gaze over the assembled ponies as she boomed out, "My name is Sea Foam, and there is something terribly wrong! I am supposed to be learning to swim. I don't even know what I'm standing on."
"Well, my name's Dorothy Gale, and if it's ok with you I just want to go home", Fluttershy's heart ached for the Roan maned tan filly, obviously out of her depth.
"I'm Thundercloud and this is dumb", the dark gray colt grumbled without making eye contact.
Then, silence. "Psst, 'Shy, it's your turn." Derpy's 'sotto voce' could be heard at the far end of the track.
"Eep! My name is Fluttershy" she squeaked.
Able leaned forward, "didn't quite catch that."
" my name is Fluttershy." She wished the ground would just swallow her, until she remembered where she was, how high up she was.
Able's brow furrowed, "we're NOT going anywhere until we do this correctly."
"Heeba-Dey! Her name is Fluttershy." Derpy looked upset, which made Fluttershy feel worse. 'Can't I do anything without causing trouble for my friends?'
"I was talking to FLUTTERSHY, Miss Doo." Able turned her attention back to the melting butter pegasus. "Now, WHAT are you here to do?" The mare tried to modulate her voice, but irritation was still evident.
"I'm... I'm here because I can't fly well." Snowflake looked like he wanted to cry. 'Huh?'
"Well, I can HEAR you now, at least. But you are ALL wrong. I asked you WHAT you are here to master, and what you are all here to master is FLIGHT. If we can help you master YOURSELVES along the way, great. Oh, and MR. Horsepower? If you swear in my class again you WILL spend your time cleaning the fields, do I make myself clear?" satisfied that Snowflake was cowed, the teacher continued. "You are NOT here because someone considers you weak, malformed, broken, or useless. From now on you ARE to report any such treatment to me, and I WILL see that it is dealt with. I expect each and every one of my little ponies to become productive members of society. Is that CLEAR?"
When she received no response, the mare leaned forward and raised her voice, "I Said. Is. That. CLEAR!" A belated chorus of 'yes', 'Muffins!', and 'Yeah!' seemed to satisfy her. "Ok, NOW, before we proceed, fair is fair, you all shared your own individualities, so I will give you mine: before I was born my mother had an unfortunate run in with a plant known as POISON JOKE and suffered a sever allergic reaction. Unfortunately it WASN'T discovered that the poison was transferred through her bloodstream to me until it was too late. There IS an herbal remedy for normal cases, but Developmental Poison Joke has no treatment. Not only can I fly, but I AM in trusted to instruct foals in how to fly. If I can do it with backwards turned around wings, each and every one of you WILL be able to learn to fly, I promise you. Now, we're going to start with stretches, you WILL follow my instructions. Do not - I repeat, do NOT try to copy my movements!"
'This is so... strange.' Fluttershy was confused enough that she forgot she wanted to leave. That continued to happen on a daily basis, until 'Omega Flight' had become part of her routine.
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Training continued for a while. Eventually, Able was sure we were ready for whatever the world had for us. It was after this time that she wanted to give us an experience we would never forget. One thing was for certain. I will never forget that storm...
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"After THREE months of training, hard work, and determination I am proud to say that I feel each and EVERY one of you is skilled enough to join Pegasus Society in a role of your own choosing." Differently Able beamed at her students, arranged before her on a long, low flying, cloud. "This is NOT an honor that comes with a medal... a trinket is a thing you can loose, instead I offer you a MEMORY, something that will stay with you for the rest of your life and canNOT be taken, stolen, or lost." The wind, which had been blowing, increased in intensity, the sky beginning to dim.
Thunderball raised a hoof, huffing "Yeah, that's great and all, but why are we meeting so far from Cloudsdale. In sight of the ... Everfree Forest?" the colt's frame suggested there was now some muscle under everything else.
"The air feels strange..." Muttered Gale, the youngest student.
"Hah, Miss Gale, you may have a future in WEATHER management! As you know, each of you has not only qualified for your class ONE competency certificate, but has also passed the test for class TWO: Difficult weather safety. We are indeed here, near the boundary of the EVERFREE forest because I have received permission from the LOCAL weather team to ASSIST in storm watch." Differently Able was now grinning from ear to ear, proud of the gift she could provide her little ponies. Those little ponies did not look as enthusiastic as she did, but she either didn't notice or intended to ignore their reservations. " OUR job is to..." Able raised her voice against the wind, which was now whistling through some of the taller trees nearby. "IS to watch the edge of the STORM that Has Spontaneously GENERATED From The FOREST! If WE Determine! The STORM Is Coming! TOo CLOSE! To PONYVILLE, The WEATHER TEAM WILL STEP IN AND CONTAIN-" The rest of Able's speech was drowned out by the formation of a funnel cloud, tearing the ground where it touched down, winds howling and thunder flashing from the nearly pitch black stormcloud.
"The 'Storm of Ages'... oh bloody he-" Turner's words went unheard. He began a frantic search of his saddlebags.
"CLASS IN DISMISSED! RUN MY LITTLE PONIES! RUN!" Of the many faces Omega Flight had seen Differently Able make, abject terror had never been one until now.
"Feral Marmots!" Derpy began shoving classmates over the side of the cloud, just missing Dorothy Gale, who took flight in her panic, only to be swept up into the storm almost instantly.
"HOOVES!" Able screamed at the stallion.
"W-WHAT!? HOW DID YOU-" A metallic cylinder dropped.
"GET! ON! YOUR! HOOVES!" Any other words of advice were lost as the storm tore apart the cloud the two adult pegasi were standing on, as a bolt of lightning transfixed the white pony.
As Turner dragged/controlled fell with Able's body, Fluttershy was locked in panic.
***
Everything stopped. Fluttershy could make out individual raindrops, which looked exactly like the tears on everypony's faces. Terror, shock, horror for their teacher or themselves, or simple weather, it was all water. 'Well, tears have salt, and rain isn't salty. I wonder if different kinds of tears have different amounts of salt?' The idea was absurd, she suppressed a giggle, if she started she might never stop.
Motion. A pony, approached from the frozen storm. Stormlight bleached her colors pale yellow and ashen pink. 'Do... do I look like that?' The mirror pony stopped directly in front of her, frowned, and summarily smacked Fluttershy's face with her hoof.
Tears brimmed, the echo glared and raised her hoof again, waiting. "W-Why-" Smack.
"Stop being so horse-feathered selfish!" 'No, she's not like me, I'd never be-'. Smack.
"You are going to DIE. Your friends are going to DIE. Your teacher... is going to DIE! And what do you do? Cry?"
'There's nothing I CAN do!' Smack.
"There doesn't seem to be anything you WILL do." The doppelganger tilted her head and smiled in an insincere and sacharine manner "Oh, wait, you'll cry. What you mean is you won't lift a feather to help anypony."
"What can I possibly do? I'm not good-" Smack.
"Don't. You. Dare. Too many ponies have made sacrifices for you. Now it's time to start paying it back."
"O-okay." Smack. "Wait," Smack. "I'll do it!" Smack. "STOP HITTING ME!" ...
"Hmph, took long enough." The rain started falling again.
***
Smack. "Butter Pie!" Derpy's left eye was practically spinning.
Fluttershy stood, "Thanks, now get out of here. Wait, on second thought, come with me." She turned to Thunderball and Snowflake, gesturing at their fallen teacher, "Everypony grab a leg, we need to get her out of here!"
Nopony argued, each lifted a different limb and raised the mare off the ground. Barking orders, Fluttershy led organized chaos to the dubious shelter of a copse of trees a few hundred yards from where the group had fallen.
"Turner, you're the only one here big enough to move Teacher on their own. I remember seeing a cottage on the way here, it was that way, towards town. I'm not a doctor, but I'm sure that being out here isn't helping her. You two, help me get her onto Turner's back."
"I ... I..."
"Tim, look at me Tim. I'm going to say this, and it is the most important thing I will ever say to you: run." He ran. "The rest of you, stay on the ground, I think Able was right - you saw what happened to Dorothy." Nopony moved.
"What're you going to do?" Thunderball asked.
"Somepony has to alert the Weather Team Teacher said was standing by."
"Hey! You just said not to fly!" Snowflake snapped.
"Somepony has to, the rest of you tell anypony you see, but get out of here. Without you, there won't be any Omega Flight."
"The school is stronger than the single swimmer!"
"Brainpan cosmonaught-Grr! We can't leave you behind." Four determined stares met Fluttershy's.
"...Then let's go." 'This feeling, what is it? It's light and heavy at the same time.'
It didn't take long to wind the Weather Team, who were already heading towards the storm. The Captain of the team flew down toward them. "Keep going! This isn't a safe place for civilians!"
"We're not civilians. We're your lookout team, and we have a storm to report!"
"Well, consider it reported! Now get out of here, we hardly have the wingpower to steer this monstrosity. If we have to look out for... we can't be watching over you."
"Sounds like you need everypony you can get if you're going to beat this storm. And we're not rejects, we're Omega Flight."
"Look kid, to make any impact on this thing we'd need a combined wingpower of over eight hund-."
"Never tell me the odds! Look, we're not going. Arguing is only going to waste your time, so just take our help and be grateful... if that's ok with you." 'Oh my stars, am I really yelling at a Weather Captain!? I'm insane... nevermind.'
Weather Ponies and the students of Differently Able flew around the storm counterclockwise. 'Ok, so we start flying in the opposite direction the storm is spinning and we ...what, create a counter-whirlwind to slow it down? This is insane, this is the only thing we can do. I can do this, we can do this, we ARE going to do this!' Faster and faster they circled. The howling winds began to double back on themselves, the storm's progress slowed. Contrails were starting to form around some ponies as the very air fought against them. 'Oh no... wait! ... Surface resistance creates drag... and ... !' Memories of Rainbow Dash discussing the Pony 500 flashed in her mind. "Captain!" Fluttershy shouted over the storm.
The captain glanced at the demanding filly, eyes narrowed in concentration even under his standard issue goggles.
"We need to form a draft line!" There was no sign he understood. No sign he was going to do what Fluttershy wanted.
'He's not going to listen, we're not going to... NO! If he won't listen, MAKE him listen.' She drew a breath, released it, and redoubled her flying. Flapping up behind the Captain, onto his back, she grabbed the sides of his head. "LISTEN To me! The amount of speed we need to stop this thing, we're going to run into air resistance! We need to form a draft trail, so we're like a needle instead of a parachute." she was practically screaming in his ear. Shock initially, anger, consideration, surprise, more anger, and resignation flashed across the Captain's face as he turned and saluted Fluttershy.
The orders went out "Line Up! Grab the tail of the pony in front of you, and by the Princes's Corona, fly as hard as you can!" It worked, at first. They got down to a single contrail, and started passing Ponies up the line to keep the freshest flyer at the front. When Fluttershy's turn came, she saw that they were all flagging. 'We can't keep this up much longer, it's almost worked, we have to finish this now!' She didn't have any reserves left, she flew harder anyway. She banked toward the storm, dropping a few feet to gain speed. Flew further in, pressed harder. She felt like her wings were going to fall off, the contrail pressed against her face, she couldn't pull air in.
The storm collapsed in on itself. Most of it just dispersed, a wave of water was squeezed out, the core was pulled into a tight ball along with the electrical potential of the storm. A bright ball of energy collapsed past the point it could stand and exploded outward as an expanding disk of cloud and thunder, racing across the upper skies of Equestria. None of the Weatherponies or Omega Flight saw any of this, since they had all been concentrating on the flank in front and not being intruded on from behind. The arrival of Fluttershy's Cutie Mark, a storm-cloud in the shape of a butterfly, also went unnoticed.
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"It wasn't until after we landed that we noticed it. The story doesn't end there though. It was later th-"
"Okay, I'm sorry. I probably should have told you that I was really only looking for how you got your mark. Again, I'm sorry I didn't just ask for it from the beginning." Jace interrupted.
"Um, why didn't you?" Fluttershy asked, slightly perturbed.
"I was really just trying to get out of the subject that we were in. But I was also trying to test my hypothesis." Jace explained
"What hypothesis?" She questioned.
"If something did or didn't happen. Your story confirms that it didn't."
"Something?" She pressed further.
"I think I'm going to regret asking this. Have you heard of the sonic rainboom?" Jace asked.
"The rainboom? As far as I know it's just an old mare's tale." Fluttershy answered.
"Well, It isn't. And only one mare has been known to be able to do it."
"And who would that be?"
"I'm going to answer that question with a question. Can you introduce me to Rainbow Dash?"
Her reaction was immediate. She burst into laughter.
"Hahaha. Rainbow Dash? You're serious?"
"Completely," Jace deadpanned.
More laughter.
"If your fine without believing the truth, then by all means keep on laughing." Jace realized something was missing in this scene. He looked around. It was quiet, except for the laughing pony in the tree with him. Then he realized what was missing.
"The rain stopped."
"hehe, what?" Fluttershy seemed to have a hold on her laughter, but her face said otherwise.
"The rain has stopped." Jace got up, grabbed a branch and swung onto the dirt below. He started walking.
"Where are you going?" Fluttershy called.
"The house. I'm grabbing an apple." Jace replied.
"Wait! I have a suggestion." She tried. "Why not try the barn?"
"The barn?" Jace stopped walking. "Why?"
"Well, you might find a better one there. There are more apples to choose from, right?" Her grin seemed suspicious.
"Um, okay then. I guess I'm headed to the barn." Jace continued walking.
Fluttershy got up and flew ahead of him. Jace payed no mind to it. He was simply hoping to find a good apple.
Once at the door, he opened it to find something that he did not expect at all after finding Dianne.
"SURPRISE!"
"Excuse me?"
(]----------{][}----------[)
A/N: Well here's Fluttershy's story and Jace's early suspicions. I should warn that the next chapter probably won't be coming out soon due to the fact that it will all be written from my own head. Until then, Sandvich brony signing off.