Fluttershy started taking the thorns out of Cindy's mane and coat. "You poor thing," She said. "I'll make sure that bear won't hurt you again. She must've scared you to death!" Cindy nodded, wincing as Fluttershy pulled out a thorn too quickly. When Fluttershy finished taking out the thorns, she went to get some food for herself, Cindy and her animal friends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was reading a book when Spike came up to her and asked, "Twilight, are you busy?" Twilight put down her book and looked at Spike. "No," She replied. "Why?" Spike walked over to a corner of the room, picked up a scroll and handed it to Twilight. "This is from Princess Celestia." Twilight levitated the letter infront of her face and began to read it.
To my faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle,
A very important bird has gone missing. She was last seen flying into the Everfree Forest. I know that to you it might seem weird that I am requesting you to look for a bird, but it is imperative that we find this bird! I will explain why this bird is so important later, but right now I just need you to find her. We believe that she might be in Ponyville, because there is no trace of her in the Everfree Forest or anywhere around there, I've sent some pegasi guards to search. If you could help us by searching Ponyville with your friends, that would be most appreciated, Twilight. She is a small, red bird that looks slightly like a phoenix hatchling.
Yours, Princess Celestia.
Twilight stared at the letter. "A bird?," Twilight asked to herself. "Why in the name of Celestia would she want a bird?" She sighed. "But if she requested that we find this bird, then I guess we need to do it... But how?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at Fluttershy's home, Angel refused to eat his food. Again. "You never know what it tastes like until you try." Fluttershy said, trying to persuade him to eat some. But Angel just wouldn't try it. He crossed his arms and shook his head before kicking the bowl away. "What will you eat then?" Fluttershy asked. Angel jumped over to the bookshelf and found a cooking book. He opened it to a page with a delicious looking salad. Fluttershy sighed, and opened the door.
"Where are you going, Fluttershy?" Cindy asked, glancing up at her while eating. "I'm going to get some ingredients for Angel's food," Fluttershy replied, pointing at the cooking book with her left forehoof. "He's bit picky with what he eats." Cindy didn't want to left alone for two reasons. One, she didn't feel safe around the bear. Two, now that she got a friend, she didn't want to leave that friend.
Fluttershy started to walk down the passage outside her house whilst Cindy was thinking. Cindy galloped to the door, lifted her right forehoof and cried out, "Wait, Fluttershy!" Fluttershy flew back quickly and said anxiously, "What's the matter? Is something wrong?"
"No," Cindy replied. "I just wondered if I could come with you... that's all..."
Fluttershy landed on the ground. She sighed with relief. "Oh," She replied. "Of course you can. I thought that you'd hurt yourself or something!" Fluttershy smiled at her. "Come on," She said. "We'd better get going before it gets dark."
At Sugarcube Corner, Twilight walked in and looked for Pinkie Pie. However, that wasn't necessary. Pinkie immediately greeted Twilight as soon as she walked in the door. "Pinkie this is serious," Twilight said. "We need to find a bird for Princess Celestia!" Pinkie raised a hoof to her mouth. "Hmm... A guessing game? Is it Philomena?"
"No, it-"
"Oh, I know! It's one of Fluttershy's birds, right?"
"No, Pinkie. It's a p-"
"Ooh, ooh! I know! It's a pet that escaped from Canterlot!"
"No, i- Wait, Pinkie, I think it is accually." Pinkie cheered, raising both hooves in the air.
Pinkie paused mid-cheer and asked, "Why does Princess Celestia want a bird..?"
"I don't know, Pinkie," Twilight replied. "She said that we'd find out after we found her. Can you help?"
Pinkie thought for a minute. "Hmm," She said. "Maybe Fluttershy would be better for the job."
"You're right!" She cheered. "But where can we find her? She could be anywhere in Ponyville right now..."
As if she could read their minds, Fluttershy walked in the door of Sugarcube Corner.
"Fluttershy!" Twilight cried out happily, trotting over to her. "We were just talking about you right now. We need your help!"
Cindy cowered behind Fluttershy, a little scared of Twilight. Twilight and Fluttershy talked about the reason why they needed help. Oh dear, Cindy thought. What happens if Fluttershy's friends don't like me? Will Fluttershy not like me too then?
"Pinkie thought that you'd be best at the job," Twilight said. "We really need to find that baby phoenix."
Cindy heard her words and looked at her from behind Fluttershy's tail. She started trembling with fear. Fluttershy felt the trembling on her leg, looked down at her and Twilight noticed her.
"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. "I didn't know that there was a filly behind you. Where did she come from?" Twilight stepped forward, smiling at Cindy. Cindy backed away. She was a little scared of the unicorn. She bumped into something behind her, so she turned around, thinking it was a chair. She saw a pink earth pony standing there, smiling at her. "Hi there!" she said. Cindy yelped and jumped under Fluttershy's tail. "What did I do?" Pinkie asked, frowning.
"Don't be frightened," Fluttershy said, turning around and stroking Cindy's mane with her left forehoof. "They're friends. They won't hurt you. Go on, say 'Hi'!"
Cindy slowly crawled forward and looked at the strange ponies. Then she whispered shyly, "Hi..." Pinkie jumped up and down with excitement.
"Hi!" She exclaimed. "This is Twilight, and I'm Pinkie! What's your name?"
Cindy replied, "I'm Cinder, but most ponies called me Cindy."
"I found her being attacked by a bear in the Everfree Forest this morning," Fluttershy added. "If I hadn't followed the bear, she would've died."
"Anyway, as I was saying," Twilight said, focusing on what she was saying. "We need to find a little phoenix hatchling that Princess Celestia needs. We don't know exactly why she needs it, but she said that it's imperative that we get it soon. Fluttershy, we need you." Fluttershy looked at Cindy.
Cindy forced a smile and tried her best to look excited, "Ooh, ooh! Can I help? I'd love to help!"
Twilight looked at her. "Oh, sure! The more ponies the better." She said.
Cindy cheered convincingly and added, "Oh, I'll look out for it whenever I have spare time."
Fluttershy looked at her anxiously, wondering if she'd tell them her secret. "Oh, I'll search my house for one, in case if it flew in while I wasn't looking," She said. "And I'll search around the town too. Come on, Cindy. Let's go find this bird."
"Thank you!" Twilight shouted to her as she and Cindy galloped away.
When they were out of sight from Twilight and Pinkie, Fluttershy and Cindy looked at each other anxiously. "Cindy," Fluttershy said with a quiet voice. "You never said that Celestia wanted you. You just said that you were a bird. I thought you wanted to keep it a secret because it's magic that most unicorns can't do." Cindy looked up at her with a sad face. "No," She said. "I wanted to keep it a secret because I think that she wants me to die... I think she doesn't like me... I heard her talking with Pegasi guards and every time he mentioned me, Princess Celestia looked angry and..."
"But that doesn't m-"
"And everytime she looks at me, she frowns..."
"Bu-"
"Every time I talk she frowns..."
"But, Cindy, that doesn't mean an-"
"Especially when I use my Royal Canterlot Voice To Talk To Luna! ...It's a joke me and Luna has.."
Fluttershy put her hoof up to Cindy's mouth. "Cindy," She said. "None of this means anything. It could just mean that she was in a bad mood or something." Cindy pushed away Fluttershy's hoof. "You're just like Celestia," She said, tears in her eyes. "You don't listen to anything I say or take my side on anything I say!"
She ran away from Fluttershy as fast as she could, until Fluttershy couldn't see anymore. "Cindy wait!" Fluttershy yelled, but she wasn't loud enough. She sighed, and sat down with her head down. It started raining on top of Fluttershy. Fluttershy put her hooves on her head, groaning. She heard a laugh that she recognized. It was Rainbow Dash. "Whoops," Rainbow said, giggling quietly. "My bad!" She started flying away but she noticed that Fluttershy looked sad. "Uhm," she said. "Let me just fix that..." She flew over Fluttershy, pushing the cloud away.
Fluttershy still sat there, staring at the ground. Rainbow landed beside her. "What's wrong, 'Shy?" She implored. Fluttershy looked at her with sad eyes. "I found a filly," she frowned. "And I really upset her, and she ran away from me... Now I don't know where she is!" Fluttershy stared at the ground again. Rainbow sighed. "I can find her for you," She said, even though she didn't exactly want to. Fluttershy jumped up and hugged her friend. "Really?!" Fluttershy asked happily. "She went over there." Fluttershy pointed at the direction to Sweet Apple Acres.
Rainbow flew as fast as she could and soon caught up with Cindy. She landed in front of her. "Stop!" she cried out. Cindy used her magic to knock her aside, which was strange. Most other fillies her age couldn't use magic like that. "Woah!" Rainbow cried out as she was forced away. "Not cool!" She flew quickly up to Cindy, and grabbed her tight. Cindy tried to use her magic to make Rainbow let go of her. Rainbow held her grip. She flew up high with Cindy and tightened her grip on her more. Cindy used a spell to hurt her wings. Rainbow let go of Cindy and fell onto a cloud. Cindy fell from the sky, and she wouldn't turn into bird form in case if she blew her cover. She closed her eyes tight and felt her fall into something soft. Even though it was soft, she went unconscious because of the height she fell from.
When she awoke, she saw that she was in Fluttershy's house again. Then she saw Fluttershy. She felt a pain in her back which she guessed she got from the fall. Since her back hurt, that meant she probably wouldn't be able to use her wings in bird form. She groaned. Fluttershy looked at her sadly.
"Cindy-" She started, but she was interrupted by Cindy.
"No," Cindy said. "Don't talk to me..." She looked away.
"Cindy, listen to me," Fluttershy said. She walked over to Cindy and stroked her mane with her left forehoof. "I won't tell Celestia, okay? I promise. But you need to act more like a normal filly."
Cindy looked up at her sadly. "You're not mad at me anymore?" she asked. "I never was angry at you, Cindy. I was just concerned," Fluttershy replied. "Tommorow, we can get you some friends. We can bring you to school and you'll learn how normal fillies act."
"Okay," Cindy replied, though she didn't really like the idea of school.
"We had best go to sleep now, it's late." Fluttershy said, bringing Cindy to a bed upstairs. Fluttershy sang her a lullaby when she was in bed. "Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed. Drifting off to sleep, leave an exciting day behind you. Drifting off to sleep, let the joy of dream land find you. Hush now, quiet now. Lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed."
"That was awesome, Fluttershy!" Cindy said, her eyes half closed. "But... It makes me tired..."
"It's supposed to make you tired," She smiled, turning off the light. That's what it's all about. Now, go to sleep, Cindy."
"Good night, Mommy.."
Fluttershy blinked. She was about to say 'What?' but, she heard Cindy snoring lightly, so she decided not to say anything. She walked out of the room quietly, making sure that Cindy didn't wake up.