He was five minutes late. Not five minutes TOO late but most definitely late. Unarguably late. There were an infinite number of possibilities that could explain why he was late. Only a very small fraction of those had negative connotations. So really she could and should rule those out entirely. At least that's what the logical side of her brain said. The other half knew she was wrong. Something terrible had happened. He was hurt somewhere. Maybe kidnapped. He could even be dying as she sat here. And there was no-one around to rescue or assist. And every day she would remember this evening as the last chance she had to save him from whatever horrible thing had happened to him. Even now as the minutes -

"Hey Twilight! I'm home!" called a happy gurgling voice from the other side of the door.

Twilight breathed a long refreshing sigh of relief. Logic once again had been the proper pathway for her to choose her course of action. A small part of her brain was smugly glad Spike was home. Confident that it knew all along that Spike was safe and Twilight had nothing to worry about. Smug that it managed not to make her freak out and panic. She turned towards the doorway entrance of the Golden Oaks Library to see Spike shuffling in backwards, dragging a large red backpack in his outstretched claws across the floor, his stubby baby dragon tail swishing on the wood floor excitedly. Twilight shut the tome she had been going through and went to meet her ward at the door.

"So...." Twilight began with a grin. "How was Spike's first day of normal average pony school hmm? Make any new friends?"

"It was pretty good." Spike replied, as he graciously dumped the heavy backpack full of textbooks against the wall, causing all the tables and chairs to rattle. He brushed the dirt off of his purple scaly feet. "I didn't meet anyone I didn't know before. Snips, Snails, Cheerilee, Featherweight, Applebloom, Scootaloo, the usual gang. Oh and those two rich bullies. They didn't talk to me, though."

"Hmmph." Spike sat on the floor looking annoyed. "What do you want me to say, Twilight? That you were right and I'm way too smart for school for kids my age due to living with you? And that I was really bored during all the lessons cause its all stuff I knew since back when I could barely talk? Cause I ain't saying it."

"Alright, Spike. You don't have to say it." Twilight replied as serious as she could sound, prancing back to where her tome was, with the fledgling purple dragon following closely behind, looking rather like a chubby purple iguana.

"Spike I made some lunch earlier. It's carrot soup with curry. I also threw in some polished pebbles from the stream since I know you like munching...OH!"

The purple alicorn looked down at her side to see that Spike had managed to squeeze his small body between her torso and left wing, wrapping his short arms around her ribs.

"I like being able to hug you without distracting you from your work!" Spike quipped, staring down at the tome full of old quill-scrawled text and ancient magical runes.

"Oh and you think this doesn't distract me?" Twilight joked as she flipped the page with a small sparkle of magic from her horn.

"Nope!" Spike nodded in a very matter-of-fact sort of way, leaning against his caretaker, happy to be home.

Spike usually spent most of his time indoors, sorting things or cleaning or playing in isolation. Or at least he did in the past. But as much as Twilight didn't want him to, he was growing up. And growing up meant change. The young dragon was beginning to grow curious of the world he already knew a bit too much about. He had requested to be allowed to attend the elementary school in town, so he could be more like the other children. Twilight had agreed although she had mentioned she didn't think it'd be necessary since Spike knew so much already from years of being home-schooled. And as she tended to be, Twilight was correct. Spike had come to Twilight several years ago as an egg that she had hatched when she was a child. The baby purple dragon that had rolled out of the egg had no parents, no owner, and no origin as far as anyone could tell. So Twilight had taken him in and with the help of her teacher, Princess Celestia, helped raise him into a rascally but generally well behaved and polite individual. Which was uncommon for dragons.

Twilight had come to Ponyville against her will when her teacher had instructed her to do so more than a year ago. It had been very difficult. Twilight had been separated from everything familiar to her. Everything familiar that is, but Spike. The baby purple dragon had loyally moved with Twilight to this town, and had been an enormous help in keeping the library that Twilight ran in pristine shape, and keeping Twilight herself from becoming a hermit. The two were inseparable. Spike was the closest thing to family that Twilight had in this part of the country, and Twilight was the only family Spike really had at all.

She'd been so worried today when the little dragon had been late coming home from his first day of school. Twilight had even measured how many acres sat between the library and the school, carefully and mathematically estimating exactly how long it would require for Spike to walk from one to the other. Her calculations were perfect, but Spike was not. Which was fine with her, as she bent down to give the tiny dragon an affectionate kiss on the top of his head.

"So you've been a real snuggle-monster for the last month." Twilight observed. "Are my wings that cozy?"

"Yeah. I kinda forgot until I saw Rainbow picking up Scootaloo from school. Scootaloo looked so happy in Rainbow's wing. It reminded me how much I like your new wings. And I want to hug you as much as I can in case.....um....." Spike's happy tone of voice fell as he looked at the floor.

"I'm scared I guess. So many things have changed Twilight. What if the Princess makes you start up a new kingdom far away and I can't go with you? Or gives you Luna's old job so I can't see you during the day?" his small voice cracked slightly as he shivered, burying his head into Twilight's ribs.

"Oh Spike." sighed Twilight. "I've already talked about that stuff with Celestia. I'm not going anywhere. So you don't need to worry about me leaving you. Alright?"

"Actually I just remembered something I wanted to ask you about. You know I pride myself on my calculations and you, young dragon, were over five minutes late coming home after school today."

"So you caught that, huh? I guess it makes sense that you'd notice my schedule was off."

Spike reached under one of his lustrous fish-like purple scales and pulled out a small folded up piece of parchment.

"I was talking to Applebloom about Applejack after class." Spike explained as Twilight opened the parchment. "She wants you and the others need to visit Applejack and cheer her up. Applebloom says she's real gloomy for some reason. After that someone poked me in the shoulder and I turned around and it was Fluttershy. Wearing some sort of beekeeper helmet. She said she wants to talk to you about uh....bottlefleas....or something. I couldn't really hear! She talks so quietly and all the other kids are so loud, ya know? But she did give me that paper and said for me to bring it to you. Which I did and I personally feel means I should get a raise in my allowance."

"Well you might as well go eat some of that soup while I read this, Spike. Have as much as you want. I'll....think about the allowance thing." Twilight hovered the small parchment in front of her face with a small cloud of purple magic, taking great care to unfold it as gently as possible. The paper itself smelled very lightly of lilacs. A passage scrawled in a very light and loose calligraphic style that Twilight knew could only be Fluttershy's delicate handwriting was etched from top to bottom on the parchment.

Dear Twilight.
I would have sent a letter but those take a while. Please don't think me rude for having sent you this instead through Spike. And I know you've been very busy with your new duties as Princess so I didn't want to intrude by coming to the library. I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to join me in the study of a kind of flower I've been visiting for the last few years. It's very special and very rare! In fact I think it's almost unknown to everypony except a very small few. It's called the Pyrola Lunata Borealis according to some very old books on flowers I have. Really old books! Which is another reason this flower is so special, I think. There may not be many left. Like almost an extinct kind of flower! I think it may have magical properties. When it blooms it does some very strange things. And I know how much you love science and studying magic! So if you have a chance, and if it's not too much trouble, feel free to come over and we can plan on going to see it. I don't really have a preference about when you come over if you decide you're interested. You know how I don't leave the house much. Thank you so much in advance if you decide to help me, Twilight.
- Fluttershy -

"What's a bottleflea, Twilight?" Spike asked from the kitchen as he poured a few soupy pebbles into his mouth, crunching down on them hungrily.

"I think you misheard her say the word 'botany', Spike. Which is what the study of plants is usually referred to."

"Ohhhh! That makes much more sense. Are you and her gonna botany up some plants or something?"

"I think so. Fluttershy claims here that she's found some sort of rare flower that she wants my help studying."

"Rare huh? So are ya gonna do it?" he asked, as he wiped off his mouth with a napkin.

"I think I will. I'll do anything to get away from all this royal paperwork at this point. Maybe I'll go visit this afternoon. It'll be nice to get outside for a bit and do something more relaxing."

A cool spring breeze danced over the hill where Applejack sat, making each sedge with their long sharp leaves seem to bow politely, greeting their guest. Applejack brushed a few leaves off her orange coat before leaning back against the tree, never taking her eyes off the train tracks at the foot of the hill. If she looked away she might miss something important. Like a good friend returning from a long trip. But it seemed the world wanted to distract her very badly. For the orange pony was not alone on the hill. There were others here, friends of hers. They spoke in hushed tones, thinking she could not hear them. Years of tending to a farm that was always in danger of being burgled or attacked by wolves, hares, and other pests had given Applejack a keen eye for observation. And a keen ear. The wind helped as well, picking up the voices of her eavesdroppers and carrying the sound up to her as she grunted in aggravation.

On the opposite side of the hill, behind a fat oak tree were two and a half ponies. Twilight Sparkle had been led to this spot by her enthusiastic pegasus friend Rainbow Dash, and now in whispers, the two observed the sulking Applejack who seemed not to take any notice of them.

"Yep." Rainbow rolled her ruby eyes and frowned. "And every day she gets more depressing. Pinkie already tried throwing her a surprise party in one of the barns. But that just made it worse I think."

"Nearly. I always fly over this hill on the way to the Weather Center. It's getting to be a pretty regular thing to see her draped over that hill lookin' all bored and morbod. Ugh, look now she's back to chugging cider. That's it. Done. I'm taking action."

"Here, hold this." Rainbow barked, unfurling her wing and dropping an orange fuzzy bundle into Twilight's outstretched arms.

Twilight tried not to snort with laughter as she realized she was holding a sleeping Scootaloo. After Rainbow had decided to take care of the filly, her active lifestyle had left the child tired much more often than usual. It wasn't uncommon to see Rainbow working or going around town without her new little sister snoozing on her back or under her wing. It was a strange sight to see, particularly from the independent and sometimes selfish pegasus.

"Oh hey Princess Twilight." Scootaloo mumbled as she flipped over in Twilight's embrace, her eyelids fluttering groggily. "Is ma...um..Rainbow gonna yell at Applejack?"

"I think so...." Twilight replied looking up with concern at her retreating friend. "Oh, and you don't need to call me Princess Twilight, Scootaloo. You're a friend. Formalities aren't for friends!"

"I dunno what a formality is. Sounds pretty boring." Scootaloo yawned, flipped back over and resumed snoring loudly.

On the other side of the hill Rainbow had begun trying to lecture Applejack. Which wasn't working very well as Rainbow wasn't exactly a gleaming example of purity or morality and had never tried to give a pep-talk like this before. Especially to a pony like Applejack who was as kind and honest as they came.

"Lemme paint you....a story, AJ...." Rainbow began, her face looking grave and serious.

"Oh, here we go." Applejack muttered, pulling her hat over her eyes. "You don't paint stories. Can't ya just drop this?"

"It's the story of a farmer. Well-bred. Very honest pony. The kind of pony every pony should know. Kids look up to her, ya know? Then one day her life spirals out of control. She starts loitering in train stations. STINKING OF CIDER. And then one day she died sad and alone! Do you know who the pony in this story is?"

"For the love of....what do you want, Rainbow?" Applejack cringed as she continued trying to hide her face under her hat.

"Look, AJ. It's not like Rarity hasn't been gone for a while on one of her fashion tours before. Yeah a month is kind of a long time to be gone. BUT GET OVER IT! You think the rest of us don't miss her and Sweetie-Belle? Scootaloo and Applebloom won't shut up about all the fun things they're gonna do once Sweetie gets back. What are we supposed to tell Rarity when she gets back and asks what we've been up to? 'Oh hey Rarity me and the others watched Applejack drink cider all day and cry like a baby on a hill, lowering the general quality of happiness we share'."

"You still ain't told me what ya want." the smile faded from the farmer pony's face.

"And Applebloom." Rainbow mentioned with an edge to her voice. "Your sister is worried about you, AJ. Look at her down there. LOOK I SAY!"

Applejack peered down the hill to see that her younger sister Applebloom was staring up at her. The filly's massive eyes were overflowing with tears like a broiling tea-kettle, her bottom lip quivering.

"She misses you, AJ." Rainbow muttered. "We all do. Now will you please get off this hill and be our friend again?"

"For Pete's sake. Fine." Applejack snapped, rising to her feet. "But if'n Rare asks why I wasn't here to greet her when she gets back from Canterlot, I'm blaming y'all."

"I'm down." Rainbow snickered. "Lemme go grab Scoots then we can head to the park."

Twilight couldn't help smiling as she handed the sleeping Scootaloo over to Rainbow who gently tucked the slumbering filly under her wing again.

"Well that certainly seemed to work." Twilight grinned at the entire ridiculous situation.

"Nah. Applejack's still gonna be a stick in the mud. But at least we're keeping her brain busy for a while. Say bye to Twilight and Fluttershy, Scoot."

As if on cue, the snoring child snorted very loud in her sleep, mumbling something unintelligible.

Indeed the quiet yellow pegasus was sitting only a few inches behind Twilight, nodding politely.

"Oh dear! I'm sorry Fluttershy, I didn't even notice you were there." spluttered Twilight. "I was so distracted!"

"It's....well it's fine Twilight I didn't even say anything." Fluttershy mumbled quietly. "I was just sort of wondering what's going on over on this hill. Uh.....so what is going on?"

"Not much, Shy." Dash blurted, as she began to descend the hill, with the half-asleep Scootaloo tucked under her arm. "Just an intervention to stop Applejack from getting too lame. Same as usual."

"Oh." Fluttershy glanced at Applejack who was trudging down the hill, looking several varieties of annoyed. "Well...have a nice day, Applejack. I hope you're feeling better."

Twilight and Fluttershy sat as they watched the four ponies trot down into the treeline that separated the fields from the public park. Soon the air was filled with the awkward quiet sort of stillness that Fluttershy was known for. Twilight fidgeted a bit as she tried to get a conversation going.

"Seeing Rainbow carrying Scootaloo around. It's bizarre seeing her be so....matronly."

"Oh that!" Fluttershy giggled quietly. "She's a big softy. You should see how she treats her pet tortoise."

"So uh....." Twilight rubbed the back of her neck with the elbow of her wing. "I got a note from Spike earlier today and..."

"Yes!" Fluttershy squeaked. "I am glad he was able to deliver it to you! I was worried he might lose it!"

"Spike's very reliable!" Twilight beamed proudly with a nod. "In a very fickle kind of way. Actually, Fluttershy that's why I'm out here in the first place. I was looking for you but you weren't home. Then Rainbow said Applejack was in trouble. And now here we are. A perfectly timed coincidence."

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry I wasn't home Twilight. I had to get some nets so my radishes wouldn't get covered in mites once it gets warm. I....also didn't really think you would even want to do it."

"What? Why on earth would I not want to see a rare flower with you, Fluttershy?"

"I assumed you'd be busy with all your new duties as Princess. Which is fine if you are, Twilight. I know it's important. You don't need to drop everything just to humor me...." Fluttershy flinched as she said these words, hiding behind her long pink locks of hair. The thought of being a distraction was simply too terrible to even dwell on.

"No it's not that at all! I actually do want to see this thing." Twilight sighed to herself. "I needed to get out of the house for a while. I've been so stressed doing Celestia's...busywork and trying to figure out that box, I haven't had hardly any time for me. I really need a break. And searching for lost and mysterious....possibly dangerous....flora and fauna with you sounds like a good way to to relax."

*************************************

Twilight always had an appreciation for Fluttershy's cottage. While all of Ponyville was a very comfortable town, nothing seemed to personify it quite as much as this cottage. It was almost TOO comfy. Comfy incarnate. The bastion of comfyness. It had set a bar in comfort that truly nothing could attain. Everything from the green hardwood floors, the stone brick oven, the the redwood walls with the small windows that allowed animals to scamper in and out, it was all just so inviting. Birdcages hung from the ceiling beams, swaying quietly, ready for occupants. All the furniture was hoof-carved out of oak wood, with small floral designs etched into it. All painted with cheery pastel colors. Greens and pinks with hints of orange in highlights. Everything about the place seemed to represent what Fluttershy was like when she was in a good mood. Calm, cute, and dainty. Just entering the house made Twilight feel a deep sense of relaxation. Of course all the scented candles and incense that filled the air with pleasant herbal scents was probably helping a lot more than it should. They served a double purpose. To keep the house freshly-scented and to overpower the rather musky scent of the animals. Having skunks, badgers, squirrels and plenty of other beasts running around the household meant having the animals track in rather unwelcome scents.

But none of these animals seemed to be present at the moment. In fact outside of Angel Bunny and a few sparrows quietly tittering near the stove, the house seemed rather empty and vacant. Angel had curled up next to Twilight, quietly waiting for his lunch, his long white whiskers twitching with impatience. Normally the small rabbit was hostile to intruders. Even ponies he knew were friends of Fluttershy. He was a selfish rabbit, but he was protective of his master. He hated seeing her in a sour mood. But he felt no malice for Twilight. He knew that the purple unicorn wasn't a threat, and she understood the fragile demeanor of his master more than most ponies in town did.

"Hey Fluttershy. I can't help but notice that most of your animals are.....absent." Twilight called aloud as she squeezed herself into the plush green loveseat in the middle of the room.

"Yes I know." Fluttershy called back, though it was almost inaudible due to the low volume of her voice.

"I've never seen you without animals all over your house. Even during that time you were getting it fumigated for termites. I know it's not any of my business but I am curious as to what happened to them."

Fluttershy struggled into the room, a bowl of honey-drizzled carrots balanced on one wing and a large rectangular canvas resting on the other. Although they were clearly a bit too heavy for the thin pegasus to carry, Twilight couldn't help but feel impressed with how well the mare carried herself. Always so ladylike. A trait she shared with Rarity. No matter how stressful or frightening things were, Twilight could always count on those two to act with grace. Well except for that one time at the Gala, but Twilight was content on trying to forget that embarrassing night when she and her friends had managed to destroy a party full of esteemed royal guests.

With a tilt of her head and a small incantation in her mind, a purple spark of magic from the end of Twilight's horn had levitated the bowl of carrots off of the yellow feathered wing of her friend and placed it in front of Angel Bunny, whom in a good show of polite table manners, had soon shoved his face into the bowl, cramming the pieces greedily into his mouth as he slurped. Twilight tried not to frown at the rabbit. She didn't want to show outright disdain but she was not a fan of the attitude Fluttershy's 'number one' pet showed often.

"Thank you, Twilight!" Fluttershy whispered as she placed the canvas upright. "And as for the critters, they don't like being indoors now that spring is finally here. Most of them are in the forest, stretching their legs and looking for mates."

"Oh no! It's actually something even nicer." Fluttershy flipped the canvas around, displaying the enlarged photo of the flower. "It's a photo I took of the Pyrola. Discord was visiting and -"

"Wait, Discord was here? In town? At your house? And nobody noticed?" Twilight frowned a bit. She was but one on a long list of ponies and other creatures that still couldn't trust Discord fully. No matter how nice he apparently seemed now.

"Yes he was. He always pays me a visit when he is passing through. Usually just in time for tea."

"And....are these pleasant visits?" Twilight asked, feeling her eyelid twitch at the thought of Discord, the prince of all lies and the king of all tricks, enjoying tea with Fluttershy.

Fluttershy flashed a small defiant look at Twilight. "Yes actually. They are always pleasant and he is a fun guest to have around. And he was kind enough to give me this."

"Oh no! It was very small at first Twilight. And it was in black and white and blurry too, since I used Applejack's old camera. Discord made it into this. This is exactly how it looks when I see it in the forest."

"Whoa." Twilight hopped off the couch and pranced up to the photo. "Fluttershy this is amazing. That's quite a magic trick he pulled off. So this is it, huh? The Pyrola Lunata Borealis. What a strange looking flower. It's like something out of a rainforest. So colorful."

"Yes. I remember when I found it for the first time. I was lost in the forest because Angel had gotten scared by a fox. I was so scared I'd lost him. But then I found him hiding in a tree stump, crying. It was the only time I'd ever seen him cry." Fluttershy picked up the small bunny who was still chewing loudly on his honey carrots and gave him a gentle hug.

"And that's when you saw the flower." Twilight mentioned as she drew closer to the image of the flower, squinting as she studied it.

"No, that's when I saw the glade." Fluttershy trotted around the canvas to join Twilight on the opposite side. "I hadn't noticed it before. Maybe I was too frightened. But there was a clearing out in the darkest part of the forest. And in the middle of it was the Pyrola. Angel and I sat there staring at it as it suddenly bloomed right in front of us. After that I felt like I knew the way home."

"Well I am here, aren't I?" Fluttershy drew closer to the image as well. "It's such a beautiful floret. I'd never seen a flower with such a strange inflorescence in it's blooms."

Twilight's ears pricked up, flicking as she heard this. A strange sensation passed through her head as her brain briefly came to a full stop. She turned to stare at her shy friend.

"Yes, you know what inflorescence is, don't you? It's when a flower is made of littler flowers. Where the tiny pedical stems that hold up the flowers tessellate off the main stem of the plant and make little wobbly triangular shapes as they branch outward more and more. It's kind of like a simple fractal shape."

"No...no....I know what it is...it's just....n-nothing. Nothing." Twilight turned her attention back to the picture. "Sorry I interrupted."

"I've never seen a flower have such a complex structure and look so pretty at the same time." Fluttershy sighed sweetly and stared at the photo, not noticing the strange expression on Twilight's face.

The studious princess was at the moment having some trouble getting her thoughts in order. She knew what inflorescence was. Fluttershy had a very loose definition of it but she was correct. But that was the whole thing that was making Twilight feel off. She specifically went out of her way not to use long words so as not to confuse her friends, or in more public cases make herself seem too nerdy. And suddenly here, one of her quietest friends was spouting these sort of terms aloud. And knew what they meant. And something about the way she said them. It had caused a new sort of emotional response Twilight had never experienced. It was like a small balloon full of ice water had burst inside of her brain, and she felt a small shiver run down her neck to her haunches. What had that been about?

Twilight turned to look at her friend, studying the pegasus as she thought. Had Fluttershy mispronounced the words? Was Twilight's obsession with perfect diction getting to her? No, no. That wasn't it. Maybe it was just how odd it was to hear those words coming from Fluttershy. She knew the shy mare was a lover of nature, plants, and homeopathic remedies, with a motherly instinct that bade her to care for creatures both great and small. But Twilight would never have thought of Fluttershy to be this informative and well-read. Twilight smiled as she thought about it. It seemed like every day she learned more about her friends. And every day she was happier to have moved to this funny little town. All this meant was on her list of descriptive words for Fluttershy which contained sweet, graceful, and kind, that now Twilight would need to add the word 'intelligent' as a new descriptor.

"....Twilight? Twilight?" Fluttershy's voice brought her friend back to reality. "Are you ok?"

"Hmm? Yeah Fluttershy I was just...observing and thinking and I got into sort of a daze. Now I've lost my train of thought." Twilight scratched her head. "Hmph. I don't even remember what I got to thinking about now. Weird."

Fluttershy waved her hoof in the direction of Twilight's back. The unicorn turned to see that her wings were extended, the sinewy muscles that were above her shoulder-blades trembling slightly as she folded them back to her sides again.

"Odd. These wings seem to have a mind of their own sometimes." Twilight mumbled testing the nerves in her wings with a small nip.

"It's probably just because they're new." Fluttershy placed Angel on the floor and watched the rabbit scurry back to his spot on the couch. "Sometimes with newborn pegasi, their wings twitch and flap in strange ways since their nerve endings don't work quite right at that age. It usually takes a few months until their patagialis muscles are connected to their nerves. I bet yours just aren't formed all the way yet."

Twilight was, once again, taken aback at her friend's knowledge, the tingling feeling returning in full force. "Y-yeah....you sure seem to know a lot of...stuff about that sort of thing, Fluttershy."

"Well I used to babysit for a lot of ponies in town when I was a teenager. I needed to know everything in case something went wrong. Especially for baby pegasi. It's why I asked Rainbow Dash to stop trying to force Scootaloo to fly. Her little patagialis muscles just cant lift her very well and I knew it was frustrating for both of them."

"Wow." Twilight mumbled, feeling her respect for Fluttershy increase massively as a sharp pain ran down her backside and her wings unfurled yet again.

"So......um....." Fluttershy blushed a bit and hid behind her long pink mane. "I think we've gone off-topic a bit. Would you like to see the flower, Twilight? It takes about a day to walk there and walk back."

"We could try to fly...that is...if you really want to." Fluttershy hid behind her mane some more, her face almost entirely lost to view. "But I've only been there by hoof and it's really the only way I know how to get there."

"Alright. I'm more comfortable with walking anyway." Twilight nodded with a smile. She knew Fluttershy was fibbing. The shy pegasus had a fear of heights and would avoid flying in any way she could unless her, or someone else's, life depended on it.

And with a warm hug and a couple of goodbyes, Twilight left the cottage. Still feeling strange and lightheaded and she strode down the cobblestone pathway back into town. Inside the cottage Fluttershy was brushing her hair back, still feeling embarrassed over Twilight's physical outburst.

"Angel...." Fluttershy began as she took his empty bowl off the couch. "I don't think Twilight's reaction was because of nerves."

"I think I caused her to do that." Fluttershy stared at the floor. "I've never had that affect on anyone. How embarrassing. Maybe it was something I said?"

With a small grunt of disinterest, Angel produced a very tiny newspaper from in-between the cushions of the couch and began his usual evening of reading it quietly. Fluttershy sighed and went to the kitchen to clean the bowl, her thoughts mostly about the trip she was about to take tomorrow. The forest was a terrifying place. Dangerous, old and quiet. Fluttershy had only survived going through it the first time by accident. Routine had made her able to traverse it multiple times, but it didn't make her an expert. And it would be far different when bringing a guest. Luckily, her guest was a very powerful alicorn. So should anything go wrong they'd have the insurance of sheer magical power to protect them. But nothing was guaranteed.

While the yellow mare was usually nervous (although she preferred to think of herself as cautious), the idea of bringing a guest to this secluded glade was frightening. Even more so because Fluttershy had no idea what they would talk about on the way there. And it was a long trip. Usually when hanging out with Twilight, Fluttershy was with all their other friends in the Elements of Harmony. And she could quietly laugh at their conversations and put in a word edgewise while mostly being a good listener as they talked and squabbled amongst themselves. This was different. It would just be her and Twilight for an entire day. Fluttershy was awful at being social, and she knew it too.

Inflorescence

by Reptilicus

Plug it in and change the world