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// The most literate toddler 
// Story: As We Flutter On 
// by Stephen Cloud 
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It has been a few months, and Fluttershy has grown so much! I suspect she is a toddler, though I can’t say for sure. But at the rate she is progressing I would say she is in her early learning years. Her wings have developed from a soft downy mass into leaner feathery muscles. I’ve been keeping track on how tall she is the old fashioned way, with a doorway and a sharpie. Her legs have been growing at different rates, the hind legs are just a bit taller than her fore legs, but I’m sure there’s no need for alarm. 
As well as physical growth, she has also grown mentally. She has become very talkative (only to me of course) and likes to show off her extensive vocabulary. I’ll often see her flipping through dictionaries and some rather large books, sounding out the words as she sees them. Most of her reading is incorrect, saying something in her own made up tongues instead of English. I’ll only correct her if it’s something simple, it’s actually pretty funny seeing her ramble out sounds as she reads a page!
One day as we were watching “my little pony” (It’s funny to see how she acts like every other character except for the one I named her after) she tugged on my shirt with her mouth, obviously trying to get my attention. “What is it dear?” I said in a casual calm tone that I always use when I’m speaking to her (which took my weeks to perfect, so I’m very proud of it) .She released my shirt and hollered “Smotes!” which was her way of saying she was hungry. While I was teaching her to speak one of the first things she learned was “smotes”, I guess she just combined the two words “some” and “oats”. 
I got up to get her a package of oatmeal only to find that we’d exhausted all of our oats. “Huh, well that’s a pain ain’t it?” I said to Fluttershy who had begun to prod the empty box with her forehooves. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll just go to the store and get some.” Fluttershy’s ears shot up when she heard this and said “no dog!” I stared at her quizzically for a moment, after all we didn’t have a dog. She noticed my confusion and gestured to the clown costume hanging by the door. “Oh, yeah that. I guess it is kind of a hassle to put on.” I said thinking about how uncomfortable it must be to walk around under all that make up, whilst being in a cheap Halloween costume. “Well, it’s either this or the jacket kid.” Fluttershy walked away after my statement and came back a few moments later with my jacket in tow. It was the very same jacket that I wore when I found her.
It didn’t take long for her to become uncomfortable. She was now too big for my jacket, and the only way I got her in was by wrapping her body around me like a towel. I wasn’t doing so well either, she was much heavier than when she was a baby. I started to feel the all too familiar sensation of cold eyes and questioning glares as I shuffled down the street, concealing Fluttershy as best as I could. I appeared to be a morbidly obese, one armed (she never got out of the finger sucking habit, but she was gentler now that she wasn’t teething anymore) with a pink clip on tail from where Fluttershy’s tail had fallen out.
It seemed like an hour of awkward shuffling before we had arrived at the grocery store. We made our way down to the cereal aisle, which I assumed was where the oatmeal resided. Fortunately it was there, along with a teenage boy (no older than eighteen I suspect) who was restocking the shelves. Beads of sweat started to form on my forehead at this seemingly simple task. I composed myself and tried to act casual as I strode over to the oatmeal. My eyes wandered to the biggest box I could see and I reached out to grab it. 
Curse my luck, as I reached for the box Fluttershy fell out from the bottom of my jacket. She fell with a soft thump and landed on her backside staring up at me with a terrified look. I tried to pick her up and hide her as fast as I could, but I was too late. The employee that was stocking the shelves had noticed, and saw me clinging to Fluttershy like a mother trying to protect her child. My voice cracked as I tried to explain my situation, but no words came out. How am I supposed to explain this! Finally I croaked out “Please don’t tell!” desperately. 
For the longest time he had his eyes fixated to Fluttershy as she buried her face into my chest, trying to hide from him. He was snapped out of his trance as I said once more “Don’t tell.” my voice solemn to show just how serious this was. He looked up at me and rubbed his eyes, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Suddenly, he snapped out of his confusion and gave me a smile and a look that seemed to be something you’d see a soldier do as he stared at his commanding officer. I watched as he dug into his pocket and pull out a small button with three pink butterflies printed on it. He gave me another smile and a nod, handed me the oatmeal, and continued restocking the shelves while whistling a tune.
I zipped up my jacket and backed away slowly, staring skeptically at the strange man as I walked away. Checkout was a breeze, so was getting back home. The entire way back I was thinking about that guy, the pin he flashed… it was vaguely familiar. We got home, ate, and went to bed. All the while I was contemplating the meaning of those little butterflies. My thoughts were broken by Fluttershy’s voice as she said “Good night!” in a soft sing song voice. “Good night dear.” I replied. It didn’t take long for Fluttershy’s short breaths to become slow and deep, she made it seem so easy to float off into sleep. I followed soon after, drifting off into the sweet celestial dreamscape.