Fluttershy had heard this song before. About six times before, to be specific. It was safe to say that she was growing tired of it by this point.
It wasn't a bad song, not by any means. In fact, she'd thought it was quite good the first time she heard it, and even the second time held a bit of charm. After that, it lost a bit of its luster.
She supposed it could have been worse. In fact, compared to how things had been going since she got home from yesterday's picnic, it was quite alright.
It had started with the incident with Ruby Pinch and her friends. Fluttershy had gotten stuck refereeing the fillies' ball game for forty minutes. She barely knew anything about the sport to begin with; she wasn't even sure that the fillies were playing by any normal set of rules. She had told them that she'd stay and help, though, so there she remained. She cheered quietly when it looked like something good had happened, and any rules disputes between the fillies that deferred to her judgment were decided based on who was yelling the least.
Once the game finally ended, Fluttershy raced back to her home as quickly as her wings would take her. She hoped beyond hope that Angel wouldn't be too upset with her tardiness, but she knew him better than that. There was nopony--or nobunny, she supposed--more strict than him when it came to dinnertime. It had been that way ever since he was a little bunny, and she supposed there was little chance of him having a change of heart today.
Sure enough, she was greeted by Angel as soon as she entered the door, his greeting coming in the form of stomping on her hoof. She apologized as warmly and gently as she could, explaining the situation with a level of patience that few ponies who knew Angel would be willing to grant him. Angel, of course, would have none of this. His angry rant, which only he and Fluttershy could understand, made the poor pegasus blush profusely. She couldn't even bring herself to scold him for his language; she knew she had wronged him, and allowed him to let all of his frustration out without protest.
Once Angel's profanity-laden tirade was quelled, Fluttershy went to prepare his dinner. Upon seeing the simple salad presented for him, the angry bunny scoffed and demanded something sweeter. Fluttershy wanted so badly to say no; Angel was one of the many animals under her care who was currently on a strict diet. Try as she might, though, she just couldn't deny his request. She wasn't sure why; this was hardly the first time that Angel had rebelled against his diet, and not even the first time that he'd done so after she'd done something else to rile him up. So why, she asked herself, was she preparing this large ice cream sundae for him instead of the nice salad she'd made? It was all terribly confusing.
Once Angel was satisfied, Fluttershy had tried to relax. Of course, she hadn't quite expected the backlash that letting Angel cheat on his diet would have. Barry the bear, who had witnessed the whole scene and was also on a strict diet, wasted no time in informing the other dieting critters of what had gone down. By the time Fluttershy had rested herself down on the couch, she found herself crowded by critters, all requesting a temporary reprieve from their diets as well. Try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to deny the requests of her animal friends. One by one, she prepared sundaes for them as well. When she ran out of ice cream halfway through, she found herself traveling out to the store to pick up some more. By the time she was done, eleven dieting critters were dining on heaping helpings of sugary delights. They were all grateful, but Fluttershy was too baffled to understand what had just happened.
Bedtime was no better. A few of Fluttershy's animal friends enjoyed sleeping on her bed while she was up and about, and it often took a little gentle coaxing to remove them from their positions when she wished to sleep herself. After a long evening of her attempts to relax with a good book being interrupted by one animal or another wishing to play with her, it was finally time for bed. Fluttershy ambled up the stairs, glad that this strange evening was coming to an end. Upon seeing three cats, two ferrets, and an anteater strewn about her mattress, Fluttershy found herself sighing in resignation. Waking those animals up when they were so comfy wouldn't be nice. The poor yellow pegasus turned tail and headed back downstairs. She'd slept on the couch before; doing so again wasn't the worst thing in the world.
Unfortunately for her, Angel had already taken up residence on the couch. There was plenty of room on the couch for Fluttershy to settle down; bunnies were not known for their immense size, after all. Angel, however, did not like others trying to use his favorite part of the couch while he was sleeping on it, and since his favorite part of the couch was the entire couch, that made things rather difficult. Fluttershy let out a quiet whimper, but did not dare wake Angel up or invade his space. Left without much of an option, the pegasus laid down on the floor. It was a long time before sleep came.
Fluttershy awoke the next morning to a sore neck and the beating of Angel's furry little paw on her head. She had overslept; not much of a surprise, considering how late it was when sleep had finally overtaken her last night. The weary pony took some solace in the fact that Angel did not demand a fatty meal this time, as she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to refuse and she was out of ice cream once again.
Once Angel and all her other animals friends had eaten, Fluttershy went out for a walk to clear her head. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but things just seemed wrong. After a trip to the flower shop, during which she found herself giving up the beautiful hyacinth plant she'd already paid for because another pony looked like they wanted to buy it more, she decided that something had to be done. Whenever one of her group of friends was having a strange problem, they talked to Twilight, and that was what she was going to do.
Then she saw the poor street musician. There he sat, right by the Quills and Sofas shop, playing his little steel drums and singing his heart out. He did both so passionately, yet not a single pony had stopped to listen, and that broke poor Fluttershy's heart. She had to let the stallion know that somepony appreciated his music. Which brought her to where she was now.
"Wow, lady," the musician said as he packed his drums up. "Did you really just stay here and listen to me for an hour and a half?"
Fluttershy blinked, looking up at the nearby clock.
"I...guess I did," the confused pegasus said.
"That's real kind of ya," the musician responded. "Nopony ever even stops to listen to me at all. Thanks!"
"...You're welcome?" Fluttershy answered. The musician gave her a big smile and a wave before departing.
Fluttershy had to see Twilight. Now.