THUMP!
They were almost at the doors. So close to getting out. Her mom had a wing around her, pushing gently towards the exit. The room grew slowly darker.
THUMP!
The sound hurt her ears. It had the effect of squeezing her head tight for a short moment. It hurt, it hurt so much...
THUMP!
Suddenly, the room was consumed in darkness, the only visible light trickling in through the glass doors. Just outside, a large scaly tail waved slowly in front of the building, connected to something that was... above them.
RAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!
The roar shook violently through Fluttershy's mind. Crouching down, she covered her ears in an attempt to make the pain stop. She just wanted it all to go away. It didn't.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the back of her mothers head, bobbing swiftly with the motion of her gallop. The door, it was so close to them. They were almost there.
CRASH!!!
In place of the door, was a large hole, sunlight seeping through it, accentuating the glistening points of the giant that now stood there.
Red. Huge. Scaly. Angry. Glowing. Orange. The beast filled Fluttershy's vision for just a split second before her vision was sent into a whirlwind of motion. She was spinning. She instinctively curled into a ball.
She hit the floor, knocking the wind out of her, and slid across the polished surface into a wall. Her eyes were out of focus, covered in speckles of light that seemed to twinkle as the stars before fading away. Catching her breath, she looked up.
Her mother was there, just a short distance away, looking at her. Her eyes, though fraught with worry, were gentle. Her voice, though rough with exhaustion, was soothing. "Be safe, Fluttershy. I love you."
Nothing could have been more honest than those words in that moment. They rang with truth to Fluttershy, even as she watched bright billowing clouds of flame bathe the center of the room.
There was so much fire...
...so much fire.
Fluttershy opened her eyes. The faces of fillies, all staring at her... sideways? She lifted her head and found that she had been laying on a desk. The middle of it was wet.
"Fluttershy?"
She looked up to see that she was in a classroom. Not just any classroom, but the classroom of summer flight camp. And she was there, in the middle of the room, with a wet face. Everypony was staring at her, including the teacher, who had on a look that mirrored that of the last her mother wore. "Fluttershy, are you alright, dear?"
The pressure of eyes, looks, and even some giggles, intimidated her. She slumped into her seat, trying to become as small as possible. Hopefully, if she could just disappear, they would stop staring, and everything would go back to normal.
"Fluttershy?" There were footsteps coming from the front of the room. "Do you want to come with me for a moment?" The teacher approached slowly. She sat down next to the desk and waited.
Fluttershy looked around, observing the faces around her, then looked up at the teacher, and nodded her head.
"Alright then," The teacher smiled as she turned towards the door. "Follow me."
Fluttershy did.
Behind a door in the hallway, tense muffled voices could be heard. Fluttershy sat in a chair just outside.
The two voices were those of her father and her new teacher. Fluttershy couldn't make out what they were saying, but judging by how they sounded, and how quiet they were trying to be, she knew what they were talking about.
She knew she didn't belong here. She had tried to learn, had been through practice, had studied all about the correct angles and movements required to gain lift. But the clumsiness of her wings prevented her from ever achieving those optimal motions. Her legs were thin and lanky, and her wings flaunted the same level of daintiness. She had no strength, and no skill. Why did she have to ask to come here? She wasn't ready. She knew she wasn't. But she wanted to be with her friends. They were all going. Why couldn't she?
But even that would have been okay. If she could be with her friends, even if she never learned to fly, then everything would be alright. But that never happened. Spitfire and Soarin learned much faster than she did, and so they were moved quickly to the advanced flying classes, leaving her all alone. Though, that wasn't why she was here.
She was sitting in this chair outside the teacher's office because of the nightmares. She would fall asleep in the middle of class, and wake up screaming. Every time, her teacher walked her out, and called her father, who took her home. Even during practice, she would be trying to get lift, she'd be somewhere high up, and the fear overtook her senses, filling her mind with horrible memories.
She could never focus. She was always crying.
Why couldn't she just forget? She loved her mom, and always wanted to remember the great things they did together. But she wanted to forget that one thing, that one moment that continues to haunt her. It sits in the back of her mind, waiting for the most inconvenient moment to show itself. And it always shows itself.
Fluttershy the wimp. Fluttershy the cry-baby. Fluttershy the weakling. She couldn't take it any more. She just wanted to go away, to run away. She wanted to forget, to be somepony else, to just not be there. She wanted to be anywhere but inside herself.
But she couldn't escape, no matter how hard she tried. She was trapped with herself, and her memories and her clumsiness. And she hated it. She hated it all so much.
*click*
The door opened besides Fluttershy. She saw her father walk out talking with her teacher, "Thank you, Miss Hearth. I'll talk to her, and get back to you."
"You're very welcome, Mr. Grey," her teacher responded before the door closed between them.
Fluttershy stared at the floor of the hall. The sunlight bouncing off of it gave the slightest hints of a rainbow.
"Fluttershy?"
She kept staring. What was she going to say? That she wanted to stay? That she wanted to go? What did she want?
If she went home, she knew that the memories would haunt her more than they were haunting her here. But she knew that, here, she was subject to shame and embarrassment for her weakness, both of body and of mind. It didn't matter really where she went, she just hated being herself. She wanted it all to just stop.
"Fluttershy, please look at me." Her father sat down in front of her and brought his head low so that he could look at her. His hooves now stood where she had seen the feint rainbow. "What's wrong, Fluttershy?"
She continued to stare at his feet, not knowing how to respond. What was really the problem? Was it her? Was it the nightmares? Was it the other kids making fun of her pitiful attempts to fly? What was it? She couldn't clear her head enough to choose an answer, so she chose nothing.
Her father waited a few more seconds before asking again. "Miss Hearth said that she could give you private classes if that would help?" he said, gently suggesting a solution to the unknown problem, while it was toned more as a question.
How would that help?, Fluttershy thought. She tried to imagine what it would be like alone with Miss Hearth, not being able to pay attention, being looked upon as a 'special' filly with 'special' needs. She knew that it would only serve to invoke more cruelty from the other students during the practice hours. It would isolate her more than ever from the rest of the foals that already had little to no connection with her. She hated the idea.
"No," she stated simply.
The stallion in front of her sighed and thought for a moment. "Well, what would be the problem with that?"
The answer was obvious to her; she hated not having friends.
"I-... I want to have friends." As the words came out, she realized what the real problem was. She was alone. She didn't have anyone to comfort her when she was sad, not like how Spitfire helped her in school anyway. Her teacher tried, but Miss Hearth's attention was always divided among the other students, and was only brought to Fluttershy when one of her nightmares took hold.
What she needed was a friend, but not just any friend. She needed a shoulder to cry on, somepony to talk to about what happened, somepony that could help her when she needed it, motivate her when she was discouraged. She wanted a real friend. She needed a real friend.
"Have you made any friends in your class?" His voice was slightly more hopeful, but was met with the shaking of a small yellow head, it's small pink mane swaying slightly with the movement. Slightly confused, he asked, "What about Spitfire, or Soarin? Aren't they your friends?"
"They're not in my class."
"Oh, I though they were." He itch behind his ear. "What happened?"
"They learned to fly."
Her father went silent for a moment. "Oh."
Were they still her friends? She didn't believe that they would have forgotten her that fast. They had been friends since kindergarden, and they always hung out. No, they were still friends, they just... weren't together anymore.
"Well, what if you could go to their class?"
"They'll just make fun of me more."
His eyebrows furrowed in thought, his lips following suit. After a moment of pondering, he stood. "One moment, I want to go check something."
The door to Miss Hearth's office opened once more as Fluttershy's line of sight to the floor was unobstructed. The angle of light had changed ever so slightly, revealing a brighter rainbow than before.
"I'll be right back." Her father said before closing the door behind him. The voices behind the door started up again.
As fluttershy listened, she could her that the conversation was much lighter than before. Hopeful, even. As she watched, the microscopic droplets of condensed water that made up the floor began to sparkle through the rainbow on the floor.
The door opened and Fluttershy looked up to see an excited smile. "Fluttershy. I've spoken with Miss Hearth, and she's going to take care of everything." His horn glowed, and Fluttershy found herself floating onto his back.
"What is she going to do?" Fluttershy asked.
"She's going to give you a friend," he smiled in return.
The thought took a moment for Flutttershy to process. How was Miss Hearth going to give her a friend? Friends don't just fly out of nowhere do they? What if she was too shy? What if this new friend was mean? What if they didn't get along very well?
The more she thought about it, the more the idea of a new friend intimidated her. But her father was smiling, and she felt she could trust him. She let the hope that practically glowed from him seep into her.
With a sigh and a quick arch of her back, she stretched across her father's back and wrapped her forelegs around his neck before relaxing completely.
She let herself smile as well. Tomorrow was going to be a good day.