//------------------------------// // Being There For Your Friend // Story: Being There For Your Friend // by Snowyshy //------------------------------// It was a beautiful day in Ponyville. The sun was shining brightly, there was not a cloud in the sky, and the weather was pleasantly warm. Out enjoying the beautiful weather was Twilight Sparkle and her number one assistant Spike the dragon. They were walking in a nice grassy field. "It is such a beautiful day," Twilight said to Spike as they walked. "You said it," Spike replied. "It is so nice out today. The sun is shining and the weather is warm and..." Spike was interrupted as he and Twilight heard crying coming from the distance. "Who could that be?" Spike asked. Spike hopped onto Twilight's back and she started running through the field. As they ran through the grassy plain, the crying got louder and louder. Finally Twilight found where the crying was coming from, and the sight was heartbreaking. It was their friend Fluttershy, sitting helplessly on the ground. The poor pegasus pony was all battered and covered in bruises. She had bruises on all four of her legs and her body. Her wing was even broken and just dangled by her side. Tears were just flowing from her eyes and she just felt so much pain. She couldn't even walk. She just was on the ground, crying. "Oh no! Fluttershy!" Twilight exclaimed, shocked. Seeing Fluttershy all beaten up, in pain, and crying made the unicorn realize that her friend might not be able to walk, and her eyes just started to fill up with tears. Spike's eyes started to fill up with tears as well. Twilight noticed cart nearby. The cart was covered with a few flower stems, and petals. She knew that Fluttershy used this cart to transport her flowers and animals, but there was no single animal in sight, and it looked like the flowers were taken out of the cart, but they were nowhere in sight. Twilight used her magic to clean up whatever flower stems and petals that were left in the cart. She and Spike carefully lifted their friend into it. They were especially careful with Fluttershy's legs. Once Fluttershy was in the cart, Spike hopped onto Twilight's back and she used her magic to pull it. During the cart ride, Fluttershy tried to rest for a bit. Later, the three friends reach Twilight's home. She and Spike carefully help Fluttershy into their home. Once inside her house, Spike stayed with Fluttershy as Twilight went to get some blankets and pillows for her friend to rest on. Twilight carefully placed the blankets on the floor so it was nice and comfortable for Fluttershy to rest on. After setting up the blankets and pillows, Twilight and Spike helped helped the injured pegasus pony onto the bed they just made. Once Fluttershy was laying down in her bed comfortably, Twilight then went over to a bookshelf and got a book that was all about taking care of others. She looked through it to see what she could do. She read and read until she found out to take care of a broken pegasus wing. She read that to heal a broken wing, she needed to use wood and bandages. "Spike," said Twilight. "Can you go get me some bandages and wood?" "Yes!" said Spike as he went out to retrieve healing materials. While the little dragon was out, Twilight sat down next to Fluttershy to talk to her. "Who could have done this to you?" Twilight asked with a concerned tone. Fluttershy took one look at Twilight and her eyes just teared up. It wasn't long until she started crying her eyes out. "Don't worry Fluttershy, whatever happened, I'll do my best to help you feel better," said Twilight. Twilight wanted to hug the poor pegasus pony, but she couldn't because she knew that it would only hurt her friend more. Then Spike came home, with the necessary materials Twilight listed. "Now this may hurt a bit," said Twilight. Twilight carefully took two pieces of wood and put them on each side of Fluttershy's wing. Fluttershy cried a bit as Twilight did this, but she could see that Twilight was only trying to help. Twilight wrapped bandages around the pegasus pony's wing to keep it still and in place. She also wrapped more bandages around her friend's legs, body, and forehead. Soon night time came, so Fluttershy tried to go to sleep. Meanwhile Twilight went upstairs to her room. Fluttershy heard some noise coming from Twilight's room. This startled her a bit, but then Twilight came back. Instead of sleeping in her own bed, Twilight decided to sleep on the floor right next to to her. Fluttershy was touched that the unicorn gave up the comfort of her own bed to be right next to her. "I'll be right here for you," said Twilight. "I'll make sure you'll feel better." The next day came and Fluttershy was still asleep. Twilight decided to get up early and she woke up Spike at the same time. She and the dragon went into the kitchen to cook up some breakfast. Twilight wanted to surprise her friend with something nice for breakfast. Spike used his flames to help make some toast and Twilight used the oven to bake some muffins. Sadly, the muffins didn't come out correctly. So Twilight sent Spike into town to pick up some fresh ones. The dragon carefully left so he wouldn't wake up their friend from sleeping. While in town, Spike went to Ponyville's best bakery, which was the home of Pinkie Pie. While he was there, he found Pinkie Pie as happy and energetic as ever. Pinkie noticed the little dragon came over, so she bounced right over to him. "Hi Spike, you're up early," said Pinkie Pie. "How can I help you?" "Not much, I need to get some muffins for Twilight and Fluttershy," said Spike. "Ooh," exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she jumped up and down. "I guess Twilight is having another sleepover!" "Not exactly," said Spike, "you see, Twilight and I found Fluttershy all hurt and beaten up, and we took her home to help nurse her back to good health." Pinkie Pie's excitement stopped as soon as she heard the heartbreaking news. So Pinkie took a basket and filled it with muffins. She put all sorts of different muffins into the basket. There were chocolate ones, and blueberry ones, and even plain ones. When she filled the basket, she handed them to Spike. When Spike went to pay her for her hard work, she stopped him. "No need to pay," she said. "These are on me." "Why?" asked Spike, confused. "You work so hard on your pastries?" "Yes, but Fluttershy is hurt, so these are on the house," Pinkie Pie said, smiling. "These are a gift from me to her." "Gee, thanks," Spike replied gratefully, "Goodbye!" Spike headed home and as soon as he got there, the injured pegasus pony was still asleep, so he quietly walked to the kitchen with the basket. Twilight was still in there and was by the oven keeping the toast all nice and warm. Spike handed her the basket of muffins. "Pinkie Pie said these were on the house," he told her. "I told her about Fluttershy and she was kind enough to give them to me." Twilight smiled and said, "We'll have to thank Pinkie next time we see her." Twilight and Spike brought breakfast back to the room their friend was in, and soon the pegasus pony woke up. To her surprise, she saw Twilight and Spike right there with a pile of toast and some fresh muffins. This made her smile a bit as she saw they prepared breakfast to eat. Twilight and Spike sat down with their friend to eat. Fluttershy was still in pain and couldn't move to try to eat breakfast, so Twilight helped feed her breakfast so she could eat. Thankfully she wasn't injured in her mouth and was able to eat. During breakfast, Twilight still wanted to know who could have done this to her friend. "How are you feeling?" asked Twilight. "It still hurts a bit," said Fluttershy. "Thank you for being there when you found me." "You're talking, that's good," said Twilight, relieved. Spike noticed this and asked "So who did this to you?" Fluttershy stopped eating her breakfast for a moment, swallowed the bit of food in her mouth, and simply frowned. "I... I... I... don't wanna talk about it," she stuttered a little, sadly. Twilight continued to help her friend eat some more until she was done. For the rest of the day, Twilight just made sure to let her friend rest and help her when it was needed. Twilight helped Fluttershy eat lunch, dinner, and a snack. When Fluttershy couldn't get any sleep, she simply read her a story from her huge book collection. Twilight did this every single day for one whole week. When the week was up, Twilight checked on her friend's legs and noticed they were healing. Fluttershy herself felt the pain in her legs has disappeared, so she got up and walked around a bit. Then when she walked over to her friend and smiled. This made Twilight smile as well. Twilight and Spike were both happy at the progress they made. Still, their friend felt pain from her body and head, and her wing was still broken, but she smiled at the fact that she could walk again. During the next week, Twilight continued to take care of Fluttershy. Now being able to walk, she was helped by Twilight to go outside for some fresh air. When the pegasus pony was outside, she breathed in the fresh air. It was nice and refreshing after being stuck inside for a whole week. On any day that was nice, Twilight and her dragon assistant helped Fluttershy to go outside for a bit. On days it was raining and storming, Twilight did her best to keep the injured pegasus pony comfortable and warm. Twilight even read her friend more stories to help her relax. Twilight still wanted to know who did this to her, but she resisted asking as she knew it might upset her. The third week got even better for Fluttershy, she didn't feel any pain in her head, and her legs were fully healed. The pegasus pony was very happy and so were Twilight and Spike. They were so pleased Twilight had her assistant to go tell their other friends. "Spike, you have to go get Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie know about Fluttershy and her progress," said Twilight with a smile. Spike was off to let the other ponies know. Thankfully, all the ponies were gathered at Applejack's farm. Applejack was taking a break from apple bucking, and she was chatting with Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. There were no smiles, Each talked about Fluttershy together, as they were worried about her. "I can't believe anyone would do that to Fluttershy," Rarity stated with surprise. "I know, she is such a sweetie," said Applejack, looking very concerned. "It's really sad to hear such a thing happening to a fellow pegasus pony," said Rainbow Dash angrily. Spike surprisingly came over and said, "So I guess you all heard about Fluttershy." Pinkie Pie answered, "I had to let them know, we're all friends and we all love her so much." "Well, I'm here to report that Fluttershy is actually doing better," said Spike, joyfully. "She started walking again and her head pain is all gone! Would you all like to visit?" Without hesitation, Applejack grabbed a bottle of homemade apple juice and the ponies were on their way. As they walked through Ponyville, they made a few stops. The first stop was Pinkie Pie's home. That day she baked some fresh cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles just for Fluttershy. She placed them in her basket hat and then they continued walking until they stopped at Rarity's home. It just happened that Rarity and Rainbow Dash worked together to make a get well card. Spike was amazed how Pinkie Pie was able to spread the news amongst her friends. They finally reached Twilight's home and as they entered they saw Fluttershy laying down in her bed, with Twilight right next to her. The pegasus pony was very surprised to see that all her friends came to visit. Applejack presented her with some homemade apple juice, and Pinkie Pie gave her the basket hat full of rainbow-sprinkled cupcakes. Rainbow Dash and Rarity even presented the card they made. "How are you feeling, sugarcube?" asked Applejack. "I'm feeling a little bit better," said Fluttershy. "My legs are healed and my head is better!" Fluttershy got up and walked around a bit. Seeing this made all of her friends happy. It didn't last long as the pegasus pony felt some pain and went back to her bed. "Sadly, I still hurt in some spots," said Fluttershy, quietly. "Thank you for all the wonderful gifts." Fluttershy was so happy for having such caring friends, that her eyes filled up with tears and she started to cry. Every pony wanted to give the poor pegasus pony a hug, but they knew it would only hurt her more, so they didn't. They all spent the day right by Fluttershy's side. Soon the sun was setting outside the window, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie said their good byes and wished their friend to get well soon. They all left, both Twilight and Fluttershy were very pleased to see the rest of their friends. Twilight continued to take care of her pegasus friend during the rest of that week. The fourth week improved even more. Fluttershy felt even less pain in her body. She felt none coming from her side now, and her back was hurting just a little. Her wing was even healing; it was still broken, but it was nowhere as bad as it was three weeks ago. Fluttershy had a really big smile on her face, and this made Twilight happy as well. During the fourth week, Fluttershy's friends all stopped by to visit her to see how she was doing. Even though they couldn't stay with her, each pony made sure to visit often to check up on their friend. They all talked to her, telling her of the different events that she missed. Pinkie Pie even made a song to cheer Fluttershy up and Applejack brought some more apple juice. "Thank you," said Fluttershy. "I do wish for some fresh air." Fluttershy looked outside of the window and sees the clouds, it looks like it was about to rain. Then Rainbow Dash had a great idea. She went outside, flew up into the sky, and cleared the clouds away. She flew around pushing each cloud out of the way, and continued this until there were no clouds left. Now there was a sunny sky. She came back into Twilight's home when she was done. "Did someone say they wanted fresh air?" asked Rainbow Dash proudly. Fluttershy and the other ponies smiled and laughed. For the rest of that day they stayed outside. Fluttershy was sitting and all of her friends were with her. As soon as the day was over, each pony said their good-byes and went home. Twilight continued for the rest of the week to take care of her pegasus friend. She was very happy to see the progress they had made. Just weeks ago, her friend was battered, beaten, and completely covered in bruises. Now she was feeling much better. Twilight still didn't hug her as she still hurt a bit, but both were glad to see how far they have come. The fifth week was the best week for Fluttershy. All the pain was gone and her wing completely healed. The once bruised pony was back to her beautiful yellow color. She was so happy, she went outside and flew around a bit. Twilight and Spike both saw this and smiled. When Fluttershy saw her friend, she landed, gave her happiest smile and thanked her. "I'm so happy you're better," said Twilight, smiling. "I know," replied Fluttershy, elated. "I feel 110% better!" Twilight was very glad, and then she thought of something. "Fluttershy, can you excuse me for a moment, I have to talk to Spike," Twilight told her. Twilight went into her house and to talk with her assistant. She found him dusting the bookshelves. "Spike!" She called him over. The dragon stopped dusting the bookshelves and came over to Twilight. "Yes, Twilight?" he asked. "Fluttershy is all better," said Twilight with a smile. "Yes, I'm glad she is," Spike said excitingly. "So, go get Pinkie Pie, I want a surprise party for Fluttershy," she instructed him, "If anyone knows a how to throw a party, it's her!" "Yes, ma'am," He replied, as he left to go look for the pink pony. Twilight went back to her pegasus friend and spent the rest of the morning with her. Meanwhile, Spike went to visit Pinkie Pie, and, by luck, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were there too. Spike delivered the news and explained that Twilight wanted a surprise party for her friend. In a heartbeat, Pinkie Pie got to work on the party by mixing up batter to make a cake. Rarity decided to put up all sorts of decorations and balloons, with Rainbow Dash helping put decorations up as well. Applejack kept an eye out for signs of the two ponies. It took the whole morning to decorate Pinkie Pie's home and bake the cake. Everything looked colorful and the cake was beautiful. "Everything looks great," said Spike. "I'm going home to get the guest of honor, everyone wait here and when she comes yell surprise." "Ooh, a surprise party!" said Pinkie Pie excitedly as she turned off the lights. Spike returned home to see Twilight was still with her friend. Spike whispered to Twilight and hopped on her back. Soon the trio started walking to Pinkie Pie's home. They walked through town, and Fluttershy was very happy. She even flew a few times along the way. When they finally reached Pinkie Pie's home, the pegasus pony got a bit nervous when she saw the lights were out. Twilight reassured her that it was okay, and convinced her to go in. As soon as they entered the building, the lights went on. "SURPRISE!" everypony shouted. Fluttershy jumped a bit since it startled her, but when she saw it were only her friends, she smiled. There was Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and even Pinkie Pie behind a large cake. The cake even read "Congrats on feeling better, Fluttershy!" and looked delicious. Fluttershy and Twilight both smiled and they were happy to see what their friends put together. There were party games, talking, and celebrating. Every pony even went outside to see their friend fly around for a bit. They were all happy to see Fluttershy back to her old self. Every pony even gave her a hug that she deserved ever since she got hurt. After hours of celebrating, Twilight and Fluttershy left the party and said bye to their friends. Spike on the other hand decided to head home. Fluttershy and Twilight were walking through Ponyville when suddenly the pegasus pony let out a scream. "What's happening!?" said Twilight surprised by the scream. "It's them, they're the ones who beat me up," Fluttershy whimpered as she cowered behind Twilight. The two saw a couple of rough-looking ponies. One was dark gray and the other was a dark blue. The dark blue pony had an eye patch and the dark gray one had its mane in spikes. Neither one of them had a cutie mark on them. These two ponies were right near an officer pony wearing a hat with a badge on it. Twilight looked on as Fluttershy hid behind her. "I can't believe this!" shouted the officer pony menacingly to the two ruffians. "You steal flowers, threaten other ponies, and cause all sorts of trouble. I'm gonna have to lock you two up!" Twilight suddenly remembered Fluttershy's cart that day she found her beaten up. It must have been filled with flowers, which explained the petals and stems found in it. These two ponies must have tried to steal the flowers in that cart, and Fluttershy was in the way so they must have beaten her so she would be out of the way. Seeing these two ponies in custody, Twilight turned to her friend and smiled. "Don't worry," reassured Twilight. "Where they're going, they won't be able to hurt you anymore." Twilight and her friend continued walking through Ponyville until they reached the pegasus pony's home. When they got there, Fluttershy looked at Twilight and smiled, then she started crying. Twilight didn't know what was going on, but Fluttershy started to speak. "Thank you, Twilight," said Fluttershy as she smiled and tears streamed down her face, "If it wasn't for you, I would still be hurt on the ground with nopony to help me. Thank you so much for finding me, taking me to your home, taking care of me, and doing everything you can." Twilight just smiled, and soon she started to happily cry. "You're very welcome," said Twilight, crying and finally giving her friend that hug she'd been wanting to give her ever since she found her all injured. "I'm happy I helped you back to your old self again." After they said their good byes, Twilight continued to walk home. When she got home, she told Spike to write a letter. That letter said... Dear Princess Celestia, I learned something about friendship during the past month. You see, friendship is about being there for your friends when they need you the most. At the beginning of the month, I found Fluttershy hurt and battered, sitting on the ground helplessly. I decided to take her home and heal her back to her old self. If I wasn't there, who knew what could have happened. I could have lost a very dear friend if nopony was there to help her out during her time of need. Amazingly, when Pinkie Pie found out, she told Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all about what happened, and they were there for Fluttershy too. They visited her, and brought her great gifts. Fluttershy is one special pony who's lucky to have such nice caring friends. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle As soon as the letter was done, Spike breathed fire onto it and the letter was delivered to Princess Celestia.