It was spring time in Ponyville. The sun was shining brightly and the birds were chirping, giving some tasty worms to their children, the flowers were blooming and the bees were gathering honey.
Fluttershy was out tending to her wonderful animals. The yellow mare had just struggled feeding angel after he tried to throw a carrot at her face, which she dodged.
“Now, Angel, you know you shouldn’t do that,” she said softly in a sweet tone. Once she finished feeding her animals she went into her cottage to get her grocery list. She was out of food and needed to do some major shopping. Picking it up in her hooves she put it in her saddlebag that she had just put on, and began walking out the door and into town. On her way there she walked passed Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash saw Fluttershy and smiled “Hey, Flutters. Would you be able to come to my house later today and help me with tank? He's been chewing on my books for some odd reason”.
“Sure. If I got time I will,” she said, walking away. In the market area she was able to get some really good produce this time. She got top notch quality carrots, bird food and everything else her little critters would need.
Instead of going home first she wanted to go visit Twilight to see if there was anything she could help her alicorn friend with. She just wanted to be a nice friend.
Getting to the castle she knocked on the big doors, waiting patiently for somepony to answer. Hearing hoofsteps she backed away a little, hiding her face in her mane.
Opening the door Twilight smiled at Fluttershy. “Ah, nice to see you could make it. I was just about ready to put some books away in the library section of the castle. Maybe you could help me,” she said, stepping out of the way for Fluttershy to come in, which she did.
Fluttershy started putting the books away that Twilight gave her into the bookshelves. She enjoyed helping a friend. She’d do anything for her friends if she could.
When they finished Twilight thought it would be nice to have some tea so they drank it outside. Twilight had decided to ask Fluttershy some things.
“So how was flight camp for you as a filly?” she asked, a little curious. She didn’t know the full story on this. All she knew was that Fluttershy fell from Cloudsdale as a filly.
Fluttershy spit her tea out, surprised by the question. “What… you want to know how my life in cloudsdale was?” she asked. Twilight nodded.
“Well, my life there wasn’t a good one. I had no friends until I met Dash. I was bullied every single day. I still remember the chant those mean bullies did. It was the most horrible thing in my life. I never want anypony else to experience what I did” she said, starting to cry a little.
Twilight put her tea down and gave Fluttershy a warm hug. “Sorry I even asked, but I take it that Rainbow Dash saved you when things got… out of hoof,” she said, smiling at Fluttershy. The yellow mare was truly a good friend. A nice friend at that. She couldn’t understand how anypony could be mean to her.
Fluttershy nodded. “Yeah…shes a great friend. Standing up to bullies for somepony as weak as me. Heh! She truly was loyal even as a filly,” she said, smiling.
Finishing the tea Fluttershy sighed, “If anypony else is being bullied I… I don’t know what I’d do, but so far it seems everypony is nice to each other,” she said, putting the tea cup down then bowing to Twilight respectfully. Once finished she left back to her home. She knew that Angel would be mad at her if she came home late and she did want him to be upset.
The sun slowly started to come down as it was starting to get dark. Fluttershy couldn’t believe she was out for that long. It seemed like she was only away for an hour but maybe it was longer. She shrugged it off and continued walking home. However she heard somepony talking on the road home.
When she was in view of the voice she heard she saw Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom talking to some filles. The ponies they were speaking with was Diamond Tiara and her trusty sidekick Silver Spoon, “Aw, they must be playing tag,” Fluttershy said, but she decided to keep an eye on them and stay hiding in the bush. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but something seemed off about the pink filly with the Tiara.
The pink filly snorted at the crusaders. “Ah, it's good to be a princess and have a talent, wouldn’t you say so, Spoon?” Silver Spoon nodded to her friend. “I mean, look at you crusaders. Blank flanks? Thats like, so last year. When will you ever get your cutie marks?” she asked, not even caring about their feelings, laughing a little, as did her friend.
Apple Bloom got up, wiping some of the dirt off of herself and helping her friends up. They had just tried to get their cutie marks in being sap gatherers but didn’t go as planned and they ended up getting some sap all over themselves, Apple Bloom glared at the rich fillies.
“We’ll get our cutie marks soon, and it will be way better than your stupid ones” Scootaloo said, furious, hovering for a few second before coming back down.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were taken aback by this, but Tiara smiled evilly toward Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Since bullying them for their cutie marks wasn’t working maybe she could change it to something that would break them.
“Well, you know its too bad you can’t fly, Scootaloo. I mean, just look at you: a pegasus that can’t fly, or maybe I should say a chicken When are you going to put those baby wings away and get your big girl wings?” she said hurtfully, and turned to Sweetie belle. Scootaloo’s ears drooped, hearing that.
Fluttershy’s body tensed a little hearing that. “Heh. Maybe… she’s just messing around,” she said, trying to come up with an excuse. She kept hidden just in case. If she had to jump in she would.
“And you, Sweetie Belle... you're even worst then Scootaloser. You can’t even use your magic. No wonder why your sister can’t stand you. I bet Rainbow Dash and Rarity would be better off without you two, you're so worthless” she said. Fluttershy finally had enough and marched over to the pink filly.
reaching a hoof towards Tiara she poked her in the sides, to get her attention, “How dare she say that to them. They can’t help it if they’re late bloomers like I was as a filly, and how dare she say they're worthless.” she thought. She wasn’t angry but she wanted to put an end to it.
Diamond Tiara’s pupils shrank seeing Fluttershy in front of her, but then remembered its just the mare who can’t do anything to stop her, “What do you want?” she asked in a bored voice.
“HOW DARE YOU! I never thought anypony could be as mean as you are, but this is the most harsh thing anypony could say. Now you are going to march home and tell your father what you did?” she asked, glaring at Diamond Tiara.
Diamond Tiara remembered a taunt that Fluttershy hated “Fluttershy… Fluttershy can hardly fly,” she taunted, not realizing she was digging her own grave.
Ordinarily the reminded or her past bullying would have gotten her upset, but she was doing this for someone else so it only made her mad. Fluttershy took a deep breath and gave Diamond Tiara the stare. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon’s laughter immediately stopped. The two of them began to tremble, unable to turn their eyes away. By the time she was finished Diamond Tiara looked like she was about to cry, “Now stand right there. I’ll take you home myself.”
In the most genuine and polite tone she had ever used she quickly said, “Yes, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy walked passed Diamond Tiara and gave the three crusaders a big hug “I hope she didn’t hurt your feelings too much, but don’t worry. I got a plan on how I can fix her,” she said smiling.
The crusaders nodded and went on their merry way. Seeing their two bratty bullies scared out of their minds brought them great joy.
Silver Spoon was about to leave but Fluttershy told her to come with her to Tiara’s mansion. Silver Spoon was too scared to disobey.
Upon reaching Tiara’s mansion Fluttershy knocked on the door and put Tiara in from of the door “Now you tell him the truth or I’m sure Silver Spoon wouldn’t mind doing it for you,” she said in a firm voice. “And if Silver Spoon doesn’t want to fess up she can get a stare just for her.”
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon both gulped.
The door opened, revealing a brown stallion with a bag of money for a cutie mark, “Ah, my wonderful pride and joy, Why are you home so soon? Shouldn’t you be playing with those friends of your, the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” he asked, unaware of the situation.
Diamond Tiara gulped again. She knew either way if she lied she would either get the stare and knowing Silver Spoon she would tell the truth. She was totally trapped. Ordinarily she would be mad, but she was too wary of getting the stare again to risk mouthing off.
“No, daddy. I, uh, got something to… to tell you” she said as she began her story on how she treated the crusaders. She kept shooting nervous glances at Fluttershy every time she got the urge to lie or to minimize what she had done. Her father was very disappointed in her but he and Fluttershy talked and Shy came up with a great punishment for her.
“Ok, Diamond Tiara. Me and Fluttershy have decided on your punishment. I love you, princess, but you need to learn that bullying is bad. So starting now you will be living with Fluttershy until you can behave like a good filly.” He sighed. It pained him to do this to his pride and joy, but it also made him feel pain that he was never there to stop this. He had picked Fluttershy because she had shown a great skill in reforming others, just like she did with Discord.
“WHAT!” she yelled. “You can’t do this to me! Leaving me with this stupid animal caretaker!”
Silver Spoon backed away. She was lucky that she didn’t have to be reformed “Tiara, I, uh, I have to agree with them. I only wanted to be your friend to get popular but…you're nothing but a stubborn brat,” she said, trotting away back to her own home.
“YOU TRAITOR! Fine! Go. Leave. I don’t care. I got more and better friends than you,” she lied. She truly only had Silver Spoon but she never told anypony that.
Fluttershy and Diamond Tiara began walking to her home. This was going to be one tough challenge for the yellow mare.