The next morning the sun slowly rose over the horizon and eventually made its way right onto Scootaloo and Skylark’s faces. They scrunched their faces as the light gently woke them from their sleep. The fillies stretched their bodies before finally climbing out of a bed Fluttershy had made out of extra blankets and pillows and set up for them in one of the unused rooms upstairs. Still a little hazy, Scootaloo and Skylark carefully made their way down the stairs so as not to miss a step and end up tumbling to the bottom. “Fluttershy! Are you down here?” Scootaloo called out. She received no answer. They quickly searched throughout the house. Fluttershy was nowhere to be found. A slight panic struck the fillies. Fluttershy opened the front door as the fillies continued their desperate search, “Are you girls up yet?” she called out. Just like the day before, Fluttershy was awake long before the fillies and had been outside tending to the chickens. Scootaloo and Skylark popped their heads out from behind the couch and a wave of relief flowed through them. “Oh. There you two are. What are you doing behind the couch?”, Fluttershy asked with a puzzled expression. The two little ponies were embarrassed that they had gotten so flustered over nothing, “We were...just playing”, Skylark said trying as hard as she could to make it sound like she was telling the truth. “I see. Well I’ve taken care of everything around the house, so we will be heading into town soon”, she continued, “The reason I asked if you two would like to meet my friends is because they are each in need of some help today. I figured I might as well introduce you to them today since I was meeting up with them anyway.”
The three ponies headed into Ponyville and everything was new and exciting to Scootaloo and Skylark. “First we will stop by my friend Rarity’s store. She needs help making one of her new dresses.” The three of them entered the Carousel Boutique and were met by a flurry of flying materials. Scootaloo and Skylark were in awe of all of the beautiful dresses in the boutique. “Um...Rarity?” Fluttershy beckoned. Rarity was too focused on her work to even notice anypony had entered the store. Fluttershy started walking towards Rarity and was almost struck by a stray piece of fabric flying around the room. She ducked as low as she possibly could and continued the rest of the way to Rarity by crawling. Fluttershy reached out and tapped Rarity’s leg, “Um...Rarity. I’m here to help you with your dress.” Rarity still seemed to not notice Fluttershy’s presence but after a few hesitant seconds she set her materials, “Oh yes! I’m glad you could make it dear. How are you doing?”, Rarity said in her usual enthusiastic tone. “I’m okay. I have two ponies I would like to introduce you to”, Fluttershy told Rarity as she looked towards Scootaloo and Skylark who were still enthralled by Rarity’s dresses. “Girls. Come over here for a second. I would like you to meet my friend Rarity.” The two ponies made their way over to Fluttershy and Rarity.
“My name is Scootaloo.”
“And..my name...is Skylark”, she said rather shakily.
“It’s nice to meet you Miss Rarity”
“Oh please girls. You can just call me Rarity. Although Miss Rarity does have quite a nice ring to it doesn’t it? No, no. Just Rarity will do. Would you three like something to drink? Perhaps a snack?”
Rarity was always very proper and courteous to her friends and customers alike. She kept drinks and snacks at the ready in case company should show up unexpectedly. “That would be lovely”, Fluttershy replied. After a few minutes Rarity returned with a tray of cups and small bite sized sandwiches. As they ate the sandwiches and drank the tea, Fluttershy and Rarity made small talk. Once the sandwiches and tea were gone, the fillies returned to admiring the dresses with a little prodding from Fluttershy. “Please, please, please, please don’t tell me took these little fillies like you took Philomena”, Rarity begged. “Of course not. You didn’t have to bring that up. It was all just a misunderstanding. I am currently caring for these fillies....” Fluttershy relayed Scootaloo and Skylark’s story to Rarity. “That’s just awful!” Rarity exclaimed after hearing about the fillies’ plight. “How long will they be staying with you? Perhaps you can find somepony else to take care of them?”, Rarity didn’t seem too keen about the thought of Fluttershy taking care of the fillies. “I don’t know how long they will be staying with me. I don’t think it would be a good idea to just pass them off to somepony else after all they’ve been through. They just need somepony there for them right now”, Fluttershy smiled as she watched Scootaloo and Skylark happily scouring the racks of dresses. “Now about that dress I needed help wi-”, Rarity was cut off mid-sentence by a clanking noise. Scootaloo and Skylark had knocked over one of the dress racks which had fallen into a shelf and sent materials scattering all over the floor. “Oh dear. Are you two alright”, Fluttershy was more concerned about Scootaloo and Skylark unlike Rarity who was clearly upset about the mess she now had to clean up. “We’re sorry Miss Rarity. It was an accident”, Scootaloo said as she positioned herself between the adult ponies and Skylark, trying to physically shield her sister from the tension. “Anyway”, Rarity picked up from earlier, “I was actually able to finish the dress in question last night.” “Oh. Alright. I guess I will see you later then." Fluttershy couldn't help but think Rarity just didn't want her help anymore.
Once Fluttershy, Scootaloo, and Skylark had left the Carousel Boutique, the fillies knelt down in front of Fluttershy, “We’re sorry we messed things up. It really was an accident.” “It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean to. Let’s head over to see my next friend. She lives in a bakery. She has a big order of muffins to fill and asked if I could give her a hoof.” Onward to Sugarcube Corner they went. As they reached the entrance, Mr. and Mrs. Cake rushed out on their way to make a delivery. Inside the store there was no sign of anypony being there. Suddenly a great sneeze and puff of flour came from behind the counter. Fluttershy peeked over to the other side of the counter, “Pinkie?” “Oh. Hey Fluttershy! Ready to make some muffins with me?” A huge smile adorned Pinkie Pie’s face as it almost always did.
“Yes, but first I would like to introd-”
“Great! We can get started right away!” Pinkie began gathering all the necessary ingredients for her muffins.
“But Pinkie you didn’t let me fini-”
“Oh no! We’re out of milk! No wait there it is. I was expecting it to be more cow shaped.”
“Pinkie please listen to me for a minute. I have some-”
“I already know what you’re going to say. I love muffins too! Don’t worry. We will make some extra muffins just for us-us-usss.....” Pinkie had leaned over the counter to give Fluttershy a hug and noticed the two fillies sitting on the other side. Her expression became serious as she stared at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy. Why didn’t you tell me you brought friends? Not only did you not tell me but I’ve never seen them before which means they are new in town and if they are new in town and I’ve never seen them then they aren’t my friends yet and everypony is my friend and I’m friends with everypo-”, Pinkie was momentarily interrupted by her own thoughts, “I haven’t even sang the welcome song to them yet! Even worse I haven’t thrown them a welcome party!” Quickly Pinkie galloped upstairs and returned with her welcome wagon. After singing her welcome song to Scootaloo and Skylark, she proceeded to give them each a balloon and then danced with them. “Whew! There we go. Now I’ve sang you the welcome song and thrown you a quick welcome party. I know it wasn’t much but don’t you fret. I throw parties almost every week!” Pinkie’s over-the-top energy left the fillies baffled about what had just taken place. Pinkie Pie began to laugh hysterically, “I almost forgot. My name is Pinkie Pie. What are your names?” Scootaloo and Skylark reiterated the same greeting they had given Rarity but this time slowly since their brains were still trying to comprehend what had transpired. Taking advantage of their daze, Fluttershy quickly told Pinkie the gist of why the fillies were with her. “Oh. That’s terrible. I’m sure they will feel better once they get a taste of my muffins.” Pinkie bounced back into the kitchen with her three guests in tow. “Okay so we need to make fifty muffins for this order. Would you girls like to make some muffins?” The fillies had finally come out of their daze and nodded their heads in reply to Pinkie’s question. “Who could possibly need fifty muffins for a single order?” Fluttershy asked after reading the order ticket. Pinkie was already preparing the mix for the first batch and showing Scootaloo and Skylark each step needed to make them, “Do you even have to ask?” A light bulb seemed to turn in Fluttershy’s head, “Oh yeah. I guess that was a pretty silly question.”
Two hours later they had finally finished baking all fifty of the required muffins. After the first batch had finished cooking, the bakery smelled just as delicious. After the fiftieth batch, the ponies could only smell flour and eggs. “Now that you two know how to make the muffins, would you like to try making some?” Scootaloo and Skylark nodded their heads so vigorously, it seemed as if they would pop right off. Everything was going smoothly. They had prepared the mix and put them in the oven. Unfortunately they had lost track of how long the muffins had been in. A faint black smoke began to flow through the bakery. “Oh no!” The fillies ran to check on their muffins but it was too late. Pinkie picked one out of the mould and tapped it against the side of the stove. “Wow! These are really burned. That’s amazing! I didn’t know it was possible for them to get this hard.” Fluttershy glared at Pinkie. “Um. I mean...You girls did your best. Cooking isn’t always easy. I will go ahead and make another batch.” The next batch turned out just as well as the fifty batches. They ate their muffins, said farewell to Pinkie, and were on their way to see another one of Fluttershy’s friends. The rest of the day continued in a similar pattern: The fillies attempted to help but didn’t fare so well.
As Fluttershy and the two fillies headed back home just after the sun had set, a cold wind swept over them. “It seems winter may be a bit early this year.” Fluttershy stopped and watched the clouds drift through the sky. The fillies nudged her to get her attention, “We are really, really, really sorry about today. We just wanted to help you because you have done so much for us but every time we tried, we just made things worse.” Fluttershy knelt on the ground, “You two did help me. Sometimes helping doesn’t always go as planned. Even if you make mistakes, the important thing is that your hearts were in the right place.” The fillies didn’t seem to encouraged by Fluttershy’s words. They were too far down to be brought back up so easily. “But Spike was turned into a hippo because we gave Twilight the wrong book. Rainbow Dash got stuck in a barrel because we didn’t put it in the right place. And Applejack’s apples are probably still rolling towards Manehattan.” Fluttershy giggled a little, “Trust me. Spike has had much worse happen to him. Rainbow Dash wasn’t really mad at you two, that’s just the way she is. Besides that’s not the first time she’s been stuck in something. If you ask me, I think Applejack was happy she had an excuse to take a break from bucking the trees and she will probably visit her aunt and uncle while she’s in Manehattan.” No matter how down Scootaloo and Skylark felt, they couldn’t help but giggle about the thoughts of what could be worse than getting turned into a hippo, how many times Rainbow Dash had gotten stuck, or Applejack chasing apples all the way to Manehattan.
They made it home before it had gotten too late. “I have a surprise for you two. Follow me upstairs, please.” The three of them headed upstairs towards the room Scootaloo and Skylark slept in the night before. Fluttershy opened the door and on either side of the room were two beautiful new beds.
“I bought you each a bed and while we were out I had somepony from the furniture store come by and set them up for you.”
“You got beds...for us?”
“Well, not just beds. I thought...maybe if you would like...um...this could be your room from now on.”
“Thank you Fluttershy. For everything you’ve done for us.”
With that they hugged Fluttershy and were off to bed. They didn’t fall asleep. They lay there thinking about the events of the day and how they had messed up so much and how, they believed, they had caused Fluttershy a lot of problems.
“Skylark. Are you still awake?” Scootaloo whispered.
“Yeah.” Although it was far too dark for her to see Scootaloo, Skylark positioned herself so that she was facing Scootaloo’s direction.
“I think we are causing Fluttershy too many problems.”
“We did cause her a lot of problems today.” Skylark sank in her bed a little at the thought of her own words.
“Daddy said we could take care of ourselves if nopony would take us in. I think it would be okay for us to take care of each other since we are causing Fluttershy so much trouble.”
“But I like Fluttershy. I want to stay with her.” A little embarrassed, Skylark partially covered her face with her blanket.
“I know. Me too, but we are just going to keep causing her trouble if we stay. Are you with me?”
“I...I’m with you.” Skylark’s answer was a bit reluctant.
The two of them got out of bed and slowly and quietly made their way downstairs. They left a short note on the couch. It read:
We are sorry we have caused you so much trouble. Don’t worry.
We won’t be coming back. We are big fillies. We can take care of ourselves.
Love,
Scootaloo and Skylark
After placing their note, they left the cottage and head towards the Everfree forest. They wanted to stay with Fluttershy, but they didn’t want to cause her trouble even more. As they ran a few tears escaped from their eyes. The cold winter wind accompanied them on their path back into the forest once again.