In December of 2011, I was watching the episode “Sonic Rainboom.” In the scene where Rarity is shining light down on the Weather Factory workers, I noticed a respectable-looking pegasus mare in a factory uniform with the same yellow-and-pink color scheme as Fluttershy. My first thought was that she was family—a sister or a cousin, maybe. I kept watching, and noticed the dozens of yellow-and-pink ponies at the Best Young Flyer Competition, and the idea began to form that, perhaps, Fluttershy had a large extended family—an idea which seemed to fit her oddly well.
Immediately afterwards, I watched “The Cutie Mark Chronicles.” During the race for Fluttershy’s honor, I noticed that the same yellow-and-pink pony (“Ms. Respectable,” as I was calling her) was watching the beginning of the race, but she wasn’t there at the end. Now a story was beginning to form: this pony was Fluttershy’s sister, and, more importantly, her long-lost sister. Noticing that Fluttershy had fallen, she had gone looking for her (without success), which is why she didn’t stick around for the end of the race.
As I continued to watch more episodes of the show, I noticed a second pony very similar to “Ms. Respectable,” except that she had different-colored eyes and wore a skirt. She, of course, became another sister.
Given the “Origin Stories” for the sisters, I tried to integrate as many of their in-show appearances into the story as possible. It turns out I missed quite a few, but that’s okay. I’ve written up a list of the appearances I used in the story, as well as how I used them, which you can find at the end of these notes.
Before I started writing, I did some research to see if Fluttershy already had a fanon family (she doesn’t, not really. Unless you count this story, of course). While doing my research, I stumbled on “Fluttershy’s Mom,” a piece drawn by Yamino on DeviantArt. I really liked the design, and decided to use her. Yamino didn’t have a name for her, so had solicited suggestions, one of which was “Angel Bunny.” I loved it, and added her to the story right away.
Fluttershy’s dad was a little more difficult. I had an idea for his name and his general backstory, but I had a hard time picturing what he looked like. Saliant Sunbreeze, from the Equestria Daily chatrooms (Where he’s known as “Sali”) kindly did some concept art for me, which was a big help. His name, “Scratch Racer,” comes from horse racing: to “scratch” a horse is to remove it from a race. Thus, Scratch Racer, who gave up a promising racing career to focus on his family, is a “Racer” who’s been “Scratched.”
One last thing: the scene where Fluttershy runs across the backyard trying to fly was inspired by one of my family’s pets. We once had a goose, who, for some reason, couldn’t fly well—but that didn’t stop him from trying. He’d run across our (fairly large) backyard, flapping his wings as hard as he could, and he’d just barely lift off the ground before he had to stop. When I was trying to figure out the scene where Fluttershy tried to fly for the first time, that stupid goose was the first thing that came to mind.
Thank you very much for reading. Writing this story has been a blast, and I’ve been a little overwhelmed at all the positive comments I’ve been receiving. I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!
-brokenimage321
The following is a list of the appearance of April and Skittle that I considered "canon" within the context of the story, arranged in the order they appear. Each line contains the name of the episode, where and how the sisters appear in the episode, and how that appearance translated into the story:
-"The Cutie Mark Chronicles": April is present at the beginning of the race for Fluttershy’s honor, but not at the end; April sees the race start, but goes looking for Fluttershy before it ends.
-"A Bird in the Hoof": Skittle is at the brunch with Princess Celestia; When Skittle complains that she’s bored, April asks her about all the high-society brunches she sneaks into.
-"Feeling Pinkie Keen": April is part of the same moving crew as Derpy; April works part-time for the moving crew.
-"Look Before You Sleep": April is one of the ponies moving the stormclouds into position; April tells Skittle how the Weather Factory workers are occasionally assigned to move clouds.
-"Sonic Rainboom": April is one of the ponies in the Cloud Division, shown pumping the bellows on the boiling vats. She is also one of the ponies that are distracted by Rarity’s wings, and is present at the Best Young Flyer competition; April works in the Cloud Division, is assigned to pump the bellows the day of the competition. She describes Rarity’s wings in detail, and is also present at the competition.
-"The Ticket Master": Skittle is part of the mob that chases Twilight Sparkle, trying to get her ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala; At the Best Young Flyer’s competition, Skittle starts telling April about how she almost got a ticket to the Gala the last time she went to Ponyville.
-"The Best Night Ever": Skittle is present at the Gala; Skittle tells April about her experience at the Gala.
-"The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000": April is among the ponies that buy the Apple’s cider; April says that Fluttershy invited her down for the event.
-"Putting Your Hoof Down": Fluttershy stands next to April while listening to Iron Will; April says Fluttershy brought her along for “Moral Support.”
-"Hurricane Fluttershy": April is among the ponies that help create the tornado; April tells us that Fluttershy convinced her to come down and help out.
-"Hearts and Hooves Day": During the musical number, April is shown seated across from a stallion, looking into his eyes and blushing; April talks briefly about her “very special somepony,” calling him “Dewey Decimal.”
Special thanks to my editors and creative consultants: Beefster, EvilEmisan, Golden Vision, Jimmy, Lunar Shadow, Nick, Pascoite, Sage, Saliant Sunbreeze, Shiosk, Yunrui & Diane. Couldn't have done it without you guys :)