//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: The Lost Flower // by Silver Letter //------------------------------// At the outskirts of Ponyville, Fluttershy and her animal friends were getting things together for a tea party. Everything was lovely as always and nothing seemed out of the ordinary for the yellow mare. Her cottage was just teeming with life. “Settle down, everybody. The tea is just about done,” she said. She picked up a blue teapot and set it down on a large saucer in the middle of her table. Her many animals who could sit were all around on little benches or chairs while large ones, bears and goats and such, sat on the ground. The table was low enough for the little ones that crowded around. Fluttershy hummed to no one in particular, a happy little tune that easily drowned out the now quieting squawks, squeals and chatter of the animals. As she reached for a tray of cakes out of a pantry, she then realized that it was all too quiet. Not even her Angel Bunny, who would normally be tapping his foot impatiently by now, made as much as a whimper. She whipped her head in alarm, wondering what could be wrong. When she looked at her animals, she let out shortened sigh, halfway between confusion and alarm, and her eyes grew larger than the saucers on the table. Each and every one of them were asleep. Even the birds quietly nestled in their birdhouses and the snakes curled up like pieces of coiled rope. It was as if they were all given sleeping pills. She walked around them cautiously, reaching closer only to nudge them as she sometimes did while they were sick. But they didn’t seem ill by any standard and Fluttershy was utterly flummoxed as to what could be the reason for the occurrence of such mass slumber. Fluttershy felt ants crawling up her legs and she had to go outside. She had to tell somepony what happened. She opened her front door and stepped outside into the bright air of morning. A sharp wind was being blown through the low valleys towards the heart of town and Fluttershy shivered. The crystal spike of the Friendship Castle cast rainbows in every direction. She thought to go towards the castle and talk to her friend, Princess Twilight, to get her advice. Twilight knows every kind of magic in existence. She would know what to do in a heartbeat. Walking down her stone path towards the main road, she heard water running. She looked down towards the garden where the noise was coming from and saw Mr. Greenhooves lying in the middle of a patch of carrot plants, one of his newest gardens he planted last month. The hose kept running and had already made a puddle that looked like a tiny pond in the middle of the garden, drowning the plants. Fluttershy gasped and ran towards her friend. She quickly shut off the water and made sure that the large brown pony was safe and not in danger of drowning from all the water. He was okay even if his mane was wet and his little wisp of a beard soaked in mud. Not being able to pick him up, she had to leave him be. She didn’t have the muscles. More than ever, she had to go to town and get help. She went to the road and hurried, as fast as a pony like her could go which was not that fast by most pony standards, towards town. Fluttershy hated to run for long as it caused her heart to flutter and she sometimes forgot if she was chasing something or if she was being chased. But her fear could easily overrode the burning sensation in her lungs and the awfulness of sweat entering her eyes. She soon came across a pony walking on the bridge where she had kicked carts of garbage on Sweetie Drops and her friend that one time years ago. The pony was going even slower than Fluttershy normally did when meandering to town, sniffing wild flowers or to converse with the bees. Even she had to skid to a stop. This pony, she didn’t recognize. Her coat was a vivid pink color. There was a crystal, the color possibly between salmon or light red, surrounded by an aura on her flank. The wind blew the pony’s mane and tail, strands of the choppy blonde hair hanging in the breeze. On her head, she wore a polka dotted bonnet, which covered the back of her head. “Excuse me? Have you seen anything unusual around here?” Fluttershy asked her. The pony stopped walking but stared forward as if she didn’t understand. Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Excuse me,” she repeated, slightly louder as she normally did when somepony didn’t catch what she said. The pony definitely heard it and turned her head in kind. Her eyes were colored the blue of the deep sea, which reminded Fluttershy of the depths of the Manehattan waters. “What do you mean?” Her voice was as light and clear as a bell but strained as if it wasn’t meant to speak the language of ponies. Fluttershy hunched her shoulders uncomfortably. “Huh?” “This world is nothing but strange. It is why I seek the one named Twilight Sparkle.” Fluttershy then saw the same crystal hanging from a string around the pony’s neck. As soon as she did, she fell into a sudden daze which distorted her balance and senses worse than the first time she fell out of the clouds as a foal. She dropped to her knees, her hair falling over her face and she let a low moan escape. “What….is going on...” she struggled to say. Her mind pulsed. She hadn’t felt anything like this since Discord took control of her mind. She couldn’t hang on for long. The pony stepped forward nonchalantly, the crystal radiating with pink energy. She bent forward as if studying Fluttershy’s eyes. “You are not the one I seek.” She turned around and left her without a care in her voice. Fluttershy succumbed to the strange magic and collapsed in a heap on the bridge. She was soon fast sleep like her animals and Mr. Greenhooves.