The students bustled from room to room, pausing at lockers or to talk with friends. In it all, one girl would have hardly been noticed. It wasn’t because of her appearance, though. She had pastel yellow skin and petal pink hair that flowed down her back, her bangs swept to the side and hanging over her right eye. Speaking of her eyes, they were a thoughtful teal and never hid her gentleness for a moment. She dressed in a pastel green sundress with a pink butterfly print, her white sandals were perfectly clean despite the ordinarily easily dirtied color.
She hugged her textbooks to her chest as she walked quietly to second period. Nobody noticed her, but she liked it that way. She wanted to make friends, but her extreme shyness and social anxiety made it hard for her to get to know others. A lot of the teachers wouldn’t even call on her in class because they knew how bad it made her feel and didn’t want to do that to her.
Fluttershy entered study hall and pulled out some homework to do. All of the other students were basically just talking, though some were talking and working. However, Fluttershy was fully focused on the geography homework she had just been given.
“Hey, Fluttershy,” a voice said as the person it belonged to sat beside her.
“Oh, h-hi, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy whispered back, barely audible,. Rainbow Dash was the closest thing she had to a friend, but even they barely knew each other.
“Did you hear the announcements?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“Do you know who the new girl is?”
Fluttershy shook her head.
“Oh. Are you heading to Cloudsdale this weekend?”
“Next.”
“Mind if I tag along?”
“No.”
“Wait, your brother isn’t going to be with whoever picks you up, right?”
“No, Zephyr will be at home. Just my mother is coming.”
“Good, does he still have a crush on me?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“Ugh!” Rainbow Dash facepalmed. “That’s probably the best part of this student exchange program that we’re both in, I don’t have to have him hanging off of me everyday.”
Fluttershy just nodded as Rainbow Dash went back to her seat, putting on a pair of headphones and laying back to take a nap.
Oh yeah, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are from Cloudsdale. Which is how they both know each other. More on Rainbow later. Fluttershy is in the program because she was being bullied a lot in her old public school and, unfortunately, her parents couldn’t afford a private school. But then the option for the exchange student program came up, and they took it. They chose Ponyville because it’s very close by, so she can visit home a lot. She stays with the local vet and her family, which she enjoys because she gets to help her take care of the animals.
Fluttershy could never talk to other people, but animals? Easy peasy lemon squeezy, she never felt a moment of shyness or unease around them. She just felt peaceful and happy. She heard Rainbow Dash wake up and come back beside her, study hall was nearly over.
“What are you doing?” Rainbow asked.
“Studying for French class,” Fluttershy whispered.
“Pfft, you don’t need to study.”
“Rainbow, studying is important to-”
“No, I mean you don’t need to study for French.”
Fluttershy cocked her head.
“Fluttershy, you speak, like, what, twelve different languages?”
“Ten.”
“Whatever, one of those being French and each one being fluent!”
“I wouldn’t say fluent…”
“It’s fluent. How did you learn all of these anyway?”
Fluttershy shrugged.
“Seriously, how?”
“I don’t know, I just kind of have a knack for it. Like you and sports.”
“But even I have to practice, you don’t even really need to practice. You just do it because you think you do.”
Fluttershy shrugged, her cheeks flushing at all the attention. She wasn’t used to it.
As the bell rang Fluttershy collected her things and headed to French class. On the way there, she accidentally ran into a girl she didn’t know. She had white skin and curled, purple hair. Wait, no, they were in geography together… Rarity!
“Sorry,” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Oh, my apologies,” Rarity said quickly. “My head is just in another place right now, I am so sorry, darling.”
“It’s okay,” Fluttershy basically just breathed.
“You’re Fluttershy, correct? We’re in geography together?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“I thought so. Oh, class is about to start!” Rarity said, handing Fluttershy her French book. “Sorry again, perhaps we can talk later?”
Fluttershy just shrugged softly before heading off to French.