Bitter Regrets/Now I Know How To Fly

by xSorrow

This Life Behind Me

This Life Behind Me

Ever since the incident with the Pegasus race, which led to the Sonic Rainboom, finding her special talent, and getting her Cutie Mark, Fluttershy couldn't stop thinking about the world underneath Cloudsdale. So many wonders, she had summarized as she marveled at the splendor beneath her cloud home. The magical grace of the world below called to her, and she yearned to leave Cloudsdale to live upon the Earth. She might have remained on the ground after she had fallen off the cloud, but Rainbow Dash had noticed that she was missing after the race had finished and went looking for her, somehow managing to find her in the forest below. Dash, upon hearing from Fluttershy that she intended to stay down with the animals, had carried Fluttershy back up to Cloudsdale while the latter had kicked and screamed and fought to get away, protesting that she belonged with the animals. Just as soon as Fluttershy had discovered her peaceful nature paradise, it was gone again as she once again found herself at Flight Camp.

Life for Fluttershy at the Junior Speedster Flight Camp hadn't miraculously improved after the race. The three bullies that Rainbow Dash had raced were bitter about their loss, and took out their fury on Fluttershy. She had always imagined that when she finally earned her Cutie Mark, she would get everything she had always hoped for: self-confidence, assertiveness, self-esteem...

Instead, things had gotten worse. Dash had been praised and applauded for accomplishing that impossible feat, and was practically worshipped by everypony in the Flight Camp. Fluttershy was thrilled for her of course, but she still felt a little envious. While Rainbow Dash became even more popular, Fluttershy was still being teased by-

"Hey, Little Miss Butterfly Butt!" A mocking voice called to her. Fluttershy turned around to see the three bullies standing behind her. She still wasn't sure of their names and, judging from the countless nicknames ranging from "Klutzershy" to "Flutterwuss", they weren't sure of her name either. Rainbow Dash had won the race against them, but they hadn't stopped picking on Fluttershy.

Fluttershy didn't say anything, and turned away from them. She had hoped that they would leave her alone, but she wasn't so lucky. They only pestered her more.

"Hey Klutzershy, why didn't you stay down on the ground?" One of them asked, "We wouldn't have to look at you anymore!"

Their words cut into Fluttershy's skin and drew blood of sorrow, but she was determined not to let them see how much their words hurt her.

"You're the worst flyer here!"

"Why can't you just go back to those dumb animals? They're the only ones who actually like you!"

"What's the matter? Your fillyfriend Rainbow Dash ain't here to protect you?"

"Face it, loser, you'll never amount to anything in Cloudsdale!"

Fluttershy finally lost it. The disinterested, uncaring demeanor she had been determined to keep in front of the bullies crumbled, and she felt tears starting to spill out of her eyes as she whimpered. She wanted to run away, but couldn't think of a direction to go.

Suddenly, two strong hooves slammed into her side, roughly pushing her. A cry of surprise escaped her lips as Fluttershy slipped and fell to the ground. The bullies laughed, two of them even high-fived (high-hoofed?) as Fluttershy's lip quivered. Tears began to spill from her eyes as the shy filly began to weep.

"Oh look! The wittle foal is cwyin'!" One of the bullies snickered in a mocking baby voice. A quiet sob escaped Fluttershy as she began to run. She didn't care which direction, as long as it was anywhere but the Flight Camp... no, not just the Flight Camp. Fluttershy was getting sick of Cloudsdale itself.

As her own salty tears blurred and distorted her view of the floating city, Fluttershy began to picture the scenic forest underneath the Flight Camp. Had anypony else ever experienced what she had? Was Fluttershy the first to ever see the world underneath Cloudsdale? She wasn't sure, but she knew that living down there and enjoying life with the animals was better than living in Cloudsdale and being picked on every day.

They were right about one thing, Fluttershy thought bitterly, The animals are my only friends.

Fluttershy wept quietly as she trotted toward her dormatory. At one point, she hurried past a small group of fillies gathering around Rainbow Dash. While Dash didn't notice her friend was crying, she DID notice Fluttershy passing by, and was tempted to go after her, but decided against it. After all, she shrugged, what in Equestria could somepony like Fluttershy possibly be troubled about?

~~~

It was almost silent that night, aside from the occasional chirping of a bird that had flown high enough to find itself in Cloudsdale. The stars twinkled above the Junior Speedster Flight Camp, glistening with the lighted experiences of centuries past. In the moon's bright light, a small filly slowly opened her dormatory window and hopped outside into the cool night air. She could feel the Mare in the Moon staring down at her vindictively, as though wishing it could throw more jokes at her like the bullies had.

And then Fluttershy stole off into the night, seeking only the new life that awaited her underneath Cloudsdale's thick cloud layer.

Fluttershy was used to being unnoticed, and thought that escaping the Flight Camp would be easy, but she quickly found out wrong. The Flight Camp oddly had security on patrol and, being Pegasi, they were able to keep a sharp eagle-eye on most of the campus from clouds that rested high above the school. Fluttershy briefly considered turning back and going back to bed in her dorm. She almost certainly would have if she hadn't remembered what awaited her. Name-calling. Bullies. That horrible, horrible chant... Fluttershy could still hear it repeating in her head, endlessly poking fun at her.

And Fluttershy knew there would be no turning back.

She tried blending in, even though she was the only pony on the massive cloud that held up the majority of the school. After all, most ponies acted like she was invisible all the time. Maybe she could have easily snuck past the security... or maybe she could have flown up and above them. No, that wouldn't work, Fluttershy reminded herself as she began slowly creeping toward the edge of the giant cloud that held up the dormatory building. Despite what Rainbow Dash had taught her, Fluttershy was still a weak flyer, but she knew that if she got to the edge of the cloud she'd be able to slowly lower herself to the ground. During the race, she had been knocked off the cloud and had been too surprised to remember how to fly. If she wasn't caught off-balance, Fluttershy was sure that she could make it to the ground on her tiny wings.

"Hey! What are you doing out of bed?!"

Fluttershy jumped in surprise as a light flashed on over her, illuminating the area around her like a spotlight. She screamed in a shrill voice as a burly stallion wearing a dark blue jacket and holding a flashlight in his mouth flew down toward her. Quickly recognizing him by his jacket as a security guard, Fluttershy was torn between the desire to flee and the desire to cower in fear. Her knees locked up and refused to move, trapping her in place under the guard's light.

"What are you doing, kid?" the guard demanded. Fluttershy didn't answer. Her voice, in addition to her knees, wasn't working. The guard sighed, "What's your name?"

"F-Fluttershy..." Her throat felt like she had tried to swallow a bag of sand.

The guard pulled out a little notepad from his jacket pocket and wrote something down. Fluttershy couldn't see what it was. After he had finished writing, the guard reached out toward Fluttershy with his hoof.

"Alright, come with me," He told her.

Fluttershy gulped. He was probably going to take her to the Headmaster's office. Despite her plans to leave the school anyway, Fluttershy was still terrified. She looked toward the edge of the cloud, and realized that this was her last chance to make a run for it. The guard must have known what she was thinking, and told her in a firm voice not to be stupid.

Extremely embarrassed, Fluttershy took his hoof and he escorted her straight to (surprise, surprise) the Headmaster's office.

Fluttershy was ordered by a stern-looking mare to sit in an uncomfortable wooden chair as the guard went in to talk to Headmaster Witherwings. A few minutes passed, and then the guard hurried out of the office, casting only a small glance at Fluttershy as he left. Fluttershy sat, slumped in shame and awaiting her punishment, for a while. She wondered why Headmaster Witherwings was prolonging the inevitable... probably just to make her think about what she had done like the naughty little filly she was. Fluttershy's thoughts left her punishment and instead went to the paradise below.

Finally, the door to the Headmaster's office opened again. Fluttershy turned, expecting the guard, but she gasped when she saw it was somepony else.

Instead of the guard, Fluttershy's sleepy-looking mother stumbled into the office. Fluttershy stared wide-eyed as Sugarsweet looked around the office, and her gaze finally stopped on her daughter.

"Oh, Fluttershy..." Sugarsweet sighed, bending down to be at eye-level with her daughter. Fluttershy had always admired how much they looked alike... although Sugarsweet's coat was white and her mane was longer.

"I-I'm so sorry...!" Fluttershy began, but Sugarsweet shushed her.

"No, it's my fault," Sugarsweet said, sighing again as she shook her head, "I knew that you wouldn't be comfortable at Flight Camp, but I sent you anyway. I thought that you would... I don't know, Fluttershy. I'm sorry."

Fluttershy's bottom lip trembled as she looked into her mother's eyes with her own watery ones, and then Sugarsweet pulled her daughter into a hug, nuzzling her with her snout in reassurance. A feeling of warmth and comfort instantly engulfed the filly, and she smiled at finally being reunited with her mother after their few month's separation.

Somepony cleared his throat behind Sugarsweet, and she turned around to see a cobalt-colored stallion with a blue mane and glasses. Headmaster Witherwings.

"Both of you, come inside," He said, gesturing into his office, "We have much to discuss."

Fluttershy was moved from her uncomfortable chair outside the office to an uncomfortable chair inside the office. Her flank was asleep, and she wondered why the Flight Camp insisted on getting such terrible chairs. However, the seating situation was the last thing on her mind as her mother and her headmaster both stared at her, making her feel small and helpless.

"Now then, Mrs. Sugarsweet..." Headmaster Witherwings began, adjusting his glasses.

"It's 'Miss', if you please," Sugarsweet murmured. Witherwings continued.

"Your daughter was found outside almost an hour ago, trying to leave the campus. Do you have any idea why?"

"Goodness, no," Sugarsweet placed her hoof on her heart, "That doesn't sound like my Fluttershy."

"Students out of bed after sundown isn't permitted here at Junior Speedster, Miss Sugarsweet," Witherwings said, "Normally, the student in question would serve a few detentions, perhaps clearing away a few clouds or polishing off school awards. We certainly wouldn't bother sending a messenger to bring their parents to the school, but your daughter Fluttershy is a... oh, how shall I put this... special case."

"What do you mean by that?" Sugarsweet demanded.

Witherwings sighed, "Quite a few instructors have come to me with... concerns... for Fluttershy. Not only is she a weak flyer, but there have been complications with the other foals in her class."

"What kind of complications?"

"She doesn't interact with any of them!" Witherwings replied, adjusting his glasses agian, "Your daughter is very anti-social. It normally wouldn't be much of a problem, but there was a certain... incident in which most, if not all, of her class verbally harrassed her with a chant that was believed to have been started by a 'Rainbow Dash' and 'Gilda'. Do either of those names mean anything to you?"

"Not at all," Sugarsweet blinked, and then turned to Fluttershy, "Fluttershy, what happened?"

"I-I..." Fluttershy squeaked. Both of the ponies were staring at her, and she suddenly felt very self-conscious, "W-well..."

Witherwings put up a hoof to silence her, "Clearly your daughter is not comfortable discussing this, so I will proceed. A running joke on campus is a chant spoken in your daughter's presence, something that goes along the lines of 'Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly'."

"Well, you're supposed to be in charge around here!" Sugarsweet exclaimed, disbelieving of what her daughter had been enduring, "Can't you stop it?"

"We've tried. The fact is that nopony can stop bullying, Miss Sugarsweet, and not everypony can properly deal with it. Your daughter is a case-in-point. She attempted to flee the school to parts unknown, and I believe this is only the beginning. To help her, we've decided to... act."

"So what, you're kicking her out of Junior Speedster?"

"Oh no, certainly not. Recently, she's shown a spectacular improvement with her flying. Perhaps she's training with somepony else or by herself, I don't know. Either way, it's working. Our actions are more subtle than simply refusing to educate Fluttershy."

"So, what are you going to do?" Sugarsweet asked, protectively placing a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder.

"We've decided that she will no longer sleep in the dormatories here," Witherwings continued, "Instead, we advise that she sleep at home, someplace with somepony like you that she can talk to if there's any problems. She's obviously too afraid to speak to anypony here."

"Okay, that sounds pretty good," Sugarsweet agreed, glancing at Fluttershy before turning back to Witherwings, "Anything else? Are you going to, I don't know, try to put my daughter on medication or something?"

"We recommend a few therapy courses," Witherwings began, but he was silenced when Sugarsweet put her hoof up.

"Stop, I've heard enough," Sugarsweet said, taking Fluttershy by the hoof and standing up, "I appreciate your concern, Headmaster. Fluttershy will be going home with me and will return to Flight Camp tomorrow. Thank you for your time."

"The pleasure was mine," Witherwings replied as Sugarsweet and Fluttershy left his office, closing the door behind them.

~~~

Fluttershy tearfully looked at her mother's sleeping form as she stood alone in the dimly-lit bedroom one fateful night.

A week had passed since their meeting with Headmaster Witherwings, and Fluttershy easily adjusted to living with her mother and going to Flight School during the day. Nopony noticed that she was missing from the dorm, as she expected, yet they all noticed her when they felt like singing that chant. Despite this, she still grew comfortable with the arrangement.

But Fluttershy knew she couldn't stay in Cloudsdale. She truly belonged down on the Earth with the animals in her forest paradise, as a protector of nature. A Pegasus afraid of heights didn't belong in Flight School. It was pathetic. Besides, if it meant that she'd never have to hear that chant ever again...

"I'm sorry, Mommy..." Fluttershy whispered as a tear slid down her face. She leaned over and gently kissed Sugarsweet's cheek, then turned and silently trotted out of the room before she could start crying. Moving her to her mother's house instead of Flight Camp made her escape to the world beneath Cloudsdale easier, but somehow it hurt even more.

As Fluttershy left the small house, her mother stirred in her sleep. Sugarsweet's hoof subconsciously reached up and touched her cheek, and she smiled as she fell into a wonderful dream.

Cloudsdale was cold and unwelcoming during the nights, but Fluttershy still admired it as she took one last look around as she trotted to the edge of a cloud. There she stood, peeking over the side to see the trees far below. Fluttershy took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself, and then began flapping her wings as she stepped off the cloud and lowered herself down toward the Earth below. She thought that she'd be thinking of her mother on the way down, but she wasn't.

Instead, the only face in her mind belonged to Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy couldn't imagine why.

A Few Years Later...

Rainbow Dash sighed, taking in her first deep breath of the scenic Ponyville air. The small town was really quite gorgeous... and Rainbow Dash never used that word. From the large, impressive Town Hall to the extensive apple fields to a looming boutique, Ponyville was a welcome change from Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash trotted through the marketplace, marveling at everything that caught her eye. Cloudsdale had been nothing but clouds, and Ponyville was completely different. There was actual dirt! There were magificent timber-framed houses leaning in on her from every side instead of open air and clouds! The ponies weren't just Pegasi, but there were also Earth ponies and Unicorns! So THIS was what culture shock felt like.

Dash was searching for the pony in charge of the Ponyville Weather Committee. After all, it was the entire reason that she had moved to Ponyville in the first place; Dash had been recommended for Ponyville's team after excelling on Cloudsdale's weather team. Having had family problems in recent years, Dash didn't have to think long about being offered a cloud house in Ponyville and a steady job.

The ponies also seemed really nice, Dash thought to herself, smiling.

As she trotted through the Ponyville market, a pink pony saw her and gasped loudly, immediately running off to do Celestia-knows-what. Dash was confused at first, but shrugged it off as an "Earth pony thing". Nevertheless, she was still looking over her shoulder for the pink pony in confusion as she continued to trot through the marketplace.

"Hey! You there!"

Dash's head whipped around toward the loud voice, and saw a mare in a cowpony hat standing behind one of the stalls motioning her over with a hoof. Dash trotted over, noticing that the mare had apples for sale. Gala, Honeycrisp, Golden and Red Delicious, all kinds of apples... it was really a bit overwhelming.

"Sorry 'bout Pinkie Pie there," the mare shrugged, speaking in a striking country accent, "She just gets a tad overexcited, if ya know what ah mean."

"I think so..." Dash replied hesitantly, peering over her shoulder again.

"Say... you're new in town, ain't ya?" the mare said, tilting her head as she surveyed Rainbow Dash, "Ah don't reckon ah've ever seen ya 'round here..."

"Yeah, I just moved here from Cloudsdale!" Dash said, full of pride, "Name's Rainbow Dash!"

"Ah'm Applejack. Nice ta meet ya! Welcome to Ponyville!" Applejack greeted, reaching out to shake Rainbow Dash's hoof, "Did ya say you were from Cloudsdale? That Pegasus city in the sky? Funny... there's another pony 'round here who used to live in Cloudsdale... never really talked to her. She doesn't seem like the type for a conversation, know what ah mean? Have you two met yet?"

"I don't know," Dash shrugged, "Where is she?"

"Not sure... ah well. I'm sure you two'll meet eventually!" Applejack said, waving a hoof in dismissal, "You showed up at a great time, Rainbow Dash. Tomorrow's the big day!"

"Why, what's tomorrow?"

"Cider Day, of course!" Applejack answered, "Everypony in town gets lined up for some delicious cider, freshly made from apples from Sweet Apple Acres!"

"I don't know, cider's never really been my thing..." Dash said uncertainly.

"Trust me, once ya've tried cider from us, you'll be hooked!" Applejack hollered joyously. Dash wondered if Applejack was becoming as "overexcited" as that pink pony that she had encountered earlier.

"Anyway... can you direct me to the Pegasus in charge of Ponyville's Weather Committee?"

"Hmm... oh, I reckon he'd be right over there," Applejack pointed her hoof after a moment's thought.

"Thanks!" Rainbow Dash called over her shoulder as she trotted away from Applejack's apple cart.

Rainbow Dash hurried through a large crowd of ponies. Wow... was the market always so crowded? If it was, then Dash had finally found the one drawback to living in Ponyville. Oh well... she hardly cared. After all, she'd be spending most of her time flying anyway. Dash pushed her way through a particularly close-knit group of ponies and finally emerged from the crowd into an open area. Taking in a breath of relief, Dash took a moment to stretch out her wings.

She was about to continue on her way, but suddenly a line of ducks crossed her path.

Dash froze as the quacking little creatures waddled across the dirt street in front of her. One of them glanced at Dash with a beady little eye and let out a loud quack! in her direction. Dash wasn't sure what to think as she stared, completely caught off-guard by the bizarre sight. She looked around to see that nopony else was paying the ducks any attention. Did animals behave like this naturally? Was this normal for life on the ground?

"There you go... almost there..."

Dash's heart stopped and her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes went wide and her ears perked up as the tiny, reassuring voice that had just spoken registered inside her mind. Instinctively, Dash looked toward the pony that had just spoken, only to see a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane following behind the ducks, goading them into continuing their march through the town.

"F-Fluttershy...?" Rainbow Dash whispered. The Pegasus looked up, and her green eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, the two only stood staring at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"... Hello, Rainbow Dash..." Fluttershy finally murmured.

"FLUTTERSHY!" Rainbow Dash squealed in complete shock as she dove forward, wrapping her once-best friend in a tight hug that dragged Fluttershy off-balance, giving her just enough time to squeak before she was pulled into Dash's embrace. The ducks quacked at Rainbow Dash's sudden and surprising move, and briefly scattered around in a blind, frenzied panic before calming, "I can't believe it! You're alive!"

"Mmph..." Fluttershy said, trying to breathe as Dash's hooves threatened to smother her with their joy, "Of course I am... I've been living here in Ponyville."

"But how? You just disappeared one night! We looked everywhere for you, and we couldn't find you anywhere! We thought you were dead!" Dash's grip loosened on Fluttershy, "We... we held a funeral for you. Your mother... she couldn't stop crying..."

Rainbow Dash's voice faltered as she noticed Fluttershy's troubled and sorrowful expression. Fluttershy pulled out of the hug and cleared her throat. When Fluttershy spoke, her voice was serious. Deathly serious.

"Rainbow Dash... please don't tell her I'm in Ponyville..." Fluttershy told her, "I left Cloudsdale behind me... I don't think I can ever go back..."

"Why?" Dash said angrily, remembering how Fluttershy's mother had broken down in a pool of tears at her lost daughter, and here was Fluttershy, appearing not to care, "Fluttershy, what you did was terrible! We all thought you were dead, and now you tell me you've been living in Ponyville for the last few years?! Do you have any idea how many ponies mourned for you? How can you stand there and say you just LEFT it all BEHIND you?!"

"Because... because you don't know what it was like!" Fluttershy shot back, "You have NO idea what it was like for me, Rainbow Dash! You were busy being Miss Popular, the envy of everypony at Flight Camp while I was stuck being Klutzershy! Flutterwuss! Butterfly Butt! I had no place at all in Cloudsdale! Do you think it's easy knowing that you're a failure, knowing that you can hardly fly straight?! Living every day knowing everypony feels SORRY for you?! Oh wait, I forgot! You have no idea what that's like because YOU'RE BUCKING PERFECT!!"

Fluttershy stopped, putting up a hoof to her mouth as it registered that she had just said "buck" aloud (a horrendous bit of profanity in Equestrian society). The fight visibly left her, and she lowered her head. Her pink mane covered her face from view, but Dash could still hear her quiet sobs. Dash looked down to the ground as memories of a chant filled her mind.

"Fluttershy..." Dash said, surprised at how calm her voice sounded, "When you disappeared... I cried for a week. I-I couldn't believe that my... my best friend... just left without saying goodbye..."

Fluttershy looked back to Rainbow Dash, a hurt gleam in her eye, but a reassuring smile on her face.

"Well... I guess we're together again..." Fluttershy whispered, "...Hey, would you like a little tour of Ponyville? I'd love to show you how wonderful this place really is for such a small town!"

"Yeah... okay," Rainbow Dash accepted Fluttershy's offer, and then the two set off back toward the crowded market that Dash had just left (escaped from, more like).

"Fluttershy?" Dash began.

"Yes?"

"...I'm really glad I found you."

Fluttershy giggled, "Me too."

And the two Pegasi continued through Ponyville market, laughing and joking with each other the entire way. They trotted at a comfortable distance, together as friends.

One Week Later...

Fluttershy gulped, and ran a hoof through her mane for what felt like the thousandth time. She cleared her throat and scrunched her snout as she trotted through Cloudsdale. It was strange really; the shy pony felt like an alien in the floating city after being gone so long.

Coming here had been Rainbow Dash's idea, of course. Her colorful-maned friend had settled into life in Ponyville rather quickly. Soul Tornado even said that if he ever retired as Head of the Ponyville Weather Committee, Rainbow Dash was a likely candidate to replace him.

Fluttershy and Dash had rekindled rather quickly, spending plenty of time in either Fluttershy's cottage or Dash's cloud house just talking. Dash had been weary of discussing anything related to Cloudsdale, but she had suggested this short visit anyway. Fluttershy quickly changed the subject, but the seeds had been planted in her mind. Slowly, they grew until Fluttershy couldn't handle it anymore.

Now she was back in Cloudsdale, the city that had intimidated and ridiculed her so much as a filly. Fluttershy trotted past the Junior Speedster Flight Camp, her pace speeding up a little bit as she hurried past the front gates. Eventually, she found herself on a familiar street.

Fluttershy smiled as she passed a familiar mailbox with "SUGARSWEET & FLUTTERSHY" written on the side in bright, colorful paints.

Tears began to form in her eyes as she slowly trotted up a familiar walk to a familiar front door. She rapped her hoof on it, and heard somepony inside. Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled deeply, determined not to have tears in her eyes for the pony that was coming.

But when the door opened and Fluttershy finally saw the mare who was standing there, a shocked expression on her face as she stood in the doorway, Fluttershy began to cry as the mare stepped forward and gently caressed Fluttershy's cheek as if making sure that it was real. The mare began to tear up, and soon both of them were crying as they stared at each other. The mare stepped forward and wrapped her daughter in a tight, warm hug, an embrace that both of them wished would last forever.

Comments

[crowscrowcrow]

I really liked this chapter. It's a treat to see Dash and Fluttershy's experiences with flightcamp. I could see Dash losing sight of Fluttershy once she became popular. They weren't close in the first place, and Dash is nothing if not easily distracted by her ego.

At first I thought it was really weird that they held a funeral. Fluttershy runs away to go live on the ground, and they just assume a bear ate her or something? But the more I thought about it... Fluttershy does not appear to have spoken to anypony about her problems, or her desires at all. So all the information they had to go on that Fluttershy was ruthlessly bullied, bad at everything, and emotionally weak. It would not be that much of a stretch to assume she left with the intention of killing herself somewhere and wasn't found.

I can hardly believe how selfish and stupid young Fluttershy was. She didn't even leave a note. From the looks of things, her mother is quite understanding, yet Fluttershy did not even bother to talk to her about her desire to live on the ground. A lot of grief might have been avoided. But to be fair, Fluttershy was probably not in her best state of mind, she was only a filly after all. A filly that felt like the adults in her life were determined to keep her from being happy by forcing her to attend that school. It wasn't great reasoning, but understandable for her situation. Which is what makes it so much fun. (Btw, props to Fluttershy for actually making it work.)

Good thing Rainbow Dash convinced Fluttershy to visit. I suppose that Fluttershy never really reexamined her own judgment until Rainbow Dash came along to challenge her on it, and relay what kind of effects it had to everyone else.