Simple Things

by Arbiter Balemead

The Next Day (Flashback)

*sigh* That was Beakmire, crowing at Celestia's Sun. He's really such a nice rooster. He wakes me up every at dawn. It's such a helpful way to wake up, because I get to start my chores when a lot of the animals are still asleep. I only know one other pony who wakes up this early and she works on a farm.

I got out of bed and flew down stairs to start the morning chores. Every morning I have to feed all the birds and rodents. Then I have to find another way to convince Angel Bunny to eat his breakfast. I think I've managed to get him to eat all of his carrots four times this month. That's pretty good.

I offered him a plate of carrots this morning. He sniffed it then looked it up and down. He pawed through the carrots and picked the crunchiest off the plate. He kicked the plate at me and started nibbling on the one he chose. I ducked under the flying plate and glared at the back of his head.

What a brat!

Oh, was that too mean of me to think? I'm sorry I shouldn't have thought that... *sigh* He is really difficult, though. A lot of ponies ask why I keep him.

He turned to look at me, suddenly. His face fell and he hopped over and grabbed a few carrots from the pile across the room that the plate had left behind. He pointed at the last to and waved a paw in front of his nose. I think that means that the last two were spoiled. Then he hopped over to me and hugged my leg apologetically. He looked up at me with a cute little "I'm sorry" face.

THAT'S why I keep him.

I walked over and picked up the bad carrots and threw them in the garbage bin. I looked at the calendar pinned to the wall above the bin and realized what day it was.

"It's the Summer Sun Celebration today!" I blurted to nopony in particular. I finished the feeding quickly and flew out to the tree where I was having the bird choir practice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...and Harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.

"Hmm... Elements of Harmony. I KNOW I've heard of those before...but where!?" I thought aloud. After a moment of thinking hard on it I decided to get back to the library. But along the way I ran into Moondancer, Colgate, and...her name escapes me right now.

"There you are, Twilight! Moondancer is having a little get together in the West Castle Courtyard, you wanna come?" She said. They all leaned in for my answer. I really did NOT want to, but I kind of wanted to as well. I decided to just make an excuse and get out of there.

"Oh...Sorry, girls...I got a.. lot of studying to catch up on." I smiled, and I know I looked like a bad liar telling a...well, a lie, but at this point, I didn't care what they thought. I ran past them and kept up a gallop till I got to the library. I think I heard one of them say something about me doing things besides studying, but I couldn't make it out clearly.

I know I've heard of the Elements of Harmony.

I think I may have heard myself think aloud, but I was too lost in thought to care. I arrived at the my library/room of the school and practically bucked the door open. I felt some resistance as it opened; probably a book or two Spike left by the door.

"SPIKE! SPIIIIIIKE!" I looked down and saw him on his back on the ground. Oops. "Spike? There you are." I started looking around the library for a certain book. "Quick! Find me an old copy of 'Predictions and Prophecies." I looked over at him and noticed an odd red box with gold ribbon tied to it stabbed onto his tail. "What's that for?"

"Well...It WAS a gift for Moondancer but..." As he said it a mangled teddy bear fell out of a hole in the box.

"Oh, Spike... You KNOW we don't have time for that sort of thing."

"But we're on a break!"

I elected to ignore him and started levitating books down to eye level from the shelves. I read their spines one by one. "No. No. No. No, NO NO! Ugh! SPIKE!"

"It's over here!" He said, waving a book from the top of a ladder. I used my magic to pull it over to me, dragging him with it becasue he wouldn't let go. I read it's spine, and sure enough, it was the right one.

"Ah!" And with that I aloud all the other books to fall to the ground. It made a mess but that was fine. Spike could clean it up. I started leafing through the pages. "Elements, Elements....E, E, E....Aha. 'Elements of Harmony. See Mare in the Moon'?"

"Mare in the Moon? But that's just an old pony's tale." I continued leafing through, still ignoring his complaints.

"Mare, Mare...Aha! 'The Mare in the Moon. Myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria. Defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the Moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about nighttime eternal!' *gasp* Spike! Do you know what this means?"

"No." He said, trying to look over his shoulder from the ladder he was on. He lost his balance and fell down. I caught him and my back and gave him some pen and parchment.

"Take a note, please. To the princess."

"Okie Dokie."

"My dearest teacher..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't know how many times you can correct a bird's singing before he gets it, but this is the twelfth time and he's not showing improvement. I'm just happy there's nopony around to make fun of my inability to teach him.

Oh, I'm being mean today. It really isn't his fault. I should be more assertive and louder with the tempo, but I'm just not. *sigh* This could take an hour or two... Maybe a good break is in order? Yes, I'll go see how the others are doing with their respective preparations.

It didn't take long to find Rarity. She was at the town hall, sifting through fabrics to use for the curtains up on the balcony that Princess Celestia would make her appearance on. At the moment Rarity was considering some really nice lavender colored curtains. When she heard me coming, she turned and smiled warmly at me.

"Fluttershy! Darling! So nice to see you. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Oh, yes! I uh... watched the stars a bit, then went to bed."

"Pleasant dreams?"

"Yes, what about your night?" Her face fell a tiny bit. I guess she didn't have a good night.

"Oh, I barely slept a wink. I was so worried about the these preparations that when I tried to go to sleep, I just couldn't. But that's not important dear. Now what do you think of this fabric? Is the color right?" She showed me the lavender curtains. I smiled widely at her.

"Oh. I like the purple."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*BURP*

"See? I knew she would wanna take immediate action." I said as the scroll materialized in front of me. Spike picked it up and unrolled it.

"*ahem* My dearest, most faithful student, Twilight, You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely..." He paused and I smiled proudly. " But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books." What?

A few minutes later we were on a flying carriage on the way to Ponyville. Spike continued reading another letter to me.

"My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying. So I'm sending you to supervise the preparations of the Summer Sun Celebration in this years location, Ponyville. And I have an even more essential task for you to complete: Make some friends." *groan* You've got to be kidding me.

"Look on the bright side, Twilight. The princess arranged for you to stay in a library. Doesn't that make you happy?" I glowered for a moment while a plan formulated in my head. I perked up when the plan was ready.

"Yes! Yes it does. You know why? Because I'm right! I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library to find proof of Nightmare Moon's return."

"Then...when will you make friends like the princess said?"

"She SAID to check on preparations. I am her student and I'll do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends." The carriage landed as I finished speaking. I got out and walked by the guards who had pulled us. "Thank you, sirs." I turned and walked over to Spike, who was watching a bouncy pink pony approach.

"Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about!" He paused while the smiling pony walked up to us and stopped. "Come on, Twilight, just try." I looked at him then at her. She looked...surprised. Like she never thought she would see me again, even thought we'd never met.

"Ehh...Hello?" I said awkwardly. She suddenly gasped, rising in the air a bit, and sped away without a word. Me and Spike watched her go in confusion for a moment.

"Well THAT was interesting alright."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, everyone, let's try one more time. A one, a two, a one, two, thre-"

"Fluttershy!"

"Eep!" I ducked low to the ground as my bird friends flew away. I turned to see Pinkie running at me. She slid to a stop in front of me.

"Fluttershy! Do you know where that new mare is staying?!" New mare?

"Wh-what new mare?"

"The one that got here two minutes ago! I saw her and thought to myself 'I've never seen her before.' And if I know everypony in town, so if I'd never seen her before then she must be new and that means...?" She trailed off for me to fill in the blank.

"You'll throw a-uhm...party?"

"Exactly! So where does she li-*GASP* She must be the new librarian! That means she lives at the library! Thanks, Fluttershy!" And with that she was gone, and I don't mean she ran off, I mean she was just...gone. *sigh* That was random.

I looked back at the tree to where the birds were gathering back together. Well if they're back then I guess we should go through the song again. I counted off the tempo and they started the song again. It sounded fine, so we did it again. And again. I guess I stopped counting after a while. I just let them go, trying to figure out what it was that was wrong with the song.

Then I noticed it. He was off beat now. Mr. Bluejay. He wasn't a bad singer, honest, but he just wasn't good when singing with groups. His rhythm was definitely off.

"Oh my! Uhm- stop please, everyone." I smiled politely at him as I flew up to him. "Excuse me, sir. I mean, no offense, but- your rhythm is just a teeny tiny bit off." He nodded kindly as I flew back to be a few feet from the tree. "Now, follow me, please. A one, a two. A one two three-"

"Hello!"

"Ah!" I turned to see who was talking, because I didn't recognize her voice. I saw purple unicorn with a dark purple mane that had a pink streak through it standing below me. Her face went straight from a pretty smile to apologetic.

"Oh my. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to frighten your birds. I'm just here to check up on the music and it's sounding beautiful." Her teeth showed as she smiled at me. I landed in front of her and started kicking the dirt shyly. And, boy, was that dirt in the other direction interesting or what? I know I should say something to relieve the awkwardness but... I just couldn't.

Her smile got bigger as the tension grew and I could see her looking around for a way out of this.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle." A pause as I looked at her. She kept smiling. As I started to look away again she asked, "What's your name?"

"Uhm-I'm Flumerfi..."

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Uhm- My name is Fluttershy." But this time I was even more quiet. I hate it that I can't handle pressure, I really do.

"Didn't quite catch that."

This time all I did was squeak. I really can be so pathetic sometimes. Embarrassed, I hid behind my mane, peaking out at her with one eye through space between strands of hair. I could hear the flapping of tiny wings as the birds all got back to the tree.

"Weeellll... It looks like your birds are back sooo, guess everything's in order. Keep up the good work!" I attempted to acknowledge that, but it caught in my throat and came out as a soft whimper. She started to back away. "Ooookay...." I looked at her again. A small scaly purple...thing waddled up on to legs to stand in front of her.

"Well, that was easy." Wait...I know what that is!

"*gasp* A baby dragon!" And in a moment I was in front of the little guy. I think I might have bumped Twilight, but I'll apologize later. "I've never seen a baby dragon before! He's SOOO cute!" He turned to look at Twilight.

"Well well well!" He said. Wait! He spoke!

"Oh my! He talks. I didn't know dragons could talk. That's just so incredibly wonderful I-.... I just don't even know what to say!" I said, beginning to hover in excitement. He suddenly lifted into the air then levitated over to Twilight. He landed on her back and she began to trot away.

"Well, in that case, we'd better get going." I landed and fell in step behind her.

"Wait! Wait. What's his name?"

"My name is Spike."

"Hi Spike, I'm Fluttershy. Wow! A talking dragon! And- What do dragons talk about?"

"Well... Whadya wanna know?"

"Absolutely everything."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think I liked her better when I couldn't even catch her name. I know that's mean to say but come ON! She and Spike blabbered on and on for the entire walk to the library. You meet a mare and assume she's the quiet type and look where that gets you!

"Do you want to hear about today?" Oh please say-

"Oh, YES please!" OH CELESTIA WHY!? I turned around quickly to stave off the flow of words from his infantile mouth.

"I am SO sorry. How did we get here so fast? This is where I'm staying while in Ponyville, and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep."

"No I don't-" But I jerked my hip so he'd fall off my back. He landed on his bottom and looked at me angrily. "Aww look at that. He's so sweepy he can't even keep his wittle bawance." 'kay now make the grin nice and wide, Twilight... She dived over and picked him up and hovered just above my head.

"You poor thing. We simply must get him to bed." She carried him into the house-tree...thing. I quickly ran in grabbed Spike from her and gently pushed her out.

"Yes, yes. We'll get right on that. Well, good night!" And I slammed the door shut.

"Humph. Rude much?" Spike asked as I walked over to him in the dark room. I suppose he was right. I didn't even try to make sure I didn't hit her with the door.

"Sorry Spike, but I have to convince the princess that Nightmare Moon is coming, and we're running out of time! I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time. Now where's the light?" I looked around for the switch, but the lights suddenly turned on. I was surrounded by just about everypony I'd seen in town. Not met but seen.

"Surprise!" They all said in unison.

"Ohh..." Fate is truly a worthy adversary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think we surprised her. She looks surprised, at least. Pinkie Pie was introducing herself now. She's getting to the fun part. Annnnd... there's my cue. Me and the other girls all stepped forward as Pinkie finished her speech.

"See? And now you have lots and lots of friends!" Her head suddenly jerked away from her drink. She turned to face us, her face all read.

"Are you alright, sugarcube?" Applejack asked as Twilight began to sweat. She suddenly ran from the room quickly without a word, tears coming out of her eyes.

"Awww! She's so happy, She's CRYING!" Pinkie said happily. Uhm... I'm not so sure about that. I eyed the red bottle suspiciously while Spike picked it up.

"Hot sauce?" Pinkie tilted it in his hand so that it spilled all over a cupcake. Then she popped the defiled treat in her mouth. I'm sure I turned green, because so did the other girls.

"What? It's good!" I'm going to take her word for it and NEVER try it myself. I glanced over at the door Twilight had run through. The way she's been acting... I'd almost assume she didn't want any friends...No that's crazy even I want friends. I just had to be wrong.

Comments

[Arbiter Balemead]

And everything between this and chapter three is history as told by cannon. enjoy

[Arbiter Balemead]

929980 sometimes i hate myself please excuse this little mistake i think its safe to say there will be one like it in each chapter

[Yobikir]

damn i was confused reading this because i didn't really notice that the first chapter was before the Summer Sun Celebration (i wondered that nopony noticed that Shy was describing Twilight, but didn't think much of it), but going back to chapter 1 (after reading this) opened my eyes.

[Arbiter Balemead]

934924 and now chapter three is taking place now, not in a flash back so try not to forget that
that goes for all my readers

[jakol]

what the fuck...

this is an integration between fluttershy's wish and the premiere, which explains some of the premise of fluttershy's shyness?