Flutterling

by Princess_Celestia

Not just another day

Twilight was surrounded by a number of old books. Thanks to that awful book she had been reading, she had an idea of what to look for. In the days before the pony races united, unicorns were known to hide their unicorn identity. As was traditional for unicorns of that period, a counterspell had also been created, which could be used to reveal if a pony was a unicorn or not.

Book after book explained how to hide one's horn, but they only briefly mentioned the other spell. Since unicorn against unicorn espionage was especially rare back then, this didn't surprise her. She was beginning to grow frustrated, though the sight of Fluttershy silently watching her with that worried expression was enough to keep her going.

"Maybe this one, Twilight!" called Spike, holding a large purple tome, Obscure and Useless Magics.

Twilight's eyes lit up, as she realized just what the ancient unicorns must have thought a spell like this was. Useless. "Thanks Spike!" She called, closing the book she was looking at, and magically taking the other book. Just as she suspected, the spell was written, plain as day, right there. She got a quill out, and started copying the spell onto a nearby piece of parchment.

"Fluttershy, we may have an answer!" Twilight called out, double and triple checking that she copied the spell correctly. "I found a spell which should, in theory, tell us if you have any unicorn magic."

Fluttershy smiled gently. "Oh, thank goodness..." She said, quietly. Twilight walked over, reading the spell over, and smiling.

"Alright, ready?" Twilight asked, still very concerned for Fluttershy. Fluttershy seemed to have found her resolve, and nodded.

Slowly, Twilight's horn began to glow its soft pink light, as she began to cast the spell. It wasn't a particularly hard bit of magic, but it was new, and she wanted to take it slowly just to be safe. The glow focused onto the tip of her horn, where it became a small pink ball of light. With a soft, almost inaudible noise, a beam of pink light shot out at Fluttershy.

Pink energy cracked across her body, slowly moving towards her forehead. Twilight was now done with her part of the spell, so she stepped back near Spike, as they both watched her. She was sure nothing would happen, perhaps a passing unicorn had helped Fluttershy secretly, or maybe it really was pegasus magic, combined with the sun reflecting off the water, but on the other hand... Twilight had a nagging feeling that something wasn't right.

The energy finally reached her face, and arced visibly towards her forehead... Only to suddenly turn a shocking green color, as it traced up and down something invisible on Fluttershy's forehead. The energy then quickly disappeared, leaving Twilight looking on in shock.

"That... That's not one of the things the spell said it would do!" Twilight said, looking back at the copied spell. If the pony was a unicorn, it was supposed to hit their horn, then make it visible. There was nothing mentioned about what it meant if it turned green. The shape that the energy traced out... it seemed familiar, and not in a good way. It had been so brief, though, that Twilight was not certain.

"Oh... Oh dear..." Fluttershy said, seeing Twilight's face. "Is there something wrong?" Fluttershy's voice had a note of panic to it as she said this.

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but I don't know what just happened." Twilight said, trying to sound calm. Something was really nagging at her now. "I'll need to do some research." Twilight turned around, and began pulling books off the shelves.

"Twilight! I just put those back in!" Spike protested, futilely.

Fluttershy stood there, unsure of what to do. "I'll... I'll just go home, then?"

"Yeah, sure." Twilight said, already in full-on research mode. "Spike, mind handing me my copy of Forgotten Legends of Cloudsdale?"

Fluttershy turned around quietly, and left the library. She slowly walked home, the expression Twilight had worried her...

--

"No, no, no, no, no!" Twilight yelled, as Pegasus Diseases toppled over to the ground, and Spike, grumbling, ran over to put it back on the shelf.

"There's nothing here! I've checked every book I have on Pegasus biology and magic, and nothing says anything about this!" Twilight yelled, pulling out a book at random.

"I guess I'm staying up all night... again." Spike muttered, as he put the book he had retrieved on the shelf.

--

Fluttershy was restless tonight. Something about what happened seemed to have jostled something loose in her mind, as her dreams were full of dark caves, an emerald hue, and the sound of buzzing insectoid wings.

However, the morning came, as it always did, and upon sitting up and greeting Angel Bunny, the dreams were forgotten.

After she fed the animals, and saw to it that they were all taken care of, she felt quite a bit better, as she always did when she was with them. She happily opened the door to her cabin, and after waving to the animals, she set off for Twilight's library.

--

The library was dark, and books were scattered all over the floor. The candles had burned out, and Spike had obviously given up putting away the books at some point and went to bed. Twilight's head was lying on an open page of Time Travel in Celestia's Universe, and her snores echoed throughout the enclosed library.

A gentle rapping at the door woke her up. She sleepily looked around, then got to her hooves and slowly worked her way to the door. She tried opening it with her face, before remembering how to use magic.

Fluttershy gasped as she saw Twilight. Twilight's mane was in disarray, her eyes were bloodshot, and she did not seem to be even the slightest bit aware of what she was doing. "Twilight! You look awful!"

"Huh....? Fluttershy...?" Twilight muttered, collapsing to the floor. Fluttershy quickly flew in, shutting the door behind her. She grabbed Twilight gently, and worked her way up the staircase, cradling Twilight with her front hooves. She set Twilight down on her bed, and then sighed.

"What am I going to do with you?" Fluttershy said, speaking almost as though Twilight were one of her animal friends. "You know you shouldn't overwork yourself!"

Twilight was slowly starting to regain her senses as she lay upon the bed, the rest doing her a world of good. "Oh, I'm sorry, Fluttershy." Twilight said, slowly. "I just feel like there's something... very wrong about what I saw..." Twilight stretched, starting to feel better. A very faint green glow was around her, though neither she nor Fluttershy noticed it, even though the same glow was faintly also present in front of her forehead.

"Well, I know you did it for me, Twilight, and I'm very happy to have such a good friend." Fluttershy said, with a worried voice. "But you should take care of yourself, too!" Fluttershy smiled gently at Twilight.

Twilight, meanwhile, was starting to feel very refreshed. She sat up, and got off the bed, the green glow vanishing as she did so. "I know, Fluttershy, but..."

"No buts! Lie back down, you haven't had any..." Fluttershy started, but then stopped. Twilight looked at her curiously, her eyes clear and normal. Her mane was back in order as well. "Twilight... how do you feel?" Fluttershy asked, completely confused.

"Uh, Great! I feel really rested now!" Twilight said, smiling. "I'm ready to get back to my research!" She started happily walking towards the bottom floor, picking up Spike as she passed by him.

"Hey!" Spike protested as he floated behind Twilight in a ball of pink magic. Fluttershy could do nothing but watch as they passed her, heading downstairs. Moments later, the tell-tale sound of pages turning reached her ears. She stood there for a moment longer, then followed them down.

--

Fluttershy had left the library after an hour of waiting. She decided that she wasn't going to be much help, and the wait just made her feel more and more worried, so she decided to go visit Pinkie, since if she couldn't help her feel better, nopony could.

Fluttershy quietly entered Sugarcube Corner. "Hi!" Pinkie Pie yelled, from behind the counter. It seemed that today, she was in charge of the store. She leapt over the counter. "What brings you to my neck of the woods, Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked, giggling. "Need a cake? A cupcake? A muffin? A muffincake? A cupmuffin? A cupmuffincake?"

"Hi, Pinkie..." Fluttershy said, quietly. "I don't need any sweets, and I don't know what those last few were..." She paused. "I'm just feeling... something." Fluttershy said, not quite coming up with a word to describe how she felt.

"Something?" Pinkie asked, hopping over to her. "Happy? Sad? Confused? Angry? Annoyed? Tired? Explosive?"

"Um, I don't know what it would feel like to be explosive..." Fluttershy responded, nevertheless appreciating Pinkie's attempts to lighten her mood. "I do feel confused, though. I just came from Twilight's. She's been researching something for me..."

"Oh, wow!" Pinkie Pie yelled, hopping up and down. "What kinda research? Need a new animal friend? Found a plant you need to know something about? Just bugging Twilight like I do sometimes? What is it?"

"Oh... um..." Fluttershy hesitated, then explained everything that happened.

"Whoa whoa whoa! You did MAGIC? That is soooooo cool! You must be a Super Pegasus or something!" Pinkie kept hopping up and down in joy as she spoke. "You're so lucky!"

"Um... I... guess?" Fluttershy said, not really feeling lucky at the moment. "Twilight looked worried..."

"Oh." Pinkie stopped jumping. "Well, sometimes she's worried about stuff for no reason!" She said, resuming her jumping. She began to feel a little worried too, however. While it was true that Twilight was sometimes overly worried about the littlest things, other times...

"Well, how about you get a nice treat, on the house!" Pinkie said, smiling reassuringly. "You can't leave a bakery without getting with something nice!"

Fluttershy smiled. Visiting Pinkie was a good idea. She was already feeling more like she did that morning when she left the cabin. "Thanks, Pinkie. I suppose I'll have a cupcake, then..."

--

Twilight was getting incredibly desperate. Every book she read, no matter what the subject, had nothing on what was happening to Fluttershy. Throwing her modern copy of An Equestrian Encyclopedia of Birds on the ground, Twilight picked up the next book on the shelf, a particularly ancient tome by the looks of the title, An Equestrian Encyclopedia of Demi-Ponies and started reading.

She flipped through it quickly, stopping dead when she reach the page about changelings. A changeling queen was depicted in sketch form on the page, and Twilight couldn't keep her eyes off the shape of that horn.

It was the exact same shape the green energy had briefly outlined on Fluttershy's forehead.

Author's Note:

Whoa! Twilight knows something's up now! What will happen?

Also I doubled the word count for this chapter. Maybe next chapter I'll have four thousand words, and then eight thousand the next one! (This will probably not happen)

Comments

[Captawesome]

Faster! I must have moar to read!

[kingtiger666]

Yo Flutters, yer a bug.

[Rakaziel]

Dun Dun Dun!!! Very good pacing in the last part. The Pinkie bit breaks the flow a bit but the rest was very dynamic, and you are quite good at pacing the gradual reveal. Maybe a bit more detail on the emotions.

[DerpedRainbow]

Yep, the spin is original, this would also explain her ability to understand animals. I like how you had her second nature influence her magic, when Twi got healed.

I look forward to the exponential chapters. (2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048,4096,8192,16384....

[EverfreeSparkle]

Her friends better still love her after they find out. And Twilight better not send celestia a letter... Before talking to fluttershy first.

[Jirodyne]

2162273 It's going to make her so sad. She really wanted to be a tree. At least bugs live in trees!

[Thespurgin]

promising... expecting more in a decent time frame Go artist! Paint your masterwork!

[Seether00]

2160657

There was also one where everyone in Equestria was a changeling except for Princess Celestia. It was pretty funny.

[Mother3Forever]

I must have more of this....

[AliCentaur Br0ny]

2158520 2161441 2160657 "The Vampony Chronicles" by Steampunk Brony has Fluttershy as a changeling, but she's not the main character. I think that Blackwing also wrote a Changeling Fluttershy story, but I'm not sure.

2160127 Which one's that?

[Spectrumancer]

2162501a million word chapter does sound delicious.

[AliCentaur Br0ny]

when Unicorns thought Pegasi were birds and had to fly south for the winter

Silly unicorns.

This is interesting so far.

[Assasin_Asha]

2160127

2163944
I second that notion. Title, please!

[Princess_Celestia]

2168517

It's here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36982/all-i-really-needs-a-smile-smile-smile

[Assasin_Asha]

2168540
Why, thank you! Will check that out!
Also, it's quite interesting that no one thought of that name of yours for so long. There is one with space instead of underscore, but still... Are they afraid of Molestia finding them for that, or what? For that matter, aren't you afraid?

[Princess_Celestia]

2168650

Of course not, since she isn't real.

[Assasin_Asha]

2168653
What if they don't know that?

[AliCentaur Br0ny]

2168540 Thank you.

[Cold Spike]

OH SHIT SON... MOAR! ... Wait NOT MOAR I DON'T WANT TO BE A CHANGELING!

[Merndy]

[Yoshifan30]

Oh wow it looks like Twilight Really overworked herself again and whatever Fluttershy did to her she's not tired anymore but she still confused why Fluttershy Can Do Magic because Pegasus cannot while Twilight still studying Fluttershy talk to Pinkie Pie just to feel a little bit better and it kind of did and apparently Twilight discover something but she can't believe it what she saw