Fluttershy 1

The sun rose slowly over the rolling hills of Equestria, its gentle morning glow met with a chorus of birdsong. Ponies were slowly stirring in their beds all over Ponyville, beginning to get ready for the day ahead. Of course, not everypony was just beginning to wake up. One of those ponies lived in a small cottage near the Everfree Forest, a place of gathering and relaxation for many of the local animals.

The owl had been up all night. Of course it had, it slept during the day. And so an exhausted Fluttershy had taken advantage of the birds nocturnal cycle to fix a sprained wing, which had been stretched out for the better part of an hour as she applied a splint.

"Oh, Sir Hootington, I just don't know how you managed to fly into that tree. You're supposed to watch where you're going." She scolded.

"Hoo?" The bird responded.

"You, mister!" Fluttershy scolded.

"Hoo?"

The pegasus had just about had quite enough of that. "We're not playing this game again. Now you're going right to bed and you're not to use that wing until I say so." She demanded, and took to the air, her wings flapping gently as she examined all the other birds in her aviary. The rising sun cast its soft glow upon the cottage, and the birds responded in kind, as they had been trained to do.

"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ahhhh!" A pair of canaries sang.

Fluttershy squeed. "Ah-ah-ah-ahhhh-ah!" She sang right back. She winced noticeably as Angel delivered a swift kick to her foreleg. Breakfast wasn't for another fifteen minutes, but he wanted it now.

"What is it, Angel?" She asked. The bunny pointed to his empty bowl. Fluttershy gasped. "Oh, gosh, I completely forgot to get more lettuce leaves! I'll be right back, I promise!" The market should just be opening for the day, she should be able to get there and back within half an hour. The yellow pegasus bolted out of her cottage and down the path. "Oh, I knew I shouldn't have gone outside today. Just need to get a few things, and I'll be home again." She made her way up to one of the produce vendors upon reaching the market. "Two heads of lettuce, a bag of tomatoes, three turnips, and a... a mango, please." She squeaked.

The vendor smiled and began to put everything in a basket. "Sure enough, six bits for the lot."

Fluttershy squeaked. "But... but... it was five bits last week... and I only brought five..."

The vendor shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, miss. Prices went up. Not my doing of course, had some hard times over in Coltifornia this winter."

Ears pinned down, Fluttershys voice lowered to a dull whisper. "Oh. Okay. Only one head of lettuce then. I'm just going to have to do without."

The vendor handed over the basket, which the pegasus bit into.

"I say, what's going on over there? Watch out, now!" The vendor exclaimed.

Fluttershy backed up instinctively, only to be nearly overrun by Applejack, who galloped past as quickly as if she was on fire, chasing a terrified blue pegasus.

"Howdy Fluttershy! Can't talk now, got a varmint tah catch!" In moments, she was gone around the corner. Fluttershy didn't like the look of that.

"Hi, App- oh... okay..."

Slightly frightened, she returned to her cottage. Fluttershy was content there, if a bit confused, and continued her preparations for feeding her animals. Angel was fed first, as he didn't like to be kept waiting. It took her almost two hours to prepare and feed her animals, but she enjoyed doing it. "There! Almost all done! Only three otters left!" She exclaimed proudly, placing cans of processed fish down for the mammals she had counted many times before. She counted as she placed each animals breakfast down, it calmed her nerves. "There. One, two, three... four!?" She was absolutely confused again now. "Oh, gosh, where'd YOU come from?" She didn't mind new animals visiting, but she certainly preferred to know about it beforehoof.

The fourth otter shimmered, something was not quite right about it. Fluttershy poked its nose very gently with her hoof. "Are you alright? I... oh!"

The shimmering intensified, and the creatures brown fur rapidly turned black. Its flesh rapidly deteriorated, leaving large gaping holes where skin and fur had once been. Most of its features disappeared altogether, while more prominent fangs curved downward from its snout. Fluttershy had seen such a creature before, even if it had been quite a while ago. She'd hoped she'd never see one again.

"Oh... no... nonononono..." She backed up, staring into the abominations enormous blue eyes. The Changeling waved its front hooves frantically, trying to get her to calm down. They couldn't speak of course, which caused many moments of consternation.

"What to do... what to do... Twilight! I have to tell Twilight!" She grabbed a bucket from her shelf and flew up over the Changelings head.

"Hey.. um... mister Changeling? I need you to be unconscious for a little while, um, if that's okay..." The Changeling looked up stupidly. Looking away in fear, Fluttershy summoned all her strength to slam the bucket down on the creatures head. She poked at it to be sure it wasn't going anywhere, and raced as fast as she could to Twilight's Library, to bring the unicorn up to date on what had happened. Fluttershy didn't like the thought of Changelings in Ponyville. No, that wouldn't do at all.

Upon ringing the doorbell of the Library, Fluttershy found herself in hysterics, and promptly fell upon Twilight's face. Upon being removed, she was interrogated, which only sent her further into tears. Twilight demanded to know if Fluttershy was a Changeling herself.

"I don't... I mean... I'm not... at least I think I'm not... but what if I am?!... Oh, I never should have left my cottage!" Fluttershy whimpered. Twilight backed off, convinced, and stomped her hoof against the ground. "I'm sorry, I had to ask. Now come on. Let's go get some answers!"

It took a bit to calm Fluttershy down, but once Twilight had told Spike to watch the Library for her, the pair quickly made their way back to the cottage. En route, they were quite suddenly and nearly smashed to the ground by a red wagon which had come barreling down the crest of a nearby hill. There was nopony on it, and the cart veered off into the bushes where it finally came to rest.

Twilight had cast an aura around herself and Fluttershy to protect them, but seeing the danger passed, the shield was dropped. She scratched her head in amazement. "Where in Canterlot did that come from?" She sighed.

Fluttershy was worked up again. "Can we just get this awful meanie head out of my house, please?" She asked, cowering by the door. Twilight nodded.

"Of course. Stand back."

Fluttershy didn't need to be told twice, and stood aside as Twilight charged through the door. The bucket lay abandoned on the floor, no sign of the Changeling. Twilight immediately assumed a serious tone. "Fluttershy, take inventory of all your animals. Let me know if you see anything unusual."

"Right." Fluttershy disappeared into the back room.

Twilight narrowed her eyes, glancing out the window. Almost noon. Changelings didn't necessarily mean danger, but it certainly wasn't a good omen.

She wanted answers, and she had all day to get them.

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