Life can be Rough
The yellow pegasus with the pink mane was in the middle of feeding her chickens. She dropped seeds elegantly and gently on the ground, and the chickens started to peck at it. "Elizabeak, why aren't you eating?" The shy, gentle mare asked with a soft head voice.
The young chicken pecked at the ground. It clucked as it scooped some dirt in its mouth and set it aside.
"I see." The kind mare understood in great depth, for she was good with animal communication.
The chicken clucked three times with a slight delay on the third.
"Billy Bock was being disgusting this morning, and you lost your appetite? Well... try your best to eat." The gentle mare asked in a very soft, un-authoritarian tone.
The chicken obeyed and started to peck at the seeds.
"That's a good chicken."
The softly spoken mare trotted happily to central Ponyville in search of her 5 best friends. She was so determined to have a fine, trouble free, cheerful day. She was completely naive to all the trials and tribulations she was to experience on that "fine" day.
A purple pony passed by as she trotted unusually vigorously across Ponyville. "Hey Twilight!" The yellow pony called out to the purple mare that passed by without noticing her, for she was reading a book as she trotted forward that was being held up in front of her face by a levitation spell being performed by the young pony's horn.
"Oh, hi Fluttershy. I didn't see you there." The purple mare replied. "Sorry about that"
"Oh that's fine." Fluttershy said with understanding. "You seemed really engrossed in that book."
"Oh, yes." The purple unicorn blushed. "Daring Doo and the Sacred Emeralds of Chaos. It's really good. But..."
"But? But what?" Fluttershy asked with concern.
"But I'm really disappointed about how Daring Doo finds the castle entrance. They just don't make Daring Doo like they used too..." The purple mare put her head down in subtle sadness.
"I understand, Twilight. You loved Daring Doo. I'm sorry if you're disappointed with the new one. I wish I could do something about it." The gentle mare stated with compassion.
"Awe, well you make it sound like I'm depressed or something." The purple unicorn laughed with appreciation.
"Oh, I just thought... well, you seemed so sad, and... I wanted to... oh, never mind. If you're alright, that's all that matters to me."
"Ah, thanks anyway, Fluttershy. It was nice talking to you."
"Bye, Twilight! Nice talking to you too." Fluttershy started trotting towards the Ponyville spa. She was determined to have a great time with one of her other friends. This is where everything goes downhill endlessly for the poor mare for the rest of the day.
Fluttershy was heading quickly and in excitement towards the spa when she bumped into a bulky stallion holding a bunch of envelopes. Fluttershy gasped in shock. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" She asked with the utmost concern on the matter at hand. "Are you oka-"
"Hey! Watch where you're going, you idiot!" The stallion shouted with rage. His blue coat sticking out near his chest area from inhaling and exhaling really hard out of anger.
"Look... I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. Here let me help-" she extended a hoof, but he shoved it away.
"I don't need your help! I have a lot of mail to deliver, and you slowed me down by so much! Look at all of these letters on the ground. Just look at them!" He pointed at the hundreds of envelopes that he was holding. "I have to pick all of these up!"
"Well, then let me hel-"
"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!!! Go away!"
Fluttershy could feel a tear forming in her left eye. She tried to pull herself together, but before she knew it, there were tears sliding down her yellow cheeks.
"Hey, what's that? Are you crying? Is that how you act with everypony when something doesn't go your way?"
Fluttershy couldn't take this. If she was going to burst into tears, it was not going to be in front of this grumpy stallion. She was tired of breaking down in front of everypony. She ran away before she could shed anymore tears.
Fluttershy sniffled off the last of her tears, and she was feeling a little bit better after getting away from the situation. "It's okay, Fluttershy" The upset mare told herself. "You just had a bad encounter with a relatively unfriendly stallion. The rest of your day will probably be better!" She started heading back in the direction of the the spa. "I'm just going to relax with Rarity!" Her stomach made a low pitched rumble. "Actually... maybe I should have lunch first. I'm really hungry."
Fluttershy went over to the Hay You for a hay sandwich. She sat at a table in the outdoor area. A couple of colts in the grassy field nearby were running around, throwing dirt at each other. Fluttershy looked at the kids that were fooling around in the fields. "Awe... how cute! I'm sure Rainbow Dash would have a ball with those kids! ...If she weren't so busy nowadays... well, such as life." The colts's fun was ruined by a rain storm that had started. "Well, it's a good thing that I have an umbrella at this table..." The pink haired mare looked at the kids. They were crying because their fun had been ruined by the rain. "Awe... that's not fun! The rain caused all of the mud to get all soggy. I think I should go cheer them up!" Fluttershy started to fly over to them, when suddenly a lightning bolt came crashing down really close to them, taking out a tree. Fluttershy shreiked and hid under her table! "That was the closest lightning bolt I've ever been to in my life!" The lightning bolt had scared her so much that she was shaking like crazy under the table. Her face was covered by her mane. Above her, she heard somepony say; "Here's your food, Ms. Ms?"
Fluttershy was trotting towards her constant destination, feeling a little better after eating something. But she wasn't moving in that direction for long when a couple of pegasi snuck up on her and scared her with a storm cloud. Fluttershy shrieked and burried her head in the ground and put her hooves over the back side of her head.
"Ha ha! We got her!" One of the pegasi cheered as they high hoofed together.
Fluttershy un-buried her face from the ground. "umm... k-kids, please d-don't scare me w-with l-lightning." She said in a weak, barely audible voice.
"Lighten up!" The other pegasis said. "You need to learn to take a joke." The two pegasi flew off, chuckling.
The yellow mare started to cry again. She was happier because she was alone, but Fluttershy was having a miserable day, and things just kept getting worse.
At one point, Fluttershy was looking for a bench to sit down on. She was about to walk up to one and sit down, but a stallion ran right in front of her and lay down on it. The yellow pony tried to explain to him that she was about to sit down, and that she's had a very stressful day and she just wanted to. But the sleepy, red stallion just told her to go away because he didn't want his sleep to be disturbed by such a little pest.
At another point, the poor yellow mare was looking at the most beautiful flower she had ever seen in her life. But then a pony came running by and ran it over.
The last straw was placed when she just lay down in the fields. She was trying to stop shedding tears, but her day had gone so horrible, she wasn't sure if she would ever stop crying. A group of stallions came passing by, whom were gossiping about other ponies. They looked at the pathetic, upset mare.
"Hey, look over there!" The gray pony pointed a hoof at Fluttershy. Is she crying?" "Yeah. She's probably just a depressed pony who has nothing better to do than to just lie down in the grass and cry!" The green one announced. "I think she's just one of those bipolar ponies in their depressed phase. She's probably just going to be crying for days to come!" The purple one suggested. They all chuckled in unison.
Fluttershy got up and ran away as fast as she possibly could with her mane covering her completely tear soaked face. She passed by Twilight as she ran away.
"Hey Fluttershy!" Twilight waved. Her sentimental expression changed to pure shock.
Fluttershy locked her cottage door and she buried her face in her pillow. She was crying her eyes out, and she had no plans to leave her cottage anytime soon.
Suddenly, a knock could be heard coming from her cottage door. "Fluttershy, you there?" A familiar voice called out.
"Leave me alone! Can't you tell by my crying that I've been having a terrible day?!"
"Fluttershy, it's me, Rainbow Dash."
"Rainbow Dash?" The yellow pony whispered to herself. She went down to her cottage door, unlocked it, and opened it to see if it really was the best pony to talk to at this time. Sure enough, there she was, standing right outside her cottage.
"Twilight was really concerned when you ran off in tears. She said I should go talk to you."
"Oh, Rainbow, I had the worst day ever!" The yellow mare stated with sniffles and tears in between.
"Do you want to talk about it with me?" The rainbow colour maned pegasis asked gently and with compassion. "Tell me everything..."
Fluttershy told Rainbow Dash every bad thing that happened to her throughout the entire day. Every now and then she had a sudden burst of tears, and then she would have to pull herself together, and then she would resume the story. Rainbow Dash was very patient with her, for she had counseled Fluttershy numerous times in the past. This wasn't new to her. But she had never seen her this upset before.
"Is that so?" Rainbow Dash had listened intently and had taken in everything the yellow mare had said. "That sounds like a pretty bad day."
Fluttershy nodded. After reiterating everything, she felt like she had just re-experienced it. She buried her face in the carpet.
"Well, I can't really help you that much, but I can give you a bit of advice; you had a bad day, but it's not the end of the world. It happens to the best of us. I've experienced way worse in the past."
Fluttershy looked up at her. "Y-you have?"
"Yeah. I could give you so many examples later if you want me to, but this definitely will not be your last bad day. The trick is to be prepared for them. You have to expect the very worst."
"But Rainbow Dash, I'm not nearly as good at handling these situations as you are. I don't think I can be prepared."
The blue mare considered what the yellow pony had said carefully. "Look, Fluttershy, I know it's a struggle for you, but you have to learn to be able to handle these situations. If you don't know how to, something can very easily ruin your day."
Fluttershy buried her face in her hooves and started crying again.
Rainbow Dash made a very subtle sigh. "I'll tell you what, Fluttershy. How about I spend the night with you in your cottage? Would that make you feel better?"
The yellow pony lifted her face from her tear soaked hooves. "You would do that?"
"Sure. You've always been like a little sister to me. I realize that you're really upset right now, and I will do anything for my 'little sister'. I'll spend all the time you want me to with you until you're feeling better.
Fluttershy was so touched by this that she ran up to Rainbow Dash and gave her a tight hug and started to let her tears out into her shoulder.
The Blue Pegasus was startled by her sudden movement towards her, but then she realized what was going on and decided to put her hooves around her. "It's okay." She whispered as she patted her backside. "Everything is going to be alright."