> Fluttershy Opens a Cardboard Box
>  by Matthais Unidostres
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Fluttershy Opens a Cardboard Box
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy was fluttering around her cottage, cleaning and straightening things up around her home as she sung happily to herself. She sang the familiar five notes, visibly in a cheerful mood as she hovered over to her birdhouses, greeting the chirping birds within with a smile. 

A loud thumping sound suddenly mingled with the twittering birds. Fluttershy turned towards the source of the sound, which turned out to be Angel Bunny tapping his foot irately. He had just hopped off of the couch, his nap having been interrupted by Fluttershy's singing.

"Oh, I know you wanted to have a nap, Angel," Fluttershy said soothingly as she landed on the floor before the bunny, "I'm just so excited!" Fluttershy trotted in place as a smile stretched across her face, running from cheek to rosy cheek, as she said, "You know how long I've been saving up for it, and how excited I was when I finally was able to order it! And it's due to arrive today! It'll be here any minute now, and-!"

There was a knock on the door, which caused Fluttershy to gasp out in delight, her eyes shining as she pranced over saying, "Ah-ha-ha! It's here! It's finally here!"

Fluttershy opened the front door to reveal Derpy Hooves standing on her doorstep with a medium sized cardboard box on the ground next to her.

"Yay!" Fluttershy cheered as she snatched up the box and zipped back inside the cottage, closing the door behind her.

Derpy blinked her eyes out of sync, surprised by Fluttershy's rudeness, and sadly hung her head for a moment. But then Fluttershy popped back out of her cottage, smiling as she held a muffin in her right forehoof.

"Thank you!" Fluttershy said as she gave Derpy the muffin before closing the door again.

Derpy smiled and bit into the muffin, and then she turned and flew off with her treat.

Back inside the cottage, Angel Bunny watched with disinterest as Fluttershy came back over, holding the cardboard box in her forelegs. "It's finally here, Angel! I've been waiting so long for it to arrive! I finally have my very own, state-of-the-art, boldly colored-."

Angel sighed and rolled his eyes in annoyance, resuming tapping his foot as he dwelled upon how his nap was being ruined.

Fluttershy noticed Angel's irritation, and she put on a tender expression as she set the box down and said, "Aw, Angel. I understand if you're a bit grumpy, but this really is amazing! Just wait until you see it, you'll understand."

With a smile on her face, Fluttershy raised her right forehoof and pressed down on top of the box. Her smile gave way to a look of curiosity as the top flaps of the box bent down and rebounded against the pressure of her hoof. She peered at the box as she pressed a bit harder. She then reared up and gave the top of the box a few quick presses with both forehooves, grunting a bit as the taped up flaps resisted her attempts at opening them.

"Oh my. . ." Fluttershy mused as she tilted her head at the box in bemusement, not at all frustrated at this point, "This sure is. . .excellent packaging. .  .Very sturdy. . . Solid. . ."

There was a soft smack as Angel face-palmed a this, which Fluttershy took notice of and blushed slightly in response to.

The pegasus laughed nervously and said, "Uh, okay then. Time to be assertive and open the box." Fluttershy then pressed her forehooves on either side of the cardboard box and began both pressing and pulling in opposite directions. She strained for a moment, only for the box to rebound back to its original shape. Fluttershy blinked, then made another, more forceful attempt at pulling the box apart. The sound of her hooves scraping against the side of the box made a dull, squeaking sound reminiscent of claws being dragged across a chalkboard.

Angel fell to the floor and pulled his ears down with his forepaws in order to block out the horrendous sound. Fluttershy's face was set in a pained grimace as the sound assaulted her ears as well. The box finally slipped from her hooves and fell back down to the floor, putting an end to the horrible noise. Fluttershy gasped at the sight of the suffering bunny and bounded over to him, petting him gently as she said, "I'm sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry. Mama won't do that again, I promise."

Angel's response was to look up at Fluttershy and frown silently at her.

Fluttershy put on a forced smile, then let out a huff and said, "Okay. I know how to do this. I mean, of course I can open a box, right?"

Angel just sighed.

Fluttershy appeared the slightest bit hurt by Angel's lack of confidence in her, but nevertheless gave a nod and said, "Yes. Yes I can. And I will! And I'll do it all on my own! I promise!" 

She then flew directly over the box and let herself drop, landing with all four hooves down on top of it. Fluttershy bounced up and down atop the box, stomping as hard as she could onto it. She let out a small grunt with each bounce, getting more and more visibly distressed by the second, until one wayward bounce sent her awkwardly tumbling off to the side and into a nearby bookcase. The resulting collision ended up burying Fluttershy in a small pile of nature and veterinary books.

Fluttershy's head popped out of the book pile, and she sighed softly as she looked dejectedly at the still closed box.

"I can still do this on my own. . . I just need a little. . . advice," she said, and she climbed out of the books and exited the cottage.





Fluttershy entered the post office and immediately found Derpy Hooves at the counter. Smiling at the sight of the walleyed mare, Fluttershy approached the counter and asked, "Oh, excuse me, Derpy, but I was wondering if you could help me with something. . ."

"Do you need help getting rid of some extra muffins?" Derpy said hopefully with a smile and twist of her head.

"Um, no. . . I. . . need help. . ." Fluttershy muttered as she looked down at the floor bashfully, ". . .opening the box you delivered."

Derpy's eyes blinked out of sync as she looked at Fluttershy in puzzlement. "O-kay?" she replied.

There was an awkward silence that felt like being squeezed around the middle to Fluttershy. She built up the courage to look up at Derpy and said, "So. . . can you tell me how to. . ."

". . .Nope! Sorry!" Derpy replied with an awkward smile.

Fluttershy let out a soft gasp and said, "Wh-what? Why not?"

Derpy shrugged and said, "I don't know how to open cardboard boxes either!"

Fluttershy was amazed by this, and she said, "But. . .it's your job to deliver boxes, so. . ."

"I just deliver boxes, I don't open them," Derpy explained.

Fluttershy stared blankly at Derpy for a moment, and then said, "But haven't you ever received a cardboard box before?"

"Nope!" Derpy said, "The few deliveries I've ever gotten have been either in bags or in baskets." Derpy then ducked down behind the counter and lifted up a gift basket with her teeth. She placed the blueberry muffin loaded basket onto the counter and said with a smile, "Muffin?"

Fluttershy blinked twice, then her legs began to shake and tremble. Eventually, her hind legs gave out and she fell back onto her haunches with a thump. Caught in a state of being in between devastation and desperation, Fluttershy whimpered out, "But there. . .has to be somepony who knows how to open a cardboard box."

Derpy stopped smiling and said with a manner that was sympathetic yet lacked confidence, "You're probably gonna have some trouble finding anypony that can help you. Hooves aren't really made for opening cardboard boxes, as you've probably already found out. Cardboard boxes are normally only used when delivering to unicorns, since they can just use magic to open them up. Buuuuuut. . . every once in a while there's a mix up or a mistake or a shortage in hoof-friendly packaging or a cardboard box just needs to be used, and some poor pegasus or earth pony gets stuck with something that their poor blunt hooves can't handle. . . . So sad."

Derpy's head hung low for a moment, then she lifted it back up and said optimistically, "But you could always ask one of your friends to open it for you! Like Rarity, or Princess Twilight, or Spike-."

"No!" Fluttershy said strongly, but then she shrunk back a bit and said, "Um, no. I made a promise to myself that I would open it myself." She then turned away and hid behind her mane bashfully as she added hastily, "Also, Angel would never let me live it down."

". . .Well good luck with that!" Derpy said with a cheery wave.





Fluttershy returned to her cottage much less enthusiastically that she had been that morning. However, she was surprised to fine a mid-sized gift basket sitting on the floor a few steps away from her front door. Curious, Fluttershy approached the basket and read the card attached to the handle.



A little bunny told me you were having trouble with a certain cardboard box. Here are a few tools to make it easier for ya. Toodles!

-Discord



Fluttershy smiled adorably and said, "Aww, that was so sweet of him." 

She then leaned over the basket and reached in with a forehoof. When she raised her hoof, she suddenly found herself holding a chainsaw that turned itself on and revved loudly. Fluttershy let out a shriek and dropped the power tool, which mercifully turned off when it hit the floor. 

"How did that. . .?" Fluttershy asked, her voice trailing off as she stared at the basket. She sighed in resignation and reached into the basket again. This time she pulled out what looked like a metallic-silver colored pencil with a button where the eraser would have been. She held the writing implement in one hoof, and then hovered in the air as she moved her other forehoof over to click the button.

A red lazer beam suddenly shot out of the business end of the implement. Fluttershy screamed as the beam sliced through the wire holding up a birdhouse, causing the blue-jay inside to fly out as the birdhouse fell to the floor. The birdhouse hit the floor with a clunk, but was otherwise undamaged from the fall. The blue-jay was also unharmed, albeit very unamused by the surprise.

Fluttershy carefully put the small device down onto the floor as she said apologetically, "S-sorry."

The bird seemed to huff as it flew back inside it's now ground shelter.

Fluttershy turned her attention back to the basket and, perhaps against her better judgement, reached into it again. This time she pulled out a small folded up pocket knife.

"Okay. . ." Fluttershy said as she carefully raised the tool as she held it between her forehooves, "This isn't too scary. . ."

However, when Fluttershy opened the knife, rather than a small thin blade coming out, a comically large cleaver bigger than her sprang out in a flash.

"Eep!" Fluttershy cried out as she dropped the weapon, which neatly retracted into its compact size the moment it hit the floor. Fluttershy took a moment to catch her breath, then she eyed the basket and said disappointedly, "Oh, Discord. . . you must have given me something I can use."

Fluttershy reached into the basket again and pulled out a stick of dynamite.

"No," Fluttershy said flatly with perfectly level eyebrows.

She put it back and pulled out a black, round bomb.

"No."

She put that back and pulled a small brown bottle with a cork in the top.

". . .what?" Fluttershy asked in confusion, not sure how a tiny bottle small enough to fit in the palm of her hoof fit in with the rest of the destructive objects Discord had gifted her. The bottle had a label around it, and Fluttershy held it close to her face so she could read it.




NITRO GLYCERIN
WARNING! 
HANDLE WITH CARE! 
WILL EXPLODE IF DROPPED!




"Eep! Oh dear, oh dear!" Fluttershy said as she quickly held the bottle out and away from her. The pegasus instantly panicked, and she fumbled the small bottle in her now violently trembling forehooves. Terror gripped her heart as the bottle slipped between her hooves and started to fall towards the floor.

Fluttershy's entire world seemed to move in slow motion as she watched the bottle slowly made its descent. She bit her lip as tears welled up in her widened, terror filled eyes.

"This it. . .This is the end. . .It's gonna explode, and I'm gonna get blown up and die!" she thought as she saw the bottle get closer and closer to the floor.

Fluttershy shut her eyes tightly and braced herself for the explosion, but instead of a boom, all she heard was the clink of the glass bottle hitting the wood floor. After about five seconds with no explosion, Fluttershy carefully opened her eyes and took a look at the bottle, which now lay on its side on the floor. Still trembling with fear, Fluttershy carefully reached out with her right forehoof and gave the bottle the lightest of taps.

The bottle began to tremble violently, and Fluttershy's terror came back in full swing as she screamed and threw herself down onto the floor. She closed her eyes and covered her head with her forehooves. She even pulled her tail in close around her as if the gain some extra semblance of protection. While essentially curled up tightly into a ball, Fluttershy lay trembling as she squeaked and whimpered incoherently.

Then there was a loud pop of the bottle's cork being forced out, coupled with very familiar laughing and a voice that was just as familiar, "Oh-ha-ha-ha-ha! The look on your face! Priceless!"

Fluttershy gasped and uncovered her face to she the full-sized top half of Discord snaking up out of the tiny bottle on the floor. "Discord! How could you!?" she said in shock.

"Oh, come now, best pal! You have to admire a well done prank for what it is!" Discord said as he snapped his talon, causing the basket and the other three items on the floor to disappear.

Now no longer frightened but utterly frustrated, Fluttershy marched over to Discord and said fiercely, "That was a horribly mean trick! I thought I was gonna die! That wasn't funny at all!"

Discord held up a large stick with his lion arm, which was suddenly made of metal, and said excitedly, "Oooh! Are you gonna pull a prank on my that involves zombies to teach me a lesson! I'm up for that!"

Fluttershy sighed and pressed her right forehoof against her face. "Discord. . .I am so. . . frustrated with you right now. . ."

Discord's arm turned back to normal and the stick he was holding vanished, and he held both his palms up and said, "Hey, hey, hey; don't blame it all on me! It was the scwewy wabbit's idea, and you said that you wanted us to get along!"

Fluttershy glanced over at Angel to find that he was munching on a box of popcorn that had seemingly come out of nowhere.

Fluttershy sighed and placed her forehoof back down as she said, "I suppose it's. . .nice that you two are getting along better. But could you maybe. . . not pull any more pranks on me. . . please?"

"For you, my dear, I shall," Discord said with an elegant bow, the comically tall top hat on his head tipping by itself. Then he addressed Angel as he began flipping through a floating, multicolored rolodex, "What do you think? Maybe. . . Pinkie Pie at seven?"

Angel just shrugged nonchalantly.

"Fine. See you behind the bakery," Discord said busily, then he made the rolodex disappear with a wave of his claw and turned back to Fluttershy, "Now, about this mystery box of yours. . ."

"Oh, it's not a mystery. I know what's inside," Fluttershy insisted.

"Yes. . .but knowing how to get it open. . .that's the real mystery here, isn't it," Discord said as he arched his body over the box, adjusting his deerstalker cap with his paw as he looked through a magnifying glass he held in his claw. Discord twirled the magnifying glass, and it turned into a small handheld circular saw. He then seemingly tore off his skin, revealing himself to be wearing a surgeon's outfit, complete with a surgical mask over his face.

"Step by step. . . made a deep incision. . ." Discord said in a sing-song voice as he lowered the tool close to the box.

Fluttershy waved her forehooves in a panic and said, "No! No! Don't open it for me! I want to open it myself! I promised myself that I would open it on my own. It's important to me."

Discord snapped his paw and his outfit and saw vanished. "Splendid!" he said as he clapped his hands, "Finally, somepony who doesn't expect the Lord of Chaos to solve all their problems for them!" He then leaned over and put his arm around Fluttershy. "You truly are my best friend," he said warmly as a golden medallion with the message "#1 Cool Friend" appeared around Fluttershy's neck, weighing her down slightly.

"Oh! Well, thank you, Discord," Fluttershy said.

"But I'll tell you this, and I speak from first hand experience when I say this," Discord said, his voice changing a bit as he slipped off of Fluttershy and hovered in front of her, "Of all the Fluttershy's in the multiverse, not only are you my favorite, but you are also truly the best equipped to solve this problem without completely loosing your mind and going on a disgraceful rampage."

"Wait. . .what?" Fluttershy asked with a look of utter bewilderment, "And why are you changing your voice like that?"

"Good luck with your unboxing, Fluttershy!" Discord said, his voice instantly changing back to normal, "And remember, you ain't never had a friend like me!" he added gleefully, and he was sucked back into the tiny brown bottle, which then disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

Fluttershy stared at the spot where Discord had disappeared, then slowly turned back to the cardboard box.

"Maybe I need an advice from an expert?" Fluttershy mused.





Fluttershy dropped two hoof-fulls of walnuts in front of a pair of squirrels.

"Alright, little friends," she said with a smile, "Just relax and enjoy these tasty nuts! They're all for you."

The two squirrels scampered over to the walnuts and looked up at the pegasus.

"Go on," Fluttershy said, her smile slightly larger than normal, "Just. . .open them up and enjoy."

The squirrels watched as Fluttershy slowly and slightly awkwardly stepped backwards away from them, then they shrugged at each other and went to work on the walnuts. One of the squirrels picked up a walnut and began working on the seam with his teeth, spinning the nut with his paws as he worked to split the shell in half. Meanwhile, the other squirrel banged a walnut on the ground, trying to crack the shell so he could pull it apart. After about a minute, both attempts bore fruit, as the first squirrel was able to pry the shell of his walnut open while the second squirrel managed to fully shatter the shell he was working on. 

Just as the squirrels were about to start eating, they were both distracted by the sound of frustrated growling. They turned to see Fluttershy a few yards away from them, and what she was doing surprised them both a great deal. The pegasus was holding the cardboard box in her forehooves, hovering in mid-air, and gnawing on it with her teeth. Fluttershy was spinning around, flipping and turning upside down and all around as she held the box tightly with her legs, still chewing and gnawing at the tape that sealed the top and bottom shut.

Angel casually hopped over to the two squirrels, stilling munching on his box of popcorn and even offering some of it to the brown rodents. The squirrels politely declined, and they went back to cracking open the walnuts as they joined Angel in watching Fluttershy's struggles.

Fluttershy's face twitched as it was twisted by a fierce grimace. She suddenly let out a cry of rage and held the cardboard box up high in her forelegs. She feebly hit the box against the floor of her cottage several times, breathing heavily from the exertion. She then dropped it as she let out several quick shallow breaths, and then took the air and came down hard onto the box, stomping on for all that she was worth with all four hooves. After the six stomp, a loud cracking noise gave her pause. Her ears twitched as she stood atop the box, her eyes darting around fearfully as the cracking sound got louder. 

Fluttershy slowly looked down and saw that there were now a series of cracks in her wood floor surrounding the box she was standing on.

"I knew I shouldn't have had that extra helping of oats today. . ." she whispered nervously.

With a final loud crack, the floor gave way and both the box and Fluttershy fell through the floor and into the cellar with a scream and a tremendous crash.

The squirrels looked on with eyes widened with shock, while Angel merely sighed and rolled his eyes. Leaving his box of popcorn, Angel hopped out of the living room and returned wearing a tiny nurse's cap while lugging a first aid that was as big as he was. He dragged the first aid kit over to the hole, kicked it down into the cellar, and then hopped down after it with an annoyed look on his face.





Beaverton Beaverteeth and his team of beavers were just finishing up repairing the hole in the floor as Fluttershy stood with her back to them and her eyes on the still unopened cardboard box. Fluttershy had a few bandages wrapped around here hind legs, and a few band-aids were stuck on her flanks and sides, but she was smiling, albeit rather dementedly, as she beheld the set-up she had put together surrounding the cardboard box.

Stuck on either side of the cardboard box were a pair of clean toilet plunges with ropes tied to their handles. Each of the ropes ran into twin rope and pulley systems anchored to the cottage's ceiling. Both systems had their own load Fluttershy had rigged up. One load consisted of two large bags of pet food, while the other load consisted of all of Fluttershy's pots and pans tied together. Both loads were precariously balanced atop of twin bird houses, much to the displeasure of the birds that had been persuaded to temporarily leave them.

Still wearing a demented smile, Fluttershy addressed said birds, who were fluttering and twittering on either side of her. "Oh don't you worry. It won't be too long, my little friends. . ." Fluttershy then looked down at the two lengths of rope which had been tied around the birdhouses' poles. The other ends of the ropes were wrapped around each of her forehooves. Her smirk got bigger as she said, "Oh yes. . . As soon I pull these ropes and , the contents of that cardboard box will be mine. . .mine! HA-HA-HA! AHH-HA-HA-HA! AHH-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAA!"

After her obligatory fit of unhinged, maniacal laughter, Fluttershy gave the ropes a sharp tug to pull out the birdhouses to let the weights fall. However, Fluttershy's tug failed at getting the birdhouses to move.

"What?" Fluttershy squeaked out, a note of desperation in her voice. Then she pulled with her forehooves again, a bit harder this time. Still, she got no results with her modest strength. She flapped her wings as she jumped up onto her hind legs, stepping backwards as she tugged as hard as she could. The pegasus growled, softly at first, but soon she was as loud as Harry the bear as she struggled to pull out the makeshift supports from beneath the makeshift loads.

Fluttershy let her head hang low as she stopped to catch her breath. Then she lifted her head up and snarled, "I'm . . .going to OPEN IT!"

Fluttershy then put all her energy into flying backwards and pulling the ropes. Inevitably, the birdhouses finally come out from under the loads, which also caused Fluttershy to go flying backwards into the wall behind her. Meanwhile, the bags of food and bundle of pots and pans fell downward, pulling the ropes through the pulley system quite quickly. This caused the two toilet plungers stuck to the sides of the cardboard box to be pulled, which stretched the box out slightly while also lifting it a few inches off of the floor. However, after no more than three seconds, both plungers popped right off of the cardboard box and went flying, coming loose from the hastily knotted ropes, and bounced wildly around the cottage.

As Fluttershy slid down the side of the wall, still spread eagled from her impact, she looked up and opened her eyes just in time to see one of the clean toilet plungers flying right towards her. She barely had any time to scream before the plunger struck her right onto her muzzle.

Having gotten a front row seat to this incident, Angel burst out into silent, chattering laughter as he stomped his foot and pointed at the unfortunate pegasus. In the very next instant, however, the second toilet plunger struck him from behind and sent him flying into the far wall. The small bunny was trapped inside the plunger as it remained stuck against the wall. A white furry paw pushed out the wooden handle, and Angel managed to squeeze his head out through the hole. The bunny struggle to get the rest of his body through, but scowled when he realized that he was stuck.

Fluttershy gripped the handle of the toilet plunger on her snout as best as she could, and with a few strong tugs, she managed to pull it off. She dropped the offending objects and sighed dejectedly as she stared at the floor. A loud, impatient whistle form Angel snapped her out of her funk, and she gasped when she saw her bunny's predicament. She rushed over to him and quickly pried him off of the wall, plunger cup and all. Angel squirmed out of Fluttershy's hooves and landed on the floor, where he grabbed the rubber plunger and pushed, pulled, and wiggled until he managed to get his head free. He tossed the rubber object aside and glared up at Fluttershy, arms folded and foot tapping.

Fluttershy seemed to physically deflate as she hung her head in shame. "It's no use," she said softly, sounding utterly heartbroken at this point, "I can't do it. . .I'll never be able to open that box. . .and. . . and. . ." Tears began to well up in her eyes as she said sorrowfully, ". . .and you'll never be able to see how great it is. . ."

Angel's irritation gave his way to surprise as he stopped tapping his foot. Seeing Fluttershy crying over this unnerved him a great deal. Before he could make any effort to comfort her, however, the front door burst open and in came none other than Derpy Hooves.

"Fluttershy! Fluttershy! I've got good new for you!" the mail mare said excitedly.

"This is all a bad dream?" Fluttershy said dully, not even bothering to look up at Derpy.

"Nope! It turns out that the cardboard box I delivered to you wasn't an ordinary cardboard box! It was a brand new 'Easy Open' cardboard box. It's a brand new invention! They're all specially made to be opened with only hooves!" Derpy explained cheerfully.

Fluttershy raised her head to look at Derpy and said slowly, "Easy. . .Open? Easy?"

Derpy nodded and continued, "Yep! Ya see-."

"EASY!?" Fluttershy shouted as she zoomed in close so that she and Derpy were eye to eye with each other. "This is their idea of easy?! Do you have any idea what I've been through today? In what way is opening that box 'easy'!?" Fluttershy ranted, only barely holding herself back from using the Stare in her rage.

Derpy blinked her trademarked eyes, more confused than frightened by Fluttershy's outburst. Then she said slowly, "Well. . . all you gotta do is tap the the side of the box. . . On the spot where it says 'tap here to open'. See it?"

Fluttershy's eyes widened as she turned her head to look at the box. Sure enough, there was a spot on the side of the box marked with the printed message just as Derpy had said.

"Sooooo. . ." Derpy said with a nervous smile, "I really need to get back to work at the post office, so. . .bye!"

Derpy exited the cottage, closing the door behind her, and leaving Fluttershy to stare blankly at the cardboard box.

". . .How did I not see that?" Fluttershy said in innocent disbelief.

She then felt something tap her on the leg, and she looked down to see Angel holding a pocket watch and pointing at it.

Fluttershy nodded and said, "Right. . .I suppose this has gone on long enough. . ."

Fluttershy then stepped over to the box and stared down on it. After taking a deep breath, Fluttershy reached out a shaky forehoof and daintily poked at the spot marked 'tap here to open.'

Fluttershy squeaked out in surprise when the top of the box effortlessly popped open, neatly tearing the tape right down the middle and finally revealing the contents within to the outside world. Fluttershy then let out a gasp as her face was overcome with joy. "I did it! I finally did it! Yay! Yay!"

Angel huffed and rolled his eyes, and as Fluttershy started pulling out packing material that had been used to ensure the contents of the box safe and undamaged, the bunny started to hop away in search of a place quiet enough for his nap.

"Angel, wait!" Fluttershy called out.

Angel groaned, and he turned around to give Fluttershy a look of long-suffering as he slowly made his way back to her.

Fluttershy face was seemingly set to constant smiling as she stood with her forehooves in the box and her eyes on her favorite bunny. "You have to see what's inside, Angel!" she said gleefully. She then pulled out a large cyan crystal, not unlike the color of her eyes. The crystal was vaguely quartz shaped, taller than it was wide, yet slightly wider than one would expect. It was around twice as tall as Angel was, and it had a strange shimmering quality, almost like staring into a deep pool of water.

As Fluttershy set the crystal down in front of Angel, the bunny was nearly immediately bored with it. However, that all changed when the crystal began to vibrate and glow as images began to take shape within. The bunny peered into the strange object, and his eyes went wide when he saw a very familiar scene play out within the crystal. It was of himself, lovingly combing a sobbing Fluttershy's mane. The bunny remembered this as having been the aftermath of a very upsetting experience at a Tornado Day practice. The scene suddenly changed to depict Fluttershy cleaning the Golden Oaks Library and singing while Angel prepared a salad nearby. Angel instant recognized this scene as well, recalled how determined he was to help Fluttershy achieve her dream of being invited to the Grand Galloping Gala. As the scene changed again to another vivid memory, Angel forced himself to tear his gaze away from the crystal to look up at Fluttershy, who was smiling warmly at him.

"It's a Magical Memory Crystal," Fluttershy explained, "It holds and plays copies of whatever memories somepony puts into it. Starlight told me how Sunburst figured out how to make them, so I had him make one for me. . . for us. The last time I visited the Crystal Empire, Sunburst copied the best memories of us being together so he could work on it in his spare time and send it to me when it was done."

Fluttershy knelt down close to the spellbound bunny and nuzzled him sweetly. Then she said, "I wanted us to have something to show that while I have plenty of pony friends and animal friends, you will always be extra special. You were always pushing me to be stronger and braver in your own unique, even if I didn't always fully get it at the time. You understood me better than anycreature, and for that, I will always be grateful."

As Angel stood stock still in shock, listening to the pegasus' words and seeing more memories being played out within the crystal, the normally tough, no-nonsense bunny found himself moved to tears. He hugged Fluttershy tight and buried his face into the crook of her neck. Fluttershy just smiled and shed a few tears of joy of her own.

"I love you too, my little Angel," she said lovingly.