Chapter 1
Zecora trotted along through the depths of the Everfree Forest, intent on finding a sprig of a plant called Foal's Feathers. The zebra had been out collecting plants all day, due to the fact that she desperately needed to restock her whole hut with herbs. The prior day, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had come to her hut in search of finding out their special abilities, but instead had ended up breaking havoc all over her neat, organized living space. It had all been for naught, though. Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle had used every single spice and herb that Zecora owned and had mixed it all together into a bubbling, nauseatingly smelly concoction. The fillies had far from earned their cutie marks and looked as if they were going to vomit if they were to stay in the hut any longer. Zecora hadn't the heart to say no to the poor little foals, but the mess had agitated her. The sad looks on the faces of the 3 fillies as they had trotted out of Zecora's hut had almost made her forgive them for the mess they had made. Almost, but not quite. It had taken the zebra the rest of the day to clean up her hut. She hoped that soon the Cutie Mark Crusaders would realize their true talents and stop pursuing unfamiliar areas of adventure. Very, very soon.
The last plant she needed to gather for the time being was Foal's Feathers, and she was determined to find it before the sun went down. Zecora knew the twisted, green-gray roots should be located somewhere around her cottage, but she had had to explore deep into the Everfree Forest to gather a surplus of some of her other medicinal plants. I must be finding it somewhere near, this plant just couldn't disappear! she thought. So, she just decided to trot along in the general direction of her home with her eyes pealed and her senses wary.
The rays of light that fought their way through the cracks in the foliage told the zebra that Celestia's beautiful day would come to an end in about an hour. I must hurry to complete my task, before the night dons its dark mask. Zecora sped up to a canter, a sense of urgency urging her to look harder. The scenery slowly changed from a forest filled with giant tree trunks and thick greenery overhead to an open field near the edge of the thinning forest. Zecora vaguely remembered where she currently was, but she knew that she needed to immediately turn around and go back to her hut. The night would soon be upon her. The zebra with her golden jewelry was just about to turn around, when suddenly she found what she was looking for near a curious looking tree. Its thick trunk was very short and branched off into smaller limbs and even smaller offshoots. The skeleton of the tree itself looked perfectly normal, but the leaves that grew off of it gave it an eerie atmosphere. The shoots of green tumbled off of the slender branches, facing downward. The leaves looked as if they were a never-ending flow of tears coming off of the tree, weighing down the limbs with melancholy dead-weight. Some of the plant-tears nearly brushed the ground. Zecora felt an odd sense of foreboding just looking at the tree. She had never seen anything like it before.
About 4 hooves away from the tree, though, grew a patch of the gnarled, awry, green-gray plant that she had been searching for tirelessly. The tree still bothered her, though. Zecora was weighing her options when she heard a yelp. Glancing upward, the zebra saw a plume of silvery feathers racing out toward the field and a frantic flurry of butter-yellow feathers trail behind it.
"Oh, come back here, Bright Wing. Your wings aren't fully healed yet and it's getting late!" Fluttershy squeaked as she flapped after her bird. Zecora trotted over to the Foal's Feathers plant when she heard another shriek. A sudden pang of fear temporarily paralyzed the zebra, but she quickly recovered and looked in the direction from where the scream had originated.
10 yards away she saw a pink-maned pegasus stuck in a pine tree. Fluttershy's eyes rolled around in her sockets, giving her a dazed look. Zecora trotted over to help her friend. "Fluttershy, you had given me quite the scare! It seems this tree has become a snare."
Fluttershy dropped to the ground and nodded.
"Are you okay? This forest does not serve as a very good speedway," the zebra rhymed, lending a hoof to help Fluttershy up.
"Y-yes, I'm fine," the pegasus confirmed as she stood up and idly brushed the leaves from her mane.
Knowing that her friend was well, Zecora went back to collect her Foal's Feathers plant. She picked some up and placed it into her saddlebag with the rest of her herbal collection. My work is now done, just like the setting sun.
The sky had transformed into a deep orange with hints of blood red that slowly transfigured into a deep purple. The zebra could tell it would be a gorgeous night.
"Zecora! You should... um... stay away from that t-tree," Fluttershy awkwardly sputtered, her body suddenly racked with shivers.
"Nonsense, Fluttershy! I had to collect a plant nearby. I am done, now, and I bid you ciao!"
"No, but, Zecora, that tree... it's evil," the pegasus's voice was barely a whisper as she shook like a leaf in the middle of an autumnal storm.
"There is nothing to be scared of here, nothing at all you need to fear."
"ZECORA, GET AWAY FROM THE TREE!"
The zebra didn't move, though, she only stared curiously at her shy friend, wondering what had cased her unforeseen outburst. Fluttershy just stood there shuttering and trembling, her body filling with anger from a distant time ago.
-
As a young filly, Fluttershy had never been a very popular pony. She had always been bullied by the older ponies for being an unsatisfactory flier and for her inability to be assertive. She was often the focal point of many unkind japes and jibes and would frequently return to her home with tears in her eyes. Fluttershy's parents had tried many a time to console and help their shy little filly, but all that their attempts had done was just adding to the timid little foal's distress. When the yellow equine's parents had realized that they had only made their daughter's shyness worse, they sent her off to flight school in Cloudsdale, hoping that maybe if she was away from them that she would be able to blossom into a friendlier pony.
Cloudsdale had only made it worse, though.
Settling into her new home in Cloudsdale had been a difficult task for Fluttershy, but she had made a new friend in the process. Upon arriving in the floating city, Fluttershy had been extremely nervous. She trotted slowly behind her parents while they led her to her school. Her cyan eyes were glued to the soft cloud that made up the ground of the city when she didn't see her parents make a turn and walked right into another foal. The foal was shorter and stockier than Fluttershy and had a braided mane colored green and purple. The foal had tiny green wings that were raised in curiousity as she stared at Fluttershy with her purple eyes.
"Are yah all right there, uh, I don't know ya name?" She had asked as she lent a hoof to help fear-stricken Fluttershy off the ground.
"I'm Fluttershy," she whispered.
The pony who had helped her up had apparently had great hearing, though. "Well, how-dy Fluttershy, I'm guessin' ya'r new to Cloudsdale? Mah name's Grape Fizzle, but most 'round here just call me Grape. Yah here to attend the Foal Flight Schoo' Ah'm gonna guess?"
Fluttershy nodded in response to the question.
"Alrighty then, y'all should just follow me to the schoo' since that's where Ah'm headed anyhow."
Fluttershy and Grape Fizzle had become fast friends after that. Grape had shown Fluttershy around the school and surrounding campus and was even in most of Fluttershy's classes. All had seemed well to the pink-maned, timid pony. Grape introduced her to many other foals and even invited her to one special party.
Fluttershy had gotten the invitation the night before the party happened and she felt more excited than she ever had in her whole entire life. She had went out and purchased a light blue dress that matched her eyes just for the occasion. All had seemed well, even during the beginning of the party. Everyone was laughing and having a good time and Fluttershy felt like she was soaring, even though she wasn't a very good flier. When she had mentioned her feelings to Grape, her friend had the idea that all of the ponies at the party should have a race. Fluttershy had agreed, so she wouldn't seem uncool, but she felt incredibly nervous.
The race was the key element that turned Fluttershy's happiness into despair. Everypony had lined up on the corner of Cloudy and Sunshine Avenue. They were going to race from there to Stormy Skies Lane. Grape Fizzle, who was going to be the referee, told everypony to ready their stances. Then, she blew the whistle and everypony flew off. Fluttershy slowly flew into the air, pumping her wings as quickly as she could manage to move forward. Her efforts proved futile, when she began to lag behind the group, even though she was going as fast as she could. She was by far the last pegasus to reach Stormy Skies Lane. When she landed there, her face flushed red from exertion and embarrassment, everypony began to laugh at her. Some had the good grace to cover their mouths with a hoof and giggle behind there. Others laughed freely, though, and started to chant. Calls of "Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!" rang through the air. The butter-yellow equine turned around and galloped back to her dormitory room in which she lived all by her lonesome, failing to hold back her tears.
After that, wherever Fluttershy went she was a laughing stock. Trails of laughter always followed her around the school and campus, her only escape was her room. And that's where she stayed whenever she had any free time. When she had to leave the safety of her room, she always went out in fear. The constant sarcastic mirth that her presence seemed to cause made her feel terrible. Although, on one faithful day, someone would come to her rescue.
The day had started out normally: everypony laughed at her, she cowered in fear, she attended her flight lessons, she somehow made a fool of herself, and she was on her way to get some lunch when a group of colts surrounded her. They laughed and pointed at her and made a general mockery of her flight skills, calling her Klutzershy, as most of the bullies usually did. This time, though, a rainbow-maned, cyan colored filly came over. Great, thought Fluttershy, another bully is all I need right now. Instead of ridiculing the butter-yellow pegasus, the rainbow-maned pegasus told the colts to stop. Fluttershy stood in awe, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
The colts just laughed at the cyan pony, though. "Ooh," they said, "What are you gonna do, Rainbow Crash?"
"Keep makin' fun of her and find out!" the filly replied, holding her ground the way Fluttershy never could.
The pink-maned filly felt a little bit of hope return to her heart, as the rainbow pony challenged the colts to a race.
"Hey," she said, confronting Fluttershy, "You be the referee, alright?"
The shy equine nodded and took her stance.
The next thing Fluttershy knew, she was standing on a cloud, waving a flag in her mouth to signal the start of the race. Then, she found herself falling off of the cloud and onto the ground. There, she received her cutie mark and learned her special talent was dealing with animals. It seemed like her life was getting better, like everything was finally falling into place. Like she had a place where she belonged. All too soon, though, the rainbow pegasus found Fluttershy coddling a white baby bunny in her arms. The butter-yellow equine saw that Rainbow, too, had a cutie mark emblazoned on her flank.
"C'mon, it's time to take you back. No one's gonna be bullying you anymore, not on my watch."
"Okay..."
Rainbow Dash's promise proved to be right, as she helped Fluttershy out of many sticky situations from thereon. After helping the shy pony, though, each time she would lecture about how Fluttershy needed to learn to stand up for herself and be aggressive. Fluttershy didn't mind, though, she was just glad to have finally met a nice pony.
As well as having Rainbow Dash to defend her, things were different when Fluttershy came back to Cloudsdale with a cutie mark of three pink butterflies tattooed upon her flank. The other fillies and colts around her were nicer. They also asked her a lot of questions. "What was it like on the ground?" "WHOA! How did you get your cutie mark?" "Where did that bunny come from?" and so many others.
Fluttershy had learned to be wary of these ponies, though, trusting no one except her little baby bunny. She had named it Angel and was constantly bringing it around with her for fear that something might happen if it was left alone.
For a long while after that, everypony was extremely nice to Fluttershy. So nice, that in fact, Fluttershy let herself to begin to trust them again. A few of them had even offered to go back to the ground with the pink-maned filly, curious to see what it was like for themselves. She always said no, though, not wanting anyone to invade her sanctuary. She considered the grounded world a place where only she belonged among the animals and wildlife. It was most certainly not a place for any other ponies to go. When the more popular foals began to offer, things started to get out of hand. They begged and pleaded with her until she finally snapped. She felt that she couldn't turn down such friendly, persistent offers, so, she finally agreed. And that would be her undoing.
Fluttershy remembered the event all too eloquently, considering she had tried to suppress it for years. The trip had started off grandly, the young fillies and colts who had accompanied her to the wonderful world of the ground had played some games with everypony. After that, they had eaten a picnic of dandelion sandwiches and apples that Fluttershy had brought. The butter-yellow filly was sitting with the group playing truth or dare when the tides started to turn. When it came upon Fluttershy to pick truth or dare, she had not wanted to seem weak, so she had picked dare.
What happened after that had all blurred together into Fluttershy's mind. She dimly remembered being lifted up into the air by a few colts. Then, after being flown as high as the colts could manage whilst holding her, she had remembered the sensation of falling. The falling had seemed to last forever. She had found that her wings had glued themselves to her body. The surge of air against Fluttershy's body as the ground came up to meet her had scared her speechless. Her attempts to scream for help had been futile. After the falling she just remembered black.
Fluttershy had not known how long she had been unconscious, but the next thing she had known, she was lying against the trunk of a tree she had only seen twice in her life. Her mind was too foggy upon waking to determine what kind of tree it was, but looking back in hindsight she knew it was A Weeping Willow. Fluttershy had woken up against the tree covered with bruises and aches. She recalled lifting a hoof to her pounding temple and remembered that the hoof had come away bloody.
-
The shivers that wracked Fluttershy's body turned into shudders of agony and rage. That stupid tree, she thought to herself.
"THAT. STUPID. TREE!" Fluttershy yelled out, in animosity.
Zecora stood next to the tree, hopelessly confused.
"Fluttershy, is everything alright? There is no need to yell out in spite," the zebra cooed, trying to soothe the pegasus with soft words.
Fluttershy would hear no consolence, though, she was too deeply drawn into the mentality of vengeance. The pink-maned equine's nostril's flared in rage, distant voices ringing in her head. Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly! Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!
"NO," the pegasus cried out, "STOP LAUGHING AT ME! STOP. IT."
Zecora dropped the sprigs of Foal's Feathers that she had been holding and backed away in terror. She was unsure of what was going on and had no idea what to do. She had never seen anypony do something like this, especially not a pony as kind as Fluttershy. The zebra knew something was desperately wrong with her not-so-timid friend.
Fluttershy lunged forward at Zecora, screaming nonsense all the while. Zecora backed up faster, crying out things to relax the mare. Terror was all she knew, however.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN DO THAT TO ME? RIDICULE ME? YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR HOW YOU MADE ME FEEL!"
Zecora backed against the alien tree, fear cutting through her like a sword. What is she even talking about? Why is she being such a silly lout?
"Fluttershy, no one is laughing at you. Is there someone you need to talk to?"
The pegasus's nostrils flared in response and her hooves clacked on the ground. She flew at Zecora in a fit of rage, her hooves digging into the soft flesh and fur of the zebra. Fluttershy punched and bucked, her eyes blurring with tears of anguish and rage as she throttled the life out of her friend. Zecora tried to scream for help, but ended up gasping for breath instead. A sickening crunch filled Fluttershy's ears when she snapped Zecora's neck, but to the pegasus it was as sweet as a lover's kiss. "Yes, vengeance, yes," she whispered. The yellow mare continued to punch and kick long after the zebra had perished, her bloodlust for revenge fueling her fury.
-
Fluttershy awoke under the Weeping Willow tree, her body covered in aches and bruises. The hour was late, she judged, the moon was high in the sky and the stars shone bright. In the moonlight she could see that her hooves were coated in a sticky red substance and next to her lay the bloody mass of a corpse that had once been Zecora. Fluttershy's mouth twitched into a demonic smile, though, her face contorting into an evil grin. A grin that would make all the bullies from her foalhood run away in terror. With that in mind, the butter-yellow equine took off into flight, she still needed to catch her bird.