> C'mon, Lift Your Spirit > by ChickenHooves > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I said NO!!" Fluttershy screamed as she leapt upon her cyan pegasus friend. She kicked her and ran towards her window. She stopped to open it, then darted out the window. She ran into the Everfree Forest, although she did not want to. She ran deeper and deeper, eyes closed, with tears falling from her eyelashes. The forest grew darker, but Fluttershy did not notice. She continued running further in until she came to a clearing full of grass. The grass was shaking, so Fluttershy slowly approached it. She parted the grass and saw a small yellow fox. "Oh, myyy..." she said. "I best help it!" A growling sound was audible as sharp, glowing eyes appeared, surrounding the cream coloured pegasus. She knew that these were Timberwolves, and that they were extremely dangerous. She grabbed the fox in her hooves and started flying as fast as she could. She could feel the young fox scrawling around in her hooves as she dodged roots, other animals and rocks. It started to get brighter now. She couldn't wait to see how cute the fox's face was. "GRRRRRRR!!!!!" Fluttershy yelped as a Timberwolf leapt in front of her, blocking the exit. The trees acted as a barrier, so Fluttershy couldn't fly out, run out or anything. This time a Timberwolf leapt on top of her. Fluttershy shrivelled up on the ground, dropping the fox as she did so. A swoosh of wind passed Fluttershy, and she looked up. To her surprise, there was only the canopy of trees above her head, and no Timberwolves. She looked ahead to see the fox standing on its hind feet... No, it was standing on two feet, and seemed to have no problems with doing so, unlike just about every fox Flutters had seen would have. Another thing about it is that it had two large, bushy tails. It turned its head around slightly to see Fluttershy. "Are you alright, miss?" it asked. The shy pegasus backed away at this, then gave out a barely audible 'yes...'. Fluttershy then gained the bravery to talk properly. It's just a cute fox, after all. She thought. "...It's dangerous in here," Fluttershy said as soft as she could to not frighten the fox. "We need to get you out of here." "Well, hi there, Fluttershy!" an orange earth pony said to her friend. "Y' found another animal friend that needed 'saving'?" "In fact, yes." Fluttershy replied, holding the fox she had found before in her hooves. It seemed embarassed. "Stop it, Fluttershutter," the fox said. "You're embarrassing me." "He's calling you Fluttershutter too?" the earth pony said. "M-hmm," Fluttershy hummed. "I keep telling him the names of the rest of my friends, but he keeps getting them wrong." "I know your friends names! They're Rainbow Smash, Pinkie Cake, Apple Sauce, Starlight Twinkle and Rare Gem." "Close enough, they're Rainbow DASH, Pinkie PIE, AppleJACK, TWILIGHT SPARKLE and RARITY." Fluttershy giggled, her friend joining in as well. "Hi Fluttershy!" a voice squeaked. She looked down to see three fillies; one a white unicorn, one a yellow earth pony and the last an orange pegasus. "Oh, hello girls," Fluttershy replied. "Who's that?" the unicorn asked. "This is an animal I found in the forest before." "I'm an animal, yes." the fox said. "...But can you put me down pleeeease?" "Aww, he's adorable!" The unicorn said. "What do you girls think?" "I'm sensing a pattern here." the yellow one said. "Yellow me, yellow Fluttershy, and yellow fox..." "Why aren't you at the dragon migration, Applejack?" Fluttershy asked. "It's not another ten minutes until it happens, so I brought the girls along so they have something to do while we're out." Applejack replied. Fluttershy and Applejack dragged into a long conversation. The fox and the fillies decided to have a conversation themselves. "So," the fox said. "What's your names?" "I'm Sweetie Belle," Sweetie said. "I want to be a designer like my sister, Rarity!" "I'm Applebloom," the earth pony said. "I help with my sis Applejack on the apple farm." "And I'm Scootaloo," the remaining filly said. "I'm Rainbow Dash's Number One fan!" "Who are you, then?" the three asked the fox. "I'm Miles Prower," he said. "I like tinkering with things and being in a workshop. You can call me Tails, that's what my friends call me." "Coooool!" Scootaloo said. "I wonder what your Cutie Mark would be!" "Cutie... What now?" "A Cutie Mark," Applebloom said. "You know, a mark ponies have on the side of their legs." "If ponies have them," Tails asked. "Why don't you have them?" "Because we need to find our special talent to get one," Scootaloo explained. "But we've tried everything we can think of, and we still haven't got them!" "Now then, everypony," Fluttershy said, waving Applejack a farewell. "Let's get the sleepover started." > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "We shouldn't be bouncing around," Tails said to the fillies. "We should be listening to Fluttershutter!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders ignored him. Despite the fox getting her name wrong, Fluttershy decided to stop them bouncing themselves. She walked up and gave them 'The Stare', something that automatically made creatures back up. Tails didn't catch the stare, he was jumping up and down to get the three fillies' attention. Suddenly the fillies stopped and sat down. "Oh come ON!!" Tails screamed as he came cluttering to the floor. "Now then, you four," Fluttershy began. "This is little fox's first time in a sleepover like this, so be gentle." "My name's Miles Prower," Tails said. "You can call me Tails though." "It's starting to get dark," Fluttershy said, peering out of the window in her cottage. "You should go to bed now." "Fluttershutter, how come I don't have a bed?" Tails asked the cream coloured pegasus. "I'm sorry Prower," she said softly. "I don't have another bed for you. Although I suppose you could squeeze in with me for the night if it makes you feel comfortable." "Thank you Fluttershutter," Tails said as he twirled his tails and fluttered down the stairs with Fluttershy. The two sat down on a green sofa. Fluttershy lay down until she was comfortable, then looked at her friend. "Come on then, it's okay." she said. Tails came over and started snuggling down with Fluttershy. The pegasus wrapped her left wing over the fox to keep him warm, as it was getting rather cold, with it being December, and two weeks before Hearth's Warming Day too. She looked down, and smiled. "Don't worry, you'll be okay here." "Ugh, it's BORING here!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "If only Tails could be in here with us!" "But Sweetie," Applebloom objected. "He's a boy, and I'm sure Celestia doesn't let boys sleep in the same room as girls around here." "What are you," Scootaloo replied. "A politition?" "What are you," Sweetie said in retaliation. "A chicken?!" "Blaark, cluck cluck cluck!" Applebloom and Sweetie laughed, making chicken wing impressions witht their arms. "Haha, very funny," Scootaloo said. She suddenly saw a shadow appearing on the top of the stairs that lead downstairs. "IT'S SLENDERMANE!!" she screamed. "It's not Slendermane," Sweetie said, not a bit scared. "Slendermane appears out of nowhere in your face, not being able to see his shadow on the top of stairs in a cottage by the Everfree Forest!!" she gasped, out of breath. "Wait, SLENDERMANE?!" a voice replied. "What's Slendermane?" "Prower, you don't want to know," another replied. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were dumbfounded. Then, emerging from the stairs, were... "Fluttershy?! Tails?!" Sweetie and Applebloom gasped, mouthes agape. "We thought you were Slendermane!" Scootaloo said. Sweetie nudged her. "Oh, right... I thought you were Slendermane..." "Never mind that, why are you still awake?" Fluttershy asked. "Prower heard something coming from up here, and it turns out to be you three tal--" "Can Tails sleep in here with us?" Applebloom butted in. "...king..." Fluttershy ended. "Hmm.... Only if he really wants to. Do you, Prower?" "Okay then, Fluttershutter!" Tails replied. "I'll get you a bigger bed then... Tomorrow. For now, he can sleep on this air bed I've got." Fluttershy pumped the air bed up, then she put a blanket on it. "Now then, Prower, it's time to go to bed." She sang her lovely lullaby. Sweetie was tempted to jump up up and sing the rest, but she had learnt her lesson from the last sleepover. Fluttershy went downstairs and within a few minutes, the light was off. Tails jumped onto the bed and smiled. "Hey, maybe we could play something!" He said. The fillies' faces were still lit up; they weren't tired one bit. "Maybe we could go into the forest and have an adventure?" Sweetie frowned. "Last time we went in there we nearly got turned into stone by a Cockatrice!" She exclaimed. "It's alright, that won't happen!" Tails said. "Besides, I can protect you if anything tries to attack!" Tails grabbed Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, whilst Scootaloo fluttered behind them downstairs and out the door. Tails' face dropped as he thought about his best friend from back home. Sweetie Belle, on the other hand, seemed to be alright. In fact, she was blushing slightly. "Sweetie," Applebloom asked. "Are you okay? You're blushing." "Oh, I'm alright," Sweetie replied, scratching the back of her head with her hoof. "It's just..." "It's just what?" "I HAVE A CRUSH ON TAILS!!" She shouted, but not loud enough for Tails to hear her. The fox turned around after hearing a squeak coming from behind him. "Are you okay, Sweetie?" He asked. Sweetie Belle was as pink as Pinkie Pie now in the face, and she was embarrassed about shouting out that she had a crush on Tails. A mint green spark was coming from the unicorn's horn, whilst small sparkles in her eyes were dancing. She was smiling a bit, and she continued walking into the forest. "I'm okay..."