> Fluttershy's Pepper
>  by Alexander
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Fluttershy's Pepper
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     The summer sun was hot as it beat down upon the sleepy town of Ponyville. In the square, many gathered and made merry times with their friends and treated each stranger as a long-awaited friend. All was well and all was as all should be.
Yet by a cottage by the forest stirred a trouble. Within the cottage stood a pretty yellow pegasus with a long flowing mane. And so before her stove, she busied herself with trying to find a certain spice.
"Oh my," she finally said when she noticed her soup beginning to boil. She lowered the temperature and gave the mix of vegetables and sauces a quick stir so it wouldn't burn. "Oh my," she said again. "Where did I put that pepper? I know for sure I placed it back on the counter. . . Where could it have gone?"
Unknowing to her, the cause of her fluster was a certain cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane. This cyan pegasus crouched herself below the window with a playful grin plastered onto her face. She had to stifle her fit of laughter as the yellow pony within searched high and low for her pepper.
"Oh hi, Rainbow Dash!" exclaimed a lavender unicorn who had just appeared around the corner. "Why are you crouching below Fluttershy's window?"
"Oh hey, Twilight," said Rainbow dash hurriedly as she tried to stash the pepper shaker out of view. "I was just, uh, watching this trail of ants. . . Anyways, why are you here?" she asked, trying to change the subject.
"Oh, it's nothing," Twilight explained, walking to the front door. "Fluttershy asked me to come along today to help deliver some soup over to Pinkie's birthday party for Gummy." 
She opened the door.
With a slight pause, Twilight gazed in astonishment around the neat little cottage that was no longer neat and in a state of dishevel.
"Fluttershy," Twilight quietly said to the curled and whimpering figure behind the arm chair. "What's wrong?"
"Oh Twilight," Fluttershy began as she wiped away tears from her eyes. "I can't find the pepper for the soup and if I can't add the pepper, everything's going to be a waste and then Pinkie Pie will be disappointed with me and then . . . "
This was all Twilight and Rainbow were able to hear before Fluttershy broke into another wave of sobs.
Twilight placed her hoof on her friend's shoulder in an attempt to calm her. "It'll be alright, Fluttershy," Twilight began, "We all know that Pinkie likes food that's spicey but even she takes her friends and guests into consideration. She's not expecting the soup to be spicey because she knows that not everypony enjoys spicey foods. So a pepper-less soup will be alright. And besides, she'll appreciate it all the more because it was one of her friends that cooked it."
At this, Fluttershy raised her head and sat up. She wiped away the tears again and smiled. "You really think so, Twilight? Do you really think it's going to be alright?"
"I'm absolutely positive."
Fluttershy beamed up at her friend and quickly rushed to the stove. She turned off the burner and carefully lifted the pot into one of Twilight's saddle bags.
"Are you ready?" Twilight asked as she took a final look around the messy cottage.
"Are you kidding? I wouldn't dare miss one of Pinkie's parties." Fluttershy said, heading to the door. "Let's go before Pinkie begins. . . "
"Wait!" Rainbow Dash suddenly cut across. She waited for Fluttershy to recover from the shock before beginning again. "Fluttershy, I'm sorry. I took your pepper. I'm sorry."
"Why did you take her pepper?" Twilight asked. "Now that I think about it, your hiding below Fluttershy's window was awfully suspicious. . . "
"I didn't know Fluttershy was preparing the soup for anypony, much less an entire party. I thought it would all be in good fun and that nopony would make a much a fuss about it. I was wrong and I'm sorry."
Rainbow Dash hung her head in shame before turning to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, I hope you can forgive me. I only meant it to be in good fun and thought nopony would worry so much about it. I never meant to make you cry and make you tear apart your home. Please forgive me."
The yellow mare, with a calming smile, wrapped her legs around her friend's neck. "I forgive you," she whispered. "I'm not upset anymore and I've known you since we were fillies, you will always be my friend."
Rainbow Dashed returned the hug and beamed at  her friend. "You'll always be my friend, too."
"Uh girls?" Twilight nervously said, breaking into the two friends. "We're going to be late. We need to go."
"Race you there!" Rainbow yelled as she shot from the cottage in a streak of colors.
Fluttershy took a look at the pepper Rainbow had placed again on the counter and with a smile, she said, "Okay, let's go."
With that, the two mares followed after their friend into the hot sun of mid-summer's day.