Fluttershy's Cutiemark

"Hey, Fluttershy! What's going on?" asked the energetic filly, Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, hi Dash…" the pony said, brushing some hay off her wing. The young pony was in a pile of hay, slashes and bruises all over herself.

"Why are you all scratched up?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Is somepony hurting you?" she suddenly asked angrily. "If there's anypony hurting you, I'll pound'm!" She collided her fist with her open hoof. Fluttershy shook her head hurriedly.

"No, it's not that… I- I can't get my wings to work. I always just go up an inch and then tumble to the ground… I- I tried jumping off a tree, a-and I almost made it!" she stuttered excitedly. "B-but after I glided a few feet, I fell into this pile of hay… I've been trying all day." She sniffed, eyes getting watery.

"Oh, come on, don't be down." Dash said, nudging her on the shoulder. "You will be able to fly someday. And, even if your never able to, you can always catch a ride on my wings." Dash zoomed around in circles over her head and skidded to a halt by her side.

"That's the whole point, though... Everypony who is a Pegasus can already fly and almost everypony has their cutiemark, too. I mean, what makes me a pegasis anyway? I can't fly, I don't know how to tame the weather… I don't even know the difference between a storm cloud and a rainbow cloud! It's ridiculous… I bet Princess Celestia is going to think I'm a disgrace…" She sunk her head down, sniffling again.

"No she will not!" Rainbow Dash shouted, tilting Fluttershy's head up. "Your one of the smartest ponies I know. And you're a smart pony with a personality at least… Most of the smarter ponies I know don't even smile and aren't near as caring as you are!"

"Thanks…" Fluttershy blushed and started to smile a bit.

"There you go, perk up! You just have to wait a while. I didn't find my talent. My talent found me!" Rainbow Dash smirked. "Now come on, we don't want to be late for our first day of class." Dash zoomed ahead and motioned for her to follow. Fluttershy ran after, smiling. But then she frowned at an incoming thought.

"I just hope I'm not teased again…"

Later…

"Hello, class. My name is Princess Celestia. I am visiting today from my kingdom to talk to you today. Since you all know of me, I would like to learn more about you! Let's start with names." The beautiful princess said. She started at the right side of the classroom, farthest from Fluttershy. So Fluttershy started to day dream, zoning out of the school, and up into the sky, imagining herself flying in the clouds! But before she knew it, she was falling out of the sky and popped right out of her dream, a person calling her name to break the paradise.

"Fluttershy!" the voice yelled again, forcing Fluttershy to snap her eyes open. It was her teacher, Mrs. Cheerilee. She was wearing a hot pink overcoat that almost matched her fur. Her cutiemark showed gorgeous flowers.

"I wish I had a cutiemark with flowers…" Fluttershy thought grumpily.

"FLUTTERSHY!" Mrs. Cheerilee yelled really loudly, making Fluttershy jump.

"Yes, m-m-m-ma'am?!" Fluttershy asked hurriedly.

"Would you please answer Princess Celestia's question?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"Question?" Fluttershy tried to remember a question but she had been lost in LaLa Land…

"Yes, the question that your teacher has already happily answered for you. Thank her, Fluttershy." Princess Celestia had appeared behind Fluttershy when she was thinking about this 'question'.

"Thank you, Mrs. Cheerilee…" Fluttershy asked as quiet as a mouse.

Princess Celestia placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's very good, Fluttershy. Now, how about we start on an activity to get you all preoccupied? We are going to color what we want our cutiemarks to be or what our cutiemarks are." The Princess said, sweet as honey. She started handing out a sheet of paper to everyone. Mrs. Cheerilee was handing out boxes of crayons for two people to share. Fluttershy looked hopefully to Rainbow Dash. Dash started waving in her direction. Fluttershy started to wave back but then a boy from behind pushed her out of the way and ran to Dash. They bonked heads and ran off to a table nearby. Fluttershy's eyes welled up and she put her hand down. Tears started leaking down her face. Mrs. Cheerilee immediately noticed this. She galloped to Fluttershy and put her arm around her.

"Oh, what's wrong, honey?" she asked, sincerely worried. That made the tears come out more. She tried to stop them but that just made Fluttershy hiccup and draw even more attention to her than she already had.

"No one will share with me…" Fluttershy said.

"Of course no one is going to share with you, Klutzer-shy!" Billy Filly yelled from the other side of the classroom.

"Oh no, not the nickname…" Fluttershy thought squeamishly. Not from Billy, especially. Even though his name was Billy Filly, he was Billy Bully to everyone else.

"BILLY GALLEOUS FILLY! Out in the hall, NOW!" the mostly sweet teacher exploded at Billy. He trotted out to the hall, looking terrified. Mrs. Cheerilee quickly left Fluttershy's side. Princess Celestia walked over to Fluttershy and pointed out a girl the same height as Fluttershy, but twice the build. She was sitting alone, holding a crayon not so steadily in her mouth. Fluttershy saw that it looked like she was trying to draw… a sliced tomatoe? Or possibly even a red gem of some sort. The Princess scooted Fluttershy to her side. As she walked away, Fluttershy asked,

"Uh… W- Whatcha dr- drawing?" She nervously fiddled with the blank piece of paper.

"I'm tryin' to draw my darn cutiemark! But I can't seem to get it right…" the filly answered through clenched teeth.

"Um… do- do you need any help?" Fluttershy asked, ducking away as if invisible arrows were being shot at her.

"Why, sure!" the filly flipped the paper over and jumped up to give Fluttershy the crayon. "I'm Applejack, by the way. What's your name?" Her southern drawl was starting to show more and more.

"Fluttershy..." She answered, so quiet that Applejack couldn't even catch it.

"Err… Come again?" she asked.

"Fluttershy…" she answered, still too quiet to hear.

"Uh, could you say that one more time?" Applejack asked hopefully.

Fluttershy sucked in a mouth full of air. She held her breath until she looked like she was going to explode, until she said,

"Fluttershy!" It wasn't really as loud as she expected… but it was enough for Applejack to hear.

"Fluttershy… Oh, right. You're the one Mrs. Cheerilee almost had a cow over!" Applejack started to crack up. Fluttershy blushed, embarrassed of the whole ordeal. Applejack noticed. "Um, hey, let's finish this up… well, get started, at least… Can you help?" Fluttershy bent over the paper with the crayon held tightly in her mouth. She glanced at Applejack's cutiemark. It was an apple with a slice cut out on the side. She started on the picture in a blur of color. She was finish merely seconds later! Applejack stood gaping.

"Who, how'd you do that?!" she stared at her rump and back at the picture. An exact match! Fluttershy quickly turned red.

"I just like helping ponies, so I try to do it quick, not to keep them waiting…" she said quietly. Fluttershy quickly finished hers and turned them both into the teacher. Princess Celestia and her looked them over.

"Wow, Fluttershy…! What an incredible drawing! I understand you 'helped' out Applejack with hers?" Mrs. Cheerilee said. She flashed a wink at Applejack. She flushed pink.

"Yes, ma'am…" Fluttershy answered.

"Well, that's very nice of you." Princess Celestia added. The end-of-school bell rung and all the fillies started heading out the door. As Fluttershy was walking down the front steps, her teacher stopped her.

"Fluttershy, can I have a second of your time?" Mrs. Cheerilee asked. She nodded. "Fluttershy, honey, you have been okay lately, being safe as usual…?" she waited for a response. Fluttershy nodded again, this time slowly.

"Yes, I have… is there something wrong?"

"Well, I've seen you around Ponyville with your head hung and bruises all over you. Is some little filly hurting you? Or are you depressed…? Or…?" Mrs. Cheerilee asked. She suddenly wasn't so cheery… she actually looked worried for Fluttershy. Fluttershy took a deep breath… and then told her everything. Everything about Billy Bully, trying to force herself to fly, her cutiemark still missing… even about her parents going to Cloudsdale and leaving her on her own for their work for a few weeks.

"They left three days ago…" Fluttershy finished.

"I'm going to contact your parents and take you to Doctor Whooves to look over your bruises. Do you have anything else wrong?" Mrs. Cheerilee asked.

"My head hurts… I kind of… b-bumped it a few times." Fluttershy teared up. Mrs. Cheerilee raised an eyebrow.

"Define a few." She said.

"Th-th-th-th- thirteen! Thirteen times…" Fluttershy sniffed and rubbed her head. Mrs. Cheerilee took her to Doctor Whooves who prescribed immense bed rest. She spent days alone in her cottage, pondering how to get her cutiemark.

Next week…

Fluttershy, after almost a week of being alone, was ready for a nice stroll through Ponyville. Many neighbors said hi and how are you doing and such. She finally reached the forest, her favorite part of Ponyville. So many birds, flowers, and trees. She wished she could soar as high as the trees did. But at least she could see all the cute animals. She loved to see the butterflies. They were so delicate, so quiet, so beautiful. The last part didn't sound like herself to her but the rest, very, very true. While lost in thought, she came across a pond. A little bunny was staring at it from the very edge. It seemed to be lost in a trance. There was a rainbow aura reflecting in its eyes. It suddenly jumped into the pond!

"Ahhhh!" Fluttershy screamed. The bunny was sinking deeper. She needed to get help. But she couldn't run all the way to Ponyville. She crumpled onto the ground. Suddenly, there was a tickling sensation around her. She lifted her head. A magical swirl of butterflies swarmed around her. She had an idea… but she didn't know how to enact it. And while she was sitting there, that little bunny was drowning! She had to act fast.

"Um.. butterflies?" she said quietly. They kept swirling. "Butterflies, listen, please." She said a bit louder. They still didn't notice. She closed her eyes and braced herself. "Butterflies!" she yelled as she snapped her eyes open. Suddenly, they stopped, staring into her huge eyes. They had a rainbow swirl reflected in their eyes as well. "Now, hurry, go and save that bunny!" she marched them towards the pond. They scooped down into the water and quickly returned with a small bunny. It was soaking wet but had the cutest white fur. It slowly opened its eyes and sat up. It coughed out some water and then turned to Fluttershy. It held its arms out. She picked it up and it scurried into her hair. It shivered but the fell asleep. She looked into the pond. It was deep but she could see the bottom. It was glowing. That's what must have been reflecting in the little angel's eyes… Wait… Angel. That's what she would call her. Or him… either way.

"But what was glowing in the butterflies' eyes?" Fluttershy thought. She stared at her reflection. Nothing out of the ordinary. Her eyes flashed. "Except for that.." she thought. She turned a bit. Still the bruises. She turned the opposite way and saw the multiple bruises once more. But, there was something else this time. It… it was glowing! Just like the pond! Right on her rear end! They both started fading. The pond's bottom only left behind dirt… but, on her rump, there was a stunning, beautiful, amazing… cutiemark! Three cutsie, wutsie butterflies, spreading their beautiful wings! Maybe she was overreacting, maybe she shouldn't tell anybody and just wait till they notice…

"I got my cutiemark!" She ran through town, the sleeping bunny buried in her hair, screaming her head off. Doctor W. told her not to strain herself with going to school so she hadn't gone that day. But it was still in session! She ran into the classroom. "I got my cutiemark!" she screamed at the class. Once she realized she had yelled in class, she hid herself with her tail. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Cheerilee, I'm sorry I yelled… I- I'm just excited…" Fluttershy crept inside and sat in her seat. The whole class was gaping.

"Um… that's quite alright, Fluttershy. Would you come up here, please?" Mrs. Cheerilee asked. Fluttershy crept up, blushing up a storm. "Would you like to elaborate?" she asked. Fluttershy looked surprised. But she talked like no other. The whole classed cheered at her heroism. Rainbow Dash even hoof bumped her. She had never had a hoof bump. She was so happy with all of the class finally excepting her. And she was never teased again.