One year, eight months after meteor...

“Alright, everypony be quiet please, class is about to start.” Cheerilee smiled to her students in the classroom. They all smiled back, and didn’t make a sound.

“Thank you...now, today we have a special guest. She is here to talk about the animals and nature around Ponyville and across Equestria. Please say hello to Fluttershy, class.” The classroom remained silent, but the smiling students reassured the shy pony they were still happy to see her.

The yellow pegasus stepped forward toward the class. She had a bird standing on one of her wings, and her usual assortment glue and of various wires under her other wing. She was always quite nervous speaking in front of so many ponies. Less so today, as these were just fillies, but had she still spent hours beforehand to prepare.

The building was just recently repaired. There were no more holes in the ceilings or exposed burn marks; It was almost back to it’s former glory. Everything was cleaned and polished before the class today. There were nine seats in the classroom, each of them holding a young filly student. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were sitting in the front row, with the earth pony in the middle. A slight breeze came in from an open window, blowing wind through Fluttershy’s mane.

The pegasus cleared her throat, “Hello girls, thank you for having me here today…so, what would you like to know about, class? Bunnies? Butterflies? Birdies?” Fluttershy smiled. She had many topics planned out, but thought she would let the fillies decide what they wanted to learn about today.

None of the fillies said anything, but kept their eyes locked on her without so much as blinking. They must be very interested…

After a moment of hesitation, the pegasus decided the topic herself. “How about birds, then?” She smiled with uncertainty. All the students smiled back, and to further approve of the subject, even the teacher smiled to Fluttershy

“Well…by the end of autumn all birds fly south to stay warm for the winter, because it’s too cold for them in Ponyville. The pegasi of Ponyville fly down and bring them back at the end of winter. Then, the birds find an empty nest to live in for the rest of the year…” The yellow pegasus recited.

Feeling less self-conscious, she began pacing around the classroom. “The nests they live in are also made by ponies. Without ponies, the birds here would have to find another home in Equestria...” She took another step, putting a hoof on a pressure plate placed in the middle of the room. Strings tightened, winding around wheels and pulleys set up around her in an crude contraption. Fluttershy ignored the sound of squeaky machinery and groaning deadwood as her device was put into motion.

Applebloom’s front leg jerked up into the air. She was sitting in her chair at the front of the class, and nearly fell over from the sudden pull on her hoof.

“Yes, Applebloom?” the yellow pony smiled, happy there was an interest. She stepped closer to the filly, and off the pressure plate. The young pony’s leg fell down again to her side, dangling back and forth for a moment before stilling itself by Applebloom’s side.

“What’s that bird on yer’ wing, Miss. Fluttershy?” Appleboom asked politely, turning her head to Fluttershy with a smile.

“Oh, sorry, I should have said before…this is Jay! He’s a blue jay who lives in the nest on top of my cottage.” Fluttershy felt embarrassed. She had planned to introduce her friend to the class before asking what subject to talk about.

“He came up here with the rest of the birds on Winter Wrap-up day, and chose that very nest on my house to live in.” She moved the wing with Jay closer to her and snuggled the small bird. He felt colder then he should have been.

The blue bird chirped happily as he was shown to the classroom. All the fillies smiled, as Fluttershy expected. Blue Jays were her favorite kind of bird, although it was always hard to pick just one. And she was very proud of him, not getting nervous and flying away even in front of all these ponies. Rather, he seemed a little stiff, not even turning his head...

The pony pushed against Jay lovingly, expecting the same from him. However, The bird lost his balance and tumbled over before Fluttershy could do anything about it. She expected him to remain standing, yet he fell over like he wasn’t even trying.

The fragile bird crashed as it hit the floor. His bones broke on impact, flattening the skeleton and bending the essential wires that they were entwined with. Most of the bird was still in one piece, as most of it was held together by glue. It was, however, very malformed. Bones stuck out in all directions, half it’s head was cracked in, and a wing managed to become completely detached.

Fluttershy got down to the floor near her friend, worried. His little accident wasn’t her fault, he had fallen on his own. She stared at Jay with concern, trying to judge exactly how hurt he was. She reached a hoof towards him, nudged at the lying bird, rolling him over. After his head twisted unnaturally past the rest of the body, the severity of the damage became apparent to her.

Putting Jay back together was hopeless, the bones were far too small and much too fragile. And the glue would be impossible to remove from the skeleton without damaging it further.

This happened a lot with the smaller animals...they just broke so easily. The yellow pegasus scooped up the bird in her mouth and walked to the window.

She could taste the dead creature, despite trying to avoid having her tongue brush against it. The bones, the glues, the feathers...it was a taste she had become painfully familiar with by now.

The pony lifted open the window screen with her front hooves, pulled her head back to the side, then swung the other direction, letting Jay free from her grasp and sending him out the window. The corpse hit the ground just outside of the school’s wall.

Fluttershy was content with the results, closing her eyes and imagining Jay flying freely away. Spreading his wings out, and shooting upward and onward into the sky until he was far out of sight...

The day dream broke suddenly, as the pony felt something dark gathering itself in the corner of the classroom. Shadows. To tell her lies, as they always tried.

She would not allow it. She knew what was real; nothing bad ever happens in Ponyville; in Equestria. She refused to look to the shadows, and faced away in objection to them. Though she wouldn’t admit why, Fluttershy felt tears gather in her eyes.

“No. He flew, he flew away...” The pegasus muttered to the shade. Her legs were shaking, and she thought as hard as she could about the blue bird soaring through the skies.

Flying, freely without distress or care...and then falling down suddenly, back to earth.

“No! He’s living somewhere else, Jay is perfectly fine! He’s happy and free!” She shouted. Her eyes were shut tightly, to keep this reality away.

The darkness gave in, and scattered away from the classroom.

Fluttershy opened her eyes. The view out the window was beautiful. So calm and relaxing...but now was not the time, she needed to focus. She still had to speak to the class.

She closed the window and walked back to the front of the classroom. “Well, I hope you all liked Jay while he was here...sorry he had to go so soon...how about we talk about something else, class?” The yellow pony returned to the front of the class, looking to her students. Her hoof again reached the button on the floor, and Applebloom’s hoof was yet again raised into the air.

“Yes, Applebloom?” Fluttershy smiled to the filly, and she smiled back. She walked towards the pony, and filly’s leg dropped again.

She placed her hoof under the jaw of the filly, moving it up and down as her speech dictated. “How about...bunnies, miss Fluttershy?” The pegasus said, in a terribly skewed and accented voice to resemble the filly’s. The young pony smiled to her.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea, Applebloom...”

The class was going well so far. Fluttershy spoke on various subjects and the classroom listened to her. Applebloom asked all the questions, of course. That filly seemed to have a great interest in learning new subjects. It was recess now, and all the school fillies were outside playing. It took Fluttershy far too long to take them out there, having to move each one off of their seat, and take them outside... No. that’s not what happened at all. They could move themselves outside. Of course, how silly to think she had to move all of them.

She stepped back inside, looking around the class to make sure she didn’t forget anypony. All the chairs were empty, all that was left was Cheerilee. She smiled to Fluttershy, and the pegasus smiled back, going outside to keep an eye on the fillies.

All the young ponies were playing happily on the playground. One was on a slide, suspended half way down by a rope tied to her and the railing. Another was on the swing-set, her wings held together with wires, and strung through the ropes that held the seat up, keeping the young pegasus from falling off.

On the other end of the playground, near the schoolhouse, stood three more familiar ponies of the class. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom.

“Come on, we’re not going to get our cutie marks sitting around in class all day...we should be at the clubhouse! There has to be something we haven’t tried yet,” Scootaloo stood in front of Fluttershy, talking to her friends and clearly not noticing the pegasus behind her.

“Girls? Um, I really don’t think you should do that...your teacher and I put a lot of effort into today’s lesson. It would be a shame for you to miss it...” the older pegasus said, concerned for the ponies.

Scootaloo’s head turned to look at the yellow pony.

“I mean, you’ll have plenty of time to get your cutie marks after class...why don’t you play something safe around here until class starts again?” Fluttershy reasoned.

The purple maned filly turned her head forward again, looking down and giving up already. “Alright...there’s got to be something fun around here, even if it doesn’t lead to us getting our cutie marks.

Good with animals, good with kids...

Fluttershy walked over to Sweetie Belle, deciding she needed a say in the conversation.

“Hmm...how about we pass that ball around until class starts? I don’t see anything else to do that we all can do together.” The unicorn said.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea, Sweetie Belle.” Fluttershy commented.

The pegasus walked to the red and white beach ball in the corner of the play ground, picked it up with her free wing and took it back to her friends.

Fluttershy stood next to Sweetie Belle and tossed the large ball to Applebloom. It went past the small pony and rolled to the other end of the playground, much farther then expected.

Nevertheless, the little earth pony galloped over to get it. The ball had already lost air on impact. It was not in very good condition, but it was the best one Fluttershy could find- no, it was the best one the school had.

Applebloom hit the ball as she ran back to her friends, kicking the ball every few steps as she caught up with it until it was in near enough to the other fillies.

'Sweetie Belle, Ah didn't know ya' could kick so hard...just try ta' be a little softer next time, alright?” Applebloom commented, hypocritically getting into position to kick the beach ball herself.

She aimed for Scootaloo, who was standing in front of the fence of the playground. She didn’t do anything to prepare for her turn, just stood still. How odd.

The beach ball launched towards its target, but was sent with much more force then intended. Instead it flew over the small pegasus and away from the school, eventually into a nearby tree.

“Oh, my...here, don’t worry girls, I'll bring it back for you...” Fluttershy offered, already on her way to get the toy. As she was passing Scootaloo, however, she realized just how unlikely the scene was.

Fluttershy put a hoof under the young pegasus’ jaw. “Don’t worry about it, Fluttershy, we can get it! Maybe we could get...some kind of toy rescuing cutie mark!” The filly announced with a smile. It seemed a bit out of character for her, but it was the best Fluttershy could come up with at the time.

She moved them all, one by one, under the tree that held their toy. It was barely visible from where they stood, so high was it in the thick branches.

“Now, please girls, I don’t want you to get hurt...I’ll just bring this right back down for you.” Fluttershy dropped her wires and glue from her wing so she could fly again.

The pegasus elevated up into the branches, the ball coming into view. It was only a push or two away form being free from the branches. However, Fluttershy still felt unsure about the cutie mark crusaders letting her do this herself. How unlike them.

The pegasus dropped down again to them, deciding how they would act in this situation...

“Cutie mark crusader Toy Rescuers! Yay!” They shouted in unison.

Fluttershy grabbed all three fillies in her front hooves, a task much harder to do then she anicipated. However, they were all very light. Fluttershy ignored this and flew up above the tree.

There wouldn’t be an easy way to get them to “climb” it. This was the best she could do for them with what little time remained in recess. They just needed to get into the tree, get the ball, and get it out. It was simple.

Fluttershy dropped the ponies into the branches.

“Now girls, I told you not to. There are lots of branches in there, it’s easy for somepony to get stuck or hurt in them...” She said as she hovered down to the tree.

When she looked through the first layer of leaves, she was left speechless. There were bones caught up in nearly every branch, hooked on by wires that became loose. There were clearly three skulls, but the rest of the skeletons were indistinguishable other then their tinted color. Some bones fell through and were left at the base of the tree, but most were entangled with the tree.

Fluttershy was horrified.

This will take forever to clean up...

All night was spent picking bones from the tree. Finishing in time for class that day was completely unreasonable. She arranged the bones on the ground closer to the school house in three piles based on the color, which matched the color of the fur that once covered them.

She kept looking for bones through the darkness until she was convinced they were all out of the tree, and then she sat beside the piles she had. She didn’t know where to begin putting anything back together. Many of the smaller bones were broken; she never had to repair somepony from scratch before. The task seemed impossible...

Oh, Fluttershy. What have you done.

Shadows darkened her mind again. Coming to make her realize her actions, and make her see what she was looking at, what she had done...

“No! I can still fix them! They will be fine!” she closed her eyes again, and shouted at the unwanted thoughts. Her eyes were watering again, unable to keep her emotions at bay.

She opened her eyes for a moment, and looked to the piles she had set next to her. It really was hopeless. She wasn’t nearly familiar enough with the bones to make something with what she had. Some of the bones even snapped, and she was sure at least three were missing...

Shadows stirred nearby, but Fluttershy continued to resist. This didn’t happen. Things like this just don’t happen...

The yellow pegasus stomped on the shovel with her hoof, pushing it further into the dirt. She lifted the load of dirt, and tossed it behind her. It was fairly early in the morning at this point. She had been digging here for hours.

“Good bye, Sweetie Belle. I’m so glad you could come by one last time before leaving. You’ve grown up so much, haven’t you? Remember when you used to be shy about other ponies hearing you sing? And now you’re singing for a living, on a stage with hundreds, or even thousands of ponies wanting to hear your voice. You’re even moving to Manehattan to pursue your dreams...well, be sure to visit us whenever you can. I’m so proud of you...”

She threw a shovel full of bones into the hole.

“You’ve grown up so much, Scootaloo. Do you remember when your wings were too small for you to even fly...? Anyway, thank you for saying good bye one last time. I hope you are well in Fillydelphia. I always knew you would leave us, you love to use that scooter of yours and you go so fast, you couldn’t be held up in one town all your life. I understand. Do come by again to visit soon. Good bye, Scootaloo.”

Another pile of bones was pushed into the hole. Tears were rolling down Fluttershy’s face. Saying goodbye was so hard for her; she wasn’t used to it. She cared for these ponies so much, she never wanted them to leave. She wanted to play and take care of them forever...but she was still happy for them. They were leaving Ponyville and making lives of their own; happy, successful lives.

“Oh, Applebloom. I’m going to miss you so much. Everypony is going to miss you. But we’re so happy. You decided to be a part of the Apple Family business. Maybe not the way you thought you would when you were younger, but you’re happy now. And so you’re leaving awhile to make a business deal with ponies in Appaloosa? Good luck, and do come back soon...I’ll miss you, Applebloom...”

The final skeleton dropped into the grave.

The pegasus sobbed. Sunlight unfittingly cast itself onto the scene. Fluttershy covered the rest of the hole with dirt, forcing herself to forget about it completely.

“See? Nothing bad happened. Everything is fine, and you can’t prove me wrong. All fillies grow up one day, and it’s always sooner then you would expect...” She tossed the shovel aside, and wiped her tears away.

The Othershy looked at the overturned dirt, and then to Fluttershy. It slowly turned and walked away from the pitiful scene.