Although her body had been overtaken, Fluttershy’s spirit was elsewhere. She had arrived at a bustling town on the edge of a plateau. There were griffins and ponies everywhere, the main street was full of merchants. An old griffin bumped into her. “HEY!” she yelled.

The old griffin tried to apologize “Oh I’m sorr-”

“I’M WALKING HERE!” she interrupted loudly before flying up over the crowd like she was better than them.

“Hey! If it isn’t one of Dash’s friends!” said a familiar voice from a nearby second story window. It was Gilda. “I remember you! You’re Fluttershy, right?” she asked.

“Oh! If it isn’t the asshole!” Fluttershy responded.

“Woah! You don’t seem to be yourself today.” Gilda asked from the window. “Heh heh. I’m really liking your attidude. Why don’t you come inside and make yourself at home?”

Fluttershy accepted the invitation and went in. “My friends are all losers. I don’t know why I ever hung around them.” She plopped herself down on Gilda’s couch. “I owe it to Discord for showing me that.”

The mention of Discord grabbed Gilda’s attention. She remembered about a unicorn in the area that might be able to snap Flutteshy out of the mood she was in. “Hey Fluttershy, I know of somepony I think you should meet.”

“Oh really?” Fluttershy said sarcastically. “I’m sure knowing them is going to be much better than knowing about you.”

Gilda grimaced at that remark. “Okay, that one actually hurt.” she thought to herself. “We’ll go meet her in a little bit, after the afternoon hustle calms down.”

A few hours later they left to pay Gilda’s acquaintance a visit. “So for the past few weeks, the day and night cycle has been all messed up.” Gilda explained.

“Uhhh duh! What did you think that chaos meant? That things would work normally?” Fluttershy interrupted.

“Uhhm... Well, anyways...” Gilda continued “The town authorities went and forced this one unicorn that was in town to use her light shows to fake the time for everyone. I think it’s pretty fun to mess with her.”

“Whatever.” Fluttershy replied.

After a bit of walking, they arrived at a traveling showcart. “HEY! WAKE UP! IT’S TIME FOR THE NIGHT CYCLE TO START!” Gilda smacked the side of it a few times, and it sounded like some stuff fell and broke inside.

“Who dares disturb the GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie?” A blue unicorn with a white mane came out looking a bit disgruntled. “Oh. It’s YOU.” Trixie said in disgust. “What do YOU want?”

“Well, FIRST off, it’s supposed to be after dark now. When are YOU going to do your community service?” Gilda complained.

Trixie mumbled to herself as she cast a spell that shot a flare up and replaced a light source with a shroud of shadow. “Stupid griffons... never happy.”

“Ohh Trixie! You seem to have practiced a bit after Twilight upstaged you. You don’t SUCK as bad as you used to!” Fluttershy claimed.

“Why thank you, at least SOMEPONY appreci-”

“But that was still pretty lame!” Fluttershy interrupted.

“Anyways, Trixie, my acquaintance here is in need of an attitude adjustment. Last time I met her, she was the real timid, quiet type.” Gilda explained. “Ya got any tricks in your stupid little hat to get her back to her normal self?”

Trixie sighed. “Well, I do have a magic trick that makes fouls out of stallions. I could probably make her act like she did a year ago. But no guarantees, okay?”

“Sounds like it’ll do the trick. Fluttershy, you ready? ...Fluttershy?” Gilda turned around to see Fluttershy flying off.

“This is booring. I’m outta here” she called back.

“Oh no you don’t!” Gilda said before using her speed and strength to nab Fluttershy out of the air and pin her down. “TRIXIE! GET OVER HERE AND USE YOUR SPELL!”

“The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie doesn’t have to take orders from you!”

Fluttershy managed to get her hind legs free and kicked Gilda in the stomach. “I SAID NOW TRIXIE!!!”

“FINE!” yelled Trixie as she used the aforementioned spell on Fluttershy.

And with that, Fluttershy calmed down and looked around her. “W- Where am I?”

“Man, you would not BELIEVE how much of a pain you just were.” Gilda said as she let her up.

“Oh I am so sor-” Fluttershy began. “-gilda?-” she squeaked. Fluttershy began to panic.

“See? I told you that the GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie could do it!” Trixie bragged. “I’m sure you knew that however, as you did come to me first!” she said with a smug grin.

“Wh-where are my friends? H-how d-did I g-get here? W-where’s Discord? He was just here a second ago!”

“BOTH OF YOU! SHUT! UP!” Gilda screeched.

Fluttershy froze like a statue, Trixie rolled her eyes.

“Fluttershy. Ponyville’s that way. You’d better just leave now if you’re not staying here, otherwise, you’re welcome to stay with me. And Trixie. Just... Just do your job better.” And with that, Gilda spread her wings and flew back home.

Fluttershy looked at Trixie. “You work here? I thought you were a traveler.”

Trixie clenched her teeth. “The great and powerful Trixie works for NO pony!”

“Oh. Sorry. I thought...”

“Well you obviously thought wrong!” Trixie interrupted. “Now GOOD NIGHT!”

Fluttershy looked at her surroundings. She was nearly half-way up to a plateau sitting in the middle of a dessert. Downhill from her were several buildings, with the main street light up from the shops. But beyond the buildings, the ground was lit in all directions. Trixie’s shroud kept the sunlight from traveling through the air. She looked up and seen that it was nothing more than some thick, selective cloud coverage that blocked out the sunlight. Fluttershy stared out at the light ground. She blinked, and suddenly it was as dark as the city. “I guess I’ll stay the night here.” she said to herself.

As she walked though the dark town, she tried to remember where Gilda’s place was, but couldn’t remember anything from earlier that day. There were a few inns, but she had no bits to spend - not to mention the innkeepers were all intimidating griffons. “If only Angel was here. He’d help me find a nice place to rest.” she thought to herself as she found an empty bench that she could perhaps lay down on. She crawled up on the bench, made her self cozy and cried.

Although she cried softly, just by sitting in public, she got the attention of some nasty griffon whose kids were too busy looking out the window to go to bed. “HEY! GET OUT OF HERE YOU HOMELESS BUM!” called a voice from the building across the street.

“Oh... I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.” Fluttershy apologized as she politely left the area for somewhere else to rest. “This place is just so empty.” she thought to herself. “There just don’t seem to be any animals here.”

Outside the shroud, the sun shot up, and Fluttershy could see the silhouette of some trees. When she approached them, it turned out to be a small oasis. She heard chirping, and when she looked down, there was a small bird with a broken wing. “Oh you poor thing!” she said as she scooped it up in her forelegs and flew back to the center of town to find stuff to treat it with.

Fluttershy spent all night trying to find someone who was awake and willing to spare some first aid supplies. By the time Trixie was forced to fake the daylight, Fluttershy was exhausted, and sound asleep on a random stoop cupping the bird in her hooves.

The door opened up, and it was Gilda - who ended up tripping over the pegasus. “Ow...” Gilda turned to look at what she fell over. “Oh for the love of-”

Fluttershy yawned, looked around and blinked a few times. “Oh good morning Gilda.” she said. Then she remembered the bird that she was still holding. “OH! Gilda! Do you have a first aid kit I could barrow?!”

“Uhhhmmm sure...” Gilda responded. “It’s in the medicine cabinet in the kitchen.”

When Fluttershy returned from fixing up the bird’s wing, Gilda looked at her like she was insane. “Wait. You mean you needed to use MY first aid kid on a lousy little bird?!”

“U-um yes” Fluttershy squeaked. “I- I found the poor thing injured at the oasis, and I couldn’t just l-leave it there...”

“Whatever.” Gilda said as she grabbed her work uniform. “I can just get some more later today. Later dweeb. Help yourself to whatever’s in the fridge. I gotta deliver some breakfast orders.”

“W-wait! Can I ask you something Gilda?” Fluttershy asked.

“What? What do you want now?”

“Why are you being so nice to me? Last time we met, you were nasty to everyone.”

Gilda stopped for a moment. “Rainbow Dash told me to find some “New cool friends.” and... well I couldn’t do it. I kinda miss her. So when I saw you, I thought maybe I could... you know... be a better griffin.”

“Well you’re doing a very good job. I bet Rainbow Dash would be proud.”

“Thanks.” Gilda said as she left for work.

Fluttershy slept on Gilda’s couch the whole day. When she woke up, it was midnight. She snuck out, and began to head home. About ten feet away from the edge of the shroud of night, she looked back, and seen that she was turning gray again. “No!” she cried as she tried to hurry back to ponyville faster. Right before she stepped into the light of the chaotic day and night cycle, the sun vanished and the moon took it’s place. Being unable to see in the dark, Fluttershy tripped and fell into a ditch. Out cold.