All throughout the past week, the poor, disturbed pony tried her hardest to forget about the traumatic experience she endured just a little over two months ago. Her friends visited her often, Rainbow even tempted her to try one of the treats she feared so much, but she just didn’t want to even see the delectable delicacies Pinkie Pie prepared perfectly. The only thing she wished for was to never see animal crackers ever again. Twilight and Rainbow had just left the cottage, both thoroughly displeased with Fluttershy’s phobia of the food.

“Seriously,” remarked Rainbow Dash, “its dough! Not actual animals. Why does she have to be so thick headed about it? It’s been nearly two months since she even left her hut to go get groceries.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and offered, “Maybe we should just try and get her out of the house for a bit… You know, get her over to… uh… OH! The Ponyville Fair! That would help her. There’s even a garden that she could explore. It’ll be filled with wildlife, flowers, and all those things she enjoys so much.”

Rainbow nodded her head in agreement and allowed her friend to follow her to Pinkie’s. Entering, the party pony giggled from the kitchen, “If that’s you Rainbow Dash, I’ve got a new type of candy for you!”

“Awesome!” the spectrum maned mare exclaimed. “Those animal crackers were delicious, so this will probably be even better!”

Her pink friend left through the double doors and presented the snack on a fancy plate. Multicolored, delectable gummy sweets sat on it, all shining with light that bounced off their glossy bellies from the open window. The big thing about them, though, was their shape. All of them were bears; cute and cuddly, which happened to be Fluttershy’s second favorite type of animal. Her top favorite was birds.

“I worked really hard on them, and just like the animal crackers, I made a cute, little box for you to store them in. I colored it myself.”

Pinkie presented it, the title said Gummy’s Gummy Bears. Behind the text was Pinkie’s pet alligator consuming three or four of them. Rainbow squealed at it and shoved the treats into their container, all except one. She lifted it up and tossed it freely into her mouth. Soon, her face curled up with pleasure, almost as if she was eating the best thing in the world. Her eyes opened once she gulped it down and gave a thoroughly satisfied sigh.

“That was amazingly tasty Pinkie Pie,” the Pegasus complemented.

“Don’t let Fluttershy see these this time. I don’t know what she’d do if she found out about gummy bears.”

Rainbow nodded, grabbed the box and left. On their way out, Rainbow got a devilishly sinister idea. She turned to Twilight, smiled wide and offered, “Let’s feed Fluttershy a gummy bear!”

The unicorn gasped with fright of these evil fantasies. “Absolutely NOT! She’d freak out! Didn’t you hear Pinkie Pie? We really shouldn’t even think about that!”

“Oh, come ON Twilight! The only reason she’s not okay with animal crackers is because she hasn’t tried them yet! I bet, if we sneakily gave her one, and she somehow ate it, she’d realize it wasn’t that bad; and then we could TOTALLY get her out of that cottage that she’s incarcerated herself in. what’d you say?!”

Twilight thought hard about this. On one hoof, she did want Fluttershy to relax about the animal cracker incident, and maybe this was the best way to resolve the conflict. Then again, it might make things worse. Finally reaching a decision, she agreed with her friend and ventured to Fluttershy’s with Rainbow Dash.

Meanwhile, a butter yellow pony sat in the dark void, listening to the random, small creeks of the structure. She looked in the mirror, remembering the horrific event of seeing all those poor, defenseless animal crackers that have probably been consumed by her friends. She shivered thanks to those thoughts. Her hoof whipped a small tear off her cheek as she tried hard not to bellow out with sobs. Suddenly, a knock came from the door, hard and startling. It woke her from the illusion-like event that happened not too long ago.

“Um… c-come in, I suppose.”

The two friends entered, the box of treats hidden behind Rainbow’s wing, well secured as to not let it drop. The young, pink maned mare looked at her smiling friends and asked, “What do y-you two uh, want?”

“We came to check up on you,” Twilight responded. “You’re not still upset about the whole crackers thing, right?”

Fluttershy giggled and claimed, “No, I’m fine now… Well… No, no I’m not. I feel horrible about it… I’d rather be left alone.”

Rainbow then spoke up, “Look, Fluttershy, we’re here to end this… Listen, they’re made of dough, nothing more. They weren’t actual animals! They just… took their shape, that’s all.”

Fluttershy lowered her head and claimed, “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash… but I can’t stop thinking about it… Please… Can’t we just forget about it, for n-now at least?”

Face hoofing herself, the cerulean pony succumbed to the proposal and sat down next to her friend, as did Twilight. The three talked about simple stuff, like the Ponyville Fair that was approaching. Soon, it became late, and just before leaving, Rainbow winked at Twilight, signaling they’d chilled their worried friend enough to basically trick her into devouring one of the gummy bears. It was still for her own good. She couldn’t go through her entire life thinking any food made to look like an animal was a threat or anything like that.

“Say, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked kindly, “You think… you’d be willing to taste something really quick?”

“T-taste?” the Pegasus asked, now becoming discomforted.

Rainbow chimed in, “It’s not something icky, we promise… and NO it’s not animal crackers either… You just can’t see what it is until you eat one.”

Fluttershy gulped while looking around, closed her eyes, and amazingly accepted. “Alright… I trust you… but nothing gross and it better not be... a-animal crackers!”

She closed her eyes and reluctantly opened her mouth slightly. Rainbow slowly took out the box, opened it with a small grin, and proceeded to put one on Fluttershy’s shivering tongue. She decided to choose one of the sweetest flavors she could; red, which was strawberry. The butter yellow Pegasus chewed it up, and slowly formed a smirk. Her eyelids turned into delightful curls as she continued to enjoy the treat. Once finished, she opened her eyes to see Rainbow hiding the box behind her back.

“That was… surprisingly yummy!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “What was it?!”

Twilight made Fluttershy promise she wouldn’t freak out before they showed her anything. After she agreed, the box was slowly revealed, and Fluttershy’s smile soon dissipated. Her jaw dropped, her eyes dilated and those small, shaky hooves lowered, almost going completely limp. She uttered, with a scratchy voice that signaled she might begin to cry, “You fed me... G-gummy bears?!”

Twilight immediately started to explain, “Now, Fluttershy, relax… They’re made out of natural ingredients. Pinkie made them, and we figured… if you got to try one, you’d be willing to forget the fact that they take the form of animals. I didn’t want to, but I figured it was best, as did Rainbow.”

Fluttershy sighed, closed her eyes and admitted, “I can’t believe… how tasty those were…”

Both Rainbow and Twilight slowly formed smiles and exchanged looks of hopefulness. “So, you’re alright with this?” Rainbow asked with excitement. “I mean, you’ll be able to try… maybe, just one more?”

The mare nodded her head, making her visitors overjoyed. They grasped the pony with a friendly hug, while she just smiled along.

Once they released her, she said, “And, you know… I m-might be able… to try those animal crackers… maybe… Just once.”

The three giggled with happy delight, knowing this didn’t turn out as bad as it could’ve. As they retreated to Pinkie’s to get more of the animal shaped snacks, Fluttershy understood the importance of broadening one's horizon. A few days later, she’d be willing to write a letter to Princess Celestia explaining to her that she learned an important lesson in friendship.