It was a wonder how Fluttershy got up that morning.

As she awoke from her slumber, Fluttershy groggily examined her surroundings. It only took her seconds to remember where she was, and what happened last night. She thought for a brief second that it was a horrible nightmare before a sudden pain in her thighs proved otherwise. Realizing that what happened actually happened, Fluttershy buried her head in her pillow and began to weep, loudly. Angel, awakened by the sound of Fluttershy's sobs, approached the crying Pegasus, but could do nothing but stand bewildered about Fluttershy's plight.

Fluttershy stared at her reflection in the lake. She had spent several weeks in her cabin with only her animals to comfort her. Her bruises were now starting to discolor, the scabs that were at her sides gleamed in the sunlight, still fresh. She had fallen into a deep depression and stopped eating, so her body became thin and her bones were starting to become visible under her yellow coat which was now darker because she neglected to remove the filth from that night.

Fluttershy slowly crawled into the lake to bathe, to try and remove the filth that clung to her frail body. Fluttershy watched as the clear water surrounding her became brown and stagnant with her filth, only to become clear again. As she watched the filth dissipate, she bit her lip in jealousy. Oh how she wished to be capable of removing the filth and grime within her body, but no matter how much she scrubbed, she didn't feel even the slightest bit clean.

As she continued scrubbing, she was too busy to notice that the animals were approaching her with caution, as if they never saw her before. Even the birds kept their distance. These animals were bonded to the yellow Pegasus, and they knew when something happened to her. They knew immediately that something happened that night that shook Fluttershy down to her core. But what could they do?

Fluttershy finally noticed as a baby duck swam up to her, its eyes looked up to her, and Fluttershy blinked in surprise. The duckling had a saddened expression, and Fluttershy knew that the duckling was trying to comfort Fluttershy, despite its nativity to how serious the situation was. The duck flinched at a teardrop fell into the pristine water that surrounded them, followed by another. "T-thank you." She whispered quietly between choked sobs. "But I don't think I'm strong enough to bear this…"

"Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy turned in surprise only to see Twilight Sparkle, the sensible unicorn who was also one of her closest friends, standing at the edge of the lake.

Fluttershy quickly forced a smile. "Oh, h-hey Twilight." She managed to say clearly. Twilight gave a concerned expression. "We haven't seen you in weeks; I decided to check up on you. We were a bit worried." Twilight tilted her head in confusion.

"Have… You been… Crying?" She said after a few seconds of examination. Fluttershy glanced at the baby duck and quickly formed a lie in her head. "O-oh, I was just…" She scooped the duckling and held it before Twilight. "Admiring the ducklings, they were just born yesterday." It was a simple lie. Fluttershy knew that lies were bad, but it was either that or having Twilight find out about her secret and hate her forever.

As Fluttershy walked out of the lake to show Twilight the duckling, the purple unicorn gasped. "Fluttershy, your sides! What happened?" Fluttershy looked at the crimson lines that went across her yellow coat. "Oh, I was trying to… Fix a bird's nest and tripped. I put some antiseptic on it already so there's nothing to worry about."

More lies. But still, better than the alternative…

Twilight cocked an eyebrow, letting Fluttershy's story run through her head. "Okay then. Listen, why don't you finish up here and we can head on down to the Sugarcube Corner? Applejack wants to tell us something."

Fluttershy hesitated for a second before placing the duckling down. As she trotted away with Twilight, Fluttershy hoped that nothing would let her friends find out about her secret. Like Nevermore said:

"You don't want anypony to find out what a dirty tramp you are now, do ya?"

The thought of her friends abandoning her almost made her cry again, but she managed to reduce it into a quiet whimper before Twilight could notice.

"And I then told Derpy, 'If you push it in like that, all of Ponyville's going to melt!'"

At the Sugarcube Corner, Fluttershy flinched at the sight of all her friends, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Spike, and Pinkie Pie, as well as a rather nervous Caramel, sitting at a single table. The Pegasus gulped before joining them. They all asked Fluttershy where she was all this time, and Fluttershy simply told them the same story she told Twilight. They mostly believed her, but Applejack seemed hesitant to believe her, if not skeptical. Pinkie Pie then resumed her story.

"And then, Derpy is like, 'ICE IKE NOW SYRUP, LICK FLU A LICE SET A YAWN WAY TIN!'"

This resulted in most of the ponies at the table to burst into laughter, except Twilight, who seemed angry, Caramel, who was too nervous to laugh, and Fluttershy, who didn't respond.

"Cut it out, Pinkie." Twilight barked at the pink earth pony. "You don't need to make fun of Derpy like that." Rarity nudged Twilight with her elbow. "I don't know darling, seemed rather funny to me." Dash went stiff, like a robot, and repeated Derpy's phrase in a robotic manner, resulting in more laughter in the group. Twilight sighed, turning to Applejack. "Ok, AJ, we're all here, what did you want to tell us?"

Applejack chuckled, grinning like she was winning a card game. "I didn't wanna tell you nothing'." Applejack said in a cheerful matter. "But mah cousin Caramel here's got a few words ta say." All eyes turned to Caramel, who in turn, looked to Applejack in panicked desperation.

"Relax, sugarcube." She said quietly. "Just remember what we said."

Caramel gave the Cowpony a nod of affirmation, and looked at the others. "Ok. Uh. Here goes. I'm…" He took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm a-a… colt-cuddler."

Everypony stared at him; blank, unsurprised looks were on their faces.

"That's it?" Rainbow Dash muttered. "Lame." And repeated her mockery of Derpy.

The next hour was full of laughter and merriment as the ponies, with the exception of Fluttershy, who said or did nothing, talked about their own relationships, and engorged themselves with Pinkie's cupcakes. Even Caramel was engaged in the conversation, talking about a "certain, fan-holding, colt" who he met at one of Rarity's fashion shows, which fashionable unicorn to take a sudden interest in the colt. Pinkie went ballistic about her new boyfriend.

"Well, he says he a doctor, but not the kind that's like, "Lets takes your temperature." and stuff like that, and he travels around in a blue box, which I really find weird, because he'd probably be safer in a carriage, and he said that he saw how Equestria was made, and he the lord of something, but I can't remember what it was, and he..."

As she carried on, however, Twilight was suddenly asked by Applejack if she could speak with her privately, and they walked into the restroom of the restaurant.

"What's up AJ?" Twilight asked cheerfully. Applejack looked around carefully before speaking.

"Hey, is there somthin' wrong with Fluttershy?" Applejack asked, her eyebrows raised.

Twilight glanced at Fluttershy, who was seemingly off-focus despite looking at Pinkie. "Not to my knowledge…" She muttered. "But now that you mention it, she does seem rather off today."

Applejack looked surprised. "'Off?' We don't see her since Celestia's big party and suddenly she changes like this! She hasn't laughed to a single one of Dash's jokes, which she usually does. She hasn't partaken in a single bite of Pinkie's cupcakes, which she usually does. She hasn't even said a single durn word the entire time, which ah believe is strange even for HER! And just look at her, she's barely skin and bones."

Twilight thought about it for a moment, these were thing she barely even noticed. "Well… Maybe she's not feeling well." Twilight hypothesized for a moment.

"And don't think I didn't see them scratches on Fluttershy's sides! Now where the hay did those come from?"

"Well, she said she got hurt fixing a bird's nest…"

"Uh-uh. Those ain't the kind of scratches you get from fallin' down. Those there are fightin' marks. I should know. I get into spits with Big Macintosh now and again." Applejack glanced at Fluttershy, who was now listening to something Rarity was talking about, but still seemed distant. Applejack's brow furrowed. "Something ain't right with our girl. I can feel it."

Twilight suddenly remembered something. "Wait, when I went to get her this morning, she was in the middle of the lake." Applejack nodded in conformation. "Uh-huh."

"And she was crying."

Applejack said nothing more, and simply walked over to Fluttershy. Twilight watched as the two ponies exchanged words, and then Applejack walked back to Twilight, with Fluttershy right behind them. "Oh, hey Twilight." Fluttershy said "cheerfully". "How can I help you guys?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow; she was not suspicious of her friend's situation. "Fluttershy, are you okay? You don't seem to be acting yourself."

Fluttershy froze, but managed to retain her smile. "I'm fine, Twilight, why do you ask?"

Applejack suddenly butted in. "Cause the entire time you've been here, you haven't said a single word, and you didn't eat any of Pinkie's cupcakes. And we know you love her cupcakes almost more than anypony in Ponyville."

Fluttershy felt a nervous twinge begin to grow within her belly, her smile disappeared. "Well, I… I haven't been feeli-."

Applejack cut her off. "And where in tarnation did you get those there scrapes? And don't go telling me 'It was an accident. I fell down.' Cause I know those can only be caused by hooves!"

"Fluttershy." The yellow Pegasus turned to Twilight, who gave a look of concern. "Is there something you're not telling us?" The unicorn paused before speaking again, choosing her words carefully. "D-did something happen at Celestia's party?"

The minute that Twilight mentioned the party, Fluttershy automatically winced. The two other ponies saw this and instantly realized that their assumptions were correct. Something was wrong.

Fluttershy turned away quickly. "I-I have to go. My animals, t-they need me."

"Fluttershy, wait!"

Applejack and Twilight silently watched as Fluttershy walked away, quietly muttering to herself, and headed towards the front door. But as she reached the door Pinkie stood in her way. "Where're you going, Fluttershy?" She asked. "The party's still going on!"

Fluttershy trembled, there was an earth pony blocking the door.

She found Nevermore standing in front of the door, smiling a rather wicked smile, with a key hanging off his neck.

"P-Please…let me go…" Fluttershy asked quietly, trying hard to keep herself calm.

Sadly, she spoke so quietly, and Pinkie Pie immediately decided to bring her back to the others. "C'mon silly." She giggled. "The party's this way."

"I wanna spend some personal fun with you, Fluttershy. Just you and me, with nopony around…"

Fluttershy squeaked in fear and turned towards the back door, running past the others. However, Pinkie immediately thought that Fluttershy was playing, and skipped after her. Fluttershy turned and saw Pinkie heading towards her.

He ended up chasing Fluttershy around the room.

Fluttershy's wings locked as she reached the door, but unfortunately, Pinkie Pie was right behind, her and grabbed her with her front hooves.

"Gotcha Fluttershy."

Fluttershy's back legs coiled up.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Everypony watched as Pinky Pie went flying across the room into a wall, they then watched as Fluttershy stood still for a few seconds before running out of the door. As Rarity and Twilight tended to the pink earth pony, who now had two hoof marks on her forehead. Applejack ran out the back door in pursuit of Fluttershy.

"Cad atá… suas doc?" Pinkie muttered in a daze. "Bhí an… Spraoi…"

Fluttershy flinched as she heard her front door open with a loud bang. Applejack, angry and confused, turned to the cowering Pegasus. "What the hay is goin' on with you?" Applejack asked rather forcefully, her anger rising. "Why can't you tell us? We're your friends!" As she approached Fluttershy, the Pegasus in return backed off, until she reached a corner in her house. As Applejack made one last step towards Fluttershy. The Pegasus cowered in fear, preparing for the worst. She expected Applejack to leave in anger, to say she never wanted to be associated with her, to hate her.

Instead, she felt a hoof lightly rest on her shoulder.

As she lifted up, she saw Applejack, kneeled down next to her, with an expression of not anger, but of concern, of compassion. She realized that Applejack cared for her friend, and wanted to help her no matter what. She remembered how Applejack helped Fluttershy up the mountain when the ponies went to confront the dragon. How she supported her even when the others didn't. She realized that Applejack was a true friend, that they were all her true friends. And they would support her and help her, no matter what. Tears began to form behind her eyes, and she looked away.

"C'mon, Fluttershy, talk to me. I'm your friend, I wanna help."

The dam burst. Fluttershy immediately embraced the cowpony, crying loudly into her shoulder. "I'm s-sorry." She choked. "It's just been so har-har-hard…" As she continued sobbing, Applejack returned the embrace and rocked her slowly, consoling her. "Shh. It's okay sugarcube, everything gonna be okay. Just relax."

They sat there for about an hour before Fluttershy calmed down. Applejack pulled away and sighed, her shoulder was damp with tears.

"Ok." Applejack said calmly. "Now I want you to take a deep breath, and explain to me what happened."