[S]hi

Installment 1.

The warm glow from the hearth graced the young pony’s dainty yellow hooves. She sighed, though it was barely audible amongst the close crackling of the fire and voices of her friends at the round table in a distant corner of the same room. She closed her tired eyes and listened.

“Oh, isn’t it just wonderful being in Canterlot again?” Rarity’s voice rang like a well tuned harpsichord but Fluttershy could pick out the faint twine of an accent neither here nor there. It could fool the best of ponies, just not one so keen on listening as Fluttershy. Next to her voice were those of Applejack and Rainbow. AJ’s voice was familiar in the way a mother’s warm embrace could be, it felt safe. But no voice felt safer to her than that of Rainbow Dash, and this filled the yellow pony with confusion. This would be due to the fact that Rainbow’s voice was rough and wild, better suited to the throat of a newly pubescent stallion, still it was distinctly Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy wouldn’t change it for the world.

She opened her eyes again, a little angry with herself for listening to her friends conversation, that’s not the kind of pony she was. She stood for a moment, staring at the flames before one more quiet sigh. She made her way over to her friends, slowing down each hoof a couple seconds before it hit the ground so as to make as little noise as possible, a technique a lifetime spent perfecting. She smiled at her reception; harpsichords, stallions, and a mother’s warmth all reassuring her ‘We love you Fluttershy’.

                                                             END