The soft sunlight of early summer morning gently warmed Fluttershy's back as she surveyed her garden. The flower's aroma filled the air with sweet perfume, attracting humming bees, beautiful butterflies, and birds of every size and color. The yellow pegasus closed her eyes and inhaled the scent. This was her happy place. No matter how sad she felt, or how different she was from most of ponykind, she could always come here to her little garden and feel her worries slowly drift away. Everything here was gentle and kind. Flowers and critters responded to love with love, and she gave them every bit of love she could manage.

As she opened her eyes, her gaze fell on a small circle of neatly trimmed rosebushes planted in a clearing in the middle of the lush flowers. Fluttershy smiled. There were six of them, and each one sported blooms of a different color: pink, orange, cyan, white, purple, and pale yellow. Her closest and dearest friends helped her to plant them last week, and they were thriving. It had been Twilight's idea to use her magic to turn the red roses the same color as the six friend's coats. Fluttershy had some very rare species of flowers here in her garden (and some that were ONLY found in her garden; she was working very hard to save these special plants from extinction) but these roses were by far her favorite addition. Her heart swelled with contentment. Her garden may be her happy place, but her friends were just as important to her. Maybe a little bit more.

She closed her eyes again and laid her head on her hooves, feeling her silky mane spread over them. Everything was perfect. She sighed and let the sounds wash over her. The bubbling of the nearby stream, the chattering of the otters who lived under the bridge, singing birds, humming bees, hoofsteps-

Her head shot up as her heart constricted with the old familiar (and hated) fear. Although her rational mind knew that it was probably one of her friends dropping by, it could also be a strangepony and sometimes strangeponies were mean and made fun and humiliated and judged and-

She gritted her teeth and forced the thoughts from her mind. She quickly got to her hooves and trotted to the side of her house. She peeked around the corner and relaxed. It was just the mailpony with an envelope in his mouth. He opened her mailbox and deposited the envelope inside. As soon as he turned around and started walking away she began to beat her wings and gently drifted over to the mailbox. She wasn't expecting any mail. It could be another invitation to one of Pinkie's frequent parties, but more often than not she usually preferred to deliver them in person. Fluttershy giggled a bit as she recalled Pinkie's singing telegrams. No, most likely not from Pinkie. Who then?

She opened the mailbox and withdrew the letter. There was no return address, only her name and the address of her cottage. Curious, she landed on the ground and made her way into her cottage. Curling up on her favorite green couch, she opened the letter with her teeth. Her eyes narrowed slightly to read the elaborate script, then widened with fear as she quickly re-scanned the letter. Her happiness quickly fled. Her heart began to race, and she was having trouble breathing. There was a familiar restricting sensation around her chest as the fear- no, it was actually close to terror- gripped her and held her tight. Shame slowly crept in upon her as she remembered. Not that she ever truly forgot, of course. Her cheeks were hot, and she could no longer keep the tears back. They fell freely from her eyes as she tossed the letter to the side, threw her face into her hooves, and sobbed.

The letter caught in the air and seesawed lazily back and forth as it drifted to the ground. It landed face-up and the sun beaming in from the window glinted on the words written in golden ink:

Fluttershy

How've you been? I know it's been a while, but I've been wanting to talk to you for some time. I bumped into Blossomforth when she was here in Cloudsdale a few days ago, and I asked her if she still knew you. She said yes and I asked her for your address so that I could send you this. I'm going to be in Ponyville this Saturday and I'll be dropping by. It'll be great; just like old times! Also, there's something I need your help with. I won't say exactly what, but let's just say it'll benefit the both of us. You won't regret it.

Sincerely yours,

Golden Feather.

Fluttershy choked back another sob and sniffled. She felt something soft and furry nuzzle her tear-streaked face. She slowly looked up into the eyes of Angel Bunny. His face, which was more often than not scrunched up in a scowl or frown, radiated the concern and love he always felt for her. She forced a smile and swept the little white rabbit in an embrace. He nuzzled her back. Oh, she loved her bunny so much. How could she let him see her so sad? He was so small after all, he needed someone to be strong for him. Although she knew he was much stronger than her emotionally. Why was she such a mess? Another tear rolled down her cheek.

"Oh, Angel," she whispered. "I never thought I would hear from her again. I was hoping, anyway." Angel stroked her mane and gazed up at her. He would listen to her, as always.

Memories of flight school came flooding back to her. She screwed her eyes shut and willed them to go away. They didn't.

Pegasi. Everywhere. The sprawling cloud that served as the school's lunch area was packed with pegasi ranging from tiny foals to nearly grown teenage ponies. Fluttershy, somewhere in between filly and mare, hunkered over her salad at a small corner cloud booth. She cringed as she heard somepony yelling. She relaxed when she decided they weren't yelling at her. She quickly began nibbling at her food again, torn between her delicate ways and wanting to leave as soon as possible. She hated being anywhere in this school without Rainbow Dash at her side; her one true friend here in the clouds. Nopony dared pick on her with Dash around. But Rainbow's love for speed and competition was driving a wedge in their schedules; she was training more than ever now. Fluttershy sighed. She remembered Summer Flight Camp, when she had seen the ground for the first time. She yearned to be near the earth again, and promised herself that as soon as she graduated she would leave Cloudsdale forever.

Giggling. Oh no. Were they laughing at her again? Who wouldn't? She was Klutzershy, after all, nothing but a cringy little scardypony. She peeked through her mane, trying to find the source of the laughter. She didn't see anypony pointing at her, so that was a good sign. She began to relax again, then caught sight of a pegasus mare who had just landed a few feet away. Her heart dropped and she clamped her lips together to contain a squeal of terror. There was no mistaking the shimmery gold coat and light blonde mane. It was her- Golden Feather, the pony who was mean to Fluttershy the most.

It was Golden Feather who gave Fluttershy her mean nickname. Fluttershy had been largely unnoticed by the other ponies-which was just the way she liked it- until Golden Feather had begun to make school life miserable for her. More humiliating incidents than Fluttershy could recall were the sole doing of Golden Feather. Nothing delighted her more than Fluttershy's pain, it seemed.

Fluttershy lowered her head and made herself as small as possible. Oh, how she wished Rainbow Dash were here! She would protect her. The yellow pegasus swallowed back the fear and made her decision. Forget her lunch, she had to get out of here before Golden Feather caught sight of her. Of course, that would mean leaving the safety of her booth and the movement might attract Golden Feather's attention and then she would start in on the teasing-

Fluttershy took a deep breath and desperately tried to calm her nerves. She peeked through her mane again and saw that Golden Feather was holding a conversation with one of her many friends. Maybe she wouldn't notice Fluttershy leaving. The time was now. She pulled her courage together and got to her hooves. She could walk away, of course, to the other side of the cloud to minimize flight time. Fluttershy hated flying, especially in front of others. But that was too risky. If she wanted to leave as quickly as possible, she had to take flight from here.

Her heart beating in her throat, Fluttershy slowly backed away from the booth and began to flap her wings. The nervousness, as always, gripped her again as her hooves left the cloud. She glanced over at Golden Feather to see if she was still unnoticed. The gold pegasus was still talking to her friend in a low voice. Fluttershy's heartbeat slowed a bit. That was good. Maybe she would be able to get away from this place without embarrassment after all.

Somepony behind Fluttershy, to the left, was shouting. Her heart dropped as Golden Feather turned around. A whimper of fear nearly escaped her lips as the gold pony slowly grinned, taking in her old victims's terrified face. Her eyes were gleaming with what Fluttershy recognized (from countless encounters) as pure mean delight. Golden Feather turned her head back towards her friend and whispered something. They giggled. They began to walk towards Fluttershy.

She felt frozen in midair. It was happening again, oh no, please please please let them turn around and walk away, I can't do this anymore, no no no NO! Something snapped inside her as she broke her paralysis. Swiftly turning around in the air, she streaked away as fast as she could. She flew as she had never flown before. She-

Angel tugged at her mane, interrupting her thoughts. Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes and breathed in the soft scent of his fur. His warmth and closeness slowed her heart, which had begun to race even faster reliving her past humiliation and the shame of the events that had followed. She breathed in deeply, and let the air back out slowly and a bit shakily. She was a little calmer now. She was still terrified and anxious, but now she felt as if she had a better grip on herself.

"I'm not like her, it was different, I never meant to hurt anyone," she whispered. Angel glanced up at her, and she smiled in spite of herself at the fierceness in the white bunny's face. It was more like his usual self. She cleared her throat. "I mean...um...I'm not like her," she whispered louder. He cocked an eyebrow at her. Fluttershy, with her wonderful gift of being able to nearly understand animals, knew what he wanted. She drew in a deep breath and stood up.

"I am not like her!" she almost shouted, her voice strong. All traces of fear had vanished from the timid little pony's face, although she still felt it strong around her heart. Angel looked up at her with approval and a touch of pride. He gently nudged her. She made eye contact with her favorite animal companion and could almost read his thoughts. Break it down, one step at a time. Then decide how you're going to handle this.

She nodded. Reluctantly, she scooped the letter off of the floor and scanned it again. Her emotions rolled, ranging from heart-stopping anxiety, relief, trepidation, and a touch of curiosity.

Coming to Ponyville. This Saturday. Fluttershy usually had no problems remembering the days of the week (caring for sick animals and keeping everything on a strict schedule made sure of that) but she had to think for a minute. The day's excitement (for want of a better word) had driven almost everything else from her mind. Let's see, she thought. I gave Angel a bath yesterday, and Mr. Picky Pants only likes to be bathed on Sundays and Wednesdays. I know it's not Monday, because I always have breakfast with Twilight on Mondays. So it must be Thursday.

She closed her eyes. Only the rest of today and tomorrow to make preparations, whatever they might be. She was so unsure of what to do. She could always pretend to be away from home, of course, but countless encounters with Golden Feather in her schooldays told her that simply running away wouldn't help. Golden Feather would find her. She always did. Back then, at least. Fluttershy scanned the letter once again. The way the letter was worded, she didn't think that her old bully was wanting to hurt her. Rather, the entire thing was written politely. Politely for Golden Feather, anyway.

Fluttershy focused on the last part of the letter. Golden Feather wanted her help with something. But what? Surely it couldn't be...no. Of course not. Even she couldn't be that stupid. Fluttershy dismissed it. She probably wanted some help with...animals. Yes. that was probably it. Or maybe some advice on how to gain an audience with the princess? Or maybe some modeling tips? Fluttershy was by no means a famous pony (thank Celestia, she thought) but whispers of her accomplishments, along with those of her friends, had spread throughout Equestria. No doubt Golden Feather had heard of them and was in need of advice. Fluttershy forced the voice that whispered otherwise from her mind.

She came to a decision. She had to find Rainbow Dash. She would rather talk to Applejack or Twilight about this kind of matter, but she had to talk to Rainbow first. No other pony knew Fluttershy's past like her. No doubt she wouldn't have very good advice (Fluttershy loved her friend with all her heart, but Rainbow had a hard time understanding Fluttershy's anxiety and meekness) but she still might be able to help. Fluttershy scooped up Angel Bunny and gave him a quick kiss on his forehead before releasing him. She took a deep breath and made her way out the front door, hoping that once again her oldest friend would be able to find a way to protect her.