Within seconds, the flames cleared, and all that was left of Fluttershy was a charred frame that, without the mane and tail, resembled nothing of the pegasus. Rainbow could only stand and watch, frozen in horror as one of her best friends collapsed to the ground, dead.

Tears streamed down her cheeks like waterfalls as she could see the dragon standing proud over its kill, which was her friend. Rainbow felt sick, sick at seeing such a sight, and sick at herself. She had failed to look after her oldest, kindest and most loyal friend, as she sat here on the bridge, as Fluttershy stood up to the dragon, alone while she was too scared to.

But as soon as those thoughts came, they disappeared, leaving only one thing, vengeance.

She began running towards the dragon in a blind rage, ignoring Pinkie's silent pleas behind her as she charged the monster. Applejack screamed at her and pounced on the pegasus before she could get any closer, Rainbow managed to roll over on her back and try to push the earth pony off, but found her too strong. "Get off of me Applejack or I swear!" she roared as she struggled to get back up. She stopped when she noticed the tears rolling down her friend's cheeks.

"I'm not going to lose you too Rainbow!" she sobbed. She buried her face in Rainbows chest, not wanting to see what would come next. Rainbow could only watch however as the dragon made a triumphant roar and with slow, deliberate movements, it moved closer to Fluttershy's corpse.

Rainbow looked away and closed her eyes, her ears going flat in the hope it will tone down the sound of chewing. Suddenly a scream of surprise from Pinkie behind her filled her ears and she looked to where the dragon and Fluttershy was, and she thought for a second she was going crazy, but she wasn't.

Slowly and surely, Fluttershy was getting back up.

The dragon started to back away from the pegasus, it eyes wide in horror and its wings spread out, ready to fly away. Fluttershy was soon on her hooves and her burnt form started to regain its pink skin, her mane and tail starting to rapidly grow back, and her wings began to regain their form.

She started to walk towards the now cowering dragon, her pink skin turning yellow as her coat started to grow back, while her mane and tail had grown to their full length and seemed more elegant than before.

"Applejack," Rainbow said in wonder, nudging the earth pony buried in her chest. "You've got to look at this!"

Curious as to what got the pegasus so stunned, she got up and turned around, only to think her eyes would fall out of their sockets. "Impossible!" she exclaimed.

Fluttershy's eyes flickered open, but they weren't the usual kind, cyan colored friendly eyes the other ponies were used to. Instead they were a golden color that seemed as bright as the sun, and a menace far greater than the dragon's in front of her.

The dragon, in its desperation bathed Fluttershy in fire again, but this time when the flames cleared, she was unharmed, the fire seemingly flowing around her, as if a shield protected her.

She spread her wings and took to the air faster than a Wonderbolt, landing on the dragons trembling snout and began to speak in a language that nopony in the area knew, but could tell was ancient. However, the dragon seemed to know what it was, and trembled at every word. "Forlat Equestria nå, og aldri komme tilbake. Hvis du prøver å skade vennene mine igjen, skal jeg finne deg (Leave Equestria now, and never come back. If you hurt my freinds again, I will find you)."

The dragon didn't need a second telling; it nodded its head and was quickly in the air, moving north with such speed that it seemed impossible for a creature its size. Fluttershy fluttered back to the ground, her breathing quick and heavy as her eyes regained their former color.

A groan from her right made her look up and with alarm saw Twilight on the ground, seemingly unable to move. "Twilight!" she called to the downed unicorn, and began walking over to her.

She suddenly started to feel her hind legs go numb, followed shortly by her forelegs. She collapsed to the ground; her vision became blurred and was unable to hear anything, just a faint ringing. With a small cry for help she could only make out four ponies running up to her and Twilight before darkness encircled her again.


The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was a bright light. At first she thought it was the sun, and she was next to it. She closed her eyes again and the world went dark once more. She opened and closed them for a while until she could make out where she was.

Fluttershy soon recognized that she was in her own bed, and found herself facing her bookshelf and table. She sat upright and ran a hoof down her mane, feeling it sticking up in places and doing her best to rub them down.

She groggily got out of bed and began walking towards the window. As soon as she put her right leg forward and down, it gave way and she fell on one knee. She sat upright and started pressing the offending leg down onto the ground, until she felt sure it would take her weight. She tried again, this time with great success, and walked to the window and opened it; looking outside and breathing in the fresh, cool air.

The day was a true summers day, one or two clouds were hanging overhead of her cottage however, but that wasn't much to complain about since rogue clouds came over from the Everfree Forest many times. She looked into her garden and could see a few birds heading back into their nests in the birdhouses that she made. She saw her chickens running about, pecking at the chicken feed that had been left on the ground.

She smiled as she watched a squirrel pick up some nuts that had dropped from the ground and preceded up the tallest tree, she guessed the nuts must be to feed his family and sighed. Then she looked over to where the sun would usually be rising to start Equestria in a new day.

"Oh no!" She squeaked when she noticed the sun wasn't where it should be. "It must be the afternoon, and I hadn't fed any of my animals yet! Oh Fluttershy you selfish, selfish pony!" She hopped around and made her way to the stairs in a gallop.

She froze when she heard the sound of hoofsteps coming from downstairs, and what seemed to be humming. She squeaked and dived under her bed, shaking violently and unsure of what to do, unsure if Angel is alright, although the first thing that sprang to her mind was him with a sword in his paw, fighting the intruder before dying dramatically.

As soon as she thought it, Fluttershy declared the idea as ludicrous. Besides, why would she have a sword? She thought about diving out the window and getting Applejack or Rainbow Dash to help, but she didn't want to interrupt them and the intruder could make off with a lot of her possessions while she was gone.

Eventually she decided to see who this pony was and see if they would politely leave. Getting on her belly, she crawled out from under the bed, crawled across her bedroom and made her way down the stairs. She craned her neck to see through the gap and gasped at was she was seeing.

Twilight Sparkle stood in the centre of her living room, with her back to her, with Angel on her back and all her brooms, brushes and other cleaning materials that she had all over the place, guided by Twilights magic.

"Okay," Twilight said, checking off another item on a list that was hovering in front of her, and turned her head to the rabbit on her back. "That takes care of the house, what's next Angel?"

Fluttershy got back on her hooves and moved back down the stairs to make herself visible to the unicorn. "Twilight?" she called. At once Twilight's horn stopped glowing and everything crashed onto the ground. Twilight turned slowly around to face Fluttershy, who had now moved from the top of the stairs and into the living room, her eyes wide in shock and surprise.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" Fluttershy squeaked. "I didn't mean to startle you like that, it's just that I was sleeping and… well I must have laid in late and I didn't realise it was you I thought it was a intruder and…" she realised she was rambling and covered her mouth over with a hoof to stop, a few seconds later she removed it and said, "Um… how are you?"

Twilight disappeared in a flash of light, only to reappear in front of the pegasus and wrapped her legs around her in a tight hug. Fluttershy gasped for air and tried to loosen Twilight's grip around her, but stopped when she heard the unicorn starting to cry. The pegasus relaxed and wrapped her legs around Twilight, and gently rubbed a hoof down her friends back. "It's okay Twilight," she cooed softly. "It'll be okay… just let it all out."

She didn't need to ask what was wrong, she could clearly see that Twilight was pained by something and knew she would be told later. But right now the unicorn needed comforting and a friend.

After a few moments Twilight lifted her head out of Fluttershy's chest and looked her in the eyes, a big smile across her face and her eyes brimming with delight. "I'm sorry about this… it's silly of me I know, but… I'm just so happy to see you finally awake… it sort of came out like that," Twilight sobbed. "And I know things are going to be better from now on."

Fluttershy gave Twilight a look of confusion. "What do you mean 'finally awake'?"

Twilight's own smile faded and she cocked her head slightly to the side. "You mean… you don't remember the dragon attack?"

Fluttershy eyes widened and in a split second it came back to her; the spa date with Rarity, going to market for apples, the dragon attacking, getting separated from them in the panic, confronting the dragon and finally the smell of burning skin, her own skin.

Fluttershy stepped back from Twilight in a panic. "That was real! Oh no, I thought it was a dream! Where is everypony? Is everyone okay? Are you okay?"

Twilight placed her hooves on the pegasus's shoulder and shook her gently to calm her down. "Fluttershy, it's okay!" she shouted. "We'll all okay, thanks to you."

"Why?" Fluttershy asked frantically. "Why me? What happened?"

Twilight motioned for Fluttershy to sit on the couch and told her to wait while she made the tea and cleaned up the room. With a flick of her horn the cleaning materials were gone and back in her cupboard under the stairs.

As Fluttershy waited, Angel, who had been waiting for Twilight to get out of the way, leapt up into the pegasus's lap and gave her a big hug. "Oh Angel," she said to the bunny. "I'm so sorry I worried you like that. I promise I won't do anything like that again."

A few moments later Twilight came back in from the kitchen with a tray with cups and a pot of tea on it. She levitated it onto a table and allowed the pegasus to have a few sips to calm her nerves before beginning her story.

"You were amazing Fluttershy," Twilight began. "According to Applejack you walked right up to that dragon and scolded it for the damage it had done." She paused for a moment, her smile faded, before continuing, "and then you disappeared in flames, and when the smoke cleared, all that was left of you was a burnt out hull."

Fluttershy's jaw dropped and she clung to Angel tighter than she should have done, the bunny letting out a gasp of protest. "Oh, sorry Angel," she let the bunny go and faced Twilight once again. "Please continue."

Twilight nodded. "Well, after a while you started getting back up, your burnt body rehealed almost instantly. You then flew up to the dragon and started speaking to it in a language… well, she couldn't tell me because she couldn't understand it, but its affects were clear. As soon as you stopped speaking, the dragon flew into the sky and fled north with its tail between its legs."

"And then you collapsed trying to reach me. After checking to see if you and I were alive, Applejack and Rainbow took us both to the hospital, but only one bed was available and it was decided I was the worst off so they took me in."

"I wouldn't have had it any other way," Fluttershy interrupted. "Oh sorry… you can go on," she said upon noticing Twilights look.

"Yeah anyway," Twilight continued. "It turned out I had a few broken ribs from the impact and was internally bleeding in various places, the doctors didn't know whether I would recover or not."

"Meanwhile, Rainbow took you back to here and put you in bed, comforted Angel, and waited until the doctor came to check on you, while Applejack stayed with me to see if I would be well looked after, and then came over here with the doctor."

"The doctor said later you were in a coma, but it wasn't a coma so to speak. You were moving about and breathing normally as if you were sleeping, but the doctor couldn't think of what else to call it so he called it that, but I would call it a sort of suspension."

"Like hibernation," Fluttershy said. "It would explain why I haven't lost weight and why it was difficult to get out of bed."

"Yeah that seems more like it," Twilight said with a smile. "Anyway, the doctor said though…" she paused to hold back tears that were about to burst through again. "You might never wake up again."

Twilight took a minute to compose herself and continued. "Pinkie ran off in tears apparently and Rainbow left in a mix of rage and despair, angry that the doctor couldn't do anything. So Applejack and Rarity said they would look after you and the animals until you woke up."

Fluttershy was stunned. "So how long I've been in a 'coma' for?"

"Its been about a month now," Twilight answered grimly.

Fluttershy gasped. "A-a wh-whole month!" she spluttered, Twilight nodded. "Oh I'm so sorry I missed your birthday. Happy birthday, if that's any consolation."

Twilight smiled. "Thanks Fluttershy, but it wasn't a great birthday anyway as I was still in a coma." She sighed before continuing the story. "Two weeks ago I woke up and found Applejack by my side. I learnt of what happened to you and… to be honest I couldn't stop crying."

"I offered to help around the cottage to give Applejack and Rarity a rest. And that was how it was for the last two weeks," Twilight finished and sipped some of her tea.

"Oh… my," Fluttershy said. She shook her head and asked, "but what about Pinkie?"

Twilight frowned and said sadly, "Pinkie went into seclusion after hearing you'll never wake up. She hasn't come out since."

Fluttershy gasped and covered her mouth up with a hoof. "Can we do anything to help her?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes, but at the moment there's more concerning matters at hoof, mostly about you."

Fluttershy put a hoof to her chest. "Me? What about me? I feel fine now, the only problem is my wings feel a bit achy," she proved this by trying to stretch out her wings, but couldn't go no further than half way before having to grit her teeth and shoot them back to her side. "But that's it Twilight, there's no need to worry about me further."

"But there is," Twilight argued. "So many things that happened around you survival that concerns me. Not that I'm not happy that you're still alive, but I'm only worried for you Fluttershy."

"Like what?" Fluttershy asked, tilting her head to the right.

"Well," Twilight answered. "The first thing is that according to AJ, once you got on your hooves again the dragon tried breathing fire on you again, only this time you walked through it as if it wasn't there."

She paused to think of what next to say, "If you'd like, I want to see if this works, and don't worry if you don't want to do it, but… could you walk into the fireplace for me please?"

"But its still burning," Fluttershy protested, looking towards her fireplace, which was burning fiercely.

"I know, but I will be right beside you," Twilight said encouragingly. "I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you Fluttershy, I promise."

Fluttershy looked to the fireplace, then back to Twilight. She could see the look in her friends eyes that told her she needed her to do this, for her own sake as much as the unicorns. Eventually, Fluttershy reluctantly nodded. "Okay Twilight, I'll do this for you."

She got off the couch and walked over to the fireplace, Twilight close behind her. "Just stretch a hoof over it first," Twilight said softly. "Should you feel any pain then move it away quickly and I'll treat it, okay?"

Fluttershy nodded with a smile, and with slow movements she raised her right leg over the fire and then lowered it into the thick of the flames. She closed her eyes, looked away, gritted her teeth and got ready to move it away.

But she couldn't feel anything, no burning sensation on her leg, not the feeling of skin being ripped off by the flames, nothing. She opened her eyes to see the flames swirling around her leg in a sort of dance; it felt warm, friendly and surprisingly relaxing.

Twilight grinned; glad to see the first part was working. "Well what are you waiting for? Go on!" She encouraged the pegasus by nudging her in the backside. With a squeak Fluttershy fell fully into the fire. She didn't squirm or panic, instead she felt a nice relaxing sensation, she felt as if she could sleep here and never be disturbed. And, although she would probably hate to admit it to Rarity, it was more relaxing than any massage the spa twins had ever given.

Fluttershy couldn't wipe the grin off her face; instead she closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of content.

Twilight on the other hoof thought if her jaw could fall any lower, it would be under the floorboards and in Tartarus. If Fluttershy told her she was able to break every rule regarding the element of fire, she wouldn't have been able to believe her. For fire was an element nopony would, or should ever master. And yet, her friend seemed to have just done that, and if she was completely honest, she couldn't think of a better pony to have done so.

"How does it feel?" Twilight enquired upon noticing the pegasus's relaxed nature.

"It feels… nice," she answered mind-absently. Twilight rolled her eyes, it wasn't the answer she was expecting, but since it was Fluttershy she let it slip.

"Alright," Twilight said with a chuckle. "Come on out now before you get too sooty."

Fluttershy stepped out of the fireplace; a goofy grin across her face, while her whole back and face was covered in soot and ash from the fire. The pegasus looked behind her and noticed how sooty she was. She blushed in embarrassment. "Did I really just stand in fire?" she asked aloud.

Twilight nodded. "Yes, yes you did." She put a hoof on the pegasus's shoulder. "That was incredible! I would never had believed such a thing if I wasn't there to witness it!" she said with a grin.

Fluttershy smiled. "I'm glad you liked it, and I'm glad that it worked out alright. But now I'm wondering what the second thing that was concerning you about?"

"Oh yeah," Twilight said. "I forgot about that, you know that I said that Applejack said that when you spoke to the dragon you spoke some language that nopony had ever heard?" Fluttershy nodded. "I was wondering whether you would be kind enough to say some words so I could see if I know it, please?"

Fluttershy broke her gaze off the unicorn and pondered on what she meant, she drifted off back into her mind and found herself looking at various words and phrases in the equestrian language, the only language she ever truly learnt. Suddenly she found those words drifting to the back of her mind and moving forward came a whole new bunch of words and phrases. She saw them as clear as day and knew how they were spoken, it was if she knew it from birth.

She picked what she was going to say, she opened her eyes again, looked at Twilight who was standing in anticipation and said, "Dette er språket du mente Twilight, kan du forstå meg? (This is the language you meant Twilight, can you understand me?)"

The world seemed to darken slightly as she spoke; the animals that roamed the house fled to their houses and nests, or scurried back outside. Twilight could feel a slight chill at the coldness that seemed to come from Fluttershy's words. With a sigh she shook her head. "I had no idea what that was Fluttershy. But whatever it was, it was ancient, impossibly ancient."

Fluttershy pouted, upset and a little bit surprised her intelligent friend didn't know what it was. "There must be something at your library that could help," she suggested. As soon as she said it she regretted it, hoping the library wasn't destroyed in the attack and she'd just upset her friend for mentioning it.

Twilight grinned and seemed to hop for joy. "Of course!" she exclaimed. "I forgot about the library, we'll head there right away!"

"Could we wait a few minutes please Twilight? I'd need to clean up and… I really need to use the bathroom!" Fluttershy declared. In a cloud of dust and soot she disappeared up the stairs before her friend could respond.

After a few minutes wait, Fluttershy returned downstairs, her mane looking fresh and it seemed to smell like blackcurrants, her body washed and cleaned and smelt of lavender. "Ready?" Twilight asked. The pegasus nodded. "Right then, let's go."

With a gentle push of a hoof Twilight opened the front door and walked into the bright sunlight. Fluttershy squinted and covered her eyes with a hoof as she stepped out into the sun, which was directly in front of her. "Oh, sorry" Twilight said. "I should've given these to you, should help with the sun until your eyes adjust." She brought out from nowhere a pair of sunglasses. "Rainbow gave them to me," Twilight explained. "She said to give them to you when you wake up."

Fluttershy took them in her hooves and placed them on her head. "She still thought I might wake up?"

Twilight nodded. "Oh yes, we all never gave up on you Fluttershy," she smiled. "We never could and we never wanted to, knowing you would do the same if we were in your hooves."

Fluttershy grinned and nuzzled Twilight affectionately. "Thanks Twilight, for being such a good friend."

Twilight returned the nuzzle. "Your welcome Fluttershy. And I want to thank you for saving my life."

The two broke the contact and as they walked over the bridge, Fluttershy began to admire the town in front of her. She could see some buildings were still being rebuilt, but otherwise the town seemed to have returned to normal.

"Ah yes," Twilight said upon noticing Fluttershy's gaze on Ponyville. "After the attack, Princess Celestia, upon hearing of it, rushed to the aid of the town with every materials the entire country could offer. She, and most of us were glad and amazed nopony was killed, but when she heard about you and me she openly wept, so did Spike who came down with her. He was so happy to see me that he cried, and I rarely see him cry."

That's when Fluttershy realised something. She wasn't, no, she shouldn't be the priority here. She turned to look at her friend. "Twilight? Shouldn't we go and see our friends first? I hate to think I'm walking around town and they think I'm still asleep."

Twilight knew Fluttershy had a point; it would seem rude of her and the pegasus if they strolled around town and they all thought she was still in her bed.

"We will," she finally answered. "This shouldn't take long anyway, maybe half an hour tops. And once we're done we go around and let everypony know, okay?"

Fluttershy didn't like letting them not know for even a minute, but like Twilight said, half an hour wouldn't hurt, right? "Okay Twilight," she said, and then added sternly, "Just half an hour and then we go and get our friends."

"You have my word. Oh, and expect some ponies to be in awe of you," Twilight said. "You're kind of a national hero as well for getting rid of that dragon, so expect a lot of attention."

Fluttershy froze. "A lot?" she asked.

"Oh yes, hundreds." Twilight replied. She stopped a few metres away to see Fluttershy standing there shaking with fear. The unicorn cursed herself and trotted back to the pegasus. "I'm sorry Fluttershy, I forgot your not good with crowds. I'll keep close to you and if it gets too much, I'll try to get everypony away."

Fluttershy nodded. "Thanks Twilight, and I'm sorry. I wish I wasn't so useless all the time."

"You are never useless Fluttershy," Twilight said sternly, then added with a smile. "How can a pony who took care of two dragons singlehoofedly be useless?"

Fluttershy smiled and began trotting into town, with Twilight close behind.


A vast crowd filled the streets as they passed; most of them were busy in the re-development of Ponyville, delivering wood for some of the structures that had been completely destroyed, while others were walking about idly, chatting to other ponies as they walked past.

Noone seemed to notice Fluttershy and Twilight at the moment, for which the pegasus was grateful, but she and Twilight knew that would change soon, and they weren't left waiting. As they walked through Trotting road, usually the busiest street in Ponyville, they soon found a lot of eyes watching them, and the whispers began.

Some of those that were in their way stepped aside, bowing their heads in respect and awe of the pegasus that had singlehoofedly saved the town. Fluttershy returned the nods meekly but she kept her head low, and her mane over her face, with only one eye looking out to see where she was going.

Twilight looked around to see now everything went quiet; all eyes were now turned on her yellow friend next to her. She saw an excited young filly being held back by her mother so not to disturb the already troubled looking pegasus, while others ran away, probably to spread the news of Fluttershy's miraculous recovery.

They weren't stares of hate, both of them knew, but they made Fluttershy uncomfortable and she didn't like it. "Alright!" Twilight yelled, stomping her hoof on the ground. "Why don't you all get on with whatever you were doing and leave her alone!"

The ponies around the street instantly looked the other way and began getting about their business as if nothing happened. But the whispers continued, although Twilight heard nothing, Fluttershy heard them as if they were being spoken aloud.

"Isn't she dead?"

"I heard she got burnt to death."

"I thought she was in a coma."

"Its impossible she's even alive," were some of the many whispers that Fluttershy could strangely hear. She just trotted a little faster than usual to get the library, Twilight noticed the increase in her speed and copied her.

When they reached the library Twilight opened the door with her magic and Fluttershy charged straight through, not stopping until she reached the first floor of Twilights library. The library was the same as ever she mused, books thrown as if a baby threw its toys out of the pram. She made herself comfortable on one of the pillows, and waited until Twilight appeared. "Sorry about that," she said. "I just don't like seeing you uncomfortable. Anyway sorry also about the mess, I haven't the time to clean this place up properly." She looked at the pegasus with a concerned expression "Are you alright?"

Fluttershy nodded. "I'm okay, I guess. I've just got shivers down my back."

"That means some pony's talking about you," Twilight chuckled. Fluttershy chuckled too.

"Don't I know it?" she muttered. Twilight heard her and tilted her head slightly to the side in confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked inquisitively. Fluttershy knew she couldn't get out of this, so she told Twilight on how she was able to hear the ponies on the street talking about her, even though they were whispering. Twilight couldn't help but be fascinated by this, and began pondering on what to do.

"Fluttershy? Could you lay on the couch please while I examine your ears?" she asked, pointing to the couch by the side of the room.

"But shouldn't a doctor do that?" Fluttershy asked, even though she was walking over to it.

Twilight shook her head. "Nonsense, I know a spell that examines eyes and ears and gives me a diagnosis much quicker than a normal doctor." Twilight said with a grin.

"O-okay" Fluttershy stammered and laid down on the couch on her stomach. Upon the pegasus's signal, Twilight lowered her head and brought her horn to touch the Fluttershy's left ear. She closed her eyes and concentrated the spell, which sent a flow of magic through her friend's ears and out the other.

Fluttershy tried her hardest not to laugh, she needed to sit still but the tickling sensation she was receiving from the spell wasn't helping. Eventually she gave in and started laughing "S-stop it Twilight! It tickles," she said between giggles.

Twilight found herself trying not to laugh, it seemed Fluttershy's giggling was infectious, and now was spreading to her. She was glad to hear Fluttershy laughing after such a long time; all of her friends would agree that her laugh was one of the most loving sounds in the world.

She pulled away from Fluttershy and, closing her eyes, began examining what she found. Fluttershy meanwhile rose off the couch, clutching the stomach from laughing so much, and waited for Twilight to give her diagnosis.

When Twilight opened her eyes again, they were of surprise. "It seems Fluttershy, that you have a far greater hearing than anypony in the world. I've never before seen a account of a pony with hearing greater than yours," she said plainly, trying her best impression of a doctor.

Fluttershy was taken aback; she never expected to be wholly superior at one thing. But now she had a bit of a mischievous side going, she walked up to Twilight, turned her head to the side, with a hoof by the ear and said, "pardon."

Fluttershy couldn't stop laughing from the gormless look Twilight was giving. The unicorn eventually snapped out of it and looked at the rolling around pegasus with half a smile and a shaking of the head. "That was not funny at all Fluttershy."

Fluttershy got off the ground and wiped a small tear from her eye. "Really? I thought I timed it just right."

"What's so funny down there? Who's that with you?" the voice of a certain dragon called from upstairs. They watched as Spike appeared into the room and began walking into the kitchen. "Hey Twilight, sorry I woke up a bit late. Oh, hey Fluttershy, nice to see ya."

Before he entered the kitchen he stopped and did a double take when he realised he was talking to a pony that yesterday, was lying in her bed. "Fluttershy?"

The pegasus, with a big smile, meekly waved at the baby dragon. "Hello Spike, how are you?" she asked.

Spike ran up to her and wrapped his arms in a big hug, the two of them locking in a tight embrace. "I thought I would never see you again," he sobbed as tears of joy came into his eyes.

"It's okay Spike," Fluttershy said, rubbing a hoof across her scales. "Everything's okay now."

Twilight felt her heart melt as the scene unfolded before her. Just then an idea came into her mind, so she walked over to them. "Spike, I was just thinking, Fluttershy, would you mind saying some words in that language of yours to see if Spike might recognise it?"

"Do you think Spike would recognise it?" Fluttershy asked.

"May do, he is a dragon after all, and your new language worked on a dragon, so give it a shot."

Fluttershy nodded in agreement. She took a deep breath and said, "Hei Spike, hvordan har du det?" (Hi Spike, how are you?)

Like before, the room seemed to grow dimmer as a result, and again a chill crawled up Twilights and Spike's spines. "I only got the Spike bit, but that's it, sorry," he said sadly.

Fluttershy sighed. Twilight patted her on the shoulder. "No worries, it was worth a shot." She turned to the baby dragon. "Now Spike, get any books that focus on languages, both ancient and modern, dictionaries, anything, and bring them back here and help us find these words."

Spike saluted and ran up the stairs to the library. Twilight grinned at Fluttershy. "We'll find that name of this language, don't worry about it."

Fluttershy was unconvinced, but nevertheless nodded.

Soon Spike came down with the first two books for the two ponies to start on through. For the next twenty minutes they all rummaged through any books that had anything to do with languages no matter how small. Sometimes Twilight thought they had a breakthrough and showed Fluttershy; the pegasus shook her head however and with a groan the unicorn continued.

Around half an hour later and they both groaned in frustration, around twenty books on all known languages and not a single one that sounded similar to the two ponies. "I wonder if Princess Celestia could help," Fluttershy suggested absently.

Twilight raised her head from the book and looked at her friend with wide eyes. "What?"

"The princess has knowledge of life for over a thousand years, maybe more, so she might remember the culture of whoever spoke it. And secondly, Canterlot has the biggest library in the world, so that might have something." Fluttershy explained.

Twilight pondered this, it was plausible and had a chance of working, but Twilight didn't want to disturb the princess over something that could be little, but before she said anything a barrage of knocks on the door made them all jump in the air a few centimetres.

"I'll get that, I'll give it a think over about what you said though," she said and headed to the door. When she opened it, she found Applejack with a wide smile on her face and panting as if she'd just run a marathon.

"Is it true? Is Fluttershy awake?" Applejack asked. With a smile Twilight nodded and stepped out of the way. Applejack raced through and up the stairs, grabbing Fluttershy and gripping her in a tight hug.

"Oh Fluttershy!" Applejack sobbed as tears of joy cascaded down her cheeks. "I never thought I would see ya again, ya don't know how worried we've been about ya sugarcube, so don't go worrying us like that again! Please?"

Fluttershy, having recovered from the shock arrival of Applejack, wrapped her legs around her friend and gripped even tighter, thinking she too would soon be crying. "I won't Applejack, I promise," she said quietly.

Applejack pulled away and looked into her eyes, her own streaming with tears. "Do ya Pinkie promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Fluttershy promised with a bright smile, she then embraced Applejack once again, who was still crying tears of joy. While watching them, Twilight could feel tears in her own eyes and a small smile across her lips as she watched the warming scene in front of her.


Applejack couldn't believe it. Near a month ago the doctor at the hospital had told them that there was too small a chance Fluttershy would ever wake up from her coma. And yet, her pegasus friend had defied those odds and is now up and about as if she was merely sleeping. She wouldn't be surprised if Fluttershy got a few visits from the doctors clearly baffled by her recovery.

"I tell ya right now Fluttershy," Applejack said. "I don't think I was never more scared or more overjoyed when ya got back up from being killed and then sent that dragon flying with its tail between it's legs."

Fluttershy blushed and took a sip of the tea Spike had made during their emotional reunion. "I'm… glad you think so Applejack. So, what have you been up to the month I was away?"

"Well apart from taking care of ya sugarcube," Applejack answered, "I helped in the rebuilding of the town and helped tend to some of those who were now homeless. We let most of them stay in the barn and any spare space we could find, and helped ponies who came back looking for those who were injured in the attack. And speaking of which, when the dragon attacked, what happened to ya?"

Fluttershy looked away, ashamed of herself about that. "I got swept away in the crowd when it attacked, when I managed to get free I ran back to the market to find you and Rarity, but you'd gone, so I ran. I first headed back to my cottage to hide and hope it would go away, then I saw the dragon land near the library so I galloped as fast as I can to see if you were all there, the rest you know. I'm sorry for abandoning you".

"Oh don't you worry none sugarcube, and ya didn't abandon us, ya came and saved us," Applejack said with Twilight nodding in agreement. "Why," she continued, "if it wasn't for you, Twilight here would've been dead, actually it was a miracle nopony was killed".

"But I was killed Applejack," Fluttershy said grimly.

There was a grave silence that filled the room once Fluttershy finished speaking. Applejack looked gravely at the pegasus and then smiled, returning to her friendly demeanour. "Ya did sugarcube, but ya here now ain't ya? The princesses must have been smiling on ya that day."

Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when her ears pricked right up. She could hear screaming, screaming from a familiar pegasus pony. She didn't have time to explain, as the screaming got louder so she ducked out of the way and hid behind the couch.

"Uh sugarcube… what are ya do-" Applejack tried to say, but couldn't finish as she and Twilight had the air blown out of them and were soon on the ground with a rainbow-maned pegasus pony on top of them after crashing through the roof.

Rainbow Dash picked herself off the floor, and silently helped Applejack and Twilight off as well. The two mares glared at her while all she could do was sheepishly grin. Fluttershy crawled out from her hiding place and was about to speak before Rainbow dash started talking. "Sorry bout that ladies, a new trick… didn't quite work out. I'm hoping that when I get it right though Fluttershy would be there to cheer me on."

Fluttershy moved to stand behind Rainbow, who hadn't noticed her approach. "Yay," she cheered into her ear. "Was that loud enough? Or do I need to work on it a bit more?" she asked.

Rainbow Dash froze, her eyes went wide in shock and her heart seemed to skip a beat. She looked to the others to see if they heard that. Their small smiles confirmed to her they had. She slowly turned around and she let out a gasp of joy when she faced her oldest friend, for the first time in a month.

Rainbow felt water welling up in her eyes as she wrapped her forelegs faster around Fluttershy than she could take off. "I never… thought I would hear that feeble cheering… again," she said between sniffles.


"You were awesome Fluttershy!" Rainbow said later as the five friends sat around the table. "You walked right up to that dragon and gave it a piece of your mind. I've never seen a dragon move so fast in my life."

"I'm just glad that everypony's safe, that's all," Fluttershy said with a small smile, which faded slightly. "Speaking of which, what happened to the dragon?"

"Well," Rainbow answered. "After what happened to you I along with a few other pegasi went after him. We never found it, I'm afraid." Rainbow went silent for a moment, her ears flattened and her eyes started to water. "Listen, Flutters. I'm… I'm really sorry I never went to see you when you were asleep. I just… didn't have the courage to go back after… that."

Fluttershy felt her heart break at the sight of her friend in such grief. She wrapped her forelegs around her and said gently, "Its okay Rainbow Dash, there's nothing to be sorry for." She broke away from the hug and wrapped a leg each around Twilight and Applejack. "Besides, I had the best carers in the world looking after me."

Rainbow grinned and started talking to Applejack about something, Twilight joining in a second later. Fluttershy stayed silent but continued grinning as she looked at each of her friend's faces. Each one with a wide smile and joy in their eyes, something she saw today hadn't happened in near over a month.

"So sugarcube, how did you know Rainbow was about to burst into the library like she did?" Applejack asked Fluttershy.

Fluttershy could see all eyes were now on her and immediately shied away, "Um…" she murmured and brought her mane in front of her face. "I just heard her that's all," she said quietly, but loud enough so that they could hear.

"But how? I was right next to ya and I didn't hear a thing," Applejack said.

Rainbow, although interested, shied away and a small blush of embarrassment appeared. "You didn't hear me screaming did you?" she said quietly. Suddenly adding, "not that I was screaming of course."

Fluttershy meek nod for a reply and Applejacks smirk in her direction made her want to sink away. "Sorry Rainbow," Fluttershy squeaked.

Twilight leaned over and brushed Fluttershy's mane over her face. "Because Fluttershy is somehow able to hear better than anypony on record," she answered for the pegasus.

Applejack gasped. "What, even better than the princesses?"

Twilight nodded. "Possible, Celestia's and Luna's are about the same as us. The only creatures I know on the planet that have better hearing than anything are dragons."

Rainbow spoke up, "So how did that happen? Did the dragon give her some of its abilities when it…" she trailed off, not wanting to say the next word.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door and the sound of a familiar unicorn pony. "Hellooo? Is anypony home?" Rarity called out from the bottom floor.

"Up here Rarity!" Twilight called back. She then turned to face Fluttershy, only to find her gone and to see a glimpse of a pink tail running down the stairs to greet her friend.

"I just wanted to see if you where home yet and to see what I needed to do at Fluttershy's…" she stopped and gasped when she saw the yellow pegasus standing in front of her with a wide grin. Rarity felt a grin on her face form as she walked up with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"Is that you Fluttershy?" she asked, reaching out to touch her to see this was real, her best friend really was alive and well and in front of her. Fluttershy grin widened and she jumped onto the unicorn, hugging her tight. Rarity responded in kind.

"I can't believe it," Rarity wept. "It really is you."

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry," Fluttershy repeated over and over again.

"You have nothing to be sorry about Fluttershy," Rarity responded. "What you did was the most noble and bravest thing I have ever seen."

"Not that," Fluttershy looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry for losing you and you had to risk your life looking for me."

Rarity shook her head firmly. "Don't be silly Fluttershy, I still would have done it in any circumstance." She smiled. "Now let's say we forget this nonsense and go upstairs and join Twilight."

Fluttershy nodded. "And Applejack and Rainbow."

Rarity's eyes widened. "Applejack and Rainbow are here too?" nods from the pegasus made Rarity's grin grow even bigger. She raced upstairs and out of sight. Fluttershy made it just in time to see a warming group hug of her four friends.

"What ya doing standing there Fluttershy? Come and join us!" Applejack motioned for her.

Fluttershy took a step forward, before suddenly freezing on the spot. Five out of six of her friends were here, and it still felt empty. Fluttershy took a step back and turned to face the stairs once again.

"Darling, where are you going?" Rarity called after her.

"I'm going to get Pinkie Pie," she responded, before breaking into a gallop and out the library door.

The path around the library was full of ponies; every single one of them turned their heads when Fluttershy emerged. The pegasus gave them a meek wave of a hoof, and then she spread her wings and took to the air.


It didn't take long before she arrived at the front of Sugarcube Corner. The candy looking store still looked as edible as the last time she stood before it. Fluttershy tucked her wings to her side and walked in.

She walked in to hear Mr and Mrs Cake muttering about something in the back room, while the aroma of a freshly baked carrot cake filled her nostrils. Mrs Cake then walked out with a tray filled with something. "Hi Mrs Cake," Fluttershy greeted her as she walked out.

The earth pony turned to see whom it was and gasped upon seeing Fluttershy, dropping the tray in the process.

"Oh my!" Fluttershy gasped. "I'm sorry about that Mrs Cake. Here, let me help you," she said as she walked over.

But Mrs Cake waved it away. "Oh don't worry about it Fluttershy. I was just surprised, and might I say glad, to see you all better."

"Thank you Mrs Cake, but I can't stop, I'm here to see Pinkie Pie."

The smile on Mrs Cake faded slightly, now it was more of a sad smile. "Fluttershy, I suggest caution when you go up there, Pinkie hasn't come out in a month. And at night we here her moaning and muttering something in her sleep, but I know if there is one pony who could bring her out of it, it's you."

Fluttershy nodded her thanks and made her way up the stairs. She walked slowly so as not to startle Pinkie. When she made it to the door, she pricked her ears up to hear if Pinkie was awake, unfortunately she couldn't hear anything coming from the room. She questioned coming here, but only for a second. Her friend was in pieces in there, and Fluttershy was here to put her back together. So she took a deep breath and opened the door.

Pinkie's room was a mess, the tables had falling over, the floor was dusty and the bed was a huge lump of duvets and pillows. Fluttershy heart started to beat a little faster, there was no movement, none at all. Where was she? She started to fear that the earth pony might have run away, too upset to stay here and see what might have been her funeral. She shook her head fiercely, hoping to get rid of such thoughts. She walked further, heading towards the bed, soon her ears could pick up the sound of quiet, slow breathing. "Pinkie? Are you here? It's me, Fluttershy".

The lump of duvets rose up and showed a completely red-eyed pink earth pony with her mane and tail looking straight and her coat far darker than before. Pinkie's eyes widened upon seeing the pegasus, who took a step forward to hug her. Pinkie jumped off the bed and stepped back towards the window, frantically shaking her head.

"You're not here, you're in my head again, this is a dream I know it. I've had so many of you finally coming, but every time I wake up and your not there, your never there!" she accused, pointing a hoof at the pegasus. It made Fluttershy's fragile heart shatter and she could feel tears in her own eyes. Pinkie was now in such a depression she can't tell what's real and what's a dream anymore, and this the pegasus couldn't stand.

'Pinkie Pie has suffered enough!' she thought. Without hesitating she leapt onto the earth pony, who was too slow to get out of the way, and wrapped her forearms around her pink friend. At first Pinkie struggled, believing Fluttershy to be a demon of some sort in her nightmares, but Fluttershy held on, gripping tight until finally Pinkie calmed down.

"I'm here Pinkie, I'll always be here and I will never leave your side again, I promise," Fluttershy said as she placed Pinkie's hoof on her cheek. "See, I'm here, you can feel me, touch me. I'm not a ghost or a demon. I'm here to save you."

Pinkie looked into Fluttershy eyes, and saw what she wanted to see. In her dreams, after the first week when Fluttershy was in a coma, she saw coldness in the kind pegasus's eyes, her warm friendly spirit not present in those dreams. But here it was different; the kindness, the warm-hearted friendliness that she had was in there, and then she realised this wasn't a dream, Fluttershy had finally woken up, and was here to see her. She removed her hoof from Fluttershy's cheek and said softly, "It is you, you're actually here."

Fluttershy grinned and nodded. In an instant Pinkie demeanour changed, from depressed and mentally scarred, to her normal self. Her mane and tail immediately returned to their poofy self and she shrieked for sheer joy and bounced around the room.

When Mrs cake heard this, she looked up and heard the hopping, and smiled. "Thank you Fluttershy," she whispered.

"Oh Fluttershy!" Pinkie started, "It's been horrible without you here. When I was told you might not wake up, I stayed in here and cried my eyes out. Then, I didn't accept any invitations, or send any out and I abandoned my friends, who I don't think were together since the dragon attack anyway. Oh I missed you sooooooo much!" She finished by leaping onto Fluttershy in a hug.

"I missed you too" Fluttershy responded. Pinkie shook her head.

"No you didn't, for you see when you're a coma patient time moves faster, so between when you first go into a coma and when you wake up, it would seem seconds for you and months for us, so we've missed you more than you missed us," Pinkie grinned, confusing the already confused pegasus.

The two turned towards the door when they heard running up the stairs, and the faces of Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity appeared.

"Girls!" Pinkie squealed and ran towards them giving a big group hug. Fluttershy watched for a moment before jumping in herself. She never grew tired of hugs, but this one in particular was special to her, to them all. For this was the first group hug since the dragon attack. At this moment Fluttershy was truly happy, for she knew that they were back together, and everything would be normal afterwards.

The six of them pulled away and helped clean up Pinkies bedroom, dusting it and putting the tables back in their places, and making the bed. "Since we're all here" Pinkie said, her eyes widening in anticipation. "You all know what this calls for?"

The five mares didn't have time to realise what she meant. Pinkie drew a large breath and spilled out in one sentence, "A party!"

Before they knew it, streamers appeared from everywhere and nowhere. "I'll get the decorations set up," Pinkie said as she hopped from one end to the other.

Twilight stepped forward. "Pinkie I do-" she was about to protest, before having a hoof slammed into her mouth by Fluttershy. Twilight noticed the scowl coming her way from the kind pegasus, who had a look that said, 'She needs this Twilight, give her that.'

Twilight's ears flattened and realised Fluttershy was right. "Sorry Twilight you were saying something?" Pinkie asked with a flicker of her eyes.

"Since you've been cooped up in here Pinkie, why don't we have it at the library instead?" Twilight suggested, glancing at Fluttershy who now had a wide grin.

Pinkie gasped. "Your okay with that?" Twilight nodded. "Then let's go girls!" she exclaimed as she led the way out of sugarcube corner and towards the library.


That night in Ponyville all was quiet, save the six mares dancing away to the music blairing out from the top of the town library. They danced, chatted about what they'd done, what they were going to do, and other things that Pinkie missed but wanted to know.

Fluttershy wasn't paying attention to that, she was too busy dancing to the music. Her hind and forelegs kicking into the air, to the beat of the music, with no thought of safety or surroundings. She was just having the time of her life, and from this moment on she thought she would enjoy what life she has left.

"Having fun?" Pinkie Pie called, loud enough to be heard over the music. Pinkie decided to join Fluttershy on the dance floor, a wide space where Twilight usually studied.

"Oh, a blast thanks!" Fluttershy responded. "Your parties are just what we all need after the dragon attack!"

Pinkie smiled "I don't think so silly, a party would never be complete without you or any of my friends here," she said as the two danced. Twilight and Rainbow joined them, the latter wanting to show off her moves, but only tripped up her own hooves in the end, making her and everypony laugh.

"Hey gals" Applejack called them over to the punch table. On it was a large bottle and six glasses with straws in them.

Fluttershy read the bottle. "Is this your cider Applejack?"

Applejack nodded, smiling. "Yes indeedy sugarcube, my own apple cider that I made at the farm earlier today, I was gonna leave it till later but this is too special an event for me to ignore, so I decided to give ya'll a taste of my own first apple cider."

She poured in the drinks and waited till they were filled, each pony said thanks as the farm pony went around the room. When she got back to her end she announced, "I would like to propose a toast; to Fluttershy for a full recovery, and to the good life we all live here in Ponyville."

"To us!" the six ponies called out. They all sipped through their straws and drank.

"Wow," Rainbow said. "That was an awesome drink Applejack! Even better than the stuff you usually make. Could I get some more from you tomorrow?"

"I agree with Rainbow," Rarity stated. "It was simply divine and it tasted of apples."

"Well it is apples sugar," Applejack said with a chuckle.

"Great!" Pinkie exclaimed, "Please Applejack, can I have some more?"

"It was nice" Fluttershy said quietly, hiccupping just after drinking it.

"I most definitely agree with the rest Applejack, thank you so much for it," Twilight finished.

Applejack smiled and bowed her head. "It was nothing really, I'm really happy though ya'll like it so much. And Rainbow, come round tomorrow morning and I'll make ya some. And Pinkie, I'm afraid we just drank it."

After the drinks the party continued with more laughs, more dancing and a large dose of good food, Fluttershy having the most as she now remembered how hungry she was. The rest was wasted in a food fight.


It was around midnight when the fatigue kicked in for everypony and so they started walking out of library and in the cool, fresh breeze of the night. "So girls, what are you all up to tomorrow?" Pinkie asked them all, she wanted to join them after being stuck inside for a month

"Well not much," Rarity said. "Oh that's reminds me." She turned to face Fluttershy. "Would you like to meet up at the spa tomorrow? It might do you some good after being stuck in bed all this time."

"I would love to Rarity," Fluttershy grinned. "Twilight, would you like to join us?" facing Twilight, the unicorn gave it some thought but nodded in the end.

"Well I'm not doing anything, so I would be happy to," she said.

"Oooh a spa date, mind I join you ladies" Pinkie pie said, her eyes widening. Rarity was about to protest, remembering the last time Pinkie was at the spa, but Fluttershy slammed a hoof into her mouth.

"We would love you to join us, see you tomorrow Pinkie," Fluttershy said with a grin.

"Super, see you tomorrow girls!" and with that Pinkie hopped away back to Sugarcube Corner, a bright smile on her face.

Fluttershy pulled the hoof away from Rarity's face, who was visibly shocked by Fluttershy's assertiveness. "Sorry Rarity," she said apologetically. "But I think it might be best for Pinkie. You didn't see the state she was in when I found her."

Rarity sighed. "Your right Fluttershy, I'm sorry for even thinking about saying no. Well, it's been an absolute delight, but I must now bid you goodnight. I'm so happy to see you awake again Fluttershy" Rarity said, hugging the pegasus.

"I'm just so glad to be awake Rarity. See you tomorrow, around mid-day?" Fluttershy said. Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow said their goodbyes to Rarity and she left.

"Well," Rainbow said as she stretched her legs as she hovered in the air. "It's been a time and a half, but I think I hear my bed calling me. See you all tomorrow!" she darted into the air and disappeared into the night.

Applejack yawned. "Goodness, well that's me I guess, goodnight you two. And Fluttershy I'm glad to see your all better."

Fluttershy smiled. "Thanks Applejack, say hi to Applebloom for me!" she called out to her as the earth pony disappeared into the darkness. Leaving Twilight and Fluttershy together outside.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight said, "I've been thinking about what you said earlier, about the princess helping us".

Fluttershy turned from where Applejack left and looked at her. "Well…it was just a suggestion… I mean… we don't have to do it because I sai-" Fluttershy was interrupted by a hoof in her mouth.

"I think it's a great idea, say, before we go to the spa tomorrow we could get together and write a letter to the princess about it and by the time we get back, she might have answered." Twilight removed the hoof from Fluttershy's mouth and wiped the saliva on it on the grass.

"Okay Twilight," Fluttershy considered. "Should I come to you in the morning then?" Twilight nodded and with a final hug said their goodbyes and thanks and went to their homes.

As Fluttershy walked home, she smiled at the memories of the day went through her mind. She usually liked to look back on the day and think about memories worth remembering, the happy moments, the times she laughed, and today was no exception. She could safely say that today, this afternoon even, was the best ever in her entire twenty years of living. The joy in her friend's eyes to see her was, she'd admit, something she never felt in her entire life. Actual joy to be seen and known was something she never got as a child, even at the orphanage she grew up in.

She walked over the bridge and looked at the cottage window next to the door, she saw a white bunny looking at her, seemingly annoyed at her absence for the afternoon. She galloped through the door, ran up and hugged Angel while spinning in the air.

"Oh Angel!" she squealed with joy. "What a day it's been, all my friends have been happy to see me and never before I have felt so loved or wanted." She put down her pet bunny and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. He huffed away and went into his hutch. Fluttershy listened and soon heard snoring. Hearing this, she herself yawned and decided to go straight to bed.

When she arrived she noticed a mark on the duvet, signally where she'd been sleeping for the last month or so. So she made the bed and cleaned it up a bit. Fluttershy hopped onto the bed, settled down and went straight to sleep with a smile on her face, remembering the great day, and hoping tomorrow would be a new, better one.