The sun hung suspended in a sky that was nearly completely concealed by fluffy white clouds, partially hidden behind a blanket of the stuff , but still managed to spill it's radians down upon the grass in uneven patches of light. A small brightly colored figure stood hesitantly outside of a cottage, her bright green eyes worried as she gazed up at the crowding of darker clouds on the horizon. The sun was surprisingly warm on her wings and back, despite the cold edge to the wind that had been creeping up again, and the contradicting temperatures caused a delicate shiver to run through the length of her bright yellow body, enough that the pale pink hair of her head and tail quivered with the movement. The wind changed direction slightly then, blowing directly into her face, and her nostrils flared To catch the scents It contained. It told her two things... A major storm was headed for Ponyville... And there was absolutely nothing that she could do to stop it. Fluttershy whimpered softly at the thought, dropping her head with disappointment.
Like a cannonball of confetti that had been shot out of a party canon, there was a blur of the brightest of pinks that streaked right for the pegasus, tackling her to the ground with a shrill cry of, "Hi Fluttershy!!" As the dust settled and the blur became a shape, Pinkie Pie could be seen, blue eyes wide with joy, sitting perfectly comfortable on top of the collapsed Fluttershy, Who in turn looked bewildered.
"Umm... Hi Pinkie." The shy pony murmured politely, blinking up at her friend even as she considered how to ask the other to get a off without actually doing so.
"Whatcha pouting about?" Pinky inquired curiously, tilting her head to one side. But before she had the patience to wait for the answer, she began to bounce around so fast that it appeared as if she were in several places at once. "Oooh! Guess what guess what GUESS WHAAAT!" She practically sang, making the last word two syllables.
Getting to her hooves and brushing the dirt off her sides, Fluttershy just managed to shake out the blades of grass that had gotten stuck in her mane when the pink pony quite abruptly tackled her to the ground again. She sighed softly, though the excitement of one of her best friends couldn't help but put a small smile on her face, even if she had to deal with grass in her hair. "What is it Pinky?" She asked patiently, once again managing to get to her hooves as the other began to bounce in circles once more.
From within her own voluminous mane, Pinkie Pie withdrew a letter and brandished it excitedly. "We got a letter from Twilight!" She squealed, giving the envelope a little wiggle to emphasize her statement.
"Twilight?" Fluttershy gasped. "What does it say?"
"Oh, you know, the usual stuff. She loves us, she misses us, terrible danger, immediate action, something about a top-secret mission." Pinkie rambled off nonchalantly, casually stuffing the letter back into her mane. "Apparently she wants us to come to the castle as soon as we get her message."
"What! Pinkie!" Fluttershy's eyes widened perceptively with surprise, gazing Open mouthed at her friend for a moment before flapping her wings and rising into the air. "We'd better hurry to the castle right away! You really should have told me first thing..." Fretting considerably, the yellow Pegasus turned towards the distant castle, hurrying as fast as she could and hoping with all her might that they weren't late.
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie agreed enthusiastically, hopping after her retreating friend.
~~~
When they finally reached the castle, Fluttershy found that the trip had worn her out somewhat, her breaths slightly heavier. Not altogether surprising, really. She had been forced into flying against the wind, the consequential friction causing her progress to be slowed considerably. Not that she was a strong flier to begin with, but she couldn't help but wonder if their progress would have been faster if she had simply chosen to run... With a soft clop as her hooves made contact with the stone just outside of the open castle doorway, Fluttershy Took a moment to glance over her shoulder and felt her cheeks burn slightly with embarrassment as she saw that Pinkie had had no problem in keeping up with her slow pace, even bouncing as she had been. She released a small sigh, but quickly resolved to put the matter at the back of her mind. It would do no good to worry about it now.
"Fluttershy! Pinkie! I'm so glad that you came!" A familiar voice called, the two ponies instinctively turning towards the sound with smiles. Each set of eyes focused on the purple allicorn, Twilight Sparkle, hurrying towards them, her small dragon companion Spike writing on her back. Following closely behind her was another pony, this one orange and yellow, and was not altogether surprising, Applejack could have easily made it here before either of them with her work strengthened legs. Further back, a few other ponies stood together in a loose group, all of them strangers, but none of them made any advance towards the doors with the princess. Fluttershy wondered silently who they could be, but quickly focused her attention on the more immediate situation instead.
"Twilight! We came as soon as we could. What's going-" She began, but was quickly overridden by a much louder voice as Pinkie jumped in front of her.
what's going on? Is there an emergency? Do you need A super secret party pronto?" The enthusiastic pink pony asked quickly. And as a precaution if the answer to her last question was yes, Pinkie inexplicably produced her ever famous party canon from seemingly know where.
"No, I don't need a party Pinkie..." Twilight responded as patiently as she could, giving her head a shake as she stopped in front of her friends. But the disappointed expression and slightly deflated appearance of the party pony and her hair made her feel slightly guilty. Which was probably why she tacked on, "But maybe you can start planning for a celebration party for after we solve A problem I have." That was enough for the Pie, her expression brightening considerably, hair fluffy once again.
"... And what is that problem?" Fluttershy finally managed to ask politely, appearing anxious.
But Twilight shook her head once again. "I'd rather explain once rarity and Rainbowdash are here." She explained, her own gaze growing slightly anxious as she turned her head to look out through the open doors, as if expecting to see the two ponies walking in at that moment.