//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Cutie and the Beasts // by AleximusPrime //------------------------------// PROLOGUE Fluttershy walked daintily through her cottage with a sigh of relief and Angel following her close behind. She had just finished cleaning up her bedroom and was finished with all the chores she had on her to-do list. All her animals had been fed and now it was time to rest. “Oh Angel, I feel so much better now that I’ve gotten everything out of the way.” She said to her little white pet rabbit. “I’ve worked so hard, so I think it’s time for a comfy little nap.” She walked over to her couch and lay down on it with her one hoof under her head. Angel came on top and snuggled next to her. She closed her eyes and made a content little yawn until something broke the silence. Somepony had knocked on the door. “Oh my, a visitor already? Oh well, never anything wrong with a visitor, right Angel?” she asked him but he had a pestered look on his face. Fluttershy got down from her couch and made her way to the door to open it up. Right in the door stood Twilight Sparkle with a worried look on her face. “Hey Fluttershy, I hope I’m not interrupting anything. “Oh not at all, Twilight, it’s really good to see you! But……what’s wrong?” “I have a huge favor to ask of you.” Twilight turned to the side to show her pet owl, Owloysius, perched on her back wearing a neck brace. “Owloysius seems to have a problem with his neck. He has a really bad pain in it and can’t even turn his head without his neck hurting which is bad because owls need to constantly turn their heads since their eyes can’t move!” “Oh dear, the poor little thing.” Fluttershy said with compassion. “So if you’re available, would you mind taking care of him for a while and see if you can nurse him back to health? I’m a bit busy at the library this week and could use a helping hoof but if you can’t cuz you’re too busy also, I understand.” “Oh it’s alright Twilight, I’ll take care of him. I’ve helped lots of woodland creatures like Owloysius who’ve had similar problems before, it won’t be a problem.” “Thanks Fluttershy. Remember to keep the neck brace on though, the vet told me that helps heal the neck in about a week and try to keep him from moving his head.” “I’ll remember Twilight. Don’t worry, Owloysius, you’ll be better in no time at all.” Fluttershy said putting her hoof out as he flapped his wings and landed on it while making a rather distressed hooting sound. “I’ll see you Owloysius and I hope you feel better. And thanks Fluttershy.” “Good bye Twilight and he’ll be better in no time at all.” Twilight then left and Fluttershy closed the door and turned to talk to Angel who was on the ground by her. “Well Angel, looks like we have another item on the checklist: take care of Owloysius for Twilight.” Angel rolled his eyes and then took out a little piece of paper and a tiny feather and wrote down what Fluttershy told him to. Fluttershy then directed Owloysius to a nearby tree for birds to land on and Owloysius flew over to it. “Don’t worry Angel, Owloysius is a good owl, he won’t be much trouble at all. It is just one animal we have to take care of…” Just then the door knocked again. “Oh, is that Twilight? Maybe she forgot to tell me something…” She opened the door again but it wasn’t Twilight, it was Rarity this time. “Rarity, it’s good to see you on this fine day.” “It’s good to see you too Fluttershy, darling, but I have a bit of an urgent matter I hope you can help with.” “Oh of course Rarity, I’m always here to help.” Fluttershy said forgetting the earlier engagement. “Poor Opal has fleas and I can’t let her stick around the boutique in this horrid situation!” Rarity used her magic to lift a cage that Opal was in. Opal had a flea belt around her neck and was scratching herself uncontrollably. “Oh that’s too bad Rarity! But you aren’t in any danger you know. Cat fleas don’t affect ponies.” “It’s not me I’m worried about, it’s my dresses. If I keep her in there any longer the dresses will be full of those nasty little parasites and I would hate for any of my customers to have infested garments. I do hope it’s not much trouble of me to ask you to take care of her here for a while until they’re gone?” “Oh sure Rarity, I’m always here to help. Don’t you worry Opal, I’ll have you in good care here until the fleas are gone.” “Thank you, darling. I really must go now, I need to finish my latest dresses I’m making but I’ll see you later.” “Okay Rarity, I’ll see you too and don’t you worry about Opal.” Fluttershy turned back into the cottage carrying Opal in her cage. She set it down and went to get a bigger flea belt. She then opened the cage and put the belt on Opal despite her disfavor of the new belt. “There you go, Opal. That belt ought to keep those fleas from at least spreading to the other animals in this cottage. Okay, looks like we have something else down on the list Angel. Angel wrote it down but looked annoyed and somewhat scared of Opal. “And don’t worry too, Opal won’t hurt you, she knows better. And if she tries, I’ll put her in her cage. Got that, Opal? You have to be nice to the other animals in my cottage.” she said to the disgruntled cat. The door knocked again. “Oh dear, what is it now?” She opened the door and Applejack stood there with her dog Winona by her side who had a broken leg with a bandage strapped around it. Fluttershy knew ahead of time that Applejack was going to ask her to take care of her pet also. “Oh Applejack, I’m guessing there’s something wrong with Winona?” “Sure is.” Applejack said, “Poor gal broke her leg just last night and we took her to the vet to have it bandaged but none of us at the farm got any time to take care of her. Applebuck season’s startin this week and everpony in mah family is gonna be busy with it. But Winona needs some care, she can barely walk and has been pretty tired lately.” Winona whimpered while licking the bandage on her leg with a very sad face which only caused Fluttershy to pity her more and want to take care of her even though she already had two other animals to take care of. “And you need me to take care of her for you until she gets better?” “If ya don’t mind me askin ya to.” “Well somepony has to take care of the poor animal, and I’m the right pony to ask so I’ll kindly accept.” “Thanks Fluttershy, it’s always a pleasure to have a friend who can help out like this. I’ll be seein ya now and take care of Winona for us.” Applejack left and Fluttershy helped Winona into the cottage and then closed the door. “Oh poor poor Winona, that looks like it hurts!” Fluttershy said petting her on her head as she sat down on the ground not wanting to continue any further. She looked over to see Angel face-palming at the sight of a third animal to take care of. “Oh but Angel, she broke her leg! I know three animals are a bit too much to take care of but this is important to the Apple family as it is to me.” Reluctantly, Angel wrote down the next thing on the to-do list and yawned. “I know, I’m tired too, but we should get all these animals checked out before we take a nap.” And then another knock on the door… “Oh who could that be this time?! Er……I mean…I do hope it’s not another pet problem.” In the door stood Pinkie. “Hello Pinkie Pie, is everything alright?” “So NOT alright, Fluttershy! Everything very al-wrong!” “Let me guess: it’s a problem with Gummy?” “How’d you know?” Pinkie turned around to show Gummy sprawled out on her back with a thermometer in his mouth and he looked rather tired and sick. “Oh……well, um, it was just a good guess I guess.” Fluttershy said looking back at the other three pets in her cottage. “Well, anyways, Gummy does have a problem, a huge tremendous, gigantic, could-be-more-serious-than-I-know problem! He’s got Fline Swu! “Um…Pinkie I think you mean Swine Flu.” “Huh?” “Swine Flu. You said Fline Swu, but it’s called Swine Flu.” “Oh yeah, Swine Flu. Well I guess he has that but of course he could have Fline Swu also but Fline Swu might be a different illness, I mean even if it is a different illness there could still very well be something in the world called Fline Swu you know, I mean there’s like millions of different illnesses and diseases in the world, you just can’t out-rule the possibilities!” Fluttershy stood staring into space finding it hard to even pronounce the words ‘swine’ and ‘flu’ together now but she snapped out of it and got back to Pinkie. “Er, of course Pinkie, you’re right, he has a serious problem and would you like me to take care of him?” “It would really be a big help if you could, I’m helping the Cakes with a lot of some treats we need for an upcoming wedding in the area and I’m gonna be like totally busy!” “Well I’m a bit busy myself, but I’m sure I could find time to do this also.” “Oh, well are you TOO busy? Cuz you know I could just have someone else take care of him even though basically nopony else knows anything about alligators in Ponyville kinda.” “No no, it’s alright, I can do it, I take care of animals all the time anyway.” Fluttershy reached over and picked Gummy up lightly and held him in one hoof. He was so sick he could barely even move. “Okay, thanks Fluttershy. Gotta go now and Gummy be good, okay. Don’t chew on her animals.” Pinkie then trotted off leaving Fluttershy with yet another animal to take care of. Fluttershy closed the door and walked in with Gummy and set him down on a little pillow that Angel would normally sleep on. Angel came over to her and pulled on her hoof and then motioned to all the animals as if telling her that they had too much to do. “I know Angel, but I’m good with animals, remember? I’ll be able to handle it, trust me. Now be a dear and write down the next thing on our checklist…” One more knock was on the door which caused Angel to throw the list and quill on the ground pull his eyelids down. “Oh dear, please don’t let this be another sick pet…” Fluttershy walked to the door once again and as she guessed it was Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash. I’m guessing you need help with something too?” “Well, sorta Fluttershy, but…” “And I’m guessing it’s Tank. He’s sick, right?” “Tank? Oh no, close enough though. It’s Philomena actually…” Rainbow Dash turned to show Philomena on her back looking rather disheveled and old. She looked a bit like she did in her normal state, but her feathers were starting to shed and she was starting to look the way she did when Fluttershy first met her. “She’s entering her molting stage and the Princess wanted to know if you’d be available to watch over her for the time being.” “Oh, Philomena!” Fluttershy said excitedly. She hadn’t seen her in so long and was glad to meet her again even if she didn’t look too great. “Oh I’d be happy to watch over her Rainbow Dash!” “Yeah, but the Princess says only if you have the time and all, she’d hate to bother you with anything.” Angel went over and pulled on Fluttershy’s tail to keep her from saying yes, but Fluttershy had already started talking. “No, it’s alright Rainbow Dash, I might be a little busy but I’ll manage. Philomena and I will have a fun time together!” “Thanks. Gotta go now. Tank and I are having a race up in the clouds and I gotta practice with him.” “Okay, bye Rainbow Dash!” Philomena perched on Fluttershy’s back and Fluttershy walked into the cottage. “I’m glad you’re here Philomena. Now that I know more about you, I assure you that your stay-over will be a lot better than it was last time. And you and I are going to have a lot of fun together!” Fluttershy then looked and just realized how much she had put herself to work with. Angel meanwhile had thrown himself on the ground completely stressed out. “Oh dear, looks like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew again…” TO BE CONTINUED…