Fluttershy and the Art of Fighting

by currentlemon

Prologue

The sun shined brightly in the clear afternoon sky as Fluttershy sat on the back patio of her house, alone with her animal friends. She had Angel Bunny in her grasp, scrubbing and dipping him in a bucket filled with water.

“There you go, Angel,” Fluttershy said. “You’re all cleaned up now.”

She placed angel on top of a dry towel. Her hands were soggy and her clothes were wet, but she paid no attention to these. She adored being with Angel, as well as with her animals. Taking a towel nearby, she began to rub Angel’s fur.

“Let’s get you dried up, so I can start grooming your fur.”

The animals started huddling around her, jumping, whining, crying. They wanted their caretaker to hurry up, but Fluttershy paid no attention to their impatience.

“Please be patient everyone, I’ll get to you all as soon as I can,” Fluttershy stated. Placing the now wet towel to the side, she grabbed a comb and started brushing Angel. As she slowly moved the comb up and down, she heard Angel give a delightful squeak.

“Aw, you’re welcome, Angel,” said Fluttershy, smiling back at him. “Being with you and the rest of the animals is a great way to spend the weekend.”

After one more stroke of the brush, Fluttershy placed the comb to the side and turned Angel around. “Alright, we’re all done now, Angel. Now let’s move on to the—.”

Before she did anything else, Fluttershy heard a doorbell echoing inside the house. Oh, someone’s at the front door. Placing her utensils to the side, she stood up and gently moved her animals aside.

“Excuse me everyone, but let me answer the door really quick.”

She went inside and took a clean shirt she had left nearby. Putting it on, she walked to the front door and looked outside using the peephole.

“Um, hello? Can I help you?”

“Hi, Fluttershy! It’s me, Derpy.”

Relieved that it was someone she knew, Fluttershy opened the door. She was greeted by her longtime classmate, who had her usual smile on her face. She wore a delivery uniform and had a box held tightly in her arms.

“Why hello, Derpy,” greeted Fluttershy who smiled back. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“I have a package right here for delivery,” said Derpy as she gave the box to Fluttershy.

“Oh, why thank you!” Fluttershy said, taking the box. “So, um, who is this package for?”

“Hold on, I’ll check.” Taking the dangling clipboard from the side of her pants, Derpy read the contents on the clipped paper. “Says here this package is for Zephyr Breeze.”

Fluttershy blinked. “My brother?”

“Yup!” Derpy replied. She turned the clipboard around and then gave it to Fluttershy along with a pen. “Just sign the paperwork here and I’ll be on your way.”

“Um, ok then,” said Fluttershy, as she took the pen and signed the paper.

“Thank you,” said Derpy, taking the clipboard. Satisfied, she turned around and walked straight to her moped that was parked near the house. “Have a good weekend, Fluttershy. See you at school on Monday!”

She drove off, leaving Fluttershy alone again. Closing the door, she took the package and went to the kitchen. Placing the box on the table, she scanned for any delivery labels. It didn’t take her long to find her brother’s name at the top of the box.

“I guess this is for Zephyr,” Fluttershy said out loud. She glared at the box in front of her, biting her lip. “Oh no, just what on earth is he planning this time?”

“Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy turned around and saw her brother standing behind her.

“Sweet, my package is already here,” said Zephyr, quickly taking the box away from Fluttershy. “Didn’t think it would be here so early. Thanks sis.”

Fluttershy watched as Zephyr took a nearby knife and started cutting the box open. A smile crept on his face as he got closer to opening the package.

“Zephyr, just what stunt are you trying to pull this time?” asked Fluttershy who kept her eyes on her brother. “What’s in the box?”

Zephyr ignored his sister and continued to tear the box apart. As he got the top open, he reached inside and pulled something out.

Is that another box? Fluttershy thought, examining the object. She looked back at her brother and noticed he pulled out a smaller item. And....is that a video game case?

Zephyr pushed the now torn box aside and began opening the smaller one. He pulled out an item from inside, and placed it on the table. It was something Fluttershy had never seen before. It was black and had aluminum plating on each side. A tiny ball sat in the middle with buttons placed to the right of it.

“Alright, Zephyr, would you please tell me what’s going on?” asked Fluttershy. “Just what on earth did you buy? What is all this stuff?”

“It’s called an arcade stick, sis, duh,” replied Zephyr with a smug look on his face. “I just bought this online last week with this game right here.”

Fluttershy glared at her brother, annoyed by his rather rude reply. “Ok, first, I don’t know what an arcade stick even is. Second, did you buy all this with some of our parent’s money?”

“No!” Zephyr cried, denying the accusation.

Fluttershy, however, did not buy it. She stood firm in her place, arms folded. Her glare never faltered, still locked on Zephyr, who found it startling.

“Ok, maybe a little bit,” he admitted. “But don’t worry, I used some of my own money this time!”

“Just what you’re planning to do?” asked Fluttershy. “Is this another one of your schemes to earn some quick money?”

“How did you know about that—I mean, of course not sis. I just bought this thing here to have fun that’s all,” Zephyr replied. He leaned forward on the arcade stick and gave his sister an awkward smile.

Fluttershy sighed. “Just tell me what you’re doing this time, please.” And don’t think I didn’t catch that lie.

Zephyr smiled. He took the video game from the table and gave it to Fluttershy, allowing her to get a closer look at it. “Ok, let me explain. This is a new game my friend introduced to me a while ago. It’s called, Tekken. And it’s a fighting game.”

Fluttershy looked at the game case, and carefully examined the box. Her expression toned down a bit as she took a closer look at the art cover.

“Ok, but what does it have to do with that arcade stick thing you mentioned earlier?” she asked.

“Oh, that? Here let me show you.” He placed the game down, grabbed the arcade stick and brought it to Fluttershy. She noticed that his smile grew wider. He looked really excited over this new thing he had. To her, it was like a child showing off his new present.

“Ok, so this baby allows me to play this game like a pro!” he explained. “Everyone uses this. It’s like, really important for a fighting game player like myself use this!”

“But we already own plenty of controllers!” cried Fluttershy, as she was a bit agitated that her brother may had wasted some money again. “Wouldn’t it be better if you use a regular controller instead of buying this thing?

“Oh please. Regular controllers are for scrubs,” replied Zephyr, scoffing. “Besides, all the best players in the world play Tekken on stick.”

“What’s a scru—never mind. You still shouldn’t have bought this using our parent’s money. You should have—.”

Fluttershy froze. She looked at her brother, then the arcade stick and then at the video game. Her eyes widened as she clasped her hands together and covered her mouth. A look of shock appeared on her face as she just realized something.

“Zephyr? How much money did you use to pay for all this?” she asked.

“Oh, well the game costed around fifty dollars, while the arcade stick costed about a hundred and fifty,” replied Zephyr, casually. “Why do you ask?”

“You spent two-hundred dollars purchasing all of this?!” shouted a bewildered Fluttershy. Furious, she walked up to Zephyr and pulled his left ear.

“Ow! Sis, what are you doing?! That hurts!” cried Zephyr, surprised by his sister’s sudden move. He tried to get her to let go, but Fluttershy had her fingers tight on his ear.

“Do you have any idea how expensive that is?!” said Fluttershy, pulling Zephyr closer to her. Her sudden shift in tone surprised even the animals outside, who’ve been watching the entire conversation.

“Please sis, calm down!” pleaded Zephyr. “I’ll get all the money back once I win the tournament.”

“Huh?” Fluttershy let go of her brother and stepped back. “What tournament?”

“The Canterlot City fighting game tournament!” said Zephyr, still rubbing his ear in pain.

Fluttershy blinked. “Um, can you explain to me what that is?”

“Oh right. My friend and I found out about this fighting game tournament that is held at the recreation center at downtown Canterlot,” Zephyr explained. “Winner gets a hefty amount of prize money. I plan on entering to get some quick cash. Oh, and pay back mom and dad.”

Fluttershy sighed, upset that her earlier suspicions about her brother had been true. “And when exactly is this tournament?”

“Next Saturday.”

“What?” Fluttershy stared at Zephyr, raising her right eyebrow. “Um, I’m sorry, Zephyr but I didn’t catch that. Did you say that this tournament is being held next Saturday?”

“Yup.”

“As in, one week from now?”

“Uh huh.”

“And, who else is going to be at this tournament?”

“Only the best fighting game players in town! A lot of people compete in these tournaments. I even heard there’s over a hundred players competing in different games!”

“And you plan on participating with these other players?”

“Yup!” Taking the arcade stick and game case, he placed them back into the box. “I even heard that the more players that enter, the bigger the prize money!” He grabbed the box from the table and ran past Fluttershy to the living room stairs.

“Talk to you later, Fluttershy! “I gotta start practicing now so I can compete!” Zephyr zoomed up the house stairs and headed straight for his room. Fluttershy heard a loud bang echoing across the house.

Oh dear. What on earth are you getting into now, Zephyr? Fluttershy thought, rubbing her forehead in frustration. I wonder if Mom and Dad know if he used their money? Oh, I wish they would be more hard on him.

Fluttershy went back outside with her head held low. The animals gathered around her trying to figure out what’s wrong, but she paid no attention to them. In her mind, she couldn’t stop thinking about her brother.

He’s done this before. Every now and then, Zephyr comes up with a scheme to get money. He makes excuses saying that it’s a new hobby, but Fluttershy knows the truth.

He would only spend a few days or weeks on his new hobbies. When his scheme failed, he gives up and never tries again. What’s worse is that he spends their parent’s money support his schemes. Not once did he pay them back, and now it’s happening again.

Fluttershy groaned. She snapped out of it when she heard squeaking. Looking down, she saw that Angel Bunny had been staring at her for quite some time.

“I’m sorry, Angel. I didn’t mean for you to worry about me,” said Fluttershy. She stood up and took the water filled bucket she used before. “I was talking to Zephyr. Apparently, he came up with another scheme to get money.”

Angel gave Fluttershy a disgruntled squeak. The magic crystal she received from Camp Everfree allowed her to understand her longtime companion.

“Oh, I know you don’t like him, but he’s my brother,” said Fluttershy who dumped the water filled bucket and refilled it with clean water. “I’m just worried about him that’s all.”

Angel gave a small grunt. He repeatedly patted on Fluttershy’s leg and pointed at Zephyr’s room, then back at her.

“Yes, I know. He’s caused plenty of trouble in the past, but I can’t scold him all the time. It doesn’t help that Mom and Dad can’t speak up against him either.”

Angel folded his arms and glared at his owner.

“I know. Sooner or later, he’s going to face his mistakes,” remarked Fluttershy. So far, all his schemes have failed and caused a burden on Mom and Dad. This isn’t going to end well, I just know it.”

Fluttershy sighed. Zephyr would have to be addressed later. For now she’ll focus on her animals. Putting the bucket down, she grabbed one of the animals close by and resumed cleaning.

Comments

[ArcanaMaverick7]

This looks like it'll be an interesting story if Fluttershy gets into video games.

I have a few suggestions for games other than Tekken that can be featured. Killer Instinct, Pokken Tournament, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure games, Marvel vs Capcom, Blazblue, Guilty Gear, Injustice, Super Smash Brothers, Soul Calibur, and a few others. But those are the ones I can think of immediately. Use them if you want because I'm looking forward to this story continuing!

[Combo_Breaker]

Fluttershy would probably LOVE skullgirls

[RNBW]

Insteresting idea. If I'm not mistaken, I think I saw this before in a forum thread.

[currentlemon]

8395110
Tekken will be the main focus of the story. Fluttershy may branch out to other games, but not yet. Right now she doesn't know much about fighting games and will do some research on it later.

[ArcanaMaverick7]

8395186
When she does do research on games with Rainbow Dash and the others, I'm sure that she'll like several different character stories from different games. One of my personal favorite character stories is TJ Combo's in Killer Instinct 2013.

[currentlemon]

8395144
If you saw this on The Writer's Group, then yes. It's one of my planned stories.

[darkstone57]

This idea pleases me. I would like to see where it goes.

[currentlemon]

8395322
Thank you. This story is going to be diving into the Fighting Game Community, which Fluttershy will join. So expect a lot of references to the community, especially big time players like JDCR, Knee, and Daigo.

[darkstone57]

8395346
I'm really tempted to start a reference thing right now regarding it. Ah, screw it;

"COMBOFIIEEENNDD!!!!"

[RNBW]

8395268
Ah, I see. Just as I said before, this is an interesting idea. I'll follow this story.

[alfonso_rd_33]

the premise is interesting, but as a FG aficionado... Tekken is... not something a scrub like Zephyr would play... or something that actually requires a fight stick... the crappy console controls are pretty useful for that kind of button mashing fighting game...