Independence Eternal

by Leafdoggy

Standstill

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Day Eight

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It takes Fluttershy a long time to wake up.

She spends hours tossing and turning, an exhausting cycle of being woken up by pain and forcing herself back to sleep. It only gets worse when sunlight streams in through the window, making it that much harder to stay in the peaceful world of dreams.

Eventually, though, she has to relent. Her body hits a point where she just can’t get back to sleep, and trying is only going to make her day worse. So, begrudgingly, she stumbles out of bed and winces in pain as her hooves land hard on the floor below.

She didn’t take the splint off the night before, hoping it would just stay neatly in place through the night. She was half right. The splint was still on her leg, still functional, but it was certainly not neat.

This means taking a lot more care as she floats downstairs to find breakfast. It’s easy to find, Dusty left her another bushel of apples, but the entire process is marked with flinching and groaning as she moves in just the wrong ways.

She fiddles with the splint as she eats, which definitely isn’t easy. Every bit she readjusts brings her a new shockwave of pain. Thankfully, she finds that not much actually needs adjusting. It isn’t a fast process, nor a fun one, but it also isn’t the hour or so of agony she had feared it might be.

Then she’s done. There’s no more self care to be done, not that she was capable of at least, and no large goals to attend to. She’s fed, she’s safe, she’s everything she’d missed the past week.

She’s bored.

She only lasts through a minute or so of absentmindedly tapping on a table before it sets in, and then she’s floating around the library, looking for things to do. Where is Dusty? she thinks. I figured she would have been here when I woke up.

A book she had been fiddling with slips off the bookshelf and onto the floor. She stares at it for a moment before deciding to just leave it there.

Then her eyes fall on something else on the floor, laying nearby. A piece of string, dropped haphazardly and left on the floor, leaving a trail for her to follow. She floats over to it. I could…

She stares down the hallway leading into the labyrinth of backrooms and collections and feels that same dizzying claustrophobia. The hallway is spinning, tightening, shifting endlessly without moving at all.

Except for the string. When she focuses on the string, she’s able to push the rest out of her mind. I mean, last time was just Dusty, she thinks. I can’t imagine she would do it again. Maybe…

She hums in thought for a moment, then comes to a decision. With a decisive nod, she leaves a note for Dusty, grabs some food, and steps into the library.

She doesn’t dare to even touch the string as she follows it. She’s not willing to risk anything. She just keeps her eyes locked to it, following alongside it and doing her best to keep her mind off of where she is.

She isn’t the best at that, though. The first massive collection of books piques her interest just enough to drag her attention away, and with it goes all hope of her refocusing. Instead she looks around, taking in the books and the environment as she walks, although she is still careful to always be sure she’s still following the string.

It’s odd for Fluttershy to see these halls. The terror of being lost had always kept her from really taking anything in, seeing how strange it all is. All the massive rooms, seemingly larger than the entire tree outside and lined floor to ceiling with books. Unlike the public library, Twilight didn’t decorate these places for comfort. Rather, every inch of space is dedicated to holding more books. Twilight made sure to keep everything visible, lest she get lost herself, but it isn’t uncommon for Fluttershy to get trapped in a dead end of free standing bookshelves, or to see taller rooms with shelves held magically in midair all the way up. It’s like she’s in another world, a dimension of knowledge.

It’s hard to place why, but for some reason the terror just never sets in. Fluttershy has no problem roaming the packed rooms and empty halls, stopping to read things that catch her interest or laugh at some architectural oddity. Somehow, something is letting her enjoy this.

Before she knows it, she’s back. Back at the tiny, closet-sized room packed with far more books than it can hold. Rarity. Mayor Mare. Gummy. All the lives of all the ponies in town, sitting pristine and untouched right where she left them.

Mostly untouched, at least. The book on her is gone, of course, but as she’s rummaging around, filling her bags with books on everypony important to her, she sees that another is missing.

There’s no book on Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy can’t remember if she saw one last time or not. She certainly didn’t look very hard.

She doesn’t spend too much energy searching for it, though. It isn’t difficult for her to imagine where it may be.

Besides, her bags end up overfilled anyway. She never thought she knew very many ponies, but she just kept finding friends. Bulk Biceps, Vinyl Scratch, Lightning Dust, they’re all too precious to her to just leave them. It makes the trip back a lot slower, and a lot more painful thanks to the added weight any time she accidentally uses her bad leg, but it’s worth it.

As she rounds the final corner and sees the exit, she sighs a heavy breath of relief. She’s so caught up in the idea of being able to rest, in fact, that she’s nearly out before she hears the sound of somepony rifling around in the kitchen.

“Dusty?” Fluttershy calls out as she drops her bags on the floor. “I was wondering where you—”

“Who?”

Fluttershy’s jaw drops when she sees the pony standing in the kitchen.

Fluttershy knows those friendly eyes, even with the wrinkles that have worked their way around them. She knows the mane, the fur, everything, and tears well up in her eyes as she takes in Twilight for the first time in far too long.

“Holy cow,” Twilight says in shock, “you’re young. Where the heck did you come from?”

“I-I-” Fluttershy can’t find anything to say.

Twilight smiles at her kindly. The kindest smile Fluttershy has ever seen, or at least it feels that way. “Find a place to get comfy, honey. You look terrible. I actually just made tea.”

Fluttershy nods and stumbles over to a table that she can rest her leg on without it moving. Twilight puts a hot cup in front of her and sits opposite her as Fluttershy slumps down into her seat.

“How’s your leg?” Twilight asks her softly.

“It’s getting better,” Fluttershy mumbles. “I don’t think it’s broken, or at least not badly.”

“That’s good.” Twilight reaches out and strokes Fluttershy’s good leg sympathetically. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.”

“I’m just glad you’re here at all,” Fluttershy says. “Before, I was starting to really believe it would just be me and Dusty here forever.”

Twilight hums in thought. “Dusty,” she says, “I assume that’s Rainbow Dash?”

Fluttershy tilts her head. “How did you know that?”

“I ran into her on my way into town. It was weird, she took one look at me and just booked it.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy says, a hint of worry creeping into her voice. “I haven’t seen her since yesterday.”

“Weird.” Twilight shrugs. “I’ll find her and work things out after I get you sent home.”

“Well, wait,” Fluttershy objects without thinking, “I can’t go without her.”

Twilight purses her lips. “I understand you’re worried, Fluttershy, but you really shouldn’t be gone longer than you have to be. It’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous? What more could happen? I already broke my leg.”

“I just…” Twilight taps her hoof on the table anxiously. “If your Twilight is anything like me… We all make mistakes, Fluttershy. I don’t want her to make this one.”

Fluttershy frowns. “I’m sure it’ll only be a day or so before Dusty comes back, though. Please, I’m— I’m her only friend.”

Twilight sighs. “How long have you been here?”

“About a week,” Fluttershy says.

“That’s pretty bad...” Twilight shakes her head. “I shouldn’t, but you can stay one more day. If she’s not back by sundown tomorrow, though, you’re going home. I can’t risk any longer than that.”

“Thank you, Twilight. Oh, and um…” Fluttershy looks around sheepishly. “Sorry about your house.”

Twilight laughs. “It’s not like I live here anymore. It might as well be of some use.”

“Are you going to want it back while you’re here?”

“Nah,” Twilight says with a wave of her hoof. “I doubt I’ll really be sleeping much honestly. Got a lotta work to do.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard,” Fluttershy tells her.

“Says the one with the broken leg,” Twilight says. “I’ll be fine. Anyway, enough of the heavy stuff. What were you doing in the back rooms?”

“Oh, that.” Fluttershy blushes a little. “Well, I may have, um, found all the biographies you wrote, and I was… Bored.”

Twilight laughs. “Those old things? Oh, I bet they’re a riot. Have you read yours?”

“No.” Fluttershy shakes her head solemnly. “It just feels… Weird.”

“Well, take it home with you,” Twilight tells her. “You’ll read it eventually.”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy says with a smile.

“So,” Twilight asks, “tell me everything you can. The more I know, the faster we can get you home.”

So, Fluttershy describes her week. The fear, the loneliness, the despair. All of her desperation to get home, all of the torment from Dusty. She doesn’t spare any details.

Then Fluttershy starts to describe her life before, talking about her friends and the town and everything that made her home special. All the reasons she has to go back.

The day is long, stressful and exhausting, reliving all these moments, but Fluttershy gets through it with a smile on her face. Even with the pain she feels, both literal and otherwise, Fluttershy can’t frown when she looks into her friend’s eyes. Not after all this time.

Later that night, long after dark, Fluttershy yawns as a thought strikes her. “So… What happened here?”

Twilight sighs. “A lot, Fluttershy. It’s… It’s not really anything to do with you.”

“That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try to help,” Fluttershy responds.

“There’s nothing to help,” Twilight tells her. She gestures out around her. “This is it. There’s no going back.”

“But I could help you,” Fluttershy says.

“Fluttershy… I made a mistake.” Twilight turns her back to Fluttershy and stares at the floor. “And then another, and another, and another, and now… This.”

Fluttershy frowns. “I’m sure it couldn’t have been that bad,” she says. “I know you. You’re good.”

“Like I said. We all make mistakes.”

“Well, I’m here if you want to talk about it,” Fluttershy tells her. “We may not technically know each other, and you may be older than me, but I’m still Fluttershy, and you’re still Twilight. You can talk to me.”

“Thank you.” Without looking back, Twilight pushes herself up and starts to walk towards the basement. “I need to get to work. Good night, Fluttershy.”

“Good night,” Fluttershy replies as the heavy basement door clicks shut. Then she gazes out the window, into the dark sky above. Good night, Dusty.

Comments

[Replica Knight]

Hmm