Fluttershy’s Cameras
Fluttershy was relaxing in her cottage when a royal guard came to her door, hand-delivering a letter from Celestia. It was confusing for her, why couldn’t Spike deliver it? When the letter was opened she realized why. Written inside was a request from Celestia to come straight to Canterlot, without telling anyone. Not even her friends. There was no reason she could find on the letter stating why she was needed but she felt declining would be rude. The next train to Canterlot carried Fluttershy with it. When she arrived she was directed to the throne room where Celestia was reading a report from Twilight.
“Ah, Fluttershy! I’m so glad you could make it.”
She set down the letter and walked over to the meek pony, lowering her head as a greeting.
“Um….why did you….invite me…Princess..?”
Fluttershy said hiding in her long mane, Celestia paused before she spoke.
“You’re great with animals, as I’ve seen with Discord and how you reformed him…so the task I need you to complete lies in the mountain forests of Canterlot, during the dead of night an elusive beast has been picking off our many rare animals that reside there. But this animal is so strange that we speculate we’ve never discovered it, what I want from you is to study it. Then and only then can you capture it.”
Fluttershy went pale, this was too intimidating a mission for her.
“I don’t mean to be rude but….maybe I’m not the best candidate for this….how would I even study it in the darkness…?”
Fluttershy peeped, Celestia lit up and quickly grabbed a satchel from beside her throne.
“With these, I’m sure with your animal expertise you can capture amazing information about the creature!”
She shouted excitedly, Fluttershy slowly lifted open the satchel to peek inside. Three SLR cameras with neck straps for easy use, Fluttershy looked up at the giddy alicorn with an anxious look
“Can’t someone come with me…? So I’m not alone?”
She said, Of course, Celestia had an answer.
“Nobody is as skilled at dealing with animals as you. And someone who doesn’t know how to properly deal with a creature like that may scare it off. I’m sure you’ll be fine. You’re the element of kindness after all!”
this was empty reassurance. Even as Fluttershy headed up the mountain with Celestia and Luna waving and wishing her luck, the fear was crippling.
Only halfway up the mountain did she find any sign of life. The foot of a rabbit under a small pool of blood, poor thing…she took the foot and put it in one of the containers she packed in the satchel before leaving. Perhaps she could make a grave for it later. Then she noticed the pool of blood was not alone, partial bloody tracks were stained in the grass leading deeper into the woods, higher up the mountain. She spent the day hiking and barely saw a glimpse of any animal, assuming they were hiding from the creature. But maybe studying an elusive animal could be fun, she might be the first to see it after all. But its patterns of walking were strange…retracing its steps or randomly changing directions only to end up in the same place it would’ve gotten if it walked straight. She couldn’t tell if the creature was wandering around aimlessly or it was thinking about each step it took. What if it didn’t want to be tracked? If it knew it was being tracked? Maybe this animal was incredibly smart. So she knew then even if her suspicions were incorrect she should try to blend in better. Night fell so she hid in a tree around where the tracks had stopped, hoping the creature might pass this way to collect the foot left behind before. So she put the camera strap around her neck and waited…it felt like hours, maybe it was. So she took a small break to eat half of a sandwich. A chipmunk slowly climbed down the tree and sniffed in her direction, smelling the lettuce.
“Oh hello there…are you hungry?”
She said quietly, holding out a piece of the lettuce for it. The darkness made it hard to see but she could tell from the noises that the chipmunk ate the piece and happily chirped a thank you to her. This was a nice moment that certainly cheered her up considering the situation she was in…but suddenly she heard a squeak, then a crunch. She couldn’t see the shine of the chipmunk’s eyes anymore, she was frozen with fear. She slowly raised the camera to take a photo so she could see what happened…Click! The photo was a bit blurry from her shaking, but she knew exactly what it was. A bloody streak where the chipmunk had been, and three claw marks. She fell out of the tree and shot photos all around her trying to see her surroundings with the flash. Nothing. Why didn’t it attack her? Why not her?! It was a defenseless little rodent! She couldn’t think straight and quickly dove into a bush trying to hide from whatever was out there. Fluttershy was sure that the only reason she wasn’t dead was because the thing was busy eating the chipmunk. There was no doubt in her mind that death was quickly approaching, but there was no sound….not a peep. It was a few minutes before she took a deep breath and shot the camera, it only took a small flash for her to realize she was alone again. She partially knew already, she couldn’t feel a presence anymore….it might have left as soon as it ate the chipmunk. Why would an animal behave like that? She had studied many carnivores before and if it was a normal creature it would’ve attacked her too! She regretted admitting it, but this was one of the most interesting creatures she had ever encountered.
As the sun rose she set up a camera attached to a fake mouse she had carved from an old branch. as soon as the creature grabbed the bait, she would get her photo. Then she hid in the leaves of a particularly bushy tree, maybe she could’ve used the rabbit foot as bait…she felt the container in her satchel poking in her side as if to say
“I want to stay with you.”
She couldn’t use it as bait, it felt important to her. Hours passed…but it felt like days. Finally, she heard the click. Then silence…should she move? No, best to wait a bit before collecting her photo. But then she heard the plastic crunch of the camera. The creature saw the camera and destroyed it…which told her it didn’t like the flash, and it was startled. She stayed as still as she could, occasionally unable to hold back a shiver of fear. After a while it seemed quiet, maybe it just left. It had done it before after all, she sighed. A sudden yank of her tail made her plummet to the ground, she hadn’t noticed that her tail was hanging out of the tree. As she hit the ground her chin hit a rock, she rolled in agony and held her bleeding muzzle. And tried to crawl away. But her tail was yanked again like it was dragging her away to her death, no! She flashed the camera behind her. As soon as she felt the grip of her tail loosen she flew off and landed in a tree maybe 20 feet away, clinging to the top branches and tucking her tail in. The adrenaline kept her up that night…only to wear off in the morning to be replaced by the pain felt across her body. She headed back to where she had set up her camera. Of course, it was reduced to pieces. She checked the one around her neck…the picture she took only caught a blurry flash of dark orange…wow. This thing was camera-shy. When she thought about it sincerely she had never encountered a carnivore or omnivore that was actually afraid of flashing lights. For the most part, it would anger them, it was almost like this thing really was afraid of having its picture taken. She took out her notebook and wrote about it. A jolt of pain tore her out of her work and made her groan…there was an injury on her back that she couldn’t see, so she positioned the camera behind her and took a photo. Three claw marks ran across her lower back like small daggers…the same marks that had claimed the poor chipmunk. This was good! More evidence, but damn did it hurt… maybe if she got it cleaned up it would heal faster, there had to be a lake around here…after a bit of searching she came across a small pond and slowly sat in it, making sure not to harm the fish. She tried to communicate but they were too frightened…this thing intimidated the whole forest. But it didn’t have to be a bad thing, they were safe…she got out of the pond and shook off what had to be done next. Fluttershy took bandages from the satchel and slowly rapped up her injury. Every time she tightened them she could feel her whole body screaming! It took a few minutes of recovery before she could exhale again. Everything ached, her chin had started to scab up. It was miserable…she wanted to go home! See Angel and see her friends! But Fluttershy knew the animals needed her, Celestia was counting on her to do this, and for once it was time to be strong! Two cameras left. She needed to be careful not to get caught by it, whatever this thing was it wasn't afraid to kill her. These cameras were the only thing keeping Fluttershy from death. Night fell and a trap was ready for the creature…Fluttershy made a whistle out of a branch, it sounded like a bird. She would hide and use the whistle, when it came for her it would trip the rope system she had set up and the camera would take a photo! She was up in a tree, careful to tuck her tail this time. Tweet tweet tweet! The whistle sang as she blew. Fluttershy just needed a bit more evidence to catch it…then she could go home. She heard rustling getting closer and closer. It heard the noise, and it was hungry. Tweet tweet tweet! She blew once more. It took a few minutes but she heard the rope and then a click! She did it! It was time to fly away and hide somewhere else so it couldn't find her. She took off with relief but was suddenly filled with fear and cold sweat, her mane was caught in the branches! She didn't have the time to react as she was thrown back into the trunk. Crunch…Fluttershy’s delicate wing was slammed by her body. Something was broken and she couldn't help but scream until her hair finally untangled and let her fall, thank god she fell on her stomach. She needed help and she needed it now! Desperately trying to fly with her remaining wing. She heard plastic breaking in the distance, the camera. This creature would rather go after a camera than a defenseless victim. She could scare it away! So she took the very last camera from her satchel and pointed it at the noise. Click! Now she could escape, she thought. Until the photo developed…she got a picture.
It looked like a pony but it wasn’t. It looked like a crude copy! Sunken eyes, claws instead of hooves, deformed snout…it even had a fake cutie mark! Just patches of different-colored fur! Fluttershy was paralyzed by fear. Then something makes her shake
“….hello friend! Come here friend!”
it spoke. Fluttershy had reformed Discord, a god of chaos. But this thing was mimicking pony speech and mannerisms, it didn't care about friendship. It wanted to lure her there because it knew it was caught, cameras couldn't protect her anymore. Something deep and primal told her this fake pony meant death.So she ran as fast as she could as the creature ran close behind shouting
“Hello friend!! Come here friend!!”
its speech got angrier the more Fluttershy ran. This creature was as smart as her and it knew she could only get so far! She couldn’t die here, she wanted to see her friends again. She wanted to be safe again!! So she turned and ran down the mountain towards the castle. The creature was no stranger to steepness so it started to catch up, Fluttershy couldn't die! She bit the strap of her camera and swung it behind her trying to scare it away! It was a direct hit and the glass lens smashed against the creature’s face. Making it fall over and land against a tree, she was alive…she was alive! Her legs finally gave way as she tumbled down the mountain covered in dirt. She could feel all her muscles relax as she finally landed at the foot of the stone wall protecting the castle…the sun rose to tell her it was gonna be okay.
A week later she was back on the train to Ponyville after being treated, Celestia sent the royal guard out to hunt the creature. Even though Fluttershy could only recover one clear photo of it, the injuries spoke for her… she lightly gripped the rabbit’s foot Celestia turned into a necklace for her as the train came to a hissing halt. She put on her satchel and stepped out looking for her friends, as the steam cleared…they were there with a sign.
“We missed you Flutters!”
it was everything she needed after this ordeal. Rarity ran over and hugged her soon followed by the others, it hurt Fluttershy's wing a bit but that was ok…she could finally muster a greeting through the tears.
“Hello….friends.”