The Ultimate Kindness
By Alaborn
Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein.
It was supposed to be simple. A delivery of fruit for the marketplace, held in a warehouse. A warehouse to which we had a key. It was guarded, of course, but a pair of us would distract the guard, enabling a quick snatch and grab. Two of us would swipe a pair of crates each, helping us to get through the week. That much went off without a hitch.
And then we spotted them in the air. Not the Royal Guard; their patrols were well known. They rarely came to this part of Canterlot anyway. Thus the private guards. Better for us, as we could learn which ones favored bits, or booze, or mares. What we saw was worse than the guards.
The Red Scarves. The pegasus gang arrived in great numbers. They weren’t supposed to know about our score, but they did. We split, as per our plan, relying on our knowledge of alleys and tunnels to make our escape.
I ran. It was all I could do.
I ducked into an alley and squeezed through a hole in the wall of an abandoned building. The walls and floor rattled with each hooffall. I ran out the back door of this building, the door swinging precariously on one hinge. I glanced up, spotting a winged shape above me. I turned into another alley, desperately seeking my freedom.
The alley zigzagged between stone and wood buildings. I struggled to keep my hoofing as my hooves squelched through the refuse and Celestia knows what else piled up in the forgotten alley. One more turn, and I would be out.
I was barely able to stop, skidding through the muck, when I saw the alley blocked by an old wagon, piled high with crates. I quickly surveyed my options. It was too tight a fit to crawl under and there was no place to squeeze around it. Could I climb over it, or push over a crate to make a hole?
A Red Scarf poked his head over the barrier of crates. “This is our town now, Green freak,” he said. He turned, and bucked the stack of crates.
I turned to run, but the crates landed on me, crushing me under their weight. I felt before I heard a snap, and then I screamed. The pain from my hind legs was worse than anything I had ever felt.
I heard the flapping of wings. Looking up, through eyes blurred by tears, I saw a Red Scarf flying to me, a club in his mouth. I covered my head with my forelegs and waited for the inevitable.
When nothing happened, I dared to open my eyes. What I saw was another pegasus flying overhead, not a Red Scarf, but a pale yellow angel shining in the moonlight. With nothing but her presence, she stared them down. The Red Scarves cowered before her.
“You don’t hurt ponies.” The mare spoke softly, but with words that carried the power of the Princesses. She advanced, slowly, and the others fled.
She landed gently next to me. The gentle smile on her face was the last thing I saw before everything went black.
The first thing I felt was softness. I was lying on my back in a soft bed. A warm blanket covered my barrel. My eyelids felt heavy, but I forced them open.
“AAAAAAH!”
There was a bear looming over me! I tried to get away, but my hind legs were trapped in something. Trying to move them caused pain to flare in them.
“Now, Harry, I know we’re all eager to see our new friend, but you’ve frightened her,” a mare said. I recognized her soft voice, the angel from last night.
Last night? The room I was in appeared to be a basement of some kind. Small windows near the ceiling admitted a small amount of light; it appeared to be daytime.
Mercifully, the bear stepped back. I could now see animals of all kinds in the room, along with the pegasus from last night. She stepped forward hesitantly. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“I’m Red Stone,” I said. “What’s yours?”
The mare tried to hide behind her long pink mane. “I’m Fl... Fluttershy,” she said timidly.
“Where am I?” I asked.
“You’re safe, Red Stone,” she said. “You’re in my cottage, and I’ll protect you until you’re healed.”
The throbbing pain I felt directed my gaze to my hind legs. They were immobilized with splints and bandages, and were kept elevated by some kind of sling. “Are you a doctor?”
She hid behind her mane again. “I’m not a doctor, but I have trained as a veterinarian, and I’ve set broken bones for my animal friends many times.” She smiled. “Ponies are animals, too.”
I frowned slightly. “I thought I’d be in a hospital.”
“If I took you to a hospital, the guards would take you into custody after you healed. And I didn’t want to see that happen to a young mare like you.”
I recalled some past scrapes. Getting patched up in a dirty tenement room by a pony whose only credentials were that he wouldn’t talk... this situation was ten times better. Except for the whole bear thing. “Um, why are there so many animals here?”
“Oh. These are my animal friends,” the pegasus replied. “They all wanted to meet you.”
The bear smiled and roared. The hairs on my neck rose. And then another animal approached, some small furry critter that looked wet. A beaver? An otter? I didn’t remember much from the short time I spent in school.
In turn, each of the animals in the room approached, looking me over. They were well-behaved, but what surprised me the most is the way Fluttershy spoke to them, like they were ponies. I asked her about that.
“My animal friends don’t speak, but I understand them, in a way most ponies don’t,” she said.
At that time, one of the animals, a white rabbit who had a place of honor on Fluttershy’s back, tapped his foot rapidly.
Fluttershy turned to him. “Really? This one?” she said.
The rabbit nodded.
“Okay, Angel bunny.” She turned to me. “He likes you,” she said with a smile.
Fluttershy and her animals departed, leaving me alone in the quiet basement. I dozed fitfully as time passed. I don’t know how long I was left alone, but some hours later, the pegasus returned. She carried a tray with a bowl on her back.
“Did you sleep well?” Fluttershy asked.
“I slept a little. It’s hard to stay comfortable,” I said.
“You poor dear. Now, I bet you’re hungry.” She rested the tray carefully on my stomach.
The smell of the noodle soup made my stomach growl. I had no idea how long it had been since I ate. I gripped the spoon in my pastern. My forelegs were stiff and sore, but I was able to lift the spoon to my mouth.
The soup was flavorful, with a rich broth and an earthy flavor I couldn’t place. I smacked my lips.
“Oh. I put some medicine in the soup. I hope you don’t mind,” she said.
“Medicine? Like, for animals?”
“Oh, no, nothing like that. It’s a potion made by my friend Zecora. It will fix you up nice and quick.”
Even as she mentioned the potion, I was back to eating the soup. I decided the soup was still tasty, despite the strange flavor the potion imparted.
Fluttershy watched as I ate, a warm smile on her face. When I finished, she took the tray in her mouth and placed it on her back. “Now, I’ve left a bell next to your bed. If you need anything, just ring,” she said.
“Okay,” I replied.
She pulled a blanket over me and tucked me in. “Now, you need your rest.”
With a warm bed and full stomach, it didn’t take me long to fall asleep.
I woke when it was still dark. Only the faintest hint of moonlight illuminated the basement. I don’t remember stirring or waking up during the night, but I must have, since my blanket was hanging off the edge of the bed. I felt sweaty.
I noticed my hind legs felt very uncomfortable. They were lifted at a steep angle, and it was putting stress on my back.
I reached for the bell, but I didn’t find the table to my left. I looked around in the near darkness, and saw a glint of something to my left and behind me. Reaching carefully, I found the bell, and then rang it.
I heard a high pitched squeaking and something scurrying in the dark, and then all was quiet again. A few minutes later, I heard the door to the basement unlatch, followed by soft hooffalls.
Fluttershy approached, the warm glow of the lantern in her mouth illuminating her like a halo. She hung the lantern on a hook. “What’s the matter, Red Stone?” she asked.
“This sort of hurts,” I said.
She looked at the setup supporting my legs. “Oh my, this won’t do at all,” she said. She turned a crank, and my hind legs were lowered to a more comfortable angle. She then brought some pillows, and arranged them under my back, propping me up.
Fluttershy then looked under the table and came up with another potion. “Here. This will help heal your legs and ease the pain. Now, drink up.”
This new potion had the taste of bitter greens, and filled me with warmth. As I drank it, Fluttershy continued to tend to me. First, she removed something from the bed underneath me. The foul aroma indicated it was a bedpan. She brought me a glass of water, and then changed my bandages.
I sighed and closed my eyes as Fluttershy nursed me. I was dimly aware of the empty glass rolling out of my hooves as sleep claimed me once again.
My eyes fluttered open. It was daytime again. I was buried in a nest of pillows and blankets, and it just felt right.
A dull ache in my bones nagged at my awareness. I thought about it. It wasn’t just my hind legs that were hurting; that I would have expected. No, this pain was all over my body.
I looked around again. The blanket, the pillows, the bed, they all felt larger. Then I saw the small table by the bed. Last night, I needed to stretch back to reach the bell. Now, I couldn’t even reach it.
I was shrinking.
As an earth pony, I was always aware of my size. I was never the largest pony, but I knew how to use the size I possessed. But the prospect of growing smaller sent a spike of fear through me.
I needed to get out of here. The Guard would be a better fate than this.
My hind legs were still suspended, so I had to deal with that first. Fortunately, they were secured loosely by the sling. It was as if my legs were larger when they had last been secured, and they probably were. I twisted, and pulled my legs from the sling.
I steeled myself against the pain, not knowing if the bones had yet knitted. They landed against the soft surface of the bed, and I only felt a slight tingling above the dull ache. I flexed my leg muscles, and then threw off the blankets.
The floor looked so far from the top of the bed. I jumped, trying to catch my weight on my stronger forelegs. My hind legs stung as they hit the ground, but not enough to cause me pain. The one thing I didn’t want to do was scream. I tested my legs with a few steps, and then ran up the stairs.
The door at the top of the stairs was opened by Fluttershy, who frowned at me. I caught her gaze and froze, captivated by her aquamarine eyes.
“What are you doing out of bed?” she asked sternly.
Although I remembered that I had a very good reason for getting out of bed, I couldn’t manage to respond. The words didn’t want to come.
“You should be in bed,” Fluttershy said.
Something clicked in my mind. “I should be in bed,” I said.
“You need to be fixed up,” she continued.
“I need to be fixed up,” I echoed.
“An injured mare like you needs her rest.”
“I need my rest,” I said.
“You sure do. So let’s get you all comfy in bed, and I’ll give you some more medicine.”
She reached down, and picked up my smaller form, clutching me protectively in her forelegs. She brought me downstairs and helped me drink another potion, again the one with the earthy taste. I felt the warmth spread through my body. Soon, I was resting in a nest of pillows again, and it felt just right.
I awoke to darkness. But then I realized I was burrowed underneath a pile of pillows. I pushed away the pillows, unusual feelings registering from my hooves.
It was light out, which allowed me to see the mess that was my bed. Sweat stained the pillows, which were also covered in silver and dark red hairs. They looked like the hairs of my mane. I reached up to my head, and found my mane gone. Only my coat remained, and it felt softer than normal.
And I was feeling a lot more from my hoof than normal. I brought it to my face and inspected it. It looked nothing like a hoof at all. It was far thinner than it should have been, and separated into three parts, with the one in center larger than the others. Two similar bumps were developing on either side of my hoof. All possessed a soft surface, softer than my frog. I couldn’t fathom how somepony could walk on something so tender.
I flexed my hoof, and felt strange sensations. The separate parts moved independently, with greater flexibility than my hoof. I inspected my hind hooves, and found they had changed in much the same way, except split into two parts.
After staring dumbfounded at the strange appendages, I remembered I was still trapped. I had to escape. I moved to jump off the bed, and froze.
The ground was even farther away now.
I didn’t have the luxury of fear. I had scraped out a living in the underbelly of Canterlot. I had scrapped with the Red Scarves, the Fire Diamonds, and Digger’s Herd. I could face this fall.
I jumped, landing on my soft hooves. I stood in a weird fashion, my rump raised in the air slightly. An explosion of feelings came from my hooves as I stumbled toward the stairs.
Again, the door opened, and Fluttershy came down the stairs. She looked at me, and my eyes locked on hers.
“Now where are you going, Red Stone? You need your rest,” Fluttershy said.
I nodded, dimly aware that I was standing still.
Fluttershy picked me up and sniffed. “I think you need a bath first.”
I nodded slowly. “I need a bath first.”
I instinctively snuggled into Fluttershy’s chest as she took me outside. I learned that I was staying in an isolated cottage, near the edge of a foreboding forest. There were no other buildings in sight. The sun was setting, casting long shadows over the peaceful scene.
Fluttershy flew over to a small tub of water, far too small to be a bathtub, but then again, I was much smaller. She gently placed me in the cool water, and then added soap to it. She took a brush in her mouth, and scrubbed me thoroughly. I saw the water fill with red hairs.
The mare inspected me and nodded. She took me out of the water, dried me, and then settled down with a much softer brush. With each stroke, more of the red hairs of my coat were brushed away, leaving a soft white coat behind. I smiled and hummed happily, the sound vibrating in my throat.
“There. All done,” Fluttershy said. She looked in my eyes again. “It’s time for dinner, Red Stone.”
I nodded. “It’s time for dinner.”
Fluttershy took me inside and placed me on top of the kitchen table. A bowl of cut carrots was waiting for me. My stomach growled.
I reached for a carrot, my misshapen hooves easily curling around the bright orange vegetable. I took one bite, and an explosion of flavor greeted me. I greedily ate my dinner. I was vaguely aware that my teeth felt wrong, but that didn’t stop me from eating.
Once I finished, I leaned back, patting my stomach. The carrots had an aftertaste, the familiar earthy taste of the potion. And with that thought, I drifted off to sleep.
I heard a noise. I jumped, startled. My ears twitched, and I realized how unwieldy they felt. I reached up and brushed them with my hoof. They were long, at least three times as long as they should have been.
Relatively speaking, of course. It looked like I had shrunk even more. I was in a basket on the ground floor of Fluttershy’s cottage, and her furniture towered over me.
I heard another noise, a high-pitched sound that was completely alien to me. I saw movement. Ahead of me, behind me, above me, all at once I saw movement! I jumped again, my nose twitching, my eyes looking for escape.
Escape! All I needed to do was get out the door. I tried to run, but stumbled. My hind legs were far longer than they should be, and my body didn’t move in the right way. My eyes picked up a bird flying out the window. Around me, some of Fluttershy’s other animal friends watched me.
I was still trying to make my legs work when Fluttershy opened the door to the cottage. She was carrying her rabbit friend on her back. The bird I had noticed flying off flitted by her ear. She nodded and spoke a few words to it.
Fluttershy reached down and picked me up by my nape with her mouth. She dropped me on her couch, and the rabbit jumped off her back and onto the couch.
I was the same size as this rabbit. I looked at his features: his ears, his paws, his tail, his fur, his whiskers. With the all-around vision my eyes now provided, I saw the same features on my body.
I was now a rabbit.
“See, Angel bunny? Just like you asked,” Fluttershy said.
I realized I was still thinking clearly. The fog that clouded my thoughts every time Fluttershy looked at me wasn’t there. I had to know. “Why did you do this to me?” I asked. My voice was higher, like a foal’s, and my diction was off, as my tongue fumbled around my longer front teeth.
“I’m giving you a second chance,” Fluttershy said. “As a pony, you were a failure. You didn’t use your special talent to improve Equestria or the ponies around you. All you did was take and hurt others. Equestria is better off without a Red Stone.
“But as an animal, you will have a chance to make somepony happy. There are many ponies looking for a loving companion. They don’t care about all the bad things you’ve done. They will be happy to find a special friend, and you will finally have a chance to help somepony, to make somepony happy. I’ve found that this is the ultimate kindness.”
She offered me another carrot. “Just a little more of the potion, and the transformation will be complete. It will take your voice, and you’ll be completely rabbit.”
“No!” I squeaked. I made to run, only to find my hooves, or rather paws, struggling to work.
Fluttershy stared at me. My panicked thoughts faded as I gazed into her eyes. I reached out, grabbed the carrot in my paws, and started nibbling.
“Little Angel bunny knows all about what you’re going through,” Fluttershy said as I ate. She nuzzled the rabbit. “Long ago, he was like you, a pony, a pegasus from Cloudsdale. As a colt, he was a bully. As a stallion, he hurt many ponies. In my heart, I knew I couldn’t let this unkindness persist, but I didn’t know what I could do.
“Then I found my answer. A mushroom that grows in the Everfree Forest. It holds powerful transformative spores, and with the help of a little zebra magic, I made a potion, something that could make it so bad ponies couldn’t hurt again. Angel here was my first success, my proof of concept.
“Dogs, cats, birds, turtles... I’ve made many an animal, and placed them with ponies who care for them. In turn they learn how to care. But Angel stayed loyal to me, a true friend. And as a true friend, I’ve provided him everything he’s wanted. But there’s one thing I couldn’t find him. A mate.
“Poor Angel just can’t get along with other bunnies. They just didn’t know life like he knew life. And so I looked for a pony who could be his mate.”
I looked up and tried to say something, but all that came out was an animalistic honking.
Fluttershy patted me on the head. “There, there, little bunny. Angel will take good care of you. Just listen to your new instincts.”
Angel hopped next to me and nuzzled my cheek. I shuddered as I felt my whiskers being touched for the first time. My nose twitched as I registered his scent.
It was pleasing, very pleasing.
Angel thumped the couch with his paw. I looked at him. He hopped in place. When I didn’t react, he thumped again, and repeated the hop.
I realized Angel was showing me how to jump as a rabbit. Watching him jump again, I saw the way his legs moved. With his hind legs larger than his front legs, this hopping was apparently the way he, and now I, would have to move.
I imitated Angel as he showed off how our bodies worked. I noticed Fluttershy sitting on a chair across the room, watching us with a warm smile.
Angel thumped the couch three times. I looked to him, and watched as he jumped to the floor. I gulped and jumped after him. I landed hard, but Angel helped me to my paws. I nuzzled him in thanks.
Angel hopped away, crawling into a hole that led to his den. My new instincts told me to follow, and follow I did.