//------------------------------// // Market // Story: Healing // by korrasami_is_canon //------------------------------// Angel had since finished his meal and Fluttershy watched him as he dug around in the snow, testing out his new resistance to the cold. They had settled into a comfortable silence. Fluttershy was taking in the music of the winds blowing through the barren trees and the distant songs of birds, Angel was tossing around in the snow hollows he’d dug, shaking the ice out of his fur like a sand bath, and Discord was fidgeting with the ends of the blanket, lost in thought. Fluttershy sighed, remembering she needed to go to the market soon. Her pantry was still stocked with seeds and dried fruits, but she was low on fresh vegetables. Probably out now that Discord had made that wonderful soup. She turned her gaze to the sky and noted the sun’s position. It was only an hour or so past noon, she still had plenty of time. At ease she could enjoy the afternoon some more, she laid back down and nestled her head on her hooves. Then her ear twitched. Something cold had lodged itself between her ear and her mane. She pushed the snow out with her hoof and turned to Discord. “How did you know it was going to snow?” His ears shot up at her voice and his head snapped in her direction, eyes wide, almost startled. Fluttershy’s brows furrowed and she slowly reached out a hoof to cover his lion paw, which she noted had tangles around the edge of the blanket. “Are you okay?” It took him a moment to gather himself, but his eyes relaxed and he pulled his paw back, busying it by scratching his neck. “Just lost in thought,” he murmured. “What did you say?” But she didn’t buy it. “Discord, if something’s wrong…” But he shook his paw in dismissal. “I’m fine, dear,” then he caught himself. He paused a moment, breaking eye contact before he continued. “Just distracted.” He started scratching his neck again, “What were you saying?” She still didn’t buy it, not completely. But she didn’t want to force anything out of him, so she pushed off some snow on her leg and gestured to the sky. “I was just wondering how you knew it was going to snow? I thought you didn’t like keeping up with the weather plans.” “Hm? Oh, ew, no. I just,” he stopped scratching his neck and brought his dragon leg up to get behind his ear, “When you’re a being of chaos, you’re able to sense things that are ‘planned.’ That and I’ve been around long enough to recognize the changes in temperature and atmosphere and all that.” “That’s incredible.” His fur fluffed at the compliment and he smiled at his talons before twirling them in his beard. “Yes well, I am rather incredible.” Whatever had been troubling him seemed to have passed and Fluttershy hummed in agreement, trying to keep her own thoughts from before from bubbling up. But with the wind slowing for the moment and the landscape growing quiet, there wasn’t much to distract her, and she had trouble redirecting her thoughts. Altering reality with a flick of a tail, reading the changes in the air with as much ease at it took to blink, not to mention stabilizing Angel’s temperature so he could spend what was suppose to be one of the coldest winters in decades with her… He was so powerful. And it scared her. Not his abilities, not how easily he could manipulate the world, but the fact someone with so much power wanted to spend time with her, bothered to restore a relationship with a pony with no magic and no strength and no control whatsoever. It felt unreal. It felt like she wasn’t a part of it, whatever this was, like this life wasn’t really hers and she was just along for the ride. But it didn’t feel wrong, not in the sense she wasn’t doing what was right; it felt wrong in that maybe this wasn’t her life to live. That maybe this life wasn’t supposed to be lived. She was sitting across from one of the most powerful beings in Equestria, who had up until a few years ago spent countless moons encased in stone, and she had tagged along as her friends saved the kingdom foe after foe… The world had lined up so that all these adversaries appeared one after another in such a short period of time, when for the last thousand moons there had only been Nightmare Moon and King Sombra and maybe a few others. It just felt too unreal a life for a pony like her to live. Her life was suppose to be quiet and uneventful, and yet it felt wrong to imagine it as such, that even that life wouldn’t be hers. Fluttershy’s eyes had been out of focus and she took a moment to steady them on the pattern of her blanket, took a shaky breath, and brushed some snow off her wing. “I still need to go to the market.” She pushed herself up and started packing her bags, her voice quiet. “And the clouds are still a little ways away so, I mean if--I should head for town soon to get Angel some veggies, if you want to come.” Halfway through packing the blanket they were still on, tugging it from under her hooves, she heard a snap and everything was gone. “Yes I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. And I can have us there in a flash if you want to grab that little fluffball of yours.” Whatever had been on his mind seemed to be pushed away completely, and she felt guilty for being jealous of his control. Discord had forgotten just how much taller Fluttershy was than the average mare. He was so used to thinking of her as small, normally only comparing her and everypony else’s characteristics to his own, it always seemed to escape his mind that, when not slouching, she stood about a head taller than most of her friends. And almost everyone else too, he noted, as they made their way through rushing ponies trying to get the last items on their lists before the snow reached town. But she tended to keep her head down in crowds so, even in situations where her height should stand out, it didn’t. He was too distracted by the pony beside him he didn’t notice heads turn as he walked by. Footsteps faltered and hushed whispers spread. “Fluttershy!” Her ears perked and she glanced around as Rarity trotted up between the crowd of ponies, Rainbow quickly behind. “Oh it’s been ages since I’ve seen you, how are you?” Fluttershy’s wings ruffled a bit, excited and nervous to see her friends. “It’s only been a week, I thought.” “Yes, yes, but in this dull season time seems to turn so slowly. But oh, it’s so wonderful to see you.” She brushed her head past Fluttershy’s and nuzzled her cheek against her, and Fluttershy returned the gesture, hesitantly at first, before the warmth her friend radiated eased her. Odd how the short period of time that had passed felt so long. She’d last rubbed against Rarity only a handful of days ago, and yet the gesture felt different than she remembered. Before, it had come so naturally. She would nuzzle her friends absently, without second thought, but now she had to focus on the action and consciously move her head. The warmth was still there, and it was still comforting, but it seemed to take energy away from her at the same time it gave her comfort. She’d pressed herself into Discord the last few days, and had been cuddling Angel a bit the last few hours, and she couldn’t stop thinking how different each gesture felt. It had been somewhere around two weeks since she had last been with her animal friends and yet she had almost forgotten how there was something remotely different between rubbing fur against fur, burrowing her face in Angel’s downy coat, and feeling a body breath against hers. And she didn’t realize just how much she missed that kind of physical contact. “We were just about to pick up some fabric and jewelry supplies.” “Is Rainbow helping you pick out colors?” Rainbow Dash scoffed and shook her hoof, “I don’t know anything about colors. I’m just helping Rarity carry everything, she needs a lot of muscle power.” Rarity leaned close to Fluttershy, “Applejack was busy.” “Hey, I heard that! I may not pull carts all day but I’m still plenty strong.” She flicked her tail, “Besides, how heavy can some fabric be? I mean, it’s just a bunch of thread.” “I really do appreciate the help Dashie, but remember if we need to take two trips there’s no shame in that.” Her eyes lit as they returned to Fluttershy, “Oh Fluttershy I just remembered, the salon just stocked new floral scents the other day and they smell divine. I was having trouble deciding on which one to get but you have such good taste you simply must come help me. And of course I’ll buy you a bottle as thanks.” Fluttershy hesitated just long enough for Rainbow to intervene, “She already spends so much time in the meadows why not just buy a different scent, or just regular scented shampoo?” “It’s winter, Dashie, there are no flowers in Ponyville. Besides, you already spend so much time in the sky and why just the other day I saw you stock up on 50%-off ozone scented hair wash.” “I-I,” her face flushed, “It was cheap.” “And I’m sure they put more on the shelves, so I’d be happy to buy you some, too.” Rainbow tried to hide her smile with a flick of her hair. “Well come on, the snow’ll be here soon.” Impatient as ever, she nudged Rarity towards the jeweler before trotting ahead. “We shouldn’t be too long if you want to meet us at the salon after. I could so use your expertise on flowers to pick the right bottles.” She batted her eyes and crossed her legs, ignoring Rainbow dinging the shop bell for her attention. Fluttershy’s face had flushed with the joy of seeing her friends and their casual antics, and she lowered her head just a tad more to hide her growing smile. “I’d love to.” Rarity quickly nuzzled her before a delighted “Oh, wonderful,” and caught up with Rainbow.