//------------------------------// // 13. Kindness // Story: The Legend of Friendship - Harmony // by Danieru //------------------------------// Lightbeam, the carefree Pegasus mare, was strolling through Ponyville with her usual cheerful attitude. She and her brother both lived in Cloudsdale, home of the Pegasus but they spent more time in Ponyville. Their friends lived there and Nightsky was also working in Ponyville most of the time so there was no avoiding spending so much time there. Today, Lightbeam was on her way to do some errands. For her, that was just another reason to spend her day in this nice town. "Morning in Ponyville shimmers~" Lightbeam hummed as she walked through Ponyville before she stopped in the middle of the road. "Oh! That sounds good! I should write a song like that," she said, interrupting her little song. "Maybe someday later," she added before she continued to walk through town. She pulled out a little list from her saddlebag and read out loud to where she needed to go. "First, shopping in the marketplace," she said as she made her way to said place. Later... Lightbeam was in charge of buying some food. Equipped with a saddlebag, she was walking from one merchant to the next, going down her list and picking up everything on it. It didn't take long until she was only short of one more item. The mare quickly found the right merchant for what she was looking for. She was in luck because there wasn't a line in front of the merchant, or at least not a long one. There was only one pony standing in front of her. It was a Pegasus mare with a yellow-colored coat, a long pink mane, cyan-colored eyes, and three pink butterflies as a Cutie Mark. The mare placed a bunch of carrots on the table along with some bitcoins. The merchant took a look at the mare in front of him and began to smile for some unknown reason. "Six bucks," the merchant pony then demanded. The Pegasus mare looked a little flustered after hearing that, however. "But...the sign behind you says One buck per carrot," she pointed out while she pointed towards the said sign. Lightbeam could confirm that this was true after looking at the sign as well. Still, the merchant insisted to get those six bucks. "Yeah, must have forgotten to change that, it's six bucks, trust me." Something smelled fishy. Lightbeam had a slight feeling that this merchant was trying to rip the mare off. There was a really smug smile on the merchant's face that just gave her that feeling. But despite that, the mare in front of her didn't seem to mind so Lightbeam didn't either. "Um...okay," the yellow Pegasus said before she pulled out a few more bitcoins and placed them on the table. Needless to say, the merchant looked pleased, much more than he should be if this was supposed to be a fair trade. "Pleasure doing business with-" "HOLD IT!" A female voice shouted from afar before the merchant could finish his sentence. Everypony turned their heads towards Happytrade, who was running right towards the merchant with an angry expression on her face, completely ignoring personal space and locking eyes with him. "What do you think you're doing!?" She asked the merchant. "What do you mean?" The merchant asked obliviously. It wasn't sure if he just played that or not. But Happytrade was in full-blown merchant mode and didn't let this incident slip. "You have to be truthful to your prices! You can't just put a price on this sign and change it whenever you want!" The yellow mare backed away a little as if she couldn't handle this situation right now. "It's not that big of a deal...I just..." the mare tried to say but Happytrade wouldn't stop saying what was bothering her. "No, no!" Happytrade said. "I know you are as angry as me when it comes to an unfair trade but don't worry, I got your back," she explained, proudly to help out a pony in need. "But it's fine...I don't want any trouble..." the mare tried to explain but Happytrade just wouldn't listen. What followed was a long speech about being an honorably merchant and how to treat every customer fairly and just. It actually made the merchant feel bad to the point where he was on his knees crying in regret, something that made the mare feel quite better, seeing how the pony realized his mistake, she patted him on the back out of comfort. "There, there, nothing to get upset about as long as you understood your mistake," she said like a mother that tried to comfort her child. This whole scene was really sweet, even though it kinda came out of nowhere. The merchant was even offering a discount to make up for all of this, something that Happytrade was really happy to hear. "Alright! That's really nice isn't it?" She asked towards the yellow Pegasus mare behind her. "Right?" She asked one more time after she realized that she didn't hear a reply from the mare. But to everyponies surprise, the Pegasus mare was gone and completely out of sight. She probably left a long time ago. Lightbeam had to admit that she was too caught up with Happytrade and the merchant that she didn't notice. "I think she didn't care too much about the money," she guessed in her confusion. The other two ponies figured this as well and just shrugged their shoulders in response and just went to continue their day on the marketplace as usual. And so did Lightbeam. "Next stop, Toys N Stuff!" She read out loud from her list before she went on her way to the next destination. Later... Lightbeam was just a huge filly. As a result, she liked to play often, and for that she needed toys, that's why she was stopping at the local toy shop to find something of interest. She did this a lot but she didn't necessarily buy something each time. She just enjoyed looking at toys and was interested in every new piece that was available in the shop. It helped that her friend, Crash, was working in this shop, who was as much as a playful pony as she was, so of course, he let her even play in the shop whenever his boss wasn't around. The mare actually found something, a little dark blue plush pony. It reminded her of her brother Nightsky so she decided to buy it and went to Crash at the counter to pay for it. There wasn't much of a line when Lightbeam walked towards Crash, there was only one pony in front of her. "Whoa, Deja Vu," the mare said in her realization after she saw the exact same yellow coated Pegasus from the marketplace standing in front of her again. Lightbeam almost wanted to ask why she left before but right now she just wondered why the mare didn't have anything with her, even though she was clearly walking up to Crash. "What can I do for you?" Crash asked with a friendly smile on his face. For some reason, the mare shrugged in discomfort as soon as the stallion talked to her, something that she tried to hide but wasn't really successful with. "Um..." where the only word she managed to get out. Crash was not pressuring the mare and kept on smiling, which in turn made the situation even more awkward than it deserved to be. Eventually, the mare managed to get out some more words. "This...I would like...this," she said while she pointed forward. The pony was pointing at something on a shelf behind Crash. A bunch of plush bunnies were perfectly lined up and presented behind the stallion. "Oh, those?" Crash asked, just to be absolutely sure. The mare started to show some excitement. "Yes!" She said before she went back to being shy. Crash walked up to the wall to pick up what the mare wanted and placed it on the counter. "There you go," The yellow Pegasus, however, didn't look too happy. That was because Crash picked up the wrong toy, from a shelf directly above the plush bunny shelf. In front of the mare now laid a toy robot, something that she clearly didn't look to excited about. But despite Crash picking up the wrong toy, the mare, while looking rather upset, accepted the toy. "Thanks," she said with no happiness in her voice at all before she took the toy and walked out of the shop. Crash waved the mare goodbye with a big smile on his face, oblivious about his mess up. Lightbeam, on the other hoof, was standing there confused about why the mare wasn't speaking up about this mistake. All she had to do was saying that Crash picked the wrong toy, it was as easy as that. Still, the mare figured that this Pegasus was accepting this outcome and just shrugged her shoulders before she went ahead and paid for her toy. Later... "Last stop, Golden Oak Library!" Lightbeam announced to herself as she walked up to the library with a book in her wing. All she needed to do was bring back a book that she borrowed from Brilliance. The mare opened the door to the library and was surprised to see yet again, the yellow coated Pegasus mare standing right in the doorway, ready to leave at the same moment where Lightbeam entered. The mare shrieked quietly for a moment, being surprised to see somepony the moment where she was about to leave but she composed herself quickly and just walked away, hiding her face under her mane. Lightbeam didn't put too many thoughts about this situation and just walked past the mare to see Brilliance. Bringing back the book was done pretty fast without many words wasted. Seeing the yellow pony, however, made Lightbeam wonder how she was acting towards Brilliance, given that she was not too much of a talkative type on the other two occasions before. "Say," Lightbeam started, trying to put her words in a way that wouldn't sound too weird. "That mare that just left...she didn't seem...a little off to you, did she," Brilliance was confused by this question and lowered her eyebrows. "She seemed normal to me..." the mare replied. Obviously, Brilliance was not very talkative herself so maybe the mare's behavior didn't seem off to her. Lightbeam wasn't really sure why she was even asking this question. Maybe she felt like a pony like her, who had obviously problems speaking up for herself, would have one or two problems in her life. But it felt wrong to Lightbeam to judge this mare just after two incidents from early this day. In the end, Lightbeam decided to just forget about her and left the library once she was done there. Later... With no real goal in her mind, Lightbeam decided to take a walk in Ponyville. She planned to spend some time with her brother but the problem was, that he was still working at this time of the day which meant that she had to kill some time. She ended up a little bit outside of Ponyville, on a meadow. She didn't really know why she was walking to this place but she somehow felt like something was drawing her to this place. Once she was getting closer to the meadow, however, she knew what it was. A beautiful melody was sung by somepony in the far distance. It was such a nice and soothing song that it somehow caught Lightbeam's attention from much farther away. Of course, Lightbeam investigated and approached the source from where the song was coming from. She was really surprised to see who was actually singing it. It was the same Pegasus mare that she met countless times earlier today. She was sitting together with some small animals on a picnic blanket, humming a beautiful song to them, who enjoyed every second of it. The mare looked really happy and seemed to enjoy herself quite a lot. This was surprising since all this time, Lightbeam could swear that this mare was really uncomfortable most of the time. Seeing how this pony was happy now, however, made Lightbeam feel better and she figured that this was the right time to talk, or at least, get to know her. Unfortunately, Lightbeam was not really good when it came to being subtle... "Hey!" The mare shouted towards the yellow Pegasus mare as she waved at her. Of course, the Pegasus mare most likely didn't expect someone speaking to her in this volume and shrugged her shoulders in surprise, or rather shock judging from how she was jumping inside a nearby bush to hide, just like her animal companions who were running away. But Lightbeam didn't seem to notice the mess that she created and merrily walked up to the bush where the yellow pony was hiding in. "Hello, there," Lightbeam greeted with a big smile on her face. As soon as the scared Pegasus realized that it was just a pony that spoke to her, she did manage to walk out of her hiding place, still, there was no sign of the carefree behavior that she showed a few seconds ago. Instead, she was hiding her face under her mane with an uncomfortable expression on her face. "I'm Lightbeam!" The blue-coated mare introduced herself. No reply came from the yellow coated Pegasus mare. All she did was looking away in discomfort when she was expected to introduce herself as well. But after realizing that this moment wasn't about to come, Lightbeam asked away. "What's your name?" It took some time but the mare eventually replied. "Um...my name is..." she said, followed by some words that Lightbeam had quite some time to understand. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Lightbeam asked nicely. Again, the mare introduced herself. "My name is..." she repeated, this time it was even harder to understand her. "Nope still didn't catch that," Lightbeam said, still with a bright smile on her face. And once again, the mare introduced herself but this time, Lightbeam couldn't make out a single word that she was saying, due to the mare backing away, and mumbling those words into her mane, as if she didn't want to tell her anymore out of discomfort. There was an awkward pause between the two ponies, it was painfully long and even too uncomfortable for a pony like Lightbeam to realize that the mare in front of her was difficult to handle. But knowing that only gave her an idea to get this conversation rolling. She started with a compliment, after all, everypony likes hearing nice things said to them. "I heard you singing just now, you are really good. Your singing voice is so beautiful," The face of the yellow pony turned red like a tomato. She took some steps back and took some huge breaths as if she was starting to hyperventilate. "I-I...I have to go!" She then said in a panic before she turned around and ran away, leaving Lightbeam alone and confused. While Lightbeam was a little puzzled about what happened, she still seemed a little unsure why it even happened. "That...didn't go the way I thought it would," The next day... Lightbeam had a chance to tell the little story about the weird mare that she met yesterday to Summershine, who she was walking with through Ponyville. She told him everything about how this mare was acting really shy and scared most of the time. Summershine actually had a pretty good guess about who Lightbeam was talking about. "You mean Fluttershy?" He guessed after Lightbeam gave him a little description about how she looked like. "Yeah, she is really...shy, go figure," he said, obviously referring to her name. "I had to deliver a few packages to her in the past and every time I did, she barely spoke a word and just stood there awkwardly," "Exactly!" Lightbeam said. "Is something wrong with her?" She then asked confused, much to Summershine's surprise. It was hilarious to Summershine how Lightbeam was not understanding that Fluttershy was just really shy. Maybe it was because Lightbeam was the exact opposite that didn't make her understand this. "Nothing is wrong with her," Summershine said. "Speaking to other ponies is just a little harder for her, that is all. That is probably why she is acting a little weird in public or in front of other ponies," the stallion explained. Lightbeam's eyes popped widely open after realizing that. "So she has problems talking with other ponies?" She asked to confirm her thoughts. "Yes," Summershine replied. Suddenly, Lightbeam turned around. "Why didn't you say so before!?" She said determined before she rushed away and left the stallion alone again, who was a little confused about this behavior and what exactly his friend was up to now. Later... Lightbeam knocked on the door of a little woodland cottage just a little bit outside of Ponyville. It was Fluttershy's home. Multiple birdhouses were scattered all over the place and there were also multiple rabbit-holes on the ground. It was like this place was a home for all kinds of animals. It looked quite inviting at least. Soon, the door in front of Lightbeam opened and Fluttershy stood in front of her, having a surprised expression on her face, it wasn't a really happy one but also not a negative one, uncomfortable was maybe the right word to describe her expression. It was as if Fluttershy was about to close the door right in front of Lightbeam just so that she could avoid another awkward encounter. Lightbeam was well aware of that as well and tried to get to the point real quick. "Let's spend the day together!" She just straight out said without hesitation. "Um..." Fluttershy replied hesitantly, she was clearly about to tell Lightbeam that she wasn't interested in doing that. "Come on! It'll be fun!" Lightbeam insisted. "I..." Fluttershy said, her eyes wandering from one lower corner to another. "I won't take a no as an answer!" Lightbeam said as she stomped on the ground with a determined expression on her face. By now, Fluttershy felt too pressured to decline Lightbeam's request. She was really not up for this, especially after their awkward encounter from yesterday. Unfortunately, Fluttershy was, just like Summershine said, really shy. She didn't have it in her to say no in a situation like this and Lightbeam being the upbeat she was, certainly didn't make it easier to decline. "Okay..." Fluttershy then said forced, avoiding as much eye contact with Lightbeam as possible. The blue-coated Pegasus was, of course, oblivious of how Fluttershy was feeling in this very moment and just got happy to hear this answer from Fluttershy. "Great! Then let's go!" She said as she grabbed Fluttershy's hoof and dragged her out of her cottage, much to the dislike of the mare, who just gasped in response. Lightbeam did all of this to archive a certain thing and that was making Fluttershy's shyness disappear. Obviously, she was having a hard time being shy, so all Lightbeam had to do was fix this to make the life of Fluttershy a lot easier. And she had quite some ideas on how to do that. Later... Lightbeam and Fluttershy, who was dragged along against her own will, went to the Ponyville bowling alley. A game would hopefully put Fluttershy in a better mood, instead of thinking that Lightbeam was forcing her to accompany her...which was pretty much the case. The first one to go was Lightbeam. She put a bowling ball in front of her and looked back and forth between it and the pins before eventually giving it a good kick with her hind legs. She managed to hit quite a few pins and only two remained, of course, they were both in each corner and especially hard to hit with another ball. But despite her chances, Lightbeam put down another ball in front of her, turned around, and kicked it straight down the lane. The ball went right between the two pins in the middle. "Darn!" The mare said frustrated, stomping on the ground in anger. "Whatever!" She then said in a sudden mood swing with a smile on her face, accepting this result and leaving the lane. "Your turn," Fluttershy was walking up to the lane and picked a bowling ball. She hardly managed to carry it above the ground while flying to her lane and seemed already exhausted. She looked back at Lightbeam embarrassed but the light blue coated mare just grinned as if everything was completely fine, she probably didn't even notice how Fluttershy was having trouble already. Once the bowling ball was sitting still in front of the lane, Fluttershy took a huge breath and formed a determined expression on her face. She was ready and turned around to kick the ball away with her left hind leg. The problem was, that it seemed to be too hard for Fluttershy to do exactly that, which was weird since a ball is round, making the process of moving it usually easier. The ball did roll on the lane, slowly. It reached the pin that was all the way in front but with only this little force behind this... "throw" it was barely moving after getting his by it. Fluttershy was not really satisfied with this result and looked back at Lightbeam embarrassed, who was looking almost impressed at the mare as if she had no idea how she managed to do this. "Maybe...we should try something else?" She asked confused, to which Fluttershy only replied with an agreeing nod. So Fluttershy wasn't into this game and didn't seem to enjoy it this much, no problem, thought Lightbeam while she and Fluttershy left the bowling alley. It was just a matter of time until the two of them would find something to enjoy together. Lightbeam couldn't give up after one or two failed attempts, especially since Fluttershy desperately needed her help to be more assertive. Having that in the back of her mind gave her all the more reason to continue. Still, finding something that Fluttershy could enjoy provided to be more difficult than Lightbeam initially expected. She was willing to do something that she didn't enjoy as much as long as Fluttershy could be happy but that didn't seem to be the case most of the time. The spa, a restaurant, the library, no matter where they would go, Fluttershy always seemed really uncomfortable and almost upset. There was no progress. The two just couldn't find a place to have fun with or an activity to enjoy. They ended up aimlessly wandering through Ponyville desperately finding something to do but Lightbeam was starting to lose her drive to help Fluttershy after multiple failed attempts without any progress. Fluttershy remained silent most of the time. She probably thought of herself as a bother to Lightbeam by now, making her a little upset while she followed the mare in front of her. Of course, she didn't say anything because she was too shy to do so. Just when Lightbeam about to give up though, new hope arrived in the form of one of her friends, Star Twinkle, who just walked towards the two of them. Lightbeam slapped her cheek in a sudden realization. "I'm so dumb!" She exclaimed before she whispered something to herself in secret. "Why didn't I thought about that? Friends! In order to get Fluttershy out of her shell and make it easier for her to speak with others, she needs to speak with others!" Fluttershy didn't know what Lightbeam was mumbling under her breath but she has a suspicion that she was somehow the subject of it and as soon as Lightbeam turned her head towards Fluttershy with an almost sinister-looking expression on her face, she knew that she was right. "Fluttershy!" Lightbeam said as she rushed right in front of Fluttershy's face, scaring the mare in the process. "Let me introduce you to one of my friends! You're gonna be friends too!" She said in a maniac tone, much to Fluttershy's concern. The yellow Pegasus didn't look as if she liked the idea to meet somepony right now. She started to hyperventilate again but Lightbeam was completely unaware of that and ran towards Star Twinkle. The stallion was about to greet his friend but without a word wasted, Lightbeam went behind him and pushed him right in front of Fluttershy. "This is Star Twinkle! He is one of my friends!" Lightbeam said with a smile on her face. "You are gonna be friends too!" "We are?" Star Twinkle said confused before he turned towards his friend. "What is even going on here, Lightbeam?" He finally asked, even if he was already dragged into this whole situation by now. "It's easy!" Lightbeam replied, waving one of her hooves casually. "Fluttershy here is really shy and has problems talking with other ponies, and I try to help her overcome this problem by introducing her to one of my friends," she said before she pointed at the stallion. "That is you!" She added so that Star Twinkle would hopefully understand everything. Star Twinkle, however, had mixed feelings about this situation. "Well, I don't have a problem making new friends but don't you think that you should have at least asked before?" "Oh, it's fine," Lightbeam replied casually. "Right, Fluttershy?" "I meant asked me..." Star Twinkle corrected before he turned around to see what Fluttershy was thinking about all of this. But to the surprise of both of them, Fluttershy was gone without them noticing it at all. By now, Lightbeam was boiling, she couldn't believe that Fluttershy just left without a word and stomped on the ground in anger. "You gotta be kidding me!" She said before she left to where she thought the mare escaped. The mare left Star Twinkle, who was already confused as it is, even more confused. "Um...okay, I'll see you around...I guess," he said before he was on his way again, trying to forget this weird encounter as fast as possible. Later... A bunch of heavy knocks were thrown at Fluttershy's cottage door. "Open up! I know you are in there Fluttershy!" Lightbeam said angrily. After Lightbeam stopped knocking on the door for a while, a quiet voice could be heard from behind the door. "Um...please don't get this the wrong way but...please leave...if you don't mind..." the mare said from the other site, saying every single word in a scared tone as if she was afraid to hear Lightbeam's response. Which was well deserved... "I do mind!" Lightbeam replied angrily. "I just tried to help you! I knew that you had problems talking with others and all I wanted to do was helping you to overcome this fear! And what do I get!? Nothing!" She said as she walked away from the door a little bit. "You are not even letting me help you!" "I do..." Fluttershy replied, again in a scared tone. "No, you don't!" Lightbeam replied annoyed hearing this reply. "If you did then you would have fun and at least tried to talk with my friend! I know I would have done that!" After those words were spoken, there was a small silence between the two. The next words that Fluttershy said would completely catch Lightbeam off guard. "...But I'm not you..." Lightbeam's anger vanished for a moment and was replaced by sudden confusion. "...What!?" She replied not angrily or annoyed but rather puzzled as if somepony just told her that Earth Ponies could fly. Fluttershy continued. "I'm afraid to meet new ponies and I don't know how to act as carefree as you in public. I'm afraid of those things. I'm afraid of what other ponies think about me and I don't know how to deal with that. But I appreciate you trying to give me a chance, I know you did this out of kindness but I think I can't be helped like this..." Lightbeam carefully listened to every word that Fluttershy said to her and took then all in. She looked down at the ground, reflecting on them before she eventually spoke up again. "Oh my goodness...what am I doing!?" Lightbeam said in shock before she stepped back from Fluttershy's cottage. "I am so sorry," Lightbeam said in a shaking voice that was just screaming regret. "You're right, I think I did all of this out of kindness but it soon turned out into something very ugly. Summershine told me that you were very shy and I instantly thought that this was a problem. But it wasn't," she said before she sat down on the ground, upset about everything that she did. "You're right, you are not me. I can't turn you into me. Some ponies would have pushed me away instantly after I tried to just come into their life but you actually let me. And what did I do? I forced you to spent time with me, a stranger..." she said while she buried her face into her hooves in shame. "And worst of all, I blamed you for all of this and screamed at you..." The mare stood up on her hooves again and turned around. "I just...go away and leave you...I promise I will never bother you ever again, Fluttershy. I'm sorry," she said before she walked away from the cottage, hoping that she didn't make Fluttershy's day all too worse. Shortly after however, the door was slowly opened and Fluttershy stepped out of the cottage. "No...wait!" She said in a surprisingly desperate loud tone. Lightbeam turned her head around, her face filled with shame, she couldn't even look at Fluttershy right now. However, Fluttershy walked up to her with a smile on her face. "I don't want you to never speak to me again," she said almost casually. Lightbeam was thinking that she wasn't hearing right just now. "Why? After how I screamed at you just now and dragged you around with me the whole day how can you even speak to me like this?" She asked, being at a complete loss about now. Fluttershy explained herself. "Oh, I'm not mad at you for that, I am quite a difficult pony to deal with," she admitted almost too casually. "And knowing that you tried to help me made me not blame you but myself," she then looked down at the ground. "Though I have to admit that I get easily scared if somepony screams at me," By now Lightbeam sounded really desperate after hearing the kind words of Fluttershy. "So...we are still friends?" She asked with tears starting to build up in her eyes. "Yes," Fluttershy replied warmly with a gentle smile on her face. Lightbeam hugged the mare after hearing those words, and while Fluttershy was a little surprised by this action, she let it happen and hugged the mare back. Lightbeam understood that you simply cannot change somepony just like that. Fluttershy was having trouble with her shyness and she wanted to work on it but the way Lightbeam was taking on this was not the right way. Surprisingly, Fluttershy was all up for the idea to let Lightbeam help her but she wanted to do baby steps, one at a time, to make it easier for her and appreciate the time that she would spend with her new friend. "It's kinda weird," Lightbeam said at the end of the day once she walked away from Fluttershy's cottage again to head home. "All I wanted was to help her but I somehow got lost and it ended up in the worst way possible," The mare looked up at the sky. "Sometimes being too kind is probably a bad thing...if you end up hurting your friends...or in my case, it can blind you to what was actually important," she said as she walked home now. While she was still a little upset that she put Fluttershy through all of this today, there was one thing that cheered her up again. And that was knowing that she made a new friend...