Follow That Lizard
Fluttershy's steps were slow and tired. They dragged upon the earth as she traversed it.
Everyone was slow and tired right now, it came from not having eaten in a while, but Fluttershy felt as though her steps were particularly slow.
And she felt as though other ponies felt just the same way she did. She had caught Twilight's royal guard friend, the one who liked to be called Ace, looking back at her from where she marched along in front with Twilight, and occasionally she whispered something to Twilight that Fluttershy was certain was about her.
About her weakness. About her uselessness. About how she was nothing but dead weight to the rest of her friends, only slowing them down.
Everypony was moving slowly right now. The sun was up, and its rays seemed to fall upon them here with more ferocity and greater heat than they ever had in temperate Equestria. It was as if Celestia did not simply raise the sun each morning, but also held back the worst of its excesses by more unicorn magic – but only in Equestria over which she ruled. That protection was wholly absent here in the zebra lands, whichever of the two zebra lands they were in now. Without a map, not even Twilight knew for sure.
Zecora was in front, leading them towards her home, towards a place where they would receive refuge and hospitality in spite of the vague and vaguely ominous doom hanging over Zecora's own head when they got there. It was very kind of her, to take that much of a risk for their sake, especially when none of the ponies were particularly close with her, and even moreso when you considered how the ponies of Ponyville had treated her for the longest time. It was very kind of her, to have agreed to be their guide at all and to offer to guide them to a place where they would be safe but she would not. It was so very kind of her, but at the same time Fluttershy was beginning to think that they just wouldn't make it that far.
None of them had eaten since breakfast on the morning of their ill-fated attempt to enter Cirta. Since then they had had no food, and no water. Even Spike, though he had been surrounded by jewels, had been too busy coming up with a plan to rescue the rest of them to eat any of them.
And that hunger and thirst was showing as they trudged along across the arid plain, under the burning heat of the sun, with their hoofs scuffing the sandy floor and their heads bowed. Rainbow Dash, who usually delighted in her power of flight, didn't seem able to muster the energy to fly and kept walking with the rest of them. Fluttershy didn't think that her wings would have still worked even if she'd wanted them too. Applejack was muttering to herself under her breath. Pinkie's ordinarily exuberant mane was frazzled and a little deflated, and her stomach grumbled louder than all the rest of them put together.
Spike seemed to be coping the best with the heat, but the worst with the hunger: he moaned softly, clutching his stomach with his little scaled hands as he rode spread out across Twilight's back like a saddlebag.
Poor dear, to be so hungry and so thirsty and after he'd just saved them from the dungeons of Cirta, too. But at the same time, lucky him not having to walk.
Fluttershy felt herself stumble on an uneven patch of ground. It was only with sheer luck that she kept her footing and didn't go sprawling on the sandy floor beneath her.
A panting sigh escaped her. Coming here… coming here, she thought, as much as she could think anything when she was baking and starving and the heat of the day was so intense upon her face, coming here had been a mistake. Twilight shouldn't have asked her to come here. But it wasn't Twilight's fault, Fluttershy added mentally in case anyone – even her own head – thought that she was accusing her friend of anything. It was her fault for being so weak. So pathetic.
She had always been the weakest of them, the most feeble. But in Equestria that hadn't mattered so much. In Equestria, where there was always a meal to come home to, in Equestria where the days were bright but the weather was not too warm, in Equestria where things were, on the whole, always pleasant and rather lovely. In Equestria it didn't matter that she was always holding the others back, because they could afford to carry her anyway.
But here and now, in this harsh world were only the strong survived, they didn't have the luxury of carrying Fluttershy the weak and hopeless. Here, in this harsh world, she was putting their lives in real danger.
Maybe… maybe they'd stand more of a chance if she… wasn't…
Fluttershy stumbled again, and this time she fell to the ground with a hard thump, her face, her entire body striking the earth as her lilac mane fell across the dusty earth.
She made no move to get up. Even if she'd wanted to, she wasn't sure that her limbs would have obeyed her.
Fluttershy groaned as she lay on the ground, and a little sand got in her mouth as he did so.
"Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash said, her voice seeming to come from very far away, as if Rainbow had started flying again and was calling down to her from out of the clouds. She had always risen so high, so much higher than Fluttershy had been able to rise. "Fluttershy, what are you doing falling down on the job? This isn't naptime! Come on, you've gotta move!"
"Leave me," Fluttershy murmured, because it would be the best thing for all concerned without doubt.
"Leave you?" Pinkie cried, bending down and resting her chin on the ground so that she and Fluttershy were at eye level. "Come on, Fluttershy, even I know that this is no time for kidding around."
"I… I'm not kidding, Pinkie," Fluttershy admitted through cracked, dry lips. There was no moisture left in her mouth to dry them.
Pinkie's blue eyes, so clear and so innocent, began to be suffused with alarm. "Come on, Fluttershy, don't say that. I mean seriously, don't say it!" her voice acquired an edge of nervousness to it. "I mean, how many times do you hear me say the word seriously, huh?" She laughed, but it was very nervous laughter, without the usual joy that rang when Pinkie Pie laughed. "Fluttershy, pranks are only funny when everyone's laughing and nopony's laughing right now so stop it and just get up, okay!"
"I can't," Fluttershy moaned.
"Yes, you can," Rainbow insisted. "Just push your legs up against the ground, then put one hoof in front of the other okay? Here, I'll even do it with you."
Fluttershy would have smiled if she had had the energy. "I… I really can't," she whimpered, as her legs trembled feebly from lack of energy.
"Fluttershy?" That was Twilight's voice, soft and mild and anxious. "Fluttershy, is something wrong?"
"Yes, something's wrong," Rainbow snapped. "We've had no food, no water, and this heat is unbearable!"
"Oh, really?" Twilight demanded sarcastically. "Well thank you for that brilliant observation, Rainbow Dash, I would never have noticed without you here to point it out!"
"Girls," Fluttershy murmured. "Please don't fight. Just… just go."
"Go?" Rainbow repeated. Her voice trembled. "Go where? Fluttershy, what are you talking about? We all need to go. We're on our way to Zecora's home, remember? That's why you need to get up so that we can keep moving."
"Go," Fluttershy said. "Leave me."
"Leave you?" Rarity declared. "Don't be ridiculous, Fluttershy. We're not leaving you here or anywhere else. Now come on, stop all this nonsense and let's keep moving. The sooner we reach this safe haven the better."
"But you won't make it with me slowing you down," Fluttershy protested.
"I don't know if you've exactly noticed, Fluttershy, but none of us are exactly zooming along right now," Rainbow said. "And that's not on you at all."
"But-"
"No buts," Rarity said primly, as her shadow fellow over Fluttershy's face. "We're… we're friends, and we're going to help one another through this. It's the only way we're going to get through this: together. We'll help each other through this and we'll help each other find Twilight's heart and then we'll all go back to Ponyville together, all of us." Rarity smiled desperately. "And then we can go to the spa and get pony-pedis and wash all this dreadful sand out of her manes, doesn't that sound lovely? But… but it won't be the same without you, darling, so won't you please get up?"
"Rarity's right," Twilight implored. "We have to stick together."
“Twilight’s right, like she is… well, most o’ the time,” Applejack said. "Now make some room here a minute. Hold on, sugarcube, I got you."
Fluttershy felt something poking at her belly, lifting her up. "Applejack? What are you-"
"If you can't walk," Applejack muttered. "Then I guess I'll just have to carry you on my back until we get to Utica."
Fluttershy felt as though she would have cried, except that she was too dry and dehydrated for tears. "Applejack… you can't-"
"Just you watch," Applejack said. "You don't weigh much more than Apple Bloom anyhow. Don't worry about a thing, Fluttershy, I got you."
"Wait."
"Fluttershy, I ain't takin' no for an answer so-"
"No," Fluttershy squeaked. "No, just wait a second." Because she could see something moving under the sand, coming closer, something that looked as though it was about to rise into view.
A lizard, a little green and scaly lizard, with stripes like a collar around its neck, poked its head out of the desert sand.
"Hello there," Fluttershy murmured.
The lizard stared at her, awkwardly balanced with two feet in the air and two on the ground. It tilted its scaly head to one side and blinked. Then it let out a little croaking sound.
Fluttershy's gift did not translate the speech of beasts and birds. She didn't hear the words of ponies coming out of their mouths, nor for that matter did she 'understand' what they were saying in such a way that she could have produced a translation guide, mapping individual sounds to pony words. She had already had to explain to a disappointed Twilight that it just didn't work that way. Rather what she got was a feeling in the heart, an understanding of what they were trying to communicate to her even if all she heard was an animal cry.
And what she understood was a willingness to help.
"We're so thirsty," Fluttershy said. "Please, do you know of anywhere that we could get a drink of water, and maybe rest out of the heat?"
The little lizard nodded eagerly, before it turned away and began to scamper across the arid ground in a southerly direction. It stopped, turning and wagging its tail eagerly.
"We should follow it," Fluttershy croaked. "He's going to lead us to water."
"How do-" Ace began.
"Fluttershy's never wrong when it comes to animals," Twilight declared. "Okay, girls, let's follow that lizard."
Fluttershy got up. She didn’t know where she got the strength from. One moment she was lying on the ground, her legs trembling, her body feeling more drained than it had ever felt in her life, like a bucket with a hole in the bottom. She lay there, feeling unable to move, deaf to all the pleas of all her friends to please get up.
The next moment she was up on her hooves, and following the path that their new friend, this little one they had been so fortunate to find, was showing them.
She couldn’t have explained it, where she suddenly got the energy from, except by invoking need. She needed to do this. The situation was no longer what it had been just a little while ago, when it had seemed that she was only slowing down her friends and that they’d be better off without her. Now they needed her, and that meant that she needed to do this for them.
She wasn’t fast or fierce like Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t strong like Applejack, she wasn’t smart like Twilight Sparkle; but Fluttershy could do this: she could lead her friends to the safe haven that they so desperately needed, with Utica seeming so far away. This was something she could do. This might even be the only thing that she could do and so she was going to do it for them, just as they had done so much for her and wouldn’t hesitate to do so much more.
And so Fluttershy found the strength; though she was no less thirsty than she had been, no less tired than she had been, no less weary than she had been nevertheless she found the strength to keep going.
She didn’t need Applejack to carry her on her back right now. Right now, Fluttershy was leading the way, her butter yellow hooves kicking up dust as she followed the helpful lizard who skittered on ahead of them, occasionally turning back to look at them. He squeaked at her, urging her to follow him, to keep on going, and Fluttershy did follow and she did keep on going because this… this was their salvation.
Her friends followed on behind her, their hooves pounding upon the arid ground. They followed Fluttershy just as Fluttershy followed the little lizard who led the way. They followed across the sand dunes and across ground that was hard and cracked with the lack of water. They followed beneath the blazing sun that beat down upon them without mercy. They followed, although they too were no less tired or thirsty or hungry than they had been just a moment ago. They followed Fluttershy with the same strength given by need that enabled Fluttershy to follow the lizard.
They followed across the desert, until at last the lizard brought them to the edge of a cliff, where a steep path led down into a little basin valley.
A green valley, with a great lake as blue as sapphires in the centre of it all.
The dusty desert, the cracked earth, the barren land all around them, it was all gone in the valley below. In its place was a land that was rich and fertile and verdant, where grass grew from the border of the lake to the sheer rocks that rose up all around it, where moss and creeping vines climbed up the rocky walls, where palm trees sprouted at the water’s edge. And not just palm trees, either. This was a living valley, not just a mere oasis but an oasis of life, where fruit upon the bushes bloomed and from the tall tress hung. Fluttershy could hear the birds singing to one another in those trees, soft melodies of love and friendship, of affable competition and good-natured rivalry. She could see the bushes rustling down below, and guess that there were animals living there as well. As this was the only water around, they probably lived here all the time.
It was really quite incredible.
The ponies stood upon the cliff edge, with the steep path winding down into the valley below them, and stared, awestruck, at the pure-looking, life-giving water down below them. They stared, as if merely drinking in the sight with their eyes was a substitute for drinking with their tongues.
Pinkie was the first one to break the silence, letting out a loud, wild whoop of glee as she leapt off the cliff, curling into a pink ball as she rolled in the air, flying out over the valley, spreading her legs out wide as she started to fall.
Her fall was arrested before she had dropped more than about a foot or two as Pinkie was covered by the distinctive lavender glow of Twilight’s magic. Twilight’s horn glowed with a matching aura as she pulled Pinkie Pie back towards the cliff on which the rest of the party stood. “Hang on, Pinkie,” Twilight said. “I know that you’re eager – I know that we’re all eager – to get down there. But let’s be careful.” Twilight set Pinkie down on the ground beside her, and turned to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, can you ask your new friend if it’s safe to just go down there?”
“Of course,” Fluttershy said, with a nod of her head. She got down on her knees so that she was at an eye-level with the lizard who had helped them to come so far. “Thank you so much for showing us the way here, little one,” she said softly. “But, can you please tell us, is it safe down there?”
The lizard cocked his head to one side, and squeaked at her, telling her that it was the only water in the immediate vicinity, and that if they didn’t want to drink here then, unfortunately, they would have to try and head for the zebra town – presumably Utica – that was quite a way off, so far that he had never travelled there, although he had heard of it from passing birds.
“I know,” Fluttershy replied. “And we are grateful, all of us, but if we go down there, is there anything or anyone there we should be worried about?”
The lizard appeared to grasp her point now, for he explained to her that there was something that lived in the water, and that although he, the lizard, was too small to be troubled by it, that might not be the case for Fluttershy and her friends.
“I see,” Fluttershy murmured. “Thank you for telling me.” She stood up, and looked back at all her friends, so thirsty and so hungry, so tired and so expectant.
They couldn’t go on, especially not now. She couldn’t go on now. If she told them that this had been an illusion, that it was a bust, that it wasn’t safe, if she told them anything of that sort, if she asked them to keep going at all then… then she feared their hearts would not be able to stand it.
She feared that her heart would not be able to stand it.
But there was something down there, and although he hadn’t been particularly specific about what it was, nevertheless her new lizard friend had implied it might be dangerous.
She couldn’t just ignore that.
Which meant that there was only one thing that she could do. Which was to say that there was only one thing to do in this circumstance.
“I have to go down there,” Fluttershy said. “There might be something down there, and I need to see what it is.”
“Something down there?” Twilight repeated. “What kind of a ‘something’?”
“I’m not sure,” Fluttershy admitted. “But our new friend says that it could be dangerous.”
“And you want to go down there?” Rainbow demanded incredulously.
“I’m sure that if I can just talk to it then everything will be okay,” Fluttershy said. “Whoever they are, I’m sure they’ll understand.”
“Are you?” Rainbow replied. “I’m not so sure.”
“Perhaps if we all went down there-“ Twilight began.
“Oh, no, you should stay up here,” Fluttershy said. “We don’t to scare or upset whoever it is there, and if I’m alone then I’ll be sure to get its attention.”
“But, darling, you just said it might be dangerous,” Rarity said. “Surely you can’t expect us to let you face danger alone?”
“That’s very generous of you, Rarity, but I’m sure I’ll be alright,” Fluttershy said. “I’ve talked to all kinds of animals that some people, and even some other creatures, might think were dangerous, but they’re often very sweet once you get to know them.”
Applejack frowned. “Are you sure that you want to do this, sugarcube?”
Fluttershy hesitated. “I… I am a little nervous,” she admitted. “But we need water, and so I don’t have a lot of choice, do I?”
Twilight looked worried, and uncertain. “I don’t-“
“Twilight, please,” Fluttershy said. “I know that I’m not… I know that I am… just because I’m not very important or useful or good at anything… but I can do this. Please, trust me.”
Twilight looked at her. A soft smile crossed her face. “Nopony thinks that you’re useless or unimportant, Fluttershy,” she replied. “You’re a part of all of us. You’re a part of my heart. And of course we trust, one hundred percent. And if you want to go down there alone then… good luck.”
Ace nodded. “You… you are a much braver mare than I gave you credit for.”
“Oh no, I’m not, not really,” Fluttershy said. “But this… this is something maybe only I can do.” She smiled, or tried to smile just as she tried to ignore the trembling in her legs that had nothing to do with hunger or thirst or weariness. “I… I’ll try and be back soon,” she added.
She turned away, and took a deep breath.
Courage. Courage for my friends.
Whatever is waiting down there is just a friend I haven’t met yet.
I can do this. Because my friends need me to.
Slowly, Fluttershy began to descend the steep and narrow path towards the watering hole.
The path that led down into the valley, with its precious and much-needed water at the bottom, was a narrow incline of dust-covered stone winding its way around the basin walls until it reached the bottom.
Fluttershy walked down the path, her hoof-falls echoing off the sides of the rocky basin which rose higher and higher the more she descended.
They rose slowly, because she descended slowly. She took tiny steps, pausing every few moments.
She was afraid. Fluttershy didn’t mind admitting that. She wasn’t brave like Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t even brave like Twilight, who had a different kind of courage to their brash and heedless pegasus friend. She didn’t really think of herself as brave at all; she didn’t even like to stand up for herself unless she had no other choice at all.
But here she was, walking – albeit slowly – down into the valley of the watering hole to confront… whatever might be waiting for her down there.
She looked down, into the large, inviting pool of water. It looked calm enough, and the water seemed too blue to be concealing anything within, but that could be deceptive precisely because it was so blue. Fluttershy couldn’t see anything within, nor see the bottom nor get a sense of just how deep it was.
And her new friend had said there was something down there, and she didn’t see that she had any reason to lie to her.
And so she, Fluttershy the coward, Fluttershy who was not as brave as any of her friends, had to go down there and check it out.
And so she gradually descended down the path, as the walls of the basin rose up around her.
Every so often she stopped, looking back at her friends who waited, expectant, at the top of the path. She was grateful for the fact that none of them looked impatient. In fact they all looked more worried about her than anything else. Fluttershy was grateful for that, too. She might have been even more grateful if any of them had been able to actually come down here with her, but she didn’t actually want that. She was the only one who could actually talk to animals, so anypony who came with her might just get into trouble.
It was best that she did this by herself.
Even though she didn’t really want to.
Her throat was dry from more than just thirst as she made her way down the path, pausing every few steps, listening as the pebbles that she had accidentally scuffed out of the way dropped with echoing thuds down to the ground.
Her legs trembled a little as she walked.
But, however slowly she walked, she still could not escape the fact that she would reach the bottom at some point, and eventually she did, stepping lightly but hesitantly off the path and into the midst of the verdant valley below. The water remained still and blue and so inviting, but the song of the birds in the trees had changed noticeably the closer she got. They had stopped singing to one another about their everyday lives and concerns, and started singing about her, the newcomer to the valley, the first they appeared to have seen in quite some time.
“Hello there,” Fluttershy called out timorously to them. “It’s nice to meet you all. I’m sorry if I’ve worried any of you. It really wasn’t the intent of me or my friends.”
A bird called to her out of the trees, asking about the friends she had mentioned.
“Oh, they’re just above me, waiting,” Fluttershy replied. “We thought that it would be less disturbing for you if I came first, so as not to worry everyone too much.”
There was silence in the trees and bushes, before a brightly coloured bird of some description, a parrot or a parakeet maybe, stuck its head out of one of the trees and squawked to her, asking what brought her here when so few came this way.
“My friends and I are on a journey,” Fluttershy said. “But unfortunately we lost all of our supplies, and don’t have any food or water. A helpful lizard showed us the way here so that we could get a drink. I’m afraid we’re all so thirsty.”
The bird, the plumage of his head a bright red with a yellow stripe around the neck, began to speak, before another call, from another bird, warned him to stop.
The bird disappeared back into the cover of the trees.
“Oh, please don’t go,” Fluttershy called, to no avail. “I promise I’m not here to-“ she stopped, when it occurred to her that the warning need not have been about her.
Fluttershy felt her stomach turn to ice. Her eyes widened, even as her pupils shrank, and she turned her head to look at the water.
To look at the dark shape that was rising up towards the water’s surface.
“H-hello?” Fluttershy whimpered.
A giant eel, long and black and with a head large enough to swallow a pony whole, breached the water with a great splash and a roar of anger. Fluttershy screamed as the eel, its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, erupted out of the lagoon towards her. The eel leapt, but so did Fluttershy, her wings spreading out around her as her terrified legs with a speed that Rainbow Dash could have been proud of.
Speaking of Rainbow Dash…
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow cried as she leapt off the rocky outcropping on which she stood and raced through the air, leaving a rainbow trail behind her as she rushed down towards the other pegasus.
“Wait!” Fluttershy called out, holding up one forehoof to stay Rainbow’s progress as the eel flopped down onto the ground, moaning softly as it lay on the sand, the sunlight glinting of its wet and dripping scales.
“Wait,” Fluttershy repeated, looking at Rainbow and wordlessly asking her to remain where she was, halfway between Fluttershy and the others.
Rainbow didn’t look particularly happy about it, as she demonstrated by folding her forehooves across her chest, but she obeyed.
Fluttershy descended slowly to the ground. The eel opened one black eye to look at her, but it made no move to attack.
“Is something wrong?” Fluttershy said. “Is there anything that I can help with?”
The eel moaned, and opened its mouth just enough for Fluttershy to see the problem: one of its teeth was rotten, black around the stump, and it was causing an inflammation of the gum that must be incredibly painful for the poor creature.
“You weren’t trying to hurt me, where you?” Fluttershy asked. “You were just desperate for someone to help you out?”
The eel moaned softly as it nodded.
“You don’t get many visitors around here, do you?” Fluttershy said as she settled down on the ground.
The eel shook its head.
“And I suppose the ones who do come were scared of you.”
The eel nodded.
Fluttershy reached out and patted the eel’s face with her hoof, stroking the scaly creature gently. “I’m sorry, but don’t worry; I’m here now and I’ll help you. I’m afraid that tooth is going to have to come out, and that may hurt a little. Do you understand?”
The eel nodded.
“Okay,” Fluttershy said gently. “Now, open wide, please.”
The eel opened its mouth, presenting its rotten tooth and inflamed gum.
Fluttershy approached, feeling a lot more comfortable now that she understood what was going on. She reached into the eel’s mouth, gripped the tooth tightly beneath her hooves, and pulled.
There was a wrenching crunch, followed a great roar of pain as the eel reared up into the air, howling in pain. Then it flopped back down onto the ground again. For a moment it lay still, eyes closed, panting.
Then it looked at Fluttershy, and smiled at her, gratefully.
It made a clicking noise with its tongue.
“Well, as I was just telling some of your bird friends, my friends and I are on a journey, but we were unfortunately robbed of all of our possessions, and we-“ Fluttershy stopped, as the eel turned away and slithered swiftly back into the water. “Oh,” she said. “Okay then.”
She wasn’t entirely sure what to do now. She thought that it would be okay for all of her friends to come back down and join her but at the same time she would have preferred not to have to make that assumption without talking some more to the eel first.
Plus, she enjoyed talking to new creatures.
A dark shape in the water alerted her to the return of the eel, this time carrying something in its mouth: a large bundle, wrapped in an oilskin, which he deposited in front of her with a thump.
“For me?” Fluttershy asked.
The eel nodded eagerly.
“Well, thank you,” Fluttershy said. “But what is it?”
The eel told her that he wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but that some zebras had dumped it in the water not too long ago, not knowing that the eel was there. Hopefully she and her friends might get some use out of it.
“Oh, that’s very thoughtful of you,” Fluttershy told him. “And may my friends and I have a drink out of your lake? I’m afraid we’re so very thirsty.”
Once more the eel nodded eagerly. Drink as much as you like, he told her, and good luck.
Fluttershy smiled. “Good luck to you, too, sir,” she replied, as the eel dived back into the water. She called up. “It’s all quite alright now, you can come down.”
The rest of her friends and companions descended into the basin, with considerably more speed and alacrity than Fluttershy had displayed not long before. Once they had all attacked the water of the lagoon, putting their snouts into the water and drinking their fill, slurping greedily at the sapphire blue and life-giving waters, obeying the instructions of the eel who dwelt there to drink their fill, they all gathered around the oilskin package that had been deposited upon the ground.
Fluttershy, for one, felt much better for having had something to drink. Her throat, her stomach, her whole body felt so much better. Why she almost felt ready to go on again right this instant.
“What do you suppose this is?” Applejack asked.
“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “Only one way to find out.” Her horn flared as she telekinetically unwrapped the oilskin, revealing inside – everypony gasped to see it – a cache of supplies contained within: bread and dried grass and a little candied fruit; cloaks, saddle bags, waterskins, enough to start replacing everything that they had lost following their capture in Cirta.
“What a miraculous stroke of good fortune!” Rarity exclaimed.
“And we couldn’t have done it without Fluttershy,” Rainbow declared.
“Oh, no, don’t exaggerate,” Fluttershy murmured. “I only-“
“Did everything,” Applejack said. She swept the hat off her head. “This is your moment, sugarcube, best own it.”
Judging by the expressions on everypony else’s face, it seemed that they all felt the same way.
“Three cheers for Fluttershy!” Pinkie cried. “Hip hip!”
“Hooray!” the others cried, and Fluttershy found herself lifted up off the ground by many eager hooves.
“Oh, girls, you don’t-“
“Hip hip!”
“Hooray!”
“I only-“
“Hip hip!”
“Hooray!”