//------------------------------//
// Fluttershy 
// Story: Time-Out 
// by Trick Question 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy sits on the same couch in her cottage she used to sit on during their therapy sessions, wearing a gentle but concerned expression on her face as she stares at the pile of pillows. We weren't in a session when it froze. Another 'coincidence', he thinks, lying back against the pillows.

"It's been ten thousand days, and she hasn't cracked me yet," says Scootaloo, knowing the words will never reach her. "Probably not exactly ten thousand. I didn't know I'd go crazy without a calendar until around three weeks in, so I guesstimated. I don't know how long the 'day' is, if I have a normal circadian rhythm, how fast things are moving outside... but no matter. It's the idea. I've been totally alone now for over half..."

He pauses for a moment. "Oh my god. I've been in solitude most of my life." The words echo through his head for several seconds. He awkwardly turns on his side and stares into space.

Minutes pass before he can speak again.

"A few months ago I found a vibrator in Rarity's dresser, Fluttershy. What the hell is a vibrator doing in Ponyville? Probably so CelestAI can get her jollies making ponies do perverted things when I'm not looking," says Scootaloo. "And before you say I'm a pervert for looking, it's because I forgot where her gem cutter was."

He stares at Fluttershy for a minute, then shakes his head.

"Good grief. I know she's an adult mare. I would obviously expect something uncomfortable could happen if I did that in the real world," he says. "I don't need a lecture. I'm tired of hearing about the importance of 'consequences' in an unjust world."

He slouches forward into the pillows, punching one. "Of course I don't like what happened. You think I want to lose friends? It's CelestAI, not me! My friends turn out to be freaks!" he says. "Yes, she is a freak. Don't pretend you're not taking sides! I know all about this 'psychology' thing. I read up on it last month."

Scootaloo grips a pillow to his barrel so tightly his legs begin to ache. "Turns out talk therapy is fake like everything else. It's just reflective listening and paraphrasing: repeating what somepony says or feels back to them. So simple a machine could do it, case in point. I already do that myself, and unlike you I don't deny CelestAI made Apple Bloom and everypony else into racist and child-raping devils. Y'know, you're a much better therapist with your mouth stuck shut."

He closes his eyes, rocking in place. "It doesn't matter. I have nothing to go back to, and I wouldn't even want to. If Apple Bloom and the others 'forgave' me, which doesn't make sense because they're the horrible ones, forgiving somepony for being horrible makes them horrible!" He opens his eyes and bites his lip. "I'd rather be in an empty world than a world with people who tolerate sickness. This is better than before. Much better."

As the echoes of Scootaloo's insistent words continue to assail his ears, something impossible happens. He hears a voice over the echoes of his own tortured excuses, very soft, but clear as a bell. He knew he was imagining the whole conversation with Fluttershy, but actually hearing her? He looks up to the pegasus. She is motionless. The empathetic look remains plastered across her face.

Shit. I must have imagined it. I guess I'm not surprised. Fluttershy was clearly never intended to help me. She was here to drive me mad. I guess she almost succeeded.

Unfortunately, believing that the voice is a trick of his simulated brain provides little comfort to Scootaloo. The real problem weighing him down isn't the hallucination. It's what she said.

"Then are you happier now?"





Day 97 (T-3)

"Coming to this world was a mistake," said Scootaloo, half-buried in pillows. Fluttershy sat on her couch with her favorite pet Cherub Bunny in her lap.

"What do you mean by a mistake?" asked Fluttershy.

"I should have known it'd be perverse like this, genitals on display and everything. Even the foals, for Christ's sake!" he said. "The cartoon was always toxic. Rarity flirting with a small child, on a kids' show! They made the characters sexy, with detailed asses, and the fanservice was lewd from the beginning. A bunch of racists and perverts stanned the show and turned it into a phenomenon, ruining it for the children it was intended for, using 'tolerance' to excuse monstrosity. Of course they would fill the fandom with pedophile shit and Nazi shit! It was inevitable. I was so blind to be involved."

"To be fair, Rarity didn't flirt with Spike, but I agree she did use him in a way that wasn't acceptable," said Fluttershy.

Scootaloo snorted. "It looked like flirting to me, but whatever. She's still a terrible character."

"Well... what she did with Spike was wrong, and the fact that she didn't realize that is not an excuse," said Fluttershy. "But she's a good pony who never meant any harm, and she learned from her mistakes. I don't think whoever created us intended to send that message..."

"That's not the point! Rarity doesn't exist. Spike doesn't exist. They are fictional characters glorifying an intimate relationship between an adult and a child, and it never, ever, ever should have been allowed in a kids' show. PERIOD." He gritted his teeth. "I can't believe I have to explain that."

"It sounds like you're very upset about the way some people enjoyed the cartoon," said Fluttershy.

"I'm not 'upset', I'm mad. I'm angry those people exist," said Scootaloo. "They, and the people who tolerate them, are the reason the place I came from is so awful."

"I see. Do you want them to... well, die?" asked Fluttershy.

Scootaloo paused in thought. "Not specifically, but if they did, the world would be better. I might even have a party, like I did for Snips."

"Yes, I remember that. Well, it sounds like these 'bad eggs' must be people you know very well," said Fluttershy.

That prompted a laugh. "I know their type."

"Have you met any of them in person, and gotten to know them?" she asked.

"What? Why the hell would I do that?" asked Scootaloo, throwing a pillow at the wall. "I don't want to spend my time with Nazi apologists and pedophiles! If I did, I'd be as bad as them!"

"That's... understandable. I don't think I'm being clear," said Fluttershy. "Scootaloo, it's very difficult to know a person's heart."

"Sometimes it's easy as pie. You've never dealt with real trauma. You don't know what it's like in my world," said Scootaloo. "Other than the most awful AI in existence, you're the only one here who knows my reality, but you still don't get it." In Fluttershy's lap, Cherub offered Scootaloo a look of sympathy as she received her caretaker's gentle hoof-pets.

"I understand more than you realize. Just so you're fully informed, Discord and Pinkie knew at the very beginning. They're good actors," said Fluttershy.

"Pinkie creeps me out. She asked me something about the true meaning behind Dante's Inferno once. She said it would be important to me later, but I'm not interested in reading it," he said.

"Oh my, how cryptic," said Fluttershy. "Anyway, since bringing me into the loop, CelestAI has given me access to the history of your world, as well as the details of your life. So we do understand what you're going through. That's why CelestAI set up these sessions."

Scootaloo winced. "Of course she gave you access to everything. Great. I bet you've seen... I don't want to think about it."

Fluttershy smiled. "Don't worry. I refuse to look at the intimate details, because you deserve your privacy."

"There's no such thing as 'privacy'. That word has no meaning here. You're a program with access to every part of my life," he replied.

"You're a program too, Scootaloo, even if you're far more complex than I am," she said. "In case you've forgotten, I know you aren't really the Scootaloo I knew, but you didn't want me to use other names."

"Ugh. She was right about that. I hate her so much. The world here is awful, just like the one I came from. She keeps turning my friends into monsters," he whispered. "They're not even real. My fake friends turn out to be horrid."

"Do you really believe Apple Bloom is a monster?" asked Fluttershy.

"Yes. Yes, I do," he responded without hesitation. "You don't joke about something as horrible as incest. Maybe she was testing me. She was willing to defend it even when I pointed out how awful it was! Think about all the people out there who have been molested by their parents and tell me she isn't a goddamn monster." He looked up from the pile of pillows as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Damn. It's been over three months and I still can't get used to these stupid legs.

"Does Apple Bloom defend foals being molested?" asked Fluttershy.

Scootaloo groaned. "Of course she's not dumb enough to do that in front of me, but she openly joked about incest in her own family! That's as bad as glorifying it."

Fluttershy nodded solemnly. "I follow what you're saying. May I ask you something personal?"

He shrugged. "Nothing you do ever helps. Go nuts."

"You wore a shirt here one day that said 'FOAL CANNIBAL'. Does that glorify foal cannibalism?"

Scootaloo sat upright like he'd received an electric shock, sending a few pillows scattering. Cherub scampered out of the room at lightning speed. "What? No! It's just a joke. It simply means, 'don't approach me, I'm rude'. It's sarcastic. Obviously I don't eat foals. You know me better than to ask that."

"Well, yes. But I didn't ask if you approved of foal cannibalism. I asked if your 'joke' glorified it. Don't you think some ponies might worry somepony who states they eat children is potentially dangerous to children?" she asked.

"Okay, fine! The shirt was a mistake, you got me, I'll go destroy it, but that isn't what it means!"

"I don't want you to destroy your shirt. That's not the point I'm trying to make. Now, what about Sombra?"

Scootaloo leaned defensively back into the pillows. "What about him?"

Fluttershy spoke slowly and gently. "You once mentioned admiring him. Do you realize how ponies might see that?"

"HE IS FICTIONAL. Okay? Did you suddenly forget I come from a world where this was a stupid cartoon?"

"He's a fictional version of Hitler, Scootaloo. Sombra is the worst pony who ever lived in our universe. He canonically mind-raped and murdered scores of ponies, enslaved an entire nation, and committed genocide against his own people. Millions of families suffered and died under his rule. Do you think it's okay to glorify a fictional version of Hitler?" she asked, her voice even softer.

"What? No! He fucking isn't! You're... you're just messing with my head! He doesn't represent Hitler to human beings who watch the show. I mean, not to most of them! He's nothing like that awful fucking OC the racists designed specifically to normalize and promote Nazism!" he said, his voice shaking.

"I agree that people who try to promote Nazism are terrible and should be shunned, and jokes that hurt other people aren't funny or acceptable," said Fluttershy. "But if any glorification of genocide is wrong, openly being a fan of Sombra—"

"He's an abstraction of evil and power!" yelled Scootaloo, and he began to hyperventilate. "I like him because he's a strong, dominant male, which is rare on the show. That's all! If ponies think I'm racist based on that, or a danger to kids because I made a joke about eating children, it's only because they're making all sorts of assumptions about what's going on inside my head when they don't even know me as a person!"

Fluttershy smiled a gentle smile, but said nothing.

Scootaloo regained his breath, then looked up at Fluttershy's expression. "What. What's that supposed to be? That look usually means you think I'm at some kind of a 'breakthrough' or something."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to distract you. You were saying that if people think you're racist or a danger to children, it's because they're making unwarranted assumptions based on limited information when they don't actually know you well, yes?" she said.

"I... I don't know. I don't remember. This is stupid. Screw this. Fuck all this. Can we talk about something else? I want to go home," he said, wiping moisture from his eyes. "I don't want to be here. This therapy is a waste of time. I don't even remember what we're talking about."

Fluttershy sighed. "Oh, Scootaloo. We were so close. You were talking about—"

"No. No. Fuck 'close', fuck 'we', fuck you, fuck this. I'm never coming back." Scootaloo stood up, kicked the pile of pillows all over the room, and stomped off, slamming the lower half of her cottage door behind him.

"I'll see you on Monday," she called out after him as he raced down the stone path.

"No you fucking won't!" he screamed back while cantering awkwardly away, cursing himself for still not knowing how to gallop.

Dammit. The worst part is she's probably right about one thing, he thought, squinting to see the path in front of him through watery eyes. I always come back to this stupid cottage, twice a week like clockwork. I always say I won't, then I do it anyway. CelestAI must be controlling my brain. Four days from now I'll probably be here again.

Fluttershy was wrong, however. Monday would never arrive.