//------------------------------// // Down the Rabbit Hole // Story: Fluttershy Digs Deep // by MagicS //------------------------------// Dawn broke out over Ponyville with Celestia’s timely raising of the sun. The warm rays of sunlight spread over each and every home and treetop of the wonderful little town. On the far edge of this town, far removed from the hustle and bustle (relatively speaking), sat a small cottage near the forest. A quaint thing that looked like it came right out a storybook, with its roof of grass and the birdhouses all over it, a small stream with a cute little bridge spanning it. A slice of paradise this little cottage was. Especially to the pony living in it and all the pets she took care of. From birds, to raccoons, to otters, to mice, to bears, and of course, rabbits, Fluttershy’s cottage was just as much of a sanctuary as the actual animal sanctuary she had built not too long ago. She truly wouldn’t have it any other way. As shy and reserved as she was around ponies and other talking creatures, she was just the opposite with her pets and any other animals she had to take care of. Barring a few exceptions. But she had always been trying her best to overcome these things and improve. She just took it a little slower than some ponies. While dawn had just broke, a number of animals were awake even before sunrise and the nocturnal ones were just now going to sleep. When a crack of sunlight came in through her window, the sole pony occupant of the cottage slowly fluttered her eyes open as she awoke. Fluttershy took a great big yawn and stretch to greet the morning before smiling and gently rolling the comforter of the bed off her body. On hooves light as feathers she trotted to the window and spread open the curtains to look outside. Things were already quite lively out there in the early morning outside her cottage. She saw hummingbirds and butterflies floating by, and a frog taking a dive into the creek. It really was wonderful. Fluttershy opened up the window and stuck her head outside, wiggling her ears to listen to all the noises from the animals. On a day like this it just made her want to… want to… She took a deep breath and- Ohhhh, what a beautiful day!~ I look outside to see all my animal friends~ And up in the sky the sun shines with its brilliant rays~ Just with a glimpse I know a happy day porteeeends~ Fluttershy giggled and drew herself back into her bedroom, then practically skipped down the stairs to the first floor of her cottage as she called out to all the animals still asleep or that lived down here. “Wake up everyone, it’s time for breakfast!” All of her friends who lived inside the cozy cottage and just outside it practically came running when they heard her charming voice. Including Harry. Fluttershy started getting everyone’s bowls and meals ready, once she was done with breakfast here she’d take a short little trip over to the animal sanctuary and see how everyone there was doing. In such a good mood she couldn’t help but sing a little more. Morning in my cottage is wonderful~ Morning with my animal frieeeends~ Morning with everyone I care for~ Fluttershy spun around and patted some of the heads of her animal friends. There’s every lovely little guest in here~ From my raccoon buddies to Harry the bear~ Swallows, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, and cuckoos~ And of course my favorite Angel Bunny too~ Fluttershy paused in mid-step and looked down at a plate with an untouched carrot on the floor. “Angel?” She blinked at the plate in confusion before looking over her roomy cottage’s living room. There was no sign of Angel anywhere. “That’s strange, Angel is usually the quickest to come get his food.” Fluttershy rubbed a hoof under her chin as she thought about where he could be. She looked over inquisitively at Harry. “Harry? Have you seen Angel Bunny this morning? Have any of you?” The bear looked thoughtful for a second, looking up at the ceiling with a claw pointed up under his chin, before he looked at her and shrugged. No sign of him. The other animals weren’t anymore helpful, it seemed none of them had seen Angel Bunny this morning. Apparently the last any of them could remember seeing Angel Bunny was sometime last night. Which was a bit concerning for Fluttershy. Last night she hadn’t been home at all so she really had no idea how long Angel Bunny might’ve been missing. She had been at a party for Applejack over at Sweet Apple Acres and she didn’t get back from it until close to midnight. A sudden thought came to her and Fluttershy smiled. “Oh, maybe he was just meeting up with Miss Bunny at the sanctuary! If he isn’t here to get breakfast he must’ve spent the night with her there. Maybe Doctor Fauna is there too and had breakfast ready for some of the animals?” There was no way Angel Bunny would miss a meal so that had to be it. Fluttershy made sure everyone at her cottage got breakfast and was taken care of this morning before waving goodbye to all her sweet and lovely pets and taking the short little hike it took to get to the animal sanctuary. For who knows how many times she thanked the sanctuary again for being there. It really was a Princess-send. She had put so much hard work into making it the perfect place where all sorts of animals could enjoy. After all, as much as she tried and wanted to, she just didn’t have all the space she needed back at her cottage. As she made her walk to the sanctuary she looked around and really took in just how beautiful of a day it was. Not only did she hear the chirping of birds all around her but she could hear the voices of happy ponies carried on the wind coming from town. Flowers were blooming all over too and the pegasi had done a wonderful job of keeping the sky clear. She had to stop and say hello to every little animal that crossed her path but eventually she did make it to the sanctuary. “Hello, everyone!” Fluttershy called out as she walked through the little meadow that led up to the pond and waved to all the animals that were here. Naturally many of them came up to greet her and Fluttershy giggled while giving them plenty of petting and attention. She normally would have really loved this and spent more time with everyone but she had a certain bunny to look for and unfortunately he wasn’t one of the animals that had come running to her. A quick look around showed her no Doctor Fauna either so she’d have to start with asking some of the other animals here. “Have any of you seen Angel Bunny this morning or maybe last night?” She asked them all. A series of chirps and squeaks as they talked amongst themselves or tried to answer immediately were their responses. But nothing she heard was a “Yes”. Seems like none of the sanctuary animals had seen him around either. “Oh my...” A twinge of worry hit Fluttershy as her mouth pulled downwards. “None of you have seen him at all?” She looked at Antoine the snake. “Antoine? You didn’t see him yesterday? Or try to eat him?” The snake shook his head and flickered out his tongue. “Muriel?” Fluttershy asked the elephant. The elephant also shook her head and trumpeted in the negative. “Oh dear, Angel is… is… missing!” Fluttershy cried in horror. “I have to find him right away! Where could he be?” She practically started to panic and hyperventilate all at once. A habit she had been trying to kick for ages but this was a really serious situation! Her dear sweet Angel Bunny was missing and none of her other pets or animal friends knew where he was. She tried to calm herself down a little and think on what she should do next. Go into town and tell Twilight? Or Doctor Fauna? Go see if Zecora knew anything? It was possible Angel had gotten into the Everfree. Unfortunately being plagued with all these possible choices at once just made Fluttershy panic and hesitate more. She liked it a lot more when someone else was telling her what to do. Fluttershy blinked and caught her breath. “Hold on, I can’t just stay here like this while Angel might be in danger, he’s my pet and I have to find him!” Someone telling her what to do was all well and good but sometimes Fluttershy really did need to bring her assertive self out. She knew Angel best, she knew the area best, and the other animals best, so she would be the best possible pony to find him. Of course first she needed to stop her legs from shaking and get her head into the game. This was still stressing the poor pony out and she had a tendency to really imagine the worst in situations like this. “Calm down, Fluttershy. Take a few deep breaths and think,” she said, following her advice and standing still for a second in the sanctuary while the other animals looked on in concern. “There can only be so many places he could have gotten to. I saw him yesterday before Applejack’s party after all.” Fluttershy smiled. “And who said I have to look for him all on my own?” She looked at the other animals and leaned her head down to better look the critters in the eyes. “Oh, will you all please, please help me search for Angel Bunny? You can get to places that I can’t and you probably know about any hidden burrows or nests.” Another thought came to her. “And see if you can find Angel’s lady bunny friend! Maybe she knows where he is.” No animal could resist Fluttershy’s pleading and her soft eyes. Snakes slithered, birds flew, frogs hopped, and bugs buzzed as they all spread out from the sanctuary to go find Angel Bunny. Fluttershy took a big sigh of relief and sat down, her heart was still beating a little hard and she was worried but she also had faith in her friends. She wasn’t going to just sit around doing nothing herself though. Soon after making sure she wasn’t going to faint, she headed back to her cottage. It was possible Angel had already come back on his own, and even if he hadn’t yet that was still the most likely place he would show up. Fluttershy managed to keep a smile on her face and stay positive as she made it back to her cottage, things were certainly going to turn out alright. After all it was such a beautiful day, how could anything bad happen on a day like this? “I’ll even make Angel an extra-special breakfast when I get back, not just a carrot. He’ll be so happy and he’ll see how much he means to me,” Fluttershy giggled. Things were a little hectic in and around her cottage since her animal friends were still looking for Angel and trying to help her but Fluttershy had them calm down too. Everyone was going to get lots of love today. Especially once Angel got back, Fluttershy would just be so happy that maybe she’d do something special for all her pets. Once she got settled down back in her cottage she grabbed some tea from her shelf and put a pot of water on the stove. This would help her relax her last few nerves. She hummed to herself and sung a little tune inside her head while waiting for the water to boil and her tea to finish. The pleasant aroma coming up from it relaxed her already and she took a deep breath of the sweet air inside her cottage. Some early morning tea was just what she needed right now. Pounding on her door brought Fluttershy out of her reverie and almost made her drop the tea spoon she had been using to mix the tea. “Oh my! Is it the animals?” She quickly trotted over and opened up the door to see a bunny but not her bunny. “Miss Bunny? Did my friends find you?” Fluttershy asked, looking out the door and seeing a number of her friends from the sanctuary standing there with sad looks on their faces. Oh dear, that didn’t bode well. Squeak squeak squeak! Miss Bunny said to Fluttershy while frantically throwing her tiny little bunny arms around the air. “Slow down, please!” Fluttershy said. “You know where Angel is?” Squeak squeak squeak! “You were with each other in your burrow in the forest last night? What were you doing?” Squeak. “Oh my,” Fluttershy blushed. “Well what happened next?” Squeak squeak squeak! Fluttershy gasped and clasped her hooves to her mouth. “T-The ground opened up beneath you two and Angel Bunny fell in?! B-But where did he fall? How far?” Miss Bunny shook her head, little tears falling down her cheeks. Squeak squeak squeak! “You don’t know? It was so dark you couldn’t see? Oh no, this is terrible!” Fluttershy screeched in terror. From what Miss Bunny had told her, one of the tunnels in her burrow had opened up like a sinkhole and Angel fell in. She almost fell in too but managed to save herself. Once the tunnel had gotten stable again she had looked in and saw nothing but a deep, deep hole. She had tried calling out for Angel but there was no response and she was too afraid to go in after him. Miss Bunny had been panicking and worried the whole time since until Fluttershy’s animal friends found her. “Please, take me there right away! I have to see what happened!” Fluttershy said. Fluttershy followed Miss Bunny as she led her to her home in a panicked gallop. A number of other animals from the cottage came following Fluttershy too. She was so worried for Angel, she just wouldn’t know what she would do if he was hurt! Miss Bunny’s burrow wasn’t that deep in the forest so they got to it pretty quickly. That was when they hit the first problem: Fluttershy was just a mite bit too big to fit into the rabbit hole. “I can only fit my head in,” Fluttershy said as she looked at the entrance to the rabbit’s home. She looked at the other animals that had come with her and spotted a friendly badger she knew. “Miss Bunny, I’m sorry that we might have to wreck part of your home but I Pinkie Promise that I’ll make it up to you.” Squeak squeak? “Mr. Badger?” Fluttershy asked as she walked up to the creature. “Can you please dig a hole right above the tunnel where Angel Bunny fell down?” The badger saluted and Fluttershy had Miss Bunny direct them to the right spot. She wasn’t exactly happy that her home was going to be torn up like this (even more than it already had been), but Miss Bunny knew finding Angel was more important. Luckily the badger made quick work of the top soil and the tunnel system was opened up. They still needed to dig a little deeper to find the correct tunnel and hole but they were getting closer. Fluttershy was biting her lip and sweating in anticipation the whole time. The hole the badger was making was only just big enough for her to squeeze into too, it would still be tough to get down there and see what was going on. Finally his claws broke through another layer of dirt and the entire roof of the bottom tunnel collapsed inwards, revealing the deep, dark hole that had apparently swallowed Angel Bunny. Mr. Badger crawled out of the hole he had made while Fluttershy and Miss Bunny both looked down into it. “Angel! Can you hear me?” Fluttershy called out into it—still fairly quiet but it was most certainly a yell for her. Squeak squeak squeak! Sadly there was no response and the hole, barely big enough for Fluttershy to fit into if she wanted to, just menacingly sat there. It really was totally pitch black, almost like it swallowed light. She had no idea how deep it went or what it was like past the rim. Fluttershy gulped and dropped down all the way to it, sticking her head into the darkness. “Aaaaaangellllll!” She called out again. But there wasn’t even an echo. “Oh no...” She whimpered as she pulled her head out of the hole, tears beginning to gather at her eyes. “I-I have to find him! I have to do something!” Her mind was going a million miles at once, she wanted to fly off and find someone to help her, Twilight probably, but what if Angel was hurt and needed help right now? Fluttershy shook her head, she couldn’t spend too much time thinking now, she had to act. And she knew what she had to do. “Don’t worry, Angel! If you can hear me I’m coming for you!” Fluttershy said into the hole again before pulling back and gulping. “B-But it’s totally dark a-and narrow. Ohhh, what am I going to do?” Fluttershy nervously dithered as her many fears were keeping her from immediately charging ahead like she felt like she should. “How can I rescue Angel if I can’t see anything?...” Fluttershy felt a tear roll down her cheek. Suddenly, a light-bulb turned on above her head. “Oh, wait! That’s it!” Fluttershy flapped her wings and floated out of the newly excavated hole and back onto the ground. She then ran back through the forest while Miss Bunny squeaked in confusion. But Fluttershy ignored her now, she had to be as fast as possible and there was no time to waste. Soon she got to her cottage and opened up the door, going directly to the closet she kept her various items and tools for taking care of her animals in. There were numerous overflowing shelves and boxes all stacked within, she had really wanted to tidy up some time ago but she never found the opportunity. As she dug through it all she whimpered: “Oh, I should’ve just told Twilight I had a closet to organize, she would’ve loved fixing it for me.” She had to shove a few boxes out of the way and made a right mess of her living room but eventually she found what she was looking for. “Aha!” Fluttershy squeaked with joy when she found the yellow hardhat buried at the bottom of her closet. She hugged it tightly to her chest and smiled. “Oh thank you so much, Rarity!” The hardhat was a birthday gift received a couple of years ago from Rarity, it had a light on the front and a blue bow on the back, it was just like one Rarity used when she was spelunking for gems in the caves under and around Ponyville. Rarity had given it to her because she knew some of the animals, like bats, that Fluttershy took care of lived in dark caves. Fluttershy hadn’t had many opportunities to use it but now it was going to more than make up for how many bits it had cost Rarity to buy it and pretty it up. Fluttershy flipped the switch for the light and was happy to see that it lit up just as brightly as it should. With a satisfied nod she put it on her head and ran back out the front door. Three seconds later she ran back in, grabbed a paper bag from a kitchen cabinet, and breathed into it several times over. Finishing, she put the bag down and took a deep breath. “Okay, you can do this, Fluttershy. For Angel.” Having now psyched herself up she left her cottage again and ran back as fast as she could to Miss Bunny’s home and the deep hole that had appeared at the bottom of it. More animals had gathered around it, waiting for Fluttershy’s return and trying to console Miss Bunny at the same time. When Harry saw her he tried to stop her from going in the hole after Angel, worried for her. But Fluttershy had to tell him that she needed to do this and rescue Angel. “Thank you, all of you, for your help. And don’t you worry about anything because I’m definitely going to rescue Angel!” Fluttershy said to the assorted critters. Of course they were far more concerned about something happening to Fluttershy than to Angel. Aside from Miss Bunny. Fluttershy was a bit more popular with the other animals than Angel was. Just a bit. A tiny bit. Fluttershy took another deep breath as she looked down at the hole from the ground above it. As she stared at it a cold pit formed in her stomach and she almost felt a sense of vertigo. It was scary. It was really scary! Her legs started shaking despite her best effort to control herself and her teeth chattered. What was she thinking? Was she really going to go dive into some underground tunnel without any help when who knew what could be down there? Not to mention just how impossible to navigate it could be. She could get stuck, or lost, or, or—any other number of things! Down in whatever sort of cave this led to she probably couldn’t fly either, even though she preferred to walk in the first place she still liked the safety of having her wings too. She’d be like an earthworm. She admired earthworms for all the hard work they did but Fluttershy was a little too claustrophobic to want to be like that. Trying to swallow her fear she flipped on the light on her hardhat and watched it illuminate the entrance to the mysterious hole. The light didn’t penetrate far at all but it did show the hole went down at a bit of a slant instead of straight down. So at least she would have an easier time crawling down it than if it was vertical. If it was like that she’d be so worried about falling and falling. As she dropped down into Miss Bunny’s tunnels she angle her head and the light to see as far as she could into the tunnel that had swallowed Angel. It still didn’t show her much but she knew it was going to be a tight fit for a while. She might have to hunker down and crawl for a decent ways down until the tunnel opened up. If it opened up. Again she felt that fear, hesitation, and doubt start to take root in her body. This wasn’t exactly a very Fluttershy thing to do, that’s what the voice in the back of her head was saying. Telling her to go home and get someone else. But Fluttershy had to ignore that, she had to be assertive to herself, and rescue Angel Bunny. Because she was the one here now and he was her pet. Angel Bunny was important to her and if he was hurt or lost and scared then she needed to be there for him no matter what. “You can do this, Fluttershy,” she said to herself again. “You can do this, you can do this. If Rainbow Dash was here she’d reassure me and say I could do it too. So would Twilight, and Applejack, and everyone else, they’d all believe in me. So I’ve gotta believe in me too!” She looked up at the animals crowding around and gave them a warm smile. “I’ll be back in a jiffy, but until then you’ll have to look out for each other, okay? Doctor Fauna will still take good care of you. If you can, try and tell her what happened.” Fluttershy then looked back at the hole and lowered her head, getting down low and pushing her way down into it as she dug below Ponyville to wherever it was that Angel Bunny had gotten to. This day had certainly not turned out to be as wonderful of a day as she had expected. “Don’t worry, Angel! I’m coming!”