//------------------------------// // Chapter 15A: A Voice from the Everfree, Part 1 (G. Gilda, H. Fluttershy, H. Rainbow Dash) // Story: On the Fine Art of Giving Yourself Advice // by McPoodle //------------------------------// G. Gilda—Equestria, Cloudsdale home of Rainbow Dash. Early morning of Day Two. When Rainbow Dash and Gilda came down for breakfast, they found Dr. Tarbell already sitting at the table, tucking into a pile of danishes. Windy Whistles, Bow Hothoof, Fluttershy—and Angel—were also there. A few minutes of eating later, there was a muffled thumping on the front door. Windy got up and answered the door, then came back less than a minute later, an awkward look on her face. She came up to Fluttershy and whispered in her ear. “Ugh!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “I was afraid of this. It’s Zephyr.” She got up from her place at the table. Windy and Bow looked curiously at each other. “Ugh!” Rainbow Dash echoed. “He’s probably just as bad as our version. I’m coming with you.” And she got up from her place. “Really?” asked Fluttershy. “You know what he’s going to do, right?” “Don’t care,” Rainbow said simply. “I’ve got your back. In fact...Gilda, do you want to come with us as backup? Zephyr’s not, like, dangerous. At all. He’s just really, really annoying.” “Who is he?” Gilda asked, getting up. “My brother,” Fluttershy said, in a rather disgusted tone. “And you want me to meet him?” Gilda asked. “I always got the impression from...Flight Camp Fluttershy that she didn’t want me knowing anything whatsoever about her brother. I didn’t even know his name before now.” “No, I definitely want you to meet him,” Fluttershy said with a smirk as she thought it over. “You can just fake ignorance if the subject ever comes up in the future,” added Rainbow. “Gildas are renowned for their ability to play dumb.” “That is correct,” Gilda added, simply. # # # Fluttershy opened the door, and was immediately pulled into a hug by the gangly Zephyr Breeze. “My poor little sister!” he exclaimed theatrically. He was nowhere near as good at this as Rarity was. Zephyr released his sister, and then held her at hooves’ length. “I just couldn’t sleep a wink last night, thinking about everything you were going to go through on your perilous flight to Canterlot.” “Uh huh,” Fluttershy said in deadpan. “And so I decided that I need to go with you, for your protection.” Rainbow Dash walked through the door to stand beside Fluttershy. “Oh, Rainbow Dash!” Zephyr mock-exclaimed. “I had no idea that you were on this trip as well—I completely forgot this was even your house.” Rainbow turned her head to look at the big sign on the side of the house that said “Home of the Soon-to-Be-Legendary Rainbow Dash!!!” “I guess this will be the perfect chance for us to spend some quality time together.” Zephyr continued, wiggling his eyebrows in what he thought was a seductive way. “You can tell me your dreams, and I’ll tell you mine. Most of them include you...and me.” “Are you trying to make a pass at her?” Gilda asked, walking through the open door to stand beside the two other pegasi. “Well, what’s it to you, feather...? Hey, you’re really big.” Gilda rolled her eyes, then pointed a claw at Rainbow Dash. “And she’s under-age.” Zephyr cringed. “Hey, look, I didn’t mean that stuff like...literally. It’s just a game we two play, isn’t it, Dashie?” Rainbow Dash shrunk a little at the use of the nickname. Fluttershy stepped in front of Rainbow. “Dr. Tarbell is having everypony who joins the trip pay 50 bits for expenses. Mom and Dad paid for me. Do you even have 50 bits?” “Wait, um...” “Do Mom and Dad know you’re coming?” “Um...” “Did you even ask permission?” “Hey I don’t have to ask anything!” Zephyr retorted. “I’m a fully-cutied adult!” “A fully-cutied adult without 50 bits,” Gilda remarked. Zephyr said nothing, pursing his lips as he carefully studied Gilda. “Oh I get it,” he said in a sultry voice. “The griffon is jealous.” “What?” Gilda responded in shock. “Yes, I see it all over your...beak. You want all of this lusciousness for yourself. Well for 50 bits, I can be your stallion and—” It was at that moment that the door slammed in his face, all three of the females having walked inside while he was puffing himself up. “I’ll be back with that 50 bits,” he told the door. “We’ll be gone by then!” Fluttershy exclaimed from the other side. # # # Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and went back to finish her breakfast. Fluttershy stood there, her back to the front door of the house, watching Gilda quietly. Gilda, seeing this, stopped and looked back. “Did you two manage to fix everything up last night?” Fluttershy asked. “Yeah I think so,” Gilda said. “Dashie said it was mostly my fault.” She smiled on seeing the suppressed grimace from Fluttershy. “And you think it was entirely my fault. And yeah, you’re both right. Dashie made me see what I was doing to you this whole time. I was jealous.” “No, really?” Fluttershy said in a low voice, her head turned away. Turning back to face her, she said, “That’s alright, but you don’t need to bother. You have your own problems, and I’m not important.” “Don’t say that,” said Gilda, reaching out to put a claw on Fluttershy’s shoulder. Fluttershy flinched. Gilda sheepishly removed the claw. “She made me realize that I’ve been blaming others, including you, for a lot of my own problems. I just wanted you to know that I’ll try to do better with you...and with the other you.” “Am...am I that different from Pony Fluttershy?” Fluttershy asked. Gilda laughed. “We’re having an actual conversation. That never would have happened with pony you. You are so much more assertive than her.” “I’m not assertive,” Fluttershy said in a small voice. “And you’re more cynical than her.” Fluttershy winced. “No!” she quietly exclaimed. “That part of me is a lie! ...And I hate lying.” She had a look of shock on her face, like the realization physically hurt her. “It’s...it’s what I do to make the bullies leave me alone.” Her voice had nearly faded into silence as she had spoken. “But you don’t need to know about the problems of a Fluttershy who will leave your world in a few days.” “Yes, I do.” Gilda turned back towards the kitchen. “Fluttershy and I will be a couple of minutes!” Rainbow Dash poked her head around the corner. “Is something wrong?” Fluttershy furiously shook her head. “No! Everything’s fine.” “I’m just getting to know Fluttershy a little bit better,” Gilda said, faking a smile. “Just the two of us.” “Oh, OK,” Rainbow said. “Take your time.” Gilda waited for Rainbow Dash to leave then turned back to Fluttershy’s confused expression. “What? I honestly want to know what goes through that head of yours. Both of them. So you were bullied in Humanworld too. What does that have to do with lying?” Fluttershy sighed as she realized that she was indeed having this conversation. “Being a bully yourself, I’d expect you’d know this.” She got a bit of a thrill on seeing the look of shock on Gilda’s face. “Bullies want reactions. If you don’t cry, if you show that you’re just as cold and heartless as they are, they eventually move on to another victim. I have to pretend to be cold and heartless, and I have to do it all the time.” Fluttershy looked down, talking to the floor rather than Gilda. “Everybody at Crystal Prep is a bully...or a victim. Humans are sent to Crystal Prep to learn how to be business leaders and make lots of money. I...I don’t know about how businesses work among ponies or griffons, but in my part of humanity bosses only care about themselves and making money. A boss who actually cares about the public welfare or the happiness of his employees is a loser. So to be a good Crystal Prep student means that you’re a bully. Beating up on the sensitive girl is practice for pushing your employees to work through their vacations, practice for destroying families by firing employees at the holidays just to see the look on their faces.” Gilda could see that this was something that was weighing on Fluttershy, something she had wanted to say for a long time but had never had the chance to. Maybe she could do it now because she was talking to somebody she would soon be saying goodbye to forever. A conversation without consequences. “I have to pretend to be an awful person all of the time,” Fluttershy confessed. “And there’s this horrible thing about humans and pretending: the longer we pretend to be something, the more we become that thing. Day by day, I was becoming cold and cruel, because that’s what I pretended to be. The only time I was reminded of who I should be is when I’m around animals. Because animals don’t lie.” “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” said Gilda. Fluttershy looked up in a bit of a shock, surprised that Gilda was still there. “But I think the experience made you stronger. You can talk back to me, because in your eyes I am an animal. And...cute.” Fluttershy grinned widely. It was true, regardless of how big her talons were. “That was the worst thing Rainbow told me last night. And maybe someday you’ll be strong enough to tell off those bullies.” “You...really think I’m strong?” Fluttershy asked. “On a relative scale,” Gilda said with a shrug. “I mean, take what happened out there.” She pointed over Fluttershy’s shoulder, at the front door. Fluttershy glanced behind her for a moment. “I don’t understand.” “You stood up to your brother. I’ve never seen the pony you do anything like that.” Fluttershy sighed. “That doesn’t really count. I’ve had to deal with Zephyr for most of my life. It’s not like standing up to a real person. And besides, it’s not like anybody notices when I do.” She muttered the last part. Normally, nobody was able to even tell she was talking when she did that. “Well I noticed,” Gilda said. “And I wish you the best of luck when you get back where you belong.” Fluttershy winced a bit. She knew she had to go back, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t conflicted. Feeling that the conversation was over, she made to walk to the kitchen. “One more thing,” Gilda said, holding up a paw. “That thing you said before, about how pretending a thing changes you. I...think it might be true. And might not totally be a bad thing.” Fluttershy looked at her, curious. “I had to pretend to be nice to fit in with the ponies,” Gilda exclaimed. “And it made me soft. That was why I shouted at you so much, because I was afraid I was turning into you. And...maybe I realize now that that is a good thing.” Fluttershy smiled. “I’ve been thinking about how this whole thing is going to go, and I don’t want it to end when we get back into our bodies. When we finally talk to Princess Celestia, I’m going to ask that she make us some kind of magic phones or something, so we can talk to our counterparts. I’m saying this because I’m also going to ask for a pair of phones for you, Gilda.” “Me?” “Yeah. And, if possible, to add a button on just your phone called ‘slap her upside the head’. Because, and I’m really sorry to come out and say something so rude, but the human version of you really needs one of those applied to her on a regular basis.” Gilda shook her head incredulously. She realized how far out of character this conversation had been, not only for Fluttershy, but for any pony, period. And then she broke out into a belly laugh. “Yeah, sure, Fluttershy,” she said at last. “And failing that I’ll write a letter for you to give her when you go back. You’ll just have to tell me more about her.” “Should I start with the criminal record?” Fluttershy said, walking past Gilda towards the kitchen table. “What’s a ‘criminal record’?” asked Gilda. Fluttershy stopped and thought for a few moments before looking over her shoulder at Gilda. “I am going to miss this world so much,” she said, before resuming her walk once more. Gilda was going to follow when she suddenly stopped with a realization: she was beginning to like the human versions of Rainbow and Fluttershy better than the pony versions. H. Fluttershy. With everyone ready to go, the group set out for Canterlot. Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof pulled the carriage through the air, Dr. Tarbell sat in the driver’s seat, and Rainbow Dash sat in the passenger seat. Gilda flew alongside the carriage, telling Rainbow every embarrassing story she knew about Grandpa Gruff. She had already told them all to her Rainbow Dash, but it was great to see the reactions on this Rainbow—she tended to enjoy even the off-color ones, unlike the pony version. Meanwhile Fluttershy was in the covered back of the carriage, having a panic attack: ‘I told her she had a criminal record. A criminal record! How could I be so stupid! I know I’m supposed to be more assertive, but that was definitely the wrong kind of assertive! I can’t believe I wanted people to notice me more! Actually having someone notice you, look at you—it’s just so horrifying! And when I get home and it comes time to confess—I’ll have to tell them everything; I mean how can you be a good Markist if you keep secrets from the Church, and they’ll want me to tell them, over and over and OVER again, with more and more of them there to hear everything, and to judge every little thing I...’ Fluttershy looked down, to see Angel Bunny tugging on her leg. “Y...yes?” she asked through teary eyes. The bunny hugged her tightly. “What, no, what are you doing? You don’t need to hug somebody who screwed up as much as me...” Angel started crying. “What...no!” She picked up the animal to hug him herself. “What do you have to be sad about? I’m the one who screwed up.” He chittered something into her chest fur. “I really wish I could understand you Angel. Are...are you thinking about something you regret?” Angel lifted his head from her embrace to nod sadly to her. “Well...if it was bad, I’m sure you’ve done something to make it better.” The bunny nodded again, slightly. “And now it’s in the past.” She wiped the tears from her eyes, addressing the advice to herself. “It’s...it’s in the past, and maybe it wasn’t even as bad as you thought it was. Maybe you were blowing it all out of proportion.” The rabbit looked up at her with sad eyes. “And we’re going to get through this together. Right?” Angel nodded. “Right!” She sighed. “I really hope I get a chance to talk to you before this is all over. I think you’re a very fascinating individual.” Angel nodded once more, before snuggling into her arms to take a nap. Fluttershy lay down carefully and watched over the little animal as he slept, her eyes full of a sort of maternal love for him. H. Rainbow Dash. The carriage set down in the village of Hoofington for a late lunch. “I’m confident that we can make Canterlot shortly after nightfall,” Bow told his wife. “Well I would like to rest a bit before the final push,” Windy told him. “I haven’t done that much sustained flying since my school days.” As the carriage rolled down the shop-lined street, Rainbow Dash looked around her. Unlike Cloudsdale, where every building had a unique shape, the stone buildings here all matched, and all fell under what on Earth would be called “Turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century Middle America”. Rainbow wondered if that would be considered quaint and old-fashioned in Equestria, or cutting edge. The merchants stood in the doorways of their shops, waving. Rainbow soon figured out that the shopkeepers were following a script: as the carriage passed a shop, the sellers would welcome them to their shop, followed by “in WORLD-FAMOUS HOOFINGTON!”—the last part loud enough for everyone on the street to hear. And then the other merchants would cheer. And when the carriage rode away from a shop, the seller would say “Thanks for visiting. BE SURE TO TELL YOUR FRIENDS!” And then another cheer. The only time this act was interrupted was when Gilda walked too close. Oh, and every one of those merchants were dressed the same, even when the colors didn’t look so good against their fur: a blue-and-white striped shirt front with gold buttons and a dark gray bow tie, and a straw boater hat with a blue ribbon around it. “Is this a theme park?” Rainbow asked herself. “What’s a theme park?” Gilda asked. Rainbow tried to come up with a short explanation, and failed. “Ask me later, it will take a while,” she said. Unfortunately, it turned out that the group had arrived at exactly the wrong time, in the two-hour window between the end of lunch and the start of dinner. “Well, there’s the Salad Emporium,” answered a young mare when asked about food. “But you’re better off waiting for dinner. Lunch Pail’s kinda grumpy.” “Well, we’re on a tight schedule, so I think we’re going to go there,” said Windy. “But we’ll keep what you said in mind.” “All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Go down that street over there,” the merchant said as the carriage began to pull away. When the other sellers glared at her she was sure to add, “thanks-for-visiting. BESURETOTELLYOURFRIENDS!” The Salad Emporium was a little outdoor cafe, with a board listing five different salads. As the carriage approached, a stallion could be heard yelling, “Out! Out! You were here to look, not to eat! And no pictures!” A pair of ponies with matching silk-screened tee-shirts ran past them into the main street, each of them with large cameras hung around their necks. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Gilda failed to recognize the gesticulating pony depicted on the shirts. The group paused to see if it was safe to proceed. An orange unicorn in the standard shopkeeper attire was standing in front of the tables of his small cafe, his chest heaving. Noticing the carriage of visitors staring, he plucked off his hat with his magic, smoothed out his mane with a hoof, and replaced the hat. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I am Lunch Pail, and this is my Salad Emporium. Are you here to look, or to eat?” He tried to ask the question calmly, but a hint of frustration could be heard. The ponies and one griffon looked around them, to try and figure out what everypony wanted to see here. The cafe was on a terrace, with a sharp plunge down to the road that entered the Everfree Forest. So the forest was the view. It was a nice view, but not jaw-dropping. “We’d like to have lunch,” Bow said. “And we’d like to eat there.” He deliberately pointed at a table where it was impossible to see the Everfree. “That’s wonderful!” Lunch Pail said with a beaming smile. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Rainbow Dash teased. “Something about ‘world-famous Hoofington’?” Lunch Pail rolled his eyes. “It’s a bit of a dumb formula, don’t you think?” he asked. “I mean, Hoofington is a great place, don’t get me wrong, but if it was actually world-famous I wouldn’t need to tell you that, right? Now let’s get you seated.” When Gilda walked by he did a double-take. “Aren’t you going to tie up your pet?” he asked. “Not a pet,” Gilda growled in a low voice. “It talks!” After taking a moment to calm himself down he picked up a large menu board and held it up in front of him for the group to see. There were five salads listed. “You should probably order the pasta salad,” he told them. “The greens get wilted by this time of day. Unless you like mushy lettuce?” Bow looked around to get a silent consensus. “Six pasta salads are fine. And waters.” Lunch Pail went inside the small cafe building to prepare their lunches. Dr. Tarbell sat down at the end of the table, then got out several books that included sections on the sonic magi-boom and continued the job he had started last night of collating his notes. Rainbow Dash looked over at the two pegasi who thought that she was their daughter. She had wanted to tell them the truth the whole day, but for whatever reason the doctor had been in earshot the entire time. Perhaps it was because in order to get out of earshot, he would have had to step off of the flying carriage to his doom. Lunch Pail came out with the salads and waters. After serving everybody, he made to go back into the tiny cafe. “Stay out with us, please,” Windy told the unicorn. “I’m here more to rest than to eat. Why don’t you tell us what’s so great about this town of yours? I’ll admit we only stopped because it was on the way to Canterlot.” Lunch Pail sat on his haunches a respectful distance away from the table—and on the other side from Gilda. “Oh, where do I start?” he asked himself. “We’re renowned for our sparkling beverages.” “You make champagne?” Fluttershy asked. At the confused look Lunch Pail gave her she added, “it’s a sparkling wine.” “Oh, no, we don’t make wine. We make sparkling fruit juices. Apple, grape, peach, if you can juice it, we can sparkle it.” “So there’s orchards around here?” Bow said. “I don’t remember seeing any on the way here.” “No, Ponyville has the orchards,” Lunch Pail said, a strong dislike buried behind the name of the other town. “We just sparkle. There’s a spring just a few kilometers from here.” “Do you ever just bottle the spring water?” asked Windy. “Oh...no. The water kind of stinks.” “So wouldn’t the bubbles?” asked Bow. Lunch Pail looked around awkwardly. “Well...yes. But you get used to it.” He decided to change the subject. “We also have this great little train, the Sparkle Train. It takes visitors to all the places where we sparkle our juices.” “How many places does it visit?” Fluttershy asked. “...Just the one. And it can’t get too close, because it really smells. But...we’re also Equestria’s premiere source of sparkle-related art.” The others were all silent for a few seconds. “Feel free to correct me,” Gilda said, “but wouldn’t ‘sparkle-related art’ basically just be drawings of little circles?” “...Yes.” “So to sum up, your town is known for ‘sparkling’...and that’s it.” Lunch Pail sighed deeply. “And for the big obvious thing that I’m so glad none of you brought up.” “The magic trick?” Bow said quietly. “Yeah, Jack Pot making the Everfree disappear,” Mr. Pail admitted. “From this very spot. It’s the only reason why anypony deliberately comes here anymore. He and his company made all the money from that stunt, which got him into Las Pegasus. And he’s never looked back, never had anything but contempt in his interviews for the ‘hicks’ he tricked into giving him the opportunity of a lifetime for next to nothing. “Like it or not, he changed this town forever. Now everypony wants some of that tourist money. So now us residents have to put up with the constant advertising pitches from City Hall, and the endless festivals that never attract anypony.” He got up and turned to face the main street of the city. “This used to be a good town! A happy town! Then the Council had to pin the blame for the bits one of them embezzled on a couple of foals! Everypony knows who was really responsible, but none of them are willing to take on the blame for bringing shame to Hoofington. Well I say, it’s too late for that, because this town is finished!” After this outburst, the orange pony plopped back down on the pavement and put his head in his hooves. Rainbow Dash, who had been quietly watching the whole thing, got up and walked over to the unicorn to put a hoof on his withers. “Hey, I know what you’re going through,” she said. “When I was younger there was this decathlete who was my idol. He’s the one who got me into sports, and when he got all the way into the...number one pegasus sports event...I was right there, glued to the...I mean, right there in the stadium, cheering him on. And then he was caught cheating, using...look, he cheated, alright? And from that moment his career in sports was over. And he kind of broke my heart when he did that. Like Hoofington for you, that guy was everything to me, and he betrayed me. “I took a few years off from sports after that, got more into flying than ever. But the next time that particular sports festival came around, I happened to catch some of the events, and I saw how much everypony enjoyed themselves, and how much it meant for the athletes, even the ones with no chance to medal. And that helped me to remember what I felt when I raced and when I played in a team, and I decided that I wasn’t going to let my one-time hero claim my happiness with his shameful act.” “He went into counseling,” Fluttershy added, stepping forward to stand beside Rainbow Dash. “He tells his story to troubled fillies and colts, so they can learn that cheating is not worth it. I’ve heard that he saved several young athletes from making the same mistake he did.” The cafe owner looked up at them. “I don’t know that I’m offering you any specific advice with this story,” concluded Rainbow. “I’m not saying you should give up on Hoofington. Maybe you should fight to fix it. What about this Ponyville? What’s wrong with that town?” “Nothing, actually,” Lunch Pail admitted. “They just keep succeeding while Hoofington fails. Despite the fact that they get all the Everfree monster attacks.” “Monster attacks?” Fluttershy asked nervously. “Maybe you should go over there for a visit. See if you can learn anything from them,” Rainbow suggested. “I might do that,” Lunch Pail said, looking off in the distance, before rising to his hooves. “Thank you, all of you,” he said. “You’ve given me a lot to think about.” He collected the payment that had been put down during Rainbow Dash’s speech, and went back into the cafe. “Who was the athlete?” asked Gilda. “Wind Rider,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Wow!” Gilda exclaimed. “You better not tell you-know-who about that. You do know that he’s the leader of—” “—I know.” Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles walked over to pull Rainbow into an embrace. “Is there something you aren’t telling us, Dear?” Windy asked. “You made it sound like you quit racing for a few years in that story of yours. And we know that isn’t true.” “Mom, Dad, there’s something I need to tell you...” Rainbow started. She stopped when she saw Dr. Tarbell collecting an itemized receipt from Lunch Pail. He looked up to stare right back at Rainbow, and she darted her eyes down to the ground. “There is something I want to tell you,” she said quietly. “But I can’t do it until after we see the Princess.” “Well, alright,” Bow said reluctantly. “If you think that’s best. We better get back to the carriage if we want to make it to Canterlot.”