Ch. 4
Kindness
Fluttershy was not having a good night. It had started normally enough. She had brushed her teeth, made sure that all of her animals were fed and safe despite her prolonged absence, gotten in bed, and quickly fallen asleep. She was exhausted after all the things she and her friends had done, and the late hour only amplified that fatigue. Otherwise it was a run-of-the-mill bedtime routine.
Then one of her gerbils woke her up with his coughing. This wasn’t a big deal; it happened a lot. She went to check on the poor critter, refilled his water dish, and was all ready to get back into bed. As she was about to slide under her covers, however, something seemed off.
What if it wasn’t just a cough? She thought to herself. It seemed like just a dry throat, but what if it was the first stages of a cold? Or bronchitis? Or lung cancer!?
It wouldn't take that long to double-check, would it? She would never be able to forgive herself if something happened to one of her furry friends and she had been able to prevent it. So she dug up her thermometers, mirrors, gloves, and other veterinary equipment, and asked Mr. Gerbil to hold still while she inspected his throat and chest.
Twenty minutes later, she confidently declared him to have a clean bill of health, and sent him back off to bed. She turned to go back to sleep herself, but a thought occurred to her: what if that wasn't the only pet she needed to check? And it wasn’t just diseases; there might be a loose nail, or an uncorked bottle of something, or any number of other things lurking in her home that she had forgotten about. She didn’t want any of her friends getting hurt because of her negligence; she would never be able to forgive herself. She owed it to herself, and to them, to be thorough.
So she began to check for other things that might be amiss. Her house, her animals, her yard, she inspected it all, oblivious to the time or effort it took, dawn creeping ever closer as she worked…
After countless hours of dusting, sweeping, health checks, and light carpentry, she was finally certain that her house was in perfect condition. She sat down to breakfast; after a light snack she’d be free to catch up on the sleep she had missed. Throughout her entire meal, however, she could feel herself searching for more things that were awry. She had gone over her own house top to bottom, and rather than feeling content, calm, or at ease, she just felt restless, agitated, and uncomfortable. She knew she had checked every part of her house thoroughly. Why didn’t she feel better?
Somewhere in the middle of all of these reflections, a thought slipped through her mind.
If my house had this many problems, then what about everypony else’s?
It was a silly notion, of course. Her friends were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. Weren’t they? What if they missed something? What if they dismissed some minor detail, and it got them injured later? She owed it to them to inspect everything. They were her friends, after all. Was that why she felt uneasy, because of concern for her friends?
She didn't remember exactly how she had wound up in Twilight's basement, sorting piles of old books, attacking everything she saw with a duster, and taping foam onto every sharp corner. Twilight hadn’t objected when she had walked in, or really reacted to her presence at all. It was a little odd, but that just meant she could help Twilight without anypony getting in her way. Yes, it made perfect sense. Twilight could study, and Fluttershy could fix everything for her. Everywhere she looked there were plenty of things wrong in the library. The dust was an allergen, the furniture’s corners could puncture a lung, all of those heavy books were just waiting to fall on somepony and injure them. The list only got longer the more she looked, but she owed it to Twilight to be thorough. She would never be able to forgive herself if she missed something.
The mistakes were so much easier to spot than in her own home as well. It seemed like she was done in no time at all. When she emerged from the basement, however, Twilight wasn’t alone.
“Alright, Twilight, I finally finished organizing everything! Oh, uhm, hi, Rainbow, Applejack, Spike.”
“Fluttershy? What in tarnation are YOU doin’ here?”
“Oh, uh, I just… I ran out of things to do at my house, so I thought I’d stop by.”
Her answers to their questions were disjointed. She couldn’t focus on her words. Her friends were just so distracting. Both of the ponies were fairly dusty and sweaty, for starters. Rainbow Dash’s mane looked unkempt. AJ’s hat was in need of a good cleaning. Spike had seven different scales that needed to be scrubbed. She didn’t want to offend them, but they really needed her help by the looks of it.
Twilight tossed away the book she had just finished. The loud THUNK it made snapped Fluttershy out of her reverie.
“Oh, here, let me get that for you.” The book was heavy, but it was also a tripping hazard. Couldn’t very well leave it there. She dragged the book over to a shelf and wedged it into place, then used her duster to make sure no dust mites were tempted by it, or that it wouldn’t slip out of somepony’s hooves when they went to pick it off the shelf, or…
“Hey Fluttershy, can I have a hug?” Rainbow asked eagerly.
“Oh, of course!” Fluttershy carefully set aside her duster and then drifted over to her friend. While they embraced each other, Fluttershy took the opportunity to check Rainbow’s mane and coat for lice, ticks, fleas, and dirt. She found a fair bit of the latter.
“Rainbow, when was the last time you washed your mane?”
“Uhm, this morning?”
“You didn’t do a very good job. But don’t worry, I have just the thing in my bag!”
“Oh no you don’t,” Applejack interrupted, “we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of why you’re here.”
“Oh, uhm, I told you. I ran out of things to do at my house.”
“‘Ran out of things to do?’ All them critters at your house are needy fleabags! How’d you manage ta run out of chores?”
“Yeah, how’d you run out of chores with all those needy fleabags?” Rainbow parroted.
“Oh, well, I couldn’t sleep last night, so I ended up getting a lot of things done.”
“You haven’t slept?”
“Oh, of course not. How could I, after I realized how many animals and ponies needed my help? How many things I needed to check? How many safety hazards and problems there were in—”
“Slow down there, crazy. If ya haven’t slept yet, why’re ya so peppy? And why’re ya still cleanin’ things ‘stead of gettin’ some rest?”
“Oh, Twilight cast a spell on me!”
“And that didn’ strike ya as dangerous?”
“Of course not, she knows what she’s doing. You know, AJ, I’m noticing a lot of dirt on your hat, I could clean that for you…”
“Get offa me, ya neurotic nanny! I can handle maself!”
“Yeah, AJ can handle herself!” Rainbow chimed in.
“And as for you…” Applejack ignored Rainbow’s comment and turned back to the still-floating, still-reading Twilight.
They started arguing about something, but Fluttershy quickly tuned out of the conversation. She still had to wash Rainbow’s mane, inspect Spike’s scales, clean Applejack’s hat…
“You can’t just throw magic at every problem! Don’tcha remember what happened the last time you tried that? The entire town wound up chasing some doll, and Celestia had ta come down here to stop the mess you caused!”
“Twilight Sparkle the Omnipotent doesn’t need to take advice from someone like you, Applejack! And you’re hardly one to give advice about knowing your limits anyway!” Twilight actually bothered to look up from her book.
“Oh, you’re ‘om-ni-puh-tent’ now, are ya? If you’re so gosh darn omniputent then you should be able to see this won’t end well!”
“Yeah, I agree with AJ!” Rainbow added helpfully.
“Would you two get offa me? I’m tryin’ to be honest with this arrogant unicorn!” Applejack shooed away the two pegasi.
Fluttershy was clearly eyeing AJ’s hat. “Oh, but Applejack, it’s just such a germ hazard. If you’d just let me—”
Twilight snapped her books shut, all three of them, and the noise quickly caught everypony’s attention. She hovered up the stairs toward her room, pausing at the top.
“Spike, I’ll continue my studies in my room. Please show Applejack out. And tell her that if she’s ready to apologize for underestimating me after she’s done checking on Pinkie Pie, then I’ll be waiting for her.” She floated the rest of the way into her study and slammed the door shut telekinetically.
“Pompous egghead,” Applejack muttered to herself.
“What did she mean about Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow asked.
As if in answer to the question, there was a loud, rumbling explosion and an unmistakable flash of pink light. Fluttershy yelped at the noise, ducking behind Spike despite the three blotches of scale-rot visible on his back, and Dash zipped over to cling to Applejack.
“The hay was that?”
Applejack unceremoniously dropped Dash, and turned to look out the window.
“I hate ta say it, but I think that was Pinkie Pie.”
“Oh no!” Fluttershy quickly picked herself off the floor. “We should go check on her right away! There’s no telling what sort of dangers are lurking around that kitchen! She could’ve been burnt, or cut, or overdosed on sugar, or—”
“I don’t think you can overdose on sugar, Fluttershy.”
“Oh don’t say that, Rainbow! I’ve heard of ponies overdosing on all sorts of things. That’s why I threw all my toothpaste out last night.”
“Well, that would explain your terrible breath…” Applejack mused.
“It shouldn’t smell that bad, I got an organic pepper and swamp water solution from Zecora and scrubbed my teeth with that…”
“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Rainbow said.
“Yes it does! That’s a horrible idea!”
“Yeah, AJ’s right, that’s a horrible idea!”
“Oh, don’t be silly, you two. I used it on all my animals, and they didn’t mind it. Besides, Zecora assured me that you can’t overdose on it at all, which is much more important than how it smells.”
Applejack rolled her eyes and turned to Spike. “Sugarcube, I know you were worried about Twilight an’ all, but ah think she may not be the only pony who needs some help at the moment.”