Fluttershy’s Soda
The day was warm, the early morning sun lending its kisses to all who played under her sheltering body. Strolling leisurely along the path into town, Fluttershy began to feel a bit thirsty. The last few days had been rather trying; a new batch of kittens had arrived from an overcrowded shelter, and they were an exceptionally energetic and rowdy bunch, insisting on tearing her furniture and pestering the other animals to no end. Just last night however, a newly-wed couple stopped by and fell in love with the little things, to her great relief. Wanting to practice before having kids of their own, they adopted the whole bunch and that was that. Now, at last in possession of a little free time, Fluttershy wandered into town, keeping a lookout for somewhere to purchase a nice cool drink, preferably an orange flavored soda. Those are her favorite.
Ponyville was busy as usual this morning, with messengers weaving through the trees and houses, workers carrying cargo from warehouses to shops, and the smell of freshly baked bread in the air, teasing her nostrils as it danced on the wind. She smiled softly to herself, and took a deep breath. This was why she loved it here; it was so alive and cheerful. Everywhere she looked she saw familiar faces, and those she didn’t recognize seemed friendly enough. Here she was safe, without fear of being ridiculed or judged.
Her musings were interrupted when she noticed a lonely soda machine, situated in a shallow alley and leaning up against the wall of a red-brick pawn-shop she’d been by time and time again but never paid much attention to. Altering her path to take her to the machine, she realized she would need a coin to pay for the soda. She dug into her saddle-bag and fished out a single bit. She tested it between her teeth, but the metallic taste triggered her gag reflex and she choked, attracting some unwanted attention. Her cheeks red with embarrassment, she hid behind her hair and hurried towards the machine, mindful of the disapproving glances that only existed in her imagination.
Upon reaching the machine, she clumsily tripped over her hooves and slid face first into the side of it, losing the coin, which rolled behind it. After about a minute of lying unmoving in the dirt, she forced herself up and looked around, blushing uncontrollably. When she was certain no-pony saw what had happened, (though plenty did and had a good chuckle,) she went about trying to retrieve the lost coin. At first she tried digging behind the machine with her hoof, but quickly realized that the coin lay too far out of reach. She attempted to move the machine itself, but only managed to illicit a creaking sound and a fit of laughter from some passing foals. Her cheeks grew hotter and her eyes were close to tears, but she was determined now to get something out if this frightful experience. With renewed conviction, she took a few steps back and charged at the machine, using her wings to boost her speed. She hit the side with a metallic clang and a pained squeal, sending the machine shivering slightly, rewarding her only with a broken lip and disappointment.
She was back on the ground again, but this time without the strength to get up, so she lay there, smacking her lips and flicking her tongue, painfully aware of her dry mouth and increasing thirst. She was plagued by the thought that she may never get her delicious, refreshing, and much needed orange soda.
Around this time Applejack was heading into town to sell some apples at her stand when she noticed a pink and cream mass curled up in the corner between a soda machine and the wall of the pawn shop. She recognized it after only a moment’s thought, for Fluttershy often curled up into a ball when frightened or embarrassed. This time though, as she noticed while taking a closer look, she was also hurt. Not badly, but Applejack wouldn’t be the most dependable pony in Ponyville if she ignored her friends when in pain, so she helped her up and asked about what had happened. “I was trying to get a soda,” Fluttershy began after a few moments of hoisting and dragging as applejack tugged her up to her hooves. “But then I gagged and they laughed at me, and then I tripped and lost my coin, and I only had the one!“ Tears welled up in her eyes again and she lowered her head, letting them drip down to soften the hard-packed dirt of the street. Applejack sighed, and placed her right fore-leg around Fluttershy’s neck in a reassuring gesture.
“Don’t sweat it sweet pea, I’ll just buy you one.” Fluttershy looked up, and to Applejack’s surprise, her look was one of horror rather than happiness.
“Oh no Applejack, I can’t ask you to do that for me!” A.J. smiled and patted her on the back. “You didn’t. I offered, and that’s all there is to it. I won’t let you refuse.” Producing a single bit from her own saddlebag, Applejack stepped in front of the machine and was about to insert the coin when a tug came at her leg.
“Please Applejack, I don’t want to be a bother.” Startled, she dropped the precious bit, which bounced from her left hoof and under the machine. She tilted her head to stare angrily at Fluttershy, who was still wrapped about her hind leg. When Fluttershy realized what she had done, she closed her eyes and smiled awkwardly up at Appkejack before begging her forgiveness. Sighing, A.J. pulled away from her friend’s grip and leaned against the wall. “Well, that was my only bit.” She said resignedly. She looked at the soda machine, and then at Fluttershy sniveling on the ground. Backing up, she positioned herself as if she were bucking apples, and before Fluttershy could object, she bucked the thing as hard as she could, sending it tipping slowly over. Her moment of triumph was interrupted when the machine abruptly stopped, and returned upright. After a moment’s confusion it was revealed that the machine had been caught, and by none other than Sheriff Crime-Bucker.
“And what do you think you’re doing, Applejack?” she said harshly. A.J. just stood there, fumbling for words.
“Well, you see, I was trying to help my friend here-“
“Save it.” interrupted the sheriff. “I don’t want to hear it. I’m taking you in for an attempt at vandalism and destruction of property.” Fluttershy’s eyes went wide.
“V-vandalism?” choked Applejack, but before she could object she was cuffed and escorted away from there, speechless, leaving Fluttershy alone, horrified, and filled with guilt.
Thinking to herself what an awful friend she must be for getting Applejack arrested, she decided it was best to head home before she caused any more problems. Eyes lowered and head hung below her shoulders, she turned around and was face to face with a reversed grin and a sinister puff of pink hair. She jumped back, alarmed. The strange figure righted itself with a thump and she recognized it as none other than Pinkie-Pie.
“What’s up Flutters?” she squeaked in that high-pitched voice she knew so well. Slipping out of view for a moment she reappeared inside Fluttershy’s saddlebag, eating a cupcake she didn’t remember packing. Fluttershy blew a few strands of hair from her face and relayed the whole ordeal to an awkwardly attentive Pinkie, who all the while continued to take bites out of the cupcake until nothing was left. When she finished, Pinkie slowly sank down into her saddle-bag and didn’t reemerge for quite some time. Fluttershy became concerned and peered into the bag, only to be forced out again by an explosion of confetti. When she deemed it safe to reopen her eyes, she saw a frightfully joyous and equally terrifying sight: Pinkie’s Party Cannon.
Said to have been forged in the fires of friendship to be the ultimate weapon against sadness, this masterfully crafted confetti-and-whatever-else-Pinkie-loads-into-it propulsion device was fearsome to behold. The glint of sunlight on its glossy chrome finish, the pretty pink wheels with a daisy depicted in the center all served to instill wonder and fear into all who lay eyes upon it.
“The look on your face!” squealed Pinkie, who then broke out in an incredibly animated fit of giggling that included rolling around of the ground and hugging her stomach while kicking her legs out at nothing. Fluttershy composed herself a little.
“Um… Pinkie?” At the sound of Fluttershy’s voice Pinkie-Pie snapped into a standing position at incredible speed, straight faced without a hint that she had been laughing hysterically a moment before. “Yes, Fluttershy?” she said, cocking her head sideways quizzically. A little unnerved, Fluttershy continued. “What exactly do you plan to do with that?” she gestured with her head over to the party cannon. Pinkie looked a little confused. “What do you think silly? I’m gonna blast the soda thingy with it!” Fluttershy was horrified, and not for the first time this afternoon. “You can’t blast the machine! A.J. got arrested just for kicking it!” Pinkie smiled condescendingly.
“Oh my dear little Fluttershy, Don’t poke your nose into things you know nothing about.” She closed her eyes and shook her head disappointedly. Only Pinkie-Pie could frustrate her this much, she though, but seeing as she was unable to prevent any of the incidents that occurred today, she just lowered her head to the ground and shielded her ears for the imminent blast. With a muffled bang, she confirmed that the cannon did indeed go off, but what she wasn’t sure about were the other crashing noises she heard for a few seconds following the initial sound. When she opened her eyes she noticed to a mixture or disappointment and relief that the soda machine was still intact, and hadn’t even budged. However, the wall opposite the machine had a comically large hole in it, and peering through she could see that for about a quarter of a mile, holes had been punched through each and every building in a straight line. At the end of the tunnel made from newly installed doorways was a fairly disheveled Pinkie, hanging by her hind leg from a tree branch. The Party-Cannon was nowhere to be found.
Fluttershy, not wanting to be blamed for this incomprehensible feat of destruction, spun around and immediately ran into Twilight. The two collided with an explosion of books and scrolls, which settled on and around the ponies now lying in a heap on the alley floor. Twilight was the first to get up.
“Fluttershy?” she managed, still a little dazed. Fluttershy picked herself up with some difficulty, again wondering what had happened to such a promising day.
“I’m sorry Twilight; I didn’t k now you were there.” Twilight smiled.
“That’s ok; you just surprised me, though I suppose I should have been paying more attention myself. That’s the last time I read and walk.” I doubt it, thought Fluttershy, but she kept the thought to herself. Twilight examined Fluttershy for a moment before asking “What’s the matter? You seem a little distressed.” That didn’t begin to describe how she felt, but it was a start and the genuine concern on Twilight’s face was as clear as the sky when Rainbow-Dash gets done with it.
“Well,” she began, thinking of the best way of putting things. She decided simple was best so she simply said “I lost my coin behind the soda machine, and Apple-Jack’s too.” She shook her head when she thought of A.J. “And I got her arrested when she tried to help.” Twilight, who had been nodding slowly, was now taken aback by what she just heard, and she gasped.
“Arrested? Why?” she asked. Now she looked really concerned, if not alarmed. Tears forming in her eyes, (yet again,) Fluttershy explained how A.J. had kicked the machine, and how the sheriff had noticed and taken her away. Twilight sighed, and smacked her forehead with her hoof. “Oh Applejack…”
She walked over to the soda machine and turned to face Fluttershy. “Is this the machine?” she asked, somewhat redundantly. Fluttershy nodded. Twilight examined it up and down, and then peered behind and under to locate to two coins. After a while she took a few steps back and closed her eyes in concentration. Her horn began to glow with a pink and white light, stinging Fluttershy’s eyes and casting strange shadows from the machine and Twilight. When her eyes adjusted she noticed two separate glows coming from the places where the coins were hiding, and shortly after the two coins appeared and soared over to hover gently in front of Twilight’s face. Twilight looked at Fluttershy and smiled before gesturing to her saddle-bag. When she realized what was wanted of her, Fluttershy opened the bag and Twilight dropped one of the coins inside, and deposited the next one into the machine. Still using her magic, she pressed the button for orange soda, and after a moment’s delay Fluttershy heard the heart-stopping clank of the bottle landing in the retrieval bin. Her mind was racing. Could this really be happening, after so much time and so much failure? She barely had time to contemplate this before the glorious fizzing drink appeared before her. She took it in her hooves, and at once noticed the strange glow disappear, thrusting the ponies back into the familiar light of midday. Her eyes burst with running water, and it’s a wonder the entire of Ponyville didn’t flood. She tackled Twilight in a friendly embrace, and they tumbled to the floor of the alley.
“Thank you, thank you so much!” Fluttershy could hardly contain her excitement, much to the despair of a suffocating Twilight.
When she finally released her grip, she blushed while Twilight wobbled to her feet, gasping for breath.
“Sorry.” Said Fluttershy.
Between gasps Twilight managed to say “It’s… gasp… alright…” Fluttershy smiled and stared in awe at the brilliantly shining orange beverage she held. Twilight, after recovering, looked at her and said
“Well? Aren’t you gonna open it?” At first Fluttershy was confused. She was just so surprised that she even had the drink that she forgot what she was supposed to do with it. She popped cap with her teeth and took one last long look before lowering it to her lips and keeling over in pain as a piercing shriek split the air and shattered the bottle before her. Stunned into silence and inaction, she didn’t bother looking for the source of the sound. The inquisitive Twilight did, however, and discovered that Pinkie-Pie, now fully recovered, had found a salamander under a rock and was delighted to have a new friend, hence the shriek. When Twilight looked back, she saw Fluttershy staring blankly into space, eyes wide, a single tear trailing down her cheek.