//------------------------------//
// Prompt #397-The Listener 
// Story: Ponywatching 
// by ThunderTempest 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy stood in the field, watching from below as Rainbow Dash practiced her ever-expanding trick repertoire. She knew why they other pegasus wanted to have somepony watching her, and it wasn’t just to fulfill her big ego. Rainbow could sometimes crash when attempting something new, and she occasionally needed somepony to drag her either back home, or to the hospital, in the rare case that she landed on a wing. Not that she had ever actually admitted that to anypony. Rainbow liked to have Fluttershy there because Fluttershy was still a pegasus, despite her preference for the ground. She still understood some of the forces and stresses that could be put on a pony’s body during acrobatic flight, and Rainbow asked for her advice from time to time. And Fluttershy was always happy to help, and be there for her oldest friend whenever she needed her. She ‘ooh’ed and ‘aah’ed and ‘woo-hoo’ed in all the right places, even if her volume was a bit lacking. But Rainbow knew that come rain or shine, she could always count on Fluttershy to help her with her practice.


Fluttershy lay down on the couch in the Ponyville Spa, as Aloe dabbed a touch of facial cream on her cheeks, while Lotus smeared it over Rarity’s, and flicked two slices of cucumber over the unicorn’s eyes.

“And then, dear, he calls my designs ‘Common trash’! The nerve of that pony, honestly,” said Rarity, as the two settled in for their weekly catch-up.

“Oh no. So what happened after that, Rarity?” asked Fluttershy.

“Well, as it was at one of Fancy Pants’ soirees, I quietly, and to the right ponies, let slip that he may not have been entirely honest about his qualifications. Well, you should have seen his face the next day...”

As Rarity rambled on about the ongoings of the Canterlot social scene, Fluttershy just listened, and nodded in the right places. She updated Rarity with a few tidbits of information that had happened while Rarity had been away. Fluttershy knew that these weekly spa dates were largely for Rarity’s sake, to give her a chance to vent, both about her business and her adventures in climbing the social ladder, and Fluttershy was happy to listen to the unicorn.


Fluttershy sat at the cafe’s table, as Twilight Sparkle sat across from her, guesturing her forehooves widely as she explained some obscure magic spell that Princess Celestia had sent her that week. Even if most of the terminology that her friend was using was plain and simple gibberish to the pegasus, she still sat, listened and sipped her cooling tea.

“And so, if I increase the thaumic output flux to 1.8 gigathaums, I should, in theory...Huh. Fluttershy?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“I just realized. In all the time I’ve known you, I’ve never heard about any dreams that you have.”

“D-dreams?”

“Yes!” said Twilight, getting enthusiastic, “You know, ambitions, goals, those kinds of dreams. I have not once ever heard you say anything about yours, and yet we meet week after week and you listen to me ramble on about magic research for the better part of an hour. So, come on, do you have any goals that you want to achieve?”

“Well, um, not really, Twilight,” whimpered Fluttershy, beginning to pull her face back behind her long mane, “Really, I’m just happy to listen to you.”

“Not one dream? At all?”

Fluttershy shook her head in a negative. “I’m just an animal caretaker. But I know that you and our other friends all have big dreams, and if I can help you girls even by just listening to you for a while every week, then I’m happy to do it.”