Angel

by Sage Runner


Hurricane Fluttershy

"What are you doin' back already, boy?" the old stallion asked, looking up from the fireplace at the young colt who had entered the small house.

"I'm done," the boy sniffed, tears in his eyes. "The others told me to get lost, said I'd just get in the way."

"Your classmates?" the old man asked.

"Yeah."

"Winter Wrap Up is a tradition in towns like this, goes back centuries. Your five year old classmates don't have the authority to turn you away," the old man laughed.

"If they're just gonna keep making fun of me, what's the point? They get things done for Winter Wrap Up by cooperating with each other, like they're one big pony, but if they don't include me, there's nothing I can do. I can't make a difference if I'm alone!"

"You think one pony by himself can't make a difference?"

"Not when everypony else is against him. Not unless he's like super strong or something."

"Hogwash," the old man replied. "Your mother wasn't physically strong, and just look at what she accomplished."

"My mum? What did she do?"

"She endured your birth on rough waters against an uncertain future, in cramped and filthy conditions, for starters. Quite an ordeal, to be sure."

"She wasn't alone," the boy said meekly, "She had the support of you and pop."

"True," the old man replied, "we were there with her every step of the way, and since we can't really imagine what sort of pain she went through, let me try another example you might be able to wrap your head around more easily. Let me tell you about the pirate attack, when we lost almost everything."

"I don't like when you talk about that, grampa," the boy replied, his lip quivering.

"I know it's not an easy thing to hear about, but I'm not gonna sugar coat things for you now. Your pop's gone, and I won't be around forever, so you gotta be strong!"

"Grampa!" the boy protested. "Okay." He sat down on the floor.

"When the cannon balls started shredding the hull, and the deck was catching fire, the ship just came apart right under our feet, and all around us. The walls came down, and the storm that had been raging outside rushed in and surrounded us. Next thing I knew, we were in the dark, the moonlight barely shining through a small gap in the clouds. My wife," he took a moment to regain his composure, "was nowhere to be seen. Your pop was clinging to the same piece of wood that I was, and your mother wasn't far away, on a board of her own. Then we all heard you crying, your cradle drifting away, being tossed around by the waves. Your mother was still recovering, and she was by herself, and she dove in after ya, and with all the strength she had, she brought you back to us. It was the last thing she ever did. Can you really tell me you don't think she made a difference that day? Surrounded by the chaos, on the precipice of death, with nopony around to help her, she threw herself into the storm so that you could have a future. Now you have to find your own strength. I know I'm bein' dramatic with the wording, but it's the only way I can convey even a sliver of the magnitude of what I saw that night."

"I didn't know all that," the boy replied, his tearful eyes widening in awe. "She really did all of that?"

"She did a hell of a lot more than your father and I could have, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. And he and I both knew, even then, that you had her strength of will. That's why he chose your name the way he did, when the fishermen that rescued us first noticed the wreckage. What they thought they saw in the water, that became your name. He wanted the memory of your mother's sacrifice to be with you always..."

Angel awoke, no longer surprised by the dreams he had been having. He rolled his eyes, shifted a bit in his bed, and simply tried to fall back asleep.

...

"Honestly, at this point, I'm burnt out on the whole thing, mate," Angel said solemnly. Hummingway the hummingbird chirped in response. "All I wanted to know was my bloody name," he continued, "and nothing else. And wouldn't you know it, since I made that resolution I've been learning everything but. I don't even care anymore, don't know why I wanted to know it so badly in the first place." The bird chirped again. "Nothing that could help me figure it out," Angel replied. "We were lost at sea, some fishermen found us, and apparently my pop named me after what they mistook the wreckage for." Another chirp. "Best guess? My name was Lotta Burning Rubbish. Awesome, I know. Can't wait to get it engraved on the pocket watch I stole."

Suddenly, a piece of paper landed near Angel. "Now what's this?" he asked, looking upward to see Rainbow Dash overhead dropping several identical sheets. "Hey!" Angel shouted. "Littering? Really!? It's your job to maintain the environment, you're going in the completely wrong direction!"

"Calling all Pegasus ponies!" Rainbow Dash shouted, "Meeting tonight! Be cool or be mule!" Rainbow stopped near the mule that had been within earshot. "No offense!" she said.

"Exceptionally bad taste," Angel said, shaking his head in a dramatic fashion. "Wonder what the meeting is about. Ah well, I'll just ask mum after it's over."

...

"So let me get this straight," Angel said, taking a sip of beer, "the Pegasi of Ponyville have to fly around and around really fast." Fluttershy nodded. "Creating a tornado." She nodded again. "That will then suck the water right out of the reservoir and into Cloudsdale?" She nodded a third time. "And this year Rainbow Dash is bent on breaking the wing power record?"

"That's right," Fluttershy said, no trace of emotion in her voice.

"...Cool!" Angel exclaimed. "I cannot wait to see that happen, when does practice start?"

"I'm sure it already has," Fluttershy replied.

"...You're not going to participate, are you?" Angel replied, phrasing his question more like a statement.

"I can't..."

"What?" Angel asked, confused. "Of course you can! You're a Pegasus! There is literally one requirement for participation, and you meet it! Those wings of yours are your ticket to being part of a record breaking historical event, now let's get out there and train! Well, you'll train, I'll be drinking as per usual, but will be cheering you on regardless."

"Angel, you know it's not that simple," Fluttershy said.

"Well no, if you let irrational fears get in the way, I suppose it isn't."

"You know how I get in front of crowds, and this... this is like a performance."

"Mum, remember when you started seeing me for what I was? When you were freaking out about it, thinking you had gone crazy?"

"Yes," Fluttershy said, raising an eyebrow.

"I told you everything was going to be fine, and that you shouldn't worry."

"And two days later my friends and I were attacked by an angry dragon that you talked me into yelling at."

"And you faced your fear, chased off the dragon, and made that chest pounding Rainbow Dash look like a complete tool for doubting you!"

"And your point is that all I have to do is face my fears again, and everything will turn out alright. Is that where you're going with this?"

"Well I was gonna say just visualize the other Pegasi as rainbow-colored dragons in their underwear, but that works too."

"And this is what will actually happen," Fluttershy began. "My measly wing power will be outclassed by every other Pegasus on the training grounds, and that's assuming my wings don't lock up from nerves like they always do. No matter what happens, I'll just get laughed at and made fun of, just like at Flight Camp!"

"Oh come on," Angel replied, "that... might not happen! You won't know unless you try!"

"I do know!"

"Okay, look, the other day, in the woods, the local rabbits had a dance contest. Now you know me, I can't dance for beans, and I was nervous, sure, but there were some fine lady rabbits there, and I wanted to impress 'em, so I faced my fear, sucked in my gut, and busted a move for all to see. I came in last place, but I still did it!"

"So that's why you spent two straight days confining yourself to the closet and listening to depressing music while yelling about being a peacock who lost his strut," Fluttershy said. "I was really worried about you!"

"Not the point of the story, mum!" Angel said, embarrassed. The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash shouted through the door, "I know you're in there!" Fluttershy gasped and quickly flew up the stairs into her bedroom, coming back down moments later wearing a robe and covered in red dots.

"Crickey, don't tell me you're gonna feign illness to get out of this. Are we back in grade school?" Angel asked.

"Achoo!" Fluttershy exclaimed, opening the door. "Hi, Rainbow Dash." She then forced a few weak coughs.

"When have you ever heard a sick person actually say 'Achoo'?" Angel said as Rainbow Dash inquired about Fluttershy's condition. "It's an onomatopoeia. Last month when Rainbow Dash broke her wing hitting the ground after royally screwing up some new trick, she didn't yell 'CRASH!', now did she? Actually, I'd imagine she uttered more of a pained grunt followed by a lot of whimpering..."

"Cold water!" Rainbow Dash shouted, having dumped a bucket of the aforementioned substance over Fluttershy's head, both drenching her and washing away the hand-drawn red dots. "Those Pony Pox are clearing right up!"

"Oh, you know, all of a sudden, I'm starting to feel better!" Fluttershy said to Rainbow Dash.

"Well, this got awkward. I'll just take my leave," Angel declared as he hopped out of the room, leaving the two Pegasi to discuss Fluttershy's performance anxiety.

...

"I'm glad mum decided to help with the tornado thing after all. This whole mess was getting a bit ridiculous," Angel said as he relaxed under a tree. The squirrel he was hanging out with chirped in response. "Why? Well, take her fear of dragons, for instance. That's something I can wrap my brain around. Fear of being seen by others? Which basically translates to fear of nothing? At a certain point you've gotta realize your fears have no basis in reality and just get over them, y'know?" Two more chirps followed. "What do you mean she 'can't just get over them'? What kind of nonsense is that? Of course she can! She's just gotta look nothing right in the eye and say 'I'm done being afraid of you because you're nothing'! It's that simple." Another chirp followed. "I am not being obtuse."

Angel turned his attention away from the squirrel as he noticed his master off in the distance. "Oh great," he said, frustration apparent in his voice, "she must have ducked out early. Honestly, what am I going to do with-" he stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the tears streaming down her face, and a look of terror and sadness in her eyes that he had never seen before. She didn't even look at him as she collapsed onto the grass by the tree and began to sob loudly. "...mum?" he asked softly, running to her side to find out what was wrong. As she explained how her wing power had registered at less than one and continued to cry, Angel slowly began to feel that he had, indeed, taken her fear too lightly. He knew he had to do something.

...

"Alright!" Angel shouted before blowing his whistle. "Let's do this!" Fluttershy took to the air, a look of cautious determination adorning her face, as she began to fly over a group of her animal friends.

"Masks on!" Angel shouted. The animals complied, pulling out small pony masks and holding them over their faces. Fluttershy covered her eyes and crashed into a tree. "Sorry mum," Angel said, "but this is the best way to get you over your fear. We need to simulate the experience so you can overcome it." She nodded meekly in response. It went on like that, with Fluttershy performing numerous exercises under the watchful eye of a crowd of pony-impersonating critters. Pushups, butterfly tug-of-war, and dandelion fly-overs all revealed slow, but steady progress, as each attempt resulted in a marginal increase in success. By the end, Fluttershy was doing repeated pushup reps while literally sucking the tears back into her eyes, slinging butterflies into trees, and stripping entire dandelion fields bare with a single swoop.

"Outstanding!" Angel cheered, waving his hooves in the air. As Fluttershy landed on the ground next to him, she nodded happily. "Nothing else to it," Angel said, "you're ready. Let's go show those Pegasi what real wing power is!"

...

The squirrel chattered wildly at Twilight. "What did he say?" Spike asked.

"Do I look like I speak squirrel?" Twilight replied.

"What's that?" Spike asked, staring into the distance. All eyes turned towards the setting sun as a single winged silhouette surrounded by a posse of woodland creatures authoritatively approached the group.

"That's right, bitches!" Angel shouted as the Pegasi stepped back to clear a path to the starting line for the anemometer test. "Make some room! The champ has arrived!" Fluttershy took her place at the starting line and began to rapidly flap her wings. Taking off with all her might, she breezed passed the anemometer, causing it to spin wildly. Everyone stared intensely at the gauge, only to find that she had registered a mere two-point-three.

"Mum," Angel said, "before you let yourself get discouraged, keep in mind that the training we did today was meant to help you perform in front of a crowd. You were able to do that, so you'll be able to train with the other Pegasi now. We accomplished exactly what we set out to do." But it was too late, Fluttershy's resolve was crushed, and despite Rainbow Dash's attempts to lift her spirits, any desire she had to participate in the event was gone. She flew away from the crowd, with Angel hopping after her.

...

"They'll be starting soon," Angel said to Hummingway the following day. "And I'm not gonna lie, I'm worried about mum. She hasn't been herself since this whole business started." Hummingway chirped sadly. "Yeah, she's been rather quiet, spent most of her time up in her bedroom. It's like she lost something more than just her nerve. I hate seeing her like this." Hummnigway chirped in response. "Yeah, you know, that's not a bad idea! I'll go tell her right now." He bumped his fist softly against Hummingway's wing and ascended the staircase, gently nudging Fluttershy's bedroom door opened. "Mum?" he said.

"Need something, Angel?" Fluttershy replied, laying in the bed.

"Well, I was thinking," Angel said, "even if you aren't going to help with the tornado, it might not be a bad idea to head over there anyway and offer Rainbow Dash our moral support. I mean, I still think she's kind of a tool, but this is a pretty big deal, what your friend is trying to do, and she'd probably love to see you there." Surprisingly, or perhaps simply due to the fact that it offered her a means of helping without taking any risks, Fluttershy agreed with this and they set out.

...

"Check that out!" Angel said excitedly, pointing at the towering pillar that was the tornado, visible in the distance. "Not quite as intimidating as I'd expect a record breaking tornado to be, but then I'm no tornado expert."

"You don't have to make small talk, Angel," Fluttershy replied. "I know I'll still be letting them down by not participating."

"Uh," Angel replied nervously, "check out that giant-ass horn! And there's Twilight and Spanky!"

"Spike," Fluttershy corrected him, looking annoyed.

"Agree to disagree!" Angel replied, trying to play up his enthusiasm to cheer her up. "In any case, we should go say hi!"

"Twilight!" Fluttershy called out as the force of wind from the tornado began to push her back.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight called back, shouting over the rushing wind. "What are you doing here?"

"I figured, if I couldn't help Rainbow Dash with the tornado, the least I could do was offer moral support!"

"She could sure use it, considering eight Pegasi are sick with the feather flu!"

"Oh no!" Fluttershy shouted in response. "That's terrible news!"

"So much for the record," Angel shouted, crawling against the wind to his master's side. "Guess they're still set on getting the water up to Clousdale, though!" As he said this, the tornado's shape grew unstable, and Pegasi were being hurled from it in all directions. In a matter of moments, the swirling vortex had completely dissipated, and the massive stream of water that had been making it's way to the sky collapsed back into the reservoir.

"So close," Angel said, nodding his head in disappointment. "Ah well, they gave it their all, but they were understaffed anyway, so I doubt anyone'll think any less of 'em. Hey, is that one of the Wonderbolts over there?"

"You should quit, it's not safe!" Twilight insisted as Rainbow Dash expressed her desire to make another attempt.

"Yeah, I'd hate to agree with the know-it-all, but somepony could have been killed just now," Angel said, obviously being heard by nobody but Fluttershy.

"No!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "One more time! I've gotta know we gave it our all! If I'm going down, I'm going down flying! C'mon, ponies, let's make this happen!"

"I'll always remember your courage," Angel said, tearful and resolute, "and will try my hardest to forget the undignified way in which you're surely about to meet your end!" Fluttershy shot him a disapproving look as the other Pegasi cheered. Spike blew into the large wooden horn that was nearby, and the tornado was formed again.

"Okay, here we go," Twilight yelled over the storm, focusing on the giant anemometer. "One hundred wing power! Two hundred! Five hundred! Seven hundred! Seven hundred and fifty wing power!" The force of the wind sent Fluttershy and Angel crashing into Spike, pinning him against the side of the anemometer.

"They fell apart right after this!" he shouted, slightly impressing Angel with his tolerance for pain.

"Guess he is kind of a tough little dragon," Angel thought to himself.

"Oh, I'm too nervous to look!" Fluttershy shouted, covering her eyes with her hooves.

"Seven ninety five!" Twilight called out. "We are so close! Fluttershy, they need you up there!"

"She's right, mum," Angel shouted, "you're their only hope!"

"I won't make a difference!" Fluttershy shouted back at them both.

"You can make a difference!" Twilight and Angel replied in unison.

"My measly two-point-three wing power is still too little!"

"It's sticking at seven ninety five!" Spike yelped. "I don't know if they've got any more in 'em!"

"You know they need you!" Angel yelled.

"I can't..." Fluttershy said so softly that only Angel could hear her, "I'm not strong enough."

"Hogwash," the old man replied. "Your mother wasn't physically strong, and just look at what she accomplished." Angel's ears tensed up as he thought he heard the elderly voice from his dream, faintly over the sound of the rushing wind.

"I don't know how to help her this time," he thought to himself, sadly.

"I'm not gonna sugar coat things for you now. Your pop's gone, and I won't be around forever, so you gotta be strong!"

"And why in the hell am I hearing voices at a time like this!?" he shouted, causing Fluttershy to give him a worried look.

"Your mother was still recovering, and she was by herself, and she dove in after ya,"

"Strength of will..." he remembered. "If I know she can do it, if I truly believe that, then I need to do whatever it takes to show her." He came to a decision. "I must be out of my bloody mind!"

"Angel? Are you all right?" Fluttershy shouted over the gusts of wind.

"Surrounded by the chaos," Angel, with all his strength, leapt to the ground and began to crawl forward, ignoring the torrent of wind and water that tried to push him back.

"Angel!?" Fluttershy screamed in alarm. "What are you doing!?"

"On the precipice of death," The closer he got to the storm, the more he began to feel himself drawn into it. A sense of dread, of fear for his very life, began to overtake him.

"With nopony around to help her," He shoved those fears deep inside of himself, embracing his isolation, the knowledge that he was the only one who knew how to fix this.

"She threw herself into the storm so that you could have a future." With one final hop, Angel took to the air, and was sucked into the tornado as Fluttershy screamed in horror. Having found his own strength at long last, he left the rest to his master, whom he hoped would be able to save him. He felt weightless, and completely disoriented, having lost his sense of direction. He felt as though the very air was being sucked from his lungs, and his body ached as though it was being ripped apart.

"She did a hell of a lot more than your father and I could have, and I'm not ashamed to admit it," Angel heard the old man's voice one final time as everything around him grew silent. "And he and I both knew, even then, that you had her strength of will. That's why he chose your name the way he did, when the fishermen that rescued us first noticed the wreckage. What they thought they saw, that became your name. He wanted the memory of your mother's sacrifice to be with you always, Drifting Wood!"

Angel gasped as he was forcefully snatched up by a pair of hooves that wrapped themselves around his chest. He didn't even have to look to know that his mother had caught him. For her part, Fluttershy had a look of cautious relief on her face, her eyes watering beneath their goggles. Angel still didn't understand the influence Pegasi had on the weather, but in her grip, his pain was gone, and he could breath more easily. It was as if the wind was steadying itself around them.

"I knew you could do it!" Angel shouted triumphantly. "Now bring it home and get that water into the sky!"

"You got it!" Fluttershy shouted. Both Fluttershy's and Angel's faces became affixed with a look of cocky determination, and Angel stuck his hooves forward as Fluttershy began to pick up speed.

"Almost there!" Angel shouted, noting the height that the rising pillar of water had reached. "Have you reached your limit!?"

"No!" Fluttershy shrieked at the top of her lungs, as she bolted forward with a renewed burst of speed that astounded the other Pegasi in the fray. That did it, and the water exploded out of the top of the tornado and up to Cloudsdale.

"Found your strength at last, did ya?" Angel thought as he smiled and closed his eyes.

...

"I'm sorry I scared you," Angel said apologetically. After the evening's celebrations, the two of them had claimed their familiar spots on Fluttershy's couch, beer in hoof.

"Yes, please don't ever do anything like that ever again. Ever!" Fluttershy replied urgently.

"Alright, alright, I promise," Angel replied. "Still, you have to admit, I looked pretty cool out there, sticking my arms out like I was some kind of super hero."

"And I didn't look cool?" Fluttershy asked, grinning and raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, you played your part, to be sure, but I mean, come on, you're a Pegasus! When a Pegasus bitch-slaps the weather, that's expected. I'm a rabbit, and I survived the bowels of a raging tornado!"

"Well I hope you enjoyed it," Fluttershy said, "because I'm never letting you out of the cottage when it's storming ever again."

"...Are you grounding me?"

"In a word? Yes."

"Weak!" They laughed together and took another swig of their drinks.