"Ah told ya ta stay out of it."
"I know."
Twilight sniffled and wiped her eyes, not daring to meet the piercing glare that Applejack was giving her. "I was just... curious."
"Yeah, well, look where yer curiosity got you, Twilight." Applejack scoffed and crossed her forelegs. "Ah told ya that it wasn't a polite thing ta talk about, and you ignored me. Ah'm the Element of Honesty, Twilight. Did ya think that Ah wasn't bein' truthful? That Ah was doin' it just fer grins and giggles?"
Twilight folded her ears against her head. "N-no. I know you weren't. I just... didn't think it would be like that."
Applejack glared at Twilight for a few seconds more before she let out a deep breath and slumped her shoulders. "Ah know," she muttered. "Ah can't imagine what it musta looked like. Seein' that kinda thing and knowin' Fluttershy did it musta been real hard ta think about. Just know that she's not a bad pony, Twi." Applejack smiled and put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Ah know that this seems real bad, and it ain't exactly pleasant, but she's a good pony, Twi. She's only doin' it because she don't have any other choice. If she could save 'em she would. You know that."
Twilight subtly nodded and wiped her eyes again. "I know. She's the Element of Kindness. It wouldn't have chosen her if she wasn't a truly kind pony. I don't want this to change how I look at her, but I'm scared that it will."
"'Course it will, Twilight," Applejack said simply. "You find out somethin' like this and it'll always change some things. You just hafta remember why she does it and how she'd never actually hurt anythin' unless she felt that she had no other choice. She ain't hurtin' em, Twi."
"I know," Twilight muttered. "I wish that I could take it back; seeing the graveyard, I mean."
"Ah know ya do." Applejack put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Yer not a bad pony, or anythin' like that, you just did a dumb thing."
Twilight leaned her head against one of the apple trees. "I guess it wasn't the smartest thing I could have done." She managed a small smile. "I mean, Fluttershy isn't a bad pony, after all. She just... has to do it."
Twilight closed her eyes, but opened them again when a vision of the graveyard flashed through her mind. She violently shook her head to remove such thoughts from her brain and took a deep breath. "I guess I should get some work done." Twilight stood up. "You should have seen the mess the old librarian made. I swear, she didn't understand how to shelve books at all!"
Applejack chuckled upon hearing some of the old spark that she liked about Twilight return to her voice. She stood up with her and walked her to the edge of her farm. "Y'all have fun with that." As they reached the gate, Applejack stopped Twilight and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Ah know it musta been hard ta see that, but Fluttershy is a good pony. Sure it affects her, but she deals with it in a healthy way, Ah reckon."
Twilight frowned and cocked her head. "I know I might not want to ask, but how does she deal with it?"
Applejack's small smile faded, and was replaced with an equally small frown. "Ya know, Ah haven't actually asked her 'bout it. Ah never really wanted to Ah guess." Applejack shook her head and her smile returned. "Ya know what? Ah think that since she's become friends with alla us, she's goin' ta be just fine."
Twilight returned Applejack's smile. "I think you're right, AJ."
* * * *
The next week saw the six friends plus Spike all enjoying a picnic lunch in the park near Twilight's library home. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were laughing about some stunt that Rainbow Dash had pulled that had caused her to crash into a tree a few days back while Pinkie Pie and Rarity were chatting about some of the latest gossip. Given that Pinkie Pie worked at one of the most popular establishments in town, she had quite a lot of it to choose from, and Rarity listened with an eager ear. Twilight was talking to Fluttershy, who had brought Angel along with her and was trying to get him to eat a salad she had packed.
"Now Angel Bunny, eat your lunch." Fluttershy pushed a bowl of lettuce and cucumbers in front of the bunny. "You wouldn't want to get hungry, would you?"
Angel stuck his nose into the air and crossed his arms. Twilight was quite certain that he would have made a 'harrumph' type sound were he capable of such things. Twilight chuckled and laid down next to Fluttershy. "He's quite the critter, isn't he?"
Fluttershy smiled in return and pushed the bowl back to Angel again. "He's a good bunny, Twilight. He's just... spirited. He'll eat soon."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I hope so. It wouldn't be healthy for him to just not eat anything."
Fluttershy moved the bowl to avoid Angel's attempt to kick it away. She moved it back and nudged his leg with it. "It might be because he's not very hungry right now."
Twilight rolled her eyes, fully aware that Fluttershy's charge was just being stubborn for the sake of it. She shook her head and laid down on the grass next to Angel. She lifted the bowl of greens with her magic, and smiled fondly at Fluttershy. "Here, let me try." Fluttershy gave an affirming nod, and Twilight poked Angel on the nose with the bowl. "Come on, Angel, don't you want to eat?"
Angel gave Twilight a death glare, and kicked the bowl, sending its contents flying. Twilight caught it with her magic before any of it could hit the ground, and put it all back in the bowl. Angel Bunny had decided that he had had quite enough of this, and began hopping in the direction of Fluttershy's house, which could be seen in the distance. Fluttershy squeaked and flew beside him, pleading for him to behave, but Angel kept on hopping away.
The rest of the group watched them go, letting out a collective frustrated sigh.
"Ah swear, it's just plain bad luck that Fluttershy got the one animal in the entire universe that doesn't love her," Applejack grumbled.
Twilight flattened her ears and stood up as Fluttershy's pleading faded into the distance. "Uh, shouldn't we go help her or something?"
Rarity shrugged and laid back down on her couch. "And do what exactly? They're just going back to her house. Besides, Fluttershy is the only one who could get that beastly rabbit to behave, even if it takes her a week’s worth of pleading to do it. She'll probably just drop him off at her cottage and come right back. It wouldn't be the first time this has happened." A scowl crossed Rarity's face. "Though I must agree with Applejack: that rabbit is one of the worst creatures I have ever had the displeasure of coming into contact with."
All of a sudden, an ear-splitting shriek pierced the once tranquil air, and all five ponies shot to their hooves. "That sounded like Fluttershy!" Applejack cried.
"Spike, go get help!" said Twilight. "I'll go with them!"
Spike nodded and the five ponies bolted in the direction of Fluttershy's house. Rainbow Dash flew ahead, leaving a rainbow contrail behind her. Within a few seconds, they heard Rainbow Dash yelling something unintelligible to Fluttershy, who was still screaming. The four ponies reached Fluttershy's cottage, and gasped when they saw the sight in front of them.
Angel was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood as a pair of timberwolves were circling around him and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash was flying above them, dive bombing the wolves and slamming her hooves into whichever part of them that she could reach. She had a deep cut on her right shoulder from the claws of one of the wolves.
Without thinking, the rest of the group dove into the battle. Twilight grabbed a branch off of a nearby tree and slammed it into the head of the timberwolf closest to Fluttershy. Rarity followed suit and smashed her branch into one of the timberwolf's legs. The force of the blow snapped it off, allowing Twilight's rapid attacks to reduce the wolf to a pile of sticks. Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack dealt with the other wolf. Pinkie Pie used her speed to draw the wolf's attacks to her while remaining safe herself. Applejack leaped onto the back of the wolf and slipped her lasso around its neck, allowing Rainbow Dash to slam her hind hooves into the head of the monster. A few more blows reduced it to rubble.
The battle won, the fighters sat on the ground to catch their breath. Applejack looked over at Rainbow Dash's shoulder, and reached out her hoof as if to touch it. "You okay, sugar cube? It looks deep."
Rainbow shrugged and waved Applejack's hoof away. "I'm fine. I'll see Readheart about it later. No big deal."
"Oh no, Fluttershy." Twilight stared at her friend as she cradled her pet in her forelegs. Angel was shaking weakly, and looking up at Fluttershy as if pleading with her to fix everything. Twilight scooted over to her friend and put a hoof on her shoulder. "F-Fluttershy?"
"They came out of the forest," Fluttershy whispered. "I came after Angel Bunny. They were going after my chickens when we came. Th-they do that sometimes. When they saw Angel, they came after him. I stopped them with The Stare, b-but they had already had him." Tears began streaking down Fluttershy's face as she gently stroked Angel. His blood was staining her fur, and his twitches were becoming steadily weaker.
"Can you fix him?" asked Applejack as she walked up to the two of them.
Fluttershy stared down at her bunny for a few seconds before slowly shaking her head. Her voice came out as a quiet squeak when she spoke next. "I-it's a day to cry, Applejack."
Applejack and Twilight gasped while Pinkie and Rarity immediately burst into tears. Rainbow Dash hugged Pinkie with her wings, her eyes streaked with tears as well. Fluttershy slowly took off and hovered a few hooves into the air, gently flying towards her house.
Twilight wiped her tears away with a foreleg as she stared at Fluttershy until the latter flew into her house.
* * * *
Fluttershy's house was dead silent as she laid Angel onto the table. It was time to bring out her box again. She patted Angel on the head and gave him her best attempt at a comforting smile. "I-it's okay, Angel. Mommy's going to make you all better now."
Angel squeaked and extended one of his paws. Fluttershy patted him on the head and flew into her kitchen, for the box was there. The wonderful, horrible, healing box. Part of her hoped that this time it wouldn't be there, that she was wrong and that she could fix Angel, but there it was. Right where she had left it. She reached into her pantry and pulled it out. It was as full as it ever was. She prepared a small cup of tea and put one drop of the contents of the box inside. It would be quick.
She put the box back inside her pantry and covered it up. Maybe if she covered it, it would cease to exist.
No. That would be bad. She needed the box.
She flew back over to Angel, the small cup balanced on one of her hooves. Angel saw her coming and stared at the teacup. He squealed again and held out his paws as if hoping that they would cease Fluttershy's advances and he would be fixed.
Fluttershy landed next to him and extended the teacup. "C-come on, Angel. I promise that this will make you feel better. It'll be good for you." She nudged the teacup against Angel's mouth. "J-just drink it. It'll make you feel better, I promise."
Angel tried to move away from Fluttershy, but he was losing too much blood. He squeaked again and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Angel please!" Fluttershy bumped his mouth with the teacup again. "P-please, Angel! I promise that it will make you feel better! Please just do this for me!"
With one last burst of strength, Angel knocked the teacup away. It shattered on the floor, spilling the contents everywhere. Fluttershy let out a wail of agony and tried to scoop up the tea again.
She couldn't do it. She couldn't go back to the box for Angel. She scooped the broken porcelain into a small pile, and stood up to go find a broom. She smiled at Angel and patted his head. "Just stay here, Angel Bunny. Mommy's going to..."
Fluttershy's eyes widened when she saw that Angel wasn't moving. His eyes were glazed over, but they still had the pleading look in them. Fluttershy slowly gasped and nudged her pet.
"A-Angel? Angel?" Fluttershy nudged him again, but he remained still. "Angel please! Please don't... I-I was going to make it better! I was g-going to make it so that you didn't hurt so bad! P-please d-don't..."
Fluttershy's screams echoed throughout her cottage as she mourned her dead little angel.