//------------------------------//
// Two Birds 
// Story: The Curse of a Kind Heart 
// by Eyvind 
//------------------------------//

	Rarity and Rainbow Dash were sitting in the unicorn's kitchen in the back of her boutique, relaxing with tea after fixing a rather urgent situation that had suddenly arisen. Rarity had awoken that morning to thunder coming from the main room of her store. Somepony had placed an angry storm cloud in the store, thinking it would be funny. Rarity was slightly ashamed to admit that she had at first thought it to be the work of Rainbow Dash, but that assumption was dispelled when Rainbow had been flying nearby, drawn by the commotion, and offered her assistance in dispersing the annoyance.

After the cloud had been dealt with, Rarity had invited Dash to stay for a cup of tea. She would be the last to admit it, but the unicorn could make the best tea in all of Equestria. So, going against her better judgement, Rainbow had agreed.

"I really must thank you again, Rainbow. You just can't imagine how absolutely dreadful it was to find that awful storm cloud sitting in the middle of my boutique."

"No problem, Rare" Dash waved a hoof nonchalantly, demonstrating how effortless her rescue was. "It was just some pony's idea of a bad joke. Nothing a little buck couldn't fix."

"Still, you truly saved me. I would never have been able to get my work started today if you hadn't come along." Rainbow smiled as she sipped her tea, pleased that she had gotten the chance to play hero so early in the morning.

Rarity noticed all too well how her words were boosting her friend's ego, and decided it was time to change the subject to one that she was very much interested in hearing about.

"So, how has Fluttershy been doing? I haven't seen her today and I was wondering if she went to see Twilight after our talk."

Raibow Dash cocked her head quizzically. "What? What are you talking about?"

"You mean she hasn't told you?" Rarity sounded surprised by Dash's ignorance.

"Told me what?" Rainbow asked rather forcefully. Rarity suddenly buttoned her lips, believing that if Fluttershy hadn't told the pony she was closest to about her nightmares or their discussion, she probably had a good reason to keep it a secret. Dash noticed how Rarity had suddenly gotten quiet, and looked at the mare intently. "Come on, Rare. Tell me what's going on with Fluttershy."

Rarity started to wilt under Rainbow's glare, small beads of sweat beginning to form on her brow. "N-nothing, Fluttershy's fine. Nothing to worry about, haha... heh..." She slurped her tea in an uncharacteristically noisy fashion, attempting to avoid Dash's stare.

Rainbow's eyes narrowed menacingly as she began to hover over Rarity, placing her drink down and putting her face mere inches away from the panicking unicorn's. "What's. Wrong. With. Fluttershy."

Rarity swallowed nervously. Would Fluttershy ever purposefully keep a secret from Rainbow Dash? Would she be mad if she told her? Rarity considered her options, all the while being pierced by that intimidating glare

"... Alright..." she said at length. "I'll tell you, but you have to promise to stay calm. It's not like it was your fault or anything..."


~~~


A soft knock came from the front door of the library. Inside the tree house, Twilight Sparkle, still in bed despite it being nearly noon, groaned in agony from the sound of somepony's hoof gently tapping against the solid oak door. Although it was an extremely quiet sound, it may as well have been mortar shells dropping after the long night of studying that the book-crazy unicorn had put herself through. She put a hoof to her temple, trying to nurse her terrible migraine.

"Spike!" She called out to her draconian assistant. "Quick, get the door, before that pony brings the library crashing down!"

Spike chuckled as he headed towards the door to answer it. "Yeah yeah, I'm on it" he assured her.

Spike opened the door to see Fluttershy on the other side of it, looking as dead-on-her-hooves as Twilight. "Hey, Fluttershy. Gee, you aren't looking too hot. Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no. I mean, well, yes. Um, maybe. Kind of..."

"Come on inside. Twilight should be up soon. I'm sure she could help you with... uh... whatever you need help with."

"Oh, um, alright. Thank you."

Fluttershy stepped inside while spike went to fetch Twilight. Five minutes later, the two extremely tired mares were sitting at the table in the middle of the library, each with a cup of hot coffee in front of them, courtesy of spike, who had retreated into the kitchen to prepare their lunch. The pegasus proceeded to tell her friend about what had happened at Sugar Cube Corner the previous week, the reason for her lack of sleep, and the discussion she had had with Rarity the previous day. Unfortunately, their talk hadn't helped with the nightmares at all, as they had returned last night in full force.

"So what do you think? Can you help make this voice go away?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"Well, what you describe does sound an awful lot like your behavior from back then" Twilight stated thoughtfully, tapping her chin with her hoof as she considered Rarity's theory. "But then again, I just can't see how that could possibly be the cause of this voice."

"Huh? You mean you don't think Discord's magic has anything to do with it?"

"Well I didn't say that" Twilight clarified. "The similarity between this voice and your darker self can't be denied, but I think the connection may be more psychological rather than magical."

This only caused Fluttershy to look more confused. Twilight sighed, taking a moment to gather her thoughts to try and find the best way to explain her theory to the less-bookish mare. "What I mean is, when Discord transformed you back then, the transformation was so sudden and unnatural to you that it may have left a wound in your psyche; A wound that was opened last week at Sugar Cube Corner. That would explain why you hadn't heard the voice until then. It also seems unlikely that the voice is any lingering magic, simply because when you reformed discord, he reverted every unnatural change that he had made to Equestria up until that point. It would also be strange that you would be the only one to experience any lingering magical effects out of our entire group of friends."

As Twilight spoke, Fluttershy's look of confusion slowly gave way to tepid understanding. "I... I think I understand what you're saying..."

"Lunch is served!" Spike called from the doorway to the kitchen. He emerged wearing a floury apron and carrying a silver platter with two dandelion sandwiches for the mares. Twilight thanked him as he set the tray down on the table between them before he retreated to the upstairs loft.

Fluttershy took a dainty bite from her sandwich and swallowed before she spoke again. "Um, so, if the problem is in my head, then how am I supposed to make this voice go away?

Twilight took a much-less dainty bite out of her sandwich as she considered the dilemma. "It seems to me that the voice only appeared after you yourself had thought you had done something terribly mean and cruel. So it stands to reason that if you can find some way to convince yourself that you are a truly kind and gentle soul at heart, then the voice will have no more dark thoughts to draw upon and will have no choice but to leave you in peace."

Fluttershy's throat dried and her chest tightened painfully, the question she was afraid to ask raging inside of her mind. "What... What if..." she whispered, barely audible as she tried to choke out the terrifying thought in her head. She closed her eyes, as if blocking out the world and pretending it didn't exist would ease the taxation on her nerves. "What if I'm not kind or gentle at all" She finally managed to ask as her closed eyes started to tear up. "What if the voice is right, and I really am mean on the inside? What if--"

Fluttershy flinched as she felt warm hooves wrap around her shoulders and her eyes shot open in surprise. Twilight had moved around the table while she had voiced her worries. She now sat beside the pegasus, giving her only the second warmest and most reassuring hug she had ever received in her entire life. Fluttershy's mind flashed back to the previous week, when Rainbow Dash had found her in the forest. She felt a light heat rise in her cheeks at the memory,

Thankfully the blush went unnoticed by Twilight as she had closed her eyes during the embrace. "Don't ever think that you're not kind, Fluttershy. You're the nicest, sweetest, most lovable pony in all of Equestria, and that's a fact. I know you may not believe me, and you're doubting yourself right now, but all of your friends are going to be here for you and help to prove to you just how wrong that stupid voice is."

Tears finally fell as Fluttershy returned Twilight's hug, quietly sobbing into her friend's shoulder. It felt good to cry, to just let out all of her frustration, anger, and fear. Twilight attempted neither to retreat nor to comfort her, but simply sat there and let Fluttershy's tears soak her fur.


~~~


Rainbow Dash blasted out of the doors of the boutique, Rarity's angry shout barely audible behind her.

"You promised to stay calm!"

Rainbow ignored her as she flew straight for Flutterhsy's cottage.

Darn it Dash, how could you have been so stupid?! she thought angrily  to herself. Of course Fluttershy was upset about something! Of course she would still be beating herself up about that little argument last week! And where have you been, huh? Practicing your stunts? Some friend you are. Well, you're going to make this right, right now! You're going to find Fluttershy, tell her to tell that voice to go buck itself, and then your going to throw yourself at her hooves and beg her forgiveness for being the worst friend in the history of friends!

Rainbow reached Fluttershy's house moments later, but the pegasus didn't seem to be home. Dash grunted in frustration. Ok, think. Where could she have gone? Oh yeah! Didn't Rarity say something about suggesting she go see Twilight?

Turning around, Rainbow headed back into Ponyville, setting her sights on the library. Don't worry, 'Shy. I'm going to make this up to you if it kills me.