"So most of the bat’s influence has been removed?"
"Yes, the spell that I did to you removed all traces of bat within you." Twilight confidently replies to Fluttershy, a small smile appearing on her face. The smile turns into a frown when she utters the next sentence, "I just don't understand why you still have bat teeth though. But that is the only connection to bats that you have."
The two of them are on the way to check on the bat sanctuary in Sweet Apple Acres where the local vampire fruit bat population has been spending the previous week. Fluttershy wanted to check on the bats and Twilight, seeing the opportunity to learn more about their fascinating method of feeding, decided to tag along.
They arrive at a fenced off area of the farm that has a sign planted into the ground in front of it. There is a picture of a bat painted on the sign, signalling to everyone that this area belonged to the bats. Opening the creaking gate just left to the sign, the two mares trot into the orchard.
Fluttershy immediately goes flying through the trees looking for the bats, flitting between the branches, calling out to them in musical tone, looking for any sign of the fruit eating creatures. Looking around eagerly, a small smile on her face, Fluttershy waits, expecting a few bats to pop out from the leaves soon.
They’ll be here soon, the animal loving pegasus thought to herself. Tick. The seconds tick by. Tick. Where are they? Tick. Maybe they’re busy eating. Tick. I’ll come back later, Fluttershy decided, a slight frown now etched onto her face. Just when she is about to leave, a small shape flying through the air in front of her catches her attention. Following the bat, she flies between the tree while calling to the bat, “Please, I would like to talk to you, I mean ,if that’s okay with you.”
After a few more minutes of fruitless chasing and pleading, the bat flies over to a tree branch where it proceeds to place a large red apple into its mouth and sinks its fangs into the fruit, sucking the sweet juice out of the apple before dropping the remains unceremoniously onto the ground with a soft splat. Landing next to where the apple landed, Fluttershy walks up to the bat. “Excuse me, but may I talk to you?” she asks while looking up at the bat.
Instead of an answer, the only thing Fluttershy gets is a loud shriek before the bat takes to the air and flies out of sight. Seeing this, the pegasus sighs. She was hoping that the bat would nod his head, or at worst, ignore her and fly away. Such aggressive behavior was uncalled for, but then again, she used “The Stare” on them a week ago so maybe he’s still angry at her for that.
Deciding that another bat might be more willing to talk to her, she resumes her search, flying above the tree canopy, keeping an eye out for any bats. She’s soon rewarded with the sight of a bat hanging upside down from a branch, eating an apple. Approaching the bat, she asks “Hello there, I was wond-” She doesn’t manage to get another word out as the bat flies away. Disappointed, the pegasus decides to try again.
The next bat she finds simply ignores her. The one after that screeched at her until she left it alone. Approaching a bat family, the mother bat wraps its wings around its child to protect it while the father bat flew down from the branch and starts attacking Fluttershy with his wings until she runs off, leaving them in peace. This trend carries on throughout the entire morning, with bats displaying varying degrees of indifference, aggressiveness and fear. It’s that last feeling that leaves Fluttershy puzzled, why would any animal be afraid of her? She's never hurt an animal before so no animal ever had reason to be afraid of her.
She continues to walk through the apple orchard, thinking about what she could have done to cause the bats to fear her. Drawing a blank, she sighs and decides to take a break and sits down on the damp grass, staring blankly at the view in front of her. Rolling green hills covered in lush green grass, with rows upon- her train of thoughts are broken from a sound above her. Looking up, she sees a family of bats above her, remembering what happened the previous time she came into contact with a bat family, she stayed still and hoped they wouldn’t notice her. The father bat screeches at the mother bat, who in turn gave another screech to him. "I wonder why they're screeching at each other instead of properly talking to one another." Fluttershy thinks to herself. The answer comes to her almost immediately. B-But how is that possible? But what other explanation is there? Everything was alright the previous week, and nothing had happened to her except the spell that was cast on her by-
"TWILIGHT!" she shrieks, her sudden outburst startling the bats above her and causing them to fly away. At the back of her mind, Fluttershy feels bad for scaring them but she is too preoccupied to pay them much attention. A sudden burst of light and an accompanying "pop" announces Twilight's arrival.
"Fluttershy, what's wrong." The alicorn asks, her worry seeping into her voice. She slowly approaches the pegasus, who is starting to cry. She lost track of Fluttershy earlier when the animal lover started flying around to find bats and simply decided to observe bats from a distance.
"W-When you u-used that spell, d-did it get rid of any connection I had to bats?" the pegasus choked out through sobs.
"Y-yes. That was the point of the spell, to rid you of the bat's influence." Twilight replies, a tone of confusion creeping into her voice.
"Even the connection that allows me to communicate with them!?" Fluttershy wails before collapsing into tears.
"Y-yes." That's all that Twilight manages to say with a look of horror appearing on her face. "Oh no, Fluttershy I'm so sorry." Hugging the pegasus in a futile attempt to comfort her, Twilight mentally berates herself for tempering with something's nature.
A million thoughts run through Fluttershy's head. Is this how not understanding animals is like? She's never failed to understand an animal, be it an enraged manticore, a tired bear, a frightened squirrel or a calm crane. What about Tom the bat? They met every Friday night and talked over a few light snacks. And what about all the bats she toke care of when they return from migration? What about... what will happen to... how will they... As the list piled up, tears continued to stream down her face. A bat flies overhead, screeching at her.
And for once, she doesn't understand what it says.