The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Twelve: Comfort (Teen-Rated)
“…A-And… and… when I woke up, I-I w-was here… She… killed my mama!” Bumble cried loudly, shoving his head into Fluttershy’s chest.
Fluttershy couldn’t believe the story she had just heard. Her mouth hung wide open, her eyes staring into the distance. It brought back horrible memories of her own, and tears flowed sullenly from her eyes. She pulled him in closer than she ever had before, nuzzling him and kissing his forehead.
“B-Bumble, I had no idea! I-I’m so sorry! I can’t believe that monster would do something so horrible to you!” Fluttershy sympathized.
For many minutes, the two sat there on the bed in a deep hug. She moved her mane so that it was covering his body, like a blanket that a loving mother puts over her child during a frightening storm.
“F-Fluttershy?” he asked, pulling his head out of her chest.
“Y-Yes, sweetheart?” she tenderly responded.
“D-Do you think that I d-did anything wrong? Or my mama?” he questioned. Fluttershy put a confused look on her face.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think one of us did anything that made… that happen? Do you think it was our fault?” he clarified.
“Of course not, sweetie! Why would you think that it was one of your faults?”
“Because, i-if we didn’t ever try to sneak away from the invasion, m-my mama wouldn’t be… be…” Bumble started, but choked up.
“Bumble, that didn’t have anything to do with it!” Fluttershy reassured. “If anything, that just showed how big sweethearts you and your mother were. You didn’t want to and were scared to hurt anypony, so you befriended them instead. You should never blame yourself for something like that for wanting to not hurt anypony,” she explained.
At that moment, in Fluttershy’s head, a memory played faintly. She remembered a knife in one of her front hooves, with her trembling in a corner. There was a bloodied body behind a figure that stood above her. She saw it coming in closer. Even though there was a knife in her hoof, she couldn’t lunge it forward to protect herself. She was crying, but she couldn’t scream out for help.
The figure above her lunged itself down into her, causing her to cry out weakly. She was powerless to do anything against her attacker except accept what was coming to her. She couldn’t even breathe.
After the figure finished up, it got up and left her cloudy house. She sat there for a near eternity to her, crying to herself about what she could’ve done wrong that led her to these terrible events. She just felt so dirty, like mud in her fur, leaves in her mane. Tears flowed from her eyes until she passed out unconscious.
Back in the current world, Fluttershy was rocking back and forth, crying uncontrollably with Bumble in her grasp. Bumble could hear her sobs. He understood why she would be crying from his story, but he didn’t expect this much.
“F-Fluttershy? Are y-you okay?” he said, shuttering between his own sobs.
“H-H-Huh? Oh, I’m sorry… I just had a bad memory of my own,” she explained, wiping her eyes with one of her hooves.
“Oh… what happened?” he questioned, cocking his head.
“Well, I’m not sure if you’re old enough to understand it, and it’s a little bit of an adult topic, but… I… I was…” she choked. “I was raped.”
“You… were raped?” Bumble said in complete disbelief. “That’s… horrible! How could someone do that to someone as sweet and kind as you!?” he yelled, anger coming into him.
“You know what that is?” she asked, surprised.
“Of course! It’s one of the first things that we learn about in school, because it happens so often in the hive. But anyways, tell me about what happened!”
“Well, I h-had just returned home from another day of flight school, and my daddy had greeted me and kissed me and asked me how my day went. The day itself had gone fine, and I told him so. I had another run-in with my bullies, but a friend of mine, Rainbow Dash, chased them away.”
“So, after that, I did my homework like I did every day, which usually consisted of just practicing flying, as well as other basic skills such as math or writing. After this, I would usually take a nap, because I was tired from the day. So, I did.”
“The next thing I remember is a loud yell coming from my living room, and I got up and slowly opened my door. Part of our normal training for flight, even though it doesn’t really have anything to do with flying, is to learn to defend ourselves and protect ourselves if we feel that we really needed.”
“So, I went into my kitchen and smashed open the lock on the box that our sharper knives were held in. I pulled out the sharpest knife we had, and it was a really sharp knife. It could cut through a small block of wood if you went straight down on it. Then, I crouched and slowly looked around the doorway that went into our kitchen.”
“There was nopony there, so I very quietly entered the room. I had my knife ready at hoof, and the next thing that I saw horrified me.”
“I s-saw…”
Fluttershy sniffled, looked down towards her bed. She clenched her teeth and eyes, starting to clutch Bumble a little tighter. He squeaked, and she loosened her grip on him a little. He lowered himself to lay on his side. He could feel the sadness emanating from her body, like rock-gray clouds pouring ice-cold raindrops while you sit under them, crying so much that you can’t distinguish tears from rain.
“I-I saw m-my daddy l-laying on the ground, not moving o-or breathing at all. There was b-blood coming out of his m-mouth and nose, and his cheek had a bruise on it. There was a bigger colt that I recognized f-from my flight school standing over him, and he had blood all over his f-fore hooves. He was in the senior class, almost eight years older than I was.”
“W-When I saw this, I locked up. I couldn’t m-move or do anything but stand there in the h-horror that I was feeling. I was holding the knife, but I couldn’t throw it or swing it. I wasn’t a-a-able to do anything b-but tremble.”
“I c-could tell he had seen me by this point, because he was staring at me. I can remember those terrible, horrid eyes, staring, watching, preying, stalking me. They were so cold, so barren, but deep inside, I saw it - that monstrous, deadly soul.”
“The last thing I can remember is him c-coming closer. He kn-knocked my knife away from me, and towered over me, pushing me onto my back and into a corner. And then… and then…”
“Fluttershy, I… I’m so sorry. You don’t need to go on. I-I understand,” Bumble said, comfortably nuzzling his head up underneath her chin, like a cat. She wrapped her hooves around him. Right then, he was her security blanket.
“Thank you, Bumble, f-for listening to me. I never felt that I could tell anypony because I thought that they would judge me for it. It just feels so relieving that I could tell my story to someone, even if it was a changeling,” she sighed. Suddenly, Bumble found himself growling, which Fluttershy found unusual; it took her off guard. “Bumble?”
“How dare he do something like that to you!? You were powerless to do anything, and he just let himself go and do that! I hope that guy gets to rot in a dungeon!” he growled, baring his fangs.
“Sweetie, please, calm yourself. He did get caught and put in jail. After I woke up, which was in a hospital, I was told about everything that happened, and I was asked if I wanted to go before the royal court to testify. So, I did, and he was found guilty and sentenced to life in Tartarus for... murder and...”
“Good riddance!”
“Yes, he got the justice that he deserved. It’s just too bad that you’ll never get that real sense of closure that you really deserve.”
“Well, it’s okay, mama. At least now I’m away from Queen Chrysalis.”
Fluttershy noticed something about that first sentence he had said.
“Mama?” she asked.
“Huh?”
‘You called me ‘mama,’” she explained.
“Oh, well… You’re a lot like my mama, and you sound a little like her, too…” he trailed.
“I do?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
For a moment, they sat there on the bed, both unsure of how to continue.
“Fluttershy?” he broke the silence.
“Yes, Bumble?” she responded.
“…Will you be my mama?” he asked, much to Fluttershy’s surprise.
“Will I be your mama?” she repeated in shock.
“Yeah… I've been living here for a few months now, and every single day, even if I was angry or rude towards you, you gave me love and the energy I needed to get through the days. You’re nice, loving, caring – everything that my mama was before…” he explained
“Bumble…” he sighed, looking down at his face. It almost looked sad.
“Please, Fluttershy?” he begged, pushing his head up into Fluttershy’s chest.
“…Of course, sweetie. Of course, I’ll be your mama!”
At that moment, Bumble had the sweetest feeling inside. It was the biggest influx of love he’d felt in nearly his entire life, and it filled all of his senses. He could smell the scent of the sweetest roses, and the sound of his mother’s nicest, most loving voice filled his ears. He could’ve even sworn that he could see her smiling face.