//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Wedding Bells Bug Hunt // by Trinary //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash rubbed her foreleg getting the feeling back into it after Applejack—or rather, Fakerjack, as she mentally dubbed her, had trotted off. Stupid bug. Totally would’ve whooped her flank if she was the real Applejack. Or, you know, had fought fair. Still would’ve won. AJ never beats me in hoofwrestling! … Well, okay there was that one time … or two. Whatever. She usually never beats me except on the rare occasion when she does.   The soft trilling of birdsong reached Rainbow’s ears. It was too neat, too organized to have been random. Her ears perked as she looked around for the source of the noise. The gentle harmonizing hum of Fluttershy clinched it. Just glad Fluttershy didn’t walk in on me and Fakerjack, Dash mused as she trotted deeper into the gardens. I’ll check in on Fluttershy, see if she noticed anything odd about Applejack I can use.   She spotted Fluttershy conducting her bird choir. The chirped and tweeted and … whatever else it was that birds did. Fluttershy’s head dipped and swayed as she conducted with a small baton she held in her mouth. As much as she wanted to talk to Fluttershy, Rainbow found herself stopping to just—listen. The music, while not as cool as Vinyl Scratch’s wubs or as energetic as Sapphire Shore’s songs, was still amazing.   Fluttershy sure has a way with animals. Rainbow mused as she fluttered up to a tree branch and got comfortable, not wanting to spoil the show by revealing herself just yet. Down below, a squirrel skittered out from under a bush and made its way over to Fluttershy. Rainbow barely paid it any mind, thinking that it was just another one of Fluttershy’s animal friends. Fluttershy probably has the animals here eating out of her hoof. At least, I hope her hoof. She shuddered as she remembered that one time she’d caught Fluttershy feeding animals from out of her own mouth. Gross.   But the squirrel scampered over to Fluttershy and began tugging on her tail. Fluttershy flinched and nearly dropped her baton. The bird choir fell into a ragged cacophony that made Rainbow want to cover her ears. Fluttershy turned around just as the squirrel’s tail disappeared back under the bushes. Her ears flattened as she sighed and picked up the baton, tapping it against the tree branch her birds were standing on. “Okay, let’s take it from the top…”   The song started again. Less than a minute later, a loud buzzing noise started up, drowning out the birdsong. Rainbow looked around, and spotted a wicked-looking, black feathered buzzard, well, buzzing. Loudly. It set Rainbow’s teeth on edge.   “Mr. Buzzard, please…” Fluttershy looked up at the big bird pleadingly. “I’d really like to hear you buzz, it’s very nice—but we really need to practice right n-OW!” She yelped as an acorn bounced off her temple. A small bunny chattered and dove back into the brushes.   Rainbow frowned. She’d seen Fluttershy talk a grumpy bear into taking its medicine and once pulled a rotted tooth out of the mouth of a manticore. She’d given massages to snakes and literally charmed birds from the trees. There was no way she should be having this much trouble with the garden animals. She thought about flying in to help, but held herself back. Fluttershy’s got this...unless she isn’t really Fluttershy. Better wait and see what she does. Fluttershy whirled, trying to spot any of the animals plaguing her. But they had all withdrawn into the trees. “Please--I don’t know what you want. I want to be your friend--I even brought you some apple pies, sprinkled with nuts and birdseed! Why won’t you just talk to me?” There was no answer. With a sad, weary sigh, Fluttershy turned back to her choir. “I’m very sorry about that. I guess they’re just a little unused to having new ponies and birds here. Let’s just get through this rehearsal and then we can try to make friends with them … again. Okay?” The birds nodded and flapped their wings in agreement. “Good, now, once more from the top…” Practice got underway once more … though the chorus sounded a bit ragged to Rainbow’s ears. Every couple of minutes, she spotted Fluttershy’s head drift this way and that, no doubt watching and waiting for another animal to pop out to harass her. With her attention divided, the birds’ song suffered for it. Just as Fluttershy noticed and began to correct it, a flurry of birds rushed down from a nearby tree: blue jays, red jays, green jays and pink jays! They dove down and flew through Fluttershy’s mane, turning it into a chaotic mess as they exited. A red-yellow blur, almost too fast for the pony eye to see, swooped down right over the choir, sending Fluttershy’s birds into a fearful scatter and grabbed the baton right out of Fluttershy’s mouth. “Oh my! No no, it’s okay--no reason to be scared!” Fluttershy pleaded, but the group had already scattered into the trees. A glee-filled caw echoed around, sounding a lot like laughter to Rainbow Dash. “S-stop!” Fluttershy looked around, trying to see the garden animals that were already hidden in the bushes and the trees. “W-why are you doing this?” Her eyes glistened over with tears as she sniffled. “I-I just wanted to be friends with you! I just wanted you to love meeeeee--!” Her voice broke off into a thin wail. Rainbow Dash felt her heart break. Okay, that’s enough. More than enough. The appearance of the red-yellow blur tipped her off. She flew down from her tree and wrapped Fluttershy up in a sudden hug. “Hey, hey s’okay Fluttershy, it’s okay.” “R-Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy hiccuped, scrubbing the tears from her face with a hoof. “What are you doing here?” “Making sure my awesome friend is okay.” She gave Fluttershy a squeeze. “Sorry for not stepping in sooner, but I thought you could handle it.” Fluttershy gave a miserable sounding whimper “I-I don’t understand! What did I do wrong? Why do all the animals in the gardens hate me?” Dash patted her shoulder. “They don’t hate you. Just watch.” She put a hoof to her mouth and whistled. “All right Philomena, front and center!” “Philomena? Who--” Fluttershy had barely spoken before a familiar red and yellow flash zoomed in front of her, landing on Rainbow’s outstretched foreleg, revealing itself to be a tall bird with brilliant plumage. Rainbow nodded at the bird. “This is Philomena. She’s Celestia’s pet phoenix.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she regarded her--and the phoenix--in awe. “The Princess’ pet … and a phoenix!” Philomena cawed proudly. “Yeah, she’s pretty cool. Me and her? Friends from way back. Used to pull some awesome pranks together.” She looked to Philomena. “Have you been keeping the guards on their hooves since I’ve been gone?” Philomena dipper her head and let out a proud caw. “Heh, that’s my wingbuddy.” She offered up a wing, gently tapping it against the phoenix’s own. “Oh my, friends with a phoenix that must be very nice.” Fluttershy looked at Rainbow and Philomena with an expression Rainbow didn’t quite recognize. Dash just shrugged. “Yeah, it’s cool. She’s quite the prankster.” Philomena puffed up proudly, as Rainbow looked at her with a frown. “But sometimes, she needs a reminder of when she’s taking things too far. Not cool, Philomena. Not. Cool.” Philomena cawed and flapped her wings, sounding defensive. “Look, I don’t care if you thought it was funny. Fluttershy is my friend and you made her cry. You took it too far. Again. Now apologize.” The phoenix looked at Fluttershy and let out a sheepish sounding squawk. “It’s okay,” Fluttershy gave a soft smile. “I just hope that we can be friends now? And that the rest of the royal garden animals will be friends with me and my bird friends too.” “I think I can put in a good word for you.” Rainbow chimed in. “Philomena has the ear of a lot of the animals here. She smoothed things out between me and the rest of these critters. I, eh, might have done some flybys through the garden when I was a filly that miiight have set some of these guys on edge.” She rubbed her neck sheepishly. Fluttershy frowned. “Rainbow, it's not very nice to scare animals.They don't understand that you were just playing.” “I was just a kid!” Dash protested. “Besides, that was ages ago!” She flinched slightly under Fluttershy’s disapproving frown, but thankfully, Fluttershy let it drop. “So how are you?” Fluttershy asked after a moment. Rainbow shrugged. “Oh, I’m okay. Just dealing with some last minute stuff that came up. You know, the usual.” Giant love-eating monster bugs want to invade and take us over … how did that become the usual in my life? “You?” “...Fine.” Fluttershy’s wings ruffled as she looked at the ground. “I’ve just been trying to practice with my birds. Well, I was until...” she shook her head. “Nevermind. Could you please ask her not to startle my bird friends? We need to practice and she won’t listen to me.” Rainbow scraped a hoof against the ground. “Yeah, sorry about that. But hey, no problem. Philomena will stop bugging you, I guarantee it.” Fluttershy’s ear gave a very slight twitch. “Yes. Thank you, Rainbow.” “Anything else I can do to help?” Dash asked. Then an idea struck her. “You know, Philomena's got a pretty decent set of pipes on her. Maybe she could join your choir? I mean, I can ask for you, I'm sure she'd say yes. We go way back, right?” Philomena nodded. Fluttershy looked between the phoenix and Rainbow Dash. After a long silence, she asked, “Will she behave herself?” “She should, if I make it clear how important this is.” Rainbow shot the bird a warning look. “Especially since you’re my friend, Fluttershy.” Philomena nonchalantly started to preen her wing. Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Of course, I know a few tricks to help keep her in line. Want me to teach you?” Fluttershy opened her mouth--then seemed to sag slightly. “Yes, please,” she murmured gently. Rainbow blinked, wondering what that was about. “Okay … so, she likes treats, especially sweets. And she really likes it when you scratch underneath her beak and when she gets fidgety, just let her go flying for a bit. She’ll usually be back in a few minutes. And--” She rattled off a couple more tips as Fluttershy listened and nodded. There was something … off about Fluttershy. When Rainbow told her about how much Philomena liked sesame seed cakes with bird seed sprinkled on, Fluttershy seemed--almost annoyed. “...and she likes having her plumage stroked. I guess that’s about it.” Fluttershy closed her eyes and took a deep breath before letting it out. “All right. Thank you, Rainbow.” “Anytime.” Rainbow grinned and booped Fluttershy’s nose playfully. “Just don't let her walk all over you. I mean, you can let her stand on your back or your head if you like, but don't let her push you around, y'know?” “I understand. I am used to dealing with Angel Bunny, after all,” Fluttershy reminded her. Dash shrugged. “Yeah, but Philomena's just a prankster. Angel is kind of a jerk.” Kind of really a jerk, but she didn’t want to hurt Fluttershy’s feelings by saying it. “Now now, Rainbow, Angel's a really nice bunny once you get to know him.” Fluttershy defended her animal companion. “He's just a bit ... erm…” “Yeeeah, sure he is.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “But Philomena? She's cool. She's a lot like me, which is I guess why we get along so great.” Fluttershy fidgeted. “Oh. I guess, that would explain it…” “Totally!” Rainbow confirmed. “We love pranks, flying fast and racing! We used to have races to see who could prank the most guards in an hour and then fly around the city until we lost them.” “It sounds like you had a wonderful time.” Fluttershy shifted as she looked at Rainbow with a frown. “Why didn't you ever tell me about her? Dash shrugged. “I dunno … it just didn’t come up.” “But I talk about how much I love animals all the time…” Fluttershy mumbled, almost too low for Rainbow to hear. Almost. Rainbow winced, clearing her throat. “So, uh, do you want any more tips on how to deal with the garden animals? I mean, I know that one buzzard gets kinda cranky in the morning … and that squirrel is really uptight when she's hungry.” “Thank you, Rainbow, but I can manage.” Fluttershy’s soft voice had taken on a testy edge. Heedlessly, Rainbow went on. “You sure?” Dash shuffled, trying to be helpful. “Because there's also that one bunny…” Fluttershy whirled on her. “I said I know how to take care of animals, Rainbow!” She snapped at her. “I don’t need you to tell me how to do something I’ve been doing since I was a filly!” Jaw dropping, Rainbow hunched her shoulders and took a half step back. She watched Fluttershy blink, catching herself as she hastily clasped a hoof over her mouth. Rainbow worked her jaw, but nothing came out. Finally she managed to work out a confused, “Fluttershy?” Fluttershy mumbled, her ears drooping and flattening against her skull, slumping down until the grass nearly brushed her belly. “Sorry, I just ... sorry.” “It---it's okay.” Dash blinked, feeling liked somepony just klonked her on the head. A thought occurred to her. Nah. It can’t be...but she had to ask, to be sure. “Uh, Fluttershy, are you---jealous?” Fluttershy looked this way and that, making Rainbow think she’d have to practically force Fluttershy to answer. She was about to lean in closer when Fluttershy piped up. “Maybe. A little bit. It's just ... you got all this time with all these wonderful animals, and you never even appreciated it. “I--well, animals aren't really my thing…” Rainbow defended, feeling like she had done something seriously wrong but wasn’t quite sure what. “You always get things that other ponies would love to have, and then you don't appreciate them or even notice them. It's not fair.” Fluttershy gave a soft sigh. “And sometimes I get just a teeny-tiny bit jealous of everything you have, that I don't.” There was no other way to put it, that hurt. Rainbow felt her throat constrict, letting nothing come out. Half-formed words danced across her mind but none ever made it to her tongue. Fluttershy’s ears drooped when she saw that Rainbow wasn’t going to say anything. “Sorry, I ... I should go.” She slowly turned around and walked off, the animals in tow--even Philomena, who just looked at Rainbow with a sad, apologetic glance before turning away. Rainbow Dash’s hindlegs gave out from under her and she sat down heavily. What just happened? This is just--wrong. Beyond wrong. Fluttershy was nicest, sweetest, kindest pony Rainbow Dash had ever known. Rainbow had accidentally knocked her off a cloud when they were fillies--Fluttershy had only been saved by a swarm of butterflies--and Fluttershy had practically ended up apologizing to Rainbow for worrying her! Ever since flight camp, Rainbow Dash had been Fluttershy’s protector, her guardian. She stood up for her against bullies and pushed her to be braver. Even when she’d gotten impatient or annoyed with Fluttershy’s timidness, Fluttershy had never retaliated in kind. Fluttershy had been her conscience and confidant. Whenever Rainbow botched a trick and was too full of pride to ask Derpy or Cloud Kicker for help, Fluttershy was always there with a bandage and a kind word. She would smile and tell Rainbow that she believed in her, that she could do anything. When Fluttershy said it, Dash believed it. Like an extra pair of wings that would never break, Fluttershy held her up. Only now, Rainbow’s hooves may have been firmly planted on the ground, but she was falling in place. While they may have largely fallen out of touch when Rainbow went to Canterlot, as soon as the two had reconnected in Ponyville it was like they had never been apart. Never once, in all that time had Fluttershy ever made an issue out of Rainbow Dash being Princess Celestia’s student. She had never asked for a favor, never complained, never even gave the slightest hint of being jealous. Fluttershy had always been happy for her! Ponyfeathers, Fluttershy had been happier for her than she had been. She’d been too excited over doing the Sonic Rainboom and dreaming of joining the Wonderbolts. Rainbow took a breath. Have I been unappreciative? She wondered to herself. Okay, yeah, being the Princess’ student was pretty cool. But Dash had worked hard to prove that she had deserved it. It had been ponies like the rich snobs of Canterlot who tried to cut her down, make her think that she didn’t deserve to be the Princess’ pupil. And now Fluttershy of all ponies was agreeing with them? No way. There’s no way that can be Fluttershy. It just--it can’t be. No. Way. Rainbow’s mind raced, mentally trying to orient herself, like coming out a 720 degree spin and not knowing which way was up. I thought it was Applejack … but there’s no way the real Fluttershy could’ve done that! Fluttershy must be the changeling--right? Then she thought back about how angry Applejack had been, how she practically tossed her to the ground. Doubt started to grow. Rainbow Dash was truly at a loss. Applejack’s behavior had been pretty suspicious: her refusal to confront the truth that there were other, non-Apple-y ways of making food, how short-tempered and angry she’d gotten at her...it made sense if a changeling wanted to control what food would be served: if they wanted to drug or poison it. But Fluttershy’s behavior was no less strange. It’d make sense for a changeling to not be as animal-friendly as the real Fluttershy would be. And replacing Fluttershy would make sense. Who pays attention to the musicians before the wedding? They could go wherever they’d like and claim they were checking out the acoustics or something. But how could she know which one of them was the fake? Rainbow rubbed her face. She needed another viewpoint. When this began, she didn’t think she could find which of her friends could be the imposter. Now she was starting to wonder if any of them weren’t.