//------------------------------//
// Kindness 
// Story: Friends Forever 
// by Ryvaken 
//------------------------------//

	Fluttershy slunk back to her cottage.

Immortal? Her? She didn't feel immortal. What did immortality feel like?

Scary, she'd bet, but then lots of things were scary. Most things. All things.

Fluttershy hopped onto her favorite couch and settled down to her barrel. She dropped her head to the cushion and leaned against the padded side. She liked the couch. It made her feel secure. It was old and had a lot of repair work, though. All of the cushions had been replaced after one critter or another had destroyed them.

Fluttershy cracked an eye open and looked at a list she had hanging from a nail right where she could look at it from this position. It was her appointments for the week. Rainbow wanted her to look at Tank tomorrow for a regular checkup, nothing before then.

She turned her head and took in the animals that shared her home. Most of them, she knew, would die before her. They were older or lived faster. She'd already put too many to rest. But now she was going to see them all grow old and die around her. She didn't like that idea.

Because when they did, all she'd have left would be her friends. Everything else would be dead.

Maybe she did feel immortal, because she was really scared. Someday her friends would leave her behind. Someday they'd realize she was just holding them back, like she held back everypony. And when they did, she'd have nothing. She'd be alone, forever.

Angel Bunny hopped up next to her, and Fluttershy stared at the little rabbit. Average lifespan, ten years if cared for. Angel was five years old already. Strange that she'd never considered that before. Andel punched her in the face with a soft paw.

"Ow," Fluttershy whispered, which was already an overreaction. "What's wrong, Angel?"

Angel thumped hs foot on the couch and gestured to another rabbit. A doe, Fluttershy saw, one she wasn't familiar with. A very pregnant doe. "Oh, are they yours?" Fluttershy asked.

Angel straightened up and strutted proudly.

"Oh how wonderful," Fluttershy said. "I'm sure you'll be a great father." She favored the rabbit with a smile. Angel hopped away.

Fluttershy watched him leave and glanced at the doe. She'd give birth by the end of the week, probably. Six or seven kits. Maybe two would reach maturity. Angel would mate her again once they had. Then the kits would be Fluttershy's to care for, just like all the other animals around her cottage.

Fluttershy blinked rapidly. They would be hers to care for. And then their children, and theirs. She couldn't possibly care for them all, they were rabbits after all, but...but she'd never be alone. Unless she pushed them away. Unless she screwed up.

Well. Best make sure not to do that. Her friends would help her if she stumbled, after all.





One was Kindness. With everything she lost, she would gain two more, and eternity could never touch her.