“Fluttershy? Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy’s eyes fluttered, hearing a familiar voice. Her vision slowly cleared to an image of Rainbow Dash, worried as could be. She yawned deeply, realizing it was only a dream.
“Hi Rainbow Dash,” she muttered. “How are you?”
Rainbow Dash turned her head and became puzzled. “What do you mean ‘How are you?’” she said, her multi-colored tail swishing in the wind. “What are you doing here?”
Fluttershy looked towards the night-filled sky, sparkling in its ever-increasing beauty. Princess Luna had done another amazing job, even with her one thousand year hiatus.
“I... I had to get away,” she said, avoiding Rainbow’s stare. “I mean, I needed some time alone. I’m sorry.” Her vision was still a bit blurred, so she tried shaking her head to wake up.
“C’mon Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, worriedly looking at the broken pegasus. “Your friends are in danger of dy-”
Fluttershy’s body suddenly went alert and jumped to all fours. Her ears perked up and her wings flew open. “My friends are in trouble?!”
Rainbow jumped back, surprised at Fluttershy’s change of attitude. “Y-yeah, your friends are dying.”
Without a second thought, Fluttershy rocketed off the cloud, going faster than she ever had before. Rainbow tried to catch up, but Fluttershy was on a mission. She was trying to save more lives. Save them before they became Angel’s.
-----
“Oops, sorry. She doesn’t mean to... I apologize. She is in a hurry.”
Twilight’s ears perked up as she heard a familiar voice going through the town. She glanced towards the sound and saw Rainbow flying, tired and panting for air. Galloping towards her, Twilight yelled “Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow turned her head towards the unicorn. “Hey Twili-WHOA!!” Rainbow swooped through a cart full of paintings, barely avoiding one of ponies playing on a beach. The male artist yelled at almost losing his prized possessions, with Rainbow apologizing and not losing speed.
“What’s going on??” Twilight asked, galloping alongside the pegasus. “Why are you in such a hurry? And why are you so tired?”
“Well, you see-sorry-,” Rainbow was trying to talk while dodging other ponies. “I was flying arou-‘Scuse me-around the area when-Sorry!-when I found some clou-I’m sorry!”
Rainbow huffed in frustration, not being able to finish her sentences without almost hitting a pony. “I’ll explain it later! Right now we need to get to Fluttershy’s.”
Twilight nodded. “Alright Rainbow, let’s go.”
-----
Twilight and Rainbow arrived to Fluttershy’s cottage, tired and out of breath from all the running. Twilight looked at her surroundings and gasped at what she saw. Rainbow followed suit, stiff as a statue in shock.
The whole area was covered in animal bodies, recently passed or in sickness and malnourishment. Fish were lying on top of the water, birds were strewn across the branches, and land animals were fallen around the ground as if they had lost a great battle.
Twilight’s glance hovered over to the door, which was wide open, as if gesturing for them to come in. She nudged Rainbow to proceed, then ran towards the door.
The first thing she noticed upon entering was the stench of maladies, which emanated even a couple of feet outside the entrance. She looked around and saw bodies coughing and vomiting from the multiple diseases they had caught, even with Applejack trying to cure them a couple days before.
Fluttershy stood in the middle of the room, her head down and her four hooves planted on the floor. Twilight walked towards her to try and comfort her.
“Fluttershy,” she said. “Are you ok?”
“Leave me alone,” the pegasus muttered.
“What did you-”
“I said. Leave. Me. ALONE!!!!!” She spun around and looked Twilight dead in the eyes, an emotion so strong and so evil within her stare that Twilight jumped back and froze at the same time. Rainbow jumped back as well, shocked by Fluttershy’s sudden change of character.
Fluttershy sighed, tears streaming down her face. “Just go.” She turned back around and trotted over to her stairs, getting ready to start the long procedure of curing her friends.
Twilight reached out, trying to help her friend, but Rainbow flew in front of her and shook her head.
“Let’s respect her wishes,” Rainbow said, and nudged Twilight towards the door.
Twilight sadly sighed, and headed for the exit. She took one final glance at Fluttershy, her hair messed up and her body grizzled by pain and suffering, and wished her one final blessing before leaving the house, Rainbow soon to follow.
-----
“Do you think she will be ok?” asked Twilight as she and Rainbow arrived to Ponyville. Rainbow sighed, lost in thought.
“I’m not sure,” she said, hovering over the ground. “I haven’t seen her this mad since the Gala, and that isn’t even close to what we just witnessed.”
Twilight looked glumly out towards the horizon, watching as Princess Celestia lowered the solar beacon over the mountains. The sunset’s rays shown over Ponyville, casting the town in a golden hue. Twilight was too worried to notice the beauty of this wonder, so she sank her head towards the ground.
“Twilight! Rainbow!”
Twilight looked up and saw Applejack running towards her, along with Rarity and Pinkie Pie.
“Hey girls...” Twilight glumly responded.
“Whoa there missy,” responded Applejack, concerned about the unicorn’s tone. “What’s goin’ on? You two don’t look too good.”
“Yeah,” said Pinkie, bouncing around the ponies. “Why are you saddy-waddy?”
Rainbow landed on the ground, her head bent.
“We found Fluttershy...”
“Well, I don’t understand why you two ain’t happy,” said Applejack. “Shouldn’t findin’ her make ya’ll happy?”
“She saw her cottage, and the animals...”
Rarity gasped. “Oh my stars. Is she alright?”
Twilight looked at her. “Not at all. She’s depressed, angry, malnourished, lost... And that’s the short description.”
“Well, why aren’t you girls with her in her time of need?” Rarity said, confusion and anger mixed in her voice. “She needs to be comforted!”
Rarity took a couple steps forward, only to be met by Rainbow blocking her path.
“She gave us the stare Rarity,” she said, her eyes showing how hurt she was. “She didn’t even hold back. We got the full blow of it.”
Rarity stood her ground, devastated.
“She asked to be left alone for now,” Twilight said. “Do you think we would have left her in this state of need unless we had a good reason?”
Applejack sighed. “Poor Fluttershy. I wish we could help her. It hurts me t’know she’s so sad.”
Pinkie, as silent as the grave since the news was released, turned around and walked towards Sugarcube Corner.
“Pinkie,” Rarity asked. “Where are you going?”
“Home,” she responded, her voice cracking, and continued her journey back.
“Pinkie has the right idea, girls,” Applejack said. “If Fluttershy needs our help at any time, it would be best if we were at home so she could find us easily.”
The girls, with sullen faces, nodded their heads and headed for their homes. Twilight sighed, turning her head in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.
“I hope you are alright, Fluttershy,” she whispered. “We love you.”
-----
“There there little guy,” Fluttershy calmly said to a scared blue jay. “I’m not going to hurt you. Let me just give you this medicine.”
The bird, despite Fluttershy’s calm tone, was too panicked to understand the situation, and flew out the open window that filtered the cottage air. Fluttershy’s gaze followed the bird, then she sighed and went to the next patient.
After Twilight and Rainbow left, Fluttershy spent the next couple of days curing as many animals as she could. She didn’t spend one second on herself, curing one animal and going straight to the next. Her mane would have made Rarity pass out, her body was slowly getting thinner from malnutrition, and her brain was dead tired from all the emotions and pain of the past month.
“There you go,” she said to a mouse, feeding him some food. “Now move along, and I’ll get you some more food after I cure the others.”
The mouse scurried into his hole, leaving Fluttershy a second to think. She had finished most of the animals inside the house, but barely got to any of the ones outside. Luckily, she noticed that barely any animals died while she was away, so she hoped that those animals went somewhere nice in the afterlife.
Fluttershy sighed as she used her second to think. “This is too much for one pony,” she said to herself. “Maybe I should go get Twilight for her magic, or the nurses in Ponyville. I just hope they can help.”
She walked up to her clothes rack and grabbed her cloak, hoping that Twilight was free to help her. She then heard a knock at her door.
“I’m very sorry,” she said, wrapping her cape around her body. “I’m leaving now, so you’ll have to come back later, if that’s alright.”
“Oh, that’s definitely not alright,” the voice said as the door opened.
Fluttershy turned her head towards the door and gasped. Billy, Hoops, and Score stood in her doorway, looking more menacing than usual. Hoops carried a rope with him, and Billy was holding a meat cleaver.
Fluttershy made a dash for the back door, but Billy just shook his head with a smile.
“Get her, boys,” he said, and the other two bullies grabbed Fluttershy and wrapped her wings tight with the rope. They dragged her to the middle room, where Billy stood with a menacing aura around him, and held her down, keeping her from escaping.
“What is going on?” Fluttershy whimpered, not being able to understand the situation. “Why did you tie me? Why are you here?”
“Because,” Billy answered. “I want revenge.”
“Revenge for what? What did I ever do to you?”
Billy laughed. “Do you not remember what you did a week ago? When you made a fool of me, and then went to assault me?”
Fluttershy hid her eyes behind her disgruntled mane. “I... I didn’t know what I was doing. I couldn’t control myself. I apologize for whatever I did.”
“Well,” he said as he approached one of the birdhouses in her cottage. “Let’s see how far your apology can go.”
He slashed the rope that connected the birdhouse to the cottage, and it crashed on the floor, revealing a still-healing blue jay. The pegajock walked over to the bird and aimed the cleaver above his target.
Fluttershy gasped and went to save her animal friend, but was held down by the other two with stiff strength.
“Nooo!” she yelled, but it was too late. Billy slashed the cleaver down, slicing the bird in two. He came back up and smiled at Fluttershy, tears streaming down her face. She hid herself inside her mane, one eye watching the scene unfold within the darkness.
“Do you see what happens when you mess with us?” Billy went to an animal that had yet to be cured, and slammed his hoof into its neck, snapping it on impact. Fluttershy could only watch as Billy continued to each new victim, emotions boiling inside of her like an active volcano.
“Please... Stop...” she managed to utter within her pain and anger.
“Stop?” Billy held the cleaver over a helpless weasel, and gave Fluttershy a maniacal smile. “We’ve only just begun.” He let the weapon fall onto the weasel’s neck, slicing the head clean off.
Fluttershy dipped her head, her emotions changing her into a pony of pure hatred and contempt for this murder.
“Hmm...” Billy was covered knee down in blood as he walked back towards the group. The cleaver he held glistened in blood as it dripped onto the floor, leaving a trail of red. “We seem to be out of animals inside the house.” He looked at Hoops and told him to go get animals from outside.
“But Billy,” Hoops responded, looking down to Fluttershy in worry. “What about her?”
“Oh, don’t worry about her,” Billy said, sliding the dull bloodless part of the knife up her thigh and flank. “I don’t think she’s moving any time soon.”
Hoops shrugged his shoulders and headed for the door. Fluttershy, seeing her chance, summoned strength she never knew she had and swung Score towards Hoops, slamming them both into the wall. Before Billy could react, Fluttershy tackled him into the opposite wall, causing him to almost lose consciousness and his mind to swim. Score flew towards Fluttershy, attempting to take her down. Fluttershy picked up the meat cleaver and held it in his heated path, slicing his foreleg. His blood splattered all over her body, turning her coat from a sunny yellow to a crimson red. The loss of blood caused Score to fall unconscious against the wall.
She trotted over to a very scared Hoops, her eyes burning with eternal hatred and the scarlet cleaver handle laying in her mouth. Before he could dash for the door, she flew through the air and shouldered his skull against the wall, forcing his body to go limp. Fluttershy mulled over what to do next as his body slowly slide down the wall, and decided to take care of the main problem.
Billy tried to hang onto consciousness, but only got a few minutes in to see his friends get taken care of. As his vision began to blur and his mind began to slow, he saw the red and yellow pegasus walk over to his body, hunched against the wall.
“... What... What are you going to do to me?” Billy muttered, horrified at what the answer would be.
Fluttershy gave him a look that would kill, and answered in a voice not at all like how she sounded before. “Well, when I’m done, you’re going to wish you had loved me.”
At that response, he passed out.