//------------------------------// // Keep Calm and Love Fluttershy // Story: Principal Celestia Hunts the Undead // by Rune Soldier Dan //------------------------------// It was a somewhat nonplussed Sunset who watched Celestia’s car screech away. Shrugging, she turned to her objective: the modest yellow house where Fluttershy lived. It was small for a family of four, but came off as a cozy place of warmth and love. Sunset had only visited a few times, and on each occasion left with pockets full of homemade treats and cat hair all over her pants. She ran a hand down her sleeve, idly trying to smooth the wrinkled leather. Luna’s hand-me-down jacket wasn’t as fashionable as Sunset’s old Hemline-brand, but it was a lot more practical. Stained flannel lined the inside, giving warmth at the cost of a bulkier look. It could also zip up all the way to her neck, and had extra pockets on the inside big enough for a handgun. Sunset was a teenager; of course she wished for her trendy, slimming Hemline back. But this was fashionably-damaged black leather, and it would do well enough for now. Her knock on the door brought a “Meep!” from the inside. Maybe Fluttershy, but also maybe her mom or dad. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree with that one. The door opened an inch, and a yellow face peeked out. “Um… hi Sunset.” “Hi Flutters.” Sunset gave a little wave. “Thanks for seeing me.” The door opened the rest of the way, revealing a pajama-clad Fluttershy. She beckoned shyly and stepped back from the door, eyes on the ground. Sunset followed. “We have like fifteen minutes. You need to get ready for school.” “I told them I was sick.” A soft clicking began as Fluttershy tapped her nails together. “I know it’s wrong, but I’m just so scared.” “Of what?” Mystified, Sunset followed her to the living room and promptly stumbled as Fluttershy’s cats attempted murder via affectionate tripping. Fluttershy paced to the other side. “Everything! You. Them. What they’ll think of me. What they’ll do to me. Ooh… I should’ve just kept my big mouth shut. I didn’t want you to be worried about me, but now I’m worried about me, and I’m worried about you, and you’re worried about you, and you’re worried about me too so I didn’t even do that right.” She took a deep breath and turned back to Sunset, though her eyes danced elsewhere. “I’ve known for a while that you and Miss Celestia hunt monsters.” “How?” Fluttershy retrieved her phone from one of the end tables and tapped on it a few times. She stepped just close enough to Sunset to hold the phone out at arm’s length and show her the screen. Sunset leaned in, and flinched back immediately because there was a Celestia-damned giant spider pictured there. The Horse-eater chased Sunset in the background, while a webbed prisoner occupied the center. One pink arm stretched out from the cocoon to take the selfie, the other raised its fingers in a victory symbol, and an explosion of darker pink hair came down around the smiling blue eyes and bound mouth. The attached text read, “Wish u were here! (jk, it’s horrifying).” “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” Fluttershy set down the phone and resumed her fidgeting. “I’m one of your monsters, and I hid it from you this whole time.” “No.” Sunset grabbed Fluttershy’s shoulders. Blue eyes blinked open in surprise, finally meeting Sunset’s gaze. “No-no-no, you are not one of ‘my’ monsters. You are my very good friend, and this does not change anything. If you want to keep your…” She floundered a moment. “‘True nature’ seems offensive. What’s a good way to say it? ‘Race?’ ‘Species?’” “‘Species’ works.” “Right, if you want to keep your species a secret even from me, I’m okay with that. If you want to trust me with it, I absolutely promise my lips will be sealed. I can’t honestly say how the faculty would react… but come on, I’m an alien horse and they let me off the hook. I really think Miss Celestia would be cool with it so long as you’re not going around eating people.” Sunset’s determined look suddenly wavered. “I mean… you don’t eat people, do you?” “SEE!?” Fluttershy pushed herself out of the hug. “You don’t trust me!” “I do, Flutters, and I can prove it!” Sunset pulled off her jacket and waved the empty fabric in the air. She turned out her pockets, revealing nothing but lint and lipstick. She stepped over to the end table, stumbled on a cat, and upturned her purse to show only loose change and a few brass shell casings. “No weapon.” Sunset reached over and gripped Fluttershy’s hand. “Not even my usuals. No ‘insurance.’ No backup. I’m an unarmed teenage girl, and that’s okay because I’m here with one of my bestest friends in the world.” Fluttershy turned the hand-hold into an embrace. “Oh, Sunset, I’m sorry. Here I was thinking you didn’t trust me, and it was me who didn’t trust you. I’ll show you, I… yes, it’ll be better that way. So you’re not left wondering.” She gave a quick glance around the living room. “I think I have enough space. Can you close the curtain, please?” Sunset obeyed, shutting off the window to the outside. When she turned back, Fluttershy’s shirt was already off and she had begun pulling down her pants. “Fluttershy!” Sunset threw her arms up in front of her eyes. “I love these pajamas! I’m not ruining them for this.” “Can you please…” Fluttershy gave an adorable little huff. “I’ll get a towel on, okay? It won’t matter in a moment.” The conversation went on as Fluttershy moved to the bathroom. “Animals go around naked all the time, and they’re not embarrassed. Don’t ponies?” “Yes, but I’m not a pony anymore.” Sunset blinked at the existential crisis she just opened, then shrugged. To be honest, she didn’t give much thought to her hybrid nature, and that suited her just fine. Fluttershy returned, clad in white towels with her nervous expression back in place. “I’m ready. Please don’t be scared.” “I won’t,” Sunset promised, and hoped it was true. Fluttershy closed her eyes once more. Her brow furrowed in concentration, then relaxed… and grew. Size was the first change Sunset noticed. A mere five seconds saw Fluttershy drop to a kneel and grow tremendously forwards, backwards, and to the sides. The yellow skin vanished to mottled grey, and Fluttershy’s face drowned in a mess of wrinkles and whiskers. It was more than a little gross. Sunset took a long, cowardly blink, shielding her eyes from the rest of the mercifully-short transformation. When she looked again, she startled at how much of the room was now occupied. The creature before her was six feet high and twice as long, resembling nothing so fierce as a grey, wrinkled pile of blubber with two stubby fins poking out from each side. Wide blue eyes stared back at her, glassy with unspent tears. “Please don’t be scared.” The voice was perfectly Fluttershy’s, bizarrely squeaked by the huge whiskered mouth. Sunset was perturbed, but not afraid. “You’re a manatee.” “A were-manatee.” “I need to sit down.” With Fluttershy pressing in on the living room furniture, Sunset retrieved a chair from the dining room and plopped down on it. One of the cats immediately jumped into her lap. She rubbed her eyes, and stared blankly at Fluttershy before continuing. “It’s like… I don’t want to know how, but I kind of feel I should.” “I was bitten by a were-manatee.” “That’s the ‘what,’ not the ‘how.’” Fluttershy fidgeted, which in her present form entailed wiggling impotently on the floor. “It happened when I was very young. My family vacationed in the Caribbean, and I snuck away one day to go out on a pier where I saw a bunch of dolphins playing. I slipped and fell in… I was a weak swimmer back then. I started sinking, and I screamed to the dolphins for help but they just kept on playing.” Somehow, the whiskered mouth pouted cutely. “Dolphins are jerks.” “They are dumb animals,” Sunset noted. She gently lifted the cat from her lap and set it to the ground. “Did you know they rape their females? And commit genocide?” “I think we’re getting off topic.” The words ended with an ‘oof’ as the other cat jumped on Sunset’s bladder. The first cat rubbed itself on Fluttershy’s bulk as she went on. “I was half-drowned by the time the were-manatee found me. Its bite gave me the strength to rise back above water and breathe. We talked for a little while afterwards: he said he had been a manatee so long he forgot how to turn human, but he was happy as he was and asked me to stay with him. I told him I couldn’t, so he taught me how to manage my curse and sent me on my way.” “The curse, right.” Sunset removed the new cat, settled back, and it returned to her lap. “Tell me how that works. What happens when the moon is full?” Fluttershy wiggled again, voice straining with her nervous confession. “It’s very scary. I change forms, and forget all about my humanity. All I can think about is gorging myself.” “Whoa.” Sunset leaned forward, suddenly a bit more nervous. “But only when I’m already submerged in water,” Fluttershy finished. Sunset blinked. “Did that ever actually happen?” “Once,” Fluttershy admitted. “I was at a late-night swim party with Rarity.” “Yeowch. Was everyone okay?” Fluttershy’s head bobbed up and down. “They were surprised, but no one was hurt. I only get hungry for sea grass.” The chair scooched as Sunset leaned back heavily. Eyes closed, she shook her head and smiled. “You’re not scared?” Fluttershy ventured. Sunset took a fresh breath in and looked back to the manatee. Her gaze passed over the stubby flippers and oval body, and she arched an eyebrow. “Let me put it this way: if you really wanted to attack me right now, what would you do?” Fluttershy shifted, sending a wave of fat rolling down her flank. “Um… well, first I would change back into a human.” “Exactly.” One palm upwards, Sunset beamed comfortingly. “Fluttershy, as weird and anticlimactic as this whole conversation has been, I can very confidently say that I love and trust you as much as I did yesterday.” “Oh, good.” Fluttershy quivered again, this time happily. “I’d hate for you to think I was evil. Even the were-manatee wondered if I would abuse his power, so I promised him I would take the gift and use it to make to world a better place.” A pause. Sunset’s smile shrank a fraction as she considered, finally asking, “How…?” “I don’t know,” Fluttershy said glumly. “Back then I thought I’d be like a superhero, but look at me! I’m even more helpless than usual. It’s frustrating… I really want to make good on my promise, but I don’t know how.” “I’m sure you will one day,” Sunset offered, wondering if Applejack could sense the lie from across town. At least Fluttershy bought it. Her wrinkled face creased a smile. “Yeah, I know. Um… I think I’ll go to school today after all. Thanks, Sunset.” “No problem, pal.” Sunset grinned, and covered her eyes as Fluttershy began the only-slightly less disgusting process of transforming back.