Journeyman's Journal

by Journeyman

Wondershy [Original Unedited Draft]

Author's Note:

Stories often go through a fair bit of revision, but this one was another beast entirely for me. I pretty much wrote the entire thing, hated it, and scrapped the whole thing to start over. I pretty much wrote the entire story twice, and although I do believe the final draft is good on its own, this one... well, I have issues with it.

There are a few problems. Comedy felt not inferior, but still needed more than there was. The worst portion, however, was that the third act was kinda bad. I had foolishly believed I could write the Wonderbolt's desire to draft Fluttershy as good enough to hold the story on its own. I was wrong. All tension pretty much stopped during the second act once the tatzelwurm was defeated.

Love it or hate it, this is the first draft.

“Here you go, champ,” Berry Punch said and slid a cocktail down to the flame-haired pegasus.

Spitfire tossed back a good slug of gin and tonic with practiced ease. Rainbow Dash had taken her along with Soarin to the Ponyville bar that earlier that afternoon to relax; the Wonderbolts had just completed a twenty city tour and were on their way back to Canterlot. In the spirit of camaraderie and friendship, and because travel could get quiet excruciating when their job relied heavily on their wings and travel, the group had booked hotels in Ponyville in order to complete their trip back the next day. After all, Ponyville was the home of the one and only greatest flier in Equestria.

“Can’t stay longer than a day, captain?” Dash asked.

“Sorry, Dash. Deadlines to keep, paperwork to do.” Not if she kept shotgunning booze like that. Dash had settled on an Apple malt beer. It was barely past three in the afternoon and Spitfire was downing the hard stuff like a champ; it was a little early to be inhaling booze. Plus side: Dash had an extra bed to crash if Spitfire was too drunk to make it back to the hotel so they could chat.

‘Am I a bad pony for wishing my maybe future boss gets blackout drunk so I can drag her to my house?’

Now that she spelled it out to herself, it did sound kind of stupid.

It still felt almost surreal to be in the presence of two Wonderbolts. With equal parts fangirling squeals and shame did she recall herself fawning over the group in the past. She collected their memorabilia, bought tickets to their aerial performances, and did everything she could to meet them in person. Too bad Fluttershy didn’t share her enthusiasm with idols and just wanted a spa visit with Rarity instead.

They were just. So. Awesome!

Alright, fangirling over, she told herself. She’d gotten her chance to have an informal drink with the ‘bolts and didn’t want to screw it up. The Grand Galloping Gala told her how chill they actually were. No worship or brown nosing, even as much as she wanted to.

“Why a pick dive like Ponyville for the trip back? Not that I’m complaining, but there’s better options out there,” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Is it wrong to want to hang out with good company and good booze?” Spitfire asked, and some of the regulars shouted ‘Hear hear!’

“I’m not complainin’, but it just feels like there are better choices out there. I mean, you’re the Wonderbolts! Penthouses and gold bathrooms!”

“It’s not about the money, Dash,” Soarin said. Huh, Dash just thought about a rhyming game to bring up to Pinkie. “Sure, money’s awesome and everything, but we’re done with the tour and the public eye for now. Ponyville’s a small enough town where our every move is not going to make headlines and we can just chillax.”

Dash put both of her hooves up. “Agreed, money is awesome. I even had a dream as a kid where I was rich enough to buy a smelter and turned a shitload of gold into the world’s biggest bathtub.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I just figured you guys would, you know, indulge when you make it big.”

Soarin sighed. “Yeah, I indulged in my early years. I cut back real quick. Didn’t get bored or anything, but I didn’t like the limelight as much as I thought. I felt like a cockroach scuttling away from the light of every light bulb flash. Privacy is a very good thing to have, much desired when you make celebrity status.”

Spitfire downed her next glass. By Luna’s fat ass, her liver must be god-tier. She wasn’t even swaying or slurring her words. “I’m a simple girl, Dash. I don’t need all that much. I cook for myself, so good food is high on the list. As for what do I actually use the cash for? Along with all the bottles of prickly pear juice and sarsaparilla in the world, a nest egg tucked away in some stocks and bonds to coast through retirement, and the rest is dedicated to all those high class orgies I fund.”

“I gotcha.” Dash blinked. “Wait, what?”

Dash’s prospects of getting laid were sadly demolished as something was demolished. Smoke and shouts rose from the east after the air was cut with a rumbling in the earth and a thunderous crash of breaking wood. An equal number of ponies ran from and to the sound of danger, those fleeing for their life brushing up against those running to help.

“Here we go again,” Dash sighed as her wings unfurled and she took to the air. They were overdue for a monster attack anyway. Paper Pusher, the town’s insurance agent, was going to have a fit.

“‘Again’? What kind of hellhole is Ponyville where this is a casual affair?” Soarin shouted. Dash didn’t see if the two Wonderbolts followed her, but she heard them take to the air just like her.

Air rushed over her wings as she darted towards the smoke and sounds of destruction. She could see ponies running down the side streets like little spiders on threads of web. Those coming to assist were staying a cautious distance away until the danger could be ascertained. Everyone was well practiced on what to do by now.

The source of trouble wasn’t all that hard to find. Ambrosia and her work crews were going to have some work: a sinkhole had swallowed half a house. Everything from basement to two floors of Ponyville craftsmanship were utterly destroyed in a perfect circle. She struggled to hear anything more in the sea of pony screams and bedlam down below. Ears erect and searching, she heard the sound of creaking and snapping wood underneath the pillar of smoke and tumbling rock. She couldn’t tell if the pillar of smoke stemming from Ponyville’s new gaping scar was from dust and ash, or smoke from a fire. Nothing smelled like it was burning, but that could change.

“No rest for the weary?” Dash asked. Soarin and Spitfire caught up to her and flanked both sides.

“We’re off duty, not heartless, Rainbow,” Soarin said. “Might as well stick around to help. This is your turf. You make the call.”

She nodded. “First thing’s first, make sure ground zero is clear and then set up a perimeter. Then we can find out what the hell happened.” There shouldn’t be a sinkhole in Ponyville. The earth it stood over was far too rocky. “Let’s check it out and meet right back here in four minutes.”

Blue and red streaked by her side as she dove towards the collapsing house. The wood beams groaned and buckled as she landed on the top floor of the house. Soarin took the first floor while Spitfire searched the ground floor for survivors. The air was thick with dusk and smoke, but still no smell of burning. That was good. She spread a wing across her face and breathed through a veil of feathers. It wasn’t much, but it lessened her fume intake.

Sunlight poured in through the hole in the roof and reflected off the smog, turning everything a sickly brown-orange color. It stung and brought tears to her eyes as she searched. She was in what looked like the master bedroom. There wasn’t anybody there, or parts of anybody, thank the powers. In the name of thoroughness and anticipating the inherent skittish fear in most ponies, she checked under the bed and the closet. No one.

The earth rumbled and she struggled to find stable ground before the house settled. This was not a good place to be. “Is there anyone in here?” she called out. No one answered her. “You two find anyone?”

“No!”

“Nothing!”

Busy hours for the town ended at four. There was a good chance no one was home, but they didn’t have the time to make sure; it was better to search the house anyway and be sure rather than potentially leave someone inside a collapsing house. Rainbow coughed and exited the bedroom, coming into a crushed narrow hallway. One wall was shakily standing, while the other buckled in on her in spots that wasn’t just missing outright

“First floor clear!” Soarin shouted. Good. The occupants may have actually escaped or avoided this mess. Rainbow jumped as a piece of the wall collapsed away and fell into the pit. Indignant, the pit then spat something right back out.

“The hell was that?” Spitfire asked. Whatever shot right out was much too fast and tore a trail right through all the haze. No one had any time to respond; a buttery ball of fur shot right back into the destroyed building, hovering in the center of the massive hole.

There were two types of panic when it came to Fluttershy: ‘my shadow scared me’, and ‘run before it eats your face’. The look on her face was most certainly the latter.

“You need to leave! Right now!” Fluttershy urged her before shooting right back out.

Something fluttered in the dark depths of the sinkhole, fetid and rotten.

Oh crap not a sinkhole!

“Both of you, get the hell outta there!”

Dash immediately shot out of the house with Spitfire close behind. Soarin was a close third, but the rumbling underground sure lit a fire under his tail.

“Hold your breath!”

Dash did so, not knowing if her two comrades obeyed Fluttershy’s command. Dash knew she wasn’t all that smart and didn’t know much about animals, but there was enough for her to know the signs of a tatzlwurm.

The three of them scattered as the tatzlwurm lashed out of its new burrow, its rank breath billowing across her fur. She felt more than saw the beast rise into the air on its great serpentine body. Its shadow blocked a vast swath of Ponyville proper, utterly dwarfing even the tallest buildings in the little berg.

Dash banked left and chanced a peek behind her. The tatzlwurm snapped at the tiny outline of Fluttershy zipping through the air like a thunderbolt. It’s segmented mouth opened and it lunged at the normally timid pegasus while its many tongues lashe out. Fluttershy’s wings snapped close and she dropped like a stone. Dash’s heart leapt into her throat, but she relaxed infinitesimally when she realized it was a calculated dive. The beast’s many tongues grabbed empty air and its maw snapped shut. It must have been real thirsty for the mare because it utterly ignored everything around it except for her.

Spitfire flashed to her side. She was trying to remain cool, but her eyes were wide with panic now that she saw the sheer scale of the threat. “Well... I got nothing.” She looked to Rainbow Dash for guidance.

Dash’s wings beat in time with her heart as she scanned the monster. Everything had a weakness of some kind. She just had to find it. Tazlwurms were big and scaley. She could beat her hooves against its hide all day and it would barely feel it. It’s mouth was soft enough to attack, but it had those golden teeth, and tongues that would just drag her down into its gut. It looked like it had a fan of petals around its head, but she saw no use in attacking that.

‘C’mon, c’mon...’

Near the destroyed house was a large patch of scales that had been ripped off its undulating hide. It looked like it had been patched with leaves prior, but now the wound was covered in rock dust and oozing viscous unmentionables.

“There!” she shouted triumphantly.

Rainbow Dash darted forward with her two companions in hot pursuit. Fluttershy was making her own escape from the giant wurm. The beast arced its winding body to follow her and lashed out with its many tongue, the pegasus artfully dodging and weaving like a bat. Rainbow was prepared to say something as Fluttershy dove dangerously close to the ground, but her wings opened in an instant and a cushion of air stopped her fall. The dirt and dust she kicked up wasn’t nearly enough to hide her position, but it was much harder for the tatzlwurm to follow her as she shot straight up in the air; it was much too large to make sharp turns.

Rainbow Dash put the full force of her momentum behind her as she slammed into the wurm’s wounded side, followed quickly by Spitfire and Soarin. It roared less in pain and more like they tore off a bandaid stuck to some hair, but it stopped its relentless pursuit of Fluttershy. The wurm lashed out at the three of them.

They were not so lucky as the normally timid mare. They were all world-class fliers and could dodge such a beast with ease, but Spitfire faltered and fell as she caught a whiff of its disease-ridden breath.

“Gotcha Spitsy!” Soarin said as he swooped down. Rainbow snorted. What a stupid nickname.

Sniggering almost turned to fear as the wurm snapped at her with its many tongues. They weren’t a problem on their own, but each tongue was coated in a thick layer of sticky mucus that was almost like glue. Her whole body lurched as she came to a stop and she felt the creature snap its maw close on her tail. Its prey only inches away, it opened its maw for one more tug while Dash took the opportunity to lunge forward with all her might.

Vertigo took her and she lost which way was up and she was blasted with liquid, forcing her to take a breath from shock. Did it swallow her? No, she was wet and cold, not sticky, and her head was clear. She didn’t get doused with its breath. She brought her wings tighter to her side for a more controlled spiral to the hard ground. The tatzlwurm’s shriek through a cloud that had been launched like a bullet at its head. It didn’t sound pained, but it sure didn’t like being surrounded by the thick mist.

Dash finally managed to snap her wings open and she arced long and far, certainly out of reach of the wurrm. It shrunk back into its burrow to escape the cloud, shaking its flowery head to dispel the cloud. Fluttershy was already on her way back to the skies for another cloud.

Well, might as well join her.

Dash adjusted herself and launched skyward, passing over Soarin bringing Spitfire to safety. Fluttershy had already launched her cloud at the creature’s head the time she acquired her own. It still released the same snarling hiss and retreated a little further into the depths. She really wanted to know why it did that, but there would be time for questions later. If it was afraid of water, all the better.

Rainbow lined herself up and shoved against the cloud. She didn’t want to push too hard or else she would lose it or have it disintegrate in her hooves. It didn’t matter in the end for the monster was still slithering back at the sudden onslaught of Fluttershy’s last cloud. Rainbow didn’t question why it worked, but she held her breath once she got close enough and kicked off from the cloud. The tatzlwurm gave one final hiss and slithered back into the hole.

Now that the threat was over and danger had passed, Rainbow took a moment to get a good, solid look at the landscape beneath her. It took her a second to place it, but the smashed house belonged to Berry Punch and her daughter. That was good; Berry was safe and her kid Pinchy was in school. No loss of life.

The town started cheering as she and Fluttershy landed side by side Bon Bon’s candy shop. Normally fearful of attention as she was, Fluttershy’s full attention was on the destroyed house, oblivious to the cries of victory and the occasional wolf whistle.

“Hot damn!” Soarin exclaimed. He was almost carrying Spitfire. The captain was ashen faced and sweating, but otherwise appeared fine as long as she stopped looking like she’d vomit. “I admit my butthole puckered up a little there, but that was fun!”

He clapped his other hoof on Fluttershy’s back. It was almost comical the way Fluttershy turned to him and jumped, only now realizing somepony had touched her. She didn’t so much as buckle under Soarin’s brawny pat.

“Fluttershy, was it? You are built like iron.”

Spitfire swallowed and added, “That was some pretty impressive flying there, Fluttershy.”

“...Thank you.”

“You okay, Flutters?” Dash asked. Fluttershy had that look like she wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on around her.

“Yeah.”

Spitfire looked from her and then back to Fluttershy. “Pretty impressive might actually...” She swallowed whatever was about to come back up. “...Lot better than I thought. Got some real skill there.”

“Better than that! I’d be willing to fund a private judging for a chance for you to join us! I thought you said you couldn’t fly worth a damn. What I saw was no chick falling out of the nest.” Soarin added.

Something in his words must have snapped her out of Fluttershy’s strange dreamy state. Her wings fluttered and snapped to her sides.

“Um...”

Fluttershy’s eyes darted to the fallen captain, then to Soarin’s excitable features, and then to the crowd the four of them were slowly accumulating.

“M-miss Sp-Spitfire, th-th—”

And with that, Fluttershy ran away.

---

“Seriously, Dash. I thought you said she couldn’t fly any better than a filly. Hell, I have your records. You as a filly could fly better than her now. Or so I thought.”

“I know there is a certain bravado to Wonderbolts, but I am going to need you to please sit still for a little while longer, Miss Spitfire.”

Rainbow Dash had a cautious respect for Nurse Redheart, even when she was patching up other ponies. She had the unpleasant privilege of working the clinic most days, so it was she that had to patch up the town once they were done with whatever problem was happening each week. She honestly preferred the mare to look so soul-rendingly dead inside that the reaper might as well be peeking over her shoulder. Redheart had the unusual ability to quiet rowdy children by smiling so unpleasantly it looked like she were made of plastic.Dash considered herself a well traveled and experienced mare, but there was something to be said about a mare that had to fix up a town like Ponyville and didn’t run for the hills.

Redheart finished taking a sample of blood and replaced the bucket Spitfire was leaning over. The pegasus didn’t get dosed bad enough to be bedridden or sent to urgent care, but she’d be out of her shows for a good week or two.

“I’ve faced worse than this,” Spitfire said.

“But you are under my roof and in my care, and will thus follow my rules until I discharge you.”

“We just went face to ugly face with a tatzlwurm, Miss Redheart,” Soarin countered. Dash just looked down and kicked her legs against her chair. Not a good idea to match wits with a Ponyville nurse.

“I pulled a bowling pin from a mare’s nether regions.”

Hmmm... Dash wondered why Rarity was walking bow legged last week.

Soarin gapped a little, stumbled for words, and then bowed to the nurse. “Anyway,” he said, giving Redheart a wary look, “by chance could we have a chat with Fluttershy later, Rainbow Dash?”

“Depends. She seemed pretty spooked this time around. I’d have to see what rock she’s hiding under this time, and that’d take some time. Might not find her by tomorrow.”

Soarin waved her off. “Nah, nah, nah. That’s not the only point. I saw Fluttershy fly before. Myself. Hate to say it, but she ain’t that good, at least that’s what I thought until today. She needs a lot of work, but she’d make a damn fine flier and could even be Wonderbolt material in about two years or so. Thing is, how’d she go from that she little filly that I saw to practically flying circles around us?”

“I mean, she wasn’t good enough to fly circles around all of us, she just knew what to do with the tatzl—”

“Daaaaash?” Spitfire said slowly.

“Yes, mom?”

Spitfire rolled her eyes. This was the part Dash wasn’t looking forward to. There was a reason Fluttershy wasn’t always in beast mode. Soarin didn’t look like he’d take much less than an application though.

“She won’t join up. I can promise you that already.”

“I don’t believe we’ll be able to convince her either,” Spitfire said.

“Really?” If anything, she expected Spitfire to press Fluttershy joining up even more. “Then why do you want to talk to her?”

“On the off chance I’m wrong. She’s a good flier, Rainbow Dash. I’d at least like to try.”

It wouldn’t hurt. She sighed and shrugged. “Yeah, Fluttershy is actually a pretty good flier. Good wingmanship and everything. Don’t have much interest in sports no matter how much I tried to get her involved, but does even worse with stress; she folds like a cheap card table. I told her if something like this happens, I won’t sign her up for anything and let her explain herself.”

Well, she knew Fluttershy’s usual spots. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too hard to smoke her out after dealing with something as big as the wurm. Fluttershy had a fondness for all critters, no matter how big or house-eating they were.

---

Rainbow honestly didn’t think Fluttershy was in the spa, but it was a good a place as any to start looking for her after searching her house. Dash even checked her own cloudy home just in case. Hopefully Fluttershy wanted to relax a little after the day’s fun, but the entire spa proved to be empty. What Dash wanted was to enlist Pinkie’s help in finding Fluttershy; the mare had a bloodhound’s sense for finding ponies in a snap.

The Cakes said she was watching paint dry. Rainbow figgered it was best to leave her be for now, instead contending with questions from the Wonderbolts.

“No she wasn’t always like that. Back at Flight Camp, she really couldn’t fly at the well. Probably the worst flier there, honestly. Kinda why she got picked on a lot. This was something she picked up over time.”

Spitfire followed her out the mud room doors and into the spa lobby. The spa twins were busy stocking their supplies and ignored them upon realizing they wouldn't be patrons. She didn’t look all that good, but at least she hadn’t started puking again. “She use those skills here in town?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Mostly she keeps to herself, but she’ll step up as pinch hitter if needed.” Rarity entered the spa just as the three were leaving, still walking bow-legged.

“Yeah, about that,” Soarin said. “What’s this shit about monster attacks being routine?

“Yeah, we almost had to work for it this time. From what I hear, the Royal Guard doesn’t even deploy troops anymore. You just get used to it after a while.”

Shit, she saw Pencil Pusher. He was the singular agent of the crown in the entire village and had the unfortunate responsibility of being an insurance agent. No other agency even dared touch the town due to their proximity to the Everfree Forest. No doubt he’d want to talk to her again, especially after hearing her role in the monster attack. Pasty white and looking forever bored, he was searching the crowds. Best to make herself scarce.

Rainbow spread her wings and took to the air. There was one place Fluttershy liked to go that was pretty exposed, but no one explored. Even now birds fluttered around the top of the old clock tower.

Jackpot.

Fluttershy was almost covered head to hoof in birds. Pigeons, canaries, forest runners, yellow-breasted somethings she forgot the name of; Fluttershy was just an unending mass of feathers under the great bell. The bell tongue had long since been removed due to damage that certainly wasn’t caused by Dash and her gang of friends. The only telltale sign that there was somepony under thirty layers of flying rats was the flicker of pink brushing against the hard cement floor.

“Fl—” Dash didn’t even get a syllable out before Fluttershy’s avian friends scattered to the winds, leaving one very startled-looking mare facing down three ponies that weren’t there before.

“Fluttershy, easy! They’re cool. They just want to chat, no crowds or races or nothin’.” Rainbow was hoping to get this over with quickly. Pencil Pusher was likely going to want a word with her about another destroyed house. Apparently Ponyville kept bankrupting agencies.

Fluttershy’s fur looked puffed out like a startled cat. At least she hadn’t bolted. A promising sign. Slowly but surely Fluttershy relaxed. “I-I-I’m sorry, you just scared me.”

“Fine, fine. Didn’t expect no bird swarm of yours to be up here either.” That was the song and dance of dealing with Fluttershy: always be prepared for her to panic. Rainbow Dash didn’t mind. It was cute in its own way, like a fearful kitten not realizing he is hissing at his own reflection.

“And I’m sorry for running out on you. I had to deal with the tatzlwurm and I... don’t like crowds.”

Fluttershy shrunk a little bit as she made eye contact with Spitfire and Soarin. “H-hi.” Jeez, all the birds flying off must have really scared the daylights out of her if she was still stuttering. “You’re the Wonderbolts, right?”

Spitfire nodded and said, “Yup!” Soarin just mouthed to Rainbow ‘Deal with?’ incredulously.

Rainbow Dash stepped to the side a little and gestured to Spitfire. “They saw what you did with big and ugly back there and just want to talk a little.”

Spitfire cleared her throat and took a step forward. “That was some pretty slick flying back there, Miss Fluttershy. It’s safe to say we’re more than impressed; really didn’t know you had it in you. Rainbow Dash here says you’re not interested in joining the Wonderbolts.”

Fluttershy vehemently shook her head ‘no’.

As diplomatic as the public figure she was, Spitfire shrugged her shoulders without complaint. “Oh, this isn’t a recruitment. I wouldn’t mind if you were interested, sure, but I’m not here to draft you or anything.

“Just tell them what you do here, Fluttershy,” Dash interjected. “Same thing you gave Twi. Just start with how you learned to fly like you do.”

“You want to know why I can fly so good?” Fluttershy asked timidly.

“More or less.”

“It started with the rainboom.” Fluttershy wasn’t making eye contact with any of them. “I was always a little scared of others. I have social anxiety and I just kind of... freeze when other people watch me. I was never a good flier and other foals at Flight Camp always made fun of me for it. A sort of psychological block. It didn’t help that Flight Camp was a breeding ground for sociopaths.”

Someone was still a little bitter after fifteen years.

Soarin looked like he was about to protest the comment, but was given a nudge to quiet by Spitfire. The Wonderbolts tended to gather new recruits from Flight Camp. Spitfire nodded for her to continue.

Fluttershy drew circles in the stone with a forehoof. “I moved as soon as I could to a quiet town where I could focus on my work with animals. Animals treated me better than any of the other foals, and I liked taking care of them. In Ponyville, I could focus on my talents, and as an added bonus, I didn’t need to fly all that much because it already had a weather team and Rainbow moved to town with me.”

Fluttershy gave her a grateful smile, which made her puff out her chest a little in pride. Why wouldn’t she? They were friends to the end.

“Over time, the animals came to me as, um... Harry likes to exaggerate a little.”

Soarin looked at Dash with a raised eyebrow. “A brown bear,” she clarified. He seemed to think she was joking.

Fluttershy nodded, but looked a little bashful. “I suppose he’s the reason all the other animals came to me for help. Harry exaggerates, but he started calling me the warden of the Everfree Forest after I rescued him from a mother bear protecting her cub. He woke up and the mother thought he was going after her cub. I had to wrestle her into submission in order to get him out safely. He got hurt in the process, so I teach him how to wrestle and massage his back every week.”

Soarin held up a hoof.

“Steve Magnet the sea dragon told me about some herbs I could dry and burn for pain relief, so I swim with him on occasion. He’s really helped me map out the forest. He’s so nice; I really don’t know why ponies are scared of sea dragons.”

Spitfire also looked like she wanted to say something, but kept silent. She appeared to be having an intense debate on deciding whether it was Harry exaggerating or Fluttershy herself.

“That’s sort of what made me, uh...” Fluttershy blinked cutely trying to come up with the proper word. “...helped my, I don’t know, business? I think? It helped my business take off. I realized how much I liked animals and helping them during the Rainboom, but for once in my life, I was happy with a quiet life. On occasion I’ll have to fly away from a few hives of enderhornets or the occasional pack of timberwolves. Last week I had to wrestle a few timberwolves because my wings were tired from swimming with Steve Magnet. I had to ask a manticore to give me a ride on his back to make it to my cottage before dark.”

Her two guests were quiet, slackjawed. The slight wind blowing through the tower ruffled Fluttershy’s thin layer of fur. Her lengthy mane always made her fur seem longer by association, but both could see how little of her bulk was not fur, but hard, corded muscle.

Fluttershy blinked and shrunk a little bit at their silence. “They were just pups. They didn’t know any better. I gave their parents a good talking to.”

“And then?” Rainbow prodded.

“Oh. Oh! Sorry, I didn’t mean to get so carried away. Anyway, I just sort of adapted my flying skills to work for my job as an animal caretaker. I learned how to swim like a dragon, swoop like a bat, hunt like a wolf. I needed to learn from them in order to care for them. I, uh.” She looked at herself, acknowledging her own impressive bulk. She was slightly smaller than Soarin, but still matched him in body mass. “I’d gotten a little, teeny, tiny bit stronger and faster in order to be able to keep up with so many creatures. They’re really nice once you get to know them, and I’ve learned so much about how to keep the bad monsters out of town. I know it seems more like an earth pony’s job than a pegasus’, but I like it. I like keeping my hooves on the ground. I like flying, but I like it because it helps with my job, but because I, um... I don’t mean to be insensitive, but not because I should just because I am a pegasus.”

Soarin still seemed a little hung up on Fluttershy’s claims, but Spitfire appeared much more contemplative. Fluttershy was, in just about every since of the word, a coward. Dash was enough of a realist to admit that, and even Fluttershy acknowledged her own irrational fears. The linchpin, the key that defined Fluttershy’s skills wasn’t aptitude, but desire.

The caretaker continued, “That’s why I sorta did what I did earlier today. I flew not because I wanted to, but because I needed to. Rarity had told me when we were in the spa that she’s been prospecting for gems earlier that day, but almost encountered some Diamond Dogs. They were burrowing closer to the tatzlwurm and were going to wake it up at their pace. Steve Magnet told me that one of his water reservoirs drained and I investigated and found the wurm. It was injured and driven off by something else, and I don’t know how to talk to them yet, but it let me tend to its wounds. It was actually kind of fascinating to see up close. I didn’t know tatzlwurms were a symbiotic lifeform, a cross of flowers and burrowers. Plants are susceptible to cold, which is why it didn’t like the cold air from clouds.”

Huh. Giant, boulder-crushing, house-smashing monster hated to get a little nippy.

“You’re quite a good flier, Fluttershy. Really good, when you put your mind to it. And that’s me saying that.” It was the first thing Spitfire said since Fluttershy started her tale. Rainbow Dash fully expected Fluttershy to swear up and down she wasn’t, but she continued to surprise her.

“Th-thanks, Miss Spitfire. I’ve tried out for flying stuff before with Rainbow Dash, but I... don’t... like it all that much and did it only because Rainbow Dash asked me. I’m sorry Rainbow, I don’t say it to hurt your feelings or anything—”

“Water under the bridge, Flutters. We’ve been over that before and it’s okay.”

Part of being in the limelight was the ability to take a punch, and while Fluttershy could probably eat a punch along with a brick, Fluttershy’s self esteem and ego were too fragile to make a Wonderbolt, despite her skill.

“Right. Sorry.” Fluttershy returned her attention to Spitfire. “Anyway, I could never do anything good with eyes on me. I just... shrink. It’s like the world gets so big and and then starts suffocating me. All those eyes on me, judging me, some of them calling me names...”

Her voice softened with each word until it was little more than a squeak. Ears folded, shoulders hunched, and her tail stood unmoving between her legs. In the very next instant, Fluttershy took a deep breath and raised her head. “I don’t do well under pressure, but I’m okay with that. I’m happy taking care of all my animal friends instead of taking up a job that requires me to fly. I like flying, but I don’t like ponies watching me fly, if that makes any sense.”

“Oh, totally!” Spitfire seemed to jump a little now that Soarin broke his silence. “You should see all the embarrassing garbage we have to go through during practice. All the crashes and the lame way our early stunts look; it’s kind of hilarious and why we don’t let anypony film rehearsals.”

“Tell you what, Fluttershy,” Spitfire added. “I got an offer for you. How about we invite you and Dash up to Cloudsdale some time so we can all just hang out and relax? Maybe have a private race or two with gates closed?”

Travel was always fun, and Cloudsdale was Fluttershy’s home town. Her ears perked up and wings fluttered, making Rainbow Dash smile; she was interested.

“My work keeps me pretty busy, Miss Spitfire... but I do like the sound of that.”

Spitfire clapped her hooves together happily. She didn’t acquire another prospective recruit, but there was always time for friends. “Great! We’ll work something out at a later time. Lookin’ forward to a race.”

“Wahoo! Road trip!” Dash exclaimed.

In a flutter of wings, the four ponies exited the clock tower and landed on Ponyville’s cobblestone streets. Almost three hours had passed since the taztlwurn erupted from the ground. Dash was not the only one to notice a fair bit of their day had been spent. “Say,” Soaring said, “we got half a day left. What’s say we spend that half day drinking?”

“Sounds like a plan to me! I didn’t even get a buzz yet,” Spitfire said. Was everything pisswater to her? Rainbow Dash thought about asking Golden Harvest for her tharra garbage. It was the strongest booze in town but only a rare brave few drank it for fear of going blind. “You up for a few rounds, Fluttershy? I’m buying.”

Fluttershy shyly brushed a lock behind an ear and smiled. “Sure. I can stay out for a little bit.”

“Hello again, Rainbow Dash.”

The mare whirled around at the mention of her name. Pencil Pusher, sweaty and exhausted from searching half of town, held a manilla folder in his grasp and within what looked like a thousand empty insurance forms to sign.

“Shit.”

Comments

[LEGION55]

Nice to see the difference.