And You Will Go Far

by Xylophon

Herd Mentality

She never meant to hurt anyone that day.

Of course, she also never intended to spill orange juice all over her freshly-mopped floor or orchestrate the downfall of civilization as she knew it – really, all she wanted was to collect a few groceries and be on her way, but sometimes life has other plans despite one’s best efforts.

Fluttershy opened the door to her cottage that morning with her head held high (that is, as high as the reclusive pegasus could comfortably manage) and set out from her forest home with the lofty ambition of purchasing a pound of carrots at the farmer’s market for a reasonable price. Such a task would prove hardly daunting for an average pony, and yet Fluttershy often seemed to have an inexplicably difficult time bartering with the local vegetable growers. Over and over she reminded herself that insisting on a lower price was all part of the game, and that no one could fault her for desiring a more economical deal on produce; yet time after time, her confidence fled before the stern gaze of a stubborn vendor of celery or cabbage.

This time would be different, her resolute expression appeared to declare. She would march straight into the town square and demand a decent rate from the vegetable stand, and even the armies of Equestria or Tartarus could not impede her advance. She raised a hoof high in the air and brought it down in a defiant forward stride.

The front of her hoof met the edge of an unseen shallow divot in the ground, bringing her march to a swift halt, yet the inertia from her initial bold lunge propelled her forward as her knees buckled, taking her legs from under her. Landing on her belly, she skidded a few inches before reaching a painful standstill, face down in the damp earth.

Owie. They never told me being assertive would hurt.

~~~

Her right leg carefully bandaged, Fluttershy took a few tentative steps into the bustling market square, her yellow hooves making muted clacking sounds on the flagstone pavement. Though her morning was off to a bit of a bumpy start already, she resolved to leave that privately embarrassing blunder in the past and proceed with her quest. Spotting the familiar face of the orange-maned mare at the carrot stand, she briefly glanced down at the ground, before reluctantly contorting her own face into an exaggerated grimace as she remembered her earlier resolution. Considering that she frequented the farmer’s market nearly every week as a direct result of entertaining a houseful of hungry forest creatures, the thought crossed Fluttershy’s mind that the carrot salespony, who presumably remembered her from previous encounters, probably expected little to no haggling from the ordinarily demure pegasus. Hopefully she could catch the vendor off guard this time with her renewed boldness.

With an offhand glance at the sign off to the side of the carrot stand, this time emblazoned with three gold coins next to a bundle of carrots, she nervously approached the counter. Recognizing her, the yellow salespony’s face showed a hint of a smile as Fluttershy began to speak.

“Three bits for a pound of carrots is...um...is outrageous!” she declared somewhat unconvincingly, channeling Rarity (whose resolve was somewhat stronger when it came to negotiating for the price of produce). “I will pay no more than two bits f-”

“In that case, six bits for you,” the salespony stated flatly, cutting her off in midsentence.

Uh-oh. Fluttershy froze, suddenly realizing that she hadn’t planned any further than her initial declaration of displeasure when devising her dialogue.

“Um, well, I...uh...p-please?” she stammered.

The carrot vendor simply glared at her, gesturing to her sign as if inviting her to make another offer. Three bits was high to begin with, but twice the ordinary rate was ridiculous. Surely she could gather the determination to insist on a lower price than that.

“Um, maybe we could just go with-” Fluttershy began, regretting her resolution to negotiate for a more fair price in the first place.

“Six bits.”

“Are you sure that’s-”

“Six bits for a pound of carrots! Didn’t you hear me the first time?”

Fluttershy merely squeaked, breaking eye contact with the salespony. She hurriedly rummaged through her saddlebag, producing six glimmering coins, which she placed on the counter, gingerly nudging them in the other mare’s direction before seizing a bundle of carrots from the stand and turning to leave, face glowing bright red.

She made it no more than four steps in the other direction before she froze at the sound of another angry market-goer.

“Six bits for one pound of carrots? You charged her six bits for one pound of carrots? That’s borderline highway robbery! What gives you the right to exploit a customer like that?”

She turned her head slowly to catch a glimpse of the owner of the indignant voice, a moustached stallion clad in bright yellow gym shorts. He stood across from the carrot salespony with an appalled expression on his face and a hoof extended in Fluttershy’s direction.
The noise in the market square slowly died down as one by one eyes turned on the three participants in this verbal showdown. An already anxious Fluttershy, cowering under the burning sensation of hundreds of stares suddenly trained on her, felt her heart leap into her throat as she discovered she had unwittingly become the center of attention again. For a pony who detested being thrust under a spotlight for any reason, she seemed to inadvertently find her way into such awkward circumstances curiously often.

“Are any of you hearing this?” the moustached pony asked, glancing around to different members of the crowd. The surprised salespony was already frantically adjusting her sign.

“I can’t be the only one sick and tired of these ridiculous prices! Day after day we work our hooves to the bone to make a living in this world, only to have our hard-earned wages sucked away by greedy producers hawking their overpriced products! I can’t take it anymore, and it’s time we did something about it! Who’s with me?”

Faces in the crowd turned toward one another, some mumbling confused words to each other in the heat of the moment, before hundreds of ponies, spurred on by the insistent words of the dissatisfied stallion, suddenly swiveled -- almost in unison -- toward the carrot vendor. Though just minutes previously none of them had seemed at all enthused about the prospect of taking an active role in reforming their afternoon schedule, let alone the economic system of the Ponyville farmer’s market, they now carried similarly disgruntled expressions. The carrot pony gulped nervously, shuffling her hooves and scooting slowly away from the counter.

Fluttershy looked around her, painfully aware of every tiny movement she made. The ponies in the crowd -- who had formed a rough circle around the carrot stand -- appeared to be growing more and more agitated as they grumbled amongst themselves, no louder than a dull roar in the background, yet deafening to Fluttershy’s terrified ears. Some of them took a few steps forward, looking around at each other as if unaware of what they collectively ought to do about this exciting new problem.

Then the market square erupted into unbridled chaos. The crowd of ponies, who had gone from generally indifferent to mildly displeased to vaguely enraged in a matter of seconds, made up their minds and charged the carrot stand in a flurry of color and sound. The orange-maned carrot seller leapt from the stand just as the crowd stampeded through it, continuing onward to the rear of the market plaza. Unsatisfied with the destruction of the offending booth, the mob tore through stands selling various other fruits and vegetables in its fury as startled vendors tried their best to escape the frenzy. Piles of celery and asparagus went flying as wooden frames splintered and came crashing down under the weight of many angry hooves. A few particularly enthusiastic rioters tripped a lemon farmer, grabbed hold of his tail and began bending his legs into clearly unpleasant positions as he cried out in agony.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy, all at once feeling shocked and guilty and frightened at the full-blown brawl she had indirectly incited, instantly regretted both her resolution to demand a fair price for a pound of carrots and her failure to come through with it in the end. Hiding under an upturned apple cart, tears began to form in her eyes as she shuddered at the thought of being implicated for starting the riot in the first place. Everypony might think of her as a "big meanie," which couldn’t be further from the truth. She ought to know by now that assertiveness only ends up hurting other ponies -- why couldn’t she have learned from her experience with Iron Will? Then again, if she had insisted on a lower price, then no one would have noticed anything, and this whole thing would have never happened! But...

One thing was for certain, though: Fluttershy felt very conflicted.

Comments

[Llyander]

Interesting. Please continue. :)

[ForSpite]

Not enough here to really sink my teeth into yet.

[Xylophon]

3817419

Good, because I'm already partway through writing the next chapter! ;)

[Aaronmaster2007]

Fluttershy causing a riot? Never thought i'd see that but I like it.