• Published 24th Mar 2012
  • 1,844 Views, 74 Comments

My Little Pony: Northern Aggression - A. Tuesday



A magical mishap transports the Mane 6 to the American Civil War

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1.7 "Finding Your Niche"

As it was getting onto late May, in that year of 1861, a month or so after two ponies just across the river got “drunk to high hell”, Fluttershy found herself in a bit of a dilemma.

The horse in front of her, an Earth horse, laid down on the ground, his front leg stuck out stiff. She was told that the other day he had sprained it, and she had watched the horse actually walk in front of her with a bad limp.

The pegasus put a hoof to her chin. There had to be a way to fix his sprain. A leg support, maybe? That’s what they did back in Equestria – chances are it’d work here.

“Um, excuse me?” she got out softly to a passing officer. The officer stopped and looked to the yellow pony.

“Yes, miss?”

“Do you, um, have any sort of leg brace or support? For a horse. I think we can get this sprain all cleared up pretty quickly if we do that.”

The man chuckled. “A leg brace? I ain’t never heard of that before.”

“Oh, well it’s, um…” She looked to the ground, hoping the answer would somehow grow out of the dirt. “It’s like a piece of wood, or metal, or maybe plastic, and you put it against a leg – his leg – so that way he can’t move it. Then, the sprain can clear up, and he’ll be on his way.”

The officer raised his eyebrows and nodded coolly. “Right. And, this is for the horse? It’s got a bum knee?”’

Fluttershy nodded. “It’s a sprain. That’s the only way I know how to heal a sprain, and it works very well for animals, and ponies like me. It’d probably work on this horse. Do you have one? If you do, he can be out there again in no time.”

The officer, eyebrows still significantly higher than their normal position, just shook his head. “Nope. We don’t have none o’ that. But, I can tell ya a little secret my pappy used on horses with a bum leg.”

“Oh, really?” the pegasus asked hopefully, “Well what is it – DEAR CELESTIA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?”

The officer had removed his rifle from his back, and now placed it at the head of the horse. He merely stated, still looking at the horse, “Takin’ care o’ your problem.”

Those words were barely finished when he pulled the trigger, blowing the horse’s brains out and splattering a few drops of blood on Fluttershy.

The pegasus had no words. Her pupils got smaller as her eyes reached the size of dinner plates. She didn’t even breathe. Her jaw just hung open, in pure disbelief at what the Confederate just did to the horse.

The officer replaced his rifle, and turned back to Fluttershy. Noting her expression, he asked, “What’s the matter? Ain’t ya never taken care of a horse with a bum knee before?”

Again no words.

The officer shrugged, then waved a hand to a group of soldiers relaxing over by a large oak tree. “You three!” he yelled, “Get over here, and get rid of this horse. The dead ‘un, I mean – not the winged one.”

With that, and the group making their way over to retrieve the carcass of the beast, the officer continued his rounds and left Fluttershy to stand there. The soldiers each took sides on the horse, and began hauling it away to the woods to bury it. But, before they did, one of the soldiers recognized the petrified pegasus. He stood up, letting go of the body. “Hey, I remember you! Fluttershy, right?”

The yellow pony nodded in slow-motion. The soldier beamed. “Well, hey, what’s the matter? I know you’re quiet and stuff, but it’s like you’ve seen a darned ghost or somethin’…”

The pink-maned Equestrian mumbled, the Confederate barely hearing her, “I – I’ve never – I’ve always healed animals. No – n-n-nopony’s ever – ever killed an – killed an animal – j-j- - just because they – they couldn’t heal – heal it…”

The Confederate shrugged. “Well, what can ya do? The poor thing suffers, and it ain’t ever gonna walk right or work hard again. Put it outta its misery.”

“B-b-b-but,” Fluttershy countered, “I – I c-could’ve s-saved it- p-p-probably – “

“Look,” the soldier said, still calm, “You’d need a whole lotta things we don’t have here if you wanted to save that thing. I don’ know if y’all have ‘em where you’re from, but we don’ have ‘em here. An’ I wouldn’t be so shocked, either. Ain’t you the vet?”

The pegasus nodded slightly. “O—one of them…”

“Well, yer gonna have to do it, too. That’s what ya do as a vet – gotta horse with a limp leg, ya put it down. Happens a lot.”

Somehow, her eyes got wider than they already were. “W-what?!?!?” She looked down to the ground, averting her eyes from the soldier. “I – I don’t think being a vet is cut o-out for me. Not here.”

“Well, it ain’t fer everybody, that’s fer sure,” the soldier agreed, “You know, you seem awfully quiet. I know you’re scared and shocked an’ stuff, but you seemed quiet in the first place.”

“I – I don’t talk much.”

“I can see that,” the man replied. Then, his face lit up. “Wait a sec; I think I might have an idea.”

“Rufus!” one of the men still holding the horse yelled, “Git over here and help me with this horse!”

“Right, right, I’m coming.” The Confederate turned back to Fluttershy. “Meet me out in the shooting grounds in a half hour or so. I wanna see somethin’, if ya wouldn’t mind.”

“O – Okay.” The pegasus seemed wary, but agreed all the same. The soldier was nice enough – maybe it was a way back to her friends.

But not now. She turned away from the bloodied carcass in disgust as the men carried it off. She wondered if Rarity was doing a better job medically than she was.

“OWW!”

“Now, darling, if I’m ever going to get this bullet out of your leg, you’re going to have to feel some pain. Do you want a rag to bite on?”

In horrible pain, the wounded Confederate in front of Rarity nodded slowly. Using her magic, she procured a rag from the other end of the room, and gave it to the man, who bit down on it hard. Rarity continued her work. “Now, just try to remain calm, won’t you? I know this hurts.”

She then focused back on his leg. There was a massive gash in the side of his calf, slightly scabbed and very bloody. Levitating the tools she was using earlier, she opened the wound just a bit more. Now, she could see the metal object a bit into his knee. It was coming along nicely, she thought.

Maybe it wasn’t all bad that I took Pony Anatomy in high school. Of course, these things aren’t ponies – but we’re similar enough.

The dress-maker found that being on the medical team, once you got to it, wasn’t entirely bad. Mostly, it was just getting over everybody’s pain, suffering, and gore all over wherever somebody was working. Or, in Rarity’s case – somepony.

Sweat glistened just above her horn, which glowed with a magical aura. While still magically holding the tools, she looked to a pair of tweezers close to her, and willed them to the wound in the man’s leg.

Carefully, with surgical precision – after all, this was surgery – she reached the tweezers into the open wound, being careful not to touch the muscle in the leg. She had already moved it apart with the end of the scalpel, enough to let her tweezers in – but that didn’t mean she didn’t have to take a risk in doing this.

She felt a closing motion reverberate from the tweezers up into her magic and into her horn. She had found the bullet. Rarity concentrated all her energy into this, and, slow as possible, began tugging on the bullet.

The unicorn didn’t know how clumsy someone could get. When a bunch of soldiers are firing at a target, in firing squad formation – it usually meant not to step in front of them. Some idiot Confederate – the one she was working on now – had decided that was the perfect time to step across the shooting range.

Rarity stuck her tongue out. The bullet was almost out, she could feel it. The metal began to appear at the opening of the wound. Almost done.

“Hey, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked as she materialized at the entrance to the medical tent.

“What is it, Fluttershy?” Rarity asked calmly, her concentration lost on the bullet which dug back into the soldier’s leg as she turned to her friend.

“MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMFFFFFFF!!!” screamed the soldier through the rag.

“Oops,” Rarity exclaimed softly, and gently removed the bullet in haste. “There you go. Sorry ‘bout that, dearie. Let me fix that up.”

As she cleaned the wound and began to wrap it in gauze, she looked to her pegasus friend. “Hello, Fluttershy. Sorry, caught up with a patient. What’s going on?”

“Is this a bad time?” the pony asked calmly, “If it is, I can go…”

“No, no!” Rarity replied, “In fact…” With that, she finished wrapping up the leg, and tied it together. “There!” she retorted to the soldier, “That leg will be good as new…in a couple weeks. Take it easy on that leg.”

There was a noise as the Confederate spit out the rag. “Thank…you…” the man groaned through short bursts of pain, “…Doctor…”

“No trouble!” Rarity then trotted over to her friend. “Shall we walk and talk, ‘Shy? What seems to be the trouble?”

“I….I don’t know if the whole ‘veterinarian’ thing is for me,” Fluttershy softly began, “I mean, I couldn’t heal this horse – so they blew his brains out!”

“What?” gasped Rarity, stopping in mid-stride, “That’s terrible!”

“Mmhmm,” the pegasus replied knowingly, “But apparently it’s commonplace. I don’t think I have the heart in it to kill a defenseless animal like that.”

“And why should you? Still…” The unicorn looked away, to the capitol building of the city, “Then, what will you do? I’m sure the President is going to have you do something productive, instead of sitting around. And I doubt running away would do you any good.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, I’ve thought about deserting. But what if they catch me? Then I’ll be dead for sure. Besides,” she waved a hoof around to the area, “I kinda like the change of scenery. There’s more forest and creatures that I know here, in Virginia, or wherever it’s called. I’m kind of glad the Capital moved to Richmond. It isn’t half bad here.”

Rarity sighed. “I suppose you’re right. It was awfully humid in that…other place. Much nicer weather here. But what will you do?”

The pegasus shrugged. “I don’t know. One of the soldiers who carried away the dead horse has an idea, and he wants me to check it out in a little bit. I’m not ready to see him, yet, though.”

“Well, I’m all done my shift at the Ward – how ‘bout we go and visit Pinkie Pie? Isn’t she doing some sort of – oh, what’s the word – ‘propagandistic’ thing by the amphitheater?”

“Oh, that’s right,” the pegasus said, remembering now, “Actually, I heard it was a show.”

“A show?!?” Rarity inquired, baffled at the idea, “A show like a musical? In the middle of a war?”

“Apparently.”

“Well…” The unicorn was at a loss for words. As if the situation wasn’t crazy enough, now there was some musical-like thing being put into the middle of it. Something right up Pinkie’s alley. “Why don’t we go see it, then?”

It wasn’t exactly a musical, but it was pretty damn close.

When the two friends arrived at the amphitheater, Rarity still wearing her medical cap, and Fluttershy her veterinary armband, they were met with a massive throng of soldiers, all sitting and watching the stage with intent. Sometimes they cheered and laughed, too.

After pondering what could possibly be on the stage, the two friends found a seat and decided to see for themselves. The moment they did, they were mesmerized by the figure on stage.

“Is…is that…?” Rarity tried to ask.

Fluttershy finished for her. “P-pinkie Pie?”

On the stage below all of them, a pink earth pony danced and walked around on stage, complete with her own outfit that was basically the Confederate flag on a uniform outfitted specifically for her. A band of soldiers played on stage with her, and she was smiling, and in the middle of something. A song.
Rarity cocked her head as she though she heard the song somewhere before. She felt she did. Although, she doubted the Southern instruments had accompanied it the first time she heard it.

…All I really need’s a smile, smile, smile,” the pink pony sang in a loud, cheerful voice, “From these happy friends of mine!

Suddenly, the crowd of soldiers broke into unanimous song, even though they were a bit tone-deaf. Rarity couldn’t concentrate on the soldiers’ background singing, though. Her eyes and ears remained on Pinkie Pie.

“Yes a perfect gift for me

Is a smile as wide as a mile!

To make me happy as can be,

Smile,

Smile,

Smile,

Smile,

Smile!

Come on and smile!

The dancing suddenly stopped as the band played on and Pinkie planted her front hooves on the ground. She turned to show the audience her profile, and then gave them a wink as she finished up the last line.

Come on and smile!

The band ended their song with a massive simultaneous beat of all the instruments. The roar of the audience probably overpowered all noises in any vicinity to the amphitheater. The cacophony began to hurt the unicorn’s ears as she recognized the song Pinkie had sung randomly one day.

The cheering died down as Pinkie nodded, accepting the applause. She put a hoof in the air and waved it down, quieting the soldiers. “Thank you! Thank you, everybody!” she cheered to the soldiers.

She began to walk about the stage again, only this time, talking, not singing. “Thank you all so much. But, really, I should be thanking you guys! I mean, you men had the guts, the courage, and the willpower to come fight out here for good ol’ Dixieland! This is gonna be a hard fight, my Pinkie sense is tingling all about it! But, I know you can pull through.

“You soldiers do an important job, and should feel proud of yourselves! Dixieland will triumph, and it’s all because of you men. Deo Vinidice! And, thank you, all again! Show those Northerners that we deserve this nation! For the Confederacy!”

“For the Confederacy!” the soldier shouted in unison. The throng stood up and clapped, as Pinkie Pie bowed once more, and walked off stage, behind a curtain where she disappeared.

Rarity turned to Fluttershy, who’s one eye actually twitched involuntarily. “D-did…” the pegasus asked, “What did I just watch?”

“I…” the unicorn attempted to reply, also at a loss for words, “I don’t know. Is this what ‘propaganda’ is? Putting on a show and telling everybody they’re the best?”

“I…I guess so.”

“What do you mean, guess?”

The two ponies turned around and almost reared up at the source of the voice. There was Pinkie Pie, still in her Confederacy suit, standing right behind them.

Rarity raised her eyebrows. “Pinkie, what are – how did you get here so – “

“Pssh. You know me, girls! If I wanna get somewhere, I get there.”

The other two ponies agreed. This was not uncommon of Pinkie Pie to travel at speeds unimaginable and appear at the weirdest of places. It’s only natural that it can happen here, too.

Fluttershy still tried to comprehend it all. “Pinkie….what was that?”

“Oh, that was my show!” the pink pony exclaimed, “I sing a couple songs to the soldiers, and I finish up with my ‘Smile Song’, so that they’ll smile! ‘Cause war is tough. And then I tell them all how great they are! Mister Lee tells me it ‘boosts morale’ or something like that. I dunno what that means, but it sure is fun!”

Rarity contemplated this. Fun? She was having fun? Here?

Fluttershy spoke what was on the unicorn’s mind. “Fun? You’re having fun in this weird place?”

The pink one nodded. “Of course! I mean, you have to get used to things after a while, but once you’re done finding your niche, it ain’t half bad!”

Ain’t?!?” the other two ponies said simultaneously.

“Goodness,” the pegasus commented, “You’re talking like them now?”

“Why not?” Pinkie replied.

The sound of boots on concrete began to approach them. So did heavy breathing. The three ponies turned to see a Confederate soldier, holding a rather large contraption that kinda looked like a rifle, out of breath and fast approaching them.

“Fluttershy!” he gasped out, “There ya are! ‘Was lookin’ fer ya!”

“Oh, hello again,” the pegasus said, “I’m sorry, I must’ve forgotten about our meeting.”

“It’s alright,” the man panted, “I have this…” holding out the contraption “For ya to try out. Specially modified. I worked under direction o’ General Lee hisself, for it. Wanna give it a try at the range?”

“The range?” The pink-maned pony looked over the thing, which was looking more and more like a rifle, albeit with a few…well, modifications, as he said. “What…what is that thing?”

“You’ll see. Come along!” he said, and Fluttershy looked to her friends one last time for help, and then continued to follow the man out of the amphitheater. Rarity felt the need to give her advice, but honestly couldn’t. The man seemed well-to-do – and she hadn’t been feeling too bright because of the whole vet thing. Maybe this was a good thing!

“Looks like he’s gonna show her how to do something,” Pinkie commented upon her friend’s departure, “Oh, this’ll be great! I hear she didn’t too well with the vet. Maybe this is it! Maybe she’ll find what she does best here! Maybe she’ll find her niche!”

Rarity contemplated this. Her niche…

Pinkie seemed to find her niche rather easily. So did Rarity. She was fantastic at being on the medical staff. Most people, herself included, seemed to think so. Was Fluttershy the only one who hadn’t found her special place here yet?

“Her niche…” she repeated aloud. Then, she saw the light in Pinkie’s words. She turned to her pink friend and exclaimed, “Oh, wouldn’t it be great if she finally found it?”