For an Angel to Pass
Baby rabbits hopped and played in the dewy grass around the tree-cottage as dawn broke over the garden. Chasing each other in and out of the chicken house's legs, just as they'd done for so many years in the knowledge that here, close to Everfree as it might be, they had a protector.
Despite everything that had happened these last few days, I couldn't help give them a small, secret smile. Let them have just a little more happiness.
Would they even notice the change in this secluded corner of Ponyville? Eventually, I knew, they'd have no other choice. The melancholy that suffused the air was spreading like a cold November mist, and it was like a mist too in the way it seemed to deaden sound. The garden had always been a quiet place, but this had a different texture to its former calmness.
Gradually, too, these bunnies would start to appreciate that something important was missing. Slowly the realisation would dawn that no more would they scatter wildly as a determined, bad-tempered buck dashed through their playground, a mildly exasperated pegasus skittering after him with a carrot in her hoof.
We used to think those days would last forever – but nothing ever does.
Nothing ever does.
* * *
A memory.
Perhaps not so much a memory as a series of snapshots, each blurring into the next but standing individually clear and cold. Fading now, but still strong in their own way.
A cookbook. A cherry. A slap. A mailbox. A rope. A Stare. And everything had changed forever.
No-one else really believed it. Not at first, and not all of the ponies cared to hide their feelings. Some of them thought that a line had been crossed that could not be uncrossed, and that it should still be the end.
A couple of weeks after it was over, I sat by the window and watched Rainbow Dash glide smoothly along the river. As she reached the little bridge at the bottom of the garden, she glanced over towards the cottage, with a tiny shake of her multicoloured mane. It was a bare twitch of the head, and if you hadn't been paying attention you'd never have seen it. But I saw it all right.
Of course, I could never tell Rainbow what I'd seen her do. But I didn't forget that little shake. I guess that proud pegasus never really accepted our partnership, even after Tornado Day. Ironic, really.
Yes... Tornado Day. Well, more accurately, that training session. The difference in the way we worked together that day was extraordinary, the change in atmosphere between us tangible. That was when we knew that even the Iron Will debacle couldn't split our team apart.
As the days and weeks went on, some of the other ponies did begin to soften. Including, a little to my surprise, Applejack. We'd never been particularly close, and we'd had our run-ins here and there – during the Bunny Census, for one. An undercurrent of suspicion remained with AJ for quite a while: I once overheard her muttering to Twilight about "that darned rodent".
It was hard not to giggle when Twilight responded by launching into a detailed explanation of the difference between rodents and lagomorphs.
* * *
Another memory.
This one a good deal more recent. It was still bright and sharp in my mind.
Late afternoon a summer or two ago, the pair of us wandering home from a Pony Pet Playdate. I'd gashed my leg somehow, maybe on a sharp rock somewhere, and I could only manage an awkward hobble. It didn't look like too serious an injury, but we'd had to break off and come home a little earlier than we'd have liked.
Rounding a corner in town, we came across Rarity, who hadn't been at the Playdate for some reason. That elegant mare was locked in animated conversation with a passer-by, a pony neither of us knew well. Misty Glen, her name was; she did menial jobs in one of Ponyville's less fashionable restaurants. A rather squat, dark blue earth pony, with an untidy brown mane and some nondescript cutie mark I can't now bring to mind.
Not at all the sort of pony you'd expect to find chatting to Rarity, but then you never quite knew with her. Neither of them noticed our approach, and we'd have been home a few moments later – but all at once, Rarity's words became more clearly audible, and what we heard brought us both up short.
"...about Fluttershy sometimes. She does seem awfully dependent. I know she has all those other animals she looks after, but it's Angel who's the most special to her. And, you know, rabbits really don't live all that long..."
Suddenly aware of our presence, the unicorn trailed off, a blush of embarrassment spreading across her face to contrast with her immaculate, near-white coat. "Er..." she stuttered, attempting to cover her confusion, "...hello? Good afternoon, Fluttershy. I'd invite you over for a spot of tea; it's just that I'm, well..."
She waved a hoof vaguely in the general direction of Misty before lapsing back into silence. She looked down at the ground, while a glance passed between the two of us who'd happened across her.
Nothing was said: it didn't have to be. We both knew to our very cores that Rarity had spoken only the truth. It wasn't anything we hadn't known for a long, long time – ever since the moment we'd first... I guess you could say, adopted each other. But there's a difference between a harsh truth that sits quietly at the back of your mind and one that's forced upon you with such brutal clarity.
After we'd got home, once my wound was bandaged up, we sat for a while in the front room. It was almost silent: no sounds but the evening breeze outside, the quiet rustling of the mice behind the skirting board – and the inexorably ticking clock. Again, no words were spoken, but there was a thickness in the air as darkness fell outside. You could sense that what Rarity had said lay heavy on both our minds.
That weight never really lifted. Sometimes after that, deep in the folds of the night and on the edge of dreaming, I'd hear the unicorn's words again. More than once I jerked upright in a panic, convinced that she was right there with me, whispering them into my ear.
* * *
The memories sputtered and died.
I didn't want them to go. I wanted to chase them out into the morning and bring them home. I wanted to soar up into the crystal-clear sky above and leap on them all.
The sun rose higher, the shadows becoming gradually shorter and stronger. Its rays seemed a little harsher, a little colder today. Perhaps they always would, now.
I raised my head. I knew now where my path must lead. As a distant, solitary pegasus blocked out the sun for a moment, I thought of my family for the first time in – oh, I don't know. Years, certainly. But those days were long gone; everyone I might turn to now was right here in Ponyville.
But if I stayed, every day I'd wake to an echoing, cavernous silence. Every day, no matter how many ponies and bunnies and critters might be there with me, there'd be a yawning, unfillable gap. I thought of the face that should have been there. A face that you had to work to understand – and few had really tried – but the face of one who had understood me so very deeply.
I lifted my eyes a little further, gazing up at the blueness above and feeling the warmth on my face. For a moment I wondered: could I come back here one day? Perhaps this could be home again; perhaps I could begin to heal.
I shook my head forcefully, trying to knock some sense back into it. Deep in my heart, I knew that all I would get if I trod that road would be misery piled upon misery. You can't go home again.
Not after a loss like this.
The old place would be all right: Applejack could keep an eye on it. She might play up her down-home, country gal image; she might grouse and grumble about "varmints"; but under it all she understood the rhythms of the land as well as anypony. She knew how important this place was.
So yes, the cottage would still be a refuge; it would still be a playground – it would still be a home. But it could no longer be my home. If I stayed now, it would just be me, and not what should be: simply, us.
It wouldn't be long now: I just needed to summon up the courage. I allowed myself a wry half-smile at the thought.
I watched the leaves move in the gentle breeze, listening to them rustle, and took in the scent of the herbs in the kitchen garden. My ears twitched as they caught snatches of dialogue from some fillies' skipping rhyme, floating in from the distant schoolyard. A strange sound on such a day as this, yet one somehow also fitting and right.
I turned my eyes on the gentle, steadfast cottage once more – and all at once, I knew. It was time.
I turned away and set off slowly towards the forest. A pair of courting butterflies flickered brightly past, their shimmering, metallic wings distracting me for just a moment from the old ache in my paw.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Loganberry · 1.7k words · 43 4 · 1.6k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.263 seconds
Total duration
959 users online
482,075 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Break my heart a little more could ya?!
new respect for Angel...
*sniffles* It's liquid pride, I tell ya!
4079959 Now imagine how it felt for me, a huge Fluttershy fan, to write it! And thank you: I've always found Angel more interesting than some of the fandom. I don't think there's even a group here dedicated to him. He deserved something.
4081186 Sure, sure, of course it is.
Hey, I didn't know you wrote MLP:FIM fanfic! (I'm the same "Jordan179" from Livejournal).
4085107 Oh, hello! I only dabble in it occasionally, but then I've never been a terribly committed fanfic writer. That said, this is the first fandom I've really felt like writing for since Watership Down many years ago.
Is this why my hamster sometimes stares into blank space for minutes on end? :)
Good story, always love a Fluttershy-related one! But, there's got to be more, right?
4095079 More of this story? No: it's just a one-shot. More of me writing about Fluttershy? Oh yes, definitely. I'm in the early stages of planning a multi-chapter Flutterfic.
4114696
The mood is strong with this one. Have a ribbon:
i.imgur.com/6MrWqNZ.png
So many feelings here.
4789277 Oh wow, this really does mean a great deal to me. Thank you so much!
4790021 And thank you, too! (And for the fav.)
For quite some time, I'd really wanted to write an story that present Angel in a more sympathetic light than is usually the case, and this is what came out. I'm absolutely delighted that it's been well received.
4791013
You are very welcome
4791013 Like the Sir said, you're very welcome.
This hit me hard because of my undying love for rabbits. I can't resist those cute bunny faces. Its nice to sew Angel get some represent. He's a little shit but not as bad as people make him out to be sometimes.
Wow. That was deep.
4965640 Thanks for the comment!
In time, the Black Rabbit eventually comes for them all...
"Laythe hraeth ela mi, Elil Hrair Rah, a blaeth m'hlalthai, m'zyhlthai. An m'draothai ethile hlal, skufessi, uthowessi, hrayessi, paf hraray rah. Laythi kasrahalt, a vatal kasrahil, a laythai nayltil mi nahl-nyt zorn." - So it was said, and verily. But that is cold comfort to those who remain behind.
7655473 Wow, there's a blast from the (my!) past. Curiously enough, I went back and read through Blackavar's Gift again recently. I can see a few more flaws in it now, unsurprising with the extra writing experience I've picked up since then, but I still like it. Frithaes i mi!
7655542 Oh, now there's a right bit of small world! I didn't initially connect that you were the same Loganberry, but I probably should have!
But somehow I've always wanted to connect MLP-verse rabbits to Watership Down rabbits, at least culturally. I don't really know why - it's not like they have any hints of that buried in canon, or anything, but my mind works in oddish ways.
7655566 Yep, same person.
This is the first fandom since that one that's really inspired me to get writing again. I've seen one or two people from the WD fandom in the Pony one (usually linked by furry, as I was) but maybe fewer than I'd have imagined.
Twilight has some similarities to Hazel, I suppose. That might be a way in. I've always been surprised that hardly anyone has written a crossover -- I doubt I'll ever do it myself, but I think that, with care, it could work quite well.
7655595 Perhaps fittingly, t was the furry fandom that connected me with both. Well, that, and a friend pointing out that I'm entirely too much like Twilight Sparkle, which then impelled me to watch the entire show... Funny how that goes!
Since you reviewed my story, I'll check out one of your stories as to repay your kindness. I'll try to get to it by the end of the week.
7743980 Thanks! And please be completely honest. If you don't like it, it's absolutely fine to say so.
7744033 I will and thank for the watch.
Well, I got to this much sooner then expected but here I am. Now on to my thought. 1st off, it was a great read. Not teary but it did tug at my heart strings a lot. Not gonna lie, I had to re-read this twice to get what where this was going. Now as for the fic itself, it's well written no doubt about that(much better then anything I've written thus far). It gets the point across and I had more questions and wanting to continue only to realize it ended. A little sad but that just means it was great. This part in particular caught my eye
It's a nice reference to a few eps (Putting Your Hoof Down in particular which made me start hating Angel). It shows continuity witch is a + and I felt invested (partly because it's in 1st POV) and it was pretty deep (if that makes any sense). My only gripe with it was how Rarity was(mainly because it was a little off-putting but that's just me) and it felt short but hey, I'm not one to talk. Other then that, it's a great read and for me it gets a 9/10. Keep it up. Also, like and favorite
7744198 Well, first of all, thank you so much for that! I absolutely love getting comments and reviews on my stories, and especially interesting, thoughtful reviews like this.
I'm obviously very happy you liked the story. It's one of my older ones, but it still has a place in my heart. Yes, it's short, but short stories are what I'm good at writing, and what I like writing. Besides, I (rather unfashionably) quite like Angel; I think he's nowhere near as bad as he's sometimes made out to be -- though he was horrible to Fluttershy in "Putting Your Hoof Down".
Which reminds me... this line:
is a reference only to "Putting Your Hoof Down" -- no other episodes -- as every single thing mentioned there is featured in that single episode. (The Stare is right at the end, when Angel refuses to eat his food.)
You're right about Rarity -- she isn't all that sensitive in this story, and maybe if I were writing it now I'd change how I wrote that bit. Still, I think it's been around too long to edit now. I'm very flattered by your rating and favourite, so thank you very much!
7744295 A) No problem. I'll admit I wasn't expecting to get around to this until at least tomorrow. I just happen to have spare time so why not. B)My apologies. I thought it was more. Clearly I was wrong but it doesn't change my overall thoughts. C)He's not as bad now but back then, I loathed him. Now he's not so bad(mainly since he's a forgotten memory to me) D) I can relate. I write short stories(with a few exceptions but they aren't out yet) so it's not a problem. E)Rarity isn't exactly A main problem so it can be easily overlooked. As for editing, it's never to late. Of course that's just me. F)I hope to see more