Fluttershy
Author’s Note: Enter the good doctor! Fluttershy is such an adorable little Lamb after all. The next chapter picks up three months later, with Siren thoroughly brainwashed. Locked inside Angel’s Garden, Siren is made to cleanse herself of all her wicked impulses and negative desires. After all, there’s no such thing as bad ponies! Just ponies who are sick and need help.
Green, Echo, and Berry are there as well. Siren sold all of them out under hypnosis, and fingered them (hoofed them?) for their parts in the attack on the Pavilion.
Despite being a part of the government in Vision, Fluttershy does not entertain the notion of arresting them. After all? Why punish them when she has the option to go on and make sure they lead useful and healthy lives?
Daring Do, Chapter 12, Scene 3: Group Therapy
“And sometimes, I just feel really sad?” I say, tucking my legs in up around me. The grass feels so nice. I think it makes the therapy better -- when we can all go out and sit in the garden. It’s natural for ponies to be surrounded by grass. “Like… there’s all these things I could have done? And instead I was just this petty and jealous creature. And I know I’m in a better place now! And that’s good. But I feel I wasted so much time.”
“Mmm,” Fluttershy nods, looking around at the circle. “And what do we say to that, everypony?”
“Uh…” Green is the first to guess, though she does look at Echo and Berry for support. “That… regret is a negative mental framework that only drains emotional energy from the present?” Fluttershy nods slowly, and gestures Green on with a hoof. “And that… accepting our circumstances and finding peace with them is the first step to improvement?”
“That’s right,” Fluttershy gives a gentle nod, turning back to me. We’re all sitting under the big willow tree, and the strands tickle at her ears. “How does that sound to you, Siren?”
“Good…” I mumble. She’s right, of course. Fluttershy is always right. “But I still feel kind of bad. Can I have some time with Angel Kitty?”
“Of course.” Fluttershy smiles so warmly. She’s just wonderful. “Oh, Angel!” she sings. From nearby, Angel Kitty unfolds himself. He’s a tiger, and a big one at that, but right now, he’s sleeping harmlessly against one of Fluttershy’s pet deer. That’s a neat trick. Teaching a tiger to only eat tofu. Fluttershy really is an inspiration.
Without needing to be told, Angel walks right up to me. “Aww, hello kitty.” I nuzzle up against him. “How are you feeling -- aaah!” He licked my face! “Cat tongue!”
Fluttershy giggles gently, and lets me have my fun for a few minutes. It does make me feel better, and soon, Angel Kitty curls up against my side. “Now,” she says, turning to Berry. “Berry. Last week, we talked a little bit about your past, and your relationship with Trixie. You promised you’d try to be more conscientious about your interpersonal relationships, and try to think more about what feelings really move you towards that positive frame. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?”
Berry doesn’t answer. She never does the first time. She just stares at the grass.
“Berry?” Fluttershy presses. “Do you want to tell us how you’re feeling?”
Again, she says nothing. Now, see, I can’t read Berry at all. But Fluttershy is totally better at this than me. That’s why she reaches out towards Berry, just close enough that Berry pulls back. She hates being touched, so it’s a great way to knock her off her cool and silent act just a little. “Berry I’d like it if you would talk to me.”
“You don’t care about me at all,” Berry replies, in her usual dead monotone. “You only want to convince me that Trixie is evil.”
“Do I say that Trixie is evil?” Fluttershy asks, gently. Oh, she’s clever! And of course she doesn’t say that.
“You said she was abusive,” Berry replies, keeping her eyes fixed on the grass.
“No, Berry. I asked if Trixie ever hit you when she was mad,” Fluttershy coos quietly. “You’re the one who said abusive.” Another long silence. “Do you think others view your relationship with Trixie as abusive, Berry?”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Berry says, abruptly. “Trixie needs me. I’m all she has left. And I don’t want to talk about this.” Her ears twitch, once. “You said when we started group therapy that I didn’t have to talk about anything I wasn’t comfortable with.”
Fluttershy pauses, but then, she nods. “Yes, I did. And you’re right. We can talk about this next week.”
Next, Fluttershy turns to Echo. “So, Echo. How is your collection of toy soldiers coming?”
“Well…” he replies slowly, eyes still on Berry. Fluttershy coughs, and he looks to her. “I build one whenever I feel like drinking. So, I have a small army by now. But I’m four weeks sober! So… good?”
Author’s Note: Ain’t that sweet. And Echo even gets a visitor!
Daring Do, Chapter 12, Scene 7: The Lovers Reunited
I peek over the garden bushes, watching the two of them from a distance. It’s weird. Rainbow looks so commanding, with her form-fitting jet black armor, and all those guards around her. Echo looks like some stallion whose mane has started to go a bit grey in places. But there’s something about the way they face each other. It’s the silence, and the stony look on her face. And there’s something about him that’s off too.
“How’s your shoulder?” he asks out of the blue. Her shoulder? I glance that way, but there’s nothing to see under the armor.
“I just had it fixed again,” she replies. Her voice is surprisingly rough. Almost scratchy. It makes her sound young, even a little childlike. “Hopefully it sticks this time.”
“Hopefully,” he agrees. Another long silence hangs between them. Echo shifts his hooves. Stamps once. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so… tense? That’s not quite it. “Did you come all the way here just to see me?”
“Fluttershy insisted,” Rainbow replies. “I told her she was wasting her time.”
“Well… therapy has been good for me,” Echo says, fluffing his wings. “For instance. I recognize that I wronged you during our last meeting.”
“You said I was a demon that murdered the real Rainbow Dash and was wearing her corpse like a hat,” Rainbow snaps. Echo’s ears fold back, and he stares at his hooves. “You said that you hoped the withdrawl killed me so at least you’d have closure that the mare you loved was dead.”
“I was drunk,” he replies.
“You were drunk a lot.” Rainbow’s voice is hard, and unsympathetic.
Stats
Page generated in 0.033 seconds
Total duration
642 users online
1,095,997 hits today, 2,814,898 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.®
Wow, I can't believe it... You put the Turbo in the chapters... (Get ready to read)
So much plot, so fast is a little... Offsetting? Like skipping pages in a book. Nice to see where the story was heading though. I still feel sad that you had to give up your bigger MLP works.
If you could drop a link to where you post your non-pony works, I'd be much in appreciation.
Fluttershy doesn't seem all that bad here. Of course, Rarity didn't seem all that bad at first either...
You know it's a good twist when you can feel it through an author's note.
Berry, Berry, Berry... I really hope you make it out.
6450692
Sometime. Might be awhile. Sorry!
I really really hope you will continue this story someday. It is way too good to be left incomplete
Those...not sure how to call them...chapters felt a bit disconnected. Well I'm hoping and praying for more whenever you will be willing and ready to write.
Until then, have a nice day and even if you choose not to do, thank you for these beautiful and well written gems of fanfiction.
It breaks my heart that you gave up on this. I hope you continue writing, no matter the subject or setting.
6601955
Thank you! Don't worry, I will.
6602560
Don't think you're off the hook, we're 300k words in and we still don't even know what actually happened to Twilight. Just think of the number of people who'll haunt you if you give it the IFIWT treatment.
$20 on her strapped to a machine somewhere in Sparkle Enchantments, powering the entire city. Heartbeat lights and all that. Also you're so not allowed to change it now just to get those $20.
6605247
You really want me to tell you?
Because I can totally tell you.
6605437
Nah. But you can always, like, finish the trilogy and tell me that way, you know?
Is the "brainwashing" here even really that bad? From the snippet we can see, it's doing wonders for every pony.
7479055
I'd predict yes, and that the problem here is that they aren't actually getting better at all, just playing the roles of patients in recovery. Lack of will and choice at the start makes a difference. They can't reenter society and take any of the "improvements" with them. If anything, being inclined in the future to reject anything that looked too much like what Fluttershy did would probably leave them worse off in all - although that part of things isn't exactly her fault.