Fragile

by runujhkj

Chapter 3: Concealed Damage

The uninterrupted stream of knocking was starting to bother just about everyone, but for whatever reason, Fluttershy refused to answer the door. Regardless of the complaints of all of her animal friends, who had been panicking a few minutes ago but had long since calmed down, she simply would not leave the room.

On the other side of the door, any other pony would have stopped long ago (their hoof would have gotten sore past the point of bearing it), but then, Pinkie wasn't known for being like everyone else. Ten minutes passed, and she decided to just go in and look for her friend. After all, even when Fluttershy didn't answer her door, guests could usually hear her terrified squeaking through the door.

So Pinkie headed off to the tree facing the pond outside Fluttershy's house. Digging a small hole beside it, she found one of many spare keys she had hidden around the property (for breaking and entering emergencies). Unlocking the door and pulling it open, she was greeted by the sight of a wall of plywood. On any ordinary day, she would have just inexplicably appeared inside the cottage, but seeing as no one was around to be confused, she decided to go about it the normal way.

With a turn, a snort, and a kick, Pinkie heard the plywood... fall off. As she walked through the doorway, Pinkie realized it wasn't actually nailed down to anything. The next thing she noticed was that there were no animals wandering the inside of the house, an astronomically rare event in the cottage. The lights were all out, and the windows were covered. Aside from the light coming from outside, it was pitch black.

Slowly walking through the cottage, Pinkie gave a very tentative "Hello?" She was answered with the sound of a hinge creaking open, followed by swarms of dozens and dozens of adorable forest creatures, followed eventually by Fluttershy.

Pinkie gave a wave and went to her. "Oh, hey! You don't usually hide in that spot, what's up?"

Fluttershy pointed towards her regular hiding spot on the other side of the house, "The door is jammed after last time."

Pinkie gestured towards the animals, recently freed from their shelter. "And why were they with you? The animals don't normally hide with you, do they?"

Fluttershy looked around at them. "It's the strangest thing - they were all so terrified a few minutes ago, but once I closed the door, they all calmed down. I have no idea why, but I had never seen them that scared before."

Pinkie shrugged. "Ah, well. We're all fine. No giant monsters in Ponyville today. Anyway, I came to ask you something."

Fluttershy looked back at Pinkie. "Oh? What is it?"

Pinkie avoided direct eye contact. "Well... I kinda need a... hawk feather. Do you have one I can borrow? Well, not borrow, because I probably won't be able to give it back. One I can have? Actually, that doesn't work, because it's not for me. Can you give a hawk feather to me such that I can regift it to someone else?" Upon hearing this, a hawk landed between the two of them and started to walk towards Pinkie, offering a wing.

Fluttershy recoiled in horror. "No! You can't just pluck a feather from a bird like that! That's so painful to go through, I can't even imagine-" The hawk chomped down on one of his own feathers and yanked it out, giving it to Pinkie.

Pinkie grabbed it and put it in her saddlebag. "Thanks a bunch, Ethan!"

Fluttershy loosened up. "Oh. Well, okay. Wait, I don't remember introducing you to Pinkie. Pinkie, how do you know his name?"

Pinkie shrugged again. "Lucky guess?"
______________________________________________________________________

This wasn't the first time Twilight had played therapist to Dash, although it was the first time it was genuine. Dash was trying to bury herself in Twilight's pillow. Twilight had relegated herself to Spike's bed. Spike was nowhere to be seen. Twilight figured he was probably in Ponyville somewhere, looking for the two of them.

Dash's cool and collected attitude was gone. Twilight knew when she was just acting out for attention. This was different. Dash was worried. Panicked, even. In between bouts of terror and paranoia, she was gripped by a wailing sob. Twilight didn't share her worries.

"Dash, I'm telling you, they don't know anything! How could they? You honestly think that a blue feather is all they need to figure this out? I never like saying this, but the ponies here aren't smart enough to-" Twilight stopped herself. "Okay, that was too much. But how could any of them know? You pegasi are always losing feathers. I can't think of a single week where I haven't seen a feather fall from the sky around me."

Dash didn't give much of an answer, other than a muffled sob into Twilight's pillow. It was tearing Twilight apart to see this.

She stood up and crossed her bedroom to appear by Dash's side. Dash turned over to face away and sat perfectly still. "Come on, let's go back into Ponyville, and I'll show you that they don't know anything about us." Dash stayed motionless. "Please?" Twilight walked over to the stairs and turned, looking at Dash pleadingly.

The apprehension in the air was finally broken when Dash slowly spun around to face her friend. Without ever making eye contact, she took two shaky legs off the bed and placed both hooves on the ground. Her back legs remained tangled in the covers. She attempted to take a step forward to join Twilight, but the tangle caught her off guard. The clutter was to her right, and pulled her right side first.

It happened too fast for Twilight to do anything, especially as tired as she still was. Dash's right leg gave in to the sudden resistance, and her left leg was forced in the opposite direction. Her jaw connected with the floor with a loud thump. A second sound came shortly after, as Dash's open mouth was forced closed quickly. Her teeth gritted against each other as a crack sounded off.

Twilight ran to Dash's side; her horn glowed as she corrected the tangled covers, while she used her front hooves to prop up Dash and allow her to get her own hooves underneath her. Their eyes connected, and Twilight saw tears. Dash got her back legs on the ground to follow her front legs, and as she got a stable footing, Twilight went in for a hug. In a hush, she managed, "I'm so, so sorry, Dash..."

Dash broke off the hug and headed for the door. "W-well, let's go back out and make sure they don't know anything." She attempted her normal affectation, but she wasn't fooling anyone in the room. Her voice broke a few times.

Twilight, for what already felt like the fifth or sixth time that day, had to break into a slow trot to keep up with Dash. Slowly and quietly, she said, "You know, Dash, loyalty doesn't mean never having problems."

Dash, her eyes still tearing up, turned back towards Twilight. She opened her mouth to speak when a loud tearing sound was heard from outside of the library.

The noise seemed to make Dash completely forget she'd been crying literally seconds ago. With a snort, she shrugged Twilight off. "Aw, don't give me that. I'm fine. Let's just go." Her demeanor had already returned to exactly how it was that morning. She wasn't pretending this time, either. Twilight could tell. She couldn't understand it. She also couldn’t understand the noises she kept hearing from just outside her door.