Watch Out For That Fluttershy!
Chapter 35
Watch out for that Fluttershy!
“Cream Puff, would you mind looking after my saddlebags?” I ask this with reluctance, because, well... She’s just a little filly and just like every backpack I’ve ever owned, from elementary school to high school and every job that I had after were, well... heavy.
Heavy with books both big and small. Pockets and pouches stuffed full of art supplies, brushes, paper, coloured pencils, pencil sharpeners, black ink pens, the works. Then there was the random... things I would find. Feathers, oddly shaped twigs, bits and bobs of metal, items that others have dropped and as always: rocks.
Like, so many rocks... Big, small, pebble, tiny. If there was a gravely place? I was sure to be bending down looking for that magic little translucent glow amongst the often gray and dull rabble.
‘Ugh, more rocks?’ her voice randomly giggles.
A flickering of a memory of Earth... of my home and... then she enters my head. We both loved the little rocks that I would always find, but she would give frustrated laughs at just how many I could easily find and where they would end up. In my pants pockets, in my desk, in my-
“Of course, H.B.!” Cream Puff says. She pulls me out of that memory and back to her standing next to me as the tan saddlebags slide off my back and onto hers. She lets out a bit of an ‘oof!’ before smiling brightly while her legs wobble about.
“You good?” Gotta make sure that she’s alright. She adjusts herself and nods, strained. “You know you don’t have to-”
“Nah! Ah got it! Ah’m good!” She’s puffing out her little chest and side eyeing Rainbow Dash.
I hate the word 'mount' when it comes to getting on a bicycle, but for the life of me I can't think of a better word to describe what I'm doing at the moment.
One leg over the midrail and push my... self up and onto the seat.
There's a familiar sense of uneasiness, something that switches to surprised anxiousness at the feeling of something grabbing at the bike's back end. Looking back there I see that it's Cream Puff giving a generous helping hoof to steady my balance.
“You don't have to do that, Cream Puff..." Don't go 'aww'! Don't go 'aww'! Fucking hell, it's really nice of her, but don't go 'aww-
Fet! Eyes forward H.B.! Eyes forward and on the sidewalk! I feel like I'm going to lose my balance!
Thankfully, the little filly lets out an 'Ope!' before she readjusts where she’s holding my bike while I push the pedals forward!!
"B-but... I'm glad you are..." I start easing into moving my back legs on this black beauty of a bike!
"Well, some pony has ta!" Cream Puff exclaims behind me.
Right back leg up.
'What are you doing?' starts my inner monologue.
Left back leg down.
'You've got nothing to prove to Dash!'
Right back leg down...
'So what if she was implying you look... fat... that shouldn't bother you. Right?!'
Left back leg up!
'Is it because Fluttershy said that she believes that you can do this?'
Right back leg up!!
'Really, what does any of this have to do with learning about kindness!? Because Dash is 'kind' about worrying about your health?!'
Left back leg up! Stand a little! Put those front hooves in the oddly shaped handlebars!
'It doesn’t even make any sense. We’re teaching you kindness, so please run my super complicated obstacle course! All because she’s on this weird health nut kick?! At least that’s how it feels! I bet there’s some pony named ‘Cliff Bar’ involved or whatever! Seriously! You’re just getting over all the sicknesses! Don’t push yourself!'
Push those legs! Build up speed! Look behind me! Cream Puff is practically prancing in place over my swift movements!
Meanwhile, Fluttershy seems to be having a serious talk with Rainbow Dash. Over what? For some reason I can't really make out. They seem to be taking on loud whispering- Fet!
Tire Spoke did a good job on my bike!
The chain feels freshly greased, the wheels are moving so freely! Even the seat feels more comfortable!
I ride down the pathway before me, but then I spot Mars Orange in the distance doing... something...
Colorful orbs are floating around him as he sticks some sort of... wait is that a...?
That's when a very uncommon thing pops into my head.
A bubbly little happy thought!
Why did it appear? I haven't a clue.
'Maybe it's because you're just tired of being sour, or maybe it's because of Fluttershy's unexpected support, or like Zandra from Zebragirl said ‘humans are precocious’, or you want to show up Rainbow Dash and her whole comment about being ‘allergic to fun’...' I look back at the two ponies, they're still having their talk and are completely clueless to how far I've gone in such a short span of time.
Only Cream Puff seems to notice, and is attempting to gallop the best she can with the combined weight of our saddlebags... she's not having an easy time of it.
'You really shouldn't be taking advantage of her like that, just like how you shouldn't be taking advantage of any of them like you are... especially Fluttershy. The lesson she gave you at the start of this was perfectly good enough, but then you had to go and make it all complicated! Heart-break it all up! So really, what are you doing!?'
"What am I doing?" I mutter. God, I let Goth Bunny talk way more than I usually do or even should. "Mars!" I need to get his attention if I want to pull off what this little Happy Thought is whispering in my ear. "Soap my hoof up!"
The little orange colt with green eyes and a reddish-orange mane sharply turns to see me careening towards him. His eyes widened with confusion and his ears dropped down as if I was coming to shatter his entire world.
I pull on my bike's brakes and, I'm not sure why I'm surprised, but Tire Spoke worked his magic on these too. I slow down without fully stopping, maintaining enough forward momentum to make gentle sharp circles around the colt.
I wave my perforated hoof at him so the hole is visible. He cringes before confusion returns to his face.
"Soap... me... up!" I repeat, pausing on each word as I encircle him, like, three times. To give him more of a clue, I point at the tub of soapy water next to him.
He blinks, and it takes a moment for the gears to start turning but then something clicks to what I'm asking of him.
"Oh!" He exclaims, lifting up the soap solution above his head, a bracelet with pink, blue, and white beads falling down his 'arm' from what I would call a 'wrist'. “Ok!”
This is a delicate act I'm trying to pull off here: dunking my hoof in sudsy water like some... one... pony... whatever, does to a cookie in milk, all the while, I'm attempting to maintain my balance like a wobbly top...
It's a creative endeavor.
It feels like quite the out of character moment and all for... who should we call this metaphysical, metaphorical, psychi-aform? Happy Thought, doing all of this because of one 'Happy Thought'.
I really hope she appreciates all the effort that I'm putting into it...
Lifting my hoof up out of the liquid, I raise it into the air and whip around Mars to recapture my speed!
At first, it feels like nothing is happening...
However, as I gain velocity, I can feel the cold breeze going through the drilled tube structure of my hoof. It's almost icy and feels like it'll nearly chill me to the core, but... I can feel it pushing the soap-water solution into a thin membrane and-
Pop! Pop! Pop!!
Spinning around, I, yet again, feel a far more out of character sensation leaning my throat upon the sight of these multi-colored iridescent floating spheres exiting my hoof. I am so taken aback by it, I hardly believe it's coming from me...
Laughter... or giggling? Whatever.
'Yeah, seems like you're exploring every Element of Harmony- But the one that you're meant to be learning about!’
Zipping past Cream Puff, I see her jumping at the bubbles as if she was trying to snatch them from the air with her mouth like a dog. A 'Cream Pup' if you will.
"Rainbow! Flutters! Look at what I'm doing!" I shout like some school filly trying to get their parents' attention. It would seem, like many parents, especially my own mother... I got a lukewarm reception.
"Oh wow, that's neat, H.B.!" Fluttershy shouts, well, the best I'd imagine her to shout.
"Yeah... that's awesome!" Rainbow chimes in, giving me a 'thumbs up' with her right wing. "But you know what would be more awesome?" She flaps her wings and 'hovers' while cupping her hooves near her mouth. "If you followed the obstacle course I made for you!!"
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy chides, her face crumpling up in exhausted irritation before she starts saying something that I can't make out due to the fact that I'm zipping away back towards the other end of the park, rainbow bubbles cheerfully decorating the drooping weeping willow trees.
'You see that!? Fluttershy nearly snapped at Dash! That is your doing!! You've stretched this whole lesson thing far too long!' Goth Bunny scolds.
Ignore. That's what I say to that as I whizz past an admiring Cream Puff and dunk my hoof into the soap solution that Mars has practically waiting for me.
'You can't keep this up forever! Fluttershy is going to have enough of it and break at you sooner or later! What are you going to do then?! Huh? What are you doing now!?’ Goth Bunny irritatingly repeats her question. At least one of those questions I have an answer to now.
"What am I doing?!" I mutter pulling my hoof out of the tub and raising it once again. "What am I doing?!" I repeat, closing my eyes, enjoying the sensation of the wind in my... mane. The wind in my mane.
"I'M HAVING FUN AND NOP-PONY CAN STOP ME!!!"
Just then, in that moment, I hear the sickening sound of the tight metallic twang of the spokes in my front tire getting hit by... something, followed by a sharp, jarring lurch as I'm sent flying over my handlebars. A more in character scream leaps out of my throat and one thought enters my brain.
‘I like turtles!’
NO! What?! Come on! Seriously!?
'You just had to open your fetting mouth...'
Yeah... That’s better...
==========
Rat watched as Angel Bunny interacted with the weasel? No... Ferret.
From the looks of things, the two seemed to share some kind of bond, but how or why... Rat had to confess that he did not understand.
The ferret spoke about his owner with such delight...
"Tip-" Rat stopped himself and gnawed down on the tree branch he had hid himself on. "No. Rat is Rat." He told himself. "Now where is the monster creature Angel Bunny keeps chittering about?"
Rat scanned the park that was populated by weeping willow trees. The summer sun was beaming down so hard that his body ached to abandon his perch and dive into the cool shaded deep blue pins that the trees drink from.
He shook his head and took out a refreshing berry from a knothole in the trunk of the tree. The squirrel that called this tree home would not mind if he borrowed something- granted that he replaced it in the near future.
Once quenched, he returned to playing the game of 'where's the monster?'
However, no matter how many times he searched in the direction that Angel Bunny's beady little black terror filled eyes were forced on... he just could not see what the rabbit was seeing! There was no monster. Only ponies.
Then he saw her. The pony that he saw at the place with the staining inks and feathers.
In the bright sunlight, he could make out more details of this mare.
Her coat reminded him of clay pottery used for plants. Their mane and tail was dark brown like loamy soil and it would make for the best of nests! When she turned her head, he caught a glimmering of soft blue eyes...
"How... just how could Angel Bunny think this pony was a monster?" He asked himself. "This can't possibly be the thing pretending to be a pony that that rabbit keeps muttering in his sleep about!"
"..." Rat paused, there was one thing that did seem off about her... "Yes, this is the same mare as Rat saw before... something is... different... but... what?"
The butt picture.
It was still a black broken heart... but Rat swore those cracks tilted more to the left...
Ponies always had butt pictures, but for the most part they were always of happy things or significant things or shiny things or at the very least fun things.
Rarely were they ever like what he was beholden to. Rarely like what adorned this pony's hind...
A heart blacker than any mousehole in the wall, with a white crack in the middle that was more jagged than any he had laid eyes upon.
Something about that mark was unsettling to be sure, but it was a far cry from anything Angel Bunny had been chattering his teeth about this past week.
The mare was leaning on a two wheeled bicycle while speaking to a cream colored pup of a pony that followed her. Both looked as if they had recently enjoyed a meal, and from the pungent aroma wafting on the summer breeze... flavors that were hinted at were strawberries, cream, caramel, chocolate, bread, and sugar galore!
Just as they entered the park, a blue blur dropped out of the sky and landed in front of them!
Rat could not make out the words being said, but the intensity and body language was more than enough to convey that the pony was unhappy with the pottery colored pony.
The two of them argued and the one with glasses turned on her bike, ears folded and her tail dragging on the ground...
Rat scampered in place on his branch. "Pony looks so sad..." he said, his teeth chittering. "Just as sad as..." Once again he shook himself from that memory that was desperately trying to surface.
Just then, Fluttershy arrived.
"If any pony can help make the broken heart feel better, it's the Fluttershy pony!" Rat assured himself. "... not that Rat would care." He reared up... his little paws held in front of him and his whiskers twitching. The yellow pony seemed to be pleading for something... However, the tan pony seemed to just be wanting to leave the park. "How much pain has the pony been through if not even Fluttershy pony's words cannot get through?" he asked, his whiskers drooping.
Suddenly and seemingly without warning, the tan pony asked something and Fluttershy responded with an affirmative.
Just like that, it seemed a switch was turned in the sad pony, because she practically leapt onto her bike and began riding around!
"Oh, what fun!" Rat chirped, a part of him wondering what it would be like to be nestled in that messy brown mane with the small white streak in it. “Fluttershy pony can always can help!”
He looked over at Fluttershy and his ears slumped... Her expression and body language were so hostile to the blue pony that he could not believe that they were coming from the yellow mare!
The tan pony must have seen this also, for she was zooming around them like a pup needling his mother for attention!
The tan pony quicker than Rat could comprehend flew over to the other side of the park, encircling a small orange pony pup and dipping her hoof in... something?
Wonder the Rat did not have to for long, as a stream of... bubbles!? Bubbles began to flow from the pony's hoof after she had raised it high in the air!
Rat clasped his head with his paws with bewilderment and wonder!
"How?! How is that pony doing that!?"
As the tan pony sped around the park, that memory that Rat has been holding back for so long finally broke the surface!
Another time, another place, a little filly upon her own basketed bicycle racing about. She too had a tan-ish coat, perhaps a shade darker than this mare, with a mane that was perhaps not as dark or messy.
Rat watched as the pony before him, a pony that not too long ago seemed to spill sadness and pain was... laughing and giggling in perhaps a... less than natural way... but laughing and giggling as bubbles flew out of their hoof nevertheless!
"I'm havin' fun and nop-pony's gonna stop me!" she squealed after making another pass at the orange colt with the bubble tub.
That's when he heard a clitter clatter sound of wooden sticks tittering against a flat stone surface...
Looking in the direction of the sound he saw exactly that: a wooden stick being flung so that it would hit the concrete sidewalk before it bounced and landed in the grass near a collection of five or six more such sticks...
He turned to the source of this miscreant stick throwing and much to his shock there was Angel Bunny and the ferret!
Before Rat could even address his anger at the both of them, Angel with all too much gleeful fever egged the ferret to throw another stick by shouting at the top of his little lapine lungs.
"THROW IT NOW!!!"
Rat's head quickly turned to see the broken heart pony barreling at top speed in the path of the flying stick...
He could not even react before the stick sailed to meet the front wheel and everything seemed to flow as if it were made of cold honey...
"RUBY!" Came the ushered shriek from the Rat's throat... "Look out!"
A cry and warning that came far too late.
=========
I’m saaaaailing over my handlebars... Fuck! Not the time for jokes, Brain!
... Especially ones that end with me getting a song stuck in my head...
All jokes aside, I am finding myself suddenly and without warning, like the song said, flying over my handlebars!
I attempt to hold on to the bike, but alas, my cursed hooves cannot grip onto it!
Like slipping the earthly bounds or Equis bonds, I’m tumbling through the air as if I did not have a care. Everything around me is moving as if it were stuck or made of near freezing molasses...
Details that, not even I might have noticed are coming to me in sharp view...
Cream Puff’s dancing continues for half a second before her ears fall and her little trot turns to a full on gallop, somewhere in all that she sheds our saddlebags. It takes me a moment to realize that she’s shouting to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
Mars Orange’s bubble tub falls from his hooves and clatters to the ground, ushering forth a frothy spray, he too seems to be hastening in my direction.
In a tree not too far from this spot there’s a little brown rat with golden yellow eyes overlooking this whole mess unfolding. His mouth is open and shrieking in fear...
Most likely over the sight of me... Even while I’m careening towards Luna knows what, I’m not free of those faery curses... I mean, the fact that I couldn’t even ‘grasp’ onto my bike should’ve been enough to clue me in on that one.
Just then, I see the end of the path of my trajectory... The largest, and only oak tree growing in this park.
An... Oak... Tree... Like the Great Oaks Library...
Suddenly, the day light flashes to night and the summer air takes on a spring chill. A few feet off the ground turns into miles in the air and I’m reliving the night of my entry into Equestria!
The tree! The sound of branches and leaves breaking and swatting me in the face!
The glass! The shattering of glass playing in my ears!
The blood! Flashes of red dripping down my foreleg as the panic of discovering my newly behooved form!
It’s not real! Get a hold of your-
The tree! CRUNCH-SNAP! The glass! CLATTER-SHATTER! The blood! SCREAMING-DRIPPING!!
Calm down! It’s not-
THE TREE! THE GLASS!! THE BLOOD!! THE PAIN!!!
There’s a sound that’s coming from somewhere that I recognize but for the life of me I can’t figure- Oh wait...
It’s me. That noise is me. It’s me screaming. I know I was screaming, but now it’s an even more high pitched, piercing, terrified scream. Yeah... Yeah, that’s a more ‘Heartbreak’ noise rather than the giggling and laughter that-
Oh fuck, that tree is getting closer and my arms... Well all of my legs are frantically trying to flail about to figure out what would be the best way to brace myself for the inevitable impact.
Just them, the air is nearly knocked out of me as I feel two things... wait, two light blue hooves grab me by my mid section! A flash of red, orange, yellow, blue, and purple enters my vision in the form of ... horse hair? It’s a mane. I’m looking at a mane!
It’s Rainbow Dash to the rescue! She’s caught me just in time! I’m saved! I’m sa-
*CrAcK!!!*
It would seem that she wasn’t quick enough to prevent my left hoof from crumpling against the bark of that very solid oak tree! From that shooting sensation going up my left arm-slash-left foreleg, it would seem that my... favorite metaphorical/metaphysical/psyform p-OH-ny P-AAiNNNGH! Hurtzalot- AkA!!! The PAiN PoN-EEE! Is shAAking Meee bY tHe ‘wRiSt’?!
It sEEEms thAAAt shEEE’s gloOOMMmp-EEEIng onto thAAAt leg for AAA full on hug...
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HB x Tree. A match made in Tartarus.
11777547
FRESNOR!!!! *GLOMP*
Yeah... seems like Equestria is downright determined to make that ship happen!
HB looks like they're having fun. Too bad they didn't see that tree.
I wondered exactly why we were getting a recap of the last scene from Rat's perspective (though I was caught off guard by him NOT seeing HB as a monster, describing her rather pleasantly and then calling her cutie mark a "butt picture", lol) but then it clicked: a witness! I can only imagine what's in store for Angel when Flutters finds out the truth...
Really nice bike scene and accompanying illo, it's so nice to see HB get a genuine moment of happiness (especially as it's been so long since whatever the last one was), even if it was short-lived. Oof! I was feeling like we were due for a fresh plot complication of some kind, but I certainly wasn't expecting this! Though I do have to have a small laugh at HB's raw misfortune over needing to go back to the hospital already!
11777556
It helps that tree is very kind and understanding.
Heartbreak?
More like Leg-break. images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/1a6c7bfd-5077-4305-b83f-5a14ec4d6816/d7f8ilm-29f698ee-5cc5-41db-a851-c13947c376cc.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzFhNmM3YmZkLTUwNzctNDMwNS1iODNmLTVhMTRlYzRkNjgxNlwvZDdmOGlsbS0yOWY2OThlZS01Y2M1LTQxZGItYTg1MS1jMTM5NDdjMzc2Y2MucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.TzYdoJX4_BCT8FCU8iQ-kNWrHI6sJOGS8yQ0RDySkOY
11778992
I guess that she's gonna have good luck on stage...
Cause she was told to break a leg..
Ouch
:,3
So this will be what 5th or 6th time HB will need to be rushed to the ER? Some ponies have the worst luck.
Calling it now, Rat is gonna end up being HB's pet by the end of this arc.