6 - Who Are You?
Chapter 6: Who Are You?
Twilight took a ten minute breather. I didn’t blame her, she’d been put through the ringer and now she had to wing it to Fluttershy’s cottage. I felt a little guilty. Not because I was to blame, but mostly because watching her struggle with Rainbow was oddly enjoyable. I guess the concept of amusement changes as you grow older. Gummy believes that it’s a gradual shift of our perception. As we grow older, our awareness of mortality fades and so does the stimuli that drives us. Me? Personally I think it’s to do with our personality. We can’t change who we are, but we can change how we act.
Observe.
“Twilight, are you alright?”
See? I’m being gracious now. Nothing like before.
Twilight took another breath, probably to make sure she got enough oxygen to last her another few more years. Goodness, with how hard she was breathing it was a wonder other ponies didn’t come over and see if she had some issue with her lungs. From the way they were looking at her and shaking their heads, it was probably a regular occurrence. I didn’t know. Most of my time was stuck in Twilight’s tree-brary during the night. She didn’t move around much during the night. Now I knew she didn’t move around much during the day either.
“I’ll— *huff* —be— *wheeze* —fine!” She flopped from her splayed position on her back to her legs. Like a newborn foal, she stood on legs that wobbled and tilted and threatened to give way at any moment.
“Are you sure?” I asked her. Twilight stumbled around a bit before steadying into something that resembled a shuffle more than a walk.
“I’ll be fine,” she said more firmly, locking her jaw. You have to admire her fortitude. When she says she will do something, that mare finds a way to get it done. The solemnity of her affirmation was somewhat diminished by the stares we were getting. Probably because talking to your pet seriously was something ponies should do at home rather than out here in the public.
Twilight seemed oblivious to this.
“Come on, Owlowiscious, let’s get going.”
I resisted the urge to say ‘who’, instead I beat my wings and circled above her.
“I’ll uhh, meet you at Fluttershy’s,” I said, flapping ahead.
Who said I couldn’t be generous from time to time?
————
When I arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage, Angel spotted me and waved an impatient paw. I settled down near him as he made a few gestures. Arm wave. Something big. Jump, jump, jump. Big steps. Running on the spot. Came over. Punching the air. Fighting?
“A big animal crashed through the cottage and got away. You tried fighting it, but it didn’t do much, and it took off with most of your…. Food?”
Angel shook his head and tapped his foot. He mimed sleeping.
“Most of your bed? How does that make sense?”
Angel shook his head again and mimed sleeping again, then waking up rudely.
“Oh, he robbed you of your sleep!”
A nod.
“Seriously? That’s what you were worked up about?”
Angel looked annoyed that I couldn’t comprehend how important his sleep was. He pointed to the woods and then my claws and made a ripping motion.
“Ahah, no.” I snorted. “I don’t pick fights with random creatures, especially when all they’ve done is disrupted your sleep.” Why was Angel getting so agitated by this?
Angel crossed his arms and stared at me. Maybe he was hoping to quell my objections with his imperious look? I almost chuckled at how absurdly unlikely that would be.
“Look, that may work with Fluttershy, but it won’t work with me.” I sighed when he didn’t budge. “Alright, fine, I’ll bring it up next meeting, but don’t expect much. I doubt Gummy would be on board with this. Oh yes, I know Winona would agree, but she agrees with everything! No sense of fear, that girl.”
Angel suddenly glanced up and hopped back a few steps. Confused, I turned around to see what he was making a big fuss about. Two large blue eyes stared at me.
“Woah!” I said, tumbling back awkwardly. “Personal space!”
“Oh I’m sorry,” Fluttershy’s demure voice answered. “I just sort of leaned in and before I knew it, I was muzzle to feather with you. Oh, I hope you don’t mind and sorry about your personal space.”
“Oh okay,” I replied, then I did a double-take. “Wait! You can hear me?!”
“I can hear you, Owlowiscious.” She winced a little. “Very, uhm, loud and clear.”
Wow. This was. Wow. Twilight would flip out when she found out about this! I unfurled my wings, ready to wing it back to Twilight and give her the news. I stopped when large yellow feathers blotted out the sky. A timid face curled around to address me.
“Uhm, I don’t think you should leave, just yet,” she said.
“Why not? Twilight would love to find out that you can talk to me!”
“I know you’re impatient to get back to Twilight, but it’s best if you stay here and wait for her.” She paused slightly. “If you don’t mind.”
“It’s okay, I’m not going to get lost or anything,” I replied. I was still somewhat surprised that Fluttershy wasn’t at all perturbed that I could suddenly speak. Wow, she can really handle animals. Still, it was something I’d want to discuss with Twilight.
“There’s a dangerous creature roaming about. I’m just worried about you. Why don’t you come inside with me? Pretty please?” Fluttershy gave me a winning smile. Angel looked smug.
“Thank you,” I replied, “but Twilight’s really close, so I don’t think it’ll be that much trouble, really.” I hopped forward… and Fluttershy blocked the way again.
“I don’t mean to be rude, Owlowiscious, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“It’s fine! Just let me go!”
Fluttershy tried a different tack. “I’ve got treats and food inside, what do you say?”
Hmm treats and foods. Now that was tempting. I glanced back at the path. With all the time we’ve been talking and arguing, Twilight would be along soon enough.
“Well then, I can’t refuse that,” I said, with a reluctant nod.
Fluttershy beamed at me. “Oh I’m proud of you,” Fluttershy said as she gestured towards her cottage. I gave up trying to get back to Twilight.
I settled on Fluttershy’s back as she darted forward, with Angel hopping behind us. Several times throughout our exchange he had tried to get Fluttershy’s attention, but the pegasus was too distracted trying to convince me that she must not have seen him waving his arms furiously. Angel made an indecent gesture at me, before huffing grumpily and hopping ahead. I chose to ignore it, because I wouldn’t sink to his level of crudity.
Inside, I was prepared for the noise and clutter of animals that made their home in Fluttershy’s home. Surprisingly it was quiet. Too quiet.
Angel bounded into the kitchen, where he disappeared with a clatter. Fluttershy paid him no heed and immediately beelined to a perch that I recognised belonging to Mr. Night Hawk. Though he was indeed a hawk, he didn’t deign to make conversation with a fellow avian. Most of the time he just stared at me, and he usually kept to himself. That was fine with me, but I wondered what he got up to from time to time.
Fluttershy smiled at me, gesturing to the perch.
“You can take Mr. Night Hawk’s perch. He recently moved out.” She grinned with excitement, though her cheeks blushed with modest propriety. “He found his special mate.”
I settled onto the perch, but almost fell out of it when a knock on the door echoed around the room. Fluttershy flinched at the loudness of each pounding knock, but she made her way to the door, though somewhat quivering. There was a quick peek through a crack and she relaxed, opening the door to admit a weary alicorn.
“Twilight,” she greeted cordially, though somewhat coolly. “Hello.”
It was then I recalled the incident with Angel. I decided to be a good pet and intervene.
“You know, Fluttershy, I’ve been meaning to mention that,” I said, fluttering over and perching on Twilight’s shoulder. “It wasn’t Twilight’s fault, Angel was stirring up trouble.”
Fluttershy blinked at me, then turned back to Twilight.
“Uhm, what brings you here?” she asked.
Twilight looked a bit nervous. “I just, wanted to apologise for how I acted.”
Fluttershy looked a bit disappointed. “It’s not me you should be apologising to,” she stated testily. “It’s Angel.”
Twilight sighed. “You’re right.” She glanced behind Fluttershy. “Is Angel around?”
At that, Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “Yes, he’s in the kitchen, would you like something to eat?”
A audible grumble from Twilight’s stomach sent Fluttershy into a small fit of chuckles. Twilight went scarlet.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said, turning tail.
As Fluttershy stepped away, I leaned towards Twilight’s ear.
“Hey, why apologise? I told you it’s just Angel acting up.”
Twilight nodded slightly. “I know,” she spoke from the corner of her mouth. “But Fluttershy doesn’t know that.”
“She does! I just explained it to her,” I shot back in a whisper. I didn’t even know why I was whispering.
Twilight tracked Fluttershy as she left the room.
“Well it didn’t seem like she heard you,” she growled.
“I– Err… Hmm, she didn’t look like she heard me. Maybe she was too focused on your little argument?”
Twilight frowned. “I don’t think so. This needs—” she began.
“—Testing,” I finished.
—————
When Fluttershy came back from the kitchen with Angel in tow, she found Twilight seated awkwardly on the couch and me back on Night Hawk’s former perch. Angel was held quite comfortably in her hooves while she seated herself in a spare recliner, one of only three possible seats in her small living room.
Twilight cleared her throat and launched into her script quickly.
“I’d like to begin by apologising to you, Angel. I shouldn’t have thrown the book at you, no matter how angry I was. That was wrong of me. Will you accept my apology?” She held her hoof out.
Angel stared at it while we waited with bated breath.
Then he slapped it away.
“Angel!” Fluttershy admonished, her face the very picture of shock. “That’s terrible!” Angel blew Twilight a raspberry and kicked out of Fluttershy’s grip. Before any of us could move, he bolted out of the cottage, leaving behind a frustrated owner, a bemused alicorn and a tittering owl.
“Knew it,” I called out. “Angel’s always like that.”
Fluttershy turned to me somewhat defensively. “Now Angel might not be the politest bunny, but he means well most of the time.”
“Why can’t he mean well all of the time?” I shot back.
Fluttershy bit her lip and stared at the floor. “You’re right, he should have been on his best manners after Twilight apologised to him.”
I glanced pointedly at Twilight. Twilight shot back a look that seemed to say ‘hold your horses’. I clacked my beak in response.
“Fluttershy, I want to ask you a quick question.”
Fluttershy blinked at the sudden change in tone and settled back down in her seat. “You’re not mad?” she asked tentatively.
Twilight shook her head. “Actually, it’s about Owlowiscious.”
“Oh no, is he sick or injured? I-I didn’t see anything wrong with him when I talked to him.”
Twilight paused at that. “You talked to Owlowiscious?”
Fluttershy nodded, though her eyebrows wrinkled in consternation.
“Yes, uhm, we agreed that it would be best to wait for you inside. There’s a creature outside… it could be dangerous.” Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “I, uhm, meant to talk to you about it, but with things between Angel and yourself… I didn’t know if I could approach you.” She perked up. “I’m actually kind of relieved it’s over.”
Twilight nodded automatically, I could almost see the gears turning in her head.
“So you spoke to Owlowiscious, what did he say?”
Fluttershy looked even more confused. Her gaze shifted uncertainly between us.
“Uhm, he wanted to find you, but then he was okay with coming inside the cottage, I think.”
I fluffed my feather triumphantly.
“Hah! See?” I crowed. “She can hear me talk.”
Twilight pursed her lips. “Huh, so why couldn’t Rainbow hear you?”
I shrugged, bird-like. “I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “Maybe Fluttershy has some affinity with animals, and that somehow helps?”
“No, no, I don’t think that’s possible,” Twilight mumbled. “Magic doesn’t work that way. There has to be an underlying reason that makes more sense. Maybe exposure to the same chemicals?”
“Nopony ever visits you and gets exposed to the same sort of chemicals in your lab,” I put in. “That eliminates the chemical exposure route.”
“Then how?” I said.
“Uhm…”
“Maybe it got into the waterways? Conceivably the waste could have seeped into the supply.”
“But that would mean everypony exposed to the water source would be affected. I didn’t see any of the other ponies in public recognising me speak.”
“Excuse me…”
“Hmm that’s true,” Twilight muttered. “Maybe it has something to do with your immortal connections?” Her eyes widened. “Maybe Pinkie or Applejack have the same ability?”
“Shh!” I exclaimed with a glare. Twilight realised what she said and glanced at Fluttershy guiltily.
I frowned. “We’re not linked that way,” I continued. “At least, not that I know of.”
In silence, Fluttershy spoke up.
“Uhm, Twilight, who are you talking to?”
Twilight stared at Fluttershy. “Owlowiscious, who else?”
Fluttershy looked even more befuddled, if that was possible.
“Uhm, okay. Never mind,” she said quickly when Twilight continued staring at her.
“I thought you said you talked to Owlowiscious?” Twilight asked.
Fluttershy ran a nervous hoof down the armrest of her recliner. “Uhm, yes. But uhm, not in that way.” Her eyes widened. “Not that there is anything wrong with your way!”
“You can’t hear him?”
“Uhm, no.”
“What’s he saying then?”
“Uhm, who?”
“Owlowiscious.” Twilight snapped impatiently. “What does he say?”
Fluttershy bit her lip and cringed. “Who?” she offered again.
“Owl—” Twilight stopped herself just in time. She took a deep breath. “Right. All you hear is ‘who’, just like Rainbow.”
Fluttershy nodded slowly. She studied Twilight the same way a sheep does when a wolf is around.
“Of course,” Twilight muttered darkly. “Back to square one.”
I caught sight of Angel around the staircase. He looked at me with eyes dancing with laughter. Both of his paws were clasped to his mouth as his tiny barrel chest shook. I sighed. We had fallen into the same trap of misunderstanding again.
“So, uhm,” Fluttershy mumbled, in voice barely above a whisper. “About the super dangerous creature lurking around in the woods…”
Stats
Page generated in 0.033 seconds
Total duration
1,027 users online
1,455,886 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.®
I love this story
Even more, I love seeing it update
And here Twi started to hope that Shy understood the same way she did.
Oh well, it was nice while the illusion lasted
That was gold. Pure gold.
philomena is probably immortal and so is twilight which would explain the common link. Also I see twilight asking to see the rest of the group and trying to chat with them.
All in all a good story, I hope to read more soon!
I'd be worried that people might think she's crazy, but I'm pretty sure everypony thought that anyway.
Hilarious.
So now how come Twilight can understand Owloowiscious?
This is great. Just to have only Twilight understand him is the best way to go because it creates funny moments in the story.
Flutters, I think that Twi is in a bad enough mood that smashing a creature flat into a gooey paste will be therapeutic for her.
As for the inconsistency, I think that Fluttershy is a zooempath. She can sense the intent of an animal's communication, even if she can't interpret the specific sounds. Basically, she is interpreting psychic emanations from Owlowliscious's mind, not interpreting 'Owl' into Equish.