It's an Easy Feat

by TailsIsNotAlone

Accomplice

Twilight sat quietly, watching everything her friend did.

Fluttershy was humming a nameless happy tune, putting a bag of rabbit chow neatly away in a cupboard. Now she skipped lightly back to where Twilight was sitting in silence, and took her chair again.

Twilight took another sip of tea, tasting nothing. She tried to follow her friend's eyes as they gazed outside the window where birds sang and gulped down seeds from a feeder. She failed. The shy pony's gaze went beyond them, to a place she was not familiar with.

It was up to Twilight to find that place. Fluttershy had not been herself lately, and this day was the strangest and most painful of all. She had experienced this ominous, prickly feeling with Fluttershy before in flashes; this time it persisted. The distance across the kitchen table felt like a mile.

She was not looking forward to this.

"Rainbow Dash is asking a lot of questions," Twilight said when she had found her voice.

"Is she?"

"Yes. She wants to know why you weren't there."

The barest hint of irritation drifted across Fluttershy's face and then evened out, like a tiny ripple dissipating in a deep pool. "Oh, my. Well...I guess she would want to know that."

Her voice was as warm and serene as the afternoon sunlight. She poured a cup of the tea for herself and stuck her tongue out slightly to taste it. She gasped a little.

"It's hot."

"Fluttershy," Twilight said her name carefully. "What do you want me to tell her?"

The pegasus studied her teacup for a long moment, then answered with a question. "Do you think it hurt her feelings?"

Twilight didn't pull any punches. "Of course it did. You should know that."

"Then tell Rainbow what you think you should tell her. Make sure we're still friends. You're much better with that sort of thing than I am. You're so wise and gifted with words. If anypony can say something helpful about friendship, it's you!" Fluttershy gushed. "After all, you're the Princess of Friendship now, and we're still...just the way we are. I'm sure that--"

Twilight grimaced. She held up a hoof to silence her. Fluttershy shrugged and resumed her pleasant, meaningless smile.

"Gilda was one of her best friends," the young alicorn struggled to keep her voice steady. "Whoever, or whatever else she may have been to other ponies. If you weren't going to be there for her, just be there for Rainbow. That's the least you could have done!"

"That's not true," Fluttershy's back hooves chafed the floor with sudden restlessness. She looked out at the birds again, squabbling with each other for seeds. She mimicked the poking motions they made with their beaks. "The least I could have done was nothing."

Twilight stared at her and swallowed hard. She didn't know what to say to that.

"Right?" Blue-green eyes met her own and held.

She looked away. She couldn't take that cold, icy stare.

"Fluttershy, what's happened to you?"

"Nothing, of course."

"But this isn't you!"

"Oh, Twilight. You must be even smarter than I thought, to be able to know everything a pony is after just a few years. I really wish I had your confidence."

Twilight blushed deeply. "Listen. I didn't mean to..."

"Never mind!" Fluttershy giggled and jumped up from the table. "Hey. Let's go do something fun. Let's fly over Harry the Bear like we're going to feed him his lunch! He's so funny, the way he jumps up to get it over and over. You can help me, now that you have wings. Come on! Let's really drive him crazy."

Twilight's stomach turned. Fun? She had been to a funeral today. "No. I want you to come with me and apologize to Rainbow."

Fluttershy ignored the statement and sipped her tea.

"I mean it. I'll teleport us to Cloudsdale if I have to."

Without changing expression, Fluttershy reached up and closed the window. "Twilight, you say such silly things sometimes!" She leaned forward across the table and touched her front hooves with her own. "But...oh my goodness. I don't know if that's something a good friend would do."

"I don't understand what's wrong with you," Twilight lost her temper and pulled away in disgust. "If an animal gets hurt, you care. You feel everything for them! But Gilda--you met her. You talked to her. And now that she's gone, all you do is sit at home and feed your animals as if nothing's happened! How is that being kind?"

The speech should have reduced Fluttershy to tears, or at least to profuse apology. It did not. It was like all emotional pretenses had simply been deemed unnecessary and discarded. Instead she sighed and leaned back in her chair. Her expression bordered on pouting. "Oh, I'm not nearly as smart as you are, Twilight. But I don't suppose that's being very kind at all, is it?"

"Exactly! And how can you have the Element of Kindness if--"

"Does the Element of Kindness tell me who I have to be kind to, Twilight?" Fluttershy's tone was placatory, condescending, like she was talking to her pet bunny. "Does it?"

The princess squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head slowly.

"Does it care about how much kindness I have?"

"I...I don't know anymore, Fluttershy." I don't know you anymore either, she wanted to say.

"Does a piece of metal tell me I have to be just like all the other good little ponies and pretend to be sad about Gilda when she hated us?"

"But you're supposed to feel sad anyway," Twilight said plaintively. "You have to."

"She made me cry."

Twilight looked up, and for a moment the other pony's eyes seemed to be painted in the sockets. She had a horrible, gnawing feeling there was nothing behind them. At least, no one she knew.

"I won't cry for her anymore."

Twilight looked down at the table, at her saucer, at the floor. Anywhere but into that blank, empty face.

Fluttershy recovered quickly. She finished her cup. Her mane fell over her right eye and she reached up to fix it.

"Don't ever say her name to me again," she chirped happily.

"Please," Twilight's voice broke. She was begging now, not knowing how it had come to this. "Please just apologize to Rainbow Dash for not being there. Can't you at least do that?"

Silence fell again over the small kitchen.

"Yes. That's easy," Fluttershy said nonchalantly. She might have just agreed to trade a daisy sandwich for hay fries. "I guess we have a deal, then. Let's go see Rainbow right now! Um, if that's okay."

Twilight swallowed down the sick feeling that was rising in her chest. "Yes. That's okay."

They closed the front door of the cottage behind them. The tea began to grow cold.

Author's Note:

Just an idea. I had to write it down and get it out of my head because it was scaring me.

Comments

[Bronzedragon]

I get the feeling that Fluttershy knows a lot more about Gilda's passing than she's telling.

[goaway]

"The least I could have done was nothing."

Does the Element of Kindness tell me who I have to be kind to, Twilight?"

I suppose I ought to be annoyed at you for what you did to Fluttershy's character, but I'm gonna let that slide because I think you've just hit on two very important points there. The least anyone can do is nothing; a thing, even a small thing, is making some kind of effort, and I think some people forget/don't realise that ... maybe you just don't want to? Or you don't think it's worth it. It's one of those PoV things that some just don't get and think you're a heartless monster because of.

There was an idea I had that I considered writing: Fluttershy's "superpower" of being able to understand animals came at the cost of being able to understand other ponies, which is why she's so awkward around them. I think you've hit the nail on the head as to what that might look like if you shaded it that bit darker, and maybe she has to feign a sense of empathy around her friends so as not to be found out.

[An-Twan Star]

Its a shame you got a downvote, this is a very unique character study into how Fluttershy might actually be. It also touches on possible resentment for the elements of the Mane Six later in life. I'm gonna pass this on to another brony acquaintance of mine, I think it deserves it.

[TailsIsNotAlone]

5968083 Thank you.

5966342 I think that's a good idea and worth exploring. The question, in this story, is why Fluttershy no longer bothers to hide that lack of empathy with Twilight.

[goaway]

5968101

Because she trusts Twilight's reasonableness (i.e. she won't reject her for being a sociopath).

[TailsIsNotAlone]

5968434 Good point.

You start to rethink a lot of Fluttershy's decisions after a story like this...for example, how she didn't even ask for Celestia's permission to nurse Philomena back to "health." She just stole her. Then there are the more obvious things like her breakdown in the Season 1 finale and how she behaved when Iron Will's seminar convinced her to stop controlling her aggressive impulses.

I think that writing Fluttershy this way doesn't necessarily dishonor her character, as long as the writer understands what sociopathy is and doesn't just make her an "edgy villain."

[goaway]

5969049

I've always had a different perspective on the Iron Will seminar: if you teach someone meek to be aggressive, they aren't gonna be very good at it, are they? (I remember a couple of TV shows in the early 2000s were they tried to get milquetoasts to be a bit more gregarious and it always ended rather badly.) Fluttershy's statements to Pinkie Pie and Rarity can be looked at two ways:

1) most view it as Fluttershy having a deep-seated sense of anger at the pair;

2) the way I view it: Fluttershy really sucking at being angry and having to really scrape the barrel to find a way to insult two of her best friends.

I will admit that I do have a bit of a problem with how the writers characterise "angry-Fluttershy" in the show; to me, she always comes across as passive-aggressive ("I'm a year older than you."). (Except for in Tanks for the Memories. They got it right there with her reaction to Rainbow Dash's inability to do what was right for Tank.)

But yeah, nabbing Philomena is pretty indefensible. One, it puts Fluttershy in the position of thinking badly of Celestia, which almost nopony does. Two, it's theft. Three, she knows nothing of the sort of bird it is, so how can she adequately treat it? (She may have been relying on her "superpower" to aid her, but Philomena's cheeky side resisted.)

Her behaviour at the gala isn't necessarily sociopathic or even angry; she's used to having a deep connection with animals, and even they are ignoring her now, so her frustration boils over and manifests itself as a moment of rage. (Like a normally placid person suddenly shouting at the TV when their team loses, etc.)

[Inferno demon Dash]

I like this, personally I like to think that Fluttershy and Gilda really don't like each other, not sure if I could call it hate but...well I mean Rainbow, Gilda and Dash grew up with each other, I find it hard pressed to think Shy and Gilda got a long, plus I like the idea that Shy does not have to be kind and sweet to everyone.

[Dragonlover553]

So Fluttershy murdered Gilda?

[TailsIsNotAlone]

6191986 No. xD

[Dragonlover553]

6193925 ...then what is this story about? Cause that's pretty much all I got from this.

[Stonecrop Sedum]

6196671 She didn't kill Gilda, but she doesn't give a buck that she's dead even though Rainbow Dash is really hurt over it.

[Stonecrop Sedum]

The thing that puts me off the most about this story is the implication of Fluttershy bullying Harry the Bear. She can be as much of a cold bitch about Gilda as she wants and it wouldn't necessarily change who she is, but her animals who she clearly cares for more than anything...

[TailsIsNotAlone]

6267915 True...maybe that was going too far.

[Dragonlover553]

6267902 ah.

[redsopine]

I call murdershy on killing gilda

[Loganberry]

I like the uneasy atmosphere this story creates, and I can live with oddly-characterised 'Shy when it's for a good reason. As another commenter has said, though, her treatment of Harry is beyond the pale.

[sockmonkey]

It's impressive when Fluttershy can be written creepy as hell without her being a secret serial killer.

I do agree with the others about Harry though. It hints at cray-cray rather than simply running out of f*cks to give.

Now on the other end of things, maybe she has gone a little nuts from being the element of kindness. Say the element has been doing all the heavy lifting regarding having compassion for others, and this has caused her own innate ability to care to atrophy away. Since element powers are something they can control, this would let Fluttershy turn off her ability to care whenever she wants.

404: kindness not found abort/retry?