The Stranger Among Friends

by PhycoKrusk

Anxiety

Driftwood wasn’t sure what he was doing, caught in between wanting to hold onto the anger he felt towards Rainbow Dash for his sake, and wanting to let it go for Rarity’s sake. He stared out one of the windows that looked out onto the street, even if there was nothing to see at so late an hour, at a loss for anything else to do; the Guards, seemingly at the Lieutenant’s direction, were giving him space. He glanced over his shoulder with some surprise when her heard hoofsteps softly approaching across the rug, and when he saw that it was just Fluttershy, he returned his attention to the window. After a time, she came to stop next to him, silent for several seconds. It wasn’t clear if she was thinking of what she would say, or was working up the courage to say it.

“I’m sorry if I’m bothering you,” she timidly said. “I just wanted to make sure that you would be ok.”

“I suppose,” replied Driftwood curtly, not looking away from the window. He didn’t see Fluttershy flinch.

“I’m sure Rainbow’s sorry for going after you like that, or at least, I’m sure she will be, once she gets to know you better.”

Driftwood was silent for a moment, and then he heaved a heavy sigh and slumped, head drooping towards the ground. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper,” he said.

“It’s ok,” Fluttershy said in response. “Rainbow’s very intense sometimes. She can be difficult to get along with, if you aren’t used to her.”

“That’s not an excuse!” Driftwood half-shouted, whipping his head around to look at Fluttershy. Immediately, his eyes widened and he quickly returned his gaze down to the floor. “It’s not. I have to be better than that.” Both of them fell silent for several seconds.

“Are you afraid of us?” Fluttershy finally asked, wincing when she saw Driftwood’s muscles tighten. “It’s ok if you are. I mean, I’d prefer if you weren’t, because I don’t like scaring ponies, or changelings either, but it’s ok if you are. If it were me in your position, I know I’d be terrified.”

“I’m trying not to be,” Driftwood said back, head still down, even if his tension lessened slightly. “Rarity’s risking so much just standing up for me, and you’d never know with how confident she is when she speaks and acts, and what am I doing? Acting like nymph who thinks there’s a monster under his bed. A fine choice I turned out to be.”

“You really care for her, don’t you?” Fluttershy asked gently.

“She’s wonderful,” Driftwood said without hesitation. “The most wonderful. And I know that all of you must be, too. But just to stop hiding from her was so difficult, and then I was arrested, and all of you were here at once….”

“It was overwhelming, I know,” Fluttershy replied. “It’s like that for me too, when I’m around a lot of ponies I don’t know well. It’s ok to feel overwhelmed.” A silence fell over the conversation that was, for the first time since Driftwood had arrived in Hoofington, comfortable, until Fluttershy broke it with a question: “Would it be alright if I gave you a hug? You look like you could use one.”

“It’s alright,” Driftwood told her, and with speed befitting an especially energetic sloth, Fluttershy hooked her arms around the changeling and pulled him into a carefully firm embrace. After a few seconds, he began to return it.

“Rarity’s right, you know. Everything’s going to be fine. You’ll see,” said Fluttershy.

Driftwood nodded into her shoulder. “Thank you,” he said.

After another few seconds, Fluttershy gently pulled away so she could look Driftwood in the eyes. “Do you think you might be able to try with the other girls again?” she asked,

Driftwood nodded a second time. “I’ll try,” he said.

With a smile, Fluttershy turned and walked back across the hall, Driftwood following behind her.

Author's Note:

I struggle with Fluttershy.

Really, I think the largest contributing factor to this is that I read a lot of fan fiction, and in other fan fiction, her timid demeanor is often exaggerated. I’ve only watched a few episodes of the show; generally just the season premiers and finales, and otherwise I make due with episode summaries unless something happens that seems like a watershed moment, in which case I make a point to watch the episode(s) in question.

The point here is that my perception of what Fluttershy is like is, I don’t think, generally in line with what she is actually like; I feel I have this problem with most of the cast. This might be why I like writing AU so much; if I don’t get some aspect of their personalities quite right, readers tend to overlook or hand wave them away and not worry about it.

I may also like writing the Doomsdayverse so much because everything is so absurd already, that no one notices if I don’t nail someone’s character. They probably don’t care, either, as long as they keep laughing.

And here we are, I guess.

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Props to Flutters. Seriously, MVP right here. Thus far she's been the only one to drop her prejudices and observe the situation objectively, and that's really flipping awesome. Her testimony will be powerful.