Vignette Four - A Bird in the Hoof
Sugar Cube Corner was busier than normal today, though for clear enough reasons given their illustrious guest. Carrot Cake and Cup Cake were beside themselves keeping things in order, despite the attempts at their guest to get them to lighten up. Alas, there were limits to even Princess Celestia’s power.
She preferred it that way, of course, but still, it would be nice if her subjects could loosen up from time to time. She did her best to grin and bear it before something happened to disrupt this rare moment of relaxation, and turned to one of the ponies she’d hoped to spend time with and get to know better. “Now then, Fluttershy. I understand from Twilight’s letters that you enjoy tending to the needs of woodland creatures.”
The yellow pegasus nodded, just a bit more at ease than she was before. “Oh yes, I love to take care of animals.”
“As do I, though I rarely have as much time as I’d like to do so.” A harsh cough sounded from a shrouded golden cage beside her as she continued, “And in some cases, I find I have more than enough on my hooves with just one animal. Speaking of.” She pulled back the curtain on the cage and turned her attention to the creature inside. “Nice of you to join us, Philomena. Please say hello to our gracious hosts.”
The creature inside the cage was clearly some sort of bird, though it looked to be in horrid condition, with patches of bare skin visible as it continued to hack and cough.
Fluttershy wasn’t certain of what to say about the sight before her, so she did her best to remain diplomatic. “Oh…my…”
“She is quite a sight, isn’t she?” Celestia smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry, this won’t last too long. She’ll be right as rain after she combusts.”
That phrasing briefly shocked the animal lover, before her knowledge kicked in and she realized what that meant. “Oh! Philomena’s a phoenix!” She turned to the lavender unicorn at her side and asked, “Twilight, why didn’t you tell me that Celestia was caring for such an amazing animal?”
Twilight had the decency to look embarrassed as she admitted, “Well, I was a little worried about how you’d take it. Phoenixes aren’t exactly domesticated.”
“No, but that doesn’t mean ponies can’t look after them.” Fluttershy’s attention was on the bird as she reasoned, “Of course, a combustion can still go wrong for a phoenix after a certain point in its life cycle, assuming they don’t get sufficient amounts of water before it happens. No wonder you have the poor dear with you.”
Celestia nodded, then found her attention claimed by a guard behind her as he whispered into her hear. “Really? Oh dear. Well, if I must.” She stood up and cleared her throat to get everypony’s attention. “My apologies, everypony, but I’m afraid that I must cut the party short. Royal duty calls, and Mayor Mare has requested an audience with me. Thank you, however, for a wonderful time. It’s been a joy getting to know all of you better.” As the gathered ponies expressed their disappointment and made a path for her to depart the shop, she turned to Fluttershy and asked, “Fluttershy, I’m uncertain of how long I’ll be with the Mayor. Would you be so kind as to look after Philomena for me until my business is concluded?”
The pegasus beamed at the offer and all but exclaimed, “Of course! I’d be happy to look after her!”
The princess gave a grateful smile, then turned to Philomena. “Don’t give her any trouble, young lady. Understood?” The bird coughed in reply as it nodded. “Alright then. I’ll see you soon.”
As Celestia went on her way, Twilight looked to her friend with an awestruck expression. “Fluttershy, this is amazing! To have Princess Celestia put this much trust into you…!”
The pegasus flashed a nervous smile. “Well, you did tell her how good I am with animals. She probably thinks that I’m the best pony to look after Philomena for her.”
Twilight, however, looked like she might go into a seizure she was so nervous. “But you don’t understand! If something goes wrong, it could be…!”
“Twilight, you remember what we’ve said before about not worrying unnecessarily?” At her friend’s slow nod, she then added, “And do you know anypony, save maybe Doctor Fauna or Zecora, who knows more about tending to exotic creatures than I do? All I need to do is keep Philomena comfortable, hydrated, and away from anything flammable, and I’ll be just fine.” She carefully closed up the drapes on the birdcage, then carried it and Philomena out of the shop and off to her cottage.
Twilight watched her go in astonishment as Spike joined her. She turned to her assistant and asked, “Did you see that?”
“Yeah, and Fluttershy’s right, Twilight. She knows what she’s doing.”
“Still, something could go wrong! And if the worst happens, then Fluttershy could be imprisoned, or banished! Or imprisoned wherever she’s been banished to!”
Spike raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? Twilight, you know the princess. Even if the worst happens, which it won’t, she’s not gonna banish Fluttershy.” He shook his head. “But you’re gonna go and keep an eye on her just in case, right? Instead of trusting her to know what she’s doing?”
Twilight looked for a second like she was about to bolt out the door after Fluttershy, but relented. “Maybe I am worrying too much, but still, I know how attached Philomena is to Princess Celestia. For all we know, she might just try to get back to the princess.”
“Maybe, but Celestia did tell her not to give Fluttershy any trouble.” That did little to ease Twilight’s mood as Spike prompted, “Anyway, if all this goes okay, then maybe we’ve avoided a problem.”
-
It took everything Twilight had to avoid glaring at Spike as they looked upon the sight before them. Fluttershy was looking increasingly nervous as she watched the pile of ash before her that had previously been Philomena, waiting for it to go back to being a bird. She was more worried about Celestia’s reaction as the princess stepped forward into her friend’s cottage. “Princess Celestia, please, Fluttershy did all she…!” She turned silent as Celestia raised a wing.
Celestia, meanwhile, knelt down and smiled. “Come on now, Philomena, you’re scaring everypony.”
At her beckoning, the pile of ash pulled itself together and rose into the air. With a flash of light, the ash coalesced into a majestic bird, resplendent with red, orange and yellow plumage. Philomena fluttered down in front of a surprised Fluttershy, and gently rubbed the pony’s muzzle with her beak. The pegasus managed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness. I was a little worried when she started pulling out her own feathers…”
“Phoenixes need as much oxygen in contact with their bare skin as they can get for their combustion. Hence, pulling out their feathers.”
Another sigh of relief. “Well, that aside, Philomena was on excellent behavior. Thank you for the chance to look after her.”
“And thank you for doing so, though something tells me you would have gone ahead and looked after her regardless.” The princess winked as she noted, “Thank goodness we saved ourselves a little embarrassment beforehoof, hmm?”
Fluttershy nodded as Philomena shook one wing as a loose feather drifted out. The phoenix snatched it out of the air with her beak, then presented it to her caretaker in thanks. “Oh, thank you!” She gently placed it into her mane, right behind one ear. “If you ever need me to look after her again, I’m more than happy to do so.”
“And you probably would have done so regardless.” Fluttershy turned embarrassed as the princess assured her, “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I recognize that your heart was in the right place, though you should always remember where certain roads lead that are paved with good intentions. Thinking things through and asking first are always wise things to do, so let’s remember that for the future, hmm?”
“Of course.”
Celestia nodded as Twilight approached. “I’m sorry, to both of you. I should have trusted that Fluttershy knew what she was doing.” She bowed her head. “I’ve been a horrible friend.”
The princess wrapped a warm wing around her and smiled. “More like a very anxious one, Twilight. And there’s no shame in worrying over a friend, even when you know they can handle themselves. But let’s keep this friendship lesson in mind in the future as well, hmm?” Twilight smiled, but as she opened her mouth to speak, the princess added, “And no, you don’t need to send that to me as a letter.”
That prompted a nervous laugh from Twilight, that quickly turned into a pleased laugh from everyone present as Spike watched, satisfied at being right. He could stand that happening more often.
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Hello there. Thanks very much for getting this up. And, yeah, you make some really good points concerning Poor Communication Kills. Of course, to be fair, it would be VERY difficult to get Twilight to freak out LESS. After all, we are talking about someone who thought that Celestia would flunk her back to Magic Kindergarten just for being a day or two late on a Friendship Report.
And it probably didn't help that Twilight KNOWS Celestia banished her own sister to the moon for a thousand years (though THAT was a fate of the world scenario and, even then, Celestia felt terrible about it).
But still, as I said, you DO have a good point about how egregious an example of Poor Communication Kills this episode is (not QUITE as bad about it as "Swarm of the Century", but pretty darn close).
Speaking of "Swarm of the Century", it seems to me THAT episode would have worked MUCH better as a Whole Episode Flashback explaining just HOW Pinkie knows about the Parasprites.
But again, the exchanges, characterizations and set-up are quite well done and I'll definitely be looking forward to more of your work.
9000549
The sad thing is, I get why it's so common - some writers aren't clever enough to come up with episode ideas where they can avoid it, and other writers are convinced that it's funny. I'm not the latter, and I try my best to avoid being the former.
9000647
Point quite well taken and I can completely understand in that order.
This was nice.
That's all I've really got to say. It was a pleasant alternative to how things went in in A Bird in the Hoof, and still decently entertaining (mainly because of Twilight's anxiety - bless her) as well.
9001362
Yeah. The really sad thing about Twilight and her anxieties is that they are, so far as we know, totally misplaced. At least as far as Celestia goes. And sadly, it's going to be a while before she realizes that.
9072267
I know, just agreeing with you.