• Published 6th Oct 2017
  • 1,093 Views, 22 Comments

Fuzzies - Palm Palette



It's a terrible thing when ponies turn into half-animals. They are ostracized, shunned, and banished.

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Tackled

The town was chill and the air silent. Some butterflies rested on a row of tiger lilies, flexing their colorful wings. The path to Fluttershy's cottage was so calm as to be stagnant. Tiny eyes and scampering critters oft hid in the bushes, but they were as empty as they were woody. Down the path, something was terribly wrong.

Fluttershy's home had been vandalized.

Twilight gasped. Some windows were cracked, rotten vegetables were splattered against the wooden siding, and a row of baby pink and red tulips were torn up and trampled. “Who did—”

Something walloped her hard, knocking her over and sending her tumbling in the dirt. She winced as she smacked the ground, then went 'oof' after bouncing and hitting it again. Sliding to a halt, she groaned. Something heavy landed on her.

“Ha I got you—! Twilight? Oh sorry, I thought those hecklers had come back.”

The weight lifted and Twilight rubbed her eyes. When she opened them, two blurry images of Rainbow Dash stood in front of her. She shook her head, trying to clear it. Ignoring an aching in her side, she gradually focused her eyes on the cyan pegasus. “Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Some ponies were being a nuisance earlier, so I went ahead and chased 'em off. After that, I thought I'd stick around and watch the place, 'cause what they did just wasn't cool.”

“Other ponies did this?” Spike asked. He sat up in the grass, dusting himself off.

“Yeah. You should have seen it. They were all like 'boo' and 'hiss' and I was like WHAM!” She slapped her hooves together, clapping them in the air. “I told them that if they knew what was good for them, they'd better watch out, cause if anypony so much as harmed a hair on her back that I was going to let them have it!” She flew up, shaking her hoof in the air with a deep scowl.

“And then what happened?”

“They scattered like flies. They couldn't handle the awesome that is Rainbow Dash.”

Now back on her feet, Twilight picked a twig out of her mane and frowned. “Uh, thanks, I guess, but I thought you hated fuzzies. You're the last pony I'd expect to see sticking up for one.”

“What? Of course I hate them! They're the most rotten despicable things ever!” She crossed her forelegs and shook her head.

“But you're sticking up for Fluttershy.”

“Well, duh, because she's Fluttershy.

“But she's a fuzzy.”

“It doesn't matter. She's still Fluttershy.”

Twilight rubbed her bruised temple. “But if you stick up for her like this, everypony's going to call you a sympathizer.”

Rainbow Dash's eye twitched and she scowled deeply. She still hovered in the air, looming down. “I don't sympathize with fuzzies, okay? These ponies were tearing up her property. I had every right to run them off.”

“Are you going to report them?” Spike asked.

Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash gave Spike a condescending stare. Speaking softly, Twilight said, “Spike, I know it's their job to stop stuff like this, but when a fuzzy's involved the police always seem to look the other way.”

“Oh.” Looking down, he kicked an uprooted clod of grass.

Shaking her head, the scuffed and grass-stained unicorn stared up at her airborne friend. “And that goes for you too. Even though those ponies were wrong, they'll still call you a sympathizer. I know it's not fair, but—”

Dash snorted. She folded back her ears. “Well fine, then! If protecting my friend from an angry mob means I have to be a sympathizer, then I'm a sympathizer.”

Twilight gasped. “You-you don't really mean that.”

“Uh, yeah? Of course I do!”

“But if you're a sympathizer, you'll never get into the Wonderbolts!”

Rainbow Dash's eye twitched again, and she hovered there, silent and steady like a sentinel. “I won't abandon her for anything, okay? If they don't want me because of that, it's their loss, not mine!”

Twilight was taken aback by the force of that declaration. She looked at the spiderweb fractures in the glass windows, the juicy streaks dribbled down the walls, and the many hoofprints stomped into the flower bed. If she'd caught ponies smashing up somepony else's home, she would have run them off too, but...

She shook her head. Spike had picked up an uprooted flower and was trying to put it back in the ground. Fluttershy was a fuzzy. There was no putting that cat back in the bag. She had to get through to Rainbow Dash before her life was ruined too.

“Rainbow, I know you want to help, but that's not really Fluttershy anymore.”

“What? Of course she is! Why would you even say something like that?”

“Because it's more than just ears and a tail. She's part animal now, a wild beast. She's erratic and dangerous. She can't be trusted. Even if she looks meek—”

“I know what a fuzzy is, you don't have to explain it to me.” Cringing, Rainbow Dash finally landed on the ground. She folded up her wings.

“And she degrades society too,” Spike said, patting down the soil around his re-planted, droopy, wilted flower. Both of them gave him a flat stare. “What?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “C'mon, Twilight. Don't be ridiculous. None of that sounds like Fluttershy.”

“That's my point exactly.” Twilight held her chin up, elevating her nose. “Think about it. Think carefully. What does it mean to be a fuzzy?”

“Uh...” Blinking, Rainbow Dash scuffed a hoof in the dirt. Her eyes widened into circles. “Oh.”

“Have you actually talked to Fluttershy?” Spike asked.

Dash cringed and lowered her head. “She creeps me out, okay? I knocked once... a few hours ago, and didn't get an answer. I don't even know if she's home.”

“That's understandable.” Twilight nodded. “Just think about what you're doing, and don't make a terrible mistake, okay?”

“Uh, yeah. I guess I can do that.” Rainbow Dash shook her head and slunk off, leaving them alone.

After she left, Twilight ran over and grinned at Spike. “See? I told you that sympathizers could be reasoned with. You just have to know how to talk to them.”

“I guess so...”