9 - Hush Now, Quiet Now
It was an early morning the next day - breakfast, then right out into the rainy Sunday. The journey's destination was once more obvious upon arrival: an animal shelter really could only be one person.
The moment they entered, Fluttershy was beside them with towels. "Oh dear! I thought it was just going to be a little sprinkle today. I'm so sorry!"
"Fluttershy, it's fine. We had umbrellas and it's just rain." Sunset still took the towel and wiped away the mud on her boots.
Cozy, on the other hand, was practically frothing. "That was miserable! That's what wild rain is like? I knew not having a Weather Bureau around was bad but this is terrible!"
Fluttershy and Sunset exchanged surprisingly dry glances that were bereft of sympathy.
Heedless of their pitiless stares, Cozy went about wiping herself down with every towel she could grab. "And clothes just.. ugh! It's like I'm wearing sponges!"
A giggle slipped out from Fluttershy. Cozy crushed it with a devastating glare that made the pale girl shrink back behind her pink hair. "Well," she squeak-whispered, "I thought it was a funny picture."
Sunset grabbed Cozy's arm and gave her a yank. "That's enough. We've got work to do here and we're supposed to be helping Fluttershy, not scaring her."
"Uuuuuuugh." Cozy rolled her eyes. "I got soaked just so we could play with some dumb puppies? Or am I supposed to clean up poop all day?"
For a moment, Fluttershy's expression turned to stone. "Um. You can just stay at the front desk for now, Cozy. And, um, let me know if anyone comes in with questions about adoptions?"
Cozy Glow grunted, grabbing three more towels and dropping into the chair.
Two hours passed. Two extremely boring hours, interrupted only once by the mailman arriving. Beyond that, the only thinking creatures Cozy saw were Fluttershy, Sunset and Dr. Fauna.
The dull haze was broken by Fluttershy calling out - despite her nature, her voice was clarion-clear when needed. "Sunset! Could you please make a trip to the store for some litter? And, um, maybe a few extra packages of hamster bedding?" Sunset's response was muffled by the intervening walls, but a few minutes later she passed by with Fluttershy's keys - the large butterfly on them was a give-away.
As she left Sunset simply pointed two fingers at her eyes, then at Cozy. With that, she was gone.
A few more silent minutes passed before Fluttershy came out into the front area carrying a kitten. She peered out the front window, nodding as she confirmed her car had left.
Then she turned to Cozy. "Okay. She's gone." Fluttershy put a soft hand on Cozy's arm. "You can relax now. It's just us."
Cozy Glow looked at Fluttershy as if she claimed humans could fly. (They could, but Cozy could be forgiven for not realizing that.) Then the ex-pegasus burst out laughing.
Non-plussed, Fluttershy frowned.
"I am relaxed, Professor," Cozy sneered. "Why would I be afraid of a scaredy-pegasus like you?"
Fluttershy winced at the barb. "I'm not her."
Cozy felt power coming back - she had Fluttershy verbally pinned to the wall already and it felt good. "You're her without wings! Just as scared and just as weak! You don't even have Discord here to save you!"
An odd thing happened to Fluttershy's face in that moment. If Cozy hadn't known better, she would have probably called it anger. But Fluttershy didn't get angry. That wasn't who she was.
Admittedly, her storming out of the room was a little convincing. But it did let Cozy be smug at her back, which was satisfying.
For roughly two and a half minutes, Cozy thought she had won. Then Fluttershy stormed back in with eyes ablaze.
First, she put a little white and brown bi-color puppy on the desk. "This," she introduced, "Is Isaac."
Then there was a pronounced clunk as she dropped a hammer on the desk. "Hurt him."
"W--what." Cozy's eyes flicked between the two objects and a stone-serious Fluttershy.
"Hurt him," she repeated with greater force. And when Cozy hesitated, Fluttershy grabbed the girl's hand and dragged it to the hammer.
Cozy tried to jerk back, struggling to pull free of Fluttershy's surprising grip. "No!"
Eyes narrow and glaring, Fluttershy hissed. "I thought you liked when others got hurt. That it's funny."
The words clicked in Cozy Glow's memory. "You've been talking to Pinkie Pie."
As abruptly as it came, the burning fury went out. Fluttershy transformed from righteous warrior to meek caretaker with a speed that surprised even the mood-swingy Cozy Glow. She released the Equestrian girl in favor of pouncing the confused puppy and holding him tightly.
Cozy recoiled to the wall, putting her back tight against it. Fluttershy didn't pursue and instead continued to hold Isaac close. She spoke to the dog quietly, and even with such little distance Cozy couldn't make out any words beyond a constant litany of "I'm sorry".
The tension in the room receded slowly. And just as slowly, Cozy peeled herself away from the wall and inched closer to Fluttershy. The older girl still held the dog with tearful eyes and whispered apologies. Blue ringlets crept up over the edge of the desk, waiting for another snap. It didn't come.
Finally, Fluttershy satisfied herself that she'd apologized enough. That didn't mean she'd stop giving Isaac chin scritches or let him go - but it did bring her to finally respond. "Yes. We're friends, we talk." She didn't look away from the dog. "They said you liked to hurt others, but I had to be sure. I couldn't let you get near any of the animals here until I was. I had to know if you were a pit bull or not."
And that confused Cozy Glow more than anything. "A what?"
"A pit bull, like Isaac," Fluttershy elaborated. She flipped the dog over, scratching his belly. The squirmy puppy writhed in her lap, oblivious to what had gone on just minutes before. "They're a very common breed of dog - well, um, actually more of a category than a breed. But the important part is that they've got a terrible reputation."
Isaac yipped happily, trying to direct Fluttershy's scritches to everywhere at once. "They're supposed to be aggressive, vicious and uncontrollable. The funny thing is that they aren't inherently any of those. They're actually quite smart and kind, but because of the reputation people who adopt them usually do it because they want a dog that behaves like that. So the poor thing acts dangerous for approval, which reinforces the stereotype and it starts all over again."
Fluttershy finally looked up from Isaac to Cozy. "They want their owners to love them, so they act aggressive because that's what makes their human happy. They think they're supposed to be that way. It's learned, not bred. ...I, um. What I'm saying is that I think that's you, Cozy Glow."
In a more reasonable state of mind, Cozy Glow would have pointed out that she thought Fluttershy was a complete lunatic. She was not, however, in a reasonable state of mind and thus her response was much simpler. "....what."
"You're only mean because you think you have to be mean to be loved."
Words lept to Cozy's lips immediately to refute it. Of course she wasn't! And the words died without being spoken, because they were empty. Yes, she could deny it. And she could mean it. But she couldn't prove it. And Fluttershy had been right - Cozy didn't want to hurt that puppy.
She sank down, back against the laminated particleboard of the front desk. "I... hurting anypony wasn't part of the plan," she admitted. "Not the first time. I didn't really care if anypony was, but I didn't try to. Even Councilor Starlight would have been okay... in a different dimension. Sacrifices had to be made but I didn't seek them out. The second time, it was all just so...."
"Out of control?," Fluttershy gently offered.
"Exhilarating," Cozy instead chose. "Giving the Princess a few lumps was fun, but looking back I was caught up in the moment. It all made sense then, but..."
Shuffling a little closer, Fluttershy moved into a position so Cozy could also pet Isaac. She didn't force the subject, but she made sure that the opportunity was there. Cozy didn't take it, though. "I understand. Rainbow Dash does a lot of things in the heat of the moment that she knows were dumb later on. And Sunset tried to, um, murder all of us with a fireball. She apologized for that a lot afterwards. She said the same thing as you."
Weakly, Cozy laughed. And she paused before asking the question on her mind. "Would you have actually let me hurt the dog?"
A slight smile touched Fluttershy's lips. "No. But I had to see if you would try."
Cozy hesitantly smiled back.
The tender moment was interrupted by the sound of brakes squealing. Both girls were on their feet immediately, Isaac barking loudly as he lept to the ground. Fluttershy peeked out the window and paled before pulling the doors open.
Seconds later Sunset Shimmer entered carrying something in a blanket. The red and white checker design was painfully stereotypical - and there was something dark and liquid seeping into it. "Get Doctor Fauna! NOW!"
Fluttershy took just a moment to jab the intercom button on the front desk's phone. "Doctor Fauna to the front - emergency!" Not daring to stray far from the crisis, she abandoned the desk to keep at Sunset's side. "What happened?"
"Found him by the side of the road," Sunset outlined as she carried the wrapped figure in, guided by Fluttershy to one of the rooms with a table. "I don't know how long he was there, but it looked fresh. I'm pretty sure it was another car."
Craning her neck, Cozy tried to see what was being carried and talked about. Two things jumped out immediately - the fuzzy face of a golden retriever on one end of the blanket, and two legs sticking out the other end at an angle that didn't match up with the head.
Cozy's mind connected the pieces together and she froze. Ancient pony instincts cried out to flee.
The others didn't notice. The bundled dog was laid on one of the grooming tables as Dr. Fauna rushed in. While Sunset recapped for the vet, Fluttershy crouched down by the dog's head. "Hi there." In contrast to Cozy's shock and even Sunset's shaky speech, Fluttershy's remained even-keeled and soft. "I'm Fluttershy - what's your name?" There was a pause, presumably as the dog responded. "That's a very respectable name, Beauregard. It's nice to meet you." Her eyes flickered to the vet for just a moment. "We're going to try to help you so let me know how you're feeling, alright?"
Dr. Fauna lifted the blanket aside with gloved hands, gingerly touching to try and get an initial diagnosis on the damage. The worst of the scene was shielded from Cozy by the doctor's body. "Sunset, I may need you to run and get some more supplies. I only came here to do check-ups and booster vaccines so I'm not prepared for this."
A green-faced Sunset nodded, fists balled tight to keep the trembles down.
"Do you have a family, Beauregard? Why don't you tell me about them." Fluttershy barely blinked. She maintained a flawless smile and calm demeanor, even as Dr. Fauna scrambled about at the dog's other end.
Her voice - soothing, gentle - slowly pulled Cozy back from the edge of panic just by being nearby. She inched forward.. and then back again, her stomach turning at just what little she could see.
A fourth minute passed according to the clock's mechanical ticking. Dr. Fauna exchanged looks with Fluttershy, a deep frown on the veterinarian's face. "Stomach rupture," is all she said to clarify. Fluttershy only gave the smallest of nods in reply before continuing her soft conversation with the dog.
Dr. Fauna turned to Sunset, voice dropping to a half-whisper. "I don't have what I really need, so we'll have to make due. Get to my kit and bring me the four vials labeled propofol. It won't be enough, but it should at least keep him comfortable while nature does the rest."
Sunset's green turned ash-grey, but she still nodded and sprinted off.
Fluttershy's pale yellow hand ran through Beauregard's golden fur and came away bloody. She barely seemed to notice. "Beauregard, I'm sorry. There isn't much that Doctor Fauna can do to help you. She's going to make it stop hurting but that's all she's able to. I'm so, so sorry." A bit of emotion slipped out as her voice hitched - Fluttershy clamped down on it again as quickly as it came. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
She was silent, nodding occasionally to the dog. At the other end of the table, Sunset returned and handed over the first of the vials. Dr. Fauna used it to load a small syringe and--
Cozy turned away, feeling her stomach churn. Moments ticked past.
"About a minute," noted the vet. "Fluttershy, let me know if he can still feel anything after that. I've still got one more, but it's..." She looked down at the partially hidden pet. "It isn't going to be long either way."
The only reply was a nod - Fluttershy looked to be intensely listening to something the others couldn't really hear. She kept gently petting the dog as the clock ticked. Sunset moved away from the table and hugged Cozy - there was no resistance or protest this time.
The room's silence smothered everything until Dr. Fauna finally cut through it. "...Gone," she pronounced.
It was only then that Fluttershy's calm broke into violent, sobbing tears.
Cozy Glow wasn't entirely sure how, but Fluttershy was pulled into Sunset's embrace - and by proxy, Cozy's as well. The youngest Equestrian didn't cry like the pink-haired girl did - hers was more the quiet shock of the room.
The tears and tension faded slowly as Dr. Fauna folded up the blanket around their lost patient in the background. In time, she put a hand on Sunset's shoulder. "I just wanted to say thank you, Miss Shimmer." Sunset turned, breaking the hug - leaving the still tearful Fluttershy holding a now uncomfortable Cozy Glow. "You could have left that dog where he was or you could have missed seeing him. Maybe we couldn't save him but you at least made sure he wasn't alone or in pain."
Sunset nodded at the thanks, expression numb and neutral.
Dr. Fauna turned back - and Fluttershy straightened up again. "I.... I need to go and see Beauregard's family. He asked me to." She forced down another sob. "You should take Cozy home, Sunset. You've both had enough today."
A bit of Rainbow Dash flared in Sunset. "I'll come with you, Fluttershy. You shouldn't have to be alone and--"
"Take her home." The steel in Fluttershy momentarily unsheathed.
Sunset Shimmer didn't argue again.
When they got home, Sunset tried to return them to something resembling normal. Dinner was take-out Indian and it was now that Sunset decided to introduce Cozy to the music of the Rainbooms. The studio apartment was flooded most of the evening with cheerful songs about friendship and fun, interrupted only for Sunset to pick up her guitar and do a few live renditions.
It didn't help. Neither of them felt the joy in the music, and Sunset's impromptu jams kept dissolving into dirge-like chords.
That night, Cozy discovered something else about the human world in her sleep: there was no Princess of Dreams to ward away a filly's nightmares.
Thankfully, most faded into the morning fog - only two still haunted Cozy's memory.
One was the look of terror in Starlight Glimmer's eyes as she and the sphere of Equestria's magic lowered into the dimensional portal.
The other, paradoxically, was Fluttershy sitting on the grooming table and gently stroking the rolled-up blanket. She Fluttershy in the dream had smiled and spoken a singular statement: "You didn't find this fun."
And when she woke up, Cozy couldn't figure out why that was a nightmare.
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Author's notes on this chapter:
* This chapter - for reasons obvious to anybody who's had to go through the loss of a pet - was hell to write. I did the fewest editing passes of any chapter of my work, mostly because I had trouble re-reading it. Just goes to show why my stuff is usually far more fluffy and bright.
* Fluttershy, I find, is played far too simple by most writers. They just pencil in 'shy, likes animals' and are done with it. She's a lot deeper in terms of personality than that - in particular a lot of writers miss that she has probably the most explosive temper of the Mane 6. The others get angry; she lets it build until she explodes. And she's also probably the best of the crew when it comes to dealing with stress - when it's in her wheelhouse.
* This chapter's probably the closest I'm going to get to directly referencing Cozy Glow's plans in S8. They're difficult to plot a character arc around because they make zero sense. I avoid 'em on purpose because from top to bottom her entire plan was nonsensical even at the most stretched and I just can't roll with that. ("Friends are power and I want the most friends. I can't have more friends than the Princess of Friendship. So I'm going to alter the fundamental forces underpinning reality to lock her in a room somewhere. This totally makes sense.")
Oh wow. This story only gets better with every chapter.
I frickin love Fluttershy in this. There's a ton more depth to her character than in most other fics, and those moments of her anger make you realize just what Fluttershy could do, if she got angry enough. And it looks like Cozy is finally on the path to becoming a good person.....
Once again, I find your read of a Mane character spot on. Good work bringing the underappreciated facets of Fluttershy's personality to the fore.
A pit bull scared my cat up a tree and bit me once!
He was a puppy maybe three or four months old and was just trying to make friends with me and my cat, and he'd run across the street after getting away from his owner, and when I say "bite" I actually just mean that thing that puppies do where they grab you with their mouths but have absolutely no force whatsoever behind them. I played with him for a few minutes and talked to the owner (who spent a lot of time emphasizing that he was just a puppy, clearly worried that I might be One Of Those People), then got my cat out of the tree. It was a good time. Except maybe for my cat, but it wasn't the pit bull's fault that a two-year-old veteran street cat decided that a pit bull puppy was somehow threatening.
To be honest even if an adult pit bull, or any dog, ever attacked me, I could never bring myself to want the dog euthanized and I'd do everything I could to prevent it from happening. Dogs occupy a special place in my worldview, they're not people but they're not merely pets, either. It's best expressed in how I view those places where cats and dogs are actually eaten, like China, or Switzerland. The idea of eating a cat just feels wrong, but the idea of eating a dog feels like cannibalism.
Good boy.
Broad strokes approach is the best way to go about it. It involved Tirek, it was going to kill ponies as a side-effect, but Cozy Glow did not personally try to end any lives or cause any direct harm herself. She was callous and uncaring, but not directly violent.
Well, that could have gone better, but at least Cozy and Fluttershy got a nice conversation out before Sunset arrived. Those two should really meet again sometime. It's also nice to see that Cozy's not completely amoral.
I like dogs, so having one die always saddens me. At least Beauregard didn't suffer much.
damn that chapter title, right in the feels. I like how Dr. Fauna seems to knows about Fluttershy's ability to talk to animals and doesn't bat an eye and Cozy Glow learned a valuable lesson even if she doesn't realize, that kindness does not mean weakness.
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The girls, as a rule, seem to try and keep their magic on the down-low. But this situation makes perfect sense to not - Dr. Fauna is someone Fluttershy would trust (extrapolated from their pony selves), and it's such an incredibly useful ability for helping injured and sick animals that I can't see Fluttershy not making the most of it. Getting to this point probably took some time and I expect Dr. Fauna is still just a liiiiiiittle bit weirded out by it, but in a crisis situation there's more important stuff to focus on.
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Yeah, that's about my take-away. Her plan is absolutely ridiculous, but it actively goes out of the way to not cause direct harm. (Indirect, sure, but most of that seems to stem more from not thinking all the way through and/or panic.) She could've taken care of Twilight in a lot of different ways, but she chose one that goes far, FAR out of the way to remove her in a way that's non-harmful to Twilight.
I think Fluttershy's familiarity with raw nature and the phenomena that civilized humans have spent centuries preventing, countering, delaying--death--makes her very interesting, especially considering her otherwise meek nature. Of course she cried, but aside from that instinctive outburst she probably handles this sort of thing the best out of the main characters. The fact that she suppressed her sadness is a testiment to that. You handled this chapter very well. Also, halfway through I realized why the dog was called Isaac, nice reference. Because of the the explicit disclaimer I was expecting things to take a really bad turn.
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Seconded. I always appreciate when fanfics highlight how Fluttershy must deal frequently with death given what she does. For obvious reasons, it's not a topic that canon ever delved into, but calmly talking a dying animal through its final moments and only sobbing once it has passed is exactly how I'd expect her to handle this situation.
Not to wander too off-topic, but it just occurred to me that a fanfic about Fluttershy and Discord discussing the subject of mortality that brings in this perspective could be extremely interesting.
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On the note of Fluttershy dealing with death, I admit it didn't occur to me initially. Then the subject came up in Estee's Five Hundred Little Murders, and it was one of those "Oh, yeah, that makes perfect sense" moments. Afterwards I wondered how I had missed that since it was so obvious.
"Remember how you wanted to banish all magic from Equestria?"
Fluttershy gave Sunset a Look, which was like a Stare but at lower intensity "No offense?"
"Right, right, we're focusing on the future."
Excuse me, what?
Well. That's one way to make a point. I have to wonder if Fluttershy has a bit of a complex about her equine analogue or if she had always planned on this object lesson.
And there's the quiet strength that's so easily overlooked. Brilliant work. Respectful without being maudlin.
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For the what:
For the second part - bit of behind the scenes. Fluttershy planned on trying to feel out Cozy because she was worried about a threat to the animals. (Can't leave a sadist alone with them, after all.) But her intent was a much less confrontational talk, partially suspecting that Sunset's presence was involved in things - either a fear of reprisal or an urge to impress. Then Cozy poked the already stressed bear a little too hard and boom.
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...I appreciate Fluttershy...
...Except in Putting Your Hoof Down, she went far too far there...
And coming in at number one on Things I Didn't Need Today!
Fucking Jesus.
First off, WHAT IN THE ACTUAL F. I can kind of understand where you are going with this, but it hits a little too close to home. I lost a dog to canine leukemia and almost lost my current one to a dog fight. It hit me right in the feels.