She goes for long trots through the forest, as part of the duty. She observes the world around her, does her best to listen, and learns what she can from knowledge gained in solitude.
There are ways in which Fluttershy knows more about the world than anypony, and one of the first lessons was that the world is not what we make of it.
Ultimately, the world doesn't care.
(Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages. Due to minimal length, this story was a Patreon freebie.)
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Author's Very Public Note: I went for a long walk yesterday.
I shouldn't have done that.
*sigh*
For those of my Patreon sponsors who happen to see the story in the New column before the site's email notification: at 4100 words, this mood (or in-a-mood) piece falls under the 5k line which I use to determine whether to check the Charge For This Post box. But I wasn't going to artificially pad it out in order to reach the minimum, and it was a story I wanted to tell. As such, there's no pledge charge attached to this posting. Anyone who feels it's worth their pledge amount anyway may use my Ko-Fi account at their own discretion: otherwise, it's a freebie.
And for those who read it, and wonder how much is real... there was an eagle, and there was a squirrel.
You can take over the story from there.
Well, well. What does that say about Earth Ponies??
But really, this story could work for basically any Fluttershy. It doesn't have to be Triptych...
...
Wow! The nature of the(ir) world, stories, truth, lies, etc.
A lot to unpack!
Familiar, this feels familiar. The cold is inside and every movement hurts. There is no joy in food, sleep only makes you more tired. Is there anyone you are close to? Anyone at all you trust? You need someone safe to let you break. To scream and cry and rage, bleed as much of the poison as you can bear. Please, reach out. No one can fix this, but you will be surprised at how many will sit with you and let you be.
With all my empathy,
Kelly
This raises some interesting questions about griffon anatomy. Of course, given that a feathered mammal's thinking this, some degree of bleedover is to be expected in the eagle-lions.
This grim take on "I'd like to be a tree" is a perfect encapsulation of your style, and I mean that as a compliment.
I find myself at a crossroads. There are a number of other things I could say about the setting, Fluttershy's place in it, and so forth. But I don't know how much of this went through your own mind, and how much is me trying and failing to retell the story of making this story. I don't want to prod too deeply into the thoughts that led to this, because cruelty isn't just projected when it's coming from one who can choose. Even when they don't mean to cause it.
What I will say is that caring is indeed for those who think. The greater world doesn't because it can't, but we can and often should. This was an excellent melancholy piece. Thank you for it.
There's a slow beauty to this; fluttershys got a really healthy way of looking at our bleak mechanistic universe.
Not sure if that 'even' should be capitalized or if the preceding period should be another punctuation mark.
This feels less "sad" and more like a melancholy existential meditation. The world at large is indeed uncaring, but I don't think caring is a lie. It's simply part of our nature, and a part that I'm glad we have, despite the pain it so often brings.
This was brutal. I loved it.
Seriously, I've been thinking about these topics and seeing the thoughts laid out in such a way here was so interesting and enjoyable. Thank you!!
Spotted a couple of small typos:
d the forest bleed brown into her fur.
Fear was what had send the squirrel
I know you're under a tremendous amount of stress, but damn... are you okay? This reads a lot like my thought process after I got back from Iraq. It was not a nice place to be.
Today's SMBC seems rather appropriate.
The story has been posted here
https://www.fimfiction.net/group/214857/triptych-continuum-rebooted
in the "Non Canon" folder
Poetry can be so inspirational.
“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They're not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"
MY POINT EXACTLY.”
― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
Is it wrong that after reading this story I have this song stuck in my head?
This is probably the most, hmm, directly existential story I've read from you.
Thank you for these stories.
This is a big part of what fascinates me about Fluttershy's character: out of the Mane Six, she is perhaps uniquely positioned to understand "harsh realities" like this. It seems almost at odds with her highly empathetic qualities, but a very valid read of her character might be that her empathy draws significantly from this very understanding.
Philosophical stories, especially fanfics, are hard to come by. This really drove home for me, as I understand the darkness of the world, and have seen things no man should ever hope to see, be it in a TV show, or my nightmares. Thank you for this.
A deep and thought inducing read, it brings forwards some thoughts that some people living in the cities are in desperate need of.
Truly a good read, thank you.
Thank you for writing, and good luck, Estee.
This is an awe-inspiring insight into Fluttershy’s character and defines true kindness in the starkest of terms: it isn’t an exchange or a reward, it is seeing value in that which is outside oneself, and choosing to include it in the circle of what matters to oneself. Kindness is a choice, something that requires a decision being made, and thus a mind to make that decision.
In your story, Fluttershy’s early experiences with cold harshness of life, combined with her hyper-developed empathic skill, have perfectly positioned her to have this insight: the world doesn’t care, so Fluttershy does. By making this choice, meek little Fluttershy takes on the world. And she wins. God, I love your Fluttershy! And thanks for this amazing peek into the nature of mind, and for showing us the beauty of Fluttershy’s.
Was pretty good introspection there. Although I would argue that justice isn't a lie; but it can't be applied to the vast majority of the natural world.
What you saw wasn't an unnatural way of holding itself, it's a thing known as "mantling" and most raptors will do it when on food on the ground to hide it from competitors.
I work with birds of prey (in fact I'm with them now) so I'm pretty used to the brutality that can exist in nature. Nothing like a bird catching something and waiting for you to arrive and do the dirty work for it.
Deepest Fluttershy is often best Fluttershy.
They say that still waters run deep. No one is stiller or deeper than Fluttershy 4.0. Fluttershy 4.5, otoh......
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Possibly Fluttershy didn't recognise mantling due to being less familiar with raptor behaviour. (It mentions she keeps them away from the cottage with scents)
And Flutters is great here. Connects well with 500 Little Murders.
I think this shows why Discord chose Fluttershy to carry the "elimination sphere" in Triptych, because even being the manifestation of Chaos, he understood that Fluttershy would have the understanding of the situation to make the correct choice. By this, I mean he had a pretty good idea what happened at the (newly-formed) ravine near Trotter's Falls; he just wanted to make sure that it was handled properly, which he wouldn't have been able to do at that time
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IMO, you're being too kind to Discord. As I see it
He knew damned good & well EXACTLY what the Mane 6 would find out about Dr. Gentle.
He did things the way he did because
1) He knew it would hurt Dr. Gentle more if his friends turned on him
1A) If they DIDN'T turn on him, it would hurt Celestia
2) If HE punished Dr. Gentle, he would run the risk of being punished himself.
By leaving it to others, he could punish the Dr. & avoid the risk of being punished
10517498
You posted this on Thursday, it's still Featured on Saturday.
"I still got it." Ralph Malph (Happy Days)
You too.
10518239
I'll say this, there are behaviors that certainly seem to suggest mental qualities — some critters simply ~like~ to bite for no other reason than they seem to enjoy it — but in the end, if the behavior serves a purpose, the purpose is the purpose.
But I think this relates well, to both your comment and the story as a whole. So, I'll let the master of clever introspection say it for me.
It's quite nice seeing someone realize this. Often nature is characterized as motherly , which I don't exactly agree on.
So it is just me that is a terrible (approximation of a) person, or just inured to Nature by decades of watching/reading Sir David that it sort of just passes me on this one?
I mean, I can see how it's a big deal to ponies, but... I think I'm too much of an engineer and amateur zoologist for this one to strike quite as home for me personally on a resonance level.
Look, the only things I've watched on nature stuff I didn't take in stride was a) slug sex in Life in the Undergrowth (I just can't. I don't know why, it just makes me equesy, I have to look away on that bit on th DVD) and watching on one of the Planet Earths geese chicks deliberately chuck themselves down cliffs (because I'm not fond of falling myself and that just made me wince.) Chimps in eating monkeys? Killer Wahales batting seal-cubs around with their tails? That parasite infects snails and makes their eye-stalks pulse out? Did nowt, I'm afraid.
(Also, always been more on the predators side than the prey anyway...)
10517313
I thought of a different poem. In Memoriam A.H.H., cantos LIV-LVI:
Life moves on. And death is a ever present companion. But for the young Death is a challenge, forever teasing him. For the old, Death is a old companion. Just one you are tired of meeting and want to put that final reunion off for one more day.
Death though has more patience than anyone else.
I feel like you probably wear a lot of black, mostly purchased at Hot Topic
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The last thing I purchased at Hot Topic was a DVD set for Neurotically Yours.
...which kind of tells you how long it's been since I've purchased anything at Hot Topic.
10517498
Me, I'm more thinking of this one.
There is a regular blog called "Pitch Meeting" about TV & movies.
Their comment on The Lion King
"He tells him 'It's part of the Circle Of Life. Lions eat gazelles. Then, when we die our bodies grow grass for the gazelles to eat.' ."
"I think we know who got the better of that deal."
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I previously brought it up when some madman decided that Fluttershy would be the Vetinari analogue in their Discworld parody, but the latter's drunk monologue on the horrible things that happen in nature is just as relevant:
10527156
reminds me of a scene in a Discworld novel, "Sourcery", where a wizard cheated death by putting his soul into a staff.
he boasted that he had beaten death, but Death said, "FROM MY POINT OF VIEW, THIS IS JUST A DELAY."