It Was Springtime
The conversation turned, as it so often did, to Rarity’s increasingly cosmopolitan life. Her new Reinford boutique, Coco’s unlikely stardom, the growing Canterlot fame of Fluttershy's Carillon Songbird Choir. It was gossipy—but with Fluttershy, Rarity felt little need to keep up appearances. Besides, wherever she travelled, whoever she met, whatever she did, for Rarity “home” would always mean Ponyville.
Although Fluttershy had commented in all the right places, with that piercing insight into pony character, Rarity thought she wasn’t quite with it today. A headache, perhaps: Fluttershy rarely liked to cause concern, however often Rarity reassured her.
They made tea together, “accidentally” slipping cookies onto eacn other’s plate with wildly unconvincing furtive giggles. Rarity hoped the warm, soothing liquid would work its magic. They sat comfortably at Fluttershy’s battered old kitchen table, savouring the tea and the company as the inseparable partnership it had become. For some while, no words passed.
“Sometimes there really isn’t anything to be done,” said Fluttershy suddenly.
Ah. They had been this way before. Rarity, with that sense of awe she always felt – but never quite admitted – about what Fluttershy faced, set down the dregs of her tea and held her friend’s soft gaze. She fought and won against the urge to fill the quiet with an “indeed” or a “yes”. She felt oddly proud, then embarrassed at that pride. She hoped it hadn’t shown.
“Some call Nature cruel,” said Fluttershy at last. “But this is Equestria, isn’t it? We wake the hibernating animals at the Wrap Up, we help the leaf-fall in the woods at the Running. We are Nature. So if Nature is cruel… are we cruel, Rarity?”
Another long silence, and presently Rarity judged that this one needed punctuating.
“I don’t know that we’re the ones to say,” she said, her tone carefully neutral.
Fluttershy took a dainty sip of her tea, eyes demurely downcast. Many ponies would have asked whether she was capable of drinking tea any other way. Rarity, who had known her friend a long time, knew better. Something was coming.
“I was cruel once,” said Fluttershy. She didn’t raise her eyes.
Rarity relaxed and smiled warmly, even if Fluttershy could not see it. She hoped she would hear it.
“Oh, the Breezies? Darling, I don’t think anypony would say—”
“Not that. Longer ago. Before we really knew one another.”
Now Fluttershy did regard Rarity squarely. The unicorn felt the frisson one might experience when stepping off a rocky, bumpy but nevertheless well-known and strangely reassuring path into dark, unexplored woods beyond.
Breaking her gaze, Fluttershy took a bite of her cookie, chewing slowly as if reflecting on challenges ahead. At length she swallowed, then took another sip of tea. Rarity thought there was a deliberateness about her that belied deep nervousness. She was trying so hard to keep it in check and almost succeeding—but “almost” would not get past Rarity. She wondered whether Fluttershy had similarly picked up on her own minute nod; she guessed so.
“It was springtime,” said Fluttershy. “My favourite season.” Rarity knew that; she giggled minutely to acknowledge the fact and Fluttershy returned the favour, the two old friends easily complicit in each other’s games. “Rainbow Dash was in Cloudsdale doing something; I don’t know what exactly, she told me but I’m afraid I found it too technical. I missed her, of course, but there was plenty to do here, so there wasn’t much time to feel sad.”
Again, Rarity suspected Fluttershy had weighed those words very carefully in the knowledge that they would be understood for what they were.
She made a tiny gesture with her hoof. “But…?”
“Yes.” Fluttershy looked into some indefinable distance for a moment. “But.” The warm smile returned, but only to her muzzle.
“I’d never looked after a canary before Carillon,” she said. “I thought it would be easy. I was confident I could treat his fever and then he’d just need rest.” She swallowed. “I was right about that, until he started telling me he had to fly outside.
“I didn’t want him to go, but he kept pressing his beak against the glass and then looking right at me. At first I tried to get him to come outside with me, but he was a wild bird, you know. He wanted to fly alone, and I didn’t know how to argue back then.
“So I opened the door and he flew straight out. I sat right here, watching through the window as he began to fly, a free bird in his free air for the first time in weeks. Oh, Rarity, it was so wonderful and I was just lost in it all.”
Rarity’s brow prickled as an awful suspicion crept across her, though Fluttershy seemed not to notice as she spoke again.
“Then… SNAP.”
From Fluttershy the sound was like a thunderclap and Rarity jerked in her chair, only a most unladylike lurch keeping her upright. She realised that Fluttershy was weeping, silently.
“Oh darling, whatever happened?”
“An eagle. I’d… I’d been so quick to let Carillon go outside again that I hadn’t checked if it was safe. I thought I was being kind by giving him what he wanted, but really it was the cruellest thing I’ve ever done. How could I claim to be an animal caretaker if I didn’t take care?”
A thought came to Rarity. “Is that why—?”
“Yes. I wanted – needed – to do something for the other songbirds, something that would mean I had to spend time with them and look out for them. I’m fairly good at singing—” (Rarity stifled a smile) “—and so I asked if any of them would be interested in helping me form a choir. Of course it took a while, some of them didn’t want me around at all and that hurt.
“But yes,” said Fluttershy. “The Carillon Choir is named in his memory—so that I never again forget that giving someone exactly what they want can sometimes be the cruellest thing of all.”
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That wasn't nearly as cruel as I thought it might have turned out. Fluttershy's canary choir has shown up multiple times in the show so seeing it be given a compelling backstory is pretty nice.
That was a good story.
Wow, this hit me right in the feels.
11250964
I'm rather fond of the choir. I actually wrote a story years ago from the POV of one of the songbirds: it's called We Who with Songs Beguile. And as for the cruelty, Fluttershy has a pretty low theshold for what she considers cruel, I imagine. Thank you for reading and commenting!
11251207
Thank you very much!
11251556
Then it did its job. Thank you for reading it!
Short but insightful, and very in-character for Fluttershy to have considered a moment of thoughtlessness to be cruel. It's not surprising maybe that there are real life stories of this happening.
11257754
Thank you. Yes, there being some kinds of real-world parallels had occurred to me as well.
A quintessentially Fluttershy moment. Who else could blame herself for nature taking its course, red in beak and talon? Ponies may oversee the process, but they don't polish every link on the food chain. (Well, not usually.) She can blame herself for carelessness and caving in, but the thought of condemning Carillon or the eagle never even occurs to her. And that moment left an impact that has lasted a lifetime, because how could it not for one such as she?
Excellent character moment. Rarity's quite nice as well, but this is Fluttershy's story first and foremost, and an outstanding portrayal of her to boot. Thank you for it and best of luck in the judging.
11268013
Thank you very much! As you may perhaps just conceivably possibly have been able to tell, I'm a big fan of Rarity/Fluttershy friendshipping, and I feel Flutters can sometimes let her emotional guard down with Rarity more than with anyone else, despite her longer friendship with Rainbow. I'm so happy you felt I did 'Shy justice here.
as evidenced by her still having the Carousel Boutique years into the future!
augh, that is an adorable detail.
and i adore this character moment, wow! just love it
yes, that is so true! ponykind's relationships to the processes of nature really is just rich with philosophical meaning, just so many directions to take the questions! and this is a great one
aww, yeah, of course that is what Rarity would think that is what she meant!
love the metaphor, and yes, i imagine that is exactly what it would feel like
ah, these little things again! augh, wow, i just love the way you write Rarity and Fluttershy's interactions. i can't imagine them any other way now
augh, absolutely love it! and that makes the mention of the Breezies earlier fit the theme so well, because this is a version of the same lesson in that episode except with more tragic consequences. so very understandable for Fluttershy to think of this act as cruel and to blame herself in this way. that she is not the eagle that killed Carillon, and that it was understandable to trust him to take care of himself when being so insistent on flying free, all must be cold comfort when a sapient creature is still dead in her care at the end of the day. i can imagine few failures so haunting!
this whole piece is just so excellently done from start to finish. it feels like i'm not just getting a portrayal of these characters, but also all the fine little brushstrokes that make up the details of how they move through the world. this anecdote fits in with the rest of the bricks that make up Fluttershy so frighteningly snugly, and augh, i am just astounded by how immersive this experience was! this was definitely one of those stories that i feel is teaching me another element of becoming a better writer myself. thank you so much for it!
11297965
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for that post! What fantastic feedback, and I'm extremely flattered and grateful. As you may guess, I adore Fluttershy/Rarity friendshipping,* so I'm delighted you felt I'd done them justice there. I was moderately confident about Fluttershy, but I had to work harder at getting Rarity right. And of course you're very welcome if I've helped you in any way!
* When the first synopsis appeared for "Fake It 'Til You Make It", I was thrilled as I thought it meant more of that, but when it turned out Rarity would be absent for most of the episode I was very disappointed.
Howdy, hi~!
Okay, the setup and payoff of this are absolutely amazing. It was a wonderfully tight 1000 words telling a story with a really relatable and important lesson. I adored the pacing and prose you went with for this that all really tied in well to the exact lesson you were trying to impart. Fantastic read, thank you~!
11301516
Hello! Aw, I'm very flattered and I'm delighted you enjoyed the fic. Thank you very much for taking the trouble to comment!
An oddball ghost happened across your fic and read it. Have a review!
11311469
Hey, so you did -- thanks! I'm really glad you liked it, too.
You can has review!
11456720
Thank you!
I quite like this.
11649332
Glad you enjoyed!
<3 been a long while since any pony thing got me in the feels like this with Fluttershy's turn towards the end.
But my favourite thing was that lightening bolt of dialogue at first, after the humid build up of expectation which starts from the overall title, then chapter title, then long-description and crescendo in the opening paras (also that's a cunning way of getting around that 1000 word limit :P )
Not a criticism, but both the long and short-description left me thinking it was Rarity that was the cruel one.
11886004
Thank you again for the kind words! I'm really rather pleased with this one, all the more so given that the contest I was writing it for required it to be kept to exactly 1,000 words. Mind you, I feel I "get" Fluttershy pretty well most of the time, and I've always liked writing her friendship with Rarity, so it was a story that came together pretty smoothly.
11886082
heh, I've always associated you with the 'Shy. Will have a look for more 'Shy interaction fics of yours - especially any Pinkie/Shy :P
11886101
I'm afraid Pinkie/Flutters isn't a team-up I've written much of. I wouldn't mind doing so at some point, though, so never say never!