Too Shy To Say Anything

by Partycannon_

Chapter 3: Tightrope Panic

Feeling warm I didn’t exactly want to wake up but decided I should all the same. I opened my eyes on a green hill overlooking a beautiful sunrise as all the stars in the sky slowly disappeared. Looking down I saw a group of animals surrounding me in slumber, many kinds of birds, a flying squirrel, and even a large bear. Their peaceful snores made such a large smile arrive on my face. It’s so cute I want to cuddle with all of them.

“Psst!” I heard a noise and swirled my head to it. Upon seeing Pinkie Pie I jumped in excitement and flew to her over my animal friends. We smiled at each other and without a word we trot through the colorful forest. I showed her all of the wonderful critters I could name and she listened carefully and understood everything I said.

CRASH!

I looked back but nothing was there. Pinkie gave me a shrug and we continued along the path. She told me all about her life and how amazing it was. I couldn’t stop listening, it was such a gripping tale that I held onto every word.

BANG!

I rubbed my ears while Pinkie gave me a lighthearted smile. I smiled too, it was difficult to not smile with Pinkie Pie.

“I did it,” Pinkie spoke in Rainbow Dash’s voice and I began being sucked away.

I felt warm but only on the outside, I sat up in my bed as I rubbed my eyes. Rainbow Dash stood in the doorway to my room.

“I got past Angel,” she spoke with pride as she wore bruises.

“Get me out of this NIGHTMARE!” I threw the blanket over me and shook in my covers. Tears begin to flow.

“Fluttershy, you're awake. This isn’t a nightmare,” I felt as she nudged me from beyond my cocoon.

“That’s the problem Rainbow, real life is a nightmare. Nopony hates me in my dreams,” I cried to her but of course she didn't understand.

“Fluttershy,” she whined. “It’s been a whole week, everypony already forgot about the cake. It isn’t a big deal,” she lied to me.

“You’re right, it's a huge deal. Nopony will ever like me ever again,” I threw my blankets away as I tried to get her to see the truth.

“That’s being unreasonable,” the unreasonable pony pointed at me with a frown.

“No it’s not, you would never understand,” I threw the blankets back on top of me but Rainbow countered by flying in my bed and the blankets fell over both of us.

“Wow, it does feel cozy in here,” she sounded surprised but that doesn’t matter right now.

“Go away,” I said quietly as I grabbed my pillow and hugged it shamefully.

“Before I go I just wanted to invite you to something,” I heard Rainbow say with a smirk.

“It’s not another party that causes everypony to hate me is it?” I spoke into the pillow.

“Nope, there is an animal show there,” I perked up and noticed that Dashie held something out but I couldn’t quite see it. I removed the blankets and saw her smirk as she gave me a pamphlet.

“A very harry situation, a choir of beaks, and the skydiving nutcracker,” I read aloud curiously.

“Yeah, it's a traveling circus. They have a whole bunch of animals doing cool stunts. You can wear a ton of face paint and no one will know it's even you and the best part is that I have the day off, I won’t leave your side, not for a single moment,” Rainbow spoke sporadically with a large grin.

“I-I don’t know Dashie, I don’t do well in public and...” I hid in my pillow.

“And, what?” she asked.

“I’m sort of worried you’re going to run off and leave me alone,” I said really quietly into my pillow.

“WHAT!?” she shouted in disbelief. “Who is the most loyal of all your friends?”

“Angel,” I answered once again into the pillow.

“H-Huh,” she said dumbfounded. “Well, outside of Angel, who is your most loyal friend?”

“I really don’t know Pinkie Pie all that much,” I tapped my hooves together.

“Wait, you’re friends with Pinkie? When did that happen?” she asked.

“She came over to talk to me, then she called me her friend,” I grinned.

“I think that pony calls everyone her friend, I don’t know if that really counts.”

“SHUT UP!” I yelled. Looking up I saw Rainbow flying above the bed defensively and I cursed myself. “I-I’m sorry. I don’t know why I reacted like that.”

“No, no, it’s cool. Go rinse yourself off and I’ll go grab a lot of face paint,” she said cautiously in a nod.

“Okay,” I dug my head into the pillow as I heard Dashie leave. “I’m such a stupid pony, why did I say that?”

“Are you sure nopony will recognize me?” I played with my hooves as we flew, Rainbow was ahead of course.

“Not a chance. I only know it’s you because I put it on the makeup,” Dashie chuckled.

“Well, are you sure the wig is necessary?” I said as I held the large rainbow afro.

“One hundred percent,” she gave an amused smile.

“Only if you’re sure,” I tap my hooves together. Sure I was nervous, I really don’t like going to public events but also it took some effort to make sure I don’t touch my face. The layers of makeup made me want to scratch it off as it sat uncomfortably on me.

I began hearing a crowd of voices as we approached, lights filled up the sky and as we made it over the hill we were greeted by a large circus with plenty of tents, a coaster, and a large line of ponies piled at the entrance. My fur stood on edge and I stopped mid flight.

“Fluttershy?” Dashie noticed me and flew back.

“Y-You know, A-Angel hasn’t s-stayed home by himself yet. I-I don’t think he’s r-ready,” I stammer my way through the excuse. That isn’t to say that I still didn’t worry about him. “Y-You should go on without me,” looking up I saw the unimpressed expression Rainbow wore and I started to sweat.

“That bunny can fight off a manticore, I think he can manage watching the cottage for a few hours,” she stated and I wanted to object but it was clear she wasn’t going to let me weasel out of this one.

“Sorry,” I whispered. We carried on and Dashie kept looking back to me with an indifferent frown. Finally she moved to me and grabbed my wig, she threw it to the trash below and I looked at her with confusion.

“That wig isn’t funny anymore,” is all she said before we moved to the line in silence. I held my breath as we traveled through the line and stared directly into the soil below. As we got closer to the entrance I could see as Dashie got visibly more and more excited, shedding her odd mood from a few minutes ago.

“Which event do you want to go to first?” She broke our silence as she impatiently tapped her hoof.

“Um, I think I was going to go to the choir of beaks,” I spoke quietly, hoping only Rainbow would hear me.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun,” she said quickly. Dashie shifted from standing to sitting, then to flapping an inch from the ground.

Rainbow fidgeted more than I did as we waited until it was finally our turn. We both went up to the booth together, thankfully I didn’t need to say or do anything as the two ponies talked. After entering Dash gave me a small strip of paper as she tied an identical one around her hoof. I take it and do the same.

Looking around we saw a couple dozen tents that all hosted small games or contests with adorable plushies. I wanted them but I always sucked at those types of games, even if I could get past talking to the pony behind the counter. Rainbow on the other hoof looked like she was about to explode, she bit her lower lip as we trotted.

“Um, Rainbow?” She turned to me quickly.

“YES!” Dashie got super close.

“Did you want to play the games? We don’t have to be there until-” and with that she dashed away. I really was hoping she wouldn’t do that. Sighing deeply I noticed that I was now all alone in a public area and I decided reasonably that the best course of action was to run away quickly in a random direction. After a lot of hoping and some luck I managed to duck out of a crowd without running into anypony.

Finally being able to breath I started to relax and began scanning my surroundings. I was in a darker part of the carnival that held a few tables, an empty tent, and two porta potties. As my nerves calmed I sat at one of the tables and pulled out the map.

My ears perked up as I heard a faint muffling sound coming from one of the porta potties. I’m not sure why but I approached it. The sound continued and despite knowing it was a bad idea I opened the door. A pegasus fell out, he was tied up using rope and had black tape stretched over his mouth. The pegasus was yellow with red hair and had plenty of face paint, he seemed to work here.

“O-Oh my goodness. What happened to you?” I ripped away the tape and he smiled.

“The focus of everypony’s attention was trapped in a wretched box of terrors by his fellow carnival workers. Would you kindly untie me?” He spoke with pizzazz and plenty of self obsession. Silently I worked and set him free from his bonds. He got up swiftly.

“Thank you for your kindness. I shall repay you if you ever need it. Now if you don’t mind I have to make it back and train Harry on the tightrope,” he stretched his wings while I brought my hoof up to my mouth in thought.

“Y-You are training a bear to tightrope?” I asked as I started to get filled with mixed emotion.

“Yeah, whatever keeps business running says our gracious host,” he rolled his eyes.

“I-Is it safe?” say it is, just say it is.

“As far as I’m concerned the tightrope is only safe if you have these,” the carnival worker flapped his wings with a solemn expression. “Anyways, the focus of everypony’s attention should be getting back. I don’t know how those ponies can live without me. Also you must show me how you did your face paint, it looks truly… Harsh,” he waved as he flew over a nearby tent.

Everything about that conversation made me very uneasy. Now more than anything I wanted to go see the animal shows just to make sure they aren’t in any danger. I trot worriedly to the first event.

The little concert of birds ended and they sounded wonderful. I almost completely forgot that I was here to make sure the animals were okay. I sat in the back of the room and most ponies are now getting up to leave but I stay seated, looking at my map. I glanced to my right at all the empty chairs and noticed I also forgot that I was supposed to be here with somepony, I frowned. Shaking my head I fidgeted with my hooves as I waited for everypony to leave.

I wanted to go and say thank you to the composer and all the wonderful birds but my timidness made this a constant war in my head. After all there is no reason I shouldn’t go and say thanks but it isn’t like I had anything else to say. I fought with every fiber of my being to trot to the stage. Forget this, I need to go home. Then I heard the conductor's voice as I began to change my mind.

“Good job everyone,” she stated in a static tone. “Except you Constance, no food tonight,” and upon hearing a sad tweet I trotted boldly up the small set of stairs to the stage, from there backstage wasn’t hard to get to. There were a dozen cages filled with the birds from the choir and the conductor standing with an uninterested face.

“Hey, you shouldn’t be back here,” she stated coldly but that did nothing to stop my rage from building.

“Do you think it’s okay to treat poor animals like that? Taking away their food for not performing well?” I tried my best to quell my anger.

“Listen, lady, this is what I have to do. If you have a problem take it up with the boss, sorry, our gracious host,” she answered in an uninterested tone.

“Then take me to him, RIGHT NOW!”

I sat in a cramped wooden office, clearly meant for travel and not cozyness. I stared at the stallion, a large white unicorn with a dark green aura around his horn.

“If my boys skip another business class then cut them off from the family fund,” he said to himself as he wrote. Finally setting the quill down he rolled up the scroll and sat it in a box nearby.

“Sorry, I had to take care of that. Now, what can this gracious host do for such a lovely young mare?” The large stallion wore a lighthearted but fake grin. He knows I have been staring daggers at him this entire time.

“Animals should always be led by the carrot, not the stick. You and your employees have no right to treat defenseless animals that way,” I state calmly but loudly too.

“Oh, that’s what this is about. All my friends call me Hill, feel free to do the same,” his attempt to defuse my anger only made me more upset.

“I, do, not, care,” my breaths grew larger, my exhales lasted longer.

“Now, now, I see that this is really bothersome for you. What I am doing here is okay, if it wasn’t then by Celestia we would not own all of our furry little friends out there. I’m sorry that we deeply upset you. Here, take a few bits for your trouble,” he placed four bits on the table and he took them off as soon as he saw my face.

“How much is it worth to you?” He took out a large bag and began rummaging through it.

“What?” I ask.

“How many bit-” I knocked the bag to the floor and countless coins clatter to the ground. The stallion looked genuinely shocked as I threw my hooves into his desk.

“THIS ISN’T ABOUT BITS!” I yelled in anger, unable to hold it back.

“It’s worth that much to you huh?” he grins. “I think I still have it around here somewhere,” the stallion dug in a pile of papers. “Found it! You see you are far from the first to come into my office about this but you are only the second to turn down bits,” he placed a contract on the table, facing me.

“I offered the last pony a deal, a written contract. If they can ride a unicycle across the tightrope at the grand event with their wings and or horn bound then they will legally own the rights to every animal in my carnival,” he chuckled in my face.

I stomped my hoof in a sponge of black ink and then replanted it on the contract. This caused the gross unicorn to laugh even more.

“I’ll make copies,” he managed to spit out of his disgusting mouth in between his mirth.

I fell to the rubber pad below just like many times before. I panted, anger beginning to fill me again. I got back up, I wanted to fly so badly but the black tape around my barrel made that impossible. An annoyance to add to the growing list of things I hated about this. I didn’t really notice how much I enjoyed having my wings despite their weak strength.

“That time was a lot better, keep it up,” I turned to the yellow pegasus with a frown and he looked back with indifference.

“Please stop. I just need to practice,”I said sternly.

“No, I know why you’re doing this. Boss brings up that dumb contract weekly after all. There is no other reason why you would be trying so hard,” he stated reasonably.

“Why are you trying to help me then? To get back at Hill?” I grabbed the unicycle.

“That would be nice but there is another reason.”

“What’s that?”

“Haven’t you noticed the carnival workers are mostly all unhappy, the animal handlers to be exact. Look, what I’m trying to say is that we were never hired to train animals. We are all here to show our own stuff and bask in the glory. Sure, animals doing awesome tricks brings in a little bit more bits but he also has to pay for the trainers, the animal food, and even their shelter. The animals would be better off elsewhere, they don’t even want to be here,” he rambled on but I still listened.

“And I thought you were obsessed with yourself,” I chuckled lightly.

“Oh I definitely am. Sorry if the center of everypony’s attention broke character, he felt as though it was important to say a few things,” he spoke loudly and proudly. “So, ready to try again?”

My heart beat swiftly, it was just so high. I peered down to the floor below. The yellow pegasus brought me up to the ending platform of the tightrope. I didn’t like the plan but I certainly don’t have an alternative. We sat on the platform an hour before the first ponies began piling into the huge tent. Knowing that Hill wouldn’t let me up to the platform in the first place didn’t change my hatred for him but it did make me smile at the idea of displeasuring him so greatly.

“Remember, if you fall I’ll catch you,” he gave a light smile. “Just don’t fall, okay?”

I nodded at him and my mind turned back to the floor below. I think he overestimated himself a little too much but it was nice to know somepony has my back. My gut dropped as the seats filled and not being able to hear myself think only made it worse.

“HELLO EVERYPONY!” spoke an awful voice and the crowd’s noise shrunk.

“HOW ARE WE DOING TONIGHT?” I froze as the crowd stomped so hard that the platform shook.

“AMAZING! I AM YOUR GRACIOUS HOST TONIGHT AND WE ARE HAPPY TO BRING YOU THE FIRST EVER!” he paused, the lights went out and it created a great suspense.

“TIGHTROPING BEAR! HARRY!” the lights suddenly turned on and they were all placed on the platform opposite us. On the wooden pillar were two trainers and a large brown bear.

At this point I attempted to get on the unicycle but as soon as I sat I fell to the floor. My hooves shook and my heart beat as fast as a cheetah. I picked up the unicycle and tried again but the same result. I felt like puking as I laid on the platform.

“Listen to me, calm down. Just breathe,” He said in a low voice. “If you can’t do this there is no shame in backing out now.”

Calming down I managed to get to my hooves without shaking. I looked across and saw Harry shakily placing his first paw on the long white rope.

“T-Turn the lights to me,” I grabbed the unicycle and got on. He nodded and dove into the wires above. Come on Fluttershy, you have been practicing all day.

All the lights shifted to me and the crowd went silent. I WAS NOT PRACTICING TO BE BRAVE! My eyes began to tear and I wiped my eyes as soon as they appeared. I started to advance while my tears formed too fast to attempt to stop them. I felt the unicycle jerked as it moved fully onto the tightrope.

“FLUTTERSHY?” Rainbow yelled from the silent crowd. Panic ran up my spine.

“That’s Fluttershy?” I heard another pony ask and my mind swirled. Looking down to the unicycle I saw multiple cycles and they all rotated within my awful vision. Breath Fluttershy, breath in, breath out. My vision cleared slightly and I came back to only seeing the one unicycle. I continued despite my tears, and my heart, and my gut, and every other fiber of my being.

“FLUTTERSHY! FLUTTERSHY! FLUTTERSHY!” they began to chant. WHY? My crying became an awful existence as I was unable to even see my hoof in front of my face. C-Calm d-d-d-down, I swallowed. H-Help, anypony.

“Hey, ignore all of them and keep doing what you’re doing,” I heard soft words spoken to my close right. Wiping my eyes I opened them, Dashie flapped next to me with a smile. “I’m not sure what this is all about but this totally beats watching some bear trot across a line,” she smirked and I couldn’t help but smile too. I continued and finally reached half way, I saw shadows of ponies as they approached me. In a flash of rainbow they went flying.

“GO AHEAD, TRY TO STOP HER!” Rainbow yelled.

“GET HER, NOW!” yelled another voice. I really, really tried not to think about it. Flashes of light echo around me while I focus, only moving forward when I’m calm enough. I’m almost there, all I need is a little bit more.

I thought of the animals, the cute tiny birds that sang magical tunes, the squirrel that glided through the air, and finally the large bear, scared to set a paw on a small line. My mind wondered, how terrible it would be for them to stay here. Then I thought of Hill and my blood boiled and my movements became unsteady. It wasn’t wise but I moved and I knew instantly that this was bad.

My weight shifted to one side and I started to fall. I closed my eyes in fear, tears still running down my face. The crowd cheering my name stopped, there was no sound. My wings instinctively moved yet their binds kept them tied. It was almost peaceful.

Flapping, I heard flapping. Opening my eyes I found more than a dozen birds from the circus holding onto me. They caught me right as I fell, the unicycle that I sat on still touching the tightrope. With their tiny wings they flapped so hard and I was overjoyed when I found myself balancing on the rope. Quickly I progressed and collapsed to the platform, the two trainers looked at me with shock and the bear pulled me into a soft hug. I stained his brown fur with my tears.

Being thrown by another pony was an odd experience, the air time only lasted a second before I found a small bit of dirt in my mouth. I was truly exhausted. I brought my head up and the laughter to my left caused a chuckle from me as well. I rolled and faced the stars as I was filled with mirth.

“That was awesome,” Dashie said with a bright smile.

“I am never doing that again,” I mentioned with a grin of my own.

“It was crazy, why did you even do all that?”

A burst from the door greeted us with a large bear and many small critters followed by a very angry Hill. My tired smile grew, glad to have the deal not be argued with. Harry once again swept me up in his strong arms.

“There, are you happy? Never show up to one of our events again, you two are banned for ten lifetimes,” Hill angrily slammed the door and left us alone once again in the dark.

“I see you have some new friends,” Rainbow said lightheartedly and my eyes started to close. Harry’s fur is just so very soft but I attempted to give my friend a nod. “Get some shut eye bud, I’ll make sure you get home safe.”

“I’m just glad to not be crying right before bed again,” I whispered, I didn’t know if anypony heard me and it doesn’t really matter right now. I happily find myself closing my eyes.

Comments

[new55]

That was a good chapter.