Useless
Useless
Fluttershy gave a startled yelp as the serpent sunk its fangs deep into her right foreleg.
There was a beat.
A moment of stunned silence.
Twilight and her friends looked on in shock-
And all at once, there was a flurry of action.
Twilight shot a burst of magic at it, but to her surprise the spell ricocheted off the snake’s gleaming scales and skittered away into the brush. Applejack aimed a kick at the thickest part of the snake's body but it quickly spat Fluttershy’s leg out and slithered away into the tall grass, dragging its bloody wing in its wake. Spike prepared to shoot a jet of green flame into the dry grass after the viper, but Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash quickly tackled him to the ground so that his fire splashed harmlessly in the dirt. Fluttershy started to teeter and Rarity quickly moved to catch her, laying her down on a folded picnic blanket.
“Oh…” Fluttershy moaned, looking down at the rapidly swelling bite with wide eyes. “Oh no…nonononono…this is bad…this is bad...this is very, very not good.”
“Easy girl.” Applejack said. “Just take it easy.”
“Stupid!” Rainbow Dash cried, wetting a paper towel from the picnic basket and pressing it against Fluttershy’s leg. “That was so bucking dumb of you Fluttershy!”
“Rainbow!” Rarity chided, fanning Fluttershy’s face with her hat.
“Suffering Sleipnir, girl, do you seriously have to try and befriend every single creature under the bucking sun?!” Rainbow Dash cried.
“I-I couldn’t help it.” Fluttershy said. “He needed my help.”
“Hush, dear, this isn’t your fault.” Rarity said. “Rainbow’s not mad at-”
“The hell I’m not!” Rainbow Dash said. “What kind of sane, rational pony tries to pet a wounded pit viper?! Did you even consider that you could have been hurt?! What were you thinking, Fluttershy?!”
“I…I really wasn’t.” Fluttershy admitted shakily. “I just-I had to h-help him….I’m sorry.”
“That’s enough of that.” Applejack said, shooting Rainbow Dash a harsh look. “Let’s just take look at that bite now.” Fluttershy bit back a mewl of pain as Twilight lifted the compress on her leg to get a better look at the wound. The skin around the bite had swollen and turned a dark purple color around the edges.
“Tell me it’s not venomous.” Twilight said quickly. “Just tell me that coatls aren’t venomous.” Twilight took Fluttershy’s pained look of silence as the confirmation she had been dreading.
“Okay…” Twilight said, taking a deep steadying breath. “Okay, so they’re venomous….just how bad are we talking?”
“W-well, there haven’t been many encounters with coatl s-so the full effects of their venom aren’t fully understood by the veterinary community-”
“Short version, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash demanded.
“I’m-I’m not sure.” Fluttershy said. “I only j-just started researching them; I haven’t read that far the research manual.”
“Hold on!” Spike said, fishing a book out of Fluttershy’s saddle bag embossed with a picture of a coatl in flight. “Is this it?” Fluttershy nodded
“Let’s see here…” Spike said, thumbing through the book. “Coatl mating habits…public sightings…coatl in Mexicolt literature…here we go! Natural defense mechanisms!”
“What does it say?!” Twilight said.
“When threatened, the Feathered Prismatic Coatl can strike at speeds reaching 25 mph to deliver a venomous bite to its aggressor via two sacs of venom in the corner of its mouth.” Spike read from the book. “Coatl venom is rich in a number of trace elements designed to block spellcraft and render most magical treatment ineffective. The origins of this substance is still unknown but it is likely an evolutionary feature designed to combat its magical predators such as the cockatrice, the wendigo, the lesser winged chimera, smaller species of dragons such as the Lesser Equestrian Ridgetail and other magical serpents including the Northern Minor World Snake, the Greater Leman Hydra-”
“Symptoms, Spike, symptoms!” Twilight yelled.
“I’m getting to that!” Spike said. “Victims of the coatl’s bite initially suffer from tingling of the extremities, blurred vision, shortness of breath, nausea, and disorientation. Left untreated, coatl venom will begin to target the circulatory system leading to weakness, and increased risk of heart problems and damage to the respiratory system leading to fluid in the lungs and uncontrollable coughing fits. Finally, the toxin targets the nervous system, leading to uncontrollable babbling, rapid decreases in serotonin and dopamine and finally a complete shutdown of the central and periphery nervous systems resulting in-”
“I think we get the picture!” Twilight said, forcing her voice to remain even. “How are we doing, Fluttershy?”
“A-a little tingly and kind of woozy.” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. “Nothing too s-serious yet.”
“Of all the creatures under the sun you could have studied, you pick the flying hell snakes with megadeath poison!” Rainbow Dash groaned, pacing back and forth anxiously. “Couldn’t you have just studied some nice, safe bunnies to look at?”
“F-Fillydelphia is a t-tough school to get into.” Fluttershy said. “I-I thought that st-studying a rare animal m-might be a good idea…I’m sorry, I should have kn-known better.”
“Okay…no problem; no need to panic. I’ll just...I'll just telekinetically extract the poison from your blood!”
“Wait, Twilight-” Fluttershy said.
“Shh…hold still.” Twilight commanded, closing her eyes and slowly pushing her magic down Fluttershy’s leg. She felt around for the venom, an inky dark stain against the crimson river of blood in the veins. Twilight wrapped her magic around the venom, grasping it it with her magic and-
“What?!” Twilight said as she felt her magical grip slide off the venom as if it was coated in oil. She tried again, letting her power seep into Fluttershy’s leg and around the slick of poison spreading fast. But just as she got a hold of it, her magic slipped again and the snake’s venom coursed deeper into Fluttershy’s body.
“I-I can’t get a hold of it!” Twilight cried. “Why can’t I get a hold of it?!”
“Weren’t you listening?!” Spike said. “Magical treatment doesn’t work.”
“But…that's impossible.” Twilight said helplessly. "Magic...my magic always works!"
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a princess or an alicorn or the freaking sorceress supreme!” Spike said. “Superpowered magic is still magic and magic doesn’t work.”
“H-he’s right. C-coatl are mostly re-resistant to magical forces and cures.” Fluttershy moaned, wincing as she pressed a wet napkin against the wound. “That’s why your spell didn’t hurt it. Th-they were hunted to n-near extinction for scales to make anti-magic armor in the early-”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Rainbow Dash said gently. “Save the biology lesson for when your leg isn’t swelling like a ripe cantaloupe. What do we do? What’s the cure? Y-you’ve had to have packed some kind of medicine in your saddlebag just in case something like this happened, right?! ”
“N-nothing for a bite like this.” Fluttershy said. “I never planned on interacting with a coatl personally; that would have affected my study.”
“Okay, great.” Rainbow Dash said. “We’re stuck in the middle of nowhere with no medicine; we have to get Fluttershy to a hospital!”
“We don’t even know where the nearest hospital is.” Rarity said, tearing a strip off the corner of her sundress and wrapping it gently around Fluttershy’s leg above the bite. “And even if we did, how are we going to take her? She’s too heavy for Rainbow to fly with and Twilight isn’t nearly coordinated enough to levitate Fluttershy and fly at the same time.”
“What...what about Princess Celestia?” Pinkie Pie said suddenly.
“What about her?” Twilight said sharply.
“Can’t Spike send her a note?” Pinkie Pie said. “She could be here in a flash!”
“To do what?!” Twilight said bitterly. “How is she going to help us?! Raise the sun and hope the snakebite gets better? My magic didn't do anything; what makes you think hers will?”
“Twilight-” Applejack said
“No, she’s right.” Spike said. “If Twilight can’t extract the poison with magic, Princess Celestia won’t be able to do anything either. It’s not a matter of power levels; magic simply doesn’t affect it.”
“Well, there’s got to be something we can do!!” Pinkie Pie cried, tugging at her mane. “There’s got to be a…a…antivenom! Right? There has to be some kind of medicine thingy that gets rid of the poison, right?”
“I-I don’t know.” Fluttershy said. “Coatl are very rare; m-most larger hospitals don’t even carry an antivenom…but, I suppose most of the materials a-are easy enough to come by as long as we can get a sample of venom from the same snake that bit me.”
“Well that's great, but what good’s the venom gonna do us if we don’t got nopony who knows how to brew up a potion? I mean, it's not like we brought-” Applejack stopped herself, looking back towards Everfree Forest. “Zecora!”
“Of course!” Rainbow Dash said. “I bet Zecora can mix most of the cure at her hut! All we need to do is bring it back and mix it with the venom!”
“But we gotta be fifty miles from Zecora’s house by now!” Pinkie cried. “We’ll never make it in time!”
“I will.” Rainbow Dash said, dropping her saddlebags and flexing her wings. “I’ll get to Zecora and be back with the antidote with time to spare. All we need to do then is mix it with the venom and feed it to Fluttershy!”
“Hold on a second!” Applejack said. “Can’t Twilight just do her little magical teleport thingy and flash her way over to Zecora’s place, lickety split?”
“That really only works with locations I’m one hundred percent familiar with and…I haven’t really been to see Zecora much since my coronation.” Twilight said guiltily. “Besides…I can’t really stop the poison from spreading but I think I can slow it down long enough to get an antivenom going. I mean, in theory, Rarity could do it but-”
“But it’s taking everything you have just to slow it down.” Rarity said. “And I daresay I could do much better.”
“Okay, okay, time’s a-wasting!” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m going to get the ingredients for the cure from Zecora. Twilight, do whatever you need to do to slow that poison down. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Spike; get me that snake!”
“Right!” The three ponies and one dragon fanned out across the grassland, scouring the grass for signs of the snake.
“Wait!” Fluttershy cried, struggling to sit up against Twilight’s grip. “Please d-don’t hurt it!”
“Hurt it?!” Applejack said. “I got half a mind to take that worthless sidewinder by the tail and crack’em like a-!”
“No don’t!” Fluttershy cried. “He’s j-just scared…i-it’s not his fault he-ah!” Fluttershy cried out, clutching her foreleg with a pained expression.
“Alright, honey.” Applejack said soothingly. “Calm down. We’re not gonna harm the little critter. You just lay back and rest a spell while we round up the little rascal for milkin.”
“Okay, great, now giddyup!” Rainbow Dash said, fishing some goggles out of her saddlebags. “Alright, Fluttershy, looks like I gotta pull your flank out of the fire again!”
“S-sorry.” Fluttershy squeaked
“Don’t you worry, kid.” Rainbow Dash said, lifting a sweaty lock of hair away from Fluttershy’s forehead. “You just take it easy…you’re gonna be just fine.” Rainbow Dash fixed Twilight with the gravest expression Twilight had ever seen her wear. “You take care of her. You take care of her or so help me-”
“I will.” Twilight said. “I promise.”
“You better.” Rainbow Dash said, turning to take off.
“R-Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy sighed. “I-In case you d-don’t make it-”
“I’m gonna make it.” Rainbow Dash said firmly.
“But if you don’t-”
“Come on, Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash said, forcing a quivering lopsided grin. “It’s me. I’m gonna make it.”
“Th-there’s something I want t-to say.” Fluttershy said, struggling to sit up.
“Save it!” Rainbow Dash said, pushing Fluttershy back into Twilight’s embrace. “Save it...for when I get back.”
“But-”
“Just sit tight, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll be right back! I promise!”
And with that, she shot into the sky in a rainbow streak screaming towards the Everfree Forest. Twilight watched the others disappear into the undergrowth and after a few moments, the clearing fell eerily silent with the only sounds coming from bugs in the grass and Fluttershy’s labored breathing.
“R-Rainbow Dash was right.” Fluttershy chuckled weakly after a short silence. “That w-was pretty dumb of me.”
“Hush.” Twilight said, once again pushing her magic deep into Fluttershy’s leg to try and take hold of the venom. “Try and relax. You’re going to be fine.”
“Th-that coatl was p-panicked.” Fluttershy said. “H-he was cornered and h-he was scared…I shouldn’t have tried to touch him.”
“You just did what you thought you had to do.” Twilight said. “Nopony’s faulting you for trying to help a wounded animal.”
“R-rainbow Dash is.” Fluttershy said. “And she’s right too.”
“No she’s not.” Twilight said firmly. “You just scared us, that’s all.”
“Scared…” Fluttershy echoed distantly before softly chuckling to herself. “Rainbow Dash doesn’t get scared.”
“Of course she does.” Twilight said, struggling to maintain her hold on the venom slithering slowly past her magical defenses. “She’s not made of stone, you know.”
“N-no it’s…” Fluttershy giggled weakly. “It’s j-just something Rainbow Dash used to say when we were fillies. Whenever I asked if she w-was afraid d-doing those crazy stunts or s-standing to the bigger fillies who p-picked on me she…she would just puff out her chest and flare her wings and say “Rainbow Dash doesn’t get scared!”
“Yeah…that sounds like Rainbow alright.” Twilight said, biting her lip and trying to keep a hold on the venom.
“J-just being around her used to make me feel braver.” Fluttershy said. “I…I felt stronger knowing somepony like Rainbow Dash cared enough about me to s-stick up for me. Sh-she had lots of friends but…she always made time for me. She never made me feel weak or small...li-like the other kids did. I don’t know…maybe that’s why I-” Fluttershy stopped suddenly, flushing and covering her embarrassment with a cough.
“I promised myself that I’d pay her back someday.” Fluttershy said. “That one day…I-I’d be strong enough to stick up for her for a change…but I n-never could. And after all these years…I still have to r-rely on her to look after me l-like a little f-foal.”
“Fluttershy, you need to lie still.” Twilight said. The skin around the bite on Fluttershy’s leg had turned a violent shade of violet and series of small shivers shook the small pegasus’ frame.
“S-sorry.” Fluttershy sniffed, wiping her eyes. “I-I just feel so useless. I-I thought dealing with animals was the o-one thing I was good at; the one thing that I could always do better than anypony else.”
“It is Fluttershy.” Twilight said soothingly. “One little snakebite doesn’t mean that you’re bad at dealing with animals. There’s no way you could have known that he would bite you like that.”
“I should have.” Fluttershy said. “I should have known. He w-was all raised up and r-ready to strike. He was displaying all the signs of an animal ready to attack and I…I went ahead and grabbed him without even thinking.”
“You were trying to help it.” Twilight said.
“But I couldn’t.” Fluttershy said. “I couldn’t help it and n-now it’s lost and h-hurt and sc-scared.”
“Spike and the others are going to find it.” Twilight said. “They’re not going to hurt it.”
“I couldn’t h-help it.” Fluttershy said. “And n-now you all have to make up for m-my stupid mistake. I…I don’t know h-how I ever thought I would m-make a good vet…”
“You’re going to make a great vet, Fluttershy.” Twilight insisted.
“A vet that can’t h-handle one t-tiny little snake without getting bit?” Fluttershy laughed miserably. “N-not likely.”
“I’ve seen you handle much, much worse.” Twilight said. “You managed to talk down a raging dragon, remember?”
“H-he wasn’t raging.” Fluttershy said. “He was just…cranky that we w-woke him up.”
“Cranky?” Twilight laughed. “You call roaring, fire breathing dragon cranky?!”
“I-It’s different with dragons.” Fluttershy admitted. "They're a bit more...dramatic than most p-ponies."
“You would know.” Twilight said.
“Y-you’re the one who lives with one.” Fluttershy said. “I would have th-though you could have handled that easily.”
“I guess I don’t have your way with animals...n-not that dragons are animals or anything.” Twilight said hastily. “D-don’t tell Spike I called dragons animals; the last time I said that he got all huffy and wouldn’t speak to me for a week. He just growled and hissed and clawed up the furniture until I begged him to stop.”
“Tw-Twilight!” Fluttershy gasped. “Wounding a d-dragon’s pride is worse than wounding its body!”
“I know, I know, I’m sorry.” Twilight said. “It’s just…easy to think of most of them as monsters from fairy tales. And I know they’re not…at least, Spike isn’t. But it’s hard not to think of them as…animals.”
“Wh-what’s wrong with being an animal?” Fluttershy said, teasingly. “L-lots of animals are better than ponies.”
“I’m not sure whether or not to be offended by that.” Twilight said.
“N-not you of course!” Fluttershy said quickly. “B-but…you know how some ponies can be…well...mean spirited?”
“Believe me,” Twilight said darkly. “I know exactly what you’re talking about.”
“I-I’m not talking about Princess Celestia either.” Fluttershy said. “Sh-she’s not as cruel as you think she is…and you know it. You don’t want to admit it because you’re mad at her but…you know she never meant to hurt you.”
“I…no comment.” Twilight mumbled.
“S-suit yourself.” Fluttershy went on, looking up at the sky distantly. “But l-like I was saying...animals...they just don’t have a…concept of cruelty. They m-may fight or bite or claw each other but i-it's always for a reason like...food or shelter...they're never mean for the sake of being mean. Maybe that’s why…maybe that's why I trust them more than ponies.”
“Because animals never teased you or made fun of you?” Twilight said softly.
Fluttershy nodded. “I…I didn’t have m-many friends before I m-met you girls. B-but I always could count on m-my animals to-” Fluttershy broke off, suddenly coughing violently.
“How are you feeling?” Twilight asked, gently pressing a hoof against Fluttershy’s forehead.
“A-a little shaky and a little weak.” Fluttershy said. “I th-think the poison’s spreading.”
“I know.” Twilight said, gritting her teeth and struggling to contain the venom slipping past her magic. “Don't worry...I’ve got this.”
“…I-I’m starting to get a l-little scared, Twilight.” Fluttershy admitted softly.
Twilight pulled Fluttershy close to her, turning her head towards the setting sun to hide her watery eyes from Fluttershy. “I-It’s going to be fine, Fluttershy. I promised Rainbow Dash I would take care of you and that's just what I'm going to do.” Fluttershy lay back on the blanket, breathing deep, shaky breaths.
Come on. Twilight thought to herself, pushing her magic deeper into Fluttershy’s body to block the spreading toxin. But try as she might, no matter how many magical tethers and shields Twilight used to stop it, the venom was spreading. Slick, oily black venom slipped past her defenses, avoiding or ignoring Twilight’s magic as if it were nothing. The venom had slowed down since Twilight started using her magic, but nothing she did seemed to stop it completely.
“Twilight…” Fluttershy whispered softly after a time.
“Shh…” Twilight said, struggling to keep her eyes dry in front of Fluttershy. “Try and rest.”
“I-If I don’t make it-”
“You’re going to make it!” Twilight said.
“B-but…if I-”
“You’re not going to die!” Twilight barked sharply. “Not here; not now! Not in this abysmal bloody taint of a grassland in the middle of nowhere!”
"Tw-Twilight." Fluttershy pleaded. “P-promise me you’ll…take care of my friends....I mean…the animals…I don’t…I don’t want them to end up in a sh-shelter or a z-zoo…”
“They won’t!” Twilight said. “Because you’re going to go home and look after them yourself; just like you’ve always done!”
“O-okay…but-”
“If and when anything ever happens to you in the distant, distant future, I will personally make sure that your animal friends are looked after. I promise.” Twilight said. “B-but don’t worry about that now; you just worry about getting better so that you can-”
“One…more thing…” Fluttershy interrupted gently. “Y-you n-n-need to tell R-R-Rain-”
“I’m not telling Rainbow Dash anything.” Twilight said.
"Twilight...please j-just listen to me..." Fluttershy begged.
"Anything you need to tell Rainbow Dash, you can tell her yourself! Twilight said stubbornly. “Y-you just rest now; rest and when Rainbow Dash gets back you can-”
“Twilight Sparkle will you please...just...listen to me?!” Fluttershy shouted as loud as she could. Twilight jumped at Fluttershy’s outburst and gently pounded her back as she started coughing again.
“O-okay, Fluttershy.” Twilight said. “I’ll listen; what do you want me to tell Rainbow Dash?”
“I…need you to tell R-Raibow Dash that I…that I…” Fluttershy weakly beckoned Twilight to lean closer, leaning against Twilight’s shoulder to whisper something in her ear.
“Wh-what?!” Twilight said, eyes widening.
"P-please just tell her that..." Fluttershy whispered it again and Twilight leaned back to look at Fluttershy as though she had never seen her properly before.
"How long have you...you mean...all this time you..." Twilight babbled incoherently
“P-promise me…” Fluttershy said.
“I-I can’t.” Twilight said, shaking her head in bewilderment. “This is…this is too big! I-I can’t just say that to her.”
“Promise me.” Fluttershy said firmly.
“You’re going to be fine.” Twilight insisted, squeezing her eyes to stop a fresh flood of tears. “S-so stop talking like you’re not going to make it! Rainbow Dash is going to be here a-any minute and you can tell her yourself!”
“Twilight…please…” Fluttershy pleaded. “I h-have to…she has to know h-how I…I…”Fluttershy stopped as a fresh fit of coughs racked her quivering body.
“Okay, okay, hush now.” Twilight said, gently wiping Fluttershy’s mouth with a napkin and throwing the pink stained cloth over her shoulder. “I …I promise, okay? I’ll tell Rainbow Dash...w-whatever you want me to tell her…but you have to promise to hold on for me, okay Fluttershy?! I need you to say with me, okay?!”
“N-no…you don’t.” Fluttershy mumbled.
“Yes I do!” Twilight cried. “I need you to fight this, Fluttershy, I need you!”
“You d-don’t need me.” Fluttershy said. “N-not you...not anypony...I'm u-”
“Don’t you dare!” Twilight shouted. “Don’t you dare call yourself useless ever again! I have seen what useless looks like! Prince Blueblood is useless! Half the bloody aristocracy is useless! I’ve spent the last year and a half surrounded by useless ponies every time I went to Canterlot but you, Fluttershy are not useless!”
“B-but…”
“I don’t want to hear another word about that damned coatl!” Twilight demanded. “S-so what if you made a mistake?! Everypony makes mistakes! B-but you are so much more than your mistakes! And I…I wish you would just stop beating yourself up over things you can’t do and just appreciate all the wonderfully amazing things you do every single day! You’re the only pony I’ve ever met who’s stared down an angry cockatrice and a very cranky dragon within the same month. You helped me take down Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis and King Sombra! You helped save Equestria more times than anypony else!”
“I…I wasn’t a-as brave as y-you or Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy said. “I…I was scared the whole time we were fighting Nightmare Moon a-and Discord and-”
“You think I wasn’t scared?!” Twilight said. “I was terrified!”
“N-no…y-you’re just saying that to make me feel better.” Fluttershy said.
“Fluttershy…how could I not have been scared?” Twilight said. “Princess Celestia ordered us to put our lives on the line for Equestria more times than anypony should be ever asked to. Do you know how many times I thought I was going to die?! Do you know how many times I thought I’d never see my family again?! How…how could you think I wasn’t scared?!”
“You…always held it together.” Fluttershy said. “You never…never showed you were scared. Not once…I don’t know how you…how anypony could do that…”
“It’s easy to hold it together...when you have somepony to hold it together for.” Twilight said, affectionately nuzzling Fluttershy’s pale, clammy cheek.
“Like…R-Rainbow Dash…”
“And Rarity. And Pinkie Pie and Applejack and Spike and…and you." Twilight said. "Especially you, Fluttershy. Because you trusted me...more than anypony else. Up against Nightmare Moon and Discord and all the rest of them, you were just as scared as I was but…but you believed in me. Believed that I’d get you through whatever we were going through…even if I didn’t always believe it. So when you stayed and fought beside me all those times...I felt like I could be brave...just for you.”
“Me?” Fluttershy said woozily.
“I rely on you…to rely on me.” Twilight said, wiping a stray tear away. “I rely on you to be the one pony I have to be brave for; the one pony I couldn’t bear to let down because I was afraid. You’ve shown me what real courage looks like and it’s not beating your chest and stamping your hooves and fearlessly charging into battle. It’s being scared out of your wits and still saddling up in spite of that fear, trusting your friends to carry you through. I think…in a lot of ways, you’re even braver than Rainbow Dash.”
“R-really?” Fluttershy said.
“It’s like you said; Rainbow Dash doesn’t get scared!” Twilight chuckled. “How can she ever be brave if she isn’t scared? But you…you’re somepony who doesn’t let her fears get in her way…not anymore…and I have to be worthy of your trust. I can’t help but feel like I have to measure up to you. Like I have to be the leader you can always count on. I need you, Fluttershy because…” Twilight took a deep, shuddering breath. “Just being around you makes me feel braver.”
Fluttershy smiled sadly, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. “Nopony’s…ever said that to me before…nopony’s…ever…thought I was…brave…th-thank you, Twilight…thank…” Her head lolled back, eyes closed and Twilight quickly tried to rouse her.
“Hey, stay with me Fluttershy!” Twilight said, gently shaking Fluttershy’s shoulders. “Eyes open; come on!”
“N…tired…” Fluttershy said.
“Come on, Fluttershy!” Twilight said, feeling her way through Fluttershy’s bloodstream with her magic. The venom was everywhere now, slithering through every vein like an inky black serpent. “Hang in there, Fluttershy! You’ve…You’ve still got th-that report to write, remember?”
“Mnn?” Fluttershy groaned, eyes fluttering open. “Wh-what?”
“Yeah, that’s a girl!” Twilight said, anxiously scanning the skies for any sign of Rainbow Dash. “You have to finish that report and send it off to Fillydelphia, remember?”
“Y-yeah…” Fluttershy mumbled.
“C’mon, y-you can’t start off vet school by missing your first assignment, can you?” Twilight said. “Y-you have to start off on the right hoof! Now come on; talk to me. Tell me what you’re going to write about; tell me about the…the…”
“M-mating habits of…” Fluttershy supplied.
“The mating habits of the Feathered Flying Coatls, right?!” Twilight said, anxiously scanning the skies for any sign of Rainbow Dash. “Yeah, tell me about that!”
“Well…hnn…th-they migrate n-north every s-summer when-” Fluttershy stopped, again overcome by a nasty fit of hacking.
“Okay, okay, that’s okay.” Twilight said, lightly stroking Fluttershy’s mane. “You don’t have to talk; just lie back and try and rest. There’ll be plenty of time to talk about your assignment later. I-I’ll even help you write it if you want! Y-yeah; we can set up shop in the library with all your notes and books and we can work on your report every day if you want to! Sp-Spike can even bring us those hayseed muffins you like so much and we can make a lunch out of it! Won’t that be fun?”
“Mmm…” Fluttershy sighed. “Y-yeah…”
“Yeah; it’ll be great!” Twilight rambled on, gently rubbing Fluttershy’s shoulders. “I-I’m going to be there for you through this whole process! W-we can go down to Fillydelphia together once we’re done and turn the report in ourselves! Th-then you can get started p-preparing for your first day of class! N-not that you’ll need to do much to prepare; you probably have more experience dealing with animals than your classmates will!”
“Mmmhmm.” Fluttershy mumbled faintly.
“And y-you’re going to make a g-great vet.” Twilight said, gently pulling Fluttershy close while pumping every ounce of her magic into Fluttershy’s body to try and stall the venom for just a few moments longer. “Y-you’re going to come back to Ponyville, ready to look after all of our animals. Y-you’re going to help them all…you’re even going to find that coatl a-and fix his wing! Y-you can make it up to him! I-I bet you two could even be f-friends once you get to know him!” Fluttershy was silent, so Twilight rambled on.
“P-Pinkie will probably want to throw a party.” Twilight said, laughing tearfully. “You know how she is; she probably has a Snakebite Survivor party ready to go with snake streamers and gummy snakes and pin the tail on the…snake…but we can do whatever you want! W-we can have a nice quiet party and th-then everyone can go back to their daily lives! A-applebucking Season is just around the bend and Applejack will probably need help harvesting the crops again b-but we can a-all help her with that, right? I know I’ve been k-kind of wrapped up in my p-princess stuff lately but I promise…I promise to make time for you guys! W-we can even go on another trip! It’ll be winter soon so we can go skiing or sledding…and after that, when it’s sunny again, m-maybe we can give camping another try! L-let’s make this a yearly thing! N-no more snakebites next time, okay? E-every year…no matter what we’re doing…we’ll all take a few days off and go camping, just the seven of us! Won’t that be fun, Fluttershy...Fluttershy?”
Twilight paused for air and noticed the field was eerily silent with the only sound coming from the bugs in the grass.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight said softly, gently shaking her friend’s motionless body. “F-Fluttershy?” Twilight pulled back to look at Fluttershy and a pair of dim, glassy green eyes glinted back at her.
“F-Fluttershy?!” Twilight cried, shaking Fluttershy by the shoulders as hard as she could. “No…nonononononono…please, no…Fluttershy, come on, please stay with me! Please d-don’t leave me! I-I need you, Fluttershy! I need you! We…we all need you…please…please don’t leave us!”
Twilight flipped Fluttershy on her back, spreading her forelegs out and exposing her chest. A small spark of electricity jolted from Twilight’s horn and struck Fluttershy in the chest. “Clear!” Twilight said, pressing a hoof to Fluttershy’s neck to feel for a pulse.
“Damnit, clear!!” Twilight said again, jolting Fluttershy with another pulse of electricity, compressing her chest again and again to try and force a faint pulse. “Come on…come on! I can fix this, Fluttershy, I can fix this… but you have to work with me! Clear!” Another jolt. “Come on, Fluttershy, fight! Fight…fight…” Twilight pressed an ear to Fluttershy’s chest, listening for the smallest sign that her heart was working.
Nothing.
Twilight stood up suddenly, pacing back and forth, looking this way and that, clutching her mane in anguish. There had to be something she could do-something she hadn’t tried yet. This was wrong; her magic never failed! She was the Princess of Magic; the greatest sorceress in Equestria! She…she couldn’t have failed to stop a simple snakebite…this couldn’t be happening…her magic didn’t fail…her magic didn’t fail…she didn’t fail…she couldn’t fail she promised that she wouldn’t fail she promised that she wouldn’t fail she promised that she wouldn’t fail she promised that she wouldn’t fail she promised that she wouldn’t fail she promised that she wouldn’t fail Fluttershy believed in her and she promised that she wouldn’t fail Rarity believed in her and she promised that she wouldn’t fail Pinkie Pie believed in her and she promised that she wouldn’t fail Rainbow Dash trusted her to watch Fluttershy and she promised that she wouldn’t-
Fail.
Cold, icy despair hit Twilight like an avalanche and she slumped to the ground beside Fluttershy’s body. She lay her head against her chest and slowly started shaking and sobbing helplessly. No matter what she had done, no matter how hard she had tried, no matter how much magic she had used...she had failed.
“I’m s-s-sorry F-Fluttershy.” Twilight blubbered pitifully into Fluttershy’s chest. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I’m sorry…”
Again and again she chanted the same two words as if by the power of her remorse, Fluttershy might wake again. Twilight looked up at Fluttershy’s eerily peaceful face, her sad semi-smile and dim eyes staring blankly at the coming night sky. Twilight shakily raised a hoof and closed Fluttershy’s eyes. She took the blanket from under her head and wrapped it around her body like a shroud, bundling her tight and pulling her into an embrace.
Twilight sat there in the middle of a grassy clearing on a warm summer’s evening, rocking back and forth with her friend’s body clutched against her chest, tearfully mumbling the same two words that Fluttershy would never hear over and over and over again.
She didn’t know how long she sat there, cradling Fluttershy’s motionless body in her lap but Twilight was shaken out of her grief by the sound of claws and hooves heralding the arrival of Spike and her friends.
“Found it!” Spike crowed, triumphantly holding a wriggling bundle of picnic blankets above his head. “Little bugger wormed his way underneath a fallen log. Tried to nip at me a few times but he couldn’t get through my scales! Get the antidote ready so we can-” Spike stopped cold as he met Twilight’s watery, puffy red eyes. He looked between her and Fluttershy’s body cradled in her arms. “But…no…we…”
“Spike, what's the matter? What happen-" Rarity let out a sharp gasp as she and the other entered the clearing and caught sight of Twilight holding Fluttershy's body. "Oh...no...no!"
“F-Fluttershy?” Pinkie Pie said, moving over to Twilight and gently nudging Fluttershy’s body. “Fluttershy, we’re here…we made it. Rainbow Dash will be here s-soon with the antidote…please...please hang on...don’t tell me you’re-”
“I-I’m sorry girls.” Twilight sobbed. “I-I tried to st-stop it but I…I couldn’t. I just c-couldn’t.”
Pinkie Pie’s face crumbled into a soggy mess as she pressed her face into Fluttershy’s body and began to shake quietly. Applejack gently pulled her hat off, clenching the brim between her teeth as she bit back a cry of anger and frustration. Rarity was almost completely silent as she stood staring in horrified disbelief at the small bundle in Twilight’s embrace, eyes welling with unshed tears as she silently mouthed Fluttershy’s name.
Spike just glared at the squirming bundle, eyes murderous and tears streaming down his cheeks. Little tongues of green flame darted out from between bared fangs and his claws closed in on the helpless coatl struggling to get free.
“Spike.” Twilight said, noticing the dangerous glint in Spike’s eye as he looked at the snake. “Spike, don’t…don’t do it.”
“What?” Pinkie Pie said, looking from Spike to Twilight in confusion. “Wh-what’s going on?! What's he going to do?
“Why not?” Spike growled, glaring at the makeshift sack struggling to get free. “Why…why shouldn’t I? It’s his fault, isn’t it?”
“Spike, no!” Pinkie Pie cried.
“We...we made a promise.” Applejack said through clenched teeth. “As much as I want to tether that mean ol’ gutter snake to the back of a speeding freight train…we promised F-Fluttershy we wouldn’t hurt it.”
“And what does that matter now?!” Spike snarled. “It’s not-it’s not fair! It’s not fair that this little...this little worm gets go on living while Fluttershy-” Spike swallowed painfully, sliding his claws around the serpent’s struggling body. “She helped this thing. She saved its miserable little life and how does it repay her?! It didn't even stop to look back after it sank its teeth into her leg!”
“I-it’s just a wild animal, Spikey.” Pinkie Pie sniffled. “It doesn’t know any better-please…please just let it go. T-tell him, Rarity! T-tell him to put it down!” Rarity remained silent, eyes fixed on the squirming bundle with a glare more toxic than the venom of the snake inside.
“It’s not fair.” Spike repeated. “It’s not fair...”
“Spike, please.” Twilight sobbed. “Just stop it! L-let the little thing go!”
“I-I can’t.” Spike croaked, tightening his grip on the defenseless coatl. “It…I have to…it needs to…w-why shouldn’t I just-”
“Spike.” Spike looked up from the coatl struggling in his claws and saw Rarity looking at him with bitter tears of defeat.
“W-why shouldn’t I, Rarity?” Spike sobbed. “Why shouldn’t I just…end this thing and be done with it? I-It’s got a b-broken wing; I-It’s probably going to die anyway so why don’t I just-”
“Because even after all it did to her…” Rarity said softly. “She still would have saved it.”
Spike looked down at the limply wriggling bundle in disgust. Tongues of fire escaped his clenched teeth and for a moment, Twilight feared that Spike was going to roast the coatl alive.
“Argh!” Spike roared, shooting a column of green fire straight into the sky. He growled, cursed, stamped his feet…and finally walked over to the edge of the grass and opened the blanket, allowing the coatl to slither meekly into the underbrush. Rarity moved to sit beside him, gently laying a head on his shaking shoulder.
“Wh-where’s Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie sniffed. “Isn’t she back y-yet?”
“No…” Twilight said. “Wh-what am I supposed to say to her? I promised to l-look after Fluttershy…she trusted me to t-take care of her and-”
Twilight stopped as she noticed everyone was looking over her shoulder. Her stomach dropped into her hooves as she slowly turned around.
Rainbow Dash stood at the edge of the little clearing, jaw slack, eyes wide and a small broken bottle leaking the antidote all over her hooves.
“R-Rainbow Dash…” Twilight said. “I’m-”
In a single move, Rainbow Dash moved over to Twilight, pushing her aside and gently taking Fluttershy from her. She looked at the small, fragile body of her oldest and dearest friend with more confusion than sadness at first. She looked Fluttershy up and down, turned her over, checked for a pulse, and lightly shook Fluttershy by the shoulders mumbling her name under her breath over and over again in disbelief.
Twilight and the others kept their distance, looking on in silence as none of them could find the words to say.
Finally, Rainbow Dash looked up at Twilight as shock gave way to grief and tears that had been pooling in her eyes began to slide slowly down her face.
“I…I didn't make it.” Rainbow Dash said helplessly.
Across the open plain, a flock of sleeping birds woke took to the air suddenly, startled by a bitter, strangled cry coming from a small clearing in the middle of a grassy plain.
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*sniffs*
So many feels....
You did it justice... *goes off to cry*
imageshack.us/a/img33/5764/likethischapter.jpg
o.o I has a lot of sads now. A whole lot of sads.
YOU MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I"M ACATUALLY FUCKING CRYING YOU SON OF A BITCH WHY 
Logically, the next death will be Bluefast.
relevant
Liked character interactions in this chapter. Disliked that their reaction to anti-magic venom broke my SoD hard.
On the one hand, 95% of settings where characters capable of magic interact with something with anti-magical properties break my SoD. I would be more willing to believe in not-anti-magical but very powerful and rare type of venom and Twilight simply not having enough control/perception to affect only poison by telekinesis and not knowing more specific spells(or them not existing) for this situation. Because the level of control over telekinesis nececcary to selectively affect only poison implies at least ability to rip out significant part of circulatory system and simply pump blood by TK. Or to destroy poison by selectively boiling/vaporizing/freezing blood. Or to teleport RD to Ponyville, cutting travel time almost in half. Or to use a thousand other ways.
On the other hand this chapter introduced something that can reliably and swiftly kill even an alicorn. Well, unless something gets retconned, handwaved or explained otherwise in (pseudo)technobabble.
So, SoD for this chapter broken. The only thing left is to re-read excellent dialogue and pretend that poison was not antimagical in nature, but contained narrativium. Or something else.
The beginning of the end, I suspect.
This chapter reminded me of the scene in Mother 3 where they found out Hinawa was dead.
images.wikia.com/smuff/images/e/e4/Nope_laser.gif
* starts chapter*
Me: Please don't die. Please don't die.
Little voice in my head: She's going to die.
*finishes chapter*
Little voice: I told you so.
Me: Shut up. *cries in corner*
Overall, I thought the chapter was pretty decent. However... the immense amount of stutters were very distracting and I think you overused them. A lot. It even got hard to read sometimes. A few here and there would be fine, just not on every other word in all of the dialogue.
2345602 however here is the clincher, twiligth could have moved the venom by moving the blood around the venom. the venom itself is anti-magic. forcing a few hundred white blood cells to latch on and then yanking them out would have worked.
2347489
Good to know! I used them to convey the fact that her voice was kind of fading, but if it makes the story difficult to read then I will cut back on them in the future
2347529
2345602
I know the whole "Antimagic Venom" sounds like an asspull (and in a way, you're right, it kind of is) but I hope to explain it a little better in the next chapter. It has less to do with the properties of the poison itself and more to do with the way everyone reacted to it
Re-read that passage that Spike read aloud from; there's one line in particular that was overlooked by Spike and Twilight when they were putting their plan of attack together
Note how they didn't even think of trying to find a way of contacting a certain omnipotent Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony who would be really put off if his only friend in the world at the moment were to suddenly die of magical snake's venom.
Major dissapointment was had at the unnecessary shipping. Loving RD as a sister would have been okay, but that was not likely what you were aiming for.
*Sigh.* I know I'm going to get flak for that. but I hope it's the last time it's mentioned.....
Otherwise, the chapter was Great.... pleasenotagain.
2348022
Who said anything about shipping?
2347529
Not truly my point. Yes, there are a lot of possible ways. Further detailed description of them doesn't matter much.
2347643
The only things I noticed that they truly overlooked are:
1. The fact that venom "renders most magical treatment ineffective" as opposed to Spikes' "Magical treatment doesn’t work"
2. Second stage of poisoning "and damage to the respiratory system leading to fluid in the lungs and uncontrollable coughing fits"
3. Third stage where the poison targets nervous system, decreasing serotonin and dopamin may or may not belong to this list - I don't know medicine/biology/chemistry enough to know effects of these chemicals for certain without resorting to wikipedia and if it is possible for them to be in first-aid kit.
1 isn't useful for this discussion - it is established in the chapter that Twilight isn't calm and/or knowledgeable enough to affect or impede poison in a significant way.
2 isn't very useful either - even if Twilight doesn't try to do anything on that front, it is stated that it is the third stage that leads to death.
3 may be useful for this discussion, may be not. Here the problem is that I don't know enough and wikipedia isn't very helpful in this situation.
So, this was unhelpful. On the other hand the fact that poison might have worked purely as a plot device(in order to shake Twilight's confidence in her magic and Rainbow's confidence in her speed, for example) is likely.
Will be waiting for the next chapter)
2347996
Good point. But in the series there is no established line of communication with him as far as I know. And unless I missed something - it wasn't introduced in the story.
All that assuming that he was freed in this continuity.
2348022
If the author needed further conflict and grief/angst on the part of mane 6(or, specifically, Twilight's and Rainbow's part) - the (implied) shipping might be justified.
2348491
No shipping? GOOD.
Now I can be ecstatic about this story again! :D
2348491 But looking back, it does look like Fluttershy might have said something else...
Write on.
Great writing and still too sad.
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I hate you so much right now.
For most of this chapter I was expecting Rainbow to show up and be all
, "I'm here in the nick o' time!"...then you went and crippled my feels with Fluttershy dying.
This made me cry, and no other fic has ever done that to me.
Congrats.
Damn... talk about a powerful chapter. You, good Sir, are an incredibly gifted writer.
I am only partway through the chapter but I am going to say it now. Idiots. When you have a lethal bite there is only one thing you can do. Tourniquet off the area and if necessary amputate. Fluttershy on 3 legs would be tons more useful than potentially ex-Fluttershy.
img.pandawhale.com/49765-Rick-Grimes-Feels-gif--The-Wal-8Aew.gif
The writing here is incredibly well done, but did Flutershy of all ponies really have to die?
This song suits the emotional tone of shy's death
.This scene is one of the most powerful scenes in the entire story because it finally makes twilight to realize that immortality is a curse and that she's can't stop it.But by paying the price of life within. RIP fluttershy
you will be missed.