To Serve Bronies

by Fuzzy Necromancer

Fluttershy's Fishy Business

Fluttershy finished preening the tail feathers of Ishtar, her smallest laying quail. The bird finally hopped off her nest and allowed her eggs to be collected.

"Oh my, you're laying a lot these days, aren't you? I guess that new bulgar wheat feed is agreeing with you."

The bird clucked, maybe not understanding her words, but responding to the warm affection in her voice. The little quail tried to groom Fluttershy's feathers. Most of them were longer than Ishtar's wing, but the adorable thing diligently tickled away. She wondered if it thought she was another quail, or if this showed as much kindness as its little mind could express, or if it just had an instinct to reciprocate grooming. It was warm and living. Fluttershy loved it whether or not the quail could love her back.

Just as she finished filling out Twilight Sparkle's order, Angel came bounding up into her face.

"Oh hello Angel, is something wrong?"

Angel spat a chunk of purple carrot at her. "Did you not like the new carrots? Golden Harvest cross-pollinated them especially for you." She noticed that the skin was barely scratched. Angel had just bitten off this bit to throw it at her. He'd barely tasted it.

"I think you might enjoy them if you just try," Fluttershy coaxed. Angel just let his fear of new things overwhelm him sometimes.

Angel pouted and stamped his feet.

“Please do it for me Angel?” Fluttershy held back the stare. It was a useful expedient, but she didn’t deserve to have that…talent, if she had to use it all the time. Persuasion was better. Never use force when asking nicely can work.
Angel stuck out his tongue.

“I hope you’re not getting too tired out and bored with your surroundings,” she sighed. Fluttershy perked up. “Maybe you need a vacation! You could have a little sleepover with Spike and Owloicious. Would you like that?” Fluttershy leaned in very close and smiled at him.

Angel’s cute little face went blank. He picked up the purple carrot and started digging into it. Fluttershy reached out a wing and patted him on his head.

“There’s a good boy,” she cooed.

Angel finished the carrot, then let out a little hiccup of satisfaction.

“Now aren’t you glad you tried it?” Angel nodded, grudgingly.

Angel paused, looked around to make sure the coast was clear, then reached up and nuzzled her.

A high note echoed through the woods, and Fluttershy recognized the dull brown plumage of Flitter the Greenjay. She stretched up and let him land on her nose.

“Good morning Mr Flitter. How’s the egg coming along?” Mister flitter could lay eggs and had the subdued plumage of a female bird, but he indicated from his courtship displays and general demeanor that he identified as male. He didn’t always present that way, but when mating season came around he would fly over to the windowsill outside her crafting hut so she could dye his feathers a masculine silvery-teal.

Flitter gave her an affectionate nip of greeting, then sang out a familiar seasonal tune.

“Already? Have the beavers set up their dams to minimize the waterfall steepness?”
Flitter chirped in affirmative.

“Did Cloud Kickers put in the floating ramps? Is Lickity Split helping out with the hoof-operated water pumps? Oh, right, Buzzy the buzzard is checking up on the younger river crew.” She’d coordinated migrations and mating seasons before of course, but that had been under close supervision or just with her animal friends.

Ever since they repelled the rebel seapony incursion, Equestria had seen a rise in the piscine population. Maybe the reformed invaders had turned a greater focus on their stewardship of the ecosystem. Maybe it had something to do with pressure from Prince Bloodblood and the Gryffonian ambassador. Whatever the cause, a boom in deep-sea life meant a lot more frantic fish coming upstream, and that meant more coordinated mare-power to manage the situation. It was a bit like the hurricane job, only with some ponies she barely knew asking her for instructions instead of Rainbow Dash watching her back. Fluttershy coughed out a feather, and only then realized she’d been hyperventilating while chewing on her own wings.
Angel rolled his eyes, darted into the bush, and came out with a paper bag. Fluttershy panted into it and let out diminutive screams until she felt better. The work was almost over anyway.

A quick low glide took her across the uneven turf of lemongrass meadows to the point where Salmon Creek widened into a delta. Dozens of low-lying frogs sang in counterpoint to the loons and piping nagas. Swiss Navy Crabs waved their multifunction metallic pincers in territorial displays and minor squabbles while six-headed eels investigated the mud with their adorable dagger-shaped heads. This all served as a mere backdrop for the explosion of life to come.

“Excuse me, Ms. Fluttershy?” a thin, caramel colored stallion with curly pink locks asked. “We’re ready to pull the dike into place.” He indicated his willingness by chomping onto a bit, harnessed to the pulleys on a series of low-hanging silver sluice gates. The song of the wetlands almost drowned out his words.

“I suppose, if you don’t mind me taking the lead and I’m not being too domineering, you can go now,” Fluttershy said. She thought that sounded okay, with only a bit of tremor.

“What?” The stallion asked, digging some swamp mud out of his ear. “Were you talking to me or to Cherry Pie?”
Fluttershy took a deep breath. She remembered Iron Will’s assertiveness training, and then sitting with him through a lecture from Wild Fyre about the difference between assertive, aggressive, passive, and passive-aggressive. The rising tide added its own gurgles and flatulent moans as it churned up alkaline mud and pockets of flammable gas.

“Hit it Sweetstuff!” Fluttershy called out in what was, relatively speaking, a bellow, smacking him on the side for emphasis. He reared up, shaking the weeds from his crème de cacao cutie mark, and signaled to the rest of his earth pony team. They heaved forward and green-grey water started churning.

The impact wasn’t immediate, but the whole course of the creek had begun shifting. A few glowing will-o-whisps propelled their amorphous green forms over to feed on the rising gas and necromantic quasi-magical pulses. In minutes, foam topped the water and she could hear the roar of the approaching salmon. She hurried off to help Blossomforth with the sandcomber beach effort. Maybe she could help them skim the dud eggs off the top layer of churning water when the frenzy had finished.

Something about eggs niggled at the back of Fluttershy’s mind. Hadn’t Twilight Sparkle asked her for a little favor? Part of a magic experiment or tricky recipe?

Angel thumped his foot and pointed at the clock.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Thank you for reminding me of our tight time-table,” Fluttershy said, lowering a wing for him to climb.

Comments

[Rhulain]

.....this chapter seems.....pointless

[Captain Chaos]

Good to see this story isn't dead!

[jami6789]

Please write more!

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

3191982
Reread the start of "Research is Hungry Work". I'm setting up future points.

[Prime 2.0]

you can go now, ,”

comma comma

[GreyNoise]

A high noted echoed through the woods,

Fairly sure this should be note.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

3195980
Comma comma comma chameleon

[111segasonic]

3195787Awwwwwww