> In Her Own Way
>  by BlueColton
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Only Hero
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


In Her Own Way


When Fluttershy heard the filly’s cries she came to an immediate stop. Like crashing headfirst into a brick wall forty feet in the air, the pegasus was momentarily disoriented. “Who is that?” Her sharp ears flopped this way and that, trying to home in on the sound.
She was traversing the skies above Whitetail Woods as a shortcut to the Beaverton residence. Fluttershy had been making house calls ever since Mr. Beaverton had injured his leg pushing a log he had no business pushing. He was stubborn, that one, which made him one of Fluttershy’s best customers. Granted she made no bits during these house calls but word of mouth spread, which meant Fluttershy was the world’s busiest outcall veterinarian.
The day was overcast but warm. Fluttershy took comfort in the gentle breeze that greeted her upon cresting the hill the locals called Hoof Hill. Fluttershy had used the hill as a point of reference when she traveled. It marked the halfway point between the Beaverton residence and her small cottage and was so familiar that she hardly noticed it anymore.
Carrying a saddlebag over her back, she eased her small but powerful wings so that she could glide on the current of air. Feeling the wind running through her hair, like the gentle hooves of a lover, or better yet, the tiny paws of little baby bunnies, Fluttershy felt a giggle coming along—a giggle which turned into a gasp upon hearing the cries.
“I know that voice,” Fluttershy said. It was a filly, of that she had no doubt. And even if she did the sound of some small defenseless creature—of which years of looking after animals had left her ears particularly attuned to—was enough to for Fluttershy to forget all her inhibitions and fears. There was a life at stake!
Rainbow Dash herself could not have flown fast enough to the filly’s aid. Like a pink, lemon blur, Fluttershy zipped through the trees so fast that they swayed in her wake, bending like reeds to the storm. “Hang on!” she said, hearing the child’s voice that much closer. The sound of an approaching mare might well scare off any potential threats like timber wolves or, Celestia forbid, manticores. It was unlikely she could scare off a manticore anyway, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying. Fluttershy could be frightening if the stakes were high enough.
She found the filly nestled against a rock, her head lolling to one side as she sobbed profusely. She was unaware of Fluttershy’s arrival even when she landed not five feet away. It took Fluttershy less than a heartbeat to recognize the filly. As if the displaced scooter weren’t evidence enough, the filly had a familiar coat of tangerine and dark pink hair. Her blue helmet, which was matted on her sweat-soaked forehead, was also a dead giveaway.
“Scootaloo!” Fluttershy exclaimed.
Hearing her name snapped Scootaloo out of pain long enough to look up and see Fluttershy’s concerned face. “F-Flutters-shy?” She sobbed. It was then that Fluttershy noticed that the filly was holding her left arm, which hung somewhat awkwardly from her shoulder.
“Good heavens! What happened?” Without giving it a second thought, Fluttershy nearly jumped atop the injured pony and began to look her over.
“I was…sniff…I was…was trying some new moves,” she struggled to say, “and then I…I…lost control…sniff…before I tripped and…and…”
Fluttershy consoled Scootaloo. “Shh. Don’t talk.” With trained hooves skilled in the art of healing, Fluttershy gently took Scootaloo’s wounded arm. She felt the filly wince as the pain shot through the appendage. “It’s okay, sweetie. I’m just going to take a look.” Scootaloo’s small frame trembled in Fluttershy’s grasp. One look was all the pegasus needed.
“It’s dislocated,” she stated in a matter-of-fact way. “Sweet Celestia! What were you trying to do?”
As Fluttershy hoisted her saddlebag off her back and began rummaging through it, Scootaloo, her eyes filled with tears and her voice trembling with effort, explained to the best of her ability. Now that Rainbow Dash was a full-fledged Wonderbolt, it left little time for the surrogate sisters to spend time together. It seemed like every weekend Rainbow was off doing some show or training with the Wonderbolts that days would go by before Scootaloo even saw her. Add on top of that list helping Princess Twilight protect Equestria, bearing the responsibility as an element of harmony, and leading the weather ponies to maintain nature’s balance, and Rainbow hardly had any time to spend with her number one fan.
While Scootaloo had her friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, there was no replacing the void left by Rainbow Dash’s absence. Rainbow was all Scootaloo ever wanted to be and strived to emulate her hero. Fearing that she wouldn’t be able to keep up with Rainbow in her new lifestyle, Scootaloo decided it was time to kick it up a notch. She’d try her hoof at becoming a professional daredevil. That way, she might be able to accompany Rainbow Dash on her assignments as a stunt pony.
With Sweetie Bella and Apple Bloom indisposed with other activities, she decided to train on her own. Whitetail Woods seemed like the best place to practice without interruptions, so that’s where Scootaloo was when performed a stunt that was dangerous even for a pegasus who could fly.
“Scootaloo,” Fluttershy began after she finished her story, “you shouldn’t have done that. I don’t think even Rainbow would have tried something that dangerous.”
That was saying something, Fluttershy knew. She thought about it as she studied the arm. Rainbow was both the bravest and most reckless pony she had ever known. Something of which Scootaloo described would be right up her alley, but Fluttershy couldn’t condone that kind of emulation. For all her gifts, Scootaloo wasn’t Rainbow Dash and trying to be so would only end up with her getting seriously injured.
She felt a sudden kinship with the filly at that moment. As far back as she could remember, Fluttershy wanted nothing more than to be other ponies. Ponies who were strong. Ponies who were brave. Ponies…who weren’t like her. She wanted to be Twilight Sparkle. She wanted to be Applejack. She wanted to be like Pinkie Pie and Rarity.
She wanted to be like Rainbow Dash.
But they weren’t here. What Scootaloo needed right now wasn’t a near-immortal princess or surrogate sister. What she needed was Fluttershy.
“Scootaloo,” she looked at her right in the face when she said, “I’m going to try to pop the joint back into place. This might hurt a little, okay?” Actually, it would hurt a lot but it needed to be done.
“No. Please!” Scootaloo pleaded. “I don’t want to.”
“It has to go back in, sweetie. You can’t move with a shoulder like that.”
Scootaloo kicked her lower legs feebly. Her back against the rock, she began to sob some more.
“Listen to me, sweetheart. I need you to be strong.” Fluttershy gently pushed a lock of sweaty mane out of Scootaloo’s face. Only when she opened her eyes again did Fluttershy smile. “I need you to be like Rainbow Dash, okay? She wouldn’t be afraid, right?”
That seemed to instill some sense of the brave and determined filly back into her consciousness. She took a deep breath and, after biting back a sniffle, nodded. Fluttershy told her to look away as she grabbed Scootaloo’s injured arm firmly. “Be brave, my little pony.”
A resounding crack was accompanied by a shocked scream that shook the Whitetail Woods. Fluttershy wasted no time. While Scootaloo was near passed out from the pain, she quickly rummaged through her saddlebag and went to work on making a sling for the arm. She has some ice packs she intended to give to Mr. Beaverton to help with his leg injury. She was sure he would understand and wouldn’t mind him using it to aid a poor, little filly.
Fluttershy worked like a machine. She understood the situation, knew what had to be done, and did it. Years of practice with injured animals, not to mention more than a few courses in emergency medical treatment, had helped prepare her for just such an emergency. For all her thoughts on how inferior she was most of the time, she was just the pony Scootaloo needed at that moment. It as as if all the ridicule, all the lonely days without friends, were leading her to this point in time when a pony’s life rested in her hooves.
No doubt Twilight knew a few healing spells and Applejack more than likely had her fair share of medical expertise being raised on a farm with sharp objects and a baby sister, but when Scootaloo finally opened her eyes there was only Fluttershy.
“How do you feel?” Fluttershy asked. She had placed the injured arm in a sling which she made sure to keep close to Scootaloo’s body. Fluttershy had applied ointment on the scratches along the surface of Scootaloo’s arm to prevent infection from settling in before wrapping them in bandages. Right now, she was holding a bag of ice atop the girl’s shoulder.
“Cold,” Scootaloo said.
Fluttershy chuckled. “That would be the ice. I’m trying to keep the shoulder from swelling up. We should get you to a doctor soon.”
Though Scootaloo had been wearing a helmet—which was a good thing too else she might really have been hurt—Fluttershy had removed it so that she could wipe the sweat from her brow. It was lying next to Scootaloo, right where her good arm now rested. Feeling something familiar seemed to help Scootaloo recuperate. It was a physiological therapy that Fluttershy was quite familiar with. When she was little and had to go into surgery to remove her tonsils, the first thing her mother gave her upon awakening was her stuffed animal, Mr. Pansy, named after the legendary pegasus founder of old. Having Mr. Pansy there made Fluttershy’s recovery that much faster, because in her mind Mr. Pansy always made things better.
Looking at Fluttershy’s handiwork made Scootaloo’s mouth drop. “Did you do all this?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yup. But you still need to go the hospital. They have the equipment and the training to…”
“Cool!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “Where’d you learn to do that?”
“Oh, here and there.”
“Where’s that?”
Fluttershy shrugged. “I picked things up over the years. When you’ve been around as long as I have…”
“Thanks, Fluttershy!” The filly tried to move. She extended her one good arm in an attempt to hug her savior, but all she would up doing was hurting herself again. “Ow!” Wincing, Scootaloo fell back against the rock. “That really hurts.”
“Well almost breaking your arm will do that to you.” Seeing the filly in good spirits gave Fluttershy cause for relief. She knew that Scootaloo still needed immediate medical attention, but knowing she was able to stabilize her injury took a heavy burden off her delicate shoulders. Quickly, she began putting her supplies away. “We should get going. It will be dark soon and if you think you’re cold now just wait until night falls.”
With Fluttershy’s instructions, Scootaloo held the bag of ice to her shoulder while she packed up. After putting Scootaloo’s scooter in her saddlebag and hoisting it on, Fluttershy regarded the small pegasus. “Are you feeling okay to travel?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry. With your help I can make it to the hospital.”
“I’m sure you do.” Fluttershy knelt to her stomach. “Hop on. I’ll try to fly as quick as I can but we have to be careful. Remember to keep the ice on at all times.”
Putting her helmet on without the straps, Scootaloo carefully got on her hind legs. She used the rock as support and took a deep breath before, gently, climbing atop of Fluttershy’s back. The flight to Ponyville General didn’t take that long at all. True to her word, Fluttershy was both fast and careful, ensuring the journey was as painless for Scootaloo as it was brief. Once they arrived, Fluttershy quickly checked in her small friend, leaving her in the capable hooves of Nurse Redheart and her staff.
The injury wasn’t as bad as previously feared, to Fluttershy’s continued relief. Had she not arrived when she did, the shoulder might have become swollen. The pain would have been too great for Scootaloo to move. She might never have made it back all by herself, possibly never returning at all. 
Fluttershy promised herself she would have a talk with Rainbow Dash when she got back from training. Being an idol was good and all, but being a responsible idol was more important. Sometimes putting yourself on such a high pedestal was dangerous. Others would try to climb to reach those same heights, only to fall and hurt themselves. Sometimes, she feared that her pegasus friend loved herself more than Scootaloo did.
Well champion of Equestria or no, Rainbow was about to get an earful.
When Nurse Redheart admitted Fluttershy to visit Scootaloo, she found the filly in better spirits. “How are you feeling, Scootaloo?”
The filly looked up from her hospital bed. She had a full arm cast instead of the hastily-improvised sling Fluttershy had created in the forest. She looked stronger too, and ready to get into more trouble.
“I feel great. Well, good. Well, like I’m not about to pass out from a broken arm,” Scootaloo chuckled.
Fluttershy joined her. “I’m glad. Nurse Redheart says she’s alerted your parents and that they are already on their way back from that business trip in Canterlot.”
Scootaloo smiled. “That’s good.”
Fluttershy glanced outside. “Oh my. Is it that late already? Mr. Beaverton must be wondering if I’ve gotten lost.” She turned to leave. “I’m sorry to leave like this, Scootaloo. I was on my way to visit a patient when…”
“Fluttershy?”
The element of kindness regarded her. “Yes, Scootaloo.”
“Can you stay a while? I mean, until my parents get here?” Scootaloo looked at her with those large eyes of hers, coals of pure innocence. Subconsciously rubbing her cast with her hoof, she said, “I…I’d like to hear more about how you learned to do all that stuff. Maybe you could…teach me?” She asked.
“Really?” Fluttershy said. “You mean, you really want to learn?”
“Well yeah. I might not have an arm right now if it wasn’t for you. That stuff saved my life. You’re like…a hero!”
In all her years, Fluttershy had been called many things. Most of them were not flattering in the least. She had friends who loved her and relied on her. Ponies looked up to her. She was a respected member of the community. But she had never been called a hero before.
Feeling her face redden, Fluttershy began to paw at the floor. “Oh…um…I’m not really…that is…that’s nice of you to say but…”
“Then I’ll say it again,” Scootaloo cut her off. “You’re my hero. Now will you get over here and teach me how to make a sling?”
Fluttershy looked out the window again. Mr. Beaverton wasn’t one of her most patient customers, but his leg was healing just fine. She was sure he’d understand if she was more than a little late given the circumstances. Besides, she couldn’t leave a little filly all alone now could she?
“Well…okay.” Smiling, Fluttershy pulled up a chair. “Though it is pretty boring.”
“After what happened today, I can deal with boring.”
Laughing, Fluttershy began to recount to Scootaloo the long and “thrilling” history of emergency medicine. Scootaloo listened intently, her brain absorbing all of Fluttershy’s years of acquired knowledge. She’d ask a question here and then, oftentimes deviating from the subject matter at hoof. It wasn’t long before she was asking Fluttershy about where she grew up and when she decided to become a veterinarian. Fluttershy, her heart swelling with pride, answered every question. Even asking a few of her own.
They talked well into the night.