> Fluttershy's Big Adventure > by Bookpony579 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy was awoken by the sound of birds chirping at her windowsill, as usual. She yawned and, after giving a quick thank-you to the birds in the form of some seeds, got ready for school. As she arrived at the breakfast table, her parents were already there. Like their daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Shy were quiet people who liked the simple things in life. Mrs. Shy looked similar to her daughter with a slightly darker shade of yellow skin with raspberry, curled hair and glassed. She just enjoyed gardening, and was often hired as one for her skills. Her husband had light green skin and swirled, grey hair and worked in a factory. They loved their daughter dearly even though her love of animals could be a little overbearing sometimes, as various creatures ranging from squirrels to even a bear often showing up under Fluttershy's care. "Good morning dear." Mrs. Shy greeted her daughter with a smile. "Good morning Mom. Good morning Dad." Fluttershy greeted while sitting. "Good morning." Mr. shy greeted with a smile too. While they ate, Mrs. Shy spoke up. "I just got an e-mail from your brother this morning. He says he's doing really well this time." "Oh really?" Fluttershy asked skeptically. Zephyr Breeze was Fluttershy's younger brother by about nine months. It was a well known fact among them that Zephyr was even lazier than Rainbow Dash. He was artistic and clever, but liked pushing off his chores to other people. It was so bad that he ended up getting kicked out of every school in the area and that his parents had to resort to boarding school as a last resort. Fluttershy loved him but wished he would just put a little bit more effort into his work. "Yup! He's really making the effort to turn himself around this time." Mr. Shy said with hope. Fluttershy remained doubtful. Sensing her daughter's doubt, Mrs. Shy decided to change the topic. "So...what are you girls learning today?" Despite their reluctance when they heard about their daughter being an Element, and the constant worry about the danger and attention she would face, they were proud at her heroics and loved telling about them to anyone who would ask. Fluttershy's eyes brightened. "Oh! Celestia is allowing us to bring in our pet's today! She's going to teach us about our 'familiars' and why their important to mages. Her parents nodded, despite not quite fully understanding the lesson as they weren't mages themselves. "So your only taking Angel in, yes?" Her mother eyed her suspiciously, knowing how Fluttershy liked to sneak in other animals to school even though it was against the rules. Fluttershy just gave her a nervous smile and a weak yes. She hated lying to her parents, but her animals were important to her too. Once they finished breakfast, Fluttershy said goodbye and stuffed Angel in her backpack (along with some other critters when her parents weren't looking) and headed to school. "...Alright students, do you have your familiars with you?" Luna asked. On her shoulder was an opossum who seemed to be listening intently to what she was saying. For this lesson, they were out in a field near CHS, so as not to cause a mess from the animals. The girls had their pets ready in the following order: Twilight, with an owl named Owlowiscious perched on her arm. (He was always very careful about his talons.) Applejack, with her faithful and energetic dog, Winona. Rarity, with her (rather prissy) cat, Opalescence. (or Opal, for short.) Fluttershy, with Angel Bunny of course. (Though he was as far from angelic as you could get without being a full-on demon) Rainbow Dash, with (surprisingly) a turtle ("tortoise") ....err, a tortoise named Tank. And Pinkie Pie, with her live baby alligator named Gummy. After getting confirmations from everyone, Luna continued. "Alright then. Now, while anyone can have a 'pet' in one form or another, a familiar has a few key differences. For instance, while you may have multiple pets, you usually have only one or two familiars at a time. They can be any animal from the classic cat, to even a wolf. The bond between an mage and her familiar is stronger than your bond with your other pets, and in some cases cases even your friends or family. You are connected on a somewhat spiritual and emotional level. Your familiar is here to help you whenever you need it." For a demonstation, Luna nodded at her familiar without saying anything and he seemed to nod in understanding. He immediately scurried off into the forest. After a for minutes, he came back with a bright, shiny apple, which he pawed off to Luna before resuming his place at her side. "As Tiberius just demonstrated, a familiar can sense your thoughts, feelings, and intentions. They can help you with your work and even guide you when you need it. A mage and her familiar are bonded from when they first meet, usually until one of them dies." Luna then set up some excursuses for the girls and their familiars. While some did great: "Atta girl Winona!" Others did not-so-great: "Come Opal, can you do it for mommy? Please?" This resulted in an irritated hiss before Opal finally completed the task. But nobody did better than Fluttershy and Angel. Despite Angels stubbornness and bad attitude, he willingly did whatever his master asked of him without hesitation. "Excellent work FLuttershy!" Luna praised. "You certainly do seem to have a knack for animals." "Are you kiddin'?" AJ asked jokingly. "Animals love Fluttershy! One time we had a wild raccoon stuck in our attic. Critter wouldn't let any of us come near it without makin' a fuss. But when Fluttershy got there, she had the thing eatin' out of the palm of her hand!" Fluttershy blushed shyly at the praise. She loved caring for animals for it's own sake. She could always seem to understand animals better than people. Animals didn't judge you, or try to get you to talk. They could seem to look past all that to the person she was beneath. Luna looked at her phone. "Alright everyone, it's time for us to head back. Remember: while we are allowing you to bring your familiars for this lesson, they are to remain the lair until you pick them up after school, is that clear?" Everyone nodded and began to head back. Their respective familiars at their sides. "Wasn't today fun Angel?" Fluttersy asked. The bunny seemed to roll his eyes at this. "Oh come now. It was nice to see the other familiars again, wasn't it? Oh! Maybe we should have a pet playdate soon!" "Fine. As long as there's carrots!" "Of course there will..." Flutershy's voice trailed off and she stopped as she processed what she just heard. She looked at Angel wide-eyed while the bunny just stood there gave her a confused look. "Umm...did you just say something?" She asked cautiously. "Yeah! I said I wanted carrots! And not those mushy 'processed' ones, but those fresh ones you get at the farmers market. The nice, crunchy ones." "Oh...ok." Was all Fluttershy managed to say before she fainted. > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy woke up in the nurse's office with her friends waiting for her. "What happened?" She asked, trying to remember earlier. "I don't know!" Rainbow exclaimed with worry. "One minute you were talking to Angel like always, the next your passed out on the ground!" Fluttershy rubbed her aching head. "Is that why my head hurts so much?" "Nah, that's probably from when we dropped you on the way over here." Pinkie said before receiving an elbow to the ribs curtsy of Rainbow. "What?" Fluttershy thought back to earlier. "It's so weird, for a minute I actually thought I heard Angel talking to me!" "Speaking of Angel..." Rarity help up a very worried looking bunny. "The poor dear refused to leave your side and wait in the lair with the other pets." Angel then hopped into Fluttershy's open arms. "Awww, were you worried about me?" She pet her little bunny as he snuggled into her. "You bet I was! Don't you go doing that again!" He said, trying to conceal his tears. Fluttershy's eyes widened again as she looked to her friends. "Umm....did anyone else hear that?" The other girls just gave her confused looks. "Hear what?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, what?" Angel asked too. Fluttershy was completely shocked. "That! You!" She turned back to her human friends. "You don't hear Angel talking?" "Talking? You mean like Spike?" Twilight asked, even more confused than before. "Darling, all we can hear are the same bunny noises he always makes." Rarity said, even more worried about her friend. "Are you sure your not just imagining things?" "I think I can help and tell you she's not." The girls turned to the door to find Luna standing there. "There's something you girls need to see." "Incredible!" Twilight gasped at what she saw. They girls were now back in the lair, staring into the Element's case. Specifically, the Element of Kindness, which was glowing the same way the Element of Honesty had before. "So this means...Fluttershy, you have your power!" Rarity exclaimed. "But...what?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "Haven't you guessed?" Luna asked her. "Don't you remember how you couldn't understand Angel before today, but now you can?" "So this means..." Fluttershy's eyes widened at the realization. Pinkie gasped. "YOU CAN TALK TO ANIMALS!" She said excitedly. "Well technically, she can understand animals now." Twilight explained. "Oh my..." Was all Fluttershy could say at the moment as she processed this information. "You mean someone else got their power before me again!?" Rainbow complained before noticing the dirty looks the others (sans Fluttershy) were giving her. She gave an awkward cough. "Oh! I mean...congratulations Fluttershy!" FLuttershy didn't respond, still thinking everything over. She walked over to where the other pets were playing. She looked, she listened, and she understood what the animals were saying, not just Angel, but all of them. She listened as they spoke in full sentences, having full conversations as though they were just another group of people instead of animals. It was all so new to her. "Fluttershy? Earth to Fluttershy?" Pinkie waved a hand in front of her face to grab her attention. Fluttershy snapped out of it and turned to the others. "What's wrong darling? I thought you would love being able to do this?" Rarity asked with concern. "There's nothing wrong, it's just..." Fluttershy struggled to come up with an answer. On one hand she was excited to be able to talk to animals. She always imagined them being able to speak to her like she spoke to them. She even liked to have imaginary conversations with them as she cared for them. But now that this was actually happening? There was her usual terror there to ruin it for her. The fact that she could understand these creatures, when no one else could. That she was even more different from everybody else than she was before. It was terrifying hearing them speak whereas before she only heard their regular animal noises. Fluttershy had never felt so conflicted before in her entire life. "Your nervicited!" Pinkie explained. "What?" Fluttershy blinked. "It's like you wanna jump up and down and yell "YAY ME!!"" Pinkie did exactly that before changing her tone. "But you also wanna curl up in a teeny-tiny ball and hide at the same time!" She then commenced to curl up into said ball on the floor. Then she got up, contorting her body in ways that shouldn't be possible until she stood up straight with her usual smile. "We've all been there!" she said reassuringly. Applejack draped a comforting arm around Fluttershy's arms. "As someone who recently got her own power, let me tell ya: it can be a little nerve wrackin' at first, but eventually you'll get used to it and even wish you had it before!" AJ smiled and Fluttershy joined her. "Thanks. Maybe I do just need some time to get used to it." "Still, this is so exciting!" Twilight said. "We'll need to run some tests immediately! This could revolutionize what we know about animal behavior and communication!" Twilight squee'd and continued to ramble on while Fluttershy continued to watch and listen to the pets. Her smile gradually faded as doubts entered her mind again. The day was a long one for Fluttershy, to say the least. During English class, the window was open. So while the teacher talked about the book they were reading, Fluttershy listened as two birds argued over where to place their nests. The teacher was not happy when she caught her staring out the window listening to the birds. In science, all Fluttershy could hear as the class gerbil complained about his squeaky wheel and how much he hated the food brand the teacher gave him. She was tempted to go over and help him until the teacher scolded her for not paying attention. Other instances like these continued in nearly every class. So for her, it was a relief when the day ended and she could go home. "Are you sure your ok?" Twilight asked when Fluttershy explained she would be missing band practice. "Yeah, I'm just a little tired today." Fluttershy said. Twilight looked at her with worry. "Fluttershy, if your still worried about your power, you know we're here for you right?" Fluttershy could only sigh. "I know, but I just need to be alone for a little bit to sort this out, ok?" Twilight could only nod in acceptance of this. Twilight forwarded this to the others later on at band practice. "I guess being able to understand what animals are saying is more taxing than I thought." Sunset said as she strummed up her guitar. "I hope the poor dear will be ok." Rarity said. "Aw don't worry about it. She'll come around, she loves animals!" Rainbow waved off her concern. "I hope so..." Twilight said. She then looked up and turned to AJ. "Applejack your brother is calling you." AJ looked confused for a moment until her phone started ringing and she saw who was calling. "Hey Big Mac, what's..." Her eyes widened at what she heard. "WHAT!?" "What's going on!?" Twilight asked. "Big Mac says theres a manticore rampaging right through Sweet Apple Acres! He said it just came from the Everfree forest and started acting crazy! We need to get over there now!" The girls then quickly packed away their instruments and were on their way. > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As soon as Fluttershy got home she collapsed on her bed, exhausted. "What's wrong Fluttershy?" Angel asked, hopping onto the bed too. "Oh Angel...it's just..." Fluttershy sighed and tried to figure out a way to word it without hurting her bunny's feelings. "...that actually being able to understand what we're saying is harder than you thought?" Angel finished for her. Fluttershy sat up in surprise. "What...how did you...?" Angel gave her a look that said, 'do you think I'm an idiot?' before saying, "Fluttershy, like that blue lady said earlier, I'm not just your pet, I'm your familiar. I can tell when your happy, angry and upset." Angel took a deep breath, putting on a softer face. "Look, I've SEEN what your capable of. I KNOW how strong you are, and it irritates me when you can't see it yourself and let things like this get to you. I don't know any other person who's better with us animals than you are. I know things are going to be different now, and I know it's tough, but I know your going to get through this, because if there's anyone who loves and knows animals more than anyone, it's YOU." Fluttershy had tears in her eyes as she picked up Angel and hugged him tightly to her chest, smiling all the while. "Thank you." "Your welcome. Now do you mind putting me down before you have to find a new familiar?" Fluttershy immediately obliged as Angel took several deep breaths. Suddenly Fluttershy's phone rang. As she listened to what Twilight was saying, Fluttershy gasped before putting the phone down "I have to get going! My friends are in trouble!" She quickly grabbed the keys to the van and went out. Angel watched this with a small smile. "That's my girl..." At Sweet Apple Acres.... The manticore destroyed a barrel bore roaring loudly. Destroyed equipment and torn down trees only served as a testament to it's strength and ferocity. "We gotta do somethin' before it destroys the whole farm!" AJ said with worry. "Ok, let's see if we can try to divert it back to the Everfree forest without hurting it." Twilight said, taking charge. At her behest, AJ tried using her strength to throw large rocks at it to scare it back in. However, it managed to doge them before trying to pounce at her. Thankfully a blast from Twilight prevented this, only for the manticore to focus it's attention on her now. It ran towards her, only to be met by Rainbow, Rarity and Pinkie Pie wielding a pitchfork, a scythe and, strangely, a torch. The three girls pointed their weapons at the beast, managing to drive it back a few steps before it swung out and managed to either break or knock out the items from their hands. "This isn't working!" Rainbow said, dodging at swing aimed at her. "Let's try to incapacitate it instead! We can release back in the forest afterwards." Twilight suggested. AJ got out her lasso and aimed it at the beast. Thanks to her strength, she was able to hog-tie it in a matter of minutes. "Hooo-weee! Beasty boy here wasn't so tough! Now let's get hime out before..."she was cut off as the manticore managed to break the roped and gave another loud roar. "Alright, no more Mrs. Nice girls!" Rainbow declared. She and the other girls lined up, preparing to face the beast head on. Just as they were about to attack... "STOP!!!" Fluttershy now stood between the girls and the manticore, arms held out to prevent them from further movement. "Fluttershy get out of the way!" Rainbow said, irritated that the moment had been ruined. The girls watched in surprise and horror as Fluttershy slowly approached the beast, being very careful not to be seen as a threat. "Shhh... It's okay. I'm here. Now, do you mind telling me what's wrong?" She asked, using the same gentile voice she used for all her animal charges. The manticore gave a sigh. "I didn't mean to cause trouble, I just wanted someone to help me get rid of this." He turned over his paw, revealing a sharp thorn that was stuck in it. "Oh, you poor, poor little baby." Fluttershy said. "Little?" Rainbow whispered to the others as they watched. "Now this might hurt for just a second." Fluttershy warned him as she quickly and effortlessly removed the stubborn thorn. Immediately the manticore pounce on top of her. "FLUTTERSHY!!!" The girls cried out in horror. This only lasted for a moment until they heard her giggling. The manticore wasn't trying to eat Fluttershy, it was licking her in gratitude while purring like a small kitten. "Aw you're just a little ol' baby kitty, aren't you? Yes you are, yes you are." Fluttershy gushed. The manticore stopped and stepped back, allowing Fluttershy to get to her feet. "Now, if this ever happens again, come see me instead of going on a rampage like this. You could have hurt someone." The manticore hung it's head in shame. "I know and I'm deeply sorry about all of this, but that thorn really hurt!" "I understand, now I think it's time you retuned home." The manticore wholeheartedly agreed and did just so after a heartfelt goodbye to his savior. After he left, her friends surrounded her. Pinkie engulfed her in a big hug. "Fluttershy that was simply amazing!" Rarity gushed. "Yeah! You walked up that manticore like a boss!" Rainbow exclaimed. "How did you that that?" Twilight asked in awe. "It was easy, I just showed it a little kindness." Fluttershy said. "So I reckon' you finally got the hang of your power?" AJ asked with a smile. "Yes. It might take a little getting used to, but this is my gift, and I'm going to use it to help any animal who needs it!" The girls were proud of Fluttershy's determination, and got together in a big group hug. The girls and Big Mac spent the rest of the day cleaning up Sweet Apple Acres, but celebrated their latest victory and Fluttershy's newfound purpose that night with a sleepover hosted by Pinkie. They hoped that all their powers would prove as useful as Aj's and Flutttershy's...