“Oh my...”
“You’re losing focus again.”
“I can’t help it! Everything is just, just so...”
“Strange? That is sort of the point of the exercise.”
“I know that! It’s just hard to stay calm when you’re doing... that.”
“Doing what?”
“That! Everything going everywhere...”
A playful laugh, familiar as can be, though decidedly malice-free. “Everywhere and nowhere, in and out and all about! Isn’t it wonderful?”
“You have a really strange concept of- oh my, Angel! Angel Bunny just went into that mirror!”
“Hmn? Oh, don’t worry, he’ll be back, eventually.” A moment’s thought. “Probably.”
“Discord!”
“I’m just teasing- he’ll be fine. He may come back with a new hat, though.”
“A wh- a hat?”
“Rabbits in hats. He’ll start a new fashion craze, you just watch.”
A breath of confused silence, marked only by the soft chiming of some cutlery bouncing around in its drawer as the cottage completed another gentle somersault. This would have been odd enough as it was, but it was much more interesting in that the cottage was somersaulting inside of itself. It’s probably best not to think too hard on just how that works, unless you have a number of degrees in theoretical physics.
It likely involves quantum.
“Oh, okay... I guess?”
“Just relax and take a deep breath. Don’t worry about whatever is going on. Ducks and water.”
“Um...”
“Water off a duck’s back. You know; waterproof waterfowl.”
“Oh.”
A spatula drifted by on its way to the ceiling. It was achieving this through the use of its fins. They were quite shiny. Fluttershy tried to ignore it.
It wasn’t exactly something that could be ignored.
“Discord...?”
“Hmn?”
“I... I think we need to stop.”
“Are you sure? I am trying to keep it pretty tame.”
“Yes, please... I need to have a lie down, and on something that isn’t currently in the shape of an alligator.”
“And Mister Bitey was being so polite.”
“It was attacking my side table.”
“Circle of life, dear Fluttershy.”
…
“Okay, okay- it was a joke! Sheesh... Just close your eyes and wait a tick.”
After a long moment, nothing seemed to happen. This was a relief. When she opened her eyes again, the cottage looked normal. She’d have to sand out the teeth marks in the side table, and for some reason her sofa was now a brilliant blue rather than the soft rose that it had been, but that was about the worst that she could see. It was still comfortable at least, and the cushions were also still perfectly capable to hiding her entire head, which was a bonus. Their material was just as soft and cooling as ever.
“You have to try and just let it all go through you.”
“I know.” Her voice was muffled by the velvet.
“Doesn’t matter if it’s a pony giving you a hard look or your chimney is blowing bubbles made of quartz: just don’t fret on it.”
“I know.”
“You were fretting on it.”
“I know.”
“Have you tried maybe not fretting on it?”
“Not really, no.”
A quiet sigh, and the gentle pat of a paw on the cushions currently covering her head. “Well, it was a full minute before you asked me to stop, and that was better than last week. Care for some tea?”
“Tea would be lovely, thank you.”
“Dajeerling or Assam?”
“Oh, um... Dajeerling, please.”
“Milk, sugar?”
“Just milk, please.”
“Ninety degrees, or poured from a boil?”
“Discord.”
“How come you can be assertive with me, but not with anypony else, hmm? This seems awfully unfair.”
The answer was tiny, little more than a mouse’s whisper, but marked nonetheless. “Maybe because you are easy to be angry at.”
“Yes, I can believe that.” They shared a friendly laugh as the kettle started to whistle.
The tea was aromatic and flavourful, with a warmth that settled in the stomach and spread to every limb. It might have been the hottest days of summer outside, but there really was nothing quite so good as a cup of fresh tea, no matter the temperature.
“I really don’t know if any of this is helping me...”
“Well, you held out longer than you had before, that is something to be proud of.”
“I know...”
“And really, do you think your average pony on the street could take her house being turned into chaos’ plaything? They’d run off screaming before you could say ferret in the tub.”
“My ferrets like the tub...”
“Probably because you invite them. Other ponies get uppity about those kinds of things.”
“Oh.”
“You really are doing well, though.”
“Thank you.”
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
A gentle sigh, slightly irritated, but still calm. “Fluttershy, it is hard to tell sometimes if you are being serious about this.”
“But I am being serious...”
“Yes, but it’s the way you say it- like you know, but have no intention of doing anything about it.”
“Oh.”
The look he gave her was one that quite implicitly pointed out what she was doing, but Fluttershy could only cough and glance away when this was fired in her direction. She slurped her tea, hoping the rudeness of it would prove a distraction.
“Has it been helping, at least a little?”
“Well...”
“It hasn’t, has it?” There was the briefest moment of embarrassed silence. “I suppose it doesn’t really translate well to everyday life.”
“It’s not that. It’s just... different. When somepony looks at me, I just freeze up and want to hide somewhere. It doesn’t matter so much about the weird things you can do here; that’s just... normal, somehow.”
“Please tell me you’ll tell Celestia that. I would love to see her face as she tries to figure that one out.”
A little giggle, quickly stifled when she saw the grin on his face. “It just isn’t the same,” she insisted.
“I suppose.”
A shared moment of perfect harmony, draconequus and pony, sipping tea from delicate cups decorated with shapes picked out in blue ink.
“There is always next week.”
“I’d like that.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely.”
Author's Note
Written over the course of two hours, while sauced off my head on strong Belgian ale.
I make no excuses.
