Fluttershy looked out at the pouring rain from her cottage. The downpour had churned the road into mud, and all else was silence. She wrapped up tightly in a down blanket and continued drinking her cocoa. She smiled, and flipped through a fashion magazine. She heard a shriek, and knocked over her cocoa. She dabbed at the hot liquid on her leg with the corner of her blanket, and walked to the front door.
"Hello?" She looked over the road from her doormat. "Is anyone there?"
Another shriek answered her. She trudged through the mud, listening to the shrieks increase in pitch as she came closer. She looked down at the source. A small red fox kit laid motionless on the ground, whining as she got closer. A wheel track was embedded in the mud around its shoulders, and its left front leg was twisted at an impossible angle. The rest of its body was covered in mud.
"You poor thing," She spoke calmly, and wrapped her blanket around it.
It whined as she lifted it up and placed it on her back. She walked as lightly as she could through the mud, and tracked it through her house as she entered. She delicately placed the kit on her couch, and unwrapped the blanket.
Mud and blood were thoroughly caked into its fur. A white sliver of bone was exposed through a gash on its back. The fox looked up at her, and whined weakly. Fluttershy looked around, her eyes wide.
"Discord?" She called, "I could really use your help."
There was no answer. She looked down at the fox and suppressed her tears. The kit was whining nonstop, each whine longer and weaker than the last.
"It'll be all right," She told it, "I'm going to get help."
She ran out of the house and onto the muddy path. She crossed empty streets and saw no one. She came upon a wooden lodge and began beating her hoof against the front door. She slammed her hoof against it, but hear no reply.
"Doctor Flummox!" She yelled, and shook the door.
She knocked down a note that she had not noticed off the door, and it fell into the mud. She picked it up, reading it quickly, and yelled, tossing it to the side. She turned around, reared up on her front hooves, and bucked the door of its hinges. It splintered and fell onto the linoleum floor inside. Fluttershy scanned the vet's office quickly, looking for anything she might find useful. She riffled through the desk, and found nothing but paper work. In a corner behind a desk, however, she found a black bag filled with bandages, needles, surgical tools, and medicine. She picked it up with her mouth, and ran outside, trampling the busted front door. She ran back through town and over the muddy path. She dripped rainwater and mud onto the floor of her cottage. She sat the bag by the door.
"Ok, pretty girl," She called out as soothingly as possible to the fox as she dug through the bag, "I'll be with you soon."
She looked back, and did not see the fox on the couch. Her eyes narrowed into pinpoints and she dove down, looking underneath the armchair and the sofa. She heard a whine in the kitchen and ran in. The kit was dragging itself around with its front paws, its back legs motionless. The fur on its back legs had been rubbed off where they had been dragged across the floor. Fluttershy lifted one of its hind legs, and the fox did not respond.
"Oh my," Fluttershy muttered.
She went back into the kitchen and grabbed the bag. She riffled through it, becoming increasingly more frustrated as she did so. She picked up the medicines and began looking them over, tossing them behind her in anger, until one caught her eye. The kit let out a long weak whine, and Fluttershy looked at the label on the medicine. Pentobarbital.
"It'll be ok." Fluttershy pulled out a needle and lifted the plunger, filling the reservoir with the liquid, "I'm so sorry."
She pushed the needle into the foxes numb leg, and pressed the plunger down. She stroked the kit's head.
"Hush now, quiet now," Fluttershy sobbed, "Time to lay your sleepy head."
"Hush now, quiet now," She sang as the kit's eyes grew heavy, "It's time to go to bed."
"Drifting off to sleep now." Fluttershy nuzzled the fox. "Exciting day behind you, Drifting off to sleep now."
Fluttershy cried as the animal went limp. "Let the joy of dreamland find you."
Discord moonwalked through the door sometime later. He considered doing some of his trademark chaos, but thought better of it. Fluttershy sat on the couch, her mane in her face and caked with mud. A used shovel stained the floor beside her. Discord patted her on the back.
"Hello, Discord," Fluttershy muttered without looking up, "What have you been doing today?"
"Oh, not too much," He looked down at her, "I've just had to protect the chicken coop from some varmints, been an all day task, but I think I got the last of them."
"Is that so?" Fluttershy stiffled a sob.
"Yes, there's just no clean way to get rid of those chicken snatching pests," Discord boasted, "But I took care of them."
Fluttershy hiccuped.
"So," Discord asked, "What have you been doing all day?"
"Nothing much." Fluttershy looked up at him, her eyes red and tears streaming down her face, "Just taking care of animals."
