Somewhere to Be

by NoPonyInParticular

Rating: everyone
Tags: Gilda, Pinkie Pie, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Comedy, Rarity, Fluttershy
Length: 5822

This is a story about Fluttershy being sidetracked on her way home. Criticism highly encouraged.

While spending some time with Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy realizes that it's time to head home. She has several animals that all need to be fed after all. There wasn't an urgent need to be home though, as she had an entire hour to get there. An hour would be enough time to take a walk through town and still make it home...right?

Published 2012-04-13 12:54:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-04-13 12:54:02 UTC

Chapter 1

Fluttershy sat at a table with Pinkie Pie in a fairly new ice cream parlor that was a couple of blocks away from the town market. The shy mare looked down at her strawberry swirl ice cream as a few strands of her mane fell in front of her eyes. This was the first time in a week that Fluttershy actually sat down with Pinkie Pie and talked to each other. Fluttershy had guilt hanging over her head like a gloomy cloud because she had lost her place in the story Pinkie was currently engaged in, and she couldn’t just stop her in the middle of it and ask her to repeat herself. That would be rude, or at least that’s what Fluttershy thought. She looked up at the pink earth pony and tried with all of her effort to pay attention to what was being said now.

“And then Lyra asked me ‘Do you know what kind of gift I can give to a friend as a way of saying I’m sorry that I embarrassed you in front of everypony?’, and then I said ‘Of course silly-filly! Get your friend chocolate. I mean, what pony doesn’t enjoy chocolate?’ I looove chocolate! Chocolate chips, chocolate shakes, chocolate bars, chocolate covered peanuts, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate frosting, chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, hot fudge sundae, chocolate fudge, chocolate chips, chocolate-Oop! I already said chocolate chips. Let’s see, um, ummm Ooh!! Chocolate fountains, chocolate truffles…”

It was pointless to continue trying so hard to keep up with the hyperactive pony. Fluttershy loved her good friend, but she found that it was impossible to keep up with all of the mare’s wild stories after losing her focus for even a moment. Defeated, Fluttershy nodded her head every now and again hoping that her friend wouldn’t call her out for not paying attention.

“…chocolate sticks, chocolate bunnies, chocolate smores, and chocolate flavored chocolate!” As the giddy pony finished her long list of chocolate related treats, she licked her lips and began drooling a puddle of saliva into her now empty ice cream bowl. After making herself hungry for chocolate, Pinkie Pie looked around for a moment as if she had no idea where she was. She put a hoof to her chin and wondered aloud “what were we talking about?” The silence that filled that thought and the thought that followed didn’t last for very long. “Oh yea! I was in the middle of telling you about everything I did over the week! So then I waved goodbye to Lyra, met up with you at this nifty thrifty ice cream place, and talked about all the things I did over the week. Ya know, like how I had this huge cupcake order. One thousand red velvet cupcakes by the end of the week! It was a really busy week, but Mr. and Mrs. Cake and I managed to pull it off. Then…”

“Oh good” Fluttershy thought to herself. “Maybe she won’t realize that she’s telling her story again. Now I can catch up and I won’t feel bad for not paying attention…Wait, what was that about cupcakes?” Just as the thought entered her mind, it was too late. She was lost again.

“Oh! Silly me.” Pinkie Pie casually said while putting a hoof on her forehead. “I already told you all this stuff!” She had one of her distinct laughing fits where she snorted every other second. With a deep breath afterwards, she began again. “Aaaaanywho, what’ve you been up to over the week Fluttershy?”

Finally. There was a way out of having to listen to every word she said. “Um” she started. “I can’t say my week was as exciting as yours”. For any pony else, her voice would have been considered a hushed whisper. “I helped Twilight with her studies on mythical creature anatomy by calming a live hydra, and then I went to Sweet Apple Acres with Rainbow Dash to help Applejack get rid of her dead apple trees. I…” She swallowed. “I wasn’t that much help”. She remembered all too well struggling to keep her end of the large tree aloft while they moved them out of the way.

Pinkie Pie sat there with a huge smile over her face. After a couple of seconds passed, she finally broke the silence. “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that. Do you mind repeating yourself?”

The light yellow mare blinked. That had upset her greatly, but she decided not to pursue that train of thought. “Oh, umm, sorry. I’ll start over.” Just as she was about to start again, she remembered something from Pinkie’s story: The Chocolate Bunny. Why was she remembering this? She thought about it for a little longer. Chocolate Bunny…Bunny…Angel. The ponies’ eyes suddenly grew wide and distraught as she checked the clock. “Oh” The nervous pony let out a sigh of relief. “I still have some time left” she thought to herself. “I can’t believe I lost track of time like that”. After assorting the thoughts in her head, she looked at her friend across the table. “Um, Pinkie? I have to go soon. It’s almost dinner time, and my animal friends are all probably getting a little hungry.”

“Okie Dokey Lokey” Pinkie responded. “It’s not a problem. I understand. It was nice talking with you” She said as she got up and gave her a quick hug.

After having eaten a nice treat with her friend and doing some catching up, Fluttershy decided it was time to make her way home. She considered the option to fly to the cottage in the tree she lived in, but she still had an entire hour before she had to be home. The pokey mare was in no particular hurry to get back either and it only took ten minutes to get there by hoof from the market. Besides, her wings were still a little sore from all that heavy lifting at Apple Acres. It was a nice day outside and there wasn’t any reason not to walk, so that’s what she did. Before she could make it too far, she heard the familiar cry of a friend.

“Fluttershy, darling~” There in the distance was a white unicorn trotting toward the light yellow pegasus. Her wavy purple mane bounced with each step she took, but her blue eyes seemed a little less sparkly than usual.

“Oh. Hello Rarity. How are you?” Fluttershy noting that her friend looked like she was distressed about something.

“Simply dreadful” Rarity confirmed. “My days as a fashionista are over! I might as well turn in my sewing machine and sell my boutique, for I am no longer fit to design dresses!”

“Oh dear” Fluttershy replied. This wouldn’t have been the first time her friend overreacted to bad news, but it isn’t often that Rarity would threaten to give up her greatest passion as a result. “What happened?”

Rarity rubbed her forehead with her hoof, and then used her unicorn magic to pull out a scroll. As the piece of parchment unraveled, she cleared her throat and began to read aloud. “Salutations Ms. Rarity. I am in desperate need of a dress. It doesn’t matter what color the dress is, and it should be made to fit any mare of average build. Furthermore, I would like this dress to be complex and basic. I will be there to pick it up tomorrow at around three o’ clock…oh, and there’s no sender written down”.

“Oh my” Fluttershy started. She opened her mouth as if to speak but shut it just as quick. While the letter is incredibly vague, it seems a little too silly to react the way Rarity did. Again, this wasn’t the first time it had happened, but there was something off about the entire thing. After thinking of the appropriate words, she started again. “Gee Rarity, that sounds hard. Why not decline the offer?”

“That would have been the first thing I did, darling. Really”. She took a breath and leaned in to whisper something. “Have you ever heard of Ms. Anonymous?”

There were a couple of memories about hearing that name through idle conversation in Fluttershy’s mind, although there weren’t any actual conversations she was engaged in that involved that name. She wasn’t entirely sure where it came from, so she decided to bite. “No. I haven’t heard of Ms. Anonymous. Who is she?”

“That’s the million bit question, isn’t it? No one knows who she is, but there are a couple of things we do know about her”. The scroll that had the request printed on it folded itself back up and in its place floated the copy of today’s newspaper. It flipped open to the opinions and perspectives page as Rarity cleared her throat again. “Ms. Anonymous, for starters, is a critic who writes for an article under her pen name. She targets small businesses with a letter requesting the product that particular business specializes in. She may target a wide scope of businesses, but all of the letters share two things in common: They’re all incredibly vague, and they all have no sender. Her purpose, from what I can tell, is to test the business’s ability to fill out a requested order with as few details as they can” She stopped to brush her mane out of her face. Then, as an afterthought, she added “Ms. Anonymous is what’s in right now. You couldn’t walk three blocks without hearing that name either. Her little column is like a game, really. Not only that, her name just sort of rolls off the tongue, don’t you think? Ms. Anonymous” she repeated once more.

There was another silence that filled the air. For something that is as popular as Rarity made it out to be, she had only heard the name said at least three or four times in the past week. Was it something new? The quiet mare didn’t read the newspaper all that often and relied on conversations with her friends to figure out what was new in the world of Equestria. “So, um, this Ms. Anonymous is coming to your boutique to criticize your dresses, and you don’t feel confident about making it?

The unicorn let out an abrupt and sharp laugh. “Oh no no no. Don’t be ridiculous dear. I could make that dress with one hoof over my eyes and be done in time to make two more.”

“Oh...” Fluttershy looked at the floor for a brief moment before coming back up to meet Rarity’s gaze. “Then…what’s the issue? Why were you saying that you’ll need to close up the boutique?”

“Sweetie Belle took off with all of my mannequins like she were some lowly cat burglar. No doubt she and her little friends are coming up with a way to desecrate my beloved mannequins”. She took a breath. “I’ve been out here trying to find her for at least an hour now”. Now finished with her story, she eyed Fluttershy from top to bottom. “Fluttershy…how good would you say you are at standing still for lengthy periods of time?”

There it was. The mare had an itch that told her that this conversation would head in a direction she wouldn’t like, and now it was finally out in the open. As she swallowed, Fluttershy decided to answer honestly. “I would say that I can. Why would you like to know?”

“It would be awfully tricky to make a dress fitted for an average pony without measurements now wouldn’t it? It would be like...” she put a hoof to her chin and looked up at the sky inquisitively. “It would be like a baker trying to make a cake without a recipe”. She looked a little satisfied with her simile. Planting both hooves on the ground, she continued. “Could you do me a favor and come to my boutique for about half an hour? I just need someone who’s extraordinary at standing still for that long so I can take in some measurements”.

“Oh, but…” Before Fluttershy could finish, the white unicorn leaned her head in closer and looked at the pink maned mare with a set of huge eyes.

“It would mean the world to me, darling. I promise it won’t take very long” she fluttered her long eyelashes to seal the deal.

“Well…” What was Fluttershy supposed to tell her friend? “I’m sorry Rarity, but I have to go home and feed my animals because they’re more important than you”. She played the words over and over in her head, and she had a bitter taste in her mouth every time she heard that combination of words in that order. This wasn’t acceptable. She had an entire hour to walk home, and she would have enough time afterwards to brew herself a pot of Zecora’s herbal tea. Thirty minutes would not be that much of a loss, and she would be helping out one of her best friends. The boutique was on the way home anyways.

“Well what?”

“Um…yes. I’d be happy to help you out.”

“Ooooh!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!” Rarity almost knocked her new model over when she reached in to hug her tightly.

“It’s, um, my pleasure”. As her friend dragged her off in the direction of the boutique, Fluttershy couldn’t help but wonder if she had done the right thing. “No no, of course I’d done the right thing” she dismissed almost immediately. Thirty minutes standing still wouldn’t kill her animal friends…would it?

It had been a very uneventful thirty minutes. By the time Fluttershy was out of the boutique, her joints were stiff and her legs ached. “Come back soon, darling~” Rarity called one last time before retreating into her place of business. Now that Fluttershy had been helpful to somepony, it was seriously time to get back to her cottage. As she got the blood pumping to her legs again, she let her mind wander. Who was Lyra? Was that one of Pinkie’s friends? The thought made the timid pegasus bite her lip because it felt like it was somepony she should know. For that matter, what did Sweetie Belle want with all of those mannequins? Fluttershy knew all too well about the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and their quest to crusade for their cutie marks. Where did the mannequins fit into this?

"Coming through! Look out!!

CRASH!!

Just as those words registered into her mind, Fluttershy found something very hard tackle into her side. It sent her up off of her hooves as she flew into the brick wall of one of the buildings. There was an audible sound of wooden planks breaking. As Fluttershy sunk to the stone paved roads, she looked over to see her assailant. In the wreckage of what used to be a carrot stand laid Rainbow Dash. The light blue pegasus stirred before sitting herself up. She groaned a little before looking at Fluttershy. She gasped.

“Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! Are you okay Fluttershy?!”

To be honest, that really hurt. Fluttershy was surprised that the collision with the wall didn’t knock her unconscious. She decided that it would be best not to worry her. “I’m fine. You just scared me is all”.

Rainbow Dash finally found her bearings and was in the air again. “Sorry about that” she continued. “I was in the middle of practicing this new formation and I hit one of the clouds too hard. Next thing I knew, I found myself flying through the middle of the market.

“Of all the different ponies out here today” Fluttershy thought to herself as she stood up, “It had to be me”. As her thought finished, she fell down again. Even though the pain was starting to wear off, she was still very dizzy. Before she tried again, Rainbow Dash wrapped her forelegs around the dizzy pegasus’ waist and hoisted her up. “Thanks” she responded.

“Think nothing of it…Say, do you mind if we talk for a bit?”

“Um…Actually, I need to be somewhere”.

“No worries. We can walk and talk” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered next to Fluttershy.

“Oh. Alright. There’s nothing wrong with that”. She started walking again. Fluttershy only took a couple of steps before realizing there was a bit of a limp in one of her hind legs. Before her mind could put the pieces together, Rainbow Dash interjected.

“Hey Fluttershy. What’s wrong with your leg?”

“It’s probably from earlier. I’m okay walking though.”

“Why not just fly? That would take the weight off of your leg” Rainbow Dash did a frontal flip in the air as she spoke.

“Well, my wings are still a little sore from a couple of days ago” Fluttershy mumbled.

“What, you mean from when we moved those dead trees?” the rainbow maned pegasus began laughing uncontrollably. She gently drifted around Fluttershy as she laughed harder and harder. After getting a hold on herself, she wiped a tear from her eye and began to speak again. “Man Fluttershy, you are the weirdest pegasus I know. I mean, you spend almost all of your time down here on the ground! And seriously? Our work on Applejack’s farm was, like, 3 days ago. Your wings should be rested up…by…now” Rainbow Dash hesitated with her last sentence. Perhaps what she said was a little too harsh. Well, harsh for Fluttershy’s standards anyways. It was difficult to adjust herself to a pegasus who was afraid of nearly everything and offended as easily. However, Fluttershy had been getting better at being brave, and she was getting better at flying. “Well, um, I mean…” She had to choose her next words carefully.

“It’s okay Rainbow Dash” the silent pony interrupted. “I like it down here on the ground. It makes up for me not being a great flyer”.

“What?! Who told you that?”

“No one told me that. I just know that I’m not a very good flyer”. As wonderful of a friend as Rainbow Dash was to Fluttershy, she wasn’t really in the mood to talk at the moment. Between her wings being sore and her legs aching from the earlier crash, the first thing she wanted to do after feeding her animals was to relax on her couch. Before she could finish her thought, her athletic companion flew out in front of her and planted both hooves on her shoulders.

“Fluttershy, I want you to look me in the eyes” Rainbow Dash commanded. Her shy friend did as much, but Fluttershy’s pink and flowing mane hid the little ponies face like a curtain. “Not like that!” she groaned. She gently but firmly grabbed the strands of mane blocking the pegusus’ face and brushed them off to the side. Now that there was nothing to shield Fluttershy’s eyes from other ponies, she gave the mare a mildly stern but concerned look. “Listen to me Fluttershy. You are not, I repeat, you are not a bad flyer. For the love of Celestia, you helped us get up to eight hundred wing power”.

“I know…but it was still only two point three wing power. Every bit counts, I know…b-but I could never compare to any of those other pegasai if I were on my own…especially you”. The light blue mare let go of the discouraged pegasus and thought for a minute.

“Well…yea. But that’s not your fault. No pony can be as awesome as I am” she grinned. Perhaps that was the wrong thing to say? Fluttershy appeared more discouraged than before. As her grin melted away, she thought of something to say. “Look…Do you want to know what qualifies in my book as a good flyer? A good flyer isn’t some pony who knows a bunch of fancy tricks for the sake of showing off. A good flyer isn’t some pony that wins every race and secures first place at everything they compete in. The one thing that truly matters is that you’re making a conscious effort to better yourself. Fluttershy, you somehow managed to go from point five wing power to two point three in such a short span of time. If that isn’t progress then I don’t know what progress is…I don’t like to see you beating yourself up for not being the absolute best, alright? If you’d stop comparing yourself to every pony else and just look at yourself and your own abilities, I promise that you won’t feel so bad about yourself…now I don’t want to hear you saying you’re not a good flyer again, okay?”

That was…unexpected, to say the least. Fluttershy stood there staring at her friend as if she were trying to process every individual bit of information that came from Rainbow Dash’s mouth. Her words of encouragement inspired Fluttershy. “Thank you Rainbow Dash. I guess I needed to hear that. I’m feeling a little better”.

“Yea, yea” Rainbow Dash said while waving her hoof dismissively. “No need to get all mushy on me”.

The rest of the walk was spent engaged in idle conversation. Other than Rainbow Dash’s two tickets to see a live performance from the Wonderbolts and an incident in the Everfree Forest that involved a filly stuck in a tree and a field full of poison joke underneath, there wasn’t anything that Fluttershy would remember. Something about their walk seemed a little off, and it wasn’t until they reached the school when Fluttershy realized what was wrong.

“Oh dear” she said frantically. “Oh dear oh dear oh dear!!” The nervous pony was bouncing in her spot as though she were standing on a bed of hot coals. Somewhere along their walk, they had begun walking in the opposite direction of Fluttershy’s cottage. “Oh no, oh no! What time is it?!?”

“Woah! Calm down Fluttershy!” The rainbow maned mare could see just how upset it made her friend. So much in fact that she was on the verge of tears. “Umm…the time…” Rainbow Dash looked around until she saw a desk clock sitting on a package in a passing carriage. “The time is ten past five”.

“What?!?” Had they really been talking for forty minutes? How could this happen? The first course of action that entered her mind now was to panic. What would panicking solve? It would definitely make her feel better, but that wouldn’t solve her problem. She took a deep breath, bit back any tears she might have been shedding and galloped off. “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy yelled back. “I have to be somewhere, and it’s really important!”

The confused pegasus simply floated in place as she watched Fluttershy run off like that. Where was she going in such a hurry? From the way she walked earlier, Rainbow Dash concluded that she was in no condition to be running somewhere. “Darn it Fluttershy…” Rainbow Dash decided it would be wise to follow the panicked pegasus secretly in case she hurt herself further.

It hurt to run. The pain coursed through her limping leg, but she didn’t care. The greatest concern that ran through Fluttershy’s mind at this moment was to get home and feed her animals. If she could just push through for a little longer, she would be back home before the animals would starve. She would get there even faster if she used her wings. “My wings aren’t that sore anyways. It would be a lot better than trying to run on a bad leg” the little pony concluded to herself. Having decided that was what she would do, Fluttershy spread her wings and took to the sky. Before she could get very far, she collided with something in the air and fell to the ground. “Oof!” Fortunately, it wasn’t that far of a drop. When she looked up to see what she hit, she was greeted by a familiar looking gryphon that towered over her.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” the agitated gryphon spoke.

Having heard that voice, Fluttershy instantly remembered who this gryphon was. She swallowed then proceeded with “G-Gilda?”

Gilda simmered a little and looked at the Pegasus with a puzzled look. “Do I know you?” She asked. It had been a while since anypony last saw Gilda. The memories of Fluttershy’s first meeting with Gilda were coming back. It made her heart sink. What was she doing back in Ponyville? If the boisterous gryphon didn’t remember who she was, maybe she had a chance to avoid confrontation.

“S-So sorry, I must be mistaken for someone else. I-I-I have to go!” With that sudden outburst, Fluttershy flew off.

“H-Hey, Wait a minute! How did you know my name?!” Gilda spread her enormous wings and took chase. “Answer my question” she yelled out.

“Oh dear” the nervous pegasus panicked to herself. She flew lower to the ground to see if she could throw the gryphon off. As Fluttershy would soon learn, this would become a bad idea. Now that she was flowing close enough to the ground, she had to dodge and weave around the other ponies, buildings, carriages and other obstacles. This caused quite the scene, as some of the other earth ponies followed along to see what was happening.

“You think you could out fly me? ME?! You can barely fly at ground level!” With a grin, Gilda was closing the gap between her and Fluttershy. In the distance there was a mint green unicorn balancing a chocolate cake on her back. It looked like the pegasus she was chasing was about to crash into her. Just as the unicorn ducked down, Fluttershy took a sharp turn upwards and flew up above the town. “Hey!” Before the distracted gryphon could react, she crashed into the unicorn. The chocolate cake she had been balancing on her back flew up into the air and landed on Gilda’s head with a splat.

Fluttershy looked down on the spectacle. She let out a sigh of relief as she flew off towards her cottage. “Thank goodness that’s over with” she thought to herself. “I’m almost home. Just a little further”. Her small house was now in view. The familiar sight of the tree that was made to be her home was heartwarming. Just as she was thinking of something to say as an apology to all of her animals for being so late, Gilda flew up in front of Fluttershy and let out a loud roar. Gilda glared at her with cake dripping from her face. She couldn’t do anything but whimper.

“What’s your problem?!” The now furious gryphon was flying closer to the cowering pony. “I ask you a question and you run off! What, am I not good enough to talk to?! Now, you’re going to tell me how you know my name, or I’m going to get it out of you myself!” She flashed her claws to Fluttershy as if to show her what this enraged beast would do to her if she didn’t cooperate.

“I, uh, mm…nngh, baa…nnn…friee” she sobbed. She tried with all of her might to squeeze something out. Anything would do. Unfortunately, all she could muster was gibberish.

“Hey…I remember you now. You’re that dweeb with the ducks from my last visit!” Gilda put her claws away. It looked like she was calming down. “And the last time we met, you ran into me. You’d better watch where you’re going my little pony” She said as she reached her claw out and flicked Fluttershy’s nose. “Some pony might get hurt”.

The gryphon continued teasing Fluttershy, but she wasn’t really paying attention. Her nose stung from the flick, but her mind was occupied elsewhere. “I can’t go home now. If Gilda follows me, she might scare the other animals". Her only chance was to lose her in the Everfree forest. She didn’t like it, but it was her best chance.

“You know, I came here to apologize to Rainbow Dash for the way I acted last time, but after seeing the way everyone in this town acts, you’re all just a bunch of losers”. Now was the only chance Fluttershy could take. As Gilda was busy ranting about how uncool Ponyville was, the pegasus flapped her wings and flew off into the forest. The shock didn’t last for very long as gryphon chased her down. “Hey!! I wasn’t done with you yet!”

This was the second time in a row Fluttershy made a bad idea. The sun was going down, and it was getting darker in the forest. Not only that, she now had to deal with avoiding all of the trees that populated the forest. She dodged and weaved the trees and various other flora in the dim and cramped fields. As soon as she got to an open area, she looked back to see if Gilda was still following her. Fluttershy couldn’t see the angry gryphon, and she felt as though she had lived through a fatal disease.

She thought back to what Gilda had said. Was the gryphon really here to make amends? Somehow, Fluttershy doubted that. As she turned her head forward, she saw a tree coming in way too fast. She gasped as she collided head first into the hard bark of the base and made an audible thumping noise. The dazed pegasus fell to the floor, and everything faded to black.

“Fluttershy. Yo, Fluttershy. Wake up! Oh man, this isn’t good! Is she dead? …No, she’s still breathing. I need to get help...But I can’t leave her here like this. Alright, I’ll try one more time…”

Fluttershy began to stir as her eyes slowly began to open. She saw a light blue blob of color with a rainbow mishmash of color on top of it. As her eyes began to focus, she could make out Rainbow Dash’s face. It looked like she was taking a deep breath.

“Fluttershy, wake up!!”

She yelped as she quickly sat up and banged her head against Rainbow Dash’s. “Ow!” She held her head and rubbed it gently. “Ooooh” she gurgled. “What…what happened? Where am I?”

Before any of her questions were answered, Rainbow Dash lunged forward and gave her a big hug. “Oh thank Celestia you’re okay! I was beginning to think you were a goner”. After breaking the hug, she looked at her friend and decided to answer her questions. “You’re in the Everfree forest. Gilda was chasing after you, and I jumped in to get her off your tail. Then, I…”

“How did you know I was in danger?” Fluttershy interrupted.

“Oh…well, I started following you when you ran off in a hurry like that. It didn’t look like you were in any shape to be running anywhere after that crash we got into earlier. I only did it because I was worried you’d pass out somewhere, but then Gilda showed up. She started chasing you, and I followed from the sidelines. Then you passed out, and then I stepped in. I told her to back off, and she was all ‘Beat it Dashie, this is between us!’ and I was all like ‘You should pick on someone your own size’, and then she was all like ‘yea?’ then, I challenged her to a race, and If I could make it to…”

Fluttershy tuned out. It’s not that she didn’t want to listen to what Rainbow Dash did while she was unconscious, but she was more concerned with how long she was out. How much time was wasted now? At least she was near her home now. She was too exhausted to freak out, and all of her anxiety had been sweated out. She took a deep breath, and began thinking at a regular pace. “Um, Rainbow Dash?” She interrupted. “I don’t mean to sound rude or anything, but I really have to get home now. My animals haven’t been fed yet. Do you think you could help me out of the forest?”

“Huh? …well, okay.” Rainbow Dash said. She sounded just a little disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to recount the exciting details about the race she was just in. “Stay close to me. I’ll have you out of this forest in ten seconds flat”.

It was only a matter of minutes before Fluttershy made it back to her cottage. The sun was already down, and the cool night breeze glided through the air. The silent pony thanked her friend for helping her get home and then bid her good night. Now that she was outside of her front door, she would need to be prepared for a tidal wave of hungry and lonely animals. She may have been a little overdramatic to think that all of her little furry friends would starve in the span of an hour or so. With an apology already made, she gently opened the door to her home.

When Fluttershy stepped into the pleasant den, she wasn’t greeted by all of her animal friends. Instead, they were scattered all around the room. They were already eating. The pegasus stood there frozen with shock. How did they all get their food? It only took a slight turn of the head to see Angel ripping open one of the bags of animal food and pouring it into an empty bowl. “Angel Bunny?”

The white coated rabbit looked over at Fluttershy and scowled. He didn’t look too happy with the pony.

“Did…Did you feed all of the animals? All by yourself?”

Angel slowly nodded his head with the same look of contempt. Before he could do anything else, he was pulled into a big hug.

“Thank you so much Angel! My day was just oh so busy, and I’ve been getting so caught up in other things, and I…I’m so happy that you took care of the animals like that~”. Angel slipped out of Fluttershy’s grip, and hopped over to his empty food bowl. He glared at her while tapping his foot impatiently. She giggled “You deserve an extra special dinner for helping around the house. Wait right here”.

She returned into the den with Angel’s food bowl in her mouth. It was filled with rabbit pellets, chopped carrots, and other assorted fruits and vegetables. “Here you go Angel bunny. This is for all your hard work” she gingerly declared through muffled words. She set the bowl down, and walked over to the couch. Just as she was about to lie down, she felt one of the carrot pieces flung at the back of her head “Oh!” Fluttershy turned her head back already knowing who the culprit was. Angel hopped up and down angrily as he stuffed his mouth with food. The pegasus’ rabbit didn’t really upset her anymore because he’s always been a little irritable. He was nice when it counted though. Unable to stand for any longer, Fluttershy collapsed onto the couch and let out a big sigh. “What a day” she breathed before drifting to sleep.