It's Been a While

by AltTail

Rating: everyone
Tags: Romance, Slice of Life
Length: 2112

Fluttershy struggles to reconnect with the help of Bulk Biceps, and attempts to fix her friendships in any way she can.

It's been a long time since Fluttershy has spoken to any of her best friends – she's been busy in her Canterlot veterinarian office… and, well, she's not sure all of her friends really even want to talk anymore. But when Bulk Biceps comes in and wants more than for her to take care of his pet, she thinks that she can make this work, with help. She can talk with the girls more and visit with them more… and maybe, with enough time, even get them all in the same room again.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-02-21 00:10:01 UTC

Prologue

The clock seemed so slow today.

Fluttershy sighed at her place at he table, the daffodil sandwich sitting on her plate untouched. Her stomach didn't rumble when she poked at it with a hoof, and after a few minutes of staring at it she simply stuffed it back into the paper bag she'd brought it in, and into the icebox to her right. Usually she wouldn't even have her lunch so early, and usually she would be near-starved when her eating time finally rolled around, but today was different.

No appointments and only a small hoof-full of walk-ins. Other than that, just the tap of keys and the occasional run of a sink.

"Oh, I suppose I'm just glad those little dears are healthy."

And she was. She was. Only...

Fluttershy sighed again. Pulling at her hair lightly, she shuffled in her chair before scooting it back. After stretching at her cramping wing muscles one by one, Fluttershy picked herself up from the floor with a gentle flap and shivered at the cool breeze her wings managed to stir. Not hearing another sound nearby, she turned her turquoise eyes upwards to gaze to the clock at the wall once again -- little hoof to the six -- and the calendar by it.

Maybe she should leave a little early today, put a notice to turn to the office a few blocks away if needed, she thought as she looked at that calendar. She would hate to be gone if a little critter friend needed her, really she would, but as she stared at the boxes checked with quick slashes of different colors...

Fluttershy drooped from her place floating above the floor, wings stirring a clipboard stacked with paper. The clacks of typewriter keys in the other room stopped, but all she could do was twitch at her ears.

Twenty-seven days since the last light blue and pink crosses were marked on this month's page. Had it... oh dear, had it really been so long since then? She had tried to keep up and not be busy, and surely they knew her door was always open? And... and-- five days longer than that since a blue one?

Fluttershy put a yellow hoof to the page, her eyes burning at he memories of last seeing them. They hadn't been very happy had they? -- a-and she had been such an impatient listener, hadn't she? Surely she had, or else they would have...

-- Her eyes widened, and after a thought the Pegasus flipped the page to see the month before. And the one before that and the one before that and--

Fluttershy turned away from the clock and calendar and flew out the open doorway to her right. Zipping through the short hallway she wasted no time tapping at the gray door at the end and cracking it open.

"Oh, um, Maud?" she wavered into the opening, sniffling and shuffling her hoof at the wooden floor. "I... uh, I know you're working hard, but, um, I was thinking that..." She sniffled. "That maybe we should close a little early? If you don't mind?"

Fluttershy really did hope that Maud didn't. She had already gone and upset herself again like a silly pony, and if Maud was mad at her then Fluttershy didn't know what she'd do!

She just... had to go see at least one of them.

Maud was silent for a little while, just the clacking and ting of her typewriter, and just when Fluttershy was about to turn around again the earth pony nodded. Scooped up the papers at her left and the bag to her right, completely voiceless as she straightened and patted at her clothes. Fluttershy said nothing, just watched Maud as the gray mare stood up and walked to the doorway.

Maud looked at her.

"Okay," she muttered.

And then she was suddenly gone, leaving Fluttershy with a door closing and complete silence. An emptiness washed over Fluttershy's office, an ache settling over her, and then the pegasus' eyes were burning.

She thumped to the ground, her tail wrapping around her, and then she sighed again. Just one of those days. One of those days.

One of those months, her calendar told her.

"How have you been, Fluttershy? I hope everything's been well at work?"

Fluttershy smiled a little at Twilight, dipping her yellow hoof into her cold tea in order to stir it. The cup was a bit dirty, and the single sugar cube floating in the middle bobbed around wildly, but she didn't dare say anything. That would be just rude of her! And she hadn't seen Twilight in so long it would be downright terrible to whine -- complain -- about something when her friend was so busy.

Oh, she supposed everything must have been harder for Twilight since then.

"Oh, yes. Thankfully there haven't been many bad cases. A poor little doggy came by the other day with porcupine spines all over his muzzle and the inside of his mouth. It was just awful, Twilight... oh, but after a little cleaning up he was just fine. What about you?"

Twilight shrugged her shoulders and tapped at her tea glass before gesturing to the room around her with a yawn. The Starswirl Wing of the Canterlot library had just recently been stocked with another collection of excavated books, Twilight had told her, and the poor dear had been so beside herself in order to study each one -- along with the shelves upon shelves of tomes in her Ponyville castle... and the newly translated ones in the Crystal Empire... and the-- Well, everything, really. And now Twilight's bedroom...

Scrolls spilled from every nook and cranny, dictionaries and encyclopedias and rune translations laid out over all the tables and quickly gathering dust. Notes were taped to walls, chalk boards were completely covered in strange circles and runes, and books were stacked higher than Fluttershy was sure she could even fly!

"Well, I'll just let you be the judge of that. It's been hard to even keep track of everything, let alone work on it. --But I'm doing fine!" She smiled and twitched her wings, and then sipped from her glass.

Immediately her face wrinkled and she put it back down, sighing and scooting the floral-print porcelain to the side. Leaning back a bit within her recliner, Twilight brought her hooves up and tapped them together, stared Fluttershy in the eyes. The alicorn grimaced as an afterthought, and flared her horn with a twitch to pitch the pastries laid out on the table into the trashcan.

"Sorry about that, Fluttershy. Believe it or not, but I haven't really had too much time to practice my tea-making lately."

"Don't worry, Twilight, I understand." And she did. She did understand. She smiled and leaned back, herself. Watched Twilight rub her eyes. "It must be hard, doing this by yourself. I could always help you if--"

"No!" Twilight bolted forward in her seat, hooves that she was tapping together falling to her lap, and she panted out a breath of air. Fluttershy watched her eyes twitch in panic -- and she sagged and nodded and-- Fluttershy, now keep your chin up. Even though Twilight might not want you to--

Oh, no... it was-- that was okay. It really had been so long that they'd talked, and Fluttershy supposed she hadn't even written. And it wasn't as if she was a very good listener anyway, seeing as she was always just asking questions anymore. Oh, she shouldn't have even come. Obviously none of them wanted to talk to her or they would have, and she was--

Fluttershy shook her head again as Twilight put a warm hoof to her shoulder and squeezed, giving her a  tight smile. That was nonsense! Twilight was such a nice pony, and very busy, and Fluttershy knew that she cared. They all did, it was just...

"Sorry, Fluttershy, I didn't mean-- it's," Twilight stuttered, turning her head away. "I just..."

Fluttershy smiled when Twilight hugged her, and nearly choked as her friend's hoof grasped the back of her head and patted.

"You have a great life in Canterlot now, Fluttershy. And I just don't want to pull you back into all of... this again. I saw how it affected you before."

Fluttershy jumped and smiled, and tried her best not to laugh as Twilight pulled away to sit back down.

Before she left, Fluttershy asked if Twilight had seen Applejack lately. The alicorn had barely even shook her head before the door closed.

The clock seemed so slow today.

Fluttershy sighed at her place at he table, the daffodil sandwich sitting on her plate untouched. Her stomach didn't rumble when she poked at it with a hoof, and after a few minutes of staring at it she simply stuffed it back into the paper bag she'd brought it in, and into the icebox to her right. All week her lunchtime had been like this, and she wasn't sure why. Had she said something wrong to that dog owner, or offended the couple with those little kittens by cooing about how she always wanted one -- because she could learn to keep it to herself, she could!

Or was business just slow for a reason? Was the pet-boom calming down over Canterlot?

Fluttershy sighed again and stood up. After stretching out her cramped muscles one by one she looked around the break room, and to the clock in the corner of the room.

When she looked at the calendar below it she sat back down and tapped her hooves, waiting. No appointments and only a small hoof-full of walk-ins. Other than that, just the occasional thud from upstairs. Surely something must happen? Anything?

"Oh, I suppose I'm just glad those little dears are healthy."

And she was. She was. Only...

The clocks tick grew slower to it the more she listened, and Fluttershy eventually found herself flapping within the air before she knew how she got there. Zooming through the hallway, she ended at Maud's door and tipped it open -- and sighed when she found it empty, just a lone typewriter surrounded by stacked paperwork and a wood desk. She turned around and wiped her nose, and went back down the hallway, looking through another room -- a white, sterile operating room, empty. Another meeting room, bare. Another office, filled with paper. Another--

Another empty waiting room.

Fluttershy sniffled and buried her head in her hooves. Wrapping her tail and hooves around herself, she fell to the floor with a tiny thud.

One of those years, her calendar told her.

The clock seemed so slow today.

Fluttershy sighed at her place at he table--

The tin bell above the main door rang out through the office, and Fluttershy stirred her wings, fighting between a smile and a determined frown. Business was back again, and she would finally have another chance to help one of her little critter friends again and maybe see some more cute squirrels -- but it could very well be an emergency too, and she should prepare to do anything to save the life of a little dear.

Stuffing her daffodil sandwich back into a paper bag and then to the icebox to her right, she was in the air in an instant, zooming to wash her hooves and pull on a pair of gloves. Once that was done she shot through the door frame, stirring paper notes and reminders coating the walls with a tiny breeze and making Maud stop her typing-- and she gasped and flew faster when she heard a loud thump of something hitting the floor. Throwing herself against the last door in the hallway, she flew into the waiting room.

And stopped. The clock stopped ticking, her wings stalled and she landed on her hooves with a yelp. Because.

"HEY FLUTTERSHY!"

Fluttershy smiled and lifted a hoof to her mouth to giggle, and she shook her head at herself at how silly she had been. Acting so seriously and panicking just because she heard that she had a patient, not even thinking about the fact that it could make a pony panic for their pet or think she was silly since it was just a checkup.

She laughed at herself, and at the pony in front of her-- especially since it was just Bulk Biceps sitting in the corner, the iguana on his shoulder squeaking while the stallion tapped at a fish tank.

It had been a long time since she saw him last. About a year and a half, her calendar told her.