When she looked out the window, she didn’t see the lights. Nor the buildings or the streets, or the hydrocars that drive on the streets, the new models flashing their striking bright colours. She sees the world as a blur, and the blur doesn’t take notice of her for a second.
That’s what she had to learn yesterday, when the day before that, Belowitz called. He was her ‘community manager’; a rather ecstatic stallion at first sight, and she’d never seen him in her life. He drove her in some airship, with technology she’d never seen before, all the way to the top of this building in less than an hour. Now he stood behind her, after he asked if she’d care to check the view.
She turned from the massive window, and half-stared back at the stallion. “It’s bigger than I thought.”
Belowitz folded one leg over his other, holding a mug with magic and drinking what smelled like coffee. “Out of curiosity, when was the last time you saw Equestria Central, miss Shy?”
“I didn’t.”
“Huh,” Belowitz said, taking the pause to sip from his mug. “I heard you used to live here. Guess what you hear isn’t always true, folly on me.”
“This used to be called Ponyville. When it stopped being Ponyville, and they put in all those new buildings, I left.”
Belowitz scratched his chin. “I... see. I suppose two hundred years ago must be still be pretty new for somepony who lives forever.”
Fluttershy looked at the floor. “Yes.”
“Right… Uh, servo, can you get me a glass of water?”
A piece of machinery far more complex than the cider machine, made of curved steel, replied in an enthusiastic butler-like stallion’s voice. “Of course, sir! Would that be hot, or-”
“Cold, please.” Belowitz seemed to be a lot more in-tune with the goings on here than she could ever be. “I have to apologise for this, miss Shy. There’s some things I didn’t tell you before we came here.”
“Like the building we’re standing in looks like my cutie mark on a pole? I'm flattered.”
Belowitz gave her a confused look, and the look spoke to her. She assumed it’d been around longer than he had lived. Belowitz shook his head. “Not what I meant. The thing is, well, the world has changed, and there’s some pretty big problems, I mean big, and... we thought it’d be the right thing to get the only mare for the job. So they told me to send for you.”
He gave a small chuckle afterward. “Heh, think they might have thought I knew how to ‘talk to you’. Don’t worry, I’m not one of those 'You're a whole different creature' ponies. You might be an alicorn, but you're still equine. Thing is, I don’t think anypony knows pretty much anything about you, you’ve been away for so long.”
She shrugged her head. “That makes sense.”
Another pause. The stallion started to look uncomfortable, and she assumed she was the culprit. “Uh, listen," he started, starved from her reception. "Is there anything I’m doing wrong here? I know you’re not talking much, and that’s fine, but… I kind of need your cooperation here. You’re the only alicorn anybody knows about. I’m sorry if I’m being rude.”
She didn't hesitate. “I don’t like talking to strangers.”
Her response hit him hard. His mouth opened slightly, but he quickly regained composure, as she thought he would.
“I uh, won’t try to push anything on you, then. Sorry again, miss Shy.” Belowitz looked at the last sips of his coffee, refrained from touching it, and stood up off his chair. He was sweating, and it showed. “I’ll go away, if you want. If you can do anything though, I’d really appreciate you staying around, maybe a day or two. You don’t even have to leave this room if you want.” Not getting a response, the stallion’s face dimmed, and his voice turned to a sombre whisper. “...Maybe... hmm." He stopped himself short. "Hope you stay around, Miss Fluttershy. See you.”
~~
Fluttershy sat down at the table where Belowitz sat, on a chair that seemed hardly fit for a pony, yet when she sat on it, it fit perfectly. Thinking about it, she swore the chair changed position for her wings. She tried to avoid thinking about it.
She tried pushing the coffee away with her magic. It sort of skidded across the table until it met the end, and fell down on the carpet made of some artificial fabric, spilling over it and seeping in deep. Fluttershy had never managed to master magic like some of her other friends had. It wasn’t what she meant to do, but in a way it comforted her. Finally something that wasn’t perfect.
Fluttershy grabbed the glass, now on the table with the un-equine machine bowing before her, and drank from it. Not pure, but close enough. Water probably had to go through dozens of purifying plants or something to get to past this city.
Given a chance to think, she thought back to Twilight briefly, and whispered to herself. “I kept to your rules, Twilight. By Celestia, please don’t make me have to change them.
“I’ve lived in my farm for two hundred years, and I cared for every animal since. I’ve seen them come, and I’ve seen them go. I’ve been the element I needed to be. Why do they want my help?”
Of course, she thought, Celestia couldn’t talk back to her now. Neither Luna in her dreams, nor Twilight, nor anypony. They were too far away now. Where? She didn’t know. She’d almost started naming her pets after them, but reminding herself of Pinkie’s escapade with inanimate objects, she thought better of it. Was that a breezytale now?
A thought came to her then. One that caught her off guard, something she hadn’t thought of before in her bliss of paradise back home. Have I really been my element?
A single tear fell past her cheek. “The element of kindness wouldn’t make a pony scared of her. She wouldn’t be so mean...
“What have I become?”
She looked around at her environment, teary eyed. Glass and metal, and other materials she had never heard of. A world that changed so much while she stayed silent.
She remembered. It was a long while ago, back on the farm. Twilight was there. She and Fluttershy had been spending the day together, when it was normal to do so. As they were talking at tea, Twilight began digging them into a deeper conversation, until finally, she struck hard.
“You see, here’s where I’m at,” Twilight said. “This is the problem, Fluttershy. Since the princesses passed away, everything’s been kinda different. There’s a reason I made you an alicorn, Fluttershy, and I’m sorry to say it wasn’t to keep planting daisies and pet bunnies all day.”
“I’m sorry, Twilight. I didn’t mean to procrastinate, it’s just, well, I don’t like it! I don’t like the rest of the world, I don’t like the changes that happened, it’s all wrong. Why can’t it be like before, like here, where the birds sing and not the airships, because there aren’t any? I didn’t mean to not do anything, really I didn’t, but it’s just so hard and scary I don’t know where to start and-”
Twilight put her hoof on Fluttershy’s mouth, stopping her. “Shhh, it’s okay, Fluttershy. No need to get worked up.” She looked a bit distraught, from the tea or something else, she couldn’t tell.
“Look, Fluttershy. I’ll tell you what. I’ve learned enough from the Princesses to know that choices are the most important thing when it comes to stuff like this, so I’ll give you two. I know it seems hard, doing what six ponies did… but it’s really, really useful. Trust me, I won’t be here all the time, so it might even get harder. It’s a demanding road. That’s the first choice.
“Or… you never interact with anypony like an alicorn ever again. You stay here, you live with your pets, you live happy. I hate to say it. I really hate to say it, but I know you’re not happy, and you’re my friend. You’ve always been my friend, and you’ve done plenty of good for me, and for all of us. The pony who says that history doesn’t matter isn’t worth the history they’re built on. So I’m asking you now… would you rather take one more for the team, or have you done your bit for Equestria? I don’t like to rush you either, Fluttershy… but I need to know pretty soon.”
Fluttershy looked at her for a time, eyes sparkling. “Oh, Twilight… thank you!”
She hugged her, and Fluttershy saw that her friend was smiling too.
But on that day, when Fluttershy was sitting at the table in a butterfly monolith having drunk her water, she had a thought. The thought that the smile she gave her all those years ago was hiding a pain, not physical, but there all the same.
Realistically, that was the truth. It was gnawing away at Fluttershy... she hadn't felt something like that in a long while.
She had never felt so full of regret as she had that day, sitting on that table, the robot in the corner.
