Eris had been such a sweet little ferret; she had even snuggled her head into Fluttershy's hoof after asking for a fish for her birthday. Fluttershy had further understood her to say that it would be unfair for her to receive a fish on any occasion while her hole-mate, Iris, did not, and that she would owe her friend Fluttershy a favor if she brought back a fish for each of them. Fluttershy knew that they had always been such good ferrets, always contently eating the soy-cakes which she bought at the market for them, and never making messes or causing a racket, and they did deserve a treat.
What had stood out to Fluttershy the most, though, was that Eris had said that she would owe her friend Fluttershy a favor. The fact that Eris and Iris were ferrets shouldn't keep them from being her friends, she thought—there was no reason that ponies should only be able to be friends with other ponies. Moreover, Fluttershy knew that you were always supposed to lend your friends a hoof if they asked for something, right?
So, of course Fluttershy had agreed to bring two fish back for Eris and Iris.
First, Fluttershy had tried to buy some fish from the merchant-pony who usually sold her the soy-cakes that she fed to Eris and Iris. He was an outgoing stallion, and always tried to make Fluttershy laugh by telling stories about how silly and ridiculous some of his other customers could be. However, he had gotten very angry after she had asked if he had any fish that she could buy for her ferrets. After that, she had immediately decided to leave him alone, not wanting to linger in the company of somepony who wasn't in a good mood. Since she had left so quickly, she didn't know why he had gotten mad, but it was probably just because he felt bad about not having any fish to sell to her. He was always such a nice pony to Fluttershy, so that was probably it. She would just have to find some fish on her own at the stream.
Now that Fluttershy had made her way to the stream, though, she couldn't help but think that the poor little fishies didn't want to be collected for Eris and Iris. Fluttershy wasn't friends with the fishies, and she knew much less about fish than she did about other animals. Was it okay for her to collect the fishies, since they weren't her friends, and since Eris, who did want her to collect the fishies, had said that Fluttershy was her friend? Fluttershy just wanted everypony and all of her animals to like her, and to think that she was a good pony—and good ponies were supposed to do nice things for their friends.
In any case, Fluttershy had made a promise—a promise to a friend—and so she left her basket by the edge of the shallow stream, and stepped out into the water, waiting for a fish to swim by, so that she could grab it with her teeth.
The first fish she saw was a small perch, which got itself caught in an eddy near the bank of the river. "Um, hi mister fish," Fluttershy said. "Is it okay if I catch you so that I can, well, I know some ferrets who really wanted a fish. I mean, not as a pet, sorry to disappoint you mister fish, but I was going to make them a special snack, and maybe you wanted to help, if that's okay with you?"
The fish circled around in the eddy, not answering, or even acknowledging her presence. Fluttershy thought for an interval, and then blushed, "oh, I'm such a silly pony, you can't event hear me mister fish, at not least, um, not at least very well, um, sorry." Thinking quickly, she bent down to grasp the fish by the tail with her teeth, so as to place him on a nice, wet rock, where he might be able to hear her. "Itsh okay mishter fish, I'll—"
The fish flopped back and forth with wild abandon, and a surprised Fluttershy bucked up on her hindquarters, accidentally releasing the fish.
It quickly became apparent that mister fish didn't want to come back.
"I'm a dumb pony, sorry mister fish, I didn't want to be mean or hurt you, I'm just a dumb pony, sorry. But I do need to get a couple fishies for, um, for Iris and Eris. They're such good ferrets. Sorry".
Fluttershy glanced upstream, and saw two bigger fishies swimming down the river together. One was an orange shade of pink with bluish fins, while the other was off-white with pink fins, and both were about the same size. Fluttershy wondered if they were friends with the little fishie she had just talked to. Maybe they were, and maybe the little fishie she had just talked to was traumatized, and maybe they would be traumatized too once they talked to the little fishie. Oh no. Maybe they were the little fishie's mom and dad, Fluttershy thought. Maybe they would be unable to be happy little fishes ever again if they ever found out what Fluttershy had done to their own little fishie. Maybe she should just go catch them right now, yes that would be a good idea. Then everyferret and everyfishie could be happy and then she could go back home to all of her pets and her ferret friends.
Fluttershy quickly caught the two fish, deposited them in her basket, and headed home.
Fluttershy left the basket she had used to carry the two fish back to her house on the bridge above the creek, and flew down to drop off the two fish off at Eris and Iris' hole. They both came out and thanked her. Iris let out a cute squeak of excitement, and Eris wrapped her tiny little paws around Fluttershy's hoof in a tight hug. It was good to know that she had done the right thing—friends were the most important thing in all of Equestria, and Iris and Eris the ferrets were Fluttershy's friends.
Fluttershy flew back up to the bridge to find Angel bunny, his two forefeet crossed, standing next to the basket she had used to carry the two fish. "Um, hi Angel bunny, how are you, um," Fluttershy asked.
Angel extended one arm to point at the basket, and frowned. He seemed to be angry at Fluttershy—or at least disappointed. Fluttershy looked down, unable to continue meeting his gaze, and laid down on the ground. She looked to her side, and then back to Angel, and then back down to the ground. "I'm sorry Angel bunny, I didn't think that, well, I'm sorry if you don't like that, well. Um, I just wanted to be nice and Eris and Iris just wanted some fishies and they're always so nice too, and sorry that I took so long," Fluttershy managed to tell the ground beneath Angel's feet. "I mean, sorry if you're mad at me, I didn't mean to take so long, I should have gotten back to feed you earlier, and, I didn't, um, I was just trying to," Fluttershy started, "I just wanted to be nice."
Angel shook his head, and pointed down the path that led to Ponyville. It took Fluttershy a second to realize what he meant.
Fluttershy was a smart pony, and she had known that there was no reason for the stories that she had made up in panic about the two fishies to be true. She hadn't wanted to hurt the fishies, but she hadn't wanted to disappoint her ferret friends either, and everypony made up nice little stories about how things were to make themselves feel better from time to time. Fluttershy knew that helping her friends was a good thing, but hurting fishies was a bad thing—yet she had made a promise to Eris and Iris that she would bring them some fish, and not following through on promises was a bad thing, too. Everything was just so hard, and she just wanted to be a good pony and have other ponies like her and be her friends.
Fluttershy let out a short, quiet whine, and her muzzle sank down to the ground in shame. Fluttershy realized that the merchant-pony hadn't been angry because he couldn't help her get some fish. He had probably been angry that anypony would want to buy what had once been a living creature to feed to another animal, when they could just buy soy-cakes instead. "I'm the worst pony, sorry, I deserve to, well, oh, um, oh no," Fluttershy said. Maybe the merchant-pony had told somepony else that Fluttershy had been trying to buy fish. He did always tell Fluttershy stories about other ponies who had been silly or dumb. Ponies always talked to each other so much, and it was always so hard for Fluttershy to know what to say to get them to be her friends. She just tried to be nice to everypony—that seemed to work most of the time.
Fluttershy valued nothing more than her friendships with other ponies—for these were the apple of her eye.
Eris sat beneath the bridge, gnawing on the fish that Fluttershy had brought her. She would enjoy her meal.
