Author's Note
CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK is highly welcome!
I'm still an amateur at writing fanfics trying to improve, so If it's not too much trouble for you guys, I'd like your help at writing better.
Fluttertopia
On the way over to Fluttershy's cottage, Starlight Glimmer approached her door. Before she knocked on the doors, she took a quick glance over a slip of paper that was given to her from Princess Twilight.
"Starlight, your objective, if you choose to accept, is to help out Fluttershy with anything she needs, you shall not fail any task she may have you do overtime. If you can, try and discover a friendship lesson if possible. I wish you the best of luck. Try your very best not to let me or Fluttershy down." Starlight read to herself before looking up to Fluttershy's door.
"Okay Princess Twilight, I'll do it for friendship," said Starlight as she proceeded to give a soft knock on her door.
Ten seconds promptly went by before Fluttershy came to answer her door. She then took a quick glance at Starlight.
"Oh, um... hello Starlight," she said. "What brings you by here?"
"Hey there Fluttershy," said Starlight. "I would like to offer you my help with the animals around here."
"Well... I would kindly accept your offer," said Fluttershy with a smile as well as Starlight's. "I could use a little bit of relaxing after all those hours of grooming."
"Gee, they really musta got you all worked up." said Starlight with a worried look.
"Oh yes, I'm pretty beat." Fluttershy responded. "So anyway, let me go get you a list of what I need you to do."
Fluttershy flew to her bedroom to retrieve the list. In the meantime, Starlight is greeted with Angel Bunny who gave her a quick wave hello. Starlight approached Angel then proceeded to lightly pet him.
"Well aren't you such a cute little bunny," Starlight said to Angel. "Yes you are, yes you are!"
Without any warning at all, Discord popped in and surprised Starlight. She let out a small yap before she stared at Discord.
"Dear me, sorry that I interrupted your little playtime but that happens to be dear old Angel," he said.
"You know, the least you could do was introduce yourself first?" asked Starlight while she's glaring at Discord.
"Why would I do that?" Discord responded. "I just made an assumption that you'd already knew who I am."
"I'm sorry," said Starlight. "But, ever since my new start at being a sweet little angel that I can't get my head straight at times."
While Starlight explains about her new change to Discord, Angel hopped on Starlight's back and plays around with her mane. Starlight looked back and used telekinesis on Angel to put him back on the floor.
"You have got to trust me when I do say that I know what it's like to change." Discord said to Starlight. "Shutterfly er.. I mean.. Fluttershy has taught me a lot about how I could gain back the trust that I had lost to the ponies after all the massive chaos that I made them experience and ever since then, I vowed that I would never use my power of chaos for any wrongdoings."
"I see," said Starlight as she slightly nods. "It's real nice meeting someone that made the same similar mistake that I did, like we both have something fairly in common."
Fluttershy finally obtained the list she whipped up then flew back downstairs.
"Alright, here's a list of things that I'll need you to do," Fluttershy said. "It's not much, but I'm pretty sure you'll do great."
Fluttershy reads off what she has written on her list.
"Twelve o'clock, feed the animals; One o'clock, wash the grizzly bear; Two o'clock, groom Angel Bunny; and Three o'clock, check on the birds."
Starlight started to get a bit nervous about the grizzly bear considering her past experience last time she was at the cottage.
"You think you can handle it Starlight?" Fluttershy asked.
Starlight broke a sweat then took a quick gulp before she obtained the list from Fluttershy and gave her answer.
"Y- yep! No problem!" Starlight replied.
"You have nothing to worry about," Discord said in addition.
Fluttershy gave Discord an awkward quick glare as she had second thoughts before she looked back at Starlight.
"Well alright," said Fluttershy as she makes her exit out her door. "I should get going. I believe in you Starlight."
As Fluttershy almost makes her way out the door, Starlight stops her for just a quick second.
"Wait Fluttershy," she said. "Where are you going? I thought you said you needed to relax."
"I did say that," Fluttershy replied. "I'm heading to the spa with Rarity for a nice little massage."
"Ponyville has a spa?" Starlight asked.
"Oh yes!" Fluttershy answered. "Not only that, but they do have warm jacuzzis, hot towels, they even have binaural manipedis."
"I should check it out soon," said Starlight. "Sounds like it'd be a dream that I'd never wake up from."
Fluttershy checked to see what time it is and noticed she had less than 10 minutes left before her appointment.
"Oh my," Fluttershy said. "I really should hurry and get to the spa."
As Fluttershy takes off to the skies, she said "I'll see you guys in a few hours."
Starlight waved bye to Fluttershy then headed back into her cottage. She then proceeded to look at the time and noticed that it was only thirty minutes from the first item on the list that she just retrieved from Fluttershy. She even checked the list just to be sure.
"Alright Starlight, I can do this," she said to herself. "I'm sure that this won't be that hard babysitting her animals. What could go wrong?"
"Oh no," Discord said.
"Oh no what?" Starlight said as she turned to Discord.
"You do realize that you'll always end up with the same moral every time anypony says those dreaded words," said Discord. "And it will always go wrong."
"Oh please," Starlight said while she moved her hoof up and down. "I'm pretty sure that's a total myth."
Discord started closing his eyes halfway while he listened to Starlight ramble a bit.
"I don't remember any instances of anything bad happening whenever somepony says those words. I mean, ponies getting surprised over those specific words being put together in a sentence? It's pretty ridiculous if you ask me."
While Starlight was still rambling, Discord wanted to prove her wrong. So, he decided on letting her believe what she thinks about those words.
"Alright then," Discord said. "You can say it's a 'myth' all you want. But the second anything goes bad at this cottage, then don't come crying to me; Although I might come to you and personally say 'I told you so' but I really don't want to rub it in."
"Alright, fine," Starlight replied with some attitude. "I'll prove to you that things won't go wrong."
Starlight walked away from Discord to check on the time and was surprised on how fast the time flew past her.
"It's almost noon," Starlight said to herself. "I gotta feed the animals. Where's the food pellets?"
Starlight looked around for bags of food to feed Fluttershy's critters. She checked her kitchen where she didn't have any luck before she looked in her living room.
"Oh, where are those darn bags?" Starlight said to herself as she worries about letting Fluttershy down.
"Um, they're right over there," said Discord as he pointed to the bags of pellets. "You're welcome."
"Oh yeah, thanks." Starlight said.
Starlight had created a small incision on the bags before levitating them. She poured out the pellets on the ground before she looked to Discord.
"Uh, do you mind giving me a little hoof here?" Starlight asked.
"Oh no, terribly sorry," Discord replied with a smirk. "But I'm having a little too much fun on observing how this is clearly going to turn out eventually."
Starlight gave Discord a mean look before she let out an irritated sigh. She then sets the bag of pellets down and walked over to ring the bell that's on the table. Discord started to predict what would happen at this point and started to count down. As he counted down from five, Starlight gave Discord her determined look that told him that nothing bad had happened.
"In five, four, three, two, one," Discord said confidently.
Bunnies, ferrets, mice, and a raccoon came rushing in the living room for some grub. They all munched down on the pellets for a few minutes before they became satisfied.
"See that Discord?" Starlight said as she gave Discord her confident wink. "Nothing bad happened! That's Starlight one, Discord zero."
Angel Bunny hopped to Starlight and yanked on her tail and pointed to the bag of pellets. Starlight's jaw dropped as she witnessed the animals tearing through those bags. The pellets spilled all over the floor and the bags were ripped completely open. Starlight started to twitch her eye after she saw what happened. Discord let out a chuckle and then started to lay down laughing.
"Oh sweet Celestia," Discord said. "That is just hilarious!"
Starlight started to growl at Discord for thinking it's funny.
"I guess that's Starlight zero, Discord one!" Discord said while he continues to laugh until it's out of his system.
Starlight then walked up to Discord and explained her ramble from earlier on in the day.
"I am telling you, that sentence is nothing but a myth!" said Starlight seethingly.
"Um, did you not observe what just happened a half minute ago?" Discord said.
"Mark my words, Discord. You'll see that once and for all that it's just a silly sentence. No more, no less." Starlight stated as seriously as she could.
"Okay, We'll just have to see about that." Discord said to Starlight confidently.
The animals were finally satisfied and they returned to their activities. Starlight let out a sigh in relief before she used her magic to clean up the mess that the animals left behind.
"Well, that takes care of that," said Starlight as she checked off the first item on the list. "Now, next thing on the list is..."
Starlight gulped at the next item on the list and started to shake.
"Ohh..." Starlight said nervously. "I guess it's bath time for the ursine."
"Oooh, this oughta be entertaining for me to watch!" said Discord as he slid next to her. "Wait one second, I'm going to make some popcorn!"
Discord used his chaotic powers to whip up a batch of popcorn as well as a soda. Starlight looked at Discord and started to become more irritated about his predictions that were soon about to happen. She looked real determined to prove Discord wrong.
"Almost forgot, what's a little snack on popcorn without the fizzy goodness of a soda pop?" Discord said as he takes a sip of the soda before he spat it out. "Blech, diet. Disgusting."
"I really think you need to chill out a bit, Discord," Starlight said to Discord while being annoyed.
"Oh what have I ever done so far while you were here?" Discord complained.
"Oh nothing, really," Starlight answered.
"Come on, you can tell ol' Daddy Discord what's wrong," Discord said.
"Stop it!" Starlight exclaimed.
"Okay, geez!" Discord said sympathetically.
Starlight heads outside the cottage and grabbed a bucket and a bar of soap. She filled up the bucket with water almost to the rim and then tried to find the bear.
"Ohh my stars," Starlight said to herself. "I can't believe i'm doing this. But I must do it for Fluttershy, and for Princess Twilight."
Starlight had noticed the bear scratching himself like a dog, his snout smothered in honey, and he looked like a total mess. She slowly approached the bear in fear of being attacked. The bear looked at Starlight, then gave her a roar. Starlight jumped and squealed then kept her distance from the bear. She got a frantic little whiff from the stench of the bear and quickly reacted by using her magic to put a clothes pin on her snout.
"Whoa, that is one smelly ursine." Starlight said in her head as she didn't want to aggravate the large beast.
The bear gave off a concerned face at Starlight because of the pin she had on her.
"There now, bear," Starlight said to the bear nervously. "I'm... j-just here to give you... your d-d-daily freshening up."
The bear growled at Starlight for a few seconds before he lunged at her at full force. Starlight spewed out a bloodcurdling scream before she dodged the bear's attack that caused him to run right into a tree, knocking him out cold. The impact to the tree was so brutal, it tipped over and fell on top of the chicken house, crushing their beloved home. The chickens scattered across the yard and bawked angrily about the outcome. Starlight was starting to lose her mind, as she was just about to blow a fuse.
"Self-control, Starlight," she said to herself while she tried to stay positive. "Negativity can lead to failure."
Discord popped up beside her and put his tiger paw around Starlight's neck.
"Well it looks like the score is, Starlight zero... Discord two!" Discord said while trying to control his laughter.
Starlight let out an aggressive sigh from Discord's boasting.
"Are you done with this?" Starlight asked Discord. "Please tell me that you are."
"Oh, I'll gladly stop once you admit that when somepony says 'what could go wrong', it'll always get bad." Discord answered.
A bird had fainted and falls out of the sky out of nowhere.
"I'm not going to admit anything until I prove that you're wrong!" Starlight exclaimed. "And wow, this sentence came out of nowhere."
Discord snickered at whatever Starlight just said.
"Stop your snickering and please fix up a home for the chickens," Starlight commanded as she gestured to the destroyed house.
Discord once again used his powers and snapped up a new home in an instant.
"Ta-da, finito," Discord responded.
"Great, now round up the chickens while I freshen up this ursine stench," said Starlight as she walked towards the bear.
"Got that covered, dear Starlight," Discord responded.
Starlight grabbed the bucket and soap and washed the dirty ursine from top to bottom. She kept scrubbing and scrubbing until the stench was gone. It took her a few minutes but she had to get the job done for Fluttershy.
"I'm surprised at how everything's turned out so far," Starlight said to herself. "Maybe Discord could be right about this after all. So far the animals tore through bags of food, but I didn't expect this to happen. Then there's a housewreck caused by this tree the bear knocked down. But really, what are the odds of that ever happening?"
The bear that was knocked out for a short period of time started to regain a little bit of consciousness and gets a whiff of the soap that he's being washed with. He opened his eyes and saw Starlight levitating a bar of soap. Thinking she's the one who smelled good, he grabs a hold of her and lightly squeezes the lavender horse. He even snuggled and licked her cheeks all out of affection that she gave to her. Starlight was understandably confused to what the bear was even doing.
"I really don't know what's going on, but I guess I'm okay with this." Starlight said.
Back inside the cottage, Starlight noticed it was a full sixty seconds past Angel's grooming. She started to call out for Angel Bunny that couldn't be found.
"Angel? Angel!" Starlight shouted. "ANGEL!!"
Starlight then realized that Angel was standing right in front of her, but she had to look down.
"Oh, there you are, Angel," Starlight said in relief. "I do believe that I have to groom you."
Angel turns around and raises his fluffy tail up towards Starlight and gestures towards it.
"Okay, What am I supposed to do?" Starlight asked Angel.
"I do believe he wants you to fluff it up for him." Discord answered.
Angel nods his head.
"Ohh, okay," said Starlight.
Starlight fluffs up Angel's fluffy tail for a few while she gets a grooming brush for his soft fur.
"My gosh, that's kinda comfortable," said Starlight.
Angel started to blush from Starlight comment. Discord watched in awe as if he was watching a re-run episode. Starlight levitated a brush and she stroked Angel's back with it. Angel then started to close his eyes from all of the comfortable grooming he is getting from the sweet lavender horse.
"I'm afraid that Angel's not too much trouble for me Discord," Starlight said. "Thanks for the help."
"Okay, no need to be getting sarcastic here Starlight," Discord said. "You know Angel likes it when you brush his head."
Starlight proceeds to give Discord a cringeworthy glance at Discord.
"Are you certain?" Starlight asked.
"Now tell me, would I ever lie to you?" Discord replied.
"I don't know, would you?" Starlight questioned.
"Just brush the bunny's head." Discord said.
Starlight gave off an awkward pause.
"I.. well... alright," Starlight said. "I'm gonna trust you on this."
Starlight then took a shot at grooming Angel's head to see how well it'll go for the both of them. Angel really liked the head grooming and rapidly stomped his little feet, until Starlight accidentally bopped his head. Angel then weeped in pain from the brush that hit his head.
"Oops," Starlight said to Angel. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to..."
Angel glared at Starlight from the pain he experienced then he hopped on Starlight's head and mangled her hair up.
"Angel! What are you doing?!" Starlight exclaimed using telekinesis to pull Angel out of her hair. "I said I was sorry, no need to get riled up over an accident."
Discord had too much fun watching the amusing disaster that Starlight's involved in. He inhaled deeply as he was about to remind her about the mythical sentence until Starlight beat him to it.
"Don't. Say it," said Starlight as she put Angel on the ground. "We are not going to go through this again."
Discord started to chuckle once more for the sake of Equestria.
"Let me just check on the birds so I can call it a day and go back to the castle," Starlight said. "I just wish Fluttershy came back early from her appointment at the spa."
Discord watched Starlight walk out the door as he grabbed a box of nachos out of nowhere.
"Oh ho ho. This last one should be a real hoot," Discord said to himself before he smirked.
As Starlight went to go check on the birds outside, she observes the different designs of the bird houses that Fluttershy had at the cottage. She smiled at the birds that flew past her leaving stars in her eyes.
"I love it when nature gets so fascinating," Starlight said.
The bird cages was so high up in the trees, Starlight wanted to get a closer look, so she levitated herself up to the bird cages to check them out.
"Very nice designs Fluttershy picked out," said Starlight. "They're so smooth, so shiny..."
Starlight touched one of the bird cages and accidentally knocked it out of the tree, landing on top of the bird bath right below her. The bird that lived in that bird cage observed every second of it and instantly got ticked off. It flew directly at Starlight and started to peck her snout for a bit before it pecked at her horn. Starlight yelped in pain from the bird's attack before she stopped levitating and fell in the bird bath. The water had splashed everywhere as Starlight tried to get up from the bird cage that broke her fall. Birds looked at Starlight furiously from the disastrous outcome of the bird bath.
"Oh man, what a cheap bird bath," Starlight muttered. "I'm terribly sorry about this. I'll fix up your baths then get some more water."
Discord laughed uncontrollably as he approached Starlight.
"Oh, that was absolutely the best one yet!" exclaimed Discord. "You obviously should have seen this coming. Now you've got the the birds flipping mad!"
"You did not just say that," Starlight said while being concerned.
"Oh, I said it and I'm very proud of it," Discord replied with a chuckle. "So, when are you going to finally admit that the silly sentence you said always has a moral to it in the end?"
Starlight started to breakdown as she could barely handle being wrong the entire time. She started building up rage as she was just about to yell. But after a few seconds, she controlled her temper and took a deep breath and then exhaled.
"You know what?" Starlight said before she gave in. "You're probably right after all. I should have trusted you from the very beginning. Some things we do really does have an interesting moral in the end. I'm really sorry that I never doubted you."
"It's alright Starlight," Discord replied. "Things like this pretty much happen all the time. It's not like karma is involved when we say certain words, wait... does it? And did I just make a rhyme a second ago?"
"Yes it kinda does and yes I believe you did," Starlight answered. "But what am I supposed to do? I could rarely handle the critters munching on the bags of pellets, I almost got attacked by a rampaging bear, causing him to knock down a tree taking out the chicken house."
Starlight paused for a second as she thought about the chickens.
"You did round up those chickens, right?" Starlight asked.
"What? Oh, yes I did," Discord answered. "Take a look."
Starlight took a glance at the chicken house and observes the chickens resting in their home.
"See?" Discord said. "If I didn't do my duties then I don't know how Fluttershy would react."
"Okay, great," Starlight said before she returned to explaining what had happened ever since she agreed to help Fluttershy with her animals. "I unintentionally irritated Angel, and now this!"
The birds then suddenly started to feel bad for Starlight and tweeted to her depressingly.
"Oh, I see they understand how upset I am about all of this overwhelming care for you guys," Starlight said before she shed a tear. "But how am I going to explain everything that's happened to Fluttershy before she gets back from the spa?"
"Oh, quit your concerning Starlight," Discord said. "I'll take it from here. Kinda figured I'd help you out since you helped me."
"With what exactly?" asked Starlight out of curiosity.
"You finally admitting that I was indeed correct on the whole moral thing." Discord answered.
Discord snapped his fingers that instantly whipped up a brand new bird bath for the birds. Starlight used her magic to build up a refurbished little bird cage in the process. The birds watched their teamwork while being impressed at the same time. It was very surprising to see the two work things out without a problem. Discord then got the birds some water for their bird bath and filled it up.
"There you are little tweety friends," Discord happily said to the birds.
The birds fly down to the bath and dipped themselves in the refreshing water. Starlight finally finished up the bird cage and hanged it up to the same position to where it fell from just a few minutes ago.
"There we go," Starlight said. "Now I can finally update this list."
Starlight whips out her list happily using her magic as she checks off the remaining items on it.
"It's finished!" Starlight exclaimed. "I knew I could do it. Now I just have to wait for Fluttershy to come on back home."
Fluttershy returns home slowly sneaking up on Starlight.
"Hello," Fluttershy said softly.
Starlight jumped a little before she turned around to see Fluttershy right behind her.
"Whoa! Please don't sneak up on me like that," Starlight said to Fluttershy.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Fluttershy said. "How did it go for you while I was gone?"
"Um, it went surprisingly well!" Starlight said positively.
"Did you do everything I asked you to do for me?" Fluttershy said.
"Yep, got the list all complete for you." Starlight happily said.
Starlight showed Fluttershy the list that she got from her. She levitated the piece of paper and showed the written side to Fluttershy.
"Ah, that's wonderful!" said Fluttershy. "I just want to thank you so much for help around the cottage. Is there anything I can do for you in return?"
"No thanks, I'm good," Starlight replied.
"Oh, please..." Fluttershy said as her ears flop and gave Starlight her puppy eyes. "Please let me repay you for your hard work."
Starlight's ears flopped as well as she sadly stared into Fluttershy's eyes. She tried to be positive to accept her offer as she didn't want to see Fluttershy possibly burst into the waterworks.
"I... well... as soon as I can think of something... alright," Starlight said.
Fluttershy stopped the puppy eyes as she smiled to Starlight while perking her ears up.
"Okay, well as long as you accept my offer." Fluttershy said to Starlight.
"Alrighty," Starlight said. "I guess I better get back to the castle."
Starlight walked away from Fluttershy.
"Starlight, wait," said Fluttershy.
Starlight stopped and turned to Fluttershy.
"Do you have to leave so soon?" Fluttershy said to Starlight. "Would you like to come back inside and have some tea?"
"No thanks, I really should get back," Starlight replied.
Fluttershy started showing Starlight the puppy eyes again. Starlight opened up her eyes wide open before she blinked a couple of times.
"Oh, alright! Just enough with the eyes okay?" Starlight said to Fluttershy.
"Yay!" Fluttershy said.
Fluttershy headed back to the cottage as she opened the door for Starlight. They both entered back in and sat down on the sofa. Angel hopped on Starlight's head and lightly stroked her mane as he put his cheek on her.
"I guess Angel kinda likes you," Fluttershy said to Starlight.
"Yeah, I think he really does." Starlight responded.
Fluttershy and Starlight took a sip of their tea and proceeded to pet Angel. Discord popped up right behind them.
"Isn't he such a charming little bunny?" Discord asked.
"He sure is," Starlight answered. "Now I could really use a manipedi. I can bearly handle my hooves right now."
Starlight smiled a bit as Fluttershy and Discord gave a little laugh as they realized Starlight had made an unbearable joke.
The End.
