The spider skittered across the floor, scuttling underneath the couch, looking around, sensing the air, trying to determine if it was safe to continue across the vast carpeted floor of the cottage. There were birds up in their perches, but most of those were well-fed and not in the mood for any further eating. There were cats on their trees, but those weren’t going to be interested in one small spider except as a toy. Thankfully most of those were also sleeping and sated. The one thing the spider was concerned about was the angry rabbit that patrolled the cottage, ruling it with an iron fist. Seeing nothing, the spider decided to make a run for it, and bolted out from under the couch, its eight legs propelling it at amazing speeds across the carpet, onto the hardwood, making a beeline for the corner underneath the bookcase at the far side.
Angel’s furred foot came down with a mighty stamp, and the spider was no more. He twisted for good measure, happy with the crunch it made. He wiped his foot off on the carpet, then hopped upstairs. He saw Fluttershy, his ‘caretaker’, still sleeping, when she could be making him breakfast. He was in the mood for carrot pancakes, and they weren’t going to make themselves. He jumped onto the bed, barely making a dent in the covers, and made his way up to the head of the bed, near Fluttershy’s face. He stands on top of her chest as it gently rises and falls with her sleeping breath, and taps his foot rapidly. Fluttershy doesn’t stir, so he taps faster and harder. She still doesn’t stir. Tired of waiting, Angel stamps his foot in anger, jumps onto the bedside table, grabs her glass of water, and tosses it in her face.
Fluttershy sputtered awake, water dripping down her face, soaking her blankets, and a few stray wet hairs cling to her cheeks. She looks around, startled, then sees Angel tapping his foot on her bedside table.
“Oh, good morning Angel. Did I sleep in again? I’m so sorry.” Fluttershy apologizes, rubbing her face with a hoof and sliding out of bed. “I’ll get you breakfast. Would you like a small salad this morning? Or maybe some fresh fruit, hmm?”
Angel shook his head emphatically and frowned.
“No? How about some hashbrowns?” Fluttershy asked.
Angel shook his head again, eyebrows furrowing in frustration. Fluttershy ignored her messy bedhead and hurried downstairs with Angel in tow, harrying her to the kitchen.
“How about waffles?” Fluttershy asked.
Angel tapped his chin with a paw, but shook it. He was intent on pancakes.
“Pancakes?” Fluttershy finally asked.
Angel was suddenly all smiles, nodding quickly. He pulled a carrot out of a bowl on the counter and pointed to it.
“Carrot pancakes?” Fluttershy said, smiling back.
Angel jumped up and down happily, kicking his hind legs together in glee. Fluttershy giggled and started pulling out the ingredients and dishes to make the pancake mix, using both her wings and her hooves to make the process faster.
“I’ll make a double batch, that way we can share since there will be more than enough for both of us.” Fluttershy said. “Maybe I’ll even share some with the chickens when I go collect eggs. Oh, and I bet the goats will like it too. We’ll see how much there is.”
Fluttershy sang as she made the pancakes, hovering around the kitchen as she worked. The ingredients went into the bowl, until she was mixing it with a hoof as she floated around the room, singing merrily. Angel just sat on the counter tapping his foot impatiently. He’d had to wait for her to get up, now he had to wait for her to make them, then cook them. His patience was swiftly growing thin with her cheerful demeanor.
Finally, the mix was ready, and Fluttershy poured in the first pancake. Angel pulled out his plate and sat next to the stove on the counter with butter and syrup at the ready, licking his lips. Fluttershy looked at him and laughed. “Somepony’s been waiting all morning for me to make breakfast I see.”
Angel just stared at the cooking pancake and ignored her.
Fluttershy hummed quietly as the pancake cooked, and flipped it over at the perfect time, having had a lot of practice cooking for herself and her animals. Soon enough, the first carrot pancake was ready, and she tipped it out of the pan and onto Angel’s plate, who wasted no time in covering it with butter, slathering it with syrup, and frantically devouring it with large, greedy bites. Fluttershy smiled and continued cooking pancake after pancake. Whenever Angel’s plate was empty, the next pancake would go to him, because he wasn’t going to settle for a pancake that had cooled even slightly. Angel would only accept the very best, because that was clearly what he deserved. He ate and he ate and he ate until he was full. He lied back on the counter, his stomach sticking out. Fluttershy smiled at him, wiped his face and carried him to his little bed, laying him down in it, before returning to the kitchen to continue with the pancakes.
Once she was done using all the batter, she ate some of the pancakes herself. Not nearly as many as Angel. After she washed up and put away the dishes, she collected the rest of the carrot pancakes and made her rounds feeding the animals. She left seed for the birds in side, with a few bits of chopped up pancake in it. She tossed out seed for the chickens, adding in some pancake for them as well. She stayed to watch them cluck wildly about, and counted, checking to make sure all of them were still there. It wasn’t unheard of for one to go missing this close to the Everfree.
Pleased that nothing had happened, Fluttershy finished feeding the animals both inside and outside, and started taking inventory, making sure she had enough feed, her garden was watered and growing, and that no animal was injured or sick. She found a badger that had a scrape on his left eyebrow and admonished him gently.
“Now what have I told you about fighting over your burrow? I know that’s where you got this. Both of your burrows are nice and cozy, and there’s no need to argue about it. Share the changes you make, but don’t assume one is better than the other, help your neighbor instead of fighting with him, okay?” Fluttershy said, putting a small bandage on his eyebrow.
The badger nodded, smiled at her, then went over to the neighboring badger burrow and showed off his bandaid, making amusing noises as his neighbor looked enviously at him. Fluttershy flapped gently away, oblivious to their pointing and chattering She floated back to her cottage, landed, and went inside, careful to not wake up Angel from his post-breakfast nap. She collected her saddlebags, then stopped, seeing something out of the corner of her eye.
She moved slowly closer to the dresser, hoping she wasn’t actually seeing what she was seeing. “Oh no…” She gently reached down and scooped up the shattered form of the spider smeared across the hardwood floor. She made sure to pick up every single leg, gave a look toward Angel, sleeping peacefully, then carried the broken spider outside. She scraped a small hole, put the spider in sadly, and covered it back up. She was going to have to have a talk with Angel when she got back. She walked slowly down the road away from her house, thinking about what could be done. She had talked with him about this kind of thing before, and she understood his dislike of spiders living inside the cottage, but if he’d just woken her up she could have asked the spider nicely to go outside instead.
The death of the spider weighed heavily on her mind as she went shopping. She stopped by the market and got some fresh butter and vegetable oil. Those were things she couldn’t easily make herself. She had a goat, and sometimes she would get milk from her, but making butter out of it took a very long time if she tried to do it by hoof. It was a lot quicker to just buy butter instead. She earned enough that it wasn’t a problem. Fluttershy eventually had everything she set out to get, and a few choice extra things for herself and Angel. She started on her way home when she remembered.
“Oh right, Angel’s dry-cleaning.” She said, and turned back around, picking up a quick trot.
She got to the dry-cleaners, paid the pony at the counter and turned in the claim ticket. A small bag of clothes, freshly cleaned and pressed was presented to her, and she grabbed it in her mouth, nodding to the pony in thanks. She turned, flapped her wings, and took off for home.
She hoped Angel would be happy with the way his clothes turned out. He didn’t wear them very often, but he was very picky about them. Even the slightest wrinkle would make him upset, so she was as careful as possible while she wound her way home gently through the air. She didn’t want to walk or take her time, because once she bumped into somepony and dropped the laundry on the ground. She had to return them to the dry-cleaners after that when Angel saw dirt on the plastic covers. She landed at the front door, carefully cracking the door open. She didn’t want to wake Angel if he was still sleeping, and crept inside quietly. She delivered Angel’s clothes to his closet, and began putting away the groceries. She almost had everything done when she heard a thumping at the entrance to the kitchen. She turned and saw Angel at the entrance to the kitchen.
“Good afternoon Angel sweetie. Did you have a good nap?” She said, smiling.
Angel held out his paw up at her, pointing with his other paw at the bags. Fluttershy turned to the bags, then looked back at Angel.
“Angel, you just had breakfast not too long ago. If you wait until after lunch, you can have your snack in between lunch and supper, okay?” Fluttershy said.
Angel just stamped his foot and thrust his paw up at her again, pointing at the bags. Fluttershy sighed and turned back to the bags. She got out the candied grapefruit peel she’d gotten for him and held a slice out for him. She dropped the single piece she was holding in surprise and walked after him as he hopped quickly back out to the living room and the couch.
“Angel sweetie, you shouldn’t eat all of it right now, you’ll spoil your appetite for lunch.” Fluttershy pleaded.
Angel ignored her and hopped up on the couch, greedily gnawing at the treats.
“Angel, please, it’s bad for you to eat it all at once. That’s the entire treat allowance I had saved for this month. If you eat all of it, we won’t have any more for a while.” Fluttershy said, trying to reason with him.
Angel stopped for a second, thinking, and Fluttershy reached out for the bag. When her hoof got close, he snatched it away, hopped down, and squeezed under the couch itself where he continued to devour the peels one at a time.
“Angel! Come out from there! You’re being greedy! If you keep eating like this, your clothes won’t fit!” Fluttershy said, peering under the couch at him.
Angel simply looked at her nonchalantly and kept eating. Fluttershy stood up and tried to scoot the couch so she could reach Angel, and though she managed to push it a couple inches at a time, Angel just kept following it so she couldn’t reach.
“Angel, please! I wanted us to share them!” Fluttershy pleaded, once again peering underneath the couch at him.
Angel responded by throwing two slices of peel into her face, and turning away. Fluttershy closed her mouth into a tight line, stood up, and silently walked upstairs, shutting the door quietly, but firmly. Once the door was closed she broke out into tears. She fell into bed, grabbing a pillow and sobbing into it. She had no idea what she was supposed to do with Angel. He was mean, cruel, entitled, and all her pleas fell on deaf ears. He took and he took and he took, and what he gave back he gave grudgingly. She knew she needed to stand up to him, but that would mean she would have to possibly raise her voice, and she didn’t want to do that. Even if she didn’t, she would have to keep things from him, and she was afraid of what he’d do if she did.
“Oh, I don’t know what could possibly reach him!” She cried, rubbing her face on the pillow in frustration.
She was aware she was responsible for his behavior. Her permissive attitude allowed him to have everything he wanted, and knowing she wouldn’t fight back caused him to push boundaries. She lifted her head, tears streaking her cheeks but her face resolute. She was going to march right back down there and give him a piece of her mind. This was for his own good! She climbed out of the bed, walked over to the door and… stood there. Her legs shook as she stared at the door handle. Could she really do this? Stand up to Angel? What would he do? What would he say? What if he just ignored her? She’d have to back up any of her words with actions as well. Could she do that?
Fluttershy slowly reached out with a hoof and turned the handle, the door clicking open. She focused on putting one hoof in front of the other as she made her way down the stairs. Very soon she’d see Angel, and she was going to have to talk to him calmly, but firmly. That was the best way to handle it. Be calm, but firm. Calm, but firm. She turned the corner and every bit of her plan flew right out of her mind.
Angel was chasing something around on the carpet, the remainder of the peels scattered all over. His foot was stamping the ground every so often, and as Fluttershy looked, she could see he was chasing a spider across the carpet. He raced after it under one of the dressers, then jumped on top as it scaled the wall, knocking several vases, picture frames, and a fishbowl off. Fluttershy gasped as the fishbowl fell, and flow out to try to save it. She missed and it shattered on the floor, the fish inside flopping on the hardwood.
“Angel, stop! Leave it alone!” Fluttershy yelled quietly.
She picked up the fish and got it a small glass of water from the sink, putting it inside then hurrying back out to the living room. Angel had knocked over several of the cat trees, and the animals were all in a tizzy as Angel raced about, hellbent on murdering the spider that invaded his home. Fluttershy few after him, reaching out to try to grab him, her hooves grasping at air most of the time, or being batted away by Angel as he focused solely on the spider. Finally, after receiving several bruises from Angel’s furious paws, she got a good grip on him and held him tightly.
“Angel! Stop this instant! Killing the spider isn’t the answer, I can get it to leave if you’ll just let me talk to it! We’ve been over this -ow!- before! Just -ouch!- stop!” Fluttershy said, squeezing Angel tightly in her hooves.
Angel flailed wildly, the spider hiding in a corner near the ceiling while Fluttershy held Angel back. He eventually calmed down and turned his angry gaze to Fluttershy, pushing against her hooves. In his mad attempt to kill the spider, he had clawed Fluttershy’s forehooves as she reached out to him, and they were covered in scratches, blood slowly oozing from some of them. She had several bruises growing on her ribs, and a rather severe-looking contusion on her cheek, just under her left eye where he’d headbutted her to try to get her to let go. He glared at her, pushing against her hooves, but eventually started to sulk, folding his paws in her grip when he realized she wasn’t going to let go.
“Okay Angel. I’m going to put you down, then I’m going to go get the spider and clean up. It won’t bother you anymore, okay?” Fluttershy said.
Angel nodded slowly, staring daggers at the spider, but didn’t try to hunt it down when she floated down to the ground and put him down on a clean patch of carpet.
“Now maybe go outside and play if you like, while I clean up, okay?” Fluttershy said, giving him a gentle push in the direction of the pet door.
Angel hopped angrily away, leaving Fluttershy with the mess of broken furniture, and the single spider, cowering in the upper corner. She fluttered up to it and held out a hoof. It dashed away across the wall to another corner.
“It’s okay, calm down. I’m not going to hurt you. Angel’s outside now. He didn’t-“ Fluttershy began, but stopped, because she knew deep down that Angel really did want to kill it. He hated spiders and bugs of all kinds. “I won’t let him hurt you, okay?” It flinched away, but her cooing eventually calmed it down and it hopped onto her hoof once it understood she wasn’t going to squash it.
Fluttershy continued cooing to it while she floated down to the floor. It was a dark brown colour, with small coarse hairs covering its body. It just stood there on her hoof, not moving, seemingly frantically looking about for danger.
“Oh dear, you’re still all shook up about Angel aren’t you? Here, you can stay with me while I clean up, okay?” Fluttershy said. She lifted it up to her head, and gently pushed it off on to her mane. It moved without much resistance, and she nodded once she knew it was securely holding on. “Now you just hold on while I clean. Don’t fall off now.”
Fluttershy hummed quietly to herself while she cleaned up the mess Angel had made. She righted cat trees, hung cages, swept up shards of pottery and glass, mopped up the mud the mixing water and soil had made, then began replanting the plants Angel had strewn about.
“I’m sorry, but some of you will have to share a pot until I can buy some new ones.” She said to them as she put several in one pot.
She searched for a new fishbowl, but she couldn’t find one, so she put the fish in a large vase until she could get a new bowl for him as well. She had to fly back and forth between her house and shed, and she saw Angel lazing about in the sun near the brook, and she frowned. He didn’t look at her, thankfully, and she was reminded about the spider in her hair.
“How are you doing up there little guy? Feeling better?” She felt it move, and smiled. “Glad to hear it. I’m terribly sorry you had to go through that, but my cottage really isn’t the best place for spiders. Bugs don’t usually come in, and any that do are usually, well, eaten by the birds and cats.” She tried to say it nicely. She didn’t like it, but she knew animals had to eat, and some ate each other. She’d accepted it long ago.
The spider tapped at her head again, small rustling noises coming from it.
“I know, it’s warm and very cozy. Thank you for the compliment. I do try my very hardest to make it a lovely place to live and visit.” Fluttershy said. “What is your name, if I may ask?”
The spider whispered about on her head, tapping at her head, pedipalps clicking furiously.
“Louie? That’s a lovely name. Louie the lycosidae!” Fluttershy giggled.
Louie clicked and rustled in what seemed to be an amused fashion, moving slowly about on Fluttershy’s head while she continued cleaning. Fluttershy sang softly to herself while she worked, seeming to be much happier now that she wasn’t thinking about what to do with Angel. She was fine until she came to the grapefruit peels Angel had left on the floor. She sighed as she looked down at them, debating what to do, but she ultimately picked them up, dusted them off, and popped one in her mouth, chewing sadly on it. She carried the rest to the kitchen, putting them back in the baggie and laying them on the counter.
“I just don’t know what to do with Angel, Louie. He’s so angry all the time about everything, and if things aren’t absolutely perfect, he gets mad and he throws things. It makes me sad.” Fluttershy said, filling the sink so she could wash the dishes.
Louie crawled down her mane, pedipalps waving.
“Ohhh I try. But sometimes he just doesn’t listen.” Fluttershy said. “…most of the time he doesn’t, actually.”
She went quiet as she started scrubbing the syrup off the plates. Her hooves stung when she stuck them in the water and she looked at her forelegs, covered in scratches. She would need to bandage herself up when she was done. She brought a hoof to her eye, poking with a sudsy hoof at her swollen cheek. She sighed again. Louie waggled at her and she nodded.
“I know, I know. I shouldn’t allow it. I’m trying, Louie, I’m trying.” Fluttershy said.
She washed the rest of the dishes in silence, humming a quiet tune while Louie dangled from her hair, waving gently back and forth. She drained the sink, dried the dishes and put them away, then went upstairs to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and her face fell. There was no hiding this at all. The bruise on her cheek was a full black eye, swollen and an angry black and yellow. Angel could hit hard for such a small rabbit. The bruises on her chest, while not as bad as the one on her face, were still very visible against her yellow fur. The scratches on her forelegs were shallow, but there was a lot of them. Louie waggled his legs again, then crawled back up to the top of her head.
“Oh Louie, I can’t hide all this! If my friends see me like this, they’ll wonder what happened. I could tell them I had difficulty with an animal, but that’s a lie and they’ll know it! I never have difficulty with any animal except Angel! I don’t know how they’ll respond.” Fluttershy started tearing up again, and Louie skittered about on her head, clearly agitated.
Finally, he crawled down her back, waggled his palps at her, then crawled to the bathroom window. She nodded and opened it a crack, propping it there, and Louie disappeared outside. She peered out, watching him dash along the side of the cottage, then went back to look at herself in the mirror. She opened a cupboard and pulled out some disinfectant and poured it over the scratches on one hoof, then the other, hissing at the pain. She was washing off the chemical when Louie came back in with two other spiders in tow.
Fluttershy wiped her eyes and nodded to her new guests. “Hello you two. These are friends of yours, Louie?” She asked.
He made an affirmative gesture with his whole body, and she smiled.
“Well it’s lovely to meet you both. But why did you bring them to meet me, Louie?” She asked.
Louie waved his legs at her, then crawled up her freshly-cleaned hoof to stand on top of her head.
“Oh, well it’s not necessary, but the help would certainly be appreciated.” She said.
He made some more noises, and Fluttershy’s eyes widened.
“Oh! That would definitely be a good excuse, I agree! Thank you very much!” Fluttershy said in excitement. “You can go ahead and start whenever you’re ready you two.” She said, looking at the two orb weavers Louie had brought back.
The two other spiders Louie brought with him perked up and skittered over to Fluttershy. She spread her forehooves out a bit wider, and sat still while they each crawled up one hoof, and began their work. They started bandaging up her limbs with silk, wrapping up her forelegs, and covering the scratches she’d received from Angel, making it look like she had on a pair of spider-silk socks. Slowly but surely, the silk got thicker and thicker, until there wasn’t a single scratch visible on her hooves, and her legs were covered in silk all the way from her knee to her hoof. When they were done, she lifted a hoof to admire one of the silken socks. It shimmered slightly, and she gasped in delight.
“Oh they’re lovely! Thank you so much! But you said they could help cover up the black eye. What did you have in mind for that?” Fluttershy asked. Louie waggled his palps and tapped her forehead with a leg. “Oh, an eyepatch? That could work. Rarity might think it kind of tacky, but as long as it covers the injury, I think it will be fine. Do you two need a rest before doing that?”
The two orb weavers on her legs made quiet rustling noises, and Fluttershy nodded in understanding.
“Of course, it must be very tiring weaving that much silk. Take all the time you need. I can cancel tea with Twilight and Rarity if I need to, but we should have several hours yet. Go ahead and sit with Louie, I’ll just do some chores around the house.” Fluttershy said.
The two weavers climbed up her coat and sat together on the back of her right ear, while Louie made himself comfortable tangled up in her mane, partially hidden in it. Fluttershy, now feeling a lot better, trotted happily about the house, dusting the furniture, cleaning up in the bathroom, and cleaning the litterbox for her cats, and changing the paper in the cages for her birds. A couple of the birds squawked at the spiders in her hair, looking like they might attack, but Fluttershy asked them nicely and they settled down. Louie patted her head in appreciation with his legs.
“Everypony is welcome in my house, Louie. I try to accommodate all my guests as best I can. Some just… may not get along well with others, so I have to make compromises. But it’s supposed to be a… well… a safe space.” She finished lamely, realizing how awful that sounded when one spider got murdered and another got attacked all in the same day inside her supposed ‘safe space’.
Fluttershy pottered about her house in silence for a while after that, until the two orb weavers signaled they were ready. Fluttershy flew back upstairs to the bathroom, and settled herself down in front of the mirror again.
“Do you need me to do anything?” She asked.
Louie turned back and forth from the two weavers to Fluttershy, and waggled at her in the mirror. She nodded and pulled out a brush and some hair ties, and tied her hair up in a large and messy bun, getting her hair out of the way of the two weavers. As soon as it was tied up, they began working. One crawled down her face and patted her bruise, and she closed her eye. The spider anchored some silk to her cheekbone, and started covering her black eye with silk. The other one she couldn’t see had started at the back of her head, and she felt it moving rapidly back and forth doing something intricate. She sat patiently, watching the spider work on her face with her unblemished eye. As the spiders worked, she could see the final product begin to take shape. It neatly covered the bruised eye with a large circular patch, and it looked like, purely for aesthetic reasons, they were creating a band to wrap around her head. She could feel the patch anchored to her eye socket with sticky threads, so the band wasn’t necessary, but the excuse Louie had come up with was that they wanted to try out spider-silk fashion, so it was going to be there to aid in the verisimilitude.
Finally, after an hour or so of work, she had a shimmering silken eyepatch, and the only bruises left were on her chest, but she could put on a scarf to cover those. They weren’t as glaringly obvious as the black eye and the scratches. Fluttershy smiled and laughed in delight at the completed product and thanked the weavers profusely.
“It’s absolutely wonderful, thank you so much for your help. It was an awful lot of work, though. How are you feeling?” She said. Their response was lackluster and tired. “Oh you poor dears. They’re not live, but would you like some dry crickets?”
Louie responded in excitement, but the two weavers were not quite as interested.
“Oh, I understand. I’m sorry I don’t have anything live for you.” Fluttershy said sadly. “Tell you what, I can leave the window open in my room, and you can make a web in the window and catch anything that might come looking, okay?”
The spiders waggled excitedly at that, holding their front legs up and waving back and forth.
“I’m glad you agree. I can’t promise it will be a permanent arrangement, though. Angel won’t like it.” Fluttershy said, unlatching one window and pushing it open. She moved to the window on the other side of the bed and pushed that one open as well, locking them both in place so they wouldn’t accidentally swing shut. “It’s warm outside, so I won’t catch a chill, don’t you worry about that. Maybe when I get back from tea, we can work on something together, hmm?” Fluttershy held out a hoof, and the two spiders crawled down onto the walls, one to each window, before they both began making a web. “Now you two enjoy yourselves, just… try to hide the, uh, ‘leftovers’, when you’re done eating, okay? And remember, if you see Angel come, hide outside.”
They waggled their limbs at her, and she nodded, before stepping out of the room and making her way down the stairs. When she reached the bottom, she froze. Angel was standing there in the middle of the living room floor glaring at her. Louie burrowed into her mane, covering himself with her hair in fear. Angel tapped his foot and pointed at her legs and eye, then at what she assumed must be Louie, hiding in her hair.
“Angel, Louie is a guest in my home. He should be afforded all the respect that goes with that.” Fluttershy said, her lip quivering as she tried and failed to hold his gaze.
Angel didn’t move, but kept tapping his foot.
“I’m… going out to t-tea with Rarity and Twilight. I’ll make supper when I get back.” Fluttershy said resolutely. She marched past Angel and out the door, Louie scuttling to the side of her head Angel was not on.
Once she shut the door behind her, Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief. She started walking down the path to town, legs shaking at first but her steps became more sure the further away she got. She stopped after crossing the bridge, realizing she’d forgotten her saddlebags, along with the tea she had promised to bring. She bit her lip weighing her options, but eventually lowered her head and walked slowly on toward town. She didn’t want to let Angel see she’d made a mistake. Her friends would understand. She saw her silk socks and smiled slightly, her pace speeding up just a little.
“Remind me to thank your friends when we get back home, Louie. Also, I never did get you those crickets.” She said.
Louie patted her on the head.
“I’m still sorry about that. I know you must be hungry after helping me all day.” She said.
Louie made some scratchy noises.
“Oh, is that so? Well, at least I know you won’t starve. I could never go that long without eating.” Fluttershy said.
Louie patted her on the head again and settled into her mane, just next to her ear, looking a lot like an ornament. Fluttershy nodded and trotted down the path to Ponyville, and to the Carousel Boutique.
Upon arrival, Fluttershy knocked lightly on the door, and heard the response: “I’d know that knock anywhere! Come in, Fluttershy! I’m just heating the water.” Rarity called out.
Fluttershy opened the door and stepped inside, head down so her mane covered as much of her injured eye as possible. Sure, it was covered, but she knew her friends were going to comment on it. She was just glad Applejack wasn’t here to catch her in fib.
Twilight gasped when she saw her and came running over. “Fluttershy, what happened? Are you okay? And…” Twilight stopped when she saw Louie. “Uh… is there supposed to be a spider in your hair?”
“A WHAT?!” Rarity yelled. Fluttershy could hear the clink of dishes and she almost laughed at her mental image of Rarity pulling away onto the counter.
“Oh, I’m fine Twilight. I was just helping some, uh, some spiders practice making clothes.” Fluttershy said, pulling away from Twilight’s groping hoof. “Also, this is Louie. Angel was chasing him around the house earlier, so I’m letting him stay with me until he’s feeling better. I hope that’s okay. He won’t leave my head while we’re here, I promise.”
Rarity stepped out of the kitchen, eyeing Fluttershy carefully until she found Louie perched next to her ear. She shuddered slightly, but brought the kettle to the table and seated herself. “Well alright Fluttershy. Just see that he does.” Rarity looked at the eyepatch and the silken socks and clucked her tongue. “As for the clothes, well, there’s no defined weave. It looks like they haphazardly laid down silk trying to cover something up, and it’s directly stuck to your cheek, dear.” Rarity tugged on a small portion with her magic, and Fluttershy quickly slapped her hoof to the spot. “Sorry, I’m not trying to pull it off. But if your spider friends want to get into the silk business, they need to focus on form as well as function. It’s not enough to simply cover the body, clothes need to be pleasing to the eye! Anypony can cover themselves, fashion covers with flair! Do let them know, would you? If they make anything else, I’ll be happy to critique it for them.” Rarity said, smiling.
Fluttershy looked relieved. “I’ll be sure to let them know what you said, Rarity.”
“Wonderful! It’s always a pleasure to see someone with an interest in fashion. No matter how many legs they have. By the way, I don’t see your saddlebags, did you bring the tea, Fluttershy? I was so looking forward to trying it.” Rarity asked.
Fluttershy looked down at her hooves again, mane dangling in front of her face. She fidgeted and mumbled. “I forgot it.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. It happens to the best of us Fluttershy.” Twilight said. She lifted a small pouch onto the table and pulled out a small jar of tea leaves. “I brought mine just in case!” Princess Celestia sent it to me. She said it’s from Saddle Arabia, and I saved it for our little get-together.” She put some in a tea infuser and put it in the teapot, and poured in some hot water.
“Oh, that sounds lovely, Twilight.” Fluttershy said, sitting a lot more comfortably now that the subject had moved on from her and her spider.
The three mares chatted amiably, and when Rarity poured the tea they talked about what they all thought of it. Twilight thought it tasted odd, Rarity liked it, but said it was slightly too strong. Fluttershy thought it tasted okay, but she would have let it steep for less time. Rarity kept glancing at Louie where he sat in Fluttershy’s hair, and jumped when he suddenly twitched. He waggled his pedipalps and Fluttershy giggled.
“It’s not funny!” Rarity whined.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Rarity. He saw you watching him and he did it on purpose to see your reaction.” Fluttershy explained.
“Well I never!” Rarity huffed, angrily sipping her tea.
“I think you’d feel a lot less nervous about him if you’d get to know him. I could let you hold him if you want. He isn’t going to bite, are you Louie?” Fluttershy said.
“I… don’t know that I can, Fluttershy.” Rarity said, looking at Louie again.
“I would love to!” Twilight said, sitting up. “I don’t usually get to inspect insects or the like without them being put in displays. This would be incredibly interesting!”
“Would it be okay if Twilight held you for a bit, Louie? She does a lot of research, so I assure you she’ll be gentle.” Fluttershy said.
She held a hoof up near her head for Louie. He crawled onto it and Fluttershy held him out to Twilight, who extended her own hoof. Louie crawled over to the purple limb and Twilight, to her credit, did not flinch or recoil at all. She lifted Louie up to her face and looked him all over, examining him. Louie sat fairly still, only moving his pedipalps while Twilight studied him. Fluttershy watched carefully, making sure Twilight was being gentle, and Rarity watched in morbid fascination, cringing at the spider’s hairy presence.
“Well, it was certainly interesting to hold a live spider, but without vivisecting him, I’ve studied all the parts of lycosidae before.” Twilight said, holding Louie out to Fluttershy.
“Oh, yes, I don’t think you should do that.” Fluttershy said quickly, grabbing Louie off Twilight’s hoof.
“I didn’t mean I wanted to, Fluttershy.” Twilight said.
“Oh, I know. I understand. I’m sorry.” Fluttershy said.
“Well, girls, this has been wonderful, and the tea you brought was interesting Twilight, but I’m afraid I must cut it short. I do still have work that needs done for tomorrow.” Rarity said, clearing her throat.
“Oh, of course, Rarity. It was nice to see you two. I’ll see you both next week, then?” Twilight said, packing up her things.
“Oh of course.” Rarity said.
“Yes, that would be nice.” Fluttershy said. “Thank you for the tea, Twilight, thank you for having us, Rarity.” Fluttershy stood up, bowed gently, and slipped out the door. Once outside she sighed as she slowly walked away from the boutique. “I know Twilight means well, but she scares me sometimes. Are you okay, Louie? You’ve been awfully quiet.”
Louie tapped her on the head in affirmation.
“I’m glad. Other ponies aren’t quite as careful sometimes.” Fluttershy said.
The two walked home slowly, enjoying the fresh air and the smell of summer. It wasn’t until Fluttershy crossed the bridge in front of her cottage that she started getting anxious again. She swung open the front door slowly and sure enough, Angel was sitting in the middle of the floor, tapping his foot. He pointed at Louie and Fluttershy covered him with a hoof.
“He’s still my guest, Angel. Your behavior earlier today gave him quite a fright, and until he’s feeling better, he’s my guest.” Fluttershy retorted.
She walked the long way around the living room, behind the couch, putting it between her and Angel, and stepped into the kitchen. She started pulling out utensils, veggies, and dishes, chopping them up with practiced ease. Angel watched her from the living room, glaring daggers at the spider in her hair. Fluttershy didn’t acknowledge Angel’s behavior beyond making sure he wasn’t close enough to hurt Louie. She even remembered to get Louie some dried crickets which he quickly ate, much to Angel’s displeasure. When she had made Angel his salad, and herself a sandwich, she put the salad on the floor for Angel, then started upstairs. Angel stamped his foot loudly.
“What is it, Angel?” Fluttershy asked.
He pointed to her hair, then himself.
“Oh, Louie will be spending the night, Angel. He feels safe with me, so you’ll have to sleep down here, okay?” She responded.
Angel’s face twisted into an angry grimace and he stamped the floor harder.
“Well maybe you should have thought of that before chasing him around the house instead of coming to get me next time!” Fluttershy yelled. “I can ask them to leave, but you didn’t want him to leave, did you? You wanted to kill him!” Fluttershy shouted, tears coming out of her eyes. She hurried the rest of the way upstairs, ignoring the continued stamping from Angel.
Thankfully Angel hadn’t come upstairs, and the two weavers had remained undisturbed. Their webs were built, and they hadn’t yet caught anything, but they were happy enough. Fluttershy sat down on her bed and ate her sandwich quietly. Louie ate some more of the dried crickets she had brought with her, and they chatted about nothing in particular for a good portion of the remainder of the evening. The weather, other insects, the Everfree forest, what parts of Fluttershy’s house the spiders had been living on and how they liked that her garden brought in so many insects. The one subject they avoided entirely was Angel, silently agreeing that Fluttershy really didn’t want to discuss it. When she finally went to sleep, Louie carefully crawled on top of her eyepatch, ready to wake her up if Angel arrived.
The night passed slowly. The weavers eventually caught some insects that were seeking warmth inside the cottage, but true to her expectations, the breeze was cool, but not cold enough to cause her any ill effects. Louie, meanwhile, after the first couple hours were calm, decided to run off for a moment. He waved at the weavers and they waved back in acknowledgement, then he skittered out the window and down the side of the house. Careful to watch out for any dangers, he made his way through the garden, across the field, and into the tall grasses surrounding Fluttershy’s little cottage. He went to and fro, meeting with all sorts of different spiders he knew, some who tried to eat him, but eventually were willing to listen. Some who thought he was going to try to eat them, but he eventually convinced them otherwise. After a couple hours of chatting with different spiders, he returned to Fluttershy’s cottage, hoping that some of his message did not fall on deaf ears.
He returned, climbed up the wall, and stopped when he saw the weavers were cowering outside. That could only mean that Angel was in the room. Louie crept slowly up to the windowsill and peered inside, scanning the room with his eight eyes. Nothing moved that he could immediately see, so he crawled up onto the windowsill. When no movement caught his eye, he skittered back across the wall toward Fluttershy’s bed. He was halfway there when something moved at the edge of his vision. Out of instinct, he scurried upward quickly, and a white flash scraped the wall where he had been. Angel’s claws gouged the wall, and Fluttershy stirred in her sleep. Angel glanced over at her, holding as still as possible, and Louie watched carefully from his higher vantage point. Both of them held still until Fluttershy settled down. Once they were sure she wasn’t going to wake up, Angel looked back up at Louie.
Angel hopped up onto the bed, and planted himself next to Fluttershy’s head, smirking at Louie in the moonlight. Louie hesitated. Angel could easily crush him if he let him get close, but Louie didn’t want to leave Fluttershy alone with that awful rabbit. He weighed his options, but ultimately crawled slowly back outside the window. The two weavers waved their limbs frantically at him, but he ignored them. He waited, patiently, between the two open windows. After several minutes, he heard motion at one of them, and the window slid shut. Taking his cue, Louie zipped toward the other one, inside and down to the floor, hiding under the bed. He hadn’t taken a moment to look, but he was hoping Angel hadn’t seen him. He looked around, trying to see if anything was moving. He was rewarded when Angel hopped down next to the bed, and dashed toward him, smiling wickedly.
The chase began, and Louie ran for the nearest leg of the bed. He grabbed onto it with all eight legs and skittered up. Angel kicked at it hard, trying to crush him, but Louie had slipped around to the other side, and Angel just hammered the bed, shaking it. Up above, Fluttershy awoke with a start.
“Wh-what?! What was that? What’s going on?” She cried, hugging her blankets to her chest.
Louie zipped up the leg of the bed, onto the headboard, and leaped onto Fluttershy. Angel followed behind him, slamming against the leg of the bed, and scratching at the headboard, leaving deep gouges in the wood. When Louie latched onto Fluttershy, she was happy at first, but when Angel followed, trying to squash him, she gasped in fear.
“A-Angel stop!” She pleaded. She pulled away, trying to keep the bundled up blankets between herself and Angel.
Angel ignored her, and leaped at her head, trying to get Louie where he was hiding in her mane. His claws scratched at her face and scalp, and small tufts of bloody hair fell onto the bed. Louie scampered down to her chest and Angel tried to follow, getting tangled up in her long mane. Fluttershy was screaming at flailing at him, tears streaming down her cheeks from pain and panic, and begging Angel to stop.
“Angel stop! Stop please! You’re hurting me!” She cried.
He still ignored her, and finally extricated himself from her mane, falling onto the blankets. He dashed back toward her, and Louie climbed back up onto her face as Angel leaped. Fluttershy felt Louie crawl across patched eye, as Angel jumped toward him. She felt Louie get crushed against the patch, as Angel’s paw pushed against it, tearing the silk and sinking into her eye. She felt a burning pain as Angel pulled his paw back, and something wet started streaming down her cheek, dripping onto the bed.
Fluttershy barely registered Angel’s horrified look, and all she heard was her blood thumping in her ears as she screamed and cried. She stumbled to the bathroom, tried to flick on the light and failed. Her hooves shook as she fell into the bathtub and turned on the shower.
Her eye hurt. It burned. She needed to wash it. The lukewarm water cascaded over her, running visibly darker than normal in the poor light. She vaguely realized it was because she must be bleeding. Angel had scratched her rather fiercely. She realized her hooves were steady again, and a background voice in her head told her she was probably going into shock. She took the opportunity to remove her eyepatch, tugging it off her face and out of her mane. It was a tattered mess. Once she removed it, a fresh cascade of dark fluid washed down through her coat and into the drain. It seemed… lumpy? Again that voice in her head told her she was likely in shock. She should get help. Go to the hospital. But then ponies would realize Angel had been beating her. She looked at the eyepatch in her hooves. Stuck to it were eight legs and a bristly body.
“Oh. Louie.” Fluttershy curled up into a ball in the bathtub, the burning in her eye was a persistent ache, but her new friend was dead. She sobbed and tears fell from her uninjured eye, swiftly getting washed away by the water.
She stayed there in the shower until the water turned cold and uncomfortable, then turned it off and lay in the tub for a while afterward. Too many thoughts raced through her head and she had no idea how to process them all, so she just let them float through, and didn’t dwell on any of them. Eventually she saw light coming through her windows, and realized she needed to get up.
With much difficulty, Fluttershy pulled herself up off the floor of the tub, weakly dragging herself over the lip. She looked at Louie’s squashed form stuck to the bloody silk bandage she’d pulled off her eye. She knew she was sad, but she didn’t really feel anything at the moment. Staring at her hooves, she made her way over to the towel rack, pulled one off and dropped it on her head. She didn’t actively dry herself, just let it sit there. She plodded over to the light and switched it on. She sat in front of the mirror, staring down at her hooves, towel on her head.
She lifted a hoof to her left eye, which burned and ached. She poked gingerly at it, wincing as her hoof touched her cheekbone. She blinked and it felt slow and awkward as her eyelid rubbed over something out of place. Numbly she realized what that meant. She couldn’t see anything out of it, but she knew her eyelid was open. She lifted her head and looked at herself in the mirror.
Under the towel, she could see her left eye was a ruined mess. A large chunk of it was missing, and the rest was bloody-red. There were scratches all across her face, and when she shifted the towel back she could see small patches of her mane were missing, scabs forming in their place. Angel had hurt her. A lot. He had blinded her in her left eye. She was no doctor, but she knew she would never see out of it again. Not even unicorn healing magic could fix that much damage. She felt tears running down her right cheek, and she was sad, but she didn’t really feel like sobbing. She should really get to the hospital before it got infected. Instead, she dragged herself to her bed, fell back into it, and let exhaustion take her.
She awoke some hours later to the feeling of many legs crawling over her. At her motion, then all skittered off her as she sat up. She looked around, and saw a swarm of spiders at the foot of her bed. She looked around the room and saw other crowded up at the ceiling corners, in the windows, and on the walls. A particularly large one waved at her with its legs and pointed to her bedside table. She looked over and saw Louie’s crushed body lying in state, curled up.
At the sight she started sobbing. “I just wanted to help hi-im! I don’t know why Angel hates you all so much! I just wanted everypony to get *hic* aloo-ong!”
The swarm inched closer and she felt hundreds of tiny legs patting her gently, trying to comfort her. She cried for quite a while, but when she was done, she smiled a tentative smile.
“Thank you all. I’m glad you all came, and yes. Yes you all can stay. I promise I won’t let him push me around any more. Enough is enough.” She said.
Resolute, Fluttershy pulled herself out of bed, brushed her hair, wincing when it pulled at her scabs, looked sadly at herself in the mirror, and trotted downstairs. Angel was on the couch and she stopped when she saw him. He saw her, but he didn’t move. He just sat there looking at her. It wasn’t a glare or disapproval that she had slept so long, or a look of disgust or horror. He seemed to be measuring her reaction. She was angry at him, but also still rather scared, and she wasn’t sure what he wanted. Fluttershy broke the stare first, and turned to the kitchen. She turned to the kitchen and prepared him breakfast; a simple salad. She looked at it, and her eyes flickered toward the couch where he was sitting briefly, but she ultimately put it on the floor and hurried out the front door, avoiding him.
She took care of her chores quickly, without singing, humming, talking, or making any noise at all, and when she was done and had made sure all the animals were properly fed, she came back inside, turned her head away from Angel to avoid his gaze, and hurried back upstairs into her room. The spiders were all waiting for her, and there were many more webs covering all the furniture, the ceiling, and between her bedposts. She navigated her way among them and sat down at the edge of her bed. One of the spiders waved at her and she shook her head in response.
“Nothing happened. I made him breakfast, did my chores, and came back up here immediately afterward. He didn’t touch me or say anything. Thank you for your concern, though.” She said.
Another one waggled at her.
“Oh, that would be nice, yes. I should really get to a hospital, but they would ask a lot of awkward questions, and I don’t know how I would respond. I don’t…” Fluttershy said, but stopped.
How much more of this should she take? She looked down at the bloodstained bedding she still had yet to change. She felt the weight of it all come crashing down on her again. She had no more chores to do. Nopony was expecting anything of her, and she had free time. She didn’t want to go downstairs and see Angel glaring at her again. She would have to pass him to go anywhere. She curled up on the bed trying to make herself as small as possible. It was all so much to deal with. She couldn’t leave, but she couldn’t stay. He needed her to take care of him, but he would only hurt her again. She felt the spiders crawl on her, and a couple in her mane started covering her wounds with silk. She fell asleep quickly, not wanting to think about anything at all.
Hours later, when she finally woke up, it was dark outside. She sat up quickly, spilling spiders everywhere. She gazed around the room with her one good eye, watching the tiny motion of hundreds of eight-legged forms crawling up the walls. She felt at her head, at the tiny patches of silk covering her scratches and scabs, and a hoof went to her left eye, feeling another patch covering it. It still burned, but at least it was covered.
“Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate your help, all of you.” She said.
She heard a thump and froze. Her head whipped to the stairs, and she saw Angel sitting at the top of the steps, looking around the room. His eyes scanned the walls and ceiling with obvious disgust. Fluttershy pulled the blood-crusted blankets up to her chin, watching him with palpable fear. Angel pointed to himself, to her, then downstairs, and hopped down the steps. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief.
“I didn’t know if he would try to squash all of you or not, but it seems like he only wants supper.” She said. Hundreds of legs waggled at her, but she shook her head. “He needs me to take care of him. It’s just supper, don’t worry so much. I’ll be back up soon. Thank you all for your concern.”
She slipped out of bed, spiders scuttling about avoiding her hooves on the floor, and she walked down the steps. She went straight into the kitchen without looking at Angel, cooked him a meal of boiled carrots and tomato soup. Her own stomach grumbled as she was making it, and she realized she hadn’t eaten anything all day. Angel hopped up onto the counter near her to eat and she flinched away, looking at the floor. She gave him a wide berth, pulled an apple out of the fridge and hurried back upstairs.
Once she got all the way back up the stairs, the spiders once again all waved at her at once. She smiled at the welcome and slowly ate her apple. They talked about anything and everything spiders cared about. Bugs, webs, predators, and hundreds upon hundreds of babies. The spiders were polite enough to avoid talking about Angel and Fluttershy’s injuries. They kept her company well into the night, talking, laughing, and being companionable. Her injured eye itched, but it was a pain that was far back in her mind while she talked. Eventually though, she succumbed once more to sleep, and laid down on the still-filthy blankets. Her spares were downstairs, and she didn’t want to disturb Angel while he was sleeping.
The next day was much the same. Angel stayed out of her room, only coming to the top step to bother her about food, at which point she would go downstairs, feed him, grab something small for herself, do her chores, then quickly disappear back up to her room, sleeping most of the day. She never replaced the blankets, nor did she bathe, or eat enough, and several days passed.
Fluttershy was starting to look gaunt, filthy, and her eye itched. She was able to remove the bandages on her head, but her eye would definitely need more time. She slept far too much, but she didn’t want to see Angel, or have him look at her any more than necessary. She didn’t know what she was going to do when her weekly tea with Rarity and Twilight came around. The spiders had made their own, with webs covering every possible surface, leaving Fluttershy a path to go to the bathroom and to go downstairs when she needed to. They talked with her and tried to keep her spirits up, but she had stopped caring, and they were too small to do force her to do anything.
