Canterlot Pets, located near the center of Canterlot Mall, was presently alive with the sounds of barking, tweeting, meowing, slithering, growling, yipping, chattering, pawing, buzzing, chirping, hissing, and even silently observant animals of all shapes, sizes and breeds.
In other words, Fluttershy was completely in her element, and she loved it dearly.
That said, this was certainly one of those times when she really could have used Twilight Sparkle's cloning machine. If it were finished, that is. Fluttershy wondered if Twilight would terribly mind being asked to work faster on it.
As she lightly dabbled the golden-brown cat on one of the shop's tables with a soft, damp washcloth, her mind wandered to the wonderful possibilities which could arise from having multiple copies of herself. They would be able to help so many animals at once! They'd be able to combine their voices into one super-voice of actual human volume and get people to listen to them. They'd be able to perform on stage in their own all-Fluttershy band!
(After drawing straws, of course. One of them was going to have to take one for the team and soak up all the audience attention by being lead singer.)
As she dabbled the cat dry, however, she frowned. Five Fluttershys also meant splitting her paycheck from the pet store five ways, to say nothing of food and lodging. Plus, what if they wanted to live their own lives? For the third time that week, Fluttershy's mind slipped into its own moral infinite loop.
She sighed. Twilight would have to finish the machine on her own time, after all. But Fluttershy would still be first in line.
"There you are," Fluttershy said as she put the brown-furred cat back in his cage and locked it. "All clean! Time for lunch, my pets. Well, you're not my pets. But you know what I mean. At least, I like to think you know what I mean, but even though I have this geode around my neck that lets me understand you, I'm honestly not sure if you understand my language—"
She stopped short, placing her hand to her mouth. "Oh my," she said giggling to herself. "This must be what Twilight refers to as 'babbling.'" She tried again, louder this time, managing to blend in with the rest of the din. "Time for food, everyone!" she said, rattling a nearby food bag.
The animals' sounds quieted upon hearing Best Word and Best Bag, as nearly every one of them scuttled to the front of their cages. Fluttershy giggled as she walked towards the food storage cabinets, opening them and examining what was inside.
She didn't get very far.
"Everyone stop what you're doing, right now!"
Fluttershy turned around to face the entryway, and the source of the voice—a blue girl wearing a blue sweater vest and skirt, a purple cape, and faux-wizard's hat. Her arms were stretched skyward in triumph.
Fluttershy had to admit, this girl wasn't a sight she saw all that often. She also had to admit that she was often pretty okay with that.
"The Great and Powerful Trrrrixieeee has arrived to give you the gift of her patronage," said the Great and Powerful Trixie, pausing for effect. She then pointed straight at Fluttershy, and continued, "She requires an animal, and you have the privilege of selling one to her—or perhaps giving one to her for free, out of the goodness of your heart? Who knows what fate has in store?" With a demure giggle, Trixie pulled her cape in close. "Always take a chance, is Trixie's motto."
Well, scratch all thoughts of Trixie mercifully having gotten the wrong address. With an inward sigh, Fluttershy put on her best customer service smile. "Hello, Trixie," she said. "Welcome to Canterlot Pets. Please come in. What can I do for you?"
Trixie walked into the shop, looking around at all the cages with an analytical, anticipatory gaze. Fluttershy followed her, until they both had walked the entire circumference of the shop, which took a whole five minutes. Only then did Trixie speak again.
"Trixie visits Fluttershy's shop because she requires an animal assistant. Her current bunny Hopper, while faithful, is getting, uh..." Trixie tapped her index fingers together. "...on in years. Thus, Trixie requires a replacement for her act, but will accept only the finest you have to offer."
Fluttershy nodded confidently. Maybe this would be easy after all. "Oh. Well, our selection of bunnies is right over here," Fluttershy said, gesturing towards the left side of the shop. "I'm sure one of them would be glad to—"
"I already saw those bunnies!" Trixie said, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "Did you miss when we walked the entire circumference of the shop for the last five minutes? Trixie never does things without a good reason."
Fluttershy stared at Trixie in silence, feeling the difficulty slider in her mind go from left to center. "I'm sorry. I must have missed what was wrong?"
"Then Trixie will tell you, because she is benevolent like that." Trixie darted towards the rabbits again, striking a pose. "Behold!" she said, at the top of her lungs.
All the rabbits shrank back. "You see?" Trixie said. "Every single one of these rabbits cower at the sight of Trixie at her Greatest and Most Powerful!"
"Oh. Well," Fluttershy said, fighting to remain agreeable, "It might have been because they don't know you, or because you gestured towards them in a strange way, or even because you screamed at the them at the top of your—"
"And that is Trixie's act!" Trixie replied. "Total strangers, total style, and total volume! Do you now see?"
The slider went to seventy-five percent. This probably wasn't going to be fun after all.
"Trixie needs an animal who is fearless," Trixie said, balling a fist. "Who craves the spotlight! Who isn't afraid of the show, in any of its facets!" She relaxed. "But they also need to be chill, and audience-friendly. So, yes. do you have any non-uptight bunnies?"
"Well, in a normal environment, that's what these bunnies are," Fluttershy said. "But from what I understand, it takes special kinds of bunnies with special kinds of training, that takes weeks to months, for the results you're looking for. Maybe Trixie should... lower her expectations?"
Trixie stared at, then turned her back to Fluttershy, crossing her arms. "Or maybe Trixie should not be seeking advice from someone who she is surprised works customer service at all, given that her natural habitat is in a hermit cave."
The slider was now officially at max, and it was all Fluttershy could take. Seriously, who did Trixie think she was? And why did Fluttershy ever think that Trixie could change from her usual loud, brash, self-centered self? Finding Angel that one time for her had clearly been a fluke.
"Maybe Trixie should," Fluttershy said, with a stiffness in her voice that surprised even herself. "I hope you find what you're looking for, but you won't find it here, because you're not welcome here anymore. Please leave."
Fluttershy closed her eyes and exhaled. She was a patient person, but she refused to be pushed around, especially in her own workplace, and her own element!
When Fluttershy opened her eyes, Trixie was still there. But there was something different about her expression. It was no longer glued together into with complete, brazen confidence. It, in fact, looked as if it would crack at any moment.
"Why're you still here?" Fluttershy asked, walking to the entryway, and gesturing outside. "You're no longer welcome here. Good day."
"B-but," Trixie stammered. "The next closest pet shop is 50 miles away in the next city!"
"That's not my problem," Fluttershy replied. "This store reserves the right to refuse service for any reason. So, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to be alone. In my hermit cave."
"I... this is preposterous!" Trixie said, stamping a foot. "I demand to speak to your manager!"
Fluttershy crossed her arms with a triumphant smile. "That would also be me. At least until next week when my boss returns from her nature retreat. Feel free to speak to her then."
That was when, out of nowhere, Trixie's resolve—and voice—finally cracked. She held her hands out toward Fluttershy.
"Trixie begs you to reconsider!"
And there it was. Apparently Trixie did have more than one mode to her. Though Fluttershy didn't expect it, or need it, to shift all the way to utterly repentant in such a short amount of time. What was going on here?
"Trixie apologizes!" Trixie continued, panting for breath. "She was out of line... and is sorry."
Fluttershy remained silent.
Trixie sighed, looking at the floor. "Trixie is... stressed. More than she wishes to admit. More than words can possibly say. Her next show is tomorrow, and her faithful, beloved rabbit falling ill due to age just snuck up on her, even though it shouldn't have! I'm just as worried about his well-being as I am about my show. If not more."
She met Fluttershy's eyes with remorseful ones of her own. "But none of that is an excuse. Trixie should not have taken her fear out on you. Can she... try this again?"
Fluttershy thought for several moments before walking back into the shop. "If Trixie will let Fluttershy get a word in edgewise. I work at this shop, I represent it, and I have been put in charge of these animals for several good reasons. I can't help you if you don't respect that."
Trixie nodded. "The Mindful and Considerate Trixie respects that every individual stage has its own rules. When she... remembers to."
"Then, okay," Fluttershy said with a long exhale. We can try this again."
"Thank you so much," Trixie said. "If she may ask a question, however? Completely out of curiosity, no malice or disrespect, she promises."
"What is it?" Fluttershy asked.
"How did you get... here?" Trixie asked, gesturing around the store. "I know you love animals, but I would never have expected you to be running a shop. Trixie knows that there are risks that you... prefer not to take."
Fluttershy nodded. "You're right. I took this job to help my people skills."
Trixie chuckled. "It might actually be working. Trixie certainly didn't expect you to stand up to a customer, even with a good reason. She knows what you were like in school just a year ago."
"I don't enjoy being 'shy'," Fluttershy said. "I just am. But, so many times I want to get up in front of the whole world, and just say that this is who I am. To proclaim my love for endless gardens and cute fluffy bunnies and all of these animals."
She gestured around herself, then sighed. "Or, you know. To try and save an animal shelter. But because I'm me, I can barely get anyone to take a flyer. Meaning it's partly because of me that the shelter closed last month." Fluttershy's voice slipped even quieter. "Half of the animals in it got shipped to the next one. Fifty miles away."
"What happened to the other half?" Trixie asked.
Fluttershy looked at the tiled floor, not wanting to think of it, but it was already too late. She felt the tears again. The same tears that happened whenever she thought back to that gray, rainy day. A fraction of the tears which she'd actually shed on that day, when she'd personally helped the shelter ship off half of its animal supply.
And left before she could watch what had happened to the rest.
A horrified look washed over Trixie's face moments later. "Oh, no."
Fluttershy shut her eyes, sniffling, and nodding weakly. She might have let Trixie back into the shop, but she wasn't sure now if she would be of sound mind enough to be able to help her after all. "All my fault," she said in a shaking voice. "Because I'm useless like this. And I hate it."
Fluttershy felt two arms wrap around her shoulders. She opened her eyes to see Trixie staring at her eyes with a comforting smile.
Trixie shook her head.
"No one is useless," she said, wiping Fluttershy's eyes with a handkerchief. "In fact, no one 'just is' anything. Shy or otherwise. And the shelter wasn't anywhere near your fault. Some things are just out of our hands. You literally did the best you could, and for what it's worth, Trixie will always find that admirable."
Fluttershy didn't reply.
"Allow Trixie to ask," Trixie continued. "When approaching other people, or standing in front of them: what stops you?"
"Everything," Fluttershy replied. "Every single thought of what could possibly happen when I mess things up. Because I always do."
"You can't try to take on all of those what-ifs at once," Trixie said. "That's exactly what Trixie did when she first tried to embrace show business. And it backfired horribly, every time. We're more alike than you realize."
"How do you do it?" Fluttershy whispered. "How do you let the spotlight shine on you all the time? Even when you're not on stage, you yell for people to pay attention to you."
"Trixie demands the spotlight because she won't get any better at her act whenever she's out of it," Trixie said. "The audience is whatever you get. You can't control who shows up. But you can control yourself. To get through a show, you have to assume that everyone watching you is on your side, even if they might not be. Of course, Trixie never assumes they're not, because with her exquisite act, at worst it's simply a matter of them not knowing how much they love her yet."
Fluttershy sighed again.
"Of course," Trixie said, "until you're able to adopt that mindset, it's best to practice in front of those who might actually care that you're there." She walked behind Fluttershy, and pointed to the cages. "I bet these animals here love you."
Fluttershy fingered her geode pendant. "We do talk quite a bit. I've gotten to know everyone in here."
"There you go. Always work with an easy crowd if you can help it. A crowd that wants—nay, needs you to make their troubles and cares go away, with the power of entertainment!"
"I'm..." Fluttershy looked away. "I'm not sure I can."
Trixie placed her hands back on Fluttershy's shoulders. "The best part," she whispered in Fluttershy's ear, "is that they don't know that."
Fluttershy blinked. That actually... made a little bit of sense.
"Go on," Trixie said, squeezing Fluttershy's shoulders in a relaxing massage, and speaking just as reassuringly. "Address them with your presence. Give yourself a title worthy of even Trixie, just this once, if you wish. I promise, it'll help."
Fluttershy looked around the shop, took a deep breath. "Hear ye, hear ye! The Great and Powerful Fluttershy—" she stopped. "Hee. I've never been Great or Powerful Before."
"Like Trixie said, she will allow it this once. Continue. Follow only your heart, your desire, and nothing else. Don't bend to the audience. The audience bends to you. They love you. If you didn't lie to me."
Fluttershy giggled as Trixie placed a magician's wand into her hand and guided her other hand to take off the wand's endcap. "Behold!" she said, feeling herself getting into the act, and reaching into the wand with one finger to remove a multicolored scarf. She kept pulling, and more and more scarf emerged.
Amidst more jubilant giggles, Fluttershy twirled the wand in between pulls, trailing the scarf around herself, around every cage, making circles, zigzags, and other simple shapes, then twirling it around herself. She danced in the midst of the shop, with colorful trails all around her, not caring about who might pass by the entrance or look through the windows to see such an outlandish sight.
Only when she had an elegant twenty-foot silken necklace around her neck, did the wand finally stop its yield. Fluttershy and Trixie both bowed with matching flourishes.
Most of the animals remained silent. However, both Fluttershy and Trixie were startled by the rattling of a cage. Trixie walked towards it, eyeing the golden-brown cat inside, pawing at the cage's newspaper lining while looking straight at her.
"This one seems to be quite enthusiastic," Trixie said. Fluttershy stepped to the cage, giving the cat one end of the scarf. The cat instantly pawed away at it as well, meowing as he did so.
Trixie stared into its green eyes. "I believe this feline may like the look of show business," she said, cooing at it with her fingers. On top of that, he's gorgeous. Just look at these dapper paws."
"My," Fluttershy said. "How Rarity of you."
"Trixie is also a mistress of image. She has to be." She turned to Fluttershy with a bright, excited expression. "May Trixie feed him?"
"Of course," Fluttershy said, fetching a few morsels of dry cat food, and handing them to Trixie. Trixie served them, squealing as she watched him eat.
"Okay, this cat has done the impossible, and stolen Trixie's heart in record time! I'll take him. I'll even pay for him, he's that good! What's his name?"
"He doesn't have one yet. It's up to you," Fluttershy said.
"Well, he will be part of my suite of disappearing hat tricks, so how about..." Trixie snapped her fingers. "Capper!"
"I like it," Fluttershy said. "It has just the right ring to it."
"Naturally." Trixie nodded. "The Great and Powerful Trixie does excel at serendipity."
"Thanks so much again for your help," Trixie said, as Fluttershy handed her a portable kennel with Capper in it. She cooed at him again, playing at his paws with her fingers. "Trixie will love and care of this animal, and train him well, because she sees a very bright future for him in the spotlight." She smiled at Fluttershy. "And for you as well, if you remember Trixie's words."
Fluttershy saluted. "The Great and Powerful Fluttershy will do her best."
Trixie winked. "With that attitude, you're on your way." She raised a blue canister, bearing her moon logo, above her head. "And now, The Great and Powerful Trixie, and her new assistant, shall exit stylishly—"
Fluttershy raised her hand. "Please, no smoke bombs. The animals here are sensitive."
Trixie froze, then took off her hat, dropped the canister inside it, and put her hat back on. "You're the boss here. The Subtle and Sophisticated Trixie, and her new companion, shall exit gracefully, and in gratitude."
Fluttershy watched Trixie leave through the entrance, thinking back to how she'd felt just minutes earlier. She knew there actually were a few animals who would have heckled her back there, just to give her a hard time. The snake was especially spiteful whenever she was in a bad mood.
But with someone supporting Fluttershy in the moment, she'd barely thought about any of these facts during her impromptu—and enjoyable—act.
Maybe that was the key.
As she walked back to the food cabinet, she made a decision.
She took her phone out from her skirt pocket and flicked through her contacts until she found one of her older text conversations.
"Juniper?" she typed. "I've decided to accept your offer. We can shoot whenever you want to."
Her phone dinged. When she looked back at the screen, she saw a dozen consecutive red heart emoji. "You got it!" The next message said. "We'll be in touch."
Fluttershy nodded, putting the phone away again. No taking it back now, she thought to herself as she doled out food to the animals.
An image of herself and a proud Trixie, standing side-by-side on stage, with arms raised to the sky, appeared in her mind's eye.
Not that I'd want to.
