Cutie and the Beasts

Chapters

The Start of Stress
A Not-So-Successful Help
Pinkie Lends a Hoof
Fluttershy Goes Nuts!
Prologue
I Can't Do It Anymore

The Start of Stress

CHAPTER 1 - The Start of Stress

It was about 3:00 am when Fluttershy was awoken by whimpering in her kitchen. She sat bolt-upright in her bed scared half to death until she realized what it was.

“Oh dear, Winona, she’s hurting again!”

She rushed out of bed and went into the kitchen to see Winona in her dog bed lying down completely still but making very loud whimpering noises and barks. Fluttershy immediately opened a nearby cabinet with some pain-killer pills for Winona. She put one in her hoof and went over and set it in front of Winona to eat but Winona wouldn’t eat it because she didn’t like the taste.

“Oh please Winona, you have to eat it or you’ll keep feeling the pain! Please eat it!” She begged but the poor dog wouldn’t touch the pill.

Fluttershy thought about what she could do to get Winona to eat the pill but nothing would come to mind.

“Well I would put the pill in a piece of meat but I don’t have any meat. Will she get up to eat her food out of the dish though? I guess it’s worth a try…”

Fluttershy went and put some dog-food in a bowl and dropped the pill in and mixed it together a bit and brought it close to Winona for her to eat.

“Here you go Winona, eat your food, it will make you feel better.”

Winona was still lying down and wouldn’t get up and found it hard to reach her bowl while she was on her side. She wiggled her front legs to try and move herself across the ground but it didn’t work. Fluttershy moved the bowl closer but Winona wouldn’t be able to stick her snout down in to eat the part that had the pill in it. She tried getting herself to sit a little upright but her leg was in so much pain it was hard to do. Finally, while giving a loud howl, Winona got herself to sit up and put her mouth down into the bowl and ate her food up.

“Oh thank goodness! I was worried I’d never be able to get you to eat that. I thought I’d be up the rest of the morning trying to figure something out. You gave me so much work earlier today that I…”

She looked down to see that Winona was finished eating the food and licked her chops but the pill was all that was left in the bowl.

“Oh…you forgot the pill honey.”

Winona started whimpering again followed by coughing noises coming from Philomena in the living room.

“Oh dear…”

“I sure hope Owloysius is doing okay over at Fluttershy’s cottage.” Twilight said trotting down the road with Spike sitting on her back.

“Twilight, look, it’s Tank!” Spike called pointing to the skies.

Rainbow Dash’s pet tortoise, Tank, was flying around with his propeller contraption strapped around his shell with Rainbow Dash close behind. He was trying to get the hang of making sharp turns.

“Here Tank, like this!” said Rainbow Dash doing a short demonstration of turning while Twilight and Spike watched from below.

“Hello Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said cheerfully.

“Oh, hey Twilight, hey Spike! What are you guys up to?”

“We’re going to Fluttershy’s cottage to check up on Owloysius.” said Spike. “He hurt his neck the other day and we got him a neckbrace but Twilight won’t take care of-“

“Um, what Spike means to say is that I’m too BUSY to take care of him and we had to take him to Fluttershy’s to have her do it instead.” Twilight said interrupting Spike.

“Oh, Owloysius is hurt too eh?”

“Huh? Who else got hurt?” Twilight said perking up her ears.

“Well Princess Celestia asked me to take Philomena over to Fluttershy’s cuz she’s entering her molting cycle and is gonna die before reviving herself again from the ashes. She wanted Fluttershy to take care of her since she likes Philomena and is good with animals. Say, you wouldn’t mind going to check on her too for me, would you?”

“Fluttershy is taking care of Owloysius AND Philomena?!” Twilight said surprised.

“Yeah, there anything wrong with that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, yeah, kinda. It’s a bit too much asking for her to take care of not just one but TWO of our animals!”

“Aw relax Twilight. Fluttershy’s good with animals anyway.” Spike said patting Twilight on the back of her neck.

“Yeah Twi, she’s got this. Philomena won’t give her any trouble this time around anyhow, she likes Fluttershy now. And Owloysius is well-behaved.”

“Well…” Twilight thought hard before realizing that they were right and that it would probably be no difficult task for Fluttershy. “Eh, you’re right guys, I’m sure Fluttershy is doing just fine.”

“Well I gotta go you guys. Tank and I have a lot of flying lessons to catch up on.” And Rainbow Dash sped off with Tank following her close behind.

“Well Spike, we’d better go to the cottage and see if Fluttershy’s doing alright with Owloysius……and Philomena.” said Twilight while trotting down the road to Fluttershy’s.

As soon as they got there, Twilight knocked on the door politely but no one answered. Instead, Twilight heard a bunch of chattering and shrieking noises in the cottage. She thought maybe there was an accident.

“Oh no, Spike do you hear that?” she asked Spike worriedly.

“What the hay is going on in there?”

Twilight put her head against the door to hear.

“Fluttershy? Is everything okay in there?”

Twilight couldn’t wait any longer and opened the door on her own to see not just Owloysius and Philomena, but also Winona, Gummy, and Opal in the room. Some birds were flying around because they were very skittish about two large birds being on their perches and a cat being present in the room. Twilight stood with her mouth open.

“Wow, looks like somepony’s been a busy bee.” Spike said looking around the room with wide eyes.

Fluttershy then walked in with her hair all messy and a plate of food for Owloysius in her mouth. She nearly dropped the plate at the sight of Twilight and Spike in the door but regained her balance quickly and put the plate in front of Owloysius who didn’t really seem interested in eating at the moment. She then turned to talk to her friends.

“Twilight, Spike, what are you doing here?”

“We came to see how Owloysius was doing.” Twilight said “But Fluttershy, why in the wide wide world of Equestria are you watching everypony’s animals all at once?!”

“Well it’s simple really: you all asked me politely and I accepted politely in return of course.”

“But isn’t this a bit too much work for you?”

“More than usual but I think I can manage. I’m good with animals.”

“Well okay, but are you sure? Things might not go too well, don’t be afraid to maybe give a few of these animals back to their owners. Heck, you can even give us Owloysius back if you want.” Twilight then started to walk towards the owl hoping Fluttershy would say yes but she stepped in front of her.

“I’ll be alright Twilight, honestly.”

Twilight looked carefully at Fluttershy whose eyes seemed a bit red with wrinkles underneath from lack of sleep. Fluttershy could in fact NOT handle all these animals, but was it really worth arguing with her about? She seemed quite persistent to keep watching them so perhaps Twilight should just let her do it and see if things turn out.

“Well………alright fine. I’ll let you watch Owloysius, but just remember that you can always come and bring him back to us. I’ll be busy but I can always work around time to take care of him while doing my studies.”

“Thank you, Twilight. Oh, and you wouldn’t mind not telling the others about this, would you?”

Twilight sighed and her ears dropped.

“I won’t tell the others Fluttershy. But you should probably let them all know about this yourself. Don’t be too dishonest with them.”

“Well, I guess……maybe I could. I’ll see, but I should be alright. And I’ll promise to get enough sleep so I can meet all of you tomorrow morning for our picnic like we planned.”

“Alright then, I’ll see you later. And take care of Owloysius, he seems to still be in a lot of pain.”

Twilight walked out of the cottage with Spike putting his head down dodging the little songbirds that were darting back and forth in the room. Twilight looked worried like usual. Once they were out, Twilight started talking to Spike.

“Now do you think Fluttershy can handle all the work, Spike?” she asked him.

“Alright, I guess I was wrong. She’s got too many animals this time. I dunno Twilight, what if maybe she really can handle them?”

“Spike, this is serious! Did you see her eyes and how tired she looked? She isn’t liking this one bit! She might act like she does, but I can tell when Fluttershy’s stressed and when she’s not.”

“Okay, okay! It’s overkill, I get it! But we should probably just leave her be and see how things turn out, you know.”

“I dunno, I wish there was some way we could all help her out…”

TO BE CONTINUED…

A Not-So-Successful Help

CHAPTER 2 - A Not-So-Successful Help

Rarity was rummaging through her basket looking for some plates for the picnic that was set up before everyone.

“I cannot believe I forgot the plates again!!” she cried, “How could I forget such a simple task?!?! Of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!!!” She was about to bring in her chaise lounge to faint on when Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Rarity, chill out, I brought some extra plates!!”

“Oh……… I see…” Rarity started to blush.

Twilight sat down on the spread she just used her magic to set on the ground as everyone else gathered around to start eating.

“So, where do ya reckon Fluttershy is?” Applejack asked before taking a bite out of an apple.

“I’m not sure, but I’m sure she’ll be here soon.” said Twilight doing her best to hold in the secret but Spike all of a sudden started to run his mouth as always.

“Eh, I’ll bet she’s busy with all those anima-“

Twilight quickly used her magic to zip his lips and keep him from giving it away.

“SPIKE! Er…I mean…well Fluttershy does have a lot of animals to take care of you know. All those birds, and those squirrels and stuff…”

“Yeah, and Philomena.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Philomena?” said Applejack with her ears perking up. “Wait, she’s takin care of the Princess’s pet bird AND mah dog, Winona?!”

Rarity’s eyes widened and she spat her tea out of her mouth before speaking.

“WHAT?!? You mean to tell me she’s taking care of those animals also?! I brought her Opal the day before yesterday!”

“Oh wow, she’s also got Gummy!” Pinkie said happily while the others looked worried. “Cool, it’s like a huge pet parade in her house!”

“No Pinkie, that ain’t cool at all, that’s too much!” Applejack stated. “She’s got an alligator, a dog, a cat, and a phoenix to take care of all at the same stinkin’ time! Add that to all those other little critters and that’s a mother-load of labor!”

“She’s also got Owloysius!” Rainbow Dash said.

Everyone looked over at Twilight who started to blush and smile bashfully.

“Oh……um…yeah, that’s right…” Twilight said.

“Darling, you knew about this, didn’t you!?” Rarity asked Twilight.

“Alright alright fine, the secret’s out!!” Twilight put her hooves on her head and unzipped Spike’s lips.

“Well this isn’t good at all, we need to march straight over to Fluttershy’s house and take back some of those animals! Oh but which ones should it be? I still can’t have Opal in my house with all those fleas!”

“Well we’re just gonna have to take them to the vet or something. And I’ll take Philomena back to Canterlot for the Princess cuz she didn’t know everyone else’s pets were sick at the same time.”

“What was wrong with Philomena?” Applejack asked.

“That’s the thing, she was only entering her molting cycle. The Princess could probably have had some of her servants take care of her, but she let Fluttershy do it cuz she knows how much Fluttershy likes Philomena but the Princess had no idea the rest of you would have sick pets! What happened to Winona?”

“She broke her leg. And Opal’s got fleas ya say Rarity?”

“Yes, the poor darling is infested with those awful parasites!”

“And Gummy’s got Fline Swu!” Pinkie told everyone.

“It’s called Swine Flu, Pinkie.” Twilight corrected.

“Yeah, what she said.”

“And Owloysius hurt his neck. No sense keeping it a secret anymore…”

Fluttershy’s voice could then be heard over the hill calling them.

“Everypony, I’m so sorry I’m late! I wasn’t too busy or anything though……and I brought my own food for you all to enjoy…”

When she came up over the hill, her face could be seen and it definitely didn’t look like the face of a pony in the mood for a picnic. Her eyes were a bit red and had wrinkles under them and her mane was a bit uncombed. She was walking a bit slow and had trouble doing it in a straight line.

“I’m here…I’m here. Hope you are all doing okay…” she said sitting down and taking off her bags that had some snacks in them. “Got my own daisy sandwiches………oh……and a couple pairs…………and……and…” her eyes suddenly started to close and she started nodding off as everyone watched. She then sat upright quickly surprised at what just happened. “OH! I’m sorry, I guess I’m still a little tired. I didn’t sleep too well last night for some reason.”

“Yeah, more like you didn’t sleep well because of all the hard work of taking care of our animals at once!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“OH, WHAT?!?” Fluttershy’s red eyes widened from the fear of everyone finding out. “You know about that?!”

“I’m sorry Fluttershy, they all started telling each other that you were taking care of their animals before they got the answer out of me!” Twilight said nervously.

“Oh dear……well, I guess the secret is out then…”

“Darling, you can’t simply be taking care of all those animals at the same exact time can you?!”

“Well, I am. It’s hard but I am…”

“Well we ain’t gonna give you all that hard work t’ do. You should just give back some of the animals. After this here picnic, I’ll head on over to yer cottage and I’ll take Winona over to the vet or somethin.”

“Oh no Applejack, please, it’s quite alright, I can handle it.”

“Fluttershy, I really don’t think you can.” Twilight told her sternly.

“I know I may look like I can’t but it was just one night of not enough sleep, I’ll get some sleep later this afternoon, I promise. Now if you’ll all excuse me, I’m going to be a little busy here so I’d better go. It was fun spending time with you at this picnic. Bye…”

Fluttershy then got up and picked up her bag and put it on her back without noticing she left her untouched sandwich on the ground.

“Darling, you forgot your sandwhich.” Rarity said using her magic to lift the sandwich towards her.

“Oh, thank you Rarity.”

Fluttershy took the sandwich in her mouth and walked on back to her cottage with poor balance.

“Wow…she didn’t even realize she’d been here for practically less than a minute! And she didn’t even eat her own food!!!”

“I dunno if there’s any convincing her girls. I tried to yesterday when I found out and she seems quite confident she can do it.” Twilight said.

“Well ya know she most certainly cannot!” Applejack said. “That girl’s got too much on her plate and she’s gonna break down if she ain’t careful!”

“How I wish there was something we could do to help.” Rarity said thinking out loud. “Perhaps we could offer to take care of them for her for an hour or two while she gets some rest? I mean she’s got that cottage to clean as well you know. All the food and the medicine that must be lying around…”

“OOOH OOH! I have an idea!” Pinkie said waving her hoof in the air.

Twilight sighed.

“Alright Pinkie, let’s hear it…”

They all gathered around Pinkie as she whispered her plan to them.

Back at the cottage, Fluttershy was out at the market to get some food for the animals and had them all in a special room closed off so they wouldn’t make a mess in the main living room which was already a mess. Although she was gone, somepony was in the cottage though. Five ponies to be exact.

“Pinkie, are you sure this is a good idea?” Twilight asked while levitating a bottle of clean spray.

“Of course it is Twilight! If we clean her cottage, when she comes back, she’ll have plenty of time left to take care of the animals and then get her rest!” Pinkie said while using a rolling vacuum cleaner with a hose on the rug.

“Yeah Twi, it’ll be fine. This will help her out a ton.” said Rainbow Dash wiping the windows with a rag.

Meanwhile, Rarity was dusting off some mantles with a little dusting mop and Applejack was mopping the wooden floor.

“We gotta be quick though, she might be a bit angry if she arrives ta see us doing this if we don’t finish before she gets here.” Applejack said.

“Oh pish-posh, darling! A lady never rushes through anything!” Rarity said while gracefully using her dusting mop. “Pace yourself, we have plenty of time.”

“Well it would be better if she walked in on a nice clean cottage guys. And we shouldn’t be here too long, we were lucky enough to all have a gap in our schedules on the same day to do this.” Twilight said while she was spraying and wiping a coffee table that was in midair with her magic while Pinkie cleaned underneath.

Everyone stopped talking and went back to their chores taking their time. Twilight seemed a bit worried and kept looking out the window to check if Fluttershy was there. If Fluttershy came before they were done, Twilight would have to just try to get Fluttershy to let them finish up. Perhaps it would make Fluttershy happy that they were doing this. She really did need some help anyway. “Don’t worry about it Twi!” she said to herself. “It’ll all be fine, what’s the worst that could happen?”

But just as she began thinking positively, Twilight started to slide over the floor a bit. She had accidentally walked on the part of the floor that Applejack had mopped and was starting to go out of control. She knew that she couldn’t struggle too much or she’d really lose herself and probably crash into something. But the momentum she had earlier from walking wasn’t stopping and it actually seemed to be getting worse.

“Applejack, Rarity, somebody, I’m kinda in trouble here! Help!!” she said getting rather worried.

“Don’t worry Twilight, I gotcha.”

Rainbow Dash then flew overhead and grabbed Twilight’s hoof she was holding up and pulled her up, but Twilight lost her balance as soon as Rainbow started to pull her and slipped and fell down which caused Rainbow to fall down with her. They both landed with a thud and slid forward toward the bucket of water that Applejack was using and knocked it over which made the floor even more slippery.

“LAMB SAKES!!” Applejack hollered at the sight of this.

“APPLEJACK, HELP US!!!”

Applejack then took a rope she brought just in case and used it to lasso Twilight to safety, but she meant to lasso Rainbow Dash also who ended up slamming into a nearby bookshelf knocking over some books. Rarity noticed the books falling and quickly used her magic to lift them all back up. She walked towards the shelf to put them back in but didn’t realize the slippery floor in front of her and started to slide around and couldn’t hold the books any longer so Rainbow got buried in them.

“SOMEPONY HELP ME!!!” Rarity screamed while sliding along the ground with her legs wobbling to and fro.

Applejack tried to lasso her but missed and ended up hitting a little framed picture of Fluttershy and Angel which fell to the ground. Twilight quickly used her magic to keep it from falling and luckily was able to put it back up on the shelf before it crashed. Suddenly, Rarity sped by sliding again and bumped right into Pinkie’s vacuum and accidentally turned the power switch to the highest level causing the hose to suck very hard. Pinkie who didn’t hear any of the commotion due to the sound of the vacuum suddenly noticed it was getting louder and out of curiosity pointed the tip of the hose to her face.

“What the hay is-AAAGGGHHH!!!” Pinkie screamed as her bangs flew into the hose followed by her head and then her body and legs and tail. In an instant she was completely inside the hose and moving like a big circular blob through it towards the vacuum until she went in. The vacuum motor made odd sounds and then started to expand and finally exploded inside causing tons of dust to come out of the vents creating a blinding fog in the room and covering everyone with it.

Everyone else started coughing and wiping away their eyes until Twilight used a spell to gather up all the dust in an envelope of magic energy and then throw it out the window.

“OH MY HAIR, MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR!!” Rarity cried looking at her mane that was tainted with dust.

“Least the dust made the floor less dusty now.” Applejack said looking down.

“Yeah, but now it’s dirtier!” Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash then walked in with a book on her head and spoke.

“Um, guys? Where did Pinkie go?”

The vacuum then started making coughing noises and the hose detached and Pinkie’s dust-covered head popped out with the hose stuck on her snout. She kept coughing and sputtering until she finally opened her eyes that were spinning around from dizziness.

“Wow……hehe……that was fun, let’s do it again…” she said with a nasally voice.

“Pinkie, you ruined our vacuum cleaner!!” Twilight said walking over to her angrily.

“Vacuum cleaner? Oooooooooh, that’s what I was inside!” Pinkie looked back realizing the rest of her body was inside a machine. “Well isn’t that funny! I’m inside the vacuum but I should be out here, and the dust is……out here……but it should be in the vacuum. Hehe…sorry.”

Twilight leaned back sitting on the ground with both hooves on her face making very stressed groans.

“WELL GREAT, JUST GREAT! THIS IS PERFECT, NOW THE ENTIRE ROOM IS EVEN MORE OF A WRECK THAN WHEN WE STARTED!!!”

Suddenly the door knob started to turn and make creaking sounds and everyone froze in the room with hearts beating fast. Fluttershy walked in.

“Alright Angel, now that we have the food we can…” her eyes widened as she noticed the entire room covered in dust and her friends standing in the middle around Pinkie who was stuck in the vacuum. Angel stared and then slapped his face and fell over all stressed out over the wreck. Fluttershy herself wasn’t too amused either.

“OOOH!! GIRLS?!?! What in Equestria happened in here?!? Did somepony do this while I was gone and you tried to stop them?!”

“Um, no Fluttershy, we did this…” Twilight said apologetically.

“You did?”

“Well yeah, but it was just an accident.” Applejack added.

“But…why? What were you trying to do?”

“Understand us darling, we only wanted to help clean the cottage while you were gone.” Rarity said while trying to brush some dust off of her mane.

“Yeah, it would have been too much for you to do with all the animals you had to take care of so we thought we’d do you a favor.” Rainbow Dash said.

“It’s not going too well so far…” said Pinkie right after sneezing the hose off her snout.

“Oh, I see.” Fluttershy got a bit calm but still somewhat disappointed. “Well I’m very glad you all wanted to help, but I didn’t need help, I can do it on my own.

“Well not anymore!” Twilight told her. “We just made it worse for you now, how are you going to clean this up?!”

“Well, I don’t know, but I’ll find a way. You can all leave now; I wouldn’t want you to get any dirtier.”

“But Fluttershy, are you sure? We can help clean this up, I promise.” Twilight begged her once again.

“It’s alright Twilight, I’ll just clean it up myself.” She said somewhat depressingly as if she was sad over how busier her day had just gotten.

Twilight would have kept asking but she figured that would only stress Fluttershy out even more. Now was not the time to get her to give in. She sighed and continued out the door with the others.

“Alright, fine. Let’s go everypony…”

“Can somepony roll me out please?” Pinkie asked as she was still stuck in the vacuum.

“I gotcha Pinkie.”

Rainbow Dash came and pushed her along while everyone else walked miserably out the door and Fluttershy closed it after saying bye.

“Well aren’t we a lot of help.” said Rainbow Dash sarcastically. “We tried giving her less work and we only gave her more!”

“I’m sorry ladies, Ah shoulda been more careful with the mop.” Applejack apologized to the others taking her hat off and blowing some dust off of it. “Ah might have overdone it a bit with the water.”

“It’s not your fault darling, things just didn’t go as planned.” said Rarity brushing off the last bit of dust from her mane and then moving to her tail.

“It was my idea girls, I guess I’m responsible.” said Pinkie sadly still sitting inside the vacuum only able to move her head down in regret. “I only wanted to help her. Guess we shoulda asked her first…”

Twilight then spoke up.

“Well girls, we haven’t been able to get her to not take care of the animals, but I’m still worried about her. We know she can’t just tag-team them all at once, it’s asking for too much from her. Think maybe we might be able to do something that can help her out that doesn’t include trashing the whole place?”

They all stood and thought for a moment until Pinkie’s eyes widened.

“OOOH! I have an idea!”

“Pinkie, last time you said you had an idea, it didn’t end too well. Are you sure about this one?”

“Course I am Twilight, just hold on. Let me get out of this vacuum for a second…”

Pinkie inched her left arm out as far as she could get it until her hoof was visible and put it in her mouth and blew hard until her cheeks puffed up and then the vacuum started to get round and fat. She was expanding her body with air and finally the machine exploded and parts flew everywhere with dust covering everyone once again. Pinkie was puffed up and then finally opened her mouth and flew around in the air like a balloon that had been let go. She finally fell to the ground flat like paper and bounced back up to speak.

“Okay, I got a plan, but only I can do this!”

Everypony stood around her covered in parts of the vacuum and dust. They were sneezing and coughing.

“That’s wonderful darling, but I think the first thing we all need to do is CLEAN OFF!!” Rarity then ran off towards her boutique leaving dust in the air behind her.

Applejack spat a wheel from the vacuum out of her mouth. “What do ya have in mind now Pinkie?”

“Oh you’ll see! Fluttershy doesn’t have the energy to do it, right? Well I know how we can give her that energy!” Pinkie then skipped off happily covered in dust.

“Oh great, I think I know what she has in mind…” Twilight said worried.

“What do you think she’s gonna do Twi?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Something kinda risky…”

TO BE CONTINUED...

Pinkie Lends a Hoof

CHAPTER 3 - Pinkie Lends a Hoof

“Okay Owloysius, this pill here ought to ease the pain in your neck. All you have to do is just put it in your mouth and then swallow it with some of your water, okay?”

The stressed owl didn’t seem too convinced by Fluttershy’s words but he reached his wing out and she dropped it on top of the feathers. He then tossed it into his beak and gulped and then turned himself around with his legs to get a sip of water from a hanging bottle taped to a pole next to him.

“Okay Angel. Owloysius’s pill. Check that off.”

Angel had a long list in front of him and used a little quill to put a check mark next to one of the items.

“Alright, now who is next?”

Angel flipped the paper around and pointed to a little doodle of Gummy.

“Oh right, Gummy. I hope he didn’t wander off again…”

She flew over to the couch where there was a little pillow that Gummy was resting on. Luckily he hadn’t wandered off, but he didn’t look too well. He was sweating and his eyes were half-closed. His thermometer was still in his mouth and Fluttershy took it out to look at it.

“Oh my…still at 78 degrees Fahrenhoof. That’s way too high for a cold-blooded reptile like you, Gummy! Maybe I should just give you an ice bag for your poor head.”

She sped off into another room and returned with a plastic bag with ice in it and put it on top of Gummy’s head. Gummy started to look relaxed and closed his eyes contently but then he turned blue and his jaw started chattering from the cold.

“Oh no, too much ice!”

She took the ice off but then his temperature went back up and he started sweating again. Fluttershy put it on but he went cold again. She put it back on and then took it off repeating the same steps over and over again. Finally she took out some of the ice and threw it on the ground thinking she’d remember to clean it up later and put it on Gummy’s head to see if that was enough. The mercury in the thermometer bounced back and forth in the vile until it started to slow down and stayed put on 40 degrees.

“Oh, good, finally! I hope that helps you out Gummy. Alright Angel, what’s next?”

Winona started howling in the kitchen which answered Fluttershy’s question before Angel could.

“Oh my goodness, Winona!”

She jumped up and then flew into the kitchen which caused Angel to get spun up in the list. In the kitchen Winona was there on her dog bed whimpering in pain like usual. She had already had her pain relievers but she was still hurting.

“Oh Winona, I’m so sorry but I can’t give you another pill until six more hours. Perhaps if I just massage your leg a little…”

She put her hoof on Winona’s leg and rubbed it until Winona stopped whimpering and started to close her eyes. The massage was working but then something else broke the silence. Opal could be heard hissing in the living room at something.

“Opal? Oh now what?!”

Fluttershy rushed back into the living room to see Opal on top of a little dresser with her tail and back hair standing on end. Below was Philomena looking up at her curiously.

“Opal, how did you get out of your cage?! You need to stay in there; you’ll spread fleas to the other animals!”

Fluttershy reached for Opal but Opal turned around and hissed at her.

“Oh no, not now Opal. Please, do as you’re told, I don’t want to have to raise my voice!”

Opal hissed some more and then sat herself down and started itching herself not listening to Fluttershy. Fluttershy thought for a moment and then went over and picked up a toy mouse with her hooves and hovered over Opal.

“Oh Opal, look at this tasty little mouse I have for you!”

Opal’s ears perked up and she turned around and started to bat at the mouse dangling above her head. Fluttershy tossed it into the opened cage and Opal went after it. Fluttershy quickly dashed to the cage and closed it locking it shut.

“Phew, that was close! Oh, Philomena, are you okay?”

Philomena made a sputtering cough and some of her feathers fell off. She was starting to look the way she did when Fluttershy first met her a while back.

“I know you go through this stage every so often and have to put up with it no matter what, but maybe you should at least take a pill to keep you well. Here, take this one right here.”

Philomena rolled her eyes and reluctantly pecked the pill and swallowed it but it got stuck in her throat and she started gagging.

“OH MY GOODNESS, YOU’RE CHOKING!!!” Fluttershy gasped at the sight of the royal pet fighting for her life and then went around her and picked her up in her arms hugging her tightly. “BRACE YOURSEFL, TIME FOR THE HOOFLICH MANEAUVER!!” she said right before squeezing Philomena to get her to cough up the pill. Philomena’s eye-balls inflated and her cheeks puffed up and then she spat the pill out which flew like a bullet and ricocheted off of everything it touched until it finally broke the lock to Opal’s cage and caused the door to swing open. Opal ran out and started chasing some mice that were wandering Fluttershy’s cottage freely.

“OPAL, NO, THOSE ARE INNOCENT MICE, NOT PESTS!! I LET THEM IN HERE, PLEASE DON’T HARM THEM!!!”

Opal luckily didn’t catch the mice; they got in their hole before she could get them but she slammed up against the wall and became dizzy from the impact.

“Oh my, are you alright? You really shouldn’t go chasing the mice you know, they’re fast and hard to catch. You might hurt yourself again.”

Opal shook her head back and forth and then Angel waved to Fluttershy and motioned that Opal had fleas and needed to be in her cage.

“Oh, right, thanks Angel. Opal, you need to go back in your…”

Suddenly Opal was climbing up a cabinet and swatting at some birds flying around the ceiling.

“OPAL, NO!!! NOT MY BIRDS!!!”

Fluttershy tried to go grab her but Opal dove in midair to get one of the birds but missed and landed on top of Gummy’s pillow causing it to puff up and launch him in midair. He soared through the air and almost landed smack on the ground but Fluttershy caught him just in time.

“Oh, that was close!”

She let Gummy down and he walked back over to the couch where Opal was clawing at the pillow.

“Opal, no, not the pillow!”

Winona started howling again and Fluttershy rushed into the kitchen but she didn’t have time to massage her this time.

“Oh Winona I’m so sorry, but I’m a little busy here…”

With Winona still howling, she turned around to see Opal jumping around on the furniture chasing more birds and Philomena was running around chasing a mouse. She ran towards Opal to stop her but slipped on the ice she forgot to clean up and smashed into a bookcase causing the books to fall on top of her. She poked her head out of them and then started breaking down.

“EVERYONE, PLEASE, I CAN’T TAKE THIS STRESS! I SPENT NEARLY ALL YESTERDAY AFTERNOON CLEANING UP THE MESS MY FRIENDS MADE!! PLEASE DON’T MAKE IT WORSE FOR ME!!”

Her eyes started to fill with tears and she put her head down with a book on top of it and tried her hardest to fight it back.

“Maybe Twilight was right. Maybe I can’t do all this by myself…” she thought to herself. “No, no I can do this! I have to try somehow! Oh but I lack the energy, I’m so tired from yesterday and I can barely get any sleep! How can I tackle all of this when I’m so tired?!”

Suddenly a knock was on the door and all the animals got frightened and went back to their spots and were quiet.

“Fluttershy, ya in there?! It’s Pinkie, I got something for you!”

“Oh, Pinkie? I wonder what she wants…”

Fluttershy went to open the door and saw Pinkie waiting there with a saddle bag around her back.

“Hey! How’s it going in there? Busy with the animals?” Pinkie said cheerfully.

“Oh, well yeah, of course I am. Not that it’s a problem, I can handle it but I was busy.”

“Oh, well I hope I’m not interrupting you then…”

“Not at all Pinkie, you’re welcome to come in.”

Fluttershy stepped to the side and put her hoof out welcoming Pinkie into the cottage.

“Whoa, I dunno about the animals but you have a serious bookcase problem there!”

“Yeah, that was my fault; I slipped on the ground and landed there causing them to come down. I’ll take care of that later though. Anyways, did you say you had something for me?”

“Sure do! Let’s go into the kitchen first.”

They both walked into the kitchen and Pinkie put her bag up on the table and sat in the chair next to Fluttershy.

“I figured since you have a lot of work to do with the animals and stuff, you’d be needing a little energy to keep you going, so I brought over some of my best coffee!”

Pinkie pulled out a little can of coffee that said “Extra strength for when you most need it!”

“C-c-coffee?”

“Yeah, it’s some great stuff! I have it every morning!”

“Every morning, Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy said in a bit of disbelief.

“Well, every morning I need it that is. Sometimes after I throw a party, I’m really partied out the next day so I need to drink a little to get me going. Don’t worry, I don’t have a lot, that would just make me CRRRRRRRRRRAZY! Which reminds me, this one time I drank too much, like two or three cups, and I went soooooo crazy that I was like a whirling dervish, I mean you shoulda seen me, I was bouncing all over Sugarcube Corner and breaking stuff and trying to make some treats but I just ended up covering everything in dough and flour and icing and sugar and stuff and then finally Mr. and Mrs. Cake had to get Applejack to lasso my legs so I’d stay put and then they gave me some chloroform and the next thing I knew, I was in bed several hours after being put out! Funny story, huh?!”

“Um……I think I got most of it Pinkie Pie. So you want me to have a little to see if it will help me out then?”

“Of course! I even brought along a mug for you right here!”

Pinkie took out a little mug and placed it in front of Fluttershy and then went over to Fluttershy’s coffee maker and started brewing it up.

“Thanks Pinkie. I don’t usually have coffee, but I don’t think I’ve tried this kind before. Does it help you get a lot of work done at Sugarcube Corner?”

“Sure does, and it’s great for when you’re really tired and stressed out from a lot of hard work! By the way, how is Gummy doing?”

“He’s doing fine. Still has a pretty high temperature but he’s got a pack of ice wrapped around his head that ought to do the trick.”

“Do you mind if I go see him right now?”

“Sure, he’s in the living room over there on a pillow.”

“Okey dokey!”

Pinkie then walked into the room and saw Gummy on the pillow that had some scratch marks on it from Opal.

“OOOH! Gummy, there you are! So how’s life? Still have a temperature? Well don’t you worry, Fluttershy’s got it all under control here and that ice oughta do the trick! Man it’s boring at home without you around, I mean I have no one else to talk to, but it’s okay because last night was Lyra Heartstring’s birthday so I threw a party there for her and I had a bunch of friends to talk to obviously so I wasn’t that alone…”

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Fluttershy served herself some of Pinkie’s coffee and tried it out. The taste at first tasted like regular coffee but it had a somewhat strong chocolaty flavor. It was tangy like soda and left a bit of a shock on her tongue but it tasted wonderful.

“Oh my, this tastes great. And it is very invigorating; I feel energized already!”

In just a few moments she finished the coffee in her mug and let off a sigh of relief.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to just have a little more……I’m sure Pinkie wouldn’t mind, and it would give me more energy. I gotta limit myself though, don’t want to overdo it.”

She poured herself another mug and drank away.

Back in the living room, Pinkie was still talking to Gummy.

“And then Lyra tried at Pin the Tail on the Pony and ended up pinning it on Berry Punch’s rump which caused her to jump in the air from surprise and then she landed in the punch bowl! HEHEHE!”

Fluttershy took her last sip of the second cup and her eyes started to widen a little.

“Wow, I feel a lot better now. I almost feel like I could take on the whole world! I suppose another cup wouldn’t hurt…”

She poured herself another cup of it and drank it up as Pinkie continued to talk.

“And then I was like ‘OOOOH, BERRY-PUNCHCEPTION!!! HAHAHAHA!!!”

Fluttershy chugged the last bit of her third cup of coffee and then set the mug on the table. Her eyes widened some more and were starting to go a little blood-shot. A smile slowly started to form on her face.

“I think I’ll have some more!”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Fluttershy Goes Nuts!

CHAPTER 4 - Fluttershy Goes Nuts!

Pinkie continued talking to her sick pet alligator while Fluttershy kept herself busy in the kitchen.

“So anyways Gummy, how’s your Fline Swu coming? I know Fluttershy says it’s really called Swine Flu but I think Fline Swu kinda sounds funny too, you know, it’s kinda unique, it’s like a variant of Swine Flu but with the letters switched so maybe that means that it’s actually not as bad as Swine Flu and hopefully that means you’ll be better in no…”

“SWWWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!!!”

Something extremely fast sped by Pinkie without warning causing her to turn her head.

“What was that?”

“VRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOM!!!”

It went by again on the other side of her.

“Did you hear something Gummy? Sounds like Rainbow Dash is in here or something. Maybe she’s come to check on Tank! Oh wait, Tank isn’t sick here so why would Rainbow Dash be in here?”

Pinkie got up and looked around and then heard some high-pitched laughter somewhere in the cottage which frightened her. She spun around quickly.

“WHO’S THERE?!?”

The laughing stopped but another swishing sound came behind her. She turned her head just in time to see a yellow and pink streak zoom by in her peripheral.

“W-w-w-what was that? Whatever it is it’s really fast! But it was yellow and pink… Hmmmm, that’s funny, the only thing around here that’s those colors is Fluttershy, but there’s no way that could be Fluttershy, she’s not that fast, not unless she took enough coffee to………uh oh…”

Suddenly Pinkie realized what that mysterious zooming thing really was. She rushed into the kitchen to see Fluttershy standing on top of the table chugging the last of the coffee in the mug Pinkie gave her.

“FLUTTERSHY!!!”

Fluttershy opened her blood-shot eyes and let go of the mug as it dropped on the table breaking into several pieces. She had coffee-stained lips and a smile spreading from ear to ear.

“HI PINKIE…..” she said quietly but with much energy in her voice.

“Fluttershy, you drank all the coffee?!?”

“SURE DID!” she said a bit louder.

“But you can’t drink all that coffee, it’ll make you go crazy!”

“PERFECT!!!”

Fluttershy then zoomed out of the kitchen into the living room to where Gummy was. Pinkie could barely track where she was going but rushed into the opening to the living room to make sure her friend didn’t do anything foolish but she was too late.

“OH HEY GUMMY, WHAT’S THE MATTER, GOT A TEMPERATURE AGAIN?!? OH YOU POOR LITTLE GUY, DON’T WORRY, I’LL HELP YOU, WATCH THIS!!!”

“Fluttershy, Gummy’s fine, I check on him earlier and he’s-WHOOOOOOOOOA!”

Fluttershy sped back into the kitchen right past Pinkie leaving her spinning around until she got tangled in her own tail. She then sped by again back to Gummy which caused Pinkie to get even more tangled.

“HERE YOU GO GUMMY, HAVE ALL THE ICE IN THE WORLD! AHAHAHAHAAHAAAAAAAA!!!”

Gummy’s eyes and mouth widened as Fluttershy poured a huge bag of ice on top of him covering him in a mountain of ice cubes as Pinkie watched in horror.

“FLUTTERSHY, NO!!!”

“THERE YOU GO LITTLE GUY!!! IN NO TIME YOU’LL BE CURED OF FLINE SWU……ER, I MEAN SWIPE FLUTE……SWING FLOOK……OH WHATEVER!! HEHEHEHE!!!”

Fluttershy laughed wildly and sped past Pinkie one more time which luckily caused her to get untangled. She lay on the ground all dizzy with mini Fluttershies buzzing around her head squeaking and laughing. She shook them off and then rushed over to dig Gummy out of the ice. She found him quickly but he was already covered in a large ice cube with only a little bit of his tail sticking out.

“OH NO, NOW HE’S GOING TO DIE OF HYPOTHERMIANASIA!! WHAT AM I TO DO?!?”

Poor Pinkie sat for a few moments thinking of how to save her pet alligator and then she reached into her fluffy pink tail and pulled out a javanero.

“I never leave home without these little guys!!”

She then popped the javanero into her mouth and her face turned beat red and her cheeks puffed up and sweat formed all over her face. She opened her mouth and fire came out helping to melt Gummy. After he was fully melted, she took one of the ice cubes and put it on top of her tongue to let it cool off and then picked up Gummy in her arms.
“OH GUMMY, I WASH SHO WORRIED AVOUT SHOU!” she said with the ice still balanced on her tongue. “I sho shorry Fluttershy did dat…….uh oh…FLUTTERSHY!!!”

She spat the cube out of her mouth and set Gummy back down on his pillow and returned to the kitchen where she saw Fluttershy standing over Winona with a bottle of pills.

“AWWWW, IS THE CUTE WITTLE PUPPY DOG STILL HURTING FROM HER BROKEN LEG?!?!?” Fluttershy said with an overly-sympathetic voice, big cute eyes, and puckered up lips.

Winona stared at her whimpering a little as Pinkie entered.
“Fluttershy, what are you gonna do to Winona?! Please don’t tell me-“

“WELL DON’T FEAR, WINONA, DOCTOR FLUTTERSHY’S HERE WITH A CURE FOR YA!!!”

Fluttershy then bit the lid off ferociously and took the bottle and shoved it into Winona’s mouth.

“YOU’LL BE BETTER IN A FEW MINUTES OR YOUR MONEY BACK!! HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!”

Fluttershy rushed off to the next room and Pinkie ran in and pulled the bottle out of Winona’s mouth as she coughed up dozens of pills and started howling in fear of what Fluttershy might do next.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Winona, but I can’t tend to you right now, I gotta go stop Fluttershy from destroying everything!!”

Pinkie rushed into the living room to see Fluttershy flying around chasing Owloysius who was flying through the air in panic.

“AWWWW, DON’T BE LIKE THAT OWLOYSIUS, I JUST WANNA HELP! DON’T WORRY, I’LL JUST GIVE YOUR NECK A LITTLE TWIST AND THEN SNAP IT BACK INTO PLACE IN NO TIME AND YOU’LL LIVE A HAPPY LITTLE LI-“

Suddenly Pinkie soared through the air and tackled Fluttershy before she could do any damage to Owloysius and pinned her to the ground.

“FLUTTERSHY!!! I am not going to let you hurt any of the animals!!”

“But I don’t wanna hurt them Pinkie…” Fluttershy said with big cute eyes again, “I ONLY WANNA HELP THEM!!!” Her pupils then shrunk back into her eyes and she smiled big.

“Nonononono, you’re not in any shape to be taking care of these animals Fluttershy, you need to sit down and relax and let some of the coffee run off and-“

Just then Fluttershy kicked Pinkie back onto the floor and pinned her down.

“NOPONY’S GONNA STOP FLUTTERSHY FROM TAKING CARE OF THESE ANIMALS PINKIE! NOPONY!!!”

“OKAY, OKAY, I GET IT!!!” Pinkie squealed with fear from the crazed little caffeine-saturated pegasus.

Fluttershy then jumped off Pinkie and rushed over to Opal’s cage where she was hiding from her.

“OPAL? WHERE ARE YOU? HERE KITTY KITTY KITTY…”

Opal was sweating and gulped a little which caused Fluttershy to hear her and then peek down into the cage door and see her. She started opening the cage to reach for her and Opal started making stressed meows.

“OH THERE YOU ARE YOU LITTLE CUDDLY WUDDLY DUDDLY MUDDLY GUDDLY FUDDLY PUDDLY JUDDLY SPA-DUDDLY-“

Opal then sped out from under the reach of Fluttershy’s hoof and ran for cover.

“HEY, JUST WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING!!!”

Fluttershy caught up to Opal in the kitchen very quickly and curled her hoof around her her tail to hold her as she shrieked and hissed at her.

“YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE WHEN I HAVE TO CURE YOU OF ALL THOSE FLEAS, OH NO YOU CAN’T!!”

Fluttershy then stretched her arm out and pushed the hot water spigot on her sink and let it go for a few minutes. Opal knew what she was going to do and and her pupils dilated.

“OKEY DOKEY OPAL, HERE COMES YOUR FLEA BATH!!”

Opal wriggled like a fish out of water but Fluttershy lifted her up in the air and swung her down into the sink causing water to fly everywhere. Opal got up out of the water and gasped for air and tried to run away but Fluttershy dunked her back down under and with hooves as quick as lightning scrubbed her with a soapy sponge. She was so fast and furious that Opal wasn’t able to scratch at her or bite her and the water hindered her from it too. Finally Fluttershy was done and Opal was in such shock and was all dizzy and couldn’t even walk out of the sink although most of the water had already been splashed out. There were still some suds left on her fur but Fluttershy didn’t seem to notice or care.

“ALRIGHTY OPAL HONEY, YOU LOOK FANTASTIC AND ALL THOSE FLEAS ARE PROBABLY DEAD AND GONE!!! ALRIGHT, CATCHA LATER, GOTTA GO SEE PHILOMENA NOW!!!”

Fluttershy zoomed back into her living room as Pinkie kept watching.

“Oh, what am I gonna do! How am I gonna stop Fluttershy when she’s going completely wacko like this?!”

Fluttershy went over to Philomena who had lost nearly all her feathers and was on the brink of combusting to start life over again. Despite all the commotion, she was fast asleep and sputtering and snoring while roosted on her perch.

“OOOOOH PHILOMENA!!!” Fluttershy cooed to her.

Philomena snorted and then opened her eyes and slowly looked up to see Fluttershy staring at her menacingly with a creepy smile.

“IT’S TIME FOR ME TO TAKE CARE OF YOU!!!”

Philomena was startled by what she saw but was so close death anyway so she just calmly hung her head and then burst into flames and ashes fell to the ground. Fluttershy stood looking down at the pile of ashes confused but then she remembered.

“OH YEAH, SILLY ME! THAT’S RIGHT, PHOENIXES GOTTA DIE EVENTUALLY! BUT SHE’LL BE BACK SOON! HEHEHEHEHE!!! MEANWHILE, I CAN’T HELP BUT FEEL I’M MISSING SOMETHING………OH YEAH, THE MESS TO CLEAN UP!!!”

Fluttershy then zoomed around to all the unclean spots inside her cottage to clean them up but instead she just made it worse without noticing. She went to the pile of books and just threw them into random spots on the bookshelf and shoved them together and didn’t even bother to put them all back in. She then took a dusting mop and flew around the room just moving it everywhere that there was dust and only caused the dust to fly up in the air tainting her. In the process she knocked over a lot of things and broke a few little flower vases and spilled some things in the kitchen. But the effects of loads of caffeine on Fluttershy caused her to be so scatterbrained and crazy that she acted as if it was funny or she perceived it as being clean when it wasn’t. She just kept smiling and laughing wickedly letting her coat fur and hair get all messed up and out of place. She had dust all over her and wet spots and stains from everything she had touched. Once she was done she knew she had to celebrate with her little pet rabbit Angel.

“I DID IT…………I ACTUALLY DID IT, I CLEANED THE WHOLE COTTAGE!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! NOBODY CAN COMPARE TO THE AWESOME MIGHT OF FLUTTERSHY, AHAHAHAHA! OH, WHERE’S ANGEL?!? OOOOOOOOOOH ANGEL!!!

Meanwhile, Angel was hiding behind the door of a closet scared to death of his owner. He was sweating so much that the ground below him was getting wet and he was having a difficult time breathing without making noise. He looked out of the side of the door to see if she was around and she wasn’t looking at him yet but she turned her head slowly and just saw him. He immediately slammed the door shut and used several locks to keep the door sealed. He started panting in relief knowing he was safe but then Fluttershy’s hoof smashed a hole right next to him and she peeked her head in.

“HEEEEEEEEEEERE’S FLUTTERSHY!!!”

Angel tried to run away but she reached in with her mouth and pulled him out by his ears. As soon as they were both out in the living room again, she took him and hugged him tightly and kissed him all over his head.

“I DID IT ANGEL, I CLEANED THE WHOLE DARN COTTAGE ALL THANKS TO THAT AWESOME COFFEE!!! YOU DID WELL PINKIE PIE, YOU DID WELL INDEED!!! EHEHEHEHEEEEE!!!”

Pinkie came into the room sadly and looked at the mess before her thinking of how there was nothing she was able to do.

“Fluttershy, please, you’ve ruined the place, look at it!”

“OH NOOOOOO PINKIE, IT LOOKS PERFECT, COMPLETELY PERFECT!!!

Fluttershy then started zooming all over the place still hugging Angel and he looked like he was losing air from being hugged so hard.

Finally a knock was heard on the door and Pinkie’s ears perked up.

“AAAAGGH! Who is that?!? Oh, I do hope it’s Twilight!”

She rushed to the door and opened it to see Twilight there.

“Oh, hey Pinkie, are you here to check on Gummy?” Twilight said happily.

“TWILIGHT!!! Oh thank Celestia you’re here! I don’t know what to do but Fluttershy’s gone completely insane! Look!!!”

Pinkie moved to the side to show the horror of the cottage before them and Twilight’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened.

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF STARSWIRL THE BEARDED HAS GOTTEN INTO HER?!?!?”

“I gave her some coffee to give her a little energy but she drank too much and she’s tearing the place apart! I tried to stop her but it just didn’t work!”

“Well Pinkie, if someone doesn’t stop her, there may be no cottage to save or maybe even animals to save for that matter! I’m gonna do something about it! Now close the door!”

“WHAT?!? What could you possibly do?!”

“I dunno, but I think I know a spell that oughta stop the effects of the caffeine! But first I gotta save Angel before she crushes him!”

Twilight then lunged for Fluttershy but she turned quickly and saw Twilight coming and moved out of the way and Twilight fell to the ground with a thud.

“OH HEY TWILIGHT, WHAT CAN I GET FOR YOU TODAY?!?”

“Fluttershy, you let Angel go, you’re going to hurt him!!”

“OH NO TWILIGHT, I LOVE HIM TOO MUCH FOR HIM TO GET HURT!!”

“Alright then...!”

Twilight’s horn glowed and Angel started glowing the same color and then he vanished with a flash of light into an unknown spot elsewhere in the cottage.

“ANG……..ANGEL!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY POOR LITTLE ANGEL?!?!?”

“I only teleported him to a safer place away from you!”

“HOW DARE YOU PART ME FROM MY LITTLE ANGEL!! YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!!!” Fluttershy’s eyes then filled with rage and she flew forward with her hind leg in front of her doing a flying kick at Twilight but Twilight teleported and Fluttershy ended up crashing into the bookcase again making all the books fall down on her. But she soon dug her way out of the books and jumped out a few yards away from Twilight where they stared down at each other as if to start a face-off.

“Fluttershy, I don’t want to do this but you leave me with no choice!!”

Twilight’s horn then glowed very brightly and she closed her eyes. Fluttershy ran towards her but suddenly stopped in her tracks and started to glow the same color as she was being lifted telekinetically. Twilight was performing her spell.

“NO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!?!?!? STOP IT!!!!”

Twilight lifted her head in the air and her horn shown brighter along with Fluttershy who was also closing her eyes and acting like she was in pain.

“AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!! STOP, IT HURTS!!!”

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and Fluttershy started to fall to the ground. She opened her eyes to see everything move upward and her face started moving towards the wooden planks on the floor. The floor got closer and then there were stars and then nothing but darkness. She could just barely hear Twilight and Pinkie shout her name before she drifted off into a stupor…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Prologue

PROLOGUE

Fluttershy walked daintily through her cottage with a sigh of relief and Angel following her close behind. She had just finished cleaning up her bedroom and was finished with all the chores she had on her to-do list. All her animals had been fed and now it was time to rest.

“Oh Angel, I feel so much better now that I’ve gotten everything out of the way.” She said to her little white pet rabbit. “I’ve worked so hard, so I think it’s time for a comfy little nap.”

She walked over to her couch and lay down on it with her one hoof under her head. Angel came on top and snuggled next to her. She closed her eyes and made a content little yawn until something broke the silence. Somepony had knocked on the door.

“Oh my, a visitor already? Oh well, never anything wrong with a visitor, right Angel?” she asked him but he had a pestered look on his face.

Fluttershy got down from her couch and made her way to the door to open it up. Right in the door stood Twilight Sparkle with a worried look on her face.

“Hey Fluttershy, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.

“Oh not at all, Twilight, it’s really good to see you! But……what’s wrong?”

“I have a huge favor to ask of you.” Twilight turned to the side to show her pet owl, Owloysius, perched on her back wearing a neck brace. “Owloysius seems to have a problem with his neck. He has a really bad pain in it and can’t even turn his head without his neck hurting which is bad because owls need to constantly turn their heads since their eyes can’t move!”

“Oh dear, the poor little thing.” Fluttershy said with compassion.

“So if you’re available, would you mind taking care of him for a while and see if you can nurse him back to health? I’m a bit busy at the library this week and could use a helping hoof but if you can’t cuz you’re too busy also, I understand.”

“Oh it’s alright Twilight, I’ll take care of him. I’ve helped lots of woodland creatures like Owloysius who’ve had similar problems before, it won’t be a problem.”

“Thanks Fluttershy. Remember to keep the neck brace on though, the vet told me that helps heal the neck in about a week and try to keep him from moving his head.”

“I’ll remember Twilight. Don’t worry, Owloysius, you’ll be better in no time at all.” Fluttershy said putting her hoof out as he flapped his wings and landed on it while making a rather distressed hooting sound.

“I’ll see you Owloysius and I hope you feel better. And thanks Fluttershy.”

“Good bye Twilight and he’ll be better in no time at all.”

Twilight then left and Fluttershy closed the door and turned to talk to Angel who was on the ground by her.

“Well Angel, looks like we have another item on the checklist: take care of Owloysius for Twilight.”

Angel rolled his eyes and then took out a little piece of paper and a tiny feather and wrote down what Fluttershy told him to. Fluttershy then directed Owloysius to a nearby tree for birds to land on and Owloysius flew over to it.

“Don’t worry Angel, Owloysius is a good owl, he won’t be much trouble at all. It is just one animal we have to take care of…”

Just then the door knocked again.

“Oh, is that Twilight? Maybe she forgot to tell me something…”

She opened the door again but it wasn’t Twilight, it was Rarity this time.

“Rarity, it’s good to see you on this fine day.”

“It’s good to see you too Fluttershy, darling, but I have a bit of an urgent matter I hope you can help with.”

“Oh of course Rarity, I’m always here to help.” Fluttershy said forgetting the earlier engagement.

“Poor Opal has fleas and I can’t let her stick around the boutique in this horrid situation!” Rarity used her magic to lift a cage that Opal was in. Opal had a flea belt around her neck and was scratching herself uncontrollably.

“Oh that’s too bad Rarity! But you aren’t in any danger you know. Cat fleas don’t affect ponies.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about, it’s my dresses. If I keep her in there any longer the dresses will be full of those nasty little parasites and I would hate for any of my customers to have infested garments. I do hope it’s not much trouble of me to ask you to take care of her here for a while until they’re gone?”

“Oh sure Rarity, I’m always here to help. Don’t you worry Opal, I’ll have you in good care here until the fleas are gone.”

“Thank you, darling. I really must go now, I need to finish my latest dresses I’m making but I’ll see you later.”

“Okay Rarity, I’ll see you too and don’t you worry about Opal.”

Fluttershy turned back into the cottage carrying Opal in her cage. She set it down and went to get a bigger flea belt. She then opened the cage and put the belt on Opal despite her disfavor of the new belt.

“There you go, Opal. That belt ought to keep those fleas from at least spreading to the other animals in this cottage. Okay, looks like we have something else down on the list Angel.

Angel wrote it down but looked annoyed and somewhat scared of Opal.

“And don’t worry too, Opal won’t hurt you, she knows better. And if she tries, I’ll put her in her cage. Got that, Opal? You have to be nice to the other animals in my cottage.” she said to the disgruntled cat.

The door knocked again.

“Oh dear, what is it now?”

She opened the door and Applejack stood there with her dog Winona by her side who had a broken leg with a bandage strapped around it. Fluttershy knew ahead of time that Applejack was going to ask her to take care of her pet also.

“Oh Applejack, I’m guessing there’s something wrong with Winona?”

“Sure is.” Applejack said, “Poor gal broke her leg just last night and we took her to the vet to have it bandaged but none of us at the farm got any time to take care of her. Applebuck season’s startin this week and everpony in mah family is gonna be busy with it. But Winona needs some care, she can barely walk and has been pretty tired lately.”

Winona whimpered while licking the bandage on her leg with a very sad face which only caused Fluttershy to pity her more and want to take care of her even though she already had two other animals to take care of.

“And you need me to take care of her for you until she gets better?”

“If ya don’t mind me askin ya to.”

“Well somepony has to take care of the poor animal, and I’m the right pony to ask so I’ll kindly accept.”

“Thanks Fluttershy, it’s always a pleasure to have a friend who can help out like this. I’ll be seein ya now and take care of Winona for us.”

Applejack left and Fluttershy helped Winona into the cottage and then closed the door.

“Oh poor poor Winona, that looks like it hurts!” Fluttershy said petting her on her head as she sat down on the ground not wanting to continue any further.

She looked over to see Angel face-palming at the sight of a third animal to take care of.

“Oh but Angel, she broke her leg! I know three animals are a bit too much to take care of but this is important to the Apple family as it is to me.”

Reluctantly, Angel wrote down the next thing on the to-do list and yawned.

“I know, I’m tired too, but we should get all these animals checked out before we take a nap.”

And then another knock on the door…

“Oh who could that be this time?! Er……I mean…I do hope it’s not another pet problem.”

In the door stood Pinkie.

“Hello Pinkie Pie, is everything alright?”

“So NOT alright, Fluttershy! Everything very al-wrong!”

“Let me guess: it’s a problem with Gummy?”

“How’d you know?” Pinkie turned around to show Gummy sprawled out on her back with a thermometer in his mouth and he looked rather tired and sick.

“Oh……well, um, it was just a good guess I guess.” Fluttershy said looking back at the other three pets in her cottage.

“Well, anyways, Gummy does have a problem, a huge tremendous, gigantic, could-be-more-serious-than-I-know problem! He’s got Fline Swu!

“Um…Pinkie I think you mean Swine Flu.”

“Huh?”

“Swine Flu. You said Fline Swu, but it’s called Swine Flu.”

“Oh yeah, Swine Flu. Well I guess he has that but of course he could have Fline Swu also but Fline Swu might be a different illness, I mean even if it is a different illness there could still very well be something in the world called Fline Swu you know, I mean there’s like millions of different illnesses and diseases in the world, you just can’t out-rule the possibilities!”

Fluttershy stood staring into space finding it hard to even pronounce the words ‘swine’ and ‘flu’ together now but she snapped out of it and got back to Pinkie.

“Er, of course Pinkie, you’re right, he has a serious problem and would you like me to take care of him?”

“It would really be a big help if you could, I’m helping the Cakes with a lot of some treats we need for an upcoming wedding in the area and I’m gonna be like totally busy!”

“Well I’m a bit busy myself, but I’m sure I could find time to do this also.”

“Oh, well are you TOO busy? Cuz you know I could just have someone else take care of him even though basically nopony else knows anything about alligators in Ponyville kinda.”

“No no, it’s alright, I can do it, I take care of animals all the time anyway.”
Fluttershy reached over and picked Gummy up lightly and held him in one hoof. He was so sick he could barely even move.

“Okay, thanks Fluttershy. Gotta go now and Gummy be good, okay. Don’t chew on her animals.”

Pinkie then trotted off leaving Fluttershy with yet another animal to take care of. Fluttershy closed the door and walked in with Gummy and set him down on a little pillow that Angel would normally sleep on. Angel came over to her and pulled on her hoof and then motioned to all the animals as if telling her that they had too much to do.

“I know Angel, but I’m good with animals, remember? I’ll be able to handle it, trust me. Now be a dear and write down the next thing on our checklist…”

One more knock was on the door which caused Angel to throw the list and quill on the ground pull his eyelids down.

“Oh dear, please don’t let this be another sick pet…”

Fluttershy walked to the door once again and as she guessed it was Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash. I’m guessing you need help with something too?”

“Well, sorta Fluttershy, but…”

“And I’m guessing it’s Tank. He’s sick, right?”

“Tank? Oh no, close enough though. It’s Philomena actually…” Rainbow Dash turned to show Philomena on her back looking rather disheveled and old. She looked a bit like she did in her normal state, but her feathers were starting to shed and she was starting to look the way she did when Fluttershy first met her. “She’s entering her molting stage and the Princess wanted to know if you’d be available to watch over her for the time being.”

“Oh, Philomena!” Fluttershy said excitedly. She hadn’t seen her in so long and was glad to meet her again even if she didn’t look too great. “Oh I’d be happy to watch over her Rainbow Dash!”

“Yeah, but the Princess says only if you have the time and all, she’d hate to bother you with anything.”

Angel went over and pulled on Fluttershy’s tail to keep her from saying yes, but Fluttershy had already started talking.

“No, it’s alright Rainbow Dash, I might be a little busy but I’ll manage. Philomena and I will have a fun time together!”

“Thanks. Gotta go now. Tank and I are having a race up in the clouds and I gotta practice with him.”

“Okay, bye Rainbow Dash!”

Philomena perched on Fluttershy’s back and Fluttershy walked into the cottage.

“I’m glad you’re here Philomena. Now that I know more about you, I assure you that your stay-over will be a lot better than it was last time. And you and I are going to have a lot of fun together!”

Fluttershy then looked and just realized how much she had put herself to work with. Angel meanwhile had thrown himself on the ground completely stressed out.

“Oh dear, looks like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew again…”

TO BE CONTINUED…

I Can't Do It Anymore

CHAPTER 5 - I Can't Do It Anymore

It was dark and there were no sounds but mumbles in Fluttershy’s mind. The darkness slowly started to fade to light and the noises turned into voices. She saw purple and pink above in her vision and started hearing her name over and over again instead of faint mumbles. Her eyelids opened and closed several times and her vision became less blurry and the voices were clearer. It was Twilight and Pinkie standing right above her with very worried faces.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

“It’s us Fluttershy, your friends.” Pinkie reminded her. “You do remember us, right?”

Fluttershy’s vision was back again and her hearing was fine. But for a moment she forgot what she was waking up from. Was she in bed? No, it was her living room. But what was she doing lying down on her living room floor and why was it a complete mess? And why was her fur and hair all messy and full of dust and stains? Then it came back to her.

“Oh…………Oh Pinkie…Twilight……did I really just do all that?” she asked.

“You did Fluttershy. I stopped you with my magic though. Sorry if it hurt, I had no other choice.” Twilight explained.

Fluttershy remembered it all. She remembered all the harm she caused the animals and how extremely careless she was with handling the whole house. And most importantly, the realization finally dawned on her that she could no longer do this. Tears filled her eyes and a lump formed in her throat and she broke down.

“Girls……….I’M SORRY, I’M SO SORRY!!!”

“We forgive you Fluttershy, but I’m also sorry for letting you have too much of the coffee too, I didn’t even know you would drink more than just a cup or two.” Pinkie apologized frantically. “I mean I didn’t know you could even be capable of being so crazy after having a lot of coffee I mean you were worse than I was the first time I overdid it and drank too much-“

“No Pinkie, that’s not what I meant…” Fluttershy wiped her tears and then sat up. “Girls, I can’t do this anymore. You were right; I just can’t take care of all of these animals! I should have just told you all that first but I’ve always been so good with animals that I thought it would be easy for me but it wasn’t. I tried everything to see if I could find more time to do it and be able to relax but it’s just not possible for me! I just wanted to help and be kind like always but I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you all to take your animals back; all of them. I’m sorry if I sound mean for not doing you a favor, but I just can’t do it this time…”

Twilight and Pinkie stood with their mouths open while Fluttershy was talking. Then they looked at each other and smiled and sighed with relief.

“FINALLY!” Pinkie said.

“What? You’re not mad at me?” Fluttershy stopped wiping her tears and looked up at them.

“Fluttershy, of course we’re not mad at you, in fact we’ve actually been waiting for you to admit that for a while now!” Twilight said happily.

“Even though you can’t take care of the animals yourselves?”

“Fluttershy, we may all be busy, but I’m sure I can work out something in my schedule, I always manage. And even if some of us can’t, we can always get another pony that’s good with animals to take care of them or maybe even take them to the vet.”

“Oh…….but why didn’t you just tell me that after I decided to……er, right, because I insisted that I take care of them myself.”

Fluttershy bowed her head and wiped her nose with her hoof as Pinkie handed her a box of tissues.

“Thank you Pinkie…”

“No problem Fluttershy. I’d be happy to take care of Gummy even if I am busy this week at Sugarcube Corner. No offense and all, but I wouldn’t want him getting covered in ice again and die of hypothermianasia.”

“It’s called hypothermia, Pinkie.” Twilight corrected.

“Yeah, what she says.”

“Um……anyways, Fluttershy, don’t think we all are mad that you can’t take care of our animals. We wouldn’t want you to do it if it means you overwork yourself and only invite in more stress into your life.”

“I guess I didn’t really think about that. I should have listened.”

“Hey Fluttershy?” Pinkie spoke and motioned down to her left front leg with something behind it. “Somebody’s here for you…”

Angel peeked out from behind Pinkie’s leg with a somewhat scared look on his face. Fluttershy’s eyes widened and she remembered how she nearly squeezed him to death.

“Oh, Angel……I’m so sorry, I promise I’ll never do that to you again…” Tears formed in her eyes again and she covered her face with her hooves but Angel hopped on over to her and climbed up on her knee. She took her hooves away from her face and saw him sitting on her lap in front of her and he leaned forward and hugged her. She smiled and then hugged him back.

Suddenly some kind of windy breeze could be felt in the room. Some ashes formed up behind Twilight and Pinkie and there was a fiery burst of light and a bird appeared in their midst. Philomena had been reborn.

“Oh Philomena, I’m so sorry you had to see all that. I’m just glad you burst into ashes before I could do any harm to you.”

Philomena flew down next to Fluttershy and nuzzled the side of her head. Then Owloysius flew down on her other side to do the same and she wrapped her wings around them both. Gummy then walked out from behind Pinkie and curled up next to her. Opal walked in sopping wet and although mad about what Fluttershy did, she forgave her and walked up and rubbed her back against her. Lastly, Winona limped in slowly and got up close to Fluttershy and licked her tears away from her face as Fluttershy smiled.

“Awwwwww!” said Twilight.

“Pfffffght……….. WAAAAAAH!! IT’S SO EMOTIONAL!!!” Pinkie said with fountains of tears streaming out of her eyes.

Later that afternoon, everyone had gathered at Twilight’s to meet up and take their pets away and to help cheer up Fluttershy. The animals were doing better although still needing attention and care, but they were happy to be back with their owners. Fluttershy was in the middle of making a letter to Princess Celestia about what she had learned that day. She had washed herself up and combed her hair and was no longer in such a sad mood so she was ready to relay her lesson:

Dear Princess Celestia,

Being the Element of Kindness has taught me that it’s always good to lend a helping hoof and have a good attitude about it, but I’ve also learned that sometimes being too kind may not be such a good thing. I found out the hard way that you should never take too many requests and offers all at once. You can overwork yourself and you may not have the time or energy to do all of it. Sometimes you’ll just have to have the strength to tell your friends that you can’t take all the favors; they’ll understand as long as they know you are doing it for your own good. My friends all taught me that today and I’m thankful that they understood and were willing to take care of their own problems instead of leaving it all to me. From now on I promise I’ll be more careful and take only what offers I can handle.

Your faithful subject,
Fluttershy

“There, did you get all that, Spike?” Fluttershy asked.

“Sure did Fluttershy. Now I’m ready to send it.”

“Actually Spike…” Rainbow Dash said walking in with the Princess’s bird perched on her back, “Philomena’s on her way back to Canterlot, maybe we should let her take the scroll instead.

“Eh…fine, whatever.”

Spike held up the scroll and then Philomena swooped by and grabbed it and flew out the window.

“Bye Philomena!” everyone said waving to her.

“Well Fluttershy, darling, I am so glad you’ve decided to stop watching all our animals, I was so worried about you!” Rarity said with Opal sitting next to her curled up.

“I know. I’m sorry I washed Opal too much again Rarity…”

“Oh it’s alright, dear, I think you actually might have washed out most of her fleas, she seems to be doing wonderful now, maybe I can let her back in the boutique.”

“Winona’s leg is still a’hurtin, but Ah reckon she’ll be cured in no time at all.” Applejack said giving Fluttershy a light pat on the back.

“And Owloysius will be okay as long as I can give him his pain meds every time he’ll need them. It won’t be too much trouble taking care of him even with my busy schedule.” Twilight said before Pinkie jumped in front of her to talk about Gummy who was leached onto her right ear and sucking it.

“And Gummy seems to be doing okay too, I’m sure he’ll be cured of Fline Swu in no time!”

“SWINE FLU!!!” everypony shouted at Pinkie.

“Er, whatever…”

Rainbow Dash then walked into the little circle with Tank slowly following her.

“It’s a good thing Tank wasn’t there for you to go all coffee-crazy on him like the others. But then again, he could have just hid in his shell to protect himself like he always does.”

Rainbow Dash put her hoof around Tank and he smiled slowly while everyone else giggled.

“We’re really happy you made the right decision Fluttershy. And don’t ever be afraid to let us all know if we’re overworking you again, alright?”

“I won’t forget it Twilight, and thank you all for being understanding. Oh, I just thought, has anyone seen Angel around here?”

“He’s right over hear darling…” Rarity said pointing to the side of her where Angel was sitting on the ground. He was itching himself rather fast and furiously just like Opal was doing not too long ago.

“Oh dear, Angel, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked him.

“Uh oh Fluttershy, looks like Opal’s given her fleas to Angel!” Twilight said worriedly.

“Oh my, how dreadful! Here Opal, let Angel have your belt, you aren’t going to be needing that anymore!” Rarity then used her magic to take Opal’s flea belt off and lift it over Angel but it plopped down on the ground around him like a hoola-hoop.

“Looks like ya might have to grow into it there, Sport.” Applejack said trying not to laugh.

Everyone else then laughed and Angel crossed his arms grumpily but Fluttershy then came over and picked him up in her arms.

“Don’t you worry Angel, I have some time to take care of one animal in my cottage, I promise.”

Not very convinced, Angel rolled his eyes and exhaled deeply but Fluttershy giggled lightly and kissed him on the head. Angel’s eyes widened and he blushed a little and turned his head trying to hide his bashfulness but didn’t do such a good job of it.

Fluttershy smiled with confidence knowing she would have it a lot easier now with all the animals out of the way. They were where they needed to be and she was back on track. After a nice long rest that night, she’d being her life over again the proper way.

THE END