A Butterfly by Any Other Name...
...Might Actually not be as Sweet
"Twilight!" I shouted, bursting into the castle holding a squirrel. "Fluttershy's friend here says she's dead! What happened!?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Fluttershy is not dead. You misunderstood Mrs. Fuzzybottoms."
"I…" I placed down the disoriented looking critter. "Huh? Who?"
Twilight gave me a small smile. "That's the squirrel's name, apparently. She came here with a note from Fluttershy, so, Fluttershy is fine. Well, not entirely fine, given she's currently prostrated with a case of the feather flu-"
"She's…" The gears in my brain whirred overtime. "Isn't that part of a stalli-"
"Prostrate." Twilight clarified. "The second R is important. And she’lll be fine in a few days. Her animal friends are taking care of her for now and she assured us that's all she needs."
My left hind leg, that's all she needs. If her animal friends could take care of her, they could take care of themselves. But no, they needed her help for that.
That aside, feather flu is actually pretty bad. I know because I had it a few years ago and boy, that sucked. I couldn’t train for like, half a moon! It took me like… a million years to recover and start training for the Rainboom again!
"Yeaahh, I’m gonna go check on her. Later Twi!" I rocketed out the window with Twilight yelling something behind me. Probably something about not breaking her windows or bringing the squirrel back with me. Something dumb like that.
I let my mind wander as my wings automatically piloted themselves towards Fluttershy's cottage. That was one of the best parts about flying around a small town, I didn't even need to think of where I was going. Traveling between the places I frequented was basically just muscle memory at this point. Of course, Twilight's new castle had really messed with that for a while. I couldn't count how many times I had crashed right into it because I was so used to that area of the sky being open.
I guess that's what I get for flying around with my head in the clouds.
Chuckling to myself for my objectively hilarious joke, my mind drifted to Fluttershy's condition. Feather flu wasn't dangerous or anything, but it did basically guarantee bed rest. I know Twilight explained it to me once in her big science words… something about how most of the natural magic in a pegasus is centered around the wings, like the horn in a unicorn, so it's a big part of their immune system.
It's one of the reasons I was so intense on wing hygiene since I was a filly. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, I know didn't preen daily or focus specifically on wing hygiene since she barely flew. I dunno if she didn't care or just forgot. I mean sure, she lives with a bunch of animals, but she probably had like, a bunch of down time, right? Although living around animals probably doesn't help. Bugs and stuff. Does she take care of bugs? Probably.
As a thought occurred to me, I veered off course sharply, heading straight for home.
I spotted Fluttershy easily enough. She was sitting in front of her cottage, propped up against Harry, her bear, as she did something to the back of the neck of her wolf friend. Or coyote. I'm not sure of the difference.
She definitely looked sick. Her mane was unbrushed, all messy, and lying flat all over her face. She had bags under her eyes, and a bright red nose. I watched as she paused to squeeze her eyes shut, shiver, sniff, and wipe her nose on the back of a foreleg. Her eyes were glazed over, and it looked more like she was staring into nothingness than actually looking at her… yeah, gonna call it a wolf.
"Fluttershy!" I announced loudly, landing in front of her. She let out a startled squeak, and tried jumping backwards. Of course, considering her back was to a bear, she didn't move at all.
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy croaked. "What are you doing here? I'm sick with a pegasus illness! Mrs. Fluffybottom was supposed to tell you to stay away!"
"Oh, is that what she was trying to say?" I let out a laugh, picking up Fluttershy and flying her inside, depositing her on her bed. "Anyways, you shouldn’t be doing things, you’re sick."
I pulled my saddlebags off and pulled out my wing balm as Fluttershy tried to argue in vain.
"Sandra has fleas! I need to take care of that!"
"Well that really bites for her." I commented nonchalantly, pulling open Fluttershy's right wing. Jeez, she definitely has been ignoring proper wing care. I've met young foals better at preening. Even Scoot can take care of her wings better, and she runs them ragged by zipping through branches and twigs and stuff while scootering. "Look at the state of your feathers! No wonder you got sick. Why haven't you been taking care of yourself?"
"I've been too busy." Fluttershy responded, weakly trying to push me away. "Please, I don't want to get you sick."
"Too busy what, watching cute critters all day?" I scoffed, beginning to preen and ignoring her attempts to make me leave. "Listen, you need help, I got nothing to do today, so you're staying in bed and I'll feed your animals or whatever."
Fluttershy's pathetic attempts to push me away stopped as I worked on her wing. It's extremely hard to pay attention to anything else when somepony else preens you. Close pegasi friends would sometimes preen each other and then fall asleep all over each other because it was known to be such a relaxing process.
Her eyes fluttered closed and she let out a deep sigh. "I don't want to put you out… maybe just a nap. There's a list of what I need to do today on the couch. I'll join soon, just need…" she let out a giant yawn. "To rest my eyes for a moment."
Pfft, she was so easily defeated.
"Thank you." She hummed softly. A moment later, there was a gentle snore.
I smiled to myself as I finished working on her wings. That was almost too easy. The smile disappeared as I realized that probably meant she either wasn't sleeping, or was working herself way too hard. I mean, preening is relaxing, but it put her to sleep almost instantly.
Oh well, time to see what her list says. I mean, she was basically just roommates with all these animals, so it wasn't like she had a whole lot to do, right? Just scoop out some food and call it a day. I could finish up here, make her some soup or something else sick ponies should have, and return to my training before evening struck.
I made my way into her living room, two families of mice and a family of bunnies watching me intently. Doing my best to ignore that, which definitely wasn't creepy, I made my way to her couch. Sure enough, there was a folded list contained in it, written in Fluttershy's cramped chicken scratch. Which, considering who we're talking about, might have actually been written by a chicken.
Chuckling at myself again, I worked at figuring out what the first line that wasn't struck through actually said.
- Gather eggs and clean droppings from chicken coop
Clean… droppings? Ew, Fluttershy, just potty train your animals. I mean, if you could do that with baby foals, you could with animals, right?
Gathering eggs I could do, though. I'll have that done in three seconds flat. Just gotta find…
Eh, screw it.
Three seconds later, I was balancing all the eggs in the chicken coop, and definitely not struggling to keep them all from falling over, ‘cause that'd obviously make me look less cool. I eyed the floor, covered in hay and… well, droppings.
"Hey, you chickens got that, right?" I asked one of the nearby chickens.
The chicken clucked back his answer, but given I don't speak chicken, I'm just gonna assume it was something along the lines of "Oh, of course, the Amazing Rainbow Dash. Also, you're so cool and awesome!"
Yeah, that was probably right.
Slowly making my way out of the coop, I spotted a familiar looking bunny.
Angel.
Angel was looking at me and laughing like he heard Equestria's funniest joke.
"What do you want?" I growled.
Angel pointed at me, the eggs, then a basket that was lying at the side of the entrance to the coop.
Which was probably for the eggs.
Uh, oops?
I dumped the eggs in the basket in a very careful way, in case Fluttershy asks. Definitely didn't unceremoniously dump them all at once.
I fixed Angel with another glare.
"Beat it, pest."
I know if I stuck around I would just end up arguing with him, and such things were definitely below me.
…At least they would be, if anypony was watching.
Making sure nopony was watching, I stuck my tongue out at the rabbit and hightailed it inside. I took another look at the list. The list that almost reached the ground, even when I was flying. Jeez, Fluttershy, procrastinate much?
- Make sure Harry's back is healing from when he fell
Looking up, Fluttershy's bear friend was waiting for me, one claw on his back, one around a teacup. He appeared to be having a tea party with one of the mouse families.
After pinching myself to make sure what I was seeing wasn't the result of a fever dream, I called his name.
"Hey big guy, gonna make it to the end of the day?"
Harry looked down at his back for a moment, then back to me. He fixed me with a thumbs up.
I didn't think bears had thumbs.
Pinching myself again, I looked at the next entry on the list.
- Make sure Muriel is recovering from her illness. If she's still feeling bad she can have three drops of Vhorizpan straight in the trunk.
"Who the hay is Muriel?" I asked myself.
I felt a rapid tapping on one of my rear hooves. Looking down, it was the pest from earlier.
"What do you want now, Angel?" I grumbled.
Angel glared at me, then hopped over to one of Fluttershy's rear windows, tapping on it.
Sighing, I flew over to the window, where Angel was pointing insistently at a…
Jeez Fluttershy, when did your circus of a home pick up a baby elephant?
"The elephant gonna be okay?" I asked Angel.
Angel shrugged.
"Super helpful, thanks." I rolled my eyes.
Flying outside, I tapped on the elephant. Its eyes were sunken, and its trunk was red with a swollen base.
Yeah, I'm no veterinarian, but she still looked sick. Now I had to find the medicine or whatever.
Thinking back to the list, I let out a quick shudder. Craning my head back, I looked at the sun's location in the sky. I was already about two. If all Fluttershy's tasks were were about the same length, I needed to put some speed on.
But this is me we're talking about.
Zooming back into the cottage, I found Angel what I left him.
"Hey rabbit, where's the Vora-whaver for the elephant?"
Angel shrugged.
Typical.
With a few gentle shakes, Fluttershy's eyes slowly creaked open.
"Mm." Fluttershy yawned as she stretched out. "Rainbow? What are you doing here?"
"Uh, heh, hey Fluttershy." I gave her a sheepish smile and offered her a steaming bowl. "I made you soup!"
Fluttershy blinked at me. "Not that I don't like seeing you, but what are you doing here?"
"I was uh…" I chuckled. "Helping you, remember? Taking care of your animals while you slept?"
Fluttershy made a weak attempt to get out of bed, and I gently pushed her back down.
"You still need rest." I argued. "I just came by to give you soup and ask you where the elephant's medicine is."
"Let me do it." Fluttershy protested, still trying to get up. "Please, leave before I get you sick."
“Hey I’m sure I’ll be fine. Remember, I took care of your animals that one day Twilight messed up all our cutie marks!”
There was a long moment as Fluttershy fixed me with a hard stare.
“...Rainbow, you forgot to feed them.”
“Ah, details.” I scoffed.
“That doesn’t make me feel much better.” Fluttershy frowned.
"Look, I got your list and your little… helper-" I looked to the doorway, where Angel was glaring at me. "-...helping me."
Fluttershy sighed quietly, but let me guide her back into bed. She quietly took the bowl of soup.
"So uh…" I coughed. "I searched the entire house and couldn't find the medicine, so…"
"Behind the medicine cabinet in the bathroom."
I resisted the urge to facehoof.
"Please, get me if you need anything." Futtershy pleaded. "Everything on the list needs to be done by the end of the day."
"And I need you to keep resting and get better." I replied forcefully, followed by zooming out the door before she could respond.
But her words followed me out. Everything on the list. With a short sigh, I found the list in question and read it again. I looked up to see the broom resting against the chicken coup.
Of course, I didn't want to clean up after animals that might be able to do it themselves, but if I didn't… Fluttershy would force herself to. And probably find a way to get more sick because… germs, or something.
If it were almost anyone other than Fluttershy asking me to do this, I'd shoot it down on the spot. I mean, I was a world class athlete! What if the Wonderbolts saw me cleaning up animal poop? They'd definitely find a worse nickname than Rainbow Crash.
With a final groan, and a final glare at Angel, I flew outside.
The hours ticked by slowly as I made my way down the list. Inspect Sam the hawk's broken wing. Inspect Steve the baby crocodile's tooth cavity. Check on Millie. If anypony asks, I definitely didn't scream like a little filly when I called Millie's name and a giant millipede came out of seemingly nowhere.
After Harry helped me get some fish to feed the birds, I started wondering how timid little Fluttershy fed animals to other animals and still got pushed around by ponies. That grossed even me out.
After a while, all the medical checks ended and it was just "Feed this animal whatever they eat." After quickly reading through the list, I crumpled it up and tossed it on the couch.
Yeah, mostly lettuce and carrots, some acorns, just fill a bowl up with those and the animals separate themselves accordingly.
Eyeing the last critter of the list, I forced a smile. It was Fluttershy's spoiled little rabbit, Angel.
I really wanted to have him skip a meal, or give him half of the food requested. But no, he'd probably whine to Fluttershy and make her get out of bed to feed him.
With a sigh, I filled his stupid special bowl with lettuce and pushed it toward him. He shook his head ferociously, pulled out a book from Fluttershy's book shelf, and showed me a picture of a giant assortment of all sorts of vegetables, tapping it rapidly.
Oh no, this wasn't how it was gonna go. He might think he can boss Fluttershy around, but I wasn't Fluttershy.
With one quick throw, the book was wrenched from his hands and chucked across the room. When his panic-stricken face turned back to face me, I was inches away from him. I pushed my muzzle into him hard enough to startle him, but not knock him over.
"Listen here you little rat." I growled. "I don't have the time or patience to deal with your stupid ego. I know how hard you make every single day for Fluttershy, even going as far as slapping her around, so I'm giving you a choice. Choke down the food I give you, or I'm gonna introduce you to Rarity's cat. Opal loves chasing vermin."
The look on his face reassured me he would eat his lettuce quietly.
"Ugh." I flopped into the chair next to Fluttershy's bed. She watched me with a warm smile. "Animals fed. Droppings cleaned. Animals in poor health checked on. If I ever give you a hard time about anything ever again, remind me how much your job sucks. Your pest of a rabbit was trying to convince me to make him some fancy schmancy dinner, too."
"Well, thank you first of all, but what do you mean 'fancy dinner'?" Fluttershy furrowed her brows. "Was Angel being mean to you?"
I waved a hoof. "He pulled out some book and showed this really complicated looking pile of vegetables. Or fruit? Not actually sure what the difference is. Either way, I got him lettuce."
"Oh, no." Fluttershy sighed. "He wasn't trying to demand some giant meal. Was he pointing at the tomatoes?"
"I, uh…" I chuckled sheepishly. "I didn't check. I thought he was pointing at the whole thing."
"The vet pon-" Fluttershy coughed. "The vet pony said he needed more vitamin C in his diet, so I've been giving him tomatoes with his meals. Didn't I put that in the list?"
My mind flashed back to the crumpled up list on the couch. "Shoot. Um, maybe. Sorry. So he wasn't trying to be a pain?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "I will admit his temper has been short lately, but he's been the one trying to take care of me before you came along and…" She trailed off with a tired chuckle. "Honestly, I guess I treat him so specially because he reminds me of you."
I wrinkled up my muzzle and stuck out my tongue at her. "Wow, that might be the most insulting thing I've heard you ever say."
"Oh, no! Not like that!" Fluttershy waved her forehooves. "But even though Angel can be a bit too much, he always pushed me to come out of my comfort zone. He was there when I needed. Remember when we had to make that hurricane to move the water to Cloudsdale? I couldn't have picked myself up without him. He's brash, pushy, and yeah, a bit of a jerk… but he also has the best of you."
A tense silence filled the room.
"Fluttershy, are you dating the bunny?"
Fluttershy's eyes shot open. She scrunched up her muzzle as her mouth dropped open.
"Rainbow Dash, that's horrib-"
"Is this why you live so far away from everypony? To not be judged about what you and your bunny boyfriend do behind closed doors?" I did my best to keep a neutral face, but lost the fight to the smile tugging at the corner of my lips.
"You're a big jerk too." Fluttershy pouted. There was another moment of silence, then we both burst out into giggles.
"Don't worry, 'Shy." I stretched out, popping my wing joints. "The girls and I know you don't actually do anything like that. If you did, I'd have to knock you off my list of 'top five most awesomest ponies to ever exist'."
"Oh," Fluttershy gave me a tiny chuckle. "I'm not worth all that praise. That's silly."
"I…" I could help but stare at her incredulously. Thank Twilight for teaching me that word. It makes me sound smart. "You can't be serious."
"Why wouldn’t I be?" Fluttershy frowned at me. "I'm just a pony with anxiety issues. I'm not some big tough pony like you or any of the other girls."
I rubbed my muzzle in irritation. "Fluttershy, I wouldn’t have been your friend all this time if I didn't think you were awesome. You're almost as awesome as me."
Fluttershy peered blearily at me. "I don't understand. What do you mean? I'm not nearly as great as you."
I let out a hard laugh. "Yeah, you have a lot of moments when you're just timid and afraid of everything. But whenever we need you to, you always do the coolest stuff. Who was it that shouted down a dragon for us?"
"Well, me, but-" Fluttershy began, but I cut her off.
"Who turned Cerberus, the fearsome guardian of Tartarus, into an oversized puppy?" I rolled my eyes.
"He was a sweet thing after all." Fluttershy meeped.
"Who TAMED THE LORD OF CHAOS?" I thundered, lightly bopping her forehead. "And not only that, there was the manticore, the hurricane for Cloudsdale, the cockatrice… I can go on and on! Who saved our flanks every single one of those times?"
"I did…" Fluttershy whispered.
"You did!" I shouted, throwing my hooves up and flashing her a grin. "The amount of times you've looked certain doom in the face and spit in its eye is absolutely crazy! So hey, no more of this 'I'm not awesome' talk, okay?"
I could see Fluttershy's eyes fill with tears and suddenly felt my heart drop in my chest. I reached out toward her unsurely, when I felt one of her hooves lay softly over mine.
"Do you really mean all that?" Fluttershy let out a hoarse whisper.
"Every word." I responded surely, leaning in closer.
Fluttershy retracted her hooves and gave me a smile. "You have no idea how much I needed to hear that. Thank you Rainbow Dash. Really."
I straightened my back and winked at her. "’Course, 'Shy. I'll be here if you ever need a reminder."
For a few moments we both were quiet, just looking at each other.
"So uh…" I mumbled. "Should we hug? Or like, what?"
Fluttershy chuckled. "I don't want a higher risk of you getting sick, so let's not."
I looked around the room awkwardly as the silence carried on. A quick look back showed that Fluttershy had her eyes closed, her breath constant and slow, a smile on her lips.
"Actually, speaking of moments you had I was proud of, why'd you bring a Daring Do book to Blue Melody anyway? I didn't think you liked those kinds of books, I was expecting more like… something animal related."
Fluttershy opened her eyes and shot me a quick, tired smile. A smile that, even though her eyes had heavy, dark bags and her mane was disheveled and messy, radiated a sort of light. That kind that could reassure anypony that everything was gonna be okay.
"The books reminded me of you." She spoke softly. "And even though I was scared, the thought of you kept me strong."
My lips moved, but no sound came out.
"...Oh." I managed finally.
"Ever since that day when we first met..." Fluttershy began, just to get interrupted by a coughing fit. I reached out a hoof for her, unsure of what I'd even do, but she stopped me dead when she lifted her own. "I wanted to be like you. Brave, confident, and very caring, even if you'd never admit it. When I figured out I couldn't be that pony, I realized that doesn't matter. You make me better, anyway."
We were both silent for a few moments.
"You aren't about to declare your everlasting love for me or something, are you?" I asked.
"No." Fluttershy giggled. "I was just paying you a compliment."
"Well... thanks." I flashed her a weak smile. "I guess I could say the same. You have a way of helping talk me down from some pretty stupid stuff sometimes."
"It'd happen more often if you listened to me more."
"Yeah, probably." I chuckled.
She chuckled too, then gave off a small sigh.
"What's wrong?" I frowned.
"Nothing." Fluttershy smiled. "You give me strength and I show you that you don't need to always be strong. It's almost poetic."
"I guess it is." I sat there for a moment, thinking over what she had said. "Let me finish feeding your jerk rabbit and I'll bring you more soup."
Y'know, I said it once, but I'll say it again. I really underestimated Fluttershy. I knew she cared for a bunch of animals, but I didn't think there was so much work she actually did. And the fact that she studied enough medicine to help care for the animals until the veterinary practice opened? I think the entire town has underestimated her.
It actually made me feel kind of horrible. Even though there was a long period where we didn't talk after she first fell off the cloud, me usually just jumping in to make the bullies eat their words with my awesome speed and flying abilities, I was her oldest friend. And for a long period, the only pony she actually considered a friend.
I idly stretched out in bed as I studied my ceiling. I had just finished my day helping out Fluttershy, and she sent me home, saying there was nothing else to do. I felt kinda bad leaving, seeing her so weak, but really, there was nothing else I could do.
I used to just think she was kind of pitiful. It took her literally shouting down a fully grown dragon to make me realize what kind of a pony she really was.
She was timid, yes, but brave. Brave enough to stand in the path of an attacking manticore. Brave enough to face her fears directly in so many memorable performances that are blazed into the back of my mind. Braver than I've been some of the time.
I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm pretty brave. And awesome. But I gotta give credit where it's due, right?
And she's been getting better. Her visits with Blue Melody really show that. I know she was scared of the hospital. I know that seeing that terminally ill colt ripped her heart apart every time she saw him. Every time she saw his condition declining. Especially when the doctor said her next visit would likely be her last one. But she still visited him as often as she could.
She even found the courage to speak at his funeral. I don't think she would have been able to do that before Twilight came to town.
She's really grown.
And it might not be right to say, considering I haven't been a great friend to her until recently, but I'm insanely proud of who she's become.
She doesn't want me to come back tomorrow. Pleaded that even if a pony needs to help her, it wouldn't be one she could get sick. I'll admit, I'm a little nervous about that too. Getting the feather flu would knock me out of any Wonderbolt training. It'd even take away my ability to fly for a while, and that'd make me go crazy. I'd start climbing the walls. But whatever. I can be brave too. I'm coming back tomorrow. And the next day. Every day until she recovers. And I'm gonna start making up for lost time.
It's the least I can do for my best and oldest friend.
