A Tomb of Cotton.

When the little bunny came staggering agonizing to the doors of the sanctuary everyone panicked, they knew that what the little one needed was super concentrated carrot juice, but this was stored in the cellar and the only one who had the keys was Fluttershy. Unfortunately Angel in his tantrum had neglected them and had no idea where they were, by the time the sanctuary staff finally discovered that the little elephant who had swallowed the snake had the keys stuck in his trunk, it was too late.

The little bunny's heart couldn't take it anymore and simply stopped beating, little by little Angel watched in terror as the life drained out of his own body and as Fluttershy finally closed her eyes, he tried to shake her, rock her and even give her mouth to mouth resuscitation, but it was useless.
As the sanctuary workers swarmed around her and began yelling things at her, the rabbit trapped in the pegasus' body could only stand still, his gaze fixed on what used to be her small body as a single horrible thought built in his mind, Fluttershy had died.

The next thing Angel felt was a slap straight in her face, the blow came from the head nurse of the sanctuary who, seeing that the pegasus didn't seem to react saw no choice but to hit her.
Angel came back to himself looking at the mare in front of him, she held him by his shoulders and looked directly at him with a compassionate expression.

“Fluttershy I...I'm sorry, I really am.”

The mare gave Angel a tight hug that he couldn't return, he simply looked down again, paling at the image of her body lying on the ground, it was a surreal and overwhelming sensation, so much that it made him feel uncontrollable nausea, without any hint of consideration, Angel vomited on the mare's back who quickly moved away.

For a moment she thought about complaining to the pegasus but the moment she saw Fluttershy's face completely pale and apparently absent with vomit still staining her chin she changed her face to a more sympathetic one, after all she had just lost her bunny Angel, that must have had her torn up inside.
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Later that day Zecora arrived at the sanctuary in search of the little lizard she had brought in the morning, the moment she heard the news from one of the nurses she panicked, ran through the corridors of the main building of the sanctuary, on her way to the infirmary and when she finally entered the room abruptly she met Fluttershy face to face.
She saw her sitting next to one of the beds in the infirmary, her back to her, the pegasus didn't seem to notice the zebra's presence, remaining completely motionless.

Zecora approached slowly, circling the bed until she was in front of it, what she saw made her eyes widen and her breath catch in her throat. Right on top of the soft sheets, arranged in such a way that he appeared to be sleeping, lay Angel's body, dirty and bruised.

The zebra turned to look at Fluttershy and her fear grew even more, the pegasus' face was a mixture of panic and shock, her eyes were fixed on the rabbit's face and it looked like she hadn't blinked in a long while, her forehead was completely drenched in sweat and her fur was pale.
Zecora then approached by taking a couple of steps towards the pegasus and placing a hoof on her shoulder to try to get her attention.

“Fluttershy...?” she asked somewhat doubtfully ”Are you okay...as soon as I heard what happened I came running here too.”

Angel kept his eyes straight ahead despite having heard Zecora's words, he didn't care, he just continued to get wrapped up in his tangle of thoughts.
The sow, worrying that her fears were becoming true, insisted again with a little more firmness.

“Fluttershy I'd like you to answer me I don't like these waves at all.”

Still without an answer, the zebra in a desperate attempt to make her friend react grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her forcing her to look at her.

“Fluttershy stare at me I need to know something urgently!” Zecora spoke with a serious tone uncommon for her while keeping her eyes fixed on Fluttershy's, making sure that Fluttershy was listening to her ”Before your friend's sad demise I must know Did you and him switch bodies before he passed away?”

That question finally brought Angel back to himself, for a moment he thought Zecora was his best chance that if he told her what had happened she could fix it, but he quickly dismissed that thought. Despite being just a bunny he was perfectly aware that there was nothing, in the entire kingdom of Equestria with the power to revive the dead, not even the princesses could do something like that, so, right now he was in a dilemma.
He could still tell Zecora what had happened, that because of his arrogance and carelessness Fluttershy had died in her rabbit body, but if he did then what would become of him? After all, even if by accident, he had caused the death of a pony and not just any pony, we're talking about one of the elements of harmony, one of the most important ponies in Equestria, and, although her body was technically still alive, she was gone.

So what would happen to him if everyone found out, would they judge him, would they lock him up, could they even do that even if he was just a rabbit, he had no idea, but at that moment fear gripped him, he didn't want to be found out, not until he knew how to excuse himself from the tragedy, finally finding his voice stuck in his throat he was able to work out a quick answer for Zecora.

“Yes...yes, she..I mean, he and I switched before he...died” once again for Angel it was strange to hear Fluttershy's voice coming out of his mouth, but the discomfort he felt now didn't compare at all to the first time, still he did his best to keep his composure in front of the zebra.

“Oh that's a relief a relief indeed, for a moment I thought something had gone terribly wrong” Zecora let out a big sigh of relief before realizing how insensitive she was being to Fluttershy who had just lost her best animal friend ‘Oh I'm sorry Fluttershy you don't know with what passion, that all this happened was not my intention’ the zebra lowered her head with intricate heaviness ”By giving you that position I thought it would help you, I didn't know this was how it would end up.”

The zebra's apology made Angel come to a new resolution, Zecora was right, it wasn't his fault, it was hers, if she hadn't prepared that stupid potion they would never have switched bodies and Fluttershy will still be alive.

At this a new emotion came over Angel, one that overcame sadness and fear in a single instant, anger.

“Well, your apologies are useless now!!!”

Fluttershy's voice rose to a volume Zecora never thought possible, quickly raising her head to look into an angered face.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with them!!! apologies won't bring her back to life!!! and you know what, you're damn right, if it hadn't been for your stupid idea none of this would have happened!!!” Out of nowhere the pegasus lifted its hoof and hit Zecora hard in the face, so hard that it knocked her backwards.

Zecora turned around in disbelief as the burning in her cheek became more and more present, never, in all the time she had known her, did she believe that Fluttershy was capable of doing something like this, neither cursing nor hitting someone.
The zebra was speechless as the pegasus continued her outburst.

“And I'll tell you something else, I don't understand why the hell in the first place any pony would want anything from you, you are a filthy Zebra and ever since you came to town it's just been disaster after disaster, like the time with the acid you made the vain unicorn get in her mane or when you caused a horrible disease to the farm girl's little sister and now, you caused a death...!!!” Angel walked towards Zecora aggressively making the zebra recoil in fear until he hit the wall of the room “You are a disgusting and despicable being, I WISH YOU HAD DIE IN HIS PLACE!!!”

Tears streamed down Zecora's face, Fluttershy's hurtful words fueled the guilt she felt and made her miserable, not knowing what else to do or say the zebra simply ran out of the room sobbing while Angel stood in the middle of the room with her wings outstretched and panting.
As the anger dissipated little by little Angel couldn't help but feel a little guilty for what he had said to Zecora, yes she may have provoked this situation but she had done it from her best intention and maybe if Angel had been more responsible...No, that wasn't possible, he wasn't to blame, he just wanted Fluttershy to pay more attention to him, it didn't take a weird potion to make Fluttershy do what she should, that zebra was to blame.

Angel returned back to the side of the infirmary bed and looked at her limp body again and the fear came back to him, he had no idea what was going to happen now, he had no idea what he was supposed to do and most importantly, he had no idea how to fix this.
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The next day Angel and Fluttershy's friends, as well as the sanctuary staff and some of the animals, organized a small funeral in Angel's honor, everyone gathered at the edge of Fluttershy's hut and dug a small grave.

The little bunny's body had been wrapped in a beautiful white cloth and placed in a small box, his face had been placed in such a way that he seemed to be smiling peacefully, even Rainbow Dash had caused a faint drizzle to form a farewell, inside the box a handful of soil with seeds had also been placed.

“When her body decomposes and the seeds germinate, her grave is adorned with beautiful cotton buds” is what the farmer pony had said to Angel to justify the strange gesture.

Angel did not say a single word during the whole ceremony, he could only watch as little by little, what no one knew, was the last smile that the sweet and tender Fluttershy would give to the world, disappeared into the earth and dust.

When the burial was over, everyone present said some words in honor of the little bunny, but Angel didn't listen to any of them, his ears were still ringing due to the headache he felt and even if he had been in perfect condition, he wasn't interested in anything those ponies had to say about him, after all none of them really knew him, for them he was just an adorable pet, a stupid animal that only existed to look cute and keep Fluttershy company, Angel couldn't help but grit his teeth at this thought, the only pony that really understood him was Fluttershy and she was gone.

When the ceremony was over the sanctuary staff and the animals dejectedly left the place while Fluttershy's friends approached the pegasus to talk to her.

“Fluttershy...” began Twilight ”I understand that you must feel horrible and very sad about what happened to Angel...”

“And we want you to know that, despite the fact that we can't feel the way you feel, you have as always our full support” continued Rarity.

“We've already talked to the people at the sanctuary...” said Applejack ”And they've agreed to give you all the time you need to recover.”

“And if at any time you need anything, anything at all...” began Pinkie Pie.

“You can tell us and we'll be here to help you” concluded Rainbow Dash.

Angel didn't look away from Fluttershy's grave, all that cheesy paraphernalia they had told him was too much for him, if they all knew the truth they wouldn't even be talking to him.
Once again he felt the fury rise in his throat but he managed to restrain himself.

“Aham..yeah, right” he replied dryly as he stood up and headed towards the cabin.

All the mares exchanged worried glances at the rude response of the yellow pegasus, but quickly attributed it to the sadness she was surely going through, they could not even imagine how devastated she was probably feeling, they decided that they would not pressure her, they would give her her space and wait until she felt well enough to talk to her.

Without further ado, they all walked away back to town, leaving Angel alone.

Angel entered the cabin after several minutes of trying to open the door, he still didn't understand how ponies could lift and move things so easily without fingers, something about his old body he was beginning to miss too much.
When he entered he just closed the door behind him and let himself fall back against it, the hut was empty and without a single light on which, combined with the dim light coming through the rain clouds, gave it an air of sadness and melancholy.

Angel appreciated the view for a second before determining that he didn't like it.
He quickly stood up and walked to the cabin's kitchen, stretching to the shelf where Fluttershy kept her firewood, grabbing a large handful and returning to the living room, he threw the wood reluctantly into the fireplace and searched for the flint Fluttershy used to light it with.
After a few minutes he found it right on the edge of the fireplace itself, he tried to use his new hooves to light the fire but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't create a single spark, desperate Angel let out a cry of frustration and threw the flint into the wood which obviously didn't ignite.

Giving up Angel let himself fall to the floor, covering his ears which did not stop buzzing, he did not understand why his head hurt so much, it felt as if something was drilling the base of his skull, he closed his eyes trying to relieve it and it worked slightly, so much so that suddenly Angel realized something new, It was an even stranger sensation than the headache or the general discomfort he had been feeling since yesterday, this was very subtle, barely perceptible, it felt as if something was pressing against his chest, Angel got up and felt his fur, thinking that maybe he had hurt himself without realizing it, but he found nothing.
Still he didn't stop his gentle touch on it, soon he found himself looking it up and down, despite everything that had happened, he still hadn't given himself the task of examining what was now his new body in detail, he used his hooves to explore his face first, he felt his soft features and long mane, his ears were very soft although nothing compared to the ones he had when he was a rabbit and they felt cool to the touch, then he lowered his hooves and felt her neck, it was extremely fluffy and by pressing lightly he could feel how sensitive the skin of Fluttershy's body was, he went down her chest, where the feeling of pressure still persisted, and then on her back behind her wings, Angel couldn't believe how curious his own touch felt on her body, he started stroking more frantically all over feeling all the new parts.

Finally he reached the belly of Fluttershy's body and as he tried to continue his frantic exploration he felt a twinge of pain, he quickly pulled his hooves away from the impression, his distracted mind came back to himself as he realized what he was doing.

“What the hell am I doing?” Angel shook his head and got up from the floor ”This isn't right, none of this is right...”

Angel looked around again, now that the night was starting to settle the place looked even more gloomy, he couldn't help but think how quiet it was without Fluttershy's cheerful humming she used to do while preparing her dinner.
That memory not only made Angel feel sad all of a sudden but it also made his stomach growl profusely, he hadn't realized how hungry he felt, in fact, now that he thought about it, he was sure he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday, maybe that explained the headache.

He made his way back to the kitchen, stumbling a couple of times due to the darkness that was becoming more and more prominent, he groped for the shelf where Fluttershy kept the food, after a few minutes of trying to memorize he got it, he opened the shelf and found a good amount of pony food, canned peaches, boxed bread, potatoes, celery and of course, many boxes of tea, none of this caught Angel's attention, he rummaged around a bit more finding a jar of cookies and a few cartons of milk, but quickly moved away and switched to the next shelf, where Fluttershy kept the food for her animals.
In this case it took him much less time to find what he was looking for, he took the whole basket of carrots and returned back to the living room, while walking in the direction of the big armchair he passed by the big mirror Fluttershy had to check herself before going out in the mornings, he couldn't help but stop in his tracks and turn his face to see himself.

Angel recognized the face that looked back at him, but at the same time it was like seeing a complete stranger, he took a couple of steps towards the mirror looking straight into her eyes, deeply, hoping to be able to see even a hint of Fluttershy's soul reflected, but there was nothing, only his own soul, for a moment he felt hyperventilated, keeping his gaze fixed on the mirror made him feel horrible, he even noticed how the pressure in his chest increased slightly.

He shook his head cutting off the eye contact and heading back to the living room couch, leaning back on it and placing the basket of carrots next to him, he took one and started to eat it.
The food took his mind away from his thoughts for a while, it wasn't until the last of the carrots was consumed that once again his mind was overwhelmed by the situation.

Angel didn't want to think anymore, the ideas make his head hurt more, he didn't want to have to think of a way to fix it because he had come to the conclusion that there was no way to do it, he placed his hooves over his face blocking his view and comforting him a little, at least this way he could imagine that he was still the same.

While the cabin was completely dark and the last vestiges of sunlight were extinguished outside Angel finally managed to fall asleep, hoping to wake up tomorrow and that all this was just a nightmare.