FlutterDead
~Chapter One: Morning~
"Ahh..." she exclaimed softly, as the warm glow of the sun could be felt on her face. She smiled peacefully, looking out her window and across the front yard of her cottage. Several groups of critters had gathered around Fluttershy's front yard, all in preparation for her early morning routine of feeding the animals. Even the chickens were in their coop and clucking in anticipation for getting some feed. While admiring the beautiful scenery and smiling ear to ear, Fluttershy heard a dull thud on the floor.
She looked down and gasped.
"Oh no. Not again," she spoke in her warm and gentle voice, annoyed that once again, her right hoof fell off and lay on the ground. Angel quickly bounced through her doorway and over by her hoof. He looked down at the appendage that was no longer attached to her body and back up at her with concern in his eyes.
Fluttershy looked down at him sweetly.
"Aww, don't worry Angel. It doesn't hurt, so you don't need to worry," she spoke as she reached her left hoof down to the ground and wrapped it around the fallen limb. With a sickening crunch, she shoved it back into the hollow socket and twisted it until it was back in place. She moved her now reattached hoof in a circular motion, to make sure she put it in properly.
She let out a small sigh of relief as she moved her hoof around until it popped once.
"See? There. All better!" she told her pet slash companion happily. Angel was still a tad bit concerned, but this had happened for some time, and he was slowly getting used to it. Fluttershy walked gently over towards her vanity and looked into her mirror. She let out a small gasp of fright and brought her formerly unattached hoof to her mouth. She calmed down rather quickly, and giggled at her reaction slightly.
"Oh, that's just me," she spoke.
The Element of Kindness had several patches of her now ruffled fur gone, and holes in her flesh. Most of the holes had rotted around the edge and she had bruises covering a lot of her body. To top the poor, terrifying sight off, she had a large chunk of flesh gone from her head which left her brain visible through chipped away skull. Normally, this would cause anypony to be in utter agony, but Fluttershy was an exception. This was because she couldn't feel pain anymore.
Yes, Fluttershy had been a member of the living dead for the past year.
"Oh my..." she spoke. "My mane is such a mess. I should really brush it before I go outside today."
She brought her hoof down to her drawer and moved it outward, revealing a very soft brush. Fluttershy brought her brush up to her mane and began to run it through her mane gently. Several locks had turned a darker pink but her mane was very deep rooted. It would most likely not start to fall out for a long while, possibly a few years. She ran her brush through her mane and lightly tugged out the knots from each lock.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Just a minute!" she called down, barely audible through her front door to the pony who had decided to knock. After brushing out the last knot in her multi-hued pink mane, she opened the drawer of her vanity and put her brush back inside. Fluttershy then began to walk downstairs and meet with whoever it was that knocked on her door, Angel following suit. The light clip-clop of her little undead hooves could be heard on the stairs throughout the cottage. Fluttershy opened her door just a crack so as to peak out, barely showing her face and taking the slack off of her chained door lock.
"Um, who...Who is it?" she asked softly.
The image of one of her best friends in the whole world took up her vision, with a huge smile on her purple-fur covered face.
"Hi Fluttershy! How are you this morning?!"
The sudden assertiveness of Twilight caught the poor undead mare off-guard for a moment and caused her to recoil back and close her door.
Twilight frowned as she heard a thunk, indicating that Fluttershy had most likely fallen on the ground. Twilight knocked on her door once more.
"I'm sorry Fluttershy, I didn't mean to startle you. I was thinking you would like to come with me into town today and go to the market. I need some more quills also. Spike is busy with Rarity today, so I need some company," Twilight explained with a giggle at her number one assistant being at Rarity's beck and call.
The zombified hermit slowly opened her door and peaked out at Twilight with a soft smile.
"Well, I do have to stop by the hospital today to pick up some more food. I am getting low on um, you know...brains," she spoke barely above a whisper. The many changes she had gone through in the past year had been the craving for meat, more specifically brain. The brain was twelve percent fat, but she didn't have to worry about gaining weight anymore. She also needed to wash her body much more often and needed to occasionally drink one of Angel's formaldehyde milkshake to keep herself from excessively rotting. "So, I guess I could go with you. But I would be ever so grateful if you would help me feed the birdies and the critters before we go. Um, if you want to that is. If not, it's okay."
Twilight perked up and spoke to her friend happily,
"Of course! I'd be more than happy to help my best friend."
Fluttershy smiled from ear to hole covered ear and gave a heart-melting squee to her friend.
"Oh, thank you so, so, so much Twilight. I'm ever so grateful," she spoke as she opened her door fully and stepped outside with Angel bouncing beside her. She stretched her ruffled wings, before Twilight threw her hoof around her best friend and pulled her in for a side-hug.
"Oh you don't need to be grateful. After all, when's the last time we had some girl time?" Twilight asked as they both walked to the chicken coop.
"Oh heavens, I can't even remember the last time I got to have fun with any of you girls. Probably three weeks ago or more?" Fluttershy asked.
"I think so. Regardless, when I'm not studying we need to hang out more. Agreed?" Twilight asked as she gripped the bag of chicken feed. Her dead friend nodded with her statement.
"Agreed," Fluttershy spoke as she poked her head inside the chicken coop and spoke sweetly, "Come out little chickens. Time to greet the beautiful new day and eat some breakfast."
Upon hearing the serene voice of the Element of Kindness, each chicken and rooster clucked as they quickly came out of the coop in a hurry. Some of them were even trying to rush so much, they ended up tumbling over one another and sliding down the ramp in a mess of feathers and clucking.
"Now, now; No cutting. There is plenty to go around, little ones. Just be patient." she kindly spoke.
The next hour of the morning was spent taking care of and feeding the animals. Fluttershy and Twilight discussed several things while they were doing so, like Fluttershy's predicament and Celestia's study into the matter. The Princess' had never even come across an actual case of the living dead before, so they were asking for weekly reports on Fluttershy's condition from their lavender-coated student.
"Well, does that take care of them all?" Twilight asked her friend. Fluttershy nodded happily.
"Yes. The birdies were the last of the critters that needed fed," the timid pegasus answered.
"Alright! Now, shall we head into town?" Twilight asked, eager to finally spend some time with her friend and get to talk about something that her mentor spoke about last week. Fluttershy leaned down to be at eye level with her companion.
"Angel, there are some fresh carrots in the refrigerator. I'll be back soon, alright?" she leaned down to nuzzle the little bunny with a content smile on her face. He looked annoyed, but he returned the nuzzle in full affection. Twilight looked at her friend happily as they began to set off for town.
'Only Fluttershy would be able to stay herself, even after dying.' Twilight thought. Fluttershy caught Twilight smiling at her and giggled at her friend's distant staring. Twilight smiled sheepishly and they looked forward just as they approached the small bridge leading to town.
"This should be a wonderful day," Fluttershy spoke peacefully.
Elsewhere, there was a large wagon pulling into uptown Ponyville, being led by two stallions. Everypony out and about stood gawking at the wagon and at the large words plastered on the side like someone had hastily scribbled them with a paint brush. The words read:
The Great and Powerful Trixie:
Zombie Hunter and Monster Killer for hire
