The Elegance of Nature

I was woken up late in the night by a softing whimpering and shaking. I turned around to see Fluttershy curled up and nearly in a state of tears.

"Darling what's the matter?" I asked her.

She turned her head towards me and tried not to cry. "I can't sleep..." She said. "I'm too scared..."

"Of what darling? Nothing can hurt you in here."

"I'm scared of...him..."

"Fluttershy, sweetie, you have nothing to be afraid of. I always make sure to lock the door up tight before I close for the night."

"The lock didn't stop him last time..." She whispered.

I grabbed her by the hoof and pulled her out of bed. "Fluttershy come on." Using my horn to illuminate the way I lead her downstairs and to the front door. First I turned the knob a few time with my hoof. "It's locked up real tight. And this is a new one. I had it installed last week. The one on that chastity belt was old. And plus..." I gave the door a good kick with my hoof. "Nopony's going to get in here unless you or I let them in."

"Thanks Rarity..." Fluttershy whispered. "That makes me feel much better."

"I'm glad darling. Come on, let's get back to sleep."

The next morning I found myself arguing with mother on the phone.

"Mother, I said no. I can't take Sweetie Belle this weekend. I have something important going on and can't afford to have her here. No it's not a dress, and sometimes they ARE more important than her. What?! No! What on Equestria makes you think I'm doing THAT!? It was one time mother, one time!" I sighed. "If you must know mother a tragidy has recently befallen one of my friends and I'm looking after her. The last thing she needs is Sweetie Belle to be around. A little angel?! She's less docile than Opal when I tried to bathe her! I don't know. You could send her to her friend Apple Bloom's house. I'm sure she wouldn't mind. Alright, I love you too. Goodbye." I hung up the phone and sighed. I really do love mother, but she can be quite a pain in the flank from time to time.

I went back upstairs to check on Fluttershy. She was still sound asleep in my bed. I do have to say that she is rather cute when she's asleep. But as much as it pained me to do so I had to wake her up. I reached over and gently rocked her awake.

Fluttershy awoke with a jump the second my hoof made contact with her. She looked around the room and let out a sigh of relief. "It's just you."

"Are you ok darling?" I asked. "Were you having a nightmare?"

She turned her head away from me. "No...I'm just scared that it might be him..."

"Fluttershy I told you, nopony is going to get in here. Come on let me fix breakfast before we head out."

"Head out?"

"Twilight has scheduled you for a therapy session."

Fluttershy looked away again. "No thank you..."

"I'm afraid we're not giving you a choice darling. It's not good to bottle this all up Fluttershy. If you don't talk about it, then sooner or later you're just going to explode and do something you'll regret."

"But Rarity...I'm afraid to go outside..."

"I'm going to be right beside you the entire walk. And we'll all even wait right outside the office if you want us to." I grabbed her hoof with my fore-hoofs. "We won't make you go through this alone Fluttershy. We're all going to be with you every step of the way."

Fluttershy looked back up at me. "I guess I could give it a shot."

That relieved me. I was afraid I would have to literally drag her to the clinic. The thought of her kicking and screaming for me not to alone was enough to break my heart. "Thank you Fluttershy." I took her downstairs and fixed her a splendid breakfast of pancakes and oats. I don't like to brag much, but I did study a bit in culinary arts.

When breakfast was over and done I informed Fluttershy it was time to go. She was reluctant, but I was able to get her to step out of Carousel Boutique and out into the open. She was shaking as soon as she got outside. I outstretched my hoof and offered to hold hers during the walk. This seemed to relieve some of her stress.

When we arrived at the clinic we found all of our friends waiting outside for us. Each of them had a supporting look on their faces. When they saw how scared Fluttershy looked, they each gave her a hug.

"Don't worry Fluttershy," Twilight said. "This is going to help you. Dr. Hooves is one of the best therapists in all of Equestria."

"Yeah," said Rainbow Dash in agreement. "And I just talked to the police; they said they're getting close to finding that bastard."

"Thanks girls…" Fluttershy said, not sounding at all confident. We walked inside the clinic and found an empty reception room. The receptionist looked up from her desk. "Fluttershy?"

"Y-yes…" Fluttershy said.

"The doctor is in. You can go right on back."

"Ok…" Before walking into the room in the back, Fluttershy turned to me. "Um Rarity…if it's not too much to ask…could you do me a favor?"

"But of course darling. What is it?"

"Could you go over to my house and feed my animals? If it's not too much trouble that is. My poor babies must be starving."

"Of course darling. That wouldn't be any trouble at all."

Fluttershy smiled softly. "Thank you." She walked into the back room and closed the door.

"Ya'll want some help with that?" Applejack asked me.

"No, I am quite capable of managing it on my own. Besides, Fluttershy needs all of the support she can get right now. I think it would be best if you all stayed here and waited for her."

"She's right." Twilight said.

"Alrighty then. Have fun."

I nodded and left the clinic. It casually strolled my way through Ponyville and out to Fluttershy's little cottage by the woods. I did quite admire the setting; away from all the madness of everyday life. Fluttershy was free to just be with her animals out here. Using the spare key Fluttershy kept under her doormat I opened the door and walked inside.

Fluttershy had the nicest little house I had ever seen. She kept it all neat and tidy; even enough for and obsessive compulsive such as myself. I walked into the kitchen and looked for food I could give to the animals. It stuck me I hadn't the faintest idea on what I should feed them. I don't know much about animal care outside of caring for my own Opal. As I was wondering, I felt a slight tug at my leg that made me jump.

I looked down and saw that it was just Fluttershy's pet rabbit Angel. I let out a sigh of relief. "You scared me there Angel." Angel looked up at me and pointed to the refrigerator. "What?" I looked at the fridge and saw a note attached to by a magnet. "What do we have here?"

In case of my absence,

If it's not too much trouble would you mind feeding my babies for me? I keep a large bag of pet food under the sink. Most of the animals will eat that. You just have to fill up all of the bowls outside; they know whose bowl is whose. The chickens have to eat chicken feed though. There should be a bag of that under the sink too. Just fill up the cup inside it with the seeds and spread it outside of the chicken coup. They may be asleep or busy laying their eggs. Just knock on the wall of the chicken coup (but please not too loud) and tell them it's time for them to eat (politely please). And Angel (my sweet baby rabbit) is picky. He'll only eat carrots. I keep a whole bunch of them in the back of the fridge (top shelf). But please don't let him know that they're there; I don't want him to eat all of them. Three should be enough. Thank you.

Fluttershy

I couldn't help but giggle at the note. Fluttershy had defiantly written this. I opened the door under the sink and found the two bags of food. I used my magic to levitate them outside. They were quite heavy, even with magic aid. I found a whole group of bowls outside. This must be where I'm supposed to put the pet food. I filled up eat bowl with a precise amount of food and all of the animals came running out and started to eat their food. I took the bag of chicken feed and spread a cupful of seeds around the coup. But no chickens came out to eat. Remembering the note I gave a gentile knock on the wall.

"Darlings, it's time to eat." All of the chickens came out of the coup and started to eat the feed. With all the animals fed I took the two bags and returned them under the sink. I only had Angel left to feed, who was standing right behind me looking at me. I used my magic to turn him around and hold him that way. "Sorry darling, but Fluttershy doesn't want you to know where the carrots are hidden." I quietly opened the fridge and took out three carrots. I closed it and released the little rabbit. His jaw dropped with excitement when he laid eyes upon the carrots. I giggled as he scarfed them all down.

With all of the animals fed I sat myself down on Fluttershy's couch to relax a bit. That certainly wasn't too hard. I looked over to the end table beside me and saw a book. Perfect, I could use a little reading. I picked it up and gasped when I saw the cover.

Diary of Fluttershy.