Courage

by FlamePony

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Angel, Fluttershy
Length: 1632

How a certain timid pegasus meets a little rabbit.

After falling from Cloudsdale, a wailing critter causes a fear in Fluttershy she never felt before. This fear that leads to her inner courage. One Shot

Published 2013-02-18 19:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-02-18 19:00:02 UTC

Rushing Water

You helped me find the strength inside, and the courage to make my dreams come true.

The rabbit let out a loud and obnoxious screeching noise, stomping one of its hind paws rapidly. The pale yellow pegasus let out a startled squeak before hurrying to the small white rodent.

“What is it Angel-bunny?” Fluttershy asked quietly. Angel responded with making a hiss-like noise that made the mare flinch. Quietly she asked “Are your feet tired?” The rabbit nodded smugly and held out its forelegs in a gesture of wanting to be carried.

The pegasus nodded timidly and gently picked up Angel, putting him on her back. The rabbit curled up into a little white ball and quickly fell asleep. Fluttershy sighed softly, trying her best not to wake the small creature as she trotted along to her cottage.

Soon enough, Angel’s drowsy breaths became loud snores. Almost as quickly as the rabbit started to breath rather loudly, a streak of rainbow caught the pale pegasus’ eye. Fluttershy slowed to a halt as another pegasus landed in front of her.

“Why hello Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy greeted her friend with a nod.

“Fluttershy.” Rainbow smirked, stretching her wings before folding them to her sides. Annoyance tainted her voice when she next spoke “I couldn’t help but notice that Angel kind of treats you like a servant.”

“Oh no no.” Fluttershy smiled “Angel’s a sweetheart, really.”

“Well it sure didn’t look like that!” Rainbow exclaimed. Fluttershy squeaked and looked back at Angel to see if he was still sleeping. Looking back to the turquoise pegasus, she put a hoof to her mouth. Rainbow Dash sighed and lowered her voice. “Listen Fluttershy, why do you keep Angel around if he’s always bossing you around?”

The pale yellow pegasus was suddenly taken back, recoiling ever so slightly. Then she sighed. With a slight smile Fluttershy met Rainbow’s eyes. “Well…” she said “I supposed he makes me feel… braver, I guess.”

“Braver?” Rainbow snorted. “How’s that?”

“It has to do how I first met Angel-bunny.” Fluttershy said. “After I got my cutie mark.”

The small filly frolicked with her newly found friends, her eyes wide with the wonder and pure joy of being with the critters. A squirrel ran by her and scurried into the foliage. Fluttershy yelped with surprise and looked after the rodent, smiling. A blue bird flew over her head, chirping its merry tune. Flapping her small wings, the filly skipped along the ground. And for the first time of her life, felt almost weightless.

Then that screech shattered the feeling of elation.

The animals scattered, some simply stopped moving. Fluttershy squealed and looked around frantically, trying to find where the sound came from. It didn’t stop. It was a continuous, haunting wail.

Her first thought was to be afraid of it, but it came to mind. Maybe… Maybe it was the wail of an animal who needed help?

The sound of water running came from her left. The wailing seemed to be coming from that direction. The young pegasus shuffled her hooves above the ground, her head looking in all directions as if that would make the wailing stop.

When it didn’t, she forced herself to calm down and breathed deeply.

“All right Fluttershy, you need to calm yourself.” She chided uneasily “An animal may need your help… An animal may need your help…”

Still it continued. The filly gulped before timidly advancing on the noise. Straying away from the path, she pushed through the foliage. Fear was plain in her every step. Her body was shaking from the anxiety she felt coursing throughout her.

Fluttershy felt as if she may be wading through greenery to something terrifying. But the thought that something may need her help drove her on.

When she stepped into some bushes, she felt water suck at her legs. With a shocked gasp, she scrambled back onto the bank. Her wide eyes scanned the swiftly moving water before her. What was this…? A river? There were no rivers in Cloudsdale…. As curious as she was, that shrieking yowl was still echoing in her ears.

Raising her eyes, she gasped again. On the opposite side of the river, a small white bundle of fur was being pulled by the current. Its small paws were wrapped around the end of a small root coming out from the bank. And by the looks of it, the animal was slipping.

Slowly slipping into the rushing pulse of water.

Fluttershy gasped as the creature’s paws slowly slipped from the branch. And it went plummeting into the water.

“Oh no!” she shrieked. Watching the poor helpless animal be tugged into the water, being pulled downstream made her feel a panic she never felt before. Fluttershy was never exactly brave. She always panicked over the little things. But this type of panic was like hypnosis.

Without thinking, she leapt from the river’s bank and into the river. The first thing that struck her was the cold. The icy cold immediately pulled down on her, making her rosy mane and tail feel like weights.

She struggled to get her head above the water, feeling her lungs begin to collapse. The water, seemingly so blue from the surface, now seemed like a black abyss. The young pegasus flailed her legs, struggling to break her head above the water. When it felt like her body was burning on the inside and freezing on the out, her head broke into the air. Fluttershy sucked in the air greedily, not letting her aching chest distract her from her objective.

All though the dark water terrified her, she dipped in again. Her eyes looking through the haze of liquid for that bundle of white. She kicked out, finding it easier to swim through the murk now that she was adjusting to the stinging cold. The darkness still terrified her.

What if it drowned?

That thought terrified her more. Fluttershy started thrashing her head, wishing her rosy mane was shorter so she could see easier.

There, a smudge of white.

The pale yellow pegasus was kicking against the water as hard as she could, trying desperately to get to the animal. The current was pushing her, but pushing the critter even more.

Then it occurred to her. The current.

Fluttershy unfurled her wings.

Almost immediately, she shot forward. The water pushing her even more now. Her eyes were fixed on the animal, her concern for her lack of air irrelevant. Risking opening her mouth was stupid. But she didn’t think about it.

Fluttershy folded her wings again as she closed in on it. One chance.

She stretched her neck forward and clamped down on its scruff. The white animal, a rabbit, now that she was close, was with her. The water dragged at her, pulling her down. The darkness seemed to have grown closer.

Fluttershy kicked down into the water, up into the air. However much she longed to gulp down the precious oxygen through her mouth, she didn’t. That would mean dropping the rabbit. And she wouldn’t do that. She settled with breathing rapidly through her nostrils as she swam to the bank. The current still tugged at her, pulling her downstream.

Slowly the pegasus made her way to the river’s bank. With her sides heaving, she pulled herself up onto the bank. What she thought was water from the river, was only her tears pouring down her cheeks. Fluttershy gently put the rabbit onto the ground and collapsed next to it. Her eyes fixed on the animal.

It was shivering, but it was alive.

Alive. That word never seemed so special before.

The rabbit slowly opened its eyes, coughing. It looked at Fluttershy, confusion plastered all over its face. It was still shivering. With a smile, the pale yellow pegasus threw a wing over the animal.

“I…I’m sorry it’s not much, but this will keep you a little warm.” She rasped, tears still dripping down onto the ground. The rabbit’s nose twitched and it moved one paw to wipe away her tears. Fluttershy smiled weakly. “You’re such a little angel bunny, aren’t you?”

So the two lay there, comforting one another. The sun was at the horizon when they moved from the spot near the river.

The pegasus sat near a rock, her coat now dry. She held her wings out, letting the setting sun rid them of their dampness. The rabbit sat on the rock, staring at her with wide eyes.

“I’m really timid you know…” Fluttershy said softly. Her pale blue eyes looked over to the rabbit “But… But when you were there, I felt… Well, felt courageous.” The rabbit’s nose twitched. The small filly sighed again “I guess what I’m trying to say is that…” she faltered again. Her voice was so soft when she spoke, that it was barely audible even to the rabbit’s big ears. “Can you stay with me? Help me to become braver?”

The rabbit looked shocked for a moment, its large ears pointing straight up to the darkening sky. Fluttershy turned her timid gaze away and to the ground, shuffling her hooves.

The rabbit made a soft squeak noise and jumped onto the pegasus’ head.

Fluttershy smiled softly in the dusk. She mouthed

‘Thank you.’

Author's Note

Okay, I'm new to this site and I'm not very sure how this entire site works. It's very different from fanfiction (the site I usually write on) so I'm sorry if there's any weird-ness in this chapter. Also, I'm more used to writing for a show with a short blonde and his living suit of armor brother. Which is really dark compared to ponies. So... Yeah, not that used to writing ponies. So here's a one shot. I'd appreciate reviews- er... comments.