Somepony's would kill to fly, others would rather kill themselves than set a hoof into the clouds. What becomes of those who don't wish to fly, or rather- can't? They're tormented. Bullied, some beaten for being different... Fluttershy for one was most affected by being a weak flier, she'd rather live on the ground, but no... As a young filly, she lived in Cloudsdale as the shyest of outsiders; Rainbow Dash would try to help, but alas her efforts were fruitless. The yellow pegasus would have to find solutions to her own problems.
All was fine in the city of clouds today, almost, that is. To one side of the Cloudsdale Academy of young fliers sat Fluttershy, of whom had a certain tune cycling through her head. "Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly..." Small tears welled in her eyes, which were already puffy and bloodshot. She began to watch the other children play, zipping around with their wings and laughing amongst themselves.
"I-If only..." She muttered under her breath, feeling her wings and letting them droop to her sides. The occasional pony would pass, whispering something about her tear-stained face... So dark, and blotched. Fluttershy would merely hide behind her mane, now matted and frizzled from shaking and running away earlier today.
Soon enough the vibrant school teacher walked outside, announcing the end of the school day; whilst others would be going home with friends, Fluttershy would be walking home alone... Again.
As she continued home, a rather-bold pegasus named Cloudchaser passed by with her sister Flitter, yelling out to Fluttershy as the two passed. "Why do you even have wings?! They should have ya cut 'em off already!" She snickered and left Fluttershy to fall into a depressed state once more.
This would be her breaking point.
Within the confines of her pink bedroom, Fluttershy stared at the ceiling, clutching a stuffed cat to her chest. Thoughts of the previous week occupied her mind, the names, the jokes, the insults... Her heart ached. She could hardly fly, and she knew it. Why treat her wings so tenaciously?
Getting up, she dropped the cat to the floor; her eyes no longer contained tears, or sadness... They were empty, wide open and staring at nothing in particular. Fluttershy walked slowly out of her room to the kitchen down the hall, the house was empty much like her being. All was quiet, nopony there to question her; very gently she opened a drawer and pulled a rather impressive butcher knife.
Fluttershy stared at the stainless-steel reflection for quite some time, not a single clear thought stopping her actions. She held the handle in her mouth and wandered towards the bathroom across her room, her hooves making a light click-clack sound against the wooden floor. As the yellow pegasus entered the room and locked the door, that same tune played in the back on her head. "Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!" She did not cry, nor shed a single tear; she merely stared at the mirror, gazing into the abyss of her own pupils.
"Fluttershy, Fluttershy..." She began to sing, taking the knife into her right hoof. Very lightly she pulled her left wing around herself, her hoof shakily holding the knife up to the base of the wing. "F-Fluttershy, Fluttershy... Fluttershy will never fly..." She began to cry as the knife dug into her wing, sliding back and forth causing her to yelp in pain. With each stroke, it dug deeper, and the blood began to seep out and run down her side, covering the bathroom floor.
"Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy will never fly!" She became more aggressive, sealing her eyes shut and continuing to hack away the deemed-useless wing. The knife reached the bone, and she screamed.
Blood covered the floor, and the pegasus herself. Her fur was soaked, darkened and stained with the fresh blood... All the while she screamed and sung.
With a final slide of the knife, the wing fell off; straight to the floor, it landed with a thud. Fluttershy dropped the knife, and stared blankly at her now detached wing, tears running down her face interminably. She tried to move the small stump that was now her wing, and yelped in pain... The blood continued, feathers lying in a dark pool surrounding her.
"W-what have I done...?" She choked out, poking at the dead wing that was once her's. She carefully moved around, unlocking and leaving the bathroom... She trips on the way out from the imbalance, hitting the floor hard. Instead of getting up, she merely remained there and sobbed from the pain.
"F-Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy will never fly..." She sang to herself, closing her bloodshot eyes. Her mane laid lazily across her face, covering it from whoever entered the house.
"SWEET CELESTIA!" Screamed a familiar voice, likely her mother... Fluttershy couldn't tell at this point, she began to pass out from blood loss.
"FLUTTERSHY! Honey call 911! She's cut off her wing!" Screamed her mother. In her blurred vision, she could see her father darting about, from the bathroom to the kitchen. She didn't care.
She felt her body being cradled by her mother, rocking back and forth slowly... By now, all she could hear was the older pegasus crying over her body as she slipped into darkness. Shortly after the ambulance would arrive, the EMT taking the shy pony away from her parents, along with her lifeless wing.
A siren played, flashes of images went through as she struggled for consciousness. A puddle of blood, and feathers... Her crying mother, startled father... It was all a blur.
"Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy will never fly..." She muttered, the EMT's stared at her, mouth's agape as the ambulance pulled away from her home. Her parents were left to spiral into depression, much like Fluttershy herself did that same day.
Author's Note
I don't consider this the core, but merely the beginning of what I have in store... Please stay tuned, and have a nice flight.
It had been two months prior to the incident, weeks of therapy and medicine used to soothe the shattered pony's psyche. The doctors and her parents themselves believed it had worked, but the only one who could confirm this was Fluttershy; through-out her time spent, one talent the yellow-pegasus had picked up aided her quite well... Deception.
She was in fact still a shattered pony, yet hid it considerably well.
The previously-mangled rip where her left wing once was, was now a stitched-stump of which was soon to be fitted for a prosthetic, it was very believable as a real wing, although everypony in Cloudsdale already knew of the tragic amputation.
Aside from mental, physical therapy was also given so that Fluttershy would be able to balance her weight without tipping over. She would have to deal with never being able to fly again, however; not that it'd matter to her... She never was a great flyer to begin with, as everypony knows.
Fluttershy sat in her hospital bed, staring at nothing in particular and just enjoying the general silence. Within her mind she aimlessly thought of her new prosthetic and getting to leave said hospital soon. Her thought-process was interrupted, however as her personal nurse- Nurse Blutsauger- walked in.
"Sorry to disturb you, but good morning my dear patient." She said with a smile, while walking to Fluttershy's bedside.
"Good morning, Ms. Blutsauger." The one-winged pegasus didn't look to her, perhaps out of fear.
The two shared a silence for quite some time, not awkward, but reserved and cherished. Nurse Blutsauger, without a word, went and opened the window; "It's a lovely day as usual, perhaps you like to go outside today?" She motioned towards the doorway.
"I think I'd like that..." Said Fluttershy. While contemplation had come to be her favorite activity, it was nice to receive some fresh air now and again.
The blond-maned and white-fur'd nurse pegasus offered to help Fluttershy out of her bed, only for her offer to be declined politely. Very smoothly she exited the bed, softly stepping down to the floor and looking up at her nurse. "Shall we go?" she asked.
Nurse Blutsauger merely nodded stoically, guiding her young patient down a small hallway to an elevator. The two stepped in, waited a short time and before they knew it the pair were walking down another hallway and out the front-door.
The sun shined brightly on Cloudsdale, suited perfectly with a cool breeze running through Fluttershy's neat mane and tail as the heat of Celestia's spiritual-body hit her skin. She took a deep breath, and sighed.
"Feeling alright?" Asked her nurse, looking down to her. Fluttershy nodded in response.
"Good." Their conversations were never too detailed, each of them liked it that way. The two eventually sat down on a nearby bench, waiting out the day until something would arise. As always, nothing would arise, although they did have to get back inside for Fluttershy's sake.
From inside, Nurse Blutsauger said goodnight to her young patient and wished her luck in her prosthetic fitting for the next day. Fluttershy merely smiled softly and nodded in response, allowing the nurse to turn the lights and leave the room.
As the door clicked shut, the yellow-pony turned her attention to the window, gazing out to Luna's moon with a small hope glimmering in her eyes.
The same glimmer disappeared when Fluttershy's eyes twitched and her pupils dilated as she viewed a pegasus fly by not too far away; it was Cloudchaser. Although she was still a filly like Fluttershy and the rest of their class, next to Rainbow Dash she was a fantastic flyer. Her off blue-slate coat turning into a blur when she felt it, but now she aimlessly flew by... Without a care in the world.
Fluttershy watched with great intent, playing close attention to every move, every twitch of her wings... They were simply... Divine. She felt the stump of a wing she once had with a hoof, biting her lip in grief; as Cloudchaser slowly left view, Fluttershy could only bite her lip harder until she broke the skin. The blood slowing trailed down her chin, but she care less... She could think about those wings of Cloudchaser, how dearly the other pegasus thought of them.
"You'd better care for them, my little pony..." She whispered under her breath.
For the rest of the night, Fluttershy sat in her bed with eyes wide open; she stared at the wall, continuously rubbing her stump of a wing whilst wrapped in the her other good one. Very quietly, although weeks of therapy had seemed to suppress it, she began to sing that tune... Only, slightly different.
"Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly..." She closed her eyes, reveling in the tune.
"If you fly, I will try, to take your wings and you will cry..." She giggled darkly a bit this time, her thoughts cloudy with images of past events.
"Hiiigh up, in the sky... Fluttershy will never fly." Her voice faltered, turning cold and dead.
"Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy... Kills pegasi." Her being of a sane-pony was lost as she finished, giggling manically to herself and rocking side to side... Humming the new tune in her head.
Nurse Blutsauger was quite surprised that next morning to find her patient fully-awake and not tired in the slightest. She pushed this detail out of her head however to greet Fluttershy.
"Good morning Fluttershy!" She said quite cheerily, today brought something good for her patient and she was happy in return.
"Oh, Good Morning..." She said quite emotionlessly, avoiding eye-contact all the while. Fluttershy did, however, fix her eyes on the Nurse's wings...
"Is everything alright? Fluttershy?" She received no response, only a blank stare. Nurse Blutsauger waved a hoof in front of Fluttershy, enticing a snap-back into reality for the yellow pony.
"Oh-I uhm... Yes, everything is fine, thank you." She blushed slightly and looked away from the white wings of the nurse, looking into her eyes intensely instead.
Blutsauger shrugged this all off and smiles. "Well it's time we get some breakfast, then we'll fit you for the prosthetic, okay?"
Fluttershy nodded in response, her gaze falling to those beautifully white wings... "Yes, Nurse Blutsauger." She smiled to the nurse and twitched, ever so slightly.
