Chapter 5 – The ruined day.
The next morning, she woke up and went downstairs to find the sphinx and Angel seemingly having a staring contest. And it seemed that Sadie was winning. Angel tried to drill his gaze into the sphinx's hollow eyes, fidgeting and thumping his rear paw impatiently. Sadie though, didn't even twitch, his breathing barely noticeable.
Fluttershy's arrival broke Angel's concentration, and that made him hopping mad. “Now now Angel, enough of that. Sadie is our guest,” Fluttershy reprimanded him, “You shouldn't be a sour loser...even though it was me who made you lose, teehee!”
Angel just frowned and went into the kitchen. Fluttershy looked at Sadie, who was already looking at her. “Good morning!”
Sadie bowed his head in acknowledgment.
The critters had already had breakfast. Angel was becoming more and more disciplined at waking up early to do his chores. In his mind, Angel even dared to think that he was getting better than Twilight's Spike. Fluttershy made breakfast for three after which she did her usual rituals before leaving.
“Goodbye Sadie, I'll see you later. Angel, you take good care of our guest, okay?”
She had to go to several places that day: 1. She had to go to Sweet Apple Acres to place her usual order of apples; 2. She had to go to Rarity's Boutique to get the new “Black Out” curtains she ordered so that she could cover her window and make it as dark as a heavy, overcast day in her room without having to board it up; and 3. She had to return three large books to Twilight.
As she trotted on the path towards the road in front of her cottage with her saddlebags full of Twilight’s books, she spotted a taxi some distance away, coming towards her. She looked at the sky, felt the cool morning air, and thought it would be a nice treat to have a ride for the whole day. So she decided to hire the cab. Oh! And it was one of those new, magically powered cabs too! The one’s that reacts and anticipates the cabbie’s actions! Not only was it a wonderful day, but now she had a fancy ride to help her do the things she needed to do that day. Which meant that when she got home, she wouldn’t be as tired as if she had walked or flown through town.
First stop, Sweet Apple Acres. She told the cabbie to wait while she conducted her business with Applejack. At the sight of each other, Fluttershy’s heart lightened and Applejack perked up.
“Well howdy Fluttershy! Came by to post your usual order?”
“Good morning AJ,” Fluttershy said as she gave her friend a quick hug. “And, uhm, yes, please.”
“You know, you don’t always have to come by every time you want to post an order. You could just leave me or Big Mac a schedule of when to deliver, as if we don’t know that already.”
“Oh, but that means I won’t be able to get to see you that often,” Fluttershy said.
“Aw shucks! That’s sweet.”
“Also, I’m increasing my order by one more bushel. I have a...new guest, you see.”
“Hmmm, a new critter to take care of?” AJ asked with one eyebrow raised.
“You could say that,” Fluttershy said with a pleasant smile.
They chatted for a few minutes, then she said good bye.
“I'll be expecting Big Mac later today?” she asked.
“Eh, Big Mac or me, sugarcube.”
“Okay, great!” Fluttershy smiled.
Next stop was Rarity's. But when she went back to her cab, she saw a stallion in a business suit hop in.
“Uhm, sorry sir, but this is my cab,” she explained.
“Yes mister,” said the cabbie, “I'm afraid I'm already hired. You will have to get another cab.”
“Another cab?!” exclaimed the business stallion, “In this part of town? I think not! This is an emergency! I cannot miss my train. Cabbie, I will pay you triple – triple I say, if you ditch this mare and take me instead.”
“What!” shouted Fluttershy, “You...you can't do that!”
“Oh yes I can! In fact, I will pay you 5 times the normal rate if you take me to the train station right now, cabbie,” said the business pony. He looked at Fluttershy and shook his muzzle up in the air snobbishly, “Hmph!”
“5 times the normal rate?! Why, that's more than my bit quota for the day! You got yourself a deal mister!” said the cabbie. He dashed away, leaving a trail of dust in Fluttershy’s face.
As the taxi sped away, the business pony looked back to shout, “Sorry miss! But you are a pegasus! Why don't you just fly?!”
Fluttershy turned away, coughing. The dirt, dust, and tiny gravel-like sand kicked up by the cab’s rapid departure got into her mouth and stung painfully inside her nose and throat. It was getting into her airways.
“Fluttershy!” Applejack shouted as she ran towards her, “I saw the whole thing! That...that...corrupt cabbie! Why I oughta...!” Her righteous indignation was cut short when the sound of Fluttershy’s coughing fit changed into a desperate wheezing for breath. “Oh mah stars! You don’t sound too good!” Leading her stricken friend to the hoof-pump near the barn, AJ called out as they passed around the house: “Granny! We need some help out here!” Granny came out and instantly assessed the situation with her wizened eyes. “Oh my! Hold on dearie, I've got just the thing!” She disappeared back into the kitchen for a moment, returning soon with a glassful of warm, honey-sweetened ginger juice. Granny held the glass up to Fluttershy’s lips, helping her drink it down as if the pegasus were her own granddaughter. The juice soothed her throat as it went down and calmed her breathing, and Fluttershy was soon breathing normally again.
“Thank you, Granny...” she said, then proceeded to cry.
“Aw, now now there child,” Granny said as she hugged the poor pegasus.
“That...mean ol' pony...took my cab and...bribed him...”
“Oh, well, yes he did,” Granny said as she patted Fluttershy behind the head. She looked at Applejack with a quizzical look. AJ nodded her head to confirm what Fluttershy just said.
Granny's face stiffened with resolve. “You know what we can do, sugarcube?”
Fluttershy looked up at Granny Smith.
“We can lodge a complaint with the cab company. They'd set that cabbie straight.”
“Yeah, Fluttershy. We could do that. Ah'll come with you if you want.” AJ offered.
“Yes, I'd like that Applejack.”
On the way to the cab company's office, Fluttershy kept mulling over the incident in her mind. She couldn’t help but feel that arrogant business pony deserved to be punished somehow, too.
“PV Cab Co. - ‘We get you there,” AJ read the sign on top of the cab company’s garage.
“‘We get you there’ indeed!” Fluttershy scoffed to herself, under her breath.
Applejack approached a nearby mechanic working underneath one of the cabs and asked where they could find the supervisor on duty. He pointed one free hoof towards the far end of the garage at a door labeled "Office" before going back to work. Inside, a mocha-colored Earth stallion sat behind a desk, filling out paperwork on an old typewriter; the placard on top of the desk read, "Looming Departure - Supervisor". When he looked up at the sound of the door opening and noticed his visitors, the typing stopped immediately and he turned to greet them with a genial smile. “Ah, good day ladies. What can I do you fer?”
“Are you the supervisor?” AJ said sternly.
The tone of her voice made his eyebrows raise up slightly. "Yeeeess...?"
Applejack braced herself, warming up her neck muscles by gently jerking them side-to-side. Both Fluttershy and Looming gulped audibly, feeling as if something was about to explode. But to their surprise, she closed her eyes as she held a hoof close to her lips, breathing in deeply, and then exhaling slowly as she moved her hoof in an arc out from her lips. She looked him seriously in the eye, and was about to speak when…
The supervisor thought that this was serious, so he gathered his wits and held out a hoof to Applejack, motioning her to stop. “Forgive me madam, but, please, do sit down first.” He held out a hoof to the two chairs in front of his desk.
AJ blinked twice, looking at his gesture, and then at the chairs. “Oh, right.”
From there, the complaint was processed more or less in three parts: The supervisor would ask for pertinent data on the who, where and when of the incident; Fluttershy would provide it when she could, being too meek to be heard most of the time; and Applejack would chime in with the more personal details about how everypony involved had acted or felt at the time, along with the occasional mini-lecture on proper pony work ethics. In fact, the Earth mare did so much of the actual complaining, an outside observer would think that she was the one who had been ditched and her pegasus friend who had just come along for support. Fluttershy spent the entire, seemingly interminable 10-minute process trying to hide behind her mane, only peeking out when the supervisor addressed her directly.
At the end of it, the supervisor put his hooves together, as if in deep thought. Then finally he breathed in deep. "First of all," he said with sincerity, "I want to personally apologize for any inconvenience or distress our service may have caused. And let me assure you, this incident will be thoroughly investigated as soon as possible." With a nod from Fluttershy, AJ thanked the supervisor for his time, “Thank you kindly,” and the two of them left the same way they'd come in.
Afterward, they walked to Rarity's Boutique where they told her about the cab incident. Again, AJ did most of the talking, while Fluttershy just scuffed at the ground with her hoof. Rarity was appalled, “My goodness! I can't believe some ponies could be so...so...” She looked at Fluttershy and her mood changed from shock to sympathy. “Ooooh, come here Fluttershy,” Rarity said, giving her best spa buddy a comforting hug. “Now, don’t you waste any more time thinking about those two selfish jerks. I have your curtains right here. And might I add that you’re in for a surprise!” Rarity floated Fluttershy’s “Black Out” curtains out for her to see. They...sparkled! It was like two rolls of nighttime, twinkling with starlight. AJ stared at it with her mouth open, obviously admiring it. Fluttershy raised her head and smiled weakly. For a split second, her spirit was indeed uplifted and she forgot all about the incident with the cab.
“I infused the fabric of your curtain with ‘Diamond Dust’ crystals.” She unfurled one roll to showcase. “They have the ability to absorb, share, and store up light in their crystalline structure and release it in dark places. See, your curtains are infused with it on both sides. The curtains keep your room cool and dim, while crystals on the outside will absorb the light from the sun and share it with the crystals on the inside, where the light will be stored to create a very soft, pleasant glow, as if your room had its very own sky full of twinkling little stars.” Rarity smiled at both of them, obviously pleased with herself at the sight of her two friends admiring the beauty of her work. “Weeell? What do you think, darling?”
“I’m...uh…” Fluttershy shook her head from being spellbound. “Wow, thank you Rarity. This is so nice, what you've done.” She gave Rarity a hug and took the rolls of curtains on her back. “Well, I'll be seeing you two.” She turned and meekly walked away, the incident with the cab returning to her.
Rarity’s face perked up with concern. “Wait, won’t you two come in for some tea or something? Take a moment to ease the tension from that nasty cab business you just went through.”
“Oh, uhm…” Fluttershy paused and turned, “I still have these books to return to Twilight, you see. And then I really just...want to go home,” she said, as the thought of her animals, and sphinx, gave her comfort. And besides, if she took Rarity’s invitation, chances are they’d just wind up jabbering about the cab incident, what the business pony looked like as well as the cabbie, that sort of thing. She wanted none of that and really just wanted to go home as soon as she can.
Rarity conceded—nodding at Fluttershy. She trotted to her and gave her one last hug. “Ooooh, you take care now, okay? And don’t hesitate to come to me for anything.” Rarity’s hug made Fluttershy feel a bit better. Then she started on her way again.
As she did, AJ got close to Rarity and whispered to her ear, “Now why would Flutters want that kind o’ curtains for her bedroom?”
Rarity shrugged and whispered back, “I suspect it's because she's still got a bit of vampire bat in her.”
“...Oh...” AJ said, uncertainly… or perhaps a bit guiltily. It was kind of her fault why Fluttershy turned into a bat-pony after all.
In any case, Fluttershy looked burdened with those rolls of curtains on her back. “Well, Ah guess Ah'll be seeing ya as well. Laters, Rarey. Hey, Fluttershy! Wait up!” she called out as she trotted to catch up with her. Rarity looked on, her concern for Fluttershy persisting and making her pout as she looked at AJ trotting to catch up with Fluttershy. She sighed when AJ finally caught up with her, feeling a bit better that their strong farmer-friend was accompanying her.
“Uh, you okay there hon? Here, let me help you with those,” Applejack said, moving in close to take the heavy rolls of fabric from Fluttershy’s back.
Fluttershy accepted AJ’s help. She was feeling a bit weak. Not because she was getting tired, but because...here she is, the weakest among her friends. Weak, and fragile. What would she have done if AJ and her family were not there? And now that Rarity's heard the story, she knows that she's got her back, too. She knew that Twilight will also know what happened when she returns those books she borrowed. She wondered what would Twilight do on her behalf – she, The Element of Kindness – the weakest of them all.
And speaking of which, who would they find approaching them but the newest alicorn princess herself. “Oh! Hey there, Applejack, Fluttershy!”
AJ tipped her hat in response, while Fluttershy just reached back into her saddlebag and retrieved the books. “Here, I was bringing these back to you…”
“Oh, thank you.” The lavender glow of Twilight’s natural telekinesis levitated the books briefly, before they all vanished at once with a soft flash of light, teleported back to their specific places on her shelves, according to the library catalogue system she was using at that time – a testament to her ever-growing mastery of applied magic. With that done, Twilight faced her graceful friend with a concerned expression. “Um, Fluttershy? Is something bothering you today?”
"Oh, um, well... you see..." Fluttershy stammered and glanced over at AJ, fully expecting her to take the reins again, as she'd done twice already.
But the apple farmer just smiled and nodded in Twilight’s direction. “Go on, Fluttershy,”
“Yeah!” Fluttershy thought to herself. “Don't be such a big helpless baby! Things like this happen, so BUCK UP! Heck, what? You can't even tell your best friends what happened!? Dear Celestia, I mean really?!”
AJ and Twilight watched the building frustration on her face and exchanged looks. Finally, Fluttershy spoke. “There was this cab… that I hired. I was going to hire him for the whole day, but this business pony bribed him, paying him 5 times more, to take him to the train station.”
Twilight cringed in anticipation. “And the cabbie took the bribe?”
“Yes, right in front of me. They sped off like there was no tomorrow, and the dust and sand from his wheels got into my throat and eyes. AJ witnessed the whole thing.”
“Oh my!” Twilight said, her ears pressed down and an uneasy look on her face.
“Applejack and Granny Smith helped me, then we lodged a complaint at the cab company...” Fluttershy paused as she remembered the arrogant look the business pony had given her just before the cab had taken off. “Oooooh, that snobby business pony! If I ever see him again I'll....I'll...” Fluttershy thought for a moment, her steam fizzling out. Apparently, she could not think of anything that she could do to that business pony.
But...she did something to that Earth stallion who got all the cherries...
Fluttershy thought deep about that Earth stallion, “Maybe...I'm not as weak as I think I am.” The thought thrilled her. She did not remember that the Earth stallion was crying before running away. All she perceived now was the thrill she felt as she hid, undetected behind the tree, how she tossed the branch and made the Earth stallion stumble, and how it served him right that his cherries was crushed into cherry jam. Fluttershy bowed her head behind her mane, and hid her subtle chuckles.
“Huh, that business pony you mentioned, he must have had some emergency...” Twilight thought out loud.
“What?!” Fluttershy’s head shot back up as she involuntarily shouted from the shock. “You're taking his side?!”
“Whoa whoa whoa, I didn't say that! Calm down Fluttershy,” Twilight said, reassuringly.
“Oh...I'm...I'm so sorry Twilight! I...didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that I...I'm not used to being angry. I'm sorry.”
Twilight smiled at her, “It’s fine. In fact, he may have had a valid emergency, but what he did and what happened to you is still not right. I may have an idea how to make sure this never happens again.”
“Oh great!” Fluttershy thought, “Twilight's going help me. First AJ, then Granny, then Rarity, and now Twilight. Am I really that helpless?”
The walk back to the cottage was almost completely silent. When they finally arrived, Applejack placed the curtains down next to the front door. “Thank you, AJ,” Fluttershy said. “Won’t you come in for a bit?”
“Nah, Ah'm afraid Ah gotta get back to the farm. Ah've still got that order ya made to work on.”
“Oh, of course! I’d almost… forgotten about that…” Fluttershy trailed off and turned away, her bottom lip quivering.
Applejack noticed this and moved in a step closer. “What’s wrong, sugarcube?”
“Oh Applejack!” Fluttershy wailed silently, “I'm such a weak friend. I inconvenienced everyone. Seems like I can't take care of nasty things like confrontations myself because I'm such a coward.”
“Now hold it right there, Fluttershy! I’ll have none o' that talk! Yer so-called 'bein' weak,' is the thing that changed Discord for the better. Why, if not for you, he probably would be back to his evil self again!”
“But what about now, AJ, huh? What about now? Discord is Discord, but what about other ponies? What about Gilda? I didn't even tell you about what happened in the market–” Fluttershy abruptly stopped, 'eeeping' with her front hooves to her mouth.
“What? What happened at market?” AJ asked, noting Fluttershy's abrupt and awkward stop.
“Uh...uh...nothing, forget about it,” Fluttershy said. She didn't want AJ knowing what she did to get even with that Earth stallion.
“Well, okay, if’n ya say so. Anyways Fluttershy, you may be weak at confrontations, but you are effective in ways that none of th’ rest of us are.” AJ thought a moment, and a smile crept on her face. “And hey, have you forgotten that you,” she said, pointing at Fluttershy with a hoof, then stomping it on the ground for emphasis, “went and stood up to a dragon all on your lonesome after all of us failed? Heh, ‘not strong’, my patootie! If that don't count as strong, missy, Ah'll eat mah hat!"
Fluttershy smiled meekly. “Thanks. I… really needed to hear that.”
Applejack smiled back. “Mah pleasure.” Then, once the moment had passed, she backed away apologetically. “Well, anywho, Ah'll be goin' now to work on that order o' yours.”
“Okay. Thanks for everything, AJ. I mean it.” As Fluttershy turned to pick up her curtains, she looked back at AJ who was going down the path to the road, then carried them inside and closed the door.
As Applejack went, she paused for a moment. She slowly turned to look back at Fluttershy’s cottage. She was sure she’d heard Fluttershy closing the door behind her, and yet she had the distinct feeling that someone or something back there was watching her. But, nothing seemed out of place, so the farm pony just shrugged it off and then proceeded on her way.
Back inside Fluttershy's cottage. Fluttershy leaned against her front door and slid down. What a day it was. Ruined by an arrogant business pony and a corrupt cabbie...and dust and sand in her face and throat. Fluttershy was thankful that Applejack was there. What would she be like without her friends, she wondered.
“Bad day?”
Fluttershy's eyes opened wide, startled out of her thoughts by the sound of the sphinx’s voice from directly in front of her. “Oh! Uhm...yes...bad day.”
The sphinx tilted his face at her. “Would you like to talk about it?”
How could she say no? His voice was so...inviting. A male voice in the house, from such a creature...made her feel secure. She looked at him and her smile was pleasant. Walking up to him, she laid down on her tummy in front of him and began to narrate the events of the day.
“Well, it all started when I got this taxi this morning just outside the cottage...”