Fluttershy's Project

Chapter 1

Everypony had different things that made them feel fulfilled in life, and for Fluttershy, nothing was more fulfilling than helping out her animal friends. In a way, she could relate closely to Pinkie Pie, as what she did for animals wasn't that far off from what Pinkie did for ponies.

However, the two of them had a different focus. Pinkie focus was on happiness and laughter, using parties and pranks to make people laugh. Fluttershy was more worried that they were safe, healthy, well-fed, and had a good place to sleep. Happiness came as more of a side effect.

Most of the animals around Ponyville knew her, and asked for her help when they needed it. Sometimes one was new to the area, stubborn, or too full of pride to be willing to accept it, though. If they needed help despite this, she'd turn them into one of her special projects. It took a lot of patience, perseverance, and a bit of kindness, but they'd eventually come around.

Today's special project was out of the ordinary, even for her, but she couldn't not help those in need. However, she needed to take care of all the animals that normally depended on her before starting. It wouldn't do to neglect them because of her project.

At the moment, it was feeding time. She had Angel show in the usual collection of hungry bunnies. Fortunately, Angel wasn't in one of his moods, or it could have taken all day. She scattered bunny food in a few bowls from the boxes she had stashed away.

"There you go, friends. Eat to your hearts content." Fluttershy watched as her bunny friends ate happily, rubbing up against and nuzzling one or two that seemed particularly down today.

Then she went to each of the bird feeders she kept in her cottage, checking on their bird seed levels. Once that was done, Fluttershy got her saddlebags ready, making sure she had everything she'd need. Every day she had animals depending on her for food and many other things, and she couldn't let them down.

As the bunnies left, she proceeded out of the cottage herself, after straightening it up a bit. She entered the chicken coops, greeting the chickens, and making sure they were all accounted for. All of them seemed to be in good health. She scattered some fresh hay and bird seed on the ground for them.

Leaving the coops, she flew around from bird feeder to bird feeder outside, refilling them as necessary. Fortunately, there weren't any motherless baby birds at the moment, so she didn't have to dig up worms and feed them. She didn't like the taste they left in her mouth.

Traveling to the nearby trees, she made sure the squirrels were awake. None of them seemed to need any help at the moment, but she dropped off a few acorns, and made sure they were all accounted for. She did the same for the raccoons, badgers, and mice in the area.

Then she continued to the pond. The otter family and beavers were glad to see her, and she socialized with them for a while. She visited with the ducks and their little ducklings, and spent some time with the frogs as well. At that point, it was starting to get dark, which meant it was time for her project.

She had gone on similar projects with creatures that didn't want to be helped several times in that past. This one was a bit out of her experience, though, as this time it was a young pony in trouble.

A few days ago, Fluttershy had noticed the filly wasn't eating much, and had noticed her grazing on grass when she thought no one else was looking, which was never a good sign. A bit of grass was not enough to sustain a growing pegasus, but it was tempting if you couldn't find anything else to eat.

Fluttershy had been observing her since then, and had confirmed that she was half-starved, sleep-deprived, and out at times that no reasonable parent would ever allow. Ultimately, she wanted to get her in a better situation, whether it meant just making sure she had food to eat, finding her somewhere to stay, or simply taking care of her herself.

For the moment, Fluttershy felt getting her fed and somewhere where she could better help her was the top priority. What she really needed to do was coax her into coming home for a nice large meal. If she was as hungry as she seemed, Fluttershy thought she knew how to go about it.

From the previous few nights, she knew the most likely areas to spot her, so she headed to one of them. And sure enough, she was there, walking slowly, and looking bedraggled, hungry, and thoroughly miserable.

Knowing the filly's route, Fluttershy went ahead, out of sight. There was a convenient tree stump in the clearing she was headed to, so Fluttershy placed an apple on top of it. Then she ducked into an area behind and to the side of the stump and waited.

A familiar orange pegasus filly walked slowly into the clearing. Spotting the apple, she hurried towards it, and snatched it up. She looked around furtively, afraid someone might lay claim to the apple, and started hurriedly eating it as if it could disappear at any moment. Fluttershy had to wonder how Scootaloo had come to this, and how long it had been going on.

All right, Fluttershy, you can do this. Just treat her as a particularly skittish animal, and you'll be fine. She took a deep breath, and moved quietly out of her hiding place. Then she approached the filly carefully, keeping behind her and to her side. She kept a good deal of distance between them, so as not to frighten her off. She cleared her throat softly, just enough to attract attention, and the filly froze.

"Er, um … I was about to have a lovely dinner in my cottage, and it's very lonely there." She said, trying not to make any sudden moves to frighten her off. "If anyone were to join me, no questions asked, it would make me very happy. That is, if you don't mind, of course..."

Fluttershy walked slowly past her, turning pathetic, adorable pleading eyes on her while passing that she had perfected through much practice. If what she suspected was true, she was sure the filly knew all about making such eyes, but it should still be effective.

She started heading home slowly, and after a few moments, heard the soft padding of hooves behind her. Glancing back, she could see she was being followed. She smiled. She had a guest for dinner.

Getting home, she left the door open behind her. The orange pegasus entered hesitantly after parking her scooter, acting as if somepony was going to spring out at her. Maybe she has reason to. Fluttershy decided to leave the door open for a while, until she had settled down.

"I'm going over here to, um, make some dinner. You can either stay over by the couch and wait for me, or you could help if you want." Fluttershy called out. "If you help, it'll go so much faster, and it's possible you could get a cutie mark. You never know."

A head poked over by her at the mention of earning a cutie mark. She'd thought that'd get Scootaloo's attention. Fluttershy started getting out everything she needed for making a good vegetable stew. Some carrots, celery, and potatoes, cans of a few type of beans, stewed tomatoes, some garlic, oregano, basil.

She didn't really have a set recipe, actually. She just used whatever was on hand that worked well together, and it usually worked out. If the results were particularly good, that was when she wrote it down.

She set Scootaloo up with an appropriate knife at the cutting board, and went through an impromptu lesson with her on how to slice vegetables without cutting yourself, and how large the pieces should be. After a false start or two, Scootaloo seemed to take to it pretty easily.

While she continued with the vegetables, Fluttershy got some water boiling. She set a tea kettle boiling at the same time. She gradually added in the various ingredients, pretending to ignore Scootaloo's occasional sampling of them along the way. Good cooks always sampled their meals while making them, anyways.

The dinner shaped up fairly quickly with Scootaloo's help. Fluttershy got her to set the table, and she filled a few bowls of stew. She brought them to the table with some bread and cups of chamomile tea. Then she shut the door, as the young filly no longer seemed nearly as nervous.

The two of them ate an enjoyable meal in silence. While eating, she took the opportunity to get a closer look at her young companion. While Scootaloo seemed to like the meal, she still was eyeing it as she ate, as though she was expecting it to vanish at any point. Her mane and coat seemed rather dirty and scruffy, and to Fluttershy's eye, she looked undernourished.

Her condition could really be a result of two things. She could have negligent or abusive parents that weren't properly taking care of her, and making it where she'd rather be out late at night. Or it could simply be that she didn't have a home to go to. In either case, she felt guilty, as she knew Scootaloo, and had even had her over before, but had never suspected anything was wrong.

This might partially be because of the tough front she normally put up. This was one reason she'd tried to be as non-confrontational as possible when dealing with her. Not that she'd ever had problems doing that, of course. She suspected Scootaloo was just too tired and hungry to argue much at this point, though.

Fluttershy suspected she'd have more trouble getting her to stay the night. She doubted Scootaloo was ready to admit that she didn't have anywhere else to go. Tired, with a full stomach, and some soothing tea in her, though, Fluttershy thought she might be able to persuade her to stay.

Seeing that Scootaloo had finished and was getting up, Fluttershy realised she'd been lost in thought. She quickly finished what was in front of her, and got up as well.

"Did you want more? There's enough left over for a few meals, so seconds would be no problem at all." Fluttershy asked the filly.

Scootaloo shook her head. She was fidgeting, and glancing at the door, as if contemplating leaving. Well, she could delay that for a moment, in any case.

"All right, in that case, why don't we clear the table?" Fluttershy grabbed her bowl and cup, and between the two of them, they got all the dishes in the sink and rinsed them off.

Then Scootaloo looked at Fluttershy a bit awkwardly. "Thanks for dinner, Fluttershy. I'd really-" She yawned. "I'd better get going."

Alright, this is it, Fluttershy. You can do it, she lectured herself.

"Scootaloo, you're tired, and it's really too late for you to be out. Why don't you sleep over here tonight?" Fluttershy replied.

"I- I can't. I really should- My parents-" Scootaloo flushed, stammering. Fluttershy wasn't sure if Scootaloo actually had parents to go home to, but went with it.

"Your parents should understand. I'll write you a note to take home with you in the morning explaining where you were, and that I insisted you stay over." Fluttershy said firmly, tone brooking no arguments.

"All right." Hearing the the tone in her voice, and not wanting to be subject to the stare, Scootaloo deflated. "You'll write a note?"

"Yes. I'll write it tonight and leave it on the table, just in case." Fluttershy said, indulging Scootaloo a bit. "If you don't mind, I'll also be asking them when you can come over again. I've enjoyed having you over tonight."

"I- I'd like that." Scootaloo seemed to be lost in thought. Or possibly just half asleep. It could be hard to tell.

"In the meantime, why don't you get a bath, and head on to bed?" Fluttershy said gently, nudging her towards the bathroom. "You remember where my guest room was from the last time you were here, don't you?"

Scootaloo looked like she wanted to argue, but then yawned again, and headed off to the bathroom to get cleaned up. While Scootaloo cleaned up, Fluttershy started the letter. She smiled while writing, wondering if her target audience was Scootaloo's parents, or Scootaloo herself.

To Scootaloo's Parents,

Last night, Scootaloo had dinner over at my cottage, and by the time we were finished, I'm afraid it was too late for a foal to be out. As such, I insisted she stay the night. As you may remember, I have had her over for a sleepover before, so it was no problem at all.

She behaved herself perfectly last night, and even helped me with making dinner. I enjoyed having having her over. I'd like to have her over more frequently, possibly even tomorrow night, if you don't mind, that is.

Please send Scootaloo with your reply.

Fluttershy

She folded up the note, and placed it in a prominent position on the table. Then she placed a banana nut muffin on top of the note. She hoped Scootaloo would still be there in the morning, but if she wasn't, at least she'd have breakfast.

The bathroom had been empty for a while, so Fluttershy crept upstairs to check on Scootaloo. Looking in the guest room, she found her laying sideways on top of the covers on the bed, fast asleep. Fluttershy carefully moved her to the center of the bed, putting her head on a pillow, and then pulled the butterfly covered comforter over her.

On impulse, she gently kissed Scootaloo on the forehead. Then, turning out the lights, she left to find her own bed for the night.