My Little Pony: Pride in Yourself

Chapter 2

Fluttershy the Singer

Neo came to meet Fluttershy and Rarity for one more rehearsal for his performance for the Ponyville Pet Center fundraiser, but he appeared to have lost his voice. His voice sounded scratchy and bad, and they knew that he wouldn't be able to perform in his condition, Rarity asked him what happened to his voice and Neo explained that he was testing out a fog machine that he was going to use during his performance, while testing the machine, it blew out a huge fog, when the fog went around the stage, Neo inhaled some of it and some of the fog got into his lungs, and because of that, he had temporarily lost his voice.

Rarity and Fluttershy were disappointed, but they both agreed that it wasn't Neo's fault. Rarity decided that because of Neo's condition, he will not be able perform, Fluttershy said, "Wait, what? No! You have to perform! Otherwise, the fundraiser will be a disaster!" Rarity said, "But Neo can't perform with that scratchy voice, and it's too late to find somepony to replace him, I'm afraid I don't have a remedy for this situation." Fluttershy was so disappointed, she started to cry a little, but then Neo said in a scratchy voice, "Wait, I have an idea." Rarity and Fluttershy focused their attention on Neo, Neo said to the girls, "I think I can still perform." Rarity said, "But you can't perform with that scratchy voice." Neo said, "I don't have to, I can still dance on stage, but I can have somepony singing for me offstage." Rarity said, "What are you talking about darling?" Neo turned to Fluttershy and said, "Fluttershy, sweetie, would you be willing to sing for me?" Fluttershy gasped and said, "On no, I just can't do that, I just can't bring myself to sing on stage in front of everypony." Rarity said, "And how can she sing for you, she can't sound like you." Neo said to Fluttershy, "Fluttershy, you don't understand, you don't have to sing in front of everypony, you could sing for me offstage." Fluttershy was confused, she said, "What do you mean, I don't understand."

Neo explained to her that Neo would be onstage dancing and performing, and she would be backstage singing for him and Neo will lip sync and make it seem like he is singing. Fluttershy understood it better, but then she asked him how she could sing for him because she can't sound like him, but then Neo told her that he has this voice changer device that she can use, it's a small chip that you can easily stick onto your throat like a band aid and it will easily change your voice, Fluttershy and Rarity were amazed by the information, Fluttershy wasn't sure about this, she still felt nervous to perform, but Rarity thought it was a good plan, she said to Fluttershy, "Please Fluttershy, there is no one else available, you must do this, for the animals." Rarity used her magic to float the bunny Angel up to Fluttershy, Angel had tears in his eyes, Fluttershy knew she had to do this, she would do anything for the animals, Fluttershy finally said, "Okay, I'll do it." Neo went backstage and set up a computer, he put the voice changer chip into the computer and copied a sample of his voice into the chip from one of his songs, as Neo worked on the chip, Fluttershy studied the song lyrics, then Neo took out the chip and it was ready to go. When it was almost time to perform, Neo put the chip onto Fluttershy's throat, it stuck onto her throat like a band aid, Fluttershy said, "Hello." And she sounded just like Neo, she couldn't believe it, she knew this was going to work, then Neo set up a microphone backstage for Fluttershy, Neo told Fluttershy to sing into the microphone to make her voice louder, Neo told her not to be nervous and try to have fun, he gave her a kiss on the cheek as a thank you for helping him out with his singing, which made her blush.

Then it was time for the performance, this was the very first time that Neo would be lip syncing, there was a crowd of ponies gathered around the stage, Neo's friends and Spike were up at the very front of the crowd, then a white male pegasus sat down in the front of the crowd as well, before the show started, Rarity came out onstage and said, "Good evening, citizens of Ponyville! I want to thank you all for coming out tonight and generously supporting the Ponyville Pet Center! Thanks to your kindness, pets are finding loving homes, and we're sure to meet our fundraising goal!" Twilight wondered where Fluttershy was, but Applejack said she was probably hiding since she hates the spotlight, then Rarity said, "So, with no further ado, please welcome The Equestria Goth."

Rarity quickly got offstage and Neo appeared onstage, Neo played the music with his mind and when he started lip syncing, Fluttershy sang for Neo, and she sounded exactly like Neo. Neo danced to the song and everypony watched with delight as he performed ("Skin O' My Teeth" by Megadeth), when the song was over, everypony clapped and cheered for Neo, Neo's friends cheered the loudest and Fluttershy had a fantastic time singing for Neo, she had so much fun that she would be willing to do it again. When Neo came out backstage, Fluttershy came with him and Rarity came to congratulate them, she thought they both did an excellent job. Then the white male pegasus that saw the performance approached them, he said to Neo, "That was quite a performance Mr. Anderson." The pegasus had a small filly with him, he asked Neo if he could perform for his daughter at her birthday party tomorrow, the filly was hoping he would say yes, she was a big fan of him, but Rarity thought it was way too last minute. Fluttershy didn't want to disappoint the sweet little filly, not wanting Neo to speak because his voice was still scratchy, Rarity said that Neo will be happy to perform for his filly, which made the filly very happy, and Neo was willing to do it as well along with Fluttershy singing for him.

So the next day, Neo performed at the filly's birthday party ("Lollipop" by Mika), and once again Fluttershy hid somewhere to sing for him since Neo still didn't have his voice. After that performance, the Mayor Mare asked Neo if he could perform for her at her ribbon cutting ceremony the next day, Fluttershy urged Neo to do it because she didn't want to disappoint the mayor, so Rarity spoke for Neo and said that he would be happy to do it. After his performance at the mayor's ribbon cutting ceremony, the Spa ponies asked Neo to sing for customers at the spa center, Neo agreed and after that, Miss Cheerilee asked Neo to perform for her class, Neo agreed, each time, Fluttershy hid somewhere and sang for Neo while he just lip synced.

Soon after, Neo's voice was finally back and he was able to sing again, Rarity and Fluttershy were so happy for him, but Neo had another performance to do, he was asked to perform at Sugarcube Corner and that performance was to start in just a few minutes. Fluttershy was still wearing her voice changing chip on her throat so she still sounded just like Neo when she talked, even though Neo had his voice back, she still wanted to sing for him... one more time. Rarity asked Neo if it would be okay for Fluttershy to sing for him one more time and he didn't mind at all. Ponies gathered inside Sugarcube Corner and waited for Neo to perform, Neo's friends as always sat in front of the crowd, Fluttershy stood backstage with a microphone stand for her to sing into, then Neo appeared and began performing, Fluttershy sang as Neo lip synced, as he performed, Fluttershy began getting carried away, she danced and flew around backstage. But suddenly, she bumped into the curtain and the curtain behind Neo fell down, then the ponies could see Fluttershy singing backstage. Neo stopped performing when they saw Fluttershy, she stared in shock at the ponies staring at her, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Spike couldn't believe Fluttershy had been backstage this whole time, they said, "Fluttershy?"

The ponies still cheered for her and Neo, but Fluttershy was so embarrassed and in shock, she hid her face behind her tail and she flew out of Sugarcube Corner crying. Neo ran out as well calling her name, Neo's friends ran after him, they wanted to know what was going on. Neo kept running after Fluttershy and the rest of the mane 6 ran after Neo, Applejack shouted, "Neo, come back here." But he kept on running. Then Rainbow Dash caught up to him and she stopped him. Then the ponies came to Neo, Applejack said, "Okay Neo, you got some 'splainin' to do, what in tarnation is going on?" Neo said, "But I have to make sure Fluttershy is okay." Twilight said, "We'll do that in a second, but right now, tell us what's going on, we'll understand." Neo was nervous, but Twiight said it will be okay.

Neo explained that he had lost his voice a few days ago and at the time, wasn't able to perform for the Ponyville Pet Center fundraiser, but he had the idea to get Fluttershy to sing for him while Neo lip synced on stage, and to make Fluttershy sound like him, he had her wear a voice changer chip on her throat, and that's what they had been doing at the last few performances, but after Neo got his voice back, he had decided to let Fluttershy sing for him one more time just because she wanted to. The ponies listened very carefully to Neo's story and they understood, Rarity mentioned that she was the only one who knew about it. Twilight told Neo to go home to the library and take it easy and they would check on Fluttershy. The ponies went to her cottage and Neo stood where he was, he thought about what he could do to make Fluttershy feel better.

The ponies came to Fluttershy's cottage, Twilight gently knocked, but got no answer, then they went inside and Fluttershy came out of her bathroom with a towel around her, She had taken off the chip that made her sound like Neo and she now sounded like herself again. Pinkie Pie said to Fluttershy, "That was totally unbelievable! I mean, the curtain came up and there you were, singing in front of everypony! And you know, I don't think anypony was jealous, 'cause there certainly wasn't an angry mob! But it must have been horrible standing there on stage, all eyes glued directly on you! It's like you were living your own personal worst nightmare!" Fluttershy cried and said, "It was." And she ran out of her cottage crying, the ponies all glared at Pinkie Pie, then they all ran out after Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie shouted, "You were great." Fluttershy kept running and crying, Rainbow Dash flew by her and said, "You totally blew my mind." Fluttershy ran away from her, Applejack appeared in front her and said, "Incredible." Fluttershy didn't want to hear their compliments, she felt so ashamed, she went up on a roof of a house, Pinkie Pie came up there and said to her, "Though, no offense... you kind of sounded like a dude." Fluttershy kept crying and she zoomed off, Pinkie Pie shouted, "Uh, a great-sounding dude!"

Then Fluttershy stopped where she was, she looked back at her friends and said, "Well, thank you all. I'm glad you enjoyed it." The ponies felt happy for a second, but then she said, "Because I'm never going to sing in front of anypony ever again." And she ran off again, The ponies gasped and ran after her, Pinkie Pie shouted, "Are you kidding me?" As they ran, Rarity said, "Can we please stop running?" Fluttershy finally stopped at the stage where Neo had performed for the Ponyville Pet Center fundraiser, the ponies caught up to her, then Rarity said, "I just don't understand why, Fluttershy. After all, you're the one that wanted Neo to sing for every silly thing that was requested of us." Fluttershy said, "You mean, you knew I really wanted to perform?" Rarity said, "Of course I knew!" Rarity said, "Well despite all her babbling, Pinkie Pie was right about one thing, when that curtain fell, and everypony saw you singing, you lived your worst nightmare! Was it really that bad?" Fluttershy said, "Yes." The ponies asked her what was so bad about it, and she said it was everything, the applause, the praise, the screaming from the ponies and everything.

Then Neo came over to Fluttershy, the ponies were surprised to see him since they thought he was at the library. Neo approached Fluttershy and said, "Fluttershy, I'm sorry if I embarrassed you at my performance when everypony saw that you had been singing for me." Fluttershy said, "It's okay Neo, I was still happy to do it, and you know what, I think I may want to try performing on stage." Neo said, "Well you're in luck Fluttershy, I'm doing another performance tomorrow and I need a backup dancer, and I would really appreciate it if you would be my backup dancer." Fluttershy thought about it for a second, then she remembered he put all his time and energy in performing for her fundraiser for the pet center, she smiled and said, "Okay, I'll do it." Then Neo gave Fluttershy a hug and said she was a wonderful, talented pony. Fluttershy hugged him back, appreciating his sweet comment, blushing as she hugged him, the ponies just awed at the sweet moment and were so happy that Fluttershy will actually perform on stage with Neo.

And so the next day, a crowd of ponies gathered at the stage, Neo's friends sat in front of the crowd as usual, Neo appeared on stage after a fog went around the stage, he was wearing his Gothic outfit and his white makeup, he started singing a Heavy Metal song ("Living Dead Girl" by Rob Zombie), as Neo performed, Sweetie Belle and Spike came out on stage, they were all wearing Gothic makeup to go along with the show, then during the song, Fluttershy came out on stage also wearing Gothic makeup, Fluttershy did her very best in the show and she was enjoying every second of the performance, when the song was over, everypony cheered, they actually liked seeing other ponies onstage and not just Neo by himself. Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash came up on the stage to see Fluttershy, they said they thought she was excellent, even Neo thought she was great. They were all so proud of her, Twilight asked her how she felt, Fluttershy said she felt surprisingly okay. Rarity was happy to hear that, because she asked if she would like to keep performing along with Neo, she said, "Oh no... I couldn't do that."

At first the ponies were disappointed, they thought Fluttershy had gotten over her stage fright, but then she said, "I'll get there someday. But for now... baby steps, everypony. Baby steps." Then Fluttershy went backstage and wrote a letter to Princess Celestia about what she had just learned, she wrote in her letter:

Dear Princess Celestia,

Sometimes, being afraid can stop you from doing something that you love, but hiding behind these fears means you're only hiding from your true self. It's much better to face those fears so you can shine and be the best pony you can possibly be.

End of chapter 2, chapter 3 coming soon.