//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 - Forever, For Always. 
// Story: FlutterYou 
// by Capulus 
//------------------------------//

As you fly over the dark treetops, you search for the small clearing that shows where Zecora’s hut stands. You look and look, and realise with despair that you have to walk through it, along the paths of you hope to find it as soon as possible. You turn around and shoot for the entrance, touching down and looking at the dark forest with apprehension. Some idiot at work had thought it was funny, after finding out about your colthood fear, to convince you Slendermane lived in Everfree. You know what? I don’t CARE! I’ll destroy Slendermane himself if it means I can get to Fluttershy. With this, you gallop into the forest, not caring for the creatures inside, up to and including, Manticores, Cockatrices, and possibly Slendermane.

As you gallop through Everfree, you notice a definite lack of all three types of creature you were expecting to meet. Maybe they know what I’ll do to them if they try to stop me. You think. You pt your head down and kick it into high gear. After a few long minutes of galloping, you finally see the odd shape of Zecora’s hut. You had met her on a few separate occasions, and she had always said to come to her if you needed help with any ailments. You reach the door, and take a few seconds to catch your breath. Finally... Fluttershy... Please don’t hate me... You knock loudly, and the door opens a crack. You see Zecora, and you don’t like the look on her face.
“And what is it that this colt is looking for,
Perhaps you wish to hurt Fluttershy more?”
“No! How many times do I have to say this. Her kiss surprised me. I couldn’t speak! I love her more than anything in the world, dammit! Let me in! I have to talk to her!”
“I am sorry but she left not long ago,
Where she is now, I do not know.”
“WHAT? NO!” You can’t help yourself, and you kick a tree next to you in your frustration. You hear a large crack and can see you put a sizable dent in it. You turn back to Zecora.
“Can you find out?”
“Sorry, but although I wish I could do it for you,
Fluttershy made me promise not to.”
“Please! This is important!”
“You think I do not know that?
You think she was just here for a friendly chat?
She is extremely distressed,
For too long her feelings were repressed.”
“Look, I know I was an idiot not to notice, but you have to help me!”
“I cannot tell you, for that I am sorry,
But, you really should not worry.
If it truly meant to be,
You will find her, definitely.”
“Alright... How do you know?”
“Just follow your heart, it will know what to do,
Towards Fluttershy, it will lead you.”
“Thank you Zecora.”
“You are welcome, Gentlecolt,
But to find her quickly, you really should bolt.” You nod, turn and run as fast as you can, out of the forest. The trip doesn’t seem to take as long this time, and you can see Ponyville again. Maybe... Her cottage? You change your course and run towards her cottage, which luckily is close by. You bolt up the path and burst through the door. The animals all rush towards you, but stop when they see you aren’t Fluttershy. They all look at you pleadingly, and you realise that without Fluttershy, there is nopony to feed them. You contemplate leaving to find Flutters, but decide against it, knowing that she would want you to. You run over to the cupboards you saw the food in earlier when Fluttershy was making breakfast. You pull the bags out, and quickly read the descriptions, and give each the right food. You rush it and spill quite a bit, but you are in a hurry, and decide to clean it up later. You are about to go out the back door when that stupid little bunny jumps down and lands in front of you, his arms crossed, and unimpressed look in his face. You wonder if you should just give him a swift kick in the face, but decide against it and go to leave through the front door. He shoots in front of you and stands in your way again.
“Angel! This is important! Move!” The stupid bunny just stands there, refusing to move. You know that you would never have a chance at having Fluttershy forgive you if you hurt him, so you attempt to walk past him. He jumps up to head height and smacks you in the mouth. You stumble backwards, your mouth stinging from the hit.
“What was that for?” You ask, barely holding back your frustration. He gestures wildly and you realise it is like some kind of wild charades. First he points at you.
“Umm... Okay, so... Me? Yes! Me, Myself, I? Yes! Okay, I...” He then walks up to you and kicks your leg.
“I’ll assume that was part of your little game. Pain? Kicked? Leg? Hurt? Yes! Okay... I hurt... Wait, NO! I didn’t hurt her on purpose, you little hairball! With Celestia as my witness, I love Fluttershy!” Angel blinks a few times in shock.
“Now, please, Angel. Tell me where she is. Please. I beg of you, tell me!” You are on the edge of actually begging now. He nods slowly, all traces of contempt gone. He starts gesturing again, this time not stopping. You try to figure it out as he goes along.
“Okay... Fluttershy... has... run away... to... to... Everfree forest? I was just there! It’ll take me hours to find her! Wait, what? More? She’s in... in... Royal... Pony... Sisters? What does that have to do with... the castle of the royal pony sisters? Yes? Gotta go!” You spread your wings and fly past Angel, pushing the door open and hearing it slam shut behind you as you fly towards the bulk on the horizon that is the castle ruins. Finally... Fluttershy... I hope you still love me.

You swoop down and land in front of the crumbling archway that provides entry into the ruins. You walk in, trying to see through the gloom. Still the rain pounds down around you. You are more than drenched by now. In fact, to you, it feels as if you have gone so far past drenched that you are actually quite dry. You try to hear through the din, and can hear something faint. It sounds almost like... Crying? But then it fades, and you look around desperately, trying to figure out where it has gone. You blindly stumble forward, and can hear it again, slightly stronger. Yes! I’m coming Fluttershy! You rush forward, but have to stop when you realise that there is no floor on front of you. You look down, and see large stone stairs leading down into the depths of the ruins. You leap down them, not caring for any danger of falling. You reach the bottom quickly, where the rain is nothing but a dull roar, high above. You look around, and see an old, dusty, ruined hall. You then see a sight that makes your heart leap into your throat. Fluttershy is lying down in the middle of the hall, her head on the ground, a large gash on it, from which blood is flowing freely. She is crying, louder than you would have expected. Holy hell... What have I done to her? You walk forward, not wanting to startle her by running. But as you get close, she hears your hoofsteps and looks up, her eyes swollen, her face red from crying, and some of the blood from her forehead. Then she speaks, and you almost turn away and run at the amount of anger in her tone. You never would have expected it from her, nor what she says;
“A-and, what the h-hay do y-you want? C-come here to m-make fun of m-me? I g-get it. Y-you don’t l-love me. At l-least leave m-me alone about i-it.” It breaks your heart to hear the way she is speaking, but you simply open your mouth and interrupt her, inciting a look of hatred from the normally sweet yellow face.
“Fluttershy... You don’t get it. I do love you. More than anything else in the world, I love you. But when you kissed me, it was like all of my dreams were coming true, and I wasn’t able to speak. I love you Fluttershy, and you have no idea how sorry I am that I was too damn thick to notice earlier. I wish you hadn’t of had to hold such a secret inside for so long. And I’m sorry that you don’t love me anymore. I guess it is just karma. I made you feel this way with my blindness, and now I, too, know how it feels. I’m sorry.” You look at her, and go to turn around. But in an instant, you feel something reaching around your neck, and Fluttershy’s lips plant against your own. The kiss almost throws you off again, but you remain in control of your thoughts and put your own hooves behind her head, and kiss her back. It is the most amazing thing you have ever felt. Just to be here, in this perfect moment, in this perfect place, with this perfect mare. She pulls away and you both take a breath. Then she locks eyes with you and says, in her normal, sweet voice;
“I love you too.”

But the moment is ruined when you see how much her forehead is still bleeding.
“Flutters, how did that happen?” You ask, fearing her answer.
“Umm... I was just so sad, and so angry, but I didn’t want to break anything... So I hit my head against the floor as hard as I could.”
“Fluttershy, why did you do that? If you wanted to hurt something, you should have found me! I deserved whatever you had.” 
You both turn and start to walk out as you talk.
“Wh-what? No! I couldn’t hurt somepony else...”
“Alright, but we have to get you to Twilight. She should be able to heal that up.” 
Then Fluttershy look at your face and gasps.
“What happened to you?” You look to the side of the hall, and look in the mirrored glass lining it. You have two black eyes, there is a large bruise on your cheek, and you have some dried blood on your lip from where it split. You realise that Rainbow Dash is the one who inflicted all of the injuries on you and wince as you think about how hard she must have been hitting you.
“Oh... nothing. I just had a bit of a crash coming into Everfree. Not as bad as my first one, don’t worry.” You smile reassuringly and she smiles back, a relieved look on her face, but then she looks confused, and says;
“Wait, you’re walking! How?”
“Twilight healed me. She found me in the rain and healed my leg and my wing.”
“Wow, I’l have to thank her...”
You both spread your wings and fly away, out of Everfree, and towards Ponyville. You fly close to Flutters and put your wing around her, and then speed up, not wanting it to be too late to heal her head wound. You are in Ponyville in a few minutes. You both land in front of Twilight’s library and you open the door for her. She goes in and you hear Twilight cry out in shock;
“Fluttershy! What happened?”
“Oh... Um... I was... um... I was very angry... and.... and I didn’t want to... hurt anything....”
You walk in and stand next to her.
“It was my fault. If I hadn’t of been so blind, she wouldn’t have done it. Could you heal her please Twilight?” She looks shocked for a second, but then nods;
“Of course!” Her horn glows brightly and the gash seals itself, and you wipe Fluttershy’s face and kiss her. Properly. Twilight squeals in excitement and jumps up and down. You guess mainly because she doesn’t have to keep secrets anymore. She then grimaces for a moment as Fluttershy’s gash is healed properly, but then continues her bouncing. “Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes! You’re both happy! Yes!” You smile at Twilight’s outburst, and feel Fluttershy nudge you. You look at her, a smile on your face.
“Umm... Would you like to go home? It’s pretty late... And I need to feed my animal friends! I can’t believe I forgot! I just stopped by to tell Angel where I was going and I left! Oh no!”
“Fluttershy! Calm down. I did it when I went. Then Angel told me where you were. It’s okay.”
“Oh... Thank you...” She smiles and you both leave the library, with Twilight still bouncing in happy circles around the room. 

You leave Ponyville, your wing over her head to shield her from the rain, and finally reach her cottage, and you go in happily. Fluttershy immediately goes to get dinner ready, and Angel hops up to you. You expect him to hit you, but he just looks over his shoulder, to make sure nothing is watching, and then sticks out a little white paw. Realising what this means right away, you touch it with your hoof and shake it softly. Then, he smacks you in the head.
“Ow! Alright, I deserved that for Fluttershy, but could you try to at least tone down the hits?” He looks as though he is thinking for a few moments, then shrugs tiredly, as if to say, ‘I’ll think about it’. You nod, understanding that that is the best you are going to get from the bunny. You walk into the kitchen, and hug Fluttershy from behind. She jumps in surprise, almost dropping the ingredients she is holding.
“I’m not really hungry. In fact, Iim exhausted. Want to just go and sleep? For a long time?” She nods slightly and turns around to look at you, a small smile on her beautiful face.
“Let’s go and rest. We both need it.” You leave the kitchen, and after assuring Fluttershy you can walk up them fine on your own, ascend the stairs as well. You go into her bedroom, and both get into the bed. You hug her tightly, and she hugs back.
“Love you, Flutters.”
“Love you too.” You both fall asleep in each others’ arms, and you dream of spending the rest of your life with the mare you love more than anything.





A/N
--Working on the epilogue now. Don’t want to disappoint by ending it here. That’s why this is here, so you don’t think I have finished it.--