In his restless dreams, he saw her face. That face defined what he once was: a man of peace, a teacher of his art, a soul filled with love. Now he was filled with self-loathing and a determination to escape that which lurks in his heart. The dreams continued for what seemed like an eternity, filled with pain and shadow.
Finally, Ryu awoke with a gasp.
For several minutes, he stared at the wooden ceiling above him, thinking nothing. Then he began to examine his surroundings. Recognizing the green sofa, Ryu came to the conclusion that he must be back in...who was it...Fluttershy? Yes, that was it: Fluttershy's cottage. The events of the night before all came back to him in an instant. The Crusaders, the lullaby, the fight with the wolves.
When he remebered the fight, he looked to his injuries. His right forearm was covered in bandages and the bite wounds would burn everytime he made a fist or flexed the muscles. His left hand was likewise encased in bandages but it had some sort of splint which kept Ryu from assessing the damage that was done. Slowly, he lifted his good hand towards his face, feeling the strip that had replaced his usually black, kanji-covered headband around his head. A lump had formed at the back of his head which hurt when he pressed on it. He figured that this was the reason for the bandage and headache.
The front door suddenly began to open and Ryu sat up out of reflex. Big mistake, he thought as he yelled in pain. Opening his watering eyes, he noticed that his upper torso was wrapped up tightly with some sort of ace bandage. Fluttershy walked in and jumped in surprise at Ryu's cry. "Oh my goodness!", she exclaimed, her voice filled with concern, "Don't move!"
"Don't worry," Ryu said through clenched teeth, "Broken ribs tend to keep people pretty stationary." Fluttershy set down the bag she had been carrying and rushed to Ryu's side. She gently helped him lie back down in his makeshift bed. Once he was lying flat, the yellow pegasus began re-arranging his pillows and blankets. "How long was I out?" Ryu finally asked when she finished fussing with the quilt. "Oh, um, maybe a day or two. You kept mumbling in your sleep and had such a pained look on your face. I was so worried!" she said in her soft voice. "You finally calmed down a few hours ago. So, I went out to do my morning chores."
"I see," Ryu said with a sigh, "I'm sorry to have troubled you."
"On, its no trouble at all. Its my special gift." Fluttershy said, finally cracking a smile. It was small, but it held nothing but kindness for a troubled soul.
"What is?" Ryu asked, not understanding what she meant by "special gift."
"Taking care of little animals!" she said happily. Ryu took a moment to glance at himself. "I'm not exactly little, Ms. Shy."
She giggled. "That's true, but at least you're not bigger than Mr. Bear." It was then that Ryu's stomach began to voice it's concern. Ryu lifted his head and gave the intruding organ a look of scolding. "That's enough out of you," he said sternly, "I know that you are empty, but I am in no condition to forage. All these months of travel and you still haven't learned any self-control."
Fluttershy giggled again. "Do you always talk to your tummy like that?" she asked. "Only when he behaves so rudely," Ryu said matter-of-factly. The pegasus stood and began walking towards the kitchen, and said, "Wait right here and I'll make something to calm that rebellious tummy of your's."
Ryu was about to protest when he noticed her long pink tail disappear into the kitchen. He recalled the wolves retreating and a flash of pink. He finally pieced together what happened. "Did she save me?" he whispered quietly to himself. He could not figure out how such a shy and gentle thing like Fluttershy could be capable of influencing those monsters in such a way.
Eventually, his yellow caretaker returned with a tray and set it in his lap. She then eased Ryu into a seated position so that he could eat properly. It was a bowl of oatmeal. Ryu thanked her as she sat beside him and reached for the spoon with his good hand. As he scooped up some food, Ryu dropped the utensil out of surprise when his middle and ring finger started to tingle and spasm. The spoon fell, dirtying the quilt. "Dammit," Ryu swore, "I'm sorry. I must have some sort of nerve damage." Flutershy just smiled and cleaned up the quilt with a nearby napkin. "Its okay," she said, "Accidents happen."
Ryu felt determined, and a little offended, by Fluttershy's maternal word choice. Again, Ryu reached for the spoon. Again, he dropped it. He tried several times, each met with the same result. He felt anger welling up inside him and felt like throwing the spoon away and going without food. But he knew that he would never do that, especially not when the food was free and he had been treated with nothing but kind patience.
After cleaning up the spilled oatmeal for the umpteenth time, Fluttershy took the spoon and scooped a bit of the porridge. She then held the spoon in front of his face. Ryu's pride would not allow him to be fed like a child. "Sorry, Ms. Shy, but that's not gonna work for me."
"I know you don't like it, but this is just so I can save my quilt and you can at least eat something."
"No."
"Please?"
"I said no."
"Why?"
"You've done a lot for me, but I ju-" Fluttershy quickly shoved the spoon in the warrior's mouth. She pulled the spoon out and scooped up more oatmeal. Ryu swallowed the food and sat there stunned by her underhanded tactic. There's more to this pony than meets the eye, he thought. This time, she said nothing. She just looked at him and waited. Ryu no longer thought it best to argue with his caretaker, seeing as how she somehow managed to chase off a pack of wolves that he could not defeat using force of arms. He opened his mouth grudgingly and allowed the pegasus to feed him. And it was very good. As far as porridge went.
When the bowl was empty, Fluttershy set the tray aside. "Thank you for being so cooperative," she said politely. Ryu nodded and finally said what was on his mind. "Fluttershy?"
"Yes?"
"Did you...save me from the wolves the other night?"
Fluttershy was silent for a second. "Yes."
"How?" Ryu said in confusion, "What did you do to make them react like that?"
"I have another special talent," she said, "I call it 'The Stare'. Sometimes, when I get angry, it just...happens. I look the monster, or animal, or pony in the eyes, and they listen or run away or get really scared."
Ryu looked at her quizzically. "How strange. You must have a powerful spirit to be able to project it like that. I've heard of masters in my own land who could do something similar, but not on that scale." He noticed that talking about her secret power was making her uncomfortable, so he changed the subject. "Why did you help me? You were so frightened by me when we first met."
Fluttershy smiled gently. "At first, you surprised me. You were big and scary. I had no idea what kind of creature was on my doorstep. It just made me nervous. Then, I let you have your space because I thought maybe you were just as scared of me as I was of you. That happens with animals sometimes. After I put the girls to bed, I came down and you were gone. It scared me to think that you had wandered into the Everfree forest."
She paused to take the dishes to the kitchen. She came back in to the living room and sat down in the same spot to continue. "I looked around for hours until I saw the wolves closing in on you. So I jumped in and used 'The Stare'."
"How did you get me back to your place?" Ryu interjected.
"Mr. Bear! He lived nearby and I asked him to help me carry you. The Crusaders were worried about you. I told them to come by today with my friend Twilight to see if she would know of a spell to wake you up, because she's the smartest pony I know."
"Spell?" Ryu asked, a little confused. "Like magic?"
Fluttershy gave an equally confused look. "Well, yes. She's a unicorn, after all. Is it really that surprising?"
"Yeah. In my world, magic and spells, pegasi and unicorns, none of them exist."
Fluttershy looked shocked. She began to explain the world of ponies to him and how things worked. Magic was something that confused her, but she tried her best with everything else. Apparently, the reason the sun and the moon don't move is because of the royal sisters, Celestia and Luna. The ponies viewed them as "Princesses", but Ryu thought "God-Empresses" was a much more accurate term. She told him about her friends, and some of there past adventures.
From what she said, this land wasn't nearly as peaceful as the Crusaders led him to believe. Dark gods of Chaos, manticores, hydras, and dragons constantly making trouble for the citizens of Equestria. Celestia and Luna must be at there wits end from all of this.
The conversation was stopped by a carrot hitting Fluttershy in the head. They both looked down to see a very irate little rabbit stamping his foot impatiently. "Oh hello, Angel Bunny," Fluttershy said sweetly to him, "Is it lunch time already?"
The rabbit simply opened his mouth and pointed at his stomach. "Okay," she told him, "let's get you something to eat so we don't bother, um, what was your name again?" She asked, looking rather embarrassed. "Ryu," the warrior said.
"So we don't bother Ryu."
When she was gone, Ryu let out a sigh. Looking to his left, he saw his backpack sitting there. Ryu stretched as much as he could and managed to slide it over to his bedside. He dug around inside until he found his little notebook and pen. That familiar spark of inspiration was back. Thinking for several minutes and tapping out syllables with his pen, Ryu attempted to write but he could not hold the pen correctly. Instead, he tossed them both into his backpack, deciding to write out the haiku later. He stored the following in his mind as he lay down to rest:
Fight under the moon
A timid savior of life
In Equestria.
-Ryu