Another day another struggle, although this one was a bit unusual. Fluttershy and I woke up at seven a.m., gone through our morning rituals, and set off for work. I had used an old make up kit to make her fur turn brown which had made her look, oh I don’t know, 20% doggier. She giggled a bit as I rubbed in the dark powder, being very careful not to hurt her in the process.
After that she put the clown costume on, I took a photo for memories, and we were off on our merry way. We even skipped for a while, seeing as no one was around to see. Everything was going great (I even think everyone thought she was an actual dog!) I guess I got Flutters a bit excited and to the first person she saw she shouted a very flamboyant “YAY!!!” I was mortified for a few seconds, just staring at the man in front of us. Fluttershy must’ve been proud of her first yay because she started shouting yay repeatedly. The man stared at her for three seconds (yes, I counted) then looked back up at me saying, “You need to get a video of your talking dog, YouTube is waiting!” The man chuckled at his own remark and passed us by.
“Fluttershy! We’re in public now, you can’t say things like that in public.” I said, scolding her a bit too harshly. She stared up at me with what was at first anger, then melted into sorrow. Her eyes welled up, showing the signs that she was about to cry. I quickly gathered her up in a big hug, trying to desperately comfort her. “There, there. It’s ok. I know you didn’t mean to. You were just excited. I was wrong, I shouldn’t have gotten upset with you.” I said in a soft voice. Her tears had disappeared, replaced with a gentle sigh to show that she was all better. I set her down on the pavement, and explained to her why we needed to be silent.
After that we walked off, with no more outbursts. Soon our little test run had dissolved into routine. Things started to get a little brighter, nights got a little less cold, and my life now had a little color in it.