Oh, dear.
Fluttershy squeaked as the soccer ball flew straight towards her face. She didn’t utter a word of pain, busy wondering why her vision was filled with stars and grass instead of the aforementioned soccer ball and sky.
Shaking her head, she rose from her new location of the goal net. Or at least, she tried to. Rainbow Dash laughed as her upside-down friend struggled with the monumental challenge of untangling herself from the net, trotting over and helping poor Fluttershy get her hooves on land again.
“Are you alright, Fluttershy?” Dash managed to splutter, trying to hold back her laughter. A thick stream of red stained the yellow mare’s muzzle.
“I-I’m fine, Rainbow Dash…” The softspoken pegasus replied, carefully attempting to wipe away the blood. “It doesn’t hurt too much…”
“Gee whiz, I thought I kicked harder than that,” said the sky blue athlete, her entire wiry body drooping.
“I-I mean, it h-hurts a lot! M-maybe you should k-keep practicing tomorrow...” Fluttershy stammered, alarmed.
Rainbow Dash frowned but stood a little straighter. “Alright, Fluttershy. You rest up. I’m gonna need lots of practice if I’m gonna play Spitfire in a one-on-one soccer match!”
Fluttershy sighed softly as Rainbow Dash took off to find another victim to be goalie, balancing her soccer ball on her head. She turned to head home, wiping away more blood from her face.
I’m not sure how good an idea that was. Maybe I should ask her to find a different pony to help her practice? But maybe she’ll think I don’t want her to win! I could cheer for her, but that might distract her…
She sighed, her head and wings drooping with exhaustion and pain from being battered for three hours a day by Dash’s kicks, which could really be better described as smashes.
Nudging open the door to her cottage, she plopped down on the couch and curled up. Angel hopped over with some tissues and an ice pack wrapped in a rag.
“Oh, thank you, Angel. You’re so sweet,” she murmured, cleaning away the blood with the tissues and then laying on her back with the ice pack pressed to her face. A bird flitted over with some bandages. Fluttershy sat up slowly and wrapped her nose with the animal’s assistance.
There was a gentle knock at the door.
“Come in,” Fluttershy called, as loudly as she could. Nobody ever seemed to hear her even though she yelled. It irritated Fluttershy. She limped over to the door and pulled it open.
“Hey, Fluttershy, how ar- ...wow, Rainbow Dash really did a number on you,” said Twilight Sparkle, physically cringing at the sight of the yellow-and-purple mare’s bruised and beaten form.
She nodded sheepishly, blushing. “It’s nothing. The important thing is that I tried my best to help my friend. I can endure a little pain.”
“A little?” Twilight asked. “You look like you’ve just fallen off three flights of stairs, with a dictionary avalanche on your heels. Not fun.”
Fluttershy backed up. “Well, come on in. Would you like some tea?”
“No, thanks. Do you mind if I help you nurse your wounds?” Twilight stepped inside, glancing at the worried-looking creatures hiding behind furniture.
“Um… Sure…”
Twilight nodded and her initiative kicked in. She beckoned over the more bold of the woodland animals and whispered in their ears. When she rose, they scattered, and Twilight guided Fluttershy back to the couch.
“Don’t strain yourself. You need lots of rest.”
“But I have to train with Rainbow Dash tomor-”
“Nope. Lots of rest.”
“But Rain-”
“Lots. Of. Rest.” Twilight glared at her beaten friend stubbornly.
Fluttershy hung her head, renewing the gush of blood from her nose. “Okay…”
The lavender unicorn nodded in satisfaction, her bangs bobbing. The animals returned with herbs, more bandages, a mortar and pestle, and a somewhat-sloppily made but very sprinkled bowl of vanilla ice cream. Twilight mashed the herbs together and gently smeared them on her cuts and bruises, wrapping them firmly in bandages. She carefully stuck some up Fluttershy’s tender nose too, and swathed it in a bundle of white. Twilight handed her the bowl of ice cream and smiled as she gingerly ate.
A few minutes later, there was a bundled-up lump of sleeping pegasus on the couch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day...
Fluttershy delicately stepped down from the couch and yawned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She noticed that Twilight had cleaned up, drawn the curtains since it had only been 4 p.m., and tucked her in. Smiling slightly dopily, she poked the curtains open and nearly fainted.
She leaped over to her clock and checked the time.
7 p.m.?!?!?! Twilight said to get lots of rest, but this is ridiculous!
She paused. Stretching out a bandaged wing, she was shocked to realize that the pain had gone. Shedding her bandages and racing to the only mirror in her house, which was in the bathroom, she examined herself, wide awake and grinning. She reminded herself a bit of Pinkie Pie.
Fluttershy quickly fed her hungry forest friends and galloped to Twilight’s treehouse, bursting in without a thought.
“Twilight!” She shrieked, barely above a whisper. “That stuff is amazi-”
She stopped, not seeing her purple librarian caretaker.
“She’s not here.” Spike rolled his eyes. “Did she use that rare herbal mixture she got from Zacora again?”
Fluttershy blushed fiercely and nodded.
“I’ll tell her you said thanks.”
“O-okay. Thanks, Spike. How did she know I was hurt?”
“Rainbow Dash came by looking kind of worried and told her.”
“Oh… Okay, thanks again!”
She wandered out, walking straight into a broad-shouldered, off-white stallion. Her pupils shrank to the size of mustard seeds and her face exploded in a hot-pink blast. Her body was on fire with embarrassment, and she only managed to utter “Eep.”
Steely gray-blue eyes turned to meet her gaze and she fainted dead away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later...
Fluttershy revived inside a cozy, orange-yellow cottage, slightly littered with papers, pencils, and a gigantic brass instrument.
“Wh-where am I…?” She whispered, still trying to blink away the haze of sleep-induced disorientation.
“My house,” said an unfamiliar, somewhat deep male voice. She turned to see the strange pegasus. His expression was uncertain, and he shifted his weight uneasily. A pair of glasses rimmed his slightly greenish-gray-blue eyes.
“My name’s Kenan, and you are?”
“Eep.”
“That’s an interesting name. Nice to meet you, Eep,” he replied swiftly, with a faint smile.
She blushed fiercely, suddenly finding the edge dark blue blanket she was lying beneath extremely interesting.
“N-no… M-my n-name’s, F- f-fluttershy… N-nice to meet y-you, t-too, K-kenan...” He leaned forward to catch the end of her sentence, as she began to slip under the blanket again.
“Ah, that’s a pretty name.” He smiled anxiously, his eyes holding hers despite the nervousness of both pegasi.
“H-how l-long have I b-been out?”
“Only about twenty minutes. I made you some food.” He offered her a sandwich, which Fluttershy nearly dropped.
“Do you usually faint so easily?”
“U-um… Depends…”
He smiled sympathetically. Hoping to strike a conversation, he asked, “Do you like jazz?”
Fluttershy looked confused. “What’s t-that?”
“A type of music. Here, I’ll play some for you.” He stepped carefully over the papers to a CD player, and pushed down the play button. It registered in Fluttershy’s mind that the papers were sheet music, and that his cutie mark was of a series of notes.
A slightly slow but jam-able tune began to play, and Fluttershy hid under the blanket at first, to his dismay, but as the song went on, she, with Kenan’s help, got up and sat by the speakers, lowering it slightly to suit her usual levels of sound. Which was next to inaudible.
Nevertheless, he smiled again encouragingly and held out a hoof.
“Would you like to dance?”