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// Chapter 3 REVISED 
// Story: A Journey Unthought Of 
// by Hustlin Tom 
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Fluttershy was a compassionate soul: anyone who knew her well would say that such a statement was so obvious that it would be laughably redundant.  The pegasus mare would take in any animal, no matter how fearsome or unusual, and would take care of their needs as best as she could.  Though all ponies were decidedly more connected to nature than I could say the majority of humans were, Fluttershy would shine amongst her fellow Equestrians as an acolyte of all things that scurried, lumbered, or flew.  For the time being, one of the 'unusual animals' that she would end up helping would include me.  Since Lyra didn’t know anything about medicine, and I couldn't exactly call myself knowledgeable on the subject either, the town veterinarian seemed a much better place to start than an equine doctor. 

Fluttershy was tending to a blue jay who had injured its wing joint, and had just finished carefully setting its wing into a brace when she heard a knock on the door.  Another attribute anyone who even tangentially knew her would be able to point out would be her timidity.  While her introversion in the presence of strangers was normally crippling, she was now put into a good mood by the deed she had been able to do for her avian friend.  

"Why don't you hop on Mister Jay," she suggested to her patient as she extended her wing out to act as his perch.  Standing up from where he had been laying, the blue jay hopped onto her wing tip and sidled closer to the center.  Fluttershy then delicately walked to a nearby bookshelf on which Mister Jay could rest.  Another round of knocking came from her front door.  "I'm coming," she exclaimed softly as she trotted over to the door.  Quickly checking the peephole in her door, she realized that it was someone she recognized, and she set about dismantling the various locks she had had placed on her door many years ago.

"Why hello, Lyra," she said with an almost breezy air to her voice, "How are you doing today?  Is your next composition coming along well?"

The unicorn shrugged a little as she tried to force a smile, "Oh you know, everyday I make a little progress!"  She then quickly glanced to her left, and then rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "Say, uh, I know this is kind of out of the blue, but could I ask you a favor?"

Fluttershy blinked, and she became uneasy, so much so that her entire body seemed to clamp up.

"W-what sort of favor?" she asked nervously: surprises weren't something that she typically enjoyed, after all.

Lyra stamped her hoof nervously, "I have a...pet that's sick, and he's not exactly from around here, but since you're good with all kinds of animals I thought you might be able to help."

"Oh," she let out a sigh of relief, and an encouraging smile quickly returned to her, "Well that's just dreadful!” She dropped to the ground searchingly, "Where is this poor critter of yours?  I hope I can help him!"

Taking that to be my cue, I walked into view of the cottage door, and leaned down to get a better look at the mare who was going to be taking care of me.

Fluttershy looked up at me, and while her eyes did widen, she wasn't afraid.  "Oh my," she exclaimed, "He's much taller than I was expecting!  I didn't know that you were interested in pets Lyra, let alone an exotic one like this!  How did you convince Bon Bon to let you keep him?"

"...Thaaat's still up in the air," Lyra said nervously as she looked up to me, the both of us realizing simultaneously we had left the earth pony still passed out on the floor of their cottage.

"Well, why don't you bring him in then?" Fluttershy said as she turned and walked further into her home.

When I knew the pegasus wasn't looking, I looked Lyra in the eyes and half mouthed, half whispered indignantly, "I'm your pet?!"

"Shut up and roll with it," she hissed back as she gestured for me to come inside and make sure to duck through the doorway, "I didn't figure 'Hey, I found an alien in my backyard' would work quite as well!"

I carefully entered the house, but found I could stand fully upright unlike in Lyra and Bon Bon's.  I realized later that it was because pegasi had the added need for space to stretch their wings in their homes, and that I was just lucky enough to passively benefit from this.

"Now, could you please sit down right here in the center of my carpet, Mister?" Fluttershy asked as she gestured to the decorative object in question.  

"Adam," Lyra responded, "His name is Adam."  

I obliged, but as I bent over I began to cough, each one getting a little stronger and more fluid filled.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed in shock as she came a little closer to me, "You sound awful!  What happened to him?"

Lyra's eyes shifted about as she quickly thought of what to say next, "Uh, well, I wasn't watching him when we were out in the forest together, and he fell into a river.  His lungs were filled up with water, but I managed to get most of it out."

Since I couldn't immediately remember events before nearly drowning at the time, it took me a minute to realize what she was saying.  My eyes grew wide, and before I could stop myself and maintain my cover as a dumb animal, I blurted, "Oh God, please tell me you didn't do mouth to mouth!"

The three of us froze as we realized what had just occurred.  I put my hand to my face and muttered something indecent.  Lyra put her hoof to hers and did something similar.  

Fluttershy just looked at me in bewilderment, "H-he can t-talk?"

"Yes, the idiot can talk," Lyra said with a sigh as she glared at me.

I glared right back, "Oh yeah, like your paper thin act was going to hold up forever!  Now did you do mouth to mouth?"

"No," she exclaimed back, half disgusted with me, "I thought you were an animal!"

"S-So how much of what you said is actually true?" Fluttershy asked as she began to cringe up because of our yelling at each other.

"Most of it," she replied in as calm of a tone as she could muster, "I'm just his savior instead of his irresponsible owner."

I then burst into another fit of coughing, which attracted both of the mares' attention.  With the care of a practiced professional, all nervousness was gone from Fluttershy, and she flew over to her medicine cupboard.  "Let's see," she thought aloud, "Fluid in the lungs.  Two hundred pounds in weight.  How long ago did this happen?"

We were both surprised by how fast the transition had occurred for the mare, but as she turned to look back at us for an answer, Lyra called out timidly, "About two hours ago."

"No chance for inflammation to occur then," Fluttershy murmured as she found the small bottle she was looking for.  Using a measuring spoon that had been on a hook inside the cupboard, she poured the powder that had been in the bottle to the edge, then smoothed it out flat with a brush of her wingtip.  Leaving the spoon to sit on the shelf space below the medicine cupboard, she then quickly went to her kitchen, filled up a glass with water and returned to us.  She then took the medicine and stirred it into the water, making an opaque mixture.  Taking the glass between her hooves, she then gently flew over to me and hovered there, offering the drink to me.  "This should help get rid of the fluid that's still in your lungs, which should clear up that cough in a few days," she declared, and she softly gestured for me to take it, "It's going to taste very bitter, but just remember that it's going to make you better in the end!"

I looked at the liquid I was meant to drink, an expression of loathing for it clearly written all over my face.  I quickly exhaled, then took the whole glass in one dose.  I almost retched as the horrid liquid made its way down my throat.  I took the next breath through my nose and shook my head side to side.  "I've tasted worse," I said as I sat the empty glass at my side, "but not by very much."

"Well, you'll have to get used to it," Fluttershy declared as she took the cup away, "You'll need to take a dose each day for about a week.  I don't have enough on hoof to give to you, so I'll come with the last four days worth when you run out."  

"How much do I owe you for this," Lyra asked, "I don't have any bits with me, but I'll pay for the treatment when you come over."

"Oh, don't worry about it," she replied with a wave of her hoof as she came back into the room from the kitchen.

"Wait," I said as I put my hands up and waved them a little for emphasis, "You just met me, we lied to you to get this medicine, and now you're just going to give it to us for free?"

Fluttershy looked at me thoughtfully, then looked at Lyra.  "I don't believe that ponies, or any other race, are bad at heart," she declared as she turned to look at me, "We all make mistakes sometimes.  Lyra was just trying to help you, and you, well, I'm sure there was a reason."

"There has to be something I can do," I said as I stood up, looking down at the pegasus who's head came up to my hip, "I can't just take this from you."

She thought hard for a few moments, and then she looked up at me with an admonishing tone in her voice, "I'll let you take it, on the condition that you never lie to me again."

I was stunned by the simplicity of her demands, and dumbly accepted the small bottle of powder she gave me.  Finally I found my words, and my confusion was plain in both my voice and my face, "How?"

"Well, I am the Element of Kindness," she said with a smile, "If it didn't come naturally, then I wouldn't be who I am!"

She ushered us out of her home, and offered us an apology, but that she had to see to her next patient.  As Lyra and I walked back to her cottage, what Fluttershy had done for me rolled around in my head, and I couldn't make the least amount of sense of it.  Finally one thing she had said stuck out to me.  I turned to Lyra, "What exactly did she mean, 'She was the Element of Kindness'?"

Lyra looked up at me quizzically, "You know, she's the Element of Kindness!"

I looked down at her, my eyebrow arching at hearing that spectacular explanation, "Is this one of those 'Clap your hands if you believe' things?  Or I guess in your case, 'clap your hooves'?"

“What in Tartarus are you talking about?” Lyra asked, and then sighed as she realized how ignorant I was and how under-prepared she was in dealing with it, "OK, explaining it is going to take a lot longer than this walk is going to last, and with the amount of segues I'll need to do to explain the explanations this is going to take all day."

"Oh wonderful," I said with a sigh as I began to realize just how big of a hole I had stepped into.