Of Moments and Melodies

by Church

Chapter III

Fluttershy and I got back into the house, soaking wet. We had left out towels to dry off with just inside of the door, and I grabbed both of them and handed one to Fluttershy, who didn’t appear to be wet at all. I was amazed by her. It was as if she could dodge raindrops. But, being the oddball I am, I decided to fix that.

I shook my entire body, hard, so that drops of water went flying. Fluttershy flinched, she closed her eyes and covered her face with a hoof. My mane was all sorts of crazy afterward. I must have looked like a lunatic. It was okay, ‘cuz I was gonna take a bath anyway and Fluttershy was nice enough to take it easy on my appearance, so I wasn't at all worried.

“How do I look?” I asked her, standing all heroic in front of her. I wasn’t sure which hero I was emulating.

Fluttershy looked at me and snickered. She immediately tried to suck it back in, maybe feeling bad. But I didn’t care, I probably did look silly.

“You... uh... look great,” she said. I could see her hiding that smile.

“Riiiiiiggghhhht,” I replied with a hint of sarcasm. Well, not really a hint, more of a dash... or a cup perhaps.

Suddenly Fluttershy turned completely serious. She looked slightly worried. “Oh, I didn’t offend you, did I? I’m really sorry if I did,” she said. She turned away bashfully, which I found weird, ‘cuz she didn’t have to. “You look very, um, nice.”

I smiled a warm smile, “You don’t have to lie, silly. You won’t offend me, I probably look ridiculous!” I used the towel to dry off my hooves so that I could walk through the house without putting puddles of water on the floor. I turned to her and motioned my head toward the hall. “C’mon, let’s go find a mirror!”

Fluttershy and I trotted into the bathroom, where the only mirror in the house was located besides in Mum’s room. In the mirror stood two unlikely friends, a kind and easygoing one, and a spontaneous and sporadic one. The spontaneous one put a foreleg around the neck of the kind one, and the kind one smiled at the sight of the spontaneous one’s mane. The spontaneous one agreed with the kind one’s grin, as her mane was a poofy wreck of hair.

“BWA HA HA! I look like, I look like... what do I look like?” I asked into the mirror, hysterical at the sight of myself.

Fluttershy didn’t try to hide her smile anymore. “You look like a cloud who has perhaps had too much fun!” she squeaked out in her usual pleasant tone. I agreed with her, my mane looked like a crazy cloud.

“Haha! It so does!” I said. I paused, eyeing the bath that I was about to ready for myself. “It’s so true...”

I trailed off. A silence hung in the air for a little bit, estranging both of us. Fluttershy just watched me awkwardly tap my hooves at the ground. I looked at the bath, then at Fluttershy, then at the bath again, sort of weirding out the moment. My violet eyes scanned the bathroom layout onceover.

“Is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked me, the sudden silence now feeling out of place.

I didn’t reply. I didn’t reply, ‘cuz I felt so good inside that I had a new friend and I was caught up in it. I didn’t reply, ‘cuz I didn’t know how to explain to her that something was right. Instead, what I did was the only thing I could think of to really express to her my thoughts.

I grabbed Fluttershy and I hugged her. I hugged her tight, and I didn’t think that I would ever let her go.

“Thank you,” I told her in the most sincere tone I could manage. “Thank you for being my first friend in years.”

Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to have an awkward silence. She just let me hug her at first, surprised by the sudden emotional turn. Then, I swear I could feel her smile, and she returned my embrace.

“Of course,” she said to me in that heavenly voice. “Everypony deserves to have a friend, especially one as special as you.”

Mum returned home later that afternoon, Fluttershy and I heard her enter and abruptly slam the front door shut from our room. She and I sat on the carpet, talking, trying not to pay any attention to her. Easier said than done. I reluctantly listened in on her every hoofstep, every clack in the floorboards. Fluttershy noticed that something was the matter.

“What is it?” she whispered to me, poking me gently in the side.

Something was the matter. I had forgotten something. My eyes searched around for it as if it would be floating in the air somewhere, just out of my reach. What was it?

“The oats,” I said, seemingly out of the blue.

“What?”

“The oats! We forgot to put the oats away!”

My Mum’s hoofsteps downstairs were heavy. They could almost be felt vibrating through the house. Each step was labored too, as if she had had a long day, and there had been no rest periods. She must have had no luck in town, which was bad news for us. To our shock, the hoofsteps stopped at a random point in her track. That was not good. We held our breaths.

They started up again, getting louder and more pronounced. I wanted to cover my ears, make the sound go away, but I could not. It sounded like she was wearing marching boots. They invaded my ear drums and marched and marched and marched, beating on like a percussion line.

The steps stopped at the base of my door. I got real close to Fluttershy, asking for her strength in proximity. I put on the sternest face I could fathom. Fluttershy took my hoof... a promise to me that everything would be okay.

And that was okay.

I jumped as my door flew open, my Mum standing in the door with a sinister look in her eye. She was never a pretty sight to look at, and the same could be said about her now. It was as if she was drunk all the time, her mane was tangled and she found it difficult to walk in straight lines.

Ever since Pop died, everything like that became difficult for her.

“You aren’t smiling,” my Mum said, looking only at me. That was a curious entrance. “Why not?”

I didn’t know what she was talking about... and that was the scariest thing of all. I gulped.

“What do you mean, Mum?” I asked her, trying to appear completely innocent, totally calm. Fluttershy would have been better at this, but Mum still refused to look at her. It was like Mum just couldn't see Fluttershy at all.

“Why don’t you give me a big ‘ol grin... and smile like you mean it,” she told me. I didn’t know what kind of weird trick she was playing, but it was not one that she has ever played before. I was in deep trouble.

“Mum, I’m confused, what are you-”

“‘Cuz obviously you’ve been having fun today! I know, I can see it on the walls!” Mum said, cutting me off. I got very scared at her tone of voice, comparable to that of a madpony. “So why don’t you just give me a dandy little smile?”

“O-oh. Is this about the oats?” I asked in despair. “I- I can go back down and get them... I j-just for-”

“It’s not about the damn oats you little brat,” my Mum said as she came straight for me. I yelped as she yanked me up from the floor by my ear, easily holding me up. The look in her eye was fierce. “Now, tell me why the back door is all wet.”

I was so scared. Mum was crazier than ever before. I needed help. I knew that I had a secret to keep, but we did not agree upon taking that secret to the grave. I needed somepony to help me, else we start a premature dig six feet into the ground in the backyard.

“Fluttershy! Help! Help!” I squealed as my Mum essentially just toyed with me. I searched for my friend, but I could not see her. She must have been behind my Mum.

“Fluttershy?” my Mum said, taking a moment to ponder over what I had shouted. Mum easily held me with a hoof as I struggled in her grasp. “Oh, not this again.”

Mum let me go, but blocked my escape out the door. I ended up backing into the corner, the worst of places you’d want to be.

“Fluttershy! Help!” I tried again. She was not in the room. “Fluttershy?”

“What did I tell you about imaginary friends?” my Mum asked me. I paid no attention to her, none at all.

“Fluttershy, where are you? Help!”

“Answer the question, Daisy!” my Mum hollered at me. Her words seemed to stick into the corner like a narrowly missed dagger toss.

“Fluttershy!?” I persisted. She could not be seen. I felt a lone tear spill from my eye.

“That’s it, come here,” my Mum said as she began to cross over to me, obvious punishment coming my way. She did the opposite of that which she commanded me. “I’ll teach you the difference between what’s imaginary and what’s real.”

Song: Smile Like You Mean It

By: The Killers