//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: A Red and Yellow Affair 
// by Horsegirl123 
//------------------------------//

Perspective: Fluttershy

Fluttershy awoke with a jump. First for being in a new setting and second for realizing she had fallen asleep. She thought back to watching the sunset, remembered drifting off a little, and then the thud of her body onto something soft and strong. But, that was all that came to her mind at this groggy after-nap moment.

As she got up off the couch she had been placed on in her home, she felt the gentle slip of a blanket falling off her body. 'Where did that come from?' she thought to herself as the quilt fell from the last covered spot on her rump. As she checked the clock for the time, she leaped into the air in fear.

"Crash!" Something fell to the ground in the kitchen. Her wings closed to her sides as they so often did when she was scared. Her eyes wouldn't allow her to blink.

"Who's there!" 'Wow', she thought to herself, she hadn't used that tone or authority since Nightmare Moon… ah Princess Luna was at her door last Nightmare Night. Her heart raced as she frantically searched the room for a football helmet or pillow to protect herself from.

"Oh, Ah'm sorry mam Fluttershy," came a gentle but deep voice from behind the kitchen wall. "Your, uh, 'friend' is just an enthusiastic eater." Fluttershy peeked around the corner with one eye to see Angel, her rabbit, sloppily eating a salad. Had… Big Mac made that? She had never seen Angel eat so well in his life. He was always so picky, and even though she'd had him for years, she still couldn't master how to make his meals.

"Well, actually, thank you. He's never eaten so well, well, that I've seen. I mean, he usually doesn't take well to strangers."

"Eeyup," replied Mac with a hearty grin, "When I first set you down on that there couch, he came at meh with a fryin' pan the lil' rascal."

Fluttershy chuckled to herself before piecing two and two together. Big Mac had put her on the couch. He had put a blanket on her. He had fed Angel! He was polite, caring, handsome… Handsome? No, she couldn't think that. He was her friend's brothers. Off limits. Right?

"Yow!" A short, deep throated yell came from the opposite end of the room, snapping Fluttershy out of her inner turmoil. She blew her hair from in front of her eyes, which she had been using to avoid eye-contact with the stallion, who made her nervous yet warm at the same time. Angel's plate was empty, and Mac's hoof was bleeding. Ah! She should have told him to get away before he finished. Angel always got feisty and nippy if dessert didn't follow right away.

"Oh no! Angel, how dare you!" How she wished her reprimanding could be intimidating and at least reach above a whisper. She rushed over to Mac who was trying to laugh off the incident. He shook his hoof a few times to wave off the pain, but Fluttershy could live with herself if she didn't help him after what her pet did. "Big Macintosh, come with me. I'll fix that right up." Fluttershy sped to the bathroom for the first aid kit that hung above the mirror while Big Mac sat awkwardly on the couch with his bum hoof hanging off the side. She returned quickly, with bandaging raps and iodine. She noticed his eyes widen at the liquid; every pony knows that it stings on contact with a wound.

Fluttershy patted the good hoof of the frightened stallion, her animal care instincts taking over her social anxiety. She slowly and delicately wrapped his wound. He winced a little, but Fluttershy kept going, knowing that it had to be done. When it was all done, Big Mac held his wrapped hoof in front of his face to examine Fluttershy's precise work.

"Thank ya kindly for helping me out, Fluttershy." Mac said with a tip of the head. A genuine smile crossed his lips as he looked at her, and for a moment, as she surely felt herself blushing a deep red, she couldn't break her gaze from him.

Finally, she looked away, embarrassed. "Oh, no problem. I'm so sorry for what Angel did. Thank you for carrying me home and helping me with Dahlia." She was so thankful he had carried her home. She was awfully scared of the dark.

"Eeyup." Fluttershy closed the door behind him, put her back to it, and breathed out heavily as her heart caught up to her stomach.