"Take."
"Help me up." Mac held his hoof out, and Fluttershy quickly grabbed hold. She eased him up, taking the bulk of his weight, so he could focus on keeping himself straightened out. If he bent at all, his sore body would protest.
Once he was up, and sitting next to her, Fluttershy tapped the small tray she brought over to him, and repeated her command. "Take."
Mac yawned, and stretched. Only a little stretch, but his side wasn't happy with him, and he winced at the pain. Still, it was an improvement over yesterday. With a sigh, he took the two pills off the tray and tossed them in his mouth, swallowing them quickly. He took the small cup of water that was next to them to wash them down, emptying it in one swig.
Setting the cup down, he raised an eyebrow at Fluttershy. "Good morning?" He said with some hesitation. She had woken him up by shoving his prescription in his face, so he was guessing her mood hadn't improved much. "How ya feelin'?"
Predictably, she didn't respond. She just took the tray, and brought it back to the kitchen. She returned to Mac carrying a second tray bearing toast with jam. She set it down before him, and turned to leave.
Mac sighed miserably as she returned to the kitchen. Yesterday, he had a follow-up appointment with Dr James, and Fluttershy had accompanied him. The day before that, she had successfully gone shopping with Berry, and so, felt up to task of accompanying him.
Everything started off fine. Fluttershy was determined not to dwell on the past, and was focused on learning everything she could about everything new around them. She asked a lot of questions. More than a few that stumped the injured earth pony she was escorting. Luckily, a vaguely familiar-looking, grey earth pony they met was more than happy to offer information.
Once she left though, a confident Fluttershy tried to speak with a pair of teenage fillies. After loudly proclaiming their disgust at her monstrous appearance, they mercilessly mocked her still stunted speech. Mac stepped in quickly, because Fluttershy either couldn't, or wouldn't defend herself, but it seemed the damage was done.
During the actual appointment, Fluttershy was struggling with certain words. She was trying to ask questions, good questions, about his recovery process, but was still relearning the vocabulary. James was patient, never rushing her or judging her, but she grew more frustrated with herself as the appointment dragged on.
The worst of it happened as they were leaving medical. Somepony in a suit bumped into them. More accurately, bumped into him. It wasn't pleasant, given his condition, but he was fine. An apology was quickly muttered, but Fluttershy snarled at this new pony for his carelessness.
To his credit, the pony in the suit wasn't scared of Fluttershy in the slightest, and tried to diffuse the situation by offering to share samples of some kind of protein shake. He didn't actually have any, but promised they were on the way from the surface. But then, he put his hoof on her shoulder, and said the magic words. "We're all friends here, so calm down, killer."
It was simply an unfortunate choice of nickname, but Fluttershy slapped his hoof away so fast and so hard that it broke his leg. A crowd gathered from all the screaming. She had a panic attack and had to be sedated. When she woke up, here in their quarters yesterday, she refused to speak.
That lasted the rest of the day, and once simulated night time rolled around, she refused to sleep in the bed. Instead, she curled up on a spot in the middle of the floor. No blanket, no pillow.
Mac tried to talk her out of it, but it seemed like the only only word left in her vocabulary was, "no." So, he laid in bed, until she fell asleep, then got up and laid down on the floor next to her.
That left them here. His body wasn't happy with him for spending a night on the space station floor, and Fluttershy wasn't happy with anything at the moment.
Mac leaned down, groaning as he picked up his breakfast. He then hobbled his way towards the kitchen, surprised by just how sore the night on the floor left him.
The second he entered the kitchen, he dumped the plate on the polished composite countertop. It clattered like stone, only a bit more dull, maybe like plastic. Whatever the material, the sound caught Fluttershy's ear, and she looked up from her own breakfast. A package of some sort of preserved meat strips sat in front of her, untouched so far.
She looked down, sliding the package of bacon away from her. "Burned?" she asked quietly.
"No," Mac answered without moving.
"Oh," came the quiet reply. Without looking back, she pointed to a small jelly jar on the counter, a short distance away. "More?"
"No," Mac answered again. Silence stretched between them as Fluttershy withdrew, unsure of what else could have brought the stallion in here. Mac let the quiet drag on for longer than he should have, then sighed loudly. "We keep on like this, and it's gonna be mighty quiet in here."
"Oh," Fluttershy nodded, but there was no follow up aside from still and silence.
"Ain't ya gonna eat?" Mac pointed at the meat she pushed away. "Ah didn't mean to interrupt."
Fluttershy pushed the bacon farther away. "No."
Mac fell on his rump with groan. "Damn it, Shy! Nopony expects ya ta be fine after what happened to ya. Nopony expects ya to be the same." He forced himself back up, and marched towards her. "And Ah ain't gonna sit around and let ya starve yourself."
He pushed past her and swiped the package. She tried to grab it back with a concerned noise. With one hoof, he tried to hold her back, but it was much harder than it used to be. She was nearly as large as him, and nearly as strong. Perhaps stronger, given his current condition, but she was holding back for fear of hurting him.
With a frustrated grunt, Mac tossed the package across the room. When she took her eyes off him to watch it, he latched on to her instead, dragging her to him and locking his hooves around her.
She protested the sudden embrace, squeezing out a feeble, "No!" as she squirmed in his grip.
"Ya wanna stop me, ya gotta bite me again!" Mac sighed as her struggles ceased. He adjusted his hold on her, and she stayed still this time. It shouldn't be this hard to hug somepony that needs it. "Shy, Ah know ya ain't right with everythin' that's happened. Ah ain't either. Yer hurtin', and it's hurtin' me tryin' ta watch it. But ya can't shut down every time somethin' goes wrong!"
Mac tightened his grip on the pony he held. Small heaves as she kept her head down told him she was crying, and hiding it. "Have to," she sobbed into his chest. "Have to."
"Why?" He whispered into Fluttershy's mane, softly stroking the pegasus as she shook. "Help me understand this, Shy."
Fluttershy shook her head, burying her snout into his chest as she let his reassuring hoof flow over her. How was she supposed to explain it to him when she was fighting to understand it herself? So many of the words she needed were still out of reach. She remembered so many, but there were still so many that she could only remember once knowing.
"I need..." She bit her lip. She needed a lot of things, more practice speaking chief among them. There was something else though, something inside that she lost from who she was before.
Back on Equestria, before her time alone, she was a different pony. Not just the way she looked, but the way she acted. And not just in the obvious ways. There was one tiny thing she felt she had lost, and she needed it back. Something that the timid, reserved her, from back when she had to look up to see her lover's expression, had in abundance. Something that the taller, stronger, able to fight and kill any monster in her path, Fluttershy lacked.
She was like an animal now. Responding to things, fight or flight. She lost the capacity to repress her feelings, to hide her disappointment or anger at a situation. When those fillies insulted her, she was so sad that her efforts to regain her speech were falling short, but she couldn't push it back like she could have before. Then, when that other pony bumped into Mac, she reacted in anger almost immediately. She didn't even check to see if they were both OK.
"Mac..." She pushed herself up from his chest, wiping her eyes before looking up. They were so nearly eye to eye, that it made her long selfishly for a time when he towered over her, able to protect her from the world around. She had wished for that so many nights, curled up alone on Picus. But, he was here again, even though it was different from what she wanted. They were now more like equals, and they needed to support each other in this new world they found themselves thrust into. And to do that, she needed to change the animalistic part of herself that was born in that desolate jungle. "I need control."
He shook his head. "Ah don't think Ah can give that to ya."
"I have to." She knew. This was her battle. Nothing he could do would fix this for her. She had to learn to control herself. "Don't know how," she admitted quietly.
"Slowly," Mac told her. "Slowly. A little bit every day. It ain't gonna happen all at once, so don't get upset when things happen. Ah'll keep ya from hurtin' anypony else."
She nodded slowly, even though she wanted to scream that he shouldn't have to. If she was that much of a danger, she should just stay isolated. But, selfishly, she wanted more than that. She still wanted all the things that kept her from giving up on Picus. She still wanted everything she had been promised by this stallion holding her. Promises made years ago, in another life, to a pony much, much different. "Ssslowly," she said in a whisper. "Sss... Ss... low... S... lo..." Managing a weary smile, she looked back up. She still couldn't get rid of the hissing. "Ssslowly."
"Eeyup." Mac smiled a much larger smile, pulling her back into the hug. "Ah love ya, Shy. Hisses, and fangs, and bat wings, and all. Don't ya ever give up on yerself."
"I won't," she promised him, "Won't ever." And, as she nestled into the embrace, worry settling down a little, Fluttershy let herself listen to his heartbeat. Slow, steady, calming. Just like the rest of him. Resting there, listening to that soothing beat, she felt safe for the first time in a long time. "I love you, too."
Mac nodded slowly, eyes as misty as a grey morning. "Ah've wanted ta hear ya say that for years now." He gave her one last squeeze, and leaned back to look at her. "After breakfast, let's go apologize ta that business pony. A fresh start. And after that, Ah wanna see if anypony we know lives here."
With a small smile, Fluttershy nodded her agreement. "Sssoundsss good."
One Hour Later.
"Apologize?!"
Mac and Fluttershy stepped back, eyes wide as the pony scoffed, tugging at the edges of his suit. He rolled off his triage mat, and stood up, carefully avoiding the leg in the cast. "Apologize?!" He tugged at his suit when he realized that the act of standing up had wrinkled it again. "Why, I oughtta thank you!"
"What?" Mac and Fluttershy asked in unison.
He finished smoothing out the wrinkles in the grey fabric and looked back up. "Exactly what I said! 'What the heck just happened?' I asked myself once the painkillers kicked in. Well, I'll tell you what happened! Opportunity knocked harder than it ever knocked before, and you, honey, are standing at the door!"
Fluttershy shot Mac a worried glance. "Uhh..."
He shrugged, not understanding the situation anymore than she did. "Ah'm not sure Ah-"
"And not just her," the business pony interrupted. "I mean, look at you! You've got the rustic outter-worlds farmer look going on like you were born with it. That look is trending so hot right now, you would not believe it! I could show you charts, but best of all, even if it's not the hottest trend, it's a consistently high ranked look. It's practically recession-proof, and has been for centuries! Again, I've got charts."
Mac blinked. "Ah ain't followin'."
"You've even got the accent!" The business pony sat down so he could pump his good hoof in the air. "If you are even half as strong as you look, then we are golden!"
The red earth pony shook his head as his voice jumped an octave. "Huh?"
"Now, I can't promise anything yet." the pony started tapping his hoof against open air as he started building a to-do list in his head. "I'll have to return to the surface, and run it by the board, and the focus groups, of course. But Kalikoku's contract is just about up, and he has expressed some, shall we say... disinterest, in renewing. I'm sure they'll love the idea, and we can do some camera tests, get you some samples of our products, see which ones you like, which ones you'd want to endorse, and best of all? Discuss getting you two getting paid! How's that sound?"
Before either Mac or Fluttershy could process enough of the conversation to respond, his pocket emitted a beeping noise, and the business pony's eyes lit up. "That's the delivery notification," he said happily, pulling a business card out of his pocket. "I've got to go, but I'll leave you with this." He reached up, tucking the glossy piece of paper behind Mac's ear before standing up. "Protein-Pro Products will soon be available from the Commissary, and if you contact me, I'll get you some coupons for some free samples. Don't want to leave the new superstars hanging, huh?"
With that, he hobbled away on three legs, happily muttering to himself about soon being able to expand sales to the next space station on the list.
Mac and Fluttershy exchanged glances, still quite confused. And, suppressing a giggle, Fluttershy pulled the business card from Mac's mane. She looked at it, then held it out.
"Protein-Pro, Nutrition and Supplements," read the front, "Everything you need for the fastest, strongest, healthiest you." And on its back, "V.P. of Off-Planet Sales and Marketing, Stone's Throw."
Mac took it, looked it over, and shrugged. "Should we keep it?"
Fluttershy shrugged back. "I guess?"