You walk back into your room with a plate which holds a hastily made sandwich. It doesn't have anything more than some peanut butter and some jam between the two bread slices, but it was the best you could do under the circumstances. Without a word. you set the plate in front of her.
Fluttershy eyes the sandwich cautiously, still looking like she might run away at your slightest movement. You shuffle awkwardly, unable to think of what you should say to defuse the situation further.
“I uh, didn’t know what you’d like to eat, so I just made this in a hurry. You don’t have to eat it if you aren’t hungry. Don’t worry, it’s not poison, I swear.”
Shit, that’s exactly what someone who would have poisoned someone else's food would say. The mare switches from eyeing the plate of food suspiciously to giving you a similar look. Neither of you know what to do, but you’re pretty sure that she is forming an escape plan much faster than you can explain yourself, so you need to think on your feet here.
“Look, I think we got off to a bad start, let’s start over, okay? My name is Anonymous, and this is my house. I don’t want to hurt you, and I have no idea how you got here. Right now, I just want to help, so here, let me do this.”
You get to your feet, causing your visitor to take a more defensive stance. Focusing your gaze on the door to your room, you begin to walk towards it. Fluttershy quickly shuffles over out of your way as you begin to walk towards her. Keeping your eyes off of the pegasus, you reach the exit and quietly open the path to freedom. Yeah, you want to find out what's going on, and yeah, you want to help her if she needs it; but you need to make it clear that she is still free.
“If you want to leave, go through here and enter the first room to the left. The front door is unlocked right now. I won’t stop you. I probably have a map around here if you need it.”
The mare is still quick to avoid you as you make your way to your desk to and sit down. You really don't know what you're doing. Opening one of the drawers, you lazily search for your rarely used map of the area you live in. This way, you can assist her in some way at least. From the corner of your eye, you can see your pony guest scrutinizing the doorway.
Fluttershy looks at you, then the door. You, then the door. You, door. Finally to your astonishment, she speaks.
"Thanks..."
As expected, her voice is soft, almost inaudibly so. You cease rummaging through your desk and turn to face the yellow mare. You almost don't know how to reply.
"It's no problem, really. Hey, I just realized I never got your name."
You are obviously lying. She hesitates for a brief moment before answering. Averting her gaze, Fluttershy speaks a little louder than the last time.
"I'm Fluttershy..."
“It’s nice to meet you, Fluttershy. Are you feeling okay?” you ask.
“I’m… fine…” she responds, still refusing to fully let her guard down.
At least you’re getting somewhere. You turn towards her and make eye contact again, causing her to shrink back a little. Right now, this pony is probably scared, tired, and confused beyond belief. Perhaps she needs time to think.
“Good, I’m glad to hear it. Do you need some time to clear your head? I’ll give you some space if you need it.”
Her only response is a small murmur that you cannot decipher, so you decide to make the decision for her. Getting up from your seat, you walk to your bed and sit down before letting her know what you plan to do.
“Well, I’ll just be right here for the time being. If you need anything, please let me know, it’s no issue at all. We’re in my house, so I can do most anything you might need, within reason of course.”
With that, you lay down in your bed. So… First contact didn’t go as well as you had hoped. Can’t say that wasn’t expected, though. Maybe if you weren’t such a goddamn sperg when you offered her food, it would have went better. Hey, look at the bright side! She introduced herself and isn’t trying to run right now, so maybe this will go better than you expected. Now then, what were you doing before the yellow cannonball woke up?
Oh right, the thread. You may not have access to your PC right now, but that's what smartphones are for. You reach over onto your nightstand and turn the portable device on. Alright, you’re focused this time around. Fluttershy may be awake now and you are still somewhat unsure of what she’ll do next, but you’ve managed to get your brain back in the game. Before you know it, you’re back at the page that may or may not have started all of this. Hopefully there’s something in here that will shed some light on the events that have unfolded. Starting from the top, you scroll through the posts that are shown, paying closer attention for any underlying hints.
Sadly, by the time you reach the end of the thread, you are left with a lack of answers. With a sigh, you sit up and scratch at the underside of your forearms. In an instant, pain shoots through your body.
“Gah..! Damn, what the hell?” you grunt out through your teeth.
Turning to the nearest light source, you examine at your arms and remember exactly why you are suddenly suffering such sharp sensations. You cannot believe that you forgot you fell onto broken glass earlier. Small trickles of blood stream down your arms, telling you that these wounds aren’t just a few small scratches. They must’ve reopened when you scratched them just now.
“Wow, these are pretty bad.” you say to yourself.
An attempt at pulling one of the shards out ends in you just agitating the laceration further and causing more bleeding. Not to mention it hurts like a bitch, only more so now that you’ve irritated it. Why do injuries only start to hurt when you notice them? Speaking of not noticing stuff, a certain yellow pony startles you when her voice emanates from right next to your seat.
“Excuse me, are you okay..?” she asks softly.
You turn to the source of the voice just now. Fluttershy is standing a few steps away from you, trying to get a decent view of what might have caused you this pain. She shrinks back slightly, her courage wavering at the eye contact.
“It’s nothing too bad, I’ve had worse. I’m just having a bit of trouble getting this glass out.” you say, forcing a smile.
As you speak, you turn one of your arms towards her; her eyes widen as blood quickly runs down your arm to your hand. Well, you certainly did a number on that one.
”Oh no! How did this happen?” the normally timid mare asks, concern evident on her face.
You feel bursts of what feels like wind hit you as the pegasus takes to the air, inspecting your arm closer.
”Oh my… These are in deep…” muses, actually taking your arm in a hoof.
The sting of the cut is too prominent for you to wonder how she's using her hooves to move your arm around. Though she seems to want to help, your pride takes over and you attempt to take the situation back into your own hands. Swiftly, you grab a less deep looking shard and pull.
“It’s really no big deal, I just gotta… gah..!”
You pull your hand away and notice a small cut on your index finger. Yet again, your male pride has screwed you. Perhaps you should use something other than your hand to pull these out.
”No, you can’t take them out like that..! Here…” Fluttershy says as she grabs your arm again. She pauses for a moment. ”L-let me help… Is that okay..?”
For a moment, you consider just waiting to go to a doctor in the morning, or trying to pluck these out yourself. However, this would offer a good chance to allow the both of you to communicate a bit more closely. A trust exercise of sorts? Plus, it beats killing yourself accidentally from blood loss. For all you know, one of these things is lodged in your vein and the only thing keeping you from bleeding out is the glass itself.
“Uh, sure. Anything we should have around?” You ask.
Fluttershy stutters out a list of items that you luckily have around the house. Minutes later you have the supplies laid out neatly on your desk, and a pony working on your wounds. You watch in a mix of amazement and horror as the shy pony uses a pair of tweezers with her mouth to extract one of the bigger pieces. Surprisingly enough, the pain isn’t as bad as you’d expect it to be.
This process goes on for several minutes, and after a bit of effort from the both of you, your arms are devoid of glass.
“Hey, you’re pretty good at this, you know?” you tell her.
No vocal response, but you do get a blush and a bashful smile as she begins to bandage
up your arms. An awkward silence ensues. Time to change the subject. Just now, you realize that this pony probably doesn’t know what you are, or that you know what she is or where she’s from.
“So Fluttershy, what exactly are you? You kind of look like a horse, but you’re still different.” you inquire. She stops to think for a moment before giving her response.
“Well… I’m a pony, a pegasus pony. You kind of look like a gorilla, but are different, too. What are you..?” she asks timidly.
It’s unusual to have to think about how to describe what a human is to someone. Once you finally have your words together, you tell her.
“Well, I’m a human. We’re kind of like monkeys, or apes, but with a higher level of intelligence. I’m guessing that you don’t have any of us where you come from. I’ve never seen anything like you here before, so we must both live pretty far from each other.”
The mare looks thoughtful for a moment before speaking again.
”I’m from Equestria. From the looks of it, I don’t think I’m still there…”
You nod.
“Probably not. I've never heard of that place being mentioned as a location here.” you state flatly.
Fluttershy’s eyes widen at the knowledge that her home doesn’t exist here.
“Oh…”