//------------------------------//
// Chapter Two 
// Story: A Friend In Need 
// by Vietmane Veteran 
//------------------------------//

Chapter Two

Fluttershy gave a soft hum as she held the small piece of wood in place with her hooves. Fred the Flamingo carefully held the smooth half of the screw. Barry, the Bat, was slowly screwing it in. Fluttershy smiled. The repairs to the chicken coop were almost done.

Sitting to the side at a table were Sweetie Belle and Button Mash. They were drinking apple juice from little juice boxes, each talking about all the work they did to help. In all truth, they didn’t help much, but they were children.

Button Mash took another slurp of his apple juice. His eyes wondered towards the sky. “Hey, Sweetie Belle?”

“Huh?” Sweetie Belle asked as she tried to push the straw into the juice box.

“What do you think those are?” he asked, pointing.

Sweetie Belle looked up. “I’d say birds, but they keep stretching. It looks like they’re fighting.”

Button Mash squinted in an attempt to see the shapes better. “I don’t think the blue one is fighting back. Hey! Fluttershy! Two birds are fighting!” The shapes stopped, before diving towards the children. “Uh, oh.”

“I don’t think they liked you shouting. Run!” Sweetie Belle cried out. She and Button tried to escape, but the lights reached them. The pink threw the blue at Sweetie Belle as it dashed towards Button Mash. Both threw their heads back and opened their mouths to scream, causing the lights to land in their mouths.

Button Mash gagged as the light went into his throat. He coughed, sending it flying. He went over to Sweetie Belle, smacking her on the back. The pink light came charging back just as the blue light was sent flying, causing the lights to crash into each other and go flying.

Button Mash began running, and Sweetie Belle was right behind him.

Fluttershy stared in confusion, looking at where the children were running, and then at the bushes where the ‘birds’ landed. She looked back and forth, before turning to Fred the Flamingo. “Follow them and make sure that they’re all right.” Fred gave a salute, before starting to run and fly, moving to stay above the children.

Fluttershy gave a smile and a nod. She moved towards the bushes, all the other animals following her. She gave a small frown at the shadow starting to cover her, and turned around to see the large crowd of animals. She gave a small glare. “Shoo. You’re going to scare them. Shoo.” The animals gave an apologetic look, before going back to what they were before.

Fluttershy gave a small nod. She turned back towards the bushes. She took a step back as a violent flash of light erupted from them. She took a deep breath. She steps forward, moving aside the bushes. She moved her head back in surprise.

Before her was an odd creature, about the size of a child. It was a light blue, and glowing too. It had a square head, floating away from its body. Its eyes seemed to be closed, and a black tear came from the right eye. It had two little sky blue hollow triangles on its head, seeming to be ears. Its body was a rectangular prism, and its legs were nonexistent, but it had four cubes as hooves, a slightly lighter blue color than the triangles.

The creature looked at Fluttershy, seemingly drawn to her face. Then, it seemed to notice her mane. It stumbled back, twitching.

Fluttershy extended a hoof. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re safe. There’s no need to worry. Just calm down.” The creature, no, child, looked at her extended hoof. Fluttershy wondered for a moment if the child’s eyes were closed or if they were just slanted. It reached forward, its hoof shaking. It made contact, and Fluttershy could feel it somehow grip her hoof. “That’s it. My name is Fluttershy. What’s yours?”

It looked at her face for several moments, as if trying to decide. It spoke. “My name is Friend. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Oh, I’m not a missus yet. Would you like some hot chocolate? Angel should be done making it by now.”

Friend smiled. “I would like that.”