//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: So We Finally Just Met In the Middle... // Story: Crystal Heart: After the Swarm // by Betty_Starlight //------------------------------// I stare at the small cottage on the edge of the Everfree forest and smirk, “Okay, pegasus number two of the crew, Fluttershy!” as I stare and wonder about the death waiting for me behind that wooden door there… I sigh and reach up with my right forehoof to wrap on the door. BAM BAM BAM! My hoof goes and I hear a feminine voice from inside squeak, “Hang on! I’ll be right there!” She opens the door with her right hoof and I see it swing inward to the left to reveal her blue eyes staring at me before starting with shock as she says, “Oh! Uh, C-Crystal Heart! What brings you to my uh, humble abode?” Before a large nervous grin on her face begins to form… I smile back, “Hi dear Fluttershy! I’m just getting to know all of the ahem, associate’s of my sweet love Starlight and you are among them, are you not?” She blinks skittishly, “Oh, um, y-yeah! That’s true! I’m a friend of Starlight! Um…” “But of course, dear sweet Fluttershy! And so, now I think we should get to know one another? Perhaps during a social activity of some sort?” Her eyes widen at me, “Oh um, I’m much too busy right now! Y-you’ll just have to try again later! I’m just too busy! Yes!” before her right hoof slams the door in my face… I blow the strand of my brown mane that just swept over my face before saying, “Well, that was a bust!” <*****> (Two weeks ago…) I stare at the magenta unicorn underneath the light in front of her red front door as she smiles at me, “Thanks for such a wonderful time, Crystal! Honestly, I didn’t know what I was gonna do! I’m really just glad to get out of the house!” I smile back, “You said it, love!” Her eyes widen, “Hey uh, you wanna come in?” This has never happened before, so I’m a little hesitant at first, “Well uh, only if you insist?” or maybe not? She turns her neck back right towards her door and magically opens it before trotting inside and I follow behind her, and use my left forehoof to close it before I follow her down towards her hallway and say to her, “Where are we going?” She says, “I’m going to bed and I want a snuggle buddy!” as she continues trotting through her dimly lit foyer… I say back to her while mere hoofsteps behind her, “Wait! You never asked me!” She giggles slightly while continuing to trot, “You’re not gonna say no, are you?” I keep trotting when I think that one infuriating thought… She’s right! I actually would very much like to snuggle her to sleep! “Uh, you don’t know that!” She walks into her hallway and I follow as she says, “Yeah I do! You’re still following me!” She stops in front of her door and turns her head left towards it before using her magick to open it out to the right as I say, “Well, I don’t HAVE to!” She walks into her bedroom and I follow just a few hoofsteps behind, same as before, “Maybe not, but you want to…” She trots over to her bed while I stand in the doorway with my neck craned left towards her, “You don’t know that!” She slides in under her soft pink velvety covers while saying at a slightly lower volume, “Yeah I do! Now come on baby! I wanna hold you!” I gulp and stare at this sight… My mortal enemy, Starlight Glimmer, there underneath pink silken blankets on her warm soft bed, ready to hold me and love me as we slumber… “Uh, hang on! This is still kinda new…” I say as I begin to trot her direction… She impatiently starts to bounce on the bed, “Come on! I wanna snuggle!” I blink before I begin slipping into bed… “Scoot back closer, baby!” I begin scooting back into the danger zone as I notice her hoof sliding in on my left before it wraps around me lovingly and holds me… I say back to her, “Do you normally snuggle on second dates?” “Shh!” She blows through her lips to silence me… She holds me tightly and affectionately from behind as we both begin to drift off to sleep... <*****> (Present day…) Starlight frowns at me from the red sofa in the living room, “Well, Fluttershy is just the uh, shy quiet type and she opens up slowly, okay?” I sigh from the blue chair, “Well, I know this Starlight, but that’s not the problem!” Her azure eyes widen, “Oh? Well, what is the problem?” “The problem is, she knows now, Starlight! She knows who I am and that’s why she keeps her distance. This is more than just her regular shyness…” “How can you tell, though?” I stare at her carefully, “Tell me Starlight Glimmer, do you know what fear looks like in another pony’s eyes?” She blinks, “Well, I kinda do, yeah?” “That’s what I see, Starlight! I see genuine terror and dread at me! And…” I sigh…” I don’t like it…” She frowns, “You’re really worried about this, aren’t you?” I widen my eyes at her, “Well, shouldn’t I be? Think on it, Starlight! I was Chrysalis, the most feared changeling in all the land and now I…” I close my eyes… “I don’t want to be…” I breath in slowly through my mouth and open my pupilsonce more. “So it’s imperative that we make miss Shy see me for what I am now and not whom I used to be…But first!” “Coffee!” Starlight interjects! I smile, “Indeed!” <*****> I start when I suddenly forget what I’m doing and Starlight at my right wraps on the door with her right forehoof, BAM BAM BAM! We both here a familiar skittish feminine voice say from the inside, “Oh uh, hang on! I’ll be right there!” a few moments before the door opens and her blue eyes widen! “Oh uh, Crystal and Starlight! H-how can I help you?” And an uneasy grin forms on her muzzle. I widen my eyes, “We have a kitten!” with a small sleeping gray tabby kitten on my back… Starlight widens her eyes, “Um, yes Fluttershy! We need some of your expert advice on how to handle Crystal’s kitten!” She turns her neck right towards me as her mouth goes agape, “Oh! I didn’t know you had a kitten!” My head raises, “Yeah, me neither!” Her eyes enlarge again, “What?” Starlight interjects, “Uh, what Crystal Heart means to say is that she just got a brand-new kitten and that she wants your advice on how to care for the animal!” I nod and say, “Yes! That!” Her blue eyes widen with shock and excitement as she squeals, “Oh, that sounds lovely! Uh, come in! I’ll get you everything you need!” before she turns around and begins to trot further into her cottage… Starlight looks over at me and whispers, “Go in and follow her!” “Ugh!” I quietly groan beginning to trot behind the yellow pegasus mare as she trots into her wooden abode with various creatures and animal items strewn about her foyer floor as I trot behind her anxiously… I’m also very aware of the warm fuzz-head currently snoozing on my back… She speaks up, “Yes, Crystal Heart! You’ll need to learn about proper litter maintenance as well as feeding, and playtime!” “Wait, I need to play with this little fur-ball?” I say as I continue to trot behind her. She nods as she goes into her hallway in the back, “Oh, yes! Playing and interaction is very important between you and you’re cat!” “Oh, great! Kitty playtime!” I sarcastically say as I trot into the hallway as she heads towards the room in the back. She trots to the back of her wooden room and I follow as this gray tabby thing continues snoozing on my back… She smiles as she looks down into a box, “Okay! Here’s your litter box, cat food dish, and some cat food and kitty litter to get you started! Oh, and a scoop for the box!” I turn my head right towards her, “Wait! What am I gonna be scooping?” <*****> Two nights later… “I’m scooping cat poop!” I exclaim as I use my right hoof to operate the gray plastic poop scoop to get the offending log inside the litter box and bring it into the paper bag on my right… Starlight snickers from my left, “Well, you wanted a cat!” As I reach into the box for another foray into the wonderful world of feces removal, I respond to my love, “Well, dogs are gross! They slobber and they jump on you! Cats are much cleaner!” “Until you gotta clean the litter box!” “I didn’t think I’d need to do this on day two! I must say, he’s a little pooping machine!” I say as I reach into the box for another scoop… Starlight chuckles, “Well, he’s a growing kitten!” The tabby kitten rubs up against my right hind leg before it begins to prance forward and I stare into the box and whisper, “Idiot!” under my breath at the furry little troublemaker before reaching in with my right forehoof for yet another scoop into the bag… <*****> So the next morning, Starlight left me to sleep in as she always does. Not without some cuddling and kissy time, but that’s beside the point! Anyway, I was asleep in our big silken magenta bed when I hear a wrapping on the window on the other side of the room! I’m annoyed at this point, “Huh, what?” I open my eyes and look down my new aquamarine snout down at the window to see two bright blue eyes staring back at me from underneath a pink wavy mop of a mane… My eyes widen, “Fluttershy?” as I make my way to the left of the bed and hit the floor with my hooves to make a resounding clack and then, turning my body around towards the window and trotting over to it slowly before finally, opening it with my right hoof, “Uh, yes Fluttershy?” “Oh um, hi Crystal! Uh, how have you and your kitten been doing?” And she smiles nervously… My eyes widen, “Um, he’s doing alright! He was just cuddling me on the bed, actually…” I say as my eyes dart back to the snoozing ball of gray fluff on the fuscia blankets behind me. “Why are you asking me this from the other side of the window?” “Um, well…” She clears her throat. “I kinda uh, need some help wrangling a cat and well, this particular kitty is already kinda set off by me due to some neutering issues earlier and I just uh, need somepony gentle and kind to get this cat for me, so I can take her to the vet?” At that point, time stopped as I considered this… I thought this pony was afraid of me? Now, she said she needed somepony gentle and she came for me? Did I perhaps misjudge the situation? The truth is, by this point it had been wearing on my mind and I really needed to clear the air… I finally cleared my throat, straightened my pony head to this other equine and said to her, “Fluttershy! Can that wait a bit? Uh, we need to talk! Would you come in for coffee please?” <*****> I smile at Fluttershy, “How is the coffee?” She sits at her end of the table and grins at me anxiously, “Oh, i-it’s fine! Thank you!” before staring down at her cup… I frown at this sight, “Is something wrong?” She pops back to attention and stares up at me with her wide eyes, “O-oh uh, nothing! I’m fine!” and smiling at me like I was about to eat her head... I finally just stare at the yellow pegasus from the other side of the wooden kitchen table as both our white cups steamed in front of us and widen my eyes, “I am not a monster!” Her azure pupils enlarge as she starts from my right at the table, “W-what? I never said you were, Crystal Heart!” I sigh, “Fluttershy, why must you lie? I know what I see in your eyes and I truly do not wish for you to be afraid of me!” She squeaks back, “Um, w-we need to get the kitten to the vet! We don’t have much time!” “Fluttershy, you already told me and we need to be there in just under an hour... I can get that cat anywhere in Ponyville in about ten minutes... You’re not getting out of this! Tell me now, why do you fear me?” “Um…” She visibly swallows a big gulp in her snout before looking at me tentatively, “I-I always thought Chrysalis was well, you know? Scary! And now, I-I see her when I look at you… “she blinks. “I’m trying, Crystal! I really am! Th-that’s why I wanted to do this cat thing with you so, maybe I can get past this?” I blink and am silent for a moment, “You really are trying to work past your fears, aren’t you?” She sighs and smiles and me… “Yeah… Baby steps…” I giggle at the adorable little display of courage, “Alright, Fluttershy! Let’s finish up our coffee so we can go meet this cat!” Her eyes widen as her mouth is aghast, “Oh? You wanna meet the kitty?” I smile, “Sure, Fluttershy! Why not?” (To be continued…)