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// An Unexpected Visitor 
// Story: Show Me Kindness, Show Me Love 
// by Brian Jacko 
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	 Life. Life is miserable for you. You suffer with chronic pain and fatigue as well as other illness's. You have no job and no real source of income. You're a very sick pegasus stallion who just manages to get by each day. With so much suffering in your life you have given up all of your passions and hobbies. You often wonder what your purpose in life is and how long you have left to live. You used to be extremely athletic and happy. You used to live life to the fullest and had many passions, but now everyday is the same repetitive and boring pattern. You get up, eat something, then go back to bed. With whatever energy you have left, you would sometimes be able to go for a short walk. You really can't fly anymore and opt to live on the ground in a small home on the outskirts of town. Getting out of bed is a chore on its own. You wake up and stretch your body even though your joints ache with pain. As you get out of bed to eat breakfast, you look in the mirror at yourself. You become depressed when you see your cutie mark. It has been years since you did anything that your cutie mark represented. You wish for something in your life to happen so that you could use your special talent once more. You then look over at your desk. There is a very special picture on it. The picture is of you and Fluttershy hugging and smiling after your graduation from flight school. A tear forms in your eye as you remember your very special friendship with the yellow mare. You were a few grades above her, but you were the very first pony to become friends with her after chasing off a few bullies that were picking on her. Fluttershy always stayed near you whenever she could at school. You were not only a hero to her, but also an inspiration and even though she failed at just about everything she tried to do at flight school, you gave her reason to keep trying and not drop out. You wish you could go see her again, but your illness and depression rarely allows you to leave the house. She had probably forgotten about you and moved on with her life anyway. You can only imagine that she has made new friends. You move on to the kitchen and eat the same thing that you eat every day, hay and oats. When you finish your breakfast, you go back to bed. Before you fall asleep, you can't help but think of  how amazing your life had been while you were still healthy and how much you miss Fluttershy. 




You are awakend by the sound of crickets chirping from outside. "Not again," you mutter to yourself. You had overslept the day and missed lunch. Not only did you sleep through lunch, you also slept through dinner. Looking at the clock, you see that it is way past dinner time and you are starving. Since it is so late, you don't really have time to prepare a meal, so you settle for the next best thing, hay and oats. Because you slept so much today you have a bit of energy left over for a walk. You walk over to the window, open it, and stick your head out. It's chilly tonight. You inhale the fresh cold air that only the late fall weather could bring. You enjoy this kind of weather even if the cold aggravates your symptoms. The pretty colors of the leaves falling to the ground and the many scents of autumn fill your nostrils with delight. You head back to the living room to get your scarf and wrap it tightly around your neck. Before you're about to leave, you remember that you have something special in your refrigerator and you realize that you are quite thirsty. You open the refrigerator door and take out a gallon of Applejack's homemade apple cider. As you begin to pour yourself a glass, you hear a frantic banging at the door. "Who could that be at this hour?" you wonder to yourself. No one has come to visit you in a very long time. As you make your way to the door, the banging becomes even louder. You open the door and a shadowy figure in the night lunges past you and runs into your house. You are nearly knocked off your hooves, but regain your balance. You look over to the corner of your house where a pony is sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. It's Fluttershy! As you approach her, she backs up her flank against the wall as if she were afraid that you'd hurt her. You realize just how terrified she is and speak as softly as you can. "Fluttershy. What's the matter with you? Are you ok?"

Fluttershy doesn't respond. She simply sits there quivering and sobbing. 

You notice the cuts and marks all over her body. You also notice that her wing is hurt badly judging from how it looks. It hurts you so much to see her like this. "Fluttershy, you need to talk to me. What happened to you?" You ask as you walk over and put your hoof on her shoulder. 

She lets out a loud squeak of fear. 

You quickly take your hoof off  her shoulder and wonder what else you can say or do to calm her down. 

She finally looks up at you with tears flowing from her eyes and says, "I was attacked." 

You become even more concerned as you draw closer to her and ask, "Who attacked you? Where did this happen?"

Fluttershy turns her head away from you and looks at the ground. "I did something really stupid," she says with guilt in her voice. 

You sit there on the floor and lower your head closer to hers. You whisper as gently as you can into her ear, "What did you do, Fluttershy? Please tell me. I won't be mad or upset." 

She wipes the tears from her eyes and says, "I ventured into the Everfree forest tonight." 

"The Everfree forest?" you gasp. "Fluttershy, don't you remember all the stories we were told in school about how dangerous that place is? Especially at night time! All kinds of dangerous animals come out at night." 

"I know," she replies. "I was just so curious about discovering new animal friends, ever since I got my cutie mark, that I couldn't help but explore."

"She got her cutie mark?" you think to yourself. As you look at her body, you see her cutie mark on her flank. You hadn't even noticed it since you were so concerned about all the cuts and marks on her body. You wonder what the story behind it means, but that can wait for another time. Right now comforting her is the top priority.

Fluttershy continues, "I went really far into the Everfree forest looking to discover new animal friends when these strange and fierce creatures started howling and chasing me."

You realize that those creatures must have been Timber wolves. 

"The creatures chased me for awhile. One of them managed to grab hold of my tail and pulled the hair out." 

You look and notice that a good chunk of her tail is missing.

"Soon I made it to a cliff and had no other choice but to try to jump across to the other side. I didn't make it. I tried to flap my wings, but they locked up from fear and I fell down. After that, the only thing I could think of was to run and see you." 

A tear forms in your eye as you are overcome with emotion from the fact that Fluttershy had thought to come see you in the moment of her distress.

Fluttershy looks around the room and notices that the floor is covered with hoof prints from the dirt she tracked in. "Oh my," she says. "I'm so sorry I made such a mess in your house. I'll clean it up and leave. I'm sorry for all the trouble." 

"Fluttershy, don't worry about it. I'll clean up the mess. Why don't you just relax and stay here for a while?" you say with a warm smile.

Fluttershy lets out a squeak. "You really mean that? I mean, of course I would love to stay if you wouldn't mind." 	
You can't help but grin from ear to ear and say, "Not at all Fluttershy. You are always welcome here. Now how about we get you cleaned up a bit? I'll get the bath water running and get you something to eat."

Fluttershy nods and goes to the tub. Once inside, she quickly relaxes and feels calmer. 

While in the kitchen, you go through various cabinets looking for something for her to eat. All you can find is the same old boring thing you eat every day, hay and oats. Upon looking in the fridge you find only one thing to eat, tomato soup with basil. That is a special treat that you have saved for yourself for tomorrow's supper. You want to eat this soup so badly, but you care more for Fluttershy and sacrifice your special meal in order to feed her. You will have to eat your same old boring meal of hay and oats again, but you know this will be worth it just to give Fluttershy something special. You put the meal down on the kitchen table and pour a tall glass of apple cider for her. When she comes out of the bathroom, you can't help but notice just how beautiful she is and it makes you happy to see that she has a smile on her face. 

She sits down at the table and thanks you for the meal. She eats the soup with a voracious appetite. 

You sit there in shock as she inhales the contents from the bowl. You would have never figured that such a shy and timid pegasus like her would devour food like that, but then again, you can only imagine how hungry, cold, and tired she must be after her traumatic night out in the forest. 

She gulps down her apple cider and smiles at you. "Thank you so much," she says. "That meal was absolutely delicious. I guess I'd better go now. I uh, just want to know if ummm, just maybe I could possibly..." Fluttershy's voice trails off as she looks at the ground. 

"Would you like to stay here for the night?" you ask. 

Fluttershy shoots up immediately and her big, beautiful eyes lock with yours. There's something about her eyes that gives her this filly-like innocence that seems magical. "Oh yes. That would be so wonderful if I could stay. I've had such a traumatic night and I'm just so scared to go back outside right now. You're the only pony I feel safe with." 

Those words melt your heart. She feels safe around you. You feel butterflies in your stomach at the simple thought of that. You notice Fluttershy shivering and go over and close the window. You then turn back to her and ask, "How would you like to warm up by the hearth, Fluttershy?" 

Fluttershy doesn't know what to say. She has never experienced such kindness before and simply nods gently in agreement. She walks over to the hearth and waits for you. 

While you are outside getting some wood together for the fire, your body protests with pain and fatigue. You do your best to ignore the symptoms and carry the wood back inside. 

Fluttershy watches you nervously as she hides behind a veil of her own mane.

Once the fire gets started, you sit next to the timid pegasus pony. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice that her damaged wing is shaking in pain. "Fluttershy, let me take care of that wing for you," You say to her.

Fluttershy turns her body slightly so you can't see the damaged wing and says, "Ummm, I'm ok. Really, I'm not hurting that bad." She gives you a nervous little grin. 

You know that her wing needs to be taken care of so you tell her, "Fluttershy, I know you're in pain, but I won't hurt you, I promise. Please let me try to help you." 

Fluttershy stares nervously at the ground and eventually turns her back to you exposing her wings. She hears you coming closer to her and squints her eyes shut. Her whole body starts shaking as if she were to anticipate the worst kind of pain imaginable. 

You touch one of her wings and she lets out a yelp in pain. "Eeeeep!" You can't help but laugh and say, "Hey Fluttershy, I only touched your good wing. Please relax and trust me. I promise I won't hurt you."

Fluttershy slowly spreads her wings out and lays down on the floor. 

You are no expert at massage, but you know a nice gentle massage would be good for both her wings right now as well as take away some of that stress and anxiety she has. You work your way across her wings being as gentle as you can. You notice her body tighten up at first, but then she relaxes as you rub her wings slowly and gently.

Fluttershy lets out a sigh and smiles.

"Does this feel good Fluttershy?" You ask her.

All you can hear is a soft moan from her, "Mmmm." 

You smile and say to her, "We'll have to work on your wings quite a bit if you're going to want to be flying well again. I can feel that there isn't a lot of muscle strength and that you have a lot of problems going on in there." 

Fluttershy does not object to your suggestion at all. 

You can tell that she's enjoying this sepcial treatment quite a bit. After you do your best, to work out all of the kinks and knots in her wings, you get back up and move closer to the fire. 

She also gets up and sits right next to you. 

You both stare into the fire for a while. It's a bit awkward between the both of you just sitting there with nothing being said. All you can hear is the pop-pop sounds of the fire burning. Finally, you remember to ask her how she got her cutie mark. 

Fluttershy tells you the whole story about how she fell from the clouds from the pegasus race and was caught by a bunch of butterflies. She explains to you about the explosion and the rainbow in the sky and how she found that she could communicate with the animals. Well, most of the animals that is. She doesn't yet know how to deal with some of the fierce creatures of the Everfree forest, but perhaps someday she will further her communication skills and will be able to talk to all the animals no matter how big or dangerous they are. When she finishes her story, Fluttershy leans in closer to you like she wants to whisper something in your ear, or even better, maybe she wants to kiss you. 

You both close your eyes as she leans in even closer. You've anticipated this moment so much and it is finally going to become a reality. You are going to get your first kiss! You can feel her breath against your neck, then suddenly you hear a soft sounding, "A-choo."

Fluttershy accidently sneezes in your face. She quickly backs away and says, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I uh, just happen to want to ummm...." Fluttershy can't manage to finish her sentence. She's blushing and embarrassed. 

You take your front leg and wipe the sneeze droplets off your face. You give a weak smile in return and say, "It's okay, Fluttershy. It looks like the fire is about to die out. Let me go see if I have any more wood in the back." You get up and leave Fluttershy there for a moment. Outside the house, you buck the air in frustration. You were so close to getting a kiss from the mare of your dreams. You look around for a bit, and to your disappointment, there is no more wood to keep the fire going. Feeling defeated you now go back inside the house. You are surprised to see Fluttershy curled up in a ball laying next to the hearth. You can see the orange glow in the hearth from a dying-down fire. Poor Fluttershy. She must have fallen asleep while waiting for you to come back. You can't let her sleep on the hard floor though. You gently nuzzle her to wake her up and say, "It's getting really late Fluttershy, and it's too cold for you to sleep on the floor here. You can sleep in my room." 

Fluttershy stares into your eyes again and says, "Oh that's so nice of you, but where are you going to sleep?"

"I'll just sleep down here on the couch. It's not a big deal to me," You tell her. "Come on, let's get you tucked into bed." You lead her past the hearth and begin to head up the stairs when you hear a faint squeak behind you. You turn around and see the yellow mare sitting back down with her head looking away. Confused, you ask her what's wrong. 

She doesn't make any eye contact with you. She simply stares at the floor and says, "I can't go upstairs. I'm too afraid."

You scratch your head with your hoof and ask her why she is so scared. 

Fluttershy looks up at you with tears in her eyes and says, "A long time ago, when you graduated from flight school, I was left alone with no one to protect me. Eventually, the other colts that used to bully me, realized that you were gone and started to tease me again. They would sneak up behind me with storm clouds and bucked them to make the lightning come out. It always scared me and I fell down the stairs many times. They laughed at how I had to use the special cloud stairwell for disabled pegasus ponies. I needed to use that stairwell because I was so scared of flying and I was a very weak flier at the time. One day while I was about to go down the stairs to my next class, that same group of colts came from behind me and laughed at me. They teased me, but I did my best to ignore them. They tried to use that lightning scare tactic on me, but I was prepared this time and I didn't fall down the stairs. One of them came up to me and bucked me very hard on my right wing. I fell down the stairs and I could hear them mocking me from a distance. My wing was injured and I was in so much pain. I ran to the nurse and sure enough, my wing was broken. It also turned out that my wing was damaged in such a way that I wouldn't be able to fly as strong or as well as I used to and I wasn't a very good flier to begin with. Ever since that day, I had become afraid of stairs." 

Hearing that story breaks your heart. You remember what those bullies looked like, but you can't remember their names. You're hurt, angry, and sad, all at the same time. You know that Fluttershy is a very sensitive pony that can easily be broken. You put your front leg around her neck and whisper in her ear, "It's ok, Fluttershy. That won't happen here. I know that you are scared right now, but you need to trust me. Here, I'll go up the stairs with you." 

Fluttershy looks up at you with loving eyes and says, "Just please promise me that you won't let go of me. I don't want to fall." 

You keep your front leg around her neck and pull her into your chest as you say to her, "I won't let you go." Together, you stand before the stairs. You put one hoof on the stairs and motion for her to do the same. 

She slowly puts her hoof on the same step, then squeaks out in fear as she quickly pulls it back like she has just split her hoof in half. 

"Don't be afraid Fluttershy," you reassure her. "Just take one step at a time. You can do this." 

Fluttershy nodded weakly and closed her eyes. She put her hoof back on the step and kept it there. 

"Good now just take another step, slowly." 

She does just that and soon you are both half way up the stairs. 

"Now just don't look back down, we're almost there." 

Fluttershy instinctively looks back down and lets out an "Eeeeep!" She freezes in place and closes her eyes. She's unwilling to move. There is no reasoning with her, she simply will not budge. 

You crouch down low to the stairs and tell her to hop up onto your back. 

Surprisingly, she does it. She wraps her front legs around your neck and burrows her head in your mane. 

You climb the stairs slowly and crouch back down to the floor when you reach the top. You gently wiggle your body and say, "Fluttershy it's ok now, we made it. You can get off my back now."

Fluttershy opens one eye to peek around to make sure it is safe and slowly lets go of you. 

You open the door to your room and gesture for her to enter. 

She enters with caution and climbs into the bed. 

You pull the quilt over her and tuck her in.

She smiles warmly at you and thanks you.

Before you turn to leave, you can't help but bend down and kiss her on top of her head. 

She blushes a little bit, but is grinning. She lifts her head up and gives you a quick peck on the cheek. "Good night and thank you so much for letting me stay here," She says. 

You wish her a good night as well and turn to leave. Before turning off the light you see that she has already drifted off to sleep. You smile as you watch her sleep so peacefully for a moment and then leave. You plop down on the couch exhausted and in pain. Today was stressful for you. Nothing ever happens around where you live and taking in all of this in one night, leaves you more tired than you expected. You quickly nod off to sleep in no time.