Before they had parted the week before, Karyn and Derpy had agreed to meet up early in the morning the next time, so as to avoid the trouble of alerting Karyn’s parents to Derpy’s presence or, which would be worse, having one of them be in the room when Derpy appeared. So it was that at daybreak, Karyn, already awake, showered, and dressed, welcomed her friend in only mildly hushed tones.
“How have you been this past week?” she asked.
“Just great. But oh, that Muffinhead.”
“What is he doing now?”
Derpy flew up on Karyn’s bed and posed like a cat. “He stands by the window whenever I’m at work, and as soon as I come into view he tears around the house like I’ve just returned from a twenty-year journey. Then, as soon as we’ve settled down and had dinner, he goes to the basement door and paws at it”
“Wait, you have a basement?”
“It’s really more of a crawlspace, but it’s clean. Anyway, Muffinhead really wants to go down there, but I don’t want to let him so he starts getting insistent, meowing until I open the door. And when it’s finally open, he just sits there and doesn’t go down!”
Karyn laughed. “Maybe you have rats or mice down there?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve never seen one at least. But anyway, I think he just can’t stand a closed door. Maybe he thinks that there’s something cool behind it, but you’d figure that once he’s seen that there’s nothing, that would satisfy him. Nope, he’s right back the next day, pawing and screaming to be let back down.”
“Have you let him out yet?”
“Just once, yesterday. I kept a close eye on him the whole time to make sure he didn’t get lost. But he didn’t try to get away. He just munched on the grass, so I joined him in that,” said Derpy.
“That’s funny. Most humans who have cats, they don’t want them eating the grass. They usually bring it up later on, which damages the rugs. Anyway, it sounds like you two are really growing close. I’d like to see how he’s doing.”
“Just what I was about to suggest. He’ll be so glad that I’m not gone all day. Hop on and we’ll go.”
Derpy jumped down from the bed and knelt down so that Karyn could throw a leg over her back. She wasted no time in teleporting to Equestria and hitting ground. She let Karyn off and they walked at a slow pace toward Derpy’s house.
“I try not to sneak up on him,” said Derpy. “One time I just flew above and landed right on the doorstep. Muffinhead thought that it was some kind of intruder, and he was ready to attack. I think I still have the scratch.”
“You’ve got to remember that he was a stray. He’s not used to trusting people, and it’s probably even weirder with ponies. He grew up without magic, and to his instincts, flying creatures were food, not friends.”
They approached from the side, trying to be as conspicuous as possible. As soon as Derpy opened the latch, the tornado called Muffinhead became visible.
“Yes, little one, Mommy’s home. Aw, who’s a good kitty?” Derpy said as she picked up and hugged the cat.
After she set him down, he bounced over to Karyn and sniffed her. His expression said, “Oh, it’s you again. I suppose that if Mommy tolerates you then so must I, but try not to be around too often and stay out of my way.”
Derpy clopped her hooves on the ground and charged after Muffinhead, who ran around the room as it he were really being chased. Then Derpy found a foil ball and threw it across the room, where he batted it around like a hockey puck. Once it came back to her, she passed it to Karyn and asked if she wanted to try. She waved it in Muffinhead’s face a few times to get his attention, then fired it across the room.
He didn’t move.
Again he shot Karyn a condescending expression. It seemed to ask, “What are you? Stupid? What am I supposed to do with that?”
Once more, Derpy picked up the ball and tossed it, and immediately he went back to his orange streak mode. He made a tight curve around the sofa and lost his balance. Tripping all over himself, he came to a stop at Karyn’s feet.
“Aw, the poor thing,” she said. Hesitantly she picked him up. Whether it was the damage he had suffered or the loss of dignity, he allowed her to cradle him and looked into her eyes. She saw that his one eye remained closed.
“That’s right, we could never fix that. You’re still only a one-eyed kitty,” Karyn said. “No depth perception, so you’ve got to be careful when running around.”
“He’ll be fine,” said Derpy. “I’ll train him in how to walk around with less than perfect sight.”
“I still feel bad for him though. I guess it’s more that he has this puss face that you can’t help feeling sorry for, even though I know that he’s physically able.”
“He’s such an active cat, though. I hope he’s eating enough. He’s still so thin. I want him to put on a little weight so that he’ll be healthy.”
“Yeah. . .” Karyn snapped her fingers. “Hey, why don’t you take him to see Fluttershy?”
“But I tried putting him with her twice, and he kept running away.”
“No, I just mean to see if she can tell you how to best care for him, make him eat, keep him out of trouble with the eye and all.”
Muffinhead started squirming in Karyn’s arms, so she passed him back to Derpy. “That could be a good idea.”
“Plus I’d love to meet her. I’ve met so many of the other Mane 6.”
“The what now?”
Karyn blinked. “That’s right, you wouldn’t know them by that name. The bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”
Derpy still stared at her.
“Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow,” said Karyn.
“Oh! Yeah. I guess they are. You’ve got to remember that all of that was a long time ago. Not that we aren’t grateful to them for saving us from eternal night or pure chaos, but those are old battles.”
They packed up and Derpy took a firm grip of Muffinhead. Once they were outside, Derpy took to the air and hovered about ten feet above Karyn.
“He gets antsy when outside, so if I want to take him somewhere this usually keeps him out of trouble. And if he does get away, it’s not so far that he can’t land safely.”
The walk to the outskirts of Ponyville where Fluttershy’s cottage stood was long, and Karyn thought once or twice about asking Derpy to carry her the rest of the way. She soldiered on, though, and made it with nothing but some sore feet. Derpy came in for a landing and let Muffinhead down. He looked around, but seeing a kind of perimeter in which all the animals stayed, he held his ground. Derpy knocked on the door.
“Just a minute,” came Fluttershy’s soft voice. When she opened the door, she first noticed Muffinhead on the stoop before raising her eyes. “Hello, Derpy. It’s certainly nice to see you again. Is something wrong with—“ she cut herself off as she saw Karyn.
“That’s right,” said Derpy. “You haven’t met. Karyn, this is Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Karyn.”
Fluttershy had taken to the air and backed off. Her friendly look had turned into one of fear. “A h-h-hu. . . “
“Human.”
“Keep your hands to yourself!” Fluttershy spread her wings as if to protect her home and her animal friends.
“Fluttershy, you don’t have to be afraid,” said Derpy. “Karyn’s not mean or harmful at all. We’ve had lots of fun and she’s always been as sweet as can be.”
Karyn knew that Fluttershy was always nervous, but wondered if there was any reason for her strong reaction. Perhaps, she thought, Lyra’s human hasn’t been nice to her. “Please, Miss Fluttershy, I’d like to be your friend. We came here to see if you can’t help us better learn how to take care of Muffinhead.”
Fluttershy advanced slightly, as if believing that no one who cared for animals could be all bad, but still maintained a strong sense of personal space around Karyn.
“All right, come in,” she said. She happily welcomed Derpy and Muffinhead, but took out a disinfectant spray and used it on the end of the couch, then pointed toward it. Karyn took the hint.
“So anyway,” said Derpy, “Muffinhead only has one eye, and while we were playing with him he tumbled into the couch because he can’t see properly. We were wondering if you had any suggestions on how to keep him safe.”
Fluttershy thought about it for a moment. “You’ve got to remember that cats are very independent. He’s going to want to play with you, and if he does get hurt, he’s going to want to lick his wounds on his own.”
“But I can’t stand to see him in pain.”
Just then, Angel Bunny hopped up on the couch where Karyn was sitting. He looked at Muffinhead and backed off, but nestled next to Karyn. She tentatively stroked his fur. Fluttershy watched from the corner of her eye.
“I know you feel that way. I do too, about all my animals. But remember too that he’s a kitten. He’s very rambunctious at this point. Soon enough, another year or two, and he’ll settle down and know his limitations.”
Angel Bunny was sniffing at Karyn’s hand. Perhaps because he had never seen a finger before and thought it was a carrot, or perhaps because he was just a mean rabbit, he bit down hard. Karyn yelped and stood up. Shaking her hand wildly, Angel flew off and landed in the corner.
As Karyn was sucking on her finger to relieve the pain, Fluttershy reacted with horror and flew toward her face.
Her eyes opened wide, her eyebrows arched, and white lines seemed to radiate from her head. Karyn had just become subject to The Stare.
“Excuse me, Miss interloper-from-another-world. You do NOT throw my beloved Angel around the room. I knew that you would be trouble from the moment you set foot in here. Angel might have a concussion, and you’re worried about a little nibble. You’re nothing but a big MEANIE!”
“Fluttershy!” Derpy screamed. “Stop it!”
Fluttershy finally came out of her rage and returned to her normal look. She turned toward Derpy and said, “Oh, my. I’m so sorry. I saw Angel hit the wall and just lost it. You know that I can’t control myself when that happens.”
“Well, you should apologize to Karyn, not to me.”
“Of course. I’m sorry, I—“
Both pegasi looked at Karyn. She had curled into a ball, clutching her knees to her chest. Her skin had gone white. Her pupils and dilated and she was not moving her head.
“Hey. Karyn, you OK?” said Derpy.
Karyn gave no indication that she had heard anything or that she was aware of her surroundings at all.
“Fluttershy, I think you broke her!”
“Oh, my. I had no idea she would react that way. I mean, she’s a human, a monster just like any dragon or cockatrice, and I’ve stared down both of those.”
Derpy shook her head. “Fluttershy, humans aren’t monsters. They’re regular people like you and me. Anyway, un-stare her and wake her up.”
“Un-stare? I’ve never had to do that. I don’t even know what’s wrong with her.”
“Well, what are we going to do? What am I going to tell her parents?”
“You know her parents?” asked Fluttershy.
“No, but if I can’t bring their daughter back, I’m going to have to explain everything to them. Oh, this was a mistake.”
“Well, let’s not panic just yet. Maybe Twilight Sparkle can help. We always go to her when there’s a problem.”
Derpy perked up. “Yeah, she’s really smart. Let’s go see her.”
Fluttershy maneuvered Karyn into a slumping position on Derpy’s back. Grateful for her no-fall spell, Derpy took off and they all headed for the library. She called over her shoulder, “Muffinhead, you stay here and make friends with Angel Bunny. We’ll be back soon enough. I hope!”
The two pets looked at each other. Angel rubbed his paws. Muffinhead looked worried.
The knock that Derpy gave to the door of the library was the kind of rapid, urgent sound that gets people to the door all the sooner. Twilight Sparkle rushed down from her perch on the second floor and threw it open.
“Fluttershy, Derpy. What’s wrong?”
“It’s Derpy’s friend Karyn,” said Fluttershy. “I think I accidentally hurt her.”
“She used The Stare,” said Derpy. “She was afraid that Karyn was hurting Angel Bunny—which she totally wasn’t!—and then Karyn came over like this.”
Twilight poked Karyn’s limp form with a hoof and lifted up her arm, which promptly dropped down. She turned back to Derpy and Fluttershy.
“She’s catatonic for some reason. She had a bad reaction to Fluttershy’s power.”
“Can you bring her out of it?” asked Derpy.
“I can try, but don’t get your hopes up.” Twilight tried a few spells, but none seemed to have any effect on Karyn. She adopted her lecture tone. “The problem is that everypony, even those who aren’t unicorns, has their own kind of magic. Rainbow Dash has her sonic rainboom, Applejack has her strength and endurance, Pinkie Pie has. . . well, you know some of the things she does. And Fluttershy has the Stare. If it were actual unicorn magic, I could analyze it. But since it’s not, it’s much more mysterious.”
Everypony hung silent for a moment, then from up above came a loud and triumphant voice. “A-ha! It seems we have a sleeping beauty! Does she need a kiss from the prince to wake her?”
“Spike!” all three mares yelled at once.
“Sorry,” he said, “I was just trying to lighten the mood.”
“Nice cover attempt,” Twilight said. “We all know that you were looking to get some makeout time with Karyn while she can’t fight back, you creepy weirdo. Now go stalk Rarity or whoever you’re into this week.”
Spike stomped out of the library.
“So anyway, what can we do to fix her?” said Derpy.
“I’m honestly not sure,” said Twilight.” We could call the doctor, but he probably wouldn’t know anything about human physiology. Maybe you could take her to a human doctor?”
Derpy put her hoof to her head and thought about it. Fluttershy said, “Even if you could, if it was something pegasus-related that put her in this state, they wouldn’t know what to do either.”
“If the only way to treat her is to have a human doctor who understands the problem, we’re just going to have to show ourselves to one of them and explain,” said Derpy.
“We can’t do that,” said Twilight. “As callous as this sounds, one person isn’t worth risking our whole world. Princess Celestia specifically told us to keep the human world ignorant of us.”
“But then what are we going to do?! We can’t leave her like this either. Oh, this is all my fault. I’m going to have to drop her off at home and cross my hooves that everything is all right? This is worse than if I had killed her!”
“Derpy, don’t panic!”
“Why shouldn’t I panic? What if she’s in pain and can’t express it? What if she’s going to get worse?”
Fluttershy stepped up. “Twilight, maybe I can calm her down.”
“No!” said Derpy. “Keep your eyes to yourself.”
“I wasn’t going to stare at you. I just want to say that we have a lot of things to try yet. Let’s take her back to my cottage and put her to bed. She might just need sleep or food or some other kind of care. If none of that works, well, maybe then we can start worrying.”
Derpy agreed. Like a funeral procession, they marched through town with Karyn on Derpy’s back. When they reached the cottage, Fluttershy wrapped up Karyn in a blanket and brewed some tea. Karyn didn’t pay attention to it, but at least the steam seemed to warm her up and put color back in her cheeks.
“Twilight, you keep an eye on her for a few minutes,” said Fluttershy. “I have to feed some of my animals.”
When she was out of earshot, Derpy whispered to Twilight, “I really can’t believe how unfeeling she’s being. I still think she doesn’t like Karyn because she’s human.”
“Derpy, she’s not like that, and she’s not being unfeeling. I’ve known her longer and better than you have. She’s beating herself up inside, and the only thing that’s stopping her from showing her emotions is that there’s someone here who needs care. As soon as she comes back, I’m sure she’s going to throw herself into helping.”
When Twilight and Derpy finished that exchange, they looked back at Karyn and saw an interesting lump under her blanket. Twilight was confused, but Derpy immediately recognized it.
“Muffinhead, come out of there! Karyn’s not feeling well.” Derpy bit the blanket and opened it to reveal the ginger cat curled up in Karyn’s lap.
She reached out with her hooves to remove him, but Twilight said, “Look!”
“What?” But then Derpy saw. Karyn’s hand was moving back and forth, stroking Muffinhead on his head. Other than that, nothing was happening. The cat squirmed out from the hand, which just kept moving. He climbed up Karyn’s body and started licking her face.
Her breathing became deeper. She blinked her eyes a few times. She shook her head and woke up. “Oh, Muffinhead!” she said, and kept petting him as he continued to lick her face.
“Karyn, you’re all right,” said Derpy.
Tears were streaming down her face as she continued to fumble with the little cat. Finally she turned toward the sound. “Derpy!” she screamed, and she threw her arms around Derpy in an embrace. Derpy was so surprised that she maintained her balance only by flying up, which brought Karyn to a standing position.
Twilight said, “We’re so glad you’re awake. Fluttershy used The Stare on you inadvertently. What was it like?”
Karyn was still sobbing, and she sat back down. Derpy sat alongside her. “It was awful. I saw Fluttershy’s eyes, and all of a sudden this feeling built in me, like I’d done something so horribly wrong. Like guilt, only ramped up a thousand times. And I knew that I could never take it back, that I’d hurt someone, and that nothing I could do would ever make up for it. And I knew it was wrong, too. It’s like, most people, most of the time, when they do something wrong, they have an excuse to justify it, but I couldn’t latch on to any rationalization. Every time I tried to think, there was a voice saying that I was evil and I knew it. I wanted to kill myself, but even then the voice said that I didn’t deserve to, because it would ease my suffering. I don’t know if the voice was Fluttershy’s or my own.”
“But what about—“
“Twilight,” said Derpy. “Don’t ask her any more questions. She’s been through a rough enough time as is.”
“Yes, all right. But no pony or animal has ever reacted that way. I wonder why she did.”
Karyn recovered a little and took a deep breath. “I don’t know for sure,” she said, “but you’ve got to remember that there are a lot of bad things in the human world, things that we can be guilty of. Our sense of guilt might be tuned higher than yours.”
Fluttershy came back into the room. Karyn cringed a little when she saw her, but didn’t recoil.
“I heard everything,” Fluttershy said, “and I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I had no idea that would happen. If I did, I would have controlled my temper more.”
“No, it’s my fault,” said Karyn. “I shouldn’t have let a little pain get to me like that. I’m so sorry. How’s Angel Bunny? Is he all right?”
“Oh, he wasn’t hurt, not anything like what I did to you. I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“No, I’m just as sorry as you.”
Derpy and Twilight looked at each other. “I guess they’re kind of kindred spirits after all,” said Twilight.
Fluttershy and Karyn kept apologizing to one another until finally Fluttershy said, “All right, it’s nopony’s fault, really, but now that I understand about humans, it’ll never happen again.”
“Well, I suppose that’s all right,” said Karyn.
“I guess I just assumed that you were just a pony that walked on two legs, but you’re not.”
“Exactly.”
Fluttershy brightened up. “You’re more like the cows and the sheep of Equestria. You can talk, but you’re really just Derpy’s pet, and I’m always willing to take care of a pet.”
Derpy’s jaw dropped. “No, Fluttershy, it’s nothing like that—“
“Oh, you don’t have to be ashamed,” said Fluttershy. “I know how attached anypony can get to a pet, and Karyn sure is a cute one.”
Derpy was speechless. She turned to Twilight to see if she could explain better, but the unicorn was too busy laughing.
Fluttershy was patting Karyn on the head with a wing. “Now you be a good little human and do everything that Derpy Hooves tells you to do, and nothing bad like this will ever happen again. OK?”
Karyn laughed and shook her head. “I promise, Fluttershy,” she said, but she was looking at Derpy when she said it.