A Bad Day to Fish

by FlashKenshin77

3 - First Day in Pony Land

Fluttershy hid behind Mike as much as possible, avoiding the other ponies stares as she gave him directions to her cottage. After walking to the other side of town, they came to a small path near the forest that they had fallen in. The entire area seems to be like it was out of a fairy tale, animals running around the entire place. The cottage itself was surprisingly large; two stories, a few windows dotting the exterior. The walls were made of oak while the roof seemed to be thatched, with a chimney off the right side. The windows were open and various animals traveled through them.
"Wow… it's so nice here…" Mike turned to look at the shy pegasus. "Do you take care of all of them?" He whispered. He had learned not to talk above a whisper around her.
"Y-yes…" She hid behind her mane as she walked up to the two story cottage.
"I'm impressed… it must be hard taking care of all these animals. I use to help my friend take care of their animals too." He chuckled. "It was fun."
She paused as she went to open the door and turned to look at him. "W-well it's my s-special talent." She said with a small smile.
He looked at her confused, till she blushed and showed her flank, it had three purple and pink butterflies on it. "Oh… so that’s what those mean; it says what you're good at?" He asked, his face flushed as he looked at her.
She nodded slightly before opening the door slowly. She walked into her cottage and held the door open for him. He bent down, paying attention to the door frame and walked deliberately, careful not to bother any of the staring animals. The floors and walls covered in various cages. "Wow… that’s a lot more than I thought…" He stared at them as they stared at him.
"Well… I-I care for them… mostly those that are ill or injured." She said quietly.
"That’s awesome… so you're a vet, so to speak?"
"Umm… no… I'm just their friend." She whispered, hiding behind her mane.
"Oh… I'm sorry for assuming." He rubbed the back of his neck. "So… what would you like me to do?"
"I-I was g-going to feed the animals… if you want… you-you could help…" She looked at him briefly before staring at the floor, her voice getting quieter by the end.
"Sure… just tell me where and how much and I'll try my best." He said, trying to reassure her with a small smile.
She walked to the back door and opened it, revealing a small garden. All the animals watched him as he followed her out back and towards a small shed. The animals noticed her and happily said hello, several birds landed on her back and head before seeing her companion and grew quiet, staring at him.
"Hello… it's time for lunch… are you all hungry?" She asked the animals with a smile. Her shyness seemed to go away and he noticed that she seemed happy when talking to her animals.
He stepped back slightly as all the animals stared at him. "I… I umm… don’t think they'd let me feed them just yet…" He said.
A baby bird slowly hopped to him, ruffling its light blue feathers as it stared at him from the ground. He bent down slowly, the bird watching him intently. He held out a shaky finger and the bird looked at it for a moment before hopping on it. Fluttershy smiled and went into the shed as he smiled at his new friend.
"Hey, I made a new friend." He said quietly chuckling as he followed Fluttershy.
"This… this is the storeroom… if you don’t mind… maybe you could help me umm carry the seeds for the chickens?" She asked, hoofing at the ground as she blushed.
"Of course." He said, bending down and let the bird wander on the ground as he picked up the chicken feed. This seemed to be a lot lighter than he would’ve thought. "Lead the way." He said, easily carrying the bag.
She led him out of the shed and started walking around her chicken coop, telling him where to throw the seeds. As soon as he finished, several chickens gathered and started to eat.
She looked at him. "Umm… now we need to feed the rabbits and Angel… if you want to still help that is…"
"Sure I'll help, let me just take this chicken feed back. I mean, if you still want me to?" He looked at her and she nodded. He bent down and picked up the bag before making his way back to the shed and stored it away. He walked back, the animals still staring at him as he walked by. "So what would you like me to do?" He asked when he got back.
She hesitantly scrapped her left forehoof against the ground. "W-we'll have to go get some lettuce for the rabbits… And I have to make a salad for Angel… the lettuce is over there." She pointed at a small patch of lettuce.
"Would you like me to get the lettuce?"
"Umm… you'd need tools… there back in the shed, I'm sorry." She whispered.
"There's no need to be, let me go grab them." He gave her a small smile and briskly walked back to the shed before returning with a handful of tools. "If that’s all, then I'll be over there if you need me." He said, waiting for a response. She nodded and he walked over to the small patch and stared at the tools. "Should've known they were hoof operable…"
He watched as Fluttershy went into the cottage and he saw her walk around the kitchen, usually carrying things on her back. As he worked, a small white bunny hopped up to him and watched him for a minute before Mike noticed it. He looked up and it glared at him.
They stared at each other before Mike coughed. "So you must be the mysterious Angel that I keep hearing about? Nice to meet you, my name is Michael."
Angel turned around kicked dirt in his face, the dirt pelting his glasses and getting into his eyes. He covered his eyes and yelped. "I only have one of those!" The demon bunny hopped away quickly.
As Mike tried to get the dirt out of his eye enough to see, he heard Fluttershy squeak. "Angel, there you are…" She said and nuzzled the rabbit before he appeared on the window sill. "I made you some lovely salad." She whispered.
He sighed and finally could see, everything had a blur to it. "That hurt…" He muttered as he tried not to butcher cutting the lettuce. He continued to cut the lettuce, blinking a lot to try and get the remaining dirt out of his eye. "Stupid rabbit…"
After a good hour or so, he finished cutting the lettuce, wiping sweat off his brow. He went to get up and saw that he had an audience; thirty two rabbits were watching him, hungrily staring at the lettuce. "Oh dear…" He muttered as he scooped up the lettuce and tore off a small slice before holding it in front of one of the rabbits. "Want some?"
The rabbit looked at it briefly before the entire group pounced and knocked him over, desperately trying to get to the lettuce. They start chewing on it, sometimes biting and scratching him in the process. "Oh god!" He yelped in pain as they continued to bite him. "Hey! I'm not lettuce you know!" After they finished the lettuce, they scurried away. "Well…" he looked down and noticed he was covered in bites and bleeding scratch marks, some rather large for small rabbits.
A gasp behind him made him jump. "Oh I'm so sorry… they're not usually like that… Please forgive me…" Fluttershy ran over to him and looked at him, her eyes full of worry.
He gave her a small smile. "I'm alright; I've had worse… don’t won't worry about it… Just do have some water? I got dirt in my eye and I wanted to wash it out… I mean, if it isn't too much trouble…"
She ignored him and ran back inside, grabbing a first aid kit before coming back and gently grabbing his arm. "Let me handle those cuts…" He blushed as she gently held his hand, wrapping it and his arms with bandages.
He sighed and sat down, giving her easier access to some of the cuts. "It's not that big of a deal…"
"You poor thing…" She whispered as she looked at a particularly deep cut. A few minutes later, she finished and most of his arms were wrapped in bandages. "Anything else hurt?" She asked, briefly looking over his arms, legs, and face. She noticed that he had dirt on his glasses and around his eyes. "Oh my… let me get you some water." She glided back inside and came back with a little bucket and a towel.
"Thanks Fluttershy… and I'm ok." He said as he grabbed the towel and dipped it into the bucket.
"No you're not, I can see that there's dirt in your eyes…"
He paused, letting the towel float in the water and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah… I wasn’t paying attention and got some in when I was digging up the lettuce." Before he could grab it again, she took it from the bucket and stood in front of him.
"Could you um… take your glasses off… so I can wipe your eyes?" She asked, blushing.
"Oh…um… sure." He said, his face red as he took his glasses off and let her get closer, her face mere inches away from his.
She started to gently wipe the towel across his face, careful not to poke him in the eye with the towel. He sighed in relief as the water washed the dirt out. "Thanks Fluttershy…" He whispered, startling her.
She jumped and squeaked as she fell forward, and accidently poked him in the right eye. "Oh! I'm so sorry…"
He caught her and kept her steady. "No worries, I do it all the time."
She blushed and went back to wiping. She noticed that his right eye looked slightly different than his left. "What's wrong with your right eye? I mean… if you want to tell me."
He coughed and wished she couldn't see his face as he blushed. "Well… that one is fake..." He muttered as quiet as she does.
Her eyes widen in disbelief. "You only have one eye?"
"Yeah…" He poked it a few times, every time she gasped and tried to stop him. "It's plastic… I lost it a long time ago."
"How did you lose your eye… poor thing…" She looked at him sadly.
"…I had cancer…" He minutely answered.
She looked even more confused. "What is cancer… if you don’t mind me asking?"
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "It's a mutation in the cells that usually causes a whole bunch of internal problems. If they wouldn’t have caught mine in time, I would've been blind." He looked at her sadly.
She was lost in her thoughts as she stared at him before blinking and blushing. "Thank Celestia you're not." She said with a smile.
He smiled back. "Yeah… it could've been a lot worse."
They smiled at each other as he put his glasses back on after cleaning them, the dirt gone. Suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh no… I forgot to bring Applejack food for Winona…" She quickly rushed into the storeroom and grabbed a small bag that was placed on a nearby shelf.
"Winona?" He asked, watching her.
She came trotting out, carrying it in her mouth. "Applejack's little dog; I take care of it every now and again." She glided into the cottage and got her saddle bags, dropping the food into one of its pockets. She put it on and adjusted it, the bags hanging off her sides before she made her way back to Mike and shuffled her hooves. "Michael… if you want to… um… you can… can come with me, if you want to." She said, hiding behind mane again.
He stood up and stretched." Sure, I'll tag along…if you don’t mind. Probably get to see what Applejack has Martin doing." Pain flared up on the right side. "Stupid rib." He muttered, holding his side. Thought it got healed…
She looked at him, concerned. "Don’t get yourself hurt even more… you should take it easy…"
"I'm ok…" He glanced at her. "So... um… mind leading the way?"
She nodded and walked towards the small dirt path, walking over the little bridge. He quickly caught up to her.
"So does she live far?"
She stared at the ground, avoiding eye contact. "Umm… yes… she lives on the other side of Ponyville, its maybe a half hour walk… we can have a break on the way if you need one…"
"No, I'm ok… just curious how big this place is…" He trailed off, looking away from her.
The journey was quiet as they walked along the perimeter of the village, avoiding most of the congested streets. Every now and then she'd glance at him, making sure he was alright and every time he noticed and looked back at her, she would quickly look away. As they traveled, he finally got a good look at the village; he soon realized it was more of a town, organized the same way. The few ponies they did come across, stared at him and he blushed.
With every passing minute there were less and less buildings surrounding them until they reached the edge of town. All that could be seen were endless apple trees everywhere. They were somehow planted in neat rows, stretching against the sky. The apples resting in the trees were blood red; better looking than any apple he had seen on Earth.
Mike stared in amazement. "That's… a lot of apples… and you say Applejack takes care of all these by herself? That's incredible… and they look delicious."
Fluttershy giggled before blushing and looked at the ground. "Um… she doesn’t take care them alone; her brother Big Mac and little sister Applebloom help her, but she does work a lot…" She said.
"Oh… well, that's good that she doesn’t try and do it all by herself."
"She actually did try once… it didn’t end so well, but it doesn’t matter to her. She's proud to be part of the Apple Family..." She said with a small smile, glancing at him.
He looked down and smiled at her. "I'm glad she has something to be proud of… I have to say these are the best looking apples I've ever seen…"
"Well Ah'm glad ta hear that!" A voice that was quickly familiar yelled.
They both looked over and saw AJ, leaning against a white fence that surrounded the barn. Martin was sitting on the fence next to her, cutting chunks out of an apple with his knife.
Martin looked up. "Hey mate!" He said, putting a small piece in his mouth.
Mike waved. "Hey, how's it going? Apple looks good."
Martin hopped off the fence and walked over, Fluttershy nervously taking a few steps back, hiding behind Mike. "It's goin' good, how's the rib?"
"It's good, almost good as new." Mike chuckled.
Martin laughed. "I'm sure it is… want a piece?" He asked, holding a chunk of the apple on his knife.
"Sure, looks delicious."
Martin tilted the knife and Mike took the chunk and started to eat it. "So what have you been up to at Fluttershy's?" He asked, looking at the yellow pegasus.
"Wow… this is really good and just helping her with her friends."
Martin looked at him, slightly confused before he remembered. "Ah… course. AJ told me bout her animals. Must have- Jesus; what happened to your arms?" He asked, just noticing the bandages.
Mike coughed. "Yeah… those rabbits get slightly crazy when you don’t give them their lettuce."
His eyebrow rose. "Rabbits? Oh well, nothing compared to having a tree fall on your arm." He said, pulling his shirt sleeve up and revealed blood soaked bandages on his upper arm. "Happens when ya kick the trees the wrong way!" He chuckled, letting his sleeve fall back down.
Mike shook his head. "You know, we've been here for a day and I don’t think this planet likes us already."
Martin laughed. "Yep, but I really like it here… I don’t know about you but I'm a fan of physical work… like chopping down trees."
"Hehe… I like it here too, it's so peaceful and I like the animals… maybe when my rib is healed, I can help chop down some trees too…"
"Ah can always need a helpin' hoof on the farm!" AJ said with a huge smile. "But don’t get yerself hurt like Martin… Ah'm no doctor but Ah'm sure that arm needs to be looked at." She looked at his tattered sleeve.
"Umm… Applejack, I umm… I brought Winona some food." Fluttershy finally said, reaching into her saddle bag and hoofed it over to AJ.
"Well that’s mighty considerate of ya sugarcube. Ah almost fergot to ask too." AJ said.
Martin looked over at AJ. "So what now? Are we done for the day?"
"Eeyup, just got ta get Big Mac to replant the tree ya knocked over but besides that, we're finished." She said as she pointed to your arm. "Ya should get that looked at…"
"You're right… that is my sword arm after all, I really need that." Martin said as looked at his broken arm.
"Sword arm; ya fence?" AJ asked.
"I used to but I mostly fight with medieval warfare weapons like axes, maces, hammers, and broadswords."
"Oh… well, even more reason ta get it checked out."
"Yeah… how bout now?"
Mike looked at Martin. "You wanna go see the doctor? Like this very minute?"
He nodded with a huge grin on his face.
Mike chuckled. "Well have fun with that."
"Oh I will." He said, flicking his wrist and the blade disappeared and he put it in his pocket. "So… AJ, you're coming with me right; since I have no idea how to get there." He asked the cowpony.
She laughed and smacked his back with a hoof. "Sure, Ah've been needin' ta get some more bandages and wraps. Let me go put Winona's food away. What bout you two?" She asked, looking at Mike and Fluttershy.
Fluttershy and Mike looked at each other before blushing and looked away. "I was going to go to the market… if you want to come with me… Michael… only if you want to…" She whispered, digging a small hole with her forehoof. She glanced up and looked at him.
His face turned the same color as a cherry. "Uh… sure… if you wouldn’t mind my company." He muttered.
Martin elbowed him in the gut. "I see you're making friends with somepony…" He said, wiggling his eyebrows.
Mike glared at him. "Not really… and what bout you cowboy?"
His grin disappeared and he blushed slightly. "…Uh… touché…"
Fluttershy slowly walked back towards the town before she paused. "…Um… Michael, if you want to come with me to the market, I mean only if you want to… I'm heading there now…" She whispered, hoofing at the ground again.
"Uh… sure." He said, looking at Martin. "See ya later and if you see that nurse that healed me that I said thanks?" He started to make his way towards Fluttershy.
"Will do mate… I'm sure the two of you will have a lovely day." Martin said as AJ and he watched them walk through the gate.
He grinned at them. "Same to you!" He waved goodbye as they disappeared behind a hill, heading back into town.
"Ah'm surprised he got her ta talk to him so easily… usually she's very shy to everypony." AJ said.
Martin glanced at her. "From what I've seen so far, I'm wondering as well…" He started walking towards the gate. "Well, let's get crackin'."
She caught up to him as they made their way to town. "Eeyup, we got a busy rest of the day." She led the way. "The hospital is back towards Twilight's house but we take a left instead of a right at the Quills and Sofas."
They made the rest of the trip to the hospital mostly in silence, Martin asking AJ a few things here and there. When they got there, Nurse Redheart immediately recognized them and sighed before looking at Martin's arm; he had broken his arm. She led him into the operating room and quickly realigned his bone, having to cut open his skin to make sure she did it correctly. She sewed him back up and popped his shoulder back into place and wrapped the stitches. She woke him up and put his arm in a sling, telling him not to use it for the next two weeks or so.
He nodded his agreement and thanked her before walking to the lobby as AJ stood there, several boxes of bandages and wraps on her back. He took them and held them as they made their way back to the farm, AJ and Martin having a nice little debate what was better, apple pie or apple fritters.

=

The trip to the market, on the other hand, was relatively quiet, neither wanted to bother the other. Fluttershy led him around the area, introducing him to several ponies that she frequently went to. They all smiled at her and introduced themselves to him; there was Carrot Top, Berry Punch, and this strange mint colored unicorn that had a lyra or a harp as her Cutie Mark. She stared at him until he turned pink and asked why she was staring at him. Needless to say, she rattled off questions faster than Pinkie and Twilight combined. Fluttershy came to the rescue, asking him to help her hold her supplies since she didn’t have enough room in her saddle bags. She told this Lyra Heartstrings that he can answer questions tomorrow and he has another human here.
As they left the market area, Mike couldn’t stop thanking her, causing her face to turn the color of strawberries and to conceal herself with her mane.As he was thanking her, he didn’t notice a small orange filly riding a scooter down the street and they crashed right into a cart, destroying it. Fluttershy rushed over as he lay in the cart; splinters, cuts, and bruises covered his body. The little filly was unharmed and blushed as she realized what happened before zipping away on her scooter. Fluttershy unfortunately had to pay for the damages, considering he didn’t have any bits.
After he gathered her groceries again, she walked he limped, back to her cottage. When they got there, he vowed to pay her back the bits he owed her.

=

The sun was giving way to the moon, the orange and blue of night mixing to form a beautiful sunset. Mike staggered his way to the library, the warm night air made him even more exhausted than he already was. He opened the door and saw Martin sitting on the couch, his right arm wrapped in bandages and in a sling. He looked up and sighed in exhaustion. "Hey mate…"
He waved at him tiredly, his right eye swollen and his bottom lip bloody. "Hey…" Mike plopped on the couch. "It's been a long day… so what did the nurse say bout the arm?"
He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah… she said that I should be glad I can keep the arm. The wound was infected and the cleaning was very unpleasant and painful. Now I can't use it for at least two damn weeks." He sighed.
"Well… at least you can keep your arm; it's not that bad eh?"
"I guess… all I want to do now is sleep." He stretched onto the couch, his feet dangling off the arm rest. "How was the market?"
Mike sighed as he took off his glasses and winced in pain. "It was ok… till a pegasus crashed into me and we tumbled through a cart… that hurt like hell."
"Was it a little bright orange one on a scooter?" He asked curiously.
"Actually yeah… crazy little devil wasn’t paying attention."
Martin sighed. "I got to know her as well… she crashed into me on my way back… you can guess thrice where her helmet hit me."
"Ouch…" Mike grimaced in pain thinking about it. "At least she didn’t get hurt by the cart…" He chuckled. "My face and back did."
Martin groaned. "I need sleep." He put his good hand behind his head and relaxed his other one on his chest, closing his eyes.
Twilight came down the stairs, two blankets floating next to her. "Here, you'll need those; its getting colder every day." She said, gently placing a cover over each of them.
"Thanks Twilight." Martin said, taking his knife out of his pocket and setting it on the table, getting comfy.
"Yeah and thanks for letting us stay here." Mike said with a yawn as he stretched and set his glasses on the nearby coffee table. "There we go…" He muttered, closing his eyes.
"Don’t forget Princess Celestia will be coming here tomorrow; I want you both showered and clean." Twilight said, a small smile on her face as she went back upstairs.
"Ok, will do." Mike whispered.
"Whatever…" Martin said, not really listening. "Michael, remember for me ok?"
"Gotcha." He promised, half asleep. "Goodnight Twilight."
"Good night Michael, Martin." She said before she vanished and a door upstairs opened and closed and the house became quiet.
Martin had already fallen asleep, and Mike stared at the ceiling for a while before succumbing to exhaustion.