Fluttershy hurried from one end of her cozy cottage on the southern outskirts of Ponyville to the other as she went through her morning routine, lost in her own humming while she finished preparing breakfast for herself and her menagerie of furry friends. Every morning, she would rise with Celestia's sun to to care for her animals. She would gently wake them from their slumber, help groom the ones who needed the help, and make sure that everyone was fed and happy. As she was placing the last bowl of lettuce and carrots on the floor, she heard a soft knock on her cottage door.
"Coming!" Fluttershy gently glided to the door, her wings softly moving to keep her afloat. I wonder who could be knocking at this hour? It's barely dawn, she wondered to herself. She opened the door to see a cyan pegasus standing at her front door with a dog at his feet. "Good morning. What can I do for you?" His coat was a similar color to that of Rainbow Dash albeit a shade or two lighter. His hair was a vibrant royal blue with a streak of yellow down the middle. His mane was a bit longer than most stallions', roughly the length of Twilight Sparkle's mane.
"Good morning, Miss Fluttershy. My name is Razor Blade. I'm sorry to bother you so early, especially since I haven't introduced myself since moving to town, but I need to find someone to watch my dog, Rush, for a couple days while I travel to Canterlot on business, and I've heard that nopony in all of Equestria is better with animals than you. Would you be willing to take care of him for a few days?" the unfamiliar pegasus asked. His voice was rather monotone and his expression flat. While he looked Fluttershy in the eye when he spoke to her, as social protocol dictated, he quickly broke eye contact to look down, to his left, to his right - pretty much anywhere but at Fluttershy.
"Oh, certainly! I'm always happy to make a new critter friend," Fluttershy said with a smile. While she herself was quite shy, she had never met anypony else who also acted so shyly. As such, she wasn't quite sure how to act given that she appeared to be the less shy of the two. She landed softly on the ground and bent down to pet the dog. Rush wagged his tail as he barked once at her and ran inside the cottage. To the dog, the sheer number of critters to chase was a bit overwhelming. Rush was acting very much like a foal in a toy store. Looking back at Razor Blade, Fluttershy asked, "How long have you lived in Ponyville? I don't believe I've seen you around town."
"I only moved here from Vanhoover about a week ago. I've been busy trying to get my shop set up," the blue pegasus said. That's when Fluttershy noticed his cutie mark - a pair of crossed swords. Before she got a chance to ask about his occupation, he said "I'm a swordsmith." Razor Blade was used to being asked about his cutie mark. In a kingdom as peaceful and harmonious as Equestria, it was quite unusual for one's special talent to be anything involving combat or warfare. "There isn't a whole lot of demand for my trade these days, but the Equestrian Royal Army keeps me going with orders. I need to be going, though. Thank you again for taking care of Rush. I should be back in two or three days."
With that, the pegasus flew back towards Ponyville. Fluttershy turned around to see Rush's playing with Angel. More precisely, Rush was playing while Angel was running for his life. She thought for a moment about the unusual encounter she'd just had. I've never seen anypony else as shy as I am. I've definitely never met anypony who's more shy than I am. I wonder why he is. Handsome stallions are usually pretty outgoing, especially given how many more mares than stallions there are in Equestria... Looking back at the dog, Fluttershy put on a smile and said, "I bet you'd like Winona. Would you like to go meet her and Applejack? I bet Rainbow Dash will be there, too." The dog just barked and continued to wag his tail.
"It was very strange, Applejack. He just seemed so shy and distant." Fluttershy and Applejack were eating apple pie while Rush and Winona chased each other around Sweet Apple Acres. As good as she was with animals, there as only so much space to run free that she could give Rush at her cottage given its proximity to the dangerous Everfree Forest. Sweet Apple Acres, however, had huge tracts of land where he could get all of the exercise that his canine heart desired. "I wonder if he's just naturally that shy? Maybe something happened or somepony did something to make him so shy."
"Ya only met the pony for three minutes. Are ya sure you weren't just imagining things?" The workhorse, while fully aware of Fluttershy's uncanny ability to pick up on the emotions of both animals and other ponies, couldn't help but be a little bit skeptical at this. Applejack didn't doubt that there were any number of things that could make somepony retreat into shyness, but it seemed a bit early for Fluttershy to be able to tell what was natural shyness and what was shyness that somepony else caused.
"I certainly hope so." Fluttershy said.
They sat, eating their pie and watching the dogs play, when a familiar polychromatic mane appeared flying towards them in the distance. When Rainbow Dash got near to the pair, she landed in a jog to close the rest of the distance. She glanced at Rush and then looked at Applejack, saying, "Please don't tell me we got another dog. Isn't a dog and a tortoise enough?"
Applejack chuckled and said "Relax, sugarcube. This here's Rush. Fluttershy's just looking after him for a few days while his owner's in Canterlot on business."
A look of relief swept the pegasus's features. "Oh, thank Celestia," Rainbow said. Before sitting down beside Applejack, she leaned over her a quick kiss. "So who's his owner? I don't recognize that dog."
Fluttershy answered, "His name is Razor Blade. He's a pegasus blacksmith who outfits the Equestrian army. He just moved to Ponyville a week ago."
"So that explains all the swords and shields in the window of that new shop in the market," Rainbow said. The three ponies talked about the new pegasus blacksmith for a bit, but they quickly shifted to Applejack's and Rainbow Dash's recent honeymoon to Los Pegasus and Rainbow's new job as a Wonderbolt while the dogs continued running and playing.
Rarity and Twilight Sparkle came by Fluttershy's cottage for tea the next day while Owlowiscious and Spike played with Rush. Rarity had hoped that Opalescence would taking a liking to Rush, but, being Opalescence, she just hissed at him and went to sleep at Fluttershy's hooves. "Oh, honestly, Opalescence, you don't even sleep at the hooves of the pony who feeds, loves, and cares for you?" Rarity said exasperated and only half-jokingly offended.
Over tea, Fluttershy filled Twilight and Rarity in on the new pony in town and her concerns about his shyness. Rarity agreed with Applejack that Fluttershy was probably imagining things with Razor Blade. "Oh, darling, you're worrying over nothing! I'm sure this Razor Blade fellow is just fine. Perhaps he was simply having a bad morning? I know that I certainly don't feel very social when I have to get up particularly early."
"I don't know, Rarity. Fluttershy has always had a knack for picking up on subtle cues," Twilight said.
"Perhaps we should get to know him, at least, before deciding he's having some kind of crisis that warrants intervention. Besides, the last thing anypony wants when moving to a new town is to be swarmed by other ponies he hasn't even met who pretend to know all about his life," Rarity said.
"Good point. Hey, we were all planning on getting together for dinner at the library next week anyway," Twilight reminded the two mares. "Fluttershy, why don't you invite him to join us when he comes to pick up Rush? That way we can get to know him."
"Oh, Twilight, that's a wonderful idea! If nothing else, we can help make him feel more welcome in Ponyville," Fluttershy said. With that, the unicorns finished their tea and bid each other farewell. They all looked forward to meeting Razor Blade, but Fluttershy was perhaps most looking forward to it. Maybe Rarity was right, but I can't help but shake the feeling that something was a little off. Oh, if only Pinkie Pie were here...She was always able to make anypony feel better.