“Come on quickly, we need to clean those wounds before we bandage them, stat!”
Latios wasn’t sure if he should be amused, annoyed, or worried by his new friend's attitude. He shot a glance at Angel, who shrugged, as if saying that this couldn’t be helped.
Once he stopped trying to resist, they reached Fluttershy’s den - or cottage as she called it - rather fast to his surprise. The winged pony didn’t seem like the type that often was in a hurry, let alone for the sake of one that was technically a stranger.
“Then again, I did save her friend’s life.” he mused on the way. “I suppose it shouldn’t come shocking that she wants to help me now.”
He trotted after her to one of the room within her cottage, and discovered that it was full of small, furry beings. Quite the number of them had some sort of bandage on them, and others were eating some food from bowls, while glancing surprised at the new pony that arrived here. Latios also looked at them surprised, but Fluttershy’s call made him go after her upstairs. Now the reason why she wanted to help him so badly was much clearer: apparently, she was just this kind to all creatures.
The Eon Dragon stepped into a smaller room, which had a small round wooden container, and by it stood pipe with water coming out of it into a bucket held by Fluttershy.
“Now, come here.” she instructed him as he put some kind of fabric to the bucket and let it soak with water.
Latios did as she asked, and stood patiently as she moved her hoof with the soaked fabric to his wounds. When Fluttershy pressed it against one of them, it stung a bit, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t endure.
“I know this hurts, but I won’t take long.” Fluttershy told him in her pleasant to ear voice,
no doubt noticing how he tensed for a moment.
Nodding to her, Latios forced himself to relax and stand still. As the female continued to clean his cuts, he took a better look at her. Latios recalled how he found her blue eyes to be captivating, and he had to admit, that she was overall... what was the word he was looking for? Attractive? The Eon Dragon shook of the thought. While he could appreciate beauty in females, regardless of their kind, he was above lust that seemed to control most of male creatures he met whenever an attractive looking female was around. Besides, it wouldn’t do well to dwell on it now. For some reason, as he began to think about her, his wings began stiffening. Although to be fair, he suspected that whatever it was, it was probably caused not by Fluttershy’s look, but her scent.
When he bumped into her half a day ago, her natural scent was masked by some ointments that were used on her fur at that place called ‘spa’, as he learned during party. But now, Latios could smell it, and it was... sweet. It brought to his mind images of meadow and grass, and water and sky...
His wings unfolded.
“Oh, sorry, did I hurt you again?” Fluttershy asked obliviously.
The nest that the pale gold female offered him looked tempting, but not just because Latios was so tired...
It ‘reeked’ with her scent.
For a moment, it crossed his mind that she wanted to sleep together, for which he had confused feelings. However, Fluttershy quickly stepped outside of the room, saying something about a couch downstairs, indicating that she was going to sleep there.
Latios shook his head, both due to not wanting to take her nest for himself, but also because it would be almost torture, to be surrounded by her scent and not...
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m fine sleeping there, but you need a good night rest. It’s the least I can do.” Fluttershy replied, smiling.
One could argue that tending to his wounds, giving him berries to eat, and telling him few interesting stories about her, her friends (pony and otherwise), and Ponyville, was enough. Unfortunately, the one that wanted to argue about it was declined any means of communication. So reluctantly, he nodded.
“Good night.” the pale gold female told him, leaving together with Angel, who also smiled at him.
The nest (or ‘bed’) was comfortable, much more than the one Latios made for himself back in the forest. As he laid on it and put the blanket over him, the scent of Fluttershy surrounded him, and Latios had a feeling that this night he wouldn’t be dreaming about his sister or their home.
The next morning, Fluttershy woke up earlier than usual, as she now had not only her animal friends to take care of, but the pony that saved Angel as well. She quickly prepared food for everypony: usual critter food for the animals, a fruit salad for her guest, seeing as he enjoyed the berries yesterday.
“I better go wake him up.” Fluttershy finally said to herself after all critters had gotten their meal, and was thankful that this time Angel didn’t try to be peaky.
Trotting towards her room in which he slept, Fluttershy wondered what kind of pony the blue pegasus was. He seemed really nice, and she found out more about him by having short conversation during the evening. “Can it be called such if only I talked?” she wondered, interrupting her line of thoughts. Anyways, he seemed to enjoy the peace and quiet far more than loud and crowded places. And her animal friends, Angel included, appeared to like him, as they sit close to him yesterday as he and her ate.
“We seem to have a lot in common.” she mused as she quietly opened the door. “Oh, isn’t it wonderful?! To finally find somepony who I can talk about so much?!”
While Fluttershy loved all her friends, she was well aware that they weren’t exactly found of some of her ‘antics’. She still remembered how bored Dashie was after watching the butterfly migration with her, which she couldn’t understand, and that was just the top of the iceberg. But, somehow, she got the feeling that this blue pony would be equally enthralled by such things as she was.
The shy pegasus smiled as he looked down on his peaceful-looking sleeping form. Her eyes shifted to regard something she noticed already yesterday. His ears had a funny shape to them: their tips were divided. Wondering if he was born with them that way or, Celestia forbid, they were purposely cut this way, she touched on of them, and by doing so, she accidently brushed his forehead. Afraid that blue pony would be mad if woken up this way, Fluttershy quickly backed away, but then something registered in her mind, and she put her hoof back on his forehead.
“Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed loudly, waking the other pegasus in the process.
“Hey Twilight, Spike! What are you up to?”
Twilight glanced behind her, and saw not only Rainbow Dash, who called after her and Spike, but also the Cutie Mark Crusaders who are racing to them.
“Hey everypony.” she greeted them, turning around. “We were going to Fluttershy’s cottage and see how the pony from yesterday is doing. I also wanted to ask him if he would like to learn how to write.”
As she said that, she pointed at her saddlebag, in which she kept various writing accessories.
“Ya mean that pony that beat Rainbow Dash in a race?!” Apple Bloom asked, surprised. “He doesn’t know how to write?!”
“Huh? What a loser.” Scootaloo said bitterly, to Twilight surprise.
“Now now, Scoots,” Dash told her number one fan, “just because he is faster than me, doesn’t mean you should insult him, got it?”
The lavender unicorn did not miss the hint sound of bitterness in the other mare’s voice as she said that. She smiled at her friend, proud that she could look past her pride, even if she was still smarting from her loss.
“So, do you want to come as well?” Twilight asked them, and after she got four confirmations, they set off.
Fortunately, she and Spike were already close to Fluttershy’s cottage when they were approached by Dash and Crusaders, so it took them few minutes to reach it. Twilight was about to knock on the door, when suddenly, a sound of scuffling came from the home of the most peaceful pony in Equestria. Exchanging alarmed gaze with Rainbow, she opened the door quickly, terrified that the blue stallion was hurting they friend.
What greeted them was the sight of Fluttershy, sitting on the stallion, and pinning him down to the floor, with a savage look on her face as she wrestled him.
So surprised was Twilight, that it took her a whole second to remember that there were kids with them.
“Quick, don’t look!” she told them as she made all four of them turn around with her magic despite their protests, herself following suit, but unlike her, Dash continued to stare with wide eyes, jaw dropped...
... and outstretched wings.
“Seriously?!” Twilight thought as she looked at her, annoyed that this was her reaction at the sight of their friend having-
“Oh goodness, great timing girls!” a voice of Fluttershy called from the cottage. “I could
really use your help; I cannot handle him on my own!”
Twilight jaw dropped, not believing what she just heard, she almost lost focus to the point that Spike and fillies could look back.
“No, wait!” came from the cottage with the sound of scuffling renowned. “Girls, stop him!”
The very next second a blue bolt escaped through the door, only adding more confusion to Twilight’s already taxed mind. Only sheer curiosity made her snap and grab him like she did the little ones, making the mute pony hover in the air, while his wings flapped and legs galloped without any effect.
It was only then that Twilight noticed many scarves and other clothes more appropriate for winter in which his body was wrapped with. He was visibly sweating, which was no surprise, considering how hot it was today. She couldn’t blame him for the look of terror on his face if Fluttershy put him through this, but...
“Fluttershy, what is going on?” she finally asked, realizing that her first assumption was wrong.
“And why do you keep us not moving?” Sweetie Belle inquired, but was ignored.
“Oh, it’s terrible!” the shy pegasus exclaimed as she came out from her cottage, holding a thermometer, for whatever reason. “Look” she added, showing it in front of Twilight’s face.
While she looked it with confusion, soon everything clicked in her head, as Twilight read the temperature on it. She realized with dread that it was below normal temperature for a pony, as well as whose it was.
“B-but... how...” Twilight mumbled, unable to comprehend how a pony could live with such low body heat.
“I don’t know!” Fluttershy exclaimed, on a verge of tears. “But I just noticed that this morning! I tried to give him medicine and keep him warm, but he then tried to run away, so...”
“Do you mind releasing us?!” Scootaloo shout interrupted the shy pegasus, and was so loud that made Twilight’s concentration brake.
While the fillies and baby dragon were quite happy for it, the three grown mares weren’t. In the very next second, the blue stallion quickly soared into the air, taking off all his clothes, and dove into the small river that run close to Fluttershy’s cottage.
Latios enjoyed the coolness of water as he rested there for a moment, trying to get his body heat back to normal level. What happened during the last hour terrified him. He didn’t expect ponies to have the same body heat as humans, which meant it was higher than his, nor did he anticipated the change that would come upon Fluttershy when he tried to refuse any sort of treatment. Of course, she did that because she cared about his wellbeing, he knew that, but when the golden female jumped on him, put all those fabrics on him, chased him around her own den, tried to force him to take some strange-smelling mash, all he could think of all this time was how to get away.
And now that he did, he found that he wanted to go back to her.