First Day Jitters
That night was fairly unremarkable as you had dinner with Fluttershy. She hardly spoke as the two of you ate your food and what you did ask her to try and carry on a conversation resulted in her giving short replies, ending and discussion before it started. It was bad enough that she was such a shy girl but what may have made things worse was that you were the first person to be living with her in what seemed like many years, maybe even forever. All she had to talk to were the animals, who of course couldn’t speak, and maybe a few people who visited the Everfree Animal Sanctuary. The entire idea of making friends with her was becoming increasingly more complex.
The next morning you awoke and immediately proceeded towards the shower like you did as with every daily ritual that you did for as long as you could remember. As you approach the door and reach for the knob you suddenly see it turn. The door opens and you see Fluttershy standing there dressed in nothing but a yellow towel. When she saw you her eyes went as wide as a pony in the show.
“Eep,” she gasped, almost dropping her towel before quickly grabbing hold of it.
“Oh… um… I’m sorry. I’ll just… um… yeah,” she squeaked before running from the bathroom to her bedroom, her wet hair, which even after a shower retained the same pink shade, trailing her. She then shut the door behind her, sealing her away like a caterpillar in a cocoon. You stood there for a moment, trying to comprehend what happened. Here you went to go take a shower and you almost literally ran into a half-naked housemate. It was the first time you ever saw someone in that state of dress, or lack of dress. It was awkward but yet for some reason cool. Yet the part that made you feel cool added to your feelings of awkwardness. After all, you just met Fluttershy. She wasn’t even a friend, so there was no reason why you would think of her as anything else than an acquaintance, right?
Your only saving grace was the fact that you were at least dressed. Yet that still didn’t help since the girl was so frightened about practically anything, especially social situations. This encounter, one that seemed at the end of a long line of awkward moments, would probably be the one that would shut down any chance that you had to get to know her more.
After getting ready, you went down stairs to breakfast, surprised to see Fluttershy there and not curled up in a fetal position in her room as you imagined that she’d be. When the pink haired girl saw you she suddenly looked away as if looking at you brought up that memory of that moment.
“I’m sorry about… you know,” you say to her, “I didn’t think that you were in there.”
You waited, hoping that Fluttershy would say something, anything in response.
“That’s ok,” she finally said softly as she turned to you without looking away, “I didn’t think you were there and then… you know what happened. It was an honest mistake.”
“I guess you’re not used to having someone living with you, right?”
“I never did,”Fluttershy shook her head sadly, “You’re the first to stay in my house,” It was like she wanted someone to stay with her but for some reason it never happened.
“Well, didn’t you have any others to help you before me,” you asked.
“Not really. I had volunteers but you’re the first to be an actual full time helper.”
“Well, I’m happy to help,” you said to her as she gave a slight smile.
After breakfast, the two of you set out into the animal sanctuary. The tasks that Fluttershy gave you were pretty basic, feed the animals and clean their pens. Cleaning was a thankless job, but you knew it came with the territory. Luckily you had Fluttershy to help. She would take out the animals and play with them while you mucked out their home. No matter what animal she was with, they appeared so calm around her, even the bear.
Feeding, while seemingly easy, was actually more difficult than you imagined. It seemed each animal had its own diet and Fluttershy had a mental list of what all liked to eat. She rattled off the list like she had known it all her life making it sound like she was more of a chef preparing food for humans than animals. You felt like a fool as you constantly had to go to her as ask what the ducks or the woodchuck wanted. Yet she was very calm in helping you understand how things worked, especially since this was your first day.
You could tell that Fluttershy had a passion for animals in everything she did. Everything from the amazing to the mundane she did with a smile on her face. In her calm personality you felt calm and happy yourself just as the animals she handled felt. This kindness was something you wanted in a friend, and you hoped that in time you be one for her. For now you felt it best safe to talk about things she felt comfortable speaking about, namely animals.
“So Fluttershy, when did you set up this Animal Sanctuary?”
“Oh that was a couple of years ago. My grandfather actually owned the cottage and he gave it to me. When I was little I used to come over to his house and we would watch the animals.”
“So that’s how you got interested in animals?”
“Not really. I always was interested in them. Even when I was little I liked meeting animals and I found they liked meeting me. I loved to go to zoos and parks and other places where there were animals so I could see them. But I guess it was when I was here and saw a deer with a broken leg that I found my talent for helping animals when I helped heal its leg. So that’s how I got interested in making an Animal Sanctuary.”
Her happy face changed to one that was more somber as she thought about something.
“What’s wrong,” you asked her.
“It’s just that things haven’t quite gone the way I planned.”
“What did you plan this place to be?”
“Well I don’t know if you’d like to see it. You might laugh at me.”
“Fluttershy, why would I laugh at your dream?”
“Because others have before,” she said putting her head down.
“Fluttershy, I really want to see your dream. And I promise that I won’t laugh when I see it. Can you trust me to share your plan?”
“Ok,” she said after giving it some thought, “but after lunch.”
You look at your watch, surprised at the hour. Time does fly when you’re having fun or when you’re with a person as nice as Fluttershy is.
“Ok then, after lunch,” you say as you follow her back to the cottage, eager to see her dream.