//------------------------------//
// III 
// Story: The Fire and The Flutter 
// by A. Tuesday 
//------------------------------//


III
My mind just drew a blank. A pony who either couldn’t make food for her life, or was just plain ol’ lazy, and shy as anything, was about to save a whale from a horrible fate. What?
She was just walking along, looking every which way, as if she were trying to find something. The pony jumped as the praises of the activists reached her pastel yellow ears. Turning to them, the pegasus said in the lowest voice, “No, really, that’s um, okay. You – you can stop now, if you don’t mind, please.”
“Why would we ever do that?”
“You’re a savior!”
“You should be proud!”
She looked to the ground, her cheeks turning red. “No, if you would kindly stop, please, that’s be nice. I – I really don’t want any of this, thank you.”
“Everybody must know the savior!”
“You’re a gift to animals everywhere!”
“Look everybody! A true pony, right here in the open!”
The activists were annoying enough, but I couldn’t stand to see them torture this poor filly like this. I trotted fiercely straight up to them, and in the middle of all their jeers – 
“Hey! Can’t you see she doesn’t want to be bothered? Go whine somewhere else!”
The one in front shook her head. “Look, young, red mare – you obviously don’t understand how being a hero works…”
“No, I understand perfectly enough. She doesn’t want to be bothered. Now, all of you – leave!”
“Oh yeah?” said another, “And who’s gonna make us?”
I flashed my cutie mark to them, a single burning flame among my scarlet red hide. “I’ll make you,” I retorted curtly, “You don’t really want to experience my ‘special talent’.”
Some of them got wide-eyed at the sight of the flame, others simply shook their head, but, in a huff, they all left, mumbling amongst themselves. 

I regained my calm composure as the yellow pegasus tapped my on the back. I turned to her, and she looked to the ground as she said, “Um, thank you, miss.” She looked up to me. “I don’t know what I could’ve – wait a minute, don’t I know you from somewhere?”
I nodded calmly. “I was the pony who gave you that plain grass sandwich at the restaurant.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right,” she continued, softly, “But, thanks again. I’m not exactly the bravest pony in the world, and if you hadn’t stepped in, well – I don’t know what I would’ve done. They’ve been doing nothing but bothering me my entire time here.”
“Yeah, they can get pretty annoying,” I chuckled, “I honestly hate them. Well, glad to help out.”
I began trotting home as night settled in, when she called again. “Wait, um, excuse me, miss?” she asked warily.
I turned. “Yes?”
“Um, I’m not from around here, and I kind of need to get somewhere. Can you show me where the Marine Center is? If you don’t mind, of course.”
Her passiveness amazed me, honestly. “Well, I could,” I explained, “But, it’s closed for tonight.”
“Oh, that’s fine. I need to know how to get to it for the next couple of days. I have to do some…things with a whale there, as I guess you’ve already noticed.”
I scrunched up my eyebrows. “Yes, I saw. Sure, I’ll take you there. As long as you explain the whole whale thing to me along the way. Deal?”
I stuck my hoof out. She nodded gleefully at me. “Deal,” she said, and put her hoof to mine. We shook, closing the deal. 	“Thank you an awful lot, miss.”
“Oh, and one more thing,” I mentioned, “Please, stop calling me miss. I’m not used to that. My name’s Firestarter.”
“Oh, okay.” She giggled. “My name’s Fluttershy.”
We walked together in the New Horseleans night.

“So,” I asked, “What are you doing here?”
Nighttime lingered in the air. Streetlights were on, so it wasn’t too bad. It gave New Horseleans that inner beauty I talked about earlier. Our hooves clacked against cobblestone, as we winded through the narrow streets. She took a deep breath, as it looked like a bit to explain. 
“Well, I um – you heard those activist ponies, right?”
“Yes,” I acknowledged.
“They’re right in what they say – but not about the ‘savior’ and stuff. No, I don’t know about that. But, I am here to help 	the whale.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “You see, I’m very good with animals – even the Princess knows. I tried to help her bird once, but it turns out she didn’t need any help. It was actually really embarrass – “
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I interjected, “The Princess? As in, Princess Celestia?”
“Well, yes.”
I took a double-take. The only pony I’ve ever met in my entire life who’s ever met the Princess was Sir, and he honestly didn’t say much about the Sun Princess. Whenever he talked about his venture to the Grand Galloping Gala, he tended to ramble on about the food, the fact that he simply met the Princess, nothing about her, and some crazy fillies that were doing all sorts of nonsense. (“Some brightly-colored one tried to kill me with a statue! Although, then she saved me, so, I don’t really know.”)
Now, this was somepony I could get used to talking to. All sorts of questions ran through my head, and I was about to start with a whole lot of them. The outside world always interested me, being something I really had no clue of since I moved here. New Horseleans is kinda down south. A lot.
But, if common decency taught me anything, it was that you were always supposed to stick to one subject, and talk to ponies about what they wanted to talk about, not me. So, I simply said, “That’s neat.”
She seemed a bit perplexed at my sudden change of tone, but dismissed it. “Well, anyway – this news about the whale is getting all over Equestria, and a lot of my friends told me I should come and help. My friend back at Ponyville, Twilight – she knows Celestia real well, and pulled some strings for me to come down here and, I guess, do what I do best.”
“I see. And Ponyville, did you say?”
“Oh, yes. Oh look, here we are.”
The Marine Center had snuck up on us without realizing it. The large facility, a massive shed towards the back on top of the bay, a visible amphitheater, and a whole ton of wooden docks stared us in the face, topped off with a lighted sign: NEW HORSELEANS MARINE BIOLOGICAL CENTER.
I looked at the clock tower: 8:00. Sir would probably be wondering where I was. It doesn’t take this long to mail a letter, usually, anyway.
“Oh, thank you, um, um – Firestarter. I’m so lost around here.”
“No problem. Hey, before I go, just out of curiosity, where are you staying?”
She calmly replied, “At some high class hotel called the...Alicorn, I think?”
I took a gulp. She continued, “You wouldn’t happen to know where that is, either, would you?”
First of all, their rates were insanely high.
Secondly, that hotel was all the way across the city. Literally. It’d take me forever to walk all the way over there. I was never the one for staying up incredibly late either – I liked to use my weekend mornings to my advantage. Not only that, but Sir would flip out.
After contemplating the idea, I spoke to Fluttershy. “I do, but their rates are ridiculously expensive. You wouldn’t want to stay there.”
“Oh,” she replied, looking downward to the ground. “Then, I really don’t know where to say,” she continued, slightly depressed.
“Well, how ‘bout you stay with me for the weekend?”
She looked at me in awe.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: I just met her, why would I invite her to stay in my home? For all I know, she could’ve been a psychopath of some sort. I’d wake up in a shed tomorrow morning, and she’d be staring at me with this crazed look in her eyes as she prepped a knife or a chainsaw or something like that. And I would die in Fluttershy’s shed. Great idea for a story.
But the truth was, I was interested in this pegasus. She obviously had a yarn to spin, and nowhere really to go, and it seemed as if she needed a friend. I could use a friend right now, if anything. Does that make me selfish? Probably.
I saw the immediate shock in her eyes, and added, “You know…I mean, if you have nowhere else to go. We’re nice ponyfolk ‘round here.”
She seemed to think about it for a while. Her hair pink hair drooped towards the ground as she put a hoof to her chin, lost in deep decision.
She looked me in the eyes and said, “Well, I wouldn’t want to impose…”
“Oh, it’s no problem!” I answered, “I mean, yeah, it’s no worry.”
“You really wouldn’t mind?”
I shook my head, as if that were a silly question.
She chuckled. “Okay, that sounds wonderful!”