//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 : A New Look // Story: So Many Wonders // by MerlosTheMad //------------------------------// Fluttershy’s consciousness flickered like candlelight in a strong wind. Still, despite her thoughts coming weakly, she thought she heard something, but even trying her best could not make it out. The world continued to fade in and out of focus continuously, much like just before waking up in the morning and rolling over to go back to sleep. The only thing besides the sensation that stood apart was definitely a sharp headache. The world faded in again for a brief moment. It was brief, but Fluttershy saw sunlight, felt the rock of a wagon. There were voices around her, of that she was sure. It was difficult to tell, but she thought someone was shouting her name, too. Most of what there was to be heard was indiscernible, though. There was laughing, and crying, too. Something felt cold; it was around her legs, she decided. There was warm sunlight on her back and wings, too. "Fluttershy? There is something wrong. You feel weak. What has happened? Fluttershy?" The voice was quiet, and distant; far louder was the sound of a wagon and other voices. Fluttershy knew that one, louder voice though, and knew that she had to respond to it. Her eyes cracked open weakly, mouth dry and limbs like jelly. Sunlight and nature filled her vision, but from the other side of wooden boards. Something nearby clinked, too. Her head wouldn't move, so she lay there a moment, just to get her bearings. There were things on the other side of the boards: humans. She kept looking, not able to think of much else to do. Besides finding that the only thing she could move easily were her eyes, she became aware of how thirsty she was. Something moved in the trees. Fluttershy blinked, there was a dark shadow further out than the humans, standing so still she almost didn't see it. Who... was... that...? Even her thoughts were slow; her head still hurt, too. She looked again, eyes scanning, but the shadow was gone; there was something though. Instead of finding the what had been in the forest, a grinning human was looking in at her now, walking alongside her wagon. He was speaking, but she didn't know what he was saying. He sounded happy, or impressed. His hat looked funny, like some crazy thing Rarity would make. Straw, round and tipped with a pointed on top. Rarity... Fluttershy managed to flop her head to look away from the human. Girls… where are you… Her eyes shut briefly. Fluttershy! Fluttershy’s eyes snapped open upon hearing her name again; her sleep had been deep, and without sound, but the moment her eyes had opened the splitting headache she felt brought her fully awake. There were sounds around her. A metallic ringing noise some distance away, as well as a bit of the strange human language just as far that barely reached her furred ears. Fluttershy sat up quickly, one hoof to either side of herself. Princess-? She searched around for Luna, but only found a couple stray rays of sunlight, which crisscrossed through a room with a dirt floor; the room was small, dimly lit, and smelled awful. Fluttershy rolled over to get up, then choked out an abrupt, single sob. Her body ached, and the memory of what had happened before returned. She stared at the dirt ground in front of herself in wonder. After another brief second of making sure her body really did hurt quite incredibly, she sobbed and winced again. The worst of it was the back of her head, though, her wings felt particularly sore, too. “Why…” Fluttershy breathed out, pulling one of her forehooves up close to herself. There were bars at one small corner of the room, she realized, and fading sunlight on the other side of them. The rest of her enclosure was just wooden boards all the way up to the ceiling, and the door in the opposite corner was closed. Fluttershy picked herself up from sitting, hind legs working through their stiffness to raise her up, then moved slowly to the door. “Hello?” her voice croaked. “Hello? Is anypony… there?” When there was no response, she pushed one leg weakly against the door. “Let me out? Please?” Fluttershy stared up a moment longer, then sighed, looking around again. Something felt off and strange, she realized, other than the obvious, but she couldn’t place what. The oddness made her try to figure things out; that seemed like the only option available to her right then. It seems I’m a prisoner now, Fluttershy concluded flatly. But why? I just don’t understand… Was it something I said? The latter idea seemed unlikely to her considering her inability to properly communicate with the humans. It was odd, but she hadn’t thought of humans as evil creatures up until then and still didn’t, despite the bad turn things had taken. She wanted to know ‘why’ desperately, though. Fluttershy quietly moved towards the barred opening that was a bit like a window on the floor. There, she sat again, slowly, and looked at what she could of the outside world. The bars seemed to make the room look like a cage, which, she supposed it was. There was a small trough beneath a slot in the bars where a piece looked like it swung open. Applejack had similar arrangements for her farm animal friends and tenants, so Fluttershy recognized that much; she wasn’t a critter that needed caring for, though. She was being held against her will. There was hay and other food in the trough, though it didn’t look very sanitary. Besides that was a basin of water which also didn’t look terribly clean. Fluttershy scrunched her face up suddenly, but tried not to cry. Root, I hope you’re safe. Despite her own predicament, she still thought about her missing friend and what sort of danger he might be in. “I have to get out of here,” she resolved. Fluttershy looked up again; outside, there was scarcely anypony at all around for her to see. There was a human several strides away with their back to her, and was possibly a mare. Beyond that human was another that was without a doubt a stallion, he seemed to be… Fluttershy winced and looked away. “Oh no.” Her eyes scrunched themselves shut, but slowly looked again, disbelieving of what she had seen. There were several things surrounding the human stallion, include what seemed to be tall, hoofed creatures that vaguely resembled a pony, a strange building from which the earlier ringing noise came out of, lastly was several deer. The deer, were each strung up by their back hooves along sort of wooden arch. “Muh,” Fluttershy began to say. “Monsters.” The deer weren’t moving, and the rest of the grisly sight left little doubt in her mind as to why they were hung up so. Fluttershy didn’t want to think about what she’d seen, and moved away from the window, along with the basin of water, still wanting a drink. She kept her eyes clutched shut until she was safe around the corner. Once safe, Fluttershy stared across at the wall for a moment, then raised the basin and took a drink while trying to pretend she had made a mistake. Her legs shook, and the water splashed around onto her shoulders and the dirt floor. The water had been dirty after all. Fluttershy choked slightly, having tipped the bowl too fast; she lowered it slowly. Her eyes stared at the nearby bars while tears began flowing freely without her making a sound. One of Fluttershy’s fetlocks scrubbed at both of her eyes, though they did a poor job helping while soaked from the water bowl. Why? her thoughts repeated silently. The sound of talking came suddenly, and began to approach Fluttershy. She stayed quiet, not wanting to try calling for help or asking to be let go again. For now, she couldn’t think of what to do, or what to think even. Killing other living, thinking creatures was a thing for monsters, that she knew. Fluttershy had heard of creatures, races, even animals that killed because they enjoyed… devouring others. But, why they did it she never tried to find out. Magic and food was plentiful across the world. Harmony saw to it that everypony could be provided for, after all. To her, it made no sense. A rattling at the bars made Fluttershy gasp and look over. “Ooiii!” an intentionally sounding obnoxious voice called. Fluttershy could just see a face trying to peer inside the cage. Another voice, sounding panicked, seemed to be addressing the first human. Together, they seemed to be arguing. Fluttershy sniffed loudly, still crying, then lowered herself down against the wall. There, she place her front legs over her head. I guess they noticed me… she thought. The voice returned, sounding happy now. After hearing a rapid, impatient clanging noise on the bars, Fluttershy picked up her head and looked over towards them. More strangers… she thought, lying still. They sound young. The voices continued chattering, and then a carrot was dangled through the bars towards her side of the room. Normally, Fluttershy would be greatful of any gift, large or small, or at least try to be grateful. However, under the circumstances she didn’t much want to even get up. She still did though, forcing herself to stand and move slowly over to the opening. The two humans were young, as she had thought they sounded, and stared at her with great, goggling looks of amazement. Fluttershy tried to smile, and stopped shakily upon reaching them. She looked between them and the offering. “Hello,” she began quietly. “Could you let me out, please?” The probability that they wouldn’t understand her was high, she knew; the chances that they wouldn’t do what she asked after putting her there seemed higher. Sure enough, the two human colts widened their eyes further in amazement, but merely stared, prodding forward with the carrot in what seemed to Fluttershy to be an attempt to poke her muzzle. She glanced at the vegetable, then shook her head. “No thank you.” Her answer was quiet, and she slowly turned around to head for a dark corner. Fluttershy still felt shy around the strangers, who were also her captors. If I was strong like Rainbow, she reflected tiredly. I would be out of here already. Looking around and gauging the strength of the room told her smashing her way out wasn’t too likely, even if she could work up the will to try. In any case, her thoughts felt too jumbled and worried for the time being to decide what to do other than try and be alone. A loud bang against the bars made Fluttershy jump and squeak, both in one quick moment. Behind her, the two colts were shouting at her while rattling the metal bars with what looked to be a cooking pot. “Oh, please stop that, uhm, boys!” Fluttershy pleaded quickly, ears laid back. One of them did stop, then with an angry, stony expression thrust the carrot through the bars again towards her. Fluttershy blinked at it tiredly, then sighed. She worked her way back towards the pair. “You want to give this to me that badly, huh?” She stared at the carrot; it was cleaner than anything else that had been left for her by the looks of it. The other boy finally stopped shaking the bars, and both of them grinned at her as she approached, nodding in an encouraging way. Fluttershy tried to keep any pained looks from appearing on her face in front of the children; they were still young, after all. As lonely, afraid, tired and hurt as she felt, she managed another weak smile. She stretched her neck out slowly, then reached for the carrot. Just before Fluttershy closed her teeth around the carrot, the colt bopped her nose with it. “Oh-” Fluttershy winced. The two children began laughing again, then held the carrot out once more towards her. Fluttershy swallowed and cringed back some. “Uhm, if you don’t want me to have it, that’s okay… I appreciate your thoughtfulness anyway—” Before she could finish, the two boys’ expressions darkened again as if by a switch, and jutted the carrot in her direction. They looked about ready to shout, when another, feminine voice screamed at them. The two boys looked over and gasped, falling on their behinds. Both of them scurried away, laughing and yelling as soon as they had stood back up. The other side of the bars was barren now, except for a different human in the distance looking Fluttershy’s way. She blinked, confused by what had happened in the space of just a few scant seconds. The sound of footsteps approaching made Fluttershy’s ears tiredly raise up. A taller human in a long sort of gown-like robe walked into view from around the corner, then knelt down. The filly smiled broadly, and extended a hand in through the bars. “Cho!” Fluttershy exclaimed quietly, then walked, limping slightly over to the other mare. She did seem a bit like a mare, rather than a filly. Still, it was hard to tell, though she looked older than the colts that had just fled her. Cho smiled sadly in return, then began muttering in her strange language. Oddly, she sounded as though she were upset, to Fluttershy. “Oh,” she quickly decided why that may be. “Please don’t blame yourself, Cho. You didn’t do this to…” Her words paused slightly, because Cho began petting the side of her face. “To me…?” Fluttershy wrinkled her brow in confusion, tilting her head away somewhat. “U-Uhm.” Her eyes looked around, a little confused as to why Cho was scratching around her face and ears. It felt good, but in truth, it was mostly because it meant she wasn’t alone. What she really felt she wanted was a hug. “Thank you, but that’s okay… I’m not...” Fluttershy returned a small, friendly grin, but held up a hoof to gently push away the girl’s efforts. “That is to say, uhm, I’m not big on being petted, if that’s okay.” Sure, it felt nice, she considered, but it was still odd. Fluttershy’s eyes darted between the dirt floor and Cho tentatively, unsure of how she could apologize or explain things politely with the language barrier they shared. I guess she thinks I’m a bit like a forest animal. Is that because humans have so little fur she assumed that? They are rather strange looking. Most animals in Equestria loved attention and love itself, in general even the mean ones as she had found. Cho’s smile wavered some and she stopped, wearing an uncertain look, but seemed to understand. She nodded, then looked around quickly, as if wary of something. When she looked back, she sighed, her expression was sad again. Fluttershy laid her ears back, mirroring the girl’s sadness. Still, she tried to smile. “What’s wrong, Cho? Well… besides what happened, I guess.” Cho was studying her carefully from the look of it, but not saying anything back. Slowly, she pointed a finger towards Fluttershy, her frown deepening. Fluttershy blinked, and raised a hoof up to her head absently after a moment; she realized Cho was pointing just above her. After a quick, breathless gasp, her hoof began running itself all over her mane in a panic. “Oh. Oh no!” she quietly exclaimed, then frantically looked around herself. Her eyes settled on the water basin, and she dashed over to stand beside it, ignoring her aches. Fluttershy leaned down, and saw her reflection; ragged, shortened, and cut unevenly was the remnants of her normally long, flowing pink mane. The hair had been cropped to just barely reach her ears, and looked a great deal like colt’s style of haircut now. She sniffed once, quietly, and kept staring. It dawned on her that the strange feeling she had experienced earlier was in fact how much lighter she felt from the haircut. Cho spoke up behind her, saying something in a pensive but apologetic in tone; she sounded even more sad than Fluttershy felt. “It’s okay…” Fluttershy spoke up quickly; her voice only quavered slightly. She turned about, and for the first time found that her tail had suffered the same fate, now just a pink tuft. “It’s just a mane… and my tail… they will grow back, after all.” She managed a reassuring smile to try and cheer up Cho. It surprised Fluttershy , somewhat, that the change didn’t bother her so much, but all considering there were far more distressing things to worry about than her hair. She considered for a moment that Rarity, however, would likely have lost it by this point. The stray thought made Fluttershy giggle; Cho was studying her sadly still, but stopped and widened her eyes in surprise at the sudden change. Fluttershy sighed, letting go of her own sadness, then trotted back to the bars. “Cho, I know you don’t understand me, but please, can you get me out? I need to find my friend, too. His name is Root… and…” She frowned deeply and trailed off, as Cho began shaking her head and shrugged once. “Oh…” Fluttershy held a hoof to her muzzle in thought. “Ah, I have it.” She recalled the last time she had asked about Root, and bucked her teeth out and held up her front hooves as a squirrel would, which was a close approximation to Root. Chittering, her back legs bounced herself a couple of times. “Root?” she said one last time, settling back on her front hooves. Cho deadpanned at Fluttershy blankly, sitting still where she kneeled. Fluttershy flinched slightly, worried after a moment. “U-Uhm, I didn’t offend you? Did I—” Suddenly, interrupting Fluttershy, was Cho’s raucous laughter. The girl teetered backwards, one of her arms just barely keeping her from falling back into a nearby mud puddle. Fluttershy blinked in surprise, then chuckled along too. “Oh,” she said in understanding. Cho came back up, nodding, and again speaking in her own language. She was smiling too, and pointed after a moment off into one direction; it was possibly directed at the nearby building, or at a place further than that. Fluttershy’s relieved look shrank somewhat, then glanced around at the bars still keeping her contained. Cho turned back, and followed her examination. “Cho, I don’t suppose you could get me out somehow?” Fluttershy asked slowly, smiling. Cho returned the smile, and began speaking again in her strange language alongside nodding. She only got two or three words out, though, before a loud, scary sounding voice cut her off. Cho went straight backed, and Fluttershy instinctively got up in order to crouch low to the ground. “What was that!? Uhm, Cho-” she whispered, but was quickly shouted over again. Cho stumbled up to stand and pushed her back to the shed, all the while being yelled at by a voice that was unmistakably male, and deep. Fluttershy flinched, then flinched again after she heard a loud, slapping sound, followed by the splash of mud as Cho fell out of sight towards the ground; she was already sobbing and scrambling back to her feet before Fluttershy knew what had happened. “S-stop it!” Fluttershy pressed her face to the bars, trying to see what was going on, only to gasp and step away again. The bars clanged loudly as something banged against them, pushing her back. Cho was gone now, the sound of her crying fading into the distance, and was replaced by a tall shape, leaning down to look inside the closed room. Fluttershy’s eyes widened slowly, studying the face of the human that was looking at her. He— Why does he look so angry…? she thought. The man’s expression was almost emotionless, except for an unmistakable hatred, hanging just behind his eyes. The look he was giving spoke volumes about his thoughts and feelings, louder than words possibly ever could. Fluttershy’s eyes stayed locked with his, unable to look away, until, however, she spotted a smidgen of pink in the corner of her eye. Her eyes flicked down, unable to help it, and she gasped. Hung around the man’s waist and shoulder, just over his strange looking clothing, was a long, pink sash; it was made of Fluttershy’s old mane and tail. Hanging through the pink strands were several feathers; a great deal of them, in fact. The rest of the clothing was colored a deep red, and made up of strange, sectioned pads. Fluttershy stared a moment longer at her repurposed tail, then looked up at the human to see him smirking, ever so slightly. She couldn’t help what came next. Her face scrunched up, her eyes narrowed, her legs tensed, then with the loudest voice possible, she began crying uncontrollably, head tossed back. Fluttershy heard the human let out a surprised noise and splash backwards through the muck, but she didn’t look down or stop bawling; she couldn’t stop, everything hurt too much and she had just seen a friend of hers be hurt for no reason whatsoever. The sound of the human stallion talking angrily reached Fluttershy’s ears, but she didn’t care right then. He shouted at her, she thought, but rather than look at him she let herself down to the earth and covered her head with her hooves to hide, still crying. A strange sound did make Fluttershy look up; it was like metal, but no sound that she had ever heard before. It had been surprising, and strange, but also pretty in a way. She saw the human, looking at her with a wary expression, while in his hand was a long, sharp looking sort of kitchen knife. It was all wrong though, the blade was nearly a stride in length. Fluttershy continued to sob and sniff, barely stopping despite blearily looking up through tear stained eyes. “I- Wha- don’t unnerstand,” she mumbled, then wiped a foreleg across one of her eyes. By the time she had finished, she managed to catch a glimpse of the stallion’s expression, just before he took a step away, then turned to leave. As the human stallion left, he put his big kitchen knife in a matching sheathe. Fluttershy blinked, fighting back tears, and surprised that the human had simply left like that. The look he had given her hung in her mind. Did he look, afraid of me? she thought, sniffing. I just don’t understand what’s going on. Fluttershy’s face wrinkled up again after a moment, confusion leaving her and the thoughts of Root, Totoro, his friends and Cho, all returning in a rush. I have to get out of this place. Scrambling back up to her hooves, Fluttershy looked around the hut that was her prison. I have to, she resolved, still sniffing and trying to regain her composure. “Cho?” she called out quietly, voice shaking. No response came, and in the distance the sun was setting, bathing the sky in a fiery mix or orange and red. “Oh… dear…” Fluttershy, remorseful, sat back. Just for a moment, she stared at the sky, wishing she could escape to it. Her wings fluttered on her back briefly, and she noticed that they felt a little light as well. Fluttershy tossed and turned where she lay in the corner. She couldn't get comfortable in the slightest, not enough to fall asleep with her head throbbing the way it was, anyway. Luna... Luna, please. Can you hear me? She groggily raised her head to glance out the bars to hear cage-like room, then huffed angrily. "Oh, Fluttershy, you've really gone and done it now..." One of her hooves slapped the earth, kicking up a small cloud and a few pebbles. Fluttershy stared around herself, upset that she hadn't been able to fall asleep easily. Her head laid back down against the bare earth for her next attempt to reach out to her only link home. Come on Fluttershy, this is easy compared to... well, pretty much everything else. Just rest your head, concentrate on breathing... and... "Fluttershy!" hissed a nearby voice quietly. Fluttershy's ears picked up immediately. "Luna!?" she called out, then realized she had not yet fallen asleep. The room was still around her, bathed in moonlight, and her fur still held its filthy quality. "H-Huh?" She stared around herself in confusion. "Fluttershy..." the voice called again, but more impatiently this time. There was a rapid, distinct scratching noise coming from nearby. Fluttershy stared towards where she thought it was coming from, then stood up slowly. Her legs shook, quaking from the exhaustion and soreness that filled them, but successfully held their own. Several hours since sunset of lying still had made them stiff again. "H-Hello? Who's there?" She squinted and peered outside the bars, but saw nopony there. Then, suddenly, a dark form lowered itself from near to the wall on Fluttershy's left. Unable to help herself, she let out a yelp, only to be silenced quickly by somepony shushing her violently. Hurried, quiet speech followed the shushing. Fluttershy tilted her head in instant recognition. "Cho?" she asked wonderingly. The form pulled down what looked like a white wrapping of cloth from around her face, revealing a bright smile. The human girl muttered more in her language and nodded. A moment later, she was almost bowled over by three other forms. Fluttershy gasped, spotting what seemed to be a panting dog and two more humans. All three of the other creatures crowded around the bars, only for Cho to chase their quietly giggling forms away. Those were the colts from earlier, she thought in surprise. Fluttershy wrinkled her brow up incredulously, watching as the others left back around the corner. After a moment, the scratching resumed. "I— I don't understand. Are you helping me?" She turned to face Cho again. Cho stared a moment, then shrugged while making a flat expression. After that, however, she began making gestures that vaguely looked as though she were digging with an invisible shovel. Fluttershy smiled the most relieved smile she thought she'd ever made in her life. "Y-you are! Oh-" Her eyes blurred for a split second, forcing her to blink them away. "Thank you. Thank you, thank you..." she said, her words turning to whispers as she went on. Cho giggled back, and reached in to scratch behind Fluttershy's ears. Fluttershy didn't care if it was a little odd, or invasive; she leaned into the gesture, trying not to cry or make any noise. After a moment of the brief respite, she dashed over to the wall where the scratching was strongest. Her hooves began plunging themselves into the hard packed, rocked filled dirt, doing her best to help. Don't worry Root, Fluttershy thought, setting her jaw. I'm coming.