The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Two: First Meeting
The next morning, Fluttershy awoke from a dreamless sleep, sitting up on the couch and rubbing her eye. A peaceful yawn was emitted from her mouth as she jumped off the couch, hitting the ground with a soft thump. Stretching out her forelegs and giving another faint yawn, she walked up the stairs to her bed.
Lying peacefully on the bed was the young changeling she had saved yesterday. Its belly was slowly rising and falling, and a constant, low, high-pitched buzz was hummed throughout the room. Fluttershy thought it was a sweet, soothing tone, and trotted over to it, making sure her hoofsteps were almost noiseless as not to wake it up.
As she approached, she could see that a warm smile had pitched itself onto its face, which made her grin. She brought her head down to it and tenderly kissed it on the forehead, causing it to squeak.
“Mama…” it sighed in its sleep, its face turning into a deep frown, making Fluttershy frown, as well.
The voice had a raspy nature to it, and it was high in tone. Fluttershy could tell that it sounded like a very young pony colt, maybe five or six years old.
“Oh, my, it is a child!” Fluttershy gasped to herself, putting a hoof on its forehead and tearing up. “You poor thing…”
“No, please don’t go, mama…” he pleaded in his sleep as Fluttershy had closed her eyes to hold in the tears.
As she closed her eyes, she could hear sniffles coming from the changeling. Shooting her eyes back open, she saw that tears were starting to run out of his eyes. In shock, Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth, letting her tears start to fall, as well. By instinct, she lifted his head up to her chest, nuzzling him in.
She jumped on the bed with him, lying down next to him. Gently did she pull him into her embrace from behind, wrapping her forearms around his miniscule torso and cuddling him. Slowly, the sobs coming from the changeling died down, turning into sniffles and finally silence. Pulling away from him, she saw that he was once again sleeping soundly. Giving a small smile, she jumped off the bed, pulling the covers over him.
Giving one last look at him for the moment, Fluttershy went down the stairs to feed her animals. From there, she ate breakfast and went on to her normal daily routines, checking up on the young changeling every hour or so, just in case he woke up. After checking up on him one last time for that night, she went to bed.
The next couple of days went the same as they did that day. Three days after this, as she was coddling him to give him some love (she figured that this was the only way to feed him while he was unconscious), he started to groan. Pulling back from him, Fluttershy put a hoof against his chin.
“Nnn…Ugh…” he moaned, tensing the muscles around his eyes.
Fluttershy jumped off the bed, assuming he would want some personal space once he was awake. Within a few seconds, he slowly began to open his eyes, sleepily opening and shutting them. Yawning, he fully opened his eyes.
Immediately, Fluttershy could tell that he was frightened. He was frantically looking around, and his breathing became panicked and fast. As he looked around, he rolled over onto his bad foreleg, causing it to crack.
“Ah!” he cried, tears starting to fall from his eyes.
“Oh, my!” Fluttershy exclaimed, rushing over to the other side of the bed.
The changeling’s eyes were clenched as he sobbed loudly, grasping his hurt foreleg. Upon this sight, Fluttershy softly nuzzled his head, pulling back and then looking at the leg. There was no added damage, but the cracking sound worried her. How Fluttershy wished she could do more to help him out...
“Shh, shh…” she affectionately said. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” she reassured, kissing him on the arm. “Are you okay, little one?” she softly asked as not to scare him. His sniffles had died down and he got back to breathing normally soon after.
“I-I th-think s-so…” he said, opening his eyes once again.
The first thing he noticed was that he had no vision, no matter where he looked. Everything was black. The blackness ran inwardly, suffocating his visual senses and killing it without any consent.
“W-W-Where am I?” he asked, still trying to look around.
“You’re in my cottage, little one,” Fluttershy informed with a smile, trying to make him feel better.
“W-Who are you? I can’t s-see…”
‘He’s blind, too? He really has it rough... Poor thing…’
“My name is Fluttershy. I’m a Pegasus pony who-“
“A p-p-p-p-p-po-pon-ny…!?” he asked, horrified. He tried to move back away from her, but couldn’t.
“It’s okay, little one. I won’t hurt you, I promise,” Fluttershy assured.
Still, the changeling had nothing but a bone-chilling shiver all over his body. When Fluttershy went and touched him, he put his hoof out to knock it away.
“No, please, stay back!” he begged, starting to cry once again. “Don’t hurt me!”
“I won’t hurt you,” she restated, softly putting her hoof past his and touching him on the face. He flinched, smacking her hoof away out of reflex.
“No! Get away, I beg of you…” he cried, his voice getting squeaky and quiet. He shielded himself with his hoof.
Understanding that he was absolutely petrified of her, she stopped trying to touch him. She took a few steps back, and he became slightly less tense.
“Well, is there anything I can get you, little one, such as water?” she asked, getting a speedy shake of the head from the changeling. “Okay. If you do need anything, just call for me, if that’s okay with you…” she requested.
The changeling didn’t respond to this, which brought down Fluttershy’s mood a little, but she didn’t mind it. She understood that he was scared, but she didn’t know how to help him if she couldn’t get close to him. For the moment, she left him.
‘That’s really too bad for him. He’s so badly hurt, and he’s blind, too. He’s so afraid of me; so petrified to be anywhere around me. I guess I’ll give him some space and just try again later tonight…’
Later that night, right as Fluttershy was about to go to bed, she went to check on the young changeling. She could see that he had hidden himself underneath the covers and was shaking. Worried for his well-being, she went over to try and talk to him again.
“Are you all right, little one?” she attempted, staying at what she thought was a comfortable distance from him.
He poked his head out from under the blanket and turned his head at her, but didn’t say or do anything as he cowered underneath the sheets. Approaching the bed, she gently laid a hoof on top of the blanket, issuing a squeak from the changeling as he nearly jumped. The blanket flew off of him as he fell backward.
“Please, leave me alone…” he cried, guarding himself once again. “Make it stop…” he said, almost as if in agony. “Please…”
“Oh…” Fluttershy sighed in disappointment. “Well, I thought that I would come and say good night to you because I’m going to bed now.”
Fluttershy walked over to him, gently moving his hoof away from his face. She gave him a quick kiss of the forehead and nuzzled him before moving away and starting for the stairwell.
“Good night,” she cooed, going down to her bed.
The changeling just laid there, having flinched from what this mare he didn’t know just did to him. For a few minutes, he just lay there, not doing or thinking anything. Eventually, he grew tired and fell asleep.