//------------------------------//
// Chapter Ten: A Caring Hoof 
// Story: The Equestrian Venture 
// by TheCrimsonDM 
//------------------------------//

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter ten: A Caring Hoof
Written by TheCrimsonDM


It was late afternoon before Rita and Pinkie Pie returned to Ponyville, and Pinkie had been insistent that she drop off Rita in person. The sun was no longer visible, and the sky was a wonderful purple color. After returning to Fluttershy’s cottage Rita watched Pinkie Pie walk away in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. Just as Pinkie walked out of sight Rita let out an exhausted sigh and walked inside. Rita was a little surprised to find Fluttershy sitting on the couch with her forelegs crossed with an upset expression on her face. 

Feeling concerned for the yellow pegasus Rita asked, “What’s wrong?”

Fluttershy looked over at Rita and her expression hardened before asking with a hint of restrained anger, “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me where you have been all day?”

Rita opened her mouth to tell her about the castle but was interrupted as Fluttershy said, “I don’t want to hear it. I already know where you went, I had been searching all over town before I finally heard from Rarity that you and Pinkie Pie were exploring the old castle ruins.” Fluttershy finished by letting out a huff of air.

Rita felt poorly now, she hadn’t meant to worry Fluttershy. Although it now occurred to her that she hadn’t really told anypony where she was going, and after meeting the timberwolves she realized that she had been foolish. 

Rita grabbed at her arms where the cuts were and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would worry about me…”

Fluttershy looked hard at her for a few seconds before looking down and noticing the wounds on Rita’s arms. Fluttershy’s expression instantly turned to worry as she asked in a soft tone, “What happened to you?”

Rita couldn’t look at Fluttershy and instead focused on the floor. Rita said, “Nothing, I just got hurt when hiking…that’s all.”

Fluttershy began staring at Rita with a serious expression. Rita couldn’t help but look at Fluttershy. This serious face that Fluttershy would make sometimes was a little more than odd. 

“You will let me take care of your injuries,” Fluttershy said in an even tone.

A stubborn feeling came over Rita, so she crossed her arms and said, “Nope.”

Fluttershy continued staring for a few more seconds before relaxing. Fluttershy let out a sigh and said, “You are more stubborn then even Discord is. I can use the stare on him if I try hard enough but you’re completely immune.”

Confused as to what Fluttershy had meant Rita asked, “What do you mean by the stare?”

Fluttershy looked away timidly and quickly replied, “Um nothing.”

If she hadn’t been so tired from the fights earlier Rita would have pressed Fluttershy for an answer. As it was though she just wanted to get off her feet and rest for a while. If Rita could sleep for a few days without trouble it would be a blessing. Fluttershy’s expression grew worried again as she continued looking at Rita’s arms.

“Rita,” Fluttershy began saying, “You are under my care while you stay here. And that means that I’m going to care for you, but you have to show me some trust. I won’t ask about how you got injured, but you are going to let me take care of you.”

There was a determination in Fluttershy’s voice that made Rita feel like she didn’t have a choice, but there was a gentleness to it as well that made Rita feel safe. Rita didn’t like it, but she felt like crap and arguing anymore past this point was silly. Rita walked over and plopped herself down next to Fluttershy while saying, “fine. Work your magic Fluttershy.”


Fluttershy had left for only a few moments to grab the medical supply kit before she began working on Rita’s arms. Rita had to take off her damaged jacket, there was a feeling of lose over her jacket. Even if she spent the time to work on repairing it, the jacket would never be the same again. The wounds however were far worse than Rita had anticipated. Although they had stopped bleeding temporarily they needed to be cleaned and that was a very painful process.

Fluttershy began converse with Rita in hopes to distract her from the pain. It didn’t work very well, but Rita had delt with much worse pain in the past.

“So tell me about your world, I’d like to know more about it,” Fluttershy begged.

Rita wasn’t sure where to start so she began with a brief overview. “My world consists of three different continents, two of them are very large while one of them is fairly small,” Rita began explaining, “I come from the southern continent of Arcadia, and my home country is Thunder Realm. It’s governed by the High elves, and they in turn watch over the earth races including humans.”

Fluttershy smiled and said, “Wow, so elves are real in your world? That’s amazing. There just fantasy here in Equestria.”

Rita was insanely curious about that, but she decided to leave the questions for now and continue her lecture. “There is also the northern country of Ark Dawn. It’s filled with humans and dragon kin, and other monster races. The last continent is Kazar and it belongs mostly to the animal races. The war left Kazar mostly untouched.” Rita gave a long pause before saying, “My world is surrounded by a giant rainbow wall of destructive magic, no one has ever been able to go through it since the catastrophe over a couple thousand years ago…And that’s the overview of my world, the world of Dacana.”

Fluttershy looked a little interested but also a little timid almost like she had a question that she was afraid to ask. Fluttershy continued cleaning the wounds in silence until she touched a sensitive spot sending a shiver of pain through Rita. Rita yelped at the pain and cringed.

Fluttershy quickly asked, “So tell me about the war, why would your people fight like that?”

Rita looked at Fluttershy and reminded herself that ponies did not many many wars, if any. Rita closed her eyes and explained, “There are a few different technologies in my world that are becoming popular. Diesel is a common thing used for vehicles and generators. The recent discovery of gem power however was the event that started this last war. We discovered that a lot of magical energy was held inside of gems, and began mining them like crazy. Soon enough we ran out of them in Arcadia, so we went to Ark Dawn to get them, but the dragons worship those gems like crazy. So we decided to take them. People died for rocks…a lot of people.”

Fluttershy stopped cleaning Rita’s arm and began wrapping a bandage around the wound. Rita let out a sigh, this was just going to be another scar for her. After that Fluttershy opened a small jar containing a green ointment. Fluttershy carefully scooped some onto her hoof and began raising it towards Rita’s face. 

Rita leaned back in surprise and asked, “What are you doing?”

Fluttershy looked a little shocked, then she looked embarrassed as she explained, “I um…this is for the burns. So that it won’t hurt anymore, or leave any marks.”

Rita relaxed a little now that she knew what Fluttershy was doing. Rita had to fight with the urge to push Fluttershy back. Having Fluttershy’s hoof touching her face was a terrifying process. Rita closed her eyes and tried to relax as Fluttershy began putting green ointment on Rita’s face. After a few seconds the burns stopped hurting and a cool feeling spread through her where the ointment was touching. It was heavenly for Rita to not be in pain anymore.

Fluttershy got done after a few more minutes. As Fluttershy began putting everything into the box she paused for only a moment. Fluttershy asked, “Have you killed people?”

Rita felt her heart skip a beat, that question asked so nonchalantly was a dreadful topic. She didn’t want to answer it, she never wanted Fluttershy to know. But Fluttershy was a smart girl…mare. Rita looked away from Fluttershy and painfully admitted, “Yes, I have.”

To Rita’s surprise Fluttershy actually relaxed a little more. Fluttershy said, “I’m glad that you were honest with me. I was scared that you would lie to me. I will admit that ponies aren’t the nicest creatures all the time, and we have killed members of our own race…even I have had to fight a few times.”

Fluttershy gave an uneasy pause before asking, “Can you keep a secret?”

Rita answered, “I have been tortured over secrets and never revealed them. So you can trust me, I pinkie Pie promise. Cross my heart hope to fly, stick…something in my eye.”

Fluttershy didn’t look at Rita, her smile told Rita she was happy. Fluttershy said, “Me and my friends…we have done a lot of fighting, and I mean a lot. I look back at all the fights we’ve been in sometimes. Changelings, pirates, even monsters. And I have to wonder…did we ever kill anypony by accident? I don’t recall having done so, but with so much fighting…how could we know for certain?”

Rita looked at Fluttershy now and was reminded of an old friend she used to have. Rita wrapped her arms around Fluttershy before saying, “I don’t think you have ever killed anyone. It’s not something that you wonder about when you do it. You know that you killed them, and their faces will haunt your dreams. Sometimes I dream that all those people come back for me, and they tear me to shreds for the sins I have committed.” Rita let out a sigh and tightened her embrace a little. Rita then finished, “unless you have those kinds of dreams, then you have not killed anyone.”

Fluttershy shook a little in Rita’s arms but she sounded a little more happy as she said, “I’ve never had any of thing like that happen to me. Thanks for listening, I didn’t want anypony else to know what I was scared of.”

Rita simply smiled and said, “Sometimes Fluttershy, you worry about the silliest of things. But so long as I’m here, you can tell me those worries, and I’ll do my best to fix them.”

Fluttershy and Rita stayed like that on the couch for a few minutes before Rita heard a beeping sound in the kitchen. Fluttershy stood up suddenly and said, “Oops, I forgot that I was reheating dinner for you.” Fluttershy ran into the kitchen leaving Rita there on the couch. Although Rita was sitting in that room by herself, she didn’t feel alone…she had friends, she had peace, and she had Fluttershy.