After the race, I was walking home when I was intercepted by a white coated unicorn. “Hello, darling, my name is Rarity,” she greeted me.
“Hello, Rarity, my name is Sunny Days. And if I could ask, I want to know what you want?” I asked, knowing that she came to me from something.
“All I wanted is to give you this, I wanted to give it to you at the party, but it wasn’t finished yet,” she explained as she pulled out a box. Curious, I opened the box and pulled out an orange scarf with yellow outlines.
“I… I don’t know what to say, thank you” I stammered. This was honestly the last thing I expected. Putting the scarf back in the box, I thanked Rarity, telling her that I would come by later to help her with whatever she needed. I started walking home. I put away the scarf, making sure that I didn’t take it out of the box. Seeing it was almost night, I got an apple to eat, then I lay down, hoping I didn’t have another nightmare, though that was just wistful thinking.
Just like my last nightmare, I was awoken to the sound of laughing; though this time I knew better than to open my eyes, so I just ignored it. After about an hour of constant laughing, I had enough. I shouted, “SHUT UP! I’M TRYING TO SLEEP!” This seemed to be enough as the laughing stopped. Sighing in relief, I lay back down, trying to get some sleep. However, it wasn’t done tormenting me, as I fell to the floor. Groaning, I asked, “What do you want?” This seemed to catch the voice by surprise.
“So now you want to pay attention…” the voice grumbled, “Well, since I have you attention now, I want to kill you.” Before it could continue, I summoned a pleasant memory, but this time, it was a memory from yesterday, the one where I was helping Applejack with her chores. I was suddenly in an apple orchard.
‘Ah, Sweet Apple Acres,’ I thought to myself. I then saw myself helping Applejack with apple bucking, helping her with her chores, ‘Ah, good times.’ However, this was quickly ruined as meteors came crashing down on the farm. I silently prayed that this would end soon so I didn’t have to see this anymore. Thankfully, my prayer was answered.
As I sat up, I stretched, glad that I was out of that nightmare. I took a quick look around the room and found another box. Cautiously, I walked over and carefully opened the box. I was surprised when I saw nothing in the box. I barely closed it when a pink mass of fur popped out of the box. Even though I was shocked, I quickly realized the pink mass of fur was Pinkie. “How did you fit in the box?” I asked in shock.
“By breaking the fourth wall… By breaking the fourth wall, ok maybe I can’t say it,” she replied with a sheepish grin, I groaned at this answer.
"Ok... I'll just chalk it up to your usual logic defying antics," I managed after I stopped groaning. After Pinkie disappeared back into the box, I took a quick look inside and found nothing except for another hundred bits. Scoping up the bits and putting them with the rest of my bits, I left my house and ran into a yellow pegasus, causing her to shriek in surprise, dropping her load in the process. "Oh Celestia! I'm so sorry!" I apologized as I picked up her stuff, proceeding to give it back. Though I became worried when I looked up and saw that she was hiding behind her mane, "Umm... hello? My name is Sunny days, I hope I didn't scare you too badly." I said with a soft voice, hoping my assumption that she was shy was correct.
"My name is Fluttershy," she muttered
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"I said my name is Fluttershy," she muttered again, though I caught it that time.
'So this is Fluttershy... where did I hear- oh yea, at the race,' I remembered. "So, Fluttershy, do you need help with anything?" I asked with a worried tone. After a moment, she appeared from behind her mane.
"Maybe you could, um, help with the animals today?" she asked in a soft tone, ok, she was definitely shy, no pun intended.
"Ok," I said softly with a smile, "Lead the way." I started to follow her to what I assumed was her house, when I immediately noticed a lot of animals. 'Ok, now I just need to hope there are no manticores in here...' I barely finished the thought when I heard a manticore roar, causing my to jump in fright. I would of ran out of the house too if I didn't feel a hoof on my shoulder.
"There is no need to worry, just watch," she told me with confidence as she walked out. Against my better judgement, I followed her out. When I got out, I saw quite possibly the biggest manticore I've ever seen, causing my legs to lock up, my eyes wide with fear. But I relaxed when I felt a hoof on my shoulder, "Like I said, don't worry," she told me once again with confidence. All I could do was watch wide eyed as she approached the manticore. I was about to charge in and attack it, even against my better judgement, when I heard purring. It took me a bit to realize that the purring was coming from... the manticore?! What I saw shocked me even more, it looked like Fluttershy was talking to it. So I did the natural thing, I passed out.
"Ugh," I groaned as I opened my eyes, though I was confused when I found myself in a different bed than what I'm usually in. Then a door opened.
"Sunny? Are you awake yet?" a soft yet worried voice asked. It took me a moment to realize that the voice was Fluttershy.
"Yes, I'm awake," I replied, "What happened? It's all so fuzzy," All I could remember was the fact that a manticore was involved, but not much else.
"Well, while I was talking to the manticore, I heard something that sounded like something heavy hitting the ground," she explained, "I assumed you fainted from what happened, and I assume you have a fear of manticores?" the question caught me off guard. I did a quick discussion with myself to decide how much I should reveal.
"Yes, you are correct on your assumption," I said, hoping she wouldn't ask for more. When she didn't say anything else, I thought I was home free, but then she asked the dreaded question...
"What happened in your past that caused you to have such a fear?" dang it, I was hoping that she wouldn't ask that dreaded question.
"I... I had a bad experience with a manticore when I was younger," I admitted in a soft voice, "I really don't want to talk about it, as the memory is really painful, along with the wounds that came with it." Fluttershy was quiet for a count of ten.
"You don't have to tell me, but it may help you finally relieve you of your pain," she told me in a worried tone. Debating with myself, I finally decided that I would reveal the event to her.
"Ok, I'll tell you, but be warned, you may not be able to stomach what the manticore did to me," I warned. After a nod, and Fluttershy getting a trashcan, I told her everything about the event, minus the fact that my foster mother is Princess Celestia the fact that I'm truly a alicorn. After I was done, all it did was raise more questions...
"Wait, you don't remember anything?" she asked.
"Nope, nothing, not even my parents," I told her in a sad voice. At this point, I was near tears because as I told it, I was also reliving it at the same time. After about half a minute of futile attempts to prevent myself from crying, the dam broke, tears flowing down my face like a river flowing downhill. Fluttershy was there comforting me the entire time. After about five minutes, I finally stopped crying.
"Feeling better?" Fluttershy asked. In all honesty, I was feeling a lot better.
"Y.. yes, thank you Fluttershy," I managed. To think that she managed to turn around the fact that I was originally here to help her out to she was helping me. "I... I think I should go home, it's getting late after all. See you later?" I asked, and I got a nod in response. As I was leaving the house, my necklace started glowing pink.