“After everything I’ve witnessed, I can’t tell what will happen now, not anymore. I’m so scared. It makes me wonder how I’ll die.”
-Bright Eyes
It was dusk in Ponyville and Fluttershy was trotting back to her cottage. During her stroll back, she couldn’t help but ponder about the events that happened recently. With the Timberwolf attacks, the two mysterious stallions, something about finding their sister, all of it. She and her friends spent the entire day cleaning up the mess from the Timberwolves, and they had to continue it tomorrow. Her ears drooped and her mane was a mess, even a boulder would sound comfortable to sleep on by this point.
Who were those stallions? Fluttershy thought to herself. They were really strong, they took on a pack of Timberwolves as if they’ve fought them before. But why were their cutiemarks covered up? Stitched right onto their flanks?
She could still picture the small drops of blood dripping down their legs, from the stitching. She couldn’t tell if they were fresh or old. Either way, she didn’t like the looks of it. She cringed and shivered every time she thought of it. Not only that, she could still see their wounds in her head. Steel’s bloodied neck and Shields messed up hoof, both were covered in red and could easily see some exposed muscle on Shield. At least, she thought it was muscle. Fluttershy’s body vibrated and a cold chill went down her spine at the mere memory of those injuries.
Steel seems….alright. She thought again. But Shield seems a little…..strange.
Fluttershy finally made it back to her cottage before the sun set. She walked into her cottage a prepared to get ready for bed after a long day of working. As Fluttershy stepped into her home, she couldn’t help but be watched by a pair of eyes. A sudden chill went down her spine as she looked out the window. The sun was about to set, so it was a little difficult to make out if there was anything out there.
Suddenly, a bunch of wild animals came running and flying out of the woods. Small critters running towards their burrows and birds to their bird houses. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief knowing it was only her animal’s friends getting ready for sleep too. Fluttershy trotted upstairs to her bathroom and prepared a shower. However, small weasels and chirping birds wasn’t the only thing to come out of those woods. Small hoof-steps could be heard, as well as the faint sound of sniffling and weeping.
At the edge of the forest, appearing out of the woods, was a small Pegasus filly. The filly wore a gothic pink and black dress that was torn almost everywhere. Her white fur coat was bruised up and covered with scratches, and her long emerald green mane and tail were a mess, hairs sticking out and covering her right eye. Her most notable feature, were her golden eyes. However, they were more red than golden, tears could be spotted flowing down her face. The dressed filly emerged out of the forest while wiping her tears away with her wing.
“Why? Why did this happen?” she wept to herself. “I never wanted this to happen!”
She looked up to see where she was, her teary eyes suddenly perked up when she spotted Fluttershy’s cottage. A Ray of hope shined over the filly upon seeing the cottage. She ran right out of the woods and towards the front door. Unfortunately, as she was running, she tripped over a nearby stone and fell face first into ground, receiving a mouthful of grass and dirt. After spitting it out, more tears began to stream down her face from the pain of the impact.
“As if I didn’t have enough pain to deal with!” she wept some more.
She covered her eyes with her hooves and cried a river. Some of the animals exchanged looks, wondering what to do. The filly reminded them of Fluttershy and they didn’t like it when she cried. They shrugged their shoulders and tilted their heads, unsure what to make of this. After sharing face exchanges, a lone fox decided to hop out of his den and approach the poor filly.
The filly felt a little nudge on her right, she looked down to see the fox nuzzling her hoof. She could feel the fox’s warm fur as it rubbed himself up and down on the filly’s hoof. The filly cracked a little smile and began petting the fox, stroking his fur gently. The filly was starting to feel glad to receive the small fox’s comfort. Pretty soon, all of the other animals started doing the same. The birds landed on a nearby branch and some mice rested next to her.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy just got out of the shower and had a towel wrapped around her mane. After she dried off, she decided to check up on the animals downstairs. She trotted downstairs humming to herself to check on her indoor bird houses. She refilled the bird feeders and dropped extra celery for some of the rodents. While doing that, she couldn’t help but hear a faint giggling.
Her ears perked up at the noise and looked out her window. An eyebrow raised and she decided to trot closer to the window. She looked through the glass to see if anyone was out there. After a few more minutes of scanning, something caught her eye. Her eyes locked on to what looked like a small filly outside, playing with some of her animals. Confused yet concerned, Fluttershy decided to go outside and inspect. She opened up her door and trotted outside. She noticed the small filly in the dress, petting one of her foxes. She slowly approached the filly, trying hard not to startle her.
“Um, excuse me.”
The filly’s ears perked up at her voice and stopped moving completely. She turned around to face Fluttershy, only for the latter to see the filly’s damp and red eyes. The filly looked at Fluttershy, blinking twice to get the full picture of her. She moved her head up and down, scanning her body. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, took notice of the filly’s teary eyes and gasped. She brought a hoof to her mouth. She could still see some tears escaping and slowly streaming down her left cheek.
Has this filly been crying? She thought.
In return, the filly set the fox down and quickly wiped her eyes. After that, the filly continued to stare at Fluttershy anxiously. She didn’t know if this mare was going to embrace her or simply tell her to get off of her property.
“Oh my, are you alright?” asked a concerned Fluttershy.
The filly didn’t answer, she just continued to stare at Fluttershy, unable to come up with a proper response. She had never seen a mare quite like her before. Her soft voice, her stunning appearance, she couldn’t tell what would happen next.
“Not really,” the filly finally answered.
“What happened?” asked Fluttershy.
The filly didn’t know if she wanted to answer that question. After all she’s been through, she didn’t feel ready to talk about it, and especially to somepony she just met. The filly looked down at some of the animals who were looking up at her. She really didn’t know what to say at a time like this.
“S-Sorry,” spoke the filly. “I didn’t know these were your animals. I-I’ll just leave now.”
The filly used what little strength she had to get back up and turned around. However, before she could leave-
“Wait!” Fluttershy called out. The filly turned around. “You don’t have to go. Are you hurt?” Fluttershy continued to stare at the little filly. Her red eyes, the scratches on her body, and her torn dress. All she could do was feel sorry for this filly.
“Why don’t you come inside, dear?”
The filly’s eyes beamed, she couldn’t believe that this random mare would actually want to help her. Was it because of her injuries or the fact that she was just a small filly? She had no idea.
“R-Really?” the filly stuttered. “I-I don’t want to be a bother or anything.”
“You’re not being a bother at all,” responded Fluttershy as she flew closer to her. “C’mon. It’s getting dark out.” She held out her hoof hoping the filly would take it.
The filly slowly reached for Fluttershy’s hoof and gladly accepted it. Upon contact, Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel how unusually cold her hoof was. It was unnatural. Fluttershy helped the filly inside her home, she was amazed at how nice and lovely her cottage was. There were even more animals indoors than out.
“Would you like some tea?” offered Fluttershy.
The filly was feeling awfully parched from all the running. She shook her head up and down desperately. Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle at the filly’s response.
“Alright. You can take a seat over there, and I’ll get it ready,” she said softly.
The filly turned and saw to where she was pointing, which was at a nice and soft looking couch. She trotted over and rested on the couch. As Fluttershy was preparing tea in the kitchen, the filly gazed all around her cottage. Amazed to see all kinds of bird houses and other little critters running about in her home. She then looked down at her torn dress, just the sight of it made her want to tear up again. She looked away instantly to avoid that. She continued to take in the amount of animals that lived with her in her cottage, including a certain white rabbit who was giving her dirty looks.
“Angel, it’s not nice to stare,” spoke Fluttershy.
The little rabbit quickly hopped away, still wearing that unsure look on his face. Fluttershy brought the cup of tea to the filly. She rested it on her wing and held it out for her.
“I hope you like dandelion tea,” she said. “If you don't, I can always make something else.”
“T-That’s Ok. Dandelion’s my favorite,” the filly replied. “Thank you.”
She reached out for the tea and gladly took it. She blew on the surface to cool it down. Once it was cooled down, she started taking little sips from the cup. The sweet flavor of dandelions poured down her throat and into her tummy. Then she started gulping down the tea like she hadn’t anything to drink in the past week. Thought surprised at her behavior, Fluttershy felt glad that this poor filly was starting to get her strength back. When she was done drinking, she looked back up at Fluttershy with her golden eyes.
“Thank you,” she squeaked.
“Oh, you’re welcome,” Fluttershy replied.
There were so many questions she wanted to ask this filly. She couldn’t help but smile at her. Fluttershy decided to break the ice and introduced herself.
“My name’s Fluttershy. What’s your name,” she started.
“I-I’m Bright Eyes,” she answered.
“Oh my, what a pretty name you have,” Fluttershy cooed.
“Thank you. Your name is even prettier.” Her eyes widened when she realized what her name was. “Wait, did you say your name was Fluttershy?”
“Um, yes. Why?”
The filly grew a big smile on her face. She wiped her eyes away in case there were any remaining tears.
“I’ve heard of you!”
“Y-you have?”
“Oh yes. My father used to tell me all kinds of stories about you,” she smiled.
“Really?” This made the mare very curious. She was intrigued at what this filly had to say. “What kind of stories?”
“He used to tell me the story about how a young, pretty mare gathered up her courage and helped her friends conquer a big and scary dragon.”
“You heard about that?” She asked nervously.
“Yeah. I've heard of all of the amazing stories about you. About how you defeated a nasty dragon with a single glare, the time where you stood up against a brute of a Minotaur for your friends, and how you were able to help the pegasai to create a huge hurricane. I admired those stories about you. About how a shy and pretty creature fought through tough obstacles and still came out fine in the end.”
Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel flattered and anxious at the same time. She felt good knowing that her accomplishments have been carried on to others, but a little nervous that others were finding out about her achievements. This made her blush.
“Oh my.”
“It’s strange though.”
“What is?”
“When I imagined a simple pony defeating something as scary as a dragon, I imagined them to be some kind of brutal warrior with a taste for blood with big scary devil horns,” she giggled. She placed both her hooves on her head to make it look like she had horns.
“Well, I assure you, I am nothing like that,” chuckled Fluttershy.
“I know,” Bright Eyes replied. “It got me thinking. If a shy mare could defy a dragon, then I guess anything is possible. I wanted to be just like you, brave and kind. Never backing down from a threat.”
“Oh, I had no idea I had a little fan. But let me be honest, it took me a lot of courage to stand up to those dangers. Thinking about them still scares me today. But, I had my friends by my side. And as I long as had them, I could do almost anything,” she mused.
“Those were the same lessons my father taught me. I guess you could say that I looked up to you,” she said with a smile.
Fluttershy was being attacked with flattery. Her adventures were moved on and told to others. She couldn’t believe it. However, she still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling of somepony actually knowing personal stories about her. She then noticed that the filly’s dress was all torn up, holes everywhere.
“Oh my, what happened to your dre-“ she paused.
Something about this filly caught her eye, something that she’s seen before. In one of the torn holes of her dress, she saw the filly’s small legs, and that’s when she spotted it. Two small pieces of cloth were stitched over both flanks, covering both of her marks. Just like Shield and Steel. Fluttershy could barely speak.
“Your flanks,” she muttered.
“Hmm?”
“W-why are they covered up?”
Bright Eyes noticed what she was staring at. She pulled up her dress to reveal her covered flanks, her cutiemarks were not found, only the stitched pieces of cloth on her legs.
“Horrible, isn’t it?” she said. That’s when Fluttershy remembered something important.
“I’m sorry, but you wouldn’t happen to have two brothers, would you?” she stammered.
“Two? I don’t know. I have a lot of siblings,” she admitted. “Could you be a little more specific?”
“Y-your brothers had THAT,” she said pointing to her covered mark. “Instead of cutiemarks!” The filly’s eyes beamed at that single detail.
“You mean Shield and Steel? You’ve met them?”
“Well, yes.”
"Where?"
Fluttershy then told her the whole story of how the Timberwolves invaded her town and how Steel and Shield popped out of nowhere just in time to help them. Of course, they both suffered great injuries and the town was now in a total mess, but Bright Eyes was still trying to get over the fact that she just missed them. By the end of the story, she started to laugh. Fluttershy was little surprised by this.
“That sounds like them alright,” she laughed.
“It’s hard to imagine that those stallions were your brothers.”
“How so?”
“Well, you’re so small and sweet. And they’re so, um,” she struggled to find the right words.
“Reckless?”
“Yeah. Oh, please don’t be mad,” she stammered.
“Why would I? I’m the one who said it, you just agreed with me.”
“True.”
“Are they still in Ponyville?”
“Well, Steel flew off earlier to go looking for you,” she explained.
“I see,” she replied. She looked down at the floor disappointed.
“Oh! But I heard that Shield is staying with my friend, Applejack, at Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Really? That’s great!”
The little filly hopped off the couch and made her way towards the door.
“Where are you going?” asked Fluttershy.
“I’m going to Sweet Apple Acres to find Shield. It’s really important I see him!”
“Oh. I understand you miss your brother. But it’s already dark out and it could be dangerous to go out.”
“Oh,” she sighed.
“But, we can go see him tomorrow. I promise.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Why don’t you spend the night and we’ll go first thing in the morning.”
Bright Eyes was taken back at this. Not only was this mare the same one she heard from her father’s stories, not only did she take her in and offered her tea, but now she was offering her shelter. She couldn’t believe there was so much kindness in this mare. She was speechless.
“I don’t know. I-I don’t want to be a bother,” she said.
“Like I said before, you’re not being a bother at all,” reassured Fluttershy.
“Really?”
Fluttershy gave a firm nod at the filly. She had to think about this. She knew she had no other place to sleep tonight. It was urgent for her to see her brothers as soon as possible. She didn’t see that many options.
“You promise we’ll go tomorrow?” she asked.
“I promise,” Fluttershy said with a smile.
There was a long silence. Despite this filly's innocent appearance, Fluttershy still couldn't help but feel something was a bit off. There was something about this filly that seemed different to her, but she didn't know what. Regardless, she decided that it would be best to still help her in her time of need. There really was no other way. With that, the filly stared into Fluttershy’s eyes and gave a simple answer.
“Ok.”