Miss Fluttershy is very nice to me.
She says I shouldn’t eat everything. “I need those things, Billy. Please don’t eat them.”
“But goats eat everything,” I say.
She sighs. “Goats... can eat anything, yes, but good goats only eat what they are told they can eat.”
I stop eating the birdhouse. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’ll just make a new one. You didn’t know you were doing anything wrong.”
I think. “Is this why mom and dad always pay for the food I eat?”
She smiles. “Yes. It tells other ponies that you can eat it.”
“But you give me food without paying for it.”
She laughs. “Oh, no, I pay for it. Then I bring it here, so I can put it away to eat later.”
This makes sense. Mom did that too. But mom always took me along. Why doesn’t miss Fluttershy take me along to get food?
I do not understand. Maybe miss Fluttershy is just different then mom. But not in a bad way.
“Oh... Billy...”
I turn to miss Fluttershy. “Yes?”
“I’m having some trouble finding your mom and dad. Don’t worry, I’m still trying! I just, you know...” She looks at me. “I needed help.”
“Okay,” I say.
“So, a friend of mine is going to come over. She’ll ask you some questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
Miss Fluttershy moves her shoulders. “I don’t know exactly. She... tends to ask a lot of questions when she gets excited about something.” She looks at me. “Are you okay with her asking you questions?”
I think about it. “Some questions are hard. But I will try to give the right answers.”
She laughs. “Oh Billy, this isn’t a test! We just want... something to go one, somewhere to start looking. And Twilight knows how to ask good questions... better questions then I ask, anyway.”
She looks sad. I do not want miss Fluttershy to be sad. She is a nice pony.
“You ask good questions,” I say.
She blinks. “Well... I guess. But Twilight knows how to ask questions... she knows how to research.” I know research is a big word for finding things out. Dad uses it all the time.
“Oh.”
Sometimes there are times where miss Fluttershy and I are quiet. We do that a lot.
“...I should make the new birdhouse.”
“What?” Miss Fluttershy looks confused.
“I ate the birdhouse. I should make the new one.”
“O-Oh! Um...” She smiles. “I... don’t think you’d be able to do it on your own. It’s a lot harder than it looks. But if you’d like to help me make one--”
I shake my head. “I should make the new birdhouse.”
Miss Fluttershy looks sad. “Oh. Okay.”
Did she want to make the new birdhouse? She must have.
“...But I think you should help me,” I say. “With measuring. I am not good at that.”
“I’ll do that.” She smiles, but it is not a big smile.
---
I made a mistake.
Miss Twilight is rubbing her head. She is hurt because I rammed her head. I do not understand.
“She has a horn.”
Miss Fluttershy looks at me. “Yes Billy. But unicorn horns aren’t like goat horns.”
“Dad always said to only ram people with horns,” I say.
She shakes her head. “I think what he meant was not everypony likes being rammed. Maybe you should ask them beforehoof?”
I don’t understand. But miss Fluttershy is giving me a sad look. It is the kind of sad look I get from mom when I do something wrong. I lower my head.
“I’m sorry...”
Miss Twilight stands. “No, it’s... it’s okay. I’ve had worse, just... don’t do it again. So! Billy. Where are you from?”
“Home,” I say.
“...Okay! Is there anything in the city you live in?”
I stare at here. “There is my home and stores and other buildings.”
Miss Twilight rubs her head. Maybe it is still hurting. “Look, Billy, I mean... something that someone from out of town would recognize. A famous landmark, a museum, maybe a restaurant.”
“Oh! There is the Golden Fries!” I smile.
She is not smiling. “That... isn’t actually very--”
“Billy, where does your dad work?” Miss Fluttershy asks.
“I don’t know. But I know he does research.” I nod. “The things he works on are sparky. I touched one once. It hurt.”
Miss Twilight smiles. “Electronics?” I nod, because that is what dad calls them. “Okay! A city with an electronic research center that employs goats. And Golden Fries has an outlet there. Do you know where your mother gets groceries?”
I nod. “The grocery store.”
“...does the grocery store have a name?” Twilight asks.
“I don’t know.”
Miss Twilight nods. She is not smiling. “I’ll see what I can do... Oh! What street do you live on?”
“Splinterhoof.”
“Okay.” She glances at Fluttershy. “Those are... all the questions about where you live, at least for now... Do you mind if I ask you other questions?”
I shake my head no. What could be wrong with questions?
Miss Twilight pulls out a notepad.
Oh. Those kind of questions.
---
Miss Twilight is silent. She looks at me. It is the kind of look I know where she has to be choosing something.
“...Fluttershy, can I talk to you outside?”
Miss Fluttershy blinks. She shakes her head yes, and follows Miss Twilight out the door. I know this part, this happens a lot.
I wait.
Miss Fluttershy and Miss Twilight come back in. I can see their faces. Miss Twilight has an embarrassed face, which is good. The testers with sad faces always make me feel bad.
Miss Fluttershy is sad, but not too sad. She is more thinking.
“...Well! I guess, um, I’ll see you for Nightmare Night?”
Miss Fluttershy shakes her head no. “I don’t open my doors for Nightmare Night. It’s... well, it’s scary.”
Miss Twilight shakes her head yes. She is trying to get out without looking like she needs to. “I guess that makes sense...”
Miss Twilight is a very silly pony.
Miss Fluttershy looks at me.
Miss Twilight is gone.
“...She’s a good friend, when she’s not obsessing.” Miss Fluttershy smiles. “She did this thing with a doll recently... got the town all up in a tizzy. The princess had to come down and fix it herself.”
“Oh.”
Miss Fluttershy wants to say something. But she is trying to figure out how to say it to not hurt my feelings. She is a nice pony.
“...Billy?”
“Yes?”
“...I just.... Let’s work on that birdhouse.”
“Okay.”
We walk outside to the workbench. Sh is looking at me but not wanting me to know. She wants to tell me, but she thinks it would be bad. But I already know.
Mentally Retarded. Very big words, but I know what they mean. They mean I can’t learn like other goats or ponies or cows or donkeys or sheep....
It is a sad thing. That is what dad says, I think. He talks with big words and long talks and confusing things, but that is what he means. He does not hate me.
Mom says it is a problem that I can work around. She argues with dad when she thinks I can’t hear. I think they both want to help, but they don’t know how.
Miss Fluttershy wants to help too. But she doesn’t know how either.
---
“What is Nightmare Night?” I say. “Mom and dad just say it is scary and to stay inside.”
Miss Fluttershy is scared, but she looks up from her couch. “W-well... Um, little foals dress up as monsters and go around houses asking for candy.”
I look at her. “And... that is scary?”
She shivers. “No, not that... the monsters. The whispers. They try to laugh, but... there’s something deeper, something the foals don’t know about. There’s... fear.” She shivers again. “That’s what Nightmare Night is about. The great... fear.”
I do not understand. “What is the great fear?”
Miss Fluttershy hides under the blanket. “The dark, dragons, fire... those are only normal fears. Spiders, shadows, ghosts... not the great fear. The great fear is in all beings. Every animal, every pony, every goat.... on this night it always wakes up. I can feel it. Even the earth is afraid.”
She shivers.
“...I am not afraid,” I say. I think I hear claws at the door.
“R-really?”
I... I shake my head no. “I am... not. No.”
She giggles. “Oh, of course not Billy.”
“I am not!”
There is a knock at the door.
“GO AWAY! NO CANDY HERE!” Miss Fluttershy sits up and stares at the door. “VISTORS NOT WELCOME ON NIGHTMARE NIGHT!”
She is scared.
“Fluttershy, it’s me! Twilight!”
Miss Fluttershy breathes in, walking to the door. She opens it. “It is you. Oh, and Nightmare Moon.”
Nightmare Moon? Who is Nightmare Moon?
“NIGHTMARE MOON?!” Fluttershy shuts the door and gets under the couch.
Miss Twilight steps in right after. “Fluttershy, get out here! Billy, help me get her out.”
“Why are you dressed like Old Holly Hooves?” I say.
She gives me a look of anger, but it is a soft anger. She’s trying to pull Miss Fluttershy out from under the couch.
“Don’t do this to me Twilight! It’s Nightmare Moon!!”
“It isn’t and -unf- you know it! GET-- OUT-- HERE!” Miss Twilight pulls Miss Fluttershy from under the couch.
“Billy! Save yourself!”
“Fluttershy, it’s only Luna!”
I do not understand. They walk out the door.
I tilt my head.
”Twilight Sparkle hath spoken of the sweetness of thy voice. We ask, thou teachest to us to speak as thou speakest.”
Fluttershy tries to run back in. Twilight pulls her out again.
I run up the stairs. The voice.... it is too loud. I put my head under the pillow.
---
Miss Fluttershy comes up, eventually. “I... I’m okay, Billy.”
I pull my head out. “What... who was that loud voice?”
She shakes her head. “That was... just, somepony trying to not be scary. Don’t, don’t worry about it.” She smiles, but I know she is still scared.
“Okay.”
We just look at each other, quietly.
There is... really nothing else to do.
---
I miss mom and dad...