Shy Time

by discord7


Chord Progression of the Heartstrings

Sprinter and I had been spending more and more time together over the last three weeks. He and Rainbow only had a few days until their Wonderbolts tryouts. Sprint had asked me to meet him in the park, he said he had a surprise for me. Which didn't surprise me, everytime I met him he had a new surprise. The gifts were more than I could ever ask for, I felt so happy. I had never received so much attention from anypony. It was as if all he had was me, not to be selfish but he hardly seemed to interact with anypony else. I thought it was strange, I asked him once on the issue when we were out for tea. Although when the question came out, I made it seem casual, but he sort of shut down for awhile. As I trotted into the park I listened to the birds chanting their usual morning songs.

As I approached Sprinter, he met me halfway. He held a small yellow envelope in his hands, my name was on the front of it. I took the envelope and ripped it open, what was inside made me almost want to yell with excitement. Two tickets to Lyra's Concert of the Heartstrings tour. I had told him many times how I enjoyed Lyra's music, there was something about the way the harpstrings glided into each note, and then faded as she plucked the strings in her rythmic manor. She was an amazing musician, she was my favorite.
I hugged Sprinter and thanked him, but that's when he said, "That's not the only surprise I have for you"
I looked at him confused, of coarse it wasn't, he always had something up his hoof. He raised his hoof to his mouth and whistled loudly, I heard a similar screech from the sky. I looked up and watched as a huge firey bird soared right at us, I flinced away as it landed firmly on Sprinters forehoof. I was amazed, most ponys other than Celestia weren't able to handle a phoenix, even docile and tamed ones were dangerous. The claws, were sharp enough to rip through stone, they could radiate a light that could blind you. Not to mention the pheonixes most powerful defense, the solar flare that one could emit was known to decimate entire forests at full power.

These truly were majestic forces of nature, the legendary fire birds were definately not to be trifled with. It was well known that a phoenix could sense nerves, and were known to be masters of body language. At the moment I was fearfull of the bird, and I could see from his eyes that he knew it. He glared at me, staring me down.
"Isn't he a beautiful specimen." Sprinter told me, "I was given this bird by a friend of mine to study." He explained, "would you like to hold him Fluttershy?"
"Um, I don't think that would be a good idea." I replied.
"Oh come on now, this one's not wild, he's been captive raised since he was a chick." He assured.
I belived him, I nodded my head and held out my hoof. The phoenix seemed startled at first but it settled down.
"There ya go buddy," Sprinter cooed petting the fire birds coat.
I smiled, but then something happened that startled me, a pony crashed their cart into a tree, I turned back and in the process let my hoof down. The sudden motion startled the pheonix. "Fluttershy, watch OUT!" Sprinter yelled, I turned back around to see the pheonix had let off a small solar flare that was coming straight at me. I put my hoof up to protect myself, I felt a small singe on my forehoof. I looked at it, then up, the phoenix had flown away. I looked for Sprinter to thank him, but he wasn't to my left anymore. I looked down and at my feet I saw him lying there unconsious, with a large red and black burn on his flank. He had jumped in front of the flame to take most of it. I teared up, then called out, "Somepony get a paramedic!"
The ambulance came and picked him up, I layed by his side up until then. I sobbed silently until he woke up, he saw me crying and put his hoof on my cheek. I gazed into his yellow eyes, he smiled at me, then fell back into unconsiousness.


I waited in the waiting room for the news with my five friends. They had heard about the incident, and had immediately come to see what had happened. I was quickly treated in another wing of the hospital for my burn. I had a small bandage on it. It hurt a bit to walk on but I wasn't too worried about it, I wanted to hear from the OR as soon as I could. I must have waited silently for hours, which I was used to, just not with this much stress. All of my friends waited as quietly for the news as I, even the usually rambuctious Pinkie Pie sat quietly in her chair, playing with the single dangling lock of hair in front of her face.

Eventually the doctor came out and gave us the news, "He's going to be fine." He said. I let out the breath I had been holding this whole time, I was relieved.
"So," I asked the doctor, "when can I see him?"
"Right now if you'd like, he's on a respirator, just so you won't be shocked." the doctor explained, "The burn was deep near his rib cage and it's difficult for him to breath."
I entered the room alone, all of my friends agreed that it would be best for us to handle this alone, I saw the breathing mask on his muzzle, and the heart monitor next to his bedside. I sat in a stool next to him, he looked at me and immediately smiled. I smiled back and nuzzled his cheek.
"Glad to see you're ok?" he said, I couldn't help it, I teared up.
"But you're not," I told him.
"Don't worry about going to the concert with me, take one of your friends," he offered to me, "I heard Rarity likes Lyra."

I was tearing now, I didn't want to go to the concert with anypony except for him, I spoke and my sobbs were heard in my voice, "I want to go with you."
"Well," he said, " the doctors said if I recover quick, then I can get a pass for one day, as long as I return for physical therapy."
He looked into my eyes and smiled, he and I knew that his Wonderbolt tryout was only a few days after the concert. It was him telling me that he was choosing me over the Wonderbolts, I smiled, but then burst into tears.
"What's wrong, I thought you'd be happy to hear that." he said.
"It's just," I said through sobs, "It was my fault you got hurt." I told him.
With much strain and effort he sat up and looked me in the eyes, he smiled, "It's not your fault Shy," he told me, "I want you to just come back and see me anytime until the concert. Just wait at your house and I'll pick you up, we'll go to the concert, then I'll check back in."
I smiled and nodded, tears still streaming down my face. I left the room after visiting hour were up, before I left I pecked him a kiss and we said our farewells. My friends were outside waiting still.
"So how'd it go?" Rainbow said.
"Fine." I told her.
"He's going to make it to the concert right?" Rarity pushed.
I looked to her and winked, "He wouldn't miss it." I told her, she smiled as my friends all pushed more questions, I didn't answer them I simply smiled as I went home and fell asleep.

Rarity still hadn't told anypony about my kiss with Sprinter at the dock. And that's how I wanted it to stay, for now. She only knew what had happened, I wasn't ashamed of him I just didn't want anypony getting too personal. Although Sprinter and I had become quite close I couldn't help but feel something was between us. As if he were hiding something, I shook the thought away, he would tell me anything, we had no secrets. But I could not ignore the nagging feeling that I was wrong, was there a secret he didn't want to reveal?