//------------------------------// // Goodbye // Story: A Shy Farewell // by John the brony and yknow //------------------------------// You are sitting on a metal chair in your bright basement laboratory while looking at the clock, restlessly waiting for someone whom you invited earlier to come, that someone was Fluttershy, your yellow pegasus pony with pink hair and best friend, you love every little detail of her, from her long pink mane to her yellow wings feathers. *knock knock* Someone knocks on the door, you get up quickly from the chair and get ready to welcome your guest, when you open the door, you see her standing there, watching you with those big teal eyes of her, you are caught in her eyes for a while until she greets. "Hi." She says. "Hi, how's it going? how are you?" You say. "Oh I'm fine, thank you, and you?" "I'm great, pleased that you came, come in." You gesture her to enter "This way" You walk around the room and reach a staircase leading to the basement laboratory. "Hmm... I had already come to your house before and had never seen those stairs." She looks around, you note that she realizes all the clutter that is in your house, you have developed a very special bond with her that makes you know that, you want it or not. "I had a painting here, which is over there now." You point to a nearby wall wherea a painting of a boat is. "It used to hide this passageway leading to the basement, but as you are the only pony who comes today, I moved it." You look at the painting for a moment. "It's pretty big huh?" "Oh yes it is." You both laugh, you take the key that hangs on a key holder to open the door, and before opening it, you stop and say something to Fluttershy. "Now cover your eyes, because the brightness of this place will sure leave you bemused." She takes a hoof to the face and you open the door, the brightness of the place shines on the shelves and multiple bottles, some with liquids that have cured many pony diseases, and some filled with things you have not come to understand, as potions and brews that have all kinds of different effects on ponies and on you, one of them makes you see the past, that is the one you have studied more, but which you have obtained fewer results, it seems that the magic works like that in here. "Wow, this place is sure interesting, what are those things over there?" She points to a shelf with some electrical instruments, a tesla coil, a cable wound on a metal tube, and a battery that you crafted. "These are some of my first electrical inventions, well, the ones I did here, remember those floating carts, used to carry things from one side to another without effort? the ones that didn't use magic." "Oh yeah I remember, that was the first invention that you showed me." The memory that comes to your mind makes you wander, remembering those times always makes you happy, those times when you did not know anything about this place, but still, you continued with the initiative of doing something. Fluttershy says something but you react slowly, without hearing what she said. "What?" "The 'phones', you also showed them to me before you showed them publicly... In fact, you have shown you to me all the things you've invented, before displaying them to the public." She says, you feel your face flush and she chuckles, this makes you smile. "Yes, it's true, I always show my inventions to you first, before showing it to others, because your opinion is worth a lot to me." Now she is the one blushing. "And that's why I brought you here." You walk in the direction of something covered by a sheet that has many wires coming from below that connect to generators on the walls, you see Fluttershy who have an expression somewhat aghast. "Wh-what is t-that?" She says a bit scared. "This..." You pull the big sheet to reveal a mirror connected to cables, tweezers, lights, and more things. "Is my way home!" She gasps. "You see Fluttershy, I've been investigating how the mirror works for months! The way it opens every thirty moons, and how it becomes a portal to another dimension, I don't know why Twilight never wanted me to know how it worked, so I took it here and started to study it all by myself." "And what else did you do?" She asks with a look of confusion on her face. "Well, It's like a computer, I needed the precise and accurate tools to configure it from the outside, and I've configured it for the transport destination is from here to Earth." "But then, it means you are leaving?" She says. "Yes.. why?" "Well, I thought... that you were going to stay here for longer, I was planning on doing some things, but now that you go, I can't do them." She says a bit saddened. "Oh... but you still have your friends, you can do those things with them, right?" "Yes, I can but ... I was saving this for someone like you, someone special" As she says this you have a feeling of excitement, anticipation and preocupation run down your body, you know you are one of her closest friends but you also know you like her a lot, and although you try to hide the feeling, you can not completely eliminate it, the fact that she told you something like that felt in a way you never felt before, and you can't help but blush. "Uhh, special like... " You do your best not to make eye contact. "Like you and I? like we are very close friends?" You say, a little uncomfortable. "Yes, like very close friends, but... not just that, I mean something more" "More?" You say, shaking, your discomfort at this point is through the stratosphere, and you try to avoid it by seeming to make notes and calculations in a nearby notebook "Yes, you see..." You interrupt her. "Yes, what is it?" "I... I..." She is quiet for some time, you can not contain your anticipation and joy-terror of what she is going to say. "I love you" She covers her face with her hair. Your stay in shock by what she said, you were expecting it, but the fact that she actually said makes it even more shocking. "Really?" "Umm... y-yes" You remain stunned by this situation, Fluttershy, the Pegasus You've fallen in love since you arrived, is also in love with you? You take a while to calm down, start walking around the laboratory, taking samples of ingredients to pretend you are doing something else. When you calm down, you take a little more time to think about what to say. "Fluttershy..." You take a deep breath. "I love you too... but I can't stay here." You turn around and keep doing chores, working on the portal and moving things from here to there, you already know what to do to make the portal work, you do all this to gain time, and so do not leave and hurt more this pony. "It doesn't seem that you love me, look at you, working nonstop ignoring me" Fluttershy says, with a little sadness in her voice. "Look, what happens." you look to the side for a moment, her face is beautiful, but also very expressive, and that expression can affect you sometimes. "I contacted Earth, they have told me they are worried about me, my family, friends, even at work people miss me, but not only that, it seems that I had been cataloged as a scientist or something, and the government is looking for me, they told me they were tracking me for several weeks, and I don't know if they know about my accident and how to get here." "What does that have to do with this." "It means, if I do not return, I may put Equestria and its inhabitants in a serious risk, if I could do all of this, they sure can too, now that I think about it, I wish I had never made contact in the first place, perhaps they wouldn't have to worry about me, but that doesn't matter, because what's done is done." "Oh, I'm so sorry I never told you something before." "I am sorry too, you have no idea." "P-p-please, don't leave, I had n-never met anyone like you, and I really love you." She says with tears in her eyes, yours begin to water too. "Fluttershy, it's hard for me too, in fact, is even harder for me to leave you, I was the one who fell in love with you." "Yes, I know, b-but you... always treated me different, as more than friends, you're very open with me, you don't mind telling me things, you trust me a lot, and that's something I like about you, you can't leave just like that." "But..." "Can I go with you at least?" You stop in front of the portal, you see it and think deeply, then you pull a lever that starts it, many sparks start to jump all over the lab, and after a few minutes, the portal slowly begins to activate. "I don't think you can come with me... you may know me, but some humans are not the nicest of people, and I don't want you to be hurt." "Oh... Ok... I will not interfere anymore... goodbye." She sits, you take your time to calm down before crossing the portal, you see the portal, start walking toward it, and see one last time back, books, shelves, weird contraptions, bottles with liquids that you have made, you see them, but they mean nothing, all you see and has meaning is the pone sitting there, holding her crying, she waves her hoof, saying goodbye to you one last time, the view is so sad that you can not take it anymore. "Oh my god!" You bend over to hug her, and you two break into tears, then you sit on the floor next to her trying to calm down. You both are silent, you think all the way you have traveled to be here, all the setbacks, all the good times, all the moments that you spent with friends and all the special moments that you spent with the pegasus you have at your side. "Fluttershy, do you remember the day we met." She responds with a simple nod "When I first saw you, I don't know why, but I felt something... I saw the way you are, so peaceful, your behavior, so calm and friendly, I knew... that I had found the person, or pony that I had sought for so long, I thought I would never find love in my life, before coming here I was very depressed and unmotivated, for many years, I thought that I would be alone forever... but when I found you and the love that I have for you, I got motivated, I did great things with the help of all of you, with your help, and look what I've got." "But you don't have to do it if you don't want to." She says, putting a hoof on your shoulder. "It's just that, it's a deadlock, you are my inspiration, the reason why I do things, all the time I spent studying and doing the portal to the Earth, I did it because I wanted to show you how is my home, but when I made contact and I found out my situation, I knew I had to come back, I also knew that if I brought you with me, they'd know I was in a place inhabited by intelligent creatures, with culture, love, beauty... and they would want to come and investigate, but knowing them, they would do it in inappropriate ways, evil ways, and will not let this place be corrupted by the evil of my world." You say with tears in your eyes. "Can't we just defend from them?" "Yes you can, but they are strong, smart, and can adapt to anything that seems out of place to them, I'm sure they'll know how to void the magic, I have done it myself, and after that, It's game over... I am not deciding to leave, really, I am doing it to protect you, something just as good as staying here with you, so please don't be sad, just remember me for the person I was, not the things I did, ok?" "Ok... I will never forget you." "And this is so that you remember me even more." After saying that you pull Fluttershy in a passionate kiss, you feel that everything around you slows down, and it seems that the moment lasts forever, but all good things must come to an end, and when separated, you get up from the ground and approach the portal, you look back one last time, and say goodbye.