Previous Chapters Next
Close
Chapter 1 - A Restless Night2,469 words
Chapter 2 - Awakening1,940 words
Chapter 3 - The First Meeting1,821 words
Chapter 4 - Friends1,662 words
Chapter 5 - Breakfast3,127 words
Chapter 6 - Start The Day2,306 words
Chapter 7 - Of Cars and Dragons2,169 words

Chapter 4 - Friends

With her bandaging done, the pegasus softly lowers herself to the ground, shakily getting her footing once she lands. You are still curious about how she got here of all places, but aren’t quite sure if now is an appropriate time to ask now that she is aware that she is in a place where everything she has known her entire life does not exist. Well, it might help her if she tries to remember, so the possible grain of info that you could use should outweigh the minor social taboo.

“Do you remember what happened before you woke up here?”

She shakes her head, her messy pink mane waving along with the movements.

”I… just went to bed, and when I woke up, I was here.”

Should have figured that this wouldn’t be easy. You relax in your seat, noticing just how roughed up your visitor looks.

“And the ride here must’ve been pretty rough. You’ve got some pretty nasty cuts yourself. Here, let me return the favor.”

You get out of your chair and motion for her to sit down. Predictably, she looks unsure of your offer.

“Don’t worry, I hurt myself all the time. I know how to treat a few cuts.” you say with a smile. It takes her a little while, but Fluttershy finally responds.

”If you say so…” the pegasus answers, taking to the air once more before descending onto your chair. Now that you think about it, you have no clue why the usually cautious pony would actually let you do this. You have even more trouble believing it since you appeared to not know how to even take care of your own wounds earlier. As you tend to her wounds in a way that closely matches her technique, you mull over Fluttershy’s willingness to let you operate on her.

Maybe she’s starting to trust you already? Or is she just too afraid to say no? Either way, you are almost done treating the cuts on her body. She sure took the disinfectant a lot better than you did, that’s for damn sure. While you would swear like a sailor every time she so much as touched you with it, she’d just wince and let out a small whine.

“And there… we… go. That all ought to hold for now. Everything feel alright?” you ask while packing up the leftover medical supplies. The mare lightly tests her bandages and nods her head, once again causing her mane to bounce with her motions.

”They’re fine-” she says in her usual shy demeanor, “And thank you.”

“Not a problem.” you reply, heading out the door to return the medical supplies to their home. Arriving at your bathroom, you place each item in a spot that’s easy to remember. You never have to use these often, luckily. Upon returning to your bedroom, you find your chair rotated around so that the back is to you and the front is facing your computer screen. The carpet muffles your steps as you make your approach to your destination.

Something tells you that this visitor is a bit curious about the big shiny rectangle on your desk, and you aren’t about to pass up the opportunity to observe this phenomenon. Your inner nature documentary cameraman takes over as you quietly watch her figure out what your monitor is.

“And here, we have a magical cartoon horse in her no-so-natural habitat. Oh, she seems to have found something that has piqued her interest! Let’s see what happens…” You say in your head. Jokes aside, this is a good time to introduce her to technology. Plus, your mischievous side is going get a kick out of her reaction when she finds out you’ve been here all this time.

Soon, you’re standing right behind the seat, waiting to see what she does. Turns out, not much, as all she does is look around the various parts of your desktop wallpaper and various icons. Eventually, the pony raises a hoof towards the display. However, seeing as no one has given the computer any actual input in over ten minutes, the screen goes black just as her hoof makes contact.

Best. Timing. Ever.

A wave of panic seems to overtake her as she frantically falls back and looks around your desk for a solution for the problem. She tries tapping the screen with her hoof again to no avail, letting out a squeak of nervousness in response as she falls back into the chair once more. You stifle your childish giggles, having more fun than you should watching an alien horse struggle with technology.

That wasn’t enough to hide them from her, though. Fluttershy spins around, meeting your gaze with her big panicked eyes. A dumb smile spreads over your face and you let your even dumber giggles go free.

“Having fun?” you ask, having gotten the giggles out of your system

In a flurry of yellow feathers, the pegasus jumps from your seat and begins to profusely apologize as tears well in her eyes.

”I’m sorry! I… I b-b-broke…” she says, quivering almost as bad as she did when she first met you.

Okay, you may have let this get a bit too far already. Best to end this now before any further damage is done to her weary mind. You lean over and wiggle the mouse, making the display pop back to life.

“It does that if you don’t do anything to it for a long time. It conserves energy that way.”

A smile already on your face and you kneel down to match Fluttershy’s height.

“Do you have computers where you came from?” you ask.

You’re fairly certain they don’t, but you obviously can’t let her know you know that. Not yet at least. The pony shakes her head, wiping away the tears from earlier.

“Well, hop back up here and I’ll show you what this can do.”

”Really?” she asks in surprise. You roll your eyes.

“No, I’m going to keep you locked up in here away from your friends and family. C’mon, the seat’s all yours.” You assure her, patting the seat once more.

That… actually may not be too far from the truth if this is going by the same rules as the thread. Which brings to your attention the fact that you’ll have to tell her eventually what’s going on if it’s true. Hell, you should probably tell her eventually regardless. Getting back to your feet, you wait for her to get back up where she was so you can commence the show and tell. Before beginning the grand tour, you completely close your internet browser so that no evidence of your previous pony adventures on the web are seen.

You start by showing her the basics. The mouse, keyboard are the first up.

Fluttershy is somewhat entertained by the mouse and how moving it around also moves the cursor on the screen. You couldn’t tell if she was relieved or disappointed when you explained that the word “mouse” was just a name for the device and that it wasn’t an actual live mouse. The keyboard is easy to explain as well, you open up a text editor and type up a few short sentences.

“Wow,” she exclaims, “typing goes so much faster this way! We have typewriters back home, but they’re not used for too much.”

You smile at her awe, it’s actually kind of cute. Getting back on topic, you kneel down and look next to your desk at the lit up box that makes it all possible.

“And this down here is the computer itself.” Fluttershy looks back up at the monitor, confused.

”What about this?” she asks.

“Well, that just takes what this is doing and displays it in a readable form.” you answer. You are about to lean over her and start opening a few programs, but get a better idea. “Go on, grab the mouse and try clicking on a few things.”

Looking unsure, she speaks.

”Are you sure? I don’t want to break anything…” the pegasus says, voicing her concern.

With a smile and a roll of your eyes, you reassure her that nothing is going to break. Although, the hard drive HAS been getting slower and making more noise lately… Eh, it’ll hold for a few more months. The mouse design is difficult for her to use with her hoof, but she manages as she begins to explore your PC. A look of amazement is plastered on the mare’s face as you guide her through the various functions of the PC.

After a few minutes in the paint program, she finds her way to your pictures folder.
In it is a group of people in a grassy park; only a few people in it are posing for the camera, the rest are doing their best to do something dumb for when the picture is taken.
It’s a memory that sticks out to you. This was the day of your graduation. You see yourself with your small group of friends. Everyone looks like they’re on top of the world. Fluttershy’s amazement breaks and she points a hoof where you are looking.

”I see you right there. Are those your friends with you?”

For just a bit longer you go over the picture before responding. It’s been a while, and the memories flood back.

“Yeah. I haven’t seen them for quite a few years now.” you say, reflecting on the times you all spent together. Maybe you should actually try to hang out with some of your co-workers sometime, make some new friends. That, or actually keep in contact with the ones you have. You have a life to focus on, though. Two now, if this doesn’t end up being some strange fever dream. Fluttershy’s face seems to convey sadness as she looks down at her hooves.

”I hope my friends are okay…”

Author's Note:

I hate myself.