> The Equestrian Experience.
>  by Happy-X-rays
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Of Wolves And Ponies.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	C-c-c-cold, so very very cold, you think as you move through the forest. The snow is falling in droves. Your hair has turned white as the cold weather cancels out your scalp's meager attempts to melt the snowflakes that have already settled in your hair. Your jeans below the knees are soaked through, as are your socks and sneakers and they’re starting to freeze solid. How did it come to this? 

You don’t know. This doesn’t make any sense. It all started like any given Saturday night, sitting with your friends around a table drinking while you discussed the deeper meaning of modern philosophy. Ha! Who are you kidding; everything becomes deeply philosophic when you're drunk.

Ah, it had been a good night; the hangover you had proved it, but as to the problem at hand. Why the hell are you walking around in the snow, in a dark and scary forest? You had dragged yourself home to your apartment falling with a loud clatter in the hallway and getting a lecture you couldn’t decipher from your roommate. He seemed pissed, but helped you up and dropped you on your bed where you fell asleep, still wearing your clothes. When you woke up you were freezing and shaking like a newborn calf as you found yourself in the middle of this winter horror land. 

Was this some kind of joke? Had your friends driven you out in the wilderness and left you here?

No, there was no road around where they could have gotten a car through, and you’re certain they wouldn’t carry you several miles just to leave you stranded. 

Your jeans and hoodie are getting torn, and the cold creeping in the holes making the rest of your body as cold as your scalp and legs. “Why are there so many thorns in this shitty forest?!” You yell in a moment of self-pity. The forest does not answer your question; your voice only seems to bounce between the trees for a short while before it disappears into the darkness.

You look around, but to no avail. These trees look just like the ones you passed a few minutes ago, as did the ones you passed an hour ago. You are lost like a little child in the woods and there is nothing you can do about it.

Desperation begins set in. This is not how it's suppose to end. You are suppose to end your sabbatical, now that you've sorted out what you want to do with your life. You are written up for community college and are all set to start after the summer. You are going to study and become an engineer just like your old man. Open your own contracting business, find a cute girl and marry her, have two and a half kids and finally retire and complain about ‘how the youth of the future are a bunch of no good lazy kids’. That was what you had set your dreams on, not dying of hypothermia in the middle of nowhere. Tears run down your cheeks, as you realize that you are going to die here cold, alone and no one will ever know what happened to you. 

A low growl brings you back to reality. Standing about ninety feet away from you in the shadows of the night, a pair of yellow orbs is looking straight at you. This is where you regret that the last movie you saw was “The Grey” with Liam Neeson. Okay take it easy. What did Liam do? How did he get out of this? WHAT AM I THINKING THEY FUCKING KILLED HIM!!! The thoughts race through your head as the orbs move closer and closer. 

When it’s about sixty feet from you, you can finally see the owner of these empty pits of horror as it leaves the shadows and enters the moon light. Yep, your luck hasn't changed. It's a wolf. Now remember what the guy on Animal Planet said. “Wolves would never attack a human being,” it’s properly just come to say hello and welcome you to its forest. You think, as it moves closer. 

“Who’s a good wolf?” You ask trying to let it know that you are not afraid of it. “Yes you are, yes you are. You’re such a good wolf. You won’t eat me! No you won’t. Cause you’re a good wolf. You won’t eat a skinny bean pole like me would you?”

The wolf only moves closer; apparently it’s not susceptible to flattery or baby talk. 

You look down and see the tip of a stick penetrating the flat surface of the snowy ground. You slowly bend down and pick it up and try a new tactic. 

“Look boy! See the stick you want the stick?!” You shout as if it was a small playful puppy you had in front of you and not the hound of the Baskerville’s huge, hungry and psychotic big brother. “Go boy! Go get the stick!” You say, as you throw the stick out to your left.

The wolf follows the stick with its eyes until it knows what the flying object is. Its eyes return to you and it continues its advance. 

“Bad wolf!” you yell at the top of your voice, trying to make it sound deeper and more imposing. “Bad wolf get out of here or I’ll beat the living day lights out of you!” You start waving your arms and make Neanderthal noises.  

The wolf stops and you breathe a sigh of relief it worked! 

Then it opens its maw so you can see its sharp teeth. Its tongue is running over its teeth and lips and you can see it crouching preparing for charge. 

“Fuck Animal Planet!!” You scream as it charges at you. You instinctively raise you left arm to defend yourself, the wolf jaws snap shut around your left forearm, you hear and feel the bones break, as its momentum throws both of you to the ground. You roll around in the snow throwing your arm up as you battle for supremacy. For you, it’s the most single terrifying experience in your life, for the wolf, it’s Saturday. 

You finally stop rolling around as the battle continues. The wolf is on top still concentrating on your forearm. It chews, tugs and shakes its head. Every time it does so the bones in your arm become more and more fractured. Its claws are constantly going at your face and chest, leaving gashes, and you feel the cold sensation of your blood being cooled by the icy temperature. Your right hand strikes the wolf repeatedly on the head, in the chest and anywhere else you can hit it in your desperate attempt to fend it off. In the middle of the chaos you have a moment of clarity. Every time your hand connects with the wolf it sounds like you are striking a wooden beam. It feels like it doesn't have fur or muscle tissue; almost as if it were made out of solid wood. It’s clear that you don’t have a chance to fend it off like this. Your right arm stretches out and your hand taps the ground looking for something, anything to use as a weapon. 

Sensing that it has done enough damage to your left forearm the wooden wolf releases it. It can sense its victim's fear, its powerlessness and its vulnerability. All it has to do is give the final bite to the throat and dinner is served. It opens its jaws wide and goes in for the kill. 

At the same time your hand finally taps something useful in the snow. From its shape you’re guessing that it’s a rock. You grab it in your hand and swing at the wolf. 

Finally the gods, whoever they are, shows you some mercy. As your arm swings in at the wolf in a large arc, the wolf raises its head, positioning it perfectly for the strike. The rock in your fist connects with the side of the wolf’s head. The shock that its prey suddenly strikes back with force startles the wolf, and it jumps off you and pulls back. 

You get up on your knees. The adrenaline is pumping through every vein of your body as you crawl as fast as you can on your knees away from the wooden predator. You cough, the increased rate of your respiration has left your throat as dry as the air you breathe. You move slowly even for a crawl, leaving a trail of red snow behind you. 

You look back to see if the wolf has given up. Oh God make it give up, but when you look over your shoulder you can see the two glowing eyes following you. Clever boy, you think in a bad Australian accent as you lock eyes with it. What am I doing? There is a hungry wolf just waiting to eat me and I make bad movie quotes? 

Even though you hate to admit it, it is clever. The beast must know how badly wounded you are. It also knows that you could, in theory, hurt it with the stone you have in your right hand. So now it waits for blood loss to take its toll. When it’s convinced that you can’t fight back. It’ll come in and gorge itself. 

As you continue to crawl onward, the blood on your face begins to mix with your tears. The endorphins and adrenaline are starting to thin out in your bloodstream and the full pain of the experience you been through is starting to creep up on you. The cold weather still keeps the pain to a minimum, but neither you nor your body is in doubt that you are hurt, and every time you look behind you, you see the two yellow orbs following you. 

That fucking Animal Planet comes creeping back to your mind as well. The wolf will probably start by tearing your abdomen open to get at your intestines. No idea why large predators do that, but you’ve seen enough nature films from the Serengeti and Yellowstone to know that’s how they begin. You are caught between a rock and a hard place. If that fucker back there follows the normal procedures you actually wish to die before he starts. BUT I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!  

The image of the wolf eating you while you’re still alive is brought to a halt when you bump into a hard surface. A huge slab of rock towers at least 12 feet over you in a 90 degree angle from the ground. You stop crying and start laughing. Even now the gods, whoever they are, are pissing you in your face, now you can’t even try to crawl to safety. You slowly turn around and sit down with your back to the rock. You look out over the snow covered ground, the bushes and the two yellow glowing orbs, that have stopped about 40 feet from you. 

You suddenly feel a calm you’ve have never know before in your life. If you are going to die then you could have done worse. A short series of images runs through your head of you dying as an old man alone and weak in some godforsaken old people’s home. Now you get to die fighting a huge fucking wooden monster wolf to a standstill. You throw the rock in your hand as hard as you can into the snow covered woods. It lands a couple of feet from you and you see the two eyes in the dark start to advance. Everything is going so slow. It actually gives you some time to think. 

Come on you stupid mutt can’t you move faster? I can see you running at what I’m guessing is your all out sprint, but can’t you move faster? Why are you so slo-… what’s that on the ground? Oh it’s a stick would you look at that, and a nice straight one too. Isn’t that nice? Reminds me of the one time my big sister took me to a ring jousting tournament when I was eight. That was a lovely day. I never tried it before, but I ended up as number 9 in the children’s competition. There were only twenty or so competitors, but still I beat my sister, my only victory over her throughout my entire childhood. I wonder if I still got the touch. Oh there’s the ring and up we go.  

The stick, that you picked up with your right hand, during your reminiscing, goes up and enters the wolf’s left eye as it jumps at you, to finally get its dinner. It gives a mixture of a roar and a howl and finally gives up and runs away, one eye less than when it started the hunt earlier this evening. You are now completely alone in the woods, even the wolf has left you. 

Oh well he’ll probably be back, that little rascal, you think as the blood loss finally reaches the point where you start speaking and thinking incoherently. Let’s give him some music for his dinner, and with that thought you start to sing the song you remember from those long road trips with your family when you went on vacation.

You don’t know if you are singing it correctly, but Mick and Keith will properly forgive you when you meet them in heaven, or hell, or wherever you’ll be going. 

“OH MY GOODNESS! Are you all right?!” A voice that sounds like its coming really far away makes you stop your singing. 

You look up and can see a blurry mass about six feet from you. The only two things you can make out of the blur are what seem to be a lantern and a package of groceries. 

“Is that you Mr. Tumnus?” You ask with no more than a whisper before you fall into the consuming darkness bellow you. 



****
 


Mumbling voices penetrate the darkness pulling you up to the surface of the dark ocean you lay dormant in. When you opened your eyes you are met by a thick white fog. You can still hear voices and they are becoming clearer, there was also a ticking that repeated itself like the tic-tac of a watch. 

“Oh… Twilight do you think he is going to make it?” A gentle female voice asks. You know that voice, it’s the same voice that you heard in the forest before you fainted. 

“I don’t know Fluttershy, it’s lost a lot of blood and it had hypothermia even before I got here,” the other voice says. That must be Twilight, it sounded like a girl to. 

“Him,” Fluttershy points out. 

“What?” Twilight, apparently caught off guard, by Fluttershy’s remark asks. 

“He’s male,” Fluttershy points out matter-of-factly. 

“Oh okay… wait how do you know that?!” Twilight is sounding almost shocked at the information she had just been given. 

“Well… um… you see… I had to get him out of those wet and frozen clothes!” She starts the sentence off slow, like an old ford model T, but the last part of the sentence she accelerated like she was a drag racer. 

“Oh of course, sorry Fluttershy I didn’t mean to sound like I was accusing you of anything,” Twilight says apologetically. 

“Um… that’s quite alright Twilight, I know you didn’t mean anything,” Fluttershy says meekly. “Do you know what kind of animal he is Twilight? I’ve never seen a creature like him before,” Fluttershy asks, apparently wanting to move the conversation into less dangerous territory. 

“Well I don’t know for certain,” Twilight answers, a pause maybe indicating her mind going deep in thought. “His front hooves looks like the appendages that monkeys have, I believe they are called hands,” you hear the sound of cloth being lifted. “But his back hooves should also look like hands so he can’t be a monkey.” 

“Do you think he maybe could be related to a swan?” Fluttershy’s question surprises both you and Twilight if the long pause is any-ting to go by. 

“Really… a swan? What gave you that idea?” You can hear the faint sound of a writing instrument being scratched along paper. 

“I-I know he’s not a bird, but when I found him he was singing,” Fluttershy says sounding more and more unsure of herself. 

“He was singing?” Twilight sounded perplexed and there were no more a sounds of scribbling. 

“Oh yes Twilight he was singing, not very loud, but in his condition I would’ve been surprised if he could,” with a short pause, Fluttershy voice suddenly gets a hint of sadness. “The only other animal I’ve seen that sings when they’re near death are swans.” She sniffles.

Apparently it had been a very sad experience for her. You heard some small sobs that could only come from Fluttershy. 

Fluttershy and Twilight? Am I in some sort of hippie commune? You think, your mind wandering. Wait, does that mean that the wooden wolf is their organically grown guard dog? 

You are brought back from you mental wanderings about organically grown guard dogs by the sound of heavy boot walking across the floor. 

That must be Twilight. Those are some heavy boots she’s wearing, well it is winter so that makes sense. That’s quite a few steps she’s taking, she must be taking some very small steps, it sound like she take two steps for each step a normal person would take. Could she be a midget? So I’m in a Hippie commune where there is at least one midget. 

You stop trying to reason with what you hear for a while. Without your sight, the room and the two women in it, are left completely to your imagination, and you don’t want that to run rampant right now. 

“Don’t worry Fluttershy, he’s not a swan and he’s not going to die.” Twilight says in a motherly tone, you guess that she is hugging Fluttershy. 

...aw that's sweet.  

“I know Twilight,” Fluttershy is clearly feeling better. “And thank you for bringing all your medical equipment from the library.” 

“Not a problem Fluttershy, but I have a question,” Twilight returns to her normal tone of voice. “Why didn’t you bring him to the vet or the hospital?” 

“Well Dr. Cardio said that the hospital only took care of ponies, and Vet Mane Goodall is so busy, so I thought it was better to take care of him myself,” Fluttershy, sounds like she easily could turn back to her sadder self. 

“Okay, you stay here and take care of him,” you can hear Twilight begin to move towards you by the sound of her steps. “I’ll go to the hospital and get one of the doctors and a nurse to make a house call. I’ll drop by Vet Goodall to.” 

“You can do that?” Fluttershy sounded like Twilight has just offered her a slice of the moon. 

“Well I rarely use it, but there are a few perks in being the personal student of Princess Celestia,” she said, sounding a little smug about it. 

A thought suddenly enters your mind. If they have a hospital, why then is it only for ponies? And a Princess? Is this maybe some sort of cult? 

As you think this the fog finally lifts. You are lying on some sort of table looking directly into a lamp that is hanging from the ceiling. You can’t move; must be the blood loss they talked about. 

“That’s good.” Fluttershy sounds relived. ”I’ll stay here and who knows, when you come back maybe he’ll talk.” 

“So you talked with him?” Twilight said. “So what kind of sounds did it made? Like a dog? A monkey?"

“Oh no, Twilight he speaks Equine,” Fluttershy is sounding proud on your behalf. 

There was a long silence then Twilight speaks.

She sounds like she's going to jump through the ceiling. “EQUINE? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!”  

You can hear her take a few steps back and then you feel something bump into the table you are laying on, she must have bumped into it while she was railing from the shock. The bump makes your head turn to the side the girls are standing. Well at least I’ll see the midget, you think as your head turns. 

There is however no midget when your head is done turning on its own accord. In front of you stand two horses! No, a unicorn and a pegasus! No, a purple unicorn and a grey gold pegasus that talk and are supplying you with medical attention! Your heart starts to beat like a drum, or it would, if there was enough blood to facilitate it. The bips in the background becomes faster, but more irregular, getting closer to just one bip. Your right arm begins to move; reaching for the two horses. 

“Oh no, his heart rate is accelerating, his body can't handle it!” the unicorn who must be Twilight almost screams. She quickly turns to the pegasus that must be Fluttershy. ”Quick try to calm him down I’ll ready a sleep spell.” 

Twilight’s horn begins to glow with a purple aura as Fluttershy gallops over to you. She grabs your hand in her hoof, and starts to stroke your hair. 

“There, there,” she talked like a mother trying to calm a child. 

Before you can give her any answer, a purple aura lays itself over your eyes. You once again sink below the surface in the great dark sea of your own unconsciousness. 



****
 


The next time you leave the darkness there is a new voice in the room other than Twilight and Fluttershy. It’s a male voice, and you feel your right arm being lifted, and your wrist is being held. You try to open your eyes, but they won’t budge. 

“Well his blood pressure is stable again the IV fluids have started to work,” the new voice, this one male, put your arm down on the table again. ”He has a tangible pulse now and he has started to get a little color in his skin.” 

“So he’ll make it Dr. Cardio?” Fluttershy asks, sounding nervous. 

“It’s too early to say. If he was a pony I would have been able to give him a blood transfusion. However he’s not a pony, he’s a… a… well I don’t know what he is, but since he’s not a pony I can only give him IVs with saltwater and hope that his body will do the rest.” You hear a tiny sound, almost like the sound of small bells tinkling.

Suddenly it feels like someone is puts a warm washcloth on you, it’s like its covering your entire body, moving over the areas that you hurt during your fight. 

“Well the stitching of the wounds seems to be holding, and all the splinters seem to have been removed. I’ll say that he has a fighting chance. That reminds me, Miss Fluttershy you need to apply this to his wounds twice a day.” You hear the sound of glass tapping against glass before he continues. 

”Remember twice a day, no more, no less. I’ll send Nurse Redheart over with new IV drops tomorrow since he can’t eat in the state he’s in.” He stops talking and the tinkling of bells becomes louder. Your left eyelid is opened and a sharp light blinds you for a moment. 

“He doesn’t seem to be in a coma anymore so that’s good." 

“Does that mean he can hear us?” Fluttershy sounds excised. 

“I can’t tell. Maybe, but he is semi-conscience at least. When Nurse Redheart comes by tomorrow she’ll help you turn him over, we need to change his position at least once a day so he doesn’t develop bedsores. In his weakened condition it could be the death of him. Also when Nurse Redheart comes tomorrow she’ll help your friend Twilight Sparkle move him to the bed. This table is too hard for him to lie on for a longer period of time and the couch is too small.” You hear him rummaging with something; you are guessing that he is putting his tools into his doctor bag.   

“Doctor are you sure he can’t go to the hospital?” Fluttershy asks in a pleading tone of voice. “You would be able to take better care of him there.” 

“I’m sorry Miss Fluttershy, but the hospital is for ponies. Besides we've just gotten a huge influx of foals with Pony Pox. As you know Pony Pox is relative harmless for a grown up pony, but foals are very susceptible to it, so even if we could take care of him we don’t have any room,” he says in an offhand tone. You hear some small sobs coming from Fluttershy. The doctor changes his voice so it’s warm and caring. 

“Apply the ointment tonight before you go to bed and Miss Fluttershy… do try to get some sleep, if you as his caretaker fall over with exhaustion he won’t have a chance,” you hear a door open and close.  

After a while Fluttershy begins to remove the bandages from your chest and face, she starts to rub the ointment on your wounds. It smells like Tiger Balm and it stings at first, but after a short while it feels soothing. 

“Dear, dear, it’s all going to be alright,” Fluttershy cooes as she rubs the balm over your wounds. The massage, or whatever it is, makes you sleepy and soon you return to the darkness. 



****



You lose track of time. From time to time you come back to consciousness only to drift out of it again shortly after. You still can’t open your eyes or move so you only have your ears to gather information about what’s going on around you. New voices and names come and go every time you wake up. The vet they talked about finally establishes that you are some kind of monkey from your hands and teeth. She opens your mouth gently with her hooves, as she emphasizes her findings. She points out that you teeth constellation is only found in monkeys, and with both canines and molars she would guess you are an omnivore. 

A hyperactive voice that belongs to a pony named Pinkie Pie asks if maybe you are an alien, or Bigfoot, or.... She is cut off by the pony with the southern voice known as Applejack, who points out that those are just old pony tales. She is then interrupted by the pony with the more raspy boyish voice called Rainbow Dash who asks them if they think you a spy for an alien race, who’s just waiting to invade Equestria. Before she can elaborate on her theory of interplanetary conquest, she is cut off by the pony with the posh voice known as Rarity, who tells Rainbow that her theory is just silly. You don’t hear Twilight, but the sound of frantic scribbling tells you that she is there. 

You wonder how come there are so many females. Well Fluttershy is a female so it’s only natural for her to have female friends. Now you only have to figure out their love for pushing pony and equine themes into everything. Equestria, Canterlot, Ponyville, Trottingham, and somepony the list just goes on and on. 

Before you can start to work on it, you once again fall asleep. 

It continues like this for what seems to be an eternity, you wake up, sometimes there are ponies in the room, sometimes you just lay there alone until you go back to sleep. You start to know how a cave fish must have it. Always listening, but never seeing. You start to wonder if you’ll ever see, or be able to use your body again until the fateful day arrives. 



****
 


You wake up. There’s nothing new about that, but you can see. You look around, enjoying the feeling as the light in your eyes for a short while then your eyes begins to hurt. Your eyes have been without daylight for so long that they have become very sensitive to sunlight. You squeeze your eyelids closer together trying to only allow as much light in as they can handle. If you can use your eyes, then maybe you can use the rest of your body. Your face forms a small smile.

You are lying partly on your left side, held in place by what you would guess is a pillow that is folded once and put under your back. That was how they did it when you grandmother was in the hospital for the short period before she died. You remember the nurses putting them under your grandmas back, you asked the nurse why they did that and she told you. 

It’s funny what you remember from your childhood, you think as you try to sit up… nothing happens. You can feel your stomach muscles trying with all their might to raise your back from the bed, but they can’t do it. 

Oh god I’m a quadriplegic! You think as the tears starting to form in your eyes. Your right hand comes up to your face covering your eyes as you begin to cry. 

Wait a minute. If you are a quadriplegic you wouldn’t be able to use your arm, you feel like screaming of joy, but stop yourself before you get so far. You are not a quadriplegic, but you could still be a paraplegic. That wouldn’t be as bad as being a quadriplegic, but still not something you would wish for.

You look at your right hand and remember your other arm getting mauled by that wooden wolf monster, how is that holding out? 

You look down and find that it’s still there. You breathe a sigh of relief, the way that wolf monster was mangling it, you half expected that it had to be amputated. Wonder if it still works? You try to raise it and it responds by doing what it’s supposed to. 

This is getting better and better, now for the fingers. You move your fingers and they also respond like they should. You smile and move your hands in front of your face and look at them.

“Good to see the duo hasn’t spilt up,” you tell them and move them in for a short while to pinch you cheeks. 

The experience of having both your hands lifts your spirit and you lie down and think things over. If you are a paraplegic you can’t move your legs. Check. 

You’re lying on your side sort of, so you can look down the length of the bed.  Check. 

So if you can move a foot out from under the blanket you are not a paraplegic. Check. 

You try to move your left foot and have to fight hard to hide a girlish squeal when your foot comes out from under the blanket. 

The problem is that the muscles in your stomach are weak from not being in use for however long you have been lying here. And that’s probably the best news you’ve ever gotten. It’s like having all your dreams coming true all at once. You’re getting into your dream college, scoring the winning touchdown in the final seconds of the super bowl and winning the sweep stakes. You smile as you slide your hands down your sides and grab the bed sheet. With the combined strength from your stomach and arms you slowly rise up into a sitting position. 

You look around in the room where you've spend most of your time since you got here. 

“This must be the most adorable hippie bedroom I’ve ever seen,” you tell yourself enjoying the sound of your voice. 

The floor seems to be made out of hardwood and it’s painted in an almost olive green color. The walls are made from timber although that could just be paneling. In the rafters you see bird nests and bird houses that seem to be unoccupied at the moment. The furniture made it to look as natural as possible. Other than the bed you are sitting in, the top of the bedposts that have hearts on them. A commode that doubles as a bookshelf, writing desk and several bookcases that only have that one function. 

“Well the carpenters around here must have a good income. Well since this most likely is a hippie commune wood is logically the main building material,” you think out loud and continue your interior viewing of the architecture in the room. 

The fireplace is the only piece of masonry you’ve seen so far, then again a wooden fireplace would be counterproductive. Over the fireplace there hangs a wooden shelf that holds a small mirror, a clock and a candle nightlight. As your eyes traverse the wall you see they hold pictures, pictures of flowers, sunshine, rainbows, and birds. 

“Well someone's chosen one style to follow,” you say to yourself, still reveling in the sound of your voice. (You have had to go so long without it.) 

You look out of the window and see what can only be described as a winter wonderland. The snow covers the hen-house and the little picket fence that runs around the house; it’s so lovely that you open your eyes wide to get it all in. 

The sun that shrouded itself within a cloud comes back out again at that moment, sending it rays out over the beautiful landscape. It bounces off the snow really illuminating all the scenery and it continues into the optical receptors in your eyes, which promptly give your brain a clear reminder, that they don’t appreciate so much stimulation given their long time off duty. 

“ARGH!!! THE PAIN!!!” you scream as you bring both hands up to cover your eyes. 

This almost sends you falling back down into a lying position. You luckily manage to grab the bed sheet with your right hand to stay up while you turn away from the window using you left hand to create a shield against the sunlight. Getting over the shock of your pain, you slowly remove your hand from your eyes, the sight that meets you make you scream again. In the large mirror that you hadn’t seen before you see what you guess is you. It looks like you. A thinner more raged version of you, but that’s not what makes you scream. You are bald not combed over bald, or skinhead bald, no you are completely bald you don’t even have eyebrows. While you scream you look down your arms only to see that there isn’t a hair on them, you apparently don’t have a hair on your entire body. 

“Oh my goodness are you alright?!” A voice yells worried somewhere in front of you. 

You look up and see Fluttershy, the magical talking yellow pegasus standing at the foot end of the bed. The shock of being eye to eye with her without a warning sends you further up the hysterical meter. You continue to scream and move away from her sending you out over the side of bed 

“Oh dear be careful you’ll hurt yourself!” She says, as she moves around the bed to get over to you. 

You move away from her getting a little distance properly because she is trying to give you your space. You recognize that it sounds weird when you slide over the floor on your backside to get some distance between you. You look down and see that you are wearing a diaper. With all the other things getting you hysterical, this finally accumulates you to a state of perfect hysteria, sending you out of reach of all but the most legendary psychologists. 

The next twenty minutes holds you to a constant. Sitting up against the wall screaming like you're in the same room as the wolf monster from earlier. And Fluttershy trying everything from empathy to bribery to make you stop screaming.

" “ARGH!!!!” 

“Don’t worry I won’t hurt you.” 

“ARGH!!!” 

“P-Please calm down you’ll hurt yourself!” 

“ARGH!!!” 

“L-L-Look a birdie! L-L-Look at the birdie!” 

“ARGH!!!” 

“I-I-I-I have a muffin you can have it if you calm down!” 

All actions have an equal and opposite reaction or at least a reaction, beginning to be as panicked as you are, Fluttershy's reaction is something that surprises the both of you. 

She slaps you hard across your face bringing you out of the state of hysteria that you had found yourself in for the last twenty minutes. There is a moment of silence the both of you not quite sure what just happened. Fluttershy is the first to react when she sees you cheek turning red, she brings both her hooves to her mouth with a gasp, a look of absolute terror in her eyes. 

“O-O-Oh gosh I’m so sorry,” she says clearly shocked over the turn this ‘conversation’ has taken. 

“No… no t-that’s okay you did it out of desperation,” you say still surprised as you take your hand up to your cheek the pain finally fighting it way past the shock of being hit. 

“A-A-Are you alright?” She gently removes your hand to see if you’re hurt. 

“Oh yes fine… fine I just have some questions,” you turn your head to actually look at her. 

“W-Well let’s get you back to bed first,” she then helps you up and into bed. 

When you’re back in bed she tucks you in and sits down right next to the bed. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” She asks as she takes another look at your cheek. 

“Yes I’m fine, really. Fluttershy, why have you shaved me?” you ask as you are still flummoxed over the past thirty minutes. 

“What? I didn’t shave you,” Fluttershy says with a surprised look. ”Well I did shave you around your wounds so a hair wouldn’t grow into the wound and cause an infection. U-Um the rest is due to the food. Dr. Cardio and Vet Goodall took some tests and they say that the food here somehow made you lose all your fur.” 

“Oh, okay.... well that makes sense, and why am I wearing a diaper?” you say, but in the state of mind you're in right now, you don’t know if it makes sense or not. But, they’re answers and you have been wanting some of those for ages. 

“Y-you had to,” Fluttershy says. Her cheeks turn red as she apparently hasn’t thought about that finding yourself in diapers would be embarrassing. “You were unconscious and couldn’t go or point out that you needed go to the bathroom, so um… I had to borrow some diapers at the hospital so you wouldn’t have an accident.” 

Your other cheek turns as red as the first, you hadn’t thought about that. Wait that means that she has seen your private parts, when she changed you like you were a baby for how long? 

“How long have I been unconscious?” You ask, as your entire head turns beet red from the revelation you have just gotten. She’s not a girl but she is a female and it’s your private area. You don’t even like to change clothes or be naked if your parents cat is in the same room and he’s a male. 

“About one and a half months,” Fluttershy answers. Her face is also growing a shade of rose. How is that even possible? 

There is another moment of silence since both of you are too bashful to continue, the only sound in the room is the clock over the fireplace ticking. An old friend of yours decides to break the awkward silence in the room and help both you and Fluttershy out, your stomach growls. 

“A-Are you hungry?” Fluttershy is the first to break the silence. 

“Y-Yes.” 

Fluttershy flies out of the room, leaving you lying alone with an even new sensation since you have never seen a pegasus fly before. She returns after a while, still flying, and with a bowl of what appear to be soup in her hooves. She puts the bowl of soup on her commode and helps you up, so you are now sitting up in the bed. 

“It smells wonderful, what kind of soup is it?" you ask, as she gently places the bowl on top of the blanket in front of you.  

“It’s a spinach and broccoli soup with extra salt and thyme,” she says blushing over the compliment. “Dr. Cardio said that you needed lots of iron in your diet so your blood count would get back to normal.” She’s sitting on the floor watching you as you begin to eat. 

You try to get a spoonful of soup into your mouth, but this proves difficult. The muscles in your arms are weakened after they haven’t been used for such a long time, and the hysterical fit you had earlier doesn’t help. Every time you try to take a spoonful your hand starts to shake, resulting in the soup falling out of the spoon, landing either back in the bowl or on the blanket. 

Fluttershy watches this happen for a few minutes then she asks, “Do you want some help?”

“No- no… I… almost… got  it,” you say, trying to take a new spoonful of soup between every word.  

“Here let me help you,” Fluttershy reaches for the spoon. 

“No I can do this,” you retort, changing the spoon to your other hand. She’s already changed you like a baby, you are not going to let her feed you like one too. 

“Give me the spoon!” Fluttershy says with a bit of firmness in her voice. 

“No!” You retaliate. 

“Give me the spoon now!” Fluttershy almost snarls at you. The last word is said between clenched teeth while she locks eye with you, so it could very well be a snarl. 

“Okay…” you pass her the spoon taken aback by the sudden commanding presence she has. 

She takes the spoon in her hoof and dips it in the bowl of soup and leading the spoonful of soup up to your mouth. 

“Open wide” she says, back to her kind demeanor. 

You do as she says and bite over the spoon as she leads it into your mouth. She retracts the spoon and you finally get to taste the soup. It’s divine and a bit salty, but all in all. Pretty damn good soup. The fact that you’re so hungry that you’d even eat spam makes the soup so much better, if this was your last meal you could die a happy man. Your thoughts are interrupted by another spoonful of soup coming your way. When you empty the bowl Fluttershy gets another one and another one after that. When you are finally full you’ve eaten 5 bowls of soup. 

Fluttershy helps you down into a lying position and makes sure you are tucked in again. You are completely relaxed; a full stomach tends to do that, and when the Fluttershy is here, it’s easy to do so.  

As you start to drift off you feel Fluttershy’s hoof petting your head. “Don’t worry my sweet little pet, I’ll take good care of you,” she says. 

You don’t give her words a second thought but later...... you might have wished you had. 
> Recovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Being nursed back to health is not for the faint of heart.” Waking up from a nap it comes to you. For these are words quite true, and they are words that burn themselves into your mind, on your road to recovery.  


****


Your body has always done what you asked of it, but now it felt as if it’s decided to work against you. Physical actions that you didn’t need to think about now have to be planed down to the smallest detail, if you are to have any chance to succeed. For the first week just sitting up in bed was a daunting task. 

Usually you would use your abdominal muscles, with your legs as a counterweight, and you would sit up. No matter how hard you try your body wouldn’t budged. You have to use your arms and grab either the sheet or your knees with your hands, to be able to sit up. For a simple task to become so difficult, you have something to add to the list of defeats you tally in your mind.

The list has calmly grown since you woke up. It started right after Fluttershy had fed you and tucked you in. Your brain had told you to eat since you hadn’t eaten in over a month. The food you had gotten was through an IV drop in your arm, leaving your stomach idle. This made you wolf the soup down, or rather you would have if you could, but it went fast enough. Fluttershy had been a gracious host, and seeing how much you liked the soup, had let you eat your fill. Your stomach however, like the rest of your body saw it as a personal insult, that it suddenly was required to work after such a long time of inactivity. It had done what any landlord does with unwanted residences; it promptly evicted them from the premises. 

The ensuing series of unexpected regurgitations from your stomach sent the soup out into freedom. Luckily you managed to turn your head a split second before it reached your throat, so you didn’t hit Fluttershy; instead you hit the bed, the floor and anything else within range. Lying down and only being able to turn your head most of the substance formerly known as soup had landed on the bed or on you. 

Fluttershy had quickly helped you up into a sitting position and for lack of a better option, had held the bowl under your mouth. This had caught some of your stomach contents but, the volume and velocity of it had meant, that most of it had fallen on the blanket. When your stomach had finally evicted the last unwanted resident, you were left gasping for air. The bed and the front of you body was now covered in your stomachs refusal. 

Fluttershy had let you sit there until your breathing was back to normal and you stopped coughing. She supported you, so you didn’t fall backwards or forward into the mess you made, while she gently rubbed your back as she tried to comfort you with kind words. When your breathing was finally unconstricted, she did something you didn’t think possible. She had lifted you in her hooves, out of bed, and placed you so you were lying on the floor. Making sure you were lying as comfortable as possible, she flew into what you guessed was the bathroom. You heard the running of water, and when she returned she was holding a bowl and a washcloth. The bowl turned out to be a mixture of lukewarm water and soap. Gently, she helped you up into a sitting position, and began to wash you with the washcloth. She continued to try to comfort you with kind words, as she washed you until you were clean. 

Your low blood count meant that your body couldn’t generate enough body heat without a blanket to trap it. When she was done washing and drying you, you were shaking from the cold. She had then gently laid you down on the floor again and wrapped you in a blanket, while she changed the linen on the bed. Finally when she was done, she had lifted you up again and flew you back to bed, where she tucked you in and comforted you until you fell asleep. You hadn’t uttered a word during all of this, too ashamed of your weakness and helplessness to even being able to think of what to say. Even if you wanted to say something, you were suddenly so tired, from what you had seen and experienced in the few hours you had been awake.

The next two points on the defeat list came shortly after each other. The first was your voice. Thinking back on how it sounded when you woke up, it had been raucous at best. You hadn’t thought about it when you woke, because you just enjoyed that your body had decided to cooperate again. 

Now thanks to your panicked screaming session from yesterday, it would probably have reduced it to a whisper. Your regurgitation however had an unforeseen result. When Fluttershy helped you sit up, to better help you vomit on something other than yourself, it resulted in some of the stomach acid running back down your windpipe. This had resulted in your vocal cords being put under even more strain, reducing the whisper to a non-existent entity. 

You and Fluttershy got what could only be seen as a scolding, from Dr. Cardio when he came around the day, after your feeding mishap. Or rather Fluttershy did. He pointed out in no uncertain terms, that she was not to indulge you. Your meals should be small, but often. This would be the standard procedure, until your stomach had gotten used to deal with holding food again.  Even if you wanted to you couldn’t answer, your throat hurting if you just tried to use your vocal cord. Worst of all was that Fluttershy constantly took the brunt of the scolding. Even though you could see, that Dr. Cardio was being very gentle in his scolding. It clearly hurt her to be the center of all the negative attention, but even so she constantly placed herself between the scolding and you. 

Her actions didn’t help on your mood. All though some of your friends probably wouldn’t describe you as such, you saw yourself as an adult, and being an adult meant taking responsibility for your actions. Her constant stepping in to take, the fall, made you feel infantilized and impotent. It also made your situation clear. For the first time in your adult life, you were totally dependent on someone other than yourself, and it scared you as much as the wooden wolf had. 

Later that day you were sitting up in your bed, when you felt your bladder reaching its limit. Fluttershy was in town getting groceries, so getting her to help you was out of the question. You looked at the bell on the nightstand that she had given yo, so you could call on her if you needed anything. You had grown to hate that stupid bell. It stood as a symbol of your emasculation and dependency. You straightened your index finger and gave the bell a slight tap. It fell to the ground and rolled in under the bed. You smiled, out of sight out of mind, you may be weak, but the bells of the world had better be careful and not try to mess with you. Your triumphant feeling of utterly defeating the bell in single combat was brought to a sudden stop, as your bladder saw it fit, to give you second reminder.  

After the stunning victory over the bell indignity, you felt it was time to defeat the diaper of despair. You pulled the blanket to the side and lifted your legs out of the bed one at the time. The door to the bathroom was only five or so yards away. You took your time, mentally preparing for what you knew would be an arduous journey. You took a couple of deep breaths, and then using all your might you stood up. 

The sudden rising of your body however had an unforeseen consequence. Your heart suddenly had to pump blood vertical rather than horizontal, before either your heart or arteries had time to adjust to this; your brain registered the lack of oxygen.

The blackout was short, no more than a few seconds, but in your weakened condition it was enough. When you fully regained consciousness, you were lying on the floor. From what you could guess you had fallen forward. The fact that you were lying on your stomach, only seemed to support that thesis. As you opened your eyes fully, you could see the stairs that led down to the living room. Your left hand was lying next to your head, your right felt like it was between your chest and the floor.  You tried to gently pull it out when a surge of pain ran through your arm. Your vocal cords couldn’t make any sound, so the scream that left your lips was a silent one, though in your mind it was real enough. 

You carefully rolled right, onto your back, so you could see your right arm. The arm itself didn’t look to be broken, which filled you with relief, but the feeling vanishes when you looked at your hand. Your hand was pointed ninety degrees at a downward angle from its normal position. When you tried to move it back into its normal position, with your other hand, the pain returned with a vengeance.

The sudden tidal wave of pain made you lose focus completely. When you regained focus you felt the tell tale signs that you had hoped to avoid when you started this endeavor. The fact that you hadn’t made it to the bathroom in time you could have handled, falling over you could have handled, breaking your wrist you maybe could have handled; but all three at once pushed you over the edge. Tears started to form in your eyes, and soon they flowed like raindrops down the sides of your cheeks. Your sobs, like your screams, were quiet ones, and only the jolty movements off your thorax and abdomen gave any indication that they were there. In your mind, however, they were as real as ever. You don’t know how long you laid on the floor sobbing; a couple of hours, a couple of minutes, your sense of time was gone.

When Fluttershy had returned from her grocery shopping and came up the stairs, she almost  had a panic attack. Your only reaction had been to roll over so you had your back to her. You went into a fetal position and covered your face with your good arm. While she made sure you were alright, you refused to look at her. You felt weak, pathetic and worthless.


****



“And I’m still worthless.” 

The thought is coming with increasing regularity since you gained consciousness. From the time you woke up until now, you haven’t been able to use your body as you used to. The strain of constantly being weak, tired and now having your arm in a sling is constantly gnawing away at your feeling of self worth. Dr. Cardio had put your wrist back in place and had applied some sort of ointment that should help it heal. It should also take the pain, but there is still the occasional sting from your wrist.

With no small effort, you sit up and slowly move backwards, until your back is resting against the headboard of Fluttershy’s bed. You find the pillow and place it between your back and the solid wooden frame of the headboard to get comfy. A sigh leaves your lips, even getting comfortable is a trial of strength for you. 

You look at the mirror and stare at you reflection. The thin and bald human looking back at you looks nothing like you remember having looked before. If you didn’t know it was you; you wouldn’t have guessed it. Looking down at your arm, you notice how thin it has become. You have never had a body like a bodybuilder, nor were you twiggy either; you fell into the ‘normal’ group as most people do. “And now I can probably join a sideshow as the human stick insect, it’s no wonder that Fluttershy could lift me as easy as she did last night. My body weight is probably as low as my granddad when he died. He had been sick for a long time where he couldn’t leave his bed.” You remember you were one of pallbearers at his funeral. The memory of how odd you found it, that a man of his height could be so light, like a feather.

Shaking your head, you send the memories back to its designated box in your brain; your mood is bad enough as it is, no reason to bring more sadness into it. You give another sigh as you lean your head back against the headboard. You really need something to do, without something to take your mind off your current situation time move forward at a snail’s pace. You miss your DVDs, you miss your game console, and you miss your internet and all those mindless things that could speed up time. Even against time you are helpless.

The feeling of helplessness also brings out a side of you that you thought you left behind in the magical days of your childhood. As a child you couldn’t fall asleep without having your nightlight on, or having your cat sleeping in your bed. Otherwise you knew without a doubt that you were helpless against the monsters of the night who would come and eat you. The light, you knew, would scare them away. If the nightlight wasn’t an option, you knew that your family cat had senses that were far more developed to sense things in the night. You knew that as long as he purred you were safe. Now the night doesn’t scare you, but your own body does. 

“How the fuck can you let me down like this!” you mentally scold your body. “I’ve taken good care of you! I fed you and clothed you, and this is how you repay me?” Your body doesn’t reply, as you knew it wouldn’t, but its lack of ability starts to make you angry “Fine be that way.” 

Your thoughts on your body’s weak state are brought to a halt when you hear a knock at the front door from down stairs. From what you can hear Fluttershy walks over to the door and opens it.

“Oh! Vet Goodall, I’m so glad you could come by,” Fluttershy sounds happy to see the pony, whoever she is.

“Well I heard that he’s awake, so I thought that I better take a look at him, and make sure he’s on the road to recovery.” 

The voice from the visitor brings her back from the voices you heard while you were in your semi unconscious state. She was the vet that had given Fluttershy and her friends the lecture on your species, or at least your main species group.

“That’s a good idea. He's just taking a nap, I’ll just go check if he's awake. Please wait here,” Fluttershy says and you hear the sound of light hoofsteps moving up the stairs.

As she reaches the top of the stairs, you see that it appears she is walking on the tips of her hooves, like she is trying to sneak as to not wake you. Seeing that you are wide awake she smiles at you.

“Ah you're awake, that’s good. Did you have a nice nap?” She walks over to the bed switching back to her normal gait.

Not being able to speak, you nod your head and give her your best attempt of a smile.

“Oh that’s wonderful.” She gently checks your injured arm making sure it's laying in the right angle in the sling Dr. Cardio had applied around your neck. “Vet Goodall is down stairs and would like to give you a checkup…, if that’s alright with you.”

When she is satisfied that your arm is okay she looks up at you and gives you one of the kindest smiles you ever remembering seeing. You nod again and give her a thumb up with your uninjured left hand. She looks at this with a puzzled expression on her face, then she looks up at the ceiling as if to make sure that you aren’t pointing at something among the rafters. Not finding anything out of the ordinary she looks at you even more puzzled. Remembering that ponies don’t have hands or fingers, and therefore would not know what a thumbs up means, you send her a sheepish smile and nod your head once again. She returns your smile and walks down the stairs, still giving the ceiling a couple of looks, to make sure she hadn’t missed whatever you were pointing at.

“He’s awake and doesn’t mind a checkup follow me.”

Again you hear the sound of hooves walking up the stairs as Fluttershy returns with vet Goodall accompanying her. Vet Goodall is a normal pony well as normal as they come here, normal in the sense that she isn’t a pegasus or a unicorn.  Her coat is a light gold completion and her mane is light blue with gray streaks in it, she seems pleasant enough. She puts her saddlebags on the floor and then turns her attention towards you.

“Well looks like he has taken a turn for the worse,” she says as she sees your arm in the sling. “How did this happen?” 

“Um… I was out grocery shopping and he tried get out of bed and he… fell.” Fluttershy tries not to look at you or vet Goodall, and looked at the floor clearly feeling guilty, again taking the full blame for your current state.

You look at Fluttershy with an annoyed expression on your face. “OH WOULD YOU STOP BEING SUCH A DOORMAT!” If you could use your voice you would have shouted it at her. “I DID THIS, NOT YOU!” Why is she constantly taking the blame for you? 

Your mental berating of Fluttershy stops, as you see that vet Goodall turns her full attention towards you.

“Well hey there little fella, and how are we doing today?” 

The way she asked it made you cringed. It isn’t the way you would ask a fellow human being, it’s the way you ask a dog. “Well not entirely, but if she start to do use puppy talk-.”

“Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?” Vet Goodall pats you on your head as she asks you the question. 

Your bad mood doesn’t exactly improve when she walks over to her saddlebags and produces a jar filled with what appears to be doggie treats. 

“Siiit.” 

Had you taken the time to remember that Goodall was in her uniform, and therefore in her job mind mode, you would most likely have let it slide. Now her behavior on top of the stings of pain in your wrist, your body’s weakness and Fluttershy constantly stepping in to take the blame, it becomes the famous straw that broke the camel’s back. You look at Goodall like she was a telemarketer who had called you when you’re just sitting down to eat your dinner. Vet Goodall however didn’t notice the amount of negative charged energy, that you were sending her way; she was too busy taking one of the doggy treats from the jar and holding it towards you.

“I don’t think he likes the way you are talking to him.” Fluttershy tried to cut in, her voice as meek as a skittish fawn’s.

“Hm… maybe he doesn’t like the treats I brought.”

Or maybe I think you’re a complete ass! You counter reasoned with her in your mind. I swear if you-.

“Luckily I came prepared,” vet Goodall says and from her lab coat she produces of all things a banana. “Oh that's such a good boooy, would you rather have this yummy banana than those boring doggy treats?”

Normally anger is not part of your character, far from it. You are not a doormat, but you have been taught from an early age that anger gets you nowhere. Throughout your childhood, whenever you threw a tantrum or raised your temper, your family would shut you down, until you found some other way to get your point of view across. That however was in the past under normal circumstances, and this is the now, where there hasn’t been a whole lot of normal since you came here. 

You feel your upper lip give a series of jumps like it want to make a snarl like an angry dog. The calm side of your personality keeps it down however, so your lips still covers your front teeth. A battle of will takes place in your mind. Part of you wants to take a violent swing at the banana sending it flying through the room. Another wants to take the banana and just leave it at that, no harm done. The battle ends in a stalemate and a compromise. 

You smile at vet Goodall. A smile can send many different signals, I’m happy, I’m relaxed, or you’re funny. Your smile however is more the kind of smile a tiger sends a bunch of annoying elementary school children, banging their hands on the bullet proof glass to its enclosure. Your smile shows no teeth, but to the trained eye it says. “You may be out of my reach, but given the chance I will tear you apart.”

“Well that looks like it did the trick, now he’s smiling. I knew the banana would be the right approach.” Vet Goodall apparently oblivious to the signal your smile is sending laid the banana on you blanket, and returned your ‘you are toast smile’ with a genuine happy ‘let’s be the best of friends smile’.

“Why thank you my dear and now.” You raise your uninjured left hand and start to flex your index finger in a come-hither motion. 

It works, vet Goodall seems to be almost hypnotized by the flexing of your finger joints. She comes closer, and closer, and-.

“Vet Goodall, stop I don’t think you should!” Fluttershy tries to stop her, but to no avail. Vet Goodall was preoccupied with the evolutionary wonder in front of her. “S-S-Stop it! Don’t you-!” The last sentence is directed at you, but you chose to ignore it, your target is finally within range.

Turning your hand over in a quick motion, you bended your middle finger and lock it with your thumb. Stretching your three remaining fingers for added tension and power, you release your middle finger, and flick vet Goodall over her nose. “Boo-yah!”

The flick although not that hard, came as a complete surprise for vet Goodall. Giving a loud yelp and grabbing her nose with her front hooves, she jumped backwards all most slamming into Fluttershy in the process. The jump however comes as such a surprise that she hasn’t thought about the landing, before her back hooves makes contact with the floor. This means that the muscles in her legs isn’t tensed enough to keep her standing. The end result is that her back leg buckled under her, so she collapses on the floor still holding her nose. This leaves vet Goodall lying on the floor rubbing her nose, apparently not knowing what just hit her. Fluttershy standing between the two of you looks like she is close to a state of shock. Her eyes going from you to vet Goodall in quick succession, her mind seemingly incapable of tackling the turn this situation has taken. And finally you, sitting in the bed with a smile that many an over dramatic Hollywood villain would be proved of. The only thing in your mind that could have made this better, is if you could use both your hands to make a finger-pyramid in front of your face. Sadly your prior accident makes this impossible.

 “OH NO!” Fluttershy, the first of the ponies able to wrap her head around what just happened runs over to vet Goodall, who was still dazed by the ordeal that just happened to her. “Oh my gosh are you okay?! I’m sure he didn’t mean to do that! He’s just had a very tiring day and-!”

She is stopped mid sentence by a raised front hoof from vet Goodall. “I’m just fine.” She says giving her nose a final rub to make sure it’s alright. She turns her brown eyes towards you; you are still sitting with a devilish smile on your lips. “And I congratulate you; you apparently have a healthy… a healthy… snake monkey on your hooves!”

“Snake monkey?!” That was clearly meant as an insult. The smile on your lips vanishes, as you don’t really know how to tackle the in human terms crude insult. “Is she referring to my lack of hair?” Paltry as it may be, it still struck a nerve. Like most humans, a very large part of how you chose to show the world your personality is through your hair. Without it you have no personality as far as the world is concerned; at least that how you feel. 

Getting up and still fuming, vet Goodall put on her saddlebags and began to descend the stairs. “And since he seems to be quite healthy, my services clearly aren’t required!”

She continued down the stairs to the ground floor. Fluttershy is following her trying to mend fences by apologizing on hers, but specially your behalf. “I’m so sorry, it wasn’t his fault, really it’s my fault. I know him better than you, and I should have seen it coming and-!” You hear the sound of the front door being slammed hard as vet Goodall leaves the house cutting Fluttershy’s apologizing short. You then hear what appears to be a low squeak from Fluttershy.

For what seems an eternity not an audible sound can be heard in the house. You start to get down from your adrenaline high and begin to wonder if Fluttershy is alright. The sound of hoofsteps coming up the up the stairs tell you that she most likely isn’t. During your stay, both semi-comatose and awaken, you’ve rarely been able to hear Fluttershy hoofsteps when she walked up the stairs. Even with her hooves she can move silently like a jungle cat, maybe because she didn’t want to disturb you in your slumber. The steps she takes now however are loud enough that you could hear them even in you sleep. Slowly and deliberately they are moving up the stairs, each one of them like an ominous distant thunderclap in your mind. 

Since only your ears are telling you what’s going on, you mind starts to fill out the missing pieces of the jigsaw that is your current situation. From the images it’s showing you, things aren’t boding well. You remember that Fluttershy can be very fierce, so much so that it frightened you. That was triggered because you wouldn’t give her a spoon. Attacking a pony, that might very well be her friend, can only bring the most severe of repercussions. 

Your heart rate starts to accelerate along with your breathing, and you start to sweat even though the room suddenly feels ice cold. All the tell-tell signs that your body is preparing for a fight or flight scenario are appearing. Your body has however forgotten that it’s in no way capable to either of these actions in the state it’s in now. You however know this, and this knowledge starts a chain reaction in your mind. Mental images of Fluttershy exacting her anger on you, becomes wilder and wilder as the steps of doom moves closer. 

As you see her pink mane slowly appearing over the top step of the stairs, your mind reaches its final bid on the outcome of this situation. In your inner eye you see Fluttershy placing a piece of firewood between your ankles, before she goes to work on your feet with a sledgehammer. You look down at your ankles and feet which are hidden under the blanket, already seeing them bend and broken out of shape. Remembering how bad the pain was with only one wrist, you can’t even start to fathom the pain that awaits you now. You look up seeing Fluttershy having finally reached the top of the stairs and now moving towards you. Her face carries no readable expression that you can tell, and her gait is slow and deliberate as she reaches the bed you are lying in.

Trying to move you discover that you can’t. It’s like her eyes are holding you in place like a snake hypnotizing a mouse before it devours it. “Oh god! Oh god! Oh god! I’m dead!”

“I’m very disappointed in you…” Her voice seems devoid of any emotions, like she’s trying to control her temper.

“Now comes the berserk mode and out comes the sledgehammer!” You look at her. Your fear probably as visible as the sweat on your brow.

“I mean… she was only trying to help. I know you’ve had a hard day, but that really doesn’t excuse what you did.” Fluttershy’s voice carries a hint of firmness, but no hint of anger and certainly none of the rage you expected. 

You blink your eyes a few times in utter surprise. “Ooookay this isn’t the way I pictured this.” 

Fluttershy comes closer and raises a hoof. Had your body been just in a tad better shape, you would have cringed preparing for the strike, now however you can only sit and watch the hoof. 

The hoof starts to descend and you close your eyes, the only action you can muster against the coming strike. “Here it comes.” 

The strike doesn’t come; instead you feel it gently stroke your head, as if to calm you. Your lack of hair reveals the texture of the hoof for you as it trails along your head. The outer shell is not as one would expect rock hard, it feels lighter somehow and more flexible. The center is also softer then you thought it would be. It feels almost like a cat’s paw having the couture off several muscles. This would explain the hoofs added flexibility, and the reason why she can hold a spoon in it.

You open your eyes and look at Fluttershy, the sight you see is one of almost angelic proportions. The expression on her face is one of caring, gentleness and empathy. You are at a loss; you expected a raging volcano and a degree of hostility that surpassed what you presented to vet Goodall. Instead you are met by something you’ve rarely seen outside the world of TV, literature and art; kindness.

“I’ll go down and make some lunch for us, but I want you to think about what I said… okay?” Fluttershy stops her stroking of your head and looks at you, still having that kind look in her eyes as she waits for your reply. 

The only reply you can think about is to nod your head, while averting your eyes so you wouldn’t start to blush over your emotional overreaction. You hear Fluttershy walking down the stairs and hear her start rummaging in the kitchen. Left drained from your fears, you do what she asked and try to think things through.

What had gotten you to act out in such extremes? The first action was somewhat easy to figure out. Vet Goodall had offended you; she might have done it with the best of intentions, but together with the other personal defeats you had during your time here it had been too much. The other reaction towards Fluttershy however is harder to get to terms with. Was it because you’ve seen her react somewhat harshly towards you before? Well yes, but was that really the only reason? When had you had these feelings before? In your mind you went back into time trying to find the answer. When you finally reach it you are back in your childhood. 

As most modern families, your parents never struck you or your siblings. There were one or two episodes in your childhood where you were struck, but that usually was a culmination of many things that made your parents strike out in desperation rather than anger. This, however, didn’t help when you got into trouble, as all children do. Whenever that happened, you would be afraid that they would beat you. Not only that, your mind would, just like today, make up one scenario after the other, each one more extreme than the next. Seen from a purely statistical point of view, the chances of any of them coming true were slim to none. The Cleveland Browns winning the Super Bowl against the Detroit Lions would be more likely, but the fear remained. It wasn’t until you reached adulthood that you figured out why. It all came from the simple fact that you were powerless to stop them from doing it, if they decided to do it. Well that and maybe the stories you heard about how child disciplining was in your grandparents’ childhood, exaggerated though they might be in your imagination.

A child is powerless against an adult, and so are you at this point. This could very well be the reason that your reactions have been through the roof since you came here. The thought is not a nice one. Fluttershy taking the blame makes you feel like a child, and now you’re acting like one. Have you really changed so much since you woke up in the snow covered forest in, what seems, an eternity ago. 

Your reaction towards vet Goodall also comes more into perspective, you acted like a child having a temper tantrum because her words made you feel inferior. The normal you would be able to shrug the feeling of inferiority off if someone talked down to you. Most of the time you would even be able to laugh at it, and the person doing it, but in this instance you immediately went to aggression. Granted the aggression had not been overly violent, but it had been there. Worst of all your actions had brought Fluttershy to once again throw herself on the altar of blame taking. No… she hadn’t as much thrown herself as you had pushed her with your actions.

Your thought stream is brought to a halt when Fluttershy comes up the stairs with a small bowl in her mouth. She places it on the nightstand and blows on the steaming soup. 

You cast her a short glance before you turn your eyes towards the blanket. “No matter what, she is still the one that saved my life. For that I owe her. Owe her more than I can properly ever repay.” 

Fluttershy stops blowing on the soup and takes a small taste with a teaspoon she had tucked behind her ear. After she tasted it to make sure it wasn’t too hot, she turns towards you with the soup in her hooves. “I hope you’ll like it. It’s a carrot soup with parsley and…” seeing you are looking down at the blanket, she puts the bowl back on the nightstand. “Are you okay? I-I’m sorry if I was too strict with you. It’s just…just.” She starts to hang her head, and her ears are lying down. Her voice is sounding unsure of herself as it turns into a mumble.

Her change in voice makes you turn your head towards her, with a surprised expression on your face. “What? No. Strict?”

You look down at Fluttershy as she continues to unravel in front of you. The assertive Fluttershy filled you with fright because of your body’s weakness, but this dissolving Fluttershy fills you with something else, empathy. You slowly turn your body and extend your left hand. As gently as you can muster you lay it atop her head, as you slowly start to stroke her pink mane. You don’t know if its socially acceptable among ponies, but she did it to you, and it’s the best you can come up with at such short notice.

As you stroke her head you notice how incredibly soft her mane is. Each hair feels like a strand of silk; or at least what you think a strand of silk would feel like. Taking your mind of the texture of her mane, you look down at her to see a teal eye looking out from under the pink mane. You stop stroking her head and try to give her a reassuring smile. Pulling the muscles around your vocal cord together, you try to force it to utter the words you have been wanting to say. Your lips move trying to form the words, but what comes out of your throat sounds more like sandpaper being run slowly over rocks than any sort of words.

Fluttershy raises her head and looks at you; it seems like she’s going to try to stop you, afraid that you’re straining yourself trying to talk. You quickly take your hand to your throat to give it added stability and say the words before she can stop you.

“II’…mmmm… Sooo…RRr…y.” you manage to wheeze before you vocal cords break down from the stress. 

Fluttershy looks at you for a moment seemingly surprised over your words. A timid smile, looking like it barely dares to shows itself, forms on her lips. While you look at her it slowly grows until it stretches across her entire face.

“I’m sorry to.” 

You and Fluttershy look at each other both smiling, the two apologizes having cleared the possible bad feelings between you. You have no idea how long you two look at each other, but at about the same time you both remember that it’s probably been longer than is normally considered good manners. With a precision that looks like it had been rehearsed, you turn your heads away at the same time, averting your eyes. Both of you had a hint of blush on your cheeks.

“So… are you hungry?” Fluttershy asks as she turns her eyes back to you.

You nod your head as you also look back at Fluttershy.

“Good say ah.” Fluttershy has already put the bowl on the bed and holds a spoonful of soup towards you. 

Your first reaction is to shake your head to say no and try to get some soup yourself, but on the other hand there is no reason to fan any lingering flames. Besides you doubt that your handling of a spoon has gotten any better since yesterday. You open your mouth and accept the soup, which is as delightful as yesterday’s. You never imagined that you could make soup out of carrots, but then again, if your grandmothers were anything to go by, you can probably make soup out of anything. 

The bowl is soon empty since it’s rather small, but you feel full. It looks like Dr. Cardio was right about your stomach needing to adapt to handling any volume of food again. While Fluttershy takes the bowl downstairs, you sit and once again enjoy the feeling of a full stomach, and you begin to get sleepy. Your head starts to tilt forward before you can stop it. Your chin hits your chest and you bring it up. As you try to focus it starts to fall again. When your head stays down on your chest rather than jerk up and sleep starts to come to you, you feel someone gently tucking you in. You feel something furry rub against your cheek, as the last bit of consciousness you have leaves you, and the darkness of sleep takes you.

The next couple of weeks sees you slowly but steadily begin to regain your health. In small steps you are starting to regain control over your body. The list of defeats is still long, but there are also some victories. One of them being that you can finally traverse the few meters to the bathroom unassisted. Being able to use the bathroom by yourself, and getting rid of the diapers, is a wonderful feeling. However, at this moment, none of that matters, as you are facing a most strenuous endeavor.

“Come on, just three more steps, you can do it.” Fluttershy is hovering a few inches over the floor and a yard or so in front of you, her forelegs extended to catch you should you fall. 

You would have been annoyed with the overly motherly tone in her voice, if you weren’t using all of your concentration to keep your balance. In the two weeks since your accident your health has improved slightly. You can now sit up almost like you used to do, and your arms and hands can do simple tasks without shaking like a leaf. All in all, you should be happy, but the feeling of worthlessness still hangs over your mind. Like black clouds in spring, it spoils the joy of seeing the world being woken anew, and only leaves you with the feeling that the death of winter is still here. You take a couple of deep breaths as you focus. Holding your breath, you move your right foot forward. Feeling your foot finding its balance on the floor as the leg steadies under your weight, you exhale and take a few more breaths in. 

The two of you have been at this close to an hour now. Dr. Cardio gave Fluttershy a training routine to put you through until your muscles reach their former strength. As far as you can see it’s originally made for unicorns. From what you know about the three different pony races, it makes sense. If you had magic why would you use your physical abilities? The training however has been hard. After each session, you feel like you’ve been through Hell Week with the Navy Seals, even though you’ve only moved slowly around the bedroom for under an hour. 

You feel a tickle under your chin but choose to ignore it; it comes from a necessary evil that you have to endure. You don’t have any clothes since they had got ripped to shreds and soaked in blood, and other bodily fluids by the wooden wolf attack which almost killed you in the forest. You still needed something to cover your body to retain your body heat and modesty, so you had to borrow some clothes from Fluttershy. Seeing that ponies don’t usually wear clothes the choices minimal to say the least. Most of her wardrobe consisted of what looked like gala dresses, dresses designed for ponies, so it was more of a cape. In short, not something you could wear. In the end you had to use her bathrobe. The bathrobe is what you would describe as frou-frou. Its white cotton with a purple plush velour rim, the only thing that could make it more frou-frou was if it was colored pink.

“Good, you are doing so well, now just two more steps.” Fluttershy is waving her forelegs towards herself as if to lure you towards her.

“Does she think I’m a timid deer or something?” You choose to ignore your inclination to shoot back at her.  

You steady the rest of your body, readying yourself to take the next step, when a bead of sweat starts to glide down your forehead. This is one of the worst things about being bald. Normally your eyebrows and hair would stop it or at least slow it down so it won’t reach your eyes. Now however, it has a free run of your head. It reaches your eyes and begins to sting. You blink and turn your head in surprise, losing your focus and balance as you fall forward. You close your eyes and turn your head preparing for the collision with the floor. 

There's a collision, but not with the hardwood floor. This collision is with a frame, but the frame is draped in a something soft and furry. As you try to figure out what you collided with, you feel something going under your shoulders holding you up. The side of your face that should have collided with the floor is now lying against the frame. You hear something in the ear pressed against whatever you collided with. It sounds like a low drum beat, it sounds like something you heard before, but where? You feel the floor slowly coming up under your knees, and continue rising until you are sitting on the floor. Your legs fold naturally out to one side, leaving you sitting like a mermaid giving you a staple sitting position. Feeling that you are not going to fall anymore you slowly move your head away from the frame and open your eyes. Your view is met by a field of yellow, and as you look up you see a two large teal eyes looking down at you filled with caring.

“Don’t worry I won’t let you fall,” Fluttershy says as she slowly releases her hold under your shoulders. She stops beating her wings and sits down in front of you.

Again she has taken care of you, something you have been unable to do by yourself since you arrived here. The feeling of total dependency on someone else is still as intimidating as ever. You turn your head to the left and look down at the floor to avoid her eyes.

“Thanks… Fluttershy.” The words come as if they are vinegar on your tongue. You know that this isn’t exactly good manners, but it’s the best you can muster in your current state of mind.

“Oh don’t be sad you’re making such great progress.” Fluttershy gently uses a hoof to turns you head towards her and give you one of her kind smiles. “You almost went a whole hour without falling, a few weeks more and you’ll be as good as new.”

You look at her not knowing if it something she says this to make you feel better or if she really means it. Deep down you know that she most likely is right, but your close encounter with death has made one point stand out; you are mortal. It’s something we all know. It’s an essential part of being human, but as essential to humanity is the feeling of immortality is in our younger years. Death is seen every day in media, and sometimes in our real life, but it never happens to us directly. It’s not until humans reach a certain age that we see it. Our body starts to show more and more signs of weakness and people close to us start to die at an increasing rate. It’s then that we learn the true meaning of death. This is something we normally learn over a long time and we get used to it. You however have been shown this as directly as possible, over a very short period of time, and it’s shaken you to your core. And now each fall you take is a reminder of it. 

Fluttershy keeps eye contact with you as while you try to decipher her words. Seeing that you are not taking to her words of encouragement she gives you a brave smile. “Let’s stop for today, you look tired, but you are really making progress. Oh that reminds me” 

Fluttershy quickly walks into the bathroom and you can hear the sound of water running, as it slowly fills the tub. When she comes back, she moves behind you and gently places her hooves under your arms. 

“Okay are you ready?” When you nod she carefully starts to beat her wings using them to give her the height she needs to support you so you can stand.
 
On all fours she’s about 4 feet tall, this brings the top of her head a little over your solar plexus. Standing on two legs she’s about the same height as you, but the longer neck means that her shoulder are still lower than yours. She needs to hover above the ground to support you, so you don’t need to bend your knees for her to support you. In the two weeks you been conscious you seem to have gain weight. She can no longer lift you with the same ease, as she could when you first awoke. Now she can support you and maybe lift you if she really puts in an effort. 

“Now gently now, towards the bathroom please.” She says and slowly you move in unison towards the bathroom.

You feel the gusts of wind that comes every time she beats her wings and the raising and lowering of her chest when she breaths. Her support means you arrive in the bathroom fairly easy with only a modicum of physical stress. 

“And one, two three.”

On her count you relax your knees, as she slowly lands and lowers you gently, until you are sitting on the bathroom floor next to the bathtub. 

“Thank you Fluttershy, I’ll take it from here.” You words coming easier than your previous fall. You take in some deep breaths to give your muscles all the oxygen they can take, before the next maneuver.

Fluttershy walks around you and sits down in front of you. “Are you sure I shouldn’t help you… so you don’t have an accident?” She asks looking worried.

“No! ... No I can do this. I did it the last time right?” You look at her with your best attempt of a confident smile.

She sits and looks at you, clearly not knowing if you can handle the next step yourself or not. “Well I guess you did, but only just.” She says still looking doubtful and like she wants to help you.

“Fluttershy… please I need to know I can do this,” Your attempt at a confident smile turns into a pleading look. 

Fluttershy looks almost taken aback by the look in your eyes. “W-Well okay if you think you can handle it, but I’ll be right outside that door if you need any help, okay?”

“Thank you Fluttershy.” You say, you confidence returning gradually.

Your eyes follow Fluttershy as she turns off the water and leaves the room, giving you a few glances to make sure you’re alright. As she closes the door leaving it slightly ajar you breathe a sigh of relief.

While you were unconscious, Fluttershy had bathed you with washcloths dipped in a wash bowl with soap water. You were unconscious and didn’t know of this, but now you’re awake, you don’t wish for her to see you naked. You don’t like someone seeing you naked, and now that you are back in in control, you want to keep it to an absolute minimum. You devised a system for when you take a bath as long as you need Fluttershy’s help. She leaves you on the floor, and you get undressed and climb into the tub unaided. Granted it’s no easy task, and it takes quite a while, but you can do it and it keeps your nakedness from the view of others. 

Fluttershy maintains that you are not allowed to take a bath by yourself. She’s afraid that the hot water will make you lose consciousness because of your low blood count, and you’d drown. After negotiating with her, the two of you came to a compromise. She’ll sit outside the door and you’ll talk to each other, so she knows that you aren’t losing consciousness. When you are done you’ll pull out the plug let the water run out and then crawl out the bathtub. Finally you’ll put on the bathrobe and one of the underpants that Rarity has made for you. They look almost like boxers, only with a string you tie rather than a rubber band to keep them up. Not knowing when or if you’d wake up, and having other projects, she’s only made three pair of boxers at this point, but you’re not complaining. 

You take off your clothes and look at the edge of the bathtub. It only goes up to your shoulder when you’re sitting down, but it will still be quite a challenge with the exercise routine you just been through. You breathe in and take hold of the edge of the bathtub with your right hand; you then slowly raise your right leg and hook it on the edge. You feel the warm water in the tub; not as warm as you would like, but Fluttershy takes her precautions. Using the push and the pull of your arms and legs you slowly raise yourself until your sternum is resting the top of edge on the tub. You slide down into the soap foam covered water on your stomach. Finally in the water you turn around so you are lying on your back. 

“Are you okay?!” Fluttershy asks from the other side of the door.

“I’m super okay Fluttershy thanks for asking.” You bend your legs so your entire body is under water, your knees and head the only part of you over the water’s surface. As you lightly blow on your knee a bubble breaks free, and floats through the air right in front of your eyes. “So what did your friends do about that Trixie pony?” 

You pick up the bath conversation from where she left off at the last bath. One of the good things about the bath-talk agreement, is it gives you a chance to talk with Fluttershy, without her being in nursing mode. It had taken the better part of a week for you to get her to talk about more personal things. At first you talked about the weather, Equestria in general and the rest of the world. Fluttershy’s knowledge on most of the topics had been somewhat limited, but this could also be you being cautious. You believe that if you push her too much, she might feel that you are interrogating her. The general knowledge however soon became repetitive and boring, so you turned the conversations over on her. 

She told you about her animal friends, she had done this in such detail that you believe you almost know them by heart. You discovered that the reason you haven’t seen any of them is because those of them that haven’t migrated south for the winter are hibernating. She also told you about her friends and being the elements of harmony, and their adventures. You listen to the adventure of the Trixie and the Ursa Minor when she finishes the story, you sit up and start to rub your arms and chest with a soaped loofah.

“So Twilight not only levitated the ursa minor to sleep. She also levitated a water tower turned into a baby bottle, and milked an entire barn with cows to fill it?!” You’re amazed. You knew Twilight, being a unicorn, could do magic, and from your personal experience she’s quite good at sleep spells, but all of that at one time. “Dumbledore, you noob.”

“Oh yes Twilight is very gifted at magic, it’s her special talent; and she is the element of magic after all.” Fluttershy replies from the other side of the door, she sounds almost proud of her friend’s abilities.

“And you’re sure that’s exactly what happened?” Fluttershy hasn’t lied to you yet, as far as you know, but this story just sounds too incredible to be true.

“Well, I wasn’t there when the ursa minor came, but Applejack told me what happened when I returned to Ponyville, and she‘s always tells the truth and-.” Before Fluttershy can continue you both hear a knock on the door. “Um… is it ok if I just answer the door really quick?” 

“Absolutely, Fluttershy,” You reply as you take a hand full liquid soap and start to rub it over your face. After you soaped in your face you move on to your neck and the rest of your head. 

A few handfuls of water rinses the soap away, and you keep your head at a 45 degrees angle so the water doesn’t run into your eyes. You can hear Fluttershy’s and the visitor’s voices from downstairs.

“Must be someone she knows,” you think as you run your hands over the top of your head to remove any excess water, so it wouldn’t get into your eyes when you return your head to its normal position.

You remember the five days last week. The googly eyed mail pegasus that usually delivers the mail was sick, and someone else had covered her route. The replacement had been a young earth pony with a brown coat and mane, a stallion if his voice was anything to go by. He had been wearing a blue mail uniform with a matching cap, and had for all intent and purpose seemed like a nice young fellow. This however had not made it easier for him to talk to Fluttershy. He had tried to talk about the weather and other topics you usually talk about when you meet someone new at work. Fluttershy had replied with mumbles, squeaks and other things that made her live up to the shy in her name. this had continued until the replacement had chosen to just say good morning, deliver his mail and then continued on his route.

You find it strange, that the pony that often penetrates your personal space bubble has such a hard time just talking to another pony. You remembered looking out of the window when he came to deliver the mail. He looked a bit tall, but slender in build. 

“Clearly not someone Fluttershy needs to fear. Oh well, people are different towards different people. The same is probably true for ponies.” You think as you finish cleaning yourself and pull the plug so the water can run out of the tub.

Sitting crossed-legged, you watch the water slowly drain from the tub. You haven’t done this since you were a child, but seeing the water level slowly falling gives you a sense of peace. When the tub is finally empty, you reach for the towel that Fluttershy had places on the floor next to the tub.

 As your hand closes around the towel the door to the bathroom suddenly springs open. “Oh, you are going to love this, Rarity just been by and look what she ma...!” Fluttershy flies into the room with what appears to be clothes in her hooves. She stops mid sentence looking surprised. As the two of you look into each other’s eyes the ‘surprise seconds’ appear.

You experienced the ‘surprise seconds’ before. It’s the seconds where two or more people are surprised, and there’s a few very long seconds were both try to surmise, what the situation they are in now.

“Did Fluttershy barged in out of euphoria to show me the new clothes and forgot that I’m naked or is she sneaking a peek.” The thought runs through your head. “None of this matters right now anyway, there is a much more pressing matter. I’m naked and Fluttershy is in the same room as me!!!”

As time and your thought pattern finally reaches normal you feel the heat on your cheeks, that tells you that you face probably is as red as a tomato by now. You grab the towel with your hand, as you straighten and close your legs. As fast as you can, you bring the towel in front of you to shield your body from Fluttershy’s eyes. 

“Jesus Christ! Fluttershy!!!” You shout as you try to cover as much of your body as you can.

Your outburst brings Fluttershy out of her ‘surprise seconds’ trance, her cheeks also at a blush as she also reacts. “I’M SO SORRY!!!” She drops the clothes on the floor and backs out of the bathroom at an impressive pace and slams the door shut.

You sit watching the door, as your heart rate finally coming back to normal. The blush on your cheeks dissipates as you take  look at the clothes. It seems to be four matching sets of trousers t-shirts, shirts, socks and a pair of shoes. 

“Wow this isn’t half bad.” You think as you hold out one of the shirts for closer inspection. “The colors are maybe a bit bright, but not bad at all.”

“I’m Sorry.” 

The small voice from the other side of the closed door brings you back from you inspection of the clothes. “Um it’s okay Fluttershy, it was an accident.” You say as you feel the blush in your cheeks coming back. 

“So… you’re not mad at me?” Her voice sounds like it’s getting a little louder, and with a little more confidence in it.

“No just surprised that’s all… I’m sorry I shouted at you.” 

“I’m sorry that I barged in like that.” Fluttershy voice comes back to normal volume with only the closed door making it sound a bit muffled.

“It’s okay Fluttershy. Um… I’ll just try on one of these outfits and then I’ll help you cook dinner, okay?” You lay the shirt down on the floor and pick up the towel again, while you look at the door waiting for her reply.

“Okay… I mean if that’s alright with you.” It sounds like Fluttershy is fully back to normal now.

You smile as you finish drying yourself and slowly climb out of the tub. You try on the clothes and discover that they seem to be a good fit. A bit large maybe, but you will put on a bit more bulk as you recover so all in all a good fit. You end up wearing a pair of blue trousers, a white t-shirt and a red shirt. As you put on the socks a thought comes to you. This is the first set of clothes you’ve worn other than Fluttershy’s bathrobe since you woke up. It’s funny, but the feeling of being dressed in your own clothes makes you feel better. You feel like a fully restored human being again. Sure there is the problem of your lack of strength, stamina and balance, but that can be retrained. This, however, shows the world that you are indeed a person. 

After you get dressed, Fluttershy helps you downstairs, and you help her prepare dinner as best you can. Dinner is a vegetarian stew. While Fluttershy takes care of preparing the different ingredients, you help by cutting vegetables. All the while you talk, being able to have a genuine conversation with another person is a wonderful thing. Thinking back to your time in semi-coma state it was probably the thing you missed the most. With Fluttershy you have to sometime egg her on, but once she starts talking she can keep her own against most. 

She tells you more about her friends and hers adventures, how they thought they had been cursed by a zebra called Zecora, only to discover that it was a magical plant call poison joke. How Zecora had helped them and how they had become friends. How some kind of insect called a Parasprite had almost devoured the whole of Ponyville, and had only been stopped by Pinkie Pie, the one mare band. Finally during dinner she tells you how they had convinced a dragon to move his lair so his smoke wouldn’t cover all of Equestria.

The story about the dragon especially catches your attention. Convince a fire breathing lizard the size of half a city block to leave because you ask him to? The innocence and naiveté of the whole story makes you smile. If something like that happen on earth, the response you expect would at least involve the army and air force, leaving the mountain a smoking pile of rubble.

“And he just packed his bags and left after you asked him to?” Again this story just somehow doesn’t sound logical. You have to have it confirmed.

“Well I had to get a little insistent with him, but he was a very nice dragon. And after we told him of the problems his smoke would cause, he was more than happy to do as we asked.” Fluttershy smiles bashfully as she takes a sip of her water.

You notices something about Fluttershy as the two of you talk; she can easily talk about her friends. In fact she seems very proud of  them as she tells you about their exploits. However every time the talk turns to her and her exploits, the way she tells the story changes. When she talks about her friends, she really goes into details; but when she is the focus of the story the details vanish. The clearest evidence of this is the story of the dragon. 

“She must have done more than be a little insistent to make the dragon leave.” You look at Fluttershy as she takes the last mouthful of stew. “Is she really so shy that she won’t raise herself over the ponies next to her out of fear of failing?”

As you think these thoughts you notice that Fluttershy has stopped chewing her food, and is looking at you. You notice the nervous look in her eyes, a look that has been there for the last half hour or so. “Oh… I’m making her nervous better change subject.”

“So… um… I really want to thank Rarity for the clothes and the shoes.” You change subject to the first thing other than Fluttershy you can think of, hoping to ease her mood. “Do you think you could tell her how grateful I am?”

Fluttershy look even more nervous at you. “Of course… um… I have been meaning to ask you something.” She diverts her eyes and look down at the table where she starts to run her right hoof in small circles.

You wait for her to ask, but when she doesn’t, you ask her. “Well go ahead Fluttershy.”

“W-Well Twilight is coming by tomorrow, you remember my friend Twilight right.” Fluttershy stops drawing circles on the table with her hoof and looks up at you again. 

“Yeah I remember her. She’s the purple unicorn that helped save my life, the Ponyville librarian and vanquisher of the ursa minor.” You try to look Fluttershy in the eyes, but it’s hard seeing as she’s chosen this of all times to clear the dinner table. “But what did you want to ask me?”

You hear her putting the plates in the sink and rummaging around after something in the kitchen. When she returns she is clearly holding something behind the back with one of her wings.

“What could she be hiding behind her back?”

“W-W-Well it’s just… if you don’t mind… um… could you put this on please?” As she asks you the question, she pull out her wing and drop its contents into her hooves, holding it out towards you. 

It’s a collar. From what you can tell by the look of it it’s a dog collar. A dog collar made of black leather, inscriptions can be seen running down the sides of it in strange patterns, and in the front, the head of some unknown animal holding a metal ring in it jaws.

“…What…?” Is the only word you can come up with.

A sentence you had forgotten Fluttershy said when you first woke up comes to mind. “Don’t worry my sweet little pet; I’ll take good care of you.” As you sit stunned by the sudden turn of events, the sentence repeats itself in your head. You look at the table top as the sentence repeats itself again and again, until a conclusion comes to you. “She only sees me as a dumb animal!”

“Is that all I am in your eyes?” The words leave your mouth as you look up at Fluttershy. You feel anger starting to build inside of you, but this time it’s not turned at you, it’s turned at Fluttershy “An animal that you can keep as a pet?”

Fluttershy looks taken aback by the sudden coldness of anger in your voice. “N-N-No I… i-i-it’s just that… w-w-well you see.” She takes a couple of steps away from you a fearful look in her eyes.

“I’m not an animal.” The sentence is low almost as if you are saying them to yourself rather than to her. Your eyes leave Fluttershy and start to frantically look about the living room. They move in quick, sudden, sporadic moves, as you try to get a hold of your anger and a growing feeling of betrayal. “I’M NOT AN ANIMAL!!!”

You stand up as the anger takes hold, giving you strength you didn’t know you had and move towards the front door. Your steps are lethargic and unsteady. Your newfound strength hasn’t given you better balance, and this day’s training session has taken a lot out of you, but there is a determination in your steps that you haven’t had for a long time. 

“W-Where are you going?” You can hear Fluttershy asking nervously somewhere behind you, as you lay your hand on the doorknob.

“ANYWHERE, BUT HERE!!!” You almost scream as you open the front door.

You stop in the doorway, leaning against the door frame for support. The cold from the winter night feels like a solid wall as you stand there. The moon is hidden behind a thick cloud making the night as dark as coal, but one thing can be seen in the dark. A single glowing yellow orb is shining in the dark like a fire seen at a distance. As the full moon glides out from behind its cloud its light reflects of the snow and seems to turn night into day, then you see it. Standing a hundred yards away just beyond the edge between the crooked trees of the forest stands the wooden wolf that almost killed you.

“Oh… my… god!” Is the only thing you can on your mind, as the anger starts to slowly drain from your body, being replaced with a new feeling; fear.

You don’t know if this is a coincidence, if it’s looking for revenge for the loss of it eye, or if it liked the taste of you so much that it’s looking for a chance to get one more. None of that matter anyway. It’s here, it knows where you are and it’s looking straight at you. It’s one yellow eye burrowing into the very heart of your soul.

The feeling of fear in your body overpowers the feeling of anger. It spreads throughout  your body. It starts as a chill that feels like ice water slowly moving down your spine along your spinal cord. It branches out through your chest making it hard to breath. Your arms suddenly feel heavy, like they are holding lead weights and slumps down your side. It continues to your abdomen making your intestines cringe while you abdominal muscles and diaphragm contracts, making breathing all but impossible. Finally, it hits your legs, sapping them of what little actual strength they had. 

You fight the inevitable fall as much as you can as you feel your knees begin the shaking that means that they will soon give out. You fall sliding down the door frame, still staring into the yellow orb in the dark as the slick wood runs up the side of your head. Just before your fall comes to an end, you feel something steading you softening your fall and keeping you from falling backwards. Your skin cold from the night wind and the fear that runs through your veins feels warmth pressing against your back. It spreads through your body loosening your diaphragm finally making you able to breathe. The mixture of the ice cold night air and the warm air from the house fills your lungs. You press backwards towards the warmth behind you seeking the warmth and the safety that it offers. 

“A-Are you alright.” You hear a soft voice next to your ear. 

As you look over your shoulder, you see Fluttershy holding you. It’s from her body pressing against yours the warmth emanates from. The warmth that is slowly driving the cold, and some of the fear, out of your body. As you turn your gaze towards the night again, the eye has disappeared, but you know that it is still out there waiting.

“F-F-Fluttershy, I’ll put on the collar. J-Just p-please don’t put me outside.” Your voice is weak signaling your total defeat. You survival being more important to you than your subjugation. 

“Oh… no, you don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to.” Fluttershy starts to gently move you away from the door. “Let’s get you warm, otherwise you could get a nasty cold.” 

She carries you to her bedroom and puts you in bed. She talks to you and tries to comfort you, until you finally fall asleep dreaming troubled dreams. 

Dreams of a dark forest and the eyes that lurk in its shadows.
	
> The Collar, The Unicorn, And What Then Happened.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Your eyes spring open. For a time you don’t know where you are, as your eyes blink and shoot from one side of your field of vision to the next. When they finally stop, they are looking at a painting of two flowers in a vase. You relax, it’s resting on the mantelpiece to the right of the bed. You are still in Fluttershy’s bedroom. You haven’t woken outside in the snow covered woods and been killed by the wooden wolf. You are safe in Fluttershy’s home where it can’t get to you, you hope. You close your mouth and try to gather some saliva to wet your parched throat. Breathing through your nose helps you to get your breath under some degree of control, although it still comes in jerks, like you just finished running a mile at an all-out dash. You close your eyes and force your diaphragm to ignore the instructions it’s getting from your brain. With each slow inhale and exhale your heart rate slows down as your body’s imagined need for oxygen diminishes. After about a couple of minutes your breathing is back to normal and you can switch it back to autopilot. 

“Don’t be afraid, it’s alright.” 

The voice makes you open your eyes and turn your head to your left side. Fluttershy is sitting there looking at you with a worried expression in her eyes. 

“Fluttershy, what are you doing here?!” You sit up, surprised at seeing her sitting there. 

As the words leave your mouth you mentally kick yourself. “Asking the owner of a house what they are doing in it. God what’s next on the stupid question list, genius?”

“Um… well you were crying out, like you were afraid and I just came to make sure you were alright.” She looks a bit taken aback by your question which makes you kick yourself harder. 

“Well… I’m okay as you can see, just had thought I saw a-a-a.”

“A what?” Fluttershy clearly isn’t buying your explanation.

“A… um.”

“Come on think of something, anything.” 

You could of course just tell her the truth that you were having a nightmare, that you were lost in the forest of the night with the wooden wolf chasing you. The snow on the ground and in the air turning blood red as it gained on you, until it finally pounced on you with its maw wide open, the collision bringing you back from the nightmare. You could admit this. However admitting to not only having a nightmare, but also crying out in your sleep like a scared little child is just not something you can do. It would make you more of a child in your eyes.

“It’s okay to be afraid of a nightmare.” Fluttershy talks before you can elaborate on your excuse.

“What Nightmare? I wasn’t having any nightmares, I was just… just.” You start trying to find a new excuse, but stop yourself. “Fluttershy, how long have you been sitting there?” You might as well see how good your chances are of talking your way out of this, before you make a bigger fool of yourself.

“… About ten minutes. I’m sorry I didn’t wake you but-.” As you look at Fluttershy and she stops before she can begin to break up in self-doubt.

“It’s okay Fluttershy, and… I was having a nightmare.” You decide to put your cards on the table, since you can’t see any way to talk your way out of this one. 

“Was it about the Timberwolf?” Fluttershy places a hoof on your hand for support.

You look at her hoof resting on your hand. The feeling of warmth from it helps loosen up, and the now at least you have a name to put on your assailant. A Timberwolf, the name seems oddly appropriate for a wolf made out of wood.

You nod, but suddenly ask “How did you know,” you realize that you never told her what attacked you.

“Well, I’ve lost a few woodland friends to Timberwolves through the years, so I know what a Timberwolf attack looks like.” She pauses for a moment, turning her head down and slightly to the side; you notice her ears are lying down and she’s biting her lower lip. The memories, like the one with the dying swan she talked about with Twilight when you first got here, clearly still causes her pain. She finally looks back up at you her ears standing back up as she give you a brave smile. “But don’t worry. It won’t come here, and if it does, I’ll protect you.”

You have to fight a brave fight not to give her a deadpan look or accidently laugh at her statement. Fluttershy might be able to talk down a dragon, but seeing how these worlds’ sentient beings are, it probably wasn’t all that hard. They probably sat down and had a cup of tea and found a compromise that suited all parties and then they went home for tea. Fluttershy can’t even stand up to a mail pony she doesn’t know. The thought that she would be able to stand up to a ferocious and deadly predator out for blood, just seems ridiculous.  

“Would you like some warm milk with honey? It always helps me when I have nightmares.” The adorable sight of Fluttershy holding out a glass with warm milk and honey towards you only confirms this in your mind.


****

 
The warm milk with honey doesn’t rid you of the nightmare, they continue until your body reach a compromise that allows you to sleep. It keeps you from dreaming by only allowing you a light sleep. While this allowed you to sleep it means that your sleep is balancing on a razor’s edge. You sleep lightly, waking several times during the night, your mind and body in a panic of what’s to come. When morning finally arrives you hardly feel like you have slept at all. Sitting at the breakfast table, you fully discover the effects. As long as you have something to keep your mind occupied you were fine, but as soon as your mind began to wander, drowsiness began creeping up on you.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy sends you a worried look as you doze off for the fourth time since the two of you sat down for breakfast.

“Yeah I’m fine, just a little sleepy.” You give your head a little shake trying to get rid of the drowsiness.

“You should drink some herbal tea, it’ll help.” 

You look at Fluttershy, and then at the cup of tea she poured you when you first sat down at the table. Herbal tea, what you wouldn’t give for a cup of coffee or some cans of Red Bull, something with enough caffeine to wake the dead. Caffeine and bacon, for the first time since you came here you discovered that you miss meat. Up until now your body has been taking what nourishment it could get and haven’t been asking questions. Now however, it’s gotten enough nourishment to start to make angry demands. Right now it wants bacon, bacon with a large side of steak, and a glass of gravy; a large glass of gravy; with gravy so thick that the smallest taste would give a huge bull elephant fatal heart disease. Looking at the table brings your body’s requests to a halt. There is no meat and seeing that this world is populated by ponies that are naturally herbivores the chances of getting any is none. 

You take a sip of the herbal tea and give a short grimace. The tea has a very acidic taste that makes you cough lightly. “What kind of tea is this,” you ask, smacking your lips trying to dull the taste in your mouth. 

“It’s made from stinging nettles. I gather them in the summer, then I dry them and cut them up for tea, don’t you like it?” She takes a big sip of her cup and smiles at you as if to show you how yummy it is. “It’s really good for you. It’s full of vitamins and minerals and it gives you loads of energy.” 

You take another sip, for her if for nothing else. The taste isn’t as bad as at first, now that you know what to expect, with a drop of milk and a bit of sugar it wouldn’t be half bad. As you eat your breakfast you have another cup, and you have to agree with Fluttershy. It worked slower than caffeine, but you feel a lot more awake than when you sat down at the table this morning. The rest of breakfast is a silent affair. Both of you still seem to remember the fight you had last night. As you finish your third cup you look over the table at Fluttershy. She seems to be deep in thought, like there is something she needs to do, but she doesn't want to or is afraid to do. Kind of like the way you used to look, when you had to get something from your parents’ basement at night, when you were a child. 

Normally she is quite cheery in the morning. She’ll walk around the house humming while she prepares the nesting boxes that hang around inside her house. Some look like they are for birds, while others have little staircases leading up to them, so they must be for land based animals. Apparently there are animals living in them during the summer. Now she’s sitting and drawing circles on the table with her hoof. Her ears are lying slightly down, a gesture you know from studying her through the last couple of weeks, as a sign that she feels insecure. Like she not only remembers last night’s clash, but is sad about it as well. 

“Are you okay?” You ask her, as you put down the cup on the table. “You've been very quiet this morning.” 

Fluttershy snaps to attention at the sound of your voice and cup on the table. She blinks her eyes a couple of times, finally recognizing where she was, as if she had been somewhere else for the last couple of minutes. 

“Huh? What? Oh yes, I’m quite all right.” She turns her gaze back to the table and returns to drawing imaginary circles on it. The worried expression on her face, clearly showing she’s trying to avoid the subject.

This leaves you sitting quite perplexed. Throughout your time here, you had grown accustomed to you changing the subject, every time Fluttershy asks if you are feeling alright. To suddenly have the tables turned on you is not something you expected when you got up this morning. What are you going to do? What would be appropriate to do? 

“Are you sure? You look like something is troubling you.” Choosing the most relaxed and reassuring voice you can, you fold your hands and place them on the table. You look at her trying to make her meet your eyes.

You see her gaze travel all over the tabletop, as if it can’t find its focus. Knowing this reaction from yourself, you know she must be trying to find some sort of excuse.

“Well... I was just afraid that I forgot to prepare some of the nesting boxes for my critter friends.” She tells you while she does her best not to look you in the eyes. “And they would be so disappointed if I hadn’t made sure they had a place to stay.” 

You may not, unlike your parents and teachers, have taken a ten years long course at the FBI and CIA to help you spot liars, cheaters and copyists. You wouldn’t have to in this case; Fluttershy is, if it was even possible, a worse liar than you are.

You see she’s motioning to get up. She’ll probably go pretending to check the nesting boxes, in an attempt to make her excuse more believable. Without thinking of what would be proper or the right thing to do in this situation, your hands shoot over the table and grabs the hoof she used to draw circles on the table with. As your hands enclose her hoof, you’re both surprised, she gives a small gasp and you feel the muscles in the front leg tense. You look at your hands as if your arms just turned into a pair of poisonous snakes, snakes that just sunk their teeth in Fluttershy. As you quickly look up from your hands to her, you see her eyes are dilated, is she afraid of your sudden action? She could well be, you notice her ears are lying down, and she’s looking at you with a nervous look in her eyes, as if she doesn’t know whether she should fight or flee.

“L-Listen Fluttershy, I-I’m sorry for getting mad at you last night.” The words are not well prepared since your former actions just happened like a natural reflex. “I didn’t mean to upset you or make you sad and I’m really sorry if I’ve done so.” You stop when you notice one of your thumbs is stroking Fluttershy’s hoof on its own accord. “Oh no! She gonna think that it’s totally creepy, and then she’ll think I’m creepy!” You could have stopped your thumb, you could have let go of Fluttershy’s hoof. Instead in your panic you continue to try and explain yourself. “Um... I’m really grateful for you saving me, and taking care of me, and putting up with my mood swings, and I’m really, really sorry if you’re sad because of me, and if you want me to leave I will and, and-.” You finally manage to stop your thumb’s motions, but you still hold on to her hoof. It’s like your body is ignoring your brain’s orders, like it’s afraid that if you let go, you’ll lose the only constant you’ve got left in this world. 

Since you came here you’ve been like a ragdoll to fate’s whim. Constantly she’s presented you with firsts, your first animal attack, your first real near death experience and your first time knowing that you can be utterly helpless on your own. Like a sailor lost on a storm swept ocean, you have been thrown about with each wave that have come your way. In all this time you have only had one piece of driftwood to cling on to, one little spot of firm ground on which to be safe from the terror of the storm, and in your panic you realize that it’s her.

Turning your eyes down to the table you don’t know what to do. If your body hadn’t reacted as it did, you might have been able to talk it over calm and collected with Fluttershy. You might have been able to find out what was bothering her and the two of you could have found a sensible solution. Instead, you lost your head and started to babble whatever was on your mind at the time.

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” you’ve regained your cool, but with that comes the realization of the cluster fuck you just made. “How could I have been so stupid? Now she thinks that I’m a total lunatic. I mean what was I thinking grabbing her like that? Grabbing... oh no!” Realizing from the warmth between your enclosed hands that you are still holding her hoof, you immediately let go.

Before you can open your fingers however something closes around one of your hands and holds it in place. Moving your eyes up from the table to your hands, you see Fluttershy has enclosed one of your hands between her two hooves. Moving your gaze further up your eyes meets Fluttershy’s. 

She’s smiling a calming smile at you, her ears are up again in their normal position and neither one of her eyes are hidden by her hair. Bathed in her undivided attention you don’t know what to do, should you say something? Maybe you should, but any words escape you. 

As you sit there not knowing what to do, Fluttershy begins to carefully stroke your hand with her free hoof, as if to emulate your thumbs actions. “It’s okay, and I’m sorry that I tried to make you put that silly collar on.”

You are possibly even more at a loss than before. How can she not be disgusted by your grabbing her hoof and blabbering? Could it be that acceptable in pony culture? Is she seeing this as further subjugation on your part? Is she acting strangely because it’s a full moon? What?! 

“And I’m happy that you are alright, and that you’ve been here this winter. Then I had someone to talk to and I didn’t have to be so alone.”

The statement leaves you surprised; she seems like a popular pony, and other than when she tries to put collars on people you don’t see any reason why she should be lonely.

“What do you mean by alone? I mean you have your friends and your animals and you go on adventures.”

Before you can go on Fluttershy starts to talk. “Oh I have my friends, but they have so many things they have to do. They have their work, and in the winter all the animals that don’t go south for the winter hibernate, and you’ve seen me around ponies, I don’t know how to act around ponies I don’t know.” Fluttershy stops her hoof strokes, as she turns her gaze away from you her features get a sadder look.

“Well, I don’t know how to act around ponies I don’t know, but I’m happy that it was you who found me and took care of me. Otherwise I don’t know what I would do.” You mentally kick yourself. That has got to be the most stupid and cheesy sentence ever to leave your lips.

Before you can go into mentally beating yourself up again you see Fluttershy is once again is looking you in the eyes. The doubt she had seems to be gone, as she holds your eyes and you both smile. 

Grabbing her hoof and spilling your guts suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. Finally thanking her for all she’s done for you, and her telling you that you haven’t just been a burden have broken down the walls you both hide behind. Like two frightened children who were lost in the dark, now the light has come and you finally see each other. Not as animal and caretaker, not as nurse and patient, but as something more.

“W-Would you mind being my friend?” Still looking you in the eyes and holding your hand, Fluttershy is the first to break the silence.

“I would love to, if you wouldn’t mind being mine,” you reply, still holding her gaze with yours.

A series of knocks bring both of your attention to Fluttershy’s front door. Fluttershy lets go of your hand. She gets up from the pillow she’s been sitting on and walks over to the door. When she reaches it she opens the top of the Dutch door and pops her head out.

“Hey Fluttershy did you sleep well?” A voice you recognize as Twilight’s asks, it sounds way too chirpy for this early time of day. 

“Oh, Twilight what are you doing here?” Fluttershy’s reply surprises you, since she told you yesterday that Twilight would come by.

“We agreed that I could come by today remember?” Sounds like Twilight is as surprised as you are.

“Did we? Um... yes, we did. Silly me, I must have forgotten.” The nervous giggle at the end of the sentence makes you cock your eyebrow. What’s going on here?

“Sooo, can I come in?” By the tone of her voice Twilight seems to feel the same way, although there is a friendly hint of compassion tone in her voice.

“Yes... I mean yes of course you can... just a minute.” Fluttershy closes the door, a bit too quick for good taste. 

Closing the door she stands with her back to it and looks as if she just opened the door on a Mongol horde. A Mongol horde that discovered that pillaging was for sissies, and had turned to the truly evil plan and started to work for the IRS. Before you can ask her what’s going on, she suddenly zooms up stairs to the bedroom. Before the dust cloud she left could evaporate, she comes flying down again, one of the spare blankets from her linen closet in her mouth and the washbowl in her hooves.  Throwing the washbowl on the table in front of you, she throws the blanket over your shoulders.

“Fluttershy, what in the world are you do-? Gagh!” Your question is stopped as she grabs a thermometer from the washbowl and jabs it into your mouth almost putting it down your throat in her hurry. 

Fluttershy is about to come over to you to make sure you are alright, but a new series of knocks on her front door make her stiffen. She quickly draws the blanket tight around you, covering your upper body and neck.

“Just a moment!” Turning back to you after answering Twilight’s knocking, she looks you nervously in the eyes. “Please, don’t remove the blanket and hold it tight around yourself, if you don’t mind.”

You are about to inquire why she is acting like this, but the pleading look she gives you stop in your tracks. Nodding your head in agreement, you use your hands to pull the blanket tightly around yourself. Using your tongue, you move the thermometer out to the far right corner of your mouth before you finally ask. “Buth whath iss going on, why are we doing thiss?”

“I’ll explain everything when Twilight leaves, please.” Her words are followed with a pleading look.

The pleading look she gives you makes you agree to this, in your eyes, ridiculous charade. You feel like saying no would be tantamount to kicking a puppy or kitten begging for food. “Okay, buth this had bethther be good.”

Having finally gotten you to accept, Fluttershy quickly moves to the door and opens it. “Sorry for keeping you waiting Twilight, but I left the kettle on and, well you know.” 

“Ookay, so can I come in now?” Judging by her voice, it seems both you and Twilight think Fluttershy’s explanation landed about twenty yards from making any sense for her behaviour.

“Oh, of course Twilight, do come in.” Fluttershy quickly moves to the side allowing Twilight to enter.

Sitting at the end of the table with your back to the kitchen you see Twilight crossing the doorstep and enter the house. She looks as you remember her from your first meeting, with a few differences. The last time you saw her, she was close to panic because you were having a cardiac arrest, from seeing talking ponies for the first time. She wasn’t wearing any clothes either. Now she was wearing a scarf, two pair of what looked like winter boots, a pair of saddlebag on her back, and... what seemed to be a saddle. 

“Why would she be wearing a saddle if she doesn’t, oh she’s looking at me.”

Having taken her winter clothes off, Twilight is indeed looking at you. She’s just standing there and looking at you with a directness that makes you feel somewhat uncomfortable.

“Is he sick, Fluttershy? I thought you said he was getting better.” Finally averting her eyes to look at Fluttershy, Twilight stops staring at you, making you relax. 

“Well... he is, but he woke up this morning with a fever so... I’m taking his temperature.” Hurrying over to you Fluttershy takes the thermometer and looks at it. “Oh dear, his fever seems to be rising, maybe we better wait to do this until he is feeling better.”

“Can I see?” Using her magic, Twilight reaches for the thermometer.

“NO!!!” Fluttershy almost screams as she removes the thermometer out of Twilights magic’s reach, leaving all three of you surprised by her sudden outburst. “Um... I mean, no he just had it in his mouth; it would be unhygienic... so, well you see... I’ll just take this out and wash it... if that’s okay with you.” 

Not getting any response from Twilight, who still looks a little taken aback by her strange behaviour, Fluttershy quickly moves to the kitchen. Twilight and you are left in the living room, both of you having a perplexed look on your faces. 

Hearing the water starting to run in the kitchen snaps you both back to reality. Twilight gives her head a little shake and then turns to you. “Well... that was strange... so, how are you feeling?” 

You turn your gaze to her and give her your best attempt at a smile. You are about to answer her question, but stop yourself. The sound of bells tells you that Twilight is using her magic. She uses it to open her saddlebags and is now levitating their content on to the dining table. An inkpot, a quill and a clipboard together with a large stack of paper, all of them are levitated and neatly organised on the table. As a child, well let’s be honest up to this day, you always wished you could have superpowers, and this display of telekinesis is the first time you ever seen anything close to superpowers. It leaves you dumbstruck. Hearing about her powers is one thing, seeing them in action is something else. 

Sitting down at the opposite side of the table from where you’re sitting, Twilight again uses her magic. This time she unscrews the cap on her inkpot and dips her quill in it. You are still so fascinated by her magic that you don’t hear that she’s talking to you. The quill flies over the paper, scribbling away without her touching either. When it stops, you continue to fixate on the objects, hoping for what you see as a demonstration to continue.

As Fluttershy finally returns to the living room you are finally brought back to reality by a laud annoyed sigh from Twilight. Blinking your eyes, you look up at her wondering how long you were distracted. 

“My name... is Twilight, Twilight!” Judging from Twilight’s expression of close to desperation, as she moves her front hooves towards her chest, each time she mentions her name, it must have been several minutes.

“Yes I know, and that’s Fluttershy.” You say as you point towards the pony in question. “I’m sorry for zoning out; I got a little distracted by your magic.” You smile apologetic at her as one of your hands runs up and down your neck.

There is a moment of silence as Twilight looks surprised at you. You were starting to get a little bit worried, but then her expression go from surprised to ecstatic. 

“You can talk Equestrian, oh, this is so exciting!” The faint sound of bells begins again as Twilight crumbles the piece of paper, she had been writing on into a ball with her magic. Not even looking behind her, she magically throws it over her shoulder, hitting the basket Fluttershy uses for firewood that stands next to the fireplace, for a perfect three points shot. 

As you sit more and more in awe of her skills with magic, Fluttershy decides to join the conversation. “Um... Twilight maybe you shouldn’t use so much magic. They don’t have magic where he comes from, and I think it’s a bit overwhelming for him.”

“Sorry, I’ll just stick to writing, okay?” The quill now goes from doing large broad strokes to only the most basic movements necessary for writing. “But why are you calling him, him? Haven’t you been properly introduced?”

“Hmm? Oh yes we have, but I think you should introduce yourself, if I just blurted out your name it would be rude.” Looking a bit bashful at you, she places the thermometer on the table as she sits down to the left of you.

“Well, okay.” You say as you look from Fluttershy to Twilight. “My name is-.”

At the same moment as you say your name, a loud whistle suddenly comes from the kitchen, drowning out your voice. Fluttershy jumps up at the sound and hurries out into the kitchen and turns off the stove. When the whistle stops Twilight looks at you.

“That’s a strange name.” Apparently she heard it over the teakettle whistling.

“For you maybe, but there aren’t many people called Twilight or Fluttershy where I come from.” Looking a little annoyed at Twilight, you remember not to get too defensive. You don’t want another Vet Goodall episode. “So, read any good books lately?” Deciding to change the subject before anything happens, you turn to a subject you know Twilight likes.

“Well, actually I just finished a book called ‘Heavens, Helios’ and Hemispheres’. It’s really exciting you see-.”

As Twilight goes into nerd-mode, and starts to use terminology that you don’t understand, you do as you do when you’re seated next to your talkative aunt at a family gathering. You listen to the end of the sentences and say no, yes, really, you don’t say, as well as other words and small sentences. This makes it sound like you're paying close attention for the untrained ear, but leaves you free to not get your ear talked off. It also leaves the one talking to do so without being interrupted, so it was a win-win situation for all parties involved. 

Twilight seems none the wiser and continues to talk and talk. “And talk, doesn’t she ever stop?” Your aunt might have been a contender, but Twilight seems to be the world heavyweight champion in talking someone's ear off. 

Your ‘talk’ with Twilight is brought to a halt, when your gaze turns towards the door to the kitchen. Fluttershy is standing there and is giving you a somewhat disapproving look. Apparently she has a more trained ear than Twilight.

“Well it’s good to see the two of you getting on so well.” Coming over to the table again she sits down, still giving you a disapproving glance.

“Yeah, Twilight was just telling me about a new book she’s been reading, it’s very exciting.” You look from her to Twilight and smile at her in an attempt to make it look like you've been hanging on every word she said.

“Oh I have only just gotten past the foreword.” Twilight smiles back at you. Then she looks at you with a more serious look. “But what was your favourite part?”

“Favourite part?” From pretending to hang onto every word she said you seem to have hanged yourself. “Well... the part where you went into detail about... what was it... um... well you see.”

Had Twilight thought you were really paying attention, then to find that you haven’t, you would have guessed that  she would have been looking more disappointed. The look on her face however is not one of disappointment, but a rather knowing one at that. 

Twilight continue to give you the same look she gave you when she entered the door. You move a bit nervously on your stool, is she going to be mad at you?
 
Her facial expression, soon changes back to her more giddy expression as she pulls out a scroll from the pile next to her. “Okay, I made a list with questions. Could we go through it?”
 
“Sure, I would love to.” Relaxing after seeing her going back to her happy side, you decided that this would be a good compensation for not paying attention to her before.
 
“Good.” Getting your approval Twilight rolls out the scroll.
 
It rolls across the table, then it falls of the table and continue to roll over the floor and disappear under Fluttershy’s couch. You looked at the scroll in awe, it’s just crossed several yards.
 
“What kind of paper is it made of? There’s no way such a small scroll can hold so much paper.”
 
Focusing on her list, Twilight doesn’t see your expression. “Okay, first question. What are you?”
 
“I’m a human.” The questions directness doesn’t leave much room to elaborate, so you choose to answer directly.
 
“Huuuman, hm,” Twilight pronounces the word like she’s tasting it. The quill starts to run over a sheet of paper next to her. She looks up from her list and check what she’s writing.
 
As the quill comes to a stop, she looks up at you again. “Second, where do you come from?”
 
She continues like this down through the list. The session starts to feel more like an interrogation than some friendly questions. To be interrogated is not a feeling you like, the annoyance you felt before starts to slowly sneak back in your mind. You constantly fight it back to not end up in a situation like with Vet Goodall, but the fight becomes harder and harder to win. Each question chipping at you self control
 
“Question eighty two, who is leader of your country, tribe, clan or pack?” Twilight continues her questioning, seemingly unaware of anything other than her list and her constant scribbling.
 
“Maybe we should stop for now Twilight.” Fluttershy breaks in. “He really should be off to bed, so his fever doesn’t get worse, and he doesn’t have that much energy right now. So maybe we should call it a day?” As you look at her, you see that she looks a little nervous, seemingly she been keeping an eye on you, and have been able to read your annoyance.
 
“Hm, well okay. Sorry if some of the questions seemed a little silly, but it’s just so exciting to have a human in Equestria, after all, we’ve never seen one before.” With her magic Twilight rolls the scroll together again and places it on the table.
 
Your annoyance subsides and you smile at her. “No problem Twilight, I’m happy to answer your questions.” You lie, as you remember to sound tired to give Fluttershy’s statement some credibility. “I think I need to lie down for a while.”
 
“Yes, we better get you to bed right away.” Getting from her seat Fluttershy walks over and helps you up.
 
You remember to keep a firm hold on the blanket so it doesn’t fall down as you and Fluttershy move towards the stairs.
 
“I’ll just tuck him in Twilight, and then I’ll be right back.” Turning her head back from talking to Twilight Fluttershy looks relaxed for the first time today.
 
“Sure Fluttershy.”
 
The sound of magic behind you and the sound of Twilight’s saddlebags hitting the floor, tells you that Twilight is most likely starting to pack her bags. You let out a relieved sigh. Whatever Fluttershy’s little deception was about it worked, now you just need to ask Fluttershy what it was all about when Twilight’s gone and then.
 
“Um, Fluttershy.” Twilight’s voice makes both you and Fluttershy stop in your tracks.
 
“Yes, what is it Twilight?” Fluttershy sounds a bit nervous as you both turn to face Twilight in unison.
 
“This is the thermometer you used right.” Holding the thermometer with her magic she looks alternately to you and the thermometer.
 
“Yes.” Judging by her voice and facial expression Fluttershy, like you, doesn’t know where Twilight is going with this.
 
“Well, I could be mistaken, but isn’t this the kind of thermometer that’s go in the other end?”

There is an eerie silence in the room. You don’t know what going on inside the minds of Fluttershy and Twilight, but there is a lot going on in your mind. “What the fuck did she just say?! The other end, that means... oh god!” Your thoughts, like the silence in the room come to an end as your gag reflex kicks in.
 
“No, that’s an oral thermometer Twilight I don’t have an, eep!” Fluttershy’s response is cut short when she is unceremoniously pushed to the floor.
 
You sprint, or at least move as quickly as you can to the kitchen, almost falling over Fluttershy who was unfortunate enough to stand between you and your destination. Reaching the sink your body’s reflexes finally gets the better of you. What remains of your breakfast spills or is rather shot into the sink. Running out of stomach content, but still in a state of near panic you turn on the water.
 
“Oh god, I just had something in my mouth Fluttershy has had up her... URGH!!!! What if she also uses it on her animal friends? OH NO, WHAT IF I GET BIRD FLU OR SOME OTHER DISGUSTING DISEASE!!!” 
 
You alternate between filling your mouth with water and then spitting it out violently; using the bar of soap in an attempt you disinfect your tongue. When you reach for the cheese grater that stands next to the sink in your panicked attempt to avoid infection, a pair of hooves grab your arm.
 
“Stop!”  The voice makes you look up, you see Fluttershy holding your arm firmly so you don’t mutilate yourself. “Don’t worry it wasn’t that kind of thermometer.”
 
The water you have in your mouth slowly spills from your mouth on its own accord into the sink. The sudden run to the kitchen finally registers in your legs. You slump down sitting on the floor with your back to kitchen cabinet holding the sink. You hang your head down in an attempt to get more blood flow to your head spitting out the remaining water in your mouth. As you push the last bit of water and soap suds out of your mouth something envelops you.
 
“There, there, it's okay, it’s okay.” Fluttershy is sitting at your side, holding you in a tight embrace, rocking you back and forth, in an attempt to comfort you.
 
Your first reaction is to push her away, she just invaded your personal space, but being held like this doesn’t actually feel so bad. Moving your head, you rest your forehead on her chest enjoying the warmth that it transfers. This lasts for a short while until she finally stops rocking you and let’s go.
 
“Feeling better?” looking up your eyes meet hers. She seems relaxed, as if she can read the relaxed state of mind you’re in now knowing that the thermometer wasn’t what it seemed to be.
 
“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry for knocking you over back there.” An apologetic smile crosses your lips as you break eye contact.
 
“Oh, that’s okay.” Taking your hand, Fluttershy helps you up by beating her wings as she stands upright. “Now let’s get you to bed.”
 
As the two of you enter the living room, Twilight comes over to you an embarrassed look on her face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that, can you ever forgi-.” Stopping mid-sentence she looks at you or rather she’s looking at your neck.
 
Only now do you realise that you dropped the blanket in your mad dash for the kitchen. Looking over to where you bumped into Fluttershy you see it lying there on the floor. Looking at Twilight you see she’s staring at you almost in a state of shock. Turning your gaze to Fluttershy, you see that she like you is just coming to the realisation at you dropped the blanket, thereby bringing the charade to an abrupt end.
 
“WHY ISN’T HE WEARING HIS COLLAR?!!!” Twilight is the first to break the awkward silence in the room, and boy does she ever break it.
 
Her voice is at a height that not only breaks it; it destroys it, like an eighteen wheeler truck driving through a porcelain shop.
 
“Um... Well... you see Twilight... it’s like this...um.” Turning her head so her mane covers her face save for one of her eyes, Fluttershy seems at a loss for words. “Well I didn’t think he should wear it too soon. Eh... he might hurt himself and, well. I asked him if he would wear it and he said no, so I think that he shouldn’t have to and...” Turning her face away from you and Twilight, she begins to mumble incoherently to herself.
 
You and Twilight look at her, but after she begins to mumble your eyes meet, both your gazes focusing on the other like on a poisonous viper who’s just waiting to strike.
 
“So you’re the one who came up with that stupid collar?!” Pointing a finger accusingly at Twilight, you begin to sidestep.
 
“Yes, it’s the only way to make sure you’re not a threat!” Following your side steps Twilight brings her horn to shine in a lavender glow, telling you she’s preparing to use magic.
 
Your presumption turns out to be correct as the collar appears, floating next to her, her magic flowing around it.
 
A threat, it was the last thing you expected to be called. Since you came here you have been all but helpless. Needing twenty four hours care for the first month and a half just to survive, how could you be a threat?
 
“Twilight, how could I be a threat?” Deciding to play it smart you opt out of direct confrontation. Twilight has magic, and even if this turned into a slugging match, her better stamina would win the day. Not to mention that with her hooves, she would properly be able to deck you with a single hit. Taking your hands up in a calming gesture you try to defuse the situation. “I’m weaker than any pony I met, even now I wouldn’t be able to do ten push ups. How could I be a threat to anyone?”
 
“You may not be a threat now, but who knows what will happen when you get your strength back? If you really mean that, then put the collar on.” There is no sign that Twilight defused as she floats the collar over to you.
 
“NO!!!” As the collar comes within range you slap it, sending it flying through the room, where it hits the wall and falls on the floor. “I refuse to wear that stupid collar, its demeaning; it would be like me forcing you to wear a saddle!”
 
“Ponies wear saddles when it’s cold! I wore one when I came over here, so that means that there’s no problem for you to wear this!” Using her magic Twilight floats the collar back next to her and starts to advance on you.
 
You had hoped to defuse the situation, your aggressive slapping the collar sank that ship faster than the Titanic. Now Twilight is more than ever set on you wearing the collar, and armed with the knowledge that you see it as no worse than wearing a saddle. She sees your continual refusal to wear it as confirmation that you are up to no good.
 
“Fuck, how could I forget she wore a saddle over here? I saw her wear it, but seriously why would a pony wear a saddle unless they were forced into it?” Backing away from the advancing Twilight you look to Fluttershy for support, but she’s still just standing there mumbling. She seems to be in her own little world and not much help. “I’ll protect you, yeah right. What am I gonna do? I’m royally, woops.” As you step backwards you almost trip over the blanket that you dropped on the floor earlier. “Stupid blanket I almost fell over you and... wait a minute.”
 
Getting an idea, you stop after you stepped over the blanket. “Okay you're right.” You say as you hang your shoulders down in apparent defeat.
 
Twilight stops her advance, cocking her head in surprise. “What?”
 
“You’re right, I’m being overly sensitive about this.... sorry I blew it out of proportions, it must be because I’m new to this place and all.” You run you hand over the back of your head pretending to be embarrassed.
 
“Oh... well I’m glad that you’re finally seeing reason.” Twilight comes closer. She’s smiling, clearly happy that the two of you have reached an understanding. “I’ll just put this on you and everything will be right as rain.”
 
When she comes within reach, you quickly move your foot under the blanket and loop it over her head.
 
“HEY!!!”
 
The trick clearly came as a surprise to her, as she backs away in an attempt to get the blanket as you rush over and tackle her. Pulling the blanket firmly down over her head and upper body, you grab her and roll over her. You are now lying on the floor on your back, with a not too happy unicorn on your chest. Using your arms and leg you hold her in place, the blanket means that only her back legs can move and kick. And they are kicking away, but since she is lying on her back, on your chest, with your arms and legs around her she can’t hit you.
 
“LET GO OF ME!!!” Judging by her voice she’s close to boiling point.
 
“No, we’re staying like this until you promise not to put that collar on me!” this position means that she can’t use her all out strength, but you still have to hold on for dear life, so she doesn’t get loose.
 
Looking at the collar, you see it’s still on the floor where she dropped it. “That means that if she can’t see it she can’t wield it. Good, she’ll simmer down eventually and then-. What the!”
 
There is a sudden burst of lavender light, and you realise that she’s no longer on your chest, all that’s there is an empty blanket. Before you can react to the new turn of events, there is a new burst of lavender light a couple of yards over you and Twilight reappears.
 
“Oh shi-.” Is all you can say before the aggravated purple unicorn lands on you, knocking the wind out of you, making you sound like an oversized whoopee cushion.
 
Twilight is now on top, of both the situation and you, and with the wind knocked out of you, there isn’t much you can do. Before long she has your shoulders pinned to the floor, leaving you all but helpless.
 
“Just... put... the... collar... on!” She says between pants, as she looks down at you. Her straight and well combed mane is dishevelled after the blanket trick, and it makes her look even more angry and scary.
 
It takes some time for you to respond, but when you finally get enough air in your lungs to reply,  you look her straight in the eye and say “N-No!”
 
You lock eyes with each other, but nothing happens. Both of you need a moment to get your breath back before any of you can do anything. Twilight is the first of you to get her breath back, and igniting her horn she floats the collar towards you.
 
“Then I’ll do it.” She says as the collar come closer inch by inch.
 
Trying to move, but being pinned by Twilight you are close to panic. “Oh no, what am I going to do?! Come on, think, think of something, anything!”
 
When the collar is only a couple of inches from you, you finally get an idea. On paper it’s a stupid idea, but in the past with fights with your older siblings it had sometimes brought results. Since Twilight is only pinning you shoulders, it means that you can still move your arms a bit. Just enough to reach her arm pits or foreleg pits or whatever they are called. It doesn’t matter at this moment, when you reach them you use the only weapon you have left....... you tickle her.
 
Twilight gives a surprised snort and then starts to giggle uncontrollably. There is another side effect to your attack, she moves backwards and up as a reflex to get away from your fingers. This gives you the chance you had been waiting for. Leading your knees up to your chest you place your feet on her chest and kick your legs straight. The kick come as a surprise for Twilight, with the upward motion the kick sends her backwards on her hind legs. Moving backwards like this clearly isn’t something she’s used to, like a drunk she topples backwards until she hits Fluttershy’s couch. She trips over it and falls backwards over it, overturning it as she disappears on the other side of it.
 
Turning over on your stomach you quickly look around the room. “I need a weapon or something, something to keep her at bay until we can come to some sort of arrangement that doesn’t involve me having to wear that collar.” Looking around you spot a poker hanging on a rack next to the fireplace. “That’ll do.”
 
As you try to get up you discover something. Your body, though in better shape than it was when you woke up, is still not anywhere near it’s normal condition. You can’t stand up. The moans from the other side of the couch tell you that Twilight is not knocked out. Not that you expected her to be, but for once it would be nice if whatever gods rule fate around here could cut you some slack. Crawling on your knees and elbows you inch closer to the poker.
 
“Come on, just a bit more, almost there.” Reaching out with your right hand you feel the cold iron against your fingertip. “I did it!”
 
Suddenly an unseen force drags your legs out from under you, before you can grab the poker you are drawn across the floor. Reaching the wall at the other side of the room the force lets go of your legs and grabs a hold of your chest. Lifting you backwards it pins your back to the wall and holds you there, leaving the rest of your body in a kneeling possession.
 
Looking around in an attempt to see what is doing this to you, you spot Twilight walking around the couch. Her mane is even more disorderly than before, she now has a black eye; she must have turned in midair after she fell over the couch and landed on her face. She was mad before, after you held her against her will, but now she’s positively terrifying. She’s seems to have reached the state where you can’t read her emotions, something that where you come from is a clear sign to be wary of. She walks closer each step slow and calculated her eyes never leaving you, she’s making sure you don’t try anything. Her horn could probably illuminate the other room had the sun not been up, and when you look down you see a purple glow surrounding your chest. As she passes the collar that lies on the floor between you, a strand of magic from her horn grabs it levitating it into the air next to her. Now armed with the tool of your destruction or at least that how you see it she comes closer and closer.
 
You instinctively take your hands behind your neck, shooting your elbows forward and tilting your head forward until your chin touch your chest you try to make a shield so she can’t put the collar on you.
 
“Move your arms.” her voice is cold, completely devoid of any emotion, so much so that even anger can’t be traced in it.
 
“No!” Keeping your head down you turn your eyes up to meet hers. You’re scared right now, but you won’t go down without a fight.
 
“Move your arms,” The order is repeated, still no clear emotion, but the fear factor surrounding her is reaching critical.
 
“N-No!” You keep your arms where they are, what can she do?
 
The answer comes as soon as you say no. The glow from your chest moves up your arms until it reaches both your wrists. It grabs your wrists and stretches your arms out to the sides. Now you only have your chin to keep the collar at bay, and as the glow spreads up your neck you know what’s coming next. Your head is turned upwards until it points straight ahead. From this possession you are now at eye level with Twilight and the collar, the collar that will be around your neck in a matter of seconds. You close your eyes, you can face many things, but the end result you're facing now is for some reason too scary to face. The two ends of the open collar touch your throat and moves painfully slow over your common carotid arteries. It’s only a few seconds from happening now and you’re powerless to stop it. A single tear runs down from your eye you lost and it wasn’t even a close fight, and worst of all you lost to a girl. Well technically a mare, but still the opposite sex, the weaker sex, and she mopped the floor with you.
 
Suddenly the collar changes direction and flies the opposite way it’s coming from, what can best be described as a stomp in the floor makes you open your eyes again. Your vision is blocked by a field of pink, pink and yellow.
 
“Let him go Twilight!” The voice removes any doubt in your mind, it’s Fluttershy. She’s standing between you and Twilight, the collar held towards the floor by her hoof.
 
The silence in the room is so thick that you would need a lightsaber to cut it. Both you and Twilight are too surprised at this sudden and unexpected development in Fluttershy’s 180 degree turn in her personality.
 
“I said, let him go Twilight. NOW!” Fluttershy’s voice, normally so delicate and demure, is now hard and sharp as flint.
 
As she says the last word in the sentence her wings folds out giving her a bigger and more dominating presence. The magic that surrounds you disappears in a flash leaving you to slowly glide along the wall to your right until you’re lying on your right side on the floor. A front row seat to what is happening in front of you.
 
“B –But you saw Celestia’s face after she looked into his mind when he was asleep, she looked horrified. I’ve known her almost all of my life and I never seen her look so scared.” Having a mixture of surprise and fear painted over her entire being, Twilight alternated looking between you and Fluttershy. “We agreed that we should put the Gleipnir on him so he didn’t hurt anypony.”
 
“Yes we did, but I changed my mind. He’s not dangerous, a little mopey at times, but who isn’t? He wouldn’t hurt a fly and I wouldn’t let you hurt him, I promised that I would protect him and I’ll do that, even against you.” Sidestepping to place herself directly between Twilight and your new position, Fluttershy spreads her wings even more, as if to try to cover you entirely from Twilight with her own body.
 
“But what if you’re wrong? What if the Princess decides that he is a threat? What then?”
 
“When the Princess comes to me personally or sends a troop of royal guards with a letter written by her own hoof, I’ll consent to have him put the collar on. Until then I won’t force him and I’ll not allow anyone to put it on him against his will. Now I think you should leave. We can talk more in details about this after all three of us are cooled down, and can sit down like civilized ponies and talk about this.”
 
Twilight slowly moves backwards until she reaches her saddlebags. Using her magic she lifts them up on her back, quickly adorning her saddle, boots and scarf she moves to the door. Giving the yellow pegasus turned juggernaut that stands between you and her a last worried glance, before she gives a quick goodbye and leaves.
 
Laying on the floor you should be happy that you have avoided the collar, but other thoughts preoccupy your mind. You just got beaten up by a girl, mare, organic life form with a pair of x chromosomes. And now you’ve been saved by the same..... you are really and truly utterly helpless.
 
“Are you okay?” Fluttershy now turned back to her normal self, walks over to you and attempts to nuzzle you to comfort you.
 
You bring up your arm like she’s attempting to brand you with a red hot branding iron. “WHO ASKED YOU TO INTERFERE?!!! I HAD EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL!!!”
 
Feeling that there might be more tears in your eyes, you use the last bit of strength you have to get up and stagger to the one place you know you can be alone, the first floor bathroom. Locking the door, you find a corner where Fluttershy can’t see you if she flies up to the window from the outside. Thankfully, Fluttershy didn’t follow, she still stands where you left her a look of utter surprise on her face.
 

****

 
At about the same time as you lock the bathroom door, someone is knocking at the front door to Sweet Apple Acres, as if they are trying to break the door down.
 
“Hold ya horses I’m a comin!” Getting up from the kitchen table Applejack walks over and opens the door. “Twilight? What happened to you and where’s the fire at?”
 
“APPLEJACK YOU’VE GOT TO HELP ME!!!” Twilight sounds like she’s in a panic. “I THINK THE HUMAN HAS POSSESSED FLUTTERSHY!!!”
 
“Come again?”
	
	
> And So They Spoke, And So They Spoke, The Ponies On The Farm.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
“Now let’s take this in steps, Twilight.” Placing a mug of warm cocoa in front of the dishevelled, but apparently now calm unicorn, Applejack sat down on the opposite side of the kitchen table and took a swig of her own cocoa. “What happened?”
 
“WellIwentovertoFluttershylikeweagreedthatIshouldandthen-”
 
“Twilight!” Breaking her normal unflappable demeanour, Applejack caught Twilight’s gaze and held it firmly. “Relax, take a couple of deep breaths. Goooood… now, what happened?”
 
Taking a few deep breaths, Twilight finally started to calm down. She looked at her cocoa, the marshmallows melting into foam. She took a sip from the cup and let the warm sweet fluid slide down her throat and smacked her lips. The cozy atmosphere of the Apple family’s kitchen finally calmed her from her previous state of turmoil With a long exhalation, she looked at Applejack. “Okay, Applejack, I’m relaxed.”
 
Applejack smiled. She had gotten Twilight to relax; now she needed to get to the bottom of this affair. When she had seen Twilight, with her mane in a mess and with a black eye, her first instinct was to immediately grab her trusty lasso rope and run with Twilight to Fluttershy’s house and give the human, whatever that was, what for. Imagine, attacking poor Fluttershy while she had her hooves full, taking care of that strange creature she had saved from the Everfree Forest.
 
Instead, she had decided to cool her hooves for now, or at least when she had all the facts. If this human thing could possess ponies and had gotten the better of Twilight, the most magically capable unicorn she knew, she was also safer erring on the side of caution. She would at least need Twilight to collect herself and probably also get hold of the rest of the Elements before they attempted a rescue mission.
 
Seeing that Twilight had gained a modicum of composure, Applejack took another swig of her cocoa, setting the cup down on the table next to her hat. “Good, Twilight, now slowly tell me what happened.”
 
“Well, I went over to Fluttershy's cottage like we had agreed to,” Twilight started off saying before stopping to take a breath.
 
“Okay, so far so good. Then what happened?”
 
“Well, I went over to her house to examine the human—”
 
“The what now? Twilight, what is a human exactly?” She cocked her eyebrows and tilted her head slightly, surprise and confusion evident on her face.
 
“The human. You know, the creature that Fluttershy found in the Everfree Forest shortly after we returned from performing in the Hearth's Warming Eve play in Canterlot.” Twilight quickly caught herself and gave an embarrassed rub of her neck with a forehoof. “Oh sorry, I forgot that only Fluttershy and I have talked to him.”
 
“No problem, Twilight. So he can really talk? Who would've thought? And he’s called hooman? Hmm, that’s a mighty odd name.” Scratching her chin with a front hoof, Applejack tried to think of any pony name she heard that came close to it.
 
“It’s human, and that’s not his name, it’s his species - he is a human. He told me his name is-”
 
A loud pop that came from over both their heads made them jump and left the kitchen dimmer than it had been before.
 
They both looked up at the ceiling lamp. “Hmm, that’s funny. Ah could have sworn Ah changed that yesterday. Just a moment, Twilight.” Getting up from the table, Applejack went over to one of the kitchen cupboards, soon returning with a new light bulb in her mouth. “This’ll onry take a shhecond.”  

She laid the new light bulb on the kitchen table to get a stepladder. As she did, the light bulb was encased in a purple aura.
 
“Here, let me help you.” Twilight said as she used her magic to change the light bulbs and levitated the spent one to the recycle bin in the corner of the room.
 
“Why thank you, Twilight. That’s mighty kind of you.” Sitting down at the table again, Applejack took a sip from her cocoa. “Now what was the human’s name?”
 
“Well as I was saying, his name is—”
 
“COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!!!” As the human’s name rolled over Twilight tongue, her voice was drowned out completely by a plump rooster that suddenly appeared from under the kitchen's wood stove.
 
“Dagnabbit, Eggwell! What are you doing in here?! Pardon me, Twilight.” Applejack leaped at the rooster and grabbed it as quick as a whip before it had time to hide under the stove again. Holding the rooster, who was now squawking in protest, under her right forehoof, she carried it to the kitchen door. “I know you don’t like the cold, Eggwell, but if I told you once, I told you a million times, I don’t want you or any of the other chickens in the kitchen. And Big Mac just installed that new and improved heating lamp in your coop so you have no excuse for sneaking in here all the time.”
 
Reaching the kitchen door, she opened it slightly ajar and gently chucked the rooster out, receiving an annoyed sounding crow from the rooster for her troubles. “And stop crowing, the sun has been up for hours!” Returning once again to her spot at the kitchen table, she gave Twilight a sheepish grin. “Sorry, Twilight, old Eggwell has a bad habit of trying to sneak in here every chance he gets during winter time. Anyway, what did you say the human’s name was again?”
 
Recovering after the masterly display of chicken wrangling she just seen, Twilight gave a small cough to clear her throat. “As I was saying, his name is.” Stopping, Twilight looked over both her shoulders to make sure that there weren’t any more sources of interruption. Not being able to find any she continued. “It’s—”
 
“APPLEJACK!!!” Once again the human’s name was drowned out by an outside source.
 
Interrupted for the third time, Twilight gave a resigned sigh. It was lucky she didn’t have a pile of papers with her, otherwise she might have been tempted to throw them over her shoulder in pure annoyance, followed with one of her trademark groans. Turning her head towards living room to see who had interrupted her this time, she saw that it was Granny Smith, who for some reason had her head under the sofa.
 
“What is it, Granny? Did you get stuck under the sofa again?” Applejack once again left the table to assist her Granny, leaving Twilight to stew in her increasing irritation.
 
“Nope, nothing of the kind.” Pulling her head out from under the sofa, Granny Smith turned and faced Applejack. “But I just got a letter from Auntie Applesauce; seems she lost her dentures when she visited last week. Have you seen them?”
 
“Can’t say that Ah have, Granny,” Applejack said as she looked around the living room to see if she could spot them. “Ah’ll help you look when Ah’m done talking to Twilight.”
 
 
Listening to the conversation from her spot in the kitchen, a peculiar thought struck Twilight. What was happening? All day it seemed that something strange happened every time the human’s name was spoken. Could there be a connection? Hypothetically, there could well be; she would have to test it, but now wasn’t the time to lose track of her priorities.
 
Returning back to the kitchen, Applejack look even more embarrassed than she did after the Eggwell interruption. “Begging your pardon, Twilight, but Ah think Ah got the name; this time was it—“
 
An almost thundering snap, like that expected from a full grown crocodile, accompanied by a wail of pain was suddenly heard from the living room.
 
“Don’t worry, Applejack. I found them,” Granny Smith said. “Seems she dropped them on the floor again. Woah nelly, she seems to have gone for quality this time. That snap hurt more than when I stepped on them that time at last year’s reunion. I’ll just pack these up and send them to her.”
 
Having at least some proof for her hypothesis, and since Granny Smith seemed untouched by her ordeal, Twilight gave Applejack a forgiving smile and said, “Yes, that is his name, but let’s just call him the human until further notice.”
 
“Alright Twilight, so how did yah figure that the human possessed Fluttershy? Didn’t Princess Celestia say he didn’t have any magical powers?”
 
“Well… yes, but she did have a hard time getting any magic to work on him; he could have magical powers she overlooked.” As she finished the sentence, Twilight froze, unable to believe the words she had uttered aloud. She had just said that Princess Celestia had made a mistake. The sentence left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. Had she let herself get riled up into a panic? She looked down at her cup of cocoa. Did she really—
 
“Twi, are you okay?” The sound of Applejack’s concerned voice brought her back from her thoughts.
 
“Hm, yes I’m okay.” As much as she tried to adopt a neutral tone, even she could hear the tinge of doubt in her words.
 
Applejack decided to bring the conversation back on track. “Alright, Twilight, you went over to Fluttershy's. Then what happened?”
 
Looking back up at Applejack, she continued. “Well, I had a talk with the human and Fluttershy, but then I discovered that the human wasn’t wearing the collar that the Princess gave us.”
 
“Didn’t the Princess give us that collar to use only in case of an emergency?” Applejack cut Twilight off, her brows furrowed in growing consternation.
 
“But this was an emergency!” Looking desperate, Twilight leaned over the table.
 
“Why exactly is that, Twilight? I mean, he wasn’t wearing the collar, but according to Fluttershy, he’s so skinny and scrawny that he can hardly stand on his own hooves.” 
 
Twilight suddenly realized why her friend couldn’t see her point, a point she considered to be painfully obvious. Applejack was an earth pony; for her, strength was the most important factor in determining how dangerous a creature was. A timberwolf or a dragon had amazing strength that they could turn on their victims, and therefore they were a menace. Individual parasprites or aphids did not have strength of their own, but collectively they had it in abundance and could lay waste to Sweet Apples Acres, as they had demonstrated with devastating effectiveness in the past. Physical strength was her only parameter for determining a threat.
 
On the other hand, Twilight, being a unicorn, saw threats in a different light. A creature could be immobile or even seem dead, but it could still be a hazard if it had abilities that negated its physical strength. Both the real and literary world contained creatures that had had little physical strength, but whose magic made them formidable. The unicorn Ebonhorn from the Silverwing book series fitted the stereotype perfectly.
 
She needed Applejack to see this from a unicorn’s point of view. 

Straightening herself, she looked at Applejack. “He might not need his physical strength to be dangerous, I mean you saw the expression Celestia had after she read his mind. He must be a problem. Also, I found other signs that prove that he is a risk,” Twilight said as she used her magic to pull two scrolls out of her saddlebag that sat by the door. “Look at this.”
 
“What’s all this?” Looking at the papers, Applejack couldn’t discern the notes that looked so chaotic, that it seemed like an epileptic spider had walked over the paper.
 
“These are the notes I took while the human was recovering.” Pointing at the start of the first paper, Twilight continued. “This is the amount of healing balm his wounds needed when Fluttershy found him.”
 
“Alright, so far so good, but seeing as Ah ain't a doctor, what does this have to do with anything?” 
 
“At first, Fluttershy hardly needed to use any. She didn’t know how he would take to it, so she started with a dose that, under normal circumstances, would hardly be enough for a foal, adding more when she saw that he didn’t seem to have detrimental effects from it.”
 
“Okay, so he doesn’t need large amounts of balm to heal, how does that make him dangerous?” Applejack replied as she looked from the scroll to Twilight, her confusion growing with each word the unicorn said.
 
“Well, he didn’t need much to start with. It almost seemed like his body was guzzling it up like a foal would candy.” Going to the bottom of the scroll, Twilight pointed at the last set of numbers. “This is the amount she needed when he fell and broke his wrists a couple of weeks ago.”
 
Applejack blinked a couple of times to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. “Well I’ll be, that’s quite a bit more… and this was for two wrists?”
 
“It’s double the amount that he needed to heal all the tissue damage and all the fractures in his lower arm. Then, there is his physical state. The packs of I.V. fluids that he got were magic-infused to insure that he would get all the nutrition he needed.” Looking at her to make sure she had Applejack's undivided attention, she continued. “However, after a short time, it stopped working and then his body seemed to start eating itself to get fed. Now imagine if he can do that to his own body, what will he do to others when he is fully fit?”
 
Applejack looked at Twilight with a worried expression. She wasn’t sure if Twilight’s fear was well-founded or if she was over-obsessing as she sometimes did. This was, however, the first she had heard of something like this and something deep within her brain, a certain amount of a pony’s natural caution, was starting to form.
 
Granted, there hadn’t been a famine in Equestria as long as anyone could remember, but she knew from health class in school and from observations that what Twilight described wasn’t natural. When a pony didn’t get enough food its coat would get grimier in colour and it would look increasingly gaunt. Given enough time, the pony in question would die from starvation. It would, however, take far longer than the time it took the human, and the pony’s body would never grow so thin. This was one of the reasons that the Windigo Winter hadn’t killed half of the ponies in the three pony realms.
 
“So, he became that thin and weak because his body basically ate itself… but how could he survive then? No pony or any other creature I ever heard of can do that and survive.” Applejack could feel the nervousness spike a few times, making her throat suddenly feel dry.
 
“I don’t know, but there is more.” Seeing that Applejack finally seemed to get her point of view, Twilight continued. “That allergic reaction that made him lose what little fur he had… Doctor Cardio and I thought that it came from the food essence in the I.V. bags, but according to what Fluttershy told me and what I asked him today, neither his species in general or him personally have any problem eating fruits and vegetables. If he’s telling the truth, then how is it happening to him? I have a hypothesis – it could be because of the magic.”
 
Applejack looked at Twilight as if she had just said that she was a magical dancing parasprite that granted three wishes. “Because of magic…but Twilight, that makes even less sense. I mean, there is magic in everything, even the critters and the other races are magic. How could he survive if he has a bad tolerance for magic?”
 
“I don’t know; that’s one of the reasons I want him to wear the collar until we can be certain that he isn’t dangerous, and it leads me to one of the other things that I’ve been thinking about. I don’t think that he is from Equestria.” Twilight used her magic to roll the scroll up and placed it back in her saddlebag.
 
“What do you mean? You think that he’s from Griffenheim or Minotauria or around those parts… you don’t suppose that Rainbow Dash was right about him being an alien do you?” Applejack suddenly felt a tingle running up her spine at the thought.
 
“What? No, of course not. Aliens are just make-believe; even with magic, it is impossible to travel beyond the sun and moon. But maybe he’s one of the species that ponies heard of in the past, but never seen, like the Underfolk.”
 
When Twilight finished, an eerie silence fell over the kitchen. Both mares had grown up with tales of the Underfolk, a shadowy race that walked across the land when the fog laid dense over Equestria and lured ponies astray, never to be heard from again.
 
“W-W-What makes you think that he might be Un… one of them?” Feeling the tingle in her spine turn into a cold shiver like someone had laid a line of ice cubes from her neck to her tail, Applejack looked at Twilight. For the first time this day she felt truly afraid.
 
“Well… this.” Using her magic, Twilight took a new item from her saddle bag and laid it on the table between them.
 
It was a little black case, but unlike anything that the two ponies had ever seen in their lives. It was so thin even too thin to even hold one of the new fancy thin fountain pens that were the craze among the rich in Canterlot. The bottom looked even more strange, and Applejack noticed that there was a picture of an apple with a bite taken out of it. The top however was mostly glass, but they couldn’t see anything inside.
 
“What is it?” Applejack asked, giving the case a light push with her hoof.
 
“I’m not sure; I accidently broke it a couple of hours after I got it home, but I think it’s a magic mirror.” Seeing the sudden alert look in Applejack’s face, she raised her hooves in a calming manner. “Don’t worry; it doesn’t work anymore since it broke. When I helped Fluttershy take care of him after she found him, I saw it lying on Fluttershy’s living room table. She had found it in one of his pockets when she removed the wet and bloody clothes from him. I know it was probably wrong, but I borrowed it for further study without asking Fluttershy if it was okay, and I’m glad that I did. When I came home I studied it and tried to make it work, but I couldn’t make it work neither with magic or hooves. When I gave up Spike asked if he could give it a try, I was frustrated after I’d been trying to figure out what it was for hours without success, so I let him try while I got a bite to eat.”
 
“Then what happened?” Applejack asked as she took the strange object in her hooves to get a better look at it.
 

***

 
 
Entering the kitchen with the strange mirror in his claws, Spike the dragon looked up at Twilight, who was sitting at her kitchen counter. “Hey, Twilight, I think I made it work.”
 
Dropping her sandwich from her telekinetic grasp onto her plate, Twilight looked up at him, her eyes wide with sudden excitement. “That’s fantastic, Spike. Here, let me see!” As she was about to get up from her seat, a high almost threatening growl unexpectedly came from her stomach. “Or on second thought, could you bring it over here so we can look at it while I eat?” Twilight gave an embarrassed giggle as she scooted over so Spike could sit next to her. “So, how does it work?” she asked as the dragon sat down next to her.
 
“Well, you press this square at the bottom and then the mirror comes to life.” Working while he talked, Spike pressed the square.
 
“Well I know that, but what do you do next.” Looking at the uncooperative mirror with a bit of disdain, Twilight once again levitated her sandwich with her magic.
 
“Then you take your claw and move the little box over like this, and then this picture appears.” Spike moved the mirror so it lay between them on the table. “What do you think all those pictures and strange letters are?”
 
“Hmm, I don’t know.” Rubbing her chin with a hoof, Twilight made to pick up the mirror; she stopped as her stomach growled again to put an end to that course of action. “I'd better eat. We’ll look at it after I’ve finished.”
 
“Twilight, do you mind if I look at it a bit more while you eat?” Spike looked at her with eyes like he was a dog begging for scraps at the dinner table.
 
Twilight thought it over for a while. It seemed to be a magic mirror, but it hadn’t helped its owner defend himself from a timberwolf, so it wasn’t a weapon. “Hmmm…okay, Spike, but you have to be careful with it. It’s not ours and it’s going back to Fluttershy first thing in the morning.” She would have said more, but the dragon had already grabbed the mirror and ran into the main library room.
 
Twilight smiled at Spike’s enthusiasm over the mirror. Normally when she had a project, Spike would help but not be interested in the project itself. With this enthusiasm they could work together like equals, and she had no doubt that they would solve the enigma of the mirror in no time. She returned her attention to her sandwich still hanging in midair; she closed her eyes and opened her mouth, ready to fully enjoy her meal.
 
The bite she was about to take was interrupted by an eerie sound from the living room. “Um, Twilight?” Spike's voice sounded cautious like the time he had accidently hit a hornet nest while playing ball with Lickety Split.
 
As Twilight was about to lay her sandwich on her plate to see what Spike was up to, the eerie sound was replaced with sounds that Twilight had never heard before. It produced sounds that she imagined would be appropriate if she was in the deepest pits of Tartarus. The shock of the sudden horrible noise made her sandwich fly up into the ceiling where it disintegrated into pieces on an atomic scale. Ignoring the small pieces of sandwich that fell from the ceiling like a light snow, Twilight ran into the living room.
 
The scene that met her was horrendous, Spike was standing in the middle of the room, and the mirror that he held in his right hand was spewing out the atrocities that were now assaulting her ears. But what made her jaw hit the floor was the way Spike held his left hand high in the air and was making a sign as if he was trying to make a shadow image of a Minotaur’s head. His head was shooting back and forth to the sounds with such violent shakes that it seemed like an unseen force was trying to pull his head clean off his shoulders.
 
“SPIKE!!!” Twilight shouted, trying to get the dragon’s attention, but there was nothing to be done - the drake seemed to be lost to an outside force.
 
She began to panic, seeing her number one assistant apparently in the thrall of an unseen evil, for what else could make such horrible noises and do this to a dragon? She had to act; she had to stop the mirror before her surrogate brother was horribly injured. Using her magic, she grabbed the mirror and tried to pull it from his claw. It didn’t budge; Spike's grip was so firm that when she pulled the mirror up towards the ceiling, the result was that Spike was now hanging in midair, still holding the mirror, his head still going back and forth more and more violently. Twilight tried to shake the mirror to get Spike to let go, but he kept his grip. Twilight became more and more flustered, trembling at the wild thoughts running through her mind.
 
“Spike, for the love of Faust! Let go of that evil contraption!” She began to shake the mirror until Spike seemed to disappear into a light mulberry blur. 

She continually pleaded him to release the magic, but it seemed to be glued to his claw. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Spike lost his grip on the infernal contraption, sending him flying through the room. The mirror flew in the opposite direction hitting the wall and finally falling silent.
 
As the noise came to an abrupt stop, Spike was finally released from its enchantment. Blinking a few times, he shook his head sideways to clear his head. When his vision cleared, however, he saw that he was heading straight towards one of the library’s walls. Screaming, he held his claws up in front of his face in a vain attempt to soften the incoming collision. As the collision came closer and closer, a bright raspberry aura surrounded him and directed him gently to the pillow corner in the foals’ section of the library.
 
Landing softly in the pillow corner, Twilight rushed over to him. “Spike! Oh my Faust, are you alright?!”
 
“Yeah I’m okay Twi-mph.” Spike didn’t get to finish his response as he was held in a tight embrace by Twilight.
 
“Oh thank Celestia! I thought I lost you!” Almost sobbing, Twilight held him even tighter and started to rock him back and forth, like she was holding a small child who had just escaped the jaws of death by the narrowest of margins.
 
Quickly tiring of Twilight’s hysterics, Spike hated it when Twilight hugged him like he was still a baby. “Twilight, I’m fine,” he said, pushing Twilight back to escape her embrace.
 
“Are you certain?” Examining him and turning him around with her magic, Twilight made all the checks she could to see if the dragon was fine in both his physical and magic capacities before putting him down. 
 
“I think so. I mean, I don’t remember exactly what happened. I was checking out the mirror and then this feeling came over me. It felt like joy and power all rolled into one, and the next thing I remember, I was flying through the air…What happened?”
 
Twilight wasn’t sure, but this had all the earmarks of one of the possessions she had read about in the books in the Royal Archives during her studies. The possessed had no control over their body, check. They would often try to hurt themselves - well the head shaking could only be seen as evidence of that, so check. And finally, at the start of the possession the victim would feel exalted, giving the possessor the opportunity they need to take control. If the spell was broken before the caster could take hold of the host, the victim would not remember a thing, check. There wasn’t any doubt in her mind that mirror was a portal for communication with creatures that could possess intelligent creatures.
 
The fact that the human hadn’t used it on the timberwolf also made sense - timberwolves were constructs controlled by the spirits of wolves and therefore could not be doubly possessed. This brought up a new problem: what is that creature? She had never heard or read about any such creature before. She had first thought it a simple animal, but Fluttershy had told her that it wore clothes and it could speak Equestrian. That in itself didn’t mean much. There were many creatures in Equestria that could talk - some sheep and cows to mention a few. Even among the monsters, there were sentient beings like Stephen Magnet or dragons.
 
The creature’s clothes were a different matter, but that could also be explained. Maybe the creature had stolen them, maybe he had received them as a gift from someone or maybe he was a runaway pet whose owner liked to dress him up. Having seen the clothes, or rather the sorry remains of them, the last hypothesis in particular seemed to make sense. The clothes were not made for outdoor use, and they didn’t seem to give much protection against the cold. They were also quite flimsy - the timberwolf’s teeth and claws seemed to have sliced through them like butter. This was to be expected, but they also had holes that weren’t from the timberwolf. It seemed like just walking through the forest had been enough to tear them.
 
All this, however, had to wait. She needed to act and act fast. “Spike, are you absolutely sure you’re alright?”
 
“Yeah… I’m fine, Twilight, just a little dazed by my flight. Why?” Spike asked as he looked at her with a little bit of annoyance at being asked the same question repeatedly.
 
“I need you to send a letter to Princess Celestia.”
 

***

 
“So that’s why the Princess came so quickly,” Applejack interrupted Twilight’s story and laid the mirror back on the table. “But why haven’t you told anyone about this before now? And Ah’m guessing from the way the other girls talk, about him that you haven’t told them either.”
 
The question caused a flicker of guilt to cross Twilight’s face. “I wasn’t sure of my suspicions, and you know the ponies in town. I didn’t want to start a panic like the last time Fluttershy took in an unknown creature.”
 
“Do you mean the roc she let stay with her while its wing healed? Just a moment, Twilight,” Applejack said as she got up from the table and walked into the living room. When she returned, she held a brush in her mouth, putting in front of Twilight on the table. “I thought you would like to straighten your mane just a tad,” she said as she returned to her seat.
 
Twilight turned her head and looked into one of the immaculate polished brass pots hanging over Granny Smith’s stove. The reflection that met her made her twitch. Her mane looked just as mangled if not more so when she had had her mental breakdown during the Smarty Pants incident last summer. Using her magic to grab the brush, she started to meticulously restore her mane. “That’s not the creature I was thinking of.”
 
“Then how about the baby hydra she found alone in Froggy Bottom bog?” That hadn’t been too bad…well, at least until its mother showed up and demanded it back. Applejack had had to build two new barns after that episode, and the mayor had even brought in new legislation that made it illegal to bring magical creatures into town. She had had to cancel it, however, when Princess brought Philomena to visit Twilight. Seeing that Twilight shook her head. Applejack scratched her head with her hoof. Suddenly, like lighting, the answer came to her, making her ask Twilight with terror in her voice. “You don’t mean…?”
 
Finishing with her mane and seeing that her friend finally had remembered which creature she was thinking of, Twilight laid the brush back on the table and gave her friend a knowing, but worried look. “Yes Applejack, I’m thinking of the honey ba—”
 
Twilight was interrupted as Applejack leaped over the table and held her hoof over her mouth. “Don’t say its name or it’ll hear you!”
 

***


Having been so preoccupied with the problem at hand, Twilight had forgotten the superstition that had grown around the honey badger or Mellivora capensis as it was known in her book on Zebrican wildlife. Nopony knew how it had gotten to Equestria. At first nopony even knew what it was. Apple Bloom had found it on the edge of the Everfree Forest on her way back from a visit to Zecora’s. It had seemed dead when she found it lying next to a dead Everfree viper. It had, presumably in its ignorance of Equestrian wildlife, gotten too near to the most poisonous type of viper in all of Equestria, and that miscalculation had cost it its life. It had, in the ten seconds the vipers poison usually took to work, had time to bite the viper to death. Feeling sorry for the little fellow, who looked similar to the friendly badgers Fluttershy took care of, Apple Bloom had taken the poor little creature to Fluttershy, so it at least could get a proper burial.
 
It had been a beautiful burial… well, as beautiful as a something as sad as a burial could be. All the girls and the critters were there to support Fluttershy - they all knew how hard she took it when an animal died, even an animal she didn’t know personally. The badger was laid in a little open coffin so all the participants could show it their last respects. Under the direction of Fluttershy, her songbirds sang a lovely requiem for the little fellow before they buried him. After a eulogy by Fluttershy, they prepared to lay the badger to rest, but then something that seemed like a miracle happened. Seemingly returning from the land of the dead, the badger stirred and sat up in the coffin. The other Elements, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the critters were taken aback and afraid, since this seemed to be utterly unnatural. Nopony had ever heard of an animal that had survived the bite of an Everfree viper. Fluttershy, however, had been ecstatic to see the, to quote her, “poor little dear” alive again.  
 
The words “poor little dear”, however, turned out to be misplaced. “Unholy terror” would have been more appropriate. Between eating most of the snakes in Ponyville to burrowing under half of Sweet Apple Acres to devour the sweet apple tree roots to eating a large percentage of Honey Bee, the town beekeeper’s honey and bee larva, it just plainly did not give a horse apple.
 
Fluttershy had tried her best to make it to behave. When it had eaten most of her snake friends, she had cried and evacuated the remaining snakes. When it had gone on a rampage in Sweet Apple Acres, she had asked it nicely to stop. When it all but obliterated Honey Bee’s beehives, she had been as firm as the timid pegasus could be. And when all else had failed, she had been forced to use The Stare on the badger. The Stare was known throughout the animal kingdom as the most horrible experience any animal could see in its lifetime. But the honey badger had shook it off as if it was nothing and went on to present Fluttershy with a raised middle claw. No pony, not even Fluttershy knew what this gesture meant, but it was clearly meant as an insult.
 
Animal control, the local police, Twilight’s magic, even the Wonderbolts had proven to be no match for the furry demon that now held Ponyville in its powers. It had all seemed hopeless until Zecora came to town as she did each week to sell her herbal remedies to the spa twins. Seeing the honey badger and the chaos it had unleashed upon the poor ponies in Ponyville, she had acted quickly and resolutely as only Zecora knew how. The solution had been so simple that even Twilight with her book smarts or Fluttershy with her knowledge of animals had thought it impossible.
 
Confronting the honey badger in the town square, while all the ponies looked on in terror expecting the brave Zebra to be turned inside out, she had told the black and white miscreant, “Nyegere, you have had your fun. Now behave before I make you undone.”
 
The honey badger had been as impressed with her threat as it had been with the other attempts to make it behave. In other words, it didn’t give a horse apple.
 
Seeing that the honey badger was ignoring her, Zecora had then upped the ante. “Ponies, animals and dragons you pushed around with your might. But do you think you can take on a Zebra in a fight?”
 
The direct challenge had been more than the honey badger could accept from the zebra. Jittering and howling in that same way that the ponies in Ponyville had come to fear during the half day its reign of terror had lasted, it had charged Zecora. All the ponies had screamed and covered their eyes, expecting the noble zebra to be torn limb from limb before them. Then there was silence. Was the fight over? Had brave Zecora joined her ancestors in zebra heaven? Looking out from their hiding places, the ponies saw a sight that none of them could believe. Zecora was still standing and in front of her lay the honey badger, covering its eyes and shaking like a scared foal. Zecora was holding a hoof mirror in her hoof and looked down at the scourge of Ponyville.
 
“If you promise to behave and not to scoff, I’ll call the other Badger off,” she had said in a firm voice as she looked down at the honey badger. The badger had whimpered and nodded at her request.
 
Being a native of Zebrica, she knew that the only thing a honey badger feared was another honey badger, or the sight of one that seemed fiercer than it thought it was. The mirror had fooled the honey badger into thinking that Zecora had what seemed as an extremely fierce honey badger on her side.
 
Putting the mirror back in one of her saddlebags, she had then turned back to the former smooth criminal king of Ponyville. “You are not allowed to frighten or harm ponies ever again, and no more will Ponyville be your domain. But being from Zebrica myself and often feeling alone, I wouldn’t mind for you to share my home. This however depends on you not acting depraved, to stay with me you need to behave.”
 
Looking up at her with sad and remorseful eyes, the honey badger had once again nodded and with a series of barks had given its acceptance.
 
Giving the now docile and seemingly harmless little fellow an almost motherly smile, Zecora petted it on its head and said. “Good, now apologise to these ponies you must, if you want to earn their and mine trust.”
 
That had been the end of the terror of Ponyville. Under the watchful eyes of Zecora, the honey badger had given its heartfelt apologies to all the ponies it had offended. It now lived with Zecora in her home in the Everfree Forest, following her around like a trusty dog. It had never set its paws in Ponyville since that day, but to this day and for many years into the future, mothers would warn their foals that if they didn’t behave, the honey badger would come. Such was its reputation and legacy. And seeing how it behaved before Zecora tamed it, it probably didn’t mind.


***


Pushing Applejack’s hoof away from her mouth, Twilight looked at the farm pony that, like most of the ponies in Ponyville, was terrified that the honey badger would return. “Don’t worry, Applejack. However, it brings us to the problem at hand - the human.”
 
“What do you mean, Twilight? Do you really think that he could be as bad as the—” She visibly bit her own tongue to stop herself from uttering the name of the badger who must not be named. Moving back to her seat, Applejack looked at Twilight with a serious expression. “I mean, I’m not convinced that he is that dangerous. He might have had a magic mirror that could possess ponies, but you said it yourself that it doesn’t work anymore, and it clearly didn’t work on the timberwolf that almost ate him. Also, and not to be rude, but if you could pin him in a tussle with no magic, he can’t be that strong. I’m also thinking that if he had those powers you speak of, why didn’t he try to use them on you? Sorry, Twilight, but your theory just don’t make much sense from where I’m sitting.”
 
Twilight wanted to prove the flaws in Applejack’s points, but the only major hole in Applejack’s statements was that it was called a hypothesis not a theory. Applejack might not be the most well-read pony Twilight had ever met, but she had, in many ways, lived her life more fully than Twilight. She knew life and what it could throw at you, and she knew to sometimes let the waves that were life hit you and roll over you. The only bad thing to come out of it, no matter how big the wave looked when it hit, was a wet mane.  
 
Had she let herself become riled up? Had the fact that she had seen the one pony she had looked up to for most of her life be shocked at what she had seen inside the human’s mind…made her blind to alternatives? Had her focused mind become too focused on one answer to a question as it sometimes did? She remembered the embarrassing and quite dangerous experiences she had had with her missing friendship report and with Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense. If only she could use the mind-reading spell like Princess Celestia, but that spell was beyond even her own abilities. Not to mention that with the human awake and cognizant, it would be highly unethical to use it on him without his permission. Twilight was at a loss, searching her brain for something, anything to support her claim from earlier.
 
“Fluttershy!” The sudden outburst came as a surprise to both of them.
 
“Come again, Twi?” Said Applejack; she looked at Twilight, not knowing what to make of her outburst. “If he can’t use his supposed powers on a timberwolves, Ah doubt he can possess Fluttershy. She might not look it, but she’s made of sturdier stuff than most ponies; the only problem is she doesn’t see it herself.”
 
“It was the way she acted that made me think she had been possessed.” Twilight knew she had to move fast before Applejack closed her mind to this angle. “When I had the upper hand and was about to put the collar on him, she intervened.”
 
Applejack didn’t look too impressed as she began her rebuttal. “Twi, if she thought you were hurting him, and if she likes him as she likes us or her critters, then of course she would get mad at you. Remember when that dragon had us out for the count back last year?”
 
“Well, that’s my point. Normally, when Fluttershy gets emotional, she tends to get very angry, like she did at the Gala when the garden animals wouldn’t talk with her, or with the dragon. But the way she told me off at her house was different. She didn’t yell, or  tell me that I was stronger than him and should know better. Even though she was angry, she was so composed that it was almost scary. I’ve never seen Fluttershy like that before.” 
 
“Well, that doesn’t sound like the normal Fluttershy, but does that prove that he possessed her?” Applejack could see why Twilight, still high on adrenaline after a tussle, could think that. “Maybe we better look into—”
 
Her sentence was cut short by an energetic knocking at the kitchen door. As she got up and walked towards the door, the knocking started again and a voice called out.
 
“Hey AJ! Let’s go, those trees won't drop all that snow of their branches by themselves!”
 
“Hold your horses, Rainbow Dash. I’m coming!” Applejack yelled out as she reached the door and opened it for her friend.
 
With her usual swagger, Rainbow walked into the kitchen before Applejack could invite her in. She took off her green wool cap and stuffed it into a pocket of her matching vest. “Are we going? I walked over here to save energy, and I bet that I can get all the snow out of your trees in under six minutes flat and set a new snow clearing record.”

Applejack smiled. Since her failed attempt to beat her old record last year, when her left wing struck one of the trees, Rainbow Dash had hardly talked about anything else for the entire winter. The fact that she lowered herself to walk out to Sweet Apple Acres to make sure she had all her strength for the task ahead told as much.
 
“Well, I’m afraid we might have to wait a couple of days for your attempt. We might have a bigger problem.” Applejack closed the kitchen door and returned to her seat at the table.
 
“WHAT!!! What do you mean that we have to postpone my new record?” Rainbow looked like someone had just told her that her dream of joining the Wonderbolts was a silly child’s fantasy. “The snow is perfect, there’s hardly any wind, and I took this day out of my busy training schedule to do this!”
 
“That might be, Rainbow, but something has come up that is just a tad more important than your personal records.” Trying to be as diplomatic as she could, Applejack poured a cup of cocoa for her.
 
Rainbow licked her lips. Her personal records were important, but the weather today was made for a steaming cup with marshmallows. “Well…okay, but can I also have a cookie?” she asked, seeing that the cookie jar was standing on the table.
 
“Sure, have two,” Applejack pushed the cookie jar towards her.
 
Cocoa and some of Granny Smith’s homemade cookies that sealed the deal, Rainbow took off her vest and walked over to the table. “Well okay, but I’m still setting that record.” Her pride saved, she walked over to the kitchen table; as she reached it, she finally saw Twilight. “Twilight, what happened to you? You got quite the shiner there.” Being as active as she was, Rainbow got scrapes and bruises all the time so she didn’t think much of it. “Did you fall off the ladder in the library again?”
 
“No,” Twilight answered as she took a hoof up to her eye. She had all but forgotten about it. The sting it gave when it came in contact with her hoof told her that she might need to use some healing ointment when she came back to the library.
 
“Well that’s the reason we have to wait with your record. Twi said Fluttershy might be in a bit of trouble.” Taking the two cookies out of the jar and laying them in front of Rainbow Dash, Applejack pushed the cookie jar into the middle of the table.
 
“Is it the alien?!” Rainbow shot to her hooves; her wings shot out from her body, and she looked like she was ready for a fight. “He is a spy isn’t he? Did he call his mother ship?! Are they invading?! Has he gotten out his hidden space wand and is holding Fluttershy hostage?!”
 
“What? No!” Applejack and Twilight exclaimed in unison as they also stood up, surprised at the sudden change in Rainbow’s demeanour.
 
“Well then, what happened?” Rainbow’s wings folded back to her back; she didn’t, however, sit back down.
 
“Well, Twilight thinks he might have possessed Fluttershy,” Applejack said as she sat back down.
 
“Can he do that? The princess said that he didn’t have any magic in him. Unless he has some sort of brain-altering space technology inside him like those alien anal probes they wrote about in The National Equestrier.”
 
There was a moment of silence while both Applejack and Twilight took in what they just heard. Twilight was the first to speak, her tone incredulous. “You read The National Equestrier?”
 
“Yes…I mean no! They just happened to have some lying around at the dentist office the last time I was there. I mean, who would read that stupid tabloid? It’s not like I subscribe to get the newest juiciest gossip about the Wonderbolts.” Rainbow backed slightly away as she got defensive. Hopefully she had dodged the bullet on that one; her badass reputation wouldn’t be helped if her friends found out that she enjoyed lying on her bed reading, squealing like a little filly every time she found a new juicy titbit about the Wonderbolts.
 
“Okay, that all aside…. no, there are no probes or butts involved as far as I know. And Rarity already told you that’s just silly,” Applejack said as she shook her head to get the mental images out.
 
“Then how did he do it?” Rainbow asked, sitting back down at the table. “I mean, from what I know, possessing somepony is not something just anypony can do. Are you absolutely sure he’s not an alien spy?”
 
“That is the one thing that we’re sure he’s not.” Twilight took over from Applejack. “I mean we had a… disagreement. That’s where I got this black eye, but it’s more the way Fluttershy acted that worries me.”
 
“With those hayfry arms and fragile hooves he’s got, how could he give you that? No offence, Twilight, but I’ve seen you been hit with countless things in your face without a mark to show for it.” Rainbow looked even more surprised than before.
 
“The best way to describe it was that he cheated. I had him pinned and was about to put the Gleipnir on him, but…he tickled me.” Twilight stopped. Thanks to her and her BBBFF’s good relations, this was the first real fight she had ever had. And to be taken so unaware by such a cheap trick stung her pride.
 
“You got a black eye from him tickling you.” Rainbow had a hard time stifling a small giggle. “You’re lucky he didn’t hug you or you would have ended up in the hospital.” She couldn’t hold back her laughter. The looks she got from Twilight and Applejack made her stop and adopt a more serious expression back on her face. “Ahem, sorry… I just never heard of someone losing a fight by being tickled.”
 
“I didn’t lose.” Twilight felt the sting of her humiliating fall come roaring back. “But that isn’t important. I ended up having him pinned again and was about to put the collar on him when Fluttershy started to act strangely. She disagreed with me putting the collar on him, which I would have understood. And seeing that we kind of turned her living room into a battlefield, I would understand if she got as mad as she did with the snoring dragon. But she didn’t castigate or yell or even threaten me, she just stated that I was going to stop and that she wouldn’t let me hurt him. And even though she was civilized about it, the fact that she didn’t even get mad, but just coldly stated it like facts...I have never seen her like that before; he must have done something to her.”
 
There was a moment of silence. Then Rainbow spoke up. “You said that Fluttershy got angry, but didn’t raise her voice or explained what you did wrong?”
 
“Yes, I mean, that’s just not normal Fluttershy behaviour.” Twilight rubbed her left arm with her right hoof.
 
“Did she also extend her wings out to their full wingspan and move about to make sure she was between you and the creature, and did her voice become hard like a rock?” Rainbow asked, turning her head to the side inquisitively.
 
“Yes, how did you know?” Twilight looked up with a surprised expression aimed at Rainbow Dash. She remembered saying that Fluttershy’s anger had been strange, but she couldn’t remember if she had said anything about Fluttershy placing herself between them.
 
Rainbow Dash got up and put on her wool cap. “Stay here...there’s something I need to be sure of.” Not looking back at her friends, she opened the kitchen door and flew away, leaving Applejack and Twilight looking surprised.
 
“What just happened?” Twilight asked as her gaze went from the open door to Applejack.
 
 
“I don’t know, Twi, but knowing Rainbow Dash, the situation either just got less or more complicated,” Applejack said as she got up and closed the door.