Wind beneath your Wings

You don't know how it happened. You are dazed and confused. You look up to see 8 ponies looking down at you in astonishment. You manage to find the strength to get to your hooves. Wait, hooves?! You look down and see that you have violet hooves and a white mane with a blue stripe going down the middle. Evidently you have wings too but you fail to gain any altitude with them. They flutter uselessly as the mares in the room with you stared down at you. Panic starts to seep into your mind and you look around wildly hoping for a form of escape and see an opening between a navy blue alicorn and a white alicorn. You manage to find your balance and race for the exit hoping to squeeze through and escape this nightmare. Freedom is just within your grasp but you find yourself lifted into the air and are now flying in the sky above the ponies. Fear now clutches your mind and you grab a hold of the nearest object which happens to be the cyan pegasus in the room with you. You close your eyes and dig your face into the cyan fur and clutch her fore legs tightly not daring to let go.

"Whoa, easy there! I'm not gonna drop you." You look up and see magenta eyes staring at you.

They seem sincere and you nod and place your face back into her chest. The warmth of the mare is soothing and comforting to you. It starts to lull you to sleep but before you can doze off the warmth suddenly leaves you and your hooves touch the ground. You finally open your eyes and calm yourself down but keep your guard up. The ponies in the room all stare intensely at you as if they were deciding what to do about the situation. The white alicorn advances towards you and your eyes shoot up at her calm face.

"Hello little one. Can you tell me your name?" You blink once which signals to the others that you are shocked a bit but have fully understood the question.

You start searching for a piece of paper or something that you can write on and of course something to write with. You manage to find a blank piece of paper and a quill and scribble down the answer on the paper. You show it to the alicorn and she bends down to read it. While she is reading it she lays down before you so that her head is level with yours. She looks away from the note to make eye contact with you. Her eyes are conveying the message that you are safe and that there is nothing to worry about, that they would not do anything to hurt you. You back away instinctively from the mare and try to keep some distance between you two. Without warning though a pink blur starts moving towards you at a fast pace and she starts running her mouth. Panic once again implants itself into your brain and you turn and run in the opposite direction. There is a mirror on one side and an open door on the other. Both of which are useless right now since there are ponies in both directions.

You scramble up the boxes and just out of reach of the pink terror trying to nab you. You finally tune into what she is saying although the panic blurs most of it.

"Oh come on, come down from there! If you come down I can throw you a party! You can have cake and ice cream and presents and-"

"Pinkie!" You and the pony known as Pinkie look over to the source of the outburst. A white unicorn is glaring at Pinkie.

"What is it Rarity?"

"You're scaring the poor darling! Stop it right this instant!" Pinkie dropped down from the boxes and retreated back to the unicorn's side. The rest of the ponies all looking at you and trying to coax you into coming down from your perch. The orange pony in the room making the first move.

"Now come on down Sugarcube. Ya' got nothing ta' be afraid of." She reaches out her forelegs to you but you move further up the wall of boxes. Rarity tries next.

"Now now darling, please come down from there. You're quite safe here." You don't back up this time but you don't move forward either. Then the yellow pegasus makes her attempt.

"It's ok. You'll be ok, I promise." She flies up to you and sticks out her arms invitingly. You still don't move from your perch and instead hunker down and try to hide from the ponies in the room. Then the cyan mare tries.

"Look we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I would prefer the hard way over the easy way." You sneak a peek up at the mare and look back down.

"Hard way it is!" You hear a 'whoosh' and the next thing you know your body is tingling and you burst out laughing. Although it is silent laughing, you can't hold it back and realize that the mare is tickling you!

You try to fight back the assault with your hooves but to no avail stop it. Tears start to leak out your eyes and your stomach is starting to hurt. You curl up instinctively trying to protect yourself when the ground gives way. The boxes fell from your constant squirming and you begin to fall. You release a silent scream and prepare to hit the ground when a pair of yellow hooves catch you this time and hold you close.The same soothing warmth returns and you bury your face in the mares chest. She doesn't lower herself to the ground and instead stays hovering with you in her hooves. The sound of the boxes crashing into the floor below was muted.

The fear in your mind recedes and your ears perk up when the mares soothing and soft voice starts singing a lullaby.

"Hush now, quiet now

It's time to lay your sleepy head

Hush now, quiet now

It's time to go to bed"

She repeats it in your ear over and over again slowly lulling you to sleep. You give a silent yawn which makes all the ponies in the room go 'Awww'. The warmth of her body is overwhelming you and you snuggle deeper into her chest and curl up tight. You feel yourself slowly lowered to the ground until you are sitting on the cold crystal floor. The mare is still holding you close and you feel like all your troubles have gone away. The pegasus's soft and loving tone reminds you of a mother's, your own if you had one. You finally break the hug and put some space between you and the mare. You sit down and look around at the other ponies in the room. They all stare at her with wide eyes and mouths agape in astonishment.

"F-Fluttershy. That was, beautiful. How did you manage to calm him down?" You register the name Fluttershy in your memory and associate it with the yellow mare before you.

"We just needed to show him some kindness and love." You still have no idea as to what's going on until the white alicorn from before walks up to you and lays down again right in front of you. You don't back away but instead lay down yourself in front of her.

"Well, youngling. Can you tell us how you got here?" She hands you your paper and quill and gives you some room to write.

You scribble down some words down on the paper explaining how you got here and what happened. Your writing is a little sloppy but you still manage to make words and she seems to understand when you hand her the paper. She then stands up and you are surrounded in a golden aura which carries you onto her back. She turns around and addresses the rest of the ponies and introduces you for you.

"Everypony, this little colt right here is Damion. He is from the world beyond the mirror and accidentally fell into the portal while he was going to take a nap. Apparently he's a freshman, whatever that is, and his age in the other world is 14. Now though i think he's around Sweetie Belle or Applebloom's age. He is mute."

All the ponies in the room looked around at each other bewildered before they spurred a reaction. Rarity was the first pony to move forward and ask the mare you were on top of.

"Princess Celestia, if I may. Shouldn't we return the poor darling before the portal closes?" The alicorn mare was now registered as Princess Celestia was about to respond when the portal glowed and a purple alicorn appeared.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy said in her soft voice. The other pegasus rushed the alicorn as well.

"You're back!" Rarity was the next one to greet her.

"And you've got your crown!" Followed by Pinkie.

"I knew you could do it!" Lastly the orange mare greeted her.

"We were so worried!"

"Sunset Shimmer, is she alright?" Celestia moved forward to question the princess and you looked back at the door.

"I think she'll be fine. I left her in good hands." The rainbow haired mare and Rarity exchanged glances and looked back at Twilght.

"What are hands?"

"And more importantly, what should we do about Damion?" This time it was the navy blue alicorn who spoke. Everypony except Twilight looked at you.

"Who's Damion? Did something happen while I was in there?" Rarity looked over at Twilight and whispered something in her ear.

"What?! Oh no this is bad. And the portal just closed too!" You recoil a bit from the shouting and try to hide behind Celestia. All the ponies see this and shush Twilight immediately. Twilight tries to talk again but the pegasus puts her hoof in her mouth to block it.

"Well, since he doesn't have a home would some pony here like to take him in? If not then I will have to keep him here with Cadence until the portal opens again." The ponies all looked at each other and eliminated themselve in front of you.

"Well I cannot for I have Sweetie Belle to deal with. And I think I speak for Applejack when I say also has a sister to take care of along with Rainbow Dash and Scootalo." The orange and cyan mares nod their heads and you register their names. Twilight and Fluttershy exchange glances.

"I can't take him in mainly because I'm a princess and wouldn't have time due to royal duties and it's hard enough taking care of Spike." Twilight stated.

"And I have to take care of Pumpkin and Pound Cake!" Pinkie happily said. Fluttershy was still quiet. You lay down and bury your head in your forelegs. You know you aren't going to have a true family even in this world. You feel tears spreading on your eyes but a soft voice speaks up.

"I'll take care of him." Surprised, your head shoots up out of your forelegs and you look around for the source of the voice and see everypony in the room looking at Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, are you sure?" Twilight questioned shakily.

"Yes, i-if that's ok with you."

"No it's quite alright darling but, what about your animals? Surely you can't raise a filly and your animals at the same time?"

"Oh no, it's fine. Besides he could be a big help around the cottage. I think I'll be fine." Twilight and Rarity glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Celestia looked back at you and you make eye contact.

"Well, Damion. Would you like to stay with Fluttershy?" You look at Fluttershy and instantly remember the motherly approach she had on you. You felt that she really cared about you even if you weren't related to her at all.

You nod your head and Celestia smiles along with Fluttershy. She lowers herself to the ground so you can step off. You step off her back and walk over to Fluttershy, you have a spring in your step and you approach the pegasus. You have about 1 foot of space between you two before she reaches out and you embrace. The warmth yet again returns but this time it comes from within and not from the mare you are hugging. You realize that you finally have a family, that you are not alone, that you finally have the one thing that was missing from your life. You have hope. You look up at Fluttershy and she looks down at you, the gaze of everypony in the room is focused on you two. You couldn't be happier with your life, and then Fluttershy breaks the silence.

"Let's go home."