Well, this day has not been great. I mean, yeah, there were worse days during boot camp, briefing days, and the like, but I’ve had better days being on KP duty.

It started off normally enough- if you can call normal waking up in a too-small bed to the sound of a rooster call to an over-bright sunrise and to have a freakin’ butter-yellow pegasus that caused you to pass out a day ago come in, and introduce itself as Fluttershy, all within ten minutes.

If wasn’t so outlandish, I’d say it was nothing more than waking up in a slightly-bigger-yet-still-too-small-bed to the sound of a buzzer to a flat electric light and have a yelling captain that whooped your ass a day ago tell you to get moving, get dressed, and get on deck, all within ten minutes. But it was outlandish. So there was no similarity to the military at all.

But not that’s not the worst part. No, the worst part is that I thought Fluttershy’s name was a figurative play on words or something, and didn’t really mean anything. This led to a doubly painful mistake on my part.

You see, apparently it's not good for your face and or your internal organs to make her cry.

I was propping myself up, having regained some strength, if only a little, when my door opened, and she walked in.

“Oh my, you’re awake early, James,” Fluttershy said to me, sounding mildly surprised.

“It’s in my system to wake up early, and get work done,” I mumbled, still partially asleep. “That and the rooster outside combined with a sunrise, and you get... wait, how do you know my name?”

“Oh, Twilight told me after you were asleep,” she responded, walking across my room with some flowers, which she put in a vase across from the bed, apparently why she came in.

“Twilight told you. Yeah, okay, I’ll buy that. While we’re on the subject of names, I don’t think I got yours,” I said, stretching and trying to wake up, but avoiding moving my legs, as so to avoid another pain tsunami.

“My name is...”

“Sorry, what?” I asked, unable to hear the last part, which was presumably her name.

“My name is flutsh-”

“Who?” I asked again, a small grin tugging at my lips.

“My name is Flutte-”

“CHIK-A CHIK-A, Slim Shady!” I said, smiling, if only to myself, for the first time since I arrived in this place- wait, what was it called? Ponytown?

For Fluttershy’s part, she jumped a bit and looked confused, which was quite understandable. I suppose that Eminem would be a bit much for them, if anything is to indicate innocence so far.

“Sorry, my personal joke. What’s your name? I won’t interrupt this time,” I said, still smiling a bit.

“My name is Fluttershy," she said, still looking a little confused, but seemed to let it pass after a moment, but I could tell that it was still on her mind.

I giggled.

Which would have cost me about 200 pushups, if not more, since I'm not supposed to break at all. However, having both my legs broken put my concentration on a lower priority of things to maintain, plus sitting in a room with a pegasus with pink hair, and having it tell me it's name was Fluttershy...

Well, I don't think even the Royal Guards could handle it.

She looked at me, more confused than a few seconds ago, and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"What?" she asked, plainly and simply.

"Sorry, it's just, your name seems a bit odd, doesn't it?" I said, just barely smirking.

"Why would it be odd?" she asked, imperceptibly shrinking downward.

"Oh come on! It's obvious! You were shy just a couple of seconds ago trying to introduce yourself to me!" I said, starting to gesticulate.

"Well, I guess I am a littl-"

"And you have wings, too, which I assume you use to "flutter" around," I continued, not paying attention to her quiet response and her continued downward movement.

"Well, maybe just a-"

"I also noticed that you have butterflies on your backside, and your name sounds like butterfly as well."

"I-"

"Come to think of it, did you choose your own name for the sake of forging a personality around it? Because that's a little weird, if you ask me."

"Eep!"

"Also, I can probably come up with a bunch of combinations that still embody your personality. There's, uh, Buttershy, Butterfly, Flutterfly... ooh, Flutter-lie, since you probably gave the name to yourself, and... uh, Fluttershy?" I said, stopping my thought process in matter of microseconds.

Fluttershy was on the ground, face in her hooves, shaking, although I couldn't tell what from.

"Uh... Fluttershy? You alright?" I asked, trying to lean forward a bit more. At that moment, she lifted her face up, and her eyes were brimming with tears, and some had already fallen.

Unnoticed by either of us, a small white rabbit hooped into the room.

Fluttershy turned and ran out of the room, a few tears streaming behind her, and choked sobs beginning to come from her.

I blinked.

Then another bout of pain shot through me, this one in my chest.

And I thought that the pain in my legs was bad.

"FFffF-fFu-fFu-f-FU-FUTTER-Futtersh-!" I said, trying to form words and breathe at the same time.

God fucking damn it! I survive a plane crash into a different planet and I die of a heart attack after it happens!?

I gave up trying to call for her, and started trying to hit my chest, only managing weak thumps, and expending more energy than should have been used. Each time I raised my fist, it got a little harder to take in air. finally, my arm slumped down by my side and stayed there, and I waited for the impending, stupid end.

Then a bunny hopped onto my chest.

It did not look happy with me.

I would've picked it up and put it back on the ground, but I had next to no strength, so I just lied there, looking at it. It hopped forward on my chest twice, and looked even closer at my face. Then it grabbed my hair, pulled my head forward, and slapped my face, fronthand-backhand style.

For a bunny no bigger than my foot, it had a pretty good smack to it.

It let go of my hair, letting my head fall back down on the pillow, my face stinging and no doubt having two red paw prints on my face. Then it hopped back on my chest, gave one, giant leap into the air, and came back down on my chest while kicking it at the same time.

All the air was forced out of my lungs, but at the same time, the pain stopped, and I started gasping for air. The rabbit hopped down and sat next to the bed, arms crossed.

"Th-than, Th-thank y-you," I coughed out, looking at the side of the bed where it sat. I don't know what compelled me to say that to it- it might have been something to do with the fact that I was in a world where ponies could talk. It made logical sense that others could too.

However, it didn't say anything. It just continued to look at me, looking disappointed, arms crossed and now tapping his(?) foot.

"W-what? I said thank you, what more d-do you want?" I said, coughing a bit. I pushed myself back up into a sitting position to get better airflow through my body. He pointed to the open door of the room I was in.

In addition to being oddly strong, he was also highly communicative.

"Okay, I'm sorry that I made Fluttershy cry. Happy now?" I asked. Apparently he wasn't, because he had the same expression on, and pointed to me, then to the door again.

Random Access Info: If you ever play Charades here, get this guy on your team.

Shut the fuck up, Brain.

"I can't apologize to her in person, because I can't move from this bed!"

He proceeded to facepalm, then he hopped out of the room, leaving me to wonder what he was up to, because his facepalm wasn't very intention-expressive. I wasn't waiting for very long, because he soon returned, and I shit you not, he was dragging Fluttershy behind him. This was even more impressive since it looked like she was putting up a bit of a fight. She turned her head around a little bit and saw me, and redoubled her efforts, but that little muscle covered in white fur kept going somehow. He gave one last tug, and pulled her the rest of the way into the room. He then hopped over her, and shut the door from the outside, leaving us alone. Fluttershy immediately got up and threw herself at the door to absolutely no effect.

"Fluttershy..."

*thud*

"Fluttershy-"

*smack*

"Fluttershy, I'm sorry!" I yelled out before she could throw herself again.

*flump*

That statement caused her to start turning around, but not before she already committed to throwing herself at the door again. As a result, she hit the door with her back, but didn't seem to be fazed at all. Instead, she kept laying on the ground looking up at me with those enormous eyes of with surprise in them.

"I'm sorry," I said again, "I thought that maybe you were just putting up a facade to match your name."

Fluttershy got up, remaining silent, hiding behind her mane a little bit and still trying to look at me at the same time. I took her silence as an invitation to go on.

"I didn't mean to make you cry. Quite frankly, that's just my personality to be blunt and say what I'm thinking, unless I know there are going to be consequences. I didn't know you were that sensitive," I said, finishing my apology to the best of my ability. I felt bad. I really did, but I was used to people brushing off my comments, not bursting into tears, running away, and then having a heart attack.

Fluttershy sniffled, then looked me more directly in the eye, her own still a bit wet.

"I-it's okay, I guess. I'm not very much of-"

"Well, no, it's not really okay!" I replied, frowning. "My job as a soldier, at the fundamental core, is to protect the people against their enemies. Even so, citizens of the nation that provides the enemies are innocent. We aren't supposed to cause unnecessary grief or pain, or we suffer consequences for it. You may not be a person, but I'm assuming you are a citizen."

I paused for a moment, letting what I had just said sink in.

Damn, Brain, I take back what I said about telling you to shut the fuck up, that was a pretty good speech off the cusp!

What would you do without me.

Die...

Oh yeah...

Breaking away from my internal conversation, I focused back to Fluttershy, and was pleased to see an expression change.

Wait...

That's not a reassured look.

Is that fear?!

WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU MAKE ME SAY, BRAIN?!

I SWEAR I DIDN'T DO IT, BLAME YOUR MOUTH FOR SAYING IT!

"Y-you're a soldier? A-as in s-someone w-who fights? V-violently?" Fluttershy stuttered out, hiding behind her hair again.

"Uh... Technically? I guess so? I do more of an aerial combat sort-of-thing that's only sorta violent, becau-"

"EEP!"

Turning tail, literally, Fluttershy practically flew into the door- which she probably did, on account of her wings- and smacked into it again. She landed upright, but looked fazed. I could have sworn I saw stars circling around her head as she stumbled around a little bit. Then the door opened a crack, and the bunny poked his head in. He looked around, saw Fluttershy, then looked at me and raised an eyebrow... somehow.

I shrugged with a non-committal facial expression to go with it. Rolling his eyes at me, he grabbed her mane and led her out, closing the door behind them, leaving me alone again.

...

"So what am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?"

...

...

"Can I at least have breakfast?"

Author's Note

Hi, me again. Betchu' thought I wuz ded, din'cha SOHN?! Well, I'm not, and I'm sorry that this chapter was kept from you for so long. I was busy with other things while waiting for inspiration to strike.

"No he wasn't, he was procrastinating!"

The hell? James?!

"No, I'm James' Brain."

How the actual fuck are you in my authors notes?

"I'm a figment of your own mind, I can be with you anytime I want to be."

That's... mildly creepy. But anyway, the figment is right, I was procrastinating, BUT WITH GOOD REASON. I also produce electronic music, and I spent most of my summer finishing an album, and a few other songs as well, including one for this fandom, which I unfortunately cannot share, as it has to remain private for another two months or so. On the other hand, here's my Soundcloud, where you can find my album and new releases on no particular schedule, much like this story. Until the next chapter, keep being bookworms or some shit like that.

P.S. If you find any grammatical/spelling errors, please point them out. I prefer to keep my writing at the highest possible quality, so that the only problem you have with the story is the update speed.

Edit: So I must have been drunk on sleep or something, because I forgot to put the Soundcloud link. So here's that. https://soundcloud.com/officialflear

Yeah.