When Kindness Entered In

Chapter 3

The pleasant sound of her humming stopped as I heard the sounds of the bathwater flowing down the drain. This was a cue for me to go and see how my new houseguest was. Opening the door I could see a marked improvement in the winged horse’s appearance and personality. Her coat and wings were now devoid of dirt and grime, revealing her to have more of a canary yellow coloring. Her mane and tail, though still a wet mess from the bath, were also a brighter pink. There were still several scratches on her and her wing looked still out of joint from the other but I could see a lift in her spirits as she stood in the tub, her hurt leg raised slightly, with a towel wrapped around her.

“Feel better?” I asked, “Are you ready to go back to the living room?” I asked.

She nodded as I could tell her shyness was still not gone like the grime that was washed away. I could only hope at that time she would change as I lifted her up and carried her back to the couch. There was still the matter of thee parts of her that hurt, and specifically how to make her feel more comfortable and help her heal. Now I am no doctor nor am I good with animals but I felt if there was some first aid I could do then maybe she would have a chance at getting better.

“Alright, I’m going to take a look at your leg and wing to see what we can do with it. I know your one wing is sore but can you try to extend it out as much as possible?”

She was reluctant at first with me asking to basically do something that would cause more pain, but looking into my eyes she knew that this wasn’t my intention. I wanted to help her and this was the only way. She extended her wing out only halfway before shutting her eyes and wincing in pain. It was then that I saw it, so diabolically hidden until now under her wing and far from her eyes and mine. There buried in her wing was a piece of wood ripped from somewhere during the storm. This was the cause of her misery at least in her wing, and now that I knew what the trouble was I now had to do something that she wouldn’t like.

“Ok, you have a piece of wood in your wing. I’m going to have to pull it out, and it might hurt more, but it’s the only to help your wing that I know.”

She recoiled at the thought of more pain which it was no wonder. After all, if I was told that I would be feeling worse than I wouldn’t be so happy either. I also didn’t know how much pain she was in but from the look on her face I could tell it was enough. But to my surprise she gave me a nod and braced herself for the inevitable.

“Alright, here it goes,” I said more for me than her to gather my courage. With one hand I lightly gripped her outstretched wing while with the other I felt amongst those long soft yellow feathers until I felt the hard jagged piece. Then with one swift motion I pulled as the piece dislodged with a slight spray of blood with it. The mare then let out a scream in pain as I could see tears flowing from those large pretty eyes.

“Hey, you’re ok. I pulled the wood piece out. I’m sorry that you were in more pain but you’ll feel better now. The hard part is over, all I have to do is clean this up.”

Luckily I had a first aid kit in my apartment just in case so I grabbed it and immediately cleaned the wound with an alcohol pad. She winced a couple times at this but it was much better than when I extracted the piece of wood. I then bandaged the wing up, wrapping the gauze around several times.

“Is it too tight?” I asked her to which she shook her head. One problem was down with one more to go.

“Can you lift your leg that is sore now?”

The cartoon horse lifted her foreleg for me to see. Taking hold of it I pressed a little to which more squeaks came from her in protest to the pain. Again I was no doctor but the leg thankfully didn’t look broken or cut, only sprained at most. Still I wrapped it tightly in a bandage so she couldn’t flex it and cause more pain.

“There you go. You should try to keep off that leg as much as possible and also try not to fly yet.”

I waited for any sign of how Fluttershy felt after the attempt of healing her. It was very hard considering that up until now she didn’t talk other than making squeaking sounds that added to their cuteness if they weren’t due to the pain and fear she experienced. But even though she didn’t speak I could see that a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, the same kind of feeling that I would have when I returned home. It was a feeling of peace, but there was something else there. I think it was that she finally was able to see that I had her best interest at heart and that she was not only safe from the city but also that she was safe with me.

“Thank you,” I heard a soft voice issue forth from the yellow creature’s voice. Even though this was a simple response, one that could easily cast aside in today’s world, but to me it was the kindest thing that I had ever heard. In that instant I had shared my kindness to a stranger, one who was not just someone I ever met before but someone from an entirely different reality. Little did I know that she would show me what kindness was.