Forced Perspective

**Derek**

The morning that greeted me was right out of a Disney movie. The birds chirped, the squirrels chattered and the sun was shone. The window was open and a gentle breeze was barely moving the curtains. I half expected the sun to be wearing sunglass and have a big smiley face.

I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed. The sound and feeling of my hooves as they landed on the wooden floor still caught me off guard.

I wobbled upright and tottered to the door. Finally I managed to make it down the stairs without doing an impression of a slinky, but didn’t see Fluttershy. Carefully I explored the small tree-cottage searching for her. Not in the main room, not in the kitchen, not in the bathroom, I poked my head through a window, not in the back. I stuck my head through a window in the front and finally saw her crouched low, nose to nose with a bunny.

Curious, I watched. Is she talking to a bunny? I guess that makes more sense than talking to a bush… As they spoke, I noticed the bunny repeatedly stamp its foot and cross its arms. Apparently it was unsatisfied with Fluttershy’s response because without hesitation it slapped her across the face. Hard.

I was stunned. Fluttershy looked of complete surprised too. Her legs gave out and she sank to the ground. The bunny chittered at her rapidly and once the shock had worn off, Fluttershy nodded quickly.

She turned and quickly trotted toward the cottage. She repeatedly looked over her shoulder at the bunny who stood there, arms crossed, tapping its foot.

She entered the cottage and flinched when I spoke.

“Fluttershy?” I said, to get her attention.

“Ahhh!” If she had been wearing shoes, she would’ve leapt straight out of them.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Is everything okay?”

“Oh, um. yes. Everything is fine. I’ll be right back I just need to get Angel Bunny his jacket, he says its a bit cold out.” She opened a closet by the front door and retrieved a bunny sized jacket. Clutching it in her mouth, she turned and walked back outside. I watched as she helped the critter don his tiny blue puffy coat.

After she returned, she asked: “Good morning, Dawn. Did you sleep well? I didn’t wake you did I?”

“No, I mean yes. I mean,” I took a deep breath, “I slept well but you didn’t wake me.” After a second I asked: “Why was that bunny being so rude?”

“That’s just Angel. He has a short temper sometimes but he doesn’t mean it. Deep down, he’s a good bunny.”

“I don’t think it’s right, him hitting you like that.”

“Aw, it’s nothing. It was just a tap.”

“If you say so... Anyway, thank you for your hospitality, I really should get out of your hair now though.”

“Please stay for breakfast? I’ll make eggs and haybrowns,” she said enticingly.

Breakfast does sound good though I’m not sure what haybrowns consisted of.

I told myself I was glad it wasn’t pancakes, but I’m not sure if I believed me.

Maybe I just liked the pancakes so much because I was particularly hungry. Maybe I should stick around for some other food to see...

My stomach settled it before I could voice my decision.

“Oh, my,” she said, hiding a giggle behind a hoof.

“Uh, breakfast sounds great. Thanks again Fluttershy. You’re very kind.”

“Aww… Anypony would do the same.” She said, with a small blush. She slowly walked into the kitchen. “So, when you do leave, where are you going?”

“I don’t know. I am pretty new here so I’m not sure where to go.”

“Are you staying with your friend?”

“Not anymore. After they...did something… I’m not going around them anytime soon.”

“Oh, my. So you’re alone out here?”

I hung my head as the full force of her statement finally registered. She can’t begin to comprehend the magnitude of how alone I am.

She must have noticed my sudden melancholy because she didn’t interrupt my reverie. I thought about my family who must be missing me.

...My dad, my mom, and my brother who would never see me again.

My brother and I were pretty close. When we were younger we would put on a CD and play videogames for hours. When we heard those particular songs, even years later we were immediately taken back to whichever videogame we were playing at the time. The B-52s reminded us of Mario-Kart, Poodle Hat reminded us of James Bond etc… Those are some of my fondest memories of growing up.

My dad worked all day and usually didn’t get home until after we were sleeping. On Wednesday though, mom would go out with her friends so dad would watch us. When we were younger and we played simpler videogames, he would be our ace-in-the-hole. Sometimes he would stay up hours after we went to sleep so that when we woke up, we would be on the next level. When we graduated to more sophisticated games he would give advice, but forgo the actual playing.

I remember one time he took us to the park across the street from our house and showed us how to fly a kite. The kite string ended up breaking and eventually we found it at the very top of the tree in our front yard. The kite stayed in that tree for years up in the high thin branches.

Mom was thoughtful and caring, though overbearing. She would make us snacks when we got home from school, would help us with our homework and force us to go to church.

I guess I took them for granted…
...
Now that they aren’t just a phone call away…
…
…
…

I looked up from my thoughts to see Fluttershy busy at the stove. She nervously glanced over her shoulder.

“Sorry, yes... I’m very alone here,” I said, trying to keep my voice from catching.

She divided the contents of the pans onto a couple of plates and carried them to the table.

“You’re staying with me then.”

“What? No. I mean, thank you very much Fluttershy, but that wouldn’t be right. I can’t take advantage of you like that.”

“I insist, and you aren't taking advantage of me. I offered.”

“I’m going to contribute somehow then. I’m not a freeloader.”

“Um, okay… How?”

“Uh… I’m not sure. I’ve never take care of sick animals before. What can I do to help?”

Fluttershy chewed her food slowly as her eyes unfocused. Her fork froze halfway to her mouth. As she thought, she slowly lowered it until it was resting on the edge of the plate. After a minute she brightened and seemed to gain momentum as she spoke.

“How about you follow me around today and see what you can do. Then tomorrow I’ll let you take over some of the tasks?”

“That sounds great.”

It turned out that Haybrowns are hashbrowns but made with...hay… All things considered, they’re pretty tasty. It seemed like the meal was missing something though. By the time I was done I felt very full, but strangely unsatisfied.

I followed Fluttershy around outside for the next hour or so watching as she collected eggs from the chicken coup, filled bird feeders and visited burrows.

Each time she stopped outside of a hole in the ground, she called inside. Quickly a critter bound up in some kind of bandage or toting a heated bottle emerged and they had a brief conversation. After a few minutes of squeaking, chittering or chirping the critter would go back into it’s den and we would move to the next hole.

Soon we returned to the cabin and had sandwiches for lunch. I noticed her right cheek was a bit redder than her left.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, as we ate.

“ Um yes,” she said hesitantly, “everything seems to be normal, why?”

“Your cheek looks a bit sore,” I answered, and pointed to her cheek.

She put a hoof up to feel her face and flinched when it reached the bump that was forming.

“I must’ve scraped it on one of the bird feeders,” she said, unconvincingly. She stood and trotted out of the kitchen. I ate my sandwich in silence for a few minutes trying to remember her face getting near any of the feeders. She soon walked back into the room. The red mark on her cheek was gone and I could barely make out the lump under the makeup.

I let the issue drop...for now.

We chatted lightly about the mourning routine and agreed that I could take over the egg collection and feeder filling. The house visits were beyond me, mostly because I can’t speak squirrel, bunny, gopher, bird, fish, and/or turtle.

In the afternoon she set a fire in the fireplace, which sent a pillar of grey smoke into the otherwise clear sky. She propped the front door open and started making tea. Soon enough I heard something quite large approaching.

I looked at the front door and saw a bear walking in!

I tried to agilely dash to the other side of the room to take shelter behind a couch. What I did, in fact, was fall over immediately, flip onto my back and skitter backwards ineffectually.

Fluttershy, on the other hand, trotted right up to the bear and started conversing with it with a series of grunts and huffs. Soon the bear turned around and sat down, allowing access to its back. Fluttershy gasped, and covered her mouth with a hoof. There were three gashes along the bear’s right shoulder-blade. She hurriedly conversed with the bear before galloping into the kitchen. She returned a minute later wearing a nurses’ cap and holding a small box marked with a red plus sign. Soon the bear’s shoulder was shaved and with a maximum of roars and irritated huffs, the bear’s shoulder was stitched and bandaged.

The bear was soon back on all fours. He rolled his shoulder, checking for mobility. Fluttershy stood in front of it shaking a hoof and grunting at it. Soon the bears head drooped and it stalked off back into the forest.

When she turned around she noticed me in full gape and her other cheek blushed a faint shade of red.

“What just happened?” I asked, baffled.

“Um, Harry got in a fight with a manticore. He said that the manticore was trying to use his back scratching tree and was wearing off all the good bark. He’s never been good at sharing…”

“Did you just reprimand a bear?”

“Um, more like advize...I think…”

****

Days came and days went, the routine in general didn’t vary. Breakfast was followed by treating small animals, then after lunch, big animals would arrive for treatment. I saw everything from stubbed toes and thorns in paws, to gaping wounds I would have sworn were mortal.

Fluttershy handled each with courage and professionalism that surprised me. After first meeting the mare I would’ve bet money that she would be the first to faint at the sight of blood, but she tended wounds that would’ve made a field medic squirm.

Slowly I learned my limits, I could bandage small cuts and do simple chores like fill feeders and collect eggs. If a creature showed up needing more than simple first aid, Fluttershy would take over.

In the evening, after most of the patients had gone back to the forest or their homes, I would sit on the couch and tell Fluttershy stories from my world. She would slowly make rounds refilling tea cups and checking bandages for the patients who needed to spend the night.

I told her what I could remember about superheroes like The Flash, Wonder Woman and The X-Men. I also told her about some of my favorite movies like the first three about Indiana Jones. She enjoyed those and told me about this worlds analogs, The Power Ponies, and Daring Do.

In my time there I found myself telling her about so many book series that I had read and movies I had seen that several started to blur together and some I had partially forgotten. Often, halfway through a story, I would forget how it went. Naturally I embellished and added my own guesses about how the story ended so they didn’t lamely fizzle out.

Originally I told these stories for Fluttershy’s benefit. One evening, after weaving together what I remembered of a fantasy book I had read in middle school, I realized that many of the critters in the cottage didn’t have bandages on at all. I asked her about it the next day. She said that many of the critters who had recovered had asked if they could still come by for story time.

I was floored. I knew I enjoyed telling these stories, but I always assumed Fluttershy was just humoring me. If they were getting enough enjoyment out of it to give up their time... wow! (Thank you readers :)

***

The next day I got up and muddled my way down the stairs. I had long since mastered the art of walking on hooves and had even managed to walk up and down stairs without concentrating on every step.

I made it to the kitchen and looked through the cabinets and refrigerator. It was a habit I had developed shortly after moving into Fluttershy’s cottage. I could never nail down exactly what I looked for, but the impression that something would really hit the spot nagged me.

After I exhausted all of the cabinet I set about making muffins. A gasp behind me stole my attention from the chore. I spun around and noticed Fluttershy staring at my ass. I felt self conscious for the first time in weeks of being naked.

“Oh, Dawn I’m so happy for you!”

I could only give her a look of confusion.

“Here.” She said. She reached out a hoof and touched the side of my butt. I leapt away out of instinct but looked down to where she had pointed. There, on my hip, I saw a little picture had developed. I noticed that the ponies I had seen all had a picture on their hip. I wasn’t sure what it meant. But now it seemed I had one too.