A Rainbow Colored Heart

As I packed for my stay at Matthews finding another bag for Rainbow Dash to hide in while we went to the truck, I began to question exactly what Matthew meant when he said he had “similar situation.” We didn’t speak, even as we went to the truck, Rainbow Dash hiding in my old backpack which was obviously too small to put her in. Even as we began to drive, not a word was said, I looked at Matthew several times during the trip but he only kept his eyes on the road. Rainbow Dash who was at my feet kept looking from me to Matthew kept quiet as well, nudging me several times with her snout as if to reassure me everything was fine, I could only smile as she starred back at me. The awkward silence made the ride seem all the longer, by the time we pulled up to Matthews apartment a few minutes later, it felt as though hours had passed. As I made my ascent up the long flight of stairs, Matthew walking in front of me, Rainbow Dash hiding in my back pack I began to feel a sense of un-easiness, as if a sudden feeling for motion sickness came over me which only seemed to grow as we stood outside Matthews door at the top floor of the complex. He stopped for a moment unlocking the metal lock then taking a breath of courage and stepping inside. I followed close behind feeling the warm air of the apartment suddenly blow into my face easing the numbness the cold had caused, looking around, nothing seemed to have changed, there were still clothes scattered amongst the floor and an unfolded afghan on the end of the couch. I set the backpack down unzipping so Rainbow Dash could jump out.

“I don’t get it Matt, what were you talking about?” I asked.

He didn’t speak, he only rounded the corner into the kitchen gesturing me with his head to follow. He stopped the kneeled down on the tiled floor looking towards the back of the couch. From where I was standing up I could see a small shape in-between the back of the couch and the wall, kneeling down it was roughly small roughly about “3,5” close to Rainbow Dash’s size. Rainbow Dash walked over to my side looking beyond the wall at the couch. I could see her straining to see what was hiding just out of view.

“What is it?” I asked

“I don’t know, last night when the power went out I went to go see if there was anything I could do to help, when I came back, it scurried behind the couch before I could get a chance to see what it was exactly” he explained.

“So how does this apply to Rainbow Dash, you said you had a similar problem earlier?” I asked.

“Well… I had anything like it before, I thought it was a cat at first before I shined a flashlight back there, I only caught a glimpse but I saw it’s shape, it looked like”-

“Like Rainbow Dash” I finished his sentence

He nodded. “Ever since last night I’ve been trying to coax it out, and for the life of me no matter what I try she won’t come out.” Matthew explained getting up and removing his coat revealing one of his usual black “Slayer” shirts which had a bloodied skull on the front with the band name in red letters just above it.

Rainbow Dash walked closer as I stood up watching her approach the small opening sticking the front half of her body inside.

“Hello?” she called

I heard a faint voice, too small to make out but clear as day. Matthew noticed it too walking over to my side watching as Rainbow Dash walked further into the crevice.

“Fluttershy, is that you?”  She asked in disbelief vanishing in the darkness.

Confused Matthew and I looked at each other, trying to listen to the conversation the two of them were having, but to no avail, whenever one would speak it was in a whisper, which in turn would make the other whisper back.

“What are they saying?” Matthew asked.

I shrugged, I thought he had known, or at least had a better idea to it than I did. I waited there for another minute before giving up and walking back towards the rooms at the back of the apartment, Matthew followed close behind as I walked into his bedroom at the end of the hallway sitting down in the nearby chair in front of his TV turning in it to face Matthew as he went and sat on his bed on the other side of the room. We sat in silence for a while before he sat up and straightened his throat.

“So, you get why we have the same dilemma now?”  He asked.

I nodded, unable to speak.

“So what now?” He asked

“Well…” I thought for a minute. “Obviously, this might scare a few people so… I say we keep this thing a secret for now” I explained.

“You’re right, but what are we going to do about it, we can’t just keep them at our apartments can we?”

“I say that’s exactly what we do, Rainbow Dash can stay with me, and Fluttershy will stay here with you, until we can figure out exactly what’s going on”

“One problem with that, Fluttershy kind of is scared to death of me for some reason”

“We’ll figure something out, just give it time”

“If you say so”

Matthew scooted back on the bed, leaning against the wall the bed was against leaning his head back until it touched the wall. Suddenly the door creaked open and Rainbow Dash’s head poked through.

“Hey, can you guys come in here for a sec?” she asked.

Getting up from the chair the two of us followed her into the living room where she stopped us in front of the couch and walked on only stopping us in front of the opening.

“Fluttershy, you can come out now” she said

There was a whisper; I could see her lean in to hear her better.  She then turned back to us.

“Matthias, come here for a sec” she said.

I walked up to her side kneeling down to get at her level.

“Fluttershy, Matthias is here, I’d like you to come out and meet him” she said.

There was silence for a moment, then a small head poked out of the opening and I found two light blue eyes staring up at me the pockets around her eyes red, I could tell she had been crying. Part of her yellow face was covered by her long pink mane; suddenly she jerked her head back out of view. Seeing this Rainbow Dash jumped in after her.

“C’mon” She said “He won’t bite”

A moment later she was pushed out of the opening completely, just as Rainbow Dash followed behind her blocking the way behind the couch. I could see wings on the sides that matched Rainbow Dash’s but were yellow like her coat. Like Rainbow Dash she had a symbol on her flanks only instead of a lightning bolt there were three pink butterflies.  She stood there for a moment quivering in fear then the turned to me avoiding my gaze.

“H-hello s-sir, m-my n-name i-is F-Fluttershy” she said, her voice shaking as she turned her head as if to hide behind her hair.

I smiled trying to show her I meant her no harm which seemed to relax her a little. “Hello Fluttershy, my name is Matthias” I said as calmly as I could. She began to get used to my presence turning her head to face me fully, a small smile was on her face as she looked at me. Suddenly she saw Matthew not far behind me and sooner than I was able to predict, she tried to run back into the opening Rainbow Dash stopping her in the process. I turned around to face Matthew who gave me a shrug on confusion.

“Maybe it’s your face” I said as a joke.

Giving me a look of annoyance, “I don’t think so”

“Well…maybe it’s your shirt; I mean I’d get the wrong idea if I saw death and dismemberment written all over the front.” I explained.

He looked at his shirt for a moment, “I hadn’t thought of that” he stated exiting the room and going back into his room. I turned back to face the two ponies, Rainbow Dash still preventing Fluttershy from going back behind the couch again. Rainbow Dash turned her around to face me again.

“Sorry about that, although he doesn’t look like it, Matthew’s a teddy bear, he only looks scary” I explained as she began to calm down.

She looked passed me at the closed door then walked up to me, her face still held a sort of confusion to it. “So you won’t hurt me?” she asked. I could tell she was convincing herself I meant her no harm.

“I promise” I said with a nod.

She sat down as she finally seemed to relax taking a breath of relief. Just as Matthew came out of his room now wearing a long sleeved collared shirt in place of his slayer shirt or over I couldn’t tell. She leaned to the right getting a look at Matthew her eyes scanning him before turning to me again.

“What are you exactly” She asked.

I looked to Rainbow Dash who was already ahead of me cutting me off before I could speak.

“I’ll explain later” she said.

Fluttershy walked behind Rainbow Dash, it seemed she was still a little unsure of me and Matthew but it was as if she was used to our presence as she was no longer quivering. I let out a sigh of relief; it finally seemed as if part of this nightmare was over for time at least. But I knew there was something more, something that didn’t quite add up, the events couldn’t have just ended could they?