A Different Kind of Paradise

Chapter VII: Silently We Wander

Danny had no idea where he was, and he didn’t care.  All Danny knew is that he hadn’t stopped moving, or crying, ever since he ran away from his apartment in Ponyville.  All his life he was beaten around by others, for so long he had no one to turn to; even when he thought he had found a circle of friends it was all just a cruel trap set up by its founder.

   Discovering My Little Pony hurt him as much as it gave him hope; it hurt him because he feared that these perfect friendships were something that would only be in a scripted setting, never to be known in reality.  Pity that even when My Little Pony was his reality he still couldn’t experience the perfect friendship he saw every time he turned on his new favorite show.

Usually when he felt bad he wanted to stay depressed, because he knew that usually there was no point in expressing joy or hope, because he knew how stupid it made him look.  But here he did truly want to feel good, but he couldn’t.   He found what he thought would be paradise; only to see that Gabe was right, he could never escape his problems.

Too weak to carry on he fell over, he tried to get up but couldn’t.  He just sighed and dropped his head to the ground.  He felt worse than he had ever before; and as he closed his eyes he wished that either this would be the last time he felt this kind of pain, or that this would be the last time he would ever close them.

Danny’s eyes slowly flittered open as the sun’s light became too much to ignore.  He turned over and wrapped his hooves around the closest spare pillow and tried to go back to sleep.  It took Danny a few seconds to realize he was in a bed as opposed to a random spot in the equestrian wilderness.  His eyes tore open as he jumped in shock screaming, unfortunately his hoof got tangled in one of the sheets and he fell onto the floor.  “Ow” escaped his lips softly as he rubbed his head, slowly getting to his hooves.

He began to look around; the room he was in was vaguely familiar.  No; he knew this room perfectly, the birdhouses hanging from the ceiling, the flowers decorating the mantle over the mini-fireplace, the butterfly bedspread.  He was in Fluttershy’s house.

Suddenly the door flew open and Fluttershy came through, with a taste of panic she yelled “OHMYGOSH! WHAT’S WRONG?!  ARE YOU O.K.?!”

Having been snapped out of the shock of realizing he was actually in his favorite pony’s home by that very pony’s frantic outburst Danny screamed.  “AHH!”

Frightened by having another pony scream in her face Fluttershy screamed in shock.  “AHHH!”

“AHH!”

“AHH!”

“WAIT!”  Danny yelled, breaking the cycle.  “Why am I in your house?”

Fluttershy shook her head, brushing of her shock and gasped “oh” before explaining.  “When I went to give my little friends breakfast and I this little swallowtail was acting weird.”  Fluttershy gave a beckoning motion and an above-average sized swallowtail butterfly flew in and landed on Danny’s nose.

Danny was ecstatic to see this one little butterfly for some reason.  “I can’t believe it!  You followed me all the way here?”

Fluttershy giggled at the scene before she continued. “This little friend of yours got my attention and led me out to the woods where I found you unconscious with a black eye; what happened?”

Danny looked away; he didn’t want to talk about what he had been through.  He had never been very good about vocalizing his problems, mostly because whenever he did try to hatch things out with someone he thought he could trust he would be quickly shot down and berated further.  He didn’t understand why he was having trouble talking to Fluttershy though, he knew that there was no way she’d laugh at him or blame him. He wanted more than anything to be able to talk to her, but something deep in his mind was keeping his mouth shut.

He was brought out of his train of thought when he realized Fluttershy was giving him a hug.  Danny began to tear up as he returned the hug.

“It’s O.K. Danny” Fluttershy said, comforting Danny.  “I’m here for you.”

“I just don’t want to be alone anymore.”  Danny said in between sobs.

Fluttershy was a bit confused about what Danny meant.  “Anymore?  But you have your friends; Michael and Gabriel seem like great friends.”

“It’s not about that.”  Danny retorted.  “It’s about the fact that I’ve never had anypony I could really talk to about the things I felt; the fact that even amongst ponies that said they were my friends I was still alone, a freak among nerds.”

Slowly but surely Fluttershy understood where Danny’s pain came from; why at the party he was so reserved and self-conscious.  He was scared, he didn’t want to look bad; but because of what he must have been through he was worried anything he did would look bad.  She thought about her own past; about how when she fell nopony supported her, and so not to fall she never tried to fly.  Looks like pinkie really knew what she was talking about that night.  “Thank you” she said softly to herself.

“For what?” Danny asked.

Fluttershy didn’t know she said that out loud, so she improvised.  “For being able to confide in me.”

Eventually the two had to cut off their embrace; secretly Danny wanted to steal a kiss from Fluttershy, but thought it would be a bit inappropriate.  Fluttershy then made her way to the dresser and grabbed a small first aid kit.  “As much as I appreciate your honesty, that doesn’t explain why you were alone in the woods with a black eye.”  She took out a cotton ball, put some medicine on it and gently dabbed it on Danny’s bruise.

A light sigh escaped Danny; as much as Gabe hurt him, he didn’t want to throw him under the carriage.  “Coming here was my escape; escape from my past, escape from those who wanted to hurt me.  I was lucky that Gabe and Nero decided to come with me.  But somepony from where I used to live decide he wanted one last laugh.”

“That’s horrible!”  Fluttershy cried.  “Who was it?!  I’ll tear ‘em to shreds!”

Fortunately for Danny this was “Putting Your Hoof Down” Flutterrage and not “Best Night Ever” Flutterrage, so he was less frightened.  “That won’t be necessary” Danny defended his imaginary assailant.  “He’s gone and soon his memories will be; that was my past, and this” he slowed down, gazing into Fluttershy’s eyes again.  “This is my future.”

“Let’s make it a bright one.”  Fluttershy said as she held Danny’s hoof and gazed lovingly into his eyes as well.

Danny blushed as he thought about his next move.  Eventually he decided to do the right thing.  “Let’s” he said as he pulled his hoof away slowly.  “How about as payment for your kindness I make us some breakfast?”  He offered.

“O…O.K.”  Fluttershy accepted his offer.

Danny then nodded his head and then left, the door slowly closed after he left.

“Shoot!”  Fluttershy said to herself after the door shut.  “Oh well, maybe next time.” She invited the butterfly to rest upon her mane as she went downstairs.