A not so shy Fluttershy

Fluttershy opens her eyes and moans as the aftereffect of what happened in the arena kicks in. She slowly sits up on what felt like a bed, she couldn't see much of anything because of the absence of light in the room. Fluttershy scans the darkness till her eyes stop and lie upon a line of light which stretched a bit across the ground, 'that must be the door,' she thinks. She tries to quickly get off the bed but a sharp pain arises from her back making her fall off instead.

A running sound comes from outside the door before it bursts open and slams against the wall, "are you okay? I heard something hit the ground." The pony sees Fluttershy and rushes to her side, she flinches when he tries to help her up, "I won't hurt you," he says.

His words made Fluttershy feel a little bit safer for some reason but she wanted to make sure, "promise?" she asks.

"I promise," he replies, "by the way my name's William Birch," he helps Fluttershy to her hoofs.

His name started to peak Fluttershy's curiosity, "do you know somepony by the name of Dr. Birch?" she asks.

William's facial expression turns deadly, "that ungrateful psychopath can burn for all I care," he says bitterly. Fluttershy sees that he was biting back the urge to scream out his next thought, so she backs away a bit and keeps quiet. After a few tremulant breaths William calms down, "I made some sandwiches for you for when you woke up," he says quietly as he starts walking towards the open door, "come, I'll show you where the dining room is." Fluttershy follows William out into the hallway, she turns right and finds herself looking at a closed door with a sighn which read ~no trespassing~. "Don't go in there," William warns, "this way please."

Fluttershy turns around and follows him down the hallway, "was that your room bedroom back there?" she asks as they enter the living room.

William stops walking, "no, the room you slept in is my bedroom," he replies, "the room next to it is of no concern to you till I deem necessary." He turns and faces Fluttershy, "the food is sitting on the table," he tells her, he shows her to the dining room.

Fluttershy sits down but doesn't eat, "sorry for mentioning that one pony's name," she says as she stares at the sandwiches in front of her.

"Don't be, you were just curious. Why wouldn't you be?," he asks, "would you like to know about Dr. Birch?"

Fluttershy looks up at him and nods, "yes please," she replies.

William sighs, "very well... Dr. Birch's name is actually John Birch and yes, I know him," he sits down across from Fluttershy, "he's my father."

Hearing this makes Fluttershy scoot the plate of sandwiches back, she now lost her appetite completely, "what was he like?"

There was a short silence before he answers, "he was like any other father believe it or not, the kind you'd find playing catch with their child. That all changed as he began getting obsessed with his work, creating things that weren't meant to be created. He kept messing with forces he couldn't comprehend, I begged for him to stop many times but... He ignored me and continued experimenting as his sanity slowly slipped out of his grasp. After awhile he started to notice me but in the wrong ways."

"In what ways did he notice you?" Fluttershy asks daringly.

William gets up from his seat and walks to the entrance of the living room before stopping, "I'd rather not say," he sounded hurt but instantly clears up, "so if you're not going to eat then follow me. We have training to take care of." Fluttershy nods and follows William out of the kitchen and into the kitchen, he goes to a door opposite from the kitchen. He opens the door which leads into a dimly lit room, he walks in and starts setting up machinery in multiple areas of the room.

"what are you doing exactly?" Fluttershy asks as she walks into the room.

William ignores the question until he finishes setting up, he walks behind her and closes the door, "this is what we're going to be doing for awhile. We'll start off with your speed and reflex then advance from there." He nudges Fluttershy to the center of the room, "In order to fight properly you must keep an open mind of all possible positions of attacks," he explains, " I've seen you dodge one of your clone's attacks but you didn't see the second one coming right afterwards."

Fluttershy looks down at the floor, "I didn't know she was that quick," she says somewhat defensively.

All William does is smile, "that's why we're training you."

Fluttershy looks up at him, "then let's get started."

He nods, "we'll work on your reflex first," he goes to charge her with a tackle but she moves out of the way. He stops by digging his front hooves into the ground which makes his plot go up into the air. Using gravity to his advantage he bucks at Fluttershy at twice of his normal bucking speed and power. Fluttershy swiftly backs up, his back hooves only centimeters away from her forehead sending shivers throughout her body.

"still needs to be worked on," William states, "but it's a start," he walks over to one of the machines.

"What's that?" asks Fluttershy as she follows him to the machine.

He points it out, "it's a combination of two machines, one being a treadmill and the other being a rotating projectile attached to the end of the treadmill."

Fluttershy walks close up to the machine, "What do you want me to do?" she asks.

William smiles as he replies, "i'll start it on the slowest setting then gradually speed it up. Your job is to stay on the treadmill and dodge whatever comes at you," he sees the worry on her face, "I assure you it's nothing too dangerous, just playing cards. they are light, easy to curve, and really fast when coming at you. The worst it'll do is give you little paper cuts." Fluttershy, still a little worried, nods and gets on the treadmill as William turns it on making the conveyor belt slowly. Keeping her eyes on the now rotating projectile, Fluttershy begins to walk at the same rate of the treadmill. A card shoots out curving towards her legs, she jumps it with ease and continues to walk. William speeds it up tremendously, "we need for you to prepare for the unexpected," he says as he watches Fluttershy stumble. She soon regains balance as she keeps going at a slow running pace, cards shoot out three at a time now with each one curving randomly towards her. The speed of the treadmill keeps increasing until it reaches max. Fluttershy, sprinting as fast as she can, is barely able to stay on as she continues to dodge as many cards as she can. Half of the cards nick at her skin as the rest of them fly past her, she can feel her heart slamming against her rib cage.

The tiny cuts that the cards made stings from the sweat which covers her body, "please stop," she says with a heavy breath. William presses the stop button on the treadmill, the projectile stops spinning as the conveyor belt slows down to a stop. Fluttershy takes a wobbly step off, nearly falling from the numbness in her legs, "are we done?" she asks.

"for today, yes," he walks over to Fluttershy and helps her keep balanced, "tomorrow we'll work on your offense and defense."

She looks at him, "is there somewhere i can clean up?"

Nodding, he helps her into the living room, then to his room, "there's the bathroom," he points at a closed door, "and i'll leave some towels on the bed for you."

Fluttershy smiles, "thank you," she says before retreating to the bathroom, she closes the door and turns the shower on. She steps in and lets the water stream down her body, 'I don't want this... I don't want any of this,' Fluttershy thinks as she bows her head and weeps silently.