A not so shy Fluttershy

Fluttershy falls on the ground of the training room exhausted groaning miserably. "Come on Fluttershy, you need to get up," William helps her up, "I know It's tough but if you want to defeat your fake then you'll have to keep training

"We've been at this since morning Will," she whines a little, "Can't we just take a small break, please. My body feels completely bruised."

William sighs and shakes his head, "We've been over this five times Fluttershy, Anti-shy won't stop just because you’re tired," he pauses, "How about we do this one more time then we take a break. The catch is this has to be your best one."

Fluttershy nods and goes into the middle of three metal poles each with different sized bars sticking out at various heights, "One more?,' she asks.

William nods, "make it your best," he goes around pressing a small button on every one of the poles which makes them start spinning. Since she’s already done this hundreds of times it only takes her seconds to finish, she uses her wings to cushion her side from one of the bars not wanting it to make direct contact with her rib cage again. Fluttershy hits the button on the pole in front of her; she uses her hind leg to hit the second button behind her. With only one left and little time to spare Fluttershy leaps at the last button using her head to press it. "Point three seconds better than last time; never expected for you to use your head like that. I'm truly impressed."

Fluttershy smiles with a slight blush, "thank you," she says somewhat shyly.

"Blushing are we?" William asks teasingly, "I'll go make us some lunch while you go and get yourself cleaned up."

Fluttershy blushes a little more, nods, the heads off to the bathroom. She turns the shower on and gets in, 'he was impressed,' she thinks happily, 'this is great, the sooner I meet his expectations the sooner I can stop that clone.' Her thoughts become a little sad, 'What if I'm too late; if I'm still too weak,' Fluttershy starts thinking of what Dr. Birch said to her, "no, I won’t be the weakest one anymore. I'll prove him wrong.' She carefully cleans the sweat off her slightly bruised body rinsing off and getting out. Instead of drying off with a towel, Fluttershy stands in the middle of the bathroom enjoying the silence. William's scream soon breaks that bringing her back into reality. Fluttershy stumbles out of the bathroom in panic and runs to the kitchen William is pinned on the floor by a pony that looks like a distorted version of him.

William sees her, "RUN, GET OUT OF HERE!" he commands Fluttershy. The other pony looks at her, the skin of his face and body looks as if someone burned it then quickly cooled it off.

"So you're still alive," he says in a ruff raspy voice, "How about we fix that," the pony gets off of William and takes a step towards Fluttershy.

Fluttershy makes a dash for the training room with the pony trailing right behind her. She goes in between the three metal poles and activates them for protection, 'please be a test of quick thinking,' she repeats in her mind.

"You think that will protect you?" he asks, "please, you only made it easier for me," his eyes start to glow orange as his skin begins steaming.

Before anything else could happen he gets knocked out, behind the pony was William who drops a spare metal bar, "you okay?" he asks.

Fluttershy nods, though a little shaken up, "s-sorry I got trapped," she says quietly.

"No need to apologize, you actually chose the best option. If you were to have fought him then his body would erupt into flames, burning you alive," he states, William stops the spinning poles remotely, "Just in case you couldn't get out the first few times," he explains, setting the remote aside, "I'm guessing you want answers don't you?"

Fluttershy doesn't reply to his question but instead tackles him with a hug, "thank you for saving me."

William hugs back gently, "Why would I let you get hurt," he asks, "Wouldn't want to lose such a thing like you, you're sweet, kind, and when it comes down to it you're strong and tough."

His words make her smile, "Am I really strong?" she asks in a whisper.

"Absolutely, I've never seen anypony work as hard as you have, now go dry off. Your coat is still damp."

Fluttershy begins to blush again, "Sorry," she says getting off of him.

As she leaves the training room William whispers a word thinking he was out of earshot, "cute."

Fluttershy walks into the kitchen, now dried off; she sits down at the table and stares at William. "Yes?" he asks.

"Nothing," she replies to quickly which makes him smirks, "Where's that one pony?" she changes the subject.

"I put him in a cooling chamber so he couldn't get out," he replies, "he was created a long time ago, almost the same way your copy was made. The difference is he was known as one of many failed experiments but unlike the others, he survived."

"What's his name and why did only he survive?" Fluttershy asks.

William sighs making her regret asking, "He doesn't have an official name, he was just called project eleven; the only reason he lived was because of luck. John scrapped him for two reasons, his body was damaged from the phoenix ash that was combined with my blood and the heat of his power fried most of his brain. I'm surprised John actually sent him, maybe he was hoping project eleven would burn everything down." he finishes.

Fluttershy looks around, “How’d he get in here? The only way to get in and out is through the training room," she asks, "last question I swear."

"It's okay, you deserve to know." he smiles, "Dropped through the air shack, If it weren't for that I wouldn't have been pinned," he points at the vent which was above the counter, "I would've been dead if it weren't for you, he can only focus on one thing at a time. Amazing he was able to get this far. Now I have a question for you, why were you starring at me?"

"Why did you say cute when we were in the training room?" Fluttershy counters.

William Smiles sheepishly, "you heard that?" he asks.

Fluttershy nods, "answer that and I'll answer your question."

"Well when I saved you and started training you all I thought about was that I needed you to finish so you can be on your way," he pauses with a guilty look, "Now I feel different about you; I know you'll have to go when you're ready and I know It's selfish, but I don't want you to go. I'm tired of being alone and I want you to stay with me."

She looks at him, "Wow, that's a lot to take in. I want to stay too but it wouldn't be fair to the others, I have to try and stop the clone," she gets an idea, "Why don't you come with me?"

"I don't know, I've never really went any farther than the arena since I found this place." William stares at the floor as he speaks.

Fluttershy gets up and goes around the table to him, "Do you care about me?" she asks

"I do, I really do," he looks at her, "But what If something bad happens along the way?"

She thinks for a moment, "Then we take it on together, It's better than being alone. That's what i think about..." her sentence gets stopped by a soft kiss. Her eyes widen, 'did he just kiss me!?' Fluttershy thinks, she feels him pull away.

She looks at him not knowing what to say, he speaks up, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," William gets up and walks out of the kitchen embarrassed.

Fluttershy leaves the kitchen and goes over to William, who's sitting on the couch, "You okay?" she asks him in a soft voice.

"No," he admits, “It’s just been me here for so long that I actually forgot what it felt like to be in contact with another pony. Especially one that I like a lot."

"Well now you do, though the kiss was surprising," she blushes, "My offer still stands."

"I would like to come... I have something to show you," William gets up and walks to the hallway with Fluttershy right behind him. He turns to her, "I think you're ready," he slowly backs up to the closed door at the end of the hall as he talks. William opens the door to reveal a metal door with a keypad in the middle of it; he punches in the code causing the door to slide into the ground.

They enter a small chamber, Fluttershy's eyes wander to a frozen cylinder, "Is that project eleven in there?" she asks looking closely inside.

"Yes, he's frozen but alive since his body is constantly warm inside. If he were to escape from there then all all of the oxygen would get sucked out of this chamber and he would suffocate. Fire can't burn without oxygen," he says punching in a different code for another metal door, which slides down.

Fluttershy walks next to him and looks into the room, she gasps, "do those actually work!?" she asks in excitement and amazement.

"If I connect It right yes, I was going to use them but you need it more. The thing is, is I have to have you unconscious in order to do it." William smiles at her excitement, "just lie down on the table so I can start." Fluttershy doesn't need to be told twice, she lies down on the table looking upwards. "See you when you wake up," he says giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. An air mask goes over Fluttershy's mussel; within seconds she falls into a peaceful sleep.