Dirty little secrets

Fluttershy is well known to be a very light sleeper. So when she heard the tremendous growl that came from the forest she woke up to make sure that all of her animals were fine, only to find that one of them was missing! Please don't let them be hurt. She galloped into the forest in the direction where the growl came from. She soon found her lost animal friend but also a young looking mare with horrible wounds. The animal wasn't hurt, thankfully, so she let him go after a short scolding and put the injured mare on her back. She started her long trek back to town and the hospital.

I haven't seen wounds like this in quite a while. I wonder how it happened? They don't look animal inflicted, but she wouldn't do it to herself. So ... how? She thought to her self as she cantered through Ponyville, moving as fast as she dared to with a severely injured mare of her back. She was on her way to the local hospital because, even though her house was quite well equipped for medical emergencies, this mare had three broken ribs, parts of her wings were snapped, there were several long gashes down her flank and legs, and her breathing was unnervingly shallow. A pony this injured needs a real hospital instead of a room in her house.

When she walked into the hospital lounge, slightly out of breath, she quickly went up to the assistance desk and showed the pony behind the counter the mare on her back. The nurses pupils shrank to pinpricks upon seeing the injuries on the mares’ body and she screamed for the doctors. Soon after a doctor came running into the lobby about to shout something at the nurse. Until he saw the condition that the mare on Fluttershys back was in. Once he did he quickly relieved Fluttershy of her cargo and took the mare to an operating room. I wonder if she’ll make it? She thought.

The next morning Twilight went down to the hospital to see if there were any doctors or nurses there willing to answer her questions about pony anatomy. But instead she found Fluttershy in the waiting room. “Fluttershy what are you doing here?” the confused pony questioned her friend.  The yellow pegasus looked up as Twilight walked over. “Oh Twilight. I found an injured pony with out in the forest last night and brought her here. They said that I couldn't stay the night, so I came back today to check in on her, but I can't see her because the anesthetic from the surgery hasn't worn off yet." Oh so there's a new pony in town... wait surgery!?! I hope it wasn't too bad. She was about to say something when a nurse walked over to them. "Miss, that mare that you brought in is awake now. If you'd like to see her then please follow me." Without another word the nurse turned around and started walking away. Fluttershy practically jumped off the chair she was sitting on to follow her. Twilight caught up to the nurse. "Would it be alright if I came too?" She asked the nurse who nodded in return.

When Twilight entered the room she was quite surprised. Not by the mares small size or how many wounds she had, of course. Twilight had been in a hospital before and seen much worse. No the reason for her surprise was something else entirely. It was a the blind fold that she was wearing, it looked more for decoration than any medical purpose she could think of. The mare moved her head in their direction. "Is someone there?" She asked with mild curiosity. Surprisingly enough it was Fluttershy who answered her. "Um, y-yes. My name is Fluttershy. I'm the one who brought you here. My friend Twilight is here too." Why didn't she mention the nurse? Twilight looked around to find that the nurse had left without her noticing. The mare smiled at Fluttershy. "Thank you very much. My name is Clairsentience, though most ponies call me Clara. Now, Fluttershy was it? I wanted to know something. Why did you save me?" Twilight's jaw nearly hit the ground at that. Once she composed herself a bit she said " Why would you ask her something like that? She saved your life, shouldn't you be the least bit grateful? Besides, Flutters here is the element of kindness. I'm sure she would have done it for anypony." Twilight looked over to her before mentioned friend, only to be surprised for the second time that day. Even though she had just given Fluttershy the type of praise that she would usually blush at, now Fluttershy just looked ... sad. A short sentence brought her attention back to Clara. "Oh you must be Twilight." She mused "I'm sorry for not recognizing your title before, Fluttershy, and I'm not trying to be ungrateful. The only reason I asked was because where I'm from ponies can be quite ... Cruel to one another. Though I'm guessing that's not the case here. Speaking of which, Where exactly is 'here'?" "Your in Ponyville." Twilight said, trying to take control of this conversation, only to have it fall from her grasp the moment a nurse walked in. "Excuse me Miss Clair ... Clairsen..." Clara interrupted her with "Just Clara is fine. What can I do for you?" The nurse held out a piece of paper to her before realizing her mistake. "Well Miss Clara, how will you be paying?"

That single question caused Clara's smile to disappear. "I'm sorry but I don't have any money or any insurance. Is there some way I could pay it off?" Before the shocked, and obviously new, nurse could recover Twilight spoke up. "Don't worry I'll pay for her." The nurse let out a breath ad walked away after handing the unicorn a sheet of paper. "Twilight." Clara said "Is there any way that I could repay you then? Call it old fashioned, but I feel like I need to help sompony when they hep me." Twilight thought for a moment Well I could always use a pony as my assistant. "You can help me and my friends out by doing odd jobs here and there. After some time your debt will have been payed off and you won't have to help us anymore. How does that sound?" Clara's smile returned to her face. "It sounds wonderful. I'll start as soon as I get out. But where will I live?" At this Fluttershy rejoined the conversation. "Well considering how long you'll be staying here. You might want to get a permanent house. There is one that I know of but It's quite a ways away from town. It's been empty for a very long time now. I'm sure nopony would mind if you just moved right in. Also I've been wondering. Um... how did you get those injuries?" When did Fluttershy get so bold? Twilight wondered. "Well you see, it was something in the forest, but after the beast hurt me, I got rid of it at the gorge. Unfortunately the damage had already been done by then, and here we are."

Twilight and Fluttershy left soon afterwards. Little did they know the creature that this mare brought with her wasn't gone. No he was merely in waiting, waiting for his injuries to heal, waiting for her to slip up. Then he would strike.