Home is Where Your Heart Is

Wanderlust walked down the path leading away from Fluttershy's cottage. He kept a normal pace only picking up speed when he knew she couldn't see him anymore. He trotted over to a shady spot under a tree a little ways away from the road and placed the saddlebag that he had gotten from Fluttershy on the ground.

There was only one thought on this particular pony's mind: FOOD! He threw open the saddlebag and almost cried tears of joy as he looked at all of the food that was in there. He couldn't believe he tried to not take any.

The half starved pony reached into the bag and grabbed one of the bowls of salad and a hoof-full of sandwiches. His stomach gave an enthusiastic growl as he tore into the food. It was delicious. After he had finished his salad and three sandwiches he reached back into the bag and grabbed an apple which he quickly reduced down to a core.

He ate in this manner until he felt that he would burst and only slowed down when he noticed that he had almost completely emptied the bag. All that remained in the bag was the jar of painkiller, two apples and a hay sandwich. Wanderlust was both shocked and impressed by his own appetite.

"Maybe my cutie mark should be a bunch of food." He chuckled to himself and in a moment of temporary insanity checked his cutie mark and was relieved to see that it remained as a compass. Wanderlust knew that his mark could never change but for some reason he worried that for whatever reason it might.

Wanderlust was so busy staring at his cutie mark that he didn't notice the white pony trotting over to him. The white pony stopped a few feet away from Wanderlust and carefully looked over the gray stallion who was oblivious to her presence. She took close note of his light gray coat, his dark gray mane and his bright blue eyes but wasn't quite so absorbed by his colors to not notice the obvious injuries and bandages covering parts of the pony.

After making doubly sure that his cutie mark wasn't going anywhere, Wanderlust turned away and found himself being examined by a white pony. Wanderlust was at first self-conscious of his injuries and his gaunt form but after a few more moments his uneasiness turned to a feeling of annoyance as the pony just stared at him.

"Umm..Hello?" Wanderlust spoke breaking the very awkward silence.

The pony snapped back into reality at the sound of his voice and replied with a simple, "Hello." It quickly lapsed back into silence as the pony once again stared at Wanderlust.

Desperate to avoid another creepy silence Wanderlust blurted out, "Why are you staring at me?!" The other pony blinked a few times and laughed lightly as she pushed her hair out of her face.

"I'm sorry but your colors are just lovely...It gives me an idea for a dress! Can you come model for me?" She asked with a look of hope spreading across her features.

Wanderlust looked at her as if she had not just one head, but a dozen! His first thought was, 'She is crazy.' He looked at her closely and although she looked sane, she was obviously crazy. Crazy with her perfectly styled indigo mane, her dull blue eyes and her diamond shaped cutie mark.

"You are aware that I have no clue who you are, you have no clue who I am and I can't model a dress for you!" Wanderlust replied incredulously.

"Well..." The white mare begin, "My name is Rarity, you could tell me who you are and of course you can model a dress for me!"

"I'm a stallion not a mare! Why would you want me to model a dress for you anyways?" He asked with a hint of apprehension as, for some reason, he doubted doubted that she would take no for an answer. "Oh and my name's Wanderlust" He added almost as an afterthought.

"Your colors are so perfect for this design I have!" Rarity exclaimed. "Please model for me!" Wanderlust was sure that soon she was going to start begging. He opened his mouth to say no but was cut off before he could utter a single word. "I can pay you!"

Wanderlust's response died in his throat at the mention of money. Almost distantly Wanderlust remembered the hollow feeling that would soon return to his gut and he remembered the holes in Fluttershy's house that he had made. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he needed money. He bowed his head down in defeat. "Fine."

The sound that followed was one of pure delight as the white mare hugged him so tightly he could hear his bones crunching. After her bear hug she grabbed his hoof and started dragging him towards her boutique. Wanderlust barely had time to grab the bag his friend (at least he hoped they were friends...) had given him before he began to be pulled away and before he had a chance to regret saying yes.

Fluttershy walked around her house filling her animal friends' bowls with food and water. As soon as that was done she rushed outside and tended to her chickens. After her chickens were content she flew around and talked with her bird friends. She took care of all of her animal friends with much more care than she normally did and spent as much time as she could moving around. Anything to keep herself busy and her mind occupied.

Only after she had finished every possible chore twice, did she finally sit down and take a rest. Her body ached from all of the running around and from the multitude of chores, some of which were important but most of which were not, especially when done two or three times.

Despite her now sore body, the yellow mare's mind remained remarkably lucid, much to her despair. A single image surfaced in her mind now that she was inactive.

In her mind she saw a young stallion lying under a red blanket covered in small pink butterflies. Light shined in through a hole in the ceiling and landed directly on his face. A small line of drool leaked from his mouth and, strangely enough, sparkled in the light. A dark gray mane fell across his forehead nearly hiding his small gray horn and obscuring the large lump located to the right of the horn. Peacefulness and vulnerability radiated from the sleeping pony.

Fluttershy felt her face burn at the 'sight' of her former patient and she cursed herself for thinking of this again. She tried to push the image from her mind but no matter how far away she pushed it, it always fought it's way back to the forefront of her mind. Eventually she stopped fighting and simply let the memory be. She sighed as her filled with the memories of her tending to the comatose pony. She wished that he was still there...

The pony jumped to her feet and shook her head violently. 'What are you thinking Fluttershy!' She asked herself. 'Get a grip! You have no clue who is that pony even is! You took care of him for a week but you have only known for maybe twenty minutes!' Fluttershy felt like screaming but she knew that it wouldn't make her feel any better. Fluttershy just frowned and put her head down thinking 'He probably wouldn't want to see me anyways...'

Fluttershy felt a prickling sensation from behind eyes and she knew was about to start crying. Fluttershy cursed herself for being so weak and blinked a few times until the prickling stopped. 'I have to get out of this house,' she thought as she walked towards her door. "Maybe visiting Rarity might cheer me up a bit..." She murmered as she left her house and started down her path.

Embarrassment was the main thing that Wanderlust felt as he stood draped in cloth. The white mare was staring intently at the dark gray and dull blue cloth on the stallion and was using her magic to shape the fabric to the way she wanted.

A closed sign sat on the front door and all of the shades in the building had been closed as part of the agreement between Wanderlust and Rarity. Wanderlust had agreed to model for Rarity's dress for one hundred bits and Rarity was unable to tell anypony about what was currently happening in her store.

In a trash can sat the discarded bandages from Wanderlust's more serious injuries. Although the cuts that the bandages revealed looked bad, they quickly vanished under a small layer of make up as did most of his bruises. After most of his injuries had been covered Wanderlust had had a wig placed on his head that was a shade very much like his own mane but that was significantly longer than his own and covered his horn and the bump that lay not even an inch to the right of his horn. Finally Rarity had applied a light red blush to his cheeks.

Looking in the mirror, Wanderlust was surprised to see a rather shocked looking gray mare staring back at him. He felt like he was going to be sick.

Now that his transformation was complete, Rarity grabbed his hoof and dragged him to the center of the room where she set about molding her new dress from pieces of fabric.

That had been an hour ago and still Rarity worked on the fabric that lay on the impromptu mare. Wanderlust felt like he was going to go insane and asked for almost the thousandth time, "Are you done yet?"

All he got was a grunt in response as still she continued working. That is until a knock came from the door at the front of the building. "Can't people read?" She asked exacerbated.

Wanderlust turned and watched the designer walk away. After a few moments he heard the door open as a small bell chimed. "I'm bus...oh hello Fluttershy." Was the next thing to hit his ears.

'Oh no...' He thought as he quickly looked around for a way out. He looked towards the window. 'FREEDOM!' He heard two seperate sets of hoofsteps coming towards his room and two voices drifting into the room.

"So darling, what can I do for you?"

"Oh, um..I just wanted to see how your business was doing?" It sounded more like a question than an answer.

"Oh. Well things are going good even though business has been rather slow lately. I was actually just designing a new dress if you would like to see it."

"...Yes that would be nice."

'Have to get out!' He thought as he prepared to dash to the window. He took a step towards the window and found that this was the worst possible thing he could do as his hoof landed directly on a pincushion. The sound that came next was something straight out of a horror story.

Both mares stopped dead in their tracks and looked at each other before they both rushed into the room where the scream had come from. The sight that greeted them was both hillarious and horrendous.

Standing the middle of the room was a young gray mare in a dark gray and blue dress who was hopping on three hooves with several pins stuck in the last hoof with blood leaking onto the floor. The way that the mare was hopping made Fluttershy think strangely of a circus clown.

"Ow ow ow ow..." The mare repeated over and over until her eyes settled on the two mares in the doorway and she froze.

Fluttershy smiled and walked over to the mare looking at the pins stuck in her hoof. Fluttershy smiled gently and helped the mare sit as she gently grabbed the injuried hoof with one of her own. "This might sting a bit." She said before biting down on one of the pins and pulling it out.

This elicited a small painful squeak from the injuried mare and more blood flowed from the small cut.

"Rarity can you please get a towel or something." It was more of a command than a request.

Rarity did as she was told and quickly grabbed a towel from her bathroom and gave it to Fluttershy. Fluttershy smiled in thanks and set about removing the rest of the pins. After the last pin had been removed, Fluttershy gently wrapped the bleeding hoof in the towel.

"All better," She said and smiled at the rather nervous looking pony.

"Uh..Thanks," She grumbled in a very deep voice while avoiding meeting Fluttershy's eyes with her own.

'She has some very beautiful eyes' Fluttershy thought as she looked at her bright blue eyes. Her eyes were drawn away from her eyes and she took in her simple dark gray mane. The combination seemed very familiar to Fluttershy. 'Kinda reminds me of Wanderlust,' she thought as the gray mare turned her head slightly and her mane shifted slightly before sliding to the side revealing a horn and shorter hair.

Fluttershy felt her eyes widen in shock as she no longer saw a mare but her former patient dressed as a mare. "Wanderlust?"

"Crap."