Fluttershy and Me: Remastered

That night, we did indeed dream together.  It was the same dream we would always share, except now, I could make it a reality.  The dream that night felt different though.  It felt… real.  The next morning, Fluttershy couldn’t get over how great the dream was.  She actually asked me if we could try it out that day.  I told her not until I was sure I wouldn’t fall out of the sky.  Fluttershy could catch me, but she wasn’t the strongest pony around, and I was pretty heavy.

So, I continued to train with Rainbow Dash until I was a master of the wings.  I had been pretty good to begin with though, but the added practices made me amazing.  I wouldn’t be flying at Rainbow Dash speeds anytime soon, but I could fly at a good speed for my body weight, and flying with Fluttershy like in our dreams was, literally, a dream come true.  Time went by pretty quick after that, and before I knew it, another year had passed by.

I was 25 years old at this point, and life was great.  But, I couldn’t help but feel something was missing.  Oh yeah, my family.  I really did miss them.  I knew when I left that I would miss them, but I had to let them go.  A part of me misses them, but another part of me is glad that I left them behind for Fluttershy.  I hope they could understand.  Maybe someday I could return to Earth, with Celestia’s permission, to visit them and all my friends.  You know what, I think after I finish writing about these past seven years, I’m gonna ask the Princess about that.  Maybe the time difference crap won’t be so bad.  But I digress.

The best memory I had of them was the portrait of my mother, sister, brother, uncles, aunts, and cousins.  My father had passed away as you know, so he wasn’t there sadly.  We were about 12 all together in that portrait, and I loved that picture more than I could ever love my actual family (weird huh?).

But one day, I decided to take a nap to remember.  Fluttershy had gone out for the day to go to the spa with Rarity, help Pinkie Pie watch the Cake’s children, and get some groceries from the market.  I didn’t have anything to do, so I was going to unwind with some good old fashioned video games.  But, before I could even get to my Xbox, I passed by the portrait.  I looked at it, looking over every person in that picture, including myself.  I really had changed since then.  I ran my hand over the picture.  I smiled shortly after.

I suddenly felt a little tired.  But, I didn’t try to fight it.  I let it take over.  I could use a good nap, even if it wasn’t in my bed.  I turned around, rested on the wall, and slid to the floor.  I fell asleep, and started to remember.

The very first thing that I remembered was the tragic loss of my father.  It was a quiet Sunday morning.  I was watching some Sesame Street (childhood memories), drinking some apple juice, and just being a little kid.  I didn’t have a care in the world.  But from upstairs, I could hear crying.  It sounded like my mother to me.  I decided to have a look for myself.  I went upstairs, and walked into my parent’s room to find my father lying in bed.  I thought he was sleeping, but then again, I probably would think that.  I was only about five years old at that time.  I couldn’t understand what happened.  My mother was at his side, crying.  She told me to go downstairs with my sister.  Just as I watched my younger self turn to go back downstairs, the memory faded away.

Next up was my Elementary School graduation.  Oh that was a fun day.  It was a hot summer day.  Well, actually, I don’t think it was summer yet, but it sure as hell felt like it.  Of course, we had to sing a crappy graduation song, which just happened to be from High School Musical.  I hated that movie so much at the time.  My friends thought it would be a good idea to go to the pool afterwards.  I saw no reason to say no.  So, I went home, celebrated a bit with my family, and went to the pool.  What a graduation day huh?  When I got to the pool, I found not only my friends, but even some other kids from my grade that wanted to just go for a dip.  We all decided to just hang out as a large group.  Boy was that a fun day at the pool.  That was just Elementary School graduation day.  The memory faded once again, and I was sent to the night of my first High School Musical performance.

I first performed in 9th grade.  The Musical that year was Les Miserables.  That would soon become my favorite musical.  I loved the music, the story, the characters, the music… wait I said that already.  Well, that’s how good the music is.  Anyway, I saw myself as one of the boys that act as the soldiers in the whole revolution.  I didn’t have any lines or anything, but the role was so much fun anyway.  I got to hold a prop musket.  Aren’t I cool!?  The last night was so emotional, even though I was only in 9th grade.  I sure do miss the seniors that were in that musical.  They were pretty great.  The memory faded as the whole cast walked off the stage after we bowed together for the final time on the final night of the show.

Next, I was revisiting my sixteenth birthday.  My party was great.  I invited about 12 of my friends over.  Hell, they weren’t even all in the same friend group though.  I had my wacky friends, and then I had my friends that I got attached to from my chorus class and acting stuff.  But, despite this, everyone got along great.  It was a great party.  We all just hung out in my backyard.  We had pizza, cake, played some fun games, listened to music, hell I even got everyone to agree to watching the Transformers Movie from 1986, you know, the Transformers movie that doesn’t suck.  We all had fun.  I even got to invite the girl that I had my eyes set on, but she had been taken for a while, but we were really close friends.  I kept my feelings a secret, but she was the only one for me.  Well, at least until Fluttershy came along.  My memory faded as I watched everyone leave for home, and she was the last to leave.

Next up, High School Graduation Day.  Once again, it was a hot summer day.  Graduation came after the Senior Prom, which was a great night, but not as memorable as I actually thought it would have been.  Graduation Day was a blast though.  We luckily got to sit in an air conditioned stadium-like place.  It wasn’t at my school.  Our auditorium was too small for that, so we went to a local college for the graduation ceremony.  When my name was called, I was so excited.  Receiving my graduation diploma and all that other junk wasn’t the exciting part though, it was just being on a stage once again.  This wasn’t even a performance, but it would be the last time I would stand on a stage as a high school student.  I looked to see my family cheering for me.  I decided to wave back to them, even though we had been told not to do so.  But I wasn’t the only one who did that, so why should I care?  The memory faded as I walked off the stage and headed back to my seat, and what came next was the event that I never wanted to remember again.

I was hoping for the day I found Fluttershy, or maybe even a memory not involving her, like my 21st birthday.  I would get no such memories.  I started to remember the night that I killed the two men that had harmed Fluttershy and ransacked her place.  I saw myself in action, how fluidly I moved, the power that I struck with, the hate that drove me to do what I did.  I saw the monster being unleashed from inside me.  I saw myself unleash my wrath upon those men.  I was in shock.  When I finished them off, I saw myself in shock at what I had done.  I saw Fluttershy comforting me, telling me she would always love me no matter what.  I saw her take me out to clean myself off, and as I watched myself walk out of the warehouse with Fluttershy, the memory faded.

What came next though was not a memory.  It was more like… a vision.  Of what, I had no idea.  All I saw was myself, standing at the lowest level of the hill that I arrived to Equestria on.  I was standing there, alone, fully armed with every weapon that I had brought with me.  I had gone full on assassin, but why the hell was I so well armed.  Suddenly, Applejack and Rainbow Dash appeared at my left and right sides respectively.  After that, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna appeared behind me, along with about 500 Royal Guard, including Shining Armor.  I didn’t even know there were that many, but it made sense.  But still, why were we all there like that, and where were Fluttershy, Pinkie, Twilight, and Rarity?  None of it made sense.  Then, I saw at the top of the hill, a figure.  Not just any figure too.  It appeared to be human, at least, it stood up like one.  It had the body of a human too.  What was all this?  What was my mind trying to tell me?  I seemed to have control over my mind during my state of remembrance, so I decided to just blow off this “vision” as a dream that interrupted my flow of memories.  It all faded, but shortly after, I didn’t continue to remember, but I heard Fluttershy’s voice calling for me.

“Matthew?  Matthew!  Wake up!  Are you there?  Can you hear me?” she was yelling at me.  My eyes shot open and I could feel tears rolling down my face.  All of those memories left behind.  Hell, I didn’t even really get any memories of my family, just memories of my life.  I didn’t really care though.  It was great to see all of those times again.

“Matthew, are you alright?  I just got back and found you sitting on the floor here.  Are you hurt?  Did something bad happen?  Did…” she said, but I stopped her.

“I’m fine Fluttershy, really.  I just had a little trip down memory lane.”

“Where’s that?” she asked me.  I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I mean that I just felt like napping.  I know I’m not in bed, but I didn’t need to be.  I started to remember some of the happier moments of my life.  I also remembered one not so great moment.  Finally, I saw what I think was a vision, but I’m pretty sure it was just a dream that wanted to interrupt my memory flow.  Don’t worry, I’m fine.  How was your day?” I asked her, trying to get her mind off of the fact that she found me napping on the floor.

“Oh, well, everything was nice.  I actually have a little surprise for you,” she said.

“A surprise?  What is it?” I asked her.  Suddenly, from behind her, two golden tickets flew into the room.  Both floated next to her for a moment, but then one flew over to me.  I held it in my hand while the other one stayed hovering over Fluttershy.  I read over the ticket.  My mouth flew open and my eyes beamed open.

“No way,” I said to Fluttershy, my voice full of excitement.  She nodded in response, confirming what I believed.  I held in my hand a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you Fluttershy?”

She laughed a bit.  “Oh yes, many times, my love.”

“Well now, I love you even more.”