Log Two - Chapter One

Morning was arriving as soon as I heard the early birds chiming from outside and inside of Fluttershy's cottage.  The rays of the sun eventually made direct contact with my face as I felt the burning sensation, I then grumbled and shifted away from the obnoxious glares.  However, the back of my head was now becoming too hot.  The irritating heat finally awoke me as I sat up stretching my arms far and wide until their joints made a loud crackling pop or two.

     Yawning, I rubbed the sand out of my eyes and slowly creaked them open.  Everything was blurry at first, but after blinking a few times my vision became much more clearer.  I shifted my sight to the right to the direction of opened shutters where the rays were beaming out from.  There, I had a clear and perfect view of the sun goddess' star peaking halfway out from the endless boundary of the world.  It was brimming brightly; showering me and Equestria in all of its shining glory.  The great yonder above was slowly converting from an angry red glow to oceanic blue as the sun continued climbing higher and higher towards the sky.

     Everything here wasn't much different compared to Earth, yet Equestria had the most beautiful verdant landscapes I ever did see; the towering trees of various kinds as well as the blankets of grass looked so healthy and colorful- in fact they looked healthier than the ones back at home.

     I groggily stood up and took a quick glance around the bedroom and Fluttershy's empty bed.  Since I couldn't find her, I supposed she had already woken up before I did.  So with a couple of stretches and a mild jog down the stairs to get the blood pumping, I stepped off from the final stair step while scratching the back of my bed head.  I then stopped and peered down to notice a familiar white rabbit sitting inches before my very feet, as if he'd been waiting patiently.

     "Mornin' there, Angel." I greeted him with a smirk.

     The snowy-white bunny also perked up a smile, waving in return before he scurried off to the cottage's front door.

     I met Angel on the second day of my stay here in Fluttershy's cottage.  He was quite a sentient; the most intelligent rabbit I had come across.  Whenever Fluttershy would ask of him for something he would reply either by nodding or shaking his head, or by charading even.  Heck, I wished animals were that understanding in my world.  However, he wasn't a nice guy when I came into the picture and acted rather... "rudely strange" at first.  Supposedly it would have to do with him meeting someone new, at least that was what Fluttershy told me.  It took me many attempts at getting on his good side, but many of those attempts weren't successful as I would end up getting shunned or neglected.  I had Fluttershy explain to Angel that I raised her and kept her safe when she was on Earth, and once he had understood it all, he and I suddenly became very close friends afterwards.

     Calling it pretty ironic; when Fluttershy had her very own pet rabbit named Angel, who looked vaguely similar to the one here in Equestria, she and that pet of hers were the bestest of friends.  And here I am getting along with the other Angel here.  But, I would slightly cringe at the painful reminder of Angel's death, the one from Earth, of course.  I remembered the way Fluttershy cried, the sound of her wailing and the grimacing look on her face when she found out he died.   My heart felt like it got torn completely in half when I heard her cry for the very first time.  I had never witnessed such agony, and I would pray it won't have to happen again to our Angel here.  Hopefully not for many years, anyway.

     I came back to reality after hearing the sounds of birds chirping, and continued my way into the living room where Fluttershy was presumably in.  When I ducked and passed through the threshold, sure enough I saw my daughter sitting down on her haunches, humming softly to herself while tending a gray mouse whose squeaking indicated like it was in pain.  Fluttershy tore off an end of a gauze and wrapped it around the mouse's tiny left arm carefully.

     "There you go, little fella," Fluttershy cooed motherly-like, putting the bandage roll back into an open medkit beside her and closed it.  "Now, what have we learned?"

     The mouse squeaked a few times.

     "That's right," Fluttershy nodded as if she understood.  "Never think anypony will leave a piece of cheese lying around.  Still," her eyebrows partially narrowed.  "Shame on that pony!" she scolded.

     The little rodent wobbled its bandaged arm and grinned.  Grateful, the mouse went over and gave Fluttershy a long and tender hug before it scampered back into its newly found hole of a home in one of the cottage's walls.

     That was one of the things I love about Fluttershy; whenever there were animals who wanted or needed help, she would be the perfect pony for the job.  Illnesses?  She could diagnose.  Injuries?  She could treat them.  There wasn't anything Fluttershy couldn't do when it came to animals.  She was, after all, the Element of Kindness; she was my dear Shy.

     I took another step forward, and the creaking sound of the wooden floor caused Fluttershy's ears to prick.  Causing her to jump a little.  She turned her head left, looking at me as she sighed in relief.

     "Good morning, Father.  Did you sleep well?" she asked warmly, trotting towards me with the medkit carried in her left wing.

     I knelt down on one knee and allowed her to trot in for an embracing hug.  Combing my fingers in her mane running down from her neck, the silky strands of her hair were undeniably soft; soothing as each finger brushed through them without encountering any tangles.

     "And a good morning to you too," I replied, pecking a small kiss on her forehead.  Letting go, I stood up back to my feet.  "That mouse another guest I should be introduced to?"

     "Oh I haven't given her a name yet," Fluttershy replied, moving over to a cabinet planted on a wall left of the threshold I came in from.  "She tried to take a cube of cheese from a mouse trap in another pony's house, and luckily her left arm was the only thing that got injured." she explained.

     Fluttershy used her right wing to open the wooden cabinets, and inside of them were filled with assorting medicines: pill bottles of various cures, cough drops, and other medicinal ointments.  She stashed the medkit inside and closed the cabinet.  She then lowered her head and stared at the ground, loathing.

     "The nerve of somepony!" Fluttershy scolded again out of the blue.  "Why would they want to hurt such a delicate creature.  All she wanted was some food...." she said sullenly.

     I slightly flinched as I felt the pang rushing through my heart again.  I really hated seeing Fluttershy so sad and depressed.  As a father it was my duty to comfort her when she necessarily needed it, so I approached her quietly and once again knelt down to stroke the sullen mare's elegant mane with a gentle hand.

     "I wouldn't know why, either," I said sympathetically.  "But we can be thankful that she didn't end up... you know."

     "I know..." Fluttershy sighed.  She swiveled her head to look straight into my eyes as her perfectly-round, large orbs were reflecting with that of dread.

     I moved my hand from the top of her head to her face's left cheek, rubbing away a single tear with a thumb.  "Maybe they don't get it like you do.  I'm sure if whoever used that trap realised that they've made someone upset they'd probably feel very, very sorry," I said.  "But the good thing is that your new friend is still alive and feeling better after you patched her up.  If you're sad then I'm sad, and I'm sure we wouldn't want to ruin such a perfect morning feeling gloomy."

     I saw Angel pop from atop the thickness of Fluttershy's mane, nodding.

     "See," I pointed at Angel with my other free hand.  "Even Angel agrees.  So why not we put the thought aside for now and enjoy this beautiful time of the day?"

     "O-okay..." Fluttershy murmured, pawing the floor with her hoof.

     Given the sound of that depressing tone, I stood up and deeply pondered; thinking what I could do to cheer her up.  "Hmm," I hummed, stroking my chin.  After a couple of seconds, an idea had sprung.  "I'll tell you what," I started.  "Why not we take a trip down to... Sugarcube Corner, is it?  And we can have your friend Pinkie Pie make you your favorite dessert: a simple cupcake filled with whip cream in its center and vanilla icing slathered on top.  What do you say?"

     Exhilarated, Fluttershy's lips rose up with a smile.  "That would be delightful," she said, fluttering excitedly.  "But," she briefly glanced around the squirrels, rabbits, ducks and other small creatures surrounding her.  "It's almost feeding time, and I can't just leave my animal friends unfed for a while longer.  That'd be unfair to them."

     "I know you're obliged to care your animal friends, but you can't always stay cooped up inside your little home most of the time almost everyday."

What are you talking about?  You pretty much did the same thing back on Earth.  Talk about being a hypocrite.  My brain pestered me.

     'That's a whole different story.' I retorted.  'Fluttershy is just... well, shy!  I have a different reason why I'm anti social.'

Yeah, yeah.  Being neglected and all that holla-boo-loo-wee.  My brain mocked matter-of-factly.  But your "daughter" wants to stay and feed her animals she considers as friends.  Which seems to make her happy.  Isn't that what you want for her?

     '...'

     At that point I had nothing else to say, although my conscience was right; if Fluttershy wanted to do what makes her happy, I wouldn't oppose.

     "Actually," I shook my head.  "Nevermind what I just said.  You're right; it would be unfair to them.  So how about this?  Soon I'll be going fishing, and later on after fishing I'll take a drop by to Pinkie's place and bring the cupcakes along the way back."

     Fluttershy perked her head up at me again, smiling brighter than before.  "Thank you, Dad." she said gracefully.

     "You're welcome, my dear Shy." I replied with a heartwarming grin.

     I headed over and sat down on the green, dwarf-sized couch in the living room, letting minutes pass by while I went through an imaginary checklist of today's plans inside my head.  After I would have to change out of my pajamas and into my clothes I would have to make a visit to Twilight's place so I could return a book I borrowed.

     Next I would have to stop at Rarity's if she could patch a hole in one of my blue jeans.  I wouldn't be sure if she were able to but I figured since our clothes weren't any different, she should have no problem patching a simple hole.

     After I would get all those chores done, I would be able to then take the rest of the day fishing at the lake.  Right now I had to change my clothes.

     Getting up, my left shoulder suddenly popped with a jolt of pain.

     "Ah!" I winced, groaning loudly.

     Fluttershy, who was about to head out to do her daily chores around the house, came galloping back in.

     "Father, are you okay?!" she asked, panicking.  "Do you need to go to a hospital?!"

     I waved with my other hand as a sign of 'no need to', then rubbed the painful soreness on my shoulder.

     "No, no," I groaned with gritting teeth.  "Either the muscles are contracting or somehow the shoulder's joints dislocated.  Nothing to get too worried about."

     Fluttershy quickly fluttered over next to me, examining the lower front of my shoulder with her hooves.  "I think your shoulder may have dislocated." she confirmed.

     "Okay..." I excessively inhaled.  "I'm going to need you to do something because I can't do it myself.  I need you to grab hold of my hand..."

     "U-um, okay..." Fluttershy stuttered.  She did as I said and grabbed the base of my palm nervously.

     "Alllriiiight," I exhaled and braced myself.  "Pull as hard as you can, but don't do it until I count to three.  One..."

     "Um, Dad, I don't know if I-"

     "Two..."

     "Is it going to hur-"

     "Three!"

     She pulled my arm hard as she possibly could, and I screamed out to God at the top of my lungs.  My agonizing scream was so loud if Luna were still banished to the moon she probably would have heard it.