As you can tell, I was already off to a great start with Fluttershy. Sunday was more of the same; Fluttershy and I just hiding in the basement all day from my family and friends. Honestly, I could have cared a whole lot less about that. As I spent more time with Fluttershy, she started to open up more to me. She became less nervous around me, starting to ask for things without hesitation. Mostly she just asked for something to drink or eat, but I was happy to oblige.

I did a bit of research on what I could feed her. But, as I continued my research, I began to wonder if the biology of and Equestrian pony was the same as an Earth horse. I decided to play it safe, while at the same time taking some chances. And wouldn’t you know it, everything worked out fine!

Sunday night was just the same as Saturday night. Fluttershy and I were just sitting in my bed, reading comics quietly. We read one more Spider-Man book before I introduced Fluttershy to the Dark Knight himself, Batman. She didn’t like him as much.

I was thoroughly disappointed…

But, beggars can’t be choosers… as it were. We stuck to Spider-Man for the night. As Fluttershy fell asleep, I turned off the lights and fell asleep with her in my arms once again. However, all throughout the day, up until the moment I went off into dreamland, something had been nagging at my mind. I just couldn’t quite place it.

It hit me when my alarm went off the next morning.

From my phone, the song “Johnny’s Revenge,” by Crown the Empire was playing. The song begins with a demonic, carnival-like laughing. Fluttershy awoke with a fearful squeak. Through this, I woke up with the frightened mare with a jolt. I quickly calmed her down, rubbing her mane and holding her in my arms. I assured her that everything was fine. I looked to my phone and quickly turned off the hard rock music that was emanating from it. And then I remembered.

I fell back in bed, groaning in annoyance as I face-palmed myself. I looked at my clock, which read “6:45.” I then turned to Fluttershy, looking completely pissed off with the current situation. She was still shaking a bit as I regulated my face to a more relaxed look.

“W-What was that?!” she asked, lying down with me.

“It was my alarm. Sorry about that. Ugh!” I completely forgot that I had school today. I was so caught up in Fluttershy and that I had forgotten that I was a high school teenager. I hated being a high school teenager. It kinda blows.

“W-Why did it go off?” Fluttershy asked me, having finally calmed down. She had made her way under my arm, seeking comfort from me, which I was more than willing to provide.

“I have to go to school today…” I answered. I let out another agonizing moan. “Shit!” I bluntly stated. I could tell that my condition was frightening Fluttershy, so I regulated myself and calmed down. “I’m sorry about that alarm. And I’m really sorry that I’m going to have to leave you home alone today, Fluttershy.” It nearly killed me to utter those words.

“What? Why? Can’t I come with you?” I almost cried as she said that.

“Fluttershy, I’d love to take you with me to school, truly! But, considering you’re a pony, who talks and flies… sort of… I don’t think many people would be understanding as to why you were at my school. They might freak out, you know? I’m really sorry.” I sat up in bed and wiped my eyes. I stood up and stretched, soliciting a few cracks from my neck.

“Oh… okay,” Fluttershy muttered, her sadness quite apparent. I turned around and looked into her eyes. It seemed like she was about to cry, but I wasn’t going to let that happen. I wrapped her up in a warm hug, holding her close, yet not too tightly.

“Hey, don’t worry. I’ll only be gone for a few hours. I’ll be back at about three fifteen. That’s not so bad, right?” I said, trying to sound as reassuring as I could. She worked up a weak smile and nodded as we released our hug. I went to the bathroom, bringing some clothes with me so I could get dressed. I took my morning piss, got dressed, worked my hair as I normally did for the school week, and reentered my room.

I brought Fluttershy downstairs, seeing as though my mother had already left for work. We had what was now our usual breakfast, eating a little quicker this morning. After we ate, I quickly brushed my teeth and brought Fluttershy downstairs, bringing along some snacks for her.

My plan was for her to stay in the basement all day, basically. I set her up with her favorite TV channel, which was Nickelodeon. I told her how to change the channel if she wanted, warning her to steer clear of the Hub Network (for obvious reasons). I didn’t need to deal with that right now. That would come when the time was right, I figured. I had set her up with tons of snacks that she enjoyed, and I even showed her how to play some of my music on my computer.

“Dough-try?” she questioned, as I showed her some of the music on my laptop. I laughed as she said that.

“Daughtry,” I corrected her. “Their music is pretty good. You’ll enjoy them, I know it. They’re not like what you heard this morning. That was Crown the Empire. If you want, you can venture to listen to some of their stuff, but you may not like it as much as I do. Stick to Daughtry, Theory of a Deadman, Nine Lashes, and maybe even some Red and A Day to Remember. These are just recommendations.”

I figured I might as well introduce Fluttershy to some amazing music. I wasn’t going to taint her mind with the garbage that is mainstream music. To hell with that bullshit. I told her anything I figured was vital for her “survival” for the day. I knelt down in front of her and ran my hand through her mane as I often did. She smiled at me happily.

Just before I was able to leave though, she grabbed me in another hug, keeping me on my knees. I of course returned the hug, not wanting to let go. I fought to hold on to that hug, but unfortunately, I had to let go. I ran my hand through Fluttershy’s mane once more before I turned to walk upstairs and out the door. During the drive to school, my mind thought of nothing but Fluttershy.

School was no different.

All I could think about during school was Fluttershy. How was she doing without me there? Was she lonely? Was she alright? Had she actually hurt herself? So many thoughts raced through my mind. I couldn’t get her off my mind. The day went by pretty fast though, and being a senior in high school, I had a huge advantage. I had gotten lucky with my scheduling and managed to get both periods eight and nine off, which meant I could go home early. I was so anxious for the bell signifying seventh period's end. As soon as it rang, I jumped out of my seat, ran to my locker, got my things, and drove home.

I entered my house, quickly setting my things down, and yelled her name.

“Hey Fluttershy! It’s me, Matt! I’m home! Where are you?” I got no response. I went to check downstairs, but the back room light was off. I ran back up the stairs, but as soon as I turned to head upstairs, Fluttershy jumped up onto me and held me in a tight embrace. I was caught off guard, but not enough to make me fall on my back. I knelt down, allowing her to stand on her hind legs. I could hear her crying, but I had no idea why.

“Thank goodness you’re home Matthew! I was so afraid!” she exclaimed.

“Afraid of what? What happened?” I asked her.

“S-something came on one of the channels. I didn’t think it was s-so bad, up until the m-monsters appeared,” she told me. I was wondering what she could have been watching.

“Do you remember the channel it was on?” I asked her. She wasn’t crying as much as she was when she first jumped on me, but she hadn’t fully stopped.

“I-I think it was channel 231,” she told me. Channel 231, AMC, for Verizon users. I think I knew what she was watching.

“Was it the Walking Dead?” I asked her. She nodded, her tears starting to dissipate. “Don’t worry Fluttershy. It was just a show, those monsters aren’t real,” I told her, trying to calm her down. I did indeed tell her that the zombies, or walkers as they are referred to as on the show, weren’t real. But, at the time, I did actually believe that someday the zombies would rise. Hey, call me a crazy weirdo, I don’t care. A zombie apocalypse would be pretty cool.

“I guess I have another channel to stay away from huh?” she said. I chuckled a bit and told her that she was right about that. She let go of me and took a step back as I told her to just breathe. After about a minute, she was fine. “I got a bit lonely while you were gone. How often is this going to happen?” she asked me. I rubbed my eyes and sighed.

“Well, unless I have off from school, every Monday through Friday. Some days I might have to stay later for rehearsals. Sorry Fluttershy.” She looked down and frowned. I then noticed that she had a little bruise on her left from leg. “Hey, what happened here?” I asked her. She looked up, then back down to her leg.

“Oh, well um, when the monster showed up, it frightened me so much that I jumped up and actually starting to fly a bit. But, I’m such a terrible flyer that I flew right into the wall and hurt my leg. I’m sorry,” she said.

“Fluttershy, you have nothing to apologize for. You just got spooked and had a little accident, that’s all. If anything, I should be apologizing for not being here. But, hey, speaking of flying, how would you like it if I tried to help you learn to fly better?”

“Really? But, you don’t have wings. How would you teach me at all? I mean, not to say that I don’t want to learn, but it’s just that I’m not so sure that you really could teach me,” she told me. I started to think. How would I teach her? I had no knowledge of flight myself, so teaching her would be pretty difficult.

“Well, I guess we can just think about it for now. Maybe when we come up with something we can start practicing. Right now, I’m just hungry. I need a snack,” I said. She giggled after I said that, which made me laugh in turn.

“There are still some snacks that you gave me for the day downstairs. We can have those,” she told me. I nodded my head and brought her down into the basement, and we started snacking on what was left of the food.

The rest of the week followed the same procedure as Monday, except without the whole crying thing when I arrived home. Fluttershy was perfectly fine with staying home by herself by that Thursday actually. She got used to it pretty quickly.

I don’t know why, but Fluttershy seemed a bit more, well, outgoing and open than she was in the show. She seemed more confident in herself. She was of course still very shy and kept worrying about little things, but like I said, she just had more confidence. I narrowed it down to me just being who I was. That may sound weird, depending on how you’ve been depicting me thus far, but Fluttershy had changed me, even though we had only known each other for about a week. And, I think I was changing her.

The routine soon became natural. I would go to school, she would stay home, and when I got home we would spend the rest of the day together. The first time I had to stay later for a rehearsal, she got a little worried. But even then, she got used to that too. Musical stuff ended in April, so she didn’t need to worry about that anymore. The rest of my senior year of high school just rushed on by since I had found Fluttershy. And before I knew it, summer had arrived.