Shyness 101
Chapter One: Birth of a Pega-shy
"Honey, just leave her and run. I can't bear to look at her any longer!" "Okay, okay!" The light pink mare gently kissed the foal's head and galloped off with a yellow stallion. The foal began to cry and wail, its hooves extending from the wicker basket in fear. It cried for its parents, but they never came back.
"Golden River, would you just look at this?" An elderly looking blue mare stared down into the basket. A small foal lay there whimpering and crying. Her color was hidden by dirt, her eyes covered in her mess of a dirty mane, and her Pegasus wings were crumpled underneath her. A younger looking orange mare trotted over and peered into the basket. "My, my, how long was the poor thing sitting outside?" "I don't know; there's no evidence of when she was left." The elderly pony wrapped the foal up in a fluffy green blanket and lifted her gently out of the basket. "What are we going to name her?" Golden River asked. "I'm not sure yet. Why don't we get her cleaned up first?"
The blue mare who went by the name of Abercrombie gently unwrapped the foal from her blanket and placed her in a tub of lukewarm bathwater. The foal began to cry and flail about. "How about we put in some bubble bath?" Golden River suggested. "Good idea!" Abercrombie picked up the bottle of "Foal Bubbles" and squeezed some into the tub. The foal's crying ceased and she picked up a hooffull of bubbles and threw them at Abercrombie. Golden River chuckled. "She's a cutie." "Yes, now let's get her cleaned up." The two mares scrubbed away the dirt and rinsed out the young foal's dirty, scraggly mane. Lastly, they lifted her out of the tub, dried her off, and set her down on the soft rug. She was short and her mane fell to the ground.
"Look at that." "She's beautiful!" Abercrombie exclaimed. "Yeah, she is!" The little foal yawned. She had pastel yellow fur, teal eyes, and a dull rose-colored mane and tail. She sat down on the rug and began to cry. She cried and cried. "Why is she crying now?" Golden River whined, covering her ears. "I don't know, maybe she's hungry!" Abercrombie rushed into the kitchen and grabbed a jar of applesauce and a spoon. She ran back into the bathroom. "Okay, let's see how this goes."
The foal consumed three spoonfuls of applesauce hungrily, and then decided she didn't want any more. She refused to open her mouth, turned her head away, pushed the spoon away from her mouth, and even started crying. "Okay, okay, gosh!" Golden River muttered. "She won't stop crying, will she?" Abercrombie laughed slightly. "Nope, guess not. Oh, we'd better get a diaper on her before she makes a mess on the rug!" The elderly blue mare pulled a diaper out of the cabinet and fastened it on the pretty little foal. "What's next?" Golden River asked. "I'm not sure! Maybe she needs a nap." Abercrombie picked up the foal and carried her into another room. Seven cribs were lined up against the wall, and a little foal rested in each. One crib lay empty in the corner of the room. It was musty, dusty, and covered in cobwebs. "Oh, this simply just won't do!" Abercrombie looked around the room. She ran to a closet and pulled blankets from it. She gently laid the blankets on the ground and set the foal down.
"This is insane! We can't just leave her on the floor!" Golden River whispered. "We don't have a choice until that crib is clean!" Abercrombie snapped. One of the other foals woke up and started to cry. "Hush, now, little one, don't cry!" Golden River rushed over and took the loud foal out of the room. Abercrombie looked down at the young Pegasus who lay curled up on the blankets. She was so innocent and sweet. The elderly blue pony flicked the lights off and left the room.
Abercrombie was startled to ear crying coming from the napping room. She ran in to find the baby Pegasus kicking and screaming. She picked her up and rushed out to the main room where Golden River sat watching television. "She's awake, so let's fix her crumpled wings." "Okay." The orange mare turned off the TV and left the room. She returned a minute later with bandages and pieces of wood in her jaws. The two worked together to make splints for the Pegasus's wings. When they were done, Golden River couldn't help but laugh. "She looks so silly with her wings sticking up and out like that!" She giggled. "Yes, she does. Now, we simply must name her." The two thought for a moment.
"I know!" Abercrombie said. "How about Fluttershy?"
Author's Note:
I'm sure you knew from the beginning that the orphan Pegasus foal was Fluttershy. But I'm excited to write and find out for myself why her being an orphan made her so shy.