Chapters The Everfree And The Beginning
“Goodbye, Klutzershy!” Dumb-Bell said mockingly to Fluttershy as he dangled her precariously over the Everfree Forest. His partner, Hoops, tugged at her wings, pretending to tear them out, laughing all the while. She was helpless to stop them from bullying her, and she resigned herself to tears and let the two bullies have their way with her.
Suddenly, Dumb-Bell dropped her. She plummeted towards the ground, and her weak flying abilities coupled with her lack of preparation prevented her any chance to try to stop herself. The piercing tree tops grew closer very quickly, and she flailed around, trying desperately to halt her decent. As she failed to do this, she screamed for help. But none came, and still her inevitable doom came closer.
Her body came to a stop. Her landing wasn't a crash land into the earth, surprisingly, but instead, she had landed on a mattress of many tiny winged ball-like creatures. The living mattress descended through the forest canopy and onto the ground, where they let her off before surrounding her and chirping at her.
Never before had she seen creatures like these, but she also didn't know if they were at all dangerous. Scared, she backed away from those in front of her, only to realize she was approaching the ones behind her. She jumped back to the center, where she cowered and covered her eyes. The creatures stayed put and continued to make noise, quickly driving the poor filly to tears.
The noise attracted the attention of a nearby manticore who had been resting. Irritated by the disruption, the manticore stalked over to the disturbance, hiding in a nearby bush. The fluffy creatures picked up the manticore's scent, promptly halting their noise and looking over to where it was. Having been discovered, the manticore crept out of its hiding spot.
In the sky above them, a multicolored aura exploded into existence, followed by a earsplitting sonicboom. The unexpected noise frightened everything. Fluttershy once again yelped in fear, the ball creatures scattered, and the manticore fled while whimpering. Surprising herself, Fluttershy calmed herself in only a few seconds and looked up to see her one of her classmates zooming through the sky followed by a long rainbow trail.
And now she was alone. Even the creatures of the forest had abandoned her. One one hoof, she was glad to have not been eaten, but on the other hoof, she knew how scared they all must have been. Her compassionate side coming out victorious, she went to comfort the scared animals. “C-Come on out, fluffy critters,” she said shakily. “It was just a-just a sonic rainboom. Th-there's no reason to be sc-scared...”
The manitcore stuck its head out of some nearby foliage and looked to Fluttershy both fearfully and questioningly. “Even though I tried to eat you, you want me to come out?” it asked her in a muffled voice.
For the third time in the past minute, Fluttershy yelped and covered her mouth. She returned the manticore's expression. “I-I can...you...I can understand you?” Her cutie mark appeared on her thigh then, but she didn't notice or care. All she wanted was to get out of the strange woods, so she got to her hooves and bolted away from the manticore.
She ran for many minutes, occasionally stumbling or tripping on upturned roots and the like. Finally, though, the days events bore her down, and, exhausted and lost, she found a large hollow stump to try to rest in. Sleep didn't come easily, though, as the days developments plagued her thoughts. Now matter how hard she tried to suppress her thoughts, she couldn't help but feel abandoned and alone.
Everything's alright, she tried to assure herself. By the time I awake, there'll be ponies looking for me, and those bullies will get what they deserved, and everything'll go back to normal.
But...what if I don't want things to be normal? What if I don't want to be such a push-over anymore? And what if nopony really will look for me? I mean, nopony stopped them from dropping me, and nopony made to help me when they did. Maybe...maybe I'm just not wanted...
The revelation made her heart sink. Not only had the bullies abandoned her, but so had everypony else. Overwhelmed by loneliness, she reverted to something that she had done quite a bit that day already: crying.
She was too exhausted to really cry, and instead she whimpered and sobbed. For many minutes she lay as such, before being interrupted by a light tapping on her hoof. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see who had tried getting her attention, finding a small white bunny standing nearby. It cocked its head to the side curiously, inspecting Fluttershy, surprised at her lack of reaction to his presence. Finally, the bunny spoke.
“I have an apology to make on behalf of my manticore friend. He wished to apologize, but didn't want to risk spooking you further. I am Angel, and I would also like to personally welcome you to the Everfree Forest.” Angel hopped up Fluttershy's side and nestled into her long mane. “This place isn't nearly as bad as you ponies make it out to be; it's just that none of you can understand us, which makes communication difficult. But anyways, you look tired, and I know I am. Know any good lullabys?”
“Um, one,” admitted Fluttershy nervously. Some tapping from the bunny indicated for her to continue, which she did so hesitantly. “Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed,” she sang. The lullaby had done its job, and light snoring could be heard from the rabbit on her head. She continued anyways. “Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to-” she yawned “-bed...”
Alas, good things must all come to an end. Angel had woken up some time ago and had gone out in search of some berries and other food for the forest's most recent guest. Upon returning after his collection, however, he found Fluttershy twisting and turning within the log. “Hoops, Dumb-Bell, please...leave me alone,” she complained to a dreamt version of the two ridiculously named ponies.
Concerned, Angel put preparing the food on hold to instead wake Fluttershy up and get her out of her dream. Like last time, he tapped her hoof with his foot. Unlike last time, she panicked, awaking instantly and shooting up. “No, no, I'm up. Just don't tear out my feathers-” she screamed, smashing her head against the top of the hollow log before finishing. “-again...” she finished, slowly realizing that she was no longer dreaming. She looked down to Angel sheepishly. “Um...sorry.”
“Oh, um, thank you,” she said, having not realized how hungry she was until seeing the food. Her stomach rumbled greedily, and she shied away bashfully. “Sorry,” she apologized again, causing Angel to face palm. He pushed it aside, however, and put the meal of berries and other edible plant closer to Fluttershy. She gratefully partook.
As she ate, Angel put his paw to his lips and gave a loud whistle. Within a few moments, a falcon burst through the forest canopy and perched itself on the ledge of the log the Fluttershy occupied. “This pegasus got a little messy while running through here yesterday,” Angel told the bird.
It's been a day already!
“The Forest as a whole owes you an apology,” elaborated Angel. “And it sounds like a couple of other pegusi do as well. A 'Hoops' and a 'Dumb-Bell'?”
“Oh, was I sleep-talking?” she inquired, curious as to how the rabbit had found out. Angel nodded in confirmation, causing Fluttershy to blush and smile sheepishly. “Uh, um, well, you see...” she started, but couldn't seem to form a more coherent thought; the treatment to her wings just felt too nice. After another minute, the falcon had finished its job, giving Angel a salute before flying away.
No longer distracted, Fluttershy recalled her stories about the bullies, including their most recent act of dropping her in the Forest, as well as recounting what had transpired since landing.
Hoops and Dumb-Bell looked down at the top of the Everfree Forest hundreds of feet below them, from the spot where they had dropped Fluttershy from the day before. “She's been down there a long time,” Hoops worriedly mused to his accomplice.
“Whadd'ya think happened to her?” Dumb-Bell asked. “Ya think she may have...”
It was Hoops's turn to think. After a few seconds, he nervously started. “Well, expulsion from Flight Camp for sure, and life in prison at best should Princess Celestia catch word. We should do our best to not be caught.”
“Hoops, soon as somepony notices that Fluttershy's gone, we're gonna be the first ones ponies point at,” Dumb-Bell observed. “Everypony knows that we pick on her pretty much daily.”
“It's a good thing, then,” Hoops began to counter, “that nopony really cares for or notices Fluttershy. Thing'll be no different with her gone, if she is...gone.”
“Rainbow Dash'll prob'ly notice,” lamented Dumb-Bell. “She's stuck up for her a couple'a times before, so she'll prob'ly say something after a few days. Ya think that maybe we should look for her? Even if she ain't dead, she could still be to hurt to fly.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Hoops reeled, surprised. “You want to go down there? To the Everfree? To look for a scared filly who should have been able to help herself in the first place?” He then scoffed. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Oh, um...good, I guess,” Fluttershy answered, crawling out of log before finally standing completely upright. Immediately she noticed that, standing a few feet away from Angel, watching what he was doing with a sorrowful look, was a squirrel. “What are you doing, Angel?” she asked, approaching the bunny.
“Making you breakfast,” he replied. And indeed he was, making a simple salad with lettuce, apple slices, and nuts, the first two of which seemed to be odd plants to come across in a forest.
“From a nearby pony settlement. Some foolish farmers put their orchard right next to the forest, so their fruits are easy to get your paws on.”
To that, Angel merely rolled his eyes. “We're animals here, Fluttershy, not ponies; your way of doing things isn't exactly applicable here. Rule number one of the forest: if you take it, it's yours, unless someone else takes it from you.”
“I know you ponies don't usually eat nuts whole like squirrels do,” Angel continued, “so I was thinking of instead crushing them up and sprinkling the powder on top, which should add a bit of flavor and additional nutrition.”
“Angel, give the nuts back,” she said, continuing to watch Mr. Cheeks, who perked up and looked at her with a hopeful expression upon hearing her statement. Angel, on the other hand, looked at her dumbfounded.
“I'm sorry, pony, I think I misheard you. What?”
Glaring now at Angel, she repeated, “I said: 'give Mr. Cheeks his nuts back'.”
“He's offering you free food, you know. Free. F-r-e-e. You're really gonna turn that down?”
“Yes,” Fluttershy answered confidently. “It's obvious that he wants them more that I do, and he probably needs them more, too so he should have them back.”
“Pony things,” Angel muttered, rolling his eyes. “Well, the pony doesn't want them, so take them back, I guess,” he said to Mr. Cheeks. Said squirrel ran over to Fluttershy and hugged her leg before collecting his nuts and retreating, chirping happily all the while. “You're kind, Fluttershy. Maybe too kind; it's not going to help you last in here.”
She cocked her brow at him, saying, “I'm not planning on staying here, Angel. What would make you think that I was?”
“Um...” Fluttershy tried to start, but Angel interrupted. “Based on what you told me yesterday, it seems that you'd me missed here more than you'd be missed in your little pony place.”
“That's not true!” she defended. “There are plenty of ponies who'd miss me up in Cloudsdale!”
“Um, let's see...” she began, pausing to consider her own point. “Well, there's Hoops and Dumb-Bell-”they miss you?”
“Of course! There's, um...” She stood there for several second trying to think of someone who would miss her if she were to not return. But, despite her efforts, no names came to mind. After about a half-minute, Angel spoke up again. “Note how the three names you said wouldn't miss you for reasons pertaining to actually liking you. Ponies would miss you for their own selfish reasons; because they would no longer be able to take advantage of you. Now, consider here: you've already made two friends here in the forest; that's two more than you purport to have made in your entire time in...what'd you call it? Cloudsdale? Mr. Cheeks and I would both greatly miss you if you were to go.”
“That's...that's true, I guess,” Fluttershy agreed, bringing her head down in shame. “But still, I don't belong here; a forest, let alone Everfree, is no place for a pony.”
“One day,” Angel proclaimed. “Give me one day to convince you that this is the place for you, and if I can't, then go, with no hard feelings from me.”
She considered the proposition. i]I really should be going...but considering all he's done for me so far, it'd be vary rude to say no. I can grant him this favor; it's only one day; one day won't hurt. “Sure; I can give you a day of my time,” Fluttershy consented with a smile.
“Wonderful! Now,” Angel pushed the bowl of salad towards Fluttershy, “you might want to eat up; today might be a long day.”
Fluttershy looked to Angel with an uncertain look and gave an audible gulp. “Y-you want me t-to go in th-there? In that...big, dark, sp-spooky cave?”
