Revisiting Kindness

I woke in pain once more, this time I didn’t mind it. It was still early and I had a lighthearted smile on my face that was left over from yesterday's party; I was feeling particularly cheery. I had gone through the usual routine as always, and left Twilight's breakfast on the table for when she would wake. I wanted to thank Flutters. Had it not been for her kindness I would not be here. My mood mellowed out as I realized that I had not visited her since I got here, and I was determined to change that. I pulled on some casual wear and began my little quest.

It was warm outside, and the ground was still moist from yesterday's weather. A few residents were milling about and completing tasks that they had put off due to the weather; I exchanged greetings with a few that were recognizable from the party. Looking around I realized the full extent of the damage caused by the late night storm. Trees had fallen over and loose branches littered the streets. The winged residents were particularly busy with the weather today and I scanned the sky for Dash. I couldn't find her and resumed my journey.

Flutter's house was near the edges of the woods where I had arrived here, so I picked up my pace in homes of catching her while she was still at home. Once out of the town's borders I took a different path from the one I used when I got here, in hopes of becoming more familiar with the landscape and heeding the warnings from Twilight and Flutters about the woods.

"Steer clear of the Everfree Forest. It's filled with all sorts of dangerous plants and creatures. Never ever go there unless you absolutely have to, and never do it alone."

I remembered Twilight say. She seemed incapable of stressing that enough, and after finding out that it was also home to poison joke, I understood her concern and promised to stay away. Luckily the woods near Flutter's house were safe, but I tried to distance myself for fear of getting lost or attacked by its inhabitants.

After clearing an old tree that had fallen on the pathway, Flutter's house came into view and I made my way up to the door. To my dismay no one answered when I knocked and no light shone through the windows. Disgruntled but not dismayed from my quest, I scanned the surrounding perimeter for hopes of finding my shy and kindhearted best friend. Rounding the house's exterior made my heart and jaw drop.

Flutters was standing in the open, surrounded with a variety of woodland creatures, while a bear twice if not three times her size towered over her with its mouth open wide, and was leaning toward her; my eye twitched as a drop of saliva fell from its mouth. What made it worse was Flutters was just STANDING THERE, SMILING like nothing was wrong! With adrenaline blasting through my veins, I ran toward her incapable of making a sound other than:

"NOOOOOOO!"

My sudden interruption shocked everyone there. The bear and Flutters more than the others as both of them turned to stare at me simultaneously with a puzzled, one eyebrow raised expression.

"What's wrong Artyom?"

Flutters asked in a kind, timid, and concerned voice. She was completely unfazed by the fact that she was about to be a snack for the bear next to her.

"THERE IS A BEAR TRYING TO EAT YOU! THAT IS WHAT'S WRONG!"

I screamed, adrenaline still coursing through my veins and making me scream from frustration and anxiety for the lack of concern on Flutter's face, and the fact that neither the bear nor her made any changes in their actions. They just looked at each other once before staring at me like I was a mad man.

***

"So he doesn’t bite or anything?" I asked, not breathing violently anymore.

"No, he's actually pretty well mannered. Aren’t you mister bear?"

Flutters answered me and asked the bear near us. He was sitting patiently now ,and let out a quiet roar of acknowledgement; He smiled contently at Flutters and me. My heart attack from earlier was soothed when Flutters explained that Mr. bear was here to have Flutters check out a pain in his teeth and NOT to eat her. Apparently Flutters had a strong connection with animals, far superior to anyone else, and the forest animals often sought her out for help and medical care. Apparently my description of her kindness was extremely under exaggerated, I thought as I quietly watched in astonishment as she took the time to address each woodland creature's complaints, and actually comprehended what they were squeaking at her.

"Anyway Flutters." I stated, getting up and interrupting her conversation with a squirrel. "I came here to thank you. If it wasn’t for you amazing kindness then I would have never been where I am today. I also came here in hopes that I can repay that kindness by helping you with anything that you need, so… got any jobs for me?"

"Uh actually, last night's storm caused quite a bit of trouble in the forest and my forest friends here came to ask me for help." As she finished she nodded toward the little mass of creatures who all squeaked something, as if to emphasis her point.

"Well I'd be glad to help if I can."

To this Flutters perked up a bit and thanked me for my support. We set off towards the woods with our fuzzy little mob in tow. We started off addressing the smaller animal's complaints, which mostly consisted of rubble removal and replacing nests, hives, and re-hollowing collapsed burrows. Eventually the birds, small mammals, and reptiles had new or rebuild homes; surprisingly they comprehended anything I said and obediently responded to my attempts to help them without fear or confusion. I noted that my faded memories of animals were nothing similar to those of this world as a small big-eyed squirrel brought me an acorn as thanks for my help. I glanced at Flutters for permission to which she nodded reassuringly, and smiled at the fact that I was bonding with her forest friends. I bent over and accepted the gift, thanking the squirrel and watched it run up a tree to its family and new home.

"I haven't seen them trust anyone but me this much before." Flutters said with a hint of surprise in her soft, quiet voice.

"Me neither."

I replied. I was in a scarecrow position and covered in various animals. A few small birds nested themselves in my hair and shoulders, squirrels sat on my arms and clung to my clothes. Flutters gigged as a beaver tugged at my pants and pointed urgently, squeaking for my attention as I could do nothing more than look down without bending my neck for fear of frightening the birds.

"Ok, ok little guy, I'm coming just give me a sec." I addressed him and started to shuffle after him. I shot a glance at Flutters who was now laughing at the scene before her.

Eventually most of the animals got off me and we followed the beaver to a beautiful river. It looked like it was pulled right out of a painting; it had crystal clear waters, a gentle current, and a variety of beautiful multi-colored fish. It gave a mystical feeling to it as the two banks that it separated varied in feeling and appearance. Our side was light and colorful, it radiated warmth and freedom. The other side however, seemed darker by comparison. It had a wild and dangerous feel to it and looking in made it seem untamable; the trees themselves felt like they hide danger rather than provided comforting shade. I thought of the Everfree forest for a moment, but my thoughts were soon interrupted as the beaver began to squeak something at me.

"What's he saying?" I turned to ask Flutters.

"Poor guy. He says last night's storm damaged some of his dam and an important piece fell to the bottom. He can't get it because there are some rocks on it."

"Can't he just make or find another piece?" I asked, annoyed of being brought here without a valid reason, and looked at the beaver who squeaked angrily in reply while crossing his arms. I looked to Flutters for a translation with a puzzled expression.

"Oh, well he says that’s it's an important piece and he worked hard on it before. He doesn’t want to make another when his is just sitting there."

"Well he isn't expecting me to dive right now and get it, does he?"

The beaver made an agitated sound while waving me off and approached Flutters for support. Apparently he knew he could take advantage of Flutter's amazing kindness, and I watched as Flutters flew up and over the river; she was actually considering diving for it so she could help out the beaver!

"Whoa it's ok, I got this!" I exclaimed quickly before Flutters got any more ideas. "The river looks pretty deep and I don’t want you to get hurt or wet unnecessarily. I'll get the beaver his dam stick."

Flutters smiled at my wanting her help her and flew back down to land beside me.

"Watch my clothes please." I told her as I removed my shirt, socks, and shoes. "I hope this river is as clean as it looks, because if rarity finds out what a mess I have made out of the clothes she made for me she'd kill me." I added while gazing into the deep river.

I looked back to see Flutters watching intently and an angry beaver who waved me on. "Little…bugger." I thought to myself before I dived straight into the river and parted a school of shiny green fish. I took a moment to adjust my body to the cold river and observed in awe the beauty around me.  The dark surface of the water did a good job at hiding the beauty of life below. Although not too diverse in life, the fish and plants that inhabited the river painted an eye catching scene that distracted me long enough to have my lungs remind me of my task. I resurfaced to catch a fresh breath and dived once more, this time I went straight for the bottom. Once there, I released a bit of air to allow myself to stay submerged as I gripped the large stick and pulled hard. I only managed to loosen it up a bit before running out of air and needing to come up for more.

"Artyom… I…I think we should."

"Don’t worry I'll get it this time." I interrupted Flutters and let my competitive side get the better of me as I once more dived and attempted to loosen the stick. I succeeded this time and resurfaced, exclaiming:

"There's your darn stick." The smile on my face quickly dropping as the beaver was nowhere to be seen, and Flutters was visibly shaken.

"What's wrong Flutters?" I asked calmly, I was worried and concerned for my friend.

"T…t…timber wolves." She answered in a shaky voice and pointed behind me.

I looked back and copied her expression of fear and shock. On the opposite side of the river were three wolf like creatures. My jaw dropped as they drew nearer and snarled. They were made out of wood and in-between different pieces of it flowed a green aura, similar to the one that Twilight and the other horned individuals had when using Magic. I gulped hard and slowly rose to stand in front of Flutters in a protecting manner. I realized that the animals with us were long gone, and Flutters only stayed because she was afraid to leave me alone. Cursing at myself, I led Flutters as we slowly walked backwards.

With each step we took backwards they took a step forwards. They had cleared the river now and the largest one glared at me with a hungry menacing look in his eyes. I never broke eye contact with those glowing green eyes. Our backpedaling got us nowhere as a large tree blocked our escape. Pressed against it I could feel Flutter's shaking next to me and adrenaline took over my actions.

"Flutters, I need you to listen. When I say "now" you go around the right side of the tree and run. Don’t stop no matter what you hear. Just run and don’t look back. Got it?" As I finished, I gripped the damp stick tightly and clenched my jaw.

I was ready to fight for my best friend and do what was necessary for her safety. Sweat mixed with the river water on my temple as the trio closed the distance between us. I scanned the leader’s eyes in hope of predicting his moves and returned his fierce glare with mine. We were both ready to fight and we knew it. He opened his mouth once and let out a growl that had a wretched smell behind it. I caught the tension in his hind legs.

"NOW!"

I shouted as the leader leaped at us and I swung. My stick met his face and seemed to dislocate his jaw. His body crashed against the tree that Flutters and I were just pressed against. I was running now, having turned left and caught up with Flutters as we ran for our lives. I took a moment to observe how her pink hair flowed behind her and slightly obscured her vision before being reminded of our pursuers, who were barking and growling behind us.

"Shit." I thought as I looked back and saw that despite our efforts of losing them in the trees, they still managed to keep up and were gaining distance. As we ran back toward Flutter's cottage I scanned the ground for a weapon, but failed to find one.  We were nearing the forest clearing, but our attackers were starting to close the distance between us.

"GO!"

I screamed to Flutters as I grabbed the side of a tree and used it to propel myself around it. I met the wolf's face behind it with my knee. His wooden face shattered and he became a heap of firewood in an instant.

"YEAH!"

I celebrated my victory, but to my dismay the third wolf had slid to a halt and stood before me. My heart pounded with my pained knee, and I found myself backing up slowly and out of options. The wolf drew close enough to have my eyes tear up at his rancid breath. With my back to a tree, I closed my eyes and smiled; I saved Flutters and that is all that matters.

"Hey you big meanie! Leave him alone!"

I opened my eyes and saw my shy friend standing aggressively for once. She had thrown a rock and caught the wolf's attention and anger. It snarled once and took off after her. Flutters yelped once and took off. I followed them both as they ran closer to the clearing and stopped when Flutters was cornered. She was shaking next to a large tree and the timber wolf was less worried of her posing a threat. As he lunged, I did too. My body connected with Flutters hard and knocked the wind right out of her lungs. We hit the ground as the wolf hit the tree. I got up quickly to follow through with a kick to its head.

Flutters and I hugged quickly. We were both glad that we were ok, but our hug was cut short as the pieces of the wolf started to vibrate and glowed green. They began to rebuild the creature and Flutters and I took off. We never stopped until we were at her house. Once out of the woods we started to laugh uncontrollably despite being out of breath, and I hugged her again. We were glad to be alive.

Once more our moment was cut short as Rarity cleared her throat and was obviously curious as to what was going on. It would have been easy to explain, had I not been shirtless and we were not both sweaty and out of breath.

"It's… It's not what… it looks like." I tried to explain through labored breathing and deep breaths. Flutter's cheeks had reddened slightly once she realized what our appearance looked like, and made the situation that much harder to explain.

Eventually I calmed down long enough to explain what had happened and we shared an awkward laugh.

"So. Anyway I'm real sorry about having to leave the clothes you made for me Rarity." I said.

"Oh, don’t worry about it darling. It simply couldn’t be helped." Rarity answered.

"Anyway, may I ask what you are doing here, or is it none of my business?"

"Well today is mine and Flutter's spa day and I was here to pick her up when I met you two outside." she answered.

"Alright then. I'm sure that after that ordeal a spa day might be a good idea. I'll let you two get to that. I need to get back home before someone questions my lack of clothes. See you later Flutters, thanks for saving my life back there." I said as I hugged Flutters once more.

"Thank you for saving mine." She replied returning my hug.

I took off and ran home, cursing at my lack of footwear and blistering feet. I took the less used streets and ignored the puzzled looks I received from the townsfolk. I got home and took a long bath, happy that for once Twilight was not here to bombard me with questions and concern. I dried myself off and decided that I had more than enough exercise for today and grabbed a book from Twilights huge library. As I settled myself into one of her comfy chairs, I thought once more about my timid friend. I updated my knowledge on her extreme kindness, and noted how fierce she gets when she stands up for her friends.

I looked back down at the book in my hands. Timberwolves- The full guide on everything you need to know about these magical creatures. I smiled and flipped the cover.

It was hell of a day Revisiting Kindness.