So you said, but where do you start?

Pinkie Pie seems to like you, but she seems to like everything from pony to mule. Rarity doesn’t seem to mind you either, but for all you know that’s her ladylike standard acting like she doesn’t. Applejack and Rainbow Dash will be the hardest by far. So, that leaves Fluttershy. How are you going to make Fluttershy like you? You got no interests that you both share as far as you know. Heck, she only seems to like animals and other critters. Should you just try to talk to her about pets? It seems the most logical option. Ok, that settles it. You’re going to try Fluttershy first. It shouldn’t be that hard, right?

You got a bad feeling about this.

You’re trying to come up with some other plans to get Fluttershy to like you just in case, but they all get shut down when Spike enters the room.

“Twilight, is she go- Why is she still here?”

Oh, right. You forgot about that little bugger.

“Spike, Trixie will be staying with us for a while.”

“What? Why?”

The kid seems to be more scared of you then anything else. Maybe you should just start with him? He’s a kid. Kids are easy to forgive and forget.

“Trixie has lost her magic for the time being, so Twilight Sparkle will help me regain it.”

He seems to ignore you for the most part though, and yells out at Twilight.

“Twilight, are you insane? She’s evil!”

“Spike, that’s rude! Trixie isn’t evil. She’s just… easily upset.”

Seriously? That’s the best she got?

You shot her a deadpan look, but Twilight is smiling sheepishly at you. You try your best not to facehoof, but it’s proving to be quite hard. If that is her best to defend you, then you got another thing coming when you try the actual town, let alone her friends.

Ugh, might as well get this over with.

“Trixie would like to apologize for past events. She knows she was wrong now, and she hopes you can forgive her.”

You honestly don’t like doing this. You’re basically taking the blame for the actual party, that being Trixie, but you can’t exactly stay here for a week and having everyone be scared of you, or even worse, being angry at you. Better to have them forgive her, or you in this case, then a mob turning up with pitchforks and torches trying to run you out of town. You doubt that would happen, but you better play it save.

Spike, for his part, just stares at you. He’s not answering, just staring. Why isn’t he answering? Oh wait, he’s looking over at Twilight now. And now he’s going back to you.

“Did you hit your head or something?”

You seriously want to slap this little shit. You had to swallow your ego to do that, and Spike just trampled all over it.

“No, Trixie is serious!”

“Twilight, did you use a spell on her?”

“Nope. She really means it.” Twilight is all smiles but Spike is still confused. This is getting annoying. Here you are, apologizing for things you didn’t even do, and if you already got this much trouble with a kid, how are her friends or this town going to react?

“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head?”

You’re about two seconds from strangling the baby dragon, hooves or no hooves, but Twilight seems to realize your patience is at an end as she moves between you two.

“Now, Spike. What do you say when someone apologizes?” Twilight asks him but he just stares at her as if she’s gone insane. She nudges him a brief second and a reluctant “apology accepted” follows. That could have gone better, that’s for sure. Twilight seems to be pleased though and turns to you.

“See, Trixie. You can do it if you try.”

Twilight’s still all smiles, but you rather get this entire mess over with.

“Trixie was thinking she would try Fluttershy next.”

“That’s a good idea!”

You really don’t think it is, but you might as well go through with this.

“Spike, would you mind watching the library?”

“You sure about this, Twilight?” he asks while pointing at you.

Before you can snap at the kid for still not accepting you fully, Twilight takes him apart. She seems to reassure him that you mean them no harm, but you can tell Spike’s still worried about this whole thing. You suppose you can’t blame the baby dragon, but this is seriously getting annoying to you.

It seems Twilight managed to convince Spike though, as she walks back over to you.

“Sorry about that, he’s just worried about me.”

“It’s fine. Shall we go?”

You really don’t want to go through with this, but you came up with the idea yourself. Going back on it now would be suspicious. Twilight opens the door and you follow her. You can see some of the town ponies still looking over, and when they spot you two, they quickly act as if they were busy all along.

Twilight allows you to pass the door before closing it, and you’re off to Fluttershy’s home. As you get closer to those ponies from before, you start to feel slightly nervous though.

When you pass them, you can feel their disapproving glances on your back. This was a really bad idea. Should you just turn back?

“Don’t worry about it, Trixie. They’re just curious.”

It seems Twilight noticed it too and is trying to reassure you. It works, somewhat, but it’s still upsetting whenever you pass a group of ponies that quickly huddle together when you pass. You can’t make out the exact words, but you know they’re talking about you in a negative way.

You should start some dialogue to busy your mind, lest you start to panic or get upset.

“So Twilight, what should Trixie do in this week while she waits for her mana to recharge.”

“Recharge is a bit crude to put it, but for the most part you just need to keep calm and not become stressed. Many unicorn ponies lead stressful lives to begin with, and that adds to the slow process of regaining magic, should one come to lose it.”

That’s just great. You’re nothing but stressed from this entire experience, and now you get told that might add to your time spend as a pony. You should have just kept quiet, and dealt with thinking negative thoughts about what these ponies think of you instead.

The rest of the trip is indeed spent in silence as you pass from the busy town to a more secluded area. There are a few houses here and there, but for the most part you see open terrain. In the distance, you can make out a colorful little cottage, and as you come closer you spot the tiny bridge, as well as countless animals walking or flying about. Bunnies, squirrels, and various are some of the creatures you spot first. Taking a closer look at the scene, you also spot the chicken den and you can make out a few chickens walking around in it. You do stop when you spot a forest in the distance though. For some reason, it fills you with dread, and you come to realize Fluttershy’s cottage is actually quite close to the Everfree forest.

“Trixie, is everything ok?” It seems Twilight noticed you stopping abruptly too. You give her a quick nod of assurance as you continue towards Fluttershy’s house. Passing the tiny bridge, you take a small walkway towards her house. You take a quick breath to prepare yourself as Twilight knocks on the door. A barely audible “coming” follows as you hear her approach. Just relax. It’s Fluttershy, surely this will be easy?

“Oh, hello Twilight and…Tr- Tri… Trixie?”

“Hi-“ You quickly back off when you see the door slamming shut. That’s the second time today you got the door slammed shut on you, but this time you managed to avoid getting it thrown into your muzzle at least.

Twilight sighs as she tells you to wait before she enters Fluttershy’s cottage. You try listening in, but you can’t really make out much as chirping birds and other animal sounds overtake the voices inside. You didn’t pay much attention to it before, but you’re positive your hearing has improved by far, as you can pick up the tiniest sounds these animals seem to make. Least that’s one positive thing about this whole mess.

You look around and spot a few birds flying back and forth with small branches. They must be building a nest. Suddenly you feel watched and you glance down to come face to face with a white bunny looking rather… pissed? Oh, could it be?

“Angel?”

He confirms it by throwing a half-eaten carrot at you before throwing a tantrum and stamping one of his paws a few times to the ground. Great, even their pets dislike you.

“The hell’s your problem?”

The fact you’re shouting to a bunny, isn’t even the least bit awkward to you right now. Angel keeps throwing his little tantrum though, but before you can react he seems to realize it and runs off.

You’re about to chase after Angel bunny, because fuck that little shit, when the door opens again.

“Ok, Trixie. I calmed Fluttershy down. You can see her now.”

That really doesn’t sound positive to you, so it’s with some reluctance that you enter the house. Fluttershy is towards the back of the room, hiding behind her mane, and as you enter the cottage you spot various nests and holes in the walls, most likely made by squirrels and other rodents.

You walk over to her and stop a bit in front of her, but even that action makes her cower even further. You knew she was shy, but this looks more like pure fear. You’re suddenly very aware that this is basically a Luna Eclipsed déjà vu, only with you staring the role as villain this time.

“Hello Fluttershy. Trixie would like to apologize for the things she’s done in the past, and she hopes you can forgive her.”

The response is a barely audible squeak. You got to hold back from sighing. You already know this will be a long afternoon.

“Excuse me?” you ask, hoping she’d be a bit louder.

This time the response is a bit louder, but it’s still something you can’t make out. You look over to Twilight, who’s nodding at you as if to tell you to ask it again.

“One more time, please.”

“O- Ok.” It’s soft, still barely audible, but you heard it this time. It’s not the best response, but considering the person, or rather pony, it’s a positive thing you suppose.

But this quickly becomes an awkward moment when Fluttershy is still trying to hide behind her mane, you standing before her trying hard not to spook her further, and Twilight, who’s looking over at you two, doesn’t seem to know how to break this silence either. You take another look around her little cottage to try to find something, anything really to talk about. You spot a white kitten coming towards you. Maybe it will be a good conversation starter?

“Hello, little cutie.” You try to pat it over its head as it comes closer to you. The kitten stares at you a bit before stopping, and allows you to pat it. It’s still awkward to you, but you manage to do it without harming the cat in the process. From the corner of your eye you can see Twilight staring at you in wonder, but what you truly notice is Fluttershy, who seems to finally come out of hiding.

The cat seems to like you though, as is evident by it starting to purr and rubbing his head against your hoof before going to your other foreleg and rubbing against that one. It seems your little plan worked, as Fluttershy slowly gets up and comes a bit closer towards you.

“Y-… you like cats?”

It’s still barely a whisper, but she seems to relax slightly.

“Oh, yes, Trixie loves them.”

You hope your pokerface is working against Fluttershy. You don’t particularly care one way or the other for pets of any sorts. Sure, cats and dogs can be cute at times, but you would never bother to keep one for yourself. They cost money, need special stuff and attention, and you barely have enough time for yourself back home. Still, the little kitten is cute, but then again, kittens are always cute.

“Her name is Sapphire. Her mother is ill, so she’s staying with me for a few days so she doesn’t become sick too.”

Fluttershy is right next to you now, and it seems the fear she has for you earlier is, at least for the moment, gone now. It seems pets really were the answer to your predicament.

Sapphire seems to really like you, as she’s still rubbing against you, and you can make out a tiny smile when you look over at Fluttershy who seems to enjoy the scene a lot. It’s Twilight that makes the first move though by coming closer.

“I didn’t know you are so good with animals, Trixie.”

Neither did you, but the little bugger really has taken a liking to you, as is evident by her nonstop purring and begging for more rubs on her head. Even you can’t deny it’s cute, even if it’s weird as hell when you think about it a bit deeper. Here you are, for all pretenses a talking sapient equine, and you’re patting a little furry creature while you’re basically one yourself.

Maybe getting a cat back home, when this entire mess is over with, isn’t that bad of an idea after all? Having something to come home to would be a nice change from being annoyed or semi depressed all year?

Pffft. Yeah, right. Like you can take care of a pet while you can barely take care of yourself. The poor thing would be better off being in an animal shelter, and that’s saying a lot.

“W- … Would you like me to help feed her?” you almost miss Fluttershy talking again, but she seems to have opened up to you just a bit. Seems your little scheme worked.

“Sure.”

You follow Fluttershy as she goes to her kitchen, but you halt when you notice various animals all coming over to her. She didn’t just mean the cat. She meant all her pets. Oh god, what did you get yourself into now.

“Have fun, you two!”

Wait, what? Twilight is leaving you here? Now? Like this? Hell no!

You quickly walk back over to Twilight who’s about ready to leave.

“Twilight, what are you doing?”

“Oh relax, Trixie. I got to go to Sugarcube Corner before it closes, and it looks like you got everything under control.”

“You can’t leave me here alone with her! We barely talked with you here. If you go now, we’ll go right back to silence!”

“It seems to me you had everything under control. And you liked that cat, didn’t you?”

You can’t deny that, but what the hell is she thinking?

“The only reason she’s calm right now is because you are here. If you leave, it will go right back to awkward, fast!”

“All the more reason you should stay here. What better way for you two to get closer, then with me gone. That way you two can really bound, and not pretend to like each other just because of me.”

“But I don’t know the first thing about pets!”

“Oh, you’ll do fine.”

Twilight smiles at you, but before you can retort she stops you.

“Just try it, Trixie. If it really doesn’t work, then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but for now, humor me.”

You sigh, this really isn’t a good idea, but before you can say so, Twilight gives you a puppy eye look. Goddamn adorkable mare! That’s cheating! She’s too cute like that!

“Fine, but you can come over to mend the damage, if this goes wrong.”

She gives you a chipper sure, before she giggles and moves out of the door, supposedly to Sugarcube Corner. You suddenly feel very awkward when you spot Fluttershy in her kitchen, still feeding various animals, and your little new friend, Sapphire sitting patiently behind you. Seems she wants you to feed her.

You walk back to the kitchen, as Fluttershy is still being assaulted by hungry animals. There just doesn’t seem an end to the army of bunnies, squirrels, birds and other tiny creatures waiting on their vegetables or other types of food.

“Welcome back, Trixie. Could you help me for a second, please?”

You’re honestly a bit surprised. There doesn’t seem to be a trace of fear left in her voice, and she doesn’t even seem the least bit worried that Twilight is gone. You’re almost wondering if Fluttershy has a long lost twin or something, but maybe when she’s feeding her animals, any and all fear or shyness she normally shows, just doesn’t seem to happen during these moments.

When Fluttershy asked for your help, you never expected she meant giving carrots to bunnies. It’s not an easy task, doing so with hooves, not in the least made harder when some impatient bunny that doesn’t want to wait his turn, pretty much lunges at the carrots in your hooves, but you manage to avoid getting any snatched for now. Even though your only job is to get carrots of a plate, which is seated on a cupboard, it still takes a while for you to get the hang of it. This would most likely be another job that would be a hell of a lot easier with magic. Well, either that or hands. God, do you miss your hands at times like these.

It takes quite a bit, but you’re almost done feeding the bunnies. You must have fed over fifty, and you can’t help but wonder where they all came from. During the time it took you to feed these bunnies, Fluttershy had already taken care of the other rodents, and she was now finishing the birds. She’s totally in her element like this, and it’s actually something else to see her so powered up for a change. Granted, you only really know Fluttershy from the show, but she was usually the meek pony, that was even afraid of her own shadow. To see her so committed to her animals was quite the thing to behold though.

You’re finally done with the bunnies, though you’re positive Angel wasn’t amongst them, as no carrots got thrown at you by a pissed off white bunny. The impatient bunny earlier was grey, so that wasn’t Angel either. Frankly, you don’t care about that little shit anyways. If he as much as tries anything again, you’ll stew him and eat him, body allowing you to do so or not!

…Yeah, you kind of hold a bad grudge against those that wronged you.

You glance over at Fluttershy and see she’s just about done with the rest of the horde of animals. You’ve no idea where they all came from, but you’re positive that must have been a number through the hundreds, and that was just rodents and birds. Does she feed other animals? Those chickens didn’t get fed yet, but there are only a handful of those. God, how does she do this every day on her own? Not to mention the cleanup duty that must come with these animals. Looking at the floor shows you that there are quite a few of tiny left over pieces of vegetables and other food stains that these animals never ate, or must have spilled during their eating. You seriously don’t know how she does that, but the place looked sparkly clean when you entered. Damn, you can’t help but admire the shy yellow pony. She really has this entire thing sorted, something you wouldn’t be able to do in years.

You got the distinct feeling you forgot something as well, and as you look around you spot Sapphire still waiting next to you. Drat, you had totally forgotten about her. Yeah, you really shouldn’t get a cat at all. Poor thing would starve to dead with your attention span.

But you soon come to realize another issue. Cats don’t eat carrots. Heck, cats barely eat vegetables at all as far as you know, and you know for a fact cats require meat to survive. You highly doubt Fluttershy would feed meat to her pets though. Now what?

“Fluttershy, what does Sapphire eat?” you might as well ask her directly.

“Oh, normally she drinks milk, and eats some meat at her owner’s house, but I got some yummy fish for her.”

Wow…that’s…well, unexpected. Never had you expected that pure innocent Fluttershy would feed one animal to another, but she doesn’t even seem to blink when she mentions Sapphire eating meat. Not to mention the fact that she would feed a cat fish. Did she catch that fish herself? Isn’t she upset that a cat is eating fish? For being an herbivore, you sure as hell never expected her to be fine with feeding carnivores.

But sure enough, she goes over to a refrigerator and opens it to pull out a plate with tiny fish on it. You don’t really know what kind, but they look like tuna or salmon. Frankly, you don’t care what kind they are, as you’re still surprised Fluttershy would have dead fish in her house.

Screw it. This might turn out awkward again, but you’re too damn curious to let this go.

“Aren’t you upset?”

Fluttershy just looks at you in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

Seriously? Is this act that normal to her that she doesn’t even find it the least bit weird? Maybe it really is you, but you seriously can’t get over the fact that an equine being, one that loves animals even, seems to have no problems feeding one type of what used to be a living being, to another.

“Well, you know… this.” You point a hoof at the plate with dead fish.

“Oh… Not really. Sure, it’s sad that these fishies died, but Sapphire here can’t help it that she needs the protein to survive. I would prefer it, if she just ate fruits and vegetables, but sadly a cat needs the proteins inside the fish, and the bones gives her the needed calcium. Without it, she would die. Though, you can’t give them fish every day either. That would be unhealthy as well, as they can develop all kinds of issues in the future.”

She’s really nothing like you expected, and she seems to think of this in a logical way. Honestly, you expected her to be all in tears should a cat ever kill an animals, even if it was for its own survival, but she seems to be totally fine with it. So, why are you so freaked out about this?

Before you can think deeper about that, Sapphire starts to start meowing rather fiercely. She must have smelled the fish, and is now begging for some food.

“Would you like to give her one?” Fluttershy asks you, but for some reason you’re still not comfortable with that idea.

Why is it that you find this so hard? You ate tons of meat as a human. Steak, bacon, hamburgers, the greasiest juiciest meat, and did it ever taste good! You knew deep down that came from dead cows and pigs, and that those got raised as cattle before they ended up being slaughtered and turned into those delicious items, but you never actually cared about any of that. So, why are you having such a hard time with this now? Is it because this body can’t handle meat? But you’re still you in here, so this shouldn’t hit you so hard. You ate bacon four days ago, and you didn’t even think about the fact that an animal died for your food then, so why are you overthinking this now? This can’t be normal. Was this another one of Trixie’s mind games?

You want to think this through more, but Sapphire is really begging for a fish now, and with the biggest reluctance you force yourself to take one of the tiny fishes and drop it in front of her. You do so, because even touching something that’s been dead a while gave you the creeps. Yeah, that’s definitely not normal. Just what did Trixie actually do to your mind?

Sapphire wastes no time and pretty much tackles the item in question, as if she was worried it would escape her clutches. The next part is by far the hardest for you though. You can actually hear her break through the skin of the fish, as you hear a sickening cracking sound. It’s a normal thing for a cat, and it’s not even the first time you see or hear it, but for some reason, it really fills you with dread. Looking over at Fluttershy, she seems all smiles as little Sapphire is eating her food with gusto, but you’re seriously starting to panic. Thoughts of being attacked by all kinds of predators that would swipe your jugular vein right open pop in your head, and you actually start to shake in fear. This isn’t normal anymore, why are you so scared? This is a peaceful community, and the only predators are in some creepy forest… that’s actually not too far from this place.

Oh god, that thought makes it even worse, and you think you’re starting to hyperventilate as you breathing quickens.

“Are you alright?”

It seems Fluttershy noticed you panicking, but no, you really are not alright. You’re trembling all over, and you’re about to go in a deep panic state if you don’t calm yourself down. Calm down, dammit! You’re fine! There is nothing to be scared of here! You’re surrounded by tiny creatures and a yellow flying miniature horse. None of those eat meat, so they wouldn’t see you as a tasty snack.

“Would you like some water?”

You glance over at Fluttershy, who seems deeply worried about you. She must have no idea what’s happening either, but in her own way is trying to help. You are still trying to bring your breathing to a regular speed, so all you can do is nod. You seriously need to calm down, right now! You came here to try to make friends with Fluttershy, and all you’re doing is worrying her even more. The fact she is worried should be a good sign, but it won’t help you in the long run.

It takes you a while, but you managed to calm down enough that you won’t hyperventilate or something similar like that. Your vision suddenly gets filled with yellow, and you see Fluttershy in front of you, holding a glass of water in her hooves.

You’re still somewhat shaky, but you managed to grab the glass from her. You’re holding it between your hooves, which is not an easy feed, when you’re shaking all over and are not used to doing so to begin with, but you manage to sip some water without the glass slipping from between your hooves and breaking apart. It actually helps you relax, and the next few minutes you sit there drinking till the glass is empty, while Fluttershy just waits for you to finish.

Your shaking has turned into slight shivering, and your breathing has gone down to a regular state, but you’re still a bit anxious. What the hell was that? You have never been that scared in your life, ever. You went to the zoo as a kid, you saw lions and other big predatory animals that could tear you limb from limb, but never did you panic. In fact, you thought those creatures looked cool. But now, you were so scared earlier that it is a miracle you didn’t pee all over yourself. This must be Trixie’s doing! There is no way that you would be so scared about seeing a cat devour a fish. But why would she do that? This doesn’t benefit the body swap in the least, does it? Maybe it’s a defense mechanism of some sorts, so that you would just spend the entire duration of this switch indoors? No, that seems unlikely. But what if this is some side effect that wasn’t supposed to happen in the first place? Can a spell even have side effects? You really need to start gathering info about magic, and rather soon. You don’t need to have another one of those panic attacks.

“Are you ok now?”

The voice actually startles you, even if it’s quiet. God, you had actually forgotten you where over at Fluttershy’s. You must be really out of it though, if a voice as calm and silent as hers spooks you.

“Y-… yes, I’m fine now. Thank you for the glass of water.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. But what was that?”

What was that indeed? Is this really some spell gone wrong, or are you just having a random panic attack? Maybe deep down, you’re so stressed about this whole switch that it brought up an anxiety attack, but that doesn’t make much sense. You were spooked when you first found out about this mess, but then again, who wouldn’t after finding out they were now a pony that for all purposes was supposed to be in a cartoon. But you didn’t panic back then, besides a brief moment when you feared your hands were cut off. So, why did this happen? You can’t help but wonder if maybe deep down, this is some subconscious part of Trixie’s fear that got stuck inside of her head, and you’re now experiencing what she fears. That is being eaten alive by some wild beast. That a tiny kitten brought up that fear is something you can’t really explain, but that doesn’t matter for now.

But now what, do you lie to Fluttershy? What would you tell her anyways? That you just had some random panic attack, and that you just sometimes get those? No, that might backfire, and might bring with it more problems than you care for. You shouldn’t tell her the truth either though, or at least not the part of you being a body swapped human. Better to let them think you’re the actual Trixie, then to them thinking you’re making up some fabricated story to fool them. For all you know, they might think you’re a part of that rebellion force against princess Celestia. No way can you handle that stuff. You got your own mess to deal with.

“I don’t know. That never happened to me before.”

You might as well go halfway with the truth here.

“Oh goodness. Do you need anything else?”

She really seems to care about you. Maybe ponies are just a hell of a lot nicer than humans, or maybe it’s just Fluttershy herself that is this nice, but it makes you happy all the same.

“No, I’m good. Thank you for caring about me though.”

“That looked so scary, and I didn’t know what to do at first. If you need anything at all, just let me know.”

Man, this pony. You swear you can feel her concern for you radiating from her. You also notice she’s not stammering in the least anymore. She really is something else. Not only does she care for hundreds of animals, but she even is concerned for you. A pony, that to her, must have been quite the troublemaker the last time she was here.

“You’re amazing, you know that?”

You flap it out without thinking about it much, but every word is true.

“Oh, my. You’re just saying that”

She’s blushing at your compliment and starts to squeak a bit again, but you honestly mean that. You always thought of her as the weakest link of the mane six, but she’s quite strong in her own way.

“No, I really mean it. You’re taking care of so many animals, and you even seem to catch fish for a cat. I could never do anything like that.”

You do leave out the fact that your main reason for that is because of this body, but you really meant the rest. This must be such a high demeaning job, and she does it like it’s nothing.

“I love all animals, from the fluffy bunnies to the slippery snakes, so I don’t mind feeding them, or taking care of them. I don’t catch the fish myself though.”

Oh. Well, that does seem more like the Fluttershy you know. Does that mean she buys her fish in stores? Do ponies have a fish market? You’re also very glad you didn’t have to feed a snake, and you hope that those things don’t appear at this place to begin with. Should they do, you shouldn’t come back here at all. You hate snakes!

“So what, you just buy the fish?”

“Oh goodness no. I would never do anything like that. There are a few fisher ponies though that sell their goods to griffons and minotaurs, and a friend and fellow animal lover sometimes gives me a batch for free. Same for these yummy carrots, and other fruits and vegetables. Plenty of nice ponies give me their leftover, so that I can give them to my little friends.”

She finished her line as various critters and birds come over to her. They hug her, as a few birds land on top of her body, which are in their own little way, showing affection for their caretaker. It looks so unreal, and yet it’s happening all the same. You honestly don’t know what to say, but before you can, a knock is heard from the door. Is Twilight back?

“Oh, that must be Barry. Could you open the door please?”

Fluttershy is still half buried under her animals, so you walk to the door. Who’s Barry though? You don’t know any pony named like that. Is he maybe one of those ponies that brings supplies to Fluttershy, so she can feed her animals? Well, whoever he is, you’re about to find out.

You open the door to come face to face with a… big brown bear.

“…”

What the fuck? Why is there a huge bear in front of you? Didn’t a pony knock on the door? So, why is this thing here?

Before you can even move, or shout at Fluttershy to run away, the bear roars at you.

Well, this is it. This is how you die. You’re going to be eaten alive by a bear. So much for your ‘no predators around here’ theory.

You close your eyes and let out a shriek as the bear lunges at you. Please, let him be quick. If you’re going to die, you prefer to go instantly.

No pain is forthcoming though. In fact, the bear took you in his paws, and brought you to his mouth. Is he going to bite you now?

He opens his mouth and he… starts to lick you. What?

“Barry, you let poor Trixie down, right this instant mister!”

The bear gently places you down before he goes over to Fluttershy, who gives him a stern look. He cowers a bit before Fluttershy, but she soon loses that look, a smile coming in the place, and starts to pat the giant mammal. The bear seems to really like it as he falls on his back and lets Fluttershy rub his stomach.

What just happened? You feared for your life, and yet Fluttershy seems to act like this is the norm with this bear.

“Sorry about Barry. He can be a bit over excited at times.”

“But… giant bear… roar… what?”

God, you sound like a retard right now, but you seriously can’t make sense of this.

“Oh, he was just saying hello. Weren’t you Barry?” She asks him as the bear makes these tiny roar sounds while he’s pawing in the air.

This is too much for you. Being swamped by a horde of animals was ok. Getting a panic attack when a cat ate a fish was damn scary. But a bear giving you the scare of a lifetime, to then just giving you a hello in his own little way, is just too damn much for one day. You need to go, fast, lest you go insane.

“I should go.” You say as you head towards the door, but Fluttershy stops you when she moves from Barry, and flies over to you.

“Don’t you want to say goodbye to Sapphire first?”

That the second time today you forgot that little bugger, but you really don’t want to stay here. Barry might be domestic as hell, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not giving you the creeps. Those claws that could maul you to dead, teeth as sharp as nails, and a body the size of a bed. Yeah, that’s definitely too much for you.

“I’d love to, but I promised Twilight to come home soon.”

Ugh, that makes it sound like Twilight is your mom or something, but it seems Fluttershy believes you as she moves away. Before you can jump out of the door though, a soft meow halts you. Goddamn cat, why are you so cute?

You turn around to look at little Sapphire, who seems to want to say goodbye to you. You hold back a sigh as you pat her head again.

“I’ll see you later, cutie.”

You doubt that, but for some reason it makes you feel better about yourself. You really don’t want to come back here though, what with creepy bears and the Everfree forest looming over the horizon.

“T-… Thank you for helping me earlier, Trixie.”

Well, least this trip didn’t end up a failure. You don’t rightfully know if you made up with Fluttershy, as most of the time spend here was sorting animals out, but at least you didn’t make it worse.

“You’re welcome Fluttershy, and I hope you accept my apology.”

“Tw… Twilight told me that you’re trying to make up for being mean before, so you should keep it up. I know Rainbow Dash and Applejack are very upset with you, but if you’re nice to them, and apologize as well, they’ll come to accept you in their own time.”

So Twilight did tell her some stuff while you waited outside. You do wonder if Fluttershy planned this evening, as a test of some sorts, but you doubt that she’s that cunning. Test or not, you suppose you passed, as Fluttershy is smiling and not cowering before you. You never expected that this would be the outcome for an afternoon spend here, but you’ll gladly take it.

“Thank you. For everything I mean.” You smile at her before glancing over at Sapphire “Keep that cutie safe, ok?”

Fluttershy nods, and you’re about to say some more, but you can see Barry coming closer. Nope! You need to go, domesticated bear or not!

“Bye!” you all but dash out of the door, but do stop a bit when you get halfway across the walkway. You turn one more time, and see Fluttershy, Barry and Sapphire waving at you. You’ll never get used to the fact that a bear and cat are waving at you, but that’s not the weirdest thing that has happened to you so far. You wave back before continuing back towards Twilight’s house, but you can’t help but notice that the sun is nearly down. You must have spent quite some time here, or nightfall is just set for a certain hour in this world. Not that surprising, when two beings can control the sun and moon you suppose.

You do glance over to the back of Fluttershy’s yard when you spot a white bunny, who seems to be laying on a tiny sofa located under a tree. He spots you and you swear he’s flipping you off.

Fucking Angel bunny. The next time you spot that little prick, he’s stewed rabbit!

All in all, this has been quite the exhausting day, and you really need to know how that panic attack started, but overall it ended on a positive note.

Maybe Twilight has some spellbooks you can read through though, but trying to ask her without exposing yourself will be quite the issue.

If you can deal with a bear hugging and licking you, you can get the information you need without too much hassle!

With renewed vigor, you head back to Golden Oak library, not knowing what future adventures await you.

Author's Note

This took me way too long, sorry about that!

Fluttershy's cottage is creepy, but you survived! onwards towards your temporary home!