The Mare and the Wolf

Eavesdropping

"SHUT UUUUUP!!!"

Fluttershy stopped her sweet, gentle humming and gave a scared, pinched scream, dropping the bag of animal food she was carrying. She laid on the floor, rolled in herself, trembling, trying to be as small as possible.

Winter quickly opened his eyes at both the sound of Fluttershy's distressed scream, and that of his own yelling. Looking around him, and then at the scared mare, he realized what he had done.

"I-I-I…I'm sorry…I'll s-s-stop humming… I'll stop it… I promise!"

"I'm so sorry Fluttershy, it wasn't your humming, I swear." Winter trended his words carefully, he knew how scared the mare could be of him. "I just…had a bad dream." That's when he understood that he had just terrified the closest thing he had to a friend, all because of a dream, he felt ridiculous.

"I'm so sorry." He repeated.

"Oh…well, don't be. I shouldn't have been so scared, anyway." Fluttershy excused herself, as she rose from the floor slowly.

In that moment, the wolf looked at his own body, which was now covered with a soft, yellow blanket, with three hand stitched butterflies in the corner, just like the mare's cutie mark.

"What is this?" he thought out loud.

"Oh...It's just that when I came back you were sleeping and shaking, and I thought you were cold, but I didn't want to wake, so I just gave you that blanket." Fluttershy explained, finishing with a caring smile.

Winter couldn't believe it, he had been resting in her house, without giving anything in return, shouted at her friend, and now scared her half to death, but she still wouldn't show the slightest sign of hatred towards him. Instead, he saw something he hadn't seen in a long time, a friendly face, one that spelled "You're my friend."

The gray wolf blushed a little. Trying to find a different subject, he looked at the bag and the animal food that fell on the floor.

"Are going to feed the other animals?"

"Well…yes, I was, actually."

"I'm sorry you have to keep them outside."

"It's no trouble at all, really. They are used to be out in the open anyway." She said, as she swept the food back in the bag with her wing. "I'll be right back, excuse me." She went out the door and came back, not even five minutes after.

"So…" Fluttershy muttered, as she shyly scratched her hoof lightly on the floor

"Would you like to ta…Oh my Celestia!"

"What is it?" Winter asked, somewhat worried at her exclamation.

"Oh no… I completely forgot… I was supposed to help Rainbow Dash with her new trick today and I'm late, she's going to hate me now. But I can't just leave."

"Don't worry, just go."

"R-really? You don't mind?"

"Of course not. Go ahead."

"Thank you Winter, I really have to go, goodbye." said the mare as she flew out the door.

"See you later." Winter responded. When Fluttershy was out of sight, he turned to a window  "I know you're there. Come out now." He called.

A pink earthpony jumped into sight and into the living room, happily bouncing up and down

"Wow, I can't believe you found us, we were really, really quiet, I didn't think you could hear us, you must be really, really good at hide-and-seek…" she stopped with a big gasp "We should totally play hide-and-seek! Oh can we, can we, can we? It's going to be so much…"

"Pinkie, this is not why we are here, remember?" a new, refined voice interrupted the pink mare. It came from a white unicorn, who had gone all the way around to enter through the door.

"It's not? Then why are we here?" Pinkie responded, confused.

The white mare let out a sigh "We came to see about him." She answered, pointing a hoof at the confused wolf laying on the couch.

"Oh yeah…*giggle* I've never seen a wolf before, do they like parties? Oh of course they do, everyone loves parties, especially mine *GASP* Rarity, we should throw him a welcoming party."

"Pinkie, we are NOT throwing him a party, he is a sav…"

Rarity was interrupted by Winter, who gave a light cough to get the two ponies' attention. While he couldn't make much of Pinkie's fast paced, giggling words, what the unicorn said was enough for him to understand what was going on.

"I take it you're Fluttershy's friends."

"Pardon me, but how do you know that?"

"Fluttershy and her orange friend are the only ponies who know I'm here, so if you two are here then either one of them told you."

"WOW, you're smart, I mean not as smart as Twilight bu…" a white hoof covered her mouth, silencing but not stopping her, since she kept talking through it.

"By the way, how did you know we were here?"

"Fluttershy wasn't the only one who screamed of fright when I woke up."

Rarity blushed, embarrassed, and unfortunately for her, her white coat made it easily visible "Well you shouldn't shout like that, especially with a lady in the room."

"And you shouldn't eavesdrop on your friend."

"We had to come! To make sure Fluttershy wasn't… huh…" the fashionista shifted her eyes away from the wolf's glance, while trying to find the right words.

"Eaten by the big bad wolf?" Winter guessed, and by the look on Rarity's face, he guessed right.

"It's just tha…"

"Don't bother, pony. You don't have to justify yourself."

"Don't call me pony. I am a lady, and so you will address me as Miss, or Rarity, or Miss Rarity, if you please."

"Anyway, I can assure you, Miss, I mean no harm to Fluttershy, you or anypony else."

Rarity couldn't be completely certain he was serious, but at the moment, she wouldn't dare to question him. "Very well then, I suppose that will do for now. Let's go Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie, who hadn't stopped talking through the white hoof, was getting frustrated for not being listened, and freed her mouth to say "Wait, I have to throw you a party, Wolfie."

Winter raised a brow "Wolfie?"

"What kind of parties do you like?"

The question took the wolf by surprise. He waited for a second and responded "First of all, it's Winter, and se…" but was interrupted by a giggle.

"No it's not, silly, can't you see it's the middle of the spring?"

"I meant my name."

"Oh… right." She giggled again.

Winter sighed and continued "And second, don't bother to throw me a party, I've never had one anyway."

In that moment, Pinkie's mind glitched, "No p-p-p-party…N-Never…h-had a…P-P-PARTY?!" and she just fell on her back, flabbergasted at what she just heard, looking into an empty space of the ceiling.

"Oh dear…" said Rarity, not so much as worried as annoyed at the idea of having to carry her out of there. Winter, on the other hand, didn't know the mass of randomness that was Pinkie Pie.

"Is she OK?" he asked, worried about the mare's mental health.

"Don't worry, something like this happens about once every week. Sometimes she starts talking to an empty space, like there is somepony there, watching her. When we ask about it, she says "It's the people at home." Rarity stopped to roll her eyes "Anyhow, we should get going. But we've got our eyes on you." She said, as she levitated Pinkie out of the cottage with her magic.

The mare interrupted her mental breakdown to stare at him, pointing a hoof to her own eyes, and then at his. The two then got outside and closed the door.

"Hugh… Why do all ponies say that?"