Honey Dew: The Smallest Breezie
Twilight’s plan had worked like a charm: she and her friends, still transformed into Breezies, were now in the grotto where the little flying creatures lived and the migrants could finally see their families again.
The six mares felt a very warm heart seeing all those Breezies hugging their loved ones and having a happy reunion, but sadly a bitter surprise was waiting for them.
“Honey Dew?” A concerned female voice called. “Honey Dew?! Where are you, sweetheart? Come out!”
“Please, keep calm, my love,” a male voice said. “I’m sure we’ll find him in the crowd eventually.”
Fluttershy looked at where the voices came from: it was a couple of Breezies, probably husband and wife; the female looked on the verge of tears while the male tried really hard to look calmer, but he wasn’t doing a very good job. They were both unusually small, even for the Breezie standards…
“Um… can I help you?” Fluttershy asked sheepishly, while her five friends were joining her.
“We can’t find our son!” The female Breezie said with a shaky voice. “His name is Honey Dew, he has a yellow coat and a short orange mane, please tell me you’ve seen him!”
Fluttershy felt her heart sinking to her knees. Honey Dew… orange mane… that didn’t ring any bell, and it wasn’t any different with her friends, so she immediately called the always careful and scrupulous Seabreeze to ask him about the missing Breezie. But, much to her horror, the blue Breezie looked just as alarmed as everyone else when he heard the name Honey Dew…
“Oh my!” Seabreeze exclaimed. “He’s really nowhere to be found?! That would be alarming, Honey Dew is actually the smallest Breezie ever born in our land, he wouldn’t be very safe at all on his own! Then again, all the Breezies in our team had found shelter in Fluttershy’s house… right?” He glared at all the other Breezies who had migrated with him. They all blushed and said nothing…
Seabreeze sighed and hissed: “Alright now, I apologized for being harsh with you, I’m not taking it back and I still mean every nice word I said, but this is dead serious! You all know as well as I do that Honey Dew has more trouble than anyone of us in a situation like being in a land of giants, so I demand an explanation, now!”
After a few moments of hesitation, another Breezie finally stepped forward and said in his language: “He… he was… the leaf incident brought him… a bit too far away from us, and so…”
“Wait a second!” Seabreeze snapped. “He was separated from our group and none of you ever noticed?! What the hay is wrong with you all? Do you realize the great danger that your negligence put him in?!”
Meanwhile, Honey Dew’s mother couldn’t resist anymore, she was now shedding waterfalls of tears, and the only words that could be heard among her sobs were: “No! My baby! How could this be?!” Even her husband was now unable to contain himself anymore, he was weeping desperately while holding his wife very tight. That scene completely incinerated the heart of the Elements of Harmony, especially Fluttershy was now feeling an unbearable knot in her throat and in her stomach.
When Seabreeze had finished ranting and yelling, the other Breezie carefully objected to him: “No offense, but as much as I have to admit that you’re right… you didn’t notice that either, did you?”
Dumbfounded, Seabreeze sighed and grumbled: “Touché… I guess I was way too focused on trying to remind you of what we had to do… which wouldn’t have happened if you paid more attention in the first place, but I guess this isn’t the right time to bicker, we need to find a way to help Honey Dew!”
“That’s right, but… how?”
For about one minute (which felt like a hundred years), there was a somber and ominous silence, broken only by the endless crying of the lost Breezie’s parents, which were being joined by Fluttershy’s soft weeping. For a moment, everyone was even forgetting that the portal to the outside world was slowly closing.
Finally, Twilight Sparkle stepped forward and said: “Seabreeze, I think I have a plan: soon after we go back home, we’ll look for your companion and find him, so we can take care of him and make sure that he’s safe until the portal opens again.”
Honey Dew’s father heard it all and cried: “You can do that?! Oh yes, please, find our son and give him shelter, make sure he can eventually come back to our arms again! I don’t know what I could do if… he…” His lips started to quiver. “This… this is so horrible!” He choked up and buried his face in his tiny hooves.
Fluttershy flew towards Honey’s parents and, after finding the strength to speak despite the lump in her throat, reassured them: “Don’t worry, as soon as we get back home we’ll remember the description you gave of him, look for him and give him all the protection he needs, so when the portal opens up again he will be ready to go back home safe and sound. We promise, right girls?” She looked at her five friends.
“Yes siree!” Pinkie Pie chirped. “Pinkie promise! Cross our hearts and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in our eyes!” The other five transformed ponies immediately repeated her bizarre ritual.
“Thank you,” the mother said between her tears, “thank you so much!”
“Girls, we gotta go now!” Rarity screamed. “The portal is getting dangerously narrow!”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” Seabreeze said to the Pegasus, who was starting to shed a few more tears, “I’ll do my best to reassure Honey Dew’s parents while you’re away, you need to go home now!”
And so the Elements of Harmony quickly said goodbye to their tiny friends to go back to Ponyville, promising to remain loyal to their vow, but not before Fluttershy obtained her precious souvenir from Seabreeze, a flower that would have become the “Key of Kindness”.
***
A few days passed in the happy town called Ponyville, most of its inhabitants just living their lives normally, not knowing that any of their innocent daily actions could be the end of a precious life…
For a long time, Honey Dew, the smallest Breezie ever existed, had been going through the scariest Hell that he could ever imagine. The leaf incident had not only separated from his group, but it also ended up breaking one of his wings. That meant that whenever four giant hooves came towards him he couldn’t fly away, he had to stay on the ground and hope that a mix of speed and luck would save him from being squashed.
Honey Dew did his best to preserve some hope in his heart and kept walking in that land of terrifying giants, praying in vain that his wing would heal by itself sooner or later, even though he knew it couldn’t be cured without the proper tools and cares. He knew many of those huge creatures could actually be very friendly, but that wasn’t easy when he was unable to fly and his minuscule size made him look like some kind of bug, and the fact he had a very limited knowledge of Pony language didn’t help at all. At times he even tried to interact with some of them and ask for assistance, but every time it didn’t go as well as he hoped.
He had come across three incredibly cute giant fillies, each of a different type of pony, but they all ended up trying to step on him, giggling like they were just playing a very fun game. And when Honey Dew realized that he could die even under those chubby little hooves that looked like they were praying to be cuddled and kissed, he had a very hard time trying not to just lay down waiting to be stepped on.
In that moment, Honey Dew had found a somewhat interesting place: it was full of ginormous trees and the top of each one of them was full of red fruits which looked quite appetizing. There was a pretty good smell in the air, and for a moment the Breezie could finally hope that he had found a way to calm his hunger. But how was he going to reach those fruits with his broken wing? His answer was about to come, although it wasn’t the kind of answer he hoped for.
The ground beneath Honey Dew’s tiny legs started to tremble periodically, a distant boom of something heavy hitting the earth accompanying each short earthquake. And little by little, the tremors and the thuds kept getting closer… and louder… and scarier…
‘Oh no!’ The Breezie thought. ‘One of the giants is coming!’
Soon the gargantuan beast came close enough for Honey Dew to see it: it was a female pony with an orange coat, a blond mane and a funny looking hat. She looked rather busy and focused on whatever she was doing, dragging a giant bucket with her head. Her hooves indiscriminately squashed anything that was so unlucky to be on their way, turning the grass into a flat carpet and fallen leaves and twigs into dust.
Honey Dew was way too scared of the giantess to even try to talk with her, something about that pony inspired an intimidating power that could destroy him in the blink of an eye. He observed her from a safe spot as she put her bucket in front of one of the trees, then she vigorously bucked the same tree with her hind legs, making a sound that made Honey Dew yelp in fear, and the vibrations of all those fruits falling from the tree didn’t help.
The Breezie just covered his eyes, waiting for that nightmare to end. When the tremors were over, he saw something that made his heart pop: a giant fruit had rolled pretty close to where he was, ready for him to eat! It was slightly rotten and a little worm was digging in its flesh, but it still had some edible parts and Honey Dew was way too hungry to care about the details.
The smallest Breezie practically plunged his little head in the pulp of the fruit, savoring its sweet taste and feeling the annoying grumble in his stomach finally taking a break. But it was way too good to last…
Boom… boom… BOOM… the mare’s stomping hooves were approaching once again, right towards the fruit that Honey Dew was biting.
The little creature ran behind some blades of grass, making sure that the giantess couldn’t see him. From his hiding place, he saw the towering figure of the pony, looking at his lunch with an annoyed look on her face.
“Well now,” the giantess boomed in her language, her voice making him cover his ears in terror. “What am ah gonna do with such a bad lookin’ apple? Absolutely nothing! Urgh, it always feels like such a failure, even when every other apple is just perfect!”
The pony raised one of her huge front hooves right above the apple… and stomped on it powerfully, squashing the little worm along with the fruit. The impact made Honey Dew fall and almost have a heart attack, and some of the crushed fruit’s juice splashed right on his face. And he still wasn’t sated…
But the worst was yet to come: the giantess’s other hoof landed right next to Honey Dew, missing him by a hair and completely destroying a little flower. The Breezie started to run as fast as he could, cursing his broken wing and the tears obscuring his vision.
And right when the poor little thing thought he couldn’t get any more unlucky, he sunk into something squishy and horribly sticky, completely unable to run anywhere. It was a pink and dense substance, and the more he tried to struggle the more he got stuck to it. Meanwhile, the thundering back hooves of the giantess got closer to where he was trapped, up above he could see a gigantic and pretty soft looking tummy moving forward… and then a rear hoof menacingly loomed over his head, a surprisingly cute sole getting closer and closer…
Honey Dew did not even have the force to scream while the hoof stepped right on him and on his sticky prison, causing a terrifying earthquake and a dense cloud of dust, he could only sob and think about his beloved parents…
“Oh, for the cryin’ out loud!” The giantess growled. “What did ah tell Apple Bloom about spittin’ her gum on the ground? Alright then, where’s a twig?”
Meanwhile, Honey Dew was by now starting to accept the idea that his life was over… but instead he was still alive, stuck to the plush underside of the pony’s hoof. Luckily, he was right underneath a groove on the giant sole, so he was imprisoned and unable to move but at least he wasn’t mushed, the rubbery and dense matter that covered him contributing in giving him some strange form of protection.
For a few seconds, absolute darkness and very little air to breathe engulfed the unfortunate being, but then the giantess took another step, with Honey Dew still perfectly attached to her back hoof.
The Breezie screamed and wept desperately while the hoof kept going higher and higher, making its “guest” feeling horribly dizzy, countless pieces of dirt and trampled plants falling from it; and then the hoof went lower and lower to hit the ground once again, with Honey Dew having a short and terrifying vision of more blades of grass getting flattened and the entire world around him trembling violently, like the entire planet was about to explode due to the unlimited power of the titanic hoof.
That horrible ride went on and on for an amount of time that was pretty short for the pony, but pretty much eternal for Honey Dew, who was almost going to throw up the few things he had managed to eat.
But then, the hoof made a different movement and instead of moving forward it just stopped in mid-air, and the Breezie could now see the sky instead of the ground. Something pointy touched the sticky pink matter and ran through it, luckily without hurting Honey Dew. The gum and its prisoner finally got off the hoof and were thrown away by the pointy object to land somewhere far away, the Breezie screaming and praying that the horrible flight would end soon…
***
“Aaah, that’s better!” Applejack said with a smile and a sigh of relief, dropping the twig on the ground. Then she playfully stomped on it with the same hoof she had just cleaned and broke it in halves, giggling. “Nothin’ can beat ya, right Kicks McGee?” She cheerfully said to her powerful yet cute and fluffy back hoof.
Applejack turned around and had a pleasant surprise: her friend Rainbow Dash was fluttering towards her; there was a very stressed look on her face, but Applejack was still happy to see her after working in solitude for hours.
“Howdy, Rainbow Dash! Good to see you here!”
“Hi, AJ…”
“Ah say, why the long face, sugarcube?”
“Nothing much, it’s just that this stupid research is still going and every minute it just gets more and more tedious! I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but of all the creatures that could get lost, WHY did it have to be the smallest Breezie?! If I stare into the grass for just a few more minutes I’ll probably get even more cross-eyed than Derpy!”
“Pretty hard, isn’t it? Ah hear ya, Dashie. Too bad ah can’t help right now, I have so much apple bucking to do…”
“Yeah, I know. I hope you can join us again soon, only Rarity and Twilight are taking this seriously at the moment, Fluttershy is still in panic and Pinkie won’t knock it off with her antics about detectives and mystery stories!”
“Heh-heh-heh, you have my sympathy, sugarcube.” She put a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Well, I think you just need to take a break, don’t ya? And ah think ah have the perfect idea for an activity to help you to relax and have some fun: some ants have made a colony near my house, right next to that bush over there, ya see? They’re bein’ rather annoying lately, but right now ah don’t feel like usin’ insecticide and makin’ the area smell horrible, so… can you guess what ah’m implying?” She winked.
Rainbow Dash grinned from ear to ear and her eyes sparkled like diamonds. “Oh yes I can!” She said with the squeaky voice she could have when she was excited. “Time to play some squish and squash!”
The blue Pegasus flew towards the spot Applejack had pointed her hoof at. The farmer chuckled at her reaction and said to herself: “Ah have to admit, she’s kind of adorable when she does that. Dashie certainly has the heart of a little filly. Now off to prepare a little treat for her!”
***
Honey Dew opened his eyes, not knowing whether he had to thank or curse fate for not killing him. He was still stuck to that disgusting object, but at least the gargantuan and ruthless orange hoof was nowhere to be seen, so he had all the time he needed to get out of that sticky situation.
With some patience and hard work, Honey Dew was finally free, now the only thing he could do was analyzing the place where he had landed.
This time he wasn’t alone in the grass jungle: before him there were black creatures who were more or less just as big as he was, “ants” he believed they were called, they had taught him a few things about them in school. The strange beings with antennas and six legs were walking in line, carrying weird little objects in their mandibles: they looked like small white rocks but they were probably food judging from what Honey knew about ants.
The Breezie decided to take a closer look at the bugs’ work, being very careful not to disturb them. He saw that close by there was actually an abandoned piece of something bigger, which Honey Dew recognized as “bread”. The ants took small pieces from it and brought them to their anthill, which was located in the shade of a huge bush.
Honey got closer to a side of the slice of bread which the ants were currently ignoring and took a little bit of it. It was stale and rather hard, but still nutritious, so he kept eating it until he finally didn’t feel hungry anymore. At last, the little creature could continue his odyssey without feeling the torment of hunger… for a while at least.
But while Honey Dew was walking away, he suddenly fell down because of one single earthquake that was much more intense and louder than all of those emitted by the orange mare, like four hooves where colliding on the ground at the same time.
The Breezie turned around and saw that he was right: another gigantic pony, who this time had wings, had just landed. It was another girl, although a bit more tomboyish than the previous titan; she had a cyan coat, magenta eyes and all of the seven rainbow colors in her mane. On her muzzle there was a malicious grin, which immediately told Honey Dew that she was up to no good… and for that reason, he immediately hid behind the piece of stale bread, trembling like a leaf.
Very slowly, the winged giantess trotted towards the anthill, lifting her hooves excessively high and stomping them really hard, making her walk more intimidating yet somehow adorably hammy. Each thud caused by her hooves made the ground tremble, startling the ants and bringing Honey Dew on the verge of tears once again.
“Fee, fi, fo, fum,” the mare boomed, raising her voice rather high, “look at what the biggest giantess of all Equestria has just found: plenty of tiny victims to crush!”
She deliberately stomped on a daisy and grinded her hoof on the ground, laughing like an excited filly. Her laugh was a little squeaky, even kind of adorable if it didn’t belong to such an enormous and scary creature.
“Just what I needed, my spectacular giant hooves are seriously hungry for someone small and squishy to step on! Just look at them, they’re way too cool and beautiful, they absolutely deserve to stomp on everything and everyone smaller than them! Abandon all hope, little ones, you are going to become paste under my soles, because no one can escape the great mighty… DASHZILLA! ROOOAAAR!”
While the pony was imitating the roar of a giant monster, her strong, gigantic yet kind of soft looking hoof descended right on the anthill, destroying it in an explosion of dust and flying ants.
Honey Dew could only look in terror as those little black creatures were getting passionately squashed by the winged giantess, who just kept either roaring or laughing like some mix between a bad giant and a wicked witch from a dark fairy tale. Occasionally she even took a few seconds to admire her soles full of trampled ants with a strange grin on her face, which in different circumstances would have looked a little childish and extremely cute.
“Oh, look at this,” the pony said with a different voice, this time cooing like a fake gentle giantess. “You were eating this slice of bread, weren’t you? Hang on a second, I wonder how it feels like under my hoof.”
That’s when Honey Dew had the worst vision that he could expect at the time: a huge cyan rear hoof was coming down to tread on the piece of bread… and on him!
He ran away as fast as he could, screaming in terror, while the smooth underside of the giant hoof completely destroyed the piece of bread with a loud crunching noise and barely missed him. The impact made him trip and fall again and a small rain of crumbs submerged him.
“Heh-heh-heh, it feels awesome of course!” The titan said, grinding her hoof slowly. “Aww, poor little anties, this naughty hoofsie smashed your meal? Well too bad for you if you weren’t born as huge as… Dashzilla!”
Honey had no idea of what to do… as scary as the giantess was, something about her suggested that she was just playing around, after all ants were not as sentient as Breezies and the pony hadn’t noticed him yet, so maybe trying to get her attention was still worth a try even though her stomping hooves were scaring him so much.
But right when the Breezie was getting ready to take courage and call the giantess, the voice of the orange pony called from somewhere else: “Hey Dashie! You wanna drink some cider?”
The cyan mare assumed a way less threatening expression and squeaked: “Did you say… cider? That is… so awesome!”
Joy and excitement made the pony’s enormous wings flap uncontrollably, causing a whirlwind that was just like a tornado for little Honey Dew, who got completely blown away.
The small helpless creature emitted a weak and short yelp, then he just gave himself up to the wind, waiting for the moment where he would have landed, ready to go through some horrible misadventures again.
***
“Oh no… please Celestia, no!” Fluttershy exclaimed all of a sudden, startling Twilight.
She had felt something small and crunchy being completely smothered and torn apart by one of her rear hooves… she tried to look at what she had stepped on, but she just couldn’t, a mix of sheer terror and tears eclipsing her sight prevented her from finding out.
“Twilight, please,” the Pegasus whimpered, raising her back hoof so the Alicorn could see what she had squashed. “Tell me what I stepped on without any preamble, make it quick!”
Twilight Sparkle examined the sole of Fluttershy’s hoof carefully for a few seconds and said: “It’s a beetle, a ‘cockchafer’ or ‘May bug’ to be more specific. Don’t worry, you didn’t squash the Breezie we are looking for.”
“Thank goodness,” Fluttershy said, feeling Twilight’s hoof caressing her mane to reassure her. “I feel sorry for this innocent little creature, but I would have never forgiven myself if I had crushed a poor unfortunate Breezie who got lost by accident in a world where anything can kill him… and whose family is still waiting… and I… I…” She couldn’t finish her sentence, a lump had formed in her throat and waterfalls were falling from her eyes.
“Oh, hang in there, Fluttershy,” Twilight whispered tenderly, “I’m sorry to say this, but I’m afraid it might be too hard for you to find Honey Dew in that state. Perhaps you need to take a break and chill out, you still have some herbs to make a relaxing drink your cottage, don’t you? Why don’t you go and get some rest while I proceed the research?”
Between the sobs, Fluttershy answered: “Y-yes, I guess you’re right… I’ll go home, please be very careful and watch your s-steps!”
The Pegasus slowly trotted away towards her cottage, letting her tears flow freely so she could vent her deep sadness and hopefully feel even better after drinking a cup of warm infusion.
***
Honey Dew, who had fainted for a moment after an abrupt landing, woke up in another forest of grass. This time there wasn’t any ant or other type of insect to be found, but he could already notice something far more unwelcome: the booming hoofsteps of an approaching giant.
‘Well, at least fate is not giving me false hope this time!’ He thought with bitter irony.
The new pony was a yellow mare with a long and very soft looking pink mane, but the most interesting detail was her face: in that moment, the giantess was crying intensely and actual waterfalls were falling from her sad looking eyes.
Although the pony was stomping right towards him, Honey Dew couldn’t help feeling incredibly saddened by the giantess’s sorrow, and for a while he couldn’t help looking at her incredibly sweet muzzle, listening to her booming sobs which suggested a surprisingly soft and gentle voice for someone of her size…
But it didn’t take a long time for terror to take him over again: when the pony’s head was right above him, a gigantic tear fell dangerously close to the Breezie, making a loud and menacing splash and almost drowning him. And before he could get over the shock, more and more tears fell all around, creating a rain of water bombs which the Breezie really had to avoid.
But what really convinced Honey Dew that even the cutest giantess so far represented a danger was her soft yellow hoof stomping right on the small lake formed by the tears, creating a little wave that engulfed him.
The wave, added to the earthquakes caused by the crying giantess’s hooves, condemned the Breezie to take another scary travel, this time a shorter one, right below the pony’s yellow tummy.
Honey got up and shook the water off his body, but before he could even breathe again, an adorable yet terrifyingly huge rear hoof slowly came down to step on him… the Breezie leapt out of the hoof’s way, saving his own life once again, but a fallen leaf got completely crushed by the weeping giantess.
From the corner of his eye, Honey Dew saw what looked like a hole, the closest thing to a safe shelter that he could find. He ran towards it, while the long fluffy tail of the pony dragged itself on the ground.
The lost creature jumped into the darkness of the hole, feeling a lump forming in his throat… so that was it, even for a giantess who looked so lovely and delicate for someone so big, he was nothing but a worthless bug to step on… he had always endured some serious problems because of his abnormally small size, but right now he did not only feel little, he felt terribly weak and insignificant.
Honey Dew curled up and started to cry intensely. He promised himself to never walk out of that little cave, he was going to stay there forever, waiting for the benevolent hug of death… until then, all he could do was hoping to get some well-deserved sleep.
***
While Fluttershy was walking away, Twilight kept searching and thought: ‘Hmm, maybe I should tell her she should fly instead of trotting right now… darn it, why is it always so hard to tell her something extremely important when she’s suffering so much? Seriously, nopony should ever see something like this…’
Then, something caught her attention: there was a little hole in the middle of the grass, probably the nest of some animal… or the hiding place of a scared little Breezie! It sounded too good to be true, but she had to try everything.
The Alicorn trotted towards the hole, always making sure that her hooves only stepped on grass and flowers. When she was close enough, she could swear a feeble screaming voice was coming from inside of it! She knelt down to take a closer look, praying to Celestia that her exhausting search was coming to an end.
***
Unsurprisingly, Honey Dew was not even able to doze in his dramatic situation. And it became downright impossible when the ground beneath him started to shake again…
“Oh no!” The Breezie whimpered. As he had learned to expect, the earthquakes were getting closer and closer, right towards the place where he currently was.
Honey started to pray to any supernatural force that could help him, flooding his little face with tears: “Please don’t crush me, please don’t crush me, please don’t crush me…”
Boom… BOOM… four gigantic hooves kept stomping towards him, the sound of trampled grass accompanying each thud…
“Please don’t crush me, please don’t crush me, please don’t crush me, PLEASE DON’T CRUSH ME!”
BOOM!
A huge lavender hoof landed right in front of the entrance, creating a cloud of dust and causing an earthquake that almost made the entire cave collapse.
Honey Dew scurried back with a scream while an enormous eye appeared in front of him. It had a pretty beautiful purple iris, and in the large and shining pupil the Breezie could clearly see his reflection. Each time the giant blinked, the long eyelashes almost blew on his mane and tail and he could clearly hear the sound of the eyelids touching each other. It was so scary it made the Breezie hide his face behind his tiny paws…
“Honey Dew, is that you?” a feminine booming voice said in a perfect Breezie language. Honey looked at the eye again, totally incredulous.
The giantess got a little far from the hole, so the Breezie could have a better view of her lovely muzzle: her coat was lavender, just like the hoof that had stomped in front of the hole, she had a horn on her forehead and there was a big smile on her face, but not a sadistic grin like the one that the cyan destroyer had, she actually looked really happy to see him.
“Yeah, it’s really you! Please, come out little one”, the pony said with an affectionate and almost maternal voice, “I’m here to help you! My name is Twilight Sparkle, and me and my friends have been searching for you to give you shelter until you can go back home again. Come on, dearie, don’t be scared.”
The mare’s voice sounded really sincere and her good grasp of Breezie language helped greatly, but Honey Dew was still a little reluctant after all he had been through, and the pony still scared him with her enormous size… but then he heard a strange noise behind him: it was the true builder and inhabitant of the hole, a terrifying creature with eight legs, two large claws and a narrow tail with a horrible sting at the end of it.
Honey Dew gasped in fear and ran out of the hole with the monster going after him. When the purple giantess outside saw the aggressive animal, she yelped, reared up and impulsively crushed it under one of her front hooves, while the Breezie hugged the back hoof of who appeared to be the only well-intentioned giantess he had found…
***
Twilight Sparkle panted and grinded her hoof on the ground, making sure that she had squished the scorpion for good. She usually didn’t like stepping on little creatures on purpose, but that beast had seriously startled her and she couldn’t let it hurt her precious find, not after so many days of hard work!
Yes, the scorpion was dead, it was no longer a threat. The princess rubbed her hoof on the grass to get rid of the carcass and lowered her head to look at the little Breezie, who was still shaking and clinging to the smooth surface of her left rear hoof.
“You have nothing to fear now, Honey Dew,” she cooed, still taking full of advantage of the hours spent studying the Breezie language. “The bad creature is gone, I stepped on it.”
The delicate little being slowly turned around to look Twilight in the eye, a few tears still running down his cheeks.
Very slowly, making sure not to startle him, Twilight used her telekinesis to bring Honey Dew closer to her face. She had to admit: of all the Breezies that she had seen so far, that was by far the most adorable. His small size, his shaking little body, his teary eyes and his broken wing all called for the sweetest affection that Twilight could give.
To make him feel more comfortable, she put Honey right on the underside of a raised front hoof. And even though the Breezie was still intimidated by her colossal size, he actually appreciated being put right there: it was a very soft and comfortable place to sit on, especially when the hoof was clearly not going to crush him.
Twilght’s huge muzzle came closer to Honey Dew, making him step back a little, but he immediately stopped when he felt the warm and smooth fur of the mare gently nuzzling him. It felt incredibly good… all that softness relaxed him and comforted him in an almost unreal way, and for the first time in what felt like centuries he believed everything was going to be fine.
When the Alicorn noticed that her little friend was actually smiling and hugging her nose with his tiny legs, she almost wanted to cry in front of such cuteness… but right now, there was something more important to do.
“We gotta go now,” she said softly, “you have to meet my friends, they will all protect you until they can take you home again, OK?” The Breezie nodded in answer.
Princess Twilight fluttered towards Fluttershy, who actually hadn’t gone so far. “Hey, Fluttershy!” Twilight called trying not to raise her voice too much. “Try to guess who I’ve just found!”
The Pegasus didn’t stop crying when she saw the tiny Breezie on Twilight’s hoof, but the tears of sorrow were now replaced by tears of absolute joy. She wanted to squee at the top of her lungs and jump up and down like Pinkie Pie, but she didn’t want to startle that adorable and delicate creature, so she made a huge effort to resist the urge.
Honey Dew immediately recognized her as the crying giantess who had almost drowned him in her tears and risked to squish him underhoof, but still he spontaneously smiled at her. He knew she didn’t mean to put him in danger and he could clearly see that she was just as fragile as he was even though she was so gigantic.
Fluttershy sniffed and said: “Thank Celestia! I couldn’t take it anymore!” Then she reached out her front hooves and asked: “Twilight? Can I… keep him?”
“Of course you can” Twilight answered, delicately giving Honey Dew to her friend.
When the little Breezie landed on Fluttershy’s hoof, the Pegasus immediately noticed his broken wing, which struck her like a dagger in the heart.
“Oh dear!” Fluttershy whimpered. “Your poor little wing! No wonder we’ve never seen you flying around! Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to cure you and you’ll be flying again in a jiffy!”
Honey Dew felt the warmth of the giantess’s fluffy chest while he was being hugged and cradled with a gentleness he couldn’t even believe was real.
“It’s OK now, little one,” her endearing voice whispered in Breezie language, “we talked with your parents and we promised them that we’ll take care of you until the portal to your land will be open again. Until then, you will be safe with us no matter what happens.”
Twilight just observed the scene in front of her with a smile until she remembered something important. “Well, now we have to see the others,” she said softly, “Rainbow Dash was going to see Applejack last time I saw her. Wow, she’s going to be so happy when she knows she doesn’t have to search anymore!”
***
Rainbow Dash and Applejack had just finished their cups of cider and were chatting a little more before going back to work.
“Well, I guess I should go back looking for the lost Breezie,” the Pegasus groaned. “Wow, that’s gonna be sooo much fun…” She rolled her eyes.
“Aw, don’t make it more tragic, sugarcube!” Applejack said “Think about that poor little fella, he must be so scared…” She interrupted herself for a moment. “Oh, look, Twilight and Fluttershy are coming, judging from their faces ah guess they have good news!”
“Hmm, you’re right. Besides… what is Fluttershy carrying with her? Could it be…? No, that would be too good to be true!”
***
Honey Dew was pretty eager to see the rest of the gang of giants who were going to be his new family for a while. However, he started to feel uneasy when the flying yellow giantess brought him to a place that looked… familiar… he couldn’t be sure since he had always been in the grass until now, but the trees he could see beyond the hooves that were embracing him almost reminded of a recent misadventure.
“Hey girls!” Twilight called. “You’ll never believe what we’ve just found!”
Fluttershy stopped and Honey heard eight giant hooves approaching from somewhere ahead of him. Then the yellow Pegasus showed the Breezie to her friends… and for the little creature time stopped for a moment.
In front of him there were two of the giantesses that terrified him the most that day: the orange mare with a hat who had actually stepped on him and the blue destroyer who clearly loved feeling everything smaller than her getting crushed underhoof!
Strange expressions appeared on the titans’ muzzles: they both smiled from ear to ear, clearly resisting an urge to celebrate very loudly… they were certainly happy to see him, but was it out of love or because they were glad they could finally use their deadly hooves to finish him?
Much with everypony’s surprise, Honey Dew screamed at the top of his lungs and curled up, burying his head in Fluttershy’s chest.
“Honey… what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.
Honey stammered: “The orange giant… she almost crushed me! I’ve been under her back hoof, I still remember it! I didn’t die because of… something sticky beneath her hoof, then she kept walking and… and then she made me fly and… then the blue one squashed all those creatures and blew me away… oh please, take me away! They will kill me!”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash just watched with troubled expressions while the little thing spoke in his language. “Err… care to explain what he said, sugarcube?” The farmer asked.
“Well, he’s not making much sense right now,” Fluttershy answered, “but apparently he met you before and you almost stepped on him, and now he’s afraid you might try to hurt him…”
“WHAT?!” Rainbow Dash cried. “No, this isn’t true, I’d never do something so horrible! Well, not on purpose at least… maybe I… you know… mistook him for something else…”
“It’s possible,” Twilight said. “This poor Breezie has a broken wing so he couldn’t possibly fly to catch your attention, maybe in a moment when you weren’t searching he had the bad luck of getting in your way.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yeah… he also mentioned something sticky under Applejack’s hoof and Rainbow Dash crushing some creatures, does that ring any bell?”
“Consarn it!” Applejack exclaimed gloomily. “Ah remember stepping on some chewing gum while was bucking the trees… ah’m afraid ah almost stepped on him too by accident, ah can truly understand his fear.”
“Yeah…” Rainbow Dash grumbled, scraping a hoof on the ground “And I was, well, playing some games with some ants… oh, dang it! I must have scared the little guy to death!”
Fluttershy smiled. “Oh, don’t worry girls, I’m sure we can convince him that he has nothing to fear. Come closer.”
Rainbow Dash and Applejack carefully approached while Fluttershy whispered some Breezie words to Honey Dew: “It’s alright, they didn’t mean to scare you. I know them, they’re good ponies. The orange one is named Applejack and she was just distracted because she had a lot of work to do, and the blue one’s name is Rainbow Dash, and I know for sure that she was simply playing around, she would never hurt a sentient creature, especially an innocent lost Breezie such as you. Don’t be afraid, let them greet you.”
Fluttershy’s comforting words convinced the Breezie to turn around and look at the two giants. They were looking at him with pretty warm and friendly smiles on their faces, and in their eyes there was clearly some mixture of guilt and embarrassment.
Honey Dew calmed down a little, forced himself to smile and awkwardly waved at the colossi.
The blue giantess slowly and carefully got closer to nuzzle the Breezie, who trembled a little at first… her massive muzzle made a rumbling noise, like a huge and ferocious beast getting ready to hunt, and from her nostrils came a hot gale that ruffled his mane… but right when he felt the soft and warm coat all over his body, Honey had a pleasant surprise and heard a single Breezie word coming out of the ‘ant squasher’, it meant “Sorry”.
Applejack chuckled. “Ah, so you didn’t sleep throughout the entire lesson of Breezie language!”
Rainbow Dash replied: “Hey, I have my cognitive skills too! Although I admit I don’t really…” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Honey Dew was now hugging her huge nose, making her blush. Spontaneously, Rainbow Dash used her hoof to pet the little being very delicately. But it was Applejack’s turn by now.
The farmer said in an adorably clunky Breezie language “I’m sorry too” and gently stroked Honey Dew with her smooth cheek. This time the little creature showed the same affection right away (even though deep inside he was still slightly intimidated by the gigantic and rumbling muzzle) and caressed the soft orange fur with his tiny hooves and with his head.
“Apologies accepted,” he said. It was a pretty simple sentence, so Applejack and Rainbow Dash understood without problems.
“Girls!” A different voice called from somewhere. “Any luck with the search yet?” Approaching hoofsteps could be heard again.
This time Fluttershy just silently showed her precious find to her other two friends. One of them was a white unicorn with a well combed blue mane and very beautiful and feminine eyes and the other one was a pink earth pony with a puffy mane of a darker shade of pink.
The unicorn gasped and put a front hoof on her chest while the pink pony goofily covered her mouth like she was resisting a very strong urge to let out a deafening scream, causing her cheek to become similar to little balloons.
Honey Dew was pretty sure he hadn’t met those two giants before, besides there was something about their appearances and mannerisms that prevented him from feeling utterly intimidated: the pink pony looked incredibly cheerful and friendly and the unicorn was extremely pretty, for such a gigantic creature she had a lot of elegance and grace to show.
And when the two new friends came closer, the Breezie could smell an astonishingly fragrant smell coming from the unicorn’s fur, and even the pink giantess didn’t smell bad at all, she actually smelled like someone who spent her entire life surrounded by the most delicious sweets.
The unicorn pointed at herself and introduced herself: “I’m Rarity.” Her voice was booming yet surprisingly angelic and sweet.
“I’m Pinkie Pie!” The earth pony chirped. Her voice was squeaky and a little too loud, but kind of pleasant nonetheless.
“I’m Honey Dew,” the Breezie said.
“Yeah, we talked to your parents so we know your name, darling,” Rarity cooed with a thick pony accent, “we’ve been looking everywhere for you! I’m so glad you’re OK, sweetie!”
Rarity came closer to nuzzle Honey Dew, just like Applejack and Rainbow Dash. But this time it was almost… intoxicating! Her perfume overwhelmed him completely, and the softness of her fur was simply incomparable, clearly she took great care of her elegant body. Even her breath smelled good, even though it was another rumbling gale that moved Honey’s mane and wings. It was such a pleasant sensation that he did not only hug the giant muzzle, he completely rubbed his own body against all that heavenly softness!
Even being nuzzled by Pinkie Pie felt really good. He had the luck to feel a little of her voluminous mane and he didn’t regret it; it smelled just as delicious as the rest of her body and its softness was almost unreal! She also had one of the most adorable smiles he had ever seen, he just couldn’t help lightening up when he looked at her face.
Honey knew that he was safe with those six adorable giantesses; they were going to love him and protect him until he could finally go back home and hug his parents again, and somehow the huge size of his new friends was a plus, it made every minute he was spending being snuggled by them feel even longer than all the hours he had spent avoiding somepony’s hoof.
For the first time in endless days, the world’s smallest breezie felt happy.
