The noise around the pond never caused her to stir. Despite the bubbling waters, the madly chirping birds, and the myriad of events taking place amidst the trees, she didn’t move or wake. In fact, the mosaic of sounds managed to leave her in a sort of peace that the springtime air and sunshine couldn’t do alone. She was in her place, after all, and it was the least they could do. Others might call it an awful racket, but with a great inhale and a relieved sigh, the mare remained unbothered.
There was a splashing match between a badger and beaver in the pond. A stack of squirrels was reaching for a precariously hanging acorn in a tree. A sparrow was picking the best and brightest blue flower to give to its mother. The animals didn’t bother the mare because they were too busy living in good enough company. So naturally, the only lonely creature in the noisy clearing made the long journey to her side, gathered its strength, and bothered her.
The tiny green head gave a big sigh for the finished trek, and pressed against her lemon-yellow hoof. She stirred, and a smile slowly but surely appeared on its face as she gave a petite yawn and a small stretch. Her eyes flittered open and she began to take in her vibrant surroundings, but froze when she saw what had woken her.
“Eek!”
The pegasus jumped to her hooves and made a panicked dive into the nearest bushes. The dash forced the creature’s head into its shell in fright. The pony and the reptile stared at each other with bright, blinking eyes from within their green hiding places.
“Oh!” The frightened pegasus spouted, before calmly stepping out to greet the friendly creature. “I’m sorry, little guy. I didn’t mean to startle you like that. You just snuck up on me… That’s all.”
She watched as its head cautiously reappeared. It slowly blinked – one eye at a time – and made its way closer to her hooves. She giggled at the slow pace and bent down to its level.
“Would you like to be in the water, Mr. Turtle? I can help you with that.”
She swept the reptile up in her hooves and brought it with her into a hover, but stopped suddenly with a surprised blink. She scanned every side of the shell without turning it, and made an important distinction.
“Oh! I’m sorry… You’re not a turtle at all.”
It looked back at her before the grin had finished appearing on its face.
“You’re a tortoise.”
The tortoise blinked in approval and finished grinning while the pegasus set him back on the grass and looked around the clearing for any more of his kind. Not only could she not see any tortoises, she couldn’t even spot any reptiles. The thought reminded her of how cautious their kind could be.
“You’re awfully far from home, aren’t you?” the pegasus said whilst peering at the sloped edge of the hill the tortoise had dangerously descended while she slept. “How did you get all the way out here?”
A couple of ecstatic birds flew in between the conversation, chirping aimlessly and causing the tortoise to withdraw again. The pegasus lowered and rubbed his shell with her hoof.
“Well, that doesn’t matter now,” she announced. “Would you like to come home with me? I have plenty of friendly, exotic animals at my cottage that would love to meet you. I mean, unless you have somewhere else to be…”
The sunlight that slowly travelled onto the tortoise’s head revealed his face as a happy grin. The pony chuckled into her hoof.
“Okay then. We’d better go now. Applejack will wonder where I’ve gone… Oh, um, I’m Fluttershy, by the way.”
Fluttershy picked the tortoise up again and took flight with a dainty kick of her hooves and flap of her wings. He withdrew his limbs and head in fear, and Fluttershy rubbed his shell in understanding. But in the three minutes it took to fly back to her cottage, her passenger gradually reappeared with a gleam in his eyes. He extended his front legs as the brisk, chilly air lapped against his face. The pegasus laughed gently, remembering what it was like to fly for the first time.
When they arrived, Fluttershy set the tortoise down carefully at the gates to her backyard as a charging band of animals came to greet her. An excited brown bunny scaled her leg and peeked at her eyes from over her forehead, while a majestic eagle perched itself on her back and cawed tremendously. The newest member of her farm was swarmed by a group of friendly birds, and it hid away from them without pause. Fluttershy was about to speak when a small brown dog jumped up to lick her face.
“Oh! Hello everyone,” she said, “and… yes, hello, Winona. I missed you too.” She petted the dog’s furry head, both in affection and in an attempt to regain her personal space. She wordlessly performed a headcount, while simultaneously giving an introduction for the mossy rock next to her. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet my new friend,” she said proudly, stepping next to the tortoise and rubbing his shell, “come on out, little guy…”
She looked away for just a few seconds, knowing that the green head wasn’t ready to appear. But the tortoise poked his head out from his hideaway anyways, and he was welcomed with an enormous lick from the dog. He ducked away again quickly, causing the dog to bark and peek into his hole, tail wagging furiously. A flamingo and a toucan were attracted by the commotion, and they joined the dog in peering into the shell.
“Now, you play nice and make sure he feels nice and welc– oh!”
Fluttershy gasped and shielded the tortoise from the overbearing critters with her wing. The birds flew away, but Winona poked her nose beneath the feathers and sniffed wildly. Fluttershy craned her head to the trembling green shell as the bunny pretended to pilot her ears.
“You can make friends with whoever you like, okay?” she whispered. “I’ll be around if you need me.”
She tilted her head and let the bunny slide off of her onto the shell, bump over it and land softly on the ground. It took three quick bounds and rejoined its friends instead of attempting to meet the tortoise.
“Fluttershy!”
The yellow pegasus jolted her head up from underneath her feathers and happily began hovering as a speedy, orange-coated pony with a cowpony hat came trotting towards her.
“There y’are!” called the trotter. “Ah was startin’ to think you up an’ left me here with these guys!”
“Oh… I’m sorry, Applejack,” Fluttershy stuttered as her friend skidded to a halt. “I didn’t mean to be gone long… I just needed a break.”
“Hey, that’s all right. These critters take care of 'emselves. Didn’t even hafta lift a hoof! Say, you wanted to show me somethin’?”
Fluttershy’s eyes lit up in remembrance. “Oh, gosh! I almost forgot…”
Without another word, she left the congregation and lifted off towards her cottage. Applejack began to follow, but turned back when she noticed Winona wasn’t behind her. She was still in a sniffing frenzy around every side of the tortoise’s shell.
“Winona, leave the poor thing alone,” she chided before turning to catch up.
Fluttershy emerged from her cottage holding a large bag of dog food. She set it on the ground with a huff and wiped her brow.
“Hey, thanks again for lookin’ after Winona over the weekend,” Applejack stated, still watching the rambunctious dog’s tail making circles around the tortoise. “I wish we coulda taken her with us down to Appleloosa, but–.”
“Oh, it was no problem,” Fluttershy asserted with a polite smile, “but, um, the food you left me…”
Applejack contorted her face into focus and bent down to study the label on the bag’s front. It read ‘Flim Flam’s Scrumptious Doggy Munches’. “Yeah, it’s a new one. The vet rec’mended it.”
Fluttershy bit her lip and nodded, though her gaze was drifting back to the dog and the tortoise. The cautious, green head had somehow come out from its hiding place, and was being vigorously licked by the wired Winona. She noticed him smiling slightly as she returned to her conversation. “I thought so,” she answered.
“Why? Not good for ‘er?”
“Oh, it’s not bad for her, it’s just… whoever made it put in a very addictive chemical… They’re trying to, um… get dogs hooked.”
Applejack poked her head in the way of Fluttershy’s view with a shocked expression. “The vet didn’t say nuthin’ ‘bout that!” she hollered.
“I think that, um… the vet maybe had a, um… endorsement…” Fluttershy confessed.
“Well, shut my mouth… I’d-a never known! Oh, I just knew that doctor was hidin’ his toungue. He’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.”
“Oh, I’m good friends with Doctor Tail… I just don’t think he… did his research.”
Applejack smiled at her friend and rested a hoof on her shoulder. “Well I’m glad somepony did,” she said.
Fluttershy blushed as Applejack went back down to study the label again. The scene at the gate became clear to her once more.
“Oh, goodness!” Fluttershy called, vaulting the earth pony and flying towards the gate. Applejack recoiled from Fluttershy’s take-off and turned to see her dog sniffing the underbelly of the shell she had just successfully tipped over.
“Winona!” She yelled, galloping to Fluttershy’s aid. The dog was agonizingly pulled away from her new toy by her caretaker, who turned the tortoise back over to its more comfortable side. Applejack caught up and lifted Winona's paws off the ground by the scruff of her neck before she could resume whatever game she thought she was playing.
“That’s enough outta you,” Applejack scolded through the fur in her teeth. Winona barked disapprovingly as the tortoise looked at her with a sad frown. Fluttershy took out a cloth and began wiping the tortoise’s shell worriedly.
“I’d better take this one home ‘fore she causes more trouble,” Applejack declared. She cantered past Fluttershy and dropped the hyperactive dog on the dirt.
“You restless, girl? C’mon, I’ll race ya home!”
The dog and pony took off, one of them laughing and the other one barking. As Winona took the lead, Applejack stopped and called back.
“Thanks for the help again, Fluttershy! Ah’ll give that vet what for!”
Fluttershy waved happily to the departing guests and turned her attention back to the grinning tortoise beneath her. She bent down to his level and nuzzled her nose against his. “I’m sorry she was so mean to you, little guy. But… I think you were… maybe aiming a little high. Maybe you should try making friends with somepony more your speed… Like a snail, or a lizard… Oh! Or a sloth… Would you like that?”
The tortoise paid her no mind and watched longingly as Winona’s wagging tail went out of sight. He began to move for the gate to follow, but Fluttershy stood in his way.
“I’d better… get my book on reptiles. I’ve never cared for a tortoise before… Don’t go far now, okay?”
“Fluttershy!!”
The shrill cry came from the sky. Fluttershy flinched and looked to see a bright-blue pegasus with a rainbow for a mane barreling towards her. The flyer was on course to collide, but after a small adjustment to her wings encircled her clockwise and dragged her hooves along the ground to a halt, kicking a patch of dirt onto the tortoise. As its shell was blemished, its eyes widened and its mouth froze agape.
“H-… Hi, Rainbow Dash” Fluttershy stammered as she regained her stance.
“Fluttershy, I need your help!” Rainbow Dash blurted, “the Best Young Flyer competition is gonna be in Cloudsdale in two days and I don’t have anypony to cheer for me!”
Fluttershy blinked and opened her mouth a few times before speaking. Next to her, the tortoise had begun a lethargic pace towards the jittering Rainbow Dash.
“Oh… I’m not much of a cheerpony… Can’t Pinkie Pie go?” Fluttershy deflected.
Rainbow Dash responded by cocking her head and smirking at her. She flapped her wings twice and gave out a small chuckle. “Uh… no?” she replied.
“Oh,” Fluttershy muttered with a flap of her own wings. “Right.”
“So whaddya say!” Can you come cheer me on while I practice tomorrow?”
Fluttershy paused for a long few seconds. She rubbed her leg with a hoof and peered up at the excited pegasus in front of her. Rainbow Dash bit her lip in the awkward silence and followed Fluttershy’s averting gaze. She couldn’t say no, of course, but she knew she was going to try.
“A-a-a….Are you sure? I don’t know how much help I can be…”
Rainbow Dash threw a bewildered smile on her face and rested a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. She gave a small laugh and shook her head.
“Wh–wh–what’s so funny?” Fluttershy inquired.
“Sorry, it’s just… Fluttershy, don't you know you’re the reason I got my cutie mark?” She paused to clear her throat and stand just a bit taller. “I mean… I was always gonna get it, what with my natural born talent and all, but think of how much time you saved me! You’re my good luck charm!”
Fluttershy blushed and turned away. “You… really want my help?”
“I don’t want your help; I need it! C’moooooon, I’ll be doing all the hard work! I’ll even give you cheering lessons!”
“…Okay… Sure, I’ll… give it a try.”
“Great! See you tomorr- Uh…”
Silently, finally, the tortoise had reached his destination. He nudged the blue leg next to him and nuzzled against it affectionately. Rainbow Dash pulled it away and made an awkward, transparently fake laugh.
“Uh... what’s with the turtle?” She teased.
“Oh, he’s just trying to make new friends… That’s all.”
“Heh, keep tryin’, buddy.”
And with that, the sprightly flyer stomped the ground with her front hooves and leapt into flight, leaving a small whip of wind to brush against the cringing ground dwellers in her wake. Her rainbow-coloured streak followed her as she burst through a cloud for fun and hollered. Then as quick as she'd arrived, she pointed herself in the direction of Ponyville and disappeared over the trees. A few seconds passed and Fluttershy looked back down at the increasingly tenacious creature as it frowned at the empty sky above them and blinked, one eye at a time. She bent down and brought him to her side with her wing.
“You know what, little guy?”
She pulled out her cloth again to wipe the new dust from his shell.
“…I think you can aim as high as you want.”
