Kindness and Cruelty Book 1

Chapters

Prelude – Things are not what they seem.
Chapter 1 – Kindness and Cruelty
Chapter 2 - Reasons you never perceived.
Chapter 3 - The Sphinx.
Chapter 4 - Opposites Attract.
Chapter 5 - The ruined day.
Chapter 6 - Schadenfreude
Chapter 7 – A hold.

Prelude – Things are not what they seem.

Kindness and Cruelty
by VGI

edited by Tetrominon
proof / pre-read by Danthebronyman (Prelude to Chapter 6)

Prelude – Things are not what they seem.It was a beautiful evening. The crisp night air filled the forest. Despite the tall trees, one can look up and see the stars in the sky. Thin clouds floated lazily by, lit by the beautiful lights of the night. The rustling of the leaves in the gentle breeze, and the sound of water flowing from a nearby river, only added to the serenity.

“What a lovely night, is it not, my dear, kind Fluttershy?” asked the creature as he looked at the stars. He had a white Venetian mask for a face, a lion's body, and a great eagle's wings. He breathed in the cool, fresh air, and sighed, then swooped down and gently landed with his hind legs on a forest path, careful not to jar the sweetest, kindest, most fragile and graceful mare in all of Equestria as she lay in his arms. The cool, night air outside contrasted well the warm, intimate feelings he had developed for her.

Fluttershy did not answer. She just lay there, in his strong, furry-soft lion-arms, her face against his strong fuzzy chestful of lion's hair. For some reason, she could not move. Was it because his arms were warm and cozy, yet so masculine and powerful? Was it the creature’s kind demeanor putting her at ease? Perhaps, with her love of creatures great and small, she simply found his mixture of different animal traits to be exotic. Whatever the reason, on this particular night she found herself powerless, lying in his arms as if she had been bound there.

The creature, a sphinx, stood up and started walking upright on his hind legs the rest of the way. He was bringing her to this “special place.” He stopped, with Fluttershy in his arms, and stood next to a tree near the river.

Fluttershy looked around and wondered, where are her critters? He said earlier today that he had brought them here in advance.

“Are you comfortable, my dear? I want you to have a good view.” He set her down gently on the ground and caressed her mane. She could not speak, could not answer, not even a squeak. She looked at him with pleading eyes and muffled moans.

“Now now, hush, my kind, graceful mare,” he said comfortingly as he sat her up, with her back against the tree so she could have a good view of the river.

At that moment, he was facing her with one knee to the ground. Fluttershy looked at him, at those...empty eye holes. She could not see his eyes behind the ethereal Venetian mask. She never could. They were just...black. Or more appropriately – empty.

How did this happen? How could she have fallen for him? Things were not as they seemed. And it seems things were about to become...true.

She remembered how it all started...

Chapter 1 – Kindness and Cruelty

Chapter 1 – Kindness and Cruelty

What a wonderful morning! The birds are singing outside, and the water left by the gentle rain which had showered the land throughout the dark morning hours made everything glisten in the sunlight. It was just after sunrise. Time to get up. Fluttershy's cottage smelled wonderfully of wet grass, her roof being made of living grass after all. She made herself some toast, fried eggs sunnyside up, a generous serving of hayfries and thick slices of lightly fried potatoes.

"Oh my! Careful, Fluttershy," she told herself, feeling a bit more chipper than usual for breakfast time, "you just know that'll all go to your flanks." Indeed, she did feel a bit naughty for indulging her desire for carbs of the fried variety, and blushed ever so slightly at her own teasing.

While she was doing her and Angel’s breakfast, Angel Bunny fed her critters. Ever since Fluttershy became assertive, standing up to no less than Iron Will himself when he tried to collect his workshop fee from her, she had given the spoiled bunny some chores to do around the house. One of which was to serve breakfast to his fellow critters while she made herself (and him) some breakfast.

At last, her guilty pleasure was all done. “Oh! I almost forgot,” she said, perking up at the recollection, “no breakfast is complete without the proper drink.” She went to her fridge and took out a carton of orange juice – from concentrate but with no sugar added.

After breakfast, she did her morning rituals in the bathroom, singing all the way. Her melodious voice mingled gracefully with the sound of the shower. Angel relaxed, lying on a pillow next to the bathroom door. There was nothing that compared to a hearty breakfast followed by the sound of his beautiful owner's equally beautiful singing in the shower. She came out smelling wonderful—her coat, mane, tail, and feathers all still moist as she swiped her towel over her fur and ears a few more times.

After brushing her mane and tail – the typical 100 brush strokes with an expensive branded brush – she was ready. First order of business was to go to market while it was still early, to avoid the crowd. So, with her saddlebags strapped to her side, and Angel on her back, she set out for the market.

"Good morning, Mr. Greenhooves," she said cheerfully, greeting the elderly gardener already at work in her front yard.

"Why, good morning, Ms. Fluttershy!" Greenhooves' response was equally cheerful, his 'not-quite-senile-but-close' demeanor brightening up a bit at the sound of Fluttershy's voice. But as she got nearer to him, she noticed he was flooding her petunias...again.

"Oh, Mr. Greenhooves," she exclaimed with a pout on her face, "not again! You are over-watering my petunias again!" Angel backed up his mistress' complaint by wagging one paw at him disapprovingly.

Mr. Greenhooves' usual haze of genial confusion settled back into place. "Uh, what? I've only started to water them, deary. As in, just now. How can I be over-watering them already?"

“Well, you see...” She started to point out to him the flooding taking place where her petunias were planted, but he interrupted her.

"Now don't you worry none, my dear," he said confidently, "I've been in the gardening business since before you were born!"

Well, that certainly was true. Besides which, Fluttershy had always been told to respect her elders. And so, despite the obvious, she decided to let it go. "Oh...uhm...fine. Okay then," she said, and went on her way.

"Oh! What I'd give to teach that old horse a lesson," Fluttershy thought to herself as she went. "Rrrrr! Treating me like I'm some air-headed filly who doesn't know anything! Maybe I should step on the garden hose again, and let it go when he looks in the hose to check? Yeah, that worked the last time!”

As he rode along on her back, Angel could not help but notice a change in his mistress, her muscles growing tense and her teeth grinding together. Worried that she was thinking bad thoughts again, he did what he could to unruffle her feathers – he put both his forelegs around the back of her neck, and nuzzled her mane while making cute bunny sounds.

"Oooooh..." Fluttershy stopped and closed her eyes to let the sensation wash over her, breathing in deep, and exhaling slowly, gently. "Oh Angel, you know just what to do when Mama is getting in a bad mood, don't you?"

Angel responded by continuing to nuzzle her.

"Mmmm, how sweet of you," she said, craning her neck around so that she could nuzzle him back a bit. "What do you say we take to the air and get this chore over and done with?"

Angel looked up and nodded enthusiastically. Getting to fly along was always a treat for him.

"Okay!" Fluttershy crouched down on all four legs and spread her wings in preparation. "Hold on, Angel!" A spring of her legs and a flap of her wings, and they were off into the sky.

Meanwhile, back at Fluttershy's cottage, Mr. Greenhooves continued to water Fluttershy's petunias. His eyes were somewhat glazed as he stared blankly at the empty air, humming tunelessly. To him, it may have felt like just a few seconds. But in reality, it'd already been 5 minutes. He was lost, somewhere in the fog of his aging mind.

Fluttershy landed at one end of the market. Angel took the list out from her saddlebag and handed it to her to read over before heading in. 5 fresh bales of hay, 2 dozen apples, 24 ripe tomatoes, 15 eggplants, a dozen eggs, various toiletries, and different kinds of critter feed – at least a sack of each.

A nearby stallion turned from his berry purchase to stare at the list almost reaching down to her hooves. "Ms. Fluttershy always has such a large order to fill," he remarked to the berry shop owner.

"Yup," the shop owner replied, "that's why she always gets free delivery from the market."

“Ok, one last thing Angel – Cherries!” Fluttershy smiled as Angel cheered for his favorite snack. She trotted happily towards the cherry stand, when suddenly, an Earth Pony stallion dashed up and cut in front of her just a few meters away from the counter.

"Hey!" Fluttershy reared up her front hooves in surprise, but the stallion didn't seem to pay her any mind. Instead, he just tossed a satchel of bits onto the counter and slid every last cherry into his saddlebag before moving away as quickly as he'd come.

“I said, hey!” Fluttershy said, louder this time. Or louder, at least to her. Angel Bunny hopped off his owner's back and went after the rude stallion, kicking his hoof when he got to him. Upset, the stallion glared down at Angel, but Angel didn't care. He pointed at his mistress, as if telling him, “You've got some nerve mister! Now apologize!" But rather than apologize, he just shoved the bunny roughly aside with one hoof and kept on going.

At that, Fluttershy froze in her tracks. Angel was confronting a stallion that is probably a thousand times stronger than him. And the stallion just shoved him aside. She hated confrontation. She didn't know what to do. She tried calling to Angel, but her throat got stuck. She tried to get her legs moving again, but they were as tight as her wings which had snapped shut by her side.

Undeterred, Angel followed the stallion again, kicking him on the shin this time. It wasn't likely to hurt, but it certainly irritated the stallion. "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!", he shouted at Angel, the blast of his voice loud enough to send the bunny rolling away. "CAN'T YOU SEE I NEED TO GO?!" The sounds of the busy market hushed up as every pony stopped to stare at the unfolding scene. But the stallion was unfazed at the attention. He drilled his gaze at Angel. Fluttershy was tearing up. Then he stared angrily at Fluttershy. Her heart stopped and raced, both at the same time. Her plot was firmly planted on the ground.

The stallion kept staring at Fluttershy, and despite his anger, a tear fell from his watering eyes. Then he turned and ran as fast as he can, towards the edge of the Everfree Forest.

The ponies witnessing the incident looked from the retreating stallion to Fluttershy. The cherry stand owner ran out of his booth to help poor Fluttershy off the ground. A unicorn mare picked up Angel with her magic, stroking the dust and dirt out of his bunny fur with her hoof.

“Are you alright, Ms. Fluttershy?", the stand owner (another Earth stallion) asked.

“I....I'll be fine,” Fluttershy said, trembling.

The unicorn mare brought Angel to her “Uh, here you go, miss. I say, that stallion was just...just...”

“Rude,” said the cherry stand owner. “I wonder what his problem is?”

Fluttershy took Angel into her front hooves and hugged him with her wings. Then she looked at the direction of where the stallion took off.

"Not to worry, Ms. Fluttershy. I have some cherries reserved just for you," the stand owner said. "I know today is your grocery day, and so..."

"Thank you," Fluttershy said quickly, interrupting the owner and passing Angel over onto his back, "but could you please watch over Angel Bunny for a while? I just... have somewhere I need to go right now. I think I forgot something." And just like that, she flew off.

"Of course..." The cherry stand owner scratched the back of his head and stared up at the vanishing Fluttershy for a moment before turning to the unicorn mare. "Gee, wonder what she forgot?"

"Whatever it is," the mare replied, "I hope she's not going to do what I think she's going to do."

Fluttershy flew fast with anger in her heart and tears dropping from her eyes. “How dare he, that awful mean stallion, do that to MY ANGEL! HOW DARE HE!”

Finally, she spotted him, running as fast as he can on a path that will take him to the Everfree forest.

“Run run as fast as you can, but I'll still beat you,” she thought. She zoomed ahead and, spotting a tree next to the path, swooped down behind it. There she waited. By her hoof on the ground was a long, broken branch. She took it. Then she heard the unmistakable sound of running hooves. She peeped, and it was him approaching. As soon as he neared the tree, Fluttershy tossed the branch to the path. The stallion tried but knew it was too late to stop. So he crashed and rolled over the dirt path. On the way, he crushed the cherries in his saddlebag.

Fluttershy felt a rising concern for the stallion, which was quickly overtaken by a sharp sense of sheer impish delight. Which one would it be? Feel happy that she got even or go and help? But she was the reason why the stallion stumbled in the first place. To stay behind the tree though, felt...All she can compare it to was the sensation of being naughty, like the feeling she had at breakfast.

The stallion slowly stood up, obviously sore from tumbling about at full speed. He groaned in pain, then gasped in shock to see his saddlebag stained with the juices of the crushed cherries, “No..no no NO! I don't have anymore bits to buy new cherries!”

As Fluttershy listened, she started feeling sorry. But in her remorse, she absent-mindedly said, “Maybe that will teach you to be more respectful of others.” It made her snicker in glee.

The wind blew and made the leaves rustle, making way for a few of the sun rays to break through the tree tops. One found its way to Fluttershy's face, making the corner of her smiling lips and eyes glint.

Back at the cherry stand, Angel found himself lending a paw. When somepony came up to place an order, he would take the number of cherries they wanted from the stock basket and hop up onto the counter to deliver them as soon as the right price had been paid.

It was just after a mare and her filly had left with their five cherries for eight bits that Fluttershy landed right in front of the counter, startling both Angel and the owner.

Fluttershy landed right in front of the cherry stand counter, frightening Angel. “Oh! I'm sorry Angel!” Fluttershy cooed. “Mommy didn't mean to frighten you.” She took him in her hooves and nuzzled him with her muzzle. The cherry stand owner just stood there, watching her snuggle her bunny with a smile on his face. Angel looked like he was getting tickled and was liking it.

After paying for and taking the cherries he'd reserved for her, Fluttershy thanked the stand owner profusely for all his help. To his great surprise, she even gave him a subtle wink just before she took off for her flight home.

A unicorn stallion who'd been waiting his turn came up to the cherry stand as she left. "Did I just see Fluttershy wink at you?"

“I...I think so...” said the bewildered but charmed cherry stand owner.

“Wow, new found confidence. It actually makes her...more attractive. You know, in a new sense.”

“Yeah, but...is it Fluttershy?”

Both of them pondered at the question.

Chapter 2 - Reasons you never perceived.

Chapter 2 – Reasons you never perceived.

Fluttershy flew back to her cottage, with Angel holding onto her mane. From up in the air, they both saw Mr. Greenhooves standing on the same spot where they left him that morning, still watering her petunias. It was like he’d never moved. Fluttershy's immediate reaction was rage. For a moment, she felt the urge to slam into the ground right beside him and shout some sense into the daffy old fool.

“No, no, that is not right! Mr. Greenhooves might be drowning my petunias, but even so, to call him a fool is too disrespectful.” Shaking her head clear, she instead landed gently a few meters away from him. But when she looked at him up close, just standing there with the garden hose and a vacant expression, water flooding out from the garden around his own hooves, her anger started to well up again. “Respect? Respect?! Look at the old fool! I mean REALLY?! RESPECT?! HE obviously doesn't respect ME! I'm one of the last ponies who'll still hire him, and just look at how he treats me! What, just because I'm younger than him?!”

No longer able to hold these thoughts back, Fluttershy let her anger burst out with a shout "HEY!"

"Wha-huh?!" Startled, Greenhooves' head swung around looking for the source of the sudden noise, finally settling on Fluttershy with a smile. “Oh! Ms. Fluttershy! That was a quick trip!”

“Just WHAT do you think you're doing?!” Fluttershy was shouting at him? Now he really was startled. This wasn't like Fluttershy at all.

“Whuh...what do you mean?” Mr. Greenhooves said, taking one step back from Fluttershy, one front hoof raised defensively, his ears pinned down.

“Just look at this!” Fluttershy waved a hoof at the water flooding all over the path. Mr. Greenhooves was at a loss.

“Huh-how did that happen? I...you were just gone for a short while,” Mr. Greenhooves said, trailing off into indistinct mumbling for a moment. Then, head low and ears still flat, he added in a weak voice: "...weren't you?"

Even through her frustration, Fluttershy's caring nature told her loud and clear that something was amiss. Pushing the anger out of her voice for the moment, she answered evenly: "You were watering the petunias when Angel and I left for the market. We've been there the whole morning since. It's nearly afternoon now, and until just a minute ago, you were still standing in that exact same spot, watering the same flowers."

“I was? Oh dear...I...my medicine...I think I forgot to take my medicine,” he said as he tried to remember whether he did forget or not. Then he finally noticed the muddy flood under his hooves. “Oh my dear filly, I am so sorry! I was lost in thought…” He paused for a moment. Fluttershy took note of his sad face as he continued, stuttering, “I-I-I was deep in my head again, with memories of my friends. We were a fun loving gang back in our day you know, me and my buddies...” He turned his head to the side, his eyes beginning to glisten again as he mumbled things that only he could understand.

“Oh goodness! And here I am being a monstrous meanie to my aging gardener when he was actually getting carried away in his own memories, losing track of time. All because he forgot his medicine! I...I didn't know he had to take medicine or else he'll lose himself in his head...”

Her anger collapsed under a wave of empathy and guilt as quickly as it had built itself up, returning Fluttershy to her usual kindness. "Mr. Greenhooves, I... I'm sorry for shouting at you. Are you alright...?"

Mr. Greenhooves brought his attention back to the present day and, shaking his head, he apologized again. “Dang-nangit! It happened again, didn't it? Every time I think I've got this problem licked, it happens again. Ms. Fluttershy, I'm real sorry...”

“Oh, no. It was my fault Mr. Greenhooves. I'm the one who should be sorry. I didn't know how easily you lose track of time and that you have to take medicine for that...I was nothing but a brute to you.”

Then, she was gripped with a horrible realization. “Oh dear Celestia! What about that nasty Earth stallion at the market?! He really looked like he needed those cherries. But for what? And I made him squish them by tripping him up! Oh no!”

Angel jumped off her back and scampered away as Fluttershy closed the front door behind her and sat down, leaning back against it. If she only knew the reason why Mr. Greenhooves over-watered her plants from the start, then she would not have been angry at him...or would she? Or would she make sure that he took his medicine for the day? All of a sudden, she felt uncomfortable in her own coat. She then thought of that Earth stallion at the market. He looked at her with anger, but then he was also crying. What was the reason why he was both angry, and crying? What exactly had he been feeling? And what had made him feel that way?

If she was any other pony, she probably wouldn't give a flying feather about the reasons. After all, they are not her problems, but theirs.

“Yes, that's true," she thought indignantly. "Why should I care about the reasons? They are not my concern! If I cared about it, I'll just be making excuses for ponies like them. They should get their act together!”

But again, that feeling of discomfort under her skin. Sighing, she walked over to her sofa to lie down. Her critters started to gather around her, led by a visibly concerned Angel.

“These critters, I care for them. At my own expense, in fact. Many of them, I found sick and injured, and I nursed them back to health. If I were to tell them to, 'get their act together' and throw them out into the forest to fend for themselves, no pony would fault me...”

She remembered her first days and weeks as a filly visiting the critters on the ground below Cloudsdale. She remembered who she was.

“...except myself.”

Sensing her unease, many of the critters moved in closer for support. A few birds even flew up to perch on her back, tweeting songs of consolation.

“No, I cannot be that kind of assertive! I'm the Element of Kindness!” The small crowd around her perked up at her spoken resolve, while the sudden energy behind it startled a few of the birds into flapping back and hovering for a moment. “Why, even Discord—The Lord of Chaos—learned kindness and friendship from me!”

She thought this over, and her thoughts returned to the poor Earth stallion. “So, why did I like getting even?”

Later that day, her heavy groceries were delivered by a two-stallion team. Both helped carry her sacks of supplies into her supply closet. They always liked delivering Fluttershy's stuff from the market. Her presence was always a relaxing moment from their high-tension job of carrying and lifting heavy things.

At dinner time, Fluttershy cooked a simple pot of mushroom soup. She didn't really feel like eating that night. She kept on thinking about that Earth stallion from the market, how mean he was to her and Angel; how she flew after him to get even; how she did it without him knowing it was her...and how that thrilled her. To get away with something, to get even at someone without them knowing, thrilled her—her, 'The Element of Kindness.'

“Why did you need those cherries so badly, mister? Why did you look at me with anger and tears? Why were you running towards the Everfree forest? What reason did you have for treating me and Angel that way? And if those reasons didn't exist, would you have been so mean?”

As she got ready for bed, putting on the pj's that Rarity made for her, she looked out the window at Luna's moon. She got in her bed, draping her covers over herself. Though it was a peaceful night, she can never ever deny the fact that, once upon a time, she – The Element of Kindness, was thrilled with cruelty.

And with that thought, she fell asleep.

Earlier that day...

An Earth stallion opened Zecora's door, flustered from his rush over there. Inside was Zecora by her mixing table, preparing a brew. A few feet from her was a unicorn stallion holding a feverish colt and filly, lying on a mattress on the floor.

“How are they?” he asked breathlessly.

“They are so far doing fine,” Zecora said, “but without those cherries, they won't be, in time.”

“I...something happened on the way here. Here are the cherries.” He took off his saddlebag and took out a hoofful of pulpy red mess – cherry jam without the jar.

The unicorn stallion stared at the proffered hoof, “What the buck happened?!” he asked, bewildered.

“I tripped.”

“What!? How could you be so careless?!”

“Enough!” Zecora said with authority. “It does not matter if it is whole or crushed cherries. What matters is to get it into their bellies.” Zecora hoofed each of them a spoon. They two stallions quickly dug through the crushed cherries in the saddlebag, hastily spoon feeding both colt and filly while Zecora finished mixing up the healing potion.

Soon, Zecora poured the potion into two cups for the colt and filly to drink. As soon as the brew was swallowed, their shivering began to fade, and soon they were both feeling much better.

Zecora smiled as the Earth stallion and his unicorn brother thanked her profusely. Their younger siblings would be fine.

Chapter 3 - The Sphinx.

Chapter 3 – The Sphinx.

Later that evening, just after midnight, Fluttershy started to dream...

She was back in the market, with Angel trotting beside her. She looked up at him – a handsome Earth stallion with a coat of silky, short white fur, golden blonde mane and piercing blue eyes...strong legs...firm, tight body. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. They were always so happy in each other's company. As they trotted happily up to the cherry stand, a rude, dark–coated Earth stallion suddenly barged in front of them right before they reached the counter. The dark stallion took all the cherries, tossed a satchel of bits as payment, and trotted away.

Angel ran after the dark stallion to confront him, to tell him to apologize to the lady for being so rude. The dark coated Earth stallion just sent him tumbling to the ground with a vicious shove. Angel shook his head and glared defiantly up at the dark stallion, who stared right back at him, his white, pupil-less eyes radiating a cold menace.

“Angel!” Fluttershy called. She ran to help him up. "No, forget him," she whispered, looking into his eyes. "He isn't worth our time." For a moment, Angel looked as though he wanted to protest this, but before he could, she wrapped her front hooves around his neck, pulling him into a close embrace as she scowled at the dark Earth stallion looming over them both. “Leave us alone! GO!”

The dark stallion snorted at them once, then turned away and left as quickly as he’d come.

The dream continued...

Angel Bunny had decided to sleep in Fluttershy's room that night, just in case the events of the day kept her up worrying. He woke up with his mistress calling out his name. “Oh Angel, you confronted him...for me?” Fluttershy said as she rolled to her other side, towards where Angel was. “Oh, I don't think I want you to do that again. I...I...I wouldn't know what I'd do if you got hurt.”

Angel sat up, looking at her. “But, you were so brave, my Angel. Oh...! Come. Come here...” she said, giggling.

Angel obeyed and hopped up on her bed, tilting his head quizzically. Here, he was so close to her mistress' face that he can actually feel her breath stroking his fur.

Unconsciously, Fluttershy placed a front hoof behind Angel, and dragged him closer to her muzzle. “Mmhmm...Oh Angel...” She snuggled him while giggling. Then she nuzzled him on the face, then started kissing him all over while dragging her blanket to cover them both.

The night breeze blew through her window, while crickets chirped outside...

Morning came as usual. Angel Bunny woke up first. He found himself pressed against her soft chest, her tight coat on his soft fur. It felt nice here, wrapped all snug nice and warm in his mistress' embrace. But despite that, he calmly slipped away and did his chores.

Fluttershy flew down her stairs to look for him a few minutes later. “Oh, there you are, Angel Bunny. Good morning! And I see you've done your chores early today! Good boy!”

Angel just sighed, his back turned to her. She thought that her Angel was just being moody again.

“I had the most wonderful dream, Angel!” Fluttershy was about to tell him what it was about when it dawned on her, “Huh, that's funny...I...I can't seem to remember what it was about.”

Angel didn't move, his back still toward her. He just crossed his arms across his chest.

“Oh, but it was a nice dream! You were there, you know?” Fluttershy smiled. An awkward moment passed. “Well, I guess it's time I made breakfast. Let's have pancakes today, whaddya say?”

Angel, still keeping his back to her, just shrugged his shoulders. This time, the concern in Fluttershy's voice was unmistakable. “Angel, what's wrong?”

Not wanting to ruin the morning for his mistress, he quickly put a cheerful smile on his blank face, then turned his head to look at her and nodded.

“Great! Pancakes, coming right up!” replied Fluttershy. As she made her way to the kitchen, she could not help but sense that something’s really bothering Angel. She fired up her stove and got the pancake mix out of the cupboard. As she did, she stole a glance towards Angel, her face hidden by her mane and asked herself, “What could it be?”

After breakfast, Fluttershy went to her backyard, which faced the Everfree forest. She checked her chicken coop for freshly laid eggs. Her hens had not been laying many eggs for awhile now. Since she used the eggs to feed some of the egg-swallowing snakes under her care, she’d had to buy eggs yesterday at market.

Of course, she was careful about not taking fertilized chicken eggs. So, she had separated her hens from the roosters and only placed a rooster and a hen in another enclosure during breeding. Then, after the hen had been fertilized, she would take her to another enclosure – one that is only for hens hatching fertilized eggs.

When she was done, she noticed a cat-like creature with wings, lying on its tummy on top of a rock, right at the mouth to the entrance of the Everfree. It was facing away from her, looking into the Everfree. Her eyes widened with wonder. “What is that? Could it be a griffon? Oh gosh...I hope not!” she thought, remembering Gilda. But, something was off – this creature's head didn't seem to be shaped at all like a bird’s head, as she'd expect from a griffon. It was a little too far for her to be sure. She was afraid to go near it, but at the same time her curiosity was piqued. She—the Element of Kindness—was particularly fond of animals, after all, and nothing appealed to her Element quite like meeting a new one for the first time. So, for a while, she just stood there by her fence, hoping that the creature won't turn around and notice her.

But it did! She "eep!"ed in alarm and darted, quick as a bee, behind her chicken coop. After a moment, she peeked back around the corner. It was definitely looking at her. Its face was all white. It flicked its tail and turned back towards the Everfree.

“Oh, it doesn't seem to be very interested in me. Perhaps it is a good creature...Hmmm.”

Slowly, she stuck her head even further out from behind the coop. Her heart started to beat faster with excitement as she gazed at this new being. A smile crept onto her face. She felt like she was a filly all over again, when she fell to the Earth from Cloudsdale and met all kinds of animals for the first time...only this creature was so...

“Majestic!” she thought, as she kept gazing at it from afar. She found herself breathing deeply. Swallowing with a gulp, she girded her loins to go to this creature and say hi.

“Okay Fluttershy, you can do this.” She trotted out from behind the chicken coop and through the opening of her fence, going straight to the rock where the creature lay. When there was but a few meters between her and 'it' – she still could not tell its gender – she paused, and cleared her throat.

“Ahem. H...Hi there,” she greeted, meekly. She waited for an answer, and as she did, she found herself giving this creature a look from head to tail. Her heart skipped a beat. Could it be...a sphinx?

Judging from what she knew about sphinxes, they were like griffons – wings and all – but with a different head. And their body, from neck to tail, was that of a lion and not half-bird. And this particular sphinx looked like it had a male lion's body.

“A male sphinx? Oh, could it be?!” Fluttershy was almost beside herself with excitement.

“M-My name is Fluttershy.”

The sphinx did not stir, a silent moment passed as a breeze blew by, rustling the leaves of the nearby trees. She waited, blinking twice.

“...Hello, Fluttershy.”

It spoke! It spoke with such a gentle yet powerful male voice. Fluttershy never heard such a majestic voice in all her life. She was nearly swooning. Then it turned slightly towards her and nodded once in acknowledgment of her presence, then turned again towards the Everfree. That's when she saw his face, and it filled her with a bit of dread, making her take a step or two backwards as she lifted a front hoof, her ears pinned down.

What she saw was a mask. She only saw it a bit from the side, but it was definitely a mask – a white Venetian mask. Now, she was both at awe of the creature, and afraid.

The creature noticed the change in her countenance. “Is something wrong, Fluttershy?” he asked, this time completely turning his face towards her. She was overpowered by the sight of it, and her plot fell to the ground. It was a graceful face, even though it showed no emotion. It was startlingly majestic. She didn't know what to do with this mixture of fear and awe swirling in her head and chest.

From the rock as his vantage point, the sphinx kept looking at her. Or at least, that is what it seemed, for there were no eyes visible behind the eye holes of the mask. They were just...black. It was all she could do, just to stare back into those deep black abysses, when from a distance inside the Everfree forest, a great howl was heard. Both the sphinx and the pegasus looked into the entrance to the Everfree. This time, the awe she felt for the creature faded, and she was near frozen with her flanks to the ground at the sound of a great timberwolf howling.

The sphinx got up. “Fluttershy, fly from here, now. Back to your cottage. Go.”

Fluttershy eeeped. She was nearly overcome by the terror of the sound and sensation of giant wooden paws thudding on the ground coming towards them. She got her plot off the ground and flew up and swooped down to her chicken coop. She gathered the chickens and told them to go inside the cottage.

She was the last one to go through her door, but before going through the threshold, she looked back and saw the sphinx standing up on his hind legs.

She watched long enough to see one of those timberwolves emerge from the entrance to the Everfree. It wasn’t one of those small ones that came in packs. This one was a giant! Fear gripped her—not just for her and her critter's sake, but for that new exotic creature she just met as well. It lunged at the sphinx, but the timberwolf just went through the sphinx as if he were an illusion.

She gasped. “He's a magical creature!”

The sphinx turned, grabbed the timberwolf's tail with his front paws, and pulled the whole timberwolf back deep into the Everfree. The timberwolf struggled to get free...

Author's Note

A smile crept onto her face. She felt like she was a filly all over again, when she fell to the Earth from Cloudsdale and met all kinds of animals for the first time...only this creature was so...

"Majestic!"

Like a filly! Fell from Cloudsdale for the very first time! Like a fi-i-i-illy!

Gosh I'm so CORNY!

Chapter 4 - Opposites Attract.

Chapter 4 – Opposites Attract.

As Fluttershy looked on, concern filled her for the sphinx now that she could not see him. Soon, the timberwolf too was out of sight. But she could still hear it growling. She took a few steps away from her door towards the entrance of the Everfree, a hoof to her chest. Her critters went to her and, with a clamoring of squeaks, chirps, and other assorted animal noises, started tugging at her tail and pushing her legs towards her cottage. Finally she let herself be pushed and pulled into her home.

She locked the door and looked out the kitchen window, watching for any sign of the sphinx – or, Celestia forbid, the giant timberwolf. When neither appeared immediately, she locked the kitchen window, then flew through the cottage closing and locking all the rest of the windows and doors to the outside to be safe. Panting, she then flew to her bedroom and looked out from the window there—the best vantage point in the house. Nothing stirred in the Everfree. The timberwolf was silent. But, where was the sphinx?

“Oh! I hope he's okay,” she said as she slumped beside her bed. In her mind, she visualized him. That masculine lion's body. Those strong arms and wings. Sleek fur, all the way to the tail. Paws that she knew must have been hiding powerful, sharp claws.

Most of her critters were downstairs, either in her kitchen or living room. The appearance of such a large timberwolf so close by had them all agitated. Angel Bunny tried to calm them down with the help of some of the critters who were close friends with the rabbit. And while they did a fine job, where was their caretaker? He looked up the stairs and tilted his head thinking, “What is she doing in there?”

Angel and some of the smaller critters and birds scampered up the stairs to Fluttershy's room to check on her. They found her sitting under the window next to her bed, with her head down and her face hidden behind her mane. But before any of them could even decide how best to help...

THUD! Something fell from the sky right outside the window and landed in the backyard with an impact that could be felt all through the house. Fluttershy’s head shot up, and she saw her critters gawking at the window. Angel looked at her and started jumping and pointing at the window, and she immediately jumped onto her bed and looked down into the yard. There, lying on the ground, was the sphinx, bleeding.

“Oh my goodness! Mr. Sphinx!” Fluttershy opened the bedroom window and flew down to him directly. She tried to lift the sphinx but he was a bit heavy. In her haste, she almost tried to drag him inside, but stopped and considered that that would only make the bleeding worse. She was going to need some help. She went to her kitchen door, only to realize she’d locked it from inside. But just as she remembered this, the lock clicked and the door swung wide open, pushed by Angel. The rabbit then turned and whistled into the cottage, signaling their bear-in-residence to come lend his considerable strength.

“Okay now, careful Mr. Bear! He's hurt pretty bad! Angel, get the medical supplies, stat!” The bear carried the sphinx to the kitchen, where he laid him on the kitchen table. Fluttershy followed, taking note of the blood trail the sphinx was leaving behind.

Angel, with the help of his posse of little critters, carried a medical briefcase over to Fluttershy. First, she went to her kitchen sink and Angel handed her a bottle of special soap from the medical case, meant to sterilize hooves to medical standards. Then, she began to work on the patient. She treated his wounds with special potions from Zecora, cleansing them while also reducing the bleeding to a trickle. This allowed her to pick out the splinters from in and around each gash. Though she remained calm and collected, she could not deny that she was admiring him. Whereas she had only gazed at him from a few meters before, now she was touching him with her very hooves. His body was indeed taut and lean with muscle. Even his nasty wounds and gashes somehow managed to look...nice-ish—they revealed the healthy-looking flesh underneath his tight skin. Despite her fascination with this new creature, she continued to work professionally, picking out every last splinter inside his wounds. But she found herself glancing at his face every now and then. It was amazing how it remained expressionless, like it was made of ceramic. It really felt creepy, and at the same time, majestic. Every time she would glance, she would see those deep, black voids in his eyes, and her heart would leap and stop. The strange sensation of awe and fear returned, making her queasy. She decided it would be prudent to avoid glancing at his face. She took a safety razor and shaved the wounds clean of fur, then washed them out again with Zecora’s wound cleaning potion, making sure that no fur was in the wounds. Angel dabbed the sweat from her face with a small cloth. Once she was satisfied that no splinter or fur remained inside the wounds, she took a stainless steel surgical needle and thread from the case and began to suture them. She slid that surgical needle into his flesh again and again. It penetrated deep enough for the thread to take a good grip on the flesh, and when she pulled on the needle, the thread tightened, closing the wound shut. Finally, she washed the now-sutured wound once more with the medical cleaning potion, then repeated the process until each and every open wound was treated and sewn.

“Whew! Thank you, Angel,” she said as he dabbed a cloth to her forehead and face for the last time. “Okay, I hope I did a good job here. Mr. Bear, could you gently bring our guest to the living room? Angel, please help me take out the extra mattress. The rest of you, move the table away from the sofa so that the mattress will fit.”

The sphinx woke up to the sound of chirping and squeaking, surrounded by many tiny creatures, and a bear. In the middle of the menagerie was the tender-looking, soft-yellow coated, pink maned pegasus pony, lying on her tummy, looking at him. They were all looking at him, and he looked back at all of them. An awkward smile went up across Fluttershy's lips.

Without turning his head, he perceived the treatment that he had received for his injuries. He noticed too, that some of his blood remained at the bottom of Fluttershy's hooves, though she herself was not aware.

“Fluttershy.”

The animals went silent at his voice. Fluttershy inhaled deeply at the sound of her voice being spoken by such a creature – in his regal masculine voice.

“Mmm?” was all she could say.

“Thank you. Your kindness...”

He took a moment to focus his perception on the kindness in his midst, singling her out from all the other myriad lives under the cottage roof.

“...is beautiful.”

Fluttershy gushed. “Oh...mm-my...”

Fluttershy had so many questions to ask, but he barely spoke. He just laid there on the mattress, like a cat on his tummy, front paws crossed by his chest. Fluttershy was getting used to him, despite the fact that she and her critters felt that they may have let a deadly predator into their midst. Fluttershy dismissed the feeling, however, reasoning that a lot of her critter friends were predators themselves. Why, Mr. Bear probably was the highest predator in the cottage before the sphinx.

She gathered extra pillows and a blanket and set them beside him on his mattress. He just watched her go about the cottage. He barely took notice of any of the other creatures, great or small.

When evening came, it was an awkward moment. All of them had their respective dinners, but the sphinx just looked at his dinner once, which was laid on a small table next to him, and went about silently watching Fluttershy once again.

After dinner, Fluttershy and the critters got ready for bed. She had to ask this one question, “Uhm, Mr...Sphinx? What...what should I call you?”

“My name...is Sadie.”

“Sadie? But that is a girl's name, and...well...you are so...male. That does not make any sense.”

He gazed at her pondering, her trying to make sense of why he would be named “Sadie.”

“Fluttershy?”

“Huh?” said Fluttershy who was torn away from her pondering.

“As someone I know would say, ‘What fun is there in making sense?’”

Fluttershy perked up. “You know Discord?”

“Yes...or at least, I used to know him.”

“Used to?” Fluttershy wondered. “Why, what happened?”

“I suppose there are a number of reasons.” He looked away at the window. “Which should I say? ‘His interests led him to a different path?’ Or perhaps ‘He grew distant?’ Or the simplest of reasons, ‘He changed.’” He looked back down at Fluttershy, who was looking up at him intently. “That happens at times, even between good friends, you know? Don’t worry, he still knows me, though we are more like distant acquaintances now.”

“Do you know we are friends, him and I?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, I...don’t want to get ahead of myself or anything, but,” Fluttershy looked at him, straight into those dark eye holes, and with sincerity said, “I’ll help you get back with him if I can.”

Sadie purred, “Thank you, Fluttershy. Perhaps...perhaps you will be the new ‘interest’ Discord and I will have in common. Yes, a common friend. And even if it still does not work out between Discord and I, at least, I will have you.”

Fluttershy blushed, “Oh...my...two magical beings, one more powerful than the Regal Sisters, and the other, a majestic new creature...having me as a ‘common friend?’”

That evening, the moon shone through Fluttershy's bedroom window. In the quiet of the night, though it was hard to see, it was rather easier to hear the slightest sounds and smell the faintest scents than if it were day. Fluttershy found herself coming in and out of sleep, apparently rubbing her hooves around her muzzle and lips and touching them with the tip of her tongue. She woke up at last, startled, at what she found herself doing—sucking the bottom of her hooves to a faint familiar scent.

She sniffed at her hooves. “...blood?” Her pupils narrowed as her mind recalled the sphinx's wounds trailing blood on the ground—she must have walked on all that blood—and the surgery she did on him—more blood upon her hooves. Did she even wash up after the surgery?

“Oh! Oh no no no nononono!” she said as she quickly got up, almost to a panic, never stopping saying “no” in rapid succession, and went into her bathroom to wash her hooves.

Chapter 5 - The ruined day.

Chapter 5 – The ruined day.

The next morning, she woke up and went downstairs to find the sphinx and Angel seemingly having a staring contest. And it seemed that Sadie was winning. Angel tried to drill his gaze into the sphinx's hollow eyes, fidgeting and thumping his rear paw impatiently. Sadie though, didn't even twitch, his breathing barely noticeable.

Fluttershy's arrival broke Angel's concentration, and that made him hopping mad. “Now now Angel, enough of that. Sadie is our guest,” Fluttershy reprimanded him, “You shouldn't be a sour loser...even though it was me who made you lose, teehee!”

Angel just frowned and went into the kitchen. Fluttershy looked at Sadie, who was already looking at her. “Good morning!”

Sadie bowed his head in acknowledgment.

The critters had already had breakfast. Angel was becoming more and more disciplined at waking up early to do his chores. In his mind, Angel even dared to think that he was getting better than Twilight's Spike. Fluttershy made breakfast for three after which she did her usual rituals before leaving.

“Goodbye Sadie, I'll see you later. Angel, you take good care of our guest, okay?”

She had to go to several places that day: 1. She had to go to Sweet Apple Acres to place her usual order of apples; 2. She had to go to Rarity's Boutique to get the new “Black Out” curtains she ordered so that she could cover her window and make it as dark as a heavy, overcast day in her room without having to board it up; and 3. She had to return three large books to Twilight.

As she trotted on the path towards the road in front of her cottage with her saddlebags full of Twilight’s books, she spotted a taxi some distance away, coming towards her. She looked at the sky, felt the cool morning air, and thought it would be a nice treat to have a ride for the whole day. So she decided to hire the cab. Oh! And it was one of those new, magically powered cabs too! The one’s that reacts and anticipates the cabbie’s actions! Not only was it a wonderful day, but now she had a fancy ride to help her do the things she needed to do that day. Which meant that when she got home, she wouldn’t be as tired as if she had walked or flown through town.

First stop, Sweet Apple Acres. She told the cabbie to wait while she conducted her business with Applejack. At the sight of each other, Fluttershy’s heart lightened and Applejack perked up.

“Well howdy Fluttershy! Came by to post your usual order?”

“Good morning AJ,” Fluttershy said as she gave her friend a quick hug. “And, uhm, yes, please.”

“You know, you don’t always have to come by every time you want to post an order. You could just leave me or Big Mac a schedule of when to deliver, as if we don’t know that already.”

“Oh, but that means I won’t be able to get to see you that often,” Fluttershy said.

“Aw shucks! That’s sweet.”

“Also, I’m increasing my order by one more bushel. I have a...new guest, you see.”

“Hmmm, a new critter to take care of?” AJ asked with one eyebrow raised.

“You could say that,” Fluttershy said with a pleasant smile.

They chatted for a few minutes, then she said good bye.

“I'll be expecting Big Mac later today?” she asked.

“Eh, Big Mac or me, sugarcube.”

“Okay, great!” Fluttershy smiled.

Next stop was Rarity's. But when she went back to her cab, she saw a stallion in a business suit hop in.

“Uhm, sorry sir, but this is my cab,” she explained.

“Yes mister,” said the cabbie, “I'm afraid I'm already hired. You will have to get another cab.”

“Another cab?!” exclaimed the business stallion, “In this part of town? I think not! This is an emergency! I cannot miss my train. Cabbie, I will pay you triple – triple I say, if you ditch this mare and take me instead.”

“What!” shouted Fluttershy, “You...you can't do that!”

“Oh yes I can! In fact, I will pay you 5 times the normal rate if you take me to the train station right now, cabbie,” said the business pony. He looked at Fluttershy and shook his muzzle up in the air snobbishly, “Hmph!”

“5 times the normal rate?! Why, that's more than my bit quota for the day! You got yourself a deal mister!” said the cabbie. He dashed away, leaving a trail of dust in Fluttershy’s face.

As the taxi sped away, the business pony looked back to shout, “Sorry miss! But you are a pegasus! Why don't you just fly?!”

Fluttershy turned away, coughing. The dirt, dust, and tiny gravel-like sand kicked up by the cab’s rapid departure got into her mouth and stung painfully inside her nose and throat. It was getting into her airways.

“Fluttershy!” Applejack shouted as she ran towards her, “I saw the whole thing! That...that...corrupt cabbie! Why I oughta...!” Her righteous indignation was cut short when the sound of Fluttershy’s coughing fit changed into a desperate wheezing for breath. “Oh mah stars! You don’t sound too good!” Leading her stricken friend to the hoof-pump near the barn, AJ called out as they passed around the house: “Granny! We need some help out here!” Granny came out and instantly assessed the situation with her wizened eyes. “Oh my! Hold on dearie, I've got just the thing!” She disappeared back into the kitchen for a moment, returning soon with a glassful of warm, honey-sweetened ginger juice. Granny held the glass up to Fluttershy’s lips, helping her drink it down as if the pegasus were her own granddaughter. The juice soothed her throat as it went down and calmed her breathing, and Fluttershy was soon breathing normally again.

“Thank you, Granny...” she said, then proceeded to cry.

“Aw, now now there child,” Granny said as she hugged the poor pegasus.

“That...mean ol' pony...took my cab and...bribed him...”

“Oh, well, yes he did,” Granny said as she patted Fluttershy behind the head. She looked at Applejack with a quizzical look. AJ nodded her head to confirm what Fluttershy just said.

Granny's face stiffened with resolve. “You know what we can do, sugarcube?”

Fluttershy looked up at Granny Smith.

“We can lodge a complaint with the cab company. They'd set that cabbie straight.”

“Yeah, Fluttershy. We could do that. Ah'll come with you if you want.” AJ offered.

“Yes, I'd like that Applejack.”

On the way to the cab company's office, Fluttershy kept mulling over the incident in her mind. She couldn’t help but feel that arrogant business pony deserved to be punished somehow, too.

“PV Cab Co. - ‘We get you there,” AJ read the sign on top of the cab company’s garage.

“‘We get you there’ indeed!” Fluttershy scoffed to herself, under her breath.

Applejack approached a nearby mechanic working underneath one of the cabs and asked where they could find the supervisor on duty. He pointed one free hoof towards the far end of the garage at a door labeled "Office" before going back to work. Inside, a mocha-colored Earth stallion sat behind a desk, filling out paperwork on an old typewriter; the placard on top of the desk read, "Looming Departure - Supervisor". When he looked up at the sound of the door opening and noticed his visitors, the typing stopped immediately and he turned to greet them with a genial smile. “Ah, good day ladies. What can I do you fer?”

“Are you the supervisor?” AJ said sternly.

The tone of her voice made his eyebrows raise up slightly. "Yeeeess...?"

Applejack braced herself, warming up her neck muscles by gently jerking them side-to-side. Both Fluttershy and Looming gulped audibly, feeling as if something was about to explode. But to their surprise, she closed her eyes as she held a hoof close to her lips, breathing in deeply, and then exhaling slowly as she moved her hoof in an arc out from her lips. She looked him seriously in the eye, and was about to speak when…

The supervisor thought that this was serious, so he gathered his wits and held out a hoof to Applejack, motioning her to stop. “Forgive me madam, but, please, do sit down first.” He held out a hoof to the two chairs in front of his desk.

AJ blinked twice, looking at his gesture, and then at the chairs. “Oh, right.”

From there, the complaint was processed more or less in three parts: The supervisor would ask for pertinent data on the who, where and when of the incident; Fluttershy would provide it when she could, being too meek to be heard most of the time; and Applejack would chime in with the more personal details about how everypony involved had acted or felt at the time, along with the occasional mini-lecture on proper pony work ethics. In fact, the Earth mare did so much of the actual complaining, an outside observer would think that she was the one who had been ditched and her pegasus friend who had just come along for support. Fluttershy spent the entire, seemingly interminable 10-minute process trying to hide behind her mane, only peeking out when the supervisor addressed her directly.

At the end of it, the supervisor put his hooves together, as if in deep thought. Then finally he breathed in deep. "First of all," he said with sincerity, "I want to personally apologize for any inconvenience or distress our service may have caused. And let me assure you, this incident will be thoroughly investigated as soon as possible." With a nod from Fluttershy, AJ thanked the supervisor for his time, “Thank you kindly,” and the two of them left the same way they'd come in.

Afterward, they walked to Rarity's Boutique where they told her about the cab incident. Again, AJ did most of the talking, while Fluttershy just scuffed at the ground with her hoof. Rarity was appalled, “My goodness! I can't believe some ponies could be so...so...” She looked at Fluttershy and her mood changed from shock to sympathy. “Ooooh, come here Fluttershy,” Rarity said, giving her best spa buddy a comforting hug. “Now, don’t you waste any more time thinking about those two selfish jerks. I have your curtains right here. And might I add that you’re in for a surprise!” Rarity floated Fluttershy’s “Black Out” curtains out for her to see. They...sparkled! It was like two rolls of nighttime, twinkling with starlight. AJ stared at it with her mouth open, obviously admiring it. Fluttershy raised her head and smiled weakly. For a split second, her spirit was indeed uplifted and she forgot all about the incident with the cab.

“I infused the fabric of your curtain with ‘Diamond Dust’ crystals.” She unfurled one roll to showcase. “They have the ability to absorb, share, and store up light in their crystalline structure and release it in dark places. See, your curtains are infused with it on both sides. The curtains keep your room cool and dim, while crystals on the outside will absorb the light from the sun and share it with the crystals on the inside, where the light will be stored to create a very soft, pleasant glow, as if your room had its very own sky full of twinkling little stars.” Rarity smiled at both of them, obviously pleased with herself at the sight of her two friends admiring the beauty of her work. “Weeell? What do you think, darling?”

“I’m...uh…” Fluttershy shook her head from being spellbound. “Wow, thank you Rarity. This is so nice, what you've done.” She gave Rarity a hug and took the rolls of curtains on her back. “Well, I'll be seeing you two.” She turned and meekly walked away, the incident with the cab returning to her.

Rarity’s face perked up with concern. “Wait, won’t you two come in for some tea or something? Take a moment to ease the tension from that nasty cab business you just went through.”

“Oh, uhm…” Fluttershy paused and turned, “I still have these books to return to Twilight, you see. And then I really just...want to go home,” she said, as the thought of her animals, and sphinx, gave her comfort. And besides, if she took Rarity’s invitation, chances are they’d just wind up jabbering about the cab incident, what the business pony looked like as well as the cabbie, that sort of thing. She wanted none of that and really just wanted to go home as soon as she can.

Rarity conceded—nodding at Fluttershy. She trotted to her and gave her one last hug. “Ooooh, you take care now, okay? And don’t hesitate to come to me for anything.” Rarity’s hug made Fluttershy feel a bit better. Then she started on her way again.

As she did, AJ got close to Rarity and whispered to her ear, “Now why would Flutters want that kind o’ curtains for her bedroom?”

Rarity shrugged and whispered back, “I suspect it's because she's still got a bit of vampire bat in her.”

“...Oh...” AJ said, uncertainly… or perhaps a bit guiltily. It was kind of her fault why Fluttershy turned into a bat-pony after all.

In any case, Fluttershy looked burdened with those rolls of curtains on her back. “Well, Ah guess Ah'll be seeing ya as well. Laters, Rarey. Hey, Fluttershy! Wait up!” she called out as she trotted to catch up with her. Rarity looked on, her concern for Fluttershy persisting and making her pout as she looked at AJ trotting to catch up with Fluttershy. She sighed when AJ finally caught up with her, feeling a bit better that their strong farmer-friend was accompanying her.

“Uh, you okay there hon? Here, let me help you with those,” Applejack said, moving in close to take the heavy rolls of fabric from Fluttershy’s back.

Fluttershy accepted AJ’s help. She was feeling a bit weak. Not because she was getting tired, but because...here she is, the weakest among her friends. Weak, and fragile. What would she have done if AJ and her family were not there? And now that Rarity's heard the story, she knows that she's got her back, too. She knew that Twilight will also know what happened when she returns those books she borrowed. She wondered what would Twilight do on her behalf – she, The Element of Kindness – the weakest of them all.

And speaking of which, who would they find approaching them but the newest alicorn princess herself. “Oh! Hey there, Applejack, Fluttershy!”

AJ tipped her hat in response, while Fluttershy just reached back into her saddlebag and retrieved the books. “Here, I was bringing these back to you…”

“Oh, thank you.” The lavender glow of Twilight’s natural telekinesis levitated the books briefly, before they all vanished at once with a soft flash of light, teleported back to their specific places on her shelves, according to the library catalogue system she was using at that time – a testament to her ever-growing mastery of applied magic. With that done, Twilight faced her graceful friend with a concerned expression. “Um, Fluttershy? Is something bothering you today?”

"Oh, um, well... you see..." Fluttershy stammered and glanced over at AJ, fully expecting her to take the reins again, as she'd done twice already.

But the apple farmer just smiled and nodded in Twilight’s direction. “Go on, Fluttershy,”

“Yeah!” Fluttershy thought to herself. “Don't be such a big helpless baby! Things like this happen, so BUCK UP! Heck, what? You can't even tell your best friends what happened!? Dear Celestia, I mean really?!”

AJ and Twilight watched the building frustration on her face and exchanged looks. Finally, Fluttershy spoke. “There was this cab… that I hired. I was going to hire him for the whole day, but this business pony bribed him, paying him 5 times more, to take him to the train station.”

Twilight cringed in anticipation. “And the cabbie took the bribe?”

“Yes, right in front of me. They sped off like there was no tomorrow, and the dust and sand from his wheels got into my throat and eyes. AJ witnessed the whole thing.”

“Oh my!” Twilight said, her ears pressed down and an uneasy look on her face.

“Applejack and Granny Smith helped me, then we lodged a complaint at the cab company...” Fluttershy paused as she remembered the arrogant look the business pony had given her just before the cab had taken off. “Oooooh, that snobby business pony! If I ever see him again I'll....I'll...” Fluttershy thought for a moment, her steam fizzling out. Apparently, she could not think of anything that she could do to that business pony.

But...she did something to that Earth stallion who got all the cherries...

Fluttershy thought deep about that Earth stallion, “Maybe...I'm not as weak as I think I am.” The thought thrilled her. She did not remember that the Earth stallion was crying before running away. All she perceived now was the thrill she felt as she hid, undetected behind the tree, how she tossed the branch and made the Earth stallion stumble, and how it served him right that his cherries was crushed into cherry jam. Fluttershy bowed her head behind her mane, and hid her subtle chuckles.

“Huh, that business pony you mentioned, he must have had some emergency...” Twilight thought out loud.

“What?!” Fluttershy’s head shot back up as she involuntarily shouted from the shock. “You're taking his side?!”

“Whoa whoa whoa, I didn't say that! Calm down Fluttershy,” Twilight said, reassuringly.

“Oh...I'm...I'm so sorry Twilight! I...didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that I...I'm not used to being angry. I'm sorry.”

Twilight smiled at her, “It’s fine. In fact, he may have had a valid emergency, but what he did and what happened to you is still not right. I may have an idea how to make sure this never happens again.”

“Oh great!” Fluttershy thought, “Twilight's going help me. First AJ, then Granny, then Rarity, and now Twilight. Am I really that helpless?”

The walk back to the cottage was almost completely silent. When they finally arrived, Applejack placed the curtains down next to the front door. “Thank you, AJ,” Fluttershy said. “Won’t you come in for a bit?”

“Nah, Ah'm afraid Ah gotta get back to the farm. Ah've still got that order ya made to work on.”

“Oh, of course! I’d almost… forgotten about that…” Fluttershy trailed off and turned away, her bottom lip quivering.

Applejack noticed this and moved in a step closer. “What’s wrong, sugarcube?”

“Oh Applejack!” Fluttershy wailed silently, “I'm such a weak friend. I inconvenienced everyone. Seems like I can't take care of nasty things like confrontations myself because I'm such a coward.”

“Now hold it right there, Fluttershy! I’ll have none o' that talk! Yer so-called 'bein' weak,' is the thing that changed Discord for the better. Why, if not for you, he probably would be back to his evil self again!”

“But what about now, AJ, huh? What about now? Discord is Discord, but what about other ponies? What about Gilda? I didn't even tell you about what happened in the market–” Fluttershy abruptly stopped, 'eeeping' with her front hooves to her mouth.

“What? What happened at market?” AJ asked, noting Fluttershy's abrupt and awkward stop.

“Uh...uh...nothing, forget about it,” Fluttershy said. She didn't want AJ knowing what she did to get even with that Earth stallion.

“Well, okay, if’n ya say so. Anyways Fluttershy, you may be weak at confrontations, but you are effective in ways that none of th’ rest of us are.” AJ thought a moment, and a smile crept on her face. “And hey, have you forgotten that you,” she said, pointing at Fluttershy with a hoof, then stomping it on the ground for emphasis, “went and stood up to a dragon all on your lonesome after all of us failed? Heh, ‘not strong’, my patootie! If that don't count as strong, missy, Ah'll eat mah hat!"

Fluttershy smiled meekly. “Thanks. I… really needed to hear that.”

Applejack smiled back. “Mah pleasure.” Then, once the moment had passed, she backed away apologetically. “Well, anywho, Ah'll be goin' now to work on that order o' yours.”

“Okay. Thanks for everything, AJ. I mean it.” As Fluttershy turned to pick up her curtains, she looked back at AJ who was going down the path to the road, then carried them inside and closed the door.

As Applejack went, she paused for a moment. She slowly turned to look back at Fluttershy’s cottage. She was sure she’d heard Fluttershy closing the door behind her, and yet she had the distinct feeling that someone or something back there was watching her. But, nothing seemed out of place, so the farm pony just shrugged it off and then proceeded on her way.

Back inside Fluttershy's cottage. Fluttershy leaned against her front door and slid down. What a day it was. Ruined by an arrogant business pony and a corrupt cabbie...and dust and sand in her face and throat. Fluttershy was thankful that Applejack was there. What would she be like without her friends, she wondered.

“Bad day?”

Fluttershy's eyes opened wide, startled out of her thoughts by the sound of the sphinx’s voice from directly in front of her. “Oh! Uhm...yes...bad day.”

The sphinx tilted his face at her. “Would you like to talk about it?”

How could she say no? His voice was so...inviting. A male voice in the house, from such a creature...made her feel secure. She looked at him and her smile was pleasant. Walking up to him, she laid down on her tummy in front of him and began to narrate the events of the day.

“Well, it all started when I got this taxi this morning just outside the cottage...”

Chapter 6 - Schadenfreude

Chapter 6 – Schadenfreude.

When Fluttershy finished telling him about her awful day, Sadie took a moment, stroking his chin as if there was a beard there. “Fluttershy,” he spoke calmly, “if you had the power, what would you do to the business stallion?”

“Huh?” Fluttershy was taken aback by the question. “Whu...what do you mean?”

Sadie just looked at her, waiting for her to answer. She blinked twice, “Uhm...I uh...”

Sadie was beginning to feel uneasy at Fluttershy's lack of assertiveness. But as he looked at her, he perceived a change in her countenance as she turned and hid her face in her mane. She was enjoying something, or some thought. To him, it was plain as day, and he was very familiar with what she was feeling at that moment. She was savoring the feeling of retribution—of getting justice done by one's own paws. Or in her case, hooves. Whatever could she be thinking of?

She suddenly turned to him smiling. “I would tie him up to a chair, and force feed him a big bowl of alfalfa!”

“Oh...?” Sadie was taken back by her answer, craned his head backwards. He could see that she was having fun. However, this was a far cry from what she felt mere seconds ago when she turned her head and hid her face in her mane. “You would force feed him...a big bowl of alfalfa...?”

“Mashed alfalfa! Like a naughty colt!” Fluttershy grinned. “And I'll laugh at him, an evil laugh, 'Hihihihihiiii!'”

Sadie purred with amusement. “Well, at least it's a start.” He put his paw tips together and asked another question, “And what about the cabbie?”

“Ooooh, well, for him I'd...”

Outside her cottage, the day breezed by.

That 'game' Fluttershy played with Sadie, “If You Had The Power”, lifted her spirit. Because of that, she was able to more clearly think about her friends who were there for her: Applejack and Granny, Rarity, Twilight. And that filled her with gratitude, so despite the terrible day, she was able to take a nice shower, and enjoy a good night's sleep.

The next day started as usual. It was another pleasant morning. Angel did his chores and Fluttershy made breakfast. All the creatures were happily chirping and chattering about. Sadie never left his spot. He was like a living monument, like a statue. Fluttershy had never experienced a being quite like him before.

Fluttershy and Angel were in the kitchen having breakfast when all of a sudden, there was banging on the front door. The happy menagerie went silent and turned towards the door. Fluttershy looked at it, and the banging made her nervous. The thought of whoever could be doing the banging, even more so. But, Sadie was there—he'll be with her—and that gave her courage.

“Who is it?!” she asked. The banging just got more deliberate and pronounced.

“Answer it, Fluttershy,” Sadie said. So Fluttershy got up from her breakfast and trotted to the door. But she went to the window instead, and took a peep outside. It was the cabbie, and it was obvious he was angry.

“OPEN THE DOOR, MISS!” the cabbie shouted.

“Oh! What should I do?!” Fluttershy thought as she hid behind the wall next to the window. All the while Sadie looked at the door, glancing at her once in a while. The tension and panic she was feeling started to spread to the hearts of the critters, and some of them thought of retreating into their holes.

Sadie fixed his gaze at her. “Fluttershy, I am here.”

She looked at her sphinx. And that tightened her resolve.

“Open. The door. NOW!” the cabbie insisted.

“No!”

More pronounced banging.

“N-not on your l-life, p-pal!” Fluttershy said. It was something she would probably not have said, but there it is – she said it. “I know who you are! You're that cabbie from yesterday! Why did you come here?”

“You got me in trouble, you crazy mare! You're a pegasus for bucking out loud! You didn't need a cab!”

“So what if I'm a pegasus?! I had to carry heavy things yesterday! If you must know, I'm not the strongest flier!”

“WELL, THAT'S YOUR PROBLEM! Why should I get in trouble for your weak wings?! I was downgraded to pull one of our regular, non-magical cab-wagons! Pulling those things is tiring! You know, I was just trying to make a living, and that business pony offered a better deal!”

Fluttershy was never used to this kind of confrontation, this impromptu shouting match. The confrontation she's used to is the kind that she had with Iron Will. That confrontation at least had some measure of calm and logic. This one did not. Sadie could see that she was wracking her brain for meaningful things to say, and her own adrenaline was making her unfocused, breathing irregularly and stuttering.

Sadie raised a paw at Fluttershy, telling her to stop. “I’ll take it from here,” he whispered to her. Then, he looked at the door, and spoke in a perfect mimicry of Fluttershy’s voice. “S-so...uhm...you only get to use non-magical cab-wagons now?” Sadie said, trying to sound meek.

“YES!”

“Well, then that’s your problem, isn’t it?!” Sadie said mockingly – and still in Fluttershy's own voice, no less. Fluttershy was surprised to hear her own voice sounding so...maliciously confident. Sadie slowly stood up, still facing the door. “Why should I worry about your weak legs?” This was the first time Fluttershy, or any of the animals, for that matter, had seen Sadie move from his spot since he’d laid down there. His movements had a smooth, feline grace to them... so much like, and yet so unlike, her own. “You wanted a better deal? Then deal with that!”

The sudden shift in tone left the cabbie momentarily sputtering with rage. “NOW, YOU LISTEN HERE…!”

“No, you listen,” Sadie continued, walking lithely towards the door as he spoke. “How about I take my 'weak wings' and fly over to your supervisor to report what you're doing now?” He tossed his head with flair and pawed at the door. “You think you can make a living without a job?”

Fluttershy had seen this sort of behavior before, on smaller felines: Sadie was being playful. In spite of the menace in his words, it was... sort of cute, and she smiled in spite of herself. She also knew, when it came to cats, the line between 'playing' and 'hunting' was sometimes very thin. And this wasn’t just any small cat, but a sphinx larger than any pony she’d ever seen. So, was Sadie just taunting the cabbie, or...?

Outside, instinct was making the cabbie shrink into himself. On some subconscious level, he could feel the cruel, graceful presence on the other side of the door overpowering his own blunt and brutish self; all that carried over to his conscious mind was the gradual realization that coming over to this lady's house had been a terrible idea. What was he thinking? “Now, miss, let's not get hasty...”

“Why did you come here, Mr. Cabbie?” ‘Sadieshy’ whimpered. “Why? Did you think coming back to my home, banging on my door and terrorizing me would somehow solve your problems?” There was a brief pause. Fluttershy was stunned. The voice was cringing and tearful, the sound of herself at her most helpless...but each word lashed out with claws that cut deeply.

Fluttershy gasped softly as she realized what Sadie was doing. She covered her mouth with a hoof, the picture of concern, but did nothing to interrupt the interaction, only watching intently.

“You’re right, you’re absolutely right,” the cabbie said nervously as he backed slowly away from the door. “I, uh, I guess I’ll just be leaving now…”

“Uhm, ok. But before you go, uhm...” Sadie put his face right up against the door and said in a low volume but serious tone: “...make no mistake – I will be reporting this.”

“Please don't!” The suddenness of his outburst even seemed to catch the cabbie by surprise for a moment, but he quickly recovered. “Miss, I promise, you won’t ever see or hear from me again, just…” He bowed his head rigidly, a mark of humility that also put his face parallel to the ground, hiding his expression. “I...can’t afford to lose this job. Please, Miss...”

His words struck a chord in Fluttershy’s heart. She had heard something similar before... “No..no no NO! I don't have anymore bits to buy new cherries!” She gasped with the realization—she never did perceive the reason then...just like with this cab pony now. She could hear his voice and feel his pleading.

Sadie craned his neck back, raising a paw as he took a step back from the door. He did not expect...humility—or more precisely—deference, from this kind of pony. It slammed against him like a wall of hot air. The situation suddenly became so unfamiliar to him; on the one paw, he could continue with the mocking, eventually getting the cabbie into trouble. But that might turn Fluttershy off. Or, on the other paw, he could... accept the apology? NO! Why, just the thought of it made the fur on his haunches stand on end and his claws exposed. And so he found himself unsure of what to say next. Fluttershy observed him and knew that he was wracking his brain for something meaningful to say, so she took his raised paw into her hooves and whispered to him, “I'll take it from here.” Then, turning towards the door, she said aloud, “Uhm, ok then. If you mean what you say, then I won't report you...”

Sadie was quick to take his paw from Fluttershy, as if shocked at what she was saying.

The cabbie looked up, his expression grateful. “Thank you, Miss!” he said, and bowed again, softly this time. Then he ran down Fluttershy's path, onto the road and away. Once the sound of running hooves had faded, Fluttershy plopped on the floor and gave out an exhausted sigh.

“Why did you say you would not report him?” Sadie asked.

“Well, I didn't want to cause him his job.”

“But what if he wasn’t sincere?” the sphinx continued, focusing his perception on the running cabbie as he looked at Fluttershy. “You should not have let go of your hold on him.”

“My hold on him?” she asked, eyes wide open. “Hmmm...” Fluttershy sat up and thought for a moment. This was something new to her, the concept of having a hold on somepony. Like a measure of control over them, to influence their actions. It intrigued her, and Sadie perceived it. And it intrigued him that it intrigued her.

“Well, I did say that if he meant it, that I wouldn't report him,” she murmured, mulling over this concept of control. “Sooo...” She looked up at Sadie's face with a grinning smile, despite her lingering nervous shaking, and said proudly, “...I guess I do still have a hold on him. So he better watch his step! Ha!”

Sadie paused. That was a bit of a stretch… but it was one that she’d made completely on her own. It was obvious that she liked having this kind of control over those who crossed her. This was good progress from yesterday's 'game'.

“Oookay! Now that that's over, I guess the day's started.” Fluttershy said, pressing her frazzled fur back on her coat and fixing her mane.

Sadie could not help but notice the subtle change in her demeanor. “You look like you have new found confidence, my dear,” he purred.

“Why thank you. You...uhm...helped,” said Fluttershy, trotting up to him. “I would not have it otherwise...if not for your help.”

“I could be with you always...If you will have me.”

“Whu...what?!” The statement shocked her, catching her off-guard. “What does he mean by that? Like… a pet?” The thought of it made her blush. “Oh, my...well,” she said, twisting the edge of her hoof on the floor as she stole glances up at him. “Uhm...uh...I'd like that, actually.”

The cabbie looked back to Fluttershy’s house as he ran away. He was foolish, falling back on his old ways. Especially foolish now that he was trying to turn over a new leaf. He needed to lose those old ways, and he needed to do it fast. Otherwise, he may as well not have left his old life…

Without warning, a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail landed forcefully onto the road in front of him. Surprised, he sat down hard and leaned back with all his strength, digging his hooves into the dirt in an effort to stop from colliding with her. But momentum kept him skidding all the way, and he closed his eyes, anticipating the impact. But when he opened his eyes again, he was right in front of her, muzzle to muzzle. She had a tough expression on her face, her eyes narrowing dangerously as they drilled into him. “So, you’re the cabbie who walked all over the kindest mare in town! What were you doing at Fluttershy’s place just now, huh?!”

“I...uh…” How the tables had turned. Now he was the meek one. This mare was definitely one tough broad.

Rainbow Dash glanced at his cutie mark, then right back into his eyes. “I knew you looked familiar. You’re one of those punks that trashed A.K Yearling’s cottage! You’re one of Dr. Caballeron’s goons!”

“Please, Miss,” he pleaded, “ lower your voice.”

She stomped one hoof angrily and only got louder. “You’re here to cause trouble!”

“No! I’m...I’m trying to leave that life of crime behind!”

“Well, you’re not doing such a good job, accepting bribes an’ all.” She pushed her muzzle into his with a growl. “And I bet you were up to no good, coming from Fluttershy’s house, weren’t you?! What were you doing there? Hassling her?!”

“I-is that her name?” he asked, hoping against hope to change the topic.

“Yeah. And you’re Chalice Ringer, right?”

“Th-that’s right… how’d you…?”

“Listen pal, the mayor’s waiting for you back at Town Hall. She’s already sent me out to find you, so don’t make her subpoena you too, or you’ll be in trouble with not just the law,” she said, leaning in even closer and poking a forehoof into his chest for emphasis, “but with Princess Twilight herself!”

A single bead of sweat went down Chalice’s stoic face, anxiety filling him up as he dreaded the new world of trouble that he knew now awaited him.

Chapter 7 – A hold.

The next day started wonderfully. The freshness of the cool, crisp morning air permeating her room, the sounds of the birds singing, and the happy feelings inside her—Fluttershy lay awake in bed for a while, just enjoying everything. Perhaps it was because Sadie offered to be her sphinx the day before.

“Oh! My very own sphinx!” she squealed, squirming giddily under her blanket. “The Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures will be soooo impressed! Oh...but...I...” She turned to her side and caressed the bed sheet with a front hoof as she thought to herself, “...I'd still like to keep him for myself for a while longer. Nopony has to know just yet, right?”

Eventually, she got out of bed, had breakfast, and did her bathroom rituals, singing all the while. And, as always, Sadie was there, observing her. She and many of her critters have gotten used to him just lying there on his mattress, barely moving. He was like a living fixture.

The day’s chores began with the chickens. Fluttershy sang a familiar tune as she trotted towards the chicken coop with a basket of chicken vita-feed on her back. Like any good chicken owner, she supplemented her chickens with vita-feed, which was to be given to them only 3 times a week. It was vitamin and mineral enriched feed meant for egg-laying hens.

“Good morning, my little chickens!” Fluttershy said, peeking into the chicken coop. Right away, she could tell what was wrong with the picture. Elizabeak and several chickens were missing. “Oh no.”

Back in her cottage, Sadie perked up, perceiving the worried tone in Fluttershy’s voice.

Fluttershy left the chicken coop, and looked around. There were tracks from several chickens on the ground, leading towards the Everfree forest.

“Oh! Not again, Elizabeak! I swear, as Celestia as my witness,” Fluttershy grumbled in exasperation, putting the vita-feed basket down and following the tracks, “next time I go out to the market, I’ll pass by the hardware store and get those stubborn hens some cyclone fence around their coop! Oooh!” She continued muttering her irritation as she trotted, rolling her eyes and sighing. Her exasperation started slowing down along with her pace as the trees of the Everfree started to loom over her. She gulped and thought that maybe she could have Mr. Bear...or better yet, Sadie, accompany her. But… no, the hens couldn’t possibly have gone very far. There was no need to bother them for just such a short trip.

Back in her cottage, the mattress that Sadie had been lying on was unassumingly empty, as if no one had ever been there to begin with. Not a single critter had noticed him leaving or could guess when he must have left.

Fluttershy stepped past the treeline and into the Everfree. The ground and surrounding trees, branches, and bushes were visibly disturbed with days-old claw marks, obviously left by the battle between Sadie and the timberwolf. Strangely, there were even some scorch marks here and there, but she didn’t have time to wonder about them. She had chickens to find. Fluttershy crept forward cautiously, and whispered as loud as she could: “Eliiizaaabeeaaak! Oh!” She whimpered. “You will be the death of me!”

With her head held low, she continued to make her way deeper into the woods. Several times she stopped to watch in the direction of some strange sound or another, but she never saw anything, and tried her best to remain calm.

“Huh, this isn't so bad. I... I can do this!” She cleared her throat and called out again, louder this time: “Elizaaabeeeaaaaak! Where are you and your hen pals?!” She paused and took a few moments to survey her now less threatening surroundings. She felt agitation welling up in her, as she stomped a front hoof on the ground. “Hmph!” That's when she heard it – a ghostly moaning. Her surroundings suddenly became even more threatening than they had been before. She gasped, lowered her head again and took several steps backwards, her pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks.

“Whu...whut wass-was that..!” Fluttershy’s muscles tensed up as she began shaking, her eyes darting to and fro. “Mm-my goodnessPrincessCelestiaaa!” The more she listened, the more the ‘moaning’ sounded like dog whimpering, and though it still seemed somehow eerie, it sounded enough like a hurt animal to evoke Fluttershy's deep-seated compassion.

“Oh dear, it's a hurt creature!” She looked around (purposefully, this time), and there, beyond the darkness of the trees and bushes, she spied several faint green glows. There was no path in that direction, so she flapped her wings and cautiously hovered towards the glow instead. She surveyed the wild plant growth below her as she passed, all thick, thorny thistles and brambly bushes. It was as if she were on another planet.

Finally, she came to a small clearing and found the source of the green lights.

They were pieces of wood, tied together like piles of firewood, ever-burning with magical green flame. But these piles were moving! And whimpering! Fluttershy gasped as the realization shocked her – this was the timberwolf that Sadie had defeated!

“Oh my goodness! Hold on, I'll release you, poor thing!” She landed on the ground, and bit through the dried vines that had been used to tie up the timberwolf's wooden pieces. Once freed, they immediately started to reassemble themselves...

The chickens clucked happily, scratching at the ground and pecking everywhere. The Everfree forest was like an all-you-can-eat bug buffet to them. They were so carefree. Unbeknownst to them, they were in the presence of a sphinx, who was sitting up like a royal Egyptian cat before them, unmoving, except for its flicking tail. One of them, pecking and scratching the ground, unknowingly passed under his shadow. She looked up, looked back and instantly panicked—squawking and running to Elizabeak, flailing her wings, and scattering loose feathers everywhere.

“Buk-KOK! Buk buk buk bu-KOK!” Elizabeak and her hen-pals froze before him, stunned by his sudden appearance.

“Do you know what trouble you hens have caused me?” he said, stone-cold, but polite. “All of you, come to me. Now.”

But such is the nature of chickens that, whenever one of them begins panicking and clucking out the call of 'Danger!', this behavior will quickly spread through the entire brood. And so, rather than heeding Sadie's command, Elizabeak and her friends instead joined together in an unorganized, repetitive chorus: "Buk buk buk bu-KOK! Buk buk buk bu-KOK!"

“What an annoying sound,” Sadie commented drily, something unkind in his voice despite its elegant, masculine tone. Slowly, he raised his front paws towards the hens, pads facing up. Elizabeak and her hen-pals kept a safe distance, singling out the sphinx before them with their annoying clucks. Sadie lingered a moment, then tensed his paws so that his claws came out.

All at once, the hens felt an unseen force grip their bodies tightly as they all started to float in mid-air. “Buk-buk...bu...krok..errk...” The hens struggled to keep up their danger call. They could hardly even breathe. Sadie moved his paws, turning them like puppets on strings towards the direction where their mistress was at that moment. Focusing his perception, he let them see her through their own eyes as clearly as he could.

“Do you see?” He was seething. Despite remaining calm and collected, his voice betrayed a tense anger that the hens could feel manifesting as a gradually intensifying pain. “She has found what she was not meant to find.” Sadie levitated the poor chickens closer to his white mask, as they all watched the distant scene unfold. “And oh, look!” Sadie said, tightening his force-grip on the hens. “Now she’s setting it free! Isn’t that lovely?” The chickens could only continue gasping out their miserable-sounding clucks under the increasing tightness of his grip.

“..krrO..O...O...Ook-kruk...krurrk...!”

Using Fluttershy’s voice, Sadie comforted them as he loosened his grip a little. “Shhh-shhh, awww, there there.”

Elizabeak and her friends shuddered. It really sounded like their loving mistress! But despite its genuine tone, his actions made a mockery of her kindness. Hearing her voice like this made them realize how they always seemed to take her for granted, leaving their coop to have a bug-buffet in the Everfree, even though they knew how it rattled her nerves for them to be in such a dangerous place.

“Now,” Sadie cooed, still in Fluttershy's voice, “do you know what it is I'm setting free, oh my cute, cute little chickies?”

The chickens, bearing up the pain, shook their heads.

“I'll...tell...you...” Sadie said slowly and softly, prolonging their torment, “...it's...a...timberwooolfff.” They watched and listened helplessly as Fluttershy frantically ripped the vines used to tie up the timberwolf's piles of sticks and branches.

“Oh! Don't you worry,” they heard the real Fluttershy saying, sounding clear yet somehow ethereal coming through Sadie’s perspective, “I'll get some rain clouds to put out that fire! Wait here!” She then swooped up into the sky, took a couple of clouds and brought them down closer to the ground. Sadie and the chickens watched her as she kicked the clouds, releasing the water inside, showering it down on the burning pieces of the timberwolf.

Sadie suddenly turned the hens around towards him, their poor chicken faces directly in front of his eyeless mask, disrupting their view of the distant scene. Instead, the empty eye-holes of the sphinx’s mask filled their vision. Even this close up, they couldn’t see anything inside of them, no sign of life or warmth, just a cold, bottomless void...

“Oh, what's the matter, my oh so pretty little chickies? My cute and cuddly little chickies?” Sadie said as he giggled, in Fluttershy's adorably demure way. “Don’t you see? I might never have found that poor timberwolf and gotten to help him if you hadn’t run away like this! Oh, he’s going to eat me now, I’m sure, but that’s the price one pays for kindness!”

If chickens could blanch, Elizabeak and her hen-pals would have done it right then, as the full realization of what they’d caused to happen fell on them.

"Now," he said, reverting back to his own voice and tilting his head at them, "you will go straight back to your chicken coop, yes?"

The poor chickens nodded as much as they could in Sadie’s magical grip, to which he responded by releasing them all at once. They plopped to the ground and lay there for a few seconds, writhing, coughing, and gasping for air. Sadie rose and began walking in Fluttershy’s direction. After just a few steps, his body faded away. Elizabeak and her friends found themselves alone, and in their terror, scrambled as fast as they can towards the safety of their chicken coop.

“N-n-no...puh-please,” Fluttershy pleaded as she scrambled away on her back from the freshly reassembled timberwolf, stuttering through her fear as she tried desperately to communicate with it. “I… I…”

The giant wooden beast glared down at her, snapping and grinding the splintery wooden stakes that lined its giant, tongueless maw in place of teeth. She knew what that behavior meant—the prey was caught, and it was time to eat.

“But...I helped you. I...I helped you!”

Like a true animal, the timberwolf's first concern was it's hunger. Being tied up and tortured like that for a long time made it quite famished, and even though Fluttershy had been the one to set it free, the presence of an easy meal was too much to resist.

She glanced back: the edge of the clearing was just a few feet away. If she could just get on her hooves, she could cut straight through the forest and make a run for it, or even fly! But how, with the timberwolf looming over her?

Then, one huge paw stepped on the hair tail extensions, sealing her fate. So, this is how it ends, she thought to herself – doomed by an act of kindness. She remembered something similar had happened to Rarity during their time in Manehattan. But it hadn’t been a matter of life and death in Rarity’s case, at least. Still, were they all destined to ruin because of their elements?

She watched in wide-eyed terror as the timberwolf growled and snarled over her, its wooden fanged muzzle coming closer and closer, the vile stench of its breath getting stronger. She wanted to close her eyes, but fear had her completely paralyzed. All she could do was tremble, and stare, and wait.

Suddenly, from somewhere off to the side of the path, a stone zipped through the air and struck the timberwolf on the head. Fluttershy and the timberwolf turned towards the source of the attack, and there, on top of a boulder, stood Angel Bunny. He threw another stone, striking the beast near the eye this time. The timberwolf yelped and growled, stumbling a couple of steps backwards in surprise, releasing Fluttershy’s tail. Angel took this opportunity to leap down from the boulder, getting in between the monster and his mistress.

“Angel?! NO!” Fluttershy shouted, worried that Angel was too near the monstrous beast, but he paid her no heed. He continued to throw stones at it, hoping to do what Spike once did – shoot a stone into the timberwolf's throat and make it choke. He threw another, and another! But unexpectedly, the beast dodged and lunged at him with its jagged, wooden teeth. Angel bounced up and out of the way, and the timberwolf went after him, turning away from his mistress. He squeaked triumphantly! He managed to get the timberwolf’s attention away from Fluttershy, at least. Not exactly what he planned, but yes, he can definitely work with this.

The timberwolf snapped its monstrous muzzle at him again, but again it came up empty, thanks to the bunny's quick bouncing. However, the creature was more cunning than Angel thought. He’d been so focused on evading its mouth, that he completely failed to notice its paw swiping at him from the side until it struck him with such force that his tiny body flew several meters away through the air, tumbling several feet more across the dirt when he landed.

Angel was almost unconscious. Dimly, he heard his mistress shouting his name. Battered and in pain, he looked up and saw that Fluttershy was running towards him. “NO! Run away, mistress! Run! Fly!”

Instead, Fluttershy ran towards Angel, seemingly ignoring the timberwolf. As soon as she reached him, she took him up with her teeth by the scruff of his neck, tossing him onto her back without slowing a step. The timberwolf gave chase, each step of its massive wooden paws making the ground shake.

All she could think of was to run—as far and as fast as she possibly could! She made for where the trees had grown together the thickest, dodging her relatively small body between the trunks while the huge timberwolf was forced to break through them, slowing it down. As she ran deeper and deeper into the forest, the sound of frustrated growls and crashing trees grew fainter and fainter behind her, but still, she didn’t stop running.

Soon, she found herself at the bottom of an earthy cliff, studded with jutting rocks and lined with wild, overgrown bushes. Barely breaking stride, she tried to climb it using the rocks as hoofholds; but the cliff was too steep, and its soil too loose. Despite her best efforts, she slipped onto her belly and slid back to the foot of the cliff before she’d gotten even halfway up, whimpering plaintively. The dirt, dust and gravel kicked loose by her attempt slid down after her, stinging painfully in her eyes and nose. Desperately, she scrambled back to her hooves and tried again, and again and again and again, but every attempt fared no better than the first. Panting through gritted teeth, she blinked away the tears in her eyes and scanned the area for a way she might go around, but found that the cliff curved back a short distance away in both directions, effectively boxing her in. Her breaths came progressively shorter as she whipped her head around in all directions, desperately hoping her eyes would land on some way, any way, forward… to no avail.

Then, a sudden flicker of hope: perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it seemed! She’d built up quite a lead on the timberwolf, and she’d only have to backtrack a little ways! Surely she could still make it! But, turning around, Fluttershy realized just how much time she’d wasted on her panicked attempts to climb the cliff. The once-distant sounds of growling and snapping wood were almost deafening, now, and flashes of angry burning green eyes could be seen between the few remaining trunks. It was here, and there was nowhere left to run! She turned her head and looked back at Angel—he had passed out, still unconsciously gripping her mane. She had only one hope left.

Taking Angel up with her teeth again, she quickly carried him over to the cliff where the bushes were densest, intending to hide him there. She thanked Celestia when she found a crevice behind the bushes large enough to squeeze her dear Angel Bunny in, but small enough to keep the Timberwolf’s smallest claw out. She even stuffed some leaves into the crevice and pushed the branches closer together against the crack for good measure. “Goodbye, Angel,” she said silently, then went back to face the massive wooden beast. Only one tree was left standing in its way by this time, and it was almost completely uprooted. Any moment now and it would fall. She laid down and curled herself into a trembling ball on the ground in front of it. The timberwolf, seeing its prey within reach, began snapping wildly at her, pushing harder and harder against the tree. She felt the ground quiver under its massive paws, and prayed that it would be quick. With luck, it would overlook Angel while it… would she be enough to fill its belly…? Cringing from her own thoughts, she braced herself and waited for the end to come.

She heard the tree fall. “This is it!” she gripped herself tightly. Memories of her friends and loved ones flashed inside her mind. Already she missed them, and how she longed for their sweet company. “Goodbye my friends!” she cried outloud inside her. “I love you all!”

A moment passed, and nothing. In fact, it was quiet. She chanced a peek, and what she saw, she never would have expected: it was Sadie, sitting regal and somehow completely at ease, facing the timberwolf.

“Ah, so it is you again, my dear, brainless animal with no other purpose in life than to follow your bloodthirsty instincts,” he said impassively.

The timberwolf was visibly thinking twice now, its sticks-for-ears flat against its wooden head. Unsure of what to do, it stepped back.

Sadie looked back towards Fluttershy. “Are you alright?”

“Watch out!” Fluttershy shouted as the timberwolf lunged at him, taking advantage of Sadie's seeming distraction… and stopping in mid-air. Sadie slowly turned his head towards the dumb beast as its body began to convulse.

“Tsk tsk tsk,” Sadie said, waving a clawed finger at the timberwolf. “Naughty naughty, uh-uh.”

The timberwolf rose higher into the air, the convulsions forcefully stopped as its body gradually shrank in on itself, as if pressed on all sides by some unseen force. The cracking of wood could be heard.

Fluttershy was shocked. Was this really her sphinx? Was he somehow doing this to this poor animal?

“...stop...”

“Now you will pay for your treachery!” Sadie said, coldly. There was another, even louder crack of splintering wood. The timberwolf began to whine.

“STOP!!!” The force crushing the timberwolf suddenly ceased, leaving it floating in place up near the treetops.

The statement stabbed him. Sadie turned his head so that it seemed he was looking at Fluttershy out of the corner of one eye. “Whu...What?” he asked, obviously taken aback.

“Please, just...let it go,” she pleaded.

He turned to face her completely. “This...beast almost killed Angel and tried to devour you. How can you show mercy?”

“That's just it.” Fluttershy said as she stood up. “Like you said—it's just a beast, a creature of instinct...”

“...and once already, this very one,” he said, pointing up with a wing and a finger to the timberwolf still in the air. “has had the audacity to come out of the Everfree to prey upon the animals in your own backyard! These creatures must be shown the error of their ways in the most persuasive manner possible.”

“Which is to torture them?!”

“‘Torture them’? ...I see. You would rather have Angel Bunny be in danger, along with the rest of your creatures, by showing kindness to these timberwolves.”

The sphinx watched Fluttershy as she went and got Angel Bunny from where she had hidden him. Her movements were slow and deliberate, her face unsure. She was obviously trying to think of a response. “N-No!..I… Well...I...” She parted the bushes and reached into the crevice, carefully scooping him up with her hooves and cradling him along with her wings. She stroked his battered head with the tips of her wing, and nuzzled his battered body, feeling for any broken bones.

“Oh Angel…” she whispered to his unconscious ears as she pressed him to her cheek.

Sadie watched her express her kindness towards Angel; this right after she just showed kindness to the timberwolf! He suddenly felt weak and faltered slightly. He could feel himself growing weaker. “So? Should I just stand here, and let this beast overpower us?”

“Could you... scatter it into pieces, and send them all far, far away?” she asked hopefully.

Sadie looked up at the beast, and back at her. “You realize, it will just reassemble itself eventually. Then who knows what it will do.”

“Please.”

“...Very well,” Facing the timberwolf still hanging high in the air, Sadie stood up on his hind legs and bared his claws. He flared his wings wide open, and gave the air a huge, wide armed and wide winged push, and the timberwolf went flying high into the air, in pieces and in all direction.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said. Sadie quickly turned towards her, breathing heavily, obviously upset despite his total lack of expression. Feeling his disapproval, she looked at his hind paws instead as she held Angel tight to her chest.

A moment passed in silence. “I see I will have to teach you much,” Sadie said in a tender, melancholy voice, “and I am almost out of time.”

“Huh? Whu...what do you mean?”

Fluttershy felt a gust of wind. She shielded her face and Angel with her wings, and heard the rustling of leaves above her. She looked around, and up.

Sadie was gone.