1: The Element of Kindness
Sundew had just finished weeding his tulip garden when all of a sudden he saw a thick cloud of purple, orange, and blue butterflies surrounding his butterfly garden. “Oh wow! I know that these are supposed to attract the little guys, but I’ve never seen that many before!” Sundew flew towards the butterflies at a slow pace, as not to scare them off. He was happy to see so many butterflies enjoying his garden he planted for them; it gave him some sort of accomplishment. As soon as he was a few yards away from the winged insects, they started to swarm towards him. Sundew quickly closed his wings and dropped to the ground out of fright and started taking small steps away from the winged menace.
He saw that the butterflies were not giving up and they continued advancing towards him, so Sundew decided to get back into his house as soon as possible. He turned around so quickly his glasses flew off of him and he blindly ran into his home. “Oh no, I dropped my glasses, now how can I get anything done?” Sundew thought to himself as he felt his way to his kitchen. He looked out the window that overlooked the back garden and he saw the butterflies had returned to their patch of flowers.
Sundew thought for a good while how he could get back his glasses. He was near blind without his glasses and he had to go to work in his flower shop the next day and it wouldn’t look too good if he was bumping into everything, or everypony for that matter. “Well, maybe if I wait by night, they’ll be sleeping and I can sneak out there.” However, after watching the blurry cloud for almost an hour, he saw the cloud dissipate.
He clambered out to his back garden, slowly and quietly. He finally found his glasses in a patch of daisies. As soon as he put them on, he noticed that one of the lenses was cracked. “Well, that looks like it’ll take a full week’s worth of bits to replace,” he sighed. Business was slow around this time of the year. With autumn coming just around the corner, most ponies weren’t looking for flowers to plant, but house plants instead, and they weren’t usually that expensive. Sundew decided to see the state the butterflies left his garden in. As he approached it, he noticed most of the flowers in the middle had been completely beaten down.
“I have to replace my glasses and NOW my butterfly garden. Well Sundew, I guess you don’t get an early night tonight,” he said to himself as he walked back to his shed. He strapped his pull cart and tossed some gardening tools to help pull up the destroyed flowers. He trotted back to the spot, but when he went to pull out the plants, he noticed that the flowers weren’t destroyed by the insects, but a pegasus was napping on them.
“Umm, hello?” Sundew questioned the pale yellow pony. “You seem to be sleeping on my candytufts,” Sundew said softly, scratching his chin on what to do. He decided the best option was to simply tap on the young filly’s shoulder and try to wake her up. AS soon as his hoof barely grazed her fur, the pegasus jumped straight into the air, giving a shriek.
“I’m sorry, little filly, I didn’t mean to scare you. Hey, I haven’t seen you around before, did you just move here?” Sundew smiled up at the pegasus. The sun shined through her wings every so often and left him partially blinded for the conversation.
The filly remained silent and stared straight down at the ground and then around Sundew’s backyard at all the flowers.
“Don’t feel like talking too much? That’s okay, follow me, I’ll get you something to eat,” he offered to her. She simply nodded at the notion and Sundew greeted her nod with a smile. “Alright, follow me. I’ll see what I have.” He turned around and she landed down on the ground and followed behind him.
Inside his home, Sundew went straight to the kitchen and opened his cupboards. They were mostly bare except for a few carrots and apples. He’d have to go the market today if he expected to eat anything for the next week. He picked up the carrots and bag of apples and set them on the table. “I’m sorry I don’t have much, but you’re welcome to eat until you’re full,” he said to the pegasus sitting across the way from him on the table. She stared blankly at the food and then up at him. He nudged the food towards her, to which she took a quick, scared step back. “It’s all right, go on; you look like you could use the food.”
The filly placed her hoof on an apple and moved it towards her, sniffed it, and took a petite bite out of it. Sundew smiled, “I’ll let you eat… you must be pretty shy about meeting new ponies.” He left the room to go tend to his garden and the yellow pony started eating more of the apples.
Later, Sundew was just about to put in his new candytuft flowers when he looked over at his house and noticed the pegasus was looking out the window at him. He smiled and waved to her and went back to work. After only an hour and a half, the garden was done and ready to grow again. He placed his cart back in the shed with his tools and flew back inside his home.
The pegasus was waiting in the living room on a couch. “It looks like you’ve made yourself at home here,” he said to her as he made his way to the kitchen to wash his hooves and wipe off the sweat from his brow. “So what’s your name, little filly?” he asked her while he was busy in the kitchen.
“I’m Fluttershy,” she whispered, but it was loud enough that Sundew could hear that she said something. Sundew smirked to finally hear her say something. He finished washing up and moved into the living room with her.
“What was that?” he asked, trying to get her to talk again.
“I’m Fluttershy,” she repeated herself, looking away from him.
“Fluttershy, eh? I’ve never heard of anypony named Fluttershy around here before, are you new to Ponyville?”
“Umm…” she started, without exactly knowing how to end the sentence. “I’m kind of lost…”
“Oh, so you’re not from around here. Well where are you from?”
“I’m from Cloudsdale,” she told him.
“Well then… why don’t you get on back there?” he asked her. Cloudsdale was a very difficult city to miss, being in the clouds after all.
“I-I can’t,” she said, now embarrassed.
“Well why not?” he asked her, now taking a seat on an old wooden chair.
“I just can’t,” she said in a slightly frustrated tone.
“Don’t you have a family to go home to? Wouldn’t a lot of people be missing you up there?” He tried to remind her of all the friends she’d be leaving behind in the clouds, not to mention she was too young to just run away from home.
She simply sighed and hung her head low. “Would it be too much trouble if I just stay here on the ground for a night?”
“Oh, no, not at all. In fact I have a guest bedroom that hasn’t been used in years! I hardly ever get guests all the way out here. Too many ponies are afraid of the Everfree Forest to venture out to my cottage,” he told her excitedly as his wings took air and he floated into the air. “Come on! Follow me!”
Sundew excitedly flew up the stairs to a medium sized room with a large bed in it. Fluttershy took small steps up the stairs, her long legs making it difficult for her to walk up such steep steps, she almost tripped multiple times. “You’ll really let me stay here with you?”
“I’ll be glad to have the company,” he told her and then noticed the sun was still a ways away from setting. “Hey, what do you say about going into town for a bit? Nothing’s open, but I’ll be too busy to show you around tomorrow.”
“What’s tomorrow?” she asked him as she tested the bed’s softness with her hoof.
“I run a flower shop in town, and I’ll be there almost all day… provided anypony comes in to buy something,” he told her as he flew about the room tidying things up.
“I don’t think I’d like to go into town today… if you don’t mind, that is,” she said to him, climbing on top of the bed and laying down, watching Sundew dust off the dresser in the room.
“It’s no problem, it’s all good, no worries. What would you like to do?” he offered.
“Could we walk through the forest?”
“I don’t know about that, there are some pretty nasty critters out there, especially around this time, they’d be just waking up,” Sundew warned her.
“Nasty critters?”
“Uh-huh. Like manticores and cockatrices. You’ve probably seen the bunnies and butterflies earlier, but there are some frightening things in that forest.”
“Oh my,” Fluttershy said as she peered out of a window, looking at the forests’ edge.
“Don’t worry, we’re safe here. They never leave the forest. So why can’t you go back home,” he asked interested as he walked over to the bed.
“I just don’t like it there,” she stated.
“Well why not? You get a beautiful view, it never rains above you, what’s not to like?” Sundew reasoned with the filly.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here? You’re a pegasus too after all,” Fluttershy retorted, but in an apologetic tone.
“Oh not at all. I moved here soon after I finished my schooling in the clouds. I just didn’t seem to fit in up there. Everyone up there zooming around, moving clouds and making it rain and storm over Equestria… It wasn’t for me.” Fluttershy gave a slight smile to hear such comfort in another who didn’t fit in. “So one day, I was flying low to the ground and found this beautiful apple orchard right here in Ponyville and I became fascinated with the trees, and soon after, all the flowers and how they just grew out of the ground. You sure don’t see that in the clouds. Who would’ve thought a pony could help create such beautiful flower fields. I found this abandoned cottage out here and started examining the plant life here. It’s just so intriguing.”
“So is that how you got your cutie mark?” she asked him in a more calm and relaxed tone.
“Uh-huh. It’s a Venus Fly-Trap. It represents my curiosity for unique plants. I didn’t get it until I was much older than the rest of the pegasi in my age group, but I’m proud of it all the same. So I’ve been living here for 5 years now, I even managed to open up a flower stand and made a deal with Mr. Rich to set up and entire flower shop. We haven’t been getting very good business, but it helps get food on my table,” Sundew explained, and finally realized he was talking a little too much. “How about your cutie mark?”
“Huh?” Fluttershy said as she looked over at her flank. She had never seen her cutie mark before, considering it wasn’t even a day old. “I didn’t even realize I had one. I must have gotten it after the butterflies caught me in the sky.”
“Caught you? Good heavens, don’t tell me you were falling all the way from Cloudsdale!” Sundew exclaimed in a caring tone.
“Well… you see,” Fluttershy started as she explained the scenario where her friend Rainbow Dash tried to stick up for her in front of a bunch of bullies, but ended up knocking her off of a cloud.
“You must not be too great of a flier then, are you?” Sundew surmised.
“No, not at all,” she said, lowering her head again, embarrassed.
“That’s okay. I’m not a great flier either. Is this your first time on solid ground?”
“Oh yes,” she said excitedly.
“How’re you enjoying your stay out of the clouds?”
“Oh it’s marvelous! We don’t get to see such exotic animals in the sky, mostly just falcons and eagles.”
“Regal they may be, they sure don’t compare to the bunnies and the small song birds,” Sundew said, opening the window, letting the evening song of the birds chirp in. They all had the same distinct melody. Fluttershy moved to the window and looked out at the birds, and began to sing back to them. Sundew smiled and moved silently out of the room, leaving her to sing with her birds.
He ran into town quickly to pick up some more food. He knew he had to make it quick, so he only got enough that he could carry by mouth in a bag. He managed to pick up some a variety of fruits and vegetables for a salad and soup.
He came home to Fluttershy still calling after the birds. He smiled widely. He wasn’t used to having company in the house and was more than happy to make a good meal for once, especially with someone to share it with. He cut up the veggies and threw them in a pot on his woodstove and filled it the rest of the way with water. While that was cooking, he cut up the fruit into a large bowl and mixed it gently. Soon the soup was done and he wandered back upstairs.
“Little filly, it’s time to get some dinner. I made some vegetable stew and we’ll have some fruit salad for dessert,” he told her gladly.
She beamed a smile towards him and gave a shy ‘yay’ and followed him down the stairs. Sundew set the table quickly and poured her some soup.
“You’ve seemed to have taken a liking to the birds around her,” he noticed.
“They’re lovely. I’ve never heard such a beautiful song before,” she said and then took a quiet slurp of her soup.
“And the soup?”
“It’s good too!” she added.
They finished up their bowls of soup quickly and Sundew brought out the large bowl of fruit. It was mostly apples, since the Apple family gave Sundew a reduced fee in exchange for keeping the apple trees healthy. He did manage to pick up some strawberries and even half of a pineapple though. The strawberries weren’t even in season!
By the time they finished their fruit salad, the sun had sent, and Fluttershy yawned. “You must be real tired, considering everything you’ve gone through. Come on, I’ll tuck you into bed,” Sundew said, tossing the bowls in the sink as he walked up the stairs. He decided to keep his hooves on the ground so Fluttershy didn’t feel embarrassed that she wasn’t a great flier.
Sundew pulled the purple sheets on the bed back and the yellow filly jumped sprawled into bed and Sundew laid the covers back over her.
He turned to leave, but Fluttershy stopped him. “Could you sing me a good night song?” She asked of him.
He smiled slightly. “I don’t know about that I’m hardly as good of a singer as you are,” he told her as he trotted right next to her bed.
“Try?” she asked, looking up to him with her big blue eyes.
“Well, there was a lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was a young colt,” he reminisced.
Fluttershy gave out a large smile and squee, asking him to continue with her expression alone.
“Oh alright,” Sundew finally gave in and began to sing, slightly off key, but still a lullaby none-the-less.
“Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed
Drifting off to sleep;
the exciting day behind you.
Drifting off to sleep;
Let the joy of dream land find you.
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed”
By the time he was done singing, Fluttershy was already sound asleep. He watched her for a bit, and then slowly and quietly left the room. He walked down the stairs with an odd sense of responsibility now. For whatever reason this filly showed up in his butterfly garden, he know felt it was his job to take care of her. This was a job he gladly accepted. She seemed a lot like him when he was just a foal and knew that someone like this needed someone who understood them.
Sundew opened the door to his bedroom and plopped down onto the bed, exhausted; physically and emotionally. He put his glasses on the bed next to him, and tossed his shirt over one of the posts of his bed. Tomorrow would be a long day. A day full of adventure and learning.