Life Outside The Cave

Twilight opened the door with her magic revealing a butter yellow mare with pink hair. “Hi Fluttershy, what can I help you with?” Twilight asked eagerly with a happy smile on her face.
“Hi Twilight, Angel wasn't eating his breakfast and I’m worried he may be sick, could I borrow your copies of the ‘Aggregated Animal Analysis Almanac?”
‘What is with that name.’ I thought, 'It's awful alliteration annoys and astonishes.'
“Sure.” Twilight answered, “They're upstairs, I was reading them last night.” she turned around galloped up the stairs to retrieve it.

“Oh my, what kind of creature are you?” Questioned Fluttershy from well inside my personal space, she had leapt towards me at a speed competing with that of Olympic athletes the second she noticed me.
“He’s a human.” Answered Spike on my behalf still packing up our game. “Twilight found him in the woods.”
“You don’t mean the Everfree forest right?” Fluttershy inquired looking nervous and casting frightened glances at me.
“Nah, she found him wandering around the Whitetail woods, carrying a blanket.”
“Oh, well I’ve never heard of a human before.” Fluttershy stated.

“I have a name Spike and really that's unsurprising, as far as I know I’m the only one here.” I told the empty air right in front of me.
“Uh, Spike where did Fluttershy go?” I questioned, wondering how such a brightly colored equine could just disappear like that.
“She’s over there, behind the door.” Spike elucidated while pointing over to the door into the kitchen.
“Huh okay, what does she do for a living?” I asked trying to ease some sense of normalcy into the room.
“She’s an animal caretaker.” Spike replied “She helps ponies find pets and helps them take care of the ones they already have.”
“That can be a very tough job, she must really enjoy it to keep doing it.” I stated. “Fluttershy, would you like to hear a poem? It's about some of the animals from my home.” I said in a raised but measured tone so as to make sure she heard me.

Slowly, trying to appear as small as possible, she strode into the room and took a seat as far away from me as possible.
“Okay, this poem was written by a man named Banjo Patterson it was released in a book he wrote named ‘The Animals Noah Forgot’ roughly, … 120 years ago.” I explained after some quick math. “Just give me a second to remember the whole thing.” I requested and after a short while started reciting.

The strongest creature for his size
But least equipped for combat
That dwells beneath Australian skies
Is Weary Will the Wombat.

He digs his homestead underground,
He's neither shrewd nor clever;
For kangaroos can leap and bound
But wombats dig forever.

The boundary rider's netting fence
Excites his irritation;
It is to his untutored sense
His pet abomination.

And when to pass it he desires,
Upon his task he'll centre
And dig a hole beneath the wires
Through which the dingoes enter.

And when to block the hole they strain
With logs and stones and rubble,
Bill Wombat digs it out again
Without the slightest trouble.

The boundary rider bows to fate,
Admits he's made a blunder
And rigs a little swinging gate
To let Bill Wombat under.

So most contentedly he goes
Between his haunt and burrow:
He does the only thing he knows,
And does it very thorough.

After I finished Spike looked like he was sleeping and Fluttershy looked much more relaxed, she immediately began interrogating me.
“What's a Wombat look like? I’ve heard of Kangaroos before, the royal gardens have them but I’ve never heard of a Wombat." she asked meekly.
“You have Kangaroos here? Huh, Well Wombats are quadrupedal, short-legged marsupials, they can be found almost anywhere in the wild, they are very adaptable and they're herbivores, the reason they dig is to either make homes or to get at a plants roots.” I explained

“And what about dingoes? Why is there a fence to keep them out?” She asked again.
“Dingoes are the descendants of working dogs brought over from another land a very long time ago, they are the apex predator of the Australian outback, the fence in the poem is known as the ‘Dingo Fence’ it was built in order to keep dingoes out of the more populated areas, as they were killing sheep, the fence is about 5000 kilometers long.” I answered.

“Um, kilometers?” she queried.
“Do you use miles here?” I asked receiving an affirmative answer I replied. “It would be about 3000 miles”.
“Wow, a fence that large would reach to Baltimare and have some distance left over.” Twilight stated as she came down the stairs.
I smiled a toothy grin. ‘This was a nice conversation.’

“I..I just have one last question” asked Fluttershy. “Do you, um eat … meat?”
‘Damn I have no idea how they’ll react to this.’
“Y-yeah humans are omnivores we eat cereals, lentils, vegetables, fruits and well meat.” I replied hesitantly, wondering if I should have lied.
“I thought so, It’s your teeth I noticed them when you smiled.” Fluttershy continued. “What are you going to do for food now?”
“Well I won't be eating any ponies before you jump to conclusions.” I replied snippily.
“That's an extremely specific denial you know.” Twilight said eyes narrowed.
“O..okay it’s just that I take care of lots of animals and not all of them can only eat plants, so if you need some um, food I might be able to help.” she graciously and nervously offered.

“That’s an extremely kind offer Fluttershy but where do you get it from?” I asked.
“Oh there's some fisher-ponies that help me out so I can feed my friends” she explained happily which soon turned downcast. “And when one of my animal friends is about to pass away they tell me to give them to some other animal.” she replied almost in tears.
“Fluttershy your friends are being extremely generous.” I told her.
“Yeah, they would give Rarity a run for her money!” Spike helpfully added.
“I know but I still miss them, I can't watch after I give them away.” she wasn't about to cry now but it looked almost as if she felt ashamed.

“Fluttershy, ‘Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.’ Your friends generosity in their final moments mimics teachings of my own world.” I told her. “Certain groups of Buddhist people when they die, have their bodies fed to vultures in order to give even after death. They believe that in sustaining another's life the world itself will recognize their good deeds and their soul which has already left the body will be in a better place because of it. Once the soul has left the body all that remains is flesh.”

I walked around the table and gave her a hug.
“Thank you” she stated. “Oh, I never asked your name.” I just smiled and laughed.