Tot’s POV: First Person

You know that place between asleep and awake? When you can feel your body, but your not quite there mentally? That's where I am right now. I feel it’s about time to get up, but I’m not quite ready to do so yet. Instead, I’m recollecting my thoughts about what Rainbow Dash said during the night.

“I’ll think about it… but YOU need to think more about what you NEED instead of what you want.”

What do I need? I mean, I got food… I got a job… a house maybe? Everyone else seems to have one… it would be better than sleeping out here in the cold I suppose. But I don’t even know where to start with that. Maybe I could build one? Who am I kidding, I don’t know the first thing about building a house. Where would I even get the materials to do so?

I start to feel more awake, and I groggily open my eyes. My vision starts as a blur, slowly getting more and more clear. I notice a couple things as my vision comes into full focus. First, there is a blanket covering me, and is positioned in a way that it’s being used as a pillow as well. That’s strange… how did this get here? on the upside, I’m not cold. I’ll have to find whoever did this and thank them.

I notice another thing, but its so small of a change I almost missed it; a couple of strands of my white hair have now turned black. That’s more than strange… why is my hair turning black? I think to myself as I grip some of my hair and try to look at it closer. Kinda hard to do without a mirror in retrospect. Either way, I can clearly see black strands mixed in with my white hair. About 2/8ths of it if I were to guess.

Nothing I can do about it. I say with a shrug as I toss my hair to the side. I sit up and stretch; the blanket definitely helped keep me warm. I get up and fold the blanket, and place it in a somewhat low hanging branch of the tree. My stomach growling reminds me of breakfast, which is the last of my bread. Reaching into my backpack, I pull out my breakfast, and start eating, occasionally taking a sip of water.

Thinking about it, I can’t remember if I was still dreaming or not… wait...what was I even dreaming about? All I remember is…. Suddenly I feel a sharp pain in my head, and grip it tightly. I sit there gripping my head for a moment, my bread and water forgotten about on the ground; images of nothingness and a deep feeling of emptiness fills my head; and I feel icky all over. After an amount of time that I can’t determine, the pain subsides, but the emptiness remains. Don’t try to remember dreams… got it…

I look at my bread and water canteen on the ground and let out a sigh as I pick them up and wipe off the dirt as best I can. I continue my breakfast without thought, for fear of another flash of pain.

Taking the last bite and swallowing, I get up to my feet and start walking to town. What to do…. Oh, I still gotta make todays deliveries. Other than that, nothing I really HAVE to do. Maybe I’ll go explore a bit more. There was a cool looking forest by Fluttershy’s place. Yeah! Let's do that. I’ll just get these deliveries done as quick as I can.

I find myself standing in front of the forest; a brave look on my face and my hands on my hips. “Hello Mr. Forest; I’m going to explore you today!”

...No response. But honestly, I wasn’t expecting one. With not much else to say about it, I waltz my way into the forest. Everything seems to be going well. The forest appears to be like any other forest; though to be fair this is the only forest I’ve been in… but it still seems normal!

I find myself following a path, but after a while I decide to stray from it; after all, a path means someone has already been here. I wanna explore, not follow someone elses steps. After a bit of walking, I hear what sounds like running water. I walk towards it and I smile as it gets louder. I breach the treeline to find myself in a circular clearing with a river running through it. Walking towards it, I see lots of fish.

For whatever reason, my stomach growls at the sight of the fish. ’Mm….. I could actually go for some fish…’ I think to myself. I carefully set down my guitar and backpack, and take off my pants and shirt, toss them to the side and crouch down by the river bank, completely in the nude; don’t wanna get my things wet. I watch the river and the fish within like a hawk; sitting there perfectly still, only watching the fish swim by.

After a while of watching their patterns, I shift my position, ready to pounce. Licking my lips, I take one final breath, and launch forward into the river. I see the fish right before I hit the water, and throw my arms out to try and grab the lil bugger. After I hit the water, my hands bump the fish and I flail my hands around to try and get a grip on it. Feeling I have a good enough grip on it, I plant my feet on the ground and stand up, hoisting the fish over my head. “HAHA! I HAVE BESTED YOU, FISH!”

I walk back to shore and shake myself dry; well, as dry as I can get. The fish keeps flopping around in my hands. Actually looking at it, I realize it’s a pretty big fish; about the size of a medium sized dog. “Stop squirming you, you’re struggling does nothing to help you!”

The fish continues to flop around, ignoring me completely. I shake it around to try and get it to stop, which only seems to invigorate it. Come on you piece of turd. Stop it.

My attention is soon turned elsewhere as I hear some rustling in the bushes. Turning my head to look behind me without fully turning around, I see a bunch of glowing yellow eyes looking at me. Thats…. interesting…? I think to myself as I don’t really know how to react to this. The creatures the eyes belong to come out of the bushes slowly, and are growling at me. They appear to be wolves or dogs of some kind, except they are made entirely out of wood, about 8 of them in total. Before I can even say hello, two of them start a dead sprint towards me and pounce at me. Reacting on pure instinct, I turn around swinging the fish with all my might, holding it by its tailfin. As about expected, the fish made contact with the two wolves, but what wasn’t expected, was both the fish and the wolves to literally EXPLODE in a shower of fish guts and wood.

“WHAT THE FUCK”, I yelled out in sheer surprise. I fall to my ass and shuffle back away from where I previously was. How the hell did I do that!? I just completely obliterated that fish! And those wolfy/dog things! D-did I really just do that?

I look at the wolves on the other side of the clearing, and they seem to be just as surprised as I am. Looking at the pile of fish, blood, and wood scattered across the area, it registers in my mind that I killed these things. The fish was gonna die, but it was going to be eaten, not just mindlessly slaughtered. The wolves on the other hand…

The only thing I can think to do is scream. And scream I did. I let out a loud scream, terrified of what I just did. I killed them! I hit them with the fish and now they’re dead!

To my surprise though, the bits of wood start to gather together and reform into wolves. I tilt my head in confusion at them. Didn’t know they could do that… I think to myself. Shrugging it off, but still a bit shaken by the fact that I could even do something like that, I start putting my clothes back on and grab my bag and guitar as well, preparing to just go home and pretend this didn’t happen.

But apparently one of the wolves that I had just saw put itself back together decided it still wanted to try something, and it charged me again and leapt at me. This time instead of trying to hit it, I catch it and hold him in place; trying not to hold it too tightly incase I break it again.

I turn it around quickly as it starts trying to bite at me. I tap it on the head. “Stop trying to bite me! I don’t wanna hurt you again!” it continues to ignore me and trying to bite me, so I give up and just let it gnaw on my arm, which doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. Don’t get me wrong, it still hurts but it’s like getting a bunch of needles to the arm over and over.

I look at the other wolves and just shake my head as they are still just staring at me in confusion. “Well, despite some of you trying to hurt me, and me hurting some of you by accident, it seems everything has worked itself out. So with that, I’ll just leave.” And with that, I walk away and start heading back towards the entrance.

I find the path quickly enough, and this wolf will not stop gnawing on my arm. Its starting to hurt a bit more than it was before. I swat at the wolf’s head again to try and get it to stop but that only makes it bite harder. “Owe! Okay, okay, just fuck off with biting so hard!” it continues to ignore me. Great… that just made it worse. Maybe Fluttershy can help, she's the only one close by.”

Fluttershy’s POV: First Person

I let out a sigh of relief as I plop on the couch exhausted. Today was a bit more hectic than usually. I’m sure Angel will apologize later. Anyways… at least all the chores are done for the day and I can just relax now. And with time to spare too, it's only a little past noon!

My thought is interrupted by a knock at the door. Now who could that be? I think to myself. “It’s okay Fluttershy, you can relax afterwards.” I whisper to myself. Putting on a smile, I call out to whoever’s at my door. “Just a minute!” with a bit more effort than i’d like to admit, I heft myself off the couch and trot to the door.

Opening the door my eyes widen in shock and my heart sinks at what is there. Standing there is Tots, but that’s not the part that scares me. In his arms, is a timber wolf, which is gnawing at his arm; there is blood leaking through the gaps in its teeth and dripping down Tots’s arm and off his hands and fingers.

I’m snapped out of my state of shock when he speaks. “Fluttershhyyyyyy… help me. He won’t let go and this is really starting to hurt.”

I look back and forth between his face, which clearly is expressing pain, and the timber wolf, which is gnawing at his arm with reckless abandon. I shake my head and glare at the Timber wolf. “I don’t know what Tots did to upset you, but whatever it was doesn’t give you the right to hurt him the way you are mister!” this causes it to freeze up and stop biting him, which is good, but not enough. It tries to mutter a out a response but I can’t understand what it’s saying because it still has Tots’s arm in its mouth, so I cut it off. “I can’t understand you like that, spit it out!” the wolf finally does so, and Tots lets go of it letting it drop to the ground. Before I can question it further it runs off towards the forest in a mad dash.

I shake my head and let out a sigh. I remember that Tots is still bleeding though, and I look back at him. “Tots, how in the wide world of Equestria did you end up like this?” he just shrugs and gives me a sheepish smile. He just thanks me and turns to walk away, but I stop him by grabbing his arm. Unfortunately it's his bad arm so he lets out a yelp but I ignore it. “Oh no you don’t mister. We’re going to get that cleaned up right now. And you’re going to explain how you got like this.”

I already knew he was in the forest, but how he can just casually let a timber wolf bite on him is what I want to know. For now though, getting him patched up is top priority. With that, I pull him into my cottage, and lead him to the couch. “Stay here, and try not to get blood on anything please, if you can manage that is.” with that I rush off to the bathroom to grab my first aid kit. Finding it, I open it to make sure I have everything. After checking off everything in my mental checklist, I grab a rag and soak it in warm water so I can clean the wound first. With that taken care of, I rush back to the living room to find him still where I left him. With a sigh of relief, I put the first aid kit down, and start to wipe away the blood with the rag.

He winces a bit as the rag makes contact with the wound, and tries to pull his arm away but I keep a firm grip on his arm. “Stay still, you’re only going to make it hurt more.” after telling him that he starts keeping his arm still but he keeps squirming in his seat. After cleaning all the blood, I put the rag down on the table and start looking for any bits of debris that might be stuck under the skin; or splinters, as he was bitten by a timber wolf. I do my best to get all foreign objects out of his arm, and then pick up the bandages and roll of gauze. I press the bandages against the wounds and wrap the gauze over it to keep it in place.

I let out a sigh as I finish patching him up. Looking up at his face, I notice he’s a bit pale, so I go into the kitchen and come back with a glass of orange juice and a cookie; I place it on the coffee table in front of him. “You should um… eat these. You lost quite a bit of blood…”

He hesitantly takes the offered cookie and juice but doesn’t eat it. “Are you sure? I know food isn’t cheap…” at my nod, he slowly eats the cookie.

What does he mean? Food isn’t that expensive. Even for some of the poorer families food has never been much of a problem. I tilt my head a bit. “Tots? What were you doing in the forest?”

He finishes the cookie and takes a sip of juice before answering. “I was just… exploring.” he says with a shrug.

“But why the forest? It’s really dangerous in there. You could have died!” I scold.

He just hangs his head. “I’m not too sure about that…” he says solemnly.

“What do you mean by that?” I ask confused. He lifts his head and he has tears in his eyes, which startle me for a moment. Why is he crying? Did I accidentally say something wrong?

“I don’t know why or how… but… what I can do… it honestly scares me…” he explains vaguely.

“Tots, I don-” he cuts me off.

“I OBLITERATED A FISH AND TWO OF THOSE WOLVES! And I wasn’t even thinking about it! It just happened! Those wolves jumped at me and I swung the fish at them and they just exploded! And I walked all the way from that river to here with one of them gnawing on my arm! I don’t think normal people can do that!” he explodes. He lets out a sigh and curls up, putting his knees to his chest. “All I want are friends… but now… I’m scared I might hurt any friends I make…” with that he buries his face into his legs and starts crying softly.

I’m at a loss for words. When he started yelling, I was scared of him; but after hearing what he had to say… I get up from my spot in front of him, and hop on the couch next to him, tentatively placing a wing around him and leaning into him. Fear aside, he obviously needs someone to be there for him right now. “Ssshhh…. It’s okay… you didn’t mean to do it. You were just trying to protect yourself.”

He leans into me, still crying. “I understand you’re scared. Believe me, I get scared a lot, so I know what it’s like. But you can’t let fear get in the way of making friends. Nothing good will come out of letting fear control your life.”

It takes him a while, but he finally calms down after a couple minutes; the entire time, I’ve been softly whispering reassurances to him.

“...Fluttershy?”

“...Yes?”

“...Why are you so kind? You patched up my arm… You gave me some food… You sat here with me while I was crying… Even after I told you what I did, you’re still here… Why?”

I take a moment and smile before answering. “Well… I’m the element of kindness. I guess I’m just naturally nice. I couldn’t just leave you with a bleeding arm, you needed medical attention, you needed that food, you needed a shoulder to cry on… Honestly, it scares me what you can do. Just like it scares you. But I know you didn’t mean it. I know you would never intentionally hurt me. You’re my friend, even if we haven’t known each other for very long.”

He contemplates my answer for a moment before he looks up at me; his eyes red and puffy from crying. “Fluttershy?”

“Yes?”

He surprises me with a hug; one that I return, albeit a bit hesitantly. “Thank you.”

I smile and pat his back. “You’re welcome. Remember: If you need somepony to talk to, I’m always here for you.”

He smiles as well. “Thanks. I’ll remember that.” He looks at the window and see that the sun is starting to set. “I should probably go now. It’s getting late. Thanks again for everything.” He says as he gets up.

“Are you sure? It would probably be dark out before you even got home, and you shouldn’t be straining yourself with that injured arm. You can stay here for the night, if you want to that is…” I offer.

He stops and thinks on my offer. He turns and looks at me. “Are you sure? I don’t wanna bother you. You already helped me out alot.”

I nod. “It’s really no trouble. I have a few spare blankets and pillows, you can sleep on the couch. I don’t have a spare bed, but the offer is still there.”

He takes a moment to think, putting a hand to his chin. “Alright. Sure.” he smiles. “I’ll take you up on that offer.”

Author's Note

YO! first up. SORRY. I missed my self set deadline of a month in between each chapter. just because I missed it though, doesn't mean I'm dead, or that I've given up on this story. I was just busy with school, life, and a few other things. life takes priority and all that, but that didn't stop me from feeling a bit guilty for missing my own deadline. however, now this chapter is out!

with that said, have any questions?? feel free to ask them in the comments below!
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anyways, Cheers for reading and have a nice day~!