“I just want to thank you again, Sunset,” Fluttershy said, her voice like a soft whisper.
“Say again?” Sunset asked as she unrolled her flannel sleeves.
“I just wanted to thank you again,” she spoke louder.
“No problem, Fluttershy,” Sunset Shimmer responded. “For as long as I’ve been here, it’s still really weird to me-” she paused as several orange and brown leaves brushed by her blue jeans on a cool wind “-that everything normally just takes care of itself.”
“It sounds like it was a very nice place,” Fluttershy said as she tightened her green shawl.
“Yeah, it was pretty magical…”
She let the passing wind take the rest of that thought as she looked onward.
Browns, oranges and golds decorated the woodland’s trees and ground. No pony would need to knock them down from their trees. The scent of earth and tree bark kicked up with each step they took. No pony would need to brush them away for the spring. The footsteps behind them seemed like the only evidence of another soul in the woods, like a child that had ran their hand over a still wet canvas. No pony at all.
“But as well as nature runs itself here, injured creatures sometimes need our help.” Fluttershy said, bringing Sunset out of her thoughts. She twisted her satchel to her front to take a quick inventory check and rummaged through various bandages, splints, ointments, creams and snacks. Feeling satisfied that everything was still in order and she had not forgotten anything, she placed back at her side and continued on the path.
“To be honest, I never actually did any of that stuff.” Sunset spoke.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I lived in Canterlot, which is a major city. So there wasn’t a whole lot of nature that needed to be changed. Just a lot of buildings.”
“Didn’t you say you had to bring in the winds and clouds?”
“Yeah, but that’s something the weather team does, and they’re all pegasus ponies.”
Fluttershy giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh at you but thinking of you as a cute little pony is still a little funny to me.”
“Hey, I was a tough unicorn, that could throw fireballs out of her horn,” Sunset responded pointing at her forehead proudly.
“For some reason that makes it a lot sillier to me.”
They both laughed but paused as they heard a weird series of pops and cracks ring throughout the forest. Then followed a crash of leaves and then a heavy thud.
“Did you hear that?” Fluttershy asked.
“What was that?”
“O-over there!” She exclaimed as loud as her tiny voice would let her.
“Wait, what was it?!” But Fluttershy had already rushed ahead off the trail and into the woods.
Sunset followed her closely, looking for a sign of what Fluttershy was heading towards, but the crunching of the leaves beneath them was all she could hear. She gave up and trusted Fluttershy’s judgement, chasing after the trail of long pink hair and flapping shawl.
As the girls continued their urgent pace, Sunset could hear a wailing in the distance.
“Oh dear, they sound distressed. They might be hurt!” Fluttershy cried and then doubled her pace.
“Wait, ‘Shy!” Sunset followed after her. “You’re running too fast!”
But Fluttershy did not hear Sunset, she chased the pained cries through the woods.
After several minutes of running, they finally arrived at the source of the wails. It was a large brown furry creature stuck under a large fallen tree.
“Is that a bear?!”
“A little cub! And she’s trapped under that tree! Sunset, we have to help her!” Fluttershy exclaimed.
“Little? She's as big as me! Fluttershy, wait!” Sunset shouted, but Fluttershy was already hopping over the fallen tree to the other side.
Sunset pursued once again, but paid careful attention to her surroundings. “Fluttershy! You can't just go running straight to a bear cub! What if her mother comes by?! I don't think I need to tell you about how crazy they get when you look like you're threatening their kids.”
“Sunset, I may not be a professional, but I do know that right now the mother bear is not nearby, and I can talk to bears now, remember?” she pulled out her pink geode from under her white top and let it shine in the light. “They're very intelligent creatures. She will understand.”
“Angry moms aren't that easy to reason with, 'Shy.”
“Sunset, either help me move this tree or go home,” she said. The finality rang through Sunset and she stared at Sunset, or it felt like deep into Sunset.
She was taken aback, but she recovered with a nod and assessed the situation in detail. Fluttershy calmed the bear with soft coos and warm hands. The bear stopped her loud calls for help, but still whimpered and whined. Her hind leg was trapped between the tree trunk and the ground. She could see the trail of paw prints from the roots suggesting that the bear probably heard the tree snap and tried to run away, but she panicked and ran in the direction the tree was falling.
“That must be how she was pinned under the tree,” Sunset reasoned. “But why did the tree fall in the first place?”
“It died many years ago and probably has been rotting for a while,” Fluttershy answered, pointing at the the break of the trunk. Sunset looked and saw an ugly black discoloration and hole. “There are probably shelf fungi on the underside of this tree that made it weak enough to crumble and fall on top of poor Violet.”
“Violet?” Sunset asked.
“It’s her favorite flower, so that’s what she named herself,” Fluttershy said while scratching behind Violet’s ears.
“Okay, that’s a cute name. Violet it is, then”
Sunset breathed deeply to regain focus. She knew enough details, now it was time to solve the problem. The tree itself was big, heavy enough that even two people lifting it would probably not be enough. She attempted it to lift it, but it was just as she feared and would not budge.
“Where's Applejack when you need her?” Sunset muttered to herself. She pulled out her cellphone and was dismayed but not surprised to see she had absolutely no service out in the wilderness. “Yeah, of course.”
She retrieved her hatchet from her backpack, but dismissed the idea of chopping through the tree as it was clearly too thick for such a tiny hatchet, even with rotted wood. She looked at the Violet’s leg for a second but could feel Fluttershy staring daggers at her. She placed the hatchet back in it’s holster and tried to think of other ways to help this poor bear.
Maybe digging underneath Violet’s leg would give her enough room to drag free? Sunset kicked the earth below. The leaves flew up easily, but the ground was very hard and the cold probably wasn't helping. Without tools, trying to dig Violet out would take too long, and they didn’t have that much daylight left.
“Probably should have bought that weird multitool after all,” she thought to herself.
It was still pretty round, maybe they could roll it off the bear? No, that might crush Violet's foot and they had no idea what kind of damage her leg had taken.
“Augh, I wish Twilight was here. She would have some amazing gadget that would totally fix this or be smart enough to come up with a way.”
“Sunset, you’re just as smart as Twilight and you know it.”
“No, she’s definitely smarter than me, like waaaay smarter. Do you know anything about differential geometry?”
“Differential what?”
“I said the exact same thing.”
“Sunset, you might not think you’re as smart as Twilight, but I know you’re just as clever. I also feel like you probably don’t need ‘Differential Geometry’ to figure this out. Just relax and think simple and build up.”
“Simple and build up, huh?” She paused and thought more about it. “…a lever is a simple machine, but it brings back the problem rolling the log possibly making the bear’s leg worse and crushing the foot.”
“What if you rolled it really fast with two levers?” Fluttershy asked.
“That would probably just crush the foot really fast.” Sunset frowned and scratched her head.
The bear appeared to have a concerned look on her face, but Fluttershy alleviated it with a snack of nuts and berries from her satchel.
“Oh, duh! We just lift it on both sides with two levers and the bear can drag her foot out from underneath. Why did that take me so long?”
“I knew you could think of something, Sunset!”
“Don’t thank me yet, we still need to find the right materials to act as the levers and fulcrums for this to work,” she said as she pulled out her hatchet once more. She set to work looking for long sturdy lengths of wood to cut from trees. Fortunately, the tree that had fallen had plenty of long branches towards it’s top that were perfect for Sunset’s plan. She chopped and hacked and cleaved two almost perfect lengths for the job.
While the lengths would do the job nicely, she couldn’t find lengths of wood that would work well as fulcrums. They were either too small, or would take too long to cut through.
“Fluttershy, does Violet know if there are any large rocks nearby?” Sunset asked.
“Oh, yes, Violet says there’s a river nearby that she likes to fish with her mother at. There’s lots of rocks there, but she’s not sure about big ones.”
“Better than nothing, where is it?”
“Just listen carefully,” Fluttershy said and pointed westward.
“Sorry, just in a rush,” Sunset responded and dashed off towards the river.
When she reached the river, she wondered why she couldn’t hear it before. While it wasn’t the fastest river, it was still noisy enough with the sounds of water crashing over rocks and sand when she got there. The smell of water also permeated the air, something Sunset only really noticed when she was thirsty. So she took a greedy gulp from her canteen before she went finding the proper rocks.
But then out of the corner of her eye she saw something strange.
Her long slender legs dipped as she drank from the river. Her beautiful gray mane floated along graceful and light on the river’s surface. Her mottled white and black coat reflected erriely on the water’s passing surface. The golds and browns of the forest framed her in a way Sunset did not have words for. She was stunned until the horse noticed Sunset’s presence. The horse bounded away with heavy but nimble hoofsteps. As quickly as she was present, she was gone.
Sunset felt an urge to reach forward, ask her to wait.
“That’s stupid. She’s just an animal,” Sunset paused. “...a stupid out of place animal.”
She searched around the river and managed to find to large enough rocks along the river bed. Her jeans and boots were soaked and the cool breezes only made it worse, but she was happy to have found them. She heaved both between each arm but they were very heavy. She figured taking them one at a time would probably not strain as much, but Sunset did not want to waste her time with two trips.
When Sunset reached Violet and Fluttershy, she let the rocks drop and land with a heavy thud. Her arms were burning and tired, but she knew she wasn’t done yet. Fluttershy offered Sunset a trail mix bar and Sunset could not resist the sweet smell of maple syrup and dried blueberries. She took her well deserved break and devoured it. Sunset felt herself brighten instantly as the sweet and nutty flavors energized her from within.
“Wow, this is really good!” Sunset said to Fluttershy.
“Oh! Thank you! I was really tired of all the honey based granola bars and wanted to make something vegan friendly,” Fluttershy responded.
“This is probably the tastiest vegan thing I’ve ever eaten. You should show me how you make’m sometime.”
“O-oh, um, s-sure,” Fluttershy responded.
“Okay, time to get this bear free.”
Sunset quickly positioned the rocks and wood to form the simple machines they needed. Using all of their weight, they were able to lift the tree just high enough for Violet to pull her leg free.
Fluttershy inspected Violet’s leg for any broken bones or possible fractures but was relieved to find it was only badly bruised. She applied a numbing ointment to relieve some of the pain and wrapped it in gauze. She advised Violet to avoid putting too much pressure on it while walking and she would be okay. Violet nuzzled at Fluttershy’s neck and face, showing her appreciation. Fluttershy returned the appreciation with a hug and motioned Sunset to join them.
Reluctantly, Sunset wrapped her arms around them both. Sunset had never hugged a bear before. Violet’s hair was coarse and smelled a like a wild animal, but Violet was also very warm. Her sharp paws didn’t feel threatening at all. On the other hand, Sunset had hugged Fluttershy many times. They were always soft and inviting. Something that once started, should last for as long as they could. She also smelled a little like strawberries. Sunset was sure to hold and savor the moment.
Until a loud roar from behind them rang out.
“Momma bear?” Sunset asked.
“Momma bear,” Fluttershy responded.
And with that realization, they said their goodbyes to Violet and wished her the best as they scurried away back to the trail with what little daylight was left.
By the time they got back to their vehicles, the sun had already set and the stars just awakened in the sky.
“Thank you so much for helping me today, Sunset.” Fluttershy said.
“No problem, any of the other girls would have done the same.”
“Maybe, but I’m really glad you did.”
Fluttershy leaned into Sunset and hugged her. The hug was tighter and felt so much more personal. It was still soft, but felt like it was saying so much more.
“I’m really glad you’re here,” Fluttershy whispered.
Sunset returned the hug, but eventually it had to end.
Sunset hopped on her motorcycle and asked, “Hey Fluttershy?”
“Yes, Sunset?” Fluttershy paused mid step into her volkswagen van.
“I was wondering.”
“Mmhm?”
“Uh, were you doing anything tomorrow afternoon?” Sunset gripped her bike's handles.
“Just taking care of my animals as usual.”
“Would it be cool if I came over and you showed me that recipe?”
“O-oh! Umumum, yes, but only if you really want to!” Fluttershy managed to blurt out as she hid behind her hair.
“Well, yeah, of course, see you at five?” Sunset ask as she shoved her motorcycle helmet over her head.
“F-f-five sounds good.” Fluttershy stood anxiously curling her long pink strands of hair around her fingers.
“Great!” Sunset exclaimed, though muffled by the helmet. With a smile on her face, she rev’ed her motorcycle with a loud roar and rode off.
Fluttershy clutched her heart and could feel it racing. She took deep breaths and relaxed into the driver's seat. She felt her cheeks straining, was she smiling this entire time? She was numb from the excitement and tomorrow was going to be exciting.
The End!
“Wow, I have a date tomorrow...and I have to clean the entire house.”
She cranked the ignition and put the pedal to the metal and rode off too. A house full of animals is not easily cleaned.
Author's Note
I tried.
