Fluttershy tilted the watering can slightly, the liquid in the metal container spilling over into a trickle over the vibrant, yellow tulips of her flower bed. Satisfied that she'd used just the right amount, the pegasus tilted the can back again 'til it was level, setting it down on the nearby grass with a slosh. She smiled at the beautiful blooms. Even if gardening wasn't her special talent, she still found herself enjoying the act of nurturing life in ways apart from caring for the animals she so dearly loved.
Brushing a bead of sweat from her forehead, she returned a trowel to the gardening belt around her waist. Fluttershy then turned to walk toward the cottage front door, only to freeze mid-step at the sound of a pained squawk coming from somewhere off in the distance. Her ears perked up and she scanned the rolling green hills, searching for the source of the sound. She heard it again, and this time her vision zeroed in on a collection of bramble bushes at the edge of the Everfree Forest.
Flapping her wings, the yellow pegasus lifted herself a few feet off the ground, not caring that her straw hat slipped off her head as she propelled herself smoothly forward. She traveled easily to the thorny patch, landing daintily on the lush green slope just outside the forest. Keeping her eyes peeled, Fluttershy paused and waited quietly for the sound to guide her. A moment later she heard it again, this time accompanied by the sound shuffling of leaves. She also noticed some movement in a small portion of one of the bramble bushes.
Spreading her wings, Fluttershy lifted off and flew over the bush, landing quietly a few yards over on the opposite side. Her eyes widened at what she saw. A stork cried out in agony as it attempted to free its right wing, stuck hopelessly between the thorny branches. She knew that the more he struggled, the more he harmed himself, so she took immediate action.
"No no no!" she cried. Her voice was soft yet urgent. "Stop thrashing, you'll only hurt yourself!" The bird ceased its movement and cocked its head at the little pony. "Be very, very still," she told it, approaching as silently as she could so as not to alarm the creature. She winced in empathetic pain at the sight of its injured wing in the bush, all covered in scratches. "My name's Fluttershy," she said, trying to keep the stork calm. "What's your name?"
The bird swallowed nervously and let out a little series of quieter, high pitched squawks.
"Nice to meet you, Garan," she replied cheerfully. "Now, I know you wanna get your wing free, and I'm going to help you do that, but I'm going to need you to try not to move until I'm finished, alright?"
Garan's eyes darted between his trapped wing and the yellow pegasus fearfully, but seeing the gentleness in her expression, he gave a weak smile and nodded.
"That's a good bird!" Fluttershy cooed adoringly.
Retrieving a small pair of pruning shears from her gardening belt, the pegasus leaned in carefully and began to cut away at the thorns trapping Garan's wing. Snip, snip, snip. The stork waited patiently, watching as Fluttershy worked. After a minute or so, the pony returned the shears to her belt pouch and, receiving a nod of approval from Garan, ever so gently began to pull on his wing to get it free. The bird winced and turned away.
"That's it. It's out."
The bird whirled his head around to see that he was indeed free, though several bits of thorny branch still clung on stubbornly to his wing. His beak widened in gleeful awe at the sight of what the little mare had been able to accomplish in such a short time, but unfortunately she wasn't quite done yet.
"Now, Garan, I'm going to need you to be brave just a bit longer. This could sting a little, but I have to pull the thorns out, okay?"
The stork smiled and nodded again, she had more than earned his trust.
With her trusty pair of tweezers, and just as carefully as Fluttershy could manage, she began to remove each and every viscous barb from the stork's injured wing. Garan began to think that was a superhero's utility belt that the yellow pegasus carried around her waist, and this situation considered, perhaps he was even kind of right. The process of removing the thorns was far from pleasant, but soon enough Fluttershy had picked his feathery appendage clean of any and all offending bramble bits.
"There you are!" Fluttershy smiled warmly. "All done."
The stork looked down at his wing happily, turning it over this way and that. Abruptly, Garan thrust himself forward, enveloping the pegasus in an affectionate, feathery hug.
"Aww, you're welcome," Fluttershy told him, blushing coyly.
Suddenly, Garan's tummy rumbled and he pulled back with a sheepish expression on his face.
"Oh." Fluttershy's eyes widened. "If you're hungry, I have plenty of food back at my cottage. I could tend to those scratches on your wing too if you'd like. I also want to take a closer look at things, to make sure there isn't any other sort of damage."
That all sounded very good to the stork, and he nodded enthusiastically.
"Wonderful!" Fluttershy remarked happily, trotting a short distance away before looking over her shoulder at him. She gave him a meaningful look, silently bidding him to follow, and so he moved his little bird feet right after her, squawking cheerfully.
---*---
Back at the cottage, Garan sat on a table in the living room and greedily scarfed down one of the many fish Fluttershy had brought him to eat on a plate. He smiled and fluffed out his feathers in satisfaction. His tummy was full and his wing had been bandaged up after Fluttershy had applied some ointment to help it heal. She decided it would be best for him to stay on a few days until she felt certain there'd be no infection, and he was more than happy to agree.
The pegasus took the empty plate into her forehooves. "All full, Garan?"
The stork nodded.
"You don't want anything else?"
He shook his head with a smile and squawked happily.
"You're welcome," she replied. Then she turned and headed off to the kitchen.
Garan couldn't believe how kind Fluttershy had been to him, and with all she had done, he knew he just had to do something nice for her as well, but what? She already had a nice home, so he couldn't exactly build her a nest. He could bring her fresh fish, but it was clear she didn't really need that either. Well, there was no rush. He was going to be around for a few days. He'd just keep his eyes peeled and his ears open, and the perfect gift was sure to reveal itself in due time.
No sooner had the thought entered his head however, and Fluttershy had returned to the living room. Garan watched as she trotted over to a nearby birdhouse, which sat unassumingly on a nearby coffee table.
"Alright, Cerulean," she said sweetly, her head lowered as she directed her voice to the little birdhouse archway, "today's the day." A little blue bird promptly popped its head out of the small wood box and twittered excitedly. Fluttershy giggled. "That's right! We're going to take off your splint. Your wing should be all healed by now!" Cerulean hopped out of the birdhouse and onto the table, bringing a few shavings with her. She continued to chirp happily and hopped enthusiastically in place, eliciting yet another giggle from the yellow pegasus. "Alright, Cerulean, calm down."
The blue bird obediently stilled, allowing only its head to bob about as Fluttershy carefully commenced to remove the splint from its wing. Garan watched the event as it unfolded, thoroughly engaged.
"There!" Fluttershy said, finished with her operation. "Now, try just a little flap and we'll see how that feels."
Cerulean flared her tail-feathers out and spread her wings, giving a few short flaps as she'd been instructed. The little bird's eyes widened and she chirped happily as she lifted off the table an inch before falling back to its surface, her wing seeming to be completely healed!
"Do you wanna try—"
Without needing Fluttershy to prompt her, Cerulean took off and did a full turn about the room, and the pegasus cheered on gleefully as her little patient soared, ultimately coming to rest on Fluttershy's extended foreleg. The pony caretaker pulled Cerulean in close, and the little bird snuggled against her face with happy little twitterings, the emotion of the moment causing Garan to tear up a little.
"Aww, you're welcome," Fluttershy said. She pulled away from the hug and Cerulean twittered something more, jumping up and down. "Yes, I suppose it is time for you to go," Fluttershy replied, sounding just a little bit sad, but she forced herself to smile and blinked away the collecting moisture in her eyes. Now wasn't the time for crying! This event was cause for celebration! "But just be sure to come back and visit, okay?" Fluttershy added quickly, and the bird chirped agreeably in response. "Alright... just let me open the window."
Garan watched as the glass parted and Cerulean lifted off, flying out the open window and onto a nearby branch outside. Fluttershy waved happily and the little blue bird chirped back a word of thanks one final time before again spreading its wings, and speeding its way through the air and off into the distance.
"Goodbye, Cerulean! Take care!" Fluttershy called out. The pegasus sniffled and wiped away her tears, but Garan noticed she was still smiling all the same. And something about all that touched him quite deeply. Even though helping others sometimes meant she would have to say goodbye, Fluttershy still did it, because she cared.
Garan smiled and wiped away his own tears, and it was then that he realized just exactly what he was going to get Fluttershy once he got better.
---*---
It had been a few days, and now Fluttershy and Garan were out in front of her cottage on a warm afternoon. It was finally time for the stork to be on his way.
"Alright, Garan. My, those scratches have healed up nicely! How do you feel?"
Garan squawked happily in reply, promising Fluttershy he'd come back and visit her a lot! He felt like a new bird!
Fluttershy giggled at his enthusiastic response, and the stork gave her a big hug. "Alright, Garan. Now, you take good care of yourself, okay?"
Garan nodded and gave the pegasus a friendly little peck on the cheek with the tip of his beak, an act which made her giggle, before he released her from the embrace and lifted off, creating a gust of wind that caused the pony's light pink mane to sway in his wake. Garan sounded his final goodbye from the sky, and Fluttershy waved happily as he flew off. "Bye, Garan! Be safe!" Fluttershy smiled, and once again wiped away the moisture in her eyes. It was good to see her patients all healthy and strong again.
---*---
It had been about a week since Garan had left and Fluttershy was currently at work dusting her living room. It had been a bit slow in the animal department lately, so she'd decided to catch up on a few chores. She hummed as she cleaned, thinking that she should drop by Sweet Apple Acres to enlist the help of Applejack in removing some nearby bramble bushes. Perhaps if the ponies were thorough enough, the bushes wouldn't end up growing back again.
Fluttershy's musings were interrupted however, when there suddenly came a rapping at the door. Resisting the urge to run and hide under her bed immediately, as she hadn't been expecting any guests, Fluttershy swallowed nervously and wearily approached the doorway. She cautiously unlocked the top part of the dutch door, creaking it open just a few inches to peer out at her visitor. To her surprise, it was Garan, and he appeared to be holding something in his beak. The bird bobbed his head to the side slightly and released a tiny squawk of greeting through his smile.
The corners of the pegasi mare's mouth immediately pulled up as high as they could go. She set about opening the lower half of her door immediately, and swung both halves aside.
"Hello, Garan! Oh, it's so nice to see you! How have you been?" The stork squawked happily, stretching his neck out to offer the item in his beak to her. Fluttershy's eyebrows furrowed. "For me?" she asked, in genuine surprise. Garan nodded.
Fluttershy took the item from him gently. It was a light blue cloth that had each of its four corners tied together in a knot, and it was clear that he had used it to carry his gift here. She had no idea how the stork had managed to tie it like that, but a more pressing question was in her mind at the moment. The pegasus sat on her haunches and supporting it carefully with her left foreleg, she commenced to loosen the knot with her mouth, causing the cloth corners to fall away to reveal Garan's present... an adorable little baby bunny with soft white fur.
Fluttershy's eyes widened and she gasped, her eyes filling happy tears. The infant creature was now slumbering peacefully on her left foreleg, his little nose flaring ever so slightly in that perfectly darling little way that bunnies' noses do. She looked up at Garan, who had been observing her keenly for her reaction. The stork let out a quiet, but inquisitive squawk.
"Like it?!" Fluttershy exclaimed, tearfully, but just as quietly as she could so as not to wake the bunny. The pegasus quickly leaned in and embraced Garan's neck gratefully with her free foreleg. "I love it, Garan! I love it so much! It's the best gift I've ever been given!... Thank you!"
Garan's feathers instinctively fluffed out and he smiled contentedly, melting into Fluttershy and returning her hug. Now he knew that she wouldn't be alone anymore. She'd have an animal of her very own - one she would get to enjoy every minute of nurturing and watching as it grew up. She'd finally have someone she wouldn't have to say goodbye to as soon as they got strong. And Garan knew that she deserved it more than anypony else he'd ever met, her having come to the rescue of so many, all the while expecting nothing in return. She... had been the most wonderful angel.
Author's Note
It has recently come to my attention that storks do not chirp, squawk, or twitter. They smack their beaks together to make clicking sounds. Whoops. Anyways, that method of communication seems less emotive somehow, so I'm just gonna leave things as they are. Just know that it doesn't align with bird reality.
Storks really do bring babies wrapped in cloth to those willing to nurture them though, so at least something about this story is factual. 
The name Garan is a Welsh name meaning stork, so that's the very deep reason I chose it.
Please direct your grammar and spelling corrections to PM. Thank you. 
