Twilight stopped short, just in time to avoid a mouthful of sheep. The stack of books she’d been carrying weren’t so lucky, clattering noisily to the floor. She scrabbled around, picking them up and depositing them on one of the hall’s side tables.
“I’m probably going to regret asking this, but why is there a sheep in my castle?”
“Isn’t she gorgeous?” Fluttershy said. She looked at the minuscule bundle of pale pink fluff she was holding and chucked it under the chin. “Ooh yes you are, yes you are.”
Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then another. She opened her eyes. The sheep was still there.
“Yes, very cute,” Twilight said, in the tone of voice she’d normally have used on cold callers trying to sell her teleportation insurance. “But what is it— she doing in here?”
Fluttershy said, “Just a moment, please,” and carried the sheep over to what Twilight realised was a playpen. Twilight couldn’t imagine where Fluttershy had found the animal, but right now that was about number six on her list of things that didn’t make any sense. A little higher up was the fact that the playpen was lined with a thick layer of grass.
Twilight tried the deep breathing trick again. It had about the same effect as before, which was to say none at all.
“All right,” Fluttershy said. “Twilight, I’d like you to meet Baabara.”
The sheep raised her head and bleated a couple of times. Twilight was about to ask Fluttershy what that meant, but then the creature spoke.
“Good day, Your Highness.”
The voice was somewhat accented and the vowels were a little stretched, but otherwise it was perfectly modulated High Equestrian of the sort that the snobbier Canterlot nobles aspired to. Twilight screwed up her face as she remembered her early life in the capital.
Baabara lowered her body in a strange manoeuvre that Twilight couldn’t quite— the ewe was bowing, she suddenly realised. This went straight in at number three on her list. Still, if she was going to rule Equestria, Twilight was determined to treat anycreature and everycreature on as equal a basis as possible. And she wasn’t even sure Baabara really counted as a subject in the first place. She wasn’t a pony, after all.
“Just Princess Twilight is fine. I’m happy to meet you, Baabara. Are you coming to live in Ponyville?”
As soon as the words had left her mouth, Twilight caught sight of Fluttershy and realised that this was the wrong thing to have said. She and the sheep looked at each other in silence for a few moments.
Fluttershy took charge. “Er, Twilight,” she said. “Baabara lives in the Crystal Empire. In the petting zoo. You know, the place I’ve been for the last two weeks?” she added, with the tiniest hint of sharpness.
Twilight felt— well, there was nothing else for it. Sheepish, she admitted to herself. She just about managed to suppress the giggle trying to force its way out. She should have known better, though. Twilight hadn’t paid the re-establishment of the Imperial Petting Zoo much attention, being happy to let Fluttershy handle that side of things. Fluttershy had experience with her own ovine friends, after all.
“Cadance and Shining Armor are hoping to ask some more adorable tiny ewes to join the petting zoo soon, but Baabara volunteered to be the first.”
The sheep bleated gently. “Somesheep’s got to do it, and there aren’t many of us left in the Empire. Not since...” She trailed off, and Twilight realised the ewe was shivering.
“I’m so sorry,” Twilight said. “You’re safe now the Crystal Heart has returned, and even safer here with Fluttershy. I promise you can stay as long as you want. Your Equestrian is very good, too.”
A pleased-sounding baa. “That’s kind of you. When the petting zoo is closed, I don’t have much to do, and most of the other animals aren’t my cud of grass, so I like to keep my mind busy. Some of the ponies who work there have been kind enough to help me learn.”
Fluttershy was fidgeting. Twilight realised that her friend wanted to say something in private, so they excused themselves and moved into a small side chamber.
“What is it, Fluttershy?”
“You don’t understand,” came the reply. “Baabara isn’t really here to meet us. She wants to get to knowother sheep.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “You mean she wants to…? But wouldn’t that—isn’t the size difference—how?” she finished lamely.
Fluttershy looked up at her sharply. “No! It’s nothing like that. She’s not ready for that, in any case.”
Just for a moment, the irritated thought flashed across Twilight’s mind that Fluttershy couldn’t possibly know that. The moment passed and she chided herself for being so silly.
“She wants to meet other sheep,” Fluttershy repeated.
“But you just said—”
“As friends,” Fluttershy said patiently.
“Oh.” Twilight had a shock of realisation. “Applejack!”
Fluttershy beamed. “That’s right. She keeps a flock on Sweet Apple Acres, to keep the grass bitten short and for our lovely winter coats. I told Baabara about them when I was visiting, and I’m sure Applejack wouldn’t mind if we brought Baabara over to say hello.”
Back in the main hall, the sheepin question was lazing in her playpen, patiently chewing the cud. She looked up when the ponies re-entered and quickly swallowed.
“Did I do something wrong?”
Twilight blushed. “Oh… no. Not at all. I’m sorry, Baabara, that was very rude of us.” She glanced sideways at Fluttershy, whose expression was unreadable. “Leaving you on your own like that, I mean,” she added hastily.
Baabara shrugged, or at least came as close as possible to it for a recumbent sheep, which wasn’t very. Twilight suddenly remembered her list, slotting this in as a provisional new entry at number five.
“But we’re here now,” Fluttershy said soothingly. “And, if you’d like it, we can all go and meet Applejack later on.” When Baabara looked uncertain, Fluttershy added, “And her sheep.”
Baabara’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Really,” Twilight said. She would have said more, but she was thrown off course by Fluttershy leaning down and tickling the ewe’s ears. A sheep laughing would have to go on her list somewhere, but she was darned if she knew where to put it.
“I’m so grateful to you,” Baabara said. “I know I’m being silly. I know there’ll be other sheep with me in the petting zoo soon. But for now… it’s lonely, if I’m honest. When the foals aren’t there to pet me, I don’t have much else to do but think. When Fluttershy visited me and told me all about Applejack’s farm, I knew I couldn’t rest until I’d met her flock. I needed to know what they were like. Even if they turned out to be awful sheep, I had to find out.”
“You need to talk to my friend Spike,” Twilight said.
“Does he have any sheep?”
Twilight chuckled. “No. He’s a dragon. A young one still, but I don’t think fiery breath and sheep go together too well.”
Baabara rubbed a forehoof reflectively across her face.
“I’m looking forward so much to meeting Applejack’s flock,” she said. “And more of the sheep that Fluttershy’s caring for, too. But during those long dark evenings with no-one to talk to but the grass beneath and the stars above, it’s easy to let your mind wander.”
Baabara stopped and looked at Twilight, who nodded in what she hoped was an encouraging way. It seemed to have the desired effect, and Baabara continued.
“I said to Princess Cadance once that we aren’t adventurous creatures, as a rule. We’re just too small. It’s different for you ponies, of course. It’s a mare’s way to think about travelling distant lands and fighting mighty battles—and a ewe’s to wonder what friends’ sheep could be.”
Author's Note
An entry for Super Trampoline's Fimfiction Feghoot Festival. The closing date was extended by a few days, and the rules allow up to three entries per person, so I thought why not?
Others may be asking why?
