Fluttershy was tending to Harry the bear. He had eaten some new berries he had discovered while exploring the Everfree forest. The brown bear lied sprawled out on his back in the yellow mare's home, he moaned and flailed his feet and paws uselessly in the air in an attempt to wrestle away his discomfort. With a gentle touch she rubbed his soft underbelly, knowing it would do little good for the pain, but would relax the uncomfortable thing enough for him to fall asleep, thus giving her time needed to actually make a cure.
Once Harry was fast asleep, she gathered up her empty saddle bags and instructed angel bunny to keep any other animals that might stop by to stay out and be quite while Harry slept. She knew he was a good bear at heart, but with him dealing with a bad tummy ache she decided to not take any chances. The white rabbit stood upright and nodded vigorously before brandishing a salute, she nodded once and smiled as she trotted out the door, angel bounced to the door frame and waved a goodbye.
It was mid day as Fluttershy walked through Everfree in search of the mystery berries the bear had eaten, the timid Pegasus paused and looked up into the canopy of the forest, from what patches where open she saw clouds floating by unheeded by ponies’ aid. Normally the Everfree was a dangerous place filled with ancient creatures and pony knows what else; mist clung to the air at all times and tree tops were so think it cast a perpetual ever lasting night, yet today felt different.
The route she was on was one she traveled many times and thus knew by heart, it was still a couple minutes before she made her way to where Harry had branched off from the path. Luckily Fluttershy had gotten the location before he had nodded off. Now only feet from her target she began to fully soak in her surrounding, something was definitely off.
The normally foreboding sense was simply not there. The sky was not gloomy, and stranger yet was how easy she felt. She never ever felt safe in the Everfree forest, not even when her friends were beside her. It was a strange feeling to be so at ease, nevertheless Harry was in need and these thoughts were just slowing her down.
As she stood in front of the path her animal friend had made with its large girth; she noticed all the broken leaves, crushed flowers, and snapped twigs littering her way into the unknown route. Fluttershy daintily strode deeper into the path, the tall tail signs of the forest she knew gingerly began to evoke their presence.
All around her the flora grew thicker and showed more rich and darker colors as she walked, the very air itself twisting around her with new smells that flowed oddly. The yellow mare’s wings tightened so close to her abdomen it grew uncomfortable, yet she dared not unfold them, panic was settling into her body and her mind was next.
She tried to think of better places, happier places, good memory's she held dear when ever she felt in danger. Time past in rapid heart beats as worry and fret tighten its hold on her, unseen hands brushed against her coat tickling and irritating each hair on her back as it made its way up to her throat. Without thought Fluttershy's eyes burst open and her lungs bellowed out a glass breaking shriek, her hooves began to pound the dirt as she dashed forward, her mane flapped wildly behind her. With no direction to go having already past the last signs of the trail Harry left she just ran and fled, too panic stricken to check behind her.
Some time later exhaustion finally brought her down in a heap of sweat and panting, too out of breath to even hide she lied there on the forest floor trying to hear her surrounding only to have the world echo back nothing but her own heavy breathing and still rushed heart rate.
Slowly her breathing and heart eased to normal and she could hear the noises of the forest again, her mood shifted to unsettled as the forest changed to peaceful and content. (Oh...I'd wish it would make up its mind) Fluttershy thought to herself while standing upright once more. This time when she looked about; the sight near took her breath away, mouth agape and eyes widen she took in every detail like it would disappear the moment she blinked.
Everything was shining under Celestia's sun in a way so unfamiliar it reminded her of the first time she ever saw the beauty of the ground. Every blade of grass was bright green and so healthy it made her mouth water. The flowers were in full bloom displaying each peddle in a burst of radiant color. The trees as well had changed stretching so high the tops were nearly out of sight. "This couldn't be the same forest, could it?" a hoof rested gently under her chin as to complete the thought with action.
A foreign voice carried by the wind made Fluttershy’s ear twitch, the sound was distant and unrecognizable. Having been relaxed by the calm woods she moved foreword to the voice which seemed to be speaking in rhythm. Once close enough, she soften her steps as to not alert the creature to her presence. Passing around a few trees and then hiding under some thick brush she finally saw fully what her mind could have never imagined.
There before her was a monster like nothing she had ever seen before, it stood as tall as Celestia but with little fangs and sharp front teeth. It paid no heed to Fluttershy’s presence as it continued its odd display, it sung out bold and bitter sweet words the young Pegasus could not understand. It danced to and fro in the opening it was in, the area was surrounded by trees yet this little patch was nothing but grass with the warm sun beaming through the tree tops. Fluttershy looked on in awe thinking of how important this scene was, not only did she discover a new species never before recorded in equestrian history but it was actually singing and dancing to boot.
As she listen further her bright smile faded into a slight frown, It song was sad. Small tears flowed from its eyes as it sang, its arms swung in broad dramatic motions reminding her of her friend rarity dramatics for some reason. Slowly its voice faded to nothing and it fell to ground rolling to then lie on its back, the mares brow arched at this (Was it asleep?) her inner voice asked. From where she hid it looked peaceful, no moment, this worried her. Feeling that ever powerful urge she always had to help those animals in need, without meaning too she found herself already walking towards it.
Truly this thing was strange to her; upon seeing its face she noted its nose was small as well as its eyes and ears, only its mouth looked natural. It had a short black curly mane and wore a long sleeved orange jacket with white and black designs she didn't recognize. It had camouflage print shorts on, she knew this from a book twilight had been reading once while researching past military fashions for rarity. That was a weird day. Instead of hooves it had something closer to a dragon’s claw except smaller nails, and its feet were covered in think solid looking white cloth. With her curiosity fulfilled, her attention once again fell onto the creatures face.
Its tears had nearly stopped; only a single drop broke free and rolled down its cheek. It didn't matter how scary or weird it looked, it was alone and troubled and Fluttershy would do anything to help. She leaned her head down close enough to hear its breathing and smell its breath; ever so tenderly she nudged his head. Looking down the creature hadn't moved, this displeased Fluttershy to no end. Steeling her nerves she leaned her head in once more and pushed him a little more roughly.
Opening her eyes she witnessed the monster rise up to tower before her, this did not detour her as she simply gave it a warm smile and started to talk to it like it was any other pony "waw, your really tall. i-if you don't mind me saying...what are you doing out here? Are you lost? is that why you were crying?" she ask question after question and commented on every thing that sprung into her head.
Bladen (the human monster) just stood there dumbstruck while this bizarre lil thing squeaked and cooed at him. It had been too long of a day at this point, not only had he no food, not only was he lost, not only was his only source of entertainment his MP3 player dead, now of all things his mind decided now was about as good a time as any to fly the coop leaving him alone with nothing but insanity to care for him. Ignoring the noses his imagination was trying to consul himself with he instead just rested his face in his palm and sigh, "uhh...I hate mondays...".
Well it all started about a month ago when I got accepted for a job at my local grocery store. My folks been nagging me since forever to do something productive, I tried explaining to them the finer points of living life carefree doing what you love but when what you love happens to be nothing the argument gets a tad dicey. Anyway, a few phone calls later and I'm employed bagging grocery's, I wanted to work bakery cus if there's anything I love more then nothing its fresh baked goods...mmm random assortment of baked goods... Day one was kinda suck though.
I have allergies and kinda have a social complex as in shyness. Basically I did most of my job never looking at anyone and never talking, I still got paid so what do I care if I don't make any friends? Turns out not much; until of course, I saw her, my first middle school crush was lead-co manager or so it was called. Truth is I never really thought about her since we graduated, and...Well, let’s say there are other non disclosed reasons, but man did she still look good with her red streaked bit of hair falling over her eye just slightly, her hair was black with that red streak for those wondering. Punk rock if I recall, it was so in back in late 20th century.
I really couldn't believe my luck that I'd see her after these many years. I guess with her being a whole three years older and only being co-lead manager, which spoke ill of her accomplishments since back then. Not that I minded mind you, nope all it took was a single glance at her and she was still that perfect popular smoking hot angel I knew. About my third week in she still never noticed my presence, that or didn't care to look. The friends of the family that got me this job seemed on pretty good terms with her but I didn't want to interact with them only her.
My chance came when I heard most of the staff was going camping that weekend in the near by forest, that would be my big chance to finally introduce myself to her. It was in the lunch room when I overheard them discussing it. After my love departed the conversation I walked over and asked if they had room for one more.
"Sure you can join us, you ever been hiking before though?" Jason the nice guy of their group blurted out before he was elbowed in the side by Alice.
"Hey now, we been planning this trip for awhile now and you can't just walk up and suddenly think your in just by asking all nice like" she said her voice clear with her intent of kicking me to the curve as fast and hard as she could. Jason's okay' was enough to keep my thoughts dead set on joining this little escapade and not of how to best excuse myself, still there was the lil problem of my actually never having been in the gosh danged wilderness before now but hey that's what Google for right?
Alice was already putting her foot down on the subject and me saying I had no idea wasn't going to win me any favors, so instead of going and digging an unclimbable hole of lies upon lies, I put my late night crime drama T.V. show watching skill to work and flipped the script on this situation.
"Why can I not go"? I said plainly enough.
"I don't know you, and don't want to either", she said while folding her arms and looking away, classic bitch move.
This was a tricky move to counter seeing the limited options in front of me: I could rely on Jason to help me out saying we men needed to stick together being we would be the only guys there, but I didn't really know the guy and why would he stick up for me anyway. I could try to appeal to her friendly nature, however that would leave me looking pathetic should she refuse which I knew she would, any other excuse I thought up would just get me in more trouble.
She had me beat and I knew it, my head turned to slump away in utter defeat when fate intervened, "hmm" spoke the third and last member of their trio.
"So you want to tag along huh?" said Brittney, her face in her hands with her elbows on the table looking board. Alice turned to her friend with an expression of what the hell are you doing written all over her face. She lifted her chin enough to wave off her friends unspoken spite and return to her earlier position, "tell you what, you just make sure to keep acting all nice like and you can hang with us, deal?" Deal!? Of course it is! Just act neighborly? I was too choked up to even recognize Alice's grin as I was already nodding my approval.
"Great, I already know your number so I'll call you tonight with all the information", Brittney's words were already fading from my thoughts as I walked away and began my plans of attack for the trip, by this excursions end Abby would be mine!
Never let it be said I wasn't a nice guy, from the second I got Brittney's call last night I knew I was in trouble. Apparently 'nice' translates to pack mule or free labor to the lords I was subscribed too, not a finger did they left as I loaded their luggage and drove them from stop to stop.
I was given the run down up straight by the girls. Anything they so desired or any labor that was to be done was my official job to do. It was a challenge trying to act as nice for them as mean towards Jason and Abby less my actions raise suspicion. That was one blessing I was thankful for, no one had any idea why I had wanted to join their trip. They were just happy to exploit my kind nature. Never before did I see Alice in such jubilation as I did obeying her commands. We never got along more so then anyone else I worked with, but she did use her big sister position to task me with her annoying odd jobs, the ones she would have done if I hadn't been so nice about not making waves.
That little symbiosis ended rather poorly when she had pre-planned a concert viewing by perching expensive tickets she had been saving up for, solely hinging on the fact she could yell me into doing her late night shift. The whole thing really was my fault. Par usual I said yes to do her job knowing that I couldn't that particular night. That night was held an online gaming tournament between the team I was on and our rivals, we had lost to them last go round because I was called away for a few minutes for family business in a tie breaking third round. Their was no way in hell I was going to miss it, and if that meant a little white lie that would see we both had good nights and she got some come-up-ins for not doing her job well the choice was easy.
Needless to say when the higher ups found out she was skipping work because she was making me do it they took harsh actions, like pay cuts and supervised work hours. Why all the halabalu? The higher ups were all friends of my family if you recall, and when she let slip that I was suppose be doing it for her the truth was reviled in all its glory. Now, Brittney was Alice's friend and stuck by her girl so I couldn't fault her much. Jason was understanding and took up for me seeing how she shouldn't have asked of me so much, and my sweet heart Abby just shrugged it off as work drama.
The whole car ride over to the camping grounds parking lot gave me plenty of time to think about my relationship to these people, and what actions I would need to take to get some alone time with my love. We had already unpacked the van, and by we I mean me and Jason. The two ladies of ill content were trying to convince him to let me handle it but my boy jay was just to damned nice to let me suffer alone, Abby just took it as us men being noble knights or she thought we didn't think they could handle it. Not sure yet, she has an aloof nature I find most irresistible if not unreadable.
The site we were going to was a total tourist trap. We had already passed three diffident kinds of food vendors trying to sell us hot dogs, burgers, and tacos respectfully when we started passing the posted signs of safety and information. Thanks to my Googling last night I had enough information about the land to at lest sound convincing if anyone asked me about it, add to that my strange love of out doorsy survival shows and I could hike Mt Everest if I so pleased.
We found a good site closest to the forest edge were we could at lest pretend we weren't in spitting distance of all the other novice explorers, I mean we were suppose to camp in the wilds and survive by instinct right? That's what I was hopping for anyway. A cold night with just me and Abby left awake staring at the fire, getting closer and closer together for warmth. My idle thoughts slapped a grin so big on my face I had to go run around in the woods to keep anyone from seeing. Though it seemed my childlike joy and prancing was still noted and laughed at while I was close enough to hear but far away enough for them to attempt to whisper it.
The rest of the day was what I expected it to be, sure we all had fun grilling and listening to songs on Jays boom box, but I never got to spend time with Abby the way I wanted too. I should be grateful Alice and Brittney put more effort into Jay’s attention then tormenting me, but it was a three day weekend and once the rush of everything wore down they still had two days left of my servitude to play with. Meh!
The night was upon us now and I had the stars to gaze at. Candy bars and gram crackers at the ready, our marshmallows goowed to perfection, yeah...this was totally worth it.
"Bladen!" Expletive!
"Bladen I know you can hear me through your head phones!" yes, I can hear you, but you don't need to know that Alice.
We were a small group so our camp area was small; the fire pit only had three short logs to sit on. Alice and Jayson were on one, Brittney had one to herself because I don't know why, and even though I could have just waited or something I wanted fresh camp cooked sweets so bad I had set up store first which meant between me and Brittney, Abby chose me. I wanted to ignore Alice longer but my love gave me a lil nudge I already knew meant 'answer her for all our sake's' so I move the right ear bud out and looked at my master.
"Sorry to bother you but we need more fire wood, I want this fire blazing all night long", she said in an excited tone. I looked around and noticed there wasn't a twig to be found any where near us which meant...
"You want me to go into the woods for dry timber?!" My voice was a bit more panicked then I wanted to let on. It had rained the day before so most of the wood would be wet and not catch, if I didn't bring back the right stuff I'd spend all night searching. I really didn't want to leave because I knew if I did they'd eat all the smores and leave me none, plus Abby would have moved on too. Still, no one would get any peace till I did.
"Fine, save me some snacks would yah Jay?" I said while getting up to leave. Mouth too full to speak he waved me off as I disappeared behind the tree line, ear bud back in place.
Finding fire was proving to be as difficult as I imagined, plenty of wood sure but all of it soft and damp to the touch. I had walked while listening to a good techno beat so I didn't notice how far away from camp I was. I looked to see a crescent moon lightening the night with beauty, I stared on in awe trying to catch what shape the dark spots looked like when clouds began to block my view. I took this moment to look at my MP3 and change songs, as I did the world around me darkened considerably more then it should but I chalked it up to atmosphere and nothing more. The light returned when I found a good classic 80's rock balled, I shook my head and walked some more only half heartily searching anymore.
I checked my cell to see I had been out walking for half an hour, surely enough time passed by now that everyone would already be tucked in. With a sigh a put away my device and headed back for comp, content with knowing I'd be warm even without the fire. Something felt off as I made my way back, I couldn't remember anything I looked at. Granted I wasn't paying much attention and I was looking at them backwards but nothing seemed familiar.
I stopped to rest my aching feet and voice after my last panic session ended, all the yelling and all that walking and still no people in sight. My idle thoughts returned to the smores I left behind, what I wouldn't give to taste that joy inducing chocolate right now. Wiping a mock tear from my eye I said ado marshmallows and walked blindly into the night.
I spent the entire weekend lost, hungry, and board out of my skull. Two days doing nothing but wondering out loud how I could have gotten so lost I couldn't find my way back. Saturday was wasted waiting for rescue. The show adventure man said when lost do not wonder around, rescue always looks at where you were last seen. So I did, problem was the only people who know I was missing were most likely to busy having fun to bother with me. yay. Sunday was booking it time, and no I don't mean extreme reading. Fire must have been licking my souls because I ran lie a mother yall, one day of nature was to much, spend two days waiting...oh hells no! ahem. My endeavors were fruitless however as not a sign of human life did I see.
I got up for the third time with an empty belly and a dry mouth, everything ached, everything sore...I wasn't going to last much longer. "heh, can't...hold...on...much...longer!" The reference put a smirk on my face despite my mood. Thinking of things from my childhood always lifted my spirits and they needed a forklift right about now. With my cell long dead I looked to the sun for the time.
"A little after 12:00 o'clock I guess, high in the sky means that right?" my question passed without remark. Just as my mood began to slip again I stumbled into a clearing I hadn't noticed before, it was big open and clear of any underbrush. 'Here' I thought, this would make a fitting resting place. I had been saving my players batteries for no real reason, just liked the idea of having them I suppose. Alas, If my time where nigh I should be with the ones I love...my good friends Hoobastank, Breaking Benjamin, and Nickelback. And so I danced, I felt my soul grow wings as the melodies lifted my spirits. Song after song played booming in my ear, my own voice carried along mixing with the original song to add just a sense of spender to it all.
The song "Far Away" came on and I lost all self control, this was no dance, this was an experience! Memories flooded my mind as I acted out my own person music video that aired exclusivity in my head. The song ended just before the battery gave out, the next faded before it could begin. I flopped like a swan to my ultimate fate, tears fells from my cheeks by the emotional roller coaster.
Their I lied for a few breaths, just settling down, before I heard some bushes shake close by me. This was it, bears or wolfs or some other huge beast had heard the noise and found me. I was going to get eaten alive! My body froze and my blood ran cold as it approach neared. Finally it's shadow stood over me, blocking the warmth from above. Slowly it must have leaned closer because I could feel its breath on my face.
All thoughts eluded me, only my senses worked. Finally...*bump* 'AHHHHhhh!' my mind screamed. 'Oh god what was it doing! What do I do? what do I do?!' I waited for an attack that never came. Slowly I lifted an eye to look, my collective thoughts had no words. It finally happen...I had lost it. It took almost three days but my sanity was gone. No point in waiting here any longer, I got up and brushed myself of the grass I had uprooted. It looked at me, I looked at it, my head hurt from the lack of water I didn't have. The small yellow figment of reality started cooing and junk, 'great. It makes noise!', I face-palmed and quoted "uhh...I hate mondays...".
Part 2 1/2: Flutters perspective
Fluttershy stood engaged in the one sided conversation with the rare animal, a sense of bravery overtook her shy nature in this moment of discovery. Once her mind fell silent her body let out the breath it had been holding.
The being before her stood unmoved, it’s stance seemingly indifferent to her words. The yellow pegasus lowered her head allowing the pink mane atop to hide her features, had she angered the beast, or was it simply shying its self away from her? A small smile curved her lips at this idea.
It was not often the timid mare came across others like herself, nervous of confrontation and avoiding the public eye.
Any thought of danger faded from her mind as she gazed at him with new insight. While lost in her delusions the human’s hand lowered to its side in pain; even lost sanity would not deter hunger’s presence for long. The sound of an empty belly was universal and understood quickly by the kind pegasus, food was always good for drawing friends together and she wanted its friendship badly.
Fluttershy might have felt embarrassed if any other pony saw her nose in the grass sniffing, but it was nothing the kind mare gave a second thought to when surviving. She could recall many nights when the food supplies ran low for her animal friends and she had to improvise a meal, living close to the forest gave ample opportunity to find new and safe greenery.
Now she had a knack for finding goodies hidden in unlikely or foreign environments.
The yellow mare returned with a bouquet of different flowers hugged in the folds of her wings, resting near the hungry brute she aligned the edibles into a pattern of size and colors. The golden colored pony’s heart swelled with the hope he could enjoy a meal of flora instead of fauna, for she never felt well when they preferred the ladder.
With the meal of fresh picked forest flowers between them, Fluttershy waited patiently for a response. The first flower he lifted had long thin yellow leaves the same color as her coat, with bright orange floret tips. The mares eyes watched the yummy delicacy sway in front of its maw, he was taking in its scent before challenging the flavor. Another low rumble and her reassuring nod was enough for him to nearly inhale the thing down, suddenly it lurched forward trapping her in its embrace.
Shock and fear washed over her within seconds, the winged pony’s instincts were to buck the attacker or flee from harm but his strength would allow neither.
After squeaking an inaudible request to be set free she relaxed in his arms, no longer fearing harm but wondering how long this embarrassing embrace would last for. A warm breeze blew through their shared field; finally reaching the limit of tolerance she hugged in return hoping it was the key to her release.
The large being tenderly set her down where she had sat, it was apparent her good willed gesture had worked better then she thought. He was already lifting the next treat when the realization of what it was caused her to extent a hoof hindering its ascent. She told of its special traits, how only the pedals were edible and consuming anything else would cause sickness.
The creature listened with a perplexed expression stuck on its face, noticing this she decided showing him would be the most useful option. Pressing a hoof down on the stem of the carnation, Fluttershy nibbled on the light red pedal showing the proper way of its consumption.
Time went by without notice as they traded facial expressions and body language to convey what could not be said, with the meal finished and happy smiles genuinely worn on each face the shy mare remember why she had ventured into Everfree in the first place.
The image of bright red berries flashed in her mind, they had been growing somewhere along the path she had traversed in getting here. Rising to all four hooves her wings stretched out in reflex from being still for so long, the pegasus pony looked back past the serene surrounding into the dark road she would have to cross once more.
Softly she felt the creatures hand rest atop her head before tussling her mane. Though the gesture was kind in intent, she could only look up at him with worried eyes.
They walked together until the darker part of the forest lay in their path, it would be a monumental task to persuade her new friend to accompany her out. Fluttershy tried to coax him forward but his stern expression would not be swayed easily, sitting down she began to ponder the situation. Bladen meanwhile looked at path with unease, for he was sure he’d seen it before.
