Fluttershy's Nature Show

The camera clicks on and the screen shows an open field of grass. Two sets of footsteps sound as the girls pass through the field. The grass is very tall, as when the camera swings to the right, it hides most of Fluttershy's thighs behind the golden waves.

"This is quite a ways out from where we normally go," comments Twilight. "Would you care to tell the good colts and fillies at home where we are and why?"

"We've left our home continent," explains Fluttershy. "We're on the complete opposite side of the world, not necessarily because we needed to be, as there are wildlife preserves a bit closer that have these creatures, but because this is their primal home. This is where the creatures we're looking for originally came from. This is their natural environment."

"And just what are we looking for today?"

"It's called a water deer."

The camera scans the horizon slowly, looking for any sign of deer as the wind ripples through the grass. "I don't see any deer. Not even so much as a pair of antlers. Are you sure we're in the right place?"

Fluttershy points to the wall of trees almost a kilometre away. "Not too far from that tree line is a drop in elevation, which used to be a river valley delta. The river was diverted by an earthquake, but with some hard work, we were able to keep the wetlands partially intact."

"What do you mean, partially intact?"

"Well, it's hard to redirect the flow of a river, but it was a necessity in this case. The town we just came from was flooded by the river. It's important that they exist in harmony with nature, so they put in the effort to redirect the river. It doesn't do well to have dried out farms and flooded towns, but a town that is navigable on foot and farmland that has fresh water make things much nicer for everyone involved, including the wildlife, especially those that eat the wild plants in the swampy valley."

"And these deer are part of that wildlife?"

"That's right. They're just one part of it, but they are part of it nonetheless."

By the end of this conversation, they're much closer to the trees, and as they walk over the final ridge before the swampy basin, a whole herd of deer rapidly approaches them from behind. Fluttershy manages to grab Twilight just in time and pull her down. It takes a few seconds for Twilight to turn the camera to show the deer majestically leaping over the top of them, but it's quite a spectacle.

When the last of them are finished with their leaps, Twilight and Fluttershy stand up to view the herd. There are about twenty of them in the area.

"That's weird," comments Twilight. "I thought there were more."

"It's possible that some of them took a few leaps over us just for the fun of it," dismissed Fluttershy. "More importantly, look at how many there are. This is an incredible gathering!"

"Incredible? Didn't we see a herd last week in the eighties, and you said that was small?"

"For red deer, yeah, eighty is a small herd. For water deer, a dozen is huge. This size of herd is monumental, and it's possible that a herd this size has never happened before, or will ever again. I'm glad we're preserving a record of this, because I guarantee that no biologist in the world would believe this happened without proof."

Twilight scanned the herd with the camera, making sure to record all of them. "I don't see any males. Unless they just molted their antlers for winter, It looks like all does."

"These are actually one of a few types of deer that has no antlers."

"How do you tell the bucks from the does?"

"Aside from the obvious method? It's a little hard to pick up on camera from this far out. You see that one with the torn-up ear?" The camera zooms in on one that has a long gash in its ear, tugging at a tree branch. "That's a buck, and he seems to have recently lost a fight with another buck. That scab on his shoulder looks fresh. You are right in that these are mostly does, though."

"Again, how can you tell?"

"Look at their mouths."

The camera records some fast movement as Twilight overcorrects due to it being zoomed in so much, but eventually finds focus on a second male. This one is sporting a scar on his cheek, rather than his ear, but more importantly, his head is turned to the side, so the camera can see his mouth. A long, sabre-like fang protrudes from his lips and down past his chin.

"That's uh... That's one big tooth."

"That's what water deer are known for. The males have really long tusks, almost vampiric in nature. Despite this, they're not carnivorous, like the fanged elks that hunt in the Lifewood. The tusks are almost exclusively used for fighting, which mostly takes place between the males. It's rare that the females fight, outside of the defense of their young."

As the camera zooms back out, it is revealed that the girls, primarily Fluttershy, had continued toward the herd while talking, as they are now much closer. Fluttershy reaches her hand out to a doe, who sniffs in her general direction, slowly approaching. This doe is not accompanied by a fawn, while the few that are hold their children back out of caution. With some trepidation, the doe eats the dried mango Fluttershy offers, and lets her pet its nose.

"It's common knowledge that deer are timid creatures, and will run from literally anything. That's not necessarily true, but also not necessarily false, either. They are timid, but a lot of bucks from a lot of different species are very aggressive, including this species. The bucks can be super territorial. The caveat here, I'm pretty sure, is that these bucks are losing territorial fights, and that means that they're unable to hold onto a place long enough to mark it as their own. A sad state of affairs, but I'm not really sure if all of that's true. It's only an educated guess."

The does slowly approach Fluttershy, and each of them is given a dried piece of fruit for their efforts. Fluttershy pets their necks in earnest affection for them, even being permitted to pet the fawns. She smiles at this interaction, turns to the camera, and it clicks off suddenly and without warning.