Till We Find Our Place

The Elements of Harmony feared for the lion cub who could talk. They had all been equally surprised that he could speak Equish and each were very interested in the lion to one degree or another. For Twilight, Simba’s existence made her scholarly side buzz in anticipation of new knowledge. Fluttershy also craved such knowledge, though her desire was born from her fascination with exotic creatures. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were both interested in what he was capable of compared to a pony. Rarity, ever seeking inspiration, thought of what kind of fashion lions might have, if they even wore clothes at all. Pinkie, of course, wanted to throw a party for the new creature.

Unfortunately, something very wrong became apparent when Simba tried to leave. The six friends quickly realized that the “exotic creature” before them was ultimately a lost child mired in tremendous sadness. His words all but confirmed that he had ran away from home and was scared to go back. Naturally, their hearts went out to Simba, for his parents were surely worried sick about him. They offered the lessons they had learned about love and friendship, but he insisted on being left alone. Rainbow Dash, whose bluntness could rival Applejack’s at times, tried to scare Simba into letting them go with him by stating the obvious fact that he would die if he went out into the desert by himself.

Simba’s response stunned and frightened them. They had never encountered anyone, much less a small child, who didn’t care whether they lived or died. Fluttershy felt her heart ache at the thought of what might’ve happened to make Simba act that way. Nevertheless, she could not let him go. The cub was in dire need of kindness and love.

Feeling tears come into her eyes, Fluttershy flew to Simba and held him despite his resistance. She ignored the slight pain of his tiny claws cutting into her as he struggled and held him tightly. Rainbow Dash was about to give a sharp rebuke to Simba for scratching somepony who was only trying to help, but a firm look from Fluttershy silenced her. It was hardly a Stare, but it made her point. The poor cub was lashing out, trying to hide how sad he was. She shushed and rocked him, letting him know how much they cared. To prove her point, her friends joined in, forming a group hug to comfort the distraught child.

When Simba tried to resist, saying that he had done something terrible, the ponies were skeptical. Each of them had made mistakes in the past that they thought were terrible, only to later realize that they had made mountains out of mole hills. Applejack had most recently learned such a lesson. It would be hard to go back and explain to her family that she had been foolish, but she knew that they would forgive her, just as her friends had. There was no doubt that young Simba had made a similar mistake and was blowing it out of proportion. They only had to help him see that.

Simba tried to put up a front, but it was clear to them that he was trying very hard not to cry. It was only natural, as foals didn’t like others to see them cry. Sensing this, Fluttershy let him know that he could cry as much as he liked. Almost immediately, the floodgates opened and the poor cub cried his eyes out. He wailed and sobbed into Fluttershy’s barrel, the six ponies hugging him all the while.

Eventually, Simba cried himself to sleep. This left the six with the pressing question of what to do with him. Their first and foremost concern, however, was the cuts on Fluttershy’s forelegs.

“You okay?” asked Rainbow Dash. “That had to hurt.”

“I’ll be okay,” Fluttershy assured her.

“What could’ve possessed him to attack you like that?” Rarity asked. “For that matter, how could you possibly have kept holding him?”

“It’s just a few little scratches,” Fluttershy replied. “It happens sometimes when I try to take care of baby animals who only want their mommies.” She gently petted the sleeping cub’s head. “He’s so scared and alone. He needs his momma.”

“We gotta find his family,” declared Applejack. “It ain’t right fer a foal ta be alone like that, even if he ain’t a pony. A child’s a child.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Twilight, “But we have no idea where his parents are and he said he was lost, so he can’t tell us where to go.”

“I could take a look around,” Rainbow suggested. “I bet I could spot ‘em easy from the air.”

“But you don’t know where to look,” Twilight countered. “For all we know, Simba might not even be from the desert. He could be from a completely different part of Equestria and only went through the desert because he got lost. We know that he ran away from home, but we have no idea where his home even is. We also don’t know how far he can travel on hoof, or paw in his case, compared to a foal his age. He could be a hundred miles away from home, for all we know.”

“So, where does that leave us?” asked Rarity. “We can’t just leave him. He’ll try to run off into the desert again.”

Fluttershy mumbled something under her breath.

“You say somethin’?” asked Applejack.

“Well,” Fluttershy began, “Maybe he could come with us to Ponyville? Just until he’s ready to go home?”

Applejack shook her head. “That’ll put ‘im further away from his kin. It ain’t right ta keep ‘im from his family like that.”

Fluttershy rubbed a foreleg with one of her hooves. “But… he can’t get food here. He needs meat and I don’t think anypony here can help him with that. I’ve taken care of carnivores before. I-I can give him fish and I sometimes get imported bacon from Griffonstone. If he stays here, the best anypony can give him is some milk and maybe a few…” she gulped, “Field mice.”

Applejack frowned. “Well, Ah don’t want ‘im starvin’ ta death, but Ah still don’t like it.”

“Neither do I,” concurred Rarity, “But Fluttershy has a point. She is the best qualified to take care of the poor thing until we can bring him home.”

“And what are we supposed ta tell ‘im when he’s ready ta go back? That we don’t know where ta look?”

“I have an idea,” Twilight interjected. “We know that Simba and his family can talk, right?”

“Right.”

“So that must mean that, somewhere out there, there’s a society of talking lions, right?”

“Where are ya goin’ with this?”

“I could send a letter to Princess Celestia, asking her to send scouts to look for this society and establish foreign relations with them. Once they make contact, it should be easy to find Simba’s family. All we’d have to do then is send him home when he’s ready.”

Twilight’s friends looked to each other, briefly pondering her plan.

“That’ll work,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, Ah guess so,” Applejack conceded.

“Rather brilliant, if I do say so myself,” complemented Rarity.

“Yay!” cheered Pinkie, “We’ll have a super special ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party that’ll cheer him right up!”

“Does his culture even have parties?” wondered Twilight.

Pinkie deflated at that comment. “No parties?” she asked, suddenly very worried.

“That’s just it,” replied Twilight, “We don’t know whether they have parties or not.”

Pinkie’s mane very briefly straightened, only for her to immediately perk up. “Ooh! If he’s never had a party before, he’d need a ‘First Party Ever’ party! It’ll be super duper extra special!”

“Um, Pinkie?” asked Fluttershy.

“We could bring all your animal friends to the party too!”

“Pinkie?”

“Wait, if it’s his first party ever and he’s from far away, should I invite-”

“PINKIE!” her friends minus Fluttershy chorused.

“That’s me!”

“I don’t mean to upset you,” Fluttershy began, “But I don’t think Simba can eat sugar. It might make him sick.”

Pinkie blinked. “Oh, that’s okay! I’ll just have to make some sugar-free cupcakes! I make ‘em all the time for ponies trying to diet!”

The five other ponies stared at Pinkie, shocked by her forethought.

“What? Did something fall out of my mane?”

Rainbow Dash broke the silence with a laugh. “Pinkie, you are so random!”

Her friends joined in, laughing over the quirky pink pony’s antics.

“Okay,” said Twilight when they were finished, “Does anypony know when the next train arrives? I’m positive that we missed the last one.”

They looked to each other, mumbling in uncertainty.

“We’ll have ta go ta the station and check,” said Applejack.

“I should go and buy some milk for Simba,” said Fluttershy. “It won’t be much, but it should help until I can get him fish.”

“Do you want one of us to hold him while you take care of that?” asked Rarity.

“Well, um, if that’s okay with you…”

“It’s no trouble at all,” assured Rarity. She moved closer and hunkered down. “Here.”

“Okay.” With the utmost tenderness, Fluttershy laid the sleeping cub on Rarity’s back. “Be careful not to wake him up.”

“Of course, darling. I’ll take him back to our hotel rooms and stay there.”

“That reminds me,” said Applejack, “Ah’ll have ta get a room there with y’all on account a leavin’ Cherry Jubilee.”

“Good thing we got an extra bed!” sang Pinkie.

“Speaking of beds, perhaps we should acquire a cat-sized one for Simba?” Rarity suggested.

“I can do that,” said Fluttershy.

“Good thinking, Rarity,” complimented Twilight.

“Well, I do have a pet cat, you know.”

“It’s settled, then,” declared Twilight. “We’ll meet back at the at the hotel.”

Rarity carried Simba back to the hotel without any issue. One advantage to staying in such a backwater place as Dodge Junction was that the hotel owners didn’t particularly care whether ponies brought “pets” with them. Anypony who did bring a pet was expected to clean up after it. The hotel was hardly up to Rarity’s standards, but they weren’t planning on staying very long, anyway. Furthermore, she could think of several high society places in Canterlot that would not have permitted Simba to stay, and that simply would not do.

Rarity brought the sleeping cub to the room shared by herself and Fluttershy, soon to be occupied by Simba and Applejack. Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie were staying in an adjoining room. Both rooms featured light blue walls, cream-colored flooring with, in Rarity’s opinion, tacky-looking rugs, and a dark brown ceiling. There were, of course, the usual necessities of dressers to store clothes and bathrooms with provided toiletries, though Rarity brought her own. In Rarity and Fluttershy’s room, there were two beds and a foldout couch, the latter of which would serve as Applejack’s bed, not that the farm mare would mind, of course.

Rarity moved over to the beds and, after a moment of consideration, levitated Simba onto Fluttershy’s bed. This was for the best, as Rarity did not want to deal with cat hair and knew that Fluttershy would want the cub close by. Besides, it was only a temporary measure until Fluttershy brought back a cat bed for Simba.

With the cub still asleep, Rarity was able to take a moment and get a good look at him. His fur was very dirty, no doubt from all the running through the desert he must have done. She would have to bathe and wash off the dirt that got in her coat while she was carrying him. His fur was also not very well kept. It was in need of a good grooming. In fact, Rarity surmised, Simba was in dire need of a bath and a comb. That would have to wait, however. The poor cub needed his sleep.

Acquiring the milk for Simba had been an easy task. The mare at the general store had sold Fluttershy a small bottle, no questions asked. Finding a small enough bed, however, was proving difficult. The ponies of Dodge Junction had no need for a pet store and any pet-related products were sold at the general store. Said products consisted almost exclusively of dog food and collars, as the local populace believed that dogs were far more useful than cats.

Determined to provide for the lonely cub in her care, Fluttershy decided to check the general store once again.

“Back so soon?” asked the gray mare at the front.

Fluttershy simply nodded and started scanning the shelves. There had to be something that she could use. A tub? Too big. Bucket? Definitely not. Basket? Fluttershy paused for a moment. She took a closer look at each basket available. There were only a few, but there was one that was just the right size for Simba. The only issue was bedding. Perhaps a blanket? Yes, that would do nicely.

Her mind made up, Fluttershy purchased the basket and a small blanket to serve as a cushion. The blanket was just large enough to also wrap around Simba in case he got cold. Purchases made, Fluttershy started back for the hotel.

“When is the next train for Ponyville?” asked Twilight.

“Tomorrow,” said the cream-colored stallion at the ticket booth. He gestured to a nearby board that listed upcoming arrivals and departures.

“Thank you, sir,” said Twilight, mentally chiding herself for failing to notice something so obvious. She did, however, see the sign that listed ticket prices. “We would like to purchase six adult tickets and one child ticket for the Ponyville train, please.”

The ticket stallion nodded. “Alright, let’s see the bits.”

“That was easy,” commented Rainbow Dash once the tickets were bought.

“Yep,” agreed Applejack. “We best head on back.”