Another day, another friendship problem solved. Twilight and her friends were strolling through Ponyville, chatting happily as they went on their way to sugar cube corner, where a few well-deserved treats were waiting for them.

"Seriously, though: how should I have known that the best way was to simply throw a party?" Rainbow Dash argued jokingly, hovering in front front of her friends and slowly flying backwards as she did.

"And that's why you never leave home without your best-pal party-pony, Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie chirped. "I can make anypony smile." She proclaimed, eliciting a round of giggle from the other mares.

"Can't argue 'gainst that." Applejack conceded. "Though it felt a tad weird bein' at a party fer a colt we only knew fer an hour or two."

"Yes. It felt scary standing betwen all these unknown ponies." Fluttershy whispered.

"Hey, at least you didn't hide under a table this time, so that's progress." Rainbow pointed out, to which Fluttershy shrunk a bit behind her mane.

"Only because the tables didn't have overhanging tablecloths, so it would've only drawn more attention if I had." She admitted quietly.

Everyone rolled their eyes at that, albeit with an amused smile.

"Well, I suppose it's a step in the right direction, for the wrong reasons." Rarity said.

"But a step nonetheless. We might just see the day, where Fluttershy is no longer afraid of Pon--"
As she was saying this, Twilight suddenly got a very weird feeling and had the urge to look around. Behind her, in the distance, she could see the edge of the Everfree Forest. It was calm. Undisturbed, apart form the wind blowing through its leaves.

"I'm not afraid of Ponies!" Fluttershy asserted. "I just don't... Twilight? What's wrong?" she asked cautiously, when she noticed her friend looking over her shoulder.

"Huh?" Twilight voiced, when she was dragged back into the present. "Oh, uh, nothing, I just... I felt watched, all of a sudden."

Despite Twilight's calm attitude, Fluttershy was still plenty spooked by the prospect that somepony might be watching them and quickly shrunk back into her mane, while her friends were looking around, themselves.

"Watched? Really?" Rainbow asked with a hint of concern. "Who do you think would be watch-- oh." Only for that concern to shift into slight annoyance, when she followed Twilight's gaze and saw she was looking at the Everfree. "This is about these weird sounds again, isn't it?"

"Hm? What? Uhh..." Twilight was a bit confused about what she could possibly mean by that, but the more she thought about it, the more she had to concede: "... maybe? I don't know. I just... suddenly felt like somepony was watching me."

"Well, you were rather obsessed with them for the past few days, if you don't mind me saying so." Rarity pointed out. "Which reminds me, you said something about some further analysis. Would you mind sharing what you found out?"

"Not as much as I'd like." Twilight admitted. "From what I can tell, a few mana streams converged and caused a surge that had a space-bending effect. Likely a portal of some kind."

"A portal? Did you find out, where it went?" Rarity asked.

"Not yet. I also can't say just yet, what the noises had to to with it." Twilight stated.

"Maybe there ain't no connection? Y'know, correlation doesn't mean causality or whatev'r ya said that one time?" Applejack suggested.

"Maybe, but as long as I can't rule it out entirely, I'll treat it as related." Twilight said.

"Geez, have you all suddenly turned into eggheads or what?!" Rainbow suddenly interjected.

"Well, excuse me! A lady can have interests beyond fashion, I'll have you know, or are you only interested in flying fast and napping?" Rarity pointed out.

"Well, I can tell you at least one thing that I'm also interested in and that's right there!" Rainbow said and pointed a hoof towards Sugarcube Corner, which was only a few paces away by now. She then sped towards and through the door to the establishment, leaving her friends in dumbfounded silence.

"HEY! You're gonna replace those doors, you hear me?!" Pinkie shouted after her friend, as she and the rest followed her to finally get their treats.

"[... You think she saw us?]" Straßenbauer asked, as he and Eisenhans watched the town from beneath the forest edge's underbrush.

"[I don't think so.]" Eisenhans answered. "[But man... we're really in magical pony land, aren't we? Now I kinda regret zoning out, whenever my sister started talking about it...]" He sighed, as he put down the binoculars.

"[Yeah, I kinda wish I had watched the show, when I had the chance. Read a few fimfics though.]" Straßenbauer added, to which his friend gave him a rather telling sideways look.

"[Man, I knew you're weird.]" He chuckled.

"[What? You givin' me flak 'cause I'm into fimfics?]" Straßenbauer defended.

"[Nah, I don't judge, and besides: I've seen our chief in a fursuit once, so nothing shocks me anymore.]" Eisenhans remembered with a shudder. "[No, what I actually find weird is that you read fanfictions without actually watching the show. I mean, how did you get context for what you were reading?]"

Straßenbauer shrugged to this. "[Well, I mean, I did watch the first two episodes and for everything beyond that I had the wiki, so--]" He explained, but was cut off by Eisenhans.

"[So you did watch the show.]" He pointed out.

"[It was just two episodes!]" Straßenbauer whined.

"[But you did watch it.]" Eisenhans doubled down.

Straßenbauer sighed and gave Eisenhans a deadpan look.
"[Yes. If you want to be pedantic, I have indeed watched the show.]"

"[See? Wasn't that hard to admit, wasn't it?]" Eisenhans grinned, leaving Straßenbauer to grumble to himself, while they resumed their watch...

For only a few moments, before Straßenbauer noticed something:
"[Wait, what did you mean you saw our chief in a fursuit? When - or rather how - did that happen?]"

Now it was Eisenhans's turn to be uncomfortable.
"[No comment.]" He told Straßenbauer.

"Nenenene, du kommst mir jetzt nicht mit einem 'Kein Kommentar' davon!" (Nonononono, you won't just get away with a 'No Comment'!) Straßenbauer pressed.

"Kriegst aber keinen." (You won't get one, though.) Eisenhans countered.

"Ey, jetzt komm' schon! Ich erzähl dir hier meine Lebensgeschichte und du gibst mir überhaupt nichts?" (Come on, I told you my life story and you give me nothing in return?) Straßenbauer demanded forcefully.

"What a peculiar language I hear,
I can't see the source, but it seems to be ne-EEEEEEE!" Zecora said and, as a result, suddenly found herself looking down the business-end of Straßenbauer's rifle.

"Tja, so viel zu 'Tarnen und Täuschen'1." (Well, so much for staying hidden.) Eisenhans snarked.

His friend turned around to him, his rifle still aimed at Zecora, and told him over his shoulder: "Noch wurde nicht alarmiert..." (They haven't been alerted yet...) before turning back around to Zecora smiling and saying: "Sorry, Zecora: no witnesses."

The next thing Zecora saw, was Straßenbauer's fist rapidly approaching her muzzle.

"[Yo, what the fuck!]" Eisenhans half-shouted, as Zecora went down.

"Relaaaaaax"2 Straßenbauer waved off. "[We're playing by cartoon logic. She isn't actually hurt.]"

Eisenhans blinked at Straßenbauer a few times. "[Cartoon logic? Really?]" He asked rethorically. "[You do remember that Manticore-thingy and, specifically, how it died, after we filled it with bullets, right?]"

Straßenbauer looked wide-eyed at Eisenhans for a moment, before looking down to Zecora and noticing a few drops of blood dripping from her visibly disfigured muzzle. She was still breathing, at the very least.

"Fuck!" Straßenbauer cursed, as he knelt down and immediately rendered first aid.

"[So who was it again, who swore to never harm the innocent?]" Eisenhans snarked, as he stood beside Straßenbauer.

"[Less snarking, more helping!]" Straßenbauer demanded and Eisenhans complied, albeit not without giving him a "[Yeah-Yeah, I'm on it]".

The two worked quickly, adjusting the muzzle back into its original position, stabilizing it with some sticks and a rubber band and then stuffed some Cotton plugs into her nostrils to stop the bleeding.

"[There, that should do the trick for now.]" Eisenhans stated, once Zecora was patched up. "[So what do we do now?]"

"[Good question.]" Straßenbauer replied. "[If I remember correctly, Fluttershy should be living nearby, so maybe we should drop her off there.]"

"[Fluttershy?]" Eisenhans asked, scratching his chin in thought. "[Wasn't she a veterinary or something?]"

Straßenbauer shrugged. "[Yesn't. I think she's more of an animal caretaker, but it's the closest to a doctor we can get, without going into town proper.]"

"[So... why don't we just do that? I mean, she's seen us anyways, so there is no real point in trying to stay hidden.]" Eisenhans pointed out, to which Straßenbauer grinned sheepishly and scratched his head uncomfortably.

"[Uhh, yeah, thing is...]" He paused for a moment. "[Thing is, in some of the fics I read, the ponies were man-eaters.]"

For a few moments, nobody said a words. There were only the trees slowly swaying in the wind, their leaves rustling, their barks creaking and Eisenhans deadpanning at Straßenbauer.

"[Seriously?]" He asked flatly. "[You don't want us to make contact yet, because of some intel you've got from fanfiction?]"

"[Correct.]" Straßenbauer confirmed with a nod.

Eisenhans sighed. He would've liked to argue against him, but unfortunately, Straßenbauer's experience with fimfics was the only source of intel they had for now.

"[Alright. Let's just get moving.]" He sighed and went to get the MG, while Straßenbauer picked up Zecora and slung her over his shoulder. They then both made their way into roughly the direction Straßenbauer guessed, would be where Fluttershy lived.

"[So how did you know it was Zecora, anyways?]" Eisenhans asked out of nowhere.

"[The rhyming.]" Straßenbauer answered. "[That god-forsaken rhyming. You know, I'm actually quite fond of poems and such, but She's rhyming just because and that tends to get on my nerves.]"

"[Ah.]" Eisenhans nodded, before a thought sprang up in his mind.

"[Waaaaaaaaait, so you mean, you don't really like Zecora?]" He asked somewhat accusingly.

"[It's not that I don't like her, it's just her rhyming.]" Straßenbauer clarified. "[But yes, I know what you're thinking and I can't deny the punch might've been premeditated.]"

A few minutes - and a few backtracks - later, Straßenbauer and Eisenhans were standing right in front of Fluttershy's cottage.

"[So...]" Straßenbauer started. "[I guess, she isn't home yet.]"

"[What makes you think that?]" Eisenhans asked, to which Straßenbauer pointed forwards, towards a big wall of pelt that was standing between them and Fluttershy's door with crossed paws.

"[The bear.]" Straßenbauer stated.

The animal in question huffed. It didn't know, what kind of creatures it was facing, but Fluttershy had asked him to watch her home while she was gone and he was determined to perform this duty to the best of his ability - albeit mostly, because he knew Fluttershy would reward him for it later.

Still, seeing them carry that striped pony-thingy that he sometimes saw visit her, was just a tad unnerving.

"[Ah.]" Eisenhans replied. "[You think, he's her bouncer or something?]" He asked somewhat doubting.

"[Well no, a bouncer would be employed. I'd wager, he's just a friend with ambitions.]" Straßenbauer mused.

Eisenhans's look slowly morphed from doubt to something that can only be described as intrigued, and somewhat amused, disgust.

"[How... how would that even work? I mean, a pony... and a bear...]" As he said that, he gesstured the vague heights of both creatures with his hand, symbolizing that that might not quite work out.

Straßenbauer stopped and looked at Eisenhans over his shoulder. He wanted to clarify, wha he had meant, but before he could do so, he remembered something and had to revise his intention.

"[You know, I just wanted to clarify that I didn't mean that, but now I vaguely remember some fimfics, where exactly that happened, so who knows.]" He said and looked back at the bear again. "[In any case, we should probably get back on track, now shouldn't we?]"

He made a few careful steps towards the pelted door latch and spoke to him in german-accented english:
"Greetings, good sir. We've had a little accident and would require some help. Your hostess wouldn't happen to be available, right now?"

Eisenhans wanted to doubt his partner's sanity, but to his utmost suprise, the bear suddenly shook his head, as if he understood.

"Ah, I see." Straßenbauer said, upon seeing the bear's reply. "Well, in that case, would you mind to take care of her for now, until your hostess returns? I know, it's rather impolite to just leave like that, but unfortunately, we have things to do and places to be."

The bear, of course, wasn't fooled by this. He had seen he other one tap this one's foot, once he saw Fluttershy approaching in the distance. However, he could understand these two. Everyone of Fluttershy's friends were afraid at first and scouted her home while she wasn't there, before they actually approached her. It was a pattern he had seen plenty of times before.

Except for the pony with the broken muzzle. That one was new.

The bear took Zecora into his paws and rested her against his pelt, so she wouldn't be sore, once Fluttershy took her in.

"Thanks. Could you also please..." Straßenbauer took a piece of paper from his front pocket and wrote a few words onto it, before folding it and handing ot over to the bear. "...give her this, once she's here?"

Seeing no issue with it, the bear also took the little note.

"Splendid, well..." At that moment, the other one tapped this one's shoulder again, rather forcefully and nodded towards the already rather close Fluttershy. "... I think, we should get going. Until we meet again!"

Straßenbauer gave the bear a quick wave, befoer he and Eisenhans sprinted back into the underbrush and hid in it. They were rather sure that the bear knew they weren't actually gone and might call them out, but it was a risk they had to take, if they wanted to gauge Fluttershy's reaction.

"[... you know what's bothering me, now that I think about it?]" Straßenbauer asked quietly.

"[What?]" Eisenhans replied.

"[That Zecora hasn't woken up yet. Do you think, I perhaps hit her a tad too hard?]"

Fluttershy was a happy mare - and why wouldn't she be? After all, today, she and her friends help a little colt resolve a friendship problem, she had a nice chat with her friends, and she got to fill herself with her favourite treats! Now, all that was left for her to do, was to return home and see that her bear friend was holding an unconscious Zec- wait what?!

Fluttershy gasped and rushed the remaining few metres to her friend.

"W-What happened?!" She squeaked, once she reched him and the bear replied with a fwe growls and grumbles.

"What? Two weird, bipedal creatures came from the Everfree, carrying her and said they needed help after an accident?" Fluttershy repeated and the bear growled some more.

"They also left e a note?" She asked, as the bear handed (pawed?) her a folded piece of paper.

She unfolded the note and saw, that it only had three words written on it, in massive font:

"WE ARE SORRY!"

She blinked at the note a few times, before sighing and hoofing it back.

"Well, I think, they are sincere about it. Let's take Zecora inside. It seems, they've already rendered first aid, so now we just need to keep her warm and cozy, until she wakes up... and make sure to have a bucket nearby."

The bear opened the door for her and made space for her to go inside, while growling some more.

"Yes, I know, they are hiding the the bushes behind me. I saw them run away when I came home. I'm a pegasus, remember? I have bird eyes." Fluttershy said, with a short glance over her back. "If they don't want to introduce themselves yet, it's fine. I won't force them. For now, we should just care about Zecora."

With that, both, the bear and Fluttershy, went inside.

Author's Note

1 'Tarnen und Täuschen' (lit. Camouflage and Deception) is a segment in basic training, the name of which, like in this case, is often used instead of just saying: 'hiding / staying hidden'

2 Yes, he actually said that and I didn't forget the brackets.

Yes, I know, I said that I woud upload more often, only to then upload less often. In my defense: for some reason, my profs thought it would be nice to have us write FOUR THESES this semester.

Pain, peko.

Anyway, I'll try to go for a chapter a month, at least. Gonna try to upload more often, but can't promise anything.

Well... until next chapter!