Tales of a Wandering Soul

I heard it, it was as soft as any summer wind. I couldn't believe my ears, is this really Fluttershy from the stories I've read about the Elements of Harmony? "Where am I?" I heard her sing a song that was soothing to me ears, it reminded me of the lullabies of the Orphanage. I closed my eyes to take sweet comfort, the pain I could no longer feel. "Wake up sleepy head..." My eyelids lifted and I saw the place illuminated by fireflies that glow a warm shade of green and yellow. I was inside a tree and Fluttershy was right here, sitting in front of me. "Is... is this all real?" She shoots me a look of confusion "What do you mean by that?" My mind spoke aloud "Have I gone insane from the darkness, from the pain, from the bandits?" I heard her gasp, oh no... "W-well, you're not insane, I know this is all happening too... Did you say bandits?"

I looked around at the interior of the hollowed tree, I saw the owl flying about and the squirrels just sitting there giving me dumbfounded looks. "Yes...they really...they really got me... I ran away as fast and as far as I could and I don't know if I could go much longer." I saw her eyes look down at my injury "Oh my goodness! I-is that..." "I'm afraid so... I don't know what to do about it either..." I knew I was feeling weaker by the minute, I heard my voice beginning to die out and I saw my blood staining the ground underneath me. "Please Fluttershy...you gotta help me..." "B-but what if you're one of those bandits? What if you're somepony that's evil?" I could tell she's encountered these ponies herself... Poor thing... They must have butchered her animals as well... I feel sorry for her but in my condition I didn't have the time to feel these things. "Fluttershy... Please help me... I'm looking for my parents and... I trusted somepony who knocked me out... she put me in those of those camps... I'm probably the only pony who got away" "What about anypony else?"

I looked down at the bloody ground and my ears fell... I didn't see anypony else there and I was probably next in line to be fed to the dogs... "I'm sorry Fluttershy... there wasn't anything I could do... Please Fluttershy... help... me..." "Oh my goodness... Uh! Uh! Uh!" She was panicking, you didn't have to be a genius to figure that out. I would too if I had a dying pony sitting in my home. "What about...tree...leaves..." Then I remembered about creating a sap that can block wounds. Learning from medical books and recipes I figured out that if you were to crush the tree leaves and mix it with tree sap. "I need those...and some sap...could use them for... a bandage" She nodded and I saw her fly out from the hollowed tree above me in which she disappeared into the dark.

Hopefully she was getting what I asked her, I would have gotten them myself but I just felt too weak to do anything. All I could do now is just sit in here... and let the animals watch me die. "Mister Owl..." I whispered, he looks at me and hooted with his head twisting in confusion. "Thank you... for taking... me to her..." I saw the fireflies dimming their lights, or was that my vision? It was getting very cold in here and my eyes felt heavy and the pain no longer felt painful... I was getting tired, but I didn't want to sleep. I can't sleep, ponies in those survival biographies close their eyes and that's when the story ends but mine hasn't ended yet. I'm not going to die in this tree... not while i'm still young... not while Fluttershy is trying to help!

A sweet innocent bunny hopped through the hole and it stood there giving me an impatient look and tapping its foot. "You just...can't wait for me to die...can you? Haha...ha..." He puts his paw to his head and he hopped onto my body. He hit my cheek with his paw and I heard his skittering. If only I was an animal whisperer like Fluttershy maybe I could understand what he was saying, "I'm not going to die bunny...i'm not dying yet" I yawned and I felt him shove a carrot between my teeth, it was soft like one too. I couldn't talk with this getting in the way so I just ate it. "Thank you Bunny..." I saw the other animals look at him shamefully, did he do something with the carrot? "Didn't you need that for Winter, mister Bunny?"

It was the Fall season, and since the air was getting cold I could tell Winter was coming sometime soon. "Thank you Mister Bunny... maybe I could repay you someday..." My body felt like it was about to give in, not to the pain, but to the darkness that is sleep. "I'm...g-getting...sleepy... Somepony... hit me" For once I had begged for something to smack me awake, it turns out it was the bunny again. He looked at me with a bright smile, something happy in which I haven't seen at all these past few days. "Fluttershy must love...having you around Mister Bunny... Hahaha..." The fireflies were zipping around the tree and I tried my hardest not to accidentally catch one in my mouth.

There was the arrow in my hoof with it's head facing upwards. I forced myself to move it on the ground, the pain came back "Hrrnnngg..." I pushed the arrow to the ground in a direction and now it fell flat against the ground. I wouldn't want any animals to jump on and accidentally turn into a shishkabob. "I wouldn't want any of you to get hurt..." I felt soft winds hitting my face but I didn't see a hole that the wind could possible come out of, "Fluttershy? Is that you?" I called out. I saw some butterflies of various colors make their entrance from above the tree, which was strange. Not all trees are this hollowed out.

They were resting on my body, and some were flying around "Flutter by, butterflies..." I whispered.  As strange as I thought, it was actually entertaining watching these bugs fly around me. The ponies in the other survival books mostly killed animals to survive and feed themselves but now I guess I can't do that. Fluttershy would know and how could I do this to the kind and sweet pony that's helping me get back on my hooves? I've watched the bugs crawling and flying about for a good amount of time.

I saw the bright yellow coat of Fluttershy come in shortly after the butterflies. She was carrying leaves in her mouth and tree sap in a bowl... My question is where did the bowl come from? All of this would be something a madpony would imagine but if Fluttershy tells me i'm not insane then I would have to believe her. I cleared my throat, she descended in front of me and sits, "Alright... Fluttershy... you have to... crush the leaves and... mix them with... the sap." Who would've know this would help me now? "I need...the arrow out Fluttershy..." She looks up at me while she was breaking the leaves, I heard her make an innocent noise, she was scared... I don't know if she can bring herself to do this nor if she can ask her animals to do the same...

I would have to muster up the strength to pull it out myself! "Fluttershy... don't look" I saw her wings covering her eyes as she was breaking the leaves, she was shaking. Alright... I just hope this doesn't make this pass out, I put both my hooves together on the arrowhead and I forcefully begin to pull the arrow out of my hoof "HUUURRRRGGHHH!!!" I was pulling as hard as I could and screaming from the pain. It felt like I was being thrown into a sun or a giant rock was crushing my entire body! I pulled it out and I threw it onto the ground. It was completely covered in my blood and I even got some on my hooves.

"Hurry...Fluttershy...cover the wounds..." I couldn't feel anything anymore, the feeling in my hooves was gone and I could feel my very being pouring out into the soil. My head couldn't move and I was forced to watch Fluttershy shake in fear, "Please... Fluttershy... you have to... be brave to protect... the ones you care for..." I was feeling drowsy, I saw her eyes peek out of her wings and tears coming from her eyes... I wouldn't want her to do this for me but she knows as well as I do that she has to do this. For my own sake and for the sake of my parents.

She continued to make those fearful noises, a lot of it was humming. She shakily approached me and her hooves were completely covered in that leafy muck. She was spreading that medical goop on my hoof that had a hole coming in and out, after she was done her hoof was completely covered in my thick black blood. "Thank you... Flutter...shy... You're....so brave... and kind..." I was amazed she was able to bring herself to spread it on me, the animals around were watching her. I felt like a grave and Fluttershy was like a friend that would come over and leave flowers or grieve.

"I'm...Fret... Noteh-...hooves" I just remembered not introducing myself, "Fret..." she whispered to me "Hm?" "I'm so scared..." If I was in her place, I would be too, but I've always learned about how to not be scared and how to be brave from the stories of other ponies. "Don't be scared...Fluttershy... I'll be okay... You did a... brave thing... a lot of us are... scared to do what we have to... even I would be scared... if I were you... But Flutter...shy... Thank you... without you... I would've... been another star... in the sky...and my parents... wouldn't see their son..."

She embraced me, I couldn't feel it, I wish I could though. She was crying though, I could hear her muffled cries and even hear her tears fall onto the very soil. I heard the animals skitter and fly away. My back is probably covered in my own blood but I didn't care, I felt close to Fluttershy in such a short amount of time, she felt like she was an older sister of mine, who knows maybe I could be related to her but I didn't want to think too far into this. I put my hoof over her hair and I pet her like the sister I would watch over... "Mom... Dad... someday... your son is coming home..." I quietly said to myself, "Good Night... Fluttershy..." The buzzing fireflies have stopped, and I closed my eyes. I don't know if I was lucky to encounter her, or if this was being set up for me to be with her... I could always ask her in the next morning... that is if I make it...