Fluttershy was still a little filly, when one night, she had a strange dream. Deeply asleep, her breath appeased and her mind lifeless, she suddenly felt some sort of peculiar consciousness returning to her. The untameable swirl of dream seized her mind.
She saw herself in an obscure space, surrounded by a deep night. Maybe she was in a forest, maybe she was in a town, it was hopeless to determine. A disturbing glow started to throb in the night. Fluttershy cried out of terror. She turned back, but the glow was still behind her. She tipped again, panicked, and the greenish light's source shirked from her sight once more. Breathless, concerned, she ended realizing that the pulsating light was coming from her flank. A drop of cold sweat flew along her spine, freezing her body. A pressure rose into her chest, the anguish was stifling. The pale green that emanated from her flank was winking, letting run for an instant that weird colour on her young pegasi's face, diving her the next instant into the most complete darkness. Paralyzed, Fluttershy saw the butterflies – those so precious butterflies which came to save her, and free her from her fears – disconnect their wings from her body, slowly, as if they were tearing from her flesh. Then, they were now there, fluttering in front of her eyes in a way so unreal. On her flank only remained a shadow, like a memory of their shape. The butterflies's wings flapped in a strangely slow manner, like a heart beat. The glow which emanated from them didn't wink anymore, allowing to see them graciously ascend in height.
Suddenly they left posthaste, letting her in the dark. « Fluttershy... Fluttershy... » A rough and almost inaudible whisper echoed in the shadow. Fluttershy started running after the butterflies, too frightened to stay in the boundless obscurity, too scared to stay alone among the whispers. « Why ?! » she said with a crying. « Come back ! My friends, come back ! I don't understand ! » The butterflies went so apace, they were far ahead, tremulous gleam. All of a sudden, the light seemed to finally bind on the night's veil, and smoothly, started to twinkle, spilling a bit more of greenish clarity around. « Fluttershy... » The voice was sweet but blackness made it distressing. It wasn't a familiar voice, it seemed light, but ancient, and weary. Fluttershy, trotting on her little hooves which sounded like a ripple on the ground, watching ahead, behind, all around her with a panicked look, arrived finally below the luminous butterflies. Her legs shivered out of control. She shriveled on the floor, and hid her face under her soft pink hair. She wimpered with her little voice in her mane. « My friends... My friends... » Calming down a little bit, she raised her head and thanks to the phosphorescent butterflies which were fluttering in circle six feet above her, she could see a wooden door, closed, in front of her. The work was beautiful, inscribed with elegant interlacing, and natural patterns. Some round nails showed a few reflections.
The whisper resonated again, more pressing.
« Fluttersshy ! Flutterssshy ! » and in one horrible creaking the door opened, breathing in a huge amount of air. The wind was whistling, deafening, the small pegasi had her heart beating like a drum. While the door in opening slammed a deafening blow, she glimpsed what was behind it, it was a row of weird and twisted trees, and she fancied seeing...
« Eeeeek ! » Breathless, Fluttershy had straightened in her bed. Close to her, a little patched plush, in the shape of a rabbit, had fallen on the floor. The pony picked it up briskly and hugged it against her heart, the eyes full of tears. She huddled under her blanket covered with pink and yellow small peas, hiding her face. Appeased by fabrics's softness, and her bed's warmth, she ended up dozing off, the cheeks warm, and the muzzle close against the small rags rabbit smell.
The next day, a sweet sun came warming the cheek of the small yellow pegasi. Everything seemed quiet. The tree which was her house clattered a creak. Fluttershy opened her eyes. Her little straw bed was disorderly. The quilt was almost entirely on the floor. There wasn't much things in that large wooden hollow. A small pink stool where she put her rabbit during the day, was standing in front of the straw bed, and beside it, a flower pot contained three withered daisies. On the wall, was hooked an old cracked parchment. It could be read « My darlings, I am gone picking some flowers, I will be back when the sun will be at its highest. Angel will look after you Fluttershy. » Outside the chirping of the birds could be heard, and the swish of the leaves. The forest was lively and pleasant. A woodpecker suddenly came perch himself on the edge of the round aperture which served as entrance. At that height, only birds and squirrels could sneak up to the hollow. Quick and restless, the woodpecker knocked with its beak some small hits with a pleasant sound on the wood. « knock knock knock, knock knock ! ». Still a bit drowsy, the small pony opened wide and inquiring eyes toward the little bird, and sat up straight using her two front hooves. « Oh ! Angel ! Look ! » she said with her little child's voice. She grabbed the plush by clamping it with one of her hooves, and walked at the aperture which was two steps away from the bed. Doing this the blanket completely fell on the floor. « Good morning » said Fluttershy to the bird with a jolly smile. The bird whistled two lovely notes. « Say hello to our friend, Angel, be polite. » She raised with her hoof the old plush, with its small embroidered pink muzzle, and two black buttons for the eyes. Sadly the bird flied away at the moment when the patched rabbit came nearby him. « Oh... Goodbye... »
The pony was once again alone. Outdoor the sun shone, but her small wooden hollow suddenly seemed gray to her, and awfully empty. It has been several days since she had carried with her, her most precious things, and decided to live into the forest. She couldn't resolve herself to return up in the clouds with the other pegasi. It almost seemed crazy to her, wanting to stay up there among the winds, the storms, under the hardness of the sun, lost into the sky's limitless blue. She often wondered why she was born with wings, why the fate mocked her so much ? That time when shaken by Rainbow Dash, she had tumbled out of control toward the ground, she had almost died. Her first thought has been for her mother, and then she remembered having said to herself « Provided that heaven will not be in sky ! » The next moment, a myriad of fragile, soft and powdery wings, had from everywhere brushed against her body, and without really knowing how, Fluttershy had flied, at a few inches barely from the ground, carried by a hundred of butterflies. Or maybe she suddenfly started to levitate ?
Fluttershy put back with a bite the blanket in its place, and arranged it with her front hooves, so that it will be well flattened. Like every morning, she strived to gather the straw and compact it so that it will keep in shape her makeshift bed. A hot air fraught of green redolences rushed into the wooden hollow. The parchment on the wall fluttered for a moment, making a sound of slapped sheet. Fluttershy took in her maw the patched rabbit, and pushed the small pink stool at the center of the room. She sat on it facing the wall, and took her plush under her arm. « Mommy... » she thought. And a sob broke into her throat. She remembered, when, as a baby, her mother cought her by her diapers and laid her on the small stool to make her eat. She always had her mane undone in the morning, her long silvery blue mane. Unlike the other babies, the little Fluttershy didn't wag her wings trying to fly. Each morning, she liked to make fall what her mommy served to her, and crawl on the floor to eat. Once, her mother had found her asleep on the house's floor. The kid had kept grass's strands from the dinner and had made a little makeshift bed for herself. Starling Shy, that was her mother's name, had woken her up the next morning bringing her by a small white plush with long ears. « Look Fluttershy, his name's Angel. It's a little rabbit, and just as you he likes grass a lot, and also the trees and... » « Angl ? Gwass ? » Starling Shy had smiled like only a mommy knows in front of her drooling baby, and had kissed her daughter on the forehead.
Some big salty tears flew along the pegasus's cheeks. She hadn't notice, and wiped out her face with a backhoof. Why ? Why did she disappeared ? Fluttershy recalled how much her mother loved to go on earth, and see the nature and... This day like always she was out to bring her back wonders of the world downwards. Colours like there isn't in the rainbows, with fragrances soft and sweet, fresh and delicious verdancy, and also, she narrated her how was the little critters she met. It was the stories she preferred. Here, in the sky, not much animals could be seen besides some birds. Seated for hours on the cloud where lied her house, Fluttershy, wrapped in diapers, looked downwards and dreamed about what her mother could be doing. This one day, the sun had risen very high in the blue, and she had waited, waited. Her father, asleep, a newspaper on the face, gently breathed in his hammock. But her mother didn't come back. It had taken a few hours more before her father wakes up and starts worrying. He dropped her to the Wonderbolt's basement, because he worked here, and with one or two of his friends, he left to search for Starling Shy.
Fluttershy had seen the sun set down, and the night fall. Alone with a secretary who was typing out, mechanically, she was afraid. And outside all those great outfielders sunk, at full speed, rushing in the void, leaving, appearing again, in an endless stream. She was scared. Where was daddy ? Where was mommy ? She was hungry, but she didn't dare say anything. She didn't dare crying, because she didn't know that place. And in her moist diapers, she hugged very hard Angel against her heart. The lady was smiling at her sometimes, and Fluttershy each time was about to burst into tears. But she refrained herself. She refrained herself, because she was going to see again her mommy, wasn't she ? And her mommy would take her into her arms, and would drive her to take a bath, and she would finally, sleep, and she would hear her mommy sing...
When the stars appeared in the sky, she was already sleeping like a log. They hadn't found her mommy. And her father that day, barely dared looking at her when he came back, late, covered with leaves, some twigs stuck into his mustache, and gloomy eyes. He gave her food without saying anything, the kid chewed and swallowed, but she didn't know if she was hungry anymore. He put her in bed, he kissed her on the forehead and closing the door, left her in the darkness and the silence. She couldn't see the hanging butterflies' mobile that spinned above her cradle. And there wasn't her mother's voice. There wasn't her odor. There was only the round and steady head of the little white rabbit. « Mom... » said the so small pegasi with pink hair, before falling asleep again, exhausted. She didn't had the time to think about the muffled sobs which echoed behind the door of her bedroom.
« What good can it be, thinking about that ! » Fluttershy left the small pink wool. She reset it in its spot, and placed Angel over it, well leaned to the wooden wall. She smiled at it gloomily. It was her mother that had sewed her the coverlet. And when her father had carved in wood the toy stool, her mother had painted it pink. It was her favourite colour.
Fluttershy realized that she needed to go out for a little breath of fresh air, to forget she was here alone, and to recover the forest's magic, teeming with life, and adorable creatures, so comprehensive and so mild. She had finally discovered everything her mother told her about, the greenery, the squirrels, the flowers... It was time to make the dream come true, whatever would say her father. Fluttershy kissed Angel on the forehead : « I will tell you everything when I'll be back, I promise. And after, I will make a rose tea. Besides, I am going to pick some ! ». Her little voice was gleeful and soft. She would always keep herself away from staying dismal. She drew near the aperture which faced the forest, and as always had a bit giddy while looking toward the ground. But it was that or else risking to be found out by somepony. Over here at least, she would not bump into a pegasus, but neither would she bump into a pony. Fluttershy started to flap feverishly her wings, and slipping on the side along a nearby branch, came out in broad daylight. The sun dazzled her a bit, and one of her hooves skidded. « Aaaaa... » the small pegasus fell like a ragdoll. But right down, in the direction of her free falling body, was a little snail, innocently crawling on the soil. « Ho ! No ! » thought Fluttershy. Being scraped by the branches which cross her course, she drew out all the strenght she could find, and tried again flapping her wings. It was just enough to alter her path, and to crash at one inch from the little snail.
All red, her head topsy-turvy, and spread out on the ground, the small pegasus said to the snail : « Excuse-me Mister. » The snail simply smiled kindly as all reply, and slowly crawled toward the pegasus. It rubbed friendly its head against the yellow haired cheek. « Ho. How nice it is. » thought Fluttershy. She recalled how much good it did to her, having left the flight school. No more laughters. No more faces distorted by a grin. No more hooves pointing at her. She sighed. Maybe she had sorrowful memories, and maybe she felt terribly ashamed having ran away far from home, but even her father harshly gazed at her, making her feel how much the flight was a vital matter, and that taking an interest in terrestrial life was foolishness. That's what every pegasus made her feel. Maybe she could fly ? How to know that ? Each time she started flapping her wings, she remembered her father's proud look on the Wonderbolt's runway, and the look he glanced when she would talk about earthly life, and yet appeared her comrades's hilarious faces. Flying, but to do what ? It didn't interest her, and yet for the others pegasi, it seemed to be the most important thing in the world. « Mister snail, why would somepony in this world prefer running through the sky's void rather than enjoying wonders of the earth ? Up there it is blue, white, grey, sometimes black, well there's a few rainbows, but down there, safe on the ground, you can see it too. I don't do it on purpose, truly, I try... but I cannot understand. I mean, I know that it makes all the pegasi felicitous, and that they feel special this way but... ». The snail had gone back into its shell, all against the young pony, and seemed evidently to have fallen asleep. Fluttershy put a hoof on her mouth to stifle a small amused laugh, in order to not waking it up. « It's so marvelous being able to be happy thus, without really caring about world, explanations, other's thoughts... » she said to herself inwardly.
She had placed the small shell under cover of a root so that nopony inadvertently crush it, and she had left scampering through the woods, on the path of a slightly denser spot, where grew one or two rosebushes. She would bring back for the tea some bouquet of flowers in her maw, and after that, maybe she would take Angel with her to enjoy a sunny glade. She often hesitated to take it, because, a bit of rain or wind would suffice tearing once more the fabric. Once more, and the so precious gift, the lifelong best friend, would be no more than shreds and pieces of cotton. She was trying to sew, clumsily, with a spool shortly emptied, and a needle, on large leaves. She hoped someday to be enough capable in order to stitch her friend, and give it a makeover. It was one of these petty dreams which mattered for her, but that nopony seemed to understand. Her father would often say « You look so much alike your mother... » and he sighed, watching his little baby devouring picture books full of terrestrial animals, trying to sew two pieces of fabric together with a spaghetti, and leaning at the edge of clouds to look downwards. Fearing for her life, he had planted wiring all around their cloud, and the small Fluttershy frolicked in that space, without ever trying to fly away.
All that time spent dreaming to have her four hooves on the earth finally took shape, and the young pegasus hadn't felt so light since numerous years. This forest was quiet, there had never been any visitor, it was paradise. She often wondered why the touch of others was hurting her that much, why loving them with strenght, taking an interest in them, even envying them, didn't suffice to arouse one ounce of kindliness for her. Her tender nature had been many a time exploited, mocked, and the fear, little by little, had seized her. The reproachful gaze of her father had something to do with it, but above all were all those silent nights where she kept her eyes open, unable to fall asleep, seeing shadows surrounding her. Since Starling Shy had disappeared, the poor kid had little by little lost any sense of safeness, and the distance which was born between her father and her, made her roughly discover loneliness.
A lot would have say that she was lucky. It was true that her father made good meals, asked her if her school grades were good, helped with her homework, looked after her if she went out to have fun, and always bought what she needed. But she didn't have the right to talk about what she liked, what she didn't like, she didn't have the right to evoke her mother, nor the terrestrial life, and it was absolutely necessary that she became an ordinary pegasus. That she learnt to fly, that she had ambition, and her father maybe, would smile again. Yes, maybe that would be the last way to draw a smile on the ex-Wonderbolt's face, retired in order to take care of his daughter, a smile of pride and love.
Fluttershy was walking peacefully along the woods, thoughtful, feeling sometimes a few sunrays warm up her mane, smelling without thinking about it the moss's moisture and the green perfume of some crushed wild grass under her hoof. This life without anypony seemed so simple to her, so free, that she began to dream that her past no longer existed, nor the people she knew, nor her father, and that she will go on thus treading the quiet ground, for eternity. « Forgive me, my sweet daddy... » she tought. « I don't want to hurt anypony, but... but... it's me who's hurt up there. » A big growl broke the course of her thinking. The pegasus stopped. A heavy and leisurely step was getting close to the spot where she stood. A hoarse breath resounded, and bushes started to stir. Fluttershy realized that she was holding her breath since the beginning, and started gasping for air. At last, the bushes didn't stir anymore, and there was no more sound. The young pegasus let escape out a little sigh. Then a great brown bear straightened up just at her left, arising roughly from the bushes, while uttering a terrible growl.
« Ho well I... so to speak... » stammered Fluttershy, pressing herself against one tree's trunk.
The bear heavily dropped his body on the floor, and started sniffing suspiciously the pegasus's mane. He opened a great maw getting ready to utter another terrible grunt, and to give her a paw whack, but the small pony had undertook strumming his chin's bottom with her hoof.
« I am sure that you are a very kind bear, I am delighted to meet you. ». Popeyed, the bear held his motion, and ended up relaxing under the effect of the rough hoof that was now scratching his neck, and in one glance, back on the ground, the bear allowed himself to be scraped on the belly. Any aggressiveness that could have run through the bear's body, had evaporated in an instant.
The pegasus was so small that she had to use her two front hooves to rub down the brown monster's tummy, who had the relaxed face of a baby. Fluttershy had been of course very afraid at first, but at the sight of the beautiful brown coat, she remembered how much all the creatures of this earth were wonderful beings, shaping their own way through nature in order to live a life of peace and beauty, like her. It was like this since she knew how to dream, even before knowing how to speak or walk, she felt close to all these wild earthly beings. A lot would say that it was dangerous to consider every earth's being as nice, and to treat them as such without caring about their teeth, their claws, but Fluttershy had the intimate conviction that every thinking being had perforce a heart, and that every heart could only want its own happiness. So, why not bring it that happiness, to these creatures, instead of imagining things about them ? « Everyone has the right to get some goodness » she said to herself. It didn't mean that she was never afraid, but her determination to be more fair and more generous in her actions toward every Earth's being, often surpassed the fear she could feel. The brown bear wasn't confounding her : the animal displayed a smug smile, and half closed eyes, trustful and relaxed. The firm scraping of his coarse hair, where a few bugs often went tickling him, was a pleasure and a relief for him. He didn't know well who was this small pony with wings, but he said to himself that following her could prove wise if he wanted again enjoying her care. It was the first time that an animal didn't try to flee from him, or to give him way while shivering, or simply to defend itself tooth and nail. It was new for the bear. The all small yellow pegasus had a sweet and pleasant voice, which add to her charm.
« There, there. A bit of itches under the arms ? » said Fluttershy merrily. The bear stretched out his heavy killer paws and let himself be scratched again. The pegasus gently stopped and lied her four hooves on the floor. « In fact, I was going to pick some roses in order to make a tea. Would you like to have some tea with me ? Ho, and of course I will introduce Angel to you. » The pegasus was radiant, friendly. She suddenly pulled herself together. « Ho, but maybe that you don't like tea... ! And it is out of doubt unmannerly, as we don't know each other, isn't it ? But hum... you may not even know what is tea... Then... In that case... After all, if you don't mind, or at least, you would even enjoy... Me I would appreciate naturally... But hum... You know... » The bear watched agape the small pink and yellow being get blushing cheeks and lose herself in speculation with a constrained face. He lifted up and scratched his head, not hearing Fluttershy's last sentences. « So... would you like ? » she said, with wide shiny eyes, and a begging pout, followed by a large smile. It was the bear's turn to feel constrained. For the first time in his life, he was even a bit scared. Seemingly the young winged lady was inviting him, he didn't really get why, and she was now staring at him with a lovable face. The animal had never been prepared answering such an invitation. Ho, of course, he had some great days in this forest, where he felt hearty toward the woods's others dwellers, and where he had even smiled at a badger family which was passing by, but there, he was trapped. The brown gawk nodded while twirling his big clawed fingers. The wide blue eyes of the pegasus got him right.
Fluttershy, delighted, feeling less alone and more overjoyed than ever, started trotting, accompanied by the bear, speaking about the woods's beauty, and about the pleasure it was to see the mosses's colour, the shape of some holes in the trees where were hiding birds and rodents, and about how much the berries's and flowers's fragrance was deeper, and more bewitching in the forest. The bear, a bit distraught, was nodding, and discovered again, surprised, the forest that he had travelled through since his younger years without wondering all of these questions and without seeing all of these things. He started to actually like the small pony, and her amazed and soft nature. He was being enthusiastic without noticing it.
« Ho, we have arrived. » Our two friends were standing at the edge of a small luminous clearing, covered with clovers and wild grasses, dotted with some flowers, where a cork oak covered with apricot coloured roses majestically sat in state. It was one of these sarmentose rosebushes, the ones that form into climbing lianas, that had risen along the oak so as to reach the sweet sunrays. Fluttershy was lost here at first, before finding a suitable shelter, and she took care remembering the path leading to this little piece of heaven. « It is beautiful, isn't it ? » she shaid. « If you want to, you can help me picking roses, but not too much of course, four or five should suffice. We must not hurt the rosebush. » The bear, curious, came closer to the oak, and began sniffing one of the rose within his muzzle's reach. The scent pleased him. Fluttershy nodded. « The smell is very delicate, isn't it ? » She crunched one tie of a rose, seizing thereby the floral booty she had came picking for the tea. But the flowers were quite high, and rather than flutter, she wanted to encourage her new friend. She put the flowers in front of her hooves. « Can you pick three of these for me, please ? » A sweet growl meant « yes » and the bear started to quietly choose the roses before picking them.
Fluttershy had a smile at the sight of the brown bear sniffing, observing the flowers, as an expert, but her smile was troubled. There, at the clearing's border, that she could see behind the tree, the air seemed to undulate as the surface of water. The small pegasus blinked, but the vision persisted. A white shape seemed to come closer from the inside of the forest, slowly, strangely, but the dim air impeded her from discerning it. Fluttershy left for a moment her friend focused on the roses's perfume, and as mesmerized, she drew near the border step by step. Behind the dim and wavelike screen, the trees didn't looked like the others around, and the white shape was getting closer, more, more...
Finally, the young pegasus was very close to the distortion, and she could see. A white rabbit seemed to stand right in front of her, and was strangely staring at her, from the other side of the air's liquid surface. He had a grumpy look, and had a pink nose. He seemed somewhat familiar...
« Grrowwwmm ? »
Fluttershy jumped, and the next moment, the ripple of the air, as the rabbit, had disappeared. It was her new bear friend which was calling her. He held four roses in his big paw, by the stem, and was waving them to show Fluttershy he had accomplished his mission.
« Ho... Of course, I'll be right there. » she said, her mind lost.
The small pegasus went back trotting, disturbed, to the brown bear which was still relaxed and friendly. He had fallen for the roses's scent, and seemed to find back his kid bear's soul. Fluttershy smiled at him, and picked up the roses in her maw, gently. But what had she saw ? Was she dreaming awake ? The trees she believed she had seen reminded her of something... Was it something she had saw in a dream ? But she didn't remember having dreamt. The feeling was elusive, hard to hold. The memory itself of what she had just seen seemed to vanish from her memory, to slip off her hooves and get back into the forgotten parts of her mind. The two friends started to walk in order to get back to the woods, to the tree where Fluttershy had settled. She was pensive, thoughtful, and when the glade wholly disappeared from their sight, she forgot everything. As they were peacefully sinking in the woods, to a rose tea which was the promise of an earthly life, pleasant, calm and without adventures, in the sweet clearing decorated with roses, just at its border, the white rabbit was waiting.
Author's Note
Dear readers, as this story has been originally written in french, there may be some mistakes or misuses in that english translation. Don't hesitate to report anything that sound odd or inappropriate.
Enjoy your reading, and tell me what you've felt or thought, I'll be glad to hear your feedback.
If you're hooked by this story, and want to read the next chapter soon, don't be shy : there's already three chapters written, two are just waiting to be translated. I'll be delighted to translate the next ones faster if the English readers want me to.
French version : 3/5 chapters are out
English version : 1/5 chapters is out
To take Angel and to leave (part 1)
At the bottom of a great majestic oak, under the midday sun, a small primrose yellow pegasus, with a long pink mane, was shaking her wings with great effort. A fine bouquet of roses clamped between her teeth, whose petals moved in the wind she was producing, the pegasus was visibly blushing, without being able to reach more than four feet high from the floor. Discouraged, Fluttershy let herself fall back on the ground, on her four hooves. Her legs slipped, emptied of any strenght, letting her breathless, her legs and belly spread on the fresh grass. She sighed. It wasn't the first time she found it difficult to fly.
At first lost under the green shadow of trees, at the beginning of her adventure, she almost had a stiff neck after looking up so many times toward the treetops, searching for a high shelter. A thick shower, darkening the atmosphere, had caught the puny teenager, plunging the forest into a sudden cold. One wing stretched in order to protect her stuff, wrapped in a tied cloth, she miserably dragged her hooves under the heavy rain, her mane wet with mud after sliding on the ground. She was tired, dirty, ashamed, and even the fear of being lost had left her mind, as she was so weary, being able to think of only one thing : getting dry. Drawing her heavy bundle of memories with her teeth, taking care of not spoiling it, she had walked under a soothing shadow, while the grey and damp atmosphere chilled her bones. Without noticing it, she had snuggled against the soft trunk, rough in some spots, the gigantic trunk of the great oak. In this place, a heavy and rather low branch formed some sort of a little protective cathedral. Dizzy by her own fatigue, drunk with having walked for so long, and full of confused thoughts, the small pegasus had fallen asleep, tightening under her wing her precious bundle of belongings. The rustling of rain on the leaves, and its ripple on the ground's shimmering puddles, made a pleasant lullaby, as her body dried, and warmed up, pressed against the cloth package.
The next day, she had discovered that the tree hid a shelter, because the comings and goings of many birds and rodents woke her up. It had taken her almost an hour to flutter from one branch to another, carefully, to the hollow's height. She found then how large was the shelter, its pleasant exposure to the light's rays, and dreamy pictures of a peaceful life in this place invaded her mind. The squirrels and the birds, surprised by the equine's arrival, started to evacuate the hollow, cautious. The pony's appearance was for something in the move, because her mane was terribly tousled, her body was muddy and she had sunken eyes. It looked like the scary and silent face of a ghost. Fluttershy was sorry about frightening the little critters, but she was tired to the point of not being able to talk to them.
And after that, she had to get off again, still from one branch to another, each time on the edge of falling. The teenager made it slightly complicated, trying not to spoil the beautiful green foliage, full of rain and sun. She talked to the big tree along the way. « Ho, you've got very discarded branches M. Oak, it... it's not quite practical. » Talking with M. Oak was more reassuring than thinking about the void under her hooves.
Down after all, the puny pegasus could savor some moments again, the four hooves safely landed on the lawn and the damp soil. And finally, she bravely brought, until the fallen night, each object contained into the bundle, one by one, in order to not take any risk. « Excuse-me M. Oak » she said, « I'm almost done. » The last inhabitants of the hollow had fled away, scared by her unknown smell and the strange look of her belongings. But Fluttershy didn't regret, that night, to have made such an effort, warmly wrapped in her soft blanket, staring at the stars, celestial paper that could only be seen from a tree as big as this oak. « Good night, M. Oak... » Unfortunately, since the few days she spent here, each time she had to climb up and down with many efforts, challenged by her vertigo and her lack of self-confidence. Her coming to earth had made any ascent much more difficult for her than previously. The solid and reassuring ground, spreaded all around the Earth to the horizon, gave her such a feeling of safety, that receding from it beyond four or sixth feet, gave her a striking anguish.
Today, she had met her first true friend since her escape, and the big brown bear was waiting, his black eyes impassively shining, sat on a strain wood coated with moss. She wanted so much, to fly, to simply fly to the shelter, and to come back, as if it was nothing, with the two little pieces of hollow wood, she was using as cups. And she would bring back the small ragdoll rabbit too. And they would have some tea. The roses's petals crushed into fresh water from the stream, would have a sweet taste, almost imperceptible. They would be together, sharing a pleasant moment with each other, admiring the woods beauty, crossed by magical looking sunrays. But nothing was achieved. Her body spread on the ground, Fluttershy let her jaw loosen and the roses bouquet fell, and scattered a little on the floor. She felt like a coward, and a weak. Any pegasus would have spent less than a minute to rise and come down, along the great nut coloured trunk, avoiding the branches covered by jagged leaves, with a pretty green sometimes a bit blue. M. Oak was so tall... The young runaway awkwardly mixed the use of her four hooves to the use of her wings. “I'm just a failed hybridization” she said to herself. “I am like those small hens that earth ponies breed, unable to fly higher than a tree... But... But... Those little hens are so adorable... It's so sad...” Some tiny tears appeared in her eyes, while she was staring at the wide trunk in front of her. She put down her chin on the ground, the grass tickling her mouth. “Fluttershy can't learn to fly ! Fluttershy can't learn to fly !” she thought, while pouting a bit.
« Groar ? » said the brown monster, which had observed his new and strange friend fluttering awkwardly, then slump on the ground. He got up, and the strain wood he was using as a chair, broke up into several pieces, as if it had hold itself only for the time it carried the colossus. He came closer to the puny and afflicted teenager, slowly, sat on his behind right next to her, and put his big clawed paw on the small head covered with pink horsehair. Fluttershy was so affected by this unexpected gesture of concern, that she swallowed a sob, and managed to say, with sadness : « I... I'm sorry... I... I can't get up there. And... And what would I do then... about the tea ? ». Convinced that she had ruined it all, the small pegasus was about to apology more and, with regret, to end that impossible friendship, as she couldn't even have the courtesy to offer a tea to the bear, so kind, who had picked the roses for her.
She was horribly surprised, and terrified, when she felt two big paws firmly seizing her, under her round belly, lifting her lean legs away from the ground, and throwing her with all their strength, high, very high in the air. Confused, she cried out loudly, and saw a lot of branches passing before her eyes, having almost no time to wonder if she will knock her head against one of these. Without realizing it, she started to flutter her wings in order to escape to the gravity's laws which, without any doubt, were going to make her fall back on the ground. She waited, screaming, the inevitable and scary fall, but nothing happened. She stopped screaming. « I'm flying ? » she said with her little mouse voice. « I'm flying ? » she repeated, wondering. « I'm flying ! » she exclaimed, finally convinced. At the bottom of the tree, the bear was quietly waiting, convinced he had done what the small pegasus expected from him, his chest swelled with pride for his brilliant idea, showing a bushy, bristly chest.
But his pride, and his chest, fastly wimped out when he heard coming from above :
« EEEEEEEEEEEKKK ! » Fluttershy just glanced at the bear. He was so low, suddenly so small, he seemed like a little bear cub, a brown spot on the verdant lawn. The soil was quite far from her small hooves dangling in the void. Even if she was moving her wings, the sight of her four hooves hanging, left to the terrible danger of void, almost gave her nausea. She carried out legs's flappings, panicked, as if it would repel the air by her movement's strenght. Her wings flappaing became erratic. She thought for an instant she would fall, but held herself back. She zigzagged from left to right, always coming back to the same area. Trying with all her might to swallow back nausea and vertigo, she caught sight of the round aperture of her shelter, about only one feet higher from her. She got back just enough hope to laboriously flutter, her eyes closed, to a branch near the opening, and finally, she landed her four hooves on the robust and reassuring wood's surface.
Fluttershy sighed with relief. She succeeded. She succeeded ? But yes ! Whatever she had felt – surprise, panic, vertigo, nausea, sensation of fainting – the wood hollow was here in front of her, within easy reach. Her best friend, her patched rabbit was here. The memories of her mom were here. The wood cups were here, too. She could get them, joyfully leave to the brook, with a little trot. She could have a tea with her bear friend, introduce Angel to him. She would not have to ask him to go away. She would not be alone. She didn't fail ! The simple joy that she could offer a rose tea to the ursine, accompagnied by her best plush friend, erased all the hardship she met during her fugue, and Fluttershy even forgot that she would have to get back on the ground by herself. She relished that moment by breathing the hight's fresh air, the almost imperceptible fragrance of oak wood, the soft breeze coming from far countries, the dry and green perfume of jagged leaves... And, of course, there was the sun's sweet caress on her snout. « What a mad idea had the bear » she thought. « But I succeeded ! » At that height there was almost no tree that tall, and nothing stopped the hot rays coming from the yellow disk.
Nevertheless, at this moment, a disturbing shadow passed above Fluttershy. The sudden coolness that passed over her face made her widely open her eyes, toward the sky. Disconcerted, the young runaway teenager had caught the shadow of an aerial squadron. Three Wonderbolts were flying in the sky, their eyes searching something in the forest. One of them shouted « Toward the West ! The screams may come from there. With me ! » And they left her field of view like lightening strikes, leaving beautiful coloured trails. Fluttershy's legs started to shake in a dangerous way. Her heart started to beat hard. Her breath was taken away. Her eyes desperately looked at the airspace. With a high pitched, muffled voice, like a little cry, she whispered : « … no... not this... » A terrifying vision crossed her mind. She saw herself, alone, standing in front of her father, here on the earthly floor, surrounded by a dark forest, standing and then shortly, on her knees, blasted by a condemnatory look, blasted by all these years of restrained emotions, facing that reality she tried to flee. In the deepest depths of heart, she felt herself shrinking, dwarfing, becoming again a little girl, then a baby. She was going to be caught. She was pursued, searched. She was going to be taken and dragged to her father. The eyes lost into the motionless blue of the sky, her pupils smaller than spots, Fluttershy would have liked disappearing. The pressure into her heart was so heavy that she felt she could do it, that she just had to stand here still, to stop moving, living, breathing, and so then... Maybe her spirit would leave that fragile body, letting itself fall into an eternal slumber, forgetting its own existence. She would not have to talk again, to fly again, she would not have any explanation to give, to all those people searching for her, she would not even have any need to shed tears, she would be one of those black and quiet pieces that compose the nocturnal sky, one of those empty and peaceful places that surround the stars...
Her desperate heart having to face the cruelty of these adults, these unknowns, and the irremediable jugdment of her father, she thought : « I'd rather disappear like this than be taken away from this wonderful, beautiful, serene world, full of animals, of kindness, full of... friends. Yes... I'd rather... disappear... » That wave into her chest, rising, huge, inescapable, of fear and despair, flooded the teenager's mind, to the point it turned off for a while, sinking into a saving nothingness. The bear, the fresh new friend which had discovered again, with a few steps, the dreams and feelings of a whole childhood, thanks to the small pony's innocence, worried seeing the pale yellow body motionless at such a height. He lifted up hastily, and called her with growling. Fluttershy dangerously trembled, perched on a branch, her mind paralyzed and her body full of a striking cold, shivery under the effect of tenseness. The bear called her again, waving one of his large paws trying to catch her attention. The small pegasus inwardly sobbed, unable to react, sorry that she couldn't answer that call. Her panicked mind didn't know what to do.
Suddenly, a little bird, like a soft leaf fallen from the sky, gently landed on the pegasus's back. Plump, and happy of living, the bird comfortably settled its small round head over his puffy belly, and whistled merrily. The pegasus heard those little spinning and pleasant notes like an echo. A squirrel climbed on the branch, curious, and came closer to the pony's pale yellow legs, sniffing. Fluttershy felt its light little steps close to her, its movements, its sniffing. Her beautiful sky blue eyes, which had closed, carried into dark thoughts, opened again. Another squirrel arrived, and had fun with the other, running between the teenager's four legs, which yet stopped shaking. The squirrels's lively little steps on the wood made a mild sound. Their chirping was funny. The blue bird was whistling, cheerful of offering its talent to any ear. Downwards, the bear, worried as a family's father, started to hook his paws on the trunk, and to rise his heavy frame to Fluttershy. Surrounded by this joyful and rambunctious life, the small pony slowly stretched her wings, her feathers opened one by one. She felt her heart, for one instant extinct, warming up. She watched with emotion these small critters sprung as message of hopefulness. The squirrels were so adorable, squabbling. The sweet little notes of the blue bird were so gleeful. Other birds, attracted by the small blue sparrow's chant, perched on the many arms of M. Oak, and a genuine concert of harmonious whizing had started. A midget white bird, a foolhardy nestling, landed in Fluttershy's pink horsehair, and settled itself there as in a comfortable nest. A new power arised into the pony's heart, a warm might, and gentle, that made her despair slowly melt down. Again she could feel the sun warming up her face and her body. Tears of joy runned along her cheeks, while other squirrels arrived, ran around, even squeezed through the wood shelter, passing some nuts, acorns. The birds from everywhere fluttered around her, curious. The brown monster, his hair bristly with concern, had reached her hight, and sat on a large branch, underneath the one where Fluttershy stood. He preferred not to hustle the damsel's thin and spindly body. He adressed her with sympathy : « Growwlff mrow ? » he said. And, she heard her friend's voice into her head. She heard it with a remarkable clarity. His voice was low pitched but soft. He was saying : « Is everything alright my friend ? ».
« My friend » said the bear. « I have a friend. » thought Fluttershy. It was like that time, that incredible moment when she could talk to the animals, and understand them beyond sounds. The miracle was happening again. The innocent filly heard what were saying all those animals, behind the squeaks, the whistles, it wasn't a dream ! A smile of happiness drew on the pegasus's face, while she was coming back to life. She remembered why she ran away, and it was for this. For all those wonderful beings that she needed to meet, for the beauty and the gentleness of an open life on the earthly world, the most beautiful place in the universe, the only one where she felt at ease, accepted and embraced by an abundant life. Spinning her head toward the small singer, she fondly rubbed her snout against the blue bird's soft feathering. « Thank you. Thank you everypony ! » she genuinely said. She bent her face toward the squirrels which where wrangling, and gave them a big sweet and tender smile. The wild rodents immediately stopped fighting, and smiled backed at her. The filly looked at the muster of little coloured birds which sprinkled her M. Oak's branches, downward, upward, merrily singing. She started flapping with a fresh lightness and fluttered with the birds, happy and joyful. She finally landed, gently, barely sounding like a windswept flower, right next to the bear. « I thank you for having been worried about me » she said to him. The bear, appeased, answered with kindliness : « What scared you little pony girl ? » Fluttershy, unexpectedly, threw herself against the furry chest, and hugged the bear the best way she could do, with her front hooves, her so small head with the pink mane softly stucked against the brown torso, disappearing into the fur, her eyes closed, a smile drawn on ther face. The brown monster was moved by such a gesture, but, he felt kind of a sadness emanating from the pegasus. He softly tightened his big paws around the child's puny body. She almost couldn't be seen under the heavy, ground coloured arms. He felt like she was going to get away.
The small pegasus pulled away from the embrace, her two front hooves still laid against the bear's torso, so she could better lift her head to see him. Wide blue eyes stared with affection and sadness into the ursine's small black eyes. « I am so sorry my friend. There are people pursuing me, and they must not find me. » She let fall her hooves, moved back more, and sat, facing the bear. He looked so big and so ill-at-ease on that branch, his arms still wide opened on the embrace she had just quitted. The bear's eyes started to shine, slightly wet. « You are going to leave, small pony girl ? » Fluttershy said nothing, but sadly nodded her head. She stared the great brown bear again into the eyes, that so great brown bear which had climbed with all his might here, on the branches, just for her. That crazy bear which had throw her in the air some moments earlier. She thought about him, sniffing the roses with such a innocence, like a child. Her eyes luminous, Fluttershy drew an affectionate smile. « You are my friend. We will meet again, it is certain. And... And I will make you that much talked about tea. » The bear nimbly rubbed his face with his big clawy paw, and turning away from Fluttershy, sad, started going down along the trunk without looking at her. But Fluttershy could hear a whispered, throttled « Goodbye... » . It was too hard for the ursine. He didn't really understand what he felt. He didn't really understand why this small, yellow as a chick and pink as a spring flower creature, had come to him, and why she was now getting away. The afternoon had been like a dream, a dream which was suddenly clearing, as if he had sharply awakened. The bear felt his heart hardening once more. It was a strange sensation, as if he gasped for air. He just wanted to forget the blue and clear eyes that stared at him with such kindness. To forget that he had been for an instant, something more than a lonely and wild creature, wandering on earth without any future and without any past. Arrived at the bottom of the tree, he let himself heavily fall on the ground, breathing a moist and hot air through his nostrils. He briskly left, shaking the ground for a moment with the bearish movement of his bulk, rushing through bushes. Fluttershy, with a heavy heart, watched him leaving. He disappeared into the woods, leaving behind him four crushed roses on the soil, and a sorrowful small filly, perched like an angel on a majestic tree.
In the branches of the great oak, the little birds and the squirrels were now going about their business. Some had left. The squirrels, mostly, were cautiously picking some acorns. One had inintiated to hide its harvest into the big wooden hollow. Fluttershy had fluttered thus far, after a last thought for her friend. It was time to bundle her stuff. There, somewhere in the sky, she was looked for. That wood wasn't a safe place anymore. She had been heard screaming, and who knows if, in one minute, or in one hour, the squadron wasn't going to fly by here again. Somewhere in the world, somewhere else, far... she would find a peaceful place.
The day started to decrease, and the light was tinted with a soft and pleasant orange. The small pegasus pulled out with her teeth, the muddy sheet she had hidden under her bed's straw, and started to put her stuff on it. She unhooked her mother's note, hold by a little wooden splinter into the oak's dry heart. She pushed with her muzzle the small withered flower pot on the sheet. From the straw, she pulled out the two wooden cups too, which were in fact two wood peel's pieces, roughly fixed. She gazed at the two objects, reflecting about what said the bear. « My friend... ». She chased this sad thought out of her mind. From the straw she pulled out anew a small fabric wallet, in which were a needle and the only thread she possessed, on a little wood reel. She got finally her dotted blanket and rolled it up with her best, to make it take less space. On the dirty sheet spreaded on the wood, almost everything was here, ready to be carried away. Fluttershy faced the small pink tool. The light made it look orange, as an old photograph. On it, flabby and crumpled, the little plush was laid there, the head with long ears slightly collapsed. The tissue's luminous white had become beige, or maybe grey, with time. It seemed old too. A black button, the left eye one, was starting to come off a little.
The small pegasus gently seized the plush with her maw and shoved her snout into the rolled blanket, in order to laid there her rag friend. She then positionned it better with her hooves, gently pushing the small piece of tissue between the blanket's folds. And, finally she could end emptying the wooden shelter, by putting the small pink stool on the dirty sheet, placing the petty stuff between its legs, and on the side, the blanket in which Angel was hidden. The sky was still blue, but at the horizon, to the hills, the orange shade was gaining ground. The oblique light made the empty shelter look strange. It was one of those lights that seemed to shelve time, and seize everything into amber. Fluttershy, quietly breathing the evening's air, loaded with the smell of plants, observed one last time that place that had been, for one moment, her home. The wood spreaded far, up to the verdant hills of the distance. The animals were out of doubt joining back their small houses, there, invisible under the trees's leafy crown. And small nocturnal beings, flying, running, would get out of their torpor, enlivening the evening's blue with peculiar, ghostly shrieks. The loneliness and the quietness of that wood, busy with a humdrum life, suddenly seemed so pleasant to her. The squirrel which decided to settle here, continued to come and go with resoluteness, bringing acorns not fully grown yet, stained with a nice lime green, that he piled up in a chosen corner. Fluttershy smiled at the sight of the serious face of the little rodent. Her shelter was in good little hands. The great oak would have again its small friends, rodents and birds. She wouldn't bother it anymore... She pushed her cloth bundle, neatly closed with a knot, to the opening. The teenager looked again at the wide hollow, engraving into her memory the colour of the wood and the drawings that life had marked on it. She greeted the bustling squirrel with a little nod, and whispered with her sof voice, suddenly looking at the wooden peel : « Goodbye M. Oak. Take good care of yourself. » Heckled, the rodent had just enough time to see the pegasus awkwardly draw her package to the exit, with the teeth. The makeshift bundle slipped, not on the close branch, like the pegasus hoped, but its weight drove it into the void.
Author's Note
I have been taken away from the translation (french to english) by my studies recently, and tried my best to still do it, as fast as possible, considering that I had less time to do it and that I still wanted it to be as good as possible.
So, that's why there is Chapter 2 part 1 only.
I hope you can still enjoy the story, though it's slowly released :-)
