The shaded guardian

Fluttershy stood off the couch and made her way over to the door. She was rather perplexed by the presence of somepony showing up to her home, she hadn't scheduled anything today. She trotted up to the front door as another few forceful knocks rang out, it seemed the pony who was there was pretty impatient.

Fluttershy then unlocked the door and pulled it open, her curiosity masked by her timid personality as she peeked out from behind the door.

There in the doorway stood her good friend Rainbow Dash, The rainbow maned and notoriously brash pegasus, whom she'd had so much history with. Fluttershy's timid attitude seemed to change drastically, opening the door full and and smiling at the young mare that stood before her "Oh, hello Rainbow Dash" She said rather cheerfully, her demeanor very relaxed and calm.

Rainbow Dash turn to her and her half smirk, half smile appeared on her face, looking towards Fluttershy "Heya, Flutters, mind if I come in?" She asked curiously, yet she'd already know the answer, it wasn't like the element of kindness wouldn't reject her request, she never did. Fluttershy's head nodded as her smile grew brighter. She moved her body out of the way so that Rainbow Dash could enter.

Rainbow then entered, looking to Fluttershy with her same smile she had so famously bore throughout the times they had seen each other.  She passed Fluttershy and noticed, out of the corner of her eye, the animals feeding on their morning meal, most of them salivating and taking in as much food as they could. Fluttershy then shut the door, yet not before a strong breeze had rolled past her face, her mane whipping back and her eyes closing.

The gust was enough to stop her from shutting the door, the air was cold and bracing. The gust soon stopped and Fluttershy's natural reaction was to look back outside at where such a breeze would come from. All she could see was the Everfree forest far in the distance, the darkened trees seemingly staring over across the way from her.

Fluttershy seemed to zone out a little as she stared at them back, blank expressions upon her face. "Many, they really are hungry aren't they? Did you forget a feeding or something?" Rainbow said jokingly, expecting Fluttershy to turn around and immediately correct her, that she had been feeding them properly.

The rainbow maned pegasus was surprised when she didn't hear the timid mare's voice, an almost concerned look upon her face as she waited for her response. She quickly turned around to face Fluttershy, all she was doing was staring out at the Everfree forest, as if she had been put in a trance and couldn't looked away.

"Fluttershy?..." Rainbow spoke with concerned, taking small hoofsteps towards the mare. Her calls got even louder and more worrisome as she got closer, Fluttershy's eyes wide open and barren of any feeling. Rainbow Dash couldn't believe what she was seeing, Fluttershy was never this zoned out, never so nonobservant.

She called out loudly as she finally got close to her, at this point very worried, only her face didn't show it, she never showed emotion often, yet you could hear it in her voice. "Fluttershy!" She called out, Fluttershy's eyes blinked once before she finally stop staring at the grove, quickly jolting her head towards Rainbow Dash "O-Oh.. I-I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash..." She said quieter than usual, hanging her head in disappointment as she spoke.

She didn't like knowing she did something wrong, especially in the presence of one of her best friends. Rainbow Dash kept her tone, yet it was hushed a little as she knew Fluttershy was a very sensitive pony. "What was that all about?" She said with a tilting of her head.

Fluttershy shook her head, only looking up at her from the corner of her eyes "I-I..... D-Don't know...." She replied. Rainbow Dash then stared out the door to the same forest Fluttershy had just moments ago, narrowing her eyes in curiosity. She didn't know what was so enthralling to Fluttershy, what was so appealing about the forest. She took a step back and shut the door, locking it as she did.

Fluttershy shook off her upsetness and moved her head up, looking over at Rainbow Dash and speaking slightly louder, to let her know she was better "A-Anyway." She spoke in her louder tone, a smile crossing her face once again "What did you want to talk to me about?" Fluttershy said as she trotted over to the couch she had been laying on previously, looking up at Rainbow with her bright cyan eyes.

Rainbow Dash turned away from the door and trotted over to Fluttershy, her trademark smirk reappearing as she spoke "Well, I wanted to pick up Tank, I knew he wasn't feeling so good earlier in the week".

Fluttershy's smile grew even wider at her statement, springing up and looking at Rainbow "Oh yes, Tank is feeling much better now, just a little flu" She said giggling at the simplicity of what his problem was. She motioned to her right and steeped towards the direction she point at.

"Come on, he's out back" She said before beginning to trot towards the back door. Rainbow replied "Great." She too began trotting to the back door.

Fluttershy soon opened the back door as she reached it, trotting out as the sun shine bright down on them. It was a gorgeous day to say the least, everything seemed to be prefect, not even a cloud in the sky. The pegasi in Cloudsdale really out did themselves with this day, Fluttershy feeling the warm sunlight on her pale yellow coat. Fluttershy's smile grew even larger as she embraced the sunlight.

Rainbow Dash didn't necessarily react to the nice day, she simply shrugged it off, she was used to different variations of weather. Fluttershy made her way over to a certain corner of her home, under the small bridge in the front of her home where many aquatic and semi-aquatic creatures resided.

Under the bridge was a larger shelled turtle, curled up inside his shell on the bank of the stream. Rainbow gave a larger smirk, immediately recognizing the shell of her beloved pet turtle. Rainbow then swooped over and took the turtle by the shell, hoisting him up in the air and calling out at him "Wakey wackey, Tank!" She said teasing the turtle.

The turtle then slowly popped his head out, looking over at the light blue pegasus with an agitated grimace. Rainbow couldn't help but laugh, setting him down on the ground and chuckling a little as she leaned down towards him to tease him more. They had developed a relationship where they could tease each other and know that the other was simply joking and pushing their buttons. "Awww, did someone not get their beauty sleep?" She said with a wink.

The turtle then grew his own little smirk as he stretched his neck out and spurted some water he was drinking straight into her face, dampening her mane and coat. Tank looked up to her with a teasing and accomplished smile, satisfied with the way he got her back.

Rainbow's mane hung over her face, wetting and sopping, only an aggravated grimace on her face before she spoke in a less than ecstatic tone "Yeah.... I missed you too...." Fluttershy at that point was silently giggling to herself, the moment shared between them was pretty funny to her.

Rainbow shook out her mane with quick motions of her head, her mane going back to its original state. Rainbow seemed to break out of her funk and smiled over at Fluttershy "So, where'd you put his harness?"

She was referring to the large harness that Tank wore that enabled him to fly around as Rainbow did, Twilight's own invention. Fluttershy responded with an "Oh! it's just inside, I'll go and grab it for you." She said as she turned around and trotted back over to the cottage.

As she trotted, she looked over and saw the forest once more, another breeze, a lighter one, whipped through her mane. The forest seemed to call out to her, beckoning her to approach. Fluttershy clenched her eyes tight and shook her head, knowing she couldn't look anymore.

She trotted inside and retrieved the apparatus Tank wore, trotting back over to Rainbow and Tank who were both smiling at each other, obviously made up with each other.

Fluttershy hooved over the harness to Rainbow, Rainbow nodding her head "Thanks, Fluttershy" She said as she knelt down to Tank, hooking up the apparatus around him. "You're very welcome" Fluttershy said as she watched Rainbow put the harness over Tank.

Soon she was finished and pressed a big red button on the top of the harness, the machine quickly rotating a blade with rustled the ground under the turtle. It soon began to lift Tank off the ground, bot him and Rainbow smiling as they looked to Fluttershy. "Thanks for taking care of him Fluttershy, we should get together sometime"

Fluttershy nodded her head quickly looking over to her, speaking with delight in her voice "Absolutely, I'd love that" Rainbow nodded before leaping up into the air and smiling down at her, Tank hovering along with her.

"Well, me and Tank have some training to do, seeya later Fluttershy" and with that, Rainbow took off into the sky, a huge gust of air shooting past Fluttershy, blowing her mane and tail back. She creaked her eyes open to look at her, despite the wind still blowing. She waved at the both of them departing her, waving her hoof "G-Goodbye..."

After the two of them were gone, she smiled and began to trot over towards her home, Angel looking up at her. She looked down at the white rabbit, still smiling at him "So Angel, what did you want to do today?" Angel responded with a pointing towards the large clearing behind her home.

Fluttershy looked back to the clearing, turning back to Angel with a curious smile "What's back there, Angel bunny?" Angel responded as he stood on his four legs and puffed his chest out and raised his head up. Fluttershy immediately recognized the sight, a bright smile and an exuberant tone in her voice "Oh! The herd of deer from the forest are grazing here today aren't they?!"

Angel quickly nodded his head before hopping over onto her back. Fluttershy nodded her head and began trotting over to the back of the house, a smile on her face. "I remember that they were grazing on this side of the forest today now, oh this will be so much fun, I haven't seen them in so long" She quickly trotted around to the back of her home as, as Angel said there was, a large herd of deer were grazing.

Fluttershy slowed her progression, moving slowly and cautiously towards the large herd. She made her way up to the first deer, cautiously looking over to him. The deer spotted her, taking a step back from her, not immediately recognizing her.

Fluttershy gave the large, antlered buck a smile, sweet and kind, gentle and compassionate, not showing him any hostility. The deer calmed himself down a little, feeling she was not a threat and returned to his grazing. Fluttershy walked up to him, gently rubbing his brown coat and speaking softly "That's a good boy, I'm not hear to hurt you.

She walked a little further into the herd as the same response was given by the deer. After they saw she was not a harmful creature, they simply kept grazing, Fluttershy nodding her head and looking to them all. She felt comfortable around all of them, them becoming accustomed to having the gentle mare around them.

She simply watched them, their elegance and poise like nothing of the other animals in the forest. One of the fawns, just slightly smaller than her trotted over to her in shear curiosity, a little skittish around her. After he looked her over, he knew she was kind and went closer to her, nuzzling her side a little.

Fluttershy smiled warmly and returned the nuzzled, soon most of the other fawns, as well as their mothers, gathered around her. It was a very tranquil seen to witness, as well as to watch the calm silence of the pasture.... Far off, into the forest which was only a few yards away from them, something else was watching the scene unfold... more like somethings...