PART VI

D was casually making his way towards the center of town, but after a few wrong turns, he somehow managed to wind up in the outskirts of town near a lush green field full of flowers and a few trees. He slowly made his way over to one of the trees and leaned against it.

“What a beautiful place,” he thought to himself. “And the people here are quite nice, perhaps a tad too innocent for my tastes.” He took off his glasses as he slid down the tree and rubbed his eyes. He frowned a bit as he recalled what had happened over at Rarity’s boutique. “It’s just a shame that I’ve already scared those poor girls, that fashionista and her friends. I’m going to have to rectify that problem if I’m ever going to get their help." He looked up and sighed. “Ah Celly, you think you can talk to your student into giving me a chance?” The sky above darkened a bit as a cloud lazily rolled in front of the sun. “Yeah, I didn’t think you would. You never were a big fan of me. At least Discord was fun.” The sky rumbled far off behind some hills as gray clouds were pushed into place by Ponyville’s weather team. He sighed and tossed his glasses off to the side where they landed with a squeak....wait.

Little D looked over at a little white rabbit rubbing it’s head and glaring up at D with intelligent little eyes. “Oh hey man, I’m sorry about that,” said D as he reached over and to get his glasses back. “Lemme just grab those real quick.” The rabbit looked at the glasses and looked back at D. The beast made an evil grin, snatched up the glasses and took off towards a little dirt path. It took a left and hopped as fast as he could down the path towards a small wooded area. “Did I just get robbed by a rabbit?” he asked himself. “I’m pretty sure I just did.” He sighed and got up to his feet. “Well let’s see where this adventure takes me,” he mumbled to himself as he took off down the path after the bunny.

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“Where are you, you fluffy little bastard,” D hissed to himself. He whipped his head left and right as he looked for any sign that the rabbit came through here. “When I get my hands on that rabbit, Luna help me.” He slowed to a stop and took in his surroundings. He was in the middle of a wide dirt road that was surrounded by tall spruce trees. He heard some rustling in the trees above him and when he looked up he saw several crows.

“Hey!” he called to them. “Have any of you seen a little white rabbit run through here recently? The bugger stole my sunglasses,” he pointed to his face for emphasis. One of the birds looked down at him and cocked its head to the side and let out a low croak. It flew up in the air and down the path that D was already going. D nodded to the other birds and jogged down the road to catch up with the other one.

D followed after the crow for a few minutes before he came to a little cottage with a lush green thatch roof, making it look a bit like a tree. Dozens of animals were scampering about and playing with each other while others were crowding someone with long pink hair, a butter yellow sweater, yellow wings, and tan pants.

D spotted the rabbit run up to the girl, the glasses in his paws. D looked up and saw the crow perched up high on a branch. “Hey. Do you think you could help me over there? The animals might not be too fond of my eyes.” The crow looked down at him and squawked in reply. It flew down and landed on his shoulder. “I appreciate this,” said D as he closed his eyes. He began slowly shuffling towards the cottage and, with the crow’s help, squawking every now and then to warn him about loose rocks in the path or weather or not he was staying on track, managed to get there in decent time.

When he stepped onto the cottage owner’s lawn, all sounds came screeching to a halt. He sighed wearily and continued forward, but stumbled a little when he heard someone talk.

“Oh dear, what’s happened to you all?” asked a soft feminine voice. “What has you little guys so scared? Oh, is it going to storm bad, is that it?” she asked hopefully, but no sound came from the animals and as D got nearer, he could have sworn he heard some of the little critters shuffle back. “That’s not it? Is it a,” D practically heard her shudder. “d-dragon? No, something worse?” she asked terrified, earning a few chitters from her animal crowd. “Is it a-a m-m-monster.” D stayed back, not wanting to scare her or the animals any further.

“Well some might say so, but they’ve never given me a fair chance,” said D. He heard a surprised yelp come from the girl and he heard her shuffle a bit. He heard her sigh in relief.

“I’m sorry mister but I thought you were a monster,” she said quietly. D smiled a bit.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” he said with a tiny laugh. “Anyways, I’m here because one of your little rabbits stole my glasses.” The girl he was talking to let out a gasp and she looked down disapprovingly at the rabbit in question.

“Angel, how could you. You know that those don’t belong to you.” She bent down and took the glasses from a scowling rabbit and gave them to Little D. Angel waved his arms angrily but the girl shook her head at him. “I don’t care what he did Angel, we do not steal from people, ever. Besides, I’m sure he didn’t mean to hit you on the head,” she said and handed D his glasses.

“Thank you,” said D as he put his glasses. He opened his eyes and took a good look at the girl in front of him. She was just a few inches shorter than him with long light pink hair that swept down to her thighs, some of it covering the right side of her face. She had an adorable shy look about her and a slight blush in her cheeks. She didn’t seem as regal as Rarity but she still radiated beauty. Not to mention she had a great big pair of...

“Eyes!” Little D blurted out stupidly. “You, uh, have beautiful eyes,” he said, causing them both to blush deeply. “I am so damn smooth,” D thought to himself bitterly. A silent moment passed as he and the girl stood there. Tt was only fitting that the crow on D’s shoulder left in an attempt to leave the awkward situation. Finally, D stuck out his hand stiffly, making the girl flinch back. “Uh, my name’s Little D,” he said as calmly as he could. “what’s yours?”

“It’s, um, Fluttershy,” she mumbled, almost too quietly to be heard. She extended her hand slowly and shook D’s weakly.

“You, uh, have quite the collection of pets Miss Fluttershy,” said Little D in an attempt to start a friendly conversation.

“Oh, these aren’t my pets,” said Fluttershy softly. “These are mostly just critters that people have asked me to watch while they're on vacation, and a few others are ones that the veterinarian in Ponyville have entrusted me to help them heal,” she said as she bent down and scooped up the white thief rabbit. “But Angel here is my special little guy, yes you are,” she cooed as she cuddled the bunny closely to herself. “So is there anything else that I can help you with? That is, you know, if you need any help.”

D was about to decline the offer but some fluttering caught his attention. He turned and saw a great big black bird perched up high in a tree. It looked kind of like a raven, only it was twice the size of one. “What can you tell me about that bird?” he asked as he pointed to the creature in question.

“That’s a rare Giant Raven,” she said. “It’s usually very reserved and shy but very nice.” She turned around and bent over to put Angel on the ground.

“Now ain’t that a sight for sore eyes,” said D. Fluttershy, aware of her position, let out a yelp and turned away from D as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, she lost her balance and toppled over and landed on her rump. She looked up at D to see him, not ogling her, but staring at the bird. “Come on cutie,” he said pleasantly. “Come on down here and say ‘hi’.” He put out his arm and smiled warmly. Without a moment’s hesitation, the bird quickly flew down and landed on D’s arm, where it chirped happily. “What a beautiful singer you are,” he told the bird, making it chirp louder and sweeter. “and such a powerful one too.”

“That’s amazing,” said Fluttershy in awe. “I’ve never seen her act this friendly to anyone before, but to be fair to the raven, I’ve only known her for about a week.” She got up and dusted herself off. “You’re quite good with animals,” she said with a smile.

“You couldn’t be more wrong, miss,” he said as he took a light step towards her, making every animal around suddenly shift backwards. “I’m only good with birds of prey.” As if on cue, several crows and a vulture floated down out of the air and landed in the tree behind D. “I can’t help it, they just like me for some strange reason.” He smiled bashfully.

“Oh that’s nothing to be ashamed of,” said Fluttershy kindly. “Just because they're not as cuddly as other animals, doesn’t mean they’re worth any less than them.” Little D smiled at that.

“Yeah I know, but most people are unnerved when they see a bunch of birds that have been associated with death in one place,” he said simply. He looked at the raven on his arm and smiled. “Does she have a name?” he asked Fluttershy.

She shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid not. She flew into my yard a week ago and perched in that tree and didn’t say anything. She just sat up there and started singing, then she flew off to another tree and went inside a hole in the tree and that was that. She didn’t come out again no matter how much I begged. I left out some food for her everyday and she comes down just long enough to eat, but then she just flies back into her hole.” She sighed. “I just didn’t know what to do with her.”

“I do,” said D with a big smile on his face. “I’ll take her off your hands. If it’s ok with the both of you, that is.” The Raven chirped happily and ran up D’s arm to nuzzle his face.

“How could I say no to that,” giggled Fluttershy. “Oh, but she still needs a name.” Little D smiled broadly.

“I have just the name,” he said. He took the bird in both hands and held her up above his head. “From this moment on, you will be known as Terra the Strong.” Terra chirped happily at that. “Yes, you like that name don’t you?” cooed little D, earning another happy tweet from his new pet. “Well come on girl, get comfortable, I have some friends I want to show you off to.” He turned to Fluttershy and smiled at her. “Thank you Miss Fluttershy. It’s been an absolute pleasure meeting you and I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”

“It was nice meeting you too. Oh, you can just call me Fluttershy, that is, if you want to, of course,” she said with a smile. “Take care of Terra. Make sure she gets plenty of sleep, and make sure you feed her twice a day, and make sure she’s been preening her wings, and-” Little D raised his hand and smiled.

“I think I can take care of things from here Fluttershy,” he said politely as Terra shuffled her way up to his shoulder. He started walking backwards out of the yard. “See ya later Fluttershy,” he said, then he turned around and walked back towards town. Fluttershy watched him go for a few more minutes before she felt something tug at her pant leg. She looked down and saw Angel looking up at her urgently.

he seemed to say.

“Yes I do Angel, a very nice young man who happens to be good with birds.” she said with a smile as she walked into her cottage. “Don’t stay out too long, it’ll rain soon and I just hate it if you caught a cold.” He sat outside for a bit longer watching the weather team push the last few clouds into place.

the wind whipped his ears behind him.

“Angel!” called Fluttershy from an open window. “Your dinner is ready.”

he turned around and hopped inside.

Author's Note

Get it? A Raven Named Terra? Man I'm clever!