The day after Germanica’s flashback, in the plains outside the Everfree Forest…
Germanica had been walking in the plains for a few hours, and had her eyes on the mountain range further in the distance. “I don’t think I’ve been there before. It sure looks quiet.” Germanica paused for a moment. She needed to think about whether these mountains were where she really wanted to go. It was part of her lifestyle; as if she wanted to make sure she avoided contact with the rest of ponykind, she needed to be sure her destinations didn’t play host to any settlements. Staring intensely at the mountains, Germanica cast a vision-focus spell, which while active, sharpened her eyesight dramatically, almost to the point where she might as well have been looking through a telescope. “I can’t see any buildings there. Rocks, trees, snow. But no buildings. Good, I can head there. It looks interesting, and it is big. I think I could spend a few days there.” Smiling and confident, Germanica trotted off towards the mountains. The journey was going to be long, the plains were huge. By the time she made it, she thought, it would be long past sundown.
A few minutes after deciding the mountains were uninhabited, Germanica saw an opportunity to gather some apples from one of the trees in this plain. “They look nice. Delicious and…” She sighed. Not again. She cast a spell on some big, round fruits, using her energy to pull off the apples near the top of the tree. She wanted to leave the ones nearer the ground for others without magic, so they could still reach some food if they needed it.
While doing this, she heard something rather… unexpected. A loud rustling could be heard in the bushes. Then, a mysterious voice began to speak. “Psst… psst… wh… where are y… you?” The voice that spoke this was rather quiet, clearly female, stuttering with no confidence. Germanica, shocked at the prospect of being so potentially close to what she believed could only be a pony, was left speechless. Speechless, but not thoughtless. Surely… no, it can’t be? Not out here, in such a remote place. She’s not talking to me, is she? The voice spoke again, with the same lack of confidence, “Wh… where are you? Angel?” Germanica was only able to think in astonishment. Why? Why would anypony else be out here? There’s nothing for them. Besides, how could they get out here? That would require passing through Everfree. Unless they live in Ponyville, I guess. I thought everypony else feared the place with all their hearts. And who’s this Angel?
As Germanica was listening to this voice and the rustling, she had remained completely frozen and silent. She had yet to see the source of this voice, and, she presumed, the voice was yet to see her. After another couple of minutes, Germanica, fear and uncertainty flowing through her veins, barked at the voice with a stern order. “Show yourself! Who are you? Where are you?”
At first, nothing much happened, except for a small whimper. The voice did not even reply with more words. But then, it asked Germanica “You’re not going to hurt me, are you?” Germanica, not really familiar with proper manners when talking, said “Only if you show yourself now! I don’t like this; I want to see your face now!” She was about to use her magic to throw a rock at the bushes when a patch of soft pink and yellow that didn’t match the foliage rose from inside a bush near the base of the apple tree. A sudden jolt moved through Germanica’s body, sending her backwards several paces. A… anoth… another pony?
Germanica’s shock quickly turned to fear, and fear into defence. It had been so long, so many years since she last had a close encounter with another of her kind like this, she simply didn’t know how to approach the mysterious character. Certainly though, she did not speak for a while in this first visual encounter. The reality of being in such close contact with another of her kind was too much for this unicorn to comprehend after so many years alone. What does she want? I was just here to pick some apples. Why can’t she mind her own business! A scowl took over Germanica’s face, along with a light purple glow engulfing her horn, aiming to strike fear into the heart of the mysterious mare. It certainly worked. The mare jolted backwards, unfurling her wings with fear. Interestingly, she didn’t go so far as to take flight. A pegasus! Germanica looked in awe at those feathered limbs shoot out from this mares’ body. Well, this day just gets weirder and weirder. Of all the races in Equestria, why would a pegasus be out here on her own? Surely she should be up in the clouds, doing whatever it is that they do. The pegasus, clearly frightened by the threatening behaviour Germanica was displaying, started to wail and cry.
Germanica asked herself many things. What does this pegasus want? All I was doing was minding my own business! Is it too much to ask of the world to let me live a secluded and isolated life? Suddenly, the yellow pegasus began to speak, with much hesitation behind her voice. “I… I was… was looking for my pet, Angel. And my…” The mare’s explanation of her presence was cut short by a sudden comment by Germanica. The mention of an animal in need seemed to give the unicorn a boost of confidence. “Looking for a pet? What does it look like? What kind of animal is it? Why are you keeping yourself so quiet?” The pegasus replied, this time being given a chance to explain herself without interruption. “I’m sorry. It’s just that, I had to keep myself quiet, so I didn’t scare Angel. He’s only a poor little bunny rabbit, you see. You want to know my name? It’s Fluttershy. My name is Fluttershy. I have been looking for Angel for a few hours now. He hopped away from my home, and I’ve been ever so worried about his safety. I mean, if he went deep into the Everfree Forest…”
Germanica looked at Fluttershy. Her eyes started to lose some of the tension they had built up when Fluttershy first appeared, though they never lost contact with the pegasus. That scowl started to dissipate. Upon hearing the words Everfree Forest, she even managed a slight smile. “The Everfree Forest, you say?” Fluttershy nodded in agreement. “Well, I have been living in that forest for the past few days. In fact, since I was about six, I have been living there for at least half my life. You speak of worry about entering that woodland. I can tell you that you have no reason to fear for your pet. I know that place like the back of my hoof, and I know when something enters it. Or at least, I know when I need to. I seem to have some kind of connection to that place.” The two fell silent for a few minutes. Fluttershy looked shocked. A pony that has spent half of her life in the Everfree Forest? Surely that’s impossible! That forest is a place that is segregated from the activities of ponykind. A place where terrifying monsters live, monsters that would surely kill anypony that was unfortunate enough to stray in their paths! And if it is segregated, how does a pony have a connection to that place?
“Since you were only six? How? How did you survive?” Fluttershy asked Germanica, puzzled at the notion of a lone, socially awkward, seemingly even more so than herself, pony living so long without any contact from the rest of her kind. “Because I am one with that mighty forest. But that’s not important now. What’s important is that we find your rabbit.” Fluttershy looked stumped. Connection? One with the forest? What is this unicorn talking about?
“Fluttershy, I will tell you more. But that will have to wait. First, we must find this little rabbit. Such a small creature shouldn’t be running around alone out here.” Germanica was finally able to put down her defences. Physically, anyway. Relaxed, the Unicorn sat down and relaxed herself. Despite this though, she was never at ease in her mind. The moment this pegasus starts any funny business… Germanica never once lost eye contact with Fluttershy. She was still unsure how to act, this was the first time she had talked to somepony else in a few years, after all.
Still in confusion, Fluttershy agreed with Germanica’s request that they look for Angel first. “Yes… well… I… I think he would have tried to find a quiet tree to hide near. He does that when she gets lost. I would assume it’s because we live in a cottage built out of a tree, on the very outskirts of the Everfree Forest.” Germanica was now the puzzled one, and couldn't help but ask “A tree? You live in a tree?” Fluttershy managed to smile at this, and with a light chuckle said “Oh yes. It’s quite nice and warm inside. Anyway, shouldn’t we be looking for Angel now?” Suddenly, Germanica went quiet again, not saying a word to this Fluttershy had just spoken. She just nodded in agreement.
“Why don’t we…” Fluttershy was interrupted by seeing what Germanica was doing. The unicorn had sat down on the ground, eyes shut, and another purple glow had appeared around her horn. Out of nowhere, a light wind started to blow through the trees, through the bushes, through the flowers. This wind did not feel entirely natural, however. The clouds in the sky hadn't changed in movement and the air was still warm. Looking at the strange activity this odd unicorn was doing, Fluttershy could only think in wonder. Is she making that wind blow the way it is? How is that possible? Fluttershy then noticed Germanica’s left hoof, which had moved outwards, like she was trying to point something out. The pegasus turned to face the same direction as Germanica’s hoof and saw something that left her in absolute awe. There, at the base of a tree trunk, the bushes surrounding it had their foliage pushed to one side, almost as if some invisible being was holding them in that way. Behind this foliage, a small white rabbit was revealed. “How… did you do that? How did you know Angel was there?” Fluttershy asked in astonishment as she went to pick up Angel. Germanica opened her eyes, and looking at Fluttershy, merely said “How I did it? With love. As for knowing where Angel was, well I didn’t.”
“Love?” Fluttershy asked. “What exactly do you mean by love?” Germanica sighed, but didn’t answer this. This is why I try so hard to avoid the rest of ponykind. They just don’t understand. Not even one who clearly loves nature almost as much as me. Despite these thoughts, it was slowly becoming clear to Germanica that in many ways, Fluttershy held many similar traits to herself. They were both quite quiet. They both loved nature. They both spent a lot of time in the Everfree Forest or near it at least. Perhaps that was why Germanica was able to talk to Fluttershy. But the unicorn wasn’t so sure about talking to anypony else. I’m sure the fact that this Fluttershy is somewhat similar to me in some ways is mere coincidence. A coincidence that does let me talk to her, perhaps, but she must be the only pony this quiet, aside from myself.
“Right now, you wouldn’t understand. It’s complicated.” Germanica explained to Fluttershy. Fluttershy then decided it might be worth trying to keep Germanica around for a little longer. “Germanica. May I ask you something?” Germanica nodded. “Could I interest you in coming to my home for a while? I have some food there. I suppose it might be worth it just get some fuel for wherever it is you might be going.” Of course, Fluttershy had an ulterior motive for asking Germanica this. Her mind was filled with many thoughts as a result of this encounter, but none were more prominent than this; I want to know more about her magic. How did she do that to the wind and the plants?
After a small moment of thought, Germanica said “OK. But only for a couple of hours. I really must set off after that.” Fluttershy sighed. It wasn’t often that she was able to meet somepony just as shy as she was, so understandably she was disappointed at the prospect of only having a few hours to find out more about this mysterious, quiet stranger. “Will you have dinner with me?” Fluttershy asked. In agreement, Germanica had some conditions to be sure off. “I shall, as long as it doesn’t take long to prepare. I will have to go onwards in a few hours. Those mountains will become dangerous to climb at night, so I want to get there while there is still some daylight.” Fluttershy let out another sigh. Why would anypony want to go to the mountains? There’s nothing there to interest ponykind. She looked at Germanica, telling her that “It won’t take long at all. C’mon, it’s not far from here.”
So the two set off for Fluttershy’s cottage, with Germanica making sure there was always a bit of distance between the two. Along their walk there though, Fluttershy was not able to stop thinking about that magic she witnessed Germanica perform. I doubt even Twilight would be able to communicate with the elements like this pony just did.