//------------------------------//
// Confrontation and Exploration 
// Story: Newfound Families 
// by SabreSpark 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy took several steps back, fear driving her as she tried to get away from the snake who merely slithered closer. Fluttershy backed up as far as she could before her back was against the wall. "P-please s-stay back," she pleaded as she closed her eyes. After a few seconds of nothing happening, she opened her eyes to see that the snake had stopped. But something was different. Where he once had a happy expression, he now wore a look of pure sorrow. His head was downcast and his eyes betrayed pain and sadness.

Fluttershy, her fear momentarily forgotten, looked upon the snake with pity. She feared that she had somehow hurt the poor thing. 'Oh dear,' she thought to herself, 'the poor thing looks like it's on the verge of tears and it's all because of me.' The more she observed the snake, the more she knew she had to do something. Her motherly concern took over as she approached the downcast serpent. With a gentle voice she asked, "Are you okay little one? Please don't be sad, I didn't mean to upset you. I was just startled, that's all."

The snake looked up to see Fluttershy with a concerned look. Her words alleviated his worries and brought a small smile back on his face.

Fluttershy responded with smile of her own. She loved nothing more than to see all animals happy, and this snake was no different. Said snake was once again slithering towards her, but this time she did not back away. He rubbed his head affectionately on her leg. "You really think I'm your mother don't you," Fluttershy asked. He stopped what he was doing and looked directly into her cerulean eyes. 

"Mother," he confirmed with a nod.

Fluttershy was both excited and shocked to hear this. Sure she had taken care of many animals and befriended many of them, but this was something entirely different. 'Oh what should I do,' she asked herself. 'I can't just leave the poor thing to fend for itself, especially when I don't know where his parents are but I just don't know if I could properly take care of him like his real mother could.' She looked as he proceeded to slither around her home. 'Look at him, he looks so happy.' In that instant, She knew what she had to do.

She walked over and the snake stopped what he was doing to watch. She calmly asked, "Would you like to stay here little one," she asked. He responded with an enthusiastic nod and started slithering in a figure eight. A sign of happiness maybe?

Fluttershy giggled at his antics. "You certainly seem happy. I'm glad." She watched as he continued. "You also slither around in the most interesting of ways."

The snake perked up at the mention of slithering and tried to repeat it. "Slith..Slith…Slithe.." He tried again, "Slithe….Sithe." He frowned in disappointment.

"That's okay little one," Fluttershy said, "It was a good try. I'm sure you'll get it eventually." Then she thought of something that hadn't occurred to her-he had no name. She asked, "little one, I just realized that you don't have a name. Do you know what you want it to be?"

He pondered this for a moment. At first he was uncertain, but one name stood out to him immediately. "Slithe," he answered with certainty. He couldn't explain why, but the name just felt right.

Fluttershy was thinking much the same thing. "That's a lovely name," she expressed, "I'm Fluttershy."

"Fluttershy," Slithe repeated. She smiled warmly before she remembered about Zeviathan and how she had resolved to speak with his pack about their behavior towards him. "Okay Slithe, there's something I need to do and I want you to stay here. Can you do that?" He responded with a nod and watched as Fluttershy walked outside and closed the door behind her.

Fluttershy soon found herself at the entrance to the Everfree Forest. She knew she needed to enter but it was hard to bring herself to do it. It just wasn't natural how things worked in that forest. Despite having ventured there in the past, she was still terrified of the place, and that lingering fear kept her from taking the first step.

Then her thoughts drifted back to the injured wolf in her home. That was definitely not an accident. When she had examined Zeviathan and felt the sharp pain in her mind, she also glimpsed fragmented memories that were not her own. They had to belong to Zeviathan because she could see how he was turned on and attacked by his pack. At first she had pushed these memories aside, focusing all her attention on helping soothe his injuries. Now that he was stable, she was going to have a few words with his pack. She had to find out why this happened.

With renewed determination, Fluttershy plunged into the darkness of the forest. A while later she found herself in an unfamiliar clearing. The atmosphere was far from welcoming. A sense of danger hung in the air. A breeze picked up and left Fluttershy shaking from the cold blast of air. With it came a drawn out howl and the appearance of several wolves who appeared almost out of thin air. They were followed by another who walked slowly out of the shadows. Fluttershy gasped as she recognized this particular wolf as the one that had attacked Zeviathan. Same pitch black fur, same aggressive aura, same challenging eyes.

The wolf stopped three feet in front of Fluttershy then asked, "Why have you trespassed onto our territory outsider?"

Fluttershy, intimidated by the beast in front of her, quietly stammered, "W-well I-I came here t-to…to…." She trailed off.

"I do not take kindly to trespassers upon my home and I am rapidly losing my patience." He warned, "Now, speak your reason for your intrusion or I will run you out of here myself."

Fluttershy spoke slightly louder but continued to stutter "I-I recently f-found an injured wolf a-and took h-him back to m-my home to he-help him."

"Did this wolf happen to have a blue striped muzzle?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"I see. You found my worthless son. Though why you decided to take care of him is beyond me; he is unfit to live."

"Wh-what?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "H-he's your s-son and y-you at-attacked him?"

The wolf snarled, "He is no longer my son and he deserved what he got."

The kind-hearted mare could not believe what she was hearing. “But…how can you say that? Don’t you care at all?” 

Noctis scoffed. “There’s nothing to care for. He proved himself to be no more than a nuisance, an annoyance that’s better off dead!” He spoke the final word with finality; there was nothing more. 

Fluttershy felt the anger build. She could hold back no longer and let it all burst forth. "How could you!? Zeviathan nearly died because of you! I don't care what your reasons are there is absolutely no excuse for this. Your own so-No, not your son; he's too good to be your son. Y-you are the most despicable, most infuriating…most…most…mean-hearted  animal I have ever dealt with. You should be ashamed of what you have done!" 

Noctis was unfazed. "I do not care what you think of me or what I have done; I don't need your approval. I will lead as I see fit." He glared at her. "Now leave and never return!" He walked back into the forest along with the others. He stopped and delivered one final warning before disappearing from view. “Don’t ever let me see you here again or there will be…consequences.”

Fluttershy stood where she was, still furious with that wolf's behavior. She took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. When she had cooled down she turned and headed home, thinking about what would become of Zeviathan.

With Slithe...

Soon after Fluttershy left Slithe grew restless. He looked around the cottage, everywhere was something new for him to investigate, something new for him to explore. But there was something his gaze rested on that drew his attention the most, the window and the world beyond. That was what he decided to explore. 

He looked around for someway to get out, only to see a hole in the wall of the cottage. When he got closer Slithe saw that it was just big enough for him to squeeze through. Slithe, after he finally made it out, looked around the vast expanse of the meadow. As he took stock of the new area, a high-pitched noise caught his attention. Looking up Slithe saw a rainbow streak zooming across the sky, off and away. 

Following the stream of colors, Slithe soon arrived at a busy looking town. Keeping between buildings, Slithe saw something new everywhere he looked, each new place spurring him to explore further. Eventually he came to a tall, circular building with ornate designs covering every inch. Fascinated, Slithe made his way to an open side window and, using his body like a spring, went straight through the opening. 

The first thing that caught Slithe's attention was the platform towards the center, but just as he reached it voices sounded from another room. Thinking quickly, Slithe dove into a nearby pile of loose fabrics. "Applejack, I beg you, just let me fix the stitching. You won't be able to see a single difference." 

"Rarity, ah've told ya before and ah'll tell ya again, mah saddlebag is just fine." 

Slithe just stayed hidden in the fabric, watching the two new mares and rolling the new words around in his head. "Fine, but at least, AAAHHHH! A SNAKE! FILTHY CREATURE!" shouted the one called Rarity. Slithe hadn't even noticed the fabrics lift up and away, revealing him entirely. Slithe looked at the two mares, Rarity was backing away with fear while the one called Applejack cautiously approached him. 

"Hey there now lil' critter, you just stay right there..." she said calmly. Slithe looked around for someway out, but the only way was through the same window he entered, now blocked by the orange mare. Finally coming to a decision, Slithe took a a breath, looked her in the eyes and said "Critter." That seemed to do the trick as both Applejack and Rarity stopped what they were doing and looked at him, shocked. 

Seizing his chance Slithe bolted under Applejack, leapt out the window, and fled the building with the two mares now in pursuit. He frantically searched for another place to hide, the closest thing being a place made of sweet looking stuff. As he reached the open door Slithe looked back to see a rainbow-maned pegasus chasing him as well. So without a thought Slithe went inside to hide. 

Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash sped into the Sugarcube Corner and started frantically searching for that white snake "Hey girls, what's wrong?" asked Twilight, who was just enjoying a cupcake before the dramatic entrance. 

"Rarity and I were talkin' when we found a snake in her shop. When ah' tried to catch the varmit it went and got away. We chased it all the way here and now we can't find it!" Applejack explained as she shook her head in disbelief. 

"Well I haven't seen it here, you could ask Pinkie but she's..." At this point she was interrupted by a loud "Eeep!" followed by a frantic Pinkie Pie jumping from the kitchen yelling "Run for your lives! There's a giant snake!" as she seemed to run in mid-air. 

Twilight used her magic to bring Pinkie to the ground and keep her from running away, "Snakes don't normally come into places like this. Come on girls, I want to get a better look at this snake,." she said, calmly walking into the bakery's kitchen. 

Slithe was now very frightened, and taken completely by surprise by the loud pink mare hadn't helped his dilemma. He could hear them talking in the next room, no doubt about him. He looked about for another way out, only to find himself in yet another dead end. He looked at the doorway in time to see the mares from before plus the pink one and now a lavender colored one as well. Seeing them enter, Slithe dove behind a nearby counter with his heart racing. 

The one called Applejack spoke first, "There's the darned critter, hidin' behind the counter." she said taking a step forward. 

The lavender mare stopped her "Applejack, wait. Let me try a stun spell on it." With that the horn on her head started to glow. Slithe peaked around the corner of his cover and watched in awe as a purple aura surrounded the horn and a wave of it washed over him. Slithe didn't know why, but he suddenly found it harder to think and move, much to the surprise of the lavender mare. 

"What?!" she exclaimed with surprise "How is it even still up after that? That particular spell will normally put a full grown manticore out for hours!" The mare looked to her companions for an answer but found none. 

"Ah just don't know Twilight, but that ain't a normal snake ah'll tell ya that..."Applejack replied, just as confused as her unicorn friend.

The mare Twilight slowly made her way towards him, even as Slithe backed away and the room became slightly fuzzy. Twilight just eyed him curiously, looking him over. Seeing a similar answer to a similar problem as before, Slithe did his best to look at Twilight as she kept getting closer. When she was almost right in front of him Slithe reared up his head to be on level with her, to her continuing surprise, and said "Ssstunn." 

Twilight was taken aback by his speech, nearly falling backwards in surprise as the blue flying pegasus's eyes bulged. Twilight gathered enough of her wits to speak "It can speak?!" she exclaimed, turning to the group. "You didn't tell me it could speak!" seizing his chance, Slithe managed to stumble away as the mares started arguing amongst themselves. 

Slithe now found it increasingly harder to focus as he started to see doubles of everything around him. Fleeing through the middle of the town he ran into dozens of different ponies and sent them running, terrified. As he stumbled into street venders and their stalls, Slithe took a quick glance around to try and gather his dulled senses. Turning his head around he quickly ducked out of the way of a speeding blur of rainbow headed straight for him. 
With no need for any more encouragement, Slithe took off once again towards his home. Dodging frightened ponies, stalls, and other debris, Slithe eventually made it back to the meadow he first saw upon leaving on his adventure. He thankfully saw his mother just opening the door and despite his further increased dizziness, rushed past her and inside. 

"Slithe?! What were doing outside?" asked Fluttershy, motherly concern breaking through. 

Slithe didn't answer her--he was too terrified to do so--and quickly slid up onto an exposed beam protruding from the ceiling to hide. Fluttershy just looked up at him, "Slithe? What's wrong?" she asked. Fluttershy jumped in surprise as the door slammed open as the rest of the girls rushed in. 

"Fluttershy, are you alright? We saw a white snake we've been chasing run in here, it might be dangerous." Twilight asked with concern as she started looking around. 

"Well, umm, I'm fine. Thank you for asking." she answered quietly, trying to keep them all from noticing Slithe. But Rarity, not wanting to get too disheveled, stood off to the side underneath the very beam Slithe was on. Just as Rarity stopped right under it Slithe started to sway from side to side, suddenly dropping from the beam onto Rarity who let out a scream of fright. 

"AH! Somepony help me! This foul creature is ruining my mane!" she shrieked. Before the others could get to him, and with some slightly surprising speed, Fluttershy lifted the now unconscious Slithe off of her friend and cradled him in her forelegs like a foal. 

"Fluttershy, what are you doing?! That snake is dangerous!" Twilight exclaimed as she took a step forward, only for Fluttershy to move back. 

"It's okay Twilight, he isn't dangerous, just curious," responded Fluttershy "Girls, I'd like you all to meet Slithe." They all took a look at the sleeping serpent, who now only emitted a quiet snore