Amalthea’s hooves trembled from having been just brought inside the small house of the pegasus that saved her from her own sorrow. Every so often, she would rub her hooves together in an attempt to generate heat to add to the already warming air coming from the lit fireplace, of which the pegasus kindly lit before running up a nearby small flight of stairs. The heat of the rhythmic flames had already dried up whatever tears still remained on her face and in her silvery white mane. From what she could guess, it must have been nearing wintertime.
As she lay there staring into the orange flames, several questions bounced around in her confused mind. To even think about them only brought her near to tears. Schmendrick’s actions were very unclear as to why he did what he had to do. Why would he deliberately allow the Red Bull into his burial site? Why would he break the force field spell around his statue, allowing the heavy rain to pour in? Unknowingly to Amalthea, her pupils started to quiver, threatening tears again. After forcing the somber memories from her conscious, she rubbed her eyes and continued to stare into the fire.
A short while later, the oddly colored pegasus trotted down the stairs with a small blanket and two pillows, both of which she set in front of Amalthea’s legs before moving one of the pillows to a spot close by where she sat with her legs tucked underneath her chest.
“Sorry, but that blanket is the biggest one I have. I hope you don’t mind...” the pegasus quietly uttered.
“It is alright. The fire that you made for me is keeping me warm as is. You take it.” Amalthea slowly pushed the blanket and pillow away. The pegasus looked both shocked and worried and Amalthea feared that she may have upset her.
‘Oh no, please, you take it. I’m sure that I have a few others around here anyway.” said the pegasus while she pro-offered the blanket and pillow back over to her. Not wanting to cause controversy, Amalthea took the offered items without saying a word and returned to staring into the fire.
Neither mare spoke a word as Amalthea lay deep in thought of the past few hours that had gone by. One particular memory, one involving the fate of her sisters, made her choke back a tear. The pegasus must have heard it, for she immediately made an attempt to shush her, which Amalthea brushed aside.
“You seem to be upset about something.” the pegasus started, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Amalthea dipped her head down for a moment as she pleaded to her mind to say no, but with what the pegasus had done for her so far, she deserves an explanation.
“Well...” Amalthea started off slowly while lifting her head, “it would be best as not to keep my troubles bottled up inside, and you deserve an explanation for having brought me out from the cold. It’s the least I could do after all...”
The pegasus’s put on a little smile upon hearing her approval.
“Why were you in the meadow this late at night?” the pegasus asked.
“I could ask you the same thing.” Amalthea replied.
The pegasus smiled and looked away guiltily. “I-I was out near the forest picking a few of my favorite wild fruits. They like the cold weather, especially when they’re around winter flowers.”
“That must have been nice.” said Amalthea.
“Well, it was nice until -and excuse me for saying this- I heard somepony crying nearby. I explored for a little while until I found you. Your mane and coat were a mess, covered in dirt and wet grass, and your face was buried in your hooves. I had no idea what to do. Sorry to say this, but to me, you just looked like a grown up mare who had lost her way in the forest. I could never leave anypony alone in the forest, especially at night! So, I slowly went up to you and asked if you were alright, twice. When you didn’t say anything, I spoke just a teensy bit louder.”
“And I thank you for all of that, otherwise I would have just laid there, crying in never ending sadness.”
“I’m glad that I can help. It’s something I’ve been doing for a while, mostly to animals though.”
Amalthea put a hoof up to her mouth and giggled into it. “I’ve noticed.” she said as she turned her head towards the ceiling to look at all of the assorted bird houses and rodent mazes hanging from tiny metal hooks nailed into the rafters. “I think it’s lovely as to what you do.”
The pegasus grinned sheepishly at the polite comment. “Thank you.” she said.
“You’re welcome.”
“Do you mind if I ask you another question?”
“Alright.”
“Excuse me again for asking this, but why do you look so...strange?”
“What do you mean?” said Amalthea. “Haven’t you ever heard of a unicorn before? I’d imagine that after-”
“I know that you’re a unicorn, but you don’t look like any other unicorn I’ve ever seen. You’re much taller than any normal unicorn, except for the princesses of course, but then again, they’re alicorns and-”
“Alicorns? Here?” Amalthea asked.
“Of course! Everypony in Equestria knows about them. Equestria is ruled by two princess named Celestia and Luna. They are the only two alicorns in Equestria, except for Princess Cadence, but not too many ponies know about her anyway. Not even the tallest ponies in Equestria are as tall as they are, but you nearly look just like them!”
“Strange...” Amalthea started while rubbing her chin with a free hoof, “I thought that the alicorns died out some time ago just after the unicorns of the world were freed when the Red Bull was cast away.”
“Huh, the Red Bull?” the pegasus cocked her head off to one side in confusion, “What’s-”
“Excuse me -and I apologize if I continue to interrupt-, but I never did catch your name. I should be thanking the one who brought me under their roof and cared for me at no expense.”
The pegasus removed a leg from underneath her chest and lengthened a hoof towards Amalthea. “I’m Fluttershy.” she introduced herself. Amalthea looked confused when Fluttershy continued to extend a hoof to her. After a few awkward moments had passed, Fluttershy embarrassingly drew back her hoof and looked away.
“I’m terribly sorry if I did anything to upset you.” the white unicorn apologized, “I’m Amalthea.” Fluttershy perked up and turned to face the newly introduced unicorn.
“That’s a very nice name.” she commented.
“Thank you. Your name is nice as well. For the animals that you care for, it suits you well.” Fluttershy smiled.
“Anyway, what’s the Red Bull?” Fluttershy continued where she left off.
Suddenly, Amalthea’s face twisted into an uneasy look, as if she was about to vomit. Her head began to spin and she felt queasy as memories of the previous few hours came raging through her brain like a streamline flock of crows. She rubbed her temples in an attempt to rid her mind of the terrible apparitions, but she only succeeded in increasing the flow.
“Oh, goodness!” Fluttershy dove to Amalthea’s side and held up her head to keep it from falling to the hard floor. “A-are you sick? Do you need any medicine? I’ve got a few things that-”
Amalthea placed a shaky hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, silencing her words immediately. With added support from the yellow pegasus, she managed to rebalance herself in an upright position. She began to shiver as her mind continued to barrage her inner sanctuary with fire and sadness as if the bull itself was inside, tearing it apart with its insatiable rage.
Heavily worried, Fluttershy reached for the nearby pillow and placed it near Amalthea’s head. Getting the idea almost immediately, Amalthea slowly but surely rested her pounding head on the soft, velvety pillow. Fluttershy then quickly draped the blanket over Amalthea’s side, trying to cover up as much of the unicorn’s quivering body as possible.
“Th-thank you F-Fluttershy...” said Amalthea in between raspy breaths.
“You’re welcome, but you look awful! Are you sure that you’re not sick? Ooooh, maybe I should get some medicine just in case-”
“Fluttershy, I-I’m fine.” Amalthea’s started to calm down as attempted to block out the bad thoughts with naturalistic images of her home and friends. Eventually, her shaking stopped and she clenched the blanket tighter to bring it closer to her face.
“Are you really sure? What if something bad happens to you and I’m not around?”
“I’m alright Fluttershy. I just need some rest. A lot of rest.”
Fluttershy opened her mouth in an attempt to protest again, but she shut it immediately once she realized that arguing with the unicorn would only bring bad relations. Throwing one last log onto the fire, Fluttershy did a quick once over of Amalthea, who was now sleeping soundly, as well as the animals, who were already asleep in their tiny wooden homes. She yawned, also realizing that she needed sleep, seeing as to how late it was getting. After dousing the living room light, she slid the metal grate cover in front of the fireplace and headed upstairs to her bedroom.
~~~~~
Amalthea awoke the next morning to the sounds of the songbirds singing from up high in the rafters of the cottage. When she stirred, they retreated to their respective birdhouses and peered through the tiny openings. She paid no mind to them as she let the warm blanket slip off her back. Next to her pillow, she found a small note written in fine lettering.
Amalthea-
Went to a friend’s house to ask for assistance. I will be back soon.
-Fluttershy
She winced as a sudden puff of red hot air blew into her face from the crackling flames of the still lit fireplace. While comforting, the heat was a bit too much to bare. She shimmied her body over a few feet away from the fireplace to get close to the cooler air. Taking a glance at a nearby window, she could tell that the full force of winter was on its way as tiny, delicate snowflakes fell from the grey sky onto the window face, melting instantly, leaving behind a tiny droplet of water that slowly streaked downward.
Suddenly, she felt the tiny prick of a soft paw poke her leg twice. Surprised, she looked down at her hooves to see a tiny white rabbit glaring at her extremely long legs while occasionally poking them, probably in an attempt to make sure that they were real. Amalthea smiled peacefully at the rather cute display of curiosity.
“Hello there little one!” she said while reaching a hoof down towards the rabbit’s face. Shocked, it stepped far back before Amalthea could pet it.
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry little one! I did not mean to frighten you.” Amalthea apologized to the teacup sized rabbit. The rabbit moved its eyes rapidly up and down, scanning her body with caution riding high. Slowly, it took a step forward and dragged the rest of its body with it in a slinking motion, cautiously moving back towards Amalthea’s front legs.
“It’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you.” Amalthea cooed in her softest voice to ease the rabbit’s alarmed attention. When the rabbit finally reached her legs, it poked her again, this time on the sole of her hoof. Amalthea giggled when she felt the rabbit’s soft fur brush against the sensitive spot. The rabbit smiled and moved slightly closer. It took a quick glance off to the left while Amalthea calmed down. It poked her again, several times in attempts to get her attention. When Amalthea acknowledged, the rabbit pointed one of its tiny white arms towards the slowly fading flames in the fireplace. Amalthea looked confused for a moment.
“The fireplace? What’s wrong with it?” she asked. The rabbit replayed its previous actions, this time with added vigor in its pointing. “Yes, I see the fireplace, but I’m not quite sure as to what you’re trying to tell me.”
The rabbit facepawed while shaking its head. It then turned and bounced over to a nearby metal hamper filled with an assortment of logs and taped on it several times while pointing one hoof at the top of its head.
In a split second, Amalthea connected the fireplace, the hamper, and the frustrated tapping of the rabbit’s furry paw. When it hit her, she felt very stupid.
“You want me to relight the fire?” Amalthea asked. The rabbit stopped its tapping and furiously nodded its head. “Well, alright. I’ll try I suppose.”
Amalthea never got the chance to try out her magic here, even though she has only been in this cold wonderland for a single day and most of it was spent silently crying in the house of a strangely colored pegasus that likes animals almost as much as she likes to care for others. Although the task was meager, she thought of it best to use this opportunity to test if her magic was unaffected by Schmendrick’s spell.
Focusing her attention on the hamper, she struggled under the intensity of her power as her horn charged up from base to tip with her usual bright and silvery white light. Amalthea had never used her magic for telekinesis before -save once or twice-, so it was difficult at first to set her spell up right. With a little bit of added effort, an average-sized oak log was lifted from the hamper. The rabbit watched in awe as the log was slowly carried moved inside of the fireplace where it was lowered onto a pile of orange embers.
Amalthea smiled when she released her grip on the log and charged her horn again. When she felt that enough magic had gathered deep inside of her, she released it all as a small bolt of lightning that struck the log and caused a large plume of flame to burst out from within the fireplace, where it blew backwards, nearly touching Amalthea’s face.
She shook her head to get her bearings after a close encounter of the scorching kind. She checked herself for any scorch marks. When she found none, she checked on the rabbit to see if it was alright.
The rabbit’s face was completely covered in a thick layer of black soot. Amalthea could barely resist when she burst into a fit of laughter at its ridiculous appearance. The rabbit opened its eyes and looked at itself head to toe. At first, it looked hurt, but after a failed attempt at wiping its own face, it soon joined Amalthea in a good bar of laughter. The happy unicorn mare smiled and rubbed away the soot with a clean patch of fur on one of her front hooves.
“Honestly, Twilight I had never known before that Fluttershy knew how to sow.”
“Don’t you already know how to do that Rarity?”
Suddenly, Amalthea heard two different voices from outside, one prissy and one on the plus side of happy-go-lucky. Both voices sounded feminine. The rabbit turned towards the door in alarm and bounded towards the stairs.
“Well of course I do! But this book holds some of the more ‘talented’ secrets to the precious arts of sewing and knitting. I will use these techniques to their highest peak!”
“Do you think Fluttershy is home?”
Suddenly, the door to the cottage opened and two small unicorns about the size of Fluttershy step inside, one white and one of the color of lavender. Their horns were lit up with magic as they levitated two books in the air above their heads.
“I’m sure that she wouldn’t mind if-”
Suddenly, the white unicorn gasped when she caught a glance of Amalthea’s face. Amalthea shot to her hooves and backed away in shock.
“Rarity, what’s-umm...”
Amalthea turned to meet the lavender unicorn’s wide eyes. She stopped backing up when the unicorn stepped forward once.
“E-excuse me, but who are you?” asked the lavender unicorn.
“And what are you doing in Fluttershy’s home?” said the white unicorn.
“I-I...” Amalthea stammered to get the words out.
“Twilight!”
Fluttershy slowly flew in through the open door and landed on the hardwood floor.
“Oh, hey there Fluttershy. Sorry that we barged in here like this.” said the lavender unicorn.
“Spike told me that you were on your way here. I need your help with something.”
“Help with what?” asked the unicorn. Fluttershy pointed across the room towards Amalthea who had now returned to her position back in front of the fireplace.
“Oh, umm...hello there.” Amalthea turned her head and shied away from the unicorn’s curious face.
“H-hello to you as well, I think...” replied the unicorn.
“Well, this is certainly a surprise.” exclaimed the white unicorn.”
“Rarity, Twilight, this is-”
“Fluttershy! Hey, Fluttershy!”
Just before Fluttershy could introduce Amalthea to the unicorns, a second pegasus flew in through the open door and landed next to Fluttershy.. Amalthea looked surprised to see that its coat color was multicolored. Shades of red, blue, and every other color of the rainbow filled its mane in several layers of vibrant hues.
“Fluttershy! Have you seen Twilight around?” asked the colorful pegasus.
“Not now Rainbow Dash.” said the lavender unicorn.
“Oh c’mon! I just need to know if you happen to have the third series in-who’s that?” the pegasus asked while pointing a hoof towards Amalthea.
“Girls-” Fluttershy started.
The leaves of a nearby potted plant rustled and the entire plant, soil and all rose up into the air. The head of a pink mare with a wide grin and a fuzzy pink mane poked out from within the pot.
“Well she’s a unicorn, duh!” said the pink mare while she rolled her eyes.
“What the?-Pinkie I didn’t ask what she was! I asked-”
“Girls!” Fluttershy shouted.
Everypony in the room immediately shut their mouths and shockingly started at Fluttershy. Amalthea was taken aback by how thunderous the voice of the usually calm and quiet pegasus was. Fluttershy coughed once and blushed in embarrassment.
“Hehe, sorry about that.” said Fluttershy. “Girls, I would like to introduce you to, Amalthea.” Amalthea smiled and raised a hoof and waved at the conglomerate of ponies.
Everpony but Fluttershy walked up to the newly introduced unicorn and introduced themselves. Amalthea smiled sheepishly and said hello back to each of them.
The one known as Pinkie Pie zipped in front of everyone and glared with awe at Amalthea’s form.
“Whooooa! You’re really tall. Like really, really tall!” cooed the pink pony. Amalthea blushed.
“Well, thank you Pinkie.” Amalthea replied.
“She’s as tall as Princess Celestia! How could that be?” Rarity asked.
“I...don’t really know Rarity.” said Twilight. “Where are you from Amalthea?”
“Well, I...was from a forest. A very special forest that is probably torn apart by now...”
“You live in a forest? The Everfree Forest?” asked Rainbow Dash while she scratched her head in confusion.
“What is the Everfree Forest?” Amalthea asked. Everypony, even Fluttershy looked confused at her question.
“Uhh, the most dangerous forest in all of Equestria? The only forest out here for miles around? Unless you came from the griffon territories- “
“There are griffons in this place too Fluttershy?” Amalthea interrupted to ask.
“Yes, of course there are griffons, just like there are alicorns.” Fluttershy explained.
“Wait, she asked if there were alicorns too? What does she mean Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.
Fluttershy looked at the ground for a moment. She searched her mind for a reason, but in the end only shrugged her shoulders. Now everypony in the room was looking to Amalthea for an answer.
“Amalthea...” Fluttershy started, “you...never did tell me where you came from or how you got here did you?”
Amalthea looked nervous. She breathed in deep and let it out before having to face the inevitable. “Well, I owe it to Fluttershy for what she has done for me.” Everypony lowered themselves to the ground and laid flat on the floor. Amalthea did the same.
“This is going to take a while.”