Fluttershy, Scootaloo, and Skylark arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage just as the sun reached the horizon. Although the fillies were glad somepony had taken them, they were worried they would be an inconvenience. Fluttershy leading the way, they stepped into the warm and cozy cottage. Scootaloo and Skylark stood in the center of the living area as their eyes wandered around the room. They noticed several small beds and miniature house placed around the room. “What are all the little beds and houses for?” Skylark asked. “Those are for the animals that I take care of from time to time. Right now all of the animals are feeling well so none of them need to stay here”, Fluttershy responded from the kitchen as she prepared some food for the fillies, “Do you two like dandelions?” They whirled their heads around as quickly as they could and replied with a burst of enthusiasm, “They’re our favorites!"
Moments later Fluttershy emerged from the kitchen with two plates with dandelion sandwiches and apple slices on each one. Scootaloo and Skylark had not eaten much for the last two days and were entranced by the delicious delicacies She noticed that Scootaloo and Skylark were still standing in the same spot as when they walked inside. With a slight chuckle Fluttershy assured them, “You can sit on the couch. It won’t eat you.” The fillies giggled and climbed onto the couch and began eating.
With their bellies full and Fluttershy’s loving smile within their sights, everything was just right.Skylark was reaching for her last apple slice, and she suddenly froze. The memories of what had happened to her parents and the pain she felt crushed her happiness and sense of security. Her head drooped and almost silent noises trickled from her mouth. Her cyan mane blocked her face from Fluttershy, but Fluttershy had no doubt that she was crying. She could only imagine the sadness these two fillies must feel. Fluttershy sat down on the couch next Skylark and embraced her. Skylark returned her hug but a much tighter grip. Scootaloo had been fighting back her emotions and tears but seeing her sister’s pain caused her own emotions to overwhelm her and she also began to cry. Fluttershy drew Scootaloo closer to her and comforted the sorrowful fillies with her embrace and gentle, soothing words, “Shhhh. It’s okay little fillies. Your tears are proof of how much you love your parents and that you will never, ever forget them.” Scootaloo and Skylark cried themselves to sleep in Fluttershy’s embrace. She laid them down and carefully wiped the tears from their faces. She covered them with a blanket and a strange feeling filled her heart. She had never felt anything like it before, but it was a wonderful feeling she never wanted to go away. With a grin she whispered, “Goodnight Scootaloo. Goodnight Skylark. In the morning I’m sure you will feel better.”
The next morning Scootaloo and Skylark awoke to the delicious smell of breakfast. After they had finished their breakfast, Fluttershy drew a bath for them since they were still covered in leaves, twigs, and mud. They had done their best to clean themselves off before they entered the cottage the night before. The fillies reveled in the warm soothing water. Just as Fluttershy had predicted the night before, Scootaloo and Skylark felt much better than the night before. Their tears had alleviated some of the pain in their hearts. They finished their bath and headed downstairs where Fluttershy was waiting for them. “I have to leave the house for a little bit to take of care of a few things. I shouldn’t be gone-” A look of desperation quickly swept across Scootaloo and Skylark’s faces, and Skylark spoke up, “Can...can we go with you? We will understand if you say no. We just...” She was holding back her tears as best as she could and was unable to complete her sentence, so Scootaloo had to finish it for her, “We just don’t want to be alone. That’s all. We were alone in the forest for two days. Being alone is a terrible feeling.” Fluttershy’s heart sank. She was about to put them back in that state of loneliness without a second thought. A tear welled up in Fluttershy’s eye, but she wiped it away before it could fall and cheerfully answered, “Of course you can come with me! If you don’t want to be alone, I will try to always be with you.”
The three of them set off down a small path that was not far from the cottage. “Where are we going?” Scootaloo asked. “Winter will be here soon and every year I try to help out the animals in their preparations.” It was currently early Autumn throughout Equestria, but the cold had already begun to slowly encroach on Ponyville. Skylark seemed especially interested in the task at hoof and excitedly barraged Fluttershy with a lot of questions, “How do you help them prepare? How many of them are their? Are they cute? Are they fluffy? How long 'til we get there?” Fluttershy was taken aback at Skylark’s sudden enthusiasm. Fluttershy had only seen the timid and quiet Skylark since they had first met. Fluttershy was happy Skylark was finally becoming comfortable enough to open up to her. “Well, I help them gather food sometimes and help fix their homes so they stay warm when it gets cold. There are a lot of them throughout Ponyville but most of them live near the forest and-" Scootaloo interrupted, “I hate that forest!" Fluttershy was unsure how to respond to Scootaloo’s comment and kept quiet while she thought. “You can’t hate the forest Scoot!", Skylark said in a slightly irritated voice, “What happened to mama and daddy isn’t the forest’s fault. It was that big mean dragon!" Scootaloo mumbled, “Well, I still don’t like it. It’s scary.” Skylark was quick to tease her, “Oh so you are scared of something after all.” Scootaloo blushed and insisted, “I am not!", Fluttershy couldn’t help but laugh at their playful attitudes. She had not seen them this relaxed and it was a lovely sight. Seeing the little fillies overcoming the past filled Fluttershy’s heart with joy. She also felt the same strange feeling from the night before. “It’s okay Scootaloo. Everypony gets scared sometimes. Skylark is right though. Think of the forest as a house. If a bad pony lives in a house, does that make the house bad also?” Scootaloo contemplated Fluttershy’s words for a moment and then with a smile she responded, “You’re right Fluttershy. I was wrong to blame the forest for something it didn’t do. I didn’t know you were so smart!", Fluttershy blushed and chuckled nervously at Scootaloo’s compliment. “That’s what I was trying to tell you this whole time.” Skylark said to prove she was just as smart. “You wish were as smart as Fluttershy”, Scootaloo mocked.
“Here we are at our first stop”, Fluttershy announced. They had stopped at a small burrow at the bottom of a tree just a little ways from the path. “Something lives in this hole?” Skylark said doubtfully. Fluttershy stepped closer to the burrow and knelt down closer to it and called out, “Hello. Are you in there Mr. Badger?” At first there was no response but soon a grumpy old badger emerged from the burrow. “Scootaloo, Skylark, this is Mr. Badger and this is his home.” Scootaloo and Skylark weren't quite sure what to say. Scootaloo looked to Fluttershy and asked, "Can he understand us?" "No, but that does mean you shouldn't be courteous", Fluttershy said, encouraging the fillies to introduce themselves. "Hello. My name is Scootaloo." "My name is Skylark. It's nice to meet you." He stared at them for a few seconds then stuck the fron half of his body back inside his burrow and kicked up dirt all over the three ponies. “So much for courtesy.” Scootaloo said as she spit dirt out of her mouth. “Badgers are known for their grumpiness and bad manners. I'm sure he wasn't trying to be mean”, Fluttershy informed her. “He didn’t have to throw dirt on us”, Skylark remarked. “He said he isn’t in need of any help this year, so we will move on to the next one”, Fluttershy told the fillies as she turned to walk back to the path. “You can talk to animals?” Skylark asked. “Yes. My special talent is understanding and taking care of animals”, Fluttershy told them with a sense of pride. “That's amazing! I wish I knew what my special talent is”, Skylark squealed. “One day you will both figure it out”, Fluttershy said reassuringly.
They continued walking down the path and meeting Fluttershy’s animal friends. None of them had needed any help this year. Soon they came across a bunny that needed help fixing up his home to keep the cold winter winds out. “Would you girls like to help?” Fluttershy asked the two fillies. “Of course!", they said simultaneously. Fluttershy gave them their tasks, “Scootaloo why don’t you go find us some strong twigs. Skylark you can help Mr. Bunny clean out his burrow.” Skylark crawled into Mr. bunny’s burrow and began helping him clean it out. After she had gathered all of the miscellaneous debris, she began to crawl back out. However, she found herself stuck in the burrow. “Um. Fluttershy. Are you still out there?”, Skylark called out. Fluttershy could hear her but couldn’t understand what she was saying. Fluttershy walked over to the burrow and looked inside. She could only see Skylark’s hind legs. “Are you done Skylark?”, Fluttershy asked. Skylark answered with an uncertain voice, “Well...yes. Although I’m stuck, and I can’t seem to get free.” Fluttershy was unable to reach in far enough to pull Skylark out, and Mr. Bunny was unable to push her out from the inside. “Let me go find Scootaloo. She can fit inside there and help pull you out”, Fluttershy said as she began trotting off, “Stay right there. Don’t go anywhere.” I think she missed the part about me being stuck, Skylark thought.
Scootaloo was still off gathering twigs for Mr. Bunny’s house. She was trying to find only the best twigs to bring back to Fluttershy. Scootaloo saw a densely wooded area that she thought would have perfect twigs. She pushed aside the bottom of a large bush and found several twigs to bring back. Suddenly she heard a low growl emit from the other side of the bush. She nervously stepped away from the bush and the growling stopped. She let out a sigh of relief. A bear emerged from the wooded area and spotted Scootaloo. It growled yet again and this time began chasing after Scootaloo. Scootaloo ran with all her might back towards Mr. Bunny’s burrow. “Fluttershy!” Scootaloo yelled repeatedly as she ran. Fluttershy who was running to find Scootaloo so she could help get Skylark out of the burrow, could hear Scootaloo calling her name. Fluttershy ran even faster fearing the worst.The two of them finally found each other and Scootaloo was out of breath and was unable to speak. She simply kept pointing behind her and urging Fluttershy to run. Before Fluttershy could turn around to start running, the bear emerged from behind a tree. Fluttershy recognized the bear. She had given him massages before for his sore muscles. “Stop right there mister!”, Fluttershy commanded, “Who do you think you are chasing this poor little filly around? You should know better! Don’t ever let me catch chasing another pony again. Do you understand me?” The bear was in shock at Fluttershy’s uncharacteristic harshness. “I said do you understand me?”, she repeated. The bear hung his head and nodded and headed back to the wooded area he had been in. “That was amazing Fluttershy!”, Scootaloo said excitedly, “How did you do that?” Fluttershy turned to her, “We will talk about it later. Right now I need your help. Skylark is stuck in Mr. Bunny’s burrow, and we need your help to get her out.”
Fluttershy and Scootaloo arrived back at the burrow. Mr. Bunny had exited the burrow through another tunnel and was now waiting impatiently outside the entrance where Skylark had gotten stuck. He was very unhappy about the filly being stuck in his home. “Okay. When you have a good hold on Skylark, flick your tail to let me know when to pull you out”, Fluttershy told Scootaloo. Scootaloo nodded her head and crawled in far enough so she could grab onto Skylark. She flicked her tail, and Fluttershy grabbed onto Scootaloo's hoof began to pull. Fluttershy pulled and pulled but it was more difficult to pull Skylark out than she had expected. Fluttershy dug her hooves into the ground, then reared back with all her might. Fluttershy fell back onto her flank with thud, and Scootaloo and Skylark shot out of the burrow and landed right in front of her. The fillies rose to their hooves and dusted themselves off. “I’m sorry I caused so much trouble”, Skylark whimpered with her head hung low. “And I’m sorry for not being more careful”, Scootaloo said mimicking Skylark's posture. Fluttershy patted their heads, “It’s okay girls. It’s not like you meant to get stuck in the burrow or get chased by a bear.” Skylark’s mood changed almost instantly, and she looked at Scootaloo with a raised eyebrow, “A bear?” “That’s not important”, Scootaloo said. After a few hours, Fluttershy, Scootaloo, and Skylark had finished preparing Mr. Bunny’s burrow for the coming months of winter chill. Before the ponies headed back home, Mr. Bunny gave each of them a carrot as thanks for their help. Scootaloo and Skylark were thrilled that they were able to help out another just as Fluttershy was helping them. “If you girls don’t mind, I would like to introduce you to some of my closest friends tomorrow”, Fluttershy offered. “We would love to”, they responded. The fillies were nervous about meeting new ponies, but didn’t want to be alone and liked being with Fluttershy. They were growing fond of Fluttershy just as much as she was growing fond of them.