The Mane Six Chronicles Book 1: A Hero in the Woods

by KorvasTerindar

Chapter 2

Fluttershy stirred gently, so tired that the mattress she slept on felt as soft as clouds. She didn't want to get up, as tired as she was, all she wanted to do was to curl up into a little ball and sleep more. She sighed gently and rolled over on the mattress, pulling the blanket closer to her. As she got comfortable a deep male voice spoke out from across the room, "Good Morning young one, I trust you slept well."

Fluttershy sat bolt up right and looked across the room to the voices source. She wasn't in her room, nor was she in her bed, in fact she didn't recognize where she was at all and that alone alarmed her. She cowered In the bed and whispered, "Who are you?"
The pony that sat across from her frowned a little before saying, "You may call me Faith."

Fluttershy, still shaking, said nothing in reply but simply looked him over. He was an earth pony, no wings nor horn graced his body, his coat was jet black with small patches of white here or there with his mane hanging around his head and neck, but neatly cared for and well kept. He was powerfully built, every inch of his body was rock hard muscle and she could tell this by just looking at him, it was a subtle appearance, but there none the less.

His eyes were a piercing blue, yet despite their intensity, they were calm and gentle. Just visible on his left hindquarter was his Cutie mark, a radiant crystal heart, as red in color as a rose, a slight aura around it as if caught in the glare of the sun. He sat in a simple wood rocking chair, carved from redwood and at the moment was staring at her curiously. "Are you alright?"

Fluttershy started and cowered back into the blankets and avoided looking at him. His frown deepened and he stood up, moving toward her. Upon his movement, she covered her head, vainly trying to hide herself from him. He sighed and looked out the window behind his bed. As he stood there Fluttershy starred whimpering, her simple pleas just barely audible through the blanket,
"Please...please don't hurt me..."

That got his attention, she'd been out for two days now, and when he had met her, he'd taken a bite to the shoulder to save her life, surely she must remember that. He sat down on the edge of the mattress and said, "You have nothing to fear from me young one, I saved your life, do you remember?"

The trembling in the lump under the quilted blanket stopped near immediately and a cyan eye looked out from the folds of the quilt, Fluttershy's voice came out from the blankets soft as could be, "I'm...I'm sorry, I don't remember..."
Faith frowned at this and reached out to pull the quilt back a little as he explained to her what happened,
"I don't know what happened before you got to my home, but judging by what attacked you, I can guess it easily enough. I believe you were taking a walk or something in the woods when you spied a glint of red which froze you in place."

He paused here and looked to Fluttershy for conformation, when she said nothing he continued,
"The creature you encountered was a basilisk, a great serpent that is so rare I'm not surprised that you weren't prepared for it. Its a merciless predator that live on a simple cycle; hunt, sleep, mate. Its eyes have the power to dominate nearly any mind and flood it with fear, rendering them incapable of moving or fleeing. As it had to chase you, I would deduce that your mind was sufficiently strong enough to not fall completely to its control, allowing you the chance to flee it."Here he paused to allow Fluttershy the chance to absorb this information and she finally said, "I could have tried talking to it, if I'd thought about it..."

Faith sighed and said, "It wouldn't have worked...This creature is cunning, and evil through and through. A predator interested in only one thing, its next meal, nothing you could have said to it would have changed that... Besides, I'm guessing that it got the advantage over you from surprise and your lack of experience with monsters like it."

Again he paused as he allowed her to think on this and eventually she shook her head and asked, "How come you were able to resist it?" Faith sighed and sat back a little more comfortably before answering, "I've lived in this forest my whole life, and been luckier than most, that wasn't the first time I encountered that creature. After our first encounter, I practiced guarding my mind from its influence so that when we next met, I would be able to resist it."

After this explanation, Fluttershy was quite for a long while before she said, "Thank you for saving me...Faith."
Faith smiled and got up off the mattress; moving over to the door he said, "You are welcome, may I know your name?"
Fluttershy gave a small smile before giving her name. Faith's smile grew a bit as he said, "Its good to know you Fluttershy, if your hungry, I was just about to fix lunch."

Fluttershy nodded gratefully and climbed down off the bed, her muscles and joints flexing painfully from being unused for so long. After stretching a little she followed her host and saviour out into the main body of the house. Like its owner, it was simple and well built, the walls now that she actually got to look at them, signified that this house was a log cabin, the wooden beams interlocking seamlessly one to another.

The inside walls were smooth and polished, simple decorations hanging from pegs in the wall added to the warm and cozy atmosphere. She didn't quite know what it was but this ponies simple house calmed her, made her feel safe and protected. The kitchen, living room, and dining room all were one and the same, the only rooms that were not apart of the main room were the bed room that she had just come from and two rooms whose doors were currently shut.

Faith moved around the solid oak table to the kitchen area and began preparing a simple meal of various fruits and wild vegetables. He turned his head to look at her and said, "Please, make yourself at home, I don't usually have visitors."
Fluttershy took this as permission to explore the house and did so, walking over to the two closed rooms to see what lay inside. The first room turned out to be the bathroom, despite the secluded nature of the house, all of the plumbing was modern and up to date with the exception of the bath tub, which looked to have been built by hand.

Despite the apparent rough texture, the wood was as smooth as stone, and judging by the smell of it, well maintained and treated. A large wrought brass hand pump sat over the tubs edge, which confused her, why would anyone fill a tub with cold spring water. After a few moments hesitation she decided against testing it or asking about it, deciding it would be rude to pry into ones bathing did however need to go to the bathroom, so she closed the door behind her.

Moments later she left the bathroom with a relieved sigh and moved to the next door to her left. Upon opening this one she found that it was a large workshop, with all the tools needed to work wood and metal, a half finished figurine of a noble unicorn on a forested hill sat on the worktable. Smiling at this she closed the door and turned back to the kitchen table, realizing as she did so that most everything in this house if not the house itself had been built by him. He cleared his throat to get her attention and then motioned to the table. Fluttershy smiled a little and crossed to the table, sitting down at it and joining with him in the repast.

After they had finished eating Fluttershy asked, "Do you know how to get to Ponyville from here?" Faith paused in his picking up the plates from the table and said, "Its about thirty miles south east of here." Fluttershy gasped in shock, she'd barely been a mile from Ponyville when she'd been attacked, she had run that far? Fluttershy opened and closed her mouth a few times before asking,
"Is it alright if I go home?"

Faith frowned slightly and her heart seemed to stop beating, he wasn't going to force her to stay here was he? She determinedly kept a smile on her face to hide her fear and winced slightly as he spoke, "You aren't a prisoner here, you can leave whenever you wish, but I was hoping that you would stay and help me fix those things the basilisk tore up."
She flushed as those memories suddenly came back to her, she was grateful he didn't blame her for the damage. He motioned to her to follow him and went outside, after a moments hesitation Fluttershy followed.

When she laid her eyes upon the garden, her heart fell. The entire plot of land had been torn apart, dirt lay scattered everywhere, some of it containing small plant shoots, torn out in their infancy. The well was another matter entirely, bits of broken rock from the wells body and wood from the wells canopy and pulley lay scattered everywhere, it was so badly destroyed that the only solution was to take it down and rebuild it a new. Fluttershy felt pangs of guilt at what she saw, feeling directly responsible for all of it.

After looking it over a third time Fluttershy nodded and said, "I understand, I will help you fix it, its is my fault that it got broken anyway, but can I go home and tell my friends that I'm okay?"
Faith nodded and motioned to the skies above, "I'm not stopping you, Go tell them you are alright, but then head on back here, we have work to do."
Fluttershy nodded and jumped into the air, her wings stretching gratefully at the exercise. After hovering for a bit over the forest, making sure she'd be able to find this simple house again, she turned in the direction of Ponyville and flew off toward it.

Half an hour later...

Fluttershy landed lightly in the town square amidst the hustle and bustle of its inhabitants. It seemed a little odd to be among so many after having just left such a quite and secluded home as Faith's. She turned on the spot a little before spotting the bakery and trotting over to it. When she came within five feet however, she paused, noticing that Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen in the store, which was odd. A little worried, she went to Rarity's shop next and it too was closed.

Now very worried, She turned and hurried to Twilight's house, arriving just in time to see Applejack walk inside. Fluttershy sprinted to the front door and through it before AJ could close it, bowling into her and knocking her over. There were several gasps from inside the house and as Fluttershy looked up from her vantage point on the floor and saw all of her friends gathered there, some looking like they hadn't slept at all during the last two days. She picked herself up of the floor and said, "Hi...I'm...uh...I'm okay."

It was a rather feeble greeting, but then she'd never been one for long and lengthy conversations, usually keeping to herself. Even though it was simple it had an enormous impact as all of her friends, Spike included ran the intervening gap between themselves and Fluttershy and about nearly tackled her with many cries of relieve and joy. After the tearful exchanges Twilight managed to make herself heard and quietened everyone down before asking Fluttershy for a full account of what happened to her.

Fluttershy sighed heavily and explained everything she had been told and remembered from that day and left out no details. All of her friends bore equal looks of shock and relieve when she told them of her attack and rescue. When she revealed the name of the creature that attacked her, Twilight's look of worry deepened and she said, "You don't know how lucky you are to be alive. I've read books about those monsters."

Upon hearing Twilight confess to her that the encounter and her survival had been highly lucky and fortunate, Fluttershy felt even more grateful for Faith's timely intervention. When she told them of the powerful earth pony that had saved her and how he had taken care of her, Rarity grinned and asked, "Is he handsome?"

Fluttershy blushed and nodded, averting any more questions in that regard by explaining of the damage that had been caused during her run from the Basilisk and her own promise to help Faith fix it all. When she finished talking, her friends were silent while they digested this knowledge.

After another few silent minutes Rainbow Dash said with great enthusiasm, "Well, he saved our friend, I say we should all go help fix it." They all consented to this idea, all that is except Fluttershy. Fluttershy shifted a little before saying, "Um...No. I promised I would help him, and that I was only coming here to let you guys know I was okay."
All present fell silent again and this time Pinkie Pie spoke up, "Why can't we come help?"

Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably and said, "I...I want to help him by myself." That got every ones attention, they all looked at her curiously, all of them wondering why exactly Fluttershy wanted to do this alone. She couldn't really put into words why she wanted to do this alone, but she knew this was what she wanted to do.

Eventually Twilight nodded and said, "That's fine, we won't pry into it. Thank you for letting us know that you were okay."
Fluttershy nodded and gave each of her friends a hug before leaving for her house, if she was going to be there for a while she might as well prepare for it. Sighing heavily she looked up at the cloudless sky and whispered,
"Oh I'm in for a long haul."