Random Ramblings

by PioneeringAuthor

Ember's Day with Fluttershy

Ember sat at a table at the cafe nearest the Castle of Friendship. Although she tried to be patient, her Dragon patience was wearing thin as she tapped her claws on the table. This was supposed to be a memorable time and so far all she did was sit.

“Would you… like anything?” One of the cafe ponies asked as she held her paper and pencil with her magic.

Ember glared at the pony, who cringed and backed away. Remembering her manners, Ember put a hand up to her mouth and cleared her throat, saying, “No, thank you. I’m waiting for a friend.”
She smiled, and the mare relaxed and nodded.

It wasn’t every day that Dragon Lord Ember was there, but she visited her friend Spike and his Pony friends often enough to be recognized. Quietly she took out the last letter she got from him, re-reading it. Yes, correct time, correct place, all that… why wasn’t he here? He was half an hour late, and that little dragon was NEVER late for a date!

Date? What? No, this wasn’t a date, it was a, uh, friendship, uhm, meeting of… political… cultural exchange. Yes. Definitely not a DATE, no. Quickly she shoved the letter back into her travel bag, sighing gruffly as she propped one pointy elbow on the table and rested her chin on her scaly hand.

It was then that a pony came into the cafe. She sat by Ember and smiled, almost sheepishly. “Hello” She greeted her simply, it was Fluttershy.

“Oh, Fluttershy!” Ember greeted her, sitting up straighter, “Have you seen Spike? He’s late! Should I ask Twilight where he is? I wasn’t sure if you Ponies were busy with friendship problems or something.”

“Oh, no, it is not that,” Fluttershy told her, still managing to hold that sheepish smile. “Spike is sick, he could not come.”

Ember furrowed her brows, asking, “SICK? Why didn’t he send me a letter by magic or something!?”

“W-Well, he came down with it a day or so ago, and he still planned to come today,” Fluttershy explained, slightly awkward, although not as much as before. After all, at the very least, they were on friendly terms.

“Oh, well… I see,” Ember sighed as her wings drooped, “ I guess… I’ll… start heading home. It’ll take me a few days just to get back. Might as well get going….”

Quietly she stood up and pushed her chair out of her way with her tail, saying, “Thanks for telling me. Otherwise I would’ve barged into the castle, huffing and puffing and… not being very friendly.”

“Well, maybe we can hang out… and visit Spike later,” Fluttershy offered with a brighter smile, “I-I mean, you just arrived, you must be tired. ”

Truly, Ember was exhausted. Flying, boarding trains, all that was tiring--especially when everypony stared at her and shrank back from her. However, she didn’t like admitting weakness. As she grumbled, she couldn’t help but think of Spike. No, he would want her to hang out with Fluttershy and make another friend instead of a friendly acquaintance.

With a sigh, she hung her head and admitted, “Yeah, I’m exhausted. Sorry to be a nuisance but… it would be nice to have SOMEONE to hang with.”

“Well, maybe we could visit the sanctuary… ” Fluttershy offered, a smile on her face, of course, she knew that Dragons were not precisely herbivores, but she had something planned. She could always cook something if Ember got hungry there…

“Oh yeah, you have that place where you take care of sick animals, right?” Ember recalled, straightening up a bit, “Spike went on and on about it. He was pretty impressed. Yeah, I’d like to see it.”

“Well, we can eat something here, or we can go now. ” She replied with a happy smile.

“We Dragons prefer gems,” Ember sighed, “Not much is appetizing to me here, unless you can find a burger made of crystal.”

She didn’t want to say it out loud but Twilight’s castle was starting to look like a beautiful dessert for the entire Dragon race.

“Oh! I must have some gems at home.” She told the dragon with a smile.

The thought of food made Ember’s mouth water. She couldn’t refuse.

“All right then, let’s go!” Ember chirped with a smile.

With that, Fluttershy led her towards her cottage, quite happy about how this had turned out.
Soon they were at Fluttershy’s beautiful sanctuary. It was everything Spike wrote about, but even better in person. Being used to more rocky landscapes, Ember was stunned by how gorgeous all the plants looked with the waterfall and the cute bridge, and she was deeply impressed by all the hard work and care evident in every piece of the Pony-made park.

“Wow… this is… incredible,” She breathed as her eyes flew open in amazement.

“I’m glad you like it” Fluttershy told her, she had barely opened the door when a group of squirrels hurried to her. Turns out, one of them had a sprained tail.

“Oh, uh, business hours?” Ember asked as she stared at the squirrels. Since she rarely spotted a squirrel, she couldn’t tell anything was wrong with its tail.

“Ah, no, don’t worry, this won’t take long” Fluttershy replied softly, taking the injured squirrel with a wing. “You could watch, if you want.” With that, and in full sight of Ember, she set the tail back on its normal position, applying an ointment afterwards.

Fluttershy’s little Nocturnus assistant carefully picked up the injured squirrel in her bat-like wings and laid him on a soft nest in a bush so he could heal.
Ember nodded in approval.

“I’m impressed! You handled that really smoothly,” Ember complimented Fluttershy with an embarrassed grin, “I barely know anything about healing, heh. We Dragons just kinda brush off any injuries we get.”

“W-Well, I don’t know that much about healing Dragons, ” Fluttershy admitted, “But maybe if you watch me today you can get ideas about it. ”

“Yeah. As a leader, I should at least be able to take care of myself, right?” Ember thought out loud, “I’d love to watch you work! You are clearly the expert here. I just wish I could, y’know, help out, heh.”

“Why don’t you stay a couple of days? That way you can hang out with Spike and learn enough that you could help.” Fluttershy offered with a smile

“You sure? I feel like I’d be mostly in the way,” Ember awkwardly said as she lowered her wings and looked away.

Truly, she did want to spend time with Spike but she didn’t want to just be staring at Fluttershy all the time and awkwardly realizing how much she needed to learn. However… she also knew that a leader was willing to admit when she needed to learn something.

“I mean, if you really don’t mind, I would like to learn more from you,” Ember admitted as she turned her head back to fluttershy with a smile.

“That’s good… Oh! I have some gems, I nearly forgot,” With that Fluttershy went for them, some rubies and a couple of decently-sized emeralds.

Ember was salivating at the sight of the delicious gems, but she kept her cool and casually said, “oh, thanks! Very nice of you.”

She accepted them calmly and tossed them in her mouth like popcorn, crunching them down and feeling much better after a minute.

“You’re welcome,” Fluttershy told her as she sat. “I could also make some tea, if you’d like.”

“Well, I am a bit thirsty,” Ember admitted as she sat down.

Fluttershy was a delightful host, and Ember was surprised at how much she liked being around this pony. Over the next few days, Ember did learn a lot about first-aid from Fluttershy, and she did manage to spend some time with Spike and the other ponies too. It wasn’t what Ember planned, but it was a memorable time anyway.

Author's Note:

Suggested by Twilight Hunter

I hope you like it!

If you have two characaters you want to see interact, please leave a comment :D

Written by Turquoise Dreamer and Imperator Anonymous, as usual.