Her Forest

by AliziaRoElier

Camouflage

Fluttershy’s house reminded him of Hobbiton, there was no way around it. Day couldn’t help but snicker at the comparison while he sat at her table and watched her move around the house completing her evening chores. Everything was low to the ground and conformed to what he assumed was pony aesthetics and physiology. It wasn’t anything too radically different from what he expected to see, though that was inherently odd. Cushions replaced chairs. The sofa was perhaps a bit deeper than a human design. The table was lower to the ground and oblong. He was once again struck by the eerie similarity between this new world and his own. He expected everything to be completely bizarre but aside from the circumstances everything just wasn’t. He was brought out of his musing by a quiet but confident voice.

“Would you like something to eat?” Fluttershy’s previously shy demeanor seemed to have disappeared when they had stepped into her home. Day puzzled at the change in the pegasus’ demeanor. He hadn’t expected it at all.

“I don’t think so...” It’s been hours and I haven’t felt hungry at all. Or thirsty... maybe because I’m made of metal? Either way, no thank you but thanks for the offer.” Fluttershy nodded and walked out of the room to the kitchen. Day got up from his cushion at the table and followed her. She was efficiently pulling out a combination of dried herbs and fresh vegetables from her pantry and refrigerator. Day couldn’t help but gape at the oddity and blurt out the first question that came to mind.

“How in the HELL do you have a refrigerator?”

Fluttershy looked at him oddly, “I got it when Twilight first came to town. Most ponies have to use a perpetual ice box and those are terribly expensive. Twilight was kind enough to enchant one for me when she found out I didn’t even have those.”

Day examined the refrigerator, “So it’s powered by magic instead of electricity?”

Fluttershy nodded slowly, “I suppose. Almost everything modern does. I don’t know how it works exactly, just that the enchantment is much easier than the perpetual freezing charm ice boxes use.”

She turned back to her food and started to prepare what looked like a stirfry. Day took in the rest of the kitchen and the appliances that once again held an uncanny resemblance to the Earth analogues he knew. He could identify a stove and a dishwasher along with a coffeemaker and toaster. There was a stainless steel sink of brushed metal whose texture reminded him of his own metallic skin. He started thinking aloud.

“This is so weird... everything’s like home just, modified for ponies instead of humans. How is that even possible? It can’t just be random coincidence that ponies think and dream and create the same as humans.”

A knock at the door startled him out of his thoughts. Fluttershy shut off her stove and walked past him silently. She had heard everything he’d voiced but thankfully hadn’t commented. He idly hoped he hadn’t given her the impression that he considered ponies inferior to humans with his badly worded ramblings.

As she walked to the door, her entire demeanor shifted back to the shy one she’d displayed before entering her home. Day resolved to ask her about it as soon as the unexpected visitor left. This almost instinctive shifting of personalities was fascinating.

She stopped in front of the door, “H-hello?” She called through the door in a halting shy voice.

“Fluttershy? It’s me, Rarity, darling! I just came to check up on you.” A voice spoke through the door. Fluttershy let out a quiet sigh and shook her head before falling back into character, opening the door tentatively, and peaking out.

“Rarity? Checking up on what? It’s only been a half hour.” Fluttershy opened the door wider and stepped back to let the white unicorn come in. Day leaned against the doorframe to the kitchen and watched the two ponies interaction. He was starting to see some of why the forest was interested in about this pegasus.

“Of course, dear! But you can never be too careful about these things! We wouldn’t want anything to happen would we?” Rarity gave Day a hard stare. Day wondered what exactly he’d done that was so suspicious but he stayed silent. He sat back down on his cushion at the table.

“Oh... well, I was just finishing making dinner. Would you... like to stay for a while?”

Internally Day wept. The evening just got more complicated.

~$~

Day’s patience for overbearing friends lasted about ten minutes. Before he said something rather rude to the suspicious unicorn he decided his time would be better spent examining his backpack and walking stick. In the whirlwind of events that had taken place over the course of the day, he hadn’t given them much thought, merely taken them for granted and at face value. That he had either pointed toward some kind of intelligent intervention. He stared out the window while he thought and rolled the staff between his hands contemplatively. He was careful not to voice aloud his stream of consciousness.

So, first that green light. There wasn’t anything weird going on to begin with... not weirder than usual anyway. Just a normal night like usual. Then the first forest. He frowned. I wasn’t freaking out then either. But that was before all this... what was I thinking? He thought back to his trek through the forest. It had been silent, no wind, no animals but it hadn’t started that way. This isn’t making any sense. And Celestia... how does she fit into all this? A being with the power to hold back the sun, a sentient forest, and time travel... how are they connected? Of course, this is assuming this all happened for a reason but I refuse to think this is all just a string of random events. So everything starts with that light.

His contemplation was interrupted by a genteel, he assumed it was meant to be polite, cough. “Excuse me, Mr. Roark, aren’t you going to eat something?” Rarity asked.

Day blinked and looked back from the window, “No thanks. I don’t think I’ll need to eat. I’m not exactly... squishy... anymore.” With an uncomfortable jolt, he realized he couldn’t smell anything. Not the food or the ponies or his surroundings - a byproduct of not breathing.

“Huh... I’ll have to catalogue all the stuff that’s different about me sometime...” he murmured to himself before looking out the window again. He wasn’t trying to be rude, but he didn’t have anything to really talk about with his host and her guest and he felt puzzling over his predicament would better serve his time.

He tried to ignore Fluttershy’s concerned looks and Rarity’s suspicious ones for the rest of the night.

~$~

As soon as Rarity had run out of excuses to remain in Fluttershy’s home, she was skillfully herded out the door. If Day had not been looking for it, he would have missed the tension that slowly accumulated during the visit between Fluttershy’s shoulders and wings. By the time she was ushering her friend out the door, she looked exhausted. Day imagined that having to put on her air of submissive, shy temperament would be incredibly draining.

“Why do you do it?” He didn’t bother beating around the bush. He was pretty sure she would understand what he was asking.

Fluttershy opened her mouth as if to answer but closed it instead and walked over to the couch to sprawl along its length. A few minutes passed before she spoke, “Because its easier to hide in plain sight than to make an effort that can be detected. If I tried to avoid everyone, they would take more notice of me but if I act fragile and shy, I’m more likely to be ignored. They’re good friends and they mean well, but around my animal friends... they just aren’t very good. This way, if I want to interact with them they are forced to wait for me rather than coming at their own time.”

Day pondered this for a moment and asked the obvious question, “So if that personality is camouflage, is this one,” he gestured vaguely at her, “one as well? Am I seeing the ‘real’ Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy laughed quietly, “Maybe. Maybe not. I am who I need to be when I need to be. Maybe that is the real Fluttershy.”

A knock at the door stopped Day from continuing his questions.

Comments

[AliziaRoElier]

I feel like I'm getting caught up in exposition... but there's not much I can do. The characters I'm setting up need this to make sense.

[Gilgamesh King of Heroes]

2189766 Someone had to do it might as well be me

[The Random Lord]

I like it

[AliziaRoElier]

2190048

Glad you do.

[Langly]

Interesting, haven't seen something like this yet.
I just feel that the mane 6 got there too fast, I would have preferred the new metal elf got sorted out before they arrived and not spilled everything he knew.

Still, it's an interesting setup and I#m gonna follow it.

[AliziaRoElier]

2191325

There is a reason. Both for their quick arrival (explained) and his willingness to impart information (to be explained).

Just need to get the exposition and misc set-up out of the way before the main plot comes in.

And thanks for following.

[Deathleader]

2189796 Broken Link