> A Walk in the Woods
>  by Chicago Ted
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Road to the West
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

At dusk I see the setting of the Sun,
And, knowing my companion’s sense of fun,
Into the Forest Everfree I run.


Fluttershy glanced behind her one last time, at her tree-cut cosy cottage. She sighed, and looked forward again, her face showing conflicting feelings of gloom and fright. And she stepped forward, one hoof in front of the next, upon a beaten trail, leading into the heart of the Everfree Forest – the same forest that bordered upon her home, where the animals took care of themselves. She almost felt useless there.
On any other day, she would have stayed out of the forest, especially at night, when Celestia knows what could go on in the thick of it all. She much preferred at this hour to remain at home, interacting with her myriad of animal friends, with an occasional visit from her equine friends as well. Going out into the Everfree Forest was not something she was willing to do normally, especially not in the evening, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before Celestia’s sky would be replaced by her sister Luna’s.
So why now?
Her friend Rainbow Dash had visited her earlier that day over a wager. The matter was this: How many fish were in all of her ponds, all told? Even though she lived with them, for them their whole lives, it never occurred to her just how many fish there were under her aegis. The agreement was that, if Fluttershy was correct, Rainbow Dash would have to help her clean the ponds for a month; and if Rainbow Dash was correct, Fluttershy would have to spend that night in the Everfree Forest – the same forest that Rainbow Dash could see from her cloud-clad home, where the untamed weather commanded itself. She, too, felt useless there.
Rainbow Dash guessed four hundred fifty-two; Fluttershy, six hundred thirty-three. Then it was up to Discord to help decide. Using a bit of chaotic magic, he divined the precise number to be five hundred twelve. Rainbow Dash’s guess was closer, so she won the wager.
Fluttershy waited until evening approached, then started packing for the trip. She fed her animals for the last time for the day, making sure that they would be satisfied for a long night without their guardian. Then, she stepped out the doorway to the outside, She shut and locked the door – Equestria had a low crime rate, but one could never be too cautious.
Now she was on the trail leading on to parts unknown. Alone, with only her knowledge of animal behaviour to protect her from the wildlife around her. She was stepping with slow, long strides, hoping that she wouldn’t make it too far into the forest by nightfall and still keep up with her end of the bargain. Hopefully not far from her cottage, so that when Celestia’s morning came to grace the skies of Equestria once more, she can return that much more quickly home.
Something snapped. Her eyes darted. It was to her right – dried wood, very thin, like a small stick. It must have been a squirrel, fleeing from her unannounced presence. She moved on all the same, perhaps a bit more alert than before. What turned out to be a squirrel could very easily have been a Manticore.
Her eyes gazed up, to beyond the treetops. Celestia had begun a long labour of bringing down her most prized possession to the horizon below. Doubtlessly her younger sister shall replace it with the moon – but not now. Now, the sky shimmered forth, with gilded sunrays to a fiery red frame around the golden orb – like a flower that blooms only in the precious light. Red sky at night – Equestrian delight.
A buzzing sound caught Fluttershy’s attention. Turning her head towards its direction, she saw a hornet-nest high up in an elm tree. She noted this sight, in relation to the trail – as dangerous and frightening as it appeared, it was also a useful marker in aiding her home. This, of course, assumed that the nest would still be there when morning came, which was a likely bet, but of course, anything could happen during the night. Once more she resumed her journey.
She followed her eyes onto the Sun. Celestia always, as a rule, lowered it in the west. And this was the direction she took – on the road to the west. She looked northward, past the tree-trunks, and noted that nearby Ponyville was still positively thriving. So was the Everfree, without equine intervention.
Celestia, per the ancient tradition, firmly fixed in place long before Fluttershy was born, continued to lower her Sun over the western horizon, unimpeded by any possible obstacle. The golden rays were starting to fade, while the red frame bled out over where the rays were, melting out into orange against a clear blue sky. At least, the weather in the Everfree decided that day to be clear.
Fluttershy came up on a stream. It wasn’t wide, nor deep, nor running very rapidly. There was no bridge nearby, however – and the load that Fluttershy carried upon her back was too heavy to let her fly.
She’ll have to cross it on hoof.
She looked to the right, then to the left, to find a clear, dry path across the stream. None were apparent; she had to get wet a little in its crossing. She took a breath in, and set her front left hoof firmly upon the first large stone in front of her.
After finding that it did not give way under her, she put her front right hoof onto the next stone. This, too, held steadfast against her and the stream, not budging one bit in any direction. The next stepping stone gave way. Much to her surprise, she plunged into the stream, water coming up to her knees. Her burden was safe, though. She trudged slowly, with short, strong strides against the stream’s strength, struggling to keep straight on course. After a moment in the water, she reached the other bank, and climbed out onto terra firma. With that major obstacle out of the way, she pressed onto her trip.
But now there was no trail; she was wondering onto unexplored territory. She hoped that she wouldn’t harm any small creatures beneath her hoofsteps, creatures that may not be found anywhere else in Equestria. O! how her heart would break were she to do that! She loved them all – from sea to air to land, from wild to domestic, no creature was safe from her motherly embrace.
The skyline was beautiful on fire – heavenly, burning out to the world, the pyre of the day’s events, both good and bad. Fluttershy kept her eyes open, glancing up at this beauty – and that was when she saw it: a rainbow arcing overhead. She felt the ground; it was perfectly dry. Why, then, would a rainbow appear out of naught?
She then realised that this was Rainbow Dash’s working.
Rainbow Dash – the mare to whom Fluttershy lost the wager earlier that day – had flown over her head, leaving behind a chromatic trail – as a way of encouraging Fluttershy, reassuring her that, no matter how daunting the task, how long the gauntlet to run, that it was possible, and that she was able to do it.
Fluttershy found herself in a clearing. She decided that this was the perfect place to set up camp. Even though she could see no sign of civilisation in any direction around her, the rainbow reminded her that she was not alone.
She brought no tent with her, choosing instead to sleep outside, under Luna’s stars. This way, if she needed to flee from danger, there would be no tent in her way. All the same, though, for her comfort, she brought a sleeping bag with her. This was easily set up – loosen a few straps, roll it out, and it was ready.
She looked to the west again, just in time to see the last glimmer of light shine from over the horizon. For a moment, she could have sworn she saw a flash of green from the top – and then nothing, the day’s fire having been extinguished come next morn.
Then she saw the Sun’s nocturnal counterpart – Luna’s Moon, a rare-seen beauty. Pity that most ponies sleep through this artistic presentation. Fluttershy took a brief moment to reflect upon this sight, then tucked herself into her sleeping bag.
With a firm zip, she was secure inside. Fluttershy stared up at the innumerable stars in the sky placed there by Princess Luna herself. She then let herself drift off to sleep, letting the Princess of the Night watch over her, keeping her safe both within and without.

O Princess Luna, Goddess of the Moon,
I beg, guide me across your fair night’s noon
So that I see your sister’s Morning soon.
> Space Lion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I look up, and see a bright, twinkling star.
I watch it, eyes wide open, from afar,
Against the background of the furthest tar.


After a series of uneventful dreams, Fluttershy woke up within the Everfree Forest. It was dark, and cold – so much so, she dared not to leave the cosy confines of her sleeping bag. Instead she elected to watch the forest around her. For such a dangerous place, she reasoned, it wasn’t as bad as her contemporaries had described it. She focused a bit on her breathing – in, out, in, out. She realised that, during the whole time that she was asleep, nothing of great significance occurred to her.
She never before in her life imagined that she could be considered safe – safe! – in the Everfree Forest, where the animals and weather rule over the ponies, instead of vice versa, the way it ought to be. An independent nature could easily find her and do something horrible – unspeakable! – to her. And yet, that hadn’t happened. Not yet, at least. Either they couldn’t find her scent, which was highly improbable, given the nose of a timberwolf, or, amazingly, the local fauna had decided to spare her – a rare gesture of hospitality, it seems.
The air around Fluttershy’s face felt cool – cool enough, in fact, to allow her to unzip her sleeping bag for just a moment, to get up, to walk about aimlessly in Luna’s nocturnal garden, if only for just a moment.
Fluttershy looked up at the starry sky. Day after day, year after year, Luna somehow managed to put each star exactly where they were compared to the previous night. More amazingly still, her elder sister had also maintained their precise placement even during Luna’s banishment to her Moon. Or perhaps Luna was placing the stars still, even when in exile from Equestria. This would certainly explain how they remained constant.
Ponies from generations past have sought patterns to the stars. Some claimed that there is a perfect order among them, some hidden message, some ultimate lesson on life, the universe, and everything. Others were merely contented with concluding that, assuming that such a secret of the stars existed, it was beyond their comprehension, that it was Luna’s and Luna’s only. Princess Luna had stated – multiple times, in fact – that no such order existed, but many ponies believed so firmly that such a pattern existed that entire lifetimes had been wasted searching for it. None of those ponies had anything to show for all their labour, for all their research – it was always all for naught.
The majority of them had to accept a sort of middle ground between a pattern and total chaos among the stars – smaller patterns, forming pictures in the sky. Constellations, they were called. Storytellers weaved fantastic tales about these images, ranging from legendary objects, to fierce creatures, to ponies famed Equestria over, sent on some mighty quest to save his brethren from certain doom. New couples would often lie outside in the grass, and try to spot the constellations that they knew, and point out new ones – often making up new ones altogether.
Even then, some of those ponies – how foolish! – insisted upon some grand plan, a higher scheme among the pictures, hidden by Princess Luna herself, the curator of the night sky. They tried to find new constellations, even a grand constellation among the smaller ones, turning up with nothing notable. Perhaps, it can be reasoned, this was the beauty of Luna’s art – nopony can find a unifying pattern in it; in fact, its chaos was its beauty.
Fluttershy decided to find a constellation for herself, without anypony to aid her – not even her alicorn friend, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, who certainly would have memorised the night sky, and would certainly have pointed out all the constellations officially recognised by the Academy of Sciences of Canterlot.
She searched close to the horizon first, perhaps to catch a glimpse of a constellation almost out of reach of ponies’ prying eyes. She started her gaze to the east, then slowly turned her head around, to the right, to south. Nothing. Barely any stars. She continued to turn, soon facing the west, then the north, then finally back to the east. No constellations. Then, slowly but surely, all while turning around and around, she turned her gaze up to the sky. Her sight followed the stars like a spiral, taking in all the sky around her.
Then she saw a single, twinkling star, in the middle of a sea of black, one that stood out from all the others. A heart, of something, one would imagine. But of what?
Then Fluttershy remembered. It was a constellation that her father showed her, many years ago, when she was very young. There was a story of a creature, large in its stature, who roamed the Everfree long ago, whom everypony feared upon the first sight, even Princess Celestia herself. And yet, this creature had just as great a heart as it did a body, and so it never attacked anypony at all. It taught Fluttershy that, as big as she was when compared to some of her animal friends, she needed not always exercise her strength on them.
This was Leo – the Space Lion.
Then, just like that, all the other stars in the constellation lit up, one after the other, to show the gigantic image in the night sky. A delicate arrangement, in Luna’s flower garden, all blooming in perfect coördination to produce a stunning pattern in the heavens. It was a glorious sight to behold.
In that moment, Fluttershy needed such protection, such assurance, against the Everfree Forest at night. She wondered if it was Luna who lit up those stars like that. Or if it was just the weather in the Everfree, playing tricks on her. She hoped for the former.
Other than that sight, she looked around the forest. What a tranquil, serene place it was at night! Little nightlife to speak of – or perhaps it was simply avoiding her, leaving her alone, so she needn’t worry.
Maybe losing the wager against Rainbow Dash wasn’t so bad after all. She didn’t know what she was missing. Perhaps if she came during the day, the weather could show her fantastic, mysterious beauties that not even Cloudsdale couldn’t match. O, how civilisation would strive to perfect its art, only to see that not only Nature had outdone it, but had made it public domain.
Civilisation prided itself upon order – everything arranged in a meaningful pattern, sometimes useful, but usually just for appearances. Nature, on the other hand, was laissez-faire in its approach, but usually outdid civilisation – there was always some je-ne-sais-quoi about its methods. For a civilisation so used to order, chaos had come to be a seemingly impossible arrangement, even though it was so astonishingly easy to create.
The grass underneath Fluttershy’s hooves had sprung forth, seemingly from naught, in a haphazard nature. And yet, from a distance, high in the heavens, it appeared perfectly uniform. The same could be said of the trees as well – who was to say how they could have left a perfect clearing in the middle of the forest? Even Fluttershy herself – she only possessed enough symmetry to keep her flying perfectly straight in the air. She was by no means perfect.
At this time, she decided that it would most likely be best if she went back to sleep – to the dream realm, where Princess Luna watches and cares for all. But when she turned back to her sleeping bag, she saw that a small, brown rabbit had fallen asleep on her pillow.
Now, Fluttershy needed that pillow. But she didn’t want to disturb that poor, sleepy rabbit in the process. So, when she got to her sleeping bag (very quietly, so as not to disturb it), she carefully turned the pillow so that one half of it was available to her, and the other half can be occupied by the rabbit. A perfect compromise, an unspoken agreement. Success! The rabbit remained asleep, undisturbed by the silent unfoldings. Equally quietly, Fluttershy slipped herself back into her sleeping bag, and, slowly, without a sound, zipped it shut.
As she laid her head down for rest, she imagined what life would be like to have Leo in her household. Perhaps it could be one of the more helpful creatures – but if this were the case, what could it do? Perhaps it was a question to be answered at another time.
She shut her eyes, and, under the protection of the Goddess of the Moon, she dreamed of her familiar home amongst her friends, both bestial and equine.


Let me rest here upon the forest ground,
Until the first Dawn’s light is to be found.
Grant me a darken’d sleep without a sound.
> Elm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Early to bed, early to rise, in case
You’re sudd’nly thrust forth at a breakneck pace
To hasten, flee from this forsaken place.


At last! Celestia had finally cleared out her younger sister’s artwork, and had then adorned the sky with her own masterpieces, especially her pièce-de-résistance, her bright, gilded Sun. Day had begun, and not even the Everfree Forest could mask this.
It was time for Fluttershy to leave.
It took her a moment, once the Sun peeked out from over the treetops, to regain her senses and awaken to a new day. The rabbit that she saw in the middle of the night was gone. Or perhaps it was never there, having been fabricated entirely by her imagination, and she had moved her pillow for naught. Oh well.
As she was rolling up her sleeping bag, she heard a bird-call resonating from someplace nearby. Turning her head, she saw a cardinal perched upon a tree branch, simply sitting there and watching her. To what end?
Fluttershy stopped and tried to speak with the cardinal. It said nothing, and flew off when she advanced towards it. Perhaps it was not so wise to do so; these animals, compared to her contemporaries at home, were truly wild, focusing on surviving and nothing else. Fluttershy finished packing her sleeping bag, tied it securely upon her back, and then set off back to her home.
The sky was not the only thing awakened at this hour. All around her, Fluttershy noted how an instant vernumn had sprung from naught – Persephone had worked her unseen magic upon all the Everfree Forest, turning what once was foreboding place of doom and gloom into a warm abode within which any animal might reside. Trees had produced verdant radiance, and flowers were blooming up from the ground around her. Songbirds sang forth Æolus’s chorus, flying overhead in a myriad ways, and all seemed to fare well for the pegasus.
Not long after she had set off, she came across a stream – the very same stream that she crossed the day before. This time, using her hindsight as a tool, Fluttershy looked for another way across the stream. She found one part of the stream that was shallow enough, and had a few stepping-stones, scattered to make a path across one bank to then next.
It would do quite nicely.
Carefully, Fluttershy laid one hoof upon the first stone. Finding that it did not give way under her weight, she mustered the courage to step into the water, since no stepping-stone was within her reach. It was shallow enough. She felt the water course around her hoof, carrying on as though she were never there. Upon lifting it out, she felt the cool morning breeze; as it brushed past her wet hoof, she felt it cool down. Oddly, she felt at peace.
Crossing the stream the whole way did not take long afterwards. Putting one hoof in front of the other, she found that the stream washed away any anxiety that she may had had when she first entered the forest. By the time she set hoof upon the opposite bank, she felt refreshed, she felt couraged. Nothing could stand in her way.
She looked to her left, and found that Ponyville was also awakened, rising up with Celestia’s Sun, coming back to life after sleeping through the dead of night. Fluttershy would rejoin the lot soon enough.
She then saw a squirrel up in a high tree – watching her, pragmatically, not making a move nor a sound. Fluttershy greeted the squirrel, her voice matching with the wind. The squirrel did not respond. Fluttershy, therefore, disappointed that she got no response, moved on.
Over her head, a bright, vibrant rainbow appeared – one caused wholly by the wild nature of the forest, sans influence from her friend, Rainbow Dash. It served as the Everfree Forest’s way of welcoming her back to Equestrian civilisation, to her home, to her equine and bestial friends. Fluttershy felt humbled by its appearance.
She heard a buzzing sound again. She recognised that sound – up above her, high up in a familiar elm tree, she saw the hornet’s nest still buzzing away madly, as its residents laboured endlessly upon its upkeep. It indicated the trail, as promised, but now she was confused. The trail forked – she did not remember a fork from the day before – and she had no idea whether to take the left or right path.
She took another gamble and turned right.
She continued along the path, looking forward to seeing her home once more. Then she saw a rabbit in the road – a white one this time, not like the (apparently) brown one she spotted the night before. She tried to speak to it, in a voice so soft, so gentle, but it still hopped away when she approached it. Oh well. She pressed on once more, gaining ever closer to home.
Or so she thought.
As she turned at the next bend, she came across a fearsome sight. A creature clad of wood, fangs dripping with tree sap, green glowing eyes poking out from between leaf-rimmed lids. It snarled at Fluttershy, taking one step forward in her direction.
A timberwolf!
Calmly, Fluttershy stood her ground. She had seen timberwolves before; she had dealt with them in the past. This one was alone, surely it wouldn’t be much of a problem. Yes? No?
The timberwolf lunged at Fluttershy, but shied off at the last moment. It did this once more, twice more. Fluttershy knew that it was simply being territorial – naturally, she concluded, she went the wrong direction.
Was she never good at winning gambles?
After a moment of the timberwolf’s steeled gaze, it turned away and walked off. Silently, Fluttershy also turned back, making sure that the timberwolf never heard her.
Back down the path she travelled, looking around, listening around for the buzzing sound that indicated the hornet’s nest high up in the elm tree. It was no easy task – her heightened attention meant that she heard every creak, every crack, and every other small, otherwise easily dismissable noise that made up the Everfree Forest’s ambience. Twice she could have sworn that the timberwolf was tracking her from afar, hoping to land an easy kill. (Such a gruesome fate would never come to pass.)
The rabbit was still near the side of the path, watching her walk along. This time, Fluttershy never communicated with it – both parties, she found, found this arrangement perfectly acceptable.
Not long after – a few minutes later – she heard once more the buzzing hornet’s nest high above her. This time, however, she took the road that was travelled before – the one that, she knew, led right to her cottage’s doorstep.
Then she froze. There was a hornet buzzing around her face. She remained perfectly still, not even batting an eye, standing in the middle of the road, wanting, nay, wishing for the hornet to leave her alone. 
It eventually did, leaving her free to press on back home.
Celestia’s Sun had by now found itself fixed into its present position – Celestia had finished raising it. By most labour calendars in Equestria, this signaled the start of the work day. Be it in Ponyville, Canterlot, or essentially elsewhere, this was the moment all the shops opened, all the businesses started functioning once more – all signalled by this single, millennia-old tradition.
Fluttershy looked to the left – she was nearing her home, and this was where she heard a dry snap as she was entering the forest. Now she heard a quick staccato from a nearby tree – a woodpecker was perched upon the side, pounding through the bark, in hopeful anticipation of a meal in its near future. Breakfast, so to say.
Fluttershy needed some breakfast of her own as well – this thought propelled her back onto the trail. There was a time and a place for everything – this was the Everfree Forest during the early hours of daylight; it was neither the time nor the place to stop and admire the scenery around her. She had to get home, one way or another.
It wasn’t long before this actually happened. Fluttershy was pleased that everything was functioning normally. The tree-carved house was still standing, the ponds were still full of the five hundred twelve (or so) fish, and it appeared that all the animals were fed, surprisingly. Who had done the deed? Fluttershy wanted to know.
The moment that she opened the door, she was greeted enthusiastically by all of her animal friends. Her draconequine friend, Discord, had helped to care for them while she was gone, much to her relief. All seemed to be going well, now that she was back in her château.


Now, having reach’d the end of this long road,
I finally arrive at mine abode.
The steadfast rooster has already crow’d.