It was a nice day in Ponyville. The sun was shining, a gentle breeze went through the fields and the birds were singing their lovely serenades in the trees. It was a perfect day to play outside, maybe read a book while enjoying the sun or just relax doing nothing.
Fluttershy, on the otherhoof, was not having a good day.
Oh, how she would have loved to just go on a picnic with her friends, or maybe play with her animal friends in the sun. Anything, anything other than what she was currently doing. Fluttershy let out a sigh and slowly made her way towards the Everfree forest. The dark, scary, and definitely not nice at all Everfree forest.
Ms. Woodpecker had come to Fluttershy’s cottage this morning in distress. One of her chicks was feeling ill and Fluttershy had agreed to come and take a look. She could have never said no, she loved taking care of animals, big or small. Even if their nest resided in the Everfree. Fluttershy came to a stop at the edge of the tree line and let out another sigh. She pawed at the ground nervously, peering in to the forest. It was slightly darker with the trees blocking some of the light, and it wouldn’t get truly dark unless you went very deep in to the forest. Mr. & Ms. Woodpeckers nest wasn’t too far in, but going any length in to it made Fluttershy feel scared. The Everfree was just too wild, not to mention all the scary monsters.
“You can do this Fluttershy…” She whispered to herself and gulped as she thought she saw something move.
“You need to go and see Ms. and Mr. Woodpeckers chick...you can go home after that…”
She took one more hesitant look around before letting out a small whimper and headed towards their nest.
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“Now remember, don’t eat too much at once and you won’t get anymore tummy aches.” Fluttershy said gently to the chick, who chirped happily in response.
Luckily the only thing that had been bothering the chick was a case of upset stomach, and Fluttershy could easily help her with a few drops of medicine. Fluttershy closed the bottle and glided down to the ground where her saddlebags were. She deposited the bottle inside and flew back up to the nest. The woodpecker parents chirped at her.
“Oh, it was no trouble at all. I’m always happy to help.” She responded and smiled at them happily. Ms. Woodpecker chirped back.
“And you have a very nice day too.” Fluttershy said before floating back down and allowing the parents to tend to their young. She put her saddlebags on with a smile, before starting to trot back to her cottage. Helping animals always made Fluttershy feel warm and happy inside, so she started to hum to herself, momentarily forgetting that she was in the Everfree forest.
“Hmhmhmhmmhmm hmhmhmhmmhmm~”
The pleasant feeling didn’t last for long, however, when Fluttershy heard a twig snap in the distance. She turned her head towards the sound, ears perked up, as she suddenly remembered again where she was. Fluttershy gulped nervously, before increasing her pace slightly. Her ears didn’t seem to know whether to rotate around and listen in case there was something lurking around, or just clamp tightly against her head so that she didn’t have to hear any of the scary sounds she was increasingly aware of. When she saw a hollow tree trunk on the ground, she almost dove in to hide.
“No…I-I’m not going to hide…I’m a b-brave pony…” She mumbled to herself, not seeming to believe her own words as her legs trembled a bit. She increased her pace again, determined to get out of the forest as quickly as possible so that she could go back to her animal friends.
Eventually Fluttershy started to near the edge of the forest and her nervousness lessened. She slowed down to a brisk walk and exhaled slowly. She was almost out of the Everfree forest, and after that there was nothing to be afraid of. There would be no scary monsters to look out for, no shadows that would look like something was hiding from you and no scary noises. Fluttershy even saw a patch of beautiful white, star shaped flowers a little to the side. A smile crept back to her face and she decided to get off from her path to smell them. That, in hindsight, was a terrible idea.
As she lowered her head down to sniff the flower, there was a rustling noise in the bush further away from her. Her ears immediately turned to face the noise, her head snapped up and the smile left her face. She could feel her blood turn cold as she saw something moving behind the large bush. She wanted to flee, but her legs and wings refused to move and Fluttershy could only watch in horror as something moved, turned around, and then began rising from behind the bush. It was something large and green as it slowly seemed to stand up. It was very tall, easily towering over Fluttershy. Even in her fright Fluttershy quickly took notice that the creature itself wasn’t green, but it was wearing green clothes and a hat. It made her slightly calm down for a second, before she noticed that the clothes were green because they were imprinted with a camouflage pattern.
Fluttershy’s panic climbed back up again. Why would a creature wear camouflage in the Everfree forest and hide in a bush? Because it was preying upon for something, or more likely, somepony! Fluttershy’s mouth opened as if to scream, but she was too scared to do even that. The creature stood still for a moment, its head turning slightly. Then it seemed to stop completely.
Oh no…! It noticed me…! Fluttershy thought to herself in absolute terror as the creature slowly turned its head towards her. The creature had a very flat face that was partially hidden under the shadow of its hat. It had a very bushy beard and small eyes that peered around for a second before settling of Fluttershy. Its gaze was enough to break her free on her trance.
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!” Fluttershy screamed loudly (by her standards) before doing a very good impression of Rainbow Dash whenever she was asked to do something lame or boring. That is to say, she flew away incredibly fast, almost leaving behind a pink and yellow trail as she went. Fluttershy didn’t stop until she had gotten out of the Everfree forest, gone all the way back to Ponyville, flown all the way to the library and unfortunately, for Twilight at least, crashed right in to her when she opened the door to go outside.
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The creature was clutching its chest, breathing rapidly and eyes wide in panic. It looked towards the direction the…the thing had suddenly fled with such speed it had almost missed it completely. The creature removed its hat with a trembling hand and fanned itself as it shakily sat down on a large rock.