“Now, Angel, I thought I told you to leave him alone,” a hushed voice scolded. You woke to a series of repeated taps on your chest, and opened your eyes to see a small rabbit staring straight at you, thumping its foot. Instinctively, you raised your hand to brush its ears. The gentle and unexpected touch surprised Angel, who let himself be pet for just a few seconds before snapping out of his trance. He struggled to get out of your grasp and slid onto the floor, hopping towards Fluttershy with an embarrassed expression.
“Good morning, Anon,” her lilting voice called. “I was hoping to get some chores done before you woke up, but it seems Angel was a bit impatient.” You yawned and rubbed your eyes as you sat up on the couch. Fluttershy was busying herself with scooping ash from the fireplace into a bag, while Angel sat at her side, still irritated. It was early dawn, and you could see small glimpses of the sun starting to rise up over the trees through the cottage windows. On the table before you, a tea set and plate full of sliced bread had been prepared.
“Please, help yourself. I already ate.” Before you could wave for her attention, she had already anticipated your request. You reached for the nearly-full cup of tea and took a tentative sip while watching her carry her bag of ash through the front door. The vanilla-scented tea washed over your palate, at just the perfect temperature, and paired nicely with the bread. Fluttershy returned and continued her chores as you ate your breakfast, and you couldn’t help but want to assist her. You didn’t have much else to do, and you had finished your meal pretty quickly. You wandered into the kitchen and found her chatting with a couple squirrels on the counter by the stove. All three stopped and looked at you for a moment, then nodded to one another. The squirrels bolted off of the counter and began inspecting the baseboards, taking any stray dustball or piece of litter to the garbage can in the corner.
“These little guys broke into their food storage last week, and ate so much, they gave themselves tummyaches,” Fluttershy explained, watching them happily. “I thought it was appropriate that they help me clean the cottage, as punishment for making me go out and get more food for them.” You smiled a bit as you and Fluttershy both observed their careful cleaning, and waved for her attention. You pointed at yourself, then made a small sweeping motion with one hand while holding an imaginary dustpan in the other. Can I help clean?
“Do you… want to clean, too? Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to do that, you’re a guest here.” she assured, shaking your head. Mildly frustrated with her kindness, you tapped on your wrist. Seeing her blank expression, you then pointed towards the clock in the other room and made a small wave with your other hand. But for how long?
“Time… oh, you have a point. We don’t know how long you’ll be a guest, after all. Oh!” Fluttershy’s wings ruffled a bit as she was struck by inspiration. “Wait here a moment, please.” She quickly trotted past you and up the stairs in the living room. You took the opportunity to sit in one of the chairs nearby and watched the doorway patiently. Roughly a minute passed before you saw her pink mane bobbing down the stairs, and you noticed what looked like a tiny whiteboard was clutched firmly between her lips. She placed it gently in your lap, and retrieved a marker off the counter next to her fridge, which she offered to your hand. You took the tiny tool from her mouth, resisting the urge to scratch her chin as she dropped it into your palm.
“This is a board I used when I taught Angel how to read. Even if you don’t know how to write, Anon, you can at least use it to draw what you have to say, instead of acting it out all the time,” Fluttershy explained, giggling a bit. “Although I do appreciate your acting skills.” You picked up the whiteboard in your hand; it couldn’t have been bigger than an index card, and the marker was barely bigger than one of your fingers. You pulled the cap off and drew a small squiggle. Fluttershy guided your hand onto the board with a hoof, erasing part of the squiggle. Unfortunately, it left a mark on the side of your hand, which Fluttershy immediately started fretting over. You sat and watched, amused, as she tried to rub the mark off, to no avail. She unthinkingly licked the tip of her hoof and washed the mark away, and, after a delay, turned her head away suddenly.
“S-sorry, I’m a bit too used to doing that, you know, with the other animals,” she stuttered. You waved her off with a grin. Seeing the more motherly side of Fluttershy wasn’t a burden; you actually enjoyed seeing how much she cared. You searched around and noticed a stack of paper napkins on the table beside you, some of which you grabbed and stuffed into your pocket for later. You snatched another off the stack, cleared the board in a single wipe, and expertly tossed it into the trash can. Fluttershy, her composure now returned, motioned towards a second door in the kitchen that led outside.
“If you still want to help, you can come out to the garden.” You gave a stalwart salute as you stood up from your chair, earning a giggle from Fluttershy. You slid the whiteboard and marker into your pocket, and headed towards the door with the yellow pegasus.
You were completely stunned by what she considered a 'garden' when you stepped out of the door. There were countless flowerbeds, shrubs, and trees of many kinds behind her cottage, and you were surprised you hadn’t noticed them when you both arrived the previous night. She continued walking, stopping occasionally to observe a passing butterfly or to speak with an approaching bird; you followed her, dragging your jaw along the ground behind you. Seeing Fluttershy’s slow take-off in front of you snapped you to attention, and she motioned for you to follow her past a particularly large thicket. Pushing the dense brush out of your way, you saw a wide assortment of woodland creatures--mostly squirrels, chipmunks, and birds--gathered around a fallen tree. They were all chattering to one another in distress as they moved to and fro around the trunk of the tree. Fluttershy cleared her throat to speak, and the chatter ended in an instant. You watched from the thicket as she instructed them on where they could find shelter and offered her home for those who could not.
“And I’ve brought some help, too. Anon, could you come out please?” Right on queue, you stepped out into the clearing, fearful of the reactions you might get. Yet, none of the animals seemed fazed by you. A chipmunk or two approached you as you walked forward, but all of them viewed you about as neutrally as you did.
“Anon, the first step we’re going to take is retrieving the birds’ nests from the branches of this tree. The ones that haven’t been crushed under the branches can be re-used or given back to their rightful owners.” She turned her head to you and stared at your left hand. “And I bet with your... whatever those are, you could get to the nests much easier than me. Here, take a look.”
Fluttershy led you to the top of the tree, and directed you to look inside the branches. Behind the leaves, a grassy nest sat squarely in the fork of a branch. You reached in and delicately cupped the nest in your palm, careful not to crush it as you pulled your arm back. Beside you, a robin began chattering excitedly, and hopped onto your shoulder. You flinched for a moment, but only just a moment, and felt a little proud of yourself. You handed the nest gingerly to Fluttershy, who took it in her hoof and flew up to the trees nearby. After scanning the area, she nestled it in between a couple branches, and the robin on your shoulder took off for its new home.
“Well done, Anon. You can take the nests and set them on the ground beside you. Those of you who recognize your nests,” she directed, now speaking to the animals again. “Please sit or stand by them when Anon takes them out, and no fighting; be honest.” A quiet cacophony of chittering was your signal to continue.
“I’ll be helping some of the other animals that don’t have nests find somewhere new to live nearby. If you need anything just- um…” Fluttershy said, stumbling over her thought. She was still getting used to your inability to speak clearly, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t make noise. You waved your hand to get her attention, and then clapped your hands loudly. So loudly, in fact, that you startled not only Fluttershy and the animals before you, but likely every creature with a sense of hearing within a few square miles, above ground or otherwise.
“C-clapping is a good idea and all, but... m-maybe not that loud?” You looked up from your hands to see her peeking out from behind the tree trunk, as well as all the animals that had gathered there. You nodded quickly with a bashful smile, and got down on your knees by the tree branches. One by one, the animals followed Fluttershy back out into the open, and followed her as she flew into the trees to look for new homes. As minutes passed, you managed to retrieve several nests from the mess of branches and leaves, using as little force as possible to dislodge them. Your arms got scratched here and there, but there were no real cuts to worry about. Occasionally, a bird or critter would approach you and give its unintelligible thanks, and wait patiently for Fluttershy to return. You enjoyed their company, and imagined that a life like this was certainly worth living; to help wild creatures in their time of need was refreshing and something to be proud of, you were certain of that.
Once you were convinced you had removed all of the intact nests, you sat back, leaning on your hands, and watched Fluttershy. The way her mane flowed through the wind, the tranquil, almost noiseless beats of her wings on the air as she passed, the lilt of her voice as she called to the creatures of the forest- everything about her was enchanting. The fact that this kind of work was something she did for free and of her own volition was admirable; to you, she seemed like a paragon of kindness, and you felt… grateful? That wasn’t the right word. You honestly couldn’t think of the right word to describe how you felt, nor to describe that tightening feeling you had in your chest, much like the night before. You were sure it wasn’t illness--it didn’t hurt--and as the gears turned inside your head, unheard of conclusions sprang forth. Were you… falling for a pony? You shook your head and slapped your face. No, that’s not possible, you thought. Were you starting to lose it, already? For sure, Fluttershy, as a living being, was beautiful both in heart and in form, but there was no way that you were developing a crush on her. You both had only just met, and definitely not by any circumstances either of you had anticipated. Although, with how she was acting on the couch before, if she had been human…
“Great job, Anon!” Fluttershy announced, patting you on the back. You yelped in surprise and jumped, taken aback. Fluttershy, surprisingly enough, didn’t react in kind, and looked at you in concern instead. “Are you alright? I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to tell you what a good job you did today.” You sat upright, and returned her kind smile. You pulled out your whiteboard and marker, and drew your best impression of a happy bird sitting in a nest, complete with little hearts above its head. You turned the board towards Fluttershy with a thumbs-up.
“That’s very nice. I’m glad you enjoyed helping,” she chuckled. “Now we just need to deal with the tree itself.” You thought back to the moment before, when you clapped loudly, and even further back when you came rocketing out of that cave. You were much stronger than you anticipated, perhaps you could move the tree for her. You tugged one of the napkins from your pocket and cleaned the board, making sure to put it back into your other pocket to avoid littering. A few more doodles with the marker, and you turned the board to show Fluttershy the illustration of a dashed line coming from the tree, ending in a question mark. Where do you want the tree to go? She squinted at the whiteboard for a couple seconds as she figured out your message.
“The tree… where should it be moved? Well, I was thinking of setting it out front for some ponies to pick up, but-” Fluttershy answered, stopping when she saw you get up and move to grip the trunk. “Oh, that tree is much too heavy… for... you…” Fluttershy’s voice trailed off as you hurled the tree up onto your shoulder, branches behind you. It was considerably larger than you, and your arms weren’t anywhere near long enough to wrap around the trunk to stabilize it, but if you held it with one hand and kept the other gripped to one of its thick roots, you could maintain its balance. You were as surprised as she was, but held what you thought was a tough-looking poker face. The bark dug into your skin through your shirt, but the weight of the tree was nowhere near as burdensome as it appeared. You took a brief moment to slowly wave one hand out in front of you, gesturing for Fluttershy to lead the way.
“Oh. Uh, this way, please,” she stammered, awestruck. The two of you headed back past the thicket, and you moved carefully as to not take down any branches or bushes as you carried it along. Thankfully, your trip wasn’t terribly long; as you approached the front of the cottage, you could feel sweat beading on your forehead.
“Hey! Look out!” You recognized the voice that called out, and turned to see Twilight crossing the bridge towards you and Fluttershy. Her tone and expression, however, were definitely not pleased. “Fluttershy, look out behind you!”
“What?” You and Fluttershy exchanged glances and searched behind you for the problem. You felt your head forcibly turned back towards Twilight, who was levitating something out of her saddlebag towards you quickly. A tingling sensation spread from your neck throughout your body as you felt it wrap around your throat, and suddenly your muscles started to go numb. Instinctively, you tossed the tree aside into the creek to avoid dropping it on a very startled Fluttershy, before falling to the ground. The impact didn’t hurt, but you were unable to move the moment you hit the dirt.
“I knew you couldn’t be trusted. I’m glad Celestia sent me here,” Twilight growled, glaring down at you. She then turned to Fluttershy, horn still aglow, with a look of worry. “Didn’t you see him behind you with that tree?”
“Yes, he was carrying it for me before you showed up,” Fluttershy explained, no longer scared and her tone sharpening.
“Wait, for you? You mean he was helping you?” Twilight watched as Fluttershy began to fret over you, gently prodding your body and face.
“Yes! What did you do to him? Is he… d-” Fluttershy’s voice choked up for a second, and you gave a garbled mumble of reassurance. “Anon? Was that you?”
“Yes, he’s fine, Fluttershy. That choker I put on him lets me observe and completely disable his movement, in case he started attacking somepony,” Twilight replied, rubbing the back of her head. “Kinda like how I thought he was just now. Sorry- both of you.” The glowing around Twilight’s head dissipated, and you felt the numbness drain from your body. You reached for the choker hesitantly, worried she might use it again, but you could see genuine regret in her eyes, if only a small amount. The band in your fingers felt much like leather, and just over your throat sat a large gemstone.
“Why would he- why would YOU need this? Couldn’t you just use your magic to stop him completely, so he doesn’t accidentally drop things on ponies or cause other trouble?” Fluttershy argued, pointing towards the tree. She had a point, if your memory served right.
“Not according to Celestia. She told me last night that humans have the ability to dispel magic, if they’re strong enough. They absorb the latent magic here, and are much stronger than ponies, including me. That single time yesterday was probably just luck.” Twilight approached you and magically unlatched the choker from your neck, and floated it over to Fluttershy.
“You’re giving it to me?” Fluttershy asked, shifting her wings a bit as the choker laid itself over her back.
“Yes. Celestia said that if Anon was willing to cooperate with you, it would be your choice to put it on him or not. Luna and I suggested that he wear it at all times, regardless, but we trust your judgement.”
“Could you, maybe, try trusting his? He’s not had much of a say in any of this,” Fluttershy challenged. “No offense.” You waved her remark off. None taken.
“He’s barely been here for a day. I think the princesses will need more time to figure that out for themselves. For now, though, the necklace will let me know if anything goes wrong.”
“Oh, and here, take this,” Twilight said, levitating a large, thin book over to you. “This is a book for Fluttershy, about humans. Some of that information might be incorrect, and we’d like the two of you to go over it and correct it. If that idol summons another human again, we want to be prepared.”
You opened the book and thumbed through a few pages, all of which were written in clean, neat English text. ‘Diet’ and ‘Anatomy’ were two subjects that definitely made you uncomfortable, among others. Twilight noticed your expression and cleared her throat.
“While you might not find all of the subjects favorable, we need this information, Anon. I hope it’s not too much an invasion of privacy.”
“What kind of subjects do you mean?” Fluttershy inquired, curious.
“Oh, you know, how humans are omnivores, what their anatomy is like, how they ma-”
You waved your arms in front of Twilight in a panic, successfully interrupting her. She gave you a sly grin, and you legitimately questioned if she had telepathic abilities. Given your situation, you wanted to take this slowly, and as mature and appropriate as possible. You imagined that Fluttershy was well aware of ‘the birds and the bees’ for the animals in the forest, but you weren’t quite prepared to deal with that conversation yet, when it regarded you.
“Anyway, what were you two moving this tree out here for?” Twilight asked, changing the subject.
“It fell after that storm a couple days ago. I wasn’t able to take care of it yesterday, but Anon here helped take the nests out of it for me and even carried the tree out here. I was going to leave it for some earth ponies to take back to town so it could be used, but when I saw you, I remembered that nopony’s supposed to be out here.”
You rubbed the back of your head as Fluttershy continued to explain the morning’s events. Life would have been easier if other ponies were like her, or at least like the animals in the forest. Instead, they were just as judgemental and wary as humans. That choker Twilight laid across Fluttershy’s back was proof enough. You pondered for a moment over it- would she actually put it on you? It’s not like you both didn’t have some semblance of trust already, but you weren’t entirely sure.
“Well, I think that it’s fine to leave the tree out here for now. Maybe Anon could make something out of it?” Fluttershy suggested as Twilight levitated the dead tree back onto dry ground. The yellow pegasus looked up towards you hopefully. “There are plenty of birds that could use new houses, after all.” You whipped out your whiteboard and drew a rather fancy-looking birdhouse with three tiers and displayed it proudly. In all honesty, you had no idea how to make it, nor did you have the tools, but the drawing managed to impress Twilight, at least.
“I guess it’s a good thing you’re both on the same page, then. I’ll leave you to it,” she replied, now smiling. “Be sure to get that book back to me sometime this week, okay?”
“Of course. Take care!” You and Fluttershy both waved Twilight off as she headed back towards town. “I think it’s a good time to head inside and cool off, don’t you?” You nodded in agreement, fanning yourself with Twilight’s book.
Inside the cottage, you waited patiently on the couch as Fluttershy prepared food for the two of you. She emerged from the kitchen carrying a plate of shortcakes and strawberries. While you appreciated the gesture, you questioned whether or not it actually counted as a meal. Glancing back over the pages of the book in your hands, you affirmed that eating only bread and sweets would eventually end up doing more harm than good. Fluttershy set the plate down on the table and seated herself next to you, craning her neck to see the pages. You were tempted to pull the book away, but you knew that you couldn’t hide the truth forever. Not to mention, Twilight had already mentioned about human dietary habits, so it you couldn’t make it any worse. You sat the book in your hands on the couch between the two of you, and waited quietly as she hummed to herself while reading.
“So humans are omnivorous, hm?” Fluttershy mumbled over a piece of cake. She bent forward and looked you directly in the eyes, observing your reaction. She nodded sagely and patted your hand.
“I help take care of all kinds of animals, Anon. If you need meat in your diet, I’m not going to be bothered by it, but ponies aren’t exactly the best hunters,” she continued as she returned to the book. After thinking for a few seconds, you figured you could go without, for Fluttershy’s sake. After what you witnessed earlier that morning, you couldn’t imagine Fluttershy attempting to catch any animal for eating, let alone what would follow their capture. You slid the whiteboard out of your pocket again and began to convey your thoughts to her.
“Wow, you’re really making use of that whiteboard already, Anon,” she marveled with her usual smile. “I’m happy to see that it’s helping you say what’s on your mind. What is it?”
On the board, you had doodled some cartoonish-looking cuts of meat and fish, with a large X on top. Beside them were some lumpy drawings of nuts, grains, and beans. You pointed at the drawings, then to the triangular graph in the book. You knew that, while animals needed protein, there were plenty of vegetarian-friendly options to choose from. If the ponies here were anything like humans as evidence would show, you had assumed that some alternatives existed.
“You don’t want to eat meat? But the book says…” Fluttershy hesitated, and stopped to think, before looking at the book, and then you. “What the book says can be wrong. It’s our job to fix it.” She gently took the marker out of your hand with her teeth and scribbled out the area of the triangle containing meats, and drew a tiny smiley face next to it. The toothy grin she gave you would have given you a heart attack, if you weren’t already becoming accustomed to it. She laid down on her stomach and set the marker down next to you.
“Okay, what’s next?” she asked, sounding much more motivated. You grabbed a shortcake off of the plate and thumbed to the table of contents page. You watched Fluttershy read out of the corner of your eye, and eventually noticed that her eyes were not moving down the page. Instead, they were transfixed on your fingers. She looked up at you for a second and inhaled sharply, seeming to realize that she had been staring. You chuckled, and ran your index finger along the different subjects, less concerned with the order than you were about the content. Fluttershy’s ears twitched as you quickly skimmed past ‘Anatomy’; surely, she didn’t have the same concerns you had? Fighting the redness in your cheeks, you stopped on ‘Attire.’ You turned to the appropriate page, and struggled to stifle your laughter. The tattered rags and pelts that the figures in the book wore were fairly detailed, but you knew for a fact that a lot longer than centuries or even millennia had passed since humans had adorn them.
“This doesn’t even look like you!” Fluttershy exclaimed airily, also trying not to laugh. It was true- the men depicted were much bulkier, hairier, and more fearsome than you. You did realize, though, that millions of years ago on Earth had only been centuries for this world, Equestria. Humans were drastically different back then, and you could only imagine what Celestia’s reaction might have been had a prehistoric human tried to hunt her down.
“So this is what humans looked like hundreds of years ago?” You shook your head, and Fluttershy’s expression twisted in confusion. “Wait, no? Celestia had said that the last humans had come about that time. What do you mean?”
On the whiteboard, you drew a short horizontal line, capped with vertical bars at each end, and underneath it drew a similar line, but much, much longer. You pointed at the clock, then the short line, and finally to Fluttershy. She watched your finger closely as you pointed at the longer line and then to yourself. She scrunched her face cutely as she looked back and forth between you, the board, and the clock.
“Um… time… mine is shorter… Oh!” she gasped, turning to you excitedly. “Is this human from before hundreds of years ago?” Impressed, you ruffled her mane with a grin, inwardly pleased that she accepted it without complaint.
“How long ago was that, then?” Fluttershy asked. Her eyes were brimming with curiosity. You moved to put down a number, only to freeze up on approaching the board. You quickly flipped back to the table of contents, but you couldn’t even manage to put two-and-two together to write the number down.
“Here, I’ll write down 1,000, and I’ll keep adding zeros until you tell me to stop. Does that sound good?” she suggested, taking the marker from you. 1, 10, 100, and finally 1,000 appeared on the board, and she looked up to you patiently. You nodded, and she drew another zero. 10,000. Another nod, another zero. The pain gripping your head made it difficult to focus on the number of zeros she had drawn out, until you closed your eyes and tapped on her shoulder to stop. You took a few deep breaths to clear your head, and the pain subsided once again. Fluttershy didn’t look as concerned as she had the last time, but you could tell that it still bothered her. You gave her a weak thumbs-up, and pointed back to the whiteboard.
“That’s… 10 million years? Really?” You didn’t actually know, and just shrugged, hoping she would get the message.
“Kinda close?” she sighed. “Maybe we should take a break from the book, I don’t want you to hurt yourself more than you have to.” You acquiesced, setting the book down beside the plate on the table. Although Twilight had urged you to read and correct the notes quickly, you were unsure of how much you could tolerate at a time. As you reached for another shortcake, the choker Twilight had brought caught your eye. You hadn’t really considered what to do about it, and you thought it was likely that Fluttershy hadn’t either.
You grasped the gemstone in your palm and ran your finger across the cold, chiseled surface. There didn’t seem to be anything special about it, and it didn’t physically hurt to wear it, but to you it was a symbol of distrust. The princesses didn’t know anything about you, and they were more than willing to force you into submission if necessary. Yet, they instead trusted its power to Fluttershy, a pony you were certain wouldn’t harm anyone or anything if at all possible. Not that she could actually use it, though, as a pegasus. Twilight had made it clear that she could use it whenever and wherever she wanted to ‘observe your movements,’ and you didn’t doubt that she could immobilize you with it if she thought Fluttershy was in danger. You turned to look at the yellow pegasus, who had been watching you examine the trinket. She cleared her throat, and looked around slowly, likely thinking of something to say.
“Anon, I… I think it might be a good idea to wear that, just for now,” she mumbled, avoiding your gaze. You were taken aback by her words, and your stomach tightened. You couldn’t reply, and just sat there, dumbfounded. Did she really think the same way about you as they did, after all?
“Before you take it the wrong way, please hear me out,” Fluttershy pleaded. “It’s not that I’m scared of you or anything. Quite the opposite, actually; you’re one of the nicest animals, er, humans I’ve ever met. Well, actually, you’re the only human I’ve met- but that’s not the point!” She was sitting up now, looking you dead in your eyes, searching for a sign that you would listen. You exhaled deeply, and motioned for her to continue.
“What I’m saying is, wear it for Twilight, and the princesses. If they can see what you do and how you act for themselves, then you’re sure to show them that you can be trusted.” As much as you hated to admit it, Fluttershy made a good point. If you were to prove them wrong in their hasty judgements of you--based on your unbelievably long-lost ancestors--they would likely start treating you with more respect, to start. You would be able to live with and help Fluttershy with fewer worries- a thought that kindled a small flame in your heart.
“I know they’ll never have to use it on you, Anon. You might be unimaginably strong,“ she continued, putting her hoof gently on your shoulder. “But you showed me today that you can also be gentle and kind when you need to be. All you need to do is show them that, too. Please.”
You clenched the choker in hesitation and stared her down, scanning for any signs of doubt or uncertainty in her face. Instead, you only saw determination. Without breaking eye contact, you took the band behind your head and attached the clasps together, ensuring that there was still breathing room between it and your neck. The gemstone sat squarely in the center of your throat, and you took a deep breath and exhaled. She let her hoof gently return to her side and laid back down, looking out towards the wall, deep in thought. You were surprised when you felt her head nestle up to the side of your thigh. You rested your hand on her head as you had before, unsure of how she would respond this time. Her quiet sigh of approval set you at ease, and let your fingers drift back and forth through her hair at a snail’s pace. You leaned back into the couch and continued to feel her hair, focusing on nothing else but the moment. Any doubts you may have had about her previously, and those of Twilight, Celestia, and the other ponies, would eventually fade with time. You felt certain of that.