//------------------------------// // You're New To Equestria, Arent'cha? // Story: One Wrong Turn // by A Wild Magikarp //------------------------------// It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, flowers where blooming. On day's like these, Fluttershy could think of nothing she would rather do than tend to her animals and soak in the wonderful midday sun. She hummed a nameless tune as she went about her day, a sprinkling of birdseed for the bluejays, some fish for the otter family, and so on. Each gave their thanks to her in turn, and she returned it with a warm smile and a gentle nod. A wonderful day indeed. Nothing could ruin this perfect tranquility. *POP* "Waaa-OOF!" The perfect tranquility of the moment was cut short by a startled cry, immediately followed by the sound of a sudden impact. Fluttershy jumped with a yelp of surprise, bolting behind the small bale of hay she had just delivered to her goat friend. Chester himself seemed uninterested in the noise, very nearly taking a bite of her tail as she peaked out from behind his lunch. The rest of the animals had reacted similarly to her at the noise, but after a moment of inactivity, decided it was nothing of importance, and carried on with their meals. Fluttershy on the other hoof did not move from her hiding spot for several more long seconds, her nervous gaze never leaving the corner of her house around which the sudden disturbance had come from. It was not till another noise came to her ears that she made any movement to investigate. "Oooh... Ouch..." Fluttershy let herself relax a little at that. That was not the sound of a scary monster, or a grumpy pony. That sounded like a foal, and a hurt one at that. Perhaps one of the pegesi students from the school had had a rough landing coming to her with questions? Her fear forgotten at the thought of somepony injuring themselves on her property, the yellow mare quickly got up and trotted her way around the house to investigate. What she saw there surprised her. It was not a pegasus, nor indeed any species that she could say was currently attending the school. Instead what lay in her flowerbed was a small, bipedal creature. It did not have much exposed skin to speak of, wearing many pieces of clothing, but from what she could see it was largely hairless, its skin a warm tan color. The exception to that was the long brown mane sitting atop its head, obscuring the rest of its face as it lay face first in the daisies. She confirmed with herself that it was indeed not a creature she had ever seen before, but something about it was familiar to her. Perhaps she had read about it somewhere, or heard of it from some-... "Human," she said quietly, remembering Twilight's description of the strange creatures from beyond the magic mirror in her castle. She had talked in enough detail about them that Fluttershy was now confident that was what this was. A human child had apparently fallen from the sky into her front lawn! The sound of her voice apparently roused the small child from its stupor as it gave another small groan, moving its arms under it to lift itself from the flowerbed. "M... Mom?" It asked quietly, its eyes still closed as it shook its head free of bright yellow petals. "Mom what happened to-" Finally opening their eyes, the human child greeted Fluttershy with rich, expressive brown eyes. There was also a small cut on their cheek, a small amount of blood dripping from it. Immediately their eyes widened and they sat up on their knees in surprise at the pony standing before them, very obviously not the parent they thought they where talking to. The worry in those eyes brought Fluttershy back to the present, and she slowly approached the fallen child. "Oh, you've fallen down, haven't you?" The child's eyes widened even further at that, as if it had not expected her to talk. 'Of course,' Fluttershy thought. 'I'f I haven't seen a human before, it's entirely possible they have never seen a pony before. But where did they come from then?' "W-What kind of monster are you?" The child asked quietly, causing Fluttershy to recoil in surprise. Monster? What their something monstrous about her appearance to them? She hadn't meant to scare them! She hid herself slightly behind her mane as she one had oft done not so long ago. "I-I'm not a monster, I'm a pony. Have... Have you never meet a pony before?" The shook their head. "That's okay, I've never meet a human before either. I have friends that have before though. I'm sorry that I scared you..." The child's face brightened at that, grinning up at her and shaking their head slightly. "Oh no, you didn't scare me, I just... I wasn't expecting to meet anyone today." "Then... then if I didn't scare you, why did you call me a... a monster?" Her companion cocked their head, confused. "Yyyou mean your NOT a monster? Aren't pony's a type of monster?" "N-No... at least, I don't think so..." The two took a moment just to look at each other, taking in the moment and trying to process what was happening. The blood dripping from the child's cut had now reached their chin, and Fluttershy's wings shifted nervously at the sight of it. "Oh dear. We should probably get that cleaned up before it gets infected. I have bandages inside we could cover it with as well. Would... would you mind coming in so I can work on it? You can tell me how you got here while I do." The human's grin broadened into a full smile at that, and they nodded, standing up to their full height to follow inside. They could only be slightly taller than Spike, perhaps Smolders size. "Thank you miss... Um..." "Oh, I'm sorry, I never introduced myself." Fluttershy reached her hoof out, familiar with how dragons and other digit-ed creatures would greet each other. "My name is Fluttershy." Quickly brushing some stray petals off their blue and purple striped sweater, the human child took the offered hoof, the smile never leaving their face. "My name is Frisk!"