Present Day
Arthur POV:
As we walked through the halls towards the courtyard, I could hear Queen Night Star muttering to herself, seemingly to encourage herself of the encounter.I stopped my movement as I moved my free arm to pat her on the head. She looked up at me with surprise, stopping her muttering as I made a buzzing sound akin to an encouragement since she had the materials for me to write. She smiled at me in return as she looked forward with greater determination.
I continued my pace as we soon exit the halls and into the courtyard to see both manticores there waiting, the little one playing with some leaves of a nearby plant. What I quickly noticed was that the mother manticore’s bandages were changed, as they were white medical bandages rather than the orange makeshift cloth I had used from ripping a tapestry. I let out a “Buzz” to get their attention.
Both quickly noticed me from the noise as the mother let out a soft mew, while the cub stopped playing with the leaves and quickly rushed to me and started to run through my four legs in playfulness. I let out a soft chuckle as the cub pawed one of my knees soon afterwards. I bent down slowly to pet them while also making sure Queen Night Star didn’t fall off my other shoulder.
She used this time to make herself noticeable as she waved to the cub with one of her free legs. The cub looked at her with surprise while I was petting them. However the mother also saw her and looked a bit worried for a moment before the Queen crawled to my other side,( which I shuddered slightly to the feeling, she’s a spider after all) down my arm that was petting them, and booped them on the nose. The cub looked at their nose before letting out a cute sneeze. I had to grab my chest as I was overwhelmed by the cuteness to the point of a near heart attack. ’So goddamn cute! I don’t care about the scorpion tail anymore, this cub is the cutest thing in the world!’
While I was having a heart attack of cuteness, the cub looked back at the Queen before rubbing against her and purring. This calmed the mother but also led another into a cuteness overload.
“OhmyGodthiscubiscutenessincarnate!IfeellikeIvebeenBlessedbytheGods!!”She cried out in joy, as I snapped out of my own cuteness overload.
She quickly set down the writing materials that she had on her legs to the ground as she continued to boop the nose of the cub, while the cub enjoyed each boop, making a small cute face each time, leading her into another cuteness overload after another. I chuckled again knowing I’ll use this moment later as blackmail. I decided to use the distraction to walk closer to the mother. She looked at me when she noticed I was getting closer and moved towards me in response. I raised my hand to pet her on the head to try to be friendly as she happily responded by lowering her head. My hand rubbed her mane as I felt her soft fur as she purred by the action.
“I know you won’t be able to understand me, but I’m happy you two came back ok, I was really worried about you two after that incident.” I said with a gentle tone. While the Mother still looked confused as to what I said, she still gave a small smile, either in understanding my tone, or by the petting I still gave.
Soon after she smiled, I heard a small gasp in the bushes behind her as I quickly remembered that there still was the Pegasus mare that was watching us from what the Queen’s guard reported earlier.
Before I could do anything to try to communicate with the Pegasus in hiding, the mother manticore moved away from my hand and made a mewing sound. I was confused at first as to why she was not hostile to the noise until the mare slowly walked out of the bushes. What surprised me even more was that she didn’t look at me or the manticore in fear like I had expected, but in astonishment. Her eyes mainly focused on me as she looked at me in wonder. She continued to step closer to both myself and the manticore until she was just a few feet away from us.
Then she spoke.
Earlier…
Fluttershy POV:
She trotted alongside the cub and his mother as they passed through forestry towards the castle. She was both excited and scared of the upcoming encounter, as even through reading her many animal books at home, she couldn’t find any information about the creature that Ms. Manticore spoke of. Earlier when she returned to the cave she found both Ms. Manticore and Little Cub were getting ready for the meet-up that the cub was promised.
She was slightly embarrassed by the fact that she came more earlier than she expected but took it as her own excitement on coming along. ’Im so excited and nervous that I simply can’t help myself! It could be a brand new species! I wonder what they eat? What can they do? Are they dangerous? ‘ she thought to herself as she thought about the topic. She was so caught up she nearly bumped into Ms. Manticore.
She let out an ”eep!” as she lost her focus for a moment as to why they stopped. Ms. Manticore looked back at her to see if she was ok before looking back forward.
”We have arrived Ms. Fluttershy, this was the place we met the creature.” she spoke up as Fluttershy looked at the castle in astonishment.
She heard tales from the other creatures she took care of about the castle, but no words could compare to describe the beauty the old ruins still held. Even after years of degradation it still held tall. She was quickly removed from her amazement by Little Cub when he spoke up.
”Can we call it now? I can’t wait!”
”Of course dear, but first I need to ask Ms. Fluttershy something first.” She replied before she looked down to her. ” Do you wish to wait here until we make sure that the creature still is here, or would you like to join us? You can hide here if you’re not ready.”
Fluttershy thought for a moment, her excitement losing towards the fear of this creature being hostile to her and the unknown questions about it. “I-I’ll stay here until it’s safe, thank you for considering my safety Ms. Manticore.” She replied after a short bit.
Ms. Manticore smiled before stating,” Anything for a friend like yourself Ms. Fluttershy. Wait here, it should not take long if things go right.”
She walked alongside her cub, as they entered into the courtyard of the ruins, before Ms. Manticore ROARED loudly to call the creature if it lived here. Fluttershy waited for any signs of the creature, but after 5 minutes of no sign, Ms. Manticore was about to call it a day and return back towards the bushes. Even Little Cub got distracted by some leaves that laid nearby. However, as Ms. Manticore was about to call her cub back to leave, they heard a STOMP in the distance inside the castle, soon followed by more. The noise grew closer and closer as Fluttershy got more nervous.
It’s silhouette appeared through the doorway as it finally stepped into the sunlight. It’s red body glistened and shinned as fluids inside it’s body bubbled as it looked around. Fluttershy was at loss of words. It was massive, with muscles covering its body as it’s large stinger on its face(?) was nearly as long as herself. It held its head high in confidence as it inspected the area and spotting both manticores. From the distance she could see on its shoulder there was a large Star Spider, carrying some items as the large creature played with the cub, he having noticed its appearance and going around its body.
The large insectoid made a buzz akin to a chuckle as it lowered its companion, and within a few moments the two were playing with each other cutely. She covered her mouth with her hoof to hide her giggles when she understood what the Star Spider said as she screamed in joy.
She quickly paid attention to the creature’s actions as it walked on its four legs towards Ms. Manticore and began to pet her with its appendage. Then she heard it speak in a gentle tone, however was shocked to hear what it, or rather he said.
”Heiakdbie sidbeiahdbe aidbeia udbeoq iebridjwbe rushdie nahdie, heidhjebs sjdbwidb wishehwb ihede uehsie “
She couldn’t understand him. She could hear his tone, as his voice showed his gender, but she couldn’t understand what he said. It sounded like gibberish being spoken underwater. She gasped as she quickly covered her mouth as to not be heard, but it was too late. The Creature looked towards the bushes where she was at; as if he knew she was there to begin with. She was about to flee in fear that he knew where she was at when Ms. Manticore spoke to her, having shifted her head to look in her direction.
”Its ok Ms. Fluttershy, it doesn’t seem to be hostile to you, in fact, I suspect it knew where you were at to begin with. Why not introduce yourself?”
Fluttershy put on her brave face as she stood up and walked out of the bushes towards them. As she got closer she could only gaze in amazement at how large he stood. Every step she got closer she had to look more up to see his head until she was right in front of him. She could tell that he stood 5 feet above her in height and looked surprised to see her based on how his eyes widen. She used this chance to speak to him for the first time.
”U-um hello Mr. Creature, I-oh I shouldn’t call you that since I haven’t gotten your name…..oh, My name is F-Fluttershy, it’s very nice to meet you.” She spoke nervously, still cautious about him now that she is in front of him. The creature stood still for a few moments, before moving his arm to snap his claws(?) at his companion.
His companion took notice and looked towards them from hugging Little Cub like a plush. The Star Spider grew shocked for a moment before rushing to get items she placed earlier on the ground and crawled quickly towards the trio, while Little Cub, easily getting distracted by something new, went to play with some leaves he found interesting.
She spoke up in apology as she got closer to the group. She stood a little under 3 feet from what fluttershy could tell how she almost reached her barrel. ”I’m so sorry Arthur! I got distracted by the Cub, I hope you could forgive me.” She said as the Star Spider gave the items to this “Arthur” that Fluttershy now learned of. She handed him an ink pot, feather, and paper as she looked back at him in worry. He waved his claw-like appendage in a manner to show that it was ok before petting her on the head in thankfulness. The Star Spider smiled as she looked towards Fluttershy.
”He can’t really talk at all, so he has to write what he wants to say for others like myself to understand. My name is Queen Night Star, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Queen Night Star looked up at her as Fluttershy smiled and looked down back at her before responding.
“I-It’s very nice to meet you Queen Night Star, my name is Fluttershy, and it’s also very nice to meet you too. How did you know I could understand you?”
”The little cub told me all about you in our little playtime, he’s rather talkative when he’s having lots of fun” She giggled as Fluttershy nodded in agreement trying to hide a smile of her own with a hoof.
Before either could start a conversion , Arthur finished his writing as he held it in front of her for her to read. Fluttershy was shocked to see that it was perfect Equestrian, but put that shock aside for the moment to read the paper.
As the Queen has already told you, I cannot speak properly to anyone. However, I found a way around such limitations through writing. My name is Arthur Henris, and it’s a great pleasure to meet you Fluttershy. I am rather relieved that you didn't flee from me. I expected screaming from the likes of my appearance.
She was even more shocked now seeing such fluid writing, and almost believed that he was an intellectual species like her own. But that also raised the question as to where he came from. She shook herself out of thought to respond back.
"Oh I'm sorry to hear about your voice Mr. Henris, but seeing you care for Ms. Manticore showed me you are a good creature, not one that would hurt me. "
Queen Night Star's eyes beam with pride of her friends compliment as Fluttershy watched him write again in the palm of his claws(?) as he showed her his finished writing to respond to her.
That is good to hear that you think of me as such, and call me Arthur, Mr. Henris is my father's name,
She giggled at the joke as she nodded, before asking a few questions of her own to get to know him.
"Ok Arthur, oh by the way, I don't mean to be rude but what are you?"
He responded quickly, writing down an answer.
I am a Buzzwole, a species of strong insects, though you'll most likely won't see another like myself
Queen Night Star held her breath as she watched Fluttershy tilt her head in confusion."Why not?"
Because I come from another world, and I have been trying to get back home for quite a bit of time now. Could you help me?
Fluttershy's eyes widen in fear as she finishes reading the last sentence. 'A-an Alien!? I th-thought those were just make believe stories Rainbow dash often tells me! Yet there is one standing right in front of me...... ok Fluttershy don't panic, remember he's nice and asking for help. I could never turn down any creature asking for help, even if t-they are a-an Alien. He just misses home, I would be too if I was somewhere far from home.',
She felt sorry for Arthur, being alone in a world he doesn't know. She pushed down her fear as determination and kindness fills her eyes as she looks at Arthur. "How can I help?"