“Oh, I really wish the Weather Team would do something about the storms here.” Fluttershy whispered as she snaked through the gathered collective of animals that often sought her home for shelter- especially nights like this one. She knew the local team didn’t have the funding to combat the storms of course, and she didn’t blame them, but it never stopped her from wishing.
Her lemon color hooves carried her from the window towards the kitchen where the idea of preparing an evening meal might ease the worries of her guests, and herself. Clearing the way for their pegasus caretaker was a snow bunny known as Angel, chittering in high pitched squeaks no pony save their soft spoken caretaker could understand. The animals made no fuss and moved to allow the young mare free passage, and were rewarded with a soft ‘thank you’.
Living on the fringes of pony civilization, and even then the little town is often considered forgotten among Equestria Proper; it is both a positive and a negative, with one of these detractions being proper funding for a full weather team. The Everfree Forest is considered one of the dangerous places in Equestria when it comes to wild magic, and wildlife habitation leading to a sort of ‘Contain & Control’ practice. Of course, for places like a fringe town like Ponyville this means the diversion of ponypower and funding to the bigger settlements, or places of interest that could employ these resources more effectively.
So, wild storms like the one pelting her cottage tonight were often allowed to run their course with the promise from Canterlot they would be reimbursed for the damages. Fluttershy often found herself in the Mayor’s office after most storms, and tonight seemed like that trend will continue.
Her animal companions appreciated her kindness of course, and would do what they could to ease any burdens the pegasus might have leading to her home being rather safe given its proximity to the Everfree Forest. This safety allows the soft spoken pegasus the ability to cook them a meal without fear of their wild cousins, or the life-like vegetation creeping further into their clearing. This collaboration has led to the creation of a rare enclave of safety in an otherwise dangerous ocean of trees, but against the overwhelming power of nature itself means only so much could be done.
Loose debris pelted the cottage, yet only when it struck the more fragile components (like the window or door) did any of the occupants notice it, otherwise the large tree that anchored the shelter down took the brunt of the storm. A flash of lighting then and there kept the inhabitants for the most part alert while Fluttershy issued orders to the snow bunny, who in turn passed the instructions to the other designated helpers; the assortment of smaller mammals: two squirrels, four mice, and another rabbit.
For the nicer inhabitants of the Everfree Forest that weren’t in a conversation, or able to distract themselves from the storm, the thought of hot food filling their stomachs did the trick. Everything was on the dirt path for another evening at Fluttershy's cottage waiting out the boisterous storm, when an aggressive rapping sent the animals into a startled frenzy. Henry, the only bear and most mature of the guests stood and roared his opinion on their immaturity before turning toward the window ready to confront the potential threat.
Fluttershy’s soft spoken voice was buried under the panic squeaks, and chirps as the little critters sought the pegasus’ protection, and almost forgot their largest protector was already standing in front of the window. By the time this realization struck them, Henry the Bear was already peering through the window, his large frame obstructing their view, yet his commanding grunts alerted the other animals they needed to open the door, or a window. None were strong enough to do so, and this task was often left to Fluttershy out of respect as her guests, still the bear guardian was insistent the door or window be open.
Several of the birds, and a few of the mammals made their hesitation clear prompting the bear to do something drastic enough to live in their memories for the rest of their lives- he took charge, and opened the door himself. Using his towering weight to keep the door from blowing open, Henry kept his stance defiant even as the aggressive storm tried forcing its way in, sending the smaller inhabitants into another mild panic. He paid them no mind until he finally saw the grounded form of the large woodpecker hopping its way into the shielded abode.
The door was quickly closed just as Flutthershy hurriedly came into the room, and took control of the situation by her mere presence alone.
“Goodness dears, everything is alright. Henry, why did you..oh! Hello there! I haven’t seen many of your kind around here anymore Duke Billington, may I ask what brings you here…” As if to answer the gentle mare, a blinding flash of light took their sight for a split second, before being followed by a loud boom shook the windows of her modest abode.
All the animals save Henry the Bear, and Fluttershy were frightened by this display, but were quickly quieted when the large woodpecker began recounting the reasoning for this surprise visit. His red crest flared as he excitedly described the strange woodland he’d discovered, and how the very trees made his white wings, and incredibly dark blue(almost black) feathers appear out of place; the three appeared ashen white, but quickly became thick behemoths of the richest darken wood he’d ever seen. His ancestors only knew of such trees before the introduction of magic bent the trees to the wills of ponies, and to see this enclave of pristine life almost made the woodpecker keep his beak closed- fortunately, he was a bird of honor and could not.
The storm was approaching, and he’d about made ready to return to his den in the wondrous tree that had been in his family for eternity when a bleating could be heard in between the gust of wind and thunder. As one of the last species to be held by the old law, he’d acted, and quickly sought out the source of this strange bleating when he came upon a most curious sight.
‘What kind of sight?’ All the animals thought amongst themselves, Fluttershy included being of the very few that knew what laws the large woodpecker was talking about.
Enamored with the attention, the recluse bird inflated his chest as he continued with his tale.
His trek through the strange woods eventually led him further into its domain where the trees themselves pointed him to a section of overgrowth where the bleating could be heard. It was clear enough for the bird to understand he didn’t recognize the strange creature, yet bound by the old laws made his presence known either way. The bleating stopped, and through a thin layer of growth a little head poked through, its shape and feathers reminded the woodpecker of a skinny pony; it looked around along the ground before finally looking up to find himself resting atop a branch.
It spoke in a language the bird never heard of, yet understood entirely. Take back, he responded and found the creature understood him as well.
“Like our dear Fluttershy, only with a grace that warmed my breast. His name is Geno, and claimed to be a prince of the forest.” The large woodpecker clarified.
“Oh goodness, a prince? I’ve never heard of them before.” Fluttershy raised a hoof trying to cover her shock, and wondered if she’d been too isolated from civilization.
“This prince claimed to be lost, separated from his mother and sister when he ran off with his friends- a rabbit and skunk. A friend of Angle no doubt.” The regal woodpecker added, and the intent wasn’t lost to Fluttershy’s longtime companion. The smaller creatures immediately gave the enraged loner some space, and was only stopped when his caretaker placed a hoof directly in front of him.
“Please calm down, Angel dear. We know Duke Billington has a different sense of humor then we’re used to. Duke Billington, would you please apologize, and continue with your tale?”
Duke Billington fluffed his feathers in the manner his fellow avivons took offense to, and quickly began chirping, or flapping their wings in protest.
“Oh please stop evercreature! We have the whole night left, and we shouldn’t spend it arguing with each other.” Fluttershy pleaded with her animal companions before passing control over to Henry. “Now that wasn’t very nice Duke Billington!”
Her soft voice now echoed with a stern tone any creature would associate to a mother disciplining their own child, but to the animals, her tone was frightening. To hear this harshness coming from the innocent pegasus left the critters fidgeting as they watched the normally passive pegasus standing her ground against the often rude woodpecker. Between her stoic tone, and the avion’s loud pitched squeaks the exchange was not pleasant to watch or hear until the opinion became mutual between the two. It ended with the large Woodpecker cawing his displeasure before taking flight toward the bear that guarded the door- Henry hesitated, but opened the upper half of the door.
With a final caw the large woodpecker flew through the door, and into the open sky where the wind, rain, and lightning consumed his form.
Fluttershy found herself with a rare abundance of free time, and promptly put it to use tending to her vegetable garden. With her adoptive town of Ponyville oddly quiet, and the Princessdom of Equestria in peace, there was little need for her hero friends to gallop off into unknown dangers, or conflicts for the fate of their very lives. Celestia’s sun shined brightly with an equal warmth to match, and to counter this the content pegasus wore her favorite sun hat to shield her eyes from these sunrays; her animal friends either stayed inside or would loiter under the shady undergrowth of the trees and bushes.
They watched as their caretaker slammed the gardening hoe into the ground that appeared too soft to break anything, yet the spot of impact popped to expose the darkened earth underneath. The pegasus’ progress was slow, but to all present this matched the lazy day they were experiencing. Few if any spoke amongst themselves as they watched the yellow pegasus tilling what would hopefully become the new rows for the new grapes she’d been talking about for months now.
It had been so long since many of the current residents had a grape, with the young generation never seeing one before, so the excitement in the air was unusually high.
Still damp from the storm two days ago, the dirt offered little resistance to the gardening tool as the meticulous pegasus was careful to keep the row as straight as possible. This attention to detail made the already slow work even slower, but offered to maximize the available space in her garden, allowing more vegetables to be grown without having to expand further from her hut.
Celestia’s sun never seemed to move, yet all creatures could feel its power was slowly waning as the day dragged on, and it was about the time Flutterhshy was finishing the first row of the planned two when the alarm cry went out. Dropping her garden tool, the pegasus was already wide eyed and alert trying to scan the edge of her property as her animal friends either took to the skies to offer their assistance, or sought the shelter of the hut. For the few avians that took flight, they were treated to the imposing Everfree Forest, and the small clearing that separated it from this wondrous sanctuary; they carefully separated into two smaller flights, and started patrolling opposite sides to cover a larger track of the clearing.
Their combined efforts turned up nothing, and while still alert began wondering who among had sounded the alarm?
Fluttershy cautiously moved toward the boundary of her garden with her friend Henry the Bear, who took it upon himself to escort the soft-spoken mare until it was deemed safe. The pair peered over the natural wall of bush and tree that marked the boundary of her domain from the rest of the forest, scanning the forest line for any threat when a sharp caw caught their attention. The two wings begin chirping their response as a large wing of at least 20 individuals shot from the forest, creating all kinds of rattles, clicks, and coos as they flew over the pegasus’s hut, but their warning wasn’t lost here.
“He comes! He comes!” The crows cried as they flew over the hut toward the direction of Ponyville, before sharply adjusting their direction toward Sweet Apple Acres, or Fluttershy assumed.
“He comes? I wonder what they mean Henry?” Fluttershy asked her companion who only grunted at the question, never really understanding birds all that well to begin with.
The answer to her question was quickly answered when the mixed wings flying above began chirping loudly enough to draw the mare’s attention toward the sky, and listen to their own message.
“The forest! Quickly! Look at the forest!”
With worry, Fluttershy and Henry the Bear dropped their heads toward the forest…
‘There!’
Standing proud with the Everfree as its backdrop stood one of the tallest creatures Fluttershy had ever seen, rivaling Princess Celestia in stature, but excluding horn length for resting above his head resembled two distinct set branches of a dead tree. From his head down the length of his neck before coming together above his barrel was a patch of brown fur darker then the rest of his body, which looked almost pale in comparison; From this distance, Fluttershy already knew it was for camouflage because she was having a hard time separating this strange beast from the very trees she seen so many times before.
One blink, and she’ll lose sight of him.
Their standoff might have continued until either he melded back into the forest, or her nerves became too unbearable to the point she fled, but none of this came to be, for in a deep voice that left the mare feeling oddly comfortable- he spoke.
“Hello.”
Her nervousness simply vanished. The depth of his voice held with it a hidden context of knowledge and wisdom that left Fluttershy strangely calm, and assured she was in no danger- if Celestia was known for her motherly demeanor, he could be known for his fatherly presence.
“I said hello.” He spoke again, yet this time there was some merriment in his tone by how relaxed he seemed. Henry was getting ready to intervene when the mare found raised a hoof, and began waving to the strange, but noble beast.
Her voice was too timid for most conversations, and she knew it wouldn’t have the strength to carry itself all the way to the clearing, so the mare opted to a simple wave of the hoof- it seemed to understand, and began walking forward. His movements were well thought out, and deliberate as if each step needed to be calculated to avoid some unknown disaster; on this, the strange creature appeared more regal than even the Princesses Fluttershy was ashamed to admit, but she couldn’t deny the air surrounding him.
The strange horned stallion was closer now, but stopped suddenly causing the mare and her companion to wonder if he had seen some hidden danger. His muscular neck swept from side to side twice, and with each finished rotation his ears would become erect with attention until he seemed satisfied to continue. Fluttershy years ago would have waited behind her living wall of bush and tree, but the friendships and adventures since then had toughen the delicate pegasus enough to leap over the natural boundary to meet her strange visitor half way. Her action gave the stallion pause, but he didn’t run or further continue his journey, opting to simply wait for her in the middle of her clearing.
With his attention solely on her, did the timid pegasus feel her old habits returning in that moment- she continued walking.
Henry the Bear followed her over the living wall, but upon reflection stopped to allow his friend privacy, but close enough he could run the distance if needed. Fluttershy only noticed when the mysterious stallion looked up once more toward her home, before finally closing the distance until they were only a quick gallop away. Being this close brought the mare back to reality that this stallion wasn’t a local anywhere around Equestria.
To briefly ignore his height and slender (though muscular) legs, his muzzle was much narrower than a ponies. Though narrower, it was remarkable how similar he was to Celestia and ponies in general with his horn growth being the biggest indicator of his foreign upbringing. The way his head appeared to have been sculpted up to support his strange horns were oddly charming since it reminded her of colts stomping sticks into the ground for goal posts.
“Hello, my name is Fluttershy..and it's good to meet you.” She managed trying not to be rude, and to keep her eyes from wandering too much.
“Greetings Fluttershy. It is a great pleasure to meet the strange bird the old woodpecker spoke so highly of. He flew off before I could thank him personally, so I figured I would seek him out myself, and do so.”
“Oh! You mean Duke Billington! He can be a character if you aren’t prepared for him, but he means well he does. It's just that he’s a bit set in his ways, and the other creatures tend to take his actions a bit to heart. Unfortunately, there was a disagreement the other day during the storm and he sort of flew away.” It was now that the stallion’s words reached her. “ Wait, thank him?”
The strange stallion nodded.
“He saved my son and his friends after they took the wrong path, and sought shelter during the very same storm. My son, Geno, is a rather difficult buck to look after, and often causes my mate too much worry. Still, it’s my fault for filling his head with the stories of my youth, though I should feel thankful that at least one believes my strange ramblings about traveling the stars and fighting the very darkness.”
“Oh my! That sounds almost like my friend's adventures!”
“Truly? You fought against the very incarnations of darkness itself?”
“YES!” Fluttershy was nodding her enthusiastically for no reason then being happy to have something in common with this wondrous stallion before. “My friends and I had to use the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon three years ago when she tried to bring an eternal night. She’s now one of our princesses.”
This revelation made the stallion give a sharp, but loud chuckle making the mare flinch with surprise.
“We truly are similar are we not? It was after fighting the darkness with my friends, another buck, a strange looking turtle, and a duck did I finally return home to become the Great Prince of the Forest. I sometimes find myself looking up at the night sky wondering if they’re alright…”
“Oh my it does seem.. PRINCE!?” Fluttershy cried in panic, before burrowing her muzzle into the ground to avert offending this foreign prince. Yet while she feared insulting him, the prince only chuckled at her display.
“My oh my, you are very polite.” He noted before offering her a bow as well. “I appreciate the gesture, but I find it unnatural to be seen this way, so please call me Bambi. Agree to this, so I won’t have to bow all the time alright?”
Flutterhshy’s muzzle was feeling warm when she finally peeled herself from the ground to look up at the stallion called Bambi, almost averting her eyes from his elegant brown eyes.
“Alright, Prince Bambi…” The meekness returned in force.
Satisfied for now, the Great Prince gave the mare a warm smile he rarely offered to any but his own family.
“Fluttershy, I thank you for your hospitality, and the kindness you share with your forest friends. It’s extremely rare to find another in tune with the olde laws of the forest. Should you ever wish to visit my forest, you have my permission. All you have to do is ask for the Prince, and the inhabitants should point you in the right direction- that goes to your friends as well.”
“Oh, uh.. Thank you kindly Prince Bambi. I can’t really say when I could visit, but I’ll love to when I can.”
“Thanks all I ask for. I should be going if I want to make it back before nightfall, until our next visit Fluttershy.”
With the same careful steps, Fluttershy watched as Prince Bambi shifted his muscular body to face the forest, and with the grace of movements, she wondered if they had even talked at all. As he slowly returned to the perimeter of the Everfree, she heard the lumbering steps of Henry approaching her, his nose already twitching trying to identify this new creature.
‘Well?’ he growled as he reached her side, and promptly fell on his flank to watch this abnormal creature depart.
“His name is Bambi, and wanted to thank Billington for rescuing his son the other day.”
‘During the storm?’ The mare nodded, and Henry felt like sagging his shoulders some. ‘And we doubted him..’
“He does have an unhealthy habit of telling tall tales, but we should apologize to Duke Billington sooner than later.”
‘Agreed.’ The bear grunted as he rolled himself off hit rear and onto all four massive paws to better follow his retreating companion. All of the day's work was forgotten as the little mare’s hooves carried her toward the safety of her hut, and the refuge of her animal guests.
Henry the Bear might have been a lumbering bear, but he wasn’t oblivious to the mindset of his companion, especially to whims of the forest- a prince even. Her wings fluttered ever so softly, and from this distance they appeared to be stray leaves caught in the breeze as they propelled her over the living boundary, and past the partially tilled land. He lost sight of her right after that, but he knew she'd be inside asking the returning birds about the woodpecker and his whereabouts.
Doubtful if they knew where, Henry would offer his support if needed to his companion/ big sister should she require it.
With no real sense of danger, he continued taking his time back toward the hut unaware of the regal eyes watching his trek with great interest. The Great Prince of the Forest had been left intrigued by his conversation with the pegasus, and found himself unable to shake a sense he had met her before…
“She reminds me of him.” The thought, seemingly carried upon the wind only to remind the Great Prince of his friends had left him feeling like had been fated.
Looking up into the cloudless sky, The Great Prince occupied the next few moments wondering how his friends were faring right now, and if they ever found what they were looking for amongst the stars. The loss of his mother had devastated him, and then they found him drowning in the darkness and saved him. They taught him there was still a reason to keep fighting to see the next sunrise, or discover that new mystery lurking on the other side. All of this he learned from them so when he finally came back, he was changed buck; the prince he was today, with an incredible family he adored so very much was because of their adventures amongst the stars.
"Thank you." The Great Prince offered to expansive sky before coming back to grounded reality before him.
He watched the honorable bear until he disappeared behind the strange tree that served as their home before answering the call of the wind, turned around and melded back into the forest.