Terror of Wind
Written by Shimmer Mint
It was a bright cloudless day in Ponyville. At least for a while...
Fluttershy was outside measuring her garden lines. She was having Applejack deliver her some mulch and she needed to know how much she needed.
"Just a little more." She said to herself as she was focusing hard on making sure the measurements were exactly correct. She picked up a stick off the ground to stick into the ground so she knew where the line to her garden ended. She did the same to the other two corners until she encountered a problem. She was short a stick.
"Oh no." She whispered to herself. She normally spoke quietly but she was even more quieter at that moment. She peered over her shoulder at what was behind her.
The Everfree Forest.
Her cottage resided near the opening of The Everfree Forest and even though Fluttershy knew there were some horrible creatures that lived in there, she still loved the location of her cottage and refused to move. Though when it came to times like this when she needed to get resources from the forest, she strongly disliked her living location. But she needed to do what she needed to do. She needed a stick for her garden. Without something as simple as that, Applejack wouldn't know where to pour the mulch and everything would be ruined. Fluttershy shuddered at the thought.
So without bringing her saddlebag, she started walking toward the opening of the horrible forest. As she was walking, she made a silent pray to Celestia. "Please Celestia, don't let me run into anything dangerous in here..."
Not even five minutes into the forest and Fluttershy was already shrieking and galloping as fast as she could. "I just need one stick!" Sweat droplets started dripping down her forehead as she looked around as hard as she could for a simple twig. She was basically out of breath but continued to run as fast as she could. To her, her eyes felt like mini scanners scanning across the forest floor. There has GOT to be a little twig in here somewhere...
Suddenly she heard a little crack of a twig that was not from her hooves. She froze in shock, her eyes growing wider as time went on. Her breathing slowed and she felt slightly dizzy. As every second ticked away, she felt weaker and weaker. Frightening thoughts went through her head and were completely eating at her sane self.
Who was that? WHAT was that? What's going to happen? Before she was able to crack, she heard another snap and passed out cold on the ground.
----
Fluttershy felt herself slowly regaining control of her body. She slowly awoke from her slumber and lifted her eyelids slowly. "W-where I am?" She asked herself as she slowly sat up. She blinked a few times and stared around the area. It took her brain some time to process where she was and why she was there but she got it. "Hm. I must have passed out or something." She was a little confused as to why but let that confusion pass.
She regained strength in her legs and tried to sit up but collapsed to the ground with a thud. Her breathing went slow to huge puffs again as she remained perfectly still. A furry little creature was sniffing her legs curiously. She watched its every move in case it tried something. It took a few more sniffs and then noticed her watching it. It went still and stared at her with its big, wide, blue eyes. Fluttershy studied the curious creature some more. To her, it looked like no other creature she had seen before. It was the size of an animal that could fit in her hooves and it had little round ears that were currently outstretched. Fluttershy examined its light brown fur closer and discovered that the creature had no legs! Just little arms that had mini paws. It was sitting on its tail.
Fluttershy finally gathered enough courage to speak to the animal. "Um. Hello there." She said sweetly. The animal's ears twitched as it stared into her eyes with its wide eyes. Fluttershy took this as a safe route.
"Are you lost?" She asked it. It jumped on its tail and made a little squeak sound. A smile grew on its face which transferred onto Fluttershy's face.
"Well you're in luck!" She exclaimed in her soft voice. "You can come home with me if you want and then we can try to find where you're supposed to be." She looked at the animal. "Sound good?"
It jumped on its tail again and repeated the noise.
Fluttershy grinned and flapped her wings. She scooped the animal in her hooves and flew off to her cottage, completely forgetting about getting that stick for her garden.
----
When they got there, Fluttershy made a bed for the creature using a little abandoned nest and a blanket. She gently put the creature inside it and watched until it snuggled in its new bed and fell asleep. She clapped her hooves together and quietly stared down at her hard work. Such a cute little animal. She thought to herself. I don't know what animal it is but I have to stop calling it animal. She nodded subconsciously. I'll name it. I'll name it Quinn.
Suddenly a large boom of thunder entered the sky and echoed through Fluttershy's ears causing her to jump from the startle. She trotted over to the closest window and peered out. Rain started coming down as fast as rain could come down. As it was trickling down the window, she thought, it's so lucky that we made it here when we did.
She let out a gentle and silent little yawn and then giggled. "I can't believe I'm already beat." She looked around her cottage in search of a clock.
"I wonder what time it is."
She walked towards her room and studied the clock. It was eight. She yawned again and giggled for a second time. "I can't believe it's that early and I'm tired. I best be getting to bed then." She took another look outside at the rain and shrugged. "It's raining anyway. Not much to do inside."
She brushed her teeth for two minutes like Colgate said, said goodnight to all of her pets, including Quinn, and then snuggled into bed.
----
That morning, Fluttershy awoke with a large stretch and a yawn. The sun was shining in through her window and it looked like it was going to be a wonderful day.
She hopped out of bed and fed her animals in a pile like every morning. Everything was normal except for Quinn. He wasn't charging through the pile to slurp up breakfast like the others. He was sitting up in his bed, watching the animals and Fluttershy.
"Come here Quinn!" Fluttershy called while giving him full eye contact. "It's breakfast time!"
He still didn't move and by that, Fluttershy was alarmed. She flew over to her little animal friend with a bowl of food. She placed it down in front of him. He sniffed it and then bounced around the room. He didn't seem to be interested in the food which worried Fluttershy. Was he sick?
"Um. It's okay. Maybe you're not hungry now." She shrugged and then went over to clean up the mess her other pets left for her.
Since it was a beautiful day, Fluttershy decided to go hang around her friends. Maybe Quinn wasn't completely comfortable with the cottage yet. She thought it would be best to leave him home so he could get used to the cottage. Maybe then he'd eat like the others.
Fluttershy headed into the middle of Ponyville to see what was going on. She couldn't get Quinn off her mind. She really hoped he was okay. Something clicked in her mind. Go read up to see what type of creature he is! She skipped off to Twilight's library with pure joy in her steps.
She knocked gently on Twilight's door and within seconds Twilight answered.
"Oh hey Fluttershy! What brings you here?"
Fluttershy was shaking with excitement. She couldn't wait to see what type of wondrous creature Quinn was.
"I picked up an animal from the Everfree forest yesterday and I wanted to see if you had any books on him." She replied. Twilight gave her a nervous look. "Is he safe?"
"Of course he's safe! He's one of the most cutest animals I have ever seen!" Fluttershy gushed and gushed about Quinn and Twilight knew she wouldn't stop. So she invited Fluttershy in.
"I know exactly what type of book you need." Twilight replied. She lifted a few books from the shelves using her magic from her horn. She levitated the books over to a table where she gently dropped them on. "These books will help you."
"Thanks Twilight." Fluttershy smiled and began scanning through the books. She flipped through one book without finding any animal that looked like Quinn. She skimmed through another book without luck before asking Twilight for assistance. "Um, these books don't have the animal I'm looking for." She picked up another book and began skimming through it.
"Well what does it look like? I could maybe help find it." Twilight said and began searching through one of the books on the table using the magic from her horn.
Fluttershy pondered for a moment before answering. "He's small. So small he could fit in your hooves." She thought some more. "He's light brown, has huge wide eyes, no legs which is weird, but he bounces on this huge tail of his. That's how he gets around."
Without responding Twilight went through the remaining books without luck. "That's odd." She turned to Fluttershy. "These books don't list a creature like that."
Disappointed Fluttershy stood up from the table. "That's okay Twilight. Thanks for helping. Maybe you could come by the cottage for a while and see him." She smiled a small smile which Twilight returned. "Sure thing Fluttershy! Just as soon as I'm done practicing this spell." She levitated a book and showed Fluttershy the page. "It's so that I can make things grow larger than they can grow to."
"That sounds sweet!" Fluttershy replied before heading out the door. "I'll see you later!" She trotted out the door.
Hm that's odd that Twilight's books didn't contain anything about Quinn. Oh well. Maybe Pinkie or Rainbow Dash would like to see him.
With that thought in mind, she headed to Sugarcube Corner.
----
When Fluttershy arrived at Sugarcube Corner, she didn't even need to knock. The door flew open along with a bunch of noise. An awful green stinky cloud flowed out the door as soon as it was open.
Fluttershy poked her head in and saw the Cakes scrambling around the shop. Diapers, cloths, baby powder, and toys were flying this way and that around the room. Fluttershy did manage to catch a glimpse of Pinkie Pie's pink mane throughout the hazardous mess.
"Pinkie Pie?" She called out softly. She poked her head out to avoid getting hit in the face by a stuffed bear.
"Pinkie?" She tried again. This time, she got a mouthful of baby powder. Coughing and spitting out the powder she managed to get in her mouth, she tried one final time but this time, raised her voice.
"Pinkie Pie!"
Within seconds the pink pony bounced out of the bakery and hopped on the spot. Her mane was tussled and covered in white splotches. "Yes Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy forgot about what just happened and filled with excitement, remembering Quinn. She spoke fast. "I found this new creature in the Everfree Forest and Twilight doesn't know what it is and neither do her books but I thought you would like to come over and see him because I named him Quinn and I do think he's just the sweetest thing ever so do you wanna see him?" She stopped for a big large breath. Pinkie Pie just stared at her blankly.
Fluttershy tried again. "Want to come by my cottage to see Quinn?"
Pinkie titled her head. "Quinn? Whos Quinn? It sounds like a pony's name I know. Is it a pony?"
Fluttershy shook her head no and looked grimly at Pinkie. "No. He's some fluffy woodland creature. He's so cute."
Pinkie Pie bounced in the air. "Lets go see him! Wait!" Pinkie Pie dashed into Sugarcube Corner and then dashed out in a blink of an eye. "Can't forget this baby!" She held out a camera in her hoof. Fluttershy smiled. "Take lots of good pictures of him please. I want to track his growth."
Pinkie Pie nodded and started bouncing towards the cottage. "I'll take thousands of pictures! Then maybe some of the other animals..ooh and some of you and me! Eeeek this is going to be so fun!"
----
When they arrived, Fluttershy unlocked the cottage door and slowly opened it, expecting to be greeted by Quinn. Instead she was greeted by something else...
Chaos.
Animals were running amuck, food was being thrown everywhere, furniture was being knocked over, and piles of dust were floating through the air. Fluttershy's eyes traced the room to see the cause of it. She spied Angel Bunny chasing Quinn underneath the couches.
Fluttershy was astounded! Angel Bunny never tried to hurt any of the other animals living at the cottage. She trotted over towards the fight. It looked like she was about to yell in anger but instead returned to her gentle self. "Angel! Please stop scaring Quinn!"
Angel didn't listen and instead chased Quinn to the other side of the cottage towards where Pinkie Pie was standing.
Pinkie Pie jumped in the air to avoid the fast mob and thought it was a game, as Pinkie Pie always did in these situations. As soon as they passed Pinkie, she continued jumping. She giggled, "That was fun! Do that again!"
Fluttershy didn't bother telling Pinkie Pie that it wasn't a game. In fact, she forgot all about Pinkie. All of her focus was on Angel and Quinn. She tried again, this time, in full frantic mode. "Angel! Please! Stop that right now!" Her naturally soft voice didn't stop Angel. He looked determined. Fluttershy winced in terror as she knew she couldn't do anything. She shut her eyes after she heard a crash coming from upstairs. Angel was chasing Quinn all over the house with full speed.
Quinn suddenly appeared down the stairs in slow mode. Fluttershy sighed in relief. She flew over towards him and scooped him up in her hooves and rubbed her cheek against his. "I'm so glad you're alright! I'm terribly sorry Angel was behaving in such a bad manner!" She looked at Quinn and his facial expression looked like her forgave her.
She set him down and filled his food dish. The rest of the animals that hid during the scuffle started to come out to munch on Quinn's dish. They all knew he wouldn't finish the pile of food anyway. Fluttershy hovered in the air and watched Quinn look down at the food pile and smell it. Quinn moved around to another angle of the dish and smelt the top of the pile. He turned his head, neither in disgust nor horror and sat down while the other animals' predictions were right. The animals tackled the dish and gobbled down the rest of the dish in five seconds. They all left the bowl alone with not even a single crumb left in the bottom. Fluttershy sighed. "It's okay Quinn. Maybe you'll be hungry in awhile. Perhaps Angel scared your hunger away." She tried to convince herself that that is the reason for Quinn's low hunger but deep down, she didn't feel so certain. She was worried about Quinn. No animal she had ever taken care of had this low interest to eat. Was Quinn sick? No, he looked okay. She shrugged it off to avoid worrying herself sick but she couldn't dismiss the feeling of worry that filled her body. Maybe he'll eat tonight...
----
Fluttershy finished the rest of her shopping and daily errands. She hadn't been home to her cottage to check up on it and quite frankly, she didn't want to see the outcome of the Angel-Quinn scuffle. Her cottage was sure to have turned upside down.
She sat down in the middle of Ponyville and went through her saddle bag. The sun was shining and therefore, the sand was quite warm on her bottom. She flew up in mid-shock and glanced around the town for somewhere to sit peacefully. She suddenly spotted Rarity walking towards a cherry stand. Completely forgetting about double checking she had everything she needed, she fluttered over towards Rarity.
"Four cherries please." Rarity held out her hoof, expecting to receive the cherries with no huff. Of course, in Ponyville, that never happened.
"Seven bits." The store pony gave her an angry look while responding with a grunt and snappy tone.
Rarity's facial expression turned to a gasped look. She knew that seven bits was obviously a ripoff. She then pulled out her flirty card and tried her hand at wooing the store pony.
"Why." She paused and played with the curl in her mane. "In all of Equestria would you ever charge a pony, such as myself, that many bits? Don't you know in order for me to look this fabulous I need the bits to purchase many beauty salon products?" She eyed the pony before continuing. "You know in all my-" She was interrupted by the rather impatient pony. "Five bits if you leave right now."
Rarity smiled. Her tactic didn't go exactly how she had planned but she managed to save two bits which was good in her book. She didn't want the smelly old store ponies getting her bits for nothing. No sir.
"Thank you very much." She used her horn to use her levitating spell to put the cherries in her saddle bag. She gave a gentle wave to the stallion before heading off and bumping into Fluttershy.
"Oof!" She brushed herself off. "Hello dear Fluttershy. What are you up to today?" She asked.
Fluttershy smiled widely at Rarity. "I'm getting ingredients for a special meal for Quinn." Rarity tilted her head in confusion. "Quinn?"
"Oh yes. He's a new animal I'm taking care of. He's an angel." Fluttershy grinned loud and proud at how amazing Quinn was. "Him and Angel had a little fall out earlier today so I'm going to make him a special dish. He doesn't eat much at the cottage so maybe what I'm serving him isn't something he likes." She explained and Rarity nodded her head. "A fall out did you say? My heavens. Did you check to see if Angel was alright?"
Fluttershy paused to think. Rarity brought up a good point that Fluttershy hadn't thought of. She hadn't seen Angel since the brawl. Only Quinn who came down the stairs. Angel didn't even appear. A feeling of worry went through her veins and made her shudder. She really hoped Angel wasn't hurt.
"I didn't. I better go see if he's alright!" Fluttershy jumped in the air and flapped her wings to get height. She peered down at Rarity and waved. "Oh thank you Rarity! I'll see you soon!" She flew off towards her cottage in a rush to check on her rabbit.