Fluttershy woke with an abrupt jerk. She had forgotten where she was for a moment, before realizing she didn't know where she was in the first place. She started to cry silently again, and she layed her head down on her hooves. The sleeping critters around her stirred as they realized their new friend had awoken. They started to comfort the Pegasus again, patting her on the back and straightening the knots in her hair.
Then, Fluttershy looked up suddenly, hearing voices from the front of the cabin.
"This is the cabin, is it not, Grete?" She had heard somepony say. Most likely not somepony but something... what else could she call them? She didn't know what they were.
She stayed quiet and listened from the side of the cabin.
"Yes, sir. If I'm not mistaken, she should be here." She heard another one say.
Then, Fluttershy heard the stomping of their boots as they approached the door to the cabin.
Loudly, one of them knocked on the door.
Fluttershy heard as the creature she had seen last night got up and walked to the door from the other room of the cabin, away from the rotting, dead one.
She peeked in the window, and saw the large thing in green hesitate to open the door.
But he did.
"Garruk?!" The creature on the outside of the cabin, the one in charge, gasped shockingly.
She could see the dominant one clearly now. It wore a long white cloak, with an iron chestplate. On his side, it carried a sword in a sheath. It had white hair.
"Odric." The one named Garruk, nodded respectfully toward the armored creature.
Then, the armor-bearing "Odric" glanced behind Garruk, notcing the decomposing corpse on the floor of the cabin.
"You! I've always knew not to trust you! And here you are, slaughtering the innocent of Torbach! You shall die at my blade!"
Odric vented.
Fluttershy was scared. She knew that Garruk hadn't killed that creature. Garruk had stumbled upon it about the same time she had. Why hadn't Odric asked what had happened? Why had Odric just concluded that this poor creature committed such a horrid crime? It actually made Fluttershy quite angry as she watched the rest of what was happening.
Odric unsheathed his sword and walked toward Garruk.
"No, Sir, spare him!" The other man yelled.
"Why spare someone worth so little? A complete waste of breath." Odric replied, eyeing Garruk.
Fluttershy could hold her anger no longer. NOPONY could talk about somepony that way! Why was this creature being such a bully?!
And, before she knew it, she jumped in the window of the cabin, between the two warriors.
"LOOK HERE YOU BIG MEANIE!" Fluttershy yelled as loud as she could at Odric, her back turned to Garruk, "Stop being so mean to Garruk! It didn't do this, and you didn't ask what happened! You just assumed and that's not fair at all! So you can just turn around and go be mean somewhere else!"
Odric was speechless. Being an elite member of the Gavony Riders, he wasn't use to being spoken to this way. He felt disrespected from this thing's words. He didn't know what this small pony creature was, and, truthfully, he didn't care. It would pay for what it had said.
"Nobody, or creature, for that matter, speaks to the commander of the Gaa...-" Odric paused mid-sentence.
Fluttershy was staring at him.
Odric felt unease from the way that the creature stared. A cool sensation rippled through his body. He couldn't break away from the creatures eyes.
Fluttershy stared at Odric the same way she did anypony else when they had done something wrong.
Feeling tugging sensations coming from the forest that was now behind her, she used it to her advantage, staring harder and with more power at the commander.
Odric sheathed his sword. He was fully in control of himself, but this stare... It was just thought bending. He couldn't comprehend what was happening.
"Sir...?" Grete asked from the doorway.
Seeing what was happening to Odric, Grete revealed another sword, unsheathing it from his own side, and walked slowly toward Fluttershy.
Fluttershy noticed this and she was scared. She didn't know what to do.
Then, she heard a voice in her head.
"Close your eyes. Call upon your friends from the forest. They will help you." She heard a gruff, familiar voice say.
And she did.
Using the tugging sensation from the forest as motivation and power, she closed her eyes and thought hard.
And suddenly, a large, black bear broke through the side of the cabin with a long swipe of it's paw, launching Odric across the cabin along with much debris.
Odric quickly found his footing and looked worriedly toward Grete.
"Another walker!?" Odric called to Grete
Grete looked toward Odric, then at the bear, and ran out the door.
"Your crimes will not be forgotten brute!" Odric said to Garruk, and with another glance toward the yellow pegasus, he was out the door.
Then, as quickly as the bear came, it was gone.
Fluttershy turned to the confused, but calm, Garruk that was standing behind her.
"Oh, are you okay?" She asked.
Garruk bent down on one knee to be at an equal stance with the creature.
"Thank you. Truly, I am grateful." He said.
Garruk's voice. It was the one that spoke to Fluttershy in her head.
"You... you talked to me... in my head...how did you-?" Fluttershy inquired. She didn't feel the usual shyness she did around everypony else. Garruk made her feel different. As if she had already known him for a long time. An old friend.
"I don't know. I don't do that kind of magic. But, I realized I could after reading your thoughts." Garruk explained, "I've never seen your type before. Where are you from?"
Fluttershy replied, "Equestria. Where am I? How did I get here?"
"Equestria? I've not heard of that plane. And this is Innistrad. You must have planeswalked. You should know that? Wait... how long have you been how you are?"
The only thing Fluttershy understood from this answer was that she was in a place called Innistrad. Planeswalked? How she was? What did Garruk mean?
"I mean how long have you been a planeswalker, small Fluttershy?" Garruk answered her thoughts.
"A.. a planeswalker?" Fluttershy asked.
"Ah, that answers it. You coming here, it wasn't on purpose was it?" Garruk asked, understandingly.
"No..." Fluttershy answered.
"Well don't worry, I'll help you out as much as I can." Garruk said, "I do owe you, after all."
Then, he rested his hand on the side of Fluttershy's back.
Suddenly, Garruk's memories came flowing into Fluttershy's mind. She felt Garruk's early childhood, his adolescence, all the way up to the present. She felt how he had taken the blame for his father's death, and how he feared no one would forgive him for this. How he had been cursed and how so many feared him, which is why he took refuge in the forest.
And, likewise, Fluttershy's memories came to Garruk. He felt her sadness as she was picked on as a small pony. Her shyness around all the others on her plane, which is why she took refuge in the forest.
They knew everything about each other.
"A soulbond? With an... Equestrian? A pony, or pegasus, whatever it is you are?" Garruk said.
Fluttershy felt a little hurt from his words. She didn't make it happen, it wasn't her fault...
"I'm sorry..." Fluttershy said, looking at the ground.
Garruk looked at her.
"I forgive you..."
But it wasn't Garruk who said this, it was from the mouth of Fluttershy.
She was forgiving Garruk, for the death of his father. Something Garruk had expected nobody ever to do. And, yet, here it was, coming from a stranger he had met only 3 minutes before.
Garruk picked up the pegasus in a strong embrace.
At first, Fluttershy was scared, and then she realized Garruk was hugging her, and she smiled.
"Fluttershy..." Garruk prompted as he set her back down on the cabin floor, "Why are you here?"
"I don't know." She answered, "I just was walking... and, I started to levitate...and then, I started to cry... I was really scared... then, a bright flash happened... and... I ended up here."
"The spark had to be ignited some way... did you do anything different? Find anything new? Meet anyone knew?"
Anyone? She had met somepony new... Jace.
Just as she thought this, Garruk read it in her head.
"Jace?! Jace Beleren?! And he's a unicorn!" Garruk was amused.
"You know Jace?!" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah, he's also a planeswalker. Along with myself, and you too." Garruk said.
"Wait...so you can get me back to Equestria?!" Fluttershy couldn't hide her excitement.
"Yeah, definitely, especially since I know Jace is there. But, I'm gonna have to do it through your thoughts, Fluttershy." Garruk explained. He understood how much she yearned to be home. And Fluttershy had saved his life... kind of. She also was soulbound with him. He needed to help her.
"What do you mean 'through my mind'?" Fluttershy asked.
"Just close your eyes and tell me about your home, Fluttershy." Garruk said.
Fluttershy did as she was told.
"Well, I live in Ponyville... In Equestria. It's filled with lots of nice ponies, including my best friends in the whole wide world..." Fluttershy began to explain.
Garruk used her image as his own means of walking.
Garruk promised himself he would get Fluttershy home, promised himself this would work.
In the middle of her rant, Fluttershy heard his promise and smiled.
She would be home soon.