Jake sprang up on his tree branch, drenched in sweat and panting. “What the hell was that dream?” He wondered aloud. “Was that a memory or something? If it was then why couldn’t I hear some of it? This is infuriating!” He called out. Calming down a little he continued. “Then there’s the matter of what I could hear. Obviously, the woman in my dream was important to me. Could I have had romantic feelings for her?” Jake mulled this over for a moment and his brow furrowed. “No, that can’t be it, she was much older than I am and I didn’t feel anything in my dream that would indicate it. She might have just been a close friend or something. I probably won’t be able to figure it out unless the missing portion of that dream is revealed. Until then, I should just forget about it. At the very least I know how I got this.” He patted his shoulder where he had placed his knife before going to sleep, for easier access.
Having come to a conclusion he jumped out of the tree to start his day and reached his mind out to the life around him. Judging from the lack of activity he guessed that it was still early in the morning. He didn’t have to meet up with the crusaders until the afternoon, so he decided that it was the perfect opportunity to explore the forest. He set out and tried to find something interesting. Despite what he had said about trying to forget it, Jake’s thoughts kept coming back to the dream. He kept asking himself questions about who he was, and what the person in the dream meant to him. Jake had been wandering aimlessly. Before he knew it he was back in the clearing with the manticore again. He cursed under his breath and was about to change directions when he heard a strange noise coming from some bushes. Jake panicked for a moment and he rushed up into a tree to hide. When, a little creature came into his line of vision.
Fluttershy was out collecting herbs in the Everfree Forest because some of her sick animals needed medicine that she had run out of. She would ask Zecora to do it, but she liked knowing that she was helping the animals herself. Besides, she didn’t have to worry about the animals taking a turn for the worst because Angel bunny was looking after them. Normally, she was scared of the forest, but this early in the morning most of its scarier inhabitants were still asleep, so she could be alone with her thoughts. Not only that, but she always had her special stare to fall back on. Just as she was about to call the forest peaceful, she saw a manticore corpse in a clearing It was in a sad state, with its cut off tail. She flitted up to its back and saw all sorts of strange wounds. They almost looked like claw marks, but they didn’t match any claws that she knew of. That’s when she noticed the strangest thing of all. Somepony had left flowers for the dead manticore. “What could have done all this?” Fluttershy asked, tears streaming down her face.
‘That was me,’ said a voice in her head.
Jake was about to laugh at himself when he saw the yellow pegasus walk into the clearing. Then he remembered that he was trying to avoid contact with anypony and realized that he had made the right call. He returned his gaze toward the pegasus and saw the fear and pain in its large cyan eyes. Jake saw that she was almost crying while she examined the thing’s wounds. She stopped at the manticore’s face and asked while crying, “What could do all this?”
Jake knew he would hate himself for doing this, but the way she looked so upset about the creature’s death, he couldn’t stop himself. ‘That was me,’ he called out to her with his thoughts. To say she was scared would be an understatement. She jumped at least eight feet in the air; wings snapping shut at her side, and hid behind the corpse of the manticore.
“H… hello,” she managed to say after a while, poking her head up from the manticore’s body.
‘Sorry, I didn’t think you would react like that.’
“Its… fine, I was just surprised is all, I’ve never had anypony talk to me in my thoughts before.” She said, still slightly apprehensive.
‘You still haven’t, I’m not a pony.’
“Oh well, if you’re not a pony then, what are you?” she asked, her ears perked up slightly.
‘I’m a big scary forest monster.’ And just like that she was behind the manticore again. ‘I was just kidding… uh what is your name exactly?’
“My name is… umm its Fluttershy.” She said, a part of her pink mane obscuring her face.
‘My name is Valentine.’ Jake cursed at using a part of his real name.
“It’s… nice to meet you Valentine, but you still didn’t answer my question, that is if you’re okay with answering it.”
‘The thing is I don’t really know. I mean I know what I am, but I don’t really know what it means to be what I am. I’m sorry; I guess I’m not making any sense at all am I?’ Jake hadn’t meant to say everything that he had. It was just… something about Fluttershy’s voice was so soothing; it reminded him of the woman from his dream.
“Oh no no no, you’re fine.” She assured him. “You poor thing, it sounds like you have amnesia. You must be so sad.”
‘Sad may not be the best word for it: angry, confused, and depressed, that seems to be a better fit.’ Jake thought it half-jokingly, hoping to coax her out of her shell. It worked because she stepped out from behind the manticore giggling.
“You’re very strange, Valentine. I’m sure if you showed me what you looked like I could tell you what you are. I know a lot about animals and how to take care of them.”
‘I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I’m nothing like the other animals you take care of.’
“Please, Valentine, will you at least let me try?” Fluttershy looked around the clearing with big pleading eyes. Jake cursed under his breath and muttered something under his breath about needing to build up immunity to puppy dog eyes.
‘Fine I’ll let you take a look at me…’
“Thank you so much, Valentine. I promise to take good care of you.” She squealed, all of her anxiety melting away and being replaced by her nurturing side.
‘…But, you have to promise me something.’
“Ok, whatever you want.”
‘Please don’t tell anypony about me. I don’t want to cause a scene in town.’
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Fluttershy replied, making a series of hand gestures that ended with her placing her right hoof over her eye. Jake would have laughed, but apprehension was mounting in his stomach at the thought of revealing himself to someone…pony, whatever. The only ones that knew about his existence were the crusaders, and they had called him a creature and started chasing him. He had no idea how Fluttershy would react, if she treated him like a creature then he was fairly certain that she would happily care for him. But, because he could talk there was the whole socially awkward thing he might have to deal with.
‘No sense overthinking it, I might as well just show myself, the town was bound to have learned about me at some point.’ Jake jumped out of the tree he had concealed himself in and called out to Fluttershy. She turned to face the thing she was having a mental conversation with. Her eyes went wider than dinner plates and she started to teeter on her hooves. Then, she fell over unconscious. Part of Jake was relieved that he wouldn’t have to rely on the timid pegasus for help, but another part of him was crushed that she reacted the way she had.
Jake let a soft sigh escape his throat and scooped up the unconscious pony into his arms. She was somewhat heavier than he expected but still light. ‘Birds have hollow bones and specialized air bladders to allow them to fly. I wouldn’t be surprised if pegasi have them as well seeing as they can supposedly fly.’ Jake shook off the thought. It made him upset that he could just spout facts off about animals and such without so much as a second thought, but if someone asked him where he was from, then he could stand around thinking about it all day and not have an answer. Jake reached out his mind to Fluttershy and began looking through her memories. Normally, Jake hated doing something like this. Looking into the memories and thoughts of animals was one thing, the biggest secret they usually had was what their favorite place in the forest was. But, sentient beings were different. Their minds were the safest haven they had and Jake understood that better than anyone. If he looked too deeply then he could discover something about that person… or pony in this case that they never wanted to see the light of day. So, Jake had resolved himself to only do it if he had to. Like for survival or right now to help Fluttershy.
Jake did his best to limit his search to things that dealt with where she lived, and how to get there from this spot. Although, every now and then a stray thought or memory would enter his consciousness that helped give him an understanding of the pony.
Growing up, Fluttershy had been picked on for not being the strongest flier. This made her hesitant around other ponies, and maybe even a little fearful. At some point she had learned that she had a way with animals and when she grew up moved to Ponyville because it was so close to the forest. Even if she was made fun of growing up, she was still kind to everypony. She even had a good group of friends that helped her out. In the end he learned that Fluttershy may be a little nervous but would stop at nothing to help an injured animal, or save one of her friends if they were in danger. She even chastised a full grown dragon because it had hurt her friends.
Jake laughed for a moment, wondering what kind enigma he was carrying, then apologized for looking into her thoughts too much. ‘Didn’t I say that I wasn’t going to do that? I need to learn how to control my abilities better if I want to do that again.’ Jake criticized himself more and more as he made his way toward the little cottage that Fluttershy called home. Eventually, light appeared at an opening in the trees and Jake found Fluttershy’s dwelling sitting at the edge of the forest. The home looked like it was made to be part of the forest. The walls were made of a sot color, and the roof was made with what looked like tree branches. Not only that, but the perimeter of the house surrounded with animal pens. Jake knew what he was getting into, he had seen the home when he was looking inside of her mind, but seeing it in person was another thing entirely. Jake stopped himself from admiring the view and carefully opened the cottage door.
Jake was greeted by a cacophony of animal noises. The inside of Fluttershy’s cottage was similar to the outside; it was simple but functional, and filled with items one would need to take care of animals. There were a few animals that appeared to be sick in what he would describe as the living area. All of them seemed to be voicing their disapproval at his intrusion. The most prevalent being a snow white rabbit that was kicking at his shins. He was clearly upset that Jake was handling Fluttershy in the manner that he was. Jake reached out with his mind to all of the animals in the room and told them that he was a friend. This seemed to calm most of them down, but the rabbit still looked at him with narrowed eyes. It was obvious what he was telling Jake, so he just nodded in understanding.
Jake carried Fluttershy upstairs to the bedroom and gently slid off the saddlebags that she had been wearing before tucking her in. Jake had noticed the three butterflies that appeared to be tattooed onto her flanks. ‘Those must be a cutie mark.’ Jake observed. Then, he entered Fluttershy’s mind one more time to tell her that their meeting had been a dream. ‘I should really make it up to her for scaring her so much. Maybe I could take care of the animals for her.’
Jake pulled out all of the herbs that Fluttershy had collected and began applying the necessary treatment for each animal. At first the rabbit tried to stop him, but Jake assured it that he knew what he was doing. The rabbit never stopped glaring at Jake but it eventually stepped back. Jake was surprised at how much he had remembered from his short trip into Fluttershy’s mind. He had had some knowledge on herbs beforehand, but nothing as extensive as hers. It was the kind of skill one could only obtain if they felt true passion for something. A warm grin spread across his lips as he finished with his last patient. Jake got up to leave, but stopped in the doorway to turn back in the doorway and told the animals, “Fluttershy isn’t going to hear about any of this, right?” The animals gave out a confirmatory noise and Jake rushed back into the forest.