It took some time to find the trail that Rarity told me about, and none of the townsponies were willing to help. Everywhere I turned, everyone was giving me displeased looks, but that wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to. I was too busy making sure I didn’t lose track of Rarity on the way in the town to notice anyone then, but now, it was pretty obvious. That’s what I get when I become a changeling though. Anyways, when I reached the end of the trail, I came to a large tree, dozens of different animals scattered around it. Bird houses were hanging from various branches, a flood of different colored birds flying around them. A small chicken coop was off to the side. When I walked up to the base of the tree, I found a small door. I knocked a few times and waited for an answer.
“Just a minute.” I waited a few moments before the door opened. “Hel-eep.” Fluttershy was standing in the door, a look of fear was in her eyes as she looked up at me.
“Hello.”
“H-hi.”
“You don’t need to be afraid of me, I don’t want to hurt you.”
She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “S-sorry.”
“No need to apologize, I know what I look like.”
“S-so what brings you here?”
“The day’s still early, and I have nothing to do, so I guess now would be a good time for my first lesson. So what do I have to do?”
“Gosh, I didn’t expect you so soon. I don’t know what to do.”
“Aren’t you the element of kindness?”
“Y-yes?”
“Then we’ll start there. I can help you around if you need it.”
“R-really?”
“Of course. What do we need to do?”
“Well, I guess I could use some help with the animals.”
“Okay, what do I need to do.?”
“If you wouldn’t mind, could you please carry the feed? You’re much bigger than me, so it shouldn’t be that hard for you.”
“Of course.”
……….
I ended up following Fluttershy around the cottage, large bags of various animal feed stacked on my back, my wings hanging lazily off my sides. It was a large amount of added weight, but not too much.
“Thank you so much for doing this. Usually I would have to feed them one by one and keep heading back to get more food, but this is much easier. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. So long as you treat me as an equal, I’ll continue to help.”
She looked at me, puzzled. “Why would I treat you as any less? You haven’t done anything to make me think of you as anything less than an equal.”
“You’d be surprised at how many people think they are better than me.”
“You’re not a bad pony. Everypony is just scared, that’s all.”
“Maybe.”
The bags were getting lighter as she took the various feed out and gave it to the animals.
“Thank you again. This makes everything so much easier.”
“Glad I can help.” Just then, we heard something whimpering under a nearby bush. It sounded afraid and weak, but as if it wasn’t afraid to fend for itself.
“That doesn’t sound good.” She got down low to see what lay under the bush, and immediately shot back out. “It’s a wolf!”
“Let me see.” I dropped the feed in a pile and crawled in beside her. Sure enough, cowering against the base, was a wolf pup. Not one of the big wooden ones that eat everything either. It was a small grey wolf, its front paw bent awkwardly.
“Come here, little friend. I won’t hurt you, I promise.” She stuck her hoof in close, but I growled in defense. Her eyes grew wide as she reared back out of the bush. “That’s never happened before.”
“Let me see him.” I crawled deeper under the bush, staring deep into the wolf’s eyes. I stared for a minute, it staring back. Finally, I decided to put a hoof close. Like last time, it growled at me, but I didn’t pull my hoof away. I just stopped, and continued looking it in the eyes. Keeping eye contact, I slowly moved my hoof closer, and closer, and closer. After a few minutes, I felt its fur. It jumped back at the touch, but overall, it was calmer, so I scratched it behind the ear. It gave in, and rolled over onto its back, whimpering in defeat and happiness. “Alright, come on out of there.” I stuck my other hoof under and gently picked it up, slowly pulling him out from his shelter.
“Wow, you must be really good with animals.”
“Not really. Most things tend to hate me.”
“Who told you that?”
I lowered my eyes to the ground, trying to avoid eye contact. “My father. I’m not good at anything.”
“Yes you are. If you keep telling yourself that, you’ll only believe it.” I looked up to see she had a somewhat comforting look on her face. “And you are good with animals.” The wolf yelped, trying to get attention. “See. He likes you.”
“I guess so. So what’s wrong with him?”
“It looks like he just hurt his paw. Poor thing, his parents must have left him. Don’t worry, I can help.” I slowly handed the pup over to Fluttershy. He was much calmer than when we initially found him, and was willing to comply. Throwing the remainder of the animal feed onto my back, we headed off to the cottage, where Fluttershy, fixed the wolf pup’s leg and put a gauss wrap around it.
“What are we going to do with him?”
“Well, he seems to like you. Why don’t you take him?”
“Really? I mean if you think it’s a good idea, sure, but, really?”
“Well, yes. Why not?”
“I don’t know. Sure, I’ll take him.” I took the pup in my hooves, and he just looked straight at me. “I’ll call you…Hazmat.”
“H-Hazmat? Why?”
“It seems to suit him, and I kinda like the name.”
“Oh, okay. Would you mind helping me feed the rest of the animals? I mean, if it’s okay with you.”
“Sure.” The bags of feed were placed onto my back once again, Hazmat was placed on top. He curled up and ended up falling asleep on the top of the pile while we wandered around feeding the rest of the animals.
……….
Hours had passed since we started, the bags on my back nearly empty after the long day. Hazmat was still asleep, unaffected by the shift bringing him closer to my back.
“Thank you again for the help.”
“No problem.” By this time we were back at the house.
“You can put those bags over there, I’ll get to them later. Right now I need to get the tea ready.” She was pointing to a corner in the room.
“Alright.” Tossing the bags into a large pile, I began walking away, but stopped short. “Why do I feel like I’m forgetting something?” I heard something fumbling around in the large pile I just created and turned to see what it was. Sticking his head out of the pile of bags, a small grey wolf face starred back at me. “Right, I thought so.” He barked at me in irritation. “I’m doomed.”
“It takes some getting used to.” I turned to see Fluttershy walking over to the table with a tray on her back, two cups and a tea pot on it. “Here, have a drink.” She set the tray on the table and began pouring the tea into the glasses.
“Thank you.” I took my seat across from her as she handed me one of the cups. I never really liked tea, but I guess I should try and be a good guest and stomach it. Now how do I pick up the cup… oh well. Using both hooves, I picked it up and began sipping at its contents, which I was surprised to find wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
“Thank you again.”
“You don’t need to keep thanking me.”
“Oh, well, um, okay.” I looked back at Hazmat, who had made himself a bed in the emptied feed sacks. He was watching everything carefully, following every movement with his eyes as his head rested in his paws. He yawned and finally decided to close his eyes. The moon shone through the window as I finished my tea.
“Well, I should get home. Thank you for the drink.”
“You’re welcome. Come by whenever you like, I mean if it’s okay with you.”
“I will, and thank you again.” Placing Hazmat on my back, I opened the door and walked down the moonlit path.
"Amor."
"Yes?"
"Don't worry, you are good at something."
I smiled. "Thank you."