//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Mail Order Orphan // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// Today was going to be long. Fluttershy knew this, but looked forward to the day’s events. Today, they were going to leave the house, and Ivy was going to make the journey to Sweet Apple Acres. Fluttershy desperately wanted to see Applejack. Fluttershy’s main concern was if Ivy could make the long walk, but Rarity had stopped by the day before and told her that help was coming, and for both of them to be ready. She had also stayed for tea. Rarity had already began to work her magic, trying to teach Ivy the finer points of being lady-like, and Ivy, being a natural mimic, had picked up on Rarity’s mannerisms quickly. Rarity felt hopeful, hearing about Ivy’s extreme dislike of mud. It was, afterall, important to be a lady, and both Rarity and Fluttershy were delicate and graceful mares. Rarity simply could not wait until Ivy was old enough to go to the spa, something that Sweetie Belle was still loathe to do. Ivy knew something was up. She sat on the floor watching her mother pace about. She occasionally blew a raspberry or mumbled a bit, still trying to make her lips make all of the interesting noises that the larger ponies like her mother made. She held up her left griffon talon and studied her claws, flexing and wiggling her talon-fingers. She marveled at what she could do. Her mother didn’t have claws. This distressed Ivy slightly. But Fluttershy seemed to be able to do things with her hooves. Ivy didn’t understand how. Mama had soft wings though, with agile feathers seemed to do almost anything. Tickling, hugging, knitting, Ivy liked to watch to see how wings worked, and she tried to mimic those motions with her own feathered wing. Her crest rose, giving her a vaguely mohawked appearance, indicating her budding excitement. Her tail booped her in the nose. She snarled a bit, and then tried to catch the offending appendage. It swished out of her reach. It would be back. It always came back. It would annoy her yet again and then whip out of her reach. She had been bathed the night before, and her blue coat was silky and shiny. She smelled funny. Something sweet clung to her hide. She rubbed her leathery draconic wing against her soft and silky ribs, feeling her own softness and delighting in the sensation. She trailed her right claw down her belly, feeling her soft and silky coat, until her claw reached between her hind legs. Her claw lingered where the scales took over. It had been horribly itchy down there, but the bath and vigorous scrubbing had helped. New scales were down there in that delicate place. She angled her talon away from her hide, angling the claw away, allowing herself to feel the place where fuzzy and scales mingled with her fleshy talon-tip. She giggled, feeling a tickle. Her backside was becoming better armored, and the flames didn’t burn as much when they exited. She barely felt any heat at all now, more of a pleasant warmth, like she had felt when sitting in a bath of hot water. She liked baths. She liked being clean. She really liked being scrubbed. It was like being hugged all over. A rabbit, but not Angel, was sitting on the floor beside her. She had not noticed it approaching until now. She had been distracted. It was looking at her, curiously. Ivy understood on some deep level the rabbit’s concern. The rabbit was a grass eater, and Ivy was something else. Something that might eat a rabbit. Not that she would. That would be awful, Ivy decided. There were plenty of things to eat, even fleshy things, she pondered, remembering the fish her mother gave her. The rabbit inched closer, nose twitching, ears back. Ivy’s tail shot out, wrapped gently around the rabbit, lifted it, and dropped it into her waiting forelegs. She hugged. There was a soft surprised “squeak!” from the rabbit as it accepted its fate. It had ventured too close, something the other rabbits had warned it not to do. Ivy appreciated her tail for a moment. For all of its annoyances, it occasionally did something to make up for being a pain. Angel was watching all of this with sadistic glee from the sofa. The strange foal had no respect for his age or his dignity. It was nice to see her squeezing somebunny else, somebunny not him. Ivy gently set the rabbit down, patted it once on the back, and watched it scurry away. Ivy became aware that Fluttershy had stopped pacing, and was smiling at her, beaming about something, her strange flat peg-like teeth visible. No wonder mama had trouble eating, and only ate soft foods. Her teeth looked worn away and useless. No points anywhere. Ivy ran her forked tongue over her teeth, feeling the points, and taking comfort that her teeth were fine. Fluttershy watched Ivy staring at her intently, wondering what Ivy was thinking. She reflected on what Spike had said, about not being to communicate his thoughts, not being able to express his feelings. She became aware that Ivy’s intense stares meant that she was thinking about something, probably something profound that she had no ability to express. She felt a brief pang, and thought once again about Spike’s comment on how the inside grew faster than the outside. She watched Ivy lick her teeth and there was a brief look of relief on the foal’s face. She wondered what Ivy had been thinking. It was easy to figure out animals, most of the time. Most of them had rather simple minds, and their wants and needs were relatively few. It was part of Fluttershy’s ability to communicate with them. Ivy was complex. The past few days had given Fluttershy some insight, but Ivy was still mostly a mystery. Fluttershy had reflected on this while lying in bed, trying to sleep. Griffon, pony, dragon, all of which had unique mindsets, all merged, making it difficult to figure out where Ivy had drawn her emotions and her thinking from. Clearly, there was a lot of dragon. Spike had shown that. Ivy was like a lake with still waters. A smooth surface that hid surprising depth. Fluttershy was jolted from her reverie by Ivy plowing into her leg. She felt a squeeze. She sat back on her haunches and pulled her foal in for a hug. Some things, Fluttershy thought, didn’t need words to understand, and she was grateful for those things. Ivy’s strongest feelings could be expressed physically, at least for now. Fluttershy felt Ivy’s forelegs circle her neck and squeeze gently, Ivy’s claws combing into her mane. Fluttershy giggled as the tingles set in. Ivy dangled from her mother’s neck, her hind legs kicking, unable to reach the ground, Fluttershy’s foreleg wrapped around her middle and clutching her tightly to her chest. As precious as this moment was, Fluttershy could not help but feel that something was missing. Her moment of reflection was interrupted by a knock on her door.