//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: The Savior 
// Story: Subject #7 
// by StarryDay 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2
Meeting the Savior
June 8, A.C. 1014


Seven sat on a cold boulder, holding himself in a futile attempt to stay warm. He had swum across a river and, after drying on an unusually large leaf, had slept fitfully, waking up in what appeared to be the early hours of the morning. He groaned, his breath visible in the cold air. Where am I? he wondered. He looked up and could've sworn the sun was rising, yet there was absolutely no sunlight below the trees.
"Um...hello?" The stallion's ears perked up. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a pale yellow Pegasus. She had a long, pink mane and turquoise eyes, and a small white bunny hopped along beside her.
Should I toss the necklace or follow her in secret? he thought. He decided to follow her; maybe she would know someplace warm for him to stay.
"There's nopony here, Angel." The mare turned towards her friend. "I don't know why you woul-" A scared look briefly crossed her face, followed quickly by plain concern. "Oh, my!" She walked over to the boulder where he was sitting. "What are you doing out in the Everfree Forest by yourself? Have you been out here all night?"
She must be able to see me, he thought. Seven looked up and the mare suddenly seemed to remember how shy she was. She backed away and looked at the ground. As she scratched the dirt with one hoof, the stallion sat there slamming his necklace into the boulder angrily. Finally he gave up and tossed it aside where it harmlessly evaporated into thin purple smoke. So much for following her. I guess it expired, he thought. He turned to her with a wide grin on his face.
"Hi!" He leaned forward and crossed his front legs. "So...could you possibly help me get to the nearest town?" The mare just stood there silently. Seven groaned softly. "Shy one, aren't ya?" He smiled. "What's your name?"
"Why?"
He leaned back casually. "Well, anypony would want to know their savior's name," he answered. She blushed a light pink and looked like she wanted to turn invisible then paint herself all over with invisible ink.
"I'm... Fl--tersh-"
"Pardon?"
"Fluttershy."
"Well, that explains that!" Seven joked, giving her a smile. She giggled quietly in response. This 'Fluttershy' seemed nice enough to trust, but he felt like something wasn't right. His nose ached as he smelled something sour and just plain unappealing. Fluttershy was explaining something about a town down the river, but he was too distracted by a green shimmer behind the trees. It swam and flickered, almost like it was about to... "LOOK OUT!"
Seven pushed Fluttershy out of the line of fire from a massive beast of wood. The creature missed both of them, but not without giving Seven a nice, big scratch.
"Gah!" Blood dripped down his leg. "Fluttershy! Go get help!"
The timid Pegasus was frozen in fear. She suddenly shook her head and ran for the forest edge, mumbling "Please be home, please be home". The creature quickly returned its attention to Seven when a rock was thrown at it. A low angry growl protruded from its jaws. He furrowed his brows, growing more confident. "Bring. It. ON!"


***


Fluttershy returned with an orange mare and a red stallion.
"What in tarnation!?" The orange mare rushed over to Seven, who was now lying unconscious on the ground. "Fluttershy, what happened!?"
"I-I don't know. There was a Timberwolf, and..." The deep red stallion looked at Fluttershy in confusion. She turned to the orange mare, who was also staring at her.
"Why didn't it just eat 'im?" There was a silence. The orange mare shook her head. "Never mind, that's not important right now." She lifted the unconscious pony onto the stallion's back and pressed her head to his chest. "Well, at least he's alive. That's what matters right now. Looks like he got a bruise or two, but he should be fine."
"Ee-yup." She looked at his hip.
"Wait. Is he...?" Her eyes widened. "He doesn't have a cutie mark."
Fluttershy let out a relieved sigh as they headed out of the forest. The sunlight reflected off of her tear-filled eyes. She sniffed, receiving a concerned look from her friend.
"Ya alright, sugarcube?" Fluttershy let out a weak chuckle.
"You know Applejack... I actually thought he was dead." Applejack stared at her, once again confused. Fluttershy smiled. "He saved my life." Applejack nuzzled her friend's cheek.
"That was awful brave." She glanced at the stallion on her brother's back. "I'll bet he knows that though. What I can't wrap my head around is how in the world he managed not to get eaten. That Timberwolf musta had a good reason for leavin' 'im there."


***


Seven opened his eyes to see a ceiling. He turned his head to the left and saw a pale yellow Pegasus sleeping in a chair.
"Aah!" He pulled the covers over himself while the mare opened her eyes and lifted herself out of the chair. "Fluttershy?" 
"Sorry if I scared you, I had to make sure you had everything you needed..." She turned and blushed. "You were talking in your sleep."
"You were watching me sleep?"
"Oh no, I had to!" She looked at the bandages scattered on the nightstand. "Applejack thought you might bleed to death..."
"Apple... Jack? Who's that?" Fluttershy gasped.
"You don't know who Applejack is?"
"I, um..." Seven drew an innocent grin. "I'm from Canterlot?" he said, attempting to fool her, and failing.
"Do you know Twilight Sparkle?"
"Who?"
Fluttershy frowned at him. "You're lying!"
"How do you know?"
Fluttershy held a hoof to her chest. "She's my friend, element of magic, and a princess." She glared at him. "If you were from Canterlot, you would know who she was!"
"Fine..." He confessed. "I'm not from Canterlot. I-" He lowered his head. "I'm not from anywhere." Fluttershy laid a hoof on his shoulder.
"That's okay. I didn't mean to make you sad." She smiled. "I just wanted you to tell the truth."
"The truth, huh?" He admired her aqua eyes for a few moments before saying, "Yeah, I think I can do that... eventually."

Seven stepped down the stairs, careful not to put too much weight on his leg. He could smell pancakes cooking. He peeked around the corner into the kitchen, and there she was, standing in front of the stove. He smiled as the yellow mare turned around.
"Oh, um, good morning,-" She frowned. "You never told me your name." He paused.
"Uh..." A nervous blush formed on his snout. "Just...uh...call me Seven!"
"Is Theseus okay?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Who?"
"You've never heard of Theseus?" she asked.
"I, uh, don't get out much."
"Well, he was a hero from the country of Grass. He saved the princess Ariadne from a maze with a nasty Cyclops in it. I just thought it was fitting, seeing as you..." She blushed. "Saved my life." He sat there for a moment, silent. "Seven?" she asked.
"Theseus is fine." Fluttershy hugged him before returning to the stove.
He turned toward the mirror on the wall and straightened his dusty brown mane. It hung down over his bright purple eyes and was all tangled from not having been combed for several days. He thought about Sierra and how the scientists would react to his sudden absence. She was one of his closest friends. They would probably try to get information out of her.
"By the way," said Fluttershy, "when you were talking in your sleep, you kept mentioning somepony named 'Sierra.' Who is that? If I'm not prying, of course; it's okay if you don't want to talk about it."
"No, it's fine," he said. "She's a... friend of mine. She has the most awesome orange hair. I don't know why she always keeps it in a bun; it looks better let down." Fluttershy's eyes went wide.
"Are you talking about Sierra Nevada? She was an old Ponyville friend who went missing six months ago. She was a famous explorer. There was an article about it in the Equestria Times."
"What did your Sierra look like?" he asked.
"Yellow coat, sun and clouds cutie mark-"
"That's her!" He knew it! She had lied! But why?
"How do you know her?" She gasped. "Is she okay?"
"Yeah, she's fine. As for how I know her, it's... complicated."
"Oh, alright, I won't ask again."
"No, it's okay, really. I'll just... tell you when I'm ready." She nodded.
"Alright. I'll go fix Angel some breakfast."
"Angel?"
"Oh, he's my bunny. Actually, he's not so much mine as I take care of him, and he just comes and goes when he wants to, but I do worry about him sometimes. I take care of all the animals."
"Is that why you were so intent on taking care of me?" he asked.
"Well, that, but also..." She suddenly had that want-to-turn-invisible look again. "Never mind," she said quickly, and she rushed through the door.
Does she... he thought absently. Then he shook it off. Nah. She has other things to think about.