Fluttershy went through her morning chores with a happy little song on her tongue. The day was young, the birds were singing, the flowers were in full bloom, and Celestia's Sun was shining brightly down upon a cloudless sky. It was a good day.
She had finished feeding the animals and was tending to her small garden (she was no earth pony, but the vegetables from her garden were just as good to her taste buds) when she heard chirped greetings from the birds. Peeking her head out, she saw a familiar form with something new.
Link had not been seen around in a day, disappearing off to wherever he went in the Everfree. Some said he was off fighting evil; others claimed he was going back to his home on the other side of the forest. A few (mostly Scootaloo) claimed he was single-pawedly making the forest safer by wrestling Ursa Minors and beating hydras to become the undisputed King of the Everfree forest. Fluttershy didn't know where he went, but she suspected it was dangerous and had resolved to make whatever time he chose to spend with her as relaxing as possible.
It was interesting, her relationship with him. Fluttershy was as shy as her name implied, much prefering her animal friends to the typical pony. She always seemed to blunder through social interactions with other ponies, and always made a complete fool of herself. Link was a smart as a pony, but his particular form and his animal speech made her far more comfortable with him than with a pony. It helped in that he seemed to have a rather laid back nature, and looked past her social faux pas without judging her for it, just as the other animals did. Consequently, she found herself opening up to him in a way that she didn't to even her close pony friends, though she was still quite a bit shy.
"Good morn– oh!"
Oh indeed. Link was not alone this time.
Seated upon his back was a small creature of around Spike's size. Also like Spike, the creature seemed to possess two legs and two arms, each with five little stubby claws on the end. But there the similarities ended.
Like her mount, she was black with white sections liberally spread about, particularly her belly, her right leg, and the area around her mouth. Her skin was not hard-scaled like a dragon, and was not covered in fur like a pony, something Fluttershy had seen in precious few animals. On her head sat a stone crown, broken, covering one eye, with fiery orange hair poking just over the crest. The uncovered eye was red with a yellow sclera, making her appear rather fierce. And for some reason, she had glowing patterns on her body, a muted florescent turquoise.
A slight grunt brought Fluttershy back to her senses. The creature was looking at her with its forearms crossed and a slight frown to its flat muzzle. Fluttershy 'eep'ed as she realized with a start that she had been staring. She felt her cheeks heat up as she hid behind her large mane.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to stare."
Link looked back at his mount. The creature held that position for a moment, then relented, relaxing.
"I'm sorry," she repeated. "It's just that I've never seen a creature like you before. What are you?"
The creature cocked her head. Then she opened her mouth and spoke some words in a tongue that Fluttershy, for all her animal prowess, did not understand.
"Uhm, I'm sorry? I don't understand you."
The creature looked at her mount. He gave a bark, but the creature shook her head.
"She can't understand me either?" Link nodded. "But you can understand her. And you can understand me." He nodded again.
"Is there any chance... you could tell me her name? Or what she is?"
Link barked, but Fluttershy encountered the same problem she had had when attempting to answer Twilight's questions; intent was easy to glean from his language, but names were not. She found she could not make out the name or what she thought was the species as any more than unintelligable barks and growls. She sighed.
"No, I didn't think so," she said softly, looking away. Then she brightened.
"Is there anything I can do for you two?"
Link whined.
"Of course. Let me get you a bowl," Fluttershy smiled.
Far be it from Fluttershy to deny a creature or pony who simply wanted to slake their thirst. She took a conveniently sized feeding bowl and filled it up with purified, chilled water from her refrigerator before heading back out.
She found Link sitting, waiting patiently for her. His little companion was idly sitting on the bird bath, observing the birds as they twittered about. She set the bowl down and he began greedily drinking.
The water was nearly gone when his little companion (she wasn't staring, she wasn't. Really!) sat up sharply. She stared at something in the bird bath, then called out to Link in an excited manner. His head came up, dripping water from his mouth, and he moved to the birdbath. Curious, Fluttershy followed. The creature was pointing at something in the bath, and as Fluttershy followed the hand, she saw it too.
It was a bug, a little water strider, but it was not an ordinary water strider. This one looked as though it was made from gold; it glinted and sparkled in the light as it skittered across the water.
Beside her, Link gave a little whuf. The little creature grinned, exposing a single snaggletooth fang. Fluttershy flinched back– such a visage suddenly reminded her of Discord and all the horrible things he had done to her and her friends.
But no horrible things came. The creature gently scooped up the golden water strider from the bath and held it out to her canine companion. Link sniffed it, then met the eye of his companion and nodded. She grinned and–
Fluttershy flared her wings and stepped back as a small bag appeared from nothing. The watched, still slightly alarmed, as the creature put the golden water strider in the bag, and with a flick of her hand, caused it to once again disappear. The creature giggled.
"Uhm..."
Fluttershy watched as the creature levitated herself onto Link's back. He turned to look at Fluttershy, as the creature on his back slapped his sides in a gesture of familiarity.
"Feel free to come back... if you want..."
Link nodded, then turned and began to pad off. On his back, his mount waved at Fluttershy, saying something that was unintelligible, yet clearly friendly.
"Bye," she whispered, waving her hoof at the retreating pair. That little creature reminded her a bit of Discord and his horrible ways, but she herself did not seem very bad. And she doubted Link would put up with her if she was, he seemed the sort who would not stand for that.
Fluttershy resolved herself to treat the little creature just like she would treat Link.
Then she picked up her humming and restarted her chores, listening to the birds join in on her melody.