//------------------------------// // Protecting her Son // Story: Equestrian Epona // by Shritistrang //------------------------------// "Mommy, mommy! Can I go out now, can I?" asked the little unicorn filly as she bounced up and down in her seat. "Settle down, Sweetie Belle," her mother Pearl said. "You still need to finish your Brussels sprouts." "But I wanna meet up with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. We wanna figure out what we need to do to become Cutie Mark Crusaders Adventurers!" "Adventurers?" Pearl asked. "What on Equestria gave you that idea?" "Apple Bloom's mom," Sweetie Belle grinned. "She's the greatest adventurer we've ever seen, maybe even better than Daring Do. We wanna go on adventures and rescue evil monsters and fight buried treasures and dig up damsels in distress… um, you know what I mean." Pearl Belle gave her youngest daughter a stern look. "Sweetie, that's not a proper thing to say. Epona Apple, your friend's mother and one of my best friends was a loving mother and a hard-working apple farmer. I have no idea where you got that nonsense about her being an adventurer." "But it's true!" Sweetie protested. "I've seen her. She fought evil lizard creatures and saved me from drowning and…" "Stop it! That is not how you speak about the departed, young lady," Pearl scolded her daughter. "I don't know where you and your friends have been yesterday, but I have the feeling you're letting your imagination run a bit too wild." "But it's true, we were in the desert and…" "No talking back, missy! If you keep that up, I'll have to think twice about letting you play at the beach again. All that sand and salt water we had to remove from your fur yesterday, and now these wild stories… also, I think these escapades with your friends are getting out of hand. You'll never get your cutie mark if you decide to follow strange, imaginative pony tales. Listen, about these singing lessons I told you about…" "I don't wanna go to that musician pony with the cello again," Sweetie shouted. "She's boring! I wanna be an adventurer and you can't stop me. And you can eat your stupid Brussels sprouts yourself!" And with these words, the filly jumped from her chair and ran out of the room. Her mother gasped. "Sweetie Belle, you come back here right this instant! Don't make me get your father… Sweetie Belle!" In a huff, she stomped into the living room, where her husband was sitting in a comfortable arm chair, reading a newspaper. "Honey, your daughter is being cranky again. And irresponsible!" "That's nice, sweetheart," Magnum mumbled as he kept reading. "Oooh, the Trottingham Timberwolves got a new quarterback…" Rolling her eyes, Pearl pushed down the paper. "Stop reading the paper when I'm talking to you!" "Huh, what?" Magnum asked. "Oh, s-sure… listen to your mother, Sweetie Belle, and…" He looked around. "Oh, she isn't here?" Pearl sighed. "Never mind…" she muttered as she left her husband to his sports news. She followed her daughter outside, but she was already gone. "That little filly… I don't know what to do with her." "Hello, mother." Pearl turned her head when her oldest daughter Rarity came walking towards her parents' home, carrying a heavy bag with her magic. "Here are the remains of the cotton bolts you've lent me. I must say, sometimes the simplest cloth can help make a great dress…" Rarity then noticed her mother's expression. "Is something the matter?" "Oh, that sister of yours," Pearl sighed. "She's being difficult again. Right after you brought her home yesterday, she kept telling me about all the fun adventures she had with her little friends, chasing monsters and so on, you know, the usual. But this time, she put it in her head that she really wants to become an adventurer herself. And on top of that, she lied to me that Applejack's mother was with her. And here I thought I taught her to respect the dead…" "Mother… are you telling me no pony told you?" Rarity asked. "Told me what?" Pearl asked. "Mrs. Apple… Applejack's mother… she's not really dead. I met her yesterday. In fact, she rescued me and a handsome swordfighter stallion from an evil cult and…" "Now you're doing it, too?" Pearl groaned. "I can imagine such nonsense coming from a small child, but you? I expected better from a grownup mare, Rarity. Why do you girls insist on coming up with these ridiculous stories?" "Mother… I am very, very serious here. I am not a pony who would make a story like that up," Rarity said in a calm voice. "And if you remember, I've been in a couple of ridiculous situations ever since I received the Element of Generosity. I've been kidnapped by Diamond Dogs, I was turned into a greedy, self-obsessed pony by the master of chaos, I was tricked by the schemes of an evil shape shifter queen and I was forced to swap cutie marks with my friend Rainbow Dash. Do you honestly think that your friend having survived and saving me and Sweetie Belle from dangerous creatures is so far-fetched?" Pearl stared at Rarity with wide eyes. "You are telling me… Sweetie Belle… she was telling the truth?" Rarity nodded. "Oh my goodness…" Pearl muttered. "E-excuse me please, darling… your mother needs to take care of something…" And Rarity observed her mother running off, in the rough direction of Sweet Apple Acres. "I probably should have told her about what happened when I brought Sweetie Belle home yesterday," Rarity muttered to herself. Meanwhile, in Fluttershy's cottage… Ruto impatiently tapped her finned feet to the ground. "How long is this going to take? You've been petting those little critters the whole morning, feeding them, talking to them, fluffing their pillows… I was hoping we could do something together." "But this is what I do every morning," Fluttershy explained with a smile. "I'm Ponyville's animal caretaker, you could say. Without me, these poor little things would have nopony to care for them, no home, nopony who nurses them back to health when they get sick. In return, they have become my friends. Maybe you would like to have a little furry friend of your own, Ruto?" The princess raised her eye ridge. "A furry animal… for a princess who prefers to stay underwater?" "Right, that probably wouldn't be a good idea," Fluttershy blushed. "Um, let me think… how about an otter? Their fur is fully water-insulated, so they stay nice and warm while swimming." Ruto snorted. "I doubt they'd want to stay with me after what happened yesterday. You saw how angry they were, right?" "Then what about a cute little newt?" "No." "A duck?" "No." "A turtle?" "No!" Ruto nearly shouted. "Listen, I'm not interested in having a pet, okay? I'm busy enough with taking care of Lord Jabu-Jabu back home, I can't care for a critter." "Jabu-Jabu?" Fluttershy asked. "Oh, that's a lovely name. I didn't know you already had a pet. What is he?" Ruto grimaced. She had absolutely no intention of telling the yellow pegasus that she was taking care of what was practically the deity her people worshipped. "He's… a whale." Fluttershy's eyes widened. "A… whale? Oh my gosh… I've never had the opportunity of meeting a whale… let alone taking care of him. Can I come visit you some day and see him? Oh, pretty pretty please?" Ruto was about to say no, but Fluttershy stared up with her with the biggest eyes and the most adorable expression she had ever seen in her life… she couldn't possibly say no to that. So she sighed. "All right… whenever I get the chance of inviting you to my kingdom, I will introduce you to Lord Jabu-Jabu." "Oh, thank you, thank you!" Fluttershy gushed while she gave her new friend a big hug. Ruto couldn't help but enjoy the fuzzy feelings this was causing within her. Coughing nervously, she said: "W-well, now that that's taken care of, can we finally go somewhere? No offense, but this place of yours is pretty boring." "Oh, I would love to show you all of Ponyville," Fluttershy said. "But unfortunately… I'm holding an assertiveness seminar this afternoon. And I doubt I'll have the time… I'm sorry, I completely forgot about it." Ruto looked at her in surprise. "YOU of all ponies are holding an assertiveness seminar?" She only knew the pegasus for two days, but she already had a pretty good picture of the shy mare. "Oh yes," Fluttershy nodded. "Mr. Iron Will helped me so much with his own seminar… even though there were a couple of problems along the way… anyway, it inspired me to start my own little group. We always meet at the same time in the week, right here, behind my cottage. I was surprised, but there are a lot of creatures that have trouble expressing their true feelings. We share our experiences and try to give each other good advice. Maybe you want to join us? I'd love to introduce you to them." "Oh, all right," Ruto sighed. "I guess I have nothing better to do. Also, it might be interesting. You're saying there aren't only ponies in that group of yours, right?" "No no, it's quite the diverse group," Fluttershy said. "You'll see." "Feeding the pigs?" Link groaned. "Really?" "Come on now, big hero," I grinned as I poured the bucket of leftovers into the pig's trough. "You're living under my family's roof for free, you can show some gratitude by doing some of the chores." "That has never been a problem," Link muttered as he emptied his own bucket. He winced when the pigs' messy eating habits caused some of the slop to splash over his tunic. "I've helped Malon's father herd the cuccos, if you remember. But this? I've never heard of a hero who handled pigs in his free time." "Okay, Mr. Picky-Pants," I snickered. "You can help me sell some apples on the market in the afternoon. Does that sound better?" "Do I at least get a heart piece out of it?" Link grumbled. I wanted to give him a snappy remark, when I heard somepony coming up the path to the farm. I looked and saw a young adult earth pony mare with a cerise coat. I wiped some of the pig slop out of my face and approached her. "Hello, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres. Can I help you?" "Oh, you must be a new farm hand," the mare said. "Sorry, but I was looking for Big Macintosh. I'm his little sister's teacher, you see…" "You're Apple Bloom's teacher?" I asked in surprise. "Miss Cheerilee?" "Oh, so you already met Apple Bloom and she told you about me? How sweet!" she smiled. "Isn't she just the cutest filly? And her brother is so handsome…" I frowned. I always welcomed praise for my children, but I didn't like that mare's voice. "So if you're Apple Bloom's teacher… what business do you have with Big Macintosh?" "It's such a beautiful day, you see?" Cheerilee said. "And I know he's usually almost finished with his morning chores by this hour… so I wanted to invite him to a picnic at the gazebo." She giggled. "He's such a nice stallion, isn't he? So big and strong…" I had heard enough. "So, what you're saying is, you want to fool around with my son." "Well, I wouldn't call it fooling… wait… what did you say?" She looked at me closer. "Say, who are you?" "I am Epona Apple," I said while glaring at her. "And that handsome, strong stallion you are interested in is my son. And I believe he deserves better than being treated like a piece of meat!" She gulped nervously. Good. I'll let her sweat for a while. "Well, you see… I didn't mean it like that. Big Mac and I have been good friends for quite some time…" "Oh, so you're just friends all of a sudden?" I asked. "Didn't sound like that up until now. What were you planning on doing at the gazebo? Seducing him with your good looks?" Link grimaced. "Epona… don't you think that's a little harsh?" "You stay out of this, Link!" I snapped. She blushed. "P-please… I've n-never considered… oh dear…" "What the hay is going on out here?" Granny Smith shouted as she came outside. "Can't a mare enjoy a little beauty sleep? Now what are you so saddle-sore about, daughter-in-law?" "This mare is trying to flirt with my son," I said, never taking my eyes off the sweating teacher. Granny Smith followed my gaze and walked up to her. "Why, good day to you, Miss Cheerilee. Yer lookin' good as ever." "Oh, Granny Smith… thank you… say, is this mare really…?" The Apple matriarch nodded. "Eeyup. She's my daughter-in-law, wife to my son and mother to my grandchildren. Also, she could learn some manners." Surprised, I took a step backwards when Granny looked back at me. "Did it ever cross your mind to invite Cheerilee inside, Epona?" "Oh, I really don't want to be a bother," Cheerilee muttered, looking quite intimidated. Just what I wanted. But I really didn't like where Granny Smith was going with this. "Inside? Her?" I nearly shouted. "That floozy teacher is trying to seduce my son!" "Fer yer sake, I'll pretend I didn't hear that, young filly!" Granny shouted. "Miss Cheerilee has been a close friend to the family for years. Apple Bloom absolutely adores her as a teacher and Big Mac and her were friends ever since they were little foals." I gritted my teeth. "That still doesn't give her the right…" "You haven't been part of this family for years, missy!" Granny shouted. "I invited you to live here once again with yer family, givin' you the chance to bond with the children you didn't see in years. But don't expect you can just settle in and expect to make all the decisions by yerself. My father, may Celestia bless his soul, built this farm on this land with his very own hooves, and he welcomed all sorts of strangers with hospitality and tolerance. I inherited everything from him, and as long as I live, I will make any decision on who gets to stay and who gets to leave! Did I make myself crystal clear?" That threw me off guard. Of course I knew she was right. This was her home and she had every right of welcoming her in. Still, I felt protective of my son, and the way she talked about him before was something I could not forget so easily. But for now, I just nodded my head meekly. I did not want to get on Granny's bad side. "I… really don't want to be a bother," Cheerilee spoke up, hesitantly. "Believe me, it was not my intention to insult you or Big Macintosh, ma'am. If I had known it was you… no, that does not excuse my behavior. I apologize. Big Mac is a wonderful stallion and he really deserves better. So… I suppose I'll be going home now…" She turned around, only to be stopped in her tracks by the enormous body of Big Mac. "Nnnope." She looked at the ground. "Really, I should be going, Big Mac. I don't want to upset your mother…" He stood firm and shook his head. "Nnnope." Afterwards, he glared at me. I sighed in defeat. After all, my son was a grown stallion, fully capable of making his own decisions. "Fine, take her to the gazebo," I muttered. "But make sure to be back before midnight, got it?" Positively surprised, Cheerilee looked back at me with a gasp. Big Mac just smiled at me and said: "Eeyup." After that, he gave the teacher a nudge and left with her. "I'm still going to keep an eye on her," I grumbled. "Stop your worrying! That filly has her heart on the right spot," Granny said. "Oh, and by the way: Now you know how I felt when my son first introduced you to me." I blushed a bit, recalling that moment. "Okay, maybe I was a bit harsh. Well, at least we brought that drama behind us." "EPONA!" shouted a voice I knew too well. "I'm willing to forgive you for making us all believe you were dead. But now I hear you've been in Ponyville for two days and never thought of informing me?" I groaned inwardly as I turned to face the next visitor. "Hello, Pearl…" I muttered. Behind Fluttershy's cottage, an wild assortment of different creatures was sitting in a circle. There were a dragon, a diamond dog, an orange pegasus filly, a griffon and a blue unicorn. "Hello, everycreature," Fluttershy smiled as she fluttered into the circle. "It's lovely to see you all again. Today, I'd like you all to welcome a guest who wants to see what we are doing here together. Please meet Ruto… she's a sea pony." "Zora," Ruto muttered as she walked into the circle. "It's called Zora. And, um… hello." "Hello, Ruto!" the circle of creatures chorused. "Please have a seat," Fluttershy told her newest friend while she sat down on a stump. "Now, why don't you introduce yourselves to her one by one? This is an excellent way for you to build up your assertiveness. Let's start with you, Garble." "Again?" the red teenage dragon groaned. "Haven't I done this just last week? Fine…" He stood up. "Hello, I'm Garble the dragon. I'm here because my father thinks that, for some reason, I need to learn respect for ponies." He made a grimace. "How is your father doing, by the way?" Fluttershy asked. "I hope he found a nice new spot for his hoard." Garble rolled his eyes as he sat back down. "Yeah, whatever…" he grumbled. He didn't dare speak up against the pegasus for two reasons. One, his father could be pretty scary when he's angry. Two, Fluttershy could be even scarier when she uses her stare. "Good, Garble. So, who do we have next?" "The GREAT and POWERFUL Trrrrixiiiee…" Fluttershy frowned. "Now, now. What did I say about introducing yourself, Trixie?" The unicorn groaned. "Fiiine… I'm Trixie, and… well… I'm learning how to properly talk to ponies without seeming like a show-off. Even though I still don't see how that is bad. I talk like that for a living! I entertain ponies with it!" "But there's a difference between entertainment and casual conversations," Fluttershy said. "Some people might not realize the difference and be irritated by your behavior, especially if they don't know how nice you can actually be." "Well, if you put it that way…" Trixie muttered. "Fine, I get it. Next one, please." "Rover is here because greed is bad and kidnapping a pretty pony because Rover wants gems is bad, too. And so, Rover is here with nice wing-pony to learn to control greed." "Good boy," Fluttershy smiled as she petted him. "My friend Spike also learned that greed can lead to pretty dangerous situations. I'm so proud of you… here, have a treat." She threw him a dog biscuit, which the diamond dog happily caught with his teeth. "Next to him, we have…" The griffon clenched her beak. "Do I have to? I'm still feeling pretty uncomfortable about this. I don't want too many to find out that I'm here… especially not Dash." "Oh, I'm sure she'd forgive you," Fluttershy said. "I'm not holding any grudge, and she's my friend." Gilda crossed her arms and looked at the floor. "Still, I'm not ready to talk… to her… but if the fish wants to know my name, it's Gilda." Ruto frowned. "Fish? I'll have you know I'm a Zora princess, you insolent chicken!" "What was that?" Gilda roared as she leapt to her feet and bared her claws. "You wanna rumble, fish sticks?" "Ruto, be nice," Fluttershy scolded. "I told you they are just learning how to properly express themselves. And Gilda, what did I say about unnecessary aggression?" The griffon pulled back her head. "Sorry… still getting used to it, Flutters. Um, you still won't tell Dash about this, right? I don't wanna stand in front of her until I can get this temper of mine sorted out." Fluttershy smiled. "Of course not. For now, it's a secret kept between you and me and the rest of our circle. Now, our last and youngest member…" The filly sitting next to Gilda jumped up. "I'm Scootaloo and, well… I'm feeling very self-conscious because of my tiny wings…" She fluttered them a bit in embarrassment. "Other pegasi of my age can already fly, while I cannot." "Very good, Scootaloo," Fluttershy smiled. "Talking about your fears is the first step to conquer them. I learned that when I first helped Ponyville with that tornado." "Yeah, but had it easy. Rainbow Dash was there to help you out. She gave you a pep talk and everything. No assertiveness in the world will be enough to help me fly…" "Now don't sell yourself short, squirt," Gilda said. "You're doing some cool stuff with that scooter, don't you?" "Yes, but I still want to be able to fly," Scootaloo sighed. The griffon looked back and forth and then leaned over to the pegasus filly. "Um… I'm gonna tell you a secret, kiddo… but you've got to promise me not to tell anyone. Especially not Dash!" She looked around. "That goes for all of you dweebs, understood?" "A secret?" Scootaloo wondered. "What kind of secret?" "W-well, when I was your age…" Gilda hemmed and hawed a bit. "Y'know… I wasn't that great of a flyer either. I was a late bloomer, like you. It was only later that my wings completely grew in and I was able to go to the Junior Speedsters Camp, where I met Dash." She looked back up at the group. "You all got that? Fine, let's get a round of laughing at the griffon!" Nobody was laughing. Scootaloo's eyes widened. "For real? You were a bad flyer as a kid?" "Just don't mention it too loud," Gilda muttered. "Don't wanna lose my reputation as the toughest griffon around… but yeah, I know what you're getting through. I also got a lot of idiots who would laugh at me back then. I guess that's why I'm getting angry so easily…" "I think it was very brave of you to share this with us, Gilda," Fluttershy said. "You've made some great progress ever since you joined our group." "Y-you really think so?" Gilda blushed under her feathers. "Um, I mean… yeah, sure I made progress. I'm awesome!" Fluttershy and Scootaloo both giggled at the behavior, having heard it so many times from Rainbow Dash. "And what about you, Miss Ruto?" Scootaloo asked. "You've got something you wanna share with us?" "M-me?" Ruto asked, taken by surprise. "Um… I have no idea what you're talking about. Also, I don't see why I should tell you about my feelings…" "Fishy pony can tell us," Rover said. "Secret stays in group. Rover will never tell." "Yes, this is what this group is all about," Trixie nodded. "We tell each other our secrets because we know we can trust each other to keep them." All around, everyone nodded. Except for Garble, who scoffed a little. "Very well…" Ruto said hesitantly. "If you promise not to tell anyone… well, let's start from the beginning. I'm a princess of the Zora, and well… I've never learned anything else. I barely know anything about the world outside of our kingdom, about the other races or even about people who aren't royalty. So, um… I realized I have some trouble talking to other people." The more Ruto talked, the more she became relaxed while sharing her feelings with the others. She realized after listening to their own problems that there are people or creatures everywhere that have trouble showing what they feel inside… even in another world. She kept talking for almost half an hour before she was finished. "And that's when I realized that I will probably never be with Link," she sighed. "Because he and I have different destinies… ah, screw this… because he really has no romantic interest in me! There, I said it!" She lowered her head ans sobbed a bit. Fluttershy softly petted the crying Zora's head, while the rest of the circle looked at her with pity and a bit of understanding. "You poor thing," Fluttershy said. "But you can be glad, right? At least, he's still your friend and you didn't part ways with a fight." "I guess that's true," Ruto muttered. "Why that hero boy of all people, exactly?" Gilda asked. "I mean, I get he's hot and brave and all that stuff. But surely there are other guys like him out there, right?" "I… guess so," Ruto shrugged. "It's just that I've thought about Link so much that I forget that there are others. Also, I'm a princess… I really don't know how to talk with commoners." "Maybe you should go and talk to Twilight," Fluttershy suggested. "She just became a princess and had trouble fitting in. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?" "Well… it might be worth a shot," Ruto admitted. "Then she blushed. "B-but I won't tell her how I feel about Link. And you guys won't tell him either, right?" "As long as you don't blab out our secrets, yours is safe with us, fish sticks," Gilda grinned. Ruto smirked. "Good to hear, chicken wings." "Girls! What did I tell you about calling each other names?" Fluttershy scolded.