The Wandering Guardian

by The Cosmic Consciousness


Fluttershy (Updated)

-Set 3 years before Nightmare Moon's return-
Cloudsdale seems like a nice place to visit next. Maybe I'll even find out what I'm looking for. Just have to learn the cloud-walking spell to let me stay up there, and I'll be set. Cosmic Mind thought to himself after reading a pamphlet about the cloud-city. It should take about a day for the stallion to find the spell in the local library, learn it, and understand it deeply enough to be confident in using it.

* * * * *

-The next day-
As the balloon landed on Cloudsdale, Cosmic Mind payed the pilot, fastened on his saddlebags and put on his dark-grey cloak. He opened the door of the basket, and carefully reached down with his front left leg to make sure the spell worked. He felt the cloud beneath his hoof flatten out slightly, like a pillow. The spell worked. "Now to search the town, but first something to eat." Cosmic said to himself as his stomach growled. "I wonder what pegasi eat all the way up here?" He shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sure I'll learn soon enough." And began to wander around the floating city.
About 2 minutes into the search, a bright blue blur crashes into him. "Whoops, sorry.-chuckle- Practicing a trick before meeting a friend for lunch." said the blue blur, which turned out to be a cyan pegasus mare with a rainbow-colored mane.
"No problem. What's your name? And do you know a good place to eat?" Cosmic asked.
The mare suddenly stuck a pose of pride. "The one and only Rainbow Dash is my name. For lunch, I would recommend the Hay and Horseshoes just around that corner." the mare said, pointing at the end of a row of buildings. "It's where I'm meeting my friend."
"Cosmic Mind. Thanks."
"Later" she said, before taking off, leaving behind a rainbow blur.

* * * * *

Cosmic Mind ordered his lunch, a hay and daisy sandwich, at a\the restaurant the local recommended, and awaited at his table alone with his thoughts for his food to come. When he was in the middle of deciding how to proceed in Cloudsdale, a cream-coated pegasus mare with a long-pink mane that almost reached the floor walked in.
"Hey look, it's Cluttershy." a voice at a nearby table said. Looking around, Cosmic Mind saw that it came from a dark-brown pegasus stallion with a white mane and a dumb-bell cutiemark. At this, the mare hid behind her mane with embarassment in her eyes.
"Yeah Cluttershy. Have you figured out to fly yet?" teased a slightly bigger stallion with a light-brown coat and brown mane and three basketballs for a cutiemark. The mare, whose name Cosmic Mind highly doubted was "Cluttershy", was beginning to tear up.
At the second insult, several customers of the restaurant began laughing nervously, and the mare is now on the verge of bursting into tears.
Seeing this, an idea comes to Cosmic's mind. He waits one or two seconds, then bursts out laughing louder than anypony else, but for a completely different reason. He laid his head down on his table and began hammering the table with his front hoof. He keeps this up for a few seconds until silence consumes the establishment, and getting a weird look from the duo that started it.
"I know it was funny, but it wasn't that funny." the dark brown one said.
Cosmic Mind slowly stopped laughing and got his breath back. He looked at the location of the mare, and was surprised to see that she hadn't run out the instant the laughing started, but she had still started crying. "No, no it's not that." the unicorn stallion said, before letting out a last chuckle.
"Then what is so funny?" the lighter of the pair asked.
Cosmic turned back the duo. "It's that you two find it so funny to make fun of somepony, and that the rest of this place seems to agree, that it is fun to hurt others like that." he shouted the last statement, making sure the other customers heard him. Those that had laughed slouched in their seats. "Quite a first impression that I get of the locals of this town. Near all of you take joy in hurting another's feelings...Now, how about you two go apologize to her?" Cosmic Mind asked the bully pair while gesturing to the mare
After a moment, the look of shock left the faces of the pair, but continued on everypony else, they mumbled"we're sorry, fluttershy".
Now Cosmic was mad at them, and his patience has worn out. 'They won't even apologize correctly. And after I asked them to so nicely. Oh well, they probably deserve The Stare.' Cosmic thought to himself. He turned back to the dark-brown and light-brown stallions, and opened his eyes with a painful gaze, locking his eyes with their eyes. After a second of their eyes being locked with his, they started shivering slightly, yet they couldn't look away. A smirk appeared on the night-blue stallion's lips. "Let's try that again. Apologize to her." Cosmic Mind told them again, emphasizing 'Apologize'.
"WE'RE SORRY, FLUTTERSHY." the duo shouted together, before running out of the restaurant.
A couple of seconds pass. The mare, whose name seemed to be 'Fluttershy', was standing with a look of confusion, surprise, and wonder on her face, watching the mysterious unicorn stallion, along with the rest of the customers.
"Here you go. A hay and daisy sandwich and a water. Anything else?" the waitress said while bringing over the unicorn's meal.
"No, I'm good. Thank you." Cosmic said with a smile on his lips. He was about to dive into his food, when a timid and quiet voice interrupted him.
"Um, thank you for taking of those two for me." It was Fluttershy.
"No problem. I never did like bullies." Cosmic said, with pride in his voice.
"Oh, um, ma-may I join you?" she asked, clearly nervous and stammering
"I don't see why not." Cosmic said and the timid mare sat in the seat opposite of him. "Want half of my sandwich?"He asked. Fluttershy nodded, and he split the sandwich in two with his magic and floated half of the sandwich to her.
"oh, um, thank you." Fluttershy said, taking the sandwich in her hoof, with a slight blush. "So, um, what exactly did you do to those two? I didn't see your horn glow with a spell."
"Just something that I do on occasion. Showed them what they were doing was wrong, using my eyes, so I call it The Stare. It works by forcing empathy into them. I have other spells to do a similar job, but sometimes I need a strong use, like just now, to make sure the point gets across." Cosmic explained.
"Wow, that's amazing." Fluttershy said, sounding excited yet still quiet.
""I can also perform telepathic communication and read minds, of course I keep away from the personal things." Cosmic further explained his abilities. "By the way, what's your name?" Cosmic Mind asked her, both to make sure 'Fluttershy' wasn't an insult, and to not be rude by not asking.
"Fl-fluttershy." she said in a quiet and timid voice.
"Cosmic Mind."
They finished their respective halves of a sandwich, and talked for half an hour. Cosmic Mind learned how much bullying Fluttershy would get, and of her love of animals. Cosmic Mind talked about his travels. During this time, Cosmic Mind was secretly casting a spell to look around her mind, seeking for any signs that this mare isn't who she seems and to make sure she spoke no lies. It may have been an invasion of privacy, but it was a necessary precaution for what he's looking for. He avoided the clearly more private stuff, such as secrets meant to be kept as secrets, out of courtesy. He found almost no signs of resentment or hatred, but there was some natural anger and pain from the two bullies from earlier. Cosmic searched under friends, and all he found was the blue pegasus from before. He of course was still listening to what Fluttershy was saying through all the searching.
"I'm thinking of moving out of Cloudsdale and moving to the ground, to be closer with the animals. I do love animals."
"I think I know a town that may just be right for you, Fluttershy." said Cosmic.
"Really? Where?" said Fluttershy, .
"A small quiet town called Ponyville. Everypony there is nice. But if you go there, beware of pink earth pony with a bouncy mane and even bouncier personality. She will throw you a party on sight, and I assume you don't like being the center of attention." Cosmic warned her. "But she is a good friend to have."
"Sounds...nice." Fluttershy said.
"Did I mention that it's in need of a new animal care-taker?"
"Sounds great."
"Since it seems that I took care of your bully problem, and that you seem a trustworthy enough pony, I have a favor to ask of you." said Cosmic, hoping that she'll say yes. He believes that she is worthy of what he has to offer, and will not misuse.
"Wh-what is it?" Fluttershy asked nervously.
"I want to give you the power of The Stare. It is a fairly simple transfer spell, but one that requires concentration. Do you want it?" Cosmic asked.
Fluttershy seemed to calm down, but still slightly tense. "Th-The Stare? I'm not sure I want that kind of power, like the kind that you did on Dumb-bell and Hoops. And, how would I control it?"
"Don't worry. It's not dangerous. It's mostly activated by instinct. Trust me, it's a life-saver. I once fought off a cockatrice with it." Cosmic explained. "It just shows the recipient that what they're doing is wrong. A bit like forced-empathy."
"O-okay, sure."
"Great! Let's go into the alley so I can perform the spell."
The two new friends walked out the restaurant into the side alley. Cosmic Mind prepared himself and told Fluttershy what to do during the spell. "Remember, you just have to keep your eyes locked on mine."
"Got it." said the pegasus.
"Okay, here I go." Cosmic's horn began to glow a deep blue as his magic charged. A few seconds of focus and quiet later, bright white lights shined from the unicorn's eyes. The white lights then grew into little buds, which grew in size, then once they reached full size, the buds broke off, being floating orbs of light. Fluttershy was finding it painful to keep her eyes, but kept them locked on Cosmic's. The two floating orbs began to float towards Fluttershy, along the way changing to match the shape of the target's eyes. The orbs entered Fluttershy's eyes, who somehow managed to keep her eyes open during this, but just barely. Both unicorn and pegasus eyes shined with bright light for a full second. The pair's eye-lights faded, reverting the eyes back to normal. Fluttershy seemed slightly worn, but Cosmic Mind was clearly exhausted, yet he managed to remain standing.
"Feel any different?" the spell-caster asked the spell-castee.
"I-I don't think so." said the slightly worried pegasus.
Cosmic released a sigh of relief. "Good. You shouldn't." He thought for a few seconds, before asking Fluttershy another question. "So, are you going to move to Ponyville, or at least check it out? I can tell you would fit in just fine."
"I'm, I'm not sure. But I will consider it."
"It's okay. You don't have to decide right now. I should get going now. Just remember," Cosmic said while casting another spell "you can always rely on a friend when you need help. If you ever have problems with anypony messing with you, just give me a call, and I'll come."
"Wh-what was that spell you just cast?" a worried Fluttershy asked.
"A telepathy-connection spell that calls me when you really need me. But you shouldn't when you have a power like The Stare and a good friend like Rainbow Dash to help you."
"H-how did you know about Rainbow Dash?"
"She bumped into me soon after I arrived here. And I took a quick peek while in your mind, wondering what somepony like you was doing going into a crowded place like Hay and Horseshoes. And also to make sure if you should be trusted with The Stare." explained Cosmic Mind.
"Well, I should be going. See you later, Fluttershy." Cosmic waved goodbye as his horn glowed, charging for the teleportation spell.
"B-Bye." Fluttershy waved timidly, seeing that her new friend is about to leave.
:"You should go back in, before Rainbow Dash begins to worry." and with that, he disappeared in a bright flash, reappearing in an equally bright flash on solid ground.
The unicorn looked around to see his surroundings. He was on a piece of flat land, with an occasional tree. "Seems as good a place as any other to make camp." The lone stallion said to himself, before taking off his saddlebags, and taking out the necessary equipment, and casting a spell that summoned a roll of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink. It also seemed a good time to write a letter. It was dusk, and it won't be long until night comes, perhaps an hour.
Once the night-blue stallion set up camp, had a small fire going, before he began to write his letter.:
"Dear Princess Celestia, Today in Cloudsdale, I found a candidate to be one of the Elements of Harmony, most likely of kindness. Her name is Fluttershy, she has a cream-colored coat and a long pink mane, with three pink butterflies for a cutie mark. I have already directed her towards the town Ponyville. Hopefully she will meet and become friends with the three other candidates that live that I have located. I hope that your personal student is who you say she is, the elusive Element that is needed to complete and reactivate the Elements and return your sister, Princess Luna, from the form of Nightmare Moon. Signed, Your agent and seeker, Cosmic Mind." Cosmic reread this letter, deemed it ready, rolled it up and cast the spell to send it to the high-ranking alicorn. Once he saw the moon begin to rise, he performed a quick prayer for Luna's safe return, as is his ritual.
Cosmic was about to go back to his shelter and sleep, when suddenly he heard a sound to his right and slightly up. He looked to the source, and saw a gray blur hurtling at him. 'Twice in one day? Fine, I can handle it.Bring it on!' the stallion thought, bracing for the impact of another crash-landing. He cast a cushioning spell on himself, after all, why force the pegasus to have to crash into the ground?
The crash came, and when his senses came back, he saw a gray mare with a blonde mane on him. "Huh, this didn't hurt nearly as much as it normally does. Good thing this ground is so soft." the mare said, patting Cosmic's back
"Hey, who you calling soft? I exercise regularly." the stallion said under the mare.
"Oops, sorry." the mare said with a flushed face, getting off him.