//------------------------------// // An Everfree Discovery // Story: An Unexpected Friendship // by LordLycaon //------------------------------// The day started off as any other would have. The sun's warm rays poured in through her bedroom windows, splashing the room with the soft morning light. With quiet yawn and quick stretch, Fluttershy climbed out of bed and proceeded with her daily routine, quickly brushing her mane and tail back into their usual look and heading downstairs for breakfast with her animals that lived in her cottage with her. When she entered the kitchen to fix herself a meal, she found that there was already one waiting for her, courtesy of a kindly bear, who waved good morning to her from across the table. She giggled a bit and sat to eat the plate of berries, vegetables, and even a couple of pancakes topped with maple syrup. As she ate her admittedly large breakfast, Angel hopped over to her with his food bowl and began stomping the floor with his tiny forelegs crossed, an impatient look in his little eyes. Fluttershy smiled and got up from her seat, headed over to the pantry, and pulled out a large bag of animal feed, some of which she poured into Angel's bowl. The tiny rabbit nodded gratefully and dug into his own breakfast as Fluttershy finished up her meal and gave all of her other animals their own food. "Be careful not to eat too fast," the pegasus warned her little friends as they devoured their meals. Some of them did listen and slowed down as they ate, while the rest just kept eating the way that they had been. While her animals fed, Fluttershy went over to her calendar and checked her schedule for the day. She believed that it was Tuesday. Looking over the to-do list, she took note that it was that time of the week again. She would have to take stock on all of the supplies she needed for taking care of her animals. Nodding to this, she gathered up her checklist and a quill and headed outside, where she had a small shed in which she kept most of her supplies. Once inside, she began checking off everything that she had on the list. "Hmm… fourteen boxes of bandages… eight canisters of ointment… twelve extra feed bags…" She pursed her lips after about an hour or so, looking at the list with a bit of worry in her eyes. She would have to go into the marketplace in town and gather up several of her listed items in order to make sure she didn't run out of the necessities. Not to mention that she would have to go pay a visit to Zecora's hut and get some of the zebra's legendary herbal remedies. Zecora had been kind enough to let the shy mare use some her homemade medicines, which proved to be astronomically superior to more conventional treatments. That in mind, she left the shed and collected her saddlebags from her living room. As she left, she said, "Hold down the fort for me while I'm out, okay, Angel Bunny?" The rabbit gave her mock salute as she left, closing the door behind her. She resolved to go get Zecora's herbal medicines first, if only because she wanted to get in and out of the Everfree Forest as quickly as possible. Standing before the nearby entrance to the dreaded forest, she took a deep breath and steeled her will as much as she could. Which, she would willingly admit, wasn't a lot to work with. She trotted down the fastest path to Zecora's hut that she knew of, hoping she wouldn't be attacked by some ferocious beast along the way. -o- All he could hear as he ran was the sound of twigs snapping and the relentless roars, hisses, and bleats from his pursuer. It was just his luck to be chased by some blood-thirsty beast. He had never had much luck with anything at all. Being stuck in this accursed forest was just one prime example of that, with another decently sized piece of evidence hot on his trail, eager to tear him apart. His heart was beating rapidly from both exhaustion and adrenaline. His cracked horn would ensure that he wouldn't be able to effectively defend himself without disastrous consequences. He didn't really have anywhere to hide either. The beast that was after him would easily sniff him out in no time at all. He gritted his teeth, cursing his misfortune and hoping to whoever watched from the heavens that he would be able to elude his hunter, at least until he could get somewhere relatively safe. And as fate would have it… he tripped over a stone and rolled painfully down a rather large hill. He collided with fair-sized boulder and gasped in pain, clutching his left foreleg and hissing as his own touch only made it worse. 'Broken,' he immediately surmised. He didn't need to do a diagnostic spell or talk to a doctor to figure out that much. He tried to stand up, but his "good" legs gave out almost instantly, the muscle within them too worn to carry him any further. He cursed his bad luck again. His old comrades were right about him. He was just a hopeless klutz who couldn't even walk without tripping over his own hooves. He left home to try and prove them wrong, but after getting lost in some wild storm and ending stranded in the Everfree, he'd started to think that it was a bad idea. A sudden snarl pulled him from his thoughts. From atop the hill that he stumbled down, his pursuer glowered at him with narrowed eyes, baring its teeth from each of its three mouths. He sneered back at the beast, though he made no attempt to escape or fight. Either would only end in disaster for him. The monster upon the hill, a beast he recognized as a chimera – a monster with the body and head of a lion, a snake for a tail, and the head of a goat on its back – sauntered down the slope, its claws digging into the earth to keep it from tumbling like a fool. He had to admit, the beast was clearly smarter than he was. The chimera closed the distance at a patient pace, closing in on him with that vicious snarl in its lion's mouth. He closed his dark green eyes as the monster reached him and raised its clawed paw, fully expecting this to be his end. He waited for the beast to strike him down. … And he waited… … And waited… … It didn't come. This perplexed him somewhat. Why hadn't the ravenous creature attacked him yet? Had it already killed him, and he just didn't feel it? That didn't seem quite right, as nothing about his environment felt like it changed in any way. Curious, he cracked open an eye, staring at the chimera that stood above him. It was glaring off somewhere to the left, snarling angrily. It looked back at him, giving him a predatory gaze that said, "This isn't over." The chimera growled at him once more for good measure, and, for whatever reason, ran back up the hill and out of sight. While confused, he couldn't help but give a sigh of relief. He was heavily injured, but he was still alive. Counting his blessings, he gave into his own exhaustion and passed out right where he lay. -o- Fluttershy managed to remain fairly calm as she walked through the dense, dark, eerie forest that so many ponies rightfully feared. So far, her road had been calm and uneventful, something she was more than grateful for. But that didn't stop her from jumping at just about every sound she heard. Like the monstrous roar of some wild predator, for example, to which she let out a tiny "eep" and ducked behind a nearby rock that was just large enough to conceal a pony. After a few minutes, she gave a relieved sigh and continued down her path. As she walked, she heard another sound that made her jump. It wasn't a roar. It was way too soft. More like a snore than anything else. Was some animal sleeping nearby? Its snores sounded forced, almost like it was… hurt!? Without a second thought, Fluttershy galloped towards the source of the snore, a little ways off of her path, and followed the noise until she found its maker. She gasped at the sight before her, her light blue eyes wide in horror. Before her was none other than… "A ch-ch-changeling!?" she yelled in a harsh whisper, knowing full well that it would be best to not alert the sleeping shape-shifter. She stared at the bug-like creature, quickly realizing that it was heavily injured. It was covered from head to hoof (?) in scrapes and bruises, and its left foreleg was mangled, obviously broken in at least a few places. It let out a light growl, making the yellow pegasus jump back about a foot, but it didn't wake up. She looked around the forest, trying to see if there were any other changelings in the area, or, at the very least, suspicious-looking ponies. It was always difficult to tell with changelings. She looked back to the one that was still sleeping in front of her. She bit her lip nervously. What should she do about this? Changelings are dangerous. There was no changing that about them, no matter what form they took. But she couldn't just leave the thing lying there. It was hurt and helpless! "Oh, what do I do?" she asked herself in a small panic. She eyed the changeling again, and after several seconds, she gave a sigh of defeat. Carefully, she managed to scoop the creature under her forelegs and onto her back. She struggled for a bit, feeling more than a little awkward with the added weight. "I hope I don't regret this," she whispered as she gathered her bearings and headed down the path back to her cottage. From this point on, she could only hope that nopony would see her with an unconscious changeling. Something like that would be absolutely mortifying. Not to mention the fact that her friends still held great resentment towards the changelings for the invasion of Canterlot just four months prior. She would have to be extremely careful how she goes about doing this.