//------------------------------// // Chapter XXXII: Animals // Story: Distorted Fate // by Silvak //------------------------------// After the race, Pinkie Pie and I went back to the bakery, where we had dinner, though my dessert, which was usual chocolate cake that Pinkie always seemed to have on hoof for some reason, was a third the size I normally had. After dinner, Pinkie proposed that I should visit her friend Fluttershy tomorrow after school and help her out with taking care of some wild animals, seeing that it would serve as a good form of exercise in her point of view. This perked my curiosity, for I wondered on how Fluttershy was able to interact with wild animals, since my past experiences in my former body with wildlife either involved the animals running away in fear from me, or me running in fear from them. Hence, the next day after school, which consisted of the usual really long reading session for me, having some fun with the Crusaders during recess, Diamond and I glaring at each other with pure hate, and the history lesson, I was heading towards Fluttershy's home. Thankfully, since it was outside of Ponyville, Pinkie only had to tell me the general direction I had to go from the schoolhouse to find the place. So it wasn't long till I reached... a grass-roofed cottage. Okay, what is it with Pinkie's friends all living in these weird homes of theirs? Knocking on the door with a hoof, I waited for a moment till it opened to reveal Fluttershy, along with a rather grumpy bunny. "Oh, Aether! What are you doing here today?" "Pinkie wanted me to spend more time outside, and she suggested that helping you take care of your animals would be good for me," I answered, as I eyed the bunny as it gave me the stink eye. "What is with the bunny?" "Oh, that's so nice of you to help, Aether," Fluttershy said as she opened the door wider, giving me a better view of the interior of her home. It had its own homey look, if it weren't for the animals having their run of the place. "Now Angel, say hi to Aether." Instead of doing what Fluttershy requested, Angel kept its harsh glare on me, which only caused me to cock an eyebrow at Fluttershy as I asked, "Does your pet have a problem with me?" "Now Angel, you know that it's not polite to look at our friends like that," Fluttershy said to the bunny before turning her attention to me. "Don't mind Angel, he just gets like that around strangers. Now excuse me, it's lunch time and I need to get the animals their meals. Is there anything you would like?" Looking down at my belly, I poked at it to see it vibrate a bit. "No, I am good," I said as I looked up at Fluttershy, only to see an expression of regret on her face. "Sorry! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" Fluttershy said in an embarrassed yet still timid voice before I interrupted her. "Relax Ms. Fluttershy, you did not insult me. Besides, I do need to lose some weight anyway, I have been eating too much cake lately," I said with a disarming grin that seemed to calm the mare down. Strange that she so easily jumped to the conclusion that she insulted me in some way. "Oh... well I'm going to get the animals their meals now. Can you look after the animals while I'm in the kitchen?" Fluttershy asked, to which I gave a short but polite nod. As she headed over to the kitchen, I did a quick look around to see what the animals were doing till I turned my attention onto 'Angel'. He was still giving me his grumpy look, but something in his eye told me he was plotting something. "You are plotting something," I stated as I stared at the bunny. Getting no response from him, I lowered my head closer to him as I said, "You better not try anyth-" BAP! Rearing my head back from the sudden kick to my nose, I glared at the bunny as I said, "You kicked me! How dare you!" only to see Angel sticking his tongue out at me. "You better behave now bunny or else," I demanded, only to receive a roll of his eyes. Oh well, I did warn him, I thought to myself as I shifted my glare to my Death Glare. This finally got a reaction, for Angel's eyes widened in horror as his ears flopped down to dangle behind him. While my Death Glare has a shocking effect on just about anyone, on smaller animals that aren't carnivorous, its effects are much worse since I can actually use my size to back it up. "Next time you mess with me, I will make you regret it," I warned. Angel replied with rapid nodding. Breaking off my Death Glare, I looked at all the animals to make sure that they weren't fooling around, only to see them all staring at me in shock. This caused me to cock an eyebrow in curiosity, for it wasn't something that I expected to happen. "I'm back with lunch everyo-" Fluttershy started to say as she returned with a tray filled with bowls on her back, only to see all the animal staring at me in silence. However, Angel soon broke his stupor as he hopped to Fluttershy, and after indicating to her to lower her head to his level, he whispered something into her ear. After a moment, Fluttershy raised her head as she said, "You threatened Angel!" "No, I just gave him a stare because he kicked me in the nose!" I protested, while giving Angel a glare once more. "Wait, is that true?" Fluttershy said as she turned her attention to Angel. As Angel was about to shake its head, I pointed at my eyes and then at him.  Gulping, Angel slowly nodded, to which Fluttershy said, "Angel, what have I told you about hurting other ponies? And Aether is just a little filly," as she gave the bunny a harsh look, causing him to look down at the floor. Turning towards me, Fluttershy said, "Please, don't let your first meeting with Angel sour your opinion on him. He's normally kind to other ponies." Raising an eyebrow at that statement, I replied, "Yeah... okay Ms. Fluttershy, I will give him another chance." Smiling at my response, Fluttershy said, "Thank you, but you can just call me Fluttershy. Now... if you don't mind... can you help me with the bowls? We need to space them out so that all the animals have room." Giving her a nod, I grabbed a couple of the bowls with my magic as I placed them down while Fluttershy did the same with the rest. After grabbing a couple more bowls, I suddenly recalled something, as I asked, "Excuse me Fluttershy... but I think Twilight once mention that she had to talk to you about Discord. Do you mind telling me what your... err... relationship with him is?" Considering that he left me to float to Celestia knows where, I was wondering why Discord would listen to Fluttershy in the first place. With a timid look, Fluttershy replied, "Oh... he and I are just friends. Though, I did talk to him about what he did to you, and he's sorry for leaving you like that." After seeing me deadpan at her, since I highly doubted he would be sorry after doing such a thing, she continued, "He really is sorry, Aether." "...Riiiight," I simply replied as I placed the last bowls on the ground as Fluttershy began to tend to the needs of the animals. I simply just watched her, though I kept an eye on Angel. Eventually we moved onto checking on the animals outside her house, which got me to be more curious on just how many animals Flutte- whoa! Is that... a bear? What in limbo is a bear doing here? As I sat there, dumbstruck as Fluttershy calmly walked up to the bear as she asked him if he was fine. After getting a grunt in response, Fluttershy turned around to attend to another animal when she finally saw me looking at her dumbfounded. "Aether? Is there something wrong?" Blinking for a moment, I shook my head before I said, "Err... not really, but... why is a bear here?" Blinking, Fluttershy tilted her head as she said, "What do you mean?" Resisting the urge to drop my jaw, I answered, "Well... there is a bear... right here... and bears are... well... big and have fangs?" Either those wildlife books I borrowed from Twilight (best to know them before they start chasing you around) were wrong, or something seriously wrong was happening here. Apparently my answer was enough for Fluttershy to get what I was trying to say for she put her hooves over her mouth as she said, "Oh my! No, you don't have to be scared of Mr. Bear. He's a nice bear and he won't hurt anypony here." Cocking an eyebrow, I looked at the rest of the animals as I said, "The bear will not hurt the other animals here too?" "Oh no, no one hurts anyone while they're here... are you scared of bears, Aether?" Fluttershy asked hesitantly. Looking at her, I rubbed a hoof against the ground as I replied, "Well... yes and no..." "Yes and no? What do you mean?" "Well... I just do not like to be around things that are much bigger than me and have fangs," I elaborated. Seeing that Fluttershy was about to ask another question by the somewhat curious look on her face, I continued, "When I was on my own... I learn that big things with fangs... will like to eat smaller things... and since I am small... we- huh?" before I suddenly found myself in Fluttershy's embrace. "Oh you poor thing! There's nothing to worry about, you're safe here. Pinkie, my friends, and I aren't going to let anything hurt you," Fluttershy said as she rubbed a hoof against my back. Whoa, ain't there some law about personal space around here, especially with children? I thought to myself as I started to shake off the shock of being suddenly hugged by someone other than Pinkie Pie. Clearing my throat, I said, "Ummm... Fluttershy? I am alright... you did not had to... well hug me and comfort me like this." Letting out a small 'eep', Fluttershy quickly disengaged the embrace as she said, "Sorry about that. I thought you were getting upset," as her cheeks flushed red. "It is alright, it was just a mistake," I said, before quickly adding, "but thank you for caring about how I feel." My response led to an end to Fluttershy's short-lived embarrassment, though she was still hesitant when she asked, "But... were you actually hurt by any animals?" After looking at her for a while, which oddly caused her to retreat a bit into her mane for some reason, I said, "A little, some bites, some scratches... but nothing serious. Mostly I just ended up getting chased a lot by them... that is why I know how to move around, like climbing cliffs or stuff like that." While only barely true, as there were a multitude of other reasons for those skills, hopefully when the other mares heard this, they would be less questioning to why I have them. "I... I can't believe that you had to go through that," Fluttershy said as tears comes to her eyes, though she didn't embrace me in another hug. "It is alright, it is in the past. At least I learned some things from it." "You don't have to worry about that happening again, Aether. You're safe here in Ponyville," Fluttershy replied as she patted me on the shoulder, which was much more preferable to another awkward hug. Suddenly, I heard a familiar popping noise, along with a familiar voice that said, "Oh Fluttershy dear, I'm here for ou- oh? What do we have here." Knowing who the voice belonged to, I mentally groaned as I thought to myself, Oh great, he has to show up now. Just fan-fucking-tastic.