//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Meetings // Story: Forest For The Trees // by Kartac //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Meetings It had only been a day or two since Fluttershy had been released from the hospital. Doctor Whooves told her she wasn't required to come back to work if she didn't feel up to it. She told him that it wasn't fair for her to leave him to take care of all of the animals by himself. The reason that the shelter was so good was the teamwork between them. Of course when she came back to work, she didn't expect to be spending a particularily chilly early winter day outside, the wind whipping her hair around and freezing her ears, holding a paintbrush and paint can in her cold hands. She looked up at the wall and frowned at the graffiti that had been sprayed there, not just because of the vandalism but because of what it said. 'FREE THE ANIMALS' When she first saw it, she had been incredibly taken aback. She had to immediately go to the Doctor and ask him if what they were doing was in any way harming the animals. She knew the answer was no, but she needed someone to reinforce her beliefs after everything that had happened with her and the vandals. It was still a little unnerving being in front of it, preparing to paint over it to return the building to a pristine sky blue without any invading words. She rolled the sleeves of her sweater up slowly, folding it over itself cautiously to make sure it wouldn't wind up getting any paint on it. She dipped the brush into the can of paint and slowly began making simple brushstrokes on the wall, watching the 'S' disappear under it. Fluttershy had hoped that after she'd been released that her friends wouldn't worry too much about her and that life would return to normal. Unfortunately for her she wasn't nearly that lucky. Rainbow Dash had already insisted on jogging half way across town to walk her to work each morning at least for a little while, and now the Doctor walked her home when he left even though it was only a block or two. She knew why they were doing this, it was to make sure she didn't wind up at work alone without Celestia's sun up. Fluttershy wanted to insist that she was fine and that they didn't need to, but whenever she tried to voice this, her voice wouldn't come. She wouldn't admit it to anyone else, but it was somewhere between shy... and pathetic. She put the paintbrush down, balancing it on the paintcan. The work was going by pretty well, she'd already gotten rid of the 'S' and a piece of the 'L' but the wind was making what should be a simple job incredibly uncomfortable. She cupped her hands in front of her mouth and blew into them to try to warm them, then took her warmed hands and cupped them over her ears. She thought of the hooded sweater she'd foolishly decided not to wear, instead choosing her current green knitted one. She contemplated for a second walking back into the clinic and trying to find the earmuffs she'd lost at work a year ago. Instead she just went back to work, dipping the paintbrush in and continuing to paint simple strokes on the wall. The sooner she finished the less time she had to spend out in the cold. She managed to finish covering up another letter before a voice rang out from around front of the building. "Fluttershy! Could you come in and help me with something please?" spoke a gentleman from the front of the building. "Coming!" She replied, about as strong as her meek little voice could muster. About half an hour later, Fluttershy marched back outside with a smile on her face. Not only did she get to help Doctor Whooves remove the bandages on a couple of pets that were now being happily returned to their owners but she found her earmuffs and Doctor Whooves lent her his gloves. She walked out front and took a couple deep breaths of cold air, maybe today wouldn't be such a bad day after all. She walked gingerly through the grass and turned the corner to continue painting when she saw someone standing there painting away at the wall. For anyone else, the event that followed would be known as a high pitched scream, for the meek and already fairly high pitched Fluttershy it was probably best described as her mouth getting stuck open. The figure standing there was wearing a full length white robe with hood, he didn't seem to acknowledge her presence at first but after a minute or so he paused and signalled her to come forward with a black gloved hand. Fluttershy looked around nervously, her mind was telling her to run back inside and get Doctor Whooves but she felt something holding her in place, and then as one foot stepped in front of the other, drawing her towards him. It took her a second to realise what had struck her so suddenly and stopped her from running before the words softly leaked themselves from her mouth. "It was you..." She let out, her voice soft and scared. The figure put the paintbrush down, nodding slowly. Fluttershy took another step closer to him. He took a sidestep to his right, moving away from her. "Oh, please don't go." Fluttershy pleaded, her voice momentarily found itself as she reached towards him. The figure stopped shifting away from her. It was the way her voice quivered before finding strength that stopped him. He turned to face her and she saw that he had slightly slanted brown eyes, and short brown hair, and despite the fabric covering his face she could see his forehead had a yellowish-tan twinge to it. She took another step towards him, he did not move, even as the gap between them shrunk to just a few steps. "I..." Fluttershy stopped, she didn't know what to say, or anything. Who was she even speaking to? "... I wanted to thank you, for the other night." A low, flat voice responded. "No need." It said before turning back to face the wall. Fluttershy took a moment to look back up and the wall and noticed that the only lettering left on it was the word 'FREE'. "I don't understand why someone would do something like this." Fluttershy asked out loud to no one in particular. "Some people don't believe we should interfere with natural processes." The voice responded, Fluttershy heard a conviction in the voice that indicated the figure believed this. Fluttershy sighed, Doctor Whooves informed her when she'd returned to work yesterday that this wasn't the first time the shelter had been vandalized like this but he said that nothing ultimately came from it, and that it was years ago. Fluttershy thought about that for a second then thought about what the man said. "We don't interfere," Fluttershy said with a smile. "we're a part of the process." The figure made a noticable hmmm in response. Fluttershy's smile widened a little bit. She took another half step towards him and noticed that he was a little taller than she was, but not a lot. She was a little shorter than her friends, so all things considered she imagined he must be a little short for a man as well. "Will you tell me your name?" Fluttershy asked, she wasn't nearly as nervous as she had been just a minute or two ago and it echoed in her voice. The figure shifted uncomfortably before answering. "If I agreed, would I have the pleasure of hearing yours first?" Fluttershy was taken aback, her cold and rosy cheeks starting to flush as she thought about it. She had been so focused on finding out about him that she didn't even think about herself. Her face warmed as she blushed, everything else aside, a young man was asking to know her name and she wasn't much used to that. Her voice quieted back down and her nerves started to take over again. "Fl- uh, I mean, I'm Fl-" Her voice once again went down to it's special quietness, less than a whisper. "Fluttershy." No quicker had she said it that another voice rang out in the wind, calling for her. "Fluttershy! Ah'm here to return that cage ya lent ta Spurs, Doctor Whooves said you were out here." Came AJ's good ol' country voice as she rounded the corner of the building. Fluttershy immediately turned to face her and cowered as AJ's eyes come down on her. "I- I can explain Applejack..." She whimpered out the words. "Uh... explain what Sugarcube?" AJ asked her confused. Fluttershy whipped back around and stared out into empty field. She turned back to AJ in stunned silence. "Awlright Sugarcube, yer under way too much stress. Git yer stuff, I'm takin' you home." Scootaloo was just lounging on her couch in a long sleeved tee and baggy jeans, twirling the chain she had attached to them. Her beanie cap crashed loosely over her head. Apple Bloom was looking skeptically over a trashy tabloidnewspaper that Scootaloo had claimed to have seen her mother reading earlier in the day. She looked up and her young skating friend and put the paper back down. "I dun' get it." Apple Bloom admitted. Scootaloo sat up and took back the paper before dropping it on the table in between them, the headline read: 'MYSTERIOUS SWORDSMAN OF PONYVILLE: Are we all protected?' "You're always saying you want us to do something cool. Think about it, solving a mystery? That'd be sweet!" Scootaloo spoke with vivid excitement, a mix of childhood innocence and actual excitement. Apple Bloom noticed a familiar figure in one of the pictures. "Uh, is that Fluttershy?" She asked. "Yep." came Scootaloo's reply. "Alright Scoot, I'll talk to Sweetie Belle and I'll try to convince sis to let us help Fluttershy out at the shelter." Apple Bloom caved to her extreme friend's requests nervously, she didn't really want to pry into Shy's business... Scootaloo lept to her feet and through a fist pump into the air. "Awesome! Let's figure out who this guy is!" She exclaimed. Author's Note: I don't think it's been mentioned yet but I haven't written anything in quite some time, despite being surprising good at short fiction in my youth. I know I'm probably really rough around the edges so if anyone has any comments or wisdom to impart, I will certainly take it. As another aside, I certainly won't force anyone to go and find Leigh's stories on other sites but odds are if you spy a character name in passing that isn't familiar it's probably from her stuff.