"It is the lives we encounter that make life worth living."
~ Guy de Maupassant
Thanks to his sprinting speed, it only took him a few minutes to reach the sounds of the screaming. He slowed down behind the bushes to get a view of the situation. Past the bushes was a rather large clearing where he could see a pack of around five, four-legged creatures. While he had seen various animals while on his walk through the forest, never had he seen creatures made of wood before. Was that even possible? How could a living thing function if it’s made entirely out of wood? Taking a good look of them, he determined that they were a type of canine species, possibly a wolf. He read about creatures such as wolves in one the storybooks he read long ago.
However, his eyes were soon drawn to what the wooden wolves were growling at. Just a mere ten feet away from them, laying front a large, entangled old oak tree, was another four-legged creature that was much smaller than the wooden predators. The creature had a buttery-yellow coat and a pink mane and tail that extended down to the ground. Its physical appearance confirmed his suspicions that the creature was female. She had some kind of marking on her flank that had three butterflies on it. The creature was curled up in front of one of the trees, her body rapidly rising up and down indicating that she was breathing heavily. After looking at her one last time, he knew that the she was equine or pony in nature, just like him. This made him glad, as she most likely wasn’t the only pony around. However, the feature that caught his attention were the wings that protruded from the side of her back. That was peculiar to him, he had never heard of an equine with wings. He thought that only creatures such as birds had feathered wings. He then noticed the creatures face, the pony’s eyes were filled with liquid that leaked down her cheeks while her mouth seemed to quiver as small squeals and whines could be heard from her. He wasn't sure why liquid was leaking from out of her two oculars. Perhaps it was this creatures way of defending itself from predators, he did not know. But observing the scenario in front of him made it all clear to him.
The pack of wooden wolves were obviously hunting the yellow equine and had finally cornered her into a dead end. Something inside the stallion began to burn. Normally he wouldn’t interfere, as it was natural for animals to eat other animals for survival. But something about this situation made him not like it. Not one bit. Maybe it was because if the yellow mare was indeed sentient, possibly even the only one, then he would forever lose this opportunity to interact with one, learn everything from it, possibly even have her lead him to more like her. Maybe it was the face and sounds that the pony was giving off, he wasn't sure. What he did know was that whatever the reason, he absolutely did NOT want to let these wooden creatures take the timid looking pony, no matter what.
Without a second thought, he flew out of the bushes.
This was it. This was how she was going die. Savagely eaten by a pack of vicious Timberwolves that had backed her into a large tree.
It was just this morning that Fluttershy was planning to have the most wonderful of days; picking flowers from the meadow, feeding all her animal friends, especially Angel bunny, and finally, spend the rest of the afternoon having tea with one of her best friends Rarity. At first, things went without a hitch, having gathered many different and beautiful flowers to put around her home. Then she went through the process of feeding all her animal friends while also greeting them like she always did. But then things started to go sour when her pet Angel bunny, after having a fit with not getting the breakfast that he wanted, ran off into the Everfree forest. Fluttershy panicked, what was going through Angel’s mind to run off into the Everfree forest like that? Didn’t he know how dangerous it was in there? She had to go and get him back no matter what, but the thought of going in that forest ALONE terrified her. Fortunately, Rarity had come by for their planned afternoon tea along with Rainbow Dash who was passing by. After telling them of her situation, Rarity and Rainbow Dash didn’t hesitate to help her find Angel. It was these times that she was truly fortunate to have friends like them.
When they entered the forest, for the most part nothing happened all that much, which was perfectly fine with Fluttershy although she was still spooked out by the dark and dimly lit forest. But as time went by, there still was no sign of Angel. Rainbow Dash eventually proposed to split up to make the search faster, something that Fluttershy did NOT want to do. However, she eventually relented and decided to agree to split up, knowing that they would be able to cover more ground quickly. Although she was absolutely terrified being alone in one of the most dangerous forest in all of Equestria, she tried to swallow her fears and concentrate on finding Angel.
After ten minutes of looking, she finally found Angel hiding under an abandoned burrow. She was glad that she finally found him, but that joy was quickly shattered when a pack of five Timberwolves appeared from behind the bushes. Without a second thought, Fluttershy and Angel bunny ran. The Timberwolves chased them deeper into the forest where Fluttershy once again lost Angel when he took a different turn than she did. She was glad, however, that none of the Timberwolves bothered chasing him, but that was simply because they were all concentrated on her, a much larger prey. They chased her until she eventually hit a large entanglement of sickly looking trees blocking her path and ending up where she was now, crying and trembling from the large, vicious and hungry Timberwolves moving closer to her curled up position. She just hoped that Angel found Rarity and Rainbow Dash and that they all got out of the forest okay. Her friends probably more than likely heard her screams and cry for help, but there was no guarantee that they would make it in time. Closing her eyes, she waited for her inevitable demise.
However, the attack never came.
The sound of hooves stomped right in front of her as she slowly opened her right eye to get a peek as to what that sound was. In front of her, facing the five Timberwolves was a tall earth pony stallion. His entire body was completely covered in a hardened layer of dirt, she couldn't even see the color of his coat. His disheveled mane and tail looked as if he had never taken care of them in years. She was surprised to say the least, an unknown and filthy Earth pony stallion appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of her, defending her from the large wooden monstrosities just a few feet away from them.
The Timerwolves were also surprised at the new creature standing before them in a defensive stance in front of the yellow one. The Timberwolves observed the creature and noticed that it was definitely a pony, like the yellow one, but it had a filthy dirt covered body. His mane and tail were also a titanium white color and like his body, was mostly covered in dirt. However, the strangest thing about the creature was that it didn’t seem to give off a scent of any kind. Most animals that they came across or stalked especially ponies gave off a scent, usually a very appetizing one. But this pony had no scent radiating off of him. Unsure of what to do, the wolves decided to ignore the new pony and continued to concentrate on the yellow one. Hopefully if the dirty one attempted to attack them that they could easily knock him away.
Quickly the Timberwolf on the right made its pounce towards the shivering yellow pony. Fluttershy closed her eyes ready for the attack. She didn't feel the pain of claws tearing her apart however, but instead a very loud bang could be heard. When she slowly opened her eyes, what she saw next nearly made her jaw drop. In front of her was the dirty pony with his rear legs pushed forward towards where the Timberwolf that attacked, which was now replaced with pieces of wood raining down all around.
The other Timberwolves looked at each other almost shocked to see somepony powerful enough to buck one of their own into pieces. Their time of shock passed as they all began to charge at once.
The equine scanned the four remaining wolves and quickly devised a new strategy. The Timberwolf on the far right took its chance and brought its left claw down in an attempt to rip open the pony’s chest. In an instant, he dodged the oncoming attack and charged headfirst into the beast’s chest. The amount of force that the pony applied made the Timberwolf explode sending pieces of wood flying towards the other wolves. Before the rest of the Timberwolves could process what just happened the stallion lunged at the one in the middle and attempted to buck the beast like he did with the first one. However, the Timberwolf was faster and jumped back before the pony could make contact. The one on the far left took this opportunity to make a move on the lone pony. Bringing its claw up, the Timberwolf brought it down on the pony’s barrel. Fluttershy gasped seeing the mysterious pony get clawed at from the side. Fearing that this was his end, she covered her face with her mane so that she couldn’t see the beasts tear the stallion apart.
However, no sound of tearing flesh could be heard as another exploding sound was heard instead from her ears. She slowly perked her head up as she gasped once again. What she saw were pieces of wood raining all around as the stallion that was just clawed at was already up and looked like he had just bucked the Timberwolf that had attacked him. The last two Timberwolves looked at the stallion, then towards each other and then retreated back into the woods realizing that this pony was not worth the yellow one.
Once the remaining Timberwolves disappeared into the forest, the stallion immediately turned his head towards Fluttershy, causing her to flinch from his gaze. Slowly he walked towards the still cowering mare that seemed to to tense up more when she saw him approach her. Upon seeing a single stallion take on five Timberwolves and win struck a new fear into Fluttershy, now unsure what the dirty pony was going to do to her. A lot of scenarios went through her mind. Was he going to kidnap her? Was he a monster in disguise and was now going to eat her? Or was he a henchman of some evildoer that was planning to take over Equestria?
Fluttershy whimpered a bit as the dirt covered stallion was a mere foot away from her, his tall form staring down at the shy pegasus. Fluttershy looked into the eyes of the stallion and noticed how strange they were. His eyes weren't round like normal eyes, but instead they were aperture shaped like something you'd find on the lens of the camera's that newsponies would use. But what made Fluttershy scared was the fact that they glowed a bright blue, like a flashlight, something that wasn't normal for any living creature. The stallion stared for a few seconds, his glowing eyes practically piercing right into her soul, unblinking. Slowly, the dirty equine lifted its right hoof as Fluttershy closed her eyes preparing for him to strike her.
...
...
Fluttershy waited, but nothing happened.
Five seconds passed but still nothing happened.
The frightened pony slowly opened her eyes and looked up to see that the dirty stallion didn't raise his hoof to strike, but rather held out his hoof towards her. Confused for a second, Fluttershy realized that he was extending a hoof to help her off the ground. Slowly and hesitantly, she grabbed his hoof as he helped lift her to her hooves. She looked at the dirty equines face, she noticed that his expression seemed to not change in the slightest, appearing to be very monotone.
"T-thank you for saving me," she finally spoke albeit practically a whisper.
The stallion continued to stare at her in silence still showing no emotion on his face. This started to make Fluttershy very uncomfortable as she slowly began to hide behind her mane. The dirty equine blinked at the yellow pony. After he helped her off the ground, she had said something to her that he couldn't understand. Not because she said it very quietly, as he could still hear her clearly, but the language she spoke was unfamiliar to him. This would cause problems for him to interact with other sentient life forms if he couldn't even speak their language. Fortunately, he had the ability to record and calculate the speech rhythm and dialect from somepony speaking and be able to learn the entire language that way. However, the only way to do that would be for them to continue talking and allow him to analyze their speech.
Something that she clearly wasn't doing.
In fact, her posture almost looked similar to how she looked when the wooden creatures surrounded her. Was she scared of him? Was he showing signs of hostility that he wasn't aware of? He needed to rectify this if he was ever going to be able to communicate with her and others like her properly.
He slowly started to back away from the scared pony, giving her some space as he moved his gaze downwards so as to not show hostility.
Fluttershy looked towards the dirty stallion and noticed him backing away looking down in the process.
Was he sad of making me feel uncomfortable? , she thought to herself.
This made the timid pegasus feel guilty. Maybe he didn't have any friends and her cowering made him feel as if she was scared of him (although she still kinda was). He did save her life after all, the least she could do was show some kindness to him.
Taking a deep breath, Fluttershy spoke, "M-my names F-f-fluttershy. W-what's your n-name?"
Begin recording and analyzing speech and language.
The stallion returned his gaze back towards her, tilting his head to the left much like a dog would, giving her no answer. This confused Fluttershy, did he not hear her? Or could he not understand what she was saying?
"My n-names Fluttershy, w-what's your name?" she asked again but a little louder in case he didn't hear her the first time.
Again the stallion tilted his head to the right staring at the timid pegasus, blinking a few times. This confirmed to Fluttershy that he could not understand what he was saying. But the question was what language DID he speak if he could even speak at all.
Fluttershy pointed at herself as she said slowly and clearly, "FLUTTERSHY."
The dirty equine continued to stare at the yellow pegasus realizing that she was telling him her name.
3% complete.
"F...l...uttEr...sh...Ai," the stallion repeated sounding exactly like an old record player that was contorted and broken as he pointed his muddy hoof directly at her.
Fluttershy at first gave a confusing look at the way his voice sounded, but she smiled lightly at this as she was now beginning to communicate with the dirty stallion even though his speech definitely needed some work. She then pointed towards him, "YOUR NAME?"
He stared back at her once again tilting his head not understanding her question.
"Your NAME," she repeated slowly as she pointed to herself, "NAME FLUTTERSHY."
She then pointed back towards him, "NAME?"
The dirty equine continued to stare as he pointed at his body, "N...ay...me?"
Fluttershy frowned. Perhaps he still didn't understand what she was asking. Maybe she could have Twilight help teach him their language. After all, Twilight was far better at teaching and more knowledgeable than she was.
She paused for a moment and gasped as she realized something. With all her efforts in trying to interact with this strange stallion she completely forgotten about Angel and her friends who were still wandering around in the Everfree forest.
“Oh no! How could I forget!” she exclaimed frantically. “I have to find my friends. They must be so worried about me!”
The dirty stallions head flinched back as he continued stared at her wide eyed, confused and surprised as to what her outburst about as she continued, "And Angel might have gotten lost again after we got separated. I need to find them!"
11% complete.
She turned to the stallion, she couldn't leave the poor pony here by himself. But she didn't know how to be able to communicate with him so as to have him follow her. Perhaps he would simply follow her if she began walking back into the forest. But what if he thought that she was abandoning him after saving her life? She didn't want to do that to him. But there was also the problem of communicating to him as he didn't know a word of her language. But she had to take a risk, a gamble per say. So with newfound determination, she walked closer to him and said, "I'm so sorry but I need to look for my friends. If you could possibly help me find them I'd be much appreciated, that is if that's okay with you."
Soon she walked past the stallion as she trekked into the dark forest, turning back and motioning for him to follow her. Fluttershy prayed that he would get the idea and follow her. Turning back she noticed that the dirty equine was simply staring back at her, not even moving his body as she continued to walk through the forest. She was worried that he didn't understand and started to slow down a bit. But eventually he began to follow making Fluttershy sigh in relief. Now all she had to do was search for Angel and her two friends. Hopefully they were all okay.
19% complete.
It had been a few minutes since they began their walk through the forest and although Fluttershy was still nervous about more monsters attacking them, she felt a bit more relaxed knowing that she wasn't by herself anymore. Throughout their walk, Fluttershy looked back to make sure that the mysterious stallion was still following her which he was, however, he seemed to continuously stare at her with his strange eyes. Although this made her extremely uncomfortable, she would have to bear with it until they found her friends. She thought about Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Angel bunny and prayed to Celestia that they were all okay.
They finally came to another clearing, this one much bigger than the last one. As Fluttershy began to exit the forest, she tripped on a rock and tumbled down on the ground ruining her mane with dust.
The stallion saw this and quickly rushed to her making sure that she was okay. Fluttershy looked up at him giving him an assuring smile.
"I'm okay," she responded as she continued, "I just tripped on a rock that's all."
Finding that she wasn't hurt, the stallion slowly brought his left hoof up to help lift her off the ground.
However, he and Fluttershy suddenly heard a booming voice from above shouting, “GET AWAY FROM FLUTTERSHY YOU CREEP!!!”
Suddenly, an immense amount of force made contact with the right side of the stallions face.