A Crucial Ingredient

by Skreebat

A Walk in the Woods

A delightful chorus of light avian trilling heralded the beginning of another wonderful Equestrian day. As the sun crept up and became much more prominent in the sky, a certain yellow pegasus found herself standing on the wooden threshold of her cottage. The pink, modestly groomed mane on her head bobbed ever so slightly with her every motion, as there was not much of a breeze to disrupt it. Her right ear twitched at the happy bird noises breaking through the quiet of the early morning, drawing a soft smile out of her. About her waist rested a small satchel,, which was nestled under her wing and secured around her neck. It was light and empty at the moment, though that was soon to change.

Fluttershy dipped her head in thanks to the singing birds, who reciprocated in kind, their own heads swiftly bobbing in acknowledgement of the gesture. A little courtesy and kindness certainly never hurt! “Thank you all!” She exclaimed in a delicate manner. “That was such a lovely little song. Would you mind ever so much coming back tomorrow and singing it for me again?” The birds seemed to look at one another for a moment, then chirped their assent. “Oh, thank you!” She beamed, waving a foreleg politely at the musical trio. They swiftly departed the branch that they were using as a perch and descended upon a wooden birdhouse nearby, attacking the plentiful variety of seeds, fatballs and other foodstuff that had been left out for their consumption, courtesy of the very same butterscotch-coated mare.

Being only too happy to have given them their much needed sustenance and support, Fluttershy finally set off at a brisk, but very steady pace. It was only a little after breakfast time, and thus there were plenty hours remaining in the day. Besides, Fluttershy had no need to rush! She knew where she had to go, and she knew just what she required, so no haste was warranted.

One of her assorted animal companions had told her that an odd little mushroom had been growing in the woods nearby not all that long ago, and the pegasus had decided that the specimen was worth retrieving. Why, one might ask, was Fluttershy interested in such a thing? According to the sweet little critter, they'd felt so very energetic after having a small nibble of one of the fungi, and this itself provided enough motivation for the pegasus to go on a short expedition of sorts.

Curiosity, as it were.

Now of course, Fluttershy was faced with the relatively daunting task of heading off into the forest and retrieving a sample of the mushroom. Sure, she could have asked one of her many little animal friends to bring it to her, but that wasn't really her style. To the mare, it was akin to using any other friend, and she was far, far too nice to do that! No, better to go and get it herself. Besides, it was just a specific mushroom in a nearby wooded area. How difficult could it possibly be? With growing trepidation, the mare pondered upon just what she might just find ahead of her, her previously happy expression beginning to drop, a much more worried, almost concerned frown appearing in its place.

Oh dear. Perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea.

Hefting the satchel under her wing, the pegasus finally set off upon her little trek, wandering down toward the bottom of her garden, a well known place amongst her many little friends. From there, however, Fluttershy had a fair distance to go. Her hooves impacted the ground as the garden faded into the path leading over a bridge, a brickwork crossing point that went over the small stream cutting through her front yard. Metres of ground turned into tens of metres, and soon enough she had left the grounds near to her cottage entirely.The outskirts of the more heavily wooded area progressively loomed nearer, and with each hoof-fall the pegasus became all the more anxious. By the time she'd made trek to the treeline itself, her heart was practically racing!

With a shaky sigh, the buttercup yellow mare took a deep breath. In an effort to calm herself down, she visualised one of her friends to use as support. The familiar visage of an orange earth mare materialised in her thoughts, the face of Applejack staring at her with a big ol’ toothy smile. “Buck up, Fluttershy.” The voice whispered softly, continuing on with that southern drawl. “Y'cant get scared before y'even get in the woods!” Nodding to herself, Fluttershy admitted the self-truth. She couldn’t get scared before she had even entered the woods, right? Well, she could, but that wasn't going to help her very much!

Placing one hoof in front of the other yet again, the dirt trail beneath her steadily shifted into a coarse path of semi-trodden grass, dirt and crumpled leaves that showed signs of occasional use. Off in the distance, Fluttershy could hear a loud, piercing caw-caw from something that sounded akin to a crow’s cry. No friendly songbirds here, no. The yellow mare cringed, summoning her bravery once more.

“Y'all can do it, Fluttershy! Ah believe in ya!” The vision of Applejack insisted, cracking a small smile at the buttercup mare. “Just a few more steps. Couple more... There y'go.” With her pulse racing and her breath coming out in short bursts, Fluttershy realised that she had not only stepped into the woods, but had also travelled in a very short distance beyond the treeline! With the most difficult obstacle behind her, she silently thanked Applejack for being such a strong friend and carefully paced onwards, the leaves and grass crumpling audibly beneath her hooves.

Faint shafts of mid-morning light streamed down from pinprick sized holes in the treetops above, illuminating all sorts of flora that broke through the topsoil and grass. Ferns of many shapes and sizes—some rather intimidating—and other woodland décor detailed the path, an occasional pine cone or some other similar detritus littering the route. Fluttershy exhaled gently and trudged on. The trees themselves were quite tall, reaching far, far into the sky and forming a thick canopy of light obscuring cover. Each one seemed less gnarled and twisted than some she’d come to encounter, but more firm and unyielding. They weren’t artificially planted, either. This was just a nice, wooded area that had sprung up over time whilst nature took its course.

Now, her little companion had told her about the mushroom, and that it was growing next to a small stream. First she had to find her way towards the stream, which she knew, for a fact, was only a minute or two from where she was at the moment, given the location in which she'd entered the woods. Indeed, the ramshackle path took her almost to the stream. If memory served, all she had to do was follow the path and she'd no doubt hear the stream in no time at all. Onwards she went, ears flicking this way and that at the many sounds that punctuated the ambience around her, scanning for the telltale sound of running water. Unfortunately, that left her to pick up all sorts of other, less pleasant noises as well. An infrequent scuttling noise from some bug or the chitter-caw from an unseen bird made the pegasus freeze up in sudden bouts of surprise mid-step, at least, until the source had been determined or dismissed as not a threat that is.

It was only a little further down the winding trail that Fluttershy gradually began to hear the very distinct sound of trickling, chuckling water. The stream! The stream was close by! The momentarily delighted pegasus increased her pace a bit more, eager to reach her destination and then flee the woods before her barely mustered courage left her. However, her reckless and 'over zealous' movement came screeching to a halt as a loud clacking noise swiftly startled the pink-maned mare. Fluttershy squeaked and leapt into the air in alarm, promptly taking cover behind a nearby tree. Whatever it was had probably not seen nor heard her, she reasoned with herself, despite the obvious semi-shriek she'd released. But oh dear, what sort of terrible monstrosity could it have been that made that dreadful noise? She couldn't very well stay here, could she? Wincing in annoyance at her own exuberance, Fluttershy once more called upon her friends to aid their support.

The friendly face of a bubbly, joyful pink mare popped out of the ether in her mind, flanked by a serious but kind purple mare. Pinkie Pie and Twilight stared at Fluttershy—at least, in her mind—and nodded. “You're smart, Fluttershy.” Twilight began. “You know that there’s nothing out there. We've looked at the area a few times, remember? The most dangerous thing in these woods are the birds when they get disturbed from their sleep!” A loud snort of laughter interrupted the mare before she could continue.

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie chimed in. “Besides, you're not a scaredy cat! Just pop out from behind the tree and stand proud! Laugh loudly, you're almost there.” It wasn't the first time that she'd dealt with the problems of letting the imagination run rampant, but still. Fluttershy had heard a very concerning click-clacking noise, and the thought of what it might have been left her clinging to the tree trunk in anxiety.

Clack-clack-clack! Chitter-trill-skree!

It was still out there. Whatever it was, it was still there and had not gone away. Fluttershy whimpered softly, trying to will the noise to just go away. Pinkie Pie and Twilight reached forward to give the pegasus a mental hug. “Don't worry, Fluttershy.” Twilight told her, sounding as confident as always.

“We're right there with you, kinda. Sorta. Not really, ‘cause we’re in your head, but you know. Wooooooh!” Pinkie Pie added, snorting in delight. “I sound all spooky. Echo.Echo!” The pink mare exclaimed in a rather over dramatic fashion, which managed to work a smile out of the previously frightened pegasus. Yes, that sounded just like Pinkie. The smile escalated into a gentle chuckle, and with wide eyes the pegasus realised that she was ever so slightly giggling. She couldn't be so scared and worried when her friends were being so happy, could she? No, that just wasn’t possible! Taking a deep breath and clearing her mind, Fluttershy peeked around the thick curvature of the tree trunk she was hiding behind, expecting to see some kind of raging, furious beast straight out of the deepest depths of Tartarus.

Instead, there was wasn’t anything of the sort. Absolutely nothing at all!

Well, that wasn't entirely correct, for there was a beetle upon a rock resting just off to the side of a large, hollow trunk.Clack! With a squeak of alarm again, Fluttershy actually saw what was going on. The beetle was calling out for a mate, it seemed, and the noise it was using was simply being amplified by the hollow trunk. How fascinating! With a sigh of relief, Fluttershy slowly, but surely resumed traipsing through the grass, off the clear path and down towards the stream. It was close by, she was certain. She could plainly hear it! Keeping her eyes peeled, the mare emerged from a bush towards the babbling brook. Her goal was almost within her reach. Just a little further, she reminded herself.

From the bush, the ground took a gentle incline downwards. Fluttershy dug her hooves into the grass and skittered down as carefully as she could manage, being ever so careful so that she avoided tripping up and hurting herself. After all, if she fell and injured herself seriously out here in the woods, who was going to know that she was there? The pegasus felt a slow, but steady and gradual rising of panic deep within the depths of her belly once more as the thought spread throughout her head, and took a much more sizeable step. It was probably not the best idea, but as they say, hindsight is 20-20. A clod of soil came loose in the sloped earth and went thumping down the grassy rise, with a certain yellow pegasus closely following after it.

For the first few seconds, she seemed to be more or less in control of her unplanned descent, but within mere seconds, it became apparent that Fluttershy was not in any kind of actual control whatsoever. She squealed loudly as her hooves came out from under her, the mare tipping head over hooves as she tumbled down, her mane becoming dishevelled and dirty from the leaves and such that it picked up. Having plainly forgotten that she had wings, the mare rolled down the slope towards the bottom, where her fall was cushioned by a mossy bed. Fluttershy groaned with significant discomfort, seeing all manner of pretty colours, odd stars and blurry shapes passing by her eyes.

“Oh, dear..” She mumbled groggily, sitting still for a little while whilst she got some semblance of rational thought back. Her legs ached, though nothing appeared to be broken. A tentative movement of each limb revealed this to be the case, which brought some comfort. She was just mildly inconvenienced then, and was probably going to be nursing a bit of a bruise tomorrow. Oh well. It was all going to be worth it in the end. A mushroom which brought boundless energy? The possibilities were endless! Perhaps even Zecora would appreciate it, though the yellow mare swiftly self-reasoned that the zebra was probably aware of it already. She'd probably sound quite foalish in trying to bring a 'new' discovery only to find that it was already known by the much more experienced and knowledgeable mare. Well, that was something she might consider, once she'd taken a look at the mushroom herself. Picking herself up off the mossy bed, Fluttershy brushed some dirt away from her forelegs in turn, and knocked some leaves from her mane. Alright, she was ready to continue. Mostly. The pegasus quickly checked to see where her satchel was. It wasn't there any more. Panic and worry set in rather rapidly, leaving the mare to start frantically searching around in the hope of finding her missing item.

Growing more worried by the moment due to the lack of her satchel, Fluttershy scrambled under the thick mossy bush-bed to see if it had slipped under there after the descent she'd endured. Nothing, nothing at all except that thick brown root. Wait a moment. The pegasus scooted closer to examine the root. With a tentative hoof-poke, it came loose. Why, it was the strap of her satchel! The clasp was undone, but intact. It had obviously come free during her fall and somehow managed to end up beneath her. She rolled her head and rubbed her eyes. Perhaps that fall had disorientated her a bit more than she'd reasoned, but nevermind. Things really did seem to be clearing up now, which was much more beneficial to her overall search. Hefting the light satchel across her back, under her wing and securely fastening it—much more carefully this time!—under her neck, this time with the intention of not losing it. Also, not falling down a hill. That'd be pretty nice.

Only a few scant paces away, Fluttershy could plainly see the stream running through the woods. It was a light thing, barely more than a babbling brook. There wasn't much of a current to speak of, leaving the surface of the water still enough for various insects to dance across it. It was enough to bring back a smile to the mare, for it delighted her to see creatures enjoying their natural habitat. Whilst she was a teensy little bit parched from her little trek into the woods, Fluttershy knew better than to drink from a stream without knowing the source. Even more so when she'd just watched some natural life and ran a severe risk of upsetting the delicate balance if she satiated her own desire. No, better to just carry on and leave things as they were. With her own self satisfaction rising once more, Fluttershy set to looking around the banks of the stream. Now, where were those mushrooms? They couldn't be overly far away, could they?

Right?

Recalling the conversation she'd had earlier, Fluttershy pieced together the information at hoof. The mushrooms were supposedly very small and grew upon the trunks of the trees close to the stream. Therefore, she simply had to find trees which grew right next to the stream and examine them. Given the meandering course of the stream, she could easily see a few trees in the distance, further down the watery flow. The other way did not seem to reveal much in the way of trees, only a few bushes and shrubs that eked out a moderate subsistence next to the water. Well, her course seemed to be pretty clear! Fluttershy approached the first tree and examined the trunk. Whilst it was thick and broad, it did not seem to be sheltering much under the canopy. Well, no big deal! She gave it a final once over and set to the next tree. Again, this one proved to be quite fruitless – so to speak. The mare sighed gently. In her mind, the visage of a prismatic pegasus began to appear.

“Hey, Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash beamed. “Don't give up. You're not the fastest – you know, like me – or the best flier – like me – but you aren't a quitter. Remember when we trained and trained? Those were good times. You can't give up easily, Fluttershy. Keep trying, alright? No quitting!”

Nodding at the imaginary words of her friend, Fluttershy carefully traipsed through the stream to the other side, taking on a rather displeased expression as she did so. As soon as she’d passed through, the mare shook a hoof to dismiss a portion of the water clinging to her hooves. Ack. Sore, dirty and damp. Well that was just lovely. At least the sun was out and it was a relatively warm day, so she'd dry out quickly enough. Besides, she had the walk back to clean herself up and make herself look like she hadn't fallen through a bush or three. The next tree was once more utterly devoid of anything useful in her current search, as she’d unfortunately begun to expect, but the fourth? The fourth garnered her attention, for there was an odd, earthy smell coming from the trunk which didn’t quite fit in with the others. The pegasus dutifully examined the thick bark, eventually spotting an equally brownish growth that clung to the base. Rather than a capped mushroom that was most commonly seen the Ponyville marketplace, this one seemed to be broad, flat and quite thin. Hm. It didn't seem like a puffball, which was fortunate.

Fluttershy tentatively poked at it with a hoof in order to make sure. The mushroom seemed fairly resilient to her prodding, though a bit more pressure revealed that it was going to come free, if she nudged at it hard enough. There were other fungal growths upon the tree, just like the one she was looking at, as well.

“Oh, come now, Fluttershy.” A rather proper and prim voice whispered, the noise rattling around her head. In her mind, an alabaster mare appeared and slowly shook her head, purple mane flowing as elegantly as one might expect. “You can't seriously be thinking about taking all of these poor things, can you?” Rarity tut-tutted audibly. “No, no. That simply will not do! I never thought that you'd be so greedy, Fluttershy.” The mare chided, leading to a whimper from the yellow pegasus.

“Oh, I'd neve-...” She began, before catching herself mid sentence. She was about to say that she'd never be that greedy, but of course had realised that she was about to argue with herself. Oh dear. Fluttershy shook her head. Just one little bit was enough, she acknowledged. One of those mushroom-growths was more than sufficient to study and see just what kind of energy releasing properties they had. As gently as she could manage, Fluttershy applied a bit more downward pressure upon the growth to slowly break it away from the tree trunk. With a soft squelch, the fungus came away almost completely in one piece, though a streak of it was still left firmly rooted within the base of the tree trunk. After examining the inside of the mushroom, Fluttershy hefted it up and undid the catch of her satchel, thereafter slipping it inside and locking it away. A sense of satisfaction drew over the mare. She'd done it! Hooray. Fluttershy let out a mild exclamation of delight, then pondered just how to study the mushroom. After all, she had the trip back to her cottage to dwell on that!

Happily humming a jaunty little tune to herself, Fluttershy turned, then followed the curve of the stream back through the woods, passing by brambles and bushes alike. No, none of those concerned her at present – though she did stop to watch a butterfly or three flitter between some red flowers. Now that was a pretty little sight, and added a pleasant bit of visual punctuation to the whole sojourn. All in all, much more easy than she’d expected! With her satchel snug against her body, the mare regretfully continued on her journey and arrived at the cusp of the woods once more, the light streaming down upon her after the transition. Was it still so early in the day? It felt like she'd been in there for hours.

Why, she could've sworn that she'd been wandering around and that it was early evening, but no! It was merely before lunchtime. Goodness, it had been quite dark in there, but she'd managed it. Well, with the help of her friends, that was. Perhaps they hadn't been there in body, but in spirit? Their support had been well utilised. Fluttershy breathed a small sigh of relief as her hooves felt the path firm up beneath her, and the welcome sight of her cottage drew rapidly closer and closer. Upon reaching her little garden, she noticed that the birdseed had been pecked almost entirely clean from the birdhouse. That'd need refilling later, then. She always took good care of her little friends, yes.

“I'm back!” The mare cheerfully called out, prodding the wooden door of the cottage open. Inside, a small rabbit was waiting for her, his foot thwomp-thwomping upon the floor in mild displeasure. “Glad to see you too, Angel.” Fluttershy admitted, relieved to be back within the confines of her cottage. Now, she laid out her plan in her head. First off, the mare unloaded her satchel and placed it on the countertop. First thing, she needed to clean up the dirt and grass that had refused to comply and leave her body during her fall down the hill. After that? Well, maybe a little drink of water wouldn't go amiss. The various bowls and buckets of food around the cottage were decently full, so the mare didn't need to tend to those before taking time to clean herself off. Stepping around to the small side room at the back of the cottage, Fluttershy pressed a hoof towards a wooden pump, one that was tapped in to the well underneath her cottage. Above her head, a carefully positioned hose was primed to deliver a squirt of chilly water. It was crude, but very effective in providing succour during the warm summer months, helping an animal friend cool off if they were distressed from the heat, or even just cleaning herself like she was doing now. Shuddering at the lack of temperature in the water, the pink maned mare grit her teeth and squirmed slightly as the water scooshed out and dislodged a clump of grass. Oh, so that was where that had gone! She kicked it away from her body with a hoof. Maybe one of the goats was interested in that, but not her.

With the strands of her mane all damp and clinging to her cheeks, Fluttershy plucked a towel off the wall rack and wrapped it around her head. Giving it a vigorous rub down, she tied it up in a bun and returned to the main room of her cottage. Angel was happily chewing away on a big lump of food, which was pleasing to see. Fluttershy paced over towards the satchel, only to find that it was open. Oh dear. Had the mushroom come out? No, she distinctly remembered locking the satchel tight after retrieving the sample. Perhaps it had fallen off the counter. Looking under the wooden tabletop, she found very little in the way of what she desired. No, the mushroom was not here.

“Angel..” Fluttershy began, eyes beginning to go wide. She realised quite quickly that the bunny was in actual fact, eating the chunk of hard-won mushroom. Before the pegasus could skitter over and stop the bunny from doing any more damage, the mushroom was completely gone and utterly replaced with a fat bellied rabbit. Fluttershy let out a long, drawn out sigh in resignation, though the feeling quickly passed.. She reached over towards Angel and pat-stroked his head, ruffling the fur gently. “Did you enjoy that, Angel? Good, I'm pleased. I have to pop out again, but I'll be back soon.” The mare swallowed and pulled the towel from her mane, thereafter fixing the satchel around her body. It was time for her to go on another little walk, only this time? Fluttershy knew that her friends were with her all the way, and that made things so much easier to manage.

Besides, it was a pretty nice day out. Just the right kind of day for a little walk through the woods.

Author's Note:

My first actual attempt at a fanfiction writing, set mostly to explore the feelings and mindset of a character whilst outside of their comfort zone yet doing something that some might see as incredibly mundane. The motivation was to not only explore the feelings that one might have, but also to show how they could deal with that, utilising past experiences and friendships to overcome the 'odds.'

Credit for editing goes to Whiter Penmanship, as does the impetus to actually stop bantering on about maybe writing something and actually doing it. Thanks, Penny, for being the driving force I needed. You're a star and a damned good friend, I couldn't have done it without your support.

Constructive criticism welcomed in either comments or direct messages.

Comments

[SupaSqueegee]

I really enjoyed this. It was a pleasant peek into the inner workings of Fluttershy's mind, and I like to think this is how she actually gets through day to day tasks. Good job. If I could give two thumbs up, I certainly would!

[Trickilee]

I had time for a quick read only, but I liked what I saw. Good structure, form and grammar. I will try to read it more thoroughly in the weekend.