Ch. 10 - One Year Later
Child of Nightmares and Everfree
One Year Later
The streets of Ponyville once again were filled with the delighted shrieks of young ponies, even though ‘young’ was relative in regards to certain residents who viewed the night as their personal playground. The pile of candy in front of the Nightmare Moon statue was taller than any year previous, the pumpkins flung with greater accuracy, and the apple bobbing tank had been completely emptied, even of Lunar Princesses who viewed popping up out of it to scare the residents as great fun.
At Fluttershy’s house, the severely-depleted bowl of candy outside was guarded by a fierce knight in shining armor, even though he was only one-bunny high, and limited the little visitors to a single sweet (or two, if petted and complimented on his costume). Inside the quiet and dark building, two ponies stood looking out of the window at three batwinged shapes who soared up into the sky for a family night of fun and togetherness over the Everfree Forest. The window was not very large, causing Sunshine’s unarmored flank to gently brush up against Fluttershy’s wings, but it was not an unpleasant sensation, and he felt no need to move.
“She’s growing up so fast,” said Fluttershy in her soft, pleasant voice that constantly distracted Sunshine whenever she spoke.
“Yes, she is,” agreed Sunshine Symphony, who was most certainly not in armor tonight, as two other guards had been placed in charge of Luna’s chariot, and he had been ordered by the respective princess in no uncertain terms to take the evening off, with pay, or else. “She’s almost up to the rest of her class in school at Canterlot.”
“I meant Mama’s little batling.” Fluttershy leaned up a little more against Sunshine, enough for him to feel the thumping beat of her heart under warm ribs. She lifted up one yellow wing, and with only a slight hesitation, placed it delicately across his back in a motion which nearly had him jump out of his shoes from the unexpected feathery touch. It was a motion of trust that needed to be reciprocated, so after taking a steadying breath of his own, he stretched out his own membranous wing and placed it across her warm back.
“That’s nice,” said Fluttershy. “You care so much for Emerald. You’re a very special father.”
“I have a very special little filly,” said Sunshine, still looking up at the star-strewn sky where Emerald Dreams had vanished, most likely not to reappear until just before dawn as she had every time when father and daughter took their monthly trip to Ponyville under the light of the full moon. Emerald Dreams would fly with Mama and Ling, playing catch among the powdermoths and drinking far too many sweetflowers full of nectar, which would give his little filly an unbreakable smile for the rest of the month. Then, when the cold winds blew and The Folk huddled together in hibernation, Sunshine and Emerald would still take their monthly trip to Ponyville to sit with Fluttershy and talk all night over a pot or two of tea.
It was… nice, as Fluttershy frequently said.
“So,” he said after a certain amount of time, “did you want to take a long walk again while we wait for them to get back? Everypony should be going to bed soon, so you don’t have to be scared of being pranked.”
“I’m not scared when you’re around,” said Fluttershy. “Well, I am. But not as much.”
Sunshine coughed quietly into one hoof. “Maybe I should go guard the candy bowl and give Angel a break.”
“No,” said Fluttershy as she moved her wing a little further over him and pressed up against his side. “He’s got it. You’re fine right here.”
The darkness inside of Fluttershy’s house was unusually quiet tonight. Normally, there was always a bird or creature rustling through the little houses or peeking out of a nearby hole, even when the gigantic bat was in the vicinity. Tonight, not even a cricket broke the silence, much as if all of the little creatures had conspired to give Fluttershy some rare privacy.
“Dinner?” he asked somewhat hopefully. “I mean nothing is open in town but I could cook something for you.”
Fluttershy pressed her nose into his damp mane and took a sniff, which made Sunshine blush even more than the sensation of a tail which was tracing a path up and down his hind legs. “You’re wet,” she whispered.
“Emerald and I stopped to bob for apples before we came over,” he said almost apologetically. “I must smell like apples.”
“That’s okay,” said Fluttershy as she ran her nose up his neck in search of more interesting areas. Once she found what she was looking for, neither of them said anything for a long time until they stopped to breathe and Fluttershy whispered into his ear.
“I love apples.”
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No, there won't be a sequel.
Now, with that out of the way, I need to credit some people, in particular the Bat Ponies and Thestral's Second Annual Writing Competition which made me get off my rump and write this story, as well as City of Monsters, the one-year-previous prequel (and entered in the previous competition).
Also, all of my editors/proofreaders/error checkers, in particular Tek, who has been a godsend over the last few years and I hope sticks with me ongoing.
The idea for the Durian fruit came from by Raugos, with a few minor modifications to keep from slowing down the story.
And of course, the grandfather of all jungle stories, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, most all of which can be read at Project Gutenberg as well as various other sites. It is a particularly good series, well worth the read if you've never been exposed to his works. In particular, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, which is a marvelous story to read and a great example of Point of View for writers.
cute ending as always, Georg. I especially liked the subtlety of the romance, and how slowly it moved. It feels right that they didn't come together too quickly, especially with a pony as skittish as Fluttershy.
It's alright for there to be no sequel to such a sweet story. Besides, it opens up the floodgates of 'What Ifs' in our own little reader heads!!! WHERE NOSFLUTTERATU REIGNS SUPREME AS THE PRINCESS OF APPLEY-DEVOURING SHADOWS! MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!
Ugh, I need more soda-pop or else my brain's going to be stuck in stupid-silly mode... Thanks for writing!
Thank you, Georg.
That was amazingly cute. Thank you for yet another fantastic story!
Fantastically done from start to finish, as heartwarming as hot soup on a cold day. Thank you for it.
other then the crackshipping, great fic.
Nice!
This is a little creepy. Almost like Symphony is going to murder and dissect Fluttershy.
And that is when Luna bursts through the door looking for a certain nocturne to murder.
[aplauso]
Enjoyable tale, like the majority of your stories. Thanks for the fun read!
And in another note, I called it on the "durian" fruit some chapters back!
That was a wonderful read.
Great job, Georg! 
Thanks for the story Georg
Warm smiles and warm endings, nice story.
Looks like a nice happy ending to me. Even if I found the decapitated stone head sitting on the table (in the last chapter) a bit creepy. You'd think they'd cover it up or put it in a bag or something. It's an actual head!!!!!!
Worth the wait...
I was still tracking this, so I saw the update. Still appreciate the heads-up. I waited till it was fully uploaded, but I just finished reading it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am slightly confused about who lives where in the end. Father and daughter live in Canterlot?
Regardless, I am very glad I got to read this as a completed story. Cheers.
"only one-bunny high"
"one bunny"?
"in school at Canterlot"
"school in Canterlot"?
"I mean nothing is open in town but"
"I mean, nothing is open in town, but"?
Wow between this and Little Princess Monster every update from your feed gets my heart going.
Amazing story and here's imagining what Fluttershy and Sunshines child will look like!
Great story, Georg. I thought these last few chapters with Dee reuniting with her dad, and Mama reuniting with Ling, were very touching and excellently executed. It certainly was a refreshing read and I'm glad this story didn't have to hang around in limbo forever. I still think the shipping aspects were mostly unnecessary, but I didn't think they detracted much from the tale. Great job.
Soooooo that was awesome, and I want more. The level of adorbs in this story is too much to neglect!
Well done.
A delightful tale. Your OCs were, as always, complex and interesting. Even poor Spark Gap got an unexpected character moment.
But for the standout here was Fluttershy. Far too many people take her "weak and helpless" self-deprecation at face value without stopping to consider just what strengths being an animal caretaker would necessarily require. Particularly for one who lives on the edge of the Everfree.
Fantastic story Georg!! Even if you made me tear up a few times...
Loved the story. Well worth the read.
This was sweet. I liked the epilogue very much.
7768061 They only made the Mane 6 bat ponies in the comics, not all the ponies.
To be honest, I went into this story cringing a bit, as there were quite a few ways this idea could have been mis-handled. But you clearly thought through all of the implications of Dee's "abandonment" and how she was raised, so congratulations on an outstanding story.
7781408 Hey, I've done a story where a foal lost in the Everfree Forest was raised by a foster mother before. Just not quite as... different a mother as this one. I have to credit Tek a lot for this. Without his suggestion, I would have been unable to tie up the ending nearly as well.
7781588
I felt the need to share this here.
This was good. A beautiful end to a brilliant tale. Open enough to leave bits of the future to the imagination but perfect in that it doesnt need a sequel to tie anything off.
This (like all your stories) was good. I'm reminded heavily of the Kenneth Oppel's "Silverwing" novels. I read that trilogy some years ago, and the bats in this, along with their strange viewpoint on the world, immediately took me back. If, by some chance, you have NOT read those books, then you should really check them out, as you'll probably find the overlap of ideas very amusing.
In either case, this story is still a good one, if a tad slow in the middle, once we (as readers) have been shown both the father and the daughter. We connect the dots, but still have to wait a couple of chapters to see said dots (ponies) actually reunite. Excepting that, the rest is very well done though!
This.. was.. adorable! I think I almost died from cute at least two dozen times, and also very, very well written. I'm so glad you still have a lot of stories I haven't read yet, you're a fantastic writer. I'd love to post some of my own stuff, but it's.. not so good, and currently trapped on my old computer that has a broken screen and won't cooperate with an external monitor. >.<
Another excellent story!
I... Wow. This was amazing. I almost didn't give it a shot, but the prequel dug its hooks into me, and I'm so glad it did. This was beautifully written, with each character being given enough characterization to really make them feel well and truly alive. Kudos to you for this piece of work.
.. now if you excuse me I need to go do something (that is certainly not crying) somewhere else.
Wow this was... just... DAMN this was GOOD! Maybe not a huge fan of the Fluttershipping angle, but even that was handled well and is just the aspect of the story I liked least, but was still well done. Everything else was just AMAZING! Mama's care for her little one, how dedicated she was, even after getting her true little one back, still missing and caring for Dee. And the rather subtle way she came around, from "No Monster shall ever take you!" to realizing Dee needs to be with ponies to truly be healthy and grow up well, thanks to just one little scene, showing her how to cure the ithcing wings she's always had that Mama didn't know how to help with. Showing there are things that, as much as Mama loves her, Mama can't do for her. Yet, they still get to play and be together at times and aren't forever apart so, that is just amazing. As well as Dee's whole mindset and the unique way she has of seeing things, it was just, so well presented.
Plus Luna being awesome and caring, and understanding of a parent seeking his lost family. Just being all around awesome and showing why she deserves to be a Princess and Ruler of the night. This really was just an all around incredible story!
This story:
I am traumatized by the fact that you make these amazing, wonderful stories, and then have shipping happen.
Mama was right.
You can has review!
9702516 Thanks!
Wonderful story, one of my favorites.
Even if i'm not a shipper or one who read shipping-stories, it fits well here.
I guese you are not planning a sequel or sidestorys (life of dee and/or mama, something like this)?
A great ending to a great story.
That was a good story.