The Elements of Earth

by Tyler-the-Brony

Chapter 10: Eight Months of Shyness

Oliver and Alice sat across from each other in Oliver’s living room, neither of them daring to speak due to the extreme embarrassment each felt with the other in the room with them. The drive to Oliver’s home had also been like this, with either Oliver or Alice being silent for most of the entirety of it.

As the shared silence was entering its third hour, Oliver perked up as he heard the cry of one of the animals he was taking care of. As Oliver stood to go and check on the bird who had just called out to him, Alice too rose to follow Oliver and see if she could help him at all.

Oliver headed down the hallway on the left side of his dining room and headed for the large room at the end of the corridor. Alice followed suite, making herself noticeable but not fully known to Oliver.

Oliver entered the room and saw that Bernice, the cockatoo he was looking after for this week, had both run out of water and fallen on her injured wing.

“Bernice what did I tell you? You can’t fly for another two weeks. Don’t even attempt to flap your wings or you’ll be in major trouble.” Oliver explained to the cockatoo, going over to Bernice’s cage to pick her up and refill her water.

Oliver set about carefully righting Bernice and then putting her on his shoulder so that she could make fully sure that Oliver was indeed refilling her water. Bernice nipped Oliver twice on the shoulder as he did this, but that was Bernice’s way of showing gratitude.

Eventually Oliver had been able to rectify all the problems with Bernice and put her back in her cage. As Oliver finished relocking the cage, he turned around to face Alice to explain the situation to her.

“Sorry about all that Alice. I take home some of the animals to nurse them here when the clinic is over full. I usually come home to a few problems due to the fact that I can’t be at the clinic and home watching them at the same time. It’s a problem.” Oliver explained to Alice, seeing her nervously shift her feet as he did.

“It’s okay. I have quite a few animals like that too. I just came with you here to see if I could help at all. I can see you’re quite good with animals though.” Alice answered Oliver, turning her head slightly to hide her blush.

“I suppose. It seems that just like you, the thing I’m destined to do is help out animals.” Oliver replied, looking around the room to see if any of the other animals needed his help before he left.

Oliver had only a few animals too look after in addition to Bernice. He also had a tortoise named Hustle and an iguana named Snake, and that was it for this week. Parents really should make sure to approve the names their kids pick for the animals Oliver thought.

Hustle rarely came out of his shell, and Snake merely lounged around doing nothing. Checking to make sure that Snake was indeed still alive, Oliver looked around and was surprised to see Hustle out of his shell and already warmed up to Alice.

“It seems that your gift far trounces mine though Alice. I can’t believe Hustle already likes you. I had to operate on him, and he didn’t even like to show himself to me then.” Oliver told Alice, impressed by her natural talent.

“T-Thank you Oliver.” Alice responded, startled that Oliver had said such a nice thing to her just now.

Oliver lured Hustle back into his corner cage with a piece of lettuce, and soon enough the tortoise was locked back up again too.

“Well, I have to be in the clinic early tomorrow. I believe I should get to bed. You remember where your room is I take it?” Oliver asked Alice, while stretching out his limbs. Today was beginning to catch up with Oliver it seemed.

“O-Oh yes I do. I hope to see you tomorrow.” Alice responded, jumping a bit still whenever Oliver chose to talk to her directly.

“Oh yes Alice. Before I go to bed, I need to ask you something. I’m going to keep an eye open for positions at the clinic but, as you seem to be quite accustomed to taking care of the animals here already, would you mind looking after the animals here while I’m at work during the day? It would give you something to do as well as alleviate some of my stress.” Oliver asked Alice as they exited the Care Room.

Alice was surprised. She hadn’t expected to be offered such an important job by Oliver job right away. Alice had thought of merely reading or something of the sort to pass the days semi-rapidly while she was on Earth.

“I’d love to Oliver. Thank you for having such great faith in me.” Alice replied to Oliver, stopping at the bedroom that was now to be hers.

“I can’t doubt the skills of Equestria’s number one pet caregiver now can I?” Oliver jokingly asked Alice, making her flush red.

“Goodnight then Alice.” Oliver added, turning towards his own bedroom.

“Have a good night’s sleep Oliver.” Alice called back to Oliver as she entered her own bedroom to attempt to get some sleep after this bizarre day.

***

Even though there were no actual positions open at the clinic, All Better Animals, Alice was already fully accepted as a member of the staff within three months of her ‘employment’ with Oliver. Everyone was as impressed, if not more so, than Oliver had been at Alice’s natural skill with the animals she watched over.

The director of the clinic, Josephine, had in fact already come by Oliver’s place to meet Alice and inform her that as soon as a position at the clinic opened up, everyone wanted her to take it. Alice was blown away by the news. In Equestria, she was the only animal caretaker she knew and thus had no one with whom to compare her skills. On Earth however, Alice became truly aware of just how gifted with animals she was.

Today, Oliver had been promoted to the Second-In-Command of the Clinic for his recent amazing feat of being able to save a wolverine and a dog after a fight between them. His first job at his new position was to fire one of the slacking employees at the office, and then go home to tell Alice that she was now fully needed at the Clinic.

Oliver had no trouble in following his first order, as he had worked with the employee he fired, who was named Josh. Josh was a humongous slacker, even at one point intentionally not going to the Emergency Room when he was called because he was hungry. Oliver fired him with almost gusto, and then immediately set off home to tell Alice the good news.

Within 30 minutes of firing Josh, Oliver was home and on his way inside to talk to Alice about her new job position at the Clinic.

“Alice?” Oliver called as he entered his house, unsure of exactly where Alice might be at this time of day. “Where are you? I have important news to tell you.” Oliver finished, craning his neck in every direction to visibly search for Alice as well.

“Just a moment Oliver.” Alice called back to Oliver from the care room as she heard him calling her.

Within a few moments, Alice had finished feeding the last of the puppies she was in charge of for this week and was on her way back to the main dining room to hear the news Oliver had for her.

“Sorry Oliver. I had to finish feeding the puppies for today. I hope I didn’t make you wait too long.” Alice apologized as she came into the dining room and saw Oliver sitting in a chair at the dining table.

“No need to apologize Alice. I just wanted to let you know that there’s a position available at the Clinic now, and Josephine already wants it to go to you. She promoted me to Vice-Head Veterinarian and told me to tell you that today.” Oliver explained, seeing Alice look as shocked as happy.

“Really? Oh I’m so happy! Thank you Oliver!” Alice replied to Oliver, rushing forward to hug him at the news.

Oliver was surprised at what Alice had just done, being a reserved person himself. He was nothing compared to Alice herself though. Oliver was the only person Alice had opened up to over her last three months on Earth, and even then she was still occasionally reserved. Hugging was a whole new area of interaction from what Oliver and Alice usually experienced.

Eventually, Alice came to full terms with what she was doing and moved to release Oliver from the hug. As Alice moved to end the hug though, she came to realize that Oliver was hugging her back and that was what was keeping her in the hug as well.

“Um Oliver? Can we maybe end the hug now?” Alice spoke up to Oliver, afraid of such close contact with Oliver for too long.

“Huh? Oh! Of course. Forgive me.” Oliver quickly apologized to Alice, now coming to full terms with what he had just been doing.

A complete and long silence followed the last comment made by Oliver, almost permeating the whole house itself. Eventually, Oliver chose to speak up again to attempt to return his and Alice’s relationship to what was considered okay and normal for them.

“So…I’m going to go head to my bed to try and get some sleep now okay?” Oliver asked Alice, unsure of how Alice would react to what he did from now on.

“S-Sure. I was going to head to bed soon too. What time should I be up for tomorrow?” Alice asked Oliver, seeming to return to what Oliver called her now usual self.

“Around 9 o’clock should be good. You can just follow my morning routine from now on if you like. I’m simply used to the hours needed at the clinic by now is all, and I’d be more than willing to help you get accustomed to them too.” Oliver quickly explained, worried he was getting too intimate with Alice again.

“Okay then. See you tomorrow. Goodnight.” Alice replied to Oliver, turning to head towards her bedroom near the end so as to avoid any more awkward moments with Oliver for the night.

“Same to you Alice.” Oliver called back to Alice, heading towards his own room so that he could be alone with his thoughts to try and come to terms with what he felt about Alice.

***

“Scalpel.” Oliver called out to the room, extending his right hand in waiting for the tool he needed.

“Scalpel.” Alice called back to Oliver, handing him the tool she was now quite familiar with, having even used one herself several times.

“Forceps.” Oliver continued calling out, indicating his hand to the room at large yet again.

“Forceps.” Alice replied, again handing Oliver the tool he needed to continue his work.

Oliver and Alice were currently in the middle of major surgery on a mountain lion that had been hit by a car earlier in the day. The mountain lion had come in in bad shape, and no one was sure if it would survive the night. The rest of the staff of All Better Animals did agree though that the only ones who might be able to save it were the now Head Veterinarian Oliver and The Head Nurse Alice.

Oliver had been promoted temporarily to Head Veterinarian while Josephine was on maternal break, but he was handling himself quite well in the position and everyone agreed that it might be better if Oliver and Josephine merely switched positions when she did return.

Alice had risen to Head Nurse status in just a couple of months as well, having now been able to demonstrate her amazing gifts to all the other members of staff at All Better Animals. She was often called the only person in the world who could hope to keep up with Oliver during surgery, proving herself true to that title as well.

Six hours later, Oliver and Alice emerged from the clinic, weary and strained, but also tremendously happy. They had been able to ensure the mountain lion’s survival within the last hour and had spent the rest of the time in surgery stabilizing it. Oliver looked over to Alice as he saw her untie her hair from the bun she often had to keep it in while at the clinic.

“Amazing work today Alice. You really are worthy of being Head Nurse.” Oliver announced to Alice, moving to take off his own coat as Alice blushed at his words.

“Thank you Oliver. But it’s really your work that amazed me. I don’t think anyone else I know could have done what you did to save that mountain lion.” Alice replied to Oliver, making him smile brightly.

“Thank you for the compliment. Shall we head home now?” Oliver offered to Alice, turning to see her reaction for himself.

Perhaps it was the speed at which Oliver turned and Alice reacted, or the particular angle the sun was at behind her, but to Oliver, Alice had never looked more beautiful than she did at that moment. Oliver restrained himself though, not wanting to scare Alice away if he announced what he now felt almost certain were his feelings for her.

“Sure. Let’s get-“ Alice started, just as a huge wind swirled in an area slightly behind her.

Oliver reacted almost instinctively, moving in front of Alice within a moment’s time to protect her should she need it from whatever it was that was causing this un-Earthly wind. After a few more moments of the wind swirling, a figure appeared within its midst. A few seconds after appearing, the figure was fully definable as the figure of Meghan, otherwise known as Twilight.

“Fluttershy. I’m glad I found you. Something is seriously wrong in Equestria.” Meghan spoke up, returning to the demeanour and perception of Twilight.

Alice stepped out from behind Oliver, once again becoming the brave Fluttershy that Oliver knew could stand up to a fully grown dragon with no problems.

“What’s wrong Twilight?” Fluttershy asked Twilight, serious as anyone had ever seen her be before now.

“Discord and Chrysalis. They’re attacking Canterlot and Ponyville, and the rest of Equestria is next. We have to go back to use the Elements and try to help.” Twilight explained to Fluttershy, seeing her eyes widen greatly at such terrible news.

Fluttershy turned around to face Oliver, unsure of how to say what she needed to at that moment. She decided to merely try her best.

“Oliver…I…” Fluttershy began, only to have Oliver hold up his hand and stop her.

“I understand. You need to go. Go. I’ll be okay. Your home is what’s most important. What does she need to do Twilight?” Oliver directed his last few words at the other person in their midst.

“Fluttershy simply needs to remember who she is. That should do it. It worked with Applejack.” Twilight explained, directing her voice in equal parts at both Oliver and Fluttershy.

“She’s never forgotten who she was. I know that better than anyone. Right Fluttershy?” Oliver asked Fluttershy, trying his best to study everything he could about her.

“He’s right.” Fluttershy answered, just as a wind began to swirl around her person and begin to lift her off the very ground itself.

“Well done Fluttershy. I still have to see the other’s off. Do what you can without me. I’ll be there shortly.” Twilight blurted out as she disappeared in yet another gust of wind.

Oliver looked up at Fluttershy, unsure what to say now. Oliver decided perhaps a gesture was what would be best at this moment. Oliver extended his hand towards Fluttershy just as she began to extend hers toward him.

Just as Oliver and Fluttershy’s hands were about to touch, Fluttershy disappeared fully into the wind. Oliver remained in the same position he had taken moments ago, still feeling as though he were only mere inches away from Fluttershy.

After a few more minutes of remaining that way, Oliver also decided that it would be best to walk home today and what to say to Fluttershy should he ever see her again.

“I love you. Next time, I promise I’ll tell you that.” Oliver spoke to the air itself, somehow believing Fluttershy would hear him.

Oliver began his long walk home soon after that. He and Fluttershy had been dismissed early from the Clinic, but it would still be several hours before Oliver would stop walking in front of something he unknowingly sought. Something that he knew could help him more than anything else could.