It was a nice day in Ponyville. The sun was shining, a gentle breeze went through the fields and the birds were singing their lovely serenades in the trees. It was a perfect day to play outside, maybe read a book while enjoying the sun or just relax doing nothing.
Fluttershy, on the otherhoof, was not having a good day.
Oh, how she would have loved to just go on a picnic with her friends, or maybe play with her animal friends in the sun. Anything, anything other than what she was currently doing. Fluttershy let out a sigh and slowly made her way towards the Everfree forest. The dark, scary, and definitely not nice at all Everfree forest.
Ms. Woodpecker had come to Fluttershy’s cottage this morning in distress. One of her chicks was feeling ill and Fluttershy had agreed to come and take a look. She could have never said no, she loved taking care of animals, big or small. Even if their nest resided in the Everfree. Fluttershy came to a stop at the edge of the tree line and let out another sigh. She pawed at the ground nervously, peering in to the forest. It was slightly darker with the trees blocking some of the light, and it wouldn’t get truly dark unless you went very deep in to the forest. Mr. & Ms. Woodpeckers nest wasn’t too far in, but going any length in to it made Fluttershy feel scared. The Everfree was just too wild, not to mention all the scary monsters.
“You can do this Fluttershy…” She whispered to herself and gulped as she thought she saw something move.
“You need to go and see Ms. and Mr. Woodpeckers chick...you can go home after that…”
She took one more hesitant look around before letting out a small whimper and headed towards their nest.
********************
“Now remember, don’t eat too much at once and you won’t get anymore tummy aches.” Fluttershy said gently to the chick, who chirped happily in response.
Luckily the only thing that had been bothering the chick was a case of upset stomach, and Fluttershy could easily help her with a few drops of medicine. Fluttershy closed the bottle and glided down to the ground where her saddlebags were. She deposited the bottle inside and flew back up to the nest. The woodpecker parents chirped at her.
“Oh, it was no trouble at all. I’m always happy to help.” She responded and smiled at them happily. Ms. Woodpecker chirped back.
“And you have a very nice day too.” Fluttershy said before floating back down and allowing the parents to tend to their young. She put her saddlebags on with a smile, before starting to trot back to her cottage. Helping animals always made Fluttershy feel warm and happy inside, so she started to hum to herself, momentarily forgetting that she was in the Everfree forest.
“Hmhmhmhmmhmm hmhmhmhmmhmm~”
The pleasant feeling didn’t last for long, however, when Fluttershy heard a twig snap in the distance. She turned her head towards the sound, ears perked up, as she suddenly remembered again where she was. Fluttershy gulped nervously, before increasing her pace slightly. Her ears didn’t seem to know whether to rotate around and listen in case there was something lurking around, or just clamp tightly against her head so that she didn’t have to hear any of the scary sounds she was increasingly aware of. When she saw a hollow tree trunk on the ground, she almost dove in to hide.
“No…I-I’m not going to hide…I’m a b-brave pony…” She mumbled to herself, not seeming to believe her own words as her legs trembled a bit. She increased her pace again, determined to get out of the forest as quickly as possible so that she could go back to her animal friends.
Eventually Fluttershy started to near the edge of the forest and her nervousness lessened. She slowed down to a brisk walk and exhaled slowly. She was almost out of the Everfree forest, and after that there was nothing to be afraid of. There would be no scary monsters to look out for, no shadows that would look like something was hiding from you and no scary noises. Fluttershy even saw a patch of beautiful white, star shaped flowers a little to the side. A smile crept back to her face and she decided to get off from her path to smell them. That, in hindsight, was a terrible idea.
As she lowered her head down to sniff the flower, there was a rustling noise in the bush further away from her. Her ears immediately turned to face the noise, her head snapped up and the smile left her face. She could feel her blood turn cold as she saw something moving behind the large bush. She wanted to flee, but her legs and wings refused to move and Fluttershy could only watch in horror as something moved, turned around, and then began rising from behind the bush. It was something large and green as it slowly seemed to stand up. It was very tall, easily towering over Fluttershy. Even in her fright Fluttershy quickly took notice that the creature itself wasn’t green, but it was wearing green clothes and a hat. It made her slightly calm down for a second, before she noticed that the clothes were green because they were imprinted with a camouflage pattern.
Fluttershy’s panic climbed back up again. Why would a creature wear camouflage in the Everfree forest and hide in a bush? Because it was preying upon for something, or more likely, somepony! Fluttershy’s mouth opened as if to scream, but she was too scared to do even that. The creature stood still for a moment, its head turning slightly. Then it seemed to stop completely.
Oh no…! It noticed me…! Fluttershy thought to herself in absolute terror as the creature slowly turned its head towards her. The creature had a very flat face that was partially hidden under the shadow of its hat. It had a very bushy beard and small eyes that peered around for a second before settling of Fluttershy. Its gaze was enough to break her free on her trance.
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!” Fluttershy screamed loudly (by her standards) before doing a very good impression of Rainbow Dash whenever she was asked to do something lame or boring. That is to say, she flew away incredibly fast, almost leaving behind a pink and yellow trail as she went. Fluttershy didn’t stop until she had gotten out of the Everfree forest, gone all the way back to Ponyville, flown all the way to the library and unfortunately, for Twilight at least, crashed right in to her when she opened the door to go outside.
********************
The creature was clutching its chest, breathing rapidly and eyes wide in panic. It looked towards the direction the…the thing had suddenly fled with such speed it had almost missed it completely. The creature removed its hat with a trembling hand and fanned itself as it shakily sat down on a large rock.
I'm a little surprised at Fluttershy being so terrified by a strange creature in the Everfree Forest. From what we've seen in the past, that's one of the things she's least likely to be scared of. I mean, she's prevailed over a manticore, a cockatrice and a dragon. Why get cold hooves now?
7902002 She's also the one who got scared by a dragon and a cockatrice, even if event forced her to confront her fears latter.
Plus she was startled.
Thus, I'm not against her being scared.
7902822 I might have let out the most unmanliest giggle snort ever. Fixed now.
Edit: Ah dangit, I was thinking batter was written with a p, not a b.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/72/RangerSmith.png
It could be no other!
...oh. So close.
Looks interesting ^~^
Looking decent. It's a good start.
7906364 which episode is that from? I do think remember seeing it
l Love it! Great story No,not even it was amazing the story the content was so awesomely great l can't wait to read more good on yea
Preying.
To pry on something is to try to force it open, possibly with a a tool like a crowbar.
To prey on something (in this context) is to hunt it in order to kill and eat it.
In this context, in implies that it's a separate thing woven or embedded into the fabric.
On would be more appropriate, however, that implies that the pattern lies on top of the fabric, which also isn't quite right.
The sentence is better off being slightly reworded in a way that tells the reader that the clothing is inherently colored with a camouflage print, such as the below:
Hope this helps!
( reads part about woodpekers)
FUCK YA A BASTION IN EQUESTREA STORY! FINALY!!!
(Finishis first chapter)
DAMIT!....still a gould story tho.
I don't see why Fluttershy would be that frightened of a human. Fluttershy is normally a xenophile. She's only ever been afraid of ponies and mature dragons.
Too much forests in this paragraph.
Look like something.
Began, stand up.
Absolute, on.
It.
A human wearing camouflage, but is in a panic mode at seeing an unknown phenomenon............methinks he is an outdoors person who has never seen war...........I think.
Since when?
7906364
You win, good sir.
Other hoof. Two words, just like our equivalent phrase, other hand.
...Camouflage is not necessarily the mark of a predator. Prey animals do it too.
So, in other words, she was have a BAD TIME?
How on Earth would Fluttershy, of all people, know what a camo pattern is? Their soldiers wear shiny golden armor. It doesn't seem like anything she'd ever even have heard of.
Oh well. Let's just hope this doesn't spell yet another horrible "random-ass US soldier in Equestria" story...
8147997
well the other girls had camouflage for watching the Dragon migration.
8147997
Camo exists in Equestria, so I assume they use it for actual covert ops, when they need to. I'm pretty sure the armor is a sort of function-and-form thing, used when stealth is not necessary, as well as looking strong to the citizens of Equestria.
Like when planes used to have colors for actual missions, and then a separate paint job for exhibition to the public.
Well, at least that is my headcanon, and it does seem to follow from the evidence the show gave us. They had WWII-style trenches, for crying out loud!
8246593
As well as they used camo in the dragon migration episode.
See, I like to think that the worst ponies have to fear from us, realistically, is spontanious, unnanounced hugs.
Especially Dash, just so I can enjoy her reaction.
I'm a brave boy...
I'm not a brave boy!!!
8686164
I'm not a brave enough boy for dis!
Whispers: Jontron
So fast flying, and crashing into the library - yep, definitely a Rainbow Dash impression.
I wouldn't fault Twilight for mentally adding a notch to her "Rainbow Dash Library Crashes" score, before she realised it wasn't the blue pegasus after all.
I've been going through highly rated stories where a language barrier is a key theme and very intrigued with the first chapter.
A beard? Seriously? Why is that of the past 4 HiE I've read, each one - EVERY - SINGLE - ONE - had the guy with a thick bushy beard?! Is there something wrong with being clean-shaven nowadays? Now, yes, he was likely in the forest for an unspecified 'long' time. But that excuse wears thin after the second time it's happened!
10863757
Yeah.
Any time someone says it's on the larger side, I immediately picture the scraggly, unkempt beard of a +70 year old middle eastern man circa 1940s who's never so much as seen a shaving razor in his life.
10863757
Mad you don't have a beard, aren't you?
🐉❤