28- Tea with Yellowings, at long last.
After yesterday’s jarring experience I felt exhausted beyond measure. No work was to be done today. I was starting to hoard a considerable number of golden coins after my few employment experiences in the pony system. Probably not enough to rent my own house, probably not even enough to pay for a simple room, and I was in no mood to share a house right now.
Well, I was technically sharing a house, but it was a castle, so it didn’t count. And it was provided by Twilight Sparkle, and I wanted to be able to provide my own accommodation as soon as possible, but not right now, I needed some time to recover.
Today was, therefore, my self-appointed free day from work, and I ought to do something. Considering that my computer, TV, games and other hobbies required… well, said things to be enjoyed, that limited my options. I could ho hiking to the forest, maybe that way I could manage to get lost and suddenly appear back in a regular forest and then get a GPS signal, call for help and so on, or maybe manage to get myself eaten by the local fauna, so that was out of the question too for now. There was just one option left I could think of...
Socialize.
I could almost understand everything the local equines said, and maybe form semi coherent sentences by now. That meant that trying to socialize or chit-chat with anyone would be technically possible, but extra awkward, and I wasn’t exactly an extrovert person.
I needed an isolated environment, someone that wouldn’t intimidate me and at the same time be pleasant to be around. A quiet, calm and kind individual…
The perfect one was Yellowings, or as her real name was, if I understood it correctly, something like Timid Wingbeats… close enough.
That’s the reasoning and story of how I ended up, after walking along the quaint dirt path, in front of the little adorable, grass covered, cottage. The faint but distinct smell of a pet shop brought back some memories and kind of soothed me. That smell that was composed of an unknown number of different critters coexisting in the same enclosure, and not all of them housebroken yet. Not overwhelming, not really unpleasant, but it was still there. The yellow winged mare was really clean, and when she was taking care of me, I was, for the most part, unable to tell there was a smell at all because I got used to it, but now that I was coming back from the outside, I could tell it was definitely there.
I knocked on the door and I got a faint squeak in return. Yes, that’s her, but after being so forward and friendly with me I had no idea how she suddenly became the shy and reclusive mare she was. Out of the initial bunch of ponies I met, she was the one I saw fewer times lately, almost like she was avoiding me.
The door latch clicked and the door opened just a creak, and through that I could see the big, cautious aquamarine eye peeking at me.
“Uh… good morning, Timid Wingbeat.”
“Eeep!” She sounded like a squeaky toy, and then a few quiet horse noises were heard, but I couldn’t really translate them.
“I came visit; long time no see.” I greeted her.
More unknown horse noises.
“I no understand. Repeat?”
“Hello, Smarty, I was… (more unknown noises)” She said quietly, going back down in volume at the end of the sentence.
“Are you busy now? Come visit other day?” I was starting to worry she was too busy or just didn’t want me around, so I provided to her a polite way to send me away, just in case.
“Feeding the (unknown noise) and… um… cleaning the (unknown noise) box… Um…” She said, and I struggled to catch most of it.
“Oh, sorry. I come back other day.” I said.
“No! I mean… um… (more unknown horse noises explanations)”
“I… no understand. Repeat again?” I awkwardly asked.
“Um… want some tea?”
“I would love to.” I replied with a learned formula.
She opened the door and allowed me in. It was the same room in which she took care of me for the first time, but now the fireplace was just some embers and the worn green couch where I slept was there. I took a seat there and waited while she operated the kitchen.
Something that struck me as odd was how difficult was to understand her in her own language compared to how well we understood each other back in the day she rescued me. I couldn’t catch any word, but her meaning was almost always clear, and I got the sensation she also understood me, but now it was harder than before, it required a conscious effort just to listen to her.
Maybe if…
“Thank you very much, Yellowings. I wanted to say thank you ever since I got to live in Twilight’s Castle, but I couldn’t find the occasion to say it. You saved me.” I told her in plain English as soon as she came back carrying a cute little silvery tray with two cups of tea.
“Oh, um… it was nothing…” She replied in a much more understandable volume and without the stuttering.
“I don’t know how you are able to understand me in my own language, Yellowings, but it worked back then, so I supposed I could try again.”
“It’s just my special talent, I can understand what all critters say and… (unknown noise that meant ‘communicate with them’ for sure.)”
“Well… but I am a stallion from my species.” I tried to convey in her own language now that I was indeed not a regular critter. I used the word ponies used to refer to a male pony to define me.
“A sta.. lli… um.. eek!” And the stutter was back, and she blushed profusely.
I started to deduce something else too. It wasn’t my inability to understand pony language what mostly prevented me to understand her, it was that when I used her own language, for some reason, she reduced her volume and stuttered.
I could catch the sound, the volume wasn’t that low, but the stutter completely disrupted the rhythms and flow of the sounds the pony language needed in order to function, so the message was lost.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
Her blush deepened and she nodded in a jerky and awkward fashion.
I was starting to see a pattern. Every time I tried to talk in her language, she seemed to tense up, and every time I said it in plain English, she seemed to relax. It was really weird.
“Please, Yellowings, it’s your own house, take a seat, my legs are starting to hurt by just looking at you standing there in front of me.” I tested my theory by using my own language again.
“Oh, um… sorry about that…” Indeed, she seemed to relax a little, but not completely, as she cautiously climbed on top of the sofa, allowing a generous distance between us.
I pushed the low table closer to us, so our tea would be withing easy reach. I grabbed my cup and put one sugar and a half in it.
“Sugar?” I asked.
“Um… yes, please. Two and… are you going to use that half of a sugar cube?”
“Not at all. One is too little, two is a little too much for me.” I replied.
“May I…”
“Of course.” I smiled as I served her tea with two and a half sugar.
Out of the ponies, I knew this one was the one I was going to be able to communicate more easily, she understood anything I told her, but her stuttering when I tried to use her language was going to be an issue.
After an exploratory sip of my drink, I tried another approach.
“Why are you all shy when I use your language?” Well, there is no better approach than to be direct when you run out of ideas.
“I… um… I’m… It reminds me that you are not a critter…” She hid behind her mane locks.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“I treated you as a forest critter and I’m so sorry about it!” She curled a little bit on herself and lowered her head, her ears flat against her skull.
“I don’t mind it at all. It was a misunderstanding and you saved my life after all.”
I reached out and put my hand under her muzzle and gently lifted it so she looked directly at me again. She did that squeaky toy impression and tensed up. Not really sure of what to do after the initial physical contact I started to scratch a little bit her chin like if she was a cat.
Her wide eyes slowly closed little by little; I could feel more and more weight being rested on my hand. She relaxed and ended up pressing a little bit into my hand, as if she was demanding more pets.
It was a bizarre situation, and I started it out of instinct, but now that it was happening, I just had to roll with it. Maybe a little adorable revenge for treating me as an animal, I would pet her! Or something…
Truth be told, she was an adorable fluffy thing, and she seemed starved for affection. If her shy personality and reclusive nature were something to go by, it was a plausible explanation.
“If your special talent helps you to understand me, I don’t mind it even if I am a sapient being, I like being around you.” I told her.
“Um… this is really nice…” She muttered, but she wasn’t stuttering so it was understandable.
She looked up at me and her eyes almost sparkled in the morning light as I used my other hand to pet her silky mane.
“I would like to be friends with you, Timid Wingbeat.” I told her, using the pony language now that she was relaxed.
She blushed and tensed up a little bit, then she pursed her lips in an adorable way as she thought about her answer. She exhaled a breath she didn’t know she was holding and then came her answer.
“I would very much like it… if… if that’s okay with you.”
“Of course.”
She smiled back at me.
“Um… and if you don’t mind… its… Fluttershy. My name is Fluttershy.”
“Fluttershy… They call me Smarty Pants.” I replied.
“Uhu…”
It was a weird mix. When Fluttershy was in the flow and used her ‘special talent’ thing, we were able to perfectly understand each other. I was able to use my own language for a word I didn’t have yet and she caught the meaning of it immediately, and when I was unable to recognize a pattern for a word, somehow, I knew what it was meant to be. When not in the flow, she was a blushing stuttering mess. Adorable both ways.
“Um… It was really nice.” She said.
“Nice? What?”
“The… um… petting? It was relaxing, thank you.”
“Oh… that… I’m sorry, I didn’t think before acting.” I apologized.
“Oh, not at all, it was really nice. I feel relaxed, like if I had just had a spa session with Rarity.”
“Rare… Thing?”
“Rarity, the white unicorn.”
“Rarity…” I muttered the correct pronunciation for her name.
“She invites me to the spa very often, she might like what you do with your paws.”
“If you say so…” I looked at my hands as if they were a magical artifact.
“Oh, I know! Next time you come to visit, I will call Rarity so she can try it! Um… that is if… you don’t mind, of course.” She proposed.
“Huh… maybe? If she lets me, I wouldn’t mind trying it.”
“O… okay, I will tell her next time.”
We finished our drinks and I decided I didn’t want to overstay my welcome, if she was as introverted as she seemed, she wouldn’t appreciate me being around too much, and probably recharge her social batteries or something. I could imagine.
The completely unrelated fact that there were two identical green standing lamps on one corner of the room, and I felt unnaturally unnerved by it also supported my decision. I didn’t remember Fluttershy having two identical lamps like those, and if she had, those would be more efficiently situated in opposite corners of the room, not one near the other. And I felt like one of them hated me. I guess I’m not as stable as I thought I was, I still needed time.
So, I decided enough was enough and said my goodbyes. She escorted me to the door and said her farewell.
As I walked along the dirt path, I remembered that I came from that forest near the cottage. Maybe that forest was the gate that could take me home again somehow. Well, or get eaten by the local fauna. Anyways, it couldn’t hurt, if the gate was open, maybe this place was closer to my universe than I thought and I could catch something with my phone. Probably better than the previous idea of just go hiking there. I grabbed my phone just in case and, after a little drumroll I made with my fingers as I waited…
…Still no signal.
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I hope Cheerilee doesn't get jealous that he makes more progress learning from Shy than from her.
11695870
I don't think there will be a problem. And that progress is only made because of her special talent, so he still needs to practice Harmonian.
Next time on Tea With Fluttershy.
Three lamps.
Nice chapter, I wonder if fluttershy would pick up his real name if he tried to tell her
Very nice.
Hi Discord.
Discord be angry for certain, only HE can be friends with Fluttershy!
I do like how his human instincts are telling him something is wrong. It is so strange that we humans have that 6th sense of sensing danger.
And now we finally see what pushes him towards the Spa. Do we also get to see Lyra or other mares make pre-emptive moves that he's oblivious to? I'm honestly surprised Twilight or Starlight didn't make a move on him. Oh well, that's more CCCHW stuff. On with more SNS!
Really liking this series.
That's totally Discord
Nice chapter
And good thought with trying to detect the portal through a phone signal! That would have certainly been interesting
Maybe if Twilight could make a signal amplification spell...
I wonder if the RED ALERT from Star Trek went off in his head as his senses sensed that a problem named Discord would have greeted him if he got too close to Fluttershy?
11695886
That might shed some light to the situation.
11695899 Mature chapters be like normal ones, but out of context.
11695922 I have plans for his name.
11695937 Thanks!
11695943
Just for simplicity, he kind of translates the numbers to base 10. I can’t remember if that was before or after discovering ponies use base four, for narrative coherence. I could have added the conversion process from base to base to add some flavor, but didn’t think of that at the time. And fimfiction really hates it when you edit something after publishing.
11695972
That’s more or less what’s happening.
11695991
Shhh, don’t tell him I’m here.
11696040 We will get Discord shenanigans. And yes, it’s all falling in place little by little. We migt even be able to see some of the scenes described on CCCRHW.
11696046 It was suggested in a comment and seemed really reasonable for him to think of that. Also, yes… we might get Discord shenanigans.
11696157 It might greet him later on.
Theres a typo
11696216
Yeah. I feel like it is time for him to find independance.
No more being treated as a child or trapped in the castle. He will live a life, get a job, buy a house, and maybe find some love
11696679
Well, I can say at least it is a he. Kind of a classic HiE situation. Could have been a woman, but the character I had in mind is a man.
11696411
Thanks for the catch. I will have to make an editing pass at some point.
11696274
That is kind of the situation. A little bit of a shock.
11696565
He will probably do a number of those things. The romance part is already in the other story, kind of a sequel, even though it was published before this one.
i think fluttershy was embarrassed more on the realization she slept in a bed with a stallion, not a animal
11699851 That's more or less the situation.
Nice
Apart from this, that it’s an amazing story, i really start to wonder when will the „signal” connect lmao
11767946
It will connect soon-ish I hope. Kirins are distracting.