Our Little Pony

by Stratocaster

A Horse With No Name

Chapter 5: A Horse With No Name

Present Day

"Wow, and I thought I had it rough in school." Twilight said as she poured another cup of tea.

Fluttershy now lay on her sofa staring up at the ceiling. "Oh, it wasn't so bad. Scott was a really nice boy. We would play together all the time."

"So Fluttershy," continued Twilight, sitting in the adjacent chair. "I meant to ask you this earlier but, did Luke and Haley ever tell you about ponies in human society? And by ponies, I mean horses and other, um, equines?"

"Now that you mention it," replied Fluttershy who twirled her mane. "I think they told me when I finally asked."

"It must have been a bit of a wake up call learning about domestication."

"Yes, it was strange. I mean, I could've sworn I saw something called the 'Kentucky Derby' a couple times when I was little; but I never really understood. Then it all became clear why humans look at ponies differently, once my father showed me."

"Showed you what?"

Memories...

Enjoying a nice carefree Saturday, Luke lazed on the couch staring at the television. He was watching the classic spaghetti western The Outlaw Josey Wales; being a bit of a history buff, it was one of his favorite movies. As he sat watching Clint Eastwood pick off Union troops with his Colt Navy revolvers, he heard his daughter's voice.

"Watcha doing, Daddy?" asked Fluttershy cutely.

"Just watching a movie." Luke patted the couch gesturing her to join him.

Fluttershy climbed up next to her father and looked at the screen curiously. She cocked her head at the sight of the ex-Confederate guerilla Josey Wales and his Cherokee guide, riding away on their steeds. "Are those...ponies?" she asked innocently.

The question struck Luke. It had not yet been explained to her about domestication of equines and other beasts of burden. He could have sworn Fluttershy had seen the Kentucky Derby a couple times before, but he had never broken it to her. Nevertheless, Luke cleared his throat and answered.

"Well...sort of. They're just regular horses."

"Oh, you mean the ones that don't talk?" queried Fluttershy. "How come there are men riding on their backs?"

This was the question Luke feared. "Uh...well...you see, Fluttershy, some animals are kept by humans as, uh, pets."

"Horsies are kept as pets?"

"Well, they're mostly just kept so we can ride them. But a lot of other animals are kept for different reasons. In fact, there all sorts of animals that are just kept to look at. You know, a zoo."

"Wow, I've never been to the zoo before."

Luke smiled seeing the perfect opportunity to change to subject. "Do you want to go? There's one not far from here in the city."

Fluttershy beamed. "Really? Can we go today? Please, please, please, please, please?!" she began to bounce and flap her wings.

"Of course, sweetie. I know how much you love animals!"

"Yay!"

It wasn't long before they were finally on the road to the county zoo. Luke drove with Fluttershy safely strapped in her child's booster seat in the back, as they headed into the city. Upon arriving at last, Fluttershy hopped with anticipation alongside her father towards the front gate. Luckily, Saturday meant half price off admission for kids; Luke seized this opportunity after convincing the ticket clerk that foals counted as 'kids'. Fluttershy pranced through the zoo complex gawking at the many exotic animals with her protective father keeping close all the while. She stopped at the tiger cage.

"Wow, tigers!" she gasped as she stepped up to the edge of the pen. "Daddy, come look at the tigers!"

Luke stood behind with his hands in his pockets. "Uh, this is the only distance I care to see them, sweetheart."

Suddenly, one of the three bengal tigers approached the chain link fence behind the guard wall. A knot tied in Luke's stomach as the jungle cat stood face to face with his daughter.

"Hi Mr. Tiger, I'm Fluttershy." She greeted innocently.

The large tiger put a paw against the fence and made a deep purring sound, staring at the curious pony. It had hunted easy prey bigger than her, but for some reason, this strange filly didn't seem like a target. It purred some more trying to make conversation.

"My, you're so big." Fluttershy said. "And your stripes are really pretty."

As the tiger began to lick its lips, Luke intervened. "Alright, Fluttershy, he looks hungry. Why don't we, uh, let him wait for feeding time."

"Oh, okay. Bye, Mr. Tiger!" she called back as she walked away with her father. Looking back, she saw that the tiger was still clawing against the cage with a lonely look on its face. Fluttershy frowned feeling sympathy for the misjudged predator.

For the next few hours, they wandered the massive zoo with Fluttershy, of course, leading the way. Her eyes lit up as they passed by various pens holding many different creatures such as lions, bears, giraffes, crocodiles, parrots, hippos, rhinos, and even an elephant couple. At each exhibit, Fluttershy was amazed by the wonderous animals; but something seemed off as she stopped at each pen. Some of the animals had the same lonesome look on their face; and those who couldn't make facial expressions simply sat in one place without a care. Fluttershy felt there was something amiss with the creatures, as if they were not happy in their homes.

Eventually, she and Luke finally reached the gorilla cage. Among the four or five apes, one of them sat upfront scratching its chest and looking quite bored. Fluttershy approached him with a smile.

"Daddy, look at the gorilla." She said.

Luke scratched his chin with realization. "Oh yeah. Hey Fluttershy, I saw this gorilla here before. His name is Jimbo and he knows sign language."

"Wow!" she beamed as she spoke to the ape. "Hi Jimbo, I'm Fluttershy."

The gorilla known as Jimbo noticed the strange talking foal and knuckle-walked over to her. He raised a hairy hand and made a slight gesture that somwhat resembled waving.

"Teehee, he does know sign language!" Fluttershy waved back.

Then, Jimbo made another hand gesture, this time putting his fingertips together and raising them to his lips. He repeated this sign a few times.

"What's he saying, Daddy?" asked Fluttershy.

"I think that means 'food'." Luke answered.

"Oh, he's hungry. Daddy, um, can he have one of your peanuts?"

Luke looked down at the bag of peanuts he had been carrying. "Uh, I don't know if that's allowed, Fluttershy."

"Please, Daddy?" pleaded Fluttershy with puppy eyes. "He looks starving."

Unsure, Luke peered back and forth between his begging daughter and the begging ape who continued with the hand signs. After a pause, he sighed and took a few nuts from the bag handing them to Fluttershy.

"Thanks, Daddy." She grinned and nuzzled his pantleg. Then she looked at the gorilla holding out the peanuts. "Here you go, Jimbo."

Slowly, Jimbo slipped his fingers through the fence and grabbed the peanuts in his palm. One by one, he carefully began to eat the salty morsels shell and all. After he had consumed them all, Jimbo made another sign by holding out his palm flat.

"That means 'thank you'." Luke whispered.

"Your welcome, Jimbo." Fluttershy smiled to the gorilla.

Then, with a proud beat of his chest, Jimbo knuckle-walked back to his family, only to curl up in a tree branch and fall asleep.

Fluttershy looked at the other gorillas who seemed to just as lively as Jimbo. They simply sat and stared off with the same lonesome expression as the other animals. She began to feel sympathetic again.

Sensing his little filly's distress, Luke took Fluttershy to the zoo food court to get her ice cream. But still Fluttershy sighed dowerly as they sat on a bench.

"Daddy, I don't think they like it here."

"Well, animals need space to run around in, sweetheart." Luke replied, trying not to depress her. "But a lot of these animals were born here, and don't know what that's like."

"Do all animals live in cages when humans own them?"

"Not all of them. There are farms where animals are kept just so they can run around free." He paused thinking. "Say, that gives me an idea. Fluttershy, you know where we keep getting your hay?"

"No, where?"

"Well, there's a farm just outside town where the farmer keeps a whole stable of horses, like the ones on TV. And they have a nice big field where they where they gallop around in."

"Really? Can we go see them?" Fluttershy lit up.

Luke grinned. "I don't see why not."

Since looking for bales of hay at the supermarket was out of the question, Luke and Haley would shop for Fluttershy's favorite snack at a local vineyard. The farmers who owned it, Mr. Schmidt and wife, kept an entire horse ranch where they agreed to sell some of their hay at a cheap price. The Shys had told Mr. Schmidt about their little filly daughter, but had yet to introduce her. Now that would change, as Luke drove Fluttershy down the country to Schmidt Family Farm.

After cruising down the dirt road across the vast fields of grapevines, they finally stopped at the big red barn where the stable was held. Standing outside was an elderly man in overalls and a trucker hat; Mr. Schmidt greeted Luke who stepped out of the car.

"Hey there, Luke," he smiled. "I thought you already picked up your hay last Wednesday."

"Oh I'm not here for hay, Mr. Schmidt." Luke replied. "I have a little someone I thought you'd like to meet. Or should I say somepony."

Mr. Schmidt raised his bushy eyebrows.

Then, the back door of Luke's car opened and slowly, Fluttershy climbed out. Pretending to be invisible, she hid her face behind her mane and walked over behind her father, peeking around his leg.

A broad smile stretched across the farmer's face. "Well, I'll darned," he chuckled. "Is that really her?"

Luke looked down behind him. "Fluttershy, say hello to Mr. Schmidt. He's the owner of the farm."

Fluttershy peered up at the stranger. "Um...hello." She squeaked."

"Heh heh, aren't you precious?" said Mr. Schmidt, kneeling down to her level. "Nice to meet you, little lady."

"You know, Mr. S," continued Luke, half speaking to his daughter. "Fluttershy says she wants to see the horses."

"Is that right?" Mr. Schmidt looked at the filly. "You want to see them, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy's ears perked up as she lit up. "Oh yes, sir!"

"Heh heh, alright then. I just put some of 'em out to let 'em exersise. Why don't you both come around behind the stable?"

With that, Mr. Schmidt led the two around the barn to a white wooden fence that bordered a wide open grassy meadow. Beyond the fence, several brown horses grazed the field and trotted around showing off their physical prowess to each other. Fluttershy put her hooves up on the lower beam of the fence and marveled at the majestic broncos.

"Wow, they're so...huge!" she gawked. "Daddy, look, they're just like me!"

"They sure are, sweetie." Luke pretended to agree, after stepping in horse droppings.

"Yup, they're bona fide broncos, every one." Mr. Schmidt said, joining them at the fence. "And you see that fine lady up there?" he pointed to one the horses closer upfront. "That's Rosie. She's the only one of my mares I haven't bred yet. Still lookin' for her gentleman caller."

"She's beautiful." Flutteshy added, staring at the graceful mare eating weeds.

"Well, I'll let you look at 'em a bit more, Fluttershy." Mr. Schmidt then turned to his usual customer. "C'mon Luke, you've gotta try some of my wife's homemade wine. She mashes the grapes with her own bare feet."

"Uh, that's alright," hesitated Luke. "I'm not that thirsty."

"Nonesense, I insist. It's the best tastin' wine you'll ever drink; better than in Nappa Valley!"

As Mr. Schmidt dragged Luke off to sample homemade wine with the essence of feet, Fluttershy was left alone at the fence.

Just then, the horse named Rosie peered up at the awestruck little filly with piqued interest. The brown mare lumbered over to the fence to get to know this new equine face to face. Fluttershy became excited.

"Hi Rosie, I'm Fluttershy!"

Rosie simply respondd with a sputter of her lips and a flick of her black tail. She didn't know what to make of this strange talking yellow foal with wings.

"I never met a real horsie before." Fluttershy continued making small talk. "Do you know any ponies like me?"

With a hushed grunt, Rosie craned her head over the fence just inches away from Fluttershy.

"My goodness, you're so big. I wish I was big like you, Rosie."

Then, Rosie gave her new filly friend a gentle nudge with her muzzle, and stepped back a bit. She began to stomp her heavy hooves in the grass and even neighed excitedly.

"Ooh, do you want to play?" asked Fluttershy, poking her head through the fence.

Rosie sputtered again then scraped the ground, as if preparing for a long gallop.

"Okay, let's race!" cheered Fluttershy as she slipped between the fence and joined her new big friend.

Later, Luke finally returned to the fence where he had left Fluttershy, alongside Mr. Schmidt.

"I tell ya, Luke, nothin' goes better with my wife's wine like some good ol' aged cheddar."

Luke listened to Mr. Schmidt, as his stomach became the battlefield for foot mashed grapes and year old cheese. Suddenly, he heard a shrill whinny from the horse field. He looked ahead over the fence to see Rosie cantering around the perimeter of the fence; but there was something else running along beside her. He strained his eyes and realized, to his horror, it was his little filly. Luke called over.

"Fluttershy, what are you doing?!"

"Daddy, look at me!" responded Fluttershy. "I'm playing with Rosie!"

Mr. Schmidt joined next to Luke and chuckled. "Well would you look at that. It seems ol' Rosie's taken a likin' to your daughter. She thinks Fluttershy is one of her own."

Luke looked at him as if he had a second head. "What are you talking about? You don't think this is dangerous?"

"Oh come on, Luke, it's just a harmless hoof race. They do it all the time."

"But what if that horse steps on her?!"

"Don't get your pants in a bind; Rosie's a gentle giant. As far as I'm concerned, your daughter is completely safe."

Luke darted his head frantically, fearing for his daughter's safety. Fluttershy barely reached hip height, and she was merely one wrong step away from being trampled by a full grown bronco. He knew he couldn't let her endanger her life any longer; he sprang off and hopped the fence.

"What are you doin'?" called Mr. Schmidt. "Don't go in there, you'll startle her!"

Ignoring the farmer's advice, Luke hurried over to scoop up Fluttershy as she came galloping towards him. Instead, he got in the way of her racing opponent. He screeched to a halt as he came up close to Rosie, who neighed wildly at the sight of him. Suddenly, she reared back on her hind legs flailing her front ones in the air. Then, as he froze in that fleeting second, one of the hooves came down and struck Luke across the forehead. He tumbled to the ground with a loud grunt.

"Daddy!" gasped Fluttershy who came cantering over to her father's rescue.

"Ugh, cityfolk." Mr. Schmidt muttered.

As Rosie trotted away startled, Luke rolled over on his back and put a hand over his forehead, moaning in agony. Fluttershy stood over him, resting her hooves on his chest.

"Daddy, are you okay?" she asked worried.

He replied with a groan. "Fluttershy...can you please stop standing on my chest?"

It wasn't long before they were back home. After an awkward apology to Mr. Schmidt, Luke drove Fluttershy back to the house where he told Haley about his accident. Eventually, he found himself in his bed with a sizable gash on his forehead and a ringing migraine. Haley sat on the edge of the bed wetting a cloth with hydrogen piroxide.

"Ah! Jeez that stings!" he seethed.

"Will you just hold still?" sulked Haley, dabbing his forehead. "I'm almost done."

Luke rested his head back and sighed with regret.

"Luke, what were you doing out there?" asked Haley discerningly. "You don't need to be a vet to know you shouldn't run into a charging horse."

"She was about to be stepped on, Haley. I couldn't just stand there and watch."

"I wouldn't want her to get hurt either. But you're being over protective, and it's only getting you hurt. You need to have more trust in Fluttershy; she's not a baby anymore."

Luke stirred in the bed.

Haley eased up. "Is that what this is about?"

He sighed again. "She's asking all these questions. She's getting more and more curious, and pretty soon she's going to realize that...she's not one of us."

"Well of course she realizes that; we knew that from the start. Fluttershy's growing up, Luke."

"Yeah, too fast for me. But I mean, what's going to happen when she's old enough to go away?"

"Well I...I don't know."

"What if Fluttershy goes to this flight camp and doesn't fit in? What if it's worse than school? She doesn't know what it's like to live with other ponies. The reason I'm being over protective is because I don't want her to stray too far. She's my little girl, Haley; I don't want her to go."

Haley paused to consider his words. Then, she leaned over and rubbed his shoulder as she spoke. "Don't get too upset. We still have plenty of time with her." She kissed him above his wound. "Enjoy it." She stood up and exited the bedroom leaving him to rest and heal.

After a few minutes of holding an icepack to his crown, Luke heard the door creak open slowly. Peaking in was Fluttershy's face wearing a guilty expression behind her pink mane. Silently, she walked in and approached the bed, resting her chin on the edge. She nuzzled his pantleg again, as she looked up at him with sorrowful teal eyes.

Unable to resist the face he had known so well, Luke reached down and lifted her up onto the bed. Fluttershy cuddled next to him.

"I'm so sorry, Daddy," she said softly. "Are you mad at me?"

He responded calmly. "No, I'm not mad, sweetie; it was my fault. I know you were just trying to have fun."

With a pause, Fluttershy laid her head upon his torso, and reflected on the events of the entire day. She thought about the questions she asked him earlier at home. "Daddy...am I a pet?"

Luke smiled at the naive question. "Of course not, Fluttershy." He began to stroke her silky mane. "You're my baby girl; and you always will be."

Comments

[Cold Spike]

Damn touchy subject. Anyway keep going please MOAR

[way2dawn]

honestly, i'm kind of surprised that the farmer,Mr. Schmidt, didn't react any differently to Fluttershy, than her parents would have. Or anyone at the zoo reacted at all for that matter...

[Twilight--Paladin]

The farmers who owned it, Mr. Schmidt and wife, kept an entire horse ranch where they agreed to sell some of their hay at a cheap price.

Is that a Five Nights at Freddy's reference?

[Heartstrings1]

Some error

Fluttershy peered up at the stranger. "Um...hello." She squeaked."

The quote at the end

Rosie simply respondd with a sputter of her lips and a flick of her black tail. She didn't know what to make of this strange talking yellow foal with wings.

Responded

"She was about to be stepped on, Haley. I couldn't just stand there and watch."

Fluttershy
My heart it's too much adorabities