Who knew a walk in the park could change someone's life so much?
A normal life can turn into quite the interesting one when a small orange filly from a show you never heard about till now shows up lost in your world.
Who knew trying to raise a filly could be so hard, yet so rewarding?
“Christ, it’s getting cold out!” I thought myself as I stepped out of my apartment complex into cool, crisp autumn air. I’ve recently taken to going on walks while to de-stress from the day and to stay healthy. I also just love fall weather, or as I like to call it, sweater weather. Nothing beats being hugged by a warm, comfortable sweater and drinking hot tea on a cold day.
My life was pretty normal. I worked on 9-4 job (normally it would be 9-5, but I eat at my desk and work so I can leave sooner), lived in a normal apartment in normal part of the city. That being said, like everyone else I had my own issues, I use to suffer from depression and anxiety, but I’ve been able to healthily manage both. I did most things alone, but that’s not say I did have a few friends, or at least acquaintances that I talked to once in a while, but other than life was pretty boring. I filled the gaps with either playing video games, watching old shows, or planning out how I would eventually get my pilot’s license some day. It’s always been a dream of mind to fly, but the cost of classes was to high. I’ve been trying to save up for it, but other life events have gotten in the way, especially financially.
My normal walking route started off at the small city park next to my apartment. Then I usually take a footbridge to cross the river that splits the city and walk through downtown. From there I usually try to mix it. I’ll sometimes walk to other parks in the city, through the university’s campus, or if it’s a nice day out I’ll grab my bike and bike to the outskirts of the city. It wouldn’t take too long to bike to outskirts of the city if I did as it’s a smaller city with a population of about 70,000.
I mentioned the city had a university, I graduated from it about three years ago. It is nice to walk through it and see how it’s changed and to bring back memories, albeit some of them are not the best. This is where my path led me today. Of course, like almost any university, there was a lot of construction going on. I’m pretty sure in the four years I was attended the university not a year went by without some kind of construction happening.
It was getting a bit late by the time I made through the campus so I decided to head back to my place. I could definitely feel it getting colder as the sun was going down, so I pulled my jacket and scarf a little tighter in.
After about twenty minutes I finally crossed the footbridge and while I was walking through the park, which was surprisingly empty, I noticed a small dog-like animal in the distance walking with its head down.
“The thing must be freezing.” I thought myself
As I walked through the park to get my apartment building, I was slowly brought closer to the animal. I noticed that small dog had what looked like to be a surprisingly large tail for an animal it’s size, although it was hard to make out much of anything besides that and a bit of a silhouette due to the park lamps not turning on yet.
Suddenly, the animal looked up at me and ran off through some tall grass and flowers towards the direction of the river. Thinking it was a lost dog, I started to do a bit of walk-jog in the direction it went because I was worried it would fall into the river. I noticed something peculiar as it ran off though. The sound it made when it’s feet hit the sidewalk didn’t sound like a dog running at all. It was almost horse-like. The thought crossed my mind only briefly as I was more focused on making sure the it didn’t fall in the river.
I waded through the small patch of foliage and I didn’t see any sign of it on the other side so I began to think the worst. I started walking towards the river, which was thankfully moving at pretty slow pace, when I noticed a fairly sizable pile of leaves. It wasn’t surprising to see the pile of leaves as the city tries to keep the parks fairly clean, but I noticed about a finger’s length of hair sticking out.
“The dog’s tail!” I thought, assuming the dog maybe hid in the pile of leaves.
I began to move towards it when I noticed some that didn’t make any sense at first.
“What animal has a purple tail?” I said quizzically and out loud.
I was starting to think that someone probably abused this poor dog and spray painted it’s tail or something. I began to dig the dog out by moving handfuls of leaves to the ground behind me when I finally noticed something that left me speechless and somewhat nervous and afraid.
There, laying in the pile, shivering and making the quietest of whimpers, was a tiny orange pony. I was so confused as to what I seeing that I wasn’t sure what to say or think. The best way I could describe it was a young, almost baby, pony that was the size of an adult French Bulldog with an orange-ish colored coat and a purple mane and tail with small little wings on it’s back. The pony’s coat and hair were matted down and dirty, and there were definitely cuts and scapes all over it.
Even though this creature was such a foreign and almost fictional looking thing, it looked so sad and hurt and it reminded me so much of a lost puppy that I just had an urge to help it. It didn’t look like it was an aggressive animal so I bent down to grabbed it. It started to squirm and kick as I placed both hands around it’s tiny body. It also began to rapidly flap it’s small wings as if to fly away but it didn’t amount to much due to the size of the wings and probably how full grime and dirt they were.
While trying to hold the small pony in one arm, which proved to be quite the ordeal, I began to remember how cold it was. I unbuttoned by jacket and pulled the arm not holding the pony out of its sleeve. I then transferred the squirming pony to the hand that I just took out of the jacket and then took the coat of by pulling my now free hand through the final sleeve. I then took my jacket wrapped the pony with it as best I could. My thought process being that this would warm it up and also make it easier to carry back to my apartment which was only a block away.
Thankfully, I completely hid the small pony in my jacket because the few people I saw outside gave me strange looks as I ran back to my apartment building with my jacket cradled in my hands and not actually wearing it.
Once I got in the building I quickly ran up the stairs to get to the third floor. Unfortunately, I tripped while on the last set and fell face first onto the last bit of stairs. I heard small, muffled yelp come from inside my jacket and I felt small drop of guilt in my stomach. Finally I got to my apartment. I fumbled with my keys trying to get the door open as I was trying to hold the jacket between with one arm and the pony began to start squirming a lot and making a lot of sound. I began to fear that my neighbors would hear the commotion but finally I got the door open.
As I closed the door behind me, I set the jacket, which was still moving, on the ground and turned around to lock my door. As I turned the key to the lock the door, I heard behind me hooves on wood flooring. I turned around in time just to see the small pony worm its way out of my jacket and run off into the apartment. As it turned to go into what was my bedroom, the small pony lost its grip on the wood floor and fell on its side with a loud, high-pitched yelp. It quickly got back up and ran into the bedroom.
I only assumed that it found the void that is the underside of my bed. The pony was definitely small enough to fit under the one foot gap between the floor and frame of my bed.
As I walked into my bedroom I turned on the light and closed the door behind me. Thankfully the only things that were underneath my bed were boxes and any socks that went MIA. As I looked under the bed, I could make out a pair of eyes with purple irises. Scared eyes. I could see the thing shaking, almost violently, as it looked at me.
“It’s okay, you can come here.” I said in my softest voice as I patted my hand on the floor. The tiny pony flinched each time open palm hit the floor and I instantly felt bad because of it. She was scared out of its mind. I decided to change approaches and just leave the pony alone for the night until it calmed down.
I decided the next step would be to figure out what the hell that thing was. I opened up my laptop and searched the first things I could think of.
“Miniature. Orange. Horse.”
Nothing came up that really matched the thing in my bedroom.
“Small. Orange. Pony. Purple. Mane.”
While there was a bunch of images that didn’t really help there was one that fit bill perfectly.
“My Little Pony? What the hell?”
An image that looked exactly like her, except cartoonish and 2D, led to me a fan-made wiki for the show My Little Pony. I knew of the fandom a little bit, but not much. This couldn’t be right. How could something from a cartoon show be real and hiding underneath my bed right now.
“Scootaloo is a female school-age Pegasus pony…”
I continued to read…
Suddenly, my mind snapped back to the fact that the little pony was still underneath my bed and in rough shape. She was too scared to possibly come out, so I thought it would be best to just leave her a blanket, food, and water for the night.
I really wasn’t sure what to feed her. A quick online search showed that horses eat mainly hay, oats, barley, etc. But the ponies in My Little Pony ate just about any kind of fruit or vegetable. I decided to meet in the middle and I diced up some apples. Apple slices would have probably been to big for her tiny mouth. I grabbed a blanket, a bowl of water, and the plate of diced apples and set them inside the bedroom and closed the door. I left light on so she could see, but I dimmed it so it wouldn’t be too bright. I would just sleep on my couch tonight. I could check on her tomorrow and try clean her and bandage her up.
I decided to continue my research into this My Little Pony show. Next thing I know I’m falling asleep on my couch while binge watching the first season. The last thing I remember before falling asleep is some episode about a land dispute between some cowboy-looking ponies and some buffalo.
“What the hell is making the noise?” I thought to myself as I lay on my couch, eyes shut tight wanting to go back to sleep. The noise wouldn’t stop and it was accompanied by this strange buzzing.
In a groggy motion and I sat up and opened up my eyes to see my phone laying on the floor telling me that’s time to wake up. I really hate that stupid xylophone ringtone, but it does the job. I remember having a weird dream last night about these technicolored ponies and a show called My Little Pony. I didn’t really remember much of it apart from some ponies dressed in western garb and a pink one singing a weird song.
I saw my laptop was on the ground and I picked it up and tapped the space bar to wake it up unceremoniously just like my phone did to me.
I realized why I had that dream. I must have fell asleep watching the show. Remembering that there was a little orange filly sleeping in my bedroom, who was probably still scared, I decided to make a game-plan for the day. The first thing that I needed to was to get her to trust me. Easier said than done. It can take weeks for a shy, scared dog to trust someone. I didn’t expect this to be much different. But, I had the ultimate incentive, treats! In this case, sugar cubes. Thankfully I’m a huge fan of tea and coffee so I had an abundant supply of them and they are just the right size for her. It might not be the best to feed something so sweet to something so young but it’s my best shot at getting to her come out from under the bed and to begin trusting me. After I tackle that enormous task, the next thing to do is to give her a bath. Which, after thinking about it for awhile, will probably be even harder.
I went to my kitchen which and searched the cabinet that had all my teas and coffee supplies for the sugar cubes. Thankfully, I still had about a large mason jar full of them. I grabbed the jar and and silently walked to my bedroom door. I slowly and quietly opened my bedroom door slowing myself down whenever the door creaked. I saw that my room was flooded with sunlight from the window. No filly in sight though, but both the water and food were gone, as was the blanket. Then I saw it. About halfway between the bed and where I initially placed everything was a small orange filly enveloped in a small and fuzzy blue blanket. It slowly raised and lowered with each breath she took as she slept. The only thing visible was a part of tail sticking out.
I closed the door behind me and slowly got down to my knees. The door closing must have been enough to wake her. She began stirring underneath the the blankets, slowly getting herself more and more tangled up as she began to move around more. Eventually I could tell that she was beginning to panic as her movements became more rapid and I could hear small, scared whimpers. I set the jar down and slowly reached out and grabbed the tangled mess of filly and blankets. The moment I lightly touched the bundle she stopped flailing about but began to slightly shake in fear. I gently began to untangle the blanket from around here, being careful not to make any sudden movements. Finally, I picked up one part of the blanket that she was under and slowly lifted it up to reveal the same orange filly I saw last night looking up at me with large eyes and a scared look on her face.
I flipped the part of the blanket back behind her and slowly moved my hand to grab the jar. I could see her watching me intently, picking up one hoof of the ground slightly in anticipation to what I might be doing. I grabbed the jar full of sugar cubes and grabbed about three of them in my other hand. I slowly extended my hand towards her with the sugar cubes in them, but as I did so she started shift herself away from me. I decided that I was moving a little to quick, so I instead put one of the cubes on the floor between us.
I could tell she was scared yet curious as to what the object that I just placed was. She slowly inched forward, one tiny hoof in front of the other and her ears flattened. When she got to the sugar cube, she leaned forward and gave it a quick sniff. She then gave it the tiniest of licks and suddenly her hears perked up. Finally realizing what I gave her, she quickly devoured it. She then looked up at me with that look in her eyes. That look asking for more. What else could I do but oblige her.
I then placed another sugar cube on the ground, but this time closer to me. This time, instead of cautiously inching towards it, she quickly jumped at it and picked it up in her mouth. Finally, I extended my hand out with the last of the three sugar cubes. She began to quickly move towards but suddenly stopped and looked up at me with that scared look in her eyes.
“It’s okay.” I said trying to sound as gentle as possible. I moved the my hand ever so slightly forward. After a few long seconds looking at me, she finally moved towards my hand and grabbed the sugar cube with her mouth. I attempted to pet her while she was enjoying the sugar cube. She seemed somewhat hesitant to let me pet her, but the chance and getting more sugar cubes won her over. I began to slowly pet her down her mane, and while doing so I grabbed a few more sugar cubes and fed her those just in case. It was also really damn cute to watch and I could see her begin to smile and she ate the sugar cubes, enjoying every little bit of them.
While I was petting her, I could definitely tell how dirty she was. Her coat was matted down and there was definitely a bit of smell to it. She needed a bath, and if she was like any other animal, she probably wouldn’t enjoy her first one. But, it had to be done.
After about fifteen minutes of petting her and feeding her a few more sugar cubes, I lifted her up slightly and set her back down on the blanket. Surprisingly, there wasn’t too much of an objection. The sugar cubes did their job wonderfully. I just need to make sure I don’t feed her too many. I then picked her while she was in her blanket and took her into the bathroom that was connected to my bedroom. She was small enough that I could give her a little bath in the bathroom sink. I didn’t want to try the bathtub as I feared that would have been a little too much seeing as what she is already gone through.
I sat her down on the the bathroom counter, which was large enough for her to sit and have plenty of room for everything else. As I was I moving about the bathroom getting everything I noticed that she was watching everything I was doing with intent curiosity.
Once I had everything I sat them down next to her and turned the water in the sink on with the drained closed. As I did this, she moved over to the sink and watched as it began to flood with water. Once the water got about two-thirds to the top of the sink she bent her head to take a drink and quickly brought it back up and shuffle backwards. I quickly wrapped my arm behind her so she wouldn’t fall and began to pet to her calm her down. I then stuck one finger into the water and withdrew it quickly. The water was probably a tad bit warm. I opened up the drain and turned on the cold tap to try and cool the water down but keep it at the same level in the sink. After about thirty seconds it seemed a lot more lukewarm than hot.
I picked up Scootaloo and began to slowly lower her into the water in the sink. She began to squirm a bit as she got closer, probably still thinking that the water was hot. Once her legs were partially submerged she stopped moving and I could tell that she was beginning to like the warm water. Once she was sitting in the sink, the water came up to about upper chest.
I could definitely tell that she was enjoying as she sat in the sink with eyes closed, giving a quite little sigh, and smiling. Which made me feel so bad for what I was about to do, but it was for the greater good. I went into the kitchen to grab a clean glass. When I came back she was still sitting in the sink and looking at my somewhat quizzically. I dumped the glass in the sink to slightly fill and put my hand over her eyes to force them to close and dumped the water on her. She wasn’t a fan. She began to move and splash in the sink which in turn caused me to get a bit soaked. I did this a few more times and the grabbed the soap bottle. She already wasn’t too happy and this was going to be a battle.
I put a dollop of soap on on one hand, rubbed both hands together, and began to massage the filly, making sure to get the soap over as much as her body as I could because my god she was filthy. She tried to squirm, whimper, and wriggle her way out.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.” I said in my gentlest voice as I tried to stroke her mane to calm her down. It didn’t work too well. She eventually became a little hard to hold onto due to all the soap and water. As she wormed her way out of my arms she started to slip on the countertop. I quickly grabbed her and sat her back in the sink.
“Don’t worry, we’re just about done.” I said to her. I don’t know why I was talking to her. She probably couldn’t understand me. I started to wonder if she would begin talking like the ponies on the show. I’m not quite sure how I would feel about that, but I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there.
I rinsed her off a few more times and then opened up the drain. Scootaloo tapped her hoof at the drain and tilted her head a bit curious as to how the water disappeared. While she investigated that, I grabbed a towel and picked her up with it. I set her back on the countertop still wrapped in the towel and began to dry her. She protested slightly at being jostled around but eventually gave up.
After she was mostly as dry as I could get her, I hung the towel on top the shower curtain rod to dry. When I looked up at Scootaloo, she was was checkering herself out, obviously enjoying this new sensation of being clean. I noticed that some of her feathers on her small wings were a little out of place. I knew the basics of preening from watching documentaries, so I assumed it was the same. I went to begin the process of aligning some of the feathers but I was met with some wing flapping as protest. This could be done another time though, it’s not like she would be flying anytime soon, hopefully.
“I guess it’s time to let you explore more than just underneath my bed.” I said as I picked her up in my arms and proceeded to take her out to my living out room.
