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Fluttershy was a yellowed coated pegasus with a long pink mane, she was tending to Harry the bear. He had eaten some new berries he had discovered while exploring the Everfree forest. The brown bear lied sprawled out on his back in the yellow mares home while he moaned and flailed his feet and paws uselessly in the air. With a gentle touch she rubbed his soft underbelly knowing it would do little good for the pain but would relax the uncomfortable thing enough for him to fall asleep, thus giving her time needed to actually make a cure. Once Harry was fast asleep she gathered up her empty saddle bags and instructed angel to keep any other animals that might stop by to stay out and be quite while Harry slept, she knew he was a good bear at heart but with a bad tummy ache she decided to not take any chances. The white rabbit stood upright and nodded vigorously before brandishing a salute, She nodded once and smiled as she trotted out the door, angel bunny bounced to the door frame and waved goodbye.
It was mid day as Fluttershy walked through everyfree in search of the mystery berries the bear had eaten, she needed to find them to make a cure. The timid pegasus paused and looked up into the canopy of the forest, from what patches where open she saw clouds floating by unheeded by ponies aid. Normally the everfree was a dangerous place filled with ancient creatures and ponyknows what else; mist clung to the air at all times, and tree tops were so think it cast a perpetual ever lasting night. yet, today felt different. The route she was on was one she traveled many times and thus knew by heart, it was still a couple minutes before she made her way to where Harry had found a new path and explored it. Luckily Fluttershy had gotten the location before he had nodded off. Now only feet from her target she began to fully soak in her surrounding, something was definitely off. The normally foreboding sense was simply not there, the sky was not dark, and stranger yet was how easy she felt. Never once not even with her friends beside her had she ever felt safe in the Everfree forest. It was a strange feeling to say the lest, nevertheless Harry was in need and this just made traveling easier.
As she stood in front of the path her animal friend had made with its large girth. She noticed all the broken leaves, crushed flowers, and snapped twigs littering her way into the unknown route. As fluttershy daintily strode deeper into the path, the tall tail signs of the forest she knew gingerly began to evoke their presence. All around her the flora grew thicker and showed more rich and darker colors as she walked, the very air itself twisting around her with new smells that flowed oddly. The yellow mares wings tightened so close to her abdomen it grew uncomfortable yet she dared not unfold them, panic was settling into her body and her mind was next. She tried to think of better places, happier places, good memory's she held dear when ever she felt in danger. Time past in rapid heart beats as worry and fret tighten its hold on her, unseen hands brushed against her coat tickling and irritating each hair on her back as it made its way up to her throat. Without thought Fluttershy's eyes burst open and her lungs bellowed out a glass breaking shriek, her hooves pounded the dirt her mane flapping wildly behind her. With no direction to go having already past the last signs of the trail Harry left she just ran and fled, too panic stricken to check behind her. Some time later exhaustion finally brought her down in a heap of sweat and panting, too out of breath to even hide she lied there trying to hear her surrounding only to have the world echo back nothing but her own heavy breathing and still rushed heart rate.
Slowly her breathing and heart rate eased to normal and she could hear the noses of the forest, again her mood shifted to unsettled as the forest changed to peaceful and content. (oh...I'd wish it would make up its mind) Fluttershy thought to herself while standing upright once more. This time when she looked about the sight near took her breath away, mouth agape and eyes widen she took in every detail like it would disappear the moment she blinked. Everything was shining under Celestia's sun in a way so unfamiliar it reminded her of the first time she ever saw the beauty of the ground. Every blade of grass was bright green and so healthy it made her mouth water. The flowers were in full bloom displaying each peddle in a burst of radiant color. The tree's as well had changed stretching so high the tops were nearly out of sight. "This couldn't be the same forest, could it?" a hoof resting gently under her chin as to complete the thought with action. A foreign voice carried by the wind made fluttershy's ear twitch, the sound was distant and unrecognizable. Having been relaxed by the calm woods she moved foreword to the voice which seemed to be speaking in rhythm. Once close enough, she soften her steps as to not alert the creature to her presence. Passing around a few trees and then hiding under some thick brush she finally saw fully what her mind could have never imagined. There before her was a monster like nothing she had ever seen before, it stood as tall as Celestia but with little fangs and sharp front teeth. It paid no heed to fluttershy's presence as it continued its odd display, it sung out bold and bitter sweet words the young pegasus could not understand. It danced to and fro in the opening it was in, the area was surrounded by trees yet this little patch was nothing but grass with the warm sun beaming through the tree tops. Fluttershy looked on in awe thinking of how important this scene was, not only did she discover a new species never before recorded in equestrian history but it was actually singing and dancing to boot.
As she listen further her bright smile faded into a slight frown, It song was sad. small tears flowed from its eyes as it sang, its arms swung in broad dramatic motions reminding her of her friend rarity for some reason. Slowly its voice faded to nothing and it fell to ground rolling to then lie on its back, the mares brow arched at this (Was it asleep?) her inner voice asked. From where she hid it looked peaceful, no moment, this worried her. Feeling that ever powerful urge she always had to help those animals in need, without meaning to she found herself already walking towards it. Truly this thing was strange; upon seeing its face she noted its nose was small as well as its eyes and ears, only its mouth looked natural. It had a short black curly mane and wore a long sleeved orange jacket with white and black designs she didn't recognize. It had comoufluge print shorts on, she knew this from a book twilight had been reading once while researching past military fashions for rarity. That was a weird day. Instead of hooves it had something closer to a dragons claw except smaller nails, and its feet were covered in think solid looking white cloth. With her curiosity fulfilled, her attention once again fell onto the creatures face.
Its tears had nearly stopped, only a single drop broke free and rolled down its cheek. It didn't matter how scary or weird it looked, it was alone and troubled and fluttershy would do anything to help. She leaned her head down close enough to hear its breathing and smell its breath, ever so tenderly she gave his cheek a lick. The salty taste wrinkled her nose in unpleasant flavor fallowed by a heavy glump as the saliva in her mouth overflowed from its attacked taste buds. Looking down the creature hadn't moved, this displeased fluttershy to no end. Sadly it meant having to lick it again, steeling her nerves she leaned her head once more and licked at its cheek a second time. Again she reeled back in muck disgust from its salty flavor, most pony's enjoyed the occasional salt lick but she stuck to more natural foods. Opening her eyes again the monster rose up to tower before her, this did not detour her as she simply gave it a warm smile and started to talk to it like it was any other pony "waw, your really tall. i-if you don't mind me saying...what are you doing out here? Are you lost? is that why you were crying?" she ask question after question and commented on every thing that sprung into her head. Bladen (the human monster) just stood there dumbstruck while this bizarre lil thing squeaked and cooed at him. It had been too long of a day at this point, not only had he no food, not only was he lost, not only was his only source of entertainment his MP3 player dead, now of all things his mind decided now was about as good a time as any to fly the coop leaving him alone with nothing but insanity to care for him. Ignoring the noses his imagination was trying to consul himself with he instead just rested his face in his palm and sigh, "uhh...I hate mondays...".
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Well it all started about a month ago when I got accepted for a job at my local grocery store. My folks been nagging me since forever to do something productive, I tried explaining to them the finer points of living life carefree doing what you love but when what you love happens to be nothing the argument gets a tad dicey. Anyway, a few phone calls later and I'm employed bagging grocery's, I wanted to work bakery cus if there's anything I love more then nothing its fresh baked goods...mmm random assortment of baked goods... Day one was kinda suck though. I have allergies and kinda have a social complex as in shyness. Basically I did most of my job never looking at anyone and never talking, I still got paid so what do I care if I don't make any friends? Turns out not much. Until of course, I saw her. My first middle school crush was lead-co manager or so it was called. Truth be told I never really thought about her since we graduated, and...well lets say there's other non disclosed reasons. But man did she still look good with her red streaked bit of hair falling over her eye just slightly, her hair was black with that red streak for those wondering. Punk rock if I recall, it was so in back in late 20th century.
I really couldn't believe my luck that I'd see her after these many years. I guess with her being a whole three years older and only being co-lead manager, that spoke ill of her acamplishments since back then. Not that I minded mind you, nope all it took was a single glance at her and she was still that perfect popular smoking hot angel I knew. About my third week in she still never noticed my presence, that or didn't care to look. The friends of the family that got me this job seemed on pretty good terms with her but I didn't want to interact with them only her. My chance came when I heard most of the staff was going camping that weekend in the near by forest, that would be my big chance to finally introduce myself to her. It was in the lunch room when I overheard them discussing it. After my love departed the conversation I walked over and asked if they had room for one more. "Sure you can join us, you ever been hiking before though?" Jason the nice guy of their group blurted out before he was elbowed in the side by Alice. "hey now, we been planing this trip for awhile now and you can't just walk up and suddenly think your in just by asking all nice like" she said her voice clear with her intent of kicking me to the curve as fast and hard as she could. Jason's okay' was enough to keep my thoughts dead set on joining this little escapade and not of how to best excuse myself, still their was the lil problem of my actually never having been in the gosh danged wilderness before now but hey that's what Google for right? Alice was already putting her foot down on the subject and me saying I had no idea wasn't going to win me any favors, so instead of going and digging an unclimbable hole of lies upon lies, I put my late night crime drama T.V. show watching skill to work and flipped the script on this situation. "Why can I not go"? I said plainly enough. "I don't know you, and don't want to either", she said while folding her arms and looking away, classic bitch move.
This was a tricky move to counter seeing the limited options in front of me: I could rely on Jason to help me out saying we men needed to stick together being we would be the only guys there but I didn't really know the guy and why would he stick up for me anyway, I could try to appeal to her friendly nature however that would leave me looking pathetic should she refuse which I knew she would, any other excuse I thought up would just get me in more trouble. She had me beat and I knew it, my head turned to slump away in utter defeat when fate intervened, "hmm" spoke the third and last member of their trio. "So you want to tag along huh?" said Brittney her face in her hands with her elbows on the table looking board. Alice turned to her friend with an expression of `what the hell are you doing` written all over her face. She lifted her chin enough to wave off her friends unspoken spite and return to her earlier position, "tell you what, you just make sure to keep acting all nice like and you can hang with us, deal?" Deal!? Of course it is! Just act neighborly? I was to choked up to even recognize Alice's grin as I was already nodding my approval. "Great, I already know your number so I'll call you tonight with all the information", Brittney's words were already fading from my thoughts as I walked away and began my plans of attack for the trip, by this excursions end Abby would be mine!
Never let it be said I wasn't a nice guy, from the second I got Brittney's call last night I knew I was in trouble. Apparently nice translates to pack mule or free labor to the lords I was subscribed to, Not a finger did they left as I loaded their luggage and drove them from stop to stop. I was given the run down up straight by the girls. Anything they so desired or any labor that was to be done was my official job to do. It was a challenge trying to act as nice for them as mean towards Jason and Abby less my actions raise suspicion. That was one blessing I was thankful for, no one had any idea why I had wanted to join their trip. They were just happy to exploit my kind nature. Never before did I see Alice in such jubilation as I did obeying her commands. We never got along more so then anyone else I worked with but she did use her big sister position to task me with her annoying odd jobs, the ones she would have done if I hadn't been so nice about not making waves. That little symbiosis ended rather poorly when she had pre-planned a concert viewing by perching exspensive tickets she had been saving up for, solely hinging on the fact she could yell me into doing her late night shift. The whole thing really was my fault. Par usual I said yes to doing her job for her knowing that I couldn't that particular night. That night was held an online gaming tournament between the team I was on and are rivals, we had lost to them last go round because I was called away for a few minutes for family business in a tie breaking third round. Their was no way in hell I was going to miss it, and if that meant a little white lie that would see we both had good nights and she got some come-up-ins for not doing her job well the choice was easy.
Needless to say when the higher ups found out she was skipping work because she was making me do it they took harsh actions, like pay cuts and supervised work hours. Why all the halabalu? The higher ups were all friends of the family if you recall, and when she let slip that I was suppose be doing it for her the truth was reviled in all its glory. Now, Brittney was Alice's friend and stuck by her girl so I couldn't fault her much. Jason was understanding and took up for me seeing how she shouldn't have asked of me so much, and my sweet heart Abby just shrugged it off as work drama. The whole car ride over to the camping grounds parking lot gave me plenty of time to think about my relationship to these people and what actions I would need to take to get some alone time with my love. We had already unpacked the van, and by we I mean Jason and me. The two ladies of ill content were trying to convince him to let me handle it but my boy jay was just to damned nice to let me suffer alone, Abby just took it as us men being noble knights or she thought we didn't think they could handle it. Not sure yet, she has an aloof nature I find most irresistible if not unreadable. The site we were going to was a total tourist trap. We had already passed three diffident kinds of food vendors trying to sell us hot dogs, burgers, and tacos respectfully when we started passing the posted signs of safety and information. Thanks to my Googling last night I had enough information about the land to at lest sound convincing if anyone asked me about it, add to that my strange love of out doorsy survival shows and I could hike Mt Everest if I so pleased.
We found a good site closest to the forest edge were we could at lest pretend we weren't in spitting distance of all the other novice explorers, I mean we were suppose to camp in the wilds and survive by instinct right? That's what I was hopping for anyway. A cold night with just me and Abby left awake staring at the fire, getting closer and closer together for warmth. My idle thoughts slapped a grin so big on my face I had to go run around in the woods to keep anyone from seeing. Though it seemed my childlike joy and prancing was still noted and laughed at while I was close enough to hear but far away enough for them to sodu whisper it. The rest of the day was what I expected it to be, sure we all had fun grilling and listening to songs on Jays boombox, but I never got to spend time with Abby the way I wanted too. I should be grateful Alice and Brittney put more effort into Jays attention then tormenting me, but it was a three day weekend and once the rush of everything wore down they still had two days left of my servitude to play with. Meh! The night was upon now and I had the stars to graze at. Candy bars and gram crackers at the ready our marshmallows goowed to perfection, yeah...this was totally worth it. "Bladen!" Expletive!. "Bladen I know you can hear me through your head phones!" yes, I can hear you, but you don't need to know that Alice. We were a small group so our camp area was small, the fire pit only had three short logs to sit on. Alice and Jayson were on one, Brittney had one to herself because I don't know, and enough though I could have just waited or something I wanted fresh camp cooked sweet treats so bad I set up first which meant between me and Brittney Abby chose me. Ahh is this what a cloud feel like? I wanted to ignore her longer but my love gave me a lil nudge I already knew meant "answer her for all our sake's" so I move the right ear bud out and looked at my master. "Sorry to bother you but we need more fire wood, I want this blazing all night long." I looked around and noticed there wasn't a twig to be found any where near us which meant, "you want me to go into the woods for dry timber?!" My voice a bit more panicked then I wanted to let on. It had rained the day before so most of the wood would be wet and not catch, if I didn't bring back the right stuff I'd spend all night searching. Truth be told I really didn't want to leave because I knew if I did they'd eat all the smorse and leave me non, plus Abby would have moved by then too. Still no one would get any peace till I did so, "fine, save me some snacks would yah Jay?" I said while getting up to leave. Mouth to full to speak he waved me off as I disappeared behind the tree line ear bud back in place.
