Fluttershy and the Wild Stallion
Part 2: Reaching Roseluck's Roseary

Roseluck was an off-white mare, with a streaked red and pleasant-pink mane. The rose on her rump spoke of her vocation as a gardener of flowers, and she was proud of it. Humming happily to herself, she watered her babies with a watering can clenched in her teeth. Ah, what a beautiful day for rose-raising. She swung her head back and forth, making sure all of her precious plants got the love and attention they deserved. After all, she was the premiere rose-selling pony in Ponyville. She grew other things, yes, but the main thing was roses. Roses meant love, roses meant passion… roses also meant a good snack, now and then. Daisy sandwiches did get old, after all.

The lightly-colored mare was delighted to see she had her first customer waiting before she’d even opened the shop-front of her little home. Her house was IN the Ponyville market, so she just used her front yard as a sales area. “Morning stranger!” she had set the watering can down to speak in her usual pep. A stallion had emerged from the end of the street, and had wandered onto her front yard. He was looking around as though dumbfounded and overwhelmed, mouth agape and eyes wide. Brown in fur and dark green in mane he… didn’t have a cutie mark. Oh, the poor thing… a late bloomer. Those still happened, you know. Sad. He suddenly spotted her and cocked his head, wandering over and getting a good look at her like she was the most interesting thing in the world. “Oh uh, haha, hi there!” Roseluck leaned back a little, wary of her personal space.

Mossy stared at her, a little open-mouthed. Why, it was another creature like him! He leaned to one side. She didn’t have wings like the first did. She was shaped like him, just smaller. He nickered a little, tossing his mane and offering his best friendly smile. If he’d stumbled onto a herd (instinct told him the word, herd), it was best to make friends as soon as possible. “Pb-b-b-t.” he said, shuffling his lips about with a puff of air through his lips.

“Can I help you? Did you want to buy some roses?” Roseluck smiled a little. She’d never seen the stallion before, he must’ve been new in town. There was silence between them and he kept staring at her. “Hullo?” she asked, tilting her head with a troubled frown.

Mossy tilted his head at her, mimicking her body language until the bed of roses nearby caught his interest. Ooohhh, he’d never seen flowers like that before. He wandered up to them with interest, eyes wide. He wondered what they tasted like. Leaning, he nibble-nibbled at one.

“Hey hey hey! No free samples!” Roseluck grabbed his withers and hauled him back. Mossy spooked, backing up and whinnying as he was mare-handled back. “Well don’t try to steal something that’s not yours!” the mare growled at him. Her angry face sent him back a step or two. Those must’ve been her flowers, he decided. He sank to his belly, a submissive position, wilting his ears at her. Roseluck just didn’t know what to make of the mute stallion. Was he being silly? Trying to see how long he could go without talking? “Are you mute?” she asked him with a frown. “I mean it’s okay if you are, but you can’t eat flowers that aren’t yours to eat.” Roseluck turned around to address her babies. “It’s okay, I won’t let that big hungry stallion eat-choo… without paying first.” She added with a giggle. She touseled the nearest rosebush, smiling.

Mossy stared at her rump. There were flowers on it. She had flowers nearby and flowers on her. He wondered if he could get just one, just to taste it. They were such bright reds and pinks and whites. He just wanted one. But, she’d not let him get any from the bushes in front of him. Hmmm. Her back was turned, and she did have two right there on her flank. Maybe he could sneak one of those… “H’omph.” He said, leaning forward.

“ERK!?” Roseluck’s eyes bulged out of her head and her pupils shrank into dots. She whipped around to see the strange stallion had grabbed her cutie mark in his lips and was slobbering on her! His ears perked when he saw her see him. He smiled innocently. “Get off me you pervert!” she shrieked, red-faced and bucking wildly. The stallion’s mouth hung on to her rose cutie mark and he whinnied back and forth. He just wanted a flower! Just one! Finally she caught him in the face and he yapped in pain, backing off. “I’ll give you such a THRASHING!” the assaulted mare rushed forward with her watering can and beaned him over the head with it. The brown stallion cried out, turning tail to run. She followed him across the yard and all the way a little past her fence, beating him. Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! “Get lost! Get outta here!” Roseluck shouted angrily, waving it at him. “And don’t you come back!” she turned, bearing her flank to one side. “Eww, he slimed me!” she cried, rushing to find the watering hose and get the stallion slobber off of her. “What a freak!”

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Fluttershy arrived home in a fluster, shutting the door less than gently behind herself. Going quickly to her kitchen table, she put her saddlebag on it and opened it up. “Oh no.” she sighed, wilting pathetically. “All my herbs.” The river had not been kind to the herbs inside her bag. She would have to wash it all out, and she had nothing to show for her long trip. Not even the Mare’s Blush.

That and, oddly enough, a good portion of the herbs looked like they’d been chewed on by something. Big chunks of a little bit of everything was missing. Why, if a pony had eaten all of that, they would’ve been sick as a dog for days! She hoped no poor little woodland creature had gorged itself while she was unconscious, it would spell disaster for them (or death!). It was particularly worrisome that the baggy with the Deathcap mushroom in it was ripped and a chunk of it was missing as well.
The butter yellow Pegasus leaned on her elbow, moaning at the wasted time and effort of her herbing run. “Now I’ll never have the money for that deer feed, or the bird houses… or the new quilt.” Her eyes went soft and she gave a little whimpering sound. She would not cry. She woul… she woul…. She would. She began to cry aloud. She’d needed that money, and she’d worked so hard for all the herbs and vines she’d gotten! What did she have to show for it? A messed up saddlebag, a need for a long shower, and the trauma of a strange pooping stallion fresh in her memory.

Fluttershy sat there with her head on the table, whimpering loudly as the tears flowed. Woe was her. Money was tight as it was, for a mare with so many animals. She’d had such a productive morning too. She’d found mint leaves, a Deathcap, plenty of herbal mosses, the Ghost Mushroom, so much that she could’ve… wait. The butter-colored mare sat up suddenly. She’d found the Ghost Mushroom, but she hadn’t picked it. She’d only marked the spot. Her face suddenly lit up. “If I could get back to it before anypony found it, I could still sell that!” Ghost Mushrooms were a very rare thing indeed, it could be worth a few bits to the right pony. Smiling grandly that the morning was not a complete loss, she trotted for the door right away.

Opening her wings, she sailed skyward and to the edge of the Everfree forest. Peering around for her little marker and starting from the bridge where she’d fallen into the river, she retraced her steps. Wandering about for awhile, she finally found it. The Ghost Mushroom glittered like icicles in the new morning light, a silvery thing that could come apart at the touch if she wasn’t careful. Looking about, Fluttershy got a large leaf to put it on so she didn’t touch it too much. Holding her breath, the mare very… very… carefullyyyyy…. Pulled it from the earth. She turned it on its side, feeling the crystalline structure start to give, and placed it down. Whew! It was like surgery, so delicate was it. This would have to go straight to Zecora, as soon as she could get it to her. Until then, she could keep it in her icebox. Not daring to fly, Fluttershy took the leaf into her mouth and used it to carry the Ghost Mushroom like it was on a little tray. Puffing herself up and feeling proud of herself, she turned to head back home on hoof—

Mossy Mane slammed right into her, having been running and bucking wildly to get away from the shouting flower mare. Their connecting faces smashed the Ghost Mushroom, and the two of them tumbled over each other to the ground. The stallion’s eyes were in swirls and he lay there on his back, stunned.

“Oh no, my mushroom!” Fluttershy squeaked, looking at the mooshed remains of the delicate plant. “Oh my!” she turned skittish when she saw it was the stallion from earlier. “It’s you again! Uhm… h… hullo.” She hunched a little, like he might glare her into submission for their collision.

Mossy’s hooves bicycled through the air for a few moments before he righted himself. The shouting mare, the running, and the crashing had really taken it out of him. His face felt hot, and to be honest he looked a little green in the face. “P-b-b-b-bhht.” He shuffled his lips, trying to ignore the rising pain in his belly. Hunching a little, he looked at Fluttershy. His face lit up. It was the yellow winged creature! He beamed at her in delight, but his face fell when he saw her expression. She looked so timid. Leaning and trying to be friendly, he shoved his muzzle into her mane to try and find her face in there somewhere.

Fluttershy eep’d, jittering backward and red in the face. “W-w-w-well hello there to you too! I uhm… I think you squished my mushroom.” She gestured to the ground. The stallion looked down, cocking his head, but didn’t seem to understand what he’d destroyed. “I was out herbing and mushroom hunting you see and… uhm… hullo there, yes, hi.” He’d come close again, and his nostrils were working themselves animatedly.

Mossy liked this yellow mare. She smelled nice, and her voice was pleasant. Not angry and rawr-awr like the other one he’d seen. Leaning, he nibbled on one of her wings to check it out. The feathers were pretty, he decided.

“MEEP!” Fluttershy jittered back again, blushing. “D-don’t do that, please!”

“*BELCH*!” Mossy said animatedly, a skull and crossbones of purple smoke issuing from his mouth. His eyes went derpy for a few moments, and he wavered on the spot. He was feeling a little hotter than before. Beads of sweat were going down his face. Shaking his head to steady himself, he licked his chops to get the odd and inky taste out of his mouth.

“Ahm tellin’ you it was a shortcut, Big Mac!” voices were coming up the path from across the way, along with the sound of a heavy cart.

“Nnnope.” said a stallion’s voice. Fluttershy turned just in time to see Applejack and Big Macintosh come around the corner, pulling a cart full of apple barrels for that day’s market.

“Yes-huh!” Applejack said stubbornly. “Iff’n we cut across the park instead of using the long-way-road, we could shave off some minutes in the mornin’ and be set up jus’ fine by the time market starts!” The Stetson wearing farmer mare was arguing with her sibling about travel time. She saw Fluttershy on the road ahead and smiled. “Oh hey, its Fluttershy!” she pointed as they trotted along.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac smiled a bit as they neared.

“Mornin’ sugarcube!” Applejack called as they neared, both siblings pulling the cart. “Who’s your friend there?” she said as they approached, slowing to a halt. Mossy perked his ears at them, unable to ignore the trembling pain rising in his belly. He didn’t feel so good, suddenly…

“I-I…. uhm…” Fluttershy took another timid step to put a little more distance between herself and the strange green-maned stallion. “He’s not… I mean uhm…” she didn’t know how to word it, really.

“Oh, well, I’m sure he can inner’duce himself.” Applejack smoothly moved the pressure of the conversation off her timid friend. “Howdy partner. I dun think we’ve met. Mah name’s Applejack, what’s yours?” she put on her most winning smile to meet the new pony.

“BLERRRRRRGHHH!” Mossy Mane suddenly vomited violently, and then pitched over as though struck dead. Applejack’s eyebrows launched into her bangs, and there was a very awkward silence.

“…You killed ‘im.” said Big Mac sagely, nodding shamefully at his sister.

“Ah did NOT!” Applejack snapped angrily, rushing forward to see what had happened.

Fluttershy spotted the problem in the pool of vomit without evening going to examine the stallion. “Oh my! He must’ve chewed through the herbs in my herb bag!” Fluttershy raised a worried hoof to her mouth. So that was why everything had looked nibbled on. “I had raw Deathcap in there! And lots of other things! Oh my!” she pumped her wings open, rushing forward to turn the ailing stallion. “Turn him over, he might drown in his vomit.” Suddenly she was vet Fluttershy. Though she knew little about how to take care of ponies, she did know about poisoning and such, being an herbalist.

“Oh mah stars!” Applejack panicked. “Big Mac! He’s been poisoned, toss the barrels off! We gotta get him to a hospital!” Big Mac had already unhitched himself and was busily unloading the apple barrels to make room for the unconscious stallion. Tightening her Stetson on her head, the orange mare helped him turn the cart around and they quickly loaded Mossy into it.

The brown stallion moaned loudly, his world twisting and spinning around him. Green in the face and achy in the belly, he whimpered aloud. Fluttershy hopped up into the cart with him, putting his head in her hooves so it wouldn’t bounce around during the fast ride to the hospital. “I’ve got you.” She mumbled softly, nodding to the Apple siblings when they were ready to go. “We’re going to the hospital, just hang on.” She tried to soothe him, stroking his mane just once. Her hoof came away with flecks of leaves and a couple of burrs. Wow, he was really filthy.

Mossy moaned again, pain and confusion in his stomach and head. He could smell colors, and the sounds around him had a funny taste to them. Ohhh, his belly! He felt hot and shivery at the same time. Why was he so cold? Brr! He could feel himself sweating, then something gargling up into his mouth. He felt a firm hoof turn his head to one side, and he threw up again as the cart he was in kept rolling along. He clenched his teeth, for every bounce of the rolling cart made his belly do flip-flops.

“Hang on partner, we’re almost there!” Applejack called over her shoulder. Ponies shouted and jumped out of the way as the two Apple siblings raced through the streets of Ponyville towards the medical building. “Gangway!” shouted Applejack. “Sick pony! Outta the way!” she shouted over and over as they went. Ponies gave them a wide berth, and a pair of solar guards even joined them on the way to make civilians move faster.

“One side citizens!” A golden-helmed mare shouted as they rushed down the lane. “Emergency!” she parted the crowd with her sheer presence, making way for the make-shift ambulance. “Emergency, out of the way!”

End of Part 2

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