Celestia looked down on moonlit Ponyville from a solitary cloud with both apprehension and hope in her heart. Many years had passed since the Goddess was forced to trim Deekin of the better part of his horn, and that almost destroyed his ability to use any kind magic. The poor thing... She had given him so much time and so much prodding in the right direction, but he couldn't see it in himself to do something more than finding new ways to steal from her other little ponies. She loved all of them, including Deekin, and she knew that what happened in the orchard that day was for the best... But there was now so much of him that Equestria would never see.

Celestia and Luna harbored untold reservoirs of magical power, and the only thing that kept them from taking a more active role in Equestria was the fact that manipulating the Sun and Moon was particularly taxing, even for a Goddess such as herself. If Deekin were to cultivate his own power, he could have become an immortal himself.

Despite the shattering of his horn, Deekin could still wield magic. Any unicorn suffering the same fate would have likely been entirely cut off from their arcane abilities. Celestia would never tell Twilight Sparkle about Deekin if she could help it, but even though her star pupil was the Element of Magic, her magical aptitude was pitiful compared to the Alicorn stallion's. That was not Deekin's only claim to fame, though. He was able to obtain a spell book from the castle of the royal pony sisters in the heart of the Everfree Forest. Princess Celestia herself was not able to find anything of value there in several hundreds of years, and she was pleased that Deekin was able to get something good out of it.

He also liked to give things back. With the spells that Deekin learned from the small book, he began healing woodland creatures and nurturing plant life with his own energy. That was what was so infatuating about Deekin. He was so selfish as a colt, and it seemed that the first year of living by himself changed his paradigm almost completely. The only thing that made Deekin smile was doing good things for other living things, and that made her smile...

...But the smile of the Goddess was washed away by deluge of silent tears that rolled down her majestic visage. It hurt a lot to know how much potential had been destroyed in that orchard. More often than not, her thoughts would be preoccupied with how the little Alicorn was doing at a given moment. He was still a colt to her.

All Celestia could do now was hope for the best for him. Deekin had no way of knowing, but Celestia had kept an eye on him in his time alone. She knew a lot about him, actually. He wasn't a bad stallion... He was just mislead. The only thing that now kept him from leading a purposeful life was the social awkwardness he was sure to demonstrate should he approach anypony else. He would be incredibly shy.

A smile touched her lips as he made his trek down his usual mountain perch, this time toward Ponyville... to Fluttershy's cottage. The Element of Kindness would be a wonderful place for Deekin to start.

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Chapter 2: Hooves of a Healer (Part 3)

If anypony had ever been out of their comfort zone, it was Deekin. In only four days after Rescuing this bubbly Pegasus, he felt like the entire foundation of his social understanding had been destroyed and replaced. Nopony but Grovel and Celestia ever wanted to see him before, and the only way he ever saw anypony else was when he had been stealing from them. But now... He felt so much different. He felt like there was somepony else in Equestria who understood him, or at least cared for him enough to try to... Loved him enough to try... And this is why doing nothing but helping with the Fauna and carrying slow, awkward conversations with Fluttershy had occupied almost every moment of his time since coming to Ponyville. They were just close.

Fluttershy had been curious as to why Deekin didn't want anypony else to know that he was Ponyville, and she was even more curious as to why he wouldn't take off that purple cloak of his. She left that alone, though; He was even more shy than her, and that actually made her feel a bit more comfortable to be herself... Around him, that is. If Mayor Mare or her friends needed her, she would leave him alone at the cottage with Angel and the other furry friends. She trusted him, regardless of the secrecy he liked to keep.

It was on this fourth day with Deekin that somepony visited the cottage. The two Pegasi were in the middle of mending a bee sting on Angel's left ear when Twilight Sparkle knocked on her door. Fluttershy was mildly startled as usual, but Deekin jumped nearly out of his skin at the sudden noise. "Don't tell anypony I'm here!" he whispered. "Okay," came the reply. Twilight knocked again.

Fluttershy stopped at the door to give Deekin a reassuring look, but he had vanished. She returned her attention to the door, only for it to be pushed into her face. Fluttershy fell onto her flank and held a hoof to her nose."

"Oh, Fluttershy, I'm so, so sorry! Are you okay? I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay Twilight, it's just a nose bleed..." Twilight was taken aback. She had never seen Fluttershy get hurt before, and she wasn't sure how to react. Of all the people she had to slam a door into, it had to be her. Even more shocking was the stranger who popped into existence beside her.

"Deekin, what are you doing?"

He payed no attention to Twilight as the stump beneath his hood began to glow. "Shh... Hold still." Slowly, the blood vanished from her hoof and nostrils, and the bleeding stopped.

"Oh, Deekin, thank you... But didn't you want to be kept a secret for now?" Deekin glanced out into the sunlight to see a purple unicorn looking at him with an shared look of surprise. Again, he vanished.

"Fluttershy, who's in there? How did he do that?" Fluttershy backed further into her home, reverting to her usual shy self for the first time in days...

"Oh, Twilight, please don't tell anypony he's here! You just can't... Please? Promise?" Twilight regarded her with a curious look and opened her mouth to protest, but then relented. If Fluttershy wanted it kept a secret, she had to.

"Okay," Twilight said skeptically. "Anyway, I came to ask why you hadn't been hanging around with us these last four days. Nopony's seen you around... Is something wrong?" Hoofsteps could be heard farther out behind her.

"Heya, Twi! Is Flutters alright? How is she?"

"Twilight, please make Applejack go away..."

"Fluttershy, I can't just tell Applejack to leave! It's very rude." Everypony but Fluttershy jumped as Deekin's colt-like voice came from nowhere.

"No, Fluttershy... It's... It's okay." Slowly, Deekin faded back into existence beside his kind companion. His head hung low as he looked up at Twilight. "My name... Is Deekin," he said quietly, avoiding eye contact.

"Um... Hi! My name is Twilight Sparkle. It's nice to meet you. This is Applejack."

"Howdy!" said Applejack as she extended her hoof to the stranger. Deekin looked away as his head dropped lower.

"Oh, Applejack, he's really shy... Kind of like me," Fluttershy said with a laugh. Deekin blushed.

Twilight and Applejack exchanged awkward glances. "Oh... I'm mighty sorry, Deekin. I didn't mean to."

"It's... O-okay."

This was the awkward moment that Deekin was afraid of, even when he approached the cottage the first time. He didn't really know how to handle himself with anypony but Fluttershy yet, and he wasn't ready to talk to this many ponies at once. After a long moment of awkward silence, Twilight spoke.

"Can we come in, Fluttershy? I'd like to get acquainted with our new friend!" Deekin backed farther into the home, fading halfway out of existence before deciding against turning invisible. He was already known, anyway. Going invisible again would just make him look like more of a coward than he already felt like he was.

Fluttershy stepped out of the way to make way Twilight and Applejack into her humble abode. Nopony but Fluttershy noticed, but Deekin was shaking like a leaf. The Pegasus held back a laugh for his sake.

What Fluttershy didn't know was how terrified Deekin was. He wasn't even as open with Fluttershy as he would have liked to be by now, and now he had to meet these two new mares. Things were going much too fast for him, and that scared him. He was a stallion that could take care of himself, but he was still just a colt inside. Somehow, Deekin knew that it was for that reason that Fluttershy liked him so much. He couldn't have been that far off... Fluttershy was still a filly inside, anyhow, and he liked that, too.

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

...Celestia looked down on Fluttershy's cottage as she soared majestically through the clouds above. The tears had long since ceased their flow; Her heart was as warm as Fluttershy's, and she was happy for Deekin. He still might not believe her, but she loved all her little ponies... Especially Deekin.

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I'm hoping to start putting out installments for this story more quickly. This one seems a bit inconclusive to me, but I'll start making it go somewhere the next time around. Thanks everypony for your comments and ratings.

It's 5:05 AM, and I'm tired, and I have had NOPONY proofread this, even though I wrote it in the last hour. Don't pick on me too much, okay? :D

The art at the beginning of this installment is not my own. The original image and owner can be found at this address:

http://huussii.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Princess-Celestia-252648517?offset=10