I arrive at the Sanctuary. I have been working here for nearly a week now. It was
 
more fun than I had anticipated. I shuffle past a few bushes and make my way into the
 
clearing.  
The animals are gathered around the lake in several groups. I spot Fluttershy handing
 
out meals to the birds. She had food ready for every kind of animal. It truly is
 
astonishing how much work she could put up with.  
“Good morning!” I call across the lake and approach the little shed to the side to
 
put away my saddlebag. From the corner of my eyes I see her turn to me and a big smile
 
forms on her snout and goes up to her rosy cheeks. “Oh good morning, Dew!” she returns
 
and procceeds to throw out the seeds before grabbing another basket with vegetables.  
I quickly put away my stuff and come over the bridge to meet her. “You’re early
 
today!” she notices and I nod “I finally brought some of the herbs I was collecting the
 
past few days.”. She smiled and gave a carrot to a brown bunny “Have you talked with
 
Zecora already?”. I shake my head “I didn’t come across her yet…”.  
She frowns a bit: “You won’t find her in town much. She is now okay with coming over
 
from time to time but she still prefers the Everfree Forest.”. At the mention of the
 
place it shakes me. I honestly like to avoid entering.  
“Come on…” Fluttershy approaches closer and sweetly bat her eyelashes “I bet she
 
could teach you a lot about remedies!”. I turn my head away as to not look at her sweet
 
begging face. She had previously asked me - many times - to expand my talent even more
 
to help some of her animals who were more seriously ill.  
“You know…” she looks at the dirt and draws circles with her hoof “I could really
 
use that help… Zecora isn’t as patient with animals as you are and she’s usually busy
 
and it’s so hard to find her all the time and~~” I sigh and break hear stream of
 
thoughts: “Okay, okay! You’re right. On one condition.”. She slightly tilts her head at
 
me: “And what is that?”. I frown at her “Keep him away from me.” and signal at the
 
white bunny on my back that had jumped up on me and kept pulling at my mane since I
 
came out of the shed.  
“I’m sorry…” she said in an exhausted voice “Angel doesn’t like stallions.” she
 
confessed and picked him up and cradled him in her hooves. The bunny threw me an angry
 
look and signaled first at his eyes then at me showing that he would have his tiny,
 
beady eyes on me. “Are you sure he just doesn’t like ME?” I countered. She shook her
 
head “He’s been like this ever since…” she went silent for a moment looking as if
 
remembering something unpleasant. Then she shakes her head “Doesn’t matter.” and turned
 
away “Could you please feed the bears?”.  
Her sudden distancing surprises me. But I decide not to read into it too much and go
 
to feed the bears who are ~~ understandably - still distraught at the lack of meat in
 
their diet here at the sanctuary.  
Though I notice that one of them had a bald spot at its side where he was constantly
 
scratching himself. I approach him “Excuse me.” I say politely and he looks down at me.
 
He is clearly uncomfortable. “Can I please take a look at your side?” I ask and at
 
first he is eying me up suspiciously but then eventually giving in to the itch,
 
scratches it once more and turns for me to inspect him.  
It was clearly an infected rash worsened by scratching. I think for a moment then pat
 
his shoulder “It’ll be okay. I think I have just the right things to help you. Please
 
sit in front of the shed for a moment. I will quickly mix something up for you.”.  
I lead him to a nice sunny spot outside the shed and disappear inside. I grab a
 
variety of herbs from the saddle bags and proceed to mash them into a paste. I get
 
another one and chew it up. Just then Fluttershy steps into the open door “What are
 
you… EEK!”. She jumped back at seeing me with the red juice from the herb dripping
 
off my muzzle.  
I spit the chewed up paste into the bowl with the other herbs “I’m sorry. This herb
 
needs to be chewed by mouth. The salavia activates its healing capabilites.”. She
 
blinks the shock away and then nods “I hope it helps.”. I smile at her: “I am sure it
 
will. I have seen this many times.” and continue mixing the paste into a nice cream.  
Once it was done I brought it outside and Fluttershy instructed the bear - apparently
 
he was named Harry - to lie down. I then proceed to cream the infected area. Harry
 
covers his face with his paws. “I’m sorry it burns a little bit when applying.” I
 
explain and finish up spreading it.  
“We have to apply this every day morning and evening for about a week then it
 
shouldn’t come back. I assume you had this problem before?” I ask and Fluttershy and
 
Harry nod. “He’s been having rashes come and go ALL the time…” she told and I thought
 
for a moment and turned to Harry. “Say… Do you like to roll in these green flowers
 
that smell like cookie dough?” and he nooded with an excited expression. “Well…” I
 
said “Stop it! They are poisonous. Be glad you didn’t eat any!”-  
He suddenly looked sad “Don’t worry.” Fluttershy padded his shoulder “We’ll make you
 
cookies then!” now he seemed to be back to his cheerful shelf at the thought of actual
 
cookies. He happily stampered off to his friends.
 
Once the sun was finally setting and we had our things packed up to leave Fluttershy
 
approaches me. I smile at her and for a moment we just stand there.  
Then she looks up at me “Thank you…” she sais quietly: “Your help means a lot to
 
me. Usually I have to do all this work alone.”. I giggle for a moment “Anything that
 
keeps me away from sorting books in a library all day!”. She looks up at the sky that
 
was now starting to slowly turn red in anticipation of the sunset. “I really miss
 
Twilight though. We don’t see her as much as we would like to.” she confesses. “But it
 
gives me more time…”.  
I look at her “But it’s also lonely…”. She turns her gaze back at me. Her eyes seem
 
kind of… empty. “I know what it feels like…” I said quietly “I once had a friend
 
who moved away. Ever since… I didn’t have any more friends. That’s why my parents
 
sent me to Ponyville. Make friends. Grow up.”.  
For a while we both just look up at the sky again. Both in thought. “I’m glad you
 
came here though.” she replied after a while. I nearly didn’t hear it with her quiet
 
whisper.  
I look back down at her. I would do anything to keep her from feeling lonely. A weird
 
feeling runs through my body. What am I thinking?? I’ve never felt like this before. Is
 
it this place? Is ponyville some sort of magical place where friendship is more likely
 
to grow? Or maybe moving away and finally leaving my old trot is actually paying off…
 
Whatever the reason is… I’m happy.