"A human! I never thought I would see one!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed as she gazed at the small child peeking out from behind Fluttershy's tail that evening.
Twilight had read about humans in her studies of Equestrian mythologies during Celestia's tutelage. There wasn't much information but from what she could gather a human was a mysterious bipedal being from another world whom had been found in Equestria one thousand years ago around the same time that Nightmare Moon was banished. The human was much bigger than the common ponies and could almost stand as tall as the alicorns. The lore spoke of the human being unkind and even blood thirsty. He had seen the unicorns as something to be hunted, especially lusting after the alicorn's magnificent horns. Because the mythology seemed to coincide with the Mare in the Moon and Nightmare Moon's debut it was mostly dismissed as a legend, but then again so had Nightmare Moon herself. Seeing this for herself only a year ago Twilight was not one to dismiss the Human as a legend and here one stood in front of her.
"A human? You know what she is, Twilight?" asked Fluttershy, nervously. She had been holding back, protecting her charge behind her back as the unicorn excitedly spoke about humans in legends using her horn to telekinetically gather books from her shelf to research more. That's when the child stepped out from behind the Pegasus and stared at her in awe.
"You're a unicorn!" she cried, hopping up and clapping her hands excitedly. "They really exist! Pegasuses and unicorns!" the little girl was absolutely ecstatic and Twilight didn't know what to make of it.
"Um, we're called Pegasi, Harmony." Fluttershy offered, softly, but the little girl obviously didn't hear her.
"You can do magic! You can grant my wish. Please, please make my wish come true, Miss unicorn!"
Just as Fluttershy had thought Twilight immediately saw the resemblance to Pinkie Pie this human child conveyed. Her excitement was adorable and oh so infectious.
"You can call me Twilight, little one. And yes, I am a unicorn and can do magic." She smiled, warmly, wondering how this small, excitable human child could possibly be anything like the cruel human of legend. To the child, herself and her kind were some sort of legend too, but one she was greatly familiar with unlike the obscure legend of a human in Equestria. And she seemed to know something about magic.
"Twilight, I got the groceries you asked for- oh, hi, Fluttershy" Just then Spike walked into the library holding a bag of vegetables.
"Oh hello, Spike. How are you?" Fluttershy smiled and then looked around. "Oh, where did she go?"
"Where did who go?" Spike asked, looking around too.
"The human. I think you scared her away, Spike." Twilight giggled, coming over to Fluttershy, who revealed the little girl hiding behind her tail again.
"The what- I'm missing something." The baby dragon grumbled, coming over to the two ponies.
"You don't have to be scared, he's just a baby dragon." Fluttershy said, gently, moving her tail so Spike could see the little girl.
"A d-dragon?" Harmony's eyes were wide and she shivered, but looked closer at Spike as he came over to her.
"This is Spike. He's my friend." Twilight offered standing between the two. "Spike, this is Harmony. Fluttershy found her outside the Ever-Free forest and I'm seeing if I can help figure out where she came from. She's a human." She added.
"Um, ok, whatever that is." Spike said causing Twilight to give him a dirty look and he grimaced. "Ok, ok. Hi Harmony." Spike wasn't particularly bothered by seeing the human. He had seen many different creatures before, and it was in his genes as a dragon to not fear something new. Besides, the child was so small and helpless looking there wasn't anything for him to fear.
"H-hello." Came the shy reply.
Spike grinned. "You don't have to be scared of me. I'm a nice dragon."
Harmony giggled.
"I thought just pegasuses and unicorns lived here." She said, timidly.
"Pegasi…" came Fluttershy again.
"There are many creatures in Equestria. You'll mostly see ponies, pegasi and unicorns around here like Fluttershy and I, but there are places beyond our borders and in that forest where you came from that have dragons and other not so friendly inhabitants." Twilight explained, going back to her books and selecting one with her magic brought it to the table in front of her two guests.
"I'm one of the friendly ones." Spike reassured the child as he went to put away his bag of vegetables and start on cooking dinner.
"See this is where Fluttershy found you." The unicorn said pointing her hoof at a drawing of the Everfree forest on a map of Equestria. Both Fluttershy and Harmony came over to look at the map.
The Everfree forest was close to Fluttershy's cottage explaining how her friend had come across the human child, but there weren't any clues to where she could have come from. To the west of the forest were the Dragon Mountains, to the south was Zecora's hut and further south-west were the former castle ruins. Except for Zecora's dwelling none of these places were safe for a small child to have survived on her own and Twilight had spoken to the zebra Zecora just the other day and there had been no mention of a human from her. The only place the unicorn could think to have something to do with the child's sudden appearance was the castle ruins where she and her friends had fought Nightmare Moon. The lore of the first human had seemed to occur at the same time as the Nightmare's first attack, they could possibly be linked somehow.
As Twilight explained her thoughts to Fluttershy the Pegasus seemed a little lost at the complex description and the human child looked sleepy. The librarian sighed and closed the book.
"I think we should report this to Princess Celestia." She said and was surprised to see Fluttershy lower her ears and move back to stand in front of the little girl protectively.
"Oh no, I don't think that's a good idea…" her voice was as soft as always but her protective stance showed a firmness to the unicorn making her remember that her seemingly shy friend was not one to be trifled with when it came to protecting something.
"If the first human was as bad as you say…" the pale yellow pegasus continued. "the princesses might not be kind to Harmony. I can't let that happen to her. Harmony can't possibly be like that mean creature you described." She cried, although her pitch didn't waver.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy. The princess isn't going to do anything to hurt Harmony." Twilight reasoned. "I don't believe she is anything like the human in the legends either, and Princess Celestia and Luna will see that too."
Fluttershy hung her head, but conceded.
"OK Twilight, if you say it will be alright I'll trust you. I just don't want to see anything happen to her." The Pegasus turned around to look at her charge as she spoke and gasped.
The small child was curled up on the floor using the end of Fluttershy's long tail as a blanket and breathing deeply in peaceful sleep.
"Oh, I guess she was tired." The Pegasus said nuzzling the child off of her tail gently so as not to wake her.
"Today was probably over exciting to her. Who knows what she must have been through before you found her." Twilight commented and using her magic levitated the little one over to her bed and tucked her under the blankets.
"Thank you for your help, Twilight. I didn't know what I could do to help her, but I felt like I just had to do something. She's like a lost little filly or like the animals I care for. I want to protect her." The Pegasus said, graciously smiling at her friend.
"I understand, Fluttershy. But really, I don't think I've done anything to help you or Harmony. This is something I don't think I can research on my own, so all I can do is contact Princess Celestia for more information." Twilight said as she walked over to her writing desk.
"Oh yes, the princesses…"
Fluttershy still sounded reluctant about the idea, but Twilight knew her mentor would definitely be able to shed some light on the situation and figure out where the human child had come from and why. Nothing bad could possibly happen.
"Spike, take a letter…"
My faithful student,
I must say this news you write of has concerned me. A human, as you may know, has not been seen in Equestria for a thousand years. I ask that you please bring to Canterlot this human child as well as your friends the elements of harmony, for I think we will need their help to solve this problem.
HRH Celestia
Twilight Sparkle frowned at the letter. She wasn't sure if it meant her mentor and Princess could help understand where the human child had come from, or if she feared the sudden appearance of a human and wanted to somehow send her away. She didn't think Fluttershy would be too happy with the letter in any case and decided to not show it right away to the motherly mare who sat by her charge's bedside.
The two friends had ate a light dinner after Spike sent the letter informing of Harmony's discovery to Princess Celestia, and then Twilight had offered to have her friend stay the night as she didn't seem to want to leave the little girl and it would be a shame to wake her up. There wasn't much they could do until the morning so Twilight bid Fluttershy good night and left to go study downstairs leaving the child in her own bed.
Fluttershy lay on a cushion by Harmony's side and sighed.
"I just wish I knew where you came from and why you're here…" she said to herself leaning her head down on her hooves.
"I didn't really want to get the princesses involved. What if they banish her to the moon? Or to a dungeon? Or a dungeon on the moon?" the nervous Pegasus squeaked and then stood up and leaned over the little girl. Twilight's paranoia was rubbing off on her.
"Mommy…" Suddenly the child spoke in her sleep causing Fluttershy to fall back on her haunches.
"Mommy it hurts… you said it wouldn't hurt anymore…mommy…" Harmony tossed and turned, her voice sounding pained and scared. The pony sat up again and put her hoofs on the little girl to steady her.
"Its OK, no one's going to hurt you." She soothed.
"Mommy, I want to go home!" Harmony cried waking herself up. She focused on the Pegasus sitting in front of her and then clutched her around the neck.
"You weren't a dream. You are real, pretty Fluttershy." The child whispered tearfully and buried herself in her new friend's soft mane.
"Yes, its OK, Harmony. I'm here for you." Fluttershy promised, nuzzling her.
"And the unicorn too? She's real?"
"Yes, honey. We're going to help you find your mommy again."
"Mommy…." Harmony turned away, still clutching the pegasus's mane in her small hands. "I miss my mommy." She whimpered.
"I know you do. But we're going to get the help of the princess who knows a lot of magic. Surely she can help you get home, Harmony."
"The princess?"
Fluttershy smiled, happy to be able to speak about something nice with the child again.
"Oh yes, Princess Celestia and Luna are alicorns. That means they have wings and a unicorn horn. Princess Celestia can raise the sun for us, and Princess Luna raises the moon. They are very powerful, and from what I've seen Princess Celestia is very kind. She's Twilight's teacher."
"Wow~" Harmony exclaimed. "The princesses can really help me? I can't wait to meet them."
"I guess we'll be meeting them soon..." the Pegasus said, softly, glancing out the window at the full moon. It was still quite late at night. They would need their sleep if they were to journey to Canterlot the next day.
"Now, lets get back to sleep. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow." Fluttershy gently lifted the blanket with her mouth and tucked her charge in.
"Fluttershy, can you sleep with me?" the little girl pleaded, her big eyes bright even in the darkness.
"Um… OK… if you like…" the pony said a bit shyly. Then she walked over to the other side of the bed and climbed in beside the child who held her in a hug.
"Thank you Fluttershy…for saving my life."