Written by Twinkletail
It was 10 AM. Applejack was due in for her morning break any moment now, and Fluttershy was planning a big surprise for her. Of course, it wasn't so big a surprise that it would startle the farmer. Fluttershy was quite knowledgeable about what kind of surprise was too startling by this point, and had made sure to keep the level of surprise to an acceptable point. An unexpected pancake breakfast was definitely appropriate for the level of surprise she was aiming for.
The pegasus set up a nice stack of pancakes for her sweet Apple, topping it all with a pat of butter. She watched as the pancakes' warmth began to melt the butter. She knew Applejack would greatly appreciate this. All that was needed now was the syrup. She checked her saddlebags, and then promptly freaked out. She was positive she'd packed a bottle of apple-flavored syrup this morning before she left the cottage, but she must have grabbed the maple syrup by accident.
"Oh my...this is terrible..." Fluttershy whimpered. This breakfast was supposed to be perfect for her love, but without the perfect syrup, it wasn't perfect at all. It was sub-par at best, and Applejack deserved perfection. If she came in from a long morning of work to see a sub-par breakfast, she would certainly equate that to Fluttershy's love for her. If she thought Fluttershy's love for her was sub-par, she would be sad, and it would be all Fluttershy's fault. The poor pegasus panicked profusely as she perused the pony's pantry for the proper pancake preparation paraphernalia, so as to provide her partner's palate with piquant perfection. Unfortunately for her, such searching proved to be fruitless.
"I-it's no problem..." Fluttershy tried to reassure herself. "I-I'll just run out to the grocery store before she comes inside..."
Fluttershy froze up as she heard the front door open, Applejack's hoofsteps falling on the wooden floor and heading straight towards the kitchen. There was no getting out of this now. Fluttershy sighed and poured the unworthy syrup over the pancakes, preparing herself for Applejack's disappointment.
"Oh! Hay, hon!" Applejack said cheerfully as she entered the kitchen. Her eyes drifted to the table. "A pancake breakfast! What a nice surprise!"
Fluttershy tensed up as she watched AJ pick her fork up and cut into the stack, counting the seconds until the inevitable disappointment.
"Mmm!" AJ said, her mouth still full of the fluffy goodness. "Delicious!"
"D-delicious? Really?" Fluttershy asked. Now she was the surprised one. "B-but I didn't use apple-flavored syrup..." Applejack raised a brow, then laughed.
"Oh, c'mon, Shy," the farmer said with a smile. "Just cause I work with apples don't mean that's all I eat!" Fluttershy took a moment to process this.
"Oh...right," she responded with a smile. AJ then gave her a syrupy smooch.
"Thanks fer the surprise, sugarcube," she said. Fluttershy sighed happily and joined her love for breakfast.