//------------------------------// // Expiration Date // Story: The Random Pictures to Fiction Collection // by Pics2Fics //------------------------------// “YEE-HAW!” Applejack cries out over their most recent discovery. “This is great! We ain’t gonna die after all! Fluttershy, isn’t that-!” Her outbursts are silenced when she sees her friend flinching back. Probably out of the shock of her yelling, so she lowers her voice and approaches Fluttershy carefully. “Y-Yay…” Fluttershy squeaks out as AJ’s gloved hoof softly grasps her shoulder. “Come on now, sugarcube” AJ says, giving her a little pat on the shoulder. “We should tell the rest that it’s only bread that gets all tumory.” “Uh… Maybe we shouldn’t,” Fluttershy whispers, just loud enough for AJ to hear. “Wait, what? Shy, why wouldn’t we go an’ tell ‘em how they got years left after thinkin’ they were gonna keel over any moment?” Applejack asks. Fluttershy’s ears flatten behind her head as she shrinks down. “W-Well… because Zecora had been going out a lot more. She’s seen so many exotic places that she’s been wanting to visit…” Applejack raises an eyebrow. “And Twilight finally learned how to play the saxophone, like she was always talking about,” Fluttershy continues. “And Rarity and Rainbow Dash have been spending more time than ever together. Have you noticed that, um, despite thinking that they were going to…” She shivers lightly. “That everypony is actually enjoying themselves more than ever?” AJ’s foreleg hangs limp on Fluttershy’s shoulder as she listens. Fluttershy knows she’s asking a tall order of the Element of Honesty. She reaches up and takes Applejack’s hoof in hers. “They’re spending their limited time really living,” she says. “They’re doing everything they’ve ever wanted to. With no fear or reluctance, because they thought they wouldn’t get another chance.” “But, when about when their timers run out?” AJ asks. “We know they’ll be fine when it happens,” Fluttershy meekly replies. “They would have had the time of their lives. And now, it will be a fantastic bunch of memories for them to carry forever.” As the words fill her ears, Applejack slinks lower. She never thought about it like that. All of her friends are out living it up. However, something else is tickling a nerve in her brain. Something that doesn’t quite seem right about this situation, as right as Fluttershy may be. She squints her eyes at her. “Is there somethin’ yer not tellin’ me, sugarcube?” AJ inquires. “W-What? No!” Fluttershy blurts out, letting go of Applejack’s hoof at holding them up defensively. “What makes you think that?” Applejack purses her lips as she looks Fluttershy up and down. Something did make her say that, but she just couldn’t figure out what. Until realization dawns on her. “Why aren’t you happy about this?” AJ asks. “Ponies out there livin’ what they think to be their last aside, you just learned that you’re not about ta’ die.” “Yes, and that is wonderful news,” Fluttershy replies, not quite sure what AJ’s saying. “So why haven’t you even cracked a smile?” Applejack accuses. “I was ready to bounce off th’ walls like Pinkie Pie, but you ain’t even shown a piece of relief. Tell me, what is wrong?” “I…” Fluttershy vocalizes as she looks down. AJ’s eyes opening wide. “Shy, please don’t tell me that you wanted to die, did you?” she asks in a grave tone. “No!” Fluttershy says, her eyes going wide as well. “Absolutely not! Why would you think that?” “Well, why else would you not be happy that we’re gonna keep livin’?” AJ demands. “It’s just that, um…” Fluttershy bites her lip. “Since we started the timers, all you wanted to do was to keep experimenting.” She nervously rubs her hooves together. “Wasn’t there anything that you wanted to do before we discovered we were going to live?” Applejack thinks for a moment. She puts a hoof to her chin. Slowly, she begins shaking her head. “No, I didn’t really think of anythin’,” she admits. “When I heard the news, all I could think about was tryin’ to find a way to fix everything. To save everypony.” For the first time since the discovery, Fluttershy’s lips rise up into a small grin. “Applejack, that’s so remarkably selfless. To think of others in your final moments.” AJ blushes a bit at her comments. “Yeah, but we woulda end up fine in the end. I guess I kinda wasted my ‘final moments’,” she says, chuckling while using her hooves for air quotes. Fluttershy chuckles as well until another realization begins to make Applejack’s heart feel like it’s freezing. “Fluttershy, did you have anything you wanted to do?” AJ asks while reaching out again. She reaches her hoof around Fluttershy’s shoulders. “Oh, I um, was happy working with you,” she says. “Nothin’ at all? Shy, I pulled you aside ta’ work with me soon as Rarity finished her speech,” Applejack recalls. “Please, tell me if there was anything.” “You don’t have to worry, Applejack,” Fluttershy says, trying to back out of the hoof around her. “I-It wasn’t anything important…” That statement is like a kick in the gut for AJ. Had she denied her friend her dying wish? “Fluttershy,” she pleads, tightening her grip. “Please tell me if there was anything you wanted.” “It’s fine,” Fluttershy insists, trying to get away still. “Could you, um, please let me go?” Upon the request, AJ has no choice but to take her hoof back with a sigh. However, Fluttershy is not expecting her to actually do so and topples over from the shift in weight. “You alright, sugarcube?” Applejack asks, leaning over to make sure she’s okay. “Yeah…” Fluttershy says, picking herself up. When she does so, a small notecard falls out of her pocket onto the floor. AJ sees it and notices Fluttershy’s name printed on it. “That was supposed to go in Rarity’s bucket, wasn’t it?” Applejack asks. “What was-? OH NO!” They both reach for the card, but Applejack’s reaction is faster. She puts a hoof on it, holding it on the floor while Fluttershy tries to paw it back. “Oh, please give it back!” Fluttershy begs as she tried to move it out from AJ’s hoof. “Shy…” Applejack breathes out in a sigh. “I had taken your chance to live your one dream.” “I-It’s not that big of a deal!” Fluttershy protests. “Especially now that we’re going to live. Please let go?” AJ frowns. “But that’s the point you were making with the others, wasn’t it?” she asks. “They think they’re going to die an’ they do everything they want to. This was yer last wish an’ I took you away from it.” An anger boils in her heart as she glances at the timer that had counted down their previously thought demise. “Shy, we have seven hours. Seven hours, and I promise you; cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” she says while following the motions with her other hoof, “that you are going to have your last request.” “Please?” Fluttershy eeps out in one last plea. Applejack pulls her hoof back with the card. Lifting it up, she prepares herself to see what her friend’s final wish is. TELL APPLEJACK I LOVE HER Her breath is caught in her throat as she reads the words. Fluttershy is now hiding her face under her mane and hooves. Slowly, AJ looks up at the now cowering pegasus. “You… love me?” AJ asks. Fluttershy shivers where she lies, but slowly she manages a nod. The card drops from her hoof as she shoulders sag. “But… why me?” A tiny sniffle comes up from the shivering pile. “Fluttershy?” A small squeak is all she gets. Applejack leans closer. “What’d you say?” A breath goes in and out of Fluttershy as she prepares to speak. “B-Because you make me feel safe…” “Safe?” AJ scratches her head. “But I ain’t like Big Mac or Pinkie out there. I don’t have big guns that can protect ya’. All I got are sidearms for when my sentry’s not up.” “They, um…” Fluttershy begins, a little louder. “T-They don’t always protect me. Sometimes they don’t hear me or there’s nothing they can do…” She sniffles again, looking up with tears in her eyes and cheeks red with blush. “When you’re there, with your sentry and dispenser, I don’t have to worry about that.” “Don’t have to worry?” AJ inquires. “Yes,” Fluttershy confirms with a nod. “Where you set up, I know a Spy isn’t going to pop out. I don’t have to worry about any roaming Scouts or Snipers I can’t see. You keep me safe from all of that…” Applejack looks down. She had no idea she means so much to her friend. And to let her know was her final request in life. Just to say it. ...But now they have time. There’s more than just a promise on the line for AJ. This is strictly for the sake of her friend. “Get up, Fluttershy,” AJ prompts. Fluttershy slowly gets back up to her hooves. “Y-You don’t hate me, do you?” she asks. “No. I could never do that,” Applejack responds flatly. Even with her answer, Fluttershy turns away. She rests her hooves on the table with the teleporter and green-splotched bread. She tries to think of something to say, but can’t. Applejack is lost in her own head as well. Fluttershy trusted her so much. Feels so safe around her. So much so that she’s developed such strong feelings. Slowly, she approaches her and wraps her hooves around her waist and Fluttershy freezes for a moment. As much as nopony would probably admit it, Fluttershy is an incredibly brave pony when you get right down to it. She’ll always be behind her friends, cheering them on and lending her support, without fail. AJ tightens her grip around her and looks to the timer again. “We have about six hours an’ fifty minutes left,” she states, leaning her head down Fluttershy’s neck. She leans back into AJ’s hug and a warmth begins to build in both of their chests. Familiar to Fluttershy when she ducks behind one of Applejack’s trusty dispensers, but new to AJ herself, but she can’t say she hates it. “How would you like to spend it?” Applejack whispers into Fluttershy’s neck.