The Great Changeling Shipping Experiment

by Dusky Flower

Fluttershy: Running From the Shipyard

In a cottage at the edge of Ponyville, a yellow pegasus and a white rabbit were staring at a book.

"I-I have to... date somepony?"

Angel glared at Fluttershy, tapping his paw on the page.

"I-I have to date everypony?" she squeaked.

Angel grinned, nodding.

What Fluttershy then said was so inaudible, so high-pitched, that it could only be translated as "eep."

Angel flashed his paws furiously at the mare, glaring at her in between gestures.

Fluttershy slowly peeked open one eye, looked at the gestures, and then shut it again, one wing twitching in utter fright.

"You... invited ponies to a party here?"

Angel nodded, and stepped over to bar the doorway.

A streak of yellow and pink was all that he saw before he heard the window clatter.

----------

Fluttershy streaked along the path at a speed that was halfway passable, noting the sheer numbers of the ponies coming down it.

There were buff stallions and smooth Romareos, pretty pegasi, gorgeous high fashion mares and a few down-to-earth Apples. How had Angel invited all these ponies? Fluttershy's teeth began to clatter against each other, and then began to grind. There were too many ponies. Way too many ponies.

Fluttershy darted forwards again, whirling her wings like she was caught in a tornado, or perhaps trying to make one. She glanced franticly behind her, head darting back and forth. The world blurred around her, and she couldn't quite keep an eye on where she was going.

*WHOMP*

"Oh no, I'm so sorry! Let me help you up," said an earth pony mare. Her orange mane curled cutely around her shoulders, and her pale yellow coat shone in the sun. Three carrots adorned her flank. She reached a hoof down to help the dazed pegasus mare up.

"I-I'm really sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going. I-I'm really sorry! Please don't be mad at me..."

The earth pony mare grinned. "How could I be mad at such a pretty mare? Come on, let me buy you something at Sugarcube Corner to make it up to you."

"It was my fault, really... you don't have to do that..." Fluttershy murmured, blushing slightly.

"I'm fine, really! My name is Golden Harvest, by the way. What's yours?"

"I'm Fluttershy..."

----------

Golden Harvest sighed inwardly. Would this mare hide and squeak and stutter the whole date? If everypony in this dating sim was so shy, she'd be giving that company a bad review, that was for sure. Still, either they'd decided to include the Elements or the Elements had joined multiplayer, and she did need the dating practice...

"Soooo... you're the vet, right?"

Fluttershy popped her head up above the table, her former bubble of shyness seemingly popped.

"Oh, I'm not technically a vet, I never could deal with the big schools, but I do enjoy taking care of animals! It's just that I mostly take care of the wild ones..." Fluttershy trailed off, looking away uncomfortably.

Golden Harvest tapped her hooves together. "You... like animals, then?" She almost facehoofed at the sheer stupidity of her question.

"Oh, yes, very much!" The yellow pegasus didn't seem to mind the comment's awkwardness, but shrank down the moment after she responded."

"Hehe, sorry for being such a boring date. A mare like you doesn't deserve all these uncomfortable silences, and since I was treating you..."

"Oh, no! You're not boring at all! I'm sorry for being so quiet... date?" As the word snapped into focus in Fluttershy's mind, her pupils seemed to shrink. "D-date?"

"Er... sorry? I- I thought you knew it was a date..." Argh! Now she'd think she was being blamed! "I- I should have been more obvious, what kind of ice cream do you want?" This time Golden Harvest couldn't hold back the facehoof, no matter how hard she tried. Why must she be plagued with horrible dating skill?

Fluttershy blushed and turned her eyes towards the ground, avoiding the gaze of her... date. She flicked her eyes upwards just slightly, and let out a squeak as goldenrod-colored hooves gently wrapped her into a hug.

The yellow mare tensed in Golden Harvest's hooves and jerked backwards, shivering slightly.

"Hello?"

Golden Harvest knelt down beside the trembling mare, resisting the urge to put a hoof on her shoulder. I've traumatized her enough today, she thought bitterly, resisting the urge to cry at ruining yet another date. She was charming, sweet, kind... why did it always go wrong?

"Excuse me," said Mrs. Cake. "Are you ready to give me your orders?"

Golden Harvest couldn't keep the misery out of her face anymore. The dam behind her eyes broke, and out poured a torrent of tears.

Mrs. Cake sighed. "Oh, honey, don't worry. How about I get you two a little hot chocolate? On the house, of course."

Golden Harvest looked at Fluttershy. "I... I'm sorry. I should have been more thoughtful about what you would be comfortable with. You're a really nice mare, and I ruined this. Not you. Don't blame yourself. I understand if you don't want to be my marefriend or even my friend, and... I'm sorry."

Fluttershy made a slight squeaky noise and looked up at Golden Harvest. "Um... it's okay. You seem like a really nice pony too... and I don't think that it would be nice for me to just walk out now," Fluttershy murmured, before awkwardly patting Golden Harvest's shoulder.

Golden Harvest, to her credit, did not hug Fluttershy, but instead wrapped one of her hooves around one of Fluttershy's.

Fluttershy blushed, and smiled a little bit. "Um... I think our hot chocolate is ready."

Golden Harvest smiled warmly back. "I think that would be perfect. Let's turn this day around."

Fluttershy didn't really know what to say back, so she just grinned awkwardly and moved a little closer to her new friend.

The hot chocolate tasted delicious.

Comments

[Dusky Flower]

Sorry for taking so long to update, everypony. didn't want to be shipped very much. Fluttershy is tricky for me to write, because so much of her personality is obscured by her shyness.

[Listie The Scribe Maid]

(Joke) Alt. Title: .hack/Chrysalis
At least she isn't trying to get revenge again... Again... AGAIN...

[Dusky Flower]

2048319

Nah, it would be stupid of her to try to get revenge. She got beaten once, and trying again would likely get her killed because she'd be spending all her resources on that instead of getting food. And I have never seen .hack, though I have listened to some of the filk.

I don't see why it would be at all sensible for her to spend all of her already dwindling resources on an attempt to get revenge that would likely fail. Much safer to masquerade as a program.

[Listie The Scribe Maid]

2048665
OK. Now tell that to 83.8% of the pony fanfiction writers and who ever's writing the MLP comic.