//------------------------------// // 205. Let's Be Friends // Story: Azure Edge // by Leaf Blade //------------------------------// Fluttershy paced back and forth in the hallway of the Green Neigh inn, a can of apple soda in her hand. It didn’t taste as bad as she thought it was going to, but she still wasn’t sure if she liked it that much. That wasn’t really— that didn’t really matter right now though. She was sweating now, which wasn’t great. Her brain was firing off at like a million miles an hour, buzzing and sparking as she thought about what she needed to do. She wasn’t just pacing in front of any hallway in the inn; she was pacing in front of Applejack’s room. Fluttershy was going to ask Applejack to be her date to the Grand Galloping Gala. She wasn’t sure if that was the brightest idea she’d ever had, but she promised Pinkie Pie that she would get on better terms with Applejack, and Fluttershy would be damned if she didn’t keep her promise. She didn’t have to like it though. Or maybe she did? It’s not like there was anything wrong with Applejack; Fluttershy was the one with the problem, and before this whole situation with Pinkie Pie and jealousy and possessiveness and all this other shit, Fluttershy actually thought Applejack seemed really sweet and wanted to get to know her better. Oh well. Nothing to do but to do it. Fluttershy knocked on Applejack’s door, her ears clamping against her head. No answer. Fluttershy’s ears flicked up, and she cocked her head. Maybe Applejack didn’t hear her? She knocked again. No answer. Okay, that was strange. Why wasn’t she answering? Did she know it was Fluttershy on the other side of the door and just decided to ignore her cuz she knew that Fluttershy was dangerous and a monster and awful and she didn’t want to— “Howdy, Fluttershy!” Applejack said, coming down the hall and making Fluttershy jump and shriek at the same time. “Uh, sorry, hon. Didn’t mean to scare ya!” Applejack laughed. Or perhaps, and this was just a working theory on Fluttershy’s part, maybe Applejack wasn’t answering her door because she wasn’t in her room. “Uh, hi, Applejack,” Fluttershy grabbed her hair and tugged on it gently, running her hands through it over and over. She managed to make contact with Applejack, so… now what the fu— “Somethin’ I can help you with?” Applejack said with a friendly smile, and she sure was being cordial for someone who knew that Fluttershy hated her. Well, maybe not ‘hated’, but you get it. “Um, why are you being so nice to me?” Fluttershy couldn’t stop herself from asking. “I dunno,” Applejack shrugged and traced the edge of her hat. “Just feels right, I guess. Like I know you have some beef with me cuz of the whole Pinkie Pie thing, and I ain’t exactly about to let you walk all over me or nothin’, but I get being jealous. I feel it too sometimes. It ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed of, just somethin’ to work through, y’know? So I don’t see any reason to be mean to you or any silly thing like that.” “Do you want to go to the Grand Galloping Gala with me?” Fluttershy blurted out. She figured she may as well rip the bandage off in one fell swoop instead of, um, not doing that. “Yeah, okay,” Applejack said with a smile, giving Fluttershy a friendly clap on the shoulder. “Wuh, huh? What?” Fluttershy stammered, blinking rapidly and trying to catch up to what just happened in her brain. She had like a million different plans for when Applejack had inevitably refused her request, and she was only now realizing she had zero plans for if Applejack said yes. “Like I said,” Applejack explained, “I ain’t got anythin’ against ya, Fluttershy. I get where yer comin’ from with the whole jealousy thing, and even though I ain’t gonna just act like it’s no big deal or that it’s healthy, I am willin’ to cut you a little bit of slack. “More’n that though,” Applejack beamed, and Fluttershy took a sip of her apple soda as she admitted to herself that Applejack’s smile was kinda cute, “you seem like a swell gal! Pinkie obviously thinks so, and I’d love to get to know you better! So yeah, I’d be happy to take you to the Gala.” “And I’d like to settle things between us,” Fluttershy said softly, rubbing her arm. “Like, I know the problem is um, I think entirely on me, but… for Pinkie’s sake, and for my own sake too, I’d really like to stop viewing you as like, um, competition, I guess.” “I feel ya, Fluttershy,” Applejack smiled and held out her hand. “From here on, how ‘bout we be friends?” “I’d like that,” Fluttershy said, gingerly taking Applejack’s hand, Applejack shaking it vigorously like she was trying to make a soda can explode. “I’d like that very much,” Fluttershy said, feeling dizzy. Well that was… remarkably easy. Way easier than Fluttershy thought it was going to be. Almost too easy even! But she wasn’t going to go on a big anxiety spiral rampage about ‘oh but what if Applejack was buhduh guhbuh’ or whatever else. Fluttershy had no intention of waiting in agonizing anxiety for some other shoe to drop. … Okay, but what if though? After all the mean things Fluttershy had thought about Applejack, and she’s just like ‘oh you seem nice let’s be friends’? How does that work? The only reasonable things Fluttershy could think of were either that Applejack was secretly trying to trick her, take her to the Gala and then humiliate or destroy her in some way, or that Applejack was being completely sincere and Fluttershy was a horrible person for thinking all that mean stuff about her. “Fluttershy?” Applejack, who was still standing directly in front of Fluttershy while she spaced out, asked politely. “You okay, hon?” “My dude,” Fluttershy bared the biggest, widest smile she could muster, and it didn’t look suspicious at all, “I am SO GREAT.”