Fluttershy woke early the next morning, and smiled as she watched the strange dark-blue stallion—her stallion—sleeping beside her. She giggled. She still didn't know if his name was Smiles or Nosey. But that was unimportant. A name was nothing compared to the bond they now shared. She got up, careful not to disturb him and not to let her hooves click as she walked to the kitchen, and hummed quietly as she moved around preparing breakfast.
He came in, yawning, just as she was setting coffee and two dishes of alfalfa sprouts out on the table. He blinked at the domestic scene before him.
"Would you like sugar with your coffee?" she asked.
"Oh, that's lovely. Really sweet of you. But I have to run."
She stopped, then set the sugar bowl down slowly on the table. "Oh. If you have to."
"Afraid so." He gave her a quick peck on the neck. She sighed happily. Then he turned to go.
"Wait!"
He stopped in front of the cottage door, looking over his shoulder, one hoof suspended in the air. "Train to catch."
She shook her head at him lovingly. "You need my address, you silly colt. To write to me."
"Of course," he said, although he looked a little confused.
She dashed into her bedroom and found a pen and a scrap of paper and quickly scratched out her address on it. She tucked it into the little cloth neck pouch that he kept his money in. "And I want to give you something else," she said excitedly. He raised his eyes questioningly. She motioned for him to open the door. "Outside."
They stepped out into the yard, and went to a shed behind the chicken coop. The hens rushed out and began running about the yard when she walked by, expecting to find seeds, but she'd take care of that later. She disappeared inside the shed and appeared a moment later, carrying an empty flowerpot in her mouth. She set it down next to the chrysanthemum bed, carefully scooped out the earth around several flowers, and transplanted them into the pot.
"Take this," she said, and smiled proudly.
He looked uncertainly at the flowers, then at Fluttershy. "You do know I'm going to Appleloosa?"
"It's just a little pot. I'm sure you'll figure out a way to carry it." She beamed at him, confident in his cleverness.
"And I'm not going to be back in Ponyville for some time." He spoke hesitantly, like a colt caught playing truant.
"Yes, so these will help remind you of me!"
Smiles, or Nosey, took a deep breath and looked her in the eye, as if he were about to say something big. Then he exhaled, looking down, and just said, "Did you have a nice time?"
"Oh, I had a wonderful time."
"Well. Good. Good luck, kid."
His words and his look reminded her of the brown stallion from the night before. He smiled with one side of his mouth, and obediently picked up the little flowerpot with his teeth. She liked that about him, that he wasn't above using his mouth, even though he was a unicorn.
"Keep them damp," she said. "Not full of water. Just damp." He nodded, winked at her, and set off down the road.
Fluttershy watched him until he disappeared over the hilltop, then went to get the seed for the chickens. She noticed it was running low, and she'd have to head to town soon to get more. Ordinarily that filled her with dread. But that morning, it seemed like a delightful prospect. She laughed at herself for ever being afraid of walking to town. It was a beautiful day, and who knew who she might meet along the way? Ponyville was full of lovely ponies, and she should spend more time getting to know them. In fact, she would go to town right now. Maybe she would even stop and see the town's new library that was being built.
Maybe she would do something completely unexpected! She was now a mare who tried new things, and she felt giddy with the possibilities. From this day on, everything was going to be different. She could talk to other ponies, and understand them, and they could understand her. She wasn't a cowering filly any more, never knowing if the colts and fillies in flight school were making fun of her. She was a grown-up mare, entering into the world of grown-up ponies who related to each other on a spiritual level.
She put on her saddlebags and trotted down the path towards town, enjoying the morning breeze and the brilliant colors of the autumn leaves, which they had shaken off the trees, but which were still blowing about on the ground. She was still finding new colors when she crested the hill and saw a white leaf stuck in a bush just off the road. She trotted over to inspect it. Bending down, she saw it was the scrap of paper she'd given to her lover. It must have blown out of his pouch.
Farther back in the bush, she saw a little burst of yellow color on the ground, like fireworks, lying next to something with a strange shape and a burnt red color.
"Oh," she said, "oh."
The pot had broken into several pieces when it had been tossed aside. There was no point trying to repair it. She would have to get a new one in town.
Fluttershy stared at the broken pot and the flowers spilling out of it, and wondered what she'd done wrong. Everything had been going so well, up until when they, well.
Maybe she just wasn't very... good.
It was nice of him to try to hide the pot in the bushes. That proved that ponies weren't just animals. An animal wouldn't have done that.
She looked down the road towards town. It would be the busy morning hour by the time she got there. She imagined the grocer, the feed store clerk, and all the working ponies who would be milling around the hardware store at this time of day. They always impressed her, the way they walked down the aisles confidently, all business, knowing they belonged there, not noticing Fluttershy unless she cleared her throat several times.
She wondered how they would look at her if they knew whatever it was that Smiles knew. Then she remembered how the ponies last night had known so much about her. How they'd both looked at her when they left, when they knew for sure.
The same way ponies always looked at her.
She didn't need to go to town today. Besides, she felt itchy all over, like she was coming down with a rash. Maybe a bath would help. She didn't bathe every day, but it seemed important now.
She gently picked up the fallen flowers in her mouth. They needed to be replanted as quickly as possible. So she turned around and galloped all the way back to her cottage. But when she got there, she dropped the flowers in the yard, went inside, and shut and locked the door behind her. The hens kept milling around the yard for another half hour, waiting for seed to appear, before they gave up and returned to roost in the warmth of their coop.