//------------------------------// // Photo Finished // Story: AppleShy: The Series // by solsticebrony888 //------------------------------// Proudly wrapping her fore-leg around Fluttershy, the orange pony stood tall as they met the gigantic crowd before them. As the wind softly blew through their manes, they were met with louder cheering then they could have imagined. Hearing the good reaction from the crowd, Fluttershy stood up slightly higher and gave Applejack a peck on cheek. The loudness of the Marching Ponies behind them soon overtook the loudness of the crowd as the band too turned the corner. Applejack happily waved at ponies in the crowd, spotting Rarity in the midst, dressed up way beyond what's necessary like usual. She couldn't help but giggle when she saw the expression on Twilight's face from seeing the proud Rainbow Dash next to Soarin. not surprisingly, the attention loving Pegasus was doing all sorts of poses for the cameras in the crowd, while Soarin just smiled, and waved, knowing most of the attention was on him anyway, just from being a Wonderbolt. "This is great!" Yelled Applejack, with an agreeing nod from Fluttershy. They looked below them to see Ditzy and DrWhooves modestly waving, letting most of the attention go to the couple next to them. Then Pinkie Pie Announced their float from her hot-air balloon, not having a clue how she got to it so fast. "Here is the lovers float with couples from across PonyVille! HI APPLEJACK AND FLUTTERSHY! Aren't they soooo cute! They're the cutest newest couple in PonyVille! Say hi!" The pink pony said enthusiastically with a roar from the colorful crowd. She then announced the other couples, quickly moving on to her candy float, something she was obviously proud of. They then started hearing a yelling in the distance, with photos directed towards them. "FLOOTERSHAI! *click* APPAJACK! *click* WUNDERBAR!*" Fluttershy's eyes widened with horror, "Is that Ph-Photo Finish?" Applejack glanced in the general direction and saw a pony jogging alongside their float snapping endless amounts of pictures. "Ah think so, darlin'" She said loudly for Fluttershy to hear her. "FLOOTERSHAI! *Click* YOU LOOK *Click* WUNDERBAR!* The orange pony continued to wave to the crowd, but looked at Fluttershy ,"Um, Sugarcube, what's 'voonderbar' mean?" "I…Don’t know.., but she's the one that um, forced me to a model a long time ago..." "You MODELED? And ah never saw you do it? Ah bet you were...WUNDERBAR!" She giggled, assuming she found the meaning of the word. "You used my pictures to advertise your apples at your stand..." Applejack blushed, completely forgetting she did that, "Oh, um...right," She said with a nervous laugh. The float neared the end of the street, which was the end of their part of parade. Both ponies wondered why it was short, but then saw the Marching band stop to give a performance before Celestia made it there. "When are we going to, um, meet Princess Celestia?" Applejack forgot about that too,"Ummm, I’m sure Twilight will tell us, 'Shy" As they turned the corner, and ended their part of the parade, they heard an exited Rainbow Dash bragged about how, to her, the crowd was amazing by her poses. Applejack laughed almost too loud, not that the Rainbow Pony would notice. They knew Princess Celestia arrived in front of the crowd when a roaring cheer from the massive gathering of ponies shook the ponies to their core. "That sure went fast, huh?" "Yeah...I kind of wanted it to last longer...it was fun," Said the happy Fluttershy. They hugged then kissed in celebration of their first majorly public appearance as a couple. "Ah told you you could do it, sugarcube!" "I know, thank you Applejack..!" The ponies on the first story of the float exited first, then after another gleeful kiss, Fluttershy and Applejack exited next. They were all greeted by Twilight, with a bunch of thank-yous, though when she reached Applejack and Fluttershy, her whole demeanor suddenly changed. "I, uh, have some bad news girls," They just looked at her expectantly. "Princess Celestia is going to have to leave right after she greets the crowd," She said with a remorseful frown on her face. Applejack face-hoofed, "Doesn't she always?" "It's important business, Applejack, she doesn't have a choice" "...Isn't it always?" She questioned, quite obviously irritated by the misfortune. Twilight ignored her, and went on to Fluttershy, "You sure look happy! How was it for you Fluttershy?" "It was...nice," "FLOOTERSHAI! APPAJACK! YOU GUYS WAS FANSTIQUE!" Interrupted Photo Finish, prancing around the corner with her two assistants at her side. Fluttershy squeaked, Applejack face-hoofed again. "YOU GUYS ARE ABSHALUTELY ADORABLE. Photo Finish approves!" She stood right next to them, Fluttershy backing away. "I did not know, you two were, TOGETHER! That brings so much, how do you say, OPPERTUNITY!" She motioned emphatically with her hooves while she spoke, almost to add effect to her words. Applejack bit ,"For what...?" "Oh my dear Appajack," The miss-pronunciation of her name made the orange pony cringe, "You two could be so popular! Twilight silently snuck away to her own business, considering herself lucky to have not been roped into the conversation. "Thank ya kindly, Photo Finish, but we don't exactly want too," An overly enthusiastic gasp escaped Photo Finish, “Nonsense! Just do a few shots! Lyra and Bonbon recommended you two to, ME: Photo Finish!" Applejack nearly face-hoofed once more. "Speaking of the two, here they come now! What WUNDERBAR timing!" Lyra and BonBon came from around the corner, BonBon smiling happily as she prepared to congratulate the two. They greeted each other with loving hugs. "Bonbon, Didja two really recommend us ta do Photography?" "Nice to see you too, Applejack!" Lyra said, heavy on the sarcasm, receiving a passing annoyed glance from the earth pony. "Well, you two ARE the only other mare couple in town we know of, and besides, this modeling thing is fun!" BonBon explained. Fluttershy shook her head ,"I've already modeled, um before and it wasn't very fun, um for me," This made Photo Finish frown, but she surprisingly didn't interrupt. "Well, it's fun when you're with the one you love, me and Lyra have a blast doing it!" Fluttershy just thought about it. "Neither of us really want ta do this, BonBon, Ah'm awfully sorry," She frowned, "Just try it out, I PROMISE that you guys will have fun, dear!" she turned to Fluttershy, "You said yourself that you feel more confident with Applejack around, if you both do it, it'll be fun and it's a good time for you too," "BonBon says the truth, Flootershai, I won't have you two walk down a runway, I'm advertising my own clothing on YOU, and all I need is...ZE PHOTOS" The two mares knew right then and there that they weren't going to get out of this without agreeing to at least one photo shoot. Fluttershy gave the earth pony a defeated look, so Applejack spoke first. "Ah'm guessin' we have no choice huh?," Applejack said with a defeated laugh," We'll do it, but only one time," "WUNDERBAR! We meet tomorrow, at Rarities! That's where we can do, ZE MAGICS!" Suddenly, in unison with her assistants, Photo Finish walked away almost in a formation. She left without telling them what to bring, or even a time for them to come to Rarity's. BonBon squealed with joy ,"I'm so excited! We've never modeled with anypony else before! Are you exited?" "Sure," Applejack said, noticeably unenthusiastic about it all ,"What time are we 'sposed to meet there?" BonBon thought for a second ,"Come at 9am, that's when she has us come. She's such a weird pony, I'm not surprised she didn't tell you that," "Weird is an UBER understatement," Joked Lyra, causing BonBon to giggle and gave her that 'oh YOU' type of look. "Well, Ah'm sorry to cut this meeting short, but ah worked all day today at the farm, and now ah just want to get to our home and sleep, ah guess ah'll see ya gals tomorrow!" "Wait, aren’t you going to stay to meet Princess Celestia?" BonBon questioned. “No, she cancelled, and ah don’t even know why. Twilight Sparkle juss said it was ‘important business’, ah juss think she doesn’t want to,” “Oh, don’t think like that, I’m sure her reason is real, she just can’t tell you. Anyways, see you girls tomorrow!” The couples hugged each other once again, and soon Applejack and Fluttershy were on their way back to their home. Applejack giggled when she saw Soarin with at least 10 Apple pies in his arms. When they nearly were at their home, Applejack changed the subject of their regular small-talk back to the day ahead of them. "Fluttershy, I'm sorry ah let that Photo Finish get you back into modeling again, ah know ya don't like it, no matter how much ah like seeing ya in a dress," Fluttershy smiled, "Actually, um, No...I think Bonbon was right, I think it'll be better with you there, I'll definitely feel more, um confident. And we won't have to walk a runway, I hated that the most!" The orange pony smiled, pleasantly surprised, "Woah, didn't expect ya ta say that, Sugarcube! If you're havin' fun ah'm sure ah will too! but, on the other hoof, We need to stop lettin' people convince us to do stuff juss cuz we are two mares, Ah feel like that's the only reason why they want us to do it the first place, ya know?" "It's better than people, um, rejecting us " Applejack gave her a sly smile "Good point," The two mares entered their home, both immediately going upstairs. They both needed some sleep, even if Fluttershy didn't exactly do much. After a few minutes, she snuggled into her mare a little bit more and smiled ,"Ah love you darlin', Ah hope tomorrow doesn't go too bad hehe, ah'm honestly a little exited," After a few seconds she realized Fluttershy was already sleeping. She giggled under her breath ,"Feeding all them animals all day must be awfully tirin'," She said sarcastically ,"Good night, beautiful,"