It was another beautiful, late spring day in Ponyville. The grass shimmered with morning dew, the birds sang joyously as they fed their young, the ponies of Ponyville pranced and trotted about their business, and the day was so warm and great that it would brighten everypony’s mood.
Everypony except Applejack’s.
The earth pony stormed down the road towards Fluttershy’s cottage, her eyes narrow, ears pinned back with anger, her shoulders slouched and her temper burned hotter than a hearth’s fire. “Darn beavers. Thinkin’ they can walk into my farm and build their darn dam wherever they darn well like and flood my darn orchards,” she grumbled.
She lifted her head up and smiled a little when Fluttershy’s serene home came into view. ‘I just hope she’s in,’ Applejack thought. ‘Well if she isn’t here then she would be where Twi told us to meet her.’
Twilight had sent letters to them all in the early morning saying Princess Celestia was coming to Ponyville, along with a special visitor, and they were all requested to be outside the town to greet her. The matter at Sweet Apple Acres, however, had to be dealt with first, and the only pony that could remove the beavers was the animal caretaker of the town and the local warrior monk.
Applejack trotted over the small bridge, and was quickly greeted by Angel, who looked a heck of a lot older than when the earth pony last saw him. “Howdy there, lill’ fella. Is Fluttershy home, or is she out?”
Angel simply gestured with a wave of his paw that she was out back. Applejack tipped her hat to him. “Much obliged,” she said in thanks, before trotting around to the other side of the house.
She soon made it in view of the garden, and what she saw nearly made her hat fly off. “What in tarnation?” she whinnied, her eyes widening at the sight.
Fluttershy stood on her hind legs, with her back to Applejack, a large pole in both hooves, and five statues made of straw and made to look like different creatures – pony, reman, dragon, griffon, minotaur – surrounded her, with their arms positioned to look like they were about to strike.
Fluttershy broke from her sudden stance and slammed one end of the pole into one that looked like a pony, impaling it through the chest and out the back. She tore it out, spun around on the spot, and swung it hard over her head, knocking the pony’s head off cleanly with the momentum of her spin. She stepped away from the broken statue and turned to stand in front of the one that looked like a griffon. She leapt into the air, spun over it with her wings spread out for balance, then landed behind it and pivoted, swinging her pole widely and knocking her opponent’s legs off. The griffon fell to the ground and collapsed in a pile of straw.
She jumped and spun through the air as she moved onto her next target: the reman. She landed within a foot of the straw statue, and with a cry of rage slammed one end of the pole up where the crotch would be. Applejack squished her hind legs together and winced as she watched the reman statue topple backwards. ‘That had to hurt,’ she thought.
Fluttershy spun away from the remains and went towards the dragon statue. She took to the air as she held the pole tightly in both hooves, her eyes set in concentration as she tried to imagine the dragon coming for her with an open mouth.
She pushed herself forward with a single stroke of her wings, giving her enough push to thrust the pole right through the open jaw of the dragon and out the other side. ‘I think I might have come to the wrong house,’ Applejack thought as Fluttershy landed with a thud back on the ground behind the statue and picked up her pole, her ears pricked up high as she heard the dragon statue fall over on its side.
With that one done, there was only one left: the minotaur. Fluttershy reared up and spun on her hind legs to face the statue of this ‘monster’, her eyes narrowing as she considered how to destroy it. “Som Jern Vilje en gang fortalte meg: hvis noen prøver å stoppe deg, vis dem at du ikke kan stoppes (As Iron Will once told me: if somepony tries to block, show them that you rock)!” she roared in Dragonian.
Fluttershy threw the pole into the air, and then jumped up and caught it with her mouth. Then with a gritted and hoarse whinny, Fluttershy charged the statue head on, her wings spread wide as she prepared herself for the right moment. She suddenly slowed, and then leapt into the air. Applejack’s jaw dropped as she watched Fluttershy soar over the minotaur statue, and gracefully land on her hind hooves behind it. She spat the pole out of her mouth and caught it with her hooves, then spun around and swung it to hit one side of the stomach, and then the other, and finally ramming it into the back of the neck in one quick, hard thrust.
She threw her pole to the ground and walked slowly around the minotaur statue and back to the centre, just as it broke apart where she had hit it and turned into a pile of straw. She stopped when she was surrounded by the remains of her ‘opponents’, and closed her eyes while breathing heavily. Applejack could see the sweat running down her face, back and rump as it glittered in the low sunlight, while her tied back pink mane blew in the low wind’s direction.
“Ahem,” Applejack coughed quietly, for she knew Fluttershy would be able to hear her from where she was standing.
Fluttershy yelped in fright at the sound of Applejack’s voice, and quickly dived into a nearby bush for cover in the hope no pony actually saw her. Applejack could only slam a hoof into her face and sigh. ‘Fillies and gentlecolts, I give you the last of the mighty Dragonlords,’ she thought. “Fluttershy, it’s me, Applejack!”
Fluttershy’s head popped out of the bush, her eyes showing her surprise and utter embarrassment at being seen like she was. “Oh, uh, h-hi, Applejack,” she squeaked. “Um, how much of that did you see?”
“Enough,” Applejack simply replied, a small smirk on her face.
Fluttershy stepped out of the bush, her face bright pink with embarrassment while using a free hoof to release her mane from her red hair band. “Oh dear, I’m so sorry if that looked weird. I was just so full of energy that I had to find a way to get rid of it all, and this sort of practice was the right thing for me.” She lowered her tone as though she was ashamed of the next part, while her mane, now freed, cascaded across her face. “And, um, I was feeling a little grouchy.”
Applejack chuckled. “It’s perfectly all right, sugarcube. That wasn’t embarrassing what ya just did there; that was darn right impressive. There are far worse things I could have caught ya doin’ than that.” Applejack finished with a small smile, then looked at the casualties of war. “Did ya make all of those yourself?”
“Oh, yes, with a little bit of help from Rarity, of course. She said that if I practiced fighting a bit more, then I might be able to get less stressed and get fitter at the same time.”
“Uh huh, and the pole?” She pointed to the large stick that Fluttershy had thrown in the dirt.
“One of Zecora’s. She said she had a spare, and allowed me to keep this one.”
“But ya already have weapons of your own, sugar. Why did ya borrow one of Zecora’s?”
“I didn’t want to get my other weapons out, not until I have real need of them, as I was told.”
Applejack could easily see from Fluttershy’s mildly frightened eyes that the prediction Vidarr had told her still troubled Fluttershy deeply. The Dragonlord had told them about it over Applejack’s place during a sleepover when the rest of the Apple Family were away, and each of them had told Fluttershy that they would be by her side when the time came.
Applejack smiled comfortingly, and put a soothing hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t ya worry any, sugarcube. That’s a problem for another day, but know we’ll be by your side when it does happen,” she said, topping it off with an assuring smile.
Fluttershy smiled back. “So, um, what brings you here?” she asked. Her smile dissipated as her eyes went wide. “I’m not late for Princess Celestia, am I?”
Applejack shook her head, bringing back Fluttershy’s smile. “Oh, heavens no,” she chuckled. “I came to ya to ask for your help in somethin’.”
Fluttershy’s small smile faded completely, this time for good. “It’s about the beavers again, isn’t it?”
Applejack nodded. “How did ya know that?”
Fluttershy pointed to her friend’s shoulders. “Your shoulders are slouching,” she stated. “And I know that when Mister Beaverton Beaverteeth invades your orchard and builds a dam, your shoulders tend to slouch.” Applejack nodded once more, feeling pleasantly surprised that her friend could remember that. Fluttershy smiled kindly. “Come on, let’s go and convince them to move someplace else.” With that, Fluttershy brushed past the earth pony, and trotted cheerfully past her cottage and over the bridge towards Sweet Apple Acres.
Applejack shook herself out of her daze, and broke into a canter after her. “Those darn beavers have been annoyin’ us all spring. Big Mac said to me once that you are to blame for them keep coming back.”
Fluttershy’s ears fell flat when she looked at Applejack, visibly hurt. “Why would he say that?”
“I don’t know, I guess he was still upset that ya never turned up at that date Rarity had set up for ya both.”
“But it’s not my fault I don’t find your brother attractive,” Fluttershy said defensively. She meekly added, “No offence.”
Applejack laughed aloud, and gently patted the pegasus on the shoulder. “None taken, sugarcube. I must admit I would have been mighty freaked out if ya did start goin’ out with my brother. I mean, I already see ya as a sister already, so to actually gain ya as a sister-in-law would be great, but at the same time strange.” She shook her head at herself. “I know that doesn’t sound right–”
“Oh no, it’s okay,” Fluttershy assured her, giggling. “I think I understand. And I thank you for understanding why I don’t want to go out with your brother.”
“It’s fine, sugarcube, at least now Cheerilee and Big Mac are seein’ each other more, so maybe one day they might get hitched.” The two ponies continued talking about the beaver problem and about their day so far as they trotted towards Sweet Apple Acres, unknowing that today would be one of the weirdest days of their lives.