//------------------------------// // Hey Macky, You're So Fine // Story: Appledashery // by Just Essay //------------------------------// With a creak of the handle, Fluttershy opened the cottage door. She looked up with doey eyes, and a gentle flush spread through her cheeks. Her wings twitched once, twice, followed by a wave of sparks that rolled up her spine until erupting with a warm grin in her muzzle. “G-good afternoon, Macky.” She gulped, then wrenched her eyes from his chiseled features. A basket lay on his back. “Oh! You… you must be here for the new collar I stitched for Winona.” “Eeeyup,” the stallion said with a calm smile. “Well, good! This is a g-good thing. You see…” She trotted across the cottage foyer, picked up the item in question with her wingtips, and carried it back to the front door. “I just put the finishing touches on it yesterday afternoon. See? It’s good… don’t you think? Everything’s just… g-good!” “Heheh…” Big Macintosh nodded, clasped the collar in his teeth, and tossed it back into the basket. “Eeyup.” “I… uhm… I took the liberty of repatching Winona’s tag on the front. I hope you don’t mind.” “Enope.” “The old one was getting hard to read,” Fluttershy said, avoiding his gaze as she dug at a small patch of floorboards with a pensive hoof. “I wanted to be sure that Winona’s name was legible. A pity it would be if Winona got terribly lost somehow and nopony would be able to tell who she was or where she belonged.” “Eeyup…” “Yes…” Fluttershy bit her lip. “Every precious th-thing deserves to be found.” She brushed a pink bang or two away. “Don’t you agree?” She glanced up. Big Macintosh simply shrugged with a placid smile. “I… uhm…” Fluttershy squirmed even more. “I was wondering… if… if it isn’t too b-bold for me to ask.” The dainty pegasus cleared her throat like a noisy tugboat coming into harbor. “If we… uhm… if we were st-still on for Thursday.” The stallion looked at her funny, then with a breathy chuckle blurted, “Eeyup!” Fluttershy had to restrain from gasping. Her wings flapped in tiny motions. “Oh! Oh, th-that’s wonderful! I mean…” She bit her lip. “So long as you still think it isn’t a waste of your time.” Another chuckle. The stallion shook his head and uttered, “Eenope.” It could have been the glow of the sunset, but his cheeks looked redder than normal. The space that hovered between the two ponies was positively electric. “Well, then… great!” Fluttershy smiled. “I’ll make us sandwiches. Though… uhm… I don’t have a picnic blanket that’s large enough for… for… erm…” Big Mac rolled his eyes and nodded knowingly. “You don’t mind bringing one of your family’s?” “Eenope.” “Okay. Okay, that will work.” Fluttershy exhaled with relief, looking lighter than air a she murmured, “Well, th-then, I will be… seeing you on Thursday!” “Eeyup.” Big Macintosh bowed slightly with his head, smirked, and trotted away on thudding hooves. In his absence, Fluttershy grinned through her teeth (Squee!). She closed the cottage door with a tranquil sigh, revealing Rainbow Dash crouched, hidden behind the frame. “Fluttershhhhhhhhhhhy…?” Rainbow hissed with narrow eyes. “Eeep!” Fluttershy hugged herself and floated in place, shivering. “What? What?!” Rainbow’s eyes darted from Fluttershy to the door and back. A slow, awkward grin rolled from one edge of her muzzle to the other. “What was that just now…?” “Oh! Uhm. I had promised the Apple family that I would stitch Winona’s collar back together and--” “Nooooooo.” Rainbow Dash hovered closer. “What was that between you and Big Macintosh?” “Oh. That?” Fluttershy’s jaw clenched and unclenched. She ran a hoof through her ruffled pink bangs and murmured, “Oh, it’s simply… uhm… a casual acquaintance.” “That’s the sort of bullcrap thing Rarity would say: ‘casual acquaintance.’ Come on, Fluttershy. What’s going on, really?” Rainbow Dash smirked with forelimbs folded. “Y’know you can’t hide nothing from me.” “No,” Fluttershy breathed, though her muzzle was infected with an undying smile. “No, I suppose I cannot.” Fluttershy gazed at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash blinked back. Fluttershy blushed. “For real?!” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked. “You and Big Macintosh?” “Uhm…” Fluttershy’s shoulders were hunched as her cheeks became even redder. “...yes?” “I mean, nothing wrong with that, I-I guess! He seems like a really nice pony… for a stallion.” Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. “But seriously, Fluttershy! Have you even looked at him? He’d snap you in two!” “Mmmmm… yes he would…” Fluttershy cooed. A beat. Her eyes crossed and she shook her muzzle. “No! Rainbow, what a cruel thing to say!” Rainbow Dash hovered backward, hugging herself and giggling as she kicked at the open air. “Rainbow!” Fluttershy stomped her hooves. “Ohhhhh…” She pouted delicately, her tousled mane flouncing. “Somehow I knew you would react this way! You certainly didn’t see me poking fun at your intense infatuation for our friend Applejack!” “Yeah…” Rainbow giggle-snorted. “But at least Applejack can say more than two things!” Fluttershy stroked her own mane with a pensive, far-off expression. “Mmmmmm--M-Macky can most certainly say more than two things.” Rainbow hovered upright and gave her a curious squint. “‘Macky…?’” “In fact…” Fluttershy’s smile became warm again. Her eyes sparkled as the reflected the rustic interior of the cottage around her. “He tells me lots of things. You just have to get to know him, and then you find out what a thoughtful, kind, sympathetic stallion he is.” She exhaled with a soft breath. “He loves his family so much, and he’s so kind to the farm’s livestock.” She swallowed deeply. “And he’s so gentle and has this… calm and tranquil approach to life. He doesn’t want to be famous or big or super popular. He just wants to take slow steps, work hard, and enjoy the quiet moments in his existence. I wish that I could be calm and collected just like him. And… and I like to think he’s going to show me.” “Yeah, well, he’d better show you with just his words and his good looks.” Rainbow said with a slight hint of a snarl. “Because the moment one of those big, clumsy hooves get anywhere near your soft shoulders--” “Rainbowwwwww…” Fluttershy flew up and nuzzled her friend’s cheek before hugging her. “I know how much you want to protect me, but don’t worry. Mack--erm… Big Macintosh wouldn’t hurt a fly.” “But… but…” “You do know who he’s related to, don’t you?” Rainbow Dash blinked. “Eheheh…” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah. Okay. You make a good point.” Fluttershy tilted her head up with resolve. “I know I do.” Silence. Rainbow gulped in mid-hover. “Yowsers. We both are stupidly hopeless, aren’t we?” Fluttershy blinked. After a few seconds, she broke into snorting laughter. Rainbow Dash joined her, and soon both pegasi were giggling awkwardly into the shadowy rafters of Fluttershy’s home.