//------------------------------// // 29 // Story: Twilights Mane Passion // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// Tress had managed to lose Rainbow Dash, which wasn’t an easy task as the mare could fly really fast. She was pretty sure Rainbow didn’t appreciate the first bite of that apple, but she hoped the mare bothered to finish it. Now she was on the road towards Sweet Apple Acres and was watching a rainbow zip across the sky of Ponyville. “You know, I don’t think she appreciated that Tress. So, how did you get your powers back and why isn’t your mane all green and stuff?” What Barb was asking about was her full blown Mane-iac transformation. “I don’t know; just don’t tell Twilight until I figure this out for myself!” Tress focused on her mane and she managed to turn a single lock of it green. She could not do anymore then that lock of hair; she could barely even stretch it out, though her control was still really good. She was almost at the farm and she decided to pull back on the green portion of her mane and it slowly returned to its light blue color. “Well did you do anything recently to gain that much of your powers back?” Barb was a little hurt that Tress panicked a little and shouted at her. Didn’t Tress know her mom liked her a lot and wouldn’t care if she changed back into Mane-iac and might have even liked it if she could do that at will? “Well I did eat a lot of zap apples. They gave me some pretty weird nightmares.” Tress shuddered at the dream. She was running, always running, never safe and always hunted. The moon is shining and mad eyes in the darkness that weren’t her own never ceased to follow her. They weren’t even green and red like her transformed state. “It’s okay Tress, calm down. I’m here for you; you have friends who will never give up on you.” Barb rubbed her claws up and down Tress’s back and neck, she started to calm down just as they approached the homestead. “Besides I think having super powers is cool!” It was a rather quick set of greetings and Barb got to meet Apple Bloom, it seemed she was getting along with other fillies her age easily enough on her own. They weren’t really going to stay long; they were only there long enough for Tress to pick up a freshly baked apple pie that she was going to take over to Fluttershy. Tress really needed a good gentle hug about now. “Barb, it’s time to go see Fluttershy. Apple Bloom, Applejack said to finish your chores before she gets back.” Tress was quickly saddled with Barb again and off on her way, leaving a slightly saddened Apple Bloom behind. “So did you have some fun?” “Yeah, this place is really cool I guess. Wouldn’t want to live here though, I’d never really get the smell of pigs and chickens out of my nose. Now come on Tress, to Auntie Shy’s new home!” The mare must have been as enthusiastic as Barb, because she picked up the pace. Barb was making sure nothing happened to the apple pie they were carrying. Tress walked up to Fluttershy’s house with some trepidation. She saw Fluttershy calmly sitting on the front steps of her home and was talking tenderly to a cardinal, it leapt up and flapped its wings several times only to fall back into Fluttershy’s hooves. Even Barb couldn’t say anything as she watched the innocent scene. “It’s okay, we all fall sometimes. Now try again.” Fluttershy calmly prodded the bird with her nose and then threw it up in the air, it chirped happily as it started flying again only to come back down at Fluttershy’s whistling. “Good, now you’re still not one hundred percent Mr. Cardinal but you’ll get there soon.” “Maybe, I’m not so sure. Look, do you seriously want to interrupt that?” As Tress pointed a hoof at the new scene playing out, Fluttershy was now feeding a bunch of baby rabbit’s mulched carrots with a spoon. The sight was too adorable and too perfect to interfere with. “No you’re right, we’ll sit here until she notices us.” Barb wouldn’t interrupt something that looked so adorable, even if it might be news she needed to hear immediately. “It might take her some time, what with her massaging that bear.” Tress Looking back at Fluttershy again, she was giving a large bear a massage. That shy mare certainly did quick work to be doing so many things that fast. She was like the ultimate kindness machine and her heart matched what she looked like on the outside. Tress felt like she could use some of that tender love and care, but what kind of monster would interrupt her when she was doing what she loved so much? That happy smile on the peaceful mares face was just so hard to approach; she could almost swear that Velvet was right about her being an adorable heart attack waiting to happen. After hopping off her friend Harry, Fluttershy finally noticed she had visitors and she immediately fluttered up to Tress and threw her hooves around her neck. She soon turned her attention to the little dragon next and gave her a kiss on the forehead causing the dragon to giggle while blushing. “It’s so nice to see you two! Tress you seemed a little tense when I hugged you, do you need some help relaxing your muscles?” Fluttershy and her horrendous adorability turned up a notch at this point. “You can come inside if you want. Also can you tell me what’s bothering you, if you don’t mind me asking?” Walking into the home, Tress and Barb noted it was like an animal wonderland. There was even a flamingo in the living room alongside all the mice, raccoons, a jackalope, a seal, several differing species of birds and a slightly less bandaged grumpy looking white rabbit on the couch. “We brought you an apple pie from the nearby apple farm, I hope you like it Fluttershy. We’ll be going now as we wouldn’t want to impose.” With that Tress set the covered pie on the kitchen counter and immediately tried to push Barb towards the front door only to have Fluttershy jump on top of her and straddle her. Tress felt her face heat up at the position Fluttershy put them in, what had gotten into the innocent mare? Usually Fluttershy wasn’t this forward unless she felt there was something wrong with her friends and that she could somehow help them. In this situation Fluttershy was right, but Tress didn’t want her to know that. “Can you please tell me what’s wrong with you Tress? If that’s okay with you, I really don’t want to burden you or pressure you about something if it’s too much a bother.” Fluttershy immediately started putting pressure on Tress’s back and with a pop Tress’s legs finally gave out and she gave off a pitiful squeak in contentment as her chest hit the floor. “It’s just really unhealthy to be this tense and I want to help you if you’re feeling bad.” “Flutters you can pressure me all you want.” Tress said dazedly, Fluttershy and her darned soft yet strong supple hooves. Fluttershy wouldn’t do this to just any stranger; she’d only do it for her friends. That mare was too shy to be forward with any pony other than those close to her heart. After a moment she shook her head and came to her senses, but she wasn’t about to buck Fluttershy off her back as she was being rubbed in all the right ways. “I really don’t want to talk about it Fluttershy, but I can talk about the horrible nightmare I had last night. Oh and I can talk about how Twilight was attacked by a tapir, she’s okay and is sleeping in today. Don’t know what will happen to the tapir, Zecora said she’d take care of it.” “But you don’t want to tell me about what’s really troubling you? I think there’s more to your discomfort then just those two things.” Fluttershy asked politely, apparently Twilight not being around is making Tress feel all blue. She didn’t think that was the main reason for Tress’s current distress, she always thought something was going on between her and Twilight. In fact she herself might have had a daydream or two about something going on between her and Tress, Tress was a really beautiful mare and such a good friend. Tress only nodded while sighing blissfully as Fluttershy kneaded her neck muscles. She smiled at the fact that Shy can make anything feel good, pony, animal or whatever. Massaging a pony was a lot different from massaging a wild animal, but Fluttershy did such a good job of it. It was almost enough to lead Tress into a false sense of security. Fluttershy was pretty darn smart and could wheedle just about anything out of her by just being herself. All Fluttershy had to do was… oh there she goes. Tress was now a limp noodle and at Fluttershy’s mercy and the shy mare had plenty of it when it was needed, this was not one of those times though. Fluttershy hugged Tress to herself and nuzzled her softly while cooing that everything would be alright in Tress’s ears and she knew Tress believed her. She had a way with more than just animals; she had a way with her close friends too. “Um... Auntie Shy, I think now is a good time to tell you since you have Tress so woefully distracted that your friend Rainbow just moved into town today.” Barb witnessed an odd indescribable look on Fluttershy’s face as she continued to work Tress over. “Oh my, if I remember what today is… it’s also her birthday as well right?” Seeing Barbs answer was a nod, Fluttershy smiled before she frowned at the frown on the dragons face. “Did Rainbow do something mean to either of you?” “Well she almost got us splashed with mud, but she did apologize for that. She’s also rather full of herself and she was tailing us until Tress bought her a zap apple to help us lose her.” Even as she spoke Barb noticed Tress was in no state whatsoever to speak up at the moment. There was a happy little lackadaisical smile on Tress’s face that Barb found disturbing despite what she was currently telling Fluttershy. “Well that was nice of her…” Fluttershy noticed Barb wince and look away which is why she asked her question in a stern manner. “Okay, what do these zap apples do?” “The first bite shocks the pony eating it, but afterwards it gets really tasty. Cutting one up weakens the shock quite a bit; mom helped prepare one for me last night after dinner. She was so tired from all that work on the apple farm she was even barely on her hooves at all by that point. Tress just loves them and they don’t shock her at all, mom was kind of confused as to why. I think it has to do with her powers coming back.” Barb was intrigued about why the zap apples would be giving Tress her abilities back; she’s been reading a lot of comic books lately as they were intriguing ever since she gave mom one for her birthday. The Power Ponies have regular not so enchanted comic books, not once has the Mane-iac ever returned in any other issue though. Barb knew where the Mane-iac was and she would like it if said super villain never had to leave, she liked having a big sister after all. “Tress the next time you see Rainbow Dash you are going to apologize to her for not warning her about the apple and she is going to apologize for stalking you!” Fluttershy didn’t receive a response from Tress, because at some point she had fallen asleep underneath her hooves. The butter coated mare sighed wistfully, so her old friend was back in her life or at least would be soon enough anyway. Ponyville was a small town and she was bound to run into her somewhere. “Barb, was there a griffon with Rainbow?” “Nope, it was just Rainbow. I don’t think she was being a very good friend when she couldn’t make time for you Auntie Shy. I don’t see why Tress has to apologize to her; she was kind of full of herself when introducing herself to us!” Barb flared her wings and let off a slight blast of flame in a huff scaring the nearby animals slightly. After calming down the animals, Fluttershy finished up with Tress and fluttered over to Barb and picked her up. “Oh sure she can be crude, rude and is very much a tomcolt of the highest order, but I know she means well… I think. Still that’s no reason to be mean to her unless she was trying to be mean to you, she still tried to be a good friend and I doubt she’s truly forgotten about me even though we’ve been apart for a long time.” After a moment and a sad smile Fluttershy cuddled Barb, before looking her in the eyes. “I’m glad that she was even willing to be my friend in the first place and she probably still is even though we each wandered away from one another. Sometimes you just have to let things go Barb; you can’t force your friends to stay by your side forever if they don’t want to be there. Gilda hurt me a bit because she thought I was trying to get in her way, I’m sure she’s truly a nice griffon otherwise. I forgave her for that because she just wanted her affection to be returned by a pony that she really likes. In all likelihood Rainbow probably frustrated her to no end.” “So did Rainbow let that griffon hurt you?” Barb asked in a grumpy tone as Fluttershy sat down on the couch still holding onto her. “No, Rainbow probably has no idea why I haven’t been around or left. I wonder where Gilda is now if Rainbow is here. Look, please just give Rainbow a chance. She’s not really a bad pony. I’m sure we could all be the best of friends if you tried.” Fluttershy gave a bright smile to the dragon and she lightly rubbed her back causing the dragon to cuddle into her. After a moment Barb was getting a massage of her own. “I’ll think about it, just don’t leave Tress and Rainbow in a room alone together. Tress really didn’t like hearing that Rainbow abandoned you and she certainly doesn’t like her now after meeting her once.” After a moment Barb was content as she a felt a pop. Fluttershy’s hooves gently worked her over. Her wings even flapped once or twice and she purred slightly, she was relaxed beyond all compare as her ears went limp. “Well consider it this way… I might have been the one that abandoned Rainbow.” Fluttershy saw the look on Tress’s face as she sat up hearing this statement; it was frown with a pair of sad passionate eyes directed at her.