The next day around noon, two ponies found themselves in small bit of trouble.
Fluttershy couldn’t believe Rarity was willing to make so many dresses for free. If it weren’t for friends that were forcefully paying her, Rarity wouldn’t be making any bits from all of her generosity.
It was kind of any odd thing to think of as you were scampering up a tree out of the path of some jaws that are currently snapping at your heels. Fluttershy sighed in relief as she looked behind her; the Timber Wolf looked up at her and it growled menacingly.
“Fluttershy, remind me how we both ended up like this again sugar cube?” Applejack the squirrel asked imploringly wearing a resized hat on her head. The orange squirrel rubbed its head in exasperation.
“We might have accidentally spooked Twilight earlier today. She’s got a slight issue with ponies surprising her.” Fluttershy the flying squirrel just wanted to help Applejack with her slight squirrel problem. They ended up tumbling into Twilight in a wheelbarrow at some point that morning and it was enough to set her off, thus causing this magical incident. Then a Timber Wolf found and chased them here when they woke up. The butter yellow flying squirrel with the long pink hair just sighed at the fact that they were now stuck in a tree, while being watched by what appears to be a problematic and incredibly patient Timber Wolf.
“She can fix this right; I’ll have you know I don’t like the idea of being the little sister of the family. I also don’t like being a squirrel and it just feels so weird to be the varmint for once!” Applejack had to run all kinds of apple tree damaging critters out of Sweet Apple Acres, now she had Ponyville’s local animal expert to do that for her. Said expert was a really good friend of the two most chaotic ponies in town not counting Pinkie Pie, one of which led to this situation at paw. “Ugh, these buck teeth sure aren’t easy to talk with.”
“I’m pretty sure we’re both learning a valuable lesson here.” Though Fluttershy was pretty sure she didn’t know what it was that she was learning from all of this. How to be a squirrel was probably one, they already learned how to climb a tree relatively fast thanks to the proper motivation. Now if she could only figure out how to use her flaps to glide around. If there was one thing any pony knew how to do as long as they had four legs, it was running.
“I’m guessing it’s never get Twilight mad at you. Do you mind if I ask a personal question? It looks like we’re going to be stuck like this for a while.” Applejack readjusted her hat and looked down at the dangerous creature taking a rest beneath the tree. To think they’d get stuck in Bloomberg of all trees.
“Um… what is it Applejack?” Fluttershy wondered how they were going to get out of this one. Twilight had to be far away now and she most likely didn’t know she caused them to become squirrels.
“I’ve been wondering. Do you fancy mares? I’m a might bit curious here.” It seemed odd to Applejack that Fluttershy seemed afraid of stallions. Even her brother caused Fluttershy to be skittish and not in the bashful secret crush way either. It was more like in an absolutely terrified kind of way.
“Yes, it’s not really a big secret or one I try to keep. I’m not quite sure Rainbow knows I’m happy in that way, but she’s always been my friend even if she doesn’t understand or notice things too well.” It wasn’t something Fluttershy brought up much, but Vinyl certainly knew about it given her predilection for pointing it out vaguely.
“So you’re saying every other pony you know knows about you being like this except her?” Applejack had looked at a stallion once or twice in her life, but she wasn’t interested. Hard work was what she considered her one true love in life.
“I don’t think Big Mac knows, I think he’s being a bit sweet on me. I don’t know how to let him down about it and I’m sorry, but I don’t like him very much.” Fluttershy covered her face with her fluffy tail while looking away from Applejack shyly. “I’d understand if you want to quite being friends because of this.”
“My brother always did know how to find the barn doors that never swung his way. Why would I want to stop being your friend over that? So you’re gay, I don’t rightly care and would like to continue our friendship. I’m being honest here. I may not understand why two mares get together but it helps the mares who like stallions find Mr. Right I suppose. Less competition for them and every pony is happy in the end.” Applejack had no problem whatsoever; she figured she was bisexual anyway. She did like some pegasus stallions she’s seen around town and she fancied a certain unicorn mare. “So who have you been eyeballing girl? It’s not like we have anywhere else to be, so we may as well talk about it.”
“Just about every single mare I have ever met in my life.” Fluttershy felt rather bad about that and she blushed at all the pretty ponies she knew that were still friends with her. Especially Rainbow, it was how she knew she was across the borders so to speak. She thought Rainbow was a colt and felt an attraction for her when they first met, she quickly found out that she had never previously been attracted to stallions for a good reason.
“Well shoot; there is nothing wrong with looking. I’ve looked once or twice at Rarity’s flank and thought nothing of it other than how round and cushiony it looked.” Applejack wondered if Fluttershy was going to turn entirely red at this rate. “Can you name a few ponies you really like in particular?”
“All my friends, I just really haven’t found a pony that is extra special to me.” Fluttershy really liked Vinyl’s laid back nature, Tress’s protectiveness, Rainbow’s general ignorance of anything in her path and plenty of other things that had attracted her to all of her friends. As long as she had the close friends that she did, she’d be perfectly happy in life without forming a romantic relationship with any pony. “I hope to one day find a special mare that will be my special some pony.”
“Aw shucks, you’re almost sweeter than the family apple pies.” Applejack crawled along the tree until she was right next to Fluttershy and she brought her into a deep hug. She didn’t nuzzle Fluttershy as she didn’t want the other squirrel to get the wrong idea. “Just don’t lead Mac on and we’ll be good as a rodeo clown in a specially built protective barrel that can survive neighagara falls.”
“I’ll try not to, how are we going to get the Timber Wolf to leave? I don’t think my stare works on something that doesn’t have eyes.” Timber Wolves as far as Fluttershy remembered had glowing energy eyes instead of physical eyes; they were magically animated wooden wolves. The signs of one being near were easy to see, especially after witnessing one too many food monsters at Velvet and Nightlight’s home. “I’m surprised we’re still speaking our language and not squirrel right now.”
“Heck, I’m even surprised you can speak squirrel. It sure is a good thing Timber Wolves can’t climb. That feller is really blending in down there.” One of the things Timber Wolves are known for was blending in with the trunk of a tree and then attacking a passing victim from behind. Applejack knew it was still there, as it twitched once in a while and looked up at them with its glowing green eyes. Timber Wolves were relatively smart and hard to kill without fire; lighting one of fire near anything flammable was a really bad idea. Applejack could imagine her entire orchard going up in flames and couldn’t help but give off a little whine at the thought.
“What’s wrong Applejack? I’m sure we’ll be rescued eventually or one of your family members will chase it off.” Fluttershy continued thinking of the things she knew about Timber Wolves, they had a peculiar reaction to tinny clanging noises. She did a short study on the fact that it may be disrupting the magical cohesion of the wolf through a specific frequency caused by the clanging metal vibrating.
“It’s not that, I was imagining everything I love going up in flames.” If there was one thing Applejack truly cared about it was her family, her farm was family and she had named at least a quarter of the trees in the orchard.
“It’s okay, nothing bad can happen to us as long as we stay up here.” Fluttershy probably should have said something different, as she didn’t say something couldn’t happen to another pony.
“Applejack, are you up here?” Apple Bloom wandered towards Bloomberg, the tree that Applejack tended to a lot more than the other tree’s. “Hey big sis where are you!”
“Oh, no…” Applejack really didn’t like where this was going, the Timber Wolf would attack her sister and there was not much damage she could do with her tiny claws. She couldn’t even go for its eyes and could only hope Apple Bloom wasn’t alone.
Apple Bloom thankfully wasn’t alone; she had Winona with her and one other pony. The dog’s ears perked up and she growled at something, while standing in front of Apple Bloom and the pony with them suddenly lazily perked up an eye looking around for danger.
Applejack wondered what in the world was Berry Punch doing here at Sweet Apple Acres. She didn’t care as long as there was a responsible… right Berry Punch was never very sober, but at least she was a fighter.
Berry Punch stumbled forward and Apple Bloom stayed behind Winona looking for what was upsetting her. The wolf lunged for Winona attempting to take down at least the easiest looking target that would put up some fight. It was halted when it felt itself held up by its scruff in rather shaky hoof.
“Just what are you looking at?” Berry Punch was never fully of sound mind, but her body reacted faster than the Timber Wolf could predict. It was launched around a hundred feet away with one solid hard hoof. It quickly got up with its tail between its legs and scampered off for the Ever Free Forest.
“That was a Timber Wolf! Thank you so much for protecting Mrs. Punch.” Apple Bloom moved over to pet Winona.”You’re a good girl Winona, you knew that mean monster was there and were going to protect me weren’t you.”
“No problem kid, now what did I do again?” Berry Punch stumbled and fell onto her side and looked up into the tree, while dizzily trying to get back to her hooves. “I’m not a Mrs. Anything anymore. Just call me Punchy little Doomed Apple, now take me to your reader!”
“I’m trying to do that, Applejack came out here with Fluttershy earlier. Where could they be?” The little filly was soon answered by a squirrel gliding down from the tree and another that crawled down wearing a familiar if smaller hat. “Applejack, is that you?”
“Apple Bloom, please have Big Mac find Twilight…” Within the next thirty minutes Applejack hoped to be herself again.
“Whoa, are you like… a frog or something?” Berry Punch was completely on her back and her tongue lolled out the side of her mouth.
While Apple Bloom was getting Twilight a few squirrels came up to them and Fluttershy started a conversation with them about moving elsewhere or not messing with the apples on the trees. Soon they came to an agreement; Fluttershy had solved the problem by being an intermediary for Applejack and the squirrels. Twilight eventually arrived with Apple Bloom looking completely distressed.
“Fluttershy I am so sorry that this happened to you. I didn’t see any sign of any pony after that wheelbarrow clipped me; I thought my magic didn’t do anything but get a template of a squirrel.” Twilight really could have lost a friend, much less could have gotten a little filly killed even if the Timber Wolf was not something she could control.
“Don’t worry about it any Twilight, it’s rather rare to even see Timber Wolves around here in the daylight. I’m sure Shy here forgives you, I know already do.” Applejack made sure to look Twilight in the eyes and was sure to be as sincere as possible while place a hoof on one of her shoulders. Turning to Berry, Applejack wanted to thank her too. “I thank you for protecting my sister Berry, now what was it you needed?”
“I heard you were making honeyed apple cider again and I came to ask if it was alcoholic.” Berry Punch sounded a bit more sober, then again she always sounded sober when it came to talking about intoxicating herself again.
“It can be, it just needs some extra stuff in it. Are you looking to buy some?” Business mode Applejack turned on immediately. The two mares wandered off to discuss business about alcoholic beverages.
Twilight turned to Fluttershy with a sad look on her face; she opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Fluttershy.
“You want a massage, okay then!” Fluttershy immediately pounced on Twilight before she knew what was happening. Fluttershy didn’t like Twilight dwelling on the possibility of putting her friends in danger, she didn’t mind being a squirrel as it was fun while it lasted. What was truly dangerous was the Timber Wolf and Berry Punch wandering around the area.
Twilight tried to protest until Fluttershy loosened her muscles.
The cunning plan Fluttershy came up with was to make sure Twilight couldn’t focus at all for the next few minutes until she forgot all about her troubles. Tress brought to her attention yesterday that Twilight was getting moody lately; she was not going to let her friend slide any further into depression over this accident.