//------------------------------//
// Fluttershy's New Family 
// Story: Equestriooo 
// by MythrilMoth 
//------------------------------//

"Good morning, Fluttershy!" a heavily accented, digitally-processed voice said. "It's time for breakfast! I made you waffles. They look like your Cutie Mark!"

Fluttershy's eyes fluttered open; she rubbed the sleep from them with one butter-yellow hoof. A cheerful electronic face looked down at her from a screen. "Hmm? Oh...good morning, Beemo."

"Come and get it while it's still warm!" Beemo hopped down off the bed and padded out of the bedroom; Fluttershy followed him to the breakfast table. There, she found a plate of butterfly-shaped waffles with strawberry syrup, a sliced orange, and two sunny-side-up eggs, garnished with two petunias from her garden. A cup of hot tea sat next to her plate.

"It looks wonderful, Beemo!" Fluttershy said, fluttering to the table and sitting down. She blinked as she realized that apart from the animals, they were the only two there. "Where are Finn and Jake?"

"Jake went out to have breakfast with Lady, and Finn is hunting in the Everfree Forest," Beemo reported.

Fluttershy frowned slightly. "Hunting again?" She sighed. "I really wish he'd stop doing that. There's more than enough food in Ponyville. He doesn't need to kill defenseless critters for their meat..."

"Oh, he is not hunting a defenseless critter," Beemo said. "He is hunting that seven ton killer boar!"

"Oh," Fluttershy said. "Well that's alright then." She nibbled at her orange. "Do you think he'll be alright fighting that thing by himself?"

"Of course he will!" Beemo said. "Finn is very strong."

Fluttershy began eating her waffles. "Oh my goodness...these are delicious!" She beamed at Beemo. "You're such a good cook. And so adorable!"

Beemo smiled cutely at her. "Yes yes, I know. Beemo is number one best boy in the whoooole world!"

Fluttershy giggled, then finished eating her breakfast in silence. As she ate, Angel hopped up to Beemo and started playing a game of Tetris.

Once Fluttershy finished, she washed the dishes. She'd just finished drying the last of them when the front door opened, admitting Jake. "I'm back," the magic dog called.

"How was your breakfast with Lady?" Fluttershy asked.

"Pretty good," Jake said. "She told me some donk about PB and Twilight having a love child."

Fluttershy gasped. "What?"

"Yeah...I don't think you can really call one of Princess Bubblegum's crazy making-life experiments a love child, even if she did use Twilight's DNA, but whatevs." He paused to bark at Angel, who gave him the middle paw and scampered away. Chuckling, Jake plopped down in front of Beemo and began playing his latest favorite game.

"Umm...shouldn't you go help Finn now that you're back?" Fluttershy asked. "I mean...he's out doing something really dangerous and scary. I wouldn't want him to get hurt."

"Eh, he'll be fine," Jake said.

"But Jake, he might need help bringing alllll that bacon home," Beemo said.

Jake blinked. "Oh yeah, you're right." He stood up and stretched. "Okay, I'm out. Later!"

Fluttershy smiled and began tending to all her animals. It had been a difficult adjustment, having three strangers living in her cottage, but Beemo was thoughtful and adorable, Jake was a lot of fun (and useful to have around), and Finn was brave and strong, frequently making patrols of the Everfree Forest to make sure nothing scary or dangerous wandered into Ponyville.

He was also pretty cute. This thought made her blush as she refilled the water bowl for her birds. She started to sing her favorite Ponytones song. A moment later, Beemo joined in. Even her birds started to sing along with them.

When they had finished two entire choruses of the song, Beemo stood up. "Well, I'm off to my playdate with Button Mash and Sweetie Belle."

"Have a good time!"

The door closed behind Beemo, and Fluttershy was alone again. She sighed. "Oh, Angel. I never thought I'd be sad to be by myself."

A tremendous THUMP outside shook the ground. Fluttershy let out a frightened squeak and flew upstairs. She hung upside-down at the landing, peeking nervously over the top of the stairs.

The door banged open. "I'm home!" Finn called. "And I've got a big donkin' pig!"

Fluttershy flew gingerly down. "Oh, um...alright. Welcome back, Finn. Is Jake with you?"

"Yeah, he's outside chasing a buzzard away from the pig," Finn said. "So, uh...here's a question. What the heck am I gonna do with seven tons of pork?"

"Oh, I wouldn't know," Fluttershy said. "Meat isn't very popular around here."

"Aww, dumptrucks," Finn said. "I wanna eat as much of this pig as I can, but me and Jake together can only eat like fifty pounds of it before it goes bad." He scratched his chin. "If only we had a smokehouse or something..."

Fluttershy thought for a moment. "Maybe Applejack and Big Macintosh can help you build a smokehouse?" she suggested. "And I'm sure there are a few ponies who'd like to taste boar meat. You know, just to say they'd tried it."

"Sweet!"

A few days later, all of Ponyville gathered for a massive feast to celebrate the opening of Ponyville's first ever smokehouse. They hadn't just smoked the boar; they'd also smoked cheeses, fruits, and vegetables. The Apples had been delighted to discover that using applewood in the smokehouse gave everything a nice flavor.

"This. Is. AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash said as she took a big bite of a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.

"I agree. This isn't bad at all," Twilight Sparkle said as she sliced off a bite of ham steak and ate it.

"I believe I'll stick to the smoked cheese and apples, thank you," Rarity said as she daintily popped a cracker topped with smoked cheese and apple into her mouth.

Finn, meanwhile, was in hog heaven. "Jake?"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"This? Is the best thing I ever killed."

"Yeah."