Appledashery

by Just Essay


The Quietest Nuzzle in the World

“It's so incredibly nice of you to offer to fix those for me,” Fluttershy said. With softly padding hoofsteps across the grass, she turned to smile over her shoulder. “I'm afraid that my mechanical skills aren't as good as my special gift with animals.”

“Don't you fret, little darlin',” Big Mac unabashedly spoke with a freckled grin. A stack of metal cages lay on his spine, rattling lightly with each heavy step. “My lil' sis is always tellin' me that I need to start a new hobby.”

“Well, so long as it's not too terribly hard for you to do.” Fluttershy trotted towards him and fussed with a loose metal door, frowning. “Ohhhhhh, I hate having to use these things. But honey badgers are just so temperamental and it takes a long enough time teaching them how to behave and be nice.”

“Hmmm...” Big Macintosh stroked his chin, glancing back at the cages himself. “Maybe I can see about linin' the inside of the containers with a layer of wool. If nothin' else, it'll keep the lil' fellas from bangin' themselves up somethin' awful.”

“Oh! That would be so amazing! What a great idea!”

“Just because them's upstart critters don't mean they gotta be treated with anythang but gentleness, I reckon.” Big Mac blinked, for a dainty pair of hooves were grasping his. He turned to look forward.

Fluttershy was hovering in front of him, cradling his hoof in two forelimbs. “You'd be amazed where you can find the gentlest of things...” She softly, lovingly nuzzled his fetlock, then smiled into his eyes. “Sometimes it just takes a little bit of coaxing.”

Big Mac blinked. “Eheheheh...” He blushed. “Hehhh hehhh...” He blushed harder. “Or... ahem... a lot of coaxin'.”

Fluttershy giggled as she landed down on all fours. Her wings coiled at her side and her loose hoof batted lazily at a few tall blades of grass in the sunset. “So... uhm...”

“Would ya like me to walk ya back to yer cottage, Flutters?” Big Mac motioned towards the distant barn below the hill. “Just gimme a sec to drop these here cages off and I'll—”

“Oh, Big Mac, you're so kind. You don't have to.”

“Nonsense!” He frowned. “I wouldn't be a right gentlecolt if I didn't—”

Macky, you've walked me home twelve times in the past month alone.” Fluttershy stifled a giggle. “You've got nothing to prove about being a fine gentlecolt.”

“Well, shucks...” Big Mac avoided her gaze, glancing down at his fidgeting hooves. “I just wanna make sure yer cared for all good and proper.”

“And I am, Big Macintosh.” Fluttershy trotted forward. “Believe me, I am...”

“Eeyup...”

“Yes...”

Both stood within inches from one another, but from the way they separately glanced aside, they could just as well have been continents apart. A brief gust of wind blew through, chilling them into an awkward shudder.

“It's... it's late,” Fluttershy murmured. “I... uhm... I-I'd better get back home to the cottage before Angel thinks I got lost or worse—”

Big Mac drifted forward.

Fluttershy actually gasped—until she felt the soft, warm press of the bottom of his chin against the back of her head. Instantly, her pupils shrunk, and she smiled deliriously. In an instinctual motion, she took a step forward, wings spread, as she tilted her head up so that her neck curved with his. She closed her eyes with a long, contented breath.

Big Mac smiled, closing his eyes as he gently nuzzled his chin downwards. Fluttershy reciprocated, tickling the edges of his muzzle. The two lingered there, frozen as one, until Big Mac made the first move. He leaned back from her, reaching a hoof to caress her cheek.

Fluttershy bit her lip, failing to hide the rosiness in her coat. “I'll be...” She realized she was wheezing. ”Ahem. I'll be seeing you soon.”

“Eeeyup.” He winked, tipped an invisible hat, and trotted firmly down the hill, rattling cages and all. “Have a safe flight, Flutters.”

She waved, then plopped back on her haunches, sitting on the hillside as she curled two hooves towards her pounding chest. “I-I already am...”

Big Mac was gone. Fluttershy sat alone on the hillside, her mane blowing in the last fragrant breeze of daylight.

“Hmmmmmmm...” With a delirious smile, she spread her wings—and limbs—and stared thinly at the darkening sky overhead. “So very... n-nice...”

Th-Thap! A set of hooves landed in the grass, and a pair of blinking ruby eyes peered straight down at her. “I'd say! 'Flutters?' 'Macky?!'”

“Aaaaack!” Fluttershy curled into a little yellow ball... which inevitably rolled downhill.