//------------------------------// // Apple Obsessions Are an Annoyance // Story: One Pony’s Peculiar Predicament // by Zeg //------------------------------// One Pony’s Peculiar Predicament by Zeg Chapter I – Apple Obsessions Are an Annoyance Sometimes, there is a short moment where one realizes they are asleep right before they wake up. Fluttershy was experiencing one of those moments, her consciousness hovering precariously between her dreams and the waking world. The dream had seemed so real, to the point that she was sure she could still feel a light breeze as it rushed over her coat. She shivered slightly and wrapped her wings tighter around herself. The chill had done a fair job of pulling her much closer to the waking world, and she was suddenly acutely aware of just how cold her back hooves felt. She shifted her back legs a bit, hunting for the covers and hoping to slip back beneath them for even a few minutes longer. Her back legs wobbled around in the air as they failed to find the covers, or the mattress for that matter. The odd sensation only served to draw her even further from her dreams to the point that she found herself almost fully awake. She yawned as she blinked her eyes, squinting against the sunlight that seemed a bit too bright. Another breeze passed over her and she shivered again. She quietly groaned, realizing that the window must have been left open, and that closing it would require getting up. The cold breeze and encroaching sunlight wouldn’t allow her to fall asleep again, so she extended her wings and forelegs out for a good stretch like she did before she got up every morning. She slowly smacked her lips, noticing just a hint of the sweet taste of dried apple juice. She furrowed her brow and then quickly looked side to side, finding an upside down grove of apple trees all around her. She then looked down toward her back hooves, or rather up, as she soon realized she was dangling by her tail which was wrapped around the branch of an apple tree. Panic gripped her when she suddenly realized that she wasn’t safe at home in her bed, causing her to flail her limbs about and her tail to come loose from the branch, sending her on a very short trip to meet the ground below. She landed flat against her back in the grass, her back legs ending up propped up against the tree trunk. The fall had done a good job of knocking the wind out of her, and it took a few seconds before she was able to draw in a deep gasp of air to recover. She laid there on her back for a short while after, staring up at the branches above her and noticing a few leaves that had been shaken loose and were floating down after her. Her eyes crossed as they followed one that decided that the bridge of her nose was a good spot to land. After a few seconds of a not so graceful struggle with getting all of her legs to cooperate, Fluttershy managed to roll over to her side. She raised her head and quickly batted the leaf away from her nose, and then she squinted her eyes tightly closed and drew in a breath through her clenched teeth. She rubbed a spot on the back of her head just behind her ears that had started to throb a bit. “Ow,” she said in a quiet whisper just before letting out a tiny whine. Then she noticed the shriveled apple laying on the ground next to her. She stared at it with a deep frown on her muzzle for a moment, her situation suddenly seeming to make a lot more sense. She sat upright and looked to her side as she extended her wing, finding the leathery bat-like wing that she had hoped she wouldn't find. “No, not again,” she said as she hung her head, her ears flattening back. This was not the first time in recent weeks that she had awoken to a very similar situation. She looked about herself, finding shriveled up apples with bite marks strewn about on the ground around her. Drawing in a long, deep breath, she let it go in a quick huff before starting the unpleasant task of cleaning up the remains of her late night snack. She wrinkled her nose every time she caught a whiff of the shriveled apples as she gathered them together in a pile one by one. She eventually found one that hadn’t been completely drained dry, and she quickly drew her hoof back and shook it after it had broken the peal and sunk into the mush. “Ick,” she said as she grimaced at the goop oozing out of it. “Fluttershy?” Fluttershy’s gaze quickly snapped to the side when she heard Applejack’s voice. For a couple seconds, she simply stood still as a statue as Applejack made her way through the apple trees toward her, but then Fluttershy quickly ducked behind the tree trunk, pressing her back up against it as she tried to hide herself from view. “What are you doin’? I know you’re over there, so why you hidin’?” The sounds of hooves moving through the grass had halted for a short moment, but then Fluttershy’s ears twitched as she picked up on the sound of her friend’s hoofsteps approaching again. Fluttershy’s eyes began to dart around wildly as she drew in rapid, panting breaths. She hugged herself tightly in her forelegs and wings, and then she clenched her eyes tightly closed as she drew in a deep breath and held it. Her ears splayed back as she furrowed her brow in concentration, and then her entire body began to shake as she tensed up. Slowly, she changed. Most of the changes were very subtle, such as her ears shrinking and flattening out a bit as the tufts of fur at the tips receded. The change in her wings was much more dramatic, as the leathery flaps seemed to pull back at the same time a full set of feathers grew in to replace them, making her appear as the pegasus that everyone knew her as. She let out a heavy breath of air when the transformation finished, the tension in her body relaxing all at once. Applejack walked into view from the other side of the apple tree. She noticed the rotting apples piled up near Fluttershy’s hooves, and raised an eyebrow as she gave her friend a displeased look. Fluttershy seemed to wilt under Applejack’s glance. “Um, good morning, Applejack,” she said as she huddled down behind her wings. “Good mornin’ my flank. You think I don’t see what’s goin’ on here?” Applejack said as she gestured toward the pile of apple remains. Fluttershy shivered slightly as she looked back and forth between apples and the upset look on her friend’s face. “You’re tryin’ to cover this up for them lil varmints, aren’t you?” “Oh...,” Fluttershy said quietly. She relaxed and opened her wings slightly, timidly pointing one hoof toward the pile of apples. “You mean this?” Applejack tilted her head forward and raised her eyebrows slightly. “What else would I mean?” “Um, yes. I mean no, well, I-I...,” Fluttershy said as she raised and quickly waved her forehooves in front of herself defensively. Applejack let out a quick sigh. She took a step forward, reaching out and resting a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Shy, sugarcube, I ain’t mad at you. I know you’re just tryin’ to keep there from bein’ any trouble between us and the fruit bats, but them fruit bats have their own orchard and they know the rest are off limits. They don’t need to be sneakin’ apples, and this sure ain’t gonna fix itself if you try and hide it from me.” Fluttershy splayed her ears back as she glanced dejectedly to the side. While her friend had the wrong idea, she was still right in a way; the problem wasn’t going to fix itself by simply hiding the mess. “Yes, you’re right,” she admitted. Applejack nodded, smiling as she gave Fluttershy’s shoulder a pat. She then turned and began to walk away as she said, “I’m gonna march right over there and give them a piece of my mind.” “Ah, well,” Fluttershy said as she quickly stood and trotted around to stand in Applejack’s path. She glanced down toward her forehooves, rubbing one against the other foreleg nervously for a moment. “Maybe I could give them a piece of your mind instead?” she asked with a hopeful grin. Applejack raised an eyebrow as she sat back on her haunches. “No offense, but I’m pretty sure your idea of giving them a piece of my mind isn’t near the same as what I’m thinkin’ of tellin’ them.” “Well, maybe not. But I just thought that since I do have a way with animals, maybe they would be more willing to listen to me.” Applejack crossed her forelegs across her chest as she wrinkled her muzzle. “You’d be right, if I was sure that you’d actually tell them how it is.” She pointed one hoof toward Fluttershy as she added, “You tend to go pretty easy on the critters most the time.” Fluttershy’s eyes drifted over to the rotten apples laying about nearby. “This has been happening a lot lately, hasn’t it?” “More than a lot. I’ve been findin’ rotten apples layin’ about almost every single mornin’ this week.” Fluttershy cringed slightly. “You’re right, it needs to stop. Okay, I promise that I’ll take care of this, so please, let me talk to them?” Applejack hummed to herself for a few seconds as she considered the offer. “Alright, fine. I need clean this up and get to my chores anywho,” she said as she turned back toward the mess of apples. “I could help,” Fluttershy offered as she trotted up next to Applejack. She stopped when Applejack quickly shook her head and waved her off. “Nah, I got it. Ain’t your fault anyway, and if you go talk some sense into them flyin’ furballs, that’ll be all the help I need.” Fluttershy felt a wave of guilt, and for a moment considered telling Applejack what had really been happening to her apples, but the anxiety of anyone—especially one of her friends—finding out the truth quickly reigned that thought back in. She was sure that simply solving this problem and returning things to normal as soon as possible was the best course of action. Fluttershy stood a little taller, looking a little more determined as she said, “You can count on me.” She then took off at a trot in the direction that lead to the orchard that had been set aside for the fruit bats. As she made her way across the field, her trot slowed to a walk, and then even further to a slow shuffle. While she had started with her head held high, she had slowly hung her head lower and lower as her confidence in finding a way to fix the problem had waned. She couldn’t even recall leaving her home the night before, the events having escaped her much like the details of a fading dream. How was she going to stop doing something that she could barely even remember doing at all? Fluttershy stopped under the low branches of a small apple tree, letting out a quiet sigh as she sat near it. She had only been there for a few seconds when her ears twitched and raised at a rustling sound just above her. She glanced up to find one of the vampire fruit bats hanging upside down from a branch, wrapped up in its wings as it stared back down at her. “Oh, hello there,” she said with a warm smile. “How are you this morning?” In response to her question, the bat yawned and let out a tired sounding squeak. “I’m fine, thanks for asking,” Fluttershy said, but then her smile fell away. “Actually, I’m supposed to be giving you a piece of Applejack’s mind, but that wouldn’t really be fair because it’s actually my fault,” she said as she looked down to her hooves and her ears splayed back. “I just don’t know what to do. If I don’t get this under control soon, there’s going to be a huge misunderstanding, and I hate huge misunderstandings. And I sure don’t want you and your family to lose your new home because of me.” She quickly looked back up, her ears swiveling forward as she listened to a few muffled squeaks coming from the fruit bat as it covered its head under its wings. “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly tell them. If they all knew... well, I have no idea what they would think of me then. It’s best if I keep it to myself.” The fruit bat pulled its wings back just enough to peer at Fluttershy, silently staring back at her with tiny squinted eyes. “Oh, don’t worry, I’ve been keeping it a secret for a very long time now. I just... haven’t been doing such a great job of it lately. Ever since, well, you know.” Fluttershy glanced off to the side and made a dismissive gesture with her hoof. “No, I just need to figure this out before I cause problems for everyone.” She looked up and put on a warm smile as she stood. “Well, it was nice talking to you. Tell your wife and children I said hello.” She waved a quick goodbye before turning to leave, but stopped herself after a couple steps. “Oh, um,” she said as she quickly turned back to say, “Thank you for always listening, it really does help.” She then trotted off down the path along side the orchard. The fruit bat slowly turned its head to watch as Fluttershy left. It then looked back to its side when a second fruit bat flew up and grasped the branch to hang right next to it. The second fruit bat also glanced down the path for a moment, and then looked back at the first. The two stared at each other for a few seconds until the first finally shrugged its tiny shoulders.