//------------------------------//
// R&R 
// Story: Moonlight Harvest 
// by insertbronyhere 
//------------------------------//

	Fluttershy beamed as the audience erupted with applause before her. It was the first time the Ponytones had stuck around for an encore since she had joined them; she was so proud of herself for overcoming her nerves over the last few performances. She cheerfully bowed with her fellow singers, making "thank you" gestures with her wings as the applause seemed to go on forever. Fluttershy didn't mind one bit.
Much to the others' surprise, it was Big MacIntosh who first left the stage. As the others joined him backstage, Rarity pulled Fluttershy aside.
"I'm so proud of you," she told the pegasus. "You've come leaps and bounds in conquering your nerves!"
Chuckling softly, Shy replied, "You've all been so supportive. I'm just so much more comfortable now."
"Oh, I know it dear, but I can tell you're still under a lot of stress," she lowered her voice. "Now, I say this not out of judgment, but as a concerned friend... you've put on a bit of weight, dear."
I'm showing already?! Fluttershy gulped, blushing a bit as she glanced at her belly. She was only three months along. It had grown just a little, but so gradually that she hadn't noticed. "Oh. U-um... I-I guess I have been eating a little more than usual lately," she hedged. It wasn't a lie. It wasn't why she was gaining weight either, but still not a lie.
"Don't worry, dear," Rarity said with a wink. "You just need a little R&R to celebrate and take your mind off things." She raised her voice for the others to hear as she continued, "And that's why I've booked us all at the spa this evening!"
While the others expressed joy in their own ways, however, Mac only groaned and lowered his head. "The spa? I ain't a m--" He stopped himself with a sheepish glance at Toe Tapper, the group's other stallion. "Er, i-it just ain't my thing."
Rarity waved a good dismissively. "Oh, nonsense, MacIntosh. As hard as you work at home, a good massage and hooficure would do you more good than the rest of us combined!" she insisted, raising her eyebrows like a mother telling her foal to eat his oats. "And besides, I've already paid."
Mac rolled his eyes and sighed, closing his eyes and rubbing his temple with a hoof. He then felt a soft mane leaning into his chest and opened his eyes to find Fluttershy looking up at him with a small, pleading smile. "Come on MacIntosh," she said softly. "I think it's a lovely idea. I go with Rarity all the time; it's wonderful stress relief."
Mac stole a brief glance at Rarity. Yup, she was adoring their "relationship". Keep the charade going. The farmer gave a small smile and nuzzled Fluttershy behind the ear. "Alright, Shy, if ya insist."
"Oh, I do," she replied, leaning into his affections. "You'll feel like a whole new pony."
With that settled, Rarity clapped her hooves twice and began to herd her bandmates out the door. "Well, what are we waiting for? To the spa!"




MOONLIGHT HARVEST
by [insert brony here]
Chapter Five




MacIntosh looked around uncertainly as the Ponytones entered the Blossom twins' business. Exotic fragrances were heavy in the air, perhaps coming from the many foreign flowers and colorful candles that decorated the walls and counters. He didn't have much time to examine his surroundings before two absurdly thick accents greeted them in sync.
"Greetings, Ponytones!" Aloe and Lotus sang out as they came through the ornate beaded curtains behind their desk. "We have been looking forward to serving you this fine evening. You are ready for much-needed relaxation, yes?"
"Of course, dears!" Rarity chirped, putting an elbow on the counter and leaning toward the twins with a conspiratorial grin. "You've prepared our... personalized packages, I hope?"
"Of course, Rara!" Aloe replied with a flourish of her hoof. "Anyting for best customer's friends!"
"Wonderful!"
Lotus whistled a few odd notes and clapped her hooves once, and three of their employees came out of different doors, two dressed in deep red velvet robes. The third had no uniform aside from a headband; the white-coated stallion looked like he would never own a piece of clothing that fit properly.
Rarity and Torch Song didn't hesitate to go to the cream-coated mare with an almost masculine manecut. Toe Tapper followed as the younger pink mare beckoned. The disturbingly muscular stallion pointed at Fluttershy and MacIntosh in turn with exaggerated motions. "Fluttershy! Little dude! Are you ready for some MAJOR RELAXATION?!"
Mac nitted his brow, unsure which was more backwards: the intensity with which he'd proposed "relaxation", or the fact that Mac had just been referred to as "little dude" by the only stallion in Ponyville larger than him.
Fluttershy giggled at his expression, nudging him with a wing. "Don't let the machismo put you off," she insisted with a smile toward the oddly proportioned employee. "Bulk Biceps is one of the sweetest ponies I know, and he's very good at his job." Mac grimaced uncertainly at her, to which she rolled her eyes with a chuckle. "Come on, MacIntosh."
Reluctantly, he followed as Bulk led them into a room with massage tables and a different, less pungent combination of floral scents.
When he reached the center of the room, Bulk stood on his hindlegs and began flexing his enormous arms, pointing at different pairs of tables with each motion. "Pick a table, any table!"
Fluttershy giggled at his shenanigans as she made her way to one in the corner of the room. Mac chewed his lip for a moment, raising an eyebrow at the massive masseur before sprawling on a table facing hers. Bulk wasted no time in beginning to rapidly pummel Fluttershy between her wings, eliciting a sharp gasp from the mare. MacIntosh almost got up to scold him for being so rough, but stopped himself as his foal's expectant mother let out a long, loud sigh of pleasure, her eyes crossing as her face melted into a huge goofy grin.
"AaAaAaAaAaAaAaHhHhHhHh..."
It was all Mac could do not to laugh. The mare's eyes slowly rolled back in her head, her tongue lolling out, as Bulk's hooves visibly vibrated her entire body. Before he could put much thought into how long it would be before the beefy buck turned his attention to Mac, a voice came from beside him.
"Big MacIntosh Apple," the pink twin, Aloe, said in a somewhat condescending tone, "I have tried again and again to persuade you and your seester to come to my spa. You Apples are such stubborn and prideful lot. Think it is shameful to accept help. Tell me, does this hurt?" Before he could react, Aloe shoved a hoof into his back, making Mac yelp and twitch. "That's what I thought," she said matter-of-factly, running her forehooves along the rest of his back and shoulders. "You are much too tense, every muscle in your body. You have knots in places I've never seen!"
Mac looked back at the masseuse with a frown. As he opened his mouth to argue with her, she sharply chopped a spot between his shoulderblades, making him jump again. "Now, what in the HAAAaauuuuhhhkay, you can have that," his protest petered off as she chopped again, this time a few inches lower on his spine, popping his back in a way that melted all the pain away in an instant.
Aloe smirked haughtily at him, popping her wrists before beginning to firmly rub circles in various areas of his musculature. As Mac glanced across to Fluttershy, who was now on her back with Bulk working her chest and forelegs, he found he could no longer laugh at her expression; he was probably doing the same thing.

After their massages, Mac and Shy were brought into another room. The stallion could barely walk, he was so limber. In the next room, they joined the rest of the Ponytones for a Pilates routine led by the twins themselves before they were split up again. Rarity winked at the quiet pair as Lotus took her, Torch Song, and Toe Tapper to the large hot tub room the spa was famous for. Aloe led the other two through an unmarked door in the opposite direction.
"Uh, why don't we get the hot tub?" MacIntosh spoke up as the pink mare led them through a rather plain-looking hallway.
"You do," Aloe replied simply, never looking back. Mac glanced at Fluttershy, who shrugged back. Eventually, they reached a door with a rotating "do not disturb" sign, which the masseuse opened and beckoned them into with a flourish of her hoof and a sly smile.
Mac's eyes widened as he stepped through. Fluttershy blushed and hid behind her mane. This room was much smaller, with a hot tub that would only fit two, maybe three ponies. The entire room was dimly lit by candles scented with thick, enticing spices, and decorated with bouquets of roses on the walls and rose petals all over the floor around the tub.
"U-um, a-are you sure this is the right room?" Fluttershy asked softly, peeking one eye around her hair to look back at Aloe.
"Of course, my dear," the earth mare replied with a smile. "The couple's package has special room for two so you may have privacy while you relax... or not," she added with a wink, causing Shy to blush even more. "Enjoy~" she sang, closing the door behind her before anypony could protest.
After a moment's silence staring at the door, Fluttershy and MacIntosh sighed in unison. "Rarity." They made eye contact and shared a brief laugh before Fluttershy stretched her wings out and stepped toward the hot tub.
"Well, we're here," she said, lowering herself into the water. "Might as well make the best of it."
Mac grunted and shrugged, taking another glance at the glaringly romantic display around them. Tentatively, he put a single hoof in the water, which he immediately yanked back out. "Yeesh, they ain't kiddin' about 'hot tub.'"
The small mare giggled softly. "Have you never been in a hot tub before?"
"Nnnope."
"Oh, it's wonderful, really," she insisted. "It only hurts for a few seconds. Just lower yourself in slowly."
Mac did as he was told, hissing quietly as the hot water crept up his legs, his flank, his torso. While Fluttershy was submerged to her shoulders, the large stallion found himself in a comfortable seated position before the water even reached his chest. He sat still for a moment, letting the water soak through his fur as he became acclimated to the temperature. She was right, this felt incredible. Shy giggled at Mac's groan of relief.
After silently enjoying the water for several minutes, the pegasus spoke up. "So, um... Maybe we should use this time to get to know each other better?" she offered.
"Mmm, eeyup," MacIntosh agreed. "Ahh... favorite color?"
She giggled at his simple choice of question. "Green. You?"
"Cerulean," he replied, causing her to blink in surprise. "Real nice shade o' blue," Mac elaborated, "but most ponies don' know their advanced color names."
"I-I know, I just didn't expect you to know them," she said with a bashful grin. "Um, I stand by 'green' though. I like them all."
Mac chuckled and nodded. "Alright, your turn."
"Oh, um..." The mare thought for a moment. "Oh, I don't know, um... what do you like to do with your free time?"
"Heh," he shook his head with a smile, "truth be told, I'm kind of a dork. I like comic books, 'n' adventure novels... Well, that's what I tell everypony, but truth be told, I'm kind of a sucker for romance novels," he said bashfully, eliciting another giggle. "If Shinin' Armor's in town, I'll go play Oubliettes and Ogres with him... I'll take Spike to hoofball games on the weekend sometimes."
"Oh, I'm sure that's lovely," Shy interjected, prompting a quizzical raise of eyebrow from Mac. "W-well, I don't care for sports, really, but Spike is such a sweetheart."
Mac chuckled softly. "Yeah, he's a good kid. Looks up to me too. I mean, he ain't had any kind o' father figure; Shinin' Armor moved out when he was two, an' Night Light ain't had much influence either, 'specially now that Twilight lives here."
"Oh, that's awful," Fluttershy muttered, her ears drooping sadly. She had never really thought about how lonely he must be with nopony but Twilight around most of the time.
"Eeyup. Not to say Twilight ain't doin' a good job o' raisin' him," he added, "but he needs a male role model too, y'know? I know what it's like havin' a daddy and then not havin' one..." He paused to chew on his tongue for a moment, eyes unfocused, then shook himself and cleared his throat. "So I try to be there for him when I can."
Fluttershy's heart swelled. MacIntosh was such a good stallion. She wished she had properly met him before this whole fiasco.
"Anyway, I'm off blabberin' about a bunch o' heavy stuff," he said, rolling his eyes, "so what about you? What do your weekends look like?"
They continued asking each other pointed questions for a while, eventually laughing together as the conversation dissolved into a casual sharing of random anecdotes.
"...and I tried so hard to set up a scary scenario for them all without being too scary," Shy recounted, referring to Nightmare Night a few months ago. "Well... it was just kinda pathetic," she trailed off sheepishly, hiding behind her mane.
As she stared blankly into the bubbling water, she was surprised to feel a roughly textured but gentle hoof brush her bangs back behind her ear. She looked up to find her foal's sire looking at her with a small sympathetic smile.
"How come you're always coverin' up your eyes when ya get embarrassed?" he asked, chuckling quietly. "Ya think if ya can't see somepony, they can't see you?"
Fluttershy flinched, reflexively trying to hide again, but Mac gently held her chin in place with a hoof. "W-well, I-I guess when you put it that way, i-it sounds silly."
Mac simply nodded, never breaking eye contact or his warm smile. "Ya got such pretty eyes, Shy. It's really a shame to hide 'em."
Her heart swelled once again at his words. Meanwhile, something about his deep, smooth voice caused a muscle spasm the pegasus probably wouldn't have noticed if not for the rubber ball nested in that area. Now acutely aware of a feeling she wasn't accustomed to, Fluttershy turned almost as red as the stallion opposite her and quickly scooted away, hiding behind her mane once more.
"Aw, hell," Mac muttered, seeing her discomfort. "Was that too forward?"
"U-um, no," she squeaked back. "I-it's not, um... I, er, it's just, um... That made me very happy, I-I just..."
Mac sighed. "I'm sorry if'n I made ya uncomfortable," he said with a grimace. "I just... well, I'm comin' to like ya, Fluttershy. You're a fine mare, and... Well, I'd just like to know where we stand. Are we still just pretendin' to date, or do ya think--"
"Pretending to date?"
Fluttershy shrieked and tried to bury her face in MacIntosh's very solid chest as the cloud of foam nearest her spoke up in a familiar snarky drawl. It proceeded to shift into the shape of a draconequus lounging with his head propped up by an elbow on the surface of the water before taking his proper color and texture.
"D-Discord?!" Shy squeaked, while Mac glared with his arms wrapped around the mare protectively. "W-what are you doing here?"
He examined the claws on his free hand as he replied, "Oh, I just thought I'd find out who the lucky stallion is, but this is so much better!" He floated up, cackling for a moment, then flew up to them and pinched one of each of their cheeks. "Sweet, innocent Fluttershy and good ol' farm boy Big MacIntosh are trying to preserve their dignity after a one-night stand?! That's stranger than fiction!" he finished, releasing their faces to roll on his back guffawing in mid-air.
"I-i-it's not like th-that, i-it's c-complicated," Shy managed to whimper before bursting into tears.
MacIntosh scowled and snorted, taking on a face that would terrify even Applejack. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" he roared, causing the draconequus to pause and look at him with a raised brow. "I knew you could be an asshole, but I'd'a thought you'd at least have a little respect for your first true friend!"
"After she broke my heart?" Discord shot back haughtily. "I've been content to enjoy her suffering all by myself, but I can certainly spread the word if you'd like things to escalate," he finished, flattening his brow as the mirth left his voice.
Fluttershy sobbed louder at this, prompting MacIntosh to hold her tighter. "You're a terrible person, you know that?" the stallion growled.
Discord rolled his eyes so hard that they rolled out the back of his head, splashing loudly into the tub. From there they floated up to the ponies, where a few bubbles moved to imitate eyebrows so he could raise one smugly. "You seem to forget who you're talking to."
Mac glanced to the side, furrowing his brow, then glared back at Discord's eyes. He grabbed one, throwing it at the service bell button he'd spotted with perfect accuracy.
Discord yelped as his eye bounced off the button, flying back into his face, where he clutched it with both hands for a moment. He straightened up and floated his other eye into his lion paw, where he casually tossed it up and caught it as he glared at the stallion with one empty socket. "I'll remember that one later," he said flatly. His smirk then returned. "Don't worry though, I know how this one ends," he mused. "Everypony thinks it's adorable to ship the quiet ones together, but when it comes down to it, they just feed on each other's antisocial tendencies and never accomplish anything. If you two even last, you won't have much of a life. Not my problem," he finished with a shrug.
At that moment, Aloe came through the door. "What can I do for y--" She stopped short as she spotted Discord floating in the middle of the room, her professional poise fading in an instant. "DISCORD!!" she shrieked, stomping the ground. "How many times do I have to tell you to leave my fucking customers alone?!"
Fluttershy peeked over Mac's shoulder with a hiccup, wide-eyed. She'd never seen the masseuse lose her composure; it was surprisingly terrifying to see the usually upbeat mare with a vein popping in her forehead.
Discord, meanwhile, only snickered. "Your fucking customers?" he repeated with a chuckle. "Oh no, I arrived just in time to prevent that."
Mac gritted his teeth and snorted as Shy buried her face in his chest once more, while Aloe looked as though her head might explode. Without hesitation, she started throwing jars containing lit candles at the draconequus. "Out! OUT! OUT!!"
Discord laughed heartily as he dodged every one by either bending impossibly or opening holes in his body. "You and your sister really are too adorable when you're mad," he mused with a smirk as the jars smashed against the wall behind him. "Feel free to destroy as much of your own property as you like," he drawled, nonchalantly popping his knuckles. "I got what I came for." When the last candle would have collided, he opened a hole in his midriff that continued to expand until his entire body was gone, leaving Aloe and Mac glaring at empty air while Fluttershy shook and whimpered into the stallion's fur.
Aloe huffed and rang the service bell again. "I apologize that your stay has been disaster," she said softly, her voice shaking from residual rage. "You may have an extra half-hour if you like; I'll not see one of my favorite clients and her lover" --Mac and Shy blushed at this, but said nothing-- "leave our spa more tense than they came in. We'll just be out of your mane in a moment," she finished with a nod to her sister and one of their other employees, who had just arrived with brooms and dustpans.
"Thank ya kindly, ma'am," Mac replied, his own voice unsteady as well. With a sigh, he nuzzled the top of Fluttershy's head. She continued to whimper softly as the spa workers cleaned up the broken candles and left the pair alone again.
The pegasus rubbed her cheek against Mac's chest as she gradually steadied her breath. Mac smiled with a sigh, embracing her once more and nosing behind her ear. After several minutes of simply holding each other and recuperating, the small mare looked up at him with a smile.
"Yes, MacIntosh," she answered his question from nearly half an hour ago. "I think we can really date. I just hope Discord doesn't do anything too drastic," she added with a frown.
"Shh, don't think about that right now," he replied, shaking his head and giving her a soft squeeze. "We're here to relax, right?"
Shy smiled and rubbed her head against his chest again. "I've never been more comfortable in my life." Mac chuckled and resumed stroking her mane.
Soon after, Aloe popped in again, knocking on the door first. She smiled sadly at them after they invited her in. "You are feeling better now, I hope?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Eeyup."
"Ah, good," the masseuse replied, her shoulders drooping with relief.
Fluttershy glanced at Mac, who nodded down at her. "Could you bring our towels, please?" she requested. "I think we're ready to go."
"Of course, my dear," Aloe replied with a professional bow. "Your friends are already in the lobby."
When she returned with the towels, the couple dried off, helping each other with hard-to-reach spots. Once MacIntosh was dry, Fluttershy playfully shook her wings off at him, forcing him to dry again with a good-natured grumble. He then sat down and watched her skeptically as she preened her feathers no more than three at a time.
"Y'know, I always thought it'd be nice to fly," he mused, "but I don't envy you pegasi one bit. That's just too much effort."
The mare giggled through her mouthful of feathers but said nothing. Finally she finished, and they followed Aloe back to the lobby, where Lotus was gushing at the other Ponytones about a recent show she'd attended.
"...wonderful! Fluttershy has such a lovely voice, she is very complimentary to the rest," the blue twin said, causing Shy to blush behind her.
Her blush only deepened when she realized that she had been leaning into MacIntosh as they walked, and now everypony's eyes were on the pair. Rarity, of course, was the first to speak up.
"Well, well," she said with relish, "you two must have really enjoyed your stay. We've been done for ages!"
MacIntosh shook his head. "Discord showed up to raise some hell, so Aloe let us stay a bit longer to calm down," he explained with a frown.
"We do feel much better now, though," Fluttershy added with a smile up at her stallion.
"Oh, I'm sure you do," Rarity replied with a wink.
The pair both rolled their eyes as the rest laughed and got up to leave. Despite the unicorn's teasing, however, they never broke contact as they walked out of the spa.