Life, Death, and Ponies

by thunderclap

Surprises

Fluttershy and you walked down the cobblestone path that led to her cottage. She had warmed up to you a little but was still somewhat hesitant around you. You couldn’t blame her, you had interrupted her when she was feeding her pet, and went so far as to trick it to get it to eat.

You didn’t mind the silence between the two of you though. After your little interaction with Pinkie Pie, some silence as you did something you enjoyed was exactly what you craved. Fluttershy opened the door to her cottage and were greeted by the cacophony of animal sounds. Most of them didn’t seem to be bothered by your presence, while others eyed you warily.

“Hello there everypony, this is Blackstar and he’s going to help me take care of you all.”

‘Wait. Did she just say everypony to those animals?’ You thought with a puzzled expression. ‘I guess that means they say, ‘pony’ at the end of certain words even when talking about other species. If it wasn’t for how happy and sunshiny everything is around here I’d be accusing them of racism.’

“Umm, Blackstar, are you o.k.?” Fluttershy asked softly.

“Sorry, I just got lost in thought for a bit.” You explained.

“It’s fine, would you like to help me feed the animals?”

“Sure thing,”

You and Fluttershy fed the animals together for a while and as you did you noticed a change in her behavior. Before she seemed nervous and hesitant possibly even frightened, now she was warm and bright, she used her wings to flitter between each animal and hummed a tune as she did, sometimes giggling as the small creatures scrambled over the piles of food she left them. It was like she had become a completely different pony than the one that you had met on the cobblestone path.

You followed her outside where she fed the birds. When she was done the birds started making a three note tune. Fluttershy responded with three notes of her own and noticed the beauty of her voice. It amazed you in a small way, when you first met her she would barely speak to you, and yet here she was singing in perfect pitch. Fluttershy and the birds exchanged notes a few more times and as she landed you brought your fore-hooves together in a slow, steady, clap.

“Bravo that was lovely.” You said with a grin on your face. Fluttershy looked at you with a shocked expression on her face, and glanced away from you quickly.

“Y… You really think so.”

“Yeah, that’s why I said it.”

“Thank you, I get asked to have my birds perform at town functions sometimes, but nopony has ever given me a compliment like that before.”

“I don’t see why, you have a great voice.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Do you need any more help around here or did you just have to feed the animals?”

“Well, a lot of the animals like to play, but I usually can’t move as fast as they’d like me to go. Do you think you could play with them for a while? That is, if it’s not too much trouble.” Fluttershy meekly replied.

“Playing with animals, sounds like fun to me.”

Playing with some of Fluttershy’s was simple enough. All the puppies wanted to do was have you chase them around the small field near her cottage. You even managed to mix your acceleration spell with levitation to race around with some of the birds. This time however, you were mindful of your energy output so you wouldn’t move too fast or collapse from exhaustion. Fluttershy watched the entire time as you did. You never looked directly at her, you were almost sure that if you did then she would just look away. But in the corner of your eye you saw her smiling.
Everything was fine until the rabbits decided to play with you. A group of them tackled you and pinned you to the ground. You turned your head to see that Angel had led the charge. It was his turn to flash you a triumphant grin as he stood on your chest.

‘That damn, sneaky, rodent.’ You thought bitterly for a moment. But the moment passed and you nodded respectably at the rabbit on your chest and said, “Well played,”

Fluttershy giggled at the spectacle which sparked a new series of thoughts.

‘I think I could get addicted to the sound of a pony giggling. I mean it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.’ You blushed and your thoughts turned frantic. ‘I mean it’s cute the way a box full of kittens is cute not cute like… wait. Nobody heard that. For someone who’s been called a bookworm and egghead, I sure am an idiot sometimes.’

“Okay, Angel Bunny, you can let him go now, I think he’s learned his lesson.” Angel complied with his master’s wish but stuck his tongue out at you for a moment before he returned to Fluttershy’s side.

“Thank you, I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t rescued me from that menacing rabbit.” You said in an exaggerated tone.

“Oh, I know, those rabbits can be such vicious creatures.” Fluttershy replied in a similar way. The two of you started laughing at the joke you had shared.

Applejack walked around Ponyville in search of Blackstar. It was nearly four in the afternoon and Applejack had been elected to bring the guest of honor to Pinkie’s surprise party. A part of her had wanted to say no. Ever since Rarity had stopped by the fruit stand she had been having strange thoughts regarding the stallion. In the end she had no choice in the matter and was forced to go.

‘Come on, admit it, you like him,’ laughed a voice in her head.

“Ah do not, Ah barely even know ’im!” She snapped back.

‘Okay then think about him right now, and see what happens.’ Applejack listened to the voice and the memory of Blackstar offering her the apple played back in her head. She started to blush as she shook her head furiously in a desperate attempt to free her mind of the images. ‘I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.’ The voice goaded.

‘Maybe Ah do like him a little, but that doesn’t change the fact that Ah barely know ‘im.’ Applejack replied, in her thoughts this time.

‘Ughhh. Is that all you got. You know plenty. He’s a hard worker, he’s kind, and he’s good with Apple Bloom.’

‘Well, Apple Bloom did take a likin’ to ‘im real quick.’ Applejack thought with a nod. ‘But, he may not even think of me that way.’

‘Then make him think of you that way. You are not a quitter, and you’re not gonna start being one now.’ The voice boomed.

Applejack felt a surge of confidence run throughout her body as she walked around the remainder of the town. She couldn’t find Blackstar anywhere. She decided to check around Fluttershy’s cabin for him. Even if he wasn’t there she could still tell her friend about the party. Applejack made her way down the cobblestone path to Fluttershy’s cabin and saw something that shocked her.

Fluttershy and Blackstar were laughing together. Fluttershy hardly ever warmed up to anypony that quickly, yet there she was laughing outright with Blackstar. This upset Applejack to some degree and she didn’t know why. She shook the feeling off when she saw that the two were done laughing. She walked up to the two of them and called out to you.

“Hey, Blackstar, Ah need yer help.” You and Fluttershy turned your heads to see Applejack and you grinned at her.

“Hey, boss, what do ya need?”

“You two know each other?” Fluttershy asked, confused.

“Yeah, I’m working at Sweet Apple Acres, which would make Applejack my boss I guess.”

“Oh, well, I guess that makes sense.”

“So, what do ya need?” You said, returning your attention to Applejack.

“A wheel broke off a’ the cart, so Ah need you t’use yer magic and help me fix it.”

“I thought you didn’t like to do things with magic.”

“Normally, Ah don’t but Ah must’a misplaced the jack and Ah can’t lift the thing and put on the wheel at the same time.”

“Whatever, I don’t need a reason to help a friend. Lead the way.”

“Well, I’ll see you two later, I guess.” Fluttershy stated, looking a little disappointed.

“Fluttershy, Ah could use some help puttin’ on the new wheel, maybe you could come too?”

“Sure, I’d love to help you, Applejack.”

You slowly made your way back into Ponyville with Fluttershy and Applejack at your side. It made you somewhat uncomfortable but you managed to keep the feeling in the back of your mind. You had just reached the outskirts of town when you noticed something odd. When you had left for Fluttershy’s cottage the streets had been abuzz with activity. Now, the town was at a complete standstill. All the windows to the homes and businesses were closed, and not a single pony was out, save for, Applejack, Fluttershy and you.

‘This is a little strange.’ You thought, craning your neck to get a better look at the proverbial ghost-town that Ponyville had become. ‘In Canterlot things never seemed to die down until at least nine o clock. Then again, that was an urban area and this is a rural area, so lifestyles are bound to differ in a few ways. But, I can’t quite shake the feeling that something’s off here.’

Eventually the three of you made it to the Town Hall where you could’ve sworn you could hear the faintest shuffling of hooves. Then, as soon as the three of you made it to the front of the building, the entire town shimmered like a mirage and a group of voices called out “Surprise!”

You were taken aback slightly from the sudden change in landscape. The bare buildings from earlier now had streamers and balloons of every color flying from their roofs. The empty streets were now jam-packed with ponies. You looked over and saw that Fluttershy was faring worse than you were from the sudden appearance of everypony. She was shuddering behind Applejack and hiding her face behind her hooves. You were about to ask her if she was okay when a pink blur rushed up to you.

“Hey there, Starry! I threw this party just for you! So, did I surprise ya, did I? Did I?!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, hopping around you as she did.

“Yes Pinkie, I was very surprised. How did you manage to hide all of the decorations?”

“That was easy peasie, I just had Twilight and a few other unicorns do their thing and *poof* everypony was hidden, just like that.”

“That’s all well and good, but Ah think y’all needed ta warn Fluttershy about the party, ya scared her half to death.” Applejack remarked.

Pinkie Pie rushed over to Fluttershy’s side and started to pat her on the back. “Aww, I didn’t mean to scare ya, Fluttershy. Let Auntie Pinkie Pie make it up to you.”

“I’m a year older than you.” Fluttershy grumbled, slowly resettling herself. You forced yourself to stifle a laugh at Fluttershy’s statement. The immature comment almost seemed out of character coming from her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the party, I had to work really hard to set everything up, and it just slipped my mind.” The pink party pony explained at her usual, undefinable speed.

“It’s alright, Pinkie, I know you didn’t mean to forget.”

“Good, now that that’s all cleared up, let’s party!” Pinkie cheered, taking you by the hoof and leading you into the crowd of ponies at an alarming rate. Music started playing and the party went into full swing. Pinkie started introducing you to every pony in attendance. Your head started swimming from all the names that it was being forced to commit to memory.

Applejack looked around the town square and after a few minutes found, Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all talking together. Applejack nudged Fluttershy and led her to their friends. She said hello, and they all turned toward her and greeted her.

“Hey y’all. Whatcha talkin’ about?” Applejack asked.

“We were all wondering when you would return so we could talk about the guest of honor.” Rarity chimed a slight grin on her face.

“Okay, Ah will." Applejack said, remembering her pep-talk with herself. "So, has anypony here met Blackstar yet?” Applejack was a little surprised to see that all of her friends nodded. She collected herself for a moment and then asked, “So what do y’all think of him?”

Comments

[-Brutus]

Let's party!

i.imgur.com/blHyv.gif

[Macdoodleiedoo]

353761 FRIGGIN HILARIOUS GIF YOU'VE GOT THERE!!
Wonderful story.
i'm not blackstar! i'm Icy Winds!

PFFT LOL

[-Brutus]

355528 haha :P, Applejack with Blackstar does look good :P for this story. I think Applejack would admit it brashly though since she's element of honesty