Chapter Fifteen: On The Shy
“Okay.” Fluttershy hummed.
“I’m sorry…” I mumbled, hanging my head guiltily.
I felt terrible. The poor mare must have been absolutely horrified, and must now utterly loathe me. Out of all the ponies, why her? Why did Fluttershy have to be the first one to know?
“What for?”
Blinking rapidly and craning my neck, I was left utterly bewildered by this response.
“What do you mean? You know exactly what I’m sorry for, I eat meat…”
“So?”
“I… what?” I murmured, astonished.
Sitting down beside me, Fluttershy smiled at me and explained.
“Callum, I knew from the first day. With all the different animals I spend time with, I know a creature’s diet from the moment I see their teeth. Herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores like yourself, I’ve never been wrong. You have to remember, I care for so many little critters back home, many of which are carnivores. I have to get imported meat products all the time to feed them, and Applejack helps me catch fish to feed the ferrets, cats, and larger birds. This isn’t a big shock for me, I just wanted to better understand what kind of creature you are.”
Everything she was saying made perfect sense, and yet, I was still completely baffled by her response.
“So, you-you don’t hate me?” I stuttered nervously, “You’re not going to… y-yell at me? Not even berate me a little bit?”
Her eyes widened, as she realised how distressed I had been in answering this question, and the reaction I had been expecting.
“Oh Callum… Did you really think I was going to be that upset with you?”
Nodding my head with tears in my eyes, the pegasus wrapped both of her forelegs around me and gave me an affirming cuddle.
“I’m not even the slightest bit bothered, okay? Just so long as you don’t plan on eating me!” she giggled.
Breaking into a laugh of my own, I returned the hug and confirmed that I had no such plans. Like a cool breeze in a hot room, I felt a huge wave of relief and relaxation. Ever since that first night, I had dreaded Fluttershy’s reaction to this, and now here we were, joking about it, without her possessing a shred of contempt for me. The weight that had been lifted from my chest was indescribable, as was the euphoria that came from knowing that I didn’t need to obscure the truth from her any more.
“Hoooph…” I sighed heavily, “Not going to lie, I might have been a tad anxious about you finding out.”
“I never would have guessed.” she teased.
Huffing with amusement and further released tension, I told the pegasus that her straightforward acceptance had meant more to me than she knew. I then admitted to her that I had been worried about this from day one. Letting go of me, she told me that she was well aware of that, for she had seen the flicker of fear in my eyes, when Pinkie had first asked me what food humans ate.
“I just wanted to get to know you a little better, before asking you outright.” she explained, shrugging.
“Makes sense…” I hummed.
“So um, how about we get back to the others? I don’t want to get lost from them.”
Nodding in agreement, I got up with her, and we set off to find the rest of our company.
The others had taken no time at all in moving on, and it was quite a long trek before we caught up to them. We found them all sitting in a circle talking amongst themselves. Before we reached them, I lightly tapped Fluttershy on the shoulder.
“Hey uh, would you mind if the others didn’t know about this yet?” I asked, “I don’t think they’re going to take it as well as you have, so I’d rather they just weren’t aware yet, you know?”
She gave a little hum in response and nodded her head, indicating that she understood where I was coming from. I thanked her quietly and we reached the others, to which I boldly greeted them and merged with the circle.
“Good morrow, ladies!”
“Ah, there you are! We were worried the jungle had eaten you up!” Rarity sang to us.
“Nah, I don’t taste that good. Too fatty.” I joked, jiggling my belly.
The girls laughed and I sat down amongst them, with Fluttershy joining me at my side.
“So, what were you two chatting about?” Rarity asked.
Before either of us could answer, Rainbow Dash noticed how uncomfortable Fluttershy looked, and with a crude smirk, she decided to make things weird.
“How much do you want to bet they were making out?”
Fluttershy, bless her heart, went beetroot red and stared at the ground, utterly mortified.
“Oh for pity’s sake, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack exclaimed, shaking her head.
“What?” Dashie chortled, “We all know how much Flutters loves rare and exotic creatures. It’s not hard to imagine she was trying to, you know, get to know him a little better…”
“That’s not what happened!” Fluttershy whimpered, now hiding beneath her own tail.
“Stop tormenting the poor filly!” Applejack ordered, “You know full-well that Fluttershy ain’t that kind of pony! Shoot, I don’t even think she’s ever been in a relationship!”
With a sly grin, Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.
“Oh really? Then what about Middy?”
As though she had been stung by a bee, Fluttershy gasped loudly and scrambled away from the circle, before getting to her hooves and running away into the brush, crying.
“Well, that was a reaction and a half…” Dashie mumbled.
Everyone, Twilight included, gave the cyan pegasus a look of absolute disdain, to which she started to recede into herself.
“I was just… joking around.”
Rarity was the first to scold the pegasus, with her shrill voice being sharp enough to pierce anyone’s guard.
“What you were ‘just’ doing, was making somepony extremely uncomfortable, and when she clearly needed you to stop, you pressed on, until she felt the need to run away in floods of tears! I genuinely cannot believe you would choose to be so unkind. Shame on you, Rainbow Dash, shame on you!”
Rainbow gulped, shuffling her hooves. Applejack was the next to scold her, calmly stating that she was incredibly disappointed in her. Even Pinkie had something to say.
“That wasn’t funny Dashie, and trust me, I know funny.”
Getting to my feet, I decided to nip this in the bud.
“You, with me, now.” I commanded, glaring at Rainbow Dash.
Still shaken by everyone’s sudden and intense disapproval, she was more than willing to obey.
“And where are you taking her exactly?” Twilight demanded to know.
“To execute her for her heinous crimes, obviously.” I deadpanned, rolling my eyes at the unicorn.
Tutting, I simply elaborated that we were going to find Flutters, and that Rainbow Dash was going to put it right. Beckoning her to follow me, we left the circle and went after Fluttershy.
“I’m sorry.” she mumbled as we walked.
“I’m not the one you need to apologise to.” I grumbled, “What the hell were you thinking? We’re all exhausted and overheating in this shitty jungle, and you’re intentionally pressing Fluttershy’s buttons. Not to mention the fact you know she’s sensitive about that Midnight fellow. Why would you expose her like that?”
“I just… I wasn’t thinking.”
“Yeah, too right you weren’t thinking.” I spat.
“I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t tell me that, tell her.”
I pointed ahead to where Fluttershy could just be seen, weeping to herself amongst the bushes. We went over there together, and upon spotting us, the little mare wiped at her eyes and looked at the ground. When we were almost upon her, I tapped Rainbow on the shoulder and leaned down to bring my face close to hers.
“Sort it out.” I told her in a low, rumbling tone.
Furrowing her brow, Rainbow gave me a nod, and I turned away to lean against a nearby tree, giving Rainbow Dash a moment for a proper apologetic heart-to-heart. I couldn’t hear much, but I overheard a few things, mainly about how badly Dashie regretted being so thoughtless, and that she had been really stupid. After a little while, I saw them exchange hugs, along with Fluttershy playfully cuffing her friend on the head with one of her wings, which made me smile. Knowing that they had made up, I came over and escorted them back to the main group.
We returned to find that the others had moved on a little further, and were setting up camp for the night.
“Oh, we’re setting up already?” I inquired, “We still have a fair bit of daylight left.”
“Twilight isn’t going any further today, and that’s my order.” Rarity instructed, coming over to speak to me up close, “Her blueout symptoms are getting worse. The poor thing’s just been sick.”
Raising my eyebrows, it shocked me to hear that the blueout was still this bad. Nodding in total understanding, I genuinely felt a sense of sorrow for Twilight. She may have been paranoid and unkind, but she didn’t deserve this, not at all. Shedding some good news to the group, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy trotted along beside me and declared that everything was fine between them again, which needless to say, everyone was most pleased about.
After the camp was fully established, Pinkie Pie began to lament about how bored she was, and begged for us to play a game with her. Thinking about it, we hadn’t done anything fun as a group since Stuffy Bunnies. Aside from Twilight of course, everyone was up for a game, but I enforced that we played something that didn’t involve running off into the wilderness.
“Hey, I know, let’s play I spy!” Pinkie sang out.
“Ooh, great idea!” Applejack praised.
“Dibs on first go!” Dashie cried out, “I spy, uh, something blue!”
“Is it you?” I laughed.
Shaking her head, the cyan pegasus grinned.
“The sky?” Fluttershy suggested.
Another wrong answer. Pinkie then jumped up and pointed out Rarity’s tent.
“Hey, nice one Pinks!” Rainbow congratulated her, “Your turn!”
Looking all around, Pinkie hummed to herself loudly, and licked her lips.
“Hmm… I spy, with my little eye… something… green!”
Chortling, Applejack gestured all around at the sea of green we were enveloped in.
“Uh, everything?”
We all laughed, before taking turns to point out every conceivable green thing in sight; we even went into the specifics of pointing out individual leaves. A good ten minutes went by, with Pinkie shaking her head so much that I was worried it might fall off!
“Okay, this is just ridiculous.” Rainbow grumbled.
“Alright Pinkie, you got us. We give up.”
“You sure?” she asked, sticking her tongue out.
“Yes!” we all shouted in unison.
“It’s Callum’s eyes!”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me…” I groaned loudly.
Pinkie rolled onto her back in a fit of giggles, and my personal space was suddenly disregarded by all, as they came to properly inspect my irises and confirm that they were in fact, green. Tutting with annoyance, we continued playing, now under the singular rule that Pinkie wasn’t allowed to be the Spy any more. Midway through the next game, I tapped out as I needed the bathroom, and awkwardly retrieved the toilet roll from my bag, and fled to the jungle to relieve the call of nature.
Upon my return, I found that the group had given up on playing, and Applejack was cooking some dinner for us; boiled potatoes and herbs, seasoned with salt and ground garlic, all generously lathered with butter. It was an absolutely delectable dish, and it successfully elevated our spirits. With a great deal of willpower, Twilight was able to eat some as well and keep it down, which definitely helped to perk her up.
After a good natter around the campfire, we called it a day and got to bed nice and early. Our sleeping arrangements had remained consistent since England, and I tucked myself in next to Fluttershy, who was now totally at ease with my proximity; she had even taken to pressing against me in the night for assurance and comfort, something that had genuinely made me cry the first time she did it. Such a degree of closeness to someone had brought me unfathomable levels of jubilation, with her presence allowing me to drift off easier than ever before. Due to the heat, we had taken to lying on top of the sleeping bags instead of in them, and feeling her velvety fur against my back was more comforting than anything I had ever experienced. Despite the humidity and the unfamiliar jungle sounds, I always awoke feeling well-rested, and full of elation.
“Hey Flutters, mind if I ask you something?” I inquired as she settled down beside me.
“Um, sure, what is it?” she replied.
“Earlier, when Rainbow Dash was being a bit of an idiot, you took things really personally, and I was just wondering what it was that she actually said that caused you to get so upset?”
“Oh, um, well… um, um…”
“You don’t have to tell me.” I assured her.
Shaking her head and taking a deep breath, she explained why Rainbow’s teasing had startled her so badly.
“Okay, um… so, this is going to sound really silly, but I have a really vivid imagination. When somepony puts an image in my head, it’s like I can actually see it, inside my mind, and I can’t stop it from happening. So when Rainbow Dash said what she said, I started picturing things, and it made me feel bad, and dirty. We’re only just getting to know each other, and then Dashie made me imagine stuff like that, and I just started feeling so incredibly guilty!”
Rolling over to face me properly, the mare gave me a desperate expression.
“I don’t think of you like that, I promise. Please, I don’t want to make things weird!”
Smiling warmly and exhaling through my nose, I shook my head and confirmed that things were most certainly not weird. If anything, this response of hers was nothing short of adorable, and on a personal front, relatable. Breaking into a light chuckle, I divulged to her that I too, had a vastly imaginative brain, and visualised things in the exact same way she did. Throughout my whole life, I had been prone to all sorts of intrusive thoughts, and so Fluttershy’s predicament was something that was all too familiar to me.
“Trust me, I get it.” I said to her, “It’s not made anything weird, I promise.”
Sighing heavily, Fluttershy visibly relaxed and flopped into her pillow. Just as I had been dreading her reaction to my consumption of meat, it seemed that she too, was plagued by fears of how I might perceive her.
“Besides,” I continued, “it’s pretty clear that you’re spoken for.”
Blushing heavily and recalling the diary incident from the aeroplane, Fluttershy cleared her throat and flicked her tail anxiously, before coming clean about that too.
“Um, about that… Midnight and I aren’t exactly, um, a thing.”
“You’re… not?” I quizzed, tilting my head.
I was about to point out the awfully revealing image from her diary, which was when she sat up properly and looked me dead in the eyes.
“Can you… promise, never to tell the others?”
“Of course, I promise.”
“Pinkie Promise?”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
Taking me at my word, Fluttershy leaned forward and told me the truth.
Midnight Plume was a pegasus she had grown up with in Cloudsdale, and much like herself, he had been more concerned with animals than other ponies, with his sole interest being in birds. They quickly bonded over their shared adoration for them, and became the closest of friends. There was undeniable chemistry between them, along with physical attraction as they grew older, but there was one slight hitch. For as much as they had feelings for one another, Midnight’s love for birds was always stronger, and he knew in his heart that he wished to settle down with a griffon. However, such idolatry wasn’t to mean their relationship fell apart, and when Fluttershy moved to Ponyville, ‘Middy’ would come to visit her every now and again, where they would spend most of their time tending to Fluttershy’s birds. Some of their time, however, took place elsewhere…
“We have a… um… an agreement of sorts.” she explained, “Until he finds a griffon to settle down with, we have a sort of, um, special friendship, in private.”
Cupping my mouth with my hands, I genuinely wouldn’t have believed her, had it not been for what I had seen fall from her diary. That first image had simply been an ordinary photo of the colt, a perfectly reasonable and conventional keepsake. The second image however, had been of them together, and by together, I meant… together.
{You, of all ponies…} I thought, slowly shaking my head.
I might have expected something like this from Rainbow Dash; in fact, that troublesome little minx had all but confirmed she partook in such shenanigans during the plane flight. Perhaps, Rarity too, I could imagine maybe having a gentleman caller on the down-low, but Fluttershy!? It would seem that the age-old cliché rang true in both our worlds; it was always the quiet ones…
“So erm, the pictures?” I pressed gently, swallowing nervously.
“Um, yeah, um… you really, um… weren’t supposed to s-see that.”
Her reply had come as a trembling whisper, and it didn’t take a genius to guess that she was panicking for letting the cat out of the bag. But I was a man of my word, and not a soul would hear of this, not from me. I reiterated this promise, and she shakily continued to explain that the photographs were something of a keepsake, which he had consensually agreed to let her take. This was so that when he eventually did meet a griffon someday, and would come to visit her no more, she could treasure some truly intimate moments, of which she feared that she would never have with anyone else.
“Why not?” I posed.
Sighing, Fluttershy dipped her head.
“Well um, I don’t… I don’t think I could ever give myself to somepony else like that. Even if Middy never comes to love me in the same way, I’ll always belong to him, just in case he ever changes his mind…”
Tears started welling up in her eyes, which almost set me off as well; that last sentence was utterly heart-breaking! Sniffing, Fluttershy broke eye contact and tried to blink away the tears, making it perfectly clear that this conversation needed to take a different turn, followed by a conclusion.
“Well you know what?” I began, “I think that’s really sweet, and I don’t judge you in the slightest.”
“You don’t?” she whimpered.
Shaking my head, I told her that her business was her own, and that she was a grown mare, perfectly capable of choosing how to live her life, and that there was only one shameful thing about the whole ordeal. Gulping, she lowered her head.
“What’s that?”
Cupping her cheek with one hand, I regained eye contact with her and smiled.
“That Midnight would rather give his heart to some grouchy old bag of feathers, than to the kindest, sweetest, most perfect little pegasus that could ever grace the lands and skies of Equestria.”
Unable to stop the tears, but now grinning like an idiot, Fluttershy buried her face into my chest, releasing the mix of emotions that had been bubbling up inside her. Lightly stroking the back of her head, I smirked with warm pride, thankful to have developed such a trusting bond with her. Once Fluttershy had calmed down, she thanked me profusely for letting her finally tell someone else about this secret.
“Someone else?” I repeated, “Who else knows?”
“Only Rarity.” she told me, “As for why her? Um… just know that I had my reasons.”
“Fair enough.” I said, not pushing it, “But nopony else knows? At all? Surely Rainbow Dash knows at least, right?”
“She doesn’t have a clue.” she said, tittering, “She thinks I’m too innocent. Rainbow just thinks he visits for the birds, and that I’m too shy for anything serious.”
“Huh, fair enough.” I hummed, “It just seemed like she was in the know, based on what she said earlier.”
“No, she just likes to play it up to make me feel awkward. If only she knew that she was actually downplaying it!”
She burst into a giggle, and I giggled with her. After that, we made a quick trip outside for a wee, and then settled down for good, nestling up to each other and drifting off to sleep.
I woke to find Fluttershy already gone, though from the sound of things, she was sitting just outside the tent. I could hear the other girls too, talking amongst themselves over breakfast. Slowly rolling over and stretching, I quietly slithered to the entrance and listened to what they were saying, hoping to catch some juicy gossip.
“I mean, they’re okay-looking and all, but I don’t think I could ever date one.” Applejack said.
“Hmm, I must admit I’m a little on the fence.” Rarity joined in, “I’m not really all that fond of interspecies relationships. Not that I judge those who are in them, but for me, I want a handsome stallion who knows how to treat a lady right.”
More relationship talk, was there something in the air? Perhaps my conversation with Fluttershy had sparked her to come out and tell them the truth about Midnight, and his desire for a griffon? No, she wouldn’t do that, not after so adamantly making me Pinkie Promise. But still, having heard the mention of an interspecies relationship, there was certainly some interesting topic going on. Craning my neck to listen more carefully, I continued to eavesdrop.
“What about you, Rainbow?” Applejack said with a chuckle, “It ain’t no secret that you’re a big fan of all sorts of fellers.”
“Pfft okay, yeah, that’s fair.” she chortled in reply, “Yeah, I would totally get it on with a human.”
Now that woke me up. My eyes shot wide open as I realised that they weren’t talking about griffons and the like. They were talking about me, or at least, my species. Placing a hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp, I listened on.
“Well then, don’t be subtle about it!” Rarity laughed.
“Why be subtle?” Dashie scoffed, “You know me, I love experimenting! By the time I’m wrinkly and gross, I want to have slept with every race on Equus, so why not add a freaking alien to the list?”
From last night’s revelation, to this… Never in a million years would I have expected them to be this openly debauched, especially in casual conversation. But, on the flip side, there were two very important things that I needed to remember. Firstly, as stated numerous times to me, the cartoon world of Equestria and its inhabitants were far from childish. Their world was as real as my own, and reality was always grittier than fantasy. Secondly, I needed to remember that these girls had been friends for years, so with me presumably out of earshot, there was probably very little they wouldn’t talk about together. I may have had limited experience with long-term friendships, but I wasn’t stupid, I knew how it worked. Trying to cast aside my male mindset, I tried to picture that girly ‘BFF’ mentality, in which ‘gal-pals’ would tell one another just about anything, with no holds barred. Shrugging, I forced myself to accept the new norm, and decided to roll with it.
“Frankly, I don’t know how any of you could even think of copulating with one of those things!” Twilight spat, gagging.
Unzipping the tent, I popped my head out and locked eyes with the unicorn, startling everyone.
“Err, because I’m sexy as hell, that’s how, you dumb prude!”
Despite the shock that I had been eavesdropping, my comment had everyone bursting into fits of laughter. Emerging from the tent, I greeted everyone and then sat down next to Rainbow Dash, where I decided to give her a good old taste of karma.
“So, Miss ‘I Love Experimenting’, are you quite finished objectifying me behind my back?”
The pegasus’ eyes nearly bulged out of their damn sockets, and her cheeks flushed red in seconds.
“Wait, y-you heard that!?”
Simply raising an eyebrow at her, Rainbow Dash desperately tried to backpedal.
“I was… I just… it-it was a ‘what if’ thing, you know? I was just joking, I would never! You’re so gross! You don’t even have fur! I wasn’t objectifying you, it was just a-”
“Rarity, might I have some tea?” I interrupted loudly.
Rainbow went silent as a mouse, and went back to her breakfast, her forehead visibly sweating. I looked over to Fluttershy and gave her a wink, to which she giggled quietly.
“What goes around, comes around, huh Rainbow?” Applejack teased.
Realising that this was her punishment for upsetting Fluttershy yesterday, Rainbow Dash sighed and shook her head, before eventually laughing along with us. She then apologised for talking so crudely about me behind my back.
“But for what it’s worth, Applejack and Rarity were objectifying you too!” she added.
“Oh I heard.” I said sternly, “But they were doing it on the grounds of dateability. You, meanwhile, only seemed to be interested in one thing, adding another species to your list.”
“Okay, can we change the subject?” Rainbow begged, still blushing intensely.
“Yes, let’s, before I’m violently ill.” Twilight interjected.
Rolling my eyes, I took the tea that Rarity had just brewed for me, along with a bowl of cereal from Applejack. Dropping the subject, I enjoyed a nice breakfast with everyone, talking about things of a far less dissolute nature. After I had eaten, we decided to check on my phone to see if it still worked, and if the enchantment had taken. I attempted to turn it on, and much to my relief, it vibrated. A few seconds later, I was met with the usual Sony Ericsson Xperia splash screen.
“Well, it’s turning on, so that’s a good sign.” I murmured.
The home screen eventually loaded, along with all my app thumbnails and such. The first abnormality I noticed was that my battery was fully charged again, which was of course, an absolute boon. Swiping upwards to bring up all my apps, I tapped on Offline Maps, which was when the screen went black.
“Crap.” I muttered.
“Is it broken?” asked Pinkie, tilting her head.
Much to our relief, it wasn’t broken, with the screen flickering back to life. The app then loaded, with the map moving by itself to display our position, deeply submersed in the green mass of the Brazilian jungle. Upon touching the screen I was met with a static shock, with the screen briefly flashing with the same hue as Rarity’s magic. Pulling my finger away, the phone seemed to take command of itself, with the map zooming out to show more of the country, followed by a strange blue dot appearing somewhere out in the State of Amazonas. It was the Orb fragment…
“It worked!” I hollered.
Everyone broke into a cheer, and I tapped on the dot to highlight the coordinates. Not knowing how permanent the enchantment was, I saved the location on the app, marking it with a pin. Now it was just a matter of getting there, which was when I realised just how far away it still was.
“Woof…” I blurted out.
“What is it?” asked Fluttershy.
Straining my lips, I told them that we likely had a few weeks of walking still ahead of us. Everyone groaned with displeasure, but Twilight quickly silenced the protests, stamping the ground with a hoof.
“Those weeks aren’t going to go by any faster with you all whinging about it. Everyone pack up your gear, and let’s get moving.”
Strutting past us to pack her own belongings, she left us to get on with it. With a shrug, I actually found myself in agreement with the unicorn, even if her approach had been so scathingly blunt. Grumbling about the distance would bring the fragment no closer to us, nor us to it. We just needed to press on, one step at a time, and if Twilight could do it despite her blueout symptoms, then none of us had any excuse to complain.
The camp was swiftly packed away, and after a quick dispersal for toilet breaks, we reassembled and resumed our journey through the jungle…
Despite the early start, there was only so far we could walk until nightfall came upon us once again. The sky was already turning a navy blue, and after finding a nice secluded clearing, we stopped to make camp.
“Hey, to speed up our morning start tomorrow, how about we just set up one tent tonight?” Rainbow Dash suggested.
“Um, I don’t think we’d all fit in one tent, Dashie.” Fluttershy pointed out.
“Not all of us, no.” she admitted, “But I’m thinking of sleeping out here tonight. It’s been a while since I’ve had a nice tree to snooze in, and that one right there is calling out my name!”
Rainbow pointed over to an abnormally girthy tree, sporting many thick branches for sleeping on.
“Well you can sleep up there if you want.” Applejack remarked, “But that certainly don’t mean the rest of us are all squeezing in one tent together, there still ain’t no way we’d fit, even without you.”
“Heh, fatty.”
“For the sake of that pretty mouth of yours, I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that…”
Hopping away from the farm pony with a nervous chuckle, Rainbow Dash asked me to back her up. Shrugging, I proposed that everyone bar Rainbow sharing one tent was out of the question, but two tents? Well, that was certainly more manageable.
“If you think I’m sharing a tent with you…” Twilight started.
“Oh relax.” I scoffed, “I wouldn’t dream of disturbing your, uh… beauty sleep.”
Everyone snickered at the jab, and then, for better or worse, I chose to show off, declaring that I would sleep in the tree with Rainbow Dash. That way, Fluttershy could take Rainbow’s spot in Rarity’s big tent, thus foregoing the need for all three of them.
“I hate to break it to you Sugarcube, but you ain’t no pegasus.” AJ chuckled.
“Nope.” I agreed, “But I’m also, as Dashie put it, a big furless monkey. You’ve already seen it for yourself, I’m damn good at climbing trees.”
“And falling out of them.” she clapped back bluntly, evoking a bout of giggles from the others.
“I’ll just lash my legs to the branch with rope.” I replied, grinning, “Come on, it’d be a right old laugh!”
In hindsight, I secretly acknowledged that it was an absolutely ridiculous idea, and needless too; it didn’t even take all that long to put away the tents! Rainbow Dash had just been looking for an excuse to sleep outside, and I had stupidly gone in on it. But now that I had made the suggestion, I wanted to commit, and so with some reluctance from the others, only two tents were erected.
We all had some supper, and then Twilight and Applejack went off to bed. Shortly after that, Pinkie went to bed as well, leaving me, Rarity, Rainbow and Fluttershy to sit around the campfire, nattering amongst ourselves.
“So, what else can that phone thingy of yours do?” Rainbow Dash inquired.
“Ooh yes, tell us!” added Fluttershy.
Rarity too, showed a keen interest, and so I retrieved the device and educated them on just what a mobile phone could do. Though I had removed my SIM card, I explained that when it housed one, it was capable of sending and receiving written messages and phone calls, as well as accessing the internet if one had a data plan. Upon learning that it could take photographs, the girls couldn’t stop themselves from demanding we took a few, resulting in a fair few shots and selfies being captured. I then showed them the phone’s functionality as a flashlight, along with its ability to run games, booting up the original Angry Birds for them to gawk at for a little while.
“You can write notes with it, you can check your bank balance with it…” I went on, closing the game, “Oh, and it can play music too!”
“Ooh, ooh! That reminds me of something I wanted to ask you!” Fluttershy chirped excitedly.
Gesturing for her to continue, Fluttershy asked me what sort of music we had here on Earth.
“Now that’s a can of worms.” I chuckled, “Humans are incredibly musical creatures, and have created every genre you could possibly think of!”
“Can we hear some?” Rainbow Dash begged, prodding at my arm.
“Sure!” I agreed merrily.
Running over to my bag, I dug around until I found my earbuds. Plugging them into my phone, I quickly picked out some individual songs from different artists, ones that I thought would pique each girl’s interest.
“Might I have the first listen?” asked Rarity.
“No! Me! Me! Pick me!” Rainbow Dash squealed, bobbing from side to side.
I looked between the two of them and smirked, letting the tension set in. And then, with a silly voice, I announced who the first listener would be.
“And this year’s prom queen is… Fluttershy!”
Turning to the yellow pegasus, I passed her the earbuds, which she accepted gleefully. Opening her mouth in disbelief, Rainbow Dash pointed out that Flutters hadn’t even asked.
“Exactly.” I replied with a wink, “She was patient.”
At that, Rainbow Dash folded her forelegs and huffed. Rarity was less bothered, knowing full-well that she ought to have waited until she was offered the buds. With a giggle, Fluttershy shuffled closer to me, clearly excited to listen to her first piece of human music. She instinctively put the earbuds in, and although they didn’t fit quite as well as they would in a human ear, they did the job just fine.
Knowing Fluttershy’s kind nature, I had picked out a song that would suit her perfectly. It was ‘People Should Smile More’ by Newton Faulkner, which as the title suggested, was about encouraging positivity and reflecting on how smiling more often would make the world a better place. Almost immediately her face lit up, with her adorable little smile continuing to grow until it was nothing short of a cheesy, ear-to-ear grin.
“Well, you seem to have met Fluttershy’s liking.” Rarity noted.
When the song ended, Fluttershy took the earbuds out and wrapped her forelegs around me.
“Oh Callum, that song was just simply wonderful…” she sighed dreamily.
“My turn!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, full of excitement as she shifted over next to me.
“Rarity! How wonderful of you to volunteer next!” I cheered.
“What? Oh come on!”
Rarity tittered loudly at Rainbow’s annoyance and used her magic to plug the earbuds in. Smiling warmly, I pressed play on her song, of which I had chosen ‘I’m Yours’ by Jason Mraz. At first, Rarity looked at me with confusion, as the song started with the sound of an aeroplane, but as the music started, she began to smile, just as Fluttershy had done. Soon after, Rarity closed her eyes and lost herself in the experience. When the song ended, her response was nearly identical to Fluttershy’s, with her leaning back and sighing.
“That was simply divine, darling…”
Grinning, I looked over to Rainbow Dash, who was impatiently prodding at the ground with her hoof.
“Would you like your turn now, Rainbow?” I asked.
Immediately brightening up, she nodded frantically and zipped over to me. Chuckling, I passed the earbuds to her and waited for her to plug them in. I then selected ‘So What’ by P!nk, and it didn’t take long for the pegasus to break into a smirk.
“Yeah heh-heh… Now this is good music!” she rasped, closing her eyes.
As the song got to the chorus, Dashie started to bob her head to the tune, which almost caused the earbuds to fall out. She caught them and stuffed them back in, and continued to nod to the beat. A couple of minutes later, the song came to an end, and taking out the earbuds, Dashie stared at me with a wild smile, clearly energised by the music.
“Dude, that was awesome.”
“Though I would often detest such bland, simple language…” Rarity chimed in, “I must admit, that experience was indeed… awesome.”
“I want to hear more!” Fluttershy begged.
“Hmm, well how about this…” I proposed, “This adventure of ours is going to take months, so how about once every few days, I’ll let you all hear a new song? That way, when things get bleak or boring, you can all have something to look forward to.”
Rarity proclaimed that it was a fantastic idea, and so we made a pact that I would occasionally share my music with them before bed. With bed in mind, I let out a yawn, which set off a chain of yawns in the others. Deciding that it was time to turn in, I bid everyone goodnight. I then went over to my rucksack and retrieved the rope from our makeshift raft the other day.
“I’m not going to bed until I know for certain you’re safe up there.” Rarity tutted.
Rolling my eyes, I tucked the bundle of rope into my waistband and began to climb. Despite lacking lower branches, the tree was adorned with a plethora of thick ivy, which thankfully went all the way up to the top.
“Goodness! Look at him go!” Rarity gasped from below.
This put me off, and as I looked down at her, I lost my grip with my left hand and almost fell. Holding on tightly with my right hand, I dangled for a moment, scrambling with my feet for a better grip.
“Oh shit, dude!” Rainbow Dash yelped, darting forward in preparation to catch me.
{Why did I ever think this was a good idea?} I lamented to myself in thought.
Regaining my grip, I continued to climb until I eventually reached the thickest of the branches, where I would be, again, for better or worse, resting for the night. Hoisting myself up and looking down, I realised how high up I was. Gulping, I flattened myself to the branch and realised how stupid this idea was. If the rope came loose while I was asleep, and I fell from up here, I would be a very dead guide. Still, I was every bit as idiotic as I was prideful, and with great care, I took the rope out from my waistband and passed it to Rainbow Dash as she flew up to join me.
“Be a lamb and loop this around the branch a few times, will you?” I instructed.
She did just that, and after a few adjustments, I was safely strapped to the branch.
{I can’t believe I’m doing this…} I thought, shaking my head.
Dashie landed on the same branch and sat down to join me. Rarity and Fluttershy, still both concerned for my safety, took themselves off to bed with a degree of reluctance. I chatted with Rainbow for a good while before she eventually curled up and fell asleep. Closing my eyes, I attempted to do the same, which was when I realised that it wasn’t just me and Rainbow up here. Perched on a much higher branch, looking down at me with curiosity, was the dark shape of a bird. Though it was too dark to properly make out, I could only presume it was the same one that had been following us.
“Can I help you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at it.
The bird craned its neck, before spreading its wings and disappearing into the night. Shrugging, I tried for a second time to sleep, only for me to jump out of my damn skin as something hard poked my arm. My eyes shot open and I looked to my side, where I was met by a floating cookie, shrouded in a light blue glow. Reaching across to take it, I peered off the side of the branch to see Rarity smiling up at me. Smiling back at her, I realised that she had presented me with a Threezie. I gave her a little wave to say thank you, and then she returned to her tent. Biting into the cookie, I was treated to a luscious vanilla flavour, and as I started to chew, it began to taste of marshmallows. Closing my eyes, I hummed with euphoria, which only doubled as I swallowed the delicious morsel, treating me to the aftertaste of rich milk chocolate.
{These have absolutely no business being this good…} I thought, unable to stifle an elated little wiggle.
Tucking into the rest of the Threezie, I savoured every bite and hummed to myself in ecstasy. With my senses beguiled by such a blissful congregation of flavours, I very quickly forgot that I was about sixty feet up in the air.
Swallowing the last bite, I lay back against the soft mossy branch, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
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is there like a gdocs or something for the original chapters? I don't really wanna wait 2 weeks to read the sequels when theyre just sitting there taunting me
11904350
I'm afraid not, all the old chapters are no longer available for viewing and all the new chapters are going through last-minute touch-ups before their daily release.
Don't worry, the sequels (especially Breaking Dawn) are worth the wait. 😁
Literally, word for word, my response to these rewritten chapters.
Callum? i can come up with a "re-add" of songs and reaction from Applejack and maybe also Rainbow?
i'm so not sorry. XDD
it's a really good remaster of a classic song tbh.
11904455
Ooh, that's a very nice cover, I do enjoy a bit of Cotton-Eyed Joe.
However, it's worth keeping in mind that this story takes place in 2015. As such, that cover doesn't yet exist in the story's canon. There will be a time for AJ and the others to hear some more earthly music, but I have already selected songs for that and have got those scenes finalised for the most part.
Either way, thanks for your input and for sharing the song cover with me.
11904485
riiiiiiiiiiiiiight, fecking forgot it's ment to follow the Real timeline, shet, forgot that. XD
and yea, also, do you think AJ and RD would enjoy this? it's Rock and Country..
11904548
Yes, I'm pretty sure they would enjoy it.
I would ask them myself, but sadly I'm just the boring Callum who writes all this shite.
Human objectification is not friend.
11904595
ye....
Never expected Fluttershy to pull off a reverse guilt trip on Rainbow Dash of all ponies. Convinced her that she was embarrassing her while the truth was even crazier than she thought.
11906724
It's sort of a half-and-half situation, where she is genuinely embarrassed, but also gets a kick out of the fact that Rainbow has no idea about how serious it really is. It's less of a reverse guilt-trip, and more like she's shy about what Rainbow does know, but is also amused that Rainbow knows far less than she thinks she does...
If that makes sense?