Huggable So Soft Fluttershy

by Glint

So Soft Earth

Applejack looked up from her well-worn Equestrian Farmers’ Almanac to the sound of a soft but insistent tapping at her front door.

“Hold your horses, I’m a-coming,” she called out.

She rose from her sofa and opened the front door. Standing there was Fluttershy, looking more worried than usual.

“C’mon in, Fluttershy,” she said.

Fluttershy walked into the living room listlessly, sat down on the couch, and stared blankly at the wall.

Applejack smiled warmly at her. “Anything I can do to help you, sugarcube?” she said.

“I forgot Angel’s birthday,” she said, sighing. “I want to make it up to him by giving him a nice carrot cake. I asked Pinkie Pie, but Sugar Cube Corner has a big special order to fill, so she’s too busy to help. But she said that your family makes great carrot cakes.”

“Naw, I can’t do that,” said Applejack. “What do I look like, my cousin Carrotjack?”

Fluttershy’s eyes started to tremble as a big grin spread across Applejack’s face. “I’m just joshin’ you,” Applejack said. “Carrotjack’s a terrible baker. But I have a great carrot cake recipe.”

“Oh, good,” said Fluttershy with relief. “So can you make –“

“But seriously, the answer’s no,” interrupted Applejack. A stern look came over her face. “I can tell by the look on your face you’re feeling mighty guilty about this. And if you want this cake to be an apology that really means something, you need to be the pony that makes it.”

Fluttershy’s once-again astonished expression slowly faded into a gentle smile.

“You can use my ingredients to make my recipe in my kitchen,” she continued. “But it needs to be made by your hooves so it’ll be full of your love.”

“Right,” said Fluttershy resolutely. “I’ll do it.”

“Great! Let’s start by picking the carrots,” said Applejack.

The two walked through the kitchen and out the side door to a large garden. Each row was marked with a small picture of a carrot, turnip, potato, or other root vegetable. Most of the rows were empty. Applejack and Fluttershy trod through the soft, turned up earth to a row of carrots.

“I planted this row of carrots about four months ago. I was gonna start harvesting tomorrow, but they should be good today,” Applejack said.

She pawed some dirt away from a carrot, and reached down and firmly grasped it with her teeth. With a couple gentle tugs, she pulled it out of the ground. She then set the carrot down in a basket.

“Get a good grip, but pull nice and soft. Five medium-sized ones should do the trick,” she said.

Fluttershy brushed away some dirt, gently put her teeth around a carrot, and gently pulled up. This did nothing but leave shallow tooth marks on the vegetable.

Applejack said, “You gotta hold on a little –“

Applejack stopped as Fluttershy dramatically dug at the ground around the carrot. She tightly gripped it with her teeth and with a couple of tugs, pulled it out of the ground. The carrot was broken, the two halves barely connected to each other. Fluttershy’s triumphant smile quickly turned into a frown.

“Don’t worry, we’re just gonna grate it up anyway. You’re doing good. Four more!” said Applejack with a smile.

Fluttershy diligently pulled up four more carrots without breaking any more. She added them to Applejack’s basket.

“Okay,” said Applejack, picking up the basket and putting it on her back, “let’s get inside. I’ll get the kitchen in order …”

Applejack noticed that Fluttershy wasn’t looking at her, or at her kitchen. She was instead staring at some clumpy dirt that coated her nose. She shook her head and snorted, trying to get it off. Applejack chuckled gently, and produced a mostly-clean cloth, which she used to wipe Fluttershy’s nose.

“C’mon sugarcube. Let’s get to the kitchen,” she said.

She dashed in the side door. By the time Fluttershy arrived, she had cleared off one little corner of the countertop in her cluttered kitchen.

Applejack held up a peeler and the carrot she had picked herself. A grater was sitting on the counter beside her. Behind that was a corkboard with a hoof-scrawled recipe pinned to it.

“Now, first, you gotta wash it, then scrape it with this scraper thing,” she said.

“Umm … I’ve grated carrots before,” said Fluttershy softly.

“Great!” exclaimed Applejack. “You get started on that, I’ll get the kitchen in order.”

She took a big bite out of her unpeeled, still slightly dirty carrot and whirled around the kitchen. As Fluttershy grated her carrots, Applejack cleaned up, organized the needed utensils and bowls, and fetched ingredients from the pantry and fridge.

Applejack talked her through her special family recipe. Along the way, Applejack gave advice, set out tools and containers, and offered words of encouragement, but never lifted a hoof to help in the actual making of the cake. Every step from the greasing of the cake pan, to the beating of the eggs, to the arduous task of mixing everything into the batter was done by Fluttershy alone.

By the time Fluttershy put the cake in the oven, her forelimbs were aching, but she was smiling. As the cake baked, she whipped up a couple cups of her own special frosting recipe, and set it in the fridge.

“That’s a mighty fine looking cake there, sugarcube,” said Applejack, peeking into the oven. “All that’s left is about forty minutes of waiting, then you can frost it.”

“Actually, there’s one thing left to do,” Fluttershy said. “Angel will want more carrot with his carrot cake. I’m going to pick another carrot, and garnish the cake with carrot slices. If you don’t mind,” she added hastily.

“That’s a fine idea. Let’s get y’all another carrot,” Applejack replied.

They went back out to the vegetable garden, and walked through the churned-up dirt of the already-picked rows. Fluttershy firmly grasped a carrot in her mouth, and gave a few tugs. But it wouldn’t budge. Dejected, she flopped down onto the cool, soft earth.

She idly pushed dirt away from the carrot. “Oh, Applejack,” she said, “You think Angel can ever forgive me for forgetting his birthday?”

Applejack smiled at her, and said, “Of course he will, darlin’. The question is, can you forgive yourself?”

“Well … I …” started Fluttershy.

Applejack sat down on the ground beside her and wrapped a forelimb around her shoulder. “Sure you can, Fluttershy,” she whispered.

Applejack lay down right beside her, and put her other forelimb around her neck. She held Fluttershy close to her, cheek touching cheek, flank touching flank. The warmth of Applejack’s body at her side contrasted with the coolness of the earth under her belly, but both were soft, and oddly enough, equally comforting. Fluttershy wriggled into the ground a little as she nuzzled Applejack’s cheek. She felt the love flow into her, both from Applejack’s body and from Applejack’s land.

As the sun sank toward the horizon, Fluttershy rested in Applejack’s embrace. Applejack whispered soft reassuring words about forgiveness, kindness, friendship, and love. When they heard the oven timer ring, they both slowly rose as one. Fluttershy grabbed and pulled out the carrot with one fluid motion, and they walked, side-by-side, still touching, back to Applejack’s home.

Comments

[DoctorAnatomy]

D'awwwww

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