Applejack Shy

by HareTrinity

Not A Rarity

Just a few hours to go before the big Sweet Apple Acres bake sale and the decorations were almost complete! Signs were raised up high, stands upright, and the goods themselves were on the way, as the warm smell from the kitchen could confirm. Out in the bright sun two ponies were working together to get the finishing touches together.

"Thanks again for helpin' out with this, Rarity!"

"But of course, dear!" responded the white unicorn as she arranged the string of flags. "Whoever would have thought that a poorly controlled storm would destroy one of your main storage barns at such a vital time of year! The whole village wants to help, of course, but -"

Applejack grinned as she rolled the trolley over to the tables, calling up, "- Oh, don't worry, we get it. Everypony likes a tasty treat to go with their generosity! These ingredients wouldn't have kept if we didn't get the barn patched up anyways!"

Rarity smiled. "Well then, everypony wins! Maybe even Twilight will find a gap in her busy schedule to come spend some time with us!"

"Heh, yeah..." Applejack moved onto setting up the table. "Didja here 'bout her and Fluttershy then?"

"Oh, yes, I heard about it at the time, plus Fluttershy told me all about it just the other day when we were at the spa..." responded the unicorn, tying the end of the string neatly into a bow and checking they all looked even.

Applejack carefully righted the tray, making sure there was enough room left on the table, and went for the next one. "Yeah?"

"Mm-hm, and then she asked me out."

Applejack dropped the tray of tarts she'd been picking up and it clattered back onto the trolley. "What?"

The unicorn was now fixing ribbons to tree branches, apparently not having noticing Applejack's clumsiness as she replied casually, "Indeed, right there in the spa! Told me she was over the whole Twilight business and wanted to know if I would go out with her!"

The orange mare stared fixedly at the white pony. This is not exactly what she thought would happen when she made chitchat about her crush. She'd expected new news on how Fluttershy was doing, maybe, or possibly to have spent some time filling Rarity in on the event. The latter would have come with the bonus of allowing a little bit of talk about how silly it seemed, to vent a little, and maybe find out if Rarity knew what was going on with Fluttershy, but... This? This was not news she'd been ready for. She'd almost got used to it from Fluttershy, but finding that Fluttershy had approached somepony else and that it was the very pony she was now speaking to? It had caught Applejack utterly off-guard and hit her as subtly as a barrel of apples. Her mouth was dry as she asked, "So what did ya say?"

"Well, clearly the poor dear's on rebound, so we had a long chat about the matter and I made it clear that, much as I loved her as a friend, since the whole Prince matter I'm now waiting for the right mood to appear first, not just dating out of the blue."

Applejack wasn't bothered with the preparations any more. She felt somewhat sick to find out that Fluttershy had approached someone and, more than that, she was worried to hear that her crush had been rejected again, this time without her support. Given the state she'd been in the other times, how well would she have handled that alone? Applejack struggled to keep her worries reasonable as, voice weak, she asked the question, "Was she okay?"

Rarity was still focusing on the decorations, eyes on them as she responded, "Well, I think she took it quite well, though of course it can be hard to tell with- Applejack?"

The unicorn looked behind her at the sound of hooves and saw the earth pony galloping off away from the stalls, down the path leading out of Sweet Apple Acres. She called out a few times but her friend didn't respond and was soon out of earshot.

"Goodness, whatever was that about? We were chatting fine one moment and then the next..." Rarity lapsed into thought, what had changed? Preparations were going fine and then Applejack brought up Fluttershy and... But why would that cause her to rush off, unless... The unicorn gasped, lifting a hoof to her mouth. It couldn't be! Could it? A smile crept over her face as she uttered, "...Goodness!"

In the shadows of the porch sat another pony. It was difficult to make out if she was awake or asleep but at this moment her wrinkled old face smiled.

---

"FLUTTERSHY!"

Applejack, out of breath, arrived at the cottage to find the yellow pony watering her flowerbeds. She gave Applejack a confused look.

"Ah... Ah just heard... 'Bout you... And Rarity..." panted the Apple pony. "Ya okay?"

Fluttershy smiled, a hint of sadness in her eyes, and put down the watering can before replying, "Yes, thank you... I wasn't really that hopeful anyway, just... Thought I'd best try."

Applejack had felt a pang of pain at Fluttershy's words but mostly she was just relieved that her friend wasn't in a state. It was true that Applejack was distinctly tired of just being the friend who supported her beloved pegasus, but still there were very few things she could think of that were worse than her Fluttershy being upset. Still trying to catch her breath she changed topic as casually as she could, asking, "...Oh... Well... Are ya coming... To the bake sale...?"

"Oh, yes, my animals love your food, and I do too of course! But isn't it two hours until it starts?"

"Uh... Yes..." - Applejack quickly tried to come up with an with a reason for rushing here quite so fast - "But... Well, since yer feelin' down, why not come have some of the freshly baked stuff? We always have leftovers anyway, so on me?"

"Oh! That'd be lovely, thank you! Um... I have to finish some things here, but if you go on ahead I'll catch up?"

Applejack nodded and started on her way back, feeling warm and fuzzy. It was almost like a date, she thought gleefully to herself. I mean, obviously it's not, but... SHE's feeling okay, and SHE's coming to MY place to see ME so that I can treat HER to treats! That's a lot of us in there! Coming over early too, we'll have some time before other ponies get there, and no worries about her asking out anypony there since she's already tried that! Given, that's a situation that could be better, but that's not something to dwell on now: Fluttershy and I are gonna spend some time together!

With an extra spring in her step Applejack got back in fairly good time (considering how worn out out she'd been from the run there). Still, when she arrived she found she'd taken long enough for Rarity to have about finished the decorations, and Big Mac was already bringing along the next lot of pies! Soon Applejack and Rarity were working together on getting the food sorted.

As they worked on setting up the price tags and labels, the farm mare started to find the unicorn a little off putting: Rarity kept asking questions about Fluttershy. Questions about how the pegasus was, whether or not she'd be coming down, if Applejack was going to recommend any of the items to her and so on. This would be trivial enough if it weren't so persistent, plus Rarity had that glint in her eye and Applejack wasn't entirely sure why: It wasn't normally there unless she'd caught sight of some gossip-worthy topic in the making...

It couldn't be that she's figure out-... But why wouldn't she just come out and say it? Whatever the hay it is, I can't let her distract me from getting these things ready, Fluttershy could be here any moment! It'll be rude if she's left waiting whilst I get things sorted!

So Applejack pushed on with the preparations and they ended up finishing early, long before Fluttershy got there. Applejack waited patiently, making minor adjustments to decorations and food displays as she waited, and doing her best to humour Rarity's strange turn of attitude.

Any minute now... Ooh, what am I going to show her first? The tarts? The pies? Or does she prefer those hot? Maybe the crumble... Any minute now! I wonder if she'll have done her hair up a- no, no, that'd be silly... She's just coming her as a friend and that's just fine. Still, were she wearing something, I wonder what it'd be? Nothing too heavy I hope, something light... Not like I'll be disappointed either way, whether she's making some frock look amazing or just here without, she's coming to see ME...

Over an hour ticked past in the warm sunlight, and Applejack's replies to Rarity were increasingly spaced out as the orange mare slipped into daydreams. She hardly noticed how late Fluttershy was. Indeed, by the time the pegasus arrived there were only 10 minutes until the official start by the time. At this point Applejack was so far gone with her daydreaming that she didn't see Fluttershy approaching, only snapping back to reality when Rarity grabbed hold and dragged the surprised pony over to greet her friend.

"Fluttershy, darling, so glad you could make it!" Rarity called, smiling widely.

Fluttershy smiled as her two friends came to greet her, "Yes, I- oh!"

"Come on girly, those streamers ain't gonna hang themselves!"

Rarity gasped as she found herself being hurried along. "Why, Granny Smith, I've already hung all the streamers!"

"Then Ah guess they fell down, dint they?"

Applejack and Fluttershy watched as the unicorn, still protesting, was bustled away by the old mare. After a pause Fluttershy continued, "I'm sorry I'm late Applejack, I got caught up with things and one of my mice had hurt his tail and then one thing led to another and-"

Applejack interrupted, "It's okay, sugar cube, I know how it can be with things on yer mind."

Fluttershy nodded, smiling sweetly, and allowed Applejack to lead her to the bake sale so that they could make use of the little remaining time before it officially began.

Applejack couldn't help but grin as the minutes ticked by. Most of what she'd seen of Fluttershy lately had started by crushing her dreams and ended up with them both miserable. Finally Fluttershy seemed happy; not chasing partners, but simply spending time with her. There was something magical in that carefree innocence as the pegasus struggled to pick a favourite type of tasty good, and the way her face lit up as Applejack got her one of everything. They didn't talk about much other than the bake sale, but the mood was cheerful and friendly. Applejack couldn't have asked for more.

It didn't last long, of course: The bake sale started up and, as one of the Apple family, Applejack was eventually pulled away by her duties with managing the event, but for a while it had been special.

In the end Applejack had lost sight of Fluttershy completely and found herself too busy to track her down. Applejack felt a little bad that she hadn't managed to say goodbye, but she still slept well that night. Things suddenly felt very comfortable.

Comments

[Frizzy]

Few grammar and spelling errors, but nothing too bad.

[RandomRedneck]

Dude, I'll be blunt. This is pretty bad. Applejack is completely out of character and rather whiny. It's just...bad.

[HareTrinity]

3134576
Well, thanks for being honest. I don't think it's too outlandish for the stubborn pony with a macho reputation to not be in her element around soppy emotions, especially with things going wrong every time she builds herself up to it, but I'm glad you didn't anonymously downvote.