A New Impetus

by Zykov

19. Well This Is Awkward

On the outskirts of town, two stallion were surrounded by trees, bucking apples and enjoying the pleasant weather in the shade of the apple trees. Even though they were engulfed in the orchard occasional breezes would whip by them as they worked in silence.

Noble would occasionally look at the fellow worker and open his mouth but would quickly close it. He scrunched his eyebrows and frowned with half his face but continued working loading apples. With one bucket left he let the big red stallion load it as he went and harnessed himself into one of the waggons, swiping his forehead. “All ready, Big Mac.”

Putting the last bucket on and securing it before he went and got under the other cart the Big Apple flanked stallion let out a powerful country, “Yyyep!” and began to pull forward.

While Big Macintosh was easily able to casually walk through the orchard in silence, Noble kept glancing over and looking around for something to spark a conversation, finally like a bolt of lightning it hit him. “Big Mac, thank you for the suggestion. The hot mint and epsom salt bath did just the trick for helping my aching hooves.”

Big Mac turned his sight toward Noble, gave a smile and nod. “Yyyep!”

“Yeah, I would have felt pretty embarrassed asking Applejack. Err, well... just easier to ask another stallion sometimes, you know,” Noble stumbled through the words and forced a grin, slowly wishing he could just sink down into the ground to hide.

Big Mac looked at Noble out of the corner of his eye and couldn’t help but sulk slightly. He understood and replied with a softer, “Yep,” with another nod of his head.

Noble looked over at the stallion and allowed himself to weaken the smile into his typical slight frown. This time as they walked, Noble simply kept to himself, wishing he could explain what he really meant but he couldn’t bring himself to speak another word for fear of further embarrassment.

As the barn appeared in sight Big Mac cleared his throat. “Ya ready?”

Lost in thought the words quickly pulled Noble back to the moment and he looked at the stallion tensely. “Err... what?”

Big Mac dipped his head toward the barn and repeated the question. “Ready?”

Noble looked out for a moment and then recognized the question. “Oh yes! The red apples go to the back left of the parn, yellow apples to the right of them and green on the back left. Right?”

With further nods the big stallion confirmed and gave another nodding point to Noble, this was recognized as when Noble should continue.

Noble walked slower, Big Mac following his lead. “Well I know the buckets tend to be stacked up on the front right of the barn and any unused buckets can be put there, then additional ones are up top in the back right by the additional hay bales.” As he recited this, growing more confident with the image clear in his head his voice improved to be louder and less reserved.

As they arrived back at the barn, Noble immediately offered to open the door and quickly untethered himself, but when he pulled the door open just a bit a paper airplane hit him in his snout making him wince and back up.

On top of a stack of hay bales was Applebloom laying with her head and right back leg hanging off. She looked at the ground with dull, half closed eyes that had followed the airplane, her right leg swinging along her side. When she saw the stallion get hit she jumped up. “Sorry ‘bout that!”

“It’s alright…” Noble rubbed his nose for a moment then pushed the door open the rest of the way. “Hey Applebloom. You look like you are having a thrill a minute. I’m surprised by how much time you spend around here, don’t you have other things you like to do?”

“Yea, but not today. Scootaloo is still in trouble for burning down Rarity’s kitchen and Sweetie Belle is spending a day with her parents.” The filly yawned, then hopped off the bale and stretched. “Anyway, Applejack asked me ta stay here ta help while yer learnin the ropes so Big Mac ain’t too distracted. Ya remember where to place everything?”

“Well memory isn’t my strong point but, yes. Actually, Big Mac just quizzed me on that.” Noble said with a little smile while shrinking ever so slightly, he took a step back before turning around and walking back over to his cart. He put the straps on, though when he tried to pull, it didn’t move an inch. He blank and leaned over trying to look at each of the wheels for anything blocking the way, but there was nothing. He turned to Big Mac, tilting his head with eyebrows raised, he had clinched his teeth hoping he hadn’t broken it somehow.

Big Mac took a step back and pointed at the small clip on top of the wheel.

It took a minute but eventually Noble took off his harness and walked around before he saw it. He smacked himself in the face with his hoof, shaking his head in it. “Oh! Yes, the lock!” He immediately unclipped the lever and looked at Big Mac. “I… never put it on did I?”

“Nnnnope, I did,” Big Mac stated and started pulling his cart into the barn passing Noble.

Noble rubbed the back of his head and sank down a little further. “Sorry, my bad… I really need to stop forgetting that.” He went to the front and strapped himself in again, this time moving forward with ease.

The filly jumped up on the hay bales again, standing over the stallions. “Don’t worry, learnin the ropes doesn’t happen’ in a day or two, right Big Mac?”

The big stallion smiled with a nod. “Yyyep”

“Thanks, I’m trying my best. Even if it has been almost a week...” Noble mumbled his last sentence to himself, after he did his eyes grew wide. “Oh Applebloom!” he turned to look back at the filly. “Before I forget again, did you deliver the letter I asked you to give to Soul?”

Applebloom puffed out her chest, with one hoof stepping forward. “Yes sir! He read it and told me that he’d get yer food for ya around 2 o’clock.”

Noble let out a breath of air and gave a grateful nod, “Excellent! Thank you for going through the trouble for me, I can’t even express how much I appreciate it.”

The filly wagged her tail and stood taller at the comments with a smile widening on her face. She waved her hoof at the stallion while still enjoying the praise. “Ah it was nothing. I’m just glad I got something ta do.”

While the two were talking, Big Mac had taken the apple buckets off the waggons and started sorting them. He walked by them giving a glance over Noble’s shoulder to Applebloom.

The stallion’s little sister knew exactly what he meant. “We got it from here brother, you can get ta other tasks. We’ll try ta get Applejack if we need anythin’ important.”

The big red stallion nodded and walked out of the barn.

“Try?” Noble repeated and scratched his head. “Come to think of it I haven’t seen head nor tail of her since this morning. Is she even around today?” His eyes peered back out of the barn scanning for his boss.

The filly cleared her throat, attracting attention back toward her. “You can say that again, I don’t think you should expect to see her much today. She’s having this ‘the most daring pony’ competition with one of our friend.”

The stallion’s eyes widened and he walked around the filly, checking the brake on the cart to ensure he locked it. “So… it’s just three of us taking care of the farm today?”

“Pretty much, I mean Granny helps but mostly offers guidance. As fer Applejack, ah don’t think she would stop the competition unless there were some kinda emergency.” Applebloom rolled her eyes, letting them rest on the floor. “That’s our thick headed sister for ya.”

Just as Applebloom said that she felt a cold wet hoof press down on her head and ruffled her mane. “Who’re ya callin’ thick headed there, little sis?”

Applebloom scrambled backwards as the cold water struck the back of her neck sending ice cold shivers through her body. “Heyyyy Applejack...! Ah... I didn’t know you were listening.”

The mare let out a chuckle and shook her head sending cold droplets all over and wrapped a towel she had over her back around her a little better. She shifted her attention between Noble and all the apple buckets lying in the barn. “Seems like ya’ve once again been workin’ hard there partner.”

The stallion smiled while he looked back and down, rubbing his neck. “Well, I definitely can’t take all the credit. Big Mac worked with me and did a lot of work, I just tried to keep up.”

After Applebloom shook the water off her mane and coat like a sprinkler, she walked towards the cart Noble had brought in. “Come on, ya went and filled yer cart just like Big Mac. That’s great fer somepony that started ah week ago.”

The mare nodded. “You’ve been workin fer a few hours right sport? How ‘bout you take ah break, ah might as well introduce you to the reason I haven’t been around much.” She put her hat to the side and towel dried her mane then made sure it was dry before putting her hat back on.

“Applebloom mentioned the competition you are having. I… assume it has something to do with why you are,” he looked up and down the mare, waving a hoof in front of himself in her direction, ”soaking wet and ice cold.”

Applejack nodded, taking the towel and rubbing it over her flank, trying to get her tail more. “Yep! We spent a heck of ah long time in ice water.”

While she saw her sister having trouble drying her tail Applebloom walked over and pressed her hooves on both sides of the towel rubbing them together to dry it off.

Noble nodded with one raised eyebrow and eyes hovering over the mare again. “I kinda figured…”

Applebloom finished drying and fluffing Applejack’s tail and tossed the towel over Applejack’s back.

As they stepped out a large winged shadow flashed over the ground and is followed by a loud, “WHOOHOO!” The group looked up at the noise, Noble squinted, ducked down and became tense while Applebloom’s eyes got wide and she jumped forward looking up while her sister didn’t even flinch.

Noble looked over at the mares that were both casual about the flying being. He looked up, rising up, his eyes were greeted by a pegasus cutting through the air, swirling around the clouds making them puff away at breakneck speeds.

The pegasus seemed to fly with ease but had a fierce power to it. Noble watched in awe and out of the corner of his eye he noticed Applejack looking up with a smile on her face. Noble paused thinking about Applejack’s smile and how she hasn’t given one like it the entire time he was there. “Applejack, that is the most intense flying I’ve ever seen a stallion do!”

Applejack’s ears twitched, she turned to face Noble with a raised eyebrow. “Huh? A stall---?”

Before Applejack could say another word Noble sprang to life. “That’s your special somepony isn’t it! I-I’m so sorry for flirting with you awhile back. I would never want to get between the relationship of others. It does suit you to find someone that has power and a level of intensity in the way they fly. I-”

“Whoa there partner!” Applejack covered his mouth with her hoof. “How’s about ya let me explain before ya go off with accusations.” She pulled her hoof back and pointed at the pegasus. “That’s Rainbow Dash, she’s just ah friend ah mine. And definitely not a stallion.”

Noble’s eyes were wide and lips narrow as he heard the explanation. A small sweat was forming on his forehead and his stomach tightened. “Oh… uh… I… I’m so sorry,” was all he could mutter, as he hung his head.

Upon hearing her name Rainbow did a barrel roll and dove for the ground aimed right at the group, she picked up ever more speed narrowing her eyes coming straight for Applejack like a missile.

At the last possible second she flipped her wings and pushed air with all her might but still slammed down on the ground making it shake and leaving a cloud of dust to spread out around her. “How was that for daring!?”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Yea, like we’re gonna count that.”

The pegasus laughed and simply shrugged it off. “Well at least that took care of drying.” She granted herself a moment to stretch and then shifted focus to the stallion. Gently nudging Applejack to the side Rainbow stepped forward looking with raised eyebrows at Noble. “Is this the new guy you’ve been talking about?”

Applejack took a deep breath and sighed. “Yep, this fella here is Noble Poet. Noble, this is Rainbow Dash. And err… well he’s mighty embarrassed I reckon cause he thought ya were a stallion when ya were flyin’.”

The group was quiet for a minute and Noble’s head continued to lower.

After the moment of silence Rainbow’s lips began to curl and she burst out laughing followed by the other mares. “Y-- you thought I-- was a stallion?!” She grabbed her side then wiped her eyes as she started to calm down. “Why in Equestria would you think that?”

Noble glanced up gritting his teeth in an awkward fearful smile as the adrenaline was slowly taking over his body and his cheeks began glowing pink. “W-Well.. by the way you flew. It was pretty... aggressive and well… stallions statistically tend to be more aggressive than mares. That and you were far away, I couldn’t see well. I’m sorry I didn’t mean anything by it...”

Rainbow continued to chuckle. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day! No worries, I’ll show you that this mare is way cooler than any stallion pegasus you know. Well it’s nice to meet ya.” She extended a hoof with a wide pleased smile. “You’re friends with Wild, right? I met the guy at Rarity’s when the fire was out. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”

This time Noble looked up with wide eyes and raised eyebrows at the mare. “S-Soul? Y-Yes we came here together b-but um… Y-you aren’t mad? None of you are?” He looked around at each of the mares, trying to get a read on them.

The blue mare shook her head even more amused, the crack on her face sure indicated anything but anger.

Applejack kneed him in the side and laughed. “Mad?” she repeated with a chuckle and larger smirk. “Naw, that was hilarious, though I guess I could be mad at that romantic talk if ya want. I did ask ya ta lay off that,” she said with a chuckle.

The stallion began standing up a little more and quickly shook his head when he looked at his boss. “No of course not. I… no don’t worry, I honor ponies wishes when they ask me to stop. I of course still recognize the mare’s beauty though, I... just don’t do anything.”

Applejack’s face turned red while Applebloom and Rainbow had to cover their mouths to prevent themselves from laughing. Rainbow couldn’t hold it and fell over on her back almost crying. “This is too much! Noble and Apple sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

Noble’s eyes grew wide and his head twisted and turned about, looking between the mares chanting and Applejack. ‘Oh no... T-This is bad....’ His pupils drew narrow and while standing in place he shook. The thought of all those rich ponies laughing at him in the ballroom flooded back. ‘No. Not again.’ He looked over at Applejack again. ‘Oh she is sure to hate me now. She may even fire me for this. Why am I such a hopeless idiot?!’

“Cut that out!” Applejack quickly threw her towel over Rainbow who stopped her song and groaned. She then turned back to Noble and looked into his dilated, shaky eyes and quickly put a hoof on his shoulder, giving him a shake pulling him back to reality. “Ya ok there partner? Maybe we should just let Applebloom show ya what yer next job is.”

Noble closed his eyes forcefully and jolted his head down once before returning his sight to his boss. He felt himself getting hot again with a cold sweat making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He took a moment and heard Applejack repeat herself, he nodded, sulked and rubbed the back of his head then looked at the mares laughing. “No, it’s not like that.” He turned back to Applejack, “I’m sorry, it was just meant to be a complement...”

The apple flanked mare held up a hoof and looked into Noble’s eyes that had stabilized. “I know and thank ya. It was very nice. Now though we got a few more things ta teach ya today and I got ah competition ta win. Ya sure yer alright?”

Rainbow pulled the towel off her head and tossed it aside, giving Applejack a piercing glance spiced with a confident grin. “Oh we’ll just see about that. Let’s go find Pinkie, I’m aching to go on already.” She turned and was about to jump up to take to the air but turned to look at Noble again. “Oh yeah. Nice meeting you Noble, maybe I’ll meet you in the stallion’s bathroom sometime.” She laughed with a smile back and flew off.

The stallion waved to her, his lips were turned up in a wide forced tooth smile and tightly closed eyes as he nodded, he felt his forehead get warmer at Rainbow’s joke.

“That’s Rainbow for ya.” The stallion’s boss put a hoof on his shoulder. “Um, Noble… we didn’t go overboard now did we?”

“Oh no. I just…” He thought for a moment about explaining himself but shook it off. “Umm nevermind. No. I’ll be fine.” He hung his head with a smile and hoped that it would end the interrogation.

Applejack lowered her eyebrows, looked the stallion in the face with a frown. She knew there was something more he wanted to say but she couldn’t bring herself to force it out of him. “Well alright. If there’s ever a time where ya feel uncomfortable just say the word. No pony should feel uncomfortable at work.”

Noble nodded to thank his boss and turned to Applebloom who was shaking her head with a wide smile. “Umm, so where is this next task and what is it?”

“Just follow me, I’ll tell ya when we get there.” Applebloom beckoned Noble with a hoof and started walking off the opposite way as the others.

---

After a couple short hours passed it was finally time for Rarity and Soul to call it a day. After making the quick turn at Soul’s house to pick up the food, they headed to get Fluttershy and finally they were heading to the farm. Though, when Fluttershy saw Soul it certainly added a level of difficulty for Rarity’s job of getting her to come outside.

For the next half hour it was nothing but Rarity trying to get her friend out in the sunlight and eventually, she managed to almost drag her outside, well partly thanks to Fluttershy’s pet bunny Angel who helped and agreed to come along. The pegasus that Fluttershy was, didn’t seem to be too bold in meeting the stallion, then again Soul isn’t the best at meeting new ponies either.

During their trip to the farm, it was mostly just Rarity talking to Soul and Fluttershy like she was keeping up two different conversations at the same time, though she did try to act as some kind of mediator between the two, asking questions the two would be interested in, leading conversations, and explaining why they are going to the farm.

Although it was clumsy, she did manage to get them speaking and even managed to break the ice by bringing up Opal, she then lead the conversation to cats in general. Even if it wasn’t much, Soul and Fluttershy finally did exchange a few words without Rarity’s assistance.

As they approached the entrance of the farm, Rarity turned to look at Fluttershy, “Fluttershy, if you ask for my honest opinion, I believe you and Soul’s friend should exchange a few words. I have a very strong feeling that you two will find some common ground darling, he really is nice after all.”

Fluttershy glanced back down the path from her home, she was keeping her body tucked small and inward even as she walked, her voice trembling, “U-Um… I-I can try but… I’ve never been very good at talking with stallions…” She glanced at Soul lowering her head. “N-No offense of course. I, I just feel so small around you…” she fiddled with her mane letting her hair fall partly covering her face.

The unicorn stallion exchanged a quick glance with Rarity then spoke up with wide eyes. “Hey, I’m the only stallion in this group, if somepony is supposed to feel small, it’s this one. You two would mop the floor with me.”

The pegasus stopped in her tracks and stood up tall, leaning forward on the tips of her hooves with large eyes, gasping, “But I don’t want to mop the floor with anypony…!”

Rarity stopped and walked back to her friend whom she patted her on the back. “Come now Fluttershy, just imagine Soul as a mare on the inside, it’s not hard to forget he’s a stallion.”

Soul rolled his eyes and stood about a meter away. “At this point I take that as a compliment…”

Fluttershy shook and crouched down, she couldn’t even look at the stallion now. “H-How could I forget…?”

Rarity turned at Soul, waving her hoof. “Oh don’t mind that darling, she doesn’t mean anything vindictive by it.”

Soul put on a grin. “I can put on a dress if that helps.” He gave a laugh but his face almost immediately drew flat as if he saw his grandparents in the shower. “No wait, actually I will not. Sorry for that extremely creepy image….”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle at the comment since the thought of seeing the stallion in a dress gave her a much needed moment of amusement.

As the trio were arriving at the entrance of the farm, they could already see Noble and Big Mac in the distance. Soul picked up more speed but it already seemed like Noble was waving goodbye to his superior.

Soul immediately picked up the pace and trotted over to his friend. He shouted as he began to gallop, “Noble!”

Noble’s ears flicked and turned toward the sound. He turned and his eyes were greeted by the sight of the pale unicorn rushing towards him and his rather flat face brightened up a bit. He took off galloping himself to meet halfway. “Soul, hey!”

As the stallions reached one another they slowed to a halt. “Don’t tell me you’re leaving already,” Soul exclaimed, his eyebrows sulking.

Noble sat down and pulled back his head as he rubbed the back of his head, letting out an uneasy chuckle. “Y-Yeah, sorry…Big Mac thought we did enough so we finished very early so I’m free to go… I don’t think they would mind if I eat it here though! Thank you very much for bringing it.”

“Good.” Soul slid a hoof into his saddlebag and after a bit of digging he drew out a blue lunchbox, handing it over to Noble, tilting his head. “You wouldn’t mind company, would you?”

Noble shook his head with a pleasant and welcoming smile. “Not at all, you are always welcome to eat with me and it seems you brought Rarity too, but who’s that pony with her?” All Noble could see was a small slender frame with a large tuft of flowing pink hair that had been attempting to hide behind Rarity, he immediately dropped the lunch box which Soul barely managed to catch.

Soul’s heart started to race faster in anticipation, he couldn’t wait to see what would come out of this. He fixed his composure, putting a hoof over his heart to feel his heartbeat and looked at the mares further away. “Yeah, you might know the other---”

The tan stallion looked over at Rarity and the other pony just in time to see her eyes grow wide and the pink flowing mane dart behind Rarity. He leaned over and caught himself with a hoof as he was about to fall but didn’t dare get any closer. “Who-- who is that beautiful mare? What do you mean I know her? I thought I would remember such beauty!”

The mare blushed and continued her attempt to hide behind Rarity, burying her face in her back while shivering and whispering to herself just loudly enough for Rarity to overhear, “Oh no no no no... Why? Why did it have to be him? Please let this be a bad dream!”

Rarity looked back at her friend with a frown but took a deep breath as she tried to sidestep to no avail. The unicorn twirled around her friend with a chuckle and placed a hoof on her back to prevent her from hiding.

Fluttershy couldn’t move a single limb on her body yet shook rapidly.

Rarity couldn’t help but let out a giggle but tried her best to muffle it. She slid her hoof over her friend’s shoulder, leaning in and innocently glancing the farm in general. “Fluttershy, I assume you’ve seen the stallion over there before, now haven’t you?”

“Y-Yes! And I just decided, I will spend the rest of my life under a rock with worms and other lovely adorable bugs,” she squirmed, trying to put distance between her and the stallions.

“Please darling, I’m only trying to help. Think how much better you will feel after you just talk to him. Who knows, you two may hit it off.” The white mare took the pegasi’s other shoulder in order to keep her still then pushed on her back.

The pegasi let out a loud squeak. “R-Rarity, please... I-I would REALLY like to go under that rock right now please...” Fluttershy shoved her hooves into the dirt, dragging them as she felt the feverish heartbeat throbbing in her chest, her vision grew blurry from the adrenaline that was agitating her brain.

Rarity stopped pushing and rolled her eyes with a huff, “Oh Fluttershy, it can’t be that bad! Just talk to him; this is getting simply ridiculous. I’m sure mocking your singing is the last thing he will do.”

Fluttershy squeaked and turned around with wide damp eyes. “D-Did you know about this? You took me here on purpose?”

The purple maned mare replaced her hooves on Fluttershy’s shoulders, softly this time, she gave a soft chuckle. “Of course I did darling. But I did it as your friend. Please, just give it a try.”

With the mare in plain view now, Noble looked up and down her, seeing the cascading, almost glowing pink hair, thin supple body, and light green eyes that were turned away but that he saw when she was slouching and looking at the ground.

Noble’s heart thumped loudly in his chest and his breathing almost stopped. His mind was blank and he couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

Soul sighed and brushed his hooves over Noble, patting him on the back. “Come on, don’t you recall the mare that you’ve been talking about for weeks now? You know, the ‘angel’.”

Noble’s eyes bulged, he looked closer, her beauty was among the top 10 most beautiful mares he’s ever seen but he looked over how she looked away and noticed she had been shaking ever so slightly, which almost made his heart crumble. “W-What?” He looked at her scanning over her for something to spark his memory. “She’s the one?! I uh… are you sure…?”

Soul nodded, stepping forward with a smile. “Well considering Rarity told me a pretty identical story about her, matching what you told me, yes, I think the chances are high here.”

The earth pony turned his body towards Soul but looked over at Fluttershy again, his eyes growing wide and damp as she trembled and Rarity began to rub her back as she looked over Fluttershy’s shoulder. “I see… So, how high do you think they are…?”

The pale stallion looked between the three and turned his body to face Noble and leaned in, whispering to him. “Why are you questioning this? I imagined you would be all over her by now.”

Noble bit his lip and leaned in closer, where they could almost feel one another’s breath. “Umm… Well… you see, I’m not sure if that’s her.”

Soul’s eyes narrowed and he glared at his friend. “Why in Equestria would you not think it’s her?” He leaned down to look Noble in the eyes. “Seems close enough to me.”

While he shook his head Noble replied, “No, I mean think about it. The mare I saw was obviously a pony that was kind hearted, comfortable with herself, brought joy to everything around her and had a strong heart. While she... seems shy, soft spoken, nervous, anxious, and like she isn’t comfortable with herself... Not that those are bad, I if anyone sympathizes with her...”

Soul’s lips narrowed and he gave Noble a dull look. “You saw her for just a few seconds, you don’t know anything about her, not a single thing. We can just tell her to go if you want so.”

“No!” Noble shouted then blushed, retreating back to a whisper. “I still want to meet her.”

“Boys! It’s impolite to keep mares waiting!” Rarity called, still rubbing Flutttershy’s back.

Noble quickly turned around and hesitantly made his way over to Fluttershy. After one final push from Rarity’s end the two ponies were face to face, eye to eye, standing just a leg’s distance away. The tension could be cut with a knife and the awkwardness was alarming.

Noble’s eyes scoured the ground then came up to see the pink mane covering the mare’s face even while she covered it up. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth. “I… Hiya.”

Fluttershy’s wings tightened like she was about to take off any second, but the pegasus was too rigid to even turn her head away.

Rarity cleared her throat before raising a hoof toward the pegasus, “Now, why don’t you introduce yourself Fluttershy?”

“Um… I... I’m…” The yellow pegasus stuttered as Angel hopped over to her looking up with one eyebrow glaring and the other up, “I’m Angel and this is Fluttershy--- No, w-wait, I mean...” she turned to look for her bunny to point out, who was already facepalming. Fluttershy immediately turned back at Noble shaking her head. “I-I mean this is A-Angel and I’m… um…” The mare paused, starting to tap her chin. “I-I think I’m… um...”

Rarity’s expression drew flat and dull as she quite bluntly spoke. “Fluttershy. Her name is Fluttershy.”

“Right! I’m Fluttershy!” A dark red tint eclipsed the pegasi’s face, she sat with her legs tucked inward and head bowed down, just getting up the courage to look up at the stallion.

“I-I’m very glad to meet you... Fluttershy? I’m Noble Poet.” His lips quivered and he rubbed the back of his head looking down beside the mare. He debated if he should say what he wanted to not but with his lips opening then closing once without words he took a shot. “I... really gotta ask this. Did it hurt?

Fluttershy’s heart jumped to her throat. “W-What?” She sat up straighter with widened eyes and quickly twisted her body around, examining herself. “A-Am I hurt?”

“W-What?!” The stallion jumped gritted his teeth with wide eyes as they jolted between Rarity and Soul, beckoning for help with a lump forming in his own throat.

Fluttershy lept up still examining herself, a film of tears coming over her eyes. “Oh no Rarity, I knew something bad would happen, I should’ve never left my cottage!”

“I--- I didn’t mean it that way…” Noble uttered, his voice getting higher and faster as he looked away looking around to find the quickest way to get away if need be, though after a brief moment he turned to Fluttershy again giving a large eyed sympathetic look, stretching out a hoof to touch her shoulder but quickly pulled it back thinking better of it.

Soul’s face was burrowed deep into his hoof, the whole scene was too painful to watch. “Okay, maybe this was a bad idea…”

Comments

[Zykov]

6939394

Oh, thanks for pointing that out! It's fixed now :)