Seasons: Falling Leaves

by Wodahseht

05 : The End(?)

Five weeks had passed and there were now far more leaves on the ground than on the trees when Sunset and Fluttershy met up for what had become a twice-weekly affair. Their meet-ups had gotten shorter as the weather grew progressively colder, and they'd come to the mutual conclusion that this would be their last visit to the pond until spring. The water had been too cold for either of them to stand for more than a few minutes the previous week, and now every breeze made them shiver despite sitting in the sunlight.

There was still a level of enjoyment and peace to be found in the surroundings, but this time there was a slight air of depression about the both of them. These sessions had come to mean something special for them. Now more than just an escape, but also a chance to bond.

Sunset greatly enjoyed getting to better know her usually silent friend, and Fluttershy reveled in the chance to talk without being overlooked or spoken over. The quiet of the setting meant that both could speak in the near whispers that Fluttershy was most comfortable with and still be clearly heard and understood.

Fluttershy could feel the evening getting cool enough that she knew this session was coming to an end and sighed. "I'm going to miss this. I always feel a little lonelier in the winter. Getting to spend time with you like this would have been nice."

Sunset smiled over at her in reassurance, "We can still meet up other places. And if you want privacy we can just meet at your place or mine. Nothing says we couldn't lose the clothes there too."

"Oh no!" Fluttershy's eyes went wide and she shook her head sharply, "I couldn't possible do this at my place. It's usually pretty quiet, but sometimes people just show up at random to ask for help with a pet."

"Oh... Well, that still leaves my place. It's not the biggest in the community, but I never get people poking around either."

"I guess that'd work...and it would be nice not to have to wait for spring..."

She trailed off into silence to enjoy the last moment here and let her mind drift. Unfortunately, time quickly came for them to dress up and head home. Once dressed, they both turned one last time to look over the pond and at the view of semi-bare trees and the more distant mountains. They might not be ending the get-togethers, but they were saying goodbye to this spot for a while...and neither was going to pretend that there wasn't some sadness in that fact.

Finally, they turned as one and started to head back, hand-in-hand: a silent reassurance to each other that they weren't moving into winter alone. And when they came to their split in the path they parted with a hug.

Fall was coming to an end.

*****

The two were completely unaware that they'd had an audience for their walk.

Rainbow Dash had slipped into the back orchards scouting out in advance a good napping tree for spring. She wanted one that would give her a good view of the farm, but that was far enough out she wouldn't be noticed while the leaves were still trying to fill in.

Some might think it weird to plan for a spring napping place this far in advance. And they might especially think it weird that that place was going to be a tree, but it wasn't just meant for napping after all. It was also for scouting (not spying mind you!).

Of course, it wasn't like she needed the edge of knowing Applejack's strengths and weaknesses for when they had their competitions. It was just so she knew how much to tone back her amazing skills so she didn't make Applejack feel bad when she lost, that's all!

All that aside, Rainbow Dash had found what she thought would be a good tree for the job. It was far enough out that she couldn't actually see the farmhouse, even from her position in the branches a good twenty or thirty feet up, but she did have a good view of a wide span of the working orchard which meant there'd be plenty of chance to see Applejack at work.

She stood up from the cradle in the branches that she'd been assessing the view from with the intention of climbing down, but she caught motion in the corner of her eye. When she shifted to look she saw two very familiar heads of hair. Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy were standing on the near side of a distant pond. A clump of evergreen bushes blocked most of her view of them, but she could clearly make out that they were topless!

Whoa! What're they up to?

She watched as they got dressed then turned to look out over the pond for a bit before starting her way hand-in-hand. She ducked back behind the trunk of the tree, suddenly very loath to have them know she'd seen them. Especially if they'd actually been up to what she thought they had been.

The nearly complete lack of leaves on the tree meant that pretty much her only protection from being spotted was the trunk of the tree (luckily a fairly thick one). Her adrenaline spiked as the two passed within touching distance of her tree, but they didn't look up and she carefully eased herself around to the other side of the tree once she thought they'd gone far enough they wouldn't hear her.

Once she'd ensured she had good footing, she peeked out and saw them hug and part ways shortly before the orchard began.

It was only after they were both out of sight that Rainbow Dash began to relax and settled herself as comfortably as possible in the tree to think.

Fluttershy and Sunset? When did that happen?

She had to find out more, but asking either of them was out of the question. For one, that just wasn't her style. And second, asking Fluttershy was likely to fluster her so bad she couldn't answer...and there was no telling if Sunset would answer. No, the best plan of attack was obviously to find out herself.

Looks like I've got some scouting to do, she thought with a grin.

Author's Note:

Well, there you have it. This story is concluded, but the saga has room to grow... Don't expect a follow-up immediately, but I do have plans to continue at some point as time and muse allow.

Comments

[markzilla6895]

Definitely needs a follow-up!

[Charlie_K]

I like your prompt work better than my own. It's far simpler, and much calmer in terms of feel. Nothing overly complicated, no loads of characters to balance. Its reading, much like the setting, is simple, and even relaxing.

[Wodahseht]

6487765
In time.

6487816
That's mostly by necessity. I know I'd have trouble with too many interactions going on at once, so I tend to simpler set-ups I feel I can do justice to.

[Charlie_K]

6487855
I think casual nudity requires a simple setup at times.

[Awesomo3000]

6487765 I'll say!

[Enclave2277]

Excellent story, if a bit short. I liked how you kept a casual atmosphere of mutual understanding between Sunset and Shy. It all felt very natural and well paced. In retrospect though, the reason why Sunset would be more inclined towards a clothes free lifestyle makes a certain amount of sense, considering how ponies view clothing and nudity in general.

*sigh* I only wish we had more Nudist themed romance stories. Most of the ones I've read are a bit too Slice of Life-ish and Platonic for my taste.

[Amino]

6486765

It used to be Rainbow and Flutters, since RD's "I do whatever i want" attitude goes great for this situation (I'm using her in the prompt I'll complete someday). Now the best characters I like in these stories are them, Pinkie and sometimes AJ. They all seem they'd approach nudity differently.

[Wodahseht]

6487882
Well, nudity can be just as chaotic as anything else in life, but for setting up the framework for a larger story it usually helps to start slowly so people don't get lost.

6487924
Patience.

6488885
Glad you liked it. Yeah, it was short, but it's more of a set-up for some stuff I want to do in the future than a full saga in its own right.

As to nudist stories being more slice of life or platonic: I think that's mostly because the theme hasn't really kicked off to a major extent yet and people are making the focus of those stories the nudity more than anything else. I'll probably try out something nudity + relationship at some point, but I'd want some time to really think it out first.

6488991
In the follow-ups to this I intend to eventually get the entire crew in the mix with, as you mentioned, each having different reasons or degrees of interest when it comes to the experience. I've encountered a lot of different views and approaches to nudity in my life and it'll be fun to share about them in this medium.

[Wodahseht]

6674494
Fixed up everything from your comments other than "before starting her way" since that was correct - they started heading Rainbow's (her) direction. Thanks for all the catches.

Glad you enjoyed it. If everything goes to plan, I'll be putting out a sequel (or at least the start of one) over winter break from classes.

[musicman722]

I think for a follow up, they should get the rest of the group in on the nude meets. I don't care if there's romance, but I feel like they should at least meet like that

[Fracturedheart]

That was nice.

[Wodahseht]

6697369
I planned this to be a four-part series with the entire crew eventually chilling in the nude together. Still plan the series, but life hasn't given me much opportunity to make it a reality yet. It'll happen eventually though. (And apologies for the long delay responding...)

6901262
Glad you enjoyed.

[musicman722]

7103290 don't worry, I know the feeling. My Mechanical engineering major isn't very compatible with a writing hobby. Been going through a lot of tests over the last few weeks

[Wodahseht]

7103434
Environmental Engineering here. In my final year and everyone wants research papers and presentations.

[musicman722]

7104320 ouch. I'm only halfway through. The only time I get to write goes to my creative writing minor classes. I'm only crawling along with my fanfics.

[Blake Skies]

7104320 if you ever want writers to help colab, just ring up the group im sure allot of us will help you.

[Wodahseht]

7516533
Be nice please. I had mixed tenses in the sentence that did need corrected. I didn't do so their way, but it did point out the issue to me.

[Kervin619]

I really liked this Fanfic alot and it feels so relaxing

[PaulAsaran]

You can has review!

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

Finally, they turned as one and started to head back, hand-in-hand: a silent reassurance to each other that they weren't moving into winter alone. And when they came to their split in the path they parted with a hug.

Aww.

Some might think it weird to plan for a spring napping place this far in advance. And they might especially think it weird that that place was going to be a tree, but it wasn't just meant for napping after all. It was also for scouting (not spying mind you!).

There's the same thing of you ask me.