Moonlight Harvest

by insertbronyhere

Getting the Story Straight

Fluttershy gulped yet again. She wasn't sure how long she'd been staring at the front door of Sweet Apple Acres, hoof raised to knock but frozen by her nerves. How in Equestria could she face him? She'd been over the speech in her head a thousand times on her way here, and now that the time was upon her, she was drawing a blank.

It only made her more anxious when she realized that it had been six weeks since she... since it happened, and not once had the stallion come to see her. From what she knew of him, he wasn't likely the type to pursue... more of that... but one would think he'd at least ask her about it. Or what if he was upset with her? She had sort of forced it -- violently, even. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...

Fate seemed to decide enough was enough, as Fluttershy halfheartedly reached for the door once more only to narrowly avoid punching Applejack in the nose.

"What in tarnation?!" the farmer shouted, flinching from the yellow hoof outside her door. "Oh, Fluttershy! What brings you 'round?" she asked with a tip of her Stetson.

The pegasus blinked and stuttered for a moment, her hoof still shaking in place where the door used to be. "U-um, hi, um, Applejack, um, i-is MacIntosh around?"

AJ blinked in surprise. "Uh, yeah. If ya ain't seen him in the fields, I reckon he's at the barn," she offered, tilting her head towards the building in question while cocking an eyebrow. "What'd ya want with him?"

"I-I, um, I, er, IwantedtotalktohimaboutthePonytones," she blurted out, hiding behind her mane.

Fortunately for Shy, the Bearer of the Element of Honesty couldn't spot a lie any better than she could tell one, and she only grinned. "Really? Ya been workin' on yer stage fright, then?"

"S-something like that," she squeaked with an unconvincing fake smile. She didn't want to sing in front of ponies again, but she needed a discreet excuse to cross paths with Big MacIntosh a little more often than the current never, nerves be damned. But Applejack didn't need to know that. "So, um, the barn? That one?" She pointed with a wing.

"Eeyup," AJ nodded, "either grabbin' tools, or goofin' off. But hell, hard as he works, Ah can't hold it against him when he does," she added with a shrug. "Anyhoo, Ah gotta head to town for supplies."

"Oh, right." Fluttershy shook herself and stepped back a few paces so her friend could get by. "Um, take care, then."

Applejack smiled. "You too, sugarcube. Tryin'a get back on the stage, who'da thought?" she mused to herself with a chuckle as she went on her way.

The pegasus licked her dry lips and gulped as she laid eyes on the barn. It seemed the longer she looked at it, the farther away it got. After a few deep breaths to steel herself, she forced her hooves forward.

MOONLIGHT HARVEST
by [insert brony here]
Chapter Two

Fluttershy gave herself a moment to hyperventilate before peeking into the barn and clearing her throat so softly that she couldn't hear it herself. "Um... B-Big MacIntosh?"

A few yards away to the right, a hay bale fell over, accompanied by the sound of a very large pony crashing to the floor behind it. "E-e-eeyup!" he stuttered, scrambling to his hooves as he frantically looked for the voice that had called to him. Rolling the bale out of the way, he spotted the small mare in the doorway. "Howdy, Fluttershy," he greeted with a nod, regaining his composure quickly . "What can I do ya for?"

Here it was. The moment she'd been dreading. But this wasn't something she could hide from. It was no simple matter of setting aside her nerves to please a friend or help a stranger; this was far more important. "Um..." she paused to gulp and draw another deep breath, "I-I want, er, need to, um, join the Ponytones, b-but that's just a cover-up...?"

MacIntosh furrowed his brow. "Whaddya mean by that?"

"W-well, you see, um, I..." She fidgeted with her mane a bit, suddenly finding the dirt at her hooves quite fascinating. "W-we need to talk. A-a lot."

"Whatever for?" The stallion was beyond confused. Aside from her previous stint with his a capella group, the two had scarcely ever held a conversation.

Out with it already, you can do this! Fluttershy braced herself. "I-I'm pregnant and it's yours!" She immediately clapped her hooves over her mouth and shrunk behind her mane, while the farmer's eyes lost any trace of their usual calm.

"What?! I-- how?"

"Y-you don't remember the night I..." she gulped, "um, I-I--"

Somehow MacIntosh's eyes found a way to grow even wider. "Th-that actually happened?!"

"Mhmm!" the mare squeaked, biting her lip as her wings automatically came up to shield her.

Mac fell to his plot, staring at her incredulously. "I-I thought that was just a dream..."

"M-me too..."

"But... I don't know ya too terribly well, but I know that ain't like ya," he mumbled. Then, more loudly, he added, "Ya had different eyes! An' all yer feathers was missin'!"

Fluttershy folded her wings and brushed aside her mane, forcing herself to look him in the eye. "A-Applejack told you about the time Twilight accidentally turned me into some kind of... bat... pony... thing, right?"

The stallion's shoulders slumped a bit. "She said y'all'd sorted that out..."

"W-we thought so... but I guess I've been transforming again every full moon," she explained, stopping to fidget for a moment. "I-I'm aware of myself, but not in control, so I-I thought they were just dreams..."

"An' now ya got a foal on the way," Mac finished. He rubbed his forehead with a hoof, sighing heavily. "Mah foal." He chuckled dryly, shaking his head. "Can only imagine what Granny's gonna say."

"What's Granny gonna say 'bout what now?"

Both adults jumped at the sound of Applebloom's voice. MacIntosh hesitated, looking expectantly at Fluttershy, who cleared her throat before answering, "I-I'm auditioning to join the Ponytones, um, again. With my real voice."

"Really?!" the filly cried, her whole face lighting up. "That'd be the greatest thing ever!" She grinned widely, bouncing on her hooftips as she waited for the others to continue. After a moment's awkward silence, her smile drooped a little, but she kept bouncing. "Well, don't stop on mah account! Audition!"

Fluttershy blanched, but Mac wasted no time in diverting the situation. "She already did, Applebloom. Now we're just discussin' royalties, taxes--"

"Aaaaand ya lost me," the foal muttered, ears flopping down as she turned to leave the barn.

"Phew, that was a close one," Fluttershy said softly once the barn door closed behind Applebloom. "Quick thinking, there."

"Ah live with her," he mused with a laugh. "Ah'd 'bout lose mah mind if Ah didn't know how to redirect her."

Fluttershy giggled quietly before clearing her throat to resume their previous conversation. "So, um, what do you think we--"

"Oh, hey, Fluttershy!" Applebloom burst into the barn again, getting an even bigger jump from Fluttershy, though Mac had been prepared this time. "After ya get all the borin' stuff sorted out, ya wanna play Frisbee with me an' Winona?"

The pegasus quickly put on a smile before turning to face the filly. "That sounds lovely, Applebloom. "

"Awesome! I'll be waitin' for ya!" she shouted excitedly before leaving the barn once more.

The two adults simply stared at the door for a long moment this time. Eventually MacIntosh broke the silence. "The Ponytones? You realize tellin' her that amounts to tellin' the whole town an' half mah extended family, right?"

"Um, y-yes," she answered with a tiny nod. "I do intend to join the group, um, if I can. Our paths so rarely cross, it'd be odd if we just suddenly started spending time together," she explained. "This way, we can get to know each other better without anypony being suspicious of our sudden interest in each other..."

"Hmm." The stallion nodded. "Clever. But what if someone figures out it was conceived two months before ya joined?" he asked, tilting his head.

Fluttershy didn't hesitate -- she'd thought of that too. "I've come to you for private tutoring every couple weeks for a few months now -- I think my friends would believe I was most comfortable singing in front of somepony else who's... quiet like me."

"And if we don't hit it off," Mac pointed out, "then how do we explain conceivin' a kid?"

The mare opened her mouth to speak, but stopped short. She hadn't thought quite that far. "Um... hmm." She tapped her front hooves together softly for a moment. "Um, I did really well one night, and we found the bottom of a bottle celebrating?" she offered. "I-I don't drink," she added almost unaudibly, "but the girls haven't ever really tried to get me to, so maybe they'll buy that."

MacIntosh chewed his lip for a moment, eyes focused somewhere in the air. "Hmm. Might work, I don't reckon anypony'd question Pappy's Secret Cider."

"'Pappy's Secret Cider'?" she repeated, tilting her head curiously.

"Well, it ain't cider proper," Mac elaborated. "More like apple moonshine. Special order only, we don't sell it in stores. Way too strong. Definitely wouldn't surprise anypony if ya ended up doing somethin' ya regret."

"Oh, o-okay." Fluttershy stared at the ground for a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity before breaking the silence. "So, um, now that we've got our story straight... what do we do?" She looked up at the sire of her unexpected foal. "Do... you want to be involved? Like, joint custody or something?"

Big MacIntosh sighed, looking down somewhat sadly. "If I had mah druthers, I'd never have conceived a foal outside o' wedlock, but--"

"Oh my goodness!" the mare cried out. "You were saving yourself? I-I'm so sorry! Why didn't you try to stop me?"

"Now don't beat yourself up, Fluttershy," he said, holding up a hoof as if to physically halt her anxiety. "Ah thought Ah was dreamin' -- you weren't yourself, and, uh," he paused to cough bashfully, "pardon me for... bein' a stallion, but I've had indecent dreams before. Thought nothin' of it."

Stroking her mane anxiously, the mare frowned. "I just feel awful."

"Hey." Mac reached over and gently pulled her chin to face him, a sympathetic smile on his face. "Relax. It's spilt milk at this point, don't matter how it got there, we're cleanin' up now." Releasing her chin, he sat back down and scratched the back of his neck. "Now, no foal o' mine's gonna be without his daddy," he stated matter-of-factly. "I'd always pictured a proper household, o' course, but I don't reckon you wanna marry a pony ya barely know any more'n I do."

Fluttershy scrunched her shoulders a bit, looking defeatedly to the side. "I'd do it for the baby..."

"Don' worry about that right now," Mac insisted, placing a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "We've got, what, nine, ten months?" She nodded. "Plenty o' time to figure this all out. I'll talk to Toe Tapper 'n' them, see about gettin' you to rehearse with us, an' we'll go from there." He let go of her shoulder and nodded pointedly at the doors. "Now, ya made a filly a promise; I'd get to it 'fore she gets bored."

Fluttershy nodded and straightened up, looking back to give MacIntosh a grateful smile tinged with uncertainty as she headed outside. Nevertheless, she already felt a little better about the situation, and she almost pranced out into the field to meet Applebloom.

The pegasus intercepted Applebloom's Frisbee with a wing, causing Winona to bark at her indignantly. Fluttershy giggled before throwing the Frisbee to the dog herself, who only barely managed to catch it. Winona ran it back to the filly, who had run up to Fluttershy's side excitedly, but as Applebloom prepared to throw it again, Fluttershy swiped it right out of her hoof and teasingly hovered above her, holding the Frisbee just out of reach.

"Hey, no fair!" the filly cried indignantly, but couldn't help giggling as she and her dog both repeatedly jumped for the toy.

MacIntosh silently watched from the door, a small smile turning up his lips as a warm feeling filled his chest. Even if he ultimately couldn't love the mare, he thought, he was comfortable knowing his foal would have an excellent mother.

Comments

[Mr-Milk]

so what's there cover up story going to be wants her friend's realise Fluttershy's been gaining weight?