It's Just Natural - Appleshy

by Gpizano

The First Meeting Episode

It had only been a few days since she had moved into her new cottage on the outskirts of the Everfree forest, but Fluttershy felt she was finally starting to settle in. The first couple of nights had been the roughest after her parents left, having helped her to move her things into her new home. Every creak and odd noise made it hard for the timid pegasus to fall asleep but at least it was comforting to have her new animal friends around. She had even made a new friend from among the animals she took care of, a darling little white bunny that she had named Angel!

That morning she had begun filling up her kettle so that she could make some tea. Or at least she was trying too, barely a trickle came out from the faucet. While the cottage had been in good shape when her parents bought it for her, Fluttershy was finding that here and there some things didn't exactly work as well as they could of or were a bit out of order. Unfortunately these things would have to wait until she had the money to fix them.

Just as she had turned away from the sink, deciding she would have to wait a bit longer than anticipated for her tea, a knock came at the door. The unexpected noise made the yellow pegasus jump slightly before she left the kitchen to answer the door. She opened the top half of her door just enough so that she could see an orange coated mare with a blonde mane and tail wearing a stetson hat and carrying a basket on her back. This mare seemed a little familiar to Fluttershy, had she seen her around Ponyville's marketplace?

"Howdy there! Name's Applejack n' Ah heard we had a new neighbor down the road."

"H-Hi... I'm... Fluttershy..."

"Come again?"

"Um... Fluttershy."

"Flutter... shy? That right?"

"Mm-hm."

"Well nice ta' meet ya'! Mah granny n' brother n' sister were all busy so Ah'm kinda the only one fer the Apple welcome wagon. But Granny baked ya' a nice, fresh apple pie n' Ah got some Sweet Apple Acres apples here if ya' want 'em."

While a little loud, Fluttershy felt touched by the kind gesture on Applejack's part. Between that and how friendly the blonde seemed, it helped to make the pegasus relax a bit. The other had come all this way to greet her, it would seem rude to just turn her away immediately.

"U-Um, thank you... um, would you... like to come in?"

"Shoot Ah'd be much obliged!"

Opening up the door, Fluttershy stepped aside and let the blonde in, taking the basket off of the others back before heading into the kitchen to take out the food. Since there was a family of raccoons parked on the couch, Applejack instead followed Fluttershy and stood in the doorway.

"Ya' got a lot o' critters. They all yer pets?"

"Hm? Oh, no. I enjoy taking care of animals, it's part of my special talent."

"Ah gotcha'. Mine's tendin' to the apple trees back on mah family farm. Ya' makin' some tea?"

"Mm-hm. I-I'm sorry I can't offer you any. It um, it's taking awhile."

Curious as to why Fluttershy had the water flow so low, Applejack moved over to the sink and tried turning the handle up more, surprised to find that it continued to only give a small trickle.

"This don' work?"

"N-No."

"Well shoot, sugarcube. Lemme go get mah tools and Ah'm sure Ah cin get this fixed right as rain."

A little thrown off by being called 'sugarcube', Fluttershy gave a small, quick shake of her head before speaking up.

"Oh, I couldn't ask you to fix that for me. It would be too much of a bother for you!"

"Shoot, ain't no trouble t'all. N' if'n ya' got anythin' else that needs fixin' Ah'm sure Ah could take a crack at it."

"B-But, I couldn't ask you to spend so much of your time doing that."

When Applejack came close enough and placed a hand on her shoulder, Fluttershy flinched softly but did not pull away.

"Sugarcube, Ah'm tellin' ya' right now it ain't no trouble. Yer mah neighbor n' shoot if soon Ah won't consider ya' a friend. N' Ah'm more than happy to help either if'n they could use some help."

".... o-okay."

---

Once the orange mare had run home and returned with her tools, the issue with her kitchen sink had been found and fixed rather quickly. Fluttershy had been more than happy to invite Applejack to join her for a cup of tea and even a slice of pie that had been brought over. She had found the talk to be quite pleasant, learning about Applejack's life on the farm, about her family. She even giggled at some of the funny stories that Applejack had and was intrigued to learn more about Ponyville from someone who had lived there her whole life.

In turn she had told Applejack about her own family and her life growing up in Cloudsdale. Of course she had omitted more unpleasant memories but that did nothing to stop the flow of conversation.

"Shoot, that the time? Ah gotta' get goin'!"

"Already?"

"Fraid so. Ah was expected back 'while ago. But Ah'll be swingin' on by agin tomorrow to try n' fix more stuff 'round here. N' if'n ya' like Ah cin stick 'round fer more tea n' talkin'."

"E-Even after everything around my home is fixed?"

"Sure thing, sugarcube!"

While sad that the other had to go, knowing that Applejack would be back tomorrow helped to raise her spirits back up again as she walked Applejack to the door. Before Applejack left though, the mare turned back and the bright, kind smile gave Fluttershy a warm feeling in her chest.

"Ah'll see ya' tomorrow Fluttershy. N' welcome to Ponyville!"

"B-Bye..."

Standing there until the other mare had disappeared down the road, Fluttershy closed her door and headed back to the kitchen, knowing it was time to feed her animal friends once more. But she felt a bit lighter as she moved, finding that she was looking forward to tomorrow and seeing the farmer once again.

Author's Note:

Ugh, so hard to write a story in which they meet because there are so many options. I figured this would be the best one.

MOAR APPLESHY ON THE WAY!

Comments

[Applejack43]

Like it so far!

[Gpizano]

7501756 But wait! For soon there shall be more!

[Snickadoodles]

Awesome!