Simple Things

by Arbiter Balemead

Results of Things Learned

"Spike! That is not funny!"

"I thought it was..." He said, putting my toothbrush down. I think I'll have to get a new one soon. I shuddered at the images burned into my mind just now.

"Well, you're wrong!" I said as I walked around him to the shower. "Now will you, please, get out?" I asked sternly.

"Fine..." He groaned as he left the bathroom. I turned on the water and took a quick shower. I couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before Shining Armor replies to my letter. I honestly thought that I'd receive a reply by the time I went to sleep. Guess not. Still, it was only eight-ish, so maybe he didn't notice the letter.

Spike, thankfully, didn't bother with looking at the letter before he sent it for me. He didn't even wonder why I was sending one to Shining Armor and not the princess. That's probably because he was too close to asleep to care. Heck, he might not even remember for all I know.

I got out of the shower and checked my schedule for the day. There wasn't much for me to do today, except for run the library. So I didn't really have much preparation for the day or anything. I kind of like days like this, where there are plenty of holes in the schedule for me to wiggle around in. Ahh, metaphors...

In any case I decided that, since the library wont open for another half hour, I'd go visit somepony. Lemme think... who haven't I seen in a while? Well, I saw all my friends except for Applejack yesterday. So I'll go visit her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mmmmm....why does my nose tickle? And what is tapping on it? I opened my eyes to find Angel tapping my nose. I sneezed before trying to get back up. Once I was on my hooves again I tried to remember why I had been sleeping in front of my fire place. I took a step forward and heard some crinkling beneath my hoof. I looked down and saw a piece of paper on the floor. What the-?

I bent down to look at it.

Dear Fluttershy,

My eyes widened as the memories came back to me.

"Angel, there's a salad in the fridge, I have to go, bye." I said as I flew out the door.

Advice. Some advice would be nice right now. Rarity would be my first choice, but she has to deliver that order to Canterlot today. I stopped suddenly and hovered in place. Who should I go to right now? Pinkie would be almost no help. Rainbow would probably advise a tackle hug/kiss. That left Applejack. Of course! She's smart and...more social. I bet she'll know exactly what to do!

I turned for Sweet Apple Acres and started pumping my wings as hard as I could. I got there pretty soon and landed quickly, taking a few deep breaths to calm down. I hadn't even noticed that I was so excited. Now that I think about it, I never fly like that without Rainbow Dash helping me through it.

"Fluttershy? What are y'all doin' here?" I turned to see Applejack frozen, mid buck, at the tree next to me. She set her back hooves down on the ground, relaxing. I guess me flying in as fast as I could wasn't normal for me.

"W-well I just got a letter from-"

"Hey, Applejack! There you are. Twilight was lookin' for ya." Abblebloom called from off behind Applejack. I tilted my head to look past her and she turned to see. Applebloom was trotting towards us with Twilight just behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Huh... I wonder what Fluttershy is doing here... She's probably just visiting Applejack, like myself. As I got closer I noticed she was watching me carefully. I smiled politely at her and she looked away, hiding behind her mane in that adorable way of hers...wait... adorable?

"Howdy, Twi. Wouldn't have expected either y'all to show up today. Heh, I uhh... wasn't expectin' visitors today." Applejack said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, I just had some spare time today and thought I'd visit. I, uh, didn't think I'd run into Fluttershy, though." I said trying to work up a laugh that didn't sound nervous. Why was I nervous? This is just Applejack and Fluttershy. Why am I nervous?

I got the odd feeling that somepony was watching me and looked over at Fluttershy. She was staring at me still, but the moment I looked at her she looked away and pretended to have not been watching me. Okay... that's odd. Applejack looked between the two of us quickly, then said to Applebloom.

"Applebloom, Ah think it's about time you got ta yer mornin' chores."

"Uh... Okay..." She answered before trotting off.

Once she was out of earshot, Applejack turned back to the two of us. "Alright, what's goin' on between you two?" I quirked an eyebrow at her curiously.

"Nothing. Right, Fluttershy?"

"U-uhm...wellll...." She trailed off looking away. Wait, what? WAS there something between us? Had I done something wrong?

"Mhmm... Ah think Ah get it..." Applejack said after a moment. "Well, Ahmma talk ta Fluttershy real quick. She seemed a tad frantic about somethin' earlier." Applejack said before leading her off away from me. Why was I so worried about this? I really must be over reacting. There was no way I'd done something wrong, right? I mean, do I, Twilight Sparkle, ever do anything wrong?

...Oh, Celestia help me...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, so tell me what's up, Shy."

"W-well... I'm just guessing that, since Pinkie and Rainbow have apparently already noticed, you have, too..." I started slowly.

"Oh, Ah've noticed alright. You got a thing goin' on fer Twilight, but she just ain't noticin' you like that." It's never nice when somepony summarizes something that feels so complicated into something so short. It just makes me feel... pathetic.

"A-and there's something else, too... I got this letter..." But my already low confidence petered out.

"Yeah, ya mentioned that. What's so special about it?"

"It was from Cadence..." She quirked an eyebrow. "I should just show you." I decided. "Oh... but I left it at my cottage..."

"Go get it. Ah'll talk to Twi."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy suddenly lifted off and flew away. I don't know why, but I wanted to follow her. I wanted her to stay. I just wanted to be in her company... Why am I confusing me so much? GAH!

Applejack trotted back to me slowly.

"Where is Fluttershy going?" I asked a bit too quickly. She looked at me, one eyebrow slowly rising. "I-I was just uhm...curious."

"She's goin' back ta her house. She needed ta show me somethin'."

"What is it?"

"Just some kind a' note she got." She said waving a hoof dismissively. "So, what's up with you an' Fluttershy?"

"Well, I don't know. I thought there wasn't anything at all. Not until just now. D-did she say what it was?" I asked hopefully.

"Eeyup." Silence.

"What is it?" I asked impatiently.

"Ah doubt she'd want me ta tell ya." Oh that makes me feel soooo much better.

"O-oh..."

"N'aww. T'aint like that." She said. It didn't make me feel much better.

"Then what is it like?"

"Ah uhh... Ah can't say, but it just ain't like that. Now about you an' Fluttershy. She doesn't seem... content with it, but Ah wanna know if you are."

"Well... I guess I'd like it to be more, but I don't see how it can be much better. I mean, she's already my best friend." I answered.

"Hmph... I know a way..." Applejack muttered, but I don't think she meant for me to hear her. Just then I heard a flapping sound, and looked up to see Fluttershy returning. She landed a short distance from us and tucked something under her wing as she folded it it over the...thing. I didn't quite see what it was.

"Wait here a sec." Applejack said before trotting over to her.

"Yeah... I'll just... be here..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, lemme see it."

I gave her the first letter and read through it. "Fluttershy... Twilight sent this to her brother...why do you-?" I held up the other letter in answer. She read it over, her eyes bunching slightly in thought. "Hmm... Ah see....And whatya plannin' ta do?"

"I don't know. She has no idea about this! I don't know if Shining Armor even wrote back to her. I really want to tell her how I feel but... wouldn't that be awkward for her? I don't think she realizes that you can.... 'swing that way'..." I said frantically.

"Calm down there, sugarcube. Now, what ya need is for her ta get it, right?"

"I-I guess?"

"Well, it is. So you let me handle that and you just get yerself home and maybe she'll stop by, okay?"

"O-okay..."

"Go on now, get!" She slapped my rear.

"Eep..." I quirked a brow at her, but flew off anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What the hay? Applejack just spanked her! She flew off and I'm...not really mad but something close. It's like...no no, that's impossible. What could I possibly be jealous about here?

"Somethin' wrong, Twi?" Applejack asked.

"Ye-eh... no no, I-I'm fine." I stammered. She eyed me with a small grin on her face. Why was everything so confusing to me right now?

"Hey lemme ask ya somethin'."

"Sure."

"Ya've been havin' weird feelin's, right?"

"Yeah... How did yo-"

"You'll find out soon." She interrupted. "Okay, so when do ya usually get them feelin's?"

"All the time."

"So ya had 'em yesterday?"

"Sure. Plenty in fact."

"When?"

"Mostly at the restaurant. Why?"

"What did ya think about before the feelin's popped up?"

"I don't see how that's relev-"

"It is. Trust me."

"Okay... I mostly thought about the dinner, the setting, impressing Fluttershy, Fluttershy herself..." I answered. I was getting more and more confused with each question. I got the feeling she was going somewhere with this, so why not humor her?

"Okay. Now, Fluttershy told me that ya might have a crush, but ya don' know who it is. Ya think ya can tell me all the stallions ya know that well?"

"Big Mac." She waited patiently for another name but none came forward.

"Really? That's it?"

"Well, there's The Doctor, but he's a little cooky. I mean, he keeps saying he's going somewhere then disappears for like twelve minutes, then comes back with stories like he'd been gone for a month."

"He sure is strange...." She said thoughtfully. Then she shook her head and looked serious again. "Where was Ah? Right... Okay so if it's no STALLIONS you know that leaves...?" She trailed off suggestively.

"Nopony?" I winced at the sound of her facehoofing. It looked like it hurt.

"Not quite..." She muttered. "Alright, Ah'll be forward with you now. You get funny feelin's whenever you think of Fluttershy, you got nervous about a one-on-one dinner with her, ya can't think of any stallions close to ya. Ah bet you was feelin' upset when Ah spanked her jus' now?"

"No!" She eyed me sternly. Stupid Element of Honesty...."Okay I felt a little uhm...well I'm sure I was wrong, but..."

"Ya were jealous." She wasn't asking, she was stating. I lowered my head and just nodded.

"And Ah bet she's more important ta ya than the rest of us." She said. I looked up at her, a little hurt that she would say that. They were all my friends, after all, but as I thought about it, I realized she was right.

"Yes. I guess she is." She didn't look hurt. Just triumphant.

"Ya want more from yer relationship, right?"

"Yeah, but she's my best friend how does it get better than that?" I asked.

"Think about it." So I did. And then from the deepest, most untouched corners of my mind a silent voice suggested something I'd never even considered. Something nopony had ever mentioned to me. Something I'd never read, or learned about from Celestia. Something I never even considered. Wait.. I already said that...

Could I like... As in 'LIKE' Fluttershy? That was impossible, unheard of, beyond strange, so completely and utterly...

IT! It was the thing I'd been missing. It was what everypony else had been commenting on. It was what had been causing those odd feelings. It felt... right.

I facehoofed. "Applejack I am so stupid. Wh-what do I do?"

"Well, obviously, ya go talk ta Fluttershy! Go on! Get!" She said with a sudden enthusiasm. She shoved me towards Fluttershy's cottage and my legs automatically started carrying me there.

I stopped and looked back at her to ask something. But she was already gone. This was going to be so hard...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What was Applejack planning? The look on her face as I flew off told me she had some kind of plan. I paced back and forth in the middle of my living room, wait impatiently for Twilight to show up, but after a while I began to think she wasn't going to show up.

Angel hopped up on the windowsill and starred hard at something. He suddenly hopped over to me and frantically tapping my leg. He pointed at the door, so I walked over to the door and opened it. I stepped outside and looked around, but there was nopony there.

"What is it Angel?"

He looked around and shrugged. I rolled my eyes at him and walked back inside. I guess she's not coming. I walked up to my bed and laid down. Celestia's Sun wasn't even directly above us yet, but it felt like nighttime already. I didn't feel like doing anything anyways. A nice nap sounds juuuuust fine. *sniff*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stopped in front of her door. A thought occurred to me. Wasn't this wrong? I mean all the couples in my novels were always a mare and a stallion. This wasn't right. And besides isn't there a better way to tell her how I feel? And what if she doesn't feel the same way? What if our friends reject us? What if the princess disapproves? What if... What if...

I can't do this... I just couldn't. Before I could turn to leave I saw Angel in the window staring at me. He turned away and hopped down. Horseapples! He's gonna get Fluttershy! I had to get out of there. Now! I thought hard. There was no way...wait yes there was. I concentrated hard, then suddenly *POP!* I opened my eyes and I was in the library safe and sound...

I am such a wuss. I went upstairs and went to bed. I did not feel like upholding that schedule, today. It wasn't even noon, but I decided a nap would be *sniff* just great...

Comments

[Arbiter Balemead]

967110 you liked that huh?
Im probably gonna throw a reference in every once in a while in my fics until i fianlly do some doctor shenanigans

[Endaljaro]

It's a pretty good chapter, but the end let me a little uneasy.
I eager to read the next one (I'm not pressing you).

[Roarin]

Magic does not equal social grace. That is all.

[Arbiter Balemead]

968609 it does in french and i wondered if anyone would check that
good work

[FLUTTERPIEROXS]

"Mah plan was ta spank you an see if she got jealous"
"So Twilight wants to...spank me?"
lol

[Arbiter Balemead]

970012hey! id get jealous if someone so much as squeezed my girl to hard

[FLUTTERPIEROXS]

970026
I just found it funny that applejack went to such drastic measures.

[Arbiter Balemead]

970036 truth be told i wrote down the spank then went and played skyrim for an hour came back and the jealousy thing just sorta occurred to me. wasnt really planned

[Mare Imbrium]

A strange inconsistency is Twilight was reading a book about relationships in the first chapter that sort of covered this. You even pointed out she was in the part about homosexuality when Celestia came to visit. How could she have not even known it was possible, let alone the idea that it's "wrong"?