Applejack has a secret, for years now she has snuck out into the woods with a pig in tow, in order to indulge in her secretive food fantasy: truffles. Knowing that she would never hear the end of it for the supposedly country-pony enjoying such a fancy food, she has done her best to keep her secret hidden. That is until Fluttershy begins to grow suspicious of her friend’s actions, and quickly jumps to the most logical conclusion upon investigation...
A huge thank you to the incredibly talented Alsey for creating the cover art and for providing proof-reading and advice. They are incredibly talented, and I highly suggest you check out their work. Thank you also to Aremna for proof-reading and editing, they are also incredibly talented. Check out both of their incredible stories!
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It's been a long time dude, welcome back
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It has! I think that it has been almost 5 years since the last time that I published a story update. I'm glad to be publishing again though, I had a blast writing this. We should catch up!
I gotten a very good laugh from Fluttershy being mislead into thinking that Applejack was a carnivore! XD
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I'm glad that you enjoyed the story! I worried that people might not like how misled poor Flutters was with the whole situation.
Thank you!
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You're very welcome. I think you did a very good job at how Fluttershy gotten so misled in your story.
You have no idea -- no idea -- how relieved I am that the big misunderstanding turned out to be that Fluttershy thought that Applejack was going to eat the pig.
Anyway, brilliantly written.
"Well, of course I don't eat pigs. I s'pose the Diamond Dogs I sell them to do."
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I hope that it was clear where the story was going once the story started though.
Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed the story! Yes, I did worry that some people might people might assume that the other thing was being implied.
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Oh yeah, it became very clear after Fluttershy heard Applejack's line about being famished.
This was a cute, enjoyable little slice-of-misunderstanding comedy.
As someone who has gone truffle hunting with a friend on their farm, I can sympathise with Applejack's desire for secrecy.
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Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed the story! Yes, truffles are certainly a luxury that needs to be kept secret. I've never been truffle hunting myself, and I have only had them a few times, so I hope that I did both of those experiences justice.
This was a delightful little funny story with beautiful cover art. This really made me think up a whole lot of interesting questions and headcanons.
Funny thing, I'm actually heating up some truffle spread and bread right now--I bought it with a gift card, and it makes me feel boujee.
Also, TIL that truffles used to be a commonplace condiment around 1900, but after the world wars there was a labor shortage, which turned it into a luxury.
I mean, if labor is the limiting factor, you don't need a pig. You could get Twilight or Starlight to cast a truffle-finding spell and you'll have it all out of the ground in no time. No carnivore-misunderstandings.
Also, why is this the first time I've seen Applejack eat pasta? Any kind of pasta?
Oh Fluttershy, you haven't seen some of the fics on this site.
I can imagine Fluttershy being one of those "activist" vegans in the human world.
Ya know, I could see this become an episode of the cartoon. Perhaps a bit darker than their usual tone, but definitely something.
I LOVED it! I like how you have captured the voice of each pony.
I enjoyed many moments, but my favorite was when the little squirrel woke up Shy! So cute.
The artwork was fantastic!
Very enjoyable - thank you for writing.
This one-shot truly felt as if it belonged in the series proper, with even a life lesson to boot!
Do not jump to conclusions ... wait, that was Zecora!
Hmm ... do not hog the truffles? Yeah, let's go with that!
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Truffles have quite the interesting history indeed! I did a fair amount of research for this story about truffles, and it is certainly odd how the commoner's food of one time period becomes the luxury food of another! I don't believe that any ponies in the show eat any pasta, which is odd given how it is such a delightful dish! Thank you for your delightful comment, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the story!
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Thank you! I did try to keep the characters and the general premise of the story as close to the actual show as possible (albeit perhaps if the rating were a bit higher, but then again they showed Fluttershy snapping the neck of a bear!). If there is a lesson to be learned here, I would suggest "don't immediately assume that your friend is a murderer without closer investigation perhaps? Thank you for your wonderful comments!
This was a very good one-shot.
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Nah, Generosity is Rarity's gig. But AJ should have told her friends about the truffles.
For a second I lost it at the “wait that’s worse.”
It’s been a while since I found a good one-shot to have a laugh at !
Thankyou for that
Nice cover art too.
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I don’t normally write one shots, but the wonderful (and unexpected) feedback that I’ve received on this one has encouraged me to write more!
Thank you!
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Perhaps she just wanted to have more for herself?
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That’s one of my favorite lines too! I was looking for a good way to finish off the story, and Alsey, the illustrator / prereader suggested that one!
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Thank you! I’m glad that I could provide you with a good laugh! Yes, Alsey did a phenomenal job with the cover art, I highly suggest checking out their stuff!
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Applebloom has an unfortunate encounter with a bowl of spaghetti[1] in “Somepony to Watch Over Me”.
[1] Presumably the red sauce is some form of marinara, but the darker color and chunky texture looks closer to bolognese. I suppose a more rustic form (coarse chop) with lots of mushrooms might work.
Man, I should read more short stories like this, good for the heart and soul.
On a side note, Truffle oil is a fairly healthy oil, having a large percentage of monosaturated fats.
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I think that longer-form stories certainly have their place, but sometimes a lighthearted one-off is nice too!
I’m glad you liked it!
I didn’t know that about truffles! I suppose if I ever have enough money to afford truffle-related products I’ll have to look into that!
Wasn't expecting the misunderstanding to go on for as long as it did!
You may know this already, but Lauren Faust did have truffle-hunting in mind as a reason for why the Apples kept pigs.
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I’m glad you liked it! Yes, I thought there were far too many potential jokes to tell to just end it early!
I tried to do a lot of research into ponies and truffles for this story, but somehow I missed that comment from Faust, so thank you for pointing it out to me! Always nice to find out my story is based on canon then!
That was great :)
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Thank you! I’m glad that you enjoyed it!
Griffons like eating ponies better.
It's mythical canon too!
I really liked this.
Writing a story about a misunderstanding that keeps going for several thousands of words, you'd think it'd either start to get boring or harder to believe they didn't clear up the issue yet. You nailed it though! Things kept hilariously escalating in believable ways for the characters and I certainly wasn't bored. It was really cute and only as complicated as it had to be. Poor Fluttershy's reactions!
It was also a tight read. I loved the efficiency of this full story. No extra characters, no extra scenes. It's also a fun little bit of world building about an odd thing that Applejack does on the show (take care of pigs). Exactly the kind of short stories I like! Thank you for writing this.
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Thank you for your really nice comment and your wonderful analysis! Yes, it’s true that a long story can drag things out a bit too much, so I did end up cutting a lot of things with the help of my editors (who I believe you know!
You’re right, it was never fully addressed as to why she had pigs in the show, so after rewatching ‘Applejack’s Day Off’ i was inspired to write this story. I’m glad that it was something short and sweet that you enjoyed reading in that case!
You can has review!