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Farmer Meets Flutter1,844 words
A Thousand Miles 'Shy1,616 words
Apple of My 'Shy2,300 words

Apple of My 'Shy

Fluttershy loved any reason to visit Sweet Apple Acres, but those occasions when the reason was to help the Apple family were her personal favorites. It was already nice to be on the farm, but nicer still to know her being there was a benefit to the family. So it was with an extra bit of pep in her wings that she and her little animal friends attended to the last few remnants of the Iron Pony competition Sweet Apple Acres had hosted only two days ago. While the young Pegasus was happily humming along as she airlifted the apple-shaped score cards into the tool shed, however, Angel Bunny was a bit less than gracious as he dragged the tug-of-war rope along. "Hrr-rrr-umph!" he grumbled grumpily.

"Oh now Angel, that's a very rude thing to say," Fluttershy chided, "We are not just doing this work because the Apple Family is too lazy to do it themselves; Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom were heading into town on business, and we both know Granny Smith's too old to do this kind of thing herself, so I volunteered our services."

"Rrr?" the rabbit asked as he gracelessly tossed the rope into the shed.

"Applejack? Well, she's…um…" Fluttershy paused; why was Applejack not around? She'd just assumed her friend had gone into town with her siblings, but now that Angel mentioned it….

The pegasus looked about for any sign of the Earth Pony. Nothing. "It's so unlike her," she thought aloud, "to not help when there's work to be done."

Already, that all-too-familiar feeling of "what if…?" began to build in her mind; what if Applejack were sick, or hurt, or sick and hurt and stuck under a log and unconscious and unable to call for help? Wings flapping faster and faster as the nightmare scenario built itself up more and more, she swooped down to Angel. "You and the others take a little break," she said urgently, "I'm going to check around and make sure Applejack is OK."

Angel sighed in relief, taking a seat with the squirrels as Fluttershy took off.

"Applejack?" she called out, gliding up to the upper window of the barn-house.
She looked inside nervously, but only saw Granny Smith napping in her rocking chair. Normally, it would be a heartwarming sight, but since Fluttershy's imagination had gotten to "and stuck under a log and unconscious and unable to call for help and she might have accidentally knocked over a lantern and started a fire", she could only feel more panic.

"Applejack?" she tried again, this time peering in to Winona's dog-house; not only was there no Applejack, there was no Winona either.

Just as she was getting ready to add "with Winona coughing on the smoke" to her dreaded scenario, however, the pegasus heard a grunt echo out from nearby. Immediately whipping her head toward where she had heard it come from, Fluttershy strained her ears, listening cautiously in case she might hear the sound again. Sure enough, after a few moments, there came the grunt again, and Fluttershy was quick to zip over toward its source. "Apple…?" she started as she approached, only to stop quiet at what she saw.

It was the running path that had been set up for the Long Jump part of the Iron Pony competition. Sitting by its end was Winona, mouth open and tail wagging as she sat patiently. And in the dirt patch at the end was Applejack.

Her eyes were burning with frustration, fixated on a set of hoof-prints in the dirt only a few feet in front of her. Stomping her own hoof in the dirt angrily, she trotted back a few feet past the start of the path. Then, turning around and scuffing the ground, taking a deep breath, she ran full-throttle along its length, taking a flying leap midway through toward the dirt patch…

…and landed, with the same grunt that had guided Fluttershy to her, in almost exactly the same spot in the patch she had started at. With an aggravated growl, the Earth Pony bowed her head, and once again turned around to make her way back to the start of the track, but this time she found a familiar pegasus standing in her way. "…Jack?" she said timidly.

"F-Fluttershy…!" Applejack yelped, stumbling back on her flank.

"I-I'm sorry…" Fluttershy squeaked, shrinking back. "I didn't mean to interrupt, it's just…well…I didn't know where you were or why you weren't…um…helping with the clean-up and I just thought…well…"

Her voice became so soft as to be entirely incoherent after that. "Well shoot, I'm the one who should be apologizin'," Applejack replied, getting back on her hooves. "I plum forgot all about the clean-up on account of…well…"

She looked back behind her to the dirt patch. "…unfinished business."

"W-what kind of unfinished business?" Fluttershy asked in spite of herself.
Applejack sighed a bit, but to Fluttershy's surprise, she did not answer. Instead, the Earth Pony stepped around her, heading once again to the start of the path. "Clear the run-way!" she instructed.

Having already seen where this was going, Fluttershy did not need to be told twice. With a timid "Eep!", she flew up into the air as Applejack charged, leapt, landed, grunted, and growled angrily once again.

Before the Earth Pony could begin the cycle anew, Fluttershy swooped down next to her. "Please, Applejack," she said with as much urgency as her gentle heart could muster, "what's got you so worked up? Please, tell me what's…!"

Yet as she looked at Applejack, and saw where Applejack herself was looking, and followed that look to the four hoof prints in the dirt, suddenly Fluttershy realized the answer to her question before it had even finished. "…oh dear…" she whispered instead.

Applejack gave an exasperated snort. "Tch! 'Oh dear' is right," she grumbled. "Been at this for hours, 'n' I ain't no closer to gettin' past 'em now than when I started."

"I don't understand," the pegasus said, "I thought…well…I thought you and Rainbow Dash had worked things out. I mean, you both seemed so happy after the Running of the Leaves."

Slumping down glumly, Applejack's gaze remained fixed on those four marks in the dirt. "I still feel like a right foal for the way I acted that day, y'know," she admitted. "Goin' after Rainbow like that…."

Fluttershy crouched down next to her, leaning comfortingly against the Earth Pony. "It's OK, Applejack," she told her, "You just lost your temper, that's all. It happens to the best of ponies."

"I know, I know," Applejack grumbled, melancholy giving way to frustration, "but still…! I should've known better! I should've set an example!"

"So…why didn't you?" Fluttershy asked cautiously, immediately adding, "I-I mean… well…" A little blush tinged her cheeks, "I've known you for years now. And I know that it takes more than a little of Rainbow being competitive to get under your skin."

Applejack snorted again, looking first to Fluttershy, then back to the hoof prints. At last, she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and resting her head on her hooves. "This…this ain't about Rainbow," she said, a bit calmer now but still obviously bothered, "Not strictly speakin', anyway."

"Go on," Fluttershy encouraged.

"It's just…." Applejack started, cutting herself off; honesty may have been her element, but she still had her pride. Still, she knew her friend deserved the truth, and that mattered more. "I put everything I had into that Iron Pony competition, tried as hard as I could. I knew I wasn't gonna win 'em all, but…"

Her hooves clenched. Fluttershy leaned gently against the Earth Pony, trying to calm her. "I know it ain't her fault, I know she didn't mean nothin' by it, 'n' I don't blame her, but…whenever Rainbow used her wings to win a contest she might've lost otherwise…"

Applejack gave a deep, defeated sigh. "For the first time in my life, I felt…ashamed…because I'm just an Earth Pony."

Fluttershy's ears went straight up, eyes widening with surprise. She had known it was a serious matter to bother her friend so much, but this was the last thing she ever would have guessed. "I know us Earth Ponies ain't got fancy magic, 'n' we can't fly, but I've always told myself-always-that it didn't make me any less of a Pony. That anything a unicorn can do with magic, or a pegasus can do with flyin', an Earth Pony can do without either of those."

Brows quivering, her eyes returned once more to the hoof prints. "But all it took was one beat 'o' wings, 'n' that landing spot was put out of my reach."

She looked at Fluttershy, a struggle of emotions plain on her face. "Don't…don't take it the wrong way, neither," she said softly, "I don't mean nothin' against Pegasus Ponies or anything like that."

"I know you don't," Fluttershy replied sympathetically. "In fact…"

A gentle smile spread on the pegasus' face as she stretched a wing out over Applejack's back, its soft feathers brushing against her comfortably. "I know a lot about what you're feeling."

Soothed by the feel of Fluttershy's wings, Applejack looked to her silently, more than willing to give the pegasus her say. "I may have wings, but I've never been very good at flying. Oh, I can hover about good enough, but as soon as I try anything more complicated than that, well…" She giggled a little bit. "Let's just say it's a good thing I moved down here from Cloudsdale."

She gave a soft little sigh herself. "Even after I came to live here in Ponyville, though, I looked at my poor flying skills as a weakness. Most everypony else did too. And for a while, that made me very sad."

Her smile returned, and her eyes went to Applejack. Fighting the blush on her cheeks (and the butterflies in her stomach), she said, "But then…I met this wonderful Earth Pony who taught me that there are all kinds of strength in the world. And because she did, I realized that even if I couldn't fly very well, that didn't make me weak. In a way, it made me…well, me."

The pegasus felt like her heart was about to burst; she was not used to speaking this openly-this firmly-with other ponies, least of all a close friend! That part of her mind that eternally lived in a state of frightened "what if…?" was screaming at her that this was not her place, that she had no real advice to offer to a pony as proud and strong as Applejack. Yet Fluttershy knew, in a place too strong inside of her for that voice to drown out, that Applejack did need her right now, and that meant pushing past her bashfulness. Just this once. "W-we all have limits, Applejack," she pressed on, ignoring the tremble in her own voice, "But they only really hurt us if we let them. Sure, I can't fly very well…but that just means I can be here, on the ground, with my animal friends. And with Twilight and Pinkie and Rarity and Rainbow…and you…" Keep going, before you lose your nerve! "So no, you can't fly like a Pegasus Pony. And you can't use magic like a Unicorn Pony. But…well…"

She pointed directly beneath where she and Applejack lay. "Look at how far you jumped without wings."

For a moment, they both just sat there, looking at the spot Fluttershy was pointing to. Applejack seemed to be mulling all those words over very carefully as she did.

After a few moments, however, a light came to her eyes. At last, Applejack smiled. The worry eased from her face, and she looked at her Pegasus friend with a look of sincere gratitude. Her speech done, Fluttershy immediately let instinct take over and tucked her head back like a turtle going into its shell, blushing openly and wildly now. "But, y'know, feel free to just ignore me if you want," she squeaked.

And Applejack laughed a good hearty laugh. "Ignore you?" she asked brightly. "Shucks, I'd be as dumb as a doornail to ignore all that, sugar-cube!"

She lifted herself up onto all fours, offering a hoof to Fluttershy to help her do the same. Still doing her best to disappear beneath her own mane, the timid Pegasus nonetheless accepted. Immediately, Applejack wrapped her up in a soft, soothing hug. "Bless you, Fluttershy," she said humbly. "From the bottom of my heart, bless you."

The pegasus could only mewl gently in response.

Letting her friend go, Applejack gave her a good pat on the back. "Now then!" she piped up, "I do believe we have an Iron Pony competition to finish cleanin' up after?"

"…hm?" Fluttershy asked, momentarily separated from reality by the sudden rush of emotion. "O-oh! Right! The competition! Angel and the others are already helping, but every hoof counts."

Applejack nodded vigorously. "Then let's get to it!" she said excitedly.

Fluttershy nodded. She then began to trot off back toward the tool shed, but stopped when she realized Applejack was not following her. She looked back to see her friend, once again staring at those four hoof-prints in the dirt. Worry surged up in her mind immediately. Had she failed? Had Applejack just been faking it for her sake? Had…?

Her questions were all silenced, however, as the Earth Pony briskly used her tail to sweep the prints away. "Ready when you are," Applejack said with a wink.

Fluttershy smiled. "W-well then, I guess we're both ready," she said warmly.

Applejack nodded, joining the pegasus by her side. And together, they went to finish their work.

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