Stepping Stones

by DylanDragon

Fluttershy's Felicity

Stepping Stones

Chapter 6—Fluttershy’s Felicity

“Ah really like your headband,” said Applejack.

“O—oh. Thank you,” Fluttershy said with a smile. Thanks, Rarity. She felt a little overdressed because of her periwinkle frock. Compared to Applejack’s Stetson and a simple green dress, it felt awkward. I shouldn’t have worn so much…

“Darn, now I feel underdressed,” chuckled Applejack. “Ah’m gonna look silly next to such a pretty filly.”

All better. “Oh Jackie…I think you look great.” She was impressed that they could both dress so quickly. After Applejack suggested a date that night, they both only had twenty minutes to go home and change, then meet at the restaurant.

“Shall we go in?” she asked, holding open the door.

“Thank you, Jackie,” she giggled. How chival…chiv…chivalistic…? How nice!

The restaurant was arranged so that the tables were scattered everywhere, with no ostensible pattern. The kitchen was on the right, and waiters and waitresses poured in and out from the double doors, carrying trays piled high with food, or nothing at all. Ponies were dining and chatting, and the entire scene was full of activity—characteristic of a Saturday night.

The whole place was very brightly lit—something that Fluttershy liked very much. She hated the dimly lit restaurants that made everything so hard to see. She had tripped in Le Cloppeaux once while dining with Twilight, and she had severely bruised her forelegs in Hoofington Complex last month during an interview for the newspaper. She was very flattered that Applejack knew about her love for adequate lighting. But then again…Nah, I’m just over-thinking it. There’s no way she could have known. It’s just a pure coincidence that she took me here.

“The hostess said twenty minutes. Ah hope y’all like this place. Ah picked it special. Ah know how much y’all like bright places.”

“I love you!” she squealed.

Applejack chuckled and petted her mane.

The minutes ticked by. At five minutes, Fluttershy was resting her head on Applejack’s shoulder. At ten minutes, she was playing tic-tac-toe with herself in her head. At fifteen minutes, she began twirling her hooves. At seventeen minutes and thirty seconds, she was shaking her leg impatiently. At seventeen minutes and forty-two seconds, she mentally groaned. “Oh, this is taking so long!” I can’t wait for our date…

“How about we play a game?” Applejack suggested.

“Oh, what game?”

“It’s really fun. Twilight taught it to me. Ah think you’ll like it.”

“Is it the alphabet naming game?”

“Er…yes, how did ya know?”

“She teaches that to everypony…that was the game we played at Le Cloppeaux before she took me to the hospital for a concussion.”

“Uh…Ah guess Ah’ll start. Ah call the topic of food, two syllables. Apples.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Of course. Oh um…bagels.”

“Cupcakes.”

“Um…Donuts!”

“E…Eh…Er…Em…” Applejack stuttered. “Epples?”

Fluttershy laughed erratically. “Epples?!”

“Ah couldn’t think of anything, and Ah was runnin’ out of time!”

“What about eggplants?”

“…Ah knew that.”

A feminine voice called, “Applejack, party of two?”

They stood up to claim their order. “Last time Ah show up day-of,” Applejack said under her breath so that only Fluttershy could hear.

“It’s okay. I um…I like spending time with you.” Forgive my earlier impatient outburst.

Their table was against the left wall, situated between a table of unicorns who were fancily levitating their silverware and a table seating the polar opposite: a family with young foals.

Applejack scanned through the menu and picked the first thing that looked appetizing—a daisy salad with apples. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, weighed her options very carefully. She factored in taste, appearance, nutrition, and price (Since she’s paying for me, I don’t want to get anything too expensive…).

“The second pasta. This one, here,” she said to the waitress.

“So Flutters, how are ya likin’ our date so far?”

“I love it, Jackie…”

“Good. Ya know…Ah um…Ah did a lot of thinkin’ lately…this past hour. And Ah was thinking about how good of a friend you are to me. And Ah realized that Ah’m closer to you than to anypony else.”

“I feel that way, too…”

“But Ah felt like…Ah felt like Ah wanted you to be real happy. Ah realized that Ah care about you more than Ah care about myself, and Ah really am glad Ah get to call you my fillyfriend.”

“Does…does this mean…?”

“Ah don’t think Ah’m ready to say that Ah love you yet, but now Ah’m sure that Ah will one day.”

“Oh, Jackie!” Fluttershy exclaimed. She began crying out of happiness and she felt the sudden urge to stand up and lovingly tackle her date. Gravity and manners held her down.

Their conversation breached even the furthest of boundaries. Although it was first very superficial with current events, the eventually became more and more comfortable with each other. Fluttershy learned that Applejack was a mareosexual like her, but kept it a secret from her family. She heard about Applejack’s foalhood, and her favorite places. In return, Fluttershy told her about her own past, including her friendship with Rainbow Dash and her difficult times in Cloudsdale. She purposely left out anything about Cloudchaser, knowing that the right time to broach that topic could be very soon. She knew, however, that when she did mention it, Applejack would be supportive and caring—and that’s all she needed to know.

“You know, Flutters, Ah think Ah’m really fallin’ for ya.”

“Good!” Fluttershy giggled.

After Applejack paid the bill, they began the walk back to Sweet Apple Acres. In the back of Fluttershy’s mind, she remembered that she had left the cake, cupcakes, and the Heart of Fates under the tree.

“Jackie…are you still hungry?”

“Are ya kiddin’ me? Those fancy restaurants never give enough food!”

“I have a cake and something…really special back at the farm…if you’d like…”

“Oh…I’d love to, Flutters.”

Once back to the apple tree, Fluttershy picked up the three boxes (with difficulty) with her mouth. The sky was already dark, and Luna’s moon illuminated the grassy fields and leafy trees. The iridescent stars glimmered and shimmered like millions of the night-lights Fluttershy kept in her room. The occasional hoot from owls and the chirping of crickets were the symphony of the night, and the two ponies were the audience.

Applejack led her into the barn off to the side. It was newly painted a deep crimson. Pushing open the door, she gestured with a hoof for her fillyfriend to enter.

The inside of the barn was a lot darker than the open night sky. Applejack lit a few lamps off to the side, bathing the interior with a soft, flickering yellow glow.

“Just here, sugarcube,” she said gently, guiding Fluttershy onto a soft hay stack.

“Fluttershy set down the three boxes onto the dirt floor. “Thank you, Jackie.”

“So what’s in those boxes there?”

Fluttershy giggled. “This one’s a cake. This one’s cupcakes. And this one…is really special, and…and I want to save it for last.”

Applejack’s stomach audibly rumbled as Fluttershy opened the first two boxes. “I made these myself…so I hope they’re good enough for you…”

With a mouthful of cake, she moaned. “Are ya kiddin’?!” she said after swallowing, “This here’s amazin’! Ah love it!”

“Yay…”

Fluttershy gave herself a cupcake. Applejack was right. The frosting melted in her mouth, and the apple didn’t taste sour at all. The soft moist cake perfectly complemented the sugary frosting. There was no part that she disliked. Touché, Pinkie…cupcakes are superior to muffins. She mentally giggled. I’m so proud of myself for making this…(with Pinkie’s help, of course!)

Their eating was silent, mainly because their mouths were so full of confection. I hope someday I get to feed her food. That would be so romantic!

“Ahh…that hit the spot,” Applejack sighed, patting her slightly distended belly.

Fluttershy also gave it a rub, eliciting a shrill laugh from the Earth pony. “Me, too…”

“So what’s that super special thing ya got there? Unless it’s private…”

“Oh…um…” Now or never, I guess… She opened the box, revealing the heart-shaped cookie with the pink liquid, still periodically rippling. It was only about as big as the bottom of her hoof.

“It’s so pretty…Did ya make this one, too?”

“Oh no. Pinkie made this one. She said it’s called the Heart of Fates.”

“That sounds like a cheesy name,” Applejack laughed.

Fluttershy chuckled. “I wasn’t the one who named it. But it is kind of silly, isn’t it? Maybe the pony who invented them couldn’t think of anything better. We shouldn’t laugh at the name. It’s not that bad. Oh um anyways…well, see, we share it, and it’s supposed to be super romantic.”

“Ah think it’d be romantic anyways cause Ah’m with you!” she said happily.

Fluttershy unfolded the sides of the paper box and put a hoof on one side of the heart. The slight disturbance caused it to ripple faster. Applejack placed her hoof on the other side. At the exact moment of contact, a zig-zag rift appeared down the middle, and the two halves separated.

To her surprise, the liquid didn’t leak out. The cross-section revealed that the pink liquid was held in place by what seemed like an invisible force field.

“Say ‘ahh,’” said Applejack, holding it up in her hoof in front of Fluttershy’s face.

Fluttershy complied and her mouth opened wide like she was visiting the doctor. She felt Applejack place her half onto her tongue. She closed her mouth, but kept it intact in her oral cave. She offered her half to Applejack, who graciously accepted it with her own teeth.

She chewed into it. The chewy cookie on the bottom was sweet and sugary. The liquid leaked into her mouth, and she swished it around with her tongue. Then, the pain began.

She whimpered, and could hear Applejack panting as she chewed on her own half. “Spicyyy…” she managed to say.

Then, as quick as it came, the hotness disappeared. It was sucked down into her abdomen, which now glowed a light pink. She peered over at Applejack’s belly, and could see the same glowing. She felt a tickling deep in her stomach.

She stood up and hugged her fillyfriend tightly. Applejack was laughing. “That was painful, but Ah guess the symbolism works…”

The tickly feeling rose up. It filled her chest and expanded into her forelegs and hind-legs. It flooded her mind, and all she could think of was her happy future with the one she loved.

They exited the barn, seeing as the interior had nothing to offer. The outside, however, gave them an excellent view of the spotted skies, softly lit by Luna’s moon.

Applejack led Fluttershy back to the tree that they had spent so long under that afternoon. After some scuffling, they finally found themselves in a position similar to before—Applejack on her back, and Fluttershy with her head on the Earth pony’s stomach.

Fluttershy could feel those hooves that comforted her for so long snake around her—one wrapped around her head, and the other one around her back.

Applejack sighed with happiness and looked up at the stars. It seemed like every star, millions of light-years away, still enticed them to join them among the heavens. Occasionally they sparkled, and even rarer was the shooting star that flitted across the night sky like the end of a whip. “Ah’m lookin’ forward to my life with ya, Flutters.”

“Oh, me too, Jackie!”

“And all our friends, too,” Applejack said.

“And a great fillyfriend,” Fluttershy added.

“My fillyfriend...”

“My fillyfriend.”

Comments

[DylanDragon]

2505038
GASP! Yays, somepony got the super obscure reference!

[CosmicThunder]

I FELL BEHIND!!!!! NOOOOOO, atleast i now have reading material for the rest of the day

[CosmicThunder]

I love it!!!!! Can't wait for more

[DylanDragon]

2530974
Hee, I'm glad you liked it!
I actually write more M/M than F/F, but maybe you like that, too!

[CosmicThunder]

2534313 [WARNING CHEESY RESPONSE INCOMING] I like both of your genres, I just enjoy the scenes that you set . Oh god so much cheesiness

[DylanDragon]

2616020
D'aww, that wasn't cheesy at all! That's was actually really sweet! Thanks so much! I mean, I'm really glad someone likes my writing style! Thanks!

[DylanDragon]

3056230
Good question. I think that these fan-made words such as "fillyfooler" and "bucking" have connotations and denotations that really depend on context. I have seen fics where "fillyfooler" is an offensive term, and others where it simply means "lesbian." I think at this point in the fandom, one has to look at the context. From context in this fic, it should be apparent that the term holds neither a negative denotation nor connotation.
Totally got me thinking there. Call me Philosodraggy.

[One Big Macintosh]

What a cute story , you did a great job keeping the characters personalities and well i cant say anything more than great story

oh yeah pd: I LOVE YOU PINKIE PIE EVEN IF YOU TRY TO EAT EVERYTHING WUUUU XD

[DylanDragon]

3372176
D'aww, thanks!
Awesome name, by the way