Fluttering Hearts

Nightfall descended onto Ponyville as Luna’s moon shone brightly across the edge of the Everfree Forest. The crickets had just begun their chirping symphony of the night, when two ponies made their way across the bridge to the cottage at the edge of the woods; the purple unicorn Twilight Sparkle, and her kind friend Fluttershy.

“I really appreciate you taking a look at Owlicious for me, Fluttershy!” Twilight Sparkle thanked her friend as they walked towards her home. “I knew that your talent for helping animals would be perfect to give him the care he needed.”

“Of course, Twilight, it’s no trouble at all.” Fluttershy responded with a bit of uneasiness. “But what I found really strange was that I couldn’t really find anything wrong with him.”

“Well, I assure you, earlier this morning he was quite unwell! Why, his hoots were raspy, and he just didn’t have any energy in him.”

“I see.” Twilight’s actions confused Fluttershy. Normally the unicorn was such a bookworm with a driving passion to learn about all sorts of things. Even though she’d made so much progress with her social life here in Ponyville, she still spent most of her time secluded in her library studying the daylight away. Normally if there were anything wrong with her assistants, Twilight would pour through every book she had on illnesses before turning to somepony else. “Well, it sounds like it was just a common cold. Something like that would clear up on its own in a few days with plenty of rest.”

“But I was, um… just so worried about him! It means a lot to me that you stayed at my library for a few… hours, to look over him. I don’t know what I can do to repay you.”

Fluttershy smiled politely before she opened her cottage door. “Don’t mention it. Well, I suppose I should be-“

“SURPRISE!” an excited multitude of shouts rang out from inside the house, causing Fluttershy to instantly shriek and hide behind Twilight for cover. She peeked over her backside to see the rest of her best friends in the town all happily greeting her back home.

“Welcome home, Fluttershy!” Adorned in her most magnificent dress, Rarity approached Fluttershy and pulled her out of her hiding space and into the front door. “And just look at what we’ve done with the place! Oh, we only finished decorating just a moment ago!”

Fluttershy took in the scenery around her. Her entire home had been touched up with makeshift pillars underneath the ceiling, faux stained glass windows, and even a statue of an elegant alicorn in the center of the room. Rarity’s generosity shone throughout all of the decorations, as only her keen eye for detail would have been able to simulate one of Equestria’s most sophisticated events of the year. “I don’t believe it” she stated in awe. “Why, it looks just like…”

“The Grand Galloping Gala!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she bounced over Fluttershy several times. Sometimes, her friends found it unusual that this one pony was capable of having so much energy. At random moments she was capable of out-racing Rainbow Dash, out-muscling Applejack, and even out-organizing Twilight Sparkle on occasion. So enigmatic were her abilities that her friends had given up trying to make sense of it at all. “Well, not the real thing, but pretty good for only a few hours of preparation, don’t ya think?”

“Pretty good?” Spike’s voice cracked out from the ceiling, where he was making final adjustments to one of the streamers above. “More like pretty awesome! We had to sneak in and start putting everything together after you left with Twilight.” After finishing his adjustments, he slid down the ladder to the floor next to Applejack, who was busy mixing the drinks together.

It did indeed resemble the most extravagant party each of them had ever attended. It had only been but a few weeks since they had all set out to have the best night ever, but met with more than disappointment. Had it not been for all of them sticking together and enjoying each other’s company after the event, it could have easily spiraled into the worst night ever.

“I’m glad you girls were able to finish everything!” Twilight exclaimed with a sigh of relief. “You have no idea how hard it was to keep Fluttershy at my place for so long.”

Fluttershy turned to face Twilight Sparkle “To keep me there? So, I was right, there really wasn’t anything wrong with Owlicious?”

Twilight smiled sheepishly. “No, there wasn’t. I’m sorry for fibbing to you like that.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I just can’t imagine which of you came up with this wonderful idea!”

“Well, that’s the other thing.” Rarity interjected. “We weren’t actually the ones who came up with this generous motion She cleared her throat as she raised her voice a touch. “Would the gentlecolt who is responsible for this evening please step forward!”

Out from behind the sofa a large red clydesdale dressed in a more semi-formal suit and tie stepped out, his ears drooped and a humble grin on his face. “Hey, babe.” Big Macintosh uttered.

“Mackie!” Fluttershy called out her coltfriend’s pet name as she ran to him. The two had been going steady for more than a few months now, and the two could not have been happier with each other. Even Rarity had found herself out-prattled in her weekly get-togethers with Fluttershy at the spa whenever they stumbled onto the topic of Big Macintosh. “You!? You put all of this together… for me?”

“Well, for you and your friends, of course! I remember you telling me about how y’all didn’t really enjoy the night you’d been looking forward to for so long. So, I mentioned it to Applejack, she talked to Rarity, and everything took off from there. Now you can have the ma-jes-ti-cal night you wanted with the ponies that are really important to you. Do you like it?”

Fluttershy smiled wide as a tear formed in her eye. “Oh Mackie…” she buried her face into the fur on his chest. “It’s exactly what I wished for! This time I mean it!”

A resounding “Aww” could be heard from her friends as they watched the two cuddle with each other, aside from an unheard “Bleh!” from Spike making a rude gesture about his distaste for sappy moments.

“Alright, enough’s enough!” Rarity declared, tapping Fluttershy on her back and leading her upstairs “Let’s get you into your formal attire. I trust you’ve kept that dress I made for you safe, of course?”

“Oh, me too!” Twilight shouted, trotting up towards them. “I couldn’t exactly change before leading her back here, she would have gotten suspicious.”

“Oh, certainly dear. We’ll be just a few minutes, don’t start without us!”

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

After what seemed an eternity, the three mares emerged from Fluttershy’s bedroom. Each adorned the regal dresses that Rarity had worked so hard to design for them, and carefully made their way down the flight of stairs to the living room.

“Ugh, finally!” Rainbow Dash groaned taking notice of their appearance. “Any longer, and I would have fallen asleep!”

“But you did fall asleep, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie shouted pointing a hoof at Rainbow’s face. “Look, you’re still drooling!”

Dash lifted a hoof to the corner of her mouth and hastily wiped away the bit of saliva stuck there, while everypony laughed in amusement.

“I think what she means…” Applejack spoke over their laughter “Is that we’re glad that we can finally get started with the night. Come on y’all, let’s take it outside.”

“Outside?” Fluttershy asked. “Why are we going outside?”

“Because it’s WAY too small for dancing in here!” Pinkie Pie explained “Actually, you could probably dance in here, but we need music! And for that we need an orchestra, and it’s too small for the orchestra, so we put them outside, soooo…” summoning an unprecedented amount of strength, Pinkie stood up on her haunches and managed to push everypony quickly out the front door in one motion. “We gotta go outside! Oh, we already are outside… neat!”

“Wait, orchestra? What orchestra…?” Fluttershy asked before taking notice of the most famous musicians in all of Equestria before her: from left to right, Frederic Horseshoepin on piano, Octavia on cello, Beauty Brass on tuba, and Nadermane on harp. “Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed, picking herself up immediately. “How in the world did you manage to afford all of these musicians?”

“Don’t fret over it, darling.” Octavia reassured her. “After having to play for those snobby ponies at every Gala, we were happy to perform for you all.”

Twilight Sparkle leaned in close to Fluttershy so nopony else could hear her. “I asked Princess Celestia for help. She insisted that they play for us tonight.” Giving her a quick wink, she returned back to where she had previously been standing and signaled for the band to begin. Taking position, the most regal of sounds echoed from their instruments, pushing everypony to pair up and slow dance. Applejack took hold of Rainbow Dash, while Spike fumbled over his words to try and ask Rarity if he could have her hoof. Before Twilight sparkle knew what had happened, Pinkie Pie had pushed her over in front of the orchestra, trying her best to show the unicorn how to dance.

Looking over the scene of all of her friends dancing together and enjoying themselves, Fluttershy felt a gentle brush against her collarbone. She looked over to see Big Macintosh smiling at her softly as he gestured for her to join him with the others. Each of them bowing formally to each other, Fluttershy walked closely by Big Mac’s side to the center of where everyone was dancing.

After a few minutes of casual slow-dancing, the music took form of a more intimate rhythm with a subtle bounce added to the beat. The romantic music began to take effect on the dancing couples before the playing orchestra. Applejack leaned into Rainbow’s neck, giggling while she enjoyed the luxury of the pegasus nibbling onto her ear gently. Spike gazed into the eyes of his dance partner longingly, while Rarity put on her most polite smile, no doubt to hide just how awkward she was feeling at the moment. Twilight and Pinkie chuckled silently to themselves as they chattered amongst themselves while they danced; most likely amused to see how the others were reacting to the sweet music being played for them.

However, Fluttershy could not have been more oblivious to what had been going on around her. She was absorbed by the pony in front of her. The colt of few words that months ago she would never had guessed she’d be lucky enough to call her own. His own eyes were locked on hers, as they shone with affection towards her.

“Mackie…” she started softly. “I can’t believe you did all of this for me.”

Smiling slightly, he nodded to her. “Aint nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“No, really, it’s amazing. I can’t tell you how wonderful I feel right now.” She leaned into him, rubbing her head affectionately against his chest. “I love it all.”

He closed his eyes and brushed her hair gently with his snout. “I love you too.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened suddenly, as she tilted her head upwards and looked at her partner. “What did you say?”

Big Macintosh’s face turned to panic suddenly as he gritted his teeth. “Oh, shoot! Sorry.” He replied, looking away from her in embarrassment. “I thought you said something else. I don’t know what I said. Well, that’s a lie, I know what I said, but I didn’t mean- just forget it, okay?”

Fluttershy reached up and tilted his head back towards her with her snout. “I love you too.” She told him with the utmost sincerity. Looking up at him with eyes glistening with happiness, she stood up on her tip-hooves and placed an affectionate kiss on his mouth, coaxing his paralyzed lips to keep in motion with hers.

Realizing that he was still on good terms with his marefriend, Big Mac closed his eyes and returned the kiss to Fluttershy, lowering his head so that she could stand rightly upon the ground.

Slowly breaking the kiss, the two ponies opened their eyes to gaze at each other, their foreheads nuzzling against each other lovingly.

With the ending of the romantic song, everypony in the audience gave out a roar of cheers and applause. Octavia and the rest of the band bowed or nodded politely.

“Play something hot!” Pinkie Pie shouted suddenly. The other energetic ponies cheered in approval, while Rarity rolled her eyes as she excused herself to the punch-bowl from a lovesick Spike.

“Hot…?” Octavia repeated, confused. “Oh, you mean something more upbeat. Well, I do play a decent ‘fiddle’ I suppose. But I don’t have it with me on most occasions.”

“No problem, I have one!” Pinkie Pie reached down underneath her, and tossed a small violin up to the cello player, who just barely caught it in her hooves.

“Pinkie, what on Earth are you doing with a fiddle?” Twilight Sparkle asked, astounded that she hadn’t noticed Pinkie Pie had even had the instrument with her at any point in the evening.

Taken aback, Pinkie Pie gasped shrilly “Why WOULDN’T I have a fiddle!?”

Shrugging off the unexplainable, the orchestra began to play a much faster pace, taking on the sound of a country-western band. The group suddenly found themselves taking part in a rowdy square-dance as partners were passed between each other to keep with the hectic beat.

“Um, Mackie?” Fluttershy asked when she found herself paired up with Big Macintosh again.

“Yeah?”

“Do you mind if we leave for a few minutes? I hope that’s okay.”

“Oh uh, sure thing.” Big Macintosh broke hooves with the group and joined Fluttershy as she made her way towards the yard behind her house. “Everything okay?”

“Oh, everything’s wonderful.” She replied happily. “It’s just that when I went to the Gala, I had planned on enjoying the company of the animals who lived in the gardens. But, that didn’t really work out…” Reaching her backyard, she took a seat on the ground and gently sang out. A small group of bunnies hopped out of the bushes, while a few hummingbirds flew from the flowers they were tasting. A swarm of gentle butterflies and a crowd of flying squirrels joined the militia of animals making their way towards the fair pegasus. “And now, thanks to you, it’s officially the best night ever.” She leaned over and kissed him sweetly while the butterflies landed in her hair and flapped their wings elegantly.

“Heh, no problem.” Big Macintosh replied bashfully. “Hope you don’t mind me asking, but what exactly happened on that night?”

She looked from the hummingbird perched on her hoof to Macintosh. “Why… do you want to know?”

“I’m just confused at how somepony who was looking forward to something for so long ended up hating the whole thing, that’s all. Applejack told me she was sore because her sales were poor, but you ain’t told me hardly anything about why you didn’t enjoy it.” Fluttershy gritted her teeth as her memories traced back to that night. “It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want-!”

“The animals wanted nothing to do with me.” She began directly. “I was so looking forward to becoming their friends, but they ran away from me the whole time. When I couldn’t win them with kindness, I started setting up traps for them. And when that didn’t work, I eventually lost my temper and chased them into the dance hall. I… screamed at them... in front of everypony. I was just so angry. I’d never been that angry in my life.” Her voice trembled as she spoke. “It was shameful. I don’t know what came over me, but I just didn’t understand why they didn’t want to love me!”

Big Macintosh put a hoof over her shoulder to comfort her. “Sweetheart, those animals belong to a bunch of rich ponies. They probably just feed ‘em and keep them in the garden’s for showing off. They ain’t like your animals or the free ones in the forest. You’re one of the kindest ponies I know, and I don’t think it’s bad that you lost your temper just once. You’re too hard on yourself about that kind of thing.”

Fluttershy fought back tears as she heard his supportive words. “You really don’t think I’m a bad pony?”

“Nope.”

Her eyes shimmering, she smiled up at him with affection. “Thank you. Oh my, I didn’t think I’d ever have to share that story with somepony.”

“Well ya didn’t have to. I’m sorry I made you talk about something you’re not comfortable about.”

“Oh no, I think I needed that. Sometimes we need to talk about painful memories. It hurts to talk about it at first, but afterwards it’s like a sudden weight has been lifted off of you.” Big Macintosh froze for a moment deep in thought. He retracted his foreleg from Fluttershy and laid himself on the ground next to her.

“When I was still growing up, my pa told me that ma was pregnant with another little sister for me. I was so excited I couldn’t stand it. When she started to get further along, I’d always put my ear up to her belly to hear her kicking around inside of her. We all couldn’t wait ‘til the day she was born. Even Granny Smith made her way down so she could join in the excitement. They’d already decided on the name Applebloom way before she was due. When the day finally came during the end of winter… something went wrong. Ma was in more pain than the doctors said she should have been in. I wasn’t allowed to go in to see her get born ‘cause they said she was taking too long getting her out. We were there for a whole day, and I nodded off to sleep a few times, but finally I saw pa talking to the doctors. He walked up to me and told me flatly ‘The baby made it. Ma didn’t.’ I didn’t cry at first. I thought I was still asleep, so it didn’t hit me right then. I struck myself in the arm to try and wake up. I kept on hitting myself until I was really bruised, but Granny came along with Applejack and held on tight to me. I never seen her look so angry in her life. She asked me if I thought ma would have wanted to see me doing that to myself. That’s when it hit me. I buried by face in her and cried more than I ever did in my whole life.”

Big Macintosh took a deep breath and closed his eyes trying to keep himself together as he spoke. “Pa just wasn’t the same after that. He still did his best to keep the farm up, but he never really talked to us anymore. He’d just sit by himself quietly and only move when something needed to be fixed. One day after winter was all wrapped up, he was fixing a part of the roof on the farmhouse and he fell off… hard. Me and Granny rushed him to the hospital fast as we could, but he still didn’t make it. The doctors told us he didn’t even try to hold on. I was sad for pa too, but I felt like I knew it was coming. After that, I only had Granny, AJ, and Applebloom left. AJ had decided that she wanted to go stay with the Orange family in Manehattan a week later, which left me and Granny to take care of little Applebloom. Whenever Granny was sleeping, I’d be the one feeding her, changing her, and playing with her.” Big Macintosh smiled as a tear ran down his cheek. “Every time I held her, she’d always have this big ol’ smile on her face. Why, for the longest time I bet she thought I was her pa. And that’s what made me real sad. If pa had taken the chance to just hold her even once, maybe it could have saved him.”

Fluttershy watched as Big Macintosh tried to keep his composure. She had no idea what to say to him. She could barely hold her own tears back as she watched him. She crept up next to his side and gently rubbed her face into the side of his neck. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy.” He said with a quivering voice. “A tough guy like me shouldn’t be crying in front of you. I gotta stay strong.”

“Don’t say that.” She told him, wiping his tears away. “I think it takes a lot of strength to open up like that, especially about something so personal. You’re the toughest colt I know, Big Macintosh.”

Big Macintosh sniffed and took a deep breath, finally managing to collect himself. “Thanks, Fluttershy. You’re right: It does hurt, but I think I feel a little better sharing that with you.” He leaned in and kissed her lips passionately. He pulled back to break the kiss, but Fluttershy pushed in on him, apparently not wanting to let him go. He moved himself up towards her, and slowly rolled her over on to her back. With her hooves up towards her face, Big Macintosh fixed his forehooves on both sides of her, sinking his head down to embrace her lips. Both of their tails swished back and forth in excitement as they gave into their loving urges. Fluttershy groaned as she felt her wings begin to spread underneath her, slightly painful as they pushed up against the grass. Big Macintosh took a moment to catch his breath as he leaned up and looked down and gazed at her. His suit wrinkled and his mane ruffled up, a few beads of sweat forming on his brow and his eyes slightly red, Fluttershy couldn’t help but squeeze her haunches together as she felt an intense excitement build up in her body.

The sound of Fluttershy’s blue jay snapped the two ponies from their romantic trance, as they looked around the room and noticed the eyes of her many pets looking at them in confusion and interest.

“Oh my.” Fluttershy piped softly. “I guess I forgot where we were for a second.”

“Yeah” Big Macintosh responded, easing himself off of Fluttershy. “Kinda ruins the mood when you got critters looking at ya all curious and whatnot.” As Fluttershy sat up, she noticed Big Macintosh chuckling as he looked at her. She didn’t realize why at first, until she remembered that her wings were still fully erect behind her. Shooting him an intense glare, he immediately ceased and cleared his throat. “Sorry”.

Suddenly, the sound of murmuring voices could be heard inside the house. The two ponies quickly stood up and fixed their appearance, Fluttershy taking deep breaths to try and get her wings to settle down, Twilight Sparkle appearing before them just a second after they had folded back to her sides. “Oh, hey you two!” she greeted them. “We’re all inside, we were just about to eat when we noticed you two were missing. Is… everything okay?”

The two ponies shot nervous glances at each other as they fumbled over their words.

“Yeah, we’re uh…” Big Macintosh trailed off in the middle of his sentence.

“Yes, we… um, we just…”

Twilight looked back and forth between them with narrowed eyes. “Well, I’m not going to be one to pry. Come on in, we’re all waiting for you.” The couple followed her around to the front door where they entered and found all of their friends looking at them. Applejack had her hoof on top of Rainbow Dash, whispering something into her ear and making her giggle.

“So…” Applejack asked with a grin on her face. “What were y’all doing back there?”

“We were um…” Fluttershy desperately tried to create an alibi for why she had been outside alone with Big Macintosh for so long.

“Talkin!” Big Macintosh exclaimed.

“Right, talkin! I mean, talking.” Fluttershy corrected herself.

“Talking? Yeah, I’ll bet you were talking.” Rainbow Dash teased them as she snorted with laughter. “With your tongues!”

Before either of them could argue, Pinkie Pie interjected suddenly “Well, duh! I mean, how are you gonna talk without using your tongue? You sound really silly that way.”

“You know what I mean, Pinkie.”

“No I don’t.” she replied, tilting her head slightly. “What do you mean?”

Realizing that everypony’s eyes were now fixed upon her, Rainbow Dash stamped her hoof in frustration. “Oh, never mind! I’m starving, let’s eat!”

The other ponies began to fix their own dishes of chips, hay and oat sandwiches, cupcakes, and other goodies. They all gathered in the center of the living room, while the musician ponies joined alongside them after fixing their own meals.

“Thanks so much for allowing us to eat with you, Ms. Sparkle.” Octavia said before taking a bite of a hay and oat sandwich.

“Oh, no, it’s the least we could do. After all, you are playing for us at a generous discount, and that means a lot to all of us.”

The rest of the night consisted of the party ponies chatting amongst themselves, as well as with the musicians of their past endeavors, such as other bands they had played with, and how they had become Gala regulars. Nadermane insisted that they hear about how Nightmare Moon had been defeated. Although hesitant at first, Twilight Sparkle recounted their most daring adventure: The story of how Equestria had been threatened with eternal darkness, and through discovering for the first time the magic of friendship to utilize the legendary Elements of Harmony, to defeat Nightmare Moon and restore harmony to the land.

“I say,” Nadermane replied, astonished by her tale. “For a group of ponies who’ve accomplished such a feat, you girls do seem to live quite modestly. Why, Canterlot has so many ponies that live luxurious lives without doing things half as noble as you. I’d expect living the life of a celebrity, if I were you!”

“Don’t you think so!?” Rarity agreed enthusiastically, putting a hoof to her head as she spoke in dramatic fashion. “I mean, we did save Equestria after all. Is it too much to ask for maybe a yacht or a fancy carriage in return for our heroic efforts?” She looked to her sides as she received vicious glares from Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “But... living a quiet life here without adoration is just as satisfying… I suppose.”

The group laughed heartily at the antics of the sophisticated Rarity. “Well, I think we ought to consider ourselves honored that we could perform for such an audience.” Octavia acknowledged. “Heroes of Equestria, we’d be more than happy to play for you again.”

After finishing their meals, they bid farewell to Twilight and the others, packing up their instruments outside, and boarding a chariot that had pulled up for them a few moments ago. After shedding their gowns, the ponies spent their time taking down the decorations, and cleaning up until Fluttershy’s cottage resembled its quiet and peaceful ambiance again.

“Phew!” Spike gasped, throwing the last streamer into the garbage. “All done. Well, that was a blast!”

“Let’s all thank Fluttershy for letting us have the party here, everyone!” Twilight announced “Although, it’s not like we really asked for your permission or anything. Sorry about that.”

Fluttershy giggled and shook her head “I couldn’t possibly be mad at my friends for throwing such a wonderful party that I could be a part of. You’re all the greatest!”

“Group hug, everypony!” Applejack shouted all of a sudden. Making a disgusted face, Spike turned away with his arms folded.

“Come now, Spike, you can find enough affection in yourself for one measly little hug…” Rarity enticed him, bashing her long eyelashes at him “Can’t you?”

Spike clasped his claws together in admiration. “For you my sweet, I could find enough hugs to last a lifetime!” he ran over to the unicorn and threw his arms around her strongly, while she worked her way awkwardly back to the group and joined the dragon with herself and the others in a warm embrace.

Rainbow Dash let out a stifled yawn. “Well, I’d better call it a night. The weather patrol scheduled it to be foggy tomorrow, so we’re going to have to spend all morning spreading the clouds apart. Talk about a pain in my flank!”

Laughing kindly, each pony said their goodbyes and made their way towards the door. The last one left was Big Macintosh as he stared awkwardly at Fluttershy.

“So, uh… about what happened earlier?” He began. “It wasn’t weird or anything was it?” Fluttershy averted her eyes to the floor as she shuffled her forehoof. “Okay fine, it was weird.”

She smiled and giggled to herself. “A little bit. But I’m not mad at you for it.”

“You’re not?”

“Of course not. It’s not like I … you know, didn’t enjoy it.”

Big Macintosh grinned. “Good. That takes a lot off my shoulders hearing that. So, uh, whatcha wanna do tomorrow?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, don’t ya want to spend some time together?”

“Oh, I’d love to, but I think I’m going to be busy.”

“With what?”

“Um… I don’t know.” Fluttershy responded nervously.

Big Macintosh frowned as he heard her make excuses. “I thought we agreed we were gonna be honest with each other?”

Fluttershy looked up at him with fear in her eyes. “You’re right, I’m sorry. The truth is I’m sort of confused right now. I don’t really know what to do with myself, or you, or anything. I just need some time to think. But I don’t want you to worry about it, I… I still love you. I promise.”

Big Macintosh’s ears twitched as a warm smile broke on his face. “Well, that’s all I need to hear then. Take some time to get your thoughts together, if that’s what ya need. Let me know when you’re okay.”

Fluttershy returned the smile as she trotted up to him and gave him another kiss. Big Macintosh wrapped his head around her in a hug, and breathed a sigh of relief right onto her neck. Fluttershy gasped as her backside began to quiver slightly.

“You better get going, Mackie. Goodnight!”

“Uh, alright. ‘Night.” Big Macintosh hurried his way out the door in haste and shut the door behind him. She bent her knees slightly as her body shook. Fluttershy quickly raced up the stairs into her bedroom and locked the door behind her. She flew onto her bed and hugged one of her pillows tightly, wrapping both her fore and hind legs around it, breathing heavily. She suddenly heard a soft knock at her bedroom door.

“Angel bunny?” she called out quietly. “Oh no! I know you usually sleep in here, but um, I need to be alone in here, okay?” The soft knocking turned to rapid thumping as she imagined her pet bunny angrily kicking the door in front of him. “I’m sorry, sweetie! Please, just give me some time, I promise I’ll let you in, but not right now. Please don’t make it difficult for me!”

Hearing one final thump, and some quiet trotting down the stairs, Fluttershy shook her head as she hid herself underneath her covers. She couldn’t deny the excitement she felt at the moment. There was an exquisite tingling between her legs that just wouldn’t go away, and only became more intense as she thought of Big Macintosh. The simple and caring way he spoke, the way that his large body pressed against her made her feel so safe. And she couldn’t stop herself from picturing him right on top of her, the way he had been earlier that night. Righting herself onto her back, she slid a forehoof down her chest, stroking it gently between her legs. She let out a loud gasp, and bit her unoccupied hoof, to keep herself from making too much noise. She suddenly realized that she was going to need more time than she had anticipated before she could let Angel inside for the night.