Variety Is The Spice Of Lions

It was the perfect plan.

Fluttershy could barely contain her excitement. No matter how she looked at it, there was no possible way it could fail. She’d accounted for every variable; double checked every detail. There was nothing – not a single thing – that could go wrong. All the nights of restless sleep and days of anxious waiting would all pay off. And oh, when she pictured the moment of triumph! It would taste so sweet, after the romantic dinner at the Prench restaurant Rarity recommended, after the concert that Rainbow Dash had assured her would ‘blow Applejack’s country-loving mind’, after after the romantic movie in their suite at Canterlot Castle that Twilight had requested for them, she’d just say the words she’d longed to say – I love you, Applejack – and Applejack would smile back, her bright emerald eyes lighting up in sudden joy, and she’d reply, “I love you too, Fluttershy.” Pinkie had even helped her memorize a series of ice breakers and jokes to help smooth out any rough spots in the conversation. It was so perfect Fluttershy could burst into song, if that wouldn’t annoy everypony on the train.

Of course, Applejack had been suspicious. ”Why’ve you gotta go to Canterlot on Hearts and Hooves weekend anyway?”, she’d asked. But Fluttershy had planned for that too, and had the perfect excuse.

Of course, she’d forgotten the excuse at the time. ”Umm, because, you see, umm, it’s actually a funny story, but–”

’Aw nevermind, you don’t gotta tell me if you don’t wanna, of course I’ll go with ya, ‘Shy. ‘S not like like I got a date anyway.’ Applejack had interrupted her with a smirk.

Alright, maybe that part hadn’t gone perfectly, but it had worked out. Everything else, though; Everything else was perfect.

Perhaps it was because it was so perfect that Fluttershy found herself completely at a loss when she found herself and her companion standing at the gates of Canterlot Castle arguing having a nice, polite, civil conversation with the gatespony.

“What do ya mean our reservation was cancelled!?” Applejack shouted.

“Please, Applejack, there’s no need to yell,” Fluttershy squeaked from behind her mane.

“I mean just that,” the gatespony gruffed. “I’m terribly sorry, but a very important diplomatic meeting needed to be pushed up, and now all the non-essential guests have been displaced to make room for the embassadors from the Griffin Kingdoms.”

“So what are we supposed to do then?” Applejack asked through clenched teeth.

“Here,” the gatespony said as she levitated a small piece of paper over to them, “this voucher will get you a room at any hotel in the city. Believe me, no one is happy that this is how things are, but that’s just the way it has to be.”

Applejack grabbed the voucher with a hoof and looked it over.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Gatespony, that’s very kind of you and we really appreciate it.” Fluttershy whispered.

“Fine. Let’s go, ‘Shy.” Applejack said sternly as she turned and began walking away.

Fluttershy shot one last apologetic glance at the gatespony before turning to follow.

“Don’t look so glum, Fluttershy, at least we got a room,” Applejack said from beside her as looked around.

“Oh, no, I’m not glum. This room is… nice.” Fluttershy cringed as she said it. This room was anything but nice.

After being laughed out of the fifth hotel for trying to get a room with no reservation on Hearts and Hooves weekend, ‘voucher from the princess or not,’ Fluttershy wanted to cry.

The last place they tried, Cerulean Palace, at least had the decency to direct them to a small motel over by the train station that had an opening. Thus, Fluttershy and Applejack found themselves in a tiny room next to the noisy ice machine at the Best Rest Motel.

Looking at the room made Fluttershy cringe. It was small, and dingy, and cramped. The walls were covered in dust, the bed took up ¾ of the floor space, and Fluttershy was pretty sure the pony at the front desk had been reading a porn magazine before they walked in. Everything about this place was the antithesis of her hopes for the evening.

Fluttershy placed her bags on the bed next to Applejack’s and sighed. She didn’t know what Applejack was thinking right now, but she was pretty sure it couldn’t be anything good.

“You still got time to do whatever it was we had to come here for, right?” Applejack asked, breaking Fluttershy out of her introspective moping.

“Oh, um, yes. I’ll just be gone for an hour or so, and then we can go get dinner.”

“That sounds great, I’m so hungry I could eat a cow! Yanno, if ponies weren’t vegetarian an’ all.” Applejack chuckled as she flopped onto the bed. “I’ll just mosey around here for a bit, you go take care’ve your business.”

“Um… Okay. Thanks Applejack. See you in an hour.” Fluttershy smiled sheepishly as she moved to the door – or, well, turned to the door – and left the room. At least when she got back, they could go have their nice romantic dinner at La Verte.

“It’s okay, Fluttershy, at least we got food,” Applejack said from across the booth as she brought her hay burger to her mouth.

“Yes…” Fluttershy mumbled as she stared at her plate. A hay burger and fries; So much for the fancy, romantic Prench dinner she’d planned.

“I know you wanted to eat at that fancy shmancy place, but this is hoof lickin’ good too!” Applejack spoke as she chewed her food.

Fluttershy sighed as she picked up her own burger. Of all the nights for La Verte to have a kitchen fire, did it have to be tonight? She didn’t mind having to eat at a diner, in general, but it certainly wasn’t romantic, and it certainly wasn’t going to impress Applejack.

The two ate in silence for a few minutes before Fluttershy realized this might be a good time for one of the ice breakers Pinkie had taught her. She took a deep breath, put on as big a smile as she could manage, and made eye contact with Applejack.

“Say, umm, Applejack, how much does a polar bear weigh?”

Applejack swallowed her current mouthful and scrunched her eyebrows together. “A what?”

Fluttershy paused. Applejack was supposed to ask how much. Fluttershy took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. “Umm… A polar bear.”

“I heard ya the first time, ‘Shy, I just don’t know what a polar bear is. If it’s anything like a grizzly bear, I’d guess somewhere between 400 to 800 pounds? But you’re the animal expert, I dunno what you’re askin’ me for.” Applejack laughed as she took another bite of her burger.

It took all of Fluttershy’s willpower to resist slamming her face into the table. At least they still had the concert to go to.

“It’s alright ‘Shy, so the lead singer got the flu; It’s no big deal. And now we had time to go get ice cream.” Applejack licked at her cone with a wink as they sat down on a small park bench.

“Ice cream is nice…” But it’s certainly not memorable, Fluttershy pouted as she felt the melted drips from her own cone running down her hoof.

Applejack began humming something quietly as she ate her ice cream, and Fluttershy sighed as she began trying to catch up with the melting of hers. At least we still can still watch the movie…

“It’s alright, Fluttershy, I had a really good time tonight. Besides, at least we’ve still got each other.” Applejack said from the bed as Fluttershy stood over the empty reel case.

This was it. The last straw. She’d checked, double checked, and triple checked that the reel was in the case and that she’d brought it with her before going to bed last night; Now, instead of opening it to find the movie she’d brought, she found a carrot. Angel must have been trying to do something nice for her by switching out the reel for a gift, since he probably didn’t realize what it was in the first place, and she appreciated that, but how was she supposed to create a romantic mood for Applejack with a carrot!?

“No, it’s not alright! It is every single thing but alright!” Fluttershy cried as she covered her face with her hooves and slouched to the ground, sobbing.

“Easy there, girl. So we don’t got a movie, doesn’t mean the trip was a total bust. You still got what ya came out here for, didn’cha?” Applejack asked as she placed a hoof on the small of Fluttershy’s back and rubbed gently, trying to console her.

Fluttershy sniffled back her tears and shook her head. Everything had gone wrong, after she’d put so much work into it; Was there even a point to keeping her motives hidden anymore? She doubted it. Maybe if she just got it all out in the open, at least she’d feel a little better and then she could catch a late night train home and cry in her own bed. At the very least, Applejack deserved to know the truth.

“I lied, Applejack. There was no reason I had to come to Canterlot, I just wanted to spend time with you–”

“Pardon?” Fluttershy felt the hoof leave her back as Applejack interrupted her.

She swallowed hard and carried on. “–I just wanted to spend some time with you, but I was too scared to ask you out for Hearts and Hooves day, so I thought if I could get you to come to Canterlot with me we could have a nice romantic evening and maybe you’d realize you felt the same way about me, but the restaurant, the concert, and now even the movie all got messed up. And I put so much work into the preparations! It was all supposed to be perfect, and now we don’t even have a nice suite at the castle to sleep in, we just have this… this… room, and the ice machine is so loud I want to kick something!” Fluttershy coiled up her left hind leg and gently struck the bed with an inaudible ‘oomph’. She let out a massive sigh and turned away from Applejack. “It was stupid of me to think I could impress you…”

Fluttershy stared at the floor in silence. Seconds passed, which turned into minutes. Fluttershy started sobbing again as she thought of what Applejack must be thinking right now; She could picture the look of disgust and anger on her face as she contemplated what Applejack would say.

”I can’t believe you’d lie to me,” or ”You deserve this for your trickery,” or worse yet, ”Get out, I don’t ever wanna see you again.”

Fluttershy winced as she heard the sound of hooves hitting the floor and coming up behind her. Here it comes…

“‘Shy.” Applejack’s voice sounded restrained, subdued; no doubt because she was barely containing her anger at being lied to. Fluttershy held her ground.

“Fluttershy, look at me.” Applejack said. Fluttershy cringed as she slowly turned around and lifted her head up to comply.

Suddenly she felt lips against hers, big orange eyelids closed immediately in front of her; She squeaked in surprise and flared her wings in panic as she processed the new stimuli; She had no idea what was happening, but now wasn’t the time to fight it. She closed her own eyes and leaned into the kiss. A moment later Applejack pulled back.

“I meant it when I said I had a good time tonight, Sugarcube,” she said with a smile, big spots of red showing through her orange coat on her cheeks. Fluttershy breathed heavily as she realized she’d forgotten to do so since she’d turned around.

“But, the dinner, and the concert, and the movie, and the suite–”

“I don’t care about any of that stuff, Fluttershy.” Applejack shook her head. “Fact is, I ain’t exactly been honest either.”

Fluttershy blinked the remaining tears from her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Applejack began as she dragged her hoof across the carpet, “I actually kinda knew what you were plannin’... You asked me to come stay at a suite in the Canterlot Castle on Hearts and Hooves weekend, don’t exactly take Sherlock Horse to put that one together. That’s why I didn’t make ya tell me what you were ‘actually’ doin’ up here this weekend.” Applejack chuckled, doing air quotes with her hooves. “Ya don’t gotta impress me, ‘Shy, though I am flattered you’d put so much effort into showin’ me a good time. And given how tonight turned out, I can’t wait to see what you come up with for our next date!”

Fluttershy’s mind reeled. Applejack had known the whole time, and she didn’t care? Wait… “Umm, next date? You mean, umm, you’d like to go on another one?” Fluttershy dared not breath as the question left her mouth.

“Sure as sugar I would!” Applejack smiled. “But heck, this one ain’t even over yet. Whaddaya wanna do next?”

Fluttershy was glad there was no mirror in the room, because she was sure her face had achieved a here-to-undiscovered shade of bright red as she stammered incoherently in reply. “Umm, we could, I mean, we don’t have the movie, but, umm–”

Applejack tapped a hoof to her chin in thought. “Wanna make out?” she asked, shrugging her shoulders.

Fluttershy’s wings flared again as her eyes went wide, eliciting a chuckle from Applejack. Fluttershy swallowed hard. “If that’s alright with you, I mean, I wouldn’t mind it.” She squeaked.

Applejack laughed again as she hopped up onto the bed and grabbed Fluttershy by the shoulders. “C’mere, you.”

Fluttershy felt herself being pulled onto the bed and into Applejack’s embrace and let out a massive sigh of relief.

So the room, the dinner, the concert, and the movie had all been ruined. It didn’t matter.

In the end, it was perfect.