Author's Note
This is the first AppleShy story of many in this mix! To start it off, have a bit of romantic fluff.
The Anniversary
It had been an uneventful day for Fluttershy. Her marefriend, AppleJack, had been away from her cottage since as early as sunrise.
Fluttershy understood that work on the farm could be hard, and took time out of AppleJack’s day. But, since they had gotten together, AppleJack had given her at least a few morning before-work kisses. Or, at the very least, AJ would leave a note for her marefriend. Today, this was not the case.
It had bothered her the entire day. She couldn’t focus on her animals, even on Ellie, the pup AppleJack gave to her when Winona had puppies. Too many thoughts plagued Fluttershy’s mind, worrisome and dark. What if something happened to AppleJack? Maybe something urgent happened at the farm, something so terrible that her marefriend had to leave immediately. Or, the one she didn’t want to focus on, what if AppleJack left her?
Fluttershy shook her head, as to dismiss the thoughts. She rationed that she was overthinking it. AppleJack probably forgot to write her a note. Fluttershy loved her to the ends of the Earth and back, but AJ could be a bit absentminded due to her work. She smiled, able to cope with the solution she came up with.
After using the morning for her and her animals’ breakfasts, Fluttershy noticed a note under the doormat coming back from feeding the outdoor animals. She picked it up excitedly, hoping it was from AppleJack.
Luckily, it was. It was a few words long, but that was enough for Fluttershy.
‘Flutters,’ it said, scribbled in AppleJack’s hoofwriting that wasn’t great, but good enough to be readable. ‘Meet me at the Sweet Apple Acres barn this afternoon, about 4:30. Got a surprise for ya’. –Applejack.’ She read the note multiple times, taking in every detail of AppleJack’s hoofwriting after hours spent worrying.
The thought of AppleJack making a surprise for her made sense, but why? Fluttershy searched her memory to try and remember any special occasions that could be happening today. It wasn’t any of their birthdays and she thought their one-year anniversary would be in a month.
Whatever it was, she was excited for it. Throughout the day, she kept stealing glances at the clock in her cottage. It seemed like the hours were slowing down as though they were enveloped in amber.
After everything was done at the cottage, it was only 3:45. She started absentmindedly braiding her mane, trying to pass the time with no work for her to do. She spent at least 15 minutes braiding her light pink mane, and then undoing the braids to make them again.
As the fourth hour passed, she stopped, braids still in her mane. “It’s close enough to 4:30. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to get there early, right?” Fluttershy mumbled to herself, opening the front door to her cottage. Stepping outside, she extended her wings to take flight.
Since her and AppleJack got together, her marefriend had been helping her with her weak flying in the limited ways she could. She helped her marefriend’s wings grow stronger, so that the yellow Pegasus could lift herself higher and higher. Fluttershy hoped that one day, her wings would be strong enough to lift both AppleJack and her. So that she could show AJ the wonders of flying- the wind in your mane, the rush of defying gravity as you go higher, and the views from up in the sky that were absolutely phenomenal. She figured her marefriend would enjoy it with her, as long as she knew she was safe with her lover’s wings.
The winds brushed against the pegasi’s frame gently as she scanned the buildings of Ponyville and its busy citizens below. She saw Rainbow Dash on a cloud nearby, looking down at a particular pony below. Fluttershy traced her eyes below to see the unicorn her old friend was admiring. Rarity was below, carrying bags of fabric with her magic, sketch ideas for dresses and vests floating around her. Fluttershy smiled, stopping by Rainbow Dash for conversation.
“Hello Rainbow. Admiring the view down there?” Fluttershy teased the cyan Pegasus. Rainbow’s head jerked up, surprised. As she realized what Fluttershy said, her cheeks gained a slight pink hue as her ears flopped down shyly.
“I might’ve been. I-I just don’t know what it is, Shy. Whenever I’m around her, my heart starts racing, my throat gets dry, and I never know what to say to her.” She explained, her words rushed and her face becoming a bit darker hue of pink.
Fluttershy pursed her lips, coming up with a childhood memory. “Remember how you asked me out when we were fillies?”
Rainbow laughed. “Yeah. I took you to some big animal convention. I still remember how excited you were, seeing all the rare exotic animals.”
“Then that’s the answer. Take Rarity to something she’d enjoy, like a fashion show or a candlelit dinner. Even if you two don’t become anything more than friends, I’m sure that would be a wonderful evening for the both of you.”
She smiled. “I might do that. Thanks, ‘Shy.” Rainbow looked up at Fluttershy, now with a questioning look. “Would you mind if I asked you two questions?” RD asked. When the other Pegasus nodded, she continued, “First one, how did you and AppleJack of all ponies get together in the first place?”
Fluttershy smiled, blush the same color as her hair on her cheeks. “It was just a regular day at Sweet Apple Acres. AppleJack invited me in the barn, and we ended up...” she sighed, flustered. “We ended up making out in the hay. After that, AJ invited me to dinner with her family. It sort of went off from there.”
Lifting her eyebrows in surprise, she smiled. “Wow. Never thought that’s how you two would start off a relationship. When we were fillies, you were always too shy to kiss me anywhere, let alone make out. You were the least hormonal teenager ever, I swear.”
“Well, things change. So, what was your second question?”
“Oh! Okay, what’s with the fancy braids?” she asked, pointing at my mane. “Are you goin’ on a date or something?”
Fluttershy nodded. “AJ left me a note; told me to meet her at the barn at about 4:30.”
“Well then, don’t let me keep you! You have only about 15 minutes to get there, and I have a fashionista to arrange a date for. Good luck!”
As she flew away, she called out to her old marefriend, “You too!”
At seeing Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy’s heart raced out of nervousness, feeling as though it might jump out of her chest. “Calm down, Fluttershy,” she mumbled to herself as an attempt to calm herself down. “You have nothing to be nervous about. You’ve been with AppleJack on countless dates. You can do this.” She stopped, landing a few inches away from the barn – the place where their whole relationship started. She gulped, looking to the new clock on the wall. “4:25,” she thought, “I’m not late.”
Swallowing her fear, she raised her hoof to knock at the barn door. Seeing her marefriend leaning on the wall, she stopped. AJ smiled, saying happily in that adorable Southern drawl, “Hey sugar. Ah’m happy ya’ could make it.” Trotting to her marefriend, AJ gingerly kissed her ear, whispering in it, “Close yer’ eyes. Ah’ want this to be a surprise - just fer’ you.”
Hearing those words, Fluttershy blushed, becoming flustered. With her voice a bit quieter, she whispered, “Okay.”
Shutting her eyes, she heard the barn doors open, and a steady hoof leading her forward into it. Then, they both stopped.
“Okay ‘Shy, ya’ can look now.” She heard AJ say.
Opening her eyes, Fluttershy gasped. The barn was lit up with electric lights around the slanted ceiling, all hay and dust swept off the floor. There was a sign on the wall, with the words, “Happy One Year Anniversary, Darlin’!” There was a table with a pure white tablecloth draped over it, a silver candlestick in the middle and two champagne glasses and plates with folded up cloth napkins on both sides. The two chairs on both sides were a dark magenta and, as Fluttershy felt it, plush and velvety soft. A radio was in the corner, playing soothing classical music to accentuate the entire scene. It left Fluttershy breathless.
“You…you left the cottage early…to do this?” she gestured at the entire interior, sitting down at the chair opposite of her marefriend.
“Well, Ah’ put the finishin’ touches this mornin’,” Applejack explained, “Ah’ve been plannin’ this fer’ a month or so, findin’ the perfect furniture and arrangin’ it fer’ the past week. Ah’ thought we needed only the best fer’ the one year anniversary of fallin’ in love with the most perfect pony Ah’ve ever had the pleasure of meetin’.”
“But, you told me our anniversary was next month.”
“Well, I’m not one fer’ lyin’, as ya’ know, but Ah’ knew ya’ would probably do somethin’ special fer’ it, too. It would’ve been easier to decorate the barn than try to get a reservation at a fancy-schmancy restaurant. Now, it’s like we’re at our own. Ah’ hope yer’ not mad fer’ tellin’ ya’ that little lie, though.”
“Mad? For you covering up something as sweet as this?” Fluttershy laughed. “I can’t be mad at you for all this hard work and dedication you put in this anniversary dinner.”
The clip-clop of hooves could be heard as Apple Bloom, dressed in clothes you’d find on a waitress, trotted in, a small notepad and pencil in her hooves. Smiling, she asked, “Can Ah’ get you lovebirds anythin’?”
AppleJack nodded. “Could ya’ get us the bottle of Honey Surprise?”
“Right away, sis.” Apple Bloom said as she trotted out the barn.
“What’s ’Honey Surprise?’” Fluttershy asked, raising an eyebrow.
Applejack smiled. “Ya’ know the champagne ya’ really liked from that one restaurant we went to?”
Fluttershy gasped in amazement. “You didn’t.”
“Ah’ did. Ah’ truly did.”
“AppleJack, how many bits did you spend on this anniversary dinner?”
She shrugged. “About 3 months’ worth of bits, but it’s worth it fer you, Shy.”
“AppleJack, you are the sweetest marefriend ever.”
AppleJack smiled. “Ah’ know Ah’ can be. Ah’ do it because Ah’ love ya’.”
Fluttershy smiled, a faint brush of pink still on her cheeks. “I love you, too.”
{AU} How these Days Grow Long
Author's Note
Aaand here's another story, this time with a Zombie Apocalypse AU! I got a bit lazy at the end, I will admit, but I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless!
{AU} How these Days Grow Long
It had been a week now. It might’ve been - it might’ve been more or less. Fluttershy wasn’t certain anymore. Life had turned into a cycle- light, then darkness. Day, then night; the hours could pass by painfully slowly or lightning fast.
She knows she should’ve died by now. She’d seen countless ponies in need, and yet had done nothing. That fact weighed on her conscience like a brick. Still, she remembers the day it all started – the day everypony’s lives had either gone downhill or simply ended.
The sun had been shining, as per the usual. It felt like a perfectly normal day - the calm before the storm. Fluttershy hadn’t been awake for ten minutes when Applejack ran in the cottage, yelling seemingly crazed nonsense about “undead”, “their brains”, and “we need to go now”. There was a splatter of crimson on her hooves, staining her orange coat. Her eyes were bloodshot, her expression desperate. “Please, Fluttershy. Ya’ have to trust me on this, Ah’-ah’ got most of them around the barn but…-” her voice broke off, tears threatening to cascade down her cheeks.
A hoarse groan interrupted the question on Fluttershy’s tongue. Applejack turned, her expression turning from despair to fear as the small figure limped towards them, her once life-filled eyes now devoid and dead, her bright red mane now a darker shade and messy.
“Apple Bloom…wha-” Fluttershy questioned, eyes widened in shock. AppleJack’s fearful expression melted, replaced by a cold, stoic mask of her face.
“Fluttershy, get behind me.”
“Wha- Why? What’s going on? Why is Apple Blo-?”
“Ah’ll explain to ya’ later!” Applejack grabbed the closest thing to her left – a butter knife. Keeping her eyes focused on her sister, she trotted slowly towards her.
“Applejack, what are you-?”
As she closed the distance between her and her little sister, Applejack’s expression softened. Whispering one last apology, she readied the knife, stabbing it straight into Apple Bloom’s forehead. As the filly was downed, she quickly finished her off with a few swift kicks to the head, her dark maroon blood adding a new shade to the crimson on Applejack’s stained hooves.
Fluttershy looked at the scene in pure, unaltered horror. “What… What in Tartarus did you do that for?! You KILLED your sister!” She screamed at the other mare as soon as her vocal cords could work properly.
“No, Ah’ didn’t. She was already dead.” Applejack stated bluntly. “She was one of them, like…”
“…Like what you were yelling about earlier?” Fluttershy finished, starting to grasp the reality of this predicament.
Applejack nodded. “We should go. It’s safe here for now, but it won’t be for long. Get what supplies we’ll need as quickly as ya’ can.” She ordered, handing Fluttershy her saddlebag.
“But…what about my animal friends? I-I can’t just leave them behind!”
“Ah’m afraid ya’ have to, sugarcube. Ya’ can say any last goodbyes to them if ya’ want, but please, just be quick. We probably don’t have much time.”
It took an hour. An hour filled with heartfelt goodbyes, with scouring the cottage for anything they needed, and finally they left.
Trotting into the Everfree Forest by the cottage, Fluttershy looked to her companion. Hoping to strike up a conversation, Fluttershy offered, “Well…h-how’d you, you know, find out about the whole…undead rising situation?”
“It started off in Ponyville. Sweet Apple Acres was the next place to be hit with it. Ah’ wasn’t even awake when the first dead one broke into the house.”
“Oh…” After a few moments of silence, Fluttershy asked, “H-how’d you…?”
“Ah’ woke up ta’ screamin’. Ah’ ran out the door ta’ see…Granny. She was…she…-”
“It’s alright. You don’t have to say it.” Fluttershy paused the questions for a moment, pondering how to ask them without getting her companion too upset. “Did you try finding the others?”
AppleJack nodded, expression somber. “Yeah. Ah’ tried goin’ through Ponyville, but Ah’ ended up in Sugarcube Corner. The store was ransacked; cash register on the floor, glass cabinets broken into. The second floor was wrecked, anything of value taken or destroyed. Pinkie’s room was the only one that had a closed door, so Ah’ tried seeing if she was in there, and…Ah’ found her lyin’ on the floor – dead.”
Fluttershy gasped. “Oh my… I-I’m sorry for asking…”
“It’s alright, sugarcube. Ah’ can understand your curiosity. It’s not every day that somethin’ like this happens.”
“So…do we have any plans? Any safe places to go?”
“Ah’ heard that Canterlot an’ Manehatten were offerin’ protection from all this. We’re goin’ through the Everfree ‘cause nearly anypony goes here, so there wouldn’t be many of the dead ones here.”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
“Ah’ just hope that the Princesses are already comin’ up with a solution.”
They tried Manehatten first, and were greeted with screaming and death. Dead ones were everywhere, and those still alive didn’t remain that way for long. Fluttershy and AppleJack barely got out alive, reluctantly pushing others away whom tried to stop them or push them to the dead. They fled back to the Everfree, planning to go through Ponyville again to Canterlot. This point was where this started.
They had been living nearly like animals, scrounging up any supplies they could, staying warm using more body heat than using the ratty old, worn out blankets they took from the home of some faceless individual.
Neither of them really slept much, the screams starting to plague their dreams, the crimson droplets they’ve seen so much of following. One would just close their eyelids to assure their partner on watch that they’d be alright. Especially when it was Applejack on watch. Since a near-death scare for Fluttershy in Manehatten, AJ had been more protective of her, watching out for her with nearly any step she took.
“Ah’ just want ya’ to be safe, ‘Shy. You’re all Ah’ have now, sugarcube.” AppleJack had reasoned with her when she asked about AJ’s overprotectiveness.
Though the safety assured her, it had made Fluttershy feel like dead weight on AppleJack. She’d rarely do anything, since AppleJack would do most of it. She hated the thought of it. It made her feel useless – purposeless.
A week or so later, that all changed.
They had been traveling to Canterlot, through Ponyville. The town had felt like a ghost – like nopony had set hoof on its soil in years. With no undead in sight, they marched ahead. As Fluttershy soared upwards to check down the street for any mobs, she heard a scream. Looking down, she dived for Applejack, currently fighting off a zombie, a bit of red on her left back leg.
Fluttershy closed her eyes as she aimed her front hooves at its head. Hearing a CRUNCH as she landed, she opened them, looking to her companion. “Are you okay?”
“Fluttershy, do ya’ have something sharp?”
She nodded. “Why?”
AJ sighed, showing her the bite on her left hind leg. “Ah’ need ya’ to cut it off.”
“Wh-What if it doesn’t work? You could die from blood loss, o-or infection…or-”
AJ held up a hoof, silencing her. “Yes, that could happen, but if it works, Ah’ won’t leave ya’ alone. Fly me onto a rooftop or somethin’. We need somewhere safe to do this, and quick.”
Fluttershy nodded, putting her hooves underneath the other mare’s more muscled frame. Flying up slowly, she put AppleJack down gently as she could, quickly going to get the medical supplies they had scrounged from a hospital they passed.
Holding a bonesaw shakily, she prepared the gauze to patch the wound up, and needles to sterilize the wound should an infection spread. “AppleJack…are you ready?”
Applejack nodded, “As ready as Ah’ll ever be.”
“Okay…This is going to hurt, so I-I’m sorry.” Taking in a breath, Fluttershy calmed down, the bonesaw in her hooves not shaking as much. As she steadied her hooves, she moved the bonesaw to Applejack’s left hind leg, at the skin just above the bite.
It was a bloody time, with Fluttershy forcing herself to keep going, and with AppleJack trying to stay quiet. When the leg was finally off, Fluttershy went to work, quickly but carefully wrapping the wound. Due to this, AppleJack was still conscious, but very weak.
“Let’s stay here for a little bit. Give your leg some time to heal. I’ll get you some water.” Fluttershy said grabbing a small, damaged canteen they managed to clean out. Flying to the water tower, she barely heard Applejack’s croaked “Thank you.”
For those next few days, Applejack was barely awake. She’d slip in and out of consciousness, staying awake for some food or water. Those days, Fluttershy started to understand AppleJack’s earlier protectiveness. It wasn’t that she was weak, or couldn’t take care of herself, it was fear of abandonment. The fear of being left alone without knowing if anyone you loved or cared about was still alive.
After a while, AppleJack recovered. She’d stay awake longer; drink more water or eat more food. She’d fall asleep and not wake up in an instant, especially whenever Fluttershy was around.
“Ah’ think Ah’ can do this now, but let’s just go slowly.” Applejack mumbled one morning as Fluttershy was waking up. As her companion struggled to her feet, Fluttershy extended her wing underneath her stomach, helping lift her a bit more.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Fluttershy smiled, supporting her. “To Canterlot we go, then?”
Applejack nodded. “Eeyup, to Canterlot we go.” As they slowly but surely moved amongst the roofs of Ponyville to Canterlot.
