Fluttershy walked out of the gala, her wing draped over her date and longtime marefriend, Tree Hugger. She sighed.
“I’m sorry, Treesie. I didn’t know that Discord would take it so personally that I didn’t invite him.”
Tree flashed a relaxed smile. “It’s all good, Fluttershy. I sense nothing but good vibes coming from him now, and my aura is back to pink now.” She hugged Fluttershy. “It’s partly because of you, you know.”
Fluttershy smiled a little. “Thank you, Tree. You make everything better.”
Nodding, Tree patted Fluttershy on the back. “Restoring the harmony is like, my thing, man.” Her smile faded a bit. “But I’d like it if your friend didn’t harsh my mellow so much.”
“I just wish my friends could have met you.” Fluttershy slumped, leaning into Tree a bit. “That was also kind of why I brought you. I thought that maybe after so long, they might want to meet you.” Biting her lip, she looked into Tree’s eyes. “I mean, I don’t think most of them even knew I had somepony to bring as a date. I know Rarity seemed to be surprised. And a little bit put off, too.” She giggled as she remembered how Rarity’s shoulders sagged, no doubt disappointed that she couldn’t matchmake.
Tree wrapped a foreleg around her. “Hey, it’s okay. The bird knows when to fly home, right? When the time is right, it will happen.”
“You’re right.” Fluttershy’s smile spread as she nuzzled Tree’s neck. “You’re always right, Tree. I love you.”
“I love you too, my little tree.” Tree laughed, turning to kiss Fluttershy on the cheek.
Fluttershy giggled. She nuzzled Tree again, sighing as she breathed in the familiar, earthy scent of her marefriend’s mane. “I’d like to be a Tree. Someday…”
“Why not now?”
Fluttershy snapped her head up. Blinking, she looked into Tree’s eyes. “What?”
Tree shrugged. “If you want to be like, y’know, soul companions or whatever, why wait? I don’t have the ring or anything, but if you still want to, that’d be way groovy.”
“Really?” Fluttershy’s jaw dropped. She flung herself upon Tree, wrapping her hooves around her. “Yes! Absolutely yes!” She giggled again, giddiness rising up inside of her. “I would like that very much!”
Tree smiled, slowly returning the hug. It was a testament to her earth pony strength that she wasn’t knocked back. Either that, or it was because Fluttershy was so light. Either way, Tree remained unshaken.
“Then let’s make you an official Tree, my Mary Jane.” Tree shifted her hooves under Fluttershy and began carrying her away, smiling all the while.
“Wait!” Fluttershy wriggled a bit, and Tree set her down. “I’d like you to meet my friends first. I know they saw you, but… I never formally introduced you.” A small blush painted her cheeks. “I’d like to get their blessing first.”
Tree nodded. “No problem. I’d hate for your friends to have bad vibes because we didn’t tell them. Like, nothing but peace and love at our wedding, man.”
Giggling a bit, Fluttershy grabbed Tree’s hoof and raced back into the gala. The high-class ponies gave them odd looks as they rushed past, but otherwise made no acknowledgement of them.
When they made it back to the ballroom, Dash, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack were standing near the door, talking. The Cutie Mark Crusaders ran around nearby, playing tag, as near as Fluttershy could guess.
“Hi, girls!” Fluttershy beamed at all of them. Her smile faded a little when she saw that Twilight was absent. “Um, where’s Twilight?”
Applejack pointed behind Fluttershy. “Right over there.”
Dash looked at Tree, who was staring at the wall. “Why’s she here?”
Fluttershy grinned. “Oh, it’s about her.”
Pinkie let out a loud squeal. She bounced in place, a huge grin forming. “Oh, I think I know!”
Frowning, Fluttershy gave Pinkie a pleading look. “Please, just let us tell it.”
Pinkie instantly stopped bouncing. She crossed her hooves and pouted. “Fine,” she sighed. “But hurry up! I’m going to explode if I have to wait!”
Fluttershy trotted over to Twilight, who was still talking to Celestia. Celestia noticed her approaching, and gave her a warm, motherly smile. Twilight saw this and turned around.
“Oh! Hi, Fluttershy!” Twilight said. “Did you need to talk to me?”
“Oh, yes. I have some important news!” Fluttershy quickly bowed to Celestia. “Um, that is, if you don’t mind the interruption?”
Celestia laughed, calming Fluttershy’s fears. “Of course you may talk to your friend. Although I do not talk to Twilight as often as I would like, I can always send her a letter if I need to speak to her.”
Twilight nodded. “Princess Celestia and I were just catching up. We can always talk later.”
Fluttershy smiled. “I’ll try to be brief.” She led Twilight over to the group, who were talking to Tree.
“So how, exactly, did you and Fluttershy make each others’ acquaintance?”
“Well,” Tree said, thinking, “I was in the Everfree, trying to become one with nature, when Fluttershy happened to meet me.” She laughed. “She freaked out and said that I was in like, some serious danger. Her aura was such a dirty grey.”
“Uh, come again?” Applejack tilted her head. “What’s grey mean?”
“She was like, really freaked out, man. Lot of fear.” Tree nodded sagely. “And then this big manticore came out of nowhere. I think she just about dropped dead right then.”
“What?!” Pinkie cried. She trotted up closer. “What happened next? Did you die?” She grabbed Fluttershy’s face in her hooves. “She didn’t die, did she, Fluttershy?”
Tree laughed. “Nah. I just walked up to him and told him to calm down. His vibes were so messed up, man. Lot of negative energy going on there.” She turned to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy here just hugged me and said she was glad I was alive.”
“I’ve never been so happy to get out of that forest…” Fluttershy mumbled.
Tree shrugged. “Then, like, we hung out and got to know each other. We realized that we were like, soulmates. So Fluttershy came up to me all shaky and stuff and asked if I wanted to go on a date. I was cool with that, and we’ve been together ever since.”
Dash’s jaw dropped. “How long has this been going on?”
Fluttershy blushed. “Well, remember when I said I’d like to be a Tree?”
Twilight facehooved. “So that was what you meant! All this time, I thought you actually wanted to be a plant.” She sighed in relief. “I guess I can stop worrying about whether that’s normal or not.”
Biting her lip, Fluttershy wrapped a wing around Tree. “And um, there’s one more thing to announce.” When she felt Tree’s foreleg wrap around her, she smiled at her fiancée. “Tree and I are—”
“They’re getting engaged!” Pinkie took a deep breath. “Whew. Sorry about that, but I couldn’t hold it in any longer!” She wrapped the two up in a hug. “Aaaaaaaah! You’re gonna be so good together!”
Fluttershy coughed into her hoof. “Um, technically we are together.”
Pinkie giggled. “Yeah, but you aren’t married! Silly Fluttershy!” Her eyes widened. “Oh! Can the first filly be named Pinkie? Can I be the godmother? Ooh! I’ll be such a good Auntie Pinkie to them all!”
Fluttershy blinked. “Let’s just think about the wedding for now…”
Everypony shared a laugh at that.
…
And so, a few months later, Fluttershy and Tree were married. They adopted three foals, none of which were named Pinkie, much to Pinkie’s dismay, but they did make Pinkie the godmother. The foals were raised with the help of all of Fluttershy’s friends (and Tree’s too, as she became an accepted part of the group), and grew up to be happy, healthy ponies.
For her part, Fluttershy was quickly accepted into Tree’s family, especially by Tree Top, who loved to discuss birds with her. All in all, an animal caretaker was about as perfect of a fit as could be imagined in a family of nature lovers.
And that is the story of how Fluttershy became a Tree.
Author's Note
I regret nothing.
Usually, I'd ask for comments telling me what you think and everything, but I don't know if there's anything constructive to say about this. It's just silly. You like it or you don't.
Either way, thanks for reading!
