No Two Flakes

By Mist

Epilogue

Sitting in Twilight’s apartment, a familiar group of friends smiled as Rarity lifted up a large box and presented it to Fluttershy and Soarin who were sitting on the couch with an arm around each other. Fluttershy sporting a predictable blush and Soarin just with a bright smile as he accepted it. Rarity spoke reading the tag. “This is from Twilight to you two. I wish I had known you were pregnant, we could have had a baby shower for you, we’ll simply have to do one right after the holidays!” Rarity insisted.

Fluttershy giggled and nodded. “That would be lovely.” She replied.

Rainbow whom was snuggled up to Twilight with an eggnog in hand raised her glass in agreement. “You’re going to make a great mom, Fluttershy.”

With her blush growing deeper, Fluttershy nodded.

“I’m really happy for you two, and if you need anything, let me know.” Twilight reminded the two soon-to-be parents.

“Thanks Twilight, that means a lot to us.” Soarin said.

“And again, if you need any help in the bedroom department, I am always willing to teach.” Rainbow offered.

Fluttershy faked a gag and rolled her eyes at the offer. Twilight petted Rainbow’s head and gestured for her to tone it down. “Keep it in your pants, Rainbow.” Twilight reminded.

Rainbow stuck out her tongue playfully.

Cloudchaser sat on the floor quietly just listening to it all with a smile. Through the front door, Applejack entered the apartment, covered in snow. Removing her jacket and hanging it up, she panted, clearly out of breath. “Sorry Ah’m late y’all.”

Instantly recognizing her voice, Cloudchaser smirked and sat up. “What took you so long?”

“’Ah was getting’ Pinkie’s help to bring yer’ gift here.” Applejack replied.

“And what might that gift be?” Cloudchaser asked with genuine curiosity.

Applejack smirked and stepped deeper into the apartment as she spoke. “Well ‘Ah figured out the one perfect gift for a girl as stubborn as you. Somethin’ that will help us both.”

“And what might that be?” Cloudchaser couldn’t even fathom a guess.

Applejack whistled, and Pinkie entered the room. Where she had been prior to this afternoon Christmas get-together was a mystery, however releasing a free hand, a leash was released and a small golden brown and white shiba inu bolted into the room and tackled Cloudchaser, licking her face all over. The girl giggled and chuckled as she fought back the dog and finally realized what was happening. “What!? No way!”

“Way. Certified service dog. He’s not only trained to help you walk around, but also to be a part of our family.” AJ replied with a smirk.

Petting the dog, Cloudchaser nodded. “Thank you, Applejack. This is the sweetest gift you’ve ever gotten me.”

“’Course it is. ‘Ah love you, Cloudchaser.” Applejack spoke.

Cloudchaser could almost feel her eyes well up. Applejack had never said that to her in front of other people. She was so used to it being a big secret. She stood up and opened her arms, to which Applejack responded by approaching and wrapping her arms around her girlfriend tightly. “I love you too, Applejack…”

Spike in the corner rolled his eyes as Applebloom snickered and jabbed him. “’Bout time you two just came out with it.” She said.

“No kidding…” Spike laughed.

Rarity scooted closer to Spike and kissed his forehead. “One could say the same about you.” She teased.

Twilight found herself snickering at the two of them. “You both make cute couples. I couldn’t be happier for any of you. And to think, AJ you were worried what people would think.”

Applejack laughed nervously and rubbed her neck. “Heh… Yeah…”

Rarity petted Spike’s cheek with a smile. “And you were worried what I’d think.”

Pinkie finally entered fully and squeezed next to Fluttershy on one of the couches and smiled at the group. Twilight had noticed she was relatively late. “Say Pinkie, where were you prior to getting here? I tried to call you earlier but got no answer.”

Pinkie smirked and winked. “It’s a secret.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and lifted a glass from the coffee table. “Well since everyone is here… I wanted to say thanks to everyone for coming and making this the best Christmas to date! Let’s promise to do this again really soon, okay? No matter where life takes us, we’re all friends. I always loved this time of the year and I especially love Winter because as a good friend once told me… The lot of us are just like snowflakes… No two flakes are alike, but we all come together.”

Rainbow raised her glass. “I can drink to that.”

“Likewise.” Soarin and Fluttershy spoke in unison.

The rest of the group lifted their glasses and cheered all at once. “Merry Christmas!”

Author's Note

I wanted to thank everyone who helped work on this story. And take a moment to say that this has been a long year long production that I had a lot of fun (and stress) creating. It was super great to get to work with the friends I pitched the idea to whom helped me shape some of the early days of the story, to my wife whom did the artwork for it and made it possible.

This story is dedicated to her. And as a special treat I have enclosed sort of an "artbook" for No Two Flakes showing a lot of the "making of" the characters, some of their earlier designs and evolution. There was over a dozen different drawings and such done for this story, and I wanted to really thank her for her designs and contributing to the story so heavily. She also helped tweak a lot of the story and came up with some of the ideas that made it into the final product.

I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Happy holidays guys!