The rain had just stopped. It was an early Saturday morning in Ponyville, and although the busier of the two weekend days, there wasn't much going on, it was a small town after all. It was especially quiet in a small cottage just outside Ponyville. A light yellow mare was in bed, she ruffled her wings a bit in her sleep. She woke up, went downstairs, did the normal morning routine and stepped outside.
"Oh my, it must have been raining hard last night." Fluttershy said. The weather pegasi had really outdone themselves, the ground was wet and muddy, and even the warm early summer sun couldn't cut through the chill left by the rain. Fluttershy went inside and draped a blanket around herself. She then went back outside to check if the rain had done any damage to her vegetable garden.
"Oh, thank goodness." She said upon seeing her plants completely intact. She looked up and spotted something a bit... unusual sticking up from the ground not too far away.
Fluttershy went to investigate, making sure she didn't drag her pastel pink blanket on the wet muddy grass, she made her way over to the- well, she hadn't quite figured out what it was yet.
"Hmm, I've never seen a plant like this before..." she said, inspecting what she found.
They were two medium sized objects protruding from the ground, somewhat tube shaped, a bit wider at the ends, and a slightly lighter, more yellow, shade of green than the surrounding grass.
"It might be some sort of fungi." Fluttershy said, thinking out loud wasn't something she normally did, but nopony was around, and she was determined to find out what sort of plant this might be.
"I hope it wont hurt any of my other plants." Fluttershy speculated.
After a few seconds, and a few more guesses as to what the thing might be, she decided to try and pull one out of the ground. As there didn't seem to be any mud on them, she decided to grab one with her teeth and pull it out.
It had an odd taste, Fluttershy hadn't licked or tried to eat the thing, but she could still taste it. It tasted a bit like earth and... was it onions?
She pulled, but it wouldn't come out, she tugged, it didn't move, she gave it 110%, it didn't budge, She tried flapping her wings for extra force, not an inch.
Actually, she could have sworn she hear some sort of noise from it, but it must have been something else. There were several animals around her cottage, after all, and it was about time they would be waking up.
"Oh!" Fluttershy said, remembering her animals, "I should go check on them, they're probably hungry."
Fluttershy was talking out loud more than usual. Perhaps she was getting over her shyness, perhaps she was lonely, perhaps she had just become the main antagonist of a story, that seemed to be the kind of thing they did.
Fluttershy just let the plant grow, for the time being, at least. She would decide what to do with it when the thing decided what to do with itself. For now, she went back to her cottage. Angel had gotten up at this point, so she tried getting him to eat, and went about the rest of her day. Though most would see this day as uneventful, Fluttershy, being a quiet pony, saw it as quite exiting, and told the story of the new plant to several of her animal friends. The day had gotten warmer, and though the grass hadn't gotten much dryer or less muddy, it was still a fairly nice day. She tended to her garden, she didn't notice any strange plants growing there, she fed the rest of her animals, and since she had extra time, decided to visit one of her friends.
Fluttershy didn't feel like going into town, so she visited Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres instead.
When she got there, she found Twilight had the same idea, and her and AJ were already talking with each other.
"Oh, hello", Fluttershy said.
"Howdy there, Flutters, what brings you around here?", Applejack asked.
"Oh, nothing really.", Fluttershy replied.
"Me too," Twilight said, "There seems to be a whole lot of nothing on the weekends, so you might as well do nothing with somepony you know."
"Yes, company is always nice." Fluttershy stuttered.
They went on talking as ponies do when there's nothing else to be done, then Fluttershy brought up the strange plant she found.
"Well, I jus' hope it's nothin' that'll hurt my apple trees", Applejack said, not really worried, just a little curious.
"I thought that too, I don't really know what it is." Fluttershy said.
"This year's lookin' bad enough as it is, wasn't enough spring rain, I had to ask for extra myself.", Applejack continued, apple related manners were the only ones she was really used to discussing, as her character isn't quite fleshed out as your average pony.
"Oh, that's why it was raining so much yesterday.", Fluttershy replied.
"So, it was just a plain green tube?" Twilight asked, keeping the conversation away from apple-related matters, as one who knows AJ often had to do.
"Well, it was smaller at the bottom than the top," Fluttershy explained, "It was green, sort of a light-ish shade and about this big" she held up her hooves about an inch and a half apart.
"You're sure that's it?" Twilight questioned, "No stems near the top, no leafy bits near the bottom, no red parts or anything?"
"No, none of those" Fluttershy told her.
"Hmm, I haven't heard of it, but I might have to look it up. If I can't find it in a book, I could have to ask Zecora."
"Oh, I'm sure it isn't a big deal." Fluttershy told her.
Applejack was completely lost at this point, the conversation had gone so far from apples she didn't even know what to say, or what language the other ponies she called her friends were speaking in.
"Err, what if it's... an apple." Applejack said, bringing sense back to the discussion.
"An apple?" Twilight asked, both her and Fluttershy looked immensely confused.
"Well, what if an apple rolled down that there hill," AJ gestured out the window towards a hill outside, "an' went all the way to fluttershy's cottage"
"I think we've agreed it doesn't look like an apple" Twilight said.
"Apples are green." AJ stated hastily.
"Well, I don't think it has anything to do with apples." Twilight insisted.
"Err... I'm going to bed. Night twi, Night flutt-"
"It's 5:15, Applejack." Twilight reminded her.
"Err... I knew that. I meant, I'm going to go eat an apple." AJ left the room, and proceeded to eat an apple. Then another. She thought of what a fool she looked like, of how good the apples were, how anything could be something other than an apple, what would happen if she grew up on an Orange farm, she then wondered what an orange was, she'd never seen an orange apple before.
"Oh wait." She said to herself. "Ah am an Apple, an' I'm orange, too."
Finally, something that made sense. She had decided that she was an orange, and any pony, animal or plant that claimed to be one was a "Good fer' nothin' fibber", she had a moment of peace before realising that she, caught up in her thoughts, had accidentally eaten 20 apples. She thought the harvest was bad before.
Fluttershy had left AJ's place, she seemed upset over something, and knowing Applejack, she would get over it herself. Applejack was strong, smart, a well fleshed out character and completely sane. She could handle anything.
Eventually it got dark, and Fluttershy decided it was time to go to bed. She grabbed her blanket and headed upstairs to her beedroom.
It rained just as much, if not more, than it had last night.
Author's Note
Well, that's that. This being my first FanFiction, your criticism, as well as any tips, theories, general comments and ect are very welcome in the comments below. I hope you look forward to the next chapter as much as I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks for reading!
