The Fluffles and The Flutters
After a long day consisting of feeding the animals, washing the dishes, and stopping Opal from murdering Angel during the weekly Pony Pet Date, Fluttershy fell face first into the pillows of a cozy bed. Such a day was positively exhausting on her, and she needed the rest. She curled up on her back, stretched out her hooves, and groaned when it dawned on her that it was just 4 in the afternoon. There was still a lot to do that day.
A quick breather wouldn’t hurt, though, so she draped a blanket over herself for a nap. She tried her best to rest, but it was proving difficult. Poor Fluttershy. She deserved some escape from her duties, if even for a moment.
Her ear twitched as she heard Angel come into her bedroom. He hopped up and down and pointed down at the hallway. Fluttershy rubbed her eyes and sat up on her flanks. “What is it, Angel? Did I forget to feed you?”
The bunny shook his head and pointed down the hallway again.
“Is there a fire?” she yawned, almost falling asleep out of exhaustion.
Angel facepalmed. Looks like he was going to do this the hard way.
He sprinted up to the bed and grabbed Fluttershy’s front left hoof. With a hard tug or two, he finally convinced her to get out of bed. She followed him down the hallway and stairs to see what was up.
“Angel, I don’t know what you’re wanting me to do,” she admitted while the bunny went down to the living room. “Do you want carrots? Lettuce? Oh, I forgot to stock up on lettuce, didn’t I? I need to stop forgetting--oh!”
As it turned out, all of her critters friends gathered together in the living room for a special party made just for her. There were yellow and pink ribbons nicely decorating the walls, most of the animals had gifts in their hands/claws/paws for her, and there was even a lemon cake on the kitchen counter in the corner.
Naturally, Fluttershy gasped dramatically.
“A party? For me? But it’s not even my birthday.”
One of the cardinal birds responded to Fluttershy in loud, vibrant chirps.
“Really?”
The chirping continued.
“You mean, you all did this for me out of the goodness in your hearts?”
More chirping.
“And you wanted to throw this party to say ‘thank you’ for all the ways I take good care of you?”
The animals nodded together.
That almost made her cry in joy. “I don’t know what to say. I took care of you all because it’s something I love to do, and I never did it to get something in return. Thank you, thank you!”
And with that, the timid pony had the perfect party for her. The bear had figured out how a vinyl player worked, and managed to grab a classical record for the party (though, not without Octavia almost screaming at the sight of a grizzly bear coming up to her). The record was music to Fluttershy’s ears, and she couldn’t help but dance. Lightly, of course.
The cake was delicious as well, probably made from Sugar Cube Corner with the way Fluttershy knew that place. Having a mix of regular and pink lemonade to drink down the cake was a bonus. If she didn’t know any better, Pinkie Pie had a hoof in planning this out.
As the festivities went on and on, she found herself growing less and less tired. Turned out that a nice, quiet party was what she needed to lift her spirits.
After the cake was all eaten up and the lemonade was enjoyed, the animals decided it was present time, because of course it was. Fluttershy sat down in the middle of the floor as she saw a line of animals form in front of her, each with their own present to give.
The bear went first, presenting his caretaker with a green blanket made out of cotton. He draped it neatly (or as neatly as a huge bear could) over Fluttershy’s backside. She snuggled into it and smiled.
“Thank you, Harry. It’s really comfortable and I appreciate it. I’m going to sleep in this tonight.”
The bear tried his best to grin at the news and left, as the next group of animals handed out their gift. A flock of birds flew by with a necklace made out of various kinds of flowers, from sunflowers to dandelions and others you could imagine. They carried it carefully over to Fluttershy, landing it nicely around her neck.
“This is really considerate of you. And I can tell these flowers were picked recently, so it smells really good. Thank you, too.”
The birds went back to the branches around the cottage, and the last animal of the line came up with his present. It was Angel, and he struggled to drag his present over to the pony. He held it above his head, almost falling over a few times, but finally dropped it off in front of the yellow deliverer of his meals.
It was a book entitled “So You Finally Realized Cooties Aren’t Real: How To Talk To Ponies You Want To Date”. It was a pretty thick book, with the cover of an awkward stallion sweating as he looked over to three mares that looked cute to most.
“A book? Huh. That’s more of Twilight’s thing. But I still appreciate it...I just don’t get why you got this book for me.”
Angel winked over at her.
“I still don’t get it.”
He nudged her on the side mischievously, acting like he just told the funniest joke of all time.
“I’m sorry. I just don’t know why I need this book.”
Another facepalm later, Angel ran over to the kitchen and dug into the fridge. One trip later, he used carrots and sticks to give himself a snaggletooth and two horns for his head.
And THEN it hit Fluttershy. She blushed so hard, her cheeks were looking more like tomatoes than the actual tomatoes in the fridge.
“Discord? N-no! I couldn’t! I...I…”
Angel gave her the most smug grin she had ever seen.
“It’s not that Discord is bad...heh heh...I just...I...I don’t know if I want to ask him out on a date or not. He’s learning how to be a good draconequus, but…” Her face was getting more and more sweaty as she went along.
The bunny couldn’t help but laugh. He pulled out a piece of paper and pencil, writing the message “you have a crush on him” on it.
“I do not! I just...OK, maybe...maybe I’ll use this book…” She looked down at the present again, still not believing this was a thing. She tidily put it away on her bookshelf, but she couldn’t stop blushing after the idea came up.
After that was over, she went over to the sofa and sat down quietly with her blanket. “I really appreciate this party. You are the best animals in all of Equestria, and I’m happy that I get to take care of you everyday.”
The animals looked at each other with smiles, their job well and done. They went back to doing what they usually did, and Fluttershy once again had the peace and quiet she deserved. She kept the flower necklace gently on her neck as she snuggled into the cotton blanket, feeling like this day was the best one she had in months.
She almost fell asleep, content with herself. Even now, a small nap wouldn’t hurt too much. It’s not like she would have another major interruption that day, right?
If you’re reading the story this far, you already know the answer. But let’s go find out how bad it got.
As Fluttershy fell half asleep, dreaming about awkward dates with Discord, she heard a knock on the door. It was so surreal that she thought it was part of the dream. But the knocking got louder, and her dreams of finding out what it’s like to kiss a spirit of chaos came to an end.
Who could it be?she thought. She plopped down on the floor face first, her blanket falling down to the floor with her. After a moment adjusting to the fact that she actually had to do something, she put the necklace over to the coat rack. The knocking only grew louder and louder the longer she waited.
“Just one moment!”
She opened the door to see who it was. The pegasus was greeted by a huge, fluffy, pink furball with a face on it, standing on her doorstep.
“Fluffle Puff? What are you doing here?”
Fluffle Puff gasped at the sight of Fluttershy, almost lunging for a glomp attack. Fluttershy stopped her right there with a light hoof to the chest. When Fluffles realized the yellow one wasn’t going to let her in immediately, she looked devastated. She moped around and her eyes got teary.
“I guess it’s nice to see you again,” Fluttershy forced out, remembering that this was the pony that ate a part of her tail for no good reason. “But what are you doing here?”
“Pffft fffft pbbblt,” Fluffle Puff spat out.
“What? I don’t understand you.”
Realizing that this animal handler didn’t know how to speak Cute Speak just yet, Fluffle Puff brought out a bunch of pictures, each having their own sign and random drawings.
“Bug waifu left the house for BugCon. (I feel like that’s a little insulting, she is too cute to be a bug)
She won’t be home for several days, and my sister left to go somewhere else, so I’m alone.
When they’re both gone, I go to Twilight’s house to mess around with her, but after the Tirek thingy, she doesn’t want me around.
And you seem like the nice one, so can I spend some time with you? --signed, Fluffle Puff”
Fluttershy was surprised. This pony, despite speaking entirely in spits, was very articulate with her writing. But she was still left puzzled by this.
“I don’t know. This is on really short notice.”
Fluffle Puff combated that by giving Fluttershy the most dreaded attack of all: A combo of puppy dog eyes and a drooping lower lip.
“And I need to take care of my furry friends…”
The puppy dog eyes intensified.
“But…”
The pink furball rolled over on her back, kicking up her hooves in the air, doing anything that might be considered cute. This was pointless, given that Fluffle Puff was inherently cute.
“Please…”
Fluffle Puff showed her a picture of the two of them hugging, showing how fun hanging out with each other could be.
“Alright. I guess it would be the right thing to let you come in for a while.”
She gasped and rolled past the front door like a dust bunny, letting herself in.
Fluttershy sighed. “I hope this goes OK. I hope she didn’t bring her pillow tank with her again.” She shut the door as she went in, bracing herself for whatever weirdness she was in for.
Before she could even say anything, she walked in to see Fluffle Puff jumping up and down by the coat rack, eating one flower from her necklace with every little jump. She chewed through each flower with ease and swallowed them whole before the next leap.
“FLUFFLE PUFF! Please don’t eat those! They were a gift for me!” Fluttershy panicked. She flew to the necklace and pulled it away from Fluffle’s clutches. Thank Celestia that the fluffy pony only ate three flowers.
However, Fluffle Puff was a little disappointed. Her stomach was starving and she needed something to heat. Oh well, not like she couldn’t wait.
She looked around to see what else she could do, and she saw the cotton blanket on the sofa. The blanket looked so soft to her, and she was already on the sofa, clawing at it like a little kitty, by the time Fluttershy put the flower necklace on top of the book shelves.
The pegasus sighed. This was going to be exactly what she didn’t need today. But she had to be patient. Fluffle Puff was always good at heart, even if that heart was so bizarre that Discord would be left uncomfortable with it.
Fluttershy joined Fluffle Puff on the sofa and scooted off to the side. The Earth Pony didn’t seem to notice her at first, but she stopped acting like a cat when she realized how much she bothered Fluttershy. She came over and put the blanket over the both of them, leaving them really, really close to each other.
“Oh, that was nice of you,” Fluttershy said. “I guess I’m just not used to you. I’ve seen a lot of things ever since I became an Element of Harmony, but you’re probably the strangest thing I’ve seen.”
Fluffle Puff didn’t say anything. She just wrapped her front hooves around Fluttershy, hugging and nuzzling her. Her fur felt surprisingly comfortable, and it wasn’t long until the pegasus gave up the ghost and hugged her back.
“It’s like hugging a pillow,” she said, yawning a bit from a growing sense of exhaustion. “A very cuddly pillow.”
This pleased the fluffy one, and her nuzzling intensified. She was just happy that her host was happy. The blanket nearly sunk into her big pink coat, but she moved it away towards Fluttershy to stop it from happening.
“Wow, I’ve never felt tired from hugging before,” said Fluttershy. “But you’re a big ball of energy. I don’t know if Pinkie even has as much energy as you.”
Fluffles shrugged. “I just like cuddling other ponies that love me,” she wrote down on a piece of paper.
“That is awfully sweet of you. Just don’t eat any flowers again, OK?”
The pink fluffball stuck her tongue out playfully and purred like a cat. Fluttershy began to wonder if Fluffle Puff wasn’t just some kitty cat with hooves and pony ears.
After a few minutes of snuggling and trying to keep a blanket from falling into a furry void, Fluffle Puff was happier than ever. Yes, that was actually possible. She came up and got on Fluttershy’s lap, and then her fur started to move.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Fluttershy asked.
POOF. Out of Fluffle Puff’s coat popped out two tacos. They went up into the air and landed in Fluffle Puff’s front two hooves. They were ready for eating, with all the toppings that one could find in a Mexican restaurant on Earth. The aroma was very inviting, with all the smells of vegetables and...other stuff...in them.
The cuddly pony nommed on one of them, taking half of it out with her first bite. She handed Fluttershy the other one.
The timid one was really not sure if she should be eating something that was in somepony’s coat. She looked over it carefully to see if there wasn’t some stray hair in there. There was not, and she hesitantly grabbed it with her hooves.
While Fluffle Puff smacked loudly on her taco, Fluttershy went ahead and took the first bite. And then another. One more after that. What was this meal? It was unlike anything she ever had before. It was so delicious that she couldn’t stop eating it.
Maybe this pony she heard about was a great cook. She wiped her mouth clean from all the grease of it, and while her stomach despised what she was putting in there, she was almost done with it anyway.
“Fluffle Puff, what is this? I have no idea what this is, but this is amazing!”
Fluffles finished her own taco and burped, and she answered Fluttershy’s question with another sheet of paper.
“It’s called a taco. You’ll love them. They have lettuce, sour cream, cheese, and meat…”
“Why did you write the last ingredient so small?” Fluttershy asked, looking close at the last part closely on the paper. “Mee...mea...meat...meat?”
Fluffle Puff’s eyes widened. This was not going to end well.
What happened next might have broken the sound barrier.
“MMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!” Fluttershy screamed at the top of her lungs.
She scrambled as fast as she could to the bathroom and tried her best to get the whole thing out of her stomach. It’s best to spare the details of how she did it, but let’s just say there were no methods deemed too much to get the meat out of her stomach.
Oh my Celestia, I just ate the insides of another animal! How could I do this to myself? I’m such an awful caretaker. I can’t let anyone know that I ate MEAT! Why would Fluffle Puff eat that stuff? Why did I like it? Why do I want MORE meat? I should be put in jail, I should be banished to the moon for one HUNDRED THOUSAND years!
Fluffle Puff waited at the bottom of the stairs. She realized that not every pony had a taste for the flesh of others like she did, and she felt terrible for it. She said down on the floor and waited for the pegasus to return, thinking over all the ways she could apologize for it.
It took Fluttershy a full thirty minutes before she got the fiasco out of her conscience and stomach. When she went down the stairs, her eyes were a moist red, and she looked devastated to her soul. She slowly went down the stairs, only for another Fluffle Puff-ism to happen again.
The consumer of meat was still down at the bottom of the stairs, but she looked up to the pegasus with teary eyes...and a yellow cake on the floor. It had a sad Fluffles face on it, and it said “I’m Sorry That I Made You Eat Meat”.
It took Fluttershy a few seconds to even register what was going on, as her conscience was killing her for doing such a heinous act. But it slowly sunk in that this was, in fact, an apology.
“Oh no...I really hope there’s not meat in there.”
Fluffles shook her head.
“OK. I...I need a moment. I still taste meat in my mouth. I...I just can’t eat anything right now. But thank you for doing that. I’ll just put the cake in the kitchen for now.”
And so the pegasus went off to put the cake away. The Fur Pony waited for her again, hoping that this didn’t endanger their friendship. If you could call what they had a friendship, that is.
Fluttershy came back soon after to find Fluffle Puff laying on the floor, looking as devastated as she was inside.
“I...I just don’t get you,” the pegasus finally admitted. “Why would you eat meat like that? I didn’t even know what it was. You were acting like it was no big deal. That’s not something you should be eating, you know. It’s terrible to eat what used to be a cow or some other animal.”
Fluffle Puff crawled over in front of Fluttershy slowly, playing the puppy dog eyes card again.
“That’s not going to work on me again. You need to know you shouldn’t be doing this.”
The furball doubled down on the puppy dog eyes.
“You...you…”
One more time: puppy dog eyes.
“I just can’t hate you. Even when you’re doing something bad or inconsiderate, you’re still cute. Why are you so cute?’’
And then Fluffle Puff had her. She rolled on her back and wagged her hooves over like a dog. Again.
Fluttershy finally gave it up and hugged Fluffle Puff. Fluffles hugged her right back, and they found themselves cuddling each other in the cutest fashion ever. The shy one couldn’t explain it, but Celestia darn it, she was going to cuddle a cute pony.
They kept hugging and even petting each other on the head every now and then, doing simple, innocent, cute things. As it turns out, snuggling a living, breathing pillow was fun, and Fluttershy enjoyed it greatly. Fluffle Puff loved that she seemingly made a new friend, and purred in response at her success.
Still, Fluttershy made a mental note that a shock collar might not be the worst thing ever.
As time went on, Fluttershy found herself drained. She was already tired before the party, but as she kept cuddling the furball, she was ready for bedtime. It was still only six in the afternoon, but there was no harm in sleeping in early with all her chores done.
“I might need to call it a day,” Fluttershy said between her yawns. “It was really fun, even though I still don’t get you. But I’m used to that with Discord and Pinkie Pie. Why don’t you get on home? I think Chrysalis would miss you.”
Fluffle Puff nodded and pulled her fur’s grasp away from Fluttershy. The pegasus started escorting her to the front door, the furball feeling much happier than she did at the beginning of the day.
“Did you have a good day today, Fluffle Puff?” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh yes, you gave me exactly what I desired from you,” a voice came out within Fluffle Puff’s throat. It was deep, menacing, and not at all cute.
The yellow pony paused. “Wait, what was that?”
Fluffle Puff burped and shrugged around casually, before her entire form was consumed by a green fire. Her entire body transformed right in front of the pegasus, growing in its size, losing its fur, and turning from a bright, vivid pink to muted dark colors, including a green mane and bug-like wings.
“You heard me,” the former Changeling Queen Chrysalis stated, turning around to face her ‘friend’. “You had all the love I needed, and I’ve had my fill.”
Fluttershy nearly screamed and ran behind the front door, meekly peeking out around the door. “CHRYSALIS! Please don’t capture me again!”
“Come on, Fluttershy, we all know I reformed. That pink dust bunny wouldn’t let me hear the end of it unless I did. Come out of there.”
Chrysalis had a point. Fluttershy did see her interact with the other ponies in town without doing terrible things to them, and she recalled everypony saying that Chrysalis was a new mare. She slowly drew out of her cover and went back to the doorstep. She still trembled in fear anyways from the sight of the changeling. The fact that this figure was her enemy not too long ago could not easily be forgotten..
“W-What are y-you d-doing h-here?” she tried to spit out.
“Yeah, we all know this is weird. But I didn’t really have a choice. Fluffle Puff left Ponyville again with her sister, and she said it was to go see ‘that cute Steven boy and his Gem friends’ again. I don’t even know what she’s talking about, but that’s Fluffle Puff for you.”
I can’t believe I’m talking to CHRYSALIS of all ponies! Fluttershy thought. She still nodded to prove that she was listening. “But why did you come see me?”
“Hey, I still need to eat, OK? Usually, I feed off Fluffle’s love for me, but with her gone for the time being, I needed somepony to do that with. Twilight is tired of my crap, Applejack would rather kick me in the face before she did that with me, Rainbow Dash even more so, Pinkie is a nightmare to talk to, and Rarity would be too busy designing dresses for me to do anything else. And you’re the nice one. So I figured, out of all the Elements of Harmony, you were my best bet.”
“YOU are giving ME a compliment? What kind of world is this?”
“Yeah...I don’t know either. One day I’m ruling a changeling hive, the next I’m having to work with a pony that insists on calling me her ‘bug waifu’. I...I still love her, but don’t tell anypony else.”
Fluttershy was still too shocked by everything to register that. “But...if you’re here, where is Fluffle Puff now--”
Right at that moment, she saw something truly strange come up to the doorway. Right then and there was the real Fluffle Puff, gasping and smiling that her bug waifu was here. But she couldn’t even get up to the walkway without doing something weird.
How, would you ask? Derpy Hooves was deep in her fur, flying the pink furball up the way.
“Hi there, Miss Chrysalis! It’s Derpy Delivery Express!” Derpy smiled. “I brought your girlfriend over here.”
Chrysalis couldn’t stop blushing. “Don’t tell anypony that we’re together, or I might just kill you,” she whispered to Fluttershy.
Fluffle Puff had Derpy fly her over to her bug girlfriend, and she landed right on top of Chrysalis’ back. She gasped and hugged the changeling tightly, while Chrysalis found a new shade of red to blush at.
“Um...uh...did you enjoy your trip?” Chrysalis asked.
Fluffle Puff nodded, holding out a few packages of ice cream to her, all strangely shaped like a cat. Obviously, from her travels to the Gem world.
“Uh...just take me home. I don’t want to be seen for the next several weeks.”
The furball was just happy to see her. “Pfffbbbbt pfft bbbbllllt,” she said to Derpy.
“Aye aye, captain!”
Fluffle Puff wrapped her hooves around Chrysalis’ sides as Derpy took off again, lifting the three of them off to Ponyville. Before they vanished to the forest, Chrysalis turned around and screamed “DON’T TELL ANYPONY ABOUT THIS!”
Fluttershy was left there at her doorstep, her jaw to the floor. What happened was something not even Discord could told when he had too much cider. If she saw something weirder than that in her lifetime, it would be too soon.
“I’m just going to bed now.” She shut the door behind her as she tried to block out what she had just seen.
Author's Note
Well, this was a nice surprise. My first fanfic in over a year.
I made this story for the Everfree Northwest fanfiction contest, specifically for the cute category this year. But I couldn't help it. The jokes were just pouring out of me. I went with it, and it looks like I'm submitting this for the funny category now. Oh well, such is life.
Still, I had a good time writing this, and major thanks to Salnalus and Kirishala for editing this for me.
