Another sunshiny day on the edge of good ole’ Ponyville, and Applejack was spending it in one of the most wonderful ways he could possibly think of; helping the most beautiful mare finish her daily chores – no, not chores more like duties. Fluttershy loved all of her little critters so much; it was practically her obligation to give these little fellas the excessively agreeable room and board which she so vigorously maintained.

Ever since Fluttershy had moved to Ponyville, Applejack had constantly found reasons to come out to her cottage and visit her, usually helping her with anything which needed doing. He had honestly been more and more nervous to do so lately; after the incident which had occurred a few weeks ago where Twilight had gotten two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala from her mentor, her esteemed majesty Princess Celestia, and had been so indecisive as to who she would give her second ticket to a right big argument had broken out amongst the rest of the friends as to who it should be. Of course, Applejack would’ve given up the ticket to Fluttershy in a heartbeat if it meant keeping her happy. Ultimately, they had gotten six tickets and were now all attending the prestigious event. And Applejack saw this as a good opportunity to confess his feelings to the Pegasus mare, and maybe even go as her date.

Of course, Applejack relished in the opportunity to spend any sort of time with Fluttershy, even if it couldn’t be classified as anything but ‘just a good friend helping another pony out’. It was still essentially a dream for him, to watch her flowing mane and tail drift in the breeze, kicked up from her wings – fluttering in that cute way they did when she was excited – as she trotted daintily across the sizeable yard, from den to den, catering to the needs of all the little animals. And oh, how he treasured that heavenly sound which drifted off her lips whenever they parted, that motherly tone which it adopted whenever she was doting on any creature from the tiniest, sweetest little squirrel, to a large, imposing – but seemingly docile – bear.

So enraptured was he in his revelry of her beauty that Jackson didn’t even realize she had been staring at him in a questioning manner, for how long he had no clue. “Jackie?” He snapped to attention, a slight blush spread across his cheeks as he heard is name being spoken.

“Oh! Ah’m sorry ‘Shy.” He scratched the back of his head with a forehoof. “Ah guess Ah was just a mite spaced out there fer a second.”

“Umm… well, I apologize for interrupting your thinking, but we’re all done out here.” She rubbed one foreleg against the other softly. “Would you… care to join me inside? For some tea?”

'Land sakes, she's jes' too darn cute. Applejack’s heart spoke into his mind. “That would be just wonderful, ‘Shy.”

With that they made their way into the pegasus’ cottage, and a kettle was placed on the stove to boil.

Applejack, who was now seated at the small table in her kitchen area, was currently giving himself a pep talk in his mind. ‘Now’s yer chance ya damn fool, jes’ ask her if she’ll go with ya to that there Gala, it’s freakin’ simple!’ Oh, if only it were so. ‘Well, here goes nothin’.’ He thought to himself, more calmly this time.

The mare of his affection had now taken up in the seat across from him. “It should be ready in just a couple minutes, now.” She stated, giving him a soft smile.

“That’s nice.” He replied, almost absentmindedly. “Say, Fluttershy…” He began to speak up.

“Yes, Jackie?” She responded quizzically.

This was it. “Ah was jes’ wonderin’ if, maybe, perhaps, by any chance, if you would maybe like-”

An abrasive *knock knock knock* - ing on the cottage door stopped his train of speech dead in its tracks. “Oh! Somepony at the door, whoever could it be?” The pegasus mare questioned. “I’m going to answer that. Jackie, could you get the kettle, please?”

“A’course.” He stoically answered.

With that, Fluttershy made her way through the threshold of her living room to the door. Whosoever was on the other side must have been either pretty darn important, or pretty darn impatient, as the knocking picked up again once Fluttershy was halfway there. “Just a second.” The mare called out sweetly. Ever the patient one, while Applejack had half a mind to answer the door himself and give whoever it was a piece of his mind for being so damned rude. Of course, with whom it turned out to be, that probably wouldn’t have fixed much. The persistent knocking stopped.

Finally reaching the door and pulling it open ever so lightly revealed a light blue pegasus stallion with a multi-hued rainbow mane, Rainbow Blitz.

“Oh, um… hello Blitz.” Fluttershy greeted meekly.

“Hey, ‘Shy.” He then spotted Applejack standing in her kitchen, pulling the kettle off the stove. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Oh no, Jackie and I were just about to have some tea after a hard afternoon’s work caring for all my animal friends.” She responded sweetly, and then asked just as sweetly, “Would you care to join us, Blitzie?”

“Ah. Sure, why not?” He answered nonchalantly, pushing the door closed with a rear hoof and following his friend to the kitchen. He then pulled out one of the remaining seats at the small table and planted himself on it, subsequently looking toward the orange earth pony stallion also in the room. “’Sup, Jack?”

“Nothin’ much, Rainbow. Jes’ helpin’ Fluttershy with a few things, you know how it is.” Applejack stated coolly.

At this, the pegasus stallion’s eye twitched visibly. “Oh, I know how it goes alright.”

Of course Rainbow Blitz, being Applejack’s de facto best friend, was well aware of the other stallion’s infatuation with their mutual friend. And Rainbow’s relationship with Fluttershy went a little bit deeper than just a regular friendship; due to knowing each other for most of their respective lives, the two pegasi were as close as brother and sister, which they practically were. As such he was just somewhat protective of the yellow pegasus mare.

Suddenly Fluttershy broke the silence, slightly alleviating the tension nopony even realized had been building. “I almost forgot about Angel’s afternoon nap, I’ll go get him settled and be right back. You two boys play nice now, okay?” She got up from the table and smiled as she left the room.

Applejack watched after her –wearing a goofy smile on his face – as she left. He thought it was just adorable how she doted on that little white rabbit, he was practically her baby, even if his name was grossly inaccurate; that bunny could be a right pain in the flank when Fluttershy wasn’t waiting on him hind and hoof.

Rainbow Blitz broke the silence once more. “Snap out of it, bucko.” He huffed.

“Blitz, Ah have no idea what y’all’re talkin’ ‘bout.” Applejack responded rather slyly.

“You know damn well what I’m on about, buddy.” He pointed a hoof accusingly at his friend. “And you know I don’t have a huge problem with it, I just don’t like the risk of something happening and you hurting her. Ya know she’s like a sister to me, man.”

“Well, Ah was gonna ask her ta join me to the Gala as a date, before you so unceremoniously popped up.” Applejack spat back at him.

“Dude, how would that even work? You know she’s set on exploring the Royal Garden and meeting those animals, and you were adamant about setting up your freakin’ pastry stand to turn a profit at that damn thing!”

“Ah would make time fer her. Jes’, whatever’d make it work.” Applejack stated resolutely. “Anythin’ for her…”

“Whoa, whoa! Slow down there, bro. Don’t drift away on me. ” Blitz said waving a hoof in his friend’s face.

It was then that Fluttershy walked back into the room. “Okay boys, what’d I miss?”

“Nothin’.”

“Eeyup.”

“Okay, well, the tea should be steeped by now. So let’s get to that, shall we?” She asked sweetly.

“Hay yeah!” Blitz answered in his usual overly enthusiastic matter.

“Eeyup.” Applejack replied evenly.

And with that they all sat, enjoying the tea and exchanging idle friendly chatter, the three of them spending the remainder of the afternoon in the good company of each other. Applejack never did get to asking Fluttershy that one question, either.

Author's Note

Well damn, I know it's been well over a year. In fact some of you probably gave up hope of me ever updating again at all. Unfortunately I've had a busy time the last 14 months, going through a job, a lot of family commitments, and a busy first semester of college. So I once again want to apologize to anyone I may have cheesed off by not writing. It was pretty much all I could do to keep up with reading others' stories, let alone writing my own. But since I'm pretty much finished my first semester and have a 1 month break over Christmas, I should be able to hash out enough prose to keep you peoples sated for a while (I hope).

Thanks for stickin' with me, everybody!

-- WetWilly

P.S. Chapter title taken from this fantastic Stone Roses song, because it gives me a good giddy feeling!