Secrets, Love, and Chaos

by Evil-Lovieness

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Romance, Fluttershy, Random, Discord, Pinkie Pie, Slice of Life, Main 6
Length: 5755

Hoping to help further cement Discord's reformation, Fluttershy asks Pinkie Pie to befriend him as well, but soon discovers that her plan went a little too well.

*Takes place a bit after Keep Calm and Flutter On*

After she had successfully reformed Discord, Fluttershy decides that he needs more friends to keep him better occupied, and also to make sure he stays good. Of course that friend would have to be as energetic as him, have at least a couple things in common as far as likes go, and be willing to take any and all craziness he's willing to dish out. Naturally, the first name to come to mind was Pinkie Pie.

At first, to Fluttershy, things seem to be going over quite smoothly. Pinkie Pie and Discord are getting along swimmingly; Pinkie Pie and Discord are at agreement's, and Pinkie Pie always seems to keep him in check, and best of all, all three form a strong friendship with each other.

However, before Fluttershy can go to any of her other friends about the good news, Fluttershy discovers a little secret between the two, that she now has to keep. That is, if she wants all of her friendships to stay afloat.

((Roughly based off of a continuing RP between myself and KiaraKovu123 as well as the cover image, which was the last panel of the beautiful DisPie comic drawn by rrred on DA... Seriously... Check her stuff out. It's simply gorgeous, darling!))

Published 2013-02-03 06:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-02-18 04:33:50 UTC

Phase One: Aquire 1 Pinkie Pie

It was a busy day in Ponyville for everypony.

The Apple Family over at Sweet Apple Acres was all busy completing their chores for the day, getting prepared for the upcoming harvesting season. And all of what was harvested from other gardens was being sold in the town square, as well as other merchandise among the shops. Said merchandise was the lovely and beautifully crafted clothing being made and sold in Rarity’s boutique.

Even Twilight Sparkle and her dragon assistant Spike were busy this fine morning. Organizing, studying and helping any pony that cared to check out a book from the library. And once the ponies got the books they were looking for, it was back to organizing.

The pegasi as well were hard at work. Most of them were on the weather team, including Rainbow Dash, who was busying clearing the sky and maintaining it to make the day as beautiful as can be. And those who were NOT on the weather team were still hard at work with their other duties. Some would attend to their chores in their homes or out in the markets. Other would perform their more earthly jobs, such as the clumsy wall eyed mare-mail, though it was still a rare sight to see her lately. Most pony folks blamed it on the fact that she would often time go “vacationing,” as she would often claim, with the strange brown stallion.

However, it seemed that one pegasus in particular was busy in a very different way from the rest of the ponies. That pegasus was none other than Fluttershy.

Usually at this point in time of the day, Fluttershy would be busying herself trying to make sure every single one of her critter friends were all taken care of and well fed. Keep in mind, she was still a bit antsy about leaving her critter friends alone without checking up on them, but she was safe in mind that she had fed them all pretty well before departing. Not without unintentionally picking up a traveler along her way though.

“…”

“I know this is outside the norm Angel, but I can’t hold this thing off any longer.” Fluttershy said to her pet bunny, who had called shotgun in her soft pink mane.

“…”

“Now Angel, be reasonable…”

“…”

“That’s not very nice, Angel! Besides he’s good now.” Fluttershy tried to explain her need to go through with this plan.

“…” Angel “said” to her, crossing his paws across his chest in a pout.

“Oh, I thought I told you before Angel,” Fluttershy started, but upon seeing Angel’s unknowing glare, she finished off meekly, “Oh, but if you didn’t hear me the first time, I guess that’s alright.” She said, ducking her head down, folding her front hooves across each other in nervousness.

While she ducked down Angel hopped off to avoid spilling out.

“…!”

“I know you didn’t like him Angel, but he’s gone now and he won’t be troubling you anymore, okay?” Fluttershy said, bowing down to get to eye-level with Angel.

“…?” Angel questioned.

“I’m so sorry about that Angel. I just couldn’t risk getting on his bad side, and I didn’t like all the tricks he pulled either.” Fluttershy explained, hoping that the raise in her voice didn’t have any notable hint of bitterness in it.

“…?” Angel asked, hoping back up onto Fluttershy’s head when it looked like she was on the move again.

“To make sure he stays good: You wouldn’t want me to have to constantly watch over him, would you?” Fluttershy asked earnestly. The last thing Fluttershy wanted was to sound deceptive towards the little bunny, however, whether intentional or not, the message got through to Angel.

If there was one thing Angel hated more than having things go all out of order from what he liked, it was sharing. And there was no way in Tarturus that he would EVER share Fluttershy with that maniac again!

“…” Was all the bunny could muster in response for his agreement on his caretaker’s plan. Though whether he agreed upon it or not, Angel still pouted, and harrumphed at the idea stubbornly.

“Good boy Angel!” Was Fluttershy’s reaction upon her pet’s agreement; whether she got the stubbornness in his response or not was anypony’s guess.

Finally, Fluttershy managed to make it to her location in mind: Sugar Cube Corner.

The moment Fluttershy opened the door, and heard the little tingling of the bell, her senses were assaulted with the warm aroma of baked goods. There was the warm, rich, inviting smell of the cakes, the mouth watering scent of the cinnamon, and the sharp sweet aroma of the icing for any baked good that needed it. Fluttershy loved coming to the bakery just for the first strong smell of all the warm baked goods.

However, Fluttershy was here on a mission and she had best get cracking on it!

Trotting up to the counter, she hesitantly reached a hoof out to ring the bell there. She retracted her hoof immediately when the bell chimed, and she quickly hoped that she was bothering any pony in the bakery, especially not the foals upstairs.

Cupcake was quick to respond to the bell chime, and gave off a bright smile when she saw who the customer was.

“Oh, hello there Fluttershy,” She waved over to Fluttershy, walking up to the counter. “Op… And good afternoon to you too Angel.” Cupcake beamed at the scowling bunny.

“Oh, good afternoon, Mrs. Cake. I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.” Fluttershy said in an equally friendly tone.

“Not at all deary! I was just finishing off icing the cinnamon buns. What can I do you for?” Cupcake asked sweetly.

“Oh… Uhm.. Well was actually wondering, if it’s not too much a bother… If you could tell me where Pinkie Pie is?” Fluttershy asked nervously, hoping that Mrs. Cake wouldn’t be too upset at her for not ordering anything.

“Well of course dear! Wait for just one second while I go fetch her… Oh Pinkie Pie!” Mrs. Cake called out, climbing up the stairs to where the Cakes and Pinkie Pie lived.

Not a moment later Pinkie Pie came bounding down the stairs in a hyperactive manner. No faster than when Pinkie Pie had landed on the final step did she spot Fluttershy and run as quickly as she could to give her a great big hug!

“Fluttershy! So good to see you today! So what’ya wanna do? Partying? Dancing? Raging?”

“Raging!?” Fluttershy said with a gasp.

“Raving, silly pony! Where on earth did you get raging?” Pinkie Pie asked while bursting into a fit of giggles.

“O-oh… heh heh.” Fluttershy chuckled nervously.

“A-actually Pinkie Pie I was hoping if maybe you could come with me to make friends with someone.” Fluttershy offered, hoping Pinkie didn’t catch that she didn’t say somepony. “I mean… If you not too busy that is.”

“Of course not! I always have time to make new friends! Come on Fluttershy, I wanna meet this new pony you’re talking ‘bout!” Pinkie Pie said hopping her way out of the bakery, a tentative Fluttershy following suit who was silently debating over whether or not she should correct her hyperactive friend. Of course it didn’t help that Angel kept stomping his foot on her head in silent warning that her plan may just very well fail.

“Oh stop that Angel! We can’t know for certain unless we try.” Fluttershy said which caused Angel to cross his front paws across his chest in annoyance. It was bad enough that she would use that phrase on him when he wouldn’t try a food that he disliked(admittedly he never ate the food in the first place(and much to his shame he actually ended up liking it, but would never admit it to Fluttershy)), but to use it in context of this whole idiotic idea? It nearly drove the bunny to a fit.

“So, where’re we headed to?” Pinkie Pie asked, after she momentarily stopped bouncing to allow her shy friend to catch up.

“Oh, th-that one spot on the hill at the edge of town actually.” Fluttershy said meekly, rubbing the back of her neck with her hoof, careful to avoid Angel, and blushing slightly.

“Hmmm. Seems pretty secluded for meeting a new friend.” Pinkie Pie observed, rubbing her chin in thought. Just who could this mysterious pony be that Fluttershy wanted to make friends with her?

“Yes… Uhm… Well… H-h-he’s sort of… Uhmm…” Fluttershy stammered, hoping to stall for time.

“He?” Pinkie Pie asked, hoping to get this one clue to help put pieces of this mystery together, like Twilight taught her.

“”Uhmmm… Yes?” She smiled wide and nervously; Angel presumed to smack her head lightly at her little slip up.

“Oh… Now I get it!” Pinkie Pie said happily.

“You do?!” Fluttershy exclaimed, hoping that her plan wasn’t ruined; Angel smacked her again.

“Of course silly! Whoever this male you want me to make friends with is, is too shy to make friends easily, so you chose a secluded place, away from the public eye, and an easily get-alongiest-mare to help overcome his shyness and make friends!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, excited that she solved that piece of the puzzle, now to solve who this stallion is.

“Uhmm…” Fluttershy started again, debating whether or not to correct her or not. Pinkie Pie managed to get the “out of the public’s eye reach” part down pat, but not for the reason she thought.

“Well come on silly! Let’s go!” Pinkie Pie said, starting to bounce away again.

“Y-y-yes… L-l-le-let’s. Heh heh…” Fluttershy nervously stammered, leading the way for Pinkie Pie’s hops.

“…” Angel warned.

“I know I have to tell her at some point but…” Fluttershy whispered back.

“…!”

“I know, I know… But wouldn’t it be easier if she found out herself?” Fluttershy quietly asked.

“…?”

“Well… I mean… I guess it would ensure an easier yes from her. And... I really need her to do this.” Fluttershy explained.

“…” And with that statement alone, Angel set Fluttershy more on edge than she already did.

After that, the two pink maned mares trotted/bounced silently the rest of the way, if one excluded Pinkie Pie’s whistling. However Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped both her cheery little tune and her bouncing once she saw a familiar shape in the background of where they were headed.

“Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy asked, turning her head back to her hyperactive friend upon noticing the sudden absence of noise coming from behind her.

“Uhh… Fluttershy… Is that who I think it is?” Pinkie Pie asked, pointing a hoof out to the figure, who didn’t seem to take notice of them… Yet.

Fluttershy just sighed, knowing that now was a good as time as any to come clean.

“Yes Pinkie Pie… that’s Discord.”

Author's Note

DUN-DUN-DUUUUN!!!! I know, not that much of a revile... But trust me... It will get better... And perhaps longer? Who knows... Leave kind comments below, and some CREATIVE criticism everypony!!!

Phase Two: Meet with 1 Discord

For the longest time, Pinkie Pie said nothing; she only just stared at Fluttershy with varying looks of shock and confusion. It was absolute torture for the shy pegasus to witness this in her normally overly perky pink friend.

Fluttershy squeaked and cringed away closing her eyes with every bad scenario flashing across her closed eyelids: Of Pinkie yelling at her for being so ludicrous in her way of thinking, to Pinkie going to tell the rest of their friends and all of them laughing at her for thinking that any of them would be willing to even try to be friends with the likes of Discord. Then of course there was gonna be the soul crushing look of disappointment from Discord, who, in Fluttershy’s opinion anyway, was trying so hard with her teachings in his reformation and lessons in friendship. Worse yet, he’d lose all hope in friendship and stop being her friend and go back to being evil and spread chaos all over Equestria again, and then all the blame would be put on her; so that not only would Princess Celestia and her friends would be forced to use the Elements of Harmony to turn him to stone but also herself. And if /i]that was worse enough, before all of that happened, she would have to hear ALL about it from Angel. Or worse yet, what if…

“Well that’s silly of you Fluttershy!” Fluttershy’s thought process stopped dead in its tracks the moment she heard Pinkie Pie speak up in her usual happy, cheery, friendly manner. However, Fluttershy couldn’t comprehend what she said, it wasn’t until Angel started thumping his foot on her head that she started paying attention.

“H-huh?” Fluttershy asked, hoping to hear her right this time.

“I already met Discord, silly! I don’t think I need you to introduce me to him.” Pinkie Pie said, attempting to wave at Discord’s form. If he saw it, neither mare could tell seeing as how he didn’t respond back, and if Fluttershy had to guess, she would say that he was probably taking a nap. Pinkie Pie frowned at the lack of response from him, but simply shrugged it off at placed her hoof back on the ground.

“So… You’re not mad at me?” Fluttershy asked without thinking, unable to contain her joyous shock.

“Mad? Why would I be mad? I am a little confused as to why you want to introduce me to somepony I already know... No wait... not know… I would think that you know him better than I do. So I guess that statement lost all meaning…” Pinkie Pie started blabbering to herself never seizing to stop smiling for even a moment, giving no hint that she was gonna chew out Fluttershy for her plan.

Fluttershy smiled as wide as Pinkie Pie and did a little cheerful dance while letting out a whispery “yay”. Thankfully, due to Pinkie Pie still yammering, Fluttershy needn’t worry about looking ridicules in front of her company.

“And I said, ‘Oatmeal? Are you crazy?’” Pinkie Pie yammered before Fluttershy stopped her.

“Actually, Pinkie,” Fluttershy started, acting like Pinkie Pie hadn’t just yammered on with jumped topics. “I-i-it’s not so much that I wanted you to meet Discord… I was actually hoping that…” Fluttershy’s cheeks started staining themselves a pink as bright as Pinkie’s coat, “I was hoping that… Maybe, perhaps, only if you want to…”

“Want to what, Fluttershy? I can’t say yes unless you say what it is!” Pinkie Pie said, not in a demanding way, but more of an enthusiastic way, which lightened Fluttershy’s spirits tremendously. But with a gentle thump from Angel, Fluttershy looked up to see that he was wearing his usual impatient scowl that warned Fluttershy not get her hopes up TOO soon.

“If you would want to… want to become Discord’s friend…” Fluttershy stammered, her nervousness returning.

“Want to what?” Pinkie Pie asked honestly, not being able to hear the soft mumble from her friend. She leaned in more closely to try to hear better.

“Want to… to…” Fluttershy now hesitated, wishing she could be more courageous like her friend Rainbow Dash.

“Yes?” Pinkie Pie urged her on, batting her eyes at her.

“…makefriendswithhim…” Fluttershy mumbled, hoping that Pinkie Pie would hear so she wouldn’t have to repeat herself.

It took a moment for Fluttershy’s words to reach inside Pinkie’s mind, and once it did, it took a moment longer for it to completely register.

“Ohhhhhh… You want me to be Discord’s new friend.” Pinkie Pie said, her usual cheeriness didn’t leave altogether, but Fluttershy did have to note that it did seem to decrease a bit, which made her cringe. She also noticed that Pinkie’s smile seemed to have shrunken a bit, which almost made Fluttershy do the same.

“I know it seems like a big thing, but Pinkie Pie, he really needs this.” Fluttershy pleaded, hoping beyond hope that Discord would just stay where he was and /not sneak up on them, like he usually does.

“Why? He has you for a friend, doesn’t he?” Pinkie asked earnestly, Fluttershy noted, though it seemed like there was more she wanted to ask. But Fluttershy, being overly kind pony that she was, refused to push her any further than she wanted to let out: So she let it all slide.

“True, but I feel that it would be greatly beneficial to everypony if Discord made some more friends outside of just me.” She almost added, /“and Angel too” but then remembered Angel constant protest of dislike to Discord, and thought it better not to include him in this while he was still a top of her head.

“And you chose me?!” Pinkie Pie said, looking completely flabbergasted for some reason. Her eyes seem to have shrunk from surprise, and she pointed a hoof to herself as if to clarify that she hadn’t heard Fluttershy’s words wrong.

“Well of course. I could think of no other pony better for the role.” Fluttershy admitted a bit shyly, blushing a bit through her friendly grin.

This time it was Pinkie Pie’s turn to blush, her cheeks turning the same shade as her mane compared to her coat.

“R-really? Me? You’d think I’d be a good friend for Discord?” Pinkie Pie said, her face calming down to a flattered expression, which confused Fluttershy a bit, but calmed her down immensely too.

“Of course! I mean out of all of the ponies I know, which mostly consist of you and the rest of the girls, you seem to be the only who can actually like Discord.” Fluttershy said with a smile.

“Wh-what gave it away?” Pinkie Pie said with an unusually wide smile.

“Truthfully I noticed it all the way you acted when he was out of his statue the first time. You did seem to be the only pony to actually like his little, “pranks”.” Fluttershy said, quoting what Discord kept calling his little stunts in the past. However, if Pinkie noticed, she never said anything about it.

“Hehehehe… Well, his chaos was kinda fun back then.” Pinkie admitted amidst her small giggling.

“Soooo..?” Fluttershy urged on, tilting her head towards Discord’s general direction.

“Alright. For you Fluttershy, I’ll make friends with Discord. Okay?” Pinkie Pie said, hugging her friend with one hoof around her neck.

“That’s all I ask Pinkie.” Fluttershy said, and once Pinkie Pie removed her hoof, the pair climbed the hill a bit more to get closer to the, now visibly, sleeping Draqonequus form, who was lying down on a downed cloud. He was snoring a bit loudly, and if either mare didn’t know any better, and given the circumstances, they honestly didn’t, they would’ve guessed he was faking.

Fluttershy nodded over at Pinkie Pie, silently saying her intentions to wake him up.

Pinkie Pie just nodded feverishly fast, and Fluttershy just sighed very quietly to herself and trotted over to Discord’s sleeping form. Then, very gently, she nudged his lion’s shoulder, softly calling out his name, in the hopes that he would wake up. She didn’t want to wake him up too suddenly, so loud noises were out of the question, hopefully Pinkie Pie would get her intentions and NOT interfere.

“Uhm... Discord? Could you please wake up now please?” Fluttershy asked, continuing to shake his shoulder.

Pretty soon, Discord stopped snoring and cracked one of his mismatched eyes open; the big red iris staring at her briefly for a moment.

“Time to wake up now Discord.” She said calmly, smiling down at him. His response was to close his eye once again, which had Fluttershy worried that he went back to sleep; if it weren’t for him stretching his mismatch arms out coupled by him yawning pretty loudly, that it was obvious that he was making a big show out of it. However because of that, Fluttershy was able to see that giant snaggle tooth he had that always sent shivers of fear through her spine, even though she knew there was no need for such foolish things.

“My apologies Fluttershy, I wasn’t aware that you planned on having a “friendship adventure” today.” Discord said a bit sarcastically, stepping off of his cloud, snapping his clawed fingers making it disappear.

Fluttershy hoped that her nervous flinch wasn’t too obvious. She should have remembered that Discord does get a bit cranky and sarcastic whenever he’s woken up: Whether it be a nap or actual sleep didn’t matter. Even though she knew that first impression where way out of the window where Pinkie was concerned, she still didn’t want her to have any reason to speculate second thoughts about this.

Since he was standing up, and he was pretty tall, Fluttershy had to fly to meet his eye level, which was closed off in annoyance.

“Actually Discord, I was kind of hoping that maybe perhaps you could make a new friend…” Fluttershy said.

“Oh what’s the problem Fluttershy? Sick of me already?” Discord asked in a mock hurt tone, petting her pink mane.

“Oh no… I just thought that maybe it would benefit you to make some new friends to hang out with when I can’t. Besides I bet it’ll help boost your image!” Fluttershy resorted, making it sound as positive as she could, which was ridicules right? It was already a positive plan, right?

Without warning, Discord’s arm wrapped itself around Fluttershy’s body, and she barely even tried to struggle against it, knowing that it was pointless. Pretty soon she was squeezed up against Discord’s bizarre body, she never knew if his body was composed of eagle feather to match his left arm, or just unruly brown fur that was composed of an animal she couldn’t even think of. By the looks of things, it seemed that Discord was deep in thought at her offer, with his eagle talon stroking his beard and his lion’s paw, which was squeezing her against his body currently, held that arm in its paw.

His concentration broke off however when he heard a fit of giggling coming from below. Looking down, Fluttershy could see that Pinkie Pie was still down there in a giggle fit at the image before her. After letting Fluttershy go, her wings fluttering to keep her lifted in the air, Discord slithered down to Pinkie’s eye level. This was pointless seeing as how, she was giggling so hard that her eyes were closed.

Discord started laughing alongside her which instantly grabbed Pinkie’s attention, however Fluttershy started cringing, hoping that he wasn’t going to be cruel to her.

Angel started stomping on her head, twitching his whiskers down at her face.

“Ohh… You’re right… I really should’ve thought this through a bit more than I originally intended.” Fluttershy admitted quietly to her bunny.

“So I take it that this is the pony you want me to make friends with?” Discord asked Fluttershy, grabbing Pinkie Pie around her middle, like she was stuffed animal.

“Hehehehe.. H-hey!” Pinkie giggled aloud, clearly not having much complaint on being lifted high in the air.

Fluttershy didn’t trust her voice to confirm his question, so she just nodded, hoping for the better outcome, and trying real hard to make it look like she wasn’t forcing back her nervousness about this whole situation.

Discord just laughed again, and it was getting real hard for Fluttershy to differentiate just how she was supposed to take his laughter. Should take his laughter in a mocking tone? A gleeful tone? A serious one? Fluttershy mentally shook her head at that last one; in under no circumstances would she EVER pin Discord to ever be 100% serious for more than 30 seconds.

“Oh alright! Besides, what possible harm could it cause in gaining a friend in the Element of Laughter… I mean besides myself of course.” And with that he started laughing again, but this time Pinkie Pie started laughing right alongside him. This left Fluttershy feeling very conflicted about her choice; it gave her second thoughts of her thought process of this plan from the very beginning.

‘H-he probably doesn’t even want new friends. Maybe I should’ve just stuck being his only friend.’ Fluttershy thought to herself; then mentally hitting herself for it afterward, thinking just how selfish, in many ways, that thought was.

“Oooh! So whatdya wanna do Discord? Maybe we can play some games! Or maybe we can throw a party! We could always tell each other jokes too! I bet you know a lot of really funny ones!” Pinkie Pie offered her long list of activities to do with friends, and while Fluttershy was glad that her friend was at least giving her, as she now realized, moronic plan a shot, she couldn’t help but continue her second thoughts. Normally Pinkie Pie was always an easy read, however that was only ever under normal circumstances. If Fluttershy was being completely honest, there have been times where Pinkie Pie has always been a complete mystery due to her mood swings that would come out of nowhere sometimes. So she had no idea if Pinkie really was giving the plan a shot, or was just acting out to make Fluttershy happy.

Discord just laughed at Pinkie’s blather and spared a glance at Fluttershy.

“Well if you wanted me to make friends with other ponies, you certainly picked a very entertaining one Fluttershy. My congratulations to you for such a good pick. Discord said, somehow bowing with Pinkie still in his arm without her noticing the action.

Fluttershy, who still couldn’t trust her voice, just nodded through a giant, plastered grin.

“Oh! Hey Fluttershy! What do you think we should do together?” Pinkie Pie asked, smiling up to her.
It was only until she felt Angel start thumping his foot on her head that Fluttershy finally found the courage to speak.
“Oh, uh, actually, I was kinda hoping that maybe you two, could, uhm…” Fluttershy stumbled over the words, never daring to look either in the eye, though she could tell that they were both looking at her quizzically. She poked her hoof in the ground to ease some of the nervousness.

“Th-that you two could… Maybe, perhaps, j-j-just hang out together?” Fluttershy finally squeaked out, trying her best not to cringe at her words. “Y-you know, to uhm, get to know each other as friends better?” Fluttershy finally finished, and once she did she couldn’t but feel several different levels of awkward at her second phase of her plan. She wanted to get them alone so that no one would feel like the third wheel, she just overlooked the fact that she would have to purposely excuse herself to do so.

“That actually sounds like good thinking there, Flutters!” She heard Pinkie Pie say which gave her the courage to look up. Pinkie Pie was still smiling her usual smile, Discord had finally let her go to the ground and Discord was just standing there, looking like he was still thinking the plan through.

“R-really?” Fluttershy asked, hardly able to trust her own ears.

“Of course! You don’t hafta worry about a thing! I’ll take good care of him, and keep a watchful eye over him for ya!” Pinkie Pie stated, walking over to her to give her a small hug; though she whispered the last part with a sly little wink in her eye.

‘Oh no, please don’t tell me Pinkie Pie is going along with this because she thinks it’s an excuse to get Discord into trouble!’ Fluttershy’s mind worried over, but then another thought came across her mind that almost sent her into a panic attack.

Should she leave now that she brought it up, or should she wait until they excuse her?

Normally with her other friends she wouldn’t have had this problem. Either Rarity or Twilight would’ve politely excused her when they heard that she had to leave pretty soon or early than expected. With Applejack and Rainbow Dash though, they would often assume that Fluttershy was just about to leave, or had already left, and when she wasn’t in a hurry, they always assumed that she just decided to make last minute plans. But those friends of hers were easy to read, and pretty predictable in the majority of their actions.

These two however…

Fluttershy was left high and dry over what to expect from any of them ALONE. She could even fathom what they would be like TOGETHER.

But looking back at the scene before her, what with Pinkie Pie going back to Discord starting up a conversation, which Fluttershy refused to eavesdrop over, she figured, maybe she should leave now. That and Angel started tugging at her mane to pull her away from the scene and towards her cottage.

Reluctantly, and with more than a few head turns back to make sure it /was okay to leave now, Fluttershy left the two maniacs she called friends to form a friendship of their own.

Pretty soon she got to a point where she stopped looking behind her, mostly because she lost view of the two and thought it a fruitless effort anyway. However, because her mind was so muddled with worry, she didn’t notice the giant cart that she was about to run into. Or the fact that Angel had started pulling on her mane to grab her attention.

“Oomph!!” Fluttershy said after slamming face first into the heavy cart filled with…

“Apples? Applejack?” Fluttershy said, poking her head up from the cart.

“Oh my goodness Fluttershy Ah’m so sorry! Ah didn’t see ya. Are ya’ll alright sugarcube?” Applejack asked her, holding a hoof out to help her up.

“I’m fine thanks. Where are all of these apples going to?” Fluttershy asked out of politeness. However, it earned a confused look from Applejack.

“Your place, Fluttershy. Remember? Ya asked me to deliver all these apples so ya’ll can make some homemade applesauce for this sick little critter you’re taking care of?” Applejack said, getting ready to gallop to Fluttershy’s cottage, making Fluttershy flitter her way over right next to her farmer mare friend.

“So what’s up? What could distract ya so much as to run into my cart?” Applejack asked once Fluttershy caught up with her.

“Oh I was just wondering…” Fluttershy started, but then stopped herself, debating whether or not if she should tell her friends everything when she still didn’t know the end results herself.

“’Bout what?”

“Applejack? Have you ever made a plan, that… that sounded like a good idea at first, but when it was finally put into action you realized that it may not have been such a good idea in the first place?” Fluttershy asked, hoping that she didn’t have to explain any further than that. But at her words, Applejack stopped dead in her tracks, a big red blush forming across her face.

“Uhhh.. Actually yes. Except that… I never really had any second thoughts ‘bout them till… Well… Till it was too late.” Applejack explained sheepishly. This did nothing for Fluttershy’s already frazzled nerves.

“O-oh?” Fluttershy said, hoping not to sound too disappointed.

“But if ya still want my advice Fluttershy,” Applejack said, starting to walk back to her normal pace again. “I’d say just to take note of your surroundin’s; make sure ya know exactly what’s going down to cause any and all problems before they occur.” Applejack said, though she never really did look Fluttershy in the eye, though Fluttershy couldn’t really tell, as her own gaze went downward in focus.

“That actually does sound like a good idea.” Fluttershy said absentmindedly.

Applejack just sighed to herself.

“Yeah, kinda wish that I’d learn that lesson myself sooner. But anyway, enough ‘bout that. Let’s switch to a more pleasin’ topic.” Applejack suggested.

They walked the rest of the way to Fluttershy’s cottage talking about tips for taking care of barn yard animals, and the different ways they took care of their own animals. It wasn’t until Fluttershy felt Angel tap his foot on her head that she finally realized that they had reached their destination.

“Oh goodness… How did we make it here so fast?” Fluttershy asked in actual surprise.

“I guess times flies. Anyway, here’s yer apples. I gotta get back to the farm fer the rest of my chores. But we’ll catch up later alright?” Applejack said, unhooking her cart, and sending a wink her way.

“Alright then… Oh! But what about..?”

“Don’t worry ‘bout the cart. Just send it back ta me when ya can. Later Fluttershy!” Applejack called out, leaving her to go to her barn.

“Bye Applejack!” Fluttershy called back, taking the apples and entering her cottage.

However, while Fluttershy was busying herself by making the applesauce, Fluttershy couldn’t help but think back on her worries. She knew Applejack’s little speech was supposed to help her worries a bit, but she also couldn’t help feeling worried if problems actually DID occur. What would she do? And even if she knew the answer, the real question was, would she be able to carry them out?

The chirping of several birds was enough to snap her out of her troubling thoughts.

“Huh?” Fluttershy asked, her vision suddenly overpowered by the worried looks of her animals friends. It was only one bird that was brave enough to ask her what was wrong.

“Oh I don’t even know anymore, maybe I’m just being overly worried.” Fluttershy admitted.

The chirps and squeaks of encouragement from the animals were reassuring at best, but it wasn’t enough to expel her worries completely.

“But what if something goes wrong? What if I’m the one to be blamed for it all?” Fluttershy questioned, she was answered by the pulling of her hoof by Angel. He starting throwing his tiny paws in the air in exasperation twitching his whiskers trying to explain the situation she was in before she even started this whole plan.

“Your right Angel. I already got myself this far. I-I-I guess whatever happens next will have to be my responsibility. But that doesn’t mean I’m completely alone in this!” Fluttershy said with a bit more exuberance, making most of the animals in the kitchen cheer.

But even when Fluttershy was being cheered on to more the more positive side of things, the more negative thoughts still crept up on her.

‘Oh I just hope nothing goes wrong…’ The thought passed by in her worrisome mind.