Fluttershy's Cutiemark

"Hey, Fluttershy! What's going on?" asked the energetic filly, Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, hi Dash…" the pony said, brushing some hay off her wing. The young pony was in a pile of hay, slashes and bruises all over herself.

"Why are you all scratched up?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Is somepony hurting you?" she suddenly asked angrily. "If there's anypony hurting you, I'll pound'm!" She collided her fist with her open hoof. Fluttershy shook her head hurriedly.

"No, it's not that… I- I can't get my wings to work. I always just go up an inch and then tumble to the ground… I- I tried jumping off a tree, a-and I almost made it!" she stuttered excitedly. "B-but after I glided a few feet, I fell into this pile of hay… I've been trying all day." She sniffed, eyes getting watery.

"Oh, come on, don't be down." Dash said, nudging her on the shoulder. "You will be able to fly someday. And, even if your never able to, you can always catch a ride on my wings." Dash zoomed around in circles over her head and skidded to a halt by her side.

"That's the whole point, though... Everypony who is a Pegasus can already fly and almost everypony has their cutiemark, too. I mean, what makes me a pegasis anyway? I can't fly, I don't know how to tame the weather… I don't even know the difference between a storm cloud and a rainbow cloud! It's ridiculous… I bet Princess Celestia is going to think I'm a disgrace…" She sunk her head down, sniffling again.

"No she will not!" Rainbow Dash shouted, tilting Fluttershy's head up. "Your one of the smartest ponies I know. And you're a smart pony with a personality at least… Most of the smarter ponies I know don't even smile and aren't near as caring as you are!"

"Thanks…" Fluttershy blushed and started to smile a bit.

"There you go, perk up! You just have to wait a while. I didn't find my talent. My talent found me!" Rainbow Dash smirked. "Now come on, we don't want to be late for our first day of class." Dash zoomed ahead and motioned for her to follow. Fluttershy ran after, smiling. But then she frowned at an incoming thought.

"I just hope I'm not teased again…"

Later…

"Hello, class. My name is Princess Celestia. I am visiting today from my kingdom to talk to you today. Since you all know of me, I would like to learn more about you! Let's start with names." The beautiful princess said. She started at the right side of the classroom, farthest from Fluttershy. So Fluttershy started to day dream, zoning out of the school, and up into the sky, imagining herself flying in the clouds! But before she knew it, she was falling out of the sky and popped right out of her dream, a person calling her name to break the paradise.

"Fluttershy!" the voice yelled again, forcing Fluttershy to snap her eyes open. It was her teacher, Mrs. Cheerilee. She was wearing a hot pink overcoat that almost matched her fur. Her cutiemark showed gorgeous flowers.

"I wish I had a cutiemark with flowers…" Fluttershy thought grumpily.

"FLUTTERSHY!" Mrs. Cheerilee yelled really loudly, making Fluttershy jump.

"Yes, m-m-m-ma'am?!" Fluttershy asked hurriedly.

"Would you please answer Princess Celestia's question?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"Question?" Fluttershy tried to remember a question but she had been lost in LaLa Land…

"Yes, the question that your teacher has already happily answered for you. Thank her, Fluttershy." Princess Celestia had appeared behind Fluttershy when she was thinking about this 'question'.

"Thank you, Mrs. Cheerilee…" Fluttershy asked as quiet as a mouse.

Princess Celestia placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's very good, Fluttershy. Now, how about we start on an activity to get you all preoccupied? We are going to color what we want our cutiemarks to be or what our cutiemarks are." The Princess said, sweet as honey. She started handing out a sheet of paper to everyone. Mrs. Cheerilee was handing out boxes of crayons for two people to share. Fluttershy looked hopefully to Rainbow Dash. Dash started waving in her direction. Fluttershy started to wave back but then a boy from behind pushed her out of the way and ran to Dash. They bonked heads and ran off to a table nearby. Fluttershy's eyes welled up and she put her hand down. Tears started leaking down her face. Mrs. Cheerilee immediately noticed this. She galloped to Fluttershy and put her arm around her.

"Oh, what's wrong, honey?" she asked, sincerely worried. That made the tears come out more. She tried to stop them but that just made Fluttershy hiccup and draw even more attention to her than she already had.

"No one will share with me…" Fluttershy said.

"Of course no one is going to share with you, Klutzer-shy!" Billy Filly yelled from the other side of the classroom.

"Oh no, not the nickname…" Fluttershy thought squeamishly. Not from Billy, especially. Even though his name was Billy Filly, he was Billy Bully to everyone else.

"BILLY GALLEOUS FILLY! Out in the hall, NOW!" the mostly sweet teacher exploded at Billy. He trotted out to the hall, looking terrified. Mrs. Cheerilee quickly left Fluttershy's side. Princess Celestia walked over to Fluttershy and pointed out a girl the same height as Fluttershy, but twice the build. She was sitting alone, holding a crayon not so steadily in her mouth. Fluttershy saw that it looked like she was trying to draw… a sliced tomatoe? Or possibly even a red gem of some sort. The Princess scooted Fluttershy to her side. As she walked away, Fluttershy asked,

"Uh… W- Whatcha dr- drawing?" She nervously fiddled with the blank piece of paper.

"I'm tryin' to draw my darn cutiemark! But I can't seem to get it right…" the filly answered through clenched teeth.

"Um… do- do you need any help?" Fluttershy asked, ducking away as if invisible arrows were being shot at her.

"Why, sure!" the filly flipped the paper over and jumped up to give Fluttershy the crayon. "I'm Applejack, by the way. What's your name?" Her southern drawl was starting to show more and more.

"Fluttershy..." She answered, so quiet that Applejack couldn't even catch it.

"Err… Come again?" she asked.

"Fluttershy…" she answered, still too quiet to hear.

"Uh, could you say that one more time?" Applejack asked hopefully.

Fluttershy sucked in a mouth full of air. She held her breath until she looked like she was going to explode, until she said,

"Fluttershy!" It wasn't really as loud as she expected… but it was enough for Applejack to hear.

"Fluttershy… Oh, right. You're the one Mrs. Cheerilee almost had a cow over!" Applejack started to crack up. Fluttershy blushed, embarrassed of the whole ordeal. Applejack noticed. "Um, hey, let's finish this up… well, get started, at least… Can you help?" Fluttershy bent over the paper with the crayon held tightly in her mouth. She glanced at Applejack's cutiemark. It was an apple with a slice cut out on the side. She started on the picture in a blur of color. She was finish merely seconds later! Applejack stood gaping.

"Who, how'd you do that?!" she stared at her rump and back at the picture. An exact match! Fluttershy quickly turned red.

"I just like helping ponies, so I try to do it quick, not to keep them waiting…" she said quietly. Fluttershy quickly finished hers and turned them both into the teacher. Princess Celestia and her looked them over.

"Wow, Fluttershy…! What an incredible drawing! I understand you 'helped' out Applejack with hers?" Mrs. Cheerilee said. She flashed a wink at Applejack. She flushed pink.

"Yes, ma'am…" Fluttershy answered.

"Well, that's very nice of you." Princess Celestia added. The end-of-school bell rung and all the fillies started heading out the door. As Fluttershy was walking down the front steps, her teacher stopped her.

"Fluttershy, can I have a second of your time?" Mrs. Cheerilee asked. She nodded. "Fluttershy, honey, you have been okay lately, being safe as usual…?" she waited for a response. Fluttershy nodded again, this time slowly.

"Yes, I have… is there something wrong?"

"Well, I've seen you around Ponyville with your head hung and bruises all over you. Is some little filly hurting you? Or are you depressed…? Or…?" Mrs. Cheerilee asked. She suddenly wasn't so cheery… she actually looked worried for Fluttershy. Fluttershy took a deep breath… and then told her everything. Everything about Billy Bully, trying to force herself to fly, her cutiemark still missing… even about her parents going to Cloudsdale and leaving her on her own for their work for a few weeks.

"They left three days ago…" Fluttershy finished.

"I'm going to contact your parents and take you to Doctor Whooves to look over your bruises. Do you have anything else wrong?" Mrs. Cheerilee asked.

"My head hurts… I kind of… b-bumped it a few times." Fluttershy teared up. Mrs. Cheerilee raised an eyebrow.

"Define a few." She said.

"Th-th-th-th- thirteen! Thirteen times…" Fluttershy sniffed and rubbed her head. Mrs. Cheerilee took her to Doctor Whooves who prescribed immense bed rest. She spent days alone in her cottage, pondering how to get her cutiemark.

Next week…

Fluttershy, after almost a week of being alone, was ready for a nice stroll through Ponyville. Many neighbors said hi and how are you doing and such. She finally reached the forest, her favorite part of Ponyville. So many birds, flowers, and trees. She wished she could soar as high as the trees did. But at least she could see all the cute animals. She loved to see the butterflies. They were so delicate, so quiet, so beautiful. The last part didn't sound like herself to her but the rest, very, very true. While lost in thought, she came across a pond. A little bunny was staring at it from the very edge. It seemed to be lost in a trance. There was a rainbow aura reflecting in its eyes. It suddenly jumped into the pond!

"Ahhhh!" Fluttershy screamed. The bunny was sinking deeper. She needed to get help. But she couldn't run all the way to Ponyville. She crumpled onto the ground. Suddenly, there was a tickling sensation around her. She lifted her head. A magical swirl of butterflies swarmed around her. She had an idea… but she didn't know how to enact it. And while she was sitting there, that little bunny was drowning! She had to act fast.

"Um.. butterflies?" she said quietly. They kept swirling. "Butterflies, listen, please." She said a bit louder. They still didn't notice. She closed her eyes and braced herself. "Butterflies!" she yelled as she snapped her eyes open. Suddenly, they stopped, staring into her huge eyes. They had a rainbow swirl reflected in their eyes as well. "Now, hurry, go and save that bunny!" she marched them towards the pond. They scooped down into the water and quickly returned with a small bunny. It was soaking wet but had the cutest white fur. It slowly opened its eyes and sat up. It coughed out some water and then turned to Fluttershy. It held its arms out. She picked it up and it scurried into her hair. It shivered but the fell asleep. She looked into the pond. It was deep but she could see the bottom. It was glowing. That's what must have been reflecting in the little angel's eyes… Wait… Angel. That's what she would call her. Or him… either way.

"But what was glowing in the butterflies' eyes?" Fluttershy thought. She stared at her reflection. Nothing out of the ordinary. Her eyes flashed. "Except for that.." she thought. She turned a bit. Still the bruises. She turned the opposite way and saw the multiple bruises once more. But, there was something else this time. It… it was glowing! Just like the pond! Right on her rear end! They both started fading. The pond's bottom only left behind dirt… but, on her rump, there was a stunning, beautiful, amazing… cutiemark! Three cutsie, wutsie butterflies, spreading their beautiful wings! Maybe she was overreacting, maybe she shouldn't tell anybody and just wait till they notice…

"I got my cutiemark!" She ran through town, the sleeping bunny buried in her hair, screaming her head off. Doctor W. told her not to strain herself with going to school so she hadn't gone that day. But it was still in session! She ran into the classroom. "I got my cutiemark!" she screamed at the class. Once she realized she had yelled in class, she hid herself with her tail. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Cheerilee, I'm sorry I yelled… I- I'm just excited…" Fluttershy crept inside and sat in her seat. The whole class was gaping.

"Um… that's quite alright, Fluttershy. Would you come up here, please?" Mrs. Cheerilee asked. Fluttershy crept up, blushing up a storm. "Would you like to elaborate?" she asked. Fluttershy looked surprised. But she talked like no other. The whole classed cheered at her heroism. Rainbow Dash even hoof bumped her. She had never had a hoof bump. She was so happy with all of the class finally excepting her. And she was never teased again.

Hey, everypony. Sorry it's been a while since I posted another chapter of My Little Pony: Short Stories. School is starting tomorrow so I have been at a rush. I hope you understand. I'll go ahead and tell you that this chapter is about Applejack and partially about Rainbow Dash. Hope you enjoy it! –PP

Applejack's Apple Cider Blowout!

"*huff**huff**pant**pant*" Applejack gasped as she busked the apple tree with her hind legs.

"Honey, can you take them here apples down to the cellar for juicin' later?" Granny Smith asked.

"Sure thing, Gran-gran!" said Applejack, bucking off of the tree. After she was done she walked through the barn with the two baskets of apples. She walked passed Applebloom, toddling around with the 'CutieMark Crusaders'. They were jumping into haystacks, causing hay to fly about in the barn. She opened the cellar door and headed down the stone steps.

"Su-sure is creepy down here…" Applejack said nervously. "*burr*" She shivered. "It's sure cold, too." She bit down on a lantern and lit the wick of the candle inside. She waved it around into the shadows. "Good, no one's down here." She said, still a little skeptical. She turned a corner into the cider room.

"Ahhhhh!" She screamed, coming face to face with an unknown pony. She tripped backwards and apples went flying everywhere. One of the baskets fell on to her head. She couldn't see anything. The mysterious figure lifted the basket out of her eyes. "Oh! Oh, Big Mac, it's just you…" she said, blushing in embarrassment.

"Yep." He said. He helped her up and they gathered up the apples for pressing. Afterwards, he motioned for her to go upstairs. He followed closely behind. She headed happily to bed.

The Next Day…

Applejack woke to Applebloom's shriek.

"Oh no!" the filly screamed. "The cider's gone! It's all gone…" Applejack raced downstairs to the cellar. She gasped, eyes widening.

"No…!" she screamed. "Wh-why would anyone steal our cider?!" She started to tear up. All the hard work… gone to waste… Granny Smith rushed to the aid. She put her arm around Applejack and led her away. Two hundred barrels of cider… gone! Eight hundred apple trees, all of the apples stripped from them, just gone! "Why would anyone steal our cider?" Applejack thought. She broke away from Granny Smith and rushed into town. She knew one person that might have something to do with it.

"Rainbow Dash, there you are! Do you know anything about our stolen cider?" she asked.

"What!? Stolen cider?! But- but what about my drink of the day?! I didn't have one yesterday… I just need one today!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she shook Applejack's shoulder. Applejack slowly took her hands off.

"Whoa, there. Calm yourself…! We're going to catch whoever did this. And we need to do it soon… like, tonight, because there is a huge demand fur some cider." She said.

"Well, duh there's a huge demand for cider… From me!" Rainbow Dash yelled, pointing to herself.

"Well, it's settled then. We set out to catch the Cider Stealer tonight." And with that they prepared.

Later That Night…

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were all suited up, wearing the darkest clothes they could find to creep through the night. They were to catch the Cider Napper! That's what Dash called it, at least. Applejack had other names for him like, "That no good fricca-frassin cider snatchin' weirdo…!" and a few other names or remarks that she had to keep to herself. They strapped flashlights to their heads and set out into the forest. Applejack began to worry.

"Oh, this is freakin' me out… What if we don't find this here 'Cider Napper'? What if he starts to steal other ponies' stuff l-like… Fluttershy's flowers… Er Pinkie's balloons… er-" Rainbow Dash cut her off.

"I ain't worried about nothin'. He ain't gonna steal anything on my watch." Rainbow Dash said, pounding her fist into her hoof.

"But we ain't in Ponyville. We're out in the forest. What if he steals your protective wing covers while we're gone?" She asked. Rainbow Dash gulped at the thought.

"Well, we got to find him and if he does take our stuff, we'll take it back." Rainbow Dash said, grinning. They heard a rustle from the bushes.

"Show yourself, Cider Napper!" Applejack shouted. A tall figure walked out of the bushes, its mane glistening in the moonlight. The lengthy zebra appeared out of the brush.

"Zecora?!" Rainbow Dash and Applejack shouted in unison.

"No 'Cider Napper' am I, I left a note to buy, I'm sorry I took you by surprise, but I have nothing left to hide." She said. She whipped her mane out of her eyes. "I can read your aura, since I am the witch, Zecora, I needed the cider for auras and illusions, please forgive me for my intrusions." Zecora explained. Afterwards she explained with every detail possible of how she had needed the cider that night so had gone down into Applejack's cellar and took the barrels to her home. On her last trip to leave the money and note, she noticed one barrel that she had not gotten. As she was picking it up, she hit her head on the shelf and dropped the barrel, causing the top to fall off and wash away her letter. In a hurry she had no time to clean it up and did not notice that the letter had washed under the shelf. She paid the full fee for the cider since the other money had most obviously been ruined.

"Thank you so much for the money, Miss Zecora, but how am I gonna get all that cider ready for all them ponies in town? I mean, that's at least 5 months to get half the cellar full… and we'll need the whole town to get all the apples by winter…" Applejack asked, very worried.
"I think I have the solution for this confusion." Said Zecora, smiling. "Now run along, get to bed. You have a long day ahead." The ponies hadn't even noticed that that they were already back at the barn. They eagerly headed to the hay loft and had a long, restful sleep.

The Next Day…

Rainbow Dash woke up to clapping, chanting, and interesting sounder gargling noises.

"Applejack…" she paused to yawn. "Wake up, dude." She said sleepily.

"Nnnnn…" Applejack moaned. She yawned too. "What's that sound?" she finally asked.

"I don't know… let's check it out." Rainbow Dash said, flying out the window. Applejack followed down the staircase. They walked outside to find Zecora and a bunch of other ponies, Granny Smith, Big Mac, and The CutieMark Crusaders among them. They walked to them. Just as they reached the crowd, a large cauldron shot up from the ground and began pouring a substance all over the trees. Suddenly, the whole orchard was filled with red as apples started filling the trees. The entire trees! Invisible hands of some sort started putting them in baskets and taking them down to the cellar for squeezing. Then, the full barrels started flying out of the cellar and being stacked onto eachother in a gigantic pyramid. It had to be 50 feet tall! Once all the trees were growing normally, the stacking stopped.

` "Oh! My! Gosh! I have never seen so much cider in my LIFE!" Rainbow Dash said, flying up to the top barrel and popping a nozzle in it. She let cider drizzle into her mouth. Applejack turned to Zecora.

"Thank you." She said.

"You are very welcome, Applejack. Did you know you have a full cellar stacked?" Zecora asked, a big smile on her face. Applejack smiled back.

Hay, everypony! I am unbelievably sorry about not posting in so long! But school has been rough so I am now to give you a short story (a very short story, actually) called Rarity's One True Love. I hope you like it! It's one of my favorites so far. Thanks for reading! -PP

Rarity's One True Love

A Very Short Story

"Another dress," Rarity said. She paused to yawn. "finished. I will work on another," She yawned again. "in the morning." She walked over to her supply drawer and put her needle and rainbow thread in. "Oh, look," she said closing the drawer and opening the rest. "I have no more supplies. I'll pick up some… in… the… morning." When she finally finished her sentenced, she climbed into her bed and tucked herself in. She was sleeping for barely a minute until she flung the covers off her and bolted over to her drawers. "WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL MY SUPPLIES?!" she screamed as she threw all the empty drawers on the floors. One landed over her cat, Opalescence. The small Persian cat clawed and hissed from the inside of the see through drawer. Rarity looked around frantically. Her eyes stopped on Opal. "Oh, I'm sorry, Opal, my baby!" She said, lifting the drawer. The mad cat slashed her claws a last time and ran out of the room. Rarity to continued to trash her room while looking for her supplies. When she finally tore up her whole room, out of pure exhaustion, she went to sleep. She tossed and turned, hoping that the store would be open in the morning. She woke up, still with the lack of supplies on her mind. She looked at her clock. "Good, only nine." she thought. She still briskly ran to 'Quills and Sofas'. Rarity knew that they only sold quills and, well, sofas, but she knew that they must have some chic sofa covers. She didn't have the time to make her own. She went so fast she ran right into the automatic doors before they opened! She ran to the clerk and asked, "Where are your finest fabrics?" The clerk, while chewing on a big wad of gum, rolled her eyes and answered in monotone,

"They're on the last isle way. We just got a new stock."

Rarity, now knowing she had some time to spare, leisurely walked down to the sofa covers. There, standing in the middle of the isle examining the sofa cover dyes. He noticed her out of the corner of his eye and turned to her. He was instantly in love, her beautiful purple mane glistening. Rarity was instantly in love, too. She started galloping toward the boy. He held out his arms, preparing for her to leap in his embrace. He closed his eyes and waited… but nothing seemed to happen. He opened them and turned around. There she was, cuddling with the fabric.

"This is what love must be like." She ran off with the materials, leaving the poor stallion just standing there.

Hay, everypony. This is part of a chapter I am uploading for you all because I have been slacking off, but, the downside is that this is just half a chapter. Sorry! But, I hope you guys enjoy. I will extend the chapter soon! P.S.~ I hope you guys like the ship FlutterCord!

When Discord had awoken that very morning, he was so excited! It was Thursday, which meant tea time with Fluttershy! He bounced to get ready, making sure he looked presentable before he left. Brushing his teeth with creamed newt, putting a beautifully dastard looking bow tie around his neck. He slicked his hair back with the grease of the tar springs, making him look even more vile. But, that's the way he liked it, thinking that he looked perfect for this special occasion. Little did Fluttershy know, this tea time was very special to Discord, hence him getting all dolled up. He happily pranced through the Everfree forest, eager to get to Fluttershy's homey cottage. Ponyville finally in sight, Discord was suddenly stricken with nervousness. He didn't know why. He was always confident in himself. But yet, he had never reached an epidemic such as this. His usual days of himself being confident were just full of the normal deeds. Strutting through Ponyville, Manehattan, and other parts of Equestria, the little ponies constantly cowering in fear of him. Singing his carols of terror to all of his 'subjects' to hear (mostly just rocks and insignificant little creatons). But this… was… important, he could say. But what was more odd to him was that he was nervous of Fluttershy. He never got nervous around Fluttershy. She was so innocent, so… pretty, so- well, those were the best words to describe her in his mind. Not at all nerve wracking. But the more Discord thought of her, the more nervous he got about his upcoming endeavor. He shook his head, trying to get his eager mindset back. He skidded to a hault, not noticing he was already at the cottage. He gulped and inched towards the door. He held in hand in front of the door, ready to knock. It seemed like an eternity later when he realized that he couldn't bring himself to knock. The door suddenly swung open.

"AGHHHH!" he screamed as he fell backwards, startled by the door opening. He sighed in relief as Fluttershy appeared in the doorway, still breathing heavily.

"Oh my, I am dearly sorry, Discord. I saw you out the window and I thought I'd open the door for you. Again, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Fluttershy stuck out her hoof for Discord to take, hovering above him. Discord, a bit dazed, took her hoof. Fluttershy heaved him to his feet.

"I'm fine, peachy actually." Discord replied, trying to keep their moods up.

"Oh, okay. That's good. Would you like to come in? The animals are eager to see you as always." Fluttershy said with a soft smile. But, Discord knew that 'eager to see' was Fluttershy's way of saying 'cowering in the corner'... as always.