Tree Hugger rolled her head back, earning a small crack from her neck.  She inhaled slowly, taking in the typical earthy scents of her home.  Around her, a wide assortment of plants dotted the room, from ferns to ficuses, daisies to daffodils, and even a bonsai tree that sat proudly in the center of her kitchen table.  

Behind her, some sage she had lit earlier wafted through the air, tickling her nose.  Tree Hugger smiled, glad she had remembered to place that earlier in the day to help clean out her chakras.

One scent that stood out, however, was the sweet aroma of baking brownies.  It permeated the room, originating from the oven a mere three feet in front of her.  Tree shifted her head down, red tangles falling into her field of view as she glanced at the treats.  She wasn’t a gifted chef by any stretch of the word, but right now she was wishing she knew enough to tell if they were done.  It wouldn’t be radical to treat her guest to burned brownies.

Tree Hugger glanced up at the clock she kept on the wall.  “Four-twenty,” she read aloud, a twinge of worry slipping into her mellow tone.  She glanced to the door.  “Fluttershy’s a little late.”

Worry hammered away at her, and Tree Hugger could see her aura shimmer slightly blue because of it.  This was the first time she’d ever invited her friend over and she wanted nothing but good vibes for it, but if Fluttershy didn’t even show...

Whoa whoa, just chill Tree Hugger, I’m sure she’ll be here in no time.  She inhaled deeply, soothed by the unlikely pleasant mixture of plants, sage, and brownies.  The blue faded from her aura, restoring it to it’s usual vibrant green state.

“Righteous.”  Just gotta keep the vibes mellow.

All of a sudden there was a knock at the door.

“Double righteous.”  Tree Hugger trotted out her kitchen toward her front door, brushing past the magnolia tree in her living room.  She opened the door and was greeted by the bashful smile of Fluttershy.  “Good to see you, Flutters.”

“Hello, Tree Hugger.  I’m sorry I’m so late, it took me a little while to fly to the top of the mountain.”

“It’s all cool.  The hike up is a bit of bummer I guess, but what can I say?  I dig being so high.”

“Mind if I come in?”

Tree Hugger stepped aside.  “Of course man, I wouldn’t invite you to my pad just to make you chill outside the whole time.”

“Thank you.”  Fluttershy walked in, but glanced back outside.  “You know, you have an awful amount of weeds in your front lawn.  You might want to do something about them.”

“Nah, they’re pretty cool.  Weeds have good vibes, you know?”

“Well yes, sure.  I just mean that they might be a little harmful to your grass is all.”

Tree Hugger shrugged.  “Nah, nah.  Weed, grass, they’re fine.  To me they just seem like two different ways of describing the same thing, you know?”

Fluttershy offered a smile.  “Well, as long as you’re not too concerned.  Thank you for inviting me over by the way.  I have to admit, after that whole fiasco at the Grand Galloping Gala, I thought you might be a tad… hesitant to stay my friend.”

Tree Hugger tilted her head.  “Why?  What was so bad about the Gala?”

Fluttershy blinked.  “Um… Discord tried to banish you to another dimension?”

“Oh right, right, that guy.  Yeah, it’s no biggie.  He got pretty mellow after we hashed out a rhythm together.”

“Good, I’m glad you’re not upset.”  She inhaled slightly.  “My, what’s that delightful smell?”

Turning to the kitchen, Tree Hugger smiled.  “Oh, that’s probably the brownies.  I hope they’re still good.  They’ve been in the oven so long that they’re probably blazing.”

“Oh I don’t think they’re too baked,” Fluttershy replied, following her nose toward the kitchen.  “They smell just fine.  Though we probably should get them out now so they can cool off.”

“Far out.”

They made their way to the kitchen, Fluttershy taking it upon herself to find an oven mit and pull the brownies out.  Tree Hugger licked her lips as the oven door popped open.

“My, they look lovely,” Fluttershy commented as the metal pan scraped against the bottom of the oven.  “You did a wonderful job on these, Tree Hugger.”

“It was nothing,” she replied, smothering her pride.  Fluttershy’s praise was always nice to get, but she refused to allow it to stroke her ego.  The last thing she needed was a denser aura.

“I’ll just let these cool down for a little bit, then we can eat.”  Fluttershy rested the pan on the stove, and flicked the oven off.

A sharp bark penetrated the room, and both mares whirled around.  A beagle puppy dashed through the room and all but tackled Fluttershy, licking her like deranged hyena and barking like too.

“Oh my!”  Fluttershy giggled as she knelt down to pet the pup.  “So I take this is the new dog you’ve been telling me about?”

“Yup, this radical little girl is Mary-Jane.”  Tree Hugger bent down and stroked the beagle behind her ear.  “She’s seems to really dig you.”

Fluttershy giggled as Mary-Jane licked her face.  “Aww she’s so affectionate.”

“I’m glad you were able to get a get a good flow with her so quickly.”  Tree Hugger giggled.  “She was such a hoofful when I first got her though.  She kept getting into all the pot.”

“Oh, you mean she was messing with some of your plants?”  Fluttershy asked, glancing around the greenhouse of a kitchen.

Tree Hugger nodded slightly.  “Yeah, that too.  It was a bit of a bummer, but we got into our own little rhythm before too long.”  

Fluttershy blinked as Mary-Jane nuzzled her cheek.  “O-kay…”  She coughed.  “So uh, what do you want to do?”

“Well I kinda assumed we’d eat brownies together.”

She giggled.  “Yeah, I know that.  I meant after we eat them.”

“Oh, we’ll probably be flying after that.”

Fluttershy blinked again, even more nonplussed.  “But you don’t have any wings.”

With a slow laugh, Tree Hugger smiled.  “Yeah…”

Mary-Jane wiggled out of Fluttershy’s grasp and bounded around excitedly.  “Well, it certainly seems like we should spend a little time with Mary-Jane.”

“I figured we’d do that.”  Tree Hugger grinned.  “Think the brownies are ready?”

“Oh probably.”  They pushed themselves off the floor, Mary-Jane whining slightly, wanting more attention.  She got a pet on the head for her effort, and excitedly leaped up when she saw the two mares go for the brownies.

“Ah, come on MJ, you know dogs can’t have what’s in there.”  Tree Hugger patted her pup on the back.  “It would really harsh your mellow.”

Fluttershy nodded.  “She’s right, chocolate isn’t good for dogs, Mary-Jane.  Forgive me for being blunt, but you can’t have any.”

Mary-Jane whined a little, but saw the reason in Fluttershy’s argument.  She resigned herself to lying down, expectantly awaiting more puppy love from the two mares.

“Let’s hurry up and eat.”  Tree Hugger suggested, pulling a brownie out of the tray.  It’s warmth radiated through her hoof.  “I’ve got the munchies just thinking about ‘em.”

“I’m feeling a little peckish too, honestly.  This was a really good idea.”  Fluttershy singled out a brownie for herself.

Tree Hugger dove into hers, the first bite a delightful mixture of fluffiness and chocolate, along with her own personal touch that was easily recognizable.  Her aura practically shivered pink at the taste.  She looked over to Fluttershy to see how her friend was doing.

Surprisingly, a look of discomfort was plastered on her face.  She chewed her first bite awkwardly, turning the brownie over and over along her palate, seemingly perplexed by something.  Undoubtedly to just be polite, she swallowed the first bit and finished off the rest of the brownie before choosing to voice her concerns.

“Um, Tree Hugger?”  Fluttershy wiped the crumbs from her face.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I… uh… don’t mean to be rude, but these brownies tasted really… funny.”

Tree Hugger polished off hers before responding.  “Yeah don’t worry ‘bout it.  It’s probably the marijuana that was harshing the flavor.”

“I… uh, what?”  Fluttershy’s eyes shot open wide.  “What?”

Tree Hugger laughed slowly.  “Yeah, I put a bunch of pot in the brownies.  Figured you’d want to have a good time for your first visit at my place.”

Fluttershy looked from the brownies to Tree Hugger, her face paling.  “O-oh my…”

“I know right?  Prepare for all the good vibes, Flutters.”

Fluttershy’s pupils shrunk, and already Tree Hugger could see a tint of red forming in the whites of her eyes.

“Righteous.”

Two hours later, the licked clean brownie tray sat in between the two mares as they reclined on Tree Hugger’s couch.  At first, Fluttershy had gone into a full on panic attack, knowing she was about to be stoned.  Mary-Jane had cowered in the corner while Tree Hugger had to calm her down.

It had ended abruptly when the hunger kicked in, transforming Flutttershy’s panic into a drive for food.  Unfortunately — or fortunately, given hindsight  — the only thing close and edible at the time were the rest of the brownies.  Despite Fluttershy’s consternation with the idea, she eventually gave in to the hunger and they plowed through the remainder of the brownies, cannabis and all.

“I just feel like…”  Fluttershy blinked slowly.  “Like I’m too shy sometimes, you know?”

“No.”  Tree Hugger’s head flopped to the side.  “When have you ever been shy?”

“Well, it was… like, this one time, I met this mare, right?”

“Who was it?”

“Twilight.”

“Radical.”

“Anyway, she asked me what my name was, and all I could do was mumble into my mane.”  Fluttershy brushed a few pink strands over her lips and spoke softly, “kinda like this.”

Tree Hugger nodded, eyes glued to her friend.

“The oddest part is I can’t even remember what made me so shy around her.  Even after we became friends.  Actually, I’m still a little shy around all my friends come to think about it.”

“Sounds like something’s harshing your mellow.”

“Exactly.”  She rubbed her eyes, and blew her hair away from her mouth.  “I just don’t know what.”

“Hmm…”  Tree Hugger squinted.  “Maybe you have a deep-seated psychological fear of speaking out, brought about by years of conflicting emotional turmoil and a traumatic childhood experience that’s ingrained this feeling of helplessness into your psyche.”

“...maybe I just need more protein in my diet,” Fluttershy mused.

Tree Hugger rocketed upright.  “Dude.”

“What?”

“That is totally it!”

Fluttershy looked up at the ceiling.  “I feel like we just made a breakthrough.”

Tree Hugger nodded.  They sank further into the couch, their thought process propelled by the softness of the cushions.

“This “getting stoned thing” was a good idea, Treezie.”

“Thanks, it’s really good for mellowing out.”  She stretched a little, then took notice of her hoof.  Bringing it close enough to touch her snout, Tree Hugger waved it back and forth slowly.  “Whoa.”

“You’re hoof look funny again?”

Tree Hugger gave an open-mouth nod.  “This is like, the fifth time today.”

“Crazy.”

Tree Hugger continued to stare at her hoof, waving it back and forth monotonously.  “Far out.”

“So what about you?”  Fluttershy asked.

“Huh?”  Tree Hugger abandoned her hoof, letting it drop to her side as she turned.

“Yeah, what’s your deal?”

“My deal?”

“Yeah, like…”  Fluttershy adjusted herself.  “I’m shy and stuff, so what’s your deal?”

“Oh.”  Tree Hugger’s eyes lazily darted around.  “Well I’m not shy.”

“Yeah… yeah no.”  Fluttershy giggled.

“I guess I don’t really have a deal then.”

“Maybe…”  Fluttershy turned forward, then back again.  “Maybe your deal is… you’re a hippie.”

“What?”  Tree Hugger laughed.  “I’m not hip.”

“But you act just like one.”

“Phssh, noooo…”  Tree Hugger grinned.  “You’re crazy.”

“You’re crazier, you hippie.”

“Whoa, harsh.  Name one thing about me that screams hippie.”

Fluttershy blinked slowly.  “You’re the only pony I know that has marijuana.”

Tree Hugger froze, her eyes wide.  She stayed still for several seconds, with only the rise of her chest to indicate she was still alive.  Eventually her head fell back on the couch.  “Oh my gosh, I’m a hippie.”

Fluttershy giggled.  “Told you.”

“Dang Fluttershy… you know me better than I know myself.”  Tree Hugger bit her lip.  “It’s like, we have this vibe, that connects the two of us.  You feel me?”

Fluttershy put her hoof on Tree Hugger’s shoulder.  “Now I do.”

Tree looked to the ceiling, and reached up.  “There’s like, this cosmic energy that binds us, and made us friends, you know?  And it’s just up their, swirling, with a mellow all it’s own and we’re down here, blazing to our own mellow.”  She moved her hoof back and forth to represent the swirling of the cosmic forces at work.  “And it’s all just… so groovy.”

“That was so poetic, Tree Hugger.”  Fluttershy yawned.

Tree’s hoof stopped swaying, and she brought it down closer to her face.  Fluttershy pressed her lips together.

“Does you hoof look funny again?”

“Yeah…”  Tree Hugger squinted, and touched her nose.  “This is like… the fifth time today.”

“That’s nice.”

They heard several barks erupt from the kitchen, followed by several clacks of paws making contact with the tile.

“I think Mary-Jane found my weed stash.”  Tree Hugger peered past Fluttershy and into the kitchen.

“Oh my, should we stop her before she eats any?”

“Nah, I keep it on the top shelf of the cabinet, and she can’t reach that yet.  She’ll just jump around and try to get if for a while.”

“Okay…”

They sat in silence for two seconds, though in their current state it felt closer to two hours.

“You need to come over more often,” Tree Hugger decided.  “This was radical.”

Fluttershy smiled.  “Yeah.  And maybe we could invite Discord too?”

“Sure, I bet his stand-up would be like, groovier when we’re stoned.”

Laughter bubbled out of Fluttershy before she could stop it.  “Yeah…”

"Oh, and The Smooze too.  We could totally, like, bliss out together again."  Tree Hugger sucked in a deep breath, and began preforming her Sonic Bliss song, screeching out soothing sounds as her lip vibrated.  Fluttershy giggled at the sight of it.  “Aw man."  Tree Hugger stopped her song.  "I just realized my aura's like, all kinds of yellow... I think I'm still hungry."

Fluttershy poked her belly, feeling hollow herself.  "Yeah, me too."

"...More pot brownies?"

A dopey smile spread on Fluttershy's face.  "Absolutely."