Author's Note: This takes place shortly after the events of the season 4 episode "Bats!" I hope you enjoy this story, which, compared to my others, is quite dark. Please, read, review and tell me how to better myself.
I looked through the journal one last time, reading over the events of the previous week. It was still hard to believe that I had turned into a bat. I grabbed hold of Angel, squeezing him tightly to let him know that I would never hurt him.
"That was crazy, wasn't it Angel?" I asked him. "Imagine what would have happened if the girls didn't fix me?"
"Probably nothing." he said. "You were only after apples, Fluttershy. Nothing too serious happened, except Applejack lost her giant contest apple. Don't know why she cares so much. If it were a carrot, on the other hoof…"
"Maybe I am being a little silly." I said, stomach growling. I was as hungry as a horse. "Let's go get something to eat, Angel. I'm starving."
"No way am I going out unless there are some top-grade carrots involved."
"I know a place where we can find the biggest, tastiest carrots in all of Equestria." I said, scooping him onto my back. He didn't fight, which was as close to agreement as I would ever be able to get him. We trotted to Ponyville from my tiny little cottage by the Everfree Forest, then we made our way to a restaurant in the middle of town. We sat down at one of the outdoor tables and a nice stallion came by to take our orders. I was in mid-sentence when Applejack walked past, toting a cart of apples.
"Howdy, Fluttershy." she said. I said nothing as I watched her walk by, my eyes resting on her Cutie Mark and, eventually, on what she was carrying.
"Fluttershy!" said Angel, stomping his foot on my back. "Are you alright?"
"Oh. Sorry." I said quietly, so that only he would hear.
"Is everything okay, sugarcube?" asked Applejack, stopping her cart.
"Sorry Applejack. Everything's fine. How… are you?" I asked, mouth drooling slightly.
"Oh, Ah'm fine. Got a heaping orchard full of work to do, though. Ah'm afraid sales aren't doin as well as we hoped this harvest, we had to let some of our farmhooves go, ya know, for economical reasons." she said, sorrow rising in her voice.
"I'm sorry to hear that." I said, although I was having trouble remembering what she said. All I could think about were those apples. Then, an idea sparked in my head. "I know! I'll buy some apples from you!"
"What?"
"I'll buy some apples so that you won't have to fire your help."
"So, you're tryin to buy enough apples to balance out such a horrible harvest?" she asked. I nodded. "Ya realise that you would have to buy 50 bushels of apples, plus 13 barrels of cider for that to work?"
"How much will it be?" I asked.
"1000 bits." she said, after thinking about it for a moment.
"I'll write a check." I said, pulling out my checkbook. I wrote a check for the proper amount and handed it to Aj. She looked at it in disbelief, then gave it back to me.
"Ya must be crazy if ya think Ah'm gonna accept this. This must be half your life savings." she said.
"I insist. You need this money, I need some apples, what could go wrong here?" I asked, shoving the check back into Aj's hoof. "It's all my fault, anyway. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have to give up your award winning apple, and you would've had some prize money from the contest."
"Don't think like that, now, it wasn't yer fault." said Applejack.
"In any case, I feel responsible. Please, just take it." I said, stomach audibly growling.
"Fluttershy!" shouted Angel. "What are you doing?! 1000 bits to help a friend? Are you the Element of Kindness or Generosity. Oh, I know. You're the Element of Stupid!"
"Please, just take the money, Aj." I said, ignoring Angel. "It's not like this is a gift. I'm paying for something."
"So we're having an equal trade, right?" asked Applejack worriedly. "Ah'm not jippin you, am I?"
"Nope. This is totally fair."
"Hmm. Alright." she said, accepting the check. "But Ah'm throwin in an extra barrel of cider."
"Rainbow Dash will be happy with that." I giggled. "When should I come pick them up?"
"Well, you don't have to come at all. Big Mac normally handles the big deliveries, but ah suppose he'll need some help figurin out where you live."
"I'm sure he remembers." I said.
"Remembers? He's gone before?"
"All the time, when we were dating." I said.
"What?! You and Mac? When? How?"
"A couple years back. After I fell from Cloudsdale, I went to a Ponyville high school. I met Mac and we became friends. After a couple of months, he asked me out."
"Why did ya break up, if ya don't mind me pryin. Did ya dump him? Did he dump you? Ah swear, if he hurt you, it's not too late for me to kick his flank."
"No, no, Applejack, it wasn't like that." I chuckled. "It was mutual. We started talking about the future, what we saw ourselves doing in ten years. Obviously, he told me about the farm. I don't really have the physique to work on a farm. He said that he couldn't leave the farm, I told him I couldn't work on the farm, and we decided to break up before we got too attached. We're still friends."
"Ah don't know how Mac never thought to mention that he went out with one of mah best friends." said Applejack. "Ah think we should ask him bout it."
"Oh, no, please don't!" I exclaimed. "If he didn't bring it up, it's probably because he doesn't want to talk about it. Don't make him if he doesn't."
"Fine. You comin to escort Big Mac?"
"Hmm… I'll go the long way." I said. "It's a beautiful day, and I could go for a walk."
"Alrighty. See ya soon." said Applejack, trotting away, leaving me alone at the table with an annoyed waiter and an angry rabbit.
"Sorry, sir." I said to the waiter. "We won't be ordering anything after all."
"What was that?!" shouted Angel. "Are you crazy?! What happened to carrots?"
"Sorry, Angel, but this is really important. I need those delicious, juicy, sweet apples." I said, salivating at the mere thought. I got up and began the walk to Sweet Apple Acres. Angel sat on my back in silence, ignoring my attempts at conversation. He seemed really upset.
"Sorry Angel." I said, for about the thousandth time. "Don't be mad at me."
"I'm not mad." he said. "I'm just really confused. Why would you spend all that cash on apples?"
"I need apples." I said simply.
"50 bushels of apples? Are you sure about that?" asked Angel.
"It'll be fine, Angel." I said, slowing to a halt. My stomach was acting up. "You know what, Angel? I'm not feeling too well. Let's go back home." We turned away and headed back home. When we got to the cottage, I was shocked to see somepony was already inside.
"Hello, Fluttershy." said Twilight, reading through a book. "I've been looking all over for you."
"You have? What for?" I asked, stooping down to let Angel off of my back.
"I wanted to scan you again. Come here." she said. I paused in front of Twilight as she pointed her horn at me, bathing me in purple light. Once the light faded, she looked back into her book.
"Did that give you what you wanted?" I asked.
"Hm… Sort of. I was looking to see if the bat characteristics were completely gone." said Twilight.
"Is it?" I asked.
"Um… I don't know."
"Some help she is." said Angel.
"Be nice." I replied.
"What did he say?" asked Twilight.
"Nothing." I lied. "What about that scan?"
"Well, it says that you're not a bat anymore, something we already knew. It also says that you're different from other pegasi. I can't put my hoof on it, but something is off about you. Have you experienced any unusual symptoms?"
"I've been having weird stomach aches and I've been really, really hungry. I've been in the mood for some apples really bad lately."
"That's to be expected." said Twilight. "I guess there's nothing to do except wait for something to happen."
"Am I going to be okay?" I asked worriedly.
"I'm sure you'll be fine." she said, packing her book up. She walked out of the cottage, waving goodbye.
"Remind me why you're friends with her again? She was no help at all." said Angel, hopping on top of my head.
"She's trying her best. She's never even seen something like this before. Like she said, I'm going to be fine." I said, stomach grumbling louder than my voice.
A few hours later, Big Macintosh arrived with a small cart filled with the apples and cider. I thanked him, gave him a tip of a couple of bits, then pushed all the apples into my kitchen. After that, I took a shower and went to bed. In the morning, I woke up in the empty apple cart, surrounded by cores. Every apple, every last drop of cider was gone. I sat up and nearly choked on the apple core in my mouth. I spit it out and looked around for Angel.
"Angel! Did you eat all these apples?" I asked.
"No. I don't like apples." he replied from the next room.
"That's odd." I said, rubbing my stomach. "Are you hungry? I'm starving."
