Chapter 24 - With 150 Percent More Fluttershy...
"Come on Fluttershy you can do this." She softly coached herself as she found herself standing on the other side of the street from Naruto's home. Sure enough, walking the trail was none other than Naruto who was coming in from his early morning training.
Out of reflex Fluttershy used one of her large wings to cover herself when he began looking around.
Naruto caught sight of the Pegasus and gave her a wave. Taking notice of what she was doing he couldn't help but notice how cute she was. Between her adorable squeaks and demure demeanor it was hard not to notice. So lost in his thoughts he didn't notice his intense gaze caused a blush to deepen on her cheeks.
He took notice of what she was wearing. A lovely floral summer dress that showed off her legs and form and from what he could see her wings were as vibrant and clean as always. Seeing as she was a caretaker of sorts it made sense for Fluttershy to be rather hygienic.
Peeking over her wing Fluttershy took in the stallion's body language having dealt with a lot of bullies because of her shy behavior. Not to mention being the daughter of a military pony Fluttershy found herself a target on multiple fronts. Both the negative experiences from her childhood and her positive interactions with animals had helped her developed a keen sense of another pony's intent.
Her cheeks continued its coloring once she realized the stallion was staring right at her. For a moment she felt like she was going to faint. Swallowing, Fluttershy decided to steel her resolve. Unable to keep eye contact she made her way over to the stallion while doing her best to avoid stumbling and making a joke of herself.
Naruto had come to a stop and waited for Fluttershy to approach him. He took in her appearance and quite frankly he now understood the statement of an angel in a sinful body. Naruto hoped that Fluttershy was going to act positively to the action he was about to do. She had been opening up to him and he was hoping that slowly but surely he could help her out of her shell.
Making the first move, he reached out and brought her into an affectionate hug. "Hey Shy, how was your trip?"
Fluttershy felt herself freeze at the contact. She took a moment to start breathing and allow herself to calm down. 'Its ok. Its Naruto. He won't hurt you. He won't hurt you.' She softly chanted to herself as she accepted the embrace. 'So warm.' She added as an afterthought.
"Good morning, Naruto," She answered, wrapping her arms around him to return the embrace. "It was wonderful." After the Nightmare Moon incident her mother insisted on seeing her so Fluttershy made a trip to Cloudsdale for the weekend.
The hug soon ended, much to the mare's disappointment.
"How are you parents doing?" He asked as Fluttershy started to return to her normal color.
"They're doing well. Both of them are doing their parts in hunting down the criminals that escaped during the incident so both of them are going to be rather busy the next few months."
"Either way, it must have been good seeing your mom again anyway, you here for a visit?"
"Well actually I was hoping you could…um, come with me to gather some herbs and plants from the Everfree Forest, if that's okay with you."
"Sure Fluttershy, are any of the others coming with us?" He asked.
"No, they're all busy with helping in the relief efforts and I thought that maybe I could help with some herbs." For the first time she looked directly at Naruto, though once she realized that her gaze was more than obvious she quickly turned away with a blush.
"Oh, that's ok I guess. Would you like to come in for anything to eat or have you already eaten?"
"I-It's fine, I ate before I came I didn't want to impose."
A warm smile formed on Naruto's face. "You could never impose. Let me grab a few things and I'll be ready to join you." He said as he opened the door and let her inside. "It won't take long." He promised as he trailed upstairs.
Fluttershy patiently waited as she looked around. She had been over to Naruto's home once or twice but she never took time to explore as she never stayed over long enough.
"Alright are you ready to go?" He asked, walking down with a different pair of clothing than what he was wearing earlier. It was a mended version of the training outfit he asked Rarity to make when he first met her. While physically no different than any other outfit he commissioned to the seamstress for this purpose this one held sentimental value for him.
"Y-Yes."
The two walked side by side as Naruto filled her in on some of the events she had missed. It was a shame Fluttershy had to go out of town as her animal expertise would have been rather invaluable during the Ursa Minor attack.
Besides himself, the only other pony who considered going near the Everfree Forest was Fluttershy. Ironically enough considering her timid nature. As such they went into trips to the forest twice prior to now so Fluttershy could expand her collection of herbs.
Even to this day most of the ponies were still wary of the forest. Rumors and stories of what Naruto and the Bearers in the forest had done of course slowly began to go into the territory of extravagance. Then again, considering they faced Timberwolves and a Manticore not to mention Nightmare Moon and her forces the embellished tales themselves did were hard press to match the feet of facing the moon Alicorn in battle.
"So what plants are we looking for?"
"Um," She began in her usual quiet manner. "You remember the usual herbs correct?"
"Yeah, Angelica, Basil, Elderflower and such right?" He asked, listing the herbs off the top of his head.
"Correct, but there are also four other plants we need to find. Knotgrass, a plant with magical properties and used in a lot of potions. They can only be harvested a few times a year and are pretty valuable. Knotgrass is a rather popular export to the nation of Zebrica and how I make a good deal of my income. During our journey to the tower I noticed several of the plants and herbs, so we'll find them a little deeper into the forest."
When Naruto had first met her he wondered if being the town's Veterinarian really did allow her to afford such a living until he learned she regularly sold plants and herbs to supplement her income.
"Next is Gurdyroot and it looks like a green onion. It tastes rather nasty, but it wards off certain skin affections." Fluttershy then let out a gasp and took notice of green onions a few feet away from them. "There's some right there." She pointed out as the two of them went over to collect the plant. Pulling out some gloves from the basket she bought, the two of them put on the gloves before carefully removing the onions from their place. Fluttershy warned him that several of these plants were rather toxic and could be absorbed through the skin if one wasn't cautious enough.
"Then there is Gillyweed, a magical plant that can be found by water sources. I think there might be some near that river we encountered and lastly the Snargaluff, a plant that looks like a gnarled stump and is hidden with vines and I hear it takes more than one pony to harvest because of its dangerous thorns. We have to look for green pulsating pods about the size of grapefruits."
They continued their journey when they came across an animal here or there. Every so often a creature would approach and using her talent, Fluttershy would chat with them.
"It always amazes me whenever you do that." He finally spoke up after a good deal of silence.
"Its nothing really."
"You say that, but unlike a lot of other talents being good with animals is rather one of the more unique ones."
"Well," Fluttershy began. "I suppose it comes natural to me. After all nopony would be able to have and get along with their pets if they couldn't communicate with them to some agree."
"I suppose you're right." He replied as they kept going.
The two continued on this time in silence as they kept a look out for the plants and herbs. Every so often they would stop to pick up some plants. Finally, the two came across a large clearing hidden by the foliage of the Everfree's large tree.
Despite the fact that it was the afternoon the light within the forest always seemed darker than one would normally perceive. They arrived to the river and began picking some of the Gillyweed. "So what else do we need?" He asked, when suddenly a loud and harsh roar echoed from behind the tree line. From behind them appeared none other than a Manticore.
Naruto immediately moved himself between Fluttershy and the Manticore. "Stand back Shy; I won't let this creature hurt you." Naruto quickly drew out the machete that he had strapped to his back. While it wasn't a weapon he was proficient with, some of these creatures had tough hides he didn't wish to damage his hand on.
"No! Don't!" Fluttershy loudly cried out to him as she moved in between the stunned Naruto and the snarling beast. "He doesn't mean any harm." She said as she walked over to the creature. "Isn't that right Mannifred?" She cooed to the creature as she approached it and placed a gentle hoof on its head. The Manticore responded instantly with a low grumble of appreciation, closing its eyes in bliss.
"Manfred?" Naruto echoed with a slack jaw.
"Yes, don't you remember when he had that horrible spell cast on him?" She asked as the realization of this being the same Manticore.
"So, this Manfred is the same Manticore? I always did wonder what happened to him." Naruto asked as he leaned against one of the trees.
"He left shortly after my papa showed up. He's not too keen on dealing with large crowds, poor fella had me worried for a week before he showed up again."
"Well, I'm glad he's ok." Naruto honestly answered. From the account he had got from the mares he really helped them out. "Should we continue our journey?"
"Well, ok." She gave the Manticore a final pat on the head before walking back towards Naruto. "Have you found anypony to spend time with?" Fluttershy couldn't help but gasp at her sudden boldness. "I mean…s-since you live on your own…n-not that theres anything wrong with that." Fluttershy profusely apologized then did that cute little furrowing on her face when she was disappointed in herself.
For a few seconds Naruto was stunned that Fluttershy looked like she was trying to start a conversation before he replied. "It's fine Shy, I know what you're trying to say. I don't have any other living relatives. I'm the last of my line."
"I'm sorry."
"There's nothing to apologize for. Does it hurt to think about my family sometimes, yeah, it kind of does, but then I remember I have some amazing friends and that helps me get through those rather tough and lonely days. So don't ever feel afraid to start a conversation with me ok?"
"Ok." Fluttershy nodded.
Finding the last of the plants they needed the two of them began their trek out of the forest. Naruto was thankful that for once nothing crazy occurred like it usually would from incidents like this. Nearing her cottage, Naruto suggested that the two of them wash up and catch a late lunch considering they hadn't brought anything to eat for the journey.
After making sure all her animals had food left out for them as well as water Fluttershy agreed to the invitation for lunch. It was during their walk to find a restaurant Fluttershy began to notice something. It was the body language of the other mares in town.
The reason why she was picking up on it was rather obvious, seeing as this was the first time Naruto and Fluttershy were in town together. While the Summer Sun Festival did see an increase of male traffic into the town the ration was still heavily in the favor of mare residents.
There were only slim pickings in regards to the stallions in town. Those considered at the top and the most desired were the likes of Big Macintosh secluded to Sweet Apple Acres and Time Turner who was always on the move. Then there were those like Caramel who had a marefriend like Sassaflash who had no interest in starting a herd anytime soon or like the Cakes, who had a monogamous marriage. What followed after that were the like of Bulk Biceps who bulging muscles and general loudness made him difficult to approach and unfortunately enough his tiny wings immediately perpetuated the idea of him being less than ideally equipped along with Thunderlane known for his lechery and being on the lazy side.
So when Naruto came into town he turned more than a few heads. At first it was only a few mares considering his rather scraggy and scrawny state he appeared in town in. Just because the number of males were few didn't mean they didn't have standards after all, but then the months had passed and thanks to the training and his rich diet Naruto began to develop a strong and healthy physique and that drew a lot of attention.
There was also the fact he was rather friendly and seen interacting positively with many of the towns coats and fillies which was a plus. Then there was also the fact he seemed to play hard to get which to this day most didn't realize that until recently and even to a good extent Naruto was actually painfully clueless to the equine body language, often missing many of the cues of interest directed at him and was not in fact playing hard to get. In fact you had to be pretty damn blatant to the point of admitting you were in love with him to get a clue.
A shame he had finally picked up the cues of human women's emotions, only to end up in an Equine society.
Fluttershy on the other hand was not as clueless as the blond when it came to the attention of the other mares. Despite having a nonexistent love life she was taught many things when it came to reading ponies and learning information about them from her mother. And in typical Fluttershy fashion she linked the action to the little creatures she loved so much.
The mares about town were like hungry mice eying fresh berries or nuts. Contrary to popular belief mice actually weren't all that fond of cheese, considering how their teeth were suited for tougher food and the soft substance of cheese wasn't enough to fill the vermin or provided all the nutrients they needed. By the way they were sizing him up, it was apparent that some of them were already making plans to make their move.
After all, single stallions were considered fair game and it was usually always a race to become the stallion's significant other or depending on where you live, more commonly Alpha mare.
After the end of her observation two thoughts came to mind. The first was the nice and atypical sweet part of Fluttershy that concluded they were nice mares looking for love and took notice that Naruto was a nice stallion.
The other and more unusual thought was quick, but just as strong. Spending that day with Naruto was after all the first step and exploring the nature of her feelings for the blond and she wasn't going to lose without a fight.