The Shy and the Knight ch. 2

Chapter 2


As a new morning began, the sun slowly rose over Sweet Apple Acres. A rooster cried out, calling the time of dawn.

In the old barn, the knights rested peacefully; nothing to disturb their slumber. Yorkshire opened his eyes, being the first to wake up. He yawned silently and quietly smacked his lips. He raised his head to look around. He saw that his older fellow knights were still heavily asleep. Penarth was sleeping on his back with his legs bent, standing in the air, his mouth open with his tongue hanging out. Of course, that was how he always slept after an hour of going to bed.

Yorkshire chuckled quietly. "Oh Penarth, you humorous fool..." he said with a smile. He stood up from his pile of hay and walked off of it. He strapped his belt onto himself with his sword still attached and a carrying bag attached on the other side. He walked to the doors and quietly opened them. He went off outside and closed the door behind him, leaving his comrades to rest longer. He felt his hooves feel the little moist dirt below them. He walked away from the barn and looked around. He saw millions of trees around the farm all filled with red and green apples. "No wonder this place is called Sweet Apple Acres." he said to himself.

"Good morning there!" a familiar voice said behind him.

He jumped in surprise. He quickly pulled out his sword with his mouth, turned around and pointed the tip at whoever was behind him ready to fight. He saw that it was Applejack behind him.

She jumped back, freaking out seeing a sword pointing right at her. "Hey! Watch it with that thing!" she yelled at him.

He quickly calmed down and pulled the sword away from her. "I'm really sorry." he said putting away his sword. "I don't like being surprised like that."

"It's okay. You are a knight after all, and knights are always cautious." she walked to a tree where there were baskets sitting around it. She buck kicked the tree hard with her hind legs, making it shake. Apples were then falling into the baskets. "So what're ya doing out here so early?" she asked curiously.

"I'm usually the first to wake up in the morning." he replied. "How about you? What're you doing out so early?" he asked.

She walked to another tree and buck kicked it, knocking the apples down to the baskets. "It's always been my job to knock down the apples from the trees in the mornings." she replied.

He looked around, seeing hundreds of trees everywhere. "You knock down ALL of these apples from ALL of these trees in one day…?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

She laughed. "Of course not! I just knock down a number of apples for the market."

"Oh, I see." he said. "I'm gonna go take a stroll through the town." he started to walk away.

"Hey Yorkshire!" she called to him. He turned around to her. "Think fast!" she kicked an apple to him, making it fly at him.

He quickly opened his mouth and chomped on the apple whole.

"Hoooo-eeee! Nice catching there!" she yelled to him, laughing.

He smiled. "Thanks for the apple! I'll see you later!"

"Good-bye now! Don't pull out your sword to anyone else now, ya hear?"

He laughed. "Yeah yeah, I know!" he again started to walk off onto the road. During his walk, he looked around to see the beautiful sceneries around him. It began to remind him about the beauty of the Pegasus pony he saw before he made himself look like an idiot by tripping on nothing more than a rock. He sighed happily thinking more about her. "If only I could see her again…" he said to himself. "She has made my heart soar through the clouds…"

.  .  .

Later, he arrived in the town of Ponyville walking down the streets. He looked around seeing other ponies setting things up for the morning: flipping the OPEN signs on their shops' doors, pulling out carts of food and other products out onto the street for the market, and setting displays behind their shop windows. "I wonder how busy this town gets when it comes to the morning?" he asked himself. He looked up, seeing a blue Pegasus pony flying swiftly through the sky moving the clouds away from the town, making sure that the day would be clear without any clouds in sight. He then heard a couple of giggles loudly coming from his left. He turned his head to the left seeing two ponies by a bread cart looking at him with lust and blushes on their faces. He smiled to them. "Good morning to you ladies." he said to them as he walked passed them.

The ponies gasped and sighed deeply hearing his young, gentle voice. "Such a handsome knight…" one of them said.

"Much cuter than the other ones." the other whispered, giggling.

Yorkshire continued to stroll through the town until he stumbled onto a large shop called the Carousel Boutique. "This place seems intriguing." he thought. His curiosity got to him and entered the shop, making the bell above the door ring. Inside he discovered that it was a clothes shop. His eyes gazed upon beautifully designed dresses, suits, coats, etc. "Oh my goodness…!" he said to himself. "Who makes all of this stuff?"

"That would be I." a voice said.

He looked around but saw no one. He raised a brow with confusion on his face. "Anyone here?" A curtain was pulled away revealing the owner of the shop. He saw a unicorn pony with a purple curly mane and tail.

"No one else but I, Rarity!" she said, announcing herself dramatically with her eyes closed. She opened them and saw that it was one of the knights from yesterday. "Oh, it's you!" she said with a smile. "You're the one who tripped when you and the others were coming in."

He hung his head down and sighed knowing what she was talking about. "Yeah, that was me… Thanks for reminding me of that embarrassment…" he said in a quiet, straight tone.

"Don't take it so hard, dear." she said sympathetically. "Everyone has their accidents. Is there anything I can do for a young knight like you Mister uh…"

"Yorkshire." he said. "The name is Yorkshire."

"Mr. Yorkshire then. My name is Rarity. Either call me Miss Rarity or just Rarity." she said smiling. "Can I do anything for you?"

"I looked at the outside of your shop and I thought it would be quite nice to have a look inside. And when I came in, I was amazed at all of these fancy outfits that were made." he replied.

"Oh, why thank you! I did design all of these myself." she said showing him the rest of her creations of fashion.

"I could tell. A fine maiden like you would create wonders of art like this." he said.

She immediately blushed and tried to cover it. "Oh my… such words coming from a young pony like you. Do you flirt with all the ladies like this?" she asked, giggling.

He laughed. "Nah, I just like to be nice to girls, that's all."

Calming down mentally, her blush faded away. "Well with words like that, you'll have girls begging to you to be their stallion."

"Well it's like that almost all the time with me and the other knights." he explained. "I get more girls liking me than the others surprisingly, and none of them really interest me."

"Oh really?" she asked, very surprised about his little interest in ladies who adore him very much. She then remembered something from yesterday. "But yesterday, there was something in your eyes. It looked like that you saw something that was very gracious to you."

He immediately blushed and had no attempt to hide it.

"Aha!" she exclaimed with a grin. "You did see a lady that interested you!"

"Well… yes…" he replied, nodding slowly. "It was such innocent beauty that drove my eyes to gaze upon. Her deep ocean blue eyes glistening like a sapphire on a dragon's breast, her yellow coat bright as the sun on a peaceful spring day, and her mane…" he blushed more. "Her long, flowing mane of pink…" he sighed happily thinking more about the Pegasus pony. "If only I were to see her again. My heart lusts for her!"

From hearing his description of the girl he saw, she had a sudden thought of who he was talking about. "Fluttershy!" she exclaimed suddenly.

He looked to her with surprise. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"That girl you saw was Fluttershy! She's a friend of mine!" she replied to him. "Oh, this is so romantic!" she said, blushing not from him, but from the thought of Fluttershy and Yorkshire together as a pair. "The brave, young knight courting the shy girl with such grace..."

"Shy?" he asked curiously.

"Yes." she replied with her blush fading once again. "Fluttershy is a very shy pony. Her voice is always so quiet. The poor thing gets scared from almost everything, even her own shadow." she said, explaining a few facts about her friend.

"Even if she is all of what you described her to be, I must see her again. Please Rarity!" he begged. "Please tell me where I can find her!"

She looked to him and smiled. "I would love to help you." she said. "You can find Fluttershy at a cottage outside of town surrounded by trees and flowers. But let me warn you about something."

He gulped. "Is it bad…?" he asked.

"Oh no!" she replied. "I just want to warn about how you talk to her. With words you speak well with, she could never speak. She would be filled with confusion and nervous pressure. So talk to her with simple words, talk to her normally. Don't try to improvise, alright?"

He thought about what she was saying, but then got the idea and nodded. "Thank you so much Rarity! I am grateful for your assistance! Wish me luck!" he galloped out of the store.

Rarity sighed happily. "Young love…" she said. She then sniffed the air and shuddered with little disgust. "Ugh… brave and young is one thing, but hygienic is another… He could use a breath mint."   

.  .  .

Meanwhile at the library, home of Twilight Sparkle, she and Spike were getting ready to go out. She strapped two bags around her: one on each side. "Okay," she said. "we're going to get some ingredients for this experiment I'm working on. Spike, you got the list?" she asked him.

He lifted up a rolled sheet of paper. "Got it! It's right here!" he said.

"Great. Let's go!" they walked through the door to outside.

"Which ingredient should we get first?" Spike asked looking at the list.

"Well let's try getting the-" she was suddenly cut off by a pony swiftly galloping past her. "What the-?!" she looked to see that the pony was the young knight that zipped past her.

"Sorry!" the knight shouted.

"He should really watch where he's going." Spike said to her.

"It looked like he was in a big hurry for something. But no matter, I'm sure it's none of our busi-"

"Twilight!!!" a voice shouted.

She and Spike looked seeing Pinkie Pie hopping excitedly towards them. "Hey Pinkie, what's going on?" Spike asked.

"Rainbow Dash and I are following that knight!" Pinkie Pie replied with a big smile. "We think he might be up to something!"

"Well it did look like he was in some sort of hurry." Twilight Sparkle said. "But I don't think it's important for us to find out."

"Come on, Twilight." Spike said, tapping her shoulder. "Aren't you at least a little curious of what he might be doing?"

She sighed and nodded. "Why must little curiosity always get to me...?" she asked herself. "Alright, we'll come with you guys."

"Yay!!!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, jumping higher. "This is going to be so much fun! Rainbow Dash! Go see where he went!"

"Got it!" Rainbow Dash replied. She swiftly flew up high in the sky. She stopped at above eight hundred feet and began to scope the perimeter. She the saw the knight galloping down the forest trail. She dove down back to the others. "Found him!" she said. "He's on the forest trail now!"

"Let's get going!" Pinkie Pie yelled. "Rainbow Dash, you go get Rarity and Applejack if they're not so busy and catch up with us!"

She nodded and flew off.

Pinkie Pie quickly began run off with Twilight Sparkle and Spike following.

.  .  .

A little later, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike continued dashing through the forest trying to follow the knight without being noticed.

"Hey Pinkie Pie?" Spike asked. "What gave you the idea of wanting to follow him?"

She laughed. "When he ran past me, he had this huge smile on his face like this!" she replied, showing them a big smile with her teeth showing. "He must've been very happy about something!"

"Huh, I ever expected knights to be very happy about anything." Spike thought out loud.

"Don't be silly, Spike!" she replied, laughing. "Anyone can be happy!"

They then heard hoof beats gallop quietly from behind but started to grow louder. Spike turned his head to see who was coming, but saw that it was Applejack catching up with them. "Applejack! You came!" he said smiling.

"I never miss a round up with you gals!" Applejack said. "Rainbow Dash told me that ya'll are following Yorkshire, am I right?" she asked them.

"Yorkshire?" Twilight Sparkle asked with wonder.

"Ya know the knight you're trying to find? That's his name." she replied.

"Oh, so that's his name!" Pinkie Pie said. "That's a cute name!" she giggled.

"He left the barn a couple of hours ago to wander around town." she explained. "He's pretty polite."

Suddenly Pinkie Pie stopped, causing them to crash into her into a pile. She suddenly got up and shushed them. "There he is!" she whispered, pulling them behind a tree.

They all glanced from behind the tree seeing Yorkshire stopping to see the cottage that Rarity told him about. "Oh wow! This place is huge!" they heard him say. He and they then heard soft humming and singing echoing from the cottage. They looked to Yorkshire and saw him sigh deeply. "Such a beautiful voice…" they heard him speak again. They watched him walk closer to the cottage.

"Uh… gals?" Applejack asked. "Why is he going to Fluttershy's cottage?"

They suddenly heard wings flapping from above. They looked up and saw Rainbow Dash carefully putting down Rarity to the ground.

"Oh!! Goodie goodie!! You two are here!" Pinkie Pie happily said.

"Where did he go?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"He's heading to Fluttershy's place for some reason." Twilight Sparkle answered.

"Huh… why would he go there?"

Rarity scoffed quietly. "Because he's in love, that's why."

They all looked to her with surprised looks on their faces. "In love?!" they asked in unison.

"Yes. He came into my store earlier today and described to me a beautiful girl he saw when he and the knights were coming into our town." she explained. "When he told me, I just knew that he was talking about Fluttershy. So I told him where he could find her and gave him some advice so that he doesn't make her more shy than ever." she sighed happily. "Love is a beautiful thing, isn't it?"

"Wow…" Rainbow Dash said in much surprise. "A guy in love with the shyest pony in Ponyville…? Seriously… wow…"

Pinkie Pie giggled. "This should be good! Come on! Let's take a closer look!" she walked through the trees so that Yorkshire doesn't see her. The others followed her.

Yorkshire followed the beautiful singing. He saw the pink haired, yellow coated Pegasus pony tending to small woodland animals. He watched her sing softly to the birds who were singing along with her. Her voice traveled through his ears, and he sighed more deeply. "Okay… you can do this Yorkshire." he quietly said to himself. "Remember what Rarity said, talk normal to her." he slowly walked closer. As he came closer to her from behind, he felt his heart beating faster, knowing that he would finally meet the girl he loved in person. "Excuse me…?" he asked quietly.

"Hello there, can I help you with anyth-" she asked quietly, turning around. She then saw that it was the knight who saw her in the crowd. Her eyes widened with complete surprise and gasped quietly with her face turning red. "Oh my gosh! It's him!" she thought in her head. "What should I do? What should I say?!" Her heart began to beat fast, seeing the young knight right in front of her.

He gave her a little smile. "Hello… Fluttershy…" he said, blushing a little bit.

"He knows my name!" she thought to herself again. She then fainted right in front of him.

"Fluttershy…?" he asked, tapping his hoof against her side. He gulped with worry. "Uh-oh…" he then began to panic. "Oh jeez, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?!!" he thought out loud.

The girls and Spike watched him freak out from a close range behind a tree. Spike couldn't help but quietly snicker.

"Spike!" Twilight Sparkle said to him in a little harsh tone. "This isn't funny! Poor guy…"

"Ha, you have to admit, that's pretty funny!" he snickered more.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Honestly Spike, laughing at a guy who's trying to speak to a girl but ends up seeing her faint right in front of his hooves. Should we help him?"

"Oh, dear no!" Rarity replied desperately. "He must figure this out himself!"

Pinkie Pie looked at Yorkshire. "Hey! Look what he's doing!"

They all looked and saw Yorkshire quickly picking up a bucket by the river and scooped up some water. He brought it over to the Fluttershy who was still unconscious.

"Don't you dare, boy…" Applejack said to herself, glaring at him from the distance. "Don't you dare…"

They then saw Yorkshire sprinkle a little water on Fluttershy's face.

Fluttershy felt drops of water fall on her face. She slowly began to wake up, opening her eyes. Her vision was blurry at first, but then began to clear up.

"Hey, Fluttershy... are you alright?" he asked with concern.

She looked up, seeing the young knight again. Her eyes widened and started to blush again. She started to gasp more.

"Oh, please don't faint again!" he begged her.

"I-I-I'm sorry…." she quietly said to him blushing more. She began to take a few deep breaths. "I didn't expect to see you here…" she gave him a little smile.

He smiled back and then looked at the house. "You have quite an intriguing house here."

"Thank you..." she said still in a quiet tone. "I really enjoy living here with the animals."

"You an animal lover?" he asked, chuckling.

"Oh, very much." she replied. "I take care of the animals that live here."

"That's very nice of you to do that. I love animals too." he implied.

"Really?" she asked. "I would never expect that from a knight."

He laughed. "What else don't you expect from a knight?" he asked.

She quietly giggled. "I guess your right. Say um…" she blushed again. "would you like to uh… h-have some tea with me…?" she asked nervously, rubbing her front leg with the other.

He blushed as well and smiled. He then gently bowed to her. "It would be an honor to have tea with you." he replied politely.

She sighed heavily and smiled. "Please tell me your name, fellow knight." she said. "I would like to know yours since you somehow know mine."

He cleared his throat. "My name is Yorkshire, at your service." he said.

She smiled. "Please come this way." she said, walking to her cottage.

The girls and Spike who were still hiding behind a tree watched Yorkshire follow Fluttershy into her house.

"Well I'll be!" Applejack said, smiling big. "It looks like things are gonna work out after all!"

"Who knew Fluttershy actually had it in her to do that!" Rainbow Dash said.

"She can be full of surprises once in a while." Twilight Sparkle implied.

"Let's just hope she doesn't faint again." Spike said.

"I'm sure she'll do just fine, dear." Rarity said. "This will be the first step of courtship. I hope Yorkshire takes it slowly and not too fast. I don't think Fluttershy can get into a relationship that quickly."

"Should we do something to help them?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"If any of the two ask for any tips or advice, give it to them." she replied. "This kind of stuff takes time and patience. If things go well, we'll be seeing Fluttershy in a beautiful wedding dress eventually."

Spike laughed. "And Fluttershy's gonna faint just when the wedding starts."

They all giggled. They then went off back to Ponyville, leaving the knight and the shy to spend some time together without being spied on.