A Flutter of the Heart
Chapter 2
by Rixizu
“Trixie, you are the most wonderful mare I have ever met and I want to become your marefriend!” Fluttershy made her best smile. Her reflection grinned back seeming unnatural and forced. Angel shook his head in agreement. She deflated a moment later. Angel didn’t like Trixie all that much. In fact, he couldn’t stand her, but he wanted to support his friend.
“No, that won’t work," Fluttershy said, "I sound desperate and pathetic. Let’s try again.”
“ Trixie, yo! You’re pretty sweet and cool! How about you and I become marefriends!” Fluttershy made what she thought was a cool pose trying her best Rainbow Dash impression.
Angel put his face in his paws in utter embarrassment.
“Okay, maybe that isn’t the best approach either.” Besides, it wasn’t like her at all.
Angel chittered as he gave his own suggestion and Fluttershy gave a reluctant nod. If it worked for Cloudkicker, why not her too? It was also not unlike typical bunny courtship according to Angel.
“Hey Trixie, how about we go to the bar and get a few drinks? Then we’ll bang. Ok?”
Her bunny’s reaction took her more than enough about how well that line worked. Fluttershy didn't even like drinking all that much. And the idea of them banging… Fluttershy turned beet red.
Maybe I should worry about telling her my feelings first.
“How about this?” Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Trixie you are as beautiful as a flower to my eyes. You brighten every room you are in, you shine brighter than the sun. You make me as happy as a bee when it pollinates a flower or a pig as it rolls in the mud. Our love will be like a beautiful bird singing through the trees.”
No, that was horrible. She was just rambling on about nothing and even she had no clue what she was talking about. Besides, the metaphors clashed in a rather disastrous fashion. Fluttershy howled in frustration and threw herself on her bed and dove her face into the pillow. Angel hopped on the bed and gave her a reassuring pat on the back.
"Thanks, Angel." The pillow in her face made her impossible to understand, but her pet bunny got her meaning well enough.
Fluttershy was clueless how she would express her feelings to the mare she cared about. She wanted to tell Trixie how she felt but worried how the words would come out or if they would come out at all. Knowing her luck it would just come out an inaudible squeak. Confronting Trixie about this terrified her. What if Trixie didn’t like girls? What if she refused? It was too much to handle.
Oh Angel, what am I going to do?”
Fluttershy grabbed Angel and petted him. It annoyed the little bunny at first but he accepted the strokes on his head soon enough.
Of course, now she had it. She would just not tell Trixie about how she felt. She would watch from a distance loving but never telling. This way she could love Trixie and not get hurt! No, it was another horrible idea. She didn't want to deal with unrequited love for the rest of her life. It would be too painful, too sad.
Come on Fluttershy! You can do this! You can march up to Trixie and tell her exactly how you feel! If only it wasn’t so scary. Why couldn’t she be a brave pony like Trixie? Nothing scared her. That was the reason the Elements of Harmony choose her and not little old Fluttershy. She was so pathetic. Trixie wouldn’t choose her. The Ranger would want a cool and strong pony like herself. Somepony who was talented and interesting. Not a pony like Fluttershy. Trixie deserved somepony better.
“Ow!” Fluttershy yelled as Angel slapped her in the face. “What was that for?”
Angel told her to stop moping and feeling sorry for herself. She wasn't a pathetic pony. She was kindest most gentle pony he had ever known. Any pony would be lucky to have her. If Trixie didn’t accept her for who she was, then the mare was missing out.
Thanks, Angel." She needed that. "But I don't know if I can outright confess to her," Fluttershy said.
Angel thought about this and chittered his response. Bunny language was complicated and required stick attention to the movements of their nose and whiskers to gain a good idea what was being said. Angel’s face was animated as he explained his idea.
Fluttershy blinked. “Start up slow? Reveal how I feel over time?”
Like what? Fluttershy didn’t think she would be any good at flirting. An idea struck her. She stood up.
“How about I write to her as a secret admirer?” It might work. This way she could test the waters to see if Trixie would be up to having a special somepony. It would be easier to write about her feelings than talk about them and Fluttershy loved writing. She wrote plenty of manga based fanfics and romance was her favorite subject to write about. Twi could never stop raving about how good her stories were.
Angel thought about it and agreed with her. He pushed her towards her desk and pointed at it instructing her to get working, already tired of moopy lovestruck Fluttershy. She giggled and grabbed a quill and started work on her letter.
---
Fluttershy caught her breath as she hid behind a bush next to Trixie's house. She'd been so quick putting her letter in the mailbox she wasn't even sure Rainbow Dash could've spotted her. Now all she had to do was wait for Trixie to grab her mail and judge her reaction. Her heart pounded in anticipation. Angel hid next to her and pointed out Ditzy coming with her mailbag and mailpony cap ready to deliver the mail for today.
Fluttershy had put her heart and soul into the letter. She must’ve rewritten it at least 40 times and it took five hours to finish it. The letter was in a pink envelope with a heart-shaped seal with a touch of her favorite perfume. It had no name of course.
"Hey, Ditzy," Trixie said as she left her house to greet her friend and teammate.
“Yo!” Ditzy waved as Trixie approached her. “It’s good you came out here. You have a package you need to sign.”
Ditzy got a clipboard and a pen out of her bag with her mouth and presented it to Trixie. Trixie used her magic to take the pen and sign the clipboard. Ditzy examined it for a second before nodding and presenting her friend with a package.
“Finally!” Trixie grabbed the package and examined the label. “I thought it was lost in the mail at this point.”
“What is it?” Ditzy asked.
“A birthday present from my aunt and uncle in Neigh Orleans.”
Ditzy blinked. “Wasn’t your birthday almost four months ago?”
“Yes! Yes it was!” Trixie growled.
"That's strange.” Ditzy did some mental calculations in her head. "With standard shipping, it should've been here in three weeks at the most. “
"Our postal service at work," Trixie replied in a dry tone.
"None of that," Ditzy said. "I'm sure it was just some silly mix up."
“Anyway, did I get anything else in the mail?” Trixie asked changing the subject.
Ditzy checked her bag. “Nope. Doesn’t look like it.”
Trixie nodded and turned to go back into her house.
“Wait, can I see what your aunt and uncle got you?”
Trixie shrugged and made quick work of the package with her magic. Inside it was a miniature stuffed elephant well worn from obvious years of use and play. Much to Fluttershy’s surprise, tears gathered at the Red Ranger’s eyes.
"Elle," Trixie said in a quiet voice, "and here I thought I would never see you again." She brought the toy near to her heart and hugged it.
Fluttershy gapped. She’d never suspected Trixie had this side to her. The scene was adorable and Fluttershy’s heart swooned.
Trixie noticed Ditzy was giggling at her and tried her best to look cool. “Thanks for bringing this. I thought I lost it years ago.”
“Look there’s a note.” Ditzy pointed to a letter coming out of the box.
"Dear Trixie. We found old Elle while cleaning the attic and thought you two might want to reunite after all these years. We know how much you loved him. Happy Birthday, Trixie. Love Aunt Moonsinger and Uncle Sky Shaper.” Trixie said reading the letter out loud.
"That's sweet of them," Ditzy said.
Trixie made a small smile. “They're the best aunt and uncle a pony could ask for. Besides Luna, they practically raised me.”
Trixie looked lovingly at her toy elephant. "I can't believe they found you, Elle. I must've lost you when I was over for one of my biweekly visits back home." She broke out into a grin. "I can't wait to show this to Princess Luna! Back in the day, we were inseparable. We went to every class together."
Trixie noticed Ditzy amused expression and backpedaled. “Not that I care all that much. It’s just an old toy after all. I’ll probably end up losing it again or something. And don’t you have a route to do?”
Ditzy rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’ll go.”
Trixie walked back to her house giving her foalhood toy a loving look and whispered to him how she would give him the best spot in her room.
“Wait!” Ditzy cried out and Trixie turned back to her friend.
“What?”
“There’s something in your mailbox.” Ditzy pointed at the pink letter and Fluttershy’s heart soared. She gasped when she noticed the hearts and broke out into a grin.
“I have a good idea what that might be,” Ditzy said with a smirk, “and who it might be from.”
This is it. This is the moment.
Trixie grabbed the letter from the box and examined it. Ditzy glanced at over her shoulder. Time seemed to stop for Fluttershy as she waited for Trixie response.
Trixie groaned. “Not another love letter. Moondancer!”
“What?” Moondancer said from the front door.
“Throw this in the fireplace will you?” Trixie floated the letter to her assistant and Moondancer nodded. A few seconds later and the sound of paper burning came from Trixie’s house.
Fluttershy gaped in utter horror. Everything around her became dull and gray and sound became muffed. The following conversation was almost intelligible to her.
“Really? You aren’t even going to read it?” Ditzy asked in disbelief.
“Nope.” Trixie straightened up in pride.
“I don’t believe you.” Ditzy put her head in her hooves.
"Hey, if I ignore them long enough they’ll give up and get off my back," Trixie said defending herself.
“But, just, fine be that way.” Ditzy threw up her hooves and trotted away and began muttering to herself.
"Trust me, it's for the best," Trixie shouted after her and re-entered her house.
Fluttershy didn’t know what to do or say or even if she should break out into tears. All the joy sucked out of her like she was being drained of all life. Angel gave her a reassuring pat on the back before glaring in Trixie’s direction saying some rather rude things about her.
“It’s okay Angel.” Fluttershy’s voice contained no emotion. “Let’s go home.”
The walk back some was a complete blur and before Fluttershy knew it, she was back in her house covered with a blanket, a mug of hot cocoa in her hooves. Her animal friends gave her comforting words and Fluttershy felt better.
Angel stomped around her house cursing Trixie’s name. He told the other animals what happened. They screamed and howled in fury and outrage. Soon the animals formed a mob. Torches and pitchforks were given out and were gripped tight in claws, beaks, paws, and tails. Angel yelled out a battle cry and the surrounded animals did the same. They demanded Trixie’s head on a platter and marched out of her house for retribution.
Fluttershy eeped when she realized what they were doing and flew out of her house as quickly as her wings could carry her. She landed in front of the mob with her hooves spread out in a placating gesture.
“Now everyone, let’s not do anything rash.”
All the animals cawed, roared, hissed, and barked at once and she couldn’t make out a single word expect Trixie’s name. It wasn’t hard to guess they wanted the mare’s head. Her head spun on how to defuse this situation before it exploded out of control.
"I'm, um, happy you're angry on behalf, but it's fine, really. I don't mind at all that Trixie burned my love letter."
Another torrent of outrage at Trixie’s name, and they raised their pitchforks and torches more than ready to use them. Her argument did little to convince them, but Fluttershy pushed on anyway. She had to save Trixie no matter what.
“Really, it’s fine. She just misunderstood.” Fluttershy kept speaking with no idea what the next word would be. “She’s super popular! Like, um, Sapphire Shores! She probably gets like a million love letters! She doesn’t have the time to read them all! She’s so overwhelmed by them no wonder she burns them at this point.” Fluttershy gave her best-winning smile praying to Luna almighty she would get through to them.
The animals looked at each other not sure if they bought this argument. Angel yelled some more angry things stomping his foot for emphasis. A few birds complained about how Trixie destroyed their home when she went out gallivanting in her Zord not caring or noticing the damage she did. Some squirrels nodded in agreement and one complained about losing her entire supply of food. Gophers complained about the horrible ground quakes caused by Trixie’s giant robot. The entire group exploded with various complaints about the Red Ranger and Fluttershy winced.
The problem was that they weren’t wrong, and they had every right to be angry. Trixie could be careless and didn’t notice the problems she caused for others.
Like how she burned my letter without even thinking of my feelings. A bitter part of her whispered. And yet, Fluttershy didn’t want to abandon her.
"No, you're right to be angry at Trixie," Fluttershy said looking down, "she can be a bit of jerk sometimes, but she's also a very courageous pony. She fights hard to protect everyone."
Inspiration struck her and she continued. “Remember when that cigar monster tried to burn down half of the forest, Trixie fought with it by herself she protected all of you, and didn’t ask for anything in return.”
In fact, this was the first time she ever set eyes on Trixie in her Ranger form. Fluttershy had marveled at the battle and how Trixie fought to prevent even a single tree from getting burnt even blocking attacks with her own body. Not a single tree caught on fire that day and Trixie pulled out a win. Fluttershy wondered if this was when she first fell in love with the mare.
The animals talked about it. Mr. Snake mentioned a time when he got turned into a monster by Corona and how Trixie saved him. Fluttershy remembered that day. Trixie herself had brought Mr. Snake to her so he could get better after he turned back to normal. Trixie was a caring pony in her own strange way.
“So, please,” Fluttershy said in a whisper almost breaking out into tears, “don’t hurt her.”
The animals, moved by her speech, nodded. Even Angel agreed and patted her on the hoof taking her hoof in his paws. The animals dispersed going back to their homes and Fluttershy promised to talk to Trixie about not playing around in her Zord and only using it during a crisis.
Great, now I’m back to square one about how to confess my feelings to her.
---
After days of debate with herself, Fluttershy decided it would be best to just confess her feelings face to face. No flirting, no subtlety or long drawn-out attempts to confess her feelings. She didn’t want to end up like a manga character that spent the whole series sending hints of her feelings, only for the protagonist to cluelessly not notice these hints at all. She didn’t think she wanted to deal with that and it seemed all too likely Trixie would be like the clueless protagonist. Like a Band-Aid being pulled off, she wanted to get it over with. No more agonizing if Trixie would accept her feelings.
She legs shook as she approached Trixie's house. She could see Trixie through the window sitting in a rocking chair reading a book. Moondancer was nowhere in sight making this the perfect chance to confess her feelings. Fluttershy made her way to the door and readied herself to knock. She pushed her hoof towards the door. A million ways this encounter could go wrong flashed through her mind. She begged herself to not lose her courage. Her hoof hit the door, but the blow was so soft it made no noise.
That was pathetic. Fluttershy berated herself.
She tried again, but her next attempt was little better than the first. Frustrated, Fluttershy slammed her hoof against the door.
"Coming," Trixie said trotting towards her door.
“Eep!” Fluttershy zipped into a nearby bush.
Trixie opened her door and growled when she saw nopony was there. “Very funny Rainbow Dash, Pinkie. Hear this. Enjoy these pranks while you can. When I'm done, nopony will ever prank in this town again!" She shook her hoof in the air and slammed the door behind her.
Fluttershy put her face in her hooves. How could that go so badly? She debated trying again, but couldn’t get back the nerve and went back home defeated and her head hung low to the ground.
“Oh, hi Fluttershy,” Twilight said walking towards her, “is something wrong?”
“Sorry Twi, I don’t want to talk right now,” Fluttershy said. “I’m glum about my failed attempt to confess my crush to Trixie.”
Twilight blinked. “Excuse me.”
Fluttershy froze and turned beet red. "I said that out loud didn't I?"
Twilight squealed. “You have a crush on Trixie? You need to tell me everything!”
Fluttershy sighed. Why did she have to open her big mouth?
---
"I would never have guessed you would fall for Trixie of all ponies," Twilight said after Fluttershy told her story. They were sitting at an outside café drinking tea.
Fluttershy blushed. “Well, yes, she’s a nice pony. I just wish when the time comes I will get the words out.”
Twilight pondered this. “Yes, I can imagine for a pony like you it would be pretty difficult.”
Fluttershy gave a noncommittal nod and sipped her tea.
Twilight’s face broke out into a wide grin. “We need to research this!” She bounced back and forth in her chair eager at the prospect of a research project.
“I guess?”
“We need to get to the library right away! It’s bound to have a book on the best way to gain the confidence you need to confess your feelings to Trixie!”
“Um, I’m not so sure.”
“Trust me. Books can solve anything!” Twilight pulled Fluttershy towards the library.
Fluttershy sighed. You would say that Twi.
Twilight searched the shelves for books on romance and squealed when she found a book that pleased her and presented to Fluttershy.
“Iron Will’s Guide to Successful Love Confessions?” Fluttershy asked. The book had a blue minotaur giving a thumbs up surrounded by red hearts. One the back it boosted how it would turn even the timidest mouse into a fierce amazon of love.
"All this talk of confessions got me thinking and I just remembered something. A friend of mine had the same problem as you," Twilight said, "she said this book fixed everything."
“I’m not so sure Twi.” Fluttershy looked over the book again. Something about the cocky grin on the minotaur’s face didn’t give her a lot of confidence in his romantic advice.
“Trust me. You don’t know until you try.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy said. What was the worst that could happen? This might actually work.