“I don’t know, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy says. “I suppose things have just gotten a little stale.”
The two ponies are spending the evening relaxing in Fluttershy’s home, talking and passing the time. Rainbow Dash is sprawled out on the sofa, shifting restlessly every few minutes, and Fluttershy rests in a comfy chair, a mug of tea cooling on a table beside her. A light drizzle splatters against the windows as they chat.
“Stale how?” Rainbow Dash asks. “What, are you gettin sick of animals?”
“No, no, nothing like that. I just…” Fluttershy goes quiet for a moment as she finds the words. “My routine has been so rigid lately. I feel like I need something fresh.”
“Well, then do that. Find something fresh. Hey, how about you come work out with me tomorrow?”
Fluttershy sighs. “Rainbow Dash, I’m perfectly happy to cheer you on when I’m there, but I just don’t enjoy working out. If I was there for a whole session, I would just feel like I was in the way.”
“You’re never in the way, though. We’d love to have you.”
“I know, I know. I would still feel like I was in the way, though. It’s difficult to explain.”
“Nah, I get it. Yknow, I still think you gotta find a girlfriend.”
“Rainbow Dash, you know I can’t-”
Rainbow Dash cuts her off. “I’m not saying the issues you have in relationships aren’t real. I’ve seen how you get, all anxious and stuff, but I think you could find somepony! One who doesn’t make you feel like you gotta be perfect all the time.”
Fluttershy purses her lips and thinks. “I just have trouble feeling like there is somepony like that.”
Rainbow Dash sits up and looks her friend in the eyes. “You have to give yourself a chance, Fluttershy. I’ll even make it easy for you, I’ll find a blind date for you on Saturday. All you gotta do is show up, and have fun.”
Fluttershy sighs. “Okay. I’ll try.”
Fluttershy grumbles as she fights with a knot in her mane. “Ugh, why today. I’m not even there yet and I’m making it a bad date.”
“Fluttershy?” calls a voice from outside her room.
She jumps and accidentally jerks the brush out of her mane, yanking a clump of hair out with a yelp of pain. “I’m in my bedroom,” she calls out as she massages her sore scalp. Looking at herself in the mirror, she can’t help but think her mane looks a little thin, but at least the knot is gone.
Rainbow Dash walks into the room a minute later. “Dude, you ready?”
“I don’t know,” Fluttershy mumbles. “Um, do you think I should wear something? A dress, or boots, or… oh, maybe I should have done something special with my mane. Is there still time?”
Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes and starts to push Fluttershy out of her home. “The whole point of this is to find somepony you don’t need to destroy yourself over. You’re fine how you are.”
Reluctantly, Fluttershy lets Rainbow Dash lead her through the streets of Ponyville. “So, um, who exactly is this date with?”
“It’s not much of a blind date if I tell you that, now is it?”
“Can I at least know where we’re going?”
“We’re going right here!” Rainbow Dash announces as she pushes open the door to Sugarcube Corner.
“What?” Fluttershy asks as they walk in. “Won’t it be kind of awkward for me to be on a date at Pinkie’s house?”
Rainbow Dash laughs. “I don’t know, ask her yourself.”
The inside of the shop is fairly empty. The counter sits unmanned, apparently closed early, and only a couple ponies are still mingling about, finishing their drinks or snacks and chatting with their friends. The subtle din of conversation creates a pleasant white noise, not too much to tune out but enough to help Fluttershy feel comfortable talking.
Rainbow Dash points to a table in the corner of the room. A small, cramped table for two, only a dim light reaching it. At the table sits Pinkie Pie, bathed in the soft glow, who looks up and waves when she spots the two of them.
“Fluttershy!” Pinkie shouts across the room. “I didn’t know you were givin dating another shot.”
Fluttershy blushes as the few patrons around the store turn their attention to her. “I don’t understand,” she says.
“She’s your blind date!” Rainbow Dash tells her. “It seemed like a good fit. Come on, go join her, I’ll grab you two some drinks.”
After a light push from Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy makes her way over and sits across from Pinkie. She smiles awkwardly, still blushing, and fidgets absentmindedly with the tip of her mane. She has some difficulty keeping eye contact, but she tries.
Pinkie Pie wears her usual unflinching grin, leaning forward onto the crowded table. “I never expected Rainbow Dash was setting me up with you.” Her voice is coy, playful. It’s also softer than Fluttershy is used to hearing from Pinkie, like this is the first time she’s ever spoken without her words being for the whole world to hear. “I thought you didn’t like dating?”
“Um, well,” Fluttershy stumbles over her words. “Rainbow Dash convinced me to try again. I’m not sure why she picked you, though. Not that, um, I don’t like you or anything, it’s just that…” she trails off.
Pinkie giggles. “Chill out, Fluttershy. We’re here to have fun. You don’t hafta wind yourself up so much.”
“I know, sorry. Maybe we should change the subject. Do you, um… How do you like, uhh, the weather?”
Pinkie laughs and playfully prods Fluttershy in the chest. “You’re really not good at this, huh? When’s the last time you dated somepony?”
The blush painting Fluttershy's face gets brighter, clearly here to stay. “Um, well, I’ve tried to go on dates here and there. Every couple of years or so.”
“No, I mean like, dated dated. Like, more than once.”
“Oh, well, actually, um…”
“Order up!” Rainbow Dash announces, interrupting them as she flies over with a tray and sets two hot mugs on the table. “One hot chocolate for Pinkie Pie, three sugars, and one peppermint tea for Fluttershy with six sugars. Enjoy!”
Pinkie Pie cracks up as Rainbow Dash sneaks away. “Six? Geez, Fluttershy, how much sugar do you go through?”
“I don’t like bitter things,” Fluttershy says.
“I mean, me neither. But I just, like, don’t drink it. What gives?” She starts slurping down her drink, drowning out Fluttershy’s gentle sipping.
“I did it to go along with other ponies and it just kind of stuck with me. It’s fine, I do like the taste of tea, just without the bitter.”
“If you say so,” Pinkie says, wiping chocolate off her face. “So, why the sudden interest in romance?”
“I’m in a rut,” Fluttershy explains. “Rainbow Dash thought a girlfriend would help spice things up.”
“Well, that explains me,” Pinkie says. “I am one spicy pie. Er, wait. Gross.”
Fluttershy chuckles. “I suppose she’s right, though. If I did manage to get past my issues, a girlfriend would be nice.”
“You don’t have issues!”
“Thank you, Pinkie,” Fluttershy says with a smile, “but with relationships I definitely do. I stress out so much about doing things perfectly that I don’t leave room to enjoy them.”
“Pfft, who wants a perfect girlfriend? Talk about boring. I just need somepony who can put up with me buggin em.”
There’s a chime as the door to Sugarcube Corner opens, the last patrons of the evening going home and leaving the two ponies alone in the building.
“Oh, huh,” Pinkie says. “We’re not usually empty for a couple more hours.”
“Maybe they couldn’t put up with you buggin em,” Fluttershy mumbles under her breath.
Pinkie snorts out a laugh as Fluttershy gasps, covering her mouth in horror at what she just said.
“Fluttershy!” Pinkie says between laughs. “Since when was that in you?”
“I’m so sorry!” Fluttershy says. “I don’t know what came over me, I just, I thought I should try to be funny, and it came out before I could stop it, and I’m so, so sorry.”
Pinkie puts her hoof over Fluttershy’s lips to shush her. “You don’t have to apologize for that, it was hilarious! I mean, maybe not the greatest joke I’ve ever heard, but to hear it come from you? Incredible.”
“But it was so mean!”
“Exactly!” Pinkie tells her. “I know you’re not capable of actually being mean, that’s why it’s so funny when you pretend to be. C’mon, do it again.”
“I don’t know…”
“Just try it! Who knows, you might like havin somepony to be mean to.”
“I wouldn’t even know what to say.”
“Okay, just try to think of something as we talk.”
“Okay, I’ll try,” Fluttershy concedes. “I doubt I’ll like it, though.”
“Awesome! So, where were we? Oh yeah, dating. Yeah, like, I talk a lot, you know? And so if I spend too long with somepony they kinda start to tune it out, and that makes me feel bad.”
“What? Why would anypony tune you out? I mean, sure, I can’t always keep up a conversation with you, but usually you keep it up just fine yourself. It’s nice to be able to talk to somepony without worrying about not doing my part.”
“Right? I’ve got the energy, all they gotta do is listen.”
“Although, it probably wouldn’t hurt you to at least try to be calmer sometimes. Just to give yourself a rest.”
“Aw, but if I was calm I wouldn’t be the wonderful bouncy Pinkie Pie everypony loves.”
“Pinkie, you could be a coma and you would still be the liveliest pony in town.”
“Hah!” Pinkie barks out a laugh. “There it is! More of that, like, snarkiness.”
Fluttershy smiles. “I guess it is kind of fun.”
Pinkie grins wide. “I knew it! You've got a mean streak in ya."
"I don't know if I'd say that," Fluttershy says. "I don't wanna be mean. It's just... It's nice to see you smile when you get teased. The teasing is fun, not the fact that it's mean."
"Aw, potatoes, tomatoes. Hey, it’s gettin kinda late, do you wanna go up and practice this… whatever it is in my room?”
“Sure,” Fluttershy says. “Um, but only if… you can promise me I won’t sit in gum?”
“Ehhh, that one was kinda weak. We’ll work on it.”
“Fluttershy, I’m boooooooored.”
A few weeks later, Pinkie Pie is lounging with Fluttershy on her sofa. Rainbow Dash is visiting, sitting somewhat cramped in an armchair and watching the two with a mix of happiness and confusion.
“Well, what do you want me to do about it?” Fluttershy replies.
“Let’s play a game!” Pinkie says.
“Sure,” Fluttershy says. She gently strokes Pinkie’s mane as the two talk. “We can play the quiet game.”
“Rude!” Pinkie says.
“Oops, looks like you lost,” Fluttershy tells her. “Gee, Pinkie, I thought you were good at games.”
Pinkie gives an exaggerated huff, and Fluttershy sticks her tongue out at her. Pinkie twists herself around to try and return the gesture, but ends up falling off the couch, and before long both ponies break into a fit of giggling together.
“You know,” Rainbow Dash says, “when I said to find somepony you don’t need to be perfect with, I wasn’t really expecting you to find somepony you could be, like… enemies with.”
“Yeah, Fluttershy’s a real butthead, huh,” Pinkie says. Fluttershy sticks her tongue out at her again, and Pinkie laughs. “If you keep stickin that out at me, I’m gonna kiss it,” she tells her.
“Yeah, sure, any excuse you can think of,” Fluttershy retorts.
“Guys, I’m still here,” Rainbow Dash says. “Ugh, maybe this was a mistake…”