//------------------------------// // 137. Bed and Breakfast and Then Bed Again // Story: Azure Edge // by Leaf Blade //------------------------------// Waking up in a pony-sized bed felt… odd, for Fluttershy. It was the first morning she could recall that she had woken to an unfamiliar ceiling instead of the welcoming embrace of her forest, and it was hard not to get anxious about that. She was alone in her modest hotel room— she couldn’t remember if Spike had slept in her room last night, but if he had he wasn’t there now. Which was just as well; Fluttershy felt that she could use the time alone to get her bearings. Fluttershy opened the curtains and looked out over the admittedly very beautiful scenery of Neighagra Falls. Falling water, rolling green hills, and crystal clear ponds as far as her eye could see, and it brought a smile to her lips. She stretched her wings behind her back and her arms above her head. Even though she was still stuck in this cramped pony form, it at least felt good to shed all of her heavy winter clothing. She didn’t even need it since dragons were immune to the cold, but Rarity insisted that Fluttershy bundle up to avoid suspicion, and even though she was right to insist that, it didn’t make being buried under so much clothing any more bearable. A knock at Fluttershy’s door made Fluttershy’s ears perk up right away, and she turned to face the door; and that made her anxious. In the past— in her forest— Fluttershy would have easily been able to tell who was at the door by listening and feeling the pulse of the earth around her, but in this cramped pony form, in this unfamiliar location, and outside her domain, it was impossible. She could feel that someone was there, but she didn’t know who it w— “Hey, Fluttershy, you awake?!” Thankfully, Pinkie Pie’s charming voice quickly soothed Fluttershy’s worries. “I have breakfast! And some cupcakes! Sorry I keep making cupcakes, I just like ‘em! They’re fun to make! I can make some other stuff for you if you want me to though, but I guess I probably should’ve waited for you to answer whether you’re awake or not before I said that and also I’m yelling so if you were still asleep you probably aren’t now so sorry about that!” “It’s okay, Pinkie!” Fluttershy called out, and it felt oddly straining to raise her voice. “I was already awake! I’ll be with you in a second!” “Okie dokie lokie!” Fluttershy wondered if perhaps she should put on clothes before answering the door. Rarity would certainly have been irritated if Fluttershy answered her naked, but Pinkie Pie wasn’t Rarity. Pinkie had already seen her naked in the forest anyway, and ponies didn’t tend to have a problem with nudity, so it would probably be fine hopefully. And to be honest, the less time Fluttershy spent buried under those heavy coats the better. “Hello, Pinkie Pie!” Fluttershy chirped as she opened the door, standing in front of the portal with her hand on the doorframe, looking down at Pinkie Pie with a big smile. Pinkie on the other hand, just looked up at Fluttershy with wide eyes, her ears clamped against her skull. “What’s the matter?” Fluttershy gasped, recoiling and hiding herself behind her wings. “Is something wrong? Is there a problem? Did I do something?” “N-no! No, nothing like that!” Pinkie squeaked, and she paused for a second before speaking again. “It’s just, you’re—I uh, I—g—uh—girls.” “Oh,” Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief, but then it dawned on her what Pinkie meant, and she let out a giggle. “Oh! I get that a lot.” “I bet!” Pinkie laughed, and that brought the smile back to Fluttershy’s face. “Please, come in,” Fluttershy said, and as she turned to go back into her room, her tail brushed up against Pinkie Pie’s cheek. It was a total accident, but the cooing noise Pinkie made was so delightful that Fluttershy forgot to apologize. Oh, wait, Fluttershy thought, is this what flirting is? Oh it’s fun and I like it! Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie shared breakfast and cupcakes at the charming little tea party table set up inside the hotel room, Pinkie Pie regaling Fluttershy with all the tips and tricks on making cupcakes that Fluttershy could ever ask for, and Fluttershy listening entranced by every word. Once they had wrapped up their meal, Fluttershy returned to her bed and sat on the edge, watching intently while Pinkie Pie cleaned up the mess their breakfast had left—Pinkie insisting that she be the one to do the cleaning since she was the one who brought the food in the first place, though Fluttershy suspected that Pinkie just wanted Fluttershy to take it easy, which was very kind of her. “So hey,” Pinkie said, swaying back and forth while biting on her thumbnail, “do you have any big plans for today?” “Not that I can think of,” Fluttershy said, making space for Pinkie on the bed and patting it with her hand to beckon Pinkie to sit next to her, “why do you ask?” “Well I was thinking—” Pinkie bit her lip as she hopped up onto the bed, but she left a lot of space between her and Fluttershy. For a second, Fluttershy worried that maybe she was being pushy and Pinkie didn’t really want to sit next to her, but then she realized something quite different was going on. It was like a hundred little puzzle pieces just fell into place in Fluttershy’s brain— a hundred little things Pinkie had said and done in the time Fluttershy had known her. And suddenly she realized that Pinkie had a crush on her. That wasn’t very unusual. Fluttershy was unfortunately rather used to being the objects of ponies’ and dragons’ affections. What was unusual was that Fluttershy also realized that the feeling was mutual. “Uh, I guess I was more wondering,” Pinkie coughed in the middle of her sentence, and Fluttershy noticed that her cheeks were bright red and it was so cute, “uh, I dunno, if you wanted to hang out? With me? We could like, I dunno, check out some of the sights maybe?” “I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you,” Fluttershy hummed, coyly putting her wing around Pinkie, whose whole body stiffened up at Fluttershy’s touch and her ears shot straight up. Fluttershy mused that she could almost see steam pouring out of Pinkie’s ears and it was just so cute. “But why go out to see the sights when the prettiest thing around here is already sitting here on my bed with me?” OH MY GOSH I CAN’T BELIEVE I JUST SAID THAT OH MY GOSH OH GOSH OH GOSH OH HECK!!! “Wh-what?” Pinkie asked, looking at Fluttershy with wide eyes and Fluttershy couldn’t tell if she was just surprised or genuinely uncomfortable. “Uh, I was attempting to ‘flirt’ with you,” Fluttershy cleared her throat, and now it was her face that was all red and she tried to hide it behind her wings. “I guess it didn’t uh, I guess it wasn’t very successful.” “Y—you were trying to flirt with me?!” Pinkie squealed, jumping up in the air as her limbs flailed about like noodles in every direction. “I was,” Fluttershy admitted bashfully, poking a little bit of her face out from behind her feathers. “I think you’re very cute, and I suspect you feel the same way about me, so I was trying to flirt. I’m not very good at it though.” “I DO think you’re cute!” Pinkie said excitedly, standing on the bed and pumping her fists. “I think you’re SUPER cute!” Fluttershy bit her lip and let her wings fold behind her back, looking at Pinkie dead in the eye as she braced herself to do something very brave or possibly very dense. “Well then,” Fluttershy whispered, “may I kiss you?”