Fluttershy opened the door to her cottage. “Angel?” she asked to the vibrant abode. “Angel? I was hoping we could talk. I brought you some nice, fresh carrots. I was going to make you your favorite salad.”
Though a harmonious cacophony echoed throughout the room as birds, squirrels, and mice scampered around, Angel was absent. Fluttershy checked the kitchen and her bedroom, but still the rabbit eluded her. The fields outside were similarly scarce of Angel.
“Harry?” Fluttershy asked as she approached the lounging bear. He stirred and looked attentively at her. “Have you seen Angel around? I wanted to speak with him.”
Harry scratched his head. Wandering into the cottage, he glanced around. He lifted the couch and some pillows, but revealed only a small mouse hiding from his lumbering figure, who scampered away as the couch was elevated. Once again, Harry scratched his head, mumbling as he did so.
“Yes, I did check upstairs and the kitchen.”
Harry mumbled again.
“Yes, and under the bed.”
Harry scratched his chin and squinted his eyes. Then, he shrugged and hummed.
“I know, but I’m worried. It’s starting to get late and Ponyville is a big place. W-what if he gets hurt. I won’t know where to find him and—"
Fluttershy was interrupted by a knock at the door. She rushed over to it, and opened it quickly.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have time right now. I’m missing Angel, my rabbit and—Pinkie? I, um, uh—” Fluttershy stuttered as her heart briefly stopped. “I didn’t know you were planning on coming over today.”
“I wasn’t, silly,” Pinkie said with a smile. “But,” Pinkie sang, drawing out the vowel, “I think I’ve got a solution to your problem.”
“You do?”
“Yep!” Pinkie pushed the missing rabbit forward into Fluttershy’s hooves.
Fluttershy grabbed him in a hug. “Oh, Angel, I was so worried. I couldn’t find you anywhere and I thought you might’ve gotten lost or—wait, where did you find him?” Fluttershy asked as she turned to Pinkie.
“Oh, he came to Sugarcube Corner, actually.”
“He did?” Fluttershy turned back to Angel. “How did you manage to get all the way over to Sugarcube Corner?”
Angel looked between the two mares. Then he shrugged.
“I asked him the same thing,” Pinkie said, “but he wouldn’t tell me either. I thought you’d be worried about him, and told him as much. I said he should probably hop back home, but he wouldn’t go. He kept gesturing at me. I took that as a request to carry him home,” Pinkie said through a smile.
“Well, thank you for bringing him here, Pinkie.”
“Oh, it wasn’t any trouble. So, can, um, can I come in?”
Fluttershy froze.
“We haven’t gotten to talk in the last few days,” Pinkie continued, “and I was hoping we could. I had this crazy experience with the Cake twins a couple days ago I was hoping to tell you about. It’s kind of a long story, so if you want to wait on that we can. Maybe I could just come in for tea, though."
“No,” Fluttershy replied, entirely too quickly. She saw Pinkie’s face fall slightly and her ears droop. “I mean, um, come right on in. Why don’t you sit down while I put a kettle on.”
As Fluttershy turned, she could have sworn Angel wore a smirk. But, when she glanced back, Angel seemed to be busy studying the floorboards.
Once the tea had been brewed, Fluttershy poured Pinkie and herself a cup each and brought the platter over to the coffee table. Pinkie was sitting already, glancing around nervously as Fluttershy approached. What’s on her mind today? Is something the matter? “So,” Fluttershy began, “the Cake twins.”
“Yes!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Well, Pumpkin and Pound were supposed to be in bed two days ago. Well, not all day, but when this story takes place they were. Anyway, I was downstairs running the till and Mr. and Mrs. Cake were in the back. I wanna say they were baking cupcakes, but I think they were also working on some kind of Tiramisu.”
Fluttershy sipped her tea. She started to settle on the couch to listen to Pinkie’s story, when she noticed Angel gesticulating between her and Pinkie. Fluttershy watched Angel for a second before turning back to Pinkie. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Angel grab his forehead and roll his eyes.
“As I’m selling Octavia an éclair, I noticed Pound coming down the stairs.”
“Sorry,” Fluttershy interrupted, “who’s Octavia again?”
“Oh, the cellist that lives with Vinyl.”
“Oh, yes, her. Sorry, continue.”
“Don’t be sorry silly,” Pinkie said through a smile. “Now, it’s not unusual for Pound to come down the stairs, so I did what I always did. I said ‘sorry, be back soon’ to the customers for leaving them alone—they don’t like that, you know, I think it has something to do with disliking standing without sweets—told the Cakes I needed to put Pound back to sleep, picked up the little rascal and brought him upstairs.”
Angel was making some motion, but Fluttershy wasn’t paying attention. In fact, she made a show of curling further into the couch so that she was facing Pinkie directly and Angel was out of her field of view.
“So I’m putting him into their crib when I realized that Pumpkin wasn’t there. I mean, at first I thought he might be hiding under a blanket or something else in the crib, but no, he wasn’t in the crib. I looked all around the room: under the crib, by the changing table, behind the bookshelf. But I couldn’t find her anywhere. At this point, I’m starting to get a little panicky because I can’t find Pumpkin and something might’ve happened to her.”
Angel hopped on the armrest behind Pinkie and tapped his foot. Fluttershy made no attempt to reply. Instead, she focused on Pinkie’s story.
“I checked outside the window on the roof, just in case something strange happened. I thought I saw something above the dormer—dormer’s a funny word isn’t it. Dormer, dormer, dormer, dormer.”
Fluttershy chuckled softly. Angel hopped out of her field of view. Good, Fluttershy thought, he’ll be cross with me, but I need the space. I’m sure he’ll understand when I talk to him about it.
“Sorry, where was I? Right, so I got onto the roof to check above the dormer and as soon as I did, the window slammed shut. Suddenly, I’m stuck on the roof. But, I found Pumpkin and Pound! They were inside the window, looking at me with these mischievous eyes. It was at that moment I realized I’d been had. Had, Fluttershy! By foals! So now, I needed to get down from the roof, and I didn’t have a rope on me; but I did have my trusty trampoline. I pulled it out, and—as I’m about to drop it to the ground—I realized there was nowhere I could drop it without hurting somepony.”
Fluttershy noticed Harry lumbering towards the couch and Angel hopping behind him.
“Now I’m really panicking at this point. The foals are up to something and I can’t get down to tell the Cakes. And, there are ponies stranded downstairs without sweets! Without sweets, Fluttershy!” she said with a giggle. “But then—"
Harry squeezed into the space between the armrest and Pinkie, pushing her closer to Fluttershy. Uncomfortably close. Fluttershy was now inches from Pinkie’s face. She could feel the blood rush to her face. “Um,” she said, “hi…”
“Uh… ye-yeah. Hi.” Pinkie took a deep breath. “Sorry, this is a little close, why don’t I, um, yeah, I’ll sit on this chair. Give you some, uh, space.”
“Oh, um,” Fluttershy said as Pinkie vacated her space. “Yeah, go right ahead.” As Pinkie sat down on the chair across the table from Fluttershy, her ears drooped slightly, despite her desperation to keep them up and attentive.
“Thanks, um, what was I saying. Sorry,” Pinkie chuckled nervously, “I totally forgot what I was saying.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Fluttershy noticed Angel aggressively tugging on his ears before flopping to the ground. “I think,” she said, “you mentioned you were on the roof panicking. Oh, and that the ponies downstairs were stranded without sweets.”
“Yes, without sweets!”
“A true tragedy,” Fluttershy said through a giggle.
“Exactly! Anyway, I shouted down at the ponies below that I was coming down, but they wouldn’t budge. And now, I start to hear clanging coming from inside the house. So, I hope for the best, shout ‘INCOMING’ as loud as I can to the ponies below, and drop the trampoline. As soon as I’ve done so, I jump behind the trampoline. The last pony gets out of the way just in time, and I bounce to safety. I don’t have time to pack it up, so I leave the trampoline and rush inside Sugarcube Corner. And, Fluttershy, you won’t believe what the foals were doing.”
“…Had they gotten into the sweets?”
“No.” Pinkie looked at the table for a second. “Well, yes, actually,” she said before returning to Fluttershy’s gaze, “but it was worse than that.”
“Worse how?”
“They got into the baking ingredients Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide.
“Sugar and flower coated every surface of not just the pantry and the kitchen, but the storefront too. There was a massive puddle of milk spilling out of the kitchen and there were at least a couple dozen eggs on the walls. Somehow, they got into most of the fruit too. Some parts of the wall were coated in lime juice and others in lemon juice. I have no idea how any of that happened, none at all! Even after we got everything cleaned up the Cakes didn’t want to talk about it.”
Pinkie sighed and shifted so she was sitting upside down in the chair. “The Cakes assured me they aren’t mad at me or anything,” she said with a frown, “but I’m not sure I believe them.”
“Why would they be mad at you?”
“I was supposed to be responsible enough to take care of them, and I already feel like the Cakes are on the fence about me watching the twins.”
“Well, you’re usually able to keep them under control, aren’t you?”
Pinkie pouted. “I guess, but this time it ended in disaster.”
“Well, you and the Cakes thought they were sleeping, didn’t you?”
“Yeah…” Pinkie said as she raised, or rather lowered, an eyebrow at Fluttershy.
“You can’t watch them all the time. This will happen again, and they’ll be fine.”
“But what about the Cakes? What if they start thinking I’m irresponsible and don’t let me see the twins again?” Pinkie started breathing quicker and quicker. “Or they kick me out of the house and fire—"
As Pinkie panicked, Fluttershy stood up, walked to Pinkie, and put her hoof to the mare’s mouth. “The Cakes think you’re responsible Pinkie. They’ve told me so themselves. And even if they didn’t, things would just go back to how things were before they let you babysit the twins. They wouldn’t kick you out or fire you because you weren’t good enough with their foals.”
Suddenly, Fluttershy realized she had put her hoof on Pinkie’s mouth and felt her face grow warm. She quickly pulled it away and stepped back to the couch. “Uh… sorry,” Fluttershy mumbled.
“Th-that’s okay.” Pinkie replied.
The pair sat in silence, as Fluttershy’s mind raced.
Did she notice my blush? She would’ve said something right? If she did, she hasn’t said anything. Does that mean she’s thinking about what it means? Is she freaking out? Am I freaking out? I am freaking out. Okay, calm down Fluttershy. Rarity said it’d be good if Pinkie found out. But she can’t find out now! I’m not ready. It’s too early, I… I don’t even know what I’d say. Maybe tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow; I’ll be braver tomorrow. Okay, but what do I say now? I can’t just leave this silence.
“… If it makes you feel better, I also think you’re pretty responsible.”
Pinkie looked back “Really?”
“Well, yeah. Angel got back alright didn’t he?”
“Huh, I guess you’re right.” Pinkie smiled slightly, though her ears were drooped subtly.
The rabbit in question hopped onto the coffee table between Fluttershy and Pinkie. Facing Fluttershy, he moved his forepaws over each other. Then, he put his paws toward Fluttershy in supplication.
“Angel, not now. I promise we can talk about this later.”
The rabbit furrowed both his brows. He then turned around and jumped onto the arm of Pinkie’s chair. The pair stared at each other.
“What’s on your brain, carrot-bane?”
Angel pointed a forepaw at Fluttershy.
Oh no. Angel, not now. I’m not ready yet. I swear I will be. I will be, just, just tomorrow.
“I would think so, she is sitting right there.”
Angel started pulling fur from his head.
“Anyway,” Pinkie said, “I should probably get going, Rarity, uh, wanted to talk to me about something tonight, so I think I’ll be heading over there. Plus, it seems like Angel wants to talk to you or something.”
Angel’s eyes went wide. He looked around, glancing between Pinkie and Fluttershy.
“Oh, um, of course. Sorry again about that.”
“Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” Pinkie smiled, though her eyes were more muted than Fluttershy anticipated. “I’m sure it’s important.”
Fluttershy blushed. “Still…”
“Have a good night, Fluttershy!” Pinkie said. She moved towards Fluttershy, seemed to think better of it, and bounced limply out the front door.
“You too Pinkie,” Fluttershy said—too quietly for Pinkie to hear.
Fluttershy closed the door, sighed, and made her way back over to the chair. Angel’s arms were crossed and he glared at her.
“Please don’t do that again,” Fluttershy said. “I know I haven’t been listening to you about this, but I’m not ready to talk to her about it.”
Angel rolled his eyes.
“I know I need to.”
Angel raised one eyebrow.
“Rarity and I talked at the spa about it today. She made me realize that I was… trying to avoid it. I… wasn’t ready to think about it, I guess.” She scratched the back of her head. “I’m glad you kept trying to talk to me about it; I’m sorry I wasn’t listening. No, I’m sorry I ignored you. You were trying to help, and I wasn’t listening.”
Angel put a paw on Fluttershy’s hoof.
“I’m going to tell her. I am. I just… need time.”
Angel glared.
“I will.”
Angel rolled his eyes.
“But seriously, don’t bring her here without any warning. I think I had a teensy heart attack.”
Angel chuckled with a smirk.
Rainbow Dash flipped through the air making loops upon loops and dives after climbs. She knew this routine was going to be awesome. All she needed to do was successfully pull up before she hit the ground, barely grazing the audience. She could make it. Definitely.
She was closing in on the end of the routine now, the wind whipped through her tail as she dove towards Fluttershy. Once she could see Fluttershy’s eyes widen, she pulled up, just in time. As she flew past, the gust blew Fluttershy’s mane into Rainbow Dash’s face. The sudden obstruction forced her to close her eyes. Suddenly, Rainbow felt her body dig through dirt and slow to a skid. The world spun. Blue mixed with green mixed with brown mixed with yellow mixed with pink. She could feel the dirt coating her body. Then, a gentle pressure on her chest.
As the world returned to focus, Rainbow Dash found herself in a small rut, with Fluttershy standing over her. Her eyes were wide and darted around wildly. Rainbow raised a hoof between her and Fluttershy.
“I’m fine, totally fine. Just a minor crash.”
“Nothing hurts? Are you sure?”
Rainbow checked herself over. “No, nothing serious.” She stood up. “Alright, that routine has a pretty big flaw.”
“What happened? Did you not mean to get so close to the ground?”
“No, I did. The idea was to fly right over your head to get close to the audience. I thought it’d be pretty exciting. But the wind I generated from pulling up put your mane in my face.” Rainbow furrowed her brows and looked towards the ground. “Maybe I shouldn’t get so close. It was an awesome idea, but I don’t think it works.”
“Well… um… I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”
“Yeah, I’ll have to think about it some more.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Anyway, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Oh, well, um… nothing—nothing too big. I just—um—I just wanted to ask your advice about something.”
“Which is…?”
“Uh…” Fluttershy swallowed. “I guess, I um…, I just wanted to ask how to ask somepony out.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “… Are you sure you don’t wanna ask Rarity about this?”
“Well, I have but, um, I don’t mean ‘what should I do,’ I mean ‘how do I do it.’”
Rainbow dash poured over the words in her head. She squinted at Fluttershy and smacked her lips. “Yeah… both of those phrases sound like Rarity would be better to ask.”
“Well, Rarity wants me to do something dramatic—and maybe she’s right—but I don’t mean ‘how do I plan something romantic,’ I, um…”
Rainbow’s eyes opened. “Oh, you’re asking for confidence?”
“Um, yeah,” Fluttershy mumbled.
“It’s simple. Just do it.”
“… I don’t think that’s helpful.”
“Listen Fluttershy,” Rainbow put a hoof around Fluttershy’s neck. “All you gotta do is not think about doing it, and just do it. The reason you’re scared about doing it is that you’ve gotten into your own head about the result, yeah?”
“… yeah?”
“So, just, you know, don’t.”
“Don’t what.”
“Don’t think about it. At all. Just walk up to them, and say ‘hey, you’re cute, wanna go on a date?’ or something.”
Fluttershy blushed. “I can’t say that!” she exclaimed.
“Sure you can. Say it now.”
“I-I don’t kn—”
“Say it. ‘Hey…’” Rainbow Dash motioned towards Fluttershy.
Fluttershy sighed. “I don’t see how this is going to help.”
“Just trust me. ‘Hey…’”
Fluttershy took a deep breath. “Hey…”
“You’re cute.”
“… You’re cute.”
“Wanna go on a date?”
“…W-wanna go on a date?”
“Now all together.”
“Hey… y-you’re cute, wanna go on a date?”
“Again.”
“Hey… you’re cute, wanna go on a date?”
“Louder.”
“Hey, you’re cute, wanna go on a date?”
“Come on,” Rainbow said as she leapt from the ground. “I should be able to hear you from up here.”
Fluttershy loudly mumbled something. It wasn’t loud enough for Rainbow Dash to hear, but she assumed Fluttershy had said the practiced phrase.
“Nicely done. Now, do you feel better?”
“A bit… The words don’t feel like they mean as much now is all.”
“Exactly!”
“… How is this helpful?”
“It means less, so you’ll be thinking less about what you’re saying when you say it, duh.”
“I… I guess that makes sense?”
“You bet it does!”
Rainbow Dash smiled, proud of herself. Fluttershy had a confused look on her face.
“Hey, how do you think I do all the dangerous things I do?”
“Do you… not think about it? At all?” Fluttershy asked with wide eyes and a hoof over her mouth.
“Yes.” Rainbow Dash frowned. “Well, no. I figure out all the safety details first,” she said quickly. “Then, in preparation, I don’t think about it. Or, at least, I try not to. Sometimes I get in my own head, but usually I can keep my cool that way”
“I don’t see what that has to do with saying ‘Hey, you’re cute, wanna go on a date?’ over and over again.”
“Was it scary to say that?”
“Well, no…”
“Why not?”
“Because… I’m not thinking about Pinkie when I—” Fluttershy cut herself off and hid behind her mane.
“Pinkie? Really?”
“… Yes,” Fluttershy mumbled.
“Huh.” Rainbow Dash stared at the ground. She then scratched her head. Turning to Fluttershy, she said “You and Pinkie?”
“I know…” Fluttershy mumbled. “She won’t like me back.”
“Not at all what I said or implied. Honestly, I think she might like you back.”
“You do?” Fluttershy said turning out of the way of her mane. “What makes you say that?”
“I dunno. It’s just a feeling I’ve got, I guess. I just… don’t get why you like her.”
“Well…” Fluttershy rubbed her foreleg. “She’s able to keep me stable when I freak out, which is nice. And she knows when to push and when not to push. And—”
“Stop. I got it. Mushy stuff.” Rainbow Dash sighed as Fluttershy chuckled. “Sorry that came out wrong. I meant that I’m glad you, uh, have so many reasons you like Pinkie.”
“It’s fine, I know you don’t like to talk about that kind of thing.”
Rainbow Dash exhaled. “Good.” Rainbow paused for a moment. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. Anyway, when are you gonna ask her out?”
“Oh, I don’t know… I’ve been trying to muster up the courage for a week and a half or so.”
“Today it is, then.”
“What?” Fluttershy exclaimed. “I can’t just ask her now. I’m not ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“She’s going to—”
“Going to nothing. Nothing’s going to happen. All that’s going to happen is you’re going to go to Sugarcube Corner around 5-ish. Then, you’re going to walk up to Pinkie and say…” Rainbow Dash turned her hoof over towards Fluttershy.
She sighed. “Hey, you’re cute, wanna go on a date?”
“Bingo!”
“Okay, but what about after—”
“Nothing. You don’t think about the after. Heck,” Rainbow Dash threw her forehooves into the air. “There is no after. All there is, is now and the moment up to you saying…” Rainbow gestured to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy exhaled and glared at Rainbow. “Hey, you’re cute, wanna go on a date?”
“Great! Just, maybe don’t glare at Pinkie when you do it.”
“You and Angel are so frustrating sometimes.”
“Let me guess, he’s been trying to force you to do it the last week or so?”
“He brought Pinkie over to my house. He kept trying to get me to say something about it.”
Rainbow Dash snorted. “Did you leave him at Sugarcube Corner or something?”
Fluttershy wore a tired expression. “No, he hopped.”
Rainbow Dash started laughing. “All the way there? That bunny’s dedicated.”
“He even got Harry to push Pinkie up against me.”
Rainbow Dash began to guffaw. “Oh man, he got the bear in on it too?”
“Yeah, I think he’s calmed down, at least for now.”
Rainbow Dash wiped a tear from her eye. “Oh man, he’s playing matchmaker something fierce. Hey, how’s Rarity handling your crush?”
“Honestly, she hasn’t been bugging me that much about it since she found out what Angel’s been doing.” Fluttershy chuckled. “Although, she did seem to go into shock when she found out Angel figured it out before she did.”
“He what?” Rainbow exclaimed. Then, she howled with laughter. “Oh, man I wish I could’ve seen that. Me, bested by a rabbit?” Rainbow said in a poor excuse for a Canterlot accent.
“To be honest, you seem to know what happened already.”
“Oh, please, please tell me the next time you’re going to reveal something like that to Rarity. I wanna see so bad. Oh, and I bet Applejack would too.”
“I suppose I can do that.” Fluttershy frowned. “Oh goodness, I’m going to ask Pinkie out today. Why am I doing this?”
“Because you want to. And because you’re going to.”
Fluttershy sighed.
I’m not doing anything. I’m just walking to Sugarcube Corner.
It’s just a short walk. Nothing’s going to happen there.
Pinkie isn’t going to freak out when I tell her. She’s not going to hate me. She’s not going to—
No, don’t think about that. There is no after. Just like Rainbow said. It’s just the now, the before, and the event.
Oh god, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? Nothing good is going to come of it. Even if she does like me. I can barely work up the courage to ask her. What if something comes up? Can I even talk to her about it? No. I’ll just chicken out, like I always do. I can’t—I can’t—I can’t—
Fluttershy noticed she was hyperventilating and took a deep breath.
I can do this. I can ask Angel to do stop interfering with my life. And if I can ask that bunny to stop meddling, I can ask Pinkie to stop doing something minor. She’s much less… insistent than he is.
Okay, no more thoughts about the after. Just one hoof in front of the other. Oh, there’s Lyra and Bon-bon. I’ll just wave. Hello there! The pair waved back. Okay, keep walking. You know where you’re going. Where’s the clock? 5:02. That’s fine. It’s not a date or anything.
Oh no, what am I going to do on the date? I don’t even have anywhere planned. I—
Nope. Not thinking about it. It doesn’t exist. I’m just going to walk up and say ‘Hey, you’re cute, wanna go on a date?’ just like Rainbow said. Gosh, that does not sound like something I’d say at all. Maybe I should skip today and figure out what I want to say for tomorrow. I bet Rarity would—
No, I need to do this now. I’ve been saying tomorrow for a week and a half now. So, I’m going there now. Oh, there’s Big Mac cleaning up the stand. Hello Big Mac! Fluttershy waved again. Big Mac waved back. Okay, other things that are happening now. Oh, there’s some birdies in those trees. Looks like a pair of Equestrian sparrow. Strange, it’s a bit late in the year to see those. Oh, and there’s a red-breasted nuthatch. I hope you find the bugs you’re looking for! Oh, I do hope those bugs are good at hiding though. I’m sure they don’t want to be eaten. Good luck hiding, bugs!
Oh, dear, I’m here. Oh no, what—
Nope, I’m just opening the door. Just going to walk inside and find—
“Oh, hi Pinkie,” Fluttershy said as she ran right into her crush.
Inside the door, Pinkie stood,
“Oh, uh, hi Fluttershy. Um, Sugarcube Corner has closed. But—I can, um, I can get something for you if you need it.” Pinkie chuckled nervously.
“I—um—I’m not actually looking for anything in Sugarcube Corner, I—well—I was looking for you.”
“Oh no! Am I late for something? Was I supposed to be somewhere?” Pinkie’s eyes darted around nervously.
“No, nothing like that actually, um…” Fluttershy took a deep breath. “Can—can we talk somewhere. Somewhere private, maybe?”
“Uh,” Pinkie said as her eyes darted around the room. “Sure, I mean, i-is my room okay?”
“Of course,” Fluttershy replied.
Don’t think about it; don’t think about it; don’t think about it.
The pair walked up the stairs. Pinkie hesitated before the door. She drew a deep breath, then entered the room with Fluttershy following close behind.
Don’t think about it; don’t think about it; don’t think about it.
As soon as she entered, Pinkie turned around and waited for Fluttershy to close the door. “Okay, I’m ready, Shy. What did you want to talk to me about?” Pinkie asked, rubbing her foreleg.
Don’t think about it; don’t thi—wait.
“Pinkie, why are you so nervous?”
“Be-because,” Pinkie stopped and sighed, “Because you’ve been avoiding me, and I know that I’ve done something wrong, and I don’t know what it is, and I should know what it is, but I don’t and—"
“Wait, slow down, Pinkie, why do you think I’ve been avoiding you?”
Pinkie started pacing between the door and her bed. “Well, after the proposal, like, three weeks ago, I’ve only seen you once. And you usually come in on Tuesdays for a carrot cupcake for Angel and a Lemon Square for yourself after you and Rarity finish at the spa.”
“I do?”
“Yes! Like eight out of every ten weeks! I go to Carrot Top’s stand every Tuesday to buy carrots for the carrot cake just in case.” Fluttershy noticed a few tears coming out of Pinkie’s eyes. “I didn’t think anything of you not showing up on the two Tuesdays after the proposal, but then the one time I did see you was like, a week and a half ago, and—” Pinkie was crying now, “and when that happened, you initially said I couldn’t come in, but then you said I could. And Angel clearly was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t understand it, and I didn’t want to ask because I didn’t want it to be true. Be-because I care about you and—and I can’t lose our friendship.” Pinkie paused, out of breath. “I’m sorry.”
Fluttershy put a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “Pinkie, you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then, you are avoiding me?”
Fluttershy took the hoof back. “I… I didn’t mean to, but I guess I have in hindsight. I-I’m nervous.”
“About what?” Pinkie had one eyebrow raised and tears were still coating the edges of her eyes.
This is it. Okay, nothing after this. It doesn’t exist. It’s just the now.
“Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy took a deep breath. “Hey, you’re cute, wanna go on a date?”
There was a long silence in the air.
“Oh.” Pinkie giggled as tears spilled down her cheeks. “That explains a lot.”
“Yeah, I’ve been nervous all week.” Fluttershy scratched the back of her head. “I honestly didn’t realize I had come so often for sweets after the spa. And I only said you couldn’t come in initially because I was nervous about talking to you at the time.”
“Well, I really wasn’t expecting that.” Pinkie giggled and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I really, really wasn’t expecting that! I knew I was going to have a doozy today, but I thought it was going to be the complete opposite!”
Fluttershy forced a chuckle. “Y-yeah, quite the doozy, I guess.”
“So, when were you thinking.” Pinkie sniffled and pulled out a calendar from her mane. “I think I’m free Friday evening. Saturday I’m a little busy though.”
“F-Friday?”
“Friday’s good?” Pinkie smiled.
Fluttershy paused. “Um, yeah, Friday’s great.” She smiled. “More than great, even… Really?”
“Yeah!” Pinkie smiled wide. “Where were you thinking about going?”
“Oh, um, I don’t know. I honestly didn’t think I’d get this far,” she said through a chuckle.
“Wait? Why not? I thought I was super obvious.”
“Um, obvious?”
“I’ve, uh, had a crush on you for like, two months.”
“…Do you think Angel noticed?”
“Why would Angel notice? He’s a bunny. Bunnies don’t know romance.”
Fluttershy thought carefully about how to phrase her next words.
Pinkie interrupted her thoughts. “He was trying to get me to talk to you about it the other day, wasn’t he.”
Fluttershy nodded.
Pinkie laughed. “That rabbit… Anyway, you didn’t answer my question.”
“Well… how about The Blue Loon?”
“It’s a date! I haven’t gotten a chance to eat, like, half their menu yet.” Pinkie scribbled something in her calendar and shoved it back in her mane. “May I walk you home this evening?” she asked in a mock-Canterlot accent as she held open the door to her room.
“S-sure,” Fluttershy replied as she blushed.
“You’re cute when you’re flustered, you know,” Pinkie said with a smirk.
“I already called you cute, you can’t steal my line.”
The pair laughed as they made their way out of Sugarcube Corner.