The armlet glittered in the lights of the changing room, the numerous gems which made up the interlinked butterfly and rainbow symbols seemed to glow with internal light. There was no doubt in Rainbow Dash’s mind that it was one of Rarity’s greatest creations, but she still couldn’t help but think that it just wasn’t good enough for its job.
“Hey, what have you got there Crash?” came a soft voice from behind her.
“Nothin’,” exclaimed Dash as she spun around her cheeks shining with embarrassment.
“Is that an engagement token!” gasped Vapor Trail craning her neck to look around her captain. She held a hoof to her mouth to try and keep a squeal in. “You’re finally going to make an honest mare of Ms Fluttershy?”
“Look, keep it down will you, I’m trying to keep it a secret,” hissed Rainbow, her eyes darted around the nearly empty Wonderbolts changing room. “Besides you’re one to talk, you and Sky have what, six foals now, and you guys never made things formal.”
“Well the twins were a bit of a surprise, and we just never really had the time since then,” mumbled Vapor with a blush.
Vapor getting pregnant hadn’t been much of a surprise to anyone who saw her with Sky, thought Dash, the two couldn’t keep their hooves off of each other. They were famous for sneaking off for amorous liaisons in the changing rooms or the supply cupboard or on Spitfire’s desk. The bigger surprise had been that Sky had given up his position in the Wonderbolts reserve to raise their still expanding brood of foals.
“Anyway, when are you going to pop the question?” asked Vapour.
“Tonight,” said Dash, holding the box up to let Vapour admire the armlet better. “I’ve got a reservation for dinner at Le Grand’s, I thought I’d ask her then.”
“Wow, Le Grand’s! That’s a really fancy place, I heard their waiting list was months long.”
“Yeah, well you know being on the council of friendship and Wonderbolts captain helped me pull a few strings, plus Pinkie knows the head chief.” To be honest she was more of a hayburger and fries filly than the kind of cordon bleu stuff they served there but she knew that Fluttershy liked that sort of thing and Dash was going to give her fiancee to be (she hoped) the best possible proposal.
“Aww, it’s going to be so romantic, a lovely restaurant on Hearths Warming Eve” sighed Vapour. “You're not nervous are you?”
Dash gave a laugh. “Nervous? Me? Have you forgotten who you’re talking to? I’m Rainbow Awesome Dash, I don’t do nervous!” Still she had to hide the slight shaking of her hooves.
***
“You're not nervous are you, champ?” asked her father with a grin.
“N-no way!” exclaimed Dash, her eyes widening as the pair approached the gates of the flight camp. Everywhere there were foals racing after each other voices raised in excitement as they flit back and forth. She swallowed painfully, her mouth suddenly dry. She knew her parents had got her in early so that most of the other campers were at least a year older than her but that was just a sign of how awesome a flier she was. But it did mean that all the other foals were bigger than her, and that none of her friends would be here with her...
She was pulled out of her thoughts as her dad gave her a big hug. “I’m sure you’ll be breaking the records here before the week is out!”
“Dad!” she grumbled as she struggled to escape from the stallion’s grasp. She glared as a few of the nearby foals sniggered at her. She was going to say more but her eyes suddenly caught sight of a flash of pink and yellow amongst the crowd. There stood a filly at least a head taller than all the other foals, an immaculate mane covered one eye and the longest tail she’d ever seen stretched out behind her. Dash blinked, her previous thoughts forgotten, the filly was just so pretty!
“Hey,” she called, unconsciously flying away from her father and over towards the stranger. “Who are you?” she asked.
The stunning pony seemed to try to fold into herself, only one eye looked up from amongst the forest of mane. “I’m Fluttershy,” she squeaked.
“Flutter what?” asked Rainbow.
“That’s Hardly Flies,” came a grating voice followed by a cruel laugh. Dash looked over to see a small group of colts strutting over to them. “We call her that because she can’t fly!” the leader announced as if the nickname was a work of genius.
“That’s not her name,” exclaimed Dash. She tried to keep her voice level as the colts gathered around, they all seemed so much bigger than she was.
“What would a little baby like you know about it?” sneered one of the other colts.
Dash found her legs taking a step back and felt Fluttershy’s shivering form pressed up against her. The larger filly seemed to unfold to her full height, “She-she’s not a baby!” she managed after a moment. “You sh-shouldn’t pick on the new ponies.”
“Yeah! That’s right!” exclaimed Dash drawing strength from the other pony. “I’m Rainbow Dash!” she took off, wings blurring, bringing herself into the face of the bullies. “And I’m going to be the best flier this camp has ever seen!”
They backed away in surprise at their victim’s sudden fierceness. “What-whatever,” announced the leader looking away.
“Come on Flutters,” said Dash reaching out to her new friend, “we don’t need these jerks!” Their hooves touched and Dash felt her heart jump at the look of gratitude in the older filly’s eyes.
Dash carefully examined herself in the mirror, she sighed as she spotted a gray hair amongst her rainbow mane and quickly plucked it out, even she couldn’t outrun age forever. Maybe that was part of why she’d decided to finally pop the question, she wasn’t normally one for self reflection but it might be time to settle down. She was the Wonderbolt’s captain, but she wasn’t the fastest on the team anymore, Loopy had her beaten on that front. Another season or two and It might be time to step down from the position. She’d probably be more useful as a trainer than a captain at this point anyway.
She shook herself out of her introspection, now wasn’t the time to think about that too much. She had a job to do tonight and she had to keep her eyes on the prize. She glanced over at the box containing the engagement token and fought against the compulsion to open it to check it was still there, it couldn’t have just disappeared in the last five minutes.
Forcing her gaze away from the box she trotted into her bedroom and carefully unfolded her dress from the box Rarity had packed it in. She normally didn’t wear anything too fancy, but tonight she wanted to look her very best. She didn’t know all that much about fashion but she had to admit this was a work of beauty. It was mostly black silk but was edged with her trademark rainbows. It was cut so that her wings would be free while still being tight around the flanks to tastefully show off what she had. It came with a long train which reminded her of Flutters tail. It would flare out dramatically when she flew making her look like a lighting bolt.
However, all that style didn’t make it easy to get on, particularly without any help, and by the time she had the whole thing on she was behind schedule. Still it wasn’t like she couldn’t cut a few minutes off the trip if she wanted to, maybe she wasn’t the best of the Wonderbolts any more but she was still Rainbow Dash, no pony could turn down Rainbow Dash’s proposal!
It wasn’t like she was a rapidly aging, almost ex-athlete, right? There was no reason why Fluttershy might want someone more feminine, or smarter, or more mature, or... Dash struggled to keep her breathing under control. She just had to remember how awesome she was. But sometimes being awesome was just so tiring, most ponies didn’t realize how hard it could be to be expected to be the best, even if it was just your own expectations. Fluttershy understood though, with Fluttershy she didn’t have to try so hard. It was one of the many reasons she wanted to spend the rest of her life with that mare.
Finally calming herself Dash straightened her dress and double checked that she had the box and the reservations for the restaurant before flying out of her cloud house and slamming the door behind her. For a moment she turned and looked over the old place, it seemed so empty nowadays. She hardly spent any time there anymore. When she was working with the bolts she lived in the barracks but neither really felt like home anymore. Despite growing up in Cloudsdale she couldn’t help but consider Ponyville home, and when she was there she preferred to spend her time in a certain little grass covered cottage rather than on her cloud.
***
“Thank you so much for helping me move in Dash,” said Fluttershy as she used her rump to push one of the various boxes covering much of the floor away.
“Anytime,” replied Dash, pulling her gaze away from the aforementioned rump. She’d been friends with Fluttershy for years now but it hadn’t been until puberty struck that she’d begun to realize just how stunningly beautiful her friend was. Dash chastised herself internally for staring, Flutters was her friend, nothing more...
“So, um, what do you think of my new cottage?” asked Fluttershy, looking away.
“It’s, well great, very, um, cozy,” said Dash. Really she wasn’t sure what her friend saw in the place. Why would any pegasus want to live on the ground when they could have a cloud house? They were so much more convenient, easy to clean and you could move them if you got bored of the location. “Plenty of places for the animals to stay,” she continued. It seemed like dozens of creatures were moving in at the same time as her friend, you could hardly take two steps without tripping over a critter of some sort.
“Oh, yes!” exclaimed Fluttershy. “There are so many of them, and such a variety! Not just birds like in Cloudsdale, but mice, rabbits, bats, hedgehogs, weasels and badgers too.” The yellow pegasus spun around as she reeled off her list pointing to each creature as she named it. “I think I even saw a bear out near the woods!” Flutters seemed elated and Dash couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t think she’d ever seen her friend quite so happy before. Flutters had always had a sort of air to her growing up, not exactly sadness, but a feeling like she didn’t quite fit in back home in Cloudsdale. Now she seemed to have found her place and Dash couldn’t be happier for her, although she couldn’t really see herself in the same situation.
“Have you thought about getting a place of your own?” asked Fluttershy.
“Not really,” said Dash, “I’ve still got another year at cloud college, and it’s convenient to stay with Mom and Dad.” Even if they could be a bit smothering at times, she thought, they were so embarrassing around her friends.
“Well if you are looking, Ponyville seems nice.”
Rainbow nodded, she’d flown over it on the way here. It was ok as ground towns went, but it seemed dull despite the fearsome Everfree Forest being right next door. It would be nice to get out from under her parents’ hooves but she’d prefer somewhere a bit more exciting, maybe Los Pegasus? But that would be so far away from Flutters she didn’t want to lose touch with her best friend.
“It might be a bit quiet for you,” continued Flutters, “but they do have a weather team, and plenty of open space to practice for your Wonderbolts application.” She looked aside for a moment, “It would be nice to still have you nearby,” she mumbled.
Dash grinned back. “We’ll see,” she said. She could at least look into the place.
Flutters nodded. “Come on,” she said, taking Dash by the hoof and almost dragging her out the door. “I can’t wait to show you the garden.”
“Hi, gorgeous! I'm home! ” exclaimed Dash trying to hide her nervousness as she let herself into the cottage.
Fluttershy gave a squeak and leapt into the air in shock before spinning around in place to see the new arrival. “Rainbow!” she gasped.
“Sorry, I guess I should have knocked,” said Dash gliding into the house and giving her marefriend a quick kiss on the lips.
“No, I should have expected you,” replied a flustered Fluttershy. She quickly juggled a small box around in her hooves before dropping it into a pouch attached to her waist.
“What’s that?” asked Dash, dropping onto the cottages' battered couch. One of Fluttershy’s rabbits jumped out of the way chittering angrily, Dash thought it was Cherub, or maybe Seraph, there were too many of them to keep track of. On the table next to her seat Tank popped his head out of his shell and she gave him a quick nuzzle.
“Oh, just some bits, I want to make sure I have enough for tonight,” mumbled Flutters looking aside.
“Hey, no problem, I got it covered, my treat!” Dash didn’t want to get into that right now, money could be a sore point between them, the Wonderbolts paid pretty well and she had some sponsorship deals as well, whereas the animal sanctuary always seemed to need fundraising for something or other.
“No, no I want to make this special for you, something memorable,” said Fluttershy, putting her hoof down. “Um, if that’s alright with you Dashie?”
“Sure, Flutters,” said Dash with a smile. She got up from the seat and flew over to the other mare to give her a hug. It might be her nerves but she had even more energy than normal, she couldn’t seem to sit still. “Yeah, I hope we’re going to remember tonight for a long long time.” She fought off an instinct to check that the armlet was in its place again. Of course everything would go to plan, tonight would be wonderful and there was no chance Flutters would say no, right?
"Discord's not hanging around somewhere tonight is he?" asked Dash looking around for anything the Dracoequis might have turned himself into. The Lord of Chaos had eventually gotten his head around her and Flutters relationship but it had taken a while for him to understand the two of them required some privacy.
"He dropped in earlier and we had a bit of a talk," said Fluttershy, "but I made it extra clear that he wouldn't interfere with tonight at all, that it should just be me and you." She stamped her hoof. "Anyway, is that dress new?” she asked looking over Dash’s outfit and changing the topic. “It’s gorgeous! The cut really shows off your, um, figure!” she blushed.
“Thanks,” said Dash, feeling a little warm as Fluttershy’s eyes flicked over her. “You look great as well.” Fluttershy’s dress was made of some green material cut to look like a collection of leaves, she even had a real laurel wreath on her head.
“Thank you, would you like a drink or something before we set off?” Several of the critters gathered around her hooves started to chitter at her and gently shove her towards the door.
Dash frowned, that was odd, if anything Flutters pets normally tried to keep her around rather than trying to drive her away. Were they planning a party while she was gone, or something? She glanced up at the clock on the wall, really they didn’t have much time if they wanted to make their reservation. Maybe the animals knew that? She didn’t think they could tell the time, well apart from feeding time. “Love to, but it doesn’t look like we’ve got long.”
“Oh, well I guess you’re right,” said Flutters. Many of the animals nodded along, “I guess we better be going then.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Flutters seemed to be acting even more jittery than normal. For a moment Dash wondered if she might have found out about her proposal from somepony, but she’d made sure that Rarity, Spike and Pinky had promised to keep things secret, they wouldn’t have blabbed. The list of others who knew of her plans was quite small, Flutters parents, a few of the Wonderbolts, Quibble, she didn’t think any of them would have given the game away either. She hadn’t even told her own parents, if she had she was sure they’d be hiding in the bushes outside the restaurant to cheer her on. She shrugged, it must just be her imagination.
“Dash?” asked Futtershy, breaking her out of her rumination, “Are you coming?”
“Sorry, I was miles away.” Now that Fluttershy seemed to have settled herself she seemed more like her normal self. It was amazing that when she needed to be her most timid friend could also be the bravest.
***
Stretching her wings to their very limits, Rainbow flashed around the beast as fast as she could, keeping it distracted and buffeting it with kicks as often as she could but nothing she threw out seemed to do anything more than make it angry. Maybe if she could build up to a sonic rainboom it might have some effect, but it had been so long since she’d managed that and she’d need miles of run up. What if she..
The moment's distraction was enough to allow the Manticore to swing its scorpion tail towards her; it didn’t hit her as much as she ran into it. It was like slamming into a brick wall and she was sent flying into a nearby tree.
Blinking, for a moment all Rainbow could see were stars. She had to get up! She couldn’t leave Flutters and the rest of the girls at the mercy of that thing! She couldn’t bear to think of what that creature would do to its prey. Ignoring her pain, Rainbow struggled to her hooves. She was shocked to see Fluttershy standing directly between the Manticore and the rest of the team, she felt her heart jerk, there was no way even she could get there before...
“Wait!” cried Flutters. Dash didn’t think she’d ever heard her friend being that loud before and her cry seemed to root her to the ground in amazement.
“Shush, It’s ok,” said Fluttershy, turning back to the creature which seemed just as puzzled as Rainbow felt. She could see Flutters shivering but still she approached the creature and slowly leaned forwards to give it a gentle nuzzle. Dash felt panic wash over her as she saw the creature raise a paw as big as her head, she had to do something, she had to save Flutters, she couldn’t bear it if...
“Oh, you poor, poor, little baby!” continued Fluttershy looking at the offered paw.
“Little?!” gasped Rainbow, her mouth gaping.
“Now this might hurt for just a second” Unbelievably, Fluttershy reached her head forwards past the proffered claws and plucked something from the beast’s paw causing it to let out a roar and lunge forwards.
It was too much, Rainbow shut her eyes tight, not able to watch the devastation which was going to be wrought on her closest friend. All she could do was hope that she and her new friends would be able to avenge her in some way. “Fluttershy!” she moaned.
“Aw, you’re just a little baby kitty,” came what sounded like Fluttershy’s voice. Rainbow’s eyes flicked open again in astonishment. “Yes you are, yes you are,” the voice continued soothingly.
Fluttershy was alive!, and not only that but the creature seemed to be grooming her! Licking her mane with its huge tongue. For a moment Dash felt a surge of jealousy but it was quickly replaced by a wave of relief. She struggled against the urge to rush forwards and hug Flutters herself, she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of her new friends. Instead she found herself laughing along with them, Flutters was just so amazing sometimes!
Leaving the cottage both of the pegasi took to flight. Cloudsdale wasn’t too far away, Rainbow could probably make it in ten minutes flat, if she pushed herself, but for Fluttershy it would probably take most of an hour. With most other ponies Rainbow would find such a pace frustrating but she had long gotten used to her marefriend’s speed and knew to slow down, although given the stress she was currently under she felt a little twitchy.
“You don’t have to wait for me, you know,” said Fluttershy, seeming to read her friend's mind.
“Nah, it’s no problem, it’s good to take things slow sometimes, you get to see in the sights on the way. In fact there’s nowhere I’d rather be than here!”
“Really!” exclaimed Fluttershy, her eyes wide.
“Yeah,” Dash swooped down towards her so their hooves could almost touch. For a moment she thought about throwing out her plans and just asking the question here, but she stopped herself. The restaurant would be better.
“Oh, Dashie, that's... I’m so glad you said that, I...” she paused for a moment. “I really do love you, I don’t think I say that enough.”
“You say it plenty, I’m the one who isn’t good with words,” Dash felt her cheeks starting to glow.
“Rainbow Dash!,” exclaimed Fluttershy, “Words might not be your thing, but you’ve never done anything but show me how much you love me since we started dating, since well before. I’m so very lucky to have you.”
Embarrassed Dash looked away over towards the approaching bulk of Cloudsdale. This time of year the whole place was set up for the holiday season. Maybe it's cloudy mass didn’t allow for quite the same level of decoration as Canterlot, or even Ponyville, but Dash still thought it was one of the prettiest cities she’d ever seen. Ponyville might be home for her now but she’d always have a place in her heart for Equestria’s premier sky city. Firefly lanterns of all colors blanketed the city creating a sea of twinkling lights, here and there flocks of inhabitants all dressed up in their finest flew from place to place wishing each other seasons greetings.
Dash pointed towards the city. “Looks like they went all out this year.”
“Oh, yes I love Hearthwarming, everything just looks so pretty, all trimmed up and all the ponies seem so happy, it’s such a time for friends and family to get together.”
“Yeah, and we get to have dinner with both of our parents tomorrow, so don’t eat too much tonight,” she grinned. “Shame Zephyr can make it this year.”
Fluttershy rolled her eyes at the mention of her brother. “Dash, he’s better than he used to be, much better.”
“Yeah, he has stopped hitting on me since we started dating, even he couldn’t miss that sign that I wasn't interested.”
“He’s going to be bringing a marefriend this year, you know.”
“So we get to tell her all his really embarrassing stories? Sounds fun. Who is the unlucky mare? Anyone I know?”
“It’s a surprise apparently, I think they might have only just gotten together.”
For a moment Dash had the horrible realization that if she and Flutters did get married Zephyr would become her brother in law. Mr and Mrs Shy would be cool parents but Zephyr she didn’t want. Still she supposed she would have to take the bad with the good. She glanced over at Flutters as she swooped down over the city, Fluttershy was worth it.
Dash blinked in surprise as she noticed how close the restaurant suddenly was. Where had the time gone? Should she do the proposal before or after they ate? Quibble has said he's popped the question after dinner, but what did he know? What was she supposed to say anyway? She wanted to facehoof, she should have planned something, written something up, Spike could have helped, he wrote most of Twi’s speeches.
“Well, here we are,” said Dash nervously as they alighted in front of La Grand’s, it was tastefully decorated and a herd of ponies were lined up in front of it. Hopefully their reservations would mean they wouldn’t need to queue.
“Oh, it looks so good,” exclaimed Fluttershy. “You really shouldn’t have, I would have been happy just doing all this at the cottage.”
“Yeah well, I’d like that as well but there are some times you just want to go all out you know.” Dash felt another wave of nervousness roll through her and she struggled to crush it. This was going to be the best proposal ever! Even if she hadn’t planned properly. “It’s not all that different from the place where you first asked me out.”
***
Although the coronation could hardly have been considered to have gone off without a hitch the afterparty was top flight in Dash’s opinion. The free bar certainly wasn’t getting any complaints. Of course her promotion to Princess hadn’t made Twilight any less of a lightweight but Rarity and AJ had managed to steer her back towards the palace before she caused a diplomatic incident, or worse, decided to dance.
“Um, hi Rainbow,” came a nervous voice from nearby.
“Hey, Flutters,” replied Dash waving her drink towards the arrival and only spilling a little of it. “Where did you get off to?”
“Oh, I was just talking to Pinkie about something, I think she gave me some very good advice.” She sat down next to Dash and quickly drained her own drink. It looked like it wasn’t her first, her cheeks were rosy. “What do you think of this Council of Friendship thing?”
“Seems like a good idea, I guess we have been drifting apart a bit recently. Twilight’s got all sorts of Princess things on her plate now, Rarity’s got her fashion empire. I don’t see AJ ever leaving the farm though, although Pinkie has been spending a lot of time trailing after Cheese Sandwich recently.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Maybe there’s something going on there.”
Fluttershy nodded. “And you’ve got the Wonderbolts, you’re on tour an awful lot.”
“Comes with the territory, I’m afraid. Still I’m sure I can make it back for this council thing each month.”
“Yes, well,” Fluttershy looked down into her glass again as if searching for more drink, “maybe we should get together a bit more often than that, maybe,” her voice started to fade away but she took a deep breath and continued, “get together for drinks or even a meal?”
“Sure, we can probably get the girls together now and again, paint Ponyville red, like the old days.”
“No, not the girls, just... maybe just the two of us, just you and me,” she looked up into Dash’s gaze, her blue eyes huge and hopeful.
“Well I guess, we could but it’s more fun when there’s more than two of us,” replied Dash casually.
Fluttershy blinked in surprise. “No that’s not what I meant, I mean the two of us, you and me, out together, having a meal, on a date!”
“A date?” Dash’s heart suddenly seemed to be racing. Was this some sort of mix up? Were the Changelings back again? There was no way Fluttershy thought about her that way, she’d thought about it herself, quite a bit, but Fluttershy didn’t think of her that way. Did she? “Us?”
“Oh Rainbow, you can be so dense sometimes, I think it’s something I love about you!” Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she realized what she’d just said and her head slumped onto the table hiding her bright red face.
For a moment Dash didn’t know what to say but seeing Flutters actions she couldn’t help but giggle, then flat out laugh. A single annoyed looking eye glared out from Fluttershy’s mane. “No sorry, I’d,” she suddenly had difficulty speaking, “I’d love to go on a date with you, but how, what brought this on?”
“Well you haven't been around much recently, and I got thinking about just how much I missed you. Then when Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow were going to blast us and it looked, well it looked like the end. I thought that I was going to die without ever telling you how I felt about you, how I’ve been feeling about you since we first met...”
Dash blinked, since they first met?
“But I was sure you didn’t feel that way about me, but with you gone so often I started to think about what if you never came back, and what if you found somepony else and I never get a chance to tell you, and...” she started to babble and it suddenly seemed to Dash that the best way to make her stop would be to kiss her.
So she did.
“Your table Madams,” announced the rather snooty sounding unicorn waiter as he pulled out the two chairs. The place met all of Dash’s expectations, this being Cloudsdale you could tell the place was expensive just by the fact it wasn’t made of cloud. It was furnished with antique wooden tables and velvet drapes with a huge chandelier hanging from the roof, all of which must have been enchanted not to fall through the city's foundations.
In the background a small group of musicians were playing something classical Dash didn’t recognise. It looked like she and Flutters had been given one of the best seats in the house, their table was positioned on the outskirts of the floor near the windows giving them a little privacy as well as a good view of the snow falling in the street outside. The waiter used his magic to light the candle in the center of the table before leaving them alone with a pair of menus.
“Wow, this place is really nice,” gasped Fluttershy, looking around.
“Hey, nothing but the best for my filly, right,” said Dash with a smile trying to hide her nervousness. Under the table she played around with the box. Should she do it now? Or after the meal? Maybe this wasn’t the right time to do it anyway, she needed everything to be perfect! She noticed Flutters was also pawing at the small bag she’d brought with her. “You don’t need to worry about the price, I got this. I said it was going to be my treat.”
“It’s not that, it’s just, well do you think about, well us? Where are we going?” Flutters leant forwards over the table.
Dash was a little taken aback, that seemed like her line given the situation, but had she really thought things through? She felt so unprepared. “Well, we’re doing alright, aren't we? We spend most of our free time together. Ok, I’ve got the Bolts and you’ve got your sanctuary so it’s not like we’re living in each other’s pockets, but I really love the time we do spend together.”
“But is that it? We spend time together, isn’t there anything else?”
“Well,” began Dash once again feeling for the box, there was something else wasn’t there? There was what she had come here in the first place to ask, to show how they truly felt about each other, to make things formal and official, to be together forever. She suddenly felt sweat start to dampen her coat and the restaurant felt so much smaller and stuffier. “You see...”
Fluttershy took a deep breath, she seemed to be sweating a little as well. “Dash I have something I need to say, well to ask you, you see...”
“Would madams care to order now?” came the waters voice, Dash’s head shot over to him. Her gaze was apparently piercing enough to make him take a step back. “Order!” she barked, “Oh, yes right, um,” she grabbed a menu and for a moment thought she’d forgotten how to read before she realized it was upside down. Even when that was fixed she didn’t recognise most of the dishes. “I’ll have one of those,” she said, pointing to a dish at random.
“Of course, and the other lady?”
“Oh, um,” Fluttershy seemed just as flustered, “I’ll have the fish salad, please.”
Dash tried not to gag, the fact that Fluttershy was able to eat seafood was one of her least favorite things about her marefriend.
The waiter nodded and walked stiffly away.
“So, um what were you going to ask,” said Dash trying to stop her pulse racing. She loved Fluttershy and she was going to pop the question tonight... Just not right now...
“Oh, um, nothing that can’t wait until we finish eating.”
“Ok, but I mean what I said, I really do love spending time with you.”
***
“Good Morning Dash,” said Fluttershy as she pushed the bedroom door open with her rump, a tray of hay bacon resting on her back.
“You didn’t have to,” said Dash with a yawn as she struggled to get up and take the breakfast from her marefriend. Once it was secure Fluttershy clambered into bed beside her and snuggled up close.
Dash hugged Flutters enjoying the feeling of her warmth soaking into her. It was becoming more common for her to spend the night over at the cottage when she was in town. They’d spent a few nights at her place but it was always hard to make sure all of Flutter’s animals were being looked after. To be honest Dash preferred the cottage in some ways. There wasn’t all that much in the way of privacy given the number of creatures hanging around, but it was cozy.
Flutters daintily picked up a slice of hay bacon and chewed for a moment. “Do you have anything to do today?”
“Not much, I don’t need to get back to the Bolts until next week. I was going to catch up with a few of my old weather buddies while I’m in town, maybe go see how AJ’s doing. I guess I should head back to the old cloud house and give it a clean, where’s Tank? I should take him with me when I go.” She leaned back in bed, most of that could wait. Tank probably spent more time here than he did with her, although she took her pet on some of her tours he was usually happier to stay here at the cottage.
“Well, you know maybe you don’t need to take him with you,” said Fluttershy looking over at Dash.
“I can’t have you looking after him all the time.”
“Oh, I don’t mind, but what I mean is, well, maybe, if you want to, maybe you don’t have to leave?”
Dash grinned. “You got something else we could do this morning then?” she rolled over onto her marefriend kissing her on the neck.
“Well, yes, but not that,” Fluttershy blushed, “well not just that. I mean maybe you could stay here, when you’re in town, like move in.”
Dash blinked, for a moment she felt a tightness in her chest. This was, this was a step, she’d never really lived with another pony before, never really been that serious with anypony. It felt big, she liked her freedom but now that she thought about it maybe it wasn’t that big a thing, she practically lived here already. The tightness eased.
“Yeah, I think I’d like that,” said Dash leaning forwards again to plant her lips on Fluttershy’s.
The food arrived quite quickly and although Dash didn’t want to seem stupid by asking what her’s was it tasted fine. Some of the strange tension between her and Fluttershy seemed to evaporate while they ate and they managed the usual small talk about what had happened to them over the last few weeks. Dash had never thought she’d learn enough about animal to be able to keep up with Fluttershy, and likewise she never thought that Fluttershy would managed to be able to make some insightful comments on the Bolts current training plans, she guessed they must have both rubbed off on each other to some extent.
All too soon the meal was finished and the plates cleared away. Time was quickly running away from her, should she propose now? Should she wait until after dessert? Should she have arranged something with the restaurant? She’d heard of things like hiding the engagement token in an ice cream or something, but the armlet was too big for that. She kicked herself she should have arranged things better, Fluttershy deserved the very best.
Maybe she should just call the whole thing off, try another night. Her and Flutters were happy as they were, right? Why potentially spoil something which was going so well? Why... Why... Why was she being such a coward? Didn’t Flutters deserve some sort of commitment on her part? She’d put up with Dash’s rashness, let her live in her home, and cared for her. Shouldn’t Dash do this one thing for her?
Dash looked up and Fluttershy seemed just as frazzled as she felt, the other mare was once again pawing at her bag, was she still worrying about the price of the meal? She had to do this right and she had to do it now, before she chickened out.
“Look Flutt...” began Dash, reaching for the box.
“Dash I’ve...” interrupted Fluttershy.
“You go...” tried Dash.
“What do...”
“You first,” said Dash, a few more seconds would let her try to compose herself.
Fluttershy nodded still playing with her bag and opened her mouth but nothing but a squeak came out.
Dash couldn’t help but smile, that was the Fluttershy she’d grown up with. Maybe she’d become more bold over the years but she was still at her heart Fluttershy, the mare she’d fallen in love with. The mare she realized she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
She reached over and took her marefriends hoof. “Breath,” she suggested. “Look I-I’ll start.” With shaking hooves she took out the box and laid it on the table. She followed her own advice and took a deep breath, she was Rainbow Awesome Dash, she could do this. “Fluttershy, look we’ve known each other for a long time, back since Flight camp.”
“You saved me from those bullies. You did so much for me, helped me move to ground, been my best friend,” mumbled Flutters, her eyes locked on the box.
Dash nodded. “And you’ve done so much for me as well, cheered me on when I needed it. You made me see that I wanted to be more than a friend to you.” She looked into Fluttershy’s big blue eyes. “You asked me out, you asked me to move in with you and... and I think it’s time I ask you something.” With a shaking hoof she opened the box revealing the armlet to Flutter.
“Fluttershy, will you make me the happiest mare alive by becoming my wife?”
There was a moment of horrible, horrible silence as Fluttershy stared at the box before she tucked into her own bag and brought out a smaller box only to open it to reveal a hair clip also formed out of an intertwined lightning bolt and butterfly shape. “Th-that,” she stuttered, tears starting to fall from her eyes. “That was going to be my line!”
Dash blinked her brain momentarily short circuited. Fluttershy had intended to propose tonight as well? What were the odds? More importantly Fluttershy was crying! “Flutters I’m sorry, you’re crying...” She began reaching for Fluttershy’s face.
“Happy Tears!” blubbered Fluttershy, waving a hoof in front of her face “Happy Tears!”
“Does that mean...” said Dash trying to keep her own emotions under control.
“Of course I will Dash, of course I will,” cried Fluttershy overcome with emotion, “And will you make me the happiest pony by being my...”
She didn’t manage to finish the sentence before Dash closed the distance between them and kissed her hard on the lips. “Of course I will Flutters. Now and forever.”