//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Warmth Amongst Each Other // Story: Love Is Immortal - A Twishy Story // by Bloonjitsu7 //------------------------------// Twilight I've been waiting with anxiety for multiple hours now, terrified and excited for the night to come. My chat with Rainbow did little to steel my nerves, though it did help a microscopic amount. It almost sounded like she knew something that I didn't, which is pretty strange. I brush my mane for the umpteenth time, still unsatisfied with how it looks. Of course now that I actually care about it, I can't seem to get it to look right. Or maybe it always looked like this, and I just hadn't noticed it? Whatever, what matters is that it's not good enough for Fluttershy. My ears perk up as I hear a gentle knock at the door. She's here. "Coming!" I yell out, loud enough for her to hear outside of my residence. I'm still not fully ready, but it'll have to do, considering that I'm now fully out of time. I race over to the door, straightening out my mane one last time on the way there. I open the wooden entrance to my home, and am greeted by an absolutely breathtaking yellow pegasus. Is it just me, or does she look even prettier than she normally does? "Wow, you look.... gorgeous." I notice her blushing deeply at this remark, despite her best attempts to hide it. "Th-thank you..... You're really pretty as well...." Aaaaaaand there's that feeling again. Except this time it's accompanied by a new feeling, a burning sensation in my cheeks. I really need to get this checked out. I just stare at her for a solid minute or so, my words losing me. The evening sky is illuminating her presence, though to me it feels more like she's the one illuminating it. The blue of the atmosphere behind her seems to bend around her delicate body, shaping it's way to extenuate her looks even more. "Are you.... ready to go?" She says, her cheeks flaring up again for a split second. "Oh! Ummmm... yes!" This was a lie. I am not ready at all, but I don't really have much of a choice at this point. "You can lead the way, I guess. Since like, you know where we're going and I don't, haha." Celestia, why am I so awkward? At least she doesn't seem to mind, and directs me out the door as we begin our walk. She starts to make some idle chatter at me while we make our way over to wherever we're going, which honestly catches me off guard a bit. "I..... I'm oh so glad you agreed to this..... I really didn't think you would want to......" "Why wouldn't I want to? You're so pleasant to be around, a nice dinner between the two of us just sounds heavenly." She responds to this with an adorable little squeak, before giving an actual verbal response. "I..... I really....." She takes a deep breath. "I really like you, Twilight." "Aw.... I like you too, Fluttershy. So, where are we eating?" We've already passed by a couple of restaurants that I had expected us to stop at, and we're starting to approach the edge of Ponyville. "You'll see. It's a pretty new place, I haven't actually eaten there myself." "I'm sure it'll be great there." This is already going a lot better than I feared that it might have. We're both smiling, and the anxious tension seems to have melted away from between us. The evening air is really refreshing, especially after all that stressful prepping I did before this. We take a turn at the outskirts of Ponyville, and stop at a place by the Great Valley River. The sign on the establishment reads "The Earl Graze". It's an outdoor restaurant, chairs and tables lined on a patio-tile floor. The seats look like ones you'd find in a garden, metal with a flower pattern on them. The tables also seem to have a metal frame, but with a glass countertop. There are long rectangular white planters placed across the patio, with a thin layer of grass coating each one. In the upper-left corner of the restaurant is the only walled off area, which I can only assume is the kitchen. It takes up a large amount of space, and is lacking a proper roof just like the rest of the place. It instead opts for a simple wooden cross-check pattern as a ceiling, which isn't going to keep anything out. As we step onto the patio, my nose immediately catches the delectable scent of tea and fresh herbs, which immediately puts a large smile on both of our faces. "Wow..... this place is amazing." Fluttershy marvels at the establishment around her. "Have you never even seen it before?" I thought she would've checked the place out with her own eyes before taking me here. "Oh, no. But I do trust Rarity's opinion very much, and she was the one who recommended it for u-" She catches herself from saying something. "...for me." I ignore the slight hiccup in her sentence, and turn my attention towards the waiter now approaching us. "Welcome to The Earl Graze, my beautiful mares." He has a bit of a sleazy tone to his voice, and I'm not sure how much I trust him. "I take it you have a reservation?" "Uh.... um.... we.... we needed a reservation.....?" Fluttershy is starting to panic, clearly not prepared for this. "No, you don't need a reservation, but I can't guarantee a table for you pretty ones if you don't have one. I can see if there's a table open but.... wait. Are you the Princess Twilight Sparkle?" I sigh. I just wanted to have a nice dinner without my royal status being brought up. "Yes, that's me." I say, reluctantly. "I am so sorry, your majesty! We'll have a table ready in no time!" "Thank you, but you really don't have to treat me differently. I'm just like everypony else." "As you wish, your majes- ...miss Twilight. Please, follow me." As we head over to the table, I notice that Fluttershy has calmed down a bit from the situation we were just in. We stop at a table with 2 seats, farther away from most of the other dining spots. "Please take a seat, I'll be back for your orders soon." As I sit down in the chair, I realize that it's not made of metal, but is actually some type of smooth dark wood. I rack my brain, trying to think of what species of wood this could possibly be before Fluttershy speaks up, interrupting my thoughts. "So um.... what do you think you're going to order?" "Oh! Right. Food." I look down at the menu seeing that it's primarily herbal dishes and tea, which explains the scent. I also notice that there's a flower pattern on the glass countertop, matching the ones on the chairs. I wonder what flower these are based on? I think they're modeled off of daisies, but the pistil is far too large for it to be anatomically correct. Whoever made these should really read up on flowers. "Are you two lovely mares ready to order?" Crap. Fluttershy is ready, and I've just been analyzing the decor. Wait... is it just me, or is the waiter staring at Fluttershy? She doesn't seem to notice, so I don't say anything. "Um..... I'll have the petunia palette...... and the Lavender Tea, please." "A fine choice for a fine mare. And you, miss?" I may not have much social experience, but he's definitely hitting on her. Fluttershy is starting to look visibly uncomfortable, so I try to speed things along and get him out of here as soon as possible. "I'll just have the same as her." "Mhm. I'll be back with your food when it's ready. Feel free to enjoy the evening ambience while you wait." Much to Fluttershy's relief, he leaves. The sky is beginning to darken, from a combination of the sun setting and a swarm of clouds rolling in. "That was.... something." Fluttershy nods, her body slightly shaking. "Y-yeah........ I..... I'm really glad you're here with me.........." She looks down at the floor, hiding behind her mane. "I.... I just feel a lot safer when I'm around you......." That sensation in my gut is returning. I'll just follow Rainbow's advice, and tell Fluttershy what I like about her. Maybe that'll somehow help me figure out why I'm feeling like this. "You make me feel so happy when I'm around you, Fluttershy. You're just so nice and kind, and you're really brave when you need to be." The results were immediate, she started blushing and smiling intensely without any hesitation. Seeing her like this..... it's making that fluttering in my chest go even wilder. I'm getting this urge to be with her, spend the rest of my life with her. Even if I don't understand this feeling, does that really matter? All I need to know is that it's not like anything I've ever experienced before, and I don't want it to stop anytime soon. Fluttershy Does..... does Twilight feel the same way I feel about her? She's been complimenting me a lot, and just the way she's looking at me...... It makes me want to say something. I want to tell her all of my feelings, and I want to do it now. I rally up all of the courage I have, take a deep breath and............ a squeak. All I could manage was a timid little squeak. Twilight cocks her head at me, baffled by my odd attempt at communication. "I'm sorry, was there, um.... something you wanted to say?" Oh, why can't it just be simple..... I know what I want to say to her, it's just 3 short words. I love you. But no matter how hard I try, they just won't come out. My own vocal cords are my worst enemy. We sit in awkward silence for a few minutes while I mentally crumble, regretting all of my life decisions up to this point. "Two petunia palettes and lavender teas for you two gorgeous mares?" The flirtatious voice of the waiter snaps me back to reality, and I struggle to respond. Luckily, Twilight has me covered. "Yes, that's us! Thank you." He sets out our nearly identical meals in front of us, and takes his leave. The only thing different about our dishes is that mine appears to have some sort of paper slip on it, and Twilight takes notice of it. "Hey, what's that thing on your plate? It looks like a note." "Th-there's some writing on it....." I read the odd piece of paper, before squeaking in terror when I realize what it is. "Is.... is this an address?!" Twilight giggles. "Looks like somepony has a crush on you." Twilight sees the distraught written all over my face, and quickly loses her playful tone. "Sorry! Bad joke. Do you uh.... want me to get rid of it for you?" I nod slowly. Twilight proceeds to crumple the note with her violet magic, and then tosses it into a nearby recycling bin. "Th-thank you....." "Aw, don't mention it Fluttershy!" She beams at me, a genuinely caring smile drawn across her muzzle. "So what do you say we start eating? I'm starving!" "Oh.... yes, we probably should eat, shouldn't we....." "I mean, it is a restaurant. Unless you wanted to come here to just look at the food, I guess." I softly chuckle under my breath, my previous anxiety being wiped clean. All that matters now is the beautiful pony in front of me, and absolutely nothing else. I take a bite of my food while watching her eat, completely enamored with everything about her. "Wow, this is delicious!" Twilight ravages through her meal with gusto while I eat mine slowly, savoring every nibble. "Yeah it's..... actually really good." By the time I'm halfway done, she's already finished. Twilight looks up from her now empty plate, staring directly at me. The evening clouds that are now layered all across the sky are hit with the light of the setting sun, painting them in a wide array of oranges, purples and pinks. As the chromatic lighting shines against the back of Twilight, everything else seems to melt away. What I see before me doesn't even look real, it feels more like something that somepony would paint on a canvas. "You have.... really pretty eyes." My heart skips a beat, and I nearly fall out of my chair. I sit back up, my entire face smeared with the same shade of red as one of Applejack's prized crops. I toil to find any words to say, but eventually decide that none are needed. We stare at each other in complete silence for a couple minutes, but for once the noiselessness doesn't feel awkward. The only thing that shakes us from our trance is the loud, booming sound of thunder. All of a sudden, Twilight's pupils shrink to the size of a baby midge, as if she had just remembered something very important. Before she could say anything, a torrent of frigid rain descends from above, drenching us instantly. Through the veil of endlessly falling water, I can see everypony else at the restaurant panicking and running for shelter. Without saying a word, I beckon Twilight to hurry after me as I flee the table. Together we gallop down the road, the storm battering down on us in a flurry of coldness. Twilight lays her wing overtop of me as we rush towards my cottage in an attempt to protect me from the watery onslaught, unfortunately it only works partially. She can't see it because of the rain, but I'm crying my eyes out. Our date had finally been going well, and then some cruel rainstorm had to intrude on it. Once we reach my home, I scramble for the door to get it open as soon as possible. We burst inside and close the door with haste, our fur and wings soggy and damp. We immediately begin shivering from the coldness soaking through our bodies and collapse our haunches onto the floor, not wanting to give the furniture any water damage. Neither of us speak, partially because our teeth are too busy jittering from the freezing temperatures and partially because neither of us can think of anything to say. What is a pony supposed to even talk about in a situation like this? I silently get up and grab a pair of towels from the bathroom, bringing them back over to the living room for both me and Twilight. I dry myself off, wiping away the rainwater mixed with my tears, the rain still loudly crashing against the roof above our heads. Still a bit moist, we lie down on the floor, still shivering in discomfort. My cottage is admittedly not extremely well heated, relying mostly on the fireplace for warmth. I didn't think to buy any firewood, since I didn't consider that I'd be needing it during the middle of the summer. My mind wanders as the never-ending sounds of the storm reverberate throughout the domicile, echoing into my ears. My thoughts adrift, I recollect the time when I first met Twilight. She was so nice and friendly, but I wasn't brave enough to even say my name to her. I could tell that there was something special about her as soon as I laid eyes on her, like some innate sense that this was the one. I'd never felt that way about anypony before, and my feelings for her only grew as we spent more time together. I still feel awful for how I treated her during our first interaction together, I should've spoken up, said anything to her. She looked like she genuinely wanted to know me and I just.... went silent. Of course I opened up more after I saw Spike, but that's just because I feel a lot more comfortable around animals than ponies. Obviously I know now that Spike is essentially a young pony at heart, but at the time I thought he was just an animal that was capable of talking. I also loved having the opportunity to talk to a dragon, since any dragon larger than Spike would have me running away in tears. At least until Twilight gave me the courage I needed to confront one..... A soft sensation at my side jolts me back to present day, and I look over to see that Twilight has moved right next to me, our flanks and wings touching. My cheeks burn a bright red, and I scoot in a little bit closer to remove some more of the distance between us. She's still a bit damp, but the warmth from her body heat courses through me, feeling better than anything I've ever felt in my entire life. A few moments later, I feel her shuffle herself yet closer to me, clearly also enjoying this heat that we're sharing. Her warmth is so intoxicating, it makes me wonder how far I can push this. Not wanting to overstep her boundaries, I slowly drape my wing over her, acting as a blanket. Almost instantly, I hear a sigh come from beside me and feel a head rest at my shoulder. Blushing profusely, I dare not look over, as tempting as it is. Does..... does she really share the same feelings I have for her? Twilight This feels...... nice. That sensation in my chest is fluttering like mad right now, but I couldn't be happier about it. The warmth from Fluttershy's body is absolutely heavenly, and I can't help but move as close to her as I possibly can. I nestle my muzzle even more into her neck, feeling her soft fluff all across the side of my face. She definitely did a better job drying up than I did, her fur is nowhere near as damp as mine is, or at least it doesn't feel like it is. I can sense her breathing getting shallower through her neck, as if she's scared of something. Did I go too far? Oh no, I haven't read anything about this! I'm not prepared for a situation like this at all and she's going to hate me and-- ....She turns her head and rests it on top of mine. It feels comforting, like nothing can hurt us so long as we're together. All of my anxious thoughts turn to dust, forgotten in the wind beneath her wings. Well technically she's not flying right now, but the metaphor still works. It's not like there's some rulebook on metaphors that everypony has to abide or they go to philosophy jail, is there? Oh wait, is there? I genuinely don't know, but I'd have to assume that-- wait, what is she doing? Fluttershy shifts on top of me in a way so that her front half is draped over mine, with her flank still to my side. She lifts my wing up with her muzzle, and starts preening it. Oh shining Celestia in the sky, that feels so good. I whimper in pleasure as she nips at my feathers, straightening them out. Ripples of ecstasy travel through my body with each feather she preens, filling me with unsaturated euphoria. After an uncertain amount of time that I wish was longer, she shifts off of me and gestures for me to roll over onto my back. I oblige, turning myself hoof-side up and splay my wings out to my sides. Fluttershy then starts to slowly lay herself flat across my stomach and gets to work on my other wing. The second time feels even better, mostly because of our soft barrels touching each other as she does it. This sensation of her caring for me with such gentle grace is just pure bliss. I let out a few more soft whimpers as she continues to preen me, everything else melting away. It's still raining, but I can no longer hear the sounds of water rapping against the roof. All I can hear is the cute little soft sounds she makes, as every fiber of my being is focused on her. My mind starts to wander with thoughts about Fluttershy as she plucks at my feathers, eventually landing on the first time we met. When I saw her for the first time, I was absolutely exhausted from everypony else I had met that day. They were all just so.... much. Of course I grew to like them soon after, but I had nothing but contempt for them at the time. But with Fluttershy, I could immediately tell there was something different about her from the others. She didn't assault me with a barrage of words and welcoming, she was nervous and scared. In a way, I related to her. This was the one pony I had met that day that I actually wanted to get to know, and not just because Spike had been pestering me about finding friends. I tried my best to be cheerful and friendly to her, but my lack of social experience got the better of me. I scared her off, and didn't even learn her name. That is, until she started talking to Spike. If I could go back and change one thing about how I handled that situation, it would've been how I treated her after that. I felt bad about it almost immediately after I slammed the door on her, she was genuinely nice and caring, but my social exhaustion and jealousy towards Spike got the better of me. Of course I didn't feel awful about it for much longer that day, what with Pinkie's surprise party, but looking back on it now I feel absolutely terrible about how I acted. All of a sudden, I feel my self pity wither away as Fluttershy finishes preening the last of my feathers. She lifts her muzzle from my wing, satisfied with her work. As soon as she does, I reach out to her and pull her right up close to me. She's now laying parallel on top of me, my eyes staring right into hers. It reminds of yesterday in the library when I fell on her, except this time the roles are reversed. I can feel our breaths colliding together in a chemical reaction between us, creating a new scent that I can't get enough of. Eventually we roll onto our sides, still holding the same position as before except we now have equal altitude. I wrap my forehooves around her, pulling her in just a bit closer. Fluttershy shuffles herself a bit before curling up and nuzzling her face right into my chest. The sensation of her breath against my barrel is like nothing I've ever felt before, and it urges me to also wrap my hind legs around her, feeling as much of her as I possibly can. The warmth that we've provided together has seared away any memory of us once being cold, replacing it with a new flame burning in our hearts. My eyelids start to feel heavy, and I can sense myself starting to doze off. But then for the first time since we entered the cottage, Fluttershy speaks, her words muffled into my chest but still intelligible. "I love you, Twilight." This is something I was not prepared for in the slightest. At first, I was confused. I don't understand why somepony would truly love me, let alone somepony as amazing as Fluttershy. But then the pieces start to fly together in my head, and I think I finally understand what that feeling I've been getting around her is. I close my eyes, and say one last thing before entering the world of blissful dreams. "I love you too, Fluttershy." ~End Of Chapter 4~