Bubble Berry couldn't stop smiling. Now this wasn't something that was out of place as he was almost always smiling but today he had something new entirely to smile about. He was headed towards a certain small tree cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville and was thinking about a certain yellow pegasus. His mind drifted off as he walked to the first time he had met Fluttershy.
Another normal day in the Sugarcube Corner for Bubble Berry. He was working the counter at the moment and was wiping it down, humming a small tune he had made up himself, when he heard the door open. Just like every time he heard the bell on the door, his smile grew warmer and he looked up. The first pony that walked through the door was a tall pegasus stallion with a rainbow colored mane. He instantly recognized the new weather captain Rainbow Blitz.
The mare that walked in behind Blitz took his breath away. She was beautiful in every meaning of the word that he could think of. If it was any other mare he would have walked over and said hello but something about her rooted him to the spot. Blitz glanced over at him and waved to him with a small smile.
"Hey Berry, I have somepony I wanted introduce you to. She's a dear friend of mine from Cloudsdale." He walked over to the counter and looked to his side only to discover that the mare had stayed put, hiding behind her mane. He walked over to her and started talking to her in a quiet voice. She nodded then walked behind the weather pony to the counter where Berry was waiting. "Bubble Berry meet Fluttershy. Fluttershy this is Bubble Berry."
Fluttershy whimpered something Berry hoped was a hello as he walked around the counter as his instincts for meeting new ponies kicked in. "Hiya Fluttershy! Are you visiting Ponyville or are ya planing on moving here?"
She let out a small squeak that Bubble couldn't help by chuckle at. His chuckle caused her to retreat further behind her mane. Berry looked at Blitz for a second only to notice that he had walked off to talk to Elusive, who had just walked into the bakery with his sister, leaving them alone. Berry shuffled a little in his spot as the mare stood there silently.
Berry pointed to the counter. "I work here. I sometimes help bake the goods and stuff like that because the Cakes get really busy and need some help... would you like something to eat?"
She nodded silently and took a tiny step closer to the counter. Berry walked around and placed his elbows on the counter.
"What would you like? We have cake, cupcakes, rolls, sweet rolls, wheat rolls, cinnamon rolls, muffins, cookies, brownies, and, well... pretty much everything that can be made in the oven. Except vegetables, we don't really do that but we could have a milkshake machine if I can convince Mr. Cake to get one."
Berry pointed each of the items he mentioned as he spoke. When he finished looked at Fluttershy with a warm smile that faltered a little when he noticed she was hiding behind her wing now.
She spoke in a soft voice, the softest he had ever heard. "I d-don't have any money on me."
Berry waved his hoof dismissively. "It's on the house. Have whatever you want." He noticed that she came out from behind her wing looking slightly shocked. "No need to thank me it's what friends do."
Her soft voice reached him once more. "I-I would like a sweet roll please... if that's okay..."
He dove down behind the counter and grabbed one of the rolls on display. He gave it to her and watched as she took a bite of it, her mouth pulling into a wide grin and she let out a small hum of satisfaction. Berry sat there silently waiting as he wondered about how he was going to get this mare to talk to him. While his mind was wondering he happened to glance at her cutie mark.
Struck with sudden inspiration. "Hey you like animals! I'll be right back!"
He ran off leaving the timid pegasus both startled and confused at how he had known her love of animals. Blitz did say he was strange but I wasn't expecting that. He seems nice enough though. She managed to catch the sight of his tail vanishing up a stair case as she looked at him again. She glanced over to see Blitz and a white stallion arguing about something. She was about to walk over to them to find out when Berry jumped from behind her.
"Surprise! Meet Gummy!" He sat down in front of her and pointed to a small, bright green alligator that was hanging from his mane. "What's the matter?"
Fluttershy was breathing heavily as she tried to recover from the dual shock of the pink stallions shout and the fact his mane was being eaten by a small creature. She stared at him and his pet for a moment then realized that the alligator was just hanging there.
She moved closer to the pair and her voice gained an almost motherly tone. "Doesn't that hurt?"
The pink earth pony shook his head, causing the alligator to smack his face a few times with a soft *pap*. "Nope. He has no teeth."
Fluttershy stood there for a moment confused. She knew a lot about alligators and knew that the definitely needed their teeth. "How does he eat? What does he eat?"
Berry grabbed the alligator and held it in his hooves. "He mostly eats... well just about anything. I mostly feed him veggies but sometimes I give him sweets when he's a really good gator. Wanna hold him?"
Fluttershy hesitated for a moment. Berry noticed and gave her a reassuring smile. "He doesn't bite and he really likes hugs."
Fluttershy placed the small reptile on the ground and returned her attention to the pink pony in front of her. They stood their silently for a moment. The silence was broken by Berry, "So are you visiting Blitz or..."
Fluttershy shook her head. "No, I've bought a small cottage outside of town; Blitz helped me move into it."
Berry took a moment to think about that then decided to press on. "Are you and Blitz... well, what I mean is, are you two a couple or...?" Once more he drifted off at the end to let her fill the gap. Please let them be friends, please let them be friends.
Fluttershy shook her head almost vigorously. "No!" She blushed deeply and moved her mane in front of her face. "I mean, we've been friends since flight camp but that's all we are. He's really nice but we don't think of each other like that."
Berry let out a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he was holding. "Oh, well that's fine. Was just wondering because a lot of mares really seem to like him. So what kind of animals do you take care of?"
Fluttershy came out from behind her mane to speak once more. The rest of the afternoon pasted rather quickly, more quickly than Berry would have liked, Berry and Fluttershy talking about pets, baking, and Ponyville. However after a while Blitz mentioned that he and Fluttershy needed to get some of the furniture for Fluttershy's cottage.
As they left Berry couldn't help but watch Fluttershy leave. She was just so beautiful that he couldn't look away even after the door closed. He spent the rest of the day unusually calm and quiet. Finally near closing Mr. Cake walked over to the daydreaming Berry.
"Hey there kiddo, what you thinking about?"
Berry jumped a little at the sudden interruption of his thoughts. "Oh, I was just thinking of a new friend I made today."
His gaze returned to the door that Fluttershy had walked out of. Mr. Cake gave his shoulder a soft pat. "Why don't you go ahead and take the rest of the day off. I'll close up for tonight."
Berry threw the apron he was wearing off and gave the older stallion a quick hug. "Thanks Mr. Cake! I have some planning to do now."
He raced up the stairs to his apartment to begin planning. After all no pony that moves to Ponyville did so without a Bubble Berry party.
A smile spread across Berry’s face as he recalled the party he threw for Fluttershy. Most of the town had showed up for it and much to his surprise Fluttershy opened up to a few of the ponies in town, one of which was Elusive. They had spent much of the party talking about everything and for a moment Berry was worried Elusive was making a move on Fluttershy but he later found out from Elusive that he was trying to get her to model for him. I almost cried from relief.
Berry's thoughts of the past were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Fluttershy's cottage ahead of him. He stopped for a moment as he felt his heart beat a little faster. After years of knowing her he would finally confess his feelings. He took a steadying breath as he recalled every time he had tried to in the past and was unable, whether something prevented him from talking to her in private like his job or he got cold hooves. He always remembered what his Granny Pie always told him. "Laugh at what you fear because when you do it makes it no longer scary."
He had lived up to those words strongly in his life but the only thing he couldn't remove his fear of was his fear of Fluttershy rejecting him. Today however he was going to laugh at that fear and tell Fluttershy the truth of his feelings for her. He had made a Berry Oath and he was going to keep it.
He walked up to the front door and knocked on it rapidly. He heard Fluttershy's voice come from behind the door. "Who is it?"
Berry gave his answer in an almost sing-song way. "Just somepony that wants to talk."
The door opened and Berry saw the warm smile on the mares face. "Berry! Please come in." She ushered him in. "Would you like something to drink?"
Berry gave a small nod. "Sure, but I kinda wanted to talk to you about something important."
She motioned for him to sit on the couch and nodded. "Sure. Would you like some tea?"
Berry nodded and Fluttershy left him in the living room alone. He looked around the home he had visited plenty of times but he had never really taken the time to study it. He was always in a hurry to do something or he was moving around too much to take in the finer details of the cottage but now for some reason it was the most fascinating thing in the world to him.
He watched the birds that moved around on the many bird houses near the stairs. A few perched on the houses watched him as well, curiosity in their eyes. He looked at the rug on the floor for a moment then got up and poked it. As he did his mind was once more slipping away from what he was doing and focusing on the mare in the other room. I'm about to confess to her. What if she doesn't feel the same way? What if she hates me for asking her?
His attention was torn from the rug when he heard the soft sound of Fluttershy clearing her throat. He looked up from the rug to see her standing there with a tray with the tea on it and a curious look on her face.
"What are you doing?"
Berry straightened up. "Nothing just studying the rug." He walked over to the couch and sat down on it. Fluttershy placed the tray down on the small table near the couch and served them both some tea. They both sat there for a moment in silence as they drank their tea.
Fluttershy cleared her throat again. "Well... you said you had something you wanted to talk about. What is it?"
Berry swallowed. Here's the moment of truth. He looked in the eyes and braced himself for anything. "I have something I need to tell you. I've been wanting to tell you this for so long but I just couldn't." He paused for a second to take small steadying breath.
"I... I love you."
Fluttershy felt as if she had just been struck by a lightning bolt. "W-what?"
Berry pressed on despite seeing the slow look of shock spreading on his friends face. "I've felt this way since I first met you. I thought you were the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and as I grew to know you I found that your personality fits your looks."
Fluttershy blinked slowly as she absorbed this sudden change in information. She just couldn't think for some reason. Her hooves started shaking as her mouth finally started to work. "You're in love... with me?"
Berry nodded. "Yes. I came here today to tell you this and... I was hoping that you would allow me to take you on a date."
Fluttershy didn't know what to say or what to do. A moment of silence passed between the pair of them as she tried to think. That moment was the longest and most terrifying one Berry had ever experienced in his life. She doesn't love me! I've just made our entire friendship awkward for her and now she's not gonna want to be near me! His worst fear was coming to life in front of him as Fluttershy placed the tea cup down and scooted away from him.
Fluttershy tried her best to breathe deeply but only managed a shaky gasp. "Why me? I've been mean to you in the past and you could have almost any mare in town. I'm nothing special."
Berry was expecting anything but this. He recalled the painful incident where Fluttershy had taken self-improvement classes from a rather imposing minotaur. It was true that she had spoken to him rather harshly but in the end she had apologized to him.
He moved closer to her and took her hoof in his. "You're special to me. You are the sweetest mare I have ever known, and I know sweet because I work with lots of sugar." Fluttershy let out a small giggle which sounded like music to Berry. "No other mare means as much to me as you do." He lifted the hoof and gave her a pleading look. "Please let me show you how much I care. One simple date is all I ask."
Fluttershy blushed as she realized that everything he was saying was true. His eyes spoke louder than his words ever could. She gave voice to one doubt that filled her mind. "I'm not special. I'm not good enough for you."
She tried to pull away but found that Berry's grasp on her hoof was unyielding. He moved closer to her and wrapped one leg around her. "Never say that. You are too good for me, not the other way around. I'm lucky just to be friends to you."
Fluttershy shook her head. "I don't know..."
Berry silenced her with a gentle hug. As he did Fluttershy felt waved of relief and comfort from the simple action. Berry spoke softly in her ear. "All I ask is one chance. If you don't want to be with me after that we can go back to just being friends. Seeing you happy means more to me than seeing myself happy."
Fluttershy pulled away slightly from her friend. "You mean that?"
He nodded and gave her a dazzling smile. "Yep."
Her affection for the stallion sitting next to her increased immensely as she looked into his eyes and saw that he was once more telling the truth. He was really willing to let her go if it meant that she would be happy if she said so just blew her mind. She gave him a small nod. "Okay. It's a date."