Giving Love a Helping Hoof
Chapter 2
A harried white unicorn knocked a dainty hoof on the door to Ponyville's library, her saddlebags bulging.
“Coming!”
The door opened before her, bathing her in a warm glow. Her hostess stood before her.
“Rarity! I'm so glad you made it, we were beginning to wonder whether you were coming.”
Rarity tittered, brushing her mane out of her eyes. “Oh, think nothing of it Twilight, it simply took more time than I would have liked to close down the boutique today. Not that I'm complaining of course, business is positively booming!” Though the Grand Galloping Gala hadn't quite proceeded exactly as planned, the image of six unknown mares arriving in tasteful gowns of an unfamiliar but intriguing design had certainly stuck with some of the more fashion conscious of the higher echelons of society. “After making myself presentable and getting Sweetie Belle over to Sweet Apple Acres with Scootaloo and Applebloom... Well, suffice it to say that after THAT trip I found the need to make myself presentable again. I just hope Spike and Big Macintosh are up to the challenge!”
Standing aside to let her guest in out of the dark, Twilight laughed. “Knowing the Cutie Mark Crusaders, I'm surprised you made it at all!”
Laughing with Twilight, Rarity trotted inside and levitated her cloak off, hanging it beside the door. “Now, where shall I put my things darling?”
“Just bring them up to my room Rarity, that's where everyone's bunking tonight.”
Ascending the stairs, Rarity was greeted by the sight of her remaining best friends, all sprawled out over cushions and sleeping bags.
“Good evening dears! I hope I didn't miss anything important.”
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth for some witty comment, but Pinkie Pie beat her to the punch.
“Oh no Rarity, nothing's really happened yet, we've only all been here for a little while and we didn't really WANT anything to happen yet because it would be silly for anything to happen if all of us weren't here because then if something DID happen then as soon as someone else got here we'd have to go over everything that happened!”
Long since used to her long-time friend's... unique type of diction, Rarity merely smiled indulgently before perfectly unrolling her sleeping bag and settling herself gracefully upon it. “So ladies, what are we discussing?”
“Man Rarity, you shoulda seen it!” Rainbow Dash buzzed over to the unicorn, hovering in front of her face in a frenzy of excitement. “I thought of a new trick last night, and today I NAILED it! On my first try too!”
The Elements of Harmony sat and talked long into the night, conversation ranging from the more mundane topics of how Fluttershy's animals were doing and anything interesting Twilight had researched recently to the more spicy topics of Derpy's borderline fanatic love of muffins and just what Big Macintosh was doing when he trotted off the farm with a succinct “Be back later”, and didn't return for hours. The most popular theory was that the big stallion had finally found himself a marefriend.
Twilight found it ease itself to then direct the conversation towards colts. With a smirk towards a silently pleading Applejack, she said, “You know, on that topic, you'll never guess what I saw earlier today...”
All of the other fillies collectively “Ooooh!”-ed, although Rainbow Dash clomped a hoof to her mouth in embarrassment afterwards. Twilight Sparkle proceeded to tell them what she had seen in the marketplace that day.
Rarity looked like she was going to explode out of excitement. “Oh darling, I've been so eager for this day! I know just who that colt is as well! His name is Bright Dancer, he works over at Quills and Sofas! Tomorrow, come to my boutique and I shall do your mane and tail, and then you can walk over there and-!”
“Now hold on there Rarity!” interrupted Applejack, looking mildly alarmed. “I know ya mean well, but...”
“But what dear? It's nothing to be nervous about, it's ease itself to simply trot over to a colt and... Well, you know”, she finished lamely.
Applejack's eyes gaze sharpened. “No Ah don't sugarcube.”
“You just- Well, you know all you do is...” Rarity's gaze shifted left and right, sweat dotting her flank. “See, when he-”
Applejack pounced on the weakness. “Ah KNEW it! You ain't never talked to a colt like that before neither!”
Rarity's eyes blazed. “I beg your pardon! You DO remember whom I was with on the night of the Gala don't you?”
Applejack snorted. “And jus' look at how well THAT turned out!”
At that all the fight leaked out of Rarity, and the unicorn lowered her gaze to the floor. Applejack's face fell, and sidled over to her friend and put a hoof over her shoulders.
“Ah'm sorry Rarity, that was a plum stupid thing to say. We all know that you were a perfect lady that night. That fancy-shmancy Blueblood was just... Well, he was so far up 'imself he was lickin' his own horn.”
Even Rarity cracked a small smile at that, as Rainbow Dash fell out of the air laughing.
“If it makes y'all feel any better... Ah've never even had a coltfriend. Or bin' out on a date.” She evilly looked over at Twilight Sparkle, who was frantically shaking her head and crossing her hooves in front of her. “And I know that Twilight at least ain't never had one neither.”
At this, all eyes turned to the apprentice of Celestia, who grinned sheepishly before nodding.
Pinkie Pie sprang into the conversational lull. “Now don't you silly-fillies worry about a thing! Your Auntie Pinkie Pie has never been out on a date neither and I've never worried about it!” (This was not strictly true; a much younger Pinkie Pie had actually been asked out once but had mistaken the concept for a two-person, extra big party. The young colt had been found unconscious in a cupboard at Sugarcube Corner two days later, muttering something about the dangers of oatmeal.)
“There, ya see Rarity?” said Applejack, a grin on her face. “Most of us ain't had much experience with colts before. You jus' got off on the wrong hoof.”
The fashionista perked up, and smiled warmly at Applejack. “I suppose your right dear, I probably could've set the bit slightly higher on my first try... Still, I am rather surprised somepony has managed to stay quiet for so long on such an interesting topic. Rainbow Dash, nothing to say for once, hmm?”
The pegasus pony had gotten tired of buzzing around the room and was currently reclining on her Wonderbolts sleeping bag. “Me? Pfff, of course I do! I've been on a date before! You expect someone as cool as ME not to have been?” She reclined back, hooves crossed behind her head as she tried to be the image of careless confidence. “We only ever had time for the one, what with my training schedule and all, but it still counts! It was no big deal anyway, we met up, walked around for a while, talked, and went our ways. Kinda boring if ya ask me.”
“Now that's not true Rainbow Dash.”
Heads turned at the softly spoken interruption, causing the speaker to blush. After a brief but telling moment Rainbow Dash laughed nervously, saying, “What do you mean Fluttershy?”
The shy pegasus gently smiled. “I mean that you were so nervous I had to talk you out from under your bed and help you get ready.”
At this almost everyone burst into laughter, finding the prospect of a cowed Rainbow Dash quite entertaining. The pegasus huffed, crossing her front legs and nursing her wounded pride. Already her mind got to work thinking of new tricks to earn her cred back.
Applejack in particular couldn't catch her breath. “Oh mercy!” she yelled as she rolled around the floor, clutching her sides. “Make it stop! Ah can't breathe!”
Rainbow shot into the air, wings moving in a blur, hooves gesturing every which way. “No no no! You've got it all wrong! I wasn't hiding under my bed! I was – I was sleeping under there! You know how it is with clouds! My normal bed got boring... so I made bunk beds! For when Fluttershy wanted to stay over!”
Though not the most brazen of ponies, Fluttershy was not averse to a joke. With a grin, she said, “Then how come I couldn't get you to stop saying 'Oh my gosh!' over and over?”
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to deliver a well-formulated and plausible response to that question...
...And found herself hovering in mid-air, one hoof raised and mouth wide open, unable to think of a cloudsdamned thing. A muscle twitched near her eye, setting Applejack off into renewed hysterics.
After a few moments the earth pony calmed herself down and wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. “Ahhh. See, there ya go Rarity. Only one of us has ever been on a date before. T'ain't nothin' to be gettin' your mane in a bunch for, sugarcube.”
“Um... Well, actually Applejack...”
The farmer filly turned to Fluttershy and saw that the Element of Kindness was in a right state, her hoof working at the floor in front of her, and her deep blush almost hidden behind her mane.
Jaws around the room collectively dropped.
Twilight Sparkle spoke up first. “YOU'VE been on a date, Fluttershy?”
Rainbow Dash clopped a hoof to her forehead. “Of course! I can't believe I forgot about that!”
“Ah swear, must be somethin' in the water at Cloudsdale.”
Fluttershy, eyes glued to the floor, weakly responded. “Yes, Twilight. It was a long time ago, just after I moved out of Cloudsdale.”
The earth-bound ponies of the room all tried to process what they had just heard. Of all ponies, Fluttershy had beaten them to a date!
Twilight Sparkle asked the question on everyone's mind. “How did it happen?” Even Pinkie Pie was stunned into silence, lying on her belly with her face propped on her hooves, staring up at Fluttershy.
“Weeelll...” The animal-loving pegasus drew the word out, a smile blossoming on her face. “His name was Pine. He was an earth pony.”
Rarity detected a possible hazard, and tried to head it off. “'Was', dear?”
Fluttershy, eyes wide, gasped and shook her head. “Oh no, don't think that! Nothing bad happened to him, he just moved away is all. I suppose his name still is Pine, and he's still an earth pony.”
Rarity breathed a sigh. “Oh, thank goodness.”
Pinkie spoke up. “Wouldn't it have been extra super duper hard when he moved away if you had been on a datey-watey with him?”
“Yes, it was very sad”, said Fluttershy, nodding her head. “We only went on two dates, but I considered him a good friend. Thankfully he left just after Winter Wrap Up, so I had a lot of work to do to keep me busy, and lots of new baby bunnies to keep me and Angel company.”
Rainbow Dash chimed in, shattering her aura of cool indifference. “How did you meet him? You never told me.”
“It was just after I moved into my cottage near the Everfree Forest. I used to walk through the woods and fields around there all the time, to learn where herbs grew and where I could find good dens for some of the animals.” Fluttershy's smile widened and her blush receded as she lost herself in memory. “I found Pine by a broken sapling. He loved trees and plants as much as I love animals, and he was crying because he was so sad. He told me later that he thought it was unfair that such a young tree didn't get a chance at life.”
“Pfff!” Rainbow Dash looked almost sickened. “Crying over a tree? That's so stupid!”
Her complaints, however, were drowned out by a chorus of “N'awwww!”
Fluttershy continued. “I took him back to my house, and showed him a new litter of baby bunnies that had just been born. It was a big litter, but one of them had been a stillborn. It was sad, but I explained to him that if you cry every single time something dies, you'll run out of tears. I told him that he should celebrate the bloom of new life around him, not the loss of it. After that he just looked at me, and then we stayed and watched the bunnies while he finished crying. Then we started meeting up more and more often. He would help me look after the animals, I would help him tend to the plants, and eventually...” Fluttershy blushed and looked down at the ground again. “Well, he asked if I wanted to go on a date with him... And I said yes.”
Bounding off the floor in excitement, Pinkie Pie reacted predictably (or as much as such a word could apply to her), questioning Fluttershy at super-speed. “Oooh, what was it like? Where did you go? Did you have a super-duper humongous party and invite all your friends?”
“Oh no, Pinkie Pie, nothing like that! The first time we just went for a nice walk, had a picnic and watched the sunset.”
“Oh my, what a little gentlecolt!” gushed a beaming Rarity. “That sounds absolutely magical my dear.”
“Ah gotta admit, even though Rarity and Ah probably have diff'rent ideas o' the perfect date, that sounds pretty nice there sugarcube,” said Applejack, her expression matching Rarity's as the pegasus pony told her tale.
Even Twilight seemed enraptured. “What about your second date?” she asked.
Fluttershy smiled that certain smile again, that smile everypony knows is in memory of somepony who was more than a mere friend. “Well, the first date was all planned out but our second date just kind of happened. I came across him planting some seeds on top of a hill, and asked why he was planting them there. He took me over to another hill with a huge tree on it, and said that he had planted that when he was only a little colt. He said 'There is never too much green in the world...” Fluttershy's voice faltered as her smile grew goofy and her face lit up like the setting sun. “...like your eyes.'”
Rainbow Dash, despite her best efforts, felt herself sitting up and listening intently. Though she tried her absolute best to be confident, fearless and most importantly, cool, she was still just a young mare, and desired companionship as much as any other. The shy pony's story struck at every schoolfilly's dreams.
Fluttershy continued her story with a giggle. “He also said they were great for cloudwatching. So we just lay down and pointed out all the shapes we saw. After a while, I think we both fell asleep, because next thing I knew it was sunset. We both said our goodbyes and headed home.”
There was a moment of silence as each of the mares became lost in their own thoughts, be it fond reminiscence, a slight hint of jealousy, or craving for cake.
Ponyville's resident librarian broke the silence. Twilight Sparkle asked, “Do you still think about him?”
“Oh yes, I don't think any filly ever forgets their first date!”
“But Fluttershy!” chimed in the pink coated sugar-machine that was Pinkie. “Don't you miss him?”
The Element of Kindness nodded in response. “I did terribly at first, but after a while it faded away. I still miss his smile, but I've moved on.” The sincerity in the pony's smile spoke volumes.
Rainbow Dash spoke up, realising that with the added pressure of her other friends around, she could finally get a long awaited answer out of Fluttershy. “So what exactly did you two get up to, anyway?” she asked, a sly smirk on her face. “You never told me that either.”
Fluttershy's inherent innocence prevented her from catching her fellow flier's drift. “What do you mean Rainbow? I just told you.”
“Nuh-uh, I don't mean what'd you do on your dates... I mean, what did you two DO together?” The emphasis finally got the point across.
Fluttershy's eyes widened even as the rest of the fillies leaned forward in anticipation, Pinkie overbalancing.
“Oh my, I could never talk about that!”
“Come on, Fluttershy!” insisted Twilight. “It's just us fillies here! You can tell us.”
“It's just so... So...” Her voice dropped to a mere whisper. “...embarrassing.”
“Now nopony's here to judge, Fluttershy,” insisted Applejack. “We won't tell nopony that you don't want us to.”
After a few deep breaths, Fluttershy admirably steeled herself. “On our first date we held hooves for a while and when he walked me home I nuzzled him!” she blurted out quickly.
“Aw, that's so sweet!” said Twilight, smiling.
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Hehe, I thought so! You had a spring in your wings all day!”
Her confidence boosted by the positive reaction to her first revelation, Fluttershy continued. “On our second date nothing really happened, we just sat under a tree and watched some clouds. But...”
“Buuuut?” Pinkie was almost bouncing around the room, the suspense killing her. “But but but but but?”
“Well... When I woke up under the tree later... His hooves were around me.”
At that moment five fillies breathed a contented sigh, each looking wistfully into the middle distance.
“And...”
Everyone's attention snapped back to Fluttershy, wondering what the timid pony’s next revelation was.
“When he came to say goodbye before he moved away...” she trailed off, whispering something unintelligible.
“Uhhh... Come again?” said Applejack.
“He said goodbye and then...” Once more she reverted to whispering.
“Could you please repeat that dear?” said Rarity, cupping a hoof over her ear.
Fluttershy was growing more withdrawn by the second. “And then he...”
Rising, Twilight trotted over to Fluttershy, turning her head to place it right in front of the pegasus' mouth. “One more time Fluttershy?”
Screwing her eyes shut, the Element of Kindness said in what was (for her, at least) a yell, “He kissed me!”
The silence was deafening.
“No. Way.” said Rainbow Dash, eyes wide.
Through a slack jaw, Applejack managed to get out, “Ah don't believe it.”
To the absolute horror and complete chagrin of Fluttershy, Ponyville's bounciest citizen, Pinkamena Diane Pie, chose that moment to ask, “What was it like?”
The slow, steady chiming of the Ponyville clock, operated and maintained by the town's brown-maned clockmaker, saved Fluttershy from potentially dying of embarrassment.
Twilight gasped. “Oh my, I didn't realise it was so late! Come on girls, bed time!”
There was a rustling as each of the mares slid into her sleeping bag, Twilight settling into her bed.
“Good night everypony!” Receiving a chorus of “Good night!”s in return, Twilight reached over and turned off the light, leaving six fillies alone with nothing but their own colt-ridden thoughts and a long, long night.
…
Smiling goodnight to a yawning Luna, Princess Celestia trotted through the hallways of Canterlot towards her bedroom for her morning routine, after having set the sun on its daily journey. The Alicorn stopped in her tracks as she saw hanging upon her doorknob a small, poorly written sign that read “DO NOT DISTRUB” in adorably foalish hoofwriting. Luna had written that sign for her centuries and centuries ago, and she had never had the heart to get rid of it. All the castle staff eventually got used to its innocuous presence, though Luna had nearly died from embarassment when she had seen it again.
What made it particularly significant at this moment however, was that aside from Celestia, only one other had ever hung that sign upon her door. And if he was back, then that meant....
After briefly looking left and right, the princess let out a very unprincess-like squeal, prancing happily on the spot for a moment before rushing into her room and slamming the door.
However, in her haste the Alicorn overlooked something. Evescrop, the most inquisitive and borderline nosy of the palace's cleaning staff managed to evade the princess' detection by the simple expedient of imitating a statue in a small alcove, a featherduster her sword. The second she heard the lock click on Celestia's door, she tip-hoofed over to it and planted her practiced ear against the polished wood, straining in vain to hear the muted conversation on the other side.
Backing away after a moment, defeated, the chocolate-brown unicorn noticed a bright golden light suddenly flash on the other side of the door, spilling out underneath it. But a moment later, the door abruptly swung open, revealing the excited face of Princess Celestia. Evescrop gulped; she'd been caught.
However the princess seemed not to notice the unicorn's consternation, as she herself looked like she'd been caught levitating the cookie jar. Quickly schooling her features and clearing her throat, the Alicorn said, “Good morning Evescrop, how are you?”
Evescrop smiled brightly, happy for new gossip and continued employment both. “Very good, thank you, your Highness! Is there anything I can do for you this morning?”
Celestia smiled, waving a hoof in the air. “That's quite all right dear, you just continue with your duties.”
Bowing low, the unicorn said, “Of course, your Highness,” before turning away, her mind already working over what she'd just seen.
Her good mood crashed spectacularly as the princess spoke up.
“Actually, Evescrop...”
Her heart pounding somewhere in her throat, Evescrop slowly turned. “Y-yes, your Highness?”
Celestia loomed over her, a blank look on her face. Her magenta eyes bored into Evescrop's own orange orbs, tearing away all resistance.
The spell was broken as the princess smiled cheekily. “Would you fetch me a parchment and quill?”
Evescrop released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. “Of-of course your majesty!” she stammered, before stumbling off down the hallway, holding a hoof to her heart. Celestia watched as she went, stifling a giggle.
...
“Twilight! Twilight, wake up!”
The purple unicorn tumbled out of bed in a heap of hooves and blankets, falling unceremoniously onto the ground. Caught within the cushy confines of her sheets, Twilight panicked for a moment before finding her way out, opening her eyes to the new morning.
“Ohhhh... What is it? What happened?” Looking around blearily, Twilight Sparkle noticed that each of her friends was waking up, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. Turning around, she saw Spike frantically waving a scroll back and forth in his paw.
“A letter from Princess Celestia! It's urgent!”
Twilight Sparkle frowned; she was up-to-date with all her studies, as far as she knew Celestia had no need to send her a letter. Levitating it over to her, she unrolled the parchment and began scanning the page.
Noting her friend's growing look of surprise, Applejack rose and clopped over to her. “What is-” She broke off to yawn hugely for a moment. “What is it Twi'?” The cowpony flipped her trademark hat onto her head. “Somepony in trouble?”
Raising her gaze, Twilight saw each of her friends looking at her, expressions of curiosity on their faces.
“Pack your things girls!” she said. “We're going to Canterlot.”