//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Move Along // by butboifranko //------------------------------// It’s been a crazy and hectic day here at Sugarcube Corner; a lot of ponies have been coming by to buy chocolate and other scrumptious treats for Hearts and Hooves Day. Cinnamon hearts…pink, red, and white cupcakes topped with tiny heart sprinkles, and conversation hearts; ya know! Those delicious heart shaped candies with phrases like, ‘I love you’, and ‘will you be mine?’! Holy molly, we sure sold tons of those. They seem to be the most popular at the moment. Which isn’t really THAT big of a shock; they usually sell the most every year. So yeah! Sugarcube Corners been busy, so I haven’t been able to get much of a break from working. Which totally isn’t fun, but don’t me wrong; No, no! I really do love working with the Cakes, and spreading joy by selling candy to the residents of Ponyville, and the few ponies that stray into town from time to time, that I become friends with of course! But I’ve kinda been making plans for this Heart and Hooves Day…and with the lack of break and free time; I haven’t really been able to fulfill them. Sadly though, I’m kind of stuck in Sugarcube Corner with the Cakes; so they’ll have to wait until my shift is over, and then hopefully I’ll be able to get out of this crazy place for the rest of the day. ******* “Alright Pinkie, you’re off duty. We’ll keep things under control while you’re…out and about.” Mrs. Cake gave me that worried smile, but she’s probably just stressed with all the costumers. I know I would if I had a line going out the door, asking for high demands. “Okey dokey Mrs. Cake, I’ll be back later!” I turned to the door and grabbed the basket full of goods from the table and headed out. Soon I was making my way through the somewhat bustling streets of Ponyville. Everypony seemed even more cheerful than usual! Greeting me as I continued on my bouncy way, I totally said ‘hi’ back to them, but I didn’t have that much time to spare. I had a pony to visit! After not that long of a trot, I arrived at my destination. Which was the super lovely cottage that belonged to Fluttershy; the pony I’ve been planning on visiting. DUH. I knocked on the door and waited for Fluttershy, or somepony to answer. I sure hope she was home alone, or this would be really, really awkward. Well unless I didn’t say what I wanted to say…then it wouldn’t and maybe I could become friends with whoever the pony is! Wow, now I’m really in the mood to see if she has a guest. That’d be such a twist! After a minute or two with no answer, I got a little impatient, so I gave the door one more knock; a little harder then before. The door creaked open slowly. I opened it the rest of the way and looked inside and around the house. There was no sign of Fluttershy anywhere. She may have gone out or something. It’s not like she was expecting me. It was supposed to be a surprise! I turned around to leave and head back to Sugarcube Corner, but then I heard a fainted sniffling sound coming from upstairs. My immediate thought was; Fluttershy was crying. Without hesitation, I made my way up to Fluttershy’s room as cautiously as I could. The last thing I would want to do was scare the jeepers out of her. When I got up to Fluttershy’s door, I saw her pet rabbit, Angel; sitting on his haunches in front of the door. He looked pretty upset, but I think he’s always upset. I lowered my head down to the rabbit, “Hey there Angel. Is Fluttershy alright?” The rabbit shook his head indicating that she wasn’t. My heart sunk a little deeper from the confirmation…which I should’ve figured, since she was crying in her room. Silly Pinkie! “Oh I see. I’m gonna check on her. So you be a good little bunny and watch the house for her. I’m sure she’ll really appreciate it if you did that, okay?” Angel raised his ears and gave me a little bunny salute and prepared to bounce off, but instead stopped and glared at me. I didn’t really understand, since well ya know; I don’t talk to animals! But I figured what he was thinking…he didn’t want to leave his owners side. Gummy could be like that when I’m all Saddie Pie, which isn’t very often; but that’s one of the great things about pets. “I see what you’re trying to get at Angel. When I’m done talking to Fluttershy I’ll leave the door open so you can go in and see her, okey dokey?” With that said Angel nodded and hopped along down the stairs to the lower floor; leaving me in the midst of a upset Fluttershy. Now I felt a lump in my throat as I opened the door slowly, hearing the sniffling coming from her room. When I was in the room, I saw her laying on her bed buried in her mane and tail. I opened my mouth to say something but was stopped by a loud shutter from Fluttershy. I waited till she quieted, somewhat down, and took a step forward. “Fluttershy…are you alright?” I asked quietly, receiving a ‘eep’ from Fluttershy. She lifted her head and took part of her mane out of her face, “Pinkie Pie?” “Yep! I came over to see you, but when I knocked nopony answered, and when I knocked again…the door opened, and I heard sniffling from upstairs so I came to check on you.” I looked to the ground with a small smile to represent some kind of comfort for Fluttershy, “Are you alright Flutters?” She didn’t say anything, but instead lowered her head back to where it was before and sobbed out, “No.” I couldn’t help but skip on over to her bed and sit beside her, pulling her into a hug. Fluttershy made a scared ‘eep’ again, but eventually hugged me back. I just let her cry for a minute to get some emotions out before asking her what happened that had made her so sad. Seeing her cry against my shoulder was pretty heart breaking, and a tinsy bit flattering. I hugged her a bit tighter as she continued to sob against me and took a breath, “Do you wanna talk about what happened?” Fluttershy didn’t respond right away, but after a moment or two she mumbled something inaudible. “Sorry, what was that Fluttershy?” She raised her head from my shoulder and wiped her eyes with a stutter. Still heart breaking. “I, I don’t know if you’ll understand Pinkie Pie…” “What do you mean? I can be smart pony! In fact, you can ask me any question about Equestrian history, fractions, pie charts, and a bunch of other stuff! What ever it is, I’m sure I’ll be able to understand Flutters.” Fluttershy looked at me with her glassy eyes and gave me a crooked frown; that seemed to be turning upside down to a small smile. “Oh well, it concerns…something that happened today that I planned to do for a while, but it didn’t turn out how I wanted.” Fluttershy explained, but it wasn’t enough for me to help her. “Well, what was it that you planned?” . Fluttershy stirred in my grasp and buried her head in my chest; making me feel my face heat up, but only to be cooled down by the tears now dampening my coat. “I…I went to tell, Rainbow Dash something. But when I finally found her, she…she…” More tears dripped down Fluttershy’s cheeks as she buried herself deeper into my chest. I hugged her tightly and rubbed her back as she continued to sob. I couldn’t help but feel sad too…but this wasn’t about me, it was about what was troubling Fluttershy. “What happened when you found Dashie, Flutters?” With some more stirring, she came back up to face me with a tear stained face. I wiped a few tears from her face and gave her a small smile. She let out a stuttered sigh, “When I found Rainbow…she was with, Twilight…cuddling, in the Library.” Oh no! Is that why Fluttershy was upset; because Dashie didn’t tell her about her and Twilight’s relationship? Aw…she must feel hurt that Dash didn’t tell her about it first. They are best friends and all! She must feel excluded. “Aw Fluttershy, you don’t have to worry about Dashie not being your friend! You’re still one of her bestest pony friends, and I’m sure she didn’t mean to block you out. She was gonna tell you later this week, I’m super sure!” Fluttershy looked at me and shook her head, wiping a tear. “That’s, not why I’m upset Pinkie. It’s because…I was going to, tell Rainbow Dash that I…” “That you, what?” “I was going to tell Rainbow Dash about my feelings for her.” Fluttershy let out before turning away and burying her head into one of her pillows, wrapping her tail around her like a cat. My heart must’ve of cracked a bit as my small smile was flipped around into a frown. That not only hurt Fluttershy from just saying it…but it hurt me from having to hear she had feelings for Dashie. Seeing Twilight with Rainbow must’ve been just terrible! But I can’t help but feel jealous…Fluttershy liking Dashie and all. Now isn’t the time for me to be sad though, Fluttershy comes first. Fluttershy laid there crying as I scooted closer. I put my hoof on her shoulder and tried to think of something comforting to say. Nothing came to mind…there wasn’t much I could say to her at this point. Her crush was dating somepony else, and being Fluttershy; she was taking it severely hard. I don’t even know if she ever liked anypony else. Oh wait idea! “I can see you’re taking this pretty hard, but I was just wondering…did you ever like any other pony in that way?” Fluttershy clutched her pillow and buried herself deeper and let out a muffled, “No.” Oh pickle barrel cumquat; this is serious business here! “So…you’ve only liked Dashie from foalhood to now?” She nodded into the pillow, and got up shortly after wiping her eyes with her dampened hoof. She turned to face me, “Aren’t you…a little surprised about me, liking other mares?” I was a little shocked at the question, but since I was kind of hoping she was; I wasn’t actually. Oh wait a diddly second…did I say why I came here in the first place? Huh, I don’t think I did. Well since I have a chance now, I guess it’ll be a good time. So, I’ve had a crush on Fluttershy for a while now. Probably since a while after we all met Twilight and became BPFF’s! But I can’t tell Fluttershy that, not yet. It would be a terrible idea to tell her that now, considering what she’s going through. Others come first! I cleared my throat, “Well not really, and it doesn’t matter. You can be in love with a flamingo and I wouldn’t care; as long as you’re happy!” Fluttershy let out a sigh that seemed to be of relief, “Oh thank goodness. It was part of the reason why I never told anypony about my crush on…Rainbow. Not even Rarity. Which I feel terrible about! How could I keep something like that from one of my best friends?” I smiled, “Well you told me, and got it out right? And I’m sure if you explained to Rarity why you didn’t tell her; she’d understand.” “I guess you’re right…but I, don’t know if I even want to go out right now after what happened. I don’t think I’d be able to see, Rainbow. I would rather just stay in my home…and be alone.” With that; Fluttershy crawled under her covers and squeezed her pillow once again. I just stared at her and made a small smile and giggled, “Oh Fluttershy. Now isn’t the best time to be alone.” I went over Fluttershy on the bed and plopped onto my side on the opposite side of her. She turned around to face me. “I can spend the time with you! I’m sure the Cakes will understand if I take some time off to help out a friend.” Fluttershy wiped her nose, and made a quizzical frown. “You…you’d do that for me?” I scooted closer to her and pulled her into a hug, “Of course I would! You’re my friend, and that’s what friends are for silly!” I nuzzled her cheek and gained a very small smile from Fluttershy. “Besides, you’ll need help through this; and I’ll be you’re helper help helper!” Fluttershy nuzzled me back with a sniffle, “Thanks Pinkie…that means a lot to me.” The room had gotten dark, so I guess I must’ve been out for longer then I thought. Shocking actually…I guess time does fly when you’re engulfed in a moment. Or was it because I got off of work at six? I dunno, but I guess it was pretty late now ‘cause I was getting tired. Fluttershy yawned and looked at me with her still glassy eyes. “Well, since you’ll be staying with me for a few days…I guess you could sleep downstairs on the couch if you wouldn’t mind.” Aw shucks, I was actually looking forward to maybe cuddling Flutters up! Oh well, it’s best to take it slow, “Oh yeah that’s okey dokey Fluttershy. I’ll head down now ‘cause I’m pretty tired!” I leapt off the bed and made my way to the door, opening it and turning around to face her. “I’ll see ya in the morning Flutters, have a good sleep and if you need me, I’m right below ya!” “Goodnight Pinkie.” Fluttershy responded quietly before turning off her light and shuffling under her covers. I closed the door slightly behind me, leaving it opened enough so Angel could slip in and sleep with Fluttershy. A promise is a promise! When I got downstairs I took the liberty to make sure all the lights that were left on were turned off, and pulled out one of Fluttershy’s spare blankets from a chest and got comfy underneath it on the couch. With the cabin quiet and seeing Angel hopping up the stairs; I closed my eyes and waited for sleep.