“I know you’re not drinking tea over there.” Stal commented, taking another sip from his own glass. “How is it?”
“Really good!” I said, sipping through the yellow straw. He smiled and looked off towards the dance floor only for a magenta-colored mare to stop in mid-swing and run over to the table that we were sitting at.
“Mr. Stallion!” she said, panting from the quick jog from the dance floor. “I had no idea that you came here?”
“Please, Feather, we’re not in class. Call me Stal.” he corrected, shooting a look at me with a smirk. The mare giggled, flipping back her golden-yellow mane.
“Okay, Mister- I mean, Stal.” she said, looking over to me. “Oooh, who are you? I’ve never seen you around the school.”
“I’m Flutterchai.” I introduced, holding my hoof out. “And you are?”
She shook my hoof and then quickly wiped her forehead, brushing her mane out of her. “Feather Dancer, one of Stal’s many students.”
“Oh, do you know Mister Stallion here very well?” I asked, giving a smirk to the brown stallion who was trying not to blush. She giggled at the question, taking a seat next to her teacher.
“Pretty well, I would have to say,” Feather answered, leaning back in the seat. “I’ve been in a few of Stal’s classes and he’s a really good teacher. Definitely a master on the dance floor.”
“Oh stop, Dancer, you’re much too kind.” he added, trying to hide the blush from his face. She giggled at the reaction, looking back at me.
“Are you a dancer?” she asked, giving me a sly look. I sipped on my drink, thinking of how I should respond to that. Fortunately, Stal jumped on the opportunity to change the subject away from his own spotlight.
“Chai here is the lovely entrepreneur that I was talking about before class that is hiring new ponies to work at her café.” The young mare’s eyes widened at the news, staring right at me.
“Oh my gosh! You’re the one that owns that new café downtown that everypony is talking about?” she said excitedly over the table.
“Everypony?” I repeated, starting to get that anxious feeling of hundreds of ponies watching me all at once.
“Yeah, they say that it’s run by this former model that came from a midwest town that changed her name.”
“Looks like you’ve become quite a name here in Los Pegasus, eh Chai?” Stal added, finishing off his glass. I tried my hardest not to get too embarrassed or anxious at the news.
“So, you’re still looking for some ponies to work there, right?” she asked, trying to contain herself in her seat. I nodded with a smile as she made a sharp, high-pitched happy noise, much to the discomfort of the stallion sitting next to her. “Do you think I could help? I mean, I could use the extra Bits and you said yourself that you’re looking for ponies.”
“Sure! Stop on by tomorrow morning. We can find something for you to do.” I replied, smiling as the mare jumped out of her seat to hug me.
“Thank you! I promise that you won’t be disappointed! I better run!” she shouted, running out of the dance hall. Stal laughed as I giggled with him, watching the pony leave the room.
“I take it that most of your students are like that?” I asked, finishing the rest of my drink as well. He chuckled, playing with the ice in his glass.
“More than you might think. That’s more or less the company I have around the school. Mares of having a dream of making it big on the stage or winning a nationwide contest.” he answered. “See why I don’t have a special somepony like that?”
“Yeah, I can tell,” I giggled, still caught on the enthusiasm of the young mare that lingered around the booth. “She reminds me of a close friend of mine that seems to never sit down.”
“Feather always has the rhythm in her.” Stal began, thinking back to the mare’s dances in his class. “She’s probably my top student, destined to win tons of contests. It’s in her name after all.”
“And what do you say about what’s in a name?” I said slyly, moving closer to him as his face started to redden.
“Well, I don’t find myself... that... charming.” he stuttered, trying not look directly at me. I giggled and rested my hoof on his, getting his attention.
“What about my name?” I asked, looking right into his soft, dark-green eyes. The stallion blushed heavily at the question, coughing as he tried to piece together the words.
“Well, that depends. Are we talking Flutterchai or-” he began before I cut him off, flying out of the booth still holding on to his hoof.
“Enough questions, let’s dance!” I shouted happily, flapping my wings behind my sparkling green dress. The stallion sighed, brushing off the sleeves of his tux as we made our way onto the floor as a familiar song played in the background. It was slow but it built-up to something big towards the end as the beat grew bigger and bigger. The ponies had cleared the center of the floor for us as we stood up in the middle, using our wings to keep our balance.
With his hoof in mine, we twirled around the floor on the beats of the music being played by the band on the stage. I kept looking at his face, starting to remember something from the past. It wasn’t Stal, but my special somepony. Looking down at our hooves, we weren’t standing like this before but the actions felt the same. The unicorn from my dreams wasn’t all that imaginary, I’m sure of it!
As my eyes returned to reality, the dark-green mane stallion was smiling back at me as we moved gracefully in the center of the floor during the waltz being played by the band. I knew he wasn’t that unicorn, but something in me, maybe all the things that Rarity and Rainbow Dash have told me, had finally clicked. I didn’t need an imaginary pony that nopony would ever believe me. I needed someone real. And Stal was the first real pegasus to see the real Flutterchai.
The song ended with it’s final melody, leaving me pressed closed against him in his hooves. I rested my head against his chest, not wanting to let go of this dream. Not wanting to go back to being Fluttershy of Ponyville. I wanted to stay here with him. He knew me better than anypony else, maybe even better than I knew myself with my horrible memory of my past. Why would I want to go back to something without this pony in my life?
“I know for one thing,” he whispered in my ear. “You’re definitely not shy.”
I giggled, pulling away from his chest to look up at him. My heart raced as I gazed deeply in his eyes just giving a small smile. I felt his hoof move from my back to my mane as he gently brushed it back over my ear, leaning in. I closed my eyes, meeting his lips halfway as I wrapped my hooves around him on the dance floor, where everypony could see.
---
The rest of the night felt like a blur, as if I was floating above the clouds with my new special somepony. Something I could never do with the stallion from my dreams without a tricky spell to give him butterfly wings or something. Once I settle down, I found myself wrapped in the sheets of a soft, comfortable bed with two hooves wrapped around me. Trying not to move too suddenly, I noticed the familiar dark-green mane of the stallion and smiled as the moon shined outside the window of his floating house in the sky. I finally felt at ease after all the time I have spent here in Los Pegasus, with a clear mind to do as Rarity and Rainbow Dash have told me time after time: enjoy myself and have fun.
Snuggling back into the covers, a bright light shined on my face away from the window. I opened my eyes to see a flash of blue, slowly coming into focus as a computer screen resting on the desk next to the bed. As the screen continued to glow with no intention of turning off by itself, I carefully got out of Stal’s grip and stepped out of bed, yawning as I approached the screen.
Wiggling the mouse, the blue screen turned into a series of brightly colored boxes with really tiny writing. I tried to find a button to turn off the computer but something caught my eye. A white box with vibrant, pink text.
Fabulous_Fluer_de_Lis: Hello?
I blinked, trying to make sense as my eyes tried to focus on the bright screen in front of me. It was some sort of chat box.
Fabulous_Fluer_de_Lis: I was thinking about taking a vacation to Los Pegasus, perhaps we have a private dance together? ;)
What? Who was this? I thought about writing just that to the pink-haired unicorn in the small chat box but the typing would probably wake up Stal. Ignoring the strange message, I closed the window to find a picture of myself underneath the box.
FlutterChai - Female Pegasus - Current Location: Los Pegasus, Equestria.
It was the personal ad page that Rarity had made for me on EeyupLovestruck. With all of the personal touches that she had added without even asking me, even though it was my page. The mystery grew even more as I scrolled up to the home bar of the webpage.
Welcome back, Dashing_Pegasus_29.
Dashing? Why not Charming, if that’s his name. The soft snores from the stallion in question made me freeze for a second before continuing the internet pursuit. I noticed a notification on the envelope, clicking on it. A new webpage came with a series of conversations, from a lot of different mares, including the pink unicorn trying to get his attention this late at night. One thread of conversations in particular was especially concerning.
“To: FlutterChai
Subject: Hey...
I read your profile and you seem like a really kind mare. Especially the part with the tea, that’s really kind of cute. I heard you were in Los Pegasus? Maybe we could get a drink sometime?”
Scrolling down, there was a response from the account. Written by Rarity, no less, since I didn’t even have the password to my own profile on this site.
“To: Dashing_Pegasus_29
Subject: Re: Hey...
Oh! Thank you for the wonderful compliment. ^_^
I would love to have a drink with you. I’ll be at the High Flyers’ Pegasus Club this Friday with a friend of mine. You shouldn’t be able to miss her, since she has a rainbow mane and all. *giggle*
See you then, handsome!
***FlutterChai***”
I rolled my eyes at the response. Rarity had no idea how to write like me, putting in weird symbols and everything. Sighing, I scrolled down for the final message in the thread.
“To: FlutterChai
Subject: Re: Re: Hey...
Awesome. I’ll be sure to keep a lookout for you this Friday then.”
So, it was all set up? Everything that Rainbow Dash said that night. Her taking me to that club to meet Charming, or whatever this pony’s name was? It was all a trick?
I held my chest as I looked back to the sound-asleep stallion, having no idea who he really was. But I knew how I could figure it out. With one click of the mouse, I opened Stal’s profile page with his own unflattering picture on the front of it.
Dashing_Pegasus_29 - Male Pegasus - Occupation: Dance Instructor
About Me: I am a simple pegasus trying to making a living out here in Los Pegasus. My love has always been for dance and teaching young mares at the local dance academy. I hope to one day settle down with a kind pegasus in the clouds someplace off the coast of Equestria where could live happily together.
My heart couldn’t stop aching at the thought of this trick. He seemed like a really nice guy, but he didn’t know me. He didn’t know my family. I don’t even know if he lived in Cloudsdale at one point. Everything he said was a trick. A trick to make me fall in love with him.
As my eyes teared up, I picked up my purse and flew out of the room without a sound leaving my favorite dress behind. I wanted to keep flying. I wanted to fly back to Ponyville. Even if Rarity and Rainbow Dash were behind this too, they couldn’t have known that he would manipulate my feelings like this. I just kept thinking, about the way that he made me feel and it hurt the more I thought of how much that was a lie.
In the end, I couldn’t leave the city because of one stallion. I still had my café with Flitter and soon to be Feather on the team. The best I could do was fly back to my apartment and cry into my pillow until sunrise, trying my best to forget the stallion that stole my heart away.