//------------------------------// // Strangers to love // Story: Flutterheart // by lilinuyasha //------------------------------// “We’re no strangers to love...you know the rules. So do I.” he said, glancing at her. She made her heart melt with anticipation. He was just the sweetest colt she’d ever known. “I got no commitments...I wanna pick it up. You wouldn’t get this from any other colt.” he said slyly. She blushed even harder as he smiled at her...looking deep into her soul. Almost as if he knew what she was thinking. “I’m never gonna give you up...let you down...run around or desert you. I’m never gonna make you cry...say goodbye...or tell a lie and hurt you.” “I don’t know what to say...” “We’ve known each other for so long...your heart’s been aching...” “But I’m too strong to say it.” “We both know what’s been going on.” “We know the game...and we’re gonna play.” he said, before kissing her romantically. He had never been more in love with any filly. She had never loved anyone more. They were the perfect pair. Nothing else mattered. They were the only two in the world now as they continued to caress each other, oblivious to anything else. “Twilight?” “AGH!” yelled Twilight, falling out of her chair. Spike looked at her curiously. “Are you alright?” “Yeah, you just...scared me.” she said, trying to hide the book. “I know what you’re reading Twilight. I did an inventory check.” he said, rolling his eyes and walking out of the room. Twilight blushed, embarrassed. She’d stayed up all night reading “The new mare in town”. This was one of those novels she didn’t buy, but rather came with the library. She didn’t know exactly why, but she kept it around. Now she was glad she did. Twilight put the book away, seeing as she was done with it. After reading that story, she had a bit of a better understanding for love, but still couldn’t quite emotionally grasp it. She’d read the dictionary entry over it numerous times, read several articles from magazines, including “cosmoponitan”, famous for its articles on love and...other things. She’d read entire psychology volumes about it, and just recently read a romance novel. How did she still not understand it? “Love is a strong emotional attachment to another pony or object; a strong sense of affection for a particular thing or pony; an emotional sense of belonging or dependence on an object or pony..” she repeated. It was all so educational, so formal. It was a ridged set of guidelines that had to be followed. How did Fluttershy fall for him? How did he fall for her? They had hardly anything in common. She didn’t really finish school, as far as she knew. He went to college and graduated with a music degree. She was anti-social. He worked with kids. She worked with animals. She sighed, frustrated at her lack of understanding. She started to scan the shelves of the library for another book until she found one she missed earlier, titled “What is love?” “What is love?” she said, opening the book for a preview. “Baby...don’t hurt me...don’t hurt me no more.” she mimicked. This sounded interesting. It was a rather short novel too, so she sat down and read it thoroughly, hoping to gain more insight into what love was on a scholarly level before she trotted out to talk to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash about the couple. It was Saturday, so Rainbow was bound to be sleeping for the rest of the afternoon. She put all thoughts away and got absorbed in the novel. “I don’t know...you’re not there.” she said. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I feed you my love but you don’t care...” “What is right? What is wrong? Give me a sign!” he said angrily... *** Trey woke up on the couch in Fluttershy’s cottage. He recalled falling asleep next to her after another session of “watching” movies. Really, though, they cuddled and caressed each other, murmuring sweet everythings to each other. Trey refused to call it “sweet nothings”. She meant everything to him. “Sweet everythings” was more appropriate. Trey woke up to the smell of eggs and cheese, with a little hint of cinnamon apples. Trey gathered himself and trotted to the kitchen, where Fluttershy was cooking for them. “Good morning, sleepyhead!” she said, smiling and giggling a bit at him. He returned the favor and kissed her on the cheek, making her smile even wider. “I decided to give you that rain credit card Rainbow Dash gave you.” Trey laughed to himself. She was so cute when she tried to impress him. “A rain check, you mean?” “Oh...yes.” she said, shaking her head a little, still smiling. “Do you know how amazingly cute you are when you blush?” he asked her. She turned to look at him. “But I’m not blushing...” she said. “You are now.” said Trey, pulling off a psychic move. She blushed uncontrollably. “Oh...” she smiled. She didn’t know how he did it...but she liked that he did. She was completely under his control... “I hope you don’t mind.” “Flutterheart, I love it. You’re just so cute when you do that. I’m shocked nopony’s ever told you that before.” “I’m glad that you’re my first.” she said smiling. “Now lets get breakfast on the table.” Trey and Fluttershy set out a rather large portion of eggs, cheese, and apples on the table. Though the table was large, Trey decided to sit next to her, occasionally nudging her elbow jokingly, making her miss picking up food with a fork. They both laughed and ate before giving the leftover food to the animals, which was a hefty bit. Perhaps she fixed extra on purpose. She was very smart in planning ahead, and he admired that. After they finished the dishes, Trey and Fluttershy went outside and spent the rest of the day together. *** “Hey, Pinkie!” said Twilight as she managed to track her down. She wasn’t easy to find when you wanted to find her. She wasn’t easy to get rid of when you didn’t. “Oh, hey, Twilight! What’s up?” “Oh, not much, just wanted to...” “Up is a direction!” “Huh?” “I asked you what’s up! Remember? Up is a direction!” “Oh, yes, haha, totally forgot about that!” “You spend all your day reading and you forgot what up was?” “Pinkie...” “Even I can tell you what’s up! Of course Rainbow Dash can because she’s always up!” “Pinkie...” “Applejack and Rarity can tell you, too!” “PINKIE!” “Yes, Twilight?” “I get it. I have a question.” “Oh, ok! Ask away!” “What do you think of Trey and Fluttershy?” “You mean like...as a couple?” “Everypony keeps saying that...yes, as a couple.” “I think they’re good for each other. You’d have to be pretty dumb to think otherwise.” she said, smiling. She knew Twilight thought otherwise, but sought to end the discussion before it began. “You don’t think Trey will hurt Fluttershy? Or that she’ll snap on him and recluse?” “No, silly, she’s a pony, not a spider!” Twilight’s mouth was open trying to figure out exactly what she meant. “Though it might be cool to be a spider. I wanna be a pink widow! Brown recluses are boriiiiiiiiiiing!” Oh. Recluse. Brown recluse. “Well I’ll definitely keep that in mind in case we ever need to turn into spiders for something!” “Alrighty then!” said Pinkie, bouncing off. Twilight wasn’t finished with her, but Pinkie couldn’t stay on topic for long. She sighed, frustrated, and headed off to try and find Rainbow Dash. *** Trey tossed the Frisbee to Fluttershy. “You’re getting better!” he said to her. “You haven’t hit me once!” She laughed and tossed it back to him. Now that she had the hang of it, she really enjoyed it. It was especially fun as a Pegasus, because you could swoop and dive for it instead of being stuck on the ground. She enjoyed the spirit of competition, though she didn’t care who won. She was just happy to be with him. Trey caught her pass and flew over to her, telling her he wanted to play a new game. “Oh? What do you want to play?” Trey kissed her on the lips and shouted “tag!” before flying off. Fluttershy blushed and hurried after him, though he was in no hurry to outrun her. *** “Oh, hey, Twilight. What’s up?” shouted Rainbow Dash as she descended from her cloud. “Oh, not much. Just wanted to ask a question.” “Well yeah, go ahead.” “What do you think of Trey and Fluttershy?” “You mean...as a...” “Yes, as a couple.” she said, slightly annoyed. Everypony was asking the same thing. “I think they’re good for each other. It’d be a shame if something happened to that.” “You’re not worried about Trey hurting her? Or Fluttershy having relapses?” “Twilight, I’ve noticed them hanging out. I started to follow them when he visited her, and every time, she’s happier than she was before. Trey’s doing her a lot of good. I don’t think it’s right for you to question that. If he makes her happier, just let her be happy. Why are you so against them anyway?” she asked, leaning into her like she did when she asked Twilight if she was a spy, when they met all those years ago. “I’m just afraid one of them’s bound to get hurt. Either Trey will make a move too soon, or Fluttershy will tell him about what happened and he’ll get scared. Maybe she’ll even have relapses and yell at him. He’s hasn’t been here long enough for it to work out properly.” “Twilight, you don’t understand.” said Rainbow Dash, sighing. “You’re the only one of our friends that hasn’t loved anypony yet. Rarity knew love with Blueblood, before it went haywire. Pinkie just accepts things, and admires happiness for others, amongst the love she suddenly felt for her family after she got her mark. Applejack had a small affair with somepony before you got here.” “What about you?” “Me? Well...I have a bit of a crush on Soarin’.” “From the wonderbolts?” “Yes. He’s so...dream...good with flying.” she said, correcting herself. “But you haven’t really experienced anything. You and I are in the same boat. And who did Applejack have a thing for?” “Look...I don’t want to talk about it. But Applejack and I have both experienced love, alright? You’re the only one left out.” Twilight smiled slyly as she put two and two together. “What are you smilin at?” asked Rainbow, afraid of the answer. “Nothing.” “Whatever. I’ve got stuff to do. Did you have anything else you wanted to talk about?” “Oh, no, not really. Carry on!” she said, turning around. As Rainbow Dash flew off, Twilight grew even more frustrated. None of her friends could see her side, except for Rarity. She’d have to double check on that. The way things were going, she’d be the only one. She trotted off to the library, fuming. She had to read some more books. “Surely love is more than just a biochemical reaction destined to make sure our genes get passed on...what is it about?” she asked herself before immersing herself in several more volumes of romance novels, psychology books, and personal journal observations. *** Trey and Fluttershy snuggled down in his bed, “Watching” a movie. Of course, they were really just snuggling each other, cuddling, kissing, caressing...Trey even muted the TV just to hear her lovely voice with no interruptions. “Flutterheart?” he said, putting his hoof to her chest, feeling her heart beat. “Yes?” Her heart started racing. “You wanna hear a story?” Fluttershy nodded. It was a perfect excuse to listen to his voice. “This is the story about the most beautiful filly in the world.” “Is it me?” she asked, blushing. “You’ll have to wait and see!” “Oh...ok.” “Once upon a time, there was a music colt who moved to Ponyville. A party was thrown in honor of his arrival. At the party, he saw the most beautiful pony he’d ever met, with a gorgeous tan coat and lovely pink mane. I...er...he knew from that moment that he knew she was special. From there, he did his best to spend as much time with her as he could, inviting her to hoofball games. But he forgot to give her the time once, and he was very upset with himself, because he knew that was less time that he could see her. After that, his like for her developed into love, and he was very shy around her, hoping that she wouldn’t find it weird. She also had love in her heart for him though, and when she kissed his injured cheek, he could feel it. One day, he decided to give her something-a kiss-for her to hold on to until he could get it back from her later. Since then, the two have been trading it off.” “That was a good story.” she said, smiling and blushing as she stroked his cheek. “Thank you. It took me a few weeks to get it perfect.” “I can tell. It seems like you worked really hard at it. But what happened to the kiss?” “She still has it.” he said. She smiled and leaned into him, passionately embracing him for a light-lipped kiss that only the truest of love could produce. “Not anymore.” she said, smiling at him. She was starting to get braver around him with these things. He really liked it. He still also noticed she was still timid and shy about some things, which he loved also. She was, simply put, the perfect pony for him. He couldn’t imagine anything better. Well...only one thing could make it better. “Flutterheart?” he asked, cradling her face. “Yes, Trey?” “You’re perfect.” “You’re perfect too.” “I’m only missing one thing to make me perfect.” “Oh? What is that?” “You. Flutterheart...we’ve been in love for a little bit.” “Yes. And I couldn’t be happier.” “Flutterheart, there’s only one thing that could make me happier.” “What’s that?” she said, worried. Was she not perfect enough? “Flutterheart...would you like to make it official? Will you be my special somepony?”