//------------------------------//
// The Best Day Ever 
// Story: A Study In Nonsense 
// by Professor Piggy 
//------------------------------//

Hearts and Hooves day was a beautiful day. It was a day for ponies to come together. For brave ponies to tell the ponies they loved just how they felt, and to feel the joy and wonder that came from learning that they felt the same. A day for ponies who never thought they’d be noticed to be surprised, to be swept off their feet into an adventure they’d never forget. A day to snuggle with your special somepony and know beyond doubt that they were loved. Or, more likely, to be rejected. To find out that the pony you cared for so much, who you loved so strongly, didn’t feel the same way. It was an incredibly painful thing, even when it was handled very nicely – nopony’s fault, of course, but still painful.

And that was if they rejected you outright. There was always the possibility that things wouldn’t go that well. Not all ponies were nice, and not even the nicest ponies could be nice all the time – if you caught them at a bad time, or they were a bad pony, things could be much worse. They could laugh at you, or say mean things, or laugh at you and say mean things, like how you were a terrible flier who didn’t deserve to be called a pegasus and how no griffon would ever want to be seen with you, how you weren’t even good enough for other pegasi and how you should just curl up in a ball and die and -

And sure, it was nice for the shy ponies who did get noticed, if they wanted to be, but then there were all the ones who wanted to get noticed and didn’t, who wound up hurting and feeling alone. Or there were the ponies like her, who didn’t want to be noticed but always got noticed anyway – asked out on dates that the other pony never planned to turn up to, and surrounded by ponies who didn’t even know her shoving flowers in her face and yelling about how much they needed her, then getting mad when she froze up and couldn’t answer, treating her like it was her fault. Like they weren’t the ones putting her on the spot, forcing her to answer to – no, that wasn’t fair. They were probably perfectly nice ponies most of the time. It wasn’t right to be so mean about them after hurting their feelings so badly.

Hearts and Hooves day was a beautiful day. And Fluttershy hated it. From the large crowds of people to huge, public declarations of love to the tacky heart shaped candies – though, of course, there were plenty of people who liked all those things very much. And that was alright – it just meant that Fluttershy spent almost every Hearts and Hooves day locked away inside her cottage with her animal friends, cuddled up by the fire in peace. With the door triple bolted. Ignoring anybody who knocked unless it happened to be one of her closest, dearest friends. Although right now she wished she hadn’t made the exception.

It was a terrible thought, of course, but that wasn’t a surprise – she was a terrible pony, and as she made her slow way through the streets, all eyes on her as she walked with her eyes cast towards the ground, counting her steps and trying to ignore the fact that everypony was staring at her – judging her, laughing at her again. At her, not with her – nopony ever laughed with her and one step. Two. Three. Breath. She was okay. Well no, she wasn’t – she was terrible, and frightened, and shaking. She could feel the tears stinging at her eyes, and all she wanted to do was turn and race for home, to hide away and hope everypony was nice enough to only make fun of her behind her back.

But she couldn’t. Not after what had happened.

It had been lovely, of course. Pinkie had planned it just for her – from blowing down her door with the party cannon to singing an extremely loud and poorl – creative song about how wonderful Fluttershy was, blowing streamers and scaring the poor birds half to death. It had been awfully romantic, and Pinkie Pie couldn’t really be blamed if she’d expected Fluttershy’s reaction to be a little more… positive. Or existant. Really, anything would’ve been better than cowering under the table, shaking violently and begging to be left alone. But it had been all she could do. Even after Pinkie had stopped, eyes wide and tears falling as she stammered out apologies, Fluttershy hadn’t been able to answer her. Hadn’t been able to stop her as she ran away.

Pinkie Pie thought Fluttershy had rejected her. Pinkie Pie thought Fluttershy had rejected her. Her. The most beautiful, happiest, warmest most loving pony in all of Equestria. And she thought it because Fluttershy hadn’t been able to handle it when Pinkie had worked so hard to say the words Fluttershy had always dreamed of hearing from her, on the most beautiful, romantic day of the year. That wasn’t okay. And it was her fault. And that meant that she had to fix it.

Fluttershy stood staring at the door of Sugarcube Corner, doing her best to fight back the fear clawing at her, trying to drag her away, to convince her it was hopeless. Because… because it wasn’t hopeless. Pinkie had come to her, and that meant that Pinkie felt something for her too. She had said so, and she wasn’t a liar – she was the most honest pony Fluttershy knew. Except about food. And that meant there was a chance. She just had to fix things.

She reached up carefully and adjusted the clown nose tied to her snout, checked her wig one last time, took a deep breath, and knocked.