Fluttershy came home early, surprising Angel. He dropped the carrot he had been nibbling and waved hello. She didn’t seem to notice him right away, further surprising him. He was usually the first thing she saw when she came hom.
He was even more surprised when she burst out into song and twirled throughout the house like he’d never seen her before. She couldn’t stand still, couldn’t flutter in just one place. She moved constantly, unable to keep from singing or humming.
She came to flutter and stand by her desk many times as he watched, his own heart beginning to thump faster from her infectious happiness. She touched the drawer that held her private journal with a hoof. Then she would burst into tears with the largest smile he had ever seen and fly off again to put her songbirds to shame.
He cried at her wordless, joyous song.
Her nervous energy gradually wore off, and she calmed enough to stop and open the drawer to pull out her journal. She fumbled it in a mouth that couldn’t stop smiling and nearly dropped it before she set it down and forced herself to sit atop her stool.
He watched her as she tried several times to dip her quill into the inkwell, only to be too jittery to be right on target. He could tell that she was trying not to smile so that she could write. Trying not to, and failing.
She gave up on trying to write in her journal and flopped back onto her bed, laughing and holding the book to her chest. He hopped up onto her belly and lay down, trying to express the joy he felt for her. Tears were streaming from her eyes and she made no attempt to stop them.
Whatever had made her so happy?
“Oh Angel,” she said, “I… I don’t know what to say! I just can’t hold it in, I can’t hold onto it and I can’t even think about how to express it.” Laughing and crying, she held onto the journal as though it were her heart, too precious to squeeze, yet too valuable to let go.
She lay there for a long time, then fell asleep, a smile never leaving her muzzle.
Angel waited patiently, pleased to see his companion happy. It made him feel warm. And so he fell asleep on her belly, not at all bothered by the occasional happy giggle that bubbled up in her dreams.
~
Fluttershy woke to a warm presence on her belly and smiled down at her bunny, Angel. She really didn’t want to disturb him, but she wanted to get her feelings down into her journal while they were still fresh and bright as the summer’s day.
They would keep her warm on dreary winter mornings. And now, so too would her love. She closed her eyes to imagine it, and felt the warmth of the imaginary fire warm one flank. The other… She choked as she burst again into happy tears.
Oh! What a wonderful winter this next would be.
Angel still slept on her belly, undisturbed by her unbridled joy. She lifted him off with a wing and let him slide gently to the warm covers to lay nestled in the warm depression she left behind.
Calmer now, she walked to her writing desk and put her journal down. She didn’t start writing immediately. Scattered across the desk were the started and never finished remnants of a dozen letters, all of them professing her love for Applejack.
She took each and read them again, what she had started, feeling the joy rekindle within her heart as she recalled the nervous worry she’d been going through while penning each one. They represented a moment of time now past, a history that suggested something darker, but never was.
She didn’t need to worry anymore. She didn’t need to cry over her imagined loss. The nightmares would leave her and she could enjoy the night again.
Each half finished letter she read she folded neatly and set aside. They would find their own place in her journal, in the section she called the “Never Weres.” A section where she wrote down her worst fears… Fears that never were founded in anything but her own mind.
The last one set aside, and her heart filled so that it almost hurt to not smile, she drew out her quill again and this time managed to find the inkwell.
~
Dear Diary,
I don’t know what to write here. My heart… My heart just can’t take it. How do I put this into words that don’t sound trite and meaningless? Each word that I think of just doesn’t seem to fit how I feel. How do you put feelings onto paper? I feel as though I could place my heart in these pages and it wouldn’t describe this… this wonderful sensation.
We’ve been good friends for so long! I had no idea that she harbored such feelings for me. And she had no idea that I had them for her. All those times she’s been there for me, strong for me, and I never knew that I would be the brave one.
I did it! I told her what my feelings were. And… and… Oh my.
A trail of ink snakes its way down the page, a thin, wavy line that speaks of a quivery touch, as though the writer had too much elation stored up to just hold it in.
I just… I don’t know what to say. She… Oh! I’ll just say it!
She asked me to marry her!
The next few lines on the page are smeared, illegibly dripping down the page, as though the ink itself cried for joy and wonder.
How could I say no? How could I not shout YES! from the top of every mountain and spell it out with all the clouds in the sky?
But… Oh! Just two months and then… and then..
Wedding bells ring just for us!