A FLUTTERING HEART
CHAPTER 1:
AN INVITATION
The sun shined brightly upon ponyville today. The birds sang, the wind blew gently, and Fluttershy's animal friends all romped around as the yellow Pegasus tended to each one of them. "Come now little ones, it's time to eat." Fluttershy cooed to the young rabbits whom each popped their little heads from their rabbit hole before quickly running out to eat the carrots that Fluttershy had placed out for them. "There you go little ones." The Pegasus cooed with a smile as a certain Pegasus landed behind her without her knowing.
"Hey Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash greeted with a smile.
The reply was while not unexpected, still less than what Rainbow Dash wanted to see as the meek Pegasus let out a startled cry, did a vertical one-hundred and eighty spin, and landed on her back with a goat sound seemingly emitting from her maw as her back hit the grass.
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"Heh, sorry for scaring you like that." Rainbow Dash remarked aloud apologetically as the yellow Pegasus sat down on the couch to calm her nerves.
"Oh, no, it's my fault. I should have remembered that you'd be coming over today." Fluttershy replied as she picked up a nearby teacup and rank from it before she set it back down on the tray. "So, um, what was the important thing you wanted to talk to me about?" Fluttershy asked curiously.
The cyan blue Pegasus's confident demeanor all but vanished once Fluttershy asked her this question. "Oh well, heh. It's about the Grand Galloping Gala coming up." Rainbow Dash replied though her expression showed a minor bit of nervousness as she spoke now.
"Oh, that's this weekend isn't it?" Fluttershy replied with a soft smile as she looked to her calendar, taking note of the fact that it was currently monday.
"Yeah and if I know that egghead, she'll make sure we all have tickets like she does every year." Rainbow Dash replied with a cocky grin, her confidence returning to her voice and expression for a brief time before they vanished once again. "So, have any special plans for when we go?" she asked curiously which caused Fluttershy to give a thoughtful glance towards her.
"Hmm, I haven't really thought about it much. Though I'm sure we'll all have a great time spending time there as friends!" Fluttershy replied with a wide smile now as she looked at her fillyhood friend.
"Oh, right. Yeah... We'll have loads of fun with our friends." Rainbow Dash asked in a less than enthused tone.
"Is something the matter?" Fluttershy asked curiously with a mildly concerned expression. Her friend had begun acting odd from the moment the topic of the gala had come up but she couldn't place why.
"Oh, uh, well, heh… I was sorta thinking…" Rainbow Dash began to say but trailed off as if the following words were extremely hard to get out.
"Yes?" Fluttershy asked expecting her to follow up and finish was she was trying to say.
"That well, we'll all be going to gala and all but…" Rainbow Dash once again trailed off before she continued. "I was sorta hoping that you and me could-" Rainbow Dash began to say but was cut off by a loud knocking at Fluttershy's door.
"Oh my, hold that thought, Rainbow." Fluttershy replied and quickly hovered over to the door leaving Rainbow Dash with a scowl upon her face now.
Upon opening the door, a large bouquet of flowers was immediately stuffed into the meek Pegasus's face. "Delivery for Miss. Fluttershy!" A young earth pony stallion remarked as he gave her a letter as well, turned about face, and galloped off.
"Oh, my. These are so pretty and smell so nice!" Fluttershy remarked fondly before the letter she was also given caught her attention. Curiously, she opened the envelope and began to read the contents of the letter.
"Whoa, who sent those?" Rainbow Dash asked as she looked at the bouquet with a curious expression then to Fluttershy and immediately noticed a crimson red blush upon her face as she read the letter.
"It's from Big Macintosh… He um….wants me to be his date for the grand galloping gala." Fluttershy replied though her voice went down into a nearly inaudible whisper as she spoke.
Due to knowing Fluttershy since fillyhood, it wasn't too hard for the Pegasus to make out what she had whispered so softly. "Oh…" Rainbow Dash replied sourly as her face became one of annoyance. "Well, congrats on getting a date for the gala and all." Rainbow Dash remarked halfheartedly as she walked past Fluttershy and opened her front door.
"Are you leaving so soon? You just got here." Fluttershy remarked curiously. "Besides, you never finished what you wanted to tell me." Fluttershy remarked aloud with a curious expression.
"Oh, that. Don't worry about it. It wasn't anything important anyways." She replied though Fluttershy could tell she sounded mildly irritated as she spoke. "So yeah, I gotta get going anyways. I uh, forgot I had cloud clearing duty, yeah! So, I'll see you around Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash replied hurriedly before she took off without allowing Fluttershy to utter another word.
Curiously, Fluttershy looked up at the sky and was even more confused. "Why would she have cloud duty today when there are no clouds in the sky?" Fluttershy wondered with a concerned expression before she returned to the interior of her home and closed the door behind her.
"Why was she acting like that, Angel?" Fluttershy asked her pet bunny as she set down his favorite bowl of lettuce leaves, carrot chips, and celery.
The bunny immediately began to dig into his meal and gave a shrugging gesture with a full mouth of food before she swallowed it and resumed stuffing his mouth greedily.
"Well, I know one thing. Something is definitely bugging her and I wish I knew what." Fluttershy replied before she let out a saddened sigh and walked to her kitchen to fix herself something to eat as well...