“Wow.” Dash gasped when Fluttershy had finished describing her dream. “Just...wow!” She gave a nervous little laugh. “You never struck me as that kind of girl Fluttershy!” Fluttershy blushed.
“Please, don’t say that Rainbow. I know its wrong...”
“Wrong?” Dash looked surprised. “Why would it be wrong?”
“Well...he’s a friend, you shouldn’t think of your friends in that way...should you?” Dash frowned.
“Ok I get what you mean, but you’ve gotta realise, it was only a dream.” She smiled at her sunshine yellow friend.
“Well... I don’t know... it’s just strange I suppose...” Fluttershy mumbled, staring at her still untouched sandwich, more out of something to do than actual hunger. “So what does it mean when you have a dream like that?” She asked quietly.
“Weeellll...” Dash scratched her chin slowly. “That’s kinda difficult to explain really. It could just be a random dream, it could be that you were in a really weird mood last night...” the yellow mare looked up into her cyan friends rosy pink eyes. “Or it could mean you’ve got a little crush!”
Rainbow beamed at her friend, joyous about the idea. While Fluttershy quickly turned a shade of red as she blushed and jumped to her hooves from the sofa. “Well, come on, the weather isn’t going to fix itself.” She rushed, as she trotted towards the door.
“Fluttershy!” said a stern faced Rainbow. Fluttershy sighed, her ears drooped, and she traipsed back to her seat. “Come on, so have you had this dream before?” The yellow Pegasus shook her head, staring at her hooves in front of her on the seat.
“Well, what happened when you and Big Mac came here last night?” Rainbow asked, Fluttershy looked slightly taken aback at the sudden change of subject. But she thought back and said slowly. “Well...we came back...Took in the groceries...and he had a quick sandwich I made him.”
“You made him a sandwich?” Rainbow smirked. Fluttershy looked at her, unsure about what was so funny.
“Yes...why? Shouldn’t I have? Is that why I had the dream?” Rainbow stifled a surprised laugh at her friend’s naive thoughts.
“No no no!” She managed to splutter. “So then what happened?” Unsure, Fluttershy continued.
“Well, he ate the sandwich while I fed the animals...” She glanced at the ceiling in thought. Nothing much else had happened, had it? Slowly, her mind began to play back the image of Mac’s mane flicking away from her as she had glanced at him. Still, she was sure he had looked at her, and still she was wondering why he had looked away. She didn’t want to tell Dash about that moment, it probably wasn’t important anyway! “...Then he left.” She finished.
“He just...left?” Rainbow asked, she looked confused. All signs of her laughter had seemed to have vanished as she listened. “Nothing else happened? He didn’t say anything that made you feel...funny? Or did he do anything?” Fluttershy wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘funny’ but she supposed one thing could fall under that category.
“H-He stopped and waved when he left...” She muttered, thinking she had said something silly again.
“And?” Rainbow goaded, her eyes looked desperate, she needed to know. Did she understand something Fluttershy didn’t?
“I...” Fluttershy flushed pink. “I...ran inside...”
“Oh you did did you?” Rainbow leant, back a satisfied smirk on her face. Fluttershy wasn’t annoyed, she didn’t get annoyed, she never got angry either (Except for the gala, Celestia forbid she forgot the gala!) but Rainbow’s enigmatic attitude was making Fluttershy seem uneasy.
“So?” Fluttershy whimpered to her friend. “Do you know what’s wrong with me?”
“Uhuh!” Rainbow affirmed, laying her hooves behind her head as she lay out over her side of the sofa. Her eyes closed as she took a slow satisfied breath “Fluttershy... You’ve got a crush!” What?! Immediately Fluttershy gave a horrified shake of her head, dening the very posibilty of such a thing.
“Oh...no, that can’t possibly be it Rainbow. I think I’m just coming down with something, my tummy hasn’t been feeling quite right, and I think that may have something to do with the dream, maybe I’m just hungry, after all I haven’t eaten my sandwich yet and you see”-
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow cut across, Fluttershy realised she had been rambling, a tell tale sign that she was nervous, oh dear. “Your ‘tummy’ feels kind of light and easily disturbed? You feel like you’re gonna throw up any moment?”
“Ummm...yes” the yellow mare replied unsurely.
“Every time it’s happened, I bet you’ve been with, or been thinking about Big Mac.” Rainbow didn’t even open her eyes as she relaxed.
“I Su-pose...” Fluttershy mumbled looking at her hooves, Rainbow seemed to know what she was talking about, was it possible she was right, could Fluttershy have a crush? On Big Macintosh?
“That settles it then!” Rainbow laughed, leaning up to look at her friend, “You’re getting Butterfly’s, it’s your nerves ‘cos you know you like him.”
“I do?”
Rainbow arched an eyebrow at her yellow friend, who slowly thought about all she was being told, she thought about the night before, about her sudden inability to keep him out of her mind, his constant presence somewhere in her thoughts. As she thought of the stallion, she could swear she could smell his coat, thick with the scent of apples.
“I-I guess...I kind of do...” Fluttershy admitted. She looked to her cyan friend, terrified at the prospect. She had never had a crush before, she wasn’t sure she liked the constant queasiness, and the added nerves. Dear Celestia, she was jittery enough, adding a whole other set of issues couldn’t be a good thing could it?
“So...What now?” Fluttershy whispered to her friend. “What do I do now?” Rainbow frowned.
“Do? Well...You don’t have to DO anything really; it’s up to you what happens next.”
“Oh, I’m not sure if I like that.” Fluttershy stood and took hold of the plate, she wouldn’t be able to eat it now, the nerves of realising her ‘Crush’ were too much for her, and Dash’s supposed butterfly’s in the yellow mares stomach were resisting all possible need for food. The mare slowly crept into the kitchen and placed the plate on the counter.
“What do you mean, you don’t like it?” Rainbow questioned, her head popping out from around the corner, her eyebrows creased in a baffled frown. “Having a crush is great; it gives a whole new outlook on somepony.” She smiled encouragingly, but Fluttershy ignored her, slowly tunnelling through the mountain of thoughts she had in her head.
“If you say so Rainbow...” She finally murmured, Rainbow could see she looked more withdrawn than usual.
“Fluttershy, is something wrong?”
“No...well...” She seemed to teeter on the verge of explaining but seemed to bite back just in time. The result left her stood in the kitchen looking very lost and confused.
“Come on back into the living room.” Rainbow encouraged, smiling warmly to her long time friend. Fluttershy returned the smile and headed back. When they were re-seated on the sofa Dash spoke. “What’s up?” Fluttershy felt silly explaining it, she didn’t like ponies focusing on her problems, she didn’t really like ponies focusing on her at all, she never did like the limelight.
“If I have a crush...shouldn’t I...tell him?” Rainbow exhaled slowly at her friend’s question. She ruffled the back of her mane slowly.
“Wellll... I guess you could, but that’s only if you want to. It’s one of the best parts of a crush, you can either tell them, or let it be your little secret.” She winked, trying to calm the other Pegasus’s nerves.
“A secret?” Fluttershy frowned, “You mean... you don’t have to tell them?”
“Nnope!”Rainbow smiled, Fluttershy’s heart plummeted at the sound of the familiar word, so much like Big Macintosh’s. Rainbow realised what she had done as she saw the nerves erupt back onto her friends already worried face, she gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”
Fluttershy sat there in silence for a moment. She could keep it a secret, a warm little secret like that would be nice, it’d be something to enjoy when she felt particularly sad or nervous. The very prospect began to make her heart flutter with excitement.
Then again, what if... what if the feeling didn’t go away? She knew herself well enough to guess that after a while, the feelings would begin to upset her if she kept them secret for too long. Her initial feelings began to take over again, her mind focused on what would happen, what would be the possibilities if she chose not to keep it a secret? She could speak to the stallion about her feelings and see if he felt similarly, and he may say yes. ‘Oh dear, what if he said no?’ she thought. What if he didn’t think of her in any kind of way like that? He could even possibly hate her for saying something so silly.
Rainbow watched her friend nervously, she knew Fluttershy well and if she wasn’t careful the yellow mare would probably over think the situation and cause herself a lot of grief. The quickly forming frown on Fluttershy’s brow showed where her thoughts were taking her. So Dash intervened before it was too late. “So what’s the big guy like then? I mean really like, I’ve barely even heard him speak more than a sentence before!”
Fluttershy’s eyes seemed to focus finally; she slowly shook the strange thoughts from her mind to focus on Rainbow. Slowly as she thought back to how the stallion had acted, a dreamy smile began to spread across her lips. “Oh, he’s wonderful! He’s so generous, and kind, oh and polite too!” She glanced around at the huts, still all housing the sleeping animals hiding from the early morning. Fluttershy gave a small giggle. “He was trying to look into Mr Chipmunk’s house at one point.” She pointed to show Rainbow the small box in the top corner of the room.
Rainbow laughed, both to what Fluttershy was saying, and secretly to how she was saying it. The cyan pony could tell the yellow mare suited having a crush. She was suddenly a lot calmer when talking about him, she hadn’t hesitated once yet! Rainbow kept the little notion to herself, she didn’t want to draw attention to it and possibly make Fluttershy notice it! Rainbow liked this more talkative Fluttershy!
Time passed, and the two continued to talk. Their task of changing the weather went completely forgotten. They discussed how it felt having a crush; the nervous butterfly’s wriggling when you saw them, their sudden uproar and the thought of the other pony. As the convocation continued, Fluttershy felt herself becoming more confident. She could hear it in her voice, the way she talked about the stallion was almost... boasting! She couldn’t believe it! Was this what liking somepony did to her? If so, she was fast warming up to the idea of having a crush.
Fluttershy voiced these thoughts to Rainbow, who smiled back glad to see her friend had noticed without her mentioning it. “Well, that’s just it. You feel... like a completely different pony huh?” Fluttershy closed her eyes and nodded happily in agreement, her lips breaking into a small happy smile.
“Oh yes, definitely!”
“That’s not even the best part though!” Rainbow continued mysteriously. Fluttershy opened her eyes in surprise.
“Oh? Then what is?” Rainbow smiled and leant in coming closer to her lifelong friend.
“If you get the courage, and you tell them how you feel, and they feel the same way. The feeling gets a thousand times better!”
Rainbow leant back and smiled at her friend, whose face had fallen at the thought of bravery. “Oh, I don’t know about that Rainbow... I wouldn’t think it was very likely that... he’d...” Rainbow’s heart fell at the return of her friend’s hesitation. ‘Smart move birdbrain!’ She thought to herself, mentally slapping herself in the face.
“Well... why not?” Rainbow asked, trying to remedy her mistake. Fluttershy frowned at her, unsure what she meant. “Why wouldn’t Big Macintosh feel the same way about you? You’re kind, smart, funny and beautiful, what guy wouldn’t want a girl like you!” Fluttershy blushed at the praise.
“Beautiful? You think I’m beautiful...really?”
“Fluttershy, you were a model!” Rainbow said coldly, the two stared at each other for a moment, then burst into laughter, Rainbow’s more raucous, while Fluttershy’s was more controlled.
“Come on!” Rainbow finally ordered after their laughter had died down, she hopped off the bed and moved towards the door, she stopped and turned back, waiting expectantly.
“W-where are we going?” The yellow mare asked, suddenly nervous, terrified that Rainbow was suggesting the two went to Sweet Apple Acres to see Big Macintosh. Her stomach seemed to fold in on itself at the thought.
“To Rarity’s place.” Rainbow smiled, almost as though they had planned it all along. Fluttershy slowly slid off the sofa and followed her friend out of the door, and down towards the direction of the boutique in town. Rainbow gave her friend a playful nudge as they walked. “I think it’s time Rarity and I showed you how to impress a guy!”