Butterflies and Balloons

by OneLonelyPickle

Like a Knot in a Hose

Chapter Five – Like a Knot in a Hose

After her impromptu pep talk with Rarity, Fluttershy awkwardly shuffled back to her friends’ table. She forced her feelings and thoughts down as far as she could, resolving to just accept what Rarity and her had talked about. The constant self-doubts were too much for her. She sat down in her chair and took a long swig from her glass of water.

“Feeling better, then?” Applejack asked, genuine concern gracing her tone. Fluttershy looked up and nodded, cheeks still hot.

“O-oh yes,’ she said, “R-Rarity’s quite good at… helping sick ponies feel better…”

She looked over and Rarity winked at her. Applejack looked at Rarity and rose an eyebrow.

“She is? Huh. Never heard of that. You got some nursing experience or something, Rare?”

Rarity giggled daintily.

“Something like that, Applejack.”

Pinkie Pie chimed up and Fluttershy’s heart flipped over in her chest.

“Are you sure you’re fine, Fluttershy?” Fluttershy didn’t look over at Pinkie, but she just knew she was staring at her with that same concern she had shown the night they drank the gargilly tea. Fluttershy was definitely not going to look up and see that face. She instead looked down at her cutlery and nervously traced the edges of the pieces of silverware. Pinkie continued.

“Cause if you’re not, maybe I can take a look at you like Rarity did. I’ve helped a lot of sugar-rushed ponies with their tummy aches! This is, like, probably the same thing, right?”

Fluttershy smiled and shook her head.

“No, it’s okay. I’m just hungry. Once I eat, I’ll be better.”

Pinkie replied.

“Awesome! Becaaaussssee, I wanted to wait for you to get back before I mentioned the skate competition tomorrow!”

Fluttershy’s ears flicked up. She continued looking at her fork. She heard Twilight ask a question.

“Oh?” Twilight’s tone changed as if she discovered something strange. “Wait, the one couples skating competition that’s been advertised everywhere?”

Pinkie “mhm’d!” cheerfully in response then replied with words.

“Fluttershy mentioned that she wanted to go and didn’t have anypony to go with, so I said, ‘I’ll go!’ and then she was all like, ‘Noooooo, that’s okaaayyy’ and THEN I said ‘No, we’re going and that’s final!’. It was a real hoot! Anyway, we talked about it and now we’re going! It’s going to be so much fun I can’t even — I just can’t EVEN!”

Fluttershy ventured a glance around the table. Twilight was smiling with a creased brow, as if she were about to address a young filly who said something ridiculous. Rarity’s mouth was agape, and she was looking over at Fluttershy. A look of realization crossed her eyes and Fluttershy quickly looked away in distress.

O-oh no… she thought, Rarity knows…

Twilight looked at Fluttershy with the same strange expression she had given Pinkie.

“Fluttershy… you do know that the couples competition… is for couples, right?”

Fluttershy hid behind her mane and focused on her plate. A low whine escaped her quivering lips. Rarity’s stare was heavy upon her. Fluttershy could feel the tension.

Pinkie spoke.

“We ARE a couple, Twilight!”

Rainbow Dash started choking on her spit and Applejack leapt over to give her a swat on the back to break the clog in her throat. Twilight and Rarity looked at Fluttershy instinctively with wide eyes and open mouths. Fluttershy covered her face with her hooves, lest the heat escape from her cheeks and melt the tablecloth.

Applejack sorted out Rainbow, who held her heaved chest in the aftermath of what everypony (sans Pinkie) assumed was an overt confession. Applejack then got back in her seat and stared at Pinkie as if she had ten heads. All the mares besides Pinkie and Fluttershy cried in confusion.

“You ARE?”

Pinkie giggled and replied matter-of-factly.

“Well yeaaaah… a couple of besties!” Pinkie held up a hoof and shook her head with a confused expression. “Why does everypony keep reacting that way to me saying that?”

Luckily for Fluttershy, the only pony who had noticed her display of embarrassment and put two and two together was Rarity. Fluttershy slowly calmed down and dropped her hooves from her face with a sigh. She glanced up and saw Rarity looking at her with an understanding, sympathetic smile.

Breaking the awkward silence, Applejack cleared her throat.

“S’just, when ya say it like ‘We’re a couple’, Pinkie — well, ponies get a DIFFERENT idea of couple in this here situation… know what I’m sayin’?”

Pinkie cocked her head.

“Like, ‘we’re a couple of chums’?”

Rainbow chimed in, waving her hoof as she explained.

“No, Pinkie, it’s more like — well, like how Big Mac and Sugar Belle are… get it?”

Pinkie rose an eyebrow.

“Wait, Big Mac and Sugar Belle? I didn’t know they skated.”

Rainbow Dash facehoofed and Applejack chuckled, looking to Twilight for backup. Twilight just shrugged and looked to Rarity, who cleared her throat with a smile.

“Ladies, I believe this topic should be saved for another time. Our food is almost here, after all.” She slyly winked over at Fluttershy, who managed a soft smile in reply, thankful that the impending disaster of Pinkie realizing what was going on was averted. If Pinkie caught on that it was an event for couples — like, DATING, in-love sort of couples — Fluttershy didn’t think she could bear the thought. If Pinkie got weirded out by it and declined…

Fluttershy closed her eyes. She didn’t want to think about it.

And so, she didn’t.

As Rarity had predicted, the food came a moment or two later, and as everypony dug in, Fluttershy found herself slowly return to a relatively normal state. She carried on conversation with each of her friends in turn. Everypony elaborated on what they had done earlier in the day, and Fluttershy came alive during her recounting of the zoo visit, making sure she didn’t steal any glances at Pinkie in the process.

Supper was a happy affair, and Fluttershy felt free to laugh and joke with her wonderful friends. The stress was lifted from her shoulders. She silently accepted the truth in her mind, unconsciously and utterly.

I have a crush on my best friend, Pinkie Pie.

The thought lay just below the surface of her conscious mind. As she chuckled along with everypony else while Pinkie told a mid-meal gut buster, the thought only grew and grew. Like the building water behind a knot in a hose. And after the meal, when everypony left the restaurant and headed for the theatre as per Twilight’s schedule, Fluttershy still rejected the true impact of the thought.

She ignored it further as she sat down in a cushy theatre seat, Pinkie to her left and Twilight to her right. And she continued to ignore it as the show started. A cast of colorful characters (which, in Vanhoover, simply meant they weren’t wearing hockey jerseys and wool hats) came onto the stage and danced about for an hour. Throughout the show, Fluttershy’s deep, dark secret was still just a blur.

And as the curtain prepared to close, and the entire cast came out to bow, Fluttershy sniffled back tears. The thought about Pinkie lingered as a shadow in her mind. The rest of her friends also sniffled, except Pinkie and Rainbow, who were hugging eachother in their seats and full-on crying.

“Jeez, it’s just so sad!” Pinkie said between sobs. “How could Muffin Sprinkle leave without saying she loves Jibber Jabber?” Rainbow shook her head as it rested on Pinkie’s shoulder.

“I know what you mean, Pinkie! It’s not fair! Who writes these awful things… dang it!”

Applejack nudged Rainbow with her flank as she moved down the row of seats and grinned like a fox.

“Well well, Rainbow, I didn’t take you for the blubbering-at-a-play type.”

Rainbow rubbed her eyes and glared at Applejack.

“Whataya talkin’ about?! There’s nothing lame about enjoying good theatre! Crying’s just part of the whole experience — or something!”

Pinkie also glared at Applejack and rubbed her eyes.

“Yeah!” she retorted. Rainbow hopped out of her seat and followed behind Applejack, who was chuckling.

“Plus, don’t think I didn’t see you crying in the third act, Applejack!”

Applejack sucked in her lips and her pupils darted about.

“Uhhh, no ya didn’t. That was, uhhh, sweat. Yeah! Ah was sweating buckets” — She took off her stetson and fanned herself — “Woowee, sweltering like a hen house in here.”

All six mares shuffled out of the theatre. It was a full house, so leaving took a few minutes, giving everypony ample time to discuss their favorite parts of the show. Fluttershy found herself awash with thoughts about the play and ignored the “knot” in her mind’s hose, and that’s how she maintained herself on the walk to the hotel once the girls finally left the theatre.

Though everypony was dressed in their winter warmest, the cold chill was unlike anything that would blow through Ponyville. Fluttershy’s and her friends’ teeth chattered, and their tails flicked back and forth for the entire trek.

Once back at the hotel, the girls rushed inside the lobby and quickly closed the doors, the brisk breeze rushing through behind them. They stood just inside and shivered for a good minute or two, not even realizing how much snow they had brought in with them. Pinkie shook herself all over like a wet dog, sending clumps of snow and ice everywhere. Vanhoovans were used to such things, however, so there was hotel staff ready and waiting at the entrance with shovels and mops to clean up. Twilight spoke first.

“W-well, everypony, I think that was a great first day! Let’s get back to our rooms, hop into bed, and get lots of sleep for tomorrow!”

For a hoofful of seconds the mares made for the hallway that led to their rooms. Twilight stopped suddenly when she saw the sign about the skating competition.

“Oh! Right!”

She turned to Fluttershy, slightly unsure of the whole situation still but just going with it because Pinkie was involved and, well, Pinkie was Pinkie.

“What time is the competition? I’d love to watch you two compete!”

The other mares agreed. Fluttershy looked at her hooves and kicked the tiled floor.

“Oh, um, I’m not exactly—”

“It starts at 12:30 tomorrow!”

The voice came from the front desk receptionist, a peppy, white-furred mare with a medium-length, silver mane. She smiled and continued.

“Sorry, I overheard your conversation! If you meant the Couples Skate Competition, it’s at 12:30!”

Twilight thanked the receptionist and addressed Fluttershy as the group went down the hallway to their rooms.

“Well, there you go! 12:30.”

Fluttershy nodded and a quiet ‘mhm’ escaped her lips.

Everypony said goodnight and entered their rooms. Once inside Pinkie and Fluttershy hopped into bed. Pinkie yawned like a loud grizzly bear and settled into her pillow with a smack of her lips.

“Boy I’m bushed! What a day, huh Fluttershy?” she asked. Fluttershy slowly pulled her covers up to her neck as if they were fragile and made of glass. She nodded to herself.

“R-right. Tomorrow will be fun, right?” Fluttershy asked, still unsure. Pinkie yawned again and replied with a drone that trailed off.

“Yeah of course… I can’t… wait…”

Pinkie started snoring. Fluttershy smiled and adjusted her position for maximum comfort. Then, a twang reverberated inside her head.

The knot in the hose in Fluttershy’s mind was unravelling.

At some point the dam was always bound to burst, the immense flood of realization hidden behind Fluttershy’s ignored thought, and it chose to happen as she closed her tired eyes. Her head was facing the ceiling. When the flood happened, her eyes burst open and she traced the swirls of the fancy ceiling pattern.

I have a crush on my best friend, Pinkie Pie.

The very real sensation of imaginary butterflies, hundreds of them, flying around in Fluttershy’s queasy stomach made her involuntarily moan. She ventured a glance at Pinkie’s passed out, snoring form.

Rarity said I need to tell her… but…

Fluttershy relished her personal acceptance of the crush, truly she did. But the true pain came from the fact that now that she accepted her crush, something had to be done. Something uncomfortable and painful, most of all to her. The quiet, timid Fluttershy. Element of Kindness. She retreated underneath her blanket, so that only the top of her eyes would be seen were somepony watching her.

Ohhhhhh… I need a hundred years to prepare for something like that! I mean, it’s impossible.

She shook her head rapidly.

Never ever, never ever, never ever, never ever… was the mantra Fluttershy repeated over and over again in her thoughts until sleep slowly overcame her.

* * *

A knock at the hotel room door stirred Fluttershy out of the best sleep of her life. She yawned a small, demure yawn and stretched her hooves. Well, one of her hooves. The right one could barely move because a hot, furry, pink mass was sleeping soundly right up against Fluttershy. She turned her head. Pinkie’s snout was right next to hers.

With a yelp, Fluttershy jumped out of the plush, golden silk blankets and extended her wings.

Oh, it’s just Pinkie…

She blushed. Pinkie’s eyelids started to flicker. There was another knock on the door. Fluttershy caught her breath as she minced over to check who it was. With a turn of the bolt, she slowly opened the door.

“Y-yes?” she asked. The pony on the other side was a chipper looking light blue stallion in a hotel attendant’s uniform.

“Morning miss! Just want to remind you of the complimentary breakfast in our dining lounge! Only available for another hour!”

He tipped his hat and was on his way. Fluttershy smiled.

Breakfast sounds good right now! I should see if—

“Did he say COMPLIMENTARY BREAKFAST?!”

Pinkie’s voice came from directly behind Fluttershy, and for the second time that day already, Pinkie made Fluttershy jump into the air in fright. This time, Fluttershy stopped herself in midair with a flap of her wings and held her chest with a shaky hoof.

“P-Pinkie Pie! I’m g-glad you’re awake but, umm, you sort of startled me!”

Pinkie giggled.

“Sort of? Haha, sorry Fluttershy! But when it comes to meals, there’s NOTHING better than a complimentary breakfast!” Pinkie made a thoughtful expression with her hoof against her chin. “Well, maybe a complimenting breakfast, but I mean, when does food ever tell you how funny your jokes are or how great the poof in your mane looks?”

Fluttershy rolled her eyes and laughed.

“Alright, alright. Let’s get down there before Rainbow Dash and Applejack eat all the food.”

Pinkie got a determined look in her eye.

“Yeah! I want to be the pony to eat all that delicious, free food.”

Pinkie was raring to go, but Fluttershy’s ears flicked up and she held up a hoof.

“Wait, Pinkie! I’m just going to wash up a bit before breakfast. You can go on ahead if you’d like.”
Fluttershy flew back inside and into the bathroom. Pinkie called out.

“It’s okay, I’ll wait for you! But don’t take too long!!!”

Fluttershy glanced at herself in the bathroom mirror to make sure she looked okay. She checked that her mane was brushed to its usual side and that no tufts stuck up on her coat. She gave her wings a hasty pruning. She blinked at herself.

The swell of her cheeks, the color of her teal irises, the plunk in her eyebrows. She frowned.

I wonder if she looks at me too? Does she think I’m pretty?

Fluttershy blushed and closed her eyes with a sigh.

“Fluttershyyy! What didn’t you understand about ‘delicious’ and ‘free’?! Let’s go!”

It was Pinkie. Fluttershy exhaled and put on a happy face.

“Coming!!!” she cried out.

Comments

[Torta]

The further that advance, the more I despair.

[AppleKit]

Rarity know everything, Fluttershy...

[frenettek314]

I’ve been loving this story for a while, and now things are heating up!

[OneLonelyPickle]

10731568
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10732815
Thanks for the support as always

I hope you enjoy the story as it continues to progress!

[bluebelle]

once again, LOVE IT!!!