First Impressions
“Once you have charmed the lovely señorita, then it is time for your next paso: la cita de la cena. The dinner date.”
“But what am I supposed to do when she’s interested in somepony else?”
“The kind of flores you pick can de hecho be muy importante. Perhaps some caléndulas, marigolds, for the shy yet sweet, or the cardinal de fuego, fiery cardinals, for the los feisty.”
“Oh, come on! You must have all the answers! You must!”
“The most íntimo moments with your mare are in el dormitorio. If you are having problema, how you say… ‘keeping it up’, we recommend a healthy dose of Ponyagra—”
“TELL ME WHAT TO DO! I need you to— Oh… dear.”
I’m usually a very gentle and quiet sort of pony, and I guess I don’t… like to shake tape recorders and yell at them very often.
Maybe that’s why Sweetie Belle was looking at me like that when she came home.
“Um… would you like some more tea, Sweetie?”
“Ssssure…”
It had been a whole hour… and she was still looking at me funny. In fact, it was making me really uncomfortable.
I’ve had Sweetie Belle stay at my house before. It’s never been as quiet as this.
“H-how was school today?”
“It was… fine.”
“Oh. Well, that’s good.”
More silence. I was really hoping she wasn’t going to ask about…
“Fluttershy, why have you been acting so weird lately?”
…that.
“I— uh, what do you mean?”
“‘What do I mean?’ You were crying by that tree a couple of days ago, and you’ve been listening to that weird Espoñol tape all the time, and it keeps making you cry! Fluttershy… do you really love her that bad?”
That filly can read me like a book…
“Well... sort of, but— Wait, how’d you know it was a mare?”
…maybe a little too much.
“Uh… lucky guess?”
“…Then, yes.”
I took another sip of my tea.
But even Rarity’s sweet lemon balm mint recipe couldn’t help ease my suffering.
“Ohh. She doesn’t love you back, does she?” All I could do was nod. I didn’t want to turn around to her. I didn’t want her to see my tears. “Who is she, anyway?”
“I-I’d rather not say.”
“Aw, come on!” She said, putting her hoof on my shoulder. “I won’t tell anyone. Your secret’s safe with me. What’s her name?”
“I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle, I just… I just can’t.”
I buried my face in the pillows, hoping to hide my shame. She didn’t say anything else for a while, until…
“You know, I trusted you enough to tell you I had a crush on Spike, even though I didn’t know at the time how weird it was for a pony to like a dragon. Who could you have a crush on that could be any worse?”
Well… she had a point.
But I still knew the answer.
“Your sister.”
“Huh?”
“I said, your sister.”
“I- I can’t hear—”
“Rarity! It’s Rarity! I have a crush on Rarity, and I’ve always had a crush on her! Okay?”
After saying that, I immediately dove into the pillows on the couch. Why? Because I was afraid.
How would she react? Would she hate me? Would she get protective of her big sister and tell me to stay away from her?
I know it seems silly to be afraid of what a little filly would think… but that’s just who I am. I can’t stand the thought of anypony hating me. I think… anypony hating me is probably the thing I’m most afraid of, more than anything else.
I wanted to peek, but I couldn’t. She wasn’t saying anything, no sounds. Eventually, I heard something. Except…
Laughing? She’s laughing… at me? Oh no, is she laughing at me? She’s laughing at me! Oh, maybe she thinks I’m just joking, or… or… maybe she’s laughing at me because I have a crush on Rarity! I knew I should’ve just kept my mouth shut! Maybe she hate me now! Maybe she…
…will hug me?
Yes, right then, she stopped laughing… and gave me a hug. I poked my head out of the pillows… and she was looking up at me, and smiling.
“Sweetie Belle, you’re… hugging me?”
“Well, yeah. After all, that’s what you did. Remember?”
That’s right… Back then, when she told me about her crush on Spike…
“I knew it was Rarity.”
“Y-you did?”
“Mm-hm. As soon as you said it was a mare you were in love with… You have that picture of her there, and you guys have been friends for such a long time, I just knew it had to be her!”
“So… you’re not mad?”
“Mad? Of course I’m not mad! Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for Rarity to have her own very special somepony? For as long as I’ve known, she’s been talking about some Prince Blueblood guy! But ever since you guys went to that big party in Canterlot, she stopped talking about him, and now she seems so lonely! She’s spent every single Hearts and Hooves Day alone…”
She must’ve been really excited about this, she was talking so fast…
“…but now she doesn’t have to! Because you can be her very special somepony! Come on, let’s go tell her!”
Suddenly, she grabbed her arm and started trying to pull me out of the house.
“Wait, Sweetie Belle! I can’t!”
“Huh?” she said, letting go. “Why not?”
“Because, well… I don’t— What if she doesn’t—”
“…like you back?”
I nodded.
“Well, why wouldn’t she like you back? You guys are like best friends, and you do everything together! You two together would be just perfect!”
“Because… because I’m a mare.”
Her eyes went wide. She must’ve finally realized what I was so worried about. “Ohhh! Well, Miss Cheerilee says that some ponies like both mares and colts! You never know, maybe Rarity’s one of them!”
“Yes but, how do we know that? What if she’s not?”
“Oh, I guess I never thought of that…” She had her head down, but a second later, she jumped up in the air. “Ooh! I know! We can just go over and ask her! Come on!”
I wish it were that easy.
“No, we can’t do that!”
“Why not?”
“We-we just can’t, okay, Sweetie Belle? We just can’t!”
“O-okay. Sorry…”
I hate to raise my voice at somepony. But on rare occasions, you need to be asserive. My friends are always trying to teach me that, especially Rainbow.
That doesn’t make it any easier, though.
“I’m sorry for snapping at you, Sweetie,” I knelt down and stroked her mane to show how sorry I was. “It’s just, I’m scared of what she’ll say. I’ve tried so many times to tell her how I feel, but… I just chicken out every time.”
“Well, how many times have you tried to tell her?”
I thought about that for a minute. I really hadn’t been keeping track. And the estimates I came up with didn’t make me feel very good.
“I really don’t know. I think I lost count after the ninth try.”
“Wow… just how long have you been in love with her?”
“For a long time, actually. Not for as long as I’ve known her, but probably since… since that day I first moved here…”
It was my first day in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash and I had both come down here from Cloudsdale together. Naturally, we met Pinkie Pie almost immediately and she invited us to a party at the Sugarcube Corner that very night.
“Oh, my. This punch is excellent. Don’t you think so, Rainbow?”
“Yeah… I guess.” She didn’t sound very enthusiastic. “Y’know, as earth pony towns go, this one seems alright. Not as shabby as I was expecting, but not as grand either.”
“You’re not upset, are you?”
“Of course not!”
“Are you sure, becau—”
She grabbed my face. “Fluttershy, I’m not upset, alright?”
“I— Okay.”
“I mean, yeah… getting that spot on the team would’ve been nice and all, but I told you already. I took this job for you, Fluttershy.”
“I know.”
Up to that point, I’d been trying to save enough money to finally buy myself a house in Ponyville. It was really hard, since my not-so-good flying couldn’t let me hold up any well-paying jobs.
But then Rainbow Dash, one of my best friends since flight school, made the noble sacrifice. She rebuffed an offer to join Cloudsdale’s aerial track team and instead decided to apply for a position on the weather team in the closet earth pony town: Ponyville. Just for me...
“Besides, this could be just the thing to finally get me into the Wonderbolts! Sure, they scout at the games up in Cloudsdale all the time, but just imagine their surprise when what they think is an amateur flier from Ponyville rises up and becomes one of the top athletes in Equestria, winning the Best Young Flyer competition year after year…”
Oh, dear. Here she goes on another rant about the Wonderbolts…
I tuned her out as I scoped around the room. However, now I was starting to feel... small and uncomfortable. I was surrounded by many ponies that were completely unfamiliar to me, and most of them were either earth ponies or unicorns, rather than pegasi.
I was considering hiding behind the punch bowl as some of them walked over… until I saw one in particular. One who I recognized immediately.
Her.
The generous purple-haired unicorn who had helped me out that day. The day I fell to the ground and discovered my Cutie Mark, and got lost. She helped me get back home.
I still remember, the first thought to cross my mind was… She’s much prettier than I remember.
“Oh, hello there! You must be the two pegasi that Pinkie Pie was telling me about!” She extended her hoof to us. “The name’s Rarity, pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“Uh, hi. I’m Rainbow Dash,” said Rainbow, shaking her head. She waited for me to do the same, but I was frozen in place, lost in those sparkly blue eyes. This was a feeling I had never felt before, and I didn't even know what it was. “Ahem. … And, uh… this is my pal, Fluttershy. She’s… sort of shy, as you can tell. Seriously Fluttershy, just say hello. She’s not going to zap you with her horn or anything.”
“Your name’s Fluttershy?” I still didn’t say anything, at least until Rainbow started glaring at me. Finally, I gave a soft nod. “I thought you looked familiar! It’s you, isn’t it? That yellow pegasi I met some eleven or twelve years ago, lost from her family in Cloudsdale? That was you!”
I still didn’t say anything. Rainbow lightly nudged me in the back of my neck, prompting me to finally speak up. “Oh! Uh, I… yes. That was, that was me.”
“Oh my word, what are the odds?” She started hopping up and down in joy, and for whatever reason… it really made me smile. I liked seeing her happy like that. “Oh, darling, we simply must catch up! I can arrange a spa date for the both of us this weekend… oh, and you can come too if you want, Rainbow Dash!”
“Huh? What?” I don’t think Rainbow had been paying attention. She whipped her head back around when Rarity said that. “Oh, no! No way! I’m not into any of that silly, girly-frilly nonsense!”
“Are you quite sure? Because I was hoping maybe you could model some dresses for me as well! I’ve never made any garments specially for a pegasus before! And you could do so much work with that mane of yours! Is that your natural hair color, by the way? So unique, I’ve never seen anything like it! Oh, if I could just style it so—”
“Alright, you know what?” Rainbow had a look of straight terror on her face. I have to admit, it made me giggle a little. “I’m going to go… talk to ponies over there! You two can just keep talking about your spa dates and your tea parties… and whatever else you’re going to talk about! I can’t take this anymore!”
She sped off very quickly. We both burst out laughing. As she laughed, Rarity put her arm around me. I was startled at first… but then, it made me feel very warm inside.
It’s a good thing her eyes were closed. I was probably blushing really hard.
“And then I said, ‘Well darling, if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up far too much room! No wonder I can’t get this corset to fit you!’”
We both laughed. I didn’t get the joke, but it still made me laugh anyway. It was probably just being in Rarity's company that kept me in such high spirits. However, I stopped laughing when one of the spa ponies, Aloe, started to splatter a lot of facial mud on me.
“Um, e-excuse me? C-could you please not put so much of that on my face? It’s just… it’s too cold.”
“So sorry, my dear,” she answered. “I will be getting you a towel.”
“Thank you.” As she wiped my face, I turned back to Rarity. “So… you achieved your dream and became a fashion designer after all?”
“Well… up-and-coming. I’ve only just started.” I almost wanted to tell Aloe and Lotus not to slip those cucumber slices over her beautiful eyes… “I just purchased a home for myself only a couple of weeks ago, and business is growing slowly, but surely. And it is rather nice to be living on my own, now. As much as I love my family, my parents and my little sister could be, well… quite a mess to live with, sometimes.”
“Wait, she said what?”
“Oops.” I sort of forgot who I was telling the story to. “…Sorry. I guess I’ve said too much.”
“But enough about me, darling! What about you? What have you been doing with your life since I saw you last? Pinkie said you were moving here, I heard?”
“Oh, yes. I am. T-the thing is… I haven’t been able to really do anything in Cloudsdale, certainly not with my special talent. Because you see, well… there are no animals, in Cloudsdale. But my friend Rainbow, she’s getting a job here in Ponyville as part of the weather team. They gave her a grant to buy her own house here, right?”
“Mm-hm.” While we were talking, Lotus returned with a filer and started filing Rarity’s horn. Aloe also had a filer ready for me, but I politely declined with a smile. Well, the best polite smile I could give.
“So, she’s going to give me the money to buy my own house here so I can... so I can be on the ground here with all the animals. Then maybe, I can finally do something with my special talent.”
“And… what about Rainbow Dash? How is she going to get a house here herself? If you don’t have a grant, an abode in this town really can be quite costly.”
“Oh, she’s just going to build a house herself out of clouds. I don’t think she’d be able to take living on the ground very well, anyway. She really likes to fly all the time.”
“Well, that’s… exceptionally noble of her. Very generous, I might say. You friend Rainbow sounds like much more of a loyal friend than I would’ve guessed.”
“Yeah… she’s always held my back for me in Cloudsdale.”
“Are you and, her…?”
That caught me off guard. When I looked over to Rarity, she still had cucumbers over her eyes, but there was a... a sort of weird frown on her face. I still don’t really know why.
“Oh… no. No, not like that. If anything, she feels more like a sister to me, than… than that.”
“Oh. Well, never mind then.” I wonder what she would've said otherwise… “Anyway, so how is that taking you? Do you have a home yet?”
“Not yet. I still have to find a home first. I really hope I can find a house that’s close to the woods where the animals are… although I might have to settle for a place in the middle of town.”
“Fluttershy?”
“Yes, Rarity?” I looked over to her again. Now, she had a bright, beaming smile on her face.
“Once we’re done here… I think I might have just the thing for you.” Aloe and Lotus removed the cucumbers from her face. “But for now, time for the mud bath!”
“Almost there…”
“Are you sure, Rarity? I-I can’t see anything, and I don’t like going somewhere where I can’t see!”
“Hang on, and…”
She lifted her hooves from my eyes. I gasped when I saw what was in front of me.
A large, round house. It almost looked like it had a tree for a roof. A small river lay right in front of it, with a bridge over it, and a cavern that led to a pier underneath it. It was surrounded by a few trees and the cottage itself stood at the very edge of the Everfree Forest.
And there were animals. Animals everywhere. Squirrels storing their nuts in a tree. Fish splashing in the lakes. Rabbits bouncing around on the yard. One of them even hopped over and handed me a flower.
"Oh my, what a little angel." I grabbed him and held him close to my face. “This is… amazing.”
“Yes, it is,” said Rarity, as she stood close to me. My face felt warm when I noticed how close she was to me. “And you know what? It can be yours.”
“W-what?”
“Well, just look!”
She pointed to a ‘For Sale’ sign on the front yard.
“Our Aunt Esmeralda used to live here. But she’s moving away to Manehattan now, and she left this quaint little cottage behind,” she explained. “My father’s not sure what to do with it, so… he’s selling it. Waiting for somepony who wants to buy it. No luck so far. Nopony wants to live this far from the town, and this close to the Everfree Forest.”
“And you… you want me to have it?” I felt so happy that I could already feel tears running down my face.
“Of course I do. This is the perfect place for you.” Rarity would probably never admit this herself, but I could see that even her eyes were getting glossy. “You’ll always be around your animal friends, and it’s not in the middle of the town. It’s just in a nice, secluded place, where you can find peace and quiet away from the noisiness of Ponyville.”
I looked at the cottage again, trying to grasp it. This is my house now. This cottage. Fluttershy’s cottage. I just can’t believe this…
"R-Rarity?"
"Yes, darling?"
The next thing I knew, I was embracing her in one of the tightest hugs I think I've ever given somepony.
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
“Well… of course, darling.” I looked back up at her again, and… well, there were no words. She was absolutely beautiful. In every way. From her hair… to her eyelashes… Just gorgeous. “After all, you’re such a sweet, kind pony. You know…" She fluttered her eyelashes at me. I don't know why I remember that so vividly... but I do. "How would you like to accompany me to the spa every week?”
“Every week?” I took a moment to think. On one hoof… that was quite a big commitment to make. However… I don’t know. The thought of spending more time with Rarity… Yes. I wanted it. “Sounds good to me.”
“Great! Then it’s a date! Why, I can just tell that we’re going to be the best of friends, Fluttershy!”
Suddenly, she did something I wasn’t expecting. She gave me… a really gentle kiss on the cheek. All at once, my whole body froze. I suddenly felt like I had butterflies, not on my Cutie Mark, but in my stomach.
“Yeah… best friends.”
“And from that day on, Rarity and I would meet at the spa every weekend. We became really great friends… but that day, I felt like I had more than a friend. For a while, I wasn't sure what I was feeling with her, but eventually I finally realized it...
I was in love with her. With Rarity.”
“But the thing is… ever since then, I’ve tried so many times to confess, to tell her how I feel. But I never can. I’m always afraid… afraid of what she’ll think. Even if she doesn’t like me back, I still don’t want her to hate me and not want to be my friend anymore...”
“Whoa.” Sweetie Belle finally said. “What a story. So... that’s your only problem? You just can’t find it in your heart to tell her?”
I nodded.
“Well, that’s no good! You have to open up to her Fluttershy, or else you’ll just keep being sad, maybe for the rest of your life!”
“I know, but… I tried and tried, but I don’t think I can give myself enough confidence to tell her.”
“Well, I know how!”
“Huh?”
Suddenly, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo appeared next to her. …Don’t ask me how.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MATCHMAKERS! YAY!”
“Oh… my.”
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This is probably going to be my new head canon.
look
And now Fluttershy is doomed to a loveless life. I kid I kid. But with their track record the prospects are pretty bleak.
... *snort* BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh, I love how this chapter ends.
Great chapter. I sense impractical shenanigans approaching...
Not again!
WERE DOOMED!! *panics*
They've been studying under Pinkie.
1646135 If Pinkie is imparting her knowledge of the fourth wall to those fillies....well I think I might start wearing a helmet just in case they start looking for talents in this world.
CUTIE MARK CRUSADER MATCHMAKERS! YAY!
Evergreen forest.
You see what you didn't do there? I do.
Besides that excellent chapter.
1646174 I just hope they won't try that love potion again, who's idea was it to put that in the book anyway?
Oh, f
the hell no
at the very edge of the Ever(green) Forest. shuld be Everfree Forest.
“Well, just [l]ook!” You missed out the l.
Just found these errors.
Nice chapter as ever by the way.
Bronydragon
What's this? I haven't given this story a thumbs-up yet?
There! Fixed that!
1646148 If that were really the case a helmet wouldn't be enough. Possibly nothing would.
Didn't I already read a fanfic where the crusaders brought about the end of equestria? I guess this one will end with Fluttershy becoming a tyrant, take out Celestia and Luna, her friends, and then lock Rarity in a tower while her animal armies lay waste to all who oppose her.
Good chapter,
I can't wait to see the shenanigans of the cutie mark crusaders and RarityxFluttershy mix
Ciao
1647930
BRB rewriting the ending.
1646049
nah, they might make a HUGE mess of the whole thing, and the town may or may not be on fire by the end of it all, but they usually walk away successful & still blank-flanked...
maybe their special talents are just doing everything
Awesome chapter!
Though, I couldn't help but notice that at the beginning you wrote "la fecha de la cena. The dinner date."
La fecha de la cena means the date of the dinner. Basically, you're saying when the dinner will be.
In English, date can mean both an appointment or a period in time.
In Spanish, for date as in a time period, it's "fecha". For a date as in an appointment, it should be "cita".
So, it should be "la cita para cenar".
Unless you actually did mean the time of the dinner, then I do apologize for being rude.
1654458
Yeah. Unfortunately, I don't actually know Spanish, so I use Google Translate for those Spanish sprinklings.
Which means context errors like that are bound to happen because Google Translator sucks.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh............SHIT! We are bucked now......BUCK! I love the CMC so much though....poor Fluttershy, she really does Rarity though....would Shy be the type to take her own life if rejected harshly? Hmmm......
This was amazing.
1661303
I can tell you right now that that's not happening.
static2.businessinsider.com/image/4e3aca4feab8ea025a00000b-400-300/head-in-hands.jpg
I see a resolution of the problem in sight. Whether it's good or bad, I've yet to see.
To be honest, I liked The Sweetest Gem better than this. This story seems a bit too choppy with all the switching perspectives for many ponies, rather than just Sweetie and Spike before. The varying length in chapters also contributes to having the story so choppy. The overall story has just lost its magic, much like when you get used to being a brony after a while.
I honestly think that, if you re-write this and put the whole story in a single chapter (so you don't have to write over the previous chapters, in case anybody wants to visit it), and wrote it more like The Sweetest Gem, you could easily make the story better.
TL;DR: I like the plot, but the way you're writing this part of the story is killing it.
Them: CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS MATCHMAKERS! YAY!
We're bucked. 
End of Equrestria. 
The only worse thing would be Pinkie teaming up with Discord.
Me:Awwwwwwww shite.
But all in all I can't wait for the next chapter!
CMC Matchmakers?
I'll let Zecora handle this one:
"I tuned her out as I scoped around the room. However, now I was starting to feel... small and unformtable."
.
Pretty sure that should be uncomfortable
Love this story, and cutie mark crusaders are always the best seasoning for snafu
"Oh...my" is bucking right, Flutters. Run. Run while you still have hope!
Oh dear. And this was going so well, I think this Sweetie Belle would be ready to be a subtle matchmaker like her big sister, but then out of nowhere it's a full CMC operation, I'm worried, this is my favored ship on the line.
"Uh.....guys? The Crusaders are at it again."
"At what?"
".......Matchmaking."
cl.jroo.me/z3/m/3/p/d/a.aaa-Take-cover.JPG
This is my third time reading this trilogy. Of all three stories, this is my favourite chapter. I love the flashback; it's so romantic. Sometimes I just read this chapter alone.
Oh, this'll go down in flames...
Should be fun to watch at least.