Fluttershy has a crush on somepony, and her best friend wants to help her with her love life. Will she make it or will she be too shy to confess? Warning: contains femslash. If you don't like it, don't read it! There will be some AppleDash in future chapters.
It was a warm, spring day in Ponyville, and everypony was enjoying themselves outside.
There were tons of couples spending their day together under the shining sun. Only a few clouds were in the sky; it was the perfect day to be with their special somepony. But inside a house that looked like a tree, there was a timid pony taking care of a squirrel who'd broken its leg. More than anything, she wanted to be outside enjoying the wonderful day with the pony she liked, but she was too scared of confessing her feelings because she was afraid of losing a friendship.
“There you go. Now promise me that you’ll be careful next time, okay?” Fluttershy said softly, “You can have these nuts for being such a great patient." The squirrel nodded and left. Fluttershy laid on her couch and emitted a sigh while Angel approached to her.
“Oh Angel, what I am going to do? I really want to tell her how I feel, but what if she rejects me? What if she starts hating me?”
Angel just looked at her. He wasn’t happy seeing her like this, but there wasn't anything he could do. Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. Fluttershy trotted to it to see a familiar face greeting her.
“Hello, darling, I came to see how you're feeling.” Rarity’s expression showed concern.
“Oh, um… I'm fine, I guess…” Fluttershy kept her head down.
“You can’t hide your emotions; I can tell you're feeling down... I came to talk to you, so, can I come in?”
“Oh, sure... Sorry.” Fluttershy moved aside, letting her best friend in before closing the door behind her. Rarity sat on a chair by the table.
“Sit, Fluttershy. Let’s talk about this.”
“I… I don’t want to talk about it…” She said while blushing, but Rarity wasn’t going to give up that easily.
“We have to talk about this, Fluttershy! You can’t hide your feelings forever; you’ll have to tell her eventually.”
Fluttershy knew the persistence of her best friend; she wasn’t going to leave until she had what she wanted. Not convinced, the pegasus sat on a chair by the table with her head down. Rarity spoke first.
“Tell me, Fluttershy… Are you going to tell her?”
The yellow pony blushed harder. “I… I don’t know… I can barely stay standing when I’m with her, not to mention my voice. How am I supposed to tell her?” She let her head rest on the table. Rarity placed a hoof above her friend’s own, making Fluttershy look at her.
“Listen, Fluttershy, you must do it; she needs to know. What if she falls in love with somepony else? How do you think you'll feel?”
Fluttershy thought about it for a few minutes. It wouldn’t feel nice; she wouldn’t be able to stand those emotions, and she wouldn’t be able to blame her friend since she wouldn't know that she's hurting somepony she cares. It would be her fault. She wasn't sure how long she'd been thinking about it until Rarity called her.
“Fluttershy? Fluttershy!” The shy pony jumped from the sudden shout and almost fell from her chair, but Rarity grabbed her just in time.
“Sorry for scaring you, darling, but I thought I lost you.” Fluttershy breathed fast until she calmed down. “Are you okay? What were you thinking about?”
“I guess… I'd regret not telling her… But if I do… She might look at me differently…” Fluttershy looked into her friend’s eyes and said, in a slightly louder voice, “She might hate me…”
Rarity looked at her firmly and spoke with confidence, “Fluttershy, she wouldn’t do that! Even if she doesn’t feel the same way, she would still want to be your friend! We're talking about Twilight, remember? She cares about you!”
The Unicorn stood up without realizing it and was right next to Fluttershy, holding her hooves. Rarity was staring directly into her eyes, but Fluttershy wasn’t. She had a sad expression and was looking away from Rarity.
“Fluttershy, look at me.” The shy pony slowly looked at her.
“Promise me that from now on, you're going to try and tell her your feelings," Fluttershy opened her mouth to protest, but Rarity put her hoof on her mouth, “the more you wait, the more you hurt yourself. I don’t like to see you like this, and everypony is worried about you, darling… I came here because Twilight came to my boutique asking about you.” Rarity removed her hoof to let her friend talk.
“She… She did?”
“Of course she did. I told you that everypony was worried. She told me that you were acting strange lately. She wants you to be your old self again."
Fluttershy didn’t say anything for a few minutes; she was thinking. Everypony was worried about her, but most importantly, Twilight was worried about her. She was hurting the pony she cared most. She had to do something… Finally, she broke the silence.
“Okay,” she stood up, “I will tell her... I promise you that I will try my best!” Her voice was full of confidence. Rarity hadn't ever seen her this sure of herself and was so overcome with happiness that she couldn’t resist hugging her.
Inside the library, a lavender unicorn was reading a book. The floor was covered with them and the place was a total mess. Spike was sitting next to her, trying not to fall asleep.
“Can I go now?” The baby dragon yawned. He'd been sitting there for hours, but Twilight asked him to stay where he was.
“Not yet Spike, it has to be somewhere… Here it is! take a look at the picture!” She passed him the book. Spike took it indifferently.
“Who is this pony? Oh, here it says…Star Swirl the Bearded?”
“Ha! See? I told you that he existed!”
“You made me wait just for this?!” He wanted to throw the book at Twilight’s head for such a stupid reason, but he stopped himself.
“Yes, now be a good dragon and put it back in its place, would you?” She was smiling, not noticing the dragon's rage. Spike suppressed a loud scream and stood up. He put the book where it belonged. “I’ll help you clean the rest of them.” She used magic, and in no time all the books were where they belonged. A few seconds later, somepony knocked on the door.
“Would you get that Spike? Thanks!” Normally he wouldn’t mind opening the door, but he was angry at Twilight at the moment.
“Sure Twilight, no problem…” He said sarcastically, opening the door to see that they were being visited by a yellow Pegasus.
“Um… Hello… I hope I’m not intruding…” She said in a quiet voice.
“Fluttershy! I’m glad to see you! How are you?” Twilight was happy to see her again. Recently, it felt like Fluttershy was avoiding her and that every time she tried to speak to her, she seemed to act more nervous than usual.
“Fine… I… I was wondering if you… If you would want to go for a walk with me… Of course if you’re not busy,” she said the last part quickly and waited for a response, blushing slightly. It'd been a while since she last tried to talk to her.
“Sure, that sounds like fun! I just finished studying and I need some fresh air!”
Fluttershy blushed harder. She quickly hid her face, hoping that her crush wouldn’t notice. “Oh good! I mean… We should go now before the sun sets…”
“Okay...” She was confused by her friend's strange behavior, “Spike, you don’t mind being alone for a while, right?”
“Not at all, Twilight. You don’t need to worry about me!” Being alone was what he needed the most now. He hoped he could calm down before Twilight came back.
“Alright, let’s go Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy’s heart always skipped a beat when Twilight said her name. “Um… Yes! See you later, Spike…!” She said before catching up to Twilight.
“I’ll be fine, Twilight. Just have fun!” As soon as he couldn’t see Twilight anymore, he shut the door and let a triumphant shout out.
The two mares walked in silence for a while. Fluttershy was nervous about being alone with her secret crush, and she also had the pressure of having to confess those feelings before the day ended. She couldn’t come up with something to say. Finally, after several minutes, Twilight broke the silence.
“So… What have you been doing lately?”
“Not much really… The forest critters needs me and… I've been more busy lately…"
Twilight barely heard her; she was speaking lower than she normally did, and that was saying something. “Fluttershy, are you sure you're okay?”
“Y-Yes… Why… Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well, you've been acting strange these past few weeks I barely see you these days and every time I try to talk to you, you run away… Fluttershy… Do you still want to be my friend…?”
“What?!” The Pegasus wasn’t sure if she'd heard right.
Twilight continued. Fluttershy could tell that she was worried by the sound of her voice.
“It seems like you've been avoiding me a lot and hiding from me… I see you talking with other ponies, so why ignore me?”
Fluttershy suddenly stopped walking. Twilight did too when she felt her friend, or ex-friend, stop. She turned to see what was wrong, but the Pegasus' head was down.
“Twilight… You will always be my friend… I don’t hate you, and I will never do it…”
“Then why do you keep avoiding me?”
Fluttershy tried to think of something to say, but could only think of the truth. She took a deep breath. “Because… Because I… f… ” But she got interrupted by somepony they both knew well.
“Oh goodie, there you are, Twilight!” The pink pony bounced towards them.
“Oh, hi Pinkie Pie!” Twilight smiled. Seeing Pinkie Pie always made her happy; it seemed like Pinkie Pie carried joy with her wherever she went. “What are you doing here?” The Unicorn asked as Pinkie Pie continued jumping around them.
“Looking for you, silly! I need your help!”
“My help? For what?”
“I’ll tell you when we get to my room. Let’s go!” Pinkie grabbed Twilight and took her away fast, leaving Fluttershy alone.
“Because I fell in love with you…” She finished sadly, walking home, alone.
“I… I couldn’t do anything… She caught me by surprise… Sorry…” Fluttershy was laying on her bed, very upset with the circumstances. Just when she'd gotten enough courage to confess her love, something like this had to happen.
“But Pinkie Pie knows about your crush on Twilight--we all know! How could she do something like this?!”
“Rarity!” Fluttershy sat up on her bed. She didn’t like it when ponies said bad things about other ponies, especially behind their backs. “Sorry, But…”
“You don’t need to apologize, Fluttershy. I think I was talking too much. I'll talk to her later, but now we need to discuss what you're going to do.” Fluttershy sighed, closed her eyes, and let her head rest on the pillow again.
“This is hard for me… I don’t know what to do… Tell me what to do Rarity, please! I need help!”
“I’m thinking, I’m thinking!” Rarity was trying to find a way to solve her friend’s problem, but couldn’t come up with anything. She looked at her best friend with a sad look. “Sorry dear, but I can’t think of anything…” Tears began running down Fluttershy's cheeks.
“That’s okay… I guess she'll never know how I feel… Maybe it's for the best…”
“Don’t talk like that! You two are so meant to be, and I won’t rest until I see you two together. I promise you!”
Silence filled the room. Neither of them said anything for several minutes until finally, Fluttershy got off her bed and hugged her Unicorn friend.
“I… I appreciate what you're doing for me, Rarity… You're such a good friend. You were the first pony I told about my crush on Twilight and you've supported me since then.”
“Oh yes, I remember that day when I found you looking at Twilight while hiding in the bushes... I'd never saw you so nervous before!” Fluttershy let out a giggle as they broke the hug. “I had to come with you to tell the others a week ago, remember? Everypony took the news very well, and Pinkie Pie hugged you so hard that she almost broke your bones!” The timid pony just kept smiling and blushing. She was grateful for having friends that supported her. They all tried to help in their own way, encouraging her to confess or even leaving them alone. But even so, she couldn’t do it; she didn’t want to ruin their friendship.
Rarity was right, though. She had to do it or she would regret it when she was older. She had to tell Twilight, and the sooner, the better. All she needed now was an opportunity. She couldn’t turn back, not now that Rarity had given all of her support.
“Fluttershy?”
“Huh?”
She didn’t realize how long she'd been thinking. Her friend's expression showed worry, and she knew why: they didn’t have a plan.
But a knock at the door prevented them from thinking of one. They trotted downstairs and towards the entrance. Rarity stood behind Fluttershy as the later opened the door. They were both surprised when they saw who the visitor was.
“Twilight?” The timid pony said.
“Hello, Fluttershy, and Rarity! I was wondering if we could finish that walk we were on yesterday before Pinkie Pie interrupted us.” The ponies inside the house couldn’t believe their luck. There was no way she was going to ruin this opportunity.
“Oh sure, Twilight, just let me get ready!”
“Great! Um… Rarity? You want to come along?” Rarity hurriedly thought of an excuse.
“Sorry, Twilight, but I have to see Pinkie Pie. Maybe another time," She turned and whispered to Fluttershy Good luck! And she trotted away.
On the first part of the walk, Fluttershy remained silent. She had more confidence than before, but still didn’t know what to say. Luckily, Twilight spoke.
“Sorry about yesterday, but Pinkie Pie wanted me to help her with a new cake she was making."
”Oh… I see…”
“She said she wanted to make one for her next party, so I tried it and it was delicious; the best cake I've ever had!”
“It was that good…?”
“I wish you would have tried it, but she didn’t let me take a piece.”
“That’s okay… I guess I'll try it at her next party… If I get invited…”
“What are you talking about? You're always invited to Pinkie’s parties! Are you sure you’re okay?”
Fluttershy stopped walking, looking down to hide her embarrassment. Twilight was right. She was always welcome to Pinkie’s parties, but she was so nervous about confessing that she was talking without thinking. Twilight stared at her timid friend, beginning to get really worried.
Fluttershy looked at her surroundings--they'd arrived at a hill. She could see that they weren’t alone; there were couples waiting for the sunset. Twilight noticed them too, then looked back at Fluttershy.
“Look at all these happy ponies... I've never really experienced it, you know.” Fluttershy raised her eyes to see her crush. She was blushing hard again and was trying to hide it.
“You've never fallen in love…?” The purple unicorn looked down.
“No. I was busy studying magic back in Canterlot... Other than Spike, I didn’t really have any friends until I arrived in Ponyville.” She then looked back at her friend. “What does being in love feel like?”
“What?!” Fluttershy was instantly nervous. She looked at Twilight, whose face showed interest.
“You know, how do you feel every time you see Big Macintosh?” The yellow pegasus let out a sigh of relief.
“I don’t like Big Macintosh, I never did… I… I like somepony else…” Twilight got closer to her friend, making the pegasus even more nervous.
“Really? Who? Do I know this mysterious pony?” Fluttershy nodded. “Hmm, who is it?” Fluttershy looked at her crush. She was ready; this was it and nothing couldn’t ruin it. She opened her mouth, just about to say it, when…
“Twilight, there you are! I've been looking for you,” Spike appeared, running with a piece of parchment in his hand, “Celestia wrote to you, it seems important!”
“What, Princess Celestia wrote?!” Twilight took the letter with her magic and read it. “I have to head back to the library... Sorry, Fluttershy, can you tell me later?” She trotted away, leaving Fluttershy alone with the happy couples.
“Sure… love…” She couldn’t stand being there anymore, so she walked back to her home alone once again.
Fluttershy was outside taking care of her critter friends, but she wasn’t alone. She was with her best friend that she'd just told about what had happened the day before.
“It was the perfect opportunity, but Spike had to arrive!” Rarity clearly wasn’t happy.
“It wasn’t his fault… Princess Celestia wrote to Twilight and he had to let her know,” Fluttershy was giving seeds to the birds.
“Couldn’t he wait until Twilight got back and then tell her?”
“It seemed important, Rarity… Remember that it was one of the Princesses who wrote to her…” Rarity sighed.
“You’re right… But it was the perfect time to tell her, and now we have to wait!”
After a few hours of taking care of the little critters, Fluttershy needed to rest and was about to get in her home when her friend stopped her.
“Wait, darling, we should go to the park, don’t lock yourself up in there, let’s get some fresh air.” Rarity stood between her friend and the door; she wasn't going to take a no for an answer.
“That’s very nice of you Rarity, but…”
“No buts, come on!” The Unicorn took Fluttershy’s hoof and forced her to come with her.
Once at the park, they looked for a place where there weren't many ponies close, but it was hard to find a spot seeing as how it was spring.
“We should be fine here; nopony will hear us.” Rarity said while putting a blanket on the grass to sit.
Fluttershy joined her, “I've been thinking, Rarity… What if those interruptions were signs telling me that I shouldn’t do it?”
“Don’t say that, Fluttershy; those were just coincidences! Don’t give up on your true love… Tell me, darling… Do you like her?!” Fluttershy looked at her, wondering why she asked such an obvious question.
“More than that... I love her, Rarity, more than anything. I would do anything to be with her alone… I… I… I want her to know how I feel, and I want her to love me back…!” Her eyes started to water when she was in the middle of her speech.
Rarity was about to cry too. She really needed to express her feelings to her secret love. But how could she help her? It seemed that every time she was about to tell her, something happened. Next time she had to make sure nothing interrupted her. After clearing her tears, Rarity spoke.
“I have an idea, darling… Next time I’ll follow you and I will be close to make sure that nothing interrupts your confession.” Fluttershy wiped her tears.
“Y-you would that for me…?”
“Of course! I want you to be happy; I hate to see you like this. I’ll help you in any way I can.” The yellow Pegasus walked to where her friend was and gave her a hug, which was returned almost immediately.
“Thank you, Rarity, you’re such a good friend! I don’t know what I would do without you!”
“You are too kind, Fluttershy.”
“And you are so generous, Rarity.” They both giggled.
They broke the hug and Rarity took a look at her friend’s face. Fluttershy's smile slowly faded and she knew why; there was a problem to solve. “You should take her out for a romantic dinner.”
Fluttershy looked down. “I… I don’t think that’s a good idea… There would be too many ponies and I wouldn’t tell her…”
“Then invite her to eat at your place.” But her friend once again rejected the idea.
“It’s too romantic, just us eating alone… I would scare her even before telling her…”
“But yesterday you two were on a hill with other couples close to the sunset, that was romantic too and she didn’t leave!” Fluttershy knew that she was right, but she didn’t find the idea of a romantic dinner suitable to confess; she wanted them to be alone under the moon with Luna as their witness. She had to try it again.
“I’ll go to the library tonight and ask her out for a walk, I want to try it again.” The Pegasus said as she stood up, sounding sure of herself. “I will tell her tonight, no matter what!”
“Yes you will, because I will make sure that nothing prevents you from doing so. This night, Twilight Sparkle will know your love for her!”
“You like Twilight?!” They both gasped surprised and their hearts stopped for a moment. They knew which pony's voice that belonged to, or, better said, dragon. They turned to see Spike looking at them with his mouth open; clearly not believing what he'd just heard. But that wasn’t the worst part... He was on Twilight’s back. She also couldn’t believe what she'd just heard. She was staring at Fluttershy with her mouth opening and closing. Twilight wanted to say something but she found herself out of words. After several moments of silence, the lavender Unicorn could finally say something.
“Fluttershy… You…?” But the timid Pegasus started to cry and trotted away. Her sobbing became less and less audible the further she went.
“Fluttershy!” Rarity tried to call her, but it was no use. She stood still and looked at Twilight. “We didn’t want you to find out this way…”
Fluttershy arrived on an empty hill, stopping to catch her breath and to think about what she should do. She wasn’t ready to tell Twilight...After all, she still wanted to wait until night. But it happened anyway... Twilight knew. What was she going to do now? Fluttershy probably lost a friend, and what if Twilight started to ignore or even hate her? What if she ends up telling everypony and laughs at her? But Fluttershy knew that she wouldn’t do that. Twilight wouldn’t hate her; she may still want to be friends with her but… It would take time to talk normally again. The Pegasus thought about how awkward they would be from then on. She wished everything would go back to normal--to the times she only saw Twilight as a friend...But she soon realized that was impossible. She had to face the consequences.
“Fluttershy! Where are you? Fluttershy!” She heard the voice she loved the most calling her, but she still wasn’t ready. She trotted away once again, hoping to lose Twilight. She was about to enter a forest when she felt something grab hold of her. Fluttershy tried to fly but there was no escape from Twilight’s magic. Soon enough she gave up trying and slowly looked back. She saw the lavender Unicorn approaching her.
She didn’t seem happy.
“Fluttershy, why did you run away from me?” Twilight was looking directly into the Pegasus's eyes, but Fluttershy avoided hers. She looked away and didn't answer. "Fluttershy, say something please...! Don’t leave me like this!” Fluttershy could feel the sadness in Twilight's voice, so she forced herself to look and saw her crying. It was an image that broke her heart; she couldn’t stand to see the pony she loved like this.
“Twilight… I’m sorry, please don’t cry… I promise I won’t leave you this time…” Twilight looked at her friend’s cyan eyes, seeming to trust her when she let her go. Fluttershy fell at first, but used her wings to prevent hitting the floor. She sat down gently.
The Pegasus kept her word, but didn’t know how to start. Luckily, Twilight spoke first. “So… Is it true? I already know the answer to that question but… I need to hear it from you.”
The timid Pegasus looked into Twilight’s eyes and gave her an honest answer. “Yes… I… fell in love with you, Twilight. You're in my thoughts from when I wake up until I go to sleep, and even then, I only dream of you… As time passed, my feeling for you grew, making it more difficult to talk to you. I watched you in hiding, trying to get the courage to tell you but… I could never do it... I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. Rarity tried to help, and thanks to her I got enough courage to tell you, but something always happened before I could do it. I wanted to tell you tonight. I was going to invite you to look at the stars and declare my love for you under them, not like this… You deserve the best pony, Twilight Sparkle. I can’t even express my feelings to you so I guess that’s not me…”
Fluttershy ended her speech in tears. Twilight was crying too, not believing what she'd just heard.
“Fluttershy… That’s the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. I never thought that somepony would feel that way for me. There were ponies that cared for me but never loved me like that.”
“But...?”
“How did you know that I was going to say that?”
“I know you too well…”
Twilight sighed and continued. “But… I don’t feel the same way for you. I’m sorry…” Fluttershy’s heart hurt more than she'd imagined, and she started to cry on the floor. Twilight quickly approached her and laid a hoof on her friend’s back.
“Fluttershy, I’m sorry... I wish I felt the same way as you but… I can’t… Maybe if you help me, I can fall in love with you.” The timid Pegasus looked up at the unicorn.
“What do you mean?” She said, sobbing.
“Let’s go out, stargaze or watch the sunset, maybe I'll end up feeling the same as you… Let’s try, Fluttershy!”
The yellow Pegasus thought for a few moments. Twilight wanted to fall in love to her, and Fluttershy didn’t want to give up either. She was going to try her best to win Twilight’s love!
“Okay!” She said in her usual low voice, trying to sound louder. “Let’s go on a date. Tomorrow night we are going to watch the sunset and walk home under the stars!”
“So, it’s a date then?” Fluttershy nodded excitedly, to which Twilight responded with a smile. “Okay, I’ll pick you up tomorrow then!”
“I can’t wait to…” But she was interrupted when she found herself wrapped up in Twilight’s hooves. The Unicorn hugged her tightly, leaving Fluttershy without any breath. She let go before she passed out.
“I can’t wait till tomorrow, see you then!” And she trotted away, leaving Fluttershy alone. This time, however, she walked to her house with a smile on her face.
“She what?!” Rarity’s voice echoed throughout the entire room.
“S-She asked me out tonight…”
“She did?!”
“Please, Rarity, I’m right in front of you…”
“Sorry, dear, but I’m so excited! I've been waiting for this day for far too long, almost as much as you!” Rarity hugged her friend tightly and Fluttershy found herself unable to breathe for the second time that night. When Rarity released her, she took several deep breaths.
“Oh, sorry, I guess I overdid a little…”
“It’s okay… I’m fine…”
They passed the rest of the night talking about the date, wondering how it would work out and trying to think of what to do to make it work. Or, in other words, Rarity talked while Fluttershy nodded and blushed.
The next day, Rarity was preparing her friend for the big night. Twilight was going to arrive soon.
“Stay still, Fluttershy, I don’t want to poke your eye out!”
“Sorry… It’s just that I’m too nervous… I don’t think I’m going to survive the night…”
“Don’t say such thing, darling! Everything is going to be fine, just be yourself… But not too much! Did I tell you to look? Close your eyes again!”
“Sorry, sorry!” Fluttershy closed her eyes again, allowing her friend to continue making her presentable for the date.
“So… What are you going to give her?”
“What?”
“The date. You should give her something pretty.”
“I-I didn’t think of that. I've been too worried thinking of what to tell her… Just thinking that I’m going to be alone with her, I… I…” Fluttershy tilted her head down, almost causing Rarity to mess up her makeup.
“Stay still, dear, I’m working!”
“Sorry, sorry!”
“It’s fine, nothing happened.”
Ten minutes later…
“I've finished! Look at yourself and tell me what you think!” Rarity said while giving her friend a mirror. When the Pegasus looked at her reflection in the mirror, she almost dropped it. She couldn’t believe how beautiful she looked.
“R-Rarity, I... I look…”
“Perfect, darling! Twilight will definitely fall for you!” She said, feeling proud of herself. “You two will go out tonight; I can already hear the wedding bells! And then you’ll have a family together... promise me I’ll be your maid of honor!” Fluttershy’s face became redder the more Rarity said.
“Rarity, please… I’m nervous enough already, and we don’t even know if she is going to fall in love with me or not… After all why would she? I’m lucky enough to have her as a friend…”
“Fluttershy, you need to stop being so negative. You’re beautiful, kind, and you are able to overcome your fears when somepony you care for is in danger. Don’t be so hard on yourself, dear, she will love you as much as you love her.” The timid Pegasus looked up at her friend's serious expression.
“You really think so?”
“Of course I do.” Fluttershy hugged her friend tightly, catching her by surprise.
“Thank you, I feel a lot better now.”
They heard knocks at the door, causing Fluttershy to jump. “She’s here!” She squeaked before hiding behind Rarity.
”Fluttershy, this is your house. You have to open the door.”
“Right… Can’t you do it?”
“Fluttershy!” There were another knocks at the door. “Come on, open it!” Rarity pushed her friend toward the door. “Do it or she will start to get worried again. Do you want that?”
“N-No…”
“Then, open it!” Fluttershy gulped and waited until Rarity was in hiding before opening the door. Behind it was the most beautiful pony she'd ever seen. Fluttershy was instantly lost in those big, lavender eyes of hers. Suddenly, she wasn't so scared, and everything felt fine as she stared at the mare of her dreams.
“Oh! Hi, Fluttershy. I was starting to think you weren’t home!” The Unicorn’s smile soon faded and was replaced with a concerned look when she noticed that her friend wasn’t moving. “Fluttershy?”
The Pegasus blinked when she realized what she was doing. “Oh, s-sorry Twilight, I’m glad to see you!” Twilight’s smile appeared again, making Fluttershy grin too.
“So, Are you ready?”
“Yes… Let’s go…” Fluttershy closed the door and walked beside Twilight under the sunset. She was nervous, but walking with the Unicorn calmed her a little.
They made it to a field where the two of them could be alone. They could see the stars and the moon shining above them. The mares were laid on the grass while Twilight described the constellations with great detail and Fluttershy listened to every word with interest. Nothing made her happier than hearing the sweet voice of her love. She always had something to say. The Pegasus only nodded. It wasn't that she didn’t want to talk, but because she wanted to listen. Fluttershy’s heartbeats were out of control that night. She was getting worried that Twilight might hear them, but besides her own heart, she could only hear the wind. Everything was so quiet and peaceful.
Suddenly, Twilight stopped talking, making Fluttershy look at her. They both stared in mutual silence for several moments until Twilight spoke again. “You… You look nice Fluttershy…” She was blushing lightly.
The timid pony gasped. “T-Thank you Twilight… You look nice too…” Fluttershy had a question on her mind, but she wasn't sure if she should ask it. She opened and closed her mouth until she finally managed to get the words out.
“Do you… Do you feel something for me Twilight?” Twilight sighed. She knew this question was coming sooner or later…
“I’m not sure, Fluttershy. I've never been so confused… I look at you and I want to hug you but at the same time I don’t want to. I've been thinking a lot since you said those wonderful things to me, but, I don't know what I want to do… Sorry, I know you don’t want to hear this but I can’t lie to you... I really do care about you.”
Fluttershy was trying not to cry, and barely managed to do so. “I… I understand… Maybe this was a bad idea after all… Let’s go back home…”
“Fluttershy…”
“Please, Twilight... let’s just go…” The Pegasus wanted to get inside her house and cry inside it before she did it in front of Twilight.
The way back to Fluttershy’s house was quiet and uncomfortable. The Unicorn tried to make eye contact with her friend to say something, but she was only ignored. Fluttershy needed to be alone. When they made it, Fluttershy opened her door and took a step inside without looking at the pony who accompanied her.
“See you tomorrow, Fluttershy…?”
“Yeah…” She said, still not looking at her.
“Good night!” But Fluttershy didn’t say anything. She closed the door and waited until Twilight left before letting her tears come out.
“I’m the worst pony in all of Equestria, Spike! I shouldn’t have said that!” Twilight was laying on her bed with her pillow on her face while Spike was by her side, trying to comfort her.
“No, you aren't, Twilight. You were being honest! Giving her a false impression would have been worse.”
“I hurt her feelings, Spike. You should have seen her face!” The young dragon clambered onto the bed, removed the pillow from her hooves, and put his claws on her shoulders.
“Listen to me, Twilight. She would have wanted you to say the truth... Just think--what would have happened if you lied to her? Give her a false illusion, and the truth eventually came to light. it would have made her feel even worse than now… There’s nothing you can do; you can’t force yourself to fall in love with her…”
Twilight's eyes widened--why didn’t she think of that before? “Yes I can!”
Spike was confused. “What do you mean?” The Unicorn moved quickly, starting her search for a book.
“The love potion Spike, I can force myself to love Fluttershy; I can do it!”
“What? Twilight, no! You know that isn’t right! You wouldn’t be really falling in love with her!”
“I have to do it, Spike. I don’t want her to be sad.”
“But what about you, Twilight? You can’t do this to yourself... Think about it!”
“There’s nothing to think about. This will make Fluttershy happy. Here it is!” Spike jumped and removed the book from her hooves.
“I won’t let you do this, Twilight Sparkle!”
“Spike… Give me that book now!” Twilight’s eyes shined with anger. It was a rage that Spike had never seen before... But this wasn’t the time to be scared. He had to do this for his friend.
“No, you're too blind to see what you are doing, Twilight. Listen to what you're saying!” Twilight tried to retrieve the book with magic, but Spike resisted.
“Give…me…back…the book!”
“Not until you promise me you won’t use the love potion!”
“I have to, Spike!”
“No, you don’t. This isn’t the right way and you know it!” Spike stared at Twilight and saw that she had her eyes closed, concentrating. Knowing what was about to happen, he let go of the book. His prediction was right--it hit Twilight square in the muzzle and made her fall on the floor.
The purple dragon hurried towards his friend, took the book, and threw it outside the window. He then helped Twilight get up. “Are you okay?” The Unicorn put a hoof on her head.
“Ouch, Spike! That hurt me!”
“Sorry, Twilight... But I had to do it; you were out of control…” Twilight sighed.
“...You’re right, Spike. It’s just that I wanted to make Fluttershy happy again… Thanks for stopping me.”
“You’re not mad at me?”
“Why would I? You did the right thing; I can’t force myself to love somepony... It has to be natural. Princess Celestia will want to know what I just learned, but first, let’s get that book back and put it in its place.”
“I’m on it!” Spike headed towards the door and opened it, but he didn’t move any further. He just stood there staring outside.
“Spike, what is it?”
“I think we have a problem…” He said still looking outside.
“What? The book its gone?”
“No, but you'll wish it was…”
“What’s wrong?” Twilight stood behind him too see what was he talking about. “What is it, Spike…? Oh no...!”
The book was open on the instructions to make a love potion, but that wasn’t the problem. Fluttershy was reading it, and she wasn’t alone. Rarity was with her as well as a group of birds. Both Spike and Twilight were frozen in place. Fluttershy looked directly at Twilight after finishing.
“You… You were about to make a…love potion?” The Unicorn didn’t realize that she was holding her breath until she tried to talk. She took some deep breaths and tried to explain her.
“It’s not what it looks like…”
“So, you weren’t trying to force yourself to love me…?”
“Well…” Fluttershy looked away.
“Twilight, I would never have expected this from you! I would never want you to do that--I want your feelings to be real!” Twilight tried to approach to her.
“Fluttershy! Listen to me…!” But Fluttershy galloped away. Twilight tried to follow her, but the birds surrounded her and prevented her from seeing or moving. When they left, Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. Twilight sat on her haunches and sighed; not trying to stop her tears.
“You were actually going to make a love potion?” Rarity asked incredulously.
“No… I was thinking on making it at first, but Spike made me realize that it was wrong… Spike!” The purple Unicorn glared at Spike. “Why did you throw the book outside?!” Spike stepped back, looking directly into her eyes.
“How was I supposed to know?!”
“Look what you've done! Now Fluttershy won’t ever look at me again!”
“But... But…!” He was scared and didn’t know what to do. At this rate, Twilight might kick him out from the library.
“Hold it right there, Twilight Sparkle! You can’t blame Spike for this; the poor dragon couldn’t possibly have known!” Twilight closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down.
“You’re right… This is all my fault…”
“Twilight…”
“No, Rarity… It is my fault and I have to face the consequences… Tomorrow, I’ll go to talk to her to try to fix this…” Twilight entered the library and headed to her bedroom, in silence.
“Rarity… Thanks for helping us…”
“Don’t mention it, Spike. I just hope Twilight fixes this…”
“I knew something like this would happen... I should've just kept my mouth shut!” Fluttershy was on her couch. She'd been there for the past three hours crying until she ran out of tears, with the moon already high in the sky. Her only company was Angel, who kept trying to cheer up his owner but failed to do so. “I have to move out, find a new place with lots of critters and start a new life! I can’t stay here; I’ll pack now and leave right away!” She stood up and started to put all the necessary things in a bag, eventually finding a picture of her and her friends. She couldn’t stand looking at it, knowing that she was about to break their hearts. Before putting it back on its place, however, she took one last look on the pony she loved, and all the pain came back. She started to think about the old days where everything was fine and she wasn’t in love; All their moments together, and now they were gone.
She would never experience that again.
“I’m so sorry…” A tear fell on Twilight. Fluttershy put the picture back and returned to packing.
After half an hour, she was ready. “I think that’s all I’ll need. Now we have to find a new place to live. Come on, Angel Bunny.” But Angel didn’t move. “Why aren’t you coming? We can’t stay here.” The little rabbit jumped on the table that the picture was sitting on and pointed at it. “I can’t say goodbye to them... It would be too painful.” But the rabbit kept pointing at Twilight. “No... I-I won’t talk to her ever again... now let’s go!” Angel crossed his arms and turned his back to her. “Angel, don’t make it harder than it already is!” The rabbit ignored her.
Fluttershy was about to to say something else, but there was a knock at the door. “Who would it be so late at night…?” She went to the door and opened it cautiously, but the pony on the other side kicked the door down, hitting the Pegasus on the head and leaving her unconscious. Angel hid while the mysterious pony used magic to levitate Fluttershy outside and left a note on the door. After waiting a few minutes, Angel hopped to the door and took the note. There was only one pony who could help his owner now. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Twilight couldn’t sleep. Spike had convinced her to go to bed a few minutes ago, but she couldn't fall asleep. She kept thinking about what she'd say to Fluttershy. She didn’t want to lose her... Twilight had to tell her how sorry she was, but how could she do it if Fluttershy ignored her?
“Maybe tomorrow she'll be better...” She said in a low voice to nopony in particular. “Maybe she'll hear me out…”
“Twilight! Please, try to get some sleep!” Spike covered his ears with a pillow, but he could still hear her. “You need to rest!”
“But how am I supposed to sleep when--”
“You’ll fix this tomorrow! You always find a solution... Please listen to me. Now close your eyes and try to get some sleep…”
“But Spike, what if…” She got interrupted by a soft knocking at the door.
“That's weird. Who could that be? I’ll go check,” Spike got up, went straight to the door and opened it.
“Angel? What are you doing here?” When Twilight heard Angel’s name she teleported next to Spike. It wasn't common for Angel to be outside by himself, especially at night. She noticed that he was holding a note.
“What do we have here?” She said while taking it with her magic. “Oh no!” The Unicorn gasped after reading it. “Somepony just ponynapped Fluttershy, and it says that if I want to see her again, I have to go to the Everfree Forest right now!”
“What?!”
“I have to go there now. You two go look for help, I'll go rescue Fluttershy!”
“So, are you going to wait for us?”
“I don't think there will be time; I'll enter by myself!”
"You can't do it by yourself! We won't leave you!"
“You have to, now go!”
“But…”
"Do as I say Spike!"
Spike and Angel left to find some help while Twilight headed towards her destination as fast as she could. She was worried, but she also felt something else. It was something she'd never felt before. As she trotted, she felt her heart beating fast, and she wanted to see Fluttershy more than ever now. She wanted to save her and to hug her, be alone with her and… Kiss her. She finally understood how Fluttershy was feeling and she couldn’t feel more guilty. She'd hurt her feelings, but Twilight was hoping to make it up by saving her.
Before she knew it, she'd arrived. Twilight stopped to catch her breath. She then looked at the forest and entered to save her beloved.
Twilight was moving quietly. The Everfree Forest was dangerous at night, but nothing was going to stop her from saving the pony she cared the most. Each tree casted a strange shadow that she kept mistaking for monsters lurking around, and the darkness seemed to stretch on forever. The unicorn was sure she'd seen something move just around the corner.
She kept walking, ignoring the shifty things around her. The note said to go to the heart of the forest, and she wasn’t far from there. Twilight wondered who would want to take Fluttershy. Who would be so mean?
The question was about to be answered, because she'd made it to her destination. However, there was nothing there. She looked everywhere but she only saw trees and bushes.
“Show yourself!” She shouted. From behind a tree, a pony wearing black robes and a hood appeared.
“You came as I predicted.” The mysterious pony said.
Twilight recognized the voice right away. “Why did you do it…Trixie…?” The pony removed the hood, showing her face to the purple unicorn in front of her. She had a crazy smile on her face.
“Because I knew that you would come for her. We have unfinished business to settle.” Trixie moved a few steps forward, looking directly into Twilight’s eyes.
“Where's Fluttershy?” Trixie used her magic to move a bush, revealing the pegasus on the floor, still unconscious.
“She’s just sleeping.”
“I won’t forgive you for this, Trixie. I thought that you were sorry...! I never thought you would do something like this, and you’re not wearing the Alicorn Amulet so I know that you aren’t corrupted by evil magic!”
“You actually thought that I was sorry? You really are naïve, Twilight Sparkle!”
“Tell me something, Trixie. Why Fluttershy? You could have taken any of my friends but you decided to take her.”
“I've been spying on you for the past few days, you see. I noticed that you spent a lot of time alone with this particular pony. I decided to attack where it would hurt you the most, and what's a better option than your marefriend?” The cyan unicorn laughed like a maniac. Twilight couldn’t believe her; she knew that Trixie wasn’t a good pony, but this was too much.
“This is between you and me! Let her go!”
“That isn’t the plan, Twilight Sparkle. My intentions are to leave you two here to die. Why did you think I made you come to the heart of the forest?”
“What?!” Trixie used magic to ignite the trees surrounding them while Twilight looked at the destruction she was causing. “You’re insane!”
“You’re a fool!” When she turned back to see Trixie, she saw a rock about to hit her. She tried to stop it with her magic, but it was too late. The boulder knocked her unconscious. “Now, the mighty Trixie wishes she could stay, but sadly, she must leave. Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle!” And with that said, she teleported, leaving the two unconscious mares to burn alive.
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the forest…
“She went alone? Why didn’t she called for help before?” Rainbow Dash questioned incredulously. She was confused and didn't understand why Twilight would even think of going by herself.
“I don’t know why, but she told us to look for help earlier… She should have waited for everypony before coming here, though. Who knows what’s in there?” Spike angrily said.
“She sure is crazy, but she trusts us. We are the Elements of Harmony, after all!” Rarity expressed her concern to her friends.
“Well, ah'm not leavin’ until we get em’ out of there. Follow me, everypony!” Lead by Applejack, they started moving. Spike was holding Angel, who was worried for his owner.
“Yay, this will be fun!”
“Shh, quiet Pinkie… I’m smelling somethin’, Rainbow, can you tell us if there’s fire?”
“Leave it to me!” Rainbow Dash flew high up and returned immediately.
“Yes, there’s fire right in the middle! We have to move fast!”
“And look at the weather; it’s going to rain!” Spike pointed to the sky.
“Well, at least the rain will quench the fire, but we can’t wait until it happens. We must find Twilight and Fluttershy!” Rarity said in a really worried tone, and couldn't help to think that it might be already too late.
“You ain’t have to worry. We’ll bring them back to Ponyville, but we have to move now!” Applejack said as she and her friends galloped faster. The smoke soon started to block their vision and they could hear the fire.
Finally, they arrived at the site, but there was no sign of their friends.
“Fluttershy! Twilight!” Nopony heard a response, so they kept walking carefully, evading falling branches and trees. They kept shouting their names, but the fire was getting worse. They wouldn't be able to stay much longer.
“Where are they? Fluttershy! Twilight!”
“Rainbow?” They heard a soft voice, which was undoubtedly Fluttershy’s voice. “We're over here!” They followed the voice and found Fluttershy with one of her wings over Twilight, trying to protect her. “She’s barely breathing... We have to get her out of here!” The timid pegasus was worried and scared.
“Put her on my back, Sugarcube, quick!” Fluttershy got Twilight on Applejack’s back with the help of her friends. “Now, let’s get out of here!” They trotted as fast as they could. They could barely see because of the smoke, but they managed to avoid all the trees. It started to rain when they were safely away from the fire, but there was no time to rest. Twilight needed medical attention.
“I hope it’s not too late…”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. She’s very strong, she will be fine! I Pinkie Promise!” Pinkie Pie said, still skipping around.
“Thanks, Pinkie…”
“Look, we made it!” Rainbow went ahead, but they were already out of the forest.
“Ah'm glad we made it... Now we have to take her to the hospital.” Applejack said while looking at her unconscious friend.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Rarity said, and everypony started to move again.
“Is she going to be okay?” Rarity asked the nurse. A day has passed since the trap. Twilight had only just woken up, and she'd found herself with bandages on her head and surrounded by her friends. Rarity went to call the nurse as soon as she started to open her eyes.
“Yes, she will be fine. Luckily, you got her to us fast. She’s on conditions to leave today.”
"'Ah'm glad to hear that!”
“Oh, Twilight, I wanted to throw you a party as soon as you woke up but they took my stuff!”
“I’m sorry, but this is a hospital and patients need to rest!”
“Don’t worry, Pinkie Pie. You can throw me that party after I get back to the library.”
“Okey dokey lokey!”
“I'll leave now. I must inform the doctors that you are awake and ready to leave as you see fit.”
“Thank you, nurse.” They waited until the nurse left the room before starting to talk about what happened.
“You know, Twilight, what you did was great, but also stupid. You should have waited for us before going into the Everfree Forest!” Rainbow Dash angrily said.
“But…”
“No 'buts,' Sugarcube. What you did was noble and all, but you almost died. You were lucky that Spike and Angel came for us!”
“Oh yes... Where is he, by the way?”
“He’s at Fluttershy’s taking care of Angel and the critters. Fluttershy didn’t leave your side since she woke up at the forest and saw you unconscious. You should thank her for keeping you safe.” Rarity said with pride and a smile.
“You didn’t…?” Twilight glanced at the timid pegasus who hadn’t said a word the entire time. She wasn’t looking at her when she spoke.
“Yes… I was scared that you wouldn’t wake up… I've been here day and night with you, hoping that if you heard a familiar voice, you would wake up…” Fluttershy looked at the purple unicorn after she finished speaking. They stared into each other’s eyes for several moments, and nopony said a word until Applejack got the message.
“Oh... Ah’ think we should leave them alone for a few minutes…”
“But she just woke up!”
“Applejack is right. They need some time alone, Pinkie.” Rainbow told her friend, and everypony left quietly.
After a few moments of silence, Twilight broke finally it. “Thank you, Fluttershy…”
“I’m still mad at you. I haven’t forgotten what you did…”
“Fluttershy, about that…”
“I don’t want to talk about it!”
“Please, just listen to me, Fluttershy. Let me explain… Please…” Fluttershy looked into her purple eyes and noticed that her eyes were wet. She couldn’t stand to see her like this; she still loved her.
“You can explain…”
“Thank you!” Twilight said while sitting up, smiling and clearing her tears. “Well, first, I won’t lie to you, I did consider using the Love Potion, but Spike showed me that it was a mistake. He threw the book outside to prevent me from reading it, and we never wanted you to find out… He made me realize that I couldn’t force myself to love you but I wanted to make you happy... I wasn’t thinking right. When you found out and left, I felt really bad… I deserved it. But on that night, when Angel came to my home and gave me the note that said that you were in danger, I freaked out. I was so worried about you and was fearing the worst... Then, new feelings hit me, feelings I'd never experienced before… It was love. Now, I know how you feel and I’m amazed to see how well you hid your feelings… Fluttershy, I promise you, I didn’t use the Love Potion. What I feel for you is real and natural. I want to date you, I want to kiss you… I don’t know how I survived without you by my side for so long, but I know that I can’t continue without you anymore. Fluttershy, I want to be your marefriend, so please, accept me…”
The yellow pegasus was crying. She'd waited for so long to hear what had just been said, but also regretted hurting Twilight's feelings because of a simple misunderstanding. She approached the unicorn and hugged her tightly.
“Of course I accept you, Twilight... I've always wanted you to say that, but I feel bad for hurting your feelings…” Twilight returned the hug, ignoring the searing hot pain in her head.
“Don’t worry about that, it’s in the past. We must only see the present and the future.” The purple unicorn moved her marefriend’s head so she could see her eyes.
“Our future…” Fluttershy was smiling and crying of happiness. She blinked her tears away, and before she could react, Twilight kissed her. She was caught by surprise, but when she realized that it wasn’t a dream, she slowly closed her eyes and returned the kiss. It felt like the world had stopped, and suddenly everything was right. Neither of them wanted to stop… But unfortunately, they needed to breathe. After several seconds that felt like hours, they broke the kiss, staring deeply into each other’s eyes.
“I love you, Twilight… I really do; I've never been so happy in my life!”
“The feeling is mutual, 'Shy... You're the most important pony in my life... Well, after Princess Celestia, of course.”
They both giggled until they heard the door open. They saw Pinkie Pie skipping around, as usual.
“Hey there, how’s… Woah!” Pinkie Pie stood still for a few moments.
”Pinkie?” Twilight looked confused and Fluttershy tried to hide her embarrassment by looking down. Pinkie Pie finally started to react.
“Are you two…?” She pointed at them, to which they responded with a nod. “Yay! I’m so happy for you two... I will so make a party for this and I’ll invite you of course, it’s your party after all!” She jumped on the bed and hugged them both.
“Hey, what’s with all this noise?” Rainbow Dash said as she and the others entered the room as well.
“Oh, nothing--Just that Twilight and Fluttershy are officially a couple!” Pinkie said while hugging them tighter.
“Pinkie… we can’t breathe…!”
“And my head… Aches!”
“Oopsie, sorry girls!” As soon as she let them go, they started to breathe fast; recovering themselves.
“This is fantastic, Fluttershy! Remember what you promised me!” Rarity hugged them too.
“What did you promise her, Fluttershy?” Twilight was even more confused when her marefriend replied with a blush.
“Oh, it’s a secret, Twilight Sparkle, but I called first so, ha!”
“You called first what, Sugarcube?”
“Oh, you will see soon enough, don't worry darling!”
“Well, when you finish this chat, Twilight, the nurse said you can leave now but you need to be careful.” Rainbow Dash didn’t care about what they were talking about.
“Really? I can leave now? Great!”
“Um... Twilight…”
“Yes, Fluttershy?” Twilight looked at the timid pegasus, noticing her nervous tone.
“I was wondering, if you want, of course, could you stay with me for a few days… Until your head is healed… I want to make sure you’re okay…”
“Oh, sure, Fluttershy.” They stared into each other’s eyes again for a while. They were both amazed by how beautiful the other's were.
“If you are going to get kissy-kissy again, I’m out of here!” Rainbow Dash’s voice echoed within the room.
“You really don't have to do this... My head isn’t aching too much now.”
“Oh, no, you stay in bed. I promised to take care of you, now wait there while I bring you your soup!”
“You don’t need to do this…”
“But I want to. Wait here, please!” Fluttershy hurried downstairs, leaving Twilight alone. She could get up, but if she did it would start another quarrel, and she didn’t want that.
The whole cottage was a mess. Fluttershy told Twilight about how she was going to move out before she was taken away. She explained her everything and Twilight understood, but made the pegasus promise to not to do something like that again. Fluttershy didn’t have time to clean her house because she was too busy taking care of Twilight and the forest ctitters. The unicorn tried to convince her to take a break, but she refused to do so. Fluttershy barely slept since they got back from the hospital two days ago. The pegasus had prohibited Pinkie Pie from throwing a party until Twilight felt better.
The purple unicorn found herself reading most of the time. She had a lot of books from the library with her since she had asked Spike to bring a bunch of them to Fluttershy's cottage. He came back a little later, along with Rarity, who carried most of them with her magic.
“You know, Twilight Sparkle, you shouldn’t make my poor Spikey Wikey work too much. Look how exhausted he is! He's lucky that I found him or else he would have collapsed before getting here!” Twilight knew that Rarity was right, but she needed to study. Fortunately, Fluttershy let her read and use magic. She was also visited by her friends, and all of them told Fluttershy that she was ready to move around the house. Each time, however, the pegasus said she wanted to make sure Twilight was completely healed. They couldn’t do anything to convince her.
“I’m coming!” She heard the voice she loved from the stairs and, soon, Fluttershy entered the room with soup. “Be careful, it’s hot!”
“Thanks, Flutters!” Twilight said, putting the book aside and took the plate and spoon with her magic. “But I told you that I feel better now…”
“I want to make sure you’re completely fine... I think that we removed the bandages too soon…”
“No, can’t you see? No more blood. The wound is healed; it’s just aching a little now…”
“I’m not convinced… What if it starts bleeding again?”
“It won’t. I’m a lot better now!”
“Just to make sure, you’ll stay here for a couple more days…”
“Fine... But then, I’ll get up. Now go get some sleep, you've barely slept these past two days…”
“I can’t sleep! I need to take care of you!”
“I’ll be fine, 'Shy. I’ll just be here reading, and I won’t need anything. Now please go to sleep… For me?” Fluttershy wanted to argue, but she really needed a nap.
"O-Okay... but don’t move from there, okay?” She said after letting a yawn out.
“I won’t move, I promise.”
“And, Twilight?”
“Yes?” She was silent for a few moments, but finally managed to talk.
“I love you…”
“I love you too, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy smiled and closed the door behind her. It was still hard for her to express her feelings; she would always hesitate when telling her how much she loved her or would always ask before kissing and hugging her. Twilight knew how shy she could be so didn’t force her to change herself. She was certain that Fluttershy would get confidence over time. Twilight was getting tired, too. It was late, and she couldn’t keep her eyes open to read more, so she had to call it a night.
Twilight woke up early the next morning. For the past two days, Fluttershy had woken up first and made her breakfast, but not this time. Twilight decided to get up and go out quietly, trying not to wake up her marefriend if she was asleep. She found Fluttershy sleeping on her couch. The pegasus looked so beautiful when she was resting peacefully... The unicorn almost joined her, but she needed to be outside again, to walk and breathe the morning air. Twilight walked as quietly as she could to the door and opened it slowly. She stepped outside, turning to see the pegasus one last time in her sleep.
“Sorry Flutters, but I need to do it…” She whispered, closing the door behind her. She could not describe the pleasure of the wind blowing her mane. She'd missed it so much despite being trapped inside only a few days and she felt so happy to feel the grass touching her hooves once again. She decided to see the forest critters first, curious to see what they did when Fluttershy wasn’t around. Maybe they needed something and she could help them.
Twilight started to walk towards some trees when Angel started to jump in front of her, moving his paws in front of him. She wasn't sure where he'd come from, but he seemed to be trying to tell her something.
“Oh, Angel, I see you’re up too! No, I won’t go back inside until I've had enough fresh air. I've been indoors for far too long...” The small rabbit stopped jumping. He let Twilight go, but insisted on following her. She couldn’t say no to him. When they arrived, she saw the birds singing happily and the small earth animals playing. When they noticed Twilight, they didn’t approach her. But the second the animals saw Angel with her, they surrounded her. She started to laugh and watch them run around her. Twilight didn’t want to go back inside, at least not for now.
Hours passed by, but Twilight hadn’t realized it. She was having a lot of fun with the forest critters and she could finally understand why Fluttershy loved them so much. She spent the morning there, playing with them.
“Come on, you cutie, do you want your nut? I know you’re hungry.” She was trying to offer a squirrel an acorn, but it didn’t take it. “Why don’t you want this delicious nut? It’s good for you!” But at that exact moment, Angel jumped up desperately, trying make Twilight move. “What is it, Angel? Why are you being so…” But her questions were answered when she saw a yellow pegasus approaching her.
“Twilight, what are you doing here?! You can’t go out!” The unicorn gulped.
“Flutters, I needed some fresh air and I…!”
“What if you get bad again? I’m not going to let that happen, come on, get back inside!” Fluttershy tried to pull her inside with her own hooves but Twilight resisted.
“Fluttershy, you're being overprotective! I’m fine now; my head isn’t ashing anymore and it's all thanks to being here all morning, so, please, calm down!” Twilight didn’t know how harsh she was being with her until she saw Fluttershy sobbing.
“I'm only doing it because I love you and I'm worried. It hurt me to see you in that hospital, and I don’t want to see you like that again. Having you at my home was so exciting, too, I didn’t want you to...”
“You didn’t want me to leave?” Fluttershy closed her eyes and nodded. Twilight walked to her and wiped her tears away. She used her hooves to make the other pony look into her eyes. “Fluttershy, I have to go back to the library at some point. It’s too soon for us to be living together. We literally started dating a few days ago, and, besides, we'll be seeing each other regularly like we did before getting together. I still owe you a good date, remember?”
“Yes… I haven’t forgotten about that…”
“I’m thankful that you looked after me, but I feel better now.” She leaned towards Fluttershy's forehead and kissed her there. “I will never leave you, Flutters. You mean everything to me. The day you showed me your love, everything changed for the better. I love you so much and nothing will ever change that. I won’t let you go and I know that you won’t let me go, either.”
“I would never do that! Why would I? I love you! Twilight… Can I… Kiss you…?”
“You don’t have to ask Flutters, I already told you that.” Twilight leaned closer again, but this time aimed for her lips and initiated a passionate kiss. All the worry Fluttershy had suddenly disappeared the moment she felt their lips join. Nothing mattered now; it was just them.
They broke the kiss after hearing a weird noise. Both ponies looked down and saw Angel looking at them with an annoyed expression.
“Oh, Angel... I haven’t forgotten about you. Let’s go inside; I’ll give you something to eat. Shall we go in Twilight? I won’t force you to lay on the bed again...”
“Yes. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Let’s have lunch!”
“Good idea. You’re my guest and I’ll make you anything you want!”
After lunch, they decided to visit their friends. They went the whole way with their tails joined. Twilight was the one who made the move first while she walked as close as she could. When they arrived, some ponies looked at them strangely. Fluttershy buried her face in her lover’s mane in embarrassment, but Twilight didn’t care about them; she was just showing that she was in love.
“Hey, Twilight, it’s good to see you up again!” Rainbow Dash left her cloud to talk with her friends.
“Oh, hi, Rainbow Dash. It feels good to walk again!”
“I see that you two are really... close today. Promise that you won’t get too corny around me, okay?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Rainbow... we are so in love, I don’t think I can promise you that.” Twilight said while leaning her head on Fluttershy’s pink mane.
“At least keep it to a minimum!”
“What is it, Rainbow, jealous?”
“What?! No! I can’t stand corny things and you know it!”
“I was just playing with you! We're going to see Pinkie Pie, are you coming with us?”
Dash took a deep breath, obviously relaxing from what Twilight had said. “Nah, I was just taking a break. I have to move some clouds now, see ya!”
“Okay, catch you later!” Twilight watched her friend leave with a suspicious look and then turned to see her pegasus still hiding.
“What is it, Flutters? Are you too nervous?” She nodded timidly. “I’m sorry, 'Shy, but I want everypony to know that I love you. Now, come on, let’s see Pinkie Pie to tell her to throw that party she promised. It'll be fun!”
They entered Sugarcube Corner and were surprised when they only found Pinkie Pie inside.
“Hey, Fluttershy! Hey, Twilight! It’s good to see you back on your hooves!”
“Hey, Pinkie, where are Mr. and Mrs. Cake?” Twilight managed to ask before Pinkie Pie bounced on her to give her a big hug. “Wow, Pinkie Pie... I’m glad to see you too!”
“Now that you're okay I can throw you a party! I’m so excited, I have to make the invitations! Are you going to come? Of course you will; it’s your party! And you, Fluttershy? Of course, silly! Oh, I have to bake a cake, make the punch... Sorry for asking you to leave, but I have a party to plan! Thanks for coming, see you soon!” Before they knew what was happeing, they were outside and the door was closed.
“Well, that’s Pinkie Pie! Let's go, Flutters, we should go see Rarity next!”
“Okay…” They headed towards Carousel Boutique, but they stopped when they saw Applejack coming out. She was moving quietly, almost like she didn’t want to be seen.
“Hey Applejack!” The farmer pony stood still and looked slowly to where she heard the voice coming from.
“Howdy there, Twilight, Fluttershy... Sorry, Ah’ can’t stay and talk, but ah’ have to go now!” She trotted away from her friends, still speaking. “It’s good to see you as good as an Apple tree in Applebuck season, Twi, see you later!” She was gone.
“That was weird, don’t you think Flutters?”
“Y-Yeah, why would she leave like that? Does she hate us…? I wouldn’t forgive myself if she did..."
“Nah, she doesn’t hate us, but she’s definitely up to something… Maybe she'll tell us soon.”
“Twilight, Fluttershy, darlings! What brings you two here? Not that I’m complaining, but I’m very busy at the moment.” The visitors looked around. The place was a mess.
“Somepony gave you too much work…?” The pegasus kept looking at the disaster zone.
“No dear, it’s just that I've been working here and have been checking the library these past days. Spikey Wikey can’t take care of it all by himself.”
“Oh, the library! I should have gone there first!” Fluttershy looked at her partner, ashamed.
“Sorry, Twilight… It’s my fault… I should have let you go check the library earlier…” Twilight looked at her with a smile on her face.
“You aren't at fault, Fluttershy. You were just worried about me, but I should go to the library now and let Spike know that I’ll be back tomorrow. Rarity, thanks for letting us know but I should get going!”
“Don’t mention it. You better go before Spike collapses!” They rushed towards the library and Twilight continually knocked at the door until Spike finally opened it with a huff.
“I opened it, calm down! Twilight?”
“Hey Spike, sorry for…” But the baby dragon jumped on her without warning, causing both of them to tumble over.
“Twilight, you're okay! Thank Celestia you’re fine... You have no idea how hard it was for me. Taking care of the library isn't as easy as it sounds!”
“That’s why I’m here, Spike. I came to apologize and to tell you that I’ll be back tomorrow…” Spike moved to help Twilight get up.
“You will? Hooray! I should write to the Princess! She was going to come see you herself, but royal duties called first. She'd normally postpone it but it was really important this time.”
“I know she's busy, but I’m glad that she tried to come.”
“Why wouldn’t she? You're her best student, Twilight!”
“Yes, that’s me..." Twilight said blushining slightly." Do you think you’ll be able to survive another day, Spike? Tomorrow I’ll be back for sure.”
“I'll be okay for one more day… It wasn’t so bad, I had the chance to work with Rarity…”
“Spike…”
“Do you need me to go help you pack?”
“No, you've already done enough for me. Thanks again, Spike!” She gave him a hug that was quickly returned.
“Fluttershy?” Spike looked at the timid pegasus, who'd remained quiet up to this point.
“Y-Yes…?”
“Don’t be shy, join us!” She hesitantly joined the hug.
“You've been quiet while we visited our friends... Is everything okay?”
“Huh? No, it’s nothing…” They'd just finished dinner at Fluttershy’s cottagr and Twilight noticed that Fluttershy was heading to the couch.
“Where are you going?”
“To sleep…?”
“Don’t be silly Flutters, come to bed with me!” Fluttershy blushed.
“Bed… with you…?”
“Sure, why not?” Fluttershy hesitated but finally agreed.
“Okay…” They headed to the bedroom where Twilight was the first to lay on the bed. “Come on 'Shy, let me cuddle with you!” The pegasus slowly stretched on the bed and Twilight embraced her as soon as she'd put the blanket over them.
“See? How are you feeling?”
“You… You’re comfortable… I want to stay like this…”
“About today… I was silent because I was worried about everypony staring at us. I was worried about what they were thinking…”
“Oh, Fluttershy, you shouldn’t worry about them... Who cares about what they think? It’s not like we are the only mare couple in Ponyville.”
“I know… But I felt like running and hiding here… But when I saw you full of confidence and our tails joined… I calmed down a little, but I was still unable to talk… Sorry if I embarrassed you…”
“Fluttershy, you will never embarrass me. Never...”
“Thanks, Twilight… I… I love you…” The unicorn gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
“I love you too, Flutters… Now let’s sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”
Twilight found herself walking through a dark field. She couldn’t tell where she was; the unicorn was literally walking blind. She kept going, trying to shout for help, but she'd lost her voice at some point. Suddenly, a path with many trees appeared, but it was still very dark. There was no moon nor stars. As she continued along, Twilight started to hear the familiar crackling of fire. She started to trot, and, before she knew it, she was surrounded by flames. The path disappeared out of nowhere. She looked around for a way out, but she didn't find any.
All of a sudden, a thunder strucked. In its midst, a pony she knew and hated very much appeared. The cyan unicorn looked at her with a malicious expression and started to laugh. a thunder crashed down again, and an unconscious Fluttershy appeared behind Trixie, who wouldn't stop snickering.
Twilight tried to move over to Fluttershy, but she was quickly trapped by enchanted roots. The more she tried to fight back, the more tangled she became. The roots started to cover her, and soon her horn was completely concealed. Right before her sight was taken away from her, she saw Fluttershy completely surrounded by fire and Trixie still cackling, then, Darkness enveloped her entirely.
Twilight bolted upright, breathing fast. She found herself sitting back in Fluttershy's room. Slowly, she looked to her right and found Fluttershy sleeping peacefully with a smile on her face. Twilight sighed in relief and laid back again before kissing her lover’s forehead and embracing her tightly. It didn’t take long before her dreams found her, but she still was worried about Trixie and how long it would take before she found out they were still alive.
____________________________________________________________________________________________ The birds announced the arrival of a new day. They were perched on the bedroom’s window, waking up Fluttershy with their singing.
“Good morning, birdies. Good morning, Twilight.” She opened her eyes to find that she was alone. “Twilight?” She got off the bed and rushed downstairs. She stopped when she saw breakfast on the table and Twilight appeared from the kitchen.
“Good morning, Flutters. Did you sleep well?” The pegasus let out the breath she'd been holding.
“Oh, Twilight, I woke up alone and I thought that you...”
“That I left? Flutters, I wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye.” Twilight said as she approached to the pegasus and kissed her on the cheek. “I woke up early to prepare the books and since I had some free time, I prepared breakfast. You woke up right on time; I just finished!”
“Oh that’s nice of you. It looks delicious.”
“Help yourself!” Fluttershy took a bite and swallowed it.
“It is delicious!”
“I’m glad you like it.”
After breakfast, it was time for Twilight to leave. She put the books on the grass and turned to say goodbye to Fluttershy.
“Are you sure you can’t stay for a few more hours?”
“Sorry, Flutters, but I promised Spike I would get back to help him with the library. I have to be there before it opens.”
“I Understand…” Fluttershy stared at the floor, but the unicorn used a hoof to make the pegasus look into her eyes.
“Don’t be sad... We’ll still be seeing each other. We still have Pinkie’s party and our date, not to mention our future. We have plenty of time to spend together and someday I will move here, I promise.” Fluttershy stared into her purple eyes--the eyes she loved so much. Every time she looked into them, all her problems seemed to disappear. She was hypnotized by her marefriend's beauty. Fluttershy took Twilight's hoof with her own without breaking eye contact.
“You're worth the wait, Twilight... I'll be patient. I… I…”
“Yes?”
“Can I… Kiss you…?”
“Of you can, 'Shy.” Fluttershy timidly leaned toward Twilight's lips and gently pressed them with her own. Twilight moved her hooves around the pegasus' neck while she kissed her. Fluttershy barely opened her eyes, not expecting that. Just as quickly, she closed them again and focused on the kiss. After a few seconds, they broke it. Both ponies stared at each other lovingly with their muzzles only inches apart.
“I wanted to thank Angel, but he isn’t here. Can you thank him for me?”
“Sure… I’ll do it as soon as he wakes up. He gets in a bad mood if I wake him up early…” They giggled but they stopped abruptly. Twilight stroked her lover’s mane and kissed her on the forehead.
“Take care, Flutters. I love you.”
“I-I Love you too, Twilight…” The unicorn turned around and lifted the books with magic. She gave one last look at Fluttershy, waved, and started walking to the library. Fluttershy watchedher until she'd disappeared and entered her house.
“Send it, Spike!” The dragon used his fire breath to send the letter.
“Good, that was the last one. Now Princess Celestia, my parents, and my BBBFF know about my relationship with Fluttershy. It’s official now! I can cross it from my list to do today, so what’s next?”
“Let me see… You have to get ready to go to Pinkie’s party, which is in half an hour!”
“What, so soon?!”
“Yep, you better get ready…!”
“Oh no, I’m going to be late! How does my hair look? I need to take a bath! Spike, why didn’t you tell me before?!”
“I didn’t know what time it was until I looked at the clock; I’m sorry Twilight!”
“Okay, just calm down… I have to take a bath… I wanted to pick up Fluttershy, but there’s no time… I have to hurry!”
It took Twilight twenty minutes to get ready. Spike tried to tell her something the whole time after she took a bath, but she kept reminding him to bring it up later. In her rush, she left the door open, forcing Spike to close it himself.
“I guess I’ll have to give her the letters later…”
“Eat all the cake you can! There’s enough for everypony!” Pinkie Pie skipped to where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were.
“Hi there, how’s the Punch?!”
“Best punch I've ever tried!”
“Yeah, you've outdone yourself this time, Sugarcube. Your parties only get better!”
“I’m glad that you like it; only the best for my friends!” She hugged both of them. “Drink all you want, and don’t forget about the cake!”
“We… Won’t, Sugarcube…” Pinkie suddenly broke away from her crushing embrace, making both ponies fall onto the floor. “I wonder where Twilight is… I think I should ask Fluttershy!” She hopped to where Rarity and Fluttershy were.
“Hi there, having fun?!”
“Oh, I have to say, Pinkie Pie, your party is magnificent. The food and the drinks... Simply delicious!”
“I’m happy to hear that! Listen, Fluttershy, do you know where Twilight is?”
“N-No… She was supposed to be here already. She promised…”
“Don’t worry, darling, she’s probably late.” And in that exact moment, there was a knock at the door. Pinkie Pie opened it.
“Twilight, oh goodie, you made it!” Twilight was exhausted. There was no doubt she'd come as fast as she could.
“Sorry, Pinkie… I was busy and... didn’t realize how late… it was…”
“Don’t worry, Twilight. Come in and have fun!”
“Thanks… I just need a second…” Twilight breathed hard a few moments more before getting back to normal.
“Alright... I’m hungry, so I'll eat some cake if you don’t mind.”
“Eat all you want, Twilight, it’s your party!” Pinkie Pie said before turning to see the rest of her friends. "Alright everypony, the guest of honor is here, so let’s get this party started!”
In the midst of the party, Twilight and Fluttershy were dancing on one side whereas Pinkie and Rarity were talking while drinking punch. Rainbow Dash and Applejack snuck out quietly, but Twilight had noticed, stopping her dancing.
“Fluttershy, did you see that?”
“What?”
“Applejack and Rainbow Dash. They just left without us."
"Why would they do that...?"
“I don’t know, but we're going to find out. Come on, Fluttershy!” But they couldn’t just leave without telling anypony, so Twilight approached to the party pony. “Pinkie Pie, we're going out to breathe some air. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Okie dokie lokie!”
“Stay safe, darlings!” Twilight smiled and went outside, Fluttershy trailing behind.
“Let’s see… Where can they be?”
“Twilight, look!” Twilight turned to where Fluttershy was pointing and saw a rainbow colored tail disappear around the corner.
“Let’s follow them, they can’t go far from Sugarcube Corner.” They followed the two ponies and saw that they were heading to an alley. “That’s doesn’t make sense... What are they doing over there?”
“Please don’t leave me behind…!”
“Of course not. Stay close to me, Flutters.” They arrived at the alley and they hid behind the corner. “Alright, when I say 'now,' we jump out and surprise them, okay?”
“I don’t know, Twilight… They seem like they don’t want to tell us… Maybe if we wait…”
“What secret could they be trying to hide? I have to know what they're doing and why they aren’t telling us…” Fluttershy tried to protest again, but she was cut off by Twilight’s hoof.
“Ready? Now!” The unicorn jumped into the alley.
“There you are! What are you…? Oh!” Twilight stood stock still, unable to move her eyes from the scene while Fluttershy slowly showed herself.
“Twilight? What’s wrong?” She tried to make the unicorn react by waving her hoof in front of her eyes, but it didn't work. She looked to where her marefriend was staring, and saw the reason for Twilight's sudden silence. Rainbow Dash was hugging Applejack, both of them looking at the mares who'd just discovered them. “What are you doing over there…?”
“We were just…” Rainbow tried to explain, but she was cut off by Twilight.
Nopony said anything for several minutes. Twilight's mouth was wide open and Fluttershy was looking between her marefriend and her friends. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were still blushing; the farmer pony was hiding her face with her favorite stetson and the cyan pegasus was unable to form any words. Finally, Twilight managed to talk again.
“Why… Why…”
“Twilight, We…” Rainbow Dash tried to explain but was cut off by Twilight.
“Why did you hide it from us…? Don’t you trust us?”
“Of course we trust you guys, but, we…”
“You can tell us girls, we are your friends after all…” Fluttershy spoke. Rainbow was about to say something else but Applejack put her hoof on her shoulder, letting her know that she would explain. Still with her hat off, she spoke.
“We didn’t want to make it public until we've made sure that our relationship would work… Sorry for lyin’, but… We weren’t ready…” Applejack finished, ashamed. Rainbow Dash hugged her for comfort.
“That’s the truth, We're sorry…” Rainbow Dash embraced Applejack tighter while waiting for her friends' response.
Twilight spoke first. “Rainbow Dash, do you really like Applejack? Do you enjoy being alone with her and you wish you never had to separate again?”
“I do, I really do.” Rainbow looked at Applejack with a smile. Twilight spoke again.
“Applejack, same question.” Applejack didn't look away from her lover’s gaze.
“Of course Ah do, Sugarcube, Ah've never been so happy in mah life…”
“Then I think that your relationship will work out. As long as you have each other, everything will be fine.” Fluttershy was the one who said it this time, staring lovingly at Twilight before speaking again. “Right, Twilight?” The unicorn looked back at her marefriend with an affectionate look.
“Right. It’s the same feeling we have. It's true love.” Twilight nuzzled Fluttershy's cheek with her own. “Your love is pure, and I believe that you're a good couple.”
“I think so too… I’m so happy for you two! Fluttershy's happines was replaced by shame. But it was wrong to follow you girls. We're sorry…”
“Yeah, we are sorry…” The lavander unicorn said. Applejack put her hat back on.
“You don’t have to be sorry, you were worried ‘bout us!”
“Yeah, and you helped us realize that we're madly in love. I’ll never leave you, AJ!”
“Ah say the same, Dashie!” Without hesitating and not knowing who made the first move, they kissed passionately, forgetting that they were being watched.
“Aww, how cute!” They broke the kiss when they heard Twilight. “Oh, don’t be embarrassed! It’s something normal between two ponies in love, right Flutters?” The unicorn nuzzled her lover’s cheek once again, making her blush.
“Yeah… Umm…”
“You're so cute when you’re nervous!” Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack laughed while Fluttershy barely let a giggle out. “We should get back to Pinkie’s party. Are you going to tell everypony? Now it’s your best chance!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash gave each other a serious look. Applejack nodded and Rainbow glanced back at Twilight.
“Yes, we are going to tell everypony now.”
“Great! But, one last thing, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight looked at the cyan pegasus with a smile.
“Huh? What is it?”
“I know you too well, Rainbow. You didn’t leave to move clouds yesterday. You left to meet Applejack, didn't you?” Rainbow Dash blushed and tried to hide it with a smile and a nervous chuckle.
“You what?!” Rarity couldn’t believe what she'd just heard.
“We're datin’, Rarity, we're in love and want to spend our lives together!”
“This is so cool! Four of our friends fell in love; I’m so happy that I could sing a song!” The pink pony was skipping around.
“But… But how? I demand an explanation!” Rarity looked between Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
“What’s the problem, Rarity? Our friends fell in love… You're happy for us, so why aren’t you happy for them?” Fluttershy said confused.
“Who said I’m not happy, Fluttershy? I’m just…surprised. I never expected them to fall in love, and I want to know how it happened.”
“Actually I was wondering that too. How did you two… You know?” Twilight was now looking at Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who were blushing. They were a little on edge since everypony was staring at them, but Rainbow Dash somehow managed to speak.
“Well… We started dating a few days ago, but were worried what other ponies would think. We decided to keep it a secret from everypony until we were sure…”
“Rainbow told me not to tell anypony but ah almost broke my promise, Ah was who was worried the most… Ah almost told Rarity yesterday…”
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore. We all know and we're happy for you. I’m glad to hear that me and Twilight aren’t the only ones.”
“Yes, you’re right, 'Shy. We can have a double date sometime!”
“What?!” Rainbow Dash and Applejack both exclaimed in surprise.
"Relax! Not now, but we should do it."
“I guess… That doesn’t sounds so bad…” Rainbow Dash said.
“Ah agree, it would be excitin’…” Twilight looked at the yellow pegasus next to her.
“What do you think, Fluttershy?”
“I… That’s sounds good…”
“Don’t worry Flutters, tomorrow night we’ll have a nice picnic in the sunset, just us.” Fluttershy grinned.
“Really?”
“Our first official date!”
“Oh, Twilight!” Fluttershy jumped on her, making both ponies fall onto the floor.
“Fluttershy!” The timid pegasus looked at her.
“Yes?” She was smiling.
“Fluttershy…” Twilight couldn’t resist giving her a quick kiss. The unicorn giggled and Fluttershy did too.
“Oh, come on! Don’t get too corny or I’m right here!”
“You don’t complain when Ah do that to you, Sugarcube!”
“AJ!” The five ponies laughed. Rainbow couldn’t resist and ended up chuckling too.
“Come on, I thought this was a party; let’s dance!” Pinkie Pie hugged her five friends at the same time.
“Yer right, Sugarcube. Come on, everypony, let’s have fun!”
After the party, they all said goodbye and went on their separate ways. Only Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie remained. Rarity left first, saying that she had a busy day the next day. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, left together to Sweet Apple Acres.
“Thanks for the party, Pinkie Pie, and for the cake too.”
“Anytime, girls, I’ll see you tomorrow!” The couple walked towards Twilight’s library with their tails intertwined. It was late, so not many ponies were out.
“Isn’t it beautiful? I mean, the fact that two of our friends are dating too!”
“Yeah, Beautiful… I’m very happy for them."
“Just think of it, Flutters, the power of love... It can strike where you'd never expect!”
“Yeah, everypony has a chance… But no pony is as lucky as me. I got the best…”
“Aww, Fluttershy...” She kissed her cheek, “I love you too!” They talked about the party all the way to the library, and before they realized it, they'd arrived.
“Well, we’re here…”
“It’s time for me to leave then…”
“'Shy…”
“Yes? What is it, Twi…?” She was cut off mid-sentence by Twilight kissing her passionately. Fluttershy closed her eyes and returned the kiss. The pegasus didn’t want the moment to end, but she knew that she had to go. Twilight knew it too, so after a few more seconds, they broke apart and looked at each other.
“Good night, Fluttershy…”
“Good night, Twilight…” The pegasus turned and slowly made her way to her home. Twilight didn’t enter the library just yet. She wanted to watch her until she got lost somewhere in the horizon... But the door behind her was opened abruptly.
“Twilight, you’re finally here!” The unicorn jumped in surprise and turned to see the baby dragon.
“Spike, you scared me!”
“Sorry, Twilight, but this is important! Your letters were answered. I tried to tell you before you left but you were in a big hurry...”
“They were answered? I want to read them!”
“Actually, it’s only one… Princess Celestia answered for all of them.”
“She did? Let me read it!” Spike handed the letter over and she quickly read it.
“Oh no… They want to meet me tomorrow night in Canterlot... I have to cancel my date with Fluttershy!”
“What am I going to do? What am I going to do? Spike, say something!” Twilight was pacing back and forth, her expression filled with desperation.
“You said it, Twilight. Cancel your date with Fluttershy.”
“It’s not that easy, Spike! I promised her a date when we started going out and I already told her we would have a picnic on the sunset tomorrow! How do I tell her that I will have to postpone it?”
“It’s a letter from Princess Celestia, Twilight. It’s an important matter and she will understand.”
“She'll be hurt anyway. She was looking forward to it as much as I was… I can’t leave her alone like this!”
“Then take her with you, she'll definitely accept and she won’t feel sad. You can have your date some other day.”
“Spike, that’s a… great idea!” The unicorn gave her friend a tight hug. “Oh Spike, you solved all my problems, thank you, thank you!”
“You’re… Choking me…!”
“Oops, sorry!” She let him go and the dragon soon recovered his natural color. “Thanks to you, I can rest now. Tomorrow its a big day! Going all the way to Canterlot just because they want to congratulate me… They could just do it in a letter…”
“Remember, Twilight, you're her best student and maybe your brother and parents just wants to see you.”
“You’re probably right… Well, time to go to bed, I’ll need energy tomorrow!”
It was another beautiful morning. There were a few clouds in the sky, but there wasn’t any rain scheduled for today.
Fluttershy woke up to the singing of the birds and with a big smile on her face. Today was the day she'd been waiting for--her first date with Twilight was tonight and she couldn’t be more excited.
“I have to feed the critters... Did you have a good night's sleep, Angel?” The little bunny didn’t understand why his owner was in such a good mood. “This day is perfect, nothing will be able to ruin it!” Fluttershy sang all the way to the kitchen. She prepared breakfast for her and Angel before headed to the woods. The birds sang along with her. “A beautiful morning isn’t it, cute birds? I hope you’re hungry!” Soon all the animals surrounded her to receive their portion of food. “Don’t worry, there’s enough for all of you.” She'd never felt so much joy. She rested on the grass to watch the sky while the critters ate their food and played. “I don’t want this day to end, ever!”
She heard the birds fly away so she raised her head, wondering where they were going. She saw them surrounding somepony else. When she saw who it was, her morning got a lot better.
“Hey there, little birds! I see that Flutters is feeding you, but where is she? Nevermind, there she is! Hey 'Shy, I... Wow!” Fluttershy jumped on her marefriend and embraced her in a tight hug. “Hey, Flutters, I see you woke up in a good mood!”
“I can’t help myself, seeing you makes me so happy,” The Pegasus moved her head back to look at the Unicorn, “I've been looking forward to this day for so long, Twilight, I want it to be sunset already so we can have our date!”
Twilight felt guilty. She knew that Fluttershy was looking forward to their date; she'd never seen her so happy. But she had to do this... If she was able to explain, maybe she would understand.
“Fluttershy… About that…”
“Yes, Twilight?” She was still smiling. Twilight really didn’t want to do it, but she didn't have a choice.
“Princess Celestia sent me a letter… She wants to meet me at Canterlot tonight. My brother and parents will be there too…” She didn’t look at Fluttershy while saying that. She couldn’t look at her while she was breaking her heart.
“I understand, Twilight… If it's one of the Princesses, it must be important…” Twilight looked at her curiously. She was sure Fluttershy was going to react differently.
“Really? Aren’t you disappointed?”
“Yes… but as I said, if Princess Celestia wants to see you, along with your parents and your brother, you can’t reject them…”
“I see… thanks for understanding… sorry…” Fluttershy did her best to hide her sadness with a fake smile, but on the inside she was devastated.
“You don’t need to be sorry, it’s not your fault… So, when are you leaving?”
“We're leaving before the sun sets. Her royal guards will be picking us up.”
“We?”
“Yes. You didn’t think that I was going to leave you alone, right?” Fluttershy smiled and hugged her again.
“I love you, Twilight!”
“I love you too, Fluttershy... She said as she embraced her back.
Sunset arrived quickly, and everypony was waiting at the marketplace for the carriage that would take Fluttershy and Twilight to Canterlot.
“Now, you two be nice. You want to make a good impression to your parents, Twilight.” Rarity advised her friends.
“Yeah, show them your kindness, Fluttershy, they'll definitely love you!” Rainbow Dash put an encouraging hoof on the back of her friend.
“I… I'll try my best…”
“Don’t worry 'Shy, I’m sure they'll love you!” The Pegasus couldn’t help but to smile by the voice of her marefriend.
“Of course they'll love Fluttershy! Why wouldn’t they? She’s the kindest pony I know, and they'll love her like if she was their daughter. I’m sure they will!”
“What Pinkie is tryin’ to say is that you ain’t have to worry, Sugarcube, I’m sure that her parents are as nice as their daughter, right Twi?”
“Yes they are, you'll love them, Flutters!”
“Thanks, girls… I’m ready to meet them!”
“Group hug!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she hugged all her friends before they had time to react.
“You guys are the best friends anypony could ask for. I’m glad that Princess Celestia made me come here in the first place!”
“Yer a great friend too, Twi. You changed all of our lives for the better when you arrived to Ponyvile!” Applejack said.
“Hey, look!” Rainbow pointed to the sky where a carriage pulled by two royal guards was approaching. They landed and greeted the ponies who were waiting for them.
“That’s our ride, wish us luck!” Twilight cheerfuly said.
“Good luck!” They hugged one last time and watched their friends enter the carriage to leave.
Twilight and Fluttershy barely spoke throughout the ride; they were both nervous.
“Don’t worry 'Shy, they will love you!” Twilight said, her voice slightly shaking
“How can you be so sure?”
“I know they will; they are my parents after all!”
“I… I hope I can speak to them normally… ”
“You'll be fine, Flutters… try it for me, okay?” Fluttershy felt Twilight holding her hooves with her own and looked into her eyes.
“I’ll do it… for you!”
“Thank you!” Twilight said while she hugged her.
The moon had already risen when the guards left them on the palace balcony where Princess Celestia and Shining Armor were waiting. When the couple got out of the carriage, they bowed to the Princess.
“I hope you had a nice ride.” The Princess greeted them.
“It was a good ride,” Twilight turned to the guards who'd brought them, “Thank you, nice sirs!” The guards smiled proudly and left.
“So, Twily, this is your marefriend? The one who makes you extremely happy?”
“Yes. You remember Fluttershy, right?”
“Oh yes, of course I remember her! I’m glad you both made it safe!”
“Th-Thank you… I hope you don’t mind that I came too…”
“Actually, I knew you would come too, Fluttershy. That’s why I sent a carriage for two. Now, let’s go inside.” The Alicorn took her guests inside. The Pegasus walked close to her marefriend.
“I make you extremely happy?”
“Well, of course you do, 'Shy!” Fluttershy rubbed her head on her lover’s neck.
“You make me extremely happy too, Twilight…”
Twilight and Fluttershy intertwined tails. The Unicorn looked at her brother.
“Where's Cadence and our parents, Shining Armor?”
“Cadence will come shortly, as for our parents... They couldn’t make it.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know. I received a letter saying that they couldn’t come and that they were sorry…”
“It's that so…? I really wanted to see them and I wanted them to meet Fluttershy… Maybe another day...”
“Hopefully. But now, tell me. How did this happen?”
“Oh, well… It all started when I overheard Fluttershy saying that she liked me…” They both blushed. “It wasn’t easy, but we managed to get through. I always knew that something was missing in my life, but now that I have Fluttershy, my life is complete.” Fluttershy looked away, blushing even more.
“I’m glad to hear that, Twily. I’m delighted that you're finally as happy as I am. Now you know how I feel about Cadence.”
“You're really happy for me?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t I? My little sister is growing up!”
“Well, I thought that you wouldn’t accept it… You know, because…”
“You're both mares? Who am I to judge? There’s no right or wrong in love. It’s just love, no matter how it presents itself. If you're happy, I’m happy.”
“Shining…”
“Yes, Twily?” Twilight jumped on her brother.
“You're the best big brother that any sister could ask for!”
“And you are the best sister that any brother could ask for, Twily.”
“I am also proud of you, Twilight Sparkle, and you too Fluttershy. I’m happy to see that two bearers of the Elements of Harmony found love.” Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other, then smiled.
“Well, now that you mention it, Princess…” But Twilight was interrupted by a door opening and a guard coming in. He bowed to the Princess before speaking.
“Princess Celestia, sorry to interrupt, but your sister requires your assistance!”
“I must go check on her. I apologize for leaving like this!”
“Don’t worry, Princess. Duty calls; you can’t just ignore that.”
“Thank you, Shining Armor, Twilight, Fluttershy. We’ll meet again at another time.”
“Until next time, Princess!” Twilight waved as the Princess left the room.
But the door didn’t close. Somepony held it open with magic and entered the room. It was the pink Alicorn, Princess Cadence.
“Cadence sweetheart, you made it!”
“Cadence!”
“Twilight!”
“Sunshine, sunshine! Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”
“It’s so good to see you again, Twilight!" She said as she and Twilight hugged "Who would have thought that the little filly I used to look after is now in love?” The Alicorn looked at Fluttershy smiling. “Come here you, hug me too!” The Pegasus slowly walked towards them, and when she was at range, Cadence grabbed her and hugged her. “You will always be welcome here Fluttershy, as long as you don’t do something to hurt my little Twilight.”
“Cadence!”
“I… Would never harm her, Princess…”
“Please, call me Cadence. You’re like family now.”
“Th-Thank you Ca…Cadence…”
“Well, honey, it’s getting late. What do you think about going to sleep? You two will be going back to Ponyville tomorrow.”
“So soon? Can’t we stay a little longer?”
“No, Celestia is busy and both Cadence and I have royal duties. We brought you here to tell you personally that we are proud of you and, well, to see you again. We barely see each other now.”
“You're right. Thanks, big brother!”
“Now, Fluttershy, Cadence will take you to your room and Twily, you follow me.”
“What?”
“You didn’t think that I would let you two sleep in the same room, right? I’m happy for you, but you're still sleeping in different rooms.”
“Thank you! I should brush my hair now... You stay here in case Fluttershy comes; let her in if she arrives, okay?”
“Don’t worry, Twilight. You can trust me!”
“I know I can!” The Unicorn rushed around her home. Fluttershy could arrive at any moment now. It was almost time for their date--their first date.
And sure enough, a couple of minutes later, there was a knock on the door. The baby dragon opened it and saw Fluttershy standing outside.
“Oh, good evening, Spike… Is Twilight ready?”
“Hey, Fluttershy, you look good! Twilight will be ready soon.”
“Thank you… Can I come in…?”
“Sure!” Fluttershy walked inside the library. Spike let the door open and raised his arm.
“Come here, Owlowiscious,” The owl flew towards the dragon, “I’m going to walk with him now. Hope you two have fun!” Spike and Owlowiscious left, closing the door behind them.
Fluttershy found herself alone, surrounded by books. One in particular caught her attention, though. It was opened, so she decided to take a look at the cover.
“How to look pretty for your special somepony.” She couldn’t help but giggle when she read that.
“Spike, who was at the door? Please tell me that you hid that book!” When Fluttershy heard Twilight’s voice, she quickly closed the book and put it with the others. As soon as she did so, the Unicorn appeared. Her mane was still wet.
“Spike, why aren’t you…? Flutters!” She froze when she saw Fluttershy. Her heart was racing like never before; she hoped that Fluttershy hadn't seen the book.
“H-Hello Twilight… You look… gorgeous…”
“You think so? I mean… Thanks, you look gorgeous too.” Twilight said as she walked downstairs and approached her marefriend. She stared into Fluttershy’s cyan eyes before kissing her. Fluttershy didn’t close her eyes during the kiss, but she returned it. When they broke the kiss, Twilight saw Fluttershy's expression and giggled.
“Wh-What’s so funny…?” Fluttershy said when her date giggled.
“Your face! You’re so cute!”
“Thanks… I guess…”
“We should get going now or we'll be late.”
“Yes, I’m ready!” Twilight took the basket with her magic and headed outside with Fluttershy.
They headed to the hill that Fluttershy had told Twilight her feelings. They walked as slowly as they could, their tails intertwined. They looked for a good spot; which wasn't hard, seeing as how they were the only ponies around. The couple put the blanket and sat close to each other.
“This will be the perfect date, Flutters!”
“It already is, Twilight... We just needed to be alone. I’m already happy--truly happy.” The Pegasus nuzzled the Unicorn’s neck with her head. “I love you, Twilight… I love you so much,” She covered her with a wing and pulled her even closer, “It's been a little more than a week, and I still can’t believe that I’m with you. You’re one of a kind, Twilight... Promise me that we will always be together. You're the only pony I want to be with.” Twilight was almost crying. Not only did Fluttershy assert herself without asking first, but she also told her how deep her feelings were. The lavender mare put a hoof on the Pegasus' cheek, made her look into her eyes, and kissed her passionately. This time, Fluttershy closed her eyes and enjoyed the kiss. “Twilight… I…”
“Don’t say anymore, Flutters. Of course we're going to be together forever--I promise you that we will. You’re special to me, Fluttershy and nothing will ever separate us. My love for you is deep and true, and my only regret is not realizing my feelings sooner.” She finished with a hug and tears in her eyes. Fluttershy returned the hug with tears of joy too. “I love you, Fluttershy!”
They hugged for a long time. They forgot to watch the sunset and to eat, but it didn’t matter. They had the perfect date they'd always wanted, and it was just the beginning. They had their whole life to spend together, and after that night, all of Equestria knew about their love. They found themselves surrounded by ponies every time they left their homes, but with the help of their friends they managed to escape them. It was hard to find somewhere where they could be alone, but it was worth it. Their love stayed strong, growing every second for years to come. Nopony could take their happiness away, nopony could...or could they?
Somewhere in an unknown place…
“They survived? Impossible! I must go and destroy the happiest couple in Equestria... I will have my revenge, hahahahaha!”
