First Kiss

Chapter I

Picturesque. Perhaps the most appropriate word to describe the scene of Ponyville’s park that afternoon. The weather had been coordinated perfectly, the sun was as warm and gentle as the Goddess Queen that commands it and ponies of all ages were out enjoying all the day had to offer in their own ways. For one familiar group of mares this was achieved with a pleasant picnic full of treats, leisure and idle chit chat of all subjects. One in particular is where our story begins.

“So, Rarity,” began the cyan Pegasus resting on her back and gazing up at the clear sky she took a not-so-modest sense of pride in from behind dark tinted glasses. “How was your date last night?”

The lavender unicorn at the opposite corner of the blanket gave a muffled chuckle into her tea cup and a silent thanks to her mentor that Spike wasn’t around to hear that particular question.

The flawlessly stark white unicorn accompanying her for tea gave a less than positive poker face from beneath her fabulous sun hat and shifted her glance away from her prismatic friend. “It was… adequate…” She stated nonchalantly as she raised her tea cup to her lips.

Against the fashionista’s hopes, or perhaps all according to her plans, all of her friends now fixed their attention to her.

“Well that’s not a very fun way to describe a date!” exclaimed the bubble gum colored earth pony in between gulping down her somewhere-in-the-double-digits cupcake and her definitely-in-the-double-digits cupcake.

“Oh, it went alright at first,” Rarity began with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “He chose an exquisite place to dine, was a perfect gentlecolt throughout and of course was a sharp dresser. It’s just…” A pause followed, to contemplate her next statement or for dramatic effect is a tough call. “At the end, the goodnight kiss…”

“Ahh,” said the orange cowpony in her usual drawl. “A bad kisser, was he?”

“Oh! He was dreadful!” bellowed Rarity with a theatrical wave of her arm. “There’s simply no polite way to put it, it was like being kissed by a Golden Retriever!” The divas display was cut off by the bellowing laughter of her prismatic Pegasus friend. “I’m sorry, does my plight amuse you, Rainbow Dash?”

“Kinda, yeah,” said Rainbow in blunt honesty. “I mean, I am sorry about the whole lousy date and all but that poor stud.” Another bit of laughter. “Seriously, the kiss can really make or break a date.” As her last bits laughter drowned out compared to Pinkie Pie’s, the colorful mare noticed the odd silence that had befallen her other companion. Her look of amusement melted to one of irritation faster than she could clear the skies. “What?!”

“Nothing, dear,” Rarity said dismissively from the lip of her cup.

The glare Rainbow Dash gave Rarity could have reduced the arctic landscape of the Crystal Kingdom to a tropical sea. “Oh, come on! I’ve been on dates before!” Her friends silence was far from assuring. “It’s not that hard to believe! I mean, even Fluttershy’s been kissed before!”

A stunned silence fell over not only Rarity but the rest of both pegusai’s friends. “Really?” they all said in unison.

Whether it was the embarrassment of being singled out or the blunt force of her friends disbelief but the blush that spread across the timid mares face turned her from sunshine yellow to a rosy pink.

“Yeah! I mean…” The once vindictive mare began to lose herself to her farthest reaching memories. “Wasn’t there that one geeky colt from the Junior Speedsters?” she asked her friend who was hiding in vain behind her forelocks.

“…. Yes…” peeped Fluttershy in a particularly timid tone.

“See!” declared Rainbow. “Even Fluttershy has a gushy High school first kiss story!”

Dropping seemingly from the sky Pinkie Pie planted herself right next to Fluttershy, eliciting a terrified ‘meep!’ from the humiliated pegasus. “Oh, this I GOTTA hear!”

“A rare occasion indeed but I agree with Pinkie,” said Twilight as she and the other mares gathered around the very uncomfortable yellow Pegasus, a foal-like grin spreading across the studious unicorns muzzle. “I’d love to hear the story of Fluttershy’s first kiss.”

Amidst the mutters of agreement amongst her friends Fluttershy was all but drowning in her discomfort. Ultimately realizing she had no escape she accepted her fate like a condemned prisoner kneeling upon the chopping block. With all of the strength she could conjure she inhaled one last breath of courage before giving her confession as eloquently as she could manage.

“Ok…” Averting her eyes, as if that would strengthen her resolve, she began her recollection with one important fact. “But… Brolly… wasn’t my first kiss…”

At this bit of news even Rainbow joined the suffocating circle of friends. “Ok, now I’m interested! I’ve never even seen you talk to a colt before Junior Flight School. How can that guy not have been your first coltfriend?”

“Well, he, Brolly that is, he was my first coltfriend,” explained Fluttershy. “But… My first kiss was… well…” Daring not to look directly at any of the five sets of eyes fixed upon her Fluttershy turned her head up and away to look at a rather uninteresting patch of sky but her gaze was fixed far back in her memories. “It happened like this…”

xxxxxxx

This day could not have been more perfect! In this enchanting new land, surrounded by creatures she had only seen in the books her father had read her, Fluttershy felt just like a fairytale princess. To top it all off the three little marks on her flank that told her she was forever tied to these lovely creatures filled her with more pride and splendor than she had ever felt before.

Alas, this was no foal’s story, and like all things in life had to come to an eventual end. After bidding a loving farewell to all the birds, rodents, frogs and even the sweetest little bear cub, Fluttershy now found herself facing the very grim reality of how she was supposed to get home. There was certainly no way she could fly all the way back up to Cloudsdale. Maybe if she could fly up to the lower clouds where the birds dwell she could shout out and somepony might… yeah, never mind.

With a worried whimper the lanky yellow filly decided that the only way to get back home would be to find someone to help her. She began her slow trot through the woods and with each timid step she only hoped that she wasn’t too far away from some form of civilization. Or that whomever she found wouldn’t be too scary. Or mean. Or big. Or…

Completely lost in her growing worry the little Pegasus didn’t see the bright red figure appear from out of the shrubbery until she nearly walked face first into his chest. In all of an instinctive second she assessed this stranger. A colt, bright red with rust colored hair and big green eyes. No wings but a large something-or-other around his neck. Oh, and most importantly: he was bigger than her, bigger than the colts back at Flight Camp even. Fluttershy could only follow her best known survival instincts. With a terrified yelp she jumped into the air and grabbed the nearest clinging spot she could find. Sealing her eyes shut the tiny Pegasus filly clung to the thick tree branch as though her very life depended on it. Trembling in sheer terror she waited to hear what this strange new colt would say to her.

“Howdy,” said a voice cracking on the border of youthful pitch and adolescent depth.

Popping her eyes open she craned her neck up to look down at the earth-bound pony.

Waving a lanky foreleg to her the red colt gave her the friendliest smile any colt had ever given her. “Ain’t never seen you ‘round these parts.”

Setting aside her lingering confusion Fluttershy let go of the branch and slowly floated back to the ground. Timidly cringing she could still not bare to make eye contact. None of the foals back at flight camp ever spoke to her unless they were making fun of her, would this colt be any different? She was still unsure.

“Didn’t mean to scare ya,” continued the red Earth Pony in a drawl the likes of which Fluttershy had never heard before. “I just heard some kinda explosions and came to see what it was.” Introducing himself he extended his hoof to the lanky filly.

Fluttershy looked back and forth from the hoof before her and the smiling face of the pony it belonged to. He seemed friendly enough, and nopony with a nick name like ‘Lil’ could be a bully. Taking a chance, the shrinking violet of a yellow filly whispered her own name in introduction.

“That’s a right perdy name,” the colt said with a smile. Fluttershy blushed a rosy pink. No one had ever called her ‘perdy’ before and whatever it meant it certainly sounded nice. “Where’re y’all from?”

And so with frequent uses of hesitant ‘ums’ and pauses Fluttershy gave her story of being from Cloudsdale and falling from Flight Camp to just a short while ago when she discovered the ground and her special talent for the first time. By the time she was recounting all the little animals she had met Fluttershy realized she was rambling and with an embarrassed gasp covered her mouth with her hooves. Looking away and trying desperately to hide behind her long bangs she gave a barely audible apology.

One could barely find the words to describe Fluttershy’s surprise when she glanced over to her companion, expecting to see him bored or annoyed but instead found him at rapt attention. His eyes wide with fascination and his smile warm and welcoming it was clear he had listened to every word she said, even saying he found her story ‘mighty interesting’.

A brief silence fell over the two foals. The filly rubbed her foreleg nervously while the colt rubbed the back of his neck, neither sure what to say next.. “Say,” began the colt, breaking the silence. “If y’all ain’t ever seen the ground before, does that mean you ain’t ever seen an apple tree before neither?”

Fluttershy looked at the colt from behind her protective wall of pink forelocks. She didn’t quite understand the question. Sure she had seen apples but no she had never seen apple trees before. “Ummm, no?” she answered as honestly as she could.

The smile that spread across the colts face was enough to draw her from her shelter. With kind and inviting eyes he gently offered her his hoof. “Would you like to see one?”

Once more Fluttershy looked at the lanky hoof before her and then to the colt’s face; His smile unfaltering and his eyes filled with such kindness that she broke into a small smile of her own. In a bold feat for her, Fluttershy took his lanky hoof in her own and was led further into this unknown world. Her gait still timid, but deep down quite thankful to have run into somepony as friendly, not-scary and not too big as Lil Macintosh.