How It Started: Fluttershy and Braeburn
How it Started: Fluttershy and Braeburn
Braeburn Apple, founder of Appaloosa, stepped off the train at Ponyville Station and took a deep breath, smiling happily. “It's good ta be here!” He declared to himself, causing a pony next to him to step away, uncertainly.
See, Braeburn needed to visit his family in Ponyville today due to a problem occurring in Appaloosa...
...Well a dust cloud was a big problem!
A big wind from a malfunction in the Cloudsdale weather factory caused a bad set of clouds to drift over the small settlement and created a large storm that covered the whole town in a huge layer of dust which caused crops to start to die out and asthma attacks in the ponies.
So all the ponies in the settlement were 'evacuated' until the weather ponies in that region can sort it out. So Braeburn decided he'd pay his favourite cousins a surprise visit and, hopefully, be able to get some lodging for the week.
He grinned like an idiot and trotted towards the town, ready to face his family with his dilemma. He wasn't as stubborn as his cousins, so could admit when he needed help.
“Thanks for helping me out, Flutters.” Rainbow said as Fluttershy readjusted the bandage on her wing.
“Oh...Its no problem...But how did you do this? If you don't mind me asking.” Fluttershy replied, quietly. The cyan mare chuckled, sheepishly.
“Well I kinda bet AJ I could lift three whole hay bales by myself. After I got the three on my back, I pushed them up and they sorta fell to the left and kinda...snapped the wing.” Fluttershy gasped, looking the delicately wrapped appendage over again.
“Oh dear, that sounds serious...”
“Yeah. I'm grounded for three months!” Rainbow declared, sighing. She already missed the rush the air gave her. “I'm just lucky that Soarin managed to convince Spitfire to give me the three months off or I would've been screwed!”
“Oh...That was nice of him...” Rainbow rolled her eyes.
“I bet he was just trying to impress AJ with his kindness.” She felt one last, gentle tug on her wing and Fluttershy step back. Rainbow stretched her hooves out like a cat and sighed. “Thanks girl.”
“It's no problem...Anything for a friend...” The cyan mare chuckled a bit and took a seat on the sofa, Fluttershy following afterwards.
“Careful who ya say that to girl. Somepony might take advantage of that.”
“Oh...Sorry?” Fluttershy replied, uncertainly, picking up the cup of tea that she was drinking just before Rainbow dropped in, but felt it had gone cold. “Oh...Um...Do you want some tea?”
“Sure!” Rainbow grinned, looking at a hummingbird perching itself on the arm rest next to her, looking sympathetic. “Um...Hummingway it's not as bad as it looks...Okay maybe it is, but I'll be fine.”
Hummingway nodded, rubbing his face against her foreleg as a way to tell her to get better, before flying away just as the butter yellow Pegasus returned. “Wow! That was fast!”
“Oh...Um sorry?” Rainbow rolled her eyes again, taking her cup to take a sip.
“You don't need to keep apologising to me, Flutters.” Rainbow answered. “Heck, especially if you do good things.”
“Oh...Okay...” There was a silence that reigned over them for a second before Fluttershy piked up again. “So...How is it going between you and Big Macintosh?” She asked, genuinely curious about her best friend's relationship.
“Pretty well I'd say.” She answered, blushing a bit. She was never used to getting asked about this stuff and it always made her feel a little awkward. “He's going to be picking me up in about ten minutes to go get some lunch.” She continued, noticing Tank walk over to her, slowly.
Fluttershy giggled when Rainbow squeed, excitedly, and picked up the reptile in a large hug. “Tank! Oh I thought I wouldn't see you again for three months!” She exclaimed, nuzzling Tank lovingly.
That was when she remembered that Fluttershy was still around and the colour drained from her face. In panic, she turned with a pleading look in her eyes. “Please! PLEASE don't tell anypony about this!”
“Your secret is safe with me...” She replied, softly. “...and that's great. About you and Macintosh that is.” She sighed, wistfully, which Rainbow caught onto pretty quickly.
“Wait...Are you jealous?” The quiet pony gasped and hid behind her mane, her face flushing a little.
“Um...Well...Kinda...Um...” Rainbow placed Tank onto her back, away from her hurt wing, and placed a hoof on her shoulder.
“Hey c'mon Flutters, I'm not mad. Heck, half of Ponyville is jealous that I'm with Mac! What's one more pony gonna hurt?” Fluttershy shook her head at her friend.
“N-no...I'm not j-jealous that you're dating Mac...I-I just...I'm jealous that you're dating!” She replied. If it were any other pony, Fluttershy sure as heck wouldn't say something like this. But Rainbow Dash is her best friend and has been since Flight Camp, so it was easy to express herself to her.
“Oh! I get it!” Rainbow grinned, punching Fluttershy softly in he shoulder. “You want a coltfriend! Well, I'd say a few guys around town would be interested in getting to know ya. You could try talking to one of them?” Fluttershy let out an eep and hid behind her mane.
“Oh no! I could never do something like that! It'd so embarrassing if I tried! And what if that pony already had a special somepony!” She continued, already hyperventilating at the imaginary scenario.
Tank and Rainbow shared a look, before the mare tried to calm her friend down. “Hey it's okay, Flutters, don't worry.”
There was a knock on the door and, making sure her friend was at least taking some calmer breaths, she went to answer it, already knowing who it is.
Macintosh grinned and nuzzled the cyan Pegasus, causing her to giggle and Tank to wobble a bit on her back. “Howdy Dashie...” He then looked up and patted Tank's shell as he slowly smiled back. “Howdy Tank.”
“Hi Mackie.” Rainbow replied, as Fluttershy looked on, having overcome her brief moment of panic. Never had she seen Rainbow act this way before. Her friend would usually punch anypony who dared call her 'Dashie'.
But it was as it was as if she was a completely different pony around Big Mac. Like Mac was the one pony that Rainbow trusted enough to let her bravado defences down and to be a little filly again.
He glanced over Rainbow and nodded to Fluttershy, smiling thankfully. “Howdy Fluttershy. Thanks fer lookin' after her, Ah mighty appreciate it.”
Fluttershy hid behind her mane, blushing in embarrassment yet again. “It's no trouble at all...” She replied.
“Well, we best be leaving before the lunch time rush settles in.” Rainbow stated, remembering how hectic Hayburger King gets during said hour.
“Eeyup.” Mac nodded, sending one last, grateful smile over to the butter yellow Pegasus. “Thanks again.”
Fluttershy let out one more wistful sigh as the two left her home, daydreaming about what could be if she wasn't so shy.
Braeburn trotted through town on, dead set on making it to Sweet Apple Acres in time for lunch. He didn't have a lot of time to catch breakfast and the food on the snack carriage in the train tasted like it was cooked with the flames of Tartarus!
Nothing could beat a good old, Apple family meal. He could literally hear his stomach roar at him as he thought about it.
He continued down the road before he saw a familiar, large red shape in the window of a nearby fast food restaurant and stopped, turning in surprise.
Inside he saw his cousin, Big Macintosh, on a date with a mare! The last time he was in town, he could've sworn that his eldest cousin was single.
The mare opposite his cousin was that cyan Pegasus that helped Appaloosa with the agreement with the Buffalo, Rainbow Dash. That, in itself, was also a bit of a surprise.
Braeburn shook his head, and continued down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres, lost in his own thoughts. “Well Ah'll be! Mac finally got himself a mare! Lucky son of a dog!”
“Cousin Braeburn!” Braeburn heard from a distance. He smiled, looking down to see his youngest, Ponyville cousin, Applebloom. She hugged him, excitedly, and started to speak again. “It's good ta see ya! What are ya doin' here?”
“Well there's a bit o' trouble wit' Appaloosa an' Ah need a place ta stay for a week or two. An' here Ah am!” He replied, happily. Applebloom smiled, and started to trot beside him as they made their way to the farm house.
“Great! We were jus' startin' lunch! Ah hope ya hungry!”
“Starved!” He grinned, the farm house coming into view for the two.
“Are you okay, Rainbow?” Mac asked as they made their way over to Sweet Apple Acres, just having finished with their lunch.
Rainbow snapped out of her thoughts, and looked up at her concerned looking coltfriend. “Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine...”
“Ah know when ya lyin', Rainbow...” Mac replied with a deadpan expression on his face. Tank asleep on his back. “Is this about ya wing...Ah'm real sorry AJ made ya do that...”
“No no, Mac that's not it at all!” She quickly interrupted him. “It's...Well it's actually Fluttershy.”
Mac rose an eyebrow and nodded, signalling for her to go on.
“It's just...We were talking earlier and she said she wanted a coltfriend of her own. But she's just...so...”
“Shy?” Mac guessed, smiling a bit.
“Yeah...”
“Rainbow, Ah weren't exactly tha most talkative o' ponies ta begin wit'. It's all about findin' tha right pony.” Mac continued, nuzzling the Pegasus, causing her to blush a bit. “Ah found mine an' Ah'm sure as heck, sooner or later, Fluttershy will find hers...”
“Yeah...I just feel so bad for her. Her shyness is part of her and...Well what if she meets that pony, but he gets frustrated with her?”
“Then he ain't tha right pony.” Mac rose an eyebrow at her thoughtful expression. “What ya thinkin'?”
“Well...And this is just a thought! But what if we set her up on a date. You know, find a good guy in town or something and set them up together on a blind date!” Rainbow answered, seeing some sense in her plan. Fluttershy would never ask a pony out herself and would run away, scared if a pony asked her out. This method took that variable out completely.
Mac decided to add his opinion though. “Even then, there's a good chance she may be too scared ta show up...” Rainbow grunted, having not thought of that. “So how about we make it a double date an' go wit' 'em. That way, since she has tha two of us there, she'd be a little more comfortable.”
“That's a great idea!” Rainbow exclaimed, nuzzling him under the chin. “We do work great as a team!”
“Even better than tha Avengers...” Mac grinned, before they made it to the house and entered in.
“Well howdy cousin Mac!” Braeburn declared, causing the couple to jump a little in surprise.
“Cousin Braeburn?” Mac replied, shaking out of it long enough to give a hoof bump. “What are ya doing here? Not that it ain't a good thing ta see ya.”
“Well good old APPALOOSA! Is in a bit o' trouble at tha moment, so Ah decided ta visit ma favourite cousins here in Ponyville!” He replied, before glancing at Rainbow Dash. “But enough about me, when did ya git yerself a marefriend?”
Mac turned to Rainbow, who shrugged in response. “Well, we first properly met each other when we whooped all our friends flanks in bowlin' an that evenin' she asked me out an' that just about sums it up.” He responded, rubbing his jaw a little. He's still not used to talking this much, especially at one given time.
“Yup, that was about a two weeks ago and we've been going strong ever since.” She looked up and down, as if evaluating him. “So what about you?”
“Um...Well no romance to speak of for me really...” Mac seemed to know where Rainbow was going with this when she turned to give him a questioning look. A look as if to say 'What about him?'
To which he remembered that Braeburn would always talk to him and always wait for a response no matter how long it took. Braeburn was definitely a kind and patient stallion. It was worth a shot.
So Mac nodded to his marefriend, who looked quite happy. “Good because, if you want, I could set ya up with one of my friends. You don't have to, but she's looking for somepony.”
“She ain't in heat or nothin'.” Mac decided to clarify, seeing that Braeburn was starting to look a little scared. “She's a real sweet gal too, we reckon you'll like her.”
“Oh good...Wouldn't be tha first time somepony tried ta pull that one on me...” Braeburn chuckled, before composing himself a bit. “So which friend is it?”
“Um...” Rainbow contemplated the answer, Mac staying silent and letting the Pegasus finish the conversation lest he screw anything up. “Well, this is supposed to be a blind, double date so...”
“Oh cool! Mystery huh? Sounds like fun!” He replied, happily. “So it'll either be Miss Fluttershy or Miss Twilight, huh?”
She rose an eyebrow at him. “And how do you know it won't Pinkie or Rarity?”
“Well Rarity is datin' Thunderlane an' Pinkie is datin' that Cheese Sandwich fellow.” Rainbow stared at him for a few more seconds until he clarified. “Caramel moved to Appaloosa after Rarity an' Thunderlane got together an' he told me.”
“Oh that makes sense.” She then decided to get back onto the the topic at hand. “Alright, it'll be tomorrow night, Mac'll be here and we'll meet you at her place.” She said, while also thinking. “That'll give me sometime to prepare Flutters as well.”
“Great! Lookin' forward to it!”
“YOU DID WHAT?!!!” Birds flew away from their caretaker's home while squirrels, rabbits and badgers all scuttled away in fright. Even Angel Bunny, the one who usually was not affected by anything, found himself hiding underneath the couch, away from his owner's incredibly loud shriek.
Rainbow rubbed her left ear, almost as if her ear drum had been blown off. “I said I got you a date tomorrow. Now could ya stop with the screaming?”
“Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!” Fluttershy repeated, flapping her wings in a panic and jumping around on the spot, nervously. “I can't go on a date! What would I do?! What will I wear?! He'll reject me! I know he will!”
“Fluttershy! Calm down, you're getting ahead of yourself!” The rainbow coloured pony interrupted her, placing both her hooves on her shoulders.
She heard Fluttershy whimper, seeing some tears trying to spill out of the nervous mare's eyes. “What if he yells at me for being quiet?” She said, before she pushed Rainbow away and hid under the couch, next to Angel. “I don't want to embarrass anypony! I'll be better off alone! Forever!”
“Forev...” Rainbow clamped a hoof over Pinkie's mouth, who had suddenly appeared behind her, and glared at the pink pony.
“Not...! Now...!” She hissed to Pinkie, who nodded and backed away, into the umbrella basket next to the front door.
“Okie...Doki...Loki...” She replied, before jumping into the basket and disappearing to...where ever the Hell it is Pinkie disappears to!
Rainbow sighed at Pinkie's ill-timed randomness and dropped to the ground to face Fluttershy. “C'mon Flutters, trust me! That won't happen! And if it does, me and Mac will be there to kick his flank!” “Cousin or no cousin, Mac wouldn't let any stallion treat a mare disrespectfully!”
“Y-you will...” She replied, hopefully. Rainbow was confused as to why she was surprised to hear that, before remembering.
“Oh yeah. I forgot to tell ya it's a double date, didn't I?” Rainbow grinned, sheepishly. “Mac thought you'll be more comfortable with some ponies you recognise with you.”
Fluttershy did a 180 on her emotions and squeed in excitement...still causing all her animals to keep their distance. “Oh that is so great! Thank you!” She replied, hugging her best friend tightly, though still careful of her injured wing.
“No problem girl...” Rainbow replied, hugging back. The two released each other and smiled brightly. “It's tomorrow evening. I'll meet you here with Rarity...”
“Why Rarity?” Fluttershy asked, confused. Rainbow grunted.
“Well, Me and Mac decided we should go somewhere relatively nice. We were sure you wouldn't want your first date in Hayburger King...” She would be correct in this assumption. “...so we're going to The Four Meadows.”
“Oh wow...That sounds wonderful...” Rainbow smiled a little at her friend's new found excitement.
“Yeah and, while there isn't a strict dress code, it's still a pretty fancy place. So Rarity's going to prepare us by...” Rainbow actually shuddered before continuing. “...going to the spa.”
Rainbow would usually never be caught dead in the spa, even if her life depended on it...Which admittedly makes no sense what-so-ever, that's just how much she dislikes it!
But this was for Fluttershy! Her best friend since Flight Camp! And if this helped make her happy, well it's always worth a little sacrifice...
...Besides, it's not like Aloe or Lotus will sell her out to the press or anything. Not after the Gabby Gums incident!
“Urg! This darned thin' is itchy!” Braeburn complained, scratching at his neck where a red neck tie hung. Mac rolled his eyes, adjusting the black bow tie he wore.
“Well tough, we're goin' some place fancy an' we don't need ya turnin' up in ya farmer gear.” He said, before the two of them set towards the front door. “Granny! Me an' Braeburn are off!”
“Alrigh', you youngin's have a good night out, ya hear?” They heard the old, green mare reply before a light snoring was heard. Mac chuckled and the two set off.
“So where's AJ been? Ah haven't seen her since dinner last night.” Braeburn asked, deciding a good bit of conversation would help the time fly by.
However, it appears that he forgot who he was talking to. “Workin'...” Mac answered, before going back to silence.
“Really! But...It's like almost supper time! Shouldn't she be headin' back ta tha house?” Mac grunted a replied, staring out at the orchard.
“She should be...But Ah doubt she will...” Mac sighed, shaking his head. “Ah dunno what's gotten inta that mare, but Ah reckon it's probably got somethin' ta do wit' a certain blue Pegasus who likes pie.”
“She got herself a little crush then?” The Appaloosian asked, to which Mac laughed.
“Hardly call it little! Poor AJ is head over hooves fer him!” The red stallion coughed and regained his composure. “Thin' is, Soarin's quite fond o' her too, but...An' though Ah technically didn't say Ah would, Ah feel Ah should keep it ta maself. It ain't fair fer me ta go spreadin' his secrets around.” Mac rubbed his jaw, feeling the familiar ache of talking too much. “How in tarnation do Pinkie an' Cheese do it?”
“Same way Ah do Mac, whole lotta practice!” The yellow pony answered, the two continuing down the path towards Fluttershy's cottage.
“I'm just glad they didn't try to touch my hooves...” Rainbow sighed, her unbroken wing twitching with slight annoyance. “But would it kill the massage pony to mind the wings?! She must know they're sensitive right!”
Fluttershy giggled a little, flapping hers contently. “Oh they just know that Pegasi can really work some stress out of these things...”
“Well yeah...But If I'm uncomfortable with ponies touching my hooves, what in Tartarus made them think my wings would be a green light zone!” Fluttershy blinked and tilted her head to the side a bit.
“Um...What's a green light mean?”
“It means the author didn't put a lot of thought into ponyfying his sayings!” Rainbow sighed and turned to face the pink pony who had, for the second time, found a way into Fluttershy's cottage with out them noticing.
“Pinkie...I'm warning you...” Pinkie nodded, once again backing away towards the umbrella basket.
“Okie...Doki...Loki...” She responded and jumped into the basket, once again disappearing into the basket as Rarity came into the room from the kitchen.
“Did I hear Pinkie Pie just now? Where is she?” Rainbow rolled her eyes and sat on the couch next to Fluttershy.
“With that mare, who knows? I swear she and Discord are a team or something!” Rarity sighed.
“That would make sense, which makes me think that that's not the case...” She then used her magic to pull a couple of brushes through both their manes. “But, putting that aside, the pair of you look marvellous! The spa does do wonders!”
“Don't get too excited, Rares, this was a one time thing for this mare...” Rainbow replied, before a couple of ideas hit her head and she scraped her hoof against the ground. “...You know...unless Mac likes this...”
“You and Mac seem to go so well together, Rainbow...” Fluttershy stated, suddenly feeling a little nervous. “I-I really hope this g-goes well...”
“I assure you it will, Darling! I'm sure Rainbow set you up with the nicest pony she knows!” Rainbow growled, playfully.
“Sorry, Mac's taken...She'll have to settle for second.” The three had a good laugh at that before a knock was heard.
“Oh that's them! Quick, put these on and I'll get out of your manes!” Rarity quickly said, hovering over two replicas of their Elements of Harmony.
“Oooh...Pretty...” Fluttershy said, staring at the pink, jewelled butterfly on the centre of the golden necklace. Rainbow put hers on, but couldn't help but think the same thing. They may just be replicas, but they held just as much beauty as the originals.
“Um...They're takin' a pretty long time, cousin.” Braeburn stated, a little nervous. Sure, he may like to think himself a filly's colt, but in truth he may be just as nervous around mares as Mac is.
“A little patience goes a lon' way, Braeburn. You o' all ponies should know that.” Braeburn playfully punched him in the shoulder.
“Ah know...It's jus' that...Ah haven't gone on a date in a long while. What wit' me workin' in Appaloosa an' all...Ain't a lot a time fer that.”
“You'll be fine, cousin. Just be patient wit' her, that's all...” After Mac said this the door opened and he was immediately wrapped in a hug by his marefriend.
“Hey Mac!” Rainbow said, nuzzling herself into his neck. “I missed you.”
“Ah missed ya more...” Big Mac replied, the pair once again losing themselves in their own little world where they forget that other ponies exist and were watching them.
Fluttershy shuffled, nervously looking at who was going to be her date tonight. “Um...U-um...H-hi...Braeburn...” She said to the yellow stallion who stood slightly taller than her. She remembered him, thankfully, from her trip to Appaloosa with Applejack and the others a while back, so that helped to ease her nerves slightly. He smiled, nervously right back.
“Howdy Miss Fluttershy. Might Ah say yer look awfully pretty tonight?” Fluttershy blushed a red as deep as Mac's fur as he said that, but giggled happily.
“Th-that's very nice...Thank you...” Braeburn sighed in relief, feeling a little less nervous.
“Yer very welcome, Miss Fluttershy.” He replied, glancing at the blue and red ponies next to them. “...so, once these two are done wit' there moment, how's about we head on out?”
“Oh yes. That sounds...” She paused suddenly, her eyes wide in panic. “Oh no! I need to feed my animals!” She yelped, remembering that she was in the spa, so had forgot to feed them lunch. She couldn't forget dinner too!
Braeburn glance at the various animals around her home, eyes full of wonder. “Whoa...That's a lot o' animals!” He exclaimed, cringing when he heard his own volume. Fluttershy whimpered, flattening her ears a bit.
“I'm so SO sorry! I just need to feed my animals and I'll be back in a hurry!” She explained, already cursing herself for this. “Me and my stupid forgetfulness! He'll never want to be special someponies with a scatter brain like me!”
To her surprise and joy however, Braeburn smiled understandingly and nodded to her. “No rush at all, Miss Fluttershy. Ain't like we need ta be there at a certain time or nuttin'.” He then shrugged, laughing a bit. “Besides, these two may be a while.”
She smiled, brightly at him. “Thank you so much! I'll just be a second!” She replied, stepping in to find all her animal's food. Braeburn stood, awkwardly next to the couple who seemed to be nuzzling in their own little world, not at all caring how uncomfortable they were making Braeburn.
“Um...Ya need some help in there?” The Earth Pony asked, standing right in the doorway, but not daring to step inside until he was invited in. He did not want to seem like one of those stallions.
Fluttershy looked back in surprise, before she smiled again, feeling her nerves dry up a little more. “If you want to, that would be very nice of you.” Braeburn nodded back, stepping inside.
He was amazed to say the least. Stepping into her cottage was like stepping into a forest. Everything was just so...Alive! And to a farmer like him, it was just incredible. “Wow! This is a real nice place!”
Fluttershy gasped a little, the food bowls in her hooves cluttering against each other. Nopony ever complimented her place before. They would either see it as any other house or look disgusted at the number of critters all over the place, climbing on the furniture and such. “You really m-mean that?”
“Yeah! It's just so alive an' peaceful in here! Just like livin' with nature...” He replied, smiling honestly just as any other Apple family member. “An' it really is an amazin' thin' ya do fer all these critters! They all look so happy!” He continued, noticing all he content birds and comfortable looking bunnies and mice.
Fluttershy blushed incredibly hard, not prepared for all these compliments.
After a little bit of team work, all of Fluttershy's animals were well fed and happy. They had taken a liking to Braeburn, instantly seeing him as an incredibly friendly individual.
Angel, however, had not. He seemed to know why Braeburn was there and decided to let the stallion know the consequences if he hurt his owner which, despite a lot of ponies disbelief, he cared deeply for.
So for most of the feeding time, he sent the yellow stallion a series of glares and cut throat motions, to which the stallion noticed.
“Um...Is he usually like that?” Braeburn asked, pointing out Angel to Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked to Angel, giggling a little.
“Oh, yes...He's my little protector...” She answered, trotting over and nuzzling the rabbit, lovingly. Angel pretended to look disgusted to keep his facade of toughness up, but inside he loved getting this kind of attention from his 'bird horse'.
Braeburn looked at the scene and smiled, understandably. Angel was just looking out for Fluttershy and thought he'd hurt her. He sent the rabbit a reassuring nod, letting him know that he 'knew his place' so to speak.
Angel crossed his paws and nodded, hopping over to his salad and eating it. Fluttershy giggled and made her way over to Braeburn.
“Okay, that's all of them. Thank you so much for helping, I don't usually get offered.” She said to him, feeling a lot more confident then usual.
“It twas ma pleasure, Miss Fluttershy. It was fun meetin' all yer woodland friends.” He answered, looking over to the front door and seeing that Rainbow and Mac were still not done with their moment. “Um...How long does that usually last?”
The Pegasus giggled a bit, always finding it cute her tough as nails, tomcolt friend became the lovestruck filly she was being in the presence of her coltfriend. “Oh this can last for a while...and they don't like it a lot when they're interrupted...”
There was a small silence that lasted until Fluttershy said, in a fairly small voice. “You know...We could go without them...If you want to that is?”
Braeburn smiled and bowed. “It'd be my pleasure, Miss Fluttershy.”
“J-just Fluttershy is fine...” She said as the two left, leaving the other pair behind.
Ten minutes after they left, Mac and Rainbow finally broke out of their little 'spell' and turned to the house. “Alright, let's get...” Rainbow stopped, confused. “Um...Where are they?”
“Oh they left, Darling.” The two turned and noticed that Rarity had stuck around, sipping tea out of a flask that she had brought along. “They didn't want to interrupt you.”
“Dagnabbit, we did it again.” Mac said, shaking his head a bit. He playfully glared at his marefriend. “You gotta stop being so amazin'.”
Rainbow smirked back, playfully punching his shoulder. “Can't stop I'm afraid, I just radiate awesome!” Then she came to a realisation. “Wait, they left without us!”
“Why yes, the two were getting along so well! Oh you just picked the perfect stallion for her! He was just so interested in her and her care-taking! And what a gentlecolt!” Rarity gushed, to which Mac coughed a bit. She turned and clarified. “I still love Thunderlane.”
“Wouldn't hurt ya ta say it once in a while...” Rainbow chuckled at her coltfriend's remark.
Rainbow composed herself after a while and closed Fluttershy's door for her. “Well, fancy places were never our thing, anyway. Want to go see what Granny Smith made for dinner?”
“Eeyup.” Mac replied, feeling like he hadn't said that enough this story and two walked off, leaving Rarity alone at the cottage.
She smiled, feeling the love in the air of the night as she trotted home. “I must see if Thunderlane isn't too tired to go out tonight! The night is still young!”
“I had a Wonderful time tonight, thank you so much Braeburn.” Braeburn smiled, bowing as they made it to the butter yellow Pegasus's front porch. They noticed that Mac and Rainbow were not there anymore, so they must have realised they left and decided to do something else. “Oh dear, I hope we didn't offend Mac and Rainbow...”
“Ah'm sure it didn't bother them or nuttin. After all, they only really came so it'd be less awkward, right?” Fluttershy nodded, letting out a content sigh at Braeburn's explanation.
“That's true...Still...”
“We'll apologise tomorrow, Ah'm sure they'd understand though...” Braeburn said. “Ah had a great time as well, an' Ah'd be honoured if we could see each other again?”
Fluttershy blushed, but still managed to let a massive smile play on her lips. “I'd like that too...”
The Apple pony nodded, turning to leave. “Great. Ah could bring a picnic over fer lunch tomorrow? Maybe git somethin' fer Angel too...” He offered, thinking that he should probably try to get on the rabbit's good side.
Fluttershy nodded, eyes lighting. “That would be wonderful...”
“It's a date then!” Braeburn finished, turning to leave before he felt a pair of lips hit cheek.
He turned back and saw Fluttershy cutely hide beneath her mane. “Thank you again...” She squeaked, before darting inside her home. Braeburn blinked in surprise, before grinning happily, trotting back to Sweet Apple Acres.
“Looks like Ah got maself a marefriend!” He cheered as he reached the bridge, practically skipping home.