Swept up

Fluttershy watched as Gust and Rainbow disappeared back into the gray layer of clouds above, and couldn't stop herself from smiling as she finished her cupcake. 'I must be getting better at this whole assertive thing, I was so cool!'

It was then that Pinkie Pie zoomed next to her, an excited smile on her face. “Ooooo, who was that, fluttershy?” She asked, staring at where the pegasi duo had flown into the clouds. “I've never seen you talk to a boy before! What's his name? Do you like him? Did you just meet him? What's he like?”

The pale pegasus stuttered, unsure where to begin with the sudden barrage of questions. “Uhm, well...He needed a place to sit, and this seat was open...His name's Gust...wait.” She paused, eyes widening. “What do you mean 'Like'?”

Pinkie winked at Fluttershy mischievously. “What do you think I mean, silly? Do you like him or do you like like him?” She said, a teasing tone in her voice.

Fluttershy's face instantly went bright pink, and she struggled to form a coherent sentence. “I don't-We were just- eep!”

Fluttershy squeaked and hid her face behind her hair as pinkie giggled. “I'm just joking Fluttershy! Guys and Gals can just be friends! Besides, who knows if you'll ever see him again?”

“Uhm...” Fluttershy stammered and her blush deepened, her eyes determinedly glued  to the floor of the bakery. “We're actually going to meet here again tomorrow...to talk.”

Pinkie's eyes widened and she gasped dramatically. “Fluttershy! YOU have a DATE!” Fluttershy's head whipped up to look at Pinkie. “W-what? No I don't! Stop teasing me, Pinkie! He didn't call it a date! He just said he wanted to meet up and talk to me, he probably just wants to be friends...right? Pinkie, right?!” Fluttershy's tone rose dangerously close to panic, as she stared desperately at Pinkie for reassurance.

Pinkie shrugged. “I don't really know. It sounds like a date! And what's more romantic than a cake shop? It's where I'D bring a date!... Maybe you should ask Rarity or Rainbow dash, I think they've both had boyfriends before, they'll be able to help you!”

Fluttershy nodded, clinging to her friend’s words. “Okay, I will...thanks Pinkie, wish me luck, please.” With that, Fluttershy threw some bits down onto the table for her snacks and darted out the door. “Good luck!” Pinkie called after her as she collected the bits and skipped from the table to the counter of the store.

Fluttershy's mind raced as she dashed across town. “Okay, Rainbow Dash should still be up in the clouds...I don't know how long that will take, I'd better head over to Rarity's.” However, she skidded to a stop as comprehension dawned on her. She let out a small frustrated squeak “Oh No! The fashion show! Rarity won't be home until tonight, at the earliest!” She paced back and forth wringing her hands together, her breath quickening as she began to truly panic. She had to talk to someone, someone intelligent, someone who always had a new idea...Then it hit her. “Twilight! the library!” She wheeled around and sprinted towards the library as fast as her stumbling feet would take her.

A  violet-haired girl was curled up inside a tree. But this was no ordinary tree. This large, hollow tree served as the Ponyville library, holding hundreds of books that spanned countless subjects, all stowed away neatly. All save for one. The pony, who went by the name of Twilight, was intently reading a copy of “A unicorns unified collection of  pyrotechnics: How to light up the skies next summer!”. The purple horn on her forehead began to glow softly with a purple luminescence as she flipped the page quickly, hands free, with magic, but she was careful not to damage the paper. She had to admit it was a fascinating read, and the author, Flashbang Fizzle, really knew his stuff. His theories on disintegration and color dispersion were-

Her thoughts were cut short by a loud rapping on the door. Twilight set the book aside and sauntered over, a bit annoyed with being interrupted on what was supposed to be a quiet day of study. All pretense of annoyance disappeared, however, when she opened the door to find a clearly panicked, tousle-haired Fluttershy panting at her doorstep.

“Twilight! Oh thank goodness! I didn't know where else to turn! I need your help!”

“Fluttershy? Come in come in! is everything okay?” Twilight asked, growing concerned. “What's wrong?”. She moved out of the way for Fluttershy to enter. Fluttershy followed her in hurriedly, still panting a bit. “Twilight, it's awful, just awful!” She moaned.

Twilight's heart began to race. “Fluttershy, please, tell me what's going on, is everyone okay?”.

Fluttershy took a deep breath, and began to speak. “Everypony's fine Twilight, except for me...I...I...”

“What fluttershy? Please tell me.”

“I...I have...”

“A cold? You look fine Fluttershy, maybe a little pale but-”

“Ihaveadate!” she blurted out.

Twilight blinked, her panic replaced by confusion. “Uh...come again?”

Fluttershy sighed and set herself on the library's couch “I have...a date.”.

She regaled the entire story to twilight. When she had finished, Twilight sighed, a sympathetic smile on her face as she put a consoling arm on on Fluttershy's dainty shoulders. ”I'm not going to lie to you Fluttershy, I don't have much experience with these things...but it certainly sounds like a date to me.”

Fluttershy squeaked in panic, collapsing and pushing her face into the couch. “What am I gonna do, Twilight?” She said, voice muffled by the cushions. “I-I don't know the first thing about boys! Or dating!”

Twilight gave her a consoling pat on the shoulder. “It'll be okay, Fluttershy, he's not going to hurt you!... Tell you what, we'll do what I do when I have a problem. Study it! There's an entire shelf of romance and love life books here, how about we pick some out and flip through them, see what we can find out? ”

Fluttershy lifted her head a bit, and then nodded...at least, Twilight thought she had nodded, it may have just been Fluttershy teetering on the decision of leaving the safety she found within the couch cushions. She was willing to take what she could get. “Yay! Study buddy! Spike! Come down for a minute, please?”

A small amount of rustling could be heard upstairs, and soon a bleary-eyed purple baby dragon descended down the stairs, yawning. “What can I do for you Twilight?... Oh, hey Fluttershy, didja loose something in the couch?”

Twilight tilted her head to the side. “Spike, what were you-”

“I wasn't napping! I was just-making my bed! And that made me look at it, and you know how I get when I look at my bed, it just looked so warm, and comfortable...”

Twilight rolled her eyes, and interrupted the dragon's rambling. “It's quite alright, Spike, I was just hoping you could grab us some books...from the romance section.”

Spike made a face as though he was about to vomit. “Eww! Why the heck would you need some of those books, Twi?”

Twilight sighed. “They're not for me, per se...We'll talk about it later, just help me look...” Twilight turned to the yellow pony on the couch. “Fluttershy? Would you like to help?” She asked gently.

Spike looked from Twilight to Fluttershy, comprehension dawning on his reptilian features. “Wait, they're for FLUTTERSHY? Quiet, so-shy-it's-in-her-name Fluttershy?”.

The only response Spike received was a dejected meep from Fluttershy as she finally pulled herself off the couch and shuffled over to the row of books.

They spent the next few minutes looking through all the titles, Fluttershy blushing, Spike pretending to wretch, and an increasingly excited Twilight smiling as she used her magic to levitate and look over the books. “You know, this could be fun! It's kind of exhilarating to delve into a new subject like this, and we already have the perfect vehicle to test our findings!” Fluttershy groaned, shoving a book with a man and woman in a passionate embrace on the cover, back into the shelf.

Soon, they had a stack of books, and Fluttershy sat with Twilight on the couch, reading intently. “Hmm...” Twilight mused. “It seems that boys like it when you play 'hard to get'”.

Fluttershy raised her head from her own book. “Is that like a game or something?” She asked.

“No, I don't think so.” The studious young woman responded. “It seems like the girl pretends to not like the boy, and somehow that makes the boy like her...more? No, that can't be right... That's ridiculous, I must have misread it or something...” Twilight mumbled, flipping a few pages back to reread the beginning of the chapter, her purple eyes narrowing as she peered at the text.

“Uhm...Twilight?” Fluttershy chimed. “It says here that, um, men like it when you're honest... maybe I should just tell him that I don't want to date him?”

Twilight flipped a page in her book. “I don't think so Fluttershy, you've got to go through with this one date. I know it's nerve-wracking, but at the end of it you can explain the misunderstanding. It wouldn't be fair to just stand him up... besides, you said he was nice, right?”

Fluttershy nodded slowly. “Yes, he was, bu-”

“Well, just tell him at the end of the date that you 'just want to be friends'. It seems like a lot of girls do that...”

“Does it say how the boys handle it?”

“Well, I think it's safe to assume he won't be happy”

Fluttershy's eyes widened. “Oh no, you mean he's gonna be mad at me?”

Twilight shrugged. “Probably not angry, more sad or disappointed than anything... but he'll get over it! It's not like you're breaking up with him or anything, you have to be a couple first. It says so right here.” She says confidently, circling a passage in the book with her finger.

Fluttershy shook her head. “I don't want to make him sad either! Do you think he'll cry? I hope he doesn't cry because I-I'll start crying and-! Maybe I should bring some tissues, just in case.” She muttered, wiping one of her eyes.

Twilight couldn't help but smile at her friend. “I... doubt he'll cry, Fluttershy.”

They talked for hours, long enough that the sky went from gray to nearly black, the sheet of clouds now blocking out Princess Luna's nighttime display. Fluttershy had managed to calm down a bit, and was sipping quietly on a cup of tea Twilight had brought her. “Thank you very much for all your help twilight, I feel a bit better... I still wish I didn't have to do this tomorrow, but at least now I have a plan, and after that, maybe I'll have a new friend.”

Twilight smiled at her friend, “You're most welcome Fluttershy, and please tell me how it goes, I must say it's an interesting subject.” Just then, a knock came from the door...no, not knocking, frenzied battering. Twilight sighed on her way over to answer. “A little late for a visitor to show up... I'm coming, I'm coming, hold your horses.”

Her eyes widened as she swung the door open to find four girls, four of her friends, Pinkie Pie, bouncing a little on her feet, Rainbow Dash, hovering and peering into the library, A freckled young woman with green eyes and blonde hair, and an elegantly dressed, purple haired unicorn standing at her door. “Uh, hey girls...what's going on?” Twilight greeted.

The  unicorn, Rarity, spoke first, her usual perfectly placed attire slightly askew, as though she had been running, and her hair slightly frazzled. “Twilight, have you seen Fluttershy? I need to speak to her immediately! She wasn’t home, so we thought we’d check here.”

“Oh, she's in there, sugarcube.” the orange pony with blonde hair pointed out.

Rarity sped past Twilight and over to a startled Fluttershy before nearly instantly wrapping the pegasus into a crushing hug. “Oh, Fluttershy, DARLING! You've found yourself a lover! I knew you would, but this soon I would have never- But enough about that tell me about HIM! What was it like? What's his name? Was it Love at first sight? I just can't believe it....ohhhh Fluttershy!” She squeezed Fluttershy tighter, until the country girl, Applejack, split the two up.

“Alright, now, let's give the girl a chance to talk...and, y'know, breathe.”

Upon noticing that Fluttershy was panting, Rarity's smile diminished a little. “Oh, my apologies Fluttershy, I guess I got a little carried away.”

Fluttershy returned a shaky smile to her horned friend. “It's okay Rarity...What's going on? Why are you all here?”

Applejack chuckled and leaned against the couch. “Pinkie Pie told us everything. Looks like you've done went and got yerself a boyfriend.” She winked at the pegasus, who slumped against the couch and pulled her knees up to her chin.

Rainbow Dash drifted over the Fluttershy, smiling slyly. “Uh...sorry about earlier, I didn't know I was interrupting anything like...that.” She said a bit sheepishly.

“It's alright.” She mumbled, reeling a bit from all the attention. “But...Twilight and I have been talking. I don't want a boyfriend right now, I'm just going to tell him that I want to just be friends.”

Rarity seemed to physically deflate. “Oh, Fluttershy, you'll break the poor thing's heart!”.

“I-I'm still going to go on the date!” Fluttershy responded quickly.  “I'm just going to kindly explain that there was a misunderstanding, and that a relationship of that nature is...not something I'm looking for right now.”

Rarity brightened up a little bit. “Oh! So you're still going on a date with him then? Well, darling, I must insist that you allow me to help you get ready for it!”

Fluttershy stared at Rarity, but couldn't bear to disappoint her any further. “I...okay.” She conceded, sighing.

Rarity squealed with delight and pranced towards the door. “Alright! I expect to see you at my house at 9 o'clock sharp! You'll look even better than you did at the Gala! Goodnight!” She said, leaving the library.

“Welp, I reckon I should be headin' home too. Good luck tomorrow Fluttershy, whatever happens, just be honest with the fella, y'hear?” She said, giving fluttershy a firm clap on the back.  With that, she followed  Rarity out the door.

Rainbow dash went over to Fluttershy again, and, unsure of what else to do, gave Fluttershy an awkward pat on the head. “Just...be sure to let him down easy okay? The last thing I need is Gust acting all mopey. He spaces out enough during work...” She muttered, gliding towards the door.

Finally, Pinkie Pie bounced over to Fluttershy. “I'm so so excited for tomorrow! I don't think i'll be able to sleep! Don't you worry about a thing, Anty Pinkie Pie's gonna take care of everything at the bakery! Hay, I'll even wait on you!” She bounded away and out the door, humming all the way.

When the door had closed, Twilight trotted over to her friend. Fluttershy let out an exhausted moan and slumped onto her side, eyes closed.

“Fluttershy, if it would make you feel better, you could stay here tonight. We could have a quiet little sleepover! I've grown quite good at them!” Twilight offered brightly.

Fluttershy rose to her feet slowly, and turned to her friend with a grateful smile. “You've done a lot for me already Twilight, Thank you very much for the kind offer but I think i'll just head home. I want to make sure Angel bunny is covered.”

Twilight smiled and nodded in understanding, and Fluttershy made for the door, yawning

When she finally made it home, Angel Bunny was already asleep, curled in his bed next to a few remaining bits of carrot. Fluttershy smiled and draped his blanket over him, before curling into her own bed. As she snuggled in, she sighed. “Well…Maybe it could be fun.”

                                                                  END PART II