More than friendship

Among the few ponies that had ever visited Fluttershy's cottage, all agreed it was a noisy, uncomfortable place. It always full of animals scurrying one place to another, with their caregiver trying to care for them all without neglecting any. Nopony was surprised that the noise continued, sometimes even at night.

But today the source of noises was totally different. Anypony that looked out of the window would have been surprised to see how the normally quiet pegasus was running from one place to another. She opened a drawer, took out a dress, hesitated and then stored it again. After she went to the mirror and tried different hairstyles, until finally finding one she liked. Then she took food packages from her wicker basket, counted them and left in the basket again.

This happened every single five minutes.

"Oh, Angel, she'll be here in just a moment, do I look fine?"

The little bunny kicked the ground with obvious anger. He never liked when she left him alone in the house to go anywhere, but tonight she hadn't even prepared his dinner. She expected him to prepare it alone! It was totally unfair!

"Yes, I know, it's just a dinner with a friend," Fluttershy said, misinterpreting the gesture. "But we've not been together since we were fillies. If she discovers that I..." she trailed off as she buried her head in the couch cushions, totally embarrased.

Angel didn't hesitate and kicked her head insistently. He knew that if he left her like this, she would take hours to calm down. It would be better if she went to dinner. With some luck, it would end quickly and when she would be back again so he could enjoy an excellent salad of blackberries. The blows, thankfully, had the desired effect. Fluttershy raised her head and breathed deeply a few times, trying to calm down.

Why did Rainbow have to invite her to dinner?

Fluttershy knew the answer. This was beacuse of the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange. Nothing that Fluttershy said made Rainbow feel less guilty. She still felt horrible for having sold her (in her own words) in exchange for the old book of Daring Do. It was true that she was very hurt by the actions of Rainbow, but she had apologized in public and bought the whistle she wanted, that was enough for her. Back to Ponyville Fluttershy hoped that Rainbow would forgive herself and return to normal. Fluttershy was wrong.

She didn't even remember what she was doing when Rainbow proposed it to her. From that moment Fluttershy just remembered how her heart stopped, how she looked into Rainbow's bright eyes and heard her insistent plea. You shouldn't, you shouldn't, whispered her common sense, but Fluttershy didn't listen. All of her attention was on Dash, and finally said yes. She couldn't resist, whenever Dash asked her something she couldn't refuse. She loved her too much.

It all started in the Young Flyers Camp. She was the only pony that had ever defended her, the only pony who had faced the bullies to end their taunts, the only pony who didn't care if Fluttershy wasn't really good at flying. The race she started for defending her was just the start of their friendship. Sometimes she thought it was a dream. How a cool filly, so admired by everypony, could want to be her friend? But Rainbow was always there when she needed, giving support without judgment.

As they got older, Fluttershy realized what she felt for Dash had slowly transformed into something more than friendship. She had to endure seeing Rainbow's growing interest in going out with colts and how she initiated several engagements. It didn't last long, but Rainbow had the eye of every colt in the Academy and was never single for long time. Meanwhile Fluttershy was content with hiding in the back of the yearbook, writing poems she'll never read her and dreaming that someday Rainbow could be at her side as her fillyfriend.

Then she had to leave Cloudsdale. Before that, it was difficult to stay around Rainbow knowing that the feeling wasn't reciprocated, but the pain of separation and her situation was more than she could resist. She had tried to keep her friend out of her mind, focusing on starting a new life with her aunt and leaving her past behind. She almost succeeded too, but fate has a strange way of playing his cards.

If she hadn't taken the job in Ponyville, she would have never seen Dash again. But Rainbow was there, the first day she came to this town, resting on a cloud. The years had made her much even attractive and cool, if that was possible. And most importantly: she remembered her. That day the tears Fluttershy shed were of pure happiness and she knew she didn't care if Dash never felt the same, all Fluttershy wanted was to be with her, even if it was only as a friend.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

The sharp rap of hooves took her out of her dreams. For a few seconds, old fears came back again, but this time she forced herself to remain calm. She had been with Rainbow Dash thousand times, she could do this, she could have dinner with her alone.

She took a deep breath and opened the door.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Just in time, thought Twilight as she finished of sealing the letter that she had just written for Princess Celestia. Inside, she detailed the deplorable state of Everfree Castle's library and included a desperate suggestion to arrange a transfer of its books to a better place. The first time she saw it, she couldn't believe that her mentor had left thousands of books behind in those ruins, completely unprotected. What was Celestia thinking? Twilight hadn't had time before, but she felt that as princess should make something, something important and useful for everypony in Equestria. And this was a perfect target.

She smiled as she heard a second batch of knocks on the door, this time more impatient. Hurrying more than usual, Twilight came down the stairs and opened the door with her magic before even stepping on the ground floor. The blue pony entered with an exhalation.

"It's about time!" said Rainbow Dash as missed out the room. "Where is Spike?"

"I gave him the night off, these last few days he has worked very hard and I thought that deserved a break. Quiet," Twilight added, seeing the alarm in Rainbow's eyes, "he left all your stuff before he left. The vegetable paella and for dessert a few cream fritters" she pointed out a wicker basket. "Don't say it to him, but I think this time he had surpassed himself."

Rainbow inspected the contents of basket, thoroughly checking for herself if what Twilight said was true. Just the smell was enough to Dash's stomach come alive and issue an audible roar that made Twilight laugh.

"Great. Are you sure Fluttershy will like it?"

"She said it to me when we went shopping, and I have repeated a thousand times," she said, rolling her eyes, "you don't have to be so nervous.

"Me, nervous? Why should I be?"

That same question was in Twilight's mind since Rainbow asked for help organizing a perfect evening. She partly understood, because the first suggestions that emerged from the pegasus hadn't been very successful, but not so outlandish as justifying extreme anxiety she had from to days. They only had to agree on a couple of points and vöila, the perfect dinner was ready. At first Twilight hesitated, but was increasingly beginning to believe that the interest of Rainbow Dash went beyond trying to make peace with Fluttershy.

"Well, I'm leaving, Fluttershy will already be waiting."

"Rainbow Dash is being punctual? If I didn't know any better I'd say you are taking this as a date," she pointed, kidding at her friend’s expense.

"What?!" Dash's eyes opened wide. "Don't be silly. This is just to apologize, a small party with a friend, nothing like a stupid dates."

"DID SOMEPONY SAY PARTY?"

Both ponies jumped when the most craziest around Ponyville popped out of one of the shelves, made a double somersault and finished his exhibition throwing by shower of confetti.

"Pinkie! What are you doing here?"

"Preparing for the party!" she began bouncing around her friends as she gave an almost unintelligible explanation. "I was in front of the Zecora's house because I was thought we could invite her to our next party because we've never done because she is our friend and because she hadn't had welcome party to Ponyville and then I hear to Dash about a party and I had to come. What are we celebrating?"

Twilight intervened, fearing that if she let Pinkie recover her breath she'd take over a party without having time to object.

"Pinkie! There's not going to be any party!" that was enough for the pony as she stopped and looked at Twilight with huge puppy eyes. "Rainbow only spoke about dinner that was with Fluttershy tonight."

"Woooooo! Is that true? A dinner for two? Like a date? That's amazing!"

"It's not a date!" interjected Rainbow, looking at Twilight angrily. "Did you have to tell her that?"

"I didn't know it was a secret, after all it's just a dinner between friends, right?" Twilight knew that she shouldn't make fun of this, but Dash made it so easy that was inevitable.

"Exactly, just a date... a dinner, a dinner, that's what I meant! Oh, come on!" Rainbow corrected herself while her cheeks turned red. At same time her friends started laughing uncontrollably. "You are the worst friends ever!

With a grunt she took the basket in her mouth and was about to leave when Pinkie Pie grabbed her.

"Wait! Before you go, take this," Pinkie went to the kitchen, and after a series of rumblings that made Twilight fear for the integrity of her crockery, returned with a record-player on her hoof.

"I have record-players stashed all over Ponyville, in case of record-player emergencies. With this, your date will be a success."

"For last time, it's not a date! Bye!" said Rainbow, determined to not lose any more time and going out flying at full speed with her basket and record-player, though she had no intentions of using the latter. Even so, she had time to hear the Pinkie's shrill voice shouting.

"Goooooood luuuuuuck!"