Fluttershy hated being scared. It wasn’t a feeling that was new to her; she had been scared her whole life. Scared of going to flight camp, scared of bullies, scared of flying too high, scared of her own shadow… the list went on.
But this? This was a terror on a whole new level. She was constantly glancing over her shoulder, tense, unable to sleep, and unable to trust other ponies unless their bodies were slathered in green paste. And even then, there was no guarantee.
The changeling invasion had taken what little security and inner peace she had and left her with nothing. Well, nothing except the few ponies who still remained and the one that mattered most to her.
She sighed as she finished tying the knots for the large net that sprawled around her. It’d taken her way too long to fasten it all, but it would be worth it if the quality was good. She turned and nodded to Berry Punch, who stood on the opposite side of a nearby tree, teeth clinging to the end of the rope hanging over one of the tallest branches. “Okay, it’s ready.”
“Finally,” Berry mumbled through her full mouth. She tugged on her end, lifting the net up and into the canopy of the tree.
As the changeling trap rose, the tangled ropes gave way to a pink and green face standing on the other side. Pinkie Pie smiled as the last of her view became clear.
“Hi, Fluttershy.”
She managed a warm smile back. It baffled her that Pinkie could still manage to keep cheer in her voice, especially considering all that had happened in the past few years. She wasn’t complaining, though. If anything, she was grateful. There was so little joy left in the world; she wanted Pinkie to hold on to what little she could.
“Hello.”
“All done for the day?” Pinkie asked hopefully.
Fluttershy glanced around. Her work was hard to spot to an untrained eye. Moss colored nets clung to the tops of trees and tripwires thin enough to thread through a needle darted along the bottoms of forest floor, obscured by underbrush.
“I think so.” She turned to her partner. “Berry?”
“We covered this area. No changelings will be getting through here,” Berry Punch grunted. Where Pinkie kept mirth in her tone, the older mare was much more dour. Understandable really, most ponies were nowadays. She bent down to pick up her crudely-crafted spear. “It’ll be dark before too long; let’s get back to the Sanctuary.”
“Right.” Fluttershy turned to Pinkie. “That is… as long as you’re done. If not, I’ll—”
“Aww, I appreciate the thought, but you don’t have to stay out again just for my sake, Flutters. Besides, I finished a couple minutes ago.” Pinkie patted her sides, which held saddlebags filled to bursting with berries. She glanced up and around, inspecting their last few hours of work. “Your traps look super-duper by the way, but I’d expect nothing less from you.”
“T-thanks.” Fluttershy had never been more thankful for the green paint on her face; it masked her blush perfectly.
“Pick up the pace you two,” Berry called, already walking deeper into the forest.
“Oh, right!” Fluttershy grappled at the ground, trying to find where she’d left her spear. A moment later it appeared before her, held up by a pink hoof. She took it. “Thanks. Again.”
“No problem.”
They started walking, but Fluttershy wasn’t in much of a hurry to catch up. She elected instead to stay beside Pinkie Pie as they made their way through the dense foliage. Fluttershy used her spear to brush branches out of their way, always letting Pinkie Pie through first. Overhead, the sun was descending in the sky.
Just that one simple action gave Fluttershy hope. If the sun was moving, that meant that Princess Celestia had to be alive, fighting the changelings somewhere. And maybe, just maybe, other ponies were with her too.
Or maybe there was some other explanation for the movement of the sun. Maybe Chrysalis had become so powerful that she could move it on her own. Maybe their small tribe back at the Sanctuary really was the last pony settlement in existence…
Fluttershy’s whole body shivered at the thought. The movement was small, but it didn’t go unnoticed by Pinkie Pie… mostly because it allowed a branch to soar free of Fluttershy’s spear and whack her in the face.
“Oof!” Pinkie doubled back, her muddied mane now sporting several new leaves.
Fluttershy flinched and dropped her spear. “O-oh my! Pinkie, I’m so sorry.” She cupped Pinkie’s cheeks in her hooves, inspecting her face. “Are you hurt? Please tell me I didn’t—”
She was interrupted by a bubbly giggle. “I’m okay, Flutters. It’ll take more than a leafy punch to hurt me.”
Despite what had just happened, Fluttershy smiled. Hearing Pinkie laugh was so rare, but it was a wonderful sound, as if somepony had made a symphony for happiness itself.
Fluttershy just wished she could hear it more—make Pinkie laugh more. Ever since her arrival at the Sanctuary all those months ago, Pinkie had kept her past guarded. Even after months of whittling down her barriers, Fluttershy still barely knew anything about the mare.
But that was okay. Prying was never something Fluttershy was comfortable with in the first place and she didn’t need to know Pinkie’s past to know how she felt about her in the present.
“Could you two be any slower?” Berry’s words cut into their moment. Both Fluttershy and Pinkie snapped back to reality and turned to the purple mare. “Seriously, I’m this close to leaving you behind.”
Fluttershy immediately realized that she was still holding onto Pinkie Pie’s face and dropped her hooves immediately. “R-right. Sorry.”
“You don’t have to worry about us,” Pinkie suddenly interjected. “Go on ahead.”
Berry raised her eyebrow, but shrugged and turned back to the direction of the Sanctuary. A moment later, she vanished under the overgrown plants.
“Uh, why did you tell her to leave?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, I didn’t want to say anything in front of her, but I do kinda have an injury.”
“W-what?” Concern and guilt flooded Fluttershy’s emotions. She grabbed Pinkie Pie’s face again, turning it around. “Where is it? Are you hurt?”
“It’s right here.” Pinkie pointed to her lips. “Do you think you could kiss it to make it feel better?”
Fluttershy blinked.
Then blinked again.
Then her face exploded into a blush so big that no amount of green paint would ever cover it.
“O-oh,” she stammered. Fluttershy retreated behind her mane, attempting to hide the embarrassed smile that sprouted on her face. “C-come on, Pinkie, be serious.”
“I am. We have a some time to ourselves, so why not smooch it up a little?” Pinkie reach forward, taking Fluttershy’s hoof in her own.
“I-I-I-I…” Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut. She hated herself right now. Hated that she couldn’t respond without stuttering, hated that she couldn’t bring herself to say yes, even though she wanted to, hated that the greatest mare in probably the whole world was ready, but she wasn’t.
She felt a firm pair of hooves wrap around her body. Opening her eyes, she saw Pinkie’s gorgeous mess of a mane in her face.
“Still a little nervous?” she asked.
“Uh-huh…” Fluttershy mumbled. Scared was more like it. Terrified even.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it.” Pinkie patted her back. “I won’t rush you into it when you clearly need more time.”
“Thank you.”
Pinkie Pie pulled away slightly, trading Fluttershy’s view of her mane to one of her face. “But just know that I will get that kiss someday.”
Fluttershy smiled. It was amazing how understanding Pinkie Pie could be sometimes.
“Come on, we gotta get back before it gets too dark.” Pinkie fully withdrew from the hug, but rubbed her nose playfully against Fluttershy’s before breaking away.
“Of course.” They started walking again. Together
Closely.
Fluttershy probably had enough heat on her face to warm the entirety of the Sanctuary through the winter. Pinkie did the polite thing and pretended not to notice as opposed to teasing her about it. She did, however, stay close enough for the tufts of fur on their forelegs to intermingle.
There wasn’t any denying it: Fluttershy loved Pinkie.
She wasn’t really the best at emotions, seeing as how she always lived in a perpetual state of anxiety, but she was pretty confident calling her feelings toward the mare love.
She looked over at her, finding that she could still recall with clarity the moment they’d first met. It had been a few days after Canterlot had fallen, nopony had made it out of the city, so the rest of the country was doomed to ignorance of their impending doom, Cloudsdale was no exception. Its fall had happened so fast that most of it came back to her as a blur.
She'd been sitting on the edge of the city, birdwatching, unaware of the dangers below when it happened. All of a sudden there was a black cloud on the horizon. Then two more. Then five more.
And then it became obvious to her that they weren’t clouds at all.
They’d swarmed all around her—passed her—headed for the city faster than almost anything she’d ever seen. Fluttershy could barely do anything as they flew around her. All she’d really done was start screaming.
And flailing.
And falling.
The sensation of wind rushing past her head came suddenly as the swarmed pushed her out of the way and off the cloud. Instincts kicked in. Her wings flared open, only for a passing changeling to slam into one.
Snap!
The pain barely registered through the fear and adrenaline. Her wing flopped limply to her side and the world whistled around her, carrying her scream with it. Her death seemed inevitable, until suddenly…
Poof!
Her body bounced off a lower lying cloud, bursting it and slowing her descent.
Poof!
Another cloud. She was going even slower now.
Poof!
Third one. Now she wasn’t even going fast enough to break another cloud. If only—
Thump.
She landed on the fourth and final cloud. A small, pitiful piece of fluff that had broken off from the base of the city and hovered down below.
Fluttershy rolled over, heart pulsating, lungs burning, mind frozen in terror. She registered the devastation above her after a moment. Like flies swarming a dropped slice of cake, the changelings mobbed the sky city. Pockets of resistance opened up and were sewn shut in mere minutes. Pegasi were tough, but so were changelings. Plus they had numbers and surprise on their side.
In half an hour, the battle was over.
Unable to fight for her home, or even return to it, Fluttershy allowed the cloud she’d landed on to sink slowly under her weight, eventually disintegrating as it touched solid ground.
From there, she stumbled to the nearest forest and took refuge in a tiny cave. She laid there for hours, weak from hunger, cold, too tired to move and too terrified to even fall asleep. Eventually, after two days without rest, she’d succumbed to unconsciousness.
And woke up with a spear pointed in her face.
Said spear belonged to a pony with a pink coat decorated by elaborate green stripes. Her mane was muddied, her face was almost entirely green with little bits of pink poking out, and her eyes looked about as terrified as Fluttershy had felt.
“Are you one of them?” the mare had whispered, spear shaking wildly at the tip.
Fluttershy had been too exhausted to process the question. “O-of what?” she croaked out, her throat dry, voice raspy.
“Changelings,” the mare whispered, malice dripping from her lips as she spat out the word.
“N-no,” Fluttershy had sputtered out. “I’m a p-pony. I promise. I was just at Cloudsdale when… I think my wing is broken… P-please, can you help me?”
The pink mare slightly retracted her weapon, scrutinizing her. “I… I want to believe you, but… Oh, wait! Duh, Pinkie Pie.”
Before Fluttershy could manage a confused whimper, the mare—Pinkie Pie—brought up her free hoof and wiped it across her face. As she removed it, her pink face became more visible, and her hoof now carried a fair amount of the green concoction she’d been wearing.
“Here, Zecora told me this stuff reveals who ponies truly are.” Pinkie bent down, outstretching her green hoof.
Fluttershy did not know who this ‘Zecora’ was, but she was hardly in a position to refuse what Pinkie was about to do. She shut her eyes, not complaining as Pinkie slathered the green paint over her face.
When her hoof pulled back, Fluttershy opened her eyes again. Pinkie was bent over, observing her with a scrupulous eye. After a moment, she pulled back. “Well, you didn’t turn into one of them, which means…” She suddenly dropped her spear and gasped. “Oh my gosh! You’re a real pony. And you’re injured!”
Fluttershy could only meekly nod.
“Hang on!” Pinkie scooped her up. “Don’t worry, I can get you to safety. You’re going to be just fine…”
“Fluttershy.” She filled in.
Pinkie nodded, and gave her a warm, comforting smile. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy, you’re safe now.”
She’d been brought back to the Sanctuary then; a small village in the middle of a place called the Everfree Forest. There, Fluttershy met Zecora, a zebra and potions expert who’d been leading a small resistance against the changelings and their queen. She’d relocated Fluttershy’s wing while Pinkie brought her something to eat and listened to her story.
From then on, Fluttershy lived in the Sanctuary. She was shown how they functioned, with each pony rotating between things like foraging or trap-setting and she was given a job of her own to do.
Her shyness still stuck her with the feeling of being an outsider, even in the warm and welcoming community that the ponies of the Sanctuary created. She only really knew two ponies starting off: Zecora and Pinkie. Unfortunately, one always had a new emergency that needed attending, and the other was sent right back out on her scouting job, not set to return for potentially weeks.
In that time, Fluttershy just took whatever job she had been given and kept her head down. She wasn’t even sure she spoke again until Pinkie returned later that month. She could recall that meeting clearly too.
She’d been out foraging all day, but had little to show for it. After bringing in half a saddle bag's worth of roots and nuts, she’d decided to forego dinner and retire to her bed early. On the way back, she’d run into Pinkie.
“Oh, hey, Fluttershy!” Pinkie had bounded up to her, face radiating happiness just for seeing her. “It’s good to see you again. I just got back and all, but how are you? Fitting in well?”
Fluttershy had been floored with the fact that somepony wanted to socialize with her. “I-I guess?”
Pinkie had cocked her head. “You guess, huh?”
“I… I really don’t know how to fit in.”
“Oh... Well, I understand. It took me a while to find my groove here too.”
“...”
Pinkie pinched her lips and thought for a moment. “Say, I was just about to grab some grub. Care to join me?”
“S-sure…”
“Awesome!” Pinkie wrapped her hoof around Fluttershy’s. “Then let’s go, Flutters.”
From there, the two had been nigh inseparable, mostly at Pinkie’s insistence. Maybe she could just see that Fluttershy needed somepony to bring her out of her shell and her efforts paid off. Fluttershy began to talk to other ponies and—after they’d deciphered her stammered murmurings—they began to talk back. She actually found herself making more friends at the Sanctuary in just a week than she had in her entire life up in Cloudsdale.
Though, none of the new friendships she’d made felt quite like the one she had with Pinkie Pie. There was a certain closeness that just couldn’t be replicated. It wasn’t even about any grand gestures made by Pinkie either, it was the little things she did.
She knew just when to talk and to be quiet. When their hooves lightly brushed against each other, she didn’t pull away. She would split part of her rations and share them if she ever heard Fluttershy’s stomach rumble, which, given the meager amount of food they managed to scrounge up, was beyond a generous gesture.
Pinkie Pie made life in this war torn world worth living, at least for Fluttershy. How could she not fall in love with her?
Of course, her anxiety—scratch that, her fear—prevented her from saying anything for the longest time. Luckily for her, Pinkie wasn’t an idiot and picked up on her feelings. Double luckily for her, they were mutual.
Fluttershy still couldn’t quite understand how Pinkie’s feelings came about. Maybe she’d felt a sense of responsibility for the timid life she’d saved, which had blossomed over time, or perhaps they’d just naturally developed on their own. Fluttershy still needed to get around to asking Pinkie that question.
In truth, she still needed to ask Pinkie a lot of things. But much like everything else about her life, she was stifled by her own inhibitions. So much so that she couldn’t even work up the nerve to kiss Pinkie yet—as Pinkie insisted that Fluttershy be the one to kiss first. It was silly, but she wanted to be less afraid of everything before she kissed Pinkie. At least that way she would feel like she actually deserved it.
Fluttershy bowed her head. But she didn’t deserve to kiss Pinkie. She was a coward, who couldn’t even fight for her home. Who couldn’t even properly run away from the fight for her home. Did that make her worse than a coward? Probably, though she couldn’t think of a word strong enough to describe it.
Her dour mood didn’t go unnoticed, as Pinkie nudged her slightly, pushing her from her thoughts.
“Hey, don’t go beating yourself up again, got it?”
Pinkie was a mindreader; Fluttershy was almost sure of it.
“I… All right.”
Pinkie wasn’t convinced, but to be fair neither was Fluttershy. “I’m serious. It’s okay to be scared, Flutters. Heck, I’m scared too. All the time... We all are.”
“But not like m-me. I’m practically petrified everyday, Pinkie.” She bit her lip, tasting the sores that had formed out of this habit. “I’m useless.”
“Hey, you’re not useless.” Pinkie stopped, holding out a hoof to guarantee Fluttershy followed suit. “You’re not useless,” she reiterated, looking her square in the eye.
“But—”
“Butts are for sitting,” Pinkie Pie curtly said. “And sometimes for being used as pillows. And you are just as useful as your cute, sittable, pillow-worthy butt.”
“U-uh… I…” Her blush was about to make her into a spitting image of the mare before her.
“You’re right, that sounded better in my head. However, my point still stands. After all, who made all those traps back there?”
“Well, me…”
A knowing grin sprouted on Pinkie's face. “And who convinced all the forest critters to show us where all the best foraging spots were?”
“Me…”
Pinkie leaned in, nudging her playfully. “And who brightens up my day more than Celestia's sun?”
“...me…”
“Darn tootin’. I don’t know many useless ponies who can do all that.” Pinkie grinned and Fluttershy eventually mirrored the action. She brushed away her inhibitions for now, letting Pinkie’s logic take root.
They walked back into the nook of the forest that housed their village just in time for the earliest hour of night. The moon was only starting to rise in the sky, providing just enough light to see.
Fluttershy looked around at the place she had come to call home. Nothing had changed since she’d last seen it earlier that day: same houses carved into the trunks of large, long-dead trees, same ponies with green designs blazoned across their bodies, most of whom were settling down for the evening.
It had become a rather familiar sight to her, but, even so, she knew such a thing was probably a rarity in Equestria now. Or rather, what remained of Equestria.
Cities, towns, and even little hamlets like this one likely didn’t exist anywhere else. It was… depressing.
Fluttershy rested her head against Pinkie Pie, needing something to chase darker thoughts like that away. As if sensing her needs, Pinkie stopped and let her rest there for a moment.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“As okay as it can be.” Fluttershy ensconced her face into Pinkie’s pillow of a mane. Her eyes wandered around town a bit longer, but paused as they came across Zecora.
The leader of the resistance wasn’t particularly threatening at first glance, but Fluttershy had always been intimidated by her, mostly due to her commanding authority. It wasn’t unjustified, either. She was a zebra with wisdom beyond that of anypony else Fluttershy had ever met, who was ruthless when it came to dealing with changelings.
And right now, she was giving Fluttershy a rather concerning look.
She swallowed uncomfortably. As Pinkie pulled away, Zecora’s gaze didn’t waver.
“I’ll meet you at the mess hall,” Pinkie promised. “Just gotta drop off all these berries.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy said absent-mindedly. Pinkie started making her way over to food storage and as she did Zecora turned her attention away from Fluttershy.
That was… odd. Fluttershy blinked in curiosity. Something seemed to be bothering Zecora. Should I… go talk to her? Anxiety gnawed at her stomach. No… if it was important, she would’ve said something to me about it.
Clearing her mind of the occurrence, Fluttershy moved to go to the mess hall, looking forward to a relaxing dinner with Pinkie.
“This isn’t good.” Berry Punch wasn’t usually one to state the obvious, but Fluttershy could understand why she made an exception this time.
Writhing under the weighted net before them was a changeling. An angry changeling, if all the hissing was something to go by.
It wasn’t the only one either. At least a dozen others were scattered around it, each wriggling and shouting under their own nets. It looked to Fluttershy that just about every trap they had set up yesterday had been sprung.
“They got really close this time,” Pinkie whispered. Fluttershy nodded.
They were only a mile out from the Sanctuary. It rattled her to the core that this many had managed to come with stumbling distance of her house. If it hadn’t been for the traps they’d set up, who knows what might’ve happened.
She intertwined her hoof with Pinkie’s, needing the comfort. The changeling before her sniffed the air, paused, then viciously snapped out at the two of them. Its confinements didn’t allow it to get more than a few inches out, but Fluttershy still finched.
Across from her, Zecora watched the display with a raised eyebrow. She then looked around at all of the ponies from the village, who had followed them into the forest after hearing the news.
“Everypony, we must look around to make sure none slipped by. You know what must be done: every last one must die.”
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd. Berry stepped forward to the struggling changeling, her spear raised.
Fluttershy turned away, burying her face in Pinkie’s mane. As much as she hated changelings, she still couldn’t bear to watch living things be killed. Sadly, the sounds of the spear plunging through chitin and the gurgling cries that followed already left little to the imagination.
From there, everypony divided up. Some went around to finish off the remaining ensnared changelings, while the rest split off to go deeper into the forest and hunt down whatever had escaped.
Fluttershy took her face out of Pinkie’s hair, but still refused to look at the carcass beneath her. The sounds of grass crunch under hooves caught her attention and she saw Zecora approaching them.
“Fluttershy, Pinkie, can you have a word with me?”
Now she was really nervous. Zecora wasn’t one for small talk; if she wanted to speak to them, then something was going on. Hesitantly, Fluttershy nodded her head.
“What is it, Z-Zecora?” she murmured, mentally kicking herself for stuttering.
Zecora tapped her hoof against the dirt. “I’ve noticed quite a closeness between you two, I trust this observation is true.”
Fluttershy felt Pinkie’s hoof slip away from hers and drape across her back. “You could say that again.”
“Then it appears I guessed correctly. You two are not the best at subtlety.”
Fluttershy’s face flushed a little deeper. It was true that they hadn’t really been keeping their affections secret, but why would Zecora care about that? Fluttershy opened her mouth to put a voice to the question, but was cut off.
“I’m afraid, since this is the case, I must ask you to stop posthaste.”
Fluttershy felt Pinkie’s hold on her tighten. “What?” they chorused.
Zecora’s mouth formed a sympathetic frown and she sighed. “I can see you both are quite perplexed. Indeed, an explanation must come next.”
“I don’t really think you can explain,” Pinkie accused. “I can’t think of one good reason why Flutters and I can’t be together.”
“Me neither. So what if I lo— like Pinkie?”
Zecora shook her head. “I know it is tantalizing to hold onto this feeling, but you should know it also sent our snares reeling.”
“The changelings…” Fluttershy whispered. She stared down at all the dead bodies lying under the nets, shivering at their corpses. “You mean, the reason they almost found the Sanctuary is… because of us?”
“Indeed.” She nodded. “That’s why I hope my warning you’ll heed. Changelings are known for sniffing out feelings of romance. Revealing us, you feelings definitely have a chance.”
The hoof wrapped around Fluttershy’s shoulder shook. Its owner bit her lip, face falling. “So you’re saying if Fluttershy and I…”
“...We might attract the changelings?” Fluttershy finished, leaving the middle part of the sentence unspoken.
Zecora nodded. “I cannot force you to stop that path you’re on, but I beg you to end it before everything we have is gone.”
They shared a look. Just from glancing into her eyes Fluttershy could tell Pinkie desperately didn’t want what they had to stop. She knew she didn’t either; just thinking about never being able to be with Pinkie made her chest tighten.
But what could they do? Leaving the Sanctuary would draw away the danger from everypony else, but they would still face constant peril just because of their feelings. Staying and continuing on with this was an even worse idea, though.
“Zecora, that can’t be it!” Pinkie’s frustration was palpable. “You’re a master at making potions, surely there’s something out there that could help. Like, to mask our scent or something.”
For a moment, Zecora gave the request some thought, but in the end she only sighed again. “It is true, there is such a brew. But the ingredients to make it are hard to find, to attempt to get them you’d have to be out of your mind. They’re scattered all over changeling territory, surviving that journey I can not foresee.”
Fluttershy’s heart fell. That was it then. She felt Pinkie slowly remove her hoof from her. It made her want to whimper, but she held it in. Pinkie was right, they’d need to start distancing themselves and—
“Tell me where they are.”
Fluttershy’s heart stopped falling. In fact, it stopped altogether. She held her breath and looked up, seeing Pinkie’s determined face as she stepped toward Zecora.
“Pinkie, I assure you the danger is too great—”
“I don’t care. I’ll do anything so Fluttershy and I can be together, you understand? A couple of bugs won’t—can’t—stop my feelings.”
Fluttershy’s jaw fell open. Pinkie would do that? For her?
Zecora sighed. “If you feel this is you fate.” She turned, pointing her head in the direction of the Sanctuary. “Come with me, since you insist. I’ll compile what you need into a list.”
Pinkie nodded. She shot a quick glance at Fluttershy as Zecora started walking. “Don’t worry, Flutters. Everything’ll be okie-dokie-lokie. You’ll see.” She started trotting after Zecora.
Fluttershy blinked. Pinkie really was going to do this. For her. But…
“No.”
Pinkie’s ear flicked at the whispered word. She froze and turned back around. “W-what?”
Fluttershy bit her lip, but looked up. She knew what she had to say. “I said no. Pinkie, please don’t do this.”
“But… you heard what Zecora said, there’s a way we can—”
“I heard her, but did you? Pinkie, you’d have to go into changeling territory. Did you even stop and consider how dangerous that is?”
She blinked, confident smile falling. “I know it is, but I’m doing it for you Fluttershy, for us.”
“I know you are, but, what if you got hurt out there, or worse? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that happened.”
Pinkie frowned. “I know it’s a risk, but what are we supposed to do? Not be in love?”
Fluttershy shuffled her hooves. Silence hung in the air between them like a taut string that could snap at any moment. She could see a maelstrom of emotions exploding behind Pinkie’s eyes as she tried to understand: disbelief, denial, sadness, fear, even anger.
“I-is that what you want?” Pinkie’s voice cracked on the last word.
“No!” Fluttershy blurted out. “No, Pinkie, I… I want to love you. But, not at the expense of everypony’s safety and definitely not at the expense of you.”
“So… that’s it?” Tears welled up in Pinkie’s eyes and she wiped them away. “We just have to bottle up our feelings from now on?”
Fluttershy lowered her head, her mane falling in front of her face to disguise her expression of pain. “I don’t want to, but… I think we have to.”
“If I may interject.” Zecora walked back towards them. “You decision has my respect. However, living like fugitives won’t last for too long. We will defeat Chrysalis and her minions and right this wrong.”
“Yeah.” Pinkie perked up slightly at her remark. “You hear that, Flutters? We’re going to win.”
“Of course,” Fluttershy agreed. She must not have sounded too convinced, because Pinkie Pie lifted her head up and brushed her mane from her face.
“We’re going to win,” Pinkie reiterated. “And when we do I’ll… I’ll…” Her face brightened and she smiled as an idea struck her. “I’ll throw us a party!”
Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile a little at her enthusiasm. “That sounds nice.”
“Oh, it’ll be more than nice. It’ll have streamers! And confetti! And maybe even a cake if I can bake one.” She grinned. “Annnnd, I expect a certain somepony to kiss me there.”
Her smile grew. “Absolutely.”
“Perfect.”
Pinkie moved away, probably thinking that if she stayed too close for too long Fluttershy might be tempted. Truth be told, she had been. She’d have to work on that.
“I am glad you’ve managed to figure this out,” Zecora said. “But the enemy is still about.”
“You’re right.” Fluttershy reached for her spear. The next changeling she saw... well, she still probably wouldn’t be able to kill it, but she was going to give it such a whack on the head.
Pinkie grabbed a spear of her own. “I’ll see you around, Flutters.” She waved as she started backing off. “I don’t love you.”
Fluttershy’s lips folded into a thin line, but returned to a smile shortly after she realized what she was doing. “I don’t love you too, Pinkie.”
And with that, she vanished in a pink blur under the thick leaves.
Fluttershy nodded to Zecora and started down her own section of the woods. She had work to do.
