Light(n)ing Her Heart Aflutter

Lightning Bolt stood behind the front door, mentally preparing himself. After a few seconds, he reached out and pulled the door open. On the other side sat Fluttershy. Clearly she had spent some time getting ready. Her yellow coat was clean and brushed, her pink mane combed to perfection, and she smelled of fresh forest berries- likely some special perfume or shampoo. Lightning realized that standing and gawking at her probably wasn't making the best impression. He coughed and made eye contact before speaking.

"Wow. Fluttershy, You look amazing. Come inside, please." He stepped aside, making room in the doorway. She blushed at his compliment, then smiled and responded as she trotted through into Rainbow Dash's home.

"Thank you, Lightning Bolt. It wasn't all my idea, though. Rarity took me to the spa to prepare when I told her I was coming to see you. She tried to get me to wear a dress, but I thought that would be too formal. She insisted that I at least wear this hair bow." Fluttershy turned her head, revealing a small, yellow bow that sat behind her right ear. "Do you like it?" Lightning Bolt closed the door and turned around to reply.

"It looks good on you. I'm sure the dress would, too. Are you hungry? Rainbow made some hay sandwiches. We were going to eat them, but she had to leave for Pinkie's sleepover." Fluttershy nodded.

"Yes, actually. Rarity kept me so busy getting ready I didn't have time for dinner either."

She walked towards the kitchen. Lightning Bolt watched her, drawn to the view of her pink tail swishing between her hind legs. Now that I think about it, she is a pretty mare. I wouldn't say no if she asked me to- Lightning's lewd thoughts were interrupted by a sharp blow to his right foreleg. He looked down, angrily, and saw that the perpetrator was a small, white rabbit. He recognized it as Angel, one of the pets that Fluttershy had told him she cared for. Since when did he get in here? Was it when Fluttershy came in?

"Hey, what was that for?" said Lightning Bolt. For such a small animal, he had a surprising amount of strength! Angel stared up at him with an expression of clear disapproval. He motioned to his eyes with his paw, then pointed it at Lightning. The gesture's meaning was clear: 'Break her heart, and you'll answer to me.' Before Lightning could say a another word, Angel turned and hopped away. Lightning tried to see where he went, but the white, fluffy rabbit was impossible to see among all the white, fluffy walls, floor, ceiling, and furniture. Giving up the search, he went into the kitchen.

Fluttershy sat at the table, chewing a bite of her hay sandwich. She turned towards him, swallowed, and spoke.

"Hey, did something happen? Who were you talking to out there?" Lightning chuckled nervously, and took a seat across from her, taking the other plate with the other hay sandwich.

"It was... nothing. Never mind." He took a bite of his sandwich. For a few awkward moments, they did nothing but eat. What should I say? Aah, this is going terribly! Lightning thought to himself.

"What should I say? Aah, this is going terribly!" Fluttershy groaned, letting her sandwich fall back onto her plate. "I'm sorry I'm being such a poor guest, this isn't going at all how I planned..." Fluttershy looked down, sighing. Lightning Bolt felt a pair of beady little bunny eyes glaring at him from... somewhere.

"No!" he said, a little too loudly. "No, it's not your fault, it's mine. I was a bad host, leaving you alone in the kitchen to eat room-temperature sandwiches. And right now I can't think of anything to ask you about, since we've already spent so much time talking today." He rested his head in his fore hooves.

"That's okay," Fluttershy said, "I can ask you something. Like... how you got your cutie mark?" She looked at him kindly.

"Yeah, I haven't told you about that yet! It's quite a story, though, not the kind you'd tell in a kitchen. Follow me." Lightning got up from his chair, motioning for Fluttershy to do the same.

A few minutes later, they sat together on a couch, enjoying the sight of the setting sun from the top balcony in Rainbow Dash's home. Lightning Bolt turned to Fluttershy and grinned. "How's this for a view?" Her eyes lit up as she gazed out at the sprawling scenery.

"Oh, Lightning," She whispered, "I can't believe it, it's amazing!"

"I knew you'd like it. Now for the story of how I got my cutie mark..." Fluttershy curled up with him on the couch, listening attentively as he told his story.

"When I left for the zebra lands, I still didn't have my cutie mark. It was pretty embarrassing for a colt my age, actually. It was part of the reason I signed up to go. I thought that, maybe, I could find my special talent over there. They were a bit skeptical about accepting me. I was the youngest applicant, and a blank-flank to boot. Still, my flying skills must have convinced them, because next thing I knew I was on a long-distance sky carriage ride over the ocean and away from everything I'd ever known.

"The trip took almost a whole day. We flew in shifts, taking turns pulling the sky carriage while the others rested. There were about two dozen of us, if I remember correctly. I've forgotten most of them, since we were split up pretty quickly after we arrived. We landed in Pegasus Point, an Equestrian base on a peninsula of the zebra lands. Technically we were still in Equestria, as the whole peninsula was gifted to us by their Caesar as a place to organize and coordinate our pegasus squads.

"As I said earlier, our specialty was weather management. All pegasi can control weather on a small scale. With training, this skill can be deepened. For some pegasi, it's their special talent. If you get a lot of trained pegasi working together, they can cause drastic changes in the weather. Of course you already know this, since that's what most pegasi do in Equestria.

"But, in the zebra lands, they can't control the weather so easily. In fact, the zebra lands are wild in just about every way, like the Everfree forest. The land and weather act independently of the zebras, unlike in Equestria, where pegasi and earth ponies work together to guide these natural processes. The zebras do have spells, potions, and other magics that allow them to temporarily influence the land and weather, but they can only do so much. The zebra lands are naturally dry, making farming difficult.

"That's where we came in. In exchange for natural resources, such as coal, Equestrian pegasi teams would influence the weather to help zebra crops grow. In addition, we were first responders to any wildfires that ignited when things got particularly hot and arid. I volunteered for the firefighting job, and got transferred to another base specifically for handling that aspect of our mission.

"This base was located further inland, in roughly the center of the continent. From there, we could respond quickly to any fire. The base itself occupied an island on lake Altum, the largest lake in the zebra lands. When wildfires broke out, we'd whip up a tornado to suck up the water and move it to where we needed it to fight the fire. You know this technique, since it's the same one we use in Equestria to collect surface water for Cloudsdale.

"After training for a few weeks, I was allowed to go out on a firefighting mission. They still wouldn't let me on the main crew, though, since I was still relatively young, and didn't even have my cutie mark yet. Since I could fly fast, they put me on the six-pony evac team. It was our job to warn any towns and villages in the path of the fire, and help them escape if necessary.

"So we were ordered to clear out this small town a few miles down from the blaze. This was a small fire, but it was spreading quickly. The fire team had whipped up some water, creating a large thunderstorm to combat the fire. We were too far out for the rain, but the dark clouds still hung over the village. We were almost done evacuating, but it was taking longer than we expected.

"I realized that, if the lightning from the thunderstorm struck the taller buildings in the village, we were at risk of a second fire breaking out. The fire team was busy dealing with the first one, and our evac team was too small to effectively combat a second fire.

"I saw what I needed to do. I grabbed a metal spear and flew up above the buildings. I was hoping the spear would act like a lightning rod, directing the lightning to hit it instead of the town. As it turns out, I was right, and when the lightning struck the spear I got the full blast. Next thing I knew I was waking up in a zebra medicine tent with a wicked headache. From what the rest of my team told me, they managed to catch me before I hit the ground and brought me to a zebra shaman to recover. When they removed the bandages, the cutie mark was there.

"Thanks partially to my actions, the main fire team was able to extinguish the wildfire and dissipate the storm, preventing any further damage. I got chewed out by my superiors for my reckless action, and had to scrub latrines for a week, but I earned the respect of the fire team. The next time there was an emergency, they took me along. I still worked on the evac team from time to time, but both teams wanted me with them ever since. Considered me a 'good luck' charm against lightning strikes."

Lighting Bolt watched the sun dip below the horizon as he finished his story. The majestic orange and red in the sky began to form into gentle purple as night fell on Equestria. He turned to face Fluttershy, who was still snuggled next to him on the couch. Her eyes stared into his, a look of admiration on her face. She leaned in and hugged him tightly.

"Oh, Lightning Bolt, what a wonderful story! The way you risked your life for those zebras, so brave and dashing!" Lightning Bolt tensed up slightly as she embraced him, but then relaxed and returned the hug, holding her close. He could feel her slender yellow body pressed against his, smell the sweet scent on her flowing pink mane, gaze deeply into her loving eyes.

"Fluttershy," he said, softly, "is there anything else you want to say?"

"J-just a question... Lightning, do you have a... special somepony?" He shook his head no, still holding her. "Would... would you be mine?" Fluttershy whispered. He smiled and leaned in, kissing her. Fluttershy's eyes opened wide, but she didn't pull away. He held the kiss for a few seconds before drawing back and responding.

"Of course, Fluttershy. Maybe I should have realized it sooner, but... I love you." Fluttershy blushed slightly, still hugging him.

"I love you too, Lightning. I've spent so much time dreaming of this, I almost can't believe it's actually happening." Lightning grinned slyly.

"Really? What happens next in the dream?" Fluttershy blushed deeper, her face turning from pink to red, and her wings- which had been tightly against her body- spread out, answering his question . Lightning chuckled, realizing that his wings were standing out as well, and motioned inside towards Rainbow's bedroom. "Come on, it's getting cold. Rainbow Dash won't be coming back until tomorrow, so we can take her bed for tonight. Want to make those dreams of yours come true?"

Fluttershy's face somehow turned an even deeper red.

***

(Woop-woop, clop ahead, you've been warned)