For the Love of Cake

“What are you doing here, Fluttershy?”

The two friends met, unexpectedly, before Ponyville town hall. The town square was suspiciously vacant, despite the warm, sunny, lazy day. Each one had in their possession a simple, hoofwritten letter that said the same thing. Time, date, place. Right now, today, right here. Check, check, check.

But why?

“I could ask what you’re doing here. I have no idea why I’m here.”

“What? You just do what any old letter in the mail tells you to do?”

“Oh, and you don’t?” Fluttershy asked with a teasing smile, gently punching a hoof against his leg. “Who do you think sent these?”

“I have no idea, although I do have my suspicions.” He snapped his fingers, and he was suddenly dressed in a long trench coat and deerstalker cap with a magnifying glass in paw. His now over-sized eye examined the letter. “For example, the stationary has a distinct frosting smell, and stain, to it. Buttercream, possibly, but we’d need more clues for that.”

“You know, when I opened mine this morning sprinkles did fall out of the envelope.”

“Ah, another clue indeed. The hoofwriting is particularly curly q as well. Is that familiar to you at all, Dr Fluttershy?”

“Hmm.” Fluttershy looked through his magnifying glass at her own letter. The paper had little rainbow smears, probably from the sprinkles. “Now that I think about it, in my professional doctor's opinion, the writing is similar to Pinkie’s. But it’s not quite right. Like somepony else was copying her, or she was trying to make it look different from her normal writing?”

“I guess there is only one way to find out, Doctor. After you.” He snapped again, losing the detective costume. He flourished his arm dramatically as he held the door open for her. She thanked him with a laugh and entered.

The hall was dark, but they could hear a rustling noise. Just as she was about to ask him to find the light switch, all of the lights came suddenly on. Balloons and confetti fell from the ceiling, and ponies jumped out of every hiding space yelling, “SURPRISE!”

Startled, Fluttershy jumped and knocked into Discord. He steadied his friend with a hand on her back as she ducked down low, hiding within her long, pink locks. After a moment she peaked out, confused and alarmed.

“S-surprise?” She squeaked.

“It’s not my birthday,” said Discord as he looked at a miniature calendar on his wrist like a watch. “It’s not Fluttershy’s either. What’s the big idea?”

“Surprise, Fluttershy!” Yelled Pinkie as she hopped out from her hiding place, a slice of cake balanced on her head. “It’s a twofold surprise. One, because you surprised us, and two because it’s a surprise engagement party! I’ve put on lots of engagement parties before, but I’ve never gotten to throw a surprise engagement party!”

“We were a little unsure at first,” said Twilight. She and Fluttershy’s other best friends came forward, big smiles and brandishing bags and boxes wrapped in fancy white papers with bows.

“But Pinkie showed us the proof, and we just had to throw a totally awesome party for you, Flutters!” Said Rainbow Dash, hovering above them with a gift braced between her front legs.

“Proof?” Asked Discord, incredulous. “Proof of what?”

“Why, your engagement, darling!” Rarity exclaimed. She used her magic to levitate multiple presents and dress boxes and nuzzled against Fluttershy with affection. “Congratulations, Fluttershy. For the record, I knew it was just a matter of time before you two made it official.”

“Ponies, ponies,” said Discord with a not-quite-condescending laugh. “You know I love chaos, but I’ll admit it’s not so fun to be on the receiving end of the confusion. What are you talking about?”

“Don’t be so shy, Discord!” Said Pinkie. From her bag, she removed a set of pictures and slapped them down onto the lace-covered table. “I watched you propose to Fluttershy yesterday. I missed what you said at first but then I heard you say, ‘Please say yes, Fluttershy’ while on bended knee.” She raised her eyebrows to emphasize the significance of the moment. “Then, Fluttershy, you said, ‘ok, let’s do it.’”

A puff of steam emitted from about Discord’s shoulders, engulfing his face and mushroom clouding upward. He fainted, snapping his fingers to create a fainting couch, and fell upon it. Steam dissipated, and his face was left crimson.

“Wow, he’s excited,” said Rainbow Dash around a mouthful of cake. “Hey, when is the wedding anyway?”

Fluttershy had never wanted to run away as badly as she did at that moment. The wondering gaze of her friends, combined with the music and chatter and smells, was making her feel dizzy. Applejack stepped forward. She quickly set her bag down and went to Fluttershy, somewhat blocking the pegasus with her body.

“Settle down, ya’ll. I told ya’ll we should have waited until Fluttershy was comfortable enough to tell us. But just so you know, sugar cube, there would never and will never be any judgment from us on your choice of… uhm… groom I suppose.”

“You think we’re engaged?” Fluttershy finally managed. Her voice was so meek the others only partially understood.

“Well of course we do, silly goose,” said Pinkie Pie. “You’re always off spending time with him, he comes over to your home regularly for tea. You two went off to a wedding convention for goodness sake! I want you to know I already have your wedding planned out and we’ll go over it asap! I have lots of fine detail questions.”

“Oh, and I’ve already started drawing up designs for your wedding dress. I’m thinking of a long train, dotted with lovely little flowers. You’ll be the most beautiful bride, Fluttershy,” said Rarity. She sat beside Discord, fanning him, well acquainted with a fainting couch. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten you, Discord. I’ll need you to swing by the boutique so I can take your measurements.”

“I’m sorry if the surprise was a little too much,” said Twilight. She put a wing around Fluttershy and pulled her into a hug. “We just wanted you to know how loved and supported you are. We are your best friends, and we wanted you to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that we will be there for you no matter what.”

“She’s right, sugar cube. You’re so humble and sweet, we couldn’t help it if a perfect opportunity to celebrate you fell into our laps.”

“You mean that, don’t you?” Asked Fluttershy, her heart feeling suddenly quite full if conflicted.

“I think I speak for everypony when I say, of course!” Said Spike. He scrambled up the side of the table and placed a small present among the rest. “Congrats, by the way.”

“Thank you,” said Fluttershy. She cast a glance to Discord, whose eyes were spinning and he looked to be in a bit of a stupor. “Do you think I could have a minute with,” she swallowed hard, and her voice broke as she spoke, “with my fiance? Alone?”

The others made various goodbyes, and a few intimations, before breaking off to the snack table and dance floor. Fluttershy tapped Discord’s arm, and he roused immediately. He jumped up and looked around until he was certain the coast was clear.

“Good, they’re gone. Playing dead worked, you should have done that with me. Well… it seems I’ve mucked it all up and gotten us into a pickle.” He let out a sigh and hung his head low. Fluttershy climbed up onto the fainting couch beside him. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. I was just trying to have fun with you, I wasn’t trying to embarrass you in front of all of Ponyville. I was trying to do precisely not that!”

“I’m not embarrassed, Discord.”

“You’re not? Even though everypony thinks that we’re, uh, getting married?” He averted his gaze as he spoke.

“No, that doesn’t bother me. Should it?”

“I- uh- well... I suppose not? I just, I know that public appearance is important to a lady. I don’t want to poison the well for any future relationships you’ll have.”

“I’m not bothered by any of that. If I’m bothered by anything, I’m a little annoyed at my friends for jumping to conclusions. But I think it came from a place of love, and this is just a misunderstanding. I asked for some alone time so that we could figure out what we wanted to do about this.”

“Well, obviously we have to call it off. I’ll do something only a real jerk would do so that you’re not at fault and I don’t poison the aforementioned well. Then you can break off the engagement in front of everyone and save your reputation.”

“My reputation? What about yours? I don’t think it will be easy to gain back their trust if you’re seen publicly breaking my heart.”

“Oh, I hardly care about that. You know the only opinion I care about is yours. What about this, we could have a quiet breakup in a week or so. We just want different things in life.”

Fluttershy bumped herself gently against him, making him look at her. Something in her felt suddenly sure, like the little voice that had told her that Discord was in love with her. She had had a long night to ruminate on that voice. She took a deep breath and took a chance.

“Is it so bad?”

“What? Is what so bad? What do you mean?”

“If, um, if they think we’re engaged.”

“I… I am still lost, Fluttershy. I guess it’s not bad, but…”

“I like you, Discord. A lot. Pinkie Pie is right, we do spend a lot of time together. Normally, when I spend time with somepony I have a limit, and then I need a bit of time to refill my social battery. But I never feel that way with you. I feel like I could spend all of my time with you, never need to rest, and never get bored. I don’t know, maybe I’m being chaotic. Maybe you’ve rubbed off on me.”

“I’m a terrible influence!” He said with a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. “I thought about what you said about love, what it is, and how it differs from friendship. I think I’ve wanted something more than just platonic love with you for a while, I just didn’t know how to express that, or really what I was feeling. I also was terrified it would ruin our friendship, and then I’d lose even just your platonic affection.”

“I think I’ve felt this way for a long time too. I never thought a powerful being like you would ever settle for a simple pegasus like me. I was also worried I’d be taking advantage of our friendship.”

“Settle? Fluttershy you’re a dream and a breathtaking beauty! You’re not simple by any means, there is much more than meets the eye. ‘Settle,’ she says.”

Fluttershy was burning from blushing, barely able to maintain eye contact now. “So do you want to just… stay engaged? It can be a long engagement. If it doesn’t work out we can break up amicably.”

“And if it does, Pinkie said that our wedding is already planned out. Well, in that case, it appears that we have a party to attend. We are the guests of honor after all. My lady?”

He snapped, dressing them both in their fancy picnic attire. He bent down low and offered her his arm. She took his arm and allowed herself to nuzzle against him. He stiffened at first but then melted into her touch.

“More of that please,” he said dreamily. “Much more of that.”