Unsure

Chapters

Chapter One: This Feeling
Chapter Two: Opportunity?
Chapter Three: The Gathering
Chapter Four (Part 1) - Give Me a Smidge of Confidence
Chapter Four (Part 2) - Generosity in Abundance
Chapter Five - Situations
Chapter Six - Deadline Looms...

Chapter One: This Feeling

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Chapter One: This Feeling...

The shy Pegasus fluttered to the ground onto the path leading up to her front door, exhausted after another long day living her life in the crazy little hick-town called Ponyville. She smiled as she thought about the place. Sure it was a little hick-town...but it was her little hick-town, and she loved it. As she slowly entered through her front door, any and all of the animals that had been sleeping peacefully in their homes and habitats inside awakened and flocked to her, awaiting their nightly feeding. She giggled lightly at the sight and headed into her kitchen to gather their food.

"Don't worry, everyone. I won't keep you waiting." And that she didn't. Minutes later the birds had been given seed and were perching comfortably in various places around the cottage, the mice had been given their favorite cheese, and a satisfied Angel Bunny happily munched on the only carrot that he had been presented with to be worthy of being consumed by him. She relaxed comfortably on her couch and watched as her little friends munched on their food and accepted Angel into her forehooves and began softly petting him when he had finished. She closed her eyes and relaxed.

She thought of her friends first of all. Her friends, who were always so nice to her and who always cared for her. So understanding of her, even when her timidity frustrated them. Being so timid was the reason they were some of the only ponies she spent any real time with at all.

She spent time with Rainbow Dash because she had known her since her fillyhood and her unfortunate experiences at flight school. Rainbow was always standing up for her and helping her get through her flight classes as best as she could, even though the results weren’t always what they has hoped for. Even after Rainbow had dropped out she had kept in touch with Fluttershy, and had even sent her the address of her cloudhome in Ponyville so she could visit anytime. It was shortly after her first visit to the magnificent cloud house that Fluttershy had even decided to move to the cottage near the forest. She was glad Rainbow was always there for her and was always a good friend to her, even when she was being lazy or impatient with Fluttershy's timidness. Fluttershy was always glad to be called by Rainbow to one of her practice sessions and even more glad to be her personal cheerleader. She loved making others feel good about themselves.

She spent so much time with Rarity because they had grown into such good friends in such a short time. Soon after moving into her cottage with her baby bunny Angel, Fluttershy received a surprise visit from the resident fashionista at her front door. After gushing over Fluttershy's beauty, and introducing herself of course, Rarity had dragged the overly-shy Pegasus to her boutique and had her model several dresses for her. Afterwards she treated Fluttershy to the first of what would become ever so many visits to the Ponyville Spa for their soon to be usual treatment. During these spa visits they had simply so much time to discuss life and all the details and drama and generally everything ever, and now knew so much about each other they could be almost inseparable sometimes. And even after the Photo Finish incident, Fluttershy had modeled multiple dresses in the making so Rarity could finish them, as long as Rarity had assured no one would be watching.

She hung out with Applejack because she admired her toughness and her attitude. She was also a very patient pony with a heart of gold. When Fluttershy had just happened to walk through the orchard for the first time and seen Applejack bucking those trees as hard as she physically could, she had turned around and flown right up the one behind her to escape the frightening pony. After a bit of explaining and some introductions, Applejack had shown Fluttershy around the farm, introduced her to Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith and invited her to visit anytime, and even welcomed her as an honorary Apple family member...whenever she wanted to be, that is. Fluttershy had gladly returned the gesture and was glad to be so welcome. AJ was always so patient toward her, never once berating her for her...scaredy-pony like tendencies. Though she was sometimes quick to point them out. Element of Honesty and all that. Fluttershy still appreciated AJ carrying her up the mountain when they had to expel the dragon. She never would have been able to go up alone.

Pinkie Pie? Well, Pinkie Pie was different. Fluttershy had first met her when Rainbow Dash had introduced her while they were trying to buy some snacks for one of Dash's practice sessions. Of course, having met a new pony, Pinkie's first reaction was to do what she did best. Throw a party. A huge party. And invite everypony she knew. Needless to say Fluttershy wasn't too happy with her at the time, and would have rather not gone, but ended up having herself some fun at the party and making a connection with the bouncy pink mare nonetheless. Now that Pinkie Pie knew her better and knew she liked smaller groups so her parties normally consisted of just their group and nopony else, she liked them a lot more. Fluttershy was also grateful for Pinkie's way of handling the situation with Gilda and also appreciated Pinkie's tendency to avoid pranking Fluttershy at all, making sure Rainbow Dash was informed of this as well.

Fluttershy opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, keeping a constant rhythm as she stroked the small white rabbit. Now...now for her. The final member of her small circle of friends...

Twilight.

Twilight Sparkle.

The newest pony Fluttershy allowed to get close to her. That lavender mare with the midnight blue mane with the most adorable pink stripe through it. Personal student of Princess Celestia herself and probably one of Princess Luna's closest friends, considering many of the others she knew were still somewhat afraid of her, even if it was only slightly. The adorkable little bookworm who owned an especially cute pair of glasses that looked especially nice when she had in hair up in a cute librarian bun. The only mare she knew that felt as uncomfortable as she did in most especially social interactions. The only mare she knew and trusted who at first she could not even speak directly to. The only mare...no...the only pony Fluttershy had ever met that had her feeling this way...Fluttershy thought about Twilight all the time, and every time she saw her...her stomach felt weird, like a million butterflies were floating around inside of her, she became lightheaded, her heart began racing...

Fluttershy's eyes snapped open and she abruptly stopped petting Angel. Sensing a disturbance, he looked up at her with curious and questioning eyes, concerned for the well-being of his caretaker.

She sighed heavily, got up from her couch, and walked slowly to her window, her hooves moving soundlessly across the floor. "I don't know Angel...it's just that recently...I've been thinking about someone in a way that...that I don't quite understand. She's one of my closest friends and...And I don't want to tell her how I think I feel because...I don't want to ruin our friendship..." She closed her eyes and hung her head sadly, letting the rays of Luna's moon shine down on her.

Angel hopped onto the ledge of her window and sympathetically patted her head before jumping onto the back of her neck and nuzzling her.

She smiled back at him as he became tangled in her long, pink hair. "Thank you, Angel. I think I needed that more than anything else right now..." She looked back at the moon, then towards Ponyville, or more specifically, the exact direction she knew Twilight's hollowed-out tree/library house was in. "...Well...maybe not 'anything'."

After a few more minutes of stargazing, she put Angel Bunny to bed and walked slowly up the stairs, headed to her own bedroom to turn in for the night. She knew there was very little chance for sleep tonight. Whenever she thought about Twilight to close to bedtime, she would simply lay awake and imagine little scenarios in which she and Twilight ended up together, some more dramatic than others, some very simple and lovey-dovey, and all eventually leaving the same goofiest little grin on Fluttershy's face.

As she lay in her bed, staring out her window. coming up with one of the most overdramatic Twilight-based scenarios her mind could possibly come up with, she noticed a blur appear across the sky. A smudge on the canvas that was Luna's beautiful painting of the night.

A shooting star.

Fluttershy thought for a moment, then closed her eyes, gave a small smile, and did something she hadn't done since she was a filly.

She wished on a shooting star.

She wished her true love would find her.

She wished for Twilight.

She wished the beautiful mare of her dreams would realize her love for Fluttershy and would come to sweep her off her feet. She wished they could one day have something together. Something special. No, what they had was special...something even more special than that.

She opened her eyes and realized the star had passed. How long she had been laying there wishing, she did not know. What she did know was that when she raised a hoof to her face, she found it to be surprisingly wet. Sometime during her wish, she had begun crying. She would never know when she started, or when she had stopped. She didn't care. All she cared about was Twilight.

She knew the star wouldn't help her get Twilight. She knew that she would have to tell Twilight herself and win her heart. How exactly did she plan on doing that? Well, that was her issue, right there. She knew what she felt, but had no idea how to express it. Only how to hide it. And with this last thought and one last tear, she passed into a dreamless sleep that racked her body back and forth, the stress on her mind finally affecting her entire unconscious body.

Meanwhile, near the other side of Ponyville, a purple Unicorn mare wiped another of many tears that had fallen from her eyes that night as she watched the final lights fade from the glory of the phenomenon she had just witnessed.

"...Heh...Wishing on a star, are we, Twilight? What's this going to accomplish?" The unicorn simply stood there still facing the night sky, unable to answer her own question. "...Nothing..."

Defeated, she headed back through her balcony doors, but not before stealing one more glance toward the edge of the Everfree Forest and sighing. As she entered the library she magicked the doors closed and floated a few stray books from the floor back to their rightful places on the shelves, shaking her head and smiling as she did so.

"Oh, Spike..." and with this she headed into her bedroom, pecked her number one assistant on the forehead, whispered a hushed 'Good Night' and lay down herself, ready for yet another night doing nothing but dreaming about the same pony she had every night for some time now, and gave herself in to a deep slumber.

Chapter Two: Opportunity?

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Chapter Two: Opportunity?

Fluttershy awoke the next morning feeling pretty much exactly how she thought she would. Horrible. Last night was definitely not one of her brighter moments. She nearly fell out of bed, unable to keep her balance, owing to the fact she was both extremely sore from tossing and turning all night and dead tired from the lack of any amount of good sleep she had been getting lately.

She stumbled lamely to her bathroom and prepared a shower for herself. 'Well,' she thought as she stared at the knobs for the water control, 'maybe this will wake me up a little.' She sighed as she fiddled with the temperature knobs, attempting to get a decently comfortable temperature, while trying not to make it too warm, seeing as how that would simply relax her and make waking up even more difficult. 'You're such a wreck, Fluttershy...'

Meanwhile, at the Library, Twilight had awoken in nearly the same way as Fluttershy, though she was a little more used to lack of sleep thanks to her all-night studying. The moment she woke up she headed downstairs to get some breakfast, only to find Spike already awake and making what appeared to be pancakes. She took a quick look at the clock and noted that she hadn't even gotten up late.

"Um, Spike," she began, "what are you doing up so early? I thought you'd still be asleep for another hour or so."

He turned to her and shook his head, "I could say the same for you, Twi'. C'mon, I know how late you were up last night." He then went back to preparing breakfast, wanting to leave it at that.

"...But, you were already asleep when-"

"Twilight. I know when something's bothering you...and I heard you...crying, you know, before I passed out." He turned back to her at this with a sad little smile, "I'm always looking after you. I'm your Number One Assistant, remember?"

Twilight smiled fondly at Spike, "Yeah...you sure are, Spike." She walked over to him and pulled him into a spine-crushing hug, "Thanks, Spike, for being here for me..."

He returned the hug, regardless of how much pain he should have been in, his expression brightening exponentially. They stood in silence for several minutes, beofre Spike reminded Twilight he was still making their breakfast. After he had finished them, he presented them to Twilight like some sort of fancy French waiter. Two plates of chocolate chip pancakes, four for Twilight, two for Spike.

She looked at the two plates, then at Spike, then back to the plates, then back at Spike. "...Spike...are you implying something?"

He quirked an...'eyebrow' at her in confusion, before realizing what she meant, "Oh, nonononono! I just already ate something. Had a couple rubies before you woke up. Geez, somebody's been touchy about that lately."

She blushed, embarrased. She had indeed been fussing over her figure more the past couple of weeks. She had a justifiable reason for it! Well...she thought it was good enough.

"But come on, we both know that's not the reason you've been so out of sorts lately. At least, not the only reason."

Twilight was surprised. Spike's expression was extremely serious now, and he wasn't even paying attention to his food. He could read her like an open book.

"...Well, um...I don't really think....you'd want to hear about it."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, you usually hate mushy stuff..."

"Twilight. I woke up earlier than *you***, I made you breakfast, and I let you shatter my spinal cord. This is different."

"...Okay...well, um...actually..." She paused for a moment,thinking of how exactly to phrase this, or if she even wanted to tell him at all. In the end, she just decided to blurt it out. It seemed like a good idea at the time. "I have a crush on somepony!"

"...That's what's gotten you so worked up?"

"W-Wha? Well, yes, actually, it is! This is really stressing me out, Spike!"

"Well have you tried telling them about this?"

Her mouth fell dumbly open as she tried to come up with a quick response. Of course she had attempted to tell her! ...Well, sort of, anyway. Whenever she tried to confront her, she had always lost her nerve and started talking about something completely different. At least even through her failures she still kept her close to her...as a friend. Though she did have something to say for herself, finally.

"O-Oh, yeah!? What about you and Rarity!?"

"That's different. Twilight, yeah, sure Rarity's pretty and smart and pretty much all-around absolutely perfect..." He paused, "I forgot where I was going with that. Anyway, this isn't about me. I'm not the one losing sleep and bawling my eyes out over my crush."

Well. He had her on that one. "W-Well...urk..."

"So who is this stallion anyway? I want to meet him before you even think about any sort of relationship."

She nervously brought her eyes down to her once-forgotten pancakes.

"...Oh. Okay then. Who is she then? Somepony I already know?"

And again with the open book reading. Twilight didn't know where he was getting this, but she appreciated it. Hey, at least that last part didn't seem to bother him at all whatsoever. "Well, um...yeah, you know her...it's actually..."

Fluttershy stepped out of the now-cool water and shut off the showerhead. She grabbed one of the towels she had set out earlier with and proceeded to dry her coat and her hair with it. After taking some more time to style her hair in its usual fashion she headed downstairs for breakfast.

She paused on her way down the stairs as she observed the time on the clock. "8:43. I was in there for almost 45 minutes...well, at least I'm awake now..." She walked down the rest of the stairs and gave a warm smile for her critters to wake up to. "Hello, everyone. I'll get the food ready now, so you won't have to wait much longer."

She walked into her kitched and retrieved the animal feed and presented it as usual. After all the other critters had been fed, she grabbed a small bundle of carrots and took them over to her extremely impatient bunny rabbit. When she got close enough to him he grabbed the carrots, set them down on the couch beside him, and tapped his wrist as if he was wearing a watch.

"Oh, I'm sorry Angel., I know I'm late. I just had a..." she paused and kicked at the floor, "...a rough night."

Angel's expression softened and he gave her a sympathetic look. Then he remembered he had food to eat, so he turned to his carrots and proceeded to hungrily wolf them down as quickly as possible.

Fluttershy giggled at the sight and turned her thoughts to the day ahead of her. Yesterday the six of them had planned to meet up at the park and have a little gathering as opposed to the large party Pinkie had wanted to throw for no adequately explained reason so they could just hang out with each other instead of everypony in town.

Realization that this meant she would be spending a large portion of the day with Twilight hit her like her door had that last Nightmare Night. Her heart leapt with excitement. Maybe today she could finally try to talk to Twilight about this. Maybe she really was going to get her wish!

...Although, if that didn't work out, what would happen between them? What would happen between her and all of her friends? She hadn't even thought about the reactions of everypony else, she was too focused on her imaginary Twilight that always returned her affection and lived happily ever after with her like in those fairy tales she had read as a filly!

Angel interrupted her negative thought processes by yanking her mane as hard as he could.

"Oof! Angel Bunny, that was not very nice of you," she stated in as harsh a voice as she could manage. Though the effect was ruined by her usually quiet voice and the fact she was really shaky all of a sudden. She sighed, "Oh, forget it. I'm going to find something to eat..."

After preparing a rather small breakfast for herself, Fluttershy laid down on her couch and stared longingly at the framed picture that showed her and her friends all gathered together -- the same picture the six friends and even Princess Celestia herself all owned a copy of -- and focused on Twilight. that wonderful lavender coat, that dark mane with the pleasant, light pink streak, those wide, violet eyes...

Fluttershy was snapped out of this stupor by Angel, who had decided to hop up to the picture and wave his paw in front of her face. He then examined the picture and simply sat there for a few moments in deep thought before his eyes grew wide with realization. His eyes flew back and forth between Fluttershy and the picture, and finally stopped on the picture. He looked back at her once more, tilted his head sideways and pointed to Rainbow Dash.

"...No, it's not her."

He refocused his expression and thought for a few seconds, then pointed to Rarity.

"...No, but you are getting closer..."

He thought for another second, then his paw shot straight over to her -- Twilight.

"...Y-Yes...her...eep...Twilight..."

At this moment Rainbow Dash flew in through her window and quite literally crashed right into the wall. She immediately got up and faced Fluttershy, who had grabbed Angel and darted behind the couch in fear and was now petting him slightly more aggressively than needed and whimpering.

"C'mon, 'Shy, what're you waiting for? The su-sue...what was that word Twilight used when he was talking about this party-thingy?"

"Ps-pseudo?"

'Yeah, right, that. It starts in about 15 minutes! I thought you'd have left early."

"W-well, I had sort of a r-rough night yesterday..."

"Oh. Anything you wanna talk about?"

"...N-no."

"Well alrighty then," the blue pegasus fgave a few flaps of her wings and was out of Fluttershy's house before the yellow mare could even blink. "You comin' or not?"

Fluttershy placed Angel on the floor, walked to her door, locked it on the way out, and fluttered into the air to join her friend, "Don't worry, Rainbow, I'm coming." She gave her friend a small smile, and Dash returned it with a wide grin and they began flying off toward the Ponyville Park.

Twilight stepped out of her treehouse library and breathed in the scent of fresh air. This was exactly what she needed to get her mind off of Fluttershy. Spike had seemed rather accepting, and had even approved when Twilight had revealed her identity. But now she could just forget all about thes problems and go spend time with all of her friends...

...Which included Fluttershy.

Twilight facehoofed at this revelation. 'Really, Twilight,' she thought, 'You're supposed to be the intelligent one, right? How could you possibly skip over a detail like THAT?' She sighed and began walking toward the park. 'Well, this can't possibly be a bad thing, right? In fact, this is actually really good! Maybe I can finally tell Fluttershy how I feel about her!' She giggled excitedly at this thought...but of course, then came the conflict.

'...But...wait...what if she doesn't feel the same way? And what will the others say? I don't...I never even considered any of this! Grr! Why does the only thing I don't know about have to be so...so...complicated?!' She continued down the road without any further thought on the subject, but as she approached the park she becam more and more nervous. Right up until...

"Twilight, daarrling," came the familiar (but rather sing-song) sound of Rarity's voice, "So good to see you today! How are you?"

"Oh, hello Rarity," Twilight smiled at her friend, most of her nervousness forgotten, "I'm doing well. How about you?"

"Oh, just fabulous! I can't wait to get everyone gathered together again. We don't get a lot of this time anymore, and even though some of us may have our differences..." she paused and smiled, "...I still love to be around each and every one of our friends."

This suddenly gave Twilight a large burst of confience and hope. She suddenly knew that her friends would accept her if she revealed her affection for Fluttershy, and even if Fluttershy didn't return her feelings, she would always be her friend. "...Yeah, me too, Rarity."

As they trotted into the park Twilight noticed Pinkie Pie and Applejack were already there, apparently putting the finishing touches on the small amount of decorations Pinkie had alotted herself, saving most of them for a proper party, but still wanting to celebrate this occasion.

"Twilight, Rarity," The pink earth pony exclaimed, "I'm so glad you guys are here! Now we just have to wait for fluttershy and Dashie and we can start having our SUPER AWESOME FRIENDSHIP GATHERING TOTALLY NOT PARTY OF FRIENDS-"

AJ stepped over and put a hoof in Pinkie's mouth, "We get the point, Sugarcube," she nodded to rarity and Twilight and flashed them a bright smile, "Glad ta see you two could make it. We'd be mighty sorry if y'all couldn't show."

Rarity flashed her own dazzling smile, "It's good to see you too, Applejack. And, heheh, you as well, Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie smiled and nodded her head enthusiastically, AJ's hoof still in her mouth and all, causing the other three to giggle a little bit at her silliness. They chatted for a few minutes before they heard the sound of flapping wings.

'Hey guys! Start the party without us?" Rainbow Dash asked as she lowered herself to the ground, 'We aren't THAT late, are we?"

Rarity laughed, "Oh no no, of course not, we were just having a small conversation. The other three nodded in agreement. "Also, i believe i heard you say, 'we'. So where, may I ask, is Fluttershy?"

Dash quirked an eyebrow and looked around, "Huh, i could've sworn she was right behind me..."

"Don't you worry about me," a small voice called, "I'm right here."

As Fluttershy flew over to her friends, her eyes moved immediately to Twilight, but she forced them away so she could give each of her friends a friendly smile and a little, "Hi there."

Meanwhile, Twilight had also begun focusing immediately on Fluttershy, but had distracted herself by quickly returning her greeting and sparking a conversation with Rarity. But she knew she couldn't just keep blowing her off like that. She needed to confront Fluttershy, not to ignore her.

'No,' she thought as she looked over to Fluttershy again, who was now conversing with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, 'I won't be afraid...I won't turn this whole thing into a wasted opportunity!'

Chapter Three: The Gathering

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Chapter Three: The Gathering

Things were not going as planned at the little picnic non-party-gathering-thingamajig the girls were having at the park.

...Well, technically, things were going perfectly. They were all getting along and having a blast with each other, but two of the mares present were still going crazy trying to get the other in a serious conversation. Remeber that burst of confidence Twilight had received from Rarity's speech? it was still there, of course, but she couldn't really use it. She simply couldn't keep up a conversation with her yellow friend long enough to get anything serious in.

'C'mon, Twilight Sparkle. You're ready for this. You can do it.'

'Can you?'

'WHOZAT?'

'Are you REALLY ready for this?'

'O-Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be? I'm not even nervous!'

'Well, you're sort of talking to yourself. You're obviously at least a little nervous. Or maybe you're just crazy.'

'I'm not crazy! YOU'RE crazy!'

'...Technically, I AM you. So that WOULD make you-'

'Shut up.'

As Twilight snapped out of her, rather heated, mental argument, she noticed a slightly concerned Rainbow Dash tilting her head, quirking an eyebrow in confusion.

"Uh, Twilight? You okay? You looked kind of zonked-out for a few minutes, there."

"Huh?" Twilight blinked in surprise. 'A few minutes?' "Oh, yeah, I'm fine, Dash, don't worry about me. i was just, uh..." She thought quickly to come up with something that would convince Rainbow Dash, "Just thinking about a book I read last night! Really intense piece of literature."

Dash perked up a little, but yawned at the mention of 'reading', "Yeah, yeah, Twi', I'm sure it was awesome. Maybe you could tell one of the others about it though. I'm going for the snacks. Later, chica!"

Before Twilight could assure her she had no intentions of telling Rainbow Dash about any book she would have read last night or question her usage of the Spanish word for 'girl,' the cyan pegasus zipped away and left the lavender librarian with her thoughts. Dash had actually sparked an idea in her mind.

'That's it! I'll start a conversation with Fluttershy about a book I've read before! Maybe one of those dusty old romance novels will work. Yes, yes, yes! That's perfect! It will give me a perfect opportunity to casualy slide the conversation over to relationships and then...and then...'

'Wing it from there?'

'That'll work.'

The purple pony, satisfied with her plan, began to trot casually over to Fluttershy, who was, thank Celestia above, lounging at the refreshment table, chatting with one of the neighborhood squirrels. Twilight made out part of the conversation as she drew nearer. She chuckled softly. She always though Fluttershy's way with animals was adorable...

"...you don't say? Well, I'm just glad his nuts were safe. I'm glad he learned to keep them nice and secure after that," Fluttershy giggled a little at the squirrel's cute way of nodding, and passed him a cupcake to take with him. "Goodbye, Ms. Squirrel!" she called softly to the critter as she scampered away.

"He-hey, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy's heart leapt at the sound of the voice. It had been doing that an awful lot lately. She turned apprehensively, as if expecting nopony to be there, but she smiled as she saw Twilight was truly there, giving her a soft smile of her own. "Oh, hello, Twilight."

"That...squirrel seemed to be in a bit of a hurry."

"Oh yes. She had to get back home before her curfew. Fathers these days."

"...Wow. I didn't know squirrels were so strict."

"They aren't usually, but he's a special case."

Silence fell as the two stood awkwardly at the table. Twilight's 'romance novel' talk had completely slipped her mind when she had seen Fluttershy, and the yellow mare hadn't exactly had time to think of anything to talk about. they were at a complete standstill. A dead halt in the conversation. Several minutes passed in this awkward lull, but it was finally broken when Pinkie decided to bounce up to the refreshment table and devour an entire platter of brownies and at least three slices of pie.

"Ahh, that was refreshing! Now I know why they call it a 'refreshment table'! Which is good because before I thought that was a silly name and so i'd just been calling it a table and that almost sounds sillier now that i call it a refreshment table because that's what it's called!" The pink pony beamed at the other two mares, who shared a quick glance and smiled.

"Oh, Pinkie..."

"Heheh...you're so ridiculous. In the good way, of course."

"Aw, thanks, Twilight!" Pinkie exclaimed as she pulled her into a hug, "That makes me happy to hear you say that!" She released Twilight, her smile almost bigger than before. "So, watchu guys talkin' bout?"

Twilight blushed and brushed her slightly disheveled mane back into place, "Well, actually, we were just talking about...squirrels."

"Squirrels?"

"Yes, Pinkie. Squirrels."

:"You know, there was this one time where I met a squirrel outside the Corner! he really liked cupcakes, so for the rest of the day..."

And so, for the next hour or so Twilight and Fluttershy sat quietly and shared confused glances while Pinkie Pie recounted a number of stories about random encounters she had, or in one case what she had wanted to have for lunch last Tuesday. Eventually they began to run together, both due to the speed she was reciting them and because Twilight and Fluttershy, unbeknownst to even themselves, had scooted together and were absentmindedly paying more attention to each other than their bubbly friend.

"...and then they all lived in a boat!" Pinkie smiled broadly at the two and giggled, "Hehee, you guys look cute together," she added casually.

Suddenly the two mares were aware of each other. They both squeaked, faces heated and crimson, and scooted away from each other, Twilight tripping over herself in the process.

"Aww! Just like in Study Buddies! Well, have fun, you two! I'll just leave you alone, for now," she giggled happily again as she bounced away towards Rainbow Dash, who was currently lazily doing a few upside-down midair laps.

Fluttershy shyly fluttered over to Twilight and helped her up to her hooves, "A-Are you okay, Twilight?," she inquired as she looked away, her blush still very apparent on her features.

Twilight's blush had darkened considerably after her little incident. She felt embarrassed for more reasons than she could count on her hooves right about now, "I'm...fine, thank you," she squeaked sheepishly. She noted that the only other pony whose voice she had ever heard so soft had been Fluttershy's. She was so much cuter and more graceful, though.

"So, uh...Twilight...?"

"...Yeah?"

"Did...uh...you...come over before...for any, you know...reason?"

Twilight's mind snapped back to her earlier plan, 'Operation: Talk to Fluttershy about Romance Novels and Attempt to Reveal My Affection,' or simply, 'Operation: TFRNARMA.'

Tfrnarma.

'Next time, I go to Rainbow Dash for catchy-sounding operation names.'

'What about me?'

'Quiet, you.'

She shook her head and smiled at Fluttershy, her blush fading ever so slightly as she tried to ease herself back into the conversation, "Well, actually, yes! I wanted to talk to you about...a book I read last night."

Fluttershy's normal color returned as well as she gave her crush her most natural forced smile. "Oh, the one you told Rainbow Dash about earlier? You said it was...'intense,' right?"

Twilight nodded in response, "Y-yeah, actually. I just wanted somepony else's opinion on it, and i thought, you know...maybe you've read it?"

"What book, Twilight?"

"No, not that one. Ugh, I'm ashamed to share a name wi-"

"No, I was asking, you know...what book were you talking about?"

"Oh...OH! Oh, I'm sorry. I just...never mind. I was talking about, um," She coughed into her hoof nervously, "...Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespony."

"Oh, well, yes. I have read that one...it's so..."

"...Romantic," they finished in unison. They stared at each other for a few moments, then began blinking rapidly and turned their heads in opposite directions, their faces flushing anew.

"A-At l-least," Twilight stuttered,"that's what i thought. Y-you know, it's a great romance novel. A fine piece of work."

"Um," Fluttershy began, hiding her face behind her mane, "Ye-yes, I uh..." She trailed off, lost in thought momentarily. "...Uh, liked it," she finished lamely.

They simply sat in silence as Twilight levitated a glass of punch over to herself and sipped on it as to avoid any more unnecessary communication. She was mentally smacking herself over and over while screaming at herself about how she was stupid and she would never be able to work this out with Fluttershy. The voice from before decided to come back to check up on her.

'So, uh...how'd it go?'

'...You're serious?'

'...So, not good?'

'No. Not at all. I just made her nervous and uncomfortable. I'm so terrible at this. I wish i had somepony to go to for advice...'

'Well, Spike already tried to give you advice. Maybe you SHOULD just tell her.'

'Weren't you the one asking me if I was ready to do that not even 2 hours ago?'

'I dunno, aren't you the one talking to yourself?'

'...I don't like you.'

'Alright, fine. You know what? Go talk to Rarity. She spends a lot of time with Fluttershy, right? At the spa? Go get advice from her. That should work.'

'...That's not a terrible idea. Thanks, me.'

'No problem, Twilight. Anytime.'

Twilight set her glass down and nervously looked over at Fluttershy, "...So, um, Fluttershy? I'm just going to go and, uh...talk to Rarity. Not that I don't want to be with-...around you right now, but I have to, uh...ask her about something." And with that she briskly trotted off to leave Fluttershy on her own, wither her thoughts.

Minutes later, Rainbow Dash flew over and seated herself next to Fluttershy, "What's up, 'Shy? Weren't you with Twilight a few minutes ago? You seem kind of, well, out of it."

Fluttershy looked up at Dash and sighed, "Yes, i was with Twilight, but she went over to talk to Rarity...I think...I think I made her uncomfortable...also...I don't mean to seem out of it...I just, um...uh...don't want to..." She sunk down further on her haunches until the bottom of her muzzle made contact with the table laid out before her.

Dash gave Fluttershy a concerned look, before closing her eyes and letting out a deep sigh, "Alright, something's definitely wrong, and I know it. Don't even bother telling me it's nothing. If you don't want to talk about it now, I'll swing by your place later and we can discuss it then," She smiled, attempting to coax one out of her sullen friend as well, and continued, "Besides, this is still a party...kind of thing. You gotta enjoy it!"

Fluttershy smiled softly at her oldest friend, the familiar closeness to her rising up and comforting her. She was glad Dash had noticed something was wrong. Now, even though she had scared Twilight away she could always get some advice on how to better prepare herself for their next encounter..and she might even have somepony to cry to tonight.

She shook her head to clear her mind of that last thought. She wouldn't need anypony to cry to...or on. Because Rainbow Dash would be there for her, and she would be accepting of her choices and she would teach Fluttershy how she could just boldly proclaim her affection to Twilight, and she would sweep the lavender unicorn off her hooves and they would have a nice, happy life.

Fluttershy wrapped her forehooves around Dash and pulled her into a hug, "Thank you, Rainbow Dash...thank you...so much..."

Dash blinked in surprise, but soon returned the hug and chuckled, "Anytime, 'Shy. Anytime."

For the next several hours the 6 friends enjoyed each other's company, and in the cases Twilight and Fluttershy, avoided any other awkward or embarrassing encounters with any of the other ponies. Though rarity and twilight had spent some time having some sort of serious discussion regarding something of, 'The utmost importance!' as Rarity had put it.

Although, as the saying goes, 'All good things must come to an end.' And so did the totally-not-party. Pinkie Pie took it upon herself to tear down the decorations, and naturally, being Pinkie, they were down before the others could so much as blink.

As they went their separate ways, Rainbow Dash joined Fluttershy on the trip back to hr cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville as Rarity accompanied Twilight back to her tree-house library, as Applejack, not wanting to be left out, allowed Pinkie Pie to drag her back to Sugarcube Corner for a baking session and or slumber party.

Fluttershy and twilight looked back at each other's homes upon arriving at their own, and turned to their guests, their faces serious.

"I need some advice."

Chapter Four (Part 1) - Give Me a Smidge of Confidence

Unsure

Chapter 4-1 - Give Me a Smidge of Confidence

"Umm...advice, 'Shy? That's kinda...vague. What kind of advice are we talking about?"

Fluttershy blushed again and hid behind her mane, "Well, um, you see," she began nervously, drawing circles on the floor with her hoof, "I, uh, uhm...eep," she trailed off, quickly ducking her now crimson face into her sofa.

Dash gave her friend a deadpan stare and facehoofed. She already knew how shy she usually was, but this was just ridiculous. At least she could usually talk about it. Geez. She cleared her throat and tried to coerce the shy mare to talk to her, "Hey, Fluttershy...um...you know, it would probably be easier for me to give you advice you need if, um, you talk to me."

Fluttershy slowly lifted her head from the comfortable confines of her couch and brushed her now slightly unruly mane out of her face with a sigh. She knew Dash was right. if she never talked to her, then she would have called her over for nothing, and she didn't want to feel like she was wasting her friend's time. That simply would not do.

The yellow mare took several deep breaths and looked straight at Rainbow Dash, readying herself for how she may react. She inhaled one last time, then said, with all the seriousness she could force out of herself, "I...have feelings for somepony, and I want--no, need your help to...um...make them like me too..."

Dash sat in quiet contemplation for a few moments,then walked slowly over to Fluttershy, placing a comforting hoof on her shoulder and flashing her a bright, confident grin, "Well, well, look at you 'Shy! Never thought...actually, I did kinda think this would happen at some point, so never mind. So, you gonna tell me who it is?"

Fluttershy looked sheepishly at her friend and gave an extremely nervous laugh, "Well, um, you, uh, you actually know her..."

Dash's eyes widened in surprise, then quickly shrank back down, "Ah, that's how you play, eh, 'Shy? Haha, never even considered you'd be into mares!" She beamed, and then her expression softened, "But...I guess I'm as good as anypony for you to make that little confession to, huh?"

It was Fluttershy's turn to be surprised, "You too, Rainbow Dash?"

Dash chuckled and threw her hoof around her meek friend's shoulder, 'What, you didn't think you were the only one, did you? You ever notice how close Lyra and Bon Bon are?"

Fluttershy thought for a moment, attempting to remember exactly who dash was referring to, "...Um...Lyra Heartstrings, the lyrist, and Bon Bon, the mare who works at the candy store near Sugar-Cube Corner?"

"Yep," Dash nodded, "That's them, all right! They're always together for a reason,you know. So you've got them and me, and probably a few other ponies, too. Well, never mind that now, back to the original question! You said I know her, so..." she trailed off as she scratched her chin with her hoof, trying to come up with some options.

As she did this, Fluttershy gently removed Dash's other hoof from her shoulder and laid down on her couch and sighed. This action didn't exactly go unnoticed, however, and Rainbow Dash paused mid-thought and walked over to lay her head down on the arm of the couch to meet Fluttershy's gaze.

"Hey there."

"...Did you figure it out yet...?"

"Oh, yeah, 'cause you gave me SO much to work with! Can I have another hint?"

Fluttershy shoved her head into the cushions once again, "Ifshn Twhfmngh," she stated, muffled by the fluffy pillows.

Dash quirked an eyebrow in interest and confusion, "What was that? i couldn't quite catch what you said."

Fluttershy groaned, sat up quickly, and faced the other way. She knew she was going to have to tell Dash eventually.She needed some kind of extra assistance, some sort of boost to help her get her feelings out in the open. obviously she wasn't going to be able to do it alone.

She slowly turned back around, and found Rainbow quickly looking away and blushing. Her distress slipping her mind for a moment, she gave her a confused and questioning look, "...Were you staring a--?"

"That's not important!" The cyan pegasus blurted out. She regained her composure and continued, in a much steadier voice, "So, what about that hint?"

Fluttershy gave her friend an incredulous look and shook her head, deciding to ignore the issue for now. She had to just come out with it at some point, and she decided that sooner was better than later.

"...Rainbow Dash..."

"...Yeah, 'Shy?" Dash inquired, tilting her head to the side.

"I, um...I like...it's..." She had started now, and there was no going back. It was time to finally let somepony else hear of her plight, "It's Twilight."

Dash's eyes shot open and her jaw dropped, "Twilight?! You mean, OUR Twilight?! The egghead librarian Twilight Sparkle?!"

Fluttershy felt her face heat up and she could almost see herself becoming redder and redder each time Dash shouted the name, "Yes, it's her...and could you please not call her an egghead!?"

Dash's mouth instantly snapped shut. Had Fluttershy just...raised her voice to her? Well, she definitely had some feelings for Twilight if she detested even the slightest insult being directed at the purple unicorn. She sat back on her haunches and tried to remember what exactly she needed to do at this point.

"Um, okay, sorry. No more calling her an 'egghead.' So, remind me again why you needed to tell me all this?"

Fluttershy facehoofed and let out a small, yet obviously frustrated groan, "Ugh! Rainbow Dash, I need your help! I need your advice so I can, you know, um, win her heart and uh, make her like me back."

Dash tilted her head in the other direction and clicked her tongue, "So I'm just going to go out on a limb and guess you haven't even considered telling her about this?"

Fluttershy gasped and shook her head vigorously, "Oh, no no no! What if she rejected me? What would happen to our friendship? She would hate me, that's what would happen! And then we'd never talk anymore, and the others would think I'm weird, and then nopony would like me anymore and--"

Dash shoved her hoof in Fluttershy's mouth to stop the flow of negativity, "FLUTTERSHY! Calm down, you're really freaking out! You need to just...calm...down."

Fluttershy blinked in surprise and waited patiently for Rainbow Dash to remove her hoof. Once this was done, she sighed again and sadly looked her friend in the eyes, "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, I really should try to stay calm and let you help. I mean, that's the whole reason I asked you to come here. Please, please just..." she sniffed, her eyes watering slightly, "please help me."

Dash's ears drooped and she placed both of her forehooves on her friend's shoulders in the softest, most comforting way she could, "Oh, no, please don't cry, 'Shy. You know that'll just make all of this harder. Don't you worry, I'll help as much as I can. Plus, if I help you get together with Twilight, then I'll have done you both a favor, and what's a couple of favors to the Element of Loyalty?" she finished with a smile.

Fluttershy gave a small smile of her own to compliment her friend's and wiped her eyes, "Hehehe, Element of Loyalty or not, you're still one of the bravest, nicest ponies I know. That's why I came to you instead of anypony else."

Dash blushed and scratched the back of her head with a hoof, "Aw, shucks, 'Shy,now you've got me all embarrassed and stuff," she then smirked and removed her other hoof from Fluttershy's shoulder to strike a proud pose, huffing her chest out in front of her, "I mean, of course, that's true. I am brave, aren't I?"

"And confident," Fluttershy added, with a soft chuckle, "which is sort of what i was hoping you'd help me with."

Dash blinked, "Huh? Help you with confidence?"

"Well, more specifically, to help me be confident enough to actually, you know, talk to Twilight about this. Maybe even, oh, I don't know" Fluttershy hid behind her mane for a second and blushed, "a-ask her out on a, you know, a date. Like, a real date."

Rainbow Dash nodded and fluffed her wings, then sat down on her haunches, "I get it. So," she brought her hoof up to her chin and stroked her nonexistent goatee, "how do we get Twilight to go out with you? We already know she likes you as a friend, so maybe we can just use some of the normal stuff you do to our advantage. She seems to really like how you can care for all these different types of animals and junk. She still can't get over that thing with the dragon."

"Really, she still talks about that?"

"Yeah, sometimes it just comes up. Well, that's all I can really come up with. For now, anyway. Maybe we can find something you two can do together. Do you know if you guys like to do any of the same things?"

"Well," Fluttershy thought back to earlier, at the not-party-picnic-gathering, "she asked me earlier today about a book she read. A romance novel. Maybe she likes to read those as much as I do?"

Dash stared incredulously at Fluttershy for a good minute and a half before facehoofing, 'Are you serious? All you can think of that you have in common is reading!? Fluttershy, even I like to read a lot. Granted, I don't like the romantic, mushy goo goo lovey stuff, but still. There has to be something else you guys could both like,"

"Well, like you said before, she um," she blushed at the thought of Twilight admiring her, "she thinks highly of my skills with animals. Maybe I could invite her over to talk about my animals or something."

Dash shook her head, "Well, that could get her over here, but it still wouldn't really be a date, now would it? 'Be more like just something you could do any day of any week in any month ever. Nothing to really, I dunno, connect over."

Fluttershy's ears drooped and she stuck out her bottom lip in an extremely pouty fashion, "Oh, Rainbow Dash! You're just shooting down all of my ideas. Plus, you already pointed out she likes me as a friend, so we already have a connection. it's not a romantic connection, but-"

"Exactly, 'Shy! It's not romantic. It's just, uh, platonic. Yeah, I think that's the word. I'll check that one Daring Do book again when I get home and I'll get back to you on that. Wait, which one used it again? Argh, never mind, I'm getting off track! Anyway, like I said: not romantic. We need to make it romantic. Get her to go out to dinner with you or something, with all those candles and dim lights and stuff."

Fluttershy gave an exasperated groan and sat on her haunches, still as pouty-faced as before, "But that's the whole problem, Dash! I can't ask her to go out with me. I'm not brave or confident enough. Remember five minutes ago when I said all this before?"

"Right, right, the whole reason you asked for m--wait just a second."

"Dash? What are you thinking?"

Rainbow Dash smiled and looked at Fluttershy, a gleam in her eyes that just screamed, 'I've got the greatest plan ever!', and stood proud again, "So, I've got all the braveness and confidence you don't have that would be involved with asking Twilight out, right? At least, that's what you're saying."

Fluttershy nodded slowly, and raised and eyebrow in confusion, "Y-yes, but I don't see where you're going with this."

"Fluttershy, it's so simple," Dash began with a grin, "I'll just ask Twilight out for you."

Fluttershy was shocked, "W-W-W-What!? Now how is that going to help me!? Why would you-"

"Not ask her out for me, 'Shy. Ask her to meet you for dinner or something. Like you wanted to talk, catch up, for old times' sake or something. Geez, jumping to conclusions much?"

Fluttershy blushed again and let out a short,nervous chuckle, embarrassed at her misunderstanding, "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, I just, well, you know."

Dash laughed and headed over to Fluttershy's back window to look out at the field that separated her house from the Everfree Forest, "Nah, it's no big deal, I get you. Maybe I should've worded that better. Hey, come over here for a sec."

The yellow pegasus nodded and walked over to Dash's side, staring at the moon-soaked grass, swaying calmly in the cool, night breeze, "Do you need something?"

"Nah, I was just thinking. When you and Twilight start going out, I think you should take her out for a picnic back there."

"Huh? Why do you say that?"

"I dunno. I just think it's pretty back here. Peaceful. Sounds relaxing to me."

"Don't worry, Rainbow Dash. We'll find you someone to relax with too, someday. Maybe I'll be able to help you like you're helping me."

"Heh, maybe. Thanks, 'Shy."

"So about earlier, were you really staring at my--?"

"I'm going to go crash on the couch now. Wake me in the morning."

"Um, okay, sure. Also, I'm taking that as a 'yes,' just so you know."

"Oh, shut up."

Chapter Four (Part 2) - Generosity in Abundance

Unsure

Chapter 4-2 - Generosity in Abundance

Twilight and Rarity walked in contemplative silence toward Twilight's library home, both pondering on how exactly to handle Twilight's current situation. As the walked in the door, Twilight closed it with magic and immediately headed to her kitchen. Rarity followed suit, but not without greeting the small purple dragon, who had approached the pair upon their entrance.

"Why, hello, Spike. How are you tonight? Are you feeling well?" Rarity asked politely, noticing the dragon's half-lidded eyes and somewhat vacant expression.

"Hi, Rarity," Spike answered, suppressing a yawn. "I'm fine and all, just, you know, tired. You look pretty."

"Thank you, Spike, you know how I appreciate a compliment from such a little gentleman. But shouldn't you head off to sleep now, dear? This can't be good for you, you're still just a young dragon. Go get some rest."

"But Twilight said--"

"I'll be staying with Twilight tonight, so if there's something left undone that will need doing, I'm sure we'll both be up to the task. Now run along, Spikey."

Spike looked at her for a few moments,yawned loudly,and smiled. "Thanks, Rarity," he said as he reached out to hug her.

Rarity, finding the sight of the small dragon reaching out to her absolutely adorable, returned the hug and held it for a few seconds before releasing him. After watching him head up to Twilight's bedroom to hit the metaphorical hay, she turned and followed Twilight into her kitchen, where she found said purple unicorn staring wistfully out the window, a cup of tea on the windowsill.

Rarity levitated the matching glass she presumed to be for her and joined Twilight at the window. "Wonderful night, isn't it?"

Twilight nodded, "Yeah. Wonderful."

"Oh, but of course. I am not here because you wanted someone to discuss the stars with. I am here because you have a problem, and you believe i can help you fix it. Yes?"

The purple mare nodded again, this time not saying anything.

"You do realize actually telling me what the problem is would make this a lot easier or the both of us?"

Twilight's face landed with a loud "smack" on the wooden windowsill. "Mmpgh."

"Well," Rarity said quietly, more than a little surprised by her companion's sudden action. She took another sip of her tea and coughed lightly to clear her throat. "This is clearly worse than I could have imagined. When you said you were having 'relationship issues,' you truly meant it. I can only imagine how important he is to you."

"Izshm."

"What was that?"

Twilight lifted her head and sighed. "I said, 'it's a she.' She's a mare."

Rarity, taken aback, worked her jaw for a few moments, attempting to say something to Twilight, but she was unable to form any sort of complex thought. After a few minutes of confused silence, with the occasional sputter or two, she finally formed the word, "Oh."

"Yeah."

Rarity stood for a few moments and rubbed her chin. "Well. That sort of complicates things a little."

Twilight cocked her head to the side quizzically. "What do you mean, 'it complicates things?'"

"I mean, Twilight," Rarity explained, "that most of my experience with relationships involves a mare and a stallion. To be completely honest, I've never given advice to anyone in a, oh, how can I put this... 'domestic relationship.' I can't promise that I can help you, Twilight."

Twilight's ears drooped and she groaned. "Great! Now I don't know who else to turn to about this. You're the only pony I know well enough who's been in this sort of situation before!"

"Well, you could--"

"And you know what else?" Twilight continued, apparently on some sort of roll, "You know what makes this all worse? I need help because I have absolutely no prior experience regarding this subject! I've never had a crush before, never dated before, never even thought about dating before! And now I've gone and fallen for one of my best friends! And now I can barely talk to her! Why do I have to be so socially awkward!? Why can't--"

Rarity placed a hoof in front of Twilight's mouth, instantly cutting her off. "Twilight, dear, you're working yourself up. Can you please go back a little for me? What's all this about falling for one of your best friends?"

Twilight sat down on her haunches and took a few, deep, calming breaths. She sighed and looked up at Rarity. "Rarity, the mare I like...," she paused for a moment and gulped. "... it's Fluttershy."

Rarity gasped and raised a hoof to her mouth, realization sinking in. "So that's why you've been--"

"Yeah."

"And at the party earlier, you two were--"

"Yup."

And suddenly, Rarity beamed. "Oh, Twilight! This is wonderful news!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Huh? What? Why are you so excited all of a sudden?"

"Twilight, if it's Fluttershy then of course I can give you some advice! I only spend at the bare minimum a few hours with her every week during our spa visits! And we've only been meeting up like that for years now! I'm probably Fluttershy's closest friend next to Rainbow Dash!"

Twilight's eyes widened and she grinned. "Yes!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, "I knew you could help me! I just knew it! Oh, thank you thank you thank you!"

Rarity released a demure little giggle and smiled at Twilight. "Think nothing of it. I'm just glad I can help out a friend who is in such desperate need of my expertise. In fact, I suppose I'll be helping out two of my friends, as opposed to only one. I'm sure we can convince Fluttershy to at least accept some sort of dinner invitation or something, so you two can have some time alone together."

Twilight's smile faltered and turned into a frown. "You make it sound so easy. Believe me, Rarity, I've tried to ask her out before. I was actually trying to ask her out during the party. I just sort of ended up making a fool of myself. Like I said before, I don't really have any experience with this whole dating thing at all."

"Hm. Well, date or not, we do need to find something for you to do that would best suit both of your interests. Tell me, Twilight, what do you know you have in common with Fluttershy? That might help things go over a bit smoother."

Twilight nodded and began to think out loud, "What do I have in common with Fluttershy? Hm, well, we both like to read. And, uh, we're both mares. We both like animals, except she likes a lot more than I do. Um, we both live in wooden houses. Ooh, and we both have pink in our manes! Uh, we--"

"Twilight! You're just making observations at this point. I meant activities mostly. So basically, all you've been able to tell me is that you both like to read. Do you know of anything else you two could do?"

"Well, she likes nature, doesn't she? Of course she does, why am I even asking that? Back to the point, I like nature, too. I love studying wildlife, plants, and those kinds of things. I love stargazing, too, but I'm not sure if she feels the same way. Does she?"

"Actually," Rarity said with a smile, "She does enjoy the stars. Quite a lot, actually. I'm surprised it hasn't come up before between you two. She's not much of an astronomer, but she can get lost in those stars sometimes, that's for sure. So we have reading, which might just involve spending more time at the library, nature, so possibly some kind of trip to Whitetail Wood or perhaps just a stroll through the park, and stargazing, which could create some sort of romantic, moonlit moment. Not a bad selection, if you ask me."

Twilight smiled as she began daydreaming of doing all these things with Fluttershy. She envisioned the pegasus fluttering carefree in the woods, admiring some sort of squirrel or other woodland creature. She saw her curled up against Twilight herself as they both read some sort of famous tome by the fireplace in the library. Finally, she saw Fluttershy look down from the night sky and look at Twilight as a heart-shaped formation of stars lit up brightly behind her as they both leaned in...

"--ilight? Twilight? Twilight, hello, are you even listening to me? Ugh, a lady should not have to stand around and be ignored! Snap out of it, Twilight!"

Said unicorn shook her head vigorously and blinked. "Rarity?" she asked perplexedly, "how long was I out?"

"Oh, just for a minute or two, but still. It's a little rude to zone out and completely forget that you have a guest in your home, you know."

Twilight gave Rarity a sheepish smile and chuckled, "Heheh, my bad."

Rarity "humphed" and turned away, before smiling despite herself and giggling. "Oh, it's no huge bother, really. I bet I could even guess what you were so preoccupied with."

"Oh, really now?"

"No, seriously, Twilight. When you started leaning forward I kind of figured it out."

"What!? I actually did that!? Why didn't you say anything before!?"

"Because I like to have a little fun once in a while."

"That was not funny."

"On the contrary, Twilight. I found it to be most entertaining. You had the goofiest look on your face."

Twilight levitated her now cold cup of tea over and sipped it, staring darkly at Rarity over the brim. "How goofy are we talking?"

The face Rarity made almost caused Twilight to choke on the liquid running down her throat. She had the strangest little kissy-face on, and her eyes were crossed, focused intently on her own muzzle. She looked absolutely nothing like the high-class pony she acted like, and was more comparable to a little filly making a funny face at an animal.

"Dear Celestia, are you serious?!" a mortified Twilight exclaimed.

Rarity laughed again and sighed, "Haha, as serious as I've ever been, Twilight."

"Remind me to never zone out in public. Ever."

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't promise you that. I'm almost 100% sure it looks even more ridiculous on you than it did me. 'Might get a few laughs if it were to happen in a crowded area."

"Wha--but--"

"I believe the phrase you are looking for is, as Rainbow Dash would say," Rarity paused to cough and perform her best Dash impression, deepening her voice and puffing out her chest, but giving Twilight a disapproving look, "Not cool, Rare."

The two mares stood in silence for a few moments before dissolving into fits of laughter, to the point where they were literally rolling around on the floor laughing their flanks off. After several minutes, they both returned to their hooves and smiled at each other.

"That was awful," Twilight observed, "You're terrible at this."

Rarity gave a mock gasp of shock and gave Twilight what would have been an incredulous look had she not still been wearing the bright smile on her face. "Well, excuse me, Twilight Sparkle! I had forgotten you were such the renowned impressionist yourself!"

The pair laughed again for a bit, but stopped themselves before it got out of hoof again. Twilight looked at her clock and noticed it was already nearing midnight. "Wow. I didn't even realize how late it was already. We should probably turn in soon. You can use the guest bed again, if you want. I just have to make sure Spike gets to bed soon, or he'll--"

"I already sent him to bed. You go up, I'll finish any work Spikey may have left undone, and I'll join you when I'm finished. I may lose precious time from my regularly scheduled beauty sleep, but it will at least have been for a good cause. Run along now, Twilight," Rarity said as she waved Twilight towards her room, I'll see you in the morning if you're already asleep when I get there."

Twilight smiled and turned around halfway up the stairs. "Thanks, Rarity. I'm lucky to have you as a friend."

"Think nothing of it, dear. You're just as good a friend to anyone. Good night."

"Good night, Rarity."

Rarity turned to the shelves and began walking around the room, placing the various books into their proper place and doing a small bit of dusting here and there. All in all it only took her a few minutes. Satisfied with her work, she slowly and quietly crept up the stairs, magically extinguishing lights as she went along. By the time she had reached Twilight's room, she heard two distinct sets of snoring, one much more subdued than the other.

Rarity groaned and shook her head and looked toward the spot from which the louder noise was being emitted,

"Really, Twilight? You're practically shaking the whole house."

Chapter Five - Situations

Unsure

Chapter 5 - Situations

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, I really don't know about this..." Fluttershy whimpered as her cyan friend pushed her along the path toward Sugar Cube Corner. "Maybe we could just wait a few more days or weeks or something, and then I..."

"Fluttershy!" Dash interjected forcefully. "We've already held back on this for long enough! How do you expect your relationship to develop if you sit around on your butt for weeks on end not actively doing anything about it?!" Dash exclaimed as she attempted to make Fluttershy move faster.

"Well, I'm sure if I just sit at home and relax for a month or two, I'll eventually muster up the courage to--"

"No. We're doing this right now, and you're going to LOVE IT!" Dash exclaimed as she switched to carrying Fluttershy and flying along.

Fluttershy put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully and sighed. "Why does that sound so familiar?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else.

"Will you stop staring off into space and actually move yourself, Fluttershy?!" Dash shouted.

"So Rarity, Applejack," Twilight asked as the three headed toward the Corner. "What do you think Rainbow Dash asked to see me about?"

Applejack shrugged and said, "Well, Ah dunno, Twi'. Maybe she needs your help with a new trick, or a new book series to read or somethin'. Y'all got any ideas, Rarity?"

Rarity looked away for a moment, as if she was contemplating something, then shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't think of any reason at all." he stopped walking and furrowed her brow in thought again, and her eyes lit up. "Unless..."

Applejack raised an eyebrow and turned to face her. "'Unless?' What're you talkin' about, Rarity?"

Rarity blinked and laughed a little nervous laugh. "Oh, it's nothing Applejack. At any rate, we should hurry to meet them. Come, girls, let's go!"

As Rarity trotted off, Twilight and Applejack exchanged glances.

"The hay is she so excited about all of a sudden?"

"If only I knew, Applejack," Twilight sighed, "If only I knew."

Pinkie sat behind the counter at Sugar Cube Corner and giggled happily. Today's the super special fantastical day! she thought as she munched on a cupcake recently obtained from absolutely nowhere. Today's the day where it all goes down! Hee hee! I'm so excited!

She bounced happily up the stairs to the baby Cakes' room and nuzzled them both as they laughed. "Are you two as amazingly super-duper awesomely excited as I am? I'm gonna try my hardest to make this one of the bestest-est parties those two have ever seen! Oh, except maybe it should be the best-est small party ever. They don't get out much, you know."

Pound and Pumpkin stared blankly at her when she finished, laughed at nothing for a few seconds, and went back to sleep.

"Ahh. Adding babies makes everything cuter. Later, you two."

Pinkie sneaked quietly out of the room and proceeded to bound back downstairs to the counter again. She sighed wistfully and laid her head on the smooth surface in front of her. Now all she needed to do was wait.

Oh, how she hated waiting.

Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity entered the Corner a good five minutes later to discover a sleeping Pinkie Pie slumped against the counter.

"Huh. I'm pretty sure she was expecting us..." Twilight said, confused. "So why would she be asleep?"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "She prob'ly got tired of waitin' for us, so she just passed out."

"Well, since Rainbow Dash has yet to arrive, I suppose we should wake her up and let her know we've arrived." Rarity added as she walked toward her especially pink friend. "Pinkie? Pinkie dear, it's time to wake up. You have guests now!"

Pinkie mumbled something incoherent and opened her eyes slowly, before exploding in what appeared to be a burst of energy, causing Rarity to scurry back in surprise. "Hi girls!" she exclaimed happily. "I'm so glad to see you! Are they here, too, or are they late?"

Twilight cocked her head to the side and quirked her brow. "'They?' I thought only Rainbow Dash was coming?"

"Oh, you silly filly!" Pinkie managed out through a laugh. "She's bringing Fluttershy too! Duh!"

Twilight's heart skipped a beat at the name and she tensed for a moment, but she managed to hide it with a cough. "Oh. Well, um, I, just didn't know she was coming. I mean, I knew Rainbow Dash wanted to meet me here to ask me something, but she never said anything about Fluttershy."

Rarity gave Twilight a knowing glance and shrugged. "Well, darling, you know Rainbow Dash. She can be a tad skimpy on the details at times. Perhaps Fluttershy just has some sort of... business to attend to, that may or may not even be here, and she's just going to stop by."

Twilight looked back at Rarity and sighed. "Yeah, I guess that's a possibility."

Applejack shifted her eyes between the two unicorns suspiciously. "What the hay are you two talkin' about?" she asked, before noticing Twilight seemed a little distressed. "An' what's up with you, Twi'? You look down. Somethin' the matter?"

Twilight shook her head and gave her orange friend a little smile. "No, no. I'm just, uh... thinking about something, that's all."

"You sure that's all? 'Cuz it looks like a little more'n that to me."

"Trust me, Applejack. That's all. I'm fine."

"... If'n you say so... then alright. I'll give you th' benefit of the doubt."

Pinkie smirked and laughed again. "Oh, don't worry, Twilight. I might have to go back and do some re-reading, but I'm pretty sure I know exactly what Dashie needs to ask you and why she's bringing Fluttershy! So don't you worry your smarty little head off, and everything'll go great!"

"Re-readin'?" Applejack asked.

Before she got her answer, the door to the shop opened, and two awfully familiar pegasi ponies stepped in, one almost hiding behind the other.

"Hey, everypony!" Dash called out. "Glad you're all here. Thought you might've left since it took so long for me to get 'Shy over here and everything."

Fluttershy blushed and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

She's so cute when she blushes like that, Twilight thought absentmindedly. I mean, not that she isn't cute all the time, but--GAH, YOU'RE DOING IT AGAIN, TWILIGHT! You really need to stop getting lost in your thoughts about her all the time, or you're going to get yourself into trouble one of these days!

Oh, why is she grinning at me like that? Fluttershy thought. Do I look funny? Did I do something funny? Maybe it's how I'm blushing! Oh no! She's just holding back the urge to laugh at me because she thinks I'm all slow and timid and scared! ... No, no, no! Stop it, Fluttershy! That's not it at all! You're strong, you're confident, and you're STILL blushing, aren't you? Oh well, you can get past this! Just, uh, talk to her or something! Yeah, that's it! Go talk to her! Wait, Dash is going to do that for you so you don't freak out, so just, uh... mingle. Yeah. Mingle.

Fluttershy shook her head for a few seconds and nodded to everypony. "Hello, girls. I'm glad to see you're all doing well. Rarity, looking forward to our next spa visit, especially after the last one. Applejack, I'm glad to see you're not working yourself too hard. Pinkie Pie, full of energy as always, that's always nice to see." After greeting the others, she paused for a short time and turned her attention to the one who already had it. "And, uh, Twilight... it's, um... it's really good to see you. So, uh... hi," she said, rather lamely, but she was happy she hadn't had any sort of nervous breakdown yet.

She said "hi" to me! And she said it was good to see me! HAHA! And it was soo cute, too! Twilight thought, smiling as she said, "It's good to see you too, Fluttershy. Always nice to be able to talk with a good... friend."

They both winced internally at the word "friend," but kept up their smiles and congratulated themselves on their respective small victories.

Dash rolled her eyes at their exchange and sighed. "Yeah, yeah, happy reunions and stuff all around. Yo, Twilight, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh, sure Dash, what do you need?" Twilight questioned apprehensively.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and flew up to Twilight. "No, no, not here. Over there. It's something important, and only you can hear it, okay?"

Twilight glanced back at her friends. Fluttershy was hiding her face with her mane, which Twilight thought was slightly peculiar, Rarity looked unsure about the whole thing, Applejack looked just plain confused, and Pinkie Pie was giggling and munching on popcorn, saying, "Ooh, ooh! Here it co-o-omes~!"

She turned back to Dash and nodded. "Alright, Dash, if you only want me to hear, I'll respect that request. We can talk right out back. That alright with you?"

She smiled in obvious agreement. "Yeah! Perfect! C'mon, let's go, it'll only take a minute!" she called as she flew towards the back of the store.

"Okay, Dash, I'm right behind you!" Twilight said as she moved toward the back herself.

When the door closed, Pinkie looked at Fluttershy and noticed she seemed a little down. "Hey, Flutters?" Pinkie asked, popping up in front of Fluttershy, a comforting look on her face. "I wanna talk to you, too. Can you come into the kitchen with me for a minute?"

Fluttershy looked at Pinkie, returned the smile, and followed her into the kitchen.

Applejack glanced around the now nearly empty store in bewildrement. "Wh-what the hay is going on here? Why does everypony need to talk to everypony else about somethin' or other? Ah don't get it!"

Rarity shook her head, sighed,and placed her hoof on Applejack's shoulder. "It's complicated, Applejack. Much, much too complicated."

AJ narrowed her eyes at Rarity and shook her hoof off. "Too complicated for me to get, righ'?"

Rarity just looked at the orange earth pony sadly. "No. Too complicated for them."

"Fer who?"

"I need to talk to you about something, Applejack."

"Oh, brother..."

Pinkie walked into the kitchen ahead of Fluttershy and sat down on her haunches, motioning for Fluttershy to do the same. Fluttershy took her appointed seat in front of Pinkie and began to stare at what was apparently a particularly interesting stain on the floor.

"Isn't it neat? It's shaped like the Doctor's Cutie Mark."

Fluttershy blink and tilted her head. Surely enough, the stain did vaguely resemble the strange hourglass Cutie Mark that adorned the flank of the familiar brown stallion.

"But," Pinkie continued, smiling at Fluttershy, who turned her head to face the pink mare. "That's not why I brought you in here. No, you're in here for a whole other reason."

"Pinkie... I..."

Suddenly, Fluttershy was ambushed by a bunch of pink fluff, which assaulted her with the most comforting assault-hug in the history of ever. She returned the hug after a few moments, and then slowly backed away from it.

Pinkie grinned at her. "It'll all work out just the way you want it to, Flutters! Don't you worry! I don't want to see you all frowny-faced! I wanna see you all happy-faced! Like me!" she said as she made a goofy smiley-face.

Fluttershy smiled at Pinkie Pie and laughed. "Thanks, Pinkie. I needed that... but... what do you mean, 'it'll all work out like I want it to?'" she asked.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about, Flutters," Pinkie replied with a wink.

Dash flew out the rear door of the Corner, landed gracefully, and paced around for a bit, waiting for Twilight, who came out a few moments later.

"So, Rainbow Dash," Twilight began hesitantly, "what's this all about?"

Dash stopped in her tracks and sighed. "It's about Fluttershy, Twilight."

"F-Fluttershy?" Twilight stuttered, even more nervous about the conversation now.

"Yeah. It's about Fluttershy. Look, this might seem a little weird, but it's actually completely normal, okay?"

"Huh? I don't understand what you're saying, Dash."

Rainbow Dash facehoofed and groaned. "Ugh... never mind. Anyway, what I really need to do is, uh... ask you about something... you know, about 'Shy."

Twilight shivered. She was afraid that it would be something she wouldn't quite feel comfortable with actually answering, but she decided to take a chance. "A-ask me what?"

"Well, um... you see, Fluttershy's been thinking of planning some sort of, uh, 'day out,' where she would go, you know, see the sights around town, take a walk, visit a cafe or something, but..."

Twilight was puzzled. She had no idea why Rainbow Dash would be telling her all of this. "Um, okay... but what?"

"But... she doesn't want to go alone." Dash said, finally. "She, uh, asked me first, but I have other plans already, so I told her I'd get somepony else to go with her. And I decided to ask you. So, Twilight. You up for it?" she asked, almost sounding a bit hopeful.

Twilight blinked and her knees started wobbling. This sounds like... like... a date!? *With Fluttershy*!? Wait, wait, hold on, Twilight, it's not a date... she just wants to hang out with one of her friends, and she picked Dash to pick you. Yeah. That's all. Well, I suppose I should say "yes." I mean, hey, at least it's a good excuse to spend some time alone with Fluttershy!

Dash looked pleadingly at Twilight and said, "Weellll?"

"... Date. Time. Details, Dash, I need details."

"Oh, oh, right, details! Uh, um... next Sunday at noon! How's that sound?"

Twilight giggled happily. "Perfect," she replied. "Absolutely perfect."

Chapter Six - Deadline Looms...

Unsure

Chapter Six - Deadline Looms...

Twilight blinked several times as the light of dawn broke through her window and shone upon her. She yawned tiredly and rolled out of bed, rubbing her eyes clear of that stuff that always showed up every time she woke up in the morning. She silently cursed it for being such a nuisance and went on with her life.

She walked groggily up to Spike's bed and lightly kicked it, attempting to pull him from his slumber. As expected, this impact brought no response from the snoozing dragon. She sighed and shook her head and shuffled over to her dresser and looked at herself in the small, round mirror. Her mane was a mess and she had dark shadows under her eyes.

She magicked her hairbrush over and began her attempt to control the unruly mass of hair attached to her head. After several minutes of mindless brushing she checked again. It looked better, but not as good as usual. She sighed and continued brushing. When she finally decided that her hair looked decent enough, she checked herself out again.

"Hmm...," she muttered, squinting her eyes to look at her reflection. "I guess I look fine. Not like I have to do anything big or important today, right? Library's closed and everything."

"Morning, Twilight!" a familiarly tired voice called out from behind her. "What'cha up to?"

Twilight turned and smiled at her small draconic friend. "Morning, Spike. Just getting ready for today."

"You mean your little 'date' thingy with Fluttershy?" Spike asked.

He could have sworn he heard the record scratch fade when he saw Twilight's smile drop and her eyes widen.

"That's today?" she whispered, seemingly in shock.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah it is. In about, uh...," He looked at the clock to check the time and turned back to Twilight. "Two hours. Give or take a few minutes."

Twilight silently turned around and went back to work on her mane and coat and sighed. "Great. Just great. I don't even have a schedule for today or anything. Of all the times I could forget to schedule something, it had to be this. It just had to be today!"

Fluttershy gave her reflection a small little smile as she stood in front of her bathroom mirror admiring herself. She had done up her mane in the same style she had worn it to the Grand Galloping gala, minus the small flowers and the butterfly earpiece. She had decided she wanted to be fancier than usual without being too gaudy or flashy.

Her ears perked up and her eyes widened as she heard a sudden thud come from what she could probably guess was her bedroom. She was frightened at first and ended up hiding under the sink, but then she heard it again. it was some sort of tapping sound.

Like a hoof on glass.

Fluttershy exhaled a sigh of relief as she realized she had nothing to fear. She walked out of the bathroom and over to her bedroom window, where she found a certain blue pegasus mare knocking her hoof on the glass, looking at her rather irritably. Fluttershy unlocked the window and stepped back to make room for Dash as she swooped in and glared at her.

"You left me out there for like, ever," Dash said flatly. "You know I hate waiting."

"Well, you could have always just used the front door," Fluttershy replied. "You know where I keep the spare key and everything."

"Well, yeah, but flying in through the window's more fun!" Dash reasoned.

"If you say so, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy consented. "So what did you need to come over here for again?"

"Oh, come on, Fluttershy, you really don't know?" Dash asked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm here because I'm gonna tag along and make sure everything goes smoothly with you and Twilight!"

"And you... you think that's a good idea?"

"Best idea ever, yeah. Why?"

"Uh, no reason. Thanks, Rainbow," Fluttershy said, faking a smile. "I'm sure you'll be a big help."

"Heck yeah, I will be!" Dash agreed, smiling enthusiastically. "It's gonna be so awesome that when I tell people about it later, I'll have to make up a new word for how totally awesome it was!"

Fluttershy giggled at how excited Dash was getting, then turned to look outside of her window towards the direction of Twilight's library home.

"... 'Shy?" Dash asked, walking up beside Fluttershy. "You still nervous about this?"

Fluttershy nodded and sighed. "Yes. I mean, I'm much less nervous about it then I was before, but... I'm still scared that something will go wrong and that I'll... I'll lose her forever."

Dash put a wing around her friend and pulled her in for a quick hug. "Don't worry, 'Shy," she said, grinning. "This is Twilight we're talking about here. You know, the mare who's here studying the 'magic of friendship' and all that stuff? I'm sure that no matter what happens, you won't lose her forever."

Fluttershy returned the hug and smiled back at her friend. "Thank you, Rainbow. I needed to hear that."

"It's what I do, 'Shy. It's what I do."

"So...lemme get this straight...," Applejack said, quirking her eyebrow at the white unicorn who may or may not have completely cracked sometime in the last five minutes. "Me an' you are gonna hide out somewhere while Twi' and Fluttershy go on their, uh... date... and we're gonna step in and... fix it... should things go south?"

"Exactly!" Rarity exclaimed. "Oh, poor Twilight was a mess when she came to me for help! Darling, if things don't go smoothly, then I just don't know what I'll do!"

"Uh, well, you could maybe just let them both work their own problems out and keep your nose outta their business?" Applejack suggested, shrugging.

"But Applejack! Don't you want to make our friends lives that much happier? Think of all the good we could be doing!"

"Rarity!" Applejack sighed, exasperated. "Think of all the harm we could be doing if we mess with 'em! What if you try to 'fix' whatever problem you think they're havin' and you just make everything worse?"

"Well! Well, I... but... but Applejack!"

"Rarity. Look, I know that you mean well an' all, but you can't just go an' mess with ponies' lives because you want a certain something to happen to 'em. If Twi' and 'Shy're meant to be together, then we'll see them get together today, won't we?"

Rarity blinked and looked at Applejack,letting the words sink in. "Huh," she said finally. "Applejack... I didn't know you were such a romantic."

"Ah dunno' bout being a 'romantic' or anything...," the orange earth pony said, fiddling with her hat. "Ah just don't like messing with other ponies' personal lives."

Rarity sighed. "Well, guess I'll just have to wait for Twilight's personal report when she gets back later tonight."

"Don't you worry, none, Rarity. Ah'll wait with you 'til she shows up."

Rarity gasped. "So you're saying we could maybe go to the spa!?"

"Ah have no idea how you came to that idea, but if it'll keep you preoccupied, Ah guess Ah ca--"

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Rarity squealed with glee as she grabbed Applejack and headed toward the Ponyville Spa. "Let us be off!"

"Oh, brother...," Applejack sighed. "What have Ah gotten myself into?"

"Spike! Spike! Come here for a second!" Twilight called from her bedroom.

Oh geez, Spike sighed, removing his favorite apron. "All right, Twilight, I'll be right there."

The baby dragon made his way to Twilight's room and found exactly what he was expecting to find. A wound-up purple unicorn freaking out over pretty much everything ever. Oh how he loved days like this.

"Spike!" Twilight called again, louder than before. "Spike, where are you? I need your opinion on something!"

"Twilight, I'm right here, no need to yell or anything."

"Oh, good, you're here! I need you to help me make an extremely important decision."

"I'm not helping you pick out an outfit."

"But Spike!" Twilight whined. "This is important!"

"To you, maybe," Spike deadpanned. "But not to me. Why don't you call Rarity over or something? I'm sure she'd be glad to help you with an outfit or something. You know, as long as you're not still freaking out or anything."

"Oh, I was going to try Rarity, but earlier I noticed that she ran by here dragging Applejack off somewhere. Something about some kind of 'appointment' somewhere, from what I gathered."

"So that's just, you know, totally normal, right? Nothing about it seems off?"

"Spike, everypony in this town is crazy. You know that, I know that, they know that. Now, back to--"

"Oh, look at the time, I got places to go, ponies to see, yada yada, and all that nonsense!" Spike called, already halfway across the room. "Good luck,Twilight!" he shouted as he slammed the door.

Twilight stared at the door for a moment, then looked back to where Spike had been standing mere minutes ago. "What... but... how did he... oh, forget it. I'll just stress myself out even more, won't I?" she asked.

Unsurprisingly, there was no response.

"Great. Now I'm talking to myself. Again. I do that a lot, don't I?"

Still nothing.

"Was this what I did before I had friends?" Twilight shouted, banging her head on her dresser. "Ow. Ugh, this day could not get any worse," she mumbled into the hard wood surface.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Twilight's ears perked up as she caught the sound of her clock ticking. She turned her head slowly, almost nervously, afraid of the time.

11:47 AM. Well, that was just fantastic. Twilight now had less than 20 minutes to calm down, finish preparations, and leave to meet Fluttershy. The clock was ticking and the deadline loomed. It felt like the Smarty Pants incident all over again. Well, except this time, she didn't need a Want it-Need It Spell.

Twilight sighed and turned once more to look at herself in the mirror. She had her mane in its normal style, not wanting to look too fussy about it, though she had worked extra hard to make sure she had the perfect amount of eye shadow and blush to make her features stand out without making her look like a clown.Her coat was clean and shiny, and her teeth were nice and pearly-white.

After a few minutes of sifting through all of her assorted outfits and clothes, she gave up and just decided to ditch the idea entirely. I'm sure it'll just make me look like I'm trying too hard anyway..., she thought as she turned toward the main room of the library. Well, I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be... so I suppose it's time to go. Look out, Fluttershy. Here I come!

"Rainbow Dash, what time is it now?" Fluttershy asked, peeking out her window again.

"Fluttershy, it's still 11:57, just like it was, like... 4 seconds ago," Dash deadpanned, lying down on Fluttershy's couch. "Can you just calm down? I'm sure she'll be here exactly at noon or something. This is Twilight, you know."

"Yes, yes, if you say so...," Fluttershy sighed, looking out the window again. "I just wish she'd be a little early for once... for me."

Dash rolled off of the couch and walked over to Fluttershy, flipping her hair out of her face. "Sweet Celestia, Fluttershy, you're technically not even dating Twilight yet, and you're already afraid she's gonna dump you or something."

"Well, Rainbow Dash...,"

Ding-Dong

The two pegasi's ears perked up and their eyes shot to the door.

"Maybe that's her," Dash ventured, moving to hide behind the couch. "Don't let her know I'm here!"

"Um, okay, Rainbow Dash. Uh, hold on, uh, whoever it is!" Fluttershy called.

Fluttershy walked over to the door and opened it cautiously, but instead of meeting the lovely violet eyes of the pony she was expecting, she instead met a certain pair of wall-eyed amber eyes, belonging to a certain gray pegasus, equipped with a pair of saddlebags.

"Hiya!" she said, smiling happily at Fluttershy.

"Uh... hi!" replied Fluttershy. "Um, you're the, uh... the mailmare, right? Derpy?"

"Yeah! That's me! And you're Fluttershy, the animal caretaker!" Derpy responded.

Dash appeared from behind the couch and popped up behind Fluttershy, quirking her eye at the gray mailmare. "Uh, Derpy? What are you doing here?" she inquired.

Derpy tilted her head at Dash, confused. "Rainbow Dash? Huh, that's funny. Twilight only said anything about Fluttershy being here."

Dash and Fluttershy looked at each other and blinked. Fluttershy turned back to Derpy, confused. "Um... Derpy? What exactly are you, um, you know... talking about?"

"Oh! Right! I was probably supposed to give you this note at some point!" Derpy exclaimed, pulling a letter out of her bag and handing it to Fluttershy.

"You should probably lead with the letter next time, Derpy," Dash suggested. "You know, might make things easier for other ponies to understand what you're talking about."

"Sorry, Rainbow Dash."

Fluttershy opened the envelope and quickly scanned the note inside, before walking inside and placing it carefully on a table near the sofa.

Dash and Derpy looked at her for a minute, expecting some sort of a response. The response never came, however, as Fluttershy began giggling happily and sprinted out of the house, leaving them both behind.

They stared after her in confusion for a few moments before Derpy turned quickly to Dash, smiling. "Well, I guess I'll be going now. Bye, Rainbow Dash!"

Dash waved goodbye to Derpy and watched her fly away for a few minutes and sighed. Well, I should probably go and find 'Shy and Twi' now. You'd think she'd remember that I was gonna help her out since we were talking about this not *two Celestia-forsaken hours ago!***

~Fluttershy,

Unfortunately, I knew that I was going to be late, so I sent Derpy to you with this note with the hope that she'll get it to you as soon as possible. I just wanted to let you know that, as you read this, I'll probably be patiently waiting for you at the local cafe. I can't wait to see you Fluttershy. It's been so long since we've spent any proper amount of time together, so I'm sure today will be fun. See you when you get here, Fluttershy! Don't keep me waiting!

~Twilight Sparkle