Unsure

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."