Unsure

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."