Eye of the Beholder

Chapter 5: The day of reckoning

Ever been in a situation where you find yourself awake but have no memory of either falling asleep or waking up? Well, Fluttershy did. She found herself standing outside for some reason, but she doesn’t remember how she got there. The sun was up, the sky was partly gray for some reason, and…she was in Cloudsdale?

“How did I get here?” Fluttershy’s voice echoed as she spoke, she looked around to see other pegasi walking around. She hadn’t been to Cloudsdale in so long; however nothing seemed to have changed. It took her some time but she was able to figure out where she was exactly.

“This is near the park I used to play in…” Fluttershy began to walk as if some strange forced were beckoning her forward. The walkway was filled with pegasi, but oddly enough the sky was empty of any others. So many faces, all of them of ponies she didn’t know but at the same time she felt that she had seen them before. They all carried the same smile on their faces, as if there wasn’t a care in the world, it seemed so welcoming, but at the same time scary.

Fluttershy continued to walk forward only occasionally looking to her sides to see a face that she thought was familiar. She didn’t notice it but as she walked, the area behind her would begin to fade into darkness, as if it were stalking her; waiting for the right moment to strike. How long did she walk? It felt like hours, she didn’t know exactly where her body was taking her, but she had a small hunch. Soon enough her body came to a halt and she could now see where it was her body was taking her. Across the way from where she was standing was the very park she had gone to as a filly.

She could see the swings, the slides, and the cloudbox where she would build cloud castles and pretend she lived in them. For a moment she felt the warming sensation of nostalgia fill her and she felt herself smile. She couldn’t remember how she got to Cloudsdale, but at the moment it didn’t seem to matter. Right now she just wanted to think of fun she had in this park in the days before she went to flight school. Soon enough she began to move again, heading closer to the park. As she drew closer, she began to see young ponies that she didn’t notice before having a great time in the park.

Fluttershy stopped walking again; she looked around at all the young pegasi running around without a care in the world. She couldn’t help but hold a great smile at the innocence of younger ponies. Some of them ran while others attempted to fly, they were still small and their wings weren’t developed enough for flight. Fluttershy felt like she was in the perfect world at the moment, no hate, no anger, and no fear…just happiness. She couldn’t see how anything could pull her down from how she was feeling at the moment, that is not until he spotted a certain pony; and her world came to a halt.

“No…” Fluttershy was staring at a canary yellow Pegasus, body still as small and frail as she remembered, it was her. Fluttershy couldn’t believe her eyes, she was staring at herself as a young filly, and to her horror; she knew what she was about to do. The young Fluttershy was holding a card with a heart on it in her hands, in front of her was a brown colored Pegasus colt with yellow hair. Fluttershy wanted to move, she wanted to run so she wouldn’t have to see what was to come…but her body wouldn’t obey her.

“Please no, don’t do it!” Fluttershy yelled with fear in her voice, she could hear herself clearly but it seemed nopony else could. Young Fluttershy took a step towards the brown colt who was conversing with his friends. Young Fluttershy tapped the colt on the shoulder and he turned around to face her. She was blushing but there was still a smile on her face, it was one of the rare times Fluttershy had ever felt confident in her life. The colt looked at Fluttershy for a moment and saw the card in her hands, young Fluttershy wanted for him to take it but he didn’t move.

The colt gave a nervous smile, his friends taunting him as they saw the affection he was getting from a filly. Older Fluttershy remembered how it was at this age, colts hung out with other colts and fillies hung out with fillies; interaction of the sexes was almost taboo to them. This time was no exception to the fact; the brown colt could either take the card and be mocked by his friends, or follow the crowed, his choice came quick. Without a second thought the brown Pegasus turned around and ran away from Fluttershy. The shock of the moment caused her jaw to drop, and she let go of the card, letting it drop to the ground.

Tears began to form on Fluttershy’s eyes, the moment was heartbreaking, but it was what came next that she didn’t want to relive. One of the other colts that had taunted the colt that younger Fluttershy wanted to give the card to had picked it up from the ground. He began to read it, young Fluttershy tried to get it back but was unable to. Soon the bully finished reading and stuck his tongue out mimicking a sickly feeling. He then passed the note on to one of the other colt who began to read it as the previous one began to laugh.

“I don’t want to see it anymore, make it stop!” yelled Fluttershy as she dropped to her knees, she couldn’t even look away. One after another, the note was then passed on to both colts and fillies who laughed at the contents of the note. They all pointed and laughed as they stood around younger Fluttershy who was now starting to cry. Even older Fluttershy was now crying, her heart breaking from having to relive that horrible moment again. The world around her began to fade into darkness until all that was left was her sitting on a small cloud. It was as if she was floating in the void that had formed in her heart. She regained control of her body, almost as if it had grown pity for her after seeing what happened. She closed her eyes and covered ear, but the laughs continued to echo around her.

It was her first of almost everything that day, her first crush, her first love note, and the first time she tried to celebrate heart and hooves day. She had all of her hopes up just to have them crushed in a single instant, since then she was too afraid to try again. She feared that if she did, then it would end the same way as it did the first time. Nopony else knew about that day, not even Rarity of Rainbow who Fluttershy felt she could tell anything without being judged. She had almost forgotten that it had happened herself, maybe it was her minds way of trying to cope with the traumatic moment.

Fluttershy continued to cry, the tears running down her chin and landing on the small patch of cloud she was sitting on. With each drop of water the cloud seemed to dissolve, Fluttershy was far too sad to notice it before it was too late. The cloud had dissolved to the point where it could no longer support any weight; Fluttershy’s body began to fall. The sudden drop caught her by surprise, she reached up as if she had expected somepony to grab her hand and save her, but nopony was there. She could feel herself falling, due to the dark void it seemed as if she was just floating, but she could tell she was falling by the way her hair moved. Fluttershy covered her face, as she fell praying that this could all be over.

“This is a dream, it has to be!” she thought to herself not seeing any other way this could all be happening. “Please just wake up!” she just wanted to wake up in her bed so she wouldn’t have to go through with this anymore. Fluttershy hesitated for a moment; she wanted to move her hands but feared that she was still in mid nightmare. After a few deep breaths, Fluttershy finally removed her hands from her face and could see the light of the sun. She was on the ground now, looking around she noticed that she was back in Ponyville. She got up and looked around, trying to remember what part of town she was in. Eventually she turned around and spotted something that caused her heart so skip a beat.
“No, not here” She was now standing in front of the flower shop where Silver was working at. She looked around to see that none of her friends were around like they her promised they would be. In her mind this was the worst case scenario on how this day could go, she would have to face Silver alone. Once again her body began to move on its own, its aim was to go inside the shop. Try as she might; Fluttershy could not stop herself from moving, and each step increased the fear in her heart.

“I-I’m not ready for this, please, I don’t want to do this!” Fluttershy plead to her own body hoping she could regain control and run away. When she was finally inside she couldn’t see any flowers around, just empty vases. Behind the front counter was Silver who was talking to somepony else. Fluttershy turned her head to see it was a Pegasus, her fur was cyan, and her hair had a rainbow patter on it.

“R-Rainbow?” asked Fluttershy raising her hand towards her friend who was talking to Silver. It looked like they were having a good talk, but Fluttershy could not hear what it was they were talking about. Both ponies were talking, smiling, and laughing in a way that seemed innocent to Fluttershy, until it happened. Fluttershy felt the horror creep up on her again as she saw Rainbow lean forward towards Silver and vice versa. Soon both met in the middle for a long kiss with one another.

Fluttershy’s heart all but stopped from the sight of her best friend kissing the colt she had a crush on. The feeling of betrayal was too much for her to bear as Fluttershy began to cry with full force. The sounds of screaming and crying filled the air around Fluttershy as she tried desperately to wake herself up from this nightmare. Why did she have to relive one of the worse moments of her life, why did she have to see her best friend betray her right in front of her? She didn’t know; all she wanted was for it to stop.

It seemed as though she would be stuck in a never ending nightmare forced to see horrors unfold before he eyes forever. She didn’t know how much more she could take before she would completely lose it. But thankfully her nightmare came to a halt as she felt a rush of cold cover her head. Fluttershy’s eyes opened in a gasp as she sat up from the laying down position she was in. She looked around to see that she was back in her room, she was breathing heavily and covered in sweat, no doubt caused from the nightmare she was having. To her side she could see Angel who was carrying an empty cup; he also had a look of worry on his face.

“O-oh, Angel, did I wake you?” she said in a studded, her heart was still racing from the ordeal she had dealt with. Angel hopped on Fluttershy’s lap and embraced her, he was not always known for compassion but from the screaming he had heard even he knew that she needed some comfort. Fluttershy looked surprised for a moment but soon smiled and hugged her rabbit back as she sighed in relief.

“It’s okay Angel, mommy’s okay now…”

After she had calmed herself down and showered to cleanse herself of the cold sweat she worked up, Fluttershy was tending to the animals. She tried to push what she dreamt about out of her mind, but it was a difficult task. She would find herself flashing back to what happened in her nightmare, she could still feel the sting as if it had just happened. She thought she had come to terms with what happened when she was younger, apparently she was wrong. However that didn’t feel nearly as bad as seeing Rainbow of all ponies stabbing her in the back.

“No, she would never do that to me!” Fluttershy thought to herself as she shook her head of doubt. “Rainbow is doing everything she can to help me, she wouldn’t do all that if she wanted him for herself…” she continued. Rainbow Dash is the element of loyalty; she would never betray any of her friends, much less Fluttershy. She continued to tell herself that as time passed on, she knew that she had Rainbows support in this.

It was difficult due to having to force herself not to think about what happened in her dream, but eventually Fluttershy finished feeding the forest animals. Fluttershy sat on her sofa and took a deep breathe, she could feel herself becoming nervous again and she could not allow that to happen. Crossing her legs, Fluttershy took up the pose Pinkie had thought her the day before. Mimicking the breathing exercise Pinkie showed her; Fluttershy began to feel herself calm again. It was surprising just how effective it was for her, each breath took some of the edge off.

“I really need to thank Pinkie for this, it works wonders” she was still a little nervous, but she was able to work out the worse of it. Now she felt like she would be able to make it through the rest of the day without worry. However as she sat down it occurred to her, she was never told what time the plan would begin. She thought that maybe she should head over to Twilight’s place and ask, but figured that they would come to get her.

Fluttershy grabbed a snack and began to think to herself as she waited for her friends to come get her. Although she knew it was too early to start thinking about it, Fluttershy wondered what a date with a colt would be like. She had read plenty of romance novels before and first dates in them seemed fun, at least until something dramatic happened. However she doubted something dramatic like finding out the colt was actually the evil twin trying to get revenge or some cliché like that would happen.

There were some other romance novel cliché’s she probably wouldn’t mind seeing. She had read a few books where two colts would end up fighting for the hand of the mare. She laughed slightly at the thought of two colts fighting for her heart, though she would never want somepony to get hurt because of her. But in the end she decided that she didn’t need any kind of drama like that, she just wanted to have somepony she could hold, somepony that she could share her life with.

Three knocks on the door caught Fluttershy’s attention pulling her out of her thoughts. It seemed it was time for her to head into town so the plan could take place. As she walked up to the door she could feel her stomach turn a little, but she didn’t let it get to her. She opened the door to see Rainbow Dash standing outside.

“Hey Fluttershy, just came to check up on you” said Rainbow with a wave of her hand.

“Oh, hello Rainbow, please come in” Fluttershy took a step to the side letting Rainbow inside. She didn’t want to admit it, but the moment she saw Rainbow, she felt her stomach turn a little as the memory of what happened in her dream returned to her.

“We still have a little time before we need to head into town, but I just wanted to make sure you were still in the zone for this” said Rainbow as she turned to face Fluttershy. The yellow Pegasus felt like slapping herself for still having doubt. If it weren’t for Rainbow she wouldn’t have gotten the help she needed to pull this off. “You okay?” asked Rainbow seeing the small frown on her friends face.

“Y-yes” Fluttershy quickly put up a smile though she staggered a little when she answered. “Just thinking is all” she added right after, not that she was lying to her.

“Okay, now I need you to think positive” Rainbow placed her arm around Fluttershy and moved her towards her sofa. “Rarity told me she found out what you can do to get the conversation started?” she hadn’t asked what it was from Rarity and wanted to hear it from Fluttershy.

“Yes, you see he once saved Angel from being badly hurt. I kind of got a little nervous and never got the chance to thank him” answered Fluttershy. It was a little embarrassing for her to admit, but Fluttershy did have a small smile on her face as she said it.

“This is the first time I’ve seen her talk about him with a smile on her face” Rainbow thought to herself unable to fight off a smile herself. It showed that she had made some progress from when she was too scared to see him only a few days ago. The two continued to talk for a couple of minutes, but soon enough the time had come.

“Alright Fluttershy, are you ready?” Fluttershy felt her stomach turn slightly with anticipation; she hopped that she could keep herself under control.

“Yes”

Fluttershy and Rainbow began to walk their way back to town; Rainbow told Fluttershy that the others were already in place. When they arrived, both Rainbow and Applejack would step inside first and begin to browse, and then Fluttershy was to enter. Fluttershy had walked this path several times before, but it had never felt as long as it did now. She was clearly walking foreword, but the path just felt like it was getting longer with each step.

“Calm down, you can do this” Fluttershy thought to herself feeling her body begin to tense up again. She had expected that she’d feel nervous but she didn’t think it would be to this level after all the preparation she had done. She began to take deep breaths again but they weren’t working like they did before.

“You sure you’re okay?” Rainbow saw the look on Fluttershy’s face and began to worry; she was hoping that Fluttershy wasn’t starting to have second thoughts.

“Y-yes, just a case of the jitters I guess” or rather that’s what she wanted to believe it was. Right now she was doing all she could to keep herself level so she wouldn’t end up losing it before she talked to Silver.

“Don’t worry, this will all work out in the end, trust me” reassured Rainbow with a smile.

“I trust you”

“Hey I know; what if I talk to Silver first, then you jump in to the conversation” the mere thought of Rainbow Talking to Silver caused Fluttershy to flash back to the nightmare.

“No!” Rainbow flinched slightly from the sudden hostility; Fluttershy quickly realized what she had done. “I mean, no, I need to do this” Fluttershy added trying to recover from the slight overreaction she had.

“Well, just remember I’ll be there if you need any backup” responded Rainbow wanting to make sure Fluttershy understood that she was there for her.

“Thank you” Fluttershy’s stomach began to feel worse now, not because of being nervous about talking to Silver, but for the first time in her life no matter how brief, she felt she couldn’t trust her best friend.

The walk to town was a bit difficult for Fluttershy, but eventually she and Rainbow made it back and were heading for the flower shop. The nervous feeling she had been starting to grow worse, she was having a hard time getting the nightmare out of her head. She couldn’t stop the image of Rainbow kissing Silver from flashing in her mind repeatedly. She wanted them to stop so she could just focus on the task at hand.

“Alright Fluttershy, we’re here” Fluttershy was snapped out of the recent flash back she was having to see that they were close to the flower shop. She looked around to see if she could spot the rest of her friends. At first she wasn’t able to see them but eventually she was able to pick them out from the crowed. She saw Rarity sitting at one of the tables outside of a café looking at the flower shop. In the seat right next to her was Pinkie who was adding never-ending spoons of sugar to her drink. She looked around further and spotted Twilight with spike by a shop a little out-of-the-way.

“Ya’ll ready to do this?” Applejack had just arrived and walked up to Rainbow and Fluttershy without them noticing.

“You bet, how about you Fluttershy” Fluttershy was taking deep breaths again; she seemed to be needing to do so more often as she got closer to the shop.

“Y-yes” Fluttershy gave a nod showing that she was ready to do what she had prepared for.

“Good, alright Applejack you’ll go in first and I’ll walk in a couple of seconds later” Applejack had no objections; she gave Fluttershy a reassuring tap on the shoulder and made her way to the shop. Fluttershy watched as Applejack walked towards the flower shop, her heart rate began to increase with each passing second. The time was finally drawing closer and the anticipation was starting to get to her.

“Alright I’m next, give me about a minute after I enter and then go inside, okay?” Fluttershy just gave a nod in agreement; she didn’t think she’d be able to say anything at the moment. Rainbow turned around and made her way inside of the flower shop leaving Fluttershy alone to wait for her turn. Left alone, Fluttershy found herself back into her own mind, something she had tried to avoid. She was once again thinking about the nightmare that she had, only now she kept thinking of the moment she saw herself younger self try to give a colt a heart and hooves day card. The never ending laughter that she had been the center of after her card was read by everypony echoed in her head.

“No, it’s not going to end like that, we’re older and more mature…” Fluttershy assured herself. Back then almost anything you did could cause others to mock you; now she was going to ask out a mature colt. She had to keep telling herself that in her mind till the laughing echoes died down, it was a trial but they eventually stopped. After words she looked around, she wasn’t keeping time and wondered how long it took for her to snap out of it. She figured she had waited long enough; the longer this took, the harder it was starting to become to keep the dream out of her head.

As Fluttershy walked towards the flower shop her friends that were standing outside were able to catch sight of her. They had done everything they could, and now all they could do was be there in spirit. Although they were at a distance, they could see just how nervous Fluttershy looked; it was an unnerving view but they just had to have faith that Fluttershy would be able to fight it off. Fluttershy stood outside of the flower shop and took several deep breaths, the effect they had were starting to falter but it was enough to get her to step inside.

Once inside Fluttershy was able to get a good look at what the shop looked like, it was definitely bigger on the inside than it seemed. There were other ponies inside looking through the vast option of flowers; eventually she spotted Rainbow who gave her a subtle nod. She turned her head to the front counter and saw a mare earth pony with white fur and red hair standing behind it. Moving so to not look suspicious she continued to look around but she was unable to spot Silver anywhere.

“Fluttershy” it was a very low voice but she was able to identify it as Applejack. “Don’t turn just look around, Silver’s in back, he gets called when somepony asks for flowers. Just go up to the mare in the front counter and order something simple” She had seen it happen twice while she was waiting for Fluttershy and both times Silver had handed the flowers over directly.

“Okay…” Fluttershy said walking around Applejack and making her way towards the front counter. It seemed simple enough, ask for a small stack of flowers and she would be able to talk to Silver. Then again it seemed simple yesterday too, but for some reason today just didn’t want to help her out in the slightest. Her nerves were all screaming as the anticipation began to get to her again. She was shaking slightly but she finally reached the front counter where the owner stood.

“Can I help you with something dear?” she said with a friendly smile, admittedly it helped Fluttershy calm down slightly. She thought to take another deep breath before answering, but she had a hunch it wouldn’t work anymore.

“Um, h-half a dozen roses, please” she said sheepishly.

“Right away, Silver come out here for a moment” there was the sound of a stumble coming from the back room.

“I’m okay!” could be heard from the back room, a few seconds later Silver walked out and was readjusting his sunglasses.

“Half a dozen roses if you please” Silver seemed to turn his face towards Fluttershy for a moment and gave a small smile.

“Right away” Silver grabbed some clippers from under the counter and made his way towards where the roses were displayed. Soon enough he grabbed six roses from the stack and made his way back to the counter. Fluttershy watched as Silver prepared the roses, flowers with torn covered stems, yet he didn’t have the need to use safely gloves. It showed just how careful he was able to handle a delicate but at the same time dangerous flower. The time was right in front of her, Silver was just about finished wrapping the roses and it would be her time to do what she had been prepared for. But on the day where she needed one the most, Fluttershy just couldn’t catch a break.

“I can do this” time seemed to slow down around her, all she needed to do was use the conversation started and go on from there. “I-I can do this” she sounded less sure of herself as Silver finished preparing the roses and walked up to her. To her horror the laughs in her head began to echo yet again showing that her doubt was causing her to weaken. “I” Silver was in front of Fluttershy now, though the counter was between them, it did not help.

“Here you go” said Silver with a smile as he motioned the flower towards her. There was a pause from Fluttershy; her chance was staring right at her.

“I…I can’t do it” as much as she wanted to, Fluttershy just couldn’t bring herself to do much anything else but grab hold of the roses. Most ponies would smile and take in the aroma of the roses, but Fluttershy could only see them as a pity prize.

“That’ll be three bits please” Silver said finally, Fluttershy made sure to keep herself under control, at least until she got out of the shop. She reached into her pocket and handed over the price asked of her. “So, are these for anypony special?” asked Silver as Fluttershy handed him the money.

“No, thank you…” responded Fluttershy meekly as she turned around and made her way towards the door. As she did this, Applejack was prepared to do her part and act as the barricade to keep Fluttershy from backing out. However once she was able to see the glassy glow on her friends face, she knew that she didn’t have it in her and let her walk out.

“So close…” Rainbow thought to herself as she saw Fluttershy walk out of the shop. She was a little disappointed but right now the last thing Fluttershy needed was a lecture from anypony, right now she needed her friends.

Rainbow and Applejack followed behind Fluttershy prepared for what could possible turn into her weakest moments. As they did, they didn’t notice what was happening behind the counter where Silver and his boss stood. Silver had a smile on his face while his boss stared at him with her arms crossed and a raised brow. She extended her hand towards Silver and cleared her throat to catch his attention. Silver then reached into his pocket and placed seven bits in her hand which the then placed in the register.

“Are you just going to let her walk away?” she asked placing her hands to her sides. The smile on Silvers face did not falter as she said this, he seemed fully confident.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already made my move”

Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Rarity had moved since Fluttershy entered the Flower shop. They were now all standing outside of it waiting at the side for Fluttershy to walk out. A few minutes had passed, and soon enough they saw Fluttershy walk out carrying a bouquet of flowers in her hands. Their first thoughts were that Silver had given it to her, but when they saw the look on her face they knew something had gone wrong.

“What happened?” asked Rarity as Fluttershy walked up to them, she was looking down at the bouquet the entire time.

“She couldn’t go through with it” said Rainbow who walked out right behind Fluttershy. Fluttershy gave a small whimper and closed her eyes; she was trying with all her might not to cry in public. “It’s okay Fluttershy, we can try again when you’re ready” Rainbow said placing her hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“It’s not too late, what if we all go in with you?” suggested Twilight. However Fluttershy seemed to have already made up her mind. She shook her head and gave the bouquet one last look before throwing them aside. It felt like it was mocking her as she held on to it; she didn’t need a reminder of how weak she was feeling.

“Thank you, all of you; but, I just can’t do it” Fluttershy began to walk not giving her friends time to say anything.

“Wait, you can’t just-“Twilight seemed determined to keep Fluttershy from giving up, bust Rainbow placed a hand on her shoulder cutting her off.

“Let her go Twilight” said Rainbow with a sigh “Pushing her to do it won’t help” she added. Right now Fluttershy obviously wanted to be left alone, and Rainbow just had to respect that for now.

“Poor dear…” said Rarity with a frown, a few seconds later she turned to the bouquet that Fluttershy had cast aside and levitated it off the ground till she was able to grab hold of it. “Exactly how did she come to possess these?” Rarity asked; if the plan had failed than she wondered how Fluttershy ended up with a half-dozen roses. Applejack explained what happened inside of the flower shop, and how Fluttershy was right in front of Silver only to back out at the last second.

“That’s so sad, to get so close just to give up…” said Pinkie, she wasn’t the best when it came to her choice of words but her friend’s knew her heart was in the right place.

“So what do we do now?” Applejack asked as she and the others turned their attention towards Rainbow. It was clear from her face that even she didn’t know what she could do at this point; she didn’t spend any time thinking of what to do if the plan were to fail.

“Honestly I don’t know, I guess we should give her some time to recover and hope she’ll be up to try again” she said sounding almost defeated. They didn’t know what else to do, Flutterhsy wanted to be alone for now and they didn’t have a backup plan.

“I guess we should just go home, sorry for taking up your time” it was rare for Rainbow to say she was sorry, however this time she didn’t need to.

“No need to apologize, we’re just glad we could help, even if the result wasn’t what we were looking for” said Rarity.

“Well if that’s that, then I need to be heading back at the farm, I think we should check on Fluttershy later though” said Applejack. The others agreed that it was best to make sure she was okay after she had some time to herself. Rarity held on to the roses as she said her farewells to the others.

“You’re going to keep them?” asked Pinkie.

“Just because the plan was not a success does not mean they need to suffer because of it”

“I guess so”

“You should put them in a vase as soon as possible” suggested Twilight. Rarity gave a nod to Twilight’s suggestion; she knew the perfect place to put them. Twilight watched as her friends made their way back home, Spike stood next to her with a look of disappointment on his face.

“Well that was a bust…” said Spike referencing the mission failure. Normally Twilight would chew him out because of this, but she wasn't moved.

“Don’t count her out just yet, the day is still young” said Twilight as she turned and began to walk. Spike felt like he had missed something raising an eyebrow at Twilight as she walked away wondering what she knew.

Rarity had finally made it back home from the flower shop still holding on to the bouquet that Fluttershy had bought. She placed them on the counter before moving towards the kitchen with an empty vase. She still felt bad that Fluttershy was unable to bring herself to talk to the colt when the time came, but there was no sense in hanging on to the past. All she could do now is hope that she would be willing to give it another try it before it was too late.

“Hey Rarity, back already?” Sweetie Bell was staying with Rarity while her parents were out on vacation again; she had almost forgotten she had left her home alone.

“Yes Sweetie, did you do anything while I was gone?” she asked trying to make some small talk.

“No, just drew for a while to pass the time”

“I see; be a dear and hand me the roses on the counter” Sweetie turned around and spotted the roses. She grabbed them and moved them towards Rarity being careful not to damage any of them. “Thank you” said Rarity as she grabbed on to the bouquet with her magic, she then removed the roses from the holding wrap. As she placed the roses inside of the vase, she didn’t notice something drop on the ground.

“What’s this?” Sweetie had seen what dropped from the ground and had picked it up. Rarity turned to see what she was holding; it was a small piece of paper folded over.

“Where did you get that?”

“It fell when you pulled the flowers out” Rarity grabbed hold of the paper with her magic and moved it closer to her. Grabbing the piece of paper Rarity opened it and saw that there was something written on it.

“Oh my” there was shock in her face which quickly turned to a smile which Sweetie found a bit creepy. “Sweetie, please place this on the front counter” she said quickly as she began to run towards the door.

“Where are you going?” she asked wondering what was on the piece of paper that was causing Rarity to act so strangely. However she didn’t get an answer as Rarity had already bolted out of the door going Celestia knows where. Rarity was not one to exert herself physically; she would prefer not to run if given the choice. However there was no time to worry about getting sweaty, she needed to get to Fluttershy’s home and fast.

Outside of Fluttershy’s home were the animals she cared for, all of them had seen when she came back and the look on her face. For the past couple minutes they could hear the cry’s coming from inside the home, they all had look of worry on their face, but knew not how to help her. Eventually the sounds of crying had died down and all they could do now was stand outside to see if she came out again.

Inside the Pegasus in question was up in her room, she had slammed the door behind her and was in her bed under her blanket. At the moment she just wanted to disappear so she wouldn’t have to deal with this. Part of the reason she was so depressed was due to letting another crush slip through her fingers, but it was mostly due to the frustration she had about herself. All she needed to do was talk to the colt, it was something so simple for her to do, but in the end she just couldn’t do it. As she walked back home the sounds of laughter had continued to echo in her head, as if mocking her for failing. She didn’t have it in her to fight it off anymore and just let the laughing continue until they stopped on their own.

“All I had to do was thank him for saving Angel, if I had done that then maybe I could have done the rest” she thought to herself. Such a simple task and she wasn’t able to bring herself to do it when she needed to. All of the planning and preparation that her friends went out of their way to help her do, just to let them down. All she wanted to do was stay in bed forever so she wouldn’t have to deal life anymore, but it was her job to take care of the animals so she forced herself to get out of bed.

Fluttershy washed her face out but her eyes were still red from the crying, nothing she could do about that. It was still too early to feed the animals again, but she herself was a little hungry and decided to eat something. Fluttershy was making her way to her kitchen when suddenly something was banging at her door. The knocking at the door was so fierce that it scared Fluttershy a little and she hesitated as she walked up to it.

“W-who’s there?”

“Fluttershy, it’s Rarity, I need to show you something!” Fluttershy sighed in relief that it was just one of her friends. However she noticed something in her voice that seemed odd, it sounded like she was trying to catch her breath. Fluttershy opened the door to see Rarity hunched over with one hand on the door frame taking deep breaths.

“Oh my, what’s happened!” she asked worriedly, she never saw Rarity in this kind of shape before.

“I’m fine, may I come in, I believe I need to sit down” Fluttershy backed up and allowed Rarity to come inside. After she sat down, she gave her some water and waited until her breathing had finally calmed down. “Thank you, I’m afraid I’m not used to running such long distances” she was finally able to talk without having to stop for a breath.

“Why did you run over here, did something happen?”

“Yes, something splendid happened and it’s about you” Fluttershy blinked at what Rarity just said.

“What do you mean?” Rarity began to reach into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

“Read this” she said as she handed the paper over to Fluttershy. Grabbing the paper she could feel her heart race again, she didn’t even know where the paper came from or where Rarity had found it but she opened it and saw something had been written on it. It was a relatively small piece of paper and it only contained a few words.

“I’d like to get to know you better” it was a short sentence but it seemed to hit her hard, she didn’t quite know what to say.

“I-I don’t understand” Rarity grabbed Fluttershy’s hands and looked her in the eye with a big smile.

“Come now isn’t it obvious?” she asked but by the look in her face she could tell that Fluttershy was drawing a blank. “This whole time he was planning on asking you out dear!” she said happily. The realization caused Fluttershy’s eyes to shoot open and she blushed lightly, she had never had somepony ask her out before.

“A-are you sure, maybe the note was written for somepony else” she was having a hard time believing all this.

“The note was hidden inside of the bouquet of roses you bought; he wanted you to find it. It was fortunate that I decided to take them after you discarded them” explained Rarity. She didn’t care why Rarity took the roses, but she surely did feel grateful that she did.

“I-I guess it was worth tree bits”

“Three bits?” asked Rarity with a raised brow “Half a dozen roses should cost over twice that” she said placing her hand under her chin. Didn’t take her long to come up with a conclusion about what may have happened. “That means he must have given you a discounted price, no doubt he probably had to pay the rest out-of-pocket if his boss was watching” she explained. Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile as she looked at the note, a colt she liked actually showed interest back at her.

“What do I do now?”

“Don’t make him wait any longer, go confront him” Fluttershy hesitated a bit; she backed out last time do to her fear of being rejected. But after seeing the note he had written to her, that fear seemed to subside.

“W-will you come with me?” she had the others around for support when she tried it a while ago. She felt that it would be easier if she had at least one friend there to back her up.

“No dear, you need to do this on your own” said Rarity letting go of Fluttershy’s hands. Fluttershy was a little disappointed, but she knew that Rarity was right about refusing to come with her. This was something that Fluttershy had to do; she couldn’t rely on her friends to be there whenever she was going to talk with Silver.

“Okay, I guess I’ll go back” she said getting up from her seat; Rarity could see that she was still a little nervous.

“Come, I’ll walk with you to town, but after that you must do the rest under your own strength” said Rarity.

“Okay”

Rarity and Fluttershy made their way back to Ponyville, both of them talking among themselves as they did so. Rarity wanted to make sure the mood stayed light so Fluttershy would hold on to the smile she had. Eventually they reached town and it was time for Fluttershy to go on the rest of the way on her own.

“Good luck Fluttershy, and do come by sometime to pick up the roses, after all this I’m sure you’ll be wanting them back”

“Thank you Rarity” Fluttershy waved Rarity goodbye and began to walk towards the flower shop for the second time today. She looked back at the note that was left for her and was relief over how lucky she was that Rarity took the bouquet with her after she had thrown them aside. It was like she was given a second boost of confidence, and she did not want to let it go to waste. Soon enough she found herself in front of the shop once again. Taking a deep breath, Fluttershy made her way inside of the shop not feeling the tension she did last time. The inside of the shop was void of any other pony looking to buy flowers, it was a little unnerving but she didn’t let it get to her. Right behind the counter was Silver boss who had already noticed her.

“Welcome back, did you need something?” said the owner as Fluttershy walked up to the counter starting to feel the jitters again.

“Um, can I speak to Silver?” she asked looking away slightly. The owner gave Fluttershy a smile before turning and walking toward the back.

“Silver, somepony wants to talk to you” could be heard from the back room. She waited in front, looking around to see if anypony else had walking in, but no, there was nopony else around. Soon enough Silver walked in from the back room, Fluttershy could feel her heart rate increase as her second chance was at hand.

“Hey there, you wanted to talk to me?” asked Silver placing his hands on the counter. Fluttershy stared at the smile he was giving her, it was the same kind smile he had the first time she met him, and it was warming to see. Fluttershy extended her hands forward showing the note that Rarity had found.

“Did, did you write this note…for me?” Silver reached out and grabbed the note, his hand brushing slightly against hers. The mere thought of her and Silver holding hands caused a knot to be tied in her stomach. Silver opened the letter and ran his thumb over it before answering.

“Yeah, it didn’t creep you out did it?” she asked rubbing the back of his head. “This was the first time I ever tried to ask a mare out” Fluttershy’s face began to turn read, Rarity was right; Silver was trying to ask her out.

“N-no, it’s just, I’ve never had somepony ask me out before” she said sounding a little embarrassed to say.

“I have a hard time believing that” as if she wasn’t blushing already, but now Silver seemed to be flirting with her. Fluttershy didn’t know what to do right now, frankly she couldn’t believe she had gotten this far. There was no turning back now; she needed to see this through to the end.

“S-so now what?” she asked finally, Silver turned his head up and seemed to be thinking to himself for a bit.

“Well, how about something light, would you like to get some coffee?” he asked finally.

“But, don’t you have to work?” she asked him. Silver gave a small laugh at this as he scratched the side of his head.

“The truth is, my shift ended over an hour ago”