A rush of wind stirred up a dust cloud upon the stone floor. In the depths of the Everfree Forest, a Butterfly Dragon had landed in a temple long forgotten and forsaken. The cobblestone path on the ground led to a heavily rotted wooden door that was as thick as pony-Fluttershy and tall as seven Celestias standing upon each others' shoulders. Above the doors was a heavily rusted iron lantern, which stood out bright orange against the grays and greens. The right door was entangled in hoof-thick vines that locked it in a partially open position. The frame of the door and wall in which the door was set was made of cobblestones, the loose rocks bound by sap and vines. Moss and lichen grew upon the stones, making the gray rocks blend in with the forest significantly better. Tree roots thick as hooves weaved in and out of the ground like thread in fabric between stones and patches of moss.

Fluttershy landed on the cobblestone walkway, her paws making no sound as she did so. She walked forwards, each pawstep gracefully deliberate as a dance move. She looked around the old place, seeing a few rusted lanterns mounted atop short stone pillars. A few still had candles in them, the once white wax now brown with dust and yellow with pollen dust. The air was still, almost frozen. Silence reigned oppressively from the temple, its vast empire extending far into the forest. One could hear the very plants themselves growing. She paused as she stepped upon something metallic. She looked down.

Set in the stone walkway was a square plate of tarnished copper. Seven crescents radiated from the center, much like the petals of the flowers whose nectar she'd drunk, were etched into it. At the center where the crescents came together, was a seven pointed star, the points of which extended into the space between the crescents.

She stared at it for a while, its shape almost familiar to her. Her lips curled up in a grin, remembering what the symbol was. After a few minutes of staring, she shrugged and continued on. She slid inside the once grand temple, her luminance the only source of light in the room, save for the few rays that slipped between the doors. She smiled, remembering the positions of everything in the room. She stood upon a rise in the floor, which was roughly four meters above the rest of the floor. Ten meters forward and five to the right was an island that also stood above the rest of the floor. Four massive pillars stood in the room, two at the corners of the rise she stood upon, and two on the rise opposite her, which led to a not-quite-tarnished copper door that was blocked by steel bars. In the pit below the three rises, dense blue fog had sunk in, making a lake in the room. Fluttershy shivered, remembering her first experience with said fog.

A flash of light filled the room, Fluttershy now flitting across the sea of fog. She mentally smiled, turning abruptly towards the island, abandoning the straight-shot path to the door, fifty meters away. As she landed upon the platform, she reverted back to her Dragon form. She landed softly, her wings taking most of her weight. She stepped towards the center of the five-by-five meter pillar, where an untarnished silver object was inlaid in the stone. It looked much like a pyramid, save for the fact that the top of it was cut off, leaving it flat-topped. On the flat of the object was the same symbol she'd seen outside.

She smiled, stepping heavily upon the object. It buckled beneath her weight, collapsing into a flat square. The bars blocking the door slid upward into the top of the doorframe. Their dull metal-on-stone ringing sound echoed through the room. Twelve meters to the left when facing the door, and thirty meters forward, a platform that had been sitting beneath the fog rose slowly. The fog that had once been on its surface rolled off like water, pouring back into the pool below as it stopped, level to the original three platforms.

Fluttershy smiled, taking the shape of the Butterfly once more, hurriedly racing to the new platform. She did not take a direct path, though. Instead, she flew the twelve meters left before turning and fluttering quickly to the new platform. She landed briefly upon it, her legs barely staying on the surface for more than a second before she took off again, flying seven meters to the right and turning abruptly to the last platform. She landed upon it, shifting back to her Dragon form. With a swift pull, she opened the door, pushing it upwards into the doorframe to join the steel bars that had previously obstructed it.

The door slowly descended after Fluttershy had moved through it, hitting the floor with a soft thump that resounded through the new room. A square ring of stone platforming ran along the walls, encompassing a large pool of water in the center of the room. In the center of the pool was an enlarged silver statue of the flower whose nectar she'd drunk earlier. In the center of the flower was a stone tablet that rose up about two meters and seemed to have some sort of scripture written into it. Fluttershy smiled, taking flight once more and getting closer to inspect it.

Bríngèth hêre thÿ Faïth,
ånd Vîrtüe shåll sæl thÿ Bònd.
Bríngèth hêre thÿ Dòüt,
ånd Sin shåll tær thêe àpàrt.

She grinned, looking upwards towards the ceiling. A hole in the roof that had been there since the temple's construction allowed a few rays of sunshine in. But at the current time, they were slanted, and dove into the water. She sighed, sitting down upon the silver statue, waiting for the sun to move.

Twilight grinned as she approached Sugarcube Corner. The small sweet-shop appeared entirely abandoned, but after being around long enough, she knew better. She walked towards the door, from which she could hear ponies hissing at each other to be quiet so as to not ruin the surprise. However, with the fact that everyone inside was being noisier than mockingbirds, she could hear them from blocks away. She opened the door, bracing her ears for the incoming assault.

She paid no attention to the shouted "Congratulations," nor to the lack of unrecognized ponies. All she really cared about at that moment was the fact that her four friends had gone to the effort to congratulate her on something she had not even told them about. Under normal circumstances she would accuse them of spying on her, but ever since Pinkie had driven her to spontaneous combustion, she understood that Pinkie could usually sense this sort of random thing.

"...and my eyes watered up! At first I thought somepony had tripped and fallen down a ravine, but then I realized that my eyes watered before my tail twitched!" Pinkie's voice soon pierced Twilight's mental barriers. She shook her head to clear it.

"So who's the lucky stallion?" Rarity asked, her eyes fluttering 'dramatically'. "You simply must tell us!"

Twilight deadpanned, staring almost harshly at Rarity's zeal. Rainbow soon descended from the air, her face moving mere inches from Twilight's. "Is it Big Mac?"

"It ain't mah brother, Dash," Applejack cancelled. "He ain't been to town in weeks."

The four ponies began bickering on whether or not she had gotten together with Big Macintosh. The argument rose in volume steadily, all while Twilight tried to get their attention.

"Guys."

They continued. Rather than deal with meeting failure a second time, she summoned the largest breath she could manage.

"IT'S NOT A STALLION!" she hollered in a voice not unlike the Royal Canterlot voice of old.

That caught everypony's attention instantaneously. For the second time that day, Twilight left impenetrable silence in the aftermath of her explosion. A cupcake that had already been precariously perched in close proximity to the edge of the counter had fallen, icing down. Pinkie, defying physics yet again, somehow moved fast enough to catch the cupcake in her mouth and devoured it. Everypony stared at her much like Spike had earlier that morning.

"U-um... I didn't... um... know you... know you swung that way," Rainbow stuttered, her voice cracking multiple times as retribution for defying the reign of silence.

"Eeyup," Applejack agreed awkwardly, mimicking her brother.

"Allow me to correct my earlier statement, then," Rarity continued, showing no signs of awkwardness. "Who's the lucky mare?"

By this time, Twilight's blush had returned with full vigor, staining her cheeks bright red. Everyone continued staring at her, eagerly awaiting the answer to the question. After twenty seconds of gathering her nerves, she squeaked, "...Fluttershy..." She smiled weakly, wishing she could hide behind said pony's mane.

A single gasp escaped the four ponies before her. Rarity's eyes went wide as her hoof reached up to cover her mouth. Rainbow landed, her surprise forcing her to focus on processing the new information rather than flying. Applejack's mouth hung agape, her eyes wide as apples. The only one with a smile on her face at that moment was Pinkie, whose smile was large enough for all five ponies present. After ten seconds of digesting the news, Rainbow's cocky grin returned, as did Applejack's smug smirk, and Rarity's usual 'you-have-to-tell-me-the-whole-story-about-how-you-got-together' expression crept back upon her face. Pinkie, who was already smiling hard enough to cleave her face in two, smiled even wider than her face would physically allow. Twilight raised an eyebrow at the pony, but soon dismissed the breach of physics.

Tell the rest of the girls about relationship with Fluttershy... Check.

Speaking of which, where is said adorable pegasus?

Author's Note

And now I have a very clear path that I shall be following for this story. I know exactly what I'm going to have happen, but I'm not quite solid on WHEN everything will happen. There will be incoming adorableness and Fluttershy-epicness incoming in the next chapter, which is already in the works. With school in the mix, I hope to shove that out by next weekend. :3

<3 DarqFox

Omai GamerLuna. Omai GabeN. Omai Ceiling Cat. Omai GabeN. Omai Luna.

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