Despite being a weekend, Sugar Cube Corner was not as busy as Fluttershy had been expecting. Oh sure, there were plenty of people here, enjoying their time and partaking of whatever delicious cakes the place's owners had to offer, but it lacked a lot of the usual hustle and bustle of the weekend crowds. But, then again, given what Fluttershy was here to do, having fewer people here to watch her was probably something she was grateful for. Nervously, she looked to the clock on the nearby wall, watching as minute after minute passed. It was only a short while until it reached twelve, and for every moment that passed, she would take a deep breath to calm herself. However, twelve soon arrived, and as soon as it did, the door of the Corner opened up. Seeing the one who now entered, Fluttershy offered a genuine smile, waiving her hand.

"Over here, Amira!"

Her date had indeed arrived, and as soon as she saw Fluttershy, she returned the smile, making her way over to their booth. But, in contrast to how Fluttershy had seen her before, Amira was dressed far more casually than usual. Gone was her Crystal Prep uniform, replaced with more relaxed-looking attire of a simple shirt and long trousers, complete with sneakers, not unlike what girls like Rainbow or Lemon might have worn on a day off. To top it off, her prior headwear was gone for the day, allowing Fluttershy to see her purple hair, that was more-or-less the same shade as Rarity's, which was long enough to reach just past her shoulders, and was styled to fall on only one side of her head. Soon enough, however, the girl reached the booth, taking her seat and smiling to her date for the day.

"Hope you haven't been waiting long, Fluttershy."

The other girl, still smiling, shook her head.

"Not at all. Did you have nay trouble getting here?"

Likewise, Amira also shook her head.

"Nope. I mean, there was a little bit of trouble when the bus driver got caught in traffic, but aside from that, nothing to worry about."

Fluttershy nodded, but said nothing further, for it was here that none other than Mrs Cakes turned up, carrying a tray that bore two cups of tea. As she started setting it down on their table, Fluttershy, while seeming just a touch embarrassed, spoke up.

"I hope you don't mind, but I ordered us some tea."

Amira nodded to that.

"Thanks. I was actually pretty thirsty."

The girl smiled to Mrs Cakes, who, in turn, smiled back to both her and Fluttershy, and once she set the two cups down, she got back to her nearby counter. The two youngsters took this moment of silence to carefully blow on their respective cups, before taking a small sip of them. Unfortunately, after they had done so, it wasn't long before the silence continued on just a little bit longer than they would have liked, as neither really seemed to know what to say. Fluttershy looked around, thinking hard on how to just break the ice on this matter. Then, after glancing back to her colleague, an idea came to her.

"So...um...must be nice to get out of that uniform, right?"

Amira smiled and nodded to her.

"Yep. I mean, I've got no issue with it, but after a while, it just gets a bit samey."

Fluttershy, at last, started to form a genuine smile.

"And I have to admit, it's a little strange not seeing you without your...um..."

Suddenly, she realised what it was she was going to say, and started to take on a rather embarrassed look. Amira stared at her, waiting to see what it was she was going to talk about, but instead, Fluttershy found herself unable to say anything.

"I mean...your...um..."

Unable to say what was on her mind, she instead started pointing to her own head. Instantly, Amira understood, and after a brief moment of rolling her eyes, she let out a hearty chuckle.

"Yes, Fluttershy, you are allowed to talk about it."

Raising one hand, Amira started to run her fingers through her hair.

"Truth is, there are days when even my Mother forgets to tell me to wear it."

Taking another sip of her tea, Amira started to look just a little bit amused by something.

"But, then again, she was rather distracted at the time."

Naturally, Fluttershy took on a look of curiosity.

"Oh?"

Seeing her date take a similar sip from her cup, Amira started to smirk, nodding to her.

"Yep. It started a few days ago. My family and I were down with the rest of our neighbourhood at the local mosque. Everything was going as normal, everybody praying, when all of a sudden..."

Amusement and embarrassment fought for control in Amira's expression.

"...the whole room started to echo with the sound of snoring."

Fluttershy, perhaps knowing where this was going, raised a hand to her mouth.

"Oh dear."

Amira nodded.

"Yeah...turns out my little brother had spent just a little too much time playing on his Joy-Boy the night before. And...well..."

She snorted a little bit.

"...Haakim had just fallen asleep, right in the middle of his prayers."

Immediately, Fluttershy clasped both hands upon her mouth, both to stifle a gasp from hearing that story, but also partly to keep herself from giggling over it.

"Oh my! I hope he didn't get into too much trouble?"

Folding her arms, Amira leaned back into her side of the booth, laughing briefly before shaking her head.

"Nah. I mean, sure, Mom went full-on lecturing-Mother-mode when we got home, but Dad was able to calm her down. He always does."

Chuckling again, Amira reached for her cup, taking a full gulp of the stuff before looking back to her date.

"Little brothers, am I right?"

To that, Fluttershy raised her own cup.

"I'll drink to that."

Raising an eyebrow, Amira had noted the somewhat exasperated way Fluttershy had said that, and after the latter had taken another sip of her own tea, the Crystal Prep girl started to regain her earlier smirk.

"Let me guess...that brother of yours has shown up?"

Sighing, Fluttershy nodded.

"Yes. Zephyr's having trouble with his teachers...again."

Amira nodded.

"Right. He was training to be a...barber, right?"

The young animal carer shook her head.

"Hair stylist. Or, rather, he would be by now, if he didn't spend so much time bickering with people and flirting with Rainbow."

Amira took on a more intrigued look at that.

"Rainbow? Seriously?"

When Fluttershy nodded back in response, Amira continued.

"Somehow, I can't really picture her being all that receptive to him."

As before, Fluttershy stifled a giggle.

"No. In fact, Rainbow usually asks me to tell her when he's coming over, just so she can make sure not to be there at the same time."

The two girls shared a laugh at that, and when it died down, Amira, leaning back into her side of the booth, took another gulp of tea before breaking the silence.

"Well, I guess some ships just won't sail."

Fluttershy, at first, was confused by that comment, only to gain realisation shortly afterwards.

"Ships? Oh, you mean like that ficcy stuff you write?"

Amira nodded, smiling softly.

"My fanfics? Yeah. I just finished my latest one last week, with a little help from Lemon. In fact..."

She leaned forward, bearing a look of confidence.

"...I just managed to get a full five hundred views on it! That's a personal best!"

At first, Fluttershy was happy for her friend about this, but, after a few moments had passed, she started to lose her smile, appearing deep in thought, before clearing her throat and speaking up in a somewhat nervous manner.

"Five hundred? Um...isn't that the same number of times you said you looked to it yourself to see how many views it got?"

But Amira just waved her off.

"Pfft! Details!"

In spite of herself, Fluttershy let out another laugh, which Amira soon joined in on. It was a pleasant moment, to be sure, and as the two girls enjoyed the calm silence that followed, they got back to the business of their drinks, which they made sure to finish off in good time. None of them said anything, simply relaxing in the moment, but, as Amira was looking out of the window, Fluttershy, for her part, did not seem quite as content. The look she bore made it clear that there was something on her mind right now. Something that, perhaps she was embarrassed to speak about. But, soon afterwards, Amira looked back to her, and immediately noticed that expression, causing her own smile to fade a little bit.

"Something wrong, Fluttershy?"

At first, Fluttershy looked away from her, prompting her date to carry on.

"If something's bothering you, you can tell me."

Fluttershy's eyes went to her, then back to her now-empty cup, before finally just settling back on her date. Eventually, and after much consideration, she let out a sigh, leaning forward and speaking softly.

"Amira...there's something I need to say."

Nodding silently, Amira said nothing as Fluttershy said what she needed to.

"When I first asked you out, I did because...well...I thought that I...you know...liked-you-liked-you. But..."

She hesitated, but Amira gave her all the time she needed to get her thoughts in order.

"...now that we're actually on a date, I...I...I think I just...like you."

Placing her hands upon her knees, Fluttershy looked down at the table between them.

"I'm...I'm sorry. I'm having fun with you, but...I'm not sure if this is something I want to continue with you."

Amira stared at her in silence, and Fluttershy, for a time, just continued to avoid her gaze. Then, after almost a full minute had come and gone, and Fluttershy finally looked up to her date, she found, to her surprise, that the latter was actually smiling to her.

"That's okay," she said.

Instantly, Fluttershy was taken aback.

"R...really?"

Amira nodded.

"Yeah. I mean, if we're being honest, I feel the same. You're great, Fluttershy, and I've been enjoying the date too. But if you were to ask me if I think we're "right" for each other, or if I wanted this to be a long-term thing...I probably wouldn't say it was."

Fluttershy, upon hearing that, seemed confused.

"Did...did you feel that way when I first asked you out?"

Amira nodded in response, prompting Fluttershy to continue.

"Then...why did you agree to come out?"

Hearing that, Amira chuckled.

"Simple. If a girl like Fluttershy asks you out on a date, you'd be pretty stupid to say no to that."

Taking those words in, Fluttershy started to let out a sigh of relief, offering her date a smile in return.

"I...thank you. I'm happy to hear you're not too upset by that."

Amira snorted.

"Pfft! Upset? Me? Nah! Besides, we're both having a fun time out together, right? That's what's important. So who cares if we don't "go steady" after this?"

Then, a look of uncertainty crossed her face.

"Do people actually still say "go steady" these days? I've never asked."

Again, Fluttershy laughed, and Amira joined in. However, mere moments after they'd done so, they found, to their surprise, that Mrs Cakes had returned, and was patiently waiting for them to stop laughing before she added her voice to matters.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but would the two of you care for some more tea?"

The two girls looked to their respective cups, then nodded to one another before smiling to the older woman and handing said cups to her. Getting the message, Mrs Cakes nodded back to them, taking the cups and heading on back to the counter. Now alone again, Amira sighed in a clear display of relaxation, and after briefly glancing out of the window she put on a smirk as she regarded Fluttershy yet again.

"So...how long should we wait before going over to Rainbow over there?"

Fluttershy, who didn't look in any way surprised or taken aback, turned to look out of the window herself. There, on the other side of the street, wearing a rather unconvincing disguise of a trench-coat, fedora hat and sunglasses, was Rainbow, who was sitting beside one of the outdoor tables of the café over there. In typical "bad spy" fashion, the young athlete was pretending to read a newspaper, ducking behind it every time the other two girls' heads even so much as moved to look over there. Fluttershy, for her part, merely smiled in a knowing fashion, then looked back to Amira and spoke in a calm manner.

"Oh, let's just keep this up a few more minutes. Give her a bit more to watch."

Amira laughed, nodding back to her.

"Alrighty then. Well, I was reading a book the other day, and my Dad was sitting there, watching TV and shaking his fist at this new tax that Parliament had just introduced..."

Fluttershy's smile faded a little.

"Um...could we maybe not talk politics? It doesn't seem very...well...datey."

Amira raised an eyebrow.

"Okay then. How about we get into a far more important debate?"

She leaned forward, appearing about as serious as someone can be, before simply returning to her prior smirk.

"Which of your friends' brothers would you rather go out with, Big Mac or Flash?"

Fluttershy stared at her blankly, then, realising she was between a rock and a hard place, merely sighed and slumped her shoulders, still smiling while she did so.

"Okay...politics it is."