“Oh, Fluttershy, hey,” Twilight Sparkle said, acknowledging her pegasus friend with a cheery wave as she opened the door to the Castle of Friendship. “Is there something that you need? You can come with us if you like-” she gestured to her dragon companion “-we're just on our way into town to pick up some odds and ends.”

        Fluttershy's limpid blue eyes flitted between the alicorn, the baby dragon, and the cartoonishly-long scroll dangling between them, held aloft only by the power of Twilight's magic. “Uh, maybe I should stop by when you're a bit less busy.”

        “Nonsense,” said Twilight cheerfully, dropping the scroll on top of Spike's head. “I always have time for my friends. Now what do you need me for?”

        “It's, um, a bit delicate ...”

        “Oh.” Twilight drew the single syllable out to comical proportions, clapping her hooves together excitedly as she did so. “It's about the big date tonight, isn't it?”

        From underneath the scroll, Spike managed to say, “Fluttershy has a date?” His incredulity only served to make Fluttershy feel even more stupid, even though he was the one struggling to control an unruly scroll. “An actual date? With another pony? Who is real and exists?”

        “Yes,” Fluttershy said, managing to squeak the single word out of her recalcitrant mouth.

        “Nice,” said Spike, inclining his head slightly, wondering who the lucky/unfortunate mare or stallion was. “Anypony that we know?”

        “Maybe?” Fluttershy said hesitantly. Shaking her head, she added, “It isn't important.” To Twilight, she said, “As you can imagine, I'm really nervous about it and I'm looking for advice about what to do. It's my first date and I'm-”

        “-Really nervous, yeah, so I gathered,” said Twilight with the kind of compassionate, loving smile that only she could pull off. To her flustered friend, she said, “Admittedly, I'm not an experting on dating either, but my research on the subject suggests that the most important thing is to be yourself.”

        “Be myself? I can do that. I've been doing that my whole life.”

        Letting Fluttershy finish before continuing, Twilight added, “That doesn't mean telling them every bad habit of yours up front, though. There's no point in pretending that you have the same opinions on books, films, politics and the like. They'll only be more disappointed down the line when they discover who you really are.”

        Fluttershy nodded in agreement. “That's really great advice, Twilight, thanks.” On impulse, she hugged the alicorn. “I'll let you two get back to your shopping now.” With that, she took off into the sky at her usual snail's pace.

        Barely out of earshot, Spike said, “Fluttershy? Dating?” The dragon was having trouble processing the news and he looked around anxiously. “We need to be on the lookout for four scary dudes riding horses that breathe fire, right?”

        “Come on, Spike,” replied Twilight with a roll of her mulberry eyes, using her magic to drag both dragon and scroll along in her wake.