Chapter 4: Flowers and Butterflies

As the sun rose above the trees of the Everfree, a small yellow Pegasus is found surrounded by animals of all shapes and sizes. Fluttershy's morning routine usually consisted of feeding any and all animals that came to her cottage, and on some days, like today, she would even have some of the animals from the Everfree forest come for breakfast. This morning she had a family of Manticores waiting outside her fence for their food, the two cubs playfully rolling around on the ground as she walked to the fence.

"Who's ready for their breakfast?" Fluttershy asked sweetly as she opened the gate, carefully balancing four bowls of food along her wings and back. When she shut the gate behind her the two cubs sat up, looking at her happily as their tails wagged behind them.

"Here you are my little balls of fur" Fluttershy said quietly as she carefully placed the bowls down in front of the cubs and their parents. She smiled and laughed slightly as the cubs jumped at their food as if it was a moving animal, and then headed back inside her fence, where Angel was tapping his foot angrily.

"Oh, what is it Angel bunny?" Fluttershy asked, looking down at Angel as he ran towards the backdoor of her cottage, pointing at it rapidly. Fluttershy cocked her head to the side and was about to ask what the problem was when she saw Rainbow Dash fly over her house.

"Morning Fluttershy" Rainbow said, in a somewhat cheerful way, a hint of annoyance in her voice, "You have a visitor"

"Oh, I do?!" Fluttershy said quickly, flying up and over her cottage in a flash. When she landed she looked around, and when she saw nopony standing around but her she looked up at Rainbow Dash worriedly.

"Did they leave because I took too long to greet them?" Fluttershy asked, just as a bush behind her shook, causing her to jump.

"Nope, that, would be him" Rainbow said, flying into the bush. After some struggling she managed to pull a green Pegasus out of the bush, despite his best efforts to go back in. Fluttershy backed away slowly when she looked at the stallions face. To her, the stallion was handsome, probably almost as handsome as Fancypants...

"Hi..." Fluttershy mumbled while looking away from the stallion, covering her face with her mane so he wouldn't think she was ugly.

"Uh, hi..." the stallion replied, even quieter than Fluttershy had been, eliciting a groan from Rainbow Dash. After some whispering between him and Rainbow, Fluttershy looked up to see him looking down at the ground as well, his wings outstretched, and with Rainbow holding a scroll in her hooves.

"Read this" Rainbow said quickly as she put the scroll in Fluttershy's hoof, "I have better things to do right now." Rainbow quickly took off and flew towards Ponyville as fast as she could, being followed by both Fluttershy and the stallion's eyes until she went over the horizon. The two Pegasi looked at each other for a second before shooting their heads down so they could stare at the ground. Fluttershy decided to open the scroll, and quickly read over it before the other Pegasus could say anything.

"Celestia wants us to..." Fluttershy said quietly to herself in surprise, stealing a glance of the Pegasus, who's name she now knew was Summer Skyline, making her face turn bright red. She stumbled backwards and slipped on a rock, falling hard on her flank. Before she could get up Summer was at her side, pulling her to her hooves.

"Are you okay?" Summer asked quickly, quickly blushing as he realized how close he had gotten to Fluttershy. He let go and shuffled away, his green face now a dark red. Fluttershy smiled sweetly before extending a hoof towards him. Just before she touched him she pulled back, looking at the scroll one more time, hoping that the knowledge that she was under Celestia's orders would help her muster up the courage to talk to him. The two of them stood their for a long time, the silence being broken when Angel came stomping around the cottage, looking at Fluttershy angrily.

"Oh, what is it Angel bunny?" Flutteshy asked quietly while leaning down to face Angel properly. He motioned towards his mouth with his paw and then started to drag Fluttershy towards the house. Summer had been watching and quickly flew over in front of Angel, looking at him angrily.

"Leave her alone" Summer ordered, Angel spitting in his face as a response. He continued to stare at Angel until he started to back down, letting go of Fluttershy's mane. Angel stood their for a moment before turning around and hightailing it towards the backyard, not stopping for anything.

"Oh, um, thank you" Fluttershy said as she kicked the ground lightly, "Do you have the stare too?"

"No, I just, uh, didn't like how he was treating you" Summer admitted, chuckling quietly before looking Fluttershy in the eyes, "You're too beautiful for that"

"Oh, well, I, uh..." Fluttershy stammered, her face bright red again, "Would you, uh, maybe, like to come inside?"

"I'd love to" Summer said, smiling at Fluttershy happily as she led him towards the house, her face still bright red as she let him in. He looked around slowly, his mouth slightly agape as he saw all the animals running around freely. Summer shook his head quickly and moved towards Fluttershy's couch, which was currently occupied by Angel. When Angel looked up and saw Summer standing there he ran, making his way towards the kitchen.

"Oh, hi there Angel, is everything okay?" Fluttershy asked from the kitchen, and after a short pause spoke up again, "Oh he isn't that bad, you're just imagining things". After a few seconds Angel was walking out of the kitchen, defeated and embarrassed. Summer watched as Angel sat in what must be his bed, and relaxed. Meanwhile Fluttershy was in her kitchen looking into a mirror, quietly talking to herself.

"It's okay Fluttershy, you can do this, you have to do this" Fluttershy said, cheering herself on, "He's a handsome stallion, it'll be fine, just be yourself, be confident!". After a few more encouraging lines Fluttershy made her way into the main room, seeing Summer eyeing on of her vases intently. She walked over silently and could hear him commenting on the state of the flowers.

"Well kept and watered, placed in direct sunlight..." Summer muttered, not hearing Fluttershy walk up next to him.

"Um, hello?" Fluttershy said quietly, making Summer jump slightly.

"Oh, uh, hi" Summer said, blushing slightly, "Sorry I was just looking at how well kept your flowers are"

"It's fine, do you, uh, want to sit down?" Fluttershy said sweetly, moving towards her couch quickly. After she sat down she patted the spot next to her, and Summer happily sat down. The two of them were silent for around a minute until Fluttershy decided to speak up.

"So, are you a gardener?" Fluttershy asked quietly, looking at his cutie mark, which was a pair of daisies.

"Uh, oh, yeah" Summer said, having zoned out for a second in an attempt to come up with something to talk about, "I just got hired to work at the castle"

"Oh, cool" Fluttershy said, genuinely interested in his work, "What kind of plants do you deal with?"

"Mostly flowers, but I sometimes trim the hedges" Summer said cheerfully, obviously taking pride in his line of work, "How about you, what do you do?"

"Well..." Fluttershy said, beginning to explain her role as Ponyville's unofficial veterinarian. The two of them continued to talk about their jobs for the rest of the morning, eventually heading into town to get lunch together.