What wasn’t so perfect, however, was the dramatic process of planning out the day. Hell, picking a day was a bit tricky too. After we had filled everypony else in on what was going on, and I finally found a ring for Fluttershy, we planned out a day about a month later.

We planned to spend the day by the swimming hole, followed by a nice picnic. After that, it was dinner back at my place, followed by a moonlit bonfire. And, as everypony but Fluttershy knew, the night would end with me popping the question. Nothing to it, right? Wrong.

As that fateful Saturday arrived, I was beyond nervous. It’s incomprehensible how nervous I was. I needed everything to go right. And, I mean, the early stages would probably be fine. It would be like any other day that the gang just wanted to hang out. But towards the end of the day, that’s when things got edgy.

Honestly, I’m being a bit dramatic. I wasn’t really nervous about the day as a whole, I just felt like I was. I was pouring my emotions into it way too much. I was just so scared of proposing, but I’m not even sure why. Looking back on it, proposing was so easy, and quite exhilarating to boot. But, I think we’ll get to that later. For now, I’ll talk about the day itself.

While I was changing in the bedroom, Fluttershy was preparing herself in the bathroom. Knowing Fluttershy would be preoccupied for a bit, I took out the ring I had purchased for her and looked at it. It was a very simple silver ring, with a pink, jeweled butterfly on it. I had it engraved with the words “I love you” on the inside (because it wasn’t nearly cute enough). I was feeling anxious; I mean, there was always the obscene possibility that she could say no, or something would just go wrong. I was snapped out of my little trance when I heard the bathroom door open. I closed the ring box and shoved it into my pocket. I stood up and turned to Fluttershy.

“What do you think? Nice, right?” she asked, putting her hands at her sides and giving her short dress a small twirl. It was a white dress, with light green, floral looking accents. It fell just above her knees. The top part exposed a decent bit of her chest (it was very attractive, I must say). I was getting a little flustered just looking at her, honestly.

“I think it’s, uh… very flattering…” I said, feeling a bit of warmth in my cheeks. Fluttershy giggled.

“That’s all you have to say?” Fluttershy joked, giving me a cute wink.

“Well, to put it bluntly, I love to fuck you right now,” I said, stepping towards her. She laughed and blushed a bright shade of red. I pulled her in close. “Putting it sweetly, you look amazing.” We shared a brief kiss, which didn’t seem to help her blushing problem.

“Please, Matthew, you’re embarrassing me.”

“What’s to be embarrassed about? You look really cute.”

“Thanks. Want to get going?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Everyone was meeting up at Sugarcube Corner. When we arrived, the rest of the gang was there waiting for us. Rarity took particular notice at our arrival. She seemed to be admiring her own work. The cute dress Fluttershy was adorned in was made, of course, by our generous friend.

“Why, darling, you look simply stunning! I knew it was going to be beautiful, but I didn’t think it would be this beautiful. I must say, I think I’d do a fine job of working in your world, Matthew. Perhaps Earth could use my designing skills.”

“I don’t know if it’s my place to say. I’m no designer. But, we never doubted your abilities. I had a feeling she’d look this good when you told me what you were working on,” I said.

“Quite. You really have outdone yourself this time, Rarity. You really do look nice, Fluttershy,” Twilight said.

“I aim for nothing but the best. Especially for my friends,” Rarity said.

“Oh, please, everypony, Matthew already embarrassed me enough. Um, Rarity, I was just wondering if you could check the back of my dress. Something feels different from when I first tried it on here,” Fluttershy said.

“Oh, of course darling. Come here, let me have a look.”

As Fluttershy went to go have herself tended to, Dash zipped over to me.

“You nervous?” she asked.

“You have no idea. I’m scared enough I might piss myself.”

“Please don’t.”

“Right… What if she says no?!” I retorted quietly.

“Are you crazy? She won’t say no. Trust me. Everything’ll go off without a hitch. Weren’t you the one who was totally confident about all this in the first place?”

“I was. It’s just that now it’s actually going to happen. It’s nerve-wracking as shit.”

“Don’t you worry about a thing, pal. You’ll ask her, she’ll say yes, and then I’ll give you a celebratory Sonic Rainboom. Then, we finish the night, you two go home and make sweet love, and then we plan for a wedding. It’s a fool-proof plan.”

“Um, I have several inquiries about your little plan there,” I interjected. Dash laughed as I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, are we almost ready to go?” I asked the group.

“Almost, sweetie. Just fixing up this slight error in your girlfriend’s dress,” Rarity answered.

“Sounds gouda,” I replied.

“Ugh! Stop saying that!” Rainbow jeered.

“Ha! Not happening. Anything that irritates you should never be given up.”

With everypony ready, we made our way to the swimming hole. We spent a good half of the day just messing around in the water. To nopony’s surprise, Pinkie and Dashie were the first ones in the water. While everypony else was getting their things set up, like chairs and umbrellas, Fluttershy was slipping off her dress, revealing her cute pink string bikini. I almost died.

Soon as my perverted staring was finished, we set up some things to play a tumultuous game of water polo. That went on for quite a while, actually. It got way too competitive. After our swimming and games were finished, we settled down for our picnic. A wide assortment of foods had been made for us, thanks to Pinkie Pie and Spike. Truly, the best baker and the best assistant ever. We chowed down like royalty, I reckon.

And as the day came to a close, we all headed back to my home for the bonfire. And it couldn’t have been a more perfect night. The day had yielded not a single cloud. Therefore, the skies were clear as could be that night. You could see billions of stars, not to mention the glory of the moon. It was beautiful. I always did love star-gazing. And given our nice bonfire, we were able to make s’mores. Very tasty. But then again, when aren’t they tasty.

And, of course, there was one final matter to attend to that night.

I decided to take Fluttershy on a walk. We eventually made our way to a hill. As we sat down, we noticed that it was the hill I arrived to Equestria on. Given the gorgeous view of the clear night sky, and us being alone where and as we were, the mood was starting to become quite romantic and serene. Fluttershy was too entrapped in the scenery and the feeling of being where she was to notice me staring at her. When she did notice, she giggled.

“What?” she questioned.

“I’m just thinking,” I answered.

“Oh? And what are you thinking about?”

“Just why I love you so much.”

“And why’s that?” she asked, leaning into me. I wrapped my arms and wings around her and held her close.

“You’re not afraid,” I answered. She laughed at the irony of my statement.

“Matthew, I love you too, but we both know I scare all too easily,” she protested.

“I don’t mean like afraid of physical things and traumatic stimuli. I mean, like, you’re not afraid to dare. To do what you want. Sometimes, life presents you with uncanny situations, and you always try, at the very least. And that’s important. If we don’t try, life sucks. Taking risks is what makes life fun.”

“I guess you’re right. I do dare quite a bit. I mean, look at where we are, you and me. If it weren’t for my willingness to let you into my life, I would still be just as timid and shy as I was the day we met. I wouldn’t have grown as much as I have in the time I’ve known you. If I didn’t dare, I never would have met my friends. I wouldn’t be living the life I have now.”

“You’re absolutely right, Fluttershy. You’re just… not afraid. And I love that. So much. And I think we just complement each other all too well. My crazy is matched by your calm. My energy is kept in check by your steadiness. But the love; the love comes full circle. It’s always there,” I stated.

“It never fades or goes away. Never,” she added.

“Yeah.” At this point, I was shaking a little bit. I felt the moment of truth was upon me, and I couldn’t have been more nervous. The sight of our friends helped calm my nerves. Just as they promised, they were going to be right beside us when the time came.

“Howdy, you two,” AJ greeted.

“You don’t mind if we join you, do you?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t see anything wrong with that. In fact, I think it would be nice,” Fluttershy said. I winked at them while Fluttershy wasn’t looking. They all smiled at us. We all sat in an oval shape facing out towards Canterlot.

We all exchanged words of how the night had been for us. The prevailing topic was how tired we were all becoming. Spike seemed worse than the rest of us, so we poked fun at him a bit. It was all in good humor, of course. We were all feeling the same way, ironically. Our cheery, loud sound was quelled by a short moment of silence. We all just looked out into the distance. The moment was perfect.

“Hey, Fluttershy,” I said, breaking the silence. The wheels were now in motion, as everypony’s eyes turned to us. Fluttershy looked at me. “Remember how I mentioned you weren’t afraid? How you’re always willing to try?” She nodded.

“I do,” she answered.

“Well, there’s something I want you to try with me,” I said.

“Oh? And what’s that?”

“Tying the knot.” My adrenaline was pumping faster than ever before. Fluttershy’s eyes widened in shock, and her hand went to her mouth. A gasp of glee escaped.

“Oh, my gosh…”

I pulled out a small box from my back pocket and got down on one knee. I opened it to reveal the ring inside.

“Fluttershy, will you marry me?”

She knelt down in front of me and pulled me in for the most passionate kiss we had ever shared. In the background, we heard tears being shed from our friends. Fluttershy and I were hesitant to break our bond. We stared into each other’s eyes, the rest of world all a blur to us in that moment.

“You know, you still haven’t answered,” I said jocularly. Fluttershy was in a fountain of jubilant tears.

“Yes, Matthew! A thousand times, yes! I will marry you!”

“Yaaahoooooo!” we heard Rainbow Dash cry out. She flew off in the blink of an eye, leaving a benevolent Sonic Rainboom in her wake.

“Show off!” I cried out. Our friends began cheering in the background, and shortly after, Fluttershy and I were wrapped in a tight group hug. We were all laughing and crying and it was just a really fucking beautiful moment. “Okay, need to breathe!” I cried out. The hug parted with laughter. I took the ring and placed it on Fluttershy’s left ring finger. It was (as you may have guessed) perfect.

“Matthew,” Fluttershy started.

“Yeah?” I replied.

“I love you. So much.”

“I love you too, Fluttershy.”

We shared another kiss, one lasting much longer than the previous one. And in that moment, nothing else mattered. The world faded away. It was just me and her.

It was just Fluttershy and me.