It had taken less than ten minutes to convince Twilight of how important this meeting was, and of how happy it would make Fluttershy. Despite Twilight’s well-prepared lecture on the nature of hype and expectations, Fluttershy had insisted that merely meeting such a mare would do wonders for her self-esteem, even if the romantic chances were slim. Twilight had shaken her head and sighed many times, but a few pouts later and Fluttershy had gotten a promise of a setup.

She was starting to regret it. It was one thing to beg her close friend for a favor, but now, sitting in the restaurant, her date due any moment, she was starting to panic.

Alright, she had begun to regret and panic long before today. What to do with her mane, whether to wear anything, whether to bring her calendar along for Lily to sign. Her current panic was admittedly more acute than all the rest, since now she was moments away from the actual event, and nopony was here to help her calm down.

More than once she had considered bolting. Going back to her cottage—back to staring at that photo—was a thousand times better than making a bad impression with the world’s most perfect mare.

Fluttershy was too distracted by dread to notice Lily approaching.

“Hello.”

Fluttershy nearly fell out of her seat. She strongly considered running away, even as she turned to the source of the greeting. When she saw Lily’s smile, however, all her fear and confusion and hesitation melted away.

The pink mare looked a-thousand-and-one times more beautiful in three dimensions. The lily in her hair looked as pristine as it had in the photograph, and though there was no camera angle to accentuate its placement, none was needed. The smell of flowers and freshly cut plants wafted off her body. The smell was engaging, yet not harsh or invasive.

Lily smiled again. “Oh, sorry to startle you. You’re Fluttershy, right?”

Fluttershy nodded.

Lily extended a hoof. “Pleased to meet you! My name’s Lily Valley. Twilight told me a lot about you.”

Fluttershy extended her hoof, but Lily suddenly withdrew hers.

“You washed your hooves recently, right? Twilight told me you work with animals…”

“Oh, of course I did.”

“Right, sorry, of course. Can’t be too careful though.” Lily smiled sheepishly.

Their hooves pressed together, and Fluttershy’s heart skipped a beat. Then another. She finally noticed she wasn’t breathing, and she took a deep breath. Too deep, as she started coughing loudly into her shoulder.

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Uhm, right. May I sit down?”

Fluttershy nodded enthusiastically. “Please do!” She waved a hoof at the other seat, and smacked her hoof against the table in the process. She blinked really hard. Poker face, don’t mess this up.

Fluttershy turned to face the table, and she saw Lily plop herself down in the other seat. Her movements were not as graceful as Fluttershy had hoped.

Oh no, does that mean she’s already bored? Did I make her uncomfortable and now she just wants to leave? WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo—

“Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Fluttershy blinked again. “Oh, yes, I’m fine.”

“Twilight said you wanted to ask me something?”

“Oh, uhm, yes, I did.”

“And that was?”

Fluttershy bit her lip. She had planned some topic of conversation, but she was blanking on it. Thankfully the waiter arrived to drop off their menus. He mentioned something or other about specials, but Fluttershy was far too busy staring at her not-quite-date’s lips and ears and bangs and chest to bother listening.

Fluttershy saw Lily sense her stares, and turned her head seconds before the perfect pony looked up. Years of practice had made Fluttershy very good at avoiding eye contact, but it was rather tempting to let herself get caught just this once.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about again?” Lily asked.

“Oh, well, Twilight told me you were a botanist.”

“Amateur botanist,” Lily corrected.

“Right, well, uhm, I…need…”

Lily returned to her menu. “Twilight said you were the town’s fauna manager?”

“One of them,” Fluttershy corrected. “I was hoping you could, uhm, help me inspect some of the plants near my house. I’m worried they might be poisonous, but I’m really not sure.” Perfect! Fluttershy thought to herself. And then after we do that I can invite her in for coffee, possibly dinner, and then we’ll spend so much time talking that I’ll just positively insist she sleep in my bed while I take the couch, since walking home would be far too much trouble. And then she’ll politely insist that she couldn’t impose like that and I’ll casually suggest sharing the bed and—oh, feathers, I’m ignoring her!

“—so it’s actually not that hard to recognize poison sumac, poison ivy, and poison joke, and most animals avoid it anyway. Although it can catch on their fur if you’re not careful. Do any of those sound like your plants?”

“Uhm, not really, I know what poison joke looks like. I’ve never seen these particular plants before.”

Lily folded her menu and placed it on the table, reminding Fluttershy she hadn’t chosen anything yet. “Well, can you describe it?” Lily asked. “I may not have to come up to your house at all. I’d rather not if I don’t have to.”

“Uhm…”

“Ladies, are you ready to order?”

Fluttershy let out a deep breath. Now she had some time to think of a lie, shouldn’t be too hard.

“Miss?” The waiter leaned a bit closer to Fluttershy. “I said ‘and what about you?’”

“Oh! I’ll, uhm, have what she’s having…?”

“Very good then. Two romaine and watercress salads with carrot and cucumber, coming right up.”

“Uh, anyway, I didn’t really get a good look at the plants.” Fluttershy looked to the side. “I, uhm, didn’t want to take any risks with my animals.”

“Well, then what makes you think I would want to get near it?”

“Well, sorry. I guess I really didn’t think of that.”

There was a painfully long silence. Fluttershy tried mumbling something a few times, but it was obvious she had blown her one and only chance with this pinnacle of pony perfection. She was mentally berating herself for the fourth time when their food arrived.

Fluttershy wasn’t hungry, but reluctantly picked up her fork anyway. She had a scoop inches from her mouth when she heard a loud, indignant gasp.

“Uhm, sorry, is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes! There are only thirteen carrots in this salad!”

“Sorry, but what’s the matter?”

“‘What’s the matter?’” Lily recoiled in horror at the question. “Didn’t you read the menu? It specifically said ‘fourteen hearty carrot chunks!’ I only ordered it because of my diet, and now my entire day is ruined. This is horror incarnate!” She swooned dramatically, slumping against her chair, her mouth hanging open in a silent wail.

Fluttershy munched on her bite of salad slowly, and then delicately swallowed. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t see what the problem is.”

Lily’s head snapped up. “Hmph, I shouldn’t expect you to. You and your friends are always causing problems everywhere.”

“What? N-no we don’t…”

“Oh don’t you?” Lily leaned forward, and Fluttershy couldn’t help but notice the way her mane and the flower in it swept seductively in front of her face before settling back into place. “That bunny stampede destroying my garden? Parasprites eating the town? Applejack’s sister, what’s her name, nearly infesting the town with those cursed cutie marks!?”

“It wasn’t really that much of a stampede…”

“I told Twilight I didn’t want to have anything to do with you and your crazy problems! I have a very delicate disposition! I’m a precious flower! I can’t keep risking life and loin and limb over these ridiculous situations!”

“I just wanted some help identifying some plants…” Fluttershy said sheepishly.

“And then what?” Lily gestured wildly with her hooves. “I go to your cottage to help you, and then what? We get attacked by timberwolves? The plants explode? My mane gets eaten by wandering hair spiders!?”

“I don’t think those exist…”

“Twilight tried to convince me that you were a delicate flower, as well. Kept going on and on about how attractive and sensitive and attractive you are. But this,” Lily jabbed a hoof at her untouched food, “this…this salad disaster is an omen! I told Twilight this was a bad idea, no matter how attractive you are!”

Lily suddenly leapt out of her seat. “Now if you’ll excuse me momentarily, I must track down our boorish waiter. Perhaps I can still salvage this fiasco of a meal.”

Fluttershy watched her not-date walk towards the kitchen, and for some reason the swaying of her dock wasn’t nearly as seductive as she had hoped it would be. Lily barged into the kitchen and Fluttershy heard several muffled shouts. She could have sworn that Lily also gasped and audibly swooned at least three times.

Fluttershy turned back to her salad. She nearly had a forkful ready when her hoof suddenly, reflexively covered her mouth. She felt a smile creep over her face, and before she knew it, she had started laughing.

Fluttershy flicked the lights on, and was immediately greeted by a manic grin inches from her face.

“Hi, Fluttershy!” Twilight looked around for a few moments, then smacked herself in the face. “Duh, right.” She poked her head under the couch. “Sorry about that. I know you said no teleporting and everything, but I just couldn’t wait to hear how your date went!”

Fluttershy slid out from under her couch. “Oh, uhm, sorry, it’s okay.” She took a deep breath and gave Twilight the short version of her “date.”

As the story finished, Twilight chuckled. “Yeah, well, I tried to warn you about that.”

Fluttershy turned her head to the side. “I know, and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you but, well…” She stole a glance at the calendar still on her wall. “The picture made her seem just like me, and I couldn’t help but fantasize.”

“Oh, Fluttershy… Fantasies are fun, but they’re ultimately just that: fantasies. It’s like Sweet Emotion says—a real relationship is always more satisfying than a fantasy because you have to work at it a little. You can’t expect the perfect pony to just show up. I guess as your wingmare, I didn’t really tell you that properly.” Twilight’s ears drooped. “This whole thing is sort of my fault…”

Fluttershy quickly pulled Twilight into a hug. “Don’t be absurd, Twilight! You were a great wingmare. The best I’ve ever had.”

“Really?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Really. I’m just sorry I didn’t listen to you. I guess I’ll never find my very special somepony at this rate…”

Twilight grabbed Fluttershy and stared her right in the eyes. “Don’t say that! You’re kind and smart and pretty and thoughtful and… I mean, my point is, anypony would be lucky to have you as a very special somepony. You’ll find them someday. Maybe you already know them.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Thanks, Twilight.”

Twilight nodded and suddenly stood up. “No problem! That’s what, uh, wingmares are for, right?” She started walking towards the door. “Anyway, I should get home. Spike’s probably worried.” Twilight magicked the door open, but paused. She turned back to Fluttershy. “You’ll find a very special somepony someday, I promise. Just maybe look around you instead of in your fantasies, okay?”

“Right, realistic expectations. I was listening to your lecture, you know.” Fluttershy smiled sheepishly.

Twilight grinned and walked outside.

Fluttershy waved to Twilight, and then sighed. She sidled back inside and shut the door. Twilight’s right, there’ll be other ponies. “Plenty of apples in the orchard,” as Applejack says. She began to head to her kitchen, but something caught her eye.

The calendar was still hanging from her wall, the picture of Lily still hanging enticingly above the page for April. Fluttershy floated over and took the calendar down. It really was an amazing picture. The shot was centered perfectly on her cutie mark, and the use of perspective meant there was very little negative space. The truth of its subject didn’t dull the subtlety and grace and confidence emanating from the page. Fluttershy sighed loudly. Probably not healthy to obsess over it, she admitted to herself. She closed the calendar and floated over to a kitchen drawer. It is for next year; perhaps by then I’ll have gotten over it, or at least developed a new crush.

Fluttershy chuckled softly at the dash of self-deprecation, and gently placed the calendar face-down in her drawer.

Then she paused.

All the fine print on the back page of the calendar listed the ponies involved. Fluttershy had never bothered to read any of it. It seemed as trivial as most other legalese, and there was plenty to look at elsewhere. But one of the names listed on it caught her eye. It was italicized, and set on its own line.

Photography by Keen Eye, Cunning Camerawork Inc.

Fluttershy finally closed the drawer and began to prepare dinner for her animals. As she did, her mind began to wander.

Keen Eye is a really nice name. I wonder if…no, that would be silly. But, if they captured all those qualities in a photo, they must understand them, right? Maybe they use their photography to express themselves?

What if they’re a pegasus who only flies if they really have to for aerial shots? Or they’re an earth pony who has to be really careful with all their cameras because they could only afford unicorn equipment, but they’re so confident in their work it doesn’t matter? Or what if…

Fluttershy was so lost in thought, she failed to notice she had overfilled Angel’s bowl.

I wonder if Twilight takes a photography class…

Author's Notes:

This is the original note I wrote to myself before writing the story.

Originally Fluttershy's role was going to be some random stallion, but then I remembered I hate using OCs. I think the final product works much better as a result.