Equestria Girls: A Random Encounter
Takes place during Fluttershy's flashback.
It was just another day at Canterlot High. The summer was disappearing day by day, and the new school year was a few months in. Everybody had readjusted to the five-day-a-week grind. The fall was setting in, and the students at Canterlot High knew what this meant. Most of the students dreaded this time of year, but some remained hopeful that this year would be different. No amount of optimism ever changed the outcome though. It was the time of the Fall Formal, or as many commonly referred to it the "Coronation of Princess Sunset Shimmer".
Sunset Shimmer was cold and ruthless. She made the entire school miserable, broke up friendships, and cheated her way to the top of everything. There was one thing the many different cliques and groups of Canterlot High could always agree on: they all hated Sunset Shimmer. Strangely though, she won the Fall Formal Crown every year by a unanimous vote. This was because nobody dared to run against her. Those who did faced terrible consequences. This year it seemed like the same set of events would happen again. Sunset Shimmer would wear the crown once more.
Despite the dreaded day approaching, the students were generally in a good mood. It was Wednesday afternoon and the bell had just rung. The students walked around campus, headed to their next destination. One girl, however, had a task to do. It was her custom to stand by the statue in the courtyard of Canterlot High and pass out flyers for the Canterlot Animal Shelter. The shelter needed more volunteers, and Fluttershy made it her mission to find some. Unfortunately, nobody seemed interested today…..or last Wednesday…or the week before. Truthfully, in the seven or so weeks she had been doing this, not one person had shown any interest.
"Canterlot Animal Shelter needs more volunteers!" she tried to say loudly while waving one of the flyers. "Won't you help an animal who can't help itself?"
A few minutes passed, and still nobody. The same inevitable result had happened once again. Fluttershy dropped the flyer in her hand, and let the stack of flyers she was holding in her other arm go, dropping them all over the ground. She sat down and buried her face in her arms, heartbroken once again. She was on the verge of weeping.
"Excuse me…are you ok?" a male voice said. Fluttershy tensed up, startled by the unexpected voice. She slowly looked up to see the source of the greeting. It was a male student. He looked about Fluttershy's height, but was fairly muscular. He wore a black Lamb of God t-shirt and camo shorts, which had an image of a black falcon on the left leg. He wore an In Flames beanie over his black and crimson hair. He had a short, black goatee. He wore black wristbands on both arms.
Fluttershy was a little bit intimidated by him. He was a big dude, and his apparel implied that he listened to heavy metal music. She stared up at him, not knowing what to say. She was already pretty shy and timid around others, but this was a boy coming to talk to her out of nowhere. She had never had a legitimate conversation with a boy before.
Finally gaining the strength to speak, she looked up at the boy that had approached him. "Umm…uh….I'm….I'm fine." She managed to get out. The boy reached a hand out to her, and she timidly took it and allowed him to help her to her feet.
"What are you doing out here by yourself?"
"Oh…I…um…I was just….nothing really….."
The boy bent down to pick of one of the flyers that were lying on the ground and quickly read over it. "Oh, you must work at the animal shelter" he said to her. Upon hearing the words "animal shelter", Fluttershy scrambled to pick up her mess.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, I was just handing out flyers I guess I kinda dropped them" she said quickly, franticly trying to pick up all the flyers.
"Don't worry about it" he said as he began to help her pick up the flyers. After a few seconds only one remained, and both students reached for it. Fluttershy found herself placing her hand on top of the boy's hand. They both looked at each other and blushed.
The male student took a moment to really admire the girl he was talking to. She was extremely beautiful. She had the perfect glimmer in her eyes, and the way she tried to hide behind her long, pink hair was adorably breathtaking.
"What's your name?" he eventually asked after handing the remaining flyers to her.
"Oh…I'm Fluttershy."
"Nice to meet you, Fluttershy. My name is Rise"
"I think I've seen you around"
"Yeah, I've seen you around too. I just never had the chance to meet you. You seem like a really nice person."
"Thank you, and thanks for helping me" she said and sighed. "Handing out these flyers is such a burden. No matter what I do, nobody seems interested."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Rise replied. He glanced over the flyers in her hands. "I'll take one."
Fluttershy's face lit up. "Oh, you will? Oh, thank you so much."
"No problem, I think it's great what you're doing."
"Really? You like animals too?"
Rise smiled. "Sure do. When I was a kid I used to volunteer at the animal shelter in my old town."
Fluttershy was beaming at the things she was hearing. At first she thought this guy was intimidating, but he was kind, helped her out and liked animals. Not only that, he was cute. REALLY cute. And he was talking to her. She even found her shyness disappearing.
Before she could say anything else, Rise spoke again. "So when should I show up?"
"Show up?" Fluttershy was confused. "Show up where?"
"Well, duh! To volunteer at the animal shelter?"
Fluttershy gasped. "Really? You want to help?"
"Of course! That's what you were looking for wasn't it?"
"Oh my goodness, thank you so much! You have no idea how happy this makes me! Yay!"
After calming down, Fluttershy filled him in on the details, as well as exchanged phone numbers with him, something that Fluttershy was really excited about. They spent a few more minutes making small talk. Fluttershy decided it was her turn to ask questions.
"So, I guess you like music huh?"
"Yeah, it's pretty much the most important thing in my life. I realize that not everybody cares for metal, but that doesn't bother me. Besides, I enjoy lots of music.
"Do you play an instrument?"
"I do. I've been playing bass for five years now. I also play a little guitar."
"Hey, didn't you used to be in Flash Sentry's band?"
Rise rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I did. But not anymore, I left."
"Why?"
"Long story short, I just wasn't interested anymore. Their music is kinda cheesy, it just doesn't appeal to me. Besides, I was getting tired of getting caught up in Flash's drama with Sunset Shimmer. Ugh…."
Fluttershy giggled. "I can definitely understand that. I would want nothing to do with her either."
"I don't understand her. She has a nasty attitude and treats people horribly for no reason. The sad thing is she's probably going to win the Fall Formal again."
The Fall Formal. Those words bothered Fluttershy. Not so much because of Sunset Shimmer, but because she really had nobody to go with. She was to scared to ask somebody, and it was rare that somebody ask her. She felt a sad feeling come over her.
Rise looked at a nearby clock and noticed the time. "Uh-oh, it's almost time for class." He picked up his backpack and threw it on, folding the animal shelter flyer and sticking it in his back pocket. "It was nice talking to you Fluttershy!"
"It was nice talking to you too. Thank you so much for helping me out today. I thought this was going to be a horrible day."
"I'm glad I could help! See ya later!" Rise said, finally turning to leave. Fluttershy kept smiling behind him, even though a harsh reality came over her. She was hoping that he'd be the one. She hoped that somebody would finally ask her to the Fall Formal.
"Maybe I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up…." She said to herself.
Suddenly, she saw Rise stop. He turned around and reapproached Fluttershy. Her heart pounded, confused at what he could be coming back for.
"Hey, Fluttershy. Can I ask you something?"
"Um….sure, I guess."
"I know we just met and everything, but I was wondering…..do you have a date to the Fall Formal?"
"No…I don't, why?" She said. Could it be? Could he really be asking her?
"Want to go with me?" he said sweetly and smiling.
Fluttershy gasped loudly, throwing her hands over her mouth. She was close to crying. Somebody asked her to the Fall Formal. Nothing had ever made her this happy. She was lost for words. She threw her arms around Rise and hugged him tightly. "Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh! Yes! Yes I will go with you! Oh, thank you so much! Thank you! Thank you!"
Rise just smiled and held her. He didn't show it, but he was just as happy as she was, if not more. After a few minutes of freaking out and squeezing the life out of Rise, Fluttershy let go. "I'll talk to you after school, that alright?"
"Yes. I'll see you later, Rise. And thank you so much for everything!"
Rise waved and walked away. Fluttershy sat down agains the statue again and closed her eyes, butterflies in her stomach. A horrible day was just turned into the best day of her life.
Out of nowhere, a small metal crown flew into Flutterhy's head and landed on the grown next to her. "Ow!" she winced as she rubbed her head. She picked up the crown to noticed that it was the Fall Formal crown. Without hesitating, she gathered her things and head to Principal Celestia's office to return it.