The day had finally come. Twilight was upon the kingdom once more, signaling the beginning of the festivities.
The cave was adorned with colorful streamers, which hung from the ceiling, and red and gold lights, which illuminated the dark cave. Strange, racy vegetables were laid out on the table.
Ranger, wearing a silky red shirt with a thin gold logo on the breast and black pants, whistled as he cut carrots in to the shape of a heart. He was getting better at this. He had wasted countless firetails on practice runs, but he was only getting better.
"What do you think, Fluttershy? Am I getting better?" Ranger asked, grinning broadly.
"Absolutely!" Fluttershy replied, petting her bunny, Angel, who was napping contentedly on her snuggie. He was wearing a little pink crown, but Fluttershy was also getting better at making them.
"Well, how is the food coming?" Ranger asked, looking out at a massive set table covered with all sorts of strange dishes.
The food for tonight was his latest idea of a theme. He had decided to draw inspiration from his favorite food, pizza. There were so many different types of pizzas! There was pepperoni, Canadian bacon, buffalo chicken, Hawaiian, mushroom, pineapple, spinach, Hawaiian, meat lovers' and sausage.
"Okay, I think it's coming along pretty well. I waited to add the pepperoni until I was sure I had enough garlic in there. I've gotten really good at making pizza from my experience with it," Ranger said sounding proud.
"Wow, I'm impressed," Fluttershy replied. She took a bite of a hot pepper. She coughed for a minute, but was still looking proud.
Excited, the two of them each prepared one of the endless supply of toppings they had made, consisting of a heavy amount of whatever delicacy they had felt like making, mixed in with the main "secret ingredient" topping—they had been saving that for last.
Ranger had decided he was going to make pineapple nachos, with a special ingredient that he had been saving just for this. He also made strawberry-celery salad. Fluttershy was making some sort of road kill salad.
"Let's get started! I want to finish before the sun sets," Fluttershy said. Even though she wanted to finish early, she wanted this to be perfect.
"Well…," Ranger said, biting his lip.
"What is it, Ranger?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well, I decided to make a pepperoni pizza, but I was so excited I dropped it. I don't want to give up on it now…," Ranger said hesitantly. He looked as sad as he was excited.
"Oh, don't worry about it! We can just throw it away!" Fluttershy said, looking at him with hope in her eyes. She knew how much he loved pizza.
"No! It was one of my favorite ideas," Ranger said jumping up and down. He looked so excited.
"Well, if we throw it away now, maybe this perfect meal won't have happened at all," Fluttershy said, blushing. She knew she shouldn't be encouraging the idea.
"No, don't worry," Ranger said, crossing his arms. He was tapping his foot now. Fluttershy, who had finally gotten over her own guilt, smiled and bumped him with her shoulder.
"We'll darn it together!" he said, dumping the pepperoni on the sides. Quickly, he rolled it, as he had learned, and laid out all the different toppings. Next, they lit the fire and began baking. Ranger adjusted the flames, and Fluttershy prepared the finishing touch.
After she had finished preparing the secret sauce topping, Ranger grabbed the plate and took a loud breath.
They both looked out onto the ocean. The sun was setting by now. The fiery orange orb was turning to blue and pink. The waves were going from orange to purple.
"Are you ready?" Ranger asked, his heart pounding.
"I've been waiting my whole life for this!" Fluttershy answered excitedly.
He took a minute to analyze it again. He fingered the piece that had the secret sauce, sprinkling it into the top of one slice. Then, he grabbed it and slowly slid it off, only making a thin layer on one.
"Now, it's going to be mine to eat," Fluttershy said, smiling.
Ranger looked at his creation, and he recognized the expression. "You are going to miss me, aren't you?" he said, smiling back.
"What?! No way!" Fluttershy answered, shocked. He did like her, didn't he? She was just scared to admit it.
Ranger dropped the unlucky slice into the flames, and the heat changed him, partially melting the pizza and cooking it. Just as he and Fluttershy finished rolling it up, it had a crunch and a unique ring of flavor.
"It's okay! You'll always remember it! It was something special!" Ranger said, holding it up in front of Fluttershy.
"B-but, why would you do this?!" Fluttershy asked, smiling. They had bonded so over the idea that she almost believed in him.
Ranger smiled and put it in her mouth.
"Wait! Ranger!" Fluttershy said, chomping into it. It was the best slice of pizza she'd ever had.
You were the worst monster they'd ever seen. You were a hundred times the monster they were scared of. You were the chains that bound them, the hope that they were moving towards. You were the promise they had been waiting for!
At least, if we're going to go by what happened next.
“Okay, to start, we're going to need to find this monster you're thinking about, but I don't know if you can walk again…,” Fluttershy said. She probably should have tried this before she said anything.
“Can you help me walk? That's not that much!” Ranger asked, smiling. If she had to, Fluttershy could move with him to get better. Her heart was bigger than the sky.
Ranger took a deep breath, taking in the ocean air. He closed his eyes, and then, with one step, he was off and running.
“Wait, wait! I can't keep up!” Fluttershy yelled. She was pounding along behind him. He let the ocean air fill him with energy, his eyes focusing on their destination.
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