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Fluttershy awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of flapping wings and things being knocked over. It was a warm summer night, but with a refreshing little breeze every now and then, so Fluttershy had left the windows open tonight.
Even in the dark, it wasn’t difficult to make out who the intruder into her peaceful house was, because whoever it was had been drinking so much alcohol she could easily smell it. And in all of Ponyville, there was only one pony who would drink that much and subsequently fly into her house. Rainbow Dash.
The two pegasi had been close friends since flight school, which eventually lead to more between them than just friendship, though they didn’t feel ready to take the next step yet. In fact, while they often hung out together at day, they still seldom slept at each other’s house - that is, ignoring the quite frequent occasions Rainbow decided to crash at Fluttershy’s.
But things had definitely changed since their first kiss, long ago. Over time, Fluttershy had become more assertive - still nowhere near as assertive as other ponies were, and only when Rainbow was around, but still, it was a start - while Rainbow grew a little more subdued, less bragging about her accomplishments, when Fluttershy was her only company. They had just grown towards each other more, though that didn’t mean they had quarrels from time to time.
Fluttershy often thought things were her fault, and apologized for things that she shouldn’t be apologizing for. If Rainbow flew into her house in the middle of the night, then Fluttershy would apologize for leaving the window open. Even if it was Rainbow who, despite Fluttershy’s warnings, had gone out drinking deep into the night, and was now utterly drunk. She could barely stand upright or keep her wings in check, and the combination of staggering all over the place and outstretched wings was knocking over many of the small decorations and little things in the yellow pegasus’ room.
Rainbow had picked up a bit of a drinking problem, lately. It wasn’t that she was suddenly an alcoholic, it was just that when she went drinking, a few drinks quickly became a few too many drinks.
Tonight would have been another of those nights, with Fluttershy silently forgiving Rainbow for the mess she made of her home, until her ears perked up at the sound of glass breaking. There were only a few objects made from glass in her room. When she saw which of them Rainbow had knocked over, she felt a mixture of sadness and anger suddenly welling up. Sadness, because the drunken pegasus had knocked over the frame that contained the photograph of her with her parents, as a little filly - the only photograph she had of them. The frame, too, had been given to her by her parents, and although a new one was just a couple of bits, it was the emotional value that was crushed with it when Rainbow managed to not only break the glass, but stepped on it as well a few moments later, shattering one of the borders completely under her hoof.
Then there was anger. Anger, that Rainbow Dash had still gone drinking after all. Anger, that for the dozenth or so time, her friend had disturbed her sleep. Bust most of all, anger that trying to talk sense into the drunken pegasus at this time wasn’t going to do anything about it at all. Fluttershy knew that Rainbow would be waking up tomorrow morning with a massive headache, and probably seek her help to lessen it, but she wouldn’t remember anything of what Fluttershy would say at this very moment. She would never know that she had flown into Fluttershy’s house and knocked over half of her possessions, destroying one very important to the shy pegasus.
Fluttershy wasn’t going to accept that. She wasn’t going to let Rainbow live this one down. How she did it, she didn’t even know, but a few moments later - and a mouthful of Rainbow’s tail - the blue pegasus got a face full of the front door of Fluttershy’s cottage. No, it wasn’t nice of her, letting Rainbow sleep wherever the pegasus was going to sleep. On the other hoof, what Rainbow had done wasn’t nice either, and she didn’t feel guilty when she slammed close that door in her lover’s face.
She closed all the windows, closed the curtains and locked the doors, which resulted in it being very hot and humid in the house, but she knew the other pegasus well enough to know that she would probably try all the ways into her cottage.
Ignoring the warmth for now, she put everything back where it belonged again - to her luck, nothing else had broken in Rainbow’s flurry of destruction - leaving the photo and the frame for the last. Thankfully, the photo itself was still intact, without crumples or creases. Now that she could look closer though, she could see that the frame that had held it for years, was broken beyond repair. The glass had broken into at least a thousand pieces, and one of the borders, plus part of another, had been reduced to not much more than splinters under the pressure of the blue pegasus’ hoof.
Carefully, she gathered the pieces of glass and wood in a box - she didn’t want to throw it away yet. As she was doing that, an idea formed that might finally make Rainbow see what she was doing by drinking so much sometimes. She would have to be very assertive when the skyblue pegasus would undoubtedly come for something for her headache the next morning, but it was the only way she could think of. It would have to do. It’d better.
When Rainbow woke up the next morning, she found that the sun had long since risen, and that she had been sleeping in a bush. She rose up from her sleeping place, with the intent of stretching out, when a massive headache suddenly hit her, causing her to sink back down, holding a hoof to her forehead.
‘Owwwwwww,’ she groaned, ‘wh-where did that come from?’
As she just lay there, not feeling able yet to try again, she started taking in the situation in more detail. Why had she been sleeping in a bush? Had she been drinking the previous night? Likely, if the headache was anything to go by. But didn’t she usually wake up at Fluttershy’s couch when that happened, with the butteryellow pegasus caring for her? It didn’t make sense, especially since she vaguely recalled being at Fluttershy’s cottage not too long ago. Did something happen? Or worse, doesn’t she like me anymore?
Attempting to raise to her hooves a second time - this time taking it much slower on purpose - she began to walk to Fluttershy’s cottage. It wasn’t a long walk, given that it seemed she had collapsed a mere few hundred hoofsteps from it. Which only made her wondering more why she wasn’t on her marefriend’s couch.
Knocking on the door quietly, as her ears were also quite oversensitive after drinking, it was quickly answered, though when she saw Fluttershy, something seemed wrong with her. She had that determined look on her face again - not quite the famous Stare, but not far off from it either - and even Rainbow’s headache-troubled mind could register that it looked like her friend had been crying as well.
“Let me guess,” began Fluttershy, in a tone that was way too assertive for Rainbow Dash’s liking, “you want me to do something about your headache?”
“Y-yes, please,” said Rainbow, though something in the back of her mind was already telling her that she had crossed a line somewhere. Fluttershy was seldom like this, and never at her. If only she could remember what exactly happened last night.
“I’m very mad at you, Rainbow Dash,” answered her friend, in a voice that was a mixture of anger and sadness. “Twilight lent me a couple of books on the subject of alcohol a few weeks ago, and you have to stop this. I’m not even going to give you painkillers this time - your headache will wear off in a few hours anyway. In the meantime, you can think about this .” At the end of her sentence, Fluttershy pushed a small box out of the door. Then, she slammed the door close again, making Rainbow’s ears ring in agony.
“Aaahhhwww! Fluttershy? Wh-why did you...” she began, but never finished her sentence, fumbling to open the box and see what was inside it. Upon seeing the remains of the photo frame, she added, “and... what’s this supposed to mean?” When no reply came, she called again, “Fluttershy?”
“Go away!”
“But-”
“No, Rainbow Dash! Go. Away! ”
Rainbow decided it was probably best to leave the pegasus that was otherwise always very happy to see her alone for now, slowly turning around, ears drooped, and heading for the bush again, taking the box with her.
She couldn’t sleep, but as the headache slowly subdued, she had plenty of time to think about what just happened between her and Fluttershy. She knew this wasn’t just any photo frame. What she didn’t understand though, was how it had become broken, and more importantly, what she had to do with it. However slowly, she began puzzling it out, thinking of possible scenarios and eventually, she came to the conclusion that it had been her fault. It must have been. Otherwise Fluttershy would never been mad at her.
She felt guilty. So very guilty. Not only had she destroyed something that meant a lot to her marefriend, the yellow pegasus had told her she shouldn’t drink so much, even made her promise it the last few times, but... she had still gotten drunk.
The sudden realization that she might have a drinking problem was less scary than what this could mean to their relationship, though. She loved Fluttershy, the kind pegasus that she had known since her foalhood. She trusted her with secrets even her other friends knew nothing about. She didn’t want to lose her. An apology was in order.
She looked back into the box another time.
But what was the value of words, if she couldn’t even keep her promise to not get drunk? Would Fluttershy believe her if she just apologized? Even if she did, would Rainbow believe herself? Not after getting drunk yet again; not anymore.
She needed to get this frame fixed somehow, though she wasn’t really sure if it could be repaired.
A visit to the local carpenter confirmed her worst fear: Fluttershy’s photo frame was indeed beyond repair. The only thing the shopkeeper could offer her was to buy a new one, but Rainbow rejected it.
She flew home, wings flapping slowly, her head hung low, reflecting her mood. She mulled over how often Fluttershy had asked her to not drink so much, how many chances the yellow pegasus had given her. Go away, Fluttershy had yelled. Clearly, Rainbow had crossed the line this time, but was at a loss as to how to make it up again. She wasn’t good with the mushy stuff.
As soon as she arrived home, she flopped down on her cloudbed, no longer holding back the tears she had blinked back while she was out in public. In the safety of her own home, she could let down the whole ‘cool-and-awesome’ facade. What was her dream of joining the Wonderbolts still worth, if she couldn’t share it with Fluttershy? Glancing at the few framed photographs of the fliers, she decided, ‘not much.’
Then she looked into the box again, eyeing the broken frame. Wait a moment... Although all of the frames were Wonderbolt-licensed, and each one was special in their own way, there was one that was more special to her than all the others together.
She stood up, took it from the wall, and returned to her bed with it, staring at it, thinking about what she was about to do. Did she really want to go through with this? Her mind was screaming ‘no,’ but deep inside, her heart said ‘yes.’ She dumped the contents of the box in the trash, and then proceeded to carefully open the frame to remove the Spitfire-signed photograph inside. She hoped Fluttershy would understand the gesture, because apart from it somehow feeling right in her heart, she was still unsure why she was ready to give away her Limited Edition Cloudsdale Air Show photo frame, on which she had spent almost all her bits back in Flight School.
A few silent moments passed, until she took the final step by putting the pristine frame in the box and closed the it. No going back now. I’m going to do this.
Resolved, she glided down to Fluttershy’s cottage, giving Ponyville a wide berth to avoid the town center. She didn’t really want to have one of her other friends call her right now.
Fluttershy was taking care of the numerous animals in her house, when she heard three soft knocks on the door.
“Who’s there?” she asked.
“It’s... it’s me,” came a voice through the door.
“Oh...” was all she said as she recognized Rainbow Dash’s voice.
“I... could you open the door maybe?”
With a sigh, Fluttershy got up. If it was up to her, she would have preferred it if Rainbow had perhaps waited a few more hours at least, but since she hadn’t said anything about when the blue pegasus could come back, she let it slide and opened the door.
When their eyes locked, the two stared at each other silently, unmoving, for a couple of seconds, before Rainbow snapped out of it and spoke first, confessing everything she had figured out so far in a single torrent of words.
“I think I’ve figured out what happened last night. I must have gotten drunk again, even though I promised you I wouldn’t, and then I must have found my way over here and knocked over your photo frame. I know how much that one meant to you, and I tried to have it repaired but...” she paused to take breath, redirecting her gaze to the ground, “they couldn’t. I thought about buying you a new one, but it didn’t feel right with me. So I want you to have this, as an apology. And I promise I’ll stop going to clubs for at least a while - really promise it this time. I mean, I like cider, but this is getting out of hand. I hope you can believe me when I promise it, but it’s fine if you... don’t...”
When Fluttershy looked into the box, she half expected to see a bad reincarnation of her faithful photo frame, but instead, was met by the sight of a Wonderbolts licensed photo frame. She didn’t even have to pick it up and see the ‘Cloudsdale Limited Edition’ label on the backside, because she knew this was the one Dash had been raving about when the Wonderbolts gave an airshow in Cloudsdale back when they were still in Flight School. And even though Dash wasn’t exactly low on bits, these were worth a small fortune nowadays. There was no way Dash had the kind of money to buy a second one, especially not on such short notice.
It wasn’t the financial value, though, that Fluttershy cared about. It was the fact that she knew this was an item precious to Rainbow Dash, an item which, by the look in her eyes as she looked back up at the other pegasus again, she had difficulty parting with. She almost looked sad, anxious whether the yellow pegasus would understand what she meant by giving it, because she knew Fluttershy wasn’t really into the whole Wonderbolts thing. She supported Dash in pursuing her dream of joining them one day, and was always willing to hear about a new trick Dash was practising, but that was about it.
Fluttershy was at the brink of saying she believed Rainbow, but that she didn’t have to part with it if she really couldn’t, when it seemed the pegasus was able to read her thoughts.
“I meant it when I said I wanted you to have it. I...” she stalled, staring at the ground again, as if literally searching for what she was going to say next, but she couldn’t find the words.
This time, it was Fluttershy to break the other out of her thoughts, with a kiss.
“I believe you,” said Fluttershy when the kiss ended. “And you can still see it everyday,” she pointed to the frame, which she had put back in the box before she kissed Rainbow, “as long as you’re not drunk.”
A smile formed on Dash’s face as Fluttershy said the last part. Neither of them knew how, nor did they care, but they felt they had grown even more closer than they already were as they leaned in for another kiss.
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Dear Fluttershy,
Every year, on the longest day of the year, my sister Celestia hosts the Summer Sun Celebration. It is a day full of festivities throughout all of Equestria, from sunrise to sunset. Some ponies say “But Princess Luna, dont you have Nightmare Night dedicated to you?” and while these ponies are not wrong, Nightmare Moon and me are two very different personalities. It is also primarily targeted towards the little colts and fillies, and only lasts for a few hours.
Therefore, my sister and I have agreed that an additional party is in order, called the Winter Night Celebration. As the name suggests, it will be held from sunset to sunrise during the longest night of the year. It will be a mare-and-gentlecolts-only party, as the little ones must sleep during the night. The venue is Ponyville’s town hall; I hope to see you and your friends there.
Princess Luna
***
The music was loud, lights flashed on and off, and drunken ponies - or at least, they had used something - were everywhere. If it wasn’t for her friends and the fact that she let herself be convinced to go by said friends so easily, Fluttershy wouldn’t be here at all. She just couldn’t grasp what other ponies found so exciting about exhausting oneself through the night. She’d much rather lie in bed reading a good book, and then doze off with her animal friends.
She was sitting at a table in the corner of the room, essentially waiting until the sun would finally rise and this party was over, so that she could go home. But alas, that wouldn’t be for at least another six hours, it being a little past midnight, and sleeping here was impossible. Her eyes wanted to close constantly, but the music and lights made it impossible.
No, she wasn’t really enjoying herself. Her friends seemed to, though, as she looked around and spotted her friends. Rainbow Dash was doing some kind of crazy dance together with Derpy, standing on their hindlegs with their forehooves near their ears, wings flapping behind them, swinging their bodies from side to side on the beats supplied by none other than the town’s own DJ Pon-3. Twilight was trying to mimic them as well, failed and fell on her back, but stood up laughing. Pinkie Pie was bouncing literally all over the place, which was quite normal for the party-pony, but it was now even more than normal. Rarity had somehow gotten hold of one of the discoballs, and was now cuddling with it on the floor like it was some huge diamond. Finally, Applejack was just sitting at the bar, drinking mug after mug of alcoholic beverages. She didn’t look too good, Fluttershy noticed, but she assumed that the farm pony must be enjoying herself, otherwise she could have just stopped drinking.
Thus she was very surprised when she suddenly found the hostess of the party, Princess Luna herself, sitting opposite her.
“Oh my, Princess!” she squeaked, though the words never reached Luna’s ears. Even the Princess’ breath smelt of alcohol, but only just a little bit; she was nowhere near as drunk as some of the other ponies.
“My dear Fluttershy,” she began, the Royal Canterlot Voice being appropriate for once. “Your friend Applejack is drinking way too much, and I’m looking for one of her friends to bring her home. I thought I would ask you first.” The Princess winked at Fluttershy at the last statement, subtly letting her know that she was okay with it if the yellow pegasus would rather sleep. “Would you want to do it?”
Of course Fluttershy would. She wasn’t a pony to jump on opportunities, but she really wanted to get away from here. This sort of party just wasn’t her thing. Subconsciously, her face had lit up at the Princess’ question, so much that Luna didn’t even wait for a reply. “Come on, follow me,” was all she said.
A few minutes later, Fluttershy and a very, very drunk Applejack were standing outside, the cool night air an enormous difference with the temperature inside. It wasn’t just warm inside, it was hot . The soft breeze that blew from time to time made the already cold air just feel ten times more colder, so Fluttershy looped her long scarf around her neck another time, and set off to Sweet Apple Acres.
Thanks to a drunken and easily distracted Applejack, the trip from the town center to the farm, which usually took only a little more than ten minutes, took over twice as long now. Time and time again, she had to stop and talk some sense into her friend. In the nicest way possible, of course. Which certainly wasn’t the fastest way to get a drunken Applejack home.
Finally, they were passing through the gate that marked the entrance to the Apple family property. If it weren’t for the fact that Fluttershy lived next to the Everfree Forest herself, she would have been scared by how creepy the bare apple trees looked in the deepest of the winter night. Despite the variety of scarves and other assisting-in-keeping-warm clothing accessoires she was wearing, Fluttershy was still shivering from the cold. Applejack, on the other hoof, was acting like it was the middle of summer, but that was probably due to the alcohol.
And then, halfway across the yard to the front door of the house, it happened. Fluttershy was afraid this was going to happen at some point - as this wasn’t the first time she had seen Applejack with a few too many alcoholic drinks - but of all possible moments, right then was without a doubt the worst possible moment. Applejack started singing. And when Applejack was drunk and started singing, it was loud . Not as loud as the music from the party perhaps, but still a good contender for second place. Oh and false. That actually hurt her ears more than the sheer volume of it.
“Show me the way to go home...”
After the initial shock of her friend’s singing talents had passed, Fluttershy quickly tried to shush her drunken friend, to no avail.
“Ah *hic* had a little drink about an hour ago...”
Pretty soon, the faces of three curious little fillies - Sweetie Belle was sleeping over because Rarity was at the party, and it had pretty soon turned into a full Cutie Mark Crusaders Sleepover - appeared at one of the windows. A few moments later, lights turned on in the house, and Big Macintosh came out the front door, walking towards the pegasus. Parties like this weren’t his thing, plus Granny Smith and especially the fillies would need someone looking after them anyway, so he had stayed home. He hadn’t expected his sister to come back this ‘early’, nor for Fluttershy to be with her, and to say that he looked mildly annoyed by his sudden awakening would be an understatement.
“Apples. Apples. Apples. Apples. Apples. Apples. Hehe, *hic* apples. Get it?” It was that Applejack found her own joke so funny, because Fluttershy and Big Macintosh didn’t get it at all. “Ohohohoho, Apples!” Applejack continued, breaking into a fit of laughter.
“Uhm, I think she had a few too many drinks tonight,” Fluttershy said at last. “I was wondering, um, if we could go inside to sleep? I mean, if that’s okay with you.”
“Eeenope,” the red stallion answered simply, before explaining himself a bit more. “She’s drunk,” he said, pointing at his sister. “When she wakes up tomorrow, she sometimes gets mighty aggressive.”
“A-aggressive?”
“Yup. Kickin’ things and stuff. Or falling down stairs, she does that too. So, she sleeps in the barn.”
“But, but it’s so cold...” Fluttershy trailed off, though Big Macintosh cut her off.
“She won’t be cold. I’ll make a circle of a few bales of straw, to keep the wind out, and give her some blankets,” Big Mac answered. “Are you going back to the party now?”
No. Fluttershy definitely wasn’t going back to the party. “Uhm, actually, I was just going to sleep as well,” she answered, then eyed her orange friend and added, “Are you sure she will be alright?”
“She’ll be fine. I’ve seen her worse than this. You could just sleep in my sister’s bed if you want to.”
“Oh, that’s very nice of you, but, uhm, I couldn’t do that.” Fluttershy meekly eyed her friend again. She was still worried about the earth pony. Not in the sense of being worried – Big Mac was her brother after all – but still, she didn’t like the idea of Applejack having to sleep all alone in the barn. As a matter of fact, she also didn’t want to walk all the way to her own cottage either, and she wondered why she had just turned down the red pony’s offer, when she got an idea. “Could I... could I maybe keep her company tonight? It would be nice - for Applejack I mean - if she didn’t have to sleep all alone.”
“Don’t see why not. I’ll keep the fillies out of the barn tomorrow morning, so you two can catch up on sleep. If you can get AJ into the barn - somehow,” he paused, looking at his sister who was currently making funny faces, before continuing, “I’ll get some blankets from inside.”
It didn’t take Big Mac long to get the blankets - driven by his own desire to get back to sleep, probably - and in a matter of minutes, a simple shelter that was referred to as the ‘hay fort’ had been built. Essentially it was just a pile of blankets on the floor, surrounded by blocks of hay, two high all around except for one place, where it was only one high, so that a pony could get in and out somewhat easily. Which was good because while Fluttershy would be able to simply fly over it, Applejack, even more so in her current state, could not.
The red stallion reminded her one last time to give his sister a little room when she would wake up the next morning, and went back to the house, leaving Fluttershy and Applejack lying inside their little straw-fort, on top of, underneath, and wrapped in the numerous blankets Big Mac had brought. The bales of straw around them kept out the wind which blew in through various cracks in the wood of the barn and which was bitterly cold, while the blankets kept them them warm and cozy.
They lay there for a while, sometimes one of them dozing off, then awake for a while again. This could be attributed to Applejack, who started ‘singing’ from time to time again, though it wasn’t as loud as before anymore. At one point, the pegasus was starting to doze off again, when suddenly, the farm pony blurted out vastly different words, which had Fluttershy’s eyes open wide.
“Ah like a certain pegasus, she’s quiet and subdued,
Silence reigned after Applejack had spoken, only to be broken moments later by her snoring. Under any other circumstance, Fluttershy would have been glad to follow the farmer’s example and fall asleep as well. But Applejack’s words had a weight in them. Even in her drunken state, there was simply no way the earth pony would come up with this out of the blue. It sounded more like something Applejack would say to herself every night before going to sleep, like a lullaby, and if the way it rhymed was anything to go by, bothered the farmpony’s mind quite a lot, and had been doing so over the past while.
Did Applejack had a crush? But on who? Now what did she say exactly? I know she said it was a pegasus. And that it was a... she... Fluttershy didn’t have anything against same-sex relationships. In fact, she wouldn’t be lying if she admitted that back in Flight School, she had a crush on another mare. That had been Rainbow Dash, but when she finally mustered up the courage to tell her, Rainbow wasn’t interested. They remained good friends though, and it was Rainbow’s shoulder she cried on when she heard the news that her crush wasn’t mutual.
But she had always thought of Applejack as being a more traditional mare in the ways of love and marriage, so the fact that she had said her crush was a mare just struck her as a little odd. Maybe she had a crush on Rainbow Dash? There were lots of ponies nowadays who had a crush on the cyan pegasus, she knew.
Quiet... Scratch Rainbow Dash then. ...and subdued. Oh. It finally hit her that all the signs were describing a pony she only knew one of in all of Ponyville... Fluttershy herself. Of course, she would never assume such a thing without hearing it directly from the pony’s mouth.
The only thing she knew for sure was that Applejack had a crush on somepony , and although it could very likely be her, she could wait until tomorrow, when the alcohol had worn off and they both had a good night’s sleep, to ask the farmpony about it. Content, Fluttershy fell asleep as well. In her sleep, she wrapped a wing around Applejack...
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Everything was in order. Balloons, confetti, lots of sweet treats, decorations. All her friends had been invited too (which were quite a lot of friends), and although it was on very short notice, most of them would be able to make it tonight.
Only a few more hours now, and then Dashie would finally be home again. She couldn’t wait for that moment, and in the meantime busied herself with important things like making sure at least twice as much confetti as was possibly normal was ready for immediate use, or that every blue balloon was accompanied by a pink one. She really missed Dashie.
There was the occasional customer at Sugarcube Corner, but it being Friday afternoon meant that the shop was fairly quiet, so she had lots and lots of time to prepare for tonight’s big party. While she was always happy if Dashie came home earlier than she originally said, on the other hoof if she did that today, it would mean that she would come home to a party-decorated Sugarcube Corner, but with no guests yet. That would be weird.
Applejack was the first to arrive, being done with her chores for the day. Fluttershy followed not long after, having taken care of the animals all day. They started chatting about little things like the weather of the day, what shenanigans Winona had been up to this time, or whether Angel had eaten his carrot today. Soon, more ponies started to arrive, amongst them the town’s librarian, who took a place with Applejack and Fluttershy.
Rarity had a customer who just wouldn’t leave, and she had to clean up the shop a little bit, so she came in a little later. By that time, the party was in full swing, though Pinkie didn’t partake in it - yet. Dashie was later than she had told her. What if she’d broken a wing or something and was now lying in the hospital super bored with a broken wing and she would miss the party because of that? Oh no, Dash couldn’t miss a party! Nopony should have to miss a Pinkie Pie Party, ever! Though they could always move the party to the hospital if that really happened. Right?
Or, she could just wait a few more minutes. Maybe Dashie wanted to give her a surprise party too and she was flying a bit slower than she normally did because she was carrying a whole party with her! That was a much more logical explanation.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blue speck getting larger at a high rate. That could only mean one thing. “Alright everypony! I see Dashie!”
Though, on taking a closer look at the speck, she didn’t seem to have some sort of party attached to her. Which wasn’t really that much of a problem, because a Pinkie Pie Party alone was already about as much as any normal pony could take.
Rainbow Dash was finally flying home. Like the previous days, it had been a long and exhausting day for her, having to get up earlier than usual - something she absolutely hated. It didn’t help that there had been no opportunity for Dash to sneak off and take a quick nap either. Add to that Derpy taking no directions at all (as usual) and Cloud Kicker taking the wrong directions (also as usual), and Dash had been flying all over the place, all day long.
Her wings were sore from all the hard day’s work, and now that it was finally done, she wasn’t so much flying and more gliding, though still at a ridiculous high speed, towards Sugarcube Corner. She was finally done for this week, and was looking forward to relax the weekend with Pinkie. Maybe they could go to the lake, Pinkie playing in it while Dash just lay at the side, napping. Or they could make cupcakes again together. Well, it was more like Pinkie did about all the work, and Dash just watched (and ‘helped’ eating), but neither complained. As long as they were together, it was always fun for both of them. They should probably prank one of their friends too.
As she was nearing the pink pony’s hideout though, she thought she could hear music coming from it. A few moments later, Pinkie came out the front door, presumably to welcome her, and now she could hear the music clearly. It was almost like there was some big party going on. Without Dash.
“Dashie!” shouted Pinkie when Dash came within earshot. “You’re here! Now the party can get really started!” Happily, Pinkie bounced inside again, completely oblivious to Dash’s hope to simply relax, just the two of them. Although, the party did look pretty good, even for a Pinkie Pie Party.
She didn’t follow the pink pony though. It wasn’t that she didn’t like parties, it was just that... why was Pinkie throwing a party in the first place?
Noticing her friend just standing there and not coming inside and join the party, Pinkie walked back to Dash.
“Dashie?” she inquired.
Dash remained silent. She was still trying to come up with possible scenarios of what reason Pinkie could have used this time to throw a party out of nowhere, but couldn’t think of anything.
“Pinkie? Why is there a huge party going on?”
“You mean... you don’t like it?”
“I didn’t say that, I just... Why?”
“Oh Dashie, that easy! You see, I really missed you and I wanted to do something special and I know you like parties so I threw this party just for you! And all your friends are here too!”
“Pinkie...”
“What?”
“I’ve just been doing my job on the weather team today. Just like every other day. You’re acting like I’ve been gone for years and it’s a reunion...”
“So?”
“I love it when you do stuff like this.”
And then they went inside together and had one of the best parties ever.
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“Hey Twilight, whatcha doing?” Pinkie inquired.
Since a few weeks, the pink pony could be found a considerable higher amount of time in the library than she used to. She was always interested in - and sometimes, easily distracted by - just about everything, but Twilight had learned that underneath that bubbly surface was a mare that could be serious if she put herself to it. Which wasn’t often. And now, as Twilight was lazily reading a thick book on a rainy afternoon, she couldn’t tell if this was going to be another prank, or if Pinkie was legitimately interested in what she was reading. Probably not, given that it wasn’t about balloons, confetti, cannons, or anything else even remotely related to parties.
One thing was for sure though; because it was raining, the chances of this being a prank thought up by Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were almost nil. Pinkie still hung out a lot with her other friends. In fact, as the pink pony put it one day, because she and Twilight were now a thing, that didn’t mean she could hang out less with her other friends anymore. She hung out with them just as much as she did before, just hung out more with Twilight, that was all.
It had been a bit of a slow day though. The rain outside meant that, except for Fluttershy picking up a novel earlier that day - which was ironically called Before the rain given that it was just starting to drip when she left the library - there had been no visitors. Pinkie had busied herself by reading one of the newest books, Partying for Foals , until she slammed it close at last, discovering that there was nothing in it that she didn’t already knew.
And the rain meant that she couldn’t really go outside - well she could of course, except that she would get totally wet and muddy and then when she would come back all the books would be really wet and that was no fun at all - so she was getting bored pretty quickly. Going into Twilight’s kitchen to bake some cupcakes also wouldn’t really do much. She’d already done that this afternoon. Twice.
Twilight, seeing herself as the more sensible - and less random - of the two, deadpanned, “I’m reading a book.”
From the corner of her eye, she could make her pet owl make a face that spoke ‘Oh, really?’ She once looked it up in a book; apparently it was some sort of popular meme a while back. She wasn’t sure whether Pinkie had gotten the idea from a book or had come up with it by herself, because one does not simply ask Pinkie Pie where she gets her ideas from. Better yet, one does not even think about asking Pinkie where she gets her ideas from.
“No you’re not,” said Pinkie. “Perhaps you were reading a book before I asked you what you were doing but then you looked up from what you were doing to answer me so when you said what you were doing you weren’t actually doing what you were doing anymore and-”
Twilight quieted her babbling marefriend by pressing a hoof to her lips, and said, “Yes, that’s what I meant to say. Now, you wanted to ask me something?”
“Oh, yeah, wanna play a game?”
Twilight would rather continue on reading in her book. But Pinkie had been pretty ‘normal’ for most of the afternoon, and Pinkie was also a very social pony, but since it had been raining quite a lot, hadn’t had a chance to burn off some excess energy outside. Simply put, the pink pony just wanted to do something together now. And truth be told, studying could get a bit boring sometimes, although she never said that out aloud.
“Well, sure. Anything you want to play in particular?”
“You know, I’ve always wanted to play that thing with the black and white squares on a board with a lot of different pieces. What was it called again? Cheeky? Classy? No. Hmmm....”
“You mean chess?”
“If that’s what it’s called. That’s a funny name. Reminds me of cheese. Oh, we should totally do a cheese fondue some day!”
“Right. Chess it is then.”
For a pony who had never played chess before, Pinkie was surprisingly good at it. Admittedly, Twilight had never played it much before either, but had read quite some books on the subject, explaining things about tactics and opening moves.
But Pinkie’s style matched none of the patterns mentioned in any book, and moves that seemed utterly random at first had Twilight in a corner a couple of turns later. And just when Twilight thought she was getting the upper hoof, the pink pony would do an unexpected move and the tables were - figuratively - turned again.
What was supposed to be just a simple game between two friends on a rainy afternoon, grew quickly into a simple but very fanatic game between two friends on a rainy afternoon, with Twilight carefully thinking about each move she made, and Pinkie seemingly not thinking about it at all.
In the end, the random moves were too much for Twilight to handle. She could come up with this great strategy for the next turns, even taking into account Pinkie’s randomness, and even then the pink mare managed to surprise her. She was just about to congratulate Pinkie with her little victory, when Pinkie seemed to be able to read her thoughts and stopped her short.
“No don’t say it Twilight!” she shouted.
“Say what?” said Twilight, not quite understanding what could be a problem.
“What you’re about to say!”
“What’s wrong with saying the game was a good one, even if I lost it?”
“NOOOOOOOOO now I lost a game as well! Oh well, at least we’re even again.”
Author's Note
Well, that quickly got a little bit random there at the end.
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Hearts and Hooves Day. For many couples, a day to kick back and do something special.
But not for Rainbow Dash. To her, Hearts and Hooves Day was one of the most intensive days of the year, with all the ponies expecting nothing but perfect weather. Rainbows, sun but not too much sun or it would be too hot, little clouds drifting by in all sorts of requested shapes. The lot.
She had an extra long shift today, having gotten up early in the morning, and having to go on until about an hour before sunrise. A lot of couples would want a proper sunset, so the sky would be cloudless by then, and there wouldn’t be much to do for her. Whatever happened after that, was none of her concern, because she would be over at Sweet Apple Acres by then. She and AJ never really did anything special on a day like this, mostly because they both had to work, but also because any time they shared together was special enough already. Plus, working all day without the usual opportunity for a quick nap somewhere would be a great exercise in endurance for her wings, so it had its advantages.
She couldn’t wait until it was evening, when all the ponies with their last-minute weather requests would be gone, and she could unwind at the Acres.
***
Hearts and Hooves Day. For many couples, a day to kick back and do something special.
But not for Applejack. To her, Hearts and Hooves Day was one of the busiest days of the year. While she thought a lot of couples took the concept of doing something special a bit over the top, suddenly all of them wanting to eat heart-shaped apple fritters, or apple fries in a heart-shaped box. It wasn’t her idea of doing something special.
For her, doing something really special didn’t have to be tied to a specific day. Sometimes, out of nowhere, Rainbow would surprise her and they would go bowling. Or that one time Applejack had taken Rainbow to a rodeo. Just being together was more than enough for the two.
But, Hearts and Hooves Day also meant bits. Lots of bits.
She and the rest of the Apple family had risen extra early today - before sunrise even - to prepare all sorts of delicious snacks for the loving ponies. Heart shaped apple fritters and apple pies, or apple fries in a heart-shaped box. Today, everything had a little touch to it.
The morning had been mostly like any other normal morning, but during lunch, she had almost completely run out of some of the more popular treats. Big Macintosh brought a fresh supply not long after, the baking having continued back at the Acres, for the rush on snacks that was usually there between lunch and dinner, and would be a much bigger rush than usual today.
Still, she didn’t complain. It earned a lot of much needed bits, and she would be back at the Acres before dinner. She could do a couple of chores after that, maybe buck a couple of trees. There weren’t any apples on the trees in this time of the year, but she would need some sort of exercise to stretch her legs after standing with her cart on the Ponyville Town Square all day. Mostly just killing some time before Dash would be out of work though. She couldn’t wait to give the pegasus the little surprise she had in store.
***
Finally, Rainbow Dash was out of work. Her wings were sore from all the flying back and forth throughout the day, much sorer than she would like to admit. It had been exhausting. It didn’t help that many pegasus couples wanted to be free from somewhere in the afternoon. Add to that the many ponies that wanted a last-minute weather correction, and all the logistics that she somehow had to keep in check, it sufficed to say that she was more than a little irritated now.
Still, it was over now. And she was flying over to see AJ. That always brought a smile to her face.
Spotting AJ bucking a couple of trees, she came in for a landing and, no longer having to hide her exhaustion from the world, lay down near where AJ was working pretty much the instant her hooves touched the ground. The orange mare lay down next to her a few minutes later.
They simply lay there in silence, both taking a bit to get their breathing back to normal, taking in the - admittedly not that interesting, with all the bare trees and such - sights of the nature around them. Still, it was better than sitting in some boring fancy restaurant.
After a while, they started chatting a bit, asking the other how their day had been, even if they already knew the answers, but the simple silence returned once more when the sun was sinking behind the horizon. Dash was never really one to just sit and enjoy a sunset, but with AJ, it was suddenly magical. Even if it was still just a sunset.
Since the sun set quite early around this time of the year, it would still be some time before either of them would even think about sleep, despite how tired they already were. They still had some time to pass before that, and it was then that AJ spoke up.
“Maybe we should go inside now, Dash. It’s gettin’ cold out here,” she said. Despite the closeness of the pegasus’ body next to her and the wing draped over her back, she was getting a little cold. Dash more so, if the light shiver she felt was anything to go by.
“Yeah... yeah we should,” she answered, standing up and stretching.
“Y’all just go inside then. I have a little something I must get first.”
It was one of the things Dash loved about AJ; she was always so down-to-earth. Simple, straightforward, and not one to bring things with a lot of metaphors - or whatever it was that Rarity sometimes did. And when AJ said she would have to get something first, it meant just that.
A minute or so later, Dash was sitting at the table in the Apple family house, and a few moments later, AJ was back as well. She was carrying something on her back, wearing a big smile. She put the object on the table, and simply said, “For you, Dash. I love you.”
“Aw AJ, you know I love you too,” she said. She still meant it when she said it, she just really wasn’t in the mood for mushy stuff like kissing or a good wing massage tonight. Seriously, she didn’t know what AJ did when she did one of them wing massages, or where she learned it from, but wow, they were good. Not tonight though.
Looking at what was clearly a small barrel of cider in front of her, she added, “But you didn’t have to do this. I don’t even have something for you.” Despite the fact that they gave each other random small presents all through the year, Rainbow still felt a bit guilty for not having anything.
AJ wanted nothing of that though.
“Naw, it’s just a gift. Saved it from last year’s batch, and just wanted to give it to ya at the right moment. I thought now was the right moment.”
She had to admit that the orange mare certainly had a point there. A bit of alcohol - not too much to get her drunk - was certainly very tempting right now.
“Well, uh, thanks, I guess.” Not being one to leave a barrel of cider untouched, she quickly added, ”Say, you want a drink too?”
“Ah’d love to. I’ll get us some mugs.”
Fueled by a healthy amount of cider, they talked and laughed deep into the night - AJ being a little tipsy, while the pegasus was, well, more than a little tipsy, but far from drunk. They had a great time, a time they would remember when they would both wake up in Applejack’s bed the next morning.