This was it, this year was the year; the year he would finally own up and let his special somepony know how he felt. He could feel himself shiver as he strode down the path toward the hill near the schoolhouse, anxiety coursing through his veins and a million different thoughts swimming around in his head.
What if they said no?
What if they already had a special somepony?
What if they didn't like the card?
The last thought made snips stop dead in his tracks, a debilitating chill running up the length of his spine. His eyes immediately snapped to the card he held in his mouth. He dropped the offending object into his hoof and stared at it with abject horror as realized how stupid it was.
The card he'd had to run out and buy last minute on account of his rampant forgetfulness was ostensibly made for a mare. The outside of the card was adorned with a large pink heart, silhouetting the words "will you?" While the inside of the card was peppered with a flurry of smaller hearts of the same color, ending the phrase with "be my special somepony?"
Stupid, stupid, stupid! Snips muttered to himself, his heart hammering in his chest as realization washed over him. There was no way he could give this card to his special somepony, it was degrading, almost to the point of being insulting; if the pony he had his heart set on didn't want to be his special somepony before, this card would make sure that they would never want to see him again.
"What'cha lookin at snips?" A voice cut in from directly behind the lamenting colt, causing snips' heart to drop in his chest and the familiar icy chill to make itself known with an ardent shiver from the young colt.
“Snails!” the stout turquoise colt yelped, whirling around to face his friend wearing an impressive swath of purple on his face; a combination of the reddish hue of the blush tainting his cheeks and the natural color of his coat. Upon finally facing his friend however, he immediately tried to hide the card he’d been fretting over behind his back, but snails had already noticed the offending object, and his curiosity seemed to get the better of him.
“What’cha got there Snips?” Snails questioned, making his shorter friend stammer and stutter as he tried to come up with a plausible explanation. However as Snails waited for his friend to answer, he seemed to have some sort of epiphany, because in an instant his face went from a curious bewilderment to a mischievous slyness.
“That isn’t for your special somepony is it?” Snails chaffed his already grievance laden friend, causing the reply that Snips had finally slapped together through his mounting nervousness to die off in his throat. When Snails saw that his friend was still too shaken up to offer him an answer, Snails felt the pressing need to further rib his already uncomfortable friend further.
"Gonna surprise her with flowers and chocolates too?" He smirked, looking rather pleased with himself. He expected to see his friend fuming at the constant jibes to his pride, but as he looked over to find his friend looking exceptionally nervous and reticent, he realized his continued jeering didn't have the effect he intended.
"It’s for you!" Snips blurted out, shoving the card in his friend's face, his own face turned away in embarrassment.
Now it was snails' turn to adorn a look of bewilderment. This had been the last thing he was expecting. All the times that they'd hung out or spent time together Snips had never really expressed any interest in anyone, let alone another colt; and even if he had; he had hundreds of other colts to choose from. Snails had to wonder out of all the potential partners he could've had, why him?
"Me?" Snails practically gawked, his face portraying his disbelief quite clearly. Snips simply nodded, thrusting the card in his friend's face with more insistence than the first time. Snails now felt obligated to take the card from his friend's hoof, levitating it at eye level so he could examine his gift more clearly. On the front of the card he noticed the large pink heart encircling the words "will you." He also made note of the myriad of tinier hearts dotting the entire inside of the card when he opened it up, as well as the second part to the question that was posed on the front; "be my special somepony?"
"Snips..." the stunned yellow colt started, rather taken aback as he read the contents of the card, shifting his eyes back and forth between the uncharacteristically shy and taciturn visage of his friend and then back to the card. "This is for me?"
"Yeah..." Snips muttered, the blush on his face refusing to leave.
Snails it seemed was too shocked to afford any further questions at the moment. He was still amazed that Snips would chose him over someone smarter or more good looking. Granted he wasn't stupid, he just had a hard time understanding social formalities and the normative-and Snips knew that. But of all the millions of things plaguing his mind at the moment, his thoughts kept going full circle back to one question.
"Why me?" Snails whispered before he could suck the words back into his maw, his face now just as red as his shorter friend's had been throughout the entire exchange.
"Because I L-" Snips began, catching his slip before he incriminated himself. After taking a breath to calm himself, he sighed, his face taking on a resigned look.
"Will you be my special somepony or not?" The patch of red had crept its way back onto his face, seeming to glow more ardently than it had been before.
Snails had been watching his friend eerily closely as he rephrased his question, almost as if he felt something amiss. He wrote the folly off as a simple slip of the tongue however, his face adopting a carefree, almost relieved countenance as he replied to the stubby colt's burning inquiry.
"Why not?" he smiled; the same smile that made Snips heart leap in his chest every time he saw it. "What are friends for?"
"Friends..." Snips repeated in his head, his smile disappearing instantly, his heart sinking and his entire body going numb. He felt like crying, but he had to keep a stiff upper lip. His father always told him colts didn’t cry, only fillies cried; and even when you felt like crying you had to put on a front and act strong for the ones you loved.
Right now Snips was putting up a hell of a front, smiling right along with his friend even though his insides felt like they were being torn up.
"C'mon" Snails nudged the shorter colt in the side playfully as trotting ahead. "I bet there's a try of cookies at sugar cube corner with our names on em'!"
It took all the strength Snips had(which admitably wasn't a lot) not to fall over from the friendly nudge. His legs were so shaky it felt like they would give out any second, and the tightness in his chest made running more of chore than usual for someone with such short legs. But he had to remain strong and act like nothing was amiss, if not for his own sake then for his friend's; because that's what friend's were for, they looked out for one another, and even when the going got rough and problems arose, they would always help each other through it-even if it wasn't beneficial to them.
"But I wanted to tell you I like you more than a friend..." Snips lamented with a wistful sigh, the thought making him choke on a sob as he hurried to catch up to the trotting yellow colt.