Love Pattern heard a knock at her door. She removed her thin-framed glasses and placed them on her desk with a dainty caution she always tried to exhibit with delicate things. The reports she was analyzing had consumed so much of her attention that it took this visitor's knocking to make her check the clock and see it was already past noon.
Her bright pink hooves clicked on the wooden floor of her home as she walked to the front door to answer it. Many considered her an exceptionally pretty unicorn mare, but most were also overly polite about her natural colors. Only her cool teal eyes insinuated any measure of calm.
Psychological analysts like her usually had muted colors and drab cutie marks. Her bright pink coat and electric blue mane and tail made her appear more as some sporty club-partying fanatic rather than the stay-at-home analyst that she was. After getting her heart and wavelength-shaped cutie mark back, her mane and tail had resumed their seductive curves – if ever a mane or tail could be described in such a way.
“Yes?” her voice rang out like a steady mountain stream as she opened her door. She immediately recognized the mare nervously standing outside. “Night Glider. You're early. I wasn't expecting you for at least a few more days.”
The dark-coated pegasus furrowed her brows. “Huh? I didn't schedule an appointment...did I?”
Love Pattern, or Pattern as she insisted others call her, smiled reassuringly and led the visitor inside her home. Since all houses in the town were the same, Night Glider hardly needed a guide. They were sitting in the living room in short order.
“Nopony schedules an appointment with me,” Pattern replied serenely on the sofa. She sat directly beside the other mare. “They inform me of the time I already knew they'd arrive. Except for you. I didn't expect you to overcome your internal dilemma for another three to four days.”
Night Glider, not usually one for intellectual sit-downs, voiced her every thought and reaction without filtering. “That's creepy. Have you been spying on me?”
“No, no,” Pattern hid a giggle behind a raised forehoof. She placed it back down on Night's own hoof. “But our town is small and my cutie mark's return has inspired me greatly. I can see worlds by your eyes, your stride, your breathing. My talent is helping other ponies by seeing what is going on deep inside of them. Your problem is precisely within my field of expertise.”
Night Glider gulped, her lips wobbled, and she failed her first few attempts to phrase what she wanted to say.
“Take your time,” the analyst smiled and then offered a cup of tea from the coffee table in front of them. Night was grateful but refused all the same.
“I've got a crush on Sugar Belle!” Night Glider finally shouted out her admission.
Right as Love Pattern opened her mouth to speak, there was a hurried knocking on the front door. The mare was honestly surprised this time and excused herself so she could answer it. Just as Pattern turned the corner and was out of eyesight of the professionally-decorated room, Night Glider went to work. Days of scouting were about to pay off. She had a window of opportunity approximately thirty-five seconds long.
“Don't fail me now,” she whispered quietly to her returned cutie mark. Dark hooves went to work while her wings gave her an initial burst towards the desk. She would have sighed in relief if she had the time, but she didn't.
The first success had been getting to Love Pattern while she had been invested in her research. That was when she had her confidential files out. Normally they were locked away, but here they were spread out on the desk for review. The seconds were ticking. Night Glider had to see the private file on Sugar Belle, who had made an appointment a few weeks ago.
The second success was more luck than preparation or skill. Sugar Belle's file was out, half hidden by some other pony's. Night Glider slid the offending documents away, got one glance at the report, and slid the papers back in the order she had found them. A silent burst from her talented wings sent her sliding back onto the sofa. A few seconds later, Love Pattern came back into the room with a confused expression.
“I'm very sorry about that, Night Glider,” Pattern apologized as she retook her seat beside the pegasus. “Must have been a prank. I hope Party Favor wasn't responsible. I'll show him a thing or two if he was.”
Night raised her brows in surprise. Clearly she underestimated the love analyst. There must have been some backstory between her and Party Favor, not that she wanted to find out.
“I understand your feelings you have for Sugar Belle,” Pattern proceeded and adjusted the glasses resting on her muzzle. “I noticed it four days after we regained our cutie marks. No doubt Sugar Belle's boisterous return of energy fueled your old interest.”
Night Glider gulped. She might have gotten what she originally wanted, but chances were that Love Pattern was going to crack her wide open. The mare was too smart. She would be able to read what Night Glider had done simply by body language. That was why the pony at the door had run after knocking. Pattern would have figured the whole thing out if she saw the knocker.
“Yeah, it's kind of bad,” Night rushed to finish her scheme. Her acting had succeeded so far, but she didn't want to tempt fate. “Actually, I kind of want to talk about this tomorrow or something. I just remembered Sugar's serving her special cinnamon rolls today. There's a small chance she might get frosting on her nose while making them and I would totally want to be there if there's even the slightest possibility I could lick it off of her. Maybe I can even snap a few more pictures of her flour-coated flank for my collection!”
Pattern tried to respond to the sudden stream of one-sided dialogue, but Night Glider kept her pace up. She sprung from the sofa, shook Pattern's forehoof at lightning speed, and bid her goodbye. Her pegasus wings had her flying out of the front door even as the analyst mustered her words.
“Wait!” Pattern called uselessly after the fleeing mare. “It's not healthy...”
Night Glider laughed, flew through several alleyways, stopped in front of a younger mare, and flipped two bits into her hoof. The female pony smiled big, gave her thanks, and then ran off. Hiring a pony to knock and run was so easy. Some ponies would even do it for free. Night Glider was just happy she had pulled it off. Speed was the only way not to get found out by Love Pattern and it looked like Night Glider had managed to prevent discovery of what she had done.
She was normally a pony of the moonlight, sleeping the day away and flying in the dead of the night. She had to make exceptions such as for today and for her friends, though. Love Pattern slept at night the same way most ponies did. Sugar Belle did stay up for her sometimes, but that was special. Yes, Sugar Belle was something special...
That berry-colored mare was more enticing than any of her baked goods. And that was saying a lot. Her treats were starting to win contests outside of their town. While Equestria might one day know Sugar's name, Night Glider was putting a plan in motion that would result in only one pony ever knowing her most intimate details.
That pony would, of course, be Night Glider.
Mrs. Sugar Glider. The pegasus laughed heartily at the thought. It was absurd, but it also made her heart burn in the best possible way. Starlight Glimmer may have failed to take the town, but Night Glider fully intended to take one of its mares for her own.
“Making those cinnamon rolls?” Night asked upon arriving at the bakery's outdoor dining area.
Sugar Belle put a plate down in front of a customer and then smiled at her friend. “Let me guess. The cinnamon on my apron tipped you off? Yes, Nighty. There'll be extras you can have for breakfast.”
The sun was setting, but Sugar knew how Night Glider's schedule worked. The dark pegasus put a forehoof around her friend's shoulder and followed her into the bakery. “We'll need to have some together after you get off work. I've had an incredible day already.”
Though no opportunity for licking icing off of Sugar ever occurred, the time they spent together in the back room of the bakery was as enjoyable as it always was. When Night Glider returned to her house later that night, she opened up her closet to reveal her collection of secret Sugar Belle photos. They were taped to the wall, covering it entirely. Most were innocent, some were not. The day would soon come when Night Glider would make her move.
After admiring her mare's image for a while longer, Night Glider threw herself onto her star-patterned bedsheets and closed her eyes. Her cutie mark was for more than high-altitude gliding. She had abilities on par with Princess Celestia's Royal Scouts. She could see something once, close her eyes, and see it again. Her mind was a map of pictures taken through her eyes. She hardly needed her closet of photos to recall her special crush. No, she merely did that for fun.
On the inside of her eyelids, she saw Love Pattern's confidential file on Sugar Belle. All the gritty details were there and an evil smirk wormed its way onto Night Glider's face as she dissected it.
Sugar Belle was not as aloof towards her as she acted on the outside.
The baker would be hers.
