Heart Beats

♫ Heart Beats - Chapter 8: ♫

Hakke slightly opened his eyes. He smiled. The bedsheets were soft and warm. A good night sleep. He looked around and quickly remembered the night before. No-one else was lying in the bed. He remembered Twilight laying next to him. Where was she? Was she mad at him because of last night? Some noise was coming from the room next to him. The door opened and Twilight stepped out.

"Goodmoooorning! Have you been sleeping well Hakke?" She said smiling. Her horn was glowing.

"Ehm, good-morning. Uh, yes I have slept great," he replied. His mane was all frazzled and messy.

"Haha, someone needs some proper mane care," Twilight said giggling. Hakke slided a hoof trough his mane and realized how messy it was. Twilight giggled again.

"I cooked some breakfast for you! Let's go downstairs and eat," she said. Hakke grabbed a brush and groomed his mane quickly. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't really matter. The two ponies went downstairs with the breakfast Twilight had made for them.

After they finished eating breakfast, Hakke decided to return home. They said farewell and gave each other a hug. Hakke was now trotting trough Ponyville.

On his way home, he passed by Vinyl's house. He stopped and looked at the entrance, considering to walk up to the door and knock. He still haven't talked to her since the time they were together right before the summer sun celebration.

He walked up to the door and lifted his hoof in order to knock. He held the hoof still

"Maybe I should... No, not now. I'll come by later," he said to himself and headed straight home.

He arrived at his front door and unlocked it. Felt like he haven't been home for days. He stepped inside and got himself a glass of apple juice and settled down in his favourite chair once again. The radio was still standing on the table. Reaching his hoof out for the radio, he turned it on. It started playing music. He recognized the song. It was one of Vinyl's. She played it at his birthday last year as a special birthday present. That was the best birthday in his entire life.

The song ended after a couple of minutes and the hosts started to talk again. It was still Seth and Neon Lights from yesterday on the Equestria Daily radio.

"And that was another single from DJ-PON3. Now, back to Neon Lights aka DJ-W1SH with some news in the world of musicians here in equestria!"

"Thank you, Seth. Now that we already are talking about PON3, I got some news concerning this lovely musician. She's currently touring around in Equestria with her new EP "Beats n' Strings" featuring Octavia from the Canterlot Orchestra."

Hakke let his ears flop down and frowned as he realized the current situation.

"Well, that explains why she isn't home," he said, followed up by a deep sigh. He sipped from the apple juice and laid back in the chair. Another song from Vinyl started playing in the radio. Didn't really improve his current mood.

After some time in the chair listening to Equestria Radio, he decided to continue working on the song he left incomplete some days ago. It was quite a mess in his studio. Notes lying everywhere. He picked them up and started to skim trough them. It was quite a mess and it was hard for him to organize them and put them in the right order. He thought of Vinyl again and about the gift she gave him. He shouldn't have let her down the other day. After all, she was his best friend. Hakke threw all the notes in the trash can and started writing new ones. He wanted to make up for his mistake by doing the same thing she did for him last year. Write her a song.

Hakke spend hours working in the studio. The production of the new song was going pretty well. He was done with the lyrics and already started experimenting with a melody. As he was sitting in his studio tapping on his keyboard, he heard a noise coming from outside the door. He walked out of the studio and opened the front door. All he saw was the mail mare flying away. He looked at his mailbox. It was open and a letter was sticking out of it. He grabbed the letter and looked at the front of it.

To: Hakke

From: Twilight Sparkle

Hakke brought the letter inside the house and laid it on the table in the living room. He went out in the kitchen to grab some more apple juice and settled down in the chair again with the letter. After he opened it he read it thoroughly.

My dear friend Hakke.

Since last time you, I and my friends were together went a little off the edge, I want to invite you to another slumber party at Rarity's house. All the others are gonna be there. I was hoping that you also could show up, so you can get to know them better. I hope that I'm not asking to soon. If you want to come and got the time, come at 8 pm.

Your friend, Twilight Sparkle.

Hakke smiled in happiness as he read the letter. He loved all the time he had spend with Twilight so far and could only say yes to such an opportunity. After all, he was curious to know more about Twilight's friends. He looked at the watch. The time was 4:54 pm by now. Still got some time to work on the song he was making for Vinyl whenever she got home. He went back into the studio and continued tapping on the keyboard.

The time was 6:30 pm. Twilight Sparkle was helping Rarity with the preparations for the slumber party later that day. Twilight was the first one to show up. Fluttershy should be there soon too. Twilight was preparing the food when Rarity walked up to her and started talking.

"Soooooo Twilight. Are you getting along with this handsome stallion you have been talking to lately?" She asked curiously. Twilight stammered nervously as she was about to answer Rarity.

"U-uhm... What do you mean Rarity?" She said. Rarity laughed.

"Hahaha, Twilight. Don't make me laugh, its obvious that you got something on Hakke," she said smiling to Twilight. She blushed a little and put an awkward smile on her face.

"Hehe, ehm. We're really just friends... Nothing more than that," Twilight said still blushing. She wasn't really sure about what Rarity meant in what she was saying.

"Hm, just friends?" Rarity said teasing.

"Y-yea, just friends..."

"Well, do you like him?"

"Uhm... Yes, yes of course I like him... As a friend. I-I don't think there's more than that..."

"You don't think so? Well, I think he likes you," Rarity said as she turned around to continue with her own decoration. Twilight's eyes widened up. She teleported in front of Rarity and held her back.

"How do you know that?" Twilight said curiously. Rarity simply walked around Twilight as she continued talking.

"Hm, I heard a little bee buzz about it the other day," she said teasing again.

"Tell me, who said that?"

"I can't. It's a secret!"

"Aww, please Rarity! Tell me!"

"I wont," she said smiling. Twilight grunted and continued the with food preparations. Rarity giggled and did the same.

Later that evening, Fluttershy came in trough the front door. She was holding a basket in her mouth filled with tools needed to play a few party games, like pin the tail on the pony. She put the basket on the table and slided a hoof over her forehead, whiping some sweat off.

"Oh girls, I'm so sorry! I wanted to come earlier but got caught up in helping a patient. I hope that I didn't miss anything," she said exhausted after been rushing to Rarity's.

"Oh, It's quite alright Fluttershy! You didn't miss a thing. The others will be here in about half an hour I think," Rarity said. She grabbed the basket with party stuff and walked away with it.

"Oh wonderful! Who else is going to be here?" Fluttershy asked smiling.

"Uhm, just the girls actually. Hakke might show up. I sent him an invitation too," Twilight said. Fluttershy smile widened.

"Oh, wonderful! He's such a nice stallion. I hope he's not going to feel uncomfortable," Fluttershy said as her smile suddenly turned into a frown.

"What do you mean Fluttershy?" Twilight asked worried.

"I mean... Like... There's no other stallions here... He's gonna be the only one with us 6 girls," Fluttershy said, rubbing her hoof in the floor. Twilight eyes widened a bit. She haven't really thought of that. He didn't seem to feel uncomfortable at the picnic.

"Haha! Fluttershy! Don't think about it that way. I'm sure we're all going to have lots of fun tonight!" She said uplifting. A small smile appeared on Fluttershy's face.

"O-okay Twilight. If you say it, I believe you," she said. Twilight smiled at Fluttershy and she automatically smiled back. They continued with the last of the preparations as the time was getting closer to 8.

Hakke was In Ponyville by now. He looked at the watch. The time was 7:52 pm. He had to hurry up if he was going to make it in time. Luckily he remembered the road to Rarity's house. As he was trotting away he stumbled into one of the ponies from yesterday's picnic. The one with cyan coat and a rainbow coloured mane. She flew over his head and stopped by to say hi.

"Oh, you are that guy from yesterday, aren't you?" She said hovering above him.

"Yes, It's me, Hakke! You must be Rainbow Dash, right?" He said. Rainbow Dash landed elegantly in front of him.

"Yea, that's me! Where are you going?" She asked.

"Ehm, to Rarity's. She's having a slumber party tonight."

"Oh, are you invited too? Wow, that's pretty cool. It's usually just us 6 girls... Might spice things up a bit with some change," she said, winking to Hakke. He chuckled.. Rainbow Dash was okay. She was cool and not too shy. Still, Twilight was the one he had in mind.

"Slumber parties are cool. We do them once in a while. Usually at Twilight's, because she's the one diggin' it the most," Rainbow said.

"Haha! I think it's pretty cool. Slumber parties. Just chillin' in some relaxing clothing with friends. Have only been at one though, with Twilight the other day."

"Hehe, yea. They are awesome indeed. It's gonna be great tonight!"

"Indeed."

They walked together the rest of the road to Rarity's house. They knocked on the door and Rarity opened, greeting the two ponies.

"Hakke! Rainbow! Lovely to see both of you!" She said to both of them. Twilight heard Rarity and ran to the door.

"Hakke! Hi!" She said. They walked inside and Hakke stepped up in front of Twilight.

"Hello again, Twilight. Long time no see, hehe," he said with a sarcastic tone. They gave each other a hug and continued inside the house. Rarity giggled quietly as the two ponies hugged. She looked around in the room. Everypony was here. Twilight, Hakke, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and of course herself. Everything was ready. Hakke was talking with all the other poinies. Rarity walked into the middle of all the other ponies. Her horn started to glow and the other ponies directed their attention at her.

"Okay everypony! You know the drill. Everyone has to put on their pyjamas!" She said as she brought up 6 pyjamas with her unicorn magic. Everyone got their pyjamas, except Hakke. Standing in between the other ponies with nothing but his shudder shades resting on his ears.

"Ohoho, I haven't forgot you Hakke!" Rarity said. Hakke looked confused at Rarity. Her horn started to glow again. She brought up a black pyjamas with white musical notes printed on it.

"Weeell, do you like it?" she asked.

"Eeeeeh..."

"Come on! Put it on!" Rarity said and threw the pyjamas at Hakke. He picked it up and looked closer at it. All the other ponies was almost already in their pyjamas. He quickly stuffed his hoofs down the fine black pyjamas and zipped it. Twilight walked up to Hakke in his new clothing.

"Aww, you look cute in your new pyjamas, haha!"

"Oh you say that? Try look at yourself for once!" Hakke replied. Both of them laughed.

The 7 ponies were having a great time during the night. They ate lots of sweets, played games, and generally had fun. Hakke started to realize that he might have spend too much time in his work, and too little on being with other ponies.

As the evening passed by, the 7 ponies was preparing to go to sleep. They packed out their sleeping bags and placed them in a circle next to each other. Hakke was of course next to Twilight, and Rarity on the other side. She liked to sneak up on them and spy, even though Twilight knew of it. They spend alot of time telling each other stories, mostly the scary ones. Some were better than others, and some wasn't really that good. Everypony said goodnight to each other after the ghost stories and laid down to finally get some sleep.

30 minutes after the lights were turned off, somepony suddenly started to talk again.

"Psst! Pinkie Pie! Are you sleeping?" Rainbow Dash whispered.

"No. Not yet. I don't really feel like sleeping."

"Me neither. What about you Fluttershy?"

"Uhm... No. I keep thinking about that scary ghost story Pinkie told," Fluttershy said.

"Are you serious? That story was lame! I could make one ten times better!"

"Hey! Stop nagging on my story like that! It was way better than ANYTHING you guys could make up!" Pinkie said.

"So the ghost story wasn't real? Oh my goodness, I'm so relieved," Fluttershy said as she sighed deeply and sunk into her sleeping bag. Another voice appeared out of the dark.

"Hmf! Why is it that every time I'm with you girls, I'm never able to get some sleep," Rarity said grumpy.

"Well, anyway. Now that I'm awake, what are we talking about?" Rarity asked as she turned around to talk to the others.

"Not much. Just don't feel like sleeping right now. Is Applejack awake?" Rainbow Dash said as she looked over at Applejack's bag. Rainbow stretched her hoof to reach Applejack and poked her in the side.

"Hey Applejack! Are you awake?" Rainbow said poking Applejack multiple times.

"Yes, now I am, since ya' can't stop pokin' me," she said grumpy. Rainbow Dash returned her hoof and chuckled.

"Hehe, sorry about that."

"Ya don't say..."

"What's going on over here? I thought everypony was asleep?" Twilight suddenly said.

"Twilight! You're awake too?" Rainbow said surprised.

"Yes, I am. And Hakke too."

"What? It doesn't look like he's awake."

"He is. I can clearly hear the music from his headphones," Twilight said pointing her hoof at Hakke. All the girls starred at Hakke. Twilight poked him in the side and he woke up and yelled.

"WHOA, IT WASN'T ME!" He yelled as he covered his face with his hooves. He peeled trough a small hole. The other ponies were still starring at Hakke.

"Eh, didn't do what?" Twilight said confused. Hakke let his guard down again and smiled awkwardly.

"Hehe, sorry. I was having some trouble sleeping, so I decided to put on my headphones," Hakke said rubbing his hoof in the back of his head. The other ponies started to laugh.

"Well, now that everyone is awake, shouldn't we play a game?" Pinkie Pie said and jumped inside of her sleeping bag.

"Yea, sure! Let's do that!" Twilight said. They all crawled out of their sleeping bags still wearing their pyjamas and started to play some of the leftover party games. The slumber party continued far into the night.

--- Continued In chapter 9 ---