Pinkie sat squealing on the ground outside Rarity's boutique. She'd scraped her hoof in her rush and ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh it hurt! It was one of those stupid things where it shouldn't hurt so much, but it totally did. It was just above the hard part of the hoof, not even deep enough to bleed. Why did it have to be so sensitive!? She should have gone slower, stayed at Rarity's pace, but she couldn't help it – she was just so excited to see her new gown for tomorrow's ceremony, so excited to visit her again.
Rarity caught up a moment later, just as Pinkie began to quiet down and accept what had happened. She shared a look of dismay at Pinkie's scraped hoof. “Oh you poor darling!” she said. “Don't fret. I know just how to fix this.”
After a quick flit in and out of the boutique, Rarity came back to Pinkie. “First, step one.” She lifted Pinkie's injured hoof up, and kissed it ever so gently.
Things were feeling better already! Her hoof felt good now, all better kind of good. This was amazing!
“... And step two,” Rarity said, using her magic to lift a little bandage and stick it in place. She smiled a bit bashfully. “That was my mom's cure-all, anyway. I hope I have her magic touch.”
By then, though, things spun wildly in Pinkie's head. Ohmygosh! She kissed me. She actually kissed me! It wasn't a normal kiss, it wasn't a romantic kiss, maybe it didn't even count. Oh, but I want it to count! Pinkie sat, half-dazed, as the thoughts whirled in her head, stirring a deep pot of emotions that she'd long been keeping under wraps. Hold it in, Pinkie, hold it in! If that gets out and she doesn't like you that way, our friendship is going to be awkward forever. FOREVER! Her lip twitched a little, but she managed to keep it under control.
“Umm...” Rarity looked down at her with even greater concern. Not at her hoof anymore, but at her. “Pinkie, are you alright?”
Pinkie snatched up her tail and hid behind it before her blush could get a chance to show through. “I'mPerfectWhyDoYouAsk?” she squeaked out through a muzzle covered in pink fluff.
“It's just ... you seem...” Rarity paused for a moment, then shrugged. “Ah well, shall we go inside and see what I've managed to put together for you?”
Pinkie nodded, not trusting herself to speak, then hurriedly followed Rarity inside.
The dress there was very pretty and very pink, but Pinkie couldn't keep her eyes on it for more than a couple seconds at a time. She kept looking back at Rarity, at those blue eyes so like her own, at the lovely bouncing purple curls of her mane, at those subtly painted lips that had just—
“Pinkie, are you quite alright?” Rarity came closer ... too close! Her presence was overwhelming. “You've barely so much as glanced at your gown. Is your hoof still giving you trouble? I'm sure we could—”
Oh, don't do it! Don't do it don't do it don't do it! Pinkie's legs trembled in place, her body shivering all over. Hold it in, Pinkie! Hold ... it ... in... She looked up at Rarity again, and then all was lost. Pinkie's control snapped. She leapt forward over those diabolical inches separating the two of them.
Their lips met. Rarity's eyes shot open wide at the contact, and she stared into Pinkie's eyes with what must have been abject horror. Pinkie was almost as surprised by the kiss as Rarity. But it wasn't the kiss that horrified Pinkie – it was the reaction to it.
Oh no! How could you do that to yourself, Pinkie? She gulped and darted backward until her back pushed up against a workbench. Look! She hated it! Things are going to be super, suuuper awkward now. She's never going to look at you the same way again! It doesn't matter how much either of us pretends, this is always going to be between us and we'll never forget it. She's going to feel disgusted and guilty for not liking me that way, and I'm going to feel ashamed of myself every time I see her beautiful face. Stupid, stupid Pinkie! Ugh, how could I do that?
After a bout of being frozen in place save for her rapidly blinking eyes – she was so cute when her eyelashes fluttered like that – Rarity finally came to. Or, well, at least she stopped blinking and sat down. She still stared at Pinkie with a blank look in her eyes.
You see that, Pinkie thought to herself, that's what it looks like when one of the best friendships you've ever had crashes and burns. She kept mentally kicking herself over and over. I hope you enjoyed that kiss, stupid, because it's the last one you'll ever get! But she hadn't enjoyed it. The shock in Rarity's eyes had ruined it. It was nothing like she'd dreamed of.
Rarity began walking toward her across the spotless boutique floor.
Oh here it goes. She's about to tell me that she hates me forever, and I deserve it! How could I have done that? Pinkie's mane slowly deflated along with all her dreams of the future, until it hung limp and straight. Her life was over now. Maybe she could go back to the rock farm and beg for her job back...
Rarity stopped in front of her. “Pinkie Pie... I, I never thought you... Oh Pinkie...”
Pinkie couldn't look up, couldn't bear to see the face of the friendship she'd just ruined. It was all over now.
A smooth hoof touched the bottom of Pinkie's chin and tilted her head up. There was a strange look in Rarity's eyes, one that didn't fit what Pinkie expected from her. It was a softness, an understanding, and what was it? Something strange...
Without warning, Rarity closed the last little distance between them and kissed Pinkie.
This time, Pinkie was the shocked one. Her mane exploded into a huge poof, and her mind spun a mile a minute, going nowhere. But then it clicked – that weird thing she saw in Rarity's eyes was ... desire!
This kiss didn't break up immediately as the other had. Pinkie melted into it. The trembling stiffness in her body drifted away, carried on that breeze of shared love. Rarity's lips were so soft, so warm, so perfect for her. They wrapped their hooves around each other, pulling each other in close, and still neither of them so much as came up for breath. They were too absorbed with each other to so much as think about anything else.
Princess Twilight Sparkle trotted through the front door of Carousel Boutique, cheerily holding her favorite gown in front of her with her magic. As the familiar door bell chimed, she swished it to the side and greeted her friend, “Hi, Rarity. I was just wondering if I could get this altered for wing-holes before the delegation...” Her eyes bulged at the scene in front of her.
Twilight's interruption was finally enough to break Pinkie and Rarity apart. Each of them stared at the alicorn in the doorway, all three of them completely speechless. What could they possibly say? Quickly, Pinkie jumped away from Rarity and did – a rather poor – impression of acting naturally, as if nothing at all unusual had been happening.
After staring dumbfounded for a moment or two, Twilight finally took action. In a purple flash, she teleported away, leaving her favorite dress to gently waft down to the floor.
“Ehh... Pinkie?” Rarity spoke in a whisper, even though it was now only the two of them.
“Yeah, Rarity?”
“Do you suppose we should—”
Twilight teleported back in, grabbed her dress, and teleported out again.
Rarity gulped. “Do you suppose we should go and explain things to Twilight?”
“Uh-huh.” Pinkie nodded. “But...”
“But?”
“But that sounds super-awkward, especially since...”
Rarity grinned, her cheeks matching Pinkie's color in a deep flush. “Especially since we ourselves might not yet be sure exactly what just happened?”
Pinkie nodded. This was unexplored territory, a kind of friendship she'd never explored before. Here there be dragons. “What did happen?”
“I'm not entirely sure,” Rarity mused. “Perhaps we need to investigate this a little bit further?”
Pinkie moved close to her again. 'Investigating' it more sounded good. Really good. Like, the best thing ever kind of good. Like making all her life up to that point worthwhile kind of good. She reached up and stroked a hoof across Rarity's cheek, moving in for another—
Rarity stopped her.
Oh no! Did Rarity change her mind? Is she embarrassed to be seen with me?
“Pinkie,” Rarity said, “as enthusiastic as we might be about this, may I suggest we move to one of the dressing rooms for the moment? If only for the sake of avoiding a repetition of what just happened with Twilight...”
Pinkie nodded and rushed for the nearest dressing room, but she slowed when she reached the curtain in front of it, holding it half-open. What if Rarity really is ashamed to be seen with me? “Rarity?”
“Mm-hm?” Rarity hummed and smiled as she brushed past Pinkie into the little room.
“You're... You're not upset that Twilight saw us, are you?” Pinkie said to her back.
Rarity paused for a moment, looking over her haunches at Pinkie. Her eyebrows knitted in concern and confusion before melting back smooth again as she figured it out. “No, dear, of course not.” She turned around and nuzzled Pinkie's neck, burying her face in the pink fluff of Pinkie's mane. Her lips moved against Pinkie's coat as she spoke softly, “If we're going to be... If we're going to have this between us, I do not want it to be a secret. But I do think we should pick the right moment and the right way to tell our friends about it. The way Twilight found us is ... not exactly ideal.”
Pinkie gulped at the thought. “What's Twilight going to think? What's she going to do when she gets back home? Ohmygosh! What if she and Spike go to—?”
“Shh.” Rarity gently placed her hoof on Pinkie's lips. “First of all, we need to figure ourselves out.” She paused for a long moment there, but Pinkie didn't mind the feeling of Rarity's smooth, perfect hoof against her lips. Rarity glanced away and back before asking, “Pinkie... How long have you felt this way about me?”
Pinkie cringed. It felt so stupid now, but she didn't so much as think about not telling her. “I've... I've kind of had a little bit of a crush on you since ... EverSinceIMovedToPonyville.”
Rarity's jaw dropped. “All this time?”
Nodding, Pinkie felt her cheeks heat up super-uncomfortably. “And... you?”
“I'm afraid I never so much as considered it, not until you kissed me.”
Pinkie was crushed. It's true! She doesn't like me! She never thought of me that way at all!
“Pinkie!” Rarity's shout snapped her out of it. “Pinkie, I'd never thought of you that way before ... until our first kiss. That's why it took me so long to think about it before our second. But the more I thought about it, the more it grew on me. I like you, Pinkie Pie, and I want to see where this goes. Just because my feelings for you are new doesn't mean that—”
Pinkie pulled Rarity close. “Kiss me!”
Rarity did, and it was good. It was things will all work out later, kissing now kind of good.
Author's Note
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