A light green unicorn was slumped over a table, puffy mane partially obscuring the puzzle pieces all over the tabletop. Near the unicorn's head was a small silver call bell. The bell had sounded nonstop at the beginning of her work on the puzzle, as she had triumphantly rang it after every piece she connected. As the puzzle progressed, however, the pause between the rings grew longer and longer, until at last it remained silent, much to the unicorn's frustration.
Upon closer inspection, however, the pony turned out to not quite be a unicorn. Her mouth was slightly open as she slept, and the teeth that could be seen were pointed and dangerous-looking, quite unlike the herbivorous teeth of other ponies. Indeed, the tail that hung off the chair behind her was the long, powerful trunk of a dragon's tail, with a tuft of blue and white fur at the end.
The dragonpony shifted her head slightly, displacing some of the pieces, since quite a few were stuck to her cheek. She made a slight snuffling noise, and a small chuckle could be heard in response.
A brown Earth Pony with a black-and-blue streaked mane trotted up to the sleeping mare, a blanket over his back. Once he reached her, he grabbed the blanket and draped it over her shoulders, smoothing it so it covered as much of her as possible. He leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on her nose, then moved to walk away again. The dragonpony's eyes fluttered open, however, and held him in his place.
"Mornin', Bashi..." she said sleepily, reaching forward and lightly booping his nose with her hoof.
Basher laughed and booped her snout in return. "It's 11 o'clock at night, Lena!"
Lena glanced at the clock behind Basher and groaned. "Noooooo... I was hoping to wake up to eggs......" Her horn lit up with blue magic, and she pulled the blanket over her head with the aura. "Wake me up when it's time for breakfast..."
"You're going to sleep at the table?" Basher teased, lifting the blanket to peer at her face. Lena stuck out her tongue in reply.
"If I got up now, I'd take half the puzzle pieces with me." Lena gestured to a piece stuck to her muzzle. "I'm one with the pieces, now, Bashi. I'm beyond your help."
"Oh, really? Hmm... I think I know how to free you..." Basher leaned forward again slowly, Lena watching his movements with both curiosity and foreboding. Sure enough, quick as a wink, Basher stuck his tongue out and licked her cheek. The sudden lick made Lena jump, lifting her head off the table, sending pieces scattering.
"Awwwh, Bash, look what you've donnnnne, I'll have to redo all those!" Lena groaned, shoving him gently.
Basher laughed and hopped out of her reach. "Your own fault, Mint Pon!"
Lena pouted. "It would go quicker if you helped, Mr. Chocolate Mechanic..."
"I already told you, puzzles are different from machines. There's a difference between putting a small combination engine together, and putting together a picture. I don't get how you can sit there for hours, staring at the same bits for twenty minutes until you figure out where they go!"
"It's really not that different from what you do with your trinkets!" Lena tossed a puzzle piece at him, then immediately regretted it, yelping and hurrying to find it on the floor.
Basher picked the piece, patterned with a blue flower petal, off his hood with his hoof with surprising dexterity. "It's not a big deal, Lena." He trotted over to the puzzle, Lena still searching the floor, and put the piece by a bunch of other blue flower pieces. Much to his surprise, the spot he tried to fit it into worked, the knob neatly sliding into place. "...Huh."
Lena glanced up to see what he was doing, then bounded to her hooves. "You found it!!" The excitedly jabbed a hoof at the piece Basher had just put into place. "I've been trying to find the piece that went there for AGES!" Lena picked up the call bell in her magic and held it out to Basher. "That means you get to ring the piece bell!"
Basher groaned. "I've heard enough of that bell today to last me a lifetime, Lena."
"C'monnnn, don't pretend you don't want to~" Lena brought the bell closer to his face. When he continued to ignore it, however, she began gently nudging him with it. Eventually he caved and, with a laugh, rang the bell with a hoof. "See, didn't that feel good?" Lena asked, beaming.
"Yeah, sure, puzzle girl." Basher grinned back. He glanced down at the puzzle with newfound interest, however. "... Does this red flower go here?"
"Indeedily doo, ring the bell!!"
This time, Basher needed no further prompting. He rang the bell confidently, and sat down in Lena's seat, scanning the loose pieces.
Lena grinned smugly and sat on the same chair as him, nuzzling up against him as she used her magic to sift through the pieces.
Lena had been right. Once Basher joined her, the rest of the 2,500-piece puzzle was a breeze. The bell rang every five seconds, it seemed, and the flower garden in the picture came to life under Basher’s and Lena's hooves and magic. White daisies bloomed with Basher's tending, and bright sunflowers shone with the influence of Lena's magic. It didn't take long for the puzzle to become a competition, each pony racing to put as many pieces as possible down. Basher took to snatching pieces out of Lena's magic aura, and Lena would often swipe ones away from him right as he was about to place them.
In what seemed like no time at all, Lena and Basher were leaning back in their shared chair, admiring the fruits of their labor.
"Well done, partner!" Lena said with a warm, albeit tired, smile. A glance at the clock told her it was now 1:00 in the morning. They had been so caught up in the puzzle, they hadn't realized how much time had passed. She fought to stifle a yawn.
"Same to you!" Basher leaned forward and planted a kiss on Lena's lips mid-yawn, causing her half-closed eyes to fly open as she choked on her breath. Basher chuckled with a mischievous grin as Lena spluttered.
"Y-you sneak!" Lena stammered, flushing a shade of pink that matched one of the tulips in the picture.
"Sorry, sorry..." He was still smirking, however.
"No, you're not... though you will be!" Lena leaned forward assertively and pressed her lips to Basher's, catching him off guard with the intensity of her kiss.
After a moment, Lena leaned back, still blushing, but looking with pride at Basher's startled face.
"Oh, it's on now!" Basher grinned again, causing Lena's smile to falter. He lunged forward, sending the two of them toppling off of the chair they had been sharing and pinning Lena to the floor, her blanket fluttering to the ground.
He brought their mouths together again in a passionate kiss, ignoring Lena's squeaks of objection. Soon, however, she was kissing him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Basher put a hoof behind Lena's head, running it through her soft mane as he held her to him. Lena made a soft, happy sound and coiled her tail behind him, pulling him closer, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile.
After a moment locked together like this, the two pulled apart, breathing heavily, faces both now the same red as the rose in the center of the puzzle still on the table.
Lena was the first to start laughing, and Basher soon followed. He allowed his legs to give out and he collapsed on top of her, causing her to laugh even harder.
"Get off me!!" Lena said with a false wheeze. "You're crushing meeeeee!"
Basher remained on top of her for a moment more as she struggled to roll away, before finally releasing her. She flopped over next to him, and turned to face him with a radiant smile.
"You silly goose." She tossed the blanket over Basher's head with a giggle.
He pulled it off, grinning back at her, and placed a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose. "You're the silly one, Minty."
Lena giggled again and flicked her tail so the blanket was over both of them, then wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace. "We're both silly."
"I wouldn't want it any other way."
Author's Note
This was written as a gift for one of my friends on Pony Town Amino! I wanted to write something cute and fluffy as a thank you for everything he's done for me. ;w;
