Smitten

by Natedogg2006

Chapters

Flowers
Hedging Your Bets
First Date
Just Desserts
Interlude: Idle Gossip
Third date
Take Two
Being Too Much

Flowers

BoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoing

A familiar sound could be heard working it's way through the streets of Ponyville. Why the unnatural sound was made in the first place was a question the residents had long since stopped asking. The only thing they seemed to care about was the fact that it signaled the arrival of the brightening of their day.

Pinkie Pie happily hopped her way through town, her inexplicable bouncing turning ponies heads as she went.

"Morning Pinkie, good luck."

"Thanks Derpy, stay safe."

"Oh hey Pinkie. I know what that means."

Pinkie giggled to Carrotcake as she passed their cart.

"Oh Pinkie, who's the lucky pony."

"Iiiiit's aaaaaa seeeeecret," Pinkie managed to singsong even through her occupied mouth. She smiled at the attention. Even ponies too busy to greet her all seemed to manage to glance over, and flash her a sly smile. And she supposed it was fairly obvious why.

Pinkie smiled wider through her current haul as she continued on her way, her destination coming into view as she hopped around a corner.

BoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoing

It was now the only sound she heard as she finally approached the Golden Oaks library. Her hopping finally came to a stop as she came to the door. She plopped down on her flanks as she raised her hoof to knock. Though she didn't wait for very long, it was long enough for her to start bobbing her head from side to side, moving to a beat only she seemed to hear.

The door opened, revealing a young purple dragon. Spike smiled up to her, before his face went slightly quizzical. "Oh, heya Pinkie. What, uh, what's up?"

"Hey Spike," Pinkie chirped cheerfully, her voice seemingly unhampered by the small bouquet of flowers still gripped in her teeth. "Is Twilight busy?"

Spikes puzzlement seemed to be growing, but he did answer. "Umm, yeah. I think she's free right now." He noticed she seemed to have made herself comfortable on the front doorstep. "I'll go get her for you."

Spike left the door slightly open as he retreated. Pinkie didn't seem to much mind as she still sat, bobbing her head and smiling. Before long she heard the approach of hooves. Twilight Sparkle nudged the door open the rest of the way as she stepped in front of Pinkie.

"Good morning Pinkie, Spike said... You wanted to talk to me?" Her words seemed to become quizzical the same way Spikes had upon seeing her.

Pinkie didn't seem to pay this any mind as she nodded her head excitedly. "Absolutelytootily," she exclaimed, reaching up and finally removing the flowers from her mouth. She held them out to a very confused looking Twilight. "I came over to tell you that I think you're super fun, super smart, super cool, and super cute. Would you like to go out with me sometime?"

The confused look on Twilight's face had suddenly frozen in a position of absolute shock. Her mouth hung open just a little, moving slightly as if it expected words to be coming out. The offered flowers still sat in Pinkie's hooves as Twilight's hoof was also frozen, it seemed, midway to reaching out for them.

Pinkie's smile fell slightly as she leaned forward to inspect the now stuck pony before her. "Twilight, are you ok?" She set the flowers down, moving her hooves up to wave in front of Twilight's eyes. That didn't seem to work, so she tried clopping them together in front of her face. The sound seemed to do the trick as Twilight seemed to draw back with a start. "Oh good, thought I'd lost you there for a sec."

Twilight still seemed to be trying to come to her senses, so she struggled as she continued. "Uh... No, yeah. I mean, I'm ok, it's just that... Are you asking me, umm....,....."

"If I want to take you out on a date. Like a real romantic kind of date that might involve candles, and flowers, and maybe even kissing." Twilight hesitated briefly, but then nodded her head just slightly. "Yupadoodle. That is exactly what I'm asking." Pinkie's smile had been renewed to it's previous intensity as she saw the color in Twilight's cheeks darken a little more then slightly.

"Umm, I... I don't know what to say. I don't think I've ever really thought about you in that way." Twilight looked down and began rubbing her forelegs together nervously. "Or even mares in general. Or even stallions, I guess."

Pinkie's smile didn't seem to waver as she still sat, but lifted a forehoof up to the nervous ponies head, patting it a few times. "Silly Twilight, you don't have to be embarrassed. If you don't wanna, all you have to do is say so. I promise I won't be..."

"That's not it," Twilight cut in, her gaze finally rising to meet Pinkie's. "It's just that I don't know what to say at all." Twilight began pacing just inside the doorway to the library. The sight of it made Pinkie smile a little wider despite the situation. "Before I came to Ponyville I didn't even have time for friendship. Romance was a whole other world even beyond that that I don't think I ever took time to think about." She paused in her pacing to think very deeply for a moment, then turned back to the pony still sitting on her doorstep. "That's what I need."

"What's what you need Twilight?" Pinkie said sweetly as the pony before her came to stand in front of her again.

"It's probably not what you were hoping to hear, but I think I need a little time to think about it. Do you... Do you think you can give me that? I promise I won't make you wait too long for an answer."

Pinkie's smile shifted slightly as she tilted her head to the side to answer. "Of course Twilight. I wouldn't want you to do anything you weren't sure about." Seeing that Twilight had yet to accept the offered flowers, Pinkie leaned forward to retrieve them from the doorstep where they had ended up. "Just let me know what you decide, ok?"

"Ok Pinkie." For some reason the words felt hollow coming from her mouth.

Pinkie smiled from around the bouquet as she turned away.

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Twilight could not put her hoof on what, but the retreating form of her friend didn't seem right as she heard the rhythmic sound of her hooves rapidly fading away. In fact, it felt wrong. Wrong enough that before she realized it she found herself charging magic through her horn. "Pinkie, wait."

A flash of light filled Pinkie's vision the moment she heard the words exclaimed from Twilight from behind her. And in that moment she found the pony she'd come to see that day once again before her. There was a look of determination on her face, one that quickly faded when she realized how closely she had teleported to the pony who had just asked her out.

"I... Umm, I." She looked away briefly as the color of her cheeks once again darkened. But she managed to look back up to Pinkie's eyes as she continued. "Just so you know, I... I think I have some idea of which way I'm leaning on my decision already." Her blush intensified as she began to lean forward.

Their cheeks brushed together lightly as Twilight took the previously offered flowers in her own mouth and gently pulled them away from the other mare.

"I promise I'll talk to you soon, ok Pinkie?" Her words were heavily muffled by the flower stems in her mouth.

It was now Pinkie's cheeks turn to darken as her now unrestrained smile grew much larger. "Okiedokiloki. See you soon Twilight."

BoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoingBoing

Twilight now found herself smiling at the retreating form of her maybe possibly soon, slightly more then friend. But she supposed that was what she was going to have to think about. She began walking back to her library, trying to remember if she had a vase somewhere inside.

She did know one thing at this current moment; that she didn't know the first thing about this subject. But she had learned a few things in her time in Ponyville, and one of them was that difficult problems were more easily solved when you had help. Her magic flared as she stepped through the door, only to find Spike already waiting to close the door for her.

"Spike could you..." She relit her horn to levitate the flowers from her mouth this time. "Spike could you do me a favor?" Spike seemed like he had some questions for her, but decided they could wait and nodded his head instead. "Could you tell the girls, except Pinkie, that I need to talk to them all about something... important. As soon as is convenient if possible."

Spike stood up straight, putting his claw to his temple in an unpracticed salute. "You got it Twilight." He turned and reopened the door, scampering out and closing it again behind him.

Twilight's hooves turned to the interior of her tree home, once again wondering if she had any sufficient sized container to keep the flowers in.

Author's Note

My first time writing for Pinkie. And I think this is going to be difficult. By the time I publish this chapter I'm hoping to have a few more of this one done, so it will probably go through a few changes before then. Not sure what I can really say here that won't be spoilers for future chapters actually. This one is going to be a little different from other stuff I've written before, so let me know what you think, as usual. It's been a little while since I've written anything new, so feedback is more appreciated then ever.

Hedging Your Bets

"Alright Twi, you got us here. What was the big important thing y'all needed to ask us about?"

Twilight had managed to gather her friends to the most neutral place that was immediately available to them which was also at least reasonably private. Sugarcube Corner was suggested by more then one of them, however that idea had been flatly turned down by Twilight. Luckily Rarity had had some work to do, but not so much that she couldn't entertain. So it was with a sigh that Twilight sat down in one of the Carousel Boutiques many luxurious chaise lounges and looked around to her friends. Before she could begin however, Rainbow Dash decided to chime in.

"Wait a sec, aren't we still waiting for Pinkie Pie?" She had found a soft pile of discarded fabric and decided to make herself an impromptu nest while she had waited for the stragglers of the group to arrive.

"No actually. Pinkie will not be joining us today. Do to the fact that we are here to discuss something involving Pinkie," Twilight began to explain.

"Oh no," Rainbow groaned as she sat up in her makeshift bed. "Are we trying to throw her another surprise party? Because if so I am totally not going to be the one who goes to get her this time."

From nearby Rarity turned away from the ponyquin she was working off of to direct a look of concern to Twilight, even while she lit her horn to push pieces of fabric Rainbow was scattering around back into the pile.

"That can't be it, her birthday has only just past a short time ago. Is there something wrong with Pinkie that you need our help with?"

"It's, umm. Well, it's definitely not a party. And it's not anything wrong necessarily. It's, a little more personal then that, and not something I really have much experience with."

What happened next was not anything close to what Twilight had expected when she had called this meeting together. Very suddenly both Rarity and Applejack looked somewhat down cast, Applejack going so far as to let out a groan. And though Fluttershy had been mostly quiet up until now, even she seemed to draw away, hiding behind her hair from her position in the corner of the room. At the same time Rainbow Dash seemed suddenly much more interested in the conversation, eagerly rising from her place and stepping over to Twilight.

"Oh yeah, and just what sort of personal thing might be going on between you and Pinkie that would have you so concerned?" Rainbow Dash seemed to be just barely containing smug excitement at news she hadn't even heard yet.

Despite this taking Twilight aback somewhat, she did press on with her announcement. "Pinkie Pie... Kind of, asked me out on a date."

"Consarnit!"

"Oh bother!"

"Boom! Pay up chumps!"

Twilight watched stunned as Applejack grumpily removed her hat from her head and rummaged inside. At the same time Rarity lit her horn and floated over a set of saddle bags from the corner of the room.

"....., You, you all seriously took bets on if Pinkie would ask me out?"

Rainbow, in her triumph, decided to answer. "It's kinda a small town Twi. Until you got here not a lot of interesting things happened."

"Y'all can say that again," Applejack chimed in, removing a bit bag from her hat and beginning to go through that instead. "Dash once won forty bits offa' me on how many dead stumps she could pull outta' the ground in one day." With a smug smirk she now offered up a good sized hooffull of bits to Rainbow Dash along with an equal pile held in Rarity's magical aura. "Good thing she didn't realize until later she'd done a few hundred bits of labor in the process."

Rainbow Dash snatched Applejack's pile with a sneer. "I still won the bet," she spat out, tongue extending.

"And I won a new west orchard," Applejack retorted, placing her hat back on her head and straightening it a little too smugly.

Twilight had watched this exchange with some bit of interest, but was still curious about how it related to her situation. "....., But seriously. You three actually took bets on my previously non-existent love life."

"Not three," Rainbow declared as she cast a sly grin to the corner of the room.

Fluttershy now had a bright blush on her face as she nervously poked at Rarity's carpet with her hoof. "I didn't bring any bits with me, I didn't think I would need them. I promise I'll pay you back later." She finally squeaked out the words before even more pensively looking over to Twilight. "Sorry Twilight."

"It's... Ok, I guess." Twilight responded, thinking over what had been said so far. "I guess I really don't mind you girls making friendly wagers about me with each other from time to time. I suppose. And I guess I can even see why most of you wouldn't think Pinkie would ask me out. All of you know I really don't have any romantic experience to speak of after all. I just don't see how the idea of Pinkie asking me out would have ever even come up in order for there to be a bet in the first place."

"We all thought Pinkie would ask you out," Dash commented casually as she absentmindedly counted through her fair sized pile of bits.

Twilight was confused again, her mind racing to try to put together threads of logic from all the new information she was getting. "But then... Why?" She asked while motioning to Rainbow's pile of bits.

"Oh it's nothing darling," Rarity decided to answer as she put her saddlebags back in their place and again began walking around her latest creation. "Our dear Pinkie is just somewhat of the romantic type."

"I'd say she's more of a smitten kitten." Applejack cut in, once again readjusting her hat now that it was an unknown number of bits lighter. "She gets crushes like a carpenter gets splinters. I think she's been on at least one date with nearly every unhitched pony in Ponyville."

Twilight was once again shocked by this news. She looked around the room, seeing looks of confirmation among the surrounding group. "Really? She's been on that many dates?" Her voice trailed off somewhat as she spoke, apprehension settling in as she attempted to keep it masked.

Rainbow Dash, having stashed away her earnings, decided to chime in again. "Yeah. I mean, why do you think I was a little hesitant to hang out with Pinkie alone after we all became friends. I thought for a little while she was trying to find a reason to get back together with me."

"You dated her too?" Twilight asked, noticably shocked.

"I think I was one of her most recent relationships actually. We broke up probably less then a year ago. Just a little before you showed up. She hasn't been dating nearly as much as she use to, but most ponies just figure that's because she's running low on new ponies to date. That's why we all figured you'd be getting asked eventually. I was just the one who guessed it the closest," Rainbow said with a sly smile.

"So you two dated, but then broke up?" Twilight considered this for a moment before speaking again. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you two break up?"

"I don't know." Rainbow Dash absentmindedly said as she made her way back over to her previous napping spot and tried to settle back in. "We had some fun together, but thinking about it afterwards I kinda think it didn't work because we're really too much alike."

"If that ain't the understatement of the century."

Rainbow Dash gave Applejack an incredulous look that made Applejack scowl back. "I don't know what you're talking about" She said with as much sarcasm as possible before turning over where she lay so nopony could see her smirk.

"I agree with Applejack, the time the two of you were together was quite the trial on the patience of most ponies in town. Your recent pranking activities have been trying as well, but nothing like back then." Rarity said this with a huff, somehow expressing a lot of deep seeded frustration in the one gesture.

"Yeah. I don't know what it was when we were dating, but we just kept trying to go bigger and bigger. Made things a little too much of an effort to want to keep going. Kinda just had to stop after a while." The last part came out softer, almost wistful as she continued. "That's why I decided if I randomly did start dating again, I'm probably going for somepony from the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Balance things out a little ya' know."

Fluttershy suddenly looked over to Rainbow Dash from the place where she'd been sitting quietly. "But, I thought you said you weren't going to date anypony ever again?"

Twilight was suddenly concerned by this news. "Ever again? Did you and Pinkie have a major falling out over your relationship or something?"

Rainbow Dash rubbed her foreleg across the back of her head hesitantly as she stood back up. "It, it got a little rocky when we cut things off, but it probably just seemed worse at the time. And honestly Shy," she turned to her fellow pegasus, "you probably had to deal with more then your fair share of it. I ended up venting a little too much about it to you. Thanks for that by the way."

Fluttershy looked away, hiding her face with her mane. "It's ok Rainbow, I'm happy to help you with whatever you need."

"You're a pal, Shy." She sent her friend a smile.

"Ugh," Twilight suddenly exclaimed in frustration. "This is just what I was afraid of though. This is why I didn't give Pinkie an answer."

Rarity suddenly paused in what she was doing, which for some reason unknown to Twilight did not involve her current dress and instead involved her looking back and forth between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. She now looked over to Twilight and gave a slightly dramatic gasp. "You didn't give poor Pinkie an answer? Why ever did you do that deary?"

"Because I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure of like, most things about it." Twilight felt herself becoming frantic. She stood from her seat and began to pace as she tried briefly to calm herself, but the rest of her words just started flowing from her. "I've never had a special somepony before. I've never even thought about it. And now I have to think about it. And I also have to think about how it affects us as friends. I have to think about it in terms of us both being elements of harmony. And part of both of those is what happens if it doesn't work out and how badly it might not work out. And now I also have to think about it in terms of Pinkie having been on way more dates then me and exactly what that means." She finally managed to catch herself, pausing briefly to take a deep breath. Her voice dropped into something almost melancholic as she continued. "And... well, I still have to think of it in terms of myself, and what it means for me."

Every other pony in the room stopped to consider Twilight's rant for a few moments, glancing around to each other in the process. Applejack was the first to respond. "Lots of insecurities to unpack there, and I reckon' this is what y'all gathered us here for in the first place." Twilight nodded. "So let's just go through them one at a time sugarcube." She gave Twilight a warm smile, one she managed to give back.

"First of all, if I'm completely honest, what happened between me and Pinkie might have kinda, maybe... been slightly more my fault then hers. It's probably not something you really need to worry about happening with you," Rainbow said, looking a little embarrassed.

Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash, some confusion showing in her expression. "But if it ended badly for you, it could end badly for me as well. I don't want things to end up awkward between me and Pinkie."

"Twilight, you might be a neurotic mess who can go completely off the deep end because of some trivial stuff, no offense."

"None taken."

"But overall you're actually waaaaay more mellow then me."

"In deed. If you haven't noticed our dear Rainbow can be a bit of a hot head from time to time."

In an obvious mock show of anger, Rainbow once again stood from her makeshift napping place and stomped towards Rarity. "Who you calling a hot head," she growled.

Rarity rolled her eyes but otherwise ignored the display. "I didn't witness it personally, but I did hear their breakup did involve a rather public blow up. But honestly we've already said that Pinkie has dated most of the town. One bad breakup among probably over a hundred is something I think a pony like you would call, 'statistically insignificant', I believe."

Twilight considered that for a few moments. "Yeah, I guess that's true. I've never heard of Pinkie's dating experience before, but I do know she's friends with everypony in town. If she's still friends with all of them I guess it doesn't end badly most of the time."

"In deed darling. My personal experience was one of a rather surprisingly enjoyable night out of dinner and dancing. She even walked me to my door like a perfect gentlemare."

"Wait, you dated her too?" Twilight asked, interrupting the story.

"Yes darling, as we said she's dated nearly the whole town to some degree. Though I wouldn't really say we dated. It was one date, and she understood when I turned her down for a second."

Once again Twilight had to consider before asking. "Why didn't you go on another date with her?"

"Priorities obviously Twilight." Rarity said this while once again turning to the dress she was working on. "Pinkie and I have vastly different goals in life. She has some idea of how to treat a mare, but it couldn't have lasted forever and we both knew that. Better to end on a high note is it not?"

Twilight considered this for a time. Her tension seemed to be visibly reducing as she did. She finally relaxed enough to sit herself down on the floor and address the rest of the group collectively. "That actually makes me feel a lot better about this whole thing already. I was getting a lot more stressed about this for a second after finding out all these new details. I... I was originally leaning towards going out with her actually, but for reasons that I wasn't sure were good reasons for going out with somepony."

Attention was definitely back on her as her friends looks to her turned curious. Rarity's work stopped again as she was the first to address this. "Oh really now. So there was a chance you did want to go out with her. What might I ask made you want to take her up on her offer?"

Twilight felt herself blush, but she knew it was only due to the attention now being paid to her. She proceeded nonetheless. "Well I, I don't think I really actually wanted to. At least I don't think I did. I've honestly never thought of another pony in that way, much less about a mare. But at the time it was the only thing that came to mind that seemed to make sense. Flat out rejecting her would have been way too mean, and I couldn't do that to her. I thought I probably should say no, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't think of any way to turn her down gently." Twilight stopped for a moment as she noticed glances passing between the other mares in the room. "What?"

"Oh nothing darling, please continue."

Twilight looked between the assembled mares, but did continue. "When I told her I'd think about my answer I was leaning towards a yes, but only because I figured nothing would happen and we could just be friends like it never happened afterwards. Hearing what happened with Rainbow Dash made me think that was a really bad idea though, which made all my other reasons for why I should, and shouldn't, go out with her way more complicated." More glances started passing between her friends. "What?"

"Stop being paranoid Twilight. So which way are you leaning now and why?" Rainbow blurted this out quickly, for some reason drawing a glare from Rarity.

Even more confused at their behavior she thought it would be best just to try and see where they were taking this. "I'm... still leaning towards going on at least one date with her. I've never thought about a romantic relationship before, but I never discounted the possiblity. And... With this new information I was thinking that maybe Pinkie would be a good choice. She obviously has a lot more experience at this sort of thing then I do, so maybe she could help me gain some experience without, you know, too many complications." Hearing the words come from her mouth she suddenly cringed. "Is that a horrible reason to go out with somepony? It's almost like saying I want to go out with her so I can go out with a better pony later."

This question seemed to throw off whatever path the others were trying to lead her down as they seemed to become serious again at her hesitation. However, to Twilight's surprise Fluttershy now chimed in.

"I don't think it is. Pinkie is a really nice pony and really likes helping other ponies with anything. When she asked me out I didn't think it was a good idea because she was so much more experienced then I was. But she said we could just go out on a few dates and see if I did like going on dates with her."

Less surprised this time, Twilight now considered this new information much the same way she had with her other friends. "You too, guess that makes sense. Did you actually go out with her?"

"Well I, I probably wasn't going to at first. I don't think I could ever really think of Pinkie in that way. But she seemed like she would be ok if I just tried out dating with her... And well," she paused a bit longer as Twilight noticed color come to her cheeks. "I thought I...I might want to know what it's like to go on a date, just, you know, if it happened someday for real. Not that I really thought it would or that there was even anypony I thought I'd go out with or anything like that, or..."

As Fluttershy's explanation became more and more stuttering panic, Rarity stepped over to cut her off with a reassuring hoof on the shoulder. "I think what the poor dear is trying to say is that Pinkie's casual nature to relationships, and most other things, makes her an ideal pony to have your first date with if you do decide to go that route. Isn't that right Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy nodded timidly, but Twilight still wanted a little more information. "If that's the case, then how did it end between you two?"

Fluttershy had calmed for the most part so she just smiled as she continued. "Oh, that was actually fairly easy. When she asked if I wanted to go on a fourth date I just told her that I thought she had helped me enough. She told me she was glad she could help and that was it."

"Really? It was that easy?"

Fluttershy nodded. "Pinkie is a really good pony. As random as she is she can be very understanding."

Thinking again for a minute Twilight decided to turn to Applejack. "What about you?"

"Me what?"

"Do you have any tips about dating Pinkie that might help me make a decision?"

"I never dated Pinkie, sugarcube," Applejack replied casually.

"She never asked you out?" At this point in the conversation that was now a shocking thing to hear.

Applejack just rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Oh she did, but my barn door don't swing that way." Twilight felt her cheeks heat up as the realization of her assumption hit her. "Yeah, told her if she wanted a datable farmpony type she could always try Big Mac. Don't think she ever did though."

Twilight cringed just slightly at that. "Well that kinda leads to what I think is the last issue I was dealing with I guess."

Her friends, specifically Rarity, Rainbow and Applejack suddenly seemed oddly interested in what she was saying again.

"That part about not knowing what it meant for you. Is that what you mean darling?" Twilight nodded. "Exactly what is the problem there?"

Twilight blushed again. "I said I never discounted the idea I'd ever have romantic feelings for somepony. I don't think I ever have, but I just figured if I ever did it would be, you know, with a stallion."

"So now you're just wondering if you could actually have the hots for a mare huh?" Rainbow said, waggling her eyebrows and swaying her hips as she stepped towards Twilight. "We could test that one real easy right now Twilight."

Twilight's face went very red very quickly and she found herself shuffling across Rarity's carpet in the distinct direction of away from Rainbow Dash. A hoof on her shoulder from behind stopped her and she turned to see Rarity smiling to her reassuringly. "Yes, it is easy to test. But I can assure you it does not need to involve anything untoward like Rainbow might be thinking."

Twilight turned with a glare as she heard laughing, finding Applejack and Rainbow exchanging a hoofbump. Rarity turned Twilight back to face her, finding Fluttershy over with her as well.

"It's ok Twilight, Rainbow is just teasing a little. I'm sure she didn't mean to scare you," the yellow pegasus said while directing a scowl behind Twilight at the continued laughter.

"Fluttershy is right dear. Her forwardness is definitely not something to take as the only way to approach this situation. What I want you to do right now is to close your eyes." Twilight was hesitant, backing away a little at the suggestion. "Don't worry darling, we wouldn't try anything. I'm more interested in stallions lately and I think Fluttershy has another pony in mind." Both Twilight's and Fluttershy's gazes snapped to her. She continued without explanation. "We just need you to focus."

Twilight hesitated again, but did decide to close her eyes. From behind her she heard Rainbow speak up again. "Hey Rarity, I think this qualifies as..."

"It does not, now quiet you." Twilight then heard Rarity whisper something to Fluttershy. Thus was it the voice of the soft spoken pegasus that she heard next.

"Ok Twilight. First what I want you to do is relax. Try to quiet your mind and take a deep breath." Twilight did take a breath, but was finding it somewhat hard to quiet her mind. She heard Fluttershy make an uncertain noise at this. "Ok, let's try this. Try to remember the way you feel on a nice warm day in your library. Laying on a nice fluffy pillow. Maybe reading that one book you've been trying to find the time for for a while."

This actually did allow Twilight to relax some, Fluttershy's smooth voice assisting somewhat. It must have been noticable because she heard whispering again and Fluttershy changed tactics.

"Ok. Now I want you to think about Pinkie Pie. Just regular old Pinkie Pie the way you see her every day."

With little effort the image of the pink pony that had been sitting on her front step asking her out just earlier that day came to her mind. Eyes closed and smiling brightly as she bobbed back and forth, her flanks plopped down as she danced to the unknown music only she ever seemed to hear. She didn't notice the corners of her lips start to rise ever so slightly. She did notice more whispering from Rarity as well as the sound of fabric rustling.

"Ok. Now I want you to think about who Pinkie is. All the things that make her your friend." Again, that was easy enough for Twilight to do. Images flashed through her mind of various adventures they'd had together and all the things she did all around town for ponies. "Now I want you to think about those things in terms of if they make a pony attractive. And when you're done with that, I then want you to think of your image of Pinkie again."

This was a little harder. Twilight had put little thought into what she might want from a romantic partner. But thinking about it now she did feel like Pinkie could be attractive to her. The way she could make ponies smile was an amazing trait. And seeing her smile when she made others smile was amazing too. Did her smile always seem that... Cute?

And Pinkie was an eternal mystery to Twilight. She'd accepted long ago that figuring out what made Pinkie tick might be a lost cause. Maybe getting to know Pinkie in... different ways, might give her a chance to study the unsolvable conundrum that was the random party pony. And why was doing research sounding even more appealing then it normally did to her right now?

And then there was Pinkie's endless energy. And it was almost always positive energy. Twilight could imagine that if she ever wanted to just stay up all night talking to somepony, Pinkie would volunteer in a heart beat. And considering how many nights she stayed up, Twilight thought having somepony other then Owlowiscious to talk to might be nice.

And suddenly Twilight realized that her mental image of Pinkie had changed. Twilight couldn't quite figure out how or why she was now picturing the ponies curvy form, when did she get that curvy???, from behind. Or why the theoretical Pinkie was giving her such a big smile while looking back towards her from across her own body. And why was she fluttering her eyelashes like that?

Twilight was a little too focused on how off the rails her own thought process had gotten to notice her slightly more rapid breathing or her very warm face. What she did notice was Rarity now taking a turn talking to her.

"Ok deary. Now I want you to open your eyes and picture her wearing this."

Twilight, without thinking about it, did open her eyes. Apparently Rarity had been busy while her eyes were closed. The ponyquine she had been using before had been swapped for one wearing something that definitely wasn't her usual type of design. Twilight had seen lingerie before, but never actually on any kind of pony form. And before she could stop herself those two images now in her head did manage to superimpose themselves over one another.

Previously Twilight could only speculate on the purpose of clothes such as the light blue, sheer, frilly, and barely there garment now barely covering the hypothetical Pinkie Pie in her mind. It always seemed odd seeing that most ponies didn't wear clothes normally anyway. But thinking about it now she realized the way they were designed to draw the eye to... certain places, while also keeping those places a mystery. It was enough for her to suddenly feel her eyes bulge, her jaw go slack, and her face to suddenly feel it had been set on fire.

"..... Gay."

"Totally gay."

"Absolutely gay."

".....bi?"

"Just pay the lady Applejack."

When Twilight's mind finally managed to tear itself away from her thoughts her eyes refocused on her friends. Rainbow Dash and Applejack seemed to be in the middle of passing bits to both Rarity and Fluttershy. In the process Fluttershy was separating a smaller pile from her own winnings and passing them back to Rainbow Dash.

Twilight watched the exchange, bemused. "Really, you took bets on that too? Are there any other bets centered around me I should know about?"

"Not unless you'd like to invalidate them darling." Rarity said this with no shame as she lit her horn, stashing away her new winnings as well as hovering over a bag from next to her Twilight hadn't noticed. "Something special for the special day. Free of charge, so just go have a good time."

Twilight looked into the bag and realized Rarity had indeed been busy while her eyes were closed. All of her friends gave her warm smiles, some bordering on sly.

"Go get her sugarcube."

"Have loooooots of fun Twi."

"Good luck."

Twilight returned the smiles before turning to exit the shop.

"One second before you go Twilight dear." Twilight turned back to where Rarity had called her. She turned to suddenly find a hoofkerchief thrust into her face just below her muzzle. Only at that point did she noticed the accumulation of moisture that had recently ended up there as Rarity wiped it away.

Twilight stared incredulously. "Ok, so I'm probably gay. You already won that one." Twilight rolled her eyes at the assortment of giggling that followed. She turned again to leave.

Outside she stopped to take a breath and refocus. "Ok," she said to herself. "I know what I have to do, so now I just gotta go do it."

***
Elsewhere in Ponyville

Pinkie Pie sat low on the carpet of her room above Sugarcube Corners. The reason for this seemed to be so that she sat within the eye line of her stoic pet alligator.

"So what do you think Gummy? I didn't go too far did I?"

She sat there, head low but her tail in the air, swaying in anticipation of his answer. Her smile was not her usual over the top one. It seemed to plead for an answer from the largely unresponsive reptile. She held the gaze for some time. Seemingly randomly, Gummy snapped his previously open jaws shut.

Seeing this, Pinkie shot up with a bounce. "You're right Gummy," she exclaimed, her voice seeming more determined. "I did everything right and everything is going to work out." Her voice dropped slightly as she continued, her smile dropping just a little as well. "...This time."

That moment ended abruptly as the singsong voice of Mrs. Cake came calling from back down in the restaurant. "Pinkie dear. Your break is almost over if you wanted to finish up what you were doing up there."

Pinkie took a deep breath as her smile restored itself to it's usual magnitude. "Sure thing Mrs. Cake, I'll be down in a sec."

"Oh, and one of your friends is here to see you too."

"Really?" Pinkie exclaimed, excited at this news. She quickly threw her apron back on and proceeded to prance back down the stairs. Her prancing was cut short when she came face to face with a purple unicorn at the bottom of the stairs.

Twilight smiled to her sheepishly as Pinkie tried to keep her smile at it's usual level. "Oh hey Twilight," she said as naturally as possible. "What brings you here?"

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but no words seemed to come out. She proceeded to clear her throat and try again. A dry mouth mumbling of "umms" and "ehes" was all that she could manage.

Pinkie made herself smile even bigger. "Could I get you a hot chocolate to help you with your throat maybe," she said, tacking on a soft giggle as well.

Twilight cleared her throat once again. "No no, I can do this. I've been practicing this the whole way here." She looked like she was going to start again, but didn't. Instead she seemed to say more to herself, "actually I think it'll be better this way." She turned her head and began to nose her way through saddle bags around her haunches.

Pinkie watched with interest as Twilight finally turned back to her. She felt her smile threatening to drop when she saw a bouquet of flowers being held in Twilight's mouth. That threat subsided and her eyes grew wider when she realized they were actually different then the ones Pinkie had given her librarian friend earlier that day.

Twilight smiled brightly as she placed the flowers at Pinkie's hooves. "I'm free all day Saturday if you are."

Pinkie couldn't stop the smile from growing as her eyes shimmered with delight. "That sounds great."

Author's Note

I was hoping I could keep this chapter short. It's longer then I wanted it, but honestly still ended up shorter then I thought it actually would. Not a big fan of the, "one pony goes to all the others for advise" genre, so I tried to get through that part as quickly as I could while keeping it entertaining. Ran into my old nemesis, too many characters to include dialog for, so I'm sure editing for this is going to be a slog. Hopefully I'm not foreshadowing too hard in this, as I am going for something a little deeper down the line. As always, let me know what you think. I haven't really gotten into what I think is going to be the hard part. Really and truly writing for Pinkie, like from Pinkie's perspective. So stay tuned.

BTW, I recently learned what Pinkie does when she travels is called "pronking" and it left me with a surprisingly difficult question to answer right at the end. Would Pinkie prance or pronk down the stairs. After much deliberation I decided that Pinkie probably could pronk down stairs, but that it made more sense for her to prance down stairs and pronk on level ground. That is my decision.

First Date

Twilight turned on her hoof and took a few steps across the small living area of her library home. When she came to a wall she turned again and strode back across her own hoofsteps. Half way across the space coming back the other way she came to a stop and turned suddenly to the side.

"Spike, what time is it?"

"One minute, thirteen seconds since the last time you asked," he said dryly.

She did another pass in her pacing before turning to her dragon assistant once again. "Does my mane look ok?"

"Just as great as the last time you asked." He said this from the kitchen table, not looking up from the comic he was skimming through.

Another pass and another sudden turn. Spike cut her off this time. "Yes we did all the check lists. All eighteen of them plus the nine backup checklists to check the primary checklists." He finally closed his comic and stood from his spot. "Honestly Twilight, you are worrying way too much about this. It's Pinkie Pie. Just because you found out she has a crush on you doesn't mean you should be nervous about going out with her. You had lunch with her last week."

"I know Spike, but this is a little different." She paused as she resisted the urge to rub her hoof through her mane nervously. "I know I shouldn't be nervous. I know everything is probably ok. But... it's still my first date ever."

"Awwww, my little Twilight is finally growing up." Spike said this while approaching her and reaching up to tussle her mane.

Twilight managed to intercept his claw before he was able to reach her, brushing it aside while directing a glare at him. "Harhar, you're so funny."

"Yeah I know, but you're still better at magic." This confused Twilight somewhat until she noticed Spike gesturing downward with the claw she still held at bay. "Round three."

Looking down Twilight realized she had managed to wear a noticable rut into the floor, again. With a huff she lit her horn to cast a familiar restoration spell and watched as her hoofstep grooves seemed to fill themselves in. "Am I really freaking out that badly?"

"Not really. This is barely a level three, although it is presenting with aspects of a level five."

Twilight shot him another glare, but smiled as she did. "Thanks Spike, you always know how to keep me grounded when I'm freaking out."

"It's what I do. Although I am sorta hoping you getting a special somepony is going to ease that particular responsibility a little bit."

Twilight's glare was suddenly joined with a slight look of confusion as she tilted her head at her faithful assistant. "Spike, did you just make a joke suggesting that I need to get..."

Both suddenly turned as there was a knock at the door. Twilight's panic face was back as the topic of discussion was completely forgotten.

"Oh sweet Celestia, that's her. Oh no I'm not ready. Spike, did I..."

"Yes you did. You are ready and I'm sure she's going to just be happy to see you." Twilight had gone rigid with panic, thus making it easy for Spike to turn her where she stood and start scooting her towards the door. "Now go have fun."

Spike stopped and stood to the side once he'd pushed her all the way there. He waited a moment as Twilight just looked at the door in solid terror. He eventually just rolled his eyes and decided to open it for her.

Twilight seemed to relax very suddenly at what she saw waiting for her on the other side. Standing before her was Pinkie, but not like Twilight had seen her before. She seemed calmer then Twilight had ever seen her, possibly owing to the look she had decided to go for on this particular night.

She, like Twilight, had decided to dress up. The dress matched her colors fairly well, but seemed a little more sophisticated then something the party pony would usually wear. It did compliment well with the fact that she had opted to wear her mane thoroughly brushed out and even tied back in a way Twilight wouldn't have previously thought possible with her usually untamable locks. The few moments it took Twilight to take in the look culminated in one word.

"Wow."

A blush spread across Pinkie's face immediately. She raised a hoof to her face to hide it as well as a goofy smile she couldn't resist at the moment. "Wow yourself. You look great."

This caused Twilight's face to go even more red then she had already figured it was. Though she rarely felt the need to indulge her more feminine tendencies, this had been a special occasion. And Rarity had gone out of her way to make it as easy for the bookish unicorn as possible. The dress she had given her at the boutique just a few days before seemed to be made just for her despite it being ready for her at a moment's notice.

"Well, umm, Rarity usually knows what she's doing when it comes to making ponies look good." Twilight had been trying to distract herself by playing with some of the accenting frills around the neck of the dress, but with effort managed to look back at the now very noticably appealing pony before her. She then looked back to her own dress, then back to Pinkie. She then smiled brightly. "And I think I'm not the only one who felt that way."

Pinkie smiled as well as she too could tell Rarity had counted on both of them going to her and had managed to use the chance to make their outfits coordinate.

"Well I might know how to make things fun, but Rarity is clearly much better at doing pretty. Of course in your case, I think she had a lot to work with."

As she said this Twilight saw a kind of smile she didn't recognize cross the features of the fun loving pony. And between it and the compliment, she couldn't help but to feel another heavy blush come on and attempt to hide her face.

"... Twilight, are you going to react like that every time I flirt with you from now on?"

Not quite knowing how to answer the question, Twilight could only think to be honest. "It definitely seems like that might be the most likely outcome."

"... Well then, I'm going to have to spend the whole night doing nothing but flirting with you." Twilight still felt herself blushing, but managed to look up and see her date giving her a much more Pinkie like smile. "Because that might be the cutest reaction I've ever seen you make."

Though the comment didn't do anything to help with the blush, it did manage to make her laugh just a little. And in doing so Twilight suddenly realized that she was no longer feeling nearly as nervous as she had been. It was probably the same at ease feeling she normally felt around Pinkie, but with a little something more. Either way it made her smile a very genuine smile as she finally stepped forward to join her date outside.

"Well, I guess being flirted with by a mare that looks as pretty as you do isn't the worst thing in the world." She paused briefly as Pinkie smiled and held up a single rose Twilight hadn't noticed until this very moment. Thinking it over for a second Pinkie finally decided to reach up and weave it delicately into Twilight's styled mane. While doing so Twilight felt the need to ask a question. "Was that flirting, and did I do it right?"

Pinkie giggled slightly as she finished. "Yup, it was perfect. Just like you."

Twilight's face heated up again at the compliment being delivered by the pony who's face was so close to her own at that moment. "I think you're still much better at it though," she managed to sputter out through her embarrassment.

Pinkie giggled again, a soft one that seemed to match the unrecognized smile from earlier. However, Twilight noticed it seemed to trail off as Pinkie seemed to stop where she was for a brief second. She then smiled a much more Pinkie Pie smile again before stepping away to gesture to the path leading away from the library. "I'll have to do my best to keep you as flustered as I can for the night then. So, shall we milady?"

Twilight thought about it briefly, remembering that she had been wracked with crippling nerd nerves over being about to go on her first date not more then a few minutes before. So with a surprisingly easy smile she walked forward a few steps before turning and waiting for Pinkie to catch up so they could walk together.

"So, what did you have planned for tonight?" She asked as they both began walking along.

Pinkie was forgoing her usual pronking in favor of walking next to Twilight at a comfortable distance. With a nonchalant chirp to her voice she replied. "Oh, I was thinking it'd be fun if I let you decide what we did."

Twilight's eyes suddenly went wide and she stopped solidly where she was. "Oh my goodness. Was I suppose to be the one to plan the date? I only had enough time to research being taken on dates. I'm not sure what to do here. If you give me a few minutes I can go back and..."

Twilight's breathing had become rapid as her freakout was starting. It stopped suddenly however when a pink hoof suddenly made gentle contact with her snout, somehow eliciting a small squeak from it when it did. Twilight immediately went silent as her eyes went crossed to see it. Refocusing, she saw Pinkie's smiling face beyond it.

"You know Twilight, right now is probably a fairly good time to tell you that I've always thought your nerd freakouts are just about the cutest thing I've ever seen."

Twilight was sure that under different circumstances this would have made her blush hard enough for blood to shoot from her nose. However her freakout was still at a level where it took precedent in her reaction. "Sooooo, you have a plan?"

"Of course I do, silly Twilight. I asked you out didn't I."

Twilight visibly relaxed, then visibly blushed. "Sorry," she said sheepishly, "I'll try not to freak out too many times tonight."

Pinkie smiled and set the pace as they continued walking, light conversation passing between them as they went. The fact that they were actually on a date only came back to Twilight as they ventured into parts of ponyville that she didn't really know that well. Closer to the edge of town where the mayor was attempting to establish a cultural district sat a small building. It was elegantly adorned with a sign out front covered in clean calligraphic writing.

"The Canterlotian: Fine Dining in Traditional Canterlot Style." Twilight spoke the words aloud, almost surprised by them.

"Yup. It's kinda new, and I figured it's probably been a while since you had fancy food like you use to back in Canterlot."

Twilight considered this for a second before smiling. "I guess that makes sense. You're trying to win me over, so you're doing something you think I'd like." Twilight said this before looking over to see Pinkie giving her a goofy smile.

"Exactly how many books did you read to try to be ready for this date Twilight?"

Twilight smiled sheepishly as she looked away. "Well if you want to be technical, I didn't read any." Twilight could still feel the goofy smile on her which pushed her to finish the statement. "But that's only because I don't consider a book to be read until I've read it from cover to cover, and I only skimmed what I thought was important.... of the nineteen books I could find in the library about the subject."

Pinkie giggled which prompted Twilight to look back up to her. "So being the super genius expert on everything that you are, I guess you figured out that I'd bring you somewhere like this?"

This actually caused a sigh from Twilight. "Actually I didn't have any idea what to expect. All the books started to contradict each other after a while, so I just figured I'd have to trust you on the matter. It's just that knowing you I wouldn't have expected a place like this."

Pinkie just smiled at this, reaching up to boop Twilight's nose again. "You know, just because we're already friends doesn't mean I can't want to impress you too. I can't take a nice mare like you on a first date to, like, Sugarcube Corners or something like that." Pinkie's smile faltered just a little, but not enough that Twilight paid it any attention. "Unless you wanted to, or something like that. I can understand if this is a little much."

Twilight just gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm actually a little curious to try this place out now that I know it's here. Though I hope you weren't planning on paying for both of us, this place looks pricy."

"Of course I am, silly. I invited you out after all."

Twilight was going to protest, but by this time they had made it into the restaurant and to the front of the short line of other guests waiting to be seated. They were greeted by a pony they both knew from town who looked very out of his element, groomed and suited standing at his station.

"Good evening madams. How may I help you this evening." Twilight had to stifle a snort of laughter. The fake Canterlot accent he was using was way over the top.

Pinkie was clearly pretending not to notice as she responded. "Heya Caramel, reservations for two under Pinkamena."

Twilight once again forced back a laugh as the usually very un-Canterlot pony made several very exaggerated gestures to perform the simple task of opening and checking the ledger in front of him.

"Ah yes, Miss Pie. Your table is ready for you if you'll follow him." He proceeded to take two menus and some sort of note and pass them off to a waiter who had just approached. They made it to the table where they managed to order their drinks and wait for the waiter to leave, before giggles overtook both of them.

"Oh my goodness. He knows we know what he really sounds like right?" Twilight managed to get out between her laughter.

Pinkie giggle snorted her laughter short to respond. "I don't know, but either way it at least shows commitment to the bit I guess."

"Commitment if nothing else. I'm from Canterlot, and I almost feel like I should be offended by how posh he went with that. And I might have been, if that hadn't been so funny."

They looked at each other again and shared another laugh as Pinkie seemed to try to match the exaggerated motions he had been trying to perform to open her menu. Pinkie then paused to direct an expectant look to her date.

Realizing what Pinkie was expecting, Twilight managed to cut off her laughter. She threw her head back in a haughty manner before lighting her horn. Without the need to hold the menu in her hooves, her motions were even more exaggerated then either Pinkie's or Caramel's. When she noticed Pinkie's questioning look she said in the most posh voice she could muster, "A true Canterlot pony would never soil their hooves so needlessly."

The laughing overtook them again, and it seemed to come at the exact wrong time. They had a rough time of it as the waiter returned with their drinks and they had to hastily figure out their orders while trying to fight off they're laughter. After managing this and getting themselves back under control Twilight found herself smiling an easy smile while looking back up to her date. Pinkie was similarly smiling back to her.

"You know Pinkie," Twilight's words started before she even realized she was thinking them, but she decided to let them flow and see where they went. "I don't think you're the element of laughter because you like to make other ponies laugh."

Pinkie gave her a quizzical look before responding. "Really? Because I really really like making ponies laugh. If wanting to make ponies laugh doesn't make you the element of laughter then..." Catching herself running headlong into a Pinkie ramble, she managed to stop herself and instead simply asked. "What do you mean Twilight?"

Twilight was slightly amused by Pinkie's antics and so responded with an added giggle, "that. Just like that right there. You're not really doing anything funny and yet... I guess it just feels like it's so much easier to laugh when I'm around you."

Pinkie's smile became as big as Twilight had ever seen it, while simultaneously it almost seemed like she might start tearing up. "Twilight, that might be the nicest thing anypony has ever said to me." Twilight just smiled at Pinkie's antics again, at which Pinkie shook her head and her usual bright smile was back. It seemed like she wanted to say more, but the arrival of their food cut her off.

Brief pleasantries were exchanged with the pony bringing their food and two piping hot plates were placed between them. Twilight had to take a minute to take in a familiar smell. "Oh, this does remind me of Canterlot. It's been a while since I've had something like this."

Looking over, Pinkie seemed to be taking a minute to examine her plate from every angle. Noticing Twilight watching her she paused and smiled bashfully. "Umm, full disclosure, I have no idea what this is or how to eat it."

Twilight was taken aback for a second, then snickered lightly. "Oh right, Canterlot food. I forget how overly complicated it can be." Twilight lit her magic, taking a hold of a bag almost hidden on Pinkie's plate through heavy accenting and garnish and ripping it cleanly down the middle. In an instant a large puff of steam and an almost overpowering smell of perfectly seasoned vegetables escaped from it.

"Ooooh," Pinkie said, clearly delighted. "It's like a dinner surprise."

Twilight smiled at the explanation. "It's all cooked in this bag, so all the flavors mix together." She licked her lips as the scent hit her full force. "I forgot how much I like that particular dish too by the way."

Twilight could practically see sparkles in Pinkie's eyes do to the intensity of the smile that suddenly came to her. Without hesitation she took her fork from the table and speared what looked like a good sampling of the dish. "Then I guess you're going to have to tell me if it lives up to the hype."

To Pinkie's clear delight, Twilight felt her face become very warm yet again. She also couldn't help what felt like a very goofy smile come to her face as she considered briefly. Mostly hoping it would help her feel like less of a dork at the moment, she did decide to lean forward.

Savoring the flavors as they danced on her tongue did calm her some, enough that when she had finished with her bite she was able to respond with some confidence. "It's delicious, but you know you're skipping a few chapters on me right?"

Pinkie smiled and looked as though she was going to respond. However she seemed to suddenly think of something and consider it briefly before doing so. "Wait, did dating advice books really have chapters on when sharing food would be appropriate?"

Twilight's temporary confident moment faded as she now became very sheepish. "Umm... Rarity might have also suggested a few, questionable, romance books for reference as well."

Pinkie's smile became almost predatory. "Putting the final book total aaaaaaaaattttt...."

"..... Thirty three."

"You're adorable."

Pinkie giggled.

Twilight chuckled sheepishly.

They both stopped for a moment and found themselves just staring at each other.

Twilight was the first to realize she might be being awkward. "And you really know how to flatter a mare. You should try your food before it gets cold though."

Pinkie only now seemed to remember the dish below her even existed. She too now smiled sheepishly as Twilight took up her own fork. They both dug in, and did proceed to enjoy their meals with much playful conversation passing between them.

It wasn't until their meals were completed and the waiter had returned that Twilight had a brief return of her nervousness. Once again she was coming to a moment where her inexperience left her unsure how to proceed. Pinkie seemed to notice and spoke up even before the waiter even had to ask the question. "Could we see what you have on your dessert menu, pretty please." She batted her eyelashes at Twilight, obviously trying to fluster her more.

"Of course madam, I will be right back." He said this while refilling their drinks before taking up their plates and making his departure.

"Pinkie, if you are getting us a dessert then I am definitely going to help you pay."

"Eeenope," Pinkie replied in an almost disturbingly accurate impression of Big Macintosh.

"Pinkie no. This is going to get really expensive if we add on a dessert too." Despite attempting to put some firmness in her voice, Twilight's words were met with an unmovably sweet smile from the pony across from her. Knowing Pinkie as she already did, she knew that smile was not going to let her get a word in against it. Twilight just sighed. "Ok, fine." Pinkie's smile became less sweet and more smug at these words. "But the next time we go out I'm taking you some place really expensive and buying you everything."

Pinkie's smile changed to one Twilight couldn't recognize again as her ears twitched forward at those words. "Soooooo, you're saying you want to go out again?"

Realizing what she had said Twilight's mind threatened to relapse into a freak out. But maybe it was the strange smile Pinkie was giving her right at that moment that made her latch back onto her confidence from moments before. With an almost Rarity like haughty tone she replied, "well I guess I have to now. I have to try and impress you too don't I?"

Pinkie's smile became much more like one of her usual goofy ones, which Twilight figured meant she'd done something right. It was then that the waiter returned, passing her a small menu. Twilight was somewhat surprised to see her smile fall somewhat at reading it. She seemed to read it over a few more times before turning to Twilight.

"Umm, ok. I literally live in a bakery, and I have no idea what any of this is."

Twilight gestured for her to pass it over, which she did. After examining it she saw the problem. "Ah. It's because they decided to go very literal when it comes to 'traditional' with the desserts. These are all a little... old fashioned. You and the cakes always seem to try to keep things progressive." Twilight thought for a few seconds. "It's sort of a shame, there are a few Canterlot style desserts... Huuummm." She seemed to finally think of something before motioning the waiter to come closer. "I was just wondering, do you think it would be possible to order..."

At this she leaned in close to whisper into the waiters ear. Pinkie, now very curious, leaned forward and turned her ears trying to overhear the exchange. She could not.

"It is possible, though it is an off menu item. It's normally reserved for private parties, but for such distinguished guests as yourselves I'm sure we could make an exception."

"Dis...tinguished?" Twilight wondered about his choice of words.

Before he could respond both of their attentions were grabbed by a not so subtle, "pssst," from the other side of the table. They looked over to see Pinkie leaning over in a not so secret conspiratorial whisper. "Twilight, we hang out with princesses fairly regularly. Plus there's that, 'saved the world', thing." Pinkie then smiled goofily at her again.

"Quite, it is as miss Pie says, miss Sparkle. If you would like I can relay your request to the chef directly."

Taken more then slightly aback, Twilight could only smile bashfully. "That would be delightful." Her smile then became slightly more devious. "Just don't let her know what's coming until it gets here."

Pinkie put on a pout that made Twilight's head feel numb briefly. "Awww, but why?" Pinkie whined cutely.

Regaining her bearings, Twilight responded. "I thought you liked surprises."

Twilight noticed Pinkie's eyes go slightly lidded for a brief moment while it also seemed like they quickly traced over her in a way that made her feel warm. "Twilight, did I ever tell you how attractive that big brain of yours makes you."

Twilight found herself blushing again. "W, what do you mean?"

"You are already getting very good at this flirting thing, and I like it."

There was blushing between both mares that lasted a fair bit of time before regular conversation resumed. Although Twilight did notice Pinkie checking over her shoulder every so often. Still wanting to make what she had ordered a surprise, Twilight thought quickly to find something that would occupy Pinkie completely.

"So Pinkie, are there any big parties you're planning for right now?"

That seemed to do the trick as the excited mare now launched into a somewhat frantic explanation of no less then three parties and at least five potential parties she was eagerly planning for.

"Wait a second, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy aren't a couple. Why would you be planning them a party to congratulate them on going out."

"Oh Twilight, there's so much I could teach you about parties," Pinkie responded in a playful, almost singsong voice. "Sometimes for a party to be a surprise party you gotta start planning it even before you know it's gonna happen."

".... But doesn't that mean you're going to plan a lot of parties that you'll never actually have?"

"Hasn't happened to me yet," she stated very matter of factly. "Which is even more fun because that means that sometimes when I throw a surprise party it's even a surprise to me."

The logic didn't make any sense to Twilight. She just shook her head and smiled. "I don't know how that works, but I think I've suffered enough severe injuries to not question your intuition." Twilight's smile then became wider. "But since we're on the subject of surprises..."

Pinkie flinched only slightly as the waiter appeared next to their table pushing a cart with two items on top. The first he levitated between the mares. Pinkie examined it closely, though for all she could tell it was nothing more then a large brown orb.

"Oh, it's chocolate," Pinkie intoned, though Twilight could tell she had been expecting more. Twilight only smiled smugly as she waited.

"Not just chocolate madam," the waiter now said while lighting his horn and levitating a large ladle from the bowl still on the cart. Delicately, he drizzled a thin line of hot fudge in an intricate pattern across the top. Slowly it worked its magic, melting it in a specific way before it split. Inside, a small but elaborately built ice cream sundae was showered in melted chocolate and chocolate pieces.

Twilight was now intrigued and also a little concerned as she saw Pinkie's eyes literally sparkle as she stared. "OH! MY!! GOSH!!!" Her sudden out burst caught the attention of other diners, but Twilight was enjoying the look on Pinkie's face too much to care. "It's a surprise dessert that's also a dessert with a surprise dessert."

"Pinkie, are you crying?"

"Tears of joy, Twilight, tears of joy. It's just so beautiful I'm not even sure I can eat it." She then turned her head away in an obviously fake dramatic display.

Smiling widely without even noticing Twilight lifted one of the two spoons brought with the plate and gathered a heaping pile of a little of everything. "Are you sure you can't try a little bite."

Pinkies resolve was short lived. If there were intervening movements between her being turned away and her lips being wrapped around the spoon Twilight was holding then she did not see them. Pinkie smiled widely around the spoon with a very delighted look on her face. However as her eyes opened her cheeks also reddened and her smile became bashful. She pulled away gently, taking the spoon with her as she went.

"Sowwy..., Sorry," she repeated as she removed the spoon from her mouth. "Didn't mean to steal your spoon and stuff. I just got excited."

Though this seemed a little odd, Twilight only smiled to her. "Pinkie, I was kind of trying to get you excited." She picked up the other spoon, this time in her magic and filled another good scoop full. "How is it?"

Her smile brightened again. "It's one of the best things I've ever tasted. You have to try." She immediately grabbed the spoon from the magical grip and motioned it to the other mare. Twilight didn't hesitate this time, taking a bite and savoring it for a few moments.

"It rewwly..., It really is good."

The sweet treat was shared, and not long after the waiter returned with the check. Twilight made some protest that Pinkie should let her help pay, but only managed to get her to let her leave a tip. The mares were also delighted to get one last dose of Caramels Canterlotian bit as they were leaving.

Twilight was at this point a little surprised to find that she wasn't worried about what was going to happen. She turned with a smile to her date. "So, what did you have planned next?"

Pinkie smiled back. "Well, since it's just a first date I didn't want to keep you out too late." She took up a posture now that looked as though she was trying to seem as noble as possible. "I was going to show you my chivalrous side and walk you home to your door." She then deflated just a little and in a voice that seemed more like it should be coming from Fluttershy added, "but, I was going to let you decide the route we'd take."

They both smiled shyly to each other. Twilight then took her first confident step, in the exact opposite direction of the Golden Oaks library.

Over an hour and at least three laps of Ponyville later and the pair still couldn't seem to locate the easily spotted tree. It was only the absence of the sun and the coming of an only slightly too cold evening that finally forced them to acknowledge the night coming to an end. Both were tired from laughter had, but only one seemed to be showing it. Pinkie had suggested some time before that if Twilight was feeling tired or cold then she could lean against the sturdier earth pony for comfort, which Twilight was even surprised at herself when she had readily done so. She was actually much more hesitant to pull away when they were finally at her doorstep.

"Here you are, delivered home safely as promised."

Twilight smiled at the words as her date bowed and gestured grandly to the simple wooden door just a few steps away. The smile made a sudden pang of something she couldn't identify go through her chest. For some reason both the idea of opening the door and not opening the door seemed equally unappealing to her at the moment. She didn't quite know what to do, but apparently some part of her did. Her next actions came to her without nearly the consideration she'd normally give them.

"Such a dependable gentlemare," Twilight said appreciatively, but then stepped closer to Pinkie rather then her door. Pinkie seemed to notice this and look up as she continued. "You know, I really had no idea what to expect from tonight, but I knew at least with you it'd be fun. I didn't know I'd have nearly as much fun as I did though."

"I had a lot of fun too Twilight. And I'm really glad that you wanna do it again." Her smile now was big and genuine, if a little more reserved then Twilight would have thought it would be. That didn't matter much as the words made her blush and try not to look away in her bashfulness.

"Yeah, that was something else I didn't know about before tonight. But there was one big thing I was really unsure about, and it was about this specific moment right now."

Apparently noticing the bashful hesitance her date was showing, Pinkie smile only became bigger, though Twilight thought it was a little odd that she closed her eyes with the smile before she responded. "It's ok Twilight, tonight was already super amazing. If you aren't sure if you're ready fo..." Pinkie stopped and her eyes reopened as a purple hoof came to rest on her shoulder.

"I did have some idea of which way I was leaning on this decision from pretty early on in the night." In a very un-Twilight moment of throwing caution to the wind, she leaned forward until she felt soft lips press against her own.

The kiss was soft and tentative, surely do to the inexperience of the pony initiating it and it being unexpected for the one receiving. But despite being caught off guard Pinkie soon recovered and leaned into the kiss, her experience making it last longer then Twilight had intended.

Twilight was not about to complain as she couldn't help but giggle after their lips finally broke apart. Partially due to the release of her excitement, partially because of the sweetness she now tasted on her lips that she could tell didn't belong to the dessert they had shared.

"Goodnight Pinkie, let's do this again soon."

Pinkie smiled her usual big smile that now seemed to warm Twilight's heart even more then it normally did right now. "Yeah. Goodnight Twilight."

With that Twilight finally lit her horn and opened her door, stepping through and closing it before sighing and taking a moment to lean against the cool wood. She then laughed just a little at the sound of Pinkie pronking away, seemingly with a little more pronk them usual. Twilight didn't know if there was a way to tell, but she hoped it was the case.

With another sigh and her hooves feeling incredibly light, she proceeded to straighten herself up and head for her room. Upon getting there she saw the familiar sight of Spike in his little bed, flipping through a comic. As she entered he looked up.

"Oh, Twilight. You're later then I thought you'd be." He stood up and proceeded to walk over to a desk on the side of the room.

"Hey Spike," she said dreamily as she drifted ever closer to her bed, not really passing attention to his actions.

"So, should we get started on post date check list set A, B, C,..." The young dragon finally noticed Twilight's far off expression as the unicorn flopped lightly into bed, grabbing her pillow and smothering her face into it with a smile briefly before responding.

"It's ok Spike. We don't have to worry about it," she said, oblivious to the shocked look it caused on the dragons face.

Spike looked at her, blinking slowly before looking back to the desk and the six very large furled scrolls sitting upon it. "Oh... Kay." He began walking back over to his bed. "You feeling alright Twilight?"

"I feel great."

"You know Rarity would freak out of she knew you were sleeping in that dress."

Light, content snoring was the only response he received.

***
Elsewhere in Ponyville

The door to Pinkie's room slammed open, and yet did so quietly. Knowing the hour and knowing the twins were likely in bed she had forgone her loud pronks when she had gotten closer to home. She now did give a big excited hop as she entered her room. With an excited giggle she noticed Gummy just below her and scooped him up as she went, rolling over midair and rolling onto her back as she landed to hold her tiny pet alligator above her.

"Oh my gosh Gummy, everything went so good." She now brought him in close and hugged him tightly as she continued. "She was so pretty in her dress, and she said I was to, and we laughed together, and she got me this amazing dessert, and she kissed me, and I don't think I messed anything up!!!"

She now released him to hold him above her and look into his largely unresponsive eyes. As she did he suddenly reached forward and clamped his toothless jaws down on her nose.

"Yeah I know Gummy," she said while pulling him off with a wet snap. "I said that the last, few, times too. But this time I mean it so you don't need to worry." The alligator seemed to make no response, but did reopen his jaws in what looked like preparation for another bite to her nose. "Aww, thanks Gummy," she said while bringing him in for a hug again. "What would I do without you."

She then rolled over on the floor, depositing her pet there as she did. She suddenly turned around on a hoof, spinning fast enough to obscure her movements. Upon stopping her dress was now off and neatly hung on a hanger that wasn't there before. With an audible 'pomf', her mane even returned to it's usual puff as well.

"But right now it's time for bed. It's been a big day."

Author's Note

I. Hate. My. PHONE!!!.
Sorry, but I could have had this chapter out days ago but something about writing on this phone keeps messing things up. I would make several big and obvious changes in one edit and they'd somehow still be there for the next. Which of course meant I was more watching for the recurring mistakes more then new ones. So please let me know if you spot any Ibis mistakes like that as each will be one less day until this phone execution.
Sorry. I've vented to about everyone about how much this phone sucks, now that includes all you lovely people.
Other then that this chapter had one little annoyance that is shared by my precious work, when did this happen. That is that I really don't know background ponies so I wasn't sure who I could put into different positions. My research said caramel is used as a stands in a lot, so that's who I went with. Hopefully it makes sense in context.
Other then that I actually had some fun with this chapter. Trying to get the subtle details right is the fun kind of challenge I enjoy. Let me know if it worked out ok or not, as always.

Just Desserts

"Ok, you are getting really good at surprises and that is really super cute and everything. But seriously, WHERE ARE WE GOING!!!???"

Pinkie was currently holding Twilight by the shoulders and at least moving as if she were shaking her violently. However, despite this and despite that it was occuring while they were both still walking, the display didn't seem to hinder their progress at all. This interesting tidbit, as well as how cute Pinkie looked while being so frantic, were making Twilight's smile a pleasant one as they continued down the street.

Twilight's smile just became slightly more teasing as the dramatically frantic mare shifted, now attempting to restrain her while shifting to ride on her back. She also, and not for the first time, had to make a mental note to try to figure something out later. This time, why she didn't feel any more inhibited by the other mares weight while she was doing this.

She filed that away for future consideration before responding. "You don't have to worry about where we're going, seeing as we're almost there."

There were nearly no intervening moments as the pink pony seemed to suddenly disappear from her back and was now walking calmly next to her. "Oh, ok then." She smiled sweetly, having apparently managed to compose herself nearly immediately. "So I guess our second date is finally about to officially begin?"

Though Pinkies smile seemed almost too sweet for the situation, Twilight didn't give it much thought as she now let out a hearty laugh at the sudden change in her dates disposition.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Although I already had fun just on the train ride over."

Pinkies cheeks reddened just a little at that. "Yeah, me too."

Having had time in the previous day's to get together in a less formal capacity, they had both decided that they didn't need to be so formal with their dates. While they had both agreed that the other looked great in their dresses, they already knew each other well enough that going to that level wasn't necessary all the time. Thus they were unclothed as they normally would be as they walked down the streets of Canterlot.

Twilight had told Pinkie that she had come up with the perfect plan for their date, but it would involve getting a slightly earlier start. They had met at the train station just a few hours earlier to ride to the nation's capital, even having a small meal on the train in the meantime. Pinkie had been hesitant to do so, but Twilight had assured her that it wouldn't mess up their plans.

The now calm pony beside her tried to nonchalantly ask her a question as she walked. "But I am still curious. What could you possibly have in mind that involved coming to such a secluded corner of Canterlot?"

This actually made Twilight "huuummm" as she walked glancing around as she did so. "I was just starting to notice that too. This isn't actually a secluded corner of Canterlot, it's usually fairly busy here. I'm not sure why there are so few ponies around right now."

Pinkie hesitated a moment, but then stepped in a little closer to her date as she walked. "Maybe everypony just wanted to make sure I had you all to myself tonight." She then gave Twilight a playful bump of her hips.

Twilight blushed at the flirtatious action, but she felt she was getting use to it enough that it didn't affect her as badly as it use to. She managed to remain casual, as she walked straight into the sidewalk sign of a clothing store they were passing, proceeded to trip as she tried to catch herself, and landed on top of it with a loud clatter.

"Oh my goodness. Twilight you're not hurt are you?" Pinkie gasped, genuine concern in her voice.

"Only my pride." She grumbled this under her breath while trying to hide her face in the laid out position she'd found herself in.

"What?"

There was then a flash and a pop that enveloped both Twilight and the sign. The sign reappeared behind her in it's original position while she was now standing on her hooves no worse for ware.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?" She said while gesturing for them to keep walking as if nothing had happened.

Pinkies look of concern became one of confusion for a second, before becoming a smile once again. "Very smooth Twilight. I totally believe you didn't just do something completely adorkably cute."

This statement was met with an extended tongue followed by a purple flank becoming visible as it's owner turned away in obviously mock indignation. Pinkie giggled lightly as she pulled her attention back to walking and trotted to catch up to her date. "But you still haven't answered my question you know." She said once she was walking beside her again. "I was trying to be like you and do some super science brain stuff on the way here to figure it out, but I can't. I thought at first you were going to try to impress me by doing the Canterlot dinner but with a real Canterlot dinner this time instead, but you said it was ok to eat on the train."

Twilight just smiled. " Welllllll.... It does involve food. But I thought I'd try to do something you'd really like. I do still need to try to out do you after that wonderful date you took us on."

They rounded a corner and were hit in the face with a wall of sweet scents. Pinkies mouth started to water instantly and Twilight smiled brightly as she watched the baker's eyes seem to grow beyond the confines of her face.

"So Pinkie, do you happen to know what a dessert buffet is?"

The normally talkative mare was, possibly for the first time Twilight had ever seen her, speechless as she looked upon the facade of a sweet shop the likes of which she'd only ever seen in her dreams. She finally managed to squeak out a small clarifying question. "Dessert... Buffet?"

Twilight had to fight back the urge to prance in place. But she had one more move planned and right now seemed like the perfect moment. She leaned in close, her lips nearly brushing the stunned ponies ear, and whispered in what she hoped was a seductive way. "They have one hundred and thirty-seven different types of desserts to try on any given night."

Twilight made another mental note to consider for later as Pinkies jaw now literally hit the street below them with an audible clunk. It only lasted a second though as she very suddenly found herself spinning, her dates happy face beaming in front of her as she held her by the hooves and twirled her around excitedly. The whole time she felt her hooves flailing behind her she was bombarded by the clearly appreciative mares excited voice.

"Oh my goodness Twilight, this is the most awesometastic thing I have ever seen!!! I don't even know how to say how much I love this!!! Oh my goodness!!! I!!! I!...."

Twilight had been smiling brightly as she was spun around, Pinkie's beaming face in front of her while she gripped her forehooves tightly. She was then surprised when the spinning stopped suddenly and it felt like she was flicked like a blanket being shaken out. The result was her finding herself now under Pinkie, the mare above her dipping her low. And while they had managed to sneak in a, few, tender shows of affection since their first date, that was nothing compared to what Twilight was experiencing right now.

The analytical side of Twilight's brain wondered how anything could be quite as squishy as what was being pressed deeply into her own lips right now. She was glad neither of them wore lipstick, because she was sure the colors would be fully mixed by the time she finished. The other half of her brain had turned to mush, something her analytical side would be concerned about if it was in anyway in control at that moment.

Despite the state of her mind, Twilight did manage to register a slight gasp of shock that she didn't think had come from her own mouth a moment after their lips had parted. Once again she wasn't quite sure the actions that were taken with her body, but suddenly found herself upright once again and staring into the slightly concerned looking face of Pinkie.

"Ummm, sorry if I got a little over excited. I really didn't mean to be that... forward."

The parts of Twilight's mind that weren't currently pooling in the bottom of her skull did notice that Pinkie seemed a bit off at this moment. It was probably something she should address, but from her lips the predominance of mush simply said, "cake."

"Cake?"

Twilight licked her lips without her brain issuing any command to do so. "You already taste like cake but I'm pretty sure you haven't had any cake. That means you naturally taste like cake." The muck in her head bubbled up for a moment as she thought on something. "I want to kiss you again after dessert to see how that affects the taste."

Pinkie decided to ignore the fact that Twilight sounded almost drunk and was even swaying slightly, especially since the cuteness of it made her blush just a little. The concern was easing in her face as she spoke again. "So, you aren't upset or anything?"

Twilight smacked her lips as her eyes seemed to refocus on the mare in front of her. She smile dopely as she leaned forward to nuzzle a pink cheek. "About what?"

The concern on the mares face turned to an easy smile at the touch. She nuzzled back before the nuzzle was used to turned her attention back to the building simply labeled "The Bakery", though still in the overly elaborate cursive that was on every other building they had passed.

"I also wanted to see just how much you actually could eat. Kind of an experiment, but also because the way you eat sweets is really cute."

Pinkie smiled at this. "You're running cuteness experiments on me?"

Still looking a little tipsy Twilight replied. "That's one way of putting it I guess. You're just fascinating on so many levels and I like having a chance to try to figure you out. I hope that's ok."

Pinkie only smiled back at that. "Well if you want to gather data on me, I guess I'll have to do my best."

Smiling to each other once again they both proceeded to the doors.

***

The doors to "The Bakery" were kicked open violently. A pair of pink and purple mares could be seen exiting the building at an arching path that ended with them landing with a loud thump on the ground one after the other.

"And don't come back!" The owner of the establishment barked as the hostess lit her horn and slammed the doors back shut.

"Well, that was rude," Twilight said as she stood from where she had landed, brushing off her flanks as she did so. "And you were right, his accent totally was fake. At least his was better then Caramels I guess." She turned to help Pinkie up from where she had landed, but stopped at what she saw.

Pinkie sat, having not moved from where she had landed. Her head was lowered as she poked at the ground with her hoof, a pensive look on her face that Twilight had never seen before.

"I'm so sorry Twilight. I really didn't mean to get us kicked out. It's just that tiramisu always makes me hyper, and they had so many different types of chocolate, and I didn't even know you could whip all the things they whipped, and, and.. there's always room for jello..."

Pinkie's ramble had been getting lower and lower as her date approached her. Her eyes closed tight as Twilight now stood before her and she saw her begin to raise her hoof. She winced only slightly as she felt a hoof pass through her mane and get stuck.

"How in the world did you get the whipped caramel in your mane?"

A cerulean eye peaked open and saw an unexpectedly warmly smiling face close to her own. Twilight's hoof was now pulled away, taking a few loose strands of pink mane with it. As she began to shake her hoof in an effort to dislodge the strands Pinkie decided to speak again.

"Twilight, I got us kicked out of the restaurant." Twilight only made the slightest grunt of affirmation as she now held her hoof upsidedown while shaking it violently. "Aren't.. aren't you mad at me."

Twilight now directed her attention back to Pinkie, her expression turning questioning as she finally decided to light her horn and pull the sticky strands free. "Pinkie, you know me, I plan for every worst case scenario."

Pinkies ears flattened slightly at those words. "So that really was the worst thing that could have happened?"

Twilight only smiled at that. "Nope, that wasn't even in the top ten. Most of my worst case scenarios involve meteor strikes, or ancient evils being resurrected, or pop quizzes I haven't studied for." Pinkie couldn't help but to let out a little giggle at that, which made Twilight's smile all the more bright. "You definitely don't need to worry about it, it's their loss. Literally."

Pinkies head tilted in question. "What do you mean?"

"To keep ponies from taking too much at one time, they charge you for anything you don't finish at the end." Pinkies head tilted a little more. "Which means they don't charge you until you finish."

Remembering that the owner had literally scooped her and Twilight up on their way back up to the buffet, Pinkie let out a deep chortle. Twilight joined in soon after as Pinkie finally took Twilight's hoof and stood. When she stood however her laughter cut off suddenly.

"But now I feel bad. I ate so much cake and didn't pay, and it still was a whole big scene that you got caught up in."

Twilight's laughter was slower to settle down. "Don't worry about it Pinkie. He was kind of a jerk, they did say all you can eat," she paused for a moment to direct a smug look to her date and put just a little inflection in her voice. "And it means I didn't pay for the date, so I still get to the next time we go out."

Pinkie was stopped dead at this, staring at the pony still holding her hoof. Her gaze then turned to a glare that was doing very little to hide her joy. "Oh you sneaky pony. You planned today to go like this just so you could plan another date."

Twilight's smile became mischievous. "Well you know I do like planning things. So planning so that I can plan more is just natural."

Pinkie turned away in mock indignance. "Well if I'm not going to get to woo you with one of the perfect dates I'VE planned, then I guess I'm just going to have to be extra charming."

Twilight massaged Pinkie's hoof with her own as she held it. "How about you just be extra Pinkie Pie. It's the most charming part of you anyway."

Pinkie's face shifted from it's usual pink to a slightly darker shade. "You, are getting really good at flirting."

Twilight giggled. "Nope, my need to plan also makes me think of cheesey lines like that in advance too. But I believe I also had one new plan tonight."

Pinkie was about to question this when the hoof still holding hers pulled her in. Her lips were pressed deeply against the other mares again, this time not by her own volition. After forever yet a moment they parted.

"...Still cake. Even after all of that you are still the sweetest thing I've tasted tonight."

".....Lavender."

"... What?"

Pinkie shook her head to regain her bearings. "What? Nothing. We should probably stop hanging out in front of the place we were kicked out of before they realize we didn't pay."

Twilight paused for a second, but only smiled as she turned and gestured for the other mare to take up position beside her.

"Well depending on how quickly it took us to get kicked out of the restaurant, I did have some other plans we could do before the last train to Ponyville. This is Canterlot, there's usually no shortage of stuff to do." She then took a second to check the streets around them at the intersection they had come to. "Although usually we'd have to be fighting the crowds for it at this time of night. That's still strange." She paused to wonder on that for a moment before turning to her companion. "Did you have anything that you'd like to do while we have time?"

"Oooooo, my chance to try to get even with you for all your sneaky planning. Hmm, let me see." She placed her hoof to her chin in a gesture to show deep thought, humming in concentration to sell it. Twilight could only giggle at the display. Both sounds cut off at the sound of a deep groan coming from the midsection of the pink pony. "I think we should go to a place with a well soundproofed bathroom."

"What? What was that...? Are you ok?" Twilight asked noticing a pained look on the usually unflappable mares face.

"Ooooohh, it feels like combining all the darknesses of chocolate might have made a dark chocolate so dark it made a black hole... In my tummy."

Twilight was actually taken aback by this. "Oh. Wow. I didn't think I'd actually be able to find the upper limits of your gastric potential quite this early in our relationship. Or maybe it's more to do with the fact that so much of it was sweets. I'd have to see if there's any relation between..."

"Twilight, as cute as your brain stuff is, less brain stuff and more place stuff."

"Oh right." Twilight looked around, getting a feel for where she was in a city she had spent most of her life in. She gave it a few moments of deep thought before responding. "I do know a place close by that has excellent facilities and where we can get you something that will help your stomach after." She hesitated just briefly. "But I actually do want to be able to go back to this place so promise me you won't make a scene."

Pinkie smiled at the jab as playfully as she could at the moment. "There might be a little scene, but after that I promise I'll be on my best behavior."

"Your normal behavior will be fine actually," Twilight said as she began leading the way down the street to their right. "It'll be nice to introduce you to ponies I knew before I moved to Ponyville. So I want them to get to know you just the way you usually are."

Pinkie smiled sheepishly as they walked.

***

Pinkie Pie inhaled deeply before taking a delicate sip of the steaming beverage provided to her. She then took a moment to savor it, almost seeming as well defined a picture of elegant grace as Rarity usually presented. Rolling her eyes, Twilight decided she had to call her on it.

"If you're going to take that long to enjoy it, maybe I should have ordered you a lavender tea instead."

The mask cracked slightly as Pinkie blushed, then shattered completely as she giggled at the implication. She then took a much deeper, slurping drink of the herbal blend. "I don't know, this is already the best tea I've ever tasted. Not sure I should add any more stimulation to it."

The mares shared a laugh at the inside joke as the owner of the establishment where they had ended up looked on in question. Twilight had led them down just a few blocks from where they had been to a fairly small tea shop of minimal embellishments. Though Pinkie had not noticed that bit at first. Her initial introduction to it was simply to nearly instantly appear before the stallion behind the counter and demand to know where the restrooms were. Twilight had trotted up after she departed to explain and put in an advanced order on tea that would have certain soothing properties.

After some embarrassed introductions the stallion had been casual enough about the situation to jokingly offer some cookies to go with their tea. It was the first time Twilight could remember Pinkie ever declining something sweet.

With a slight quirk to his eyebrows the stallion addressed the pair. "Well Twilight, the two of you seem pretty close. This wouldn't happen to be the last stop on a bad first date would it?"

Twilight blushed at that while Pinkie's ears pricked up and turned to the exchange with interest.

"Ummm, you're kinda right but mostly wrong there Herb. It's not a first date, and it's definitely not a bad date." She looked over to Pinkie who smiled timidly from behind her teacup. "But it is a date."

The stallion smiled but shook his head as if disappointed. "And just like that I'm indebted to royalty. Never bet against Celestia I guess. When will I learn?"

Twilight let out a groan. "Gah, was everypony taking bets on my sexuality and or love life." She slumped forward and angerly took a sip of her tea.

Her date giggled at the face she was making. She turned to address the stallion as well. "They didn't let me bet because I already had a huge crush on her, but a few of our friends back in Ponyville made a few bits off of her too."

Twilight rolled her eyes at that. "Rainbow Dash even won the pool on how long it would take for you to ask me out. Apparently if you'd waited just two more days it would have been Rarity."

Pinkie's smile became sheepish again as she went to take another sip from a cup Twilight was sure was empty. "They did bet on that huh? I was wondering if they would."

Twilight only had a moment to contemplate that before the stallion known as Herb had made it over to Pinkie with a steaming pot hovering in his magic. "Well you should have asked her much sooner if it was the thing that would get this little ray of sunshine back here."

"Oh please. He's joking because he has a crush on Princess Celestia and watching me when there was too much going on at the castle during my studies was part of his plan of getting on her good side."

Herb held up a hoof accusingly as his magic set the pot down at their table. "Hey! It wasn't just that, it was also that you were a cute little bundle of energy that livened up the shop. Even if it was a little annoying that you surpassed my level of education by the time you were ten and yet still NEVER stopped asking me questions."

The two glared at each other, but the moment broke as Pinkie's laughter caused them both to do the same. "Sounds like you spent a lot of time here Twilight."

"It was, still is, Princess Celestia's favorite tea shop, so it became mine too. And it was always a good place to study back when that was all I ever did."

"And we miss you around here. You should find more excuses to make it back to Canterlot to come see us."

"Should I bring Celestia next time," Twilight jabbed.

Herb rubbed his hoof across his cheek to hide a blush as both mares giggled. "No. Now that I know you like mares I might have to be worried you'll steal her away before I have a chance."

Twilight was taken aback by the implication of the statement, but caught Pinkie's eyes and just blushed. "No, I think I'm happy where I am right now."

The stallion smiled as the mares smiled at each other. "Well if you two are happy, then I'm happy." He picked the teapot up and refilled both their cups again before turning away. "I'd be happier with a little more business tonight though."

Twilight broke her gaze at that as a previous thought came to her. "Oh yeah. I wanted to ask somepony about that. Why is this side of Canterlot so dead this time of the evening? I don't remember the last time your shop was empty."

The shops owner busied himself with wiping down the already clean counter. He chuckled lightly as he did. "You haven't even been away that long and you already forgot about the usual yearly big wig gathering."

"Big wig ga... Pony feathers." Pinkie was taken aback by Twilight's outburst, but she leaned forward with interest as she turned to her with the most abashed smile she'd ever seen her make. "Ummm... I might not have planned tonight quite as carefully as I thought."

Pinkie looked quizzically between the two of them. "So what's the big wig gathering? Is it fun?"

"Oh sweet Celestia no," Twilight moaned. "The yearly peace conference. Diplomats and ambassadors from all over come for peace talks and negotiations. But Equestria has been at peace so long it's become just a big pageant for nations to show off."

Pinkies eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "Oh, a pageant with ponies from everywhere. That does sound fun."

"Not that kind of pageant Pinkie. It's become an event where all the biggest stuffed saddles around are at their most stuffed to show off as much as possible."

Pinkie visibly deflated. "Oh, that kind of party."

Herb chuckled more. "Yeah, and it means everypony in town is going through the motions of hanging around the main square and pretending to be in awe. It disrupts almost all local business and services."

Twilight sighed before asking. "Are the trains still running at this hour?"

Herb gave a sigh back. "I'm surprised you managed to get one into town today." He looked back and forth between the two now concerned mares. "Are you ladies going to be ok? Because I was going to close up soon, but I can stay open for a bit if you need to figure out accomodations."

"That's sweet of you, but I think we'll be ok." Twilight responded, scrunching up her face in thought as she took the last sip of her tea.

Pinkie finished her tea as well, watching Twilight with an expression she hoped seemed concerned but not too concerned. She was enjoying Twilight's thinking face too much to be sure though. As much as she liked watching Twilight ponder a problem she felt she had to contribute.

"If it's a problem Twilight, I could always help split the bill and we could get a room, a couple rooms, at an inn or something for the night."

Twilight blushed at Pinkie's backtrack. "No. Even getting one room is probably going to be impossible right now. Everything is always booked during the conference. My first thought was actually seeing if... my parents, could put us up for the night. But not only might that be a little awkward, you know, this early in our relationship." She smiled sheepishly to her date, who did the same back. "But they started a tradition of taking a vacation right around this specific time of year for obvious reasons. The house is sealed up tight and my key is back in Ponyville."

"Darn. If only one of us had wings, then we could fly back."

Twilight snorted a laugh. "Yeah, with your level of energy, if you had wings you'd fly like a hummingbird."

Pinkie gigglesnorted at that, but held back enough to respond. "I was actually thinking of you with wings. I think that would look really pretty on you."

Twilight laughed heartily at that. "Yeah, I'll just become an alicorn. That'll happen I'm sure."

The pair shared another laugh, herb joining in as he came back to refill their cups but was waved off.

"Oh come on Twilight, I'm sure if you put your mind to it you could figure out how to become an alicorn by the end of the night."

Twilight rolled her eyes at the compliment. "Yeah, well if I did it might resolve the only other idea I was having."

"What was that?" Pinkie asked hopefully.

Twilight waved her hoof to brush off her own words as she was talking. "I was thinking I could teleport us..."

"That sounds fun."

"... But long distance teleportation of two ponies would use way too much magic. It would be a few trips at least and the cool down between would make it take hours. Unless I had alicorn magic of course." She noticably deflated as she slumped forward and looked up to the other mare. "I'm sorry Pinkie, I might have ruined our second date just because I can't get us home."

"It's ok Twilight. I'm sure we'll figure out something. And in the meantime I'm thinking about you as an alicorn, and that's pretty nice."

Twilight laughed again. "Seriously, how do you do that. I should be upset right now but you can still make me laugh."

Pinkie blushed as she responded. "It's just what I do. My pretty alicorn princess."

Twilight laughed even more, then stopped as a thought came to her. She thought on it briefly before speaking again. "I guess if worse comes to worse we could ask Princess Celestia for help." She frowned at herself at the idea. "But I'm sure she's really busy right now. Plus the castle is probably pretty full."

Twilight's ears perked up suddenly. Pinkie caught herself smiling with a little too much smolder at the expression for a moment. She adjusted it while leaning forward until her nose was nearly touching Twilight's. "I know that look. That big, pretty brain of yours just figured it out didn't it."

Noticing Pinkie's expression change so quickly made Twilight's brows furrow slightly. She considered deeply for a few more moments before a blush crept onto her face. A few more and she nodded to herself slightly before turning to the counter of the shop.

Herb cut her off before she could speak. "I already put it on Celestia's tab. She always did say she'd personally pay off any debt you accrue here." He gave the two a sly smile. "You ladies have yourself a great night. And miss Pinkie," he said while turning what seemed to be a stern hoof to the other mare. "It's been a delight to meet you. Make sure you drag her back here every now and then."

Pinkie couldn't help but to bounce up from her chair giddily, pronk quickly over and embrace him in a crushing hug. He laughed heartily at the show of affection before shooing them from the shop.

***

Pinkie was still pronking along a few blocks later. Twilight frowned slightly when the mare finally noticed herself doing it and made a decent attempt to nonchalantly transition back into walking next to her as they went. Noticing the direction they were walking in she made a much less decent attempt to nonchalantly bring up the subject.

"Sooooooooooo, I noticed were heading kinda sorta in the general direction of towards the castle. Just what did that amazing Twilight brain of yours think up. Were we going to ask princess Celestia for a room. Oooooooooo, do you think the princess would be up for a sleep over if there aren't any rooms?"

Pinkie being Pinkie again made Twilight smile a little. However the weight of what she was about to suggest and why kept her from openly laughing at the suggestion.

"Of course not. I already told you she's going to be swamped. She's the one who has to pretend she likes all the overblown spectacle the most while actually liking it the least. The few times I've ever actually seen her in a bad mood were because of this whole thing. However, there is one room in the castle I know isn't occupied and we won't have to bother anypony except maybe like a guard or two to use it. And they all know me so it's fine."

Pinkie's eyes lit up in realization. "Oh yeah, I always forget that you practically lived at the castle. Being the perfect student you are and stuff."

Twilight rolled her eyes at the attempted flirtation, even as she felt her cheeks warm. "Well, being the perfect student I was, the princess wanted me to have a proper place to do experiments. It's still there. A small tower on the far side of the castle with a small lab and library in it. And also a bed I snuck in there for when I stayed up a little too late and didn't want to walk or teleport back to wherever I was staying."

Pinkie's eyes seemed to light up even more at this. "So it really is going to be like a sleep over." She managed to catch herself after just a few pronks.

Twilight was thankful the night was growing darker as she now felt her ears heating up. "Ummm, it's not exactly suitable for a proper sleepover. It's barely a single pony bed, and it's the only thing that's really made for sleeping in the whole tower. Unless you wanted to try out Spikes old basket," she joked as they were now nearing the river that separated the castle from the rest of the city. She knew most of the festivities would be going on down the main street of the city, so she planned to slip in from the side and cross the drawbridge before they all made their way into the castle itself. The muscle memory of the practiced path was what kept her going in the right direction as Pinkie seemed to intentionally miss the joke.

"Hmmm, well it might be a little cramped, but I've accidently fallen asleep in baskets before."

Twilight stared at her sidelong as she kept walking. "You're not being serious right?"

"Oh Twilight. I'm sure I can find something comfy to sleep on. Maybe I can make a bed from books."

"No on several levels. All the books up there are either rare first editions or older then Granny Smith. And more importantly, there's no way I'd make you sleep somewhere else when there's a bed."

"Well I'm not going to make you sleep somewhere..."

"We're sharing the bed." Twilight's whole head felt like it was on fire with her embarrassment as Pinkie suddenly stopped where she was, forcing Twilight to also stop and look back.

Pinkie now wore a hesitant expression Twilight would normally expect of Fluttershy. "B..but, you said it's only big enough for one pony."

Twilight forced herself to keep her voice steady as she responded. "Then I guess we'll just have to push together really close."

She had hoped that would get Pinkie excited, but she found herself disappointed as Pinkie became even more hesitant. "Twilight, you don't have to share if you don't want to. I don't want to push you into anything you aren't ready for. You don't have to do stuff just because I'm sure you've found out that I... I've been on a.. a few more dates then you." She suddenly tensed up when she felt another muzzle press up against her now downcast one.

Once they were eye to eye again Twilight motioned her to keep walking with her as they turned onto the drawbridge into the castle.

"Pinkie, we were friends long before you ever asked me out. I wouldn't be uncomfortable around you normally, much less now." She felt her blush starting to come back again as she continued. "And besides that, were both grown mares. If I want to spend the night cuddling my marefriend then that's noponies business but mine and hers."

Twilight stopped as she heard the hoof steps behind her stop again. She found Pinkie staring wide eyed at her this time.

"You, you actually do want to be marefriends? Like officially?"

The blush grew hotter, but Twilight tried to play it off. She gave what she hoped was a cocky smile before turning away with a flick of her mane. "Isn't that fairly obvious at this point?" She continued to walk away with as confident a strut as she could manage as her legs started to feel like jelly with embarrassment. Even moreso as she didn't hear hoof steps following her. She stopped and began to look back, smiling sheepishly as she was already preparing an apology. "Pink...wah!!!"

Her words were stopped as she was hit with what must have been a pink ballistic missile. She could only laugh as she felt her face being peppered with kisses as they rolled along from the force of the impact. They finally came to rest, Twilight looking up at her marefriend as she pinned her to the ground. Their lips met and pressed deeply, and for a moment the world melted away.

Then they heard the sound of somepony clearing their throat. Both mares looked up suddenly to see two stallions clad in golden armor, standing guard in front of the gate they had rolled to a stop in front of.

"What business do you have within the castle!" One of them barked the words as they both adjusted their spears to block the way. The harsh tone and show of force actually made Pinkie draw back slightly. Twilight just rolled her eyes.

"Oh drop it Gleam." She lit her horn and with a flash and a pop both mares were now standing more presentably before the two guards. She cleared her own throat as she continued. "I didn't realize the conference was this week. As a result my.. marefriend and I are a little stuck here in Canterlot. We were just going to get some sleep up in my lab so we don't bother anypony."

For a moment it didn't seem like the stallion identified as Gleam was going to drop it. He leaned forward, glaring and seeming to be scrutinizing her very closely. It wasn't until his gaze pointedly turned to Pinkie and he noticed Twilight start to blush slightly that the edge of a smirk finally came to his features.

"So, I'm guessing this is a late night cake run protocol situation?"

Twilight groaned, but smiled. "Yes, it would be so good if Shining Armor didn't find out about this. At least specifically this, in this specific way. And the both of you can stop smiling like that and reading too much into this."

The guards were now thoroughly breaking rank and snickering openly it Twilight's blush. The other guard finally broke and had to comment. "Aww, our little Twily is finally growing up."

Twilight just rolled her eyes and pushed her way through the still barricading spears, stopping briefly to nod her marefriend through with her. As she stepped through, Pinkie felt a big smile come to her face.

"Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, what's this about late night cake runs?" Her smile squeeked slightly as she finished speaking.

Twilight's eyebrows raised as she started walking with her. "Pinkie, we literally just got kicked out of a bakery like a couple hours ago for nearly eating them out of business."

There was an even louder squeek.

Twilight sighed. "We can only do it if Pierre is working tonight. If it's Gustav it becomes a stealth mission, he's a tattletale."

From behind them they heard the second stallion call out. "Gustav can't handle a rush. I'd be willing to bet it's Pierre." His voice went lower as he spoke again. "And speaking of bets...."

"Yeah yeah, as soon as we get off."

"You can pay me back at the bar."

Twilight groaned. "Did everypony get something out of my sexuality?"

Pinkie smiled deeper as she nuzzled Twilight's cheek. "Well, I definitely did."

Twilight felt herself blushing hard as she nuzzled back. "Yeah, I guess I did too."

That night the mares shared a bed that would have been cramped for a single pony. And being as pressed together as they were they were both very aware of each others fresh cake breath. Not to mention there was some kind of activity going on all night throughout the castle. And yet, they slept. And they slept peacefully all night, tangled in the others legs.

Interlude: Idle Gossip

"So Rarity, I have been meaning to ask you something in all seriousness. When you ask us to come down here to model for you, do you actually need a model, or is it all about gossiping?"

Rarity's face remained entirely too blank as she responded. "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about darling."

She remained with that expression as she casted her critical gaze around a dress loosely hanging off of Twilight. A dress that Twilight felt had about six layers too many, and did not seem to even remotely fit her in either size or style. The entirely too professional manner the fashionista was conducting herself in was what made Twilight finally offer.

"Ok, you can ask me about how it's going between Pinkie and me."

"Oh, well if you insist dear. I have actually been just a little curious about how things are going with the two of you." Her face brightened up significantly at that. Twilight could only smile while trying to stay still as Rarity drove a few more pins in while adding yet another layer of fabric.

Twilight had to force herself to not show just how delighted she was to bring up the subject being that, truth be told, she had wanted to talk about it too. "It's been going so good. I think I'm having more fun then I ever have in my life."

Rarity continued to smile brightly as she did another pass around Twilight. "I would guess that dating Pinkie would come with quite a lot of fun. Almost makes me regret only going on one date with her." Twilight gave as close to a threatening look as she could manage while covered in a mountain of fabric. Rarity could only laugh. "Oh come now darling, I doubt I ever would have had the same kind of fun with her you have." Twilight sensed there was more to that statement, and decided letting it hang there was the best way to draw it out. She could tell the brief silence was very awkward for Rarity. "The kind of fun that doesn't allow you to get back to Ponyville until the next day?"

Rarity at least had the decency to look sheepish at what was essentially an admission of what she'd been fishing for. Twilight decided to make her pay for it nonetheless. She saw the other unicorns look turn stern as Twilight broke her modeling pose to look up as if in thought and tap her hoof against her chin in an exaggerated way. "Hummm, do I want to tell what I was doing with my marefriend, in private, while on a date, to the biggest gossip in Ponyville and possibly Equestria?"

Rarity looked like she tasted something very sour at that moment. "Well if you really don't feel like telling then I won't pry." She said this while somewhat gently pushing Twilight's hoof back to the ground and attaching another piece of fabric in a way that seemed completely arbitrary. Except that it restricted her models leg movements that much more. Twilight rolled her eyes.

"It was totally a mistake that we ended up staying in Canterlot. I forgot all about the peace conference and there were no trains back to Ponyville until morning. If anything it almost ruined our date."

Rarity was a master of flipping her emotions on a dime when she wanted something. She was now giving Twilight a smile somewhere between impish and sultry. "It almost did. So something happened that saved the experience."

"Nothing happened," Twilight said flatly in an attempt to shut down the path of the discussion. It didn't phase Rarity in the least.

"Nooooothing...." She was now somehow mixing puppy dog eyes with flirtatious eyelash fluttering. It wasn't really working on Twilight, but it did tell her the fashionista was not dropping the subject anytime soon.

"..... We cuddled a little." Her unrestrained hoof went up to her friends muzzle to cut off the avalanche of squees she was sure was coming. "But it was more out of practicality then anything else. The only place we could find to stay was my old lab and the bed was small."

Twilight waited for the fire to die down in Rarity's eyes just a little before she decided it was safe enough for her ears to remove her hoof. The look Rarity gave told Twilight she was unconvinced. "You realize that it would be very practical for one of you to take the floor in that situation right?"

"Yes, but neither of us wanted to be rude and make the other sleep on the floor. And we weren't going to both sleep on the floor just to be polite and waste the bed. So, like I said. Practical."

Rarity deepened her stare at her model. "..... Did you like it?" Her smile was now very smug as she held Twilight's gaze.

Despite her efforts Twilight felt her face heat up just enough that she was sure Rarity would notice. "..... Yes." Twilight was worried when she didn't manage to get her hoof up to Rarity's muzzle before she could move away. Luckily the other mare seemed much more calm now.

"That really is wonderful darling. I wouldn't expect you to be moving quite that fast in your first relationship. You two must get along so well together."

Twilight felt herself blush a little more at that, but she smiled when she thought about it. "Well we've been friends for a long time now, so I guess we sort of naturally skipped over the getting to know each other part." She felt her blush deepen more. "Plus I've been learning a lot about myself just from being with her. I've been kind of realizing...." She couldn't find the words to finish the statement as her blush became too intense. Rarity's smile was entirely too knowing for her comfort at that moment as well.

"It really is peculiar just how close romantic feelings can be to that of close friends when you break it down, don't you think?"

Twilight could only nod to confirm the mares understanding. There was silence for a few minutes while Twilight calmed down and Rarity now seemed to start stripping unnecessary layers from the outfit.

"So if I might ask, how many dates have you two actually been on. You may be further along then some couples, but you've still only been going out a few weeks or so."

"Oh, well I guess it kinda depends on your definition of a date. After Canterlot we've both been a little too busy for another of those kinds of dates, but we've been trying to make time with each other as much as we can. I'm actually going to Sugar Cube Corner to join her on her lunch later today."

Rarity batted her hoof at that. "That doesn't count dear. A real date isn't lunch or drinks. I'm talking about taking a good space of time to just be with each other."

Twilight smiled warmly. "We were planning something like that this upcoming Saturday. And I guess if you define it that way, it would be our third date."

Rarity was now back in front of Twilight and giving her a very smug smile. "Third is it? My my my, that is an important one."

Twilight scowled. "You're back on that."

"I've no idea what you're talking about darling. So what were the two of you planning to do together?"

Twilight tried to maintain her scowl, but she felt her face starting to warm again. "I've been practicing my cooking. She was going to come over to the library and we were going to cook something nice but simple together. Then I was going to set up my projector and we were going to eat while watching a film or two."

Rarity's smug smile curled a little extra on one side. "Isn't that also on the night Spike was joining the crusaders for that sleep over at Sweet Apple Acres?"

"..... , ..... Ok so I've thought about it. Is that what you really wanted to hear. I really like her and I know she's more experienced then me so of course I've thought of where our relationship might go. But I'm honestly not planning for anything to happen, because more then anything or anypony in my life ever has, dating Pinkie has taught me that not having a plan doesn't have to be scary it can be fun so I'm just going to keep having fun with her and..."

Twilight finally realized how fast she was speaking as she was gently silenced by a hoof to her own muzzle. "I didn't mean to embarrass Twilight. I was honestly concerned you might be overthinking that sort of thing and I just wanted to give you an opportunity to talk about it if you needed." She smiled a sweet smile that managed to calm Twilight down. "But it seems I was underestimating both you and Pinkie Pie. And how strong the bond between the two of you has become."

Twilight's lips turned to a warm smile as the other mares hoof pulled away from her lips. "Sorry, I didn't mean to freak out. Just old habits that not even Pinkie can get rid of. But she's helping me work on it."

"It really does seem like you and Pinkie are good for each other." She resumed her pacing around her model, now removing whole sections of fabric here and there. "I'm truly happy to hear everything is going so perfectly for the two of you."

Twilight's smile remained for a few moments, but then a thought came to her that made it falter just a little. "Actually," it faltered a little more as the word seemed to instantly cause Rarity to reattach another layer. "I still don't know a lot about dating. Is it really true that it's normal for ponies to act different at the start of a relationship?"

Rarity's pace at attaching fabric slowed. "Oh, is that all?" She gave a little giggle. "In a general sense I guess it is true. Ponies tend to try to put their best hoof forward when they want the object of their affection to like them. Although some would debate and say that one should act like themselves if they want ponies to like them for who they are."

"Yeah, that second one sounds a little better to me."

Rarity seemed to notice those words make Twilight a little downcast. "What's the problem dear? You can tell me."

"... Pinkie... I think she keeps trying to act like somepony else around me."

"Oh, I'm sure she's just trying to impress you darling."

"She already did that. A long time ago when we all first became friends. I've known her long enough to know the kind of pony she really is, and I know she's been trying so hard whenever we're on a real date. When we're just doing little things together she's... her, and honestly I've had the most fun like that. Am, am I doing something wrong to make her think she still needs to act differently with me?"

Rarity hesitated, forgoing her usual dramatics in favor of looking at Twilight seriously for a few moments while she thought. "Unfortunately Twilight, I don't think I can help you with that one. All I can offer is to tell you that I think you actually are at a significant crossroad in your relationship, and for a much more serious reason then I was joking about before." Twilight gave a slight cringe at that, to which Rarity leaned forward and gave her a gentle hug through the many layers of fabric. Pulling away she asked, "have you brought this up to her yet?"

"I didn't really know how. I wasn't even sure it was happening at first. I mean, if she treats me a little differently because we're going out then I wouldn't mind that. But it seems like when she's thinking about it she tries to act like a totally different pony. I've been mostly just doing little things to get her excited to try to see if I can get her past that and get her to act like the Pinkie I know and, ... And that seems to work usually."

"Hummm. I think this is an issue you're going to have to be a little more up front about darling. But if you ask me, I think everything will be alright."

Twilight managed a small smile. "You really think so?"

Rarity met her smile with a much warmer one. "I do indeed. Now, I have some other ponies coming to model for me. I think I've done all I can with this design."

Twilight matched her smile before lighting her horn. With a flash and a pop she was suddenly standing next to the dress. She managed to snort a little laugh when she found that the "dress" had enough structure to not completely collapse to the floor when she did. Rarity gave her a scowl at that. "What, were you actually going to use that for something other then interrogation?"

Rarity turned away in mock indignance and also to hide a little color in her cheeks that was unavoidable to notice with her fur. "I really have no idea what you're talking about darling."

Twilight could only giggle at that as she stepped down from the pedestal Rarity had her on. She noticed Rarity levitating a second one over to sit next to it as her magic struggled to simultaneously hold the copious amounts of fabric together as she dragged the garment to the back. It was then that she heard the bell of the shop door jingle and the unmistakable sound of Rainbow Dash groaning.

"Ugh, how do I let you talk me into these things Shy?"

Looking over she saw Rainbow Dash barging in while Fluttershy timidly followed behind, clearly wishing Rainbow had at least knocked first. "I'm sorry Rainbow. Rarity asked me to model for her but she said she needed two pegasi. I just didn't feel comfortable asking anypony but you."

"Yeah yeah, I know. If it was anypony but you I'd never do this. Oh, hey Twilight. Rarity manage to snare you too?"

Rarity was coming back out from her back room at that moment, piles of various fabrics beside her hovering in her magic. "A lady does not snare anypony. I just need models for a very important event. The two of you will be helping me make a couple of mares very happy."

Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes at that. "Yeah, and I'm sure it's going to be a real blast while we do. At least tell me this won't take too long. What exactly are we trying on for you anyway?"

"Wedding dresses!" Rarity said with just a little too much enthusiasm in her voice. Rainbow let out another groan. Fluttershy's eyes went wide and her cheeks went red nearly instantly.

"Oh sweet Celestia this is gonna suck. You owe me big Shy. You're paying for dinner after this, and I'm taking us somewhere expensive and ordering a full course meal."

Twilight had to fight back her own blush as well as a little giggle as she could tell Fluttershy could only partially understand what was being said to her. The mare only managed a stiff nod while responding. "Um, ok. That's fine Rainbow Dash. We could do that if you want."

"Good good. There are two rooms in the back. Rainbow, you are in the left, Fluttershy on the right." Rarity had to give them each a nudge to get them moving for completely different reasons. As they passed her Twilight felt words come to her mouth before she thought them.

"You know, there's a new place in town that features Canterlot cuisine. It's really good food that's also really over priced."

Rainbow laughed at that. "Oh yeah, that sounds perfect. What do you think Shy?"

Rainbow gave her friend a gentle hip bump at the words, but she was unaware that in her state it nearly took the other mare off her hooves. She didn't manage a response before they were off the shop floor.

Rarity came to stand next to Twilight with a devious smile. "Marvelously done darling." Twilight felt herself blushing at what she realized she'd just done. "Twenty bits says I have those two swooning for each other within two weeks."

For some reason Twilight's mind flashed back to a conversation between herself and Pinkie Pie. Once again words appeared in her mouth. "I'll go forty on it taking two months."

Rarity was caught off guard, but she was more impressed then shocked. "Oh ho, jumping in with all four hooves. I'll take that action. Not even Applejack thought Rainbow would be that dense about it."

Both mares shared a laugh as they bumped hooves in agreement. As Twilight turned to leave she heard the doors to the back opening.

"Wow. Shy, that actually looks really good on you."

***
Elsewhere in Ponyville
Later that day

"Thanks Mrs. Cake. I'll have all the signs for the sale done by tomorrow I promise."

Pinkie Pie couldn't quite hear the older mares response as she walked through the door to her room on the upper floor of the bakery. Her work day was done, but she was bound for a lot of extra time later, which given her mood she really didn't mind. Without closing her door and without removing her apron she made her way over to her mirror. She smiled at a small flower pinned delicately to her aprons strap. Her marefriend had apparently picked it on her way to meet her, having thought it matched her eyes perfectly. Looking at it now Pinkie could tell she'd been right. However, this for some reason now caused her smile to turn down just a little.

After removing the garment carefully she now turned with a purpose. "Gummy, I was right. I'm really going to need your help if this is going to keep working." The small alligator was still in basically the same place he'd been when she'd left her room earlier, except with his head slightly turned to the side. "Ah great, I see you've been super busy while I've been gone. It happened again. I don't have enough time to prepare for these small dates so I end up messing stuff up, just like I did on our last date. I hope you managed to prepare the list I needed."

At this point Pinkie seemed to break from her one way dialog and quickly dart over to her nightstand to dig through a drawer. She slipped back over to Gummy and slipped a scroll under the small reptiles claw, an action that left him stiffly teetering on top of it as his tale held him aloft.

Pinkie slipped back to her original position before speaking again. "Great Gummy, I can always count on you. Lists work for Twilight so I'm sure they can help me." She slid the list out from where she'd just placed it before taking it into her hooves and allowing it to unfurl.

It continued to unfurl all the way across her floor and out her open door. Light taps could be heard as it seemed to now be rolling down the stairs, followed soon after by the sound of the bell on the front door to the bakery ringing as the scroll was now apparently rolling it's way through the streets of Ponyville.

"Ah yes, my complete list of all the things I could do to make Twilight hate me and not want to be my marefriend anymore. If I know all the ways I can screw up then I can avoid them and everything will be perfect. Eh-hem:"

"Number one: Being too clingy."

"Number two: Not being clingy enough."

"Number three: Kissing her too much."

"Number four: Not kissing her enough."

"Number five: Being too excited."

From behind her Gummy seemed to randomly and silently open his mouth. Pinkie somehow seemed to hear this and turned to him and stared in apparent shock and confusion.

"What... Don't be silly Gummy." She said this as she recovered from her shock and gave a yank on the scroll. A few moments later she heard the door to the bakery close again just before she caught the scroll as it rolled back into her hooves. "Of course she wouldn't like me anymore if I acted like myself. No pony ever liked me like that after they got to know me like that before." She said this with a gentle smile that didn't reach her eyes as she tapped her pet on the head in playful reprimand. Then even the hollow smile faded. "Of course, neither did acting like the exact opposite of myself." Her ears drooped and her hair flattened a little as she continued. "Or anything in between so far."

She then brightened up almost instantly, her smile almost so big on her face somepony might think it looked painful. "But that's why you made me the list Gummy. Now that I know what the problems are I can avoid them." Her smile turned down again as she looked over to a table on the side of her room. There stood a picture of her and all her friends together. She focused in on the purple unicorn hugging tight against her in the image. "And I really really want to avoid them this time." Her smile rose just a little but was not as happy as her usual ones. "She's worth all of it. Now I gotta get those signs made. If I manage to finish them tonight I get to take all day off tomorrow to prepare for Saturday."

Author's Note

Ok, first a serious question. I never used any obviously suggestive language, but did the way I play with the subject in this chapter go far enough that I should add a tag to worn about it? Let me know in the comments if you could.
Other then that I'm still fifty fifty on this chapter. On one hand I want the conflict to be out in the open finally, but I also feel like I was a little blunt about it. Especially with pinkies part. If there is no pinkie part then you'll know something didn't survive another edit. That would at least bring it closer to the length I thought it would be originally. Let me know what you think good or bad.

Third date

Pinkie stared at the door. She took several deep, calming breaths, and then a few more. She went over her plans in her head again just to be sure she knew what she was doing.

Shaking somewhat, she finally raised a hoof. She was expected at six o'clock, which meant she had no more time to prepare in exactly three.
Two.
One.

***

A wide smile spread across Pinkie's face as she gave an enthusiastic knock on her marefriends door. She pranced in place happily as the contents of the saddlebags she wore shuffled rhythmically. Her smile grew even brighter as the door opened and she saw Twilight's face smiling back at her.

Twilight couldn't help but give a little giggle as she opened the door. She had decided to test a theory, and had discovered that Pinkie Pie would indeed show up at EXACTLY when she had promised. How she had even seemed to time it down to the second to the clock in her house could almost be disconcerting if it was any other pony, but being Pinkie just made it interesting and amusing.

"You know, one of these days I feel like I need to find a way to figure out what is in your head that makes you so interesting."

Pinkie smiled a little wider, then a little smaller, at the inquisitive smirk in front of her. "Well, that's an interesting way to tell somepony 'hi'", Pinkie chirped as cheerfully as she thought was appropriate.

"Well you are an interesting pony to say 'hi' to. I have to at least try to keep up with your antics don't I?"

Pinkie Pie was thinking of a way to gently and cheerfully tell Twilight that she, in fact, didn't have to do that at all. But before the thought got too far it was derailed by soft lips meeting hers.

She found herself wanting to deepen the kiss but thought better of it. Twilight still managed to sneak in one more small peck as Pinkie pulled away. She smiled big, but not too big, as Twilight gave her a slanted smirk and took a step to the side in the doorway.

"Come on in. I think I have everything we need, but I'm still not sure. I'm looking forward to learning from somepony who knows their way around the kitchen, but is maybe just a little less snarky then Spike."

Pinkie couldn't help but to let out a little snort of a giggle. "I can keep the snark under control, but you might have to deal with a little sass." The humor made Twilight give a full smile as she led the way into the modest kitchen of her library home. Pinkie pronked behind.

Twilight raised a forehoof to display her preparations, blushing just a little knowing she'd need to explain. Pinkie just smiled a knowing smile. "So, exactly how many times did you burn the sauce?"

".... Seventeen." She said this while somewhat deflating and lowering her presenting hoof as well as her head. "So Spike finally gave up on showing me how and said that the store bought stuff would be fine if we were just having a simple night in." She said this while looking up and now more sheepishly gesturing to the assortment of various jars she had sitting on her counter.

Pinkie sauntered over and looked between them all for a few moments. She picked out a couple before replying. "He was right, they will be. Once I'm done with them." She gave a cocky wink to the other mare before she could catch herself. She felt that she could still make up for it though. Her smile became wide again. "You take your coffee with cream and sugar, right?"

When Pinkie looked back to Twilight from where she had now set down her assortment of sauces she thought she saw her expression shifting from a frown. Luckily it changed very quickly into mild surprise as she quirked her head in confusion. "Uh, yeah. Usually, if I'm not on a three day studying binge and have turned to just drinking it straight from the pot. Why?"

Pinkie hopped to the fridge, bobbing her tail happily as she opened and briefly looked around before holding her prize aloft. "Because, it means you have cream we can use and I'm going to show you how to turn regular old pasta sauce into the super-duperest cream sauce you've ever had."

Twilight seemed taken aback at this as she took the now presented dairy container in her magic. "Are you sure? Spike gave up on trying to teach me to cook years ago. It took me hours to convince him to let me try again and he still gave up after only a few hours." She smiled self-consciously at the confession but was caught off guard when she noticed pinkie had suddenly stepped close and brought their muzzles within inches.

"I can give you incentives for learning that he can't." She then gave her marefriend a small peck on her snout. "So, are you up to trying to learn again?"

Twilight was not going to admit it just yet, but Pinkie seemed to have already found nearly all her buttons and managed to push nearly all of them with that question. Feeling almost a little light headed with the intensity of her blush she could only manage to nod her head.

Pinkie knew that one had landed exactly as she wanted it to as Twilight's blush became very pronounced. It was perfect. Now all she had to do was sneak a flirty kiss and not say it. And why wouldn't she not say it. She knew it should be said and that anypony who cared about Twilight should say it, but she didn't need to, at least right now, it could wait, don't ruin the perfect moment...

"... But Twilight," 'oh ganache donuts'! The spell was completely broken with just the two simple words, and she knew there was no way to stop the rest. "Staying up for that long with nothing but coffee is like really super bad for you, and I would know, I've been on waaaaaaaay too many three day sugar rushes and I never feel good after, not even after waking up from the sugar crash. I mean, if you like really super needed to I guess you could, but I just think it would be..."

Her ramble came to an end as Twilight stopped resisting the urge and moved herself forward. Their lips locked deeply, but not as long as either mare would have liked based on how slowly they pulled away.

"Well then, how about from now on we just watch out for each other. You make sure I don't drink too much coffee, and I'll keep you away from the Cake's sugar store room. Deal?"

Pinkie was mostly focused on the kiss, and how it clearly meant she was still doing ok. Better then ok, if the tingling in her lips was to be believed. But even as she could still only just manage to nod at the question she knew she had to get back on track. As Twilight pulled away and she could see her smile, her perfect perfect smile, she knew she had to be perfect too. Twilight was worth it, so no more side tracks, no more rambling, no more getting too excited. She just needed a few more seconds to calm down and she'd be ok. Just turn away, give herself something else to focus on, like the plastic bag on the counter full of...

"What???!!!" Twilight turned suddenly at her marefriends outburst. When she did she saw her holding up a plastic bag by its sealed side, but holding it away from herself as though it were dangerous. "Twilight, what in Equestria is THIS???!!!"

More than a little shocked she could only mumble out a reply. "It's, umm... bread?"

For possibly the first time Twilight had ever seen, Pinkie seemed to become very annoyed. Yet the voice she used next came out slow and measured. "Twilight, you are literally dating a baker. I cannot stress enough the importance of you understanding that bread does not come from a supermarket. I would not let my worst enemy eat processed and enriched bread from the store, much less my marefriend whom I care about very much."

Though the statement made her blush, Twilight was still a little in shock and wanted to try to explain herself as carefully as she could. "I know you're a baker, that's why I thought it would be best if I got bread in advance. I didn't want you to have to do something on our date that felt like work. That's also why I didn't get it from Sugarcube Corner. I just figured if I got the best bread the regular store had it would probably be ok."

Pinkie tossed her head back in a huff that would make Rarity proud. "Well, if it is the best thing Barnyard Bargains had then it probably is good enough." She walked past Twilight and set the plastic bag on the other side of the kitchen where it would be out of the way. "We'll give it to Fluttershy, I'm sure her birds will love it."

Twilight was still taken aback, and yet that part made her giggle. "Pinkie, that just might be the meanest thing I think I've ever heard you say. And yet still I don't think it was in the least bit mean."

Pinkie was luckily turned away from Twilight as she was digging through the saddle bags she'd left at the entrance of the kitchen. She did her best to keep calm as she thought hard on how to erase the last couple minutes of time. She laughed in a way she hoped didn't sound nervous. "Ha ha, well you know I am a baker. I might not usually specialize in bread, but every baker needs to be able to bake good bread before they can move on to other stuff." She turned to give Twilight a smile she hoped didn't look too forced.

Twilight walked over to nuzzle into her in what could be mistaken for a comforting way. "Sorry."

"..... Why are you sorry?"

"I know you love your job, I should have realized that you'd prefer doing something like that fresh."

"It's not hard, I promise it won't take up too much of our night."

Twilight pulled away and smiled at that. "Ok, but you've gotta let me help. I have to do something to make up for insulting your pride as a baker don't I?"

Pinkie considered how to handle this, not wanting to think Twilight had in any way insulted her. But she had had a special plan for the night, and this was probably the best opening she would get. "Uuuumm, well not that I'm really insulted, but if you insist you could let me show off a little." This made Twilight quirk her head, clearly intrigued. Pinkie did her best to put on a smug smile as she pulled out extra ingredients with what she was already getting for the bread. "Have you ever had freshly made pasta noodles before?"

Pinkie was happy when that made Twilight's eyes light up with intrigue. "You can do that?"

Pinkie somehow managed to pronk back to the counter while carrying the various ingredients. "Yuparuny, and it's really not much harder than making bread. If you know how to do it." She gave Twilight a playful wink and gestured for her to join her at the counter.

Pinkie seemed to take great joy in showing Twilight just how easy it was to make a good bread dough. She explained that most of the potentially complicated parts of the process came after the bread had actually risen. After setting it aside to do so they started on another dough. Twilight now saw why Pinkie Pie had said this part would involve showing off.

"Pinkie, I don't think I could do that with magic. How in Equestria are you doing it with hooves?"

Knowing Twilight was watching her hooves and not her face, Pinkie allowed herself a slightly self-satisfied smile as she worked the dough. With practiced skill she stretched the dough, folded it in half, and stretched it out some more, adding flour here and there to keep the forming noodles from sticking together. She decided to just turn and give Twilight a wink at the praise as she gave them one last big pull to get them to the desired thickness. With a flourish, she grabbed a knife from a drawer and gave it a spin in her hoof as she cut off the excess and cut them down to the desired size. She took them straight to a waiting pot to cook right after.

When she turned around after doing so she found her marefriend had sat down on her haunches so she could clop her hooves together in applause. Blushing slightly, Pinkie decided to give a little bow. Twilight actually found herself feeling more than a little glad that she had made so many kitchen faux pas to start their date. Pinkie was obviously very comfortable in a kitchen and Twilight liked seeing her that way.

"I always knew you were a great baker, but I had no idea you knew how to do stuff like this."

Pinkie was now humming and bobbing her head happily as she began pouring the jars of sauce she had picked out earlier into a waiting sauce pan. She started adding various things to it from a discovered spice cabinet as it started to heat up. "Oh it's nothing that big. Most good bakers are good chefs too."

"Really?"

"Yuparuny, it's all about being confident in the kitchen. This is all stuff the Cake's taught me, same as baking."

Twilight thought on that a moment as she brought over the cream for the sauce. "I guess that makes sense. Kind of how it was easy for me to become a librarian because of how much time I've spent in libraries over the years."

Pinkie nodded her agreement as she mixed the cream Twilight was pouring into the sauce with the other ingredients she had added. When she finished she held the spoon out to Twilight. Twilight still blushed just a little when she realized what she was doing but still leaned forward to sample the new creation nonetheless. To her surprise Pinkie suddenly moved the sauce covered spoon forward and ended up dabbing a glob of it onto her nose. Twilight crossed her eyes at the feeling before noticing the barely contained laughter on the face of the other mare. Twilight purposefully gave the most obvious fake glare she could at the gesture. Thankfully Pinkie giggled at it as she sampled a taste from the spoon itself. Twilight scrunched up her face as she stretched her tongue out to get her sample from where it had been smeared.

At her tongues first contact with the substance her horn glowed to life seemingly of its own volition. Pinkie was caught off guard as the spoon was suddenly yanked from her hoof and she turned to find Twilight already licking it clean. She smiled brightly at this.

"I guess that means you approve." Twilight could only nod as she proceeded to lick the spoon clean. She then blushed deeply as she realized just how childish what she had just done must look. Pinkie didn't seem to mind as she took the spoon back, taking it to the sink to give it a rinse before giving the pot of sauce another stir. Now you know why a baker's dozen exists. We like to sample too you know."

Twilight turned quizzical at that. "Is that really true?"

Pinkie just shrugged as she pulled their now risen dough towards her. "It's what I've always been told, and it makes perfect sense to me." She said this while flashing a goofy smile. "Speaking of which, do you want to help me roll this out into rolls. If we try to do a loaf it'll take waaaaaaay too long."

It took more time, and flour, then Pinkie would have imagined, but Twilight finally got the hang of the process. With one minor hitch as they were finishing.

"Pinkie, there can't be five on the last row."

"But why not? If we don't then there won't be a bakers dozen."

"I'm pretty sure these are going to be amazing and we don't need to sample them. I just," Twilight paused to bite her lip briefly. "You know I'm a neurotic mess, right?"

"Yup, it's one of the cutest things about you." Pinkie smiled warmly.

Twilight gave a sigh of relief. "So hopefully you understand that if one row is uneven it's going to bug me all night. And possibly into tomorrow if one of us eats it."

Pinkie stopped herself. As cute as she did find Twilight's freakouts to be, she felt she had already pushed her luck too far at this point. She didn't need to tease at Twilight's ocd, even if she was sure it would be fun for the both of them if she did. She maintained her smile as she tried to think of an alternative way to keep the mood light, but not too light.

She smiled bigger as she extended a hoof. "Well that's probably OK Twilight, but if you really need the number to be even we could always use that one."

Twilight raised her own hoof to the side of her head, then pulled it away when it touched something sticky. She gaped at her own hoof as she spoke. "How did I get that much dough in my mane?"

Pinkie giggled at her expression. "Probably the same way I got whipped caramel in mine."

Twilight smiled at the memory, but still blushed as she realized the current state she must be in based on how much flour they'd gone through. "I think I need a quick trip to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

"And I'll get all twelve of these rolls into the oven."

Twilight smiled as she turned to leave.

The moment Twilight was out of the room Pinkie deflated noticeably. She let out a sigh before grumbling under her breath. "Keep it together Pinkamina. You were doing good, but that would have been way too much. More than anything else you can't be too much."

She proceeded to put the last of the rolls in place as she did her best to cheer herself up.

Just outside the door to the kitchen Twilight listened to the rolls go in the oven from where she had decided to linger. She gave a heavy but silent sigh as she continued to the bathroom.

A few minutes later saw Twilight returned to the kitchen refreshed. She gave her marefriend a wide smile when she found her digging through the fridge.

"Welcome back cutie, you ready to finish up?"

Twilight nodded. "Sure. There were just salads left right?"

"Uh-huh. And that is easy peasy lemonsqueezy. Although not really, unless we were going to do Mediterranean."

Twilight genuinely smiled at the dumb joke. "Let's just keep it basic. That way I can still help without needing to go get cleaned up again."

The two fixed themselves two picture perfect salads. Twilight was delighted when Pinkie felt playful enough to keep adding croutons and cherry tomatoes to hers whenever she turned her head. Not to be outdone, Twilight quickly used her magic to carefully reshape several pieces of lettuce into hearts and slipped them into Pinkie's dish. She turned away to seem nonchalant when Pinkie noticed the addition to her own salad, but was delighted to hear a little giggle of delight come from the mare.

Since they still had some time left before their rolls were done they determined it was a good time to decide on their entertainment for the evening. Twilight had put a lot of thought into where she should set up her projector. It was honestly the first time in her life she ever actually asked herself the question, 'which would be more romantic?' She came to the conclusion that while using the pillows and cushions she normally used while reading did seem more romantic for watching a movie, trying to eat on them as well would probably spoil that romance. So she had set up her projector behind her couch, but had made liberal use of cushions to enhance the comfort and hopefully the intimate nature.

What they still needed to set up about the whole thing was what they were actually going to watch. And Twilight had had a great idea about that. In amongst her selections of nerd classics, she had procured a few movies that she thought would be appropriate for a date. Mostly just a few romances, but one in particular had caught her eye. A romantic comedy she had heard leaned much harder into the comedy.

It seemed like exactly the sort of thing Pinkie would love. And it seemed like she was right. Twilight had left the small selection of films in a box next to the projector and told her marefriend she could pick the first movie. And as she bobbed her head as she hoofed through the selection Twilight couldn't help but notice she lingered on that one for a few moments longer than the rest. But to Twilight's disappointment she did end up passing it up. She flipped through the selection once more before stopping on the, very obviously, most used film of the bunch.

Twilight smiled at her, but she didn't feel all of it. While she obviously was the type that loved to watch Space Odyssey at least once a month, it definitely wasn't a great movie for watching with a date. Especially a date who Twilight could tell was probably not going to enjoy it.

"I've never actually seen this one. Is it really as amazing and sci-fi as ponies say?"

"It is one of my favorites, if you can deal with a slow pace then we definitely could watch it."

Pinkie did smile at that, but Twilight was starting to recognize Pinkie's less Pinkie smiles, and that definitely was one. Nonetheless she trotted over with the film in hoof. "Well then, since I have no idea how to work a projector, you can get that ready while I go check on the rolls."

Twilight thought about it for just a second, then caught the mare in her magical aura as she passed. It was just enough to redirect her and turn her right back around to where she had been a moment before. "Nope," Twilight chirped, smiling at the confused look on the other pony. "You get to help me. That way the next time we have a movie night you can set it up and I can do something extra special for you in the kitchen."

And that was the Pinkie smile she liked to see. "Okiedokiloki," Pinkie sing-songed happily, in a way Twilight knew meant she could barely contain her excitement. It made Twilight almost wish the process of setting up the film took much longer. The way Pinkie followed along with her as she helped was just what she liked to see in her. "Oh, so it's really just that easy?"

Twilight nodded with a smirk as she clicked the last piece into place. "Totally not hard for a pony as smart as you."

Pinkie giggled at the compliment. "You still showed me how to do it, so you're still the smart marefriend."

"We'll see how that stands up when we try out those noodles and bread you made. You're still the genius in the kitchen when I struggle to simmer pasta sauce." They both stepped away from the machine, Twilight managing to sneak in a playful hip bump as they did so.

At this Pinkie smiled again, then her nose went into the air. "Speaking of which, I think dinner is officially ready."

"You can tell just by smell?" Twilight questioned as she followed Pinkie as she pronked into the kitchen.

"Absoluteatutilty!" Pinkie sang as she pulled the oven open. "Hmmmmmm. Sweets are my passion, but there's just something about some good bread when it's fresh. Don't you think so Twilight?"

With the oven now open Twilight could tell what Pinkie had been smelling. She couldn't help but lean in as the other mare took up oven mitts and pulled out the delicate little miniature loaves. "Soooooo. What do you think of your first bread?"

Twilight blushed as a perfect line came to her. "Our first bread, from our first time baking together. And not the last if it's going to keep turning out this good."

Pinkie giggled at that as Twilight noticed some color come to her cheeks as well. "Oh, be careful there. Baking is so super fun you'll end up getting addicted. You'll end up leaving me just so you can have more time to bake." Pinkie fought hard to keep her smile from faltering. She hadn't meant to say the last part. Putting the idea of leaving her into Twilight's head was the last thing she wanted.

Twilight only scoffed a laugh at that. "Yeah, because baking with anypony but you could totally be fun."

Pinkie waited until Twilight turned around to let out a breath she barely realized she'd been holding. It came with a sigh of relief. She didn't notice Twilight's ear twitch at the sound.

Twilight used her magic to help the process of getting their plates of pasta, rolls, and salads into the living room for them. She also floated out a bottle of cider Applejack had given her for the occasion when she had asked if it was okay for Spike to join the Crusaders on this night. She could only smile a small smile as she used her magic to pull her curtains and extinguish all the candles as she clicked on the projector.

As the images of prehistoric ponies started playing on screen, Twilight couldn't help but to glance over to the pony sharing the couch with her. While Twilight loved this movie, it didn't exactly give her very many opportunities to be romantic. She decided to focus on her food, twisting a nice forkful of her fresh made pasta and raising it to her mouth.

"Oh my goodness Pinkie, this is the best pasta I've ever tasted."

Pinkie did not seem in the least bit bothered by having the movie interrupted. She turned with a proud smile on her face. With that they ended up talking through the first few minutes of the movie as Twilight gushed more about the food and how talented Pinkie was as a chef.

Noticing how much of the movie had passed Twilight smiled bashfully. "Umm, sorry. I made you miss the whole start of the movie."

"It's okay, unless you explained it the whole way through I don't think I'd get it anyway."

"Oh please, it's not that hard to understand and you're way smarter than you give yourself credit for." In the dim light Twilight could still tell that made Pinkie smile happily and blush just a little. This prompted her to go on. "But I guess since I've seen it so many times, we could just talk through the whole movie and I can tell you all about it."

Pinkie smiled even brighter at this. "I love it when you go full nerd. Ok, what the hey is up with the big black thingy?"

Despite the length of the film and how good the food was, neither pony had finished their meals by the time the credits were rolling. Not wanting such good food to go to waste, Twilight used her magic to warm their pasta and cool their salads.

"Well I guess that solves the question of if we'll have time for another movie," she said as she finished the process. Her horn still glowed enough to see Pinkie smiling a very Pinkie smile at that. This made her next decision easy. "Guess it's my turn to pick then." She twisted her body around, subtly using the action to scoot closer to her marefriend. She reset her projector easily with her magic, swapping out the film for a specific, special one.

"Oh," Pinkie said with just the smallest bit of hesitation as the movie started. "I didn't think you actually liked movies like this Twilight."

Twilight smiled. "I've been thinking a lot more about romance lately. And I've also been learning the value of a good laugh as well."

Pinkie couldn't resist lunging forward for a kiss at that moment. It was a welcome action to Twilight, even if she did pull away a little quicker then she would have liked her to. Pinkie then took a big slurp of her noodles to try to occupy herself. Twilight couldn't see her well in the low light, but she could tell she was still being apprehensive. Luckily that was short lived as something Twilight wasn't paying attention to must have happened in the movie. The sight of Pinkie's cheeks bulging as she tried not to spew her food everywhere in laughter was enough to break the moment for Twilight as well.

Now paying attention to the movie managed to lighten the mood overall. What Twilight had heard about the movie had been right, it was very funny and neither mare could deny it. Less than ten minutes in and neither could stop laughing for much longer then to take a few more bites of their food. It led to a particularly amusing scene that had them both wheezing almost uncomfortably. As their laughter finally died down, they realized that in their mirth they seemed to have sought out the others' embrace.

Twilight had a moment then. This was a moment that felt right. Laughing without a care in the world, and Pinkie Pie being close by. As they sat, pressed together with their legs slightly tangled. She noticed Pinkie have a moment of indecision, but before she could act on it Twilight was already moving.

Their lips met. Not their most intense kiss thus far, but definitely their most intense in private. At the corner of her attention Twilight realized that the movie had seemed to take their queue and had shifted away from the comedy and into the romantic part. And as she noticed Pinkie panting slightly as their kiss broke, she felt inclined to push the romance further herself.

Instincts she didn't know she had seemed to take over as her forelegs reached out to wrap around the mare in front of her. It was a surprisingly good feeling to be pulling her marefriend in close to her like this. Her legs seemed to wrap her up in a way that just felt, right.

Twilight had to break the kiss again, suddenly realizing she hadn't taken a breath in some time. She pulled back to inhale deeply, but used the clearance to lean herself forward. She placed her forehead against the other mare's chest in order to take a minute to breath. That's when she noticed the other mares forelegs. They sat there, half way reaching out to her. Trembling.

That, that felt wrong.

Pinkie forced a smile as Twilight breathed into her chest. Then she reeled it back. Then she smiled again. In her head she kept trying to remember: 'Don't be too much'. But as she forced her hooves not to reach out to the mare gripping her tightly she could no longer decide what too much was.

"Twilight... You, you don't have to push yourself. Unless you're not pushing yourself, then it's OK." The words were spilling out without her control now. "Unless you're pushing yourself because you want to push yourself. But you don't have to if you think you need to for me. I mean, unless it's me, or it's not me, or..." Her words finally stopped as purple hooves were removed from around her. Her last words came out barely a whimper. "I just, don't want you to do something you don't want to."

".... Pinkie, what's wrong?" Pinkie was caught off guard as Twilight's horn glowed to life, shutting off the projector and re-lighting the room with a single quick spark.

Pinkie smiled even bigger, closing her eyes in the process. "What? Nothing's wrong Twilight, why would you think something is wrong?" Pinkie drew back at the contact as a hoof touched her cheek. Said hoof only reached forward again to gently caress the soft pink fur of the cheek.

"Because this isn't your smile. Your normal smile has so much joy in it. This one... almost looks painful."

Pinkie kept her eyes closed as she kept talking. "Don't be silly Twilight. It's just me, regular ol' Pinkie Pie. Smiling 'cause I love to see ponies smile."

"Pinkie..." Pinkie's eyes finally snapped open as she could hear the distinct sound of a small sob in her marefriends voice. Pinkie's mind immediately went into overdrive as she went through every scenario she had thought of to figure out what she had done wrong. "... am I doing something wrong?"

"No. No no no no no. You would never do something wrong. If there's something wrong I.. I'm sure it's my fault. And, and I'll fix it. Just please don't cry and please please please don't break...." Pinkie cut herself off before she could vocalize the idea, even though in her mind she knew where this was going.

Twilight seemed to have caught on anyway. "Why.. why would you think I would break up with you. Obviously I'm the one doing something wrong if, if you won't even be yourself around me anymore."

Pinkie tried to brush off the accusation, waving her hoof in the air as she responded and pushing her smile even harder. "What? That's silly Twilight. It's just me, Pinkie Pie. Just here being Pinkie Pie like always." Her smile felt shakey as she tried to figure out why her vision seemed to be getting blurry.

"Pinkie... we decided we didn't need to be formal with this whole dating thing because we already knew each other so well. I know the kind of pony you are, and you haven't been acting like that. So is the Pinkie I knew before not the real Pinkie, or are you trying to act differently now that we're dating? Are you trying to be a pony you think I want you to be?"

Pinkie finally couldn't keep the smile on her face as she noticed tears start running down her face. She couldn't find the will to turn away to hide it. "Of... of course I'm trying to be a different pony for you. If I don't try to be a different pony then you won't like me anymore. Just like everypony else who's ever gotten to know me, they think I'm just fun Pinkie Pie all the time and then they don't like it when I'm not or they think they can handle me when I'm being too much but then they don't want to or they think I want to date them just because I date everypony and they can just brush it off or just leave when they're done or...."

In the midst of her rambling Pinkie noticed the feeling of her face touching the cushion of the couch as she dropped lower and lower as she went. She also felt the feeling of her usual poofy mane getting damp with her tears as it slumped limply on the cushion around her.

Twilight had to take a minute to respond at all to what had just happened. All she could think to do when she did was reach a shaking hoof to the literally deflated pony before her. She was cut off before she made contact.

"I.. it's ok Twilight." The voice was surprisingly calm for the state of the mare it was coming from. "I pretty much knew how this was going to happen from the start. I just kinda hoped..." She paused to take a few steadying breaths. "It's just ok. I'll be ok to leave in a little while. But yes, I still want to be friends after if you aren't too upset after dumping me."

Twilight felt her heart breaking at the nearly unrecognizable voice coming from the mare as she looked down at her. She didn't know what to do at a moment like this. No book had covered anything remotely close to this. But there was one thing she did know.

"Pinkie, I don't want you to go anywhere." She moved slowly and gently, coming to lay in front of her fallen marefriend where she had slumped. Even more gently she scooted herself forward until she was almost face to face with the silently crying mare.

Pinkie tensed at a feeling, then realized it was a familiar foreleg being placed over her own. Since she was not actually laying down, having just slumped forward until her face met the surface, she nearly tumbled forward when her head shot up at the contact. She was shocked when the top of her snout made contact with her marefriends chin. This caused her to pull away, one hoof sliding off the side of the couch, and the rest of her following. She fell onto her side on the floor with a small thud, but couldn't react to it right away as she quickly looked back up and saw the face of the mare above her.

Twilight was still upset, and at the fall she was concerned, but seeing Pinkie like this forced her to let out just the smallest giggle. She was able to give a caring smile as she spoke again. She slid off the couch to come sit on the floor in front of her. "When you're ready to talk, I'll be right here."

Pinkie was clearly stunned by this, the rest of her body relaxing where it had fallen as she vaguely noticed her hair seem to pull itself from in front of her face. "You, you don't want me to go?"

Twilight shook her head gently.

Pinkie felt herself begin to relax more, but drew back again. "B..but you still want to break up with me right?"

Twilight's head shook even more definitely. Pinkie thought she noticed a little color come to her cheeks. "That, was probably the literal furthest thing from my mind tonight."

Pinkie was taken aback by this. After some time looking into the face above her the only thing she could think to say was, "why?"

Twilight couldn't help but to smile as she noticed Pinkie's mane seemed to be literally inflating itself as she watched. "Because having you as a marefriend has been the most interesting, most revealing, most fun time of my life. I'm not going to end it just because I can't figure out why you keep trying to act differently when we're on dates."

At this Pinkie actually managed to relax herself, managing to turn herself over and sit up so she was facing her marefriend. She couldn't quite look directly to her face as she spoke.

"I'm sor.."

Her words were cut off as she felt something boop against her nose, a small squeak managing to come from it at the contact. Looking up she saw Twilight smiling warmly to her. She then crossed her eyes to see a tissue held in a purple magical aura pressed against her snout.

"Blow. You'll feel better after I promise."

For the first time in a while Pinkie felt the edges of her lips go up without having to tell them to. She inhaled deeply, then blew a trumpeting breath into the offered tissue, pulling away quickly and blushing slightly when she did. To her surprise Twilight gave a little giggle to the action. It still took her a minute, but that was what made her finally able to explain.

"I.. I'm sorry if I made you upset. I just really really really wanted it to work between us and I don't know what to do to make that happen."

Twilight now became slightly apprehensive at that, thinking of something that might have played a role in this. "Does this... have something to do with me not knowing if I wanted to go out with you at first? Because," she felt herself blush at the admission she was about to make. "... You should know that I've really come to realize a few things about myself since then."

"No, it's not that at all. I've been turned down enough times to not be too upset by that anymore."

Twilight's chest tightened at the look of hurt that came to Pinkie's face at that. She quickly leaned forward and pulled her into a tight hug before any more tears could find their way to her eyes.

"Why would anypony turn you down Pinkie. You're one of the most wonderful ponies I've ever met. A.. and I thought you had, you know... dated nearly every available pony in town."

Pinkie wanted to pull away at that, but the forelegs that were wrapped around her felt too comforting to allow her to. She instead leaned in more, burying her face into her marefriends shoulder. "No. Not really anyway. Most ponies at least agree to one pity date with me, but I.. I don't think many of them really cared. And even when they did, I still managed to chase them away."

Pieces started clicking into place in Twilight's mind. "I'm sorry Pinkie."

Pinkie pulled away, frowning at the words. "What do you have to be sorry about?"

"Because... At one point after I'd heard about your, reputation, I might have been a little more hesitant about it because I thought... oh my goodness this is going to sound horrible." She openly cringed at what she was about to say. An encouraging look from Pinkie helped her go on. "I thought, that you might have just been asking me out because I was the next in line. But that's just not the kind of pony you are." She added on the last part before a look of hurt could cross Pinkie's face.

Pinkie still couldn't help some sadness come over her features. "Of course not. I've heard some ponies say that in different ways, but it's just not true. I'd never go out with somepony if I didn't think they were a great pony to go out with. It's just that there are so many special ponies in the world. And I, I guess I can kinda get a little overzealous in showing that."

Twilight smiled. "I've heard it described as you being, 'a smitten kitten'." Pinkie quirked an eyebrow at that. Twilight just shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I think it actually stems from one of the best things about you, and that is your ability to see the good in everypony. Everypony and everything." Her words seemed to be making Pinkie feel better, a genuine smile widening on her lips. The mention of this subject did make a question, and a blush, come to Twilight. "So, since you didn't ask me out just because I was available, why did you?"

The smile on Pinkie's face became dreamy at that. "I already told you that." It was now Twilight's turn to quirk her head in question. Pinkie nodded her head in confirmation. "The same day I asked you out silly." The memory came to Twilight, making her blush deepen. Pinkie smiled a very Pinkie smile at that. "I think you're super fun, super smart, super cool, and super cute. I still do, but even more now then I did then." She was smiling brightly at the memory now, but Twilight noticed it when something else seemed to come to her mind and make the smile faulter some.

"What's wrong?"

Pinkie shook her head before Twilight could become too concerned. "Nothing, it's just that that's why I was trying so hard. Out of all the amazing ponies I've ever tried to date you're the most super amazing I've ever met. So I, I just didn't want to make any of the same mistakes I must have made with all the other ponies. I.. it's why I had such a hard time figuring out how to act when we were on dates. It's why I only brought you flowers when I asked you out. It's even why I waited to ask you for as long as I did."

Twilight felt her fading blush come back at that. "W, when exactly did you first want to ask me out?"

Pinkie now began to blush and looked away sheepishly. "I, kinda wanted to ask you out when I planned the giant party to welcome you to Ponyville."

Both their blushes intensified.

"That.. that might have been a little early. I didn't even know how I felt about friendship back then. I'd have probably freaked out at that back then."

Pinkie's smile became forced again as she responded to this. "Yeah. I've learned the hard way not to be that forward with ponies. Mares especially." Her hoof seemed to unconsciously go up and brush her cheek at that.

Twilight grimaced at that. She moved forward, feeling the need to comfort the mare. She pressed their cheeks together, rubbing gently to ease the moment. "If it makes you feel better, you probably could have made Applejack the winner of the bet and been ok."

Pinkie pulled away, genuinely confused now. Twilight had to bite her lip at the attention being given to her now. "But, you weren't even sure you wanted to go out with me when I did ask."

"Like I said, I've been learning a lot, especially about myself, since we started dating." Her cheeks felt like they were burning at the moment. "I, think I might have had a crush on you for a while. I just didn't realize that it was what I was feeling."

Pinkie let out a gasp at this. "Really?"

Twilight seemed to become even more embarrassed at that. She had to clench her eyes shut as she continued. "Pinkie... I literally followed you around all day long, watching you out of high powered binoculars and documenting every detail I could about you. Every flop of your ears, every twitch of your tail, every movement of your hips Oh sweet Celestia this sounds so bad now that I'm finally saying it out loud." She sighed a deep sigh and with effort managed to pry one eye open to peek at the other mare.

To her relief she found the other mare smiling an embarrassed smile. "You know, you're not the only pony who likes to do research. None of that really sounds all that bad because I try to watch ponies reeeeeally closely so I know how to throw really fun parties for them."

This managed to make Twilight smile, an action that Pinkie followed. "So despite how weird it might seem on paper, we really are a pretty well matched couple aren't we."

Pinkie Pie's only reaction to this was to move forward and pull Twilight into a deep kiss. When she finally pulled away, panting a little from the action, she couldn't help but to ask frantically. "You really think so? You really really don't think I'm too much? You really don't want to break up with me?"

Twilight silenced her by placing her own forelegs over the mares shoulders. "Pinkie Pie." The joy in the other mare's eyes at the moment gave her confidence. She knew exactly what she wanted to say and exactly how she wanted to show it. "I'm in love with you." Twilight saw the beginning of an intense excitement well up in her marefriends eyes. Before she could let it out she prolonged the moment with a kiss.

A tension neither mare realized they'd been carrying melted away as each pressed deeply into the kiss. Feeling slightly light headed as they parted they leaned forward to press their foreheads together. The moment of passion had given her the time she needed. She briefly wondered for a moment if what she was about to do would be too much. The obvious barely contained excitement of the mare holding her only made her smile bigger and more devious.

"But yes, I am breaking up with you."

Pinkie's mind grinded to a halt with that. Twilight was slightly worried as she had never seen Pinkie quite at a loss as she was at that moment. Before she could react however Twilight pecked her on the snout, leaving her more confused but less panicked.

"Because tomorrow I want you to come back here and ask me out again."

Despite this Pinkie still had to ask. "So we're not breaking up for realsies?"

"Of course not," Twilight said as they finally separated. "But I want to give you another chance to ask me out the way you really wanted to. And take me out on the first date you would have taken me on if you weren't trying to do the things you thought would make me like you. No restrictions."

Suddenly Pinkie's entire body seemed to tense up. "No restrictions?"

Twilight nodded. Pinkie began to vibrate with excitement. "I want you to go full Pinkie Pie. And if you think for a second that you might be being too much I just want you to remember one thing." She leaned forward to whisper into the perked ear of the barely contained mare. "The only reason I didn't give myself to you tonight, was because I wanted it to be with the Pinkie who helped save the world with laughter."

At that Pinkie hopped into the air, streamers and confetti shooting from no apparent source as she shouted a joyous "WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" But before her hooves had even touched the ground, she was gone.

Twilight was taken quite aback by this, but still could only laugh at the perfect pony shaped dust cloud she had left in her wake. She was caught off guard as that suddenly dispersed as she reappeared as quickly as she had disappeared. She was caught in a sudden kiss which was accompanied with an audible smooch and a smack as their lips parted.

"I love you too so so so so so so so much!"

And just like that she was gone again. Twilight stood, savoring the taste of cake, and smiling the dopiest smile she'd ever felt on her lips.

Author's Note

Not sure what exactly happened with this chapter. I really and truly have no excuse for why this one took me so long. Something about the process of writing characters blatantly trying to not act like themselves was just such a challenge for me. It made it hard to even want to finish writing it at some points. I could also blame my new phone and some of the new writing difficulties I encountered learning it. But none of that excuses my extended absence.
I did take some friends advice and ran this through Google docs this time around, so hopefully some of those easy mistakes have been taken care of. I want to get this out today for everyone, but I also want to get at least one more edit done, so I'll leave this short. Hope everyone enjoys, let me know what you think.

Take Two

"Alright Twi, you got us here, again. What was the big important thing y'all needed to ask us about this time?"

Looking around from where she sat next to Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash seemed to make an observation. "Oh no, Pinkie Pie isn't here again. Don't tell me you need our help on how to break up with her this time?"

This seemed to get her some contentious looks from some of the assembled ponies. Today Twilight had called for another informal meeting of her friends, but this time around had managed to gather them in her library home. She had gotten lucky earlier when the Crusaders had come to drop off Spike but had asked if he could still hang out. Apparently they had decided at some point during the sleepover that having a dragon along opened up a lot of crusading opportunities. And that gave Twilight an empty house to gather ponies into.

Twilight cleared her throat before speaking, forcing it to not sound like a growl at the words just spoken. "No, far from it. Although strangely enough you did provide me with an appropriate segue into the topic I needed to discuss with you all today."

This seemed to now turn the looks in the room to confusion. Applejack was the first to respond. "Iffn' y'all ain't breaking up with Pinkie yet," Twilight openly glared at that, "then why do ya' want to talk about breaking up with her?"

Twilight took another moment to compose herself before she continued. "What I had to talk to you all about is my wonderful marefriend and what an innocent and genuine pony she is." Everypony nodded their heads in agreement, which frustrated her somewhat. "She's a mare who's usually very open with her emotions, almost to the point of making her too blunt at times. But despite this she spends most of her time doing her best to make as many ponies as she can happy." She took a moment to look around to the assembled ponies, looks of confusion still evident to some degree in each. "That is why you are all terrible ponies and you all owe her a heartfelt apology, a big warm hug, and maybe even some flowers."

"What in the hey are ya' talking about Twi?" It was an honest reply, from an honest pony. But it still made Twilight internally sigh. She was going to have to do this the hard way.

The looks of confusion had only shifted. They were still there but had changed somewhat depending on the pony and the memories they were now sifting through. One of them looked aghast, very nearly offended at the accusation. She was the first to make a direct response.

"Yes Twilight, whatever can this be about?" Rarity looked even more offended as Twilight turned to address her directly. Trying to remain neutral, she began to elaborate.

"Every one of you was approached by Pinkie with romantic intent, and every one of you decided not to take her feelings seriously. I will clarify that even though it's a little selfish, I am glad that you all did. Had any of you been more willing to see your opportunity I might have never gotten a chance. But it was still a mean thing to do to such a sweet pony."

Questions only seemed to be adding up as the confusion in the room remained. "I don't understand what the issue you are attempting to address is dear," Rarity began again. "Yes we all have had a romantic interaction with Pinkie to some extent, but nothing that needed to be taken seriously."

Twilight began to calm herself again for this one, but then didn't. Rarity still wasn't seeing what she had done wrong, so maybe it was time to be a little more blunt. "So exactly how many other ponies do you think," Twilight began as she sat down and directed a withering gaze to her fashionista friend. "That if they actually took the time and worked up the courage to walk up to you, tell you that they had romantic feelings for you, and asked you out on a date, that you'd just decide they were just joking around. You're a very attractive mare, I'm sure you've been asked out many times. How many of them did you decide you didn't need to take seriously?"

Rarity's eyes widened and she stared blankly at Twilight. Twilight didn't break her gaze but did note the other reactions and the room. Fluttershy's eyes widened as well, but looked much more concerned. From next to her Rainbow Dash seemed to be thinking hard as her eyes drifted down to the floor. She couldn't see Applejack's reaction from where she stood but didn't want to break her gaze with Rarity yet.

Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again after a moment. As it opened again she raised her hoof as if she'd thought of a good point to make, but then lowered it as her mouth closed again. Finally, and rather pathetically she managed to mutter out a response. "But it's Pinkie. She couldn't have been... I mean if that were true then... everypony, in the whole town?"

"So now you're saying that you don't believe that a pony as sweet, positive, and genuine as Pinkie Pie could find something worthwhile in just about everypony she meets?"

The ponies she could see all winced at that. Rarity turned away and Twilight could see her biting her lip. But after a moment she seemed to harden her expression and face Twilight again. "Well even if she did, in my case at least it was still better to not lead her on. A relationship between myself and her could never have worked and even she would have had to acknowledge it eventually. And I'm sure it's the same for the others as well."

The rest didn't seem to move. Taking a page from Rarity's usual playbook, Twilight lifted a hoof to examine it in smug nonchalance. "Oh really? So you're saying that your lifestyle and Pinkie's are completely incompatible. There can't possibly be any overlap between fashion and parties?"

"Of course not." The answer was a little too forceful, and although Twilight didn't seem to react Rarity still felt the need to reel it back somewhat. "Not to belittle Pinkie in any way of course. I know when she plans a party she puts her all into it." Her eyes then rolled up as if thinking on something. "And while I would suppose there would be a number of similarities between planning a party and, let's say, planning a fashion show, it still wouldn't fit." Her eyes now seemed to refocus on Twilight as she gave a nod, largely to herself from what Twilight could tell.

Twilight kept up the nonchalant posture, but now actually focused on Rarity from beyond her own hoof. "You're sure?"

"Darling please," she now seemed to be gaining a handle on the situation and waved a hoof to brush off the question. "Pinkie Pie doesn't even like those types of parties. Could you imagine if she tried to plan one. The very idea. A high class fashion show, but with streamers, confetti, and cake. My goodness, the Canterlot elite would be talking about it for years." Her hoof stopped in midair as her eyes shot open wide. "They'd be talking about it for years," she repeated, this time with an air of disbelief. "The dresses I could make to accompany such a theme would be so unique. They'd be the most unique creations no matter the season I decided to debut them in. There would be a rush to mimic the style, and each would just garner more attention on my work for being the original. And through it all I'd be able to thank..."

Rarity jumped slightly as Twilight patted the briefly unresponsive mare on the shoulder. She smiled to her with understanding. "If it's any consolation, I'm sure she'd still plan a show with you. Although I'm sure it will lose a little something as far as increasing the buzz about the line if you can only introduce the designer you worked with as your friend and not your special somepony."

She decided to leave the wide-eyed mare to her own thoughts. She moved to the pair of pegasi sitting not far behind her. She was somewhat surprised when Fluttershy spoke first.

"Twilight, did I... Did I use Pinkie?" Her eyes were wide as well, however her's seemed to be filling with barely contained tears. "I... if she really did have feelings for me and I..I went on dates with her just to see what it would be like if I ever..." She stopped, eyes darting to the side towards the blue pegasus who had raised a hoof to her shoulder despite not being able to raise her own head yet.

Twilight raised a hoof to her other shoulder. With as much caring and understanding as she could muster she replied. "Oh Fluttershy. Yes, yes you did."

Rainbow Dash's head finally snapped up as a sob escaped her oldest friend. She pulled her away from Twilight and into her shoulder as she shot the unicorn a glare. "The heck Twilight!" She hissed at her as she wrapped her wings around her timid friend defensively.

Twilight raised her hooves placatingly, maintaining her look of understanding at the force of the glare. "But in your case, from what I can understand, you were more or less up front with your feelings. You didn't have strong feelings for Pinkie and let her know. I'm sure Pinkie appreciated at least getting a chance with you. A lot of other ponies didn't even take her seriously enough for that."

Though she was still distraught, Fluttershy managed to turn her head away from where it was pressed into Rainbow Dash just enough to look over to Twilight and speak. "You, you don't think she resents me for it do you? Even if it's like deep down."

Twilight reached out, but a deepened glare from Rainbow stopped her. "I don't think so, Pinkie isn't the type to hold a grudge in the worst situation. I'm only doing this today because I think it would be better for the peace of mind of all of us to get all of this out in the open. About the only thing I think needs to be done about it is a proper apology, like I said before."

From the small area she was peeking from Fluttershy nodded. She hadn't cried heavily, but still seemed to prefer the comfort of her friends' embrace at the moment. She turned away and pressed herself back in.

Twilight gave a sigh of relief. She had been worried Fluttershy's reaction would be a hard one to manage. She smiled internally at Rainbow's actions to help her, but now she had to confront Pinkie's most recent and possibly most bitter ex directly. However, before she could even fully open her mouth to speak the cyan hoof that wasn't patting Fluttershy's back softly was raised to stop her. She seemed to barely acknowledge Twilight as she spoke.

"Pinkie Pie and me could have worked. And I should have... I kind of did know it at the time but I didn't want to accept it. The reason why I couldn't was the same reason we could have worked. It's because of how similar we are. If we had tried to make it happen for real it would have taken a lot of work. We kind of bring the worst out in each other and that's something we'd have to work on for a long time, and honestly I just wasn't mature enough to want to. Not really now either, and I'm not sure I ever will be. You're much better for her, you bring out the best in each other. That's honestly what I need to look for too."

Twilight was taken aback by the succinct assessment. She had to take a moment to process the remarkably insightful statement, and as she did she watched as Rainbow seemed to stop paying attention to her altogether. She seemed much more focused on whispering words of comfort to the no longer sobbing pegasus pressed against her.

"No idea where you could possibly find a pony like that." She smiled knowingly to the pair before turning away. Rarity seemed to be doing much better by this point. If Twilight had to guess she figured the fashionista was thinking hard on a proper apology. She could leave her to that. She turned again to see Applejack, looking almost bored at the proceedings. "Well?"

"Well what?" Twilight just quirked her eyebrow in a decent imitation of the farm pony. She quirked one right back. "I never dated Pinkie. I done told ya' that. I ain't done nothin' to hurt her feelings, I never even had the chance to."

"Of course not. You don't like mares so you would have never dated Pinkie Pie. That's true. So obviously if she had feelings for you and was therefore at a loss, she totally could have just decided to transfer whatever those feelings were to your brother without any kind of issue whatsoever. Like you suggested she should do. Because obviously you and your brother are just gender swaps of each other so anypony could fall for him from the exact same feelings that made them fall for you. Right?"

Applejack didn't respond for a few seconds. Twilight wasn't sure what kind of reaction she would get, but she thought she was prepared for any kind of rebuttal the somewhat short tempered mare might come up with. Apparently though, Applejack had been paying better attention to what had happened with their other friends then she had thought. She finally frowned before leaning her head back and letting out a groan.

"Gol' darn it." She began walking towards the door of the library, muttering as she went. "I ain't never bought a mare flowers before. How the hey do I even go about apologizing for something like that..." She turned back to Twilight. "You're dating her, what kind of flowers does she like?"

"She likes calla lilies. Mostly because she says it's a fun name to say for a flower. But orchids would be more traditional for an apology. If you got her her favorite flower I'd be worried you'd suddenly had a change of heart and actually want to ask her out." She shot Applejack a warning look with no substance behind it.

Applejack just groaned again. "This is already going to be awkward Twi, don't go making it worse."

"It doesn't have to be awkward, for anyone," she said as she turned to address the rest of the group. They seemed to all have recovered significantly, although Twilight wondered if Rainbow was aware that she still had a wing draped over Fluttershy. "She'll actually be here in a while. We have plans for today, but they can wait if anypony wants my help. Well after whatever she's planning for when she gets here."

At this the other mares now shot each other looks of question. "What is Pinkie planning?" Rarity finally chimed in. "Are the two of you planning something even after your date last night?"

Twilight actually blushed at this. "Well, we ended up having a nice long conversation about our relationship last night. Apparently due to a long history of disappointment in relationships she's been holding back a lot with me." They all winced at the words, but Twilight smiled to them with reassurance. "So I told her that I wanted her to ask me out for the first time again. The way she really wanted to, with no restrictions."

Twilight was now concerned as eyes widened and glances were shared again. "Is that what the bleachers are for?" Rainbow blurted out.

"Bleachers?" Twilight was immediately on her hooves and making her way to a window. However upon pulling open a curtain all she could see was a large sign.

By Order of the
Pinkie Party Planning Partnership:
No Peeking

"Pinkie party planning partnership?" Twilight questioned.

Rainbow was now laughing. Fluttershy giggled lightly along with her. Rarity and Applejack were both more reserved, but were smiling at her confusion as well.

"It's literally just Pinkie, but cause' ah' lack of attendance to town hall meetings she managed to get it officially commissioned. It's acknowledged as a function of town hall, there's fines for violating it and everything."

Twilight's eyes grew in shock, but then a wide smile broke on her face. "This is going to be a lot of fun isn't it?"

With a final laugh Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took to the air, swooping back around to scoop up Fluttershy as she did. "We're gonna go get seats before they're all gone."

Before she could make it to the door, the earth bound members of the group also moving in that direction, Twilight stopped her with a question. "Ponies are already gathering?"

Rainbow scoffed but smiled at that. "There's tons of seating and Pinkie has been running around like a madmare all morning. Of course ponies are gathering."

Four heads nodded as they gathered at the door to the tree house. Sensing them waiting, Twilight waved a hoof. Needing no more prompting they opened the door. Beyond it Twilight could only see another sign like the one at her window. Her friends hurried out, words of congratulation and encouragement trailing as they did.

The door seemed to close itself as soon as they were out. Almost as soon as it was closed an excited knocking could be heard coming from it. Twilight giggled as she opened it.

Outside there was no trace of the sign that had been there a moment before. Far across the road that branched out in front of the town's library she saw her friends in a spot together in a reserved set of seats at the front of the newly placed stands. They were looking around as if confused as to how they had gotten there.

Twilight could only smile wider. As she stepped from her door she heard the sound of the drums of a marching band starting up. She had a brief thought that at one time not long ago the attention now being paid to her would have made her very uncomfortable. Now she only felt elation as a familiar pink form appeared. Pinkie Pie, dressed in a full band leader uniform, stepped into view. How Twilight hadn't seen her before that point? She decided she'd try to figure that out later.

"LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS!!!" She exclaimed while twirling a baton in the air. "WE ARE GATHERED HERE TODAY SO THAT I, PINKAMENA DIANA PIE, CAN FORMALLY, PROPERLY, ASK OUT THE SMARTEST, CUTEST, MOST WONDERFUL PONY IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA!!!!"

There was a loud boom as confetti shot into the air and the rest of the yet to be seen band began playing. Smiles and laughter started growing all around, and even though it seemed to put Pinkie more in her element she didn't seem to pay it any attention. Those big happy eyes were locked on Twilight's, and the joy in them spread instantly into Twilight's heart.

This was the element of laughter in all her glory. Twilight stepped forward, smitten by her magic.

Author's Note

Lyrics are hard. That's my #1 takeaway from this chapter. There was a full musical number at the end there, but I wasn't feeling it. If anyone is interested, I might tag it on at the end as a bonus, otherwise what I have written will probably sit as an unpublished chapter to a finished story.
Also once again I'm sorry for how long it took. Honestly it surprised me this time. It always felt like I was mashing good and rapid progress on this chapter. I honestly don't know how it ended up so short and taking so long.
I don't think I quite accomplished all of what I set out to do with this story, but I think I did get enough of it across. There were a few scenes I genuinely loved writing as well. Hopefully some of you found something to love as well. As usual an epilog is coming soon, and as usual let me know what you think. Love hearing from everyone.

Being Too Much

Princess Twilight Sparkle sat at her desk in her crystal bedroom, finally understanding why princess Celestia put up with peace conferences every year. It was certainly easier then the task of integrating pony society with the rest of the species of Equestria. That was proving to be the biggest and most tangled mess of a bureaucratic nightmare that had ever existed. For the first time in her life she found herself to be getting sick of the smell of parchment and ink.

She looked back at the stack of papers still piled up on the floor behind her. She could only groan as she would swear it had only gotten bigger even after hacking through it for the past three days. She rubbed her tired eyes as she lit her horn to cast a now very familiar reheating spell on the pot of coffee sitting on the corner of her desk. As she lifted it with her hoof she let out another groan. She lit her horn again to cast an old and reliable restoration spell on the spot where the pot had begun to leave a burn mark.

The coffee was dark enough to bend light around it, and yet it still wasn't doing much to make her feel any more awake. She downed what was left in a couple good chugs before deciding to have what she had tentatively started referring to as a break. She pushed away from the desk and walked in the direction of where she'd decided she needed a coffee maker installed in her bedroom for occasions just like this.

"It's because the coffee isn't fresh. If I make some fresh coffee I'll be fine." She muttered the words to herself, knowing they were largely to convince her own body of the lie. She was going to have to keep going, and the only comfort she could count on was the hope that she did in fact have enough coffee left for another pot.

She poured water into the maker as pesky thoughts of what she really needed right now started playing in her head. Simple things she'd been without for a few days now. Natural light for one. Some fresh air. Maybe a proper night's sleep. Probably some real food.

'Yeah that would be so great right now,' she thought to herself as she started messing with the settings on the machine. 'A picnic, with all of that. Food, sunshine, fresh air. I could even invite all the girls. Maybe I could even get some time to finally...'

She grumbled as she thought back to the stacks of paper waiting for her. That all was going to have to wait, as much as it weighed on her. Right now she needed coffee, then when she finished there would be time. She picked up the container of special coffee given to her by the ruler of the dragon lands. She was told that a single drop of it could keep a dragon awake for over a week. Twilight was scraping the bottom of the container after less then a week. Although she felt like she was in luck. It actually seemed to be a little heavier then she remembered from the last time she'd made a pot.

Sleep deprivation was probably the reason why that didn't tip her off.

"Whoa!" It was all that she could say as she was caught off guard. As she opened the container she was suddenly covered in confetti as a horn sounded from sources unknown and a familiar pink mane filled her vision.

"Surprise!!!!!" Pinkie exclaimed having somehow managed to extricate herself from the coffee tin. "This is your official Pinkie Pie wake up call. It's way better for you then drinking more coffee to stay awake don't you think?"

Twilight groaned. That statement was debatable at the moment as the shock of something coming out of her coffee had made the princess panic, skitter back a few feet, and fall backwards through a stack of completed paperwork.

She lit her horn to pull a few pieces off her face. As she did she could see Pinkie's smiling face. The sight instantly warmed Twilight's heart, but something on the papers she now levitated stole her attention away from it.

"I know you're probably still super busy with all the 'running Equestria all by yourself really soon' things. But you've been locked up here for three days and I haven't felt my "Twilight is sleeping peacefully" feeling that whole time."

Pinkie was now running around setting things up. Twilight couldn't pay attention to what as she was now sifting through papers. She rapidly checked each, finding what she was looking for before moving on quickly.

"And I promised you three years, two months, and six days ago that I'd stop you from going too far into a coffee and studying binge if you'd stop me from going too far into a sugar rush. I still have four more to make up to you until we're even."

Twilight finally turned to see that Pinkie had turned her bed into a large and intricate pillow fort, somehow using way more pillows and cushions then had been in the room previously. There was also a banner set up, "Super-duperest slumber party ever" written across it.

"So way later today we're meeting up with the girls for a picnic with all your favorite foods. But until then, since the sun won't be up for another few hours, I'd say it's the perfect time for a slumber party."

Twilight felt her eye twitch as she looked over her last workday and a half laying all over the ground. She let out a stuttering breath as she finally spoke. "Pinkie Pie, why did you do this?"

Pinkie was taken slightly aback by the words, but still smiled as she waited for Twilight's smile to emerge. "Because you're my one and only super-duperest marefriend ever and I need to take care of you if you're not taking care of yourself."

"So you think what I really need right now is a slumber party?"

Pinkie's ears flattened a little at that. "Well, it was going to be way more focused on the slumber then the party. The only thing that would make it a party is the banner and the fact that I'll be here too. But mostly only to make sure you sleep."

Twilight rubbed her eyes in frustration. "You realize that because of you I just figured out that all the paperwork I've been doing all day was wrong. I'm going to have to start all over on all of it. It's a miracle I noticed before all this was submitted and that I didn't accidently start a war with some of the mistakes I made."

Pinkie was losing steam somewhat, but with a snort she straightened herself back up to reply. "Well you can do that after you get some rest. It sounds like you need a break, and I made a promise that I'm going to keep."

Twilight gave a sigh. "You really remember a promise like that from that long ago. And
you've even been keeping track of how many times each of us have stepped in to help each other with our problems like that?"

"Of course I did. I love you and I want to make sure you're okay no matter what."

"I love you too. But you decided that just because I hadn't slept in a few days that I needed all this. A slumber party. Time with all my friends, proper nutrition. And you decided that I needed it so much that you'd just sneak into my room, scare me out of my stuper, and whisk me off to a state of comfort and relaxation the likes of which I was just starting to feel like I really needed."

Pinkie now seemed very confused. Her ears were flattened and she was drawing away somewhat, but she managed a nod at the words. She winced as that made Twilight give a defeated sigh.

"Pinkie Pie. I think both of us know this has been a long time coming."

"What... what are you talking about? What did I do wrong?"

"You didn't do anything wrong Pinkie. You're just, too much."

Twilight didn't want to do it this way, but she honestly didn't know when a better time would come up. She felt bad as Pinkie's mane and tail seemed to start deflating. Tears also started threatening the corners of her eyes.

"Twilight... no. I, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

"Yes you did Pinkie. Just like you've meant it for three years, two months, and twenty-eight days. You've meant it for every party, every snuggle, every kiss, every... thing else. I love you so much for it Pinkie. But you're just too much". She had been walking back over to her desk where she was now pushing aside papers seemingly looking for something.

Pinkie wasn't sure what she might be looking for, but she had followed on shaky hooves as Twilight had gone. She didn't think she'd ever hear this from Twilight, not after everything they'd gone through. She needed to know why.

"But you said, you said I'd never be too much for you. You said the stuff I do only makes you love me more and more. You said.." there was just a little anger mixed in her words, but the sadness was what made her stop.

"And I meant every word. But you're just too much to deal with as a marefriend. If I'm going to be able to handle running the whole country soon then some changes have to be made." She finally found what she was looking for. It was good timing, she didn't think she could stand doing this to Pinkie any longer.

Twilight could only smile. She had turned around and bent down low. The second a small black box had come into view she had saw her possible fiancé perk up immediately. Her mane instantly inflated to a poof the likes of which Twilight had never seen before. At the same moment there was a literal slurping sound as her tears were apparently sucked right back into her eyes.

"You'll never be too much, if you promise to be with me forever." She cracked the case open, revealing matching bracelets with each of their cutie marks upon them.

The speed at which Pinkie ran into and embraced Twilight made her really appreciate alicorn endurance. She thought she'd heard a mini sonic boom when Pinkie had suddenly vanished in her vision, but it was drowned out as the mare excitedly began to shout.

"YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESSOMUCHYES!!!!"

Their lips met, and Twilight felt a now familiar feeling of not knowing what was being done to her body for a brief moment. As their lips parted she realized she was now on top of her bed turned pillow fort. Twilight could now see that in Pinkie's hoof was a rope connected to a blanket over the opening. One of the bracelets from the box was already around Pinkie's hoof, the other somehow already around Twilight's own. The princess blushed at the smile Pinkie was giving her at the moment, but nodded as she matched it with one of her own.

They looked forward to many smiles and lots of fun in the future as Pinkie pulled the blanket closed.

Author's Note

This was a fun little ride. I was right when I first started, writing for Pinkie is difficult. I think she's going to be staying a secondary character for me from now on. Honestly, I ended up focusing much more on Twilight as a result, which means I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out. But like I said, it's been fun, so I don't regret it. Still might publish the song if there's enough interest, but for right now this story is as finished as I can make it.
Also, yes I do think they're going to leave the rest of their friends waiting at the picnic later. But I assume Pinkie planned ahead in some way. That's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.
The usual. Let me know what you think. I don't think this was my most followed work ever, but hopefully some of you got something out of it.