Parties and Cider, a Pinkie/Dash Story.
By Professor Coruptus
Writing Prompt:
“So, it's been one really crazy day. For starters, I woke up in a bush. I mean a tree, yeah, that happens, but a bush!? Come on, that's totally lame. I don't remember even leaving my home.
Twilight and Rarity both congratulated me when I met them for lunch. I guess that stunt I pulled yesterday left a great impression on them. But Fluttershy didn't say anything, not that that's weird, but she hid from me, me!. I thought we were past that. Uncool. She didn't even answer when I asked if she'd seen Tank, he likes to run off and visit some of his old friends.
And then Pinkie pulled the strangest prank ever. I still don't get it. That crazy pony leaped out of nowhere and just kissed me. I swear, she's so random.
I tried to find AJ to ask what was with everypony, but Big Mac just said she wasn't coming out today and that she didn't want to see nopony.
What.
The.
Hay?”
Note: Certain liberties were taken with the prompt.
“Applejack? Applejack!” the rainbow maned pegasus continued to yell, pounding on the door to the farm pony’s room.
“Jus’ go away, Dash…” The pegasus almost didn’t catch the soft spoken response from the other side of the door. “Ah got a lot on mah mind thanks ta you, and Ah would really appreciate it if ya’d let me get thing’s sorted out ‘fore ya start tell’n me all about how wonderful thing’s are fer ya now.”
“A.J. what in the hay are you talking about? Come on, I know Big Mac said you didn’t want to see anypony today but I have got to talk to you! Everypony’s been acting weird all day and I… I can’t remember what I did last night! You’ve got to help me!” the speedster begged the closed door.
There was a few seconds pause as she waited for a reply. When none came she continued,
“Look, I don’t know what I did last night to upset you and Fluttershy so much, but all I know is that I woke up in a flipping juniper berry bush this morning and since then Fluttershy won’t stay in the same room with me, I can’t find Tank anywhere, Rarity and Twilight kept congratulating me for something, Pinkie Pie… is… well… weirder then usual,” she said as her blush returned and her wings started to creep up. “And now you’re acting all weird and…”
Dash’s voice trailed off as she noticed that the door in front of her was slowly opening. An emerald eye peeked out at her through the smallest possible crack; it looked shockingly vulnerable.
“Rare… was okay with it?”
“Ohm… I guess. Hey, are you alright A.J.?”
The door opened a bit more and reviled a very disheveled and tired looking earth pony. There were bags under her eyes and her usually tied back hair was loose and free flowing down her shoulders and back. She didn’t look like she had had a wink of sleep last night, though she did look like her mind was about fifty yards away.
“Applejack? Hello, earth to Applejack?” Dash waved her hoof in front of the dazed pony’s face.
“Huh? Oh ah, sorry Dash. Listen, would you mind givin’ me a minute? Ah got… some things to do.”
And with that the earth pony closed the door again leaving the pegasus in exactly the same position she had started in. Dash facehoofed; clearly she wasn’t going to get anywhere with Applejack like this. As she turned to leave however, the door opened again.
“Oh, but if yer lookin’ fer ya turtle, I think ya left him at Sugar Cube Corner last night.”
“Tortoise.” Dash corrected the closing door.
On the way to the sweet shop, Dash realized that going inside would almost certainly mean seeing Pinkie Pie again. The sugar charged pony had seemed to be in an unusually pranky mood the last time she had seen her.
As Dash had been leaving the very confusing luncheon with Twilight and Rarity earlier, she had spotted the pink enigma going about her delivery route for that afternoon and had made the mistake of calling out to her in hopes Pinkie might be able to explain her friend’s weird behavior. As soon as the earth pony had spotted her, she had rushed up to pegasus leaving her deliveries across the street.
Just as Dash opened her mouth to ask about what she had done last night, Pinkie skidded to a halt just in time to let her lips crash against the cerulean mare in a sugary sweet kiss. Everything after that was a bit blank for Rainbow, aside from the feelings of electricity shooting up and down her spine causing her wings to shoot straight up at attention. There might have been some cheering or whistling from the two unicorns behind her, but it was impossible to discern anything through the pink fog clouding her head.
Even after the kiss had broken, the spell she seemed to have fallen under persisted. All she could recall was that Pinkie had said something, Dash had nodded, and then Pinkie had smiled back before bouncing off to finish her deliveries. How long Rainbow had just stood there in a stupefied daze she didn’t know. It wasn’t until Twilight had poked her in the shoulder and asked if she was alright that the speedster had snapped back to Equestria and shot up into the air like a rocket. After that she had headed straight for Sweet Apple Acres in the hopes Applejack might be able to explain what in the hay was going on.
That had all been about half an hour ago. Now she found herself sitting on a roof opposite the home and work place of Ponyville’s number one party planner while she weighed her love for her loyal pet against her embarrassment and utter mortification at her previously good friend’s prank that morning.
Pinkie Pie had always been good about not going too far with her pranks. She flat out refused to ever prank Fluttershy, and the pranks she did pull were mostly enjoyed by their victims. They were never mean or embarrassing, just little surprises to spice up a pony’s day and keep things interesting. But kissing her in front of everypony like that? That was just so not cool. It wasn’t just embarrassing it was… cruel. Playing with her heart like that just wasn’t like the loveable marshmallow pony she had been crushing on for the last few months. Yes, she admitted it; she liked Pinkie Pie, a lot. She wasn’t sure when it had started, probably sometime after Pinkie’s birthday party when Dash had realized just how vulnerable the unpredictable mare could be.
After being raised on a rock farm below Cloudsdale, and having so little of her own, Pinkie treasured everything she had: her home, her inventions, but above all else her friends and family. In fact Dash had never seen another pony for whom the happiness of others met so much. Pinkie Pie would bend over backwards, and around again if it meant getting a smile. But she didn’t do it for attention like most other ponies would. She really did do it to make others feel happy.
After Spike had destroyed Sugar Cube Corner during his “greed spurt,” Dash had made every effort she could to be there for and comfort the heartbroken pony while her home was being rebuilt. Instead of letting her stay with the Cakes in the hotel room they had been given, the pegasus had asked Twilight to cast the cloud walking spell on Pinkie, Gummy, and the rebuilt Candycopter to let them to stay with her in her cloud mansion during several weeks it would take to get the bakery up and running again.
Perhaps it was while she was living with the cotton candy mare that she began to realize just how deep her feelings ran for her.
After all, it was during that time that she had found out Pinkie had a calmer side to her bouncy personality as well. She had expected to be kept up late every night playing party games and eating nothing but frosting and chocolate syrup during Pinkie’s stay. Instead, Pinkie had followed (and enforced) a strict eight o’clock bed time for the resident’s of Dash’s home and gotten up early each morning to prepare a balanced and delicious breakfast for them before Dash went out on her morning flight. It was certainly a better way of living then the Luna-may-care, cold-oat-pizza-for-breakfast life style the pegasus had been living previously.
She sighed as she continued to look down at the sweet shop, letting Pinkie nuzzle her neck gently while she hugged the cerulean pegasus from behind. Dash just couldn’t understand why her previously perfect roommate would suddenly act so cruel.
“Something wrong, Dashie?” The earth pony asked, sensing the mare’s agitation.
“No I just… I can’t figure you out, Pinks,” Rainbow answered, still staring at Sugar Cube Corner.
The earth pony giggled, “If you could figure me out, you probably wouldn’t be so interested in me.”
“I’m not Twilight, Pinkie Pie.” The speedster argued.
“Yeah, but then Twilight’s more into Alicorns isn’t she?”
“What?”
“Nothing.” Pinkie said innocently, teasing Dash’s multicolored mane with a hoof. Dash sighed again. Cuddly or not, Pinkie Pie would be always Pinkie Pie.
It took another minute before she realized that there was something wrong with the current situation.
“Pinkie Pie!”
Dash leapt out of the mare’s hooves to take flight and turn to gape at the earth pony on the roof.
“When did? How did you? What?”
The earth pony giggled at the pegasus’s adorably sputtering while she hovered just beyond the edge of the roof.
“Well I started to wonder why you hadn’t come by after work like you said you would, so when I looked out my window and saw you up here, I thought I’d give my new marefriend a little surprise and keep her company.” She said with a wink.
“MAREFRIEND?”
Rainbow was so stunned by Pinkie’s word choice that she did something she hadn’t done since she was a filly in flight school. She forgot to flap her wings.
Fortunately, the store Dash had been hiding on top of, “Quills and Sofas,” was having an outdoor display that day and she landed safely on a polyester love seat. After seeing that Dash was okay, Pinkie jumped down onto an ottoman of her own.
“Well, duh,” She continued as she bounced over to sit next to still flabbergasted pegasus. “What else would you call us after you practically snogged me and begged me keep living with you at the Sugar Cube Corner reopening party last night? Which reminds me, do you think we should get one of these for the living room?” She added, testing the springs of the sofa they were occupying.
“We’re? I?” Dash could only continue to stammer as the reality of the situation crashed on her like a tidal wave of chocolate rain. It all made sense now, …well some of it at least. Why Pinkie had kissed her, what Twilight and Rarity had been congratulating her on, what Applejack had meant by “things were so wonderful” for her now, but despite her joy at discovering she was somehow dating the mare of her dreams, her face seemed to be stuck on showing only shock and disbelief, expressions which were causing Pinkie’s smile to fade and feelings of worry and anxiety to creep up in her chest.
“Unless… you’re having second thoughts?” She asked after minute, terrified of the answer.
“NO!”
Fear turned to surprise at the sudden and almost Luna like manner in which Dash answered the question. Then she sat up and collected herself.
“I mean, no Pinkie, I’m not. Not even a bit. I just…” The speedster closed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to organize her thoughts.
“Listen, and don’t freak out or get sad or anything until I finish okay? But, I honestly don’t remember anything from last night. I kind of remember taking you to the party on my back and Tank carrying Gummy, and then when we got there A.J. gave me some of her new “aged cider” and then… nothing! Next thing I know I’m waking up in a bush, Fluttershy won’t so much as look at me, A.J.’s taken up a job a hermit, Twilight and Rarity are patting me on the back for something I can’t remember, and now I find out we’re dating!”
Pinkie began to look panicked and opened her moth to speak, but Dash put a hoof over her lips before she could utter a word.
“I said let me finish. I don’t know what A.J. put in that stuff that could have messed up my head so bad, but if it gave me the courage to ask you to stay with me, then I’m glad for it. You’re the most amazing pony I’ve ever met Pinkie. You’re fun, you’re talented, you’re fast, not to mention totally cute, and these last few weeks you’ve been living with me have been some of the best of my life. And the fact that you’re going to keep on living with me… you are right?” The pink pony nodded under Dash’s hoof. “Good. The fact that you are going to keep on living with me makes me the happiest mare in the world right now! …But in case I didn’t actually ask you last night,”
Dash got down off the sofa and took one of Pinkie’s forehooves between her own. They had begun to attract a small crowd outside the little store, but she didn’t care. After all, how many ponies must have been present at the reopening party last night?
“Pinkie Pie,” Dash asked, rose colored eyes looking deep into glistening sky blue ones, “Would you be my marefriend?”
Pinkie Pie put her free hoof to her mouth as smiled down at the pony proposing to her. Then she bent down and kissed the kneeling mare, eliciting cheers and catcalls from the growing crowd.
“Okie dokie.” She answered as a few joyful tears rolled down her face. Dash gave a laugh before leaning up to capture her partner’s lips again.
“Ehem.”
The two broke apart to see the proprietor of “Quills and Sofas” standing a few feet away.
“I do not mean to interrupt such a lovely scene,” he said in a tone which clearly said otherwise, “but I must remind you that we do not carry a “try before you buy” offer on our love seats.”
The two ponies giggle nervously as the remembered they were still in public.
“Sorry mister Quillsmen, but I promise we’ll be back to pick it up later.” Dash replied, turning around and pulling Pinkie Pie onto her back. “Much later.” And with that they took off for home, leaving a rainbow and pink trail in their wake along with the thunderous applause of half of Ponyville.
As they flew back to the cloud mansion, Dash remembered a few loose ends that still hadn’t been cleared up.
“Say Pinks, I get now why you kissed me and what Rarity and Twilight were congratulating me on, but what’s up with Fluttershy and A.J.? And why in Equestria did I wake up in a lame juniper bush?”
“Oh,” Pinkie Pie giggled. “Well, you were pretty excited last night when I said I would stay with you. We may have gotten a little carried away while the party was still going on, and since you weren’t going to be embarrassed about what you were doing, Fluttershy sort of decided to be embarrassed enough for both of you.”
“…what exactly did I do?”
“Well apart from other things, you told everypony in the room I tasted like cotton candy and punch.”
“Oh…”
“It’s okay. I told everypony you tasted like mandarins and hot sauce.”
“I do?”
“Not really, but that’s what I told them,” Pinkie giggled.
Dash smirked and did a quick barrel roll in revenge. The earth pony yelped and grabbed Dash tight around the neck as she was suddenly turned upside down and then right side up again.
“So what about A.J.?” Dash asked once her passenger had stopped strangling her.
“I’m not really sure. She started acting kind of funny after you kissed me though. She seemed really happy for us and kept giving you free refills of her new cider, but she also kept looking at Rarity for some reason.”
“So that’s why my head was killing me,” the pegasus gowned. She would have to have a word with Applejack about enforcing a two drink limit on that stuff later. “But what was Rarity doing?”
“Well she was acting kind of funny too. She seemed to get sort of embarrassed and kept looking at Applejack. I wonder if they had a bet or something.”
“Over whether or not we’d get together?”
“Well to be honest, I don’t think anypony was all that surprised really. Except maybe Twilight, but then almost everything surprises Twilight.”
“Everything she doesn’t read in a book.”
“Hehe, yep.”
“Okay, but that still doesn’t answer my last question. What they hay was I doing in a juniper bush this morning?”
“Oh that,” Pinkie giggled as they set down on the fluffy white front porch of their home. “Well after the party ended I took you up to my new “old room” since you weren’t up to flying us back here. I left you for a minute to put Gummy and Tank away so we could have some privacy and when I got back you were gone and the window was open. I think you must have tried to get some fresh air and accidently fallen out. Luckily they planted some new shrubberies under my window when they were rebuilding so they broke your fall, which reminds me, can you plant shrubberies on a cloud? Anyway, by the time I ran down to check on you you were already asleep. You looked so peaceful snoring there that I just gave you a kiss, covered you in the juniper leaves and let you sleep. …Did I mention Applejack kept giving me refills too?”
“I guess all that sugar must let you handle it better,” Dash said as they entered the front door and began to climb the stairs to the second floor.
“Yeah, looking back on it I’m kind of sad you didn’t stay awake so we could have our own private “after party” party, those are some of the bestest kinds!”
Dash smiled back as they neared the bedroom.
“Well it’s a bit late, but we’ve got all afternoon to have our private party now.”
Pinkie’s face lit up.
“Oh! I’ll go get the cake and ice-cream!”
Before she could make another move however, an cerulean wing caught her and pulled her close,
“Actually, I’m more in the mood for cotton candy and punch.”
As Dash leaned in to drink her fill, Pinkie Pie lazily kicked the bedroom door shut.
Later that evening, after Ponyville’s newest couple had purchased and airlifted their new love seat via CandyCopter, a certain orange and blond earth pony was almost dancing with nervousness outside of the Carousel Boutique.
“Come on, Applejack. You can do this.”
The mare was standing on the empty street dressed in some of her finest duds, her hair neatly combed and tied back. Her head was devoid of her signature hat however, and she was beginning to regret leaving it at home. She had had a hard enough time trying to get out of the house between Big Mac’s gapping and Applebloom’s snickers. So what if she wasn’t the best at “prettifying” herself, she had done her best and that’s what counted. Right?
The washed and brushed farm pony sighed as she looked down at the old white dress shirt and black vest she had inherited from Big Mac when he had out grown the outfit. It may have fit surprisingly well once she had rolled back the sleeves a few times, but she knew she still looked ridiculous. Maybe she ought to just stop all this foalishness now and go home before she really embarrassed herself.
Before she could decide one way or the other, the lights inside the boutique suddenly extinguished and the front door opened to reveille a surprised alabaster unicorn with azure eyes and mane.
“Applejack!” Rarity exclaimed, looking almost as shocked and scared as the earth pony felt.
“Rarity! Ah, err, Ah was just ohm…” the farm pony stammered as she stared at the beautiful unicorn before her. Rarity had evidently dressed up for a night on the town just as she had. The unicorn always looked immaculate, but she looked positively stunning now. Her mane and coat were groomed to absolute perfection, and she was wearing a simple, yet none the less flattering black and white dress that hugged her in all the right places. It was clear from the lack of frills and gemstones that it wasn’t one of her own designs, but something she had bought for special occasions.
“I… um, I was actually just on my way,” the flustered unicorn began.
“Do-ya-wan’-ta-go-to-dinner-with-me?” Applejack blurted out in a rush.
“…to see you.” Rarity finished, looking at the earth pony as if she had not heard her correctly.
Her face almost as red as her cutiemark, Applejack quickly tried to explain herself.
“Ohm… ya see, Siegfried’s is having one of them, fancy dinners tonight like they do every month and Ah thought to mahself, Ah really haven’t practiced none of them fancy manners Ah learned from Aunt and Uncle Orange in a righ’ long time, an’ it’d be a shame to just forget all that so Ah thought Ah’d go, to practice ‘em ya see, An’ seeing as yer always so fancy ‘bout everythin’ Ah thought you migh’ like to join me an’ see how up an’ 'serphisticated' Ah can be when Ah want to an’… yeah.”
Applejack’s ears were burning and she mentally cursed herself for making up such a ridiculous excuse, even if she had taken close to an hour thinking it up. Her self-beratement was cut short as the unicorn replied,
“I would love to, Darling.”
Amazed, Applejack didn’t believe what she had heard until Rarity had closed the door and gracefully walked up to stand beside the earth pony.
“Shall we be going then?”
Fortunately, Applejack had just enough sense left to politely offer her foreleg to the unicorn, and arm in arm (of sorts) they left for the restaurant and to enjoy a quiet, candle light “practice session.”
Fin
