On a warm autumn evening, it had just struck midnight as the town of Ponyville was sound asleep. Ponies were drifted off into slumber, awaiting the next morning. Princess Luna was keeping an eye upon her subjects as they were drifted off to rest, peacefully safe and sound in their homes.
Well.. except for one purple anxiety-driven Alicorn princess.
In the royal castle of the Sparkle-Pie family, Twilight was in her study room, frantically drinking her 20th cup of coffee and scrimmaging through various papers on her desk. She was asked by the mayor of Ponyville to legalize a new bill regarding the Ponyville Schoolhouse be renovated to have bigger capacity and more curriculum classes. Seeing as she has a soft spot for foals and school, she agreed to the task; despite having a load of other royalty assignment on her hooves. Despite this, she had been at her desk for nearly 3 hours trying to decide on how to go about the bill. It wasn't going well for her.
"If I make the science room 20 acres, there will be room for a lunchroom.. but what about the playground? Maybe they can have a gym, too? Aaaugh, but fresh air is good for foals.. ugh, this is harder than I imagined! But, I must stay focused. I have to get this done in time for the mayor by tomorrow." Twilight said in an exhausted tone, using her magic to write the bill in quill and ink.
Her eye slightly twitched as she crossed out yet another concept she had thought of, crumbling the paper into a ball and tossing it to the nearby trash can. She silently cursed herself out for not coming up with anything yet. Something in her brain felt so dull.. so tired of this work. Her eyes and inner self were screaming at her to get some damned rest already and finish the bill first thing in the morning. She's always nagging her friends about self care, after all.
After a few minutes of just blankly staring at the rummage of papers in front of her, the self deprecating thoughts going through her head began to slightly eat at her mentality, her hind legs fidgeting as she was sitting. She had a tendency to drift off during her work and get distracted, having wandering thoughts.
'Come on, Twilight, it's just another bill. It's not that hard to finish! You've saved Equestria countless times, and you can't write a single bill?! Giving up is not the solution right now, the mayor is counting on you for this! You're always so quick to bail all the time. You need to be more like Celest-'
[Twilight? Sweetheart? It's late, is everything going alright with your work?"
As if it were magic, a feeling of relief, security, and warmth flushed through Twilight as she turned her head to the open doorway of her workroom. There stood her pink earth pony wife, Pinkie Pie, with a plate of food in her hoof. On it was a hayburger, freshly made, with a side of hay fries: Twilight's favorite meal. Her eyes went big with delight as she stood from her desk and pushed her glasses up, trotting towards her beloved with a relieved smile.
"I noticed that you missed out on dinner again, silly! I just couldn't let myself sleep without feeding my favorite wife! It concerns me when you don't eat, dear. Even if you don't have an appetite, I at least want you to take a bite, okay?" Pinkie said, giving a smooch to her Alicorn wife's cheek and setting her dinner on her desk, beside her scattered papers and quills.
"O-Oh- thank you, darling, I really appreciate it.. however, I need to get this work done. The mayor is waiting for me to get this bill finalized by tomorrow for the Schoolhouse, and I cannot slack off on this or take any breaks. It's very important to the families of Ponyville." Twilight replied, begrudgingly walking back to her desk and sitting down.
The smell of the plate of food beside her display of organized chaos was roaming through the study room now, tempting Twilight to eat something. She kept attempting to ignore it, though, and continue her work. She, like Applejack, had a problem with being a workaholic and forgetting to care for herself. Luckily, Pinkie helped her out with it.
The pink earth pony's ears went down slightly as she noticed Twilight ridden with exhaustion over her work. She slowly walked over, peering over the purple pony's shoulder and noticing her scrambled desk.
'My poor sweetheart. having to pick up the princesses' work during their break. You don't deserve this pressure. You deserve some rest.' Pinkie thought to herself, looking worried for Twilight.
"This seems like a lot of stuff to handle.. are you sure you don't want to take a small break and have something to eat? You've been skipping a lot of meals lately, even denying to try my baking! You know how much you love to have a taste test!" Pinkie said, concern in her voice as she put a hoof gently on Twilight's shoulder, physically begging for her wife to put her work aside and take care of herself.
Twilight felt a sense of guilt in her stomach as she noticed Pinkie feeling worried about her current state. Deep down, she wanted a break from work. From everything. All she wanted was to run away with her beloved pink wife to a vacation retreat and just spend time with her, loving her and cherishing every moment together as if it was their second honeymoon. But, she also felt pressured to not dissapoint her citizens and keep putting on a brave face for them, no matter what.
"I'll be fine, Pinkie, I promise. I just have to get this done and then I'll rest. You should get some sleep, since you'll be running the bakery without the Cake twins tomorrow. Don't stay up waiting for me, alright?" Twilight said, rubbing her eyes under her glasses as she tried to resume focus on her current assignment.
Pinkie silently nodded, turning Twilight's head towards hers to kiss her goodnight, giving one more peck to her cheek once more. She then trotted out of the room and headed to her stepson, Spike's bedroom, giving him a kiss to the forehead and tucking him back into bed before heading to her and Twilight's room and settling in for the night.
As Twilight attempted to resume her work on the bill, her stomach began to grumble and beg for food. As time went by, she kept forcing herself to work and ignore her stomach's pleas to care for herself and have a break. When one o'clock struck, she was practically half asleep, laying on her papers fighting the slumber. She began to think about what her wife had asked and felt slight guilt for overworking herself.
'Maybe Pinkie is right.. maybe I should take a little break. She's always caring about me, after all. I hate seeing her worried over me like this..'I She thought to herself, her eyes staring at the now slightly cold hayburger and fries on her desk.
After a bit of contemplation over whether or not to choose rest over work.. she had finally given in and took a bite of the hayburger, it being the greatest thing she ever tasted. Even when Pinkie didn't bake, she always made good food.
A couple hours pass by, it now being 3:30 in the morning. Pinkie Pie had gotten up from bed to use the bathroom. As she trotted back to her bedroom, she peeked into the study room to check up on her beloved purple horse. She made a quiet 'aww' face as she saw Twilight passed out, her head laying on her papers. She was also relieved to see that she did take a few bites of the food she made for her. Pinkie then ran into their shared bedroom for a quick second, and came back to Twilight, a quilt blanket in her mouth. She covered Twilight up with it and smiled, kissing her forehead.
As Pinkie went back to sleep to await the morning, Twilight slightly grinned in her sleep as she snuggled into the blanket she was covered in.
'Sometimes work can be really pressuring, but at least I have a Pinkie.'
Author's Note
Thank you for reading my first TwiPie fanfic! Let me know if you'd like more!