It was a bright afternoon, and many ponies of Ponyville felt carefree. There wasn’t a single worry on their minds, and there probably wouldn’t be any time in the immediate future.
Every pony was worry free... except for Rainbow Dash.
The cyan pegasus stood before the door to Sugarcube Corner, nervously tugging at an invisible collar around her neck. The weight of anxiety pressed down upon her with such a weight, yet the thought of informing the pink mare of her decision hurt even more. However, she had already knocked, and there was no going back without looking like a mischievous colt who had decided to play, ‘Ding Dong Ditch’.
In only a second, the door flung open, to reveal a jubilant Pinkie Pie. “Dashie, you’re here! Oh my gosh, this is gonna be so great!” she said, hardly pausing even for a second to breathe. “Come on in, let’s get ready!”
The pegasus sighed, trotting into the bakery, taking little note of the pink pony’s excessive rambling. Instead, she focused on the surroundings, which were...rather festive, indeed. Streamers hung from the walls, balloons were tied down at set locations all over the place. All in all, it screamed, ‘PARTY!’, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t feeling it.
“...and then it’ll be a happy ending for everypony, and-”
Rainbow interrupted Pinkie, blurting out what she’d wished she didn’t have to say, but did. “Pinkie, I can’t do this.”
In an instant, Pinkie’s cheerful monologuing died down, to a concerned frown. “But...you...promised, Dashie...”
The young flier shook her head, taking a sudden interest in the floor tiles. It wasn’t enough that she had to deal with the mere concept, but...now she had to break Pinkie’s heart? “I...it’s just...wrong.”
The pink earth pony’s voice carried much of the heartbreak that Rainbow had feared it might have. “W-...why?”
“Look at this place!” Dash shouted, suddenly shifting her glance up and waving her hooves around frantically. “It’s a party for something that doesn’t need it! You don’t need a party to announce that you and your best friend suddenly fell in love, not to mention that you’re a different...orientation than the rest of the town, OK? Just...no!”
Her words, while spoken of reflexive spite, carried some truth to themselves regardless: the single banner that draped itself across the far wall read, quite simply: ‘Happy Joint-Coming-Out Day!'
The rainbow maned pony sighed, allowing her gaze to drop back down, wincing slightly as the reality of it hit her, hard. “Listen, I...I really appreciate that you’re happy, and that you’d be willing to do this, but...I’m just...” she shook her head, hardly believing the messages she was conveying herself. “...I’m scared, OK? I don’t want anything to go bad, and I can tell it will.”
The tears which had been gathering at the corners of Pinkie’s eyes slowly receded, as she heard the confession from her friend. “...You’re...afraid?” The words tumbled from her mouth, but uncertainly, as if a foreigner were trying to speak Equestrian for the first time. “But...what’s there to be afraid of? It’s nothing but happy news, and-”
“It isn’t.” The pegasus sighed, locking onto the party pony’s gaze with a wavering, watery look of her own. “I...I know how ponies can be, and...they don’t like it when two mares happen to...you know...” She trailed off into indeterminate mumbling for a second. “...each other.”
“But-”
“There’s no ‘buts’ about it, Pinkie.” said Rainbow, turning and heavily plopping herself onto the ground on the opposite side of the baker. “I’m not doing it. I...I’m sorry.”
The silence hung for a few seconds, more foreboding than the presence of Cerberus itself. The pegasus could feel the weight of an anvil trying to crush her heart, but she held back the pain the best she could.
Nothing, however, could stop the single tear that slid down her cheek.
Pinkie herself frowned, very, very deeply - what do I do? This whole day is just...kablooey! And all because-
The pink mare had to hold in a squeal of joy at her sudden realization, but she smiled soon after the event, albeit a little wearily. Without a word, she trotted forward, before wrapping her forehooves around the dejected pegasus’ neck, and gently squeezing her tighter in a hug.
“I love you, Dashie.”
Rainbow managed a sarcastic eye roll, before she cut back to the floor again. “It’s not going to work, Pinkie-”
“No, I love you, Dashie.” Pinkie repeated, emphasizing the word with a light squeeze to her grip. “I love you because you’re you - you decided to tell me how you felt, and that takes a lot of courage, you know! I love you, because you aren’t afraid of anything, or what anypony thinks of you.”
Rainbow sniffed slightly, before tilting her head back to meet Pinkie Pie’s waiting visage, which was now adorned with a slowly growing smile. “I love you because you’re Rainbow Dash, you’ll always stick up both for me and your friends, through stupid, silly, and stupidly silly times. This is just another silly time, Dashie...” The pink earth pony finished her monologue in one of the simplest motions, closing her eyes and burying her nose into the cyan mare’s shoulder, not allowing her smile to ever dissipate. “...and I’d love it if you were here to get through it with me.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t respond verbally, but instead hesitated for a few seconds, before smiling, and simply reaching one of her own hooves up to meet one of Pinkie’s own, which were still wrapped tightly around her midsection area.
The hug was broken eventually, on the pretense of allowing Rainbow to pick herself up. Upon doing so, her gaze drifted to the side for about the umpteenth time in about a simple minute. “Listen, I’m...sorry I got that way. I don’t know what got into me, and I hope I can make it up to-”
Dash found herself interrupted by one of the softest pair of lips she had ever tasted, followed by the light exploration of her mouth commenced by a certain pink pony's tongue. She stood, completely caught off guard, before finally relaxing into the kiss with a feeling that only could be described as 'melting'.
However, unfortunately for Dash, the encounter was to end just as quickly as it'd started. Pinkie pulled back, smiling ever brightly once more. "There's more of where that came from if you-"
A knock on the door interrupted her playful teasing, followed by a voice drifting through the woodwork. "Pinkie Pie? You said something about a party?"
The pink mare giggled, eyeing the pegasus wordlessly for one last second before bounding to the door, Rainbow following shortly in tow. Her step was still a reluctant one, but much less so as she'd begun. After all, if she were determined to get through this for any reason, it would definitely have been for the promise of more pepper-minty sweet kisses.
And she could have all that she wanted, as long as she simply told the waiting guests one thing, a truth that had been waiting to have sprung. Pinkie definitely seemed worth it, to her: as mentioned before, kisses, cuddling, cupcakes, and just hugs were enough motivation (whereas, if she hadn't happened to blurt something out of great importance, such notions would bring up 'ew, sappy!') for her.
What was this truth, and the very core of her anxiety?
That she loved Pinkie Pie with all of her being, and she would never, ever let go.
As the door closed, and the last pony exited the building, the pink mare smiled, turning to her pegasine companion. “There, see? It wasn’t so bad!”
Rainbow sighed, before rolling her eyes in defeat. “All right, all right...maybe I did over-react a bit.”
Pinkie only giggled, before gently booping the cyan mare on the nose. “Come on, what have you learned...?”
The pegasus raised a hoof, ready to proclaim, ‘absolutely nothing', but she lowered it again, seemingly thinking otherwise. “...that you should never assume things about anypony, and being who you are is just doing what you normally do without fear?”
The pink pony nodded, before burying the edge of her muzzle into the crook of Rainbow’s neck. “There we go. We’d better write a letter soon, huh?”
Rainbow Dash chuckled, nodding in agreement. “Right you are.” She paused, before taking a hesitant step towards the door, where the party guests had left not long ago. “Well, uh...I really hate to be, but I’ve gotta’ get going. I’m gonna have to meet Cloud Kicker so we can break up this huge storm headed our way from the Everfree.”“Alright, Dashie!”
It was only when the rainbow maned pony was halfway out the door, drinking in the warm sunlight that she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
For the second time in one evening, Rainbow found herself suddenly locked in one of the party pony’s spontaneous kisses. It was sweet, loving, and...after the day's procedings, it filled her with a warmth that slowly drove the anxieties, concerns, fears, and doubts of the past out of her mind good. Pinkie always knew how to cheer her up, and, when necessary, restore her nearly infailable courage, and she did so with just that one kiss.
Rainbow managed to pull away from the pink pony's affections, but did not manage to suppress a smile of epic proportions from breaking out onto her features. She grabbed the fuschia mare, pulling her into a hug with as much might as she could muster, and the party pony returned the favor. The two young mares spent an indeterminate amount of time in the embrace, each closing their eyes and savoring the other's scent, and their closeness.
"Dashie?"
Rainbow Dash could hardly find it in herself to reply while in the grip of Pinkie. It would have been too easy to lose herself in the pink, loving mess of her marefriend. "...yeah?"
"I love you."
Dash smiled even wider, and her heart burst with happiness.
"I know, Pinkie. I...I know."
