A Day for Fun and Understanding
"I'm sorry Pinkie, but I simply have too much work to do. Why don't we hang out tomorrow?" As Twilight shut her door, Pinkie Pie sighed and she let herself droop. Wasn't anypony able to spend time with her? Every single one of her friends all seemed to be... Fluttershy! How could she have forgotten? That silly filly would probably love to spend time with Pinkie Pie!
And with that, Pinkie Pie bounded off, oblivious to everything except her goal of finding Fluttershy.
"Gooooooooooooood morning, Fluttershy!" It didn't take long for Pinking Pie to find the timid pegasus busying herself in a flower patch right outside her cottage.
"Oh good morning, Pinkie Pie. How are you today?"
"Not good! Every pony I've talked to has something to do and I haven't been able to hang out with any of them!"
Fluttershy finished picking the last of the flowers and gave a small smile to her friend. "Well... I've got nothing to do today seeing as none of my animals are sick right now..."
Pinkie Pie didn't wait for her to finish. Pulling Fluttershy into a crushing hug, she loudly exclaimed, "Oh thank you than you thank you! We are going to have so much fun today! We can have an adventure! We can go bake cupcakes! We can-"
But before Pinkie Pie could finish what she was saying, a low growl leapt out at her from Fluttershy's direction. "...Oh! Excuse me... How about we have some lunch first?" Fluttershy pulled herself out of the hug and walked toward her cottage. "I was just picking these flowers for a nice tasty salad. You're welcome to come inside and have some if you want."
"Oh boy! That sounds super duper delicious!"
When lunch was finished, the two friends set off towards nowhere in particular. After walking a path for a while, Pinkie Pie broke the silence with a hum.
"HmmhhhmHMHMmhMmhHHmhHMhmHH"
"Uh Pinkie Pie?", Fluttershy said slowly. "Isn't that the song you made about Zecora?"
"It sure is! You wanna sing it with me?"
"Well I thought we were all done with thinking she was bad and stuff..."
"Oh silly, I don't think Zecora is bad. I just like the song. I especially liked it when you sang it."
"Oh... right." Fluttershy did not want to be reminded about that incident...
"Hey! I've got a great idea!"
"What is it Pinkie P-"
"Come on! I'll show you!" Pinkie Pie was off again with Fluttershy quickening her pace to catch up. Hopefully, Pinkie Pie wasn't planning something too... eccentric.
"Uh, Pinkie Pie?"
"Yes, Fluttershy?"
"Why are at the edge of a cliff?"
"Because we are going to jump off it, silly."
"Oh okay... wait WHA-" But Pinkie Pie had already given her a good shove and was now in free fall with her.
Amid her screams of fright, Fluttershy saw that Pinkie Pie had somehow procured a parachute and was getting ready to pull its string. Pinkie Pie pointed to Fluttershy's wings before giving the strings an energetic tug.
Oh yeah... she had forgotten she had wings. She let them snap out and immediately rode the air currents. The mid day sun was shinning though a sparsely clouded sky as the two fillies floated over a section of trees and fields. Birds flew all around them as they slowly descended. One bird even flew up to Fluttershy, recognizing her from a past appointment. Feeling more at peace, Fluttershy glanced over at Pinkie and smiled weakly. Pinkie Pie was aiming her decent through as many clusters of birds and clouds as possible. "Look out belooooow! Here comes the Pink!"
After they landed, Fluttershy insisted that they start walking towards town. She may have enjoyed the experience, but she wasn't about to give Pinkie Pie the opportunity to put her in any more exciting situations. As they walked to town, it was Pinkie Pie who broke the silence again.
"So... did you have fun?"
"Well it certainly went better then expected. I'm just glad you had a para-"
"I knew it! I knew you'd have fun! Let's go and find some more fun!" Pinkie Pie was about to dash off when Fluttershy let out a small noise.
"Uh, actually. If it isn't too much trouble... could you let me pick the next thing we do? Unless you wanted to pick it... then I guess that would be-"
Pink stared at her friend for a good half second before chirping up. "Well sure, Fluttershy! Where'd you want to go have fun?"
Fluttershy looked and idly kicked at the dirt for a few moments before answering. "Um... if its ok with you, I would like to go see what is going on at the theater. I hear they're going to have an orchestra perform in half an hour."
Pinkie Pie bit her lip. While she was definitely a pony who loved her music... wasn't orchestra for boring old ponies? But, she had just gone skydiving with Fluttershy and she knew that she was pushing her luck to try anything else like that...
"Sure Fluttershy. What's the orchestra going to be about?"
Fluttershy let out a small grin. "Oh, you'll see."
Pinkie Pie had never been to an orchestra before but decided to try to be optimistic about it. She and Fluttershy entered the amphitheater and walked among the rows until they found their seat numbers. They silently watched the musicians all practice different pieces. It sounded chaotic and helped to cheer Pinkie Pie up a little. Maybe things wouldn't turn out so bad. But as other ponies started to enter the theater and fill the seats around them Pinkie Pie groaned inwardly. They all had fancy clothes, much like like the clothes commonly worn at the Gala. If this was going to be anything like the Gala...
"Fluttershy, do you think this is a good idea? Maybe I don't belong here." Pinkie Pie's voice was barely a whisper. Fluttershy's prior warning about using an indoor voice was still fresh in her mind.
"What's wrong, Pinkie Pie? I thought you liked music." Fluttershy's slightly pained expression made Pinkie Pie quake with guilt.
"Oh it's not that. I just. Well, I mean..." She sighed as the lights started to dim. "Oh, never mind." The show was about to start so Pinkie Pie resigned herself to try to make the best of it. Maybe if she imagined all of the musicians in funny hats...
The conductor slowly walked up to his podium and tapped a small black stick against it until all of the musicians stopped practicing and turned to face him. As he lifted his conducting stick all of the musicians readied themselves. Pinkie Pie laid her chin on her hoof. Here we go...
But the music she heard wasn't at all what she expected. In fact, was it getting louder? Building in intensity? Before the music could reach any higher it quieted down. And quieted down... and got even quieter...
Pinkie Pie was staring at the stage rapt with attention. Just what were these ponies playing at?
Before she could have another thought, the music exploded! Trombones filled the theater as flutes pierced the air! Huge brass cymbals were expertly struck as drums the size of ponies were thumped in unison. This music wasn't boring at all! In fact, it was fun! It was awesome!
Fluttershy gave another one of her small smiles as she watched Pinkie Pie absorb the music. It was nice to know that she too could show her friend a good time.
"Wow! That was amazing!" Pinkie Pie nearly bowled over a gentlecolt as she pushed her way through the throng of ponies and out the theater. Fluttershy winced and gave an apologetic smile to the disgruntled pony as she followed Pinkie Pie.
"Well, I'm just glad you enjoyed your-"
"I sure did! Thanks for inviting me to this! I can't believe today turned out so great!"
All Fluttershy could do was smile at her friend. Yes, today had been a great day...