Pinkie Pie was filled with a looooooot of swirling emotions as she and Rarity sat down on their beds in Sugarcube Corner, having missed their afternoon train back to Canterlot and forced to take the morning train tomorrow.
The two had spent the rest of their afternoon in Ponyville, and while Rarity was reluctant at first to accept the Cakes’ offer to stay at Sugarcube Corner for the night, bits didn’t grow on trees so she graciously took them up on it.
Rarity hadn’t done much with her time, mostly staying at Sugarcube Corner, helping herself to some on the house sweet treats and making sure she had everything she needed neatly packed for the morning.
Pinkie took the time to visit as many of her Ponyville friends as she could fit into one day; all except Bubbles.
Bubbles was nowhere to be seen, and when Rarity asked the Cakes why, they told her about how Bubbles had a tendency to disappear on short notice, only to show up again safe and sound the next day or day after.
Pinkie already knew that about her friend though, so she wasn’t worried.
At least, not until she and Rarity settled into their room for the night. Then she felt all kinds of need to worry, though not about Bubbles. Instead her mind raced with thoughts of the trip and what she’d experienced.
On the one hand, she was super glad to finally have her very own adventure! On the other hand, Rarity almost died, and Pinkie got left alone in the woods for several hours. But on the other other hand, she got to meet Fluttershy! But on the other other other hand, Rarity had barely said a word since telling her scary story.
Pinkie had heard that story before, of course. Applejack insisted Rarity tell it to her to dissuade her from becoming a Slayer, but in all honesty it only made Pinkie more certain that she wanted to do it. She heard Rarity’s descriptions of horrified ponies, calling out for help as they were burned to death, and it broke her heart into little bitty pieces.
No one deserved to die like that, and even more, no one deserved to live in fear of that fate. Pinkie couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t do something to help, and becoming a Slayer was the only thing she could think of!
Pinkie sighed and stared solemnly out the window. She was as lost in thought as Rarity was, and neither really had much to say to the other, but Pinkie hoped that didn’t mean Rarity thought Pinkie was mad at her. Then Pinkie was terrified to think that Rarity might be mad at her.
“Rarity?” Pinkie whimpered. When the unicorn looked impassively in her direction, Pinkie swallowed a lump of fear and clung to her pillow.
Rarity’s eyes lit up and her mouth took the shape of a concerned ‘o’. She smiled softly and got up to sit next to Pinkie on the bed, placing her hand gently on Pinkie’s thigh, which got a giggle out of Pinkie.
“I’m sorry, darling,” Rarity said, “I have been terribly dull company today, haven’t I?”
“It’s okay,” Pinkie put her hands on top of Rarity’s. “I know you have a lot on your mind. I just wanna make sure you aren’t upset with me.”
“Why would I be?” Rarity tilted her head, and Pinkie instinctively clenched her fingers tighter around Rarity’s hand.
“Well, um, cuz I made us miss the train?” Pinkie murmured.
“Oh, please, sweetheart,” Rarity chuckled and put her arm around Pinkie, letting Pinkie lean against Rarity’s chest while Rarity stroked Pinkie’s hair. “I know you had something very important that you needed to do.”
“It was,” Pinkie bit down on her lip but couldn’t stop herself from smiling ear to ear, “super important.”
Even after Rarity commanded Pinkie to gather her things, she delayed. She started picking up her things suuuuuper slowly, Rarity letting out a frustrated groan in response that made Pinkie flinch.
“Do you need help?” Fluttershy asked.
Pinkie shook her head, and when she inadvertently made eye contact with Rarity, she flinched again and focused on picking up the picnic supplies.
“Should I just wait outside the forest for you?” Rarity said grumpily.
“You promise you won’t leave me?” Pinkie said pitifully.
Rarity took a deep breath and sighed, a weary frown on her face. She forced a small smile and promised, “I won’t leave you.”
Pinkie opened her mouth to speak but Rarity cut her off, performing a series of odd gestures and saying, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Pinkie Promise.”
“Thank you, Rarity,” Pinkie said with tears in her eyes.
“Don’t be too long, okay?” Rarity said with a giggle. “We don’t want to miss our train.”
“No worries!” Pinkie chirped, giving Rarity a salute.
“I’ll wait for you,” Rarity said as she left the forest, leaving Pinkie all alone with Fluttershy.
As Pinkie picked up the stuff, Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably, watching Rarity walk away from the forest.
“Are you going to be okay?” Fluttershy said suddenly, startling Pinkie who stood to attention right away. “With her?”
“Oh yeah,” Pinkie nodded, “she’s one of my best friends! I know she got super intense all of a sudden, but she’s really nice. Why do you ask?”
“Uh, um, I just wasn’t—” Fluttershy cleared her throat and took a few steps back, allowing Pinkie to grab the blanket off the ground. “You didn’t seem sure, just a second ago.”
“I’m not sure of anything,” Pinkie laughed, only half-joking. “My brain doesn’t work right, y’know? It gets all noodly and tries to make me believe not-true stuff.”
“I—” Fluttershy seemed hesitant to speak, but Pinkie waited with rapt attention for her to, especially since Pinkie hadn’t actually meant to say that brain stuff, it kinda just slipped out and was really embarrassing. “I’m like that too.”
Pinkie’s eyes sparkled with affection as well as tears. She grabbed Fluttershy’s hand, surprising Fluttershy, who gasped at Pinkie’s touch, and Pinkie looked up into Fluttershy’s beautiful teal eyes.
“I wanna come back and visit you!” Pinkie said excitedly, perhaps a little too excitedly, judging by Fluttershy’s stricken expression. “Um, if that’s alright?”
Fluttershy just blinked, staring down at Pinkie whose smile was becoming more and more strained as she waited for Fluttershy to speak. Pinkie let her hand fall off Fluttershy’s and got back to picking up her stuff.
Once she had collected everything, she sighed softly to herself and wanted to kick herself in the butt for being such a stupid, dumb, boring, ugly pink earth pony who no one will ever—
“I’d really like—” Fluttershy’s words got caught in her throat and it was as hard for Pinkie to hide her enthusiasm as it was to try and not get her hopes up. “I’d really like for you to come back. If that’s okay with you.”
“I’d love to come back,” Pinkie said sweetly, beaming brightly. “I can’t just drop everything at home though, so I don’t know when I’ll be back…”
“Oh,” Fluttershy’s ears drooped and her eyes drifted toward the ground. Pinkie felt the painful prong in Fluttershy’s heart like it was her own.
“But I’ll definitely come back!” Pinkie assured, only receiving a half-hearted ‘mm-hmm’ in reply.
Pinkie knew the only way to convince Fluttershy that she was being honest would be to actually come back, but her words were true; she couldn’t just drop everything at the smithery on Applejack and leave to Ponyville whenever she wanted.
“Give me one month, okay?” Pinkie’s voice cracked as she tried to remain confident despite her fears. “One month, and I’ll come back to see you. I promise,” Pinkie turned to face Fluttershy and puffed out her chest. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! I Pinkie Promise! I’ll come back to see you in a month!”
Fluttershy stared in bewilderment at Pinkie’s odd chant for a moment, and Pinkie very briefly worried that she had made things worse, but all the tension in her whole entire body fluttered away at the giggle Fluttershy made.
“I’ll wait for you.”