“AAAIIEEEEE!!!!!”
A sudden shove threw Pinkie off of the queen-sized bed, slammed her against the wall, and with a bounce against the hard surface, the mare was deposited onto the hard wooden floor. A soft groan emanated from the pink pony's lips as her sluggish mind came to grips with the world around her, as well as the bruise that would no doubt form under her pink coat. She knew she was still in her room, the fact that she had just been tossed off of her own bed being the first clue, but what had just happened? Pinkie slowly got to her hooves, and with a glance back to see what had ever so rudely removed her from her bed, her eyes met those of a heavily embarrassed and frightened Rarity, the mare holding the bedsheets in front of her chest.
As details from the previous night began to return Pinkie's mind, Rarity began to stutter. “Pi... Pi... Pinkie Pie!?” the alabaster mare managed to squeak.
Cocking her head slightly, the muscles in her neck far stiffer than they normally were when waking up this early, she replied, “Yes, Rarity?”
“What am I doing in your bed, and why were we... we...” Rarity's voice dropped to but a whisper, a heavy flush piercing through the short white hair, “...cuddling?”
Getting up to stretch some of her muscles, Pinkie giggled. “You mean you don't remember?”
“Re... remember what?”
“Aww!” She giggled again, coming closer to the bed as she spoke, “Do you really not remember what happened last night?” Pinkie continued to giggle to herself, the only response she got to each question was a quick shaking of the unicorn's head. “Tell me what you remember, and I'll fill in the gaps.”
“Well,” Rarity began, her voice as small as a mouse, or maybe a tiny cupcake. “I remember... going on a date with Transitory, you know, the stallion I've been seeing for a few weeks, and as far as I remember the dinner was quite satisfactory. He was a true gentlecolt the entire time, and after the meal, we went on a stroll through the park. He took me back to his place, opened up some of the nicer wine he had in his cellar, and we started talking about random things, from how our businesses were performing to how our families were doing.”
As Pinkie hopped onto the bed, Rarity began to loosen up slightly, though the unicorn's blush was still on her face. “He came over to where I was sitting, and we started to cuddle and other silly things that colts and fillies do. It was very vanilla, but it was very sweet nonetheless. It had started to rain around that time, so he invited me to stay over for the night. Of course I agreed, and a little while after that... well... I'll spare you the saucy details of our rather rambunctious escapades, but what I do remember is...”
Pinkie saw the moment a rather nasty memory returned to Rarity's mind, a flash of anger filling her unicorn friend as it happened. “That... that monster! When he had finally gotten what he wanted and went to sleep, I had to use the bathroom. I went in there, and you want to know what I found!?”
The urge to make a joke like 'a toilet' or something silly like that briefly crossed Pinkie's mind, but she knew that such a statement would not go over very well. Instead, she cocked her head again. “What did you find?”
“A toothbrush!”
“A... a toothbrush?
“That's right!” Rarity's anger flared violently, the mare emphasizing the second word by punching a forehoof into the mattress under her. “I didn't find just one toothbrush, but TWO of them. What stallion has more than one toothbrush? Hmm!? One that has another mare that comes over regularly, that's who!”
“Umm... Rare-bear, are you sure that he just wasn't super hygienic, or maybe he has family over?”
“Oh Pinkie, darling, I wish I could say either of those were it, but as soon as I found that toothbrush, I decided to do some digging! As that vile cretin slept, I went through a few of his things, and I found correspondences, a calender with dates written on it, receipts for romantic purchases that I've never received, and so much more. As soon as I found those things, I couldn't stand to see that stallion ever again, so even with the heavy rain pelting down on my poor mane, I had to leave! I...” the unicorn's anger was quickly extinguished, and replaced with nothing but shame, “...I thought he was my prince. I was so infatuated with him, I didn't see any of the warning signs that were all around me. I’m... I’m nothing but a fool.”
“Hey.” Pinkie scooted up against Rarity, and as the unicorn's gaze fell, she put a comforting foreleg around her. “Don't be all saddy waddy. Something like that is easy to hide. It could've happened to anypony! Think about it, how many mares did you think he was going out with other than you? Two? Three?”
“...Seventeen.”
“Seventeen!? Wow, he's good.” Pinkie tapped her chin in thought. Catching a glimpse of her friend out of the corner of her eyes, she saw nothing but disgrace and hurt. Realizing her slip-up, she quickly changed gears. “Err... I mean, so he was going out with seventeen other mares? Well, that just means that seventeen other mares DIDN'T find out that he was going out with all of you at once. You were the smarty smart mare who found out what that big ol' meanie was doing!”
Rarity shifted uneasily under Pinkie's foreleg, trying to scoot a little bit away from her as she whispered, “I... I guess that's correct, dear.”
Pinkie let her friend go, and she herself scooted to a much more relaxed distance. “So... do you remember anything else?”
“Well, I remember being rained on, that's for sure,” Rarity continued to look down, “but other than that, I don't remember a thing. I don't remember coming here, I don't remember apparently getting a shower, and I most certainly don't remember...” Pinkie noticed that Rarity slightly shuddered, “...snuggling next to you.”
Ouch. That hurt a little. Still, Rarity was hurting much more, and she didn't have time to worry about herself. “Oh you silly. We must have... accidentally rolled into each other while sleeping! Nothing happened! Well... except for me promising you that I was going to give you a big heaping pile of pancakes and you promising to spend the whole day with me, but that's it! You do still want those pancakes, right?”
The snow-white mare's demeanor in her voice seemed to perk up slightly at the proposition, “I would love breakfast, dear Pinkie. As for spending the day, well, I don't think I have orders that are due today, so that sounds splendid as well. Just give me a moment to tidy myself up, and I'll be down shortly.”
“There we go!” Pinkie hopped off of the bed, and did a little spin. “I knew all it would take is the mention of pancakes to get you all happy again! Works for every filly that wakes up in my bed with no memories of the previous night!”
“...What?”
“Nothing!” Pinkie quickly skipped out of the bedroom, denying her friend a chance to question what in Celestia's name that was supposed to mean. In reality, it was a complete and blatant fib, but it felt like a good thing to say to make her friend laugh, or at least chuckle a little bit. Of course she had never woken up to another mare in her bed that had no memory of the previous night!
Well, except for that one time, but she was ordered never to talk about that.
She quickly made her way downstairs, the soft taps of hooves on wood echoing through the empty bakery. After double checking to make sure that she had enough time to make breakfast before she had to start opening the shop, she bounced her way into the bakery's kitchen. Once inside, just like every other morning, she smiled, the idea of all of the potential tasty treats made her heart flutter in excitement. The options were infinite, the only limiting factor being how far the depths of her imagination could take her. However, right now, she had one goal, and one goal alone: pancakes with chocolate chips.
Her mind went blank and her body became a blur as her instincts took over. Flour, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, more sugar, and chocolate chips flew around the room in a furious maelstrom of confectionery prowess. Time was not an issue when she was in the kitchen. In fact, almost as soon as she decided she wanted to surprise Rarity with chocolate chips in the pancakes the batter was made up and placed on the griddle, the hot sizzle of cooking deliciousness filling the room.
This lack of focus brought her something else though: a lot of time to think. She was glad that Rarity was feeling much better, her friend deserved to be happy considering how much she gave up for her friends. Pinkie was even more glad that the unicorn had decided to come to her door last night, and seek her out specifically. Granted, Applejack was outside of town, Fluttershy was next to the forest, Dashie was in the air, Twi-Twi was on the wrong side of town, and Princess Celestia was in Canterlot, but Rarity still chose to stop at her place. Rare-bear sought her out, even if she didn't really remember any of it.
That last thought put a slight dent into the pink mare's smile. Rarity didn't remember coming to her place last night, and the unicorn did smell like Applejack did after having a lot of cider. Did she only come to the shop because of mere convenience, and there really wasn't anything more to it then her just showing up at the closest friendly door? If Twi-Twi's library had been closer, would she have gone there instead? Did... did she really not care as much as Pinkie thought?
She felt her nose scrunch a little bit, and with a slightly forced giggle, flipped the perfectly done pancakes.
The slight distraction was just enough to bring the bad thoughts to a close, at least for now. Rarity had agreed to take the entire day to spend with her, probably at the expense of her business. That had to count for something, for if Pinkie were to just run off with the girls without letting the Cakes know first, they would be very upset with her. Sure, today she was just about to do that, but she still had a vacation day she could use, and even then, she'd make sure that the place was well stocked for the opening breakfast rush.
The soft and regular sounds of hooves on wood drew the pink pony's attention to the stairs in the next room. Just the thought of Rarity, her mane all styled and ready for the day ahead did something funky to her chest. It was like her heart was a member of some sort of gymnastics team, and had started doing a lot of flips and stuff. Weird.
“Pinkie, dear,” Pinkie heard her white friend in the other room, the voice containing a slight tinge of hesitance. “Do you think we could possibly stop by my place after breakfast? My mane is... well... it's a disaster.”
Again, her nose scrunched up slightly. With her smile once again spread across her face, she turned off the heat, took a spatula into her mouth, and tossed the golden pancakes onto two separate plates. After a generous pour of syrup, she placed a single set of utensils on one plate, and she turned towards the door, and yelled, “Of course that's alright, Rarity! Ooh! We could even take my shortcut to get there faster!”
Placing the plates carefully on her back, she noticed a slight pause in the conversation. It was several moments before Rarity's voice was back, “Pinkie... the Boutique is literally straight down the street.”
“I know!” the pink mare smiled, forcing her legs to not bounce their way into a breakfast tragedy. “That's why we need to take my shortcut!”
“...If you say so...”
She passed through the doorway, and with a smile, got a good look at the unicorn mare sitting at the counter. Compared to last night, Rarity was looking much better. Her coat was nice and dry, had the completely white shade that it normally had, and even seemed to shimmer in the morning light. Her smile was small, which was a welcome change compared to the heavy frown the mare wore the previous night. Rarity's mane and tail, despite what she just claimed, didn't actually look that bad. Sure, the curls weren't as picture perfect as Rarity normally wore them, but all things considered, she was still a pony to die for.
Pinkie's heart was currently flipping its way to a gold medal.
Before Pinkie could try to do the complicated maneuver of sliding the plates off of her back and onto the counter slightly above her, she felt the glassware lift themselves off of her back. A slight turn of her head showed the two plates encased by Rarity's magical aura. A tiny movement of those blue eyes brought the two plates over the granite counter, and with the most gentle of touches, they were placed onto their impromptu table.
Rarity looked at the two heaping plates of food, a slight grin on her face. “I’m surprised, darling. You only gave each of us seven each. I was expecting more.”
“Yeah, well,” Pinkie bounced her way around the counter and onto a stool, a spring-like 'boing' accompanying each jump, “ever since that one time I ate fifty-three double-extra sugar cupcakes, the Cakes have been a little more strict with charging me for what I eat.”
The unicorn giggled very lightly. “I guess that would be the only way to slow you down.”
Smiling, the two ponies began to dig into the food in front of them. Rarity was the definition of proper manners. She took the utensils on her plate into her magical grasp, cut herself a small piece, and with the most fluid of motions, placed the portion into her mouth. It was proper, it was graceful, and it fit Rarity exactly. In a complete reversal of that, Pinkie had shoved her face into the food, devouring the pancakes without a single care to how she looked. It was messy, it was sloppy, and it must have been a sight to behold.
As any of her friends would say: it was Pinkie.
As she ate, though, her mind was in overdrive over what the two could do together. They couldn't stay at the shop, so spending the day cooking something tasty was not an option. The first idea Pinkie had after that was to go around pranking ponies, but she shot that idea down almost as soon as she thought of it, because that was the last thing Rarity would want to do. Rarity would much rather spend a day sitting around a nice tea shop, talking about the latest fashions coming out of Manehattan, but that was definitely not Pinkie's idea of fun. Maybe the two could go see a movie together? But what if that suggestion came off as weird, and instead of something for two friends to do, it seemed as if she were trying to—
“Pinkie, darling?”
The mare in question turned her head to the right, though she never lifted it out of her plate. “Yeth, Rarithy?”
“You never... uh...” The alabaster mare shifted her weight slightly in the stool. “You never did answer my question from this morning...”
Her mouth full of deliciousness, the party pony raised herself back upright, and scrunched her brow, “Hmm? Wath quethion?”
Pinkie saw Rarity lightly bite her lower lip, causing every warning bell in Pinkie's brain to go off at once. However, after a few seconds, the unicorn lit her horn, and with a slight movement of her head, brought a napkin to the pink mare's face. “How did we end up in bed together last night?”
The pink pony grunted out an acknowledgment of the question, any other response gagged by the piece of cloth covering her face. Whether intentional or not on Rarity's part, the napkin forced her to think about exactly how to answer the question, even if it was an easy question to answer. Finally, the napkin was removed, and though the answer was on the tip of her tongue, she found the words slightly catching in her throat. “You... kinda asked me to come spend the night with you and to keep the bad thoughts away.”
“I see.” Pinkie could see the gears in the unicorn's mind spinning furiously as Rarity busied herself by folding the napkin, the mare's eyes glued to the cloth as she thought to herself. Finally, Rarity laid the perfectly folded napkin down, and looked back at Pinkie as she spoke, “Tell me something else, darling. Did I take a shower last night, like I thought I did when I woke up?”
“Umm.” Pinkie fidgeted in her seat, which was suddenly getting really really uncomfortable to sit still in. “You kinda maybe took a bath instead, and I might've sorta helped you with getting all squeaky clean.”
Rarity's eyes widened for just a moment, her gaze burning into Pinkie, before she closed her eyes. “...Oh dear...”
The pink mare cocked her head. “What's wrong?”
The white fashionista sighed, her eyes remaining tightly shut. “What's wrong is that I thought all those things were a dream.”
Ouch. That hurt too. Still, on the outside, Pinkie did her best to feign happiness, “Really? So you remember the scrubby-scrubby bath-time and the snoozy-snoozy bedtime? What else do you remember?”
A slight red hue began to show through the unicorn's pure coat. “Asking you to spend the night. Rubbing my forelegs against yours. Everything.”
Pinkie's smile froze, her composure, as well as her voice, slightly cracking, “Y... you mean... even when you asked me to be...”
Rarity's blush intensified five-fold, a shudder flowing through the mare. “Yes... even when I asked you to be... to be my...”
She looked at the unicorn, watching as she just sat there, eyes closed, face burning, and still as a board. There were so many things that her face displayed: embarrassment, shame, and regret chief among them. She wanted to say something, anything to change the mood, and bring back the happy thoughts that they had both started out their breakfast with. Instead, she had no idea what to do, what to say, what to think. Nothing! Pinkie was just... sitting there, watching as Rarity was feeling such... such... awful things.
The pink mare closed her eyes tightly, and thought back to the night before. It was obvious that Rarity was drunk, obvious that she needed her help, and yet, in the end, Pinkie had just made everything awkward. She should have just acted like she was asleep, and ignored the unicorn's drunken speaking. She should have let Rarity sleep by herself, especially since she knew Rarity was going to be alright in the end. She should have just let her friend take the bath by herself, stopping this awkward moment before anything too weird could even begin.
Instead, she ruined everything.
She heard a shifting of the unicorn to her right, the tell-tale sounds of the stool moving slightly closer entering the party pony's ears. A surprisingly soft voice appeared, “Are you alright, dear?”
Pinkie kept her eyes closed. “You hate me, don't you?”
“Hate you?” Rarity's voice was surprised, shocked, yet still very quiet. “Hate you? Pinkie Pie, why in the name of Celestia would I hate you?”
Her mind was a blank, her brain completely frazzled by the twists and turns of her recent emotions. Even more out of place was the ability to speak, so all Pinkie could do was hopelessly shrug her shoulders in answer.
“Oh, Pinkie Pie,” the mare softly whispered. The feeling of a pair of friendly forelegs soon enveloped her sides. “I don't hate you, I was just a tad bit embarrassed by my actions last night. I could never hate you, no matter what happened. Darling, please believe me when I say nothing you do could make me not like you.”
“But...”
“Shh, no buts.” Rarity pulled back, the comforting forelegs replaced with a pair of hooves on her shoulders. Fluttering her eyes open, she once again gazed into those pools of azure, their owner smiling with the most genuine of smiles. “Besides, I was just about to make a deal with you.”
Her self-loathing was lifted slightly, and with the most timid of looks, she cocked her head to the right, “Deal?”
Rarity's smile left her face, the mare closing her eyes. Slowly, she took a deep breath in, held it for three seconds, and slowly released it, “Pinkie Pie, I will make you breakfast tomorrow morning if... if...”
The pink mare leaned forward slightly. “...If...”
Even though her blush was returning full force, Rarity somehow kept her voice level, “...If you continue to be my prince.”
Pinkie Pie Brain Train Express stopped on the rails, her mind unable to comprehend what she just heard. Did she just hear that? Could have it been the wind? It might have been the wind. Okay, it wasn't the wind, but then... did she really... did she really say... what she thought she said? Rarity, the most beautiful and sophisticated of mares in all of Equestria... asked Pinkie Pie, the craziest and silliest of ponies... to be hers?
For whatever reason, the strangest thought crossed her mind. “But... what about the Spikester?”
“I guess I should talk to him about this first thing.” Rarity kept her eyes closed, and sighed, “Poor dear will be probably be upset, but he already knew I was in that other relationship, so I don't think he'll be too broken up over it, or at least I hope so.”
Rarity opened her eyes, and with an even bigger smile than before, spoke again, “So, what do you say about my deal, darling?”
The mood of the entire room changed, there was only one thing to say. Giggling, Pinkie replied, “Can I be a princess instead? Princes are jerks.”
Apparently, the giggle was contagious. “Wait, I thought I was the princess! If you're the princess, what am I?”
“Well duh, silly filly!” The pink mare's smile grew with every second. With a wink, she tapped Rarity on the tip of her snout. “You're a princess too!”
“Oh my! Are we allowed to have more than one princess?”
Pinkie stuck out her tongue. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are princesses, and Princess Cadence is also a princess, and Twilight is a princess-in-law kinda, so why not have us as princesses too!?”
With a mock gasp, Rarity turned her head to flip her hair to the side, so that her mane now hung off of the opposite side of her head. “None of those princesses are seeing each other though!”
“Well,” Pinkie leaned to the side slightly, so that she was able to lock eyes with Rarity again, “that's because none of those princesses are nearly as beautiful as the princess right in front of me.”
The look on Rarity's face would be one that she would never forget. The mare's eyes literally twinkled as soon as those words registered in her eyes, and slowly, she turned to face Pinkie straight on once more. Slowly she began, “Pinkie Pie... you are...”
She paused for another moment, before leaning forward, and planting the softest and arguably the most timid kiss in Equestrian history on the party mare's cheek. Pulling back, Rarity smiled even wider. “You are the sweetest pony I have ever met.” Rarity laughed as she licked her lips. “And not just because I can taste the syrup on your face.”
For her part, Pinkie wasn't sure what to say, the lingering feeling of the mare's soft lips on her cheek still sending waves of emotions through her body. So many feelings of happiness and absolute fullness swelled inside of her, she wasn't sure what to say. She tried to use sign language to tell her Rare-bear, but her forehooves were stuck to her sides. Even the ability to click her tongue to try and use Morse Code failed. So it was up to the only part of her body left able to move to act.
The heart-shaped gymnast inside her, after the award winning performance, went to stick the landing.
Pinkie Pie gained control of her legs, and making full use of them, lunged forward. “SMOOCHIES!!!”
“AAAIIEEEEE!!!!!”
A/N: I would like to once again thank Kitsunehero and NintendoGal55 for all their help. Without them, I would still be trying to figure out the difference between the words two, to, and umbrella.