Time and Masks

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Awkward Morning After

Dinky woke up, with a small feeling of surprise. She thought that she would be lying awake all night. Seems she had fallen asleep at some point regardless. Turning her head, she looked around. There was light coming into the entrance of the tent. She was also the only one in it.

The young mare let out a sigh and crawled out of her sleeping bag. She let out one more yawn as she got up and out. Dinky closed her eyes and took a deep breath, smelling the fresh morning air as it filled her lungs. It helped wake her up and feel a little less scared.

It turned out that she was the last one up. Twinkleshine was at the freshly made fire, making something for breakfast. Wind Tunnel was flying back from the forest, his front legs full of additional firewood. Neither of them noticed their friend waking up right away as they went about the morning chores.

"Do either of you know where Ruby went?" Dinky asked as she moved closer.

"She should be down at the river," Wind Tunnel answered. "Said she wanted to go for a swim. If not, then she's out collecting edible plants for later."

"Okay. Thanks." Dinky then started heading for the forest.

She found Ruby at the river, splashing around in the water. The deep pink pony was up to her neck, pushing her way up stream. Her mane hung down, dark and heavy with water.

Dinky watched her friend swim and smiled. For some reason, she could feel her face heating up. This all suddenly seemed like a very bad idea. Did Ruby know anything happened? If not, why bring it up? If so, what else could Dinky say on the matter? Maybe it would be better to say nothing and go back to camp. Just pretend the whole thing never happened.

But that was not the way she wanted to live her life, was it? To ignore something and act like it never happened? Was it something either of her parents would do?

With a sigh she turned around. The young mare continued to move toward the river. This time she made an effort to be heard, rustling branches and knocking pebbles as she approached.

Ruby turned and looked at the sound. She smiled at the sight of her friend. The smile disappeared as her eyes went wide. The pink unicorns face turned a darker shade of red if that were possible. Ruby hunched down, only her nose and eyes sticking out of the water.

"Hi," Dinky said, trying to smile. If her friend's reaction was any indication, pretending that nothing happened was out of the question anyways. The pale lavender unicorn decided that the best course of action was to take the lead in the conversation.

"Everything okay?"

Mentally, Dinky smacked herself. She had meant to take control of the conversation.

"Fine," Ruby responded. "I'm fine. Uhm..." She rolled her eyes as she looked anywhere but at Dinky. "Did... Did anything strange happen last night?"

"Like what?"

"Anything? Uhm... You know what, never mind."

"Could you come out of the river. I need to talk to you."

Ruby shifted, her ears flickering as she looked around. After several minutes she finally started toward the shore. Once out, she shook herself and moved closer to her friend. Water continued to drip down from her mane.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Something..." Dinky hesitated a moment, then took a deep breath and continued. "Something did happen last night. When I went to bed, you snuggled up a little. For some reason.... I... I kissed you on the forehead."

"Why?"

"I don't know." Dinky gave a shrug. One hoof rubbed at the other as she shifted to look at the ground. "You were just there... and it sort of happened. I didn't even realize I was doing or think about it until after..."

"Do you..." Ruby hesitated, licking her lips. "Do you like me. I mean... like more than friends?"

"...I don't know." Dinky sighed. "I honestly don't know how I feel. I never thought about anything like that. Not with you or anypony else. Between classes and practice, the free time I do have being spent with friends, I haven't even thought about having any sort of... relationship with another pony." She continued to look down at the ground, feeling her face heat up as she blushed more.

One of her ears gave a flick as she heard Ruby moving closer. Instead of looking at her, Dinky looked further away. A hoof touched her face, gently lifting and turning it so she faced her friend.

"Well you need to figure it out," Ruby said gently. "We both do, actually. I never thought of you or any other filly in that way. But... " she gave a sheepish grin, "...I... kind of liked it."

"So... I guess we both kind of need to think about how we feel?" Dinky said. "But... what are we going to do about the rest of the week?"

"Pretend everything's okay?" Ruby suggested. "Go about as we normally would? Why don't you help me get some food? There's some daisies and lemongrass in a field not far from here. How about you collect them and I'll get some edible mushrooms I saw earlier."

"...Okay..." Dinky sighed and turned, walking toward the field. She watched her hooves as she went, trying to figure out how she felt about her friend.