Peachy Pie doesn't have a very special somepony for Hearts and Hooves Day. Sunny Daze helps her look. But what does Peachy Pie expect from a very special somepony? And which pony could be her match?
These two fillies are not OCs, but background ponies. Their biggest role was in The Show Stoppers, where they won the prize for best dramatic performance by reciting their favourite poem on roller skates. None of Peachy's potential suitors are OCs either. You can find them all in Friendship is Magic if you look hard enough.
Thanks to yellowstripedflutterbat, BlueYoshi, MrAskAPirate, and Pankrazius for pre-reading this story and offering their suggestions. The cover image is pieced together from Background - Apples by liamwhite1, Sunny Days by Kooner-cz, and Peachy Pie by Kooner-cz.
Reviewed by PresentPerfect, 1 Mar 2015 (Fic reviews, March 1st: Super Happy Hearts and Hooves Lovefest Edition!).
Added to the Goodfic Bin, 31 Mar 2015, and featured on its front page, 7 Apr 2015.
Accepted into Nonpareil Fiction, 27 May 2015.
This is certain one adorable little fic involving two very underloved fillies and I honestly love how you portrayed them as well.
Ah, the first entry into our Hearts and Hooves Day Contest, and, all-in-all, a very much delightful one-shot if I do say so myself. I do have a question: how old exactly, in terms of, let's say, human years, do you envision Peachy Pie and Sunny Daze as? I only ask because throughout the fic, they both seemed oddly nonchalant about the idea that Peachy could be into either fillies or colts, but if I knew what you thought their age was, it might make a bit more sense to me. I hope this isn't coming across the wrong way, and I'll admit I myself don't know much about how early in life people are very certain of and comfortable with their sexuality, but it was just a little odd trying to envision two fillies from the show being this comfortable when they're probably, at most, 13 or so, with bisexuality as a normal concept (just because that's right around the age where kids are, very often, though admittedly not always, just starting to think about those more mature concepts of sexuality). Again, I really, really, REALLY hope this question isn't coming across the wrong way; one author to another, I'm honestly curious about your creative input here that went into determining this behavior from these two characters.
Now, I will admit that, as a creative choice, it would have been a lot more problematic for me if the ending had gone where I thought for 95% of the fic it was going to go. The ending still kinda went where I thought it was going, but it was a lot better than I thought it would be. Instead of being some sort of Hallmark/Lifetime Channel movie-like ending where "the love-of-her-life was right in front of her all along," you kept it refreshingly ambiguous, which I appreciated for a couple of reasons. For starters, as I mentioned before, they're still kids, they can hardly be expected to have everything as far as something as important as their love lives figured out entirely in one afternoon. Second, it remains up in the air whether or not this fic is even about romance; these two could easily become each other's very special somepony in the future, but it could just as easily be a fic about two best friends being there for each other, or it could even be about both. It's just really nice that the ending didn't have a definitive answer; it kinda felt like, say, the first act of "The Fox and the Hound." Whereas later in life, Copper and Todd start worrying about adult responsibilities, the animosity they're supposed to have for each other, and, in Todd's case, falling in love and raising a family, all those adult things, in the first act, all that matters to them is finding a good friend and having fun with them. That's what kids do, they enjoy the simple things for simple reasons, and that's alright, cause they've got their whole lives to figure stuff out like who they're going to spend the rest of their life with. So yeah, like I said, the ending was a pleasant surprise given that, for a lot of the fic, I thought it was going to be a lot more cliche.
As for the rest of the fic, I have no really major complaints. Grammar and spelling were sound, the pacing was fine. I just realized you must've set it on a Saturday since it's clearly the weekend and they said they'd be back at school in two days, so that's very clever, you set it on the same day of the week as this year's Valentines Day, very clever indeed. I could gripe that Peachy felt really picky at times, BUT at the same time she's a kid; finding a special somepony's still gotta be a very new concept to her, and c'mon, we were all kids once and really picky about a lot of things, so it felt like accurate behavior as well. She's not at a point where the idea of 'opposites attract' would make much sense to her, though as a minor complaint, it did seem like, even though some of her complaints were superficial at times, others she'd put a lot of thought into. Again, this goes back to my earlier question of how old these two are supposed to be? But whatever, it's a minor point at best. Overall, this was a really cute fic that I very much enjoyed, and thanks for contributing it to our contest, VitalSpark!!!
P.S. As an author who writes about background ponies (e.g. Derpy, Time Turner, etc.) myself, bonus props for using two very, very, VERY under-utilized background characters as well. Just always nice to see as many canon characters as possible getting some fan love.
5625031 To be perfectly honest, I haven't thought too much about how old they are. The same age as the CMCs, but depending on what point in the FIM time line you place it, how old is that? Certainly after season 4 because "Bats" is referenced.
My headcanon is that the gender ratio in Equestria is fairly skewed. (Seriously, what proportion of the ponies you see in the show are male?) So lesbianism and bisexuality are commonplace and not ideas that a young pony would be unaware of. (I've also written a fic starring Trixie where this is mentioned, though she's specifically after a stallion, partly as a status symbol, and partly because she wants to start a family.)
It is indeed set on a Saturday. It kind of needed to be so that they could wander around town all day instead of being stuck at school. The fact that Valentine's day fell on a Saturday this year was just a bonus.
I'm glad you liked the ending. It was hard to find the right balance. Some of my earlier drafts didn't drop enough hints, and one or two pre-readers missed the point of the ending and thought it was a sad story. :(
Thanks for your comments!
5624953 Thanks. There are literally only two or three other fics that mention Sunny Daze on this site, and none with Peachy Pie. (There are a couple of fics that use one of those names for an OC though.) I thought they deserved a little love!
5625193
). So yeah, it makes perfect sense that if sexuality isn't really a contentious issue in Equestria, it wouldn't be odd in the slightest for younger ponies to think of something like bisexuality as a perfectly normal thing. Thanks for the clarification, that makes Peachy and Sunny's behavior A LOT easier to understand. 
Ah, thank you, that makes perfect sense. While the "there's a major female-male imbalance in Equestria" idea's never been a part of my own head canon, I have always liked the idea for fanon material that sexuality preference isn't a contentious issue in Equestria (mostly because of the realities of shipping in this fandom, but also because it's just refreshing not having to deal with that issue in a fantasy land when it's talked to death in our own reality, and this coming from a conservative Christian, mind you
Have a like for sheer adorability.
Super cute and i loved it it was so romantic...
okay maybe not i guess.
Is the end implying that Peachy Pie wasn't fond of any colt or filly because she has feelings for Sunny Daze that she hasn't realized yet?
Because that's the way I interpret it.
Very nice and beautiful story! It was a very relaxing read and I feel all happy now. :)
And it's wonderful that you have made it that way that Peachy and Sunny considered fillies as special someponies too. :)
This story gets a favourite from me for the reason named above and because it's one of the few (if not the only) fanfiction about Sunny and Peachy.
5629940 The ending is intentionally ambiguous. We realize that Peachy and Sunny are potentially suited to each other, but it's left open to interpretation as to whether they realize that themselves.
5630039
I thought so and I love it how subtle you hinted on that.
So I decided to read this story again and thought that it was pretty sweet. Great to see two fillies spend a great time with each other.
Come down hard on Truffle Shuffle why don'tcha? :(
I adore how you ended this. I was just expecting her to realize that Sunny was her VSP all along. :)
5654365
Moi?! That was Peachy Pie's opinion of him, not mine!
Maybe she will some day.
It's an interesting concept but I think the story is boring.
Up until they set out looking, the story lacks a hook to catch my attention and comes across as bland. It was well paced, however, and worth reading to that point to get to what really entertained me. Characterizations start to show, and tension around whether the friends might end up together starts to build. It's a fun treat to see the careful attention paid to well- and lesser-known background fillies and colts and their relationships as well. My favorite part was the ending.
Thanks for a super cute story.
5701105 Thanks! If I had to choose one story that I'm most happy with, it would probably be this one. I'm sad that not as many people have read it as some of my other stories, but those who have seem to have broadly enjoyed it at least.
5701148 I hope your story gets more views soon. It's been added to the featured folder in Foalcon.
I'm already a fan of both Peachy and Sunny, and I've had to point out their non-OC status to people myself after using them both in one of my own stories. Clearly, I need to give this a read.
It's very cute and I upvoted it, but I do have some minor nitpicks:
Sunny is the filly with the golden mane, Peachy has the orange one. (Note the cutie marks.)
Boysenberry is a girl. (You can tell from the shape of her face.)
Other than that, it's a nice read and I'll be adding it to some groups so other people can check it out.
I didn't get a chance to drop one of these the last time I was here,
s6.postimg.org/dd47s96ap/Pirate_Approved.jpg
5714823
I don't actually refer to the girls' mane colours in the story. The descriptions of them being "golden" and "pale orange" refer to their coat colours, not their manes. Their coats are of such similar colours that "golden" or "pale orange" could frankly refer to either of them.
I agree that Boysenberry looks girlish, but according to mlp.wikia.com is a colt. I tend to treat that site as being authoritative in such matters — I know it's a community-edited wiki, and far from perfect, but I'm the kind of person that likes to have an authority to appeal to for such things.
Thanks!
5716234
My issue in this case is that the pic they're showing isn't the foal that practically everyone else in the fandom refers to as "Boysenberry". For some reason they have her as "Unnamed Earth Filly #2"... but a search under the "Boysenberry" tag on Derpibooru turns up her pics.
I was actually expecting the ending to be that Peachy Pie decides that Sunny Days should be her special somepony...
Then again, that probably would have been a bit clichéd...
Finished reviewing for the Goodfic Bin. Accepting due to it being very, very nice. Decision is here!
Congratulations! This story is now featured on the front page of TGB.
5836173 Wowee! Yay!
5716241 It looks like somebody else has cottoned on to the Boysenberry confusion, and his name on the wiki is now "Plum Star". I'm going to edit the story to update his name.
static.allmystery.de/upics/5bc56d_miata_laughing.jpg
5977628 Did you figure out Sunny's mother's name too?
Ayy, I read a lot of your other stuff, mainly of the mature variety, but this is so adorable! I really would like to see a bit of a longer, perhaps multi-chapter fic about how these two slowly realize they were right there all along. Honestly though, anything more with them would definitely be welcome!
5977965 I did, but it didnt make me laugh as much. I read it during my lunch break and the guys in the shop were like wut?
5978777 I've thought about it. I think at some point later in the year I might do a poll to see which of my stories people want a sequel for. This story is a definite candidate.
5978815 Ooooh man... that might be a tough choice, but I'd probably choose the non mature story over the clop. I'm a sucker for cutesy, slowly developing romance.
Yays! Apparently I win this:
lh4.googleusercontent.com/OQ7svCsPq1zE_mPTkOZbdav7dxJKwYLIrhKRf9zTWj6Ir7VZfZSV5rIKt_K-71O3z-ZXvRn8yL1ftwsYT1pEg0GiyM-EASPIBOmfeeqIMjYQqgd_qYBZfnDJThiZ8pIi1wNp-yy1Rw
Annnnd you just killed me with adorableness...
How dare you D'x
Nice story!
Twas awesome sauce!
6219897
Thanks. I think it's my favourite story that I've written.
6219936 You're very welcome!
Its a very nice story well done ^v^
This sounds like a jab at Flash Sentry.
This was so cute!
6701436
You know, I believe you are the first person to notice my little joke there.
I'm glad you liked it.
6701705
Considering they have a similar color scheme...
*decides to write a story with Peachy Pie and Flash Sentry*
I like how seamlessly you eased into their "bi" acceptance and respected the intelligence of your audience enough to not have to shove her final decision down our throats.
For me, it gave the story a very naturalistic feel. This was a sweet little read!
7050570
Thanks. I've written quite a few stories on this site now but this one remains one of the handful I'm proudest of.
Full review here, but in brief: a really pleasant, show-tone fic with a very nice ending. An easy upvote.