The letter crumpled beneath Pinkie’s hooves. She threw it against the wall and glared, wishing she was a unicorn so she could set it on fire with her mind.
“What’s eating at you, dearie?” Mrs. Cake asked.
With a huff, Pinkie turned toward the older mare. “Double Diamond. He keeps talking about how the twins are going to mess up his skiing schedule if he has to keep them by himself.” Her angered expression melted as her ears fell flat. She looked up at Mrs. Cake, her brow wrinkled. “Do you think he doesn’t want to take care of them?”
“I can’t say what he wants.” She sat beside Pinkie, pulling her close. “I do know that sometimes, ponies are afraid of such a big change. Sometimes ponies don’t know what to do, so they want to ignore it. Give him some time, sweetheart. He wants to be in their lives. Maybe he’ll just come here and visit when he can.”
Pinkie nodded. “I guess. Four weeks ago he seemed so excited and now he isn’t. I don’t understand.”
A bell rang toward the front of the store, and Mrs. Cake stood. “Perhaps he needs to come here and spend some time so you two can talk face to face.”
“Maybe. I’ll ask him.”
“Ask me what?” A dark face grinned at her over the counter. “If I’m the best coltfriend in Equestria? Because that answer is yes.”
Pinkie stood as quickly as she could. “Thundie!” She grinned and pushed through the door to see him. “How was reserve training?”
His face turned serious for a moment. “Awful. We flew through the beautiful, luscious Rainbow Falls all week long. There was even enough down time to take pictures and enjoy the view.”
Pinkie giggled. “That sounds like a blast, silly. Not awful at all!”
“Not without you,” he said, tapping her nose. “I missed you.” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I did bring out this.” He took out a package that had been tucked under his wing. Pinkie grabbed it and tore the paper off. “It’s a double rainbow statue. I thought it would look nice in the twin’s room.”
From the behind the counter, Mrs. Cake nodded. “It’s lovely.”
“It’ll be super-duper cute!” She grinned. “I missed you, too.” She let her head rest against his shoulder. Suddenly, she jerked away, her eyes going wide. “Oh!” Then she giggled. “They’re kicking!” She sat and exposed her round belly. She rubbed the top of it and a small lump appeared, quickly followed by another.
Both Thunderlane and Mrs. Cake crowded around Pinkie, hooves on her belly to feel. “That’s amazing,” Thunderlane whispered. “They’re really in there.”
Pinkie grinned up at him, her eyes sparkling.
After convincing Mrs. Cake to let Pinkie go early (which, in truth, had taken absolutely no effort) the two sat off into Ponyville. They wondered through the town, swapping stories of the week, laughing and groaning where appropriate. Thunderlane frowned whenhe learned Double Diamond would be asked to come to Ponyville, but said nothing, and soon their conversation went again to happy places. Then he smirked and suggested a picnic in the park. They gathered what they would need –basket and blanket included – and sat off.
“You know,” Thunderlane said, “I meant what I said earlier. I missed you a lot this week. I thought about you all the time. It made me realize just how much I care about you.”
Pinkie felt a queasy feeling in her stomach, but it was a happy sort of queasy. She swished her tail against him once, twice, and then they were intertwined.
He continued. “You make me so happy, Pinkie. There have been some really hard times since we got together, but the good times more than outweigh the bad.” He stopped and turned toward her. “There are so many amazing things about you, and I…I can’t even think of the speech I prepared. Celestia, I love you, Pinkamena Diane Pie. I love you.”
His hoof reached up and touched her cheek, gently, and smiled. “Will you marry me?”
The grin she had been wearing waned. “Marry? I love you, Thunderlane. But marry? Now?” She swallowed. “Thundie… We haven’t been dating all that long. I want to, yes, but I can’t say that I will. Not right now.”
The happiness that had surrounded them earlier was gone. “Oh.” He swallowed thickly. “Oh.”
“Th-thundie, I –“
“No, no. It’s okay. You don’t want to. Or, you won’t. You won’t marry me. It’s okay. We’ll just…I’ll just…” His bottom lip trembled and he looked up at the sky. “I need to check in with the weather team. I’ll talk to you later.” And with that, he jumped into the sky and blasted through some clouds, flying off, away from the weather station, away from Ponyville.
Away from Pinkie.