As Sunset and Pinkie walked back into Sugarcube Corner, Sunset checked the time on her phone, then checked the hours posted on the door of the diner. "You sure they'll let us stay?" she asked. "It looks like they'll be closing in a few minutes."
"It's me. It'll be fine." Pinkie grinned. "I'm worth way too much as a customer and an employee."
Sunset chuckled. "Okay. I'll re-order your sundae, then. For helping me out and all."
Pinkie shook her head. "Nope."
Sunset stopped short. "Huh?"
"Nope." Pinkie walked to the counter. "Oh, Mrs. Caaaaaaake?" she called to the blue woman who was currently stacking ice cream versions of her namesake from the front showcase into the rear vertical freezer. "Can we get a do-over on that sundae from before? Only, uh, normal size, and split the scoops across two bowls, and I'll be paying this time?"
Sunset gasped. "What? Pinkie, you don't have to—"
Pinkie turned to Sunset with an even wider grin. "Don't have to. Want to. Sunset, you just showed me one of the best weekends of my life. I'd have done this anyway. Besides, we still have a teensy bit more to talk about."
While Sunset wondered what Pinkie meant, Pinkie led her to the same booth they'd sat in before. However, Pinkie stopped Sunset before she could sit.
"I know what you're thinking," Pinkie said.
"Oh, good." Sunset rubbed her forehead. "Because at the moment, I'm not sure I do."
"I mean, what you're really thinking, deep down inside. You're still scared of what to do next time I do something that frustrates you, even though I've said that being frustrated with me is okay."
Sunset nodded and sighed in agreement. "Yeah, that's fair. Voicing my frustrations instead of keeping them in, or using a punching bag, is... still a new thing to me." She shook her head. "But I want us to make this work. How do we make this work?"
"Duh. By trusting each other," Pinkie said, as if it were the simplest and most obvious thing in the world.
"But I already trust..." Sunset trailed off as Pinkie's hands rested on her shoulders.
"Your whole life has been about changing yourself for the better. Becoming the best you can be. I want to do that, too," Pinkie said. "It doesn't mean I have to stop being me. I can't make everybody happy just because I want to. But when the happy things do happen, they'll mean even more. I'll have even more to celebrate." Pinkie's cheeks flushed red, and her voice softened. "Happy things like me having a best friend willing to go through the same day over and over again, so I can have a smile on my face too."
Sunset's cheeks tinted to match.
"You don't have to fight time and space for me, though. Just... let me know whenever you're not smiling. And, most importantly, if it's because of something I did."
Instantly, Sunset started to speak. "But I don't want to make you—"
Pinkie pressed her index finger to Sunset's lips.
"I will be fine," she whispered. "I always have my own smiles to spare, and a million ways to bring them out in me... and in you. If one way doesn't work, it just means I try another." She winked. "If you keep your frowns in, they always find a way out, in the worst ways, and no one's happy.
"But you telling me what does and doesn't work for you? Telling me where the lines are? Is the only way I'll learn how to keep those smiles on you." Pinkie stepped closer. "Inside and out."
And again, Sunset could see and feel the ironic sunrise imagery in her mind. Was Pinkie Pie, the girl who always had a literal spring in her step, and an infinite number of snacks in her hair, always this insightful, and Sunset and the other girls had simply never known it?
Equally valid question: did Pinkie even know?
"So. I trust you to always tell me, and you trust me to be okay with it. Does that work for you?" Pinkie asked, her finger still on Sunset's lips. "Nod if that works."
Sunset nodded.
"Sweet," Pinkie giggled, darting forward to give that selfsame finger a quick kiss, then removing it from Sunset's lips as they both blushed deeply again, certainly enough for Sunset to feel it. "Are we good?"
At that moment, Mrs. Cake came by with two full sundae bowls, and placed them on the table. Sunset's stomach growled as she looked at the ice cream and toppings, and she and Pinkie both giggled.
This was definitely better than apology by way of starvation.
"Yeah," Sunset said. "We're good."
~fun~ ~fin~