Pinkie Pie was bouncing all around the Canterlot castle ballroom, this way and that, dodging and weaving past partying ponies as she scanned the crowd for a pony she cared about. Of course Pinkie cared about all ponies! But y’know, some were like her friends and others were like her Friends, y’know? Anyway, she was looking for—
Pinkie gasped as she locked eyes on her target: Tempest Shadow! She was over by the bar and she looked so beautiful in her silk evening dress, Pinkie thought she was gonna cry, she just loved women so much.
“Tempest!” Pinkie called out as she charged toward the bar like a cannonball. “Tempest Shadow!”
“Pinkie Pie!” Tempest exclaimed, seemingly surprised as Pinkie barreled toward her and almost threw herself at Tempest, but she realized Tempest probably wouldn’t like that and she looked uncomfortable enough already and the last thing Pinkie wanted was to make things worse. “You came!”
“Of course I came!” Pinkie giggled. “I said I would! I wouldn’t miss a date with a hot girl for anything! And you look so hot tonight!”
“Th-thank you,” Tempest grumbled and rubbed her neck, awkwardly looking away, but she didn’t have the bashful pink tint to her cheeks that Pinkie was expecting, so it’s possible that Pinkie actually just pinched a nerve instead of like, flirted. Which sucks, but sometimes it happens! Pinkie just had to make sure she didn’t do it again!
“How are you feeling tonight?” Pinkie asked, walking alongside Tempest as she scuttled to a corner away from all the noisy ponies. Pinkie felt like she’d go stir crazy if she wasn’t part of where all the action was, but right now the only action she wanted to be a part of was this conversation with Tempest! “Not much for parties, huh?”
“I’m not, no,” Tempest took a sip of her drink, and a less perceptive eye than Pinkie’s would’ve missed that her hands were shaking. “I don’t enjoy large gatherings, loud noises, or social events. Frankly, I don’t tend to enjoy fraternizing with other ponies either.”
“What do you enjoy?”
“Killing monsters,” Tempest said with a sharp smile, and it suddenly hit Pinkie like a freight train that she was talking to not just a Slayer, but one of Celestia’s personal students, who didn’t have the luxury of two sexy dragon gals to realize how messed up Celestia and the Slayers’ bigotry was, unlike Rarity.
“Uh, yeah that makes sense!” Pinkie said with a forced laugh. “But there’s gotta be other stuff right? Less violent stuff that a common mare like myself can relate to?”
“No,” Tempest shook her head. “There’s no life outside the Hunt.”
That’s what Rarity used to say all the time too, and even back in those days before Pinkie knew what she knew now, she always thought Rarity was dumb as dogshit every time she said it. The phrase hadn't gotten more palatable with time, as it turns out!
“Thank you though,” Tempest gave Pinkie a shaky smile, “for asking. I realize I’m a bit of a buzzkill.”
“A little,” Pinkie snorted, and she was glad that made Tempest chuckle. “But that’s okay. My friend Rarity, you know her, she used to be like that a lot. All hunt and nothing else, but she’s mellowed out a lot thanks to her friendships. Friendship can be a powerful thing!”
“Wouldn’t know,” Tempest shrugged. “I have colleagues amongst the Slayers, but that’s all. I don’t even have an official partner like most. I work better on my own.”
“And yet you accepted my date when you didn’t have to,” Pinkie grinned cheekily, elbowing Tempest in the hip that she could barely reach. “So you must want something more.”
“Well, I just—”
“And don’t try and tell me that it was just like an impulse thing,” Pinkie stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry. “You and I both know Slayers are supposed to be sharp as tacks! And you more than most! You wouldn’t have said yes on a whim, you probably don’t even know what a whim is!”
“I was… overwhelmed, by your offer,” Tempest muttered. “And grateful too. I didn’t want to turn you down because I—I guess I was curious, what the life of an ordinary mare is like. I don’t think I’m cut out for it though.”
“We haven’t been talking for even five minutes, silly,” Pinkie laughed. “Some things take time. You can’t plant an apple seed and expect it to grow into a tree while you’re standing there tapping your hoof looking at the clock.”
“Time is a luxury Slayers don’t ha—”
“Shush,” Pinkie cut Tempest off with a stern look. Well okay not that stern, she was still a soft pink puffball after all. “Time is a luxury that nopony has, unless they make it. It’s all a matter of what’s important to you, you’ll make the time for that. And you just gotta throw out the stuff that doesn’t make you happy.”
“Happiness is another luxury that—”
“Abup!” Pinkie held up her hand. “Your life is yours, you get to choose what you do with it, at the end of the day. A lot of streams we find ourselves stuck in are just cuz we don’t think to swim against the current. Everyone deserves to be happy, no matter who they are.
“What would make you happy, Tempest Shadow?”
Tempest took a sip of her drink. Her hands weren’t really shaking anymore. She let out a slow breath, and then a single chuckle.
“Leaving this party,” she said.
“Then leave,” Pinkie giggled. “Don’t let a shitty party keep you from being happy, Tempest.”
“I would like—” Tempest bit her lip, and Pinkie tried not to burst into a cheer as she saw a faint pink streak tint Tempest’s cheeks. “I wouldn’t mind talking to you again sometime. Uh, perhaps another time when, uh, there are less ponies around. Maybe we could, um—”
“I’m not leaving Canterlot for a couple days,” Pinkie said coyly, “you wanna grab some coffee, maybe tomorrow afternoon?”
“Hmm,” Tempest hummed, and she managed a strained but beautiful smile toward Pinkie. “Yes, I would like that. That would make me really happy.”