She said yes!
This singular thought bounced around Pinkie Pie’s head for what must have been the thousandth time tonight. It had been the best afternoon ever! Not only did Pinkie suddenly find the courage to ask Rainbow Dash out on a date, but it turned out that the pegasus felt the same for Pinkie (and, in fact, planned to ask her out on this same day)! What’s even better is that their first date was tomorrow! They were to spend the whole day at the Harvest Festival together! Pinkie was so happy she could just burst!
Unfortunately, that was precisely the problem: Luna’s moon had risen hours ago and the pink pony was no closer to sleeping than she was when she skipped back home before the sun even set. While Pinkie oftentimes stayed up late, tomorrow was special; she couldn’t be a tired wreck for her first date! And so, Pinkie tossed and turned in bed, thinking of any way she could calm down enough to finally close her eyes.
Granny had once told her to try to count sheep jumping over a fence to lull herself to sleep. Indeed, this worked on most nights Pinkie was having trouble getting some shuteye. But tonight, she couldn’t even get to four before the imaginary sheep morphed into certain sky-blue pegasi. Then one of the Dashes would get bored with the whole fence thing and ask Pinkie to dance. Pinkie began to accept, but then realized where she actually was. Disappointed (in more ways than one), Pinkie had to abandon that idea and find another way to help her sleep.
Next, she tried to clear her mind of all thoughts. This was much harder than it sounded. Just seconds after she stopped thinking, Pinkie would mentally check back to see if her mind was still clear, ruining any peace that she might have gained. She tried to remember what that book about meditation in Twilight’s library said, but that just made her think about how that book had fallen open in front of her after Rainbow Dash crashed into the bookcase. And, of course, the thought of Dashie erased any progress she made on the meditation front.
And so, Pinkie decided to head downstairs to the kitchen. Rarity had always said that warm milk helped her whenever she had a sleepless night. Again this backfired: just as Pinkie was warming the milk, she thought of the imaginary dance she almost had with Dash and lost track of what she was doing. When she finally came back to reality, she found that she had subconsciously made hot cocoa — complete with whipped cream, sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and a cherry on top. While this was delicious, it did little to help her sleep.
Almost desperate now, Pinkie finally decided that she had to talk to somepony else, at least until she could stop thinking about Dashie long enough to calm down. It was starting to get really late, and the twins were enjoying a rare moment of sleep — and the Cakes were taking advantage of the reprieve by joining them in slumber. Gummy, too, could not be roused (the little alligator was not very good for conversation, anyway). Pinkie then thought of her friends, when she remembered something.
Fluttershy was often up this late at night, feeding and caring for her owls, raccoons, and other nocturnal animals. Of course! She would certainly be glad to have company over! Maybe she would even have some sort of tea to help Pinkie relax a little. Without further hesitation, Pinkie bounced out the door and headed towards the shy pegasus’ cottage.
*******
High above Ponyville, a wisp of cloud dispersed with a quiet poof.
“This just isn’t working,” Rainbow Dash muttered. The clouds tonight were all wispy, and their similarity to cotton candy was not helping one bit. “Pinks, I love you, but you have to get out of my head! Maybe if I go someplace where I can stop thinking about you, I can finally get some sleep.”
Rainbow Dash suddenly had an idea. There was somepony who might be able to help. She would probably even be up at this time! Surely talking with her oldest friend would distract her. Rainbow Dash circled slowly over town before flying towards a certain cottage on the edge of the Everfree.