Pinkie’s POV:
The sudden song shocked everyone, Anon doesn’t sing of his own volition. This might actually be the first time he has initiated a heart song on his own. It really drove home the fact that the whole point of the song was about Anon’s hurt feelings toward Pinkie. It filled Pinkie with a deep sadness and at the same time a hope that Anon might just forgive her, before Pinkie could say anything to the heaving Anon another pink pony stepped between the two of them.
“A conversation like this shouldn’t be had in the cold night, our new friend Ivy here as invited all of us to speak in her home out of the cold'' The princess’ redirection brought everyone’s attention to Ivy who was currently standing with as many ponies as possible between her and Princess Celestia. Sending an affirming nod in the princess of love’s direction Ivy started a steady trot back to her home with the rest of Pinkie’s friends following her, Anon hesitated for a moment before turning to follow as well. Leaving The princess and Pinkie to bring up the rear, Pinkie’s normally puffed mane hung low, weighed down by the guilt of her own actions.
The soft feeling of feathers being draped across Pinkie’s back brought her eyes up from the ground up to the concerned gaze of Candace. The small smile she gave Pinkie was both encouraging and apologetic, it wasn’t hard for Pinkie to puzzle out why her smile felt that way to her. She may be the princess of love but relationships need work from both sides for it to work, it isn’t something she can force. Taking a deep breath Pinkie emboldened her steps and held her head higher, slapping a stony expression that would fit more on her sister Maud onto her face. Pinkie was determined to make this right between her and Anon, before giving any affection for Anon any thought they would need to be friends first… and making friends is Pinkie’s special talent (aside from parties).
The walk back to Ivy’s home was a quiet one, usually a quiet atmosphere like this would be quickly broken by Pinkie but this is one of the few times where Pinkie welcomed the quiet so she could think about what to say to Anon. She didn’t expect this to be an easy talk, but she was going to try her best either way. Pinkie’s determined gait carried her past a frowning Fluttershy who seemed just as deep in thought as everypony in their group, blue met cyan as Fluttershy sent Pinkie a small encouraging smile which helped return some curl to Pinkie’s mane.
It wasn’t long after did everypony approached a nice cottage a few blocks away, a quick flash of panic bloomed into Pinkie’s chest. She didn’t think she was ready for this, she didn’t know what she was gonna say?! She knew she wanted to apologize for everything ,but what should she say afterwards. Pinkie remained where she stood stewing in her thoughts while everypony started to enter the home. Before all this Pinkie’s feelings for Anon seemed so cut and dry but now… She didn’t know what to feel, The feeling of a familiar claw on her barrel snapped Pinkie out of her spiraling thoughts and made her eyes dart down to meet the reptilian gaze of Spike.
“ Take a deep breath Pinkie… “ Filling her own lungs with air was startlingly relaxing as another layer of tension she wasn’t aware of dissipated for a moment. Sending Spike a thankful smile Pinkie turned and followed her friends into the house. The interior of the house seemed normal as far as usual homes go but something about it felt cold to Pinkie… unlived in. Pinkie’s gazing about the room stopped on the couch where most of her friends had sat down waiting for her. Though it was weird how everypony had decided to sit around the couch instead of sitting on it, at any other time Pinkie would have giggled at how silly it looked but now wasn’t a time for laughter *Screech* Did she just hear a record scratch somewhere?
“Please take a load off Pinkie, we have a lot to talk about” Anon’s flat tone brought Pinkie back to the present making her realize she had been standing in the middle of the room staring at all of them. Keeping her composure Pinkie trotted over to the couch and took a seat next to the host… and quickly found out why everypony chose to sit our stand on the floor instead of the couch. Pushing past her discomfort, Pinkie turned her gaze to Anon who had gone and brought over a chair from the kitchen so he could sit in front of her. The two of them had been waiting for this moment for a while and now that it was actually here… neither of them knew how to start. Silence dominated the room as the two stared deeply into each other's eyes thinking to themselves ‘What do I say?’ until the obvious answer came to Pinkie’s mind.
“Anon… I’m sorry” An apology, that’s what he wanted when they first spoke and that’s exactly what he deserved. Being the first one to speak had brought all of the attention onto Pinkie in a way she wasn’t used to, everypony was taking her extremely seriously… just like she wanted.
“ I’m sorry for always treating you so awful, I’m sorry for always ignoring you, and I’m sorry I hurt you… You’ve only ever been polite and super nice to me and I… I just threw that back into your face!” Pinkie took a moment to breathe and bring her voice back down, lifting a hoof to wipe a few errant tears from her eyes and keep a steady tone.
“You didn’t deserve any of that. This all started because I was jealous that everypony was going to you for parties and it just spiraled from there. I just searched for any reason to dislike, even when there was no reason I still tried. After I … blew up at my friends, I was told why you were so nice to me. Now I don’t know what to feel about you… But I do know that I want to start over with you. If you still want the two of us to get closer then… I have an idea!” Pinkie suddenly sprung to her hooves surprising every creature around her, her mane suddenly reflating as all of her previously lost exuberance shot through her once again. Throughout her speech Anon had slowly lost his stony expression as his fondness for the pink pony slowly won out over his previous anger. Though any fond emotion was wiped from his face as surprise overtook his features at Pinkie’s declaration. Caught off guard Anon didn’t realize he nodded to Pinkie’s question giving her clearance to continue.
“Will you go on a Friend-Date with me!” And just like that any sound that was being made after Pinkie’s… offer disappeared. Every creature stared at Pinkie in a stunned silence that seemed to stretch on for almost an eternity, usually by this point Pinkie would have started to wonder if she said something wrong again but this time she was positive this was the right thing to do! The eternity of silence was suddenly broken by the sound of two simultaneous face-palm/hooves. Princess Cadence was self conscious enough to smother the groan that threatened to roll out of her throat, but Spike had no problems letting his fly as he buried his face in his claws. Though another sound started to rise over Spike’s groan, a rumbling sound that slowly started to get louder. All eyes started to pan over to Anon who had leaned forward and planted a hand firmly on his face and was slowly starting to tremble. For a moment Pinkie was scared she had made him angry with her… until the rumbling sound started to become something she recognized.
“... phfft-HahaHAHAhaAHahA-” Pure unfiltered laughter, Anon held his stomach in almost pain as he laughed the hardest in his whole life. Anon had to forcefully take deep breaths to calm himself and not run out of air mid laugh, Everypony (Even princess Celestia) didn’t know how to react to Anon’s laughter and didn’t know if they should be watching or not… except for Pinkie. She was enraptured by Anon’s laugh, for a moment she was taken back to the moment she first made her family laugh back on the rock farm. For a moment Pinkie’s heart seemed to beat harder than her party cannon could fire.
“-Hahaha-hah… *whew* Sure Pinkie, I’ll go on a Friend-Date with you. First though, let’s finish our job here” Pinkie’s iconic smile burst though the moment the word ‘sure’ came from Anon’s mouth. Springing up from the rock in the shape of a couch, Pinkie launched herself at Anon for a hug… which he quickly caught and stopped. He gently sat Pinkie back on the floor then offered a hand to shake, with a sheepish smile Pinkie reciprocated with a hoof.
“Oh s-sorry… We got a lot of work ahead of us” Anon gave a small smirk at Pinkie’s words and walked away to go speak to Ivy who had stepped away to speak to Princess Celestia. Pinkie’s happy gaze turned determined once again as she thought about her words. She definitely had a lot of work ahead of her and she refuses to fail, she will make this right. Pinkie felt the soft feathers of Princess Cadance drape over her once again as all her friends began talking to each other.
“ I’m very proud of you Pinkie, all relationships take time and effort. You need to be able to trust each other as friends before you can trust everything to each other… of course I wasn’t expecting it to go like this. I guess I still have a lot to learn as the Princess of Love, there are countless kinds of love and all of them grow in their own way. Don’t lose hope Pinkie, this will take time” Pinkie giggled with the Princess as they thought about her methods and with a seriousness that’s unusually uncharacteristic of Pinkie she said a few words.
“You’re right Princess, This is only the beginning”