Sweetie Belle galloped through Ponyville's park, pausing only when she caught sight of the pegasus she'd been searching for.
Scootaloo had long ago upgraded from her standard scooter to a much more impressive, two wheeled, partially enchanted skateboard designed for her specifically by a thankful client in Canterlot. Despite being almost twice her length, it moved with the same deceptive grace and alacrity she now embodied and between tutoring at the School of Friendship and helping with Cutie Mark Crusader missions she could usually be found here, in the center of the park, skating up and around the statue commemorating the saving of Equestria.
Due to her closeness to Rainbow Dash as well as her own, not inconsiderable accomplishments, she had attracted quite a following, with members of the "Scootaloo Fan Club" gathering around the statue every week to witness Scootaloo's outrageous and oftentimes physically impossible stunts. Earth ponies had long dominated the sport of extreme scootering, using their geomancy to manipulate the ground beneath them and their increased durability to protect themselves from the cuts or bruises inherent in such a dangerous sport. But Scootaloo's wings and lighter build allowed her to move with agility which no other pony could accomplish, mostly because no pegasi had ever attempted to become an athlete in this arena of spectacle before.
It worried Sweetie Belle sometimes, how many risks Scootaloo would take in showing off to her adoring audience. And not, because, as Scootaloo had once suggested, Sweetie Belle was afraid that Scootaloo was too weak to look after herself. It was because Sweetie Belle couldn't help but imaginge each increasingly convoluted trick ending in a nasty and permanent fall.
There was of course, something beautiful about the smile on Scootaloo's face when she was in her element, moving with lightning speed between the different facets of the statue and whirling up the vertical sides of each polished brass form with utter disregard for her own wellbeing. Sweetie only wished that Scoots could find as much release in less life-threatening endeavors.
As she paused to watch the display, she felt a hoof tap her on the shoulder and turned to smile in surprise.
"Oh, hey, Diamond Tiara! Hey Silver Spoon! Sorry, I-uh, I didn't notice you!" She said with a shy chuckle.
"It's okay, you were clearly focused on something else." Silver Spoon said dryly.
Diamond Tiara didn't seem to be paying attention, she was clearing her throat and staring at the ground, with an expression like she was about to throw up.
"Are you alright Diamond Tiara?" Sweetie Belle asked, quick to change the subject.
Diamond Tiara took a deep breath and then she raised her head and spoke. "Iwasjustwonderingifyouwantedtogototheheartsandhoovesdancewithme!"
Sweetie Belle stared at her for a moment. "Oh."
Diamond closed her eyes, wincing like Sweetie Belle might strike her.
"Oh..." Sweetie Belle said, suddenly comprehending the weight behind her friend's request.
"I'll give you two some privacy," Silver Spoon said, shifting out of sight as Diamond Tiara scrunched herself up so much, she looked ready to implode and become a black hole.
"Diamond, I really like you...and you are a very pretty mare but..." Sweetie Belle began.
"It's okay, it's no big deal, I just thought I would ask, hahahaha...see you later Sweetie Belle!" With that Diamond Tiara had already turned away and dashed out of sight, tearing between bushes and trees to escape the completion of the rejection.
Sweetie Belle slumped in her posture; the wind taken out of her sails. She would never want to hurt Diamond Tiara. Still, it was difficult to imagine, the two of them dancing together. What would they talk about? They didn't have anything in common. And Diamond Tiara was a beautiful mare but not beautiful in the same way that Scootaloo was. She would have spent the whole dance thinking of somepony else and that was no way to treat a friend.
Shaking her head, she turned back toward the direction of the statue, just in time to witness Scootaloo's grand finale. She watched as the orange pegasus skidded to a halt after a spectacular display of mid-air acrobatics and immediately began signing various objects and tousling the hair of the fillies and colts who worshipped her.
Sweetie smiled at the sight, although her excitement was still somewhat dampened by her encounter with Diamond Tiara. Had she been too hasty? Was it cruel to turn away another creature's affections without first giving them a chance?
"Come to check out my awesome moves?" Scootaloo asked, rolling up to Sweetie Belle as the crowd dispersed.
Sweetie Belle blushed. "Well, that last trick was pretty cool..."
"It should have been, I've only been practicing for two weeks." Scootaloo said, shifting her sore foreleg to regain feeling in it. Then she hopped off her skateboard, popping it up from her rear hooves to her fore ones. "So, is there a cutie mark emergency or something? Usually, this isn't your scene."
This was it. No turning back. It was better to know, even if it crushed her heart, she had to know.
"Scootaloo, I-I want you to know...I made something for you." Sweetie Belle said, opening the flap of her backpack and lifting the oversized card out of it.
Scootaloo stared at the card in surprise and then, almost suspiciously, opened it up. She stared at the words inside for a moment and Sweetie Belle tried to gage her reaction. Was it too girly for her? Too glittery? She wished now she had paid a pegasus to skywrite it for her, as had been her first idea.
"Umm, Sweetie Belle, whatever this is, it's not funny." Scootaloo said, passing the card back without looking Sweetie in the eye.
"What? B-but it's not a joke!" Sweetie Belle said. "I'm serious, Scootaloo."
"Oh, c'mon, Sweetie Belle. We've known each other since we were fillies. What do you expect me to believe that you suddenly developed a crush on me or something?" Scootaloo asked, with the folding of her hooves.
Sweetie Belle looked away. "It...it wasn't all of a sudden..."
Scootaloo's eyes widened, and her expression filled with instant regret. "Oh...I'm sorry, Sweetie I didn't..."
"It's fine." Sweetie Belle said, trying and failing to blink away the tears very clearly running down her cheeks. "It was a stupid idea anyway."
"No, Sweetie, I just...I love being your friend, it's just...there's somepony else that I was planning to go with."
That was it, the sound of her heart being shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. She thought it would be accompanied by a thundering boom. It wasn't right for terrible things like this to happen on sunny days like this one, in a beautiful place like the park. Neither was it right for them to pass by as quickly as a breeze.
All her excitement, all her anticipation, died, leaving behind only a hollow feeling in the stomach and terrible taste in her mouth. She shuffled her feet and then turned away, her telekinesis picking up the crumpled invitation and stuffing it into her backpack.
"Oh, I'm glad...I hope you two have a wonderful time at the dance together. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." That was all she could get out, before she had to teleport herself away, unable to take Scootaloo's sympathetic eyes anymore. When she landed, it was half-way inside of a bush, and as she slowly and ungracefully pulled herself free, she shook her head and closed her eyes.
Of course, why would Scootaloo have ever wanted her?
Twilight sat in the silence of her conservatory, having temporarily vacated the Canterlot palace and returned to the Castle of Friendship to celebrate Hearts and Hooves Day with Cadence and her friends.
It was also a better place to hold the friendship summit between Ember and Cadence. Less buildings to burn if things went sideways.
Twilight liked to think that as the current ruler of Equestria she and Ember had a respectful and companionable relationship. However, she was not an alicorn to take chances, and was currently levitating all the books about dragon diplomacy in her library into the air around her. It was a short list, containing mostly volumes about the theoretical applications of diplomacy to dealings with dragons. The very nature of dragons, wherein they became more powerful the more things they stole, gave them very little incentive to ever consider anything other than brute force. At the moment, it was only the tenuous friendship between Spike and Ember which secured Equestria from being reduced to ash.
Well, that and the Elements of Harmony and the Alicorn Magic, but even at the height of their strength, Twilight very much doubted that she or her friends could fight every dragon in the Dragon Lands, if Ember united them under the common goal of loot.
Of course, the selfish nature of Dragon magic also prevented dragons from working together. No dragon wanted any other dragon to grow bigger, because then that dragon might steal whatever meager hoard they had hidden away. As a result, they were too busy infighting and grand standing to unify their efforts. Only the Dragon Lord had any sway over the rest, and even then, any dragon could attempt to usurp the current Dragon Lord, provided they were willing to risk a battle to the death.
She groaned and closed her current book. While it was true that dragons had begun to gain some understanding of friendship, thanks in no small part to the efforts of her and her friends, love was a whole other matter. Dragons did not mate for life. The females produced a clutch of eggs, and then left them to be protected by the male. It was the male's job to protect and warm the eggs, while the female assembled hoards so that their children would not be defenseless when born. But the male might just as soon steal the female's hoard if it wasn't hidden well-enough. There was no such thing as marriage and there was definitely no equivalent to Hearts and Hooves Day, no such thing as dancing, dating or writing poems to each other about how much they loved one another.
As far as she could tell, dragon courting was almost identical to dragon territorial disputes, only with slightly less murderous intentions.
This wouldn't have been such a big deal, except that Ember was visiting the Castle of Friendship on Hearts and Hooves Day to discuss gem deposits in the Crystal Kingdom with Cadence. And Ember had a tendency to...burn things she found difficult to understand. If Twilight couldn't figure out a way to get her to wrap her head around the nature of Pony relationships, then it might result in a diplomatic incident.
Worse, it might mean that Cadence and Ember didn't become friends. And Cadence was friends with every creature.
Twilight knew that if her friends were around, they would laugh and tell her that everything would be fine. She also knew that they weren't the Princess of Friendship. She was. And it was her job to make sure all of their allies stayed allies. She needed some way to be assured that Ember would enjoy the festivities, without getting the impression that she and all of Ponykind were a bunch of love-sick ninnies.
"Hey Twilight! Watchya reading?"
She sighed.
"Hello, Pinkie." She said as she snapped closed all the books at once, well aware that any meaningful conversation with Pinkie was an enterprise prohibiting distractions.
"I just wanted to check on you and see if you needed any help with anything for Hearts and Hooves Day!"
Twilight sighed. "You're still making the chocolate souffles, right?"
"Yepperoni! And the molten chocolate and chocolate fountain and the strawberry and chocolate cake and the chocolate eclairs and the chocolate stuffed croissants and the chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles and the chocolate donuts with pink glaze and the heart-shaped cookies with heart-shaped chocolate chips in them! I just wanted to check on you and make sure you hadn't spiraled into another existential crisis."
Twilight frowned and turned to find Pinkie bouncing in place, an alligator hanging off one long strand of hair.
"Pinkie, what are you talking about?"
"Oh, c'mon Twilight, you're always on the verge of some kind of mental breakdown!"
"Pinkie!" She shot her friend a glare.
"Oh," Pinkie paused and put a hoof to her chin. "I'm sorry Twilight, I didn't mean it as an insult."
Twilight rolled her eyes but was startled out of annoyance and shot straight into confusion when Pinkie bounced over to her and wrapped her arms around her midsection.
"You know we all love you for who you are, right Twilight?" Pinkie said, nuzzling her muzzle into Twilight's midriff.
With all the strength which being an alicorn afforded her, Twilight pried Pinkie off as gently as possible. "That doesn't make it okay to say nasty things, Pinkie..."
"I wasn't trying to be nasty!" Pinkie said. "It's just that Rarity is worried she's going to grow old without any hoof to hold and end up dying before she ever meets her special somepony and I realized I haven't been doing my job so I'm checking up on all of you guys to make sure you aren't feeling the same as her. Except for Applejack and Rainbow Dash, because Applejack would just tell us if she was feeling lonely and Dashie doesn't care about that kinda stuff."
Twilight took a deep breath. "Pinkie, what do you mean you haven't been doing your job?"
"You know, my job as the Element of Laughter." Pinkie answered, rocking back and forth on her front hooves. "It's my job to make sure that you and the others and everypony in Ponyville is happy and so I wanted to check on you, because I felt guilty about not, I'm doing my job."
Twilight considered her response for a moment. There was so much glaringly wrong with Pinkie's explanation, that it was difficult knowing how to convey how glaringly wrong it was. Finally, she said "Pinkie, you know it's not your job to make sure everypony is happy, right?"
"Haha, good one Twilight!" Pinkie clapped Twilight on the back with a hoof and Twilight had to catch herself to avoid falling out of her chair. "Well, if you don't need me, I'm going to go check on Fluttershy and make sure her social anxiety hasn't degraded to the point where she's become agoraphobic. Good luck with reading your floating books!"
With that, she bounced out of the room, causing several books to fall from their shelves with the slam of the conservatory door behind her. Twilight sighed and began the laborious process of picking up the fallen volumes with her telekinesis and returning them to the correct section of her meticulously organized collection.
She shook her head at the thought of Pinkie feeling guilty because of Rarity's melodramatics. If only there was a book in her library that would help her make Pinkie Pie slow down long enough to understand how backwards her thinking was.
"Dear Rarity,
Do you like mares?
Yes or No?
~ An anonymous friend"
There. Nice and simple. No possible chance of being misinterpreted.
Of course, it would be simpler for Rainbow to ask Rarity in person, instead of slipping this note under her door. But Rainbow had a terrible feeling that if she did that, Rarity would ask if SHE liked mares. And Rainbow was a terrible liar.
It wasn't that she was ashamed of her relationship with Applejack, as she'd told Applejack time and time again. Rainbow Dash was proud of Applejack as much as her parents were of her. She woke up every day and provided for her family in a ways that Rainbow didn't think she'd be able to if she was in Applejack's position.
But whenever she thought about telling anypony about the two of them, all she could do was remember what had happened when Twilight and Starlight published that diary about all their adventures. And that made her remember that Gabby Gums article which had almost destroyed her reputation.
She was a celebrity, a member of the Wonderbolts. If her fans found out that she was in a relationship with another mare, they would view her differently. What if they didn't like what they saw? She liked to think it didn't matter, that she wouldn't live in the stable just because of public opinion. But she also wondered about those people close to her, who were also her fans. What about her father and mother, who were always trying to set her up with the stallions on her team. What about Scootaloo, who looked up to her like a big sister? She couldn't bear it if they came to love her any less.
No, the note was the only option. All she had to do was to get to Rarity's house and deliver it and then get back to the preparations for Hearts and Hooves Day. Rainbow liked her free time, but she also wanted to finish preparations as quickly as possible, so that she could get working on her own date with Applejack.
It wouldn't be in public, but at least they'd be able to spend time together. It had been so long since they'd had a proper date and she knew that Applejack hated all this sneaking around. But this was chance for her to make it right, for the two of them to be happy again.
She paused, just outside the door of boutique and, making sure that no pony was paying attention to just what she was doing, she slipped the envelope containing the letter under the door and then flew off.
She was too busy leaving to notice the mournful Sweetie Belle slowly approaching the building, who stopped in the middle of the street to watch her "covert" delivery.
Having just finished helping Twilight re-organize the to-do list for Cadence's arrival, Spike had deduced there was just enough time for him to head into town and help Rarity out with her own preparations. Of course, he was exhausted already from being Twilight's number one helper. But a little more fatigue was hardly a fair price to pay for being in Rarity's company for just a few hours.
He was almost to the Carousel when a gray hoof tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to see Derpy, the local mail pony, hovering slightly off kilter right behind him.
"Oh, hi Derpy!" He said. He couldn't remember sharing a proper conversation with the mare before, but everypony knew her and they had all learned to steer clear when she was on a delivery.
"Hey Spike..." She said, rubbing her hooves together.
"Uh...is everything alright?" He asked.
Derpy looked around and then leaned down. "Is Pinkie Pie replacing me?"
Spike stared at her for a moment and then said. "I'm not sure what you're talking about..."
Derpy gulped. "Well, I saw her deliver a package to Rarity's shop and I wanted to know why she didn't give it to me to deliver. It's just...if it was because she was worried that I was going to lose it, I know I'm not the best flyer and I know I messed up that one time with Big Mac's pie, but I've gotten a lot better, and I would never let anything bad happen to the mail."
"Derpy, I don't think-"
"And if it's because I'm not mail pony anymore, well, I just wanted to see if you could ask the Princess, since you're her royal advisor. I-I really need this job. I don't know if you could have me moved to the packaging department or something-"
"Derpy, I'm not a royal advisor and Twilight isn't in charge of the mail delivery system. And even if she was, she wouldn't fire you for no reason." Spike said. "Now, Pinkie probably just delivered a package herself because...she's Pinkie. She does things like that."
"Oh. Okay." Derpy looked at the sky and then leaned back towards Spike. "So, I can keep my job?"
Spike rolled his eyes. "Yes, Derpy. You can keep your job."
The Pegasus pumped a hoof in the air and then shot off like a cannon ball, almost smashing into a nearby building and instead only knocking over a collection of garbage cans, causing a couple of ponies who had just finished sweeping the cobblestones to shake their fists in her direction.
Spike rolled his eyes and hurried up the stairs and into Rarity's boutique. If Pinkie had left a package for Rarity, it was probably some kind of invitation to a party. Which was strange, because they were having a dance and everything for Cadence's visit. But it wasn't unlike Pinkie either, to overdo it with the partying. He'd have to ask Twilight if-
"Spike! You won't believe it! I just returned from shopping for a new fainting couch, and I found this on my stoop!" Rarity said, holding up a beautiful, soft-lavender dress with felt hearts sewn into the hemline.
Spike stared at the dress and then at the box on the floor next to it. Yep. Definitely Pinkie Pie's work, judging from the volume of glitter glue used on the packaging.
"Some anonymous pony left this beautiful dress on my doorstep, addressed to me. Do you know what that means?" Rarity asked.
Spike pretended to think about it for a moment. "That they're hoping you'll hire them at your boutique?"
"Of course not, Spikey-Wikey. It also came with this note!" Rarity said, holding up an envelope which had been torn open. Pulling on a pair of glittery glasses, she began reading the extremely brief letter contained within. " 'Dear Rarity. Do you like mares? Yes or No?' Signed 'An anonymous friend'." Rarity sighed and pressed the envelope to her bosom, along with the dress. "Can you believe it, Spike? Some mare is in love with me..."
Spike's frown turned into a scowl. "Nope...I can't believe it."
"Oh, who do you think it is? Do you think it could be Flitter? Or Helia? Or...*GASP*, what if it's Inky Rose? You know I don't think I could pull off the Goth look 24/7 but I've never really tried it." Rarity said, the blueprints for a whole line of darkly colored, but still quite fashionable clothes appearing in her mind.
"Rarity, why would somepony give you a dress and a weird letter? Why wouldn't they just...tell you they liked you?" Spike asked, trying to figure out exactly where Pinkie's mind was at this point (always a dangerous question to contemplate).
"Oh, Spike, you simply don't have a romantic mind." Rarity sighed, turning away and levitating the dress and letter along with her. "Whoever it is, they are probably planning to reveal themselves on Hearts and Hooves Day. And they'll know that if I wear this dress...it will be the answer to their question!" She squeed. "Can you believe it, Spike, I have a secret admirer!"
Spike watched as she speculated about whether or not making some modifications to the dress to make it more "her", would be taken as an insult by the pony who'd sent it. Then he shook his head and turned away, marching out of the boutique while Rarity rambled about being barely able to wait until the celebration to find out who had sent her the dress.
Pinkie had just finished knocking for the third time on the door to Fluttershy's cottage when the door was opened by an extremely unamused looking rabbit.
"Oh, hey Angel!" Pinkie said springing up into the air. "Is Fluttershy home? Also, is she going through a romance related dilemma. Or just in general does she have anything she needs to talk about that she hasn't been able to because I've been too busy baking to make sure she's alright?"
Angel glared up at her and his nose twitched with displeasure.
"Phew!" Pinkie said, with an exaggerated wiping of her brow with her forehoof. "I was worried for a second there. Here, you play with Gummy while I go talk to her!"
With that, she lay Gummy down in front of Angel and sproinged over the two of them and into Fluttershy's cottage. Her eyes ran over the various birdhouses and animal dens which occupied Fluttershy's living area and she was reminded of how kind and wonderful her friend was. She felt a pang at the realization of how much she'd been letting her down, neglecting her own duties as a friend and as an Element of Harmony.
She vowed then to do better. Stick a cupcake in her eye.
She skidded to a halt when she heard the voice upstairs. Fluttershy's voice probably would have been imperceptible had she been addressing another pony; she was much more comfortable speaking in front of her animal friends. Which meant she was talking to herself, psyching herself up for something.
Pinkie slowed her movement and crept up the stairs, pressing her ear to the door of Fluttershy's bedroom.
"Okay, one more time...Rarity, would you want to come to the dance with me? Oh no, that's no good at all..."
She gasped and then grinned as she stage whispered. "Fluttershy wants to go to the dance with Rarity but doesn't know how to ask her?"
She jumped up and down, while still somehow managing to make as much sound as a feather landing. "I can't believe it! I can't believe it!" She squeed, still stage whispering. "Oooh, they'll make such a cute couple!"
She stopped when she heard what was next.
"Oh, this is pointless...I'll never have the courage. Rainbow Dash is going to be so disappointed in me."
With that, Pinkie threw open the door and tore across Fluttershy's room, wrapping her hooves around Fluttershy's neck and splaying her body across the floor. "No Fluttershy! Don't give up on romance! I'm sorry I wasn't here to help you with your feelings but don't become shriveled and embittered and then decide never to leave your house again. I'M SORRY I'M SUCH A HORRIBLE FRIEND!!!"
"Umm, Pinkie?"
Pinkie sniffed. "Yes?"
"Why are you in my house?" Fluttershy asked, managing to look stern despite the blushing of her cheeks.
"I-I came to check that you were alright..." Pinkie explained.
"So, you were spying on me?" Fluttershy asked, her expression darkening.
"No, no, no, no! It's just that Rarity has been feeling really bad that she doesn't have a very special pony for Hearts and Hooves Day and so I've just been checking on everypony to make sure that all my friends are happy because I don't want you to be unhappy because then that would mean that I haven't been doing my job and-"
"Pinkie, please slow down..." Fluttershy slipped out of Pinkie's loosening grip, causing the pink pony to fall face forward onto the floor. "Did you say that Rarity is feeling bad that no pony wants to be her special somepony?"
Pinkie looked up from the floor and nodded.
Fluttershy beamed and grabbed Pinkie, giving her a massive hug and then swinging her through the air in a circle. She twirled as she did so, her wings carrying her up off the floor and Pinkie along with her.
"This is wonderful!" Fluttershy said lowering back to the floor.
"It is?" Pinkie asked, stumbling back and forth and then shaking her head to dispel her dizziness.
"Yes, this will give me the courage to tell her the truth..." Fluttershy explained. "Before, when I was doing it for myself, I was afraid of being rejected. But now that I know I can make her happy, I have to do it!"
"Uh, great!" Pinkie said, still at a loss how it could be a good thing that Rarity had fallen into a romance induced despair but unwilling to argue when it was clear that Fluttershy was no longer upset with her.
"Oh, just promise me you won't tell her about my feelings, okay? Everything needs to be perfect for when I tell her!" Fluttershy said, now flying around the room and rifling through various drawers, wardrobes and closets.
"Cross my heart and hope to fly!" Pinkie said, backing out of the room. Oh well, she would count this as a win. She had cheered up Fluttershy and that was the bit which was important.
As she pronked down the stairs, she could hear Fluttershy whispering instructions to all of her animal friends. She grinned at the thought of how happy Fluttershy and Rarity would soon be. Fluttershy's mellowness and benevolence combined with Rarity's elegance and charity. They would mix together like peanut butter and chocolate, both so perfect for one another that everypony would be surprised they hadn't been together all along in a few months.
As she hopped over to where Angel was trying to keep Gummy at bay with a spatula (no matter how well behaved, there were some species, like rabbits and alligators, which were not designed to co-exist), scooped up her favorite crocodillian and hopped out the still open front door.
"Thanks for keeping Gummy company, Angel Bunny!" She called back to him.
He palmed his face and slammed the door shut behind her with unnecessary force.
Pinkie didn't notice. She was already prancing down the path from Fluttershy's cottage toward the road and back in the direction of Ponyville. Well, that covered Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy. Now she just needed to check in on every single other pony in Ponyville and its neighboring municipalities.
She had just reached the spot where Fluttershy's driveway turned onto the dirt road leading back to Ponyville, when she felt it.
A shudder going all the way up her spine, vibrating up from her tailbone and rattling her ribs as it reached the base of her neck. It happened in total conjunction with a sudden pinch in the cartilage of her left front knee, and as soon as they came her hyperactive mind discerned their meaning.
Something which you would never have expected was about to happen. And whatever it was, it was going to be scary.
She shook her left forehoof, trying to get feeling back into it and shivering despite the warmth of the spring sun. Something very bad was about to happen, something which no pony could have predicted.
She had to do something and quick, or somepony might get hurt. Twilight. Even if she hadn't been the Princess of Equestria, she was always ready to help her friends. She was the most powerful pony in Equestria and she knew about all kinds of things which Pinkie didn't. If something scary was going to happen, Twilight should be the first to know.
She turned to race back the way she'd come, in the direction of the Castle of Friendship and nearly ran over Spike.
"Oh, hey Spike! I'd love to catch up, but I just got the weirdest feeling from my Pinkie Sense and I need to tell Twilight right away in before something really, really, really bad happens!" She moved to run around him but he moved so that he was in the way.
"Pinkie, why did you send Rarity that letter?" Spike asked.
Pinkie frowned. "Spike, you're going to need to be more specific. You mean the letter where I cut out pictures of ponies from the Ponyville Express and made it look like they were all kissing? Or do you mean the letter where I gave her my super-duper secret recipe for rock salad?"
"I mean the letter asking her if she liked mares!" Spike fumed. Then his anger faded. "It's just, you know that I have a crush on her...I don't get why you would send her a letter like that if you didn't want to take her to the dance yourself."
"But I didn't send her any letter like that!" Pinkie said.
Spike growled and face palmed. "Fine. Fine! Don't tell me! Just...don't get her hopes up for nothing, okay?"
Pinkie frowned. "But Spike, I didn't-"
He just shook his head and took off, quickly flying out of earshot. If she didn't know better, she'd think he might have been...crying? She stood in the road for a moment.
Was what just happened what her Pinkie Sense had warned her about? She'd never expected for Spike to be that angry with her. It hadn't been exactly scary though. He had grown a little sure and he was a dragon, but she'd spent too much time with him to be scared of him.
Either way, it was clear that he was also feeling underappreciated, just like Rarity. Of course! He was her friend too and she had been neglecting him like she'd neglected Rarity and Fluttershy. She wanted to tell him that it was Fluttershy who liked Rarity, not her. But she had Pinkie Promised not to share Fluttershy's secret just like she had also sworn never to share Spike's.
Well, she would find another way to make Spike feel appreciated.
"Gummy, remind me to tell Twilight about my Pinkie Sense after I'm done putting together a gift for Spike!" Pinkie ordered, as she sped off, away from Ponyville, in the direction of the mines where Spike and Rarity had often gone to collect gemstones in years past.
Gummy blinked.
"What was I thinking?! Of course, she doesn't want me!!"
Silver Spoon sat on Diamond Tiara's bed, rolling her eyes as she held out a handkerchief with her right hoof. Diamond Tiara looked up from sobbing into the carton of ice cream in her lap, long enough to grab the handkerchief and blow her nose noisily into it.
"I'm a monster..." Diamond Tiara said, wiping her eyes with that same handkerchief before attempting to pass it back to Silver Spoon, who was in the process of pretending it had never existed.
"It's not that bad." Silver Spoon said. "So, it didn't work out this one time, what are you never going to date anyone then?"
Diamond Tiara just stared at the pink carpet of her room and sniffled. "Probably..."
"Ugh...C'mon, I bet we can find you a great date for the dance. Now, have you gotten all the self-pity out of your system?" Silver Spoon asked.
Diamond sniffled and then nodded.
"Great. I'm gonna go see if you're parents are alright with me staying over. We'll have a slumber party, and we'll think up who you can ask instead."
Diamond stared at the floor and then nodded forlornly. Silver frowned and then gave her a hug. "C'mon, it's not that bad...you'll see."
Diamond didn't answer and Silver tried not to look at her as she hopped off the bed and headed out the door. She didn't like her when she was like this. She liked the Diamond Tiara she could tease without feeling bad about it, or even better, the Diamond Tiara that she could verbally spar with.
As she headed down the staircase, she half-expected to hear Diamond's mother complaining about all the noise Diamond was making. The Rich house was nice, but the walls couldn't be that thick. She was surprised to hear Spoiled Rich laughing, as if she couldn't even hear her daughter's wailing. Not that she had much of a hoof to stand on, after all she had remained somewhat cynical in the face of Tiara's heartbreak.
Still, she was Tiara's friend. Spoiled Rich was her mother, she was supposed to be there for Diamond Tiara when she was going through something like this. It wasn't supposed to be that Diamond Tiara was afraid to even talk about her crush because she knew her mother wouldn't approve.
There was another voice. Filthy Rich was laughing too! And they were playing music! What were they having a party down here while their daughter sobbed her heart out?
Silver Spoon had dealt with Diamond Tiara making excuses for her parents their whole childhood. Which she understood, because they were her parents. But she also longed for the day that Diamond Tiara could move out of this home, and she could finally give the both of them a piece of her mind about the way they'd treated her over the years.
For now, though, she'd have to be polite to gain their permission to stay the night. She had just formulated an explanation for Tiara's behavior when she saw the cause of the music.
Silver Spoon had never seen a cat person before, but she had always imagined them as silky, beautiful creatures. This one was anything but. She looked like something left behind by a leaky inkwell. And that instrument she was playing...was it made of bone?
"Uh...hello?" Silver Spoon said, stepping carefully off the staircase and approaching her friend's parents and the stranger.
The cat-woman's yellow eyes gleamed in Silver Spoon's direction, and the hungry look on her face was beyond disconcerting, verging on terror inducing.
"What's going on down here?" Silver Spoon asked, glancing between Filthy Rich and his wife, both of whom were still laughing hysterically and pounding their hooves on the table that the Abyssinian had sat down at. She was startled somewhat, by how...undignified their guffawing was. Filthy was usually a little more boisterous than Spoiled, but both of them, being Earth Ponies who came from rich families that worked very hard to imitate how they thought the Canterlot Elite acted, had always been relatively reserved in her presence.
Now their eyes seemed to bulge, and their faces were masked with sweat as they heaved for breath between laughs, making sounds like a dying donkey. And the Abyssinian just watched, as if this was all perfectly normal.
"Worry not
About this coupling
Alas, mine caterwaul
Was too bawdy for
Their tender senses.
Thyne look betrays
distrust for which
thou art without blame.
Though kin did once
call me Bard,
to thyne mine name
is only friend."
Silver Spoon watched as the cat-person stood up on Spoiled Rich's table and bowed as if it was a stage. Silver Spoon didn't know how she'd done it, but somehow the lute was returned to the interior of her cloak without her noticing. That wasn't the strangest thing about the interaction though, not by a long shot. The strangest thing was the way that her simple gesture caused the Rich parents to burst out into even more uproarious laughter.
"W-what are you doing here?" Silver Spoon said, glancing at Filthy Rich's agonized yet gleeful expression. "What did you do?"
"I am a minstrel
Most itinerant,
Drawn from distant lands
By tail of beauty
And might of horn
Princess to whom
this land is bairn.
I seek to serenade
thy most chaste court
And share song
Of heroes betrayed
and long departed
Before this enlightened stage."
"You mean age?" Silver Spoon corrected.
The creature which Silver Spoon was beginning to doubt was actually an Abyssinian laughed and it was a sound which made her want to bolt back upstairs and lock the door behind her. It drowned out the antics of Diamond Tiara's parents in both volume and madness and reverberated as if cast from the maw of the most musical of caverns. Then Bard leaned down and ran a claw beneath Silver Spoon's throat.
"Thou art deserving
of commendation,
For pretense
So unbridled.
Deign not to
Correct me,
For art there
No greater joy
Than the twisting
Of words; save the
blossom of love?"
With that, Silver Spoon realized that the lute was back out of Bard's cloak and that Bard had begun once more to play. But this song was far from the jaunty tune Silver Spoon had picked up during her descent and which seemed to have caused the buffoonery of the mare and stallion in front of her. This one was soft and bittersweet, a song to fit the birth and rebirth of all things in the thawing of winter. It was a kind of radiant splendor which seeped into the breast and wrapped itself around the heart.
Then Bard plucked one final string and the seizure transformed into a constriction. Suddenly, feeling was pressing on Silver Spoon's chest. She tried to fight against it, to relieve herself of the blistering pressure, but it was to no avail. Soon, the song was driving up through her like a great lance, ripping through bone and flesh as if they were tissue and leaving behind only a great hole. A wave of excitement crashed over her, dragging her kicking and screaming into an ocean of desperation and regret. Then the useless struggle against the metaphysical tide gave way to the almost pleasant sensation of surrender, letting the foam of obsession fill her lungs. Her eyes teared up, as she felt all resistance beginning to leave her body.
Suddenly, her memories were much brighter and much warmer than she remembered them being. In her mind's eye a thousand smiles and laughs were exchanged, each childhood moment scrutinized and reinterpreted with hindsight she had never before known. It gave the impression that her entire life had only existed to facilitate this moment and the sudden and terrifying realization that she had and would always love Diamond Tiara, and that all their time together as friends would be merely a footnote in the future they were destined to share together.
Silver Spoon blinked, her mind reeling with the influx of emotional alteration. As she looked around the dining room, she wondered who it was she had been talking to a moment ago. Certainly not either of Diamond Tiara's parents, who were passed out against the table, each occasionally making a slight giggling sound.
She glanced behind her and then at the open door, the only hint that there had been anyone else in the room, the almost imperceptible odor of roses, too weak to be a perfume but too strong to have originated from some nearby flowerbed.
With a shrug, she gently closed the door and headed up the stairs. What had she come down here to do anyway? To ask permission to stay the night? As if any creature could keep her and Diamond separate against their wishes. The only entity who could make Silver Spoon leave was Diamond, a request she dearly hoped her beloved would never ask of her.
As she neared the top of the stairs, still trying to remember why it was she had gone downstairs and further, why Diamond Tiara's parents were acting so strangely, she heard the familiar sound of sniffling from within the room. She felt then a jagged shard of hate coalesce in her heart. Not only had Sweetie Belle stolen the heart of the only creature Silver Spoon would ever love, but she had hurt it too. And that sin, unlike the first, was unforgiveable.
If she had been much more violent in nature, she might have considered engaging her romantic rival in some kind of duel. The idea was nonsensical, of course. She had no conception of what such a confrontation might look like, only the vague suspicion that participating in one might somehow prove her devotion. As she contemplated how the two of them would go about such a thing, she opened the door and walked inside and over to where Diamond Tiara sat.
"Are-are you alright?" Diamond asked.
Silver Spoon blinked. "Uh, sorry, what did umm...what did you say?" She was so beautiful, even in this state. Oh, how her heart yearned to dry those eyes and bring unhindered happiness into Diamond's life. Let her be a slave to love and she would toil endlessly in its frozen fields, if this was the sunshine which she would be rewarded with.
"You...have a strange look on your face...like you're not fully awake or something." Diamond said, waving a hoof in front of Silver Spoon's eyes.
What a kind and gentle creature. Even now, wracked by pain Silver Spoon could scarcely imagine, Diamond cared only about her. About her! She could have died then with happiness, had she not been so devoted to lifting her dearest companion from the throes of despair.
"Diamond, forget the sleep over. Let us walk freely tonight." Silver Spoon said, taking Diamond's hooves with her own. "Just look outside. What a beautiful dusk! How we ask for more favorable weather or a more temperate season? Let us be free of this stuffy interior and the suffering it has incited! We can dance through the night, with only the stars to keep us company! Together, we can rejoice at the true meaning of the festival of hearts and forget our woes as one soul separated by only two bodies!"
Diamond Tiara stared at Silver Spoon like she had gone mad, mad for finally expressing the love she had always had. Then she yanked her hooves free. "Suh-Silver...that's not funny..." She said with a scowl.
"I would sooner cast myself onto swords than mock you, in your time of need." Silver Spoon said, dropping to one knee. "For you are my truest and dearest friend, the jewel in the vault of my breast which sparkles most clearly and my love for you is as boundless as the ocean and as weathered as the sky."
"Ge-get out!" Diamond yelled, pointing a hoof at the door. "I-if all you want to do is make fun of me, you can just leave, alright!?"
Silver Spoon stared up at the goddess before her in disbelief. Then she closed her eyes and nodded. "Let your will be done." She said, slowly standing and moving out the door without another word. She had failed. She'd had one chance to impress her love and been rejected.
She slunk down the stairs and out of the house without giving the still giggling members of Diamond Tiara's family a second glance. She was too befouled by fate to notice anything but her own inconsolability.