It was very sunny day in the small town of Ponyville and today was Hearts and Hooves day! A day where ponies would give gifts to their beloved. Couples were everywhere. Handing gifts to their significant other. Be it; roses, chocolates, perfume or in Cranky’s case; a new wig from his beloved wife, Matilda.
A pristine white unicorn with a cutie mark of three diamonds and a purple mane and tail walked through the town to purchase some brand new fabric. She saw one of her closet friends, a bouncy pink pony with a cutie mark of three balloons with a taller orange earth pony with a brown mane and tail. His cutie was that of a cheese sandwich. It was not a surprise to anyone when Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich started dating.
“Oh Cheesie!” The pink pony turned towards her colt friend with a beaming smile, which brought the tall stallion to a swooning smile of his own. “I’m so excited for our Hearts and Hooves day date!”
Cheese Sandwich, blushed gently and opened his mouth to reply. “Me either, Cupcake!”
It was a sight to behold for Rarity when she saw the bouncing couple. Truly a match made in heaven. When will it be her turn?
Pinkie saw her unicorn friend and beamed at her. “Hi Rarity!” Said the usually over-excited earth pony as she and Cheese Sandwich made a beeline towards her.
“Oh good morning, Pinkie and Cheese! Happy Hearts and Hooves day to you both.” The white unicorn said with a gentle smile.
Pinkie squeaked happily as she wrapped her forelegs around her tall coltfriend, who returned the gesture. “Happy Hearts and Hooves day to you too!” The couple said in unison.
Rarity appreciated the kindness and sometimes over the top enthusiasm of Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, as much I would love to stay and chat, I have somewhere to b-“
She was interrupted by a pink hoof pressing against her lips and Pinkie’s exterior changed from a beaming smile to a sad smile in a matter of seconds. What was going on?
Cheese also noticed that his marefriend wasn’t as happy as she was previously. “Pinkie? What’s the matter?”
Pinkie didn’t respond and instead ushered Rarity and Cheese to follow her, to which the pair did.
When Pinkie Pie stopped, Rarity noticed that they were standing in front of the main fountain in the town square. There on the side of the fountain was a familiar earth pony with a gray coat and a periwinkle mane and tail. Maud Pie. She must’ve been here to visit Mudbriar for Hearts and Hooves day. But why was she staring at the ground beneath her? Where was Mudbriar?
Pinkie leaned over and gently whispered to her sister, loud enough for Cheese and Rarity to hear. “Maud? What’s wrong? You look so sad..” Although it was hard for most ponies to tell if Maud was upset or not, Pinkie could always tell when her sister was either happy, sad or angry.
The gray earth pony looked up at her sister with her usual blank expression. She spoke in her usual monotone voice but what came out of her gray snout wasn’t anything Pinkie had expected to hear.
“Mudbriar broke up with me.”
That sentence alone shocked Pinkie Pie to her core! Why would Mudbriar shatter Maud’s heart like that?! It didn’t make sense to Pinkie Pie at all. They were perfect for each other as what Pinkie saw. Even though neither Rarity nor Cheese had met Mudbriar, they felt bad for Maud and her current situation.
Pinkie sat next to her elder sister whilst Rarity and Cheese stood before the two Pie sisters. “Do you want to talk about it, Maud?”
The elder Pie sibling shook her head and sighed again. “Not right now, Pinkie Pie.” Maud was definitely hurting. Break up are very hard. Especially when it’s with somepony you absolutely love.
“Why don’t you go have your date with Cheese? I’ll be fine by myself.” It was if Maud knew Pinkie wanted to stay with her but she didn’t want her younger sister to miss out on her date today. Pinkie knew she didn’t want Maud to be alone, she pondered for a a brief moment until.. a lightbulb lit over her head and she turned to Rarity.
“Rarity, why don’t you take Maud out for the day to cheer her up? Pleaaaase? It’ll mean so much to me! Seeing one of my best friends and my sister bond.”
Rarity wasn’t sure.. Maud wasn’t easy to befriend or talk to.. and she had to buy some new fabric for some brand news designs.. but Pinkie had asked her for this one favour for her. How could she reject Pinkie and or a hurting pony on a day like this? Rarity gave a gentle sigh and nodded. “I’ll take Maud to go mining today. She looks like she could use a friend to talk to.”
Pinkie was beaming again and wrapped her forelegs around Rarity in a tight hug. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Rarity!”
Rarity chuckled lightly and returned her friend’s embrace before they let go of one another. “Anything to help, Pinkie darling.”
Pinkie turned back to Maud and tapped her gently on the shoulder. Maud’s ears perked up and glanced up at her sister. “Maud, I know you’re upset right now about.. him.. but Rarity is going to cheer you up and spend some time with you! Is that okay?”
Maud gave it a quick thought and nodded before she stood up and looked over at the sheepishly smiling Rarity. “Okay.”
Pinkie clapped her hooves together as she watched Maud walk over to her unicorn friend. “Have fun you two!”
Cheese Sandwich smiles brightly as he watched his excited marefriend stand up and hop over to him, kissing her on the forehead when she was in his reach again.
Pinkie waved enthusiastically over to Rarity and Maud, her pink hoof waving rapidly. “Have fun! I wanna hear about it afterwards! I’ll even tell you both about the date!”
Rarity nodded and smiles. “I’ll make sure she has a wonderful time. Take care, both of you.”
The earth pony couple immediately started to hop over to Sugarcube Corner for their date, bidding Rarity and Maud goodbye.
Rarity knew what it was like to break up with somepony. She knew it all too well. Poor Maud. A break up is never easy. Rarity was all too familiar with heartbreak.
On the way to the train station, Rarity looked over to the earth pony beside her and gave a gentle smile. “I’m glad you chose to join me today, Maud. I know it’s hard to break up with somepony but just know; you’re never alone, darling.”
Maud glanced over at Rarity and nodded. “I’m glad to join you. Where do you wish to go?”
Rarity gave a thought and soon enough; an idea came to her mind!
“Why don’t we go to Manehattan? You seemed to like it over there last time. Plus; you were absolutely phenomenal at ice skating!”
That was true. The last trip to Manehattan was… something to say the least. But hey, as chaotic as it were, it was a great day for Pinkie, Maud and Rarity.
Maud gave a gentle nod at the proposal of going to Manehattan again. Maybe today was starting to look up for her despite the aforementioned break up with Mudbriar. “Okay.”
When the two mares reach the train station, they walked up the two steps onto the wooden platform and waited patiently for the train to arrive.
“I promise you, darling. Things may look bleak right now but they will get better. Just you see.”
Finally; the whistles and puffs of the train were heard, signifying the arrival of the locomotive.
Whilst Rarity and Maud trot towards the opening doors, Rarity looked back at Maud and gave her a smile and ushered the gray mare to follow her.
After the two boarded the train and sat down next to each other, Rarity noticed Maud was looking out of the window, keeping her eyes the grassy landscape.
Rarity’s thoughts were swimming. She knew she would do this for her friend and Maud. This could be a starting point for the two ponies to have a stronger bond. ‘With Celestia as my witness; I will show you a grand day out. Just you wait, Maud.’
And finally, the train started to move, on its way to the glorious, beautiful and extravagant city of Manehattan. It was probably best to avoid talking about Mudbriar until Maud was ready.
This was bound to go well… hopefully..