Misperceptions v2
By: Winter Quill
Adapted from the original "Misperceptions" by Arbiter Balemead
7: Stepping Stones
Twilight’s head was spinning around with all that happened. Everything was going so fast, she had been only spending time with Gilda for a couple of days and now they were kissing? Then again, did the pace really matter? If they were going fast maybe it was because that’s what they needed to do?
She trotted carefully down the stairs, the griffoness following a few steps behind. She didn’t really understand why she was feeling the way she was. By all rights she and Gilda were simply too darn different. She lived in a library and spent her free time reading and studying. Gilda was an athlete, one who played Stormball and could keep up with Rainbow Dash in the air. They had nothing in common, she hadn’t even played sports in school!
Star had almost been her male double, they had even meet in the library. They would read together, study together, quiz each other and even traded notes. They were so much alike that she felt like she was losing a part of herself when he had to move to Fillydelphia. Even so it had take months of talking before they even started to date, it was nothing like this. This relationship had sprouted up in two days. Two! How was she suppose to handle that?
At least that question had an easy answer. She would just have to take it step by step… though she only had a rough idea of what those steps would be.
Fluttershy had left, leaving only Spike in the tree with them and he was nowhere to be found. That was nice, it meant she could focus on making dinner for the pair of them without having to try and explain herself. That left her with the task of trying to make something… which wasn’t really her strong point, usually relying on her assistant to do that work.
After some digging around in the kitchen, she settled for a large green salad with flowers. Sadly she didn’t have anything better suited to Gilda, she was going to have to correct that at some point in the future. Though the griffon didn’t seem to be bothered by that, taking a plateful and eating carefully. So far neither one of them had said a word since they had come downstairs, which left the pony to think about what was going to happen next.
She was at the point of mental creating a list of things she could do when Gilda spoke up. “So, what are we gonna do?” she asked.
“About what?” Twilight asked in return.
“Our first date,” she replied, a smile flashing across her beak. “They are always boring, right? We should do something different.”
A number of options flashed across her mind, far too many to catalog in the few moments she allowed herself to think about it. “I don’t know. I’ve only had one ‘first date’ before.”
“Trust me, they always are. We should avoid that this time, instead of just sitting around talking I should show you something awesome and you can show me something as well.”
Twilight cocked her head to the side, her mane falling across her face. “Like what?” she asked.
“Well, something you’ve never experienced,” she said, picking up a daisy in her talons and carefully popping it into her beak, chewing on it while she thought. A moment later she fluttered her wings and slapped her own forehead. “Duh! I could take you flying!”
“I’ve been to Cloudsdale before…” she said, not wanting to put a damper on the griffon’s enthusiasm.
“Oh no, I don’t mean just walking around town, I mean real flying. Taking you up high and low, showing you all the ways that I see the world.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide. “You would be holding me while you do stunts?” she asked, blushing madly at the thought of being held tightly to Gilda while she was flying at high speeds. Even the thought of it made her heart start to race.
“Maybe not stunts… mostly flying and stuff. Don’t worry, I would never let you go. I promise,” she said, fanning her wings out and rising up so she could place a paw over her heart.
She had never gone flying, and Rainbow had always described it as one of the best things in the world. The idea of it was daunting, but also a bit seductive; soaring through the air, the wind blowing though her fur and mane and her tail flying out behind her. The twists and turns, flying up high above the world then back down to land. It was very tempting but frightening as well.
Her blush grew a bit brighter as she looked up into Gilda’s eyes. It might be scary, but with Gilda… with Gilda it wouldn’t be. “Sure, I would like that.”
* * *
Both women were tired out by the end of the evening, turning in soon after the sun vanished under the horizon. They took separate rooms, Twilight in her own bed and Gilda taking the guest room, nesting in the thick bedding. Even though both of them were tired neither one could get to sleep right away.
Twilight found herself laying on her back in her bed, staring up at the carved ceiling of her room. She was nervous about their date the next day and yet she also found herself struggling to come up with something she could do for Gilda, but what could she do that the griffon couldn’t do herself?
She had insisted that Twilight didn’t need to do anything special, instead just to be herself, but she refused to equate flying with something simple like a nice dinner or a stroll through the park. She needed to do something special, but she had no idea what that would be. She probably had no interest in ninety-seven point eight-three-six-two percent of the books in the library that weren’t about flying, of course she didn’t know what things really interested her outside of flying.
That was the thing, how much did she really know about Gilda; about her likes and dislikes? What sort of food did she like? Did she enjoy reading at all? What did she do for fun? What about her family, or her other friends? There was just so much she didn’t know, but wasn’t that the point of dating? To learn more about each other and to find out how well you worked together. There were a number of things she didn’t know about Gilda, but she liked the griffon and liked being with her. That was good enough reason to spend more time with her.
She started to think about how she could learn all about her, starting to collect a mental list of all the things she needed to know, but after she got to fifty-seven items she made herself stop. This wasn’t the right way to go about it, this was a date, it wasn’t about lists! She couldn’t study Gilda like she would study a book; who she was wasn’t written down, she would have to learn it for herself. One step at a time. One date at a time.
Twilight let out a sigh and rolled over onto her flank. Once again she came back to the same problem as before, what to do on her date. She wracked her brain for an idea, anything at all, but nothing came to her. Maybe take her to Canterlot, show her around and possibly introduce her to the Princesses? She doubted that was something Gilda would enjoy. Finally she started to going through her list of friends to see if any of them could help. Rarity wouldn’t work, her ideas would involve high fashion and that didn’t fit Gilda at all. Pinkie… no, not another party. Applejack and Fluttershy were out, no way she would get along with them. Rainbow Dash was always an option, she knew Gilda better than anyone else. How about Shining Armor? He always knew how to impress the fillies but that might not help in this case. Princess Celestia would be willing to help, but she was a Princess! When would she ever had time for romance? The same was true of both Luna and Cadence.
Her eyes suddenly shot open as she let out a soft yelp of glee. Luna, now that was an idea!
* * *
Gilda and Twilight walked slowly into the park, the nearly clear sky tantalizingly open above them with only a few low lying alto clouds breaking up the blue. It was a tantalizing sight calling to the griffon, but it was too early for their date to start. There were other things that had to be done first so she suppressed the urge, instead walking side by side with the lavender unicorn.
It wasn’t hard to see where their destination was, as a familiar rainbow blur danced in the air over the center of the park. Fluttershy was waiting under it, sitting on her haunches and watching as Rainbow Dash practiced across the sky. Her eyes were wide with joy, never leaving the cyan pegasus, no matter how fast she moved.
“Hello, Fluttershy,” Twilight said as they sat down next to her.
The yellow pegasus jumped a bit, looking between the two woman. “Twilight, Gilda,” she said, her voice falling slightly. “So… what happened?”
Gilda blushed and suddenly found the sky incredible interesting, watching the fluffy cotton like clouds slowly passing overhead. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the unicorn blush through her fur as she found her hooves to be very important. Neithor one seemed to be willing to answer the question, as perfectly innocent as it was.
Finally Twilight found the words to answer. “We sort of resolved our issues,” she said.
“Oh?” Fluttershy asked, a hint of a smile crossing over her face. “Does that mean two are…?”
The griffon and the unicorn looked at each other, both of them blushing more. Twilight’s ears flicked sideways as Gilda fanned out her wings. “We’re having a date later.”
Fluttershy’s smile grew wide as she looked up as Rainbow Dash streaked overhead. “Yay!” she cheered softly, leaving the two woman unsure whether it was for them or for the pegasus. Rainbow did a loop in the air and the swooped down to land near them.
“What’s up?” she asked as she trotted up to the group, a smile on her face.
Twilight looked to the griffon. “Your turn,” she said slyly.
With a blush burning brightly under her feathers as she turned to look at her oldest friend. “We’re a uh… sort of trying to be a… thing,” she said lamely, the right words fleeing her mind the moment before she spoke them.
“A ‘thing’?” Rainbow asked with a hint of a laugh at the choice of words, a sentiment that seemed to be shared by the rest of the group.
Gilda rolled her eyes. “Fine, we’re together, okay?”
“I like ‘together’ more than a ‘thing’” Twilight said, leaning over and nuzzling her head against the feather’s of Gilda’s neck. Then the unicorn let out a small giggle as she found a wing draped over her back.
Rainbow and Fluttershy shared a knowing look at this display of affection between the new couple. Without another word the cyan pegasus moved over to sit next to her special somepony and laced their primary flight feathers together.
“So, whatya gonna do first?” Rainbow asked the other pegasus leaned in closer, resting her chin on top of the multi-colored mane.
Gilda smiled, leaning down to preen Twilight’s mane around her horn. “It seems kind of stupid now, but I was going to take her flying,” she said, her voice getting quieter with every word.
“I see,” the cyan pony said, somehow making the two words sound like height of innuendo.
“It’s not like that, she’s going to hold me,” Twilight added.
“Oh... that sounds like fun,” Rainbow said, not doing anything to lessen the double entendre.
The griffon shook her head, laughing slightly. That was her old friend all right, the one who laughed with her, who went out to party and dance. The one who was nice, not cruel, the one who was better then she had been. “There’s something else I need to do before that.”
Twilight lifted her head up, “What’s that?” she asked.
Carefully she untangled herself from the unicorn and walked over to Fluttershy. The pegasus started to cower slightly as she approached, but Rainbow held her close, stroking a comforting hoof along her side. Gilda lowered her eyes as she reached the yellow pony, sighting softly. “Fluttershy, I want to apologize for what I did to you. I was looking for trouble, and I saw you there walking those geese--”
“Ducks,” Fluttershy whispered.
“Yes, the ducks. You weren’t watching where you were going and I wanted to screw with you, I recognized you from when you visited Rainbow at Junior Speedsters and I let you run into me, just so I could yell at you. It was stupid and petty, I had no reason to be mean to you… or to anyone. You were nearly in tears and I was gloating about it. It was stupid and cruel, and I shouldn’t have done it. I’m sorry.” Gilda let out a breath as she finished the apology, hoping that it sounded as sincere as it was meant to be.
The shy pony blushed a bit but also started to relax, no longer cowering in front of the griffon. “You don’t have to apologize, I was—“
“Doing nothing wrong in any way,” Rainbow said. “You don’t have to make excuses.”
Fluttershy nodded her head, leaning down to nuzzle her girlfriend on the side of her nose before turning back to Gilda. “I accept your apology,” she said.
It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. She lowered her head, blushing a bit as she fanned her wings slightly. “Thank you, and if I can do anything to make it up to you just ask. I owe you that much.”
“Oh, you don’t owe me anything,” the pegasus replied, blushing a bit herself.
Rainbow moved up and placed a wing over her mate’s shoulder. “Don’t look a gift griffon in the beak.”
“Okay,” she said, looking up at the cyan pegasus with wide eyes and a hint of a smile.
Stretching out, Gilda smiled at the pair of love bird ponies before tucking her wings close to her side. “Now I just have to apologize to everyone else who was at Pinkie’s party. That’s going to be hard, I don’t even know half of them.”
“That’s easy G. Pinkie will know everyone at the party.”
She cocked her head to the side and looked a Rainbow. As forgiving as the bubbly earth pony was, she didn’t think it was a good idea to be spending a lot of time with her. On the other hand if that was the only way to meet with everyone then it was what she had to do. “Okay, I’ll ask her. I should do something nice for her, after going to all that trouble to throw me a party and all.”
A soft laugh crossed over all the ponies. It was the sort of laugh that meant she was missing something that was obvious to everyone else. At least the laughing wasn’t meant to be mean, not like what she would have done in the past. “What?” she asked softly.
“Pinkie throws parties like I read,” Twilight said.
“I still don’t believe it,” she said. That would be an insane amount of parties.
“Believe it!” the pink earth pony declared, popping out from behind a nearby tree that seemed too small for her to have been hiding behind. “If you want to apologize to everyone who was at the party, the best way to do it would be to have another party!”
Gilda’s beak fell open as she looked at Pinkie Pie. No one else seemed to be even phased by her sudden appearance in the park, let alone her perfect entrance into the conversation. This was just normal for her. Finally she snapped her beak closed and fluttered out her wings. “It is?”
“Yep, an ‘I’m sorry for ruining the last party’ party!”
She turned to look at Twilight and the unicorn responded with a slight nod of her head. It would make it easier to talk with all the other ponies, they would all be in one place and she could make amends. As crazy as it might have sounded, it would be a good idea. “Okay Pinkie, let’s have an apology party.”
“Tomorrow,” Twilight quickly added.
“Tomorrow it is!” the earth pony said, the headed back towards town, her curly hair bouncing with each step she took.
Gilda watched her go for a few moments, then shook her head to clear it. “That was… random.”
“That’s Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow said with a laugh.
That was not the sort of explanation she was looking for, yet random was the perfect word to describe the pink earth pony. It seemed like all the ponies in Ponyvile were all a little peculiar, though not in a bad way. In fact that was what made the small village stand out compared to all the others. She had been to Couldsdale, Canterlot and even Manehatten, but Ponyvile was by far the most interesting.
She turned and looked at Twilight, then back at the pair of pegasi. Without a word she fanned out a wing and dropped it over the unicorn’s back, moving up close to her. Twilight leaned up and pressed her nose against the feathers on her neck, taking in a deep breath.
“They are cute together,” Rainbow said.
Fluttershy let out a soft laugh and nodded her head. “They are.”
Both the mare and griffon blushed at that, turning to look at each other and sharing a hint of a smile. She liked the feeling of being so close to Twilight, feeling her pressing up under her wing, smelling the scent of her mane and fur. It just felt right,
Twilight leaned up and nuzzled at Gilda’s cheek. “I’m… a little eager to go,” she shy shyly.
This brought another shared laugh from Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. “That’s our cue, come on, hon,” Rainbow said, poking the other pegasus before flaring out her wings and leaping into the air. She flew slowly along about two dozen feet in the air.
The yellow pony followed after her, trotting along happily. “You two have fun,” she said with a smile before she vanished down the curve of the hill. They were heading away from town and towards the distance forest.