The next morning, Rarity decided that the group should go shopping. They went into town and, after asking multiple ponies, found the mall. Rarity immediately ran into a dress shop. Rainbow Dash spotted Soarin', Spitfire, and Fleetfoot signing autographs. She bolted over to the stand. Fluttershy flew into an animal care shop, and Pinkie Pie dashed over to the food court. Applejack saw an apple stand, and walked over there. Twilight was left alone, not knowing where to go.
At first, Twilight walked towards a bookstore, but then she remembered Princess Celestia's rule not to read. She spent a few hours wandering around the mall until she found a chocolate shop. She walked inside and was greeted by a unicorn with a chocolate bar for a cutie mark. "What would you like to buy?" She asked.
"Well," Twilight said nervously. "I was thinking of buying something for this boy I like. Do you have anything for that?"
"Well, of course we do!" The pegasus said. She guided Twilight to the far wall of the shop. On the wall there were multiple shelves with different boxes of chocolate, some heart-shaped, some with hearts plastered all over the box. "Here's our selection of love candy." the pegasus said. "Take as much time as you need."
Twilight spotted a heart-shaped box near the top. It was small, and kind of nondescript, but she thought Jake would love it. "That one." She said, taking it off of the shelf and floating it towards her with magic. "I want this one."
"That will be five bits." The pegasus said. Twilight paid. "And, if you like, I can throw in a love note for free, if you want the gift to be anonymous."
"No, thanks." Twilight said. "I'm going to give it to him in person." She dropped the box into a shopping bag, and then went to the food court.
Pinkie Pie saw Twilight and trotted up to her. "Hey!" She said. "There's so much food here! I've had a meal from almost every place!" Seeing the bag Twilight was carrying, Pinkie Pie asked, "Ooh, what did you buy?" And started for the bag.
"Nothing." Twilight said, moving the bag away. "It's nothing."
"That's not nothing, silly!" Pinkie said. "It's obviously something."
Pinkie Pie kept lunging for the bag. "Pinkie." Twilight warned. "Pinkie, stop." The earth pony persisted, still attempting to grab the bag. "PINKIE, STOP!" Twilight yelled. The earth pony's hair straightened out and her eyes started watering. "Oh, Pinkie, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to -" Twilight didn't get to finish her apology. The earth pony started bawling in the middle of the food court. Everpony looked at them. Twilight used magic to pick up Pinkie Pie and ran to the bathroom.
Pinkie Pies stopped crying after a few minutes of consoling. Her hair poofed up like normal. Twilight washed off the earth pony's face. "I'm sorry," Twilight said. "It's just - it's private, okay?"
"Then why did you leave it in the food court?" Pinkie asked.
"I left it in the food court?" Twilight asked.
"Yep!" Pinkie said. Twilight ran into the food court. The bag was sitting on the table. When she was a few feet away, Fluttershy swooped down and picked it up.
"Fluttershy, wait!" Twilight yelled.
Fluttershy turned around and said, "Oh, is this yours? I was going to take it to lost and found."
"Yes," Twilight answered. "This is mine. I accidentally left it here." Fluttershy handed Twilight the bag. "Thank you."
"Rarity told me to tell everypony a message." Fluttershy said. "She said it's getting late and we should all meet up by the front doors."
"Okay, let's go." Twilight said. They walked to the front doors. They were the last ones to arrive.
"It's late, everypony." Rarity said. "We should head to the hotel."
Twilight couldn't sleep. She'd gone to bed early the day before. She was staring out of the window at the ocean when she spotted a small shape on the waves. She put on her coat and walked down to the beach. It was Jake, surfing. "Jake!" Twilight called out. "Over here!"
Jake spotted her and surfed back to the shore. "What are you doing out here this late?" He asked.
"I could ask you the same." Twilight answered. They kissed.
"There's always a big swell after a storm." Jake said. "Now, why are you here?"
"I couldn't sleep." Twilight said. "I went to bed early last night." They kissed again. "Now, could I finish my surfing lessons?" She asked.
Jake kissed her. "Of course you can." That night, Twilight successfully surfed for the first time.
When Twilight left the room, the door closing woke up Rainbow Dash. Thinking Twilight was sneaking off to - do things with Jake, Rainbow Dash put on her ninja suit and silently flew along behind the unicorn. She was hiding behind the empty ice cream stand watching them.
When they kissed, Rainbow Dash sighed. She felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of her chest. There wasn't any doubt in her mind now that Jake liked Twilight and not her. Feeling surprisingly relieved, Rainbow Dash flew back to the hotel and went to sleep.