June 13th, 1004 A.D. (After Discord)
For a moment, Twilight Sparkle wasn't sure where she was. She knew it wasn't her bed for the sunlight streaming in was at a different angle and she couldn't feel her cozy bed or sheets under her; she did have a very warm blanket over her though and a fluffy pillow under her head.
Even as she thought that she should be concerned as to why she was not in bed, Twilight couldn't help but enjoy the blanket; warm, bouncy, pink and smelling of baked goods. It wasn't until the 'blanket' giggled that Twilight decided to get down to the bottom of the mystery and wake up properly.
She opened her eyes to find herself looking into sky-blue ones that held over a thousand and one jokes; if the unicorn had been any less relaxed she would have jumped back in surprise. Before the lavender mare could decide on the proper response, Pinkie Pie went first.
“Morning sleepy-head! You make a nice pillow blanket! Last night was the best ever and I – Twilight, you ok? Not awake? This isn't a dream is it? 'Cause that'd be the saddest thing and -” It was at this point that Twilight placed a hoof onto the pink muzzle to stem the flow of words; Pinkie Pie's rambling did help jog Twilight's memory of the previous night causing her to blush as she thought about it all.
Pinkie watched the memories come to the lavender mare as she woke up further and wore a blush of her own at all the memories and how close the two mares were; some time in the night the pillow and blanket Twilight had pulled over had rolled off and into a corner, Pinkie Pie had then became the substitute blanket with her tail as a pillow (something the pink mare didn't mind in the least).
Once Twilight recovered from the memories, she took her hoof away from Pinkie's mouth to hug her barrel which was still curved so she could both see the other mare and still let the unicorn use her tail as a pillow.
“I hope it's not a dream too...” As the fluffy tail was released from its use as a pillow Pinkie Pie swung around so they were laying parallel to return the hug with extra nuzzles on the side.
“We can stay here and cuddle some more, it's not quiet morning yet.” At the mention of morning Twilight yawned and nodded agreement to the plan which soon turned into a nuzzle to the pink mare; they didn't bother with either pillow or blanket, merely cuddling closer to share warmth.
Twilight wasn't sure if it was euphoria, something she ate or drank the night before or just the mare beside her but she had never felt so relaxed or free then at that moment; something she hoped would last.
In what felt like no time at all, the two mares woke to a gasp and the sound of something tumbling down the stairs.
Twilight snapped her eyes open as she felt the pink fluffy tail twitch madly before the string of pain-filled exclamation that sounded like a certain dragon's drew her gaze to said dragon resting upside down at the foot of the stairs. Twilight sat up slightly in concern as Pinkie Pie also looked towards the youngster with a concerned frown.
“Are you ok Spike?” At Twilight's question, Spike sat up with a groan as he rubbed his head before looking towards the mares.
“Yeah; I just wasn't expecting to, ah, you two... Like that...” Spike held a claw half over his eyes, unsure if he was supposed to see them wrapped up so close to one another or not.
It was as though Spike used one of his claws to burst Twilight's bubble of happiness and the unicorn leapt up with Pinkie Pie still firmly attached. At the unusual weight and feel of four hooves around her barrel, Twilight looked at the source to find two sky-blue orbs staring back.
“What's the matter Twilight?” The lavender mare found herself mesmerized by the large innocent eyes and had re-attained some of the peace she had before; at a small cough from the dragon, she turned from the pink mare with a blush.
“Everything's fine Pinkie. Yes Spike, we are close... We're, we're marefriends now.” Twilight was nervous about telling Spike since she practically raised him and was one of her oldest friends; yet at the same time she felt a thrill of happiness to say it out loud.
As a reward for telling Spike the the bookworm received a nuzzle from the party animal which served to heighten where they touched; and since Pinkie Pie still had a strong grip on her mare it was a lengthy list indeed.
Spike grinned as many of Twilight' previous quirks and comments suddenly made sense when he saw how close the two were.
“Oh, ok.” As Spike removed his claw from his eyes, Twilight also slightly relaxed before giving Pinkie a hug with her left hoof since she couldn't reach properly with the right one.
Spike watched the scene before him as Twilight tried to make Pinkie release her which only made the pink mare grip harder; the baker released her captive after receiving a quick, shy kiss on her forehead from the studious pony.
The purple dragon saw how much more relaxed the librarian was at the moment and realized that it was because of Pinkie.
(Maybe this will be a good thing for her...) Spike turned on the spot and began to straighten up the library, which didn't need that much work but it gave him something to do.
Twilight was a little confused by this sudden disinterest and tried to focus on the dragon (a hard task to do since Pinkie Pie didn't want to leave Twilight's side and continuously nuzzled at her neck).
“You, you don't mind Spike? That I like Pinkie Pie and we're going out?”
“Ooh! We're going someplace? GASP! Our first date! Do you have the whole thing planned? You sure are a smarty smart pants Twilight!” Pinkie gave Twilight a few pats on the head as she grinned; at this new turn of events the unicorn was torn between making sure her number one assistant was ok with everything and pleasing her marefriend, looking between the two as she tried sort out priorities.
Spike watched with interest at the lavender mare's indecision and decided to solve the issue himself.
“Yes, I don't mind Twilight; if you're happy, then I'M happy! Go, plan your date.” The assistant made shooing motions with his claws before returning to his dusting.
Twilight paused only for a moment longer before turning to the mare beside her; before she could say anything Spike made one last comment.
“When were you planning on telling the others? You've only just started going out right?” At the two simple but panic inducing sentences, lavender ears flipped back as Twilight's mind focus on two of the words, 'telling others'.
A purple eye twitched before Twilight came back to her senses and she shook her head to refocus.
“We, haven't decided yet. And yes, we've only just got together last night... Uhm, Pinkie, could you come with me for a moment?” Twilight waved her hoof towards the stairs and led the bouncing mare along.
“Ooohh, Twilight, skipping the date and going for third base huh? How bold~!” Twilight paused at the teasing as she tried to understand what Pinkie meant though she could tell it was racy by the tone, making her blush all the more.
“What – I- Huh? Pinkie! That's not what I meant!” The pink mare giggled behind a hoof before continuing to follow the lavender one upstairs.
Spike merely shook his head as he felt that things were about to take on a much jokier view from this point on and returned to fussing over the stacks of books.
As soon as the new couple entered the top half of the library, Twilight quickly faced Pinkie Pie and gave her a desperate hug.
“What do we do? What do we tell the others; when do we tell them? Historically, the Princess ruled that there was to be no distinction – Oh my gosh! The Princess! What would Princess Celestia say?! Would she make me pick between you and my studies!?! I don't want to give you up!” During this sudden rant Pinkie had made soothing sounds as she rubbed the distressed mare's back.
“You silly filly, Princess Celestia wouldn't do that! You said so yourself, the Princess doesn't care about who dates who! And I'm sure our friends wouldn't mind us dating; their our friends, they'll like us for who we are, not who we date. We can tell them whenever you want... I'll even throw us a party!” At the sudden energy in Pinkie's eyes at the thought of a new relationship party as well as the accompanying excited grin, Twilight couldn't help but smile in return.
“Yes, we can throw a party when we tell them.” Pinkie smiled even larger before making a supply list for said party out loud; the unicorn merely smirked as she made plans of her own on a slightly different subject.
(Would she want to go on a date? I wouldn’t know what to do on a date! I have to get the proper reading materials... Perhaps... Perhaps we can just cuddle a little more and I'll order some books that give advice for dating... Yes, that should work; unless Pinkie really wanted to go on that date today...)
Twilight came back from her thoughts to find Pinkie still making her list for a ludicrously large party; something about a combo party for 'Twipie', 'Rarijack' and 'Futterdash'. While the lavender unicorn couldn't really get why the pink mare combined some of their friends' names, she knew it was time to get her to focus a little.
“Pinkie~”
“I don't know about the color theme, I mean some of the colors clash so very much-!”
“Pinkie.”
“-GASP, and what if the others get confused as to which mare they're dating -?”
“Pinkie Pie.”
“-And I would have to ruin everyone's day by not sharing my little star but she's mine and -”
“Pinkie Pie!”
“- No one can be really happy unless they have the right somepony -” Twilight sighed as the hyper mare became more and more agitated by the second, convinced somehow that their friends may not find happiness because of one of her parties.
(How can I get her to stop...?! Well, kisses do seem to work and... They're sure nice to do... Let's give it a try, for scientific purposes of the stopping power of such a force of course!)
Just as the baker had placed both fore-hooves on her temples at the ramifications of mixing up dates, the librarian stepped up and laid a short but passionate kiss to the pink muzzle; causing a complete freeze of the hyper pony before she focused on the kisser with another kiss.
After half a minute of silent but sweet kisses, the two mares broke off to sit next to one another.
“Pinkie Pie, I'm sure our friends won't mix up their dates, if they have any, because of color scheme.” Pinkie leaned forward as she stared deeply into Twilight's eyes.
“But what if they do?!” Twilight sighed once more before trying to offer a solution.
“They won't -”
“But what if they do!?!” Twilight sighed as Pinkie leaned forward and somehow budged her eyes towards the lavender mare.
“They won't; but -”
“But What If They DO!?!?”
“They WON'T! But -”Twilight raised a hoof to stop the inevitable counter before continuing.
“But if it would help you feel better, I can help plan it as well; just so there's no confusion.” Twilight looked to her mare only to be tackle hugged and peppered in nuzzles.
“That would be the most awesomest awesome thing ever!” The lavender mare returned the hug before nodding to the bed.
“Would you, want to continue our nap on the bed?” Blue eyes lit up before with a mighty leap, Pinkie Pie jumped up the floor and landed next to the bed. Twilight chuckled lightly before smiling at the gesture.
“Give me a moment to make sure Spike knows what to do for the day and I'll be right there.” The unicorn quickly trotted down to her number one assistant who looked up in surprise; he hadn't been sure he would see Twilight again for the rest of the day. He watched, a little worried, as the unicorn skimmed through a few catalogs before writing on a scroll and levitating it to the young dragon.
“What's this?”
“I need you to order those books and the rest is what needs to be done for the day.” Without another word the unicorn teleported back upstairs before the young assistant could comment on the ten different dating tip books on the list; instead he just sighed and got down to work.
Twilight teleported herself to be next to the bed and found it empty; before she could even look for the pink bundle of energy, she heard a shout of 'Geronimo!' and was almost knocked over in Pinkie's glomp of care.
“I was just starting to miss you and wondering if you had been abducted by the bookponies when my Pinkie Sense told me you were coming back and so I wanted to surprise you and -” Another kiss stemmed the flow of words (for scientific purposes of course!) before both became bashful.
Twilight realized that if they kept going where they were, they would never make it to the bed; so with great concentration (soft pink lips did wonders to distract) the unicorn pulled them up on to the soft surface.
Not even a moment later Twilight was poked in the side by a pink hoof.
“Twilight, I just realized we missed a lot of our together-versaries!”
“Huh?” Purple eyes shot open in surprise, they only just got together the night before.
“Yeah, 683 of them! Wait, now it's 684!”
“What?”
“We missed celebrating our first minute together and the second and third and fourth and -” Kisses were working wonders to stop ramblings, though it did cause a minute's worth of silence in the meantime.
“Pinkie Pie, I don't think we need a party for each minute we're together. I'd much rather enjoy every moment, not constantly worry about making a celebration for our 684th -”
“686th!”
“-686th minute together.”' Pinkie Pie blushed and nodded rapidly before burying her muzzle into a purple neck.
“I enjoy every moment too....” Twilight smirked at the soft reply as they held one another close and drifted off into a mix of daydreams and sleep.
A half hour later, just as Twilight could feel proper sleep coming, a pink hoof poked her side.
“Twilight! It's been half a day since we got together!”A tired eye rolled over to find that the pink mare was correct; it was currently 10am, twelve hours since they first got together.
“Look! Here's a cake for us! We have to celebrate twelve wonderful hours together!” Twilight moaned as she looked at the grinning mare beside her.
“Yes Pinkie; while somethings are worth celebrating, by the hour is not one of them...” Catching sight of the rapidly falling face, Twilight gave in and changed the direction and tone of her next sentence.
“But we can celebrate nonetheless; it looks like a yummy cake.” With a soft 'yay!' on Pinkie's part, the two mares enjoyed a little party in bed before snuggling once more.
“Speaking of cakes, do you have to work today Pinkie Pie?”
“Nope! I always get the next day off after a party to make sure everything is cleaned up and ready for work the day after the day after.” With a content sigh Twilight pulled the pink mare closer.
“Good, I don't have much to do either.” As the two mares settled down in the cozy bed, Twilight tried to not dwell on what they were supposed to do from this point.
The lavender mare looked at her marefriend, questions starting to come to mind; when do they tell the others, do they tell them, what do they do after this?
“Pinkie...?”
“Yes, my little star?” Twilight blushed at the nickname and wondered if it would be used more often before continuing.
“Can we not tell anypony else about us for now?”
“Huh...? Don't you want everyone to know how happy we are so they can be happy for us which would make us even more happy and-?” Twilight sighed before rudely smirking at the hyper mare.
“Yes, I want others to know how happy we are so as to make a happiness-sharing cycle.” Twilight rolled her eyes at the logic before resting her head into the crook of a pink neck.
“I just... I've never been in a relationship before; I want to get used to it first before we tell others.” Pinkie thought about it for a moment before realizing that Twilight was on the edge of another panic attack about this topic alone and nodded rapidly.
“It's ok Twilight; we can keep it a secret until you're ready to tell everypony else. Promise!” Twilight relaxed as the baker made the solemn Pinkie Promise, with motions and everything. Once that had been settled, the two relaxed in one another's hooves once more; they had the whole day to be together, the future could wait for later.
Once lunch time rolled around the new couple decided to stay in and try some of the recipes from Twilight's new cook book that Pinkie gave her for her birthday the day before. Spike stayed far away from the kitchen as Twilight still couldn't get the hang of cooking; though her results weren't as black as previous attempts, but she could still use some practice.
“Don't worry Twilight, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventually. We can keep working together to cook and soon you'll be making super yummy cupcakes all on your own!” Pinkie waved a fore-hoof as though pointing into the distance while hugging the unicorn with the other.
Twilight smirked back before nudging the mare beside her.
“I think I'd still want to eat the cupcakes you make.... Let's get this cleaned up and I'll get Spike to make some lunch.” As the unicorn started to levitate some of the dirty pans and cups, the hyper mare tsked at her marefriend as she also helped clean the area.
“Tut tut my dear twilight! I shall make the most scrumdiddlely delicious lunch this side of Equestria! You just have a seat there and watch the master baker at work! Oh, and help me measure stuff and pour and -” Twilight was getting much more used to kisses and found they helped her mare focus.
“Ah, yeah, and all that.” Pinkie grinned and began to make pancakes for lunch with help from Twilight measuring out things and cleaning up as they went along. By sticking to the simpler parts of cooking, the apprentice baker could watch the master at work and see where she had been going wrong; a mix of timing and temperature, as evident of her ability to measure the various ingredients was spot on. While watching the hyper baker work was amusing, it was a teaching moment as well as Pinkie kept up a stream of explanations about what she was doing and why, helping Twilight slowly understand the principals behind it all at least.
Spike found another aspect he was already coming to like from Twilight being together with Pinkie Pie; he wouldn't have to cook as much with the expert baker being there. He joined in at the table, watching the mare work and picking up some tips for his own use.
The rest of the day went by in a blur of happiness and bliss; yet another perk was that Spike wasn't given as much work to do since the unicorn mostly focused on the earth pony who didn't seem willing to leave her side. Twilight even caved in for the 'been-together-for-a-whole-day' celebration Pinkie somehow set up without leaving the tree house; there was more cake, candles, presents (the unicorn wasn't going to question where the actual gift, another book, came from) and a few party games before they settled down for the night.
That night the two mares shared the bed this time; Spike removed himself from the room to stay downstairs instead, wanting to be nowhere near the two cuddly-giggly mares. They knew the next day they would have to face the world and get back to old habits as well as make new ones, so they enjoyed one last snuggle session, being close to one another and sharing the warmth.
Since Pinkie Pie was a baker and often started her mornings rather early, she was the first of the two to wake up. She spent a moment looking at the purple mare next to her, thinking how it was NOT a dream, before she edged out of the cozy bed; it was a little hard to do since Twilight tightened her grip before finally let go as Pinkie wiggled out of her grasp.
The hyper mare bounced silently downstairs and paused before going out the door; with a tilt of her head, the pink earth pony jumped to the kitchen instead. With a large grin at the most recent memories of the past few meals, Pinkie began to set up a more nutritional meal filled with sugars in the form of wheat french toast; at least, the beginnings of them. Once the coating mixture was ready, the baker put it into the fridge with a note stating about the mixture with instructions for cooking.
After that was done, Pinkie hopped out to Sugarcube Corner to start her day. With a soft bang, she hopped inside and greeted the Cakes who were already getting the morning recipes ready.
“Goooooddd Moooorrrnnning!” Pinkie sang before heading to the counter and starting to help make cupcakes.
“Hello Deary! You didn't come back yesterday, did you stay over at one of your friends place?” Mrs. Cake asked from where she rolled bread into a croissant shape.
“Yeppers! I stayed at Twilight's and we had a blast!” The pink baker balanced a tray on her nose before setting it into the oven as Mr. and Mrs. Cake shared a smile.
“That's great dear.” While the Cakes were a little unsettled by the happy silence from the hyper mare (she usually like to talk about the various aspects of every treat they were working on) but they couldn't think about it for long as they had the store to open in an hour's time; Pinkie stayed thrilled but focused for the rest of the morning, and the only thing that occupied her mind was a certain lavender unicorn.
Twilight woke up early to an empty bed and for a moment she couldn't remember why she was sad. Then it came back to her in a rush, memories of the night of the party and the day before as well as all her previous concerns. She shot up from the bed and shouted for her number one assistant.
“SPPIIIKKEE!!!” A soft crash came from below as the young dragon sprung from his bed at the call before he jogged up the stairs.
With a bang, the purple drake opened the door and stood panting for a moment before looking for the owner of the shout.
“Twilight? What's wrong?”
With a sizzle-crack, the unicorn teleported to stand in front of the dragon.
“WHAT DO I DO?!”
Spike stared blankly in return.
“Huh?”
“What do I do Spike?! Pinkie Pie wanted to go out on a date! And we can't hide us dating forever! And should I tell the Princess about this?!” Twilight's mane started to frizz as she paced in front of the youngster who could only watch in shock before face-planting.
“TWILIGHT! Calm down! You have those dating books on order, they should be in the next couple of days; and you and Pinkie Pie have already gone out and done stuff together, isn't dating like that?” Spike tried to reasonably point out before Twilight faced him twitching slightly.
“But I need to know what kind of dates are the best! That's why I need the books! I can't go on an insufficient date! What if she doesn't like it, and decides that going out with me was a mistake, and decides to break up and then our friendship would be ruined and we'd cause a riff between all our friends and we'd become so angry at one another we can't protect Equestria and -” Spike placed a gentle claw onto a lavender shoulder and spoke softly.
“Twilight, I'm sure she won't get so upset that she'd break up with you. Why don't you guys stay inside until you get the books and talk with Pinkie Pie about it? I'm sure you can come up with a simple but fun date to do in the meantime.”
Twilight tried to slow her breathing as the plan started to take place in her mind.
“Yes, yes that's a good idea Spike. Once the books are in then I'll research the best date! I'll have to rework my whole schedule to make sure I have time for all my other research as well as dates and anything else Pinkie Pie would want to do...”
Spike heaved another sigh as the lavender unicorn sat at her desk and began to make plan after plan to match whatever Pinkie Pie might do or want to do, her mane and tail frizzing more with each passing second; the young dragon had hoped that being with the carefree earth pony would help counteract this tendency of Twilight's, but perhaps it was too soon in the relationship to expect such a thing.
Both mares spent their day keeping busy but their minds rested on the other. Soon enough it was late at night and just as Twilight was finishing her one hundredth emergency plan Pinkie popped out of the door with a bang; startling Spike who hadn't seen her come in and Twilight who jumped before relaxing for the first time since the morning when they had laid next to one another.
“Hey Twilight! It's our two day anniversary! We can't miss this, we've just had to spend the entire day apart! I don't want to break up, we'll make the long distance work!” Pinkie grabbed a hold of the unicorn who could only smile in wonder back and shook the lavender mare a little before noticing the state of her mane and tail.
“Gosh Twilight, you look like you did when you had to do a lot of studying and got angry because I wrecked your research... But Princess Celestia shouldn't have given you anything too hard to do for another day or so, what's got you so tightly wightly wound up?” The baker set the cake and various supplies on a clear spot on the desk as she looked at her marefriend in concern.
“Oh, nothing; I was just making plans for if something happened or when would be the best time to go on a date. But I think I have it now, now I'll be prepared in case you decide to do anything!” Twilight gave a tense grin before resting her head onto a pink shoulder.
“I missed you...”
“Awww, I missed you too you silly filly! You don't need plans to have fun or for when we do stuff, remember? If you want, I can plan our first date and then you can plan the second one!” Twilight cheered up slightly at this suggestion; she would be able to gather valuable first-hoof experience before trying to set up a date on her own and hopefully the dating books would be in so she would be able to cross-reference them.
“Ok, that sounds like a good idea Pinkie; when did you want to go out?” Twilight levitated her calender over to make sure she didn't accidentally double schedule something; that would take hours to sort out.
“How about... Tomorrow?”
“Hmmm, I have to finish the reports for the Princess by tomorrow...”
“The day after tomorrow?”
“More books are expected to come in, I'd have to re-shelve the whole library...”
“The day after the day after tomorrow?”
“I don't know, I'm expecting more research papers to come in...”
“Oh oh! How about the day after the day after the day after the day after the day after tomorrow?”
By this point Pinkie Pie had pulled out the big weapons, puppy eyes and crocodile tears (not to be confused with Gummy's tears) along with a big pleading pout. Twilight's will crumbled within moments and she found herself rearranging that day's schedule.
“I guess if I move these assignments to the day before I should have the day free for whatever you have planned...”
“YAY! Now it's time to paartaayy! Two day anniversary, here we go!” The hyper mare leapt up from her spot right next to the book pony and started to set up the table for their anniversary with Twilight following along with an eye roll.
This would become the norm for the new couple for the next few days; they would have to do their own work during the day and every night Pinkie would come by for yet another anniversary for yet another day together. After which they would spend the night cuddled together in order to make up for not seeing one another during the day time.
The first hiccup came when Mr. and Mrs. Cake noticed how their live-in baker wasn't coming back at night after the fourth sleepover since Twilight's birthday. They tried to question where she went, but Pinkie only stated that she made a Pinkie Promise and they knew to drop it after that; they had tried to question further once but learned the hard way that nopony broke a Pinkie Promise.
After that the two mares had to just share evenings together with the hyper mare back home by 10pm (which threw off her plans for anniversaries but Twilight agreed that having the celebrations early was just fine). What was really starting to wear on the unicorn was the daily 'celebrations'; she was in bliss every time they were together, but constantly having a party (Pinkie Pie style no less!) was a little taxing.
It was the night just before their first date, the night of their seventh day anniversary, that Twilight felt the need to address the constant parties. The librarian had long since gone over her new dating books and felt justified in her concern of the constant parties; the books also gave tips as to how to bring up difference of opinions as well as compromising, making this a good practice opportunity as well as one that was needed.
“Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked from her seat on the floor; the two were upstairs eating more cake with balloons laid out around the room and streamers hanging from the ceiling.
“Yes, Twilight?” Pinkie looked up from the board game in front of the duo; they were playing Snakes and Ladders and having a blast, or so the pink mare thought.
“Pinkie, I do appreciate wanting to celebrate how long we've been together; but this may be going a bit far...” At the sudden lack of motion from the epitome of motion mare, Twilight waved a reassuring hoof.
“We can celebrate important 'together'-versaries. Even the dating books say that couples should celebrate how long they've been together; but this is taking it a bit too far, that's all.” Pinkie turned pensive while Twilight watched in concern; she didn't want to hurt the pink earth pony's feelings but there was only so much partying the unicorn could do with it messing up her schedule and sleeping cycle.
“I guess so... we still have lots of dates we can do!” Pinkie perked right up as Twilight smiled with an agreeing nod.
“Of course, lots of dates... Properly planned.” The hyper mare nodded rapidly before returning to the game; she wanted to explain just how nice the date she had planned was going to be, but also wanted it to be a surprise for the purple unicorn so the pink pony remained silent on that topic.
Both mares enjoyed the rest of the evening for slightly different reasons; one because she wouldn't have to plan around constant parties and the other because of excitement for the next day (not that Twilight wasn't excited about it as well, there were just priorities to consider).