//------------------------------// // Affair - Midnight herald // Story: The Twinkie Group Collab! // by Drizzle Quill //------------------------------// Author: Midnight herald Prompt: Affair Pinkie always loved the nights Twilight came home from Princess business. She was always extra snuggly, and couldn’t stop saying how much she’d missed Pinkie, or how much she loved Pinkie. Those nights were almost the best nights Pinkie could remember, except for the part where it meant Twilight hadn’t been around for a while, because she was somewhere she hadn’t come back from yet. Sometimes Pinkie had to run to the bathroom and look at herself in the mirror to make sure she hadn’t suddenly turned into a balloon or something, since she was so bouncy her hooves didn't touch the ground. Tonight was different. Tonight there was a surprise, and not the good kind of surprise, like "my girlfriend brought me a cookbook from Saddle Arabia because she knew I wanted to learn how to make Pita bread the right way." Tonight, Pinkie's smile tasted sour and felt greasy, like it didn't belong on her face. It probably didn't, but she didn't know what else to do. Her eyes bounced between Twilight, who couldn't look at her for more than a second, and the big, muscly lady-griffon who couldn't stop looking at her. The kitchen table wasn't big enough for the three of them, and the lady-griffon's feathers kept tickling Pinkie's shoulder whenever she fidgeted, which was pretty much every five seconds. Finally, Pinkie knew she had to be the one to break the silence, since her Twilight and Twilight's … The lady-griffon… didn't seem to want to say anything else. "Twilight," Pinkie began. "I'm not mad…" Twilight's teary eyes flicked up to her, nervously, and flitted away almost immediately. The lady-griffon cleared her throat. "Alright, so I'm a little mad," Pinkie amended, "But I'm not a lot mad, okay?" Twilight shuddered lightly, a full-body tremor. Pinkie chewed her lip and thought about how to say what she needed to say. "I just… I don't understand how this happened, Twi. Are you … Do you not love me enough anymore? Do I … not make you happy, anymore?" "No!" Twilight almost shouted, her eyes drilling into Pinkie's for almost three seconds before she hunched over and mumbled, "I don't know why it happened. It just kinda did." Twilight rubbed her hoof right below her horn where she got the worst headaches, her eye squinted shut. "Gretchen had just gotten deposed, and I'd promised to get her to Equestria as a refugee, and she was so scared, and lonely and so was I, and then suddenly we were…" Twilight cut herself off with a choked sob. Gretchen reached out a cautious wing to lay across Twilight's shaking back, but stopped when she saw Pinkie's eyes. Pinkie walked around the tiny table and rubbed up and down Twilight’s back, pressing a little into the places that knotted up when Twilight was sad, or scared; or both, like right now. Pinkie swallowed back the most venemous words that strained to fly out of her mouth. Twilight was lonely, and Gretchen was there? Was that all it took for infidelity now; two months and 3,000 miles between them and an emotionally needy, available partner? Pinkie hadn't had any one either for those two months, and all sorts of drunk and lonely mares were around her. Maybe she should've … Pinkie tasted blood and smoothed over the bite-mark inside her cheek with a thoughtful tongue. Getting angry wouldn't help anything. And … Though she hated to admit it, Twilight hadn't had any friends, any ponies around her those whole two months. Pinkie had. "So why did you bring … Gretchen, here, back with you?" Pinkie asked, keeping her voice as steady as she could manage. The worst of Twilight's crying had passed, and Pinkie figured she could talk again. "She needs somewhere to stay while she gets back on her feet." Twilight's voice was muffled by her raised wings and the table-top, but Pinkie could still hear how miserably sorry she sounded. Guilty, even. "Will she be staying with us?" Pinkie asked. She kept her voice non-confrontational; Twilight couldn't clam up while they were almost making progress. Twilight's head shook. "I talked to Dash. Gretchen's cleared to stay with her for a while." Pinkie's hackles gently settled down and her next few breaths didn't feel as forced. "I know it is late, but I am sorry." Pinkie's neck swiveled around. Gretchen's strange golden eyes showed a deep sadness that tugged at Pinkie's heart. They were the first words the griffon had spoken, in a gravelly, heavily-accented voice. "If I had known she had another, I would not have pressed." Pinkie nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak, so she just nodded. In hostile situations, Twilight would never hint that she had somepony special -- It would make that somepony a target. Pinkie followed her instincts and caught Gretchen up in a gentle hug, since she needed one so badly. When Gretchen finally relaxed enough to return it, Pinkie could almost understand why Twilight had done what she had done. Gretchen was so warm, so soft, so sad, so lonely… "Gretchen, if you need a place to sleep tonight, we have a guest bed," Pinkie murmured as she pulled away from the embrace. Then she nudged Twilight's shoulder gently. "We should probably all get to bed." Gretchen nodded sharply with an odd, off-kilter beak smile. Twilight drooped still, but she let herself be led upstairs, to where the bedrooms were. After Pinkie settled Gretchen in for the night, she joined Twilight on their full-size mattress. Endless space seemed to stretch out between them, until Pinkie reached out and stroked Twilight's foreleg. Twilight whimpered at the touch, but still leaned into it cautiously. "We'll work through this," Pinkie promised in a whisper. "Somehow, this'll work out." "I don't know how," Twilight whispered back, her eyes not quite meeting Pinkie's. "I still love you, Twilight Sparkle," Pinkie said, kissing Twilight's forehead. "And that's what's most important, right?" Twilight nodded and curled into Pinkie's forelegs. Twilight's head nuzzled into Pinkie's chest, and Pinkie felt closer to Twilight than she had in a long time. The tension in Pinkie's neck lessened as she snuffled into Twilight's mane and they simply held each other. Sleep was still a long time coming for both of them.