When I opened my eyes, it was a terrible day outside. The birds screeched. The sunlight burned my eyes. It was like the world said, “Go away, Pinkie Pie!”
At least I no longer felt so woozy. I rolled out of bed and fell onto my hooves, slumping a bit. My ears drooped like they had super-heavy weights attached to them. Except they didn’t, because that would be stupid.
Just like me…
It was all my fault. I blew it. I questioned if I should even bother going downstairs.
Upon further reflection, I didn’t. I curled back up into bed, flinging the blanket over me. After only a short while, it got stuffy, hot, and hard to breathe. I didn’t care.
So I just laid there, hot, miserable, and out of breath, until I heard the door creak. I lowered the blanket just enough to see who was there.
Mrs. Cake flashed a small smile from the doorway. But it wasn’t a real smile. As the former foremost party pony, I knew what a real smile looked like, and it wasn’t that. No, her smile was more like the smile you smile at someone who isn’t smiling at all when they should be. When you’re trying to make them feel better.
Like Fluttershy…
I rolled over, facing the window instead.
“Pinkie…” A hoof pressed against my back, and I squirmed away. There was a sigh.
“Pinkie, please…”
I shook my head, pulling the blanket back up over my face.
It was pulled back soon after. Mrs. Cake stood there, on my side of the bed now. She frowned. “Can’t you join us for breakfast?”
“Not hungry,” I mumbled, although my stomach growled. It had been a long time since I’d eaten. Normally, I don’t go more than eight hours without eating, and that’s so I can sleep! But I didn’t care. I wouldn’t have cared if I’d have starved for another day. Maybe even longer.
Mrs. Cake nodded. She leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find us.”
I just laid there, not moving, not responding. I just listened to her hoofsteps as she walked away. The door closed with a soft click.
I laid there for a while and closed my eyes. They weren’t closed long, since I heard some sort of conversation at the bottom of the stairwell. My ears swiveled and strained so I could listen.
“She’s right upstairs, girls,” Mr. Cake said. “If anypony could cheer her back up, it’s all of you.”
Five sets of hooves climbed the stairs. I couldn’t hear that for sure, of course. But I could guess.
Sure enough, the door opened, letting in Twilight, Rarity, Dashie, Applejack and… Oh. Right. Only four ponies stood at the foot of my bed.
Twilight smiled. It was kind of like Mrs. Cake’s smile, but Twilight was a little bit better at faking it. I guess she had to. Part of being a princess is pretending nothing’s wrong.
“Hi, Pinkie.” She walked up to me, rubbing the back of her neck. “We um… we heard what happened.”
“Yeah.” I sunk into my pillow. “I guess everypony has.”
Rarity stepped forward, ears drooped. “It’s all my fault, really.” She bit her lip. Her eyes lowered, looking over the creases in the blanket, the part where the sheet was untucked, the railing of my bedframe—anywhere but me.
Her breath hitched, then she continued. “Fluttershy told me everything. About how she liked you, I mean. On our last spa visit, she talked so much about you… and how scared she was to make a move…”
I winced.
Rarity’s eyes darted up immediately after saying that, then flicked downward. She cleared her throat. “I came up with it all. How she should visit you.” She took a deep breath. “But she couldn’t do it. Not alone. So we all agreed to go with her, then contrive excuses to leave.” A snort escaped her. “When you fell ill… it was just too perfect to pass up.”
I smiled a little bit at her. “It wasn’t your fault, Rarity.”
“It was all of ours,” Applejack said.
“Speak for yourself!” Dashie said. “I’m completely innocent here.” Everypony else turned and glared at Dashie. Twilight nudged her. She rubbed the back of her neck. “All right, so maybe I had a part in it.”
Applejack shook her head at Dashie, then turned back to me. “Anyway, you could easily blame any one of us, sugarcube. We all ducked out so you and Fluttershy could be alone. Hay, if just one of us had decided not to, why, you wouldn’t be where you are now!”
I nodded. I propped my head on my hoof and thought about this. Could I really blame my friends? They were just trying to help. If I’d have been in their place, I’d have done the same exact thing. Except probably with more teasing and hints about the two liking each other.
Wait a second. My eyes widened.
“It’s still my fault!” I said.
“Now sugarcube…”
“Oh, Pinkie, I hardly think it’s your fault, dear.”
“Pinkie…”
I held up my hoof. “No, listen! If it had been any other two ponies, I totally would have teased them about it. I would have known for sure that they liked each other!” I sprang out of bed and wrapped my forelegs around Twilight and Rarity, causing them to cry out like I jumped on their backs and asked for piggie back rides.
Please. I only did that once.
“Say it was Twilight and Rarity who loved each other.”
“Pinkie!”
“I declare, Pinkie!”
I hmmphed, scrunching up my snout. “No, listen! If it was Twi and Rarity, I’d definitely be asking if they wanted to be alone when it was just the three of us, or I’d ask Twilight about Rarity’s plot—”
“Pinkie!”
“—or ask Rarity about Twilight’s—”
“Hmph! I would never talk about something so lewd!”
I just stared at Rarity for a moment, eyebrow raised. “I was just gonna say mane. Geez.” I shook my head, smiling as I continued. “Anyway, point is, I would have dropped hints everywhere because I would have known they both liked each other. But with Fluttershy, I had no idea! I knew I liked her, at least as a friend, but I never realized that she wanted to be more than that.” I paused, bring a hoof to my chin. “Or that I’d like the idea so much!
“It’s just…” Heaving a sigh, I looked around at all my friends. Well, all the ones present. That’d be a lot of ponies to look at. They looked back at me, not smiling but not frowning. I don’t like poker faces. They’re hard to read. It’s why I’m really, really bad at poker.
I bit my lip. “I’ve never felt this way, you guys. I’ve been too busy partying to really consider… y’know, being more than just a party of one.” The others all shuffled a little, and I blinked. “Wait. No, no, I didn’t mean like that!” I pouted. “Seriously, you all are a bunch of pervs.
“Anyway, what do I do? I’ve never been the one being paired off before!”
Rarity grinned. “Well, my dear Pinkie, if there’s one thing I know, it’s relationships.”
Tilting my head, I said, “Wait, I thought it’d be fashion.”
“Well, yes, fashion, too—”
“And high society!”
“And that as well—”
“And I thought that your last few relationships failed miserably before they even got off the ground.”
“Do you want my help or not?” Rarity snapped. We all looked at her in stunned silence. “Ahem. I mean, er… point taken, Pinkie Pie. Perhaps I am not the best pony to ask for relationship advice.”
I looked around the room at the others.
Twilight shrugged. “I only know about relationships in theory. I’ve never actually been in one.”
“Applejack?”
“Shoot, Pinkie.” She adjusted her hat. “I’ve been too busy on the farm to go out lookin’ for love.”
“Maybe you, Dashie?” I flashed her a half-smile.
Dashie put a hoof on her chest, her eyes gleaming with a fierce light. “Nopony in Equestria could possibly keep up with Rainbow Dash!” I saw Applejack roll her eyes at that.
My ears drooped. “So… none of you can help me?”
Twilight wrapped a foreleg around me. “We’ll try, Pinkie.” She smiled a little bit, and I smiled too. “None of us have any real dating experience, but we care a lot about you and Fluttershy, so we’ll do all we can to help make that work out.”
My eyes lit up. “You will?”
“We will, Pinkie.” One pair of hooves wrapped around me, then another, then another, and then another, until we were all huddled together in a big ball of cuddly-wuddly hugs. I grinned.
“Thanks, you guys.” I hugged them all back. “I love you all!”
“And we love you, too,” Twilight said. Applejack and Rarity nodded.
“Eh, “love” is a strong word. It’s way too mushy and stuff.” Dash saw us staring and rolled her eyes. “Oh come on! I still care! I just… don’t like the “l” word.”
Applejack chuckled and wrapped a foreleg around Dashie’s neck. “We all love ya too, sugarcube.” Dashie reddened a little at that, but didn’t push away.
Rarity cleared her throat, and the cuddle pile dispersed. “Now, Pinkie, I believe a certain mare awaits you at her cottage.”
I opened my eyes really wide, till I thought they might fall right out. Which is supposed to be impossible, but I’ve seen Discord do it, and if Discord can do it, who’s to say it won’t happen to somepony like me? “Wait, you all want me to go over to Fluttershy’s alone? After all that happened?”
“Don’t worry none, Pinkie. I’ll go with you.” Applejack put her free hoof on my back. Her other foreleg was still wrapped around Dashie’s neck.
Dashie smiled, her face still red. “Heh. Guess I’m stuck going with ya.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. We both know you could’ve broken free by now. I ain’t even holding ya that tight!”
Dashie slipped out. “Oh. Whattaya know?” She scratched her head and looked away from Applejack.
“We’ll all be with you, Pinkie Pie.” Rarity nodded at me. “We’ll go together. And we’ll be there to support you.”
Grinning, I pronked around the room. “Great!” I opened the door, waiting for everypony to follow me. “Well, come on! What are we waiting for?”
My friends all laughed and ambled after me so slowly. I think if they had matched my pace, we would have been there in three steps.
But they walked slower than me. It didn’t matter, though, because we got there eventually. I bounced and sprung and pronked the whole way, but I sort of moseyed up to the door. I bit my lip and giggled.
“Heh, you girls wouldn’t mind going before me, would you?”
“Not at all, Pinkie.” Smiling at me, Twilight walked up to the door and knocked. The door swung open. A faint voice called from upstairs.
Looking at each other, we all walked in, following each other in a straight line.
Fluttershy’s house wasn’t too different from normal. It still smelled funny, like it always did. But it was quieter than normal. Only a few of the animals were down here, quietly munch-munching away at their food and staring at us. Two mice finished their meal, then darted ahead of us up the stairs. Rarity jumped and shrieked.
Twilight frowned. “They’re going up to Fluttershy’s room.”
We climbed those stairs, and I’m pretty sure it took longer than the whole walk there. Every step was a struggle. My stomach felt like it was filled with lead, and my hooves felt like they were made of iron. “Do you think she’s okay?” I whispered to Twilight.
“We’re about to find out.”
The door to Fluttershy’s room was ajar. Twilight pushed it open, revealing a room full of animals. And there on the bed was Fluttershy.
She was buried under a mountain of blankets. Her face was smooshed into her pillow. Her chest rose and fell slowly. She barely made any noise.
“Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy shifted beneath her blankets the moment Twilight spoke. She turned to face the doorway.
“H—hey, Twilight. Um, how are you?”
“I came to ask the same of you.” Twilight entered the room and stood beside the bed. “We heard about what happened yesterday. Are you all right?”
Fluttershy froze. ““We”?”
“Well, yes.” Twilight gestured to the door. “When I heard about what happened, I went to check in on you. The other girls came with me.” Dashie, Rarity, and Applejack shuffled into the room, each with her own sheepish grin. They muttered greetings and stood in the corner.
“Um, you don’t have to worry!” Fluttershy wiggled and squirmed her way out from under all the blankets. Squiggled, if you will. It was not a very graceful maneuver. One of her hooves caught in the blankets, and she hit the floor face-first.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight reached out a hoof, and the others ran toward Fluttershy.
“I’m fine!” she screeched. There was an audible gasp as everpony held their collective breath. Even I did.
Fluttershy slumped on the floor. “I’m fine,” she repeated. “It’s fine. I can live without Pinkie’s love. I’ve been doing it for quite some time now.”
“Without my love?” I stepped in, causing Fluttershy to flinch. “Whoever said such a crazy thing?”
“Oh, look at the time!” Twilight said. “I have to go… do… something.” She grinned reeeeeally wide. “Yeah, something, um… important.”
“Well, whattaya know? I’ve got important stuff, too!” Applejack said.
“I’ve got to try on one of Rarity’s dresses!” Dashie looked over at Rarity, who just facehooved.
I tilted my head. “You all know you can just say you’re leaving us alone, right?”
“Oh, no. We’ve got stuff. Elsewhere,” Dashie said. She winked at the others.
Rarity just sighed as they all walked out the door. She grabbed the handle, then turned back to us. “Good luck,” she said. With that, the door shut, and we were all alone.
Fluttershy just stared down at the floor, not moving.
“Shy, I—”
“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy blurted.
I blinked. “Sorry?”
Looking up at me, she nodded. “I never should have kissed you. I didn’t know if you liked me, or if you were even okay with the idea, or anything.” She looked away. “Now you probably hate me.”
Smiling, I put my hoof on her back. “I could never hate you, Shy-Shy!”
She bit her lip, still looking away. “Then why did you—”
“Why did I react that way?” I shrugged. “You caught me by surprise. Not many things take me by surprise, but a Flutterkiss out of the blue is one of them.”
Her eyes brightened. She sat up a bit straighter. “So you didn’t mind that I—”
It may have been a bad idea, but I grabbed Fluttershy’s cheeks and I planted a kiss right on her mouth. And I kept our lips locked, even as she gasped. And especially as she slowly leaned in and kissed back. But I kind of forgot to take a deep breath before kissing her, so I had to pull away after too short of a time.
We sat there a moment, stunned and out of breath.
“Does that answer your question?” I asked.
She giggled, then pounced on me. Pinning me to the floor, she stole another kiss. I kissed her back, wearing a big old dopey grin. I don’t know what being drunk is like, but it was probably pretty close to how I felt in that moment.
“Y’know, I could get used to that,” I said.
Fluttershy hid her reddened cheeks behind her mane. “Well, I might be able to provide. But, um, only once in a while.”
I giggled. “Another reason to help get you out of your shell!”
She smiled at that. “Any excuse to spend time with you.” She blinked, and furrowed her eyebrows. “Wait. If you like me, and I like you, are we—?”
My grin faded a little. “Only if you really, really want to, Shy.” I nuzzled her. “We can take things at whatever pace you feel comfortable.”
Shy nodded and nuzzled back. “I would like that, Pinkie.”
We cuddled for a bit, before I poked my head back up. “Hey, wait. I never got those snuggles earlier!”
Giggling, she booped my nose. “I promised you no such thing.”
I pouted. “But if I don’t get them, I’ll be sad Pinkie.” I jutted out my bottom lip even further. “You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
Fluttershy fake gasped. “Oh my, perish the thought!” She grabbed my hoof and led me to the bed. “Come on. We’ll make you a happy Pinkie again in no time.”
She lifted the blankets up for me, and I settled in underneath them. We cuddled in nice and close. She wrapped her wing around me. The feathers tickled my back, making me giggle. I kissed her.
“Hmmm…” Her eyelids slowly closed, and I let out a big yawn. We laid there in each others' embrace until we both drifted off.
The dreams I had that night were probably the best dreams ever, but they still didn’t compare to having my Shy-Shy all snuggled up with me.
Best. Night. Ever.