Fluttershy laid in her bed and sighed at the ceiling. The night was one of the best of her life and she was as happy as when she sang with her animal friends. There was a joy in her that was new too: A warm fuzzy feeling that she hoped was true love.
She was also afraid because it was so foreign to her. What if she lost the feeling, what if she lost Pinkie, or what if Pinkie left her.
A swirl of negative thoughts began to enter her mind, ruining the joyous feeling she'd had. A flash to her past of a hoof pressing into her back between her wings and a voice...
She turned her head to look out the window and the evening sights. The sky is clear, thanks to the weather team supervisor. Quill? Something like that, I should make them a pie and see who's doing the weather these days, she thought to herself, the stars are twinkling, the night critters are doing their business, and even the forest is calm. What am I going to do about everything?
She sighed and looked at the ceiling again, tracing the knots in the wood in the relative silence as her mind tried to make sense of what-ifs and why-should-I's.
"I have to stop being so afraid," she said in her normal voice, "Pinkie won't leave me. She's a true friend and, after tonight, she's a real... marefriend," she smiled and covered her eyes with her hooves, allowing herself a slight giggle. "Tonight was the best I've everhad and I don't have to be afraid with Pinkie in my life now. She'll be the one, I think. Maybe she'll be," she gulped and looked at the ceiling, eyes wide, "the one."
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Fluttershy knocked on Pinkie's room door. The dinner had been amazing, as had the following week, and now was a day for Fluttershy to give Pinkie a surprise. On her back was balanced a tray with several traditional breakfast items and a cup of apple juice she'd gathered and purchased from the Cakes. She pushed the door open and walked up the flight of stairs to the room itself to see Pinkie laying half off her bed, her head on the floor, holding her mane as a pillow, blankets a mess, and Gummy asleep under the bed.
With a quiet giggle Fluttershy entered the room, set the tray on a small table by the stairs, and approached the pink mare. "Pinkie," she said softly. "Pinkie Pie," she repeated, reaching to poke her exposed belly.
"Hgggng," Pinkie replied as she fell off the bed and curled like a cat on the floor, her tail swishing side to side.
"Pinkie, go~od morning," Fluttershy sang softly. Pinkie smiled, but didn't wake up. Fluttershy huffed and leaned in close. "Pinkie Pie, I love you."
Before she could react Pinkie was hugging her tightly. "Me too," Pinkie said softly, "only, about you."
"Good morning, Pinkie," Fluttershy said wrapping her wings around Pinkie and holding her as close to her body as she could. "Pinkie, I brought you breakfast, would you lik-"
With a speed that rivaled Rainbow Dash Pinkie was sitting on the banister looking at the tray.
"Ooo, oatmeal, hay fries, a small quiche; extra carrots! Apple juice?" She looked at it closely. "Yup, and from the Apples, and, dun, dum, dun," she grinned looking at a smiling, yet slightly surprised, Fluttershy, "a double oat bran and strawberry muffin. Thanks, Shy!"
"Oh, it was no problem. Eat up, Pinkie, we have a busy day. I have to go into the Whitetail Woods and find an injured, but stubborn raccoon and you have your parties to plan."
Pinkie leaned over her food and began eating, while still on the banister. "Mnoph," she stopped to gulp, "not really. It's going to be a slow day since everypony is focusing on Rainbow Dash and Applejack."
"Well, I'm happy they're happy, however, they don't need to be so aggressive in their relationship."
"Pah," Pinkie waved a hoof at Fluttershy, "they're really sappy when they're alone."
Pinkie Leaned down and took another couple bites of her breakfast before hopping to the floor and sitting a little more properly.
"Um, Pinkie? Do you mean you've watched them in private?"
"Well," Pinkie said after a drink from her cup, "I was waiting for Rainbow to make a Pinkie Promise, then they went to bed and were talking really sweet and having fun, but not 'that' fun. Then finally Rainbow said it and I jumped from under their bed and reminded them that if you break a Pinkie Promise you risk losing a friend forever.
"After they were done yelling at me about stuff I left and, well, that's about all I did that night. Must've been yesternight?"
"Last night? So," Fluttershy asked raising her eyebrows slightly, "you left me early to hide under their bed?"
"Yuppers!" she replied with a grin, "never know when a PP is gonna be made, so I've gotta be ready... but, I really did mean what I said about it being an emergency reason I left you and didn't get a kiss," Pinkie said hopping to the floor and taking a smaller bite of her quiche before eating it in the next bite.
"Oh well, at least you stayed busy," Fluttershy shrugged and hugged Pinkie with a wing, "so, would you like to go for a walk?"
Pinkie gulped the last of her juice and placed the cup on her snout, balancing it. "Nah."
"Oh, um, how about a picnic?"
"I just ate, silly filly," Pinkie said as she reared and balanced on one rear leg, the cup staying stable on her muzzle.
"What about if we, had a race?"
"Nah, you're not very fast. Why don't we read a book or something?" Pinkie suggested as she, somehow, was riding a unicycle in place, focusing on the glass.
"Pinkie?! How'd you... Nevermind, um, that idea sounds okay. I didn't know you read, though."
"Well, duh! How do you think I know where everything in the library is? I've read them all, some twice!" Pinkie said as she hopped onto the seat of the unicycle, still balancing the cup on her muzzle. "But, I like to read comics too. I trade with Spike so I always have a good supply! Did you know he has hundreds of them? I could spend weeks reading them and he'd still get new ones, but Twilight doesn't agree with comic reading. You know how Twilight feels about those kinds of 'too short graphic novelizations of improbable fictions'."
The cup wobbled as the football ball Pinkie was balancing on her right hoof tipped free and she slipped, sending her toppling to the floor. "Aw, shoot. Almost broke my record."
"Pinkie, I don't... How do you even..." Fluttershy looked at Pinkie with an amused awe before she shook her head, clearing it of the spiraling thoughts of confusion. "Okay, would you like me to get your, um, comics with you?"
"Oh, no. I have to meet him at our secret spot," Pinkie said rushing over to Fluttershy, "it's downstairs, don't tell Twilight."
"O-oh, okay, I won't," she nodded.
"Besides, Twilight's in some trouble still from enchanting Dashie, so she's kind of under house arrest until the end of the week."
"What? What did, I mean, I don't want to pry but what happened? She's... Twilight."
"Oh, well, some jealousness made her a meany pants and she cast a spell on Dashie to make her think she was Apple Jackie, but then she stopped it and the real Apple Jackie almost beat her up and then the guard came in and kersplash! A magic poof stopped them and then they were in jail. No biggie."
Fluttershy looked at Pinkie with a slack jaw as the pink mare pushed a pile of toys under a green rug that was too small to hide them. "Um, were you..." Fluttershy started.
"I was hiding on the bookshelf behind a copy of 'The Smithy Mountains' when it went down. I almost jumped out to stop them but Apple Jackie was really mad and Twi was using magic that was a little scary to keep AJ from hitting her. Oh! Twi had three shields up and before the guard came in AJ had broken two of them and was cracking the last one like an egg," Pinkie grinned and motioned with her hooves.
"O-oh dear... I had no idea. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"You didn't ask," Pinkie replied as she sided with Fluttershy and draped a foreleg across her back. "'Shy, if you wanna know more, you gotta ask more, I can't remember to tell you everything when I forget what I was supposed to remember!"
With a slight pull, Pinkie began to lead them to the stairs. "Oh, okay. I'll ask, more?"
"That's more like it!"
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