Pinkie Pie Swear

by Annuska

2. Nervicitement

Sonata arrived at Sugarcube Corner the following night at 5:54 PM – not quite six PM sharp, but close enough.

Pinkie Pie wasn’t behind the counter when Sonata entered the store, and so she seated herself in the sofa nearest to the door while sitting as far from said door as possible, practically hugging the right-hand armrest. It wasn’t cold in the café; on the contrary, it was fairly warm, but Sonata pulled either side of her cardigan around herself tighter nonetheless, slinging one leg over the other and tapping her foot on the ground as she waited.

She wasn’t feeling impatient, per se, but rather, some strange mixture of nervous and excited – nervicited, maybe? Sonata wasn’t sure that nercivited was an actual word, but it seemed a fitting conjunction for her emotions anyway.

Excited because she was hanging out with someone new! Someone she could talk to without being able to nearly count on receiving a groan or argument in response! Someone she had qualities in common with!— Okay, she had qualities in common with her friends, too, but sharing the same qualities in common with someone for so long did get a little boring.

But then she was also nervous because of that very thing. It had been so long since she met anyone new to do things with, she couldn’t help but worry about how she would be perceived – and how she would act. What if she slipped up and started humming a few bars of a song or sang a verse or two? It wouldn’t be a tragedy by any stretch, but it seemed to defeat the entire purpose of trying to be friendly with someone. And – most worrying of all – what would her already-established friends think of her doing this?

Nothing good, probably.

Her intensive foot-tapping was interrupted by the sound of heavy, descending steps—no, they were more like stomps—following one another in quick succession. She lifted her eyes to the staircase behind the counter, catching sight of a pair of pink boots and blue nylon-covered legs taking the stairs two steps at a time before finally landing with a thud upon the solid ground. The half-door separating the back of the store from the front swung open as the owner of the pink boots and blue-nylon covered legs pushed through, and it then swung behind her as she abandoned her grasp and stepped out of its trajectory.

Sonata smiled and rose from her seat.

The shop’s clock read exactly 6:00 as Pinkie Pie stood in front of Sonata, reaching up to her seemingly weightless hair to pull a bow barrette into place just to the side of her face before adjusting one on the opposite side. Her knee-length violet dress, with a layer of flowy translucent chiffon and a blue bow tied just above her waist, partially covered by a light pink coat of the same length, made Sonata – wearing mahogany tights under canvas sneakers, a grey high-waisted skirt over a plain rose shirt, and a grey letterman-style cardigan – feel underdressed for the occasion.

“Are you ready to go?” Pinkie half-asked-half-exclaimed with a wide grin, clutching tightly onto the strap of an oversized tote bag sporting a bright, quirky pattern.

Sonata continued to smile as she nodded. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a suuurpriiiiise,” Pinkie sang, linking arms with Sonata as she walked her out the door.

·♪♪♪·

Is this it? What about that? Are we almost there? How much further? What is it?

A thousand questions raced through Sonata’s mind as she looked from side to side, into each store front, around every corner, at every street sign, trying to figure out the mystery that Pinkie was so reluctant to allow her to solve. Pinkie’s bag revealed nothing to her, resting on the arm that wasn’t linked with Sonata’s, and thus giving her no clue as to what could have been inside by feel. Pinkie, despite her constant smile, possessed a flawless poker face; anything that Sonata would have thought to be even a slight betrayal of her intentions was like a red herring, leading Sonata’s train of thought off track completely.

Of course, Sonata wasn’t the best at inferring intended meaning to begin with.

It got her into trouble sometimes.

After a few blocks, she decided to give up on her desperation to know, and found it more enjoyable to simply stay in the moment of the walk, moving closer to Pinkie for warmth as the wind picked up along the way. She contemplated taking her hair out of its ponytail to better cover her neck, but decided that the cushy sleeve of Pinkie’s coat and her inviting shoulder were much more comfortable.

Even the stares of strangers they passed along the sidewalk – some smiling, some much less friendly looking – brought a grin to her face and made her feel like she just fit.

For all her curiosity, she would have been fine with this being the surprise.

“Okay, wait here a minute!”

Pinkie pulled away from Sonata and instructed her to not turn around, leaving her to stare off at a particularly uninteresting cluster of trees in the darkness – and just like that, gears began shifting in Sonata’s head again as she tried to piece everything together and tried not to turn around and look. At one point they had begun walking uphill, leaving behind the street lights and store fronts to follow along a more natural path. The path levelled off where they stopped, but she didn’t see anything too attention-grabbing in her permitted line of vision.

Sonata drew her breath in to hum something— and stopped herself before any sound came out, in case Pinkie was still close enough to hear— and on cue, Pinkie reappeared, holding onto both of Sonata’s arms from behind.

“Okay, I’m gonna walk you over, but you gotta close your eyes! Got it?”

“Got it,” Sonata echoed, giggling as she shut her eyes tightly. She felt herself being turned around, walked a few feet, and then sat down. Rather than the expected coldness of damp grass, Sonata rested on something soft and dry, lowering her hands down to feel fabric like that of a blanket.

“When I take my hands away,” Pinkie whispered into her ear, as if relaying a crucial secret, “look straight ahead.”

Sonata nodded.

The warm hands fell away from her arms and she lifted her lids, eyes widening as they took in the sight before them: thousands of sparkling illuminations scattered over the horizon and sky, city lights and stars dancing against the deep blue hue of distance. The hill they had walked towered high enough above and sat far enough away to allow an overarching view of Canterlot below in all its night time glory, set deep enough in the darkness that none of the shine of the stars was sacrificed for the sake of the city’s beauty.

Sonata leaned back to take in a wider view of the sky as she lifted her head, and her chest constricted; it was so clear and bright and it reminded her of home.

“Sooo, what d’you think?”

“It’s really pretty,” Sonata said, sitting up and looking out over the horizon again.

“That was the thing I wanted to show you the most,” Pinkie giggled, “but I brought food, too! ‘Cause, duh, what’s a picnic without food?”

Sonata turned her head to see the spread Pinkie had set out; an array of sandwiches, vegetable sticks and hummus, fruit salad, cupcakes for dessert, and a thermos of hot chocolate. She hadn’t realised how hungry she was until that moment.

“Let’s eat!” She exclaimed, turning herself to sit parallel to Pinkie.

“You know,” Pinkie mumbled through bites of a cupcake, “I was kind of, uh—” she stopped to swallow, then continued “—nervicited about this – you know, like nervous and excited at the same time! – but now that we’re here, I just feel super happy!”

Sonata lifted her hand and the bitten sandwich half it held over her mouth as she giggled.

“Me too.”

“Ohmigosh, I’m soooo relieved to hear that, ‘cause I was like, ‘What if Sonata doesn’t like it? What if she thinks it’s super boring?’ But you don’t!” A pause, and then, “Right?”

“This is, like, the most fun I’ve had in forever,” Sonata said, scooting closer to Pinkie.

Maybe she missed home and thought this world was the worst, but this wasn’t all that bad.

Sonata stopped scooting as she brushed up against Pinkie’s shoulder, leaning closer and lying her head down.

Not all that bad at all.

Comments

[Kind of Brony]

I like the concept and this is not an at all bad start. The romance is a little fast, but that could just be because you skimmed over everything but their first (and second) meeting and their sort-of date. You made up for this by throwing some intolerant people in there. A lot of writers around here seem to forget that homosexuality isn't okay with some people and isn't so common that characters should handle it as if they are just discussing the weather. I hope there is at least some minor shock from some of Pinkie's friends when they find out, even if it's only a little surprise at discovering her sexual orientation before congratulating her nonetheless.

Here's hoping you update regularly and actually finish the story; both being traits that are becoming exceedingly hard to find on this site.

[Awesomo3000]

Yeah, what she/he said.

[Lazy Bones]

I love this! And no, I don't think the romance is going too fast at all...
Just laying her head to rest against pinkie's shoulder is just one of those slightly ditzy and awkward things I'd imagine Sonata would do in such a situation, without considering any possible romantic consequences no less.

I imagine her to be a somewhat impulsive person

Keep this ship sailing right and true, captain, and you have yourself another loyal reader.

[Annuska]

5551135
Thank you for your input! As a matter of fact, the story is actually already finished, so updates will be regular and consistant. Since the story is finished, I'll definitely take all this into consideration for future stories!

5558082
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy and don't find the pacing too fast! I do agree, I see Sonata to be a little more on the impulsive side, haha.

[SwaggyPie]

This is cute

[seventeen]

this is fun, the nervicitedness of both of them is nice

[EchoWing]

I d'awwwed at this chapter.

[JustAnotherTimeLord]

Cute so far!