Best Friends, Too

by shortskirtsandexplosions

Night

The sun's setting as we part ways on the edge of Ponyville Park.

"Bye, Lyra!" Minuette waves, grinning from ear to ear. "Bye, Bon Bon! It was super... super fun, you guys!"

"Been a real treat!" I add, waving alongside her. "We should do this again sometime!"

"Hey, you know where we live!" Bon Bon says, then giggle-snorts. "Of course... we all know where we live!"

"Ponyville!" Lyra blurts.

"I was gonna say 'Cloud Nine,' but sure!"

"You're my Cloud Nine, Best Bestie!"

"Ohhhhhhh youuuuuu... Lime Ball."

"Pastel Puff."

"Stringer-Upper."

"Peach Fuzz!"

"Heeheehee!"

The two nuzzle, then gallop over the darkening hilltop, tossing their kite skywards behind them. There's a flash of color—happy and exultant—and then they vanish along with the mares' thundering hoofsteps.

Minuette and I trot down the far side of the hill. We take our time.

And finally...

...after we are well... well beyond earshot of the two friends...

...we glance at one another.

Minuette bursts first. She's always the first to collapse. Her giggles come out in a torrent of snorts and chortling breaths.

"Heeheehee!"

"Heheheh..."

"Hahaha..." She wipes a tear from her eye. "Wow. Those two are soooooo precious... but... oh my gosh!"

I smirk. "I know, right?"

"Joined at the flank!"

"Born with one cutie mark."

"They must have snuggled the whole time we chatted with them!" Minuette giggles, giggles, and wheezes. "Sooooooo cuuuuuute..."

"But wowsers..." I shake my head. "That's... that's just too happy, y'know?"

"Huh?"

"Just... just say it, y'know?" I shrug. "For crying out loud. There's being 'best friends,' and then there's being all over each other."

Minuette nods quietly.

I look forward as the shadows of evening slowly consume the sleepy countryside. "I... I don't get it. Shouldn't they realize by now? Don't they ever think outside the box?"

"They... seem really really pleased with being who they are, Amy."

"Yeah, but... some things are just too happy to be called 'best friends,' y'know? I mean... that's pushing the term... by a Tartarusian amount. Heh..."

Silence.

Then somepony asks, "What's so wrong with that?"

The night's sky shifts. I feel my blood running cold. With a heavy blink, I glance to my side.

Minuette's staring at me. Her eyes are placid lakes. The blue stillness is positively eerie.

"Erm..." I clear my throat. "What's wrong with... what?"

"Being as happy as you can be," she says. "And being happy together." She smiles, but it is a weak thing, waiting for a support beam, and I'm the only other soul within a giggle's throw. "Lyra and Bon Bon find ways to be happier and happier with each passing day. Is that such a bad thing?"

"What? No!" I squint into the shadows, but they only blind me. I fumble for the dirt path before us. "But... doing all that they do and claiming to be 'best friends?' That's just... silly. In the delivery, that is. Er... you know what I mean."

"No... I-I don't think I do."

"Eh... it's not a big deal, Minuette."

"Isn't it?" She blinks at me. "Because... you make it sound like best friends should put a limit on their happiness."

"Shouldn't we?" The retort is a hard bullet, steaming. It takes me a few stumbling seconds to ascertain who got hit. "Erm... I mean... yeesh, Minuette. Best friends shouldn't... do that kind of stuff. And if they do, that's fine..." I cleared my throat, but it doesn't seem to make my voice any less raspy. "...but... th-they should just call it something else, ya feel me?"

Silence. The sun has gone down. I feel the same chill as the ice cream I ate earlier, but none of the sugar.

For once I'm glad that she can't see me wincing. "Minuette?" I already hate how foalish my tone sounds. "You... you feel me?"

"I guess that makes sense," she says. If I didn't know better, I'd say the voice in the dark was coming from another mare. All of a sudden, the lampposts of Ponyville park flicker to life. A sad blue figure shuffles in the spotlight, her ears drooping. "I dunno. I guess I always thought that... you should do what you can every day to be happier... especially if you have ponies who make you super happy to be around them. That's... kinda sorta what makes life all the more amazing, y'know?" She looks up at me. There's a tiny glint in her eye, accompanied by a giggle, but both feel like winded things. Tattered flags rippling in a limp breeze. "Again... heehee... your wisdom always amazes me, Amethyst Star."

I bite my lip. I don't know what feels more awkward: her desperate attempt at a compliment or my vanishing nick-name. The whole moment feels sour, and it consumes my fidgeting limbs.

"Yeesh... I'm beat. Y'know?"

"Huh?"

"Long... long day..." I smile crookedly. "Long fun day, of course, but... uhm..."

"You need to call in a night cap?"

"Eheh... yeah." I gulp. "I think so."

"Heehee! Can't say I blame you." She smiles, and that chipper unicorn sparkles back to life in the lamplight. "I love Lyra to death, but she can wear a pony out on her own... much less with her b.f.f.f.f.f.f. by her side."

"Hah..." I grin briefly. "It's hard to imagine anything wearing you out, Minuette."

"Yeah," she exhales, her gaze falling to the ground. Somehow, it sounds like neither a response nor an affirmation. And everything turns awkward and crooked again.

Somehow, I am always the one to bring things to a close.

"Well... uh..." I begin trotting towards home, waving a hoof through the distance growing between us. "Thanks for the ice cream!"

She nods. I see pearly teeth in the night. "My favorite."

I feel a tug. I move swiftly, snapping it, and I'm home sooner than I know it.

Comments

[Zaid ValRoa]

She smiles, but it is a weak thing, waiting for a support beam, and I'm the only other soul within a giggle's throw.

I really like this line.

But yeah, I can see what Amethyst says. There's a point where you've got to admit that you're not just "best friends" with someone. Wouldn't that otherwise diminish the meaning behind the next step if you keep pushing the boundaries of what friendship is and veer into, uh, higher-relationship territory?

[DrEggnog]

Quite a swerve the mood took there. Only Skirts can go from straight silly to straight introspective in half a second and hold it all together.

[Stonecrop Sedum]

Jeez...awkward...

[Stonecrop Sedum]

7182290

I guess I can see where both of them are coming from. You can keep calling yourselves best friends but you've got to be aware of what your feelings are...or something.

[BackgroundNoise]

Don't feel too bad Amethyst, you're being perfectly reasonable. There may not be such a thing as too happy, but there is such a thing as too intimate. Think about it this way, if you can't get into a serious romantic relationship with another pony without things becoming incredibly complicated, then you are too intimate.

There is a certain amount of intimacy reserved for friends, and totally different level of intimacy reserved for lovers. Those two have completely bypassed the former and are heavily into the latter.

[Metal Aura]

That was almost a complete 180 degree turn in the mood of the story, but I think Amy only pushed the elephant in the room to a later time.

[RazgrizS57]

It seems while Amethyst has an articulate mind, she struggles to express her thoughts when it comes to personal feelings. Whereas Minuette can clearly convey the emotions she feels and her interpretations of others, even non-verbally. That's actually a really interesting dynamic for any pairing.