Observing A Date

by VioletsInSpring

Observation

As the sun drew low on the horizon, light shone through the leaves into the small clearing below. From the crown of a tree near the top of a hill in Sweet Apple Acres, the clearing glowed ethereally. In the month spent preparing for today, Rarity had obsessed to Fluttershy over every detail of the wonderful date she and Applejack were having.

Early this morning, Rarity had surprised Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres with a proposal of a spa day. Applebuck Season was just around the corner, and Rarity had decided to give some vague excuse about making sure her marefriend was feeling her best before the grueling labor began. The conspiracy included Granny Smith and Big Mac, who had promised to eagerly push Applejack out the door with Rarity. After that, Rarity had planned a romantic luncheon for the pair. She had booked reservations at The Blue Loon, a new restaurant Pinkie had recommended, and prepared a new dress for each of them.

Rarity’s dress had been a recycled idea of hers from a client who had backed out once they had seen the price tag. Rarity had been simply enamored with the design, however, and had tweaked it to highlight her eyes and mane. The tight, sparkling, silver dress held blue accents along the collar. The purple back helped to elongate her torso. And, of course, the hidden pocket just hidden on her barrel.

On the other hoof, Applejack’s dress was elegant, a loose-fitting thing. Rarity had been certain the green skirt would bring out her eyes and the denim in the bust complimented her hat. The idea had come partially at Fluttershy’s suggestion. Rarity had struggled for a week trying to find a way to fit Applejack’s hat into feminine formal attire, sure that Applejack had wanted to wear it unmolested. Fluttershy casually mentioned she thought denim might complement the rural charm of the hat. Rarity had insisted on taking Fluttershy to the spa for such a breathtaking idea, but Fluttershy simply had to refuse. It wasn’t like she had any real hand in this wonderful event. No, that was exclusively the pair themselves.

After lunch, Rarity was bringing Applejack on a romantic walk through Sweet Apple Acres. They were to end at the top of the Southern-most hill.

And then, at sunset, came the real surprise.

Fluttershy wasn’t going to spy on them. Really, she wasn’t. Rarity had suggested she watch, saying that she wanted to hear what it looked like from the outside. Fluttershy partially suspected she wanted some affirmation of the romance of the gesture, but didn’t feel comfortable invading on Applejack’s privacy.

At least, not alone.

Pinkie had come to Fluttershy late in the afternoon while she had been setting a mouse’s foreleg. She was delicately wrapping it in a sling when Pinkie entered, excitedly shouting that she absolutely had to follow her to Carousel Boutique. The excitement caused Fluttershy to jump. With the cloth still in her hoof, she yanked the sling, still attached to the mouse—about a foot into the air, which caused a quiet crack.

Fluttershy had earlier hoped she wouldn’t hear the deafening squeak of a mouse in pain twice that day.

Once the screaming had stopped, Pinkie apologized profusely to both Fluttershy and the mouse. The mouse was livid, but Fluttershy was much more responsive to Pinkie’s apologies. After re-setting the mouse’s foreleg and assuring Pinkie that the mouse would be fine and—no—she was not mad at Pinkie for inadvertently causing one of her patients pain, Pinkie explained that Applejack had a surprise for Rarity today when they got back to Carousel Boutique at the end of their date.

Despite Fluttershy’s prodding, Pinkie—naturally—didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Fluttershy wasn’t sure why, at that moment, she decided to be coy with Pinkie. Rarity hadn’t asked her to keep it a secret from anyone except Applejack and Pinkie was tighter-lipped than Fluttershy herself. She explained that Rarity was planning a surprise too and, since they were going to watch one surprise anyway, they might as well watch Rarity’s surprise at Sweet Apple Acres first. The beaming smile from Pinkie Pie made her knees wobble just a bit.

She didn’t know why her knees turned to jelly when Pinkie smiled. In fact, it occurred to Fluttershy that she didn’t know why Pinkie was able to so easily convince her to spy on their friends. She knew Rarity was fine with it, but she hadn’t learned Applejack was expecting observers until she and Pinkie had neared Rarity’s suggested vantage point. It was… disconcerting how easily Pinkie liberated her of worry.

It probably wasn’t anything worth worrying about.

Right?

At that moment, she heard a giggle from her left. Pinkie was desperately trying to stifle back laughter and, at Fluttershy’s confusion, pointed at a pair of mares with their tails intertwined approaching the clearing. Fluttershy could feel the languor emanating from their slow, casual gait and interlocking features. Though the pair’s distraction on each other persuaded Fluttershy she was unlikely to be spotted, she hastily adjusted the leaves of the apple tree to better obscure her from view.

Rarity sat by the tree at the top of the hill and patted the ground next to her. Applejack sat down, and gazed longingly at Rarity. They chatted for a while, though the wind obfuscated their words.

Fluttershy’s thoughts returned to Pinkie. There were numerous times Pinkie had pushed her ever so slightly to do something she wasn’t comfortable with. She felt… safe around her. It wasn’t that Pinkie wouldn’t ever push too hard, but she usually knew when to stop. Rainbow had told her about Pinkie’s reluctance to put her at the center of a prank. Maybe that was why Pinkie’s suggestion had been so convincing.

No, it was more than that. Maybe it was that Fluttershy was so frequently and thoroughly encouraged by Pinkie. It seemed that Pinkie was the mare most able to convince her to face her fears.

Yeah, that was probably it. And probably nothing more.

It was at this point that Fluttershy noticed the sun was nearly in position. Rarity had already gripped the box in her magic. Applejack was talking about something,

She stole a glance at Pinkie. Then, she looked at Pinkie again, brows furrowed slightly. Pinkie was staring intently at the pair, mouth was slightly agape, and eyebrows raised. Fluttershy supposed she must be surprised that the proposal was happening; Applejack and Rarity had only been dating for about a year and half. But there seemed to be something more on her face. It can wait until later, Fluttershy thought. Right now, I want to watch.

Rarity said something and Applejack smiled and raised an eyebrow at her. It was a quiet, soft smile. Rarity had a similar expression, but it was diluted slightly. Fluttershy noticed her rear hoof was shaking ever so perceptibly. If it wasn’t behind the tree, Applejack probably would’ve noticed it.

And as the light of the sun set, Rarity stood up, put one hind knee on the ground, and pulled the small box from behind her into her forehooves. She opened it. The sun glistened off the contents, and Applejack’s eyes widened. Fluttershy saw Rarity speaking those practiced words.

And then, Applejack began to laugh.

Fluttershy couldn’t believe it. Rarity had just proposed, and Applejack was rolling on the ground laughing.

“Fluttershy,” Pinkie whispered.

Rarity’s face fell. Then, her brows furrowed.

Applejack’s guffaw echoed into the trees. Fluttershy felt tears flow into her eyes.

“Fluttershy.”

Rarity shook her hoof and said something, Fluttershy couldn’t tell what.

Pinkie shook her slightly. “Fluttershy.” she whispered, louder this time.

“W-what is it Pinkie?”

“Do you know what this means?”

“That Applejack and Rarity understood their relationship differently? That it wasn’t as serious for Applejack as it was for Rarity?” Fluttershy averted her gaze. She couldn’t watch the fallout of this.

“No, look.”

“Why?”

“Just look.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath. I can trust Pinkie, she thought. Turning back to the mares in the clearing, Fluttershy noticed Rarity had turned away from the echoing laughter. There was a furious blush on her face and was clearly trying to hold back tears.

Applejack had finally stopped laughing. Wearing a slight smile, she picked her hat back off the ground. Then, she reached into it and removed a small box.

Fluttershy’s eyes flicked back over to Rarity. She had closed the box and put it on the ground next to her.

"No,” Fluttershy whispered.

“Yup.”

Applejack slowly approached Rarity from behind and grasped her shoulder. Rarity looked at her, then turned abruptly.

“No.”

“Yup!”

Applejack slowly walked in front of Rarity, kneeled down, and opened the box.

“Double proposal, Fluttershy.”

Rarity’s face lit up. She began to laugh. They hugged.

Fluttershy couldn’t hold it in anymore. She took a deep breath…

---

Every magically-talented unicorn in Equestria, Twilight herself included, knew that Starswirl’s canonical notation for spells was illegible. Sure, every spell had a uniquely identifiable spell circle and the runes included did imply connections between spells. In fact, many spell circles even helped instruct the reader on casting—if you knew how to read them. But runes that nominally pertained to cooling showed up in spells starting fires and producing sunlight. And of course, what mage could forget the so-called “orphan runes” which showed up willy-nilly in spell circles without any known magical properties.

It was infuriating for mages everywhere. If spell circles were just written properly, in a legible, standardized format, students could focus on learning the magic rather than the derelict and outdated markings of madponies.

It started merely as a hobby. She’d find a new spell, identify the component aspects of it, put the runes into a spell circle, and file it away. When she started, she thought she’d never look at the results in any meaningful capacity.

And then, she read Algebra Galop’s paper on Group Theory. The generalization of additive arithmetic to abstract sets with binary operations perfectly mimicked the way spells were often taught to fillies. If you want to cast a spell to summon a torch, you need to both make some kindling and light it on fire. Do them at the same time, and a torch appears in your grasp. Hypothetically, you could break down every spell to component parts. But, with how fluid and visceral spellcasting tended to be, reverse engineering a spell bordered on the impossible. Ponies rarely tried, let alone succeeded.

On a whim, Twilight tried adding and subtracting some of the spell circles she’d written. Of the results, a few were unrecognizable and incomprehensible. A few were simple spells that most students of magical studies could perform by the end of their fourth year of study. A few were more difficult, and the spell circle suggested a better pedagogy. These revelations might’ve been enough for a minor paper that would circulate the professors of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. But one spell circle was both unfamiliar and castable. She had discovered a brand new spell, something she shared with the Princess, along with the rest of her progress.

This was a grave mistake.

Celestia, ever encouraging, suggested Twilight take it upon herself to develop this system as far as she could. After all, Twilight had come up with the idea and already had a very firm grasp on spellcasting and the linkages between spells. And of course, Celestia had suggested, Twilight could present her preliminary findings at the Canterlot Magical Research Meeting.

Which was in a month.

Of course, adding and subtracting spells meant adding and subtracting runes on circles in various locations. And while some runes had obvious “negatives,” like heat and cold, others were less clear. What, pray tell, was the negative for the grasping rune necessary in telekinetic spells? Perhaps releasing? But there was no “release” rune. Not to mention the issue of orphan runes.

Next came the problem of organizing the circles. If a locomotion rune was included in the upper position of one spell circle and the lower position of another spell circle, how did they interact? Do you keep just one on the circle? If so, which one? If not, how do they change? Certainly positioning was important, there were spells with circles which differed only in the placement of runes.

However, as she worked on adding and subtracting spells and understanding their underlying properties, Twilight began to believe the spells she had idly decided to work with originally had been flukes. The best Twilight could maybe hope for as a preliminary result was a table of rune addition, something almost impossible to isolate. Sure, a handful of runes had “pure” spells, but adding such spells didn’t tell Twilight anything. Maybe the runes canceled out because they were negatives. Or maybe no one had discovered the spell yet. Who knows? Not Twilight, that was for sure.

For now, Twilight was adding and subtracting every spell she could find—ignoring any with orphan runes for the time being—and testing the results. This meant she alternated between writing, learning, and casting. Writing, learning, and casting. Starting at dawn and ending at dusk. This had been her routine for two weeks. So far, she’d determined negatives for five of the few hundred runes. Sure, a couple of new, highly specialized spells had wormed their way out of her computations, but nothing fundamentally groundbreaking. Maybe ten ponies in total would use one of these once in the next three decades. If she was lucky, one of them would use one twice.

Today, however, she was redoubling her efforts. She had skipped breakfast, lunch, and dinner in favor of eating once right before bed. She didn’t have time for pesky trivialities like food. Spike had graciously agreed to run the few errands that needed doing today, though she definitely lied when she said she’d eat the food he’d made while he was out. He’d returned just a few hours prior with groceries in claw and deposited the fresh quills on her desk.

It wasn’t until he’d arrived that Twilight noticed the fatigue. The rote computation and repetitive motions tired her horn, not to mention casting the spell circles. She felt her magic nearing its limit as she worked. Calculating and casting had simply become tedious and wearisome. Beside her stood the stack of parchment of results from today’s efforts. It was nearly sunset and all she had to show for it were just over two dozen computations, only about half of which resulted in a comprehensible spell.

I am going to get something before bed. Maybe if I review my notes soon, I can find a new rune negative. Maybe I could get something to show Celestia.

Suddenly, a sound echoed through the library. It startled Twilight and she slipped from her chair.

When she returned, she could see the inkwell had tipped over.

And now ink was all over her notes.

She noticed Spike walk in from the kitchen in the corner of her eye. “What was that all about?”

Twilight paused. Her eye twitched. “Spike, is there any chance you copied any of these notes I was making.”

“Uh… no. Should I have?”

“No, just wondering.”

They sat in silence for a moment. Then, Twilight began to cry.

---

Three pairs of eyes were on her, staring intently. Probably because she’d just ruined the pair’s romantic moment with an ear-splitting shriek. Probably because they were expecting her to say something to return the moment. Probably because they knew she couldn’t do such a thing and were waiting to see how else she’d ruin the moment.

“Um, sorry. I didn’t mean to be so loud.”

Six eyes stared at her. Applejack and Rarity started laughing. She felt a hoof on her back. She turned to Pinkie and saw a small, soft smile creep across her face.

---

Applejack and Rarity, understandably, wanted some alone time at that point. And so it was that Pinkie and Fluttershy ambled to her cottage. Fluttershy’s head was hung low and her ears folded back into her head.

How could you ruin such a perfect moment? Fluttershy thought. It was going to be so wonderful, a moment between just them. And you ruined it. You broke that moment like you broke that mouse’s foreleg. It’s your fault.

“Can you believe it Fluttershy? A really actually real double proposal!”

“Yeah… it’s wonderful.”

“You’re not still down about ‘ruining’ the proposal are you?” Pinkie’s hooves hung in the air after her air quotes.

“… maybe.”

“Fluttershy,” the last syllable lingered on her tongue. “You know you didn’t ruin anything.”

“But–“

“Rarity even said she was glad we were watching. Nobody would’ve believed her if just she and Applejack had said they had double proposed. It was fantabulous that they got to have someone watch such a beautiful moment. Twilight always says beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And we beheld. So, without us, it would’ve been less beautiful than it was.”

“But–“

“And Applejack wanted me to be there so I could take a picture. And it’s not your fault I completely forgot to take a picture and absolutely let the moment get away from me. I didn’t even tell you I was supposed to take a picture, so how could it possibly be even anywhere close to your fault that I forgot to take the picture.”

“But…” Fluttershy hesitated, expecting Pinkie to cut her off once again. Instead, Pinkie looked at her with a slight frown. “… I… distracted them… when they were in a perfect moment. A moment they’ll never get to experience again.”

“So? Fluttershy, it was a double proposal. I don’t think anyone in Ponyville has even met anyone who had a double proposal. Even if you had made the moment any worse, it was still probably the best proposal anyone in Ponyville will know of.”

“But it could have been so much better.”

“Well, yeah, but everything can always be better. Every vanilla cake can be chocolate and every chocolate cake could be vanilla.” There was a soft smile on her face.

The silence hung in the air for a moment.

Softly, Fluttershy finally decided to speak. “… Thank you Pinkie.”

“There’s nothing to thank me for, silly!”

---

Steam rose up from her freshly baked batch of scones. Angel was taking a nap on the couch nearby, but his presence didn’t brighten the room. She still felt bad about interrupting Applejack and Rarity’s proposal, but it wasn’t as sharp a pain.

It was strange thinking about Pinkie now. There was something below the surface that Fluttershy simply couldn’t place.

At least Rarity and Applejack were doing well; the adoring looks they shared filled Fluttershy’s mind. The sight of each gorging her eyes upon the other brought a bubbling to her stomach. It boiled and roiled as she imagined the longing plastered across their faces.

But that wasn’t right. Applejack and Rarity were getting married. She should be happy for them, celebrating their success. Applejack had been described as “cold” by everypony she had dated for the past two years. Soon after the seventh failed relationship, Applejack confessed her fear of romantic attachment in the wake of her parents’ death. Rarity, on the other hand, was so busy waiting for a grand gesture of confessed love that she never attempted any mundane encounters. She hadn’t been on a second date in a year prior to Applejack asking her out. The troubles they encountered should remind her to rejoice in their accomplishment.

But she wasn’t. Maybe it was because she had a similar problem. It wasn’t that she was waiting for anything per se it was just… well… it wasn’t like she had anyone she even wanted to date.

Yeah, that was it.

Applejack less frequently overworked herself, taking breaks to spend time with Rarity and relying more on her family. Additionally, Applejack helped to reign in some of Rarity’s neuroses. More than once Applejack had been able to convince Rarity to sleep in a bed during a hectic week producing garments for a Canterlot client. They complemented each other well.

She and Pinkie were similar in that regard. While Pinkie was certainly able to embolden Fluttershy, Pinkie seemed to find Fluttershy an anchor.

What an odd parallel. Probably nothing to it.

Suddenly, Fluttershy felt a tap against her leg. Below her stood a bunny, arms crossed and glaring intensely at her.

“I’m sorry Angel, did I wake you?”

Angel shook his head.

“Well, you’ve already eaten today, so I’m not going to give you any more.”

Angel shook his head again.

“That’s not it? What’s going on then? Is somepony hurt?”

Angel wore a disappointed look.

Fluttershy blinked. “No, you wouldn’t be so calm in an emergency like that… sorry. Um… Oh! Did I leave the stove on after dinner or something?”

The bunny slapped his forehead, grumbled to himself, and hopped away.

“Angel?”

The bunny hopped up the stairs, turned to Fluttershy near the top, and waved his arm up the stairs before continuing. Fluttershy elected to follow him. If he wasn’t looking for food, Angel generally had something important to say—even if he usually said it with attitude.

Angel was waiting for her at the bedroom door. Once she ascended the stairs, he pushed the door ajar and hopped inside. Fluttershy opened the door, and saw Angel hanging off the nightstand.

Fluttershy rushed over to Angel. “Oh dear, don’t fall.” She lifted him onto the table. Once he got his bearing and dusted himself off, he then pointed to the framed picture of her and her friends they had taken in spring. In it, Applejack and Rarity had their forelegs draped over each other on the right. Pinkie had grabbed her and Twilight’s heads in a furious chokehold that Fluttershy could still feel on her neck. Rainbow Dash hovered above, obviously stifling a chuckle. Spike sat in front, oblivious to the commotion behind him.

Fluttershy sat in confused silence, to which Angel responded by pointing more furiously.

“Okay… it’s about my friends.”

Angel brought his paws together slowly.

“Some of my friends.”

Angel repeated the action.

“One of my friends.”

Angel started to nod, then stopped. He put his paw to his chin and cocked his head. Then, started to shake his head.

“…Two of my friends?”

Angel nodded slowly.

“Okay… which two?”

Angel pointed at Pinkie Pie’s visage in the portrait.

“So one of them is Pinkie Pie?”

Angel nodded.

“… And the other?”

Angel crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows with a smirk; Fluttershy stared blankly.

“Oh.” Fluttershy blushed. “Oh. Oh no Angel. I don’t know what made you think that.”

Angel rolled his eyes and glared at Fluttershy.

“Don’t look at me like that. I was not thinking about her when you interrupted me. I-I was thinking about Rarity and Applejack. Yeah, they’re getting married you know. They both proposed to each other at the same time. And I nearly ruined it. Pinkie got me to stop beating myself up about it. It’s like she knows exactly what to say to silence that abusive voice in my head. I—”

Fluttershy grew quiet. Angel wore a small smirk.

“Okay, so I was. That doesn’t mean I have feelings for her.”

Angel’s smirk grew wider.

“You implied that.”

There was a knock at the front door. Fluttershy turned towards the bedroom door; she turned back to Angel and said, “We’ll talk about this later.”

Fluttershy glided down the stairs and to the door. Opening it, she saw Spike, nervously wringing his hands in the stark light cast from her open door against the dark of the night.

“Spike? Is something wrong?”

“Yeah, Twilight is having a bit of a breakdown. I already got Pinkie to come over and try and cheer her up, but she thought you might be more helpful right now.”

Fluttershy felt Angel hop on her back. “Is she alright? Has something happened?”

“I don’t know, I think so? I couldn’t get her to tell me anything specific, though.”

“Oh dear.” Fluttershy covered her mouth and turned to Angel. “I’m going out, make sure to get to bed soon okay?”

Angel shook his head and patted her back.

“Angel, you have to get to bed soon. I won’t be gone long.”

Angel shook his head again.

“Oh alright, you can come tonight. I don’t know why you want to come along though.”

Spike led the way back to the Golden Oaks Library. His soft jog had Fluttershy trotting along behind. “She was working on some spell research all day,” he said. “It was some series of complicated calculations that I couldn’t understand. From what she was talking about, I’m not even sure she fully understood what she was doing. Maybe I should’ve copied them down, but she had me go out for groceries before and I was already tired when I got back. And, of course, she didn’t eat enough today either. She told me she was going to, but I found her untouched plate of food. I knew that if she didn’t eat, something would happen and she’d get like this.” Spike raised his arms abruptly. “She knows that if she doesn’t eat she’s more prone to breakdowns like this.”

Spike sighed. “I guess it doesn’t matter. I got her some food, but it didn’t seem to help at all.”

“Um, Spike… What happened that caused her breakdown?”

“Oh, she spilt some ink on her calculations. I think she couldn’t remember how to get the calculations she needed to get to or something.”

“Oh my.”

“I’m worried is all. It’s been… a while since it’s been this bad.”

Spike opened the door to the library. Inside at one of the desks, Twilight was bawling over some blackened pages, and had black stains across her face and forelegs. Pinkie was sitting on a chair beside her, hugging her in a tight embrace. Pinkie’s ears perked up as the door creaked closed and looked up from Twilight; she waved to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy waved back and walked towards Twilight. About halfway to her, she felt the weight on her back alleviate. As she reached Twilight, she put a hoof on her friend’s back. “There, there, it’s alright. You can do this.”

"No, no I can’t Fluttershy.” Twilight said through sobs “I-I’ve got a month to finish something for this project and I can’t even f-find anything basic.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to, you’ve got a whole month.”

“I’ve been working on it for two weeks, Fluttershy. If I was going to find anything, I’d have found s-something by now.”

“Have you talked to Celestia about this?”

Twilight sniffled. “…no…”

“Why not? It sounds like you’re stressing about this quite a bit. Maybe she could help you through it.”

“B-because I want her to see that I can do this project! She’s trusting me with this, and how can I t-tell her I can’t do it?”

“You won’t be telling her you can’t do it. You’re telling her you need more time to work on it. That’s all.”

“B-but she’s suggested I can accomplish something this in time and I can’t,” Twilight cried.

“And that’s okay. Celestia didn’t know how difficult this project is going to be. I’m sure she just assumed this would be a lot easier and simpler than it is. If you talk to her about it, it will be fine.”

“I guess…” Twilight sniffled.

They sat in silence for a moment.

“…Thanks for coming tonight. Sorry I’ve been so distraught and despondent.”

“That’s alright Twilight,” Pinkie crowed. “We’ve got your back when you need us. Are you feeling better?” As she said this, Pinkie pulled Twilight into another tight hug.

“Much,” Twilight said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Fluttershy smiled softly. Then, she felt a gentle thud against her hindleg. Looking down, she saw Angel glaring at her. He pointed toward Twilight and Pinkie.

Fluttershy turned back to Twilight and Pinkie. “It’s no trouble at all. I’m sure you would be there for us if we needed you.”

“You know,” Twilight wiped the tears from her eyes, “if I had just gotten to work on it when I spilled the ink, I might’ve been able to salvage most of the calculations. Maybe I could get started on it now. If I did, I might be able to finish by morn—”

“Oh no you don’t.” At that moment, Spike entered the room with four bowls of flower stir fry over hay balanced on a large serving plate. “I don’t want to wake up to you having another break down because you spilt ink again.”

“Oh, all right Spike,” Twilight replied. “I’ll wait until tomorrow to start again.” Everyone laughed.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better, Twilight,” Spike said.

“Me too,” Twilight answered.

Fluttershy felt pressure on her hindleg again. She scooped angel up and onto her back.

---

Fluttershy, the girls, and Spike had spent some time just chatting before she and Pinkie decided it was time to go. Twilight—at Spike’s prodding—had decided it was time for bed herself and wished the girls a goodnight. Now, Fluttershy and Pinkie were walking towards Sugarcube Corner, and Angel was rapidly thumping on her back.

“Thanks for coming when Spike asked for you, Fluttershy. I didn’t think I was going to be able to soothe her myself.”

“Oh, I’m sure you would’ve been able to do it, Pinkie. You’re good at talking to people; much better than I am.”

“No I’m not!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I make ponies laugh, which is sometimes what people need. But you can convince people to be comfortable with themselves, to show themselves kindness,” Pinkie said with a smile. As Fluttershy noticed the door of Sugarcube Corner, she noticed Pinkie’s ears subtly droop. “I’m no good at that at all.”

“…Well… you’re able to do that for me…” The thumping continued.

“Really?” Pinkie asked as her eyes brightened, her ears raised, and the smile grew on her face.

“Yeah,” Fluttershy whispered, "you did earlier today on the way back from Sweet Apple Acres."

“Oh Fluttershy!” Pinkie gripped her neck with both forelegs. She felt a hop off her back. “You don’t even know how happy that makes me.”

Fluttershy felt herself blush. The thumping intensified. Oh dear.

“…I-I’m glad Pinkie…”

Pinkie let her go and let out a light chuckle. “Sorry,” she said, “got a little carried away there.”

“That’s okay… I don’t mind.”

“… You’d tell me if you did mind, right?”

“Yes, yes I would.”

“Good. Good.” Pinkie looked at the door. “Anyway, I should probably get to bed. Thanks for… for walking home with me,” Pinkie said quickly.

“Anytime.” Fluttershy smiled softly and waved. She felt harder thumping on her back.

“Goodnight.” Pinkie waved back.

“Goodnight.”

Pinkie entered Sugarcube Corner and closed the door. Fluttershy stared at the door for a few seconds, feeling the dull thud on her back increase in intensity. She willed the door to open once more. After staring for a few moments, she turned towards home.

As she did, she saw Angel staring at her from the ground. He had his forepaws crossed and glared at her. The thumping continued.

“You were right Angel,” Fluttershy whispered. “I do have a crush on Pinkie.”

Author's Note:

Algebra Galop is a reference to Évariste Galois, who--while not actually the person who conceptualized groups--is one of the major founders of group theory and characterized many basic and important groups.

Groups are a math thing. No, I will not explain.