Calm

Pinkie galloped, or more accurately hopped, through ponyville, admiring the recently fallen snow. She happily listened to the sound it made every time she hit the ground, almost like the sound of stepping on leaves during autumn.

Pinkie continued on her way, greeting ponies, playing with snow, and all around enjoying the playful atmosphere of the season. The first day of winter was always one of the most fun days, since ponies were excited about the change, and eager for activities like, snowball fights, sledding, and all sorts of things you just couldn't do in other seasons.

However, traditionally after a week or two, everypony would begin spending more time inside to avoid the cold, after the initial excitement wore off. At least until Hearthswarming.

As she got a bit closer to the edge of town, she came across something interesting. She noticed one her her friends, Fluttershy, standing in a large open field of snow. Pinkie was slightly concerned since Fluttershy seemed to be entirely alone in the field. Not even any animals were nearby.

Wanting to make sure nothing was wrong, Pinkie began walking, not hopping, over to her friend, being careful to stay quiet so she wouldn't scare the pegasus. Pinkie couldn't help but notice how there were no hoofprints aside from her own, which was probably because Fluttershy just flew over the snow instead of walking through it.

Once Pinkie got a little closer, Fluttershy turned to see who was approaching. Her face showed concern at first, although that went away once she realized who it was, "Oh hello Pinkie. It's good to see you."

Pinkie smiled, "It's good to see you too Flutters! Isn't all this snow great?!"

"Um... Yes, I suppose it is."

Pinkie tilted her head, "Hey uh, is something wrong?"

"What? No everything is ok. why would something be wrong?"

"Well uh... You're just standing alone in the middle of a field doing nothing."

Fluttershy smiled, "Oh no no, don't worry, I'm having fun actually."

Pinkie didn't respond for a moment. She slowly looked around, scanning their surroundings. The large area was certainly pretty, but fun? That didn't seem right. Pinkie looked back and forth a few times, not seeing anything fun producing, then gave Fluttershy a confused look, "Uhh, fun?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"But... There's not even anything out here! There's nothing to do, nopony to talk to, just a bunch of snow!" Pinkie yelled, picking up a bit of the previously mentioned snow, and taking a bite out of it.

Fluttershy giggled a bit at that, "Well yes but... That's kind of why it's fun."

Pinkie blinked, reminding silently for several seconds, before responding only with, "Huh?"

"Y'know... I'm just, enjoying the silence."

Pinkie only stared ahead in confusion.

"Don't you ever just... Sit down and, relax? With no loud noises, or anything like that?"

Pinkie looked up and thought about that. Aside from sleeping, did she ever do anything like that? "Nope. Not that I can remember. Isn't it kinda... Boring?"

"Well maybe it could be but... Isn't partying everyday kind of, tiring?"

Pinkie considered that as well. Now that she thought about it, there were certainly some days when the parties didn't fill her with the same joy as they usually did. When she felt like all she wanted to do was go to bed early.

"But... But partying is my cutie mark!" Pinkie shouted, laying her head down and raising her flank into the air for emphasis.

Fluttershy giggled once again, "I know, and your excellent at throwing them, but well, my cutie mark is taking care of animals and, do you see any animals around here?"

Pinkie, not understand what a rhetorical question was, looked around once again, searching the area for any animals, "Uhhhh... No?"

"That's right, and it's not like I take them with me everywhere I go every single day."

"I guess that's true..."

"Just because you have a cutie mark for something doesn't mean you should only do that all the time."

Pinkie frowned a bit. Fluttershy's words brought up some other thoughts as well. Similar to how partying wasn't always fun, keeping up her upbeat, happy personality wasn't always genuine either. There has been days when her mane wanted to deflate but she forced herself to smile anyway. Looking around one more time, she began wondering if there was something to this whole, enjoying silence idea, "Could I... Could i join you?"

"Oh, um... Of course you can," Fluttershy responded hesitantly. It wasn't that she didn't want Pinkie to stay, she was just surprised at Pinkie even showing interest, and not just brushing the idea off.

Pinkie sat down next to Fluttershy, feeling a bit unsure about what exactly was supposed to happen. Should she be sitting a certain way? Breathing a certain way? Thinking a certain way? Maybe she wasn't even capable of this in the first place.

Fluttershy noticed Pinkie's discomfort, and placed a hoof on her shoulder, "Try to just, not think about anything."

Pinkie nodded and did that. At first it felt odd, not having something to do, and not even talking about anything. But after a little while... She noticed something. The calm, quietness of the whole area, the sound of the very light wind, mixed with the sounds of her own breathing, as well as her friends breathing was... Almost comforting. Fluttershy's presence itself had that same effect. There was no loud music, or games, or anything that Pinkie would usually be spending her time on, and for once, Pinkie was okay with that. She closed her eyes, taking in more of the almost complete silence, and laid down on her stomach, a bit sprawled out. "This is fun," the earth pony said a bit tiredly.

Fluttershy watched Pinkie and giggled once again. She noticed that she had giggled quite a bit since Pinkie got here. She always found Pinkie to be a bit difficult to spend time with one and one, and even a little scary sometimes. She even thought that Pinkie didn't like her for a while when they first met. But lately that had changed, and she began noticing that even when she wasn't trying to, Pinkie always managed to cause laughter when she was around. Just her little mannerisms, or silly noises always made Fluttershy giggle.

Fluttershy put her wing around Pinkie and laid on her stomach as well, although not with her arms and legs out like her friend.

"I'm really glad you showed up Pinkie."

"Me too."

The End.

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