“More Than Cupcakes: A Love Story in Five Drabbles”
Act I: Unquestioned
No one questions it. No one questions just why it is, when they need someone to wrangle Pinkie Pie, they all immediately expect Rainbow Dash to be the pony to do it. No one questions just why Pinkie will shut up when Rainbow yells her name in that particular tone of voice, when the excitable pink mare won’t for anypony else. No one questions why Rainbow Dash seems able to tolerate Pinkie Pie’s Pinkieness more than any other pony in town.
No one really questions it, as it all seems as right and as natural as the sun rising in the east--and Pinkie and Dash probably question it least of all.
Act II: Lies of Omission
“Somepony tell the truth!” Applejack’s voice rings out, loud and strong, through the town square. Dead silence follows. “Somepony! Anypony!”
I love her. The words pop into her mind almost immediately, and she has to bite down to keep them from tripping their way out of her mouth.
“Yesterday I told Mrs. Cake that I ate two corn cakes,” is what she says instead. “But I really ate three.”
It frightens her, this love she feels. And it frightens her that she doesn’t quite understand just why it scares her so.
“Okay, six!” She can feel sweat trickle down her face. “I ate six corn cakes!”
Because she is stupidly, hopelessly, recklessly in love with Rainbow Dash.
“Make it stop! Oh, make it stop!”
Act III: Inevitable
It was inevitable, really. Inevitable that the Element of Laughter wouldn’t be able to take very much seriously, not even a romantic relationship. And just as inevitable that the Element of Loyalty couldn’t help but take a romantic relationship all too seriously.
It was inevitable, but still, Twilight hadn’t seen it coming. She’s not sure what she would have done differently, even if she had, though. Because that was the thing about inevitability--there wasn’t anything you could do to stop it. That’s what made it inevitable.
She should have stopped it anyway.
Act IV: More Than Cupcakes
It was forever remembered as the night that Ponyville exploded. After endless days of gloomily overcast weather came a night that was as clear as cold, clean spring water. And on that night, just as the sleepy town began to settle down for the evening, the entire heavens erupted into a thousand sparkling colors.
“Fireworks,” said somepony in an awed tone, as the villagers gathered in the square to watch the unexpected show.
Slowly but surely, the fireworks spelled out letters, then whole words, as they burst in the air:
Rainbow Dash
I’m so sorry
I love you
I love you more than cupcakes
Down below, one of the pegasi in the assembled crowd began to shake her head at the sight. But there were tears in her eyes and a tiny smile on her lips.
Act V: Ebb and Flow
They ebb and flow like the tides, sometimes spending days on end solely in one another’s company, sometimes going for nearly a week without seeing each other at all. But just as water always flows towards the sea, they always come back to one another, drawn together by forces neither of them fully comprehend.
Laughter and Loyalty. It doesn’t make sense. They don’t need one another in the way that Honesty needs Kindness to temper its blunt edges, or how Magic needs Generosity to prevent it from giving in to dark temptations. They don’t make any sense at all, really.
So they’ve had to create their own kind of sense--and while nopony else seems to understand, somehow it works for them. It’s worked for decades now, and they have no reason to think it won’t work forever.
“Foreveeeeeeeeer!”
“You are so random.”
---
Author's Notes: If you do a word count for these, you'll see that they're not drabbles in the technical sense of the term. But they're the closest I've ever gotten to writing a proper drabble, so what the hey, I'm calling 'em drabbles.
Nice one man.
FIRST
needs because sometimes she goes a little and needs to be loyal to her. needs to keep her grounded and remember what's really important.
ahhhh~
Very nice, I especially enjoyed the imagining of Pinkie's thoughts in Lies of Omission, and her apology to Rainbow made me laugh
Thanks, y'all!
175515
I'd never thought of Pinkie keeping Rainbow grounded (literally too! ha, I slay myself ...), but now that I do, I like the idea. A lot. Especially because you wouldn't think of Pinkie as a character being capable of grounding ANYONE ... but I do think she could with Rainbow.
And I can definitely see the two of them needing one another. I was just playing on the idea of their elements and how they may or may not compliment one another--I kept trying to find some big symbolic way to relate Laughter to Loyalty (like one could with Honesty and Kindness, or Honesty and Generosity), and I kept coming up blank. So that ended up being what I went with--there is no symbolic connection, and the two of them say, "Hey, we're Pinkie and Rainbow, we don't HAVE to make symbolic sense! We do what we want!"
176925
Yay, Angel and Fluttershy! My Beloved Spouse will be thrilled, as the spouse is deeply interested in the relationship between those two.
Agree with your assessment. Dash gets bored easily but isn't anti-dressing-up per se, while AJ actively rejects all the "frou frou." For some reason, and I am not at all sure why, I could see Rainbow wanting to dress up for Twilight most of all.
Also, saw your post on my shipping blog post but can't reply there, so will do so here: Devastating analysis, agree with all of it. Though I really want someone to be able to make Apple Pie work, as that is CLEARLY the best ship name.
177863
Thanks! Glad to hear Pinkie's apology amused.
178010
Yeah, wait til you see me carry on about my OTP. Then you'll think I have advance syphilis.
178010
"Also, saw your post on my shipping blog post but can't reply there, so will do so here..."
Thanks, though is there any reason why you're unable to do so? Something about the site that I'm not familiar with?
...My dear god...this just keeps getting better and better! (Except for the death ones...) One of my favorites so far. Keep up the most excellent work!
178095
I'm not sure! I've never been able to do so, though I've tried (it says my posts go through, but they never show up), so I've left replies on my blog posts as an unsigned-in guest--but now I can't, as anonymous comments have been disabled.
At any rate, I don't believe it's a site-wide issue. I've seen other Fimfiction users able to post comments on their own blog entries. As far as I can tell, it's just me with this problem.
178298
I am prooooooobably done killing off ponies. Probably. Most likely. Perhaps.
180150 You still have 10 funeral credits, I pledge to not attempt to break the laws of reality to slay you in fiery vengeance for making my eyes leak. Pinkie Pie Swear.
Wow, this is a great compilation of short stories! Need MOAR insulin!
I really like the thought that Rainbow Dash would take a relationship too seriously based on her being the element of loyalty. More often than not you'll see the exact opposite, and this new perspective is really refreshing.
I've been sneaking in these short stories of yours in my little pockets of free time and I just have to say that each and every one of these has been amazing regardless of length or genre. I was planning on going back and commenting after I'd finished them all, but I couldn't resist commenting on this one right now. I look forward to the last three that I have left.
I actually love the fact that the only connection Loyalty and Laughter have is aliteration. It seems to mean more when there is no outside reason.
I'm sorry I'm so late on reading these.
I just wanna say that laughter and loyalty do need each other. If loyalty did not have laughter it would get to strict and cruel, and if laughter did not have loyalty; laughter would forget it's responsibilities and not listen to anything a friend had to say.