Darling and Date

by Silk Rose

Chapter 3: Dressmaking and Determination

Pinkie Pie carefully placed the cake into the over, closing the door. She set the timer, then started cleaning up the kitchen.

I just know Rarity will love this cake, she thought excitedly to herself.

Oh, and I hope she likes the dress.

This date is going to be amazing, she thought.

Rarity gave me a gift to show me how much she cares, now it's time for me to give her the best date ever.

She smiled as she cleaned, excited to continue working on her date for the mare she loved.

Today I need to finish this cake, make Rarity's dress with Fluttershy, and teach Rainbow to make pancakes.

The cake is in the oven, so as long as I don't get distracted we're good.

Fluttershy will be here sometime, hopefully after Rainbow.

Rainbow should be here soon. Since I'm teaching her in the kitchen, I'll be here to hear the timer go off.

After the cake is done and cooled down, I'll add a special design to it.

I have a few ideas for the dress, I should be able to talk to Fluttershy about them.

I'll start Rainbow with a simple pancake mix, after that, we can switch to homemade.

She finished cleaning, looked around the room for anything she missed, not seeing anything, she trotted into the front of the establishment.

She was about to head upstairs to her room when she heard the door open, looking over she saw an exhausted looking Fluttershy, breathing heavy.

Oh, it's Fluttershy.

Fluttershy recovered and said, "Pinkie, I'm here to make the dress, I carried a ponnequin from Rarity's, it's outside. Can you carry it to your room? Those things are surprisingly heavy."

"Sure," Pinkie said as she headed outside, spotting the ponnequin and a large bag with fabric inside.

Pinkie took the bag in her mouth and did her best to carry the ponnequin inside and upstairs to her room.

She's right, this thing is heavy.

Once upstairs, Fluttershy opened Pinkie's bedroom door for her and closed it behind herself once Pinkie had made it inside.

Pinkie sat the ponnequin down in the center of her room, then set the bag of fabric beside it.

Fluttershy looked at Pinkie and said, "I may have told Rarity the dress was for her… but I only told her it was from me, she will be surprised when you give it to her for the date."

"Oh," Pinkie replied. "That's okay."

"I didn't know how else to get the ponnequin and the right fabric colors to match her colors."

Pinkie reassured her. "That was a good idea."

"Thank you."

"Well, let's see what we have to work with," Pinkie said before taking the big bag and dumping the fabric over her bed.

Bolts of fabric flew from the bag, landing on every corner of her bedspread. There were many colors and more than one shade of some colors.

Pinkie pointed to each one as she said its color. "White, blue, pink, purple, light blue, green, light pink."

Pinkie looked inside the bag, finding dozens of differently colored gemstones. "There's more in here," she said as she dumped them in the center of her bed.

"Looks like we have a lot to work with," Fluttershy said.

"We sure do," Pinkie said before looking over the pile of dress ingredients splayed out on her bed. "Rarity made my dress pink, should we make her dress white?" Pinkie asked, picking up the white bolt of fabric.

"That sounds good."

Pinkie brought the bolt of fabric and gave it to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy began by unrolling a few lengths of fabric. "Hold this," she said, giving the end of the fabric to Pinkie.

Pinkie took it between her hooves before Fluttershy got some scissors and cut the fabric at the bolt end.

Fluttershy placed the cut fabric over the ponnequin, centering it on its back.

Pinkie looked at Fluttershy. "How do you make a dress?"

"I don't know, all we can do is think it through. I know we made Rarity's dress for the Gala, but that was already designed, now we have to design and make the dress."

"Yea, did you have any ideas in mind?"

"We should try to use colors that go well with Rarity's appearance, Rarity already did that by picking the colors of the fabric."

"That's good."

"Do you have some safety pins? I need to hold this fabric in place."

"Yes, I'll be right back" Pinkie said before leaving the room.

Going into her upstairs bathroom, she opened a drawer on a cabinet and found them, she took as many as she could carry and returned to Fluttershy.

"Here you go," Pinkie said after she laid them down in front of Fluttershy.

"Thanks," Fluttershy said before she picked one up in her mouth. She pinned it in the fabric, holding the front two sides together at the chest of the ponnequin.

"Do you think we should put gems on it?"

"Maybe, Rarity did include them in the bag."

A few seconds later, Fluttershy asked, "how long do you want the dress to be? Do you want it short or do you want it long?"

"Let's make it long, more regal like, I think."

"Okay, I need you to hold up the skirt, so I can cut it at the right length."

"Okay," Pinkie said as she lifted the skirt in her hooves, spreading it out behind the ponnequin.

Fluttershy carefully went around in a circle, cutting the fabric at the right length. After the cut was over, Pinkie let the fabric hang.

Taking a step back, both mares looked at the newly cut skirt.

Fluttershy said, "I think it looks good, the cut wasn't perfect, but we should be able to fix it."

Pinkie said, "Yea, I think it looks good too."

"Do you have any ideas for the dress?"

Pinkie took a moment to look at the current state of the dress.

We haven't done much so far, what would be good to do next?

I like the flowing skirt, maybe we should bring more attention to it?

Pinkie said, "Let's make the skirt pop somehow."

Fluttershy thought for a second before suggesting, "Like an edge trim?"

"Yea, let's make it purple to match her mane," Pinkie said ecstatically.

"Okay," Fluttershy said before she went and picked up the purple bolt of fabric.

She unwound a single fold from the bolt. "How thick do you want the trim?" Fluttershy asked.

Pinkie imagined the trim on the dress, hmm. She held her hoof up to her imagination and said, "About half my hoof."

"Okay," Fluttershy said as she began to cut the fabric to length.

Fluttershy held the purple strip up to the skirt, aligning it. "Can you hold this?"

Pinkie held it as Fluttershy pinned it with a safety pin.

"Every time I add a pin, move a few inches along, and I'll pin it again," Fluttershy explained.

They worked together slowly getting the purple trim held in place, occasionally stopping to cut more purple fabric.

"There," Fluttershy said as they finished. "Now it's held in place, we can sew it on."

Fluttershy looked at Pinkie. "Do you have a sewing needle and thread?"

Pinkie shook her head before she thought, maybe Rarity sent some.

Going over to the bag Rarity had sent, she looked inside, finding exactly what she needed. A small pouch, pulling it out she opened it, finding several sewing needles and spools of thread.

"Here you go," Pinkie said with a smile, giving the pouch to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy began sewing the purple trim to the skirt, slowly, taking her time.

Pinkie remembered the cake, oh, I should go check on it.

"Do you need me?" Pinkie asked. "I need to go check the cake I have in the oven, its for the date."

Fluttershy answered, "Not right now, you can go."

"Thank you," Pinkie said, gently giving her a hug, trying not to disturb her.

"You're welcome," Fluttershy said with a smile.

With that, Pinkie trotted out of the room, making her way downstairs.

She turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs and sees Rainbow walking towards her.

"Hi Pinkie, I'm here to learn how to make pancakes," Rainbow said.

I guess I can do two things at once.

"Okay, let's go to the kitchen," Pinkie said before leading Rainbow to the kitchen.

Pinkie checked the timer, still a while until the cake is ready.

Pinkie got out a box of pancake mix and a big bowl, and two of everything they needed: frying pan, mixing bowl, various measuring cups, whisk, plate, and spatula.

Pinkie turned to Rainbow. "We are going to start with making pancakes from pancake mix, this will help you learn the basics."

"Okay."

"After we are good with these, we will move onto homemade pancakes."

"Okay, I'm excited to learn."

"I will make pancakes right beside you, so you can watch and ask questions."

"Sounds good."

Pinkie got out a stick of butter from the fridge and two butter knives from a drawer.

Pinkie instructed, "Open the pancake mix and pour a decent amount into that big bowl," as she pointed to the bowl.

Rainbow did as instructed. "Is that good?"

"Yes," Pinkie said. "Now take a one cup measuring cup and put two cups of pancake mix into your mixing bowl."

Rainbow did as she was told before Pinkie also did it.

"Okay, now add one and a half cups of water," Pinkie said.

Rainbow does as instructed. "Now we stir it, right?"

"Yes, good eye," Pinkie said as she added her water.

They both picked up their whisks and started to stir, Rainbow watched Pinkie closely, making sure she was stirring correctly.

After Pinkie stopped stirring, Rainbow stopped too.

Pinkie looked at Rainbow's mixed batter. "Looks good."

"Now what?" Rainbow asked.

"Take your pan, and place it on the stove, and place your plate next to the stove."

Rainbow did so in step with Pinkie.

"Now, we are going to turn the stove on," Pinkie said as she turned on her burner to the four setting.

Rainbow followed suit. "How long do we wait to pour the batter?"

"A few minutes, but before we place in the batter we want to add some butter to the pan, to keep it from sticking," Pinkie explained.

Rainbow looked at the butter. "How much do we add?"

"One tablespoon, it's marked on the side," Pinkie said before cutting off said amount from the stick of butter.

Rainbow copied her.

After waiting until the pans were hot, Pinkie took the wrapping off her butter and placed it in the center of the pan.

The butter in Pinkie's pan started to sizzle as Rainbow unwrapped her butter before putting it in her pan.

Pinkie used her butter knife to spread the butter around the pan, Rainbow following suit.

"Now pour in the batter, the amount you pour in makes them bigger or smaller," Pinkie said before picking up her mixing bowl.

Pinkie waited for Rainbow to be ready to pour, once ready, they poured in the same amount, Rainbow stopping on Pinkie's queue. "That's good."

Pinkie said, "Now, we let them cook, depending on the stove, it can take different amounts of time, for this one we wait ninety seconds for the first half and sixty seconds for the second half."

"Okay."

Pinkie picked up her spatula, Rainbow mimicking her.

About ninety seconds later, Pinkie flipped her pancake. Rainbow watched and then flipped her own, almost dropping it in the process.

"You're doing good," Pinkie said.

"Thanks."

Sixty seconds later, Pinkie picked up her pancake and laid it on her plate, Rainbow doing the same.

"You did it!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.

"How'd it turn out?"

Pinkie took a closer look at Rainbow's pancake. "It definitely is a beginner pancake, but a good beginner pancake at that."

"Cool."

"Let's make a few more."

"Sounds good."

With that, they both made three more pancakes, making a total of four each.

Pinkie noticed Rainbow's quality going up somewhat with each one Rainbow made. "You're getting better."

"Awesome."

"Why don't you make four more while I'm gone, I need to go upstairs for a bit."

"Okay," Rainbow said, as she started on the next pancake.

Pinkie checked the timer on the cake and went upstairs to work with Fluttershy.

The timer's still looking good.

Pinkie closed the door and saw Fluttershy sitting in front of the dress. "I'm back."

"Welcome back," Fluttershy said.

"How's the dress going?"

"Good, I finished the trim, now I'm trying to think of what to do next."

Pinkie looked at the dress. It looks good so far, the purple makes it pop.

"Got any ideas so far?" Pinkie asked, looking back at Fluttershy.

"I was thinking maybe we should add some sleeves to the front legs."

"That sounds good."

"How long should they be?"

Pinkie imagined how different length sleeves would look on Rarity.

Short ones would look good, but maybe not as fancy.

Medium ones just don't feel right, not for this dress anyway.

Long ones feel better, maybe better than short?

"Long, but maybe short, what do you think?" Pinkie asked.

Fluttershy thought for a second before she said, "I think either would work, so long it is?"

"Sure."

Fluttershy unrolled another length of the white fabric, cutting two rectangles from it.

"Come hold this," Fluttershy instructed.

Pinkie walked to the ponnequin and held the sleeve on one of the front legs. "This good?"

"Yes," Fluttershy said as she pinned it to the main fabric of the dress.

Fluttershy slowly pinned the sleeve together, going from top to bottom, making sure it had equal circumference all the way down.

"Okay, now I want you to sew it," Fluttershy stated.

"Me?" Pinkie asked.

"Yes, it will mean a lot more to her if you put your love into it, don't you think?"

"You're right, so I'm learning how to sew?"

"Yes."

Looks like Rainbow isn't the only one learning something today.

"We're going to use white thread, so it will be harder to see the seems," Fluttershy explained.

"Okay."

"Take this," Fluttershy said as she gave Pinkie a needle with white thread already on it.

Pinkie took it between her hooves.

Fluttershy explained, "To sew, you need to push the needle through the two layers and back out, over and over, moving a little bit with each puncture."

"How do you hold the fabric, so it doesn't move?"

"Since I'm here, I'll just hold the fabric for you, but if you're by yourself you can hold it with your face, by pushing against it, or sometimes I've bitten the fabric and stuck it straight through."

"Okay," Pinkie said as she moved the needle up to the fabric, she waited for Fluttershy to take the fabric in her hooves, holding it taut, so she could pierce it.

Pinkie applied pressure as she felt the needle puncture both layers.

"Good, now bring it back through, turn the need and apply pressure so you can see where it's coming back out at," Fluttershy said.

Pinkie did as instructed, rotating the needle, so it was flat with the fabric, almost losing grip as she saw the imprint of the needle. She pulled more and pressed down, seeing the need come back through.

"I did it!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.

"You're doing great, now just pull it all the way, you want the knot at the end of the thread to be up against the fabric."

Pinkie pulled it tight and placed the needle against the dress again, a tiny bit farther around the circle of where the sleeve met the dress proper. She looked to Fluttershy for approval.

"Yes, there is good," Fluttershy said.

Pinkie punctured the dress again, then rotated the needle before she brought it back through, feeling more confident.

This isn't so hard, especially with Fluttershy helping.

Pinkie moved to the next spot as they talked while working.

"You're getting the hang of this quickly," Fluttershy said proudly.

"Love is a good motivator, and it's fun!"

"It sure is."

"Do you think Rarity is going to like the dress?"

"I think she will."

"What if we make a bad dress?"

"I think we will make a good dress."

"Me too, I'm just worried, I'm trying to make everything be perfect."

"That's good, but I don't think you should worry, I think you're doing a fantastic job."

"Thanks," Pinkie said as she missed, pushing the needle through in the wrong spot. "Sorry…"

"It's okay, just pull it out and continue from where it should be."

"After it's sewed to the dress, are we going to sew the sleeves together?"

"Yes, then we will do the second sleeve."

"Okay," Pinkie said as she got to the end of the circle, and asked, "What do we do at the end?"

"We tie the thread in a knot."

"How?"

"Like this," Fluttershy said as she took the needle, slowly demonstrating. She stuck the needle between the fabric and the thread at the start, looping it through before tying it in a knot. She cut the remaining thread with the scissors.

"Okay."

"You can finish this sleeve, and I'll do the other one, so you can take a break."

"Sounds good," Pinkie said as she moved to get at the sleeve better.

Fluttershy held the fabric while Pinkie sewed.

After this sleeve, I should go check the cake.

Rainbow has probably finished making the rest of those pancakes by now.

"Do you think you could bring up some food after you finish this sleeve?" Fluttershy asked.

"Are you okay with pancakes? I know you ate them yesterday, but I was planning on making some when I went down to check the cake again."

"Oh, that's fine, I love your pancakes."

"Okay."

I wonder if Rainbow's pancakes would be good to give her.

Pinkie got to the end of the sleeve, and attempted to tie the thread herself, taking it slowly she was able to tie it off and Fluttershy cut the thread for her.

"You did a great job," Fluttershy complimented.

"Thanks to you," Pinkie said as she gave Fluttershy a big hug.

Fluttershy hugged back. "You're welcome."

After the hug was over, Pinkie stood up. "I'll be back with those pancakes."

"Okay, thank you."

Pinkie walked out of her room, as she closed the door, she heard the distinct sound of her oven timer going off.

She ran down the stairs to try to remove the cake as soon as possible.

Hopefully, it just started going off and isn't burnt.

Turning the corner at speed, she saw Rainbow holding the cake tray in her mouth. She was running too fast, she tried to stop it in time, but it was too late. She ran into Rainbow, causing the cake to fall to the floor, the pan landing upside down.

"No," Pinkie said in a saddened tone.

Both ponies just sat there in silence before Rainbow spoke up, "I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault, I was the one running too fast," Pinkie said before she sat down in a sad state.

They sat in silence again for a bit before Pinkie said, "that cake was supposed to show Rarity how much I love her," before tears started falling from her eyes.

Rainbow leaned down and hugged Pinkie, who hugged back.

Rainbow said, "That cake isn't going to do that, you are."

Pinkie said, "What do you mean?"

Rainbow held Pinkie tight. "You're going to show her how much you love her, you already are. Look at how much effort you are putting into this date, even without that cake, Rarity will know. She already knows, and tomorrow will just be more proof."

"She does?"

"Yes, Pinkie," Rainbow said before nuzzling Pinkie. "Yesterday, when I was talking to her alone, she was worried that she didn't know how to show you her love, besides giving you that dress."

"I know she loves me, she even gave me a kiss when you two came into the kitchen."

"I told her to give you that kiss. When I woke you up, you muttered about wanting a kiss from Rarity, so I relayed the information."

"Oh, thank you," Pinkie said, holding Rainbow tighter.

"You're welcome, I asked her to talk to you about it, you two need to love each other in ways the other wants to be loved in."

"That's really good advice," Pinkie said as she smiled. "Didn't expect love advice from you, but it's welcome," Pinkie said sheepishly.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking in the process of dealing with my feelings for Fluttershy, it's been difficult to figure out these new emotions, but I think it's made me more empathetic."

"That's good."

"When I was talking to Rarity yesterday, she was also surprised at my words. I almost told her about my feelings for Fluttershy, but I didn't want to with Fluttershy being in the next room and all."

"You know, Fluttershy is upstairs right now, she's working on the dress we're giving Rarity. And she asked for something to eat."

"What are you suggesting?"

"You should make her some pancakes."

"But what about the cake?"

Pinkie thought for a second.

Homemade pancakes and cake have a similar enough ingredient list, I could make the cake while Rainbow makes the pancakes.

Pinkie answered, "I'll make a new cake while you make homemade pancakes."

"What about my learning? How will I learn if you're making a cake and not pancakes?"

"The ingredients are similar enough that can you still follow along, I'll just tell you the different measurements for pancakes."

"Okay, but we should probably clean up the cake on the floor first."

"Oh, yea," Pinkie said with a small chuckle.

The pair stood up and started cleaning, Pinkie grabbing the pan, placing it in the sink, while Rainbow swept the cake into the trash.

"Thank you," Pinkie said in a sincere tone.

"Thank you too," Rainbow said.

"Bring me all your dishes and mine."

"You got it," Rainbow said enthusiastically before she started to do so.

Pinkie turned on the water, letting it get almost too hot, and started to wash each dish one at a time.

After Rainbow had finished bringing the dishes, she asked, "What kind of cake was it?"

"Vanilla," Pinkie answered.

"How much more complicated is that cake over pancakes?"

"Not much, just a few more ingredients."

"You're sure I'll be able to learn fine, I'm a little nervous, especially if we're giving them to Fluttershy," Rainbow said in a slightly anxious tone.

"I'm sure you will do great, if you'd like, I can taste test one to make sure it's good," Pinkie said reassuringly.

"Okay, thanks," Rainbow said in an eased tone.

"The secret ingredient is love, so just channel your love for Fluttershy into the pancakes and I know they'll be the best!" Pinkie said with a smile.

"I'll try."

"If you're not happy with giving her them today, I can make some more for her, I don't want to do it if you don't want to."

"I'm fine with doing it."

"Do you want to help us finish the dress?"

"Sure."

"Awesome!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"When you give them to her, can you say we made them and not specify me?" Rainbow asked, a tinge of nervousness in her voice.

"Sure."

"I'll tell her I made them later."

"Okay," Pinkie said as she finished the last dish.

Rainbow looked at Pinkie, who had turned toward her. "What now?"

Pinkie said, "Now we bake," before she got out all new bake wear for them to use: cake pan, mixing bowls, whisks, measuring cups, measuring spoons, frying pan, plate, butter knives, and a spatula.

"That's a lot of stuff."

"This is for two cooking jobs, remember," Pinkie explained as she separated the bake wear into two places: one for herself, and one for Rainbow.

Rainbow looked at her smaller assortment of utensils and said, "Now for the ingredients?"

"Correct," Pinkie said as she got all the ingredients out: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, milk, stick butter, eggs, cornstarch, vanilla extract, almond extract.

"So, you're going to tell me what to do while you do the same for the cake?"

"Yes, kinda, I may do some things differently, but I will make sure I tell you if I need to deviate."

"Okay, what's the first step?"

"Flour," Pinkie said as she moved the flour in between them. "One and a half cups for both of us," she said as she sat the one and one half measuring cups by the flour, before moving one of her mixing bowls close to it.

Rainbow watched as Pinkie scooped out one cup, and used a butter knife to push off the excess back into the container.

Rainbow followed Pinkie's lead, moving her utensils close before putting the right amount of flour into her own mixing bowl.

"Good job, next is baking powder, three and a half teaspoons for you, one and three quarters for me," Pinkie said before pushing the flour back and bringing the baking powder to the front.

Rainbow watched Pinkie use the measuring spoons and followed her example.

"Now you add sugar, I'm going to add the sugar in a different bowl later" Pinkie said, swapping the baking powder with sugar. "One tablespoon."

Rainbow added the sugar. "Okay."

Pinkie encouraged her, "You're doing great," then she said, "Salt next, one fourth a teaspoon for you, one half for me," before swapping the sugar for salt in front of them.

They both added the correct amount to their mixing bowls, before Pinkie said, "That was your last dry ingredient, I still need to add cornstarch, three tablespoons."

Pinkie added the cornstarch before she said, "Now we need to sift the dry ingredients."

They both picked up their whisk, Rainbow following Pinkie's lead as she started to sift the ingredients together.

Once each bowl was sufficiently mixed, Pinkie said, "That's good."

"What's next?"

"Now for the wet ingredients, I'm going to use a second mixing bowl, you are going to make a hole in your dry ingredients and pour into that."

Rainbow used the one cup measuring cup to make an indent before Pinkie brought the milk, eggs, and butter to the front.

Pinkie said, "We will split here, we will do your stuff first, then I'll do mine," Pinkie said.

"Okay."

"We need to melt some butter, cut off three tablespoons of butter from the stick," Pinkie said as she got out a small bowl.

Rainbow cut the butter before unwrapping it and putting it in the bowl.

Pinkie put it in the microwave, checking on it every few seconds, making sure it wasn't burning.

After it was melted, Pinkie took it out. "Pour this into the well you made."

Rainbow did as told. "Now milk and eggs?"

"Yes, one and a quarter cups of milk, and one egg."

Rainbow poured in the butter, then measuring out the milk, she poured it in too. "How do you crack them?"

"Tap the egg really fast against the edge of the bowl, then bring it over to your mix before peeling the two halves of the shell apart."

Rainbow looked a little nervous, picking up the egg.

You got this!

Rainbow flicked the egg against the rim of the mixing bowl, making it crack in two. She quickly brought it to the well and split it apart, bolstering her confidence. "That was easy."

"I knew you could do it! Now whisk it until it's smooth."

Rainbow mixed her batter while Pinkie worked with her own wet ingredients.

Pinkie moved her first mixing bowl, placing a second one in its place. She measured out one cup of sugar, placing it in the empty bowl.

Pinkie grabbed the small bowl Rainbow had used, then unwrapped a whole stick of butter, putting it into the bowl. Pinkie placed the bowl in the microwave and turned it on.

While she waited, she checked on Rainbow.

"How's the mixing going?" Pinkie asked.

"Good, mixing takes time, it seems," Rainbow said.

"Yep, but it'll be worth it when you give her those delicious pancakes."

"I hope she likes them."

"I know she will."

"Thanks."

Pinkie looked at Rainbow's batter, not there yet, but making progress.

"You're doing great," Pinkie complemented.

Rainbow was about to respond when she was cut off by the microwave going off.

Pinkie took the melted butter out of the microwave, pouring it into her second mixing bowl.

Pinkie started beating the sugar and melted butter, then asked, "What were you about to say?"

"Thanks for believing in me, I never would have thought I'd ever be excited about making food, but look at me now," Rainbow said with a smile.

"You're most welcome, I know you can do anything you set your mind to."

Pinkie turned her attention to the ingredients she was beating, looking down, she saw they were now creamy.

She grabbed an egg, cracked it and poured it into the mix. She threw the shell away and started beating the egg into the mix.

After the first egg was mixed in, she cracked and poured in another, beating it too.

"Is this done?" Rainbow asked.

Pinkie looked over at Rainbow's batter, it was now smooth. "Yes, that looks good."

Rainbow stopped mixing and asked, "Now I just do the same as the last pancakes?"

"Yes, but the timing might have been different, do you remember how they looked when you flipped them?"

"There were some bubbles, I think."

"Yes, you want to flip them when the edges are solid and the middle has bubbles."

"Okay, I'll do my best," Rainbow said as she turned the burner on.

"I'll make sure you don't mess up," Pinkie reassured her.

As Rainbow waited for the burner to heat up, she watched Pinkie.

Pinkie poured in her last two ingredients, one teaspoon of vanilla extract and one teaspoon of almond extract, after which she started mixing them in.

As Pinkie mixed, she looked over at the stove, realizing she forgot to turn the oven back on to preheat.

It's probably still hot from the first cake.

"Can you turn the oven to one hundred and seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit," Pinkie asked. "I forgot to turn it back on to preheat."

Rainbow did as asked, figuring out how the stove works. "Done."

"Thanks."

After a couple more minutes of mixing, Pinkie was done. She pulled the first mixing bowl beside the second one. She lifted the first bowl and poured the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients.

Pinkie started to mix the ingredients together as Rainbow buttered the pan before pouring in her first pancake.

Pinkie carefully watched her mix and Rainbow's pancake, looking back and forth.

As Rainbow's pancake was about to need flipped, Pinkie was about to say something when Rainbow noticed it too, and flipped the pancake over.

"Good job," Pinkie congratulated.

Rainbow didn't respond, too focused on pancakes.

As Pinkie was done mixing the wet and dry ingredients, Rainbow put her first homemade pancake onto the done plate.

Pinkie poured in three fourths of a cup of milk into her mix, then mixed it for the last time.

Both ponies worked in silence for a bit, Pinkie mixed while Rainbow made pancake after pancake.

By the time Pinkie was done mixing, the oven had dinged, letting her know it had reached the set temperature.

As Rainbow put her fourth pancake on the plate, Pinkie poured her batter into the cake pan.

After the batter had settled into the pan, Pinkie took it in her mouth, lowering the oven door, she set it inside. After she closed the door, Rainbow poured in her fifth pancake.

Pinkie set the timer for thirty-five minutes.

"Cake is in the oven," Pinkie announced. "How's the pancakes going?"

"Good, I think I can make one more after this," Rainbow said.

Pinkie took it upon herself to eat the first pancake Rainbow made, making sure it was good.

Pretty good, definitely made with love.

After finishing it, she complimented Rainbow, "Pancakes taste delicious."

"Thanks, I'm glad to hear," Rainbow said.

As Rainbow continued making her pancakes, Pinkie put all the dishes in the sink, resolving to clean them later.

Pinkie turned back to Rainbow, seeing her flip the last pancake onto its second half.

She's learned quick, I'm proud of her.

Pinkie waited for Rainbow to finish. "I'm proud of you, let's go give Fluttershy those pancakes."

"Thanks," Rainbow said, turning off her burner before placing the pan in the sink.

"You should give them to her."

"Okay," Rainbow said, picking up the plate of five pancakes in her mouth.

Pinkie trotted upstairs and opened the door for Rainbow, who was right behind her.

Rainbow walked into the room and looked around, spotting Fluttershy, she walked to her, setting the pancakes at her hooves. "We made these for you."

"Thank you," Fluttershy said in a surprised tone.

Pinkie walked to the dress, seeing that Fluttershy had indeed finished the other sleeve, looking good.

Fluttershy began to eat the pancakes, while Rainbow turned to Pinkie.

Pinkie asked Rainbow, "What do you think of the dress so far?"

Rainbow took a second to answer, looking at the dress from a few angles. "I think it looks good, how does it compare to the dress you're wearing, Pinkie?"

"Oh, I didn't think to compare them, why?"

"Well, if you're wearing the dress she made you, and she's wearing this dress, shouldn't they go together?"

"Oh, like take inspiration from it?"

"Yeah."

"Hold on a sec, I'll get my dress out," Pinkie said before she went to her closet and rummaged through it, moments later coming back with her dress.

Pinkie held up the dress next to the one they were making for Rarity.

Pinkie's dress was pink with two layers, one going to within an inch of the floor and the second going halfway down the dress. It had light blue stitching about an inch from the bottom of each layer that ran along the dress. Going from one side to the other on her chest was a darker pink ribbon with a light blue bow in the center.

Rainbow looked at the dresses, thinking of ideas to improve the dress.

"I think the trim is too much, you might want to replace it with just a line thing like Rarity did on your dress," Rainbow suggested.

Both Pinkie and Fluttershy looked at the dresses, considering her idea.

"I like that idea," Pinkie said.

Fluttershy nodded in agreement as she ate.

"Got any more ideas?" Pinkie prodded.

"Uh, maybe," Rainbow said as she went to staring down the dresses again.

After a few moments of pondering, Rainbow said, "I think you should give it a v neck, and put a blue line around the neck to match her eyes."

"That sounds good, but why a v neck?" Pinkie asked.

"The blue outline is so it stands out," Rainbow blushed slightly. "The v neck is so the dress doesn't get in the way."

"Of what?" Pinkie asked.

Rainbow sighed. "So you can place your head on her chest and not have the dress get in the way." Rainbow's blush was far more noticeable now.

Pinkie thought about laying her head on Rarity's chest, listening to her heart beat.

I really wanna do that now. Maybe on our date?

Moments later, Fluttershy spoke up, "If we're doing that, perhaps we should cut the sleeves to be short, so they don't get the way of her holding you…" Fluttershy trailed off at the end, face blushing slightly as her eyes darted to Rainbow then back to Pinkie.

"Those are great ideas, let's do them," Pinkie said with a smile.

Pinkie opened the pouch she had given Fluttershy earlier, looking for blue and purple thread for the stitching. Moments later, she pulled out both and set them next to the ponnequin.

Fluttershy finished eating and stood up. "Those pancakes were delicious, thank you."

"You're welcome," Rainbow and Pinkie said in unison, Rainbow with a bashful voice, Pinkie with a smile.

Fluttershy suggested, "Why don't you and Rainbow cut the sleeves short, and I'll remove the trim and add the purple stitch."

"Sounds good," Pinkie said.

Pinkie picked up the scissors. "How short should we make it?"

"Two inches," Rainbow suggested.

"Okay," Pinkie agreed.

Fluttershy went to work while they cut the sleeves.

Pinkie picked up a ruler. "Can you hold this up to the sleeve?"

"Sure," Rainbow said, taking the ruler and holding it as instructed.

Pinkie cut up the sleeve, stopping at the one and a half-inch mark, leaving extra space for errors.

Rainbow moved the ruler to the other sleeve and Pinkie splits it to the same length.

Pinkie rummaged around her room until she found a belt, bringing it back to the ponnequin, she said, "We are going to use this as our cutting edge."

Rainbow and Pinkie carefully wrapped the belt around the sleeve, making sure it was at an even length all the way around.

Pinkie took the scissors and carefully made her way around the leg, cutting the excess fabric on the bottom side of the belt.

Taking the belt off, they inspected the cut.

"That looks good," Rainbow said in surprise.

"Yea," Pinkie agreed.

They repeated the process on the second leg, making sure to get it the same length as the first.

Both sleeves looked good, but there was thread hanging from where it had been cut.

"What do we do about that?" Rainbow asked.

"Uh, I don't know," Pinkie said. "Fluttershy, can you fix this hanging thread?"

Fluttershy stopped her work and came to see what was needed.

Fluttershy looked at the thread and said, "Sure, I should just be able to tie it off after I make sure it's tight."

"Okay," Pinkie said.

Fluttershy fished out a needle from the pouch before she threaded the hanging thread through it.

Fluttershy tied off the thread on each sleeve before going back to removing the trim.

"What should we do now?" Rainbow asked.

"Maybe we can make the v neck?" Pinkie asked.

"Do you have a triangle we can use to make the cut?" Rainbow asked.

Pinkie again rummaged through her room, looking for something triangle shaped with some hardness to it.

She picked up a piece of cardboard as an idea came to her.

Aha!

Pinkie took the cardboard to the ponnequin, she slid the cardboard behind the fabric, positioning it, so it formed a triangle shaped outline.

"Can you hold this?" Pinkie asked.

"Okay," Rainbow said, putting her hoof on the triangle.

Pinkie left Rainbow, looking around her room for a third time.

After a moment, Rainbow asked, "What are you doing?"

Pinkie found her stapler. "Got it."

Pinkie brought the stapler to the dress, and stapled the triangle outline to the cardboard.

Rainbow realized what she had done. "Oh." Then let go of holding it.

Pinkie picked up the scissors, and slowly cut the v neck into the dress, being careful not to over cut.

After she was done, the cardboard and patch of fabric fell to the floor.

Stepping back, Pinkie looked at the v neck.

Looks good, great for cuddling.

Pinkie walked around the back of the dress, Rainbow following.

Pinkie looked at the skirt, seeing the purple stitch going around.

Looks good too, makes it pop but doesn't distract from her beauty.

Fluttershy was almost done with the purple stitch, finishing it she said, "Done."

"It looks great, Fluttershy," Pinkie said.

"Yea, you did awesome," Rainbow commented.

"Thanks," Fluttershy said bashfully.

The trio walked to the front of the dress.

Fluttershy asked, "So, it's just the blue stitching left to do around the neck?"

"Yep," Pinkie said.

"Okay, I'll do it," Fluttershy said.

Fluttershy worked on the stitching as Rainbow and Pinkie watched.

She sure is good at this.

Rainbow leaned over to Pinkie and whispered, "You know, if Fluttershy made me a dress, I'd wear it. I might even be happy wearing it," she quietly chuckled.

Pinkie teased in a whisper back, "Me and Fluttershy might just do that."

Rainbow's face turned to terror before slowly shifting to resigned content. "Go ahead, I'll look good in it."

Pinkie hugged Rainbow, who hugged back.

Pinkie cleaned up her room, putting all the excess fabric and unused gemstones back into the bag. Rainbow helped, cleaning up the floor.

The pair cleaned even messes that weren't from the dressmaking, making the room spotless.

Fluttershy finished the stitch. "All done."

All three ponies looked at the complete dress.

It was a white flowing dress, with a purple stitch going all the way around the skirt about one quarter of an inch from the bottom. The front has sleeves that cover one fourth of her front legs. The neck has a blue stitch going around, with a V-neck in the front.

"I love it," Pinkie said.

"Rarity is going to love it," Fluttershy said.

"You girls did an awesome job," Rainbow said.

Pinkie hugged both ponies at once. "We did a wonderful job, you helped too."

"No problem, anything for a friend," Rainbow said, returning the hug.

"Thanks," Fluttershy said, also returning the hug.

Pinkie hugged them tighter and said, "I love you girls."

"Love you too, Pinkie," Fluttershy said.

"Same," Rainbow said.

Pinkie let go of the hug, giving their spines a break.

"Do you girls want to help me design the frosting for the cake?" Pinkie asked with a big smile.

"Sure," Rainbow said.

"Sounds fun," Fluttershy said.

I have the best friends a pony could ask for.

"Let's go," Pinkie said with a big smile, before leaving the room with her two friends to design a heartfelt diorama on a delightfully delectable desert.