Timed Ramblings

by Midnight herald

Favorite Smile

Pinkie Pie limbered up her lips with a few silly faces before moving on to the next phase of her morning routine. She unwrapped her damp mane from its towel turban and began smiling at herself in the slightly fogged-up mirror. It wasn’t too strange, really, practicing her smiles. She had so many of them it was hard to keep them straight. But today was important, more important than usual. And she was trying so hard to get one smile in particular. She was lost somewhere in the mix of silly and flirtatious and loving, trying various amounts of each. Because today, she needed to find the smile that Applejack loved so much.

It had been rough for Applejack when Rarity moved away. The two of them hadn’t been suited for the distance, in the end, and Applejack had cried for weeks after they’d ended things. But Pinkie had been there to help her pick things back up again. Pinkie had been there with open ears and as much advice and support as she could fit into their gloomy hours of conversations. With hours of patience and hugs and an alarming amount of tissues and ice cream, Pinkie had helped Applejack through her heartbreak and onto her feet. And then Applejack had asked her out to dinner sometime, and the world had been perfect. And when Rarity had found time to visit, the world had still been pretty good. But it had stopped being perfect when she’d seen the way Rarity and Applejack still looked at each other.

Applejack still loved Pinkie, of course. She’d said it, and she’d meant it, and PInkie knew it was true. But Applejack still loved Rarity, too. And some days, it was harder than it should have been to see which one of them Applejack loved more. It hurt, those days, hurt deep in Pinkie’s chest, all the worse because Pinkie understood. She’d been a farmpony herself, growing up, so she knew how it went. She could still remember the long lonely nights before long days of hard work. She could still remember the constant self-denial in the name of profits, in the name of keeping the farm afloat another season. And she could still remember, with such clarity it frightened her, that the things a farmpony wanted most were the things a farmpony could never really have. And besides, who would settle for silly old, noisy Pinkie Pie when glamorous, aloof, cultured Rarity was just on the horizon, still tragically smitten herself? Who could resist the allure and guilty, dark pleasure of holding on to a doomed relationship, no matter how far, how implausible it could be? Not Applejack. Pinkie huffed and chided herself for being so petty. It was getting better, a little. Applejack was trying to make it better, to be better. Applejack loved her.

And when Rarity was in town, the two of them spent a lot of time together, catching up, walking around town, drinking deep of their togetherness. Pinkie didn’t worry about it anymore, though. She knew Rarity as anything but a homewrecker, and Applejack had too much honor to do anything unfaithful. But Pinkie wished, sometimes, that the two of them would understand how much it hurt her to see how much they wanted to, even if they never would.’

There it was, the smile she was looking for. Just shy of flirtation, with a show of honest love and a tiny hint of mischief. That was the smile that would make Applejack’s heart thump, that would make Applejack’s knees turn to jelly. Pinkie practiced making it a few times, until it looked absolutely effortless, absolutely natural.

As the final part of her odd morning routine, Pinkie shook her head a couple of times, paying close attention to the little golden ring that ran through her right ear. The little, flighty thrill still buzzed through her chest at the way her ring glinted in the light. It felt a little bit heavier than usual, but it was a sunny morning, and her playful little smile no longer felt as practiced. She trotted downstairs, following her nose into the kitchen. Her tummy rumbled excitedly as she categorized each warm, gooey smell. Nothing, not even triple-chocolate-raspberry-glazed cupcakes, could beat Applejack’s pancake special when it came to breakfast. She flashed Applejack’s favorite smile with a little giggle and kissed Applejack on the cheek, lovingly.

“Happy anniversary,” she chirped brightly, laughing as Applejack chased her around the countertop, licking and nibbling at her chin and neck. The two of them loaded the table with delicious food, said grace, and tucked in. And Pinkie couldn’t help but feel a little lighter as Applejack’s loving green eyes smiled at her across the table.
She sometimes had these mornings, when her doubts and worries threatened to overtake her. But she’d work through it, just like she always did. Just like they always did. Because she loved Applejack, and Applejack loved her. It was too late to back out now, anyhow. She’d lost that right a year ago, with the words ‘I do’.

Author's Note:

Prompt 363: One year too late

Comments

[Loeden]

Ohai! Whee, lots of new stuff, although in an odd order, since some of it showed up before chapters I've read. Still! Yay!

Afterschool: Sugarbee, that's a terrifying name. Also, isn't an almond scent.. Cyanide? No? Arsenic? I could've sworn almond scents were for something poisonous. Gangrene? Still, I liked the baking-as-emotions imagery!

All-Consuming: Oh, Sombra.. Yes, he didn't weather the uquibitious thousand years nearly as well as Discord and Nightmare Moon, sanity-wise. I swear, he must've been badass a thousand years ago, before he became the Bud Lite of villains.

The Ugly Truth: WOAH! Okay, this one took a totally different direction than the usual 'oh noes Twi is immortal and her friends aren't' bit. Hot damn, that threw me for a loop. Still, y'know, while human, er, pony sacrifice is surely a terrible thing.. Keeping the one working the sun sane is probably worth it. Just sayin'. Am I a bad person for totally wanting to flash them both a thumbs up for it?

To Be a Pony: Hmmm. Standard 'immortal Twilight' start, but then.. BAM, POW, STRAIGHT TO THE SUN. I wasn't sure what to think of it, but Celestia's moment of 'oh shit' was pretty neat.

Monsters and Honor: Ooh, world-building.. Stacks? Rainbow's dad knowing fight club-esque stuff? Leaves me wanting to know more, eyup. Argh, ow, ow, painful ending, though.

Paw Prince: FANTASTIC. The purrrfect plan! And the creepiest stalkers, apparently. J'adore, this was my favorite of the batch for sure.

Burning the Rot: Ah, dang, did she end up in jail? A bit ambiguous, but that was probably on purpose. Admittedly, I'm imagining Granny Smith with a robo-hip and a bat-rocker.

Without a Doubt: The description of Fluttershy's actions/reactions were what tickled me here. They just seemed spot-on. Mm, dat smile. Poor Rainbow Dash had to ask, though, oh, that must've been something to see. OMNISHIP YEAAHHHH!

Favorite Smile: Owwwwwww. Well, it's a soft-ow, if that makes sense? I suppose life can be all about 'might have beens' if you aren't careful. As always, your Pinkie Pie continues to amaze me and make me adore her, which is saying something since she's usually my least-favorite of the main cast.

[Midnight herald]

2665667 yeah.. I was finally getting around to updating, since it's been forever and all, and I realised that Afterschool somehow got unpublished. So I republished it and then added everything else after...

I'm always happy to find your comments, though. They always make me chuckle. In the best way possible.

But yeah...comment replies, I guess.
I wanted so badly to write fluff for what ended up being Dear Friends, but this was the only thing that came out. And I'm also happier with how the SweetieJack turned out, because A) I write them better as characters and B) I wasn't rushed for deadline.

You're spot-on for how Neighborly Thing started... it was actually the third attempt I made at that prompt. The first one was tripe, the second didn't fit the rules as such, so it happened. But I just love the idea of the Elements failing or something, and Twilight just not existing. It's just enough creepy to make me happy.

Last Crusade is kinda meh for me now, 'cause Sweetie doesn't quite feel right. But yep, that's the gist of it.

And I've kinda fallen in love with writing polyamorous stuff, as you might have noticed with the threes and sixes I've been writing. It's fun stuff for sure.

[Midnight herald]

2710941 I swear, Pinkie isn't poisoning anyone this time, I was just craving almond cupcakes while writing this. It would be cyanide, which I incidentally used in my actual "Pinkie poisons Ponies" story, but they're entirely unrelated. For some reason, I knew that the filly's name was Sugarbee and that her mama was Pinkie, and so therefore, partway through, the other mama had to be fluttershy. Because cuties, as Master Donny would say.

And for All-consuming, I wanted a reason that Sombra was Bud Lite. And I figure, if he's happy to remember three words ever, he's gotta have some memory problems.

I ship AJ and Princess Twilight way more than is healthy, and it leads to these kinds of results. Because I secretly (or not-so-secretly) enjoy making AJ do terrible, terrible things. It's almost in my headcanon that the reason nopony knows where Celestia is is because Twi banished her, perhaps for disagreeing on how to treat AJ... not entirelly sold, but it's fun.

I see the Stacks being a gritty, industrial neighborhood near the weather production part of Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash got shit for her mane color(s), because it implied some kind of rainbow poisoning in the water when she was a fetus. She expects trouble from all sides, until she meets Fluttershy, who's the only pony who seems to care about her. It's amazing what thought I gave to this one, and how little of that got in, I guess.

Honestly, I think Paw Prince was my favorite in this group, too I loves me some creepy romantic aspirations, and when the premise hit me in full I couldn't stopp giggling. My roommate musta thought I was a bit crazier than usual.

I was seeing Apple Bloom as either entirely in trouble by the mob she was striking down, or entirely paranoid from the stress of being Mare Do Well... I swear ambiguous is my middle name or something, though.

I was slightly unsurprised that my first attempt into omniship followed AJ... since I love her in many-pony relationships, it seems. She's actually got her shit together and stuff, so she somehow speaks that way to me. Yeah.

I'm once again very glad that you still like Pinkie. She's so much fun to hurt in new and surprising ways....

J'adore aussi, mes amie! until ext time!

[Mermaid]

I had forgotten that Pinkie did know farm life. She does have discipline.

[Midnight herald]

2937223 Yeah, Pinkie's farm upbringing is half the reason I ship ApplePie to begin with. The other parts are because AJ is very silly and reads bedtime stories to her trees, and also because the name is delicious.

So, of course, since it's me, I had to take the delicious ship and make it horrible and sad.