“The Eyes Have It”
(TwiPie)
I. Mirrors
The eyes, they say, are the windows to the soul.
Her eyes are big and bright and almost impossibly blue, as blue as fresh spring water, as blue as a cloudless sky, as blue as aquamarines. Her eyes that smile and laugh just as readily as her mouth, and they’re full of such perfect, shining joy. Except for when they’re not.
Tiny moments, infrequent, almost unnoticeable. The very end of a party, as everyone’s going home. That split second after a friend’s just shoved her away following a too-tight hug. And then, just like that, those big blue eyes break, they shatter completely, and from behind the smiles and laughter come bubbling up panic and desperation and stark, cold fear.
Twilight recognizes it all too easily. Panic and desperation, after all, are her bread and butter.
II. Strengths
Twilight was amazed at how easily Pinkie seemed to be trotting along. The unicorn couldn’t detect any heavy breathing, stumbling steps, or anything else that would indicate that Pinkie needed a break. It was more than a little impressive, really, that Pinkie Pie could carry her for hours like this.
Maybe it was an earth pony thing. Twilight had learned while still young about how each race of pony had its own special magic. Pegasi ruled the air and the weather, while unicorns had a direct connection to magical energy. But earth ponies’ magic was more abstract, more indistinct, having to do with the plants and animals on the ground. More than a few fillies and colts in Twilight’s classes had snickered at that part of the lesson, whispering to one another that earth pony magic could barely be called magic at all.
Twilight had snickered, too. But right now, right here, she dearly wished that she hadn’t, and she felt a stab of white-hot guilt.
Twilight rested her head against the neck of the other mare. Underneath her, Pinkie felt comfortingly solid, and with every step the earth pony took, Twilight could feel Pinkie’s shoulder muscles flex and contract. Strong. That’s what Pinkie was. What earth ponies, in general, were. That sort of physical strength was never something Twilight had valued—was always something at which she scoffed as being inferior to intellect—but right now Pinkie’s surprising strength and boundless energy were the only things keeping Twilight from freezing to death in the snow.
“It’s ironic,” she mumbled into the soft warmth of Pinkie’s mane.
She could feel Pinkie’s head turn towards her. “Twi? Did you say something?”
I could fall in love with you. It was a strange thing to think, random and completely out of the blue, and yet think it Twilight did. It would be so easy to fall in love with you.
“No.” The unicorn shook her head, just slightly, careful not to further aggravate her injuries. “No, I didn’t say anything.”
III. Synonyms
“And I feel that it would be the height of happiness,” Spike continued reciting, cackling as he did so, the piece of paper held tight between his claws, “if I could drown in those eyes of amethyst.”
At that, Rarity gasped.
Meanwhile, Applejack scrunched up her face in a thoughtful frown. “Amethyst? What’s that?”
Every eye was on Pinkie, who just stood there with a plastic smile frozen in place. The very air in the bakery seemed to grow dense, almost oppressively thick and stifling, and the loud ticking of the wall clock was the only sound to be heard for several long moments.
“Purple,” came the reply from a soft voice. As one the group turned, and there was Twilight standing in the doorway. “‘Amethyst’ means purple.”
IV. Meanings
“Did you … did you mean it? That stuff about, um, you know. My being the song of your heart and your drowning in my eyes and … stuff.”
Pinkie didn’t look over. In a voice that sounded strangely muffled to her own ears, she replied, “Every word.”
“Oh. Um. That’s … wow. Wow.” Twilight laughed a bit, but it sounded shaky. “I don’t know what to say. Actually … actually, that’s not true. I should start by apologizing. I’m so sorry, Pinkie. I never should have—”
“It’s okay.” Pinkie gave a shrug. “I mean, I mighta done that too.”
“Even so.”
“I forgive you. Don’t worry about it.”
Together they sat in awkward silence for a few moments. Pinkie could feel the heat from Twilight’s body, as Twilight sat so close they were almost touching, and struggled to keep her heart from pounding its way right out of her chest. Twilight was just so close, too close, really, and it was hard to focus on anything besides that lovely warmth or the slight smell of ink …
“So,” said Twilight, after clearing her throat. “You … you really like my smile?”
Pinkie inhaled sharply. “Twilight Sparkle, I love your smile. I love all of your smiles.”
And then, suddenly, like water breaking free from a leaking dam, Pinkie was talking about all of the different kinds of smiles that Twilight had: a big wide smile that caused the unicorn’s entire face to light up like the sun, a small quiet smile that meant Twilight had just solved a particularly hard problem, a lopsided grin whenever somepony said something that Twilight thought was amusing …
Finally, Pinkie was able to catch herself, to stop the seemingly endless tide of words, and glanced over to Twilight. When she did, she saw that Twilight Sparkle was smiling. Twilight was, in fact, smiling a larger smile than Pinkie had ever seen her smile before.
V. Lacunas
Twilight paused in the doorway to the bakery. After a moment, she glanced over her shoulder.
Pinkie fidgeted nervously under the weight of the unicorn’s gaze. She tried not to think about just what might be racing around in Twilight’s big brain. She tried not to think about how beautiful, how frighteningly beautiful, were Twilight’s deep violet eyes—but, of course, as soon as she tried not to do it, she started doing it even more.
She could write an entire song cycle about Twilight’s eyes. An entire opera about those eyes.
Then, Twilight turned around and slowly walked back over to Pinkie. She stopped right in front of the earth pony, her every movement calm and deliberate, and Pinkie could feel her heart pounding away in her chest and her stomach churn with a strange mixture of excitement and fear.
Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It seemed the very air around them hung thick and heavy with anticipation.
And then Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes again and began singing.
I am not a songsmith
I have only these words true
But I will sing them loud
I love you, I love you.
Pinkie had never stood so still or so quiet in her entire life.
I will sing until you see
That though the feeling’s new
It burns as bright as the sun
I love you, I love you.
Twilight took a step closer, her eyes burning with determination.
I will not move, will not bend
Not until you give the cue
Because I need you to know
I love you, I love—
But Twilight Sparkle never got to finish her song, as suddenly Pinkie’s mouth was on hers, urgent, desperate, as the earth pony kissed the unicorn with a hunger greater than any she’d ever known, a hunger greater than she’d even thought possible. After the kiss finally ended, though, Twilight offered not a single word of complaint ... offered up nothing but a tiny, quiet smile, as small and as sparkling as the purest of diamonds.
This tells so many stories, in such a short time. It's like glimpses into a long beginning.
With hints at situations and ... stuff. I adore it, as I do most of your vignettes!
Did I interpret it right if I said Spike found a love poem Pinkie wrote and read it out loud?
What a jerk
This is fuck'in adorable!!
AAAAnnnddd there's the TwiPie I was expecting. Masterfully done.
... So many feels man...
Very interesting style to take. Very interesting.
That said, my only SLIGHT (much emphasis on this) criticism is that the first time, it was somewhat hard to follow. That said, that appears to be kinda the point, and after reading it a second time, I was able to "get it".
Still, I love it, and while I liked the first TwiPie better, this one is so much... deeper.
pinkie.ponychan.net/chan/files/src/133625704438.gif
I love it. I especially love Twilight singing to Pinkie. Why are you such a genius?
I'm going to give you a break from the critical reviews this time round, because... well... I must be annoying, haha.
But wow, DB. Just... wow. You get better and better with these, you really do. This was... kinda beautiful. Thank you for this, and I mean that.
That was beautiful. Twilight singing to her, just...ugh, I can even express the feelings that are trying to push tears out of my eyes at that. And I love Pinkie going on her spiel about Twilight's smiles. That part was particularly wonderful.
I regret, so, so regret putting reading these updates off. Goddammit it, you almost made me cry.
Almost
I really don't know what else to say besides keep writing these, because they are so good. Just... so good.
Argh, I always think the meter's off in solely printed songs.
753555
Aww, thanks! And yes, you interpreted the section with Spike correctly.
753717
*snort*
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Heh, thanks, y'all.
755005
*nod* Yeah, this was an experiment in narrative style and, to be honest, I'm not too sure myself how well I think it succeeded. But yes, some of the difficulties were intentional. I'm glad you liked it, flaws and all.
755739
I just spend an inordinate portion of my day thinking of how to ship ponies together. You shoot off enough rounds, you're bound to hit the broadside of that barn at least once or twice. (Seriously, though, thanks. I'm very pleased that you liked it.)
756000
Totally not annoying! I really appreciate hearing what did and didn't work in a story (though I'm only human and do like hearing that people overall liked the story). But thanks for the kind words--it's really, really good to hear that you think I've been improving over the course of these.
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I'm pleased to hear you liked it that much. The inclusion of Pinkie's monologue on Twilight's smiles was actually a last-minute addition--it wasn't in the first draft I posted to my Tumblr--so I'm glad I decided to add it in.
761730
The meter might very well be off. I did try to double check that, though--I counted out the syllables for each line and kind of sang it in my head, and it seemed okay to me at the time. Oopsie.
767339
Well, it's more that I don't know what rhythm is being used in the song and almost always get it wrong the first couple of times.
Let me just start off by saying TwiDash is best ship, and that there is none that I...dislike so much as PinkieDash.
Opinions aside, I'm liking this entire series. What I'm really loving the most are the sort of off-the-trade winds ships you're exploring, like ApplePie/Appleshy/Rarishy and so on, around old standbys like RariJack and AppleDash. Some of those pairings I've always liked, but you never see them since they don't involve Rainbow Dash with AJ, Twi, or Pinkie. You're a fantastic writer and you've definitely got the girls and how they interact with each other down. Heck, it's even got me enjoying the chapters of other ships I'm not particularly keen on - the TwiPie chapters in particularly were extremely well done.
Wish I could go through and list what I liked about all the stories, but I'd be here for hours and clog up your comments section. I'll definitely be keeping up with this one in the future. Also, maybe there's an Applesparkle in the future?
767947
Yeah, that's a good point. I know what it's supposed to sound like, 'cause I wrote it, but there's no reason for anyone else to realize. *nod*
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Aw, thanks! Glad you've been enjoyin' these so far and especially pleased to hear that you're even liking the ones with your less favored ships. And there won't be any PinkieDash, as all of my short PinkieDash stories go into their own collection.
And you know? There needs to be more AppleSparkle (TwiJack?) in the fandom. There's precious little of it. I might try my hand at it, at some point.
809928
That's very high praise, indeed--thank you. And I recommend giving "PYHD" a watch, if you weren't already planning to do so. I have a long, boring blog post from a million years ago about why I disliked the episode--and I still do, by and large,--but it is a goldmine for anyone interested in exploring the relationship(s) between Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.
835196
I think Rainbow and Twi would be a very energetic and fun couple ... but romantic? Especially "romantic" in the sense Rarity would think? Not so much, no.
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Thanks! I'm glad to hear you think the emotions came across well.
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I do think Pinkie is very perceptive, at least when she's making the effort to be. She cares deeply about others, for sure, but showing that in a way those ponies appreciate ... is kinda hit and miss for poor Pinks. Heh.
So for some reason I haven't been reading anything from this story at all and I just got to it.
This one was beautiful, yes, but something was bothering me about it the entire time...
Maybe it was...
This!
More than a few fillies and colts in Twilight’s classes had snickered at that part of the lesson, whispering to one another that earth pony magic could barely be called magic at all.
...Racists!
Wow... Just, freaking wow.
This was amazing. Absolutely, truly amazing.
Loved it! Awesome! You sorta showed how it slowly built up, and while I know there probably aren't any real things, I would love to read this story in full. If what I mean is clear, anyway.
Lovely.
Singing being canon to the Donnyverse makes me happy.
Also now I really want to make that song an actual song.