Full of Love
Full of Surprises
Rarity hadn't known what to expect when she walked through the door that day. That was a fact which simply came with having a friend such as Pinkie Pie, and a fact which, no matter how many words of protest or disagreement came from her mouth, Rarity absolutely adored. Days were filled with bright colors and peppy expressions, sometimes even songs, all preaching one simple idea: fun. With Pinkie Pie, life was, to be put simply, one constant surprise, one constant party, keeping you on your hooves and making sure that smile stayed on your muzzle -- Pinkie Pie had seemingly countless ideas to share with Equestria, with the world.
With Rarity.
At this point, especially with the upcoming date of Rarity's birthday, it wasn't a matter of if Rarity would return to wonderful, loving surprise, but exactly when. So as Rarity stood at her own front door, a blissful smile upon her face and groceries weighing down the confetti-decorated saddlebags against her back, she had to take a deep breath. Contain herself. Calm down and prep herself for the blast of torn, colorful paper and music the volumes of which any pony could simply drown in, lest she have a heart attack immediately after entering. It was inevitable, and something she had grown rather used to -- something she had grown to love and appreciate after incredibly long, stressful days.
She gasped in a steady breath, and then bravely swung open the door with a flare of her horn and the ever familiar jingle of the silver bell hanging above her in the door frame.
Her jaw immediately dropped.
All around her was not the set-up of a party, no multi-colored streamers dangling from the ceiling or large banners decorated with a hoof-painted portrait of the fashion unicorn herself. No, what stood before her was her boutique, sparkling and shining under layers of wax and showing off the signs of a well-deserved dusting and mopping. The lights of the entire building had seemed to dim, insense lit along the walls and filling the area with a sweet, warm scent of something of an incredibly strange mixture -- rich vanillas mixed with violets and other smells, blended together perfectly until they all created an awkward sort of harmony. Everything was organized along the shelves and walls, paintings and family portraits once slightly askew now straightened, and knick-knacks budged around into straight lines behind their (now) squeaky clean glass cases.
And standing just a few feet from the door was Pinkie Pie, a grin stretching from ear to ear and a cake between her hooves.
"Surprise!"
Rarity felt as if she should do something, perhaps run forward and sweep the mare right into her open hooves, but her body just simply wouldn't allow it. It seemed every part of her had been paralyzed, jaw slack and hind legs breaking away and sending her crashing to the newly-scrubbed floor -- a normal occurrence in the house, and one which often drove Rarity to an almost madness. It wasn't lady-like in the slightest to react this way, a fact that Rarity knew well... and yet, as she looked upon Pinkie's work she couldn't help but gawk.
Always full of surprises.
"Pinkie Pie!" Rarity gasped. "My goodness!"
Pinkie Pie's smile grew at the statement, skipping forward and settling on her behind right before Rarity, the cake forgotten and continuing to lie on the floor. Bringing up her hooves in a celebratory fashion, and teeth breaking past the gums in a grin which sent Rarity's paralyzed limbs into a cute-induced spasm, she jutted her face forward. A sugary breath blasting against Rarity's own carroty one, she shouted, "Do ya like it? Do ya? Do ya?"
Rarity started up a weak nod, head barely bobbing amongst the shock and awe engulfing her, and before a sound could be made Pinkie had wormed her way directly past her. Pushing her cotton-candy-hued mane against the pale white of Rarity's coat, she scooted her forwards and upwards, Rarity's lavender mane skimming the ground as the mare behind it was lifted to an open wooden chair -- a wooden chair sitting flush against the dining room table, the likes of which were covered with shimmering candles and a single purple balloon at each dangerously sharp corner.
After a moment of an almost-silence, the only thing making it so the familiar thud of saddlebags being dropped to the floor, Pinkie popped upwards at the end of the table, cake-box once ahead right in her grasp.
"Since we won't be having much personal time together tomorrow, I wanted to make your 'Day Before Your Birthday Party' party extra, superdy-duperdy special!" she said, face covered in a shining beam.
Rarity simply smiled at that, brain still struggling to process just exactly was being presented to her -- the poor mare had just gotten home, and yet already she had been confused beyond belief. But, as she stared into the smile before her, once again falling to her daily repeating of the surprisingly useful mantra she had developed among Pinkie's stay, The dear is simply full of surprises, she was able to regain control as her brain calmed into the same warm hum as her heart.
"Pinkie, dear," Rarity began, eyebrows crawling upwards and a tingling heat radiating from the plump skin of her cheeks. "Th-This is all simply marvelous! You really mustn't keep going through all of this trouble for me."
Pinkie Pie just shook her head, setting the cake down and working the plastic lid off of the top of it. "Aww, but then who'll I make special cakes for? I mean, I guess I could make special cakes for Gummy, but he's just not nearly as thankful as you are." She stopped a moment to shoot a somewhat terrifying glare to what Rarity could only assume was the gingerbread-like building Pinkie had once called her home, and then turned back to the unicorn among her presence. As she did so, Rarity couldn't help but notice quite how much the sapphire orbs Pinkie held as eyes had warmed and softened, and how much her exuberant smile had morphed into one filled with something not unlike Fluttershy-level shyness. "Besides, I love making ponies smile, Rarity."
She flung her hooves out slowly to her sides, cheeks stained with a darker shade of pink than normal.
"Especially you."
Rarity gasped, a dainty, lady-like hoof gently brought upwards to rest against her lower lip as she looked downwards to the glass table immediately below her. Irises shrinking to pinpricks and beginning to fill with stinging liquids, she allowed herself a rather childish squee of delight -- Pinkie Pie always was a mare of many surprises, bright colorful cheeriness constantly biting at the back of her hooves, and it seemed everywhere she happened to bounce a cloud of pure, unadulterated happiness would follow. Life was a spectacular journey having the mare as a mate, one filled with laughter and euphoria, and often ponies saw that aspect of the magnificently pink pony as her defining one: Pinkie Pie was fun, and fun, in turn, was Pinkie.
But that wasn't the only thing that she had to offer. No, Pinkie Pie, under all of the pink fluffiness and confetti cannons, held something completely different. Something beautiful, something pure, which drove Rarity into both a jittering mess and a tingling sort of warmth.
She just had so much love.
Rarity choked back on a smile for a second, tears streaming down her face. Then, a wave of heat flying over her body and an incredible hunger settling into her lower half, she tossed the table between her and Pinkie Pie to the side with a flashing flare of her horn -- and pounced.
The cake, the letters once spelling out the words 'I Love You' now marred, fell with a splat to the ground.