The Only Chapter
"Peachy Pie! Peachy Pie!" someone was calling. The golden filly opened her eyes and groaned. She pushed her amber locks away from her face. It was the weekend. Why couldn't her mum just let her sleep?
She rolled out of bed and looked at the calendar on her wall. And today of all days! She wished she could go back to bed and sleep through to tomorrow — pretend Hearts and Hooves Day never happened.
Peachy Pie ambled down the stairs to the breakfast her mother had laid out for her. Oat flakes were not her favourite.
"Remember, dear, I have to go to work, so you're going round to Sunny's for the day," said her mum. "So eat up. We have to get going soon."
Was that today as well? Oh well, at least that was something. Sunny Daze was Peachy Pie's best friend, and probably going to be feeling just as lonely as her today.
Peachy Pie had helped Pipsqueak pick out the perfect present for Apple Bloom a few days ago. And she knew that Rumble had a soft spot for Scootaloo. Twist would be making a batch of candy for Truffle Shuffle. (Peachy had no idea what she saw in him: Twist was hardly the prettiest pony in class, but she could do better than him.) And of course every colt in class would be fawning over Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Sweetie Belle. Probably some of the fillies would be too.
Who would ever be Peachy Pie's very special somepony?
Peachy Pie finished the last of her oat flakes before slurping up the milk from the bowl.
"Okay, time to go now," announced her mother, picking up her keys. The two ponies trotted out the door, turned left onto the street, and walked three buildings along to Sunny's house. Peachy's mother knocked on the door.
"Oh hi, Cream!" Sunny's mother answered the door with a friendly smile. She called up the stairs, "Sunny! Peachy's here!"
Peachy's mother distractedly flicked through her saddlebag, looking for something. "Thanks for looking after her, Fry, you're a life-saver!"
"It's really no problem," Sunny's mother chirped cheerfully, "they more or less look after themselves now anyway. They're not foals anymore." She bent down to address Peachy Pie. "Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Peachy! So have you got any cards from any special someponies?"
Peachy Pie looked away. Why did she have to be reminded?
"Oh, she's being bashful," said Sunny's mother, addressing Peachy's mother again.
At that moment, Sunny Daze bounded down the stairs, a big grin on her face. "Peachy!" the pale orange filly called, excited to see her best friend, even though they'd been at school together the day before, and would be again in a couple of days.
Peachy Pie trotted past Sunny's mum and gave her friend a quick hug. The two ponies trotted up the stairs. "Bye, dear!" Her mother's voice came floating over Peachy's shoulder.
Sunny Daze, almost bounced up the stairs. "So, have you gotten any Hearts and Hooves cards today?"
Peachy Pie's ears drooped. "No," she answered glumly.
"No, neither have I," said Sunny, instantly appearing less full of the joys of spring. Once the two ponies had arrived at her room, Sunny walked over to the bed and pushed some papers off it to make some space. She swept them underneath the bed and then sat on the side, tapping the space next to her with her hoof. "Come and sit over here," she said to her friend.
The two ponies sat and talked about school, and their friends for some time before the conversation came back to Hearts and Hooves Day.
"I'm fed up of not having a very special somepony!" Peachy Pie got up and started to walk up and down between the bed and the over-full desk.
"Well, what are you going to do about it?" asked her friend, leaning back on the vacated part of the bed.
"I'm going to find my very special somepony today," a determined Peachy Pie said with a stomp of her hoof. "You mark my words! With Celestia as my witness, by the time the sun goes down, I will have found my somepony!"
"Wow!" Sunny's eyes were wide with surprise. "You're really serious about this?"
"Yup." Peachy looked out of the window at the blue sky. "By sundown."
"Then you're going to need my help," insisted her friend. "Where do we start?"
"Well, we're fairly unlikely to find my very special somepony in your room, aren't we? We need to get out of the house. Will your mum let us go and hang out in town?"
"I don't know." Sunny looked from side to side uncertainly. "I suppose we could ask."
The fillies walked down the stairs and found Sunny's mother in the kitchen.
Sunny approached her mother, with her eyes wide and a look of expectation on her face. "Can we go out for... ummm... a picnic?" she asked.
Her mother looked up from her reading. "You know how my hay fever gets this time of year, Sunny."
"I know, but you don't have to come, do you? We'll be careful. We won't go far from home. And we'll stick together."
"Hmmm..." Sunny's mother grasped her chin with a hoof, as if that would help her come to a decision. She reasoned that they were both very responsible fillies for their age. And Ponyville was the kind of place where nothing bad or dangerous ever happened. She looked at the girls who were putting on their most irresistibly pleading expressions. "I suppose so," she relented. Both girls grinned from ear to ear. "But you need to promise to be good, to stay near the house, and to come straight back if anything seems wrong."
"We promise!" screeched the fillies in unison, bouncing up and down on the spot.
Sunny's mother busied herself packing some food for the picnic. Two little saddlebags, each containing a hay sandwich, an apple, and a small bottle of milk.
Sunny found a notepad and pencil.
"What's that?" Peachy's eyes shot open in surprise.
"It's a list of potential someponies," said Sunny who had started scribbling names.
"Let me see!" demanded Peachy, reaching for the notepad.
"No, I don't want to bias you." Sunny snatched it away.
"Awwww!" Peachy scowled. That was so not fair!
"Your picnic's ready!" called Sunny's mum from the kitchen. The two ponies collected the saddlebags, thanking her profusely. Sunny gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, and the two friends trotted down the garden path.
Sunny clearly had a plan, so Peachy followed her. Straight to the house next door.
"Wait. What are we doing here?!" Peachy Pie asked.
"Visiting your first potential someponies," answered Sunny, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Peachy looked confused. "But this is your aunt and uncle's house, isn't it?"
"Not them, silly!" Sunny walked to the door, about to knock. "I'm taking you to see Green and Shady."
Green Daze and Shady Daze were Sunny's cousins. Two older colts with identical blue manes. Peachy had to admit to herself that they were shaping up to become pretty handsome young stallions.
"Your cousins?" asked Peachy. "Sure, I'll date one of your cousins. That wouldn't be weird at all, would it?" she added sarcastically.
"What's wrong with them?" Sunny frowned, her ears drooping a little. She held back her hoof: if Peachy wasn't interested, there would be no point in knocking.
"To start with, I hardly know them. And from what I do know of them, we have nothing in common. They're also quite a bit older than us. My very special somepony should be someone our age, someone I can relate to," explained Peachy Pie.
"Oh," said Sunny, looking deflated. She took out her notepad and struck lines through two names. "So, nopony who's much older than you?" Sunny sucked on the tip of her pencil. Peachy Pie shook her head. Sunny struck a few more names off her list. "And I suppose nopony who's much younger either?" Peachy Pie shook her head again. Sunny struck some more names from her list.
"Okay," continued Sunny, perking up a bit, "this next one's a real cutie, and more our age."
The two ponies trotted out of Sunny's uncle's garden and towards town. They stopped outside the video game arcade. "Look." Sunny pointed a hoof inside.
Peachy Pie peered into the arcade. "Archer?!"
"No, I meant Button," said Sunny Daze, gesturing into the arcade again. "He's cute, right?"
"I suppose so." Peachy Pie looked at him bashing the controls of whatever game it was that he was sat in front of. "But he's obsessed with video games. When he's not down here, he'll be playing them at home."
"What's wrong with video games?" Sunny Daze looked hurt. "I play video games. You play video games."
"I know…" Peachy turned to her. "But Button plays them all the time. All. The. Time. He'd never want to spend any time with me. I want a special somepony who wants to be with me. Somepony willing to give up their day for me."
"Alright, Princess Demandy-Pants." Sunny Daze smiled. Her curiosity was piqued though. "Why did you think I meant Archer?"
"Well, you pointed at her." Peachy gestured at the blue filly with a bow and arrow cutie mark. "And she's pretty cute."
"I hadn't even considered putting any fillies on the list — I just assumed you were looking for a colt." Sunny started scribbling more names on the list. "I suppose that opens up some more possibilities. So, what about Archer?"
"Video games," answered Peachy.
Sunny sighed. "OK, come along."
The two fillies trotted off in the direction of Ponyville Park.
* * *
"Look," whispered Sunny Daze, peering out from behind a tree.
"What am I looking at? And why do we have to whisper?" Peachy Pie looked around the park.
"Ssshhh! Look!" Sunny gestured with a hoof.
Peachy Pie saw two pegasus ponies having a picnic. "Rumble and Scootaloo?!"
"Yeah," whispered Sunny, "I was going to just suggest Rumble, but after the whole Archer thing, I reckon just pick either of them."
"I'm not going to break up an existing couple just to find my special somepony," said Peachy. "What kind of a pony do you think I am?"
"I hadn't really thought of it like that," admitted Sunny Daze. "No, you're too nice to do something like that."
The two ponies decided to take a break from their hunt and walked around the pond. A white stallion in a straw hat was fishing. He didn't look like he was catching anything. Their friend Firelock (apparently "too young") was sailing a toy boat and let Peachy and Sunny have a turn too.
* * *
"So what exactly are you looking for in a special somepony?" asked Sunny Daze as the two ponies trotted along the road.
"Oh, I don't know." Peachy tried to picture what her special somepony might look like, but her mind drew a blank.
"Well, you've already said somepony our age. Somepony who wants to spend time with you. Anything else?"
"Somepony that's kind and generous. Somepony that makes me smile when I'm feeling sad. And somepony that smiles when they see me too!" Peachy Pie closed her eyes, trying to imagine being with that special somepony. "Somepony I don't feel under pressure to talk with, and do things with. Somepony I can just relax and be me with."
As they walked around a bend in the road, Sunny turned with the road, but Peachy, her eyes still closed, walked straight off the edge. She felt a pull on her tail, and opened her eyes. In front of her was a sheer drop (several ponies high!) into a muddy wallow. Peachy watched as her saddlebag fell into the mud with a splat. "Oh no!" she cried as the bag disappeared into the gloop. Her back legs were still on solid ground, but her front legs were suspended in mid air. Suspended by Sunny who had caught her tail in her teeth just in time. Peachy backed up carefully.
Peachy threw her front hooves around her friend, hugging her.
"Watch where you're going, will you?" Sunny broke away from the hug. "You scared me half to death there."
"Sorry." Peachy sheepishly scratched at the ground with a hoof.
The two ponies walked on, arriving at the playing fields. Some of the colts from school were playing baseball.
"OK, how about First Base?" Sunny Daze pointed at an orange colt with a blue mane.
"What? He has zero personality," objected Peachy Pie, shaking her head.
"Plum Star?" Sunny gestured towards a member of the opposing team.
Peachy frowned, half remembering something she'd heard about the purple-haired colt. "He's cute, but Sweetie Belle told me he once made her cry."
"Urgh!" grunted Sunny. "Nopony is good enough for you."
Peachy Pie's stomach started rumbling. "I'm hungry."
"OK, let's sit down and have some lunch," suggested Sunny, looking around for somewhere to have their picnic.
The two fillies ambled over to a bench to sit and watch the game. "D'oh!" Peachy Pie buried her face in her hoof. "I lost my lunch, didn't I?!"
"Never mind," said Sunny cheerfully, "you can share mine." She ripped her hay sandwich in half, and passed the slightly bigger half to her friend.
"Thanks, Sunny, you're the best!" Peachy Pie chomped down on the sandwich hungrily. Sunny's mum made wonderful packed lunches.
Once they'd finished the sandwich, the ponies shared the apple and milk too. Peachy sat and watched the rest of the game while Sunny went through her list, crossing out names, occasionally thinking of new ones and noting them down, often to cross them out later.
At the end of the game, they walked back into town. Sunny had reached the point of suggesting almost every pony they saw as a potential special somepony, and Peachy was managing to find objections to them all.
Zipporwhill was too young. So was Dinky Doo. Featherweight was too skinny. Rainy Feather was too yellow, but Bloo was not nearly yellow enough. Snips and Snails... just... no.
* * *
It was the end of the day, and the two fillies had been trotting around so much that their hooves were sore. They came to the large orchard that lay across the road from their homes. This was part of the block of land that Apple Bloom's family had set aside as a sort of nature reserve for fruit bats and other creatures that enjoyed apples. Ponies were free to help themselves to an apple or two if they could find any that hadn't been gobbled up by the wildlife. They walked around the orchard, looking for apples.
"I can't believe I haven't found anypony." Peachy looked at the ground and scratched a hoof in the grass.
"We've found plenty of ponies," pointed out Sunny. "It's just none of them were good enough for you."
Peachy Pie looked at her best friend. "You think I'm being too fussy?"
"I didn't mean that." Sunny searched the branches around her. "You're a special pony, and you deserve somepony that will make you happy."
Sunny spotted a couple of apples and twisted them off the branch they were growing on with her forehooves. They both slumped down at the base of an apple tree, leaning on its trunk and looking out over the orchard.
The sun was beginning to set, and the sky was ablaze with vivid yellow, orange, red, pink, and purple streaks.
Sunny passed an apple to Peachy. "Don't be sad though."
"I'm not sad," said Peachy, before taking a bite of the apple.
Sunny looked at her friend and saw that she looked perfectly content. She didn't think Peachy looked sad — if anything, she looked happy. Sunny thought about their day and smiled, because even if they hadn't found Peachy's very special somepony, they'd had a lot of fun together.
The two friends watched the sunset together.