i.
Twilight Sparkle glared at her desk with most unimpressed look. More specifically, she glared at the pony slouched and laying across the front of her desk and over all of her papers and files. While her friend appeared perfectly content with groaning and signaling her distress to Twilight atop of her work, that very much needed to be done, Twilight herself… not so much.
“... You know, Rainbow, I have no problem with you sulking here,” she said, because she was all too familiar with her friends dragging themselves to her castle with woes that needed to be,well, un-woed, “but could you not do it on top of my desk? Where I am working on these important papers?”
“Are these papers more important than your coolest friend in the world?” Rainbow asked, still not looking Twilight’s way, her hooves still over her eyes.
“They have midnight deadlines,” Twilight said, purposefully avoiding the answer.
“So do I!” Rainbow finally rolled around, rising partially to meet Twilight’s gaze. “I need help, Twi, and I’m running outta time!”
Twilight raised a questioning brow and decided not to say You still have enough time to bemoan on my desk. “Go on," she instead said.
“It’s, uhh…” Rainbow’s gaze dropped, a bout of nervousness slipping out as she brushed a hoof on Twilight’s desk. “It’s about my, uh, date… with Pinkie tomorrow.”
Twilight’s face lit up, her mood lifted. “Oh, that’s right! Your first date’s tomorrow already.” She grinned wider, head tilting to the side. “It feels like just yesterday you two were just being a bunch of silly fillies who had no idea they liked each other.”
“I know. Apparently everypony else did,” Rainbow grumbled. She shook her head. “B-but that’s not important! I… I just… I dunno, I don’t know what to do for a date!”
Twilight blinked. “You… take her someplace. You guys talk, and you have a good time.” She shrugged. “I’ve read up on romantic relationships. Dating isn’t really… that complicated. Or at least it shouldn't be. What’s the issue?”
“Yeah, I got that much!” Rainbow exclaimed, throwing her hooves into the air. “But I need help with… well, all of that. When we both decided on finally going on our first date, we decided the best way to do the whole date thing was, like, taking turns deciding on a date spot.”
“Seems fair enough,” Twilight said with a nod.
“Not fair enough!” Rainbow leaned forward, her face inches from Twilight’s. Her eyebrows were furrowed. “I somehow ended up choosing the first date. I'm doomed.”
Twilight leaned away because personal space, something her friend seemed to have no knowledge of. “And that’s bad how…?”
“Because it’s Pinkie Pie! How the heck am I gonna make a good first impression on our first date when it’s Pinkie Pie? The one who goes over the top with everything? Like that one time she set up this surprise party for that one old stallion who retired from being a dentist, even though he nearly had a heart attack!”
“It was a good reminder for her to not do surprise parties for ponies over sixty,” droned Twilight. She shook her head. “Anyway, I understand your dilemma, but this is also Pinkie Pie, your best friend.” She smiled warmly. ”She’ll like whatever you do.”
Rainbow crossed her arms, frowning not so warmly. “That’s such a Twilight answer.”
Twilight’s face dropped. “Well, you came to me! What did you expect?”
“A good Rainbow answer, duh,” she said with a roll of her eyes, her tone implying that yes, she did think it was that obvious.
Twilight gave her a blank stare. “How about this? I recommend you ask our friends who are in a relationship. As in…” She tapped her chin, and realization came to her. “Huh, literally anypony else but me.”
“I could set you up, you know,” said Rainbow, with Twilight almost receiving whiplash at the change in topics. “I’m sure we can pick up a cute mare or stallion for ya—”
“Thank you, but not necessary,” Twilight said, already turning away from Rainbow and picking up a paper that had dropped onto the floor. “Why don’t you take care of your own dating woes first?”
She returned to her previous position, placing the paper on the desk, and she looked back at Rainbow. “Honestly, talking to Fluttershy may be a good idea. Since she’s dating a spirit of chaos, and Pinkie’s pretty, well… chaotic.” She shrugged.
Rainbow looked resigned but still shrugged and said, “Alright. I’ll see what they have to say. Thanks, Twi.”
“No problem. And Rainbow?”
“Yeah?”
Twilight’s horn glowed a sparkling purple, as did Rainbow’s body. Rainbow was lifted into the air and dropped less than gingerly onto the ground. She grunted from the impact.
"Sorry, I was waiting to do that halfway into our conversation. Good luck!"
**
Rainbow arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage, wings beating furiously before she landed on the ground. She landed at a fair distance from Fluttershy, who was currently keeping a group of ferrets company. The critters scattered but still lingered around the area as Rainbow walked up. “Hey, Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy spun around and beamed at the sight of her best friend. “Oh, hello, Rainbow. How’re you doing?”
Rainbow grinned. “Great, awesome—” Only for said grin to fall when she realized why she was here in the first place, and she could not keep up the act much longer. “Kinda terrible.”
Fluttershy's smile dropped as concern washed over her face. “Oh? Is something wrong, Rainbow? Is Tank okay?” she asked, a hoof reaching up to her face.
“No, no, no, no!” Rainbow shook her head, but smiled as she said, “He’s fine! He’s still a rocking turtle—
“Tortoise—"
“Gesundheit. Anyway, I just need some help with, ah, something,” Rainbow answered, scratching the back of her neck. “And Twilight thinks you might be able to help.”
“About?” Fluttershy tilted her head, brushing the head of a ferret that rubbed the side of her leg.
“Well, Pinkie and I—we’re going on our first whole date tomorrow—”
“Oh, yes, you talked to me about that earlier yesterday,” said Fluttershy with a cheerful nod. “I’m so happy for you two! Oh, wait, are you nervous for your first date, Rainbow?”
“What? Me?” Rainbow Dash blew a raspberry. “Noooo—okay, yeah,” she relented when she saw Fluttershy’s unfazed, blank stare—for Celestia’s sake, Rainbow swore she saw the ferret give her a similar look. Yes, she wasn’t fooling anypony. “I’m sure I can make it awesome. I just don’t know where to start. Like, where the heck am I supposed to take her?”
Fluttershy’s hoof brushed under her chin. “Oh gosh, there's a lot of places in town that might be nice. Pinkie Pie would love anywhere you'd take her.”
“Oh my gooosh, not helping!” Rainbow pulled at the skin under her eyes with a long groan. Oh, she was not having this conversation with Fluttershy, too. “Like, where would you take her? You gotta have some sorta idea!”
Fluttershy’s cheeks blazed a light pink, fairly similar to her long pink locks. “I-I don’t know, Rainbow. I can’t tell you where I think you should go. It’s your date, not mine. And to be honest,” she added, looking down with a bashful gaze on the ground, “I don't know if I'd be good help here."
“What’cha mean?”
“Well, do you know where Discord and I’d first date took place?”
Rainbow’s eyebrows quirked with interest. “I don’t know. Maybe a faraway rainforest with all these dumb, rare animals or something or maybe in his weird chaos dimension—”
Based on the way Fluttershy shook her head, none of Rainbow’s ideas were flying, so she grew quiet to let Fluttershy answer. “We sat outside at that hill over there,” she said, pointing left of herself toward a small hill not too far in the distance, “on a picnic blanket. A set of tea and sandwiches. And talked.”
Rainbow waited for more. Like Discord creating an explosion of fireworks or of shooting stars or geez, anything else. Fluttershy, however, looked at her, like she was done with her explanation. Rainbow's jaw dropped. “That’s it? Didn't you guys do that all the time before you got together, anyway?"
"Yes. Not much changed when we actually confessed, not really." Her smile bashful but wide.
"And he’s okay with that? Discord? The guy, who this one time when he was just bored I guess, challenged me to a noodle eating contest at three in the morning?”
“And you still won somehow.” Fluttershy giggled at the memory, but cleared her throat after the moment passed. “Th-that’s not the point, though. I decided on how we went on our first date. I chose something very simple, very quiet and peaceful—”
“Very you,” said Rainbow, rolling her eyes.
“Exactly. And he was more than okay with that. He loves me.” She gazed up thoughtfully, lost in the moment.
Rainbow made a noise of disgust, her tongue lolling out. “Uuuuugh.”
Fluttershy’s lips pouted out, dragged away from her trance. “Rainbow—”
“It’s a disgusted sound of affection, I swear,” Rainbow interrupted before Fluttershy went into her 'I need to sternly scold you for what you said' mode. She simply did not have the time for it. She sighed. “I guess that helps, but… aaaagh, I still don’t know what to do for her. I'm screwed.”
Fluttershy frowned, looking genuinely upset. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help much. I’m not exactly an idea pony.”
“That’s okay.” Rainbow waved a dismissive hoof.
Fluttershy’s smile returned after a thought. “But Rarity is very much an idea pony, and she’s with Applejack. She might help.”
Rainbow’s shoulders sagged. “Am I going to have to chase all of our friends to figure this out?”
“If it helps,” Fluttershy said, snickering behind her hoof, “I saw her at Applejack’s when I was there to check on Winona earlier today. She might still be there with Applejack.
“Great! Thanks, Fluttershy!” Rainbow jumped up, wings spread out ready for flight.
“Anytime!” Fluttershy said as Rainbow threw herself into the air and into the clouds, speeding with purpose to Applejack's farm.
**
“Oooh, the wonderful first date! That’s tomorrow, isn’t it? Oh, I’m so incredibly excited for the both of you!”
Rarity sure loved squishing pony’s cheeks when she was excited, huh? And her eyes sparkled like actual diamonds, bright and brimming with pure adulation, as she squealed like a rockstar's fangirl. The moment Rainbow explained why she was at the farm to see Rarity and Applejack, the former was more than okay with invading Rainbow's personal bubble.
Rainbow pushed her hooves forward, putting Rarity at a distance from herself. She turned to Applejack, who had just decided to watch the scene with a hoof trying to hide the snicker falling from her lips.
Rainbow glared at her as she said to Rarity, “That makes one of us—n-not that I’m not excited!” she recovered hurriedly, jumping from the dirt and into the air. “I’m, like, totally excited to go on a date with her, I just—” She buried her face in her hooves, wondering when she'd stop putting her metaphorical hoof in her mouth.
“Yes, yes, I understand the worry,” Rarity interrupted, which Rainbow was more than grateful for. “Of course you’d want this one to count.”
“So that’s why you’re here; looking for advice from us?” Applejack asked, throwing a hoof around Rarity’s shoulders.
Rainbow landed, a hoof brushing the ground. Dirt lifted into the air at the bottom of her hooves. “Y-yeah. I tried asking Fluttershy, and she gave me good advice and all, but it’s not gonna help me. I’m, like, drawing a blank at where I should take her. I want it to be a good first date!” .
Rarity nodded with a thoughtful hum, eyes shut. “It’s sweet of you that you want it to be the best, Rainbow Dash.” When her eyes opened, however, her gaze became serious and sharp, her focus directly on Rainbow. “However, I can practically see the stress on your shoulders. If you stress too hard about this whole thing, you’ll ruin the thing itself. Why, if I overwhelmed myself with making every dress perfect, each one would turn into a complete disaster!” Her hoof dramatically splayed over her forehead. “Because it’s not about absolute perfection. It’s about taking what you have and making that as good as it can be.”
Rainbow groaned. “But Pinkie Pie’s not a dress.”
“I’m more than aware, darling, trust me. The metaphor still fit, though.”
“Does it really matter to you where you take her that much?” Applejack asked.
“Of course!” Rainbow walked up to Applejack and threw her hooves in the air as she exclaimed, fairly loudly into the farmer’s face, “Why else would I be getting worked up over something stupid like this?”
“It’s just that we didn’t expect this of ya,” said Applejack, unflinching against the pony yelling in her face. “You’re not exactly a romantic or nothing.”
“And you are?”
“Oh, she is,” Rarity backed up her girlfriend, lightly pushing Rainbow Dash away from Applejack. She pressed her cheek to Applejack’s. “It’s just that, well, let’s just say she isn’t one I’d go to for date location ideas.”
“H-hey!”
“Darling, for our second date, you took me to your family’s farm. You know, the one with dirt and dust.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “First of all, I wanted ya to meet the family! And second…” Her gaze flattened. “It’s a farm! What’d ya expect there to be? Concrete streets and whatnot?”
“A least a sense of cleaniness, darling.” Rarity, grinning at Applejack’s annoyance, booped her marefriend’s snout. She turned back to Rainbow Dash. “But it wasn’t all that bad. There was a dance, and the sunsets were beautiful. We had a good time overall.”
“So you weren’t, like, disappointed or anything?” Rainbow blurted before she could stop herself. “Because it wasn’t what you expected or really liked all that much?”
Rarity and Applejack exchanged glances, both of them clearly catching onto something. “Are ya worried about disappointing Pinkie Pie?” asked Applejack for the both of them.
Rainbow’s gaze averted elsewhere—the apple trees to their left looked incredibly interesting all of a sudden. “... Maybe.”
Applejack grimaced. “Now why the heck do you think you’d disappoint her?”
Rainbow Dash groaned. “Pinkie’s parties and celebrations are all, like, crazy and big and cool. She puts all of her energy into making them the best they could be. I can’t do that! I barely put energy into making breakfast.” She crossed her hooves, still not looking at her friends. Oh, the ground was very rough but nice under her hoof.
So while she didn’t see how her friends reacted to the explanation of much of the stress she was feeling, she could sure as heck hear them. “Well, Dash,” said Applejack, her voice soft and careful, “a date ain’t a party. It’s, well, it’s kind of a celebration of sorts, but not exactly a Pinkie Pie kind. They’re between just two ponies, not an entire town.”
“Why, some nights it’s just like the two of you in the world,” said Rarity with a wistful, dreamy air.
Rainbow sneaked at glance at her friends, who both gave each other warm, loving looks before turning back to their friend in need. “Just give her what you think she deserves," Applejack advised.
“Besides the best?”
Rarity giggled, which made Rainbow’s wings ruffle up, her face flustered. Catching Rainbow’s reaction, Rarity hastily said, “Oh, sorry, that was… that was just so adorable and sweet.”
“It’s the truth,” Rainbow muttered around the blush on her face, pouting.
“As not just your friend, but Pinkie’s, I think we can both safely say that she will love wherever you decide, whatever you two do,” said Rarity, walking up to Rainbow to wrap a hoof around her in a comforting manner.
Another groan escaped her mouth—man, she was doing that a lot today. “That’s what everypony else has said.”
“Maybe take that to heart, then,” Applejack pointed out.
Rainbow sighed, and once she left her friends to themselves, the entire flight back to her house, her mind was filled with nothing but her potential date plans. She tried to think through what all of her friends had said—something very me, something between just the two of us, something that she'll love no matter what... she'll love it no matter what.
By the time she arrived to her front door, one idea came to her, at last.
**
Rapid knocks caught onto Pinkie’s door just as the sun was beginning to dip into the mountains. Pinkie, squealed with a burst of excitement, bounced to the door and opened it with a flourish. She was greeted with a brilliant yellow sky and her bestest marefriend, Rainbow Dash.
“Now who’s this adorable stranger?” Pinkie said, unable to conceal the giant smile that reached ear-to-ear.
“Pinkie,” Rainbow muttered, her cheeks red with embarrassment.
Pinkie giggled, which brought a smile back onto Rainbow’s face. “Sooooo,” Pinkie drew out, “where we heading, my most wonderful marefriend?”
“It’s a… surprise!” Rainbow said, jumping into the air and picking Pinkie Pie up, bridal style. She flicked Pinkie Pie’s door shut with her tail and started her flight to their destination. The clouds practically glowed in the almost sunset sky.
“A surprise?” Pinkie gasped, throwing her hooves around Rainbow’s neck to keep her balance in her arms. “How did you know I love those?” She laughed out loud again, with Rainbow joining her.
After a quieter moment passed, Pinkie added, a bit more on the softer side now, “Well, whatever it is, just know that I’ll love it!”
“I...” Realization struck Rainbow, and she struggled not to stop mid-flight entirely. She glanced over at Pinkie, eyebrow quirked. “Don’t tell me...”
“Oh, yeah, they told me. Like, I went to each of the girls sometime last night or this morning. I went to see Twilight last night when I wanted to—”
“Those snitches!” Rainbow cussed before Pinkie Pie could go into her usual Pinkie rambles about what she did with each of their friends last night and this morning—with great detail that surely could have kept the conversation going for hours.
Pinkie Pie smiled. “Honestly, it’s really sweet that you were so worried about our first date—well, not that sweet,” she corrected herself, her smile fading slightly as a thoughtful look crossed her face, “cause you were stressed out about it. And I don’t want you to be stressed about stuff like that. That’s silly!” Now her smile was entirely gone; now she was pouting. “So I take that back. Not sweet!” She smacked the back of Rainbow’s head.
“Hey, I’m flying here!"
"I have no regrets."
"C’mon, I just wanna impress you, is all.”
Pinkie burst into more laughter; Rainbow almost expected tears to fall from her eyes. “You impress me every day, though," Pinkie said when she recovered. "Just by being you.”
Rainbow snickered, dipping her head down. “Oh man, that’s soooo cheesy.”
“Cheesy with sugar and sprinkles!” She nuzzled Rainbow’s face, making their faces scrunch up.
Rainbow grinned when Pinkie backed away, then looked over. “And we’re here! We’re going up!” She gestured with a newly available hoof as they landed. Though, Rainbow noted to herself as she stared up at the hot air balloon sitting in the grass feet away, they would not be on the ground for long.
Pinkie Pie gasped loudly. “A hot air balloon ride?!”
“Yeah? I decided a hot air balloon ride together to watch the sunset would be nice, and then we can have dinner at my house. Nothing crazy. That cool?” Rainbow grit her teeth, preparing for the worst—despite everything she had been told, she still wanted to be ready.
“That’s…” When Pinkie Pie looked at her, she almost looked… offended. “Unfair!”
“HUH?!” Rainbow jolted.
“That’s what I was going to do when I chose our next date! Even the dinner part! Pinkie stamped her hoof on the grass. For a moment, she took herself out of her angered phase to add, "Well, I didn't think of your house, though that'd be a great idea, because we'd get to look out at the stars. Oooh, I'm taking mental notes!"
Rainbow’s ears flattened. “... Are you kidding me?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?” Pinkie Pie pouted in an adorable way, but she seemed to realize this, because she answered, “Don’t answer that. Okay, I’ve been thinking about this one for daaaaays now, and you come in and ruin my plans.” She bopped Rainbow on the nose. “You plan ruiner.”
Rainbow brushed at her bopped nose and let out a small laugh. “Sorry. Man, I’m just the worst, aren’t I?”
“You’re the worst.” Pinkie Pie leaned forward and planted a quick, butterfly kiss on Rainbow’s cheek. “Now I just have to make our next date bigger and better.”
“Oh no.” Despite her words, Rainbow's smile never left her lips.
“Oh YES!”