Chapter Text
They went their separate ways after that. Pinkie walked Twilight back to the castle, and they swapped their clothes back, and they bid each other goodnight and Pinkie headed home.
Long into the night she tossed and turned, a troubled frown gracing her muzzle; for as much as she had had fun, and it was always nice to spend time with one of her friends…
This had felt much, much different than that.
She remembered something Rarity had flippantly said, once, about knowing when you liked somepony. Pinkie didn’t know a lot about romance, or anything of that sort, really, so maybe she was just making it up and maybe she really was really sick (in more ways than one), but…
Rarity had described it as wanting to kiss them.
It was as simple as that, she’d said.
Frankly, Pinkie was a bit surprised she remembered that to begin with—at the time they were at the spa and it was in a one-off conversation with somepony else who’d asked about it (Fluttershy, she was pretty sure?) and Pinkie had been busy trying to avoid the temptation of eating the cucumbers on her eyes—so, the fact she was thinking of it at all had to have meant…
Something.
She wasn’t sure exactly what, but something.
And if that something was the case…
And if she…
. . .
UGH!
WHY was she thinking about this at three in the morning?! She had work tomorrow! And! Other things!! That didn’t involve obsessing over one of her best friends who she may or may not like as more than a friend!!!
…Was she obsessing?
Uh oh.
How did she know if she was obsessing or not?
At one point would it become CREEPY?!?!
…
Uh oh.
.
.
.
Twilight was rubbing off on her.
Pinkie Pie sat up, spun around, yanked the pillow up to her face, and screamed into it.
“Good morning, Pinkie!”
“Mornin’ Pinkie!”
Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!
…Was what she wanted to say.
Instead, a barely discernible grumble left the sleep-deprived party pony and she grumpily stomped her way into the kitchen, grumbling further to herself as she got out the eggs. In her peripheral vision, the Cakes shared a concerned glance with each other.
“Um, Pinkie, dear,” Cup Cake was first to speak, “is everything alright?”
Pinkie huffed, cracking three eggs into a bowl. “Yep! Fine! Everything’s just peachy keen! I definitely slept!”
Just above his breath, she heard Carrot Cake mumbled, “Ah, that would do it…”
Pinkie had been told before by them that she could get rather… Moody, when she didn’t get her shut-eye. She hadn’t known what they were talking about, mainly because they felt safe enough to mention it the day after she got some rest, but…
Hmm.
Yeah, they had a point.
In a rush, exhaustion seeped in in grumpiness’s place, and Pinkie’s ears drooped onto her head.
She let out a sigh.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. and Mr. Cake. I don’t mean to act all Cranky Doodle Donkey on you guys! I just…” She bit her lip. “I couldn’t seem to sleep a wink last night! My brain was being all overthink-y and annoying and mean!”
With an understanding nod, Cup trotted up the younger troubled mare, wrapping one foreleg around Pinkie’s shoulders while gently pushing away the bowl of egg yolks. “Here, hun,” she murmured, handing the bowl off to somepony else. “Why don’t we cook you breakfast, and you tell us all about it?”
…
Pinkie… Wasn’t sure why, but…
Her eyes welled up.
She nodded quickly, not being able to help a sniffle.
“O-okay,” she all but whimpered, as Cup Cake pulled her into a hug.
“And, that was when I…”
Something like a rock lodged in her throat. She pawed at the table, swallowing.
“I wanted to kiss her.”
Her stomach tumbled. She quickly shoved a bite of scrambled egg into her snout, then fumbled for the glass of orange juice next to her plate, chugging both the food and drink down in hearty gulps.
From next to her, Cup rubbed Pinkie’s back in soothing motions. It helped. A little.
“Is that silly?” she asked, in barely more than a whisper.
“What? No! No no no, not at all!” Cup Cake shook her head doubly, as though to doubly drive the point home. “To me, it sounds like… And I’d hate to overstep here, but it seems that—”
“I’ve got the biggest crush on the most smartest most importantest most magicalest pony ever?” Pinkie Pie filled in for her, with nothing short of despair, setting her glass down in favor of groaning into her hooves.
“Well—”
“AND there’s NO way she’d EVER like me back, because!! BECAUSE!!!” She gestured flippantly at the air in front of her, not at all representative of what she was saying. “Because of exactly that!”
“Um.” Carrot Cake tentatively spoke up from her other side, following her gaze to the nothing she gestured at. “Because of, what—?”
In response Pinkie slammed her hooves onto the table, shaking the plates and glasses with it.
“I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME!” she cried.
Once more, the Cakes shared a glance.
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” Cup assured, giving one of her hooves a pat.
Carrot nodded. “I think, what you’re going through right now is very normal. I remember when I got my first crush on somepony,” he mused, “all I could stress about was if they liked me back or not! I spent all of my days back then trying to change myself if it meant they would like me better. I changed my mane, I changed what I wore, hay, I even tried to dye my coat a different color!” He shook her head, a bit sadly, “But eventually, I realized that if even I didn’t like myself, enough that I thought it best to change everything about me… Then it probably wasn’t worth it at all.”
Pinkie stared at him in mounting horror, to the point where Cup quickly interjected,
“What my husband means to say, is that you have to find the right pony for you! It’s never a good thing to change who you are to make somepony like you, and if you’re not comfortable in your own coat to begin with, that’s something you should work out before you try to start a relationship. All of that to say,” she went on, “Twilight loves you for who you are! It’s not a stretch to say she might like you back! Especially since she gave you her sweater,” she winked, pinking Pinkie’s cheeks.
“So don’t write yourself off so soon, ya hear?” Carrot added, just as warm, as he affectionately shook Pinkie’s shoulder. If nothing else, it caused a short laugh to slip out of her.
They were right.
Pinkie Pie didn’t like herself.
*
After breakfast, she tried to get back to her usual routine.
Of course, it resulted in her burning every single item she happened to throw into the oven, much to her growing impatience and embarrassment. Which she didn’t feel a lot! Everything felt new and sudden and surprising and for once not in a good way. Maybe?
Was it really her fault when all she could think about was the night before, and what it meant, and what it meant when Twilight gave her her sweater?
Should she ask Rarity about that?
Would it be awkward to ask Rarity, since she was friends with them both and might feel weird about it?
Pinkie Pie ground her teeth together at these thoughts, which she knew wasn’t a good habit, but it was a habit nonetheless and she didn’t want to have to think about getting rid of one thing when she might have to get rid of another already!
Wasn’t that just it?
Shouldn’t she try to get rid of it?
Shouldn’t she just… Forget about it, never let these feelings reach the second surface, bury them deep, deep back down, hopefully into another dimension?
Or…
Or,
was she overthinking that too?
Was it okay?
Did Twilight feel the s…
. . .
And would it be okay if she didn’t?
There she went, being Twilight again!
(Although, if she could be more Twilight Sparkle than Pinkie Pie, then…)
That’s it!
She was going to talk to Rarity about this and she was going to get a reasonable answer from a reasonable pony and she was going to kiss…
. . .
Well.
Maybe not that… Last part. It just depended! On! Things!
It was a nice thought though!
Yup!
Humming to herself, she closed the door to Sugarcube Corner behind her, and began to trot for Carousel Boutique.
Just one hoof in front of the other.
Just one hoof, then another.
She could do this!
She could…
Oh, there Rarity was!
…Heading out of Carousel Boutique in a scarf?
Pinkie paused, about to wave.
That was…
Oh.
Pinkie lowered her hoof.
Twilight was waiting for Rarity. Wearing the same sweater.
Pinkie Pie shifted on her hooves uncomfortably. Should she…?
She took another step.
Twilight was laughing at something Rarity had said. Pinkie watched her ignite her horn, a magenta glow placing itself around Rarity’s scarf, untying it from her neck. Twilight levitated it to her own neck, wrapping it around herself.
Then she reignited her horn again.
Her sweater disappeared.
It reappeared nearby.
Pinkie Pie blinked.
It reappeared on Rarity.
Oh.
The heather mauve hue of the sweater blended nicely with her snow-white coat, in Pinkie’s eyes. Much nicer than it had with her own.
Rarity said something. Twilight Sparkle laughed.
Twilight Sparkle said something. Rarity laughed.
Oh.
Pinkie Pie turned around.
“Pinkie?”
She heard Twilight Sparkle call after her.
Pinkie Pie walked away.