My Bestest Friend
-
'"Hey, Twilight, what do you do if you get the twitchy-twitches, but then your twitchy twitch stops and you begin thinky-thinking? Then what? Do you listen to your thinky-twitches, or your twitchy-twitches?"'
-
Boing!
Boing!
Boing!
Boing!
Boing!
The pink pony who bounced cheerfully along the trail, a large spring in her step, froze as she saw something. She squinted, not sure if she was seeing right, so she began 'Boing!'ing closer, to get a glimpse at it.
Boing!
Boing!
"Hey 'Shy! Whatcha' up to?"
The figure that she addressed jumped as her nickname was called, and spun around quickly, but then noticed that it was only Pinkie Pie. Her shoulders visibly slumped after that. Pinkie wouldn't hurt a fly...unless it happened to ruin one of her parties.
"Oh, um...Pinkie...hi." sighed Fluttershy. "Please,um...please don't scare me like that, OK? It's not...nice."
Pinkie laughed playfully. "Not nice? It's funny! BOO!" she shouted, before frowning as the pegasus squealed, and shrank back before her hair.
"Sorry, Fluttershy. So, what are ya' doin'?" asked Pinkie, poking over Fluttershy's shoulder.
"Oh, I'm just making sure Angel gets enough food." cooed Fluttershy. "He really needs to eat more, he eats like a bird! And I would know, birds hardly eat anything at all!"
After a brief silence, the yellow mare turned pleadingly back to Angel. "Come on now, just one bite? Please?"
The small rabbit that she regarded wore a stern face, and shook its head ascetically.
"Angel, please! Please, or...you won't grow up to be big and strong like the other bunnies!"
The earth pony chortled. "That isn't how you do it, Fluttershy you silly filly!"
Fluttershy turned towards Pinkie, whose eyes shone playfully. "Oh? Then...would you, um, like to try?"
Pinkie laughed in response, clapping as she hooted. "Try? Good one, Fluttershy!"
After she calmed down a bit, she continued. "I don't try, Fluttershy! I do!"
She walked up to the small bunny, who stared up at her, with a glare that said, 'Oh, like you can do any better.'
But Pinkie did nothing. Instead, she stared. Angel stared back. Their glares battled back and forth, as Fluttershy meekly objected, "Um...Pinkie...you can stop now, if...if that's OK with you..."
The pink party pony paid no attention to the pegasus beside her, and stared. She never once blinked, and neither did Angel. That is, until...
"Ha! I win!" squealed Pinkie. "You know the rules! Loser has to finish the carrot!"
Angel seemed to give a 'harrumph!', but soon enough, the carrot was down his throat in only a second.
Fluttershy blinked. "That was a little...fast...but I guess it works." She turned to Pinkie. "I guess...um...thank you." she muttered.
Pinkie beamed in response to Fluttershy's hesitant gratitude. "No problem, Fluttershy! You're my bestest friend! I'd go halfway around Equestria and back for ya'!"
The shy mare chuckled. "Oh, but there's no need for that, Pinkie! I don't think there'd be any reason for you to do that!"
Pinkie's face quickly grew thoughtful. "Or would there be? Hmmm...that'd be weird, am I right or am I-ooh, there's Lyra! Lyra! Lyra!"
The last few interjections came almost faster than light, and Fluttershy hardly had time to process what had happened. Pinkie knew everypony, she had to greet everypony, she was everypony's best friend, essentially. But was she everypony's bestest friend?
But then the pegasus shrugged. She'd gotten Angel to finish the carrot, that was all she really cared about after that.
"See you later, Pinkie...I guess..."
-
Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock-
The door flung open under Pinkie's wildly flailing hooves which pounded against the door, and the knocking quickly changed to a duller sound.
"Pinkie! Quit hitting my face!"
The pink earth pony slowed her rapid hoof movements, noticing Twilight's face-her eyebrows were in a perfect 'v' formation, and a sullen scowl hung there.
"Ooh...sorry Twilight! I guess I'd better look to see whether I'm hitting a door or a face next time!"
The unicorn grumbled, but soon sighed, her voice containing hints of a reluctant accepting attitude.
"It's OK, I guess, Pinkie. Though what's all the hurry for? You come pounding on my door like you're being chased by a dragon!"
"Hardy har har!" called Spike from inside the tree-house.
"Oh, it's nothing Twilight...though I gotta' ask you somethin'! You're smarty-smart, right?"
A small eye flutter from the lavender mare. "Um, I...guess."
Pinkie smiled, and took a big breath. "Good! Then I can ask you this! Twilight, what do you do if you get the twitchy-twitches, but then your twitchy twitch stops and you begin thinky-thinking? Then what? Do you listen to your thinky-twitches, or your twitchy-twitches?"
There was a silence as Twilight stared at an expectant pony across from her. She raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" she inquired, voice laden with heavy traces of confusion.
Pinkie sighed. "What I mean is, do you listen to your Twilight sense first, or your brain?"
Twilight chuckled. "Twilight sense? I suppose you mean my 'gut'?"
Pinkie laughed at that. "Oh, you silly filly, nopony listens to their stomach! We all know what stomachs say!"
Twilight held up a hoof, but then sighed, and placed it back onto the floor. "I meant...fine, my Twilight sense. Yes, I do go with my...'Twilight Sense' first, but then I always think things-"
She stopped.
"Pinkie?"
The air was silent, Pinkie was gone. Pinkie would be Pinkie-she'd probably already dashed off to somewhere else, knowing her.
-
Knock, knock, knock, knock-
Pinkie! Remember! Don't hit anypony's face this time!
Pinkie, true to her own word, ceased knocking, and just in time-the door opened to reveal Applejack, whose hat was poised slightly tilted back on her head.
"Evenin', Pinkie. What brings ya' here?"
Pinkie sighed-the routine was getting old. She'd already been to Dash and Rarity, and by now, the question was growing stale, too. But she had to be absolutely sure about this.
"Applejack, I was wondering. When you think about stuff, do you think with your head, or your ...instinks?"
Applejack replied nearly instantly. "First of all, it's 'instincts', sugarcube. And second, ya' should always listen to your gut! Yer' brain can lie to ya' a lot, and frankly, it will over-exaggerate a lotta' stuff. Why do ya' ask?"
Pinkie shrugged. "I dunno'! I just came here for...come to think of it, I don't know! Hey, you got any spare apples?"
Applejack chuckled. "Whaddya' think? There's a whole entire grove marked 'Pick your own apples'. I'm pretty sure that's a-"
She stopped as Pinkie zipped off, squealing, 'whee!'.
"...that silly filly." chided Applejack playfully to herself. "She ain't never make any sense, and she probably ain't ever gonna'."
-
The sound of grass crunching gently under light footfalls sounded throughout the night. The moon gleamed brightly, gently casting an illuminated shadow over every hill and valley of Equestria. It was a beautiful sight, be you pony or bird, Ursa or Manticore. Every single creature seemed to have taken time out of their slumber to simply gaze at the magnificence of this night.
Of course, if the animals were up, that meant Fluttershy was. She simply lay on the grass, watching the stars slowly twinkle in the evening sky. The crunching slowly approached her position. She was too entranced by the stars' beauty to notice, however.
"Hey, 'Shy! Whatcha' doin'? Staring at bright thingies?"
Fluttershy would have jumped, but she was laying down, so instead, she settled for a quick darting of the eyebrows.
"Pinkie, please!"
"Sorry." replied Pinkie. "Mind if I join you?"
"Uh, sure...there's like, plenty of space..."
The premier party paradeer smiled. "Great!" she chirped, flopping onto her back next to Fluttershy.
"See any good star-shape-thingies?" she asked after barely a second of silence.
The pegasus sighed. "Pinkie, I'd like to say yes, but with you interrupting me, I can't find any..."
Pinkie frowned. "Jeesh, sorry."
They sat there for a while, Pinkie absentmindedly tapping her hoof, as if to signify something impending, looming above them. In a way, something was looming above them.
"Ooh, look!" Pinkie squealed eventually, hopping to her feet. "I see a heart! Look!" she cried, pointing towards the distance. Fluttershy sighed, and stood up.
"Where, Pinkie? I don't...I don't see it."
Silence.
"...Pinkie?"
She looked back towards where Pinkie had pointed. Now there sat a huge heart-but it wasn't made of stars. No, it was larger than life, solid, and almost home-made-as if made from paper mache...she couldn't tell from there, though.
"...wow. That's kinda'-"
"Weird, I know, right?"
Fluttershy jumped as Pinkie spoke right beside her. "How did you-when did you-" the pegasus started, glancing off towards the 'heart' again, but nothing was there. Instead, only the vacant fields were there.
"...this is kinda' scary..." mentioned Fluttershy, and it was. Giant hearts appearing from nowhere, ponies disappearing and reappearing-who wouldn't be scared?
"Aw, you shouldn't be scared, Fluttershy!" reassured Pinkie. "It's a great night, and ya' got your bestest friend Pinkie right here! The one who loves you! And besides, what could-"
Pinkie stopped. Did she say that next to last one out loud? I think I did. I'm not sure, sometimes I think I say things out loud, but it was just my brain speaking really loudly, and then I-
She stopped as she noticed Fluttershy shrinking behind her hair again.
Yup, I certainly said it out loud. Oh well, no use in holdin' back now! Give it all ya' got, Pinkie!
"'Shy? Why are you not sayin' anything? Are you okay?" asked Pinkie. Her voice showed that she was truly concerned-Fluttershy's expression could not be seen, but her body language was obvious-she was shaking, though whether from sadness or fright, Pinkie wasn't sure.
All that could be heard in response was a small "...eep!" from Fluttershy. She now held her ground though, trying to avoid Pinkie's gaze.
"Aw, c'mon, Fluttershy! You know I wouldn't kid!" protested Pinkie. "I love all of my friends! The only difference is, you're just a little more loved, in a different way! That's not a reason to be scared! Turn that frown upside down!"
The timid mare before her simply squeaked, high pitched and shocked. It would probably be a while before she could speak.
But that theory from Pinkie soon got busted to bits when Fluttershy lifted her head. Her mane obscured her face for the moment, but her voice spoke plenty to the pink pony.
"Pinkie, I can't...I just..."
The words themselves, of course, didn't carry much meaning, except for an uncertainty. But the tone spoke plenty to Pinkie. She knew happy when she heard it, and Fluttershy was more than that. This was proven even more so when Pinkie felt herself glomped by the enthusiastic pegasus, almost getting bowled over onto the grass.
"Fluttershy, let...let go..." she gasped, as she felt her lungs nearly being crushed by the monster of a hug that Fluttershy was now giving her.
"Sorry."
As the yellow mare pushed away from Pinkie gently, her hair bounced to the side in the slight breeze, finally revealing her face.
She was still shaking. But her lips were curled upward-she was smiling! Before the breeze died down, Pinkie could swear that she saw softly glinting tears in the moonlight.
But then Fluttershy just had to ask, had to disrupt the smiles that they both shared.
"But...why, Pinkie? Why?"
Pinkie chuckled in response. "Oh, you silly filly! Why not? I don't see how anyone in their right mind could turn down you!"
The pink pony smiled. "And what a loss that'd be, eh, Shysie? We have something more special than all those stars out there!"
The pegasus looked up towards where Pinkie pointed-the stars all seemed to have halted their progress, almost as if watching the two.
"We certainly do, Pinkie...we certainly do."
After this, she lay back down on her stomach, and simply gazed at the stars. Pinkie followed suit soon after bouncing around, and giggling over how Fluttershy had been 'silly'. The stars had seemed to regain their slow, creeping progress, but their supposed halting wasn't unnoticed every now and then.
"They're forever, you know..." began Pinkie. Her eyes grew a little distant. "But so are we."
Fluttershy sat up. "Hang on, Pinkie. Don't be comparing two ponies to the stars! I mean, you can...but please don't."
Pinkie giggled. "Sometimes, Fluttershy, you can be sillier than me!You know what I mean!"
The pegasus mare smiled. "I do, Pinkie. But we'll see about that..."
The party pony sighed, creating a slight whistling sound with the action.
"Guess you gotta' be happy with what you have..." she muttered, turning back towards the sky.
"Pinkie," she heard out of one of her ears. But instead, the pink-maned pony just sat there, unanswering. But apparently, a response wasn't needed. Instead, she felt a gentle pressure on her left cheek, and then the mare next to her soon spoke again.
"I am glad for what I have, Pinkie. Somepony who cares."
Pinkie blushed, but instead continued staring at the stars.
She lay there for quite a while, and didn't even notice when her eyes drooped, and her breathing became slower and steadier, until finally reaching a point to which she could actually be called 'still'.
Fluttershy followed soon after, and the night soon grew entirely still, and stayed so until the coming morning.
-
A lone white bunny hopped along the meadows, with one thought on his mind-where the heck is Fluttershy?
His question was soon answered upon cresting a low hilltop. Fluttershy was, indeed there. She had her head laid softly upon the grass, snoring delicately and slowly. Pinkie, as the rabbit recognized, lay right next to her, snuggling with the pegasus.
Then he sniffed-the smell of flowers and peppermints drifted through the air.
A scent that would turn out to last an eternity.
That isn't it! Stay tuned for Chapter 2!
