Vanilla woke up and rubbed his eyes while the party for that Gilda character was fun, especially when she left, it was back to menial tasks that would never seem to bring him joy was breakfast time, and nopony was hungry for a chilled creamy treat. He rubbed his mane, trotting around the back of his shop and making sure everything was okay. He nodded, biting his lip and going outside. He made his way around Ponyville like a shadow, floating down the empty dirt roads and breathing in the fresh air. "This is such a nice place." He sighed, a smile growing between his cheeks. As he went, he ran into somepony who was familiar to him. "Pinkie?" His trot morphed into a jog, he running to her side as she went onward. "Morning Pinks, what are you doing?"
"Hi Vanilla" she looked at him inquisitively "Why aren't you at your shop?" Vanilla frowned a little on the inside, he was outside to get away from this job but he didn't want Pinkie to know that.
"Oh well I don't think that anypony would want a fudge ripple sundae at 9 AM" he said trying to nodded agreeably, her eyes tracing between him and her stuffed saddle bags.
"Hey! If you're not doing anything right now, maybe you could help me plan Angel's half birthday party!" He cocked his head to the side, thinking.
"Fluttershy's bunny rabbit!" He nodded, smiling happily in relief. "I'd love to!" She dragged him away, both ponies rushing to plan a party. As they made their way to Fluttershy's cottage, Vanilla Swirl noticed that Pinkie seemed to hop everywhere
"Pinkie Pie why and how, do you bounce everywhere that you go?" Pinkie Pie turned to face him, giggling madly and hugging into him. He blushed, hugging her back in their short and seemingly distant embrace.
"There's always a reason to be happy!" He chuckled, nodding his head hesitantly.
"What's your reason?" She blushed, hopping on her hooves.
"Because I'm with you, silly! Now c'mon!"Vanilla pondered her answer, and began to stand and think, then Pinkie stopped his train of thought
"C'mon Slowy Mc Pokey get your hooves moving."
She bounded away, his eyes tracing her body questioningly before he went chasing after her.
"Slow down!" She looked over he shoulder, smiling at him.
"Never!" She threw her head back, running even faster.
"If it's a race she wants it's a race she'll get." Vanilla began chasing after Pinkie but couldn't keep up, then he remembered something one of his unicorn friends has taught him. His horn began to glow and Fluttershy's house was coming into view, suddenly there was cold blue glowing orb around him, and he disappeared. Pinkie looked behind her if she bounced to her friend's front door Vanilla was gone! She stopped in her tracks; her hooves skidding to a stop in the grass. Pinkie Pie looked around, seeing nopony. She frowned, taking half a step forward before a stallion magically appeared in front of her. His nose pressed against hers, smiling goofily as he looked into her eyes.
"Guess who?!" He chuckled happily, bouncing in front of her, rearing his front hooves of the ground in happy waves. Pinkie Pie rattled her brain, giggling and knocked on Fluttershy's door. Fluttershy stepped out of her cottage, smiling brightly at the sight of two friends.
"Hello Pinkie Pie, who's your friend?" Vanilla Swirl waved his hoof at her, smiling. "Oh! Well this is Vanilla Swirl, he's a friend of mine and he runs the new ice cream shop!" Fluttershy nodded in understanding.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Pinkie Pis moved forward happily.
"Can we set up for Angel's half birthday?" Fluttershy nodded. "So over there works?" Asked the stallion, receiving nods from both mares. Fluttershy went about her business tending to her animals, leaving the two party ponies alone to set up. Swirl kept looking at her the silence was starting to become to much.
"So Pinks... When your not planning any parties, what do you do?
She shrugged, holding a picnic blanket between her teeth as she laid it on the grass.
"I don't know, nothing really..."
"Well do you have another job?" She nodded with a smile.
"I bake at Sugarcube Corner, for the Cakes."He nodded the silence returning
"Uhmmm..." Vanilla Swirl leaned up against Fluttershy's white picket fence, silently watching Pinkie Pie work. "Are there any stallions nipping at your hooves?" Pinkie Pie scoffed playfully, shaking her head.
"No way! Not me!" On the inside he felt relieved, although his playful shroud didn't drop.
"Really? The beautiful Pinkie Pie doesn't have stallions begging for her attention?" Pinkie Pie shook her head again.
"Would you like to?" She laughed, hugging him.
"I get all the attention I need!" He frowned, looking her over curiously.
"All of it?" She nodded. He stepped closer, pressing himself to her side. "Who makes you soup when you're sick, who cuddles you to sleep, who kisses you every morning and every night and every moment in between?" Pinkie Pie blushed heavily at what Vanilla was suggesting
"Well I don't know... I never really thought about it."
"Hey I just had a crazy idea, what if we, you and I..." Vanilla stopped and looked Pinkie over, regaining some rational thought, should he really ask her this. He decided to change his question."What if we made ice cream together?" He swallowed hard, cursing himself for losing his flirtatious momentum and falling prey to weakness.
"Oh that sounds really, really, really fun. I've never made ice cream before." she said bouncily.
"Great! Uh so, should we tell Fluttershy we're leaving?" Vanilla asked a pinkish tinge on his cheeks. Pinkie Pie looked over her shoulder, nodding.
"I'll be right back!" She darted away, the stallion waiting for her to go before he panicked. Vanilla Swirl hunched down, run if his hooves through his mane worriedly.
"What am I doing..." She returned, the two of them bouncing away to his shop while he stallion swallowed his nerves. 'I can't believe I choked like that. I've asked mares out before, why is it hard now?'
'Because your too stiff you gotta loosen up more.'
'Voice in my head, where have you been.'
'Oh here there, anyway pal you gotta loosen up look at her.'
'She's so pretty and sweet, she's... fun. I've never felt so much energy in a mare, I've never seen anypony so lively. Pinkie. Pie doesn't even realize what a catch she is, she's so perfect she can't tell...'
'EXACTLY! Now would you describe yourself?'
'A forty year old in a twenty two -year-old body who has lost his sense of fun.'
'I've been more fun, when I was happy I could do anything. Now I'm just... a shell. Why when I'm around her I'm just so much more like myself? I feel like I've lived hundreds of lives and never found anything except her...'
'Then l-o-osen up ya mook.! Snapped his inner you just calm down and relax, maybe she'll like you.
Pinkie started to notice the stallion being... off as if he was silently arguing.
"What's gotten you in a knot Swirly?" Swirl snapped out of it and blushed out of embarrassment.
"Oh nothing, just thinking about me... and you." 'Now why the hay would I say that?'
"Oh about what?" The way Pinkie said this, Swirl could've sworn she was giving him flirty eyes and made something up fast.
"What do you think I'm thinking about?" He stared her down playfully, moving a little bit closer to her as they walked.
"That I'm pretty." She said in her bubbly girly way.
"Well I won't disagree with ya there" he said coyly rolling his eyes.
They were soon at his shop, he unlocked the door, letting her enter. "After the pretty lady." Pinkie blushed nudging the flirty colt with her flank. He watched he entered the cool shop, his young mind telling his eyes to look at her flanks as she stepped. For a moment he did, wanting to look away, but found it much harder than her thought.
"Ready?" She nodded, following him behind the counter."Now, I was thinking that Angel would be quite partial to carrot ice cream." Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, playfully nodding.
"Well duh, he's a rabbit!" She spoke through a giggle, watching the stallion make his way around the creamery.
"Okay then, we will need a little of this, a little of that..." The unicorn use his horn to levitated white bags and containers of materials closer to him, speaking as he went. "Some carrots and some raisins for good measure." He set them down on the counter, beginning to mix them. "Ice cream's an art, it takes a creative mind to make it like I do. And create such confection pleasure" Pinkie Pie blushed at his gloat full rhyme, watching him work. "Do you wanna help me get the mixing pot over to the machine?" She nodded, offering him a helping hoof.
"Pinkie Pie will you shred these carrots for me, while I get the cream boiling?"
She nodded. "Do you think you could show me?"
"Sure." Vanilla walked over to her he attempted to use levitation to grate the carrots as an example, but Pinkie Pie shook her head.
"No silly, show me!" She pulled him closer to her, the carrots and the grater sitting before her. "How do I hold it?" He wrapped his hooves around her slowly, picking up the vegetable and the grater.
"Ready?" She nodded, he slowly guided her hoof up and down and doing this raised a question today "You know for somepony who works in a bakery, I would've thought you made a carrot cake... Which involves shredding carrots." She smiled.
"Of coarse I know how to shred carrots!" He raised his left eyebrow, a confused smirk coming across his face. "But..." She giggled, nestling her head against his cheek.
"Why would I do it alone when we could do it together?" He shuddered, the stallion's cheeks flushing a deep rose as he remained wrapped around her. The Voice spoke up
KISS HER YOU MORON!
Vanilla swallowed hard, mind racing.
"Um... I'm gonna see if the cream's simmering." He stepped away without having said anything, Pinkie Pie turning to watch him go. She hoped she hadn't offended him in anyway, and that they were still friends. He stopped in his tracks, taking a deep breath in before turning around. "Pinks?" She looked up at him, waiting. He rushed forward, roughly pressing his lips to hers. Sparks flew in the back room of Sweet Swirl's ice cream shop. Pinkie Pie pressed against the counter behind her, her eyes growing wide before they closed, she kissing him back. They separated, only for him to kiss her again. Vanilla Swirl stepped away, wordlessly staring into her eyes. "Um Pinks... Is there a chance that a you'd want to..." Pinkie Pie blushed, looking down at the floor with a wide smile across her kept beating around the bush, his face growing as pink as the mare in front of him.
"Swirly?" He stopped, his heart racing even faster."Do you wanna be my coltfriend?" He smiled.
"Do you wanna be my marefriend?" A kiss was her reply, and that kiss triggered Vanilla's mane the to change from it's deflated flat style to pop up and smooth and light, like soft serve ice cream. "Angel's party might be a little bit bigger now!"
"Swirly, come with me!" She tugged him along, the stallion threw the shredded carrots into the mix and start the machine. She finally pulled him from the shop, running through Ponyville with him.
"Where are we going?!" She giggled.
"The best place in Ponyville!"
The two arrived at Sugarcube Corner and ran through the back. Pinkie Pie stopped him, pressing her hoof to his lips. "We're gonna sneak up and surprise them!" He nodded, slowly following her, Pinkie Pie and her new coltfriend approached the rear of the counter, seeing Mrs. Cake and Mr. Cake selling their sweet treats merrily. Pinkie Pie hunkered down, nodding to him seriously before jumping up. "Surprise!" The Cakes jumped back, both of them rushing to each other's sides and embracing. Mrs. Cake closed her eyes, her husband sighing in relief at the site of their friend.
"Pinkie! You nearly scared my eyes out of my head!" Mrs. Cakes looked up, also sighed and taking to her hooves.
"This is my new coltfriend, his name's Vanilla Swirl, and he makes ice cream!" The Cakes smiled, greeting him.
"Hello." He smiled, looking to his marefriend awkwardly.
"We wanna throw a party tonight!" Mr. Cakes nodded, resting his head on his hoof. "Sure thing Pinkie, we close at seven, so anytime after that..." She jumped for joy, pulling her stallion away after her.
"Let's go get ready!" He stopped, catching his breath. "We need to make invitations!" She nodded. "Balloons!" The two ponies worked their afternoon away by preparing for a party. all of their friends received initiations at their doors to a 'special party' at Sugarcube Corner. As the sun began to set, the double party began.
"Welcome everpony to a very special party" Vanilla teleported to Pinkie's side and kissed her cheek.
"A SUPER DUPER special party."
Pinkie Pie's friends stood back surprisedly, the sight if a stallion kissing her cheeks making them all blush and brim with curiosity. Chase winked to his friend knowingly, Vanilla Swirl picking up the gesture. "Pinkie, have you..." Asked Twilight Sparkle, not wantig to be presumptuous. The mare nodded.
"I've got a coltfriend!" The room was silent, then Pinkie continued another announcement "But this isn't just about us."
"It's also Angel's half birthday today HOORAY!"Pinkie Pie and her new beau said bouncing in unison. Every pony remained silent, knowing that a half birthday party was nothing compared to what their bubbly friend had just announced.
"When, prey tell, did this happen?" Asked Rarity, receiving a judge from her coltfriend, signaling that her tone may come off as abrasive. She cleared her throat with a squeak, smiling, Swirl pranced around Pinkie
"Today, five hours ago!" Rainbow Dash smacked her face with her hoof, sighing.
"I'm happy for you." said the red pegasus beside her. She gave Firestorm a stern look, he staring her down and into submission. The mare rolled her eyes at him, nodding.
"I'm happy for you, too..." Firestorm hugged Rainbow Dash beneath his wing, she looking away from him rebelliously."She's just surprised, Pinkie. I think we all are." The happy mare cocked her head to the side, thinking.
"Why're you so surprised?"
"Oh no real reason" Diamond Groomer uttered. Fluttershy nodded.
"It's very sudden is all." Everypony nodded, the party growing increasingly more dry.
"Say, maybe we should put on some music ta get this thing started!" Applejack said, moving to the side and putting some on. Chase and Rarity shared a concerned glance, dismissing the initial tension and beginning to dance, the rest followed suit, some took to the snacks, Pinkie and Vanilla kissed each other then joined in the fun.