Hm… What to wear…

Patch looked through her closet with a concentrated frown on her muzzle. One hoof ran along her lower jaw as she stared at the plethora of clothes in front of her. A full hour remained in her schedule, dedicated to finding the perfect hair style and the perfect clothing, after all. This would be such an important day…

"Well, aren'cha supposed to dress up… formally, or something…?" Patch muttered to herself, pulling a black hanger with her favorite formalwear hanging on it. The practical joke suit was probably the most formal thing she had. It was her favorite color; yellow (which, surprisingly, had nothing to do with her crush). And it was unique… it had the pink flower on the shoulder that she could squeeze water with… And she did love to wear it, the few times she did get to.

But what if it weirds her out? Patch sighed and lowered her eyes. It was the type of thing a groom might wear if he was getting married, and, well, a first 'date' (using the term lightly) was NOT the place to wear such a thing. Hanging the fancy yellow shirt back in the closet, she picked up a pink plaid shirt she had, and raised an eyebrow. Was flannel attractive?

The taupe pony groaned and threw the shirt across the room. "No, that won't cut it. C'mon, Patch, this isn't some get-together. It's just a first date. Or… something..."

888

"What, are you serious?!" Starlight hovered over the adventurer pony with a wide grin on her face. Her hat that she was supposed to wear at all times on the job fell to the ground.

Patch shrunk in her bar stool, her face light pink. "Um…"

"And to think that all this time I thought you weren't crushing on anybody!" Starlight exclaimed, throwing her hooves out at Patch and pulling her over the counter she worked behind. "This is great! You finally have a crush!" Starlight squeezed the little pony in her hooves tight.

Patch squirmed around in Starlight's embrace. "Shut up!" she exclaimed. "I never said anything! She's a bit pretty, that's all!"

"Sounds like love to me," Starlight all but yelled, bumping her muzzle to Patch's. "I can't believe I never saw it before! Now that I think of it, it was so obvious!"

"Starlight, put me down!" Patch demanded, forcing her muzzle upwards so it didn't touch Starlight's. She kicked out blindly with her hindlegs.

Starlight set her friend down in front of her and put a hoof on the counter next to her. The peach pony dusted herself off with some irritated grumbling. "I can't believe I didn't see it. The way you look at her is just… crazy! I'm so happy for you Patch!"

"Shut up. Starlight," the adventurer retorted, blushing and looking down at her hind legs shamefully. "It isn't true."

The apron-wearing pony punched her shoulder. "Yeah right. Seriously though, you and Bon Bon would make the cutest couple in Ponyland. The Practical Joker and the timid baker…" Starlight squealed. "That's amazing!"

Patch rubbed the place where she'd been punched in a self-conscious sort of way. "Keep your voice down, someone else might hear."

"She might like you too," Starlight egged on in a whisper, grinning manically.

"Shut up…"

"You should tell her."

"No!"

"You admit you love her?"

"NO!"

Patch threw a flurry of weak punches at Starlight, hoping just to irritate her. But Starlight laughed, her purple eyes shiny. "Chillax, Patch, I won't tell anyone… anyone who won't share the secret!"

Patch swung her hoof back, ready to give Starlight a bloody nose right in the middle of the ice cream shop, but an interruption came in the form of a happy little jingle and a shocked yellow pony exclaiming, "What is going on?"

Because those dumb feelings just had to be invoked, Patch lowered herself onto four hooves, staring down at the black and white checkerboard tile floor. "Um, hi."

Starlight smiled, putting a hoof on her hip. "Hey Bon Bon. What can I get you this afternoon?"

"What were you doing?"

Both ponies behind the counter exchanged an awkward glance before Starlight answered, "Just a little misunderstanding."

And, just like that, Starlight was cool-headed. Giving Bon Bon a sideways little grin, she added, "So what can I get you?"

Bon Bon eyed the peach pony of the duo curiously before sitting down at the stool and licking her lips. "I'll take a triple chocolate fudge supreme with extra fudge and strawberries in it! Mmm…"

Starlight nodded. "One triple chocolate fudge supreme with extra fudge and strawberries coming right up!" she declared before going to gather the ingredients.

"Um, are you okay?"

Patch's eyes widened. A giddy feeling overtook her; the normal giddy feeling she got around her yellow friend. "Yeah. You?"

"Um, fine." Bon Bon averted her gaze.

Starlight poked her head over with a complete ice cream, smiling coolly. "I was thinkin', girls, it's been a while since you've hung out together, right?"

Neither Patch nor Bon Bon replied. Starlight smiled a bit coyly as she slid the fudgey ice cream across the counter to Bon Bon, who just stared kind of blankly at Starlight. "In that case, do I have a proposition for you…"

888

Basically… Starlight figured it out. Everything. All of her feelings for Bon Bon had been snuffed out by the one working the counter at the ice cream parlor.

She was still absolutely furious at Starlight… but at the same time permanently indebted to the yellow-maned pony. Besides, the point still stood that she'd made a date. That meant she was going on a date. With Bon Bon. The dreamiest pony in existence.

They'd meet up in the Ice Cream Shop, which Starlight would close early, and sit at a table. Starlight would have some food prepared. Starlight teased the one ice cream, two straws idea, and Patch had waved her hooves frantically as she protested the notion.

And the thought of doing that all was just too much. It was exciting; like something right out of a movie.

If everything went as planned that night… Bon Bon will love me…

Patch angrily threw a red top hat to the ground. "Too tall!" she shouted. The hat had to be perfect. Bon Bon loved hats. She just had to get the perfect hat on and the rest would fall together.

Once again, she looked to her practical joke suit, and sighed as a daydream overtook her thoughts.

"Want any more juice, Bon Bon?" A very suave version of herself, dressed in that dapper suit, said, holding a wine bottle full of juice up just slightly.

"Yes please," Bon Bon replied, lifting up her wine glass. Not a drop spilled as the grape juice poured into it. Candlelight was all that lit the way between them.

"A bit of entertainment?" Patch purred.

Bon Bon nodded, and Patch clopped her hooves together.

Suddenly, Clover danced out from behind a wall, just as elegant as her sister ever was…

Patch snorted. "You're delusional. Clove isn't that good at dancing, you aren't nearly that suave, and this is an ice cream parlor you're going to, not the high-class snobs restaurant. No, more likely was…

Patch and Bon Bon were rolling around in a field of lilies, their pet alien chasing after them. Bon Bon would end up on top of Patch, but she would be strong enough to handle it on her tough lungs and strong muscles…

"RAH!" Patch roared, throwing an unsatisfactory baseball cap at the wall. "Just go naked! If you don't, then you'll end up getting naked anyway!"

Patch stood there, hyperventilating for a second. A few moments passed in which Patch stared at her clothes and regained her composure.

"Okay," she said, clapping her hooves together and feeling like a world had been lifted off of her shoulders. "…Now, just to get my mane styled… This'll be casual, right?"

888

"I'm glad we could meet up and chat, Bon Bon," Patch said with a wide grin. "We really don't do this enough; a simple meeting with two friends. No runaway candy truck about it."

"Totally," Bon Bon replied with a slightly self-conscious grin. Then again, about half of the grins she gave anyone were self-conscious in nature. At least, pre-masquerade. Lately, Patch couldn't help but notice how many more genuine smiles she managed to get out of her friend. It warmed her heart to the center.

And what was better, the 'date' she'd been worrying herself over turned out to be little more than a friendly get-together. Normally that feeling she had around her crush was a giddy happiness. It was just when she was faced with said crush that she ended up being shy.

But Patch could tell that, since the constant crying when she'd just arrived in Ponyland, she was letting herself become comfortable. That was what made Patch so eager to be around her, and maybe what had her so eager to get closer to her.

"So, that was some big scare the other week, huh?"

Bon Bon's eyes grew wide and timid. "Which big scare?"

Patch chewed a spoonful of the mini-banana split Starlight had given her as she thought of the incident on the hot air balloon no more than ten days ago. Her friend had such a panic the rest of that day that, even after Miss Hackney changed the lesson they were learning that say, Bon Bon had to go home. It'd been another day after that that Bon Bon had apparently been too terrified to get out of bed.

All because she'd wanted to take Bon Bon on a joyride. And to have been able to confess to her on the hot air balloon.

Neither happened.

"The one with the wedding," Patch quickly added. "You really saved the day there, you know that?"

"Yuh-yeah." Bon Bon sighed. "Yeah. I guess I did."

"If it weren't for you bravely diving in the cake, Meadowlark and Chavyl might not have gotten married, and, er, Clover would have gotten in trouble."

Even taking on a casual tone, Patch noted with dismay that Bon Bon still had that paranoid look on her face. As such, she sighed. "Bon Bon, I learned my lesson, okay? Don't drag your friends onto hot air balloons."

"I-It wasn't the first time…" Bon Bon muttered.

"I WON'T take you on more adventures," Patch responded. "If it bugs you."

Bon Bon gave a definite nod. "Please don't," she agreed. Her muscles that Patch hadn't realized had tensed up loosened. "That'd make things a lot easier."

Her beautiful light blue eyes narrowed, and Bon Bon's smile turned into a competitive smirk. "What do you say to a banana split eating contest?"

Patch gave her friend a determined face in response. "Care to make it interesting? Whoever finishes first gets an… um…"

"Shoulder rub?" Bon Bon suggested.

"You're on." Raising her voice, Patch added, "Starlight, we need two medium banana splits."

The pink pony, who'd been sweeping, smiled and winked. "Totally, girls. Just give me a second."

Bon Bon pushed her hooves together in such a way that a loud cracking sound sounded from them. "I hope you give good shoulder rubs," she said with a cocky grin.

Patch laughed. "I hope the same for you, Bon Bon."

Actually, it would be great to have Bon Bon's hooves up her shoulders. Just sayin'.

Shortly later, Starlight came by with both of their ice creams, which were piled high in little bowls. Both girls clutched their spoons in their hooves.

"On the count of three," Starlight announced, pulling a whistle out of her apron (for some reason she kept one with her).

"One…" Patch's hoof tensed on her spoon.

"Two…" Bon Bon licked her lips hungrily.

"Three!"

888

"BUUUURAPPP!"

Patch stopped eating midbite as she looked over at Bon Bon. She'd pulled out a toothpick and was sassily picking at her teeth with it. Chocolate covered her muzzle.

The taupe pony's jaw hung limply. "What- I didn't even finish half! And that burp… that was AT LEAST a six out of ten!"

"A six?" Bon Bon retorted challengingly. "Could you do better?"

Patch gulped in a huge pocket of air, and retorted with a rather-pathetic little burp noice.

"No offense, Patch, but that's the weakest burp I've ever heard!" Bon Bon exclaimed, patting her stomach and laughing.

"I haven't had soda in days!" Patch complained, sticking her tongue out. "You should see me then."

Bon Bon threw her little toothpick to the ground. "Seriously, though… Mmm, this banana split was just too wonderful." She sighed and leaned back in her chair, patting her stomach. "I don't even think I'll be able to eat any supper!"

Patch smirked, laying her right hoof out on the table so Bon Bon could hold it. "Bon Bon, just look at your belly." She caught the Secret Cupid herself's eyes and winked. Starlight's purple eyes lit up, and she rushed out of the kitchen. That was the signal for bring in the huger sundae. "It's getting bigger and bigger every day." Patch giggled at her own comment.

She shut her eyes she was so into giggling about it, and she laid her cheek down on the table. But when she looked up, she noticed Bon Bon staring at her stomach helplessly. "Um… Bons…?"

"I-I'd better get home," Bon Bon stammered, blushing a deep red color. She climbed off of her stool and gave Patch a hurt look, then trotted out.

"Bon Bon, wait!" Patch exclaimed, throwing her hoof out at her friend. "I-I didn't mean it like that! Big bellies are the cushiest. I was kidding!"

Bon Bon, standing at the door, glanced back, a deep frown on her face under her blush. Then she walked out without another word.

When the door shut behind her with a loud jingle from the bell, Patch considered jumping up and running after her… But she couldn't.

She'd totally ruined the date.

Starlight frowned when she came out with a huge ice cream. "Hey, where's Bon Bon?"

Patch threw her face down on the table, hurting her nose in the process but not caring very much. "I ruined it. She ran out."

Even though she cursed herself for hurting her friend's feelings… she found comfort in knowing that Bon Bon would forget about it tomorrow.

Right?

888

…For the record, Patch is WRONG to the fifth power. This confession was based off of the first page of My Little Pony issue 212, Hungry Bon Bon. And, because I don't like being predictable, I'm cutting out both Up, Up and Away and Sister of the Bride.