It was early in the morning, and Celestia’s sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. The birds of Ponyville were gathering in the trees, and starting to sing their dawn chorus.

Fluttershy awoke to this sound in her sleeping bag. Her friends had invited her to a sleepover at Twilight’s library the previous night, and apprehensive as she was at first, she admitted that she really did end up enjoying it. The pegasus pony looked around. Nopony seemed to be up but her. “Do they really all sleep in this late?” she asked herself. “They’re missing out on so much! Maybe I should wake them up—no, they probably wouldn’t appreciate that…” Fluttershy wriggled out of her sleeping bag. She stood up and took a good long stretch, and—

Oh no.

Oh my goodness, please, no.

Fluttershy, hoping she was imagining the all-too-familiar feeling, froze in mid-stretch and slowly craned her neck downward to look.

Oh no.

No. No. Not here, not now, not in front of everypony!

The mortified Fluttershy darted back into her sleeping bag, hardly even letting enough of her head out to look around the room or breathe. She felt her rushing heart slow down, but just barely. She thanked Celestia (and Luna too) that nopony else was awake to—

“Hiya, Fluttershy!”

“EEP!” The pegasus shot into the air, the sleeping bag still draped around her lower half, and zipped into the restroom around the corner. Anticlimactically, the door softly clicked shut.

“Well, that was odd. Ooh! Wait! Fluttershy! I have to go too! Wait for me!” Pinkie Pie skidded around to the door, adorned with a simple pictograph of a mare, and knocked shave-and-a-haircut. “Fluttershy! I drank too many melonades last night! I gotta go!” She crossed her back leg over the other.

Ohmygoodness ohmygoodness ohmygoodness! What do I do? Fluttershy was shaking all over, her rapid breathing not helping the matter. “Um, Pinkie, I’m uh, gonna be a while.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” She turned to wobble away, but paused. “Wait...why’s your voice coming from the little colt’s room?”

Oh no no no! Oh my goodness! I chose the wrong door! “Um, I was, in a hurry?”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Satisfied, the pink mare bounced away, her belly sloshing audibly. Now the other girls were finally waking up! A great end to the greatest sleepover ever! Well, since the last one, anyways. Rarity pulled her face-mask off and yawned dramatically, while Rainbow Dash just turned around and tunneled deeper into her sleeping bag head-first.

“Girls, it’s time to get up! The sun is chirping and the birds are shining! Oh, sorry, strike that, reverse it.” Pinkie leapt over to Rainbow and dragged her out by the tail. A crude mustache and goatee were markered on her snout. “Looks like you had fun last night!”

“Whaa? Five more minutes...” the blue pegasus mumbled, unsurprisingly still half-asleep.

It took about 30 minutes for everypony to say their goodbyes, despite the fact that they would continue to see each other all day long. Constant thank-yous were traded and the remaining cookies were divided up amongst the six as they left. Well, five.

“Thanks for coming, girls!” Twilight waved as the four others set off to various destinations. The unicorn herself had to go into town to buy some new quills. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was already looking forward to the next party.

“And we’ll have charades and ice cream cake and a melonade-drinking contest and ooh! I still gotta go!” She turned on a bit and rushed back to the tree, but at a distance stopped. Fluttershy was just now leaving the library, her breathing shallow, her mane and tail mussed up. “That’s weird, why is she still there?” Pinkie ran closer and called to her friend. “Hey Fluttershy!”

“EEP!” and a dust cloud billowed around her, the pegasus zooming off into the sky. Her sleepover bundle fell to the ground below her.

“Fluttershy, wait! You dropped your stuff!” She yelled into the sky, but her friend was already long-gone. “Hmm. I better take this stuff to her house.” The pink mare picked up the bundle in her teeth and everything spilled out in a mess. “Oops.”

The door to the cottage opened and a short white rabbit stared out in permanent fury at the world. His glare appeared to say "I’m not buying anything.”

“Hi Angel! Is Fluttershy here? She dropped her stuff in front of Twilight’s house and I need to give it back to her. Also I brought Gummy!” She turned to show the alligator clenched onto her tail. At this sight, Angel stepped aside to allow passage, high-fiving Gummy as the two entered the house. “Fluttershy? Are you here? Hellooooo?”

“I’ll be right there...” said a voice from the next room. Fluttershy entered moments later, wearing a bathrobe. “Oh! Um, hi Pinkie Pie.”

“Hi! You dropped a bunch of stuff, actually pretty much all your stuff, in front of Twilight’s house when you were leaving and I saw you, and so I came to return it!”

“Oh, um, thank you. I was worried I wouldn’t get this back...”

“No problem! Lemme just take inventory so we can make sure you’ve gotten everything.”

Fluttershy gulped. “Oh, no, that’s okay, I’m certain nothing is missing...”

“But it spilled out all over the path when I picked it up and I want to be sure! Now, one towel, one toothbrush, one sleeping bag, one pillow with pillowcase - hey, that’s weird, there’s a book in here! Neigh’s Anatomy? I didn’t peg you as one for medical studies!” She opened the thick tome to the ear-marked page but Fluttershy grabbed it away.

“Oh, uh, it’s for, um, I help out at the hospital sometimes?” She smiled sheepishly and put the book on the coffee table. “Anything else?”

“Okay, one toothpaste tube, one tube of lotion, one bottle of water, one rubber band, one hairbrush, and that’s it! Is that everything?”

“Um, yes, that’s everything. Thanks again, Pinkie, bye!” The pink mare found herself on the front step, the door closed behind her. Gummy was latched onto her tail again, a Viking helmet upon his head. The door locked.

Pinkie pondered aloud. “Now what was that all about?”

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, did she notice? Oh dear, oh no, oh dear. The pegasus paced back and forth, waiting for the earth pony outside to leave. Eventually she did, and Fluttershy sighed with relief. But sweet relief would not come yet for Fluttershy. The pink pony’s scent lingered...

“Angel, I’m going to take a shower...could you feed the birds for me?”

The rabbit nodded and hopped to the comically oversized bag of birdseed by the cabinets, tugging it towards the front door. Fluttershy discreetly grabbed the toiletries and made her way to the bathroom, accidentally tripping on her bathrobe right before the door closed. She yelped, and Angel, his whiskers sensing mayhem about to happen, turned and ran to help her off the floor if necessary.

What happened next was somewhat of a blur to Angel. Upon the...shall we say, unexpected sight that greeted him when he opened the door, he heard Fluttershy, who was upside-down against the wall, emit a tiny gasp which seemed to cause the rest of the world to go silent. The first thing he felt was...nothing, because he couldn’t really be seeing what he was seeing in front of him. He shook his head and blinked a couple of times. Nope. Fluttershy was still there. And...it...was still there. Angel felt the bottom of his jaw make contact with the bathroom’s hard tile floor. After that, he just seemed to fizzle out like a broken light.

“Hi Twilight!” Pinkie bounded into the library, which had been cleaned up from their sleepover and was now open for business.

“Oh, hi, Pinkie Pie!” The unicorn trotted up to behind her desk. “What can I do for you? Is there anything in particular you’d like to check out?

“Actually, I came to ask you some questions about Fluttershy.” Pinkie’s expression grew noticeably more serious.

“Okay, I’m not sure how much I’ll be of help, but I’ll try my best,” Twilight said.

“Thanks a lot! So, have you noticed Fluttershy acting...you know, weird at all recently?”

“Um, how do you mean weird?”

“Like kind of all nervous and skittish and jumpy--”

“Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy’s always nervous, skittish and jumpy.”

“Yeah, but I mean more so than usual. Like, this morning I just said hi to her and she was like ‘EEP!’ and then she ran into the bathroom but it was the wrong one and then when I saw her leaving the party she looked worn out and I said hi to her again and then she was like ‘EEP!’ again and flew away and she dropped all her things and then when I gave them back to her I found a copy of Neigh’s Anatomy in her sleeping bundle and then I returned it to her and asked her why she had it and she said it was because she volunteers at the hospital and then she kind of pushed me out the door and you don’t think she’s secretly trying to avoid me, do you?” Pinkie said these last words with a suspicious and somewhat conspiratorial look.

“Pinkie, we’ve been through this before. We’re your friends, and just because somepony’s acting like this doesn’t mean we hate you!”

“Then what other reason could there be?” She gasped. “What if she’s deathly allergic to me?”

“A pony can’t be allergic to another pony, Pinkie.”

“What if she’s been magicked into thinking I’m a dragon?”

“Hallucination spells draw significant amounts of energy, Pinkie, I’m sure I would have noticed.”

“What if her brain is full of tiny worms controlling her every move?”

“...Worms aren’t smart enough to do that.”

“THEN WHAT?! Why is she avoiding me? Why?!” Suddenly, Pinkie had an idea. “Twilight, has Fluttershy checked out any odd books lately?”

Twilight blinked twice, trying to understand this change in tactic. “Um, Pinkie, that’s confidential between her and the library.”

“Since when?”

“Since the library was founded.”

“Please, Twilight! I need to know why she’s been acting so strange! She might be in trouble!”

“Sorry, Pinkie, as a librarian I can’t give you that information. As your friend, I advise that if she feels like it, she’ll tell you herself.”

“Oh, okay. Then can I check out a copy of Neigh’s Anatomy myself?”

“Um, okay. Do you have your- ”  Pinkie zipped over to the medical section, zipped back with the book, swiped her library card down the length of Twilight’s horn, which made both glow briefly, and stamped the date in the back of the book. “- card? Uh, well. Have fun reading, Pinkie!”

“Thanks Twilight! I will!” and the pink blur careened out the door.

The book was not much fun to read. Although it had lots of pictures, they were all kinds of bones and guts and gore, so they weren’t any good to look at. The text was mostly typewritten, and what wasn’t typewritten were a few games of tic-tac-toe previous borrowers had drawn in the margins (and with horrible strategy). But Pinkie Pie was determined to read the book from start to finish if it meant finding out why her friend was avoiding her.

Luckily the book was alphabetical, and Pinkie had seen from a glance that Fluttershy’s copy was earmarked somewhere near the first half of the middle. If she started at the middle and worked backwards for one fourth of the book, she’d find the page easily. She flipped the book open to the exact center. Muscular Growth. A picture of a muscle cell dividing. She flipped back a page. Muscles of the Wing. A diagram of said muscles. She flipped again. Muscles of the Tail. More diagrams. She flipped a few more pages. Muscles of the Leg. At this rate, it would take forever! She began flipping faster. Muscles of the Ear? No. Muscle Groups? No. Nothing to indicate that she’d been reading heavily on any of these topics. She began to flip even faster. Multicuspid Teeth? No. Midcarpal Joint? No. Male Hygiene? Definitely no—wait...

Something on the aforementioned page caught her eye. A number of words and phrases had been underlined and circled in pencil by somepony. Pinkie glanced at these phrases.

“with a mild soap”

“warm water”

“gently scrub in circles”

“regular care will help prevent infection”

Pinkie Pie was just about to flip the page again, deducing that these were not of any importance to her, when she noticed one more thing: a mouthwritten note in the margin.

“lengthwise down to the base”

Pinkie couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of such delicate writing on the page of a topic such as this.

“Hee hee!” she said to herself. “It almost looks like Fluttershy’s wri—”

She stopped. She took a look at it again. It was Fluttershy’s writing! Was...this what Fluttershy was looking at in the other copy of the book?? And...why?!? Certainly she wasn’t doing this at the hospital!?

“Only one way to find out!” she stated out loud. She closed the book and started off to the hospital at a full gallop.

“Angel?”

“Angel, are you okay?”

The rabbit blearily opened his eyes. Somehow, apparently, he had lost consciousness a moment ago, but he couldn’t remember why. Slowly, the room around him grew clearer, and he found himself being held in the forehooves of the yellow pegasus.

And then it hit him.

Like a ton of bricks.

The rabbit frantically wriggled until he was free of Fluttershy’s embrace, hopped a good six feet away from her, then turned around and stared at her with shock and disbelief.

“Angel? Oh...um, so...I guess you...must have...seen it, then.”

Angel nodded his head slowly. Even if he were to stick his head in a jar of bleach it wouldn’t wash away the...bizarre sight he just saw. If that sight was turned into a radio play, he imagined that it would give “The Artichoke Heart That Ate New Yoke” a run for its money.

"Oh, well, uh, I'm alright, but you should be in bed. Fainting isn't good for a little bunny like you. Forget about the birdseed, I'll do it later."

Angel then added confusion into the bubbling emotional vat the contents of which his face was reflecting. He had just witnessed a scene that he imagined could only exist in the mind of a deeply disturbed individual, and here was Fluttershy, acting as if she had merely slipped in a puddle of water. Did the pony not notice what was wrong with that picture?

“Um, is... is everything okay? Angel?”

Angel finally regained some of his body language, and managed to gesture towards the pegasus, and then to the bathroom in which the incident had occurred. He then gave the pegasus a look that said “Did that really happen, or am I just cuckoo for cocoa beans?”

“Uh, um, well...yes, Angel, I’m...afraid that you...did indeed see what you...saw in there.”

Angel started to get a moderately frightened look on his face.

“But it...it’s nothing to worry about, Angel!” Fluttershy added hastily. “I mean, it...it’s not hurting me or anything, it’s just...there.” She gave a timid smile to the bunny. “I’m...I’m still Fluttershy...”

Angel’s look changed yet again, this time to one of pure WTF. All this time he’d known her, she’d had...that!?

“Well, um, yes, I was born with it...”

Angel just stared again and said nothing. Even more nothing than usual. For the life of him, he had no idea what to say about this.

“Why don’t you go lie down, Angel? You need to rest and recuperate from that fainting spell you had.”

Angel slowly nodded. Yeah. That sounded like a good idea. He hopped slowly to his hutch, went in and shut the door. The door reopened momentarily and he placed a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the knob.

“No record?!”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but that’s what the chief of staff said. There is no record for a Ms. Fluttershy volunteering here, especially in the manner you described.” The nurse shook her head slightly.

“Okie dokie, thanks anyways.” Pinkie exited the hospital with a sigh. She had wasted ten valuable minutes for that answer, ten minutes during which Fluttershy could have gotten into trouble, or gone crazy, or any number of terrible things which could have happened. Maybe it was time to ask the pegasus herself what was wrong, and why she was avoiding her. It seemed like it had all started at the sleepover...

“THAT’S IT!” she exclaimed, and rushed home. At Sugarcube Corner, she took out a sheet of paper and a pencil (appropriately curled like a silly straw) and began to write an invitation.

Dear Fluttershy...

Candy and cake,

Pinkie Pie

“O-oh, oh my...” Fluttershy dropped the letter, which had covered her in confetti when she opened it. “An invitation...? To a...another sleepover with all my friends?” She fell down onto her haunches and debated with herself. On the one hoof, she had really enjoyed the last one. On the other...

There was no choice to be made. She had to go. She had to party with her friends, even if it meant potential embarrassment and...lifelong rejection... Because her friends were worth it.

“Okay, it starts at Sugarcube Corner at 5...I better pack up my things...” She walked herself through the steps, gathering her toiletries, her sleeping bag, and bathrobe...just in case. She began to daydream about Pinkie as she walked to the front door, passing a mirror. At a glance she caught herself looking rather...engaged in her speculation... “Oh, uh, I should put the bathrobe back on...eep...”

The sign on the door said Closed. Fluttershy knocked twice, and the door opened so rapidly she wasn’t sure it was still written in the same language when it shut. She was pulled inside by a wild, pink... it was Pinkie Pie, of course.

“Hi Fluttershy! I’m so glad you could come! You’re early but we’re just starting the party!” She pushed the pegasus along the floor into the main room. Two chairs were set up in the center, one facing the other. “Take your seat right here, and I’ll be back with the board games lickety-split!”

Fluttershy complied and sat down in one of the considerably plush chairs. Strange how nopony else is here yet...and I live the furthest from Pinkie... She ran her mind through the various reasons this could have happened. Did the mailmare get lost? Um, did Pinkie forget to send the other letters? Oh... what if, what if she didn’t even send them? What if she didn’t invite anypony else? ...What if I’m the only one here? This line of thinking made the yellow mare nervous.

Just then, Pinkie came back in, holding a familiar book. She didn’t have the games, and she didn’t look all that happy. The pink pony trotted to the other chair, took a seat and began to non-chalantly flip through the book..

“So, what kind of work do you do at the hospital, Fluttershy?” She asked calmly.

She wasn’t prepared for this question. “Uh, um, I...push a food cart around?”

“Then why do you need Neigh’s Anatomy?”

“Oh, uh, because, sometimes they don’t have enough nurses.”

“And you do the nursework instead?”

“Um, yes?” She hoped that was the right answer.

Pinkie flipped the page and showed it to Fluttershy. “Is this the nursework you do?”

She blushed. “Oh! Oh my...um...” Oh no! She found the other copy! Oh my goodness...

“Because the hospital has no record of you volunteering there. I checked. You’ve been lying to me! You’ve been avoiding me! And I’m annoyed! You can’t avoid me! You can’t avoid the annoyed!”

The doorbell rang and a voice called out. “Pizza delivery!”

“NOT NOW!” Pinkie yelled at the door.

“Er, um...eep...” The pegasus shrunk into her seat, trying to disappear.

“I want the truth! Come on, the truth!”

“It’s, uh, it’s kind of...personal...”

Pinkie instantly brightened up with curiosity. “Oh, a personal matter! That’s completely different! I mean, you may have hurt my feelings a little but if it’s personal that’s okay. Wait, wait, I remembered something else I wanted to ask on that note. Are you feeling okay?”

“...Um, yes...I feel, uh, fine...”

“You sure? Anything bothering you? Is something hurting you? Is somepony hurting you?!”

“Uh, no, I’m...I’m fine...really...nopony’s hurting me...”

“Fluttershy, I know something’s wrong! I can sense it! Your “something’s-wrong” level is off the charts! I know you, and you’re acting weird. So, come on, you know you can tell your Auntie Pinkie Pie anything!”

“...I’m a year older than you...”

“Come on! I’m your friend and I’m here for you. I’m willing to listen. I want to help you.”

Seeing there was no way out but forward, Fluttershy reluctantly cleared her throat. “Um...you know how most ponies...usually have, you know...one or the other?”

Pinkie cocked her head in confusion.

“Well...I sort of have...both.”

Pinkie blinked at this statement, trying to figure out exactly what the pegasus pony meant. Finally her eyes lit up.

“Ohhhhh! You’re a HERMAPHRODITE! Why didn’t you just say so, silly?”

“Um, well...isn’t that...you know...a little obvious?”

“More like a lottle! That explains everything! The shyness, the Gala, that swanky bathrobe you have!”

Fluttershy momentarily thought back to her outburst at the Grand Galloping Gala. The taste of that squirrel... “Um...I’m sorry...” She fidgeted with the tassel on her bathrobe..

“No! Don’t apologize! This gives me the perfect opportunity for the new costume I ordered!” Pinkie raced upstairs and down again, now wearing a greasy white pop-collar shirt and a black leathery jacket, her mane styled up into a quiff. “Sup.” she affected an urban accent. “I’m Jo Canterone.” She momentarily returned to her normal voice. “And I’m here to sing!” She nickered and the lights went dark. A spotlight shone on her alone. She tapped her hoof.

“My granny told me when I was young

No two ponies are the same”

‘Jo Canterone’ swaggered forward and lifted Fluttershy’s chin up with a hoof, a spotlight now on the pegasus also. A technopop beat started up.

“So celebrate what makes you who you are

‘Cuz there’s no need to be ashamed”

“Um, Pinkie Pie...?” The pegasus’s eyes widened as she realized what was happening, both in front of her and...below her.

“Now everypony everywhere

Has got something different from the rest”

She fanned a large hand of playing cards, each with a different Cutie Mark on them. She flicked them into the air one by one, landing them on the floor in front of Fluttershy in the formation of an arrow.

“You’ve got a little “something extra” there

But that’s no reason to be distressed!”

“Pinkie...you’re really...not...helping...” She shifted in her seat anxiously. That sweaty odor... And the greaser mare’s dancing was becoming more interesting to her eye by the second.

“You’re made in magical ways

Celestia guides your days

You’re in the right lane, filly

You were foaled this way!”

The pink pony shimmied and shook, plainly aware that she had Fluttershy’s full attention and loving it. She segued from move to move with such enticing flow that if it were any warmer in the room she would turn into molten glass. She was calling every pop move she knew into mind, planning them in the moment. Fluttershy was feeling very...excited. Oh my goodness, oh no, oh goodness, oh dear oh dear oh dear... She huddled up tighter on her chair, desperately trying to conceal herself from her entertainer.

“Don’t shy away from it all

Don’t hide yourself in your stall

You’re in the right lane, filly

You were foaled this way!”

Pinkie did a septuple spin on one hoof and stopped by switching to the other, her tail brushing up onto Fluttershy’s muzzle. Fluttershy was beet-red and shuddering. Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, what do I do? What happens now? Pinkie...Pinkie smells like cotton candy... All of Fluttershy’s mental resources were devoted to self-control by now, so much that she could hardly breathe. She tried and failed to avert her sight from ‘Jo’’s alluring motions. She was entranced.

"You were foaled this way, hay!

You were foaled this way, hay!

You’re in the right lane, filly—"

Pinkie paused, giving Fluttershy a chance to take a breath. “I mean, it is okay if I call you ‘filly’, right?”

“O-of course...”

“Good! Because “she-stallion” had too many syllables.” She resumed.

"—You were fo~aled this way!

You were foaled this way, hay!

You were foaled this way, hay!

You’re in the right lane, filly

You were foaled this waa~aay!"

Pinkie finished the song with a grand flourish of her hooves and a spray of confetti from unknown places. She landed on all fours and smirked, still in-character. It looks like Fluttershy really enjoyed my performance!

“Um, that was...nice...Pinkie.” Fluttershy was burning up and she was biting her lip, desperately trying to keep herself together. She decided she needed to...go place...and slowly lowered herself off the chair to use the facilities. Unfortunately, she again stepped on her bathrobe, tripped, and fell over in a pile. “EEP!” She found she was completely exposed, and quivered with fright as the pink mare gasped. Pinkie hopped over with a smile wide across her face.

"Oh there it is! Hi there, I'm Pinkie Pie! It's nice to finally meet you!" She shook hooves with the newest party member, causing Fluttershy to whimper under the stress. “Whoops. Uh, sorry Fluttershy. Force of habit.”

“...eep...”

“So, did you like my song? Don’t answer that, of course you did! Your body speaks for itself!”

“...” The pegasus dared not say anything, too embarrassed to move.

“Ohhhhh, I get it now.” She grinned coyly, gently wrapped Fluttershy up in the bathrobe and carried her up the stairs in her front hooves. “Let’s take care of this first.”

“...yay...”

Princess Celestia sat on her throne in Canterlot castle, idly passing the time until sunset by letting her mind wander through the universe. A comet here, a nebula there, stars all around...

You know what? She thought to herself. I think now would be a good time for that surprise I’ve been saving for the Royal Astronomers. The alicorn stepped off her throne, paced over and stood in front of the western window where the Sun was setting, and focused her magic. A shimmer of light gradually played up from the base of her horn to the tip, tentative and curious. Oh, working with a 1.3-second delay is so tricky...

She trained her magic on the left-most edge of the Sun, waited for the perfect moment for everything to settle, and fired the spell. Two and a half seconds later, a massive amount of plasma and EM radiation burst forth from the surface and surged through the corona, arcing outwards in a gorgeous roller-coaster-loop like champagne spray from a bottle. Vast quantities of electrons and protons broke free from the corona and entered space, veering harmlessly, but still very beautifully, away from the Earth. A second loop followed in a slightly different direction, and a third smaller one after that. They combined in the emptiness of space to the effect of a sort of fluid shape, feathering outwards just as ice melts.

Satisfied with her work, the Princess returned to her throne and waited for the Astronomers to send a frantic message of tabulations and diagrams along with beseechment to please stop this nonsense.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie lay in bed, both thoroughly worn out. Pinkie, still wearing the greasy shirt, her hair absolutely everywhere, took a drag off a bubble pipe and looked over at her friend. Fluttershy was breathing heavily, drenched in sweat, her eyes closed.

“That was awesome.” The pink mare bit down on the pipe to keep it in her grinning mouth and put her hooves behind her head. The pegasus opened her eyes and sighed contently.

“Yes...awesome...” Fluttershy stretched her front legs, then brushed her hair off her face. “Thank you, Pinkie...Thank you so much.”

“Now all we need is to come up with a name for him!”

The yellow mare blinked. “Um...excuse me?”

“A name! I’m thinking Oscar, or maybe Ricardo!”

“...why?”

“Silly filly! Everypony needs a name! What else would I call him?”

“...Pinkie, it’s not a pony.”

“No, but he’s a friend! And friends need names!”

Fluttershy was confused. “A...friend?”

“Sure! He seemed really friendly to me!”

The pegasus blushed. “Uhm...”

Pinkie sat up and clopped her hooves together.

“I’ve got it!” she exclaimed. “We’ll call him Romeo!”

“Um...Romeo??”

“Yeah! I mean, he’s certainly romantic!” The pink pony’s eyes made their way down to something beneath the covers the two were snuggled under. “Hello there, Romeo! How’d you enjoy your first party?” A thought struck Pinkie. She turned back to Fluttershy. “It was his first party, right?”

“Um...yes...it was...”

Pinkie spoke again to ‘Romeo’. “Well, any time you wanna party with me again, I’ll be happy to accommodate you!”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “R...really???”

“Of course, silly!” Pinkie Pie grinned at the pegasus. “After all, what are friends for?” She wrapped her forehooves around Fluttershy and drew her into an embrace.

“P...Pinkie Pie?” said Fluttershy at last.

“Hm?”

“...Thanks, again...” A smile grew on the pegasus’ face. “...from both of us.”

Pinkie giggled. “Hey, no problem! You two have sweet dreams!” And with that, she turned off the light.

THE END