Twilight giggled as her marefriend's muzzle pressed gently against her cheek. She pushed it away with a hoof, blushing lightly. "C'mon, Pinkie, stop it. We're in public," she insisted softly.

It was a nice day to be outside. The Weather Patrol did a fine job of keeping the sun off of most of the city. The street in front of them had that small-town feeling to it; a few ponies headed in all directions, their destinations unknown and unknowable. The café they were sitting outside of had that aura as well; there were some groups of ponies talking and laughing around them, a few of them pointing and snickering. It was fine with Twilight, though. She didn't know them. She hoped not to.

Twilight only received a giggle in response as Pinkie leaned back to take another sip from her milkshake. "No, you come on, Twi, it's been almost a week," she said, wiping off her mouth. "I missed you."

"You only live across town, Pinkie, you could've just walked over and visited the library," she replied, levitating her milkshake up to her lips.

"Yeah, but I had to catch up on work and stuff," Pinkie said, sounding a bit disheartened. "The Cakes were worried about me. I have, like, one sick day left."

"Well, you can't let this -" she motioned between them "- take over your life." As the words left Twilight's mouth, she could feel the truth in them. She only knew what to say because she went through it herself. Her emotions had taken way too much time out of her life.

Pinkie sighed dramatically and looked out at the moderately busy street, her eyes squinting as the sun glinted off the cobblestone. "Oh, you're right as usual, Twi. I'll relax." She grinned. "As long as 'this'-" she added, mimicking Twilight's motion "- doesn't end any time soon."

Twilight smiled, and quickly nuzzled Pinkie's neck. "It won't," she murmured to herself, suddenly thrown into a daydream. Won't end any time soon, she thought, a happy little sigh passing through her lips.

Pinkie opened her mouth for a moment, looking off into the town. She blinked, running through her memories. She subconsciously put a foreleg around Twilight, smiling as she felt the warmth of her coat against her own. A small smile crossed her lips as she gave her marefriend a final squeeze before pulling away.

"I know what we should do for dinner," she said with a singsongy twang.

"Mm?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie replied cheerfully.. "I remember one time, like, way back in high school I went to this one place with a few of my friends and I remember it was all, like, sparkly and fancy and stuff, and there was really good food there with a few other things and I just thought it would be perfect!" She grinned.

Twilight shook her head. "Well, whatever you say, I guess. What are we gonna do until then?"

"I dunno. I came up with dinner, the afternoon is your job."

"Well," Twilight began, levitating her empty cup over to her and standing, "I have no idea. But who needs plans?"

Pinkie bounced to her feet, giggling. "I taught you the power of randomness. Don't abuse it, grasshopper."

Twilight laughed, making a clean toss into the trash can. "I dunno. Let's just... um... we could..." She tapped her head. "I really don't know what to do. Can you think up any-"

"Soccer tennis go prank Rainbow Dash bake brownies drink cider go swimming?"

Twilight stared at Pinkie for a moment, a smile slowly growing on her face. "I... brownies sound good."

*Bing!*

Pinkie grinned and bucked open the oven behind her, sending a blast of chocolatey scent through the small ground floor of the apartment. Twilight snatched the tray up with her magic and flew it over to herself at the cooling rack. Racks.

Pinkie bounced over cheerfully, her batter-stained toque sitting askew on the top of her pink poofy mane. "You wanna make another batch?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Pinkie, we made thirteen already. The last time you tr-"

She was interrupted with a sudden gasp. "Thirteen? Oh no, now we have to make another batch! Everypony knows that thirteen is an unlucky number!"

Twilight snorted, and chuckled. "Come on. Do you really..." She stopped herself, noticing Pinkie's unusually firm glare.

"Ms. Sparkle, if there's anything I ever taught you..."

"Yeah, I know, I know. Don't disrespect the powerful forces that I somehow don't comprehend." She shook her head and smiled lightheartedly, turning her attention back to the massive tiered cooling rack covered entirely with brownies. "You know there has to be at least three hundred here, right?"

"That's about an average, yeah."

"I'm just going to ignore that. Either way, what do you plan on doing with these?"

"Well, just about anything, really. I've sold them for my own profit, I've given them away..." She paused, staring at the rectangular stack of deep brown squares. "But usually I just eat a lot, and put the rest in the 'fridge, and then eat them later."

Twilight stared at her for a moment, before her eyes travelled down her body. For somepony who eats sweets that much, she's really fit. But a little poofy. Maybe her coat has the same type of hair as her mane? No. That's not anatomically correct. Does she work out? Every muscle seems toned, but soft at the same time, like they're made of velv-

"Hey, Twilight! Wake up!"

Her senses snapped back to her, and she shook her head. Where was she staring? She looked back to her marefriend's face. "Yes. What."

"You're gonna try one, right?"

Twilight felt a little blush grow on her cheeks. "Yeah - yes. Of course," she mumbled, reaching out and grabbing one that looked especially nice with her magic and taking a bite.

"You like?"

She nodded for a moment, looking down at the brownie and up at Pinkie. "Do I even need to say it?"

Pinkie giggled. "What, that you're allergic to brownies?

"No, that's - I'm not even -" She groaned. "You've outdone yourself again, chef. Maybe not a perfect brownie, but the closest thing I'll ever have to one." She smiled, and took another slow bite, closing her eyes savouring the crisp, chewy chocolate crust.

"Pfft. What do you mean, it's not perfect? You made most of them." She giggled. "You want another one?"

"Well, I mean, I don't really-" she stopped, opening her eyes. Pinkie was staring at her smiling, a brownie in-between her teeth. Twilight grinned, and leaned forwards, biting the other end. Their muzzles just barely touched before she tore the brownie in two and started laughing, eliciting a laugh from Pinkie, too.

Twilight swallowed and sighed, giving Pinkie another nuzzle. "Alright. What are we going to do now?"

"Still all you, Twi." Pinkie turned and flipped her head, sending her toque flying through the air straight to the cupboard.

Twilight shook her head. "I still can't - I mean, what were some of those things you were talking about before?"

Pinkie rolled her eyes and smiled. "Hm... wanna make out?" she asked cheerfully, taking a step towards her marefriend.

"Uh... um, that's not gonna... take four hours..." she trailed off mumbling to herself, staring at the tiled floor to hide her growing smile.

"Is that a yes?" came the almost purred reply.

Celestia, that's sexy. "...Mm-hm."

"Get over here."

"... Well, what else am I supposed to call you, then? Sparkle...zizzle?" Pinkie was saying with a giggle.

Twilight laughed. "What? No, I just don't want to be called 'Twily'. I mean, it's sort of a family thing." She moved her legs a bit, struggling to find the comfortable spot that she'd lost.

The two were sitting against the wall of the bakery, with Twilight snuggled up, content, in Pinkie's forelegs. A brief... intimate moment between the two dissolved into laughter and eventually became some sort of a warm hug. Every time something like this happened, it surprised her - just the idea that she could feel so comfortable in a situation like that was strange. Fantastic, but strange.

Twilight felt Pinkie's sigh on the back of her neck. "Well, I dunno. I'll think of something eventually, I guess. 'Twi's been working fine." She pulled her marefriend closer to her, feeling the heat against her chest and shivering. "... You know, I like this..." she murmured softly, nuzzling into the back of Twilight's head.

"So do I," Twilight replied, yawning and smiling.

"Hey, don't fall asleep on me, there, Twi," Pinkie said, grinning. "You don't wanna be tired when it's dinnertime, do you?" She paused for a moment, and looked vaguely around the room. "Hey, what time is it?"

Twilight glanced at the flour-dusted grandfather clock in the corner of the room. "It's, um, six -"

"Six?" Pinkie interrupted, moving to a crouch. "Six what?"

"Six twelve, or thirteen, or s-"

"Oh!" Pinkie said, popping out from behind her marefriend and hopping around the counter. "Oh! Um - you should probably go and get ready. I'll come by the library in half an hour. I think. Six what?"

"Twelve. But - what time is - did you get a reservation? Where are we going that needs a reservation?" Twilight asked as she was pulled from the ground and pushed quickly to the door, still slightly sleepy. "Pinkie, I don't want you to take me anywhere too - I wouldn't - f - Pinkie - stop with the - hey -"

Pinkie swept Twilight out onto the doorstep and kissed her quickly on the bridge of her muzzle. "I'll see you in a few minutes," she added before turning quickly back into the apartment.

Twilight sighed, looking up at the door. "Um... bye?"

The upper level of the library resounded with the sound of hoofstep - hurried hoofstep - as its resident unicorn quickly prepared herself for - well - wherever it was she was going, taking a quick shower and running a brush through her hair.

A quick glance at the clock told her that she'd only taken twenty or so minutes to ready everything. Considering the speed at which she remembered cleaning herself up, it wasn't at all an impressive feat. She frowned momentarily, but dismissed her trivial thoughts and swung the door to the second landing open - which was followed by a dull thud.

Twilight gasped and stepped out onto the balcony, shutting the door quickly behind her. She clicked her tongue. "Spike," she said quietly, picking him up with her magic and setting him on his feet. "Sorry. Break anything?" she asked teasingly.

"I don't think so," he replied, putting a hand to his head. "But usually you don't open doors so... you know... fast." He picked up the book he was reading and turned to walk down the stairs, closely followed by Twilight. "What's the big rush?"

"Well," Twilight began, looking out over the library, "it's Saturday night, and since we spent pretty close to the whole day together, Pinkie said she was taking me out to dinner." She sighed shortly. "I don't know why she thinks she can. Or should." She smiled to herself. "Nice gesture, I guess, but I'll go dutch anyways..." she mumbled, trailing off.

Spike sighed, too, and shrugged. "Well, as long as it's past five and I don't have to watch the library. I'm gonna go take a nap -"

He was cut short by a quick rapping at the door. Both Twilight and Spike glanced up at the light violet window to see a brightly grinning pink face mouthing 'Hi'.

Spike threw the book onto the front desk, and turned toward the stairs again. "Well, g'night."

"Hey!" Twilight called after him. "Put it back where it belongs," she instructed, levitating the baby dragon down to the desk again.

"Yeah, yeah, just go have your special dinner already," he grumbled, and stalked off towards the depths of the library.

Twilight couldn't help but smile. Spike had always been kinda like that, and although on multiple occasions it had frustrated her to no end, every once in a while it was just that cutesy thing that reminded her that Spike was still Spike..

"Ready to go?" a cheerful voice piped up from behind her, making her mane stand on end for a moment.

"Pinkie!" she gasped, whipping her head around. "Nearly gave me a heart attack."

She shrugged, and grinned. "Whoops?"

"... so, remember, this is the third time he asks me this; he asks me, 'But what's your favourite colour?'" Pinkie laughs, enticing a laugh from Twilight, too. "And he's totally serious about it, like it's important! Don't you think he would be able to tell anyways? I'm the embodiment of pink!" Another round of laughter echoed around the lightly populated cobblestone square. It wasn't quite close enough to fall yet for it to be legitimately cold, but there was still a crisp early-evening breeze passing through town.

"That's a word for you, am I right, Pinkie?"

"Oh, shut up!" Pinkie giggled, giving her a friendly push. "... I swear, worst date I've ever had," Pinkie finished, giggling. "What about you? What's your worst experience?"

Twilight shook her head. "Up until recently -" she paused on the word, flashing a smile at her marefriend "- I hadn't actually been on any dates."

Pinkie looked rather shocked. "None. None at all?"

"Nope," Twilight chuckled. "Nopony took any interest in me when I was in school, and... well, I guess I was just kinda left alone."

Pinkie looked over at her marefriend with a slight feeling of pity in her chest, before leaning over and pressing up against her. "...It's a bit chilly out today, isn't it?" she asked softly. Twilight slowly began to understand her insinuation and blushed a rosy pink.

If anything comes out of this relationship, a sudden thought popped into Pinkie's head, I want Twilight to remember it well. ... Is that a good thing to think?

"You better not be getting us lost, Pinkie," Twilight sighed, glancing around at the thinning city and growing suburbs. Pinkie hadn't even noticed that they were already out of Ponyville. She tried to get her bearings quickly.

"No, no, I've been there before, remember? I - I know where it is. Right!" she added loudly and took a sharp right, nearly bumping headfirst into Twilight. "I got it. It's down third - fourth street. Third street."

"Let's just say there for now," Twilight said, before stopping Pinkie where she was. "It that it down there?"

Pinkie squinted in the dimming light down the road. "Yeah, that's it. The white one with the sides and the roof."

Twilight smiled but said nothing, and trotted off happily down the street. The Gooseberry didn't seem to be too big of a place, probably family-owned; it looked quaint in its surroundings, though, being just a little too tall and a little too thin for the other buildings around it. Twilight flickered an ear out of habit as Pinkie trotted up alongside her - she could already smell dinner. Roasting almonds, a sour tang of grapes, all kinds of pastries and breads...

"Excellent choice, Pinkie," Twilight said quietly. "Can you smell that?"

"Thank you, and definitely." Pinkie pressed her head up against Twilight's for a second, before shaking her head with a giggle and a snort. "Maybe I didn't totally break the evening. Yet."

"Don't even joke about that," Twilight said teasingly. "That's happened before, and you remember it. It wasn't funny."

Pinkie's giggles grew louder. "Yeah, but that's the funny part!" she replied as they were approaching the door, and caught it as another couple entered the already-bustling establishment. "Ladies first," she muttered, going through another bout of giggles as she held the door for her marefriend.

The noise in the restaurant began dying down around 7:45, about when both mares were full, satisfied, and just having conversation. When a microphone scratch shot through the air, the noise stopped entirely. An older stallion, with a broad muzzle, came to the center of the room.

There was a short pause as the room quickly became silent. He leaned close to the mic and said simply, "Gyvien starts at eight."

Immediately there was a flurry of movement in the center of the room - some of the circular tables were moved away by waiters and a few ponies were crowded around the back of the room opposite from Pinkie and Twilight. Conversation slowly resumed. Twilight looked across at Pinkie. "What's 'gyvien'? What was he talking about? Is that another language? I don't..."

Pinkie smiled, a glint of mischief flashing through her eyes. "First, you have to tell me whether we're staying for it."

"Well, what is it?"

"Yes or no."

Twilight groaned, and raised a hoof to her face. "If I say yes, will I be upset?"

"Hopefully not," came the chuckled reply.

"... Sure. Why not." She looked over at the center of the room again, before turning back to Pinkie. "So what is it?"

"It's a dance."

Twilight leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Pinkie."

"Mm?" Pinkie replied, leaning forward on the table, a grin spreading slowly across her face.

"I don't..." she paused, sighing again and clicking her tongue, a hint of a scowl flashing across her face. "I don't feel comfortable dancing... in a... how do I say it?"

"Twilight."

"Y-" She glanced up and stopped short. Pinkie was standing next to her chair, her hoof outstretched. The yellow light from the old oil lamps lighting up the dining room behind her gave a bright contrast to her face, just stretching the drama of the moment to its fullest. Twilight's mouth went dry.

"Dance with me."