"Mmm. Hi, Twi."

Twilight awoke to a heavy warmth on her side, slowly traveling under the covers and around her chest. She remembered quickly enough who it was, and smiled groggily. "G-Good morning, Pinkie," she yawned in reply. The now-familiar tingle spread to her chest as Pinkie reached around her with a hoof, leaning forwards for a gentle early-morning snuggle.

Pinkie giggled. "You sound tired."

"Really?"

"You sound cute when you're tired, though," she added quietly, pressing up against her back.

Finally, Twilight opened her eyes before stretching her hooves out - to no support whatsoever. Her hoof grabbed at empty air, and her vision cleared. "Pinkie... how did we get on the couch?"

Pinkie giggled again. "You were on the couch. I was in the kitchen."

"We -" she paused, and thought about it for a moment. "Oh, yeah. You, uh... with the stairs, and... yeah, okay, that makes sense." She giggled, and turned back to Pinkie, who was pressed between her and the back of the couch, for a soft, tired nuzzle.

Without a doubt, Twilight felt good. It was just a heavenly position to be in - somepony she loved next to her, taking her romance and returning it with even more excitement and even more passion, both of them totally ignorant of any worries or stresses and focusing only on the other. And every tingle or rush she felt made it all the more worthwhile.

After a few minutes, a lull grew in the giggles bouncing about the room. Pinkie sighed contentedly, wrapping her forelegs around her marefriend once again and looking up at the window across from them.

"Have you ever... thought... Twi?"

The question was so abrupt, and, frankly, abstract, that Twilight was taken by surprise. "Well... I think so."

Pinkie smiled, and held her tighter. "That's a good answer. I mean, have you ever thought without... um... thinking about it?"

"I'm confused."

"I can't think of a way to say it," Pinkie replied, giggling. "Maybe... thinking without overthinking. Like, without all the facts and stuff."

Twilight readjusted herself a little, stretching out her hooves. "You mean, like, emotionally?"

"Sure."

Twilight sighed. "It was actually really recently that I... well, I realized I have a pretty logical brain."

"And only recently you noticed this?"

She chuckled. "Ironic, a bit, I know. I try to just take facts and stuff peripherally now, you know... but it can get overwhelming." She paused. "That's not the right word. Either way, if I know what you mean, no, I don't 'think without thinking' very much."

"I do. All the time. I'm kind of happy you can't."

Another quiet lull. "... Uh... why?"

"Just because that means that you can think with facts and stuff. And sometimes that gets to be too much for me."

Twilight nodded, looking back at her. "It's like an opposites-attract kind of thing."

"Or we're just two parts of the same mind."

"... I would have never thought about it that way."

Pinkie smiled, and nuzzled into the back of her neck. "That's what I'm here for."

That oddly-comforting silence returned as her words bounced about in Twilight's mind. After a content little sigh, she rolled over again to face her marefriend reached her forelegs around her, wrapping her in a close embrace. She nuzzled into Pinkie's shoulder (squeezing a giggle out of her), and just smiled.

The sun was peeking over the rooftops across the street as Twilight opened the door. A smooth early-morning breeze ran over her slowly, giving her a bracing chill. "You know," she began, turning back to Pinkie, "you make really good hot chocolate."

Pinkie rolled her eyes and smiled. "Thanks. You drink really good hot chocolate."

Twilight giggled, and put her hoof on Pinkie's chest. "Stop. I'll see you later and we can plan something, okay?"

"Yeah."

Twilight glanced back out onto the street, and frowned, absentmindedly chewing on her tongue. There was still something missing. Something hollow in her mind that she couldn't think around. She shook her head and kissed her marefriend gently on the cheek. "Bye."

She trotted down the steps and was greeted by a light autumn morning breeze and a newspaper to the face.

"Oh, uh, sorry, Miss Sparkle -!" the colt on the cycle, a chubby little blue unicorn, called out as he rounded the corner, continuing to launch papers at every house down the way.

Twilight let out a chuckle and levitated the newspaper to herself. It wasn't just one, actually - it seemed to be a bunch all stuck together with a plastic band. Of course Pinkie would subscribe to all the Ponyville newspapers. She would consider it a hobby. Or just being nice. Twilight grinned and snapped the band off, unraveling the papers in front of her.

Her heart skipped a beat. She'd felt it before. It was like ice, freezing her blood in its tracks and sucking the breath from her before shattering in her chest. It scared her more than anything.

She lifted her hoof and tried to back onto the steps, but miscalculated and slipped off, stumbling over herself to turn around. "Pinkie," she said more to herself than Pinkie, still staring at the paper. Finally, she looked up and called out "Pinkie!"

The door swung open, almost knocking Twilight back off the steps. Her emotion got the better of her, though, and her magic fizzled, sending the stack of newspapers onto the steps below. "Oh, sorry, I didn't even -"

"Sh!" she interrupted, stuttering "look" as the front page to the Capital Cadet levitated berween them in a staticky pink glow.

Pinkie's eyes grew big, fast. "What?"

On the front page, in full colour, was a single picture framed with text and headed with "HARMONY INDEED: THE ELEMENTS SEEM TO PAIR UP TWO BY TWO." Pinkie's and Twilight's silhouettes, partially illuminated by the moonlight, shone boldly in the papers' cheap ink. The bright blue of the river around them practically leapt off the page.

"That's..."

"Yeah!" Twilight almost shouted, a mix of rage and embarrassment welling up in her stomach. Part of her wanted to cry.

"That's not my good side," Pinkie finished, her face falling. "Well, I don't really have a good side when my mane is wet."

"Wh -" Twilight began, her lips not forming proper shapes. "That's us! In the river! On our date night!" she sputtered. "Where did they g-get that picture?"

"Well, the bridge is public domain, Twi - I mean, like, anypony could have taken that and sold it to the paper."

After staring at Pinkie's rather unimpressed face for a solid five seconds, Twilight stamped her hoof on the ground in frustration. "But - but this is our personal business! What right do they have to do this?!" She didn't even notice that she was screaming until Pinkie put a hoof on her lips.

"It's fine, Twi. They're the paparazzi. We're famous. You know math," she finished bluntly. "I wouldn't consider it too big of a deal."

"But - but - but -" she spluttered. "You're the one who was afraid to tell anypony about - it - and now everypony knows! And it's being treated like a joke!" She finally felt some kind of tears building up, scratching at the back of her eyes. "Don't you care about this?"

Pinkie frowned. "Of course I do. But I don't think it matters that much anymore. I mean, weren't you the one who wanted to start being more public? Now everypony knows, and we didn't even have to try -"

"But... no! That's not what I wanted to happen at all! I wanted us to... take our time and..." she trailed off. "I don't know, integrate slowly."

Pinkie smiled broadly, pushing the paper aside. "You wanna come in again and talk about it? I can make more hot chocolate."

Twilight sighed quietly, and gathered up the fallen papers in a second or two, wrapping them together again with the band. "I don't know. I only have a few minutes, after all, and - I don't know."

"Are you really that upset over it?"

She nodded, and leaned against the railing, putting a hoof to her face. "... Yeah. Don't know why, though."

Pinkie smiled again, kicking the door behind her open a bit more. "You need some help thinking about it?"

Twilight glanced up, then shook her head, staring back at the ground. "I... think I might."

"You wanna drink?"

It took a second to register. "Jeez, no, Pinkie, it's seven in the morning."

Pinkie snorted, flipping her mane and trotting into the kitchen. "No, I mean, like, the hot chocolate we were talking about."

Twilight sat down on the couch as the warmth of Pinkie's apartment pushed one final shiver out of her. The stack of papers came gently to a rest on the coffee table.

"Do you want some more hot chocolate?" Pinkie asked again, her head popping into view from the doorframe.

"Oh, uh, no, thanks," Twilight replied, shaking her head once before burying it in her forehooves and leaning back onto the couch.

Pinkie frowned, and walked back into the room. "Is it really that concerning?"

Twilight didn't respond for a second. "... I don't know."

Pinkie grinned despite herself, and shook her head. "You know," she began, sitting down next to her, "Nothing's going to change. We'll just keep doing what we're doing, and... nothing's going to change," she finished weakly.

"I don't know that," Twilight replied, her hooves falling back to the couch. "It's not just that it's in the paper, either, or that ponies will know. It's just that somepony was looking at us in the river and took a picture." She rubbed a hoof against the flowery fabric of the cushion. "It's uncomfortable."

"You know..." Pinkie began, leaning back with her against the pillows. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to s-"

She was cut off by what sounded like fabric tearing. After more than a decade without that sound, it was back again. Twilight shivered as a bright pink slip of glowing paper floated slowly down through the air right in front of her. The little after-shock, a short burst of pain, shot through her head, but she barely noticed. She caught the paper in her magic and lifted it back up to her:

Twilight.

Come to the castle immediately. No accessories are necessary. Deliver these messages to the other four.

Almost on cue, three more small slips of paper, folded in half and addressed to 'Rarity', 'Applejack', and 'Fluttershy & Rainbow Dash', floated to the ground in front of her.

"What is it? How did it come out of your horn?"

Twilight felt the words she wanted to say in her mouth, but couldn't form them for a moment. "We... we have to go. Set out - set out food for Gummy and - and I'll be back."

"What?" Pinkie asked, confusion clear on her face. Her cheeriness had faded away. "What did it say? You're scaring me, Twi."

Twilight shook her head, remembering where she was and who she was talking to. "It was an emergency note. Nothing," she replied, hoping her nerve didn't show. "It's nothing, probably. We just have to go meet with Princess Celestia."

"If this has to do with the paper, I'll be mad at the coincidence," Pinkie joked, smiling as well as she could for her obvious worry.

Twilight nodded, more to herself than to Pinkie, and scooped up the papers with her magic. Without another word, she turned on her hooves and trotted away, the notes trailing along behind her like the tail of a kite.

As she watched her go, Pinkie's ears fell. She knew Twilight. If she was already worried, something from the Princess would kill her with worry. Great timing. She just wished there was something, anything she could do for her, but knew there was nothing but comfort to provide.

Twilight was a romantic. That was certain. Pinkie knew she was trying, sometimes even too hard, and she loved her all the same for it, but that just meant that more rode on them both. If something stupid like the paper got in the way, it could get fragile. She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't lose her. After all, last night hadn't even sunk in yet, and even with all the little off patches, what they had was still... an experience, to say the least.

She closed the door and kicked at the carpet. Why did this have to happen now?

The train was silent. The only sounds were the rumble of the wheels on the track and the soft snoring of an older pony a few seats behind them.

It was dark. There were fluorescent lights, but they were dim with years of use, and the starlight outside provided for most of the illumination. Each rumble from the tracks below, and a squeak from some loose screw somewhere echoed around the cabin. The shadows cast on Dash's face as she stared out the back window were hard black, outlining her features sharply.

Fluttershy was standing next to her, touching her hoof gently. "Do you..." She paused, feeling something welling up in her throat. "...Do you really think that Twilight was right? That this is all about us?"

Dash inhaled quickly - any moreso and it could have been a snort. "I don't know."

Fluttershy nodded, and looked down. "Why would it be, though?"

"I don't know, Shy."

She didn't sound unkind, but that didn't help Fluttershy. It was the middle of the night before they were able to get prepared and grab a train to Canterlot, and it just intensified the fear. Twilight had come to her at something like two that afternoon, gave her the note, chose her words carefully, and left. It scared her more than anything, how quiet she'd been.

The silence was loud to her. The constant rumble from the tracks and the whispers behind her made her feel cold. It wasn't like the Princess would try to separate them. There's no reason she would. So why was Twilight so...

"You know..." she began, but trailed off, deciding against saying what she was going to say.

"... What?"

Fluttershy leaned her head on her marefriend's shoulder. "I love you," she whispered.

Dash remained silent, nuzzling back and sighing. Fluttershy could feel her warm breath against her ear and wondered what she would do without it.

"Oh, darling. It's not like she's going to fault you for getting into a relationship. She should know that you're at that age," Rarity assured her as well as she could.

That was doing nothing to help Twilight. When she came to Rarity's with her letter, she was already on the verge of tears. And when Rarity asked what was wrong, she broke down. She'd been sniffling quietly to herself for almost two hours now, across from Rarity and Applejack, and nothing anypony said helped.

Pinkie had her foreleg around her, and was looking quite disheartened herself, no matter what she was saying. "Come on, Twi," she said. "You're overthinking it."

"Ah'm goin' with Pinkie on this one, Twi," Applejack agreed. Her hat was off and sitting in front of her, and she was trying to lean back and get comfortable. "Ya do overthink things a lot."

"I know," she replied, her voice wavering. "But I can't stop."

The cab was quiet for a moment. Finally, Rarity giggled. "This is absurd, girls. We're on a train for the palace at ten o'clock at night, worrying about whether the Princess is a homophobe or something. It has to be some other reason."

"Well, that's true. There's no way the Princess is a purebirther. She has to be pretty progressive to be chill and 6,000 years old," Pinkie chimed in, making Applejack laugh.

"But - but there were letters addressed to Shy and Dash! Why would she do that if it weren't -"

"She could just have started recognizing it -"

"She would still address them individually -"

"Perhaps she means to congratulate -"

"It was an emergency n -"

"Well, she could be lecturing us like she does sometimes -"

Applejack slapped a hoof against the chair. "Quiet!" she snapped. All three shut their mouths and looked over at her in shock. "Just - just calm down, and take a nap, and we'll understand when we get there. Y'all need to calm down. Really."

With this, she covered her face with her hat and leaned back further in her seat as the old stallion in the back woke up with a snort.

Author's Notes:

WELL THIS FOSSIL IS BACK