“Spike? Spike?!”

Fluttershy’s ears wilted back as she entered the library. The screaming sounded like Twilight, and was loud enough she almost turned right back around and left. Clearly this was a bad time.

“Spike, get up here!”

The kitchen door creaked open, and a cloud of dark smoke billowed out like a snake from a tunnel. “Um... I’m a little busy right now,” Spike called back.

“Is something burning?” Twilight demanded to know, rushing out of her room and into the accumulated cloud just outside her door.

Spike slammed the kitchen door closed quickly. “Uh, I sneezed!” he shouted through it. “Hold on a second while I clean up.”

“Ew. Burning cheese.” Twilight coughed violently, stumbling down the stairs. When she was sufficiently out of the disgusting cloud she closed the remaining distance to the floor with a leap and a few wing flaps. “I need your help! I lost something.” she called through the door to the kitchen.

Fluttershy waited for a lull in the commotion, and when she judged the moment was right she tried to make her presence known. It wasn’t polite to listen to other ponies and their dragons having conversations when they didn’t know another friend was right there. “Um—”

There was a loud clatter from the kitchen, followed by a shattering of what sounded like glassware. After uttering some words Fluttershy wasn’t aware Spike knew, he opened the door and poked his head through. “What’d you lose?” he asked.

“It’s...” Twilight hesitated, opening and closing her mouth several times before blurting out: “It’s not anything really important... just a scroll— errr, a list! Just a list.”

“Oh. Well, I haven’t seen any lists around. Sorry,” Spike replied. He ducked his head back inside, closing the door behind him.

“What am I going to do?” Twilight said, fretting. “If anypony else finds it before I do I’ll just—” she paced back and forth, muttering to herself and staring down at the floor.

Fluttershy moved forward, hoping that with proximity Twilight might notice her, if for no other reason than to say hello properly, followed by a quick goodbye since Twilight was clearly busy. She reached out a hoof as she got close enough, then flinched back as Twilight suddenly spun around to face her.

“Gah!” Twilight shouted as her head snapped upwards from watching her own hooves. “F-Fluttershy?”

“Um... hi.” Fluttershy replied, allowing her mane to mask her face, or so she hoped. She really didn’t want Twilight to know how startled she was by her friend’s behavior. After all, it wasn’t Twilight’s fault that her friend had barged in unannounced during what was clearly a crisis of some sort, or that Fluttershy was such a horrible friend as to approach her about a problem when Twilight had problems of her own. Most likely big important princess problems, which were much more pressing than small, insignificant pegasus problems. “Um... I’ll just see myself out...”

“Wait!” Twilight said quickly, taking a moment to smooth back her hair and take a deep, soothing breath. “Sorry. I... When did you get here?”

“Um... a little while ago,” Fluttershy answered quietly. “I came in about the time you found out Spike burned the quesadillas?”

“He what?!” Twilight said, her left eye twitching as she began breathing rapidly once again. “Spike! I told you no more quesadillas!”

“They’re not for you! They’re for me!” Spike shouted back through the door.

“I don’t care! They stink up the whole tree every time you make them!” Twilight glared at the door a moment longer, then turned back to Fluttershy with an apologetic look. “Ugh... Let’s go upstairs. I can open the window to let the smell out.”

“All right,” Fluttershy replied, following her friend upstairs.

They both breathed a sigh of relief as the door was closed behind them. Fluttershy imagined the smell was likely permeating throughout the ceiling of the library, and she hoped for Twilight’s sake it wasn’t settling into the covers of the books.

“Sorry,” Twilight said as she flew up to her balcony to open the window before waving for Fluttershy to join her. “Ever since Pinkie served them a few months back he won’t stop making them. It’s bad enough when they’re made well but when he burns them it’s even worse!” She stuck her tongue out, her face looking slightly green for a moment. “Bleh. So, what’s up?”

Fluttershy took a seat on the guest bed, still a little uncertain if she wanted to trouble her friend when she was clearly already bothered about something. She fidgeted restlessly for a moment, briefly considering apologizing and leaving, or even fleeing out the window. “I... I just came by to talk to you...” she said at last.

“Oh? What about?” Twilight asked, taking a seat on her own bed.

Before Fluttershy managed to do more than shift uncomfortably on the bed, the sound of a door opening and closing came from downstairs, followed by Spike’s voice. “Oh, by the way, I sent those scrolls for you.”

“Uh... thanks?” Twilight called back. “I don’t remember asking you to send anything, though.”

“I figured you forgot. They were on your desk when I was dusting, so I rolled them up and sent them off.”

Fluttershy watched Twilight in fascination as her brows screwed up furiously as she thought. After a moment or two, Twilight apparently remembered something, and called back: “Oh, right, the estimates of the damage caused by the Pinkie clones.”

“Yeah, lots of numbers.”

“Right. Thanks, Spike!” Twilight shook her head with a smile. “Sorry, Spike’s always looking out for me. I meant to send that out two days ago and just set it aside.” She gestured with a hoof for Fluttershy to continue.

Or rather, to begin, since she hadn't yet had a chance to do more than fret while thinking about what she should say.

“Oh, and that other one on your nightstand too.”

Twilight’s expression, which had been relaxed a moment ago, took an abrupt turn for the worse. “M-my nightstand?”

“Yeah, looked like a personal letter. I figured you probably meant that one to explain all the numbers. You’re welcome!”

The room seemed darker to Fluttershy, which was confusing since the sun was shining brightly outside and there seemed to be no clouds in the sky. “Um... Twilight?”

“What... what am I going to do?” Twilight asked in a small, pitiful voice, staring at her forehooves as if they might have an answer for her.

“About what?” Fluttershy asked, growing even more concerned for her friend.

Twilight didn’t answer for a very long time “I...” she fell silent once more, slowly raising her eyes to meet Fluttershy’s. “It’s... it’s not important. What did you need?”

“I...” Fluttershy fell silent as well, not sure what to say, and badly wishing Twilight would tell her what had made her react this way all of a sudden. “I guess it’s not very important either,” she said finally. Except it was, and yet it wasn’t. Fluttershy badly needed help, but she couldn’t ignore that the very friend she needed help from needed help as well.

Maybe.... maybe if I find out what’s wrong, I can help her? Then we can see if she has any advice for me once she’s not so frazzled, she thought, feeling a sense of rightness from it. Sometimes, it helped just to listen, and Fluttershy was a good listener. “Twilight, was something bad in that scroll Spike sent?”

Her friend visibly flinched at the question. “I... yes, or no, kinda?” She shrugged weakly. “It was... private. But my life may as well be over now, so it doesn’t matter.”

Fluttershy waited for Twilight to say more, but when it didn’t seem to be forthcoming, she quietly got up, joining her friend on her bed and silently embracing her.

Twilight stiffened at first, but as the wing enfolded her she leaned into its embrace. “I can’t believe that I was so stupid...” she muttered, choking back a sniffle.

“You’re not stupid, Twilight,” Fluttershy said in what she hoped was a calming voice. Truthfully, her own problems seemed much smaller when confronted with Twilight’s utter misery. “What was in the scroll?”

“I...” Twilight paused, taking a deep breath. Her horn flashed, and a glow enveloped the door to the bedroom, and the window. The walls simultaneously lit up with a glowing, sparkling light that played on the surface as if it was alive.

When she was done doing whatever she was doing, she finally began talking again. “I just wrote it all down. All my feelings, my hopes, my desires. Everything in one neat little letter. I just put the pen on the paper and watched as it flew. Pages and pages of flattery, comparing her to celestial objects, confessions about times I...” Twilight blushed furiously. “It... it just felt so good to let it out, somehow. And when I was done, I hid it. I put up wards and protection spells and anti-scrying spells. I made a spot under my bed that was basically not even a part of this world anymore.”

Fluttershy was confused at first, not sure who Twilight was talking about, until her memory was jogged by the mention of celestial objects. Some quick mental arithmetic brought her to the conclusion that Twilight had every reason to be devastated. “Oh, my...” So, that was the thing Twilight had been worried about earlier, and what Spike had just sent to— “Oh my goodness!”

“I should have put it away,” Twilight said miserably. “I...I take it out, sometimes, late at night, and... I imagine what her reaction might be. And I... I...” she took another deep breath. “I do... things, to myself. And... last night, I... I was thinking about her... doing things to herself.”

Twilight shuddered for a moment, and Fluttershy realized with more than a little shock that Twilight was remembering how she’d felt and—

Oh gosh. Um... Granny Smith in a negligee... With that little mental jolt of cold water she managed to maintain her composure, but thoughts of Twilight’s activities were quietly filed away for a time when she could properly freak out about them, or when she could retire to her bath.

”It... it was really intense, and I put the letter down. I guess I passed out.” Twilight fluttered the tips of her wings helplessly. “I should have put it back. I always put it back. He never would have found it. Nopony ever should have found it.”

After a very very long time, Fluttershy finally found it in herself to speak once more. “Okay.”

“What do you mean, ‘okay’?” Twilight demanded to know. “Nothing is okay. Nothing will ever be okay again!” Twilight shrugged off Fluttershy’s wing, got up, and began pacing restlessly. “She has to have read it by now, and she hasn’t even sent me anything in reply! She must hate me! All those things I wrote!” Twilight’s eyes widened. “That...that letter... I touched it... afterwards. It was on my chest and I was all sleepy and my magic was wobbly and I picked it up with my hooves!”

“Twilight, it’s going to be okay!” Fluttershy said, getting up herself in hopes of stopping Twilight and getting her to calm down just a little.

Her friend just kept pacing more rapidly, her breathing growing more ragged. “She’s going to come here in person! And it won’t be magic kindergarden this time. No, I’m a giant pervert who shouldn’t ever be around impressionable young minds! She’ll put me in the deepest, darkest dungeon, full of torture devices to punish ponies like me—”

Pinkie Pie covered in whipped cream, with ice cubes on her nipples! Fluttershy thought desperately. Wait, no. That’s not helpful at all!

As unhelpful as it might be to calm herself down, it did keep her from picturing Twilight being punished by Princess Celestia, if only because Twilight was replaced by a giggling Pinkie and Princess Celestia by a mock-severe looking Rarity in faux leather.

So, while she was thankfully no longer feeling awkward about her unwanted fantasies of Twilight, she was decidedly still feeling very awkward. At the very least, her feelings were no longer immobilizing her, which allowed her to tackle Twilight back onto the bed before she wore a hole in her floor.

Twilight looked up at her, almost seeming startled to see her there. Fluttershy could feel her friend’s heart beating rapidly, and see the distinct eye twitch they’d all come to recognize as being signs of a truly awful panic attack, as opposed to the perfectly ordinary panic attacks she had from day to day. “Twilight,” Fluttershy said as calmly as she could, chasing away the giggling Pinkie Pies and Rarities alike. “I need you to focus on my voice. Remember the breathing exercise Cadence taught you?”

“Cadence?” Twilight replied, confused. She thought for a moment, and then apparently came to a conclusion that caused her eyes to slightly bulge out of their sockets. “Cadence! Celestia might send it to her to ask what to do, and then my brother will know!”

“I’m sure that’s not true. I mean... you can’t really see her doing that, can you?” Fluttershy said in a measured, calm voice. “She’ll be very surprised, I’m sure, but I don’t see her doing something like that even if she is upset.”

“Maybe she’ll show it to Luna, and Luna will plague my dreams for daring to insult her sister and—”

“The Princess would not show something private to her sister, and even if she did, I don’t think Luna would punish you in your dreams for it.” Fluttershy said, cutting off Twilight’s tirade. “Now listen. I need you to breath with me. In.” Fluttershy took a deep breath. “Out,” she exhaled slowly and evenly.

Twilight looked ready to protest once more, but the feeling of Fluttershy’s chest rising and falling against her own slowly helped calm her, until eventually she was following suit. Only when the red-eyed tinge of panic had reduced in Twilight’s eyes did Fluttershy ease herself up, settling into a sitting position next to her friend. The Pinkies and Rarities in her mind gave her a rousing round of applause, and promised naughty, naughty things for her heroism once she got back to her house.

The newly-crowned princess sat up. Focusing on a knot on the floor before her, she continued her slow and steady breathing exercises until she no longer showed any signs of immediate emotional distress.

“Feeling any better?” Fluttershy asked quietly, gently rubbing Twilight’s shoulder.

“A little,” Twilight admitted, favoring her friend with a sheepish look. “I... I know you’re right, about some of it, anyway. Celestia probably won’t throw me in a deep, dark dungeon and throw away the key. But... this wasn’t how I wanted to let her know how I felt. I...I thought over tea sometime, in a private room, so she wouldn’t be as uncomfortable. I read that the setting is really crucial, and just asking somepony out suddenly was a good way to get rejected because most ponies don’t like being surprised,” she flung herself back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. “It’s all wrong. ”

“Do you really think that?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, the princess cares about you...”

“She does... but I don’t know how much...” Twilight pursed her lips, looking around the room worriedly. “Or maybe she doesn’t. Maybe... maybe she just didn’t want to hurt my feelings. I ruined any chance I ever had, now.”

“I’m sure that’s not true, Twilight. Just because the princess finds out how you feel in a really embarrassing way doesn’t mean she’ll think less of you for it.” Fluttershy reassuringly rubbed Twilight’s knee at the edge of the bed. “It’ll be okay.”

Twilight groaned, covering her face with a pillow. “She already knows how I feel, Fluttershy. I...I just don’t know if she feels the same.”

“Oh!” Fluttershy exclaimed in surprise. “Well, doesn’t that make it easier?”

“No.” Twilight said through the pillow. “If it was easy I could have just asked her out after the Gala, or Shining’s wedding. Nothing about the Princess is easy.”

“Why?” Fluttershy asked, honestly curious. “If she knows how you feel shouldn’t you just be able to ask the same?”

Twilight groaned into the pillow. “I guess I should be able to, but I...” she lifted the pillow, peering at Fluttershy from under it. “Shy... can I tell you something?”

“You’ve told me a lot of things today, Twilight. I don’t think one more will hurt,” Fluttershy fought to maintain what she hoped was a reassuring smile, but inwardly, she cringed. If Twilight was less bothered by telling her that she clopped to a letter she wrote than by what she was about to say, just how bad was it?

“Pinkie Promise.” Twilight said, looking her straight in the eye. “Do you promise?”

Fluttershy hesitated only a moment, truly concerned now. Whatever it was she was about to hear was something Twilight valued above anything else she’d shared so far. “Cross my heart—” she said, making the motions.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, sitting up and glancing at her before looking down at the floor again. “Sorry, it’s just... If anypony else found out, it would be a huge scandal. I mean, ponies made a big deal about the cakes she eats. The press would have a field day with this.”

“It’s okay. Pinkie would be crushed if I ever broke your promise. Whatever it is is safe with me,” Fluttershy replied, laying a hoof on her friend’s shoulder.

“Okay, here goes,” Twilight visibly braced herself. “The princess and I have been... intimate.”

Fluttershy waited for a few moments, unsure if Twilight was going to say more. It wasn’t so much that what she’d already said wasn’t shocking enough, but that it seemed somewhat tame to necessitate a promise. Intimate could mean anything from a kiss to Twilight getting spanked by Celestia’s wing while Luna watched. Eventually, when it became apparent that Twilight was going to reveal no more, Fluttershy replied: “Intimate? Like... how Rarity and Pinkie—”

“No!” Twilight said quickly. “Not... not that intimate... Not yet, anyway... But... still.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy replied, staring at the floor herself, now. It offered no insight into what to say when your best friend told you she’s had relations of some sort with the Princess of Equestria.

“It’s... it’s happened a few times. And every time was really wonderful... But afterwards... she leaves, and I... I never know what to think about that,” Twilight said in a very small voice.

The floor offered even less about what to say when your friend told you that the princess was apparently doing intimate things to her. The swirled patterns and knots of the planks beneath her hooves had very little to tell Fluttershy regarding when these intimate encounters started or how serious things had gotten. Unbidden, memories of Twilight positively glowing while telling them all of the closeness of her relationship with her teacher, and of the countless sessions of private instruction. Maybe too private.... While the idea was shocking, it made sense that Twilight would be uncomfortable mentioning it without a promise to keep it from others. The floor had absolutely nothing useful for that. Fortunately, Fluttershy herself had a response: “She what?! I can’t believe she—”

“She... the first time it happened, she didn’t mean for it to happen. She... I think she was trying to nuzzle me, but I kissed her... and she was a little surprised, but... then she kissed me back, and from there we just—”

Fluttershy had heard enough. Maybe Twilight had justified it in her mind, but as her friend Fluttershy had to tell Twilight that it wasn’t her fault. “It doesn’t matter if you started it, the Princess should know better! Children are allowed to be affectionate but that doesn’t make it okay for an adult to take that further—”

“What? No!” Twilight’s surprised shout caught Fluttershy off guard, and the anger that had quickly risen and formed indignation in her head faded away. “See?!” Twilight continued, “This is exactly why I don’t want ponies to know! Everypony would draw the wrong conclusion and it wouldn’t matter if it was true or not!”

“But if she did—” Fluttershy tried.

“It was after we defeated Nightmare Moon, okay?” Twilight replied angrily. “Stars, why does everypony always think the worst of the princess?”

Fluttershy’s cheeks blazed crimson. “I’m...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...” Her tongue knotted momentarily, and she’d scooched backwards on the bed involuntary before she caught herself. All she wanted to do was beg for forgiveness and then run back to her cottage, but Twilight needed her right now. Fluttershy took a steadying breath and ordered her knees to stop their trembling. “All right, so you were old enough to make your own decisions. That was wrong of me to assume. But aren’t you making some very big assumptions about her yourself?”

“I’m... what?” Twilight regarded her with a blank look that belied confusion.

“You’re the one thinking that the princess doesn’t like you and that she’ll send you to a sex dungeon.”

“Sex dungeon? That isn’t—” Twilight cut herself off and sighed. “Nevermind. That letter... it was horrible. Even if she doesn’t do anything, she’ll certainly never want to talk to me again.” The alicorn came to full stop, and her eyes shrunk to pinpricks once more. “She won’t ever want to talk to me again...” she whispered in terrified awe.

“Twilight!” Fluttershy put a hoof on her friend’s chest, feeling Twilight’s heart beating a mile a minute. She would have to speak quickly or it would get worse. “Twilight, it was just a mistake. Ponies make mistakes.”

“But she won’t know that! She’ll think that I’m a pervert and a weirdo and that—”

“She won’t,” Fluttershy said firmly. “She won’t because she knows you, maybe better than anypony else. But you need to talk to her, Twilight. You need to tell her how you feel, otherwise she will be very confused.”

Twilight turned her head towards the window, staring at the far-off visage of Canterlot castle, her lip quivering in fright. “How can I face her now? I don’t know if I can, knowing she has that...”

It was very odd witnessing these things from somepony else. Fluttershy knew these fears very well. She’d had them screaming in her head every time she guiltily thought about Pinkie. She’d had them all but confirmed when Rarity had come over to her home and told her that she couldn’t have Pinkie. And now, she saw them alive and well in Twilight, who, despite very different circumstances, was going through the same torture.

But fortunately for Twilight, Fluttershy was not quite the same pony anymore. Yes, things could and possibly would go badly for Twilight, but Fluttershy had learned that some things were worth it, and should be fought for. Rarity had taught her that. And sometimes, if you worked hard, and had faith in the ponies you loved, happy endings could be had. That was something she’d learned from Pinkie.

Fluttershy smiled as she pictured the beaming faces of her marefriends. She took a deep breath, then put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder and gently turned the alicorn to face her. "Twilight, I know you're scared. You probably just want to hide away and never face her again."

Twilight just stared at her, eventually giving her a very confused nod.

“But you have to decide which scares you more. Seeing her again, and talking with her about how you feel, or never ever talking to her again.”

Twilight’s breathing hitched and her pupils narrowed. For a moment, Fluttershy was certain her friend was going to have another panic attack. But eventually, Twilight returned her gaze, and nodded firmly. “You’re right. She deserves to know.”

They both shared a smile, and even if Twilight’s was unsure, it was genuine.

“Sorry,” Twilight said at last, wiping her eyes with the edge of her bedsheet. “I didn’t mean to distract you from whatever was bothering you. Um... how can I help?”

“Oh!” Fluttershy replied in surprise. She had come to see Twilight for a problem of her own, hadn’t she?

The Pinkies and Rarities just kept smiling at her, and she wondered at how complex her own problems had seemed. Some things really were worth fighting for, and happy endings could happen, if you were brave. That was the answer. She just had to be brave, and ask a very simple question to her marefriends, and have faith that the answer would be yes.

“I think you already did, Twilight,” she said with a brilliant smile.

As much as she wanted to surprise both of them, she didn’t want to leave Pinkie in the dark any longer than necessary. She did have a plan, and felt it was a good one, but it was one that would require Pinkie’s help. Plus, it would help her frazzled nerves very much if Pinkie were to confirm what the Pinkie in her head kept saying to her. She needed to know if she was love loved. Her fears told her there was no possible way they loved her as much as they loved each other, but her heart was resolute, and bravely reassured her that they did. She held that up like a shield against the constant assault of her fears, and somehow, it held strong.

A short walk to Sugarcube Corner and a shorter climb upstairs brought her to Pinkie’s door, and she was unavoidably reminded of another occasion when she had looked upon this portal with a horrible sense of doom. This time, she had no hesitation when she knocked.

She did, however, have a very mild panic attack when Pinkie opened the door and immediately caught her up in a tight hug, but that was normal and nothing to be unduly worried about. She even congratulated herself for managing not to flail.

Much.

“Shy-shy! You look so much happier!” Pinkie let her go, stepping back to examine Fluttershy, who flared out her wings while struggling to regain her equilibrium. “But also kinda nervous, like you’re pretty sure things are gonna be okay but you still have those nerves deep down that say everything will go horribly wrong! Oh, I’m so happy for you!” Pinkie swept her up just as she was about to teeter over, carrying her over her shoulder and plopping her down on the the bed inside. “I wanna hear all about it!”

Fluttershy took a brief moment to let the room stop spinning, focusing on a single point of Pinkie’s wall until the sensation of movement halted. She had questions she badly needed answers to. She wasn’t certain where to begin, but with Pinkie, she was comfortable enough that she felt there was no wrong place to start.

And so, she began with the simplest question, although it was probably the most complex of the various questions she had running through her head. “I...I think I have a plan. But...I need to ask you a very important question first.”

Pinkie nodded, then grabbed a chair from the table and dragged it over to the bed with a loud screech. She plopped down on it, facing Fluttershy. “Shoot!”

Fluttershy just looked at Pinkie for some time. Her heart was deeply lodged in her throat, preventing words from passing. She had to ask. Everything was pointless if she was wrong. Fears rained down on the shield, and she could feel it start to buckle. It took every shred of confidence she had built up in the last few months to force her lips to move and allow the question to pass. “Pinkie, do you... do you love me?”

There was no answer for some time, and she could almost hear the shield crack and groan under the pressure. She shut her eyes, not able to look Pinkie in the eye just then, in case she should see a look of pity in them. But then, in her mind’s eye, she saw Pinkie on one end of the shield, and Rarity on the other, bracing it while she held the middle.

In the space outside of her head, the real Pinkie had jumped up from her chair and hugged her. But not the tight embrace that took her breath away, this was a gentle embrace of somepony holding something they regarded as fragile and precious. “Shy-shy, of course I love you! Why would you ask that?”

“I...” Fluttershy hesitated, looking up into those big, beautiful expressive blue eyes. They were normally full of joy, but now they held concern, and fear. She hated herself for making Pinkie feel that way, but she had to know for sure. “I know you love me, but... do you love me? Can... can you love me like you do Rarity?”

Pinkie continued to stare down deep into her eyes, and slowly the fear receded, both in Pinkie’s eyes and in Fluttershy’s mind. “Of course not,” she said.

With those words, the fear was back, and pushing even more on the fragile shield. But just as Fluttershy’s fears were ready to overwhelm her, Pinkie kissed her gently on the cheek. “I love you like I do Fluttershy. Rarity has lotsa stuff to love about her, but you’re not her. I love you for the things I love about you. Otherwise it would just be silly!”

Fluttershy let out something halfway between a sob and a laugh, throwing her arms around Pinkie and squeezing her as hard as she could. “Sorry,” she whispered. “Sorrysorrysorry.”

“Was that it?” Pinkie asked, her voice filled with bubbling amusement. “Do I get to ask one now?”

Fluttershy buried her face in Pinkie’s pelt, nodding into it. Pinkie could ask anything of her.

“Okay! So... what happened? I mean you went away all ‘I don’t know what to do but I’ll figure out something’ and you come back all ‘Do you love me for realsies?’” Pinkie closed the hug just a little tighter, nuzzling the top of Fluttershy’s mane. “I mean, it’s just kinda weird.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth, but closed it again, realizing she couldn’t really tell Pinkie what had lead to that question without breaking a confidence to Twilight. Instead, she disentangled herself from Pinkie, taking a moment to sit up and compose herself. “I...I can’t say. But... thank you. I really, really needed to hear that.”

“Oh.” Pinkie scratched her head, not quite sure what to make of that answer. “Well, okay! Is it your turn to ask a question now?” Pinkie bounced lightly on the bed. “I think I like this game.”

There was really only one question on Fluttershy’s mind at that moment. “Pinkie, will you... marry me?”

“Ooooo! That’s a good one! You know, that’s the second time somepony’s asked me that, only the first time there was a big hollow cake that collapsed.” She looked around expectantly, seeming crestfallen when she didn’t find what she was looking for. “Awww. Well, can we still make love in the kitchen?”

Fluttershy said nothing, though the suggestion sounded wonderful. It hardly addressed her question, however, so she was forced to affect a look of disapproval in hopes that Pinkie would realize she was serious. Failing that, making love in the kitchen sounded wonderful, if a little impractical while the Cakes were doing business. Maybe in her own kitchen?

Upon seeing Fluttershy’s frowning face, Pinkie frowned herself, then her face lit up with surprise. “Wait! You mean like—”

Fluttershy nodded, still waiting for an answer, though she couldn’t maintain her frown any longer. It was really hard to tell when Pinkie was teasing instead of being oblivious, fortunately she made up for it by being adorable.

“Yes!” Pinkie said immediately. Having said that, she looked unsure a moment later. “I mean... um... I think? Rarity kinda asked me already and even if she doesn’t want to anymore I think she might get upset if we just do it without her—”

Fluttershy silenced Pinkie with a kiss. After well and thoroughly kissing her, Fluttershy pulled back, smiling brightly all the while. “Then I guess we have to ask her a question, too.”

Pinkie’s face screwed up in confusion, then her face mirrored Fluttershy’s. “Hey, yeah! She would love this game!”

Fluttershy rolled her eyes, affectionately nuzzling Pinkie on the cheek. “Pinkie, I need you to get your engagement earrings.”

“Okay!” Pinkie said, springing up from the bed and fetching the box. “Wha’ duwwey neef theffore?” she asked around the box. She spit it out into her hoof, tucking it into her mane for safe-keeping. “Is this part of the game?”

“Yes, a very important part,” Fluttershy replied, feeling a confidence the likes of which she hadn’t felt since the Iron Will incident. Except this time, she felt right. This was the right thing to do. “C’mon, we need to make a stop at Rich’s Jewelry.”