“Stop fidgeting, if you want me to make this dress you’re going to have to stand still for at least a few seconds.”

Rarity barked her command as she struggled to levitate a measuring tape around Pinkie’s waist. The task was inordinately difficult due to the pink pony’s constant excited bouncing on the dress podium inside Carousel Boutique.

“You still haven’t even told me what this dress is for,” Rarity pointed out as she battled with the task.

“I haven’t?” Pinkie responded.

“No,” Rarity assured her, pulling the measuring tape away. She pushed against the red frame of her spectacles with a hoof, sliding them up the bridge of her nose, then quickly began scribbling down the measurements she had just toiled to find. “You just barged in here about twenty seconds ago, jumped up on the podium and yelled that I must make you a ‘super pretty dress’ before Saturday!”

“Oh heh, yeah...” Pinkie responded with a sheepish look. “It’s for a date, if you must know.”

Rarity dropped her pen in shock.

“A date?!” she yelled, her face the very definition of surprise. “You have a date and you didn’t tell me right away?” Rarity demanded, indignant.

“Well, I did just tell you now-“

“Well who is this stallion?” Rarity raced on. “What’s his name, how long have you been together, are you an item?” Rarity’s stream of questions was fast enough to rival even one of Pinkie’s rants. The party pony waited patiently until she was finished before placing a hoof nervously on the back of her neck.

“Well... she isn’t a stallion...”

“A MARE?!” Rarity’s eyes widened with delight as the gossip got even juicer. “WHO WHO WHO? Do I know her?... IS IT ONE OF OUR FRIENDS?! Did you and Fluttershy-“

“Woah woah hold it Rare!” Pinkie cut in, giggling. She looked down at the panting unicorn who had made herself breathless with her seemingly endless torrent of questions.

“First of all that thing with Fluttershy was just a kiss, I’ve explained this, too much cider etc.” Pinkie explained with a wave of her hoof. “And the pony I’m going on a date with is Cherry Berry. I only just found out about the date yesterday.”

Rarity’s eyes darted back and forth across her pink friend as she processed the slew of information. She opened her mouth, but so many questions wanted to come out at once that she simply stood there, gaping like a fish out of water.

“You ok Rare?” Pinkie asked with a hoof over her mouth.

Rarity closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She remembered she had to make a dress for Pinkie, so she would have her around long enough to get her questions answered. Having calmed herself, she once again re-adjusted her glasses which had somehow managed to cling desperately to her nose during her excitement, and resumed scribbling on her notepad.

“I’m fine dear,” she said, clearing her throat, all proper manners and dignity returned. “I was just a little caught of guard by the news. Please, do tell how this date came to be arranged. I had no idea you and Cherry Berry had this sort of... connection.”

“Well, it is sort of random, even for me,” Pinkie admitted. “Cherry was looking all saddy-waddy outside the store yesterday, so I sat and had lunch with her.”

Rarity murmured acknowledgements as she continued her work.

“Turns out some stallion upset her. I suggested that she try dating a mare, so she asked me out!” Pinkie explained, a large smile forming on her face as she told the story. “Wow, I didn’t realise just how nice that story is until I said it out loud!”

“It was quite... forward of her,” Rarity replied, not taking her eyes off her work.

“Well, I am super adorable!” Pinkie explained, giggling.

“Indeed, so let’s see if we can’t make you more adorable,” Rarity added. Making a dress for a mare-mare date was something out of the ordinary for Rarity, and she was enjoying the idea of a challenge. She ran Cherry Berry through her mental storage of information on Ponyville’s residents.

“Isn’t Cherry Berry that pony we saved from a falling air balloon during the Mare-Do-Well incident?”

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie replied. “I’ve saved her life before! That could be fun dinner conversation!

A brief moment passed where Rarity turned to Pinkie, she had an eyebrow raised and her head tilted slightly. Her face had one word written all over it: seriously?

“...or maybe reminding her of a traumatising near-death experience isn’t promising date material,” Pinkie conceded, a nervous grin on her face.

“I wouldn’t think so,” Rarity offered, magically rifling through a bunch of fabrics, muttering to herself various reasons as to why each one would not work.

“Oh Rarity you gotta help me!” Pinkie pleaded, a sudden desperation to her voice. “I agreed to this date because I thought it’d be fun, but I just realised I have no idea how to act on one! What if I mess it up and she hates me!? She’ll hate mares then too, and then Cherry Berry won’t ever want to date another pony and she’ll end up all alone forever and it’ll be all my fault!”

Rarity quickly dropped the various tools and garments she was levitating to walk over to the podium, gesturing Pinkie down silently with a hoof. The pink pony jumped down to her friend, who wrapped her brilliant white hoof tenderly around her neck.

“Don’t worry about a thing darling,” Rarity said with a smile. “You have come to the perfect pony! I’ll have you looking so dazzling no stallion OR mare would be able to resist.” Pinkie’s worried expression was replaced with a shy grin. “As for etiquette,” Rarity continued, I’m also an expert in the area. I have plenty of tips for dates!”

“Oh thanks Rare, you’re the best!” Pinkie replied, throwing her hooves around the unicorn in a deadly tight hug.

“Yes... Pinkie,” Rarity gasped, struggling to free herself from Pinkie’s vice-like grip. “But I’ll need to breath to make this dress for you!”

“Oops, sorry!” Pinkie giggled as she released her friend from her aggressive affections.

Rarity inhaled deeply. “There’s your first rule dear, keep the hugs below suffocation level!”

*

“I dunno Cherry, Pinkie Pie?”

The pair sat in Bon Bon’s house, the cream-coated pony sat behind Cherry Berry, running a brush gently through her friend’s custard-yellow mane. Cherry gently tilted a cup of piping-hot tea into her mouth as her friend worked, enjoying the warmth of the open fireplace beside them. The contrast of the heavy rain storm outside only added to the comfort of the cosy living room.

“I would have figured you’d be supportive of all ponies Bonnie?” Cherry questioned, raising an eyebrow. She glanced down at the tea, lamenting the lack of chocolate biscuits to go with it. Cherry recalled her feeling of utter shock upon requesting some and Bon Bon revealing she had none. Who has tea without chocolate biscuits?! Seriously... some ponies!

“Now don’t be like that Cherry,” Bon Bon replied, halting her brushing. “You know it’s not the mare thing I have an issue with. It’s just, isn’t Pinkie Pie a little... eccentric?”

“Yeah, she’s a bit nuts,” Cherry agreed, not skirting around the issue. “But she’s a lot of fun! She made me feel so much better after I was wasting my time moaning over that jerk Cherry Fizzle.”

Bon Bon continued her brushing. “I said eccentric Cherry, I wasn’t trying to imply she was insane.  What’d I tell you about watching what you call other ponies?”

“What are you, my mother?” Cherry responded haughtily.

“No, but my advice stands,” Bon Bon continued. “Your mouth gets you into plenty of trouble. Your going out with another mare now Cherry, you’re going to have to change your attitude a little. You can’t use your usual tricks that you would with stallions, especially on a pony like Pinkie.”

Cherry rolled her eyes. “You seriously sound like my mother.”

“You talk to your mother about these things?” Bon Bon smiled.

“No!” Cherry replied quickly. “But you nag just as much as her.”

“Ah, so my friendly advice is nagging now is it?” Bon Bon teased.

Bon Bon’s only response was Cherry sipping very loudly on her tea. She chuckled to herself and shook her head. It was like trying to advise an adolescent colt. Cherry seemed to actively dislike helpful advice.

“Also, I bet Pinkie would understand the necessity of chocolate biscuits with tea,” Cherry added after a few moments silence.

“Are you still on that? Not everyone has the same chocolate addiction you do.”

“Just doesn’t seem right to drink it without some biscuits.”

Bon Bon could only shake her head in response. A few moments of silence passed where the only sounds in the room were the gentle crackling of the fireplace, and the soft scraping sound of Bon Bon’s brush running through Cherry’s mane.

“So really, how much thought have you put into this?” Bon Bon asked, breaking the serenity of the room. “You never seemed interested in dating mares before.”

“Yeah but hey, first time for everything right? Pinkie suggested it and I figured, why not?”

“Yeah but, it’s not the same as trying a new kind of food or something. I mean, can you imagine yourself actually kissing Pinkie Pie?”

The question brought Cherry back to her afternoon lunch with Pinkie Pie. She could vividly recall her bright blue eyes, so full of life and energy. Moving slowly down Pinkie’s face to her mouth, she saw it perpetually curved into a warm smile. She saw her lips. They were plump, moist, and covered in sugar. They looked inviting, and she bet they tasted sweet...

“Cherry?” Bon Bon called out, leaning over her shoulder with a questioning glance.

“Uh...” Cherry shook her head, snapping out of her daze. “Yeah, I think I could handle kissing Pinkie,” she replied finally with a smile, her mind still lingering on the enticing image in had conjured suddenly. “That’s not so strange anyway is it? I mean, you’ve kissed stallions before dating Lyra and enjoyed it too right?”

“Yeah but not willy-nilly like you seem to be. I’m just asking if you gave it some thought. You tend to rush into things.”

“Yeah, thanks MOM.” Cherry snapped.

“Look, I think it’s a nice idea just, take it slow alright?”

More loud slurping of tea.

“So what’s your plan of action then?” Bon Bon shifted the topic. “As I said this isn’t one of your usual stallion jobs.”

“I’ll just play it by ear,” Cherry remarked casually, gulping down the last of her tea. “These things tend to come naturally to me,” she added with a smug grin.

“What, disasters?” Bon Bon laughed.

Cherry sat, mouth agape. She struggled to find a response, but the brilliant witty comeback she sought never came to her. Instead she closed her mouth with a frown.

“Shut up and brush,” she replied, shoulders dropping into a sulk.