Chapter Text
"I think...I think that might be a bit much."
"What am I supposed to do? You just had hypothermia and it's snowing out!"
Twilight rolled her eyes, her smile still lingering, and pulled off the multiple scarves that Pinkie had forcefully thrown around her neck. "I can survive a little snow, Pinkie. It's been nearly a week. As long as I avoid any frozen bodies of water I think I'll be fine." She spread her wings. "I can fly there, if that makes you feel better. There's no snow falling right now."
But if Twilight was flying, how was Pinkie supposed to stay close to her and help keep her warm on the way to the bakery? And what if Twilight had been stuck here so long that she forgot the way and got lost? And what if they had to take a detour for some reason?
"Call me a hypocrite, but you worry too much." Twilight playfully poked Pinkie's nose. "It's not a long walk. Once we leave, it'll be over in a few minutes."
That was a good way to look at it. It was hard for Pinkie Pie to be completely rational, but she could be rational enough to consider that it wasn't as cold out as it was before--maybe the weather ponies had gotten word about Twilight getting sick and wanted to go easy on her?--and there wasn't going to be anything dangerous on the way to Sugarcube Corner.
It was a little silly that Twilight had to be the one to ease her nerves. Not only was Twilight the one who had gotten hurt, but Pinkie was supposed to be the optimist. She was the smiler. She was supposed to make sure Twilight had nothing to worry about. Maybe she just trusted Twilight enough at this point that she was okay with letting herself worry around her. Twilight had always done the same, after all. She could be a little stubborn about pulling all-nighters if she needed to finish a project or some research, but she wasn't one to hide her feelings. Not anymore, anyway.
"Okay." Pinkie picked up one scarf (just one! Not going overboard!) and threw it back around Twilight. "But you need to bundle up a little bit! You're always cold."
"I don't always feel cold." Twilight tugged on the light blue scarf, probably to make sure it wasn't too loose. "I'm just not fluffy."
Pinkie hugged her, just because, but also because she wanted to quickly check how cold Twilight was. "Well, you're about as cold as usual! So keep that scarf on!"
"I was going to."
They couldn't stall forever. After a quick check through their saddlebags, most importantly the copy of Bridal Cherry in Twilight's bag, it was time to go.
"Clafoutie."
She stopped, her blood running cold. The voice came from behind her, in this dark alley with no other ponies around, this passage that she'd trusted no one would notice.
She'd been careless. Of course someone would see. In this part of town, an inexperienced small town mare like her could only stay undetected for so long.
The voice continued. "Clafoutie. It's me."
She turned, slowly, with quick glances behind her, until she was facing the masked stallion. His voice was unusually low, but when he lowered his mask, she couldn't deny who that voice belonged to.
Rocky Road.
"You shouldn't be here," he said, keeping his voice calm and soft. "It's been days. What are you doing running around here?"
"What am I doing...?" Clafoutie took a deep breath, straightening her posture as she stepped forward. "You've hidden this part of your life from me for years. For all the time I've known you, for all the time I've loved you. Is this who you are, Rocky? Just a seedy double-faced crook hiding in the streets?"
Clafoutie tried not to raise her voice, but the more she thought about it, the closer she grew to becoming fully livid. Of course, she would rather he be unharmed than not, but then, where had he been? What crimes did he commit behind her back? Who did he prey on? Was she just another tool? He'd made no effort to find her until now, no effort to show himself, no effort to indicate to her if he was even still alive.
"No." Rocky sighed. He glanced down at the satchel swung over his back, and started to slowly unbuckle it. "This isn't...this isn't my life."
"Then..."
He lifted a small black case out of his satchel before looking straight into her eyes, holding her still and silent with his striking amber gaze.
"It's yours, Clafoutie."
"Wow..." Twilight sighed through a smile, as if she took pride in finishing this book with Pinkie. "I never would've guessed that Jackpot Flash was her father the whole time."
"How wouldn't she have noticed?" Pinkie asked. "Where did she think her dad was?"
"Oh, well, I didn't think to mention it, but sometime in the first few chapters she mentions having never met her dad." Twilight gently closed the book with a shrug. "Sorry, I should've mentioned that when we started reading it together. I should've realized it was foreshadowing."
"Aw, it's okay!" Pinkie nuzzled her. "It's not your fault! They should've brought it up more so you wouldn't've forgotten about it."
Pinkie had really liked reading this with Twilight in her library, but it was honestly a lot cozier to do it in her own room. There was more space on her bed than on the library seats. It was also easier to hug Twilight while they were reading, although Twilight was a faster reader than her, so she could tell something crazy was about to happen whenever she heard Twilight gasp softly or felt her shoulders tense up. Pinkie could still read fast enough that it didn't lead to any huge spoilers, though--the point where Twilight flinched for a second and widened her eyes was only about a couple seconds before Pinkie read the part about Jackpot Flash threatening to slice off Rocky Road's hooves in front of Clafoutie.
"I didn't expect it to get that graphic," Twilight admitted. "I'm glad they didn't go through with something that violent. As much as I like the story, it can veer a little too close to shock value sometimes."
Technically, Pinkie Pie had had one of her hooves sliced off before, so maybe she was a little desensitized to the scenario. But it hadn't really hurt, and she'd gotten it back, obviously, plus this book didn't go into the detail of somepony actually physically doing it on purpose. It would probably be a lot more upsetting to read about if it did.
She wasn't sure if Twilight remembered all that, anyway. They'd had bigger things to worry about like being trapped in what was essentially book universe limbo. (It's a long story.)
"I like it too!" Pinkie got back to hugging Twilight. Now that Twilight didn't have a book to focus on, she could get as close and cuddly as she wanted. "I'm glad they still got to get married in the end!"
"Right. I'm glad Jackpot Flash came around. It would've been disappointing for the book to build up to the two of them reuniting only for one of them to get killed off, or something."
"And I was right! They did turn it back into a romance!" Pinkie rolled back to her side so she could look at Twilight better. "I think the mafia being there kinda killed the mood, though. You promise not to invite the mafia to our wedding?"
Twilight giggled. "Why would I do that? I don't know anypony in the mafia."
"Are you sure?"
"We don't even have a mafia in Ponyville. I think I'd have known by now if we did."
"I'm just kidding! I would know too!" Pinkie gestured toward her window, where a good amount of the village could be seen. "You're a princess and I'm friends with everypony and every non-pony in Ponyville! There's no way a mafia could slip under our noses!"
"Right, right." Twilight looked upward thoughtfully. "Now, if we got married in Manehattan, we'd have to be more careful. But I'd rather get married in Ponyville." She looked back at Pinkie, with soft and deep eyes. "This is where I met you, after all."
Pinkie responded by kissing Twilight on the nose. That made her blush and giggle, which made Pinkie do the same. She pulled her back into a hug and the fell on the bed together.
"What now?" Twilight asked, still smiling. "Should we get started on that cake? Is it too soon?"
"Of course we can! It's never too soon!" She gave Twilight another quick kiss then leapt off the bed onto her hooves. "Unless the cake has lots and lots of buttercream, 'cause then you have to eat it fast before it goes bad but we're not gonna use that much buttercream so we don't have to worry about it."
"Alright, then." Twilight took more time to step onto the floor with Pinkie. "To the kitchen?"
"To the kitchen! It's time to bake the Beautiful Bountiful Book Club Cake!"
Pinkie Pie said it like she'd come up with it on the spot, but she'd made one of these cakes before. When Rainbow Dash had caught up with all the Daring Do books, she'd been so excited that Pinkie had needed to share in it by baking a cake to celebrate with her.
"I'm still workshopping that title," she explained to Twilight. "Turns out there's not that many words that start with B that are good for talking about cake."
"That's true." Twilight looked away for a moment, probably to ponder. "If you couldn't find any in the thesaurus, you'd have to think more outside of the box."
More importantly, they had to decide what kind of cake to make. Of course, cherries had to be involved somehow. Making a cherry-flavored cake wasn't as straightforward as something like a cherry pie, though. Ingredients like cherry-flavored icing weren't really something you would find at the market. A cherry filling would be possible, though, if the bakery had enough cherries. Whenever Pinkie Pie baked just for fun, she was allowed to use the bakery's ingredients, but she needed to make sure she didn't use up too much, or at the very least was able to replace an ingredient she'd used the last of.
"Well, it's only cherries," Twilight said, after Pinkie explained this to her. "It should be easy to run out and get some more."
"I don't want to leave you alone, though." Pinkie could say it was because she was worried about Twilight's safety, and that wouldn't really be a lie because she was, but Twilight would obviously be safe if she was left alone here. They didn't have any subzero zones in the bakery or anything. Pinkie Pie was just clingy.
Fortunately, there were enough cherries anyway, so that didn't matter. It would be neat if they also made a cherry purée for the top of the cake, but that would use up more cherries and Pinkie didn't want to push it.
"We could probably just use any of the leftover filling for the top of the cake," Twilight suggested. "But if there's not enough to cover it we should frost it first."
Ideally, they could make more of a wedding-style cake. But a proper wedding cake, even if if was simple, could take a whole day at most. Pinkie liked long baking projects, but this wasn't the time for that. This was a cake she wanted to make and eat with Twilight today!
"It could still be layered, though, right?" Twilight asked. "Or would that use up too much?"
"That might still take too long if they all have filling..." Pinkie was already stirring batter at this point, but it wasn't too late for new ideas. "We'd have to put the filling in between the layers instead."
"Oh, that might be easier." Twilight was sorting the chosen cherries on the counter. By what, Pinkie didn't know. It looked like they were sorted by size at first, but then Twilight completely rearranged them and was sorting by something else. "Then we can use it for topping the cake, too, can't we?"
"Yup! After the icing!"
Twilight took over stirring the cake batter while Pinkie put together the cherry filling. This wasn't a task for beginners. Not that Twilight had never baked before, but she wasn't quite ready to handle making cherry filling from scratch. (Also, she needed to use the stove for this, and she didn't want Twilight to somehow burn herself.)
"Is this going to be enough batter for multiple layers, though?" Twilight asked.
"Well, it's enough for a wide cake and enough for a tall cake, but maybe not enough for a wide and tall cake." Pinkie shook some sugar into the saucepan with the cherries. "But I still think it'll be big enough! And I have high standards!"
The filling-in-progress was still, well, in progress when the oven was done preheating. Pinkie was going to insist that she put the cake batter in the oven herself so that Twilight wouldn't get burned on anything, but then she remembered Twilight could use telekinesis to take care of it from a safe distance.
"Can I stir for a bit?" Twilight asked. "I feel bad just waiting around."
"But then I'll just be waiting around!" Pinkie protested, before letting go of the spoon and stepping back. "Just kidding! I can make some icing!"
Of course, she still wanted to make sure Twilight didn't burn herself, but if she was just stirring it with the aforementioned telekinesis at a safe distance from the stove, Pinkie could probably afford to divert just a little attention from her.
It was kinda funny. She spent all week worrying Twilight would get too cold from the ice skating incident, now she was suddenly worrying Twilight would get burned in a baking incident. She didn't say that out loud, though. If she was going to share any anxiety with Twilight, she was going to at least wait until Twilight wasn't right by a hot stovetop.
The batter was still baking when it was time to turn the heat off, which meant it was finally safe to share that Pinkie was nervous about Twilight burning herself on something. Twilight laughed at that. "Sheesh, Pinkie, do you think I've never used an oven before?"
"No!" Pinkie scrambled a bit and almost dropped a bottle of vanilla extract. "I mean, no, I don't think that! I know you know how to use an oven! It's just, it's just...!"
"I know, I know." Twilight shook her head, still smiling. "Well, for what it's worth, I don't want you to burn yourself on the stove either."
"Did you think I was gonna?"
"Well, no, but...did you think I was?"
Realistically, no, she didn't. And if Twilight did end up burning herself, it would be easy to help with that. It wasn't as if it would set Twilight on fire. So, that settled that worry. She didn't even object to Twilight taking the cake layers out of the oven when they were done baking.
"Hmm!" Pinkie examined the cooling layers of cake and the cooling cherry filling set on the counter. "We can't put these together 'til they're done cooling off, and the icing's all done, so..."
This was always the boring part! Usually, when she was doing this for work, it wasn't a problem since she could just work on something else while something was cooling. But they hadn't planned to bake anything else, so now that all they had to do was wait, all they could do was wait. Pinkie Pie had enough self awareness to know that she couldn't handle doing nothing for too much longer.
"Hey, um..." Twilight looked like she was blushing a little, as if she needed to be any cuter. "Do you think the cake will be cooled down enough by the time the sun sets?"
It looked like the sun was already setting. It cast a warm and pretty glow through the window, and all the snow on the ground outside was glittering like crystals. There was no way Pinkie was going to bring Twilight back out into the cold, but that was okay. It was beautiful enough from the window.
They'd never done this before. They'd watched the sunrise together, but this was the reverse. You can't just imagine a sunrise in reverse and say you've watched a sunset. So, they'd never watched the sunset together.
Even in the middle of winter, and even from behind a window, being in the sunlight made her feel warm. Of course, she had to share that with Twilight by snuggling into her.
Twilight was always cold. But, compared to recently, she actually felt pretty warm. Or lukewarm, at least. (Who is Luke, anyway? Who decided they got to have a temperature named after them? Maybe she could ask Twilight about the etymology of that later.) Her big soft wings probably helped keep her warm, too. Her wing still felt a little cold when it closed around Pinkie, but something about her still added to the warmth Pinkie felt.
Maybe that was just love. Love was always warm.
It felt like so long ago that she was soaked in ice water, frigid and barely moving. Pinkie didn't like remembering it. Putting all her guilt aside, it just wasn't pleasant. She didn't like thinking of Twilight that way. She didn't like imagining Twilight as being weak, helpless, barely alive. Not because that made her any worse, or made her any less strong, but because imagining that meant imagining Twilight being badly hurt. That was never nice. It was scary and stressful. And maybe that was avoidant behavior, or something, but did Pinkie really have to dwell on and focus on that memory just to know that she cared about Twilight, just to validate how much she wanted to make sure Twilight was safe and happy?
"It's always so beautiful." Twilight smiled, briefly glancing over at Pinkie. "No matter where we are."
"Just like you!" Pinkie quickly responded, nuzzling her before she could even see her blush.
"Ahhh, enough of that!" Twilight squeaked. "That's too easy! You can't just call me pretty every time and...!"
"Well?" Pinkie tilted her head up to see Twilight's rosy cheeks better. "It's true, isn't it? And you like hearing it from me!"
"If you fluster me too much we're gonna miss the sunset...!"
As long as Twilight would have her, Pinkie could make her happy. She didn't need to be scared of the bad things that had happened before or the bad things that could happen in the future. Obviously she didn't want Twilight to get hurt again, and she wanted to keep Twilight safe, but it wouldn't be love if it was driven by fear. She wanted more than anything to make Twilight smile. She wanted to give her love and warmth forever. Just because Twilight deserved it, and just because Pinkie Pie loved her.
She was so happy that Twilight loved her and trusted her so much, too, and cared for Pinkie as much as she cared about Twilight. Not just this past week, but since long before that first sunrise they watched together, and she trusted that they would be together for every sunset too.