Thirty Minute Pony Stories

She said yes!

This thought bounced around Pinkie Pie’s head for perhaps the thousandth time tonight.  It had been the best evening ever!  Not only did Pinkie suddenly find the courage to ask Rainbow Dash out on a date, but it turned out that the pegasus felt the same for Pinkie and was in fact going to ask her out at the same time!  What’s even better is that their first date was tomorrow!  They were to spend the whole day at the Harvest Festival together.  Pinkie was so happy she could just burst!

Unfortunately, that was precisely the problem:  Luna’s moon had risen hours ago and the pink pony was no closer to sleeping than she was when she skipped back home before the sun even set.  While Pinkie oftentimes stayed up late, tomorrow was special; she couldn’t be a wreck for her first date!  And so, Pinkie tossed and turned in bed, thinking of any way she could calm down enough to finally close her eyes.

Granny had always told her to try to count sheep jumping over a fence to lull herself to sleep.  Indeed, this worked on most nights.  But tonight, Pinkie couldn’t even get to four before the imaginary sheep morphed into a certain sky-blue pegasus.

Next, she tried to clear her mind of all thoughts.  This was much harder than it sounded.  Not seconds after her mind was clear, she would mentally check to see if it was still clear, ruining any peace that she might have gained.  She tried to remember what that book about meditation in Twilight’s library said, but that just made he think about how she found out about that book in the first place – it had fallen open in front of her after Rainbow Dash crashed into the bookcase.  And, of course, the thought of Dash erased any progress she made on the meditation front. 

She decided to head downstairs.  Rarity had always said that warm milk helped here whenever she had a sleepless night.  Again this backfired: just as Pinkie was warming the milk, she thought of rainbows and lost track of what she was doing.  When she finally regained her attention, she had subconsciously made hot cocoa, complete with whipped cream, sprinkles, and a cherry on top.  While this was delicious, it did little to help her sleep.

 Almost desperate now, Pinkie finally decided to talk to someone about it, at least until she was calm again.  Unfortunately, the twins were enjoying a rare moment of sleep, and the Cakes were taking advantage of the reprieve by joining them in slumber.  Gummy, too, could not be roused.  Pinkie then thought of her friends, when she remembered something.

Fluttershy was often up this late at night, feeding and caring for her owls, raccoons, and other nocturnal animals.  Of course!  She would be glad to have company over, and maybe she would even have some sort of tea to help Pinkie rest.  Without further hesitation, Pinkie bounced out the door and headed towards the shy pegasus’ cottage.

*******

High above Ponyville, a wisp of cloud dispersed with a quiet poof.

“This just isn’t working,” Rainbow Dash muttered.  “Pinkie, I love you, but you have to get out of my head!  Maybe I can finally get some sleep if I go someplace where I can stop thinking about the pink mare.”

Rainbow Dash suddenly had an idea.  There was somepony who might be able to help.  Rainbow Dash circled slowly, and started flying towards a certain cottage on the edge of the Everfree.

——

Obscure Comments: 

Heh, I liked this one! It’d make sense that Pinkie and Rainbow would both get super-excited over a date like this so that they wouldn’t be able to sleep. And nothing winds up mattering anyway, since they’re both on the way to the same place. Good job!