Writing is Magic

          If there is one drawback when most of your friends are mares, it is this: they have a really bad habit of getting way too excited for some things. In this instance, it was the biggest event in Canterlot, the Grand Galloping Gala. It was my understanding that the six ponies went to the Gala every year since Twilight came to Ponyville and the whole Elements of Harmony fiasco. I had been invited to the Gala myself on multiple occasion, but I had always declined. Couldn’t really do that when Princess Celestia herself was sending me a ticket, now could I?

          “You wouldn’t really decline the invitation,” Rarity said as she put the finishing touches on my outfit for the evening, “believe me; the Gala has gotten a lot more fun recently.”

          “If you say so,” I sighed, “You know me; I’m just not as much of a fancy-schmancy party pony.”

          Rarity shot me her version of Fluttershy’s Stare.

          “Fancy-schmancy party pony?”

          “You know what I meant.”

          Rarity turned back to top the outfit, a long black jacket with diamond-embossed stitching, with a rakishly-tilted black top hat.

          “That should do,” the fashionista said, not turning back to face me, “Now I must go prepare myself for the evening.”

          …

          It was soon time for us all to leave for Canterlot. After Twilight magically enlarged the carriage that we had used to get to the Winter Ball, I did the gentlcoltly thing and offered to assist the mares in. However, when it was Rarity’s turn to board, she turned her head away from me, smacking me in the face with her expertly-styled mane. After the six were safely in, I made a motion to close the carriage door.

          “Aren’t you riding with us,” Fluttershy asked, concerned.

          “Don’t worry, I’ll ride shotgun with Spike,” I answered, closing the door.

          I made my way up to the driver’s seat, sitting next to the little dragon. As we were traveling, I wondered for how long Rarity would be sore at me.

          “So,” Spike asked, “what did you do to get Rarity mad at you?”

          “Is it that obvious?”

          “Written all over her face.”

          “All I did was make a remark about how I don’t really enjoy these fancy parties. I didn’t think Rarity would take it as a personal comment.”

          “You know that sometimes you say one thing, and then somepony takes it a different way. Don’t beat yourself up about it, happens all the time.”

          “Am I supposed to take advice on mares from a dragon? A dragon who’s never met a female of his species?”

          “Hey, I never said I knew anything about female dragons. But I’ve learned quite a bit about female ponies in my time.”

          “Any suggestions then?”

          “I would give her some space. She’s not going to be mad at you forever.”

          It’s almost odd how quick the trips to Canterlot or wherever seem to fly by when you get used to them. I blinked twice and we were at the castle. When we pulled up to the red carpet entrance, Spike and I got down from our seats, but this time it was the dragon who opened the door for the girls.

          We entered the castle, and went straight to the royal entourage, as usual. There stood Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor, Cadence, and a unicorn stallion that I was not familiar with. After the usual bowing and carrying on, he stepped right up to Rarity.

          “Lady Rarity.”

          “Prince Blueblood, I thought you,” she sounded angry at first, but then changed her tone, “I thought you weren’t going to speak to me again.”

          “I understand that I behaved most dreadfully toward you in the past, but I would hope that you would allow me to make amends.”

          Rarity turned her head to one side, then opened only the eye facing the Prince, “You may.”

          The two of them proceeded to walk off somewhere.

          “What did I just see,” I asked the others.

          “It’s actually a pretty funny story, sugarcube.”

          “I’m not laughing.”

          “C’mon everypony,” Pinkie Pie shouted, “are we just going to stand here, or are we going to have fun?”

          Pinkie bounced off and the other four followed. I lagged behind. These kinds of events were uncomfortable enough without thinking about Rarity traipsing around with some other stallion.

          The only silver lining to all the times I had to get trussed up and was seen with Twilight or the others was that it was no longer unusual. Nopony came up to me and said silly things like, ‘Aren’t you Art Colter? What are you doing with Princess Twilight Sparkle?’ And by Celestia was I glad I didn’t have to hear that rubbish anymore.

          As I was contemplating the hilarity of all those awkward greetings, I heard my name being called.

          “Yo, Art!”

          I turned in the direction of the voice and saw a table top upon which sat a number of speakers. Behind the table, a white unicorn with tinted sunglasses was waving at me. It was my cousin Vinyl Scratch, better known as DJ Pon-3. It was always nice to see her, even if it had only been a few weeks since our last meeting.

          “What’s shakin’, Scratch,” I greeted after I made my way over, “Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to be here?”

          “Guess I was so excited that I forgot. But whatever, you look down, cuz, what’s up?”

          I explained the situation to her.

          “Dude, mare be trippin’,” Vinyl commented, “Don’t sweat it, bro. Maybe she’s just too shallow to be with anypony that doesn’t have ‘Prince’ before his name.”

          “That’s the thing, though. I know she’s not that shallow. I think she’s just trying to make me jealous or something.”

          “Well if you become single again, let me know. I’ve got plenty of friends who would step on somepony’s mane to date you.”

          “You’re not helping, Vinyl.”

          “Dude, what do you think family is for?”

          “Well I know what your family’s good for,” Rainbow Dash said, walking over and bobbing her head to the rhythm, “laying down a sick beat.”

          My cousin and the Pegasus hoofbumped.

          “What are you doing here, Rainbow,” I asked, “Don’t you have some Wonderbolts to impress or something?”

          “Nah, it’s hard to get their attention around here. Much easier to impress them the way I really know how to, you know, in the spur of the moment.”

          “At least everypony else seems to be having a good time. Maybe I’ll just skip out on the festivities and go down to Donut Joe’s.”

          “Don’t start getting all hung up over Rarity,” Rainbow said, “That’s exactly what she wants. Be the opposite of that. Get out there, meet some ponies, flirt with some chick who won’t give you the time of day, just do whatever to keep your mind off of her. Come on, I’ll be your wingpony. Get it? Wingpony? Cause I’m a Pegasus. I crack myself up sometimes.”

          Ponyville’s resident speed demon and I walked about the grand ballroom. We passed by many ponies, some of whom I recognized, and they all seemed to be enjoying their evening. Rainbow Dash was looking high and low, at times even getting a little airborne to get a better view.

          “Art,” she said after a time, turning my head with her hoof, “go talk to that pony.”

          Rainbow had spotted a beautiful white Earth mare. Her dress was sky blue with accents of white lace. She had a dark blue mane, medium-length and curled, while her tail was braided. She wore the quintessential faux smile of somepony who was pretending to have a good time.

          “Go already,” Rainbow said, pushing me in the right direction.

          I crossed the room as best I could with the crowd. When I was within sight, I gave her a little smile, which she reciprocated.

          “Hello,” I began when I had reached her, “My name’s Art, Art Colter. Pleasure to meet you.”

          “Pleasure to meet you. My name’s Priscilla Prancer, but most people call me Tiny Prancer. Wait, you said your name is Art Colter, right? Why does that name sound familiar?”

          “Well I’m an author, I’ve written books on many subjects.”

          “You were the one who got rid of the Scornbeasts! There’s a stained glass window about it here in the castle.”

          “Yes, I suppose I did. But that wasn’t just me, you know? And come to think of it, Tiny Prancer, that name sounds familiar to me.”

          “I’m a dancer with the Royal Ballet. Have you ever been to a performance?”

          “No, I’m sorry to say that I never have. My mother must have mentioned the name before. But a ballerina, huh? That’s an interesting career.”

          “You know, that’s why I’m always so bored at these galas. They never play the right kind of music.”

          “Well for your information, my cousin is DJ Pon-3, so she’s the source of some of your discomfort. But let me talk to my aunt, I’m sure she can come up with something. I’ll be right back.”

          I did everything in my power not to gallop over to Octavia and her ensemble. A few words later, I popped back over to Prancer and extended a hoof as the quartet began to play a waltz.

          “Dance?”

          Priscilla accepted my offer and we made our way onto the ballroom floor. As soon as we did so, most of the party stopped to look at us, I assumed because of her. Now I’ll admit that I’m not the best dancer in Equestria, nowhere close, but nopony gets through school in Canterlot without at least learning how to dance a waltz.

          But in the middle of the dance, I noticed for the first time that we weren’t the only pair garnering some attention. When I got a chance, I looked past Priscilla’s shoulder and whom did I see but Rarity and that Prince Blueblood. To my amusement, it seemed that the young prince had three left hooves, causing him to almost step on Rarity more than once.

          My ego now determined to show him up, I began to add some spins and twists into the waltz, nothing outside the ‘rules’ of the dance. This caused the prince to attempt to copy the maneuvers, which he wasn’t able to do. At the end of the song, as I dipped my dance partner across my body with my right hoof, the Prince lost his grasp on Rarity, who would have fallen all the way to the hardwood floor if I hadn’t magically caught her.

          The crowd cheered quite fervently as Vinyl opened up with more fast-paced dance music.

          “Everypony dance,” I heard Pinkie Pie shout. Surprisingly, all the ponies started doing just that. Well, with the exception of Priscilla, Rarity, the Prince, and myself.

          “Art,” Rarity spoke first, taking a step toward me, “I’m sorry I got upset and tried to make you jealous. You’re not mad at me, are you?”

          “Mad? I was never mad.”

          “Make him jealous,” the Prince thought aloud, “so all that time, that was just a show?”

          “In short, yes,” Rarity answered, “truth be told, you’re still an unspeakably uncouth lout, and I don’t appreciate that personality. But I’m sure you’ll find somepony who does. Art, will you dance with me from now on?”

          “Well I can’t book you for every dance ever, but I’ll certainly give you the next one. You don’t mind, do you Priscilla?”

          “Of course not. Thank you for the great waltz.”

          “Thank you.”

          Rarity and I began dancing together to the upbeat music.

          …

          “Were you ever at least a little jealous,” Rarity asked as we cooled down with some punch.

          “I wouldn’t call it jealousy, I would call it questioning. I was questioning why you were sore with me, even though I suppose I knew the answer. Then you jumped so quickly onto the hoof of another that I guess it shook me.”

          “So in other words, you were jealous.”

          “Yes. But, for the future, can we promise to talk to each other. This whole episode could’ve been easily avoided.”

          “Oui, ma chère,” Rarity giggled. Then we shared a little kiss.