The Night Everything Changed
Rarity paced back and forth across the marketplace. The area had been cleared of stalls to make room for the formal party that night. She was already in her dress, a simple blue frock with a bejeweled image of her cutie mark outlined by golden trim. In fact, that had been the theme for each of her friends, and each dress had matched its recipient’s eye color. Normally, Rarity would have aimed to be the most elegant mare at the party, but tonight was about her and her friends. She felt no need to put on airs. Simplicity truly felt best lately.
After retrieving a diamond that was larger than herself, Rarity had been able to harvest enough diamond to begin an entire new line of dresses centered around the theme. Within days, she had been backed up on dress orders from socialites all over Equestria. In celebration of the huge success, Pinkie Pie had thrown Rarity a party, though it was a bit more formal than the normal parties, in light of Rarity's refined tastes.
It wasn’t long before Pinkie Pie showed up, dressed in blue. She was bouncing as she approached, and Rarity couldn’t help but smile. She darted around the room, checking that there were enough hors d’oeuvre. For music, there was a string quartet, headed by a grey earth pony with a black mane.
“Is everything right, Rarity?” Her excited smile became a bit less certain. After all, she had found out at the Gala that she didn’t know more formal events as well as Rarity did.
Rarity smiled. “Yes, darling everything is perfect.” Pinkie’s mane seemed to inflate just as much as her grin. Actually, Rarity was quite impressed at how much her friend had picked up from the Gala. This event was not even close to the same amount of prestige, or (she hoped) snobbery as that night had been. No matter how much of a socialite she was, as the Element of Generosity, she simply couldn’t stand anypony looking down on one another.
Soon after came Fluttershy. Although the Grand Galloping Gala had made her anxious about formal parties, the distinct lack of snooty animals made her feel better. She wore the dress well tonight, with her head up and a smile on her face. She must feel every bit as gorgeous as she looks. Rarity smiled. This was what fashion was all about. She gave Rarity a wave of her hoof, beaming and giving herself a twirl so her friend could admire the dress.
Still standing just outside the party, Rainbow Dash stood, muttering incomprehensibly about having to wear a dress. Despite the cutouts Rarity had made to allow room for wings, Dash seemed to have trouble getting comfortable. It was either that, or her flapping was because she was still mad at having a pink dress. Rarity insisted on keeping the theme, though. Noticing Rarity, she gave an annoyed glare. Rarity giggled, and had to cover her mouth with a hoof when Dash stuck out her tongue. Unsurprisingly, Dash went straight for the food.
Twilight and Spike were next to arrive. She was in a purple dress with a matching cape (what was it with her and capes?), and Spike was in the same outfit from the Gala. Twilight giggled as Spike immediately made his way toward Rarity.
Rarity ran a mental roll call. She was here, of course, and so were Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Dash, Twilight, and Spike. Where was…?
Applejack galloped in. “Sorry I took so long, but I had to convince Applebloom’s friends that I didn’t need Cutie Mark Hairstylists.” Her mane and tail were braided tonight, as they usually were when she dressed up. Rarity had to admire how good that green dress looked on her. Her signature hat was on her head as usual. It was odd how it never seemed to fall off, even when she was galloping at full speed.
The quartet began to warm up, and a few at a time, ponies started joining the party on the dance floor. At first, the quartet begrudgingly played covers of the songs that Pinkie usually had a DJ play at her parties. Rarity danced along with her friends during these songs, breaking off every now and again to greet everypony and thank all of them for attending. After the third or fourth such break, she noticed that Twilight and Dash were suddenly gone. She’d always suspected there was a romance between the two, though she was far too ladylike to say anything. Oddly enough, Spike seemed to also be missing, though she suspected he was off eating the bejeweled decor, which had also slowly disappeared.
There was a break between songs for the first time that night. Rarity assumed that the musicians must have gotten tired after about a half hour of playing. Looking at the stage, she saw all four ponies still there, next to their instruments. The grey pony appeared to be talking to two ponies at the edge of the stage. Although the rest of them was obscured by the other ponies on the dance floor, a purple mane with a pink streak and a multicolored mane could be clearly seen. What were they up to?
Dash was having a hard time containing her laughter. “Oh, man! This could be the best prank we’ve ever pulled!” She nodded at Pinkie Pie, who winked back.
Twilight frowned. “How do we know this is going to work? Everything that happened in the past few days was a part of your story.”
Dash flew up to a cloud, where she had hidden her story. She came back with the pages in her mouth. Spitting them out, she pointed to them. “There are twelve pages. You said ten of them are magic, at most.” Spreading out the pages, she continued. “The first ten pages all came true. But just for kicks, I wrote on the last page.
Peering closely at it, she could read, in messy writing,
A pie fell from the sky on Pinkie Pie.
Twilight glared at Dash, who raised her hoof to cut off her friend. “I thought it sounded funny! But then a pie really did fall on Pinkie!” Pointing over to her, she said, “If you look closely, you can still see bits of crust in her mane.”
“I thought that seemed peculiar,” Twilight mused. Shaking her head, she wondered aloud, “But that means one of the pages was something that would have happened anyway.” Dash grinned knowingly. “But they all have paragraphs full of things out of the ordinary! How do we know which one isn’t magic?”
Dash indicated one particular piece. “This one has only two sentences, which were just thrown in. One of those two things isn’t out of the ordinary at all.”
Eyes widening, Twilight blushed as she blurted, “But doesn’t that mean…”
“That’s exactly what we’re trying to find out,” Dash said with a nod.
Applejack was by her lonesome at the snack table when Pinkie Pie walked up.
“Come on, AJ, the music’s about to start again. Find someone to dance with!” Pinkie said, dragging Applejack back onto the dance floor.
“But why do I need to-“ She was cut off by the slow music that began to play. Around her, groups began to break off into pairs. Even her friend waltzed off with a stallion. Looking around, she saw couples everywhere. Her ears drooped as she looked at her own, empty hooves.
Like most fillies, (and hay, even a few colts), she had grown up with fairy tales of young mares who became the belle of the ball and danced the night away with some handsome prince. She hadn’t put much faith in such things, but every time she went to big, fancy parties, she couldn’t help but think that it would be nice to have something like that for just one night. The closest she had ever gotten was an awkward few dances with her cousin Braeburn, which had done nothing for the awful rumors that the Apples liked to ‘keep it in the family.’
The rest of the group was paired off. Twilight and Dash were gone, probably dancing with each other. Pinkie, of course, had a date. Fluttershy even had a dance partner, a pegasus who made even Fluttershy seem calm and confident.
Rarity, the real belle of the ball, was paired up, of course. Somehow, this realization stung the worst to Applejack. Watching how elegantly Rarity spun and swayed brought a bittersweet smile to her face. Rarity truly deserved to live out that daydream. How could Applejack possibly compete? She was just a plain old farm pony. Head down, she walked slowly back toward Sweet Apple Acres.
“She’s leaving!” Twilight panicked.
“Calm down! Pinkie’s got this under control,” Dash replied, coolly. She gestured over to her friend, whose grin faded immediately into a worried glance at Applejack. After apologizing to her dance partner, Pinkie made her way over to the girls.
“What’s the matter with Applejack? Isn’t she having a super stupendous time with Rarity?”
“No!” Twilight blurted. “Rarity danced with a stallion instead of Applejack and now our plan is ruined!”
“Not yet it’s not,” Dash said, gritting her teeth and glaring at Twilight. “First, we need to get a grip. Second, we need to separate Rarity from that stallion and get her to stop Applejack. Third, we have the musicians play another love song, and this time, those two do not separate. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Pinkie said, solemnly saluting. Dash looked at Twilight, who nodded.
Rarity winced as the stallion once again stepped on her hoof. He was apologizing profusely, which she politely accepted with a forced smile. She was no stranger to dancing with many stallions throughout a party, but usually they invited her to dance. This poor gent, however, she had felt sorry for. He had been dancing all alone, and she thought it would be nice to give the poor stallion a status boost. Her name was spoken well of in most circles, particularly because she knew the proper way to behave in any situation. Dancing with one so sought after might prevent him from being alone during the next dance.
He stepped on her hoof again. Learning how to dance might benefit him even more. She looked over his shoulder, trying to find some excuse to politely slip away. Maybe she could find her friend Hoof Tap and see if she might teach him some simple dances.
The song ended, and Rarity seized the opportunity to slip away, offering some vague comment about needing a drink. As she worked her way over to the punch bowl, Pinkie Pie rushed over to her.
“Rarity, oh my gosh! Applejack is about to leave the party. She looks super bummed out! You gotta cheer her up!”
Rarity frowned. “How do you know that I would be the proper pony to cheer her up?”
Winking, Pinkie replied, “Oh, just a hunch…” The knowing grin on her face made Rarity happy, curious, and irritated, all at once. Although a seasoned gossip, and therefore quite experienced at wheedling juicy tidbits out of ponies in the know, Rarity suspected that Pinkie wouldn’t tell her anything until she talked to Applejack. Sighing, she agreed.
Applejack heard the music stop. Maybe she didn’t have to leave. She could still turn back, still enjoy the company of her friends…
No. The night was over for her. She could list a dozen excuses: She had to get up in the morning, she couldn’t dance, fancy fabrics felt weird for her, a simple pony like her didn’t belong there…
That was exactly the problem, wasn’t it? She didn’t belong at a high-end shindig like this. She wanted to belong this time. Why? What was so different about this time?
Rarity galloped toward her, calling her name. Inside her head, she laughed a bitter, confused laugh. Her? The two certainly would make an interesting pairing. A high society pony, and a Plain-Jane working mare. That kind of thing only worked in fairy tales. Right?
Rarity began to ramble on about how dreadful it would be for Applejack to leave so soon, yadda yadda. Applejack stared into her friend’s eyes, expecting the whole thing to come off as fake, a showing to convince her friend to stay so she could retain her social grace. Instead, she saw a true sense of caring and concern. Rarity really did want her there, but why?
Rarity watched her friend Applejack as she spoke to her. Did she spot a twinge of jealousy? Whatever was happening, Applejack clearly felt out of her element. Normally, she would be straightforward about what was bothering her, but tonight, she was evasive. Perhaps her friend wasn’t sure of what the problem was.
The two spoke to each other while this nonverbal probing took place, each saying nothing of importance. Anything was better than the silence, where they would have to admit not knowing what to think of each other.
And then there was the kiss. It had been in Dash’s story, true, but Rarity hadn’t felt compelled or forced to do it. It just happened, because it felt right. Applejack could hardly be considered a willing partner in it, but she hadn’t fought the kiss either. Was it really forced?
At last, Rarity found that she had stopped talking. She and Applejack stood silent, nervously looking over the other’s features, thinking of something to say.
“They stopped talking,” Twilight observed. Her breathing was slowly returning to hyperventilation.
Dash tsked. “Couples aren’t supposed to spend all their time talking. Although…” The two watched Rarity and Applejack, who still stood in awkward silence, neither one indicating any plans to break the silence. “Yeah, this is too much silence.” She turned to Twilight and grinned. “I know how to get them to break the ice, though.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “How is that?”
“By doing this!” Dash grabbed Twilight and kissed her on the lips. Twilight pulled away.
“You had no right to do that!” she protested.
Dash waved her hoof airily. “It’s no big deal. Besides, don’t pretend you didn’t like it,” she said with a wink. Twilight’s face reddened. She felt hot, but it was hard to tell if that was because she was blushing or… No. She did not like it, and she knew that because she hadn’t kissed back. Much.
Rarity caught sight the kiss out of her peripheral vision. She giggled. “Well, Dash finally made a move on Twilight, and in a big way, too.”
Applejack smiled. “That was some kiss,” she commented, although she was looking at Rarity.
Rarity coughed, and returned her gaze to Twilight and Dash. “Er, well, I have heard, through the grapevine, that Dash has some… experience.”
“It may have come by surprise, but it weren’t unwelcome,” Applejack tried again.
Rarity’s gaze was still locked on Twilight and Dash. Twilight was blushing, and Dash was apparently teasing her about it. “No, it doesn’t appear that way.”
“I ain’t talking about Twilight and Dash here.” Rarity’s head turned instantly to look at Applejack, who was focused intently on Rarity. “I don’t know what happened when you kissed me, but it took me by surprise.” Rarity’s ears drooped. “What took me more by surprise is that I didn’t dislike it. I actually… kind of did like it.” The listening ears suddenly swiveled up, their complete attention given to Applejack, who was blushing. “It was… disappointing to find it was only a story.”
Now it was Rarity’s turn to blush, the red severely noticeable against her snowy coat. “Yes, well… Ahem. I’m not entirely sure it was just a story. Certainly it was written as part of the story, but something about it just struck me as… right. It wasn’t something I had to do, just something I wanted to do,” she said, grabbing Applejack’s hoof. “I really, really wanted to-” She was cut off by a kiss. Her eyes widened, but she closed them and lost herself in the moment.
When they pulled away, music began playing once more. The starting of music might as well be the chiming of midnight for Applejack. She took a step back. “I’m guessing you’ve got a whole host of other ponies you’ll want to dance with.”
Smiling, Rarity grabbed Applejack’s hoof. “Actually, there’s only one pony I want to dance with.”
Under her orange coat, Applejack’s faint blush was fairly well hidden. This moment was everything she had dreamed of as a filly. True, she imagined that this moment would be shared with a stallion, but led by Rarity’s skilled and sure steps, she felt like the most beautiful and graceful mare on the dance floor, with the exception of her dance partner.
The next song was slow, and everywhere, ponies held each other close and swayed together. Applejack nuzzled Rarity and thanked the stars, her maker, or whatever force out there that had made tonight happen.
“Yes! It worked!” Dash yelled, flying into the air. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief.
“That would have been really awkward if it hadn’t,” Twilight chuckled.
“I know! How would we have explained that I kissed you and you liked it?” Dash teased. Twilight blushed again and tried to jab Dash in the side. Using her wings, Dash found it to be way too easy to dodge Twilight. Frustrated, Twilight used her magic to bring Dash back to the ground. She tackled her friend.
“Gotcha!” Twilight cried in triumph, laying on top of her friend.
“Hey, Twi, I didn’t know you liked the kiss that much.” Realizing the apparent implications of their current position, Twilight scrambled off of her friend. Dash rolled on the floor, holding her sides as she laughed.
“Glad you think it’s funny,” Twilight mumbled.
Dash got up and flew over to her friend. “Come on, Twi, I was just joking. Obviously, you weren’t putting the moves on me.” She flapped her wings. “Everypony knows that I, Dash, the most awesome flier in Equestria, would put the moves on you, and you would simply be entranced.”
Twilight grinned coyly. “Oh, really? Well, I think kissing me out of nowhere would count as ‘putting the moves on me’.”
A blush that was all too bright and unexpected lit up Dash’s face. Caught off guard for once, she stuttered. “Uh, yeah, well, uh… It was all part of my master plan!”
“Your master plan? To seduce me, perhaps?” She feigned surprise. “Why, Rainbow Dash, I thought I was too uncool for you.”
Dash stuck out her tongue. “You are being so uncool right now.”
Twilight grinned innocently. “And you’re being so immature right now. After all, ‘I’m only joking’.”
Dash chuckled. “Heh, I guess you got me there.”
She rejoined Twilight in watching the others on the dance floor. Fluttershy and her date were happily nuzzling. Pinkie Pie and her date were imitating the musician’s playing, much to their annoyance. As for Applejack and Rarity, they were lost in their own little world, happily swaying in the middle of the dance floor. As the song ended, Twilight lit up her horn and shot off fireworks overhead.
Dash stared at her in stunned amazement. “I thought that was Trixie’s trick?”
Twilight gave a shy smile. “It wasn’t too hard to pick up, actually. It’s a fairly common trick among showponies, so there were dozens of books detailing the spell.”
Dash scooted closer and wrapped her wing around Twilight. “I learn something new about you all every day.” Twilight blushed, but didn’t pull away.
Eventually, the song ended. The musicians packed up, the fireworks stopped, the marketplace was set up once more with an array of salesponies’ stalls, and everypony went home. The night was over, but it would live on forever as the night everything changed.
Author's Note
This story was supposed to be the epilogue to Stranger Than Fan Fiction, but it kind of took on a life of its own. I tried to fix the introduction so it explained briefly what was going on, but honestly, it's still pretty much the epilogue intro. Hopefully, you agree that I did the right thing, because this would have dwarfed the other chapters by more than 1,000 words. (None of them hit 2k, and this is over 3k). Also, I did this in an entirely different style, because I thought Applejack and Rarity needed to sort through what happened in an awkward romance story, which happens to be the only romance I write!
TwiDash happened at the last minute. Stupid real romance stories, depicting them as a fantastic couple...I tried to keep it at friendshipping, so you could look at them as a rip-off of Chengar Qordath's Blossomforth and Cloud Kicker.
