“Why do I have to do it?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “Can’t you just have one of the others talk about how awesome you are at making outfits?”
“Yes,” Rarity conceded. “But, you owe me.”
They were both inside the Carousel Boutique, awaiting the arrival of Fancy Pants, his wife-Fleur, and Hoity Toity.
“For what?”
As far as Rainbow Dash could remember, she never made a bet with Rarity in her entire life.
“Remember when we went looking for Applejack in Dodge Junction?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah, so?”
“You left Pinkie and I behind while pursuing Applejack.” Rarity continued.
“Oh, come on!” Dash protested. “If we went back for you, we would’ve risked losing her forever!”
“That may be the case, but afterwards you never came back for us!”
“Neither did the others!” Dash exclaimed defensively.
“Yes, but you are the bearer of The Element of Loyalty one would come to expect a friend like that to be more faithful.” Rarity countered.
“Well, maybe we were so excited to have AJ back that none of us noticed you guys were gone, until we got back!” Dash shouted. “Besides, that was like over a year ago-get over it!”
“Do you have any idea what it’s like to be forced to listen to Pinkie Pie ramble on about incoherent nonsense for hours on end?” Rarity whispered coldly.
Rainbow Dash could tell that she was losing this argument, so she had to switch tactics…there was no way she was going to be stuck entertaining a group of uptight snobs for the entire evening.
“What about that stupid outfit you made me wear on the day the Parasprites ruined Ponyville?” Dash demanded.
“You agreed to model for me.” Rarity pointed out.
“Albeit, reluctantly…” she added under her breath.
“Yeah,” Dash continued. “Because I assumed that you would let me fly…or at the very least let me stretch my wings!”
Rarity put a hoof to her forehead and sighed.
This approach obviously wasn’t working, if Rainbow Dash was going to cooperate she needed to pull out the big guns and give her some kind of incentive to help make this evening a success.
“Alright Rainbow Dash,” Rarity replied with a sly grin. “Every month Fancy Pants purchases tickets to The Wonderbolt Derby so they may place bets…If you agree to stay and help me, then I may be able to persuade him to give you a few.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes lit up, that would be a perfect opportunity to share some sister bonding time with Scootaloo.
“So do we have a deal?” Rarity asked, finding it difficult to hide her victorious smirk.
“Hay, yeah!” Dash exclaimed.
“Good.” Rarity replied, “Now, I already have dinner set up in the dining room-all you need to do is keep our guests preoccupied until I put the finishing touches on a few of the outfits they ordered-do you think you can manage that?”
There was a knock on the front door as Rarity nudged Dash towards it.
“That’s them!” she exclaimed in a harsh whisper. “Go, go, go, go!”
Rainbow Dash opened the door before leaning against the frame to see the trio of Canterlot Elites standing before her.
“Hey guys, what’s up?”
“Ah, Rainbow Dash!” Fancy exclaimed. “How delightful to see you again! Are any of the other girls here, besides you and Rarity?”
“Nah, just me.” Dash replied coolly, examining a hoof. “Rarity just asked me to help out on a few things because of how awesome I am.”
“May we enter?” Fancy asked.
“Sure,” Dash replied, leading them to the kitchen where there was a long table set up and filled with various food and drinks.
“It’s certainly quite a banquet you have set up here.” Fleur commented.
“Yeah…anyway why don’t you guys start eating and I’ll tell you some awesome stories.”
“That would be nice.” Hoity Toity replied, “It has been a long trip and I have become quite famished…it is difficult to judge with a discerning eye while dealing with such distractions.”
“There, done!” Rarity breathed triumphantly.
“What do you think, Opal?” she asked, levitating the gown she created for Fleur before the cat.
Opal merely lay in her basket with a look of apathy plastered across her face.
“Hmm,” Rarity mused to herself, uncertainly.
Either way it would have to do as she was out of time.
She gathered up all of the outfits and began slowly heading towards the dining room.
Earlier, she had been so focused on her work that she couldn’t be bothered with the possibilities nagging at the back of her mind.
What if Rainbow Dash really wasn’t up to the task?
What if Rainbow had completely exaggerated and told obvious lies in an attempt to make her look better?
Surely, in her mind that ‘technically’ counted as helping, but Fancy, Fleur, and Hoity Toity weren’t stupid, after a few stories like that, they would catch on to what Rainbow Dash was doing in an attempt to stall for time.
What if she told them about the time that Rainbow had created a Sonic Rainboom at Cloudsdale’s Best Young Fliers Competition because she had let her vanity get the better of her when she began showing off her new wings?
Of course, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t do that in a petty attempt to get back at her for attempting to guilt trip her into this night…would she?
As she approached the dining room she could hear laughter accompanied by Rainbow Dash’s voice.
“And then she got the Diamond Dogs to give us all of their gems!”
Rarity slowly entered as all heads turned to her direction.
“Ah, Rarity!” Fancy exclaimed. “Rainbow Dash was just regaling us with a tale about you.”
“Yes,” Hoity Toity agreed. “We knew that you had a special gift when word spread about your designs and the news of you becoming the bearer of The Element of Generosity.”
“But, we had no idea that you lead such an adventurous lifestyle!” Fleur finished.
“Yes,” Fancy stood up. “Previously, before this dinner we all believed that you simply stopped whatever threatened Equestria when Princess Celestia requested your presence and simply came back here to work on your dresses…but, you do so much more than that.”
“I…I…” Rarity stuttered at a loss for words, as she looked over at Rainbow Dash who wore a smug expression.
“In fact,” Fancy continued. “It’s so impressive you could do all of this and still come up with unique and impressive clothing designs…that we’ve all agreed to take a bigger interest in your selections.”
“And you still find the time to be such a good big sister…” Fleur complimented.
Hoity Toity stood up from the table as well as they collected their outfits.
“Personally, I believe we should double the originally agreed upon payments for your efforts.”
“Oh, no…that’s not really necessary…” Rarity began.
“Oh, but we insist!” Fleur pressed.
While the others produced their Bits, Fancy approached Rainbow Dash who was nursing a mug of Sweet Apple Cider.
“You really are a good friend, you know.” He commented.
“Nah, not really…to be honest, I really wasn’t interested in doing this, but Rarity managed to convince me with the possibility of Wonderbolts Tickets.” She admitted.
“I see,” Fancy replied. “But, at the same time you didn’t necessarily have to go to the lengths you did to fulfill you end of the bargain, did you?”
Dash was silent.
“Well, regardless of what you think…I believe you’ve earned these.” He continued, magically producing two Wonderbolts Tickets from his coat.
“Why are you giving these to me?” Dash asked.
“Well, despite what you may believe, I think you are a good friend by going above and beyond what was expected of you…and the way you talked about your friends was full of such sincerity, that I don’t believe that you were only doing it for the possibility of a reward.”
With that, he left with the Wonderbolts Tickets on the table in front of Rainbow Dash, leaving her dumbstruck.
Rarity then approached the table.
“You didn’t do this for yourself…” she commented.
Dash was silent.
“You wanted to spend time with Scootaloo doing something that you are both interested in.” Rarity reasoned.
“I don’t know how to be a good big sister…” Dash admitted. “As a Junior Wonderbolt, I probably could’ve just asked Spitfire…but, I wanted to earn them so they’d have some kind of meaning.”
“Well, I think that was very sweet.” Rarity replied. “And I’m sorry I tried manipulating you into helping me…I was very anxious and I desperately wanted to make this evening a success, even to the point where I brought up some moments we are less proud of.”
“It’s cool.”
“What!?” Rarity asked, taken aback. “But, but…”
“Rarity, if I held every single jerk moment someone had towards me-then I’d cut myself off from half of the world.” She replied.
“Besides, I wasn’t exactly a saint either…”
“So you’re saying we should just let bygones be bygones?” Rarity pressed.
“Yeah,”
“Agreed.”
Author's Note
Fourteenth Story for 'One-Shotober'
