Hitched

The reception party was in full swing. Rainbow and Soarin held up both of their hoofs as ponies danced through between them. When Rapidfire came through, and was dancing a little close to Rainbow, Soarin tapped him on the shoulder, and jerked his hoof the other way. The Wonderbolt shrugged and continued dancing somewhere else.

Since Rainbow Dash had such special ties with Ponyville, they agreed to have the reception there, so that all of their Ponyville friends as well as their Cloudsdale friends would be able to attend. Twilight had offered up her castle, to which they all agreed. She certainly had the room for it.

So here, in Twilight’s castle, ponies young and old danced to the music, having a great time.

Cheese shimmied down on the dance floor.  He spotted Caramel walk p to Applejack, who was at the buffet table. “Hi!” He shouted over the music.

The farm pony nodded and smiled. “Howdy!” she shouted back.

“Wanna dance?” He asked.

Applejack’s emerald eyes blinked in surprise. Then she shrugged good naturedly. “Sure, why not?”

Cheese grinned as the two made their way to the dance floor. “Come on, son.”

He then spotted Pinkie Pie sitting alone at a table eating chocolate cake, bobbing her head to the music. Cheese quickly walked over to her. “Hey! Nopony puts Pinkie in the corner!”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “Nopony put me here, silly! I like this chair!”

“Then what are you doing here sitting all alone? Will you please Wang Chang with me? Will ya?”

Pinkie pointed a hoof at him. “In a sec. I promise. But right now, I’m eating this cake. I love cake.” Her tone turned serious. “You know I love cake. I deserve this, darn it.”

Cheese nodded. “Well, at least have the decency to wash it down with a fresh flute of…” He pointed to a drink on the table. “What is that?”

“Sarsaparilla. It gives you extra sass.”

“Or three.”

“I accept.” She shivered, and wrapped her arms around her body. “And I’m freezing!”

Cheese blinked, and walked behind her, taking off his jacket, and putting it on Pinkie. “Better put your arms in or you won’t be able to lose them!” He said.

Pinkie gratefully slid her arms in the jacket, and wrapped it around herself. “Thanks, Cheesie!”

Photo Finish, who had been watching, went over to them, and poised her camera. Cheese looked up. “Oh!” He hugged Pinkie from behind. “Pinks! And with absolutely no pun intended—say cheese or something.”

Pinkie noticed the camera. “Oh! Cheese or something!” They smiled as a bright flash of light temporarily stole their field of vision.

Photo smiled. “Oh, yesh. Perfect, you two, perfect. I go!” And with that, she trotted away.

Cheese rubbed his eyes, and sat down next to his partner. “We did good today, didn’t we?” He said with a warm smile.

Pinkie returned the smile, and nodded. “Yeah… we sure did.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders sipped their punch next to the refreshments table. “You see any boys you think are cute yet?” Sweetie Belle yelled.

Applebloom shook her head. “Negative. There ain’t enough boys to go around! All the good ones are taken!”

“What abooout… Snails?”

“Bleh! No!”

“Snips?”

“No way, hose!”

Sweetie turned to the young Pegasus beside her. “What about you, Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo made a face. “Ew, no! I’m not risking any cooties! The only boy I’d be interested is a real cool stunt pony with a bunch of gnarly tattoos.” Then she smirked deviously. “What about you, Sweetie Belle? That guy Button Mash likes you a lot.”

The unicorn’s cheeks turned pink. “N-No he doesn’t,” She stuttered.

Applebloom raised her eyebrows. “What makes you say that? I mean, you like him, don’t you?”

Sweetie Belle rubbed her for leg. “He’s kinda cute I guess… and we both like video games… but we’re already good friends, and I don’t wanna ruin that.”

Scootaloo looked out of the corner of her eye. “Well, at least you can talk to him. He’s coming this way.”

Sweetie whirled around. “What?!?” She squeaked.

“See you around Sweetie!” Applebloom sang cheerfully, dashing over to her big brother.

“Yeah, see ya!” Scootaloo said, heading over to the opposite direction.

Sweetie Belle blinked rapidly. “Huh? Wait!” She turned to see Button galloping over to her. “D-oh!”

Scootaloo made her way over to Rainbow Dash, who was slouched on the floor, exhausted from all the dancing. Soarin was a few feet away from her, sleeping on the floor with his head on a few napkins. Rainbow noticed her adoptive sister and gave a tired smile. “Hey, Scoots.” She patted a spot on the floor next to her, and the young filly quickly sat down.

She wrapped her arms around her mentor. “I’m so happy for you, Rainbow Dash! How was your vacation?”

Rainbow looked down at her in confusion. “Vacation?” She suddenly realized that was what someone must’ve told them when she was taken. She smiled. “O-Oh, yeah, my vacation.” She shrugged. “It was so-so. Now that I’m married and all, it’s not gonna change a thing. You know I’m always gonna be there for you, right?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Mmm-hmm.”

She ruffled the filly’s mane fondly. “I’m really proud of you, Scoots.” She playfully nudged her in the shoulder. “Earning your cutie mark and all.” She said with a wink.

Scootaloo beamed, and looked down at her cutie mark, which was obscured from view by her flower girl dress. “Yeah,” She sighed happily. “About time we all got them. I was beginning to think that we’d never get our marks! But now that we have, I’m focusing on other things… like learning new tricks on my scooter!” She said excitedly.

Rainbow nodded in approval, and nuzzled her affectionately. “You’re gonna go far, kid.”

Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Rapidfire stood together, surveying the party. “I’d say that this was a success,” Fleetfoot announced, sipping her drink.

Spitfire rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t exactly call this whole thing a success.”

“Eh, It coulda been worse.”

“And it could have gone better.”

Rapidfire cut in. “Hey, we’re alive, we’re kickin’, we’re partyin’. I’d say this is a good night. You had fun, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I guess?”

Fleetfoot pushed her sunglasses up her nose. “I got a sweet present for them. I got them on Survivor.”

Spitfire almost choked. “The-The T.V. show?”

“Yeah!”

Rapidfire laughed. “You are so dead.”

Fleetfoot narrowed her eyes. “Oh, yeah? What did you get them?”

Rapidfire straightened the labels of his jacket. “Money,” He said, obviously very pleased with himself.

Fleetfoot scoffed. “Oh, yeah, great present,” She said sarcastically. “If you were they’re uncle.”

Rapidfire frowned. “You’re a riot, Fleet.” He said dryly. He turned to their captain. “What are you getting them?” he asked.

“I’m getting Soarin a free pie certificate for a year,” She said nonchalantly. “Oh, and I’m making Rainbow Dash a Wonderbolt.”

Rapidfire and Fleetfoot’s mouths hung open. “Seriously?” Fleetfoot  exclaimed.

“Yep.”

The other Wonderbolts grinned. “Well, about time!” Rapidfire laughed.

“Now, that’s a present.” Fleetfoot nodded.

Spitfire shrugged. “Hey, she’s one of us.” She said, walking over to the tables, her crew at her heels.

Rapidfire snickered. “Heck, she’s been one of us!”

“Yeah, what took so long?” Fleetfoot asked.

Spitfire looked back at them, her eyes peeking out above her sunglasses. She smiled. “She wasn’t old enough yet.”

The two ponies looked at each other.  “Ohh,” They said in unison.

Spitfire kept walking. “I’m announcing it at the toasting at 8:10.”

Fleetfoot looked at her watch. “It’s 8:09 now.”

Twilight Sparkle stood up on a table, tapping her spoon on her glass cup with her magic. “Attention, everypony, attention!”

The Wonderbolts smirked at each other. Spitfire adjusted her shades. “It’s Showtime.”

Rainbow Dash looked up as she saw ponies gathering to the tables. She and Scootaloo stood up, and went over to Soarin. Rainbow nudged him. “Hey. Hey, wake up!”

Soarin stirred, and opened his eyes. “Hmmm?”

Rainbow smiled. “Up and at 'em, champ. The toasting’s about to start.”

Soarin groaned, and rose to his hooves. “Why you gotta be so ru-"

“Soarin,” Rainbow said dangerously.

Soarin grinned. “Just kidding.”  He reached down, and scooped up Scootaloo. “Ready commander?”

“Ready, cadet!” Scoots chirped, her wings buzzing. Grinning from ear to ear, Rainbow walked beside Soarin with Scootaloo on his back towards the tables.