The Fashion Folly

By the time they had finished counting the "Hundreds and Thousands", they found that there were 2,352 (2,345 now because Pinkie Pie ate a couple of them in celebration). With that, Twilight headed out of Sugarcube Corner and decided to walk to Sweet Apple Acres to meet up with Applejack. Although it was a painful walk, her horseshoes continuing to be a nuisance for her, she was focusing her attention on going over to see a good friend. When she reaches Sweet Apple Acres, she found Applejack feeding the pigs.

"Hey Applejack!", Twilight called to Applejack while raising a hoof.

"Oh hey there, Sugarcube", Applejack responded, though her happiness turned into surprise when she saw Twilight's shoes. She walked over and assessed them. It didn't take a genius to see that they were way too small for her.

"What's wrong? Don't you like my shoes?", Twilight asked, uncomfrtable with one of her friends looking at her hooves for such a long time, even if they were raised in a barn.

"Oh nothing", Applejack replied, "I'm just a little concerned that these shoes of your's are a mite too tight".

Twilight was rather shocked, Applejack made the same comment as Pinkie Pie. Perhaps it was just an earth pony thing to wear big shoes. Nevertheless, she responded sharply,

"Listen AJ, these are the shoes that're in this season, I will not have anypony tell me otherwise".

Applejack was a little concerned, Twilight would never be this uptight over what she wore. Even more confusing was that Rarity was out of town, so Twilight must've bought these shoes from another source.

"Um, alright. Say do want to help me with some farm work?", Applejack asked trying to change the subject.

"No thanks, I just want to go home and study", Twilight replied, clearly bummed out by Applejack's criticism, and then headed back home. Applejack swore that she could hear an "oof" and "ouch" occasionally as she walked off. She had little sense of what was "in" in any season, but Twilight wasn't the kind of pony who would develop a taste for "young mares' fashion" so quickly. Either way, Applejack wanted to make a better pair of shoes for her, even without Rarity's help.

One very long walk later, Twilight had made it back to Golden Oaks Library, and decided to take her shoes off at the door. Though there was relief in her hooves, she didn't let it bother her that much. Spike had woken up and had left a counter-note saying that he'd left to go to Rarity's boutique to play with Sweetie Belle, Rarity's younger sister, to keep her company. Seeing as she was alone, she decided to get back to her books and read on about the History of Equestria.

A couple hours later, as the Sun was setting, Spike came back home and noticed Twilight's shoes at the door.

"Hey Twilight, are those your shoes?", Spike asked, getting Twilight's attention.

"Oh hi Spike, and yes they are. Don't they look great?", she replied. Spike hadn't seen them on her hooves, so he had no idea how small they were on her.

"Uh yeah, they look okay", Spike answered, making Twilight happy. They both started preparing for bed shortly after; it was a tough day for both of them.

Meanwhile back outside, Billy's gang was laughing themselves silly. They had gotten Twilight good…shoes. Suddenly, they saw Pinkie Pie pronking over to the library to see where the laughter was coming from (she was drawn to laughter after all, especially when it concerned her friends). There, she came face-to-face with Billy's gang and bursted into laughter. They were easily the silliest mares she'd ever laid eyes on.

"Hello there, my name is Pinkie Pie! What are your names!?", Pinkie Pie asked once she regained herself.

"Go away", Billy said calmly, almost like a master talking down to his pet. She and her gang didn't want to be disturbed.

"Okay", Pinkie Pie said and walked back home. Something funny had overcome her when she was making eye contact with that silly-looking mare. She didn't feel like she was in control of going away. If anything, she would usually pester them for their names, and once she did that, she'd do something random in hopes that she would make a new friend. She didn't think all this through once she had gone to bed, but she was too tired to do anything about it by that point.