My Little Proletariat

Twilight Sparkle's first lesson about friendship was this:

Manual labour is hard.

After several muscle-wrenching attempts at tree-bucking, she'd resigned herself to cart-pulling. Cart-pulling was safe, easy, and she figured she probably wouldn't break anything important. Besides, ponies were naturally good at pulling things, right? Look at earth ponies - they could haul entire boxcars of goods! Hauling carts full of apples was practically in her blood!

"Awful nice of ya t'help me out an' all," said her friend, trotting along next to her. Applejack does this every day, Twilight reminded herself. She's working just as hard as me, she just doesn't show it. And besides, if I turn her into a potted plant now, Celestia will give me such a dressing down.

"Y'need a break?" Applejack asked. "We've only got the one orchard left to do, but we can take a breather fer five minutes if it'd help."

Twilight stopped the cart, slipped out of the harness, and slumped to the ground. It took her several minutes to get her breath back. Applejack watched her as she clambered back to her feet.

"Y'sure you wanna do that last orchard?" she asked finally.

"Yes, yes," said Twilight. "I'll be fine. I just need a moment to get my breath back." She grinned. "Books aren't usually this strenuous." An idea struck her. "Say, Applejack?"

"Yeah, Twi?"

"You know Rarity pretty well, don't you?"

"Ah know of Rarity, yeah."

"Recently, have you noticed her to be a bit..."

"Stuck up?"

"No, more like..."

"Pretentious?"

"I was going for 'distant'."

"Sugar cube, Rarity's got distant down to an art. Y'see how she runs that dress place o' hers! Those folks from Canterlot won't take her seriously 'less she makes 'em feel like they aren't welcome. It's just how she does business."

Twilight looked askance at the earth pony. "I thought you and Rarity didn't get along."

Applejack grinned. "Oh, we don't get along, girl. But that don't mean ah don't respect what she's built up. S'not easy, runnin' a business by yerself." She nodded to the main road. "Say, ain't that yer pet dragon?"

Twilight turned her head. Spike was indeed heading up the road into Sweet Apple Acres. She turned back to Applejack, grinning sheepishly. "Mind if we delay that last orchard for a bit?"

"Sure thing! Ah got a few chores need doin' 'round the barn anyway."

The two of them reached the farmhouse about the same time as Spike, who waved to them.

"Twilight!" he called out, "I came to tell you that Rarity's been looking all over for you."

"Rarity, eh?" said Applejack. "This ain't related to what y'were askin' about, is it?"

"I don't know," said Twilight. "Did she say what about, Spike?"

"I asked her," he said, "but she wouldn't tell me. She just- oh, not this..." The dragon broke into a spell of coughing, doubling over, and then suddenly expelled a burst of green-blue flame. When the smoke cleared, a scroll sat on the ground, displaying the wax seal of the Kingdom of Equestria.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "That can't be hygenic. What's wrong with the mail service?"

Spike shot Applejack a you're-telling-me glance as Twilight broke the seal on the scroll and levitated it to reading height. As she did, two red slips of card slipped from the missive and dropped to the ground.

"Hear ye, hear ye," she read. "Her Grand Royal Highness Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to announce The Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot, on the 21st day, blah blah blah..." Scanning to the bottom, she finished: "cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus one guest."

Applejack's eyes lit up. "The Grand Galloping Gala?"

"Oh, yes," said Twilight. "Every year, the Princess holds-"

"Ah know what the Grand Galloping Gala is. Hell, everypony in Ponyville knows what the Gala is. We get a great an' wonderous firework show down here from you folk up on the hill if nothin' else. You an' a friend, huh? Does Celestia know somethin' we don't know? Y'got a special stallion you're inviting along?"

"No! I guess the Princess just thought I'd like to take...oh no!" The scroll and tickets dropped onto the road as Twilight's concentration broke. "It's a test!" she wailed, stamping each hoof in turn. "She's setting me a test already! And I haven't even had time to study!"

"A...test?" Applejack asked. She shot a look at Spike. "Is she reg'larly like this?"

"Only all the time," the dragon replied. To Twilight: "The Princess probably didn't mean it like that. C'mon, maybe she just wants you to relax a bit."

"Oh no!" Twilight responded. "That's how they fool you! They tell you it's just a casual talk, or a brief interview, and suddenly they're writing things on piece of paper and saying "I see" at you! And then there's no hope! My grant will be suspended, Celestia will expel me, and it'll be back to my parents' and being an administrative taxpony again!" She lashed out at a nearby apple-tree, connecting with a solid whunk of the hoof.

"Wha-hey!"

A pile of cyan pony landed on the ground between the two ponies, pulling Twilight out of her little misery-jaunt.

Applejack sighed. "Ah guess you have a perfectly good reason for why y'happen to be evesdroppin' on us, Dash?" she asked.

The pegasus untangled her legs and got up, looking sheepishly at Applejack and Twilight. "I wasn't evesdropping!" she said. "I was having a nap. Say, tickets!" She reached down to grab the momentarily-forgotten gala tickets, only to have them whisked away by Twilight.

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "An' somehow Twilight's belly-achin' here didn't wake you?"

"Hey, grant money is a legitimate-"

"Pfft," said Rainbow Dash, still trying to get a look at the tickets as Twilight stuffed them into the scroll. "I'm pretty sure I'm the heaviest sleeper in Ponyville. Gale-force winds can't wake me when I'm on form. Say, did those tickets say something about a Gala on them?"

"Yes," Twilight said, "They're part of a special project that the Princess has assigned me."

"Can I help?"

"No!"

"C'mon, Twilight! I've always wanted to go to the Gala!"

"Too bad! I need to study."

"But Twilight! You know who performs at the Gala?"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Oh no, here we go..."

"Well, lots of people perform at the-"

"The Wonderbolts, Twilight." Dash's eyes glazed over slightly. "They'll be doing their annual fly-by, all their signature tricks, Spitfire'll be signing autographs." She grabbed Twilight's hooves with her own. "It's my dream come true, Twilight. You need to take me."

"No!" Twilight shook off the pegasus. "I'm not having either of you destroy my grades. Spike, collect our things. I'm headed back to the library, and I'm going to study this. I will work out the optimal guest to bring for maximum friendship and if," she stared at the two of them, "if it is one of you, I'll let you know."

And then she left.

Rarity was waiting outside the Library. By the time Twilight spotted her, it was too late.

"Twilight! I've been looking all over for you."

"Really." Twilight attempted to side-step her fellow unicorn. Rarity countered perfectly.

"I hear that you caught up with Fluttershy earlier today, and she, uh, spilled the beans on my little plan."

"Look, Rarity, I appreciate you coming clean with me on this, but right now is *not* a good time."

Rarity grinned nervously and tossed her head. "Oh, come on Twilight, it won't take that long. I just wanted to apologise for my past behaviour. I should have told you about the party, but we were busy planning it, and well, I wanted it to be a surprise." She glanced at the unicorn. "After all, you *do* like parties, don't you?"

Twilight sighed. "Apology accepted, but right now I just need to do some work. On my own."

Rarity's eyes narrowed. "But, you do like parties, don't you Twilight?"

Twilight stared at her.

"Parties. You like them."

"Look, Rarity, if you want to plan things, by all means plan them. But I have a special task given to me by the Princess Celestia, and I need to complete it as soon as possible."

"Oh," said Rarity, downcast. And then, "Oh! A special task! Of course! I couldn't keep you from that."

Twilight glared at the unicorn, who was still blocking the Library door.

"Ah," said Rarity, moving to one side. Twilight barged past her, and would have shut the door after her if Rarity hadn't managed to get a hoof in the way.

"Should we meet later? To discuss the party?"

"Do whatever you want with the party!" said Twilight.

"Really?"

"Yes. Just leave me alone!" Finally extricating Rarity's hoof from the door, she slammed it forcefully.

Rarity stood in front of the door for a few moments, lost in thought. Then she tossed her head and trotted, head held high, to a nearby alley.

"Is everything alright?" asked a voice from the alleyway.

"Everything is better than alright," Rarity said, smiling. "We've been given free reign, as it were."

"Really? Oh dear."

"Don't worry, Fluttershy. I know just what to do. Now, come on. We have a party to plan."