Different Events

Spike’s eyelids opened slightly, then fell back shut to avoid the strain of daylight shining in directly through open curtains. After a minute of repeatedly opening his eyes to adjust, he sat up and looked around the room for Rarity.

He spotted her in front of a wall-mounted, full-body mirror, gently stroking through her mane with a brush.

“Morning Rarity,” he said, rubbing his still tired eyes. "Feeling any better?"

She paused mid-brush and turned her head to face him. “Good morning Spike,” she replied. "I am feeling a lot better now – on both fronts. You being there to comfort me, and making that nice tea to help my stomach...any filly would dream of having a friend like you around." She smiled.

Spike blushed. "W-well hey, t-that’s what I’m here for!” he stuttered, pridefully puffing up his chest.

Heading downstairs to the breakfast nook, they found Cookie messily prepping food on the stove, and Sweetie asleep in a high-chair.

Turning around to grab an ingredient, Cookie spotted the two. “Well now, look who’s finally up!” she cheerfully welcomed. “I was about ta go upstairs to tell you two that dinner’s ready.”

Rarity rolled her eyes, “Ha-ha… And good morning to you too, Mom.”

While pulling a chair out for Rarity, Spike glanced at a cat clock on the wall. “Wow, nine thirty already? Twilight would freak if she knew I slept in that long...”

Rarity giggled as she sat down. "Oh Spike, even a handsome dragon needs his beauty rest!"

He quickly licked his claw and made sure his spines were in place. As he took his own seat, Cookie levitated over two omelettes for each of them.

Rarity began cutting off a couple of pieces.

Spike meanwhile, picked up his fork, jammed it into the omelet, stuck the whole thing in in his mouth, chewed, and then swallowed. “Oh yeah, that tastes gr-*BURP*-eat.” A small flame escaped his mouth. He tensed and looked over at Rarity.

She simply stared back in mild disgust.

“Heh, sorry...” he awkwardly chuckled. A few seconds of uncomfortable silence passed. “...So, any plans for today?” he finally asked.

Rarity paused mid-chew. She put a hoof to her chin, then finished and swallowed. “Well, constantly seeing that awful sweater on Twilight yesterday, I couldn't help but think of designs that would be far better at complimenting her.”

Spike lit up. "Well hey, what are we waiting for then?" He hopped out of his chair and pointed towards the living room. “Let's get sewing!” He marched forward.

“Um, Spike?”

He peeked back into the kitchen.

“I’d like to finish my omelet first,” Rarity said, still seated in the breakfast nook, fork in her aura.

“Oh, right,” he chuckled.

Spike huffed as he pumped the pedals on the sewing machine, Rarity diligently monitoring her work, making even the tiniest of adjustments to the fabric’s position to ensure the perfect stitch.

Suddenly, he felt the pedal be halted by Rarity's magic – just as she'd done several times before. He looked up to see her wipe away a single droplet of sweat that was running down her face.

“Spike...I think we’re done,” she said, snipping the thread and levitating the sweater into the air, continuing to inspect it.

The sweater was midnight blue, a little more vibrant than Twilight’s mane. Around the edges were sequences of white diamond shapes, and tying it all together was a recreation of Twilight’s cutie mark on the front of the chest.

“It looks great Rarity; Twi’s gonna love it!”

Rarity’s eyes narrowed and her mouth twisted. “I suppose...” she sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s just something...missing. Something to make it truly fabulous.”

As soon as Rarity had finished her sentence, blue light began emanating and sparking from her horn, causing the sweater to drop straight to the floor as she winced slightly. “Oh not this again!” she whined.

Seeing her ready to snuff it out, Spike quickly grabbed her hoof and held it back. “Wait! Maybe we should follow it; one more time? Some gems could really give Twilight’s sweater that extra bit of fabulosity you’re looking for!”

She stared him straight in the eyes. “Spike, while gems would be amazing for this sweater, we tried finding some yesterday, and my horn only led us these dingy, unpolished ones!" She poked a ruby-embedded rock sitting on the desk, which Spike had brought back with them to snack on at some point. "Besides, I just had a relaxing bath last night; I'm not about to get covered in dirt and sweat all over again!”

"C'mon Rarity," Spike pleaded. "I know there's some good ones up there! I go digging for them all the time!"

She stared him in the eyes before finally groaning. "Fine. ...but we'll go home after one hour, got it?"

"Deal."

She then grabbed her homemade knap-pouch, strung it around her neck, and stuffed the sweater inside. The two then headed downstairs – Rarity walking a little wobbly due to her horn pulling at her. Informing Cookie of where they were headed, they ran to the front door. Bowing, Spike grasped the handle and opened it for Rarity.

“Thank you, Sir Spike!” she giggled, before dashing forward at the tug of her horn and– *KLUNCK* –headbutting another filly on the front porch. “ACK! OW!” she yelped, staggering backwards slightly as her horn fizzled out.

Spike jumped slightly, taken off guard. “Rarity are you okay!?” he asked, running around the door to her as she rubbed her muzzle and forehead.

“Sweet Celestia, ya think the whole world’s just gonna walk outta your way, don’t ya?” another voice groaned.

Both looked up.

“Oh, hey Applejack!” Spike greeted, waving his claw.

Rarity's eyebrows fell even further on spotting her. “Oh, you,” she said flatly.

“Everything okay?” Cookie asked, peeking out from the kitchen.

Everyone looked back. “If you call headbutting the thickest skull in town ‘okay’,” Rarity groaned, rolling her eyes.

“Alrighty; let me know if any of ya need some ice!”

Spike found himself turned back around by Applejack. “Where’ve ya been, Spike?” she asked, looking directly into his eyes. “You were gone all night! Ya missed dinner and breakfast, and we haven’t played any of that O&O game since two nights ago!”

“Oh, sorry Applejack, but I’ve been helping Rarity! She’s making a new sweater for Twilight, and now we're going to look for some gems to put on it! Except...well...

Applejack’s eyebrows dipped in disappointment.

“–Except I nearly got my skull split in two,” Rarity muttered.

Applejack’s eyebrows furrowed as she peeked around Spike’s head. “Now hold on a minute ya crybaby! That wasn’t–“

“Hey, hey, calm down girls!” Spike interrupted. “It was just an accident.” He looked at Applejack specifically. “What brought you over, by the way?”

Applejack broke eye contact. “Well, uh, Twi wanted me ta give ya this letter,” she said, pulling an envelope out of a leather knap-pouch of her own.

“Oh. Thanks,” Spike said, taking the letter. He stepped into the secondary living-room and opened it.

Dear Spike,

I’m heading to Rockville to go help Pinkie. Stay with Rarity; I know you’ll do a better job helping her than I could. I’ll try to be back as soon as I can, but if I’m not back in two days, make a plan of how to help Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie, and the other one on your own.

-Twilight

He folded up the letter and returned it to its envelope to hide or dispose of later.

“Can we please get going now, Spike?” Rarity asked as Spike turned around. The longer I’m standing next to her the more I feel like something’s going to break around me,” she jeered, pointing an accusatory hoof at Applejack.

Spike snapped his claws. “Hey! That just gave me an idea! Wait right here!” he exclaimed, running back upstairs.

A few moments later, he raced back down to them, holding the rock with rubies in his claw. “You want the best looking gems for Twi’s sweater? You’ve got it!” He popped the rock in his mouth, then bit down, cracking it into much smaller pieces. Spitting the debris back into his claw, he sorted the gems from the stone, after which he took the gems one-by-one and ran each side against the edge of his teeth, scraping away the cloudy outer layer. Once he was finished, he presented Rarity with a clawful of crystal-clear rubies.

Rarity’s eyes went wide with amazement, and she immediately grabbed them up in her magic. “Spike! These look magnificent! Although..." She pulled the sweater out of her bag looked it over. "I'm not quite sure those would work with this design."

"Ya can bite rocks!?" Applejack inquired, mouth agape.

Spike nodded. "Uh-huh! We eat gemstones all the time!"

"Hmm...perhaps sapphires or amethysts would work better," Rarity remarked. Immediately, her horn lit up again. "Oh, Spike! I think it's trying to find some! Come on!" she grabbed his claw and charged out the door with him in tow.

Applejack blinked, before quickly shaking her head and running after them. “Hey wait!” Catching pace, she looked over at Spike “What about me? I got all my chores done early so we could do stuff together!”

Spike looked over at her. “Hey, don’t worry Applejack, I’ll be back by dinner! Then you, Mac, and me can all play some more O&O afterward!”

Applejack stared for a moment before muttering, “Fine.” She looked down as her pace slowed.

“See ya later!” Spike called back.

“...See ya later,” Applejack sighed, before turning and walking the opposite way.

After an hour of digging and “polishing” in Rambling Rock Hills, the two dumped their spoils into Rarity’s knap-bag and headed back. Once home, with the gems sorted, she got right to work picking and pre-placing them on the sweater at key points in the design pattern: amethysts at the points where each diamond shape met, and sapphires in the centers of them. All the while, Spike desperately resisted the urge to snag a gem to snack on. Eventually, once Rarity had made up her mind on how everything would go together, she began the process of fastening them to the sweater.

When all was said and done, she held up her work and inspected it.

Spike watched her heavily scrutinize the sweater for nearly a minute. “Something wrong, Rarity?”

She continued to stare at the sweater. “...Honestly, no. I can’t seem to really find much wrong with this. There’s minor things here or there, but as a whole...I’ve never felt like a piece I’ve worked on has been this complete before. It just feels...”

“Fabulous?”

She looked at him with a confident smirk. “Yes. Fabulous,” she repeated.

Immediately, a bright light began emanating from the sides of her hips.

“Rarity, look!” Spike exclaimed, pointing at her rear.

She cranked her head around to look, and her eyes and mouth opened wide in awe.

The light flashed, and left behind three blue diamonds as it faded away.

Rarity simply stared for several seconds in shock. “I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!” she finally squealed, jumping up and down in glee. She grabbed Spike and stared directly into his eyes, snout-to-snout. “I GOT MY CUTIE MARK, SPIKE!” Tossing the sweater aside on the bed, she dashed out of the room, squeal-giggling in delight.

Spike quickly bolted after her.

Racing down the stairs, Rarity spotted her dad, Hondo, walking in the door. “Dad! Dad!” she exclaimed, running up to him. “I G–*MFF*!” She was cut off by a hoof shoved to her lips.

“Just a moment, Rarity; you’re about to see the best ball I’ve ever ordered for our equipment store!” He pulled a bowling ball out of a saddlebag and loosely tossed it into the air. “Try and catch this!”

Rarity yelped and cowered away.

“I’LL SAVE YOU, RARITY!!!” Spike yelled, jumping up and diving into the ball.

Rarity watched in shock as Spike's entire body soared with the ball right into Hondo’s meaty flanks. Both ball and dragon bounced right off of them and hit the floor, sending Spike rolling backwards like the bowling ball he clutched. Colliding with the stairs, he splayed out all over, releasing the ball.

“Spike, are you okay?!” Rarity asked, cringing.

“Only if you are!” he uttered, dizzily raising his thumb.

Hondo levitated the bowling ball back over. “Scare ya?” he asked, throwing it against the floor, where it bounced like a dodgeball. “Prank bowling ball! Ponies won’t know what hit ‘em – literally!”

Rarity scrunched her face slightly in confusion.

“So what did ya wanna tell me, Rarity?” he asked.

A smile started to creep back on her face. “I got my cutie mark,” she said as plainly as she could, turning to the side for her dad to see.

“Jumpin’ tunafish! Why didn’t ya say something!?” he exclaimed as his face lit up. Almost immediately though, his eyes narrowed as he smirked. “Your mom know about this?” he asked.

Rarity shook her head.

“C’mon,” he said, lifting her onto his back. “We’ll act like it didn’t happen and see if she notices.”

Rarity giggled.

“Sound good, Spike?”

“Uh-huh!” he replied, wearily, as he attempted to use the banister to pull himself back up.

When the three entered the kitchen, Cookie turned around from the stove. “Now what are you three all excited about?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing,” Rarity replied, doing a poor job at holding back a grin.

“Well I know I heard you happy about something upstairs, and your dad was certainly excited about something...”

“Aw, she was just tellin’ me how much she likes this bowling ball I left upstairs for her!” Hondo replied, picking it up once again. “Catch!” he yelled, tossing it towards his wife.

"AAH!" Cookie shrieked, ducking. While it didn't hit her, it did land in an open pan of tomato sauce, splashing it all over the kitchen and them.

Licking some of the sauce off from around her lips while slowly standing back up, Cookie gave Hondo a cold stare.

“...Whoops,” he chuckled nervously, beginning to step towards a closet door.

“Ugh, come on Dad! I just took a bath last night!” Rarity whined, looking over her red-splattered coat.

“I can get it!” Spike volunteered, stepping over to Rarity and beginning to lick the sauce off her cheek with a slobbery tongue.

“*Eugh*! Spike, please!” She stuck her tongue out as she shoved him away and recoiled in disgust.

“I’ve got it,” Cookie said, wetting a dish rag and beginning to wipe the sauce spatters off Rarity’s face. As soon as she turned Rarity to the side though, her face turned to shock as her aura sputtered out and dropped the dish rag. “Rarity! Y-you...”

Rarity grinned from ear-to-ear as she looked at her mom. “I got my cutie mark! –WOAH!” She was taken off-guard by a sudden hug from her mother.

“Oooh! I knew you’d find your talent one of these days! How’d it happen?” Cookie asked, letting go of Rarity and holding her in front, face-to-face.

“Yeah, ya never said,” Hondo noted, walking back into the center of the kitchen with a mop.

“Well, you know how my horn’s been acting up? It turns out I can locate gemstones!”

Cookie’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding!”

“Nope!" Rarity replied, shaking her head. "Spike and I even brought some back to prove it!”

“So ya gonna become a gem miner?” Hondo asked.

Rarity’s eyebrows lowered. “Very funny, Dad. But my talent isn’t just finding gems...” She dashed upstairs and came back down with the sweater. “Ta-da!”

Both Hondo and Cookie paused their cleanup and stared at it in awe.

“Rarity, it’s beautiful!” Cookie complimented.

“You could sell that for a couple hundred bits!” Hondo stated.

“Actually,” Rarity began, “I made it as a gift for Twilight.”

Cookie smiled. “Why that’s awfully sweet of ya, Rarity. I’m sure she'll love it.”

“O-of course, I couldn’t have made this fabulous sweater all on my own...” she said, looking to her side. “Spike proved a wonderful assistant...and he was the one who really pushed me to give the whole gem-finding thing a try.” She walked up to him. “Honestly Spike, I don’t think I would’ve gotten my cutie mark without your help.”

“Ah, don’t mention it,” Spike replied, waving his claw at her as he blushed slightly. "I'm kinda a natural at it."

“Um, if it’s alright...I-I’d like to do something special to thank you.”

Spike’s mind instantly shut down all other operations and went full-focus on Rarity. “Huh?”

“I said I want to do something special to thank you, Spike. I'm open to any suggestion.”

His heart was now pounding in his chest. Rarity. She wanted. To do something special. For him. “U-uh...I...uh...” he stumbled for words. “How’sADinnerDateSound?” he blurted out.

Rarity blinked as she raised an eyebrow. “C..come again?”

Spike took a breath and swallowed a lump in his throat before repeating. “H-How about a dinner...out...j-just the two of us?”

Rarity pondered for a moment. “I don’t see why not; it sounds rather pleasant.”

“Great!” Spike replied, his nerves starting to calm slightly. “Vine Garden Grill tomorrow night?”

“It’s a date,” Rarity agreed.

“Alright!” Hondo called out as he set the mop aside. “Who wants spaghetti and dodgeball?”

Both Spike and Rarity looked at each-other and giggled slightly.

“So,” Spike began, seated on top of Mac’s bed at the hoofboard. “Thankfully for me, the ursa minor lets Garbuncle go as it runs off with the entire barrel of honey.”

“An’ you two thought I was crazy fer buyin’ it!” Applejack gloated, smirking smugly as she crossed her hooves. She sat next to Little Mac up near the pillows, across the homemade O&O set from Spike.

"ESCAPE ROLL!" Mac gleefully shouted as he picked up and rolled set of dice. The result was effectively a 2. "Aw, come on!"

Spike giggled. "Sorry Mac, but it looks like Little Sneakyhooves is gonna be stuck in that honey for awhile!"

Applejack gave Mac a sly smirk. "Let's just hope that Ursa Minor doesn't have a Little Snackintosh before we figure out what happened!"

Mac rolled his eyes and snorted.

Spike then cleared his throat and looked to Applejack. “Why thank you, strange mare. What be thy na–“

“Hey, if you two are gonna be busy doin' sappy introductions, then I'm gonna get more snacks before my second round against the ursa,” Mac interrupted, hopping off the bed and heading for the door.

“Bring back some apple pie!” Spike called out.

“Me too!” Applejack added.

The other two turned back to the board.

“So, Spike,” Applejack spoke, avoiding eye contact, “what were ya spendin’ all that time at Rarity’s for?”

Spike looked up. “Huh? Oh, we were making that sweater for Twilight, remember?”

“Right...” Her eyes darted back and forth as she thought. They stopped and looked up at him. “But what were y’all doin’ yesterday?” she questioned, narrowing her eyes slightly.

“Well we started looking for gemstones yesterday – turns out Rarity can find them with her magic – but all we kept getting was really rough and unpolished ones, so by the end of the day Rarity was feeling kinda bummed about the whole thing. Twilight left after that, but I stayed; all she wanted to do was cry for a while with me there to comfort her – kinda like you that first night we showed up!”

Applejack’s jaw tensed slightly as she glared down at the bed. Her eyes alone shifted to Spike once again. “Oh really?” she grumbled.

“Yep; I even went back to her house to spend the night with her! We had dinner, played some board games, stayed up late talking – especially after all that ice cream finally got through her...” Spike chuckled. “Man, it really was like that night with you!”

Applejack began taking deeper breaths, and pressed her forehooves into the mattress.

“And even though we found even more mediocre gemstones today, I realized I could just scrape the bad parts off with my teeth! So we spent some time collecting a whole bunch – with a few extra she let me snack on – and then we went back to her house and added them to the sweater, and that’s when she got her cutie mark! All thanks to yours truly!” He pointed his thumb at himself proudly.

“Great, great...” Applejack gritted, making zero eye contact.

“Oh! And that’s not even the best part!”

Applejack’s eyes stared daggers into the bedsheets. “It’s not?” she questioned.

“Nope! The best part is that Rarity and I are having dinner together at the Vine Garden Grill tomorrow!”

Applejack’s entire body tensed up, save her left eye, which twitched slightly. A false grin of gritted teeth was forced upon her face. “That’s...great, Spike...” she seethed, her hooves pressing hard into the mattress.

“Apple pie with ice-cream!” Mac declared, bringing in two plates of the aforementioned item, along with a bag of potato chips.

“Hey, thanks Mac, I’ve been dying for another slice of it!” he picked the whole thing up and took a large bite, leaving a ring of apple and vanilla ice cream on his face.

Applejack just took a bite out of the vanilla scoop.

Spike swallowed. “Now, where were we? Oh yeah! ‘My sincerest gratitude for saving me, lone traveler. Now I must ask, what is your name?”

Mac rolled his eyes. “Really!? Y’all got nowhere with this while I was gone?”

Applejack swallowed her bite and took a deep breath. She looked back to Spike as the pressure on the mattress decreased slightly. “I’m Golden Sentinel,” she spoke, gesturing a hoof towards herself. “Daughter of the legendary Earthen warrior, Bright Sentinel, who defended against the timberwolf invasion to his death! And you?”

Spike gave a half-bow from his seated position. “I am Garbuncle, the great wizard who has traveled far and wide throughout Spiketopia! But in spite of my prestige, there must be something I can to do repay you for saving me.”

“Well, I don’t really need much, but I suppose there is a little gesture of gratitude I wouldn’t mind getting from a good-lookin’ wizard like you,” Applejack stated as she closed her eyes and leaned forward over the board, pursing her lips slightly.

“If you so wish,” Spike replied, giving a single nod.

Applejack felt one of Spike’s arms go around her neck and pull her towards him. However, her eyes snapped back open upon feeling scaly knuckles rubbing against the top of her scalp.

"I hereby dub thee, 'Golden Sentinel the Brave'!" He let go. “We are also in need of a third traveler, if thou is interested.”

Applejack just stared for a moment. “Thanks," she groaned. "I've been gettin' pretty lonely out here...” She snorted as she leaned back against a pillow.

The next morning, a few hundred miles away, a small train continued its journey northeast.

“Clicka-clacka! Clicka-clacka! Clicka-clacka!” Pinkie chanted, staring out the window. She turned to Maud, who was seated to the left of her. “Soooo, what do you think the rocks are gonna be like when we get there?”

“Mostly igneous, especially of volcanic varieties; the Canterlot Mountains were all formed from volcanic activity due to a hot-spot under the North Equestrian plate,” she replied. “It’ll be an interesting area to study for sure.”

Across the isle, Twilight was scribbling away in a notebook. Yesterday evening she had re-checked the seven year old photo of Rainbow’s cutie mark. Much to her concern, instead of the usual rainbow lightning bolt, it was now a trio of red, yellow, and blue clouds.

“Let’s see...” Twilight quietly thought aloud, tapping her pencil against her chin. “The slide of my acceptance letter and the slide of my cute-ceañera were both changed by the end of the first day. That means that a few hours equals a few weeks at least. But, Rainbow’s photo changed yesterday, and that’s from four years ahead of where we are now. So, if we’ve been here five days, and something from four years ahead changed yesterday...then every day that passes means another year of changes.” Twilight looked up, staring out the window at the passing scenery. She sighed. “And unless Spike managed to help Rarity earn her mark...we’ll only have five and a half days to help her, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and myself...”

She sighed. “How am I gonna pull this off?”

“Pull what off?” Pinkie asked, suddenly next to Twilight. “That sweater? Did some evil seamstress force it upon you and now you’re cursed to wear it for the rest of your life?!”

Twilight looked right in surprise and raised an eyebrow.

“Ooh! Or are you trying to throw another party for somepony!? Because I can help with that!” She gave a wide grin.

Twilight smiled. “Oh Pinkie!” She ruffled the filly’s perpetually ruffled mane. “There’s just something important I have to get done in a week, and I’m just not sure if I can do it.”

Pinkie raised an eyebrow and tilted her head sideways. “Soo...that’s a maybe on the party?”

“A maybe.”

Finally stepping off the train, Twilight could hear the bells of the Ponyville clocktower chiming that it was 1:45 in the afternoon.

“Twilight!”

She glanced to see Spike and a saddlebag-wearing Rarity running up to her.

“Spike!” she exclaimed as the two hugged, with her adding a kiss to the forehead.

“So, how’d it go?” he asked.

“Pretty well, only some minor hiccups,” Twilight replied, playfully rolling her eyes.

“WHOA IS THAT YOUR DRAGON FRIEND!?” Pinkie dashed straight up to Spike and began zipping all around him, inspecting every inch. She lifted and felt his arms, legs, and tail; she even pulled one of his spines to the side and watched it spring back into place like a doorstop. “Cool! My name’s Pinkie Pie; you must be Spike!” she grabbed his claw and began vigorously shaking it. “Twilight told me allllllllll about you! Say, since you were hatched, do still call it a ‘birthday’, or do you call it a ‘hatch-day’?”

Spike blinked. “Uh...”

Pinkie looked back over to the train, and ran up to Maud as she was walking off. “Ooh! And this my older sister Maud! Say ‘hi’ to Spike, Maud!” She picked up one of Maud’s hooves and manually waved it.

“Hey,” Maud greeted, staring at him. “...I’ve never met a dragon before.”

“And now you have!” Pinkie stated. “How cool is that?!”

“Pinkie?” Twilight asked, approaching the sisters.

Pinkie looked up. “Yeah?”

“I hate to interrupt, but I’d like to catch up with Spike right now. Why don’t you and Maud go check into Soft Sheets’s inn?"

Pinkie saluted. “Oh, I get it; you need to get ready for that party! Okie-dokie-loki then! C’mon Maud!” She wrapped a foreleg around her sister’s neck and headed off.

“Uh Twi, why are they in Ponyville?” Spike asked, walking up to Twilight.

She looked down at him. “Oh, well, Pinkie pleaded to go with me so she could see Ponyville, but her parents were a little hesitant to let her leave so suddenly. So Maud decided to put some usefulness in the trip by going with her and doing some rock research for the farm.”

“Huh. Anyways, Rarity and I have something to show you!” he said, gesturing towards the filly. “Take it away!”

Rarity cleared her throat. “Twilight, after I saw your overpriced five-bit sweater, I knew I had to do something to set things right,” she opened one of the saddlebags and pulled out the new sweater, “so I made you this.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide in awe. “Rarity!” she gasped. “It’s beautiful!” She took it in her own aura to get a better look. “And I see you found some nice gems after all!”

“All thanks to Spike and his incredible teeth,” she replied, giving a smile and a wink towards him.

“You two wait there, I’ll be right back!” Twilight exclaimed, teleporting away, only to return a few seconds later now wearing the sweater Rarity had made. “How do I look?” she asked, turning sideways for Rarity to see.

“Fabulous, darling!” Rarity declared, giggling slightly as she trotted in place.

“And that’s not the only thing!” Spike reminded.

“Oh!” Rarity turned sideways.

Twilight dropped the old sweater right out of her aura and gasped. “You got your cutie mark!”

“Uh-uh!”

She put a hoof around the filly. “I knew you had it in you!”

“All it took was a little encouragement from Spike!”

Twilight looked up at the station clock. “Oh it’s almost two! I need to get going!” She paused and looked down at Rarity. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have a hat that covers a pony’s horn easily, would you?”

“No, but I could find you one. Why?”

“Oh, uh, no reason worth mentioning...”

“Well then; let’s go shopping!” Rarity declared, starting to walk off, Spike following close behind.

Twilight paused as she picked the old sweater up off the platform.

“Oh don’t bother yourself with this!” Rarity said, taking it in her own aura and stuffing it into her saddlebag. “I’ll burn it later.”