Dreamwalker's Tale: An Anthology

It was one of those days.

I furrowed my brow as I contemplated my dilemma. A part of me grumbled that I really should have known, but another voice held its ground claiming that, well, how could I have known? There were no signs indicating as much. I woke up after a relatively calm night shift with Luna, I had a decent breakfast alongside Spike and Twilight, I helped Twi sort the library from her latest study binge. Everything seemed fine. Until I remembered my schedule. I was not even late. Yet.

Yet here I stood. In front of the double doors. Those massive, daunting doors marking the exit of the castle. My hooves would not move. They were frozen to the ground. Every time I even dared to think about grabbing the door and opening it, my heart started to race. I knew what was out there, of course. Ponyville. My friends. A nice, warm, sunny day. Probably. Honestly, I had not looked out any window today. Maybe it was dark and gray? Maybe it rained?

I had yet to reach the stage when cold sweat broke out. When my limbs were not only frozen in place, but started to shiver and tremble in slowly building panic.

It’s just a door, for crying out loud. This should not be this hard!, I berated myself. Not for the first time either, but it had no effect. As usual.

I stood there for what? A minute? Maybe two? Three? Five? Time was difficult to gauge when all I had was… a door. An empty hallway behind me. No windows. Maybe windows could actually help? Maybe I should ask Twilight if we could install some windows beside the door? Yeah. Yeah, that sounded fine. I could totally ask Twilight.

I should ask Twilight.

Wrong direction. I knew that I was convincing myself of the wrong direction. Yet I found myself unable to stop. I felt it, too. I felt how my hooves unfroze. How I would be perfectly able to lift them, because the intended direction they would take was… back inside. Deeper into the belly of the beast. Deeper into the castle. Back to Twilight.

But that was not the plan. I had a plan. This was going to happen! I just needed to find a way do force myself to—

“Hey.”

I completely froze again. Goodness me, I even heard myself audibly gulp. “H-Hey,” I answered Spike.

He stepped up to my side and for a moment, just a fleeting moment, he held that position. Right beside me. “Are you o—“ But he never finished that question. I dreaded it. He was my friend. A really, really good friend. I did not wish to lie to him. But neither could I tell him the truth.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see him smile at me. That smile superseded the furrowed scaly brow that had been there before. It was a warm smile. Friendly. Trusting. Very… understanding. But how could he? Right? Then again, it was very much a Spike-smile.

“I’m just taking out the trash,” he explained. As if that was necessary. He stepped up to the door, grabbed it with his little claws and pulled. The massive crystal door creaked a little and slowly swung open. My entire concentration, my attention, my very being was transfixed on that slowly widening gap in a mixture of fear and… hopefully more than just that.

Familiar crystal stairs led down to a dirt path. It was such a hilarious contrast. The pomp and splendor of a crystal castle grown from magic right in the middle of a dirt road town. Gosh, how I loved that town and its residents.

It was a sunny day outside. A few tufts of white lazily drifted overhead. I could see them despite standing a couple of feet inside, still. Maybe Rainbow napped on one of them. Probably. She was currently in town, so there was a high likelihood that she was napping on a cloud, napping in one of AJs apple trees or bothering somepony with pranks, probably alongside Pinkie.

Thinking about my friends made me smile.

It made some of the tension evaporate, too.

Maybe half a minute later, I could not tell for sure, I found my hooves unfrozen. I heard a couple of birds chirping. It was awfully bright outside. The wind blew into the hallway and carried the scent of trees and grass and dirt. A little bee hummed by, curious about the new entry, but quickly decided against getting lost in here.

There’s nothing to fear.

I took a step.

Then another.

And it took five more to bring me outside. Only then did I remember Spike. I turned to look for him and found him still standing at the door. He once again stepped up to my side, taking in the surrounding area. “It’s a really nice day, isn’t it?”

My heart still fluttered. Even though it was probably not perceivable to the naked eye, I could still feel a slight tremor in my legs. I let my attention lose, let my eyes wander again. “It is,” I agreed. I sighed shakily. “It is,” I mumbled almost silently.

“Well, have a nice one. You, uh… you’ll say ‘hi’ to her? From me?”

His hesitance made me smile. I turned around and hugged him. “I will.” I was a little embarrassed to finally notice his empty claws. “Thank you, Spike.” Maybe he did understand. Somehow. I hugged him something fierce. Squished him as hard as I could. He did not even struggle.

He simply chuckled a little. “Don’t worry. Just, you know. Taking out the trash.”

A strangled laugh escaped my throat, which was quickly sealed again. I ruffled his head fin and nodded. “See you at dinner.” And I was off. I stepped down the stairs, and he stepped back inside and closed the door. Maybe I should make a detour on my return trip. Swing by Sugarcube Corner and get some gem-encrusted cupcakes for him. Ruby, sapphire, emerald. A nice little spread. To treat him. He was such a good friend, after all. And I was very grateful to have him.

I managed to distract myself with my plans for a while. But my mind was a little jumpy today and I could not claim to understand why or how I managed to get from one topic to the other. I closed in on my target destination when I found myself asking: Did I have to worry about napkins? Are there different napkins? Does using different napkins make any actual, well, difference? Is that even a thing — worrying about napkins?

“Juuu~huuu~!”

I stopped walking and blinked. For the first time in a couple of minutes, I actually looked around and tried to orient myself. I was in the middle of town, ponies trotted by, following their own business. Many wore smiles, some nodded, others waved in greetings. I had probably been horribly unfriendly so far. I waved back a couple of times, answered a few nods with my own. I tried to right what I had done wrong. But then again, they knew me. Maybe they knew that these days happened, sometimes. Surely everypony had such days, right? When they were busy, or too focused and did not really react to greetings and waves.

I was getting lost in minute details again. I shook my head slightly and looked for the source of that very familiar attempt to get my attention. Rarity stood maybe two dozen steps away, so I walked over to her.

“Back from dreamland?” she asked with a playful grin.

“Hey Rares. I, uh, yeah. Sorry ‘bout that.” I went in for a hug and she quickly reciprocated. And I had to admit, I probably hugged her a little longer than was strictly necessary. I melted into the embrace a little. She was warm. And a good friend. And she smelled of some new perfume, but it was subtle enough not to be overwhelming. Rarity always knew how to balance these things. Now, I did not have exactly the finest nose. All I could make out was some floral bouquet. “New perfume?” I asked while I still hung onto her.

“Aw, you noticed, darling!” she playfully retorted. I could hear her smile. And she brushed her neck along mine, as if to rub some perfume off onto me. “Do you like it?”

I chuckled quietly and sighed. This was normal. This was fine. I loved this. “Yeah. It doesn’t clog up my nose. It’s natural enough to make me think I’m standing in the middle of a flower forest or something. It’s nice.”

She broke our hug, retreated just a little and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “That’s what a lady loves to hear. Thank you, dear!”

I grimaced only slightly. I was not so sure about that. When it came to ‘ladies’, this one especially, Spike was usually the one with the eloquence and finesse. And I was the bumbling fool. But I tried. After all, I did that a lot.

My eyes were finally drawn to the house we stood in front of and a sigh escaped my lips. “Say, Rarity, how did you manage to rope me into this again?”

Rarity sputtered a little in feigned shock. “Pch, please, darling! Do not lie to me, you love it! Just as much as I do.” And for added dramatics, she flung her beautifully coiffured mane back.

I could not help but snicker a little. Which in turn seemed to please her a lot, as her smile widened and became a little more earnest, warmer. “I’m not sure anypony can love this as much as you do.” The spa was ready. Ready and waiting for us. A couple of hours, probably the majority of what was left of this day, we would spend here. I really did not mind. I felt like I could use Aloe’s and Lotus’ capable hooves. And it was true enough that I had not seen the twins in a while. They were friends, after all. Friendships wanted to be cared for.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

“That’s the spirit!” she quickly chimed in and we stepped inside. After so many years of business in Ponyville, Aloe and Lotus had pretty much down what they wanted to offer, what was lucrative to offer, what they could offer. And as usual, the entire list on offer went out the window the moment ‘Miss Rarity’ stepped into the building. It was a show, really. A spectacle all on its own. Aloe currently manned the counter and her eyes lit up when she spotted us entering. When she spotted Rarity entering.

She was a heavyweight. No actual weight-related pun intended, by any means. But Rarity brought bits. A lot of bits. Lotus at some point told me that Rarity’s weekly visits were enough to pay for one full week of all expenses and all salaries. Meaning Rarity, just with her usual schedule, paid for a quarter of this spa. That was just ridiculous. Hilarious, too.

But she could afford it. The twins could use it. Everypony was happy. And at the end of the day, that was what really mattered. To any of us.

While Aloe squealed in delight and called for her sister and the three of them exchanged overly hyped greetings, I took a step back into the background and kept my quiet. I looked around to see that nothing really had changed since my last visit. At least no customers were currently waiting in the seating area. A weekday afternoon. They were probably still at work, or on their way home.

Eventually, the high-pitched enthusiasm subsided and I saw my chance to make my presence known. “Hey you two. It’s so nice to see you again.” I stepped up and hugged Aloe, then Lotus. They hugged me back and Lotus quickly led us into the backrooms. So Rarity must have ordered already.

Lotus brought us to the bathroom first. The walk-in tubs were at ground level. Four of them took most of the room and all were filled with steaming water. No other customers. Rarity surely had not paid extra just so that we had the spa fully to ourselves, right?

I dislodged the thought with a head shake and instead wandered over to the first tub. I did not bring any saddlebags along. Or anything else for that matter. And Lotus had told us that this was our starter. “I will fetch you for your mud baths afterwards in say, half an hour?” she asked Rarity.

While these two were busy figuring out the details, I stepped into the tub. The slow syncline was perfect to ease into the water. It nipped at my skin, prickled and tingled. Like an army of tiny little needles piercing through my coat. Despite the less than enticing sounding description, it felt heavenly.

“O-Oh, Dreamwalker, be careful, it’s… hot.” Lotus had only noticed my advance when she looked in my direction by mere happenstance. But I was already in the water, at the lowest point of the tub, too. She sounded… worried. But I was fine.

Really. I was. I felt myself smile in her direction in an effort to ease her concerns. “Don’t worry. The water’s great.”

Lotus shot a worried glance to Rarity, who in turn stepped up to the tub and cautiously put a hoof in. It was not scalding hot. She did not retract her hoof as if she had burned herself. Which was a relief for me, if I was honest. But she did shoot me a long, serious look.

“I-Is everything alright?” Lotus asked.

Rarity sighed and took her hoof out of my water. Her smile was quickly reestablished as she turned to Lotus. “Thank you, darling, you have been wonderful. We are perfectly fine. See you in a bit?”

Lotus quickly caught on and nodded. She did look in my direction again, which irked me. What were they exchanging? What was this about? I was not some braindead creature that needed to be spared the news that it had to be put down out of mercy!

Woah. Where did that come from?

I closed my eyes for a moment and sighed deeply. I was here. With a dear friend of mine. To have a good time. I would not waste this time thinking ridiculous thoughts. No sir. I was just a little… high-strung. So I dunked my head in.

The feeling of needles all over my skin intensified manyfold. They were in my ears, in my eyes, in my lips, in my temples, in my forehead, everywhere. And the sensation was enough. It burned away any stray thoughts. Any unwelcome thoughts. Basically: any thoughts.

Until there was only silence.

And the feeling of heat surrounding me on all sides. Holding me. To the point that I felt so much lighter. I loved water, just because it could do that. The needles subsided as my skin got used to the warmth. I further eased into the tub and relaxed.

I just wished I could hold my breath for longer.

When I resurfaced, I found Rarity in the tub next to mine. I waddled to the rim of my tub and leaned on it, just so that I could grin triumphantly in her direction. “See. It’s not ‘too hot’ at all, it’s perfect.”

She merely raised an eyebrow at me. “I cooled mine down a little.”

It was a simple statement. No judgment, no hint-hint, nothing. It still took the wind out of my sail. “Oh.” I was grateful that she did not elaborate or press the issue further. Instead, we simply fell silent for a while and enjoyed the warm water carrying a part of our weight. Half an hour was not that long, after all. Whenever I took a bath all on my own, I usually spent an hour in the water, plus half an hour with everything else surrounding it. Like preparing the bath, cleaning it afterwards, a bit of self-care and hygiene, all that stuff. Half an hour in the water actually felt quite short. But Aloe and Lotus knew what they were doing and I had never left the spa feeling anything other than fully relaxed and regenerated. So I trusted them. Even when Aloe came by to fetch us and get us to the mud baths and every voice inside my head bemoaned my fate of having to leave the tub.

I dutifully dried myself off with the towels we were presented with and followed Aloe. “I just wish we could’ve spent more time in the tub. It was really nice.”

Aloe shot a glance back to Rarity, then to me. Her smile never wavered. “Well, I am glad to hear that, but it would not have been… good. Trust me.”

I snorted and sighed in short order. “I know. And I do.”

A few minutes later, Aloe took her leave and left us alone to our own devices again. Only after she left did I notice that I had no idea how long we were going to stay here. She had not said anything about that. Rarity probably knew and I could ask her. Easily. Just ask. Ask.

“May I ask you something, darling?” she spoke up before I could.

I blinked a few times in confusion. For some reason, for a fraction of a second, I really had thought that that was my voice and I had asked that question. Which would have been fine, were it not for the unusual use of ‘darling’, which was exclusively a Rarity-thing, as far as I was concerned. “I—, uh, yeah. Sure. Go ahead.”

She regarded me silently for a couple of seconds. Her friendly smile kept the same radiant warmth it had before, but there was a certain… seriousness in her eyes. Eventually, she spoke up again. “We have been friends for a very long time. Good friends, I like to believe.”

Was I really to blame that every single alarm went off in my head? With an opening like that, what was I supposed to expect? Sure, she had a flair for the dramatic. Rarity lived and breathed drama. And that was fine. It was fun at times. It was an intrinsic part of her. And I liked her. A lot. But she knew when to cut it down, when to hold back, and there had been this seriousness in her eyes and oh my gosh what was this about?

Did I do something wrong?

I already feverishly tried to scour my recent memories. Any interaction between the two of us. Had I hurt her feelings? Had I messed up some strange business opportunity for her? Had I—

Wait! Rarity is Rarity. This doesn’t have to be about her. Maybe she’s trying to address something I did with one of my other friends?

It started the cycle all over again, just with a broader scope. When had I last seen Fluttershy? Had I said something hurtful to her? No, no. I vaguely remembered her smiling. But it was Fluttershy, she always smiled, right?

Maybe Rainbow? No. Rainbow would throw into my face whatever I did wrong.

Twilight. Twilight often did not even realize when she had been hurt. Not immediately anyway. Maybe this was about—

“Hm-rm.” Rarity’s version of a ‘polite but very insistent’-cough was enough to snap me out of it. For now.

I had not realized how my breathing had quickened. How my blood was rushing. My pupils were probably the size of pinpricks right now. “Ah, yes, sorry, I’m listening. Please. Continue.”

She sighed and slowly waded out of her mud bath. “I like to think that I am entitled to be a bit nosy when it comes to certain developments.” Certain whatnow? She dragged her muddy hooves across the floor and… entered my tub? I watched her with mild confusion and curiosity. What was this about? And a moment later, she stopped right in front of me. Her eyes, again. They were full of honest concern. But why? “Please be honest with me, dear. What is bothering you?”

“I’m not—… I don’t—… There’s noth—… huh?” Think first, speak later. I grimaced a little and shut my mouth. And due to all the raging, roaring chaos in my head, I simply stood there. And stared at her. Her familiar features, full of trust and compassion. It was just that… she was so much… closer than usual. It made it harder to concentrate? For some reason? Or maybe that was just my current scapegoat?

“Are you trying to tell me that you are not bothered? Not worried about anything major right now?” she asked with a voice that bespoke nothing if not endless patience.

I was grateful that she took up the necessity of putting words into an order that had a semblance of sense to it. So that I, in turn, could simply nod.

Rarity sighed. “Alright. Would you mind playing along in a little experiment, then?” I shook my head. And with a couple more steps, Rarity sidled up to my side. She lifted her hoof out of the mud and cleared it of any remaining, clingy patches with magic. “Close your eyes please.” While I hesitated at first, she was still patient with me. Enough so that I took a deep breath… and did it. And she laid her hoof over my eyes. And the world became darker still. “Just breathe. Focus on nothing in particular.” And I played along. I concentrated on my breath. It was there. A few seconds passed by. Nothing changed.

“How long should—“ I started, but in a rare display of rudeness, Rarity cut in.

“Until I say stop.”

I nodded again. And waited. And breathed. Whatever this ‘experiment’ was about, it was really ridiculous. Like worrying about gosh-darn napkins. I mean, really. Who did that? Actually, there were way more important matters anyway.

I can’t let her down.

“Exhale,” she whispered. Whispered. Why? On instinct, I did what she had asked me to before I even thought about it. And what came out was a noticeably shuddering breath. She removed her leg from my eyes and gave my shoulder a little bump with her own. “You can stop now.”

I reopened my eyes. Even the dimly lit room we were currently residing in felt strangely bright for a few seconds. And I felt my cheeks burn. I felt my shame burn in my face. I stared down into the mud, not daring to face her right now. Of course she would have none of that.

Rarity put her clean hoof under my shin and forced me to look at her. And there was nothing but warmth and love in those eyes. “You think too much, my dear. You worry a lot, and you get tangled up in that. And while I will freely admit that somepony like Rainbow could maybe profit from being even half as self-reflective as you are, you still occasionally get lost and miss the forest for the trees. No, you are not fine. Yes, something is bothering you. A lot. And as your friend, I am worried about you. I want to help you, if I can. But first I must know what we are dealing with.”

Her calm and even tone reminded me of the way Sunny spoke to me when I was panicking. It helped. It helped a lot. I closed my eyes again, on my own volition. For a second or two. Another sigh and I felt calmer, at least. “Could you… ehm… this is still a little…”

She noticed my blush probably as much as I did. And her playful smirk told me a long and detailed story about her immediate impulse to tease me about it. But she did not. Not fully, anyway. She sent me one of those incredible winks, with her eyelashes fluttering, and it almost made me gulp. “Of course, dear. I would not want to distract you while we talk.”

I sighed deeply when she left my mud bath and returned to her own. I liked to have my friends close. Like really, really close. But as always, everything depended on situational conditions. And her proximity had been a massive distraction, for some reason. It felt strangely intimate to share a mud bath with Rarity. I was not used to that.

“Ready when you are,” she said and brought me back to the present once again.

What had I gotten myself into… “Alright. Fine. We can talk. Sure. But… Rarity?”

“Yes, dear?”

I did not fail to notice that hopeful tone in her voice. She really did care a lot. But I knew her. There were certain limitations I needed to put in place first. “I’m… apparently on edge as is. So I would kindly ask you to not freak out? If that is, somehow, possible?”

She scoffed a little, but smiled anyway. “I can assure you, Dreamwalker, I am perfectly capable of restraining myself. Trust me.”

I do. I nodded. Here we go. Like a bandaid. Quick and painless, right? “I recently proposed to Sunny.”

Props to Rarity — I heard nothing. I could immediately see her jaws working. I could see how she sucked her lower lip in and bit down on it. Probably until it hurt. But she made no noise, she did not flip, she did nothing. She just stood there and took maybe half a minute before she nodded to herself and trusted herself enough to release her slightly abused lower lip again. “That is good news, is it not?” she asked.

It is. It absolutely is. I knew what question would prop up shortly. If I regretted doing it. And I did not. I didn't even want to hear that. I did not want that thought to exist in her head. So I quickly moved on to the actual issue. “It’s… it’s a funny thing. Did you know that, technically, I have more money than she does?”

Rarity blinked a couple of times in bewilderment. “You… do?”

I nodded. “Yes. Turns out princesses don’t really get… paid?”

She mulled the new information over and quickly seemed to arrive at the same point I had before: That somewhat made sense. Which led to the next obvious path. I felt silly, leading her down these narrow roads I had ventured down myself before. But I needed her to arrive at the same point where I was stuck, did I not? “It is a royal wedding though, is it not? Therefore, it should be paid out of the royal coffers, so to speak?”

I nodded with a slight discomfort. “Yes. I mean no. I mean… not really. The royal wedding will be paid for with tax money. And don’t get me started on my bad conscience about that. But we, uhm… we want something smaller, more private, first. Just… you know. Friends and family.”

Rarity hummed a moment in dawning understanding. “I see. So you are stressed because of the planning, then?”

“Yes. That and… I mean, finances are an issue as well,” I admitted. “I have never been very… I don’t waste my bits, don’t get me wrong. But I spend a lot. Mostly on birthday presents. Hearth's Warming presents. Little presents just because I feel like it. And food, I guess. The occasional cupcake for Spike. Taking Sunny out for dinner. Or Luna. Or Twi. A little treat for Rainbow, or Applejack, or you. You know. The usual. I don’t really pay rent. And while I contribute my share to keep the castle kitchen stocked, that’s not exactly a huge price tag. I have a bit saved up, I just… I told her I got this. And I’ve been crunching numbers a lot recently. And I’m not… entirely sure anymore if… I got this.”

I was not exactly a huge fan of that empathic smile Rarity displayed. She did not outright pity me, but she did feel for me. And I knew that because she obviously knew more about the topic than I did. “Weddings can be incredibly expensive, yes. Even a small ceremony requires a lot of planning, effort and bits. I assume I am the first one you told about this?” I nodded and braced for a long, drawn-out squeal, but Rarity kept her cool and remained in control. I could see her urge though. I could see that familiar spark in her eyes. Her inner drama queen was probably going nuts right now, running in circles and screaming at the top of her lungs to be unleashed. The mental image actually made me chuckle for a moment.

“This next question might seem a bit… radical,” Rarity pointedly warned me. “A tad extreme, even for somepony like me. But given the circumstances… well, how would our dear Rainbow put it? Extreme circumstances require extreme measures.” I swallowed and nodded. “Have you considered asking your friends for help?”

And she winked at me.

I stood still in, what? Shock? Disbelief? It clearly was a perfect ‘gotcha!’-moment. And truth be told, she got me good. Eventually, I unfroze again and groaned. “Come on, Rares! You know the issue. You wouldn’t be any different in my situation. I can’t just walk up to my friends and ask ‘hey, would you mind lending me a couple thousand bits?’ That’s ridiculous! It doesn’t feel right to ask for money!”

She nodded thoughtfully, in a clearly fake seriousness. She was playing around. Her dramatics were slowly bleeding into the conversation. And I was not sure if I was a fan of that. “I see. Well, I am so glad that we could clear up the misunderstanding and help you with your issue. You simply will not have to ask for it, then.”

My jaw hit the floor. Figuratively speaking, of course. And I was quick to shake my head almost violently. “No. Rarity — no! You can’t. That’s not what I meant!”

And there it was again. That ever-patient smile. Full of love and warmth. “Dear, please. According to herself, Twilight is naught but a humble librarian. Who, as I might add, actually refuses pay. And we already established that princesses apparently do not get paid for whatever ludicrous reason. Applejack is the hardest working pony we both know, but Celestia bless her heart, she still struggles to keep the farm afloat because she has the business sense of a brick. Rainbow spends as much bits on merchandise and trinkets as she gets from her job, and whatever is left over is usually used to help out Applejack. In a similar vein, Pinkie constantly sneaks medicine and bird feed into Fluttershy’s cabinets and storage rooms while still throwing parties for quite literally everypony in town at any given occasion. I have seen her shopping list, dear. She puts price tags to each bullet point. I would never have guessed the price of something as simple as confetti. You could buy two of my best dresses from that. And Fluttershy does not even have a proper business. She has an animal shelter that mostly survives on donations. And an animal sanctuary that copies that very same ‘business model’. Sure, her stint as a very successful model brings in bits to this day, but her expenses are enough to eat through most of that. Which leaves me. And without wanting to boast: I have a very successful business. One might rightfully call it booming. I have more bits to spare than I care to count.”

“I can’t take that offer,” I replied measly.

Rarity huffed and closed her eyes for a moment. To calm down from her little tirade. To recenter herself. To acknowledge that breaking through my stubbornness would not be that easy. Something along those lines, probably. When she opened her eyes again, they had not changed. Love. Warmth. Patience. Her smile returned in full force. “Dreamwalker, being generous does not mean giving all I have. It means to give more if you have more. You clearly are in turmoil. You could use a helping hoof. I would gladly offer as much. Please… let me help you?”

Her words hung in the air between us. And they would not go away. I had unknowingly started to chew around on my bottom lip. Why did she have to present me with such a ridiculous offer?

Ridiculously helpful.

Shut up.

Rarity’s smile took on a more playful glint when she added more. “Do not force me to drag Twilight into this. You know very well how she deals with a stubborn Applejack. She would be more than capable to deal with you.”

Her ‘threat’ came so out of left field that I snorted. I shook my head, still giggling a little about the ridiculousness of it all. “Right. Sure. Can’t have that, now can I?” My stomach felt queasy. This was not right. Everything within me cried out against my next words. But I had to admit from bitter experience: Sometimes my friends knew better what was best for me. “Fine. I’ll… I… accept. Your offer. Please, just… please help me.”

Rarity smirked. Triumphant as always. Because a lady always knew how to get things going her way. “See? Now was that so hard?” We held each other’s gazes for a couple of seconds before I slowly raised an eyebrow and she lifted both her front hooves out of the mud with an uneasy giggle.

A minute passed by, maybe two. I was quite preoccupied with this newfound information. This… help. But Rarity was not done just yet. “As for the royal wedding…?”

I smirked and looked over to her. There were stars dancing around in her eyes. Lustrous sparks of creative genius. “You’re obviously going to be asked to design the wedding dresses.”

She seemed quite satisfied with my answer. For about half a second, before a weird, amused grin replaced the smile on her lips. “Oh? Wearing a dress now, are we?”

That’s silly, Luna. You’re silly, my own voice echoed in my mind. A recent memory, if I was not mistaken.

Be that as it may, I shall stand my ground. You would look positively adorable in a dress. We could fix your mane up a little and—

I will end the spell if you don’t stop teasing me.

Fine… fine.

I could feel my cheeks heat up again. Hopefully the room was dimly lit enough so that Rarity could not—

I dared to glance over to her and sighed. She giggled behind her hoof. She could totally see. Well, at least there was not a chance that she knew what I occasionally got up to with Luna. Not. A. Chance.

I sighed and shook my head. “Dress. I mean the dress. Singular. And the suit, obviously. That I’m going to wear.”

Rarity grinned, despite her attempts to put a convincing pout on. “Spoilsport. But thank you, that is exactly what I wanted to hear! I have so many ideas already.”

“Can we… could we keep this to ourselves? For now?” Maybe I should have asked that before we even started with this entire topic. “I still… I want to do this. Myself. I know Twilight can organize a wedding in a heartbeat. I know Applejack can, too. Everypony, literally everypony, is more qualified than me. But it’s… you know… it’s my wedding. Ours.”

Rarity giggled daintily and nodded with enthusiasm. “Do not worry, dear. I won’t spoil the surprise. And I am sure you will figure out what you want in time. Just remember that you have friends. Friends you can ask for help at any point, who will listen and help as much as you want them to.”

I watched her for a moment. I watched her closely. But I saw nothing but honesty and sincerity. So I sighed and gave myself a little push. “Would... would you mind… listening to a couple of my ideas?”

She crossed her front legs on the rim of her mud bath and laid her head atop. “Gladly.”

We exited the spa a couple of hours later. And as usual, I felt good. I actually felt really good. Relaxed, regenerated, refueled. A little hungry, maybe. But that would be perfect. In maybe an hour or two, we would have dinner.

“A couple of last questions, if you may?” Rarity asked.

I smiled and nodded. “Sure.”

“How are you feeling? Better, I hope?” She watched me closely. Because for all my powers of super-critical self-reflection, I occasionally messed up and overlooked the obvious.

I did not lie. I did not hide anything. I answered her as honestly as I could. “Considerably better, yes. Thanks to you, and thank you.”

“Well, I am pretty sure Aloe and Lotus did their part as well,” Rarity argued with a very satisfied grin, “but I appreciate the compliment for what it is. Now, one more thing?”

I chuckled and nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Am I allowed to properly ‘freak out’ now? Because I have been holding that in for a couple of hours and quite frankly, I feel like I might burst any second now.”

My grin grew to the size that it threatened to split my head in half. I chuckled and shook my head. With a few steps, I was at her side, swung a leg around her and hugged her. “You may.” And I braced my ears.

“Eeeeeeeeeeeee~”