A Diamond in the Rough

Several hours seemed to slowly melt away to Rarity. She had found an old fashion magazine and was flipping through it. She absent mindedly glanced up at clock and had to perform a double take to make sure she had read it right. The party was in 15 minutes. As quick as lightning, she leapt off the bed and was in front of the mirror. Looking herself over and making sure everything was perfect. When she was satisfied with her appearance, she turned around and headed out the door.

The sun was already going and it made the sky extremely beautiful. The shades of pink and orange seemed to have been placed there themselves by the mighty dragons. Rarity sighed happily as she gazed upon the sun as Celestia lowered it and allowed for Luna to bring up the moon. Rarity increased the speed of her trotting as the moon slowly rose to take the sun's place. Many ponies were also on the route to Sugarcube Corner which caused Rarity to look around with uncertainty.

"How many ponies did Pinkie invite?" she thought as she passed by Derpy Hooves and Cherilee. She looked ahead and saw the lights that were spewing forth from Sugarcube Corner and the loud rock music that seemed to shake the very foundations of Ponyville. Rarity, who was in fact more of a classical music listener, ignored this music as she reached the door. Having to quickly step back as the Cutie Mark Crusaders burst through the door and almost knocking the unicorn mare right on her behind.

Rarity was about to yell at her sister and warn her to be more careful when something stuck out to her in the corner of her eye. Solar was standing at the back of the room and was engaged in a conversation with Twilight Sparkle. Butterflies filled Rarity's stomach as she walked in, her mind focused on the black Pegasus. Solar looked over to the entrance area and saw Rarity trotting over towards him and he immediately broke into a rather large smile. Twilight picked up on this and she giggled. "I need to go check on Spike anyway. Go get her, tiger." She said and turned around and trotted on over to the snack table where Spike and Pinkie had started a cake eating contest.

"Rarity! I'm glad you made it!" Solar said, trotting over to meet with her in the middle of the room.

"Well, I wouldn't miss this party for the world, dear." Rarity replied, batting her eyelashes in a flirtatious manner. Solar smiled and he noticed the gem that hung around her neck.

"That is a beautiful necklace you have on." Solar complimented, and just as he said it Wonderful Tonight by Eric Colton started to play over the stereo. Rarity giggled and she blushed a little.

"Oh? This old thing? Well, I just found it lying around and thought it would be perfect for this evening!" she replied. Solar chuckled a bit.

"You were right. But, you would still have looked wonderful without it." He replied, moving a bit closer to Rarity. She giggled slightly as he moved towards her. She could smell him, his scent was that of freshly cut grass on a summer day and she was loving it.

Twilight had reached the snack table just as Spike had called out 'Uncle!' declaring Pinkie the winner. Twilight giggled as she watched the baby dragon pull himself up and belched, releasing a small jet of green flame.

"Well, you know what they say! You can't have your cake and eat it too!" Pinkie Pie giggled manically as somewhere in the sea of party ponies a ba dum tss! could be heard.

"So, Spike are you-" Twilight started to say as she turned to look at the baby dragon and stopped speaking as she saw the angry glare in his eyes.

"Spike…is something wrong?" Twilight asked, worrying about the infant dragon. Spike turned his head quickly to look at Twilight. A shiver ran down the unicorn's spine as her purple eyes met his rage filled green ones.

"Did you see them?" he furiously asked, belching out green flames once more.

"Who are you talking about, Spike? Twilight asked, tilting her head a bit in confusion at his question.

"Who else would I be talking about, Twilight? It's Solar and Rarity!" Spike exclaimed in anger, he turned his head to glare daggers of jealousy and rage at Solar. Twilight sighed. She was fully aware of Spikes crush on Rarity and knew of how jealous a dragon could be. Before Twilight could act, Spike furiously leapt down from his seat and yelled out to Twilight.

"She's wearing the fire ruby I gave her! She's using it to flirt with him! I can't bucking believe this!" he gritted his teeth and made a step towards the two ponies and was cut off by Twilight as she seemed to move at Rainbow Dash speed to stop him from advancing any further towards them.

"Spike, I know you're jealous. But, look at her. She feels something for him…you can see it in her eyes." She said, looking down at Spike and could read the hurt that seemed to be plastered in his eyes. Spike looked up at Twilight's eyes for a moment and sighed. "Alright…" he softly said and he spun on his heels and headed back to the snack table. He pulled out a chair and pulled himself into it and laid his head down on the table.

"Oh Spike…" Twilight mumbled, looking at her friend and assistant with pity. She sighed and turned her head to watch Rarity and Solar and smiled a bit from the sight. This was something she had never seen Rarity do, she seemed so…relaxed when she was talking to Solar. Of course…Twilight knew that the hands of jealousy could grab any pony at any second. Twilight Sparkle shook the idea out of her head and trotted back to the snack table, brushing past Rainbow Dash as she did.

Dashie didn't even notice, as her eyes and attention were focused on Solar. A sense of longing filled her eyes as she watched him flirt with Rarity. She let loose a sigh as Applejack approached her.

"Somethin' wrong, sugar cube?" the earth pony asked upon hearing the sigh escape from Rainbow Dash's mouth.

"Nope." Dashie replied absent-mindedly. Applejack moved up close to be able to stand next to the light blue Pegasus and followed her gaze across the room that led straight to Solar. Applejack had to perform a double check to make sure she saw what she thought she saw just right and she grinned and said "Any reason that y'all is starin' over at Solar for?" this seemed to snap Dashie out of her trance. As she turned her head quickly to look at Applejack, a fine coat of blush started to form across her snout as she stammered "Wha-what are you talking about?" her eyes widened a bit as she saw Applejack's grin grow a bit larger. "Is there any reason as to why y'all is lookin' over at Solar with them googely eyes?" she teased.

"You're seeing things!" Dashie retorted, the red on her snout glowing brighter with every second that passed by. Applejack laughed and trotted into the crowd to leave Rainbow Dash with her thoughts and her feelings.

Solar shuffled in place a bit. His heart seemed to want to beat itself straight out of his chest and onto the floor below. His blue eyes seemed to always connect with Rarity's azure eyes and would just never want to leave her gaze.

"I don't know about you. But, I'm thirsty, could I offer you some punch?" Solar offered, smiling slightly.

"Some punch would be delightful." Rarity replied. Solar nodded and he turned to trot over to the snack table, passing by Applejack as he did. As they passed by, she winked and laughed. Solar looked at her with slight confusion as they passed, but shrugged it off as he reached the table.

Humming happily as he poured the drink from the large punch bowl into two of the cups that surrounded the bowl. He was just about to finish by placing two straws in them and placing them on a tray, he saw Spike glaring daggers at him from the corner of his eye. He fully turned his head to get a better look at the dragon.

"Something wrong, Spike?" Solar asked him. Spike stood up so fast that Solar thought the little dragon was going to fly right through the roof. The dragon opened his mouth to yell at Solar and warn him to stay away from Rarity when some pony else yelled "Solar!"

"Hmm?" Solar said, looking around the room to see which pony had called him and saw Twilight Sparkle trotting towards him.

"Oh hey, Twilight!" Solar said as she advanced towards him.

"There you are, Solar. We need your help with something." Twilight said.

"Oh, sure. I just need to get Rarity's drink over to her and then I'll-' Solar started to say as a purple aura covered the two cups, a couple of straws and the tray and they levitated into the air. Solar watched as they floated and stopped in front of Twilight, whose horn was producing the same purple aura.

"I'll handle the drinks. Come on." She said and moved into the crowd. Shrugging, Solar followed her into the sea of ponies.

"So, what is it you need help with?" Solar asked. Twilight shook her head.

"I actually didn't. Spike…well…being a dragon...he tends to have a rather large jealousy streak." She started to explain. Solar tilted his head.

"I don't understand." He said.

"Spike has had a crush on Rarity for a while. And that necklace she has on… he gave her that gem." She continued, turning her head slightly to look at Solar.

Solar nodded slowly "I think I got it…" he replied as Twilight stopped. Solar craned his neck to see that she had stopped in front of Rarity.

"I'm back!" he announced and a giggle came from Rarity's mouth.

"Welcome back, darling." She replied, smiling at the black Pegasus.

"Thanks Twilight. I can take the drinks from here." Solar said. Twilight nodded and lowered the tray and Solar grabbed it in his mouth.

"Have fun, you two." Twilight said and winked before taking her leave back into the sea of party ponies. Solar looked around and saw an empty table that was near their current location. He motioned to it with his head and he took a step back to allow Rarity to go first.

"Such a gentlecolt." Rarity giggled as she walked past Solar, brushing him with her tail. The black Pegasus blushed a bit and followed behind her. Minding the two drinks on the tray that was in his mouth. He managed to place the tray down on the table without spilling a drop.

"A drink for the pretty mare?" Solar asked, nudging the glass to Rarity with his nose. She accepted the drink and looked up to him and said "Why thank you, Solar." She thanked him and took a sip through the straw that stuck out from the glass. Solar watched as the white unicorn drank from her cup and was about to drink from his own, when the DJ changed the song that played. Solar's ears perked up and he looked over at the DJ and then back to Rarity. "This song…" he said, walking around the table and stood by her.

"May I ask your hoof in this dance?" he asked, winking.

"Solar…this isn't a song that we can dance…"Rarity tried to explain, but Solar grabbed her hoof and dragged her onto the dance floor.

"You mean you've never danced to Jessie's Filly before?" Solar teased as they stopped in the middle of the dance floor.

"Well…I…" Rarity started to say as Solar started to shake his body.

"Just let the music do the talking, Rare!" Solar said, smiling at her. Rarity froze. He just… called her 'Rare'. She felt something melt. She thought it was cute…a nickname…just something he called her.

"Okay, Solar." She softly replied and she started to slowly mimic Solar's movements. She looked into his eyes and he looked into hers. The song increased and so did their movements. Their bodies seemed to move as one, never missing a beat. While they danced, time herself seemed to slow as they gazed into each other's eyes. The song seemed to go on forever. When they stood still, the DJ announced he was taking an intermission. The two ponies looked at each other with sweat dripping down their faces and their manes were out of place.

"Come on." Solar said, in between pants of breath and he motioned back to the table and they walked side-by-side as they made the short journey back to the table. They took their seats and started on finishing the drinks that stood before them. The cups were drained within seconds. They looked at each other from across the table and laughed. Solar felt…strange. He laughed more than he should have and he stopped. He looked at her, his ears flattened to the side of his head and blush started to form upon his snout.

Rarity giggled, no matter what face he made or how his mane looked. He still managed to look cute to her. They didn't realize that during the trance they were both under. But, they moved closer to each other with each passing second. Snouts were close to each other, opened just slightly to allow the other to meet.

"Solar!" a small voice piped up. The trance broke as Solar turned his head to see a very tired Scootaloo standing before him, struggling to keep herself upright and not passed out on the floor.

"Yes, Scoots?" he asked, slightly irritated at his younger sister for intruding.

"Can you take me home...I'm-" Scootaloo started to say, but was lost as she let out a yawn. Solar smiled and he trotted over to his sister and knelt down so she could climb on his back. Which she managed to do after a short minute. As soon as Solar felt his sister find a comfortable position on his back, he stood up. He was about to speak to Rarity when he heard the soft snoring from Scootaloo and he smiled.

"I'm sorry Rarity. Maybe…if you're not doing anything." Solar started and Rarity trotted up to him and planted a kiss on his left cheek.

"I'll see you at 10." She said, winking.

"See you then…"he said, he smiled softly and he blushed. He turned around and trotted back towards the entrance.

Rarity's heart fluttered and she let out a sigh. Yes… this pony was different from the others…she could feel it. Deep within her heart of hearts…she could feel it.