//------------------------------// // A Party // Story: Treason // by Trevosta //------------------------------// A Party Pinkie Pie was just putting the finishing touches on her party decorations when the princess traded places of their charges in the sky. She was exhausted, but her secret plan with the princesses must continue. She now just had to make sure that all of her friends were there. She went from house to house, waking ponies up, and telling them to meet her at the town square. She woke up all of her friends; except for Applejack, who was up earlier than usual, working harder than ever in the fields. After a lot of convincing, Pinkie finally convinced the farmer to come with her to the party. Almost all of the towns ponies were gathered in town square. They were dancing, and snacking, and all having a good time. The Wonderbolts, minus Rainbow Dash, and the two ponies of the 51st were performing for the crowd, they were performing routines that would make the average Wonderbolt show look horribly lame. Rainbow Dash, didn't know any of the routines, or how to fly in formation, so even if she felt up to flying with them she couldn't. She was instead settling for watching while wrapped in the strong, comforting wings of her boyfriend. Applejack was currently getting lost in an apple cobbler. She was trying to forget about the last few months of her life. But no matter what she tried, it didn't work. She was unable to watch the performing ponies, because they reminded her too much of him. She didn't feel like she could do anything, because whatever she did, it reminded her of her lost love. Applejack sighed and pushed away the, half eaten, cobbler. Suddenly there was a hush in the crowd as Princess Luna stepped up onstage. "My sister has an announcement to make, that I am most proud of her for." the night princess said, before stepping aside to allow a grief stricken Princess Celestia to take her place. "My subjects," she said, with a hung head. "I have made poor decisions in my life. One of the worst I made very recently. I took away a family member of one of your citizens due to an old promise and a poor decision. The guilt..." Applejack tuned her out. "Apolergizin' doesn't change wha' happened." she grumbled to herself. "Maybe not," somepony said beside her, "but she was hoping that maybe if she did this, you could forgive her." "Did what? J-" Applejack cut herself off when she realized who she was talking to. "W-w-wa..." she stuttered, trying to make sense of it. "Yeah, it's confusing," her coltfriend admitted, "but long story short, she gave me a Royal Pardon, and set me free last night, really late. Oh, and I talked to your brother." Applejack was confused, "'Bout what?" "About this." he said, pulling a small box out from under his wing and kneeling down. "Applejack, will you marry me?" She was stunned and unable to think straight. "I love you, and I never want to be away from you." She started crying, with the biggest smile she ever had plastered on her face. Then there was a noise that pulled their attention from each other. "Uh oh." Spectrum said, "You hold this," handing her the box and the ring, "make your decision and tell me the answer when I get back. Right now I need to stop Rainbow from mauling the princess." With a rush of wind, and a streak of colors, he was heading to the stage where several ponies were attempting to hold a blue and rainbow ball of violent energy. Applejack was still speechless, and just sat there looking at the ring, and trying to think. A scream broke the early morning party, "You think that apologizing makes it OK to take away my brother?!?!" Rainbow shouted at the princess, through her boyfriend's talons. "Calm down, Rainbow." called the voices of the ponies and griffon that we're holding her back. "Yeah, Rainbow, calm down. Everything is ok." A familiar stern voice said. Upon hearing that, she stopped fighting. "This little outbreak of yours pulled me from some important business." She turned to see her brother standing before her again. A slight scowl of disapproval on his face, one that she knew all too well. "I-I'm sorry, Specs." she said, hanging her head. "I was- I mean, I wanted- you know..." she stammered, trying to get him to understand what she was trying to do. He was trying to contain his laughter. It didn't work. Rainbow looked up to see her brother rolling on the ground beside her laughing so hard that he was crying. "What?" she said, "What's so funny?" "I haven't yelled at you like that in years, and you reacted the same way." he was able to squeeze out before breaking into laughter again. Rainbow began to blush. "Listen, I'm flattered that you would attack the all-powerful ruler of the land on my behalf, but you don't have to, I'm ok." he said after recovering. "Wait... You... You're here?" Rainbow said, finally realizing what was happening. "Apparently the princess here," he referenced Celestia, "is turning over a new leaf and not keeping secrets, like this one, from the populace. She is also attempting to rectify any harm caused by said secret." He explained to his little sister. "Rectify?" Rainbow said, raising her eyebrow. "Don't judge me and my choice of words. Now if you will excuse me I have some pressing business to attend to." He said stepping off of the stage. He began to walk back to the dessert table, where he had left his potential fiancée, with butterflies in his stomach. He hadn't gotten very far when he was jumped. An orange blur came out from the gathered crowd of ponies that were parting to form a path for him. The blur knocked him to the ground and very quickly locked lips with its victim. "Mah answer, is 'yes,' cowboy." Applejack said, during a short break in the kiss. The two passionate ponies were soon interrupted by a large, red, hoof stomping on the ground beside them. "Scuse me, but Ah forgot somethin' last night." Big Mac drawled through a scowl at Spectrum. "What is it?" Spectrum asked, slightly worried. "Ah made a promise, when yo asked me ta date mah sister. Do ya remember what it was?" Spectrum's eyes went huge with realization and he got up from under his fiancée. "Yeah," he said with a sigh. "Ya hurt mah sister somethin' awful when ya got arrested." Spectrum closed his eyes and braced himself. "Now, fer hurting mah sister ah outta' kick ya to the moon, like an promised." Big Mac said, drawing horror from his sister. "But, Ah think that ye've just made up for it." then his face melted into a warm comforting smile. "Welcome to the family." Spectrum looked at the farmer and smiled, before bringing him into a big hug. He then used his wings to pull any surrounding ponies into the group hug; they included his future wife, Rainbow Dash, and Thunderclaw. Other surrounding ponies joined in, such as the Wonderbolts, Applejack and Rainbow's friends, the princesses, and even Hotshot, who was as happy as he could be for his old instructor. The party then proceeded faster and harder than any party ever had. The Wonderbolts performed better than they ever had, with accompaniment by the three members of the 51st, they created routines that stopped all commotion below, routines that made even Hotshot and Rainbow Dash stare in awe. There was one pony who, however badly he wanted to be there, needed to be somewhere else. "Princess Celestia?" Hotshot asked, "Could I please return to my men?" "Sergeant Hotshot?" the princess said, confused, "Why are you here?" "You brought me here a week ago, and I currently have no idea how to get back to my ship." "Oh, I'm sorry about that." she said with a blush, "Here let me get you there." Pinkie Pie then popped in out of nowhere saying, "But not without cake and party hats!" as she said that she forced the items into his possession. "My troops can't see me in a-" and at that moment he disappeared in a flash of yellow magic. ------------------------------------ Hotshot's troops had been given a replacement sergeant, since theirs disappeared with the princess. They weren't complaining, though, this sergeant had no idea what he was doing, and was much easier to deal with. There was less hard work for them, especially if they managed to convince him that it was hard. The troops were in the barracks, returning to the almost daily ritual of discussing what had happened to the real sergeant. Suddenly there was a flash of yellow light, that manifested itself in the form of a pony. The troops jumped to attention, ready to face the unknown menace. The light quickly died down and they recognized the pony as their Sergeant. "- party hat." He said as he became solid. He looked around himself and recognized his surroundings as the barracks on his airship. He then looked at the cake Pinkie Pie had given him and sighed. The troops, terribly confused, looked at their Sergeant to see that he had a pedicel of yellow cake with pink icing and, sure enough, a bright blue party hat. The ridiculous sight was too much, as all of the soldier ponies burst into laughter. The humiliated Sergeant just trotted out of the room, dropping the cake and hat into the trash can on the way out. He was reinstated as the Drill Sergeant on board and he returned to his normal life. ------------------------------------ The party in Ponyville continued late into the evening. Both of the princesses had gone home, deciding to get some rest as they had been up for more than a day. There were two ponies there who both felt like they needed to begin planning for an upcoming event. Pinkie Pie was lost in thought, sipping from the mug of melted chocolate that she dipped out of the fondue fountain. Her mind was, for once not on the party at hoof, but on planning the perfect wedding reception for one of her closest friends. Another mare was lost in thought as well. Rarity was going through designs in her head for her farmer friend's perfect wedding dress. She needed to get designs down on paper, so she pulled out a pencil and began sketching designs on napkins. Rainbow was dancing with Thunderclaw, and having the time of her life. They were owning the dance floor, having a slight competition with her brother and her best friend. The moves that they were pulling were phenomenal. It was the Wonderbolt's turn to stare in awe as the four ponies tore up the dance floor. When the song ended, the four ponies stopped their dances in elegant poses, drawing thunderous applause from the crowd. The four dancers went over to the punch bowl, to get something refreshing after their little competition. As they sipped their punch there was a question burning in a few of their minds, and Applejack was the first to speak up. "Alright," she said, her curiosity getting the best of her, "Where in tarnation did y'all learn ta dance like that?" Rainbow Dash blushed, and her brother laughed, "Mom and Dad made us learn when we were little; I don't know why, but I am surprised to see that you still remember Rainbow." he said with a look towards his little sister. She could feel her awesome reputation slowly getting sucked away, as everypony there learned something that she tried to keep secret. She sighed, and then said, "Yeah, I try not to let other ponies know, it's kind of embarrassing. But T.C. was surprising, I had no idea about that." she said with a sly smile. "Huh?" he said, not really paying that much attention to the conversation, "Oh, yeah, I learned a little bit of dancing for a wedding once, but most of that was improv." the ponies looked at him in disbelief. "What? It's true." Then he pulled the attention of the others to what had his attention earlier, "Rainbow, what is your friend doing over there?" he said pointing to a white and purple unicorn sitting among a pile of napkins and floating several in the air while talking to herself. "I don't know..." Rainbow admitted, confused by Rarity's current behavior. Applejack then decided to ask for them. "Uuuhh... Rarity, what're ya doin'?" she asked while approaching her fashionista friend. "Oh, hello Applejack. Congratulations!" Rarity said, while looking up from her napkins, "What am I doing, you ask?" Then she realized who it was that she was talking to. "Oh, Applejack! You can't see it yet, it isn't ready!" she yelled, using her magic to pick up all of the napkins surrounding her. "Tata, darling. I will talk with you later." Rarity said, as she walked off. Confusion abounded as the eccentric mare trotted off. The small group split up shortly afterwards. ------------------------------------- Blue Angel and Red Arrow were having a nice simple chat, they had discovered that no matter how long they had been married, they never ran out of things to talk about. Suddenly; however, their conversation was interrupted. "Excuse us." They turned to see several members of the Wonderbolts. "We have a proposition for you." "What's up?" Blue Angel asked. "The Wonderbolts have been talking, and we were wondering if you would like to join." Soarin offered. "I'm terribly sorry, but we are part of a team. If you can't get the whole team, you don't get us." "B-but Geronimo is dead." Spitfire argued, "How can we get the whole team?" "You gotta talk to Specs about that. But now, we're gonna dance." Blue Angel said grabbing her husband. As the couple danced off, Spitfire's eyes lit up. "Can you imagine, Soarin? Spectrum Dash on the Wonderbolts, flying with him every day." While she was fantasizing, her wings began inadvertently flapping on their own, making her float slightly above the heads of the other ponies. Soarin was feeling rather uncomfortable. "Hey, remember, he's taken." he bit her tail and pulled her back down to earth. "And so are you." A blush spread across her face as she looked to her co-captain, "Sorry, I got a little bit carried away." she nuzzled up to him to show her affection and apologies. ----------------------------------- Spectrum Dash was getting Applejack and himself a slice of cake, when he was approached. There were several Wonderbolts coming over to where he was. "Oh, hey guys. Excellent show, you must've had a great teacher. Oh, wait." He said with a sly smile. "Anyway, what's up?" "We were just talking with Blue Angel and Red Arrow, and we wanted to see if you three would join us as part of the team." Soarin offered. He looked into their eyes, with heavy confusion, "You really know how to pick the worst time to ask that don't you?" They shifted under his gaze. "You guys all managed to watch me tie myself down to a farm for the rest of my life. I can't leave Ponyville anymore, so if you can find away around that, come talk to me." he said walking away. The team began brainstorming, trying to think of a way to get the three best fliers in the world to join their team. ------------------------------------ Rainbow Dash was watching as T.C. attempted to explain why he had talons and a beak to a group of foals, for the third time. His fruitless attempts were hilarious to Rainbow. As she sat back, laughing, one of the Wonderbolts came up to her. "Hey, Misty," Rainbow greeted her, "what's up?" "Not much." the teal pegasus admitted. "I've just been admiring your town here." she said, gesturing around her. "It's a shame you would need to leave to join our team, everypony here seems so nice." That made Rainbow think. Did she want to leave her friends? Could she even do it? The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became. "Yeah, Misty, I'm gonna hate leaving this place..." she trailed off. "Hey, what if I told you that you didn't have to leave?" Misty taunted. "How else will I train?" "The rest of the 'Bolts and I have been talking, with ourselves, your brother, and his team, and I believe we have made a decision." Misty announced proudly. "A decision? On what?" "We want you four to form a small squadron, here, in Ponyville. It would be a reforming of the 51st, with YOU as the fourth member." Rainbow Dash was speechless, she would be able to join the Wonderbolts and she could stay here with her friends. She was eventually able to say one thing, "...ok..." ------------------------------------- The party had eventually ended. Everypony, except for one, had gone back to their overnight haunts. The one remaining pony was still trying to plan the perfect reception. Pinkie was still sitting by the, now off, fondue fountain attempting to sip the hardened chocolate in her mug.