//------------------------------// // Beginnings (That Sometimes Seem like Endings) // Story: The Omniship Omnibus // by Baby Seal Burritos //------------------------------// It all began at a party. The cider had been flowing, the music had been loud, and Twilight was shaking her butt on the dance floor while Pinkie Pie and Applejack raced to the bottom of their mugs. Rainbow Dash devoured a plate of appetizers. Fluttershy flipped through Pinkie Pie’s records in the corner, throwing looks over her shoulder and smiling at the sight of Twilight before continuing her search. Rarity watched all of her girls, peering over the rim of her cider mug. Her gaze flew from one pony to the next, accentuating their curves and the set of their mane and their bright, sparkling eyes as they laughed and smiled at one another, just the very picture of joy and camaraderie. The cider bubbled on her tongue and she wondered if she was perhaps a little too inebriated to be thinking clearly. She shook her head and sauntered back over to the dessert table to try some of Twilight’s cookies. They were delicious. --- It got worse at a sleepover. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had started wrestling with one another after Pinkie had begun throwing pillows, and Twilight and Fluttershy hid together behind a tiny pillow fort. Rarity stood on the stairs above them and peered down at them all, taking in Rainbow Dash’s bellows of triumph when she pinned Applejack to the ground, Pinkie Pie’s wriggle of her hindquarters when she knocked Rainbow Dash right off of her with a well-aimed pillow, Applejack’s cocky grin when she hopped back to her hooves and launched herself across the room at Pinkie Pie. Twilight and Fluttershy began shouting out words of support for a different pony every other second until they devolved into a fit of giggles, holding onto each other as though that was the only way they could keep from letting their sides split open. Rainbow Dash threw her gaze up the stairs and locked eyes with Rarity. That look wasn’t really encouraging. --- It nearly bubbled over in the kitchen. Pinkie Pie had recruited them to bake two hundred assorted cupcakes and one hundred chocolaty brownies because the Cakes had been called out of town, completely forgetting the large order that had been placed the night before. Pinkie scolded ponies in a half-hearted way when Twilight nearly started a food fight with Rainbow Dash and Applejack nearly started a real fight with Rainbow Dash in retaliation. Pinkie Pie smeared brownie batter on each offending pony’s nose and shook her hoof at them, her brow concentrating on furrowing in an appropriately stern expression. Twilight licked the batter off her nose with a grin and a raised eyebrow, and Pinkie responded by booting Twilight to the side with her hip. Fluttershy smiled into her cupcake batter, and Applejack nudged her in the side to make a face that got Fluttershy hiding behind a trembling hoof, nearly unable to stop her giggles. Rarity stirred her batter without looking at it. Her eyes roved over each pony as they stood compacted together in a small kitchen, getting globs of sweet things in each other’s manes. Pinkie Pie peeked into Rarity’s bowl and beamed at her with pure sincerity. It looked beautiful, she said. --- It ended at a dinner. All of them crowded together on one side of a table in Applejack’s barn. Pinkie was nearly in Fluttershy’s lap and Fluttershy was poking Twilight in the side and Twilight had draped a wing over Rainbow Dash’s back to pull her even closer. They all laughed loudly enough to make talking impossible, but that didn’t stop them from trying anyway. Twilight pantomimed her first attempt at a transformation spell while Pinkie sang a song at the top of her lungs and Applejack chuckled into her mug. Rainbow Dash kept hitting the dinner table as she got too excited about that morning’s maneuver. Not a single pony looked out of place. Even Fluttershy was joining in with Pinkie’s song; it had taken her a few verses, but once she realized what Pinkie was singing she’d jumped right in, much to Pinkie’s delight. The music spread down to the end of the table, infecting one pony and then the next, until each pony at the table was singing and laughing and swinging their cups to and fro. Rarity walked around to the other side of the table, and she looked long and hard at each pony there. She looked at Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and Applejack, and she knew that she just couldn’t keep it a secret anymore. The table grew silent as each pony came to realize that Rarity had moved away from the group. Fluttershy frowned. “Are you okay, Rarity?” Applejack stood to her hooves. “Something wrong, sugarcube?” Rarity smiled, but she realized that she was also crying. She took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. “Everypony, I just wanted to say that we’ve been friends a very long time. I appreciate each and every one of your company.” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Ah, is that all? No need to get so mushy on us, Rarity. We appreciate you too!” Pinkie Pie giggled and nodded. “Oh yeah! We love you lots!” Rarity’s heart skipped a beat at the wording, but she continued without hesitation. “I love you too. All of you. With every ounce of my heart, I love you.” Twilight stood up and leapt across the table, burying her face in Rarity’s neck and pulling her into a hug. The others scrambled across the room and threw hooves in faces and across shoulders until they were all huddled together in a circle of love and warmth. “I really and truly love you all.”