//------------------------------// // Chapter Eighty-Two: Howdy Darlings! // Story: A Journey Beyond Sanity // by Darkwing Dust //------------------------------// "Thank you for warning me of this grave predicament," The zebra said gratefully, searching through her many shelves of ingredients and bottles, examining one thoroughly. "Through my own magic, shall I seal this hut from our enemy's ill intents." Nodding, I stood up, finishing the brew Zecora crafted to help me wake up properly - tastes like cold butter - and set the empty cup down. "I'm glad to hear it, Zecora. And rest assured, me and my friends will hunt down this monster who stalks the Everfree Forest before he becomes more of a threat to Equestria than he already is." But if I just happen to find him first... Well, I'll do the best I can. "Your noble intentions are pure and admirable," The voodoo equine noted casually, while already beginning work on her own potions. "But do not act so rash, for your magic this creature will find so desirable." Is all this lower specimen ever does is rhyme? Don't be rude, Sombra; your redemption can make up for lost time. ... ... Pretend that never happened. Agreed. "Tirek is crafty," I then pointed out, watching the zebra work. "He may find a way to bypass any of your defences. Don't let your guard down, even for a moment." Pausing briefly, Zecora glanced over with a smile. "Your concern is understandable, not to mention relatable. But do not concern with little old me, Stardust, for defending your other friends is a definite must." "I agree but-" "Go now, you should, if Tirek lingers around." The zebra resumed her attention on the giant brew pot, narrowed eyes intent. "As the situation dictates, the knight is needed by his town." "Warrior, Zecora, not knight." The equine smiled again, this time looking humoured as I reached the door. "That is not what my eyes behold, knight. The exact protection needed for Princess Twilight." Ehh, whatever you say... "Alright. Hopefully I'll see you at the festival later on," I said in farewell, carefully looking outside and into the nearby bushes for any sign of the inevitable villain, "And Zecora... Good luck." "And to you, should your worries come true." I'm honestly surprised they chose Rarity. I mean, no offence, but considering the nature of the celebration, I had mostly expected Pinkie Pie to be voted the one to host the theme and plan everything. What celebration, you ask? Well, from what I gathered, it's the anniversary or something over Ponyville's foundation, and ponies from all over are visiting to help celebrate this event. At first I found the idea a little humourous - we never held any celebration for my hometown's founding - but I just accepted as something they would congratulate themselves over and rolled with it. I mean hey, these ponies will celebrate over anything. Anyway, the elderly judges have deemed Rarity the one to select the them of the town-sized party and to organize the entire event. And what else did she choose, of course, than a classy film filled with the most posh attire and events you can think of. A wine-tasting event. Of course. A formal dance party. One exchanged look with Twilight was all I needed in response to that. And a fashion show. As you do. And of course, we were all helping in setting up the night event with our own individual tasks. Spike as Rarity's assistant, myself as manual labour, and so on. Of course she'd ask me to do the heavy-lifting, I mean why not? It's not as if I'm good for anything else around here. Heheh... But Rarity's intentions aren't entirely selfless, to our discovery. Part of the mare has the goal of using this event to impress a visiting pony; a fashion stallion she has had a celebrity crush for in a long time. And it was a revelation to me that Rarity seemingly had the hots for someone in the show, there was something which took me completely off-guard. Spike's indifference to the whole matter. "Nah, it doesn't bother me that much," Spike waved dismissively, oblivious to my flabbergasted look, concentrating on the list Rarity had provided him, "Now let's see..." But this is your waifu we're talking about here! Twilight shrugged at my expression when I glanced over to her, not knowing what to make of this herself. "You're... Sure about that?" "Totally." "I mean, if you wanna talk about it-" "There's nothing to talk about." Spike interrupted casually, regarding me with slight annoyance, "Besides, Rarity will soon realize this Trender Hoof is just a hotshot who only cares for fashion and nothing else, then she'll stop having a crush on him and be impressed with my devotion to her and the festival." That is... Mature and awfully uncharacteristic of you, Spike... "Now if you'll excuse me, I got to go help out Rarity." "Well, I'm here if you ever... Need to talk about it," But the dragon had already left the tree-house before I could finish my statement, inciting my baffled frown. Maybe... He was just bottling it up? "I guess he's taking this in a mature manner," Twilight observed while walking towards me, a hint of pride in her voice, "I think it's good Spike's taking Rarity's infatuation with another pony in stride." "...Huh." Perhaps he's just inwardly raging and upset, and this episode will be about him confessing to his frustrations and leaning a valuable lesson about the complexities of love? Bah! Sombra scoffed, sneering. You just desire for the dragon to indulge your overprotective instincts and help him with his own volatile emotions. Not true... I just like to help people, my friends and brother included. ...That's what I just said you worm. ...Ah well. "Right, I better get on with all this [BEEP]- Er, stuff." I quickly corrected myself, grinning meekly at Twilight's disapproving gaze while heaving the heavy bag onto my back. "Oof! Jesus! I hope that's not the entire fashion stage in there..." "Stop complaining," The lovely alicorn said in mock-seriousness, motioning to the door. "We all would appreciate everyone's contribution, yours included. Now hop to it." "As you say love," That said, I began moving, carefully balancing the weighted bag of equipment- Wait, wasn't I going to ask Twilight something...? Oh, right. "Twilight?" "Hm?" Slowly, as to not topple over the fragile bag, I glanced over at the mare who was organizing some things herself, inspecting the decorations for the town party. And just the sight of the smiling purple mare was enough for my breathe to pause. Well, better now than never... "You wouldn't mind being my... Date to the festival, would you?" Surprised purple eyes whirled in my direction. "I mean, if you want to-" "Do you even need to ask?" "...Good point," I said, Twilight smiling brightly, and I couldn't resist grinning at my self-stupidity. "That's a fair point, but you know, just had to check." "Silly." Twilight shook her head fondly, eyes sparkling humour. "There's no one else I'd rather go with." And you have no idea how much that means to me, my dear Twilight. "Same." I'm starting to regret playing errand boy. And I'm beginning to regret ever invading your mind at all, boy, if all I am going to hear today is your pathetic whining. Touche... Carrying supplies after supplies throughout the town wasn't really what I had in mind when offering my assistance to Rarity for the festival. But hey, whatever makes my friend happy I suppose. Still, my back was already beginning to grow strained and exhausted from all this pulling and lifting; so much so that I had to purposely utilize balance in order to help me carry these blasted items and equipment across Ponyville. Why are we wasting our time like this? We? Our priority must be focused on one sole thing. Tirek certainly won't wait for us to finish up these tedious chores all the while he grows in power. And here I thought you'd be happy over the idea of your kind suffering... I will not allow my rightful position as ruler of all to be usurped by a monster like him. Of course, it's all about you, isn't it? And a creature who can forcibly absorb the magic from all ponykind must not be allowed to run amok. We must confront and destroy him when we have the chance. You must continue training, not appease to some ungrateful mare by hard labour. Rarity is hardly ungrateful. Sombra. And I'll get back to training when this is all over with- Speaking of Rarity, there she was just feet away, speaking with the brown... Stallion... Pfft. You've got to be jesting. I couldn't refrain chuckling, while the fallen tyrant sounded humoured in his own right, at the sight of the pony so thin he could be mistaken for a brown baby giraffe. Hey, Demyx called, he wants his Mohawk back! This is the clown Rarity had the hots for? Jesus Christ. Okay, her fashion taste is impeccable, but taste for the opposite gender? That needs working on. I know, I know, I shouldn't be judging him by appearance but... Nah [BEEP] it, Twilight won't ever know about it. Oblivious to my small laughter, Rarity and Trender Hoof walked by, the former obviously trying to impress the latter. Well, I wish her luck regardless... Heh... Are you certain of that? Okay, that moment of humour was worth the effort of pulling all this equipment. What could be better? As it turned out, things just kept getting better. While Applejack was behind the boutique's stage curtains, Twilight speaking to her from the opposite side, Rainbow, Pinkie and I were just snickering at what just happened earlier. Suffice to say, Rarity went for a whole new look... Western-themed. Of course, this meant the decorations and equipment I carried across town was completely pointless, but after seeing what Rarity was doing, it was worth it. Accompanied by the white unicorn's terrible Western impression was blue farmer clothing, a straw hat and a new hairstyle which... Honestly quite suited her. And I was just blissfully laughing the entire time too. I had no idea what was going on, but who gives a [BEEP]? This was hysterical! How could things get any better?! "You sure about this Applejack?" Twilight asked the other mare on the other side of the curtains, frowning doubtfully. The Earth Pony replied from behind the velvet fabric, "If it's the only way I'm gonna snap Rarity out of this delusional behaviour of hers, then I gotta take the chance. Now just gimme a minute." Twilight obliged, walking back towards us while Applejack finished up with whatever she was up to in there. "Hmhmhm, so," I began, while Rainbow and I were still smirking at the earlier display, "I guess that means we'll have to restart all the decorations around Ponyville?" Twilight nodded. "If that's what Rarity wants." "Which means I have to carry everything around again." The alicorn smiled apologetically, but before she could respond, the sound of the curtains parting drew our attention towards the stage, where we could finally see Applejack- Oh my God... Applejack... Wearing a fancy bright dress of various colours, fancy Cinderella-style hoof-shoes and her hair tied up together upwards looking like she's ready to attend a formal ball. And the mare showed all that off by... Posing... Pfft. All it took was Rainbow letting out a noise before I lost it. "PFT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" "Heheh HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I don't know why we're laughing! HAHAHAHAHA!" This is the best day of my life. Yet Applejack walked down the stage without a care in the world, and I only continued my laughing fit by rolling around on the floor, Pinkie joining because she's Pinkie. Rainbow was clutching her stomach tightly, unable to stop being amused herself. Oh please, please tell me she's going to put on some exaggerate classy accent. "Well darlings? Rather extravagant, don't you think?" Whatever conversation occurred between Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack was unheard to my ears save for the roar of laughter - Spike joining in upon hearing that - as the four of merrily took delight in this ridiculous scenario. I had no idea what was even going on, but one thing's for certain. This was the greatest day of my entire life. At last, everything was back to normal. Well, as normal as can be in a world of talking ponies. Rarity and Applejack returned to their proper personalities and attire, the former, thank God, setting the theme of the festival back to classy. And a valuable lesson was taught today between the mares and the stallion Rarity had been pining for. "I'm glad everything's back to the way it should be," Twilight spoke happily from beside me, as we observed the town-filled party before us. "Yeah." I nodded, smiling in content myself. The party was spectacular to behold; ponies dressed formally enjoying themselves everywhere; partaking in the wine-tasting, slow-dancing and fashion show presented by, who else, the host of the party. Everyone's contributions to the event paid off, and I felt proud of myself and everyone else for all the effort we've put in to make Rarity happy. Now that our friend seemingly no longer had a crush on Trender Hoof, her focus solely on the festival made everything better. "I'm also happy for Rarity." Same love. "She learnt an important lesson which she shared with Trender Hoof; that you don't have to change who you are to impress someone you like." Amen. "And that's exactly why I haven't changed for you in the slightest," I pointed out humouredly, prompting Twilight to give me a fond look. God that dress complimented her angelically... "I don't know, you have been changing a little ever since we started dating," Twilight noted lightly, "Not to mention your attitude has been improving, even before our relationship." I snorted. "Oh come on, I wasn't that bad... Was I?" Twilight smiled reassuringly at the meek worried question. "You weren't a terrible po- Err, person, Jack, but you were very distrusting and would snap at anyone who would try to get close to you. Not that it wasn't understandable." She added as I opened my mouth to respond. "Considering the circumstances. If I were in your position, I would've behaved that guarded as well. But I'm proud of how far you've come ever since then, Jack, and I'm happy we're... Together." There it was again, that blush. "You know, you're awfully adorable when you're shy about our relationship like this." Twilight gave me a 'Very funny' look, before shaking her head and smiling again. "See? You wouldn't have acted like this long ago." "...I suppose not," I conceded, the corner of my eyes catching sight of the nearby dance floor, smirking and offering a limb to the mare. "Nor would I have offered this moment with the mare of my dreams. A dance, my Princess?" Though the redness on her face brightened, the alicorn graciously took my limb. "Why I shall happily accept, my Warrior." "And afterwards," I said as we headed towards where other ponies were dancing formally, grinning at both her acceptance and my own suggestion, "We can show these ponies our amazing dance moves." Followed by Twilight's sweet blissful laughter.