Later...
"Oh Fluttershy! I absolutely adore you in that!" Rarity cooed, sitting on a plush white ottoman in the corner of a lush Canterlot department store. Feminine fabrics draped along the walls, framing a pedestal positioned in front of three gold-framed mirrors. Upon the bold dais stood Fluttershy, bashfully sporting a lacy pink-and-white frock that she just trotted out of the changing room with. "And the embroidery along the hem!" Rarity added, praising. "Ooo-hoo-hoo! Sure, it's no Carousel Boutique quality, but even so! Such exquisite lace! Such elegant design! Why, it brings out your dainty features with such rich pinache!"
"Very, very pretty, Fluttershy." Twilight winked from where she stood. "I think it would be perfect to wear for special occasions! Like when Celestia visits Ponyville for a royal dinner."
"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie clapped her hooves. "Or when a strapping young stallion shows up at the cottage to have his pet jackrabbit looked at!" She waggled her eyebrows and leaned in to bump an elbow. "Hubba-hubba!"
Fluttershy giggled, blushing beet-red. "Oh Pinkie Pie..."
"Pinkie!" Rarity pouted. "Do not nudge the stitching! Do you have any idea how much that dress costs?!"
"No more or less than the last one!" Pinkie Pie giggle-snorted. "How 'bout it, Fluttershy? How's it like to be wearing a thousand bits?"
"I h-have to admit..." Fluttershy rubbed one forelimb with the other, looking down to admire her silk threads. "...being wrapped up in something this expensive feels... nice."
"Well, we have a few more affordable gowns for you to try on, Fluttershy," Rarity said. "You too, Twilight! Oooh! There's this glittery black ensemble that I just know will perfect on you, darling!" She winked. "Make you wish you were Luna's special apprentice instead."
"Whew-wee..." Twilight rolled her eyes but nonetheless blushed. "Wouldn't that be the alternate universe."
"Alternate what-now?" Pinkie's muzzle scrunched.
"And Pinkie! I've been dying to see you in something blue!" Rarity said. "Oh, will you please try on that azure-rose ballgown I picked out for you? Please? Pretty please?"
"I dunno, Rare-Rare. Is it flouncy?"
"Only the flounciesssst!"
"Woohoo! Sign me up! Move over, Fluttershy!"
"Uhm... okay..."
"Shhhh! Don't make a scene! We're lucky to be trying on as many dresses as we have!"
A few ottomans over...
...Applejack sat undaitily, slumped back against a marble pillar supporting the high ceiling of the inner city boutique. She smiled at all of her friends having fun. Her peripheral vision caught notice of a blue shape slouched to her side.
Applejack looked to see Rainbow Dash hunched over, her muzzle sunken in both fetlocks.
"Heh..." Applejack lazily tilted her hat back. "Like pullin' teeth, huh?"
"Mrnnghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Was Rainbow's response.
"Dun ya worry. They'll be done soon." Applejack cleared her throat, glancing ahead once again. "Annnnnnnny moment now. They'll be done fittin' dresses."
"Mrrggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh..."
"Oh come on, Rainbow..." Applejack playfully punched the mare's shoulder with her hoof. "It ain't that bad! Our best friends are havin' fun!"
Rainbow Dash jolted a lot more from Applejack's gesture than the mare expected. She teetered back, rubbing her shoulder with a frown. "They're wasting their lives away on frills and crinoline!"
"Dun tell me you've never wanted to look pretty for the sake of bein' pretty."
"Pfffft! No way!"
"Heh heh heh heh..."
Rainbow Dash frowned. "What are you laughing at?" her voice cracked.
"If it's so much torture, why not flitter off and—I dunno—do a few sonic rainbooms over the rooftops?"
"As if." Rainbow's eyes rolled. "They have a strict 'no-fly-zone' above Canterlot premises."
"Oh yeah?" Applejack blinked. "I had no idea."
"That's because you're not a pegasus," Rainbow grumbled. "It's not your business to know."
"Hmmmff..." Applejack folded her forelimbs. "Well, I'm sorry for bein' foaled into my station."
"That's not what I meant. I just... nnngh..." Rainbow buried her face in her hooves again. "... ... ...I just don't wanna look like a jerk."
"Rainbow, you wouldn't be abandonin' yer friends."
"But if I put through with this..." Rainbow tilted her face up, pulling at her lower eyelids. "Gnnrgghhh... then maybe... just maybe... they'll put up with me later on."
"How do you figure?"
"A whoooooooooooooooooole lot of cider."
"Ha hah!" Applejack grinned wide. "Don't I know it!"
Rainbow managed the tiniest of smirks. "You're looking forward to it too?"
"After seein' so many shades of pink just now, I suspect the elephants I'll be envisioning later this evenin' will look plain and boring."
"Heh..." Rainbow Dash fidgeted slightly. "I didn't take you much for a drinking mare."
"Usually I ain't. But this is a vacation, isn't it? I'm a long throw from Sweet Apple Acres."
"So... you get to indulge for once, huh?"
"Well..." It was Applejack's turn to fidget. "With reason."
"Laaaaaaaaaaame."
"Oh go soak yer head." Applejack stuck her tongue out like a silly pony. "Havin' a nip with friends is fine and dandy. In any other case, it's downright miserable. Y'know what I mean?"
"Oh. Yeah." Rainbow Dash gulped, looking off with drooping ears. "Totally."
"Besides... I'm just enjoyin' bein' around y'all... sober or not." Applejack smiled over to the platform. Pinkie Pie was shuffling out of the changing room in a blue ballgown while Rarity fussed with her threads. "Feels like everythang about this week shoulda gone sour... and yet it didn't." She felt a slight lump in her throat as she remembered the bits she didn't earn. "Best to... uh..." She gulped. "Drink in more than just passion from a glass, ya feel me? This here moment's fulfillin' enough."
"You... aren't as bothered by all this fru-fru nonsense as I am?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Naaaaaaaaah..." Applejack shifted where she sat. She looked down at her strong, muscular legs. "Deep down inside... beneath all the sweat and grit and mud I collect on my fetlocks on a daily basis... I gotta remember I'm still a mare."
"Yeah?" Rainbow cocked her head to the side. "But being a mare doesn't have to be all about being soft and pink and doe-eyed."
"Eenope." The edge of Applejack's lip curled. "But... part of me likes it all the same... or at least the idea of it." A soft exhale. "In portions. Everythang in portions..."
Silence.
"Y'know... AJ..." Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "If... uh... if you... y'know... wanted to go and try on a few pretty dresses..." She slicked her mane back. "I-I wouldn't hate you for it."
Applejack squinted at her. "The hay is that supposed to mean?"
"Just saying!" Rainbow Dash smiled crookedly. "It's a vacation, isn't it? You don't get this opportunity all of the time. So why not just... go knock yourself out?" She shook her head. "Nopony would think any differently about you. Heck... I wouldn't think any differently about you."
"... ... ..." Applejack's freckles turned slightly rosy as she smiled. "Y'know what...? I think yer right."
"Heh... have fun, girl."
Applejack stood up. "What about you? Feel like tryin' on a few dresses yourself?"
"Hah!" Rainbow Dash laughed. "Hah hah hah!" She laughed some more. "Hah hah haaaaah... nahhhhhhhhhhhh..." A wave of the hoof. "I'm good."
"Ya sure?"
"Totes."
"Well then..." Applejack tipped her hat. "Enjoy the show, partner."
"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmgood luck." Rainbow spoke into her lower lip.
Applejack trotted towards the dressing rooms. Halfway, she paused... glanced behind her shoulder... blinked...
...then shrugged it off before joining the rest of the mares.