//------------------------------//
// Dress-up 
// Story: Filia Noctis 
// by Storylover-Vodhr 
//------------------------------//

Dash couldn't really do much, beyond fluffing her wings in irritation, as the comb running through her tangled mane caught yet again. There was no *real* reason for any of this; It was just a party. A normal, music and dancing and punch party. But her mom seemed to think that she was still a little filly, rather than a thirteen year old Mare, and that she couldn't trust her to look her best. That she needed to have somepony dress her up.

The gall. She was definitely not a filly, but instead a mare. And she managed to make this long, surviving both her parents insanity and her antics at school, along with all the crap she and Twilight did. As such, she deserved the credit for it, thank you very much. 

But that didn't stop her mother, the she-beast of combs, mirrors, and brushes. Of yanking and pulling and twisting.

She couldn't even tell what her mother was trying for, either. Some sort of... something. 

"Dash, sit still, I'm almost done with your mane. We can't have you looking like a ragamuffin in front of the princess!"

It took everything for Dash not to laugh at the idea. Like that mattered. Half the time Twilight's mom saw her, it was her being drug forward to answer to her after some sort of failed stunt, or in the aftermath of some sort of shenanigan that made Shining grimace and Cadence groan. If anything, the Princess probably wouldn't be able to recognize her without her standard coating of dirt, mud, or cake frosting. 

Not that she needed to tell her mom that. If she ever told her mom a tenth of the things they did at the castle, she'd be a dead mare. 

But that didn't matter. Right now, all that did was trying to survive her mom's attempts at making her all fru-fru, as well as survive the rest of the day looking like it. 

Another tug from the brush in her hair made her gasp lightly in pain, but she forced her way through it. What was her mom even doing back there? And shouldn't she be the one with the mirror, anyway? They drug it all the way out of her room, so she should be allowed at least one quick peek, darnit.

Another pull was the answer to her unasked question, and Rainbow sighed. 

The letter even said the theme was casual, dang it. Casual meant *not* being dressed up more than the standard runway model. Heck, Dash doubted that Twilight, little miss super-proper/super-formal, was gonna be as dressed up as she was. And she had a personal maid!

Which raised the question; Why was she just sitting down and taking it? Why was she letting her mother just fru-fru it up? 

She should be rebelling. Kicking and fighting, and flying away fast enough to make her mother at least work for it. But no, instead, she was just sitting here. Taking it like a chump.

So, why?

Dash thought for a moment, before finding that she didn't really have an definitive answer. 

Maybe it was because she was in a good mood, all things considered. She was Twilight's "guest of honor", after all, and would spend all of her time with her best friend.

That was a good enough reason to be in a good mood.

Or maybe it was because she thought that, maybe, just maybe, the Princess had talked to her mom and actually outlined what she expected out of her. That would make sense too, seeing as, in the end, the Princess was always right.

Or, maybe she just wanted to look good, and not embarrass Twilight, regardless of what anypony said. That one made the most sense, but it still had a lot of questions that she didn't have the answers to hidden inside it. Questions that she knew were uber-important, but were unwilling to seek out.

Eh, she'd figure it out. Besides, at least the dress was actually pretty good, even if it was a bit frilly. And, hay, maybe her mom's hairstyling would actually look good, too. Doubtful, but possible.  

Alright, fine. It was also possible that, beyond the other reasons, that she actually liked the dress, and wanted to wear it. The hair was probably gonna be a bit much, sure, but she knew that she couldn't get one without the other, and besides all of that, it was Twilight's birthday. She wouldn't let her bestie down by showing up like some sort of hobo-pony. She'd give it her all, even if her all involved getting very far out of her own comfort zone. 

There. An answer she could accept, even if it involved her ignoring several other, more ambiguous reasons. 

Dash made a snort of acceptance at that, and smiled. Everything was fine. She was going to a party, and was in a nice looking dress. And, as for her mane, if worst comes to worst, she could always mess up her mane once she got to the castle. She was supposed to be super early after all, and if anyone laughed or thought it looked bad, she could always fix it without maternal interference. It would be super easy; Just a quick, high-speed flight would fix it to her normal style, quick as a flash.

"Alright... I think I got it!"

Thank Faust. She smiled weakly in relief, before her mom finally spun her back around, and let her see what the damage was.

Holy carp. She actually looked...

There was a blinding flash of a camera, and Rainbow found herself blinking as the very familiar dot of her mother's camera temporarily blinded her. But Dash didn't let herself get distracted, and instead continued to stare at herself, as if not recognizing the pony in the mirror.

The style was formal, yeah, but it was somehow actually really cool. 

Instead of, say, looking like some stuffy, stuck up rich pony, she looked like a sleek super spy, or something. Sharp, neat, but... cool.

She looked actually good. 

"Dear, you look so adorable~!"

It took everything Dash had to keep from rolling her eyes. No, she didn't need to be rude; her mother put a ton of effort and crap into fixing her hair, and she was feeling, at the moment, benevolent. She could hold her tongue, at least for a moment. 

Plus, she did an ultra-cool job. She earned a pass, even if she insisted on using the wrong adjective.

"Yeah... so, uh, I guess I'll just fly over now-"

She didn't even get a chance to raise up from her chair before her mother put a hoof on her shoulder. 

"Oh no you won't. You're not gonna mess up all of my hard work. You, little miss, will be taking a carriage. It's already waiting outside with your chaperone."

A carriage? Like hay she would. She wasn't some hoity-toity noble; she was Dash the awesome. She carried herself where she wanted to go, with her very own wings to boot, thank you very much. She wasn't about to make a habit of having others do things that she could manage herself.

"Nuh uh. No way, I'm gonna fly over, and-"

"Hello, Rainbow Dash."

The voice sent a sudden rush of ice up Dash's spine, and the filly- No, the mare, suddenly froze in place, her heart filling slowly with dread. No, it couldn't be. 

She recognized that voice easily, as well as the connotations that it held. It was something from her nightmares, one that scared her more than anything. 

But she had to see it with her own eyes. She had to make sure. 

And so, Dash turned around slowly, and sure enough, there was Cadence, sitting there in her maid outfit, looking professional, slightly amused, and positively, absolutely, irrefutably in her living room with her mother. This was a nightmare all in itself.

Twilight's personal maid, the one who cleaned up all of her messes and bandaged all of their scrapes, was here. In her house. With her mom. 

She was gonna get so grounded that it wasn't even funny. She had a better chance surviving punching a dragon in the snout than she did surviving this, and she knew that fact without a doubt. 

Which meant that her sole chance to survive was clear. What she couldn't outfly or outfight, she would outrun. She had to leave, right now. Before the dark one of pink and purple could open up her mouth, and squeal on her every mistake, her every mess. 

"-Aaaaaand get right into the carriage, like my darling mother ordered."

There was a snort of amusement from both her mother and Cadence. She needed to leave, now. Every second she waited was a second closer to her doom. 

"So, yeah, let's go! No time to waste and junk, right?"

There was no real reply to that, and Rainbow moved towards the front door, getting up from the stylist's chair that she was in. 

"Now wait a moment, dear. Cadence here just got here; She could use a moment to stretch her wings before she gets couped back into the carriage. Isn't that right, Miss?"

Dash could swear that she aged a decade at hearing that. No, nononononono-

"That would be amazing, thank you."

She was dead. So dead. She wouldn't even make it to the party, because in about ten seconds, her mom would do the only thing she ever did, talk about her, and Cadence would rat her out so fast that the speed of it would make even her blush. Then, her mother would strike her down, and unlike in the movies, she would not get more powerful than they could ever imagine. 

No, she'd just get locked up in her room until she died. 

"Oh, well, let me make you some tea. Maybe you can tell me what my little Dashie gets up to while she is at the castle!"

So dead. Dash could almost watch the gears in Cadence's mind wind into place, and Dash felt her ears bend back out of fear. Oh, so dead. 

And, just like that, Cadence's face split into a massive grin.

"Oh, it would be my pleasure."