//------------------------------//
// Rambler 
// Story: The Rude Gesture: An Equestrian History 
// by SoundOfImpact 
//------------------------------//


Rambler


"I got a rambler in my yard, she's a winner"





Word spread quickly around Canterlot about the Princess's outburst. In a city where gossip is king, nothing stayed confidential for long, especially not a public display like that.

Twilight, for her part, was mortified. Celestia had seen the funny side of it, and Luna apparently only saw the funny side of it, but it was no way for a princess to behave! It was true that everypony had bad moods and bad days, but she just couldn't allow herself to act up like that. She was a leader, she was meant to keep a cool head. And to make matters worse, everypony in Canterlot knew about it. She couldn't even try and hide it. She would never, ever hear the end of it from Luna, from Shiny, from anyone she knew!

While Celestia did find the whole thing very amusing, she did also have some choice words afterwards about Twilight's behavior. It never felt good to be scolded by your teacher, let alone a friend. But it was a valid point: she was going to have to have better control over her emotions if she was to be a Princess. She knew this, but it was easier said than done.

Once something gets around Canterlot, it would only be a matter of time before it spread all across Equestria. And indeed, as travellers came and went, chat and gossip was exchanged, and the story of Twilight's fury was soon on it's way to all reaches of the land. It would be all too soon before her friends found out. Another group she'd no doubt never hear the end of it from.

Rarity would be horrified. What would her parents think?





As the days turned to weeks, it was common knowledge in all reaches of Equestria, the Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Of Friendship, The Element Of Magic, well and truly verbally tearing a slimy noble a new behind. It was newsworthy too, apparently, with several printers having a field day with the event.

Twilight could only cringe.

However, something unexpected happened too. The nobles who were there watching the whole thing unfold, and the castle staff who'd been on duty at the time, as they told the story, they all made note of the strange hoof gesture that accompanied the Princess's words. 

Canterlot being as Canterlot is, everypony wanted to be like the royals. And for many who heard the story, this became the new thing. If this insult was good enough for royalty, then it would surely be good enough for them. And, to Twilight's horror, it actually became vogue. Over the following weeks and months, the gesture became associated with the 'buck you' that accompanied it, and it became the go-to insult for the creme of Canterlot. And of course, that meant it was no time at all before that extended to all of Equestria.

Twilight was aghast  to see a model striking a pose, making the gesture on the cover of a fashion magazine. A very popular fashion magazine. It was then that she knew there was no chance that anypony out there hadn't heard about her outburst, and the best she could hope for was to wait for it to go away.

She couldn't even escape it at home. Rarity was, as expected, horrified, but at the same time and since it was the 'in thing' she simply had to make use of the gesture herself. It was no better away from the boutique, Applejack and Rainbow Dash regularly exchanged gestures in competition. In a joking way, of course, but it still wound Twilight up. 

Starlight, Trixie, Cheerilee, Lyra, everypony had heard. Thanks to traders, travellers and ramblers visiting Canterlot and moving on in every which way, all of Equestria knew about Twilight's rude gesture.

The gesture, a simple upwards hoof, had become attached to the phrase 'buck you', and everypony knew what it meant. And everypony used it. Twilight had not counted on the memetic potential of her actions, not even after the fact. All she could do now was wait for the whole thing to blow over. That, and desperately try and avoid the teasing of her friends and family.