July 1st, 999
The balcony on the second floor of the Carousel Boutique doesn't get a lot of use on most days. In fact, Rarity spends more time chasing away unruly pegasi (well, one in particular) from the high vantage point, a favorite napping spot when the skies are otherwise completely clear of clouds. The circular building also offers the perfect balance of sun or shade, depending on whether it is hot or cold outside and the pegasus' personal preference.
Being one of the taller buildings in Ponyville, along with having few other buildings nearby, means that it is also one of the best spots for various Ponyvillians to gather and watch Celestia raise the sun. This morning, there are a number of ponies from the western part of town doing just that, relaxing out in the marketplace area. Most are quiet in the hour just before dawn, having gotten to their spot early in order to claim it.
For today is the Summer Sun Celebration, with many of the ponies having stayed up at least most of the night in preparation for the big event. The Carousel Boutique is the location chosen by the herd this year. Rarity and Doug cleared out all of the unicorn's merchandise so there would be enough room for the party. And then afterwards, space for enough beds and pillows for the fillies when they finally, after hours of sleepy yawns and half-hearted dice rolling, went to sleep. Not that the mares let Doug get any once that happened.
Well, maybe they let him sleep a little. Rarity and Rainbow are both on the highest level of the shop, laying on their backs and nestled in the tiny pinnacle. Doug is napping between them, his arms splayed to the sides, hands resting on their bellies. His breath occasionally whistles through his nose, Rainbow looking at him whenever it happens and wondering whether she should wake him to clear it out or to try to do it herself by holding his nose shut.
The trapdoor leading to the roof bumps, a muffled 'ow' coming from underneath. A hoof taps the door; Rarity's horn lights, shifting one of Doug's legs to the side. Applejack pushes the door open, rubbing her head with a hoof as she softly says, "The fillies are starting to get up, so we're making breakfast. Hope you don't mind, Rares. Y'all want any grub?"
"Something simple for me is fine, darling. Oh, and do try to put everything back where you found it, I don't want to have to reorganize the kitchen again. It's bad enough when Sweetie Belle tries." Rarity stifles a yawn, her mouth smacking a few times before she lays her head against Doug's chest.
"Got any potatoes?" Rainbow asks, her eyes lighting up. "I'd like some hash browns, hay browns, and browned apples."
"Three browns coming up," Applejack says with a wink to Rarity, "And don't you worry, Ah'll try to keep your kitchen in one piece. He want anything?"
"I'm sure," Rarity says, snuggling in closer. "If I had to guess, pear juice and pancakes, but he'll eat anything."
"Well, it's a good thing we ain't back at home. Granny'll tan his hide if she catches a whiff of that on him." Applejack scowls, "But, if'n that's what he wants, Ah suppose this is when he can get it." Applejack shakes her head as she goes back down the ladder, the trapdoor closing above her with a loud thump.
Doug stirs, his muscles contracting as he slowly wakes up. He grunts, one arm squeezing Rarity while the other pulls Rainbow closer. Rainbow grins, her head ending up beneath Rarity. The pegasus licks her lips, a gleam in her eye as she says, "Mm, up already? Ready to go right out of the gate, I like it!"
Applejack comes back up fifteen minutes later. Doug is conked out, snoring with the back of his head resting against one of the walls. Rainbow is smirking, smacking her lips and swallowing, her eyes on the full plate Applejack has in her mouth. The earth pony carefully steps up the ladder while struggling to keep the plate of browns level. She spits it out with a wink, "Here ya go, Rainbow. Hope everything is to your liking."
Rarity smiles, "Here, let me help." Her horn lights, the remaining plates and glasses levitating from the floor below. Rainbow reaches for her plate, struggling to get to it without disturbing Doug any more than necessary. Rarity levitates the plate over, the pegasus resting it on her belly as she starts chowing down.
"Thank ya kindly, Rares." Applejack looks at the plate for Rainbow, "Wish Ah had known you were gonna do that before Ah dragged that up. You may or may not have a new spot on your rug." Applejack forces a smile on her muzzle, a glance back down the ladder.
Rarity's eye twitches, followed by her entire body. Doug stirs as Rainbow smirks, a hoof covering her mouth as she tries to stifle her laughter. Rarity stares daggers at Applejack; the farm pony stares right back. At first. Applejack slowly gets more and more nervous, glancing around and stammering. Rarity starts to get up, only Doug's supine form keeping her from tackling her lead mare. That, or because they would fall down a ladder should she do so.
Rainbow stops laughing as she says, "Come on, AJ, let her go. You're terrible at bluffing." Rainbow looks over at Rarity, placing a hoof on her withers to try to calm her down. "Rarity, Applejack's just trying to prank you. She can't keep a straight muzzle to save her life, and you know she'd clean up whatever spill there was if she had."
"Consarn it, Rainbow, Ah nearly had her!" Rainbow rolls her eyes as Applejack huffs, coming the rest of the way up the ladder. "Mare's gotta learn to take it easy now and then. Plus, Doug told me Ah need the practice." She squeezes to the side, able to close the trapdoor and then rest on top of it.
"No, Rainbow, not again," Doug moans, lifting and stretching his arms passed his hips. "Give somepony else a chance." He sniffs, one eye opening and slowly meandering from one mare laying around him to another. It rests on the plate of fruits, nuts, and a glass of pear juice. His other eye opens, one arm holding onto Rarity as he leans forward and grabs the plate and glass. He clears his throat, a gravelly, "I'm sorry, I thought you were talking about something else." He looks around at the dark sky as he takes a drink, "I thought it would be later than this."
"Well, it should start any minute now, if for once the clock tower is running on time," Rarity says, positioning herself to look at Canterlot. She sighs, "But I don't think that's the case."
"Shame Princess Celestia isn't in Canterlot this year," Doug says, the well lit outline of the capital city visible in the night. "Where is she, Fillydelphia?"
"That's correct," says Rarity, a sip from her juice. "It's the next closest city to Canterlot than Ponyville, since Appleloosa isn't large enough."
"Yeah, and all them Canterlot snobs don't want to acknowledge that Dodge City exists," Applejack says, spitting her disapproval. She immediately realizes her error, an apologetic look at Rarity as she cleans the spit with a towel, "Sorry, Rares."
Rarity's glare softens, "It's okay, Applejack, Celestia knows I've had my fair share of spitting matches with the floor after a particularly unruly client." She looks back to Canterlot, "But, regardless, Princess Celestia wanted to do something special for the one thousandth anniversary of her reign as the Solar Monarch."
Doug nods, "And that's not next year, right?"
Rarity starts laughing, trying to stifle it and failing. She eventually recovers as Applejack says, "Hey, now, it was an honest question."
Rarity's chest heaves back and forth as she tries to force out, "Ehh... Oh my, I'm sorry, but the idea that Princess Celestia would pick Ponyville for such an important event? Oh, that's precious." Rarity shakes her head, "The main celebration is, of course, the year one thousand and one. Because the geniuses who designed the calendar picked 'one' for the first year of her rule, even though it started halfway through. The thousandth anniversary would, of course, be the year one thousand and one. Princess Celestia went from the furthest city, starting with Vanhoover, then Cloudsdale, etcetera, every year working her way one city closer to Canterlot."
Doug says, "Makes sense. Nightmare Moon was imprisoned yesterday, right?"
Rarity nods, "Yes; the legends, at least, say that it happened just as the moon was raised, when Nightmare Moon would have been at her most powerful, but nopony knows for sure. Well, except for Princess Celestia, and she historically refuses to answer questions about that time."
Rainbow says, "Speaking of the Princess, has she met up with you two any more?"
"Twice. Once with both of us, then once with just me." Doug shrugs as he takes another bite, relaxing back with his arm around Rainbow. "She's confident she has the spell at a good enough spot for what's going to happen with Cadance, so we shouldn't need to meet up any more."
"Oh? And, what perchance happened on the solo visit?" Rarity saucily asks, her muzzle curling to a smirk. "Something we should know about?"
Doug shrugs again, "It's no secret. Well, between the herd, that is. Celestia still wants to keep it out of the general knowledge. She wanted to practice timing, as she felt that was her weakest spot. So it was mostly me throwing a rock in the air, and her trying to time the spell to coincide with the rock hitting the ground. Then we chatted while she recovered." Doug nods his head a few times, a pursed smile on his lips. "Maybe not the best method, but we don't exactly have a plethora of mares in heat looking to... you know."
Applejack says, "Well, Pinkie Pie told me about this legend. Apparently there's some pond that can duplicate ponies."
Doug stares at her for a few seconds before saying, "Huh. Magical duplication? Sounds broken. So, like, we dunk Celestia in the pond, and now we have two alicorns capable of raising the sun?"
Applejack shrugs, "Something like that." From beneath comes the sounds of fillies chatting back and forth, likely waiting for their food to be ready.
Doug shakes his head, "Well, there would have to be something crippling about it. Like, it splits your magic between the two ponies. Or your mind. Or one of you comes out evil."
Rainbow snickers, "Could you imagine an evil Fluttershy? She'd, like, hate animals. And be mean."
"Ooh, or, she'd be a tyrant!" Doug smirks, "And she'd impose a speed limit! Nopony is allowed to go faster than she does!"
Rainbow's eye widen, her forelegs coming up to her muzzle. She whimpers, "That... that... that'd be terrible! She'd be the worst pony ever!"
"Ah could barely pull my wagon from one side of the orchard to the other by the time the day was over!"
"Hence, the evulz!" Doug laughs, slowly becoming more and more ominous. "Mua ha ha ha!"
"Mm, might need to work on your delivery there a little, but the effort was good." Rarity snuggles next to Doug, "And what would I be like if I was evil?"
"Well, the obvious one is that you would become tyrannical and force everypony to bow to you. Or wear your designs. But without just making everypony a tyrant that gets to lay down a law?" Doug hums to himself, a hand on his chin. "Ugh, even plain old selfishness isn't really evil. I mean, it is if it goes too far, but what doesn't meet that criteria?" Doug smirks, "Okay, how about this. Everypony has to live up to your standards. Of dress, of cleanliness, of manners."
"Ooh, Rarity likes that." The unicorn pauses for a split second, "I mean, obviously forcing everypony to do that is wrong, of course, but what's wrong with a little common decency?"
Applejack shudders at the thought of having to do everything the way Rarity likes before asking, "And what about me, partner?"
Doug bombastically states, "There are only apples!" while raising his arms in the air, menacingly shaking them back and forth.
"That don't sound particularly evil to me. What's wrong with apples? Apples For Everypony!" At everypony's blank stare Applejack snickers, "Got you all! Ah knew Ah could do it!"
Rainbow laughs, "Alright, Applejack, that was good. You got me." Doug and Rarity smile, nodding along. From beneath them comes the sounds of fillies playing on the second floor balcony, scampering around the circle.
"And Pinkie Pie?" Applejack asks.
"Mm, she tries to make ponies cry instead of laugh with her jokes. Like, all you'd need to do to her is flip a switch where she sees a frown as a smile and vice versa."
"That would be a terrible place to live, for sure. You're getting faster at this!" Rainbow says with a grin. "How about me?"
"Evil Rainbow challenges everypony in everything, and whenever she beats them they get punished."
"What? Then I'd just lose on purpose, so that nopony gets punished!" Rainbow shakes her mane, trying to hide the slight twitch in her eye.
"Would you, Rainbow? Could you?" Doug leans closer, his voice getting slower and slower, "Forced to lose. In everything. Over... and over. Even... in a race... with Fluttershy?"
Rainbow shudders, closing her eyes before exclaiming, "OkayfineI'dbeterrible I'dneverletanyponywin evenFluttershy I'mamonster!" She bursts into tears, pulling away from Doug.
"You're not a monster, Rainbow, none of you are." Doug sighs as he pulls Rainbow close, holding the mare as she snuggles next to him. "Those feelings, that desire to win? That's not evil, it's a part of you. You wouldn't see those as 'evil' copies of yourself if there wasn't some truth to them being a part of you. If you never had those feelings, that doesn't make you good. What makes you good is having the option to do something, and choosing the right thing, not the easy thing or the selfish thing."
The other two snuggle close as well, Rarity hesitantly asking, "And you, Doug? What would your evil side do?"
"Buck Celestia." The three ponies look up at him, dumbfounded expressions on each. Doug continues, "I'd be obsessed with power, right? Well, there's the most powerful being around, and she's interested, and it would just be a matter of time before I had her wrapped around my evil little finger. Giving her what she wants in return for what I want."
"Well, let me be the first in saying that Ah'm glad you're happy here." Applejack relaxes, a few long sighs from everypony as the first bits of color play along the sky.
The four head to the second level, going out to the balcony and joining the rest of the herd. The fourteen watch with bated breath as Canterlot Castle lights up, the pegasus guards flying long ribbons around. Princess Cadance strides out on the balcony, her horn lighting. The unicorns of the guard join in, beginning a light show around the castle as the sun rises over the mountain.