Chapter Seven
Stepping inside the town hall, Twilight saw that a white-coated unicorn with a purple mane was busily hanging up ribbons and other decorations around the building with her telekinesis.
"Rarity!" Sweetie Belle called, causing the other unicorn to jerk to a halt.
"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity looked rather indignant at the interruption. "Just a moment, I am 'in the zone', as it were." One more ribbon tied up, and then, nodding at her work with a satisfied look, she trotted over.
"Now, what is it- oh my word," she suddenly said, seeing Twilight and Onyx, and eying the latter in particular before she began batting her eyelashes as she ran her eyes over him. "Who is this handsome fellow?"
"Happily married," Onyx replied dryly, causing Twilight to flatten her ears at his bluntness.
"I... oh. Oh, I'm terribly sorry then," Rarity replied, her posture changing to a more business-like one, before she looked at Twilight. "And to you as well, miss..."
"Twilight Sparkle," Twilight said with a smile, hoping she could salvage the situation.
"Twilight, then. I do sincerely apologize for my behaviour towards your husband there, and-" She cut herself off as Twilight began to snicker, before looking up at Rarity again.
"I'm afraid you've made another little error there," she said. "I'm single. We're just traveling together."
"Oh, I... I am sorry again then," Rarity said with a heavy blush. "Well. What brings you here?"
Twilight smiled. "Onyx and I are from a really, really long way off," she said. "But we wanted to come out and see what some of the rest of Equestria was like."
"And soon after we arrived, we met your sister and her friends," Onyx said, nodding at the trio. "She suggested we come and meet you."
Rarity nodded. "Then thank you for bringing them to me, Sweetie," she said. Turning her head back to Twilight and Onyx, she gave them both a friendly smile. "It is very nice to meet you. How do you find Ponyville so far?"
"It's a nice-looking town," Twilight said. "The ponies have been friendly. Especially your sister and her friends," she added, nodding in the direction of the three little fillies who'd by now gone off to look at the decorations with big smiles on their faces.
Rarity smiled. "Yes, we do try to be welcoming of others," she said. "Ponyville may have been founded by Earth ponies, but all kinds have settled here since then."
They chatted back and forth a bit as Rarity went back to adding more decorations to the interior of the building, until finally Onyx excused himself for a few minutes. Once he was gone, Rarity's demeanor changed again.
"Confidentially," she asked Twilight, leaning in and speaking quietly. "You must be quite close to your friend's wife, if she's all right with the two of you traveling together."
Twilight took a moment to compose herself, before answering. "Red Rocket and I do get along well," she said. "He's quite the nice pony."
Rarity did a double-take. "Did you say... oh. Oh, no wonder," she said. "Twilight, darling, I must apologize again. I must have offended your friend horribly."
"You didn't know and I know Onyx won't hold it against you for making a mistake about who his partner is," Twilight said, her expression softening.
Rarity nodded her head firmly. "I still must apologize to him directly," she said. "And... might I ask, are you..."
"Undecided," Twilight told her. "I'm close friends with a couple of ponies of both genders, but I've been too busy with a lot of other things to figure out if I want to develop those friendships into anything more. Besides that, none of them have asked me directly about going out on a date, and I don't want to accidentally make things awkward between us by asking first in case they aren't interested, or to just rush into a romance I'm not ready for and mess up what we already have." She blinked, then looked at Rarity and blushed. "Some ponies would say that I'm overthinking it, but when it comes to something like this, I'd rather be safe than sorry. And speaking of sorry, I think I'm babbling now, and I'm sorry about that too."
Rarity nodded. "Nothing to worry about, darling," she said. "Your thoughts on these matters are quite understandable. Would that I had put that kind of thought into some of my own past romantic endeavors."
She was about to say more, when Onyx returned, and she immediately turned and bowed to him. "My dear sir," she said. "I am frightfully sorry at the misunderstandings I made about you, and Twilight. I do hope you can forgive me."
"Nothing to worry about, miss Belle," Onyx said, looking a little taken aback. "You are not the first to make such assumptions, and I am sure you won't be the last."
Then he turned to Twilight. "If you don't mind, I think we should be moving on."
Twilight nodded. "You're right. Rarity, it was nice meeting you."
"Oh, it was nice meeting you too," Rarity said. "Stop by my boutique anytime you feel like, darling, if ever you're in the market for a custom outfit. I make the most charming designs for both stallions and mares, if I do say so myself."
"I'll try," Twilight said, before she and Onyx said their goodbyes to the Crusaders, and then left.
They'd only been outside for a moment before Twilight happened to glance in one direction and saw an amber unicorn, with a red and yellow mane, and three other ponies standing with her.
In an instant, she had the sudden feeling that things were about to get interesting.
"Hello there," Sunset said, walking towards the lavender unicorn before Pinkie dashed forwards and looked at the two, letting out a loud gasp.
"Ohmygosh, two more new ponies in town!" she said excitedly. "Who are you? Where are you from? What kind of cupcakes do you like? Huh? Huh? Huh?"
Both the newcomers looked taken aback by Pinkie's exuberance and barrage of questions, so Sunset stepped up. "Easy there Pinkie," she said. "One question at a time."
"Thank you," the mare said, flashing a look of gratitude at her. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is Onyx Plate, and we're from a really, really long way away."
"Oo, where?" Pinkie asked still bouncing up and down excitedly.
"Um." Twilight ducked her head. "Let's just say we took the scenic route."
Pinkie looked at her expectantly, but it was Onyx Plate who spoke. "It was an experience," he said. "And you are?"
"Oh! I'm Pinkie Pie! And what kind of cupcakes do you like?"
Onyx looked a bit startled, before she held up a hoof. "Wait, wait, don't tell me... Ooh! I got it! Be right back!" She dashed off, leaving both Twilight and Onyx blinking.
"No offense intended, but just how much sugar did that mare have before she met us?" Twilight asked, still looking startled.
"That's Pinkie for ya," Applejack said with a chuckle. "She just loves meetin' new ponies."
"So I gathered," Twilight said.
Applejack smiled. "Ah'm Applejack," she said, holding out a hoof.
"Apple... oh! You must be Apple Bloom's sister!" Twilight said, accepting it.
"Already met her, have ya?" Applejack asked, giving her a curious look.
"She and her friends saw us shortly after we arrived and were kind enough to show us the way to Town Hall," Onyx explained. "They're still inside, if you're looking for them."
Applejack nodded approvingly, then gestured. "These here are Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer," she said. "Sunset's new in town too."
Sunset stepped up. "Nice to meet you," she said, extending her own hoof, which Twilight shook.
"Nice to meet you too," she said. "My friend Onyx and I are just traveling to learn more of Equestria and so far, it has been lovely."
"Happy to hear it," Sunset said. "Are you here on official business?"
Twilight shook her head. "Oh, no," she said. "Sweetie Belle just brought us here to introduce us to her sister."
"Ah." Sunset nodded. "I actually have to go in and meet her, see how she's doing with the decorations for the Summer Sun Celebration."
Twilight nodded back. "We'll let you go to that," she said. "But from what I could see, they looked just wonderful."
"Are you going to be staying here?" Pinkie asked, bouncing up to them again.
"I don't see why not," Twilight said. "For a few days, at least."
"Great! Here!" Pinkie whipped out a pair of cupcakes, with Twilight accepting one and Onyx the other. One bite, and her eyes lit up. "Mm!"
Sunset smiled, then excused herself to go inside and speak to Rarity.
Once she'd had a chance to meet the other unicorn, look over the decorations and give them all her approval, she returned outside, just in time to hear Twilight saying something to Applejack.
"-actually, I haven't had the chance to eat an apple product from an Apple family."
"What, really?" Applejack frowned for a moment, before her expression cleared. "You don't know what you're missin' out on then."
"No, but I'd be interested in finding out," Twilight said. "If that's okay with you, that is."
Applejack chuckled. "Never let it be said that an Apple let somepony go hungry," she said, before seeing Sunset. "Ah'm sorry, sugarcube, but Ah got to get back home an' show these two our cookin'."
"It's no problem," Sunset told her. "I need to get going too. I still have one thing to check on for the festivities before I can speak to the mayor."
Applejack nodded. "You take care of yerself now," she said.
Sunset nodded back. "I will. See you again soon, I hope."
"Sure thing," Applejack said with a smile.
Sunset watched as the three headed back towards Sweet Apple Acres, then glanced at the other ponies she had met today. "So..."
Rainbow Dash held up a hoof. "Fun as it's been, I oughta go check up on some stuff too. See you later!" She flew off.
Sunset smiled. Idly noting that Pinkie, whom she knew had still been there when she first exited the building, had disappeared without a word when Sunset wasn't looking (and how did that mare do that anyway? It was almost like she'd teleported), she trotted off in the direction that her notes indicated.
It took her a while, but she heard the sound of birdsong, and then a voice saying "Oh my. Um, stop please, everyone, umm. Excuse me, sir? I mean no offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny-tiny bit off. Now, follow me, please. A-one, a-two, a-one two three-"
The birdsong resumed, and Sunset smiled. She waited until it had stopped, then trotted in its direction and up to the pegasus mare who was evidently conducting the bird choir, and who looked a little surprised to see her.
"Um... hello," she said softly.
Sunset smiled again. "That was wonderful," she said. "You're Fluttershy, right? The one responsible for the music at the Summer Sun Celebration here?"
"I-yes, I am," Fluttershy replied just as quietly.
"Well, I can safely say that's taken care of." Sunset levitated her checklist and marked it off. "You're really good with them."
Fluttershy ducked her head shyly. "Animals are my specialty," she said from behind her mane.
"Good to know," Sunset told her. "You must help a lot of them around here. What kinds do you take care of, besides birds?"
"All kinds," Fluttershy replied, peering at her. "Do you like animals?"
Sunset chuckled. "Well... some of them. You should meet my little ray of sunshine some day."
Fluttershy perked up at that. "You have a pet?"
"Yeah," Sunset told her. "Ray's a leopard gecko, and he's... well, I wasn't planning on getting a pet back then, but I laid eyes on him one day by chance and just knew we were meant for one another. He's been with me ever since."
Fluttershy beamed happily. "Is he here with you?"
Sunset shook her head. "No... I didn't want to risk something happening to him while we were away from home. I got him a petsitter though, the same mare who used to foalsit for me when I was little. She takes good care of him for me whenever I have to be away from home for a day or so."
Fluttershy nodded approvingly. "That's really good of you," she said.
They chatted a bit more, and then Fluttershy went back to conducting her birds, while Sunset headed back into town.
When she returned to Town Hall, she headed into the building, hoping the mayor would be there this time.