I arrived at the party just in time. Sugarcube Corner was heavily decorated on the outside just as much as it was decorated on the inside. Some tables that were normally used as seating when ponies came to eat something had been pushed aside, making room for a dance floor at the centre. A bit further away was a short staircase that lead to the other seating area that was located on a slightly more raised floor level than the actual floor in the cafeteria. I could see a few familiar faces of ponies that I saw everyday around in Ponyville that were sitting there and some had already started to do the countdown.
It was only 5.35 PM. Come on.
I looked around in the room for a while until I finally saw Rarity and Fluttershy stand in a corner, chatting. I assumed Pinkie Pie and Applejack were in the kitchen, finishing up the making the last snacks that needed to get done so I walked up to Rarity and Fluttershy and greeted them.
"I must say this party really isn't as fancy as those Canterlot ones, but I do admire the decor!" Rarity said as she looked around at all the lights.
Fluttershy and I laughed since we both knew that Rarity had actually been a part of the whole decorating thing, and was just admiring her own work.
"Yeah yeah, you could've made it more fancy cause you were the one decorating" I said and rolled my eyes but kept a smile.
Rarity shook her head and put her hoof dramatically on her forehead, like she always did when she had to be dramatic about something. "Oh how I wish I could've! But it was against the theme darling! And I respect the party theme Pinkie Pie had planned!" she said and gave us a long dramatic sigh.
I saw Fluttershy open up her mouth to say something. Probably something like ' oh don't worry Rarity, you did a wonderful job decorating!' because that's something she'd totally do but got interrupted by Pinkie Pie who jumped forward and brought us all into a big, tight group hug. I heard a familiar chuckle behind her followed by a familiar voice that I recognized all too well.
"Now now Pinkie, don't drop the plate of cookies you're holding- uh, with your mane, somehow" Applejack said as she stepped closer to where we all stood.
"Of course not!" Pinkie Pie laughed and ended the hug. Thank goodness. And went to a table that was on the side and put the cookies on there.
"Now Applejack! Do tell us about that...secret present of yours darling!" Rarity said as she kept a smug smile on her face and raised her eyebrows.
Did Rarity really have to bring that topic up now?! Cause I had come here to not think about it, and here she was reminding me about all that again.
I thought I saw Applejack give Rarity a quick glare. The one that said 'you're not supposed to say that here!'. So Applejack knew that I didn't know. She had been hiding it all on purpose.
No, not by accident.
On purpose!
Fortunately Pinkie Pie stepped in and changed the topic. I don't know if it was on purpose, and if she was involved in the whole 'keeping a secret from Rainbow Dash' thing or if she just casually changed topic like she always did, anywho, we started talking about what we'd do the upcoming year, what we wished for and stuff, you know, those unnecessary promises that ponies made to themselves at the end of the year, promising that they'll turn their whole life around just as soon as the new year comes but still end up doing nothing?
Yeah, those kinds of. Well, for most of the time it was Rarity who kept going on and on about how she'd try to be less dramatic and more rational but we all knew it was probably impossible for somepony like Rarity to just stop being dramatic. I on the other hoof didn't really care about those new year resolutions that most ponies did. I just did what I had to do when I wanted to.
It was all going great and we were all having a blast until Rarity just had to bring up that topic...again!
"Applejaaaack, now do talk about your special somepony darling!" She said as she smirked at me as if she was on purpose trying to make me more annoyed.
"Rarity, I told you to-" Applejack started.
That's it. I've had enough.
"You know what? Go on and talk about whoever your special somepony is, I'll just sit over there pretending to not know anything about how my best friend told everypony else about this but not me!" I snapped and scowled at Applejack in which she looked back at me in surprise.
Okay, they were all looking at me with surprised expressions, except for Rarity, who seemed to be the most calm amongst them. Some other ponies nearby looked at all of us for a second or two, then continued on with their partying.
I sighed and took a cup of apple cider. "I'm just gonna sit over there for a bit" I said and headed toward an empty table at the corner.
I sat down but what I hadn't noticed was that Applejack had followed me to my table, and now sat down across me.
I looked up and rolled my eyes at her. "What? Go and tell them all about it" I said and took a sip of the warm cider.
"Oh, they already know all about her" Applejack said, taking a bite out of a cupcake that she had.
"Cool" I replied blankly, looking down at the cider in the cup and the foam that floated around in it.
I heard Applejack let out a sigh, then put something forward on the table between us both. I looked up from my cup and at the object she had placed and I don't know if it made me confused or even more angry. It was that box in red wrapping paper with multicoloured strings. The present that belonged to Applejack's special somepony.
"What? You're just gonna place this here in front of me?! Without apologizing or anything?! Just go give it to your special somepony!" I said and turned away from her.
"I am givin' it to my special somepony, so take it!" Applejack pushed forward the gift box toward me.
Wait, what?
I turned back around and met her gaze. She was smiling. Just the way she had been smiling when she was walking back home with the gift box after she had been at the store. Just the way she always smiled when I came to hang out with her, or when we stumbled upon each other unexpectedly while walking around Ponyville.
"Who, me-?" I said slowly and looked down at the gift box that was on the table in front of me. Yeah, it was exactly the same box that I had seen her with earlier.
"It's for you" Applejack said, her smile widening. "It was for you all along"
It took a few seconds to process it all for me. But when I finally realized, I finally realized. The reason I hadn't known about Applejacks special somepony was because it wasn't somepony I knew. It was me. All along. Which also explained why Pinkie Pie said I wasn't one of Applejack's best friends, I was more than that. And I finally understood why nopony was telling me who it was because if they did, it would've ruined the whole surprise.
So I had been right, Applejack did feel the same for me as I felt for her. She always had, and she certainly wasn't in love with somepony else. You know, this once again proved that my instincts were in fact, always right. We really did have a thing going on.
I looked back up at Applejack again. "Oh come on!" I said and burst into laughter. Applejack joined in shortly after.
"I won" she then said and smirked.
I instantly knew what she meant. She had won because she asked me out before I had the chance to. Damn it. But was I mad at her for that?
Not at all.
Heh, I always knew I had luck beside me. Cause right now I felt like the most luckiest pony out of all the luckiest ponies in all of Equestria.
"I'll win at something else then" I smirked and winked at Applejack. I brought the gift box closer and unwrapped it. It revealed the same packaging box that I had seen earlier and when I opened it, I saw that it contained a brand new hockey helmet. I took it out of the box to get a closer look.
It.
Was.
Awesome.
It was almost exactly like the one I had been saving up for, except that it was even better. It had a rainbow lightning bolt at the top of it and some other really cool patterns that made the whole thing look 120% cooler.
"Do ya like it? I mean, ya better, cause I saved up for it and it took way longer than I had planned" Applejack said and chuckled.
"Like it? I love it! But wait, you were gonna give it earlier?" I put the helmet back in the box and looked at Applejack again as I smiled.
"Yeah, I was gonna give you this at Hearth's Warming but because we all had to donate some money to the mayor, I kinda fell behind on the saving, heh" she said and finished the last of her cupcake that she had been eating.
I gulped down the rest of the cider and put the empty cup back on the table. "Of course that happened" I laughed. "But why did you have to make all of this so complicated?" I asked.
No lie, this was awesome. But I still couldn't figure out why the others, especially Rarity, had been talking about it so loudly in front of everyone.
"I didn't, I only told Rarity about this whole secret present to you, and I told her to not speak about it in public, but I guess she just couldn't keep her mouth shut" Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes as she turned around and looked at Rarity, who was a little bit further away, inspecting us both.
"Darlings!! It all worked out in the end now didn't it?!" She giggled and gave us a smirk.
"Rainbow Dash wasn't supposed to know about it until now, but apparently she somehow had found out that I was looking for a gift for my special somepony, now who was responsible for that, huh?" Applejack raised at eyebrow at Rarity who just shrugged in response and kept a smug smile.
I snickered and facehooved. "I think it was my fault too, I was just flying by and saw Rarity and Fluttershy talk about all that" I said and groaned in annoyance.
Applejack laughed. "They shouldn't have been talking about it outside anyway, who knows from what corner you could've been spying from" she then said and winked at me.
I snickered in response as I got up from the table. "Alright, alright, now how about I challenge you to a dance battle?" I looked at Applejack and grinned confidently.
The rest of the evening was awesome. I loved it to the fullest and you might ask: who won at the dance battle? Well, Pinkie said it was a tie between me and Applejack, but I knew that I won for sure, just don't tell Applejack I said that. We all took part in the countdown as we sat on one of the highest hills in Ponyville and as soon as it became midnight we all cheered and the fireworks started. It was all pretty awesome.
I leaned closer to Applejack as we were watching the fireworks and whispered in her ear. "You know what I love more than these fireworks?" I asked and smirked.
Applejack looked at me and thought for a second. "Yourself?" She smirked back and chuckled.
"No! You" I answered and laughed.
"Then I'd say the same about you" Applejack said and also laughed.
For the rest of the fireworks, we just leaned against each other and watched those amazing colours light up the night sky, with the rest of our friends.
So yeah, I'm Rainbow Dash and I'm awesome.
And I have everything that I could ever ask for.