“We made it!”
I gasped and nearly jumped for joy as we crested the hill we’d been climbing and saw where we were. The others came up beside me—carefully avoiding each others’ gazes, as they’d been giving each other the silent treatment—and we all took a moment of silent relief that our trek was nearly done.
We’d just gotten our first glimpse of Ponyville in weeks, and it was a truly welcome sight.
Well, it was for me, at least. The others seemed somewhat less enthused.
“That’s it?” Starlight asked. “You’re seriously telling me a Princess lives in this backwater little hovel?”
As we traveled, I’d told Starlight some of what I knew of the world, and though she still seemed suspicious of my tale, she listened to it all intently. She was probably running her thoughts at full-speed trying to find holes in the things I said, but she hadn’t found any so far if she was.
“Well, she’s not a Princess yet,” I said.
“And she never will be,” Trixie said, “not if I have anything to say about it.”
“Trixie, come on,” I said. “You realize how that sounds, right?”
Trixie shot me an exaggeratedly insulted look. “Really, do you have no faith in me?”
“It did kind of sound like you wanted to take her out,” Starlight said.
“I would never!” Trixie huffed. “I simply meant that the position would be going to the rightful pony—me.”
“We’ll see,” I said. I waved them along, and we resumed our trek, aiming to skirt around the edge of Ponyville and to our true goal, the Everfree Forest. “Twilight had to do some wild stuff to become a Princess.”
“And even if you did manage it, they would never let you rule,” Starlight added. “They’d have to change the whole terminology.”
Trixie’s face went red, but I cut in quickly before she could escalate things further. “Seriously, you two,” I said, “can’t you at least try to get along?We’re the Elements of Harmony, remember? We’re supposed to be friends! There’s no way Starlight will be able to use one if you two hate each other.”
“Tell that to her, not to me,” Trixie said. “I’ve done nothing but defend myself.”
“Oh, please. I’m not going to blind myself to the facts in front of my face just to appease some prissy little magician who—”
I groaned. I really needed to learn to stop trying to mediate between them. I just needed to tune them out and get to the castle.
…
“—some wannabe cult leader who—”
…
“—great and powerful pain in everypony’s—”
…
“—least I have friends, unlike—”
“ENOUGH!” I shouted and stomped my hoof. The Element wrapped around my leg made a loud clang, and it brought the other two to a halt as they turned to stare at me. “I’m done! I can’t listen to any more of this. You can tell Nightmare Moon that she can come and get me once she’s gotten you two far away from each other.”
With that, and one final glare to the both of them, I turned and stomped into Ponyville. The last thing I heard before I got out of earshot was a very faint, “You see what you did now?”
I didn’t have anywhere specific to go. I just walked aimlessly, cooling my head, glancing absentmindedly at the shops and markets I passed by without really seeing anything. I was too frustrated, too sick of hearing other ponies speak, and all I could really think to do was just walk and walk until my head was clear of thoughts.
I was doing a decent job at it, too, until I was interrupted.
“Oh, hello, Starfall!”
I jumped at the sound of somepony suddenly addressing me. I turned to see Rarity, a pleasant smile on her face. Beside her was Spike, carrying a heavy basket of fabrics that looked like they’d just been purchased, and based on the quantity, it looked like she may well have purchased some pony’s entire stock. Spike, seeing that Rarity had stopped, set the basket down with a sigh of relief and waved at me.
“Oh, hi, Rarity,” I said. “And hi to you, too, Spike. What are you two up to?”
“Oh, just some light afternoon shopping,” Rarity said, “you know how it is. You really never know what you may find, and today I saw these lovely textiles that I simply had to have. I do generally order my materials from elsewhere, but some company in a big metropolis can never quite capture the rugged earnestness of hoof-crafted, small town products. Hmm, speaking of which…” She leaned to the side and looked me over briefly. “Starfall, dearie, would you like to come model for me? I’ve had a wonderful idea for a whole new line of suits for the less… Femininely inclined mares out there, and—oh, not that I’m making any assumptions about you, of course, but I do think you would look positively handsome in a good suit. I was going to petition Rainbow Dash to model, and I’m sure I still will, but it would be quite nice to have somepony a tidbit more average. Rainbow Dash is just such an outlier, so lean and lanky, and oh, don’t even get me started on Applejack.”
“Psst… Rarity,” Spike whispered, tapping her gently on the side.
“Hm? What is it, Spikey?”
“You need to actually let her talk if you want her to answer your question, you know,” Spike told her.
“Oh!” A light blush tinged Rarity’s cheeks, and she chuckled softly. “Do pardon me, I can get awfully carried away sometimes.”
“No, it’s no problem,” I said. Listening to her had actually helped to clear my head quite a bit, so I was able to give her a genuine smile, which seemed to put her at ease. “As far as modeling, umm, I suppose I could give it a try sometime? I’ve never done it before, though, so I can’t really promise anything.”
“Oh, nonsense, you’ll be perfect. Come, come, let me show you to the boutique!”
“Wh—Right now?” Rarity was suddenly beside me, pushing me gently down the road that apparently led to her home.
“Well, I see no reason why not, unless you had other plans? I certainly couldn’t take you from anypony else,” Rarity said, “but dawdling gets us nowhere in life!”
“I mean, I guess I don’t have other plans, but…” I searched and searched for excuses, but couldn’t find anything plausible.
Before I knew it, Rarity had ushered me into her home, made me tea, and pulled out box after box of supplies and materials. She had me up on her stage in a flash, and started swirling measuring tapes and needles and strips of fabric all through the air around us as she prepared.
As I stood there, getting progressively dizzier, Spike suddenly spoke up from nearby. “Oh, I just thought of something! Rarity, would you mind if I went and got Twilight?”
Rarity gave him an appraising look. “Whatever for? Not that I’m ever not thrilled to see her, it just seems an odd thought to have.”
“Well, she’s been wanting to talk to Starfall for a while now,” Spike explained. “Something about a zebra? I didn’t really get it, but she made it sound important.”
I tensed up. There were very few things I could think of that Twilight would want to talk to me about, and even less that involved a zebra. Could it be that she—OW!
I yelped, and Rarity tsked at me as she pulled back the needle she’s accidentally pricked me with. “Now, Starfall, you really must be more still. I wouldn’t want to hurt you!” She put the needle away, along with her other supplies, and briefly hopped off the stage. “As for your suggestion, Spike, it sounds like a wonderful idea. You go and fetch her, and I’ll prepare some more tea. Perhaps even some snacks. Starfall, do you like—”
I heard Rarity talking to me, but I could only nod numbly in reply. I was too busy freaking out about what Twilight could possibly want to talk about.
Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.