//------------------------------// // Ch. 6 - Success is a Rarity // Story: Different Events // by Moonlight Bloom //------------------------------// Spike’s eyelids opened slightly, then fell back shut at the strain of daylight shining directly in through open curtains. After a minute of repeatedly opening his eyes to adjust, he sat up and looked around the room for Rarity. He spotted her standing in front of a wall-mounted full-body mirror, gently stroking her mane with a brush. “Morning Rarity,” he said, rubbing his still tired eyes. Her eyes widened slightly as she paused mid-brush. She turned to look at him. “Good morning Spike.” He looked down at the alarm clock on her nightstand. “Wow, nine thirty already?” “Well, we were up talking in bed until one in the morning.” Spike cracked his neck. “Feeling any better?” “Mm-hmm. After Twilight left us alone, you just being there while I cried...and for the rest of the night...it felt comforting.” “Well that’s what I’m here for!” Heading downstairs to the breakfast nook, they found Cookie messily prepping food on the stove, and Sweetie asleep in a high-chair. Turning around to grab an ingredient, Cookie spotted the two. “Well now, look who’s finally up!” she cheerfully welcomed. “I was about ta go upstairs to tell you two that dinner’s ready.” Spike blinked. “Dinner? Wow, I guess we did sleep awhile. Twilight would freak if she knew you didn’t keep your alarm clock wound,” he teased, winking at Rarity as he nudged her slightly. Rarity rolled her eyes, “Ha-ha… And good morning to you to, Mom.” Spike pulled out a chair for her. “So, what’s for breakfast?” he asked. “Only Rarity’s favorite; a celery and mushroom omelet!” Cookie replied, levitating over a full plate for each of them. Rarity’s eyes went a little wide in surprise. “Oh, thanks Mom.” She picked up her fork and began eating. Cookie gently lifted Sweetie out of the high-chair. “Guess somepony needs to lie down for a nap,” she said before walking out of the room. Spike picked up his fork, jammed it into the omelet, stuck the whole thing in in his mouth, chewed, and then swallowed. “Oh yeah, that tastes gr-*BURP*-eat.” A small flame escaped his mouth. He tensed and looked over at Rarity. Her head was tilted away slightly as she stared back with a minorly annoyed and uneasy expression. “Heh, sorry...” A few awkward seconds passed as he looked back down at his plate. “...So, what do you wanna do today?” Rarity paused mid-chew. She put a hoof to her chin, then resumed and swallowed. “I’m not really sure. Usually, I try and make some pieces of clothing on summer break, but I’m drawing a bit of a blank on what I could possibly create.” Spike thought for a moment. “Well, you seemed pretty horrified over that sweater Twilight was wearing; why not make her one with the Rarity standard of fabulosity?” he suggested, eyebrow raised and grinning as he swung a fisted claw in a hook motion. Rarity smirked. “I suppose that’s not a terrible idea,” she giggled. “But I’m going to need to gather some fabric that truly complements her colors.” Spike hopped out of his chair and pointed towards the living room. “To the fabric store then!” he boomed, marching forward. “Um, Spike?” he heard some distance behind him as he stopped halfway to the front door. He peeked back into the kitchen. “I’d like to finish my omelet first,” Rarity said, still seated in the breakfast nook, fork in her aura. “Oh, right,” Spike chuckled, nervously. Spike huffed as he pumped the pedals on the sewing machine, Rarity diligently monitoring her work, making even the tiniest of adjustments to the fabric’s position to ensure the perfect stitch. As he had several times before, Spike suddenly felt the pedal stop movement as Rarity halted it with her magic. He looked up to see her wipe away a single droplet of sweat that was running down her face. “Spike...I think we’re done,” she said, snipping the thread and levitating the sweater off the table and into the air, continuing to inspect it. The sweater was midnight blue, a little more vibrant than Twilight’s mane. Around the edges were sequences of white diamond shapes, and tying it all together in the center was a recreation of Twilight’s cutie mark. “It looks great Rarity; Twi’s gonna love it!” Rarity’s eyes narrowed and her mouth twisted. “I suppose...” she sighed. “What’s wrong?” “There’s just something...missing. Something to make it truly fabulous.” As soon as Rarity had finished her sentence, blue light began emanating and sparking from her horn, causing the sweater to drop straight to the floor as she winced slightly. “Oh not this again!” she whined. Seeing her ready to snuff it out, Spike quickly grabbed her hoof and held it back. “Wait! Maybe we should follow it; one more time?” “But Spike, we tried following it all of yesterday and it only led to some dingy, unpolished gemstones!” “That was before it had a good night’s rest!” Spike noted. “Besides, maybe this could really give Twilight’s sweater that extra bit of fabulosity you’re looking for!” Rarity rolled her eyes. “Fine. One more time,” she said, poking her hoof into his chest to punctuate. With that, she grabbed a homemade knap-pouch, and the two headed downstairs – Rarity walking a little wobbly due to her horn pulling at her. Informing Cookie of where they were headed, they ran to the front door. Bowing, Spike grasped the handle and opened it for Rarity. “Thank you, Sir Spike!” she giggled, before dashing forward at the tug of her horn and– *KLUNCK* –headbutting another filly standing out on the front porch. “ACK! OW!” she yelped, staggering backwards slightly as her horn fizzled out. Spike jumped slightly, taken off guard. “Rarity are you okay!?” he asked, running around the door to her as she rubbed her muzzle and forehead. “Sweet Celestia, ya think the whole world’s just gonna walk outta your way, don’t ya?” another voice groaned. Both looked up. “Oh, hey Applejack!” Spike greeted, waving his claw. “Oh, you” Rarity said flatly, giving the other filly an unamused stare. “Everything okay?” Cookie asked, peeking out from the doorway to the kitchen. Everyone looked back. “If you call headbutting the thickest skull in town ‘okay’,” Rarity groaned, rolling her eyes. “Alrighty; let me know if any of ya need some ice!” Spike found himself turned back around by Applejack. “Where’ve ya been, Spike?” she asked, looking directly into his eyes. “You were gone all night! Ya missed dinner and breakfast, and we haven’t played any of that O&O game since two nights ago!” “Oh, sorry Applejack, but I’ve been helping Rarity! She’s making a new sweater for Twilight, and we were about to go out looking for some gems to add onto it, except...well...” Applejack’s eyebrows were dipped in disappointment. “–Except I nearly got my skull split in two,” Rarity muttered. Applejack’s eyebrows furrowed as she peeked around Spike’s head. “Now hold on a minute ya crybaby! That wasn’t–“ “Hey, hey, calm down girls!” Spike interrupted. “It was just an accident.” He looked at Applejack specifically. “What brought you over, by the way?” Applejack broke eye contact. “Well, uh, Twi wanted me ta give ya this letter,” she said, pulling an envelope out of a little leather knap-pouch of her own. “Oh, uh, thanks,” Spike said, taking the letter. He stepped into the secondary living-room and opened it. Dear Spike, I’m heading to Rockville to go help Pinkie. Stay with Rarity; I know you’ll do a better job helping her than I could. I’ll try to be back as soon as I can, but if I’m not back in two days, make a plan of how to help Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie, and the other one on your own. -Twilight He folded up the letter and returned it to its envelope to hide or dispose of later. “What’d it say?” Applejack asked as Spike turned around. “Nothing important,” he replied. “Ready to go, Rarity?” “Please. The longer I’m standing next to her the more I feel like something’s going to break around me,” Rarity jeered, pointing an accusatory hoof at Applejack. Spike snapped his claws. “Hey! That just gave me an idea! C’mon Rarity!” he exclaimed, grabbing her foreleg. “Oka–WOAH!” she yelped, getting dragged out the door. Applejack stood frozen in surprise as the two ran past her. Quickly, she shook her head and ran after them. “Hey wait!” Catching pace, she looked over at Spike “What about me? I got all my chores done early so we could do stuff together!” Spike looked over at her. “Hey, don’t worry Applejack, I’ll be back by dinner! Then you, Mac, and me can all play some more O&O afterward!” Applejack stared for a moment before muttering, “Fine.” She looked down as her pace slowed. “See ya later!” Spike called back. “...See ya later,” Applejack sighed, before turning and walking the opposite way. Finally reaching the hills from yesterday, the two paused to catch their breaths. “So...where’s your horn want us to go first?” Spike asked. Rarity took a few more breaths before responding. “It...*gasp* -fizzled out when I...*pant* -bumped into Applejack...” Spike looked around at the surrounding area. “That’s...gonna be a problem...” Making their way further into the rocky area, Spike spotted a small pile of rocks with rubies embedded within them. “Hey, here’s some rubies from yesterday, would these work if they were polished?” Rarity wrinkled her muzzle as she leaned her head back slightly. “Absolutely not! While those would be absolutely beautiful for this fall outfit idea I’ve had, they’d clash horribly with Twilight’s sweater! Sapphires or amethysts would work much better!” With that, Rarity’s horn sparked up once again. Spike dropped the rubies he was holding. “Rarity, your horn!” “W-woah!” she exclaimed, her head being tugged to the side. They ran a couple dozen feet away, reaching a collection of loose rocks. Rarity’s head was dipping at the pull of her horn. “R-right here! I think it’s saying there’s some right here!” “On it!” Spike replied, confidently, taking the spaded tip of his tail and beginning to shovel the rocks towards Rarity, who started inspecting them. “Oh my stars!” Rarity exclaimed, turning turned a rock over in her aura. “Sapphires and amethysts! My horn led us to exactly what I was thinking about!” Rarity shifted her gaze up and into the distance. “Maybe my magic really is something special.” “Here’s a good one!” Spike said, pulling a heavily speckled rock out from the pile. He made eye contact with Rarity. “You want the best looking gems for Twi’s sweater; then you’ve got it!” He popped the rock in his mouth, then bit down, cracking it into much smaller pieces. Spitting the debris back into his claw, he sorted the gems from the stone, after which he took the gems one-by-one and ran each side against the edge of his teeth, scraping away the cloudy outer layer. Once he was finished, he presented Rarity with a clawful of crystal-clear sapphires and amethysts. Rarity’s eyes went wide with amazement, and she immediately grabbed them up in her magic. “Spike! These look magnificent! Can you do more? These are just too good not to add to Twilight’s sweater!” “You bet!” Spike saluted, beginning to rummage through the rocks for more gems. After an hour of digging and “polishing”, the two dumped their spoils into Rarity’s knap-bag and headed back. Once there, Rarity got right to work picking and pre-placing gems on the sweater at key points in the design pattern: amethysts at the points where each diamond shape met, and sapphires in the centers of them. All the while, Spike desperately resisted the urge to snag a gem to snack on. Eventually, once she had made up her mind on how everything would go together, Rarity began the process of fastening them to the sweater. When all was said and done, she held up her work and inspected it. Spike watched her heavily scrutinize the sweater for nearly a minute, at which point he spoke up. “Something wrong, Rarity?” She continued to stare at the sweater as she responded. “...Honestly, no. I can’t seem to really find much wrong with this. There’s minor things here or there, but as a whole...I’ve never felt like a piece I’ve worked on has been this complete before. It just feels...” “Fabulous?” She looked at him and lowered her eyebrows as a smirk crossed her face. “Yes. Fabulous,” she repeated. With that, a bright light began emanating from the side of each of her hips. “Rarity, look!” Spike exclaimed, pointing at the back half of her. She cranked her head around to look, her eyes and mouth going wide in awe. The light got even brighter as it flashed, leaving behind three blue diamonds as it faded away. Rarity simply stared for several seconds in shock. “I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!” she finally squealed, jumping up and down in glee. She grabbed Spike and stared directly into his eyes, snout-to-snout. “I GOT MY CUTIE MARK, SPIKE!” Tossing the sweater aside on the bed, she dashed out of the room, squeal-giggling in delight. Spike quickly bolted to follow her. Coming down the stairs, Rarity spotted her dad, Hondo, walking in the door, and ran up to him. “Dad! Dad!” she exclaimed. “I G–*MFF*!” She was cut off by a hoof to her mouth. “Just a moment, Rarity; you’re about to see the best ball I’ve ever ordered for the equipment store!” He pulled a bowling ball out of a very large set of saddlebags and loosely tossed it into the air. “Try and catch this!” Rarity yelped and held her foreleg over her head as she turned her face away. “I’LL SAVE YOU, RARITY!!!” Spike yelled, jumping up and diving into the ball. She looked up in surprise. Spike soared as he grabbed the ball with his entire body...only to slam into Hondo’s meaty flanks, bouncing right off of them and hitting the floor, which sent him rolling backwards like the bowling ball he clutched. Colliding with the stairs, Spike’s body released the ball and splayed out all over. Rarity cringed as she witnessed the event. “Spike, are you okay?!” she asked after motion had ceased. “Only if you are!” Spike weakly uttered as he dizzily raised his thumb. Hondo levitated the bowling ball back over. “Scare ya?” he asked, throwing it at the floor, which revealed it to bounce like a dodgeball. “Prank bowling ball! Ponies won’t know what hit ‘em – literally!” Rarity scrunched her face slightly in confusion. “So what did ya wanna tell me, Rarity?” he asked. A smile started to creep back on Rarity’s face. “I got my cutie mark,” she said as plainly as she could, turning to the side for her dad to see. “Jumpin’ tunafish! Why didn’t ya say something!?” he exclaimed as his face lit up. However, it vanished almost immediately as it went pensive while he rubbed his hoof on his chin. “Your mom know about this?” he asked. Rarity shook her head. “C’mon,” he said, smirking and lifting Rarity onto his back. “We’ll act like it didn’t happen and see if she notices.” Rarity giggled. “Sound good, Spike?” he asked. “Uh-huh!” the dragon replied, weakly, attempting to use the banister for the stairs to pull himself back up. “Now what are you two all excited about?” Cookie asked, as the three walked into the kitchen. “Nothing,” Rarity replied, doing a poor job at holding back a grin. “Well I know I heard you happy about something upstairs, and your dad was certainly excited about something...” “Aw, she was just tellin’ me how much she likes this bowling ball I left upstairs for her!” Hondo replied, picking it up once again. “Catch!” he yelled, tossing it towards his wife. Cookie’s eyes went wide as she ducked for the incoming projectile. While she didn’t get hit, the ball now landed in an open saucepan of tomato sauce, splashing it all over the kitchen and them. Licking off some of the sauce from around her lips, Cookie coldly stared at Hondo. “...Whoops,” he chuckled nervously, beginning to step towards a closet door. “Ugh, come on Dad! I just took a bath last night!” Rarity whined, looking over her red-splattered coat. “I can get it!” Spike volunteered, stepping over to Rarity and beginning to lick the sauce off her cheek with a slobbery tongue. “*Eugh*! Spike, please!” she exclaimed, shoving him away and recoiling as her face contorted in disgust. “I’ve got it,” Cookie said, wetting a dish rag and beginning to wipe the sauce spatters off Rarity’s face. As soon as she turned Rarity to the side though, her face turned to shock as her aura sputtered out and dropped the dish rag. “Rarity! Y-you...” Rarity grinned from ear-to-ear as she looked at her mom. “I got my cutie mark! –WOAH!” She was taken off-guard by a sudden hug from her mother. “Oooh! I knew you’d find your talent one of these days! How’d it happen?” Cookie asked, letting go of Rarity and holding her in front, face-to-face. “Yeah, ya never said,” Hondo noted, walking back into the center of the kitchen with a mop. “Well, you know how my horn’s been acting up? It turns out I can locate gemstones!” Shock struck Cookie’s face again. “You’re kidding!” Rarity shook her head. “Nope! Spike and I even brought some back to prove it!” “So ya gonna become a gem miner?” Hondo asked. Rarity’s eyebrows lowered. “Very funny, Dad. But my talent isn’t just finding gems though...” She dashed upstairs and came back down with the sweater. “Ta-da!” Both Hondo and Cookie paused their cleanup and stared at it in awe. “Rarity, it’s beautiful!” Cookie complimented. “You could sell that for a couple hundred bits!” Hondo stated. “Actually,” Rarity began, “I...kinda made it as a gift for Twilight.” Cookie smiled. “Why that’s awfully sweet of you, Rarity. I’m sure Twilight will love it.” “O-of course, I couldn’t have made this fabulous sweater all on my own...” she said, turning to look over at Spike. “Spike proved a wonderful assistant...and he was the one who really pushed me to give the whole gem-finding thing a try.” She walked up to him. “Honestly Spike, I don’t think I would’ve gotten my cutie mark without your help.” “Ah, don’t mention it,” Spike replied, waving his claw at her and blushing slightly. “Um, Spike, if it’s alright...I-I’d like to do something special to thank you.” Spike’s mind suddenly shut down all other operations and went full-focus on Rarity. “Huh?” he asked, unsure if he was hearing things right. “I said I want to do something special to thank you, Spike. Anything you want.” His heart was now pounding in his chest. Rarity. She wanted. To do something special. For him. “U-uh...I...uh...” he stumbled for words. “How’sADinnerDateSound?” he blurted out. Rarity blinked as she raised an eyebrow. “C..come again?” Spike took a breath and swallowed a lump in his throat before repeating, at a much more understandable speed. “H-How about a dinner...out...j-just the two of us.” Rarity pondered it for a moment. “I don’t see why not; it sounds rather pleasant.” “Great!” Spike replied, his nerves starting to calm slightly. “Vine Garden Grill tomorrow night?” “It’s a date,” Rarity agreed. “Alright!” Hondo called out. “Who wants spaghetti and dodgeball?” Both Spike and Rarity looked at each-other and giggled slightly. “And so,” Spike began, “The ursa minor lets Garbuncle go as it runs off with the 40 pounds of honey.” Spike was seated on top of Mac’s bed at the hoofboard, with Little Mac and Applejack opposite him up near the pillows, and a homemade O&O set placed in the center. “An’ you two thought I was crazy fer buyin’ those 40 pounds!” Applejack gloated, with a smug smirk on her face as she crossed her hooves. “Now let’s see if Garbuncle got any injuries from all that,” Spike said, picking up and rolling their set of four six-sided dice for his own turn. The result was a 21, effectively a 17 in their 4-24 dice setup. “Nice, only a few scratches and bruises!” He looked to Applejack. “Why thank you, strange mare” Spike responded. “But do te–“ “Spike, while you an’ Applejack are blabberin’ over my unconscious body, I’m gonna go grab some snacks,” Mac groaned. “Sure, go ahead!” Spike responded, watching Mac hop off the bed and head for the door. “Bring back some apple pie!” he called out. “Me too!” Applejack added. He left. The other two turned back to the board. “So, Spike,” Applejack spoke, avoiding eye contact, “what were ya spendin’ all that time at Rarity’s for?” Spike looked up. “Huh? Oh, we were making that sweater for Twilight, remember?” “Right...” Her eyes darted back and forth as she thought. They stopped and she looked up at him. “But what were y’all doin’ yesterday?” she questioned, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Well we started looking for gemstones yesterday – turns out Rarity can find them with her magic – but all we kept getting was really rough and unpolished ones, so by the end of the day Rarity was kinda feeling bummed out about the whole thing. Twilight left after that, but I stayed; all she wanted to do was cry for a while with me there to comfort her – kinda like you that first night we showed up!” Applejack’s jaw tensed slightly as her eyes widened while looking down at the bed. Her eyes alone shifted to Spike once again. “Oh really?” she gritted. “Yep; I even went back to her house to spend the night with her! We had dinner, played some board games, stayed up late talking – especially after all that ice cream finally got through her...” Spike chuckled. “Man, it really was like that night with you!” Applejack began taking deeper breaths, and started to press her forehooves into the mattress. “And even though we found more mediocre gemstones today, I realized I could just scrape the bad outer parts off with my teeth! So we spent some time collecting a whole bunch – with a few extra that she let me snack on – and then we went back to her house and added the gems to the sweater, and that’s when she got her cutie mark! All thanks to yours truly!” “Great, great...” Applejack gritted, making zero eye contact. “Oh! And that’s not even the best part!” Applejack’s eyebrows furrowed as she glared down at the bedsheets. “It’s not?” she questioned. “Nope! The best part is that Rarity and I are having dinner together at the Vine Garden Grill tomorrow!” Applejack’s eyes went wide again as entire mind and body tensely locked up, save her left eye, which twitched slightly. A false grin of gritted teeth was forced upon her face. “That’s...great, Spike...” she seethed, her hooves pressing hard into the mattress. “Apple pie with ice-cream!” Mac declared, bringing in two plates of the aforementioned item, along with a bag of potato chips. “Hey, thanks Mac, I’ve been dying for another slice of it!” he picked the whole thing up and took a large bite out of it, leaving a ring of apple and vanilla ice cream on his face. Applejack just took a bite out of the vanilla scoop. Spike swallowed. “Now, where were we? Oh yeah! ‘My sincerest gratitude for saving me, lone traveler. Now I must ask, what is your name?” Mac rolled his eyes. “Really!? Y’all got nowhere with this while I was gone?” Applejack swallowed her bite and took a deep breath. She looked back up at Spike as the pressure on the mattress decreased slightly. “I’m Golden Sentinel,” she spoke, gesturing a hoof towards herself. “Daughter of the legendary Earthen warrior, Bright Sentinel, who defended against the timberwolf invasion to his death! And you?” Spike gave a half-bow from his seated position. “I am Garbuncle, the great wizard who has traveled far and wide throughout Spiketopia! But in spite of my prestige, there must be something I can to do repay you for saving me.” “Well, I don’t really need much, but I suppose there is a little gesture of gratitude I wouldn’t mind getting from a good-lookin’ wizard like you,” Applejack stated, closing her eyes and leaning forward over the board, pursing her lips slightly. “If you so wish,” Spike replied, nodding his head once. Applejack felt one of Spike’s arms go around her neck and pull her towards him. The feeling of scaly knuckles rubbing against the top of her scalp snapped her eyes back open. He let go. “If thee should ever be in need of a noogie again, than I shall certainly oblige!” Applejack just stared for a moment. “Nice ta know...” she groaned, leaning back against a pillow. The next morning, a few hundred miles away, a small train continued its journey in the northeast direction. “Clicka-clacka! Clicka-clacka! Clicka-clacka!” Pinkie chanted, staring out the window of the coach. She turned to Maud, who was seated to the left of her. “Soooo, Maud, what do you think the rocks are gonna be like when we get there?” “Mostly igneous, especially of volcanic varieties; the Canterlot Mountains were all formed from volcanic activity due to a hot-spot under the North Equestrian plate,” she replied. “It’ll certainly be an interesting area to study.” Across the isle, Twilight was scribbling away in a notebook. Yesterday evening she had re-checked the seven year old photo of Rainbow’s cutie mark, finding that where there was once a rainbow lightning bolt, there was now a trio of red, yellow, and blue clouds. While it did naturally worry her about the corrections she still needed to make, she also now had a way to calculate how much time she and Spike had left. “Let’s see...” Twilight quietly spoke to herself, tapping the eraser of her pencil against her chin. “The slide of my acceptance letter and the slide of my cute-ceañera were both changed by the end of the first day. That means that a few hours equals a few weeks at least. But, Rainbow’s photo changed yesterday, and that’s from four years ahead of where we are now. So, if we’ve been here five days, and something from four years ahead changed yesterday...then every day that passes means another year of changes.” Twilight looked up, staring out the window at the passing scenery. She sighed. “And unless Spike managed to help Rarity earn her mark...we’ll only have five and a half days to help her, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and myself...” She took a deep breath. “How am I gonna pull this off?” “Pull what off?” Pinkie asked, suddenly next to Twilight. “That sweater? Did some evil seamstress force it upon you and now you’re cursed to wear it for the rest of your life?!” Twilight looked right in surprise and raised an eyebrow. “Ooh! Or are you trying to throw another party for somepony!? Because I can help with that!” She gave a wide grin. Twilight smiled. “Oh Pinkie!” She ruffled the filly’s perpetually ruffled mane. “There’s just an important task I have to get done in a week, and I’m just not sure I can do it in time.” “Soo...that’s a maybe on the party?” Pinkie attempted to confirm, tilting her head as an eyebrow raised. Twilight thought for a moment, before nodding. “A maybe.” Finally stepping off the train, Twilight could hear the bells of the Ponyville clocktower chiming that it was 1:45 in the afternoon. “Twilight!” She looked over to see Spike and a saddlebag-wearing Rarity running up to her. “Spike!” she called out in return. Immediately he hugged her, which Twilight reciprocated, adding a kiss on the forehead. “So, how’d it go?” he asked. Twilight shifted her gaze upward. “Pretty good, only some minor hiccups.” “WOAH IS THAT YOUR DRAGON FRIEND!?” Pinkie dashed straight up to Spike and began rapidly zipping to different points around him, inspecting every inch. She lifted and felt arms, his legs, his tail; she even pulled one of his spines to the side and watched it spring back into place like a doorstop. “Cool! My name’s Pinkie Pie; you must be Spike!” she grabbed his claw and began vigorously shaking it. “Twilight told me allllllllll about you! Say, since you were hatched, do still call it a ‘birthday’, or do you call it a ‘hatch-day’?” Spike blinked. “Uh...” Pinkie looked back over to the train, and zipped over to Maud upon noticing her walk off. “Ooh! And this my older sister Maud! Say ‘hi’ to Spike, Maud!” She picked up one of Maud’s hooves and manually waved it. “Hey,” Maud greeted, staring at him. “...I’ve never met dragon before.” “And now you have!” Pinkie stated. “How cool is that?!” “Pinkie?” Twilight asked, approaching the two sisters. Pinkie looked up. “Yeah?” “I’m sorry to interrupt you, but why don’t you and Maud go check into Soft Sheets’s inn. I’d like to catch up with Spike before I do some other things today. Pinkie saluted. “Oh, I get it; you need to get ready for that party! Okie-dokie-loki then! C’mon Maud!” she spoke, before wrapping a foreleg around her sister’s neck and heading off. “Uh Twi, why are they in Ponyville?” Spike asked, walking up to Twilight. She looked down at him. “Oh, well, Pinkie pleaded to go with me so she could see Ponyville, but her parents were a little hesitant to let her leave so suddenly. So Maud decided to put some usefulness in the trip by going with her and doing some rock research for the farm.” “Huh. Anyways, Rarity and I have something to show you!” he said, gesturing towards the filly. “Take it away!” Rarity cleared her throat. “Twilight, after I saw your honest mistake of a sweater choice, I knew I had to do something to set things right,” she opened one of the saddlebags and pulled out the new sweater, “so I made you this.” Twilight’s eyes went wide in awe. “Rarity!” she gasped. “It’s beautiful!” She took it in her own aura to get a better look. “And I see you managed to find some nice gems after all!” “All thanks to Spike and his incredible teeth,” she replied, giving a smile and a wink towards him. “You two wait there, I’ll be right back!” Twilight exclaimed, teleporting away, only to return a few seconds later now wearing the sweater Rarity had made. “How do I look?” she asked, turning sideways for Rarity to see. “Fabulous, darling!” Rarity declared, giggling slightly. “And that’s not the only thing!” Spike reminded. “Oh!” Rarity turned sideways. Twilight dropped the old sweater right out of her aura and gasped. “You got your cutie mark!” she shouted, jumping up in excitement. “Uh-uh!” She put a hoof around the filly. “I knew you had it in you!” “All it took was a little encouragement from Spike!” Twilight looked up at the station clock. “Oh it’s almost two! I’m gonna need to get a move on!” She paused and looked down at Rarity. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have a hat that covers a pony’s horn easily, would you?” “No, but I could find you one. Why?” “Oh, uh, no reason worth mentioning...” “Well then; let’s go shopping!” Rarity declared, starting to walk off, Spike following close behind. Twilight paused as she picked the old sweater up off the platform. “Oh don’t bother yourself with this!” Rarity said, taking it in her own aura and stuffing it into her saddlebag. “I’ll burn it later.”