//------------------------------//
// Affluent 
// Story: Rich In Dollars, Poor In Sanity 
// by SilverNotes 
//------------------------------//

"Y'know, there's somethin' I've been wonderin' 'bout, an' was thinkin' you might know the answer, Sunset."

Six girls had squeezed themselves around a table at Sugarcube Corner, each with a milkshake and a cupcake larger than their fist with about twice as much frosting and sprinkles than was necessary. Sunset had been undergoing calculations in her head on how best to eat the pastry when the question was directed at her, and she gladly took the opportunity to set it down and turn her attention on the asker. "What's up, Applejack?"

"Me preguntaba que era la amistad..."

"Hasta que su magia me quisierón dar..."

Applejack, for her part, sipped at her milkshake, the cupcake likewise untouched. "Well, y'see, when Twilight--the other Twilight--came through that there portal and got dumped right in front of the school... she had a lil trouble with the whole 'two legs' thing an' didn't know what t' do with herself with computers, but one thing she didn't seem t' have a problem with was language." She toyed with the straw between her fingertips. "She could understand us, an' we could understand her."

"Heeeey, you're right!" Rainbow Dash had leaped right into eating the dessert, and when her head jerked up, her face was plastered in multi-coloured sprinkles. "I never thought about that. She has a local accent and everything."

"An' when there was the whole thing with Wallflower, she erased your memory up t' before you came here. An' the first words outta your mouth when you were callin' for help, not knowin' where or what y'were, were still ones we could understand."

"That's a very good point," Rarity piped up from her efforts to scrape off the excess icing to make the cupcake into something she could bite and actually get some of the cake itself. "The only real change was that you used the word 'somepony.' With the context of what your previous form is like... one could be forgiven for thinking you would start neighing at us instead."

"I mean... we don't... we're not exactly like the ponies here and our vocalization is a bit more complex than..." Sunset visibly blushed. "But you have a point. I... guess I didn't think too hard about the lack of language barrier when I was dealing with... everything else."

Applejack shrugged. "Neither did I. Figured it was jus' a quirk o' how goin' from there t' here works. The priority is blendin' in, so here's free language knowledge t' go with the transformation. But after what we all jus' went through, it's kinda beggin' the question..."

"Mi aerodeslizador está llena de anguilas!"

"Why do the sock puppets speak Spanish?" Sunset offered.

"Of why do the sock puppets speak Spanish."

"Sorry, I don't have a clue." She shrugged. "I'm just glad Pinkie knows it too."

The whole table looked over, to where Pinkie Pie was in spirited conversation with a pink sock puppet that had googly eyes, a small black moustache, and an sombrero perched on top of its head. The sock part hovered at roughly waist-height, and where the fabric ended and one would normally expect to see an arm, there was instead open air. 

Said air did occasionally ripple and warp, but staring at it too long had already rapidly proven to cause migraines. Best to just... not question too much.

"They do seem to be awfully nice, once you get used to them." Fluttershy offered her cupcake to a yellow puppet who had wandered close, and didn't flinch at the row of teeth made of felt that were revealed when it opened its mouth to devour the sweet treat. Precisely where the food had just gone and how was another thing best not to question. "I'm sure it won't be hard to find people willing to give them a place to stay until the portal opens again."

"Yeah!" Rainbow grinned at a blue puppet who'd floated up next to her. "Me and Senorita Tocino are already best buds, right?" The two proceeded to share a friendly fist bump. Headbutt? Something like that.

Twilight hadn't touched her milkshake or her cupcake, sitting slouched in her seat. "I guess you guys did pretty well without me..."

"Oh, don't look so put-out, darling." Her cupcake properly shaved down, Rarity finally took a bite, not noticing that the puppet who had eaten Fluttershy's cupcake was now eyeing the excess frosting; the subtle ominous music as it "swam" through the air and slowly opened its mouth similarly went unnoticed. "This was hardly a big emergency. If there were a villain involved, I'm certain your heroically swooping in to help us despite your fears of exposing your identity would have been perfectly timed."

Fluttershy smiled gently. "I really liked the part of your speech where you said that no matter how afraid you were, we're you're friends, and you'll always back us up. That was very inspiring for something you didn't have much time to rehearse."

"Thanks..." She sighed. "Still, all's well that ends well, right?"

"Twilight Sparkle?"

"Uh, that's..." She turned, spotted the pair of middle schoolers walking toward the table. "Me...?"

The one of the two with a tiara-shaped hairclip revealed herself to be the one who'd spoken as she went on. "It's come to my Daddy's attention that you've recently become one of the nouve riche."

Applejack blinked. "...The what now?"

Rarity rolled her eyes slightly. "It means 'new rich.'"

"Then why don't they jus' say that."

The girl ignored the comment entirely, pulling out a piece of paper and holding it between two fingers. "He'd like to invite you to a dinner party my family is putting on next week." She offered it to Twilight, and the moment she took it, she and her friend turned on their heels with a simple, "See you there."

Rainbow grinned, pumping her fist in the air. "Sweet! Free dinner at the Rich house--aaaaand she's under the table."

"No no no no no..." The speed at which Twilight had gotten under the table and assumed the fetal position might have even broken one of Rainbow's records, but she was in no position to marvel at her achievement. "My friends may not be treating me differently, but I don't want complete strangers trying to... schmooze either!" She started to rock back and forth. "It was just a side project... I don't want to jump to a whole different social class..."

"Oh dear..." Rarity slowly got beneath the table with her, valiantly keeping her flinching over the cleanliness of the floors to a minimum. "Now now, don't get so wound up. It's just a single party." She placed her hand on her shoulder gently. "If you like, I can be your plus one and come along, for moral support."

A snort came from above them. "An' you'd have no extra motives for wantin' t' go t' a fancy party."

"Shush." Rarity smiled gently. "I can even help carefully steer away anyone trying to convince you to make unwise investments, or date their son or daughter."

Twilight took several breaths, and then slowly smiled back. "Thanks Rarity."

"I have good news!" Pinkie's hands slamming onto the table was enough to have several milkshakes jump. "Senior Huevos says that the portal should open again in a few weeks, according to the legends he was told when he was a little finger puppet." She grinned around the table, before leaning down to also grin beneath it. "What'd I miss?"

Rainbow made a small tch sound as she went to sip her milkshake. "Twilight got invited to a rich people party and started to freak out aga--"

All further words were drowned out by the resulting GASP.

"A PARTY?!"