Twilight Sparkle looked down at the dress she had worn last night at the Grand Galloping Gala. The palace staff had cleaned away the smudges of cake, the smell of sweat, even the sprinkles and the coffee stain it got at Donut Joe’s. The blue fabric shimmered in the afternoon sun and the stars sewn in it reflected the light that shone through her windows all over the bedroom. This was her dress …
… except, it wasn’t, it was still Rarity’s dress. The fashionista had made them for her friends to wear, but she had not actually given them away, had she? And so Twilight folded the garment, carefully put it in her saddlebags and called to Spike that she would be at the Carousel Boutique before she walked out.
The shop’s door bell jingled happily as always, and Rarity’s smile lit up even more as she saw her friend walk in. To Twilights surprise all her friends were here already. “Hello,” she greeted them, and all of them waved and greeted her back. Apparently they had all arrived within the last five minutes.
Rarity got up from her couch to get even more cushions from the back for her guests. Twilight tried and used the moment to talk to her. “Rarity, I’m here about my ... your ... the dress, you see …”
She stopped as she heard Rarity giggle, “Just go back to the main room, dear. We can talk about the dresses there.”
Stumped Twilight turned and walked back to her other friends. Now she noticed that they had bags with them, too. Rarity returned with a whole stack of pillows and cushions and sat back on her couch. “Now, I take it you all are here about your dresses, yes?”
“Yeah, I can’t store this in my cloudhouse, -”
“One of my animal friends might nest in it, -”
“I could get flour or stuff on it in the Corner, -”
“I really just can’t accept such a gift, Rarity, -”
they all started at the same time, and ended together, “- could you take it back and store it in your closets?”
Rarity grinned a knowing grin, “We can’t have that Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie, of course you can put it in one of my closets, no problem at all. Now Applejack, how do you suggest I take something back that I have made especially for you? It’s not like I could sell it to any of my other customers, can I?”
Applejack shook her head and opened her bags. In her muzzle she held a little purse and in her hooves a big apple cake. “I’ll pay you in monthly installments, if that’s right with you. And this one is made with the best Apple family fruits and Granny Smith’s secret recipe.”
“Installments? I can’t believe you Applejack,” Rarity janked the little bag from her friend and dropped it back into the saddlebags, “that dress was a gift for you and only you. I’ll gladly take the cake though.” It floated from Applejack’s hooves. “Just let me get some plates first.” Then she noticed the look on Twilight Sparkles face. “What is it dear?”
The librarians eyes darted all over the place, “I’d like to keep the dress. But now I’m no longer sure if I dare to ask,” she finally confessed.
Rarity giggled again, like she had done before. She simply walked out and returned with a small stack of plates. The cake was divided and an equal share given to every pony. Rarity smiled to her guests. “Twilight, in a way these dresses, and all the other gifts I give and receive, are my way to gauge what I did with the last year since you came to Ponyville, and in an extend with my life.”
Rainbow Dash snorted a laugh, “I get that! But for me it’s the stunts and tricks I learned.” She looked at Fluttershy and grinned as if to say, top that.
Fluttershy mumbled, “Uhm, animals, especially baby animals. They are so cute. One could make a calendar with them.”
Now in the swing of things Applejack shared too. “The year at Sweet Apple Acres is measured with the work we do and the yield of our harvests.”
Twilight lifted a scroll from her other bag. “My list of letters to the Princess.”
Rainbow Dash smirked, “Hm, I thought it would be the list of books you read.”
The librarian flushed red under her coat and produced another scroll multiple times the size of the letter-list from her bag. “But this is just last month,” she added sheepishly. Her friends just smiled at her awkwardness, and finally Twilight laughed about it too.
Then Pinkie Pie swallowed her last bite of cake. “But you girls all forget the most important one,” she said.
“The smiles of ponies and their laughter?” Fluttershy asked in an unusual display of eagerness.
“No silly, those are important too, but the most important way to think about your life will get you through the good and the bad too. It’s the time you spend with your family, your loved ones,” she drew the other ponies close in a group hug, ”and your friends!”