Joe wandered up the path towards Sweet Apple Acres and wondered how much work he’d let himself in for today. He was only obliged to do three mornings a week but this had been an unusual fortnight as normally he might work an hour or two or more into the afternoon to finish things off. But he’d had three days of leaving at close to noon, to see Fluttershy, to help with the model, and because he was going to Canterlot. To make matters worse he’d also had a day where he’d been sent to nap in the barn and had done no chores and the day where he might have made up for that he’d been pet sitting Winona and been sent to check on the Cutie Mark Crusaders. So there could be quite a lot to do today and if he did have to spend the whole day at Sweet Apple Acres then at least he seemed to understand how chores worked and that would be a break from study and finding how much he didn’t understand.
As he got closer he shifted his shoulders and the straps of the backpack. His skin was a bit sensitive today, the swimming had done some good but then he’d overdone the sunbathing a little. When they had returned to sunbathe and dry Rainbow Dash had teased him about if it would be better for her to lie on the scratch or go back to where she had been and risk the Pegasus outline. He’d assured her the scratch wasn’t serious and would soon fade, but that had reminded her of what he’d said about it being less visible if he’d been taking his shirt off more, and that had given her a fine argument for why he should take his shirt off more and to keep him there in the sun a little longer.
So although he was far from sunburnt, and hadn’t peeled in the slightest, he was a little red beneath his shirt, proving Spike was right in thinking that was a colour to note, and when the red faded to a less fresh colour there would be less of a neckline on his chest. Joe looked around and saw Pinkie Pie struggling with something on the barn, though it took a moment to recognise her as even though she was still as pink as ever, and as he’d risked becoming, her mane and tail were hanging straight. This seemed strange, though prettier in some ways, and as Joe started to walk over he wondered why she’d made the change and if it would look nicer if they’d left a bit of the natural curl and bounce rather than making it so dead straight. More important it seemed there was so much work to do today that Applejack had needed to recruit Pinkie Pie.
“Looks like some help would be nice,” Joe commented, stopping below the clambering Mare.
“Joe…” said Pinkie Pie, looking down past her shoulder at him, “help me fix this busted water chute!”
“Sure,” Joe nodded, a little surprised by the tone, “stay where you are.”
He slipped his backpack off and went and fetched a nearby rake. With the length of that and his unusual, for Equestria, height he could reach far enough up to support the end of the water chute in position with the T of the rake head. Pinkie Pie reached out and steered that end into position towards the other as Joe took the weight and followed her steering.
“Thanks,” Pinkie Pie said, getting things almost together, “up a little…”
Joe shifted his grip on the rake shaft to get a little more height. “Surprised to see you here…”
“Why?” Pinkie Pie asked, sounding sarcastically baffled and almost dislodging the end of the water chute again.
“You are right,” admitted Joe, not having thought it was that surprising, he looked up at her. “Applejack is a good friend so…” Pinkie Pie shifted position to make the last little adjustment and it was Joe’s turn to nearly drop things. “What the…”
“Is there is a problem?” Pinkie Pie asked as Joe hurriedly corrected and heaved the rake and water chute back into position.
“What happened to your Cutie Mark?”
“Nothing.”
“Trust me,” Joe replied, “something.”
Pinkie Pie gave him a frown, which was unusual in itself, and then went back to finishing slotting things together. Once she had done that and double checked it was secure she bounced down and looked up at Joe, showing things were very unusual as the puzzled frown had stuck.
“What are you talking about?” Pinkie Pie asked, the usual laughter absent from her voice.
“Yesterday you had balloons on your rear, and were looking happier,” said Joe simply. “Today you have apples, and are frowning at me.”
“This is the Cutie Mark I have always had,” Pinkie Pie replied, actually shifting to annoyance.
“Trust me, I am not joking.” Joe thought for a moment. Different mane and tail, different attitude, different Cutie Mark, but even if she was misremembering the last she remembered him so perhaps not all her memories were affected? “Do you remember when Spike had us go to mine gems for Rarity?”
“Yes,” nodded Pinkie Pie, her tone making it clear she might have added some comment about it not having been that long ago.
“Do you remember why you were at my hut?”
“I was delivering buns…” said Pinkie Pie, sounding a little puzzled.
“Because you wanted me to be happy, balloons, and because you work and live at Sugarcube Corner.”
“Er, no,” Pinkie Pie replied, shaking her head in pity at Joe’s confusion, “that is where Fluttershy works and lives and the balloons are her Cutie Mark. Besides if I’m not supposed to be working and living here then one of the Apple Family would have said something.”
“Something very strange is going on here,” sighed Joe, also shaking his head, “but I promise I am not lying and I am not joking.”
“O-kay,” Pinkie Pie nodded, seeming halfway between believing him and simply humouring him.
==
Princess Celestia looked down from the Castle Balcony towards Ponyville. ‘Oh Twilight, how could you be so silly?’ she thought, not for the first time since last night. She had been sleeping the sort of sleep only Goddesses could. Her sister’s worlds were the inner words of the mind and dream, but when Princess Celestia said all that occurred in the light of Her Sun was within Her Gaze she meant it. It was nigh impossible to extend Her Gaze to its utmost while still retaining mortal perception and eventually that light and the influence of Her Sun faded to interstellar space. But while she ‘slept’ she could release her perceptions and her mental eye could wander to that edge and across all within it.
As she savoured the feeling of dipping in and out of the heliopause like a dolphin in reverse, since was when she let herself fall back rather than when she jumped that she could ‘breathe’, a strange sensation from near her physical body had drawn her back. Princess Celestia’s perception had focussed back to almost mortal limits as she restricted herself to one world and had to use her power to compensate for the lack of her light. Below Canterlot she’d sensed magic was twisting and wrenching at fate to rearrange it, resonating back and forth between the Elements of Harmony and the Ponies linked to them, and with the power of that resonance rippling out through the link to destiny all her little Ponies shared. That certainty in what they were mean to do was now working against them.
Awakening her body Princess Celestia had started towards where her sister would be keeping watch but she’d got no more than two-thirds of the way there before she was met by Princess Luna, who had been drawn out of her dream worlds by the same sensation. They’d returned to Princess Luna’s nighttime station and together they soothed and minimised the effects to prevent the consequences from spreading too far or too deep. To make some things seem normal rather than Ponies waking confused and wondering how and why they had got where they were. Then they’d discussed what could have caused this and Princess Celestia had wondered if they’d finally found the reason for her premonitions.
Princess Luna had not been too convinced and had pointed out that Joe was asleep, and had been when they’d sensed this wrenching, but had agreed they should check to be certain. Even if it was obvious to Princess Celestia that Princess Luna thought this more to discount the possibility so they could seek the truth without her being distracted by it. As they entered Joe’s dreams they took the chance to see what images the gods and heroes he’d mentioned evoked and were mildly appeased that he’d not thought a power ring anywhere near as capable as Princess Luna and that, despite his preference for another hero with a red cape, that the God he’d compared their place and power with was one he considered awe inspiring.
By now they had realised the cause so they checked how Joe could have influenced Twilight Sparkle in that decision and to Princess Celestia’s surprise, as that was not how her feelings were flowing, they found he’d have influenced her the other way than she had gone. He had no skill in magic but he had meagre experience in shaping worlds within ‘computers’ through series of instructions and the importance of ensuring what those would do before you tried. Moreover an image of a book he’d read where someone with skill with those ‘computers’ applied his techniques when taken to a world of magic and nearly caused great destruction as a flaw in his workings built upon itself came vividly to Joe’s sleeping mind.
So Joe would have been cautious and sought to understand before trying, perhaps more because of lingering mistrust in how little he understood magic, and this problem did not seem to be what Princess Celestia had feared he would cause. The lines of Twilight Sparkle’s destiny were still in the same alignment and although she and her sister could sense Joe was connected somehow to this matter he was, so far, innocent of influencing it. Princess Celestia had been tempted to take her body to Ponyville and wake her student but Princess Luna had argued instead that Twilight Sparkle deserved the chance to discover and correct her mistake on her own, if she was not to fail her test.
Princess Celestia had reluctantly agreed to this and they had spent the rest of the night controlling the damage, ignoring their usual breakfast, until Princess Luna had retired to her own rest and Princess Celestia had needed to begin dealing with the daytime affairs of state. Now though as she looked again with more than just her mortal eyes she doubted that decision, though not her faith in her faithful student. With a deep breath she returned inside to let Twilight Sparkle continue to have her chance and let the latest batch of petitioners have audience with her.
==
Half an hour had passed and as they approached Ponyville the bad weather became apparent. It had taken a little talking but Joe had managed to convince Big Macintosh to let Pinkie Pie off her chores for a few hours. Despite what Pinkie Pie had said it had still been a shock to Joe to find that the huge stallion did consider those Pinkie Pie’s and think she lived in the farmhouse. Eventually Joe had resorted to the argument that either he was right and something strange was going on or he was nuts and it would only be kind for Pinkie Pie to escort him into town and have him committed. Big Macintosh had said ‘Eee’yup’ to one of those two options and they had set out.
“Strange,” Joe commented, looking up, “I wonder what’s going wrong for Dash and her weather team today.”
“What’s it got to do with Rainbow Dash?” asked Pinkie Pie.
Joe looked at her for a few moments as they walked. Aside from that being a strange question to ask she’d asked it disdainfully and hadn’t said ‘Dashie’. But then he saw the possible reason for why, if not how, she’d asked it as ahead of them was a white Unicorn, tail and mane slicked down by the torrential rain, and her horn glowing as she sent another burst of magic skywards. A cloud split and rearranged itself but lighting still flashed across one part of the sky and snow seemed to be falling from another and turning back to vapour before it reached previously sun scorched earth.
“Oh, that doesn’t look right…” Rarity said, sounding upset. Then she sniffed and looked around. “Hello you two.”
“Crap,” breathed Joe.
“I… know it could be described as such, but I am doing my best…” Rarity replied, now appearing on the edge of tears at the brutal assessment. Then she stopped as she realised Joe’s gaze was not on the sky, and even as fragile as she was feeling she didn’t think he could be calling that ‘crap’. “Darling, are you staring at my derriere?”
“Cutie Mark,” corrected Joe.
“What about it?” Rarity asked, trusting Joe enough to not dismiss that as a mere excuse as she would with some males.
“You going to tell her she has the wrong one as well?” commented Pinkie Pie, continuing to sound a little sarcastic.
“Yes,” Joe said, noting the lack of cheerfulness, “and tell her as well that she is doing the wrong job. Both are Rainbow Dash’s.”
“I don’t know what has got into everypony today,” said Rarity, “first Twilight seemed surprised and asked where Rainbow was, and now you.”
“Where is she?”
“At her cottage with her animals.”
“I meant Twilight…” said Joe, before sighing and rubbing his forehead. “So Dash is affected too…” He looked to Rarity. “Look, Pegasi normally control the weather, yes?”
“True, but I am not doing so badly…” Rarity began to argue, before she was interrupted by a loud crash of lightning. “Oh bother.”
“Not so badly,” commented Pinkie Pie, with the same unusual sarcasm.
“Think of it this way then,” Joe sighed, searching for a way to be convincing, “lightning can be a symbol of speed and that bolt is multicoloured. Do we know anyone who is incredibly fast and leaves a multicoloured rainbow trail when she dashes? Whether using her legs or wings?”
“I admit it might be an appropriate Cutie Mark for her,” conceded Rarity, “but it is mine.”
Joe nodded. “Where do you live?”
“You know where I live,” Rarity replied in surprise.
“I know where I think you should live, and I can guess where you think you should live.”
“He thinks I live at Sugarcube Corner,” shrugged Pinkie Pie with an eloquent eye roll.
“How impractical,” Rarity frowned, “though the walk to and from Sweet Apple Acres would keep you fit I suppose.”
“Which is the point,” said Joe, wishing he could make some headway, “you are all doing the wrong jobs.”
“Don’t look at me,” Pinkie Pie shrugged again, “I’m just playing along after he got Big Macintosh to give me a few hours off.”
“Okay, two questions,” nodded Joe, focussing on Rarity. “Can you fly and can you walk on clouds?”
“No…” Rarity admitted.
“But if you also have Dash’s house, as well as her Cutie Mark and job, you live in a cloud house with rainbow waterfalls?”
“Yes…but… but… where else would I live?” Rarity asked. “Though I admit it is an unusual choice…” She looked confused “But it is where I live.”
“You should live at the Carousel Boutique,” said Joe firmly, trying to exploit the opening.
“With Applejack?” Rarity frowned. “After the slumber party we had that one time I doubt either of us would have stood it.”
“Crap,” said Joe, repeating his earlier eloquent comment. “Though I should have guessed whose Cutie Mask she has, given that Twilight seems unaffected.”
“Why would I live at a boutique when weather patterns are my passion?”
“Because the same desire for elegant design you are inflicting on these clouds can be better used for dressmaking.”
“Inflicting?… Never mind. You are suggesting my special talent is dressmaking?”
“Actually I am not,” Joe admitted, “or at least that is not what your true Cutie Mark says. According to that your special talent is finding gems but instead you became a very skilled designer and seamstress.”
“I… I don’t know,” sighed Rarity, it didn’t seem like Joe was joking and if he had been it didn’t seem like he’d have added that extra complication. “I feel like I should be doing this.”
“Please,” Joe said, trying to convey his sincerity, “come with us. Take a break.”
“I shouldn't while things are such a mess.”
“Please.”
Rarity sighed. “Oh, fine. I’ll not say I am convinced, but it is not like I was having any luck fixing this.”
“And Pinkie wasn’t having any luck fixing the water chute,” Joe said, seeing another argument, “almost as if neither of you was used to the job.”
Rarity nodded and followed as Pinkie Pie scowled a little about Joe mentioning that. Though Pinkie Pie had to admit to herself that although it felt like she knew what to do and how to do it, and felt like she had been doing it for the years since she got her Cutie Mark, that this was her destiny, that it hadn’t felt like she’d had years of practice. As they reached Sugarcube Corner Joe noticed the glum expressions on the Ponies leaving and the lack of any laughter escaping through the door with them.
Then as they entered he had the surreal sight of Fluttershy with a rubber chicken rather than a real one as she tried to entertain a crowd of incredibly bemused looking Ponies and did not seem to be doing well. Not even the stallions who should appreciate a pretty Mare performing, even if she was not that funny, seemed that happy to be watching, though Joe did remember what Applejack had said about ‘seasons’ and wondered if this was one cultural difference that biological difference had created.
“And she is not doing so well either,” Joe murmured quietly to the other two, “despite her party balloons Cutie Mark.”
“You are making your point, darling,” murmured Rarity back to him. “No need to belabour it.”
“That is what I’m supposed to do?” Pinkie Pie sneered, not so quiet in her surprise.
“With respect for Fluttershy’s efforts, you do it better,” smiled Joe, “so time to help.”
“How…” Pinkie Pie began to ask, before that turned into a ‘yeek’ as Joe grabbed her either side of the barrel, just behind the forelegs, and with a grunt that was a touch unflattering to her weight hiked her up. Then before she could ask what he thought he was doing or protest to be let down he was striding across.
“Okay everypony!” called Joe, holding the glowering Pinkie Pie in front of him. “I am sure we all appreciated the talented and lovely Fluttershy, but time for a change of pace!”
Fluttershy showed her personality had not been as much affected as her friend’s as she squeaked and hid behind her mane. “Change… of… er…”
Hoping his knees and thighs and everything could stand it Joe began bobbing up and down while lifting Pinkie Pie so she went up as he went down. “Itttt’sss Pinkie the Pink the Pink, it’s Pinkie the Pink the Pink, the savoir of, the Pony ra-a-ace, because she invented, various jo-okes, that put a smile, upon your face…”
“It’s Joe, it’s Joe, it’s Joe, who’ll let me go, me go, me go,” Pinkie Pie sang back, catching the tune and some part of her deciding singing was better than just talking, “or he’ll get, a hoof in the face, because I don’t li-ike, being jiggled, while he sta-ands, in place…”
“And Pinkie, she knows it’s kinky, to wave a ma-are aro-o-ound, so I had better, give up and let her, back-a upon the ground…” Joe lowered Pinkie Pie as he kept his knees bent and her rear hooves made contact with the floor. As Joe stood he looked to the audience and waved his hands like a conductor. “All together… It’s Pinkie the Pink the Pink, it’s Pinkie the Pink the Pink….”
The Ponies joined in as Joe led the chorus and Pinkie Pie found herself also singing and that she had started to bob up and down.
“This feels… right…” Pinkie Pie breathed, starting to glow and making Joe lean back as he finished the chorus.
“Whoa…” said Joe as the mane and tail went instantly from straight to full puff.
Pinkie Pie turned and grinned to him before looking back at the other Ponies. “It’s Joe, it’s Joe, it’s Joe, who seemed to know, to know, to know, that things were, rather que-e-eer, so he brought me, to entertain you, as you all gathered here…”
“It’s Pinkie the Pink the Pink…” Joe said, starting the chorus again before he retreated.
The other two Mares were talking quietly as Joe approached them, trying to get over his surprise at both the glowing and instant ‘hairstyling’. Rarity and Fluttershy seemed to have also noticed this Rarity gave him a smile while Fluttershy managed to do more than just peek through her mane.
“I think she can handle it from here,” Joe commented, looking back at Pinkie Pie as she bobbed and made up another new verse.
“I have been explaining your idea to Fluttershy,” nodded Rarity.
“It was… hard… having those ponies looking at me,” Fluttershy admitted, “but I felt like I had to, and I still do.”
“What you find easier and more natural is use your kindness to look after animals,” smiled Joe, trying to reassure her, “and your Cutie Mark should be butterflies to reflect that.”
“Oh no, that is Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy replied, trying to not sound as if she was being too rude in correcting Joe about his own marefriend.
“Who is incredibly fast,” nodded Joe, gesturing at Rarity.
“I did explain your theory that this is actually Rainbow’s Cutie Mark,” Rarity said.
“Thank you both for listening.”
“I am becoming a little more convinced,” Rarity admitted, “though more by Pinkie Pie taking to the performing so well. And then glowing.”
“She’s… doing better than I was,” agreed Fluttershy.
“Because you are sweet and gentle, and shy,” Joe said, getting a slight squeak from her. “I want to head to your cottage next…”
“I don’t have a cottage…”
“He means Rainbow Dash’s,” Rarity told her.
“I mean Fluttershy’s, which you think is Dash’s,” corrected Joe, “but though I want to head there…”
“I wonder why,” Rarity mused, giving Fluttershy a meaningful wink and getting a blush.
“I think we should help Applejack next while we are in Ponyville,” concluded Joe. Then he looked at the pair with a mock glower. “And I’ll say it again… humans are not as bad as Bonobo!”
“Oh… erm…” Fluttershy blushed.
“Darling,” said Rarity, as Joe started for the door, “we have seen the kisses, so however ‘bad’ humans are it’s quite bad enough for interesting results.”
“Oh… erm…” Joe said, echoing Fluttershy’s words and blush.
They left Sugarcube Corner and began walking towards the Carousel Boutique. The streets were quite empty from the incessant rain and those Ponies they saw did not seem pleased to see Rarity. Joe began to get a little irritated and bristle slightly, helped by how his shirt had begun to cling to him to leave no doubt that it was muscles filling it out. Seeing this and upset by the looks they were getting Fluttershy started to withdraw into herself, which only made matters worse as Joe noticed this and blamed only the looks.
“When will it stop raining?” one Pony demanded, putting herself in their path.
“Soon, though I…” Rarity began.
“Soon? I had an appointment at the Spa! I can’t have my Mane styled with this rain!”
“Well, I…”
“Maybe you should spend less time there though and more on your job!”
“But…”
“Don’t but’ me, this is not good enough and…”
“And,” Joe interrupted, leaning forward a little to bring his face closer, “it is not actually her job. Something has affected her Cutie Mark and what she, and it appears you, think her job is though.”
“A poor excuse,” sniffed the Pony, maintaining her sense of outrage.
“But the truth,” Joe replied, “and now if you will excuse us madam we shall continue to try to solve the problem without more delay.”
As they walked off to a spluttering of ‘well, I never’ Fluttershy wilted a little more but after a few seconds managed to look up at Joe. The set of his jaw showed his feelings, but she felt she still had to ask.
“Did you… er… have to be quite so blunt?”
“Rarity has to live and work in town,” Joe said, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, “so better somepony be annoyed with me rather than her.”
“Thank you, darling” smiled Rarity.
“Besides,” Joe admitted, “she was annoying.” He pondered for a moment the tradition of calm acceptance and not making a fuss, then he shook his head. “It is strange though…”
“What?” asked Rarity.
“Strange you are affected, stranger that nobody seems surprised by the change except me.”
“Twilight seemed surprised,” Rarity reminded him.
“Oh,” winced Joe. “You said that, so as this seems like magic we’d better check the library next.”
They diverted and to their disappointment the Golden Oaks library door was locked and there were no lights on inside. Joe knocked and he and Rarity waited a short time while Fluttershy flew up to the balcony to check the doors and look in through the windows there. There was no reply and no sign of anyone inside though so they started walking towards the Carousel Boutique again.
“I wonder where she’s gone,” Joe muttered, “and seems Spike’s with her.”
“He wasn’t when I saw her,” nodded Rarity. “She might have taken him with her to check on Rainbow though.”
“Makes sense,” Joe agreed. “See this problem and that one,” he added nodding at the sky and then pointing towards Rarity’s rear, “and talk to the Pony who should have both.”
“Maybe we should be going to her… my… cottage then?” suggested Fluttershy. “Now rather than after?”
“That would give us more chance of catching up with Twilight…” Joe began, as they turned a corner.
“Not much of one,” interrupted Rarity, “was well before you and Pinkie Pie arrived that I saw her.”
Joe nodded. “So if it is not much chance, and as it will take so long to get there and back…”
“I understand,” interrupted Rarity, again, “help Applejack first.”
“You were both rather frustrated and upset, as was Pinkie Pie,” Joe nodded, again, “so if Applejack is feeling as bad…”
“Might be kinder,” agreed Fluttershy.
“And Twilight might be there anyway,” Rarity suggested, “so we can check before we make a wasted trip.”
When they reached the Carousel Boutique they found no Twilight Sparkle. Just some rather bizarre patchwork garments, some of which made Joe wonder if there were Centaurs here as they seemed to have four legs and two arms, and Applejack mangling some cloth together in an attempt to produce another. She managed a stressed looking smile at the sight of them, one that looked more like a electric probes had been touched to her face muscles and that exposed more teeth than a pony from Joe’s world would have.
“Well, howdy,” Applejack said, a slightly mad look in her eyes. “What can ah do fer you?”
“We came to see how-dy you were getting on,” replied Joe.
“A mite poorly,” Applejack admitted, before pride forced her to add, “but getting there.”
Rarity turned from examining the work. “Darling, a mite is…” She stopped and smiled. “You are doing as poorly with this as I have been with the weather.”
“Ah wouldn’t say ah was doing as bad as that…” Applejack began, with more honesty than politeness. At least her mistakes weren’t affecting everypony else rather than just some cloth. Then she stopped as she realised what she was saying. “Er, ah mean…”
“Long story short,” smiled Joe, interrupting the Earth Pony’s embarrassment, “I think you have the wrong Cutie Marks, are doing the wrong jobs, and living in the wrong places. Despite what everyone seems to be accepting as normal and what you feel.”
“That seems a heap unlikely that you’d be right and everypony else be wrong”, Applejack frowned.
Joe paused and slowly nodded. “Oh…” he breathed, “maybe because it is everypony.”
“Come again?” Applejack asked, then she noticed the emphasis. “Oh! An’ you ain’t a pony?”
“It might be easy to say ‘pony’ in a spell, and that limit it,” mused Joe, “so I wonder if other non-ponyfolk are affected. Not met any Donkeys or Cows, a bit far to go and see Zecora…” He paused and looked to the others. “Though as Twilight’s not at the library she might have gone there rather than to check on Dash, or gone straight there after that?”
Rarity had continued to wince as she examined more of Applejack’s work. “A shame that when I saw Twilight that Spike was not with her.”
“I think check the library again before we head out to check on Dash,” nodded Joe, waiting a moment for any disagreement before continuing, “in any case you seem to be having great trouble Applejack and the same was true of Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. But when Pinkie started trying to entertain people, which I think is her job, she started to do better and then glowed.”
“Glowed?” Applejack repeated, one eye closing a little as she gave Joe a look.
“Quite brightly,” commented Rarity, backing Joe up against the disbelief, “so let’s see if the same is true for me, since apparently this is my job and that is my Cutie Mark, just need to remove these stitches and…”
“Maybe a different pattern?” Fluttershy suggested.
“Maybe,” nodded Rarity.
“Ah remember when… when… oh horsefeathers,” Applejack said, “and ah don’t mean Pegasus wings. Ah was going to say ah remember Fluttershy knew a lot about stitching and helped when we got our dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala, so Rarity knowing might just be the same rather than proof ah was doing her job…”
“And?” prompted Joe, starting to look around a little.
“And now ah don’t know,” Applejack admitted. “Ah don’t recall making the dresses here, but I do recall they were made here, and if ah didn’t make them then that might be arguing the other way.”
“Oh, don’t remind me of those dresses or the Gala…” said Rarity absently as she tried to fix things, then she stopped and her eyes widened. “Wait, I do remember, you all rejected the ones I’d made and then there was a terrible fashion show with the ones I’d made following your instructions.” Then she blinked at what she’d just said. “Wait… I made them…”
“And you are making a nice one now,” Fluttershy assured her.
“Yes darling,” smiled Rarity, “I also remember you saying a dress was nice and then, when I pressed you, going into details of what was wrong with the stitching and the design.”
Fluttershy blushed. “I do mean it is nice this time.”
“Yes!” Joe suddenly exclaimed.
“Say what?” asked Applejack.
“Look!” Joe said, sounding really pleased. “Proof! I am not a nutter.”
“Ah’d not said you were, or at least not about this,” replied Applejack as Joe returned and laid an open magazine where she and Fluttershy could see it. There were pictures of some familiar looking dresses and the accompanying article and the picture captions said those were made by Rarity. Of the Ponyville Carousel Boutique. “Well pinch all four of mah cheeks and make them rosy.”
“Tempting,” Joe said, a little high from finally having tangible evidence, “but I think Dash would break both my hands…” Then he paused as a thought occurred. “Wait, how do you pinch with hooves… both together?”
Fluttershy squeaked and rather than pursue the matter of pinching Joe and Applejack looked where she was looking. There was a rather elegant glow surrounding Rarity as she put a last few touches to a dress, her pointy framed glasses having made an appearance from somewhere. Joe wondered if those glasses were almost as much proof as the glow as they did seem to be for dressmaking rather than general use and were very much not Applejack’s style.
“Finished darlings…” Rarity said, before glancing at herself, “oh my.”
“That was what happened to Pinkie,” Fluttershy confirmed to Applejack.
“Hwhoo-whee,” replied Applejack. “If the fact she whipped up a dress lickety-split, in less time than it took me to replace th’ thread in the machine, or unjam it any of the dozen times in the last hour, weren’t enough that is the cherry on the cake.”
“I think I may be convinced,” Rarity smiled, with slight understatement. “And this does feel right to be doing, though I still want to try to fix the weather.”
“And ah still have a hankering to sew,” added Applejack.
“Can’t help that hankering Applejack,” Joe nodded, “other than by getting you back to what you should be doing, but if we can help Dash get back to that then the weather should be fixed.”
Applejack thought for a moment and then nodded. “That makes some sense, if you are saying that there,” she said, nodding at Rarity, “is her Cutie Mark. Name like rainbow and all.” Then she frowned and looked at the diamonds on her own rear. “Though ah don’t see the connection between these and sewing.”
“Apparently this is not the first time I went against my Cutie Mark,” Rarity explained, nodding back at Applejack, “those reflect a talent for finding gems.”
“These fit that talent, sure,” agreed Applejack.
“And as she uses gems for decoration on her designs,” Joe nodded, “and likes them almost as much as Spike…”
“Are you saying she likes Gems almost as much as Spike does,” teased Applejack, “or she likes Spike almost as much as she likes Gems?”
“Both?”
“Well, in either case ah’m convinced this here Cutie Mark would fit her,” smiled Applejack. “How about you two?”
“Oh, indeed,” Rarity smiled as Fluttershy nodded, “but shoo, see to our friend.”