"Are you done, Sweetie Belle?"
Scootaloo was sitting in the nice, pristine white bathtub that Rarity had gotten installed inside her bathroom. Although, she couldn’t exactly see it at the time, her eyes closed while her unicorn friend finished rinsing her mane.
"Finished!" Sweetie answered in a chirp.
Scootaloo let out a relieved sigh and shook her head to get most of the water out. When she finally opened her eyes, it was just in time to see Sweetie Belle coming back with a new bottle in her mouth.
"Hey! What's that for?" the pegasus asked suspiciously.
"Your mane.”
"But you just finished with my mane!" Scootaloo said. "You had me come here just so you could use your sister’s fancy shampoo. ‘Special mix for purple hair’ or something."
"This isn't shampoo," Sweetie answered, showing the bottle. "This is conditioner."
Apple Bloom, sitting a safe distance away from the tub, tilted her head to the side. "What do you even need this for?"
"Conditioning, of course! It nourishes the hair, gives it volume, flexibility and luster,” Sweetie said, with the certainty of an expert who had years of experience and totally did not just read the label. “You know,” she continued, “you're lucky you have the same mane color as Rarity and we can use all her products, Scootaloo."
"Yeah... So lucky," the wet filly answered.
Maybe Sweetie Belle took that as genuine enthusiasm... Maybe she decided to punish Scootaloo for her sarcasm... Either way, the improvised stylist squeezed the bottle and applied a generous helping of conditioner to Scootaloo's mane, then pressed down on her head with both hooves to begin scrubbing. The pegasus yelped and buzzed her wings, sending water all around Rarity's luxurious bathroom.
Cautiously, Apple Bloom scooted a bit further.
"Ow! Take it easy Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo cried while her skull was being handled by a pair of tiny but powerful hooves. "I think I should be wearing my helmet for this!"
"Don't be such a baby. You said you wanted to look good for your cuteceañara." Sweetie forced Scootaloo's head further down to reach the base of her mane.
"I just wanted to get my hair straight..."
"Well, it'll be better than that!"
A few minutes of hearty scrubbing and loud complaining later, Sweetie smiled and said: "done! It wasn't so bad, was it?"
"I'm surprised I still have my mane," Scootaloo said, getting her head under the shower's flow to try and soothe her poor scalp.
"Oh come on!" Sweetie said, rolling her eyes. "I've seen you crash from the top of a tree into bramble bushes and laugh it off."
"And I'd rather do that again..."
Sweetie Belle shook her head and took a few seconds to compose herself. She turned away from Scootaloo and towards her other friend. "Apple Bloom?"
The earth pony filly jumped a little when Sweetie turned her eyes on her. Apple Bloom was standing close to the door, looking ready to bolt out at any second. She gulped and smiled weakly.
"Yes, Sweetie Belle?" she asked slowly.
"Can you get me the tail-care products?" Sweetie pointed at a bunch of bottles on a shelf.
“Oh…” Apple Bloom sighed, her shoulders slumping down in relief. "Of course."
"Wait, what?" Scootaloo suddenly stiffened under the water. "Oh no... No, no, no, no, no. We are done with this. You said so, Sweetie Belle!"
"We're done with your mane." Sweetie answered. "But we haven't even started with your tail yet."
"And we won't!" Scootaloo said while stomping a hoof down, which, considering she was standing in a few centimeters of water, only made a little splashing noise. "I've already spent too much time in here. I can feel myself overgirlifying!"
"That's not even a word," Sweetie responded. "Now, turn around and let's get to work."
"Do you even listen to me? I said no!"
Sweetie Belle stood in front of her dripping friend, staring straight into her eyes. "Scootaloo. You asked me to help you style your hair. Now, you're not getting out of here until it's done! Is that clear?"
"Y-You can't force me!" Scootaloo said, cowering a bit under the suddenly very imposing Sweetie Belle.
The unicorn filly glared at her for a moment. "Fine," she finally said, turning away. "I suppose you can go, since you're so scared."
"Scared?" Scootaloo straightened herself up. "I'm not scared!"
"You know," Sweetie Belle continued, as if she hadn't heard her, "I bet Rainbow Dash wouldn't be afraid of a little hair styling."
"Of course not! But she still wouldn't do it. She's way too awesome for that."
"We saw her at the spa," Sweetie said. "We even wrote an article about it, remember?"
"Gabby Gums?" Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "You know everything we wrote was phony..."
"But she was at the spa," Sweetie continued. "What do you think she was doing there?"
Apple Bloom walked next to the tub and dropped a bunch of plastic bottles near Sweetie. "She kinda has a point," she told Scootaloo. "Featherweight didn't make those pictures up."
"B-But... Rainbow Dash..."
"Maybe she got her treatment done real fast?" Apple Bloom suggested.
Sweetie nodded. "Yeah. She must have rushed in and had a hooficure done in ten minutes. No... Five!"
Scootaloo looked between her two friends. "You really think so?"
"Absolutely," Sweetie said with a nod.
"I suppose it's possible," Apple Bloom added with a shrug.
Scootaloo frowned a bit, deep in thought, until she looked at Sweetie with a determined gaze. "Okay then. If she can do it, so can I."
"Perfect!" Sweetie chirped, bouncing in place.
Rarity trotted down the streets of Ponyville, humming a little tune and enjoying the gentle warmth of the sun. As she approached her home, her muzzle curled into a dainty smile. No matter how many times she saw it, she couldn’t help but feel a rush of pride welling up in her chest. The boutique was her first major accomplishment, after all.
For years, she had worked as an apprentice seamstress under Tenue de Soirée, an aristocrat both old and old-fashioned. Rarity being a “commoner”, the pompous mare seemed to believe that it allowed her to treat her apprentice only slightly better than a slave… Still, those years taught Rarity more about haute couture than she even knew existed before.
Also, French...
When she had free time, Rarity spent it digging around in the dirt to find as many gems as possible, hoarding more of the precious stones than a greedy dragon. She knew that many ponies thought that her aversion to dirt was ridiculous, but they obviously had no idea of how many creepy insects and disgusting worms crawled under their hooves... Rarity couldn’t help but shudder as she recalled these times.
But it was all worth it in the end, as the fruit of her tireless labor stood now in front of her: the Carousel Boutique, her very own atelier de couture, paid with all the bits she had managed to scrape over the years. Being a self-made-mare wasn’t the only reason Rarity loved her boutique so much, though. What made it so unique was its design and the fact that she had a hoof into its draft. Of course, an architect had made it a reality, but the building was her vision. The circular floor-plan, the ponyquin sculptures on the balcony, every straight line, every curve came from her own imagination, a brilliant testimony to her creative genius. Simply put, it was perfect...
Rarity would never say that out loud, of course, since she understood the value of modesty. That was something Rainbow Dash could have learned, she thought… including in her own choice of residence. The pegasus’s cloud house was admittedly unique and impressive, but its owner should really learn when to stop. Clearly, Rainbow did not think that “less is more”, considering how many extensions she had added to it, turning it into more of a manor than a townhouse.
One rainbow waterfall is a nice touch. Five is tacky...
Rarity sighed, then forced herself to set these thoughts aside. Rainbow Dash’s architectural choices weren’t really any of her business and she had more important things to take care of. She entered the Boutique and levitated her saddlebags on a table. She was about to take her groceries to the kitchen when a strange, nagging feeling stopped her. Looking around, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, yet something felt out of place.
Rarity looked her latest work. The dresses were where she had left them. So were her materials. Every bolt of cloth, every spool of thread, even her pins and needles were where they were supposed to, which meant that Sweetie Belle had not messed with anything.
“In this room, anyway,” Rarity whispered to herself...
A shrill squeak made one of her ears twitch. Listening closely, she heard the sound of running water coming from upstairs.
“How many baths does this filly need? She already spent an hour in the tub this morning…”
With a huff, Rarity stepped up the stairs and headed towards her bathroom. “Sweetie Belle!” she called out. “You’d better not use all the hot water again!”
“Rarity?” her sister answered from inside. “We’re not using all the water!”
“I hope so… Wait… ‘we’?”
That pronoun could not mean anything good. Unless Sweetie Belle had suddenly taken to using the royal we, it could only mean that there were not one, but three fillies inside Rarity’s bathroom. Three fillies that, adorable as they were, seemed to leave a trail of chaos and mayhem wherever they went. Either that or pine needles and tree sap... and Rarity wanted neither of these inside her precious bathroom.
Hastening her step, she focused her magic on the door and threw it open. Eyes wide, she took in the damage. “What have you done to my bathroom?" she cried, "it's... it's..." She watched the shelves, still hanging from the walls with their bottles properly lined up. Every tile on the ground was intact. Even her towels were clean…"It’s... not what I was expecting...” Rarity finished lamely.
Sweetie Belle stared at her big sister with a disgruntled expression.
Scootaloo simply dripped in the tub.
A groan from behind the door caught Rarity’s attention. Pulling it, she revealed the last of the crusaders, rubbing a hoof over the part of her flanks that had just been smacked unceremoniously by the magic-powered door.
“I’m really sorry about that,” Rarity said, helping Apple Bloom up. She cleared her throat before asking: “what are you three up to?
"I'm trying to get Scootaloo's hair into a presentable shape," Sweetie answered. "But there are so many tangles! I'm not sure I can do anything at all."
"Is that so? Let me see," Rarity said, getting closer to the wet pegasus. She grabbed her tail with her magic and tugged on a few knots. "Good heavens, Scootaloo! When was the last time you brushed your tail?"
"I dunno," the little pegasus answered with a shrug.
"How can anyone let themselves go like that?" Rarity said while working on a particularly big knot. "A filly your age should be taking better care of... Wait… What's this?" she asked, pulling out what appeared to be a cheap Wonderbolt figurine, covered in (unsurprisingly) tree sap, pine needles, loose hair and a few feathers.
"Ooh! I’d been looking for that one," Scootaloo said with a grin before grabbing the toy and stowing it under her wing...
Rarity closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let it out slowly, doing her best to pretend that this had not just happened. A few seconds of picturing herself in a soothing sauna at the spa were necessary...
"I can see this is an emergency," Rarity said once she had composed herself. "This will be a serious challenge, Sweetie Belle. Oh! I just hope we have enough conditioner to fix this disaster."
"I don't even know what we're going to use for her coat," Sweetie said. "We only have whitening products here." She hummed and tapped her chin a few times. "Hey, Apple Bloom! Your sister's orange, too. What does she use on her fur?"
"Soap," Apple Bloom answered with a flat look.
Sweetie grunted. "Ugh. How am I supposed to work with this?" she asked, throwing her hooves to the sky.
"Don't worry, Sweetie Belle." Rarity put a comforting hoof on her little sister’s shoulder. "We'll have to improvise, but I promise you that by the time she's out of this room, Scootaloo will be nothing short of fabulous..."
The little pegasus cowered under the intense stare Rarity gave her.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Rarity declared. “Sweetie Belle... get me the French products!"
Sweetie Belle gasped. "A-Are you sure, Rarity?"
"Certain. I'll need the Crin Soyeux, Robe de Velours and Reflet de Nacre."
Sweetie rushed to a small chest set on a shelf and lifted the lid with almost religious attention. She picked three of the crystal vials inside and cautiously closed the box again, then carefully brought the precious bottles to her sister.
"This will do... For a start, anyway" Rarity declared. “Stand still, Scootaloo...” Her horn lit up brightly. A half a dozen drawers opened around the bathroom. One second later, she had bottles, brushes, clamps, curlers and scissors all levitating in the air above the unkempt filly.
Scootaloo’s eyes widened. "Wait! I've changed my mind!" She shook her hooves in front of her defensively. "I don't want to look good anymore. I'll be messy!"
"Nonsense!" Sweetie said. "We're just about to get really started."
"No!" Scootaloo tried to jump out of the bathtub, only to be caught mid-air in Rarity's magic.
"Don't worry, Scootaloo," she told her. "Soon, you will be as fabulous as one of us."
Rarity wrapped a leg around her little sister and smiled excitedly.
"Help!" Scootaloo flailed her hooves uselessly. "Apple Bloom!"
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Apple Bloom answered from the hallway. "Good luck."
"Apple Bloom? Don’t leave me!" Scootaloo struggled, but held up in the air by Rarity’s magic, her efforts were in vain...
"Ah'll wait for y'all downstairs!" Apple Bloom shouted, already sounding quite distant...
"One of us," Sweetie repeated.
"One of us," Rarity droned, bringing her tools closer...
"Noooooo!"
Matchstick walked through Ponyville slowly, both enjoying the bright morning and wondering if the sun had always been so shiny. Either Princess Celestia did something to it or Matchstick had been working at nights for too long... The question remained unanswered, though, as she reached the pastry center of the town.
She stopped in front of Sugarcube Corner and, instead of going in right away, took a long breath through her delighted nostrils. Strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, orange, almonds and at least a dozen more sweet scents that she couldn't identify had her mouth watering like the Neighgara Falls. She swallowed her saliva before it overflowed her muzzle and opened the door. As usual, the jingle of the bell was followed by the appearance of a pink mare behind the counter.
"Hello, Matchie!"
"Hi, Pinkie," Matchstick answered the hyperactive pony. She looked around the shop quickly. "This party looks promising..." As far as she could see, every corner of the bakery was loaded with cakes, sweets, games and assorted party supplies.
"It does!" Pinkie Pie answered with a bright smile. "And just wait until it's actually begun. I think this one will reach memorable levels of fun. Maybe as high as one gigagiggle!"
Matchstick frowned. "A guy go-what-now?" she asked.
"That's about seven hundred guffaws," Pinkie explained. "You should really start using the reformed units system, it's much simpler in the end."
Matchstick blinked a few times. "Huh... Sure. Whatever you say... Anyways, I have some bits for you." She plunged her muzzle into her plain saddlebags and pulled a small pouch out of them. "Fo' t'e pa'ty," she said, making the coins clink with every word.
Pinkie Pie took the purse in her hooves, now the one blinking in confusion.
"I know it's not enough to cover everything," Matchstick said, "but that's all I could spare for now. If I take some extra shifts, I think I can give you the rest next month."
"But you don't owe me any money," Pinkie said, staring at the pouch of bits with a frown.
"Don't get into that, Pinkie. Somepony has to pay for all these party supplies." She waved at the extravagant display of balloons, streamers and confetti.
"Well, duh! The shopkeepers would be pretty angry if I didn’t pay them."
"I know. That's why I'm paying you back."
"But you don't have to," Pinkie said. "This is Scootaloo's cuteceañara and she's, like, my most favoritest little pegasus filly in the world. And you're my friend, too. I don't-"
"Pinkie." Matchstick raised a hoof to stop the pink mare before she could argue anymore. "Just take the money. I know you got paid for the last cuteceañara you held."
"But rich is Filthy! Huh... I mean Filthy is rich."
"And?" Matchstick asked, glaring at Pinkie.
"Well..."
"Listen, Pinkie. I don't make a lot of dough, but that doesn't mean I'm a charity case, got it?"
"Sure, but-"
"No 'buts'. I'm paying. It's what I want."
"It is?" Pinkie asked.
"Yeah.” Matchstick sighed. “How do I explain this? I just..."
"You want to do something special for Scootaloo because she's your only foal and a cuteceañara comes only once in a lifetime and your own parents didn't hold you an awesome party and you don't want your filly to be as disappointed as you were?"
Matchstick stared at Pinkie for a long while, her mouth gaping and her eyes blinking slowly. "Something like that," she finally answered, her voice much more quiet than usual.
"Okay then, why didn't you say so?" Pinkie gave her a big hug. "I'll let you pay for the supplies, but on one condition."
"Yeah?"
"No extra shifts for you," Pinkie said after letting Matchstick go. "If you wanna be a good mom for Scootaloo, you can't spend all your time at work."
"You got a deal," Matchstick answered, chuckling a little.
"Great! Now let's get this party going... Wait!" Pinkie looked around the room for a moment. "Where's the filly of the hour?"
"She didn't come with me," Matchstick answered. "She says it's not cool to go to a party with your mom."
"Aww... But you're a cool mom," Pinkie said. "I'd totally go with you to any party."
"Thanks, Pinks." Matchstick's muzzle curled into one of its rare smiles. "You're a great friend, you know."
"I try my best," Pinkie answered with a nod and the most serious face she had worn in days.
"I'll have to make this up to you sometime."
"Is now a good time?” the pink party planning pony said eagerly. “You could help me set the last few things up."
Matchstick found herself pushed in front of a gas bottle and a pile of multicolored rubber balloons.
"You can never have too many balloons," Pinkie said. "Can you inflate these?"
Matchstick nodded and grabbed one between her teeth, then tried her best to place it on the nozzle and open the valve at the same time. It went more easily than she expected, at least until she realized that she wasn’t really sure of how to knot the opening. She tried with her hooves, with her mouth, with both… It only ended up with the balloon flying behind a cupboard.
"Damn, this is more difficult than I..." Matchstick's eyes widened as she heard her voice, sounding more fit to a tiny fairy creature than a full grown mare. "What the hay? What's happening to me?"
Pinkie Pie, to her credit, managed to maintain her seriousness for five whole seconds.
The laughing fit she descended into afterwards was even more remarkable.
"Pinkie!" Matchstick shouted, her high pitched voiced failing to sound concerned or angry. "What's in that bottle?"
"He- Hee hee... Helium!" Pinkie struggled to get back to her for hooves. "Don't worry, it's not toxic."
"But my voice is all... It's... going back to normal?" Matchstick stared at Pinkie, who laughed at her slowly descending vocal range. "This is so weird..."
"It's awesome," Pinkie said, wiping the tears away from her eyes. "The first time I found that out, I inhaled so much helium I passed out... But it's tons of fun as long as you stop before that."
"Huh... I guess it is." Back to her regular voice, Matchstick chuckled a few times.
"Check this out," Pinkie said. Taking a partially-filled balloon, she inhaled a bit of gas.
Matchstick stared and blinked when Pinkie started to sing with her helium-modified voice.
“Well you can tell by the way I use my walk
I’m a stallion’s mare, no time to talk…”
Singing all along, the pink pony got up on her hind hooves and added some dance moves to the show. Matchstick couldn’t help but giggle.
“Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother
You’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive…”
Matchstick quickly grabbed another balloon, just in time to join Pinkie for the end of the chorus.
"Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Stayin' aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!"
Rainbow Dash angled her trajectory downwards, aiming straight for her target. Even for someone who didn’t know Ponyville, Carousel Boutique was the kind of building you could spot from afar. Taller than most and with a style that didn’t really fit in the small, rural town made of plain stone walls and thatched roofs.
Of course, Rainbow wasn’t one to give Rarity any lesson, with her own house looking like it was plucked out of Cloudsdale and moved to the Ponyville airspace, but the boutique was different. To put it simply, it wasn’t awesome.
Rainbow had to admit that Rarity had one thing going for her: originality. She was pretty sure that there wasn’t another house in Equestria that looked like this one. Not in Canterlot, not in Manehattan, not even in Las Pegasus, which was the world’s leader when it came to weird, and showy buildings.
But that original look was just underused in the end. Why bother with a balcony if it’s barely wide enough to walk on it? She could have made a whole gallery instead, overlooking the town. And that pointy tower thingy was kinda neat, but why stop at one? Why not build a whole lot of them, like in the princesses’ castle?
Rainbow Dash shook her head as she landed in front of the boutique, giving up on understanding what could stop Rarity from going the whole way on her house. “Not a mistake I’d make,” she told herself. “Hmmm… Now that I think about it… Maybe I should get myself a cloud statue garden...”
Wondering if her mother might help her set that up, Rainbow Dash opened the door to the Carousel Boutique.
“Hey Rarity,” she called out, “are you here? I’m looking for–” Rainbow blinked a few times as she watched Apple Bloom rush to put a hat back on the ponyquin where it belonged.
“Hi, Rainbow Dash,” the little filly said with a strained smile. “Fancy meetin’ you here…”
“Riiiiight… Say, do you know where Scootaloo is? I’ve been looking for her all over town,” Rainbow said. “I figured she’d be with you and Sweetie Belle.”
“Oh yeah,” Apple Bloom answered. “She’s upstairs. Rarity and Sweetie Belle are stylin’ her mane.”
“Okay, good...”
Rainbow’s eyes shot wide open. “Wait, what? Hang on, Scootaloo, I’m coming!” Nothing but a rainbow streak remained on the first floor, leading up the stairs and to the bathroom door, which was flung open with the subtlety of a hurricane.
Inside, Rainbow Dash saw bottles, vials and flagons, most of them empty and discarded on the floor... Next to these, curlers and scissors lied, still covered in the purple hairs. And around the bathtub, two white ponies were hunched over their poor, innocent victim.
“I’m too late!” Dash cried, throwing her hooves to the sky. “What have you done, it’s… it’s…”
All the mares in the room turned towards Rainbow Dash, including Scootaloo... Scootaloo, whose face wasn’t hidden under a ridiculous mass of curls, or braided pigtails, or even some artsy hair sculpture… Only a combed, even mane that looked less like a bird’s nest than usual.
“It’s kinda nice, actually...” Rainbow finished lamely.
“Kinda nice?” Rarity scoffed. “You mean it’s a miracle! You should have seen what mess we had to work with in the first place.”
“Hey!” Scootaloo glared at Rarity. “I’m right here, you know.”
“It was even worst when I started!” Sweetie Belle continued. “You have no idea how much tree sap she managed to get into her hair.”
“Again,” Scootaloo groused, “right here…”
“You did well, Sweetie.” Rarity put a gentle hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “We made it together, despite the hardships!” She shuddered a bit. “I didn’t even know split ends could get split ends.”
“Ooookayyyyy,” Rainbow said, trying to appease the sisters. “So, are you done now?”
“Hmph. Well yes, I suppose we are,” Rarity answered. “Since Scootaloo refuses to settle for a decent coiffure.”
Rainbow Dash only responded with an eloquent “huh?”
“I want a mohawk!” Scootaloo chirped. “You know, like Zecora.”
Rarity shook her head and tisked. “I’m sorry Scootaloo, but while Zecora can make that hairdo work, I’m afraid you lack the… exotism to pull it out.”
“It would look pretty cool,” Rainbow said, tapping her chin in thought. “Like princess Celestia’s guards…”
Rarity’s eyes narrowed. “Rainbow Dash. I am not going to style that filly’s mane so she looks like a soldier.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Fine, fine.” She gave Scootaloo a big grin. “You look great just like that, squirt. Now, how about we get to that big party?”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle immediately began to cheer, for a whole three seconds before Rarity interrupted them.
“We can leave as soon as I find a cute dress for little Scootaloo here,” she said with an excited smile. “Oh, you’ll be the belle of the ball!”
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo groaned in unison.
“We’re not going to a ball, Rarity.” Rainbow grabbed Scootaloo and pushed her out of the room. “We’re going to a party and if we keep talking like that, it’ll be over when we get there! Let’s go, go, go! Come on, Rarity. You too, Sweetie Belle.”
In the following seconds, Rainbow Dash was walking out of Carousel Boutique, with all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders trotting behind and a slightly pouting Rarity in the rear.
The small group walked through the streets of Ponyville and before long, Rainbow was flying above her (too) slow friends, making small loops and rolls. On the ground, Scootaloo and her friends were chatting excitedly about cutie marks as usual, especially the one Sweetie Belle still had to earn.
Rainbow Dash smirked, remembering the time when she found her own cutie mark. The race... The adrenaline... The rush of victory and the impossible sonic rainboom made real... She had spent the rest of the day like Scootaloo was right then, planning her future life with her new talent.
All in all, Rainbow had made pretty simple plans, back then: win everything.
With time, she had lowered her expectations a bit, since “everything” turned out to be a whole lot, but the idea was still the same: one day, she would be the best captain of the best team of the best fliers in Equestria. Past, present and future. Maybe Scootaloo could be part of it? With speed as her special talent, she was sure to turn into a great flier some day...
Hearing the Crusaders’ babbling only made Rainbow Dash more aware of how quiet Rarity was. Dash turned upside down and hovered to get her face level with the unicorn’s.
“Something on your mind, Rarity?” she asked. “For someone who’s about to party, you don’t look all that excited.”
Rarity gave her a little smile. “Oh, it’s nothing really. It just… irks me that I didn’t get the chance to dress up Scootaloo properly.”
Rainbow Dash did a flip and landed next to her. “She looks fine.”
“But she doesn’t look perfect,” Rarity complained. “I was just getting started… I can already picture the most darling little dress on her. A deep burgundy silk, with a silver lining. Something with a simple, yet dashing cut…”
“A dress…” Rainbow said. “Why does it always have to be something girly with you?”
Rarity stared at Rainbow with a nonplussed expression. “By now I would have hoped that you would have figured out our gender, Rainbow.”
“I know I’m a girl,” Rainbow answered, rolling her eyes. “It doesn’t mean I have to wear frilly clothes, or paint my hooves, or have tea parties… I’m a dare-devil, not some high-society pony.”
“I don’t think wearing a dress would make you less of stuntsmare. What matters is how you act, not how you look,” Rarity said. “And nopony said you couldn’t look good while you are being a dare-devil.”
“Except if I have to spend three hours a day getting dressed…”
The unicorn shook her head. “With a bit of practice, you can make yourself look good without spending hours. I only take about forty minutes for my mane, my tail and my make-up…”
“Forty minutes? Are you kidding?”
“Well, how long do you take?” Rarity asked, turning her nose up in the air.”
“I dunno…” Rainbow shrugged. “I guess… Five minutes to shower, then a couple more to preen my wings…”
“And what about your mane?”
“What about it?” Rainbow asked back.
“Well, don’t you comb it?”
“Nah. I make my morning flight while it’s still wet.” Rainbow smirked. “Gets it dry and styled just the way I like at the same time.” She chuckled when she saw Rarity’s desperate look. “What? It’s efficient and awesome. That’s just how I do things, Rarity. Forget trying to get me into your fancy dresses.”
“You wore a dress at the Grand Galloping Gala,” Rarity retorted.
“Well, duh! It’s a gala. I would have looked pretty stupid if I was the only pony without a dress… Not that I didn’t end up looking stupid,” she added quietly. “But the point is: what matters to me isn’t how I look. I look awesome anyway… And Scootaloo is the same. As long as she can speed like a bullet, who cares if she looks like a girl? You don’t see the Wonderbolts with dresses either…” Rainbow couldn’t help but think of Soarin in some sort of evening gown for a second. She giggled, but quickly shook her head to dismiss that strange mental image. “And there’s Scootaloo’s mom,” she continued. “All Matchstick does is kick tails. Can you honestly picture her with a pretty dress, doing a slow dance at some fancy ball? I know I can’t.”
“You never know, Rainbow,” Rarity said as they approached Sugarcube Corner. “I have to admit that it doesn’t really fit her persona, but everypony can get a new look; can’t they?”
Rainbow Dash only shrugged in response, her attention shifting to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were standing near the entrance of the sweets shop, exchanging looks ranging from curious to worried. She walked next to them and began to ask “Hey girls, what’s–”
What you doin’ on your back? Ahhhh!
Rainbow immediately froze when she heard the strange, unnaturally high-pitched voice. It was almost unequine…
What you doin’ on your back? Ahhhh!
“What the hay is that?” She frowned and grabbed the door handle... The door swung open as fast as her jaw fell.
Pinkie Pie was standing in the back of the shop, near a gramophone that was playing as loud as possible. The pink mare was holding a microphone and singing into it with an impossibly high voice.
You should be dancing! Yeah!
Not far from Pinkie, Matchstick was standing on her hind hooves, moving and twisting on the music’s rhythm. Rainbow Dash gave a quick look behind her. She was somewhat relieved when she saw the confused expressions on everypony else. Meanwhile, Matchstick crossed the room, approaching Rainbow and the others, shuffling her hooves in a way that made it look like she was almost sliding on the floor.
Dancing! Yeaaaaaah!
Matchstick ended up only a few paces away from Rainbow. She kicked her hooves back and forth, spinning on herself every couple steps.
“Wooo! Go Matchie!” Pinkie shouted in the microphone. “Shake it!”
Matchstick grinned and threw a foreleg high in the air, then back down in a slashing move while she undulated her body on the music’s rythm. Then, just as the song went into a bridge, she clapped her hooves together and pointed one in the distance, the other resting on her waist. Holding that pose, she thrusted her hips back and forth in rhythm, tail swishing along, up and down her thighs.
“Hey!” Sweetie Belle squeaked her complaint as Rarity immediately covered her eyes.
Matchstick walked back near Pinkie in a few swinging steps, only to have room for a running dive that ended with her doing a full split. She leaned forward on her front legs and used that new support to spin around on the ground, rising up all the while, until she was standing back up.
Rainbow’s mind, on the other hoof, was crashing down just as fast… She barely noticed when the song finally reached its end and Matchstick casually walked to Pinkie Pie, both mares laughing like mad. Dash slowly approached them.
“What the hay just happened?” she spurted out.
Matchstick only shrugged with an amused smile, while Pinkie inhaled a little gas from a balloon. “Hey Dashie!” she said with her chipmunk-like voice. “I’m Squeaky Pie!”
“Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow answered, her head feeling heavy on her neck. “You’re so… Pinkie Pie.”
“Well, I’m glad she is,” Matchstick laughed out. “I haven’t had so much fun in ages!”
“Then my job here is done,” Pinkie “Squeaky” Pie said before saluting and going to welcome the other ponies.
“Well, that was… something,” Rainbow said.
Matchstick gave her a smug grin. “Disco, Rainbow Dash. That was disco.”
“When did you learn to dance like that?”
“Years ago, actually,” the fiery mare answered. “I was about Scoots’ age… I used to sneak into a theatre to watch the musicals and Hay Night Fever was a huge thing back then. I must have seen it a dozen times. I spent hours practicing to dance like Trotvolta,” she said with a chuckle. “I really thought I’d get a dancing cutie mark...”
Almost by reflex, Rainbow Dash’s eyes wandered to Matchstick’s flanks and the pair of brass hooves shining in her dark fur. “How did you get your cutie mark?” she asked automatically.
She instantly regretted her question when she saw the smile on Matchstick’s muzzle vanish.
“That’s… not a good story,” the earth pony said quietly.
For a moment, Rainbow could only stare and move her jaw like a fish in its tank. Matchstick didn’t say anything to break the silence...
“Sorry,” Dash finally managed to say, “I didn’t mean to–”
“Don’t think about it.” Matchstick grinned, a smile that almost didn’t look fake. “We’re here to party,” she continued, “so let’s party!”
“Yeah... Sure,” Rainbow answered.
She watched Matchstick leave and mingle with the guests that were starting to fill Sugarcube Corner. Contrary to the mare’s advice, Dash didn’t really stop thinking about it...