Chapter 3: Two Divas, Two Farm-Girls and Too Little Room!
“Well Darling, what kind of fabric would you like for your new dress? Satin, Silk? Ooh, how about this new fabric? It’s the latest thing. Even though everypony will tell you Prim Hemline invented it, it was my design,” Rarity said, excited beyond belief. She loved designing dresses for new clients and this Ginger Grant was like her human twin.
“I’ve always loved new fabrics. And purple is my favorite color,” Ginger said, stroking the fabric.
“Oh I have other colors besides purple. I think beige would suit you just fine,” Rarity said as she levitated several other fabrics toward Ginger.
“Wonderful. Now how about the design?” Ginger said, admiring the colors.
Rarity picked up her pad and pen and began sketching a rough outline of the dress.
“Well I was thinking that the bottom would be with this fabric and on the top some shimmering, beaded fabric.”
The girls were right in the middle of designing the new dress when there was a blinding flash of light and they disappeared!
“Oh I want to thank you for letting me stay here. It’s so kind of you,” Mary Anne said as she and Apple Jack headed towards the barn.
“It ain’t no trouble at all. We could use a new face ‘round here,” Apple Jack said as they entered the house, “Well, this is the Apple Family Homestead, and this Is Granny Smith.”
Granny Smith smiled at Mary Anne and said, “Who is this, and where did she come from? I’ve lived in Equestria for many years and I never seen any creature like this.”
“Didn’t you hear the loud noise earlier this mornin?” Apple Jack asked.
Granny Smith took out a megaphone from the last Sisterhooves Social and held it up to her ear. “What?”
Apple Jack repeated the question and Granny Smith absentmindedly responded through the megaphone, “No, I didn’t hear a thing.”
Apple Jack winced, her ears back. Then she smiled and explained what happened, stopping every so often to let Granny Smith catch up.
“Well,” Granny Smith said when the story was over, “Yer sure welcome to stay here as long as yeh need.”
“That is so kind of you. I can help with chores here, I live on a farm back home, so it won’t be any trouble,” Mary Anne said, beaming.
“Well, the rest of the family is out at the moment. Big Mac’s in town selling apples and Apple Bloom is playin with her friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Apple Jack said.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Mary Anne asked.
“They’re a small group started by Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell. They’re just friends who work together to get their cutie marks,” Apple Jack explained.
“And cutie marks are?” Mary Anne asked with a quizzical look on her face.
“They’re those marks that show up on a pony’s flank when they decide what their special talent is. You never heard ‘bout this?” Apple Jack inquired, and Mary Anne shook her head, “Well, I don’t s’pose that things are exactly the same where you come from. How ‘bout I show you ‘round the farm?”
Mary Anne agreed and they headed away from the Apple Family Home.
Apple Jack showed Mary Anne the fields and the orchard. They headed to the swimming hole, passing the fruit bat preserve on the way and Mary Anne asked about it.
“Well the bats were a real problem till Fluttershy convinced me to set aside some land fer them. Now we never have any problems.”
“That’s amazing. How do you keep them on the preserve?”
“Fluttershy can convince animals to do almost anythin, so she helped us out.”
“I wish that we could just call someone to get the animals off of our farm.”
As Mary Anne and Apple Jack started to move on, they disappeared in a flash of light.
A knock sounded at the door. Fluttershy trotted over and answered the door to find Rainbow Dash hovering outside with the last of the Howell’s luggage.
“Oh come in Rainbow. Thank you ever so much for helping me with their luggage, but I don’t know where to put it.”
Fluttershy’s already small cottage was stuffed with the Howell’s bags. Rainbow exhaled and dumped the last of the luggage in Fluttershy’s living room. The Howell’s came down the staircase and looked at the bags lying on the floor.
“Oh you can take that right out again,” said Mrs. Howell, “We’ve seen the house and it’s simply too small. The room you were going to put us in is smaller than our sink back home.”
“If your sink is that big, what’s your bathtub like?” Rainbow asked.
“Well where do you think we keep our yachts?” Mrs. Howell said.
“Yes, I love playing with my little boats in the tub,” Mr. Howell said with a chuckle, “But when we really want to do some boating, we have to go somewhere slightly larger, like the Pacific.”
Rainbow glared at the millionaires and sank into a chair, putting her hooves up. Mr. Howell harrumphed as he and his wife turned and walked back upstairs.
“They must be a real pain in the… Well anyway, that’s why I live in the clouds. No unwanted visitors!” Rainbow said as she glared upstairs.
“Oh they aren’t so bad. You just have to learn to be patient,” Fluttershy said as she offered Rainbow Dash a glass of lemonade.
Rainbow took a long swig from the glass. “Ah, that's so much better. Thanks Fluttershy. But if I were you I’d throw those stuck-up pain-in-the-tails out on their luggage.”
Mr. Howell reappeared on the top of the stairs and said, “Excuse me Ms. Fluttershy, but would you know where we could find a Hilton? Or at least somewhere a trifle roomier?”
“I don’t know a Hilton, but the roomiest place around would probably be the castle,” Fluttershy said with a confused look on her face.
“You mean to say that there is royalty in this small town? Well why didn’t you say so beforehand?” Mr. Howell said with eyes the size of Lovey’s diamonds.
“Before-what?” Rainbow asked with a bewildered look on her face.
“I didn’t think you wanted to know, sorry,” Fluttershy said.
“Well I think we shall pay them a visit and inquire as to the availability of lodging.”
“I think that Twilight would be happy to let you stay with her," said Fluttershy with a bright smile.
“What? You mean to say that the lavender unicorn is a princess?”
“Well technically, she’s an alicorn. But yes, she’s a princess.”
“LOVEY! You should come here right now! There is a princess in this town and we didn’t know it!”
Mrs. Howell came out and joined her husband.
“A princess?”
“Yes, and we are going to go stay with her.”
Rainbow sighed and started picking up the bags when there was a blinding flash of light and they all disappeared, leaving the bags to fall to the floor.