Glamour watched the green, rolling plains and patches of trees whiz by outside her window. It was a few days after her half-confession, and she had started her vacation with Coco. They were now on a train that they had boarded early in the morning and was now speeding towards Ponyville.
This was not Glamour’s first time riding inside a train, but it was the first time she actually paid for a ticket. She was pleased to find out that sitting in the passenger car was more comfortable than being cooped up in the cargo cart.
She felt movement brushing against her side, and upon turning her head, she smiled. Resting on her shoulder was Coco, who had dozed off some time ago. Even with the loud clacking of the train riding along the tracks, Glamour found peace in tuning the noise out to listen to Coco’s soft breathing.
Glamour carefully wrapped a hoof around Coco’s back and planted a gentle kiss right between her ears. She was rewarded with a small smile that crept up on Coco’s face.
Yes, this was certainly a lot more comfortable than being cooped up in the cargo cart.
Turning her attention to the windows on the other side of the car, all Glamour could see was a rock wall. The train was currently circling the tall mountain that Canterlot was built upon. According to Coco, Ponyville was located close to Canterlot, meaning that they were on the last leg of their journey.
Even though Glamour could not see the actual city, the proximity to Canterlot was making her think of her last visit to Canterlot. Or rather, her last invasion of it. At first, she was apathetic with her participation in the invasion. But now, with everything she had been through as a pony and even befriended some, thinking back about the damage she helped cause and the ponies she frightened, she felt shame for her actions. As much as she wanted to put those times behind her, she knew that those memories would linger around for a really long time. She knew that the same could be said for a lot of ponies.
“We will be arriving in Ponyville in twenty minutes. All passengers who are disembarking, please make sure you have all of your belongings,” announced a stallion in a train conductor’s uniform as he entered the passenger car and walked down the aisle.
When the conductor exited through the door on the other side, Glamour looked down at Coco and grinned when she saw that her marefriend was still snoozing away. Using her muzzle, she gently prodded Coco on her forehead. “Coco, wake up.”
Coco mumbled a few incoherent words before her eyes slowly fluttered open.
“Had a nice nap?”
“Mhmm.” Instead of sitting up, Coco let out a short yawn, closed her eyes, and snuggled even deeper into Glamour’s shoulder. “You make for a wonderful pillow, Glamour.”
Glamour chuckled. “I’m glad that you find me comfortable, but I’m afraid that you’re going to have to get up. We’re almost there. You don’t want to sleep through Ponyville, would you?”
Coco gave a mock huff of indignation. “Oh, fine.”
When Coco finally got up, they began packing up their things, and by the time the train finally pulled into the station, they were ready to immediately leave. Stepping onto the platform, Glamour was given a first, clear view of Ponyville.
She had to admit that she was a bit underwhelmed at what she saw.
Ponyville was a huge contrast to Manehattan. Instead of a sprawling urban metropolis, she saw a simple, rural community. Many of the buildings were just two story houses with straw-thatched roofs, and the streets were hardly paved. There were also no huge crowds, and the ponies she saw roaming the streets were doing so at a leisurely pace.
“This is where Rarity lives?” Glamour could not help but ask. “From how you described her, I was convinced she would feel more at home with someplace more like Manehattan or even Canterlot.”
“She does enjoy the things associated with high society life, but she once told me that despite all of that, she could not stay away from her friends and family here in Ponyville,” Coco replied while she also looked around. “I actually think this place is nice. It’s quiet. A good place to relax and get away from the busy crowds.”
Glamour took another look around and found herself agreeing. Despite its rustic nature, not having to worry about fighting the crowd was a big appeal, and the air did seem to feel cleaner.
“Yoo hoo, Coco darling, over here!”
Glamour and Coco turned to see a white unicorn with an elaborate, curled purple mane waving at them on the other side of the platform.
“Rarity!” Coco shouted back to the unicorn with a huge smile and quickly trotted over to her.
“It’s so good to see you again!” Rarity gave Coco a huge hug. “How was the train ride over?”
As Coco talked with Rarity, Glamour slowly approached them, taking deep breaths. This was it, her fated meeting with one of the dreaded Elements of Harmony. One slip-up in front of the fearsome pony might ruin everything, but as long as she played it cool and kept Coco by her side, she should be alright.
“And you must be the famous Glamour that I’ve been hearing so much about,” Rarity said when she noticed her, causing Glamour to freeze for a second.
“H-hi, Miss Rarity. It’s an honor to meet you.”
Rarity chuckled lightly. “Let’s dispense with the formalities. Just Rarity is fine, and I must say, it is my pleasure to meet you. Coco has told me all sorts of interesting things about you and the things you do with her.”
“And Coco speaks very highly of you, Rarity.”
Thankfully, Coco was understanding and had not told Rarity the unsavory parts of her travels nor the shady tactics she used on Suri. As far as she knew, Rarity only was aware that she moved to Manehattan to become a fashion model, moved in with Coco due to money issues, and their work with Photo Finish.
“Now then, shall we move along now?” Rarity asked. “The others are also all excited to meet you two, so we set up a little get-together at a nearby cafe.”
Coco nodded. “That sounds wonder—”
“Hi there!” a cheerful voice chirped from behind them.
Glamour and Coco turned around, and both of their eyes shot wide open when they found themselves staring down the barrel of a cannon. Glamour’s forehooves shot straight up into the air, and she screamed, “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”
The cannon shot her in the face.
Glamour was knocked off her hooves, although it was more from reeling back in surprise than what hit her. Instead of a big heated ball of metal, she and Coco were showered with confetti and streamers. After getting up and the ringing cleared from her ears, she heard the sound of giggling and saw that it was coming from a pink earth pony mare with an even pinker poofy mane and tail, and she was rolling on the floor with laughter.
Glamour’s dropped jaw probably would have splintered the wood of the train platform if it reached it. She was staring at yet another Element of Harmony.
“Oh my goodness, are you alright, you two?” Rarity asked.
“Y-yeah,” Glamour answered, her gaze not leaving the giggling mare on the floor. “I was just caught off guard by Pinkie Pie’s cannon.”
“Pinkie, what did we tell you about surprising ponies with your party cannon?” Rarity chided, shooting a disapproving glare.
“Don’t mix cake batter in it?” Pinkie replied.
“Well, yes, but—”
“Or don’t do it when I’m sleepy?”
“That was certainly a very trying day, but—”
“Oh, oh, I know! You meant—”
“Pinkie, I meant that you should try to not do it to ponies who are unfamiliar with your um, exuberance. You might give somepony the wrong impression of you. Look at Glamour and Coco, you gave them such a fright.”
“Ohhh.” Pinkie nodded in understanding and smiled at Coco and Glamour. “Sorry about that. Rarity was so excited that you two were coming, so I thought I could make a super duper exciting welcome to help her out.”
“It’s alright, Pinkie,” Coco replied. “I remember how energetic you were back when you visited Manehattan. Your surprise welcome was very nice.”
“Er, right, a nice surprise,” Glamour added. It was definitely a surprise to her. Coco had failed to mention that there was more than one Element of Harmony living in Ponyville.
Rarity sighed. “Well, I suppose nopony did get hurt. Just be careful next time, Pinkie.”
“Okie dokie!”
Looking to Coco and Glamour, Rarity explained, “Please excuse her. It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie. She’s a sweet dear that just sometimes gets a little overzealous with things.”
“Uh, alright.” Glamour stole a glance at Pinkie, who was now happily alternating bounces between her left and right hooves, and noticed something was off. “Wait, what happened to your cannon, Pinkie?”
“Oh, I didn’t need it anymore,” Pinkie answered simply.
Glamour took a quick look around and saw that there were no suitable places to quickly hide the party weapon. “Okay, but where did you put it?”
“Silly Glammy, I put it away.”
“G-Glammy? What?”
“Like I said, darling. It’s Pinkie being Pinkie,” Rarity chimed in. “It’s best not to think about it. It will save you time and trouble. Now then, we really must be going.”
“Oh, oh, are we going to go eat now? I’ll lead the way!” Pinkie started pronking down the street.
Glamour merely nodded and followed along quietly. When her mental faculties finally recovered from the crazy, pink mare’s antics, she thought about protesting about her new nickname. Then she decided it was probably not a wise idea to risk agitating one of the Elements of Harmony, especially if said Element of Harmony had a cannon and seemed to regard physics as a guideline instead of a law.
Glamour found it really hard to not scream when they arrived at the cafe. Sitting at a large table was a familiar looking pony, and her identity was confirmed when Pinkie quickly went over to said pony. The seated pony was none other than Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus mare with a pink mane that she saw on the cover of a magazine a long time ago, who also happened to be yet another member of the Elements of Harmony.
“Hello there, Coco,” Fluttershy greeted as they sat down. “Welcome to Ponyville.”
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” Coco replied. “I’m so glad that I finally found the time to visit here and see all of you again. Best of all, I get to do it with my marefriend, Glamour.”
“That’s nice, but uh, is your marefriend alright? She seems kind of um… tense.”
Glamour was indeed tense. She was sitting in the same table with three of the worst threats to the changeling race. She was sitting rigidly straight, and she could not stop her hooves from trembling. It certainly did not help when everypony turned to stare at her at Fluttershy’s observation.
“Oh my, what’s wrong, Glamour?” Coco asked with a worried frown, touching Glamour’s hoof with her own.
“N-nothing. W-well, nothing serious. I just did not expect to be meeting so many of the Elements of Harmony today.”
Rarity chuckled. “Darling, there’s no need to be so nervous. Yes, we might have accomplished a few notable things, but we’re all still ponies in the end. And it’s not like you don’t have any of your own accomplishments to be proud of. I’ve seen your name and pictures come up quite often, and I must say you are making quite the storm up in Manehattan.”
Rarity turned to Coco. “And the same goes for you as well, Coco. I was so happy to hear that you’re doing so well, and I’m not just talking about your career. You made friends and even found somepony to love since the last time I saw you. I’m really proud of how much you’ve grown in such a short time.”
“Oh, thank you, Rarity.” Coco’s gaze dropped to the table as she smiled with a big blush on her face. “But honestly, I’m just lucky to have met such great ponies to help me out, like you and Glamour.”
“Nonsense, you have far more talent than you give yourself credit for. Don’t you agree, Glamour?”
“Oh, uh right!” Glamour quickly agreed, snapping out of her nerves to talk to Coco. “We just gave you a nudge in the direction, Coco. The rest of it was all you. Remember what I keep telling you.”
“Yes, yes, I know. I need to have more confidence in myself and my work.” Coco leaned over to kiss Glamour on the cheek. “That doesn’t change the fact that you are a big part of my life.”
A chorus of “Aww”s came from Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, making both Glamour and Coco retreat to their seats with blushes on their faces.
“So, um, anyway, I’ve been meaning to ask you something, Fluttershy,” Glamour said when her face was no longer so red.
“Oh, what is it?” Fluttershy tilted her head in curiosity.
“I knew you were once a model as well. Why did you quit?”
Fluttershy squeaked and sank into her chair a bit while her face reddened. “Ponies still remember that?”
Glamour frowned. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Do forgive Fluttershy,” Rarity interjected. “It was a long time ago. Photo Finish came here to Ponyville to photograph one of my fashion lines, but instead, she ended up picking Fluttershy as a model. Fluttershy was not too keen on the idea, but I saw it as a wonderful opportunity for the both of us, so I encouraged her to go along with it. Things got awkward when I started to get jealous of all the attention and she received. Still, I wanted to be a good friend, so I hid that from her. The problem was that Fluttershy was uncomfortable in the spotlight, but she did not quit because she thought she would disappoint me.”
Rarity chuckled. “Eventually, we did tell each other how we really felt, and Fluttershy was able to quit without any worries. It’s actually quite silly. If we simply told each other the truth, we could’ve avoided a lot of fuss. Let that be a lesson that it’s important not to hide your true feelings to your friends… or your special somepony.”
Glamour slowly blinked. “Uh, yeah, that’s… that’s a very good lesson.” Clearing her throat, she turned her attention back to the yellow pegasus. “Well, even if you are not a model anymore, Fluttershy, I still need to thank you.” She paused a moment to blow a lock of her pink mane out of her eyes. “I saw an old magazine with you in a library one day, and you could say I got some of my inspiration as a model from you.”
“Oh, uh, you’re welcome, even though I didn’t really do anything,” Fluttershy replied with a smile. “I mean, I’m glad I could help.”
“Now that we took care of that,” Rarity said. “You two must tell me everything on how you met each other and then found out you were destined for each other.”
Glamour and Coco both glanced at each other and nodded before Coco started. “Well, it all began when—”
Everypony yelped and hunkered down when a sudden gust of wind swept over them. Glamour noticed that the gale was made by a light-blue blur with a rainbow trail behind it, and when she looked up to investigate it, she saw that the object was now soaring high up into the air.
Glamour blinked a few times, making out the object into a pegasus mare. Her eyes grew even wider when she saw that the pegasus had turned around and was rapidly approaching them. She yelped and covered her face for the inevitable collision.
“Sup.”
Glamour slowly lowered her hooves upon hearing a new voice, and she saw that the blue pegasus was now seated across the table with a smirk on her face. Now that she was up close, she noted that the pegasus’s mane looked just like a rainbow.
Wait a minute, a fast-flying pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane… Don’t tell me that this is actually—
“Rainbow Dash! That was very rude of you! You startled all of us!” Rarity scolded the new pegasus. “Not to mention that you are late.”
“What? I just wanted to make a cool entrance,” Rainbow protested.
“And it was a great entrance!” Pinkie cheered. “You were like whoosh, and then you were like zoom, and Glammy was like ahh!” She acted out each sound effect with her hooves for everypony’s benefit.
Glamour might have been a bit annoyed with Pinkie’s exaggerated reenactment of her cowering, but she was too busy screaming internally. Rainbow Dash was yet another Element of Harmony, bringing the number of ponies that gave her a heart attack today to four.
“Besides, what are you getting all worked up for?” Rainbow asked. “It’s not like I’m the last one here.”
“Unlike you, the others have informed us that they had important things to take care of and would be coming a bit later.”
Glamour had a sinking feeling that she could guess who the others were at this point.
“Hey, I was doing something important as well,” Rainbow protested.
Rarity gave Rainbow a deadpan stare. “Let me guess, a nap?”
“Well, uh, maybe, but naps are important too!”
While Pinkie munched on some popcorn she somehow acquired within the past few seconds and watch Rarity and Rainbow bicker, Fluttershy turned back to Glamour and Coco with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about Rainbow Dash and Rarity. They sometimes act like this, but… Oh dear, it looks like Glamour froze up again.”
“What’s her deal anyway?” Rainbow asked. “I know I’m awesome and all, but she’s been kind of staring at me since I got here.”
“It seems like Glamour has heard quite a bit about our adventures and feels a tad intimidated by us,” Rarity informed.
“A tad? She’s as stiff as a board. I don’t think she’s even blinking.”
Pinkie crawled on top of the table and scrunched up her face as she gave a closeup examination of Glamour’s face. “Hmm… Oh, I know what might work!”
Pinkie raised her hoof and conked Glamour’s head. “Knock, knock!” she chirped in a sing song voice, somehow also making the sound of her hoof hitting wood.
“Ow!”
“Oops, I knocked too hard. Sorry, Glammy.”
“It’s fine, I guess,” Glamour replied, rubbing the sore spot on her head. “Sorry about zoning out… Again…”
“It’s alright, darling. No real harm done.” Rarity gave her a reassuring smile.
“But uh, just to be clear, you’re all Elements of Harmony?” Glamour received four nods. “And you all live here in Ponyville?” Again, she received four nods. With a sigh, she continued, “Let me guess, the other two also live here and are coming to this meeting?”
Glamour had to congratulate herself for not flipping the table and running off screaming when she received four nods yet again. That did not stop her from banging her head on the table though.
“Sheesh, you weren’t kidding when you said she’s a bit crazy about us,” Rainbow remarked.
“Oh Glamour, I’m so sorry that I didn’t make things clear,” Coco apologized, rubbing Glamour’s back. “I thought it was implied that Rarity’s friends were the rest of the Elements. I didn’t know you would be this distraught over meeting them.”
Glamour got up and shook her head. “No, no, it’s alright. It’s my fault for not figuring that out sooner. It’s the initial shock that’s been getting to me. I’m sorry for worrying you all. Just ignore any of my uh, oddities, and things will be just fine.”
While it seemed that the Elements in front of her accepted her explanation and did not suspect anything unusual about her, minus the whole freezing up thing, Glamour was still worried about one of the two members that was not here yet.
Glamour knew that the leader of the bunch was a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle. What was most disturbing was that Twilight was able to see through Queen Chrysalis’s disguise during the Royal Wedding. With Queen Chrysalis’s skills and magic far surpassing her own, Glamour knew that she would not stand a chance against the unicorn She had to come up with something to excuse herself before Twilight arrived.
“Hey, everypony, sorry I’m late!”
Glamour froze when she heard the voice come from behind. Slowly, she turned around, and her heart stopped at what she saw.
Barely noticing the short, purple lizard thing standing nearby, Glamour saw the dreaded unicorn with her menacing lavender coat and dark-blue mane with streaks of magenta and purple running down its middle.
Glamour was now face to face with the bane of changelings, Twilight Sparkle. She quickly noted that her problems were worse than she thought when she noticed one additional feature on Twilight that seemed to be different from what she had heard.
She has a horn and wings?! She’s an alicorn?!
Twilight extended her hoof towards Glamour with a smile. “Nice to meet you, I’m Twilight Sparkle.”
Glamour’s eyes glazed over and then everything went black.
A short time later, Glamour found herself spluttering and coughing on the ground when cold liquid splashed onto her face.
“Rainbow, was that really necessary?”
“Actually, Rarity, applying water onto somepony’s face does sometimes help a pony who fainted wake up. Granted, you’re only supposed to use a small amount, not a full glass… Rainbow…”
“Hey, it worked, didn’t it? Besides, I’m just speeding things up. This whole freezing up thing is getting old.”
Glamour groaned and slowly opened her eyes, only to find herself wishing she had not. She had apparently fallen off her seat and was now on her back, and looking down at her were Coco, and more troubling, the Elements of Harmony.
Glamour gulped. “Uh, h-hi there.”
“My goodness, Glamour, you scared me.” Coco sighed in relief. She helped Glamour back on her hooves as everypony else backed away to give her room. “Are you sure you’re going to be alright?”
“Y-yeah, I’ll be fine… I think…”
“I’m sorry for surprising you,” Twilight apologized. “The others already told me that you were pretty nervous to meet all of us, and I guess I came up at a bad time.”
“It’s fine, I was just worried that—” Glamour blinked. “Wait, you don’t find anything wrong or weird with me?”
Twilight tilted her head. “Um, no, not really. Is there something I should know about?”
“N-no! Nope! Nothing wrong with me!” Glamour chuckled sheepishly and then cleared her throat. “Uh, sorry. It’s just that, I was surprised… really surprised to find out that you’re an alicorn. Does um, does this mean you’re actually a princess?”
“Yep,” Rainbow informed. “Had a big old celebration and parade and everything. Pretty hard to miss something like that.”
Coco came to the rescue on her behalf. “Glamour had been traveling a lot, so she has missed quite a few things in the news.”
“Um, yeah,” Glamour pointed to Coco. “What she said.”
“Well, to answer your question, yes, I am technically a princess,” Twilight answered. “Um, a recently crowned princess. And before you ask, yes, I used to be a unicorn as well, but that all changed not too long ago when I finished a centuries old spell by none other than Star Swirl the Bearded.”
“Star Who the What?”
Twilight let out a loud, frustrated groan. “Seriously? You too? You don’t know who Star Swirl the Bearded is or what he’s known for?”
“Um, he had a really big beard?”
“Well, that’s kind of up for debate as many historians have debated about many aspects of Star Swirl’s signature beard such as the color, its length, and even how he trimmed it.” Twilight cleared her throat. “Er, besides his beard, he’s one of the most important magic users in Equestrian history. He created over two hundred spells while also accomplishing other great feats of magic. I still can’t believe that so many ponies don’t know who he is. Maybe I should see if I could issue an edict to make ponies read more about him.”
Rainbow leaned over and whispered in Glamour’s ear, “Princess of Books.”
Glamour could not help but snicker.
“I heard that, Rainbow.”
“Tell me that you would not at least be a little bit happy to have that as your official title.”
Twilight’s quiet grumble and Rainbow’s ensuing smirk spoke volumes.
When Glamour sat back down at the table, she found that there was a slice of cake waiting for her. Coco also had a slice, and Pinkie seemed to have the rest of the cake their slices came from shoved halfway into her mouth. Rainbow and Twilight had hayburgers, while Fluttershy and Rarity had salads in front of them. Finally, that purple lizard Glamour saw before she fainted was sitting in between Twilight and Rarity, and it looked like it was eating a bowl of gems.
“Was I really out that long?” Glamour asked. “I don’t think we even ordered before I uh, fainted.”
“Not as long as you think,” Twilight replied. “When Rainbow asked for some water to wake you up, Pinkie went inside for it. She was in there for only a minute, and she came out with all the food we were going to order along with the water.”
Glamour’s eye twitched. She was beginning to wonder if she should be more worried about Pinkie than Twilight. “Right…”
She turned her attention to the purple lizard. She remembered that it was standing on its two rear legs, but even then, she could only see it reaching the chin of the average pony. She also noted the green scales that ran from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. It seemed like it was a male, and for some reason, it looked like he was sneaking wistful glances at Rarity while he used his claws to eat his gems.
The lizard paused with a claw full of gems in front of his mouth when he noticed that Glamour was staring at him. “What? Do I have something on my face?”
Glamour yelped. “It talks!”
The talking lizard rolled his eyes. “Of course I can talk, what do you think I am?”
“Um, I-I’m not sure, to be honest.”
“Well, I’m a dragon.”
Glamour blinked. “A dragon? Really?”
“Uh, yeah. The name’s Spike, and I’m Twilight’s Number One Assistant.”
Glamour’s head quickly turned to the alicorn princess. “You actually tamed a dragon?!”
Twilight chuckled. “No, no, no. I actually hatched Spike’s egg when I was just a filly, and we grew up together. You could almost say that we’re family.”
“Yep, Twilight's even got the whole nagging mother thing going on,” Spike added.
“Spike! Don’t say things like that.”
“See what I mean?”
As everypony laughed and Twilight scolded Spike, Glamour could feel her tension ease, but only a little bit. Despite their formidable reputation, the Elements seemed to be just like normal ponies. Still, even though they did not seem to be suspicious of her, she was still on edge. Whenever any of them talked to her, she made sure to be polite and choose her words carefully. Eating her cake sure did help a lot though.
As she listened to Coco explaining to them about Suri’s changes, Rarity said, “Oh, Coco, I don’t think I actually congratulated you on placing second in the Fall Fashion Fantasia. That is certainly an impressive feat, especially since it was also your first competition.”
Coco blushed. “Thank you, Rarity. But really, without Glamour, I wouldn’t have been able to set hoof in the competition. Not to mention that the dress I made was because of the inspiration she gave me.”
“Yes, I did see a picture of your entry, and I must say it is absolutely gorgeous. And to think, it was because of your love for each other that sparked its creation.” Rarity let out a wistful sigh. “Oh, it’s so romantic.”
“I must say that I’m really proud of it.” Coco glanced at Glamour and smiled. “In more ways than one.”
“So, any plans for your next masterpiece?”
“Not really. I don’t have to worry about making anything for the theater for a while, and we won’t know what Photo Finish will want from us until at least some time after the Equestria Games are over.”
“Well, if you’re not too busy, I was thinking that we could have some fun together. A little collaboration between us.”
Coco’s eyes widened. “R-really? You would want to work with me?”
“Darling, I’ve been thinking about it since I last saw you. You’re a talented pony, and I would be honored to work with such a fine designer, not to mention a good friend.”
“I-I would too. If you really think it’s a good idea, then I would be happy to. I just hope I won’t mess anything up.”
“I highly doubt that would be the case. And who knows, maybe we can take a step further and make a little show out of it. I doubt Glamour would say no to modeling for us. Oh, and I bet that I could convince Octavia and her DJ friend Vinyl Scratch to provide the music for us.”
Coco blinked. “Octavia? As in Octavia Melody, the famous cellist?”
“The one and the same.”
“W-wow, I knew she moved to Ponyville, but I didn’t realize you actually knew her. Do you really think she would work with us? ”
Rarity chuckled. “I’m sure she would be happy to do it. After all, she’s a good friend to all of us here. If push comes to shove though, I’m sure I can convince Applejack to ask her for me.”
“Why Applejack?”
Rarity smirked. “You’ll see.”
“Speaking of Applejack, where is she?” Twilight asked.
“She had a large order to take care of today, but she assured me that she would be here. In fact, I think I can see her coming right now.” Rarity sat up a bit in her seat and waved.
Glamour took a deep breath. She already met five of the six Elements, including Twilight Sparkle. There was no need for her to get so worked up and worry everypony again over the last one.
Turning around, she saw Applejack, an orange earth pony with a brown Stetson on top of her head. Thankfully, Glamour’s urge to panic only went up just a little. That is, until she saw the mare walking next to Applejack.
The second mare was also an earth pony, but she had a gray coat, and her well-groomed mane was almost like the color of charcoal. She also wore a pink bow around her neck, and she walked with an air of dignity around her, similar to Rarity. For some reason, Glamour felt like she had seen this mare before.
As Glamour continued to ponder who the mystery mare was, Applejack and the mare trotted up to the table and exchanged greetings with everypony.
“Howdy, Ah’m Applejack,” Applejack said as she took Glamour’s hoof and gave her a very hearty hoofshake.
Even though Applejack’s hoofshake felt like her leg was being pulled off, Glamour was able to smile through the the ordeal and not scream at all.
When the gray mare moved in front of her to greet her, Glamour’s eyes widened, finally remembering where she saw the mare before.
“And I’m Oc—”
Glamour screamed and dove under the table.
“Oh dear, did I do something wrong?”
“Don’t worry about it too much, Octavia,” Rarity assured. “Glamour here is a bit jumpy with meeting all of us, although, I’m a bit surprised that she reacted to you instead of Applejack.”
Glamour chuckled nervously and peeked out from under the table. “Uh, sorry about that. It’s just that Octavia made a lasting impression on me before.”
Octavia crouched down to get a closer look at Glamour. “Oh? Have we met before?”
“In Ca—er, somewhere else that I certainly don’t remember. You wouldn’t know who I was since I was just one face among many.”
“Ah, I get it now.” Octavia nodded understandingly. “I suppose this means that you are a fan of my music then? I did play in quite a few concerts all around Equestria.”
“Uh, sure.”
In truth, Glamour remembered Octavia from the invasion of Canterlot. After the Elements of Harmony were captured, she and two other changelings were sent to investigate a flare of love that came from an apartment building. While she searched through one floor, her companions had moved on to the next one. When she heard a couple of loud thumps, she rushed upstairs and found Octavia standing over the unconscious bodies of her fellow changelings. Before she could recover from her shock, Octavia had rushed her, promptly knocking her out.
When she and the other two changelings came to, Octavia was long gone, but when they stumbled out of the building, they were met by the giant pink shield that blew them, and the rest of the changelings, out of Canterlot.
“If you don’t mind me asking, were you able to finish that order, Applejack?” Fluttershy asked.
“Ah sure did.” Applejack smiled and laid a hoof on Octavia’s shoulder. “And Ah could not have done it all without this filly’s help either.”
“You work at Sweet Apple Acres with Applejack, Octavia?” Coco asked.
“Not officially, but I do spend a lot of time there. Unfortunately, that gives Applejack plenty of opportunities to exploit some free labor from me.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Applejack said with a smirk.
Glamour’s eyes widened. Now that her nerves had faded away, she could sense what was going on between Applejack and Octavia. “W-wait, you two are in love with each other?”
“Really?” Coco asked, expressing her surprise as well.
As everypony else chuckled, Applejack gave them an amused smirk, “Yeah, we are. Been like that for quite a while actually, and we have no plans of stopping that.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude,” Coco apologized. “I was just surprised.”
“Yeah, Ah don’t blame you. We are kind of an odd pair. Ah mean, she’s a fancy, high-class musician, and Ah’m just an apple farmer.”
“An apple farmer who goes off and saves the world on the weekends,” Octavia added.
“Right. The point is that even though we’re two completely different ponies, we bonded over a common interest. It took us awhile, but we eventually found out that we really liked spending time with each other, and one thing led to another and well, we decided to become marefriends. Haven’t regretted it since.”
“It didn’t matter who we were or where we came from. What was important was how we felt for each other,” Octavia finished.
Glamour slowly nodded. As she allowed those words to sink into her mind, Pinkie had, at some point, disappeared from her seat to bring about another round of cake for everypony, causing Glamour to momentarily push aside her worries in favor of sugar.
Before Glamour could dig into her second piece, she heard Rarity ask, “Oh, Twilight, how are the preparations for the Equestria Games going? If I recall correctly, you were helping Princess Cadance and Shining Armor with a few things.”
“It seems like everything’s right on schedule,” Twilight replied. “I was just helping them with some logistics and planning, and I sent those things off before we came here. I helped plan out the times and schedules for all the events, mapped out the seating charts for the VIP sections, projected the number of ponies attending the games, along with suggestions to accommodate them all, and came up with several dozen contingency plans for various situations that might arise. Nothing much.”
“Right, nothing much,” Rainbow dryly repeated.
“Um, excuse me, Princess Twilight?” Glamour spoke up. “I couldn’t help but overhear, but did you say Princess Cadance and Shining Armor will be at the Equestria Games?”
Not only were Princess Cadance and Shining Armor the bride and groom of the fabled Royal Wedding, they were both targets for the Canterlot invasion. In fact, Queen Chrysalis herself was the one that dealt with them. She had kidnapped and replaced Princess Cadance so that she could put Shining Armor, the captain of the Royal Guard, under her control, allowing her to weaken the shield that had been erected around Canterlot for the invasion to start. More importantly, it was Princess Cadance and Shining Armor that had casted the giant barrier that threw every changeling out of Canterlot, effectively thwarting the whole invasion.
“Right, I guess you didn’t hear that either,” Twilight answered. “Well, Cadance and Shining Armor are the rulers of the Crystal Empire, so they have a lot of organizing to do to make sure everything is ready for the games. Since I’m not sure what my duties as a princess are yet, I was more than happy to help out.”
“Twi, princess or not, you would still want to do whatever you can to help them out,” said Applejack. “Bet you can’t wait to see them.”
Twilight chuckled. “Good point. I would do anything for my BBBFF and my favorite foalsitter.”
“Uh, BBBFF?” Glamour asked.
“Ah, sorry again for making you feel left out, Glamour. Shining Armor is my BBBFF, my big brother best friend forever, and Cadance was my foalsitter when I was a filly.”
“You… you’re joking, right?”
Twilight cocked her head. “Uh, no, I’m not.”
“So let me get this straight, your brother is the captain of the Royal Guard—”
“Former captain.”
“Former captain of the Royal Guard, your old foalsitter was a princess and is now your sister-in-law, and you are now a princess. Not only that, but you live here in Ponyville with the rest of the Elements of Harmony that’s a short trip away from Canterlot?”
“Um, yes, that’s all right.”
Glamour had figured the whole invasion was a shortsighted idea after its failure, but now she was seeing how ill-planned it was as well. With the Elements of Harmony based nearby, and not to mention their leader being closely related to the main targets of the invasion, it was no wonder that the invasion met all sorts of snags.
“One last thing, am I right to assume that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will also be there?” Glamour asked.
“Of course. Celestia has not missed a single one since the games first started, and this will be Luna’s first one since she returned from her banishment. Is something wrong, Glamour?”
“No, everything is just… great.” It was great that she was currently sharing a table with the Elements of Harmony and a mare who had assaulted her during the invasion. Not only that, but the Equestria Games were being hosted by Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, the bane of the changeling race, and to top it all off, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the almighty alicorns that controlled the sun and the moon, will also be there.
Glamour sighed heavily and picked up her fork. With so many things stacked against her, she wondered how much cake she might be able to stuff herself with before something blew up in her face.
Glamour’s cake blew up in her face.
Amidst everypony’s yelps, a deep, menacing laugh could be heard right in front of Glamour. Guessing that the layer of cream covering her face was not sufficient protection from whatever impending doom that was attached to that laugh, she slowly wiped off her face, and she gasped at what she saw.
Floating right above the table was some sort of large creature that consisted of many animal parts mashed together. He had a long, brown body like a snake, a bat and pegasus wings on its back, a lion paw and an eagle claw as arms, a lizard and goat legs, and a dragon’s tail with a tuft of white hair at its tip. On his head was a goat horn and a deer antler, and his creepy, yellow eyes had differently-sized red pupils, giving him an even more bizarre look.
“Hello there,” the creature greeted, showing off his single, long fang in a toothy grin.
“Discord, that was not nice,” Fluttershy said with a small frown as she flew up to the creature. “You got Glamour all dirty.”
“Oh pish posh, Fluttershy. A little cake doesn’t hurt anypony,” Discord replied. “Maybe pie, but never cake.”
“What are you doing here, Discord?” Twilight asked with a stern glare.
“Oh, I’m just here because Fluttershy happened to mention that you were all meeting some friends today, and I was wondering why I was not invited to this little get together.”
“Because you’re you?” Rainbow replied.
“But that’s reason enough to invite me! After all, who wouldn’t want to have me around?”
Everypony but Fluttershy’s flat stares was answer enough.
“Well, we’re sorry for not inviting you, Discord,” Fluttershy apologized. “We just thought you wouldn’t be interested.”
“Oh, of course I’m interested. I always enjoy meeting new ponies, especially ones you all deemed fit to call friends. Now, Fluttershy, do be so kind and introduce me to them.”
“Um, sure. Coco, Glamour this is Discord.”
A tuxedo complete with a top hat appeared in a flash of light on Discord. “Discord, Master of Chaos, at your service.” He bowed, taking his hat off in the process, revealing a miniature Discord that repeated the action. Glamour squinted and noticed that an even smaller Discord was bowing as well from the head of the second Discord.
“Discord, this is Coco Pommel,” Fluttershy continued, waving at Coco. “She’s a dressmaker like Rarity. We met her the last time we all went to Manehattan.”
“Hmm, Coco Pommel, was it?” Discord disappeared and appeared again without his suit right in front of Coco’s face, making her yelp and lean back in fear.
“H-hey, stop that!” Glamour cried out, moving next to Coco and pushing Discord back.
“My apologies,” Discord said, but it was offset by the grin he was still wearing. “Rarity, is this Coco Pommel the same one that generously gave you that lovely spool of thread you have out on display?”
“Yes, she is, but how do you know about that?” Rarity asked, shooting glare of suspicion.
“Well, I do need something to do during my free time, and what better way than to snoop around my friends’ homes?”
Everypony at the table shuddered.
“Um, moving on now,” Fluttershy continued, pointing at Glamour. “And this is Glamour. She’s marefriends with Coco Pommel, and she’s becoming a popular model in Manehattan.”
“You don’t say…” Discord stared at Glamour for a few seconds, stroking his white goatee. A grin appeared on his face, and he pulled out a giant magnifying glass and brought it up to Glamour.
To Glamour, all she could see was a giant, yellow eye, and it felt like it was staring into her soul. She whimpered as she tried to sink down into her seat.
“Discord, stop that,” Twilight ordered.
“Oh fine, if I must.” Discord threw the magnifying glass away with a loud squish, to Glamour’s relief. “Apologies for frightening the little model here. For some reason, I find her incredibly fascinating.”
Before anypony could ask what he meant, Discord cried out. “Oh, oh, oh, I know let’s take a picture to commemorate this glorious moment!” He reached behind him and pulled out a familiar-looking camera.
Glamour quickly checked into her saddlebag. “Hey, that’s my camera!”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll return it afterwards.” Discord tossed the camera into the air before stretching his arms again and bringing everypony together in a tight embrace. “Now say, cheese!”
A giant block of cheese with arms appeared in a flash of light on the other side of the table, caught the camera, and took the group picture.
Another flash of light later, everypony was back in their seats, albeit a bit dazed, and Glamour’s camera was sitting on the plate where her cake used to be before it exploded into Discord.
“Now, I do have to get going soon. You know, the usual things to undo, but I would really like a word with Glamour here,” Discord said.
Glamour pointed at herself with a shaky hoof. “M-me?”
“Yes, you, although, I’m not surprised you got a bit confused. I could be a model myself. I have the legs for it.”
“I-I’m not sure if I—”
“Oh, it’ll be over in a snap.” Discord snapped his fingers, and Glamour yelped as her seat rocketed high up into the air.
Twilight flew up after Glamour. “Discord, what are you—Oof!” She flew into a pillow that appeared in front of her.
“Don’t worry, everypony, she’ll be fine! I promise I won’t touch a hair on her,” Discord yelled before he flew up after Glamour.
Glamour gulped and clutched onto her seat as Discord floated in front of her and sat down in a lawn chair he pulled out from thin air. Looking down, she could see that everypony else was looking up at them. “Uh… Do we really have to be up here?”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll appreciate the privacy in just a minute.”
“I appreciate not having to worry about falling to my doom!”
Discord scoffed. “That just means you and gravity are not on good terms. I know she can be a bit of a downer, but I heard she absolutely loves cookies. Although, if you ask me, I think she should learn to lighten up a bit.”
“Could you please get to the point so that we can finish this conversation faster and get back on the ground?! What’s so important that you have to talk to me about?”
“Oh, I thought you would be interested in taking a look at the picture we just took,” Discord explained, waving a photograph in his claw.
“But you just took the picture. How could you—” Glamour paused when Discord gave her a deadpan face and waved his paw to indicate where they were right now. “Right, Master of Chaos.”
Discord smirked, and the photograph folded up into an airplane and flew towards Glamour.
Glamour sighed and used her magic to grab and unfold the photograph. She screamed at what she saw. As expected, it was everypony being uncomfortably squished up against Discord’s smirking face, but instead of Glamour the pony next to Coco, there was a changeling.
“H-how… Discord, you know?”
“But of course. Being a powerful deity has its perks. That flimsy disguise of yours can’t fool me..”
Glamour gulped. “P-please, don’t tell anypony! I promise I’m not up to anything bad, and I’m not going to hurt anypony! I just want to live in peace!”
“Hmm…” The photograph flew back to Discord, and he twirled it around in his claw.
“Please, Discord, I’m begging you…” Glamour pleaded with a whimper.
Discord gave a smirk that sent chills through Glamour’s body. “Alright.”
A pair of scissors appeared in front of the photo and cut it up into several tiny butterflies. The paper butterflies then flew off… And then they exploded.
Glamour blinked, not quite believing what just happened or what she just saw. “Uh, really? Just like that?”
“Yep.”
Glamour felt relief wash over her. “Th-thank you, Discord, you don’t know how much this means to me.”
“Oh, it’s not hard to figure that out. The question is, do you know how much this means to me?”
“Er, what do you mean?”
“You see, my little changeling, it’s actually quite simple. I might be a reformed being of chaos, but admittedly, being all goodie-goodie is a bit on the boring side. I need some fun and chaos to keep things interesting, and I believe you are going to give me that. I can feel it in my bones.” Discord somehow rolled the scales off his eagle claw like a sleeve, revealing a banner that said “Glamour equals fun!”
Suddenly, Glamour was not feeling so relieved that Discord was letting her free. “W-wait, are you saying that something bad is going to happen to me?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then something good is going to happen to me?”
“I didn’t say that either,” Discord replied with a wagging finger.
“Th-then what’s going to happen to me?”
“Well, that would ruin the fun then.” Discord smirked again and snapped his fingers.
Glamour blinked, and found that she was seated back at the table with everypony surprised by her sudden reappearance.
“Are you alright, Glamour?” Coco asked.
“Oh, she’s fine,” Discord said as he appeared in a floating lounge chair above the table. “I just found her interesting and wanted to get to know her better. In fact, I like her so much, I’m giving her my seal of approval!”
Discord snapped his fingers, and a live seal flopped onto the table with a foam hand in the shape of a thumbs-up on one of its flippers.
“Discord, what did I tell you about bothering the animals?” Fluttershy chided.
Discord rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, I know. Sorry, Fluttershy.” Another snap of the fingers later, and the seal was gone. “Now, with all that taken care of, I must bid you all goodbye!” His chair morphed into a sailboat, and Discord, now decked out in a sailor’s outfit, flew away in his nautical vehicle.
Glamour groaned and slumped into her chair in exhaustion. “Finally, he’s gone. That… that was pretty scary, to be honest.”
Twilight sighed. “Discord has that effect on ponies. I’m sorry, Glamour. He was only just recently reformed. Combined with how unpredictable he is, I’m afraid it’s going to take a long time before he can comfortably interact with other ponies.”
“I think he’s progressing just fine,” said Fluttershy. Her eyes widened when the rest of her friends gave her deadpan stares. “Uh, okay, maybe he could be a teensy-weensy bit better.”
Eventually, everypony started conversing with each other again, but Glamour paid little heed to it as she kept on thinking about what Discord was talking about. She looked up when she felt Coco brush her hoof, looking at her with a concerned frown.
“Are you sure you’re alright, Glamour?” Coco asked. “What did Discord say to you up there?”
“It’s just… I think he’s predicting something bad is going to happen to me.”
“Don’t pay too much mind to his words. He’s probably just being a troublemaker, and if by the off chance that he’s right, don’t worry about it. Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together.”
A small smile appeared on Glamour’s face. “Thanks, Coco. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
Coco smiled back. “You’re always there for me when I need it. I want to be there for you when you need it.”
The two of them kissed, this time ignoring the chuckles and coos of their friends.
When they pulled themselves away from each other, Coco turned to Octavia and Applejack. “So uh, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you two ended up being together?”
Octavia chuckled. “It’s a long story.”