Rarity took a deep breath, calling over her shoulder: “Now, make sure you get behind the ears, okay? I’ll not have you miss a single speck of filth on your body!”
“Yes, Miss Rarity,” Carnifax grumbled from the tub setup in the middle of the floor, surrounded by bubbles, his vest draped over a chair next to one of her ponyquins.
“Good boy,” she smiled as she kicked the door shut and took off in the direction of the tavern, already looking forward to an evening with her favorite ponies in the world. Making sure to avoid the lakes of oatmeal still bubbling away in the middle of most of the streets, she surveyed the devastation wrought by the past couple days. A park bench lay half-submerged in oatmeal, one of its legs scorched by a magical blast. A few columns of smoke still drifted from the shattered remnants of the Town Hall, which barely even had the scaffolding set up. Still, despite the work that obviously still needed to be done (mostly in resurfacing the streets), she couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief wash over her, like after a day at Aloe and Vera’s, especially as she stepped inside the quiet little tavern blasting rave music from the windows so loudly that the streamers were nearly torn away.
Sliding past the mob of dancing, raving ponies, Rarity side-stepped a few glow sticks and sidled up to the little table in the corner she knew her friends would be occupying. She smiled contentedly at the familiar sight: Rainbow Dash and Applejack engaged in a drinking contest along one side of the table, while Fluttershy and Twilight nursed their drinks and chatted amicably with Sethisto and Trixie, who in turn shared the same seat. Well, maybe Sethy and Trixie were new additions, but she liked to think of herself as an adaptable pony. After all, she was the one who had just accepted living with a diamond dog for the foreseeable future.
“Rarity!” Twilight smiled, pulling out a stool for her friend. “Glad to see you made it!”
“Of course, dearie,” the white unicorn smiled easily as she took her place at the table. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well…” Twilight said, drifting off awkwardly. “We were just worried you might have gotten…hung up.”
“Oh come now, were you all truly worried Carnie might have tried something?” She smiled and winked cutely.
The other ponies all paused, all eyes focusing on the Element of Generosity. Trixie bolted upright in Sethisto’s grip. “You named it!?” She gasped.
“He already has a name, darling, I merely gave it a more…sensitive touch,” Rarity replied, waving a hoof dismissively.
The blue unicorn slumped in her chair, shaking her head. “You girls are, by far, the strangest ponies I have ever met. And that’s counting that one stallion with the jelly fetish.”
“You should come by on Holidays, we haven’t even shtarted to get weird yet,” Dash remarked before belching loudly.
“I think we’d like that,” Sethisto said a split second before a party streamer landed in between his ears, draping over his face. Blowing it out of the way, he smiled at the other mares as Pinkie materialized from the crowd next to him.
“Oopsy daisy,” she grinned, snatching the streamer out of his grip. “Thanks, Sethy.”
“Don’t mention it,” he replied, his jaw dropping as she promptly turned around and took off over the crowd, suspended by balloons. He pointed at the materializing party favors. “How did she…”
“It’s Pinkie Pie,” Twilight replied, sipping her drink.
“But…that’s not a real answer! That’s…”
“Darlin’, s’the only answer yer gonna get,” Applejack replied, trumping Rainbow’s belch with one of her own.
Sethisto’s hoof dropped, his head hitting the table. “Ugh, this town…”
“Don’t you just love it?” Trixie gushed.
Sethisto smiled weakly at her. “Usually, yes, but right now, I just have a headache.”
“Allll-right, everypony!” The DJ bellowed, standing over her trademarked turntables at the head of the dance floor, the only place she would ever be. “This is yer host, Vinyl Scratch aka DJ P0N-3, who’s havin’ fun tonight!?” A series of whoops and hollers answered her, the mare drinking in the ecstasy of the crowd. “Hokay everpony, but right now, I think we should slow things down just a bit!”
The deep, thudding base was replaced by a long, slow piano, earning a few confused looks from the audience. “Hey now, I see those looks, but remember: this is a party for everypony in town, lovers included!” As she spoke, a certain, gray-colored mare in a pink bow tie strutted up to the turntables, and the pair shared an intimate kiss right over Vinyl’s equipment before the newcomer climbed into her marefriend’s hooves. “So c’mon, everypony! Grab someone special and get out on the dance floor!”
“Think a dance would make you feel better?” Trixie asked, motioning to the floor as the slow, lilting music continued.
“With you,” he smiled and stood up, offering his hoof. “Of course it would.”
The pair gazed lovingly into each other’s eyes as the stallion led them onto the floor, the slow, easy beats helping them to move, swaying with the rhythm in each other’s grasp, soon lost in the crowd of ponies.
“Ah, love,” Rarity swooned as AJ and Rainbow Dash gagged.
Twilight smiled and sneaked a quick peek over at the children’s table, where Spike, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and a few other foals colored and chatted happily. As she watched, Spike’s claw reached across the table to grab a red crayon, hoping to touch up the little barn he was drawing, only to bump right into a certain, white unicorn’s hoof. He looked up just as she did, their eyes locking for a second before they both turned away, blushing deeply. Of course, Applebloom took the opportunity to start singing at the top of her lungs: “Spike ‘n Sweetie, sittin’ in a tree…”
“And speaking of lovers…” Twilight added, motioning to the little pair as they dog-piled the young farmer.
“Quite the interesting development, if I do say so myself,” Rarity mused.
“So, Spike and Sweetie…”
“Yes, indeed,” Rarity said, sipping her cider.
Twilight sighed and took a large gulp of her drink, then smiled brightly. “Thank Celestia!”
“I know! Darling, I didn’t want to say anything, but thank the Princesses he’s getting over me,” Rarity chuckled and shook her head. “I was afraid he was going to reach high school and still be crushing on me!”
“Nothing worse than a pubescent dragon with an unrequited crush,” Twilight enthused.
“Heavens above, could you even imagine!?” A shiver travelled up the fashionista’s spine. “I mean, I love him as a friend and would hate to see him hurt, but here I was worried I’d have to break his heart at some point!”
“Really, Rares?” Applejack asked, butting into the conversation. “You wouldn’t wanna even try t’give the dragon a li’l taste?”
“Oh come now, Applejack, don’t be ridiculous!” She scoffed. “The age difference between us is just too much! I don’t even know his age, but even I can see he’s just too young of both body and mind for the possibility of a relationship to ever be on the horizon! I mean, could you imagine the scandal? It’d be like Princess Celestia engaging in a relationship with Twilight!”
“What!?” Twilight gasped, obviously taken aback. “That would never…”
“Exactly!” The unicorn scoffed as Rainbow Dash shoved another mug of cider down Twilight’s gullet. Panting heavily, the lavender unicorn looked at her friends, bits of froth from the drink bubbling out her mouth, then laughed heartily. The rest of the group joined in, all laughing at the incredible, impossible notions they had just come up with.
“Huh-hey! How-how about Celestia an’ Luna!?” Rainbow Dash slurred drunkenly. The rest of the group nearly fell out of their chairs at that one.
“I know! I know! Chrysalis and Luna!” Applejack laughed. The whole table was nearly beside themselves with that one, and they weren’t even close to done yet.
“Twilight X Sombra!” Rarity earned a quick punch to the shoulder for that one.
“Pinkie X Changeling!” Rainbow guffawed.
“Discord X Celestia!”
All at once, the entire table fell silent. Twilight shivered in her seat, her coat bristling. The other ponies sat upright.
“Did y’all feel that?” Applejack asked, taking another sip of her drink.
“Yeah,” Twilight shivered again. “It felt…strange…”
“Like we just stumbled over something dreadful…” Rarity added.
“I think I’m done with random shipping today, girls?” Twilight said.
“Yeah,” the rest of the table agreed, quickly settling in for a somewhat more reserved night of drinking.