The Sunshine Chronicles

by TwilightUCrazy

Shop 'til it Drops (part 5)

Applejack stared deadpan at the scene before her, eyes seeming to not even see the sizable crowd in the seats around the runway. She looked through the high-class ponies and the colorful characters. She saw past the intricate, zany and at-times weird personalities.

Her eyes were more focused upon the white and yellow mares sitting in the first row chatting each other up and having a merry time of things.

Silence stilled the duo as Fancy Pants rubbed his chin contemplatively with his hoof.

“It is rather more crowded in here than I would have expected. A rather large turnout this time!”

Rainbow coughed. “Eheheh. W-well, that’s a shame. Guess we won’t be able to make it after all…” she muttered to the fashion designer.

“Oh, nonsense, my dears! All it will take is a bit of musical chairs, if you will! Just a bit of rearrangement and everything will be right as rain.”

Applejack forcefully chorted. “Oh, don’t put yerself out there Mr. Pa—”

“I’ll just be a moment.”

“W-wait!”

Too late. Fancy Pants disappeared into a thick crowd.

Rainbow Dash sweat bullets and looked to her right where her wife was. She could see the pent-up agitation just waiting for a reason to be unleashed—probably upside her head. Her green eye twitched as she eyed the crowd.

“U-umm…” she started.

“What was it that you said, sugarcube?”

Applejack’s voice was eerily-level.

Oh, please don’t let the hormones be starting already…

“What was it?” she repeated.

Rainbow bit her lip.

“I believe it was somethin’ along the lines of, ‘Oooooh, nopony’s gonna be lookin’ for us in a fashion show!’”

The pegasus frowned. “Hey! That was my plan! Where’s yours?”

Applejack snorted and looked towards the stage, the exit, and every which way. Fancy Pants was headed their way again, and she knew that her wife wouldn’t just tell her to run.

“Just follow mah lead,” she uttered.

“Uhh… AJ, are you sure that’s a good idea? You know how I am with thinking on my hooves…”

Her mate glared at her. “Just do it!”

“Yes, ma’am…”

Rainbow blinked and watched as Applejack walked up to the party’s organizer.

“I, Applejack! I managed to find a few ponies who would be willing to relocate their seating arrange—”

“Uhhh, actually, darlin’, we were wonderin’ if there was a chance that ya could get us backstage, maybe?”

Fancy Pants and Rainbow Dash both gave the earth pony a look.

“B-backstage access, you say?”

“Y-yeah. I-it’s just, Rainbow and I are really, really big fans of yer work and we was wonderin’ if we could maybe get a closer look at some of them… uhh… d-dresses.”

Applejack had the worst poker face in the world. It was how she had known when it was okay to bug the mare or not on the farm in their youth, how she always knew when to brave annoying her further, and how she had mustered the courage to ask her for her hoof in marriage.

It was painful to watch her wife try and come up with a lie in such a manner.

She never expected Fancy Pants to buy it.

“Well certainly! I had no idea that the two of you such aficionados of the craft! Come, follow me right this way!”

Rainbow and Applejack fell into step behind him.

“Oh!” Applejack continued, “and wouldja mind not tellin’ Rarity or Fluttershy about us bein’ here?”

Fancy Pants blinked at her quizzically.

“I-it’s kind of a game we’re playin’… Ponyville thing and… stuff. Kinda like hide ‘n go seek?” A pause. Sweat, and lots of it. “Eheheh.”

Rainbow Dash barely contained her instinct to facehoof.

Instead of being caught, however, Fancy Pants surprised her yet again.

“Oh, how I wish to one day visit your little hamlet,” he said with a warm smile. “All of your small-town customs and traditions; truly, I would simply love to take part one day.”

Applejack apparently noticed her own good fortune and heaved a huge sigh of relief. “W-we’d be happy to have ya, darlin’.”

Rainbow glimpsed aside at her wife, jaw unhinged.

“Don’t you say a word,” the earth pony whispered, her cheeks aflame.

Fancy Pants led them up a small staircase and behind the curtains. A huge assortment of ponies in the latest fashion designs were crammed in the small space. The sights caused both mares’ jaws to drop.

“Feel free to peruse at your leisure, ladies. If you have any questions, please feel free to speak to my event manager.” He cast a glimpse around the curtain and smiled at the couple. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must be returning to my guests before they wonder where I am. I hope you both enjoy the show!”

And with that, he was gone.

Rainbow looked at Applejack. “‘Hide and seek,’ huh?”

“Shut up.”

The pegasus chuckled and pulled her wife close for a hug. “Oh well. At least we’ll never be seen back here,” she muttered.

“GIRLS!” came a loud shrill voice.

Rainbow and Applejack’s ears both perked. Galloping up to them was a straight-maned mare in a vest and tie with a small pair of reading glasses perched on her muzzle.

“There you both are! What took you two so long in getting here?!”

Rainbow Dash looked at her wife looked at her, then back to the event manager.

“Uhhh—”

“Where are your dresses?!” the mare asked, stamping her hoof. “Come on! Put some hot in your trot, girls! The show’s going to be starting any minute, and you aren’t even ready yet!”

The pegasus snorted a short laugh. “Oh, no way, lady. We aren’t here to be in the—”

“No excuses! No backtalk! You’re late!” She turned around shrilly whistled, and a group of mares rushed over, seizing the couple in their hooves.

“W-waitaminute! What do you think you’re—”

Then the fashionistas were upon them.

“Getcher mitts offa me! WHOA! Watch what yer grabbin’!”

“HEY! Watch the hooves, toots!”

“What do you think you’re – ‘Ey! Gimme back mah hat!”

“Not the wings! NOT THE WINGS!”

“No! Anything but perfume! Anything! Ah'm gonna—GACK!”

“Oh no! NonononoNONONO! You are NOT bringing that gel near me!”

In a flurry of chaos, shouts, hooves and make-up, Rainbow Dash and her wife were released, and the beauty crew stepped back to take pride in their work.

Rainbow got a look at Applejack first, wearing an elegant robin egg-blue gown and tiara. Her hair had been curled into two large spiraling bunches, ending in a neat and tidy ponytail. She received the same treatment with her tail. From her barrel flowed a misty silken sash, and her hooves were adorned with glittering see-through slippers to match the rest of her color scheme.

“What in tarnation?!” she shrieked aloud, looking at the calamity that was herself.

Rainbow couldn’t help her wing’s natural reaction to the beautiful display, though for some reason found them heavier than normal.

The pegasus looked behind her, and gaped in horror.

Strapped to her wings were a slew of giant peacock feathers that extended out well past her tail. How they'd managed to fit them and make them stay was beyond her. She caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror, and saw the green, shimmering dress she was in, with a fan-like headpiece to match the namesake bird. The slip on brass talons were stylish but uncomfortable.

“Fancy Pants's designs eat,” she said pouted, flexing her extended wings uncomfortably.

The manager from earlier trotted up at a hasty pace and looked the pair over. “Are we all ready? It's showtime!”

“W-wait... but... huh?!”

“Come on you two, move it! You're holding everything up! Fashion waits for nopony!” she barked.

“B-But, we’re not—”

“Hush!” the director said, levitating a clipboard over to herself. She adjusted her glasses and narrowed her eyes.

“Look, lady! Would you just slow it down and listen for a—”

“Quiet! Quiet, everypony!” the straight-maned mare demanded loudly. “The show is about to begin!”

Rainbow bit her lip, eye twitching.

“You, orange one. You’re our leading model. Get up there.”

Applejack scowled at being called ‘orange one’. Her expression melted into abject horror when she heard she was the lead-in.

As the fashion herd moved away, Applejack’s head slowly turned to meet Rainbow Dash’s gaze.

There was a boiling fury beneath those blank, green eyes.

Rainbow gulped. “Y-yeah, but—”

“AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!” Applejack interrupted loudly, raising a hoof to her face. “You are fired from talkin’!” she said pointedly.

“But—”

“ZIPPIT!”

Rainbow whimpered.

"Fillies and gentlecolts! Welcome to the Fancy Pants thirteenth annual Fashion de Elegante!"

When the curtains flew open, the pegasus knew from the look on her wife's face that there would be no sex that night, and probably the night after too. Cameras and thunderous applause from the audience exploded in twinkling flashes and immortalizing her forever as a fashion icon for the high-brow crowd.

Applejack froze, her four legs quivering in terror. Only a firm clap of the event manager's hoof against the wooden floor off to the left awoke her from her stupor. She looked back at her, and Rainbow urged her on with a nod of her head.

With light glinting off the nervous sweat on her brow, she edged out into the stage.

"Eep!" One of the models behind Rainbow Dash forcefully nudged her forward.

Applejack turned a few times down at the end of the runway, though from the way she nervously eyed the applauding Rarity and Fluttershy, her mind was less-occupied with being fabulous.

Feeling herself practically kicked out into the spotlight, Rainbow Dash stumbled, caught herself, and was nearly blinded by the light barrage.

She gulped and considered just running; nopony recognized her (she hoped) and she could likely make a quick escape without anypony catching her. But that would mean abandoning her wife to her lonesome, and likely facing a very angry and hormonal mare. Applejack was mad enough at her as it was with all the jinxing she'd done for them.

Swallowing her dignity, the pegasus forced as convincing a plastic smile as she could manage onto her face and strode out onto the runway.

Applejack turned back towards her and started her direction. They passed at the halfway point.

Despite the pounding music and flashing lights, Rainbow was present-of-mind enough to hear her wife's jovial tone.

"I'm 'onna kill yooooou..." she chirped.

"Not if I do me fiiiiiirst..." she replied through her forcefully-gritted teeth.

It was awful. Rainbow Dash loved attention. She loved being awed at. She loved ponies showering her with praise and adoration.

Unfortunately, it also came at the sacrifice of her self-respect. She felt like a parade float. She was a vehicle carrying clothing on her back, not the mare that everypony admired for her abilities and beauty. She felt objectified, and secretly, she wondered how anypony could subject themselves to such prying eyes. She could practically feel them undressing her with their eyes, and it made her want to wretch with every step she took.

Her eyes flickered to the right, and there they were.

Rarity, Fluttershy and Fancy Pants all sat together in the front row, admiring the passing mare. The clapped their hooves appreciatively, and somehow, knowing they were all her friends only made it all the creepier.

Her magenta eyes flashed over Fluttershy's teal, and suddenly, the yellow pegasus froze.

Rainbow immediately averted her gaze and flashed her smiled to the crowd again. She extended her wings to show off the dress a bit, performed a twirl, and faced back towards the stage.

Despite her better judgement, she glimpsed to her left again.

Fluttershy stare slack-jawed at her, her aqua-colored eyes absorbing her identity like a sponge to water.

Oh, super... she groaned inwardly and looked away, hastening her pace ever so slightly. She received applause for her dress as she passed, but couldn't feel any of her usual enjoyment of it.

That was replaced by a churning sensation in her gut, and a humiliation. Perhaps they could explain away the baby with honesty. Perhaps their friends might not be all that mad at them for avoiding telling them the truth for so long.

Fluttershy, however, would tell Rarity, and Rarity would be insufferable 'til Doomsday.

"Gottagogottagogottago..." she chanted to herself as she hastened her steps through the throng of models. "Applejack!"

Her wife looked up at her with a deadened expression.

"This was supposed to be a shoppin' trip..."

Rainbow snorted. "Well, I don't know about you..." she said, yanking off the talons on her hooves and sighing in relief, "but I think Rarity's officially off her onion to like this stuff." She looked about, everypony else distracted by the thought of being on-stage.

"We gotta get outta here," the farmpony said determinedly.

"How?! Everypony'll see us if we try and go back out the front."

Applejack blinked and looked around, scratching her freckled cheek. Her eyes landed on the door leading out to the alleyway, like a gift of the gods.

"Back door," she said. "Let's go."

"Wait!" Rainbow whined, trotting after her the best she could. Every stride reminded her of the painfully-heavy feathers attached to her wings.

Applejack reached up to open the door, when it flew open in their faces.

There, standing at the alleyway entrance, stood a navy pegasus with a windswept streaked mane, and a peach-colored earth pony with a yellow mane.

Rainbow and Applejack blew by them in a hurricane of movement, not even pausing to spare them a glimpse.

"Uhhh... AJ?"

"Not now, Rainbow!" her wife shouted back at her.

"I just wanna know where we're going!"

"Ah'm workin' on that part!" she said sharply. "Just gimme some time to–"

Applejack never got to finish her statement. She slapped face-first into a lavender-colored unicorn, sending both herself and the pony before her straight to their rumps.

Rainbow and Pinkie managed to screech to a halt before their faces merged in a most painful way.

The two pairs stared at each other, eyes widened in disbelief.

The bouncy party mare even managed to stop chewing on her strudel for a moment, surprise pushing her sugary appetite to the backburner.

Silence. Nopony moved.

A wind blew over the unsettled ponies.

Pinkie Pie was the first to break the silence.

"Hi!" she chirped happily.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack responded.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGH!"

Pinkie responded in kind. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA – this is fun! – AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGH!"

Without another word spared, Rainbow Dash yanked on her wife's forehoof and took off like a stabbed rat, leaving dust in their wake.

Comments

[wzium]

It's 4 am and I REALLY should go to sleep... but here I am with a very silly grin on my face. This chapter was priceless, especially that last scene!

[The Yaoi Mistress]

worth the wait!

[Lilith Evanson]

Yup, it's over. They are completely doomed.

[SHL]

This should be a show chapter XDDD

[Tchernobog]

Somehow, I didn't get this notification for this chapter! D: oh well.

Bwahah, poor girls.

[Mr Swanky Hat]

inkie responded in kind. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA – this is fun! – AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGH!"