The Big Show
Morning Dew sits in her cloud bed and sighs forlornly, She's feeling depressed. She knows she wont see Rainbow Dash today as her and Rarity are still in Canterlot for the show, a show she feels she should be there to support them threw but she's stuck in the hospital, she checked and leaving for just today to see the show was immediately refused by her physician. She just sits and waits, though she's wide awake now she wouldn't mind one of the sleepy periods that often affect her, as far as she's concerned if she can get to sleep soon then the faster the show will be over and the sooner Rainbow and Rarity will return.
Morning Dew is roused from her thoughts as she notices movement in her room, looking at the cloud floor she can see the clouds actually rising up. Putting on a neutral face she braces herself for the Draconequus she knows is coming. However, the mother is surprised to see not the misshapen face of a chaos lord but rather the cheery face of a pink pony as the cloud floor parts to allow her through..
"Gooooooooooood morning!" Pinkie Pie cheers as she floats through the cloud floor, her hooves are carefully placed on top of a large balloon which she seems to have rode up to Cloudsdale, Upon realizing that Morning Dew looks at the earth pony like she's insane.
"What are you doing?" The Mother gasps. "What if that pops!? That's incredibly dangerous!"
"I'm good." Pinkie chirps happily. "I've got a backup plan so no worries."
"Who...Who are you?" Morning Dew asks uneasily, unsure what the earth pony could want in Cloudsdale.
"I'm Pinkie Pie! I'm Dashie's best friend." Pinkie declares happily.
"Pinkie Pie? Oh yes!" Morning Dew exclaims in realization. "You're one of Dashie's friends, the eccentric party pony right?" Pinkie Pie nods with a smile.
"Hey, you call her Dashie too." Pinkie points out happily.
"I'm her mother, of course I do, why do you?"
"Cause it's fun." Pinkie says matter of factly.
"Um...OK?" Morning Dew shrugs. "So, what brings you here?"
"Well, I wanted to meet one of my best friends mommy obviously." Pinkie says happily, she rotates slightly on top of her balloon, though the makeshift floor doesn't go any higher or lower. "I'm the only one other than Applejack that hasn't met you yet."
"Hold on. How did you know I'm Rainbow Dash's mother? You floated right up to my room and greeted me like you knew exactly who I was." The mother asks with no small amount of suspicion.
"I asked Fluttershy what you look like before I came here, gray fur, deep blue mane? Sounds like you." Pinkie explains simply. "Now I have a question for you." Pinkie says while pointing a hoof and narrowing her eyes.
"So, are you one of those fuddy duddy moms that's all rules and no fun or one of the super chill 'lets party' moms?" Pinkie inquires, from her expression Morning Dew can tell she's being very serious, though that could be part of the joke if she's making one.
"I'd say I'm a mix of both I guess?" Morning Dew shrugs. "I always made sure Dashie did her homework and did as she was told, though we had our fair share of fun too, I remember there were times where we'd fly and race together all day." Near the end Morning Dew starts gazing into space, a look of fond nostalgia on her face.
"Aw, that sounds nice." Pinkie says happily. "How do you feel about parties though?"
"Love attending them, hate throwing them." Morning Dew waves her hooves. "I have never been good at party planning, I like to think I'm good at many things but that is one thing I can't do." Morning Dew thinks back to the one time she tried to throw a party when she was 16 and shivers.
"That is so sad." Pinkie sniffles, suddenly standing right next to Morning Dew's bed, having somehow drifted the balloon over to her. "Everypony should know the joy of partying."
"Well it's like I said-" Morning Dew says. "I've been to parties before,maybe not huge ones but-"
"But you've never been to a Pinkie Party." Pinkie sighs. "How sad."
"Well, I'm sort of in the hospital but maybe-"
"Maybe I can help you!" Pinkie perks up suddenly. "Parties can make anything better!"
"Oh I get it." Morning Dew says with a smirk. "You're looking for an excuse, that's nice of you but-"
"LET'S GET IT STARTED!" Pinkie cheers as her party cannon appears behind her and blasts the room with confetti, a banner that says 'Get Well Soon Morning Dew!" is placed above the bed as balloons fill the room and ponies appear seemingly out of nowhere as the party commences. Pinkie begins singing a song about laughing making you feel better with party goers doing the chorus. Though the lines are repeated many times Morning Dew doesn't listen to any of it.
"So I wish you the very best!" Pinkie concludes with a large smile while standing on the edge of Morning Dew's bed. Her smile slowly disappears as no response comes from the mother, Pinkie blinks as she looks at the older mare in bed. Morning Dew's eyes are wide and her gray fur has paled to a bright white, her right hoof clutches her chest as she hyperventilates.
"Uh..." Pinkie mumbles quietly.
And that's when the hospital staff showed up.
SAPPHIRE SHORES' ROOF
"Wow." Discord gasps. "I guess she really, really doesn't take surprises well." Discord shrugs, not truly surprised.
"Yeah, I probably over did it." Pinkie says sadly. "The party was worse than the paragraph makes it sound." Discord just nods solemnly with her, suddenly his eyes go wide and he looks at Pinkie.
"But she's gonna be OK right?"
"Yeah, yeah she's OK." Pinkie assures quickly. "Though the doctor did ban me from visiting hours."
"Not surprised." Discord says as he leans backwards, looking at Pinkie in the corner of his eyes. "Know what might cheer you up?"
"What?"
"Rarity is waking up." Both conspirators turn to a mirror that Discord created to allow them to spy on the unsuspecting ponies.
SAPPHIRE SHORES' MANSION: GUEST ROOM
Rarity yawns and tries to stretch but finds herself unable to, her first thought is that her blanket is wrapped around her but what she feels is much softer than her blanket, slowly opening her eyes the fashionista sees a clump of blue in the corner of her eye, turning her head slightly she sees what is unmistakably blue feathers. This causes Rarity to blink in confusion, she squirms a little and manages to flip herself around, only to came face to face with Rainbow Dash.
"AAH!" Rarity screams once her mind registers whats happening, she tries to push away but Rainbow's wing is holding her tight, the ace flier's wing is surprisingly strong and holds her no matter how or where she tries to move. Rarity glares at the Pegasus.
"Rainbow Dash, this isn't funn-" Rarity's anger is cut off by a loud snore as her new bed-mate shifts position slightly.
"Alright Rarity, calm down, let's think this through." Taking a few breathes Rarity manages to calm herself, as her mind thinks rationally she very quickly dismisses the idea of Rainbow trying some stunt last night as the fashionista knows she can trust her friend. Rarity can't help but notice the close proximity to her friend's face, her eyes quickly darting down to the tiny distance between their lips, an obvious thought crosses her mind and her face turns Scarlett. Rainbow smiles in her sleep and her wing twitches, Rainbow's wing begins pushing Rarity but she is able to lift her head just in time to avoid being dragged into her friends face. Rarity sighs in relief as her face returns to being white though a light red tint still remains as she is held against her friends sleeping body.
"What is even happening?" Rarity mumbles as her head gets tired and she lays her cheek on top of Rainbow Dash's. With her heads new placement she can see across the room to Rainbow's bed and she can tell the covers are throw away, the door to the room is also ajar.
"Oh I see." Rarity says with a roll of her eyes. "Rainbow must have gotten up and gotten back into the wrong bed because she was tired." Rarity huffs and contemplates how to awaken her friend, Rarity doesn't notice however that by placing her head on the side of Rainbow's face she'd accidentally given Rainbow a target.
"Nom!" Rainbow says in her sleep as her teeth clamp lightly on Rarity's ear.
Rarity gasps as she feels the teeth come down, there is no pain but it does tingle.
"Rainbow Dash! Don- ah!" Rarity attempts to talk, but Rainbow begins a light chewing motion that seems to take the words out of her mouth.
"Oh my..." Rarity mumbles as her friend continues her sleeping actions, Rarity just lays perfectly still, her blush has returned. "I think I just learned something new about myself."
Rarity just sits there, she doesn't know for how long, just letting Rainbow sleep. The Fashionista gives her friend a little hug, one that strengthens the longer she lays there. Rarity would have stayed there even longer but then it happens, Rainbow Dash's teeth suddenly clamps down with some force. When Rainbow's teeth clamp down Rarity makes a noise, an unladylike noise, a loud unladylike noise, a loud unladylike noise that she prays nopony hears. Rarity's face turns redder than a tomato as she suddenly and violently shoves her companion off the bed. Rainbow Dash's eyes burst open as she frantically looks around the room in confusion.
"What happened!? What's going on!?" Rainbow shouts as her head whips back and forth. Turning around she sees her friend sitting on the bed, the once white unicorn now entirely red.
"W-what ha-happened??" Rarity stammers. "Well u-um what happened is that y-you were sleeping and I tried to wake you up but you wouldn't, you know, get up. SO what I did was shove you out of bed, unorthodox but it worked." Rarity's eyes dart around and look everywhere but at her friend. "And that is exactly what happened, nothing else happened at all, not one thing."
"Um... OK?" Rainbow says as she rubs her head. "Thanks I guess, I'm going to the bathroom." Rainbow says as she stands up on all four hooves, as she walks to the door she smacks her lips and raises an eyebrow. "Hmm..."
Rarity just watches her friend leave, putting a hoof to her chest she can feel her heart pounding. Raising her other hoof she feels the ear that caused the previous situation. Taking steady breathes Rarity eventually gets her color back to normal, she lowers the hoof on her heart but keeps her other one on her ear.
"We should have slumber parties more often." Rarity mumbles without thinking, she immediately clamps her hooves over her mouth. As she stands up off the bed Rarity instructs whatever part of her brain thought that to kindly shut up. As Rarity leaves the room she hears a noise though she to try pretty hard to hear it, it's faint but it sounds like two ponies laughing and cheering coming from above her, Rarity dismisses that idea though as the only thing above her is the roof.
A COUPLE MINUTES LATER: SAPPHIRE'S DINING ROOM
"What's up with you?" Trixie asks the fashionista as she sips tea from her cup, Rarity puts her cup down and raises and eyebrow.
"What do you mean? I'm fine." Rarity assures her companion.
"Uh-huh." Trixie says nonchalantly while turning her head away from the fashionista. Rarity wonders silently if Trixie could tell something happened, though she has no way to confirm it.
As the two ponies talk, Sapphire Shores moves around the kitchen making sandwiches for her and her guests, soon Rainbow Dash arrives as well and all three mares greet her.
"Good morning Rainbow." Sapphire says happily. "You certainly look well, you exude confidence like a star that just had her best performance."
"Just a good nights rest." Rainbow shrugs. "I had a good dream so I'm feeling good."
"What about?" Trixie asks, though her tone makes everypony wonder if she's really interested or just asking because she felt somepony had to.
"See what happened was I was in this big contest, I won, duh." Rainbow explains. "So there was this big party in my honor."
"Of course there was." Rarity chuckles.
"Yeah, so at the party there was a big banquet, and it had this amazing sandwich." Rarity's ears perk up and she turns away a little so no pony notices her blush. "It was so good I just had to savor it." Rainbow smacks her lips. "I can still kinda taste it actually." Rarity suddenly stands up, her face is slightly flustered.
"So Sapphire, there must be something we need to do before the show tonight right?" Sapphire blinks at her friend's sudden outburst.
"I guess so." Sapphire responds slowly. "You could go to the stage and meet with the models, there isn't much for the designers to do other than make sure they have their outfits and the models are ready."
"OK, then let's go do that." Rarity commands, Sapphire puts a plate of mini sandwiches on the table. Rarity stares at the sandwiches for a moment while putting a hoof to her stomach, she slowly sits back down. "We'll leave after we eat."
The four mares begin digging in to the prepared sandwiches, Rarity is glad that the previous conversation has ended, in her opinion the sooner she can forget this mornings events the better. Though the odd look Trixie gives her makes her nervous.
SOON: IN FRONT OF THE STAGE
"Sapphire was not kidding." Rarity shakes her head as her and her two companions stand around in front of the stage.
As Sapphire had said there was not much for her or any other designer to do, Hoity Toity was over seeing all final touches and preparations, various lights and pyrotechnics were already set up to the specifics of the designers. Rarity has already met with her models and all of them are ready for the show. Sapphire left the girls by themselves so she could speak to Hoity Toity.
"I guess we just wait?" Rainbow offers. "The girls aren't even gonna get here until later."
Then Sparkle will be here. Trixie thinks to herself. Trixie will have to make herself scarce then. Trixie looks at the other two ponies and feels her mood drop. Trixie will make the most of this.
"Trixie has an idea." She says to gain her companions attentions. "Trixie offers to take you two to dinner, as a thank you for allowing her into the show."
"Oh you don't need to do that." Rarity says, not wanting to trouble her.
"Trixie insists, we just had breakfast so this will just be a quick snack." Trixie explains. "Trixie knows a good spot."
"Thanks Trixie." Rainbow says with a smile. "That sounds great."
"Very well, but I'm not going to eat. A lady must watch her figure." Rarity concedes.
"Yeah, you need to watch your weight." Rainbow says sarcastically. "As if you could get hotter." Rainbow bumps Trixie lightly with a hoof, seemingly ignoring Rarity's blush at her comment. "Lead on Trixie."
"Trixie has reconsidered." Trixie chuckles as she begins walking. "Perhaps you are just a little funny."
Trixie and Rainbow share a laugh as they head out of the stage area and head for the place Trixie was talking about. Rarity hangs back slightly and groans.
"Is she doing this on purpose?" Rarity grumbles as she begins picking up the pace to catch up to her companions.
CANTERLOT STREETS: A SMALL DINER NAMED 'THE MYSTIC CAFE'
The Mystic Cafe is a small family owned building in the lower streets of Canterlot, no nobles or higher ups have ever even heard of it but among average citizens and tourists the location is well known. The diner is run by a family of unicorns that utilize their magic to serve their customers in entertaining and creative ways, the current manager, a mare named Stargazer personally met Trixie and the others at the entrance and welcomed them in. After giving Trixie a hug that the showmare didn't return due to embarrassment the three were seated in a pleasant booth with a window providing a pleasant amount of sunlight, Rarity and Rainbow sit on one side while Trixie sits on the other.
"This place is so nice." Rarity gushes as she observes the clientele of the diner, everypony is having a good time as they eat and talk. "Why haven't I heard of this place before?"
"You've been spending time with the wrong ponies." Trixie says dismissively. "This diner isn't fancy so no upper crust ponies come here. Their loss."
"Totally." Rainbow agrees, even though they hadn't eaten yet the energy in the building made her instinctively like it.
"Hey Trixie, the manager seemed pretty excited to see you." Rainbow says as she gestures to the mare in question. Stargazer stands behind the counter of the diner talking to and seating customers, her long silver hair is pulled back into a pony tail and an apron covers her midnight blue fur and slightly obscures her cutiemark that pictures an eye with stares in the iris, her rose pink eyes survey the crowd for anything that may require her attention. "You girls friends?"
"Nope." Trixie answers briefly.
"So then why-" Rainbow tries to speak but a new voice interrupts her.
"Trixie!" A young filly calls as she approaches the table, she looks to be around Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's age, maybe a year older. Her short silver hair is cut into a bowl cut, she wears an apron over her fur, her fur is such a dark blue it's almost black and her pink eyes sparkle with excitement. She actually has a cutiemark on her flank depicting playing cards and serving trays. A tag on her chest simply reads 'Ace'.
"Hey Ace, how are you?" Trixie asks the young filly, the filly smiles and stands close to her causing Trixie to gently push her away with a hoof.
"I'm right as rain I am." Ace exclaims happily while speaking in a strange accent. "I wasn't expecting to see you today. Color me surprised."
"What is-" Rainbow stammers as she looks at the filly with concern. "What is she doing?"
"I'm not doing nothin' love." The filly assures. "I'm just talkin' is all."
"Forgive her." Trixie pleads while face hoofing. "She started talking like that when she was four and just never stopped, everypony just goes with it these days."
"Oh come on now, whats wrong with the way I talk?" Ace asks, though Rainbow and Trixie seem at least a little annoyed with her continued accent, Rarity is eating it up.
"Well aren't you just charming." Rarity coos happily. "Are you our server? That would be delightful."
"Bet your bits I am." Ace says happily. "I've been waitin' for a chance to show Trixie what I got." Ace's horn glows and suddenly all three mares feel something on their ears, lifting up their hooves they pull down cards from a poker deck, fittingly enough their all aces. Turning the cards over two of the ponies are surprised to see they now hold a menu for the diner, Trixie however just looks over the menu as if she'd had one all along.
Rainbow and Trixie order daffodil sandwiches and a drink while Rarity just asks for some water, having taken their orders Ace pulls a deck of cards from her apron's pocket and the three menus return to cards and fly into the deck, she then puts it back into her pocket.
"How was that Trixie?" Ace asks hopefully.
"Not bad." Trixie says with a tiny smile. "You've gotten a lot better." Trixie ruffles Ace's hair a little.
"So you girls are friends?" Rarity ask hopefully.
"Nope." Trixie answers bluntly, taking her companions by surprise.
"Course we're not." Ace says with a laugh. "We're better! She's ma family."
"Huh?" Trixie's companions ask in unison. Trixie gestures to Ace.
"This is Trixie's cousin Ace Service, though everypony calls her Ace." Trixie explains as if she's talking about the weather.
"Pleasure to meet you ma'ams." Ace says as she shakes their hooves. "I've always wanted ta meet my favorite cousin's friends."
"We're not what Trixie would call friends." Trixie mumbles. "Business associates is the correct term." Ace rolls her eyes as she leans in to whisper to Rarity.
"Apologies for my cousin love, she's a little shy." Rarity could barely contain herself, she found the accent Ace uses so silly and adorable coming from such a young filly she just wanted to eat her up. However once the words the filly spoke sank in she looked at Trixie from the corner of her eye, unsure what to make of what Ace said.
"Now you sit tight loves." Ace explains. "I'll let my mum know what you want and be back before you know it." with that Ace runs off to talk to Stargazer behind the counter, the obvious assumption being that Stargazer is her mother.
Trixie sits in her seat and attempts to avoid eye contact with her companions, though their not sure why.
"You're family seems nice." Rarity offers. "They own this diner?"
"It's a family business." Trixie explains. "Trixie's Aunt and her husband and children to be specific." Rarity and Rainbow Dash take a moment to look around the diner again and notice that counting Ace and Stargazer there were four employees walking around the building, there was a mare around their and Trixie's age so about twenty and the other is a colt in between Their and Ace's age likely fifteen or so, the father is likely in the kitchen. One major thing all visible employees had in common was that they all look somewhat similar to Trixie, or rather Stargazer and Trixie's mother likely look alike and their children got a lot of traits from them.
"Trixie hasn't been around for a long time." Trixie mumbles. "She doesn't know why."
"Well nows a great time to do that." Rainbow urges. "Are they coming to the show tonight?"
"Trixie doesn't know." The showmare shrugs. "Like She said she hasn't seen them in a long time so they don't know she's part of it."
"Why has it been so long?" Rarity inquires, Trixie looks away.
"Trixie has been very busy. With her show-" Trixie looks further away and coughs nervously. "-And revenge..." Trixie turns back to them. "That's in the past though. Perhaps now is the time to get re-acquainted." The conversation halts for a moment as a bunch of ponies gasp in awe, across the diner a mare around Trixie's age was serving a family their dinner, she'd used her magic to conjure a small dragon made of fire that flew into the kitchen and returned holding an apple kabob in its claws, dropping the perfectly cooked kabob onto a plate the dragon flies to the ceiling and erupts into a firework, the sparks disappear before touching anything. Everypony oohs and awes at the display, the magenta unicorn with impossibly long silver hair soaks in the admiration.
"That's Spotlight." Trixie clarifies. "She's always been a showoff." All three mares get a chuckle out of that comment.
"'Ello Loves." Ace says happily as she returns to the table, The ponies in the diner ooh and awe again as a teenage colt conjures a pillar of ice that shatters to reveal a chocolate sundae, Ace just rolls her eyes and continues. "Dinner is served."
"The blue colt with the rugged mane is Cobalt." Trixie informs in a whisper.
"Here you go." Ace says as she tosses cards to each mare at the table, three cards land perfectly in order in front of each pony, though Rarity only gets one. "Go ahead, flip them." Ace urges expectantly.
Each mare turns over their cards, Trixie's and Rainbow's show pictures of bread, daffodils and juice while Rarity's one card shows water. The bread and daffodil cards flip onto each other and suddenly a plate with a sandwich on top appears on both sides of the table, like wise the three drink cards flip over and become glasses sitting on coasters.
"What an amazing trick." Rarity gasps in delight. "How do you do it?"
"Aw, I can't tell you that." Ace explains. "Magicians need their secrets." Ace holds up a card that has 'I'm sorry' written on it, flipping it over it says 'I hope you understand' and flipping it back around it says 'I need to help another table but just call if you need anything' and with that Ace leaves while chuckling at the two confused faces watching her.
"How did she-" Rainbow says as she looks around the table.
"Magic of course." Trixie explains. "Trixie's family often finds the kind of magic they specialize in very quickly as we practice very often." Trixie grins triumphantly. "Trixie's family members are often the first in class to receive their cutiemark."
"That's pretty cool." Rainbow confesses. "When did you get yours?" Trixie looks away again, a slight tint to her cheeks.
"That doesn't matter, but Trixie assures you she got hers first." As Trixie refuses to make eye contact, the other two mares look at each other skeptically.
The three companions eat in relative silence, they finish their quick meal after only a few minutes, Ace came over a couple of times just to say hi to Trixie. Once they finish their meal they meet Stargazer at the front counter.
"I hope you had a good time Trixie." Stargazer says with a smile.
"Trixie did indeed. How much does Trixie owe you?"
"Not one bit." Stargazer says as she reaches over to ruffle what little hair isn't covered by Trixie's hat. "I'm just glad to finally see my favorite niece again, We're pretty busy today but I hope you'll come back soon so everypony can talk to you."
"Trixie will, she'll likely come tomorrow morning after the show." Trixie talks but flinches when she finishes.
"What show?" Stargazer inquires.
"I'm showing off designs in a fashion show tonight." Rarity explains. "Trixie is using her magic to help me with the presentation." Stargazer smiles from ear to ear.
"Then we'll defiantly have to come see it, it's been ages since I've seen your magic with my own eyes." Stargazer insists, Trixie suddenly feels a weight on her back. Turning around she comes face to face with a wide eyed filly.
"You're performing!?" Ace exclaims, her smile bigger than should be possible."I have to see it!"
"I could make sure you get in." Rarity promises. "I'll just add you to my friend's group, it shouldn't be a problem." Looking at a clock on the wall Rarity's eyes bug out. "Is it that late already!? The train is almost here!" Rarity and her companions begin scrambling towards the door but are halted by Ace.
"Trixie." Ace mumbles quietly, she'd hopped off once the ponies had started moving. "You think you could help me with my magic tomorrow? I still make some mistakes." Trixie smiles warmly at the young filly.
"No problem." Trixie says simply as she takes off her hat and pulls a playing card out of it, the card pictures a sad looking Ace, Trixie hoofs it to her cousin while flipping it, the card now showing a smiling Ace that copied the smile now on her face. "Trixie knows a few things." Trixie places her hat back on her head and smiles.
With one final goodbye the three mares make their way to the train station.
CANTERLOT STREET: TRAIN STATION IN SIGHT
"Trixie's turn." Trixie says as her horn begins to glow, after a moment a small beam of energy fires from her horn and strikes a can on the sidewalk, the can bounces between a stallions legs and barely misses a mare's hoof. Rainbow Dash doesn't miss a beat as she zooms over to the cans new position and flaps her wings causing the can to move again, bouncing past several ponies. Everypony is in such a hurry nopony seems to notice the game going on. Rarity can't help but giggle at the sight.
While on the way to the Train station Rainbow and Trixie had found the can on the sidewalk and almost immediately created a game to pass the time, the first to accidentally hit a pony with the can loses.
"Alright, watch this." Trixie proclaims as she points her face and horn down towards the ground and begins charging, after a few moments Trixie unleashes a large blast at point blank range from the can. Flying out of the resulting dust-cloud the can zooms through past many ponies heads but eventually it's out of sight.
"Wait, where'd it go?" Rainbow questions as she looks for the can.
"It went that way!" Rarity announces as she points in the direction of the train station, Rarity gasps in shock when she's suddenly lifted by Rainbow's forehooves.
"Follow it! Come on Trixie!" Rainbow shouts as she flaps into the air with her passenger before rushing off. Trixie stands there and smiles at the two as they leave, after a minute she turns around and starts walking toward the show stage.
Flying though the air, Rainbow can move uninhibited as nopony else is flying. She soon spots the can and flies down, taking care to land properly due to her passenger. Once their both on the ground Rainbow and Rarity stare in shock at where the can landed, or rather who it landed on.
"What the-" Twilight mumbles in confusion as she looks up at the can impaled on her horn.
"I guess that means I win." Rainbow says with a grin, Rarity just nods in agreement before waving at their friend.
"Twilight! Over here!" Rarity calls to the Alicorn, Twilight looks over and waves back, as she walks over she shouts to gain the attention of their other friends, soon everypony is there. Twilight uses her magic to throw away the can.
"We're so glad you could all-" Before Rarity can finish her greeting however her and Rainbow are suddenly tackled by a white unicorn filly and an orange Pegasus filly respectively.
"Rarity!" Sweetie Belle chirps happily.
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo cheers with excitement. Both mares are surprised at first but soon smile warmly and close their eyes as they embrace their fillies.
"Aw, I missed you too." Both mares whisper in unison. Both pairs continue like this for some time before Rainbow suddenly opens her eyes and pulls away, looking at Scootaloo with surprise.
"Wait, Squirt?? What are you doing here?" Rainbow can't make sense of it, everypony here is going to be staying in Canterlot for a long time tonight. Caregiver letting Scootaloo stay at her house was one thing since she lives in Ponyville, she couldn't believe she'd agree to somewhere as far away as Canterlot.
"It was Caregiver's idea." Scootaloo says happily before returning to embracing the older mare. Applejack chuckles before speaking.
"Sorta, it was sorta Caregiver's Idea." Applejack clarifies. "Ah went and asked Caregiver if Scoots could come with us, I told her how many ponies would be in our group but Caregiver turned me down right away." Applejack gesture to Rainbow Dash. "But then ah mentioned you Rainbow, ya shoulda seen it, the second I mentioned ya'd be here she insisted Scootaloo come with. Said it would be good for y'all to spend time together."
Caregiver said that? Rainbow muses to herself. That's gotta be a good sign.
"Hey, um." Twilight says as she looks around the station. "Isn't Trixie supposed to be with you?" That gains their attention as Rarity and Rainbow look around for their companion but can't find a sliver of silver hair or speck of star hat.
"She isn't here." Rarity says with concern. "We weren't that far from the station, where could she be?"
"Maybe she went back to the diner?" Rainbow offers. "Should we look for her?"
"I wouldn't bother." Discord proclaims as he suddenly appears laying atop the train docked at the station. "She's heading to the stage, you'll see her at the show."
"Huh? Why wouldn't she just tell us that?" Rainbow questions, unsure why the showmare would simply vanish.
"Don't know." Discord says while inspecting his lion paw. "Ponies complain when I read their thoughts so I tend not to do it." Discord snaps his fingers and appears on the ground standing next to Fluttershy.
"Come on girls." Pinkie interrupts. "The shows coming up, we only have a few hours to party before it starts."
"Pinkie has a point." Twilight agrees. "It'd be best to relax before the performance. And since we're all here we can enjoy our time together, I have a few ideas." Twilight says while pulling out a clipboard with various ideas on it, only for it spontaneously burst into flames, while glaring at Discord, Twilight levitates a backup board and tries to read it. A blast on confetti sends the board flying onto the train tracks right as the train starts moving. Twilight sighs in defeat as Discord and Pinkie high five.
"Settle down now." Rarity sighs. "I think it only fair if everypony takes a turn to offer an idea. Now come on, we only have so much time." Following Rarity's lead everypony begins moving out. As they walk, Twilight runs up to Rainbow and beams at her friend.
"Rainbow, I just had to tell you, your mother is wonderful. She's so knowledgeable about Pegasus traditions and history." Twilight gushes while remembering all she'd learned from the mother.
"Yeah? Mom told me once she had planned to be a historian or something." Rainbow says while rubbing her chin. "But she became a weather mare to make ends meet when she got her own house and just kinda stuck with it."
"That's a little disappointing." Twilight admits, but she perks up again. "But she seems to be very happy anyway, very admirable."
"Yeah your moms great." Pinkie interrupts while laughing nervously. "And forgiving! She's forgiving right?"
"I'd say so." Rainbow shrugs as she looks back at her friend. "Mom's anger never lasts very long." Pinkie breathes a sigh of relief as Rainbow turns back forward, Rainbow shivers. "Though you defiantly don't want to be on the receiving end of it." Pinkie starts sweating at that comment, though she follows everypony else as if nothings wrong.
The group of ponies spend the rest of the day spending time together.
RAINBOW'S IDEA: BASEBALL CAGE
"This is clearly rigged." Discord huffs in defeat after missing yet another ball. Dropping the bat to the floor he crosses his arms and turns his head away from the offending device launching Baseballs at a steady pace. "Don't they keep Draconequi in mind when designing these things?"
"Discord?" Fluttershy whispers, her eyes barely showing through he helmet she's wearing. "Can't you just shrink so you'll be the right height?"
"No, cause then the machine wins." Discord pouts, hearing the crack of a bat Discord turns his head and smirks. "My my, isn't she the popular one?"
Rainbow Dash is standing in the same cage as Rarity, holding her hooves and instructing her how to swing it. However after a moment she leaves the flustered fashionista and begins instructing Scootaloo as well and after her is Sweetie Belle.
"This is ridiculous." Pinkie says to her conspirator as she whacks baseballs without even looking at them. "I hadn't expected Rarity to have to fight for attention with kids."
"Relax." Discord assures, "Twilight's picking next, she'll pick something boring the kids won't do but Rarity will make Rainbow participate in."
TWILIGHT'S IDEA: THE CANTERLOT LIBRARY
"Ya know what?" Pinkie asks as she leans toward Discord from her picture book. "I'm not even mad, that's adorable."
Rarity sits on a chair, her romance novel closed as she observes Rainbow Dash and giggles, Rainbow had begun reading a Daring Do book, only for Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to come over and join her, together the three had sat on the floor to read and had all fallen asleep bundled together.
RARITY'S IDEA: CLOTHES SHOPPING
"Hey." Discord says nonchalantly to the two ponies next to her, him, Rainbow and Applejack had been designated the carriers of clothes, Rarity had really gone all out with the spree and all three carriers are heavily weighed down.
"Discord." Applejack grunts as she shifts her weight to keep the clothes steady. "Can't you just make these float or put them in an infinite chest or something?"
"I'd need to snap my claws." Discord grunts. "Besides, I promised Fluttershy I wouldn't use my magic to mess with our time together in anyway."
Rainbow makes the sound of a whip cracking.
"Oh really?" Discord says with a mischievous grin. "What would you call somepony joining a fashion show, which they don't even like, and then carrying a ton of clothes just cause somepony asked them to then?" Rainbow just looks at him unamused.
"I'm gonna go with Loyal." Rainbow deadpans.
Discord just looks away and quietly makes a whip cracking noise.
FLUTTERSHY'S IDEA: RELAXING IN THE PARK
"This isn't quite what I had in mind." Fluttershy mumbles as she looks at her friends from her spot on the picnic blanket. What had started as simply laying in the park and looking at clouds had turned in a game of hoofball surprisingly quickly, When Pinkie suggested it Fluttershy just went along with it like it was her idea so she wouldn't disappoint anypony. The teams are Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle against Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Applebloom and Twilight, who had been convinced to play to make the teams even. Discord sits on the blanket with Fluttershy.
"Sorry your idea didn't work out Fluttershy." Discord consoles as he coils around the Pegasus. "I hope you're not to disappointed."
"I'm not." Fluttershy assures as she leans back into Discord and smiles. "This is better anyway."
When it was time to go, everypony realized they'd forgotten to select a referee, the game ended with nopony having any idea what the score was.
CMC'S IDEA: CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS, SKY DIVERS
It didn't go well. Why did anypony go along with this?
APPLEJACK'S IDEA:
When Applejack's turn came around she and everypony else were starving so she opted to go to dinner.
After a light dinner and some pleasant conversation dessert was served, unbeknownst to Rainbow and Rarity, Pinkie ordered them a large shake to share. When it arrived The two mares awkwardly placed their straws into the dessert and slowly began to drink, but then Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle suddenly dipped their straws in too, removing any awkwardness with a giggle. As the four enjoyed the treat together Pinkie banged her head on the table in frustration. Of the four, only Rarity got a brain freeze.
But now it was Discord's turn to pick. And there are no rules.
BEHIND THE SHOW STAGE: ONE HOUR BEFORE SHOWTIME
With the show beginning soon not much activity is happening, general last minute adjustments to pyrotechnics and preparation. The majority of ponies are in the dressing rooms to speak with the designers and put on make-up. The quiet atmosphere is interrupted when a stage white glowing dot appears in the air, sticking out of the dot is what looks like a bird's talon. The talon moves down and the dot stretches with it, when the talon reaches the floor the dot has become a rip in mid air. The talon vanishes as the rip opens to reveal a black swirling vortex, a moment later ponies begin filing of the portal, the elements of harmony don't look amused aside from Pinkie whose smiling, the CMC just look confused. Discord comes out of the vortex with a smile before using his talon to close it up.
"So did everypony have a good time?" Discord asks with a grin. Rainbow Dash takes a deep breath before turning around.
"You know what? No, No I did not." Rainbow snaps at the Chaos Lord. "In fact I had a terrible time, you know why? Cause you took us to an alternate dimension to visit Yel'rog 'He who feeds on fear!" Rainbow quickly looks at Twilight. "That's who he was right?" The Alicorn nods.
"What? It's not like he did anything to the fillies, they were safe." Discord defends himself, he then shrugs. "Though I'll admit that having an Eldritch horror make everypony face and conquer their worst fear is probably more of a Nightmare Night thing."
"It's a shoulda never happened thing!" Applejack shouts.
"Come on girls." Pinkie begins. "It wasn't that bad, everypony is OK and nopony got hurt or suffered any permanent effects from it." Though as she talks Pinkie's smile gets bigger as her hair seems to be straightening out. Discord taps her on the head and her hair poofs back out and her smile becomes calmer.
"Best to stop that before it starts." Discord says, he then starts stroking his beard. "So clearly I have errored if your glares are anything to go by." Everypony but Fluttershy nods, Fluttershy looks like she doesn't want to hurt anypony's feelings.. "So my only course of action is to remove all memories of this event from your conscious and unconscious minds." Discord snaps his claws, everypony blinks in confusion as they look around. Rarity looks at a clock and gasps before turning to Discord.
"I'm terribly sorry Discord but we don't have anytime for your activity, we need to get ready for the show." Discord waves off the apology.
"Good luck girls." Twilight says while giving the two mares a hug.
"Knock'em dead." Scootaloo and her friends cheer. Everypony offers encouragement before heading outside to take their positions near the stage that were reserved for them. Discord conjures a pad and pen and crosses something off the paper.
"Well they didn't like that." The Chaos Lord muses. "I'll figure something out later."
When Rarity and Rainbow Dash enter the dressing room they come face to face with a showmare baring an odd expression.
"There you are!" Trixie huffs. "Trixie was getting worri -AHEM- Trixie was getting impatient." Trixie gestures around the room and gives neither pony any chance to speak. "Showtime is in fifty five minutes, even if our performance is last we should be ready to go before the festivities begin!" Nodding in agreement Rarity begins assisting the models with make-up and wardrobe while Rainbow Dash heads to the back of the room to locate her dress.
"Wow." Rainbow whispers as she takes in the dress, it incorporates every color in her mane without seeming jumbled, they blend together beautifully while the edges of the dress have cyan colored patterns in the shape of tiny wings along the dress, the front portion of the dress that will go over her chest has alternate red and purple stripes and a copy of her cutiemark is sewn on at the location of her heart.
"How does it fit?" Rarity calls to Trixie as the showmare hides behind a screen to change, the fashionista's eyes wander over to the screen Rainbow stands behind, anticipation to see her friend in her design.
"Trixie is fine." Comes the call from behind the screen. "You just worry about the models who aren't as great as me."
"So I shouldn't worry about any of them?" Rarity asks with a smile. "I'm just joking." She responds to the resulting indignant huff.
"So." Trixie says uneasily as she pokes her head out from behind the screen. "Trixie assumes you had a good time with your friends?"
"You mean before we arrived? Yes, it was marvelous." Rarity answers excitedly, she then gives Trixie a concerned look. "Why did you leave before we got to the station?"
"Trixie simply did not feel like it." Trixie says unconvincingly. "It doesn't matter."
"I insist you come along next time." Rarity smiles. "I'm sure you'd have a good time."
"Meh." Trixie shrugs. Blinking her eyes Trixie tilts her head to look past Rarity, the showmare whistles and grins. "Ya know, Trixie thinks you have a more pressing matter."
Confused by Trixie's words Rarity turns around to see what she's talking about. Once her eyes register what she's seeing Rarity's eyes go wide and her mouth falls open. Rainbow Dash stands there, an embarrassed look on her face as shes wearing her dress for the show. Not only is Rainbow wearing her dress but she's pulled her hair back into a ponytail and shes even applied some make-up to her face. The make-up isn't placed professionally, the lipstick and eye-shadow are not very visible while mascara defines her eyebrows ever so slightly, the light application of make-up seems to accentuate Rainbow's face just that little extra bit. Rarity takes a couple moments to absorb the sight in front of her.
"Hey Rare." Rainbow says meekly, a faint blush on her cheeks. "I tried to uh, doll myself up a little. Does it look OK?"
"It's not OK." Rarity whispers, a frown appears on her friends face until- "It's perfect." Rainbow looks at her in surprise.
"It is?"
"It is." Rarity assures. She can tell her friends never worn make-up before, she doesn't look like a model who knows what she is doing, she looks like a normal pony that gave her best effort for something she knows is important. Rarity can't help but feel like it's the perfect look for her friend. "You look absolutely Beautiful Rainbow Dash."
"Thanks." Rainbow says while looking away, cyan blue attempting to return to her red cheeks. Trixie watches the exchange with a smile, she then coughs to gain everypony's attention.
"Trixie believes it's almost time." Trixie says while pointing to the clock on the wall. "You should join the other designers for the opening ceremonies."
"You're right." Rarity admits. "I'll be back soon, make sure everypony is ready while I'm gone." Rainbow and Trixie promise while Rarity walks out of the room. Once Rarity leaves, Rainbow looms at Trixie who waggles her eyebrows at the embarrassed Pegasus, who rolls her eyes in response.
THE STAGE
"Hello Everypony!" Sapphire Shores shouts into her microphone, the crowd responds with tremendous applause. "I would like to welcome you all. Nobles and commoners, Canterlot Citizen's and tourists and of course everypony who made this show possible." Once the newest round of cheers subsides Sapphire gestures to some raised platforms in the back of the crowd. "I welcome our wonderful guests, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" The Deities wave in response to the audiences excitement. "As well as Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony!" The crowd goes nuts in applause for the heroes of Equestria. "And even The Lord of Chaos came out tonight." Discord frowns when all he gets is a few scattered murmurs, Sapphire giggles before continuing. "Come on everypony, what say we bury the hatchet tonight? Give Discord a little greeting." While there is no cheering the crowd does clap just a little, it's enough to make the Draconequus feel at least a little welcome. "Thank you, now before we begin I'd like you to say hello to the stallion of the hour, Everypony give it up for Hoity Toity!!" Once the applause begins Hoity Toity walks up onto the raised platform next to the stage alongside Sapphire. Sapphire sits down at a table and gives Hoity the microphone.
"Greetings everypony, this is truly an exciting day." Hoity begins. "I have gathered onto this stage the finest designers in all of Equestria as well as the most promising newcomers to the field." Hoity takes a quick breath and his tone becomes more somber. "This show is a dream I've had for quite some time now, this is more than just a large fashion show, this is designers bearing themselves. Putting all their passion and strength into their designs, the thing to remember while watching this show. These are not just clothes." Hoity looks around the crowd before continuing. "The designs you will see tonight will hold the hopes and dreams of the creators, dreams from every corner of Equestria, dreams they've had since they were young. I ask you to share in our dreams tonight." Hoity Toity grandly gestures to the curtain on stage. "Share this night with the designers." The crowd absolutely explodes in excitement as the curtain raises and all of the designers are standing there, some looking incredibly confident, others looking nervous, while among them stands Rarity. While a nearly invisible bead of sweat drips on her forehead she waves and blows kisses to the audience.
"He's certainly dramatic." Discord shrugs.
"I thought it was nice." Fluttershy says with a smile.
"Where's Trixie?" Ace pouts.
"Where's Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo whines.
"HI RARITY!!" Sweetie Belle shouts. Rarity takes notice and waves back, causing the filly to bounce in place.
"We shall commence the show right away." Hoity announces as he takes a seat next to Sapphire Shores at the table, the two sit down and lean forward to a couple of microphones. "Designers please head back to your models, we'll be beginning the first performance in three minutes." The designers continue to wave to the crowd as they file into back stage.
"Let's get this party started!" Sapphire shouts as she presses a button on the table which causes fireworks to shoot out and explode in the sky, Sapphire looks down at a paper in front of her microphone. "Our first designer tonight is Sweet Stitch form Manehatten! Sweet Stitch you're on in a few minutes."
BACKSTAGE
"How's it look?" Trixie asks as soon as Rarity arrives backstage, every model is ready and waiting anxiously for their call. There's general buzz around the backstage as every designer wonder when they'll be called, nopony could handle waiting in their dressing room so luckily most of the backstage is open, though a spot is clear for the models that will be going on soon.
"No different than we assumed." Rarity responds. "It's just as packed as we'd thought. Though everypony here is a model so we don't to worry about any getting cold hooves. It's just going to be the wait that's the worst part."
"No need to worry." Fleur De Lis assures as she stands with the rest of the models. "You're designs are lovely Rarity."
"We're gonna rock this show!" Rainbow shouts excitedly. "If there were prizes we'd totally win them." Rainbow looks to her right, thinking she saw somepony she knew from the side of her eye. She just shrugs and moves.
"I'm not worried." Rarity giggles. "I just said the wait was gonna be hard, why don't we take this time to make sure everypony knows what their doing?" Rarity and her models all huddle together for one final discussion.
HALF WAY THROUGH THE SHOW
The last model from the current designer returns backstage and the whole group exhales a relieved breath. Some designers write on cue cards while they wait. One of the aspects of the show is that the designer stands on a raised platform opposite to Sapphire and Hoity and explains the inspiration behind the design, some designers are writing the cue cards to make sure they don't stumble over their words while on stage. At some point Rainbow Dash had gotten bored of waiting around and had started walking around backstage, she'd promised Rarity to stay nearby and to make sure she didn't ruffled or otherwise dirty her dress. Glancing around the room she once again spots a familiar pony, quickly heading over she skids to a stop, coming face to face with a startled Pegasus mare.
"Oh, I'm sorry." The Pegasus mumbles as she bows her head low.
"Nah it's my bad." Rainbow apologies. "You looked familiar but I can't really place you." Rainbow scratches the back of her head while looking over the mare, she's wearing a maid outfit so which makes Rainbow curious. "Are you a model?"
"Oh no." The now flustered mare shakes her head. "I'm a maid, I serve at Prince Blueblood's estate, my name is Spiffy Jiffy." The Pegasus bows again.
"Now I remember." Rainbow says bitterly. "Blueblood's here?"
"Yes, he is." Spiffy says quietly. "He's actually a designer in the show, he entered at the last minute." Spiffy slaps a hoof over her mouth and looks around frantically, likely afraid that her employer had heard that.
"He what?" Rainbow asks in confusion. "How did- He's not even a-" Rainbow can't even finish a sentence, she'd heard Rarity talk about Blueblood before and she's sure him being a designer would have come up at least once, she didn't like this one bit.
"Spilly Piffy!" Comes a call from elsewhere in the room, Spiffy once more nods her head respectfully before leaving quickly, Rainbow now noticing a saddle bag holding a wine bottle and glass on her side. Rainbow wants to follow her but a call from Rarity makes her head back over, she doesn't take her eyes off Spiffy until she disappears behind some other ponies.
"Who were you talking to Darling?" Rarity asks once Rainbow rejoins their group. Rainbow notices a slight edge to her voice.
"Just somepony I met once, figured I'd say hello." Rainbow waves off nonchalantly.
"Thank you Midnight Lace." Sapphire's voice booms over the speakers. "Up next is Coco Pommel!"
"Oh!" Rarity says happily. "Excuse me, I have to speak with Coco before she goes on." Rarity runs off and a tiny frown appears on Rainbow's face.
"Yeah, tell Coco I said hi too." She says while rolling her eyes. Trixie looks between her and the fashionista with a raised eyebrow.
"Is everypony in your group this jealous or what?" Rainbow looks at her.
"What?"
"Trixie said nothing." Trixie says while shrugging and looking away.
NEAR THE END OF THE SHOW
The show has been going wonderfully, the crowd has adored every design put forth by the creators, Coco's designs being the current highlight. While luckily Blueblood hasn't seen or interacted with either Rarity of her companions Rarity had actually taken a look at the outfits on his models and begrudgingly admitted they were pretty good. His portion of the show had been the longest, simply because he had much to say about them and himself and he hadn't allowed Sapphire or Hoity Toity many words in edgewise. Still the show has gone off without a hitch and it's almost time for the final act.
"Coco I still can't get over it." Rarity gushes to her friend. "Your designs are so wonderful!"
"Thank you Rarity." Coco says happily. "I worked really hard on them."
"I gotta admit I'm impressed too." Rainbow shrugs.
"Trixie isn't impressed." Trixie stats bluntly, she puts her hooves up defensively at her companions frowns. "What? Trixie is hard to impress."
"Hey Rarity." Coco says slowly. "Good luck out there." Coco and Rarity share a hug.
THE STAGE
"Alright Mares and Stallions." Sapphire says with excitement. "It's now time for our final designer for tonight." Sapphire's voice gets more excited. "You all know her! It's the Element of Generosity herself! The one and only Rarity!!" The crowd erupts into applause as Rarity makes her way from Backstage and onto the raised platform next to the stage.
"Hello everypony." Rarity greets politely while waving. "I'm so honored to be here."
"We're glad to have you Rarity." Sapphire says with a big smile. "Anything you'd like to share before we get started?"
"I'd just like to thank my friends, Rainbow Dash and Trixie. I doubt the show would be the way it is without them and I'm very grateful I could share this night with such incredible mares." Another bout of applause rings out from the audience, mostly from the section of the Elements and Trixie's family. Rarity could almost swear she heard a pony from somewhere say 'No, Trixie is not crying!'.
"But let's not leave these ponies waiting." Rarity begins. "This is my first design, worn by Trixie."
The crowd claps in excitement as the showmare steps out of the curtain, however the applause is very quickly replaced by confused murmurs once the audience takes in Trixie's appearance, The showmare is wearing a very simple, very bland sundress. It's a dull light blue that almost matches her coat, some ponies can barely tell she's wearing anything at all. Someponies begin to whisper among themselves, wondering if this is some kind of joke, while Hoity Toity watches with interest. Trixie walks along the runway as if she's wearing the most fabulous dress in the world, no fireworks, pyrotechnics or lights or anything accompanying her. The Canterlot Orchestra who had played for other portions of the show sit in silence as Rarity had instructed them. Once she reaches the end of the runway Trixie poses in a flourish before bowing her head incredibly low and closes her eyes. Eventually it's Sapphire who breaks the silence.
"Rarity? Is... Is that it?"
"Oh Believe Trixie." Trixie says loud enough for everypony to hear, she lifts her head slightly and opens her eyes to reveal they've taken on a green tint. "She is just getting started!" Trixie throws her head up and a column of green fire erupts from underneath her, visible within the swirling flames the audience gasps as the see dozens of changelings buzzing around. Everypony stands frozen in shock, unsure what to think, some guards look to Celestia for guidance only for the ruler to shake her head and gesture to the stage. One by one the changelings in the fire poof into hearts, once every changeling vanishes the fire dissipates. Trixie stands in the same place she had before but now her dress is completely different. She wears pointed boots with holes on the sides on her hooves, a flowing black gown that ends in spike like points covers her body, along the edges is a strip of green with holes systematically placed along it, a green cape designed after changeling wings sits on her back with a high collar on her neck, the two halves of the cape are kept together by a shining emerald. The dress has a sense of intimidation but also of regal elegance, Trixie strikes a new pose as she laughs.
"This!" Rarity declares happily. "Is my first design." After the initial shock the audience begins viewing the dress and marveling at the outfit.
"Incredible, Simply Incredible." Sapphire says, still rather stunned by the whole thing. "Rarity what as your inspiration for this?"
"This gown is designed after changelings, specifically the Queen of the Changelings." Rarity explains. "The idea behind this design is that even something we fear may yield something beautiful, keep your minds open." As Rarity explains Trixie continues strutting on the runway, loving the attention.
"What a way to start." Sapphire gushes. "A gorgeous dress and an incredible performance."
Trixie continues soaking in the attention as the audience goes nuts, dramatically turning towards the crowd, Trixie offers a cocky grin to a certain Alicorn before turning and walking back down the runway.
"Princess Celestia." Twilight whispers in surprise. "What was that?" Celestia puts on a thoughtful expression.
"It would seem that both the initial sundress, as well as the fire and changelings were illusions." Celestia explains. "That mare must have trained an awful lot to create ones like that."
"Illusion magic." Twilight whispers as she observes the showmare hop up on the platform with Rarity.
"Trixie will be up here for the rest of the performance." Trixie explains as she leans over to speak into the microphone. "Her magic will be used instead of fireworks or anything else."
"Very well." Hoity agrees. "Shall we move on then?"
"Of course." Rarity says with a nod before calling out the next Model.
Trixie's horn glows as a shroud of black mist over takes the stage, the mist condenses together and dissipates to reveal a unicorn stallion, the stallion wears a black and silver suit that looks like its made of armor, sewn onto the shoulders is a red cape that billows in the wind, the stallion has a commanding presence as he makes his way down the runway, once he makes it to the end of the runway he turns as a large crystal spire appears on stage, a pink aura moves out from the spire and when it reaches the stallion he seems to vanish. Stepping out from the base of the Spire comes two ponies, a Pegasus mare and a Unicorn stallion. The mare wears a long pink dress with golden heart patterns along the edges, she wears golden boots on her hooves, White flowers decorate the shoulders and spots along the flank. The stallion wears a regal red suit, golden pads sewn onto the shoulders. On the knee of each foreleg a shield with the crest of Equestria on it is stitched on. Both outfits have an image of a Shield with a heart on it sewn onto the chest. The mare and stallion walk the runway together and when they head back stage the crystal spire and the aura disappear with them.
Trixie breathes heavily as she catches her breath, after a moment she's ready to go. A bird made of fire flies from backstage and soars in the air before landing on the runway, the bird is suddenly blown away to reveal a Pegasus mare flapping her wings. The mare wears a blue dress decorated with yellow lightning bots along it, she wears blue boots on her hooves with lightning bolt decorations coming off each side of the boots, she wears a blue mask that goes around her eyes the areas around her eyes are yellow. The model moves along the runway as if she's an athlete in training, once she reaches the end of the runway a storm cloud appears above her, she flaps her wings and rockets herself up into the cloud. After a moment the cloud bursts apart and the mare floats back to the ground with a sprinkle of water falling around her.
As the next model is called a light mist covers the stage, enough to make an atmosphere but not enough to truly obscure anyponies vision, Trees appear on the stage as the model steps into view. She wears a white gown with branch like decorations along the gown and the edges, she has a flower tiara with a purple diamond in it, sleeves come down her forelegs that look like branches, a bracelet on her left hoof holds a pink sapphire while an identical bracelet on her right hoof holds a blue sapphire. An orange gem is placed on her left shoulder with a jagged red ruby on her right and a light purple gem shaped like a star is on her chest. Every movement is slow and deliberate as she makes her way down the runway, when she makes it to the end she stands up onto her hind legs and holds he forelegs outward as all the gems in her gown begin to glow. She stays that way for sometime before going back on all fours and making her way back stage.
White puffy clouds cover the runway, making it look like one big cloud rather than a stage, the mare who comes on stage is wearing the simplest gown of the ones shown, it's gray with light blue rain drops along the edges, the sleeves blue lines along them that look like falling droplets. Despite the dresses rather simple design and admittedly dull colors it has a subtle elegance and charm. The audience gives a murmur of appreciation and Rarity smiles with relief knowing they like it. Though Rarity doesn't explain the inspiration for this particular outfit.
A strange mix of light appears as the next two models walk onto stage, am image of the sun appears to bathe one side of the audience in sunlight while an image of the moon shrouds the other side in moonlight. A unicorn mare in a black gown and Fleur De Lis in a white gown come down the runway. The smaller mare's black gown has an ethereal look to the flowing garment, little lights resembling stars dot the deep black of the gown while the padded chest area holds an image of Luna's moon cutiemark, the sleeves flow down her forelegs like mist while two bracelets with crescent moons adorn each leg. Fleur De Lis' gown is a stunning white, it's sides end in fluffy points giving the appearance of large majestic wings covering her body while the middle of the dress is an almost shining gold color that the wings hold together, the padded chest holds an image of the sun and the sleeves shimmer like rays of sunlight with a bracelet depicting a sun adorning each leg. Both mares walk down the runway together, the regal beauty of their dresses being equally adored by every member of the audience.
"And now, we move on to my final design of the night." Rarity announces, she tries to contain her smile when she hears the disappointed sound coming from the crowd. "Allow me to introduce- Huh?" Rarity pauses when she hears somepony talk, turning around she sees Coco Pommel standing by her platform.
"Rarity, I need you to come with me." Coco whispers with a hint of urgency. "She's getting cold hooves."
"What?" Rarity asks in panic. She turns to Sapphire and Hoity across the stage. "May I be excused for just a moment?"
"Go, go." Sapphire urges, Rarity nods in thanks and excuses herself. Once Rarity has slipped behind the curtain to backstage the showmare still on the platform smiles.
Flicking her head to the side Trixie conjures a sound proof barrier making it so that anypony backstage can no longer hear whats happening on stage, No sooner does she do than a rainbow maned Pegasus starts walking out from behind the curtain and Trixie's horn glows to begin her entrance.
RARITY'S DRESSING ROOM
"I don't understand." Rarity mumbles. "Where is Rainbow Dash?" She turns around and sees Coco Pommel looking guilty at her.
"She's uh, probably out on the runway." Coco admits. "She's not the reason I called you back here." Coco reaches behind a table and pulls out a previously hidden Ponyquin, a beautiful gown is placed on it. "You are. You'll need to get dressed quickly."
ON STAGE
Rainbow Dash zooms out of the curtain with a copy of the sonic rainboom appearing behind her, two more bursts of color accompany her as she flies up the runway, reaching the end of the runway she flaps her wings and flies straight up. A tornado appears out of nowhere underneath her and Rainbow can be seen flying against the whirling wind, After a moment the tornado begins spinning in the opposite direction and becomes rainbow colored, the tornado spins faster and faster until eventually in explodes into colorful lights. Rainbow Dash floats down to the stage as rainbows appear all around to illuminate her. Rainbow stands there and soaks in all the cheering from the crowd, however the crowd goes silent when a sound come from the stage curtain causing Rainbow Dash to turn around.
A large spike of crystal has appeared on the stage, more spikes seem to come out of the floor as they make their way down the runway. An enormous spike appears under Rainbow Dash and engulfs her. One by one the crystals begin to shatter and sprinkle glowing shards around the area, only the enormous spike remains. The final crystal shakes and rumbles and then shatters, Revealing Rainbow Dash standing there but now she has company.
Rarity has appeared on stage, wearing a beautiful crystal white gown. The dress has a high collar and sleeves ending in braces with purple diamonds, an exact replica of her element of Generosity necklace adorns her neck and a copy of her cutiemark is sewn onto her chest right on her heart, the gown Diamond shaped edges and the whole thing seems to shimmer, giving the illusion that the dress is actually made of crystals. Rainbow just stares at Rarity, unable to believe her eyes. With the help of Coco Pommel and Trixie the dress had been created as a surprise, to allow Rarity to appear on stage, but Rainbow hadn't expected it to look so amazing. Rainbow can't even talk as a blush tries to appear on her face.
"Wow." The stunned Pegasus mumbles to quietly for anypony but Rarity to hear, Rainbow's wings involuntarily flare out and the flustered Pegasus flaps her wings to make it seem like she meant to do so. Trixie looks into the crowd and nods as she sees the Chaos Lord give her a thumbs up.
While looking up at the flapping Pegasus, Rarity is surprised to see her getting closer. Only after a moment does Rarity look down a realize she's standing on a glowing Platform, Trixie seems to have created it so she could be even with the Pegasus, moving her hooves she finds the magic platform allows her to move as easily as if she was walking on ground. The platform begins moving around in the air at Trixie's instruction and Rainbow Dash instinctively copies it movements, allowing her to maintain eye contact with the Fashionista. As they move through the air in their own kind of dance, magic fireworks going off around them but neither mare seems to notice.
"You... You look awesome Rare." Rainbow mumbles, slapping herself mentally that she couldn't come up with a better word.
"Don't worry, I know what you mean." Rarity says with a smile. "I'm guessing this was your idea?"
"The dress? Yeah, but the flying thing is new." Rainbow admits. "I just wanted you to be part of the show."
"Thank you." Rarity says with a light blush. "You know, you can be pretty sweet."
"It's just one more thing I'm great at." Rainbow says cockily.
"Thank you for everything Rainbow Dash." Rarity says with a smile. "I don't think there's anypony I'd rather have shared this with."
"I know there's no pony I'd rather be with." Rainbow says without thinking, a blush appearing on both mares faces at the confession. "As uh... Friends you know."
"I know." Rarity giggles, however without warning the platform disappears from underneath her and she begins to fall, she barely falls at all before Rainbow Dash gets under her and scoops her into her forehooves. Rainbow Dash begins floating back to the ground slowly, In an impulsive decision Rarity leans over and gives Rainbow a little peck on the cheek. "It means a lot to me, that you helped me tonight."
The two mares return to the ground, both blushing as Rainbow sets Rarity onto the runway. Suddenly the two become aware of noise all around them, both looking around in confusion they see the audience applauding louder than at any other point in the show. Looking up Rarity can see the remains of magical fireworks and lights, evidently the two mares had been part of some kind of aerial choreography without noticing. And apparently the audience had loved it, whatever it was that had happened.
"We should ask Trixie about this later." Rarity says as she looks around embarrassed, silently hoping nopony really noticed what she'd done. Rainbow just nods in response.
Rainbow never takes her eyes off Rarity as the two walk over to raised platform and stand with Trixie. Rainbow doesn't listen to Sapphire's remarks or Hoity's speech. The final moments and ending of the show is all just noise to the Pegasus, she barely registers the cheering of the crowd or anything else for that matter. All she feels is a warmth on her cheek and all she hears is the pounding of her own heart.
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First true kiss could have been in this one... but I like what you did better
Just go full french already
7292801 Patience, everything takes time.
OH, this is a big chapter, I'll have to save this one for tonight.
7325557 Thanks for your input, glad you're liking the story so far.
But about Scootaloo being Disabled. You think she is? I guess I hadn't really thought about it like that but it does make sense, though I can imagine her stubbornly trying even if she is. As far as this story goes though, While Rainbow and Scootaloo will continue practicing, I won't actually have Scootaloo fly in this story.
But again, thank you for your input.
got up todate with the story finally i expected you to have discord make a protal so RD's mom could watch the show
also why have you made trixie so much more powerfull than she is in the show i mean i dont mind its just odd
Finally caught up and this is really good, keep up the good work!
7335941 A portal to watch the show? I wish I'd thought of that. Would it be forced if I just had her mention that next time she shows up? Probably. that's my bad.
As for how powerful Trixie's illusion magic is. My reasoning is that she has been practicing her magic for a long time in an attempt to keep up with Twilight. I guess I hadn't really thought about just how impressive it all really was. Though I wouldn't say she's super powerful she's just practiced really hard and even still it did take a lot out of her.
7343160 ting is in the show we know she is not verry good at actual magic just stage magic (no 2nd prances told us this)
and no having her mention discord doing it would not be forced at all could even make a bonus chapter showing it
7343187 As far as the Trixie in this story goes you're not going to see her doing anything terribly impressive beyond illusions. My idea for her character is that illusions are her specialty, because their not real. Their tricks, deceptions, lies, whatever you want to call them. These tricks are what she's good at, hence the name Trixie. That may not line up exactly with the show but it's what I'm going with.
Her illusions(Tricks) are impressive but as far as other kinds of magic goes, she's not very great. That's why she used illusions for the show, because she's good at them.
I hope that makes sense.
7343559 oh it does i was just commenting that in the show she has no real magic skills is all im fine with all of this justwas saying is all
7343652 Oh, OK. Thank you.