Quiververse Bonus Reel

by EchoWing

Vignette Three - Sweet and Elite

“You know these ponies?”

As the various nobles and elite chattered amongst themselves, Rarity found herself caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place as she stood between them and her friends from back home in Ponyville. Since not long after her arrival in Canterlot, she’d spent most of her time ingratiating herself with Fancy Pants and his entourage, the cream of the city’s crop. And thanks to a number of factors outside of her control, the world that she’d hoped to be a part of had come crashing face-first into the world from which she’d come, and what standing she’d built up was about to collapse like a house of cards in a sudden breeze.

Perhaps she was indulging in her Shadow Spade novels just a bit too much, but nonetheless, there was only one thing that she could do.

“Yes.” Rarity mustered up her courage and firmly admitted, “Yes, I do know them. They may not be as sophisticated as some of you Canterlot ponies, but they are my best friends.” She turned back to face her friends and smiled. “And they are without a doubt the most important ponies I know.”

A derisive snort sounded from behind her. “Important ponies? These ruffians?”

Upper Crust’s tone was a perfect match for her husband’s. “Don’t make me laugh!”

The pair proceeded to do exactly that, only for Fancy Pants to cut them off. “Well I for one find them charmingly rustic.” He waited just long enough for his fellow elites to gasp before he approached Twilight with approval. “And I think the dress you made for your friend is lovely.” He turned back towards Rarity with a chuckle, though the laugh clearly wasn’t intended towards her. “I dare say every mare in Canterlot will be wanting one.”

Swiftly enough, Upper Crust rushed to Rarity’s side and purred, “Oh, I’d like to place my order right now.”

Jet Set took the opposite side. “I think you should get two, darling.”

Even Fancy Pants appeared surprised at how quickly the two brown-nosing ponies made their about-face, if his expression was any indication. “Er, yes, now then.” He quickly regained his composure and prompted, “Rarity, perhaps you’d be so kind as to introduce me to your friends?”

The mare beamed. “With pleasure!” She crossed the distance and made her way to the earth pony mare with muddied hooves. “If you’ll allow me, I’ll begin with the mare whom I’ve known the longest. This is Applejack. Ponyville practically grew from the seeds her family planted, and its core rests with her family farm, Sweet Apple Acres.”

At the stallion’s curious expression, Applejack made a nervous smile and doffed her hat in greeting. “Well, that’s a tiny bit more poetic than Ah’d put it, but it ain’t too far off. Right pleased to be introduced to ya, sir.”

“Likewise my dear. Now, is this Sweet Apple Acres the same one which produces zap apple jam?”

“The very same, sir. Afraid you’re a hair late to put in an order for this year's batch, but Ah’d be more’n happy to put your name down for next year.”

The noblestallion made a pleased laugh. “I’m much obliged to you, miss.”

Rarity suspected that there would be quite a few names down for orders of zap apple jam in the near future, but opted to clear her throat and carry on. “Next, this is Pinkamena Diane Pie, the preeminent party planner of Ponyville.”

The pink party mare licked her face clean and offered a hoof. “Pinkie Pie for short, Sir Fancy Pants!”

“Delighted. I assume that you handle all sorts of parties?”

Pinkie nodded. “Except for political parties, though. Too much hot air.”

Fancy Pants laughed at that, which prompted some additional laughter from the Canterlot elite. “Well, I certainly can’t fault you for thinking that. Are you a native of Ponyville as well?”

“Nope. I moved there from Rockville when I was a little filly.” She pulled a business card from her mane and noted, “But if you’re ever looking for a good source of catering, here’s the card for the place I work at. We make good treats at Sugar Cube Corner.”

He took up the card in his magic. “I’ll keep this in mind, though a menu would…” A pamphlet emerged from her mane as well, and soon joined the card with his approval. “I dare say, you’re prepared for anything.”

Pinkie shrugged. “I try.”

“And Pinkie’s not our only transplant.” Rarity gestured to the yellow pegasus among them. “This is Fluttershy. She’s Ponyville’s wildlife conservation officer, as well as something of an unofficial veterinarian. She has a fantastic way with animals, as you may have noticed.”

“It’s my special talent.” Fluttershy, for her part, looked to be making a very strong effort to be brave for her friend. “Pleased to meet you, sir.”

“And I you, miss. I assume you originate in Cloudsdale?”

A nod. “I moved to Ponyville a few years ago, with a friend.”

“Namely, me.” The prismatic pegasus among them stepped up with a cocky grin. “Rainbow Dash.”

That prompted an eyebrow raise and a small grin. “Ah, the Wonderbolts’ trainer.”

Rainbow Dash and Rarity’s eyes both went wide at that, though for different reasons. The latter found herself fighting back an embarrassed expression as the former grinned. “Geez Rarity, when you lie, you lie big!” Dash laughed and clarified, “I wish I was their trainer, but no. Someday though, I’m gonna be a Wonderbolt! You can count on it!”

Fancy Pants accepted that with a laugh. “I look forward to seeing you at one of their derbies then.” His gaze turned to the last of their number as he prompted, “And last but not least is…?”

Rarity regained her composure. “The last of my friends to come to Ponyville, a resident as of the recent Summer Sun Celebration. This is Twilight Sparkle. And the dress she’s wearing is, in fact, my gift to her, in honor of her birthday.”

Fancy Pants smiled and nodded. “Happy Birthday, young mare.”

“Thank you, sir, and I’m sorry if my party ended up disrupting yours.”

He dismissively waved a hoof. “You’ve disrupted nothing. In fact, I suspect that I did more to disrupt your friend’s efforts at making a gift than you did anything of mine.” A few of his guests briefly looked disgruntled at that.

“That’s as much my fault as it is yours,” Rarity admitted. “In any case, it’s thanks to her that I was able to stay in the palace in the first place. You see…”

“Twilight Sparkle happens to be a very important pony to quite a few of us.” Heads turned to find a group of four new arrivals. Rarity wasn’t certain what attracted the attention of the Canterlot Elite besides Fancy Pants more between the young dragon or the alicorn, but the way they looked now could only be described as slack-jawed as the latter smiled. “And I for one couldn’t ignore my most treasured student’s birthday.”

“Princess Celestia! Mom! Dad! Spike!” Twilight rushed forward and took her family into a tight embrace. “Where’s…?”

“On assignment, unfortunately, but he sends his love.” Twilight Velvet happily hugged her daughter back. “It’s great to see you, Twilight.”

“I’d say, especially considering we’ve barely seen you since you moved to Ponyville.” Night Light gave his daughter a reassuring grin. “Relax, that’s as much on us as it is you. We definitely need to visit the next chance we get, and get properly introduced to all these new friends of yours.”

As Twilight beamed and began introductions of her own, Rarity’s gaze met that of Princess Celestia, and she gave a small smile. The pair went off to a secluded corner as Rarity ventured, “Forgive me for asking, your Highness, but you didn’t plan this, did you?”

Celestia laughed. “Hardly, Rarity. But once I found out that Twilight’s party had been moved here to Canterlot, well, I had to do something. And making certain that her family was here was important, given how little she sees them anymore.” She smiled sadly and noted, “With any luck, that will change soon.”

“Well, regardless, I do believe that I’ve learned something from this.” At the princess’ curious expression, Rarity explained, “No matter where you go in life, you should never forget that you are the product of your home and your friends. And that is something always to be proud of, no matter what.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Anything else?”

The elegant unicorn made a nervous laugh. “Yes. That bending the truth will always come back to bite you in the end.”

Outwardly, the alicorn smiled and nodded. On the inside, however, she wished that she’d learned that lesson much sooner than Rarity had, as quite a few truths she’d bent over the years had done exactly that, and she feared a few more were yet to come.

Author's Note:

This was originally going to be less a change to canon and more a sort of deleted scene to reflect something that I wish had been there in the first place. Twilight throws a birthday party, and Spike isn't there? Nor her parents or the princess? The rewrite, however, ended up tweaking things, so there you are.

Also, expect a blog post to make note of another complaint regarding this episode, and the lack of another pony at Twilight's birthday party.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

This was fun. I rather liked it. Especially the arrival of Celestia, and Twilight's family was a nice touch.

Also, I laughed at Dash's reaction to the "Wonderbolt trainer" thing. XD

[Comickook]

Hey there. Sorry I took a while to get around to reading and reviewing this. Nothing to blame except self-admitted laziness. Anyway, you did a great job on the characterizations, exchanges and general wrap-up of this short piece. I particularly liked how you addressed certain issues with the actual episode in a way that still stayed pretty close to Season 2 canon.

And, yeah, I can understand why it would be frustrating to NOT be able to introduce Shining Armor and/or Cadance a couple of months sooner than in canon without wrecking things too much. Still, I DO like the fact that you gave an understandable reason for Shining's absence.

And, yes, I WILL definitely be looking forward to more of this.

[EchoWing]

8919570
That was a bit that I absolutely had to have in there. Not even losing the original version of this when I lost all my files could keep that out. Same with Applejack getting more potential customers and Pinkie Pie's joke about political parties.

8919746
No big, I'm just glad you're still keeping an eye on me. In any case, I do plan on having a future Vignette be based around the events of A Canterlot Wedding...though alas, I'm gonna have to rewrite it. Just like I did this one.