Slice of Velvet and Pear

by David Silver

43 - The Return of Harmony, Part 3

Applejack found Pinkie grumping her pink butt by the river. "Catch anythin'?"

Pinkie waved at the water. "Not a single one. Why am I even bothering? I hate fishing anyway." She threw her fishing pole to the ground with an angry snort. "Did you want something? Better not involve apples."

"You hate Apples?" guessed Applejack.

"Pfft, yeah." Pinkie rolled her eyes, walking away from the river. "Who would like those?"

Applejack grit her teeth. They were not themselves. Getting angry wouldn't help... "You make some pretty fine apple treats. All baked up to perfection."

"You're playing with me." Pinkie wheeled on Applejack. "It won't work! I'm not your joke." She thumped applejack with the flat of a hoof. "So don't laugh at me, jerk!"

Applejack blinked softly. "Weren't plannin' on it... Only time I'd laugh around you, sugarcube, is if I was laughin' with you." She smiled with fond memories. "Ya have a right good sense of humor."

Pinkie pawed at the ground with an angry hoof. "You're just saying that. If you want a gross old apple treat, go to the bakery." She pointed at Sugarcube Corner at the block's end. "Don't tell them I sent you."

Applejack hiked a brow. "Now that ain't the Pinkie ah know."

"Then maybe you don't know Pinkie very well," shot back Pinkie, brows up.

"Ah do know Pinkie has a second mom in there, and she's be powerful sad if you didn't want to be asssociated with her no more."

Pinkie shrank at that, thinking of Missus Cake. "We aren't... that close..."

"Ya came into town." Applejack walked in place. "All confused and lost. There was one pony what took the time to figure thin's out."

"She was..." Pinkie shook her head firmly. "You're trying to play a joke on me, and it won't work! I won't be the butt of anypony's jokes anymore!"

Applejack sighed softly. "Ain't givin' up. Yer worth the trouble, Pinkie." It became clear to her that Moon Dancer was not the only one tearing themselves up about things."

---

Moon tried to cool walk up towards Fluttershy. "'Sup?" Yeah, perfect. She could be good at socials!

Fluttershy was watching her the entire time, chuckling at some joke she kept to herself. "Here, all by yourself?"

"Not entirely." Moon Dancer pointed to Fluttershy. "You're here."

"That can be fixed," needled Fluttershy, spreading her wings in a threat.

"N-no! I mean... I'm here to help." Moon dipped her front, sweeping a hoof in a proper bow. "How can I assist?"

Fluttershe's smile grew all the more malicious. "I don't know. What I have in mind takes a lot of dedication. You sure you're up for it, Moon Prancer?"

That was not Moon's name, but she swallowed that. It wasn't like her opinion mattered. "I will do anything for you, Fluttershy. How can I help?"

Fluttershy stretched into standing. "Well, if you're serious... You can start with that." She turned and gestured with a toss of her head. "Somepony has to clean this up."

Moon flinched at the animal waste. One of the less appealing parts of animal care. "Of course! Not a problem at all." She didn't want to do that, but her wants weren't that very important, so she advanced on it, horn glowing as she grabbed a dust pan and broom to help with the job.

Fluttershy swatted the pan out of the magical grip. "Oh no, you can't use that."

"Why not?" Had she failed to see something obvious? "Please don't be mad."

Fluttershy flinched back. "D-don't be... I mean!" She growled at Moon Dancer. "You don't know how to get anything done." She took flight, just to crash on Moon's back, sending her falling into the muck. "You have to get real close. Get back to work!" She laughed with wicked delight as Moon got to cleaning from as close as one could get.

But Moon kept on doing it, cleaning, and not complaining. "Is... this the way you like it?"

Fluttershy retreated a step off Moon. It wasn't as fun attacking a pony that refused to react. "Do you like smelling like that." Ah ha. She smirked viciously. "Not that it's very different from usual."

Moon swiveled an ear towards her, brooming busily with her magic into a pile of the stuff. "If it brings back Fluttershy, it's worth it... Don't be mad."

Fluttershy whimpered softly, sagging in place. "I'm not mad," she wailed with confused emotions.

Moon smiled with a quick rebound. "I'm glad to hear that. I'll get this cleaned up." She kept her face down low to the ground as ordered, cleaning despite that.

Fluttershy stomped up behind Moon, shoving her face first into the filth. "Stand up for yourself!"

Moon sat up, shaking the mess from her face. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Yes," thundered Fluttershy, stomping in place. "Little shy ponies like you make me sick! You're just gonna let anypony walk all over you? Pathetic! Maybe you deserve this. Maybe all shy ponies just... deserve this."

Moon was stunned into stillness, but was watching Fluttershy, trying so hard to figure things out. Was she... "Would you like a hug?"

"Y-yes," miserably let out Fluttershy, going limp. "It's not fair..."

Moon gently embraced the other shy pony, squeezing her gently. "You're way better at reading ponies than I am."

"Thank you," she got out muffedly, face buried in against Moon. Her color returned to her, not that the ponies there could see it. "I'm so sorry..."

"Why are you sorry?" Moon inclined her head as she leaned back. "How are you feeling?"

"Um..." Fluttershy reached up to gently bat the broom out of Moon's grip. "I can handle that... I'm fine, I think..." She stood up properly. "Where are the others? Don't we need to--" She stopped, a necklace being placed around her neck. "Oh." There it was, her butterfly necklace of kindness. "Thank you. Oh no!" She only noticed just then how filthy she had gotten Moon's half-tiara. "Let me help." She snatched Moon's tiara away and flew into her house in a worried streak.

Moon followed at a casual pace. Inside the cottage, Fluttershy was busily washing her tiara as vigorously as she could. "You don't need to go through all that trouble."

"It's my fault this got all messy." Fluttershy cleaned with determination, bubbles sudsing up around her hooves. "Cleaning it is the least I can do. Do you want a bath? Angel! Please draw up Moon a bath."

Angel huffed, but did hop off to get that done.

On one hoof, Moon was sure she didn't really deserve that. On the other, refusing Fluttershy would be failing Fluttershy... She could lose her friend! "Alright..." She followed after Angel to clean up.

---

Twilight pushed open the door to the Boutique. "Rarity? Are you home?" That answered itself shortly. Atop the boulder, Tom, was Rarity. Around the boulder was a shrine of shiny baubles to help draw attention to the big rock.

"Have you come to gaze upon Tom? Well, too bad." Rarity waved Twilight away. "This is a Rarity-Only zone, darling."

Arguing that the rock wasn't very special felt like a dead end. They had already tried to convince Rarity of that. "I'd rather gaze upon something prettier, which is right here."

Rarity blinked. "Whatever do you mean? You're not even looking at Tom, which you're not allowed to. Thank you for listening to that at least. Really, some ponies..." She caressed Tom lovingly. "You're all mine, you big brilliant diamond..."

Twilight forced a smile. "A fine diamond... but I know a set of three I can't help but stare at."

Rarity pulled herself forward, eyes wide and manic. "More diamonds? Where?! Tell me, dear. The suspense is killing me."

Twilight popped out of being, appearing next to Rarity, one hoof already extended to point at her rump. "Right there."

Rarity hissed, shoving Twilight right off of Tom to tumble to the ground. "No touching!" Still, she was a little curious, and did peek. She did have diamonds back there, shiny and... "Not as good as Tom."

Twilight picked herself up, brushing the dust off of herself from the fall. "Three to one," countered Twilight with a sly smirk. "And attached to a lovely pony at that."

"Darling." Rarity waved Twilight off. "You're trying to flatter me." That it had worked a little she did not admit. "As lovely as three is, three small diamonds is not much compared to this." She hugged Tom all the harder. "So big and wonderful!"

"He certainly is... large." She was not looking at the boulder. "But you can't share him. He's all yours, as you said."

"All mine," agreed Rarity, spreading her hooves wide over Tom. "And not yours."

"Not mine," agreed Twilight. "But you can't share him. But you can share the other diamonds, and sharing makes you pretty happy, hm?"

Rarity squinted suspiciously at Twilight. "Now you're really being silly, darling. I'm not giving up my cutie mark."

"Not literally, of course." Twilight waved that away, hoof shaking. "No, but your friends, myself included, value you. You have Tom, but we're sad, because we don't have a Rarity."

Rarity inclined her head with clear confusion. "But I'm right here, dear." She pointed at herself. "All the Rarity you can handle! More than that, if we're being honest."

Twilight smiled at Rarity's words. "I have little doubt of that, but you're keeping Rarity away. All your fans are pining for a loss of a diamond, and it isn't Tom. Would you really deny them a chance to be around the diamonds they really care about?"

Rarity scowled suddenly. "Tom?!"

"Tom is lovely, but yours," hurriedly got out Twilight. "No arguments there. All yours."

"All mine." She nuzzled into the unfeeling stone that was entirely hers. "What diamond do they 'really care' about then, if not this one?"

Twilight tossed her head softly to the side. "The ones you wear, left and right. It's the fashion you make. And the touch of class that Ponyville, let's be honest, is just lacking."

"It is a bit short of that," admitted Rarity with a little huff. "But they never seemed to care before now, dear. A bunch of bumpkins enjoying their little out of the way lifestyles without a care for the finer things in life."

Twilight lifted an ear. A lingering mote of something real? "Which is why we adore you, Rarity. You remind us of these things, and we love them, and you."

Rarity fanned at herself. "Darling, you are positively on fire today. I swear... But you simply must prove your words aren't just, as they say, words." She hopped down from her diamond, peering at Twilight suspiciously. "It's easy to say things, dear, but to live them! That is the hard part."

Twilight snapped a salute, hoof to forehead. "I'm ready!"

"I hope that's the case." Rarity half turned away, eyes half-lidded. "Name one high class activity you learned from me, and to follow that up, what do you admire about it?"

Twilight rubbed at her cheek. "That isn't entirely fair. Me, personally? I'm from Canterlot, remember?"

Rarity rolled a hoof. "Sounds like you don't value it nearly as much as you claimed, dear."

Twilight squeaked. "You showed me the joy of dressing up. Even in Canterlot, I rarely bothered... You make it fun, and you can really bring out a pony's best qualities. I... appreciate it, and you."

Rarity trapped Twilight's cheeks between her hooves, staring into her eyes. "You really should get dressed up more often, dear. You can highlight your better features." She curled a hoof on herself. "But before that, you need to treat yourself! Next spa day, you're coming with me." Her color popped into being in a vibrant show the ponies couldn't see. "I really shouldn't hold that to myself."

"That's the Rarity I know." Twilight hugged her dear fashionista friend. "Now, in the spirit of sharing, I'd like to get you over to the others. Up for it?"

"Right behind you, darling."

Author's Note:

Two out of three isn't bad, right?

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Comments

[Venerable Ro]

It's a team effort! Verra nice.

Alas, poor Pinkie has more than just Discord's influence rattling around upstairs, so her problems are a bit more intractable.

[Toffee Tales]

I do kind of like the way the issues were resolved, were resolved, as it were. Twilight has a much better field of depth on being a good friend, which helped her to help Rarity; while still compromised herself, Moondancer still understood Fluttershy the best- and more importantly, Flutteryshy understood, and could see herself in, Moondancer, which enabled her to accept the sympathetic ear, and express concern for her abuse. And while Pinkie hasn't exactly been fixed yet, Applejack is making good headway on cracking that particular nut. Now it's just a matter of figuring out Moondancer's solution, as well as Rainbow's- as soon as we even discover what the latter has been up to. I dunno that Spike would be enough to solve it on his own, but maybe since the others are feeling better (and it's nice that they actually prioritized making things right first, before jumping into the deep end and trying to fire off the Elements right away like in canon), they can help her, too.

[redmar]

THey're trying a different method than the memory spell which is unexpected.

[David Silver]

11445114
The memory spell was a bit of a brute force answer. But show times have a limit that do not allow for therapy visits for each pony.

[TheGJ90]

Slowly, but surely, the girls affected by Discord's terrible unfunny antics are remembering themselves. Moon Dancer and Pinkie need a bigger push or two to reclaim their colors, but I have faith in them and their friends!

Calling it now: Spike and Twilight are gonna give Moony that push she needs!

[redandready45]

Rarity fanned at herself. "Darling, you are positively on fire today. I swear... But you simply must prove your words aren't just, as they say, words." She hopped down from her diamond, peering at Twilight suspiciously. "It's easy to say things, dear, but to live them! That is the hard part."

I like how being paranoid and greedy hasn't made her stupid.

[Lord_01010000]

But Moon kept on doing it, cleaning, and not complaining. "Is... this the way you like it?"

[Lord_01010000]

Twilight forced a smile. "A fine diamond... but I know a set of three I can't help but stare at."

Rarity pulled herself forward, eyes wide and manic. "More diamonds? Where?! Tell me, dear. The suspense is killing me."

Twilight popped out of being, appearing next to Rarity, one hoof already extended to point at her rump. "Right there."

Twilight picked herself up, brushing the dust off of herself from the fall. "Three to one," countered Twilight with a sly smirk. "And attached to a lovely pony at that."

So many unintentional innuendos......