A Weekend In Canterlot

by sjosten

Wine of the Goddesses

It must have been around three in the morning when Vinyl’s alarm clock went off. Dash groaned and threw a pillow at it. Unfortunately, she didn’t account for the fact that Rarity was next to her, so Dash’s aim was a bit off.
“Ahh! Dash, what was that for?”
“Sorry Rarity, I was aiming at the clock.”
“Do you usually start the morning by attacking your clock with fluffy objects?”
Dash groaned again and sat up. When she actually looked at the clock, she saw that it wasn’t three. In fact, it was almost noon already. “Dear Celestia, did we really sleep that late? I barely have time to brush my mane before lunch!” Rarity was right. They didn’t have much time to get ready. Fortunately, Dash’s getting ready usually consisted of flying through a cloud and calling it a shower. So, rather than deal with either white unicorn in the house, Rainbow flew out the window so she could “bathe.”

Once Dash left, Rarity breathed a sigh of relief. She could never let Dash, or any of her friends for that matter, know that her morning routine was just bathing then casting a spell to fix her hair. After all, when you do the same thing with your hair for years, you develop short cuts. However, Rarity still wasn’t happy she would have to cut her bath short a bit if she wanted to thank her hosts over lunch. As such, she was forced to take a quick bath and dry off with magic. When she came out of the bath and walked into the kitchen, Vinyl and Rainbow Dash were already eating. Octavia was cooking what looked like grilled cheese.
“Hey Rarity, that was quicker than I thought it would be. We were afraid you wouldn’t show.”
“Good morning. Barely morning, but still good. Would you like a sandwich?”
“Oh yes, I’m absolutely famished.”

For Rainbow, lunch at Vinyl’s was… different. Octy’s food wasn’t any better than normal. Rarity was still fussy. Vinyl snuck chocolate sauce into her sandwich when nopony was looking. All in all, considering who Rainbow was eating with, everything was going fine. That was the problem. She had brought together the most stuck up prima donna she knew and a party girl to rival Pinkie Pie, and they were getting along. Maybe this would work out. As long as they kept talking about how “divine” Sweetie Belle’s singing was, Rainbow might get out of this without any problems.
“Oh yeah, that reminds me, Dash I wanted to ask you something.”
There went that idea.
“Since you don’t really come by often, I called up Berry so we could go out to that one bar you liked.”
This was even worse. Rarity wouldn’t last ten seconds in the Creaky Cellar. She was too dainty, too high class, too…
“That’s a wonderful idea Vinyl.”
It was then that Rainbow Dash simply slumped back in her chair and stared for the remainder of the conversation. Rarity, the mare who had a personal vendetta against dirt, who hated anything that might muss her mane, wanted to go to a bar. Not only that, Octavia was saying she wanted to go to. In the space of the next twenty minutes, the three mares had decided everything they needed to know about when and how they would get to the bar.
“And Dash, since you’re coming, we’ll call it even for staying here tonight.”
The day kept getting worse. Now she was planning something. Not just any something, something diabolical. And unfortunately for Dash, unicorns are very good at diabolical.

The day kept getting better! After their splendid lunch with Vinyl Scratch and Octavia, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were going to meet with Princess Celestia. Rarity spent the first half hour after they found out picking what to wear. She ended up wearing a lacy saddle with three large sapphires on the sides. It was a first model she had made for Sapphire Shores one day that needed heavy revisions to fit the star’s personal tastes. For Rarity however, it was a delightful mix of delicate, intricate, and fabulous. Shining Armor himself escorted them from the gate to the throne room. Once they stepped inside, Shining Armor returned to his post. Rainbow pushed open the door, and the two mares walked into the throne room.

The Princess is awesome. By now, this was a fact that Dash had come to accept. She wasn’t the hoity toity noble that everypony expected. She was mellow, and wanted to hang out with Twilight more than she wanted to have a tea party. However, even Dash didn’t expect what she had set up for them. In the middle of the throne room was a small table set up with three chairs. There were a few wine glasses on the table, but that was all. Rarity nearly fainted when she saw that, and it was hilarious. She had a look that was a mix of total horror and wall eyed shock. The Princess was just sitting at the table, sipping at the wine.
“Hello girls. Go ahead and take a seat. What brings you to Canterlot?”
“Well, Rarity has a few friends here, and she wanted me to tag along for some kind of bonding thing.”
“Really? Well, that sounds very interesting. Have you learned anything so far?”
“I learned that Rarity’s head doesn’t deflect pillows.”
“You’re the one who threw it at my head!”
“Well, you’ve had an interesting morning. Do you have any plans for the weekend?”
So, the two mares talked about their plans. Rainbow talked for a good twenty minutes about how they were going to the Wonderbolts and how Rarity bribed her into coming with an upgrade to seats in the skybox. Then they talked about going out to the bar with Rainbow’s friends, which was interrupted frequently by Rainbow commenting on how she thought Vinyl was up to something. Finally, Rarity talked about plans she had made for the weekend that Dash didn’t know about. It wasn’t anything sneaky or something Rainbow didn’t want to do, but it still bugged her that she didn’t know. She had a spa date with Fleur de Lis on Sunday. After they had finished talking about plans, it got pretty boring. It was all “How are Twilight and Spike?” or “Is Sweetie Belle doing well?” and all the other boring stuff you can talk to any pony about. Then again, that almost made the Princess cooler.

Aside from the peculiarity of how the Princess decided to greet Rainbow and Rarity, the meeting went very well. Rarity always enjoyed talking to the Princess, and Rainbow seemed to as well. It was interesting to see her as a medium between them. Somepony who understood all the regal and classy aspects of life, while also understanding a need to have fun and goof around on occasion. On top of that, she had excellent taste in wine. The stuff was fantastic. Had Rarity not been concerned about being in the presence of royalty, she would have had most of the bottle. Instead, she kept an eye on the bottle and made sure she had exactly a third. While few ponies would think to attribute an eye for detail to things such as alcohol, it still came in handy. The only hitch was when Rarity talked about her spa date with Fleur. Rainbow seemed genuinely surprised to hear about it. Rarity thought she had said something about it on the train. Fortunately, Rainbow didn’t argue against it, or even against going. By the time they left the Princess, both mares were happy and mildly confused at the same time. As they started heading towards the Wonderbolts’ racetrack, the two mares were looking forward to the rest of the afternoon.

Comments

[sjosten]

There! It took me months, but I was finally able to figure out how to add chapters! I'm sure that sounds ridiculous, but I don't care, because I finally did it!

[Windhelm Guard]

more or your arrested

[sjosten]

2016678

Don't worry, I'm writing up the next chapter right now.