The fact that Fancy Pants had spread the news of Rarity's participation in Canterlot Fashion Week to all the ponies that he held any clout with, whatsoever, could not have been more clear. All the prestigious ponies of the Canterlot Elite had come to her show—Hoity Toity himself had made a point of being there. With the highly-sought DJ PON-3 doing the music, a line-up of many of the top models of Equestria wearing her dresses, and even Photo Finish making an appearance, the show had been beyond spectacular. So dazzled had the ponies in attendance been by it, that nearly all of them came to the reception that was being held after. Each one of them was surely there to compliment Rarity on how stunning her line was.
And Rarity felt trapped.
She could feel herself begin to sweat. Though it was a rather cold winter evening in Canterlot, the hall the reception was in managed to be quite sweltering. It had become an absolute mass of ponies. Rarity couldn't move more than a few steps in any direction without running into more ponies that would endlessly praise her. What they had to say about her line tore at her, and she couldn't help but wish she was anywhere but there, at the moment. The music coming from the DJ's table pounded a little bit too loudly, and Rarity put a hoof to her head.
Everything leading up to that point had gone better than she could have possibly hoped for. It had seemed like Equestria's two royal princesses had aligned the heavenly bodies with Rarity's good fortune in mind. What stood out most, however, was the way in which inspiration had come to her exactly when she had needed it. The moment the idea for her line had come to her, she had known it was truly an idea among ideas—one that shook her to her creative core. And to Rarity, this outshone all the other fortuitous occurrences.
When the Canterlot Fashion Week had started, it'd been clear that the trend for that season was garments with elaborate silhouettes and lots of frills—but Rarity couldn't have expected the other designers showing this week to be so completely predictable. She had known, even before her show had started, that she had completely blown them out of the proverbial water.
Rarity's dresses, in contrast to those by other designers, had sleek, plain silhouettes. The shaping of them was minimalistic, daring only in the context of what the trend for that season was. Rarity had been doing frills for years; she had since moved away from that. The shaping of the dresses, however, was not the focus of Rarity's line, as much as it did serve to set it far apart from the other designers. The focus of Rarity's line—and the focus, as well, of all the ponies that had come to the fashion show—was entirely on the way they dazzled.
Though covering an entire outfit with gems was not something that was new—not even among other designers, besides herself—the way in which she had grouped like gems together to create stunning visual patterns certainly was. She had arranged gems of similar hues to form swirling, criss-crossing strips of colour along the surfaces of the garments, creating a complexity and brilliance which served to obscure the exact shape of the ponies underneath them. Along with the vine-like headdresses she had created as part of the line—which referenced the swirls created by the arrangements of the gemstones on the dresses—it made it difficult to tell which ponies were unicorns, earth ponies, or even pegasi.
Rarity knew she had touched upon true art with her fashion line. The concept she was putting forth was loaded with implications about class and the races of ponies. The pedestrian silhouettes could be taken as a reference to the simplicity of the earth ponies of the country—but the use of such opulent gems was a clear nod to high society. Then, by visually blending together the three different kinds of ponies, she was making a subtle comment on Equestrian society—specifically on the preconceptions of the Canterlot Elite. Rarity had awaited the response from the high class ponies with nervous excitement. Surely it would be the moment in which she would truly shine across Equestria.
The Canterlot Elite had been dazzled by her line, and were very complimentary, to be sure: a pony had mentioned how well the dress with amethysts would go with her eyes; another had spoken of how nice it would be to wear a glamorous dress that wouldn't present issues of clearance, when attempting to pass through doorways. But when a pony had commented that she might now be able to convince even her most provincial of earth pony cousins to wear a proper dress, Rarity had felt the first twinge of discomfort.
Immediately after, Rarity had approached a group of ponies and overheard them discussing, with absolute conviction, how Rarity's line clearly spoke of the grandness of high-class unicorns, and how their fabulosity simply could not be concealed, even in the most plain of environments—and Rarity was gripped with something that was nearly panic. An exceptionally presumptuous unicorn among them went on to draw a connection to the fact that Rarity was from Ponyville, and her statement obviously must be autobiographical in some way, having to do with her emerging from the country-folk to take her place as an exceptionally high-class pony. Though there was an element of truth to this, not only was it likely to offend the ponies of Ponyville, but was entirely missing the point of her line.
Rarity had darted away from the group, tearing through the group of ponies that had come to the reception. The inspirational momentum she had built up over the last few weeks froze to a dead stop as she realized all the other ponies had come to much the same conclusion. In every case, not only had they missed the point of her artistic statement, but they had taken it to be the complete opposite of what she had intended. Rarity felt alienated from the Canterlot ponies as sharply as a slap to the face. She wished her friends were here now.
In an effort not to jinx her good fortune, Rarity had severely downplayed the significance of her fashion show when she had told her friends about it, and they had all ended up with other engagements for the week. At the time—though Rarity would rather not admit to it now—she had taken it to be another stroke of luck. Though she loved her friends dearly, they were simply not in their element at high-class events. Such a reason seemed all but petty to her now, and she surprised herself by wishing—for the first time she could recall—that she was in Ponyville instead of Canterlot, right now. Rarity felt trapped.
The fashionista was pulled out of her thoughts as a pair of ponies closed in on her. Jet Set and Upper Crust greeted her, cutting off her escape even before she could formulate one. "Oh I must say, your line was simply fabulous," said Jet Set.
"Yes," said Upper Crust, "of course, now we'll have to be extra wary of even the most colloquial of earth ponies thinking they'll be able to blend in with the Canterlot elite." The two ponies chuckled haughtily.
"Though," said Jet Set, "at the very least, those kinds of ponies may finally start dressing well—no matter what the reason behind it, I feel as though that would be a small victory in and of itself, would it not?" He did not wait for a response from Rarity before continuing on. "Anyway, we were hoping that you would be able to attend our dinner party that we will be hosting tomorrow night."
"You simply must come!" said Upper Crust. "We can discuss all the ways in which your fashion line encourages even the no-ponies to strive to be as high class as us Canterlot ponies. That is what your intention was, is it not?"
Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but Jet Set cut her off. "Oh, but of course it is. And we can thoroughly discuss your implications of the true grandeur of the Canterlot Elite, and the way it simply cannot be hidden, even amongst the common ponies."
"I can't go!" Rarity burst out. She glanced around quickly. "I, uh..." She struggled for something that would pacify the mortified looks that had sprung up on Jet Set's and Upper Crust's faces. She once again wished her friends were there, to create a well-timed commotion that would undoubtedly get them kicked out. Then, with commotion on her mind, her ears perked up. There was a notable lack of it—and Rarity soon determined the reason to be that the music had become drastically more mellow.
She glanced around, and saw that the unicorn in charge of the music had begun packing up, leaving only the hall's piped in music to play. "I... have to go thank the DJ for the wonderful job she did, both during the show and for the reception. So sorry!" Rarity slipped away before the two ponies could say another word. She darted through the crowd, evading ponies, to arrive at the slightly raised platform in the corner of the room.
"Hello!" Rarity said, approaching the DJ. "Lovely performance this evening. I just wanted to thank you."
"Hmm, what's that?" The white unicorn with the blue mane looked up from her equipment. "Oh, yeah. No prob," she said with a nod.
"It was just wonderful that you were able to do this for me... Vinyl Scratch, isn't it?" The DJ nodded again. "Anyway, I'm sure you simply made the show!"
"Uh, sure. Yeah. 'Anypony who's a friend of Pinkie's' and all that." Vinyl Scratch fiddled with the lid to a case she had just put some piece of equipment in.
"Yes, well, it was very nice," said Rarity.
"Mhmm. And if you need music again sometime, I hope you'll think of me." Vinyl turned away from Rarity to resume packing away her kit.
"I certainly will," said Rarity, remaining in place. A few moments passed.
"And... you're not leaving yet," said Vinyl, looking back up.
Rarity let her composure slip for a moment. "Sorry, actually I'm trying—oh sweet Celestia they found me."
"Ah yes," said Jet Set as he approached. "Very good performance... uh... DJ PON-3." His expression wavered ever-so-slightly as he used the pony's stage name.
"Mhmm," said Vinyl, and went back to putting away her equipment.
"So Rarity," said Upper Crust, "I take it you'll be attending our dinner party tomorrow evening, then?" The two Canterlot ponies bore down on Rarity.
"Oh... actually I have to... I have a thing!" Rarity said, putting on her strictly "in case of emergency" intensity of winning smile. "With... Vinyl Scratch!" The pony-in-question's head popped up. "Business stuff, you see. Unavoidable. And just has to be done tomorrow." Rarity glanced at Vinyl with an undisguised look of desperation in her eyes. Vinyl rolled hers, safely hidden behind her large purple shades.
"Yeah. The thing," said Vinyl. "Sorry guys, I'm leaving Canterlot for a different thing the day after, so I have to meet with Rarity tomorrow night."
Jet Set and Upper Crust frowned, and turned away. After a moment of discussion, they turned back. "Well, why doesn't Vinyl Scratch come as well, and you can discuss things there," Jet Set said.
"Ah, crisis averted," said Upper Crust, putting a hoof to her brow.
"See you at the dinner party, then!" said Jet Set. Both ponies disappeared into the crowd before Rarity or Vinyl could respond.
There was a moment of silence that followed. "Yeah," Vinyl said eventually, "I'm so definitely not going to that party tomorrow." Her face was thoroughly unimpressed. "We'll just have to settle our non-existent business after I get back from the trip I'm not going on."
Rarity blushed, and gave a tittering little laugh. "Yes, uh... I do apologize for that. I just really..." She trailed off, her gaze drifting over the crowd. The ignorance of the Canterlot Elite jumped out at her, now, and she felt cornered and alone. She rarely felt the distance from her friends so sharply as she did now.
Vinyl Scratch sighed, and Rarity realized the DJ had been watching the emotions play across her face. "Do you need an excuse to get out of here?" Vinyl asked. Rarity looked up, hope springing into her eyes. "Alright, alright," said Vinyl. "Just say there's a thing you gotta go do with me, and we can leave together, pretty soon."
"Thank you!" Rarity gushed, breaking into a grin. "Really, I just—"
Vinyl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I get it. It's some random thing that doesn't make sense. No further explanation required. Artsy divas..." she mumbled, shaking her head. "At least help me put this away." Vinyl gestured to the rest of her equipment.
Rarity looked down at the mess of cords on the ground. "Look, it's easy," Vinyl said. She caught up the end of one in her magic aura, and began looping it. "Just give it a little half-twist every time you bring it around. Some ponies'll say that wrecks the cords, but it's the best way to keep them from tangling up."
"You know Vinyl," Rarity said, picking up a cable with her magic, "typically a fashion designer wouldn't help the DJ pack up after her own fashion show."
"Engh, it's good for your image. Goes right along with your 'home-grown' small-town thing that you've got going for you."
Rarity nearly dropped the cord she was wrapping. "Is that really what ponies think of me?!"
Vinyl laughed. "A touchy subject?" she asked, glancing up at Rarity over top of her glasses with a pair of deep magenta eyes. "I thought that was sort of the point of having your dresses make all the ponies look like earth ponies, or whatever. Like, down-playing all this elitist bullshit, and stuff."
A smile touched Rarity's face. "Well... that's sort of close, I suppose."
It only took a few minutes for the two unicorns to finish packing up Vinyl's equipment. After making several heartfelt apologies for how she had to leave because of a convenient excuse, Rarity and Vinyl left the hall.
A slap of cold hit Rarity as she stepped out into the winter evening, and she bundled herself in her scarf. Vinyl fitted a slightly garishly purple tuque over her head, directing a fair portion of her mane downward. She took a moment to part the section of her mane now in front of her eyes, before wheeling her equipment cases out and into the snow.
"That's a... nice hat," said Rarity, carefully.
"Ha, yeah? My roommate got it for me."
"That was nice of her."
Vinyl laughed. "Yeah... not really. It was kind of a joke. 'To go with my shades,' she said." Vinyl adjusted it. "It just happens to be rather warm, is all."
They continued on, as the crunching of the snow compacting beneath their hooves accompanied the rumbling squeak of the cases trailing behind Vinyl.
"Hey, so where are you staying at?" asked Vinyl after a while.
"Oh, at the Mareadin, just a few blocks down."
"Kay, because I'm just down here," Vinyl said, coming to a stop.
"Oh. Okay," said Rarity, stopping, and turned to face Vinyl. Their breath floated between them in wisps, before being whisked away in the slight breeze. Rarity shuffled her hooves where she stood. "Goodbye then," she said, quickly. "Thanks again." Her gaze fell to the ground. The idea of giving her thoughts a chance to simmer and boil, with nopony around but herself, was not something she particularly liked the sound of. Rarity glanced up and was about to say something, but Vinyl spoke before she had the chance.
"So... wow. Whatever your damage is, it's really bringing you down, isn't it?" Vinyl reached up and scratched at the base of her bright purple hat. "Do you, uh... want to grab a drink or something? You kind of seem like you might—"
"Yes!" said Rarity, her eyes glowing. "Uh, I mean... well, okay." She smiled sheepishly. "If you want."
Vinyl laughed. "Alright then, let's just swing by my place so I can drop this stuff off. I know a pretty good place we could go."
Rarity frowned. "Is it—"
"Yeah, yeah, it's a suitably classy place. Don't worry!"
"I was going to ask if was nearby, because of how cold it is," Rarity said, a hint of a pout touching her face.
"Oh, as if that wasn't your next question, then," said Vinyl, grinning.
"Well... perhaps," Rarity said with a small smile, glad for the distraction from her thoughts.
After dropping off Vinyl's equipment at her place, they set off down the street. Rarity's thoughts fell back to the Canterlot Elite. It was what she had thought she had always wanted—to be a part of them, and high society. Rarity had thought they were the type of ponies to appreciate true art—but they had grasped only the most superficial connotation of her fashion line, favoring self-satisfaction above all else. Her thoughts came to a brief halt as Vinyl came to a stop in front of a pub.
They entered, and Rarity was struck by the sweeping, curving interior. Various doorways to other sections of the pub, however, revealed starkly different architecture—evidence that the bar spanned several different buildings not originally conjoined. The "Horseshoe Shop" was what the sign on the front of the building had said it was called, and Vinyl explained that, allegedly, when the building was first turned into a pub, the owner liked the old sign and decided just to leave it.
Vinyl walked through a doorway into one of the other sections. There was a great deal of artificial foliage around the room—an entire corner was set aside as a sort of flower bed, except with trees. Vinyl dropped into a chair, at a table which sat near the corner, just beside the plants. Rarity sat across from her. "What an odd place," Rarity said, observing a large fake tree towering over them.
"Right?" said Vinyl. "And they get in live music once a week! I come here all the time."
"Well, it seems to be passible. I suppose I can handle being seen here," Rarity said with a small smile.
Shortly, a server appeared to take their order. "Do you have a Glenfetloch?" asked Vinyl. The server nodded. "That. Double." She gestured to Rarity. "And whatever the lady wants," Vinyl said, mostly unironically.
"Oh, Vinyl, you don't have to," said Rarity, just a little flustered.
"Naw, it's fine. You seem to be having it rough for some mysterious reason, even though this should totally be your night or whatever. So I'll buy you one drink."
"Well... thanks." Rarity turned to the server. "What do you have for a Marelot?"
"We have a rather decent French one, actually."
"That sounds lovely, then."
"Wait," said Vinyl, lifting a hoof. "The house red is a Manebec, isn't it?
"Yes," said the waiter.
"Okay, bring her a glass of that instead."
"Wha—" began Rarity.
"Hey, I'm paying."
The server looked from one to the other, unsure which one she should be addressing. "And will that be a six or eight ounce?"
"Eight ounce," said Rarity, looking evenly at Vinyl. The corner of Vinyl's mouth turned up.
The server hesitated a moment. "So... a double of Glenfetloch and an eight ounce of the house red?" The order remaining uncontested, the server went off.
"So the musician is buying the fashionista drinks?" asked Rarity, raising her eyebrow.
"Oh come on, I'm way more famous than you are!" Vinyl said. Rarity tried to appear taken-aback, but ended up smiling.
"Well... thanks, Vinyl," Rarity said. "This is nice. I'm sure I would've done nothing but dwell on everything, had I gone straight home."
Vinyl took off her glasses and set them down on the table. She looked back up at Rarity with her deep magenta eyes, raising an eyebrow. "So why are you freaking out anyway? Like, you're supposed to be bathing in glory right about now, or something, right?"
Rarity looked away, sighing. "I don't know. I suppose I should be. It's just... I thought Canterlot ponies would understand the artistic implications of my line. They're missing the entire point of what I did. I mean, the idea of using such a simple silhouette along with—"
"Ho-okay," Vinyl cut her off, "actually... I don't really care that much." Rarity huffed, scrunching up her nose. "Let's just have the condensed version?" prompted Vinyl.
Rarity frowned, but took a moment to try and file it down to the core of the matter. "I... suppose I can't see the point of having this proper artistic concept behind my work, if everypony is just going to settle on the most basic, superficial connotation of it." Rarity poofed one of her curls with a hoof. "I should just pander directly to the masses, if it's all the same to them."
Vinyl rolled her eyes. "Obviously, you're worrying too much about what other ponies think. Simple as that."
"That's such a tired-out old saying, Vinyl," Rarity said, airily. "I'm afraid any meaning has been lost in cliché."
"No, seriously. Like, yeah, most ponies don't get it. I really badly don't get it. But even knowing squelch about fashion, I can tell there's more something to it then there was to any of the other designers that were before you. I didn't look twice at their stuff—but there was something that seemed pretty something about your clothes, or whatever. Now," Vinyl said, leaning back, "that's all the time that subject gets." Vinyl pointed at Rarity with a hoof. "You're being way too serious about stuff. You're a fashion designer. You're supposed to be frivolous and ridiculous. Seriously, I think you're doing it wrong."
Their server appeared with their drinks a moment later. "Ah, perfect!" said Vinyl, picking up her tumbler. "Here's something worth spending some time on!"
Rarity poured some of her wine from the carafe into her glass and swirled it around, her brow still creased. "Well... alright, Vinyl. I suppose you said some rather good things, just now. Surprisingly."
"Nice to hear you assumed I was an idiot, based just on appearances."
"I'd say it has more to do with the way you present yourself, actually," Rarity said, casually watching her wine swirl in its glass.
"Alright," said Vinyl, smiling, "and you're a surprisingly clever and sharp-tongued diva. You still need to loosen up though." Vinyl lifted up her glass in her magic. "To baseless assumptions and pointless issues that make no sense."
Rarity raised an eyebrow, but did then raise her glass as well.
"This is rather good," said Rarity, most of the way through her wine.
"See? I knew they had a pretty good house red here," Vinyl said. "Also, a Manebec is pretty much the same as a Marelot, except way less sharp and bitter. I don't see how a pony would like something like a Marelot, anyway."
"Putting aside my being subjected to the tyranny of your personal preferences—I'm surprised you know so much about wine," said Rarity, giving Vinyl a look of approval.
"Oh, yeah. Octavia's big into all that. Uh, she's my roommate, that I mentioned earlier. I guess I just picked it up through proximity or whatever. Like, against my will, even."
"So, Octavia's your marefriend then, is she?" asked Rarity, taking a sip of wine.
"No," said Vinyl flatly. "Sweet Celestia, no." Then Vinyl grinned. "I see you just assume I'm a filly-fooler like it's a given fact."
"Yes," said Rarity, without hesitation. "Yes I do."
"Well... you're totally right!" Vinyl gave an angled grin, lowering her eyelids. "So this is you loosening up, then, is it?"
Rarity rolled her eyes. "Frankly," she said, "you kind of annoy me, Vinyl. That's what this is. I... really feel like I couldn't care less about what you think of me."
Vinyl blinked, then beamed at her. "And doesn't that feel great?!"
Rarity caught herself smiling. "Yes... it actually rather does."
"Alright, now we're getting somewhere!" Vinyl grabbed Rarity's wine glass in her magic glow, and purposefully slammed back the rest of the drink. Rarity's eyes widened in surprise, and then shifted to horror as Vinyl lifted up her whiskey glass and poured the rest of it into the wine glass. She passed it back to Rarity.
"Whiskey in a wine glass? And now it's mixed with the remainder of—"
"I know right? Can you do it?" Vinyl grinned. "I dare you."
Rarity's eyes narrowed, and she picked up the wine glass in a blue glow. With only a brief glance left and right, and a slight grimace, she tilted back that glass, draining it in one go. Without any trace of the grimace left, or so much as a shudder, she deposited the glass back on the table. Vinyl threw her hooves in the air and cheered.
Once the other patrons in the bar had stopped staring, Vinyl turned back to Rarity. "Hey, wanna get out of here? We could go back to my place for a bit, if you want."
Rarity narrowed her eyes. "Just to be perfectly clear, Vinyl, I'm not going to be one of your 'flings,' if that's what you're insinuating."
"So it'll have to be something more serious than a fling, then?" Rarity's brow cut a straight line across her face. "Kidding!" said Vinyl, putting her hooves up in front of her. "No implications, nothing funny. Come on, what do you take me for?"
"Well, I—"
"Yeah, don't answer that. But seriously, just hanging out. It'll be fun!" She frowned. "Well, Tavi's probably going to be there, and she's no fun at all, but we can try anyway!"
Rarity tilted the wine glass, chasing around the last few drops of tainted whiskey. "I don't know, Vinyl..."
"We can open a few bottles of Tavi's wine!"
Rarity smiled. This evening had taken a rather interesting turn, and she still didn't want to be left alone with her thoughts. "Well, alright. I suppose I will, then."
A second empty bottle joined the first on the coffee table, as Vinyl raised her glass to clink
with Rarity's. Rarity smiled contently. This "Tavi" that she had yet to meet really did have impeccable taste in wine. She leaned back on the couch.
Rarity surprised herself by being glad she had happened into "hanging out" with Vinyl that evening. Though Vinyl's humour was rather base, it was entirely entertaining all the same. Rarity began to realize that it was the first time she had felt properly relaxed in weeks. As well, she felt her issues involving the response to her fashion line becoming blurred and unfocused, already being lost into the background. It was not only the wine that seemed to flow endlessly which was likely responsible for that, but also, Rarity reasoned, that the pony she was with seemed not to really care about anything at all. And it was a bit contagious.
After tossing back the remainder of her glass of wine, Vinyl got up to get another bottle, and stumbled off into the kitchen. Just as she left, the door knob to the apartment turned, and a grey earth pony with a bowtie and a dark, flowing mane walked in. Rarity was struck with recognition as the mare hefted a large instrument case off her back, setting it next to the door.
"Hey Vinyl, I'm home," said the mare. "How did your set go?" She looked up and saw Rarity sitting on the couch. "Ah. That well, then."
Rarity flushed, and attempted to stand up—but found herself mostly failing, so decided to remain seated. "No, you see, it's just—"
"Yes, it's always 'just,' isn't it?" the grey mare said, flatly.
"Oh, hey, Tavi!" said Vinyl, coming back into the room, floating a bottle of wine beside her. "Should I get another glass?"
"I'll get it myself, actually. Better odds of it reaching the table, that way."
"Psh, whatever," said Vinyl, as she nearly clipped a lamp with the bottle, before bringing it in for a shaky landing on the coffee table.
"Um, would you mind introducing us, Vinyl?" Rarity asked.
"Oh, uh, yeah. Right. Tavi, this is—"
"Yes, I already know Rarity. She's a rather well-known amature fashion designer, you know," said Octavia.
"Actually, I know who Octavia is, as well," admitted Rarity. "I simply thought it would be the polite thing to do—rather than making assumptions based on reputation alone." Rarity took a sip of her wine.
"If you happen to recall the result of your attendance at the last two functions we were both present for," Octavia said, her brow straight, "I believe it'd be sufficient to say that I have a fair idea of your character." Rarity looked up, and the two ponies matched each other's gaze for a moment. Then Octavia turned away, disappearing into the kitchen.
"So... that's Octavia," said Vinyl.
"Ah," said Rarity.
"Yeah, pretty much." Vinyl picked up the bottle of wine to open it.
The sound of bottles clinking could be heard coming from the other room. "I hope you've been taking from the 'appropriate for consumption by Vinyl' section, Vinyl." There was more clinking. "Hang on, where's—Vinyl!" Her voice became urgent, and Octavia emerged from the kitchen, her eyes wide. "Where's my forty-year-old, special vintage—"
There was the pop of a cork exiting a bottle.
"...Oops," said Vinyl.
There was a moment during which nopony moved. Then Octavia sighed, and her face relaxed. "Don't drink any until I've gotten a glass."
"Well it's perfectly understandable that you'd be upset!" exclaimed Octavia, gesturing with a hoof. "They missed the entire point of your artistic statement!"
"Oh, I know! I know!" Rarity put one hoof to her chest, the second to the other pony's cheek. "Octavia, darling, you understand me!"
"Of course I do!" Octavia put her hoof over Rarity's. "We are both true artists—and the ignorance of the masses is our one true plight." They held each other's gaze for a few moments.
"Make out!"
Both Octavia and Rarity spun to glare at Vinyl. Vinyl turned around to look for the pony who could have made such an inappropriate comment.
"At least," Octavia began, addressing Rarity, "I understand right up to the part where you decided... Vinyl."
"What? Hey!"
Rarity put a hoof to her chin between sips of wine. "You know... I really have no answer for that."
"Oh, come on! You, too?"
"I'm kidding, Vinyl," Rarity said. "You did offer to help me out. Twice, in fact. And then you invited me out simply because it looked like I was feeling down." Rarity smiled. "And I am quite glad you did," she said, moving closer to Vinyl on the couch. "That was really very sweet of you." She leaned over and kissed Vinyl on the cheek.
"Yay!" said Vinyl. She then gave a sultry look. "So how 'bout we move this party to the bedroom?"
Octavia rolled her eyes hard, and Rarity's brow fell straight. "Absolutely not," said Rarity. "As flattering as that is of you to suggest."
"Aw. Maybe later then?"
"Vinyl, let me be perfectly clear," said Rarity, evenly, "there is absolutely nothing you could possibly say that would result in the two of us doing anything remotely resembling what you are implying, this night."
The only thing that could be heard, for a moment, was the sound of Octavia slowly clapping her hooves together. Rarity looked over, and they both laughed. Vinyl pouted.
"You know Rarity," said Octavia, "I think I may have found a fair bit of respect for you, this evening."
"Aw, that's so sweet of you to say!" said Rarity, her eyes sparkling. The sparkle vanished as she lifted her wine glass and found it empty—and they filled with nothing but despair as she found the bottle to be equally empty.
"Oh, that's probably for the best," said Octavia, with a sigh, as she finished her glass as well. "I think it's about time to be going to bed now, anyway." She stood up, and turned to Rarity. "Are you staying over? You can stay in one of our rooms."
Rarity gasped. "How inappropriate! Even you, Octavia?!"
Octavia's brow fell straight. "One of our spare rooms. Okay—respect gone. You do know that not everypony wants you in their bed, right?" Rarity considered this. Octavia rolled her eyes. "I'll show you which room you can use, if you want." Octavia glanced over at Vinyl. "I just think that it's probably best not to be alone with Vinyl, when she's like this."
"Hey, what the hay's that supposed to mean?"
Octavia raised an eyebrow. "It means that there seems to be a sort of pattern I couldn't help but notice, when I leave you and another mare alone in a room together."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"That time with Moondancer?"
"That wasn't what it looked like."
"Cloud Kicker?"
"Hey, she came on to me!"
"Lyra?"
"Okay." Vinyl gave a cocky grin. "Now you're just jealous."
Octavia let out an exasperated huff. "Whatever. I'm going to bed." She spun, and began leaving the room. "Rarity, Vinyl—do what you want."
"Actually," said Rarity, "I think I will take you up on the offer. If you would be so kind as to show me to a room." She wobbled as she stood up, and gave a sheepish smile. "Any longer and I'm sure I will begin making a fool of myself."
"Begin?" Octavia deadpanned. Rarity pointedly ignored the comment as she focused on remaining standing long enough to take a step forward.
"How about a goodnight kiss?" asked Vinyl, who had slumped over to lie on the couch, sticking her chin up in the air to give a goofy smile. Rarity leaned over her shoulder with a flourish, and blew Vinyl a kiss as she said goodnight.
Octavia rolled her eyes. "You should not encourage her." They left the room, and were walking down the hallway when Octavia blinked, and turned to Rarity. "Unless," she said quietly, her eyes wide, "you are actually attracted to Vinyl for some inexplicable reason."
"You say it like it's unthinkable that a pony would consider Vinyl to be charming, despite her absolute ridiculousness," Rarity said, haughtily.
"I had not honestly considered it a possibility, no."
"Well she has quite a few redeeming qualities," Rarity said frowning at Octavia. "Her Discord-may-care attitude is quite refreshing, and it was very considerate of her to extend a hoof to me in my time of need, as it were. And that certain grin of hers is simply..."
Octavia stopped walking. "Sweet Celestia, you are attracted to her, aren't you?"
"Wha—I most definitely—" Rarity huffed. "I mean, I already said... and I..." She flushed.
Octavia rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I am really not interested. Here's your room."
Rarity opened her mouth for a moment, but closed it again. She nodded, and bid Octavia goodnight.
The sun was a little more dazzling than it usually was as Rarity got herself out of bed. She rubbed a hoof to her forehead. Rarity didn't generally make a habit of staying the night at the houses of ponies she'd only just met. After a certain amount of wine, however, most things begin to seem like a good idea—even a pony as remarkable as Rarity wasn't entirely exempt from this causality. She blinked away the bleariness in her eyes, and walked out into the hallway. She was making her way into the living room, when she noticed Vinyl already in the kitchen.
"Good morning!" Vinyl said, looking up as Rarity entered. "Scrambled eggs and hay sausage work for you?"
"Uh... yes." Rarity blinked. "That would be lovely."
"Good, because it's the only thing I can make." Vinyl returned to inspecting the pan with eggs in it, which was smoking instead of sizzling.
Rarity smiled. "Do you want some help?"
"Uh, okay. Yeah, actually, here." Vinyl moved to the side. "Why don't you take over the scrambled eggs. I think I'm doing it wrong."
Once a breakfast of toast and sausage was finished, Rarity and Vinyl brought it over to the table and began eating.
"So, what's up for today?" Vinyl asked. "You gonna hang around for a bit?"
"Oh no, I should be leaving fairly shortly." Rarity grimaced. "I have a dinner party to attend this evening, after all."
"What, that thing with Jet Set and what's-her-face?" Vinyl set down her piece of toast. "I thought you were ditching out on account of the fact that they're losers and annoy the buck out of you."
"Yes, well, I did spend all of yesterday evening in your company, though, didn't I?"
"Cute," said Vinyl. "But actually."
Rarity sighed. "Well, they didn't really give me a choice, did they?"
"Oh come on. They invited you, you said, 'no,' and they said, 'too bad,' so now you need to say 'screw them' and not go. Just like you said you wouldn't."
Rarity cut off a small piece of hay sausage, but just twiddled it around on her plate. "If only it were that easy," she said.
"It is that easy. Just don't go."
"But it'll make me look like a flake if I don't, and the elite might not invite me out anymore. I won't be the kind of pony everypony should know if I'm the kind of pony who doesn't show up to dinner parties when she's invited to them, Vinyl. Being accepted into the Canterlot Elite is what I truly want! Even if they are ignorant and petty... and completely missed the entire point of my line..." The small piece of sausage now looked rather worse-for-wear, and she set it down. "...It's what I want," she said quietly.
Vinyl looked at her a moment. "Well alright. We're going to have to come up with a plan, then."
Rarity looked up, a small smile touching her face. " 'We' have to come up with a plan?"
"Hey, how about this—since I technically got invited as well, I'll come, and then we won't end up staying long, because those kinds of ponies can't handle my kind of awesome for very long," Vinyl said with a cocky grin. "We'll be in and out in no time!"
Rarity thought about it a moment, eating the piece of sausage which she had disfigured. "No, that won't do at all. If anypony happened to properly talk with you, it'd only take a moment for them to realize how wonderful you actually are." Vinyl coughed on a piece of food. "No, we'd need some other pony who would technically be accepted in the Canterlot elite, but one who could sour even the awful atmosphere of one of Jet Set's and Upper Crust's parties."
The door to the kitchen opened. "How is it that two ponies who should be completely hung over are capable of making so much noise in the morning? And is that the gruesome remains of egg, left on the stove? Oh, wait a moment—Vinyl entered the kitchen, didn't she? Well, in that case, that's actually not as bad as it could've been."
Vinyl and Rarity met each other's gaze, then turned in unison to Octavia.
"Hey Tavi," began Vinyl, "want to go to a dinner party tonight?"
"It'll be lovely, and the food will be wonderful!" said Rarity.
Octavia stopped short, raising an eyebrow as she glanced between them. "...I wouldn't hesitate to say 'yes' if you two were looking rather less suspicious."
Rarity and Vinyl looked at each other, then back at Octavia, their faces two visions of innocence. "Whatever do you mean, Octavia?" asked Rarity.
Then Vinyl smiled. "Oh, and of course, there'll be wine there."
Octavia narrowed her eyes. "Wine, you say?" She looked off to the side. "Damnit Vinyl, you know I can't resist wine." She went to the counter to get herself a plate of food. "And what is with you trying to make breakfast, anyway?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder. "You never make breakfast for other ponies you have over. Or ever, actually."
"Well I—" began Vinyl, blushing slightly. "...I don't know. I just did or whatever. Deal with it."
Rarity remained looking down at her coffee, a slight smile still on her face.
The fashionista had just enough time to prepare for the dinner party, upon returning home. She was an efficient mare, when she had to be, so made due with only several short hours to prepare herself. When she left her hotel, she was at a more than acceptable level of glamorous for such an occasion.
Rarity wrapped her scarf tighter as she ventured out into the cold. She made her way through the light snow to Vinyl and Octavia's place. As the time drew closer to the party, Rarity began to feel the dread of having to deal with with the Canterlot Elite seep back into her. As much as she knew Vinyl had tried to rid her of such feelings—a fact which brought a small glimmer into her—it still tore at her. The only small consolation was that Vinyl would be with her.
The white unicorn's ridiculous blue mane popped into Rarity's mind, an outward show of how little the pony cared about what others thought of her. Rarity felt something almost like jealousy light up in her, at the thought. No, she realized, it wasn't jealousy. Jealousy doesn't turn into contentment when a pony is around the one they feel the jealousy toward. When she had been around Vinyl, she had felt that kind of calm, herself.
And Octavia would be there, as well, of course. It seemed "Tavi" and Vinyl were nearly inseparable. Rarity stopped and blinked as she felt a different sort of twinge in her. Perhaps that was a bit of jealousy, Rarity reasoned. She sighed. She still wished her friends were with her, though, and thought briefly about how the dinner party might go if they were in attendance. Her smile only lasted a moment, as she trudged through the snow, getting ever closer to the dinner party.
Rarity came upon Vinyl and Octavia's place. After no small amount of two ponies arguing over whose fault it was that neither of them were ready yet, why large purple shades were inappropriate attire for a fancy dinner party, and then a fair amount of two ponies scrambling around to get ready, the three of them set off together.
"Okay," said Vinyl, "Octavia—you haven't been briefed yet. Um... just be yourself, and we shouldn't be there long!"
Octavia frowned at Vinyl for a moment. "I feel like I should be insulted by that, somehow."
"Hmm... yeah, you probably should," said Vinyl. Octavia gave a disgruntled sigh.
"Anyway," Octavia said, turning to Rarity, "have you been to a dinner party at the house of these two ponies before? Is it going to be anything like the garden party?"
"Oh... uh, yes," said Rarity who hadn't really been listening. She put a bright look on her face, and continued. "The catering will be much the same, and, as always, the wine won't disappoint even a pony of your fine tastes." Octavia seemed slightly mollified, and continued onwards with a smile.
"Hey, so... how are you doing, anyway?" asked Vinyl. It was a moment before Rarity realized the unicorn was addressing her.
"Oh, fine!" Rarity smiled convincingly. "Thanks for coming with me to this, Vinyl."
"Yeah. No problem," said Vinyl, giving Rarity a lingering glance.
They approached the rather large and rather gaudy house of Jet Set and Upper Crust. There was a long, grand set of stairs leading up to the entrance. Rarity steeled herself, but couldn't avoid a multitude of hypothetical conversations in which she pandered directly to the ponies at the party, just letting them believe what they would about her fashion line. She would be powerless to correct them—if she tried, they would certainly take it as a personal insult.
Vinyl had come to a stop before the stairs, and was looking at Rarity. Rarity blinked, realizing she likely did not do a very good job on internalizing her conflict, and had let much of it show on her face. "Why don't you go on ahead, Tavi," said Vinyl. Octavia hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Give us five minutes." Octavia nodded again, and left. Rarity was fairly sure she caught Octavia rolling her eyes as she turned away.
"Okay," said Vinyl, when Octavia was a fair way along the stairs, "serious time now—how are you doing?"
"What do you mean, Vinyl?" Rarity asked, looking to the side. Vinyl put a hoof on Rarity's cheek, and turned her face back towards her. She looked at Rarity for a while. Her striking reddish eyes were clear and even, lacking their usual glint for the first time Rarity had seen. Vinyl's eyes were piercing, and Rarity's flitted away as she felt herself blush under the intensity of her stare.
"Come on," said Vinyl, and walked away from the house they were in front of. Rarity hesitated, then followed, wordlessly. She knew she was supposed to be attending the party, and knew that there would likely be consequences for her not attending—but she couldn't make herself feel that that was something which should keep her from following the bizarre white unicorn.
They walked down the street, the snow falling lightly around them. A muffled silence sat upon the street, broken only by the crunching of their hooves through the snow. There was no breeze at all, and their breath lingered in the air, the small clouds lifting upwards longer than seemed possible.
"Where are we going?" Rarity asked eventually, her voice cutting through the quiet.
"Away from the dinner party," Vinyl said. Rarity stopped. Vinyl stopped as well, when she noticed, and turned around.
"Vinyl, I've got to go to—"
"No, Rarity, you really don't," Vinyl said, cutting her off. "Come on, you made some pretty awesome stuff, and are secretly a pretty awesome pony. You definitely do not need to sit through a ton of bucking clop from a bunch of useless, bigoted assholes." Rarity almost flinched from the strength behind Vinyl's words. She looked away from the other white pony.
Vinyl made it sound so easy—and so much like something she should be doing. She could almost feel the aura of Vinyl's simple disregard of the judgement of other ponies washing over her. She felt a hint of calm descending on her. Perhaps she could miss one dinner party. It wasn't likely that she would be completely ostracized by the Canterlot Elite for missing one event—especially not one put on by the terribly unpleasant Jet Set and Upper Crust. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a ball of snow striking her.
Rarity let out a small yelp, and looked up, shocked. Vinyl had a cocky grin back on her face. Rarity lit up her horn, scooping up a ball of snow of her own, and tossed it back at Vinyl. The unicorn leaned out of the way of the snowy projectile. "You'll have to do better than that, Rarity."
"You'll come to regret those words, I think!"
Weaponized snow soon flew back and forth in an icy flurry. Rarity found herself giggling like a filly as she dipped and dodged, trying to land more hits than she took, as if that was the most important thing in her life at the moment. Rarity took a solid hit to the side of the head, and was about to return fire, when she felt a chilly wetness trickling down the side of her face. She threw her hooves up in the air. "Vinyl! Stop! Cease fire! Parlé!"
"What is it?" asked Vinyl, popping her head up from around the mailbox she had been using as cover.
"That last one you threw was all slushy! I think my mane's ruined!" Vinyl rolled her eyes as Rarity rushed over to the nearest window to inspect herself.
"So what's the damage?" asked Vinyl, coming up beside her.
"Well, I definitely won't be attending any dinner parties tonight." Rarity said. But she smiled. "I suppose the matter is completely out of my hooves, now." She poked at her hair, which was refusing to return to anything resembling her perfect curls. "Oh, but I didn't even give a proper excuse..."
"Hmm?" Vinyl turned to her. "What do you mean? Octavia's there." Rarity looked at her. "I said we'd be five minutes," said Vinyl plainly. "Obviously she'll make an excuse for why we couldn't make it, after that."
Rarity smiled. "You rely on her a lot, don't you?"
Vinyl thought about it for a moment, scratching at her tuque. "Yeah. I mean, she's a total ass sometimes, but she's my best friend. That's just how we roll, I guess."
Rarity took a step closer to Vinyl. "You're a good pony Vinyl. Thanks for all this." She moved closer, only inches away from the other unicorn. Vinyl opened her mouth to speak, but the words were lost as her breath caught in her throat, blushing as Rarity leaned in. Then Rarity grinned, and her horn lit up. Vinyl blinked, and a sizable load of snow dumped on her.
"There, we're even," said Rarity, grinning, her eyes bright.
Vinyl chuckled, but she glanced at Rarity with a mixed expression as she brushed snow off of herself, breathing a bit heavily, her face still red. "You're... a complete and total tease, you know that?"
"I have no idea what you mean," said Rarity, with a toss of her soggy mane and a flutter of her eyelids that could've been taken as innocently.
Rarity found that she couldn't stop grinning. Once again, Vinyl had managed to instill in her a sort of calm that was disproportionate to the current situation. She realized that her initial assumption was wrong—it wasn't that Vinyl didn't care about anything. She did care, but only about the things she wanted to, it seemed. If she didn't care, it didn't bother her. It was a strange experience for Rarity, being around her. "Vinyl," said Rarity, looking away, "really though—thanks. I don't want to think about what these last couple days would've been like for me, if it wasn't for you. You are rather ridiculous, and a fair bit annoying—but you managed to make all my issues seem so pointless that—"
"You're being over-dramatic. Not to mention a fair amount of insulting." Vinyl caught the ends of Rarity's scarf in her magic, and tugged the unicorn forward. Rarity let out a sort of squeak, and blushed because of it. "And this is revenge," Vinyl said, a bit quieter, but still with a grin. "Nopony gets away with making Vinyl swoon."
Rarity blushed deeper as she felt their noses nearly touching, and the warmth of the other pony's breath brushing across her mouth. "I made you... 'swoon'?" she asked, looking away so as not to get caught in Vinyl's eyes again. Still, she could feel the reddish eyes looking at her.
"A bit. You're really... cute," said Vinyl.
"Cute?" repeated Rarity, her brow falling straight as her eyes snapped over to meet Vinyl's. Rarity was many things: gorgeous, beautiful, stunning—even pretty. "How, precisely, am I cute?"
Vinyl laughed. "Well... you take yourself very seriously, and it's actually quite adorable." Rarity huffed and looked away. "But—I don't know," Vinyl continued. "It makes me not wanna leave you alone. I just... I want to mess with you, or whatever. Then it's like... watching a small animal or something as it comes out of hibernation, rubbing its eyes, blinking in the light—that's you realizing you were worked up over nothing. It's funny. You're fun. I like being around you, or whatever."
Rarity felt her face being tugged in a couple different directions as she tried to determine exactly how Vinyl was making her feel. After a moment or two of deliberation, she decided to settle on the part which put to rest all of her concerns, and quieted down the noisy thoughts in her head. It was the option that could bring her closer to the sort of ease she felt now. Though it was only the smallest inkling of a thought, Rarity felt swept up by it. She let everything else become lost in the whiteness of the snow-covered street around them, and in the similar whiteness of the pony in front of her.
Rarity looked up at Vinyl. "I suppose I shall be 'cute,' then." She leaned forward, and met Vinyl's lips with hers. The other unicorn's eyes snapped wide, and she flinched backwards, putting a bit of space between them as she turned bright red. Rarity leaned in further, rejoining their lips. Vinyl's eyes eventually fell closed, and she began to return the passion of Rarity's kiss.
Rarity broke apart, what felt like a few moments too soon, the cold air nipping at the wetness of her mouth as she did. She smiled as Vinyl sat with her mouth hanging slightly open, breathing hard and sending puffs off white clouds into the quiet air between them. The corner of Vinyl's mouth turned up. "I thought there wasn't anything I could say that'd make something like this happen," she said.
Rarity looked to the side, casually tilting her head. "I thought it was fairly clear that that only applied to last night." She looked up at the overcast evening sky. "I had said that nothing like that would happen 'this night.' Details like that are important, Vinyl."
"So... what are the kinds of things that might happen this 'this night,' then?" said Vinyl moving a step closer. "Um, just to be perfectly clear and stuff."
"The kind where you take me back to your place, I should think." Rarity closed her eyes, leaving her mouth slightly parted as she leaned forward.
"Oh," said Vinyl, her breath audibly picking up pace.
"Okay," said Rarity, "kiss me now." Vinyl leaned forward, closing the distance between them.
The kiss was unhurried and drawn-out, with plenty of pauses to draw in a sharp breath of cold air around it. It surprised Rarity, as she had assumed that Vinyl would be rather more wild. Perhaps she was saving it for later. A tingling shiver passed through Rarity.
Vinyl reached up and put a hoof to the side of her face, and stroked through her sodden mane. Rarity realized that she didn't really mind, at the moment, that her mane was ruined. Her concerns over her fashion line and the Canterlot Elite were completely gone. Nothing bothered her, and Rarity felt the calm envelop her. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment during the kiss, but she could only see white.
When they parted from the kiss, Rarity held Vinyl's gaze, staring into the deep magenta of her eyes. "It seems I'm to be one of your 'flings,' after all," said Rarity, surprising herself by having to grasp for the lightness in the tone that she had spoken with.
"Oh. Well..." Vinyl blushed, and her eyes flitted away. "I think... I'd be fine if it was a bit more than just a fling." Vinyl shifted her weight from side-to-side. "I mean, unless you're just looking for—"
"No, ...uh, actually," Rarity began, a grin tugging at her face, "I'd be okay if this were to be more than that. It's... you're really wonderful to be around, Vinyl. I suppose I just didn't think you were a 'one-pony mare,' so to speak."
Vinyl smiled. "I'm suddenly thinking about something to do with appearances and judgement... pretty sure there was something about a book in there somewhere..." Rarity gave a wry look. "But, having said that," Vinyl continued, "I got to admit—for me, this is definitely a bit of a—"
Rarity darted in and kissed Vinyl before she could finish. "It sounded as though," Rarity said as they parted, "you were about to make a terrible pun. I felt the need to intervene."
"You know what?" Vinyl said, her face straight. "I think I feel several more terrible puns coming on. It's probably best to be safe than sorry, or whatever. Because, you know, I'm the only one who says ridiculous things, here, right?"
"I feel I should issue a variation of my statement from last night—there are a few things that you could say, Vinyl, that would result in us not doing certain things, this night."
"Right," said Vinyl. "Shutting up now. Back to the apartment?"
Rarity moved up beside Vinyl, nuzzling against her as she stood side-by-side with her. Rarity took one end of her scarf in her magic's glow, and wrapped it around the two of them. "Eventually," Rarity said, leaning her head against Vinyl.
"Oh," said Vinyl. "Okay."
"Or—" Rarity grabbed the end of the scarf once again, freeing herself from it. She pulled Vinyl's hat down over her eyes, and then wrapped the scarf around Vinyl's head. "—we could race!"
Rarity took off, giggling, as Vinyl struggled to free herself from the entangling winter-wear and keep up with the other white pony, laughing as she did.
Rarity was slow to wake the next morning. She found her nose nestled just beneath a white horn, and really felt no desire to hurry the awakening process. Eventually, she cracked her eyes open, gently moving away. Rarity smiled as she saw Vinyl's face, almost strange in its unusual lack of edginess. It was hard to connect the brash ridiculousness of the unicorn to the cute, innocent face she was looking at.
Of course, Vinyl could be a lot more than just ridiculous. She could be sweet, as well as a rather bit amazing. And passionate, as Rarity had discovered last night. Rarity nestled closer to the other unicorn. At the moment, Canterlot was once again a place the fashionista felt she belonged.
Vinyl awoke with a grunt and a stir. She looked up at Rarity, her wild blue mane such a mess that her eyes were only just visible beneath it. Rarity brushed the hair out of Vinyl's face, leaning in to kiss her. A few stray hairs still managed to mingle into the kiss.
"Good morning," said Rarity.
Vinyl kissed her again. "Yep. I'd say so." They lay together for a time. Then Vinyl's stomach growled.
"Um... breakfast?" Vinyl suggested.
"Should I make it today, or would you like another try?" asked Rarity with a wink.
"Naw, let's just get Tavi to make it," Vinyl said. She rolled over. "Tavi!" she called out, a little pathetically. "Breakfast?"
After a moment of silence, Vinyl turned back to Rarity. "Ah, buck it all. Guess we gotta get up."
After going into the hall, however, the smell of eggs floated over them. They walked into the kitchen to find Octavia just as she finished cooking a meal. "Yay, breakfast!" said Vinyl. She walked up beside Octavia, looking over her shoulder at the food. "Hey, so Rarity stayed over again last night, except in my bed. Did you make enough for her, too?"
"Yes," said Octavia, not looking up from what she was doing, "I knew Rarity was here. You two made enough noise, last night, I'd have believed it if you said five ponies had stayed over."
Rarity and Vinyl turned bright red. Rarity opened her mouth, but Vinyl spoke first. "You know the song "Behind Closed Doors," Tavi? That's a good song. You should have another listen to it."
"Perhaps if you had actually bothered to close the bedroom door, that statement would carry a bit more weight."
Vinyl turned to Rarity. "Um... did we...?"
Rarity laughed nervously, still rather flustered. "No, I don't believe we did."
Vinyl nodded seriously. "Well," she said, "the important thing, here, is that there's enough breakfast for everyone."
Rarity stayed at Vinyl and Octavia's place as long as she was able, but she had already purchased her return train ticket to Ponyville for that afternoon. Vinyl nuzzled up against Rarity as she was getting ready to leave.
"You... were serious yesterday?" asked Vinyl, slightly subdued. "Like, about being more than a fling?"
"Of course, Vinyl! I'd never say—well, I suppose I do tend to exaggerate, on occasion," Rarity said, with a tilt of her head, "but not about something like this! Would you... like to get together sometime next week, perhaps?" Rarity looked to the side. "Ponyville and Canterlot aren't exceptionally close, but—"
"Screw next week," said Vinyl, who had broken into a grin. "I'm gonna come see you tomorrow! Like, if you're not busy tomorrow," Vinyl finished, with a slight blush.
Rarity let out a breath, and smiled. "That sounds wonderful." She gave Vinyl a kiss that was meant to be a quick one, but drew itself out.
"Really, guys?" said Octavia, who had been standing beside Vinyl. Rarity had the decency to look embarrassed. Vinyl didn't.
"It was nice to properly meet you, Octavia," Rarity said, once she had finished blushing.
"Yes, I suppose," said Octavia. "And I expect I'll be seeing a fair bit more of you, now." Octavia broke her composure and gave a small smile. "I don't think I'll mind that, too terribly much."
With another quick farewell, and a quick-to-mid-length kiss with Vinyl, Rarity went out into the winter afternoon, the white of the snow-covered street shining up at her.