This takes place sometime after the Gala, possibly after Sweet and Elite for character-development purposes, and that's pretty much all you need to know. This is mainly inspired by SgtMajorShowOff's most excellent fic "How Gallant He Will Be," which is unfortunately on hiatus but please do check it out anyway.
I hope my lack of ownership in regards to any actual part of this franchise does not impede your enjoyment of this fic. Also that you enjoy this fic.
It was a balmy summer morning, the kind that draped everything under the sun with a pleasant lethargy. Fillies and foals alike lounged about under Celestia's benign rays, simply basking in the lack of schoolwork and teachers and other such maladies of life. Indeed, they were eager to do absolutely nothing as hard as they could to make up for all the lost time wasted on arithmetic, history, and other such nonsense. Sleeping in, now there was something important! Something worth doing! Something that everypony was certainly going to put their very best effort into.
Of course, even the best of efforts are eventually thwarted if you happened to be going against Applejack.
"Ah don't see why you hafta work me so hard when it's summer, there's barely anythin' to do," the unjustly enslaved filly grumbled. "You coulda at least givin' me another hour. It's cruelty, it is! Other fillies'll be spendin' the first day of break sleepin' 'til noon!"
"Other fillies don' live on an apple farm, sugarcube. You know how the Carolinas are," Applejack shot back as she hoisted a harness onto her back with her sister's reluctant help. Big Macintosh busied himself with setting up some barrels, no stranger to their banter. This was a familiar argument – almost an inescapable law of the universe when you came right down to it. As long as there wasn't school to occupy her time, Applebloom would do her darnedest to wheedle out of as much work as possible. But this year, her sister had a weapon, a foolproof motivator at her disposal courtesy of the youngest Apple herself. "You never know, maybe this'll be how you finally get'cher cutie mark."
After that, Applebloom would've gladly set herself on fire if it meant getting her coveted cutie mark. Big Mac chuckled at her sudden eagerness to help as she found a hidden vigor for fetching barrels while Applejack merely rolled her eyes skyward. "Ah sincerely hope ah wusn't that silly about the whole business when ah was her age."
"Ah dunno Jack," her brother drawled. "You did go all the way out to Manehatten, of all places."
"Please don't remind me," Applejack muttered, grumbling almost as much as her sister had been. She readied herself as she set to start the first kick of the season, always a monumental affair, when a resounding THUNK hit the tree from the other side. The apples plopped into the barrels before she could blink. "What in tarnation-!"
A low moan arose from the source of the clamor, a local mail pony, as she tried to shake off her dizziness. "That tree always gets me."
Applejack trotted over to the dazed pegasus. "You okay, Ditzy?" she asked uncertainly. Even if this wasn't an uncommon occurrence, she was always sure that Ditzy Doo really was going to hurt herself one of these days. Luckily for all, today was not that day and the pegasus gave a bright, though slightly cross-eyed, smile. "I'm better than okay, I've got mail! And it's for you!" She beamed even more as she dropped her carrier. Letters littered the ground as she rummaged through the bag, vaguely continuing her train of thought. "It's really important too, urgent, urgent, urgent! Put it right in my urgent pocket, where it's easy to find, dunno why I can't… Aha!" The grey mare triumphantly pulled out a scroll and stuffed it into Applejack's mouth. "There we go, nice and safe. Bye now!" Ditzy Doo promptly flew off, leaving a trail of scattered missives in her wake.
Applejack spat out the urgent spool of paper and sputtered a bit, trying to get the taste of parchment out of her mouth. "Ah swear, someday that pony'll be… the Princess!"
"Now there's a scary thought."
"No Big Mac, this here's from the Princess! Ah mean, more like from her ambassadors and delegates and what-have-yous, but it's from the Princess!"
"What does the Princess want with us?" Big Mac eyed the letter incredulously. Sure, there was that one friend of AJ's that knew her way around Canterlot, but it's never really sunk in that their family could be so close with royalty. After all, Princess Celestia was practically folklore.
"She wants us to cater to one 'o her fancy shindigs, the one next week! Tarts, cider, pies, you name it! She even wants, uh, 'that exquisite-looking cake that was unlucky enough to be an unfortunate casualty during the Gala' and gosh, she's willin' to let us stay in the castle and everything! We'll finally be able to get that hip fer Granny! An' the roof'll get fixed, an' golly, we ain't even got that plough yet!" Laughing, Applejack pulled her bewildered brother into a clumsy dance.
"Ah don't think haulin' barrels'll get me mah cutie mark," Applebloom called weakly as she heaved a couple casks back into the field. She blinked at the sight of her siblings engaged in a one-sided celebratory jig. "Whut'd ah miss?" she asked as Applejack bounded over to her, dragging Big Macintosh all the while.
"Applebloom, Applebloom! The Princess wants the Apple family to cater for a jamboree!"
"Really!?" All traces of exhaustion completely disappeared. "That's fantastic! Can ah come Applejack, can ah can ah puh-leeeez?" Applejack's dance stalled to a halt as she dropped her very dizzy brother. "Ah dunno. You might not be up fer such a big job," she started uncertainly, glancing down at where Big Macintosh was strewn about. He was unable to offer any comments.
"Oh come on, you never let me work when it's actually fun! Tell 'er, Big Mac." She fixed him with the most pathetically dejected pout her little filly face could muster. Skimming over the letter that was tossed aside during the excitement, the colt hummed. "Well, the Princess does say to bring whoever we need. An' who knows, this'll be great experience for her, won' it?" Applejack still looked hesitant, but her little sister was nothing if not persistent. "Ah promise ah'll be on mah best behavior, ah'll follow all the rules and listen to everythin' you say! You'll barely know ah'm there, except when you need me fer helpin' out an' stuff!" In the end, her good mood won out and Applejack nodded.
"Remember, you said everythin' so no backtalk, y'hear?" Applebloom squealed, bouncing all around her siblings. "Oh boy oh boy oh boy, wait'll the Crusaders hear 'bout this! No wait, wait'll Granny hears! Ah'm gonna tell her right this instant!" With that, the youngest galloped off to the house, brimming with excitement. Applejack stared fondly after her, unable to keep her own silly grin off her face.
"Golly, ah just can't believe it. The Princess, the actual Princess, wants us in Canterlot! This is amazin', ah just can't-" she froze. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no no no."
Baffled by her sudden change in demeanor, Big Macintosh cautiously waved a hoof in front of her stock-still face. "Everythin' okay there, Jack? You look a little-" she suddenly broke into a flurry of motion.
"Canterlot! Do you know what this means, Mac? We'll be a laughingstock!" she wailed. "Those persnickety snobs'll eat us fer lunch! What're we gonna do, this is a terrible idea!"
"Well-"
"An' what if the Princess agrees with 'em? We won't be able to sell a single bushel!"
"We-"
"Shoot, ah shoulda thought uh this before lettin' Applebloom come. Ah mean do you remember th' Gala? This'll be like Rarity's fashion show all over again!"
"You-"
"Wait, if anyone can help us it's Rarity. She practic'ly breathes this frou-frou stuff! And Twi, she's lived there all her life!"
Big Macintosh kept quiet.
"An' she'd be able to help with th' uniforms, if we hafta go around serving people! Or is the castle staff supposed to do that? Oh man, ah've gotta talk to 'em!" Applejack broke into a gallop, leaving her brother in the dust. "Ah'll be back, two hours tops!" she called over her shoulder. "You get started on the apples Big Mac, we're gonna need to bring a whole lot to Canterlot!"
Big Macintosh eyed the vast acres of apples before him, and sighed.
It was a pretty lax scene in the Carousel Boutique, what with it barely an hour after sunrise; it was still too early for many rational ponies to even think about dragging themselves out of bed. However, Rarity has always prided herself on getting an early start – she usually gave herself at least an hour before opening the store to check on stocks, resort the racks, and tidy up after any late-night inspirational sprees. As it was, the fashionista had hardly opened her store when a beleaguered Applejack burst through the doors and scattered her once neatly-stacked ledgers. "Applejack," she greeted, with only a hint of reproach, "must you make such a mess?" After distinctly not hearing anything about how obsessively fastidious she was and other such responses, Rarity looked up and took in the exhausted pony. "Did you sprint all the way from the Apple Acres?"
"No need t' worry, jus' gotta… catch my breath… pfuh,"
"Really, you simply must take better care of yourself," the unicorn chided, fussing over her friend. "Just because you can run nonstop doesn't mean you should. I'm sure whatever you needed wasn't so urgent it should warrant such exertion. At least, I hope not. Oh my, it's not an emergency is it? Here, come with me to the back, I'll fetch us some water."
"Nah, don't bother. Ah'll be fine." After burning off so much energy and losing the rush of adrenaline, Applejack was beginning to feel more than a little ridiculous for her minor freak-out. Rarity was supposed to be the Drama Queen extraordinaire, not levelheaded, down to earth Applejack. She didn't get worked up about appearances and frivolous things like that, she was all about being sensible! But, this was a hard case, something that blended both together and for the first time since that last disaster of a party Applejack wasn't so sure that her abilities were up to snuff. The more she thought about it… the Canterlot scene wasn't her place, was it? Previous excursions have proved this. No, it's better to back out of this while she still could. But this was an amazing opportunity, what Celestia was willing to pay was astronomical, enough to let them ease off the work and invest in future endeavors. But would that matter if the Princess found her cooking to be… unsatisfactory? Trapped by indecision, Applejack lapsed into a sullen silence.
But of course, Rarity was having none of that.
"Ooooh no you don't. Applejack, dahling, I've never seen you so worked up before! What's gotten into you?" The subject of her query shuffled uncomfortably, the recent bouts of conflicting emotions quite effectively scattering her thoughts. "Ah, ah'm not sure, ah jus' don't-"
"Is this about the new job?"
Applejack balked. How on earth had Rarity known!?
"Don't look so shocked, dear. You remember the Crusaders and their stint with Morse Code? 'Cutie Mark Codebreakers', or whatever name they used to justify hauling their antiquated parts and pieces through my shop. Took forever to clean up after their trails of dust and dirt, you'd think the thing hadn't seen the light of day since it was invented! I'm surprised you didn't pass Sweetie Belle, she left to congratulate Applebloom as soon as she figured out 'cakepilot' was 'Canterlot'." She led her friend to one of the many couches that littered her store. "Come now, this is no time to be shy! Now tell me what's wrong or I, I'll… why, I'll make you model every single dress in my shop!"
"Wh..!" The farmpony stumbled into the plush upholstery, flashing back to the last time she had to be fitted for one of Rarity's designs. Not that it was a bad outfit, not by any stretch! But still… "You couldn't! There's no way in heck ah could stand still for so long ever again! And besides, ah'm not even the right size fer most of them outfits! And those needles." She shuddered, trying to appeal to whatever shred of mercy the unicorn possessed, but to no avail.
"Pins, dahling. And," Rarity continued, waving a hairbrush in a vaguely threatening manner with a flick of her horn, "I think you'll find that there's a reason my masterpieces come in an array of different sizes. Just try me." The vaguely threatening hairbrush was beginning to look a lot more menacing by the second. Though nopony would want to call Rarity stubborn (if they valued their lives), there was a general consensus that she had a tenacity that was awe-inspiring . As long as you weren't the center of her focus, that is. Then it was just terrifying. Applejack let out a defeated sigh, and conceded.
"Okay, okay, ah'll spill. Just put that thing away, will'ya? Ah'm goin' apple-buckin' later, ah don't need to look like some gussied-up showpony fer that. Ah got enough flak from Big Mac fer bein' at'cher show."
"You mean with the outfit you designed?" Applejack had the good grace to wilt under her raised eyebrow.
"Well, y'see… that's kinda the problem." She shifted uneasily. "Ah'm, well, not really the classy type. Never have been, never will, and ah'm fine with that! Ah'm not meant for the highfalutin road, ah've learned that long ago. But, how'm ah supposed to measure up to them high-and-mighty cityfolk! You 'member what they called my food? Common carnival fare. Right before spittin' it on the ground." Applejack slowly shook her head. "Now the Princess expects me to cater to a heap of 'em? Ah ain't ritzy, and ah can't pretend to be. My down-home apples really couldn't compete with those fancy-schmancy vittles."
"That is completely ridiculous!"
Applejack was suddenly on the business end of Rarity's glare, the one usually reserved for when they butted heads about practicality versus extravagance and other such disputes. It was almost surreal, seeing her get so worked up about someone bemoaning their lack of class instead of her overabundance of the stuff.
"There are only two opinions in the entirety of Equestria that matter in this situation: yours, and Princess Celestia's. And if I recall correctly, the Princess seemed to like your apples well enough during the Summer Sun Celebration! Why, there's a reason she chose you of all ponies to represent the cuisine of Canterlot, and it's not because she's so easily swayed by the opinions of just any haughty upstart. And who would have the gall to disagree with the Princess?"
"But Rarity, aren't you always goin' on about bein' the toast of high society? Ah thought you of all ponies would understand the importance of opinion, it's practic'ly how you live yer life! No offence, 'o course."
"Oh nonsense," Rarity declared, waving an elegant hoof. "That's me, and this is you. When has Applejack needed anyone else to tell her what she's worth? And anyway, it's all about presentation. For this, why, all you need is to look the part! As a pony specially requested by Celestia, you'll have all of Canterlot at your hooves as long as you act like you deserve it – the guests shall fill in the rest themselves. And with those decadent delights, I promise you, nopony in the universe will be able to resist your rustic charms. Their stomachs simply wouldn't allow it!"
"But Blueblood-"
"Forget Blueblood!" Rarity cut in. "Are you really going to let one bad apple ruin the barrel? There's more to the elite than trifling titles; I've learned that the hard way. In fact, you can just leave his crowd to me because I'm going with you."
"What?" Applejack exclaimed, completely thrown for a loop. In hindsight, she really should've expected Rarity to invite herself along; it was her scene, after all. But still, the harangued earth pony could do little more than gape for a few seconds. "Rarity, no, ah can't let'cha do that! How can ah make you leave your store for so long?"
"I'm not 'made' to do anything, Applejack, this is my decision and I'm sticking to it. I could help sort the apples, do some of the mincing, it's not like I'll be useless. Were you going to put that on Granny Smith's shoulders? With that hip of hers, I'd be shocked if she made it to the Ponyville Express, let alone Canterlot! And no offence to Applebloom, but I would not let her near any number of sharp implements. Furthermore, with Fluttershy taking care of poor Angel, Rainbow Dash on weather duty all week, Twilight up in Fillydelphia dealing with a shipping mishap, and Pinkie Pie… well, I actually don't know what Pinkie Pie's up to these days, only that it's 'Top Secret!' but in any case, I'm the only one of us in any position to accompany you. I'm sure my patrons will understand the call of the gentry and, of course, socializing at the ball after the banquet would give me a chance to advertise my summer ensembles. It's good business!"
"Gosh Rare, ah don' know what to say…" If she was completely honest with herself, having Rarity there with her would be really comforting. And, well, if none of the others could come, she'd be a lot happier with one of her friends than with none at all. If there was anyone who'd give the best back-up, especially in this situation, it'd be Rarity.
"Then it's settled." Rarity gave a striking smile. "In next week, we'll be going to Canterlot!"
Yeah, Rarity is my favorite pony. Can you tell?
Something to note, Carolina Reds are apples that ripen during June. I don't know if there's an Equestrian equivalent of the Carolinas, and I'm not smart enough to come up with a good pun.
If I do actually get any reviews, they'll probably be about how "Ditzy Doo is actually Derpy! Gosh, do research!" and the ilk. I'd just like to say that Derpy is a great fan name, but I've always thought that Ditzy Doo was a better pony name. Derpy seems more like a nickname, especially since the only pony to actually call her this so far is RD. If somepony like Twilight Sparkle or Fluttershy or Rarity calls her Derpy, I guess I'll concede but until then I shall fully enjoy my artistic liberties.
I think I made AJ a bit too dramatic, but then again, this is a pretty big deal so she probably would be fREAKING OUT! But hey, hopefully I'll get her down pat.
As a heads up, while this story will hopefully have hints of Rarimac, it won't really be about them as a couple and having sloppy makeouts. If that will completely ruin your day you have been warned.