Another one for university. Producing Culture, this time.
Enjoy!

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic developed for television by Lauren Faust
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic & all related names, characters & images owned by Hasbro Studios

Ponyville, a lovely little town within the country of Equestria. Where everyone is friendly, hard-working and always ready to help a friend in need get back on their feet; all four of them. The town's clear-skied working Friday was coming to an end. School had gotten out and the busiest hours were over for many of the town's businesses.

Twilight Sparkle, the ever-curious purple-coated, indigo-with-pink-strip-maned unicorn, had finished her studies for the day and was making her way to a spot she had agreed to meet her friends at. While she did still have a few books that she wanted to go through, she wanted to see her friends even more. No special reason, she just wanted to be with them.

She approached the local bakery, Sugarcube Corner, and entered to see that several ponies were enjoying a tasty treat as well as each other's company. Although she noticed that one gray pegasus was sitting alone, but then again, she seemed too enamoured with her muffin to care. Once she practically inhaled her treat, Twilight knew she was just fine. She continued looking over the bakery and grinned as she saw two particular mares - one a white-coated, purple-maned unicorn and the other a yellow-coated, light-pink-maned pegasus - sitting next to each other at a round table and smiling as they chatted. She approached them and called out to them, respectively, "Rarity! Fluttershy!"

The two turned their heads, smiled at their friend and called to her, "Twilight!"

She sat on a chair adjacent to the two.

Rarity spoke to her in her prim and proper voice, "Twilight, my dear, how are you?"

"I'm alright, thanks. How are you two?"

"I'm wonderful, thank you."

Fluttershy, in her always-soft, quiet voice, said, "Oh, well, I guess I'm alright, thanks."

Twilight turned her head as she saw another mare - this one with a light-pink coat and a hot-pink mane - enter the room out of the corner of her eye carrying a tray of tea and cupcakes for six. Said pony's eyes widened in excitement when she saw Twilight and she tried to call out, but was of course muffled by the tray in her clenched teeth. She trotted on over and set it down on the table. Her mouth freed, she exclaimed in a high-pitched, happy voice, "Twilight!" She then threw her arms around her friend and squeezed.

Twilight, only just being able to take in enough breath, smiled as best she could manage and croaked out, "Hi, Pinkie."

Pinkie Pie let go and then placed the tea and cupcakes around the table. She looked hopeful and excited as she said to her friends, "So, how do you like my very own Scrumptious, Sprinkled, Strawberry Shortcakes?"

Rarity and Fluttershy took a bite and nodded as they each let out an impressed, "Mmmm!"

"Twilight?" She asked the purple unicorn.

Twilight overlooked the slight excess of icing hanging off the side of her cupcake and said, "It looks great, thanks, Pinkie." She offered her friend a smile.

At this, Pinkie smiled ear-to-ear, clearly ecstatic to see her friend grin.

At that moment, they all turned their heads as the front door was opened. They smiled as through the door came two more mares, one an orange-coated, blonde-maned, cowboy hat-wearing earth pony and the other a cyan-blue-coated, rainbow-maned pegasus.

The earth pony tipped her hat and said in a southern drawl, "Howdy-do y'all."

The pegasus simply nodded upwards and said, "Hey, guys."

"Applejack! Rainbow Dash! Hello, darlings!" Rarity called to her friends, respectively.

The two took their seats at the table and shared greetings with the rest of their friends. Twilight's studies, her worries, even the world around her, disappeared from thought as she felt right at home, among her best friends.

After further pleasantries, catching up on recent events and sharing a laugh or two, Rainbow Dash brought up a topic that she was clearly excited about. "So guys, you all gonna make it to the Iron Pony competition?"

The other ponies all nodded. Applejack took on a determined expression as she stared down the cyan pegasus and said, "An' tomorrow we'll settle who's the best athlete in Ponyville."

Rainbow Dash put on her own determined face and responded, "Darn right."

The orange earth pony held up a hoof, the pegasus went to bump it with her own when Applejack pulled her's back. Rainbow looked up at her, and raised an eyebrow. Twilight looked on, similarly concerned about her friend's behaviour, as she could see the others were, as well.

Applejack looked serious as she said, "Fair an' square this tahme, deal?"

Rainbow smiled, a little relieved, and responded, "Yeah, deal."

The blonde pony smiled, raised her front leg and the two hoof-bumped, then glared into each other's eyes while sporting cocky smirks. The other four relaxed. Twilight chuckled and shook her head, 'Typical.' She thought to herself.

She then saw the proverbial light bulb go off above Applejack's head. The earth pony turned to the other four and excitedly said, "Hey, y'all wanna try out in the competition?"

Fluttershy's face briefly flashed with something akin to absolute horror, while the others had more traditional looks of dull surprise at the unusual offer. Twilight quickly and politely declined, Pinkie explained that she would love to, but she was going to be a co-commentator at the event, and Rarity declined for a more peculiar reason. The white unicorn swept her hair back as she said, "Oh, no thank you, dear. All that running around and sweating in the dirt is simply un-lady-like."

Rainbow Dash then mentioned something that caught Twilight's attention and sparked her curiosity. "Hey, Rarity," She said to the white unicorn, who turned her attention to the pegasus, "Whaddaya always mean by 'lady-like', anyways?"

"Well, of course I mean all of the best behaviour that is expected of a lady. Sophistication. Glamour. Beauty." She turned to address the yellow pegasus beside her, "Fluttershy knows this, don't you, dear?"

Fluttershy responded with, "Oh, yes." She looked over to Rainbow Dash, "Rarity's taught me all about it. She says I'm great at 'gentility and grace'."

Rarity nodded in confirmation and smiled a proud smile, clearly delighting Fluttershy. However, Applejack and Rainbow Dash only looked at each other, apparently confused.

Rainbow Dash interrogated Rarity once more, "'The best behaviour', huh?"

The unicorn immediately answered, "Oh yes, only the best for us good ladies." With that, she offered Fluttershy a sisterly smile, which the pegasus returned.

Applejack spoke up, "Uh, beg pardon Rarity, but ain't me n' 'Dash ladies, too?"

Twilight looked at the southern belle, not having a clue what she meant.

Rarity looked at her friend and raised an eyebrow, "Whatever do you mean?"

Rainbow Dash answered, "Well, it's just that those things you two mentioned don't exactly fit us."

Applejack continued, "True. Ah mean, ah ain't much for nothin' fancy, ah lahk it simple." She reached back to her mane, "'part from this here headtail, ah don't make a fuss about mah looks." She gestured to the rainbow-maned pony beside her. "An' she ain't exactly any kind o' gentle."

There was an awkward silence between them all. These odd, never-before-considered facts obviously confounded the four friends. Twilight looked on, also lost, but also concerned about where this was going.

Finally, Fluttershy swallowed before asking Rarity, "So, if we're lady-like, what does that make them?"

Rarity looked down in thought for a moment before telling her friends, "I suppose it makes you, well, more like stallions than mares."

The ponies in question stared at her, mouths agape and eyes narrowed at their friend's accusation.

"Say what!?" Rainbow Dash shouted, drawing the attention of several other ponies. She slammed her hooves on the table, leaned towards Rarity and shouted, "What the hay are you talking about!?" At this, Rarity reeled back in fear, Twilight and Pinkie flinched and gasped in fright and Fluttershy ducked under the table, shaking.

Applejack blocked the pegasus' advance with a front leg and shouted, "Calm down, Rainbow!"

The cyan pony backed off, gritting her teeth behind her sealed lips.

Twilight was shocked and terrified; she had never seen Rainbow lash out at her own best friends quite like that. What had they gotten themselves into?

Applejack lowered her hoof and gave Rainbow one last glare before turning to address Rarity, obviously holding back her own outrage. "Now would ya care ta explain yerself, Rarity?"

Rarity had her mouth open, as if to speak, but Twilight could see that she could not find the right words

Fluttershy apparently saw this as well, as Twilight heard her swallow the lump that must have been in her throat before rising up from under the table. "Um, excuse me, but, what I think Rarity means," She began, treading lightly. "Is that you two just seem to... actmore like boys than girls."

The two in question took in those words and lowered their heads in thought.

Twilight also took this in. It was strange; she had never considered her two athletic friends' behaviours or personalities unusual just due to the fact that they were girls. But now that she thought about it, it did seem strange. 'If Rarity and Fluttershy act like us girls are meant to,' She thought to herself, 'Why don't Applejack and Rainbow act like that?'

After a moment, Applejack raised her head, visibly conflicted, and said, "Well, how can that be? Ah mean, we are girls"

Rainbow looked up and said, "We can't act like boys, can we?"

Rarity and Fluttershy looked on at their friends. One did not need to be psychic to know that they were tearing themselves apart over what they had done to the other two.

Twilight felt the worst kind of discomfort in her gut. Her perspectives had been forced to shift so radically that she was genuinely scared that terrible things were about to happen thanks to what they had been shifted to.

She looked at each of her friends, hoping that they were having a better time piecing this together than she was. Even Pinkie Pie looked conflicted, what with her lowered eyes shifting back and forth while her silent mouth was slightly pursed in thought. She apparently came to a conclusion and commented with, "Huh. Weird." She then buried her head into her cupcake, wolfing it down and splattering what frosting and sprinkles she missed all over the place.

Twilight blocked the brunt of the confectionary debris and found herself perplexed by her friend's reaction. "Pinkie," She started, ready to demand answers, "How can you watch your friends argue like that and just go on eating?"

The pink earth pony raised her frosting-splattered face and looked at her unicorn friend, just as perplexed. She responded in a tone that clearly showed that she thought the answer was obvious, "Because nothing's the matter."

"'Nothing'? You're telling me you don't find this all a bit, well..." She glanced at her other friends and she could see it in their eyes; they were hoping she was not about to say what they were all thinking. Twilight steeled herself; she could not just leave it up in the air. Reluctantly, she said it, "...strange?"

The others drooped their heads. Twilight felt her heart twist in her chest.

"Of course not."

All five of them raised their heads and pricked their ears, surprised and confused at Pinkie's statement.

Said earth pony also looked surprised and confused, though for very different reasons. "If AJ and Dashie have always acted kinda like how you'd expect boys to be, then what's the problem?"

Twilight took a moment to process what Pinkie had said. When she did, she had an epiphany. She gasped before throwing her arms around her pink friend and said in absolute delight and relief, "Pinkie Pie, you're brilliant!"

"Really?" She reached behind herself, pulled out a small mirror and looked into it. "I didn't think I washed that well."

The purple unicorn smiled at her friend's innocent ignorance. She let her go and turned to face the conflicted cyan pegasus and orange earth pony. "Rainbow Dash, Applejack, you two have always acted in a way that's associated with boys." She turned to the opposing yellow pegasus and white unicorn, "Just like you two have always acted in a way that's always associated with girls." She gestured to herself and the pink earth pony next to her, "And neither of those archetypes seem to apply to Pinkie and I."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "'Arche-what-nows?'"

Twilight chuckled, too ecstatic to be annoyed at having to re-word her statement. "We don't fit either of those descriptions. The point is that that's how the six of us have been all our lives, including since we met. We've only just realized it now."

The other four's faces shifted, still looking confused.

Twilight continued, "The fact of the matter is that being 'girly' or 'tomcoltish' or neither is just a part of our nature. It's part of what makes us who we are. Part of the ponies we became friends with."

She saw realization begin to creep into her friend's expressions, slightly lifting their moods. Pinkie looked on, smiling as she saw her friends getting better.

Twilight wrapped up, "Discovering that these differences between us exist doesn't matter, because they don't make any of us any different. It's just part of what we've loved about each other all along."

Smiles cracked out on the face of every pony at the table. Their shoulders lowered and relaxed, as if an immense weight had just been lifted off their backs.

The four opposing ponies looked into one other's eyes to see the same joy and relief that they each must have felt. Applejack hopped off her chair and walked over to her friends across from her. Rarity hopped off her own to meet her. The two smiled at each other before cuddling. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flapped their wings and floated over the table to hug each other in mid-air before joining the two on the ground. A tear ran down Twilight's cheek as she made her way over to join the group hug. Pinkie Pie, clearly overjoyed, cheered and leaped from her chair. The others heard her and raised their heads just in time to see Pinkie plummet into them before she wrapped her arms around all of them.

The six best friends hugged, laughed and cried in equal measure.