My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Sweet and Elite
A/N: I've always considered popularity to be overrated, especially when I was in high school, and yet, somehow, I became popular without even trying. I think it had to do with the fact that I was in the band program for four years, and students realized that even band members can be cool.
Read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from My Little Pony: Magic is Friendship. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.
CHAPTER THREE: TOO MANY PARTIES
The next morning, Rarity was suffering from a party hangover and too little sleep as she packed up all of her luggage, keenly aware of the two in-completed dresses that she would have to work on in Ponyville, and she put a bag on top of the other bags that the bags valet was already carrying on his back.
"Oh, I hope I haven't forgotten anything," she said, looking around the room, not seeing anything except for Opalescence, who was napping on the bed.
"Me… too…" the bags valet grunted, struggling to remain standing under the load.
Rarity magically retrieved her cat, who yowled in surprised when she was stuffed into her carrier. "We'd better get going," she announced, heading for the doors and the bags valet struggled after her. "I must get back to Ponyville with enough time to finish Twilight and Sunrise's ensembles." She paused when the letterbox clicked open long enough for an envelope to be slid in.
The grey unicorn magically picked it up and saw her name written on the front. "For me?" she wondered, opening it and read the letter while placing the carrier with the grumpy Opalescence on the pile of luggage. "Dearest Rarity, your presence is requested at the Canterlot garden party tomorrow afternoon. Yours, Jet Set and Upper Crust!" She gasped, excited. "The Canterlot garden party! Why, next to the Galloping Gala that is the premier event in Canterlot!" She squealed for a moment before realizing what else was going on tomorrow.
"Oh, but if I go, I'll miss Twilight and Sunrise's birthday… But if I don't go, my new reputation in Canterlot as a Very Important Pony might be ruined!" she moaned, looking between the letter and the drawings of the two dresses. "I might never be invited to another high society event again! Friend's birthday… Very Important Pony…" She winced and her face turned red for a moment. "It's just too important."
Making a decision, Rarity set aside the papers and retrieved a paper and quill from the desk. She took a deep breath and she began writing. "My dear Twilight and Sunrise, I am afraid I won't be able to make it to your birthday party tomorrow, because… because poor Opal is quite ill, and she is in no condition to make the long journey back to Ponyville! I do hope you understand. Your friend, Rarity."
"I suppose this means you don't need me to bring down your bags?" the bags valet inquired, his legs trembling.
"No," she confirmed. "But, I will need some help unpacking them." And she winched when he collapsed under the weight once again with a pained "Oomph!" and Opalescence yowled in protest. "Oh dear." She rescued them both, and sent the bags valet on his way with the request that he get somepony to deliver the letter.
The next day, Rarity put on a yellow/white outfit that had a mixture of flowers on it, and she posed before her cat. "What do you think? Too much?" she inquired and when Opalescence licked herself, she took that as an answer. "You're right. Too little." She added a matching hat and nodded at her reflection in the mirror. "Ah, garden party, here I come!" She then opened the doors and froze when she saw Twilight Sparkle and Sunrise Blossom beaming at her, and then the other four ponies appeared on either side of them.
"Surprise!" they announced together.
Rarity gasped and then promptly fainted, confusing her friends. Why would their presence make her faint?
When Rarity regain consciousness, she opened her eyes to find her friends peering down at her with concerned expression… well, Pinkie Pie was talking with her usual cheerful expression.
`"…Swoosh! And right before she hit the ground, shoom, she– Hi again!" she said, backing up a little.
Rarity got up with some assistance from Sunrise Blossom and stared at her friends. "What are you– how did you- Why are you-?"
"Listen to her," said Applejack, smiling again. "She's so excited to see us, she can hardly talk."
"What I mean to say is, what are you all doing here?" the grey unicorn finally asked.
"When we got your letter saying you were stuck in Canterlot," Twilight Sparkle explained, "we asked Pinkie Pie if it wouldn't be too much trouble to move our birthday party here, so you wouldn't have to miss it!"
"And it wouldn't have been the same without you, Rarity," Sunrise Blossom added.
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Balloons are super easy to pack." And she opened a suitcase, resulting in balloons flying everywhere as they deflated. "Oops."
Rarity did her best to look happy. "Wow… First you get me a suite at Canterlot Castle and now this," she commented. "I don't know what to say, Twilight, Sunrise."
"How about you start by saying what you're doing in that fancy getup?" Rainbow Dash inquired, eying the fancy outfit.
The grey unicorn blinked, recalling her outfit. "This? Uh- well, I- I always put on something a little fancy when Opal's feeling under the weather…" she lied. "Cheers her right up." And she laughed nervously.
"Oh, poor Opal," Fluttershy said, worried for the cat. "Where is the sick darling?"
"Oh, uhh, she's… Hold on a minute," Rarity said quickly and slammed the doors shut.
The six ponies exchanged perplex looks. "Huh?"
Opalescence was settling down on the bed for a nap when she was suddenly magically picked up, and she yowled in protest as Rarity carried her into the bathroom.
"I am so sorry about this," she apologized to her cat while stuffing her into the bathtub and ran hot water over Opalescence, who was yowling the entire time, and then returned her soaking wet cat to the bed. She then opened the doors to let her confused friends in. "She's resting on the bed."
Fluttershy flew over and scooped up the bedraggled cat in her forelegs. "Poor baby," she cooed while Opalescence let out an annoyed yowl while glaring at her owner. "She looks awful." And the cat growled a little.
"She sounds awful, too," Sunrise Blossom agreed and then she noticed the unfinished dresses that were on the mannequins. "Um…"
"Are… those our dresses?" Twilight Sparkle asked as she and her twin took a closer look at the plain-looking yellow and blue dresses with their pink and green ribbons.
"Yes," Rarity said hesitantly while moving so that they wouldn't see the drawings on the desk.
"Well, they're certainly different," Sunrise Blossom remarked, not having expected this from the grey unicorn after letting her, reluctantly, overhaul her wardrobe five years in a row.
Twilight Sparkle walked around the dresses, examining them from all sides. "They're so… simple," she commented. "So practical. So us!" she exclaimed with a big smile, and she promptly hugged the grey unicorn while her twin shook her head with a chuckle. "It's the perfect dresses for our birthday party! I love it!"
Rarity sighed in relief. "You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that." And with a flick of her tail, she knocked the two drawings into the trash bin.
This action wasn't lost on Sunrise Blossom, who quietly retrieved the drawings when nopony was looking, and put them in her saddlebag. 'I'll talk with Rarity after the party,' she decided as she and Twilight Sparkle went to put on their birthday dresses. 'She probably got caught up in the social life here in Canterlot and just ran out of time.'
The seven ponies headed into the castle and to a fully decorated ballroom, where Twilight Sparkle was prattling away.
"When I told the Princess that we were moving the party to Canterlot, she was kind enough to offer us the Canterlot Castle ballroom!" she said cheerfully.
Pinkie Pie beamed at her handiwork. "Isn't it fancy pants?"
"Fancy Pants?!" Rarity yelped and hid behind Rainbow Dash, earning odd looks from her friends. "Where?! Ahh, I mean, where did you find the time to put up all these decorations? Ha-ha," she amended with a nervous laugh when she didn't see that particular unicorn.
"Oh, I never leave home without my party cannon!" said Pinkie Pie, pulling out a cannon and yanked on a rope, causing an explosion of decorations for a nearby table, and some confetti ended up falling on the grey unicorn, who shot the pink pony an annoyed look while brushing it off. "Ta-da!"
"I thought about having our birthday outside," the purple unicorn continued, nodding to the garden, "but they're having another party on the castle grounds today." And sure enough, the other party that their friend had been planning on attending was going on and there were ponies chattering.
'Oh no!' Rarity thought, wondering how she could do both parties at once when she was grabbed by Pinkie Pie.
"Let's party!"
Soon enough, there was swing music playing and the party was in full swing with the ponies tossing the twins into the air a few times, dancing, and eating birthdate cake. At one point, Rainbow Dash threw cake slices into the faces of Fluttershy and Applejack, and she was laughing when she was immediately attacked by her cake-wielding friends, and this created a minor food fight that got some of the cake onto Rarity, who stepped out to clean herself off.
When they were doing a conga line, Rarity was at the end of the line, and she glanced out at the garden party, thinking. "Mmh… No reason I can't at least make an appearance…" she muttered and quietly slipped out the nearby door while her friends were distracted.
At the garden party, classical music was playing and Rarity entered the archway to announce her presence. "I'm here!"
Upper Crust immediately greeted her. "Darling, I'm so glad you made it."
"Rarity!" said Fancy Pants with a big smile when he joined them. "So happy to see you here."
Rarity beamed. "I wouldn't have missed this for the world."
Fancy Pants sniffed the air, picking up on an oddly familiar scent. "I say, what is that scent you're wearing?" he inquired. "It smells like…" he sniffed again. "Is that cake frosting?"
'Drat! I thought I cleaned the cake off completely!' the grey unicorn thought and then quickly recovered. "…Yes, I always dab a little frosting behind my ears before I go out," she explained while laughing nervously. "After all, who doesn't like the smell of cake frosting?"
"I know I do," Fancy Pants agreed with a chuckle, accepting her claim.
Upper Crust nodded in agreement, but she didn't look as convinced. "Mm-hmm."
Rarity sighed with slight relief. "Well, all this talk about cake has made me hungry," she remarked. "Think I'll go and see what's on the hors d'oeuvre table. If you'll excuse me…" And she walked away while Fancy Pants and Upper Crust started a conversation.
For the next two hours, Rarity came up with excuses for slipping away between the two parties, accidentally dipping a cracker with meat on it in the chocolate fountain and eating it. And nopony noticed, at least not right away.
"I… have to go to do the…" Rarity mumbled with a croquet mallet in her mouth and looking very frazzled "thing with the… stuff… you know…?" And she trailed off when she saw the odd looks that her friends were giving her.
"Uh, what's with the croquet mallet?" Rainbow Dash asked, holding a pink balloon her hooves since they had been in the middle of a balloon contest to see who could keep a balloon balanced on their noses the longest.
"What croquet mallet?" the grey unicorn asked, her voice still muffled.
The blue pegasus dropped her balloon and pointed to the item in her friend's mouth. "Duh, the one in your mouth!"
Rarity immediately dropped the mallet, having forgotten she'd been playing croquet earlier and laughed nervously. "Ooh, that croquet mallet," she quickly, flushing and began stammering. "I- well I, you know, the truth is… the truth is…"
"Were you at that other party in the garden?" Twilight Sparkle asked and when her friend stammered again, she sighed. "Rarity, I'm surprised at you."
Rarity threw herself at her friend's hooves. "Twilight, Sunrise, let me explain!" she pleaded. "I-"
"I hadn't realized you were such a savvy businesspony!" the purple unicorn exclaimed with a smile, confusing Sunrise Blossom, who'd been about to lecture their friend about not telling them the truth.
"You must understand! I-" the grey unicorn began and then stopped, confused.
Twilight Sparkle nodded to the garden party. "All of those ponies look so posh," she remarked. "And with the Grand Galloping Gala coming up, I bet you could totally get some of them to buy your dresses. Very smart!"
"Woo, wwwhy yes," Rarity agreed, getting up with a nervous smile, "I-I didn't want you to think I was being rude, so that's exactly the reason I didn't tell you. The one and only reason." And she laughed nervously.
"Oh, well, you didn't have to do that," said the purple unicorn, smiling. "You should totally go over there and mingle!"
"I'm sure those ponies will love to have some of your designs," Sunrise Blossom agreed, deciding to humor her twin.
Rarity immediately hugged the twins. "Twilight, Sunrise, you both really are the best friends a pony could ever ask for," she gushed. "I don't know why I ever thought you wouldn't understand."
"Understand what?" the twins asked.
"Nothing," the grey unicorn said quickly, pulling away. "See you girls later!" And she headed for the doors.
"Hey, wait up!" Rainbow Dash said, flying after her. "We're your friends! I'm sure they won't mind if we check out the party too! C'mon, you guys! Let's show them how to party Ponyville style!" And she shot out the door with her friends giving chase.
Rarity stared after them in horror. "Oh no!" she moaned and raced after them.
A/N: Well, things are getting awkward, aren't they? R&R everyone!