Giving Love a Helping Hoof

Giving Love a Helping Hoof

Chapter 5

A short while later found the group split in two; colts on one side and fillies the other. Rarity being as AJ often said "far and away the most frou-frou filly Ah've ever met", the seamstress very much wished for a moment of privacy to see what her friends thought of the whole situation. After some brief introductions and many utterances of "So that's what my dear friend would look like as the opposite gender! I must say, they make quite the dashing filly/colt!", she spirited her friends away. However Twilight and AJ could read her like a book. They shared a smirk.

The duo quickly brought Rarity up to speed on what exactly they'd each discovered, the unicorn nodding in agreement to their deductions.  Though, all too swiftly, she cut the two of them short.

"Twilight, while I am as concerned about what effect this will have on the Elements as anypony, I think we've covered it quite enough. We don't wish to beat a dead... Well, I forget how that saying ends but it's not important. Darlings, what do you think of the colts?"

AJ looked at her incredulously. "What do ya mean Rarity? What's there to think, they're us... Just a lil' different."

Rarity waved a hoof. "Now Applejack-"

"AJ."

The unicorn blinked. "Beg pardon?"

The farm pony glowered. "Our names 'r both Applejack. We hoofwrassled; he's Applejack and Ah'm AJ."

"But my dear, you are giving up your very name! Doesn't that bother you?"

AJ shrugged. "Ah honestly thought it would too, but it really don't. While I wish I hadda won," she said, shooting a glare in Applejack's direction, "Ah came up with hoofwrasslin' and Ah lost fair and square."

Rarity nodded. "Well my dear, if it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother me! And frankly it will make keeping track of things a tad simpler."

Twilight spoke up. "You were saying, Rarity?"

"I was?" The dressmaker blinked. "I was! Appleja-AJ, they are not just us, they are their own ponies, completely separate from us, and they should be treated as such."

Removing her hat, the filly scratched her head in confusion. "Ah don't get it. He's me! He's Applejack!"

"Oh, how to put this..." Rarity tapped a hoof against her chin before throwing it up in the air. "Ah-ha! AJ, say I was to ask you if... I don't know, if you just wanted to go do something. You'd say yes or no. Now, what do you think Applejack would say if I asked him the same question?"

Not getting the point, but willing to see where the unicorn was going with this, AJ thought for a moment before answering, "Well, he'd probably say the same thing as me."

Rarity blinked. "Probably, dear?"

The farm pony shrugged. "There's no way to know for sure. He can make his own decisions..." Realisation dawned on her face. "He can make his own decisions... so he's his own pony. I getcha now Rarity! Thanks for helping me out there, sugarcube."

The unicorn tittered. "Oh, it was no problem at all! But back to my original question: What do you think of him?"

"Hmmm..." AJ turned around and appraised the stallion, giving her answer more thought than she would have a minute ago. "Well... He seems like a nice, hardworking pony. Kinda reminds me of Big Macintosh t' be honest, though maybe not as quiet. Or red. Or big."

Glancing over for herself, Rarity said, "You're right darling, I can see the resemblance! I suppose they must be brothers where he comes from, so it stands to reason they'd look rather similar." Rarity smiled at AJ. "Why don't we just wait and see if he comes back to Ponyville, then we can check for ourselves!"

AJ laughed right back. "Now that'd be a sight to see. How 'bout you Twi'?"

The librarian nodded, grinning. "It sure would be interesting to see them side by side!"

"No no, not that sugarcube. What do ya think of Dusk Shine!"

"Oh, Dusk! He seems fine to me. It'll be great to have someone to talk to who reads as many books as I do! Plus we think the same way, and have the same sense of humour... though I suppose that's understandable."

"Now don't go expectin' him to act a certain way, Twi'." AJ grinned slyly and winked at Rarity. "He is his own pony after all."

Twilight laughed. "Point taken! Rarity, what do you think of Elusive? Does he seem nice?"

Twilight knew she had erred the second she saw AJ's face and the 'ohhaynowyou'vegoneanddoomedusall' look on it.

The unicorn was off, describing every little aspect of the stallion she could recall with the memory and eye for detail of an experienced dressmaker. How fashionable his mane was cut, how well maintained his coat was, how toned his flanks were, how gentlecoltly he was. AJ knew the only way to escape this alive was to try and cut the unicorn off before she built up some steam, but she couldn't get a word in edgewise. Rarity must have been bottling it up, waiting for just this moment to describe every little detail that was Elusive, and the seamstress scarcely seemed to be breathing. Eventually, and the Element of Honesty was loathe to admit that it was with the ease born of long practice, Rarity's ranting became so much white noise... until one small snippet caught her attention.

"...what a fine catch he is; we simply must find him a nice mare!"

Both Twilight and AJ were stunned at the unicorn's declaration. Twilight managed to recover first, disbelief evident in her tone.  "'A nice mare?' But Rarity, I thought... well, just the way you were going on about him, it seemed..."

"Seemed what, Twilight?"

"Well... You know..."

"Oh my dear, you thought that I...?" began Rarity, waving a hoof in Elusive's general direction.

AJ nodded. "Nail on the head, sugarcube."

"Oh my goodness no! I could never!"

Twilight raised a brow. "Why not? Weren't you just saying how good his mane is?"

"How 'well maintained' his coat is?" added AJ.

"How much of a gentlecolt he is?"

"Y'all were just saying how good his flanks are."

Almost involuntarily, Rarity murmured, "How good his flanks are..."

Twilight and AJ laughed. "See what we mean sugarcube?"

Poking a hoof at Rarity, Twilight remarked, "I think we've found him a nice mare already!"

The seamstress swatted the hoof away, blushing furiously. "Twilight, please! I... I couldn't!"

The librarian took her hoof back, concerned. Her fellow unicorn looked distraught, eyes watery and fixed on the floor.

"Rarity?" She scooted closer, putting a hoof around her friend. "What's wrong?"

The mare was silent for a moment before she looked up and smiled half-heartedly. "Blueblood seemed like a gentlecolt as well." Comprehension dawned on their faces.

"Now Ah thought we'd bin' over this sugarcube." AJ shooed Twilight away, knowing that a firm hoof was needed. "Blueblood was about as rotten as a pony can be, true, but ya can't think everypony's gonna act like him; that just ain't fair. That's kinda the downside of trust Rarity; it certainly brings the other pony closer, but it leaves you wide open to get hurt. But the second you stop trustin' folks sugarcube, well then you ain't no friend o' mine. That there stallion hasn't done a thing to make you think he's anything but a gentlecolt, and I think you should treat him like one."

After a few ragged breaths, Rarity raised her gaze and gave AJ a watery smile. "Words, spoken honestly, have never been so correct. I still don't know girls... But I'll try."

The fillies smiled silently for a moment, before AJ and Twilight drew Rarity into a hug. From behind them came the creaking of an opening door.

...

Slowly, ever so cautiously, the tip of a delicate yellow nose poked itself out of the small gap between door and jamb. Inch by terrified inch it slid, slowly revealing hints of a pink curtain of hair, before a bright turquoise eye found its way out. It slowly swept across the room, taking in AJ, Rarity and Twilight, before widening alarmingly at the sight of Applejack, Elusive and Dusk Shine, and disappearing back into the room with a startled squeak.

After a moment, another subtly different nose poked out. Though the same hue as the previous one, this nose was slightly more angular and prominent. It slowly came out further and further, almost exactly copying the motions of the last nose, until a second, less feminine bright turquoise eye was revealed. After seeing the three fillies, this second cyan orb promptly widened and snapped back into the room with an identical squeak.

The six ponies stared dumbly at the door before them, mouths gaping at the display. Jaws worked soundlessly, brains sputtered incomprehensibly, before AJ managed to sum up the group's feelings.

"That there was one o' the creepiest things Ah've ever seen."

Applejack rose and trotted over to the door. "Come on, we may as well drag 'em out. They sure as hay ain't comin' out on their own."

"Right behind ya sugarcube," seconded AJ, setting her hat firmly on her head.

A white hoof blocked their path. "Applejack, while I'm sure you're quite capable of 'dragging' Butterscotch out of there," said Elusive, sketching quotations in the air, "I think it might be best if I went and talked to him. It might be a touch easier on him that way."

"And I do believe the same thing could be said of Fluttershy," intoned Rarity, motioning for AJ to sit back down. "What with our weekly spa visits and all, I think I might be able to talk to her best."

"The poor things." Elusive trotted over to the door. "I must question Princess Luna's wisdom in pairing those two together. Knowing them, they probably just sat there in silence this entire time!' The stallion opened the door for Rarity.

With a ladylike node of thanks, the filly trotted over the threshold. As she passed Elusive, Rarity happened to glance at him out of the corner of her eye. His own azure orbs looked right back.

The moment spun out as the two unicorns locked eyes, time unspooling like a bolt of fabric. The world dropped away, awareness reduced to a pair of crystal eyes before them. Reflected in each gaze the ponies saw saw a deep-seated mistrust and an underlying hurt. Ah, so he has known pain too... And of course she has, our experiences are near identical. He went to the gala. She had an audience with royalty. They had their dream shatter around them and their night failed as spectacularly as mine. Conscious thought halted as each pony regarded the other, an instant stretching to a moment stretching to an eon. Rarity searched Elusive's eyes, not even sure what it was she was looking for. She wasn't even sure she found it. But as the moment passed, and the spell was broken, she caught sight of his pure white hoof holding the door open for her.

It appeared Elusive was ready to trust again.

The ponies regarded each other for a moment more, before reaching an intangible but mutual agreement. "Thank you, gentlecolt." The filly inclined her head, but didn't smile. Roan wasn't built in a day... but the longest journey begins with a single trot.

The stallion bowed right back. "You're most welcome, milady."

...

Several tense minutes later, the unicorns returned with two nervous pegasi in tow. After a few halting hellos and some stuttering introductions, Fluttershy and Butterscotch began to relax around the new arrivals. However, both ponies seemed more surprised than anypony else at seeing all their closest friends in this new form.

"Oh m-my..." Butterscotch let his gaze sweep over each of the new fillies in amazement, still not believing his eyes. Contrary to what Elusive and Rarity thought, he and Fluttershy had actually spoken quite a bit when they were locked in together, but while they had come to the conclusion that they and their friends were in fact somehow copies of each other they simply hadn't dwelled on it, moving on to talk about other things. Though they didn't know it, so far they had opened up more to each other than any other pony, even going so far as to talk about their first relationship. It had tugged at Fluttershy's heartstrings to hear Butterscotch talk about Conifer, even though she knew how the story went. And when he hid his eyes behind his short mane in embarrassment even though she already knew they had kissed, well that was cuter than a baby bunny. Eventually the pair had realised how long they'd been talking, but found themselves unable to leave the room, not having prepared themselves for the shock of meeting the new ponies outside.

Now here they were, and Butterscotch realised he'd been staring at the new fillies for far too long. Blushing red, he dropped his gaze and pawed at the floor, Fluttershy doing similar after looking at the colts.

Twilight came to the rescue. "Fluttershy, Butterscotch, it's alright, you don't need to be nervous," she said with a smile. "We're all friends here. Why don't you come over here and talk with us until the next two ponies are ready to come out?" When they still hesitated, she joked, "It's alright, we won't bite!" She grinned wider. "We're not Rainbow!"

Everyone laughed at that, even the two pegasi lifting their heads and smiling softly. They got to their hooves and began trotting over to the group...

...only to be scared out of their wits when the door behind them suddenly slammed open and bounced off the wall with a resounding CRASH!

Both Fluttershy and Butterscotch reverted to type, running on autopilot when terrified. Each leapt into the air, screamed, and dived behind the nearest Apple pony as two multi-coloured blurs shot out of the doorway. There was a moment of confusion as the two gentle ponies found themselves behind unfamiliar camouflage, Fluttershy with an unusually large hiding place and most of Butterscotch's body sticking out from behind AJ.

The two blurs raced around the large hall once, twice, before screeching to a halt at the end of the third lap. Two panting, rainbow-maned ponies hovered in mid-air, wide grins on their faces.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygooosh! A draw!! Do you know how long it's been since someone could fly as fast as me?!" Rainbow Dash could barely contain her excitement, having finally found a worthy training partner.

The colt in question buzzed in mid-air, a bundle of excitement himself. With a roguish grin, he said, "Actually, I do!" The pair fell out of the air laughing.

Applejack eyed the rainbow filly wearily. "Ah shoulda guessed."

The farmcolt's words jolted the two panting ponies out of their mirth, reminding them that they were not alone. The colt sprung to his hooves.

"Oh! Guys! Meet Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash, these are the guys."

Dash playfully saluted before turning to the fillies. "Girls, allow me to introduce Rainbow Blitz! Blitz, these are the girls."

The colt bowed dramatically in mid-air, before fluttering to the floor. Most ponies were only now beginning to process what the hay just happened. Fluttershy and Butterscotch had yet to open their eyes.

Dusk spoke up. "Blitz, what in the name of Celestia are you doing out here?" The unicorn looked baffled. "You and Rainbow Dash were only in there for a couple of minutes!"

The pegasus thought for a moment and shrugged. "What can I say?" he smirked. "When your as fast as we are, things just go by like that." He snapped his wings together behind him.

Rainbow Dash leaned over to whisper in Twilight's ear, "Isn't he awesome?!" The unicorn did a double-take, turning to behold a grinning Dash staring at Blitz, her face glowing like the setting sun. "He's like, the perfect colt!" With an audible clop, the unicorn brought a hoof to her face.

"I should be surprised," she thought, "but I'm not."

The chromatic duo were quickly brought up to speed and introduced to everypony. They nodded at what the group had come up with so far, but swiftly lost interest in the details, before splitting off and beginning what promised to be a long, winding and intense discussion of the Wonderbolts.

Twenty minutes passed, and again. The ponies moved back and forth, talking amongst themselves, splitting into groups. Eventually, Fluttershy and Butterscotch started floating around the room with a butterfly that had found its way in through an open window as Blitz and Dash told stories of their flying exploits to each other, loving hearing them as much as telling them. The two farmponies were discussing the ins and outs of which fertiliser was best, surprisingly at loggerheads. Their discussion steadily heated up, until echoes of "Ah say the best is Mooriella's Choice!" and "Well Ah say it's Mootilda's Magic!" could be heard throughout the banquet hall, prompting Butterscotch to try and coax the little butterfly out of Fluttershy's mane. The four unicorns sat in a small huddle off to the side, talking about all things fashionable and magical, although Dusk's fatigue finally caught up with him as he dozed off next to Twilight.

The librarian happened to notice the shadows of the great arched windows splashed across the floor. She frowned, quickly calculating something. "You know, we've been waiting out here for an awfully long time now."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that my dear," remarked Elusive. "After how quickly Blitz and Dash got out of there it's no surprise that this next pony seems to be taking a long time."

Rarity nodded. "Who's in there now, do you think?"

"Well, that's obvious," came the sleepy reply. On the floor, Dusk stretched out all four legs, before sitting back on his haunches and wiping at his eye with a hoof. "Process of elimination. The only ponies left to go are Berry and Pinkie Pie."

The hall fell dead silent. AJ and Applejack whipped around, jaws hanging. All four pegasi fell out of the air. Rarity and Elusive fainted dead away.

Twilight gripped Dusk by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "Do you mean to tell me," she said, speaking slowly, "That there are two pink, party-loving, alligator-owning ponies in there?"

His still sluggish mind failed to comprehend. "Yes, of course I-" He cut himself off, horror dawning on his features. "Oh sweet Celestia no."

…

As one, all the ponies sat perfectly still and watched the door in front of them. Ever since Dusk had revealed the identities of the final two to meet each other, the group had gotten more and more tense, the speedsters pacing the hall back and forth, the farmponies competing to name the most types of Apples to distract themselves. Slowly, they had all fallen silent, and taken to just watching the panelled, oaken portal into insanity. Each pony considered the pastel pink horrors that could be taking place beyond, a whirlwind of Berry sense and Pinkie Pie swears, cupcakes and the dreaded oatmeal. They all knew just how much effort those two put into throwing parties, especially when they met somepony new. Twilight and Dusk had been the last to experience a welcome party from the craziest pony in Ponyville, be they colt or filly, and the scholarly unicorns well remembered just how intense the experience had been. What would it be like if Berry and Pinkie both planned a welcoming party for each other... at the same time!? Would Celestia have to step in? Would Celestia join in? Could the nation of Equestria, nay, the fabric of space-time itself even handle such a monumental and potentially cataclysmic event? The passage of time went unnoticed as everypony thought more and more dour thoughts; they had to have been waiting in the banquet hall for over an hour now.

Twilight's frayed nerves snapped. "I can't take it anymore!" She sprung to her hooves, staring wide-eyed at the door. "What's taking them so long? What are they planning in there!?"

As if on cue, the door unlatched and swung a few inches outward.

Everypony gasped, rising to their hooves. Some covered their eyes. For ten long seconds, they all waited for something cataclysmic to happen. When nothing did, they only grew more fearful.

Somepony cleared their throat. AJ, determination blazing in her eyes, strode forward. Applejack joined her almost immediately. Together, the two blonde ponies reached the door, and kicked it wide open, revealing the occupants.

Pinkie and Berry sat in the centre of the room, scarcely two feet from each other. Each bore an unreadable expression on their face as they looked directly at the other. Before everyponies' stupefied gaze, they blinked in perfect unison.

Everypony jumped at least a foot in the air, the pegasi staying there, as Pinkie and Berry both threw their hooves up in the air and collapsed backward with a cheer.

"Wow! That was super-duper-luper awesome! I've never had a staring contest that long before!"

Beaming from ear to ear, Berry sprung forward. "Neither have I! Everyone eventually gives up, even Gummy! You must be the most stareriffic super spectacular starer ever!"

"Oh nonononono!" Pinkie shook her head. "The best starer is Fluttershy!"

Berry sprung into the air, gasping humungously. "Oh my gosh I can't believe I forgot about Butterscotch! He can stare really good!"

Pinkie nodded. "We don't mess with them!"

"They're the stare masters!"

"They've mastered the stares!"

"Ahem..." A heavily accented voice broke in. "Excuse me haystack," said Applejack, "but... do y'all mean to tell us that this whole time you two've bin' havin' a starin' contest?"

Berry looked at his long time friend, grinning hugely. "Ah-huh!" Pinkie and Berry sprung to their hooves and bounced on the spot, too excited to stay still.

Pinkie suddenly frowned. Cupping a hoof around her mouth, she whispered, "Pssst! Berry! Why are they all just staring at us like that?"