Rarity in Canterlot by Anti-Pony (2011/1/26)

	"Oh Darling! It's gorgeous!" Rarity beamed, as they brought in some of the new decorations... the statue in particular was so dashing. It was just what the centre of the atrium needed.

	She gave her stallion a hug, as refined as any pony could. "Oh Rarity, you have such good taste..." It had been her talking though, not him... he just smiled. She was talking about him anyway. The work ponies rolled their eyes. The shop was gorgeous though... much bigger than her place back in Ponyville... she hadn't turned out to make it with the Prince either.

	They'd met, Twilight had eventually clicked that she had the connections to arrange it... and he was nice, but he wasn't quite what she wanted and she knew after a few minutes. But she'd been able to make some good connections and got a few new contracts out of it.

	Instead she'd met a stallion at a party, with a fabulous sense of style and just the right size... she couldn't help being so picky... she'd recalled sitting at her old store after closing time, adjusting a ribbon a little or moving something just a little bit to one side... and she'd been just as picky with stallions. She didn't even find them attractive until they were within a tiny measurement of her ideal dream height.

	Obviously personality was more important, but she was used to the way she worked now. She was just too picky. She'd just been lucky enough to stumble right into the perfect stallion.

	"I'm glad you like it." He said, sidling up next to her and smiling. She smiled back... she felt a little dizzy... she was still getting over how she'd actually found some stallion who fit her... well... ridiculous ideals. They were still a little early into things, but they had spent every night since the party chatting and cuddling... and things she was too refined to even mention. She was sure he was the one this time...

	"I think we may require more plants now Darling... now we have a water feature." Rarity looked around... the shop looked amazing, but there were dozens of things she could make better... she began adjusting ribbons on the curtains, "Have you seen anything else we could put in?" That had in particular been a new feeling... it had taken him a little while to get any say over the decor... once she saw the statue though... that was when she really knew she'd chosen a stallion with taste.

	"Actually..." he traced a hoof on the tiles idly, careful not to scratch them... he was a big white stallion... some ponies had joked he looked like her if she was a guy... his mane was purple too. She didn't care what they thought though, he looked fabulous. But she paused, a slight look of worry on her face... she knew where he was going with this. "I was wondering if you'd given any thought to last night's conversation since..."

	Rarity gulped. She recalled the night all too well.

	It had started well... they had a nice, quiet dinner for two... they had gone walking and watched the stars, discussed the shop a little... later they had gone off alone and done things she wouldn't tell anyone else... that was absolutely private. Especially the particularly naughty parts. Then they had cuddled and looked at the moon, and they'd had the conversation...

	"I... I don't know Darling... I'm just unsure that's... well, that it's me." She sighed a little, "I adore you, really, but the idea of..." She bit her lip gently, not wanting to scar it.

	He nuzzled his nose against hers, and kissed softly. "Well... think about it, alright? I mean, it doesn't have to be immediately... just... one day."

	"I'll think about it Darling, really." She smiled, somewhere between worry and attempted reassurance.

	She sighed softly, watching him go off for the moment. It was for the best... this would be awkward until they sorted it out... or worse, until they broke up.

	"Oh Rarity..." she muttered to herself, "You finally found the perfect stallion and he had to want foals..."





* * *



	It was a few days later when they had made the decision to take a personal holiday back to her home town. He had suggested perhaps she might find it easier to make a decision after a little rest time, and she had thought perhaps seeing her old friends and their families might... well... might do something to resolve this either way. She stared at herself in the mirror as they packed to go... brushing her mane and thinking about what she wanted and whether she could imagine herself with little foals running around, making outfits for them... Part of her could, but part of her rather thought Rarity was more of a marry her dream stallion, be fabulous and grow old together kind of girl. Maybe seeing the girls would change that... or maybe she'd find their kids infuriating... She sighed.

	They took a slow coach down the mountain, and she rested her head on his shoulder, smiling. "It'll be good to see the girls again... this was a gorgeous idea." He just smiled. She liked that... he could talk a lot when she wanted him to, but he was good at being quiet and cuddly too. Part of her wondered whether one could make a decision to have foals so lightly as just to keep a stallion like him... but it didn't seem fair... this was such a big decision...

	The ride was long but pleasant... quiet, but he smiled at her and seemed genuinely alright... she was glad. It made things easier. They got out when they passed her old shop, and sent their luggage on ahead. The place was quiet, and Rarity smiled, and fished out her old key. She'd never quite felt able to part with it... even though by now it was probably all dusty and icky. And she wanted to show him... even if it was just an echo of where she'd made... well... where Rarity Unicorn had honed herself into a fabulous fashionista.

	He followed her inside... it wasn't so bad... She looked around, there was only a little dust... and she vaguely remembered, "You know... I think I had some magic on here when I left... something to keep it a little clean..." Rarity considered it for a moment, and then dusted off a chair and sat down, looking around... all her old manikins were still here... some old boxes and the like were neatly placed... she sighed and smiled. "It feels like it was only yesterday darling..."

	"I bet it looked fabulous." He smiled. "Thank you for showing me." She giggled and began showing him around. They looked at the places she'd cut cloth, where she'd fit fillies into gowns... she laughed when she saw her old screens... her face emblazoned over them. It wasn't quite how she'd looked when she met her friends... it was earlier, when she was younger and so excited.

	"Oh my... " she giggled "I forgot I did that..." It felt a little silly looking back... just a smidge arrogant perhaps? But they were beautiful screens... her new ones had ponies of all types gallivanting around on them though and it was so much more... humble. Inviting even. But it was nice to remember.

	She looked over and her stallion was brushing dust off a counter and looking at the colour of the paint. She smiled.





* * *



	It was later in the day when they arrived at Twilight's. It only seemed appropriate to meet up with her first, she had helped Rarity find a place in Canterlot... and they both had lived a bit of the flashy life.

	"Twiiilight, are you home Dear?" Rarity poked her head around the door.

	She backed up as Pinkie's head popped out and went "Sssh!", grinning. She whispered, "It's good to see you!" and waved to the stallion, and he waved, and softly chuckled.

	"Twilight's asleep. She's very tired right now." Fluttershy poked her nose out the door, and she smiled at Rarity. "How've you been?" Pinkie just grinned.

	In a few moments the four ponies had gathered outside and were casually chatting about things that had happened. Rarity knew some of it... she hadn't been sure how much was serious.

	"Daaarling... you must be joking... Twilight and Spike?" She was quite shocked, the last time she recalled seeing Spike was a few days before she left, he was big now, and was trying to chat her up... she had sat him down for a talk then he'd run off like he'd had an epiphany. She never did understand why.

	Fluttershy giggled, "They're a cute couple." She smiled and looked at Pinkie.

	"Oh!" Pinkie grinned wider, "I married Rainbow Dash." She looked very pleased with herself. Rarity was not really too surprised. She was more surprised when Pinkie pulled a very happy, slightly too happy really, face... and continued, "We have looots of kids!" Now she was really looking pleased with herself... Rarity smiled as best she could.

	"That's... wonderful dear. And where is Dash? And Applejack for that matter?" Pinkie was bouncing... she had forgotten how... active she could be.

	Fluttershy giggled again, "Dash is... hehehe..." She was blushing.

	Pinkie finished her thought, "We did our accounts and it turns out we can afford TWELVE kids!" She was really bouncing now... Rarity turned a little blue.

	"T... twelve... That's... Congratulations dear." She couldn't imagine that... well, maybe Pinkie.

	Fluttershy seemed very amused.





* * *



	"They both make a lot of money." She added, smiling. "She coaches her own team now."





* * *



	"I own a store!" Pinkie grinned.





* * *





* * *



	Dash was groaning. Somebody was talking about her somewhere, she just knew it. She looked at the necklace Celestia had given her. It was sitting on the shelf, near some of Pinkie's little collection of things she found cute... like the little foal statue she'd bought the night they found out they were having a kid, the one that kind of looked like a cross between them. Dash smiled, and then sighed and frowned.

	"Why did I even suggest... guh..." sticking her tongue out. "Oh hey Pinkie, do you think if we checked our accounts, if we'd have enough money to... you know... I mean I... ten is enough Pinkie, but I wonder if we have that kind of money... yeah Dash, just suggest maybe you feel a little like you wanna have another little one... then she's all sweet and excited and it turns out we can afford it and all you can think of is their cute little faces... staring up at their mummy..."

	She sighed and wiped the corners of her eyes. She wanted to be angry with herself but she couldn't force it. She rolled over and stared at her middle. She wasn't that far along yet this time, but there was a bulge there. She tried not to smile... but it wasn't working. "This is the last time Dash, you have a huge family, cut it out." She stared at herself in the mirror. She caught herself smiling again and groaned. "Dash, you should have spaced them out or something... twelve... and they only listen to Pinkie..."

	She was sooo glad she had a babysitter. She wondered how much having these foals had mellowed her out... she remembered being a bit more... feisty. Maybe it was just Pinkie's effect on her.

	Pinkie was grinning at her suddenly. Dash jumped. "Hey sleepyhead!" She smiled, kissing her. Dash kissed back deeply. When the kiss broke, Dash felt around her mouth with her tongue... it was some kind of fudge this time.

	"Hey! Give that back!" Pinkie stared at her, pouting. Dash chewed. Pinkie's jaw dropped. Dash swallowed, smirking at her. "Sooo mean!" Pinkie tried to look crushed.

	It lasted about two seconds, and they both broke into laughter. They went back to kissing, until Pinkie pulled away suddenly, "Oh! Rarity's back!!" Grinning wide. "Come on, come downstairs!" bounding off down the staircase.

	"Oh Pinky..." Dash smiled, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. Downstairs was a mess. Between Pinkie cooking, some of their kids attempting to help... and about five or six other activities going on... Dash shook her head... she might as well have been running a day care centre. They had a full time babysitter already. She briefly paused and considered the idea, and shook her head. Oh sure, the youngest two were in their cots in the bedroom, napping... but the rest were all over the place. Not to mention the few old enough to go to school...

	That made her smile... it kept them out of her hair for a while. She couldn't help loving them all, even if they didn't listen to her, but sometimes she just needed to nap... some Dash time.

	"I'm so freaking glad we make good money..." She mumbled to herself. "Hey Rarity! What's up?"

	Rarity stood in the middle of what appeared to be a day care or school they had wandered into by mistake, she tried her best to smile pleasantly. They were cute, but so many running around...

	"No flying in the house!" Dash was staring down a perfect replica of herself, but so tiny. At least 6 of them could fly... flying was fine, but 6 in the air and things got knocked off shelves.

	"Liiisten to your mummy!" Pinkie sung, grinning. Dash sighed. The foal landed. Dash continued trying not to get a contented smile on her face. It was not going well.

	"So... aaah... I see you won some awards Darling." Rarity smiled, though she knew her expression was betraying her mild... confusion. Confusion was the only word for it. If anything, had this been Fluttershy's house, it would have made sense. But it didn't matter, she just had to be nice and keep up appearances, she could process this later.

	This put Dash in a better mood, and she began telling Rarity the story of her first big win, and Pinkie casually chatted to her Stallion. Fluttershy was busy, back at Twilight and Spike's place, and hadn't come. They would catch up with them later.

	The big win story rapidly changed into the story of how Pinkie had come over to Dash who was wondering things about her life and whether the award just felt kind of empty... like she'd lived her dream and now what... was she just going to repeat it? And Pinkie had kissed her suddenly after and... well, Dash didn't seem to notice it had changed, but it was suddenly the story of Pinkie and Dash. Rarity just nodded and tried to smile in the least confused way possible. It was kind of a cute story anyway.

	Pinkie suddenly switched targets and was back at Rarity... "This stallion is great! And he wants a big family! Lucky luckerson!" hugging her from one side rather suddenly. Both Rarity and the stallion tuned a little blue.

	"Well, Pinkie... you see that's sort of a private matter... between us." She was fooling with her hair a little, and he was tracing a hoof on the ground... and they smiled at each other and got closer.

	Dash was holding up one of her kids at Rarity, "Seriously, just look at her. Aren't they the cutest things EVER!" Rarity hadn't seen her acting like this since the whole parasprite mess... well, there had been other times, but that was the first... kissing her foal on the forehead and cuddling her up, "Mummy loves her babies so much!" Rarity smiled a little... Dash gestured them all over and was hugging them all tightly. Dash was glad they actually listened when she wanted to love on them. It would have broken her heart otherwise.

	Rarity coughed softly, "Well... we should probably head off and check in on AJ..." Smiling... trying to hide how strange she was taking all this to be. Dash seemed pretty preoccupied anyway, and Pinkie was just bouncing excitedly and watching and 'aww'ing a lot.

	One they were safely away, she murmured, "That... was odd..." and her stallion chuckled and nodded.





* * *



	She paused and looked at him, "Do you really want a big family, Darling?"





* * *





* * *



	There was not a lot to say about her reunion with AJ. Really, she had been shocked at the news that Big Mac was adopted... shocked that Applebloom was their daughter... more shocked though when Scootaloo and Snips had turned up and were apparently together. And Snips was still pretty... stout. Scootaloo probably could have gotten any stallion. Rarity didn't quite follow what she saw in him.

	"Well... a lot really has happened hasn't it." She said in the least stuttery, most refined voice she could muster.

	There was a fairly extensive round of 'yup' equivalents... and then some giggling.

	"Tomorrow we all should go and have a picnic, just us friends, like we used to Sugar Cube." AJ smiled. Rarity nodded. At this point she was glad to do that, and more glad to sneak off and have some time alone with her stallion and not another strange story how things had changed. The town looked so different as it stood.

	It was nice and quiet at the hotel. She would still have to see Twilight tomorrow... and Fluttershy had mentioned something about a boyfriend, but Rarity was fairly sure she heard his name wrong.

	For now, she relaxed and cuddled her stallion, and thought about what she wanted for her life... staring into his eyes.

	"For what it's worth Darling..."She whispered, "I'm sure I want you."





* * *





	The next morning Rarity would finally get to see Twilight. Twilight and Spike... she didn't know how she felt about that. She liked Spike just fine, she just always remembered him annoying her... she could recall telling him off on a few occasions... Twilight was... she was more fragile than she let on. Rarity could see through airs, she knew all about putting on an image.

	Fluttershy met her and her stallion... she insisted that Spike was not the same young thing she remembered. Fluttershy made some good points. Spike had seemed to be getting just a bit more mature... she hadn't seen him much towards that day when she left... but he had seemed to be being nicer. Fluttershy said her boyfriend would be over later too.

	Rarity remembered Twilight's tree house... there were some small extensions... inside it was dark, and Fluttershy opened a curtain in the kitchen and started getting some things ready... Rarity peeked over at Twilight's bedroom... it was still where it was, she could just make out Spike's tail hanging out of the bed... Fluttershy giggled softly and nudged her with her nose, whispering "Go on, have a look, but be very quiet ok?"

	Her stallion smiled and gestured her to go on, he seemed content to wait. So she quietly climbed the stairs and took a closer look... Twilight's bed was roughly where she remembered from their sleep overs back in the day... Twilight was cuddled up to Spike... he was just a smidge bigger than her... and Twilight was very pregnant... so that explained the tiredness that had been mentioned.

	Fluttershy was right, it was cute... Rarity smiled, looking down at them... Spike was holding her close... she rather imagined him cuddling her up to reassure her of something... and then she noticed the cot.

	Inside the cot, sleeping quietly was a fairly young foal... half dragon, half pony. It was the cutest thing she had ever seen... the tiny tiny Rainbow Dash foal had been cute enough, but this young thing... Fluttershy quietly sidled up next to her and smiled. "He's beautiful isn't he." Rarity smiled and nodded.

	They snuck back downstairs... and they chatted quietly whilst they waited for them to wake up.

	Fluttershy said Rarity and her stallion were quite cute... she was watching them snuggle, and made them both blush.

	Eventually the foal woke up, and Fluttershy picked him up. Rarity could hear her saying good morning to Spike too, and insisting he stay in bed. She explained when she got downstairs that Twilight would wake up if he moved. She said eventually they'd get up, but Twilight was a small pony, and she was very much about reading and using magic, and not running around. She got exhausted easily now her body was supporting a foal as well. Apparently she couldn't even muster simple magic at the moment.

	Rarity watched Fluttershy feed the young creature... her stallion cuddled up next to her and smiled.

	Snails turned up and snuck in quietly, and said hello. Then he kissed Fluttershy, and they both blushed. So that answered that question.

	Rarity didn't remember Snails being so... aware. He really seemed to have pulled himself together... she smiled. Fluttershy was a delicate thing... and he seemed to be treating her well. She watched them giggle and chat... they both blushed a lot... she wondered if this meant they'd be... and chuckled to herself.

	Inevitably, Spike had to get out of bed, and suddenly Twilight was awake, groggy but awake... waving and gesturing to Rarity to come up and give her a hug. Fluttershy brought their baby to them, and smiled... she and Snails slipped out, practically moving in tandem.

	This time her stallion did more talking than she did... Rarity almost felt like she was watching rather than participating... Watching Twilight hold her baby and snuggle against Spike... She only vaguely remembered what they had talked about... then they were on their way to the picnic... Sans Spike and Twilight, but it couldn't be helped.

	Everything felt like it was flying past... all blurry... watching all her friends suddenly being mothers... Fluttershy was giggling and refusing to answer AJ whether she was expecting too... She was blushing a lot... Rarity thought it would be a fair gamble to say she was. Foals running around everywhere... She had never expected Dash to take so much to mothering if she had not seen her with her own eyes.

	She sighed happily and felt the cool breeze in her mane... "When did things change so much..." she chuckled. It was a beautiful day...





* * *



	Rarity adjusted the ribbon again. It was dusty, but that didn't mean it couldn't be sitting straight. Even if nobody was using her old shop anymore. She smiled at her stallion as he looked around.

	"So... what are we looking for?"

	Rarity fished around in her old things... "Something for us to bring back home Darling... let's see..."

	She found it, and levitated the box onto the table, and unlocked it. Inside was a small stuffed toy pony... Rarity smiled. "From when I was a little foal..." She sighed and smiled.

	She smiled at her big stallion, and he smiled back, "We'll need it..." She blushed, tilting her head down and looking up into his eyes, "For... well... ours."

	The two ponies kissed, and left the shop together, and rode the waiting carriage back home.

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/01/story-anti-pony-story-series.html