xxx

 

Rainbow Dash took Applejack’s hoof in her own and looked at her with all the love she could muster at the moment. The happiest day in their lives was taking place outside the Ponyville Town Hall where a considerate Pinky Pie had more than happily arranged the venue for their wedding.

 

Amongst the attendees, the ones that stood out the most were the large Apple family, led by a still youthful Granny Smith and first-time baby daddy Big McIntosh who along his wife, Sugar Belle, were still learning to cope with the birth of their firstborn foal Big Sugar.

 

Rainbow Dash’s best friend, Gilda the griffon, was also present as well as the Wonderbolts and even A.K. Yearling, the popular author and secret treasure hunter Daring Do, who graced the lovers with her presence in the mane event of their relationship.

 

Furthermore, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had come all the way down from their retirement community at Silver Shoals for the special occasion whilst Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, and filly Flurry Heart, from the Crystal Empire, were also in attendance, in tow with Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer who had recently become a couple.

 

It was wonderful to see all the creatures they had met over the years celebrating with them their loveful nuptials as the ceremony progressed. But, now, it was time for the wedding vows. The rest of the mane six, Fluttershy, Pinky Pie, Rarity, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Spike, couldn’t help but tear up at the beautiful words exchanged between their friends, remembering they had been the first ones to witness their blossoming love.

 

The former Wonderbolt watched in awe at her beautiful bride and reminisced about the journey that had brought them to where they were currently when Tank and Winona approached them, carrying a pillow cushion, which contained their wedding bands while the flower fillies Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle giggled in delight at the lovely pair.

 

Once the ring exchange was done, there was only one thing left to officialize their marriage and as Rainbow Dash and Applejack got lost into each other’s eyes, the words they had been waiting to hear for years were pronounced.

 

“I now pronounce you mare and mare!” Mayor Mare declared.

 

Rainbow Dash and Applejack didn’t hesitate to brush their muzzles together in a tender kiss that sealed their union. They were finally mareied.

 

“Fillies and gentlecolts! Rainbow Dash and Applejack!!” Spike flew to the center of the aisle and congratulated the newlyweds as the hall erupted in cheers and claps when suddenly a loud beeping sound was heard in the distance.

 

BEEP BEEP BEEP

 

“Uh?” A girl rousing from sleep tried to determine the source of the deafening noise. She was having a wonderful dream and lamented that it had been cut off so abruptly.

 

BEEP BEEP BE-

 

The girl realized it was the alarm on her phone and managed to turn it off. The noise was gone, so it was time to sleep again. However, when she was about to lay down on the mattress, she got a sudden call. Who was calling her at this hour? It was 3:00 a.m. for ’s sake.

 

my little pony, my little pony, ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh… I used to wonder what friendship could be… my little pony… until you all shared its magic with me... big adventure, tons of fun, a beautiful heart, faithful and strong, sharing kindness! it's an easy feat and magic makes it all complete... ♪

 

The girl hummed along with her ringtone before grabbing the device and looking at the screen. She almost fell down her bed, which would have been fatal because she slept on the top bunk, when she realized who the incoming call was from. She cursed at herself for having missed her previous alarms. She sighed and prepared herself for her roommate’s wrath as she slid her finger on the screen.

 

“Hyunjin, I-...” The girl threaded carefully.

 

“Heejin!!!!” Hyunjin was Heejin’s best friend, bunkmate and someone who hated making phone calls. The fact that she had chosen to do so said a lot.

 

“Look, Hyun. I overslept and I-...” Heejin attempted to explain herself.

 

“Grrr!!!!” Hyunjin’s growl was enough for Heejin to understand that she would not hear any excuses.

 

Hyunjin was perceived as the sweetest girl in existence among their peers. Gentle, pure, and unable to hurt a fly when in reality she was a madwoman who had outbursts of anger over the silliest things. She scared the out of Heejin most of the time and tonight was not the exception. She reminded Heejin of her favorite character from her favorite TV show, Fluttershy.

 

“I know, I know!! I still have time. I’ll get you the game, don’t worry.” Hyunjin had entrusted Heejin to do something and, so far, she was failing her.

 

“Grrrrr…!!!!” Heejin could hear Hyunjin’s canines gritting against each other over the phone.

 

“I promise. Trust me.” Heejin knew she was at fault.

 

“Okay. I’ll call you an Uber. You have five minutes.” Hyunjin finally talked.

 

“Five minutes? But it’s too-...” Heejin whined but Hyunjin was no longer on the receiving end of the phone.

 

“Fricking, furry! She hung up on me!” Heejin screamed in frustration and did her best to hurry up.

 

“Damn! I didn’t even get to the honeymoon part!!” Heejin stressed as she remembered the dream she had woken up from.

 

“I demand a spinoff!” Heejin yelled as she slammed the door on her way out, thinking about how unfair it was that ‘My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic’ had been canceled.

 

xxx

 

Once the Uber dropped Heejin at her destination, she saw that a line had already formed. She couldn’t determine how many people were there but she guessed they were a lot. If she failed Hyunjin, she feared the passive-aggressiveness that would follow for weeks. Heejin sighed and did the only thing she could do as she placed herself at the end of the queue and hoped for the best.

 

Hyunjin had missed the preorder window, online and at local stores, of the newest game from her favorite franchise ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’. She had been playing it since its fourth release ‘Animal Crossing: New Leaf’ back in 2012 when she was merely a teenager using a Nintendo 3DS for the first time ever. Now, years later and as a full-blown adult, she couldn’t wait to have her hands on it. Unfortunately, her demanding job had prevented her from securing the sought-out game.

 

Heejin couldn’t have Hyunjin, who had been taking care of her and paying most of their shared bills since she had lost her office job a year ago, feeling the slightest bit miserable. For that reason, she offered to camp out early to get the game. Besides, she knew that it would be impossible for Hyunjin to do it anyway since she had started working at dawn for a special project weeks before.

 

Heejin believed that waiting in line for hours was the least she could do for Hyunjin, but sadly, she had overslept and had arrived three hours behind schedule at the nearest Target. Apparently, Target was the best option to buy it as it had not taken any in-store preorders, so its stock would be available to whoever showed up to purchase it or so the subreddit threads said. Whatever the case, there was nothing Heejin could do but wait and hope that there would be copies available for everyone.

 

It was almost 5:00 a.m. and Target opened at 8:00 a.m. Heejin had to patiently wait for three hours and nothing would prevent her from procuring the game. She sat on the floor with the intention of taking a little nap when suddenly, as she was closing her eyelids, a soft-spoken voice put a stop to her actions.

 

“Hello? Are you the last one in line?” Heejin blinked her eyes open and saw a blonde-haired girl hovering over her.

 

Heejin got up and faced the stranger who had caught her by surprise. She rubbed her eyes and silently stared at the girl.

 

“This is the line for Animal Crossing, right?” The blonde girl questioned.

 

Heejin noticed that the girl was smaller than her and she had to admit that she looked very cute. She wiped nonexistent dust from her trousers and did her best to compose herself while the girl looked at her expectantly.

 

“Animal Crossing? Yeah.” Heejin’s voice came out deeper than intended due to her sleepiness. The girl’s eyebrows rose in interest at the low-pitched sound.

 

“Thanks.” The girl had gotten the answer she wanted but for whatever reason, she wanted to continue talking to Heejin.

 

“Hmmm, have you been waiting long?” The girl furtherly asked.

 

“Uhm. No, not really.” Heejin was a shy person and talking to someone she had just met made her uneasy. However, there was something about this particular girl that made her want to try.

 

“Oh.” It seemed the girl was not having it easy communicating with Heejin either. Curiosity was already there, though.

 

“Just a couple of minutes.” Heejin scratched the back of her head timidly.

 

“Hmm. I didn’t know there was going to be so many people…” The girl tried her best at keeping the conversation going.

 

“Yeah, me neither.” Heejin lied. Hyunjin had told her beforehand that it was going to be crowded. That’s why she wanted to get there hours earlier.

 

“I guess it has gotten popular over the years...” The girl indicated.

 

“Hmmm. Yeah.” Heejin wanted to hit herself for being so awkward. She hoped the girl would have something else to say because if it were up to her, their conversation would have finished after the first question.

 

“If you’re here at this hour, I assume... You really like it?” The girl asked, hoping to get more than monosyllables out of Heejin’s mouth.

 

“Oh! Yeah, yeah…” Heejin replied nervously. She didn’t know the slightest thing about Animal Crossing.

 

“Oh!! That’s great! Me too!! What’s your favorite character???” The girl squealed in front of Heejin who couldn’t help but find it adorable despite not knowing what to answer.

 

Unlike Hyunjin, Heejin was not into Animal Crossing. She barely knew of its existence until Hyunjin had cried about missing the chance to purchase it. If she was being honest, she remembered having seen some fan art about some animals but she couldn’t remember them clearly. She was too focused on her own fandom to care about any other one and now she had to think quickly. If not, the cute girl would realize she had lied.

 

“The dog.” Heejin confidently replied. There had to be a dog, there was always a dog.

 

“The dog?” The girl furrowed her eyebrows and Heejin felt that maybe she had been wrong. There was no dog in Animal Crossing. How was that possible? There was even a dog in her favorite show. Applejack’s dog, Winona.

 

“Yeah?” Heejin was hopeful.

 

“K.K. Slider?” The girl asked.

 

“Uh?” Heejin blurted out. That didn’t sound like a dog’s name at all.

 

“No?” The girl looked at Heejin who shook her head.

 

“Isabelle? Everyone’s favorite, Isabelle?” The girl asked with a smirk on her face. Heejin didn’t understand her expression. Was it because Isabelle was a popular character and she was being too mainstream or because Isabelle was not a dog?

 

“Yeah.” Be as it may, Heejin guessed that name was more appropriate for a canine.

 

“That’s funny because some people say I look like her.” The girl smiled and Heejin smiled in return. She passed the test.

 

“Is that so?” Heejin inquired, trying to imagine how the girl in front of her could resemble a dog.

 

“Can’t you tell??” The girl’s high-pitched voice surprised Heejin. She didn’t know what to make out of it but she felt the girl was offended because Heejin couldn’t find the similarity.

 

“Hmm, yeah, yeah! Of course, I can tell!!” Heejin seemed too excited to be perceived as truthful but the girl didn’t notice and smiled widely at her.

 

“That’s why I’m dressed like this!!” The girl spun around, showing Heejin her outfit.

 

The girl’s attire consisted of a green checkered vest, a white top and a red ribbon underneath it with a navy-blue skirt. Heejin did her best to remain stoic but deep inside she was dying. The girl looked adorable and was apparently a cosplayer, right u