Rarity did not sleep well that night, and the next morning she felt like she had slept on a bed of rocks. Grumpily, she rose from her bed as her alarm clock wouldn't let her go back to sleep. Glaring at the innocent clock, it found itself wrapped in her magical aura and flung against the wall, the shrill sound of the alarm finally ceasing.

Her mood failing to improve even the slightest, she huffed grumpily as she stormed over to the bathroom. She jumped in the shower and turned it on, hoping a hot shower would improve her day.

It didn't.

Still in her foul mood, Rarity quickly brushed her mane and dried off, throwing her plush towel on the floor for the first time in her life. Deciding to skip breakfast entirely (another first for her), Rarity took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "Come now, Rarity, a lady doesn't hold a grudge like this. You must be presentable for your customers today." she said to herself. Straining to put a smile on her face, Rarity decided that some music may help her. She turned on her radio, and with luck she heard that her favorite song was just starting; Beethoofen's fifth symphony played by the Canterlot orchestra. Smiling for the first time all day Rarity let the music soothe her rage, and by the end of the song Rarity was feeling much calmer.

"That was beautiful." Rarity said as the song ended and the next piece started, a solo piece by Octavia. Humming to the song, Rarity calmly walked over to the front door and flipped her shop sign to open, now ready to greet her customers correctly. While she waited for the first customer to arrive, Rarity busied herself by working on the ideas she still had in her head, once again happily working on her life's calling. She soon had two dresses done, both sure to sell quickly. Just as Rarity finished putting them on display the bell on top of the door jingled, letting her know a customer had come in. Still smiling, she turned to greet her clients.

"Good morning, welcome to Carousel Boutique. How may I help yo-"

Rarity couldn't stop from trailing off as she saw which ponies had come in to her store; Cloudchaser and her younger sister, Flitter. A familiar knot formed in her stomach and it took all of Rarity's willpower to keep her smile on her face.

"Hi Rarity! My sister wanted to come here to find a few new outfits for the summer." Cloudchaser said. "Well, she says it's for the warmer weather. I know she wants to get new clothes to impress her little lover."

"Sis!" Flitter said, knocking her hoof against Cloudchaser's flank to shut her up. "I swear, it's only because it's getting so hot out."

"Hey, whatever your reason." Cloudchaser said, winking at Rarity. "I have to go to the market to pick up some things. I'll meet you back at home, Flitter."

Cloudchaser left the boutique, leaving Rarity alone with Flitter. The young pegasus was looking over the items Rarity had on display. Rarity let her smile drop once Cloudchaser left, but as she walked up behind the young mare she forced the smile back on her face just in time as Flitter turned to Rarity.

"Wow, I can't believe that you come up with all of these designs yourself." she said, genuinely impressed with Rarity's works.

"Thank you, it takes a sophisticated, mature pony such as myself to come up with these masterpieces. Not just any young mare can come in and take over such a complex business." Rarity said.

Flitter didn't sense the hint of jealousy in Rarity's voice and resumed looking over the clothes Rarity had premade.

"So see anything of mine you like, darling?" Rarity asked.

Flitter nodded. "Yeah, they're all so beautiful, but I don't think many of them are in my size."

"Oh that's no problem, dear. I can take your measurements and then resize anything you like." Rarity offered, gesturing Flitter over to one of her work stations.

Flitter pointed out which outfits she was drawn to the most and gave them to Rarity. The young pegasus then stepped up onto the platform in front of a series of mirrors and slipped the first outfit on so Rarity could complete the fitting. Curious to see if her hunches were correct, Rarity started making small talk with Flitter as she took her measurements and pinned the dress in the appropriate places.

"So, is Cloudchaser right? Did you meet a special somepony that you're trying to impress now?" Rarity asked innocently.

Flitter couldn't help but blush as she nodded. "Heh, yeah, I actually did." she confirmed.

"Oh, how sweet. Is it one of the colts you went to school with?" Rarity prodded, hoping that she would say yes.

To Rarity's dismay, Flitter shook her head. "No, actually, I met him here in Ponyville, back when I was helping with bringing the water up to Cloudsdale."

"Oh! A pegasus, then." Rarity said, breathing with relief that maybe Spike was just helping Flitter practice for her date with another pegasus. 'Yes... yes, that must be it. She asked Spike to help her practice...'

But Flitter shook her head no again. "Ah, actually, it's not another pegasus. It's... you're going to say this is weird, but I'm... I'm seeing a dragon. Spike. He works over at the library."

Rarity's normally blue eyes seemed to flash red for a moment as she lost her concentration, dropping the pins and measuring tape that were being levitated by her magic. "Pardon?" she asked. "I'm sorry, darling, but did you say you were dating Spike, Twilight's assistant?"

Flitter smiled as she nodded as she thought about him. "Yes, that's him! I'm such a lucky mare. I was so nervous asking him out but I can't believe he said yes!" she beamed.

Rarity ground her teeth as she stuck another pin into the fabric on Flitter. "And... and how did you two first meet again?" she griped.

"Oh, we first met when my sister and I were helping with the annual water tornado. Twilight brought over some sort of odd machine for us to test ourselves on, but none of us could understand her when she tried to explain how it works. Spike was able to explain it to us so we could understand him, but I wasn't really listening to him... he was so cute! I saw him around Ponyville a couple more times since then, and he always has some adventure to talk about, plus he's so funny!"

Rarity continued working, but the pins in the air were shaking ever so slightly from her broken concentration. "He sounds very interesting indeed, darling. But it sounds like he would be better suited for an older, more mature mare." she said grimly.

"That's what I thought at first!" Flitter said, once again missing Rarity's aggressive tone. "He's always hanging out with you and your friends, so I was afraid that he wouldn't like someone as immature as me. But he bumped into me a few days ago when I was walking around town. He seemed upset and was almost crying about something, so I invited him to come to Sugarcube Corner with me. That seemed to calm him down and we started talking about stuff. When we were done he walked me home. I was so nervous, and I asked him if he wanted to go on a picnic with me the next day, and he said yes!"

Rarity's heart felt like it had been run over by a stampede of buffalo as she remembered spying on the two together at Sweet Apple Acres. "Well, it certainly sounds like you two are good friends, but don't you think you want to find a stallion eventually? Surely you don't want to have a relationship with another species?" she asked.

"Well, I did some research after we got the water to Cloudsdale, and I think it would be okay for me to date Spike." Flitter said. "There aren't many cases, but ponies have dated other non-ponies. A few have married griffons or donkeys and even a buffalo. There's only one pony I read that dated a dragon, but it doesn't say for how long or if they got married. Maybe I can be the first pony to marry a dragon! That would be so awe- ouch!"

Flitter jumped with surprise and almost fell off the platform as one of Rarity's needles stuck her in the side of her body. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! It must have slipped." Rarity apologized, not quite telling the truth.

"It... it's okay. It just surprised me, that's all." Flitter said, resuming her pose for Rarity. The white unicorn hastened her pace, unable to hear any more about Flitter's relationship with Spike, and within twenty minutes she had completed her work on Flitter's order.

"Okay, all finished. I'll have these ready for you by the beginning of next week." Rarity said, sticking the extra needles into a pincushion with more force than necessary.

"Thank you so much! I can't wait to see what Spike thinks of them!" Flitter said excitedly. The young pegasus trotted out the door, headed to meet her sister back home. Waving goodbye, Rarity slammed the door shut as soon as Flitter was out of sight and changed the sign back to show that she was closed.

Rarity collapsed on the floor, crying as she realized that Spike had moved on. "It's not fair!" she stubbornly said. "He was my little Spikey-Wikey, he was in love with ME! Now this little filly comes in and thinks she can steal MY Spike? She thinks she's better than ME?"

It took Rarity a few minutes to cease crying and to stand up, though she still felt a strong pain in her chest. "This... this can't be it? This can't be the end of our relationship. No, Spike will realize she's no good for him. He'll see that I'm the only mare for him. He'll have to come back to me. Then everything can go back to normal. Yes, he'll be my little Spikey-Wikey again. I'll make him mine again. He'll see... he'll come back to me."

Had Rarity been upstairs, she would have heard a sharp cracking noise coming from one of her jewelry boxes by her bed. Had Rarity heard the noise, she would have gone over to the box and opened it to see what had caused the noise. And had Rarity opened the box, she would have seen her Element of Generosity now had a crack across the purple diamond.

Author's Note

Holy crap... 238+ likes in 1 day... did NOT expect that. Did not expect that at all...

Now I'm just scared that this may turn into another "Fire in Her Eyes" (aka having two sequels)... I wrote this to be a simple story, maybe 2-4 chapters long. Guess that's not gonna happen...