Rarity awoke the next day wondering if she should get out of bed. She remembered the look on Spike's face yesterday and was disheartened throughout the day, but she had to tell herself today was a new day and she had her friends with her. She got up and looked at herself in the mirror; A depressed looking pony looked back at her.

'What had happened that day?' Rarity asked herself, 'And what did Twilight do to herself?'

Questions riddled her mind like bullet holes. She went to the bathroom and closed her eyes, she looked at herself and with grim determination, she knew what she had to do, she had to get the girls back. She was planning to go to Pinkie Pie's later today with Applejack anyway, she might as well make the most of it and face her fears of the events of that day. About an hour later, she was on her way to work at the new and improved Carousel Boutique. The place had expanded into a large scale fashion and design studio in Canterlot. She still remembered the day when she moved from Ponyville to Canterlot to show off her designs to some of the top designers in Canterlot. She met with Ponio Armoni to discuss fashions for both mares and colts and even some designs for stallions. Ponio loved her line ups and designs so much he asked her to move to Canterlot and appear at fashion shows there. Rarity was speechless as she said yes almost immediately.

'You won't regret this Ponio, I'll make you proud.' She had said before running out of the office, giddy with excitement.

But that seemed like a century ago back when she could still see Twilight and her friends. When she got to the studio, her assistant told her about a few meetings that were scheduled for her.

"Cancel my meetings, Lily, I've got enough on my mind as it is without needing to be distracted by other ponies today. I just want to work in peace today."

"Very well, Miss Rarity, would you like to reschedule them for a later date?" Lily asked.

"Fine, whatever, just not now. Tell them to talk to me in a month or so." Rarity said, walking into her office.

Lily Waters was an assistant Rarity had received when she first moved into the new Carousel Boutique. She was, at first, a shy pony, with little experience in concierge. However, Rarity gave her the opportunity to prove herself and she wasn't disappointed.

Rarity started work on a few designs on a sketchbook in her office. She was just doodling, but in her mind thoughts were racing. How would she approach Pinkie, how can she convince her to come out of hiding, and can she and Applejack convince their fun-loving friend to help them? They really needed a morale boost and this was the only way. Rarity was ready to steel herself for the harsh comments from Pinkie, expected her to get angry at her for her words and actions. It would be the only way to unite the five ponies again. By the time she came out of her trance-like thought process and looked at her doodle, she realized, she couldn't do any work today. Scribbled lines and semi-complete outfits littered the sheet. Her mind just couldn't focus on work today. She had to go see Applejack and set things right again. Rarity started out of her office just as Ponio passed by.

"Rarity, just the mare, I need to see. I have a few guests on their way to see what you have for the Fall fashion line-up. Be a dear and lead them to the show room, please?" He said with a smile and trotted away.

"O-of course, Ponio," said Rarity, stuttering a bit.

She went to the lobby and waited for the guests to arrive. She took out an old fashion magazine from her hoofbag and began reading. The words on the pages seemed to mean nothing to her as her thoughts went back to Pinkie and how they would greet each other again after nearly half a year. She got so lost in her thoughts she didn't hear the person calling to her.

"Excuse me, miss, we were told we'd get a look at the latest Fall season line-up. Do you work here?" Said a gray stallion with a black suit. He was accompanied by two mares in gray business suits and glasses.

"Yes, of course," said Rarity, flustered and embarrassed, "I apologize, there's just been a lot on my mind."

"Ah, the prodigious fashionista, of course. Always contemplating new designs in that head of yours. That's what I like to see, hard workers and new innovating ideas." Said the stallion.

"Y-yes, of course," said Rarity sheepishly as she lead them toward the showroom on the 5th floor, "I apologize for my rude behavior earlier, my mind's just been so wrapped up in things lately, eheheh, our showroom is just around the corner from here. I'm sure you will like what you see."

They turned another corner and arrived at a black door with three diamonds emblazoned on them like Rarity's cutie mark. She opened the door and lead them inside. She turned on the lights and the darkened room lit up brightly with racks and racks of clothing from the back to the middle of the room.

"The ones you want are in the back," she said, leading them to the back of the room where the darker colors for fall were placed, "Well, what do you think?"

Rarity was nervous, hoping the stallion would accept the fall line-up. She waited for him to go over the line-up and give his opinion.

"I like the idea of Autumn leaves on this one. It reminds me of all the festivals in the season, like the Running of the Leaves. I'm intrigued but this line-up, my dear, can I ask you something?"

"Yes, of course, sir, I'll accept the blame for anything here and redo anything you don't see fit."

"No, no, these are fine, they'll sell. My question was for you, you seem troubled is everything alright?"

"Oh, no, sir, it's a long story, don't worry about it," said Rarity as she laughed sheepishly, "I'm sure I can handle it."

"Very well, I will let you continue your work. I'll see myself out, thank you, Miss uh..."

"Rarity, and thank you again. I must go now." She said shaking his hoof as she went back to her office.

She went back to her office in a hurry to grab a few things before leaving. She told her assistant she'd be gone for the rest of the day and bid her goodbye.

* * *

By the time she had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, it was late in the afternoon and Applejack had just finished the day's chores. A knock came from the door and Applejack went over to open it.

"Hey, Rarity, aren't you a long way from Canterlot?" She said laughing.

"Very funny, Applejack. I came here cause I need your help to get Pinkie back. We've been so out of touch with our friends that, I think we could use a little laughter."

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, Rarity. But she doesn't live with the Cakes anymore. She went back to her rock farm."

"I see," said Rarity, a little disheartened.

"I'll take you there tomorrow. I think they're closed up already."

"Thank you, Applejack."

"Of course, Rarity."

That night, while Rarity was sleeping in the guest room, she dreamed about Twilight again, but this time, she was talking to the Twilight she knew. They were talking about that fateful day.

"Twi, just what happened?" Rarity was asking.

"I'm not sure I know Rarity, one minute I was casting a spell, the next I blanked."

"What about your mind? How can we fix it?"

"I don't know."

"I pray Celestia saves you."

"Me too..."

The dream shifted and they were at Canterlot Castle. Luna was talking with her sister.

"Sister, should we not help Twilight Sparkle? Is it not thy duty as princess?"

"Luna, there is much we don't know about her condition, and acting before we know what we're dealing with could make things worse."

The rest of her dreams faded to inky blackness and she awoke the next morning unsure of herself and what she had seen. Was this truly a magical malady and why didn't Celestia know anything about this?

"Mornin', sugar cube," came Applejack's voice as she peaked inside as Rarity awoke, "I'll take you over to see Pinkie as soon as we're done with breakfast. We're havin' oatmeal and pancakes."

"Ah, I'll be done soon then."

As Rarity changed into her clothes, one thing was certain today, she had to make Pinkie see the light of their friendship again. She trotted down the steps and made her way to the kitchen.

"Rarity, your breakfast is on the kitchen table," said Applejack turning back to her dishes.

Rarity pulled up a chair and began to eat.

"So, you wanna get Pinkie back to her old self today, huh? I'm in. I'll do everything I can to help you, Rarity."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Applejack."

Hours later, the two arrived at Pinkie's rock farm. Knocks came from the door and an old Stallion greeted them.

"Who are you two?" said the stallion.

"We're friends of Pinkamena. Can we see her, please?" Said Rarity.

"She's upstairs, come on in."

The two made their way upstairs into Pinkie's room. They saw her lying on her bed, mane straight as ever, and all they heard was her breathing. She was awake, but she didn't acknowledge the two if she saw them. Her room was simple, just a bed, and a small desk with a lamp on it with a few sheets of paper and a quill and inkwell.

"Pinkie?" Rarity started, "...I'm sorry."

"You come to slap me again," she said, turning her body toward the wall and hugging her pillow.

"We, fell into disarray after you left, Pinkie, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. What can I do to gain your trust again?"

"Leave me alone. Leave this place, go back to your cushy Canterlot life."

"...I, well...I came to apologize to you for what I did and said that day, PInkie."

"I don't want your apologies, Rarity. For someone so generous, how could you be so selfish."

"Now, see here, Pinkie. Rarity is genuinely sorry for what she did that day. We need you again...please, Pinkie." Applejack said putting her hoof down.

"Are you two deaf? I said the answer's no. I don't want to be lied to anymore." She said with tears in her eyes.

"We're not lying to you, Pinkie. Dash says she missed you. I see her once a day and we talk about how we all used to be friends who could rely on each other." Applejack tried to counter.

"Who cares about Rainbow Dash, why do you two want me back anyway? To laugh at me? Am I just a joke to you two?!" Pinkie yelled at them. She faced them and sat up on her bed. "What do you two want from me? I already said leave me alone, I don't want to be part of your silly little group anymore."

Resentment filled the air. Rarity knew she was at fault here. Rarity started crying and Applejack put her hooves around her friend.

"Pinkie, there's still time to make amends." Applejack said.

"I have no friends, Applejack. Now, get out of here before I get my dad to escort you out forcefully."

"Alrighty. C'mon Rarity, let's go. There's no talking with this one."

Applejack escorted a crying Rarity off the farm and took her home to Canterlot. Rarity steeled her heart that day, but her friend was no longer her friend. She went to bed that night crying, thinking about the words Pinkie had said. She was right, but she wasn't crying because of Pinkie's words. Rather, she was crying because her actions that day had hurt herself and her friend on a much deeper level than she realized. It would take more than old ties to bring back Pinkie, that much was certain.

Author's Note

As a sort of apology to my readers, I'm doing chapter 5 early this week cause I spent like 3 weeks not updating at all. But here's some note about this chapter.

So as someone pointed out in comments, I had not explored Luna and Spike, so with 4 and 5 I chose to do some exposition on the two. However, with Luna, it was more like a cameo because I wanted this story to focus only on the 6 friends with as little outside intervention as possible. I think this way, it shows how the six can overcome problems without the aid of a higher power, like Celestia or Luna or even the Elements of Harmony. I wanted this story to represent a problem as a whole that the girls were faced with and had to find a way to overcome them through conventional means instead of using high end magic or friendship. Yes, Hasbro, I'm looking at you and your damn rainbow of deaths. So I tried to remove the need for Deus Ex by shutting down the one means of magic support they had, Twilight. And this way, the 5 others must band together somehow to overcome a problem that would probably be easily solved with Twilight. Anyway, that's just my thoughts on the matter. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and keep reading on.