Four Hooves

by Sorrow

Rating: mature
Tags: Dark, Sad, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rarity, Sex, Tragedy
Length: 203429

Rarity attempts to reconcile herself with the past and present.

Rarity the former fashionista struggles to adapt after the Blast.

Published 2013-12-13 18:10:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-13 18:10:03 UTC

Chapter 3

Chapter III

“He’s checking y’out, missy.”

“Shut up, you’re trying to fuck up my shot.”

“Naw, he’s really checking y’out, maybe ya’ll oughta stop leanin’ s’far over that table.”

“Mmhm, let me just pocket this.” The clack of the glossy billiard balls sounded like a small gunshot and both Rarity and Applejack watched the colorful spheres ricochet around the green table. 3 slid precariously close to the left center pocket, but held its ground mere centimeters from the abyss.

“Son of a bitch, that’s not right.” Rarity brought her face close to the ball. It suddenly dropped into the pocket and vanished from sight.

“That’s cheatin’, y’breathed on the thing!” Applejack said indignantly.

“Ha, I did no such thing. And if you’re going to accuse me of cheating, you’d better catch up on your shots.” Rarity slapped a glass of rum down onto the pool table. The farm pony squinted at it.

“Whut in the hell is that? Some kahnda shoe polish?” She lifted the glass cautiously.

“Nope, I chose rum. Drink up.” Rarity retorted. AJ lifted the glass tentatively, then downed the contents with a sharp toss of her head. She coughed once, then pounded on her chest.

“Auck, that burns, whut in the hell do ya’ll drink shit like that fer?” AJ asked in disgust. Rarity laughed and tossed her the cue.

“Your shot farm girl. Maybe if you lean enough you can get his wingman to check you out.” Rarity jabbed. Applejack said nothing, but focused on her shot. She was motionless for a few seconds, then her arm pulled back and shot forward as if she were stabbing somepony. 6 and 10 were instantly swallowed into a pocket and 4 disappeared moments later. AJ handed the cue to Rarity.

“Yer’ up squirt. And we drink cider for mah turn.” She walked to order the next round of alcohol, leaving Rarity to formulate a winning strategy. She had forgotten how good Applejack was at pool, a short trek around the table showed just how good the orange mare was. Her opponent returned with her cider.

“This’s what real ponies drink, y’might want to sit down fer this, ah know how y’keep yer liquor.” She toyed. Rarity snatched the minute glass from Applejack and swallowed the cider. It dropped down her throat like acid and burned in her stomach. Fuck that was hard stuff! Her head drifted about for an instant, then her equilibrium returned and she steadied herself for her next shot.

She knew he was watching; Snips’ was entirely focused on another mare, and he was across the room, but he was checking her out. The cue connected solidly and a chain reaction sent 7 bouncing around the velvet, but nowhere near a pocket. Rarity tossed the cue to Applejack.

“I’m still drinking you under the table.” She called to her friend as she waded through the crowd to the bar. Applejack snorted to this and planned her shot.

It was crowded tonight, Rarity squished against the mostly sober ponies as she approached the bar. Any amount of ponies made Hennessey’s seem crowded though. A classic wooden bar ran along the left side of the room and the billiards table sat in the middle. Around the room were scattered tall tables that only sat three or four. Mr. Hennessy said that it was everything a bar should be, and everypony took his word for it. Clopping her hooves down on the slippery wood of the bar, Rarity signaled Quinn. The bartending pony shoved a Shirley Temple to a patron, then came to Rarity. He was a stout green pony with a four-leaved clover Cutie Mark. He had an adorable accent that reminded Rarity of butterscotch. Quinn was fairly short, only about her height, and he typically wore a small purple vest from which drooped the chain of a pocket watch. Gentlemanly and polite, Quinn fit the description of the neighborhood bartender.

“How’re things on the pool front?” He asked with a grin.

“Not ideal, she’s a shark. I need something she’s not expecting, give me some options.” The green pony rubbed his jaw and looked at the shelf of dusty bottles behind him.

“Well, tequila is a safe bet. Thar’s bourbon, but she’s a little spendy. I’m partial to malt whiskey, has a naece finish.”

“Fucking hate tequila, she’s fine with bourbon.” Rarity pointed to a bottle. “How about some gin?”

“Good choice, I recommend tonic alongsaede.” She shook her head.

“No, just a shot of gin, nothing to dilute it.” The bartender shrugged and poured her request.

“There y’are. Be careful now, it’s got a little baete.” Just what she wanted, Rarity thanked him and took the glass to Applejack.

“Gin.” She said, setting down beside her mostly sober friend.

“Bring it.” Applejack tossed the gin down carelessly. Her reaction indicated an amount of surprise.

“Gak, that’s mule shit!” She coughed. “That’s fermented mule shit!” She protested, looking into the empty glass. Rarity laughed.

“Hehe, try something that’s not apple related, see how you handle it!” Applejack glowered at her, and wiped her mouth.

“Ah’m sober as a funeral, y’best git on with yer shot.” Rarity looked out over the table. It was already over. She went for a pot shot at 9. She threw far too much force into her shot and the cue ball popped off of the table and bounced across the floor. It landed at his hooves.

“Whoa there, looks like you got a powershot!” He tossed her the yellowed cue ball. “You oughta be careful, there aren’t a lot of guys who like getting knocked out by a gal.” Snips surveyed the table. “Looks like you could use a hoof.” He dropped the cue ball onto the table. “I’ll take a shot.” He looked to Applejack. “If that’s ok.” She shrugged indifferently.

Discounting his retarded voice, Snips was a fairly passable stallion. He came often to the bar; the Blast seemed to have intensified his already insatiable desire for feminine company. Carefully balancing the wooden cue against the table, he prepared for a shot. In an instant the white sphere blazed across the velvet and knocked 9 into the pocket. Applejack said nothing, but Rarity knew she was fuming.

“Y’gotta take another shot if he’s gunna shoot again.” Said Applejack from grated teeth. She clomped to the bar, pushing a few ponies out of her way. Snips watched her.

“She’s something different.” He said jokingly. “How do you know each other?”

“We met at a flea market. We both wanted something and neither of us was going to back down. I called her some names, she called me some names. We got in a fight and afterward we didn’t even buy the thing. Guess we just connected.” She laughed a little. “Me and Applejack hang pretty close actually.” Snips eyes widened.

“Whoa, you just got in a fight and became friends?” He asked in confusion. Applejack returned, carrying a frothing shot glass.

“Drink it, nao!” Rarity shrugged and downed the gall-like liquid. She coughed, a deep lung cough that threatened to choke her. Yet she regained herself with a smile.

“Hey AJ, I was just telling, uh.” She waited for Snips to introduce himself.

“Snips. You could call me Nips if that’s more comfortable.” He said nonchalantly.

“Snips here about how we met.” A grin spread across AJ’s face. The orange mare cocked her head and leaned against the table.

“Yeah, whut part are y’at?”

“Told him about how we met at the flea market. Y’know we both wanted the.” She whistled here. “And you called me a lying bitch and slapped me.” Applejack started to cackle.

“A’course, that was after ya’ll said ah was a hick virgin. That ain’t sumthin’ ah take to kahndly.” She turned to Snips. “Ah ain’t no hick.”

“Or virgin.” The white unicorn said playfully.

“Shut up ‘bout that!” AJ snapped. “It’s yer shot, ya’ll better take this one!” Snips looked into his stein.

“Hey, let me just get a refill! Be back in a sec!” He darted off into the crowd. The two watched him, then Applejack broke.

“Gawd alahv Rarity! Whut the hell? Y’jus’ lahk makin’ outlandish stories? That one ain’t even believable!” She said incredulously. Rarity guffawed.

“Bet you one point he’ll introduce his wingman when he gets back.” AJ shook her head.

“Any amount of brains says he’s run off cause ya’ll made us sound like a couple’a lesbians. Either that or he’s tryin’ to find the smut y’stole that backstory from.”

Rarity cocked her head.

“I believe I’ll take my shot now.” She said confidently. After seven shots, her aim was less than precise. The cue ball sprang back and forth across the fuzzy surface of the table. It knocked into 9, which collided with 13, knocking 2 into the pocket. Rarity’s shoulders sank.

“HAW!” Applejack pulled off her hat and twirled it in the air. “That’s one for mah favor.”

“Hey ladies, this is Snails, buddy of mine, he works with the mayor. A lot of times he even delivers to Queen Twilight Sparkle.” Snips returned with a full glass, and a wingman. The mares exchanged looks. They were now tied. Snails pinched Snips. “Augh, I meant, he does work for the mayor and the queen!”

“And jus’ what kahnd of deliveries does Mr. Snails do?” Applejack wheedled.

“Uhhh, I mostly carry important packages between the safehouses in Ponyville.” He looked at his hooves for a second. “All sorts of thieves and monsters want to steal royal deliveries.”

“Oh, you must have a dangerlust then.” Rarity breathed.

“Haha yeah, so what do you do?” Snips said over Snails’ stupid response.

“Oh.” Both mares said simultaneously. They blushed and Rarity motioned for AJ to continue.

“Well, ah’m a cider brewin’ workhorse. Everyday ah’m squeezing the juice outta ripe apples. Hard work, usually gets me into a lather.” She answered provocatively. Applejack looked triumphantly to Rarity, the gauntlet had been thrown.

“Well.” Rarity tilted her head ever so slightly. “I’m a baker, over at the Lone Star Bakery.” She pushed at her empty shot glass. “Not very interesting I’m afraid. Just baking bread. Day in and day out.” Applejack watched her in puzzlement. “Of course, the ovens make me sweat like a glass of lemonade. After eight hours, my whole body is streaked and I’m covered in flour.” She flipped the glass over and over. “Not dignified at all I’m afraid.” Applejack narrowed her eyes. “How about you Snips?” The bushy-maned unicorn sat starting off into space for a second, as if he were picturing something.

“Oh, uh, I work at the barber shop. Maybe you’ve heard of it? The Cutting Room?”

“Oh of course, you’re the only barbers in town. You must have put all of your competitors out of business.” Rarity said in false impression.

“Well, we do professional work.” He said “bashfully”. Snails spoke up.

“Actually, I heard there’s a Pegasus out in the meadows who I guess cuts manes. It’s a rumor I think, but I guess she cuts manes, just randomly I guess.” Snips rolled his eyes.

“Oh yeah, Rainbow Dash.” He looked at the mares, judging their interest. He then leaned in and spoke a little softer. “She was in the explosion at Cantorlot you know.” He leaned in even closer. “Fucking …crazy.” He said in a whisper. “She lives out in this broken down shack; she supposedly supports herself cutting manes.” He spoke a little louder now. “Of course, I don’t know a single pony dumb enough to go out there and actually make an appointment. She’s seriously messed up, she doesn’t talk to anypony, she like never comes into town. God only knows what goes on inside her head.” He sipped his beer. “So anyway, if you ever want a cut, just come on down to the Cutting Room, I can get you a half off discount.” He took another sip of his beer. The conversation fell flat. Applejack said suddenly.

“Y’boys like shots?”

“Hell yeah!” They said in unison.

“We’re on round seven, y’got some ketchin’ up to do.” The pair of amateur wolves brohoofed.

“We got this!”

Over the next hour, the four (mostly AJ and Snails) consumed 407 bits’ worth of shots, the stallions beginning to find the mare’s weak spots, and the mares trying to beat one another’s score. Rarity took an early lead by making another perfectly placed reference to the pair’s possibly lesbian encounter, which AJ of course denied. Applejack one-upped her competitor by disclosing that the item from the flea market was “a toy of sorts”. The two managed to weave a fantastic and highly sexual backstory of their friendship, and somehow, probably a combination of alcohol and mare fever, their unassuming lovers accepted this. The evening was winding down, and the bar seemed to have receded into a sluggish coma of cheap alcohol.

The four sat at a corner table. Rarity was approaching the point of foolish drunk, which came after kinda drunk, and before shit-faced.

“So tell me.” She blinked to clear her vision. “What does Mr. Daredevil Snails do in his free time?”

“Oh you know, I like to read a little, I work out. To stay in shape for fighting off whatever comes crawling after the royal gold I deliver. I also liv-take care of my mother.” He tossed his mane a little bit. “Course I don’t get a whole lot of time off.”

“That is soooo awesome, I think ya’ll really know what it’s lahk to live an adult life.” Applejack began to lose coherency as she approached foolish drunk. Snips chuckled politely at AJ’s apparent intoxication.

“You know Rarity, I think you know what it’s like to live an adult life too. Oh I don’t mean anything sexual of course, I just think you’re very mature, you look like you know what it really means to be a mare.”

“Oh.” She looked at the pile of empty shot glasses in front of her. “I’m just a silly little filly, I don’t really know anything about anything.”

“No. That’s your ex talking, stop listening to him.” Snips spoke with surprising warmth. “I think you know something about something.” He ran his hoof along her cheek. “You’re smart with me.” She rubbed her face.

“I’ve had too much to drink.” She said miserably.

“Hey, why don’t you come back to my place? It’s a long walk to Apple farms.” He suggested. Applejack caught this and brought Snails, who was talking about his mother, back on track.

“Eyah! Why dun we all head back to Snips’ place? Maybe get sumthin’ goin?” Snails nodded vigorously to this. Snips didn’t take his eyes off of Rarity. The green stallion was fixated on the mare before him. “Why don’t you two head back to your place? I’m sure AJ wants more of what you’ve got.” He said quietly. His wingman shrugged and he and his sufficiently aroused mare departed. Snips patted Rarity’s shoulder. “C’mon, let’s get you out of this place.” He helped Rarity to her hooves.

As they left, she stopped by the bar to take care of the tab.

“Oh no you don’t.” Snips handed a check to Quinn before Rarity could give her money. “I will take care of this.” He put his arm around her. “I can’t have my little baker paying for our evening.” By the door, both Applejack and Snails were engaged in a drunken effort to recover Applejack’s hat, which had fallen to the floor.

“You know, I wasn’t always a baker.” Rarity started softly. “I used to design clothing.” Snips slowed his pace.

“Hang on, what?” He asked, turning to her. The mucus green unicorn was already beginning to recognize his date.

“Eyep, I ran a clothing design and fashion consulting business for a couple of years.” Snips stopped altogether. He stared at her, refusing to believe she was really Rarity.

“Wait, hold on. You’re not Rarity from the Paracel Boutique.” She nodded, already beginning to grin. “No, you look nothing like her and she’s living in a forest somewhere, and she’s a complete bitch who doesn’t have friends, stop joking.” Rarity hadn’t seen her comically-intended ultimatum playing out like this.

“Oh, is that a fact?” She stepped away from him. Now the alcohol began to run its course. “Are you sure you aren’t a horny jackass who isn’t capable of recognizing somepony who ran a notable business for years on end?” She demanded. “Are you sure you aren’t just trying to pound me?” He was shocked for a moment, then his alcohol kicked in.

“Are you sure you aren’t a lying whore who goes to bars looking for a pounding?” He fired back. Rarity scoffed.

“Yep, I actually managed to have a fun evening jerking you and your moron friend around. Did any sort of skepticism ever cross your mind when Applejack and I got so friendly? Nope, you just took it as your lucky day. We honestly thought you’d catch on at some point. But I guess you were too dumb to recognize anything.” Snips seethed, he pulled in quick sharp breaths, redness spawning on his green face. The spurned unicorn wore an expression of pure outrage, yet said nothing. A wiser and more sober Rarity would have left the bar triumphantly. But something about his description of her made Rarity want to twist her dagger even more. “Yeah, we were gonna stop and tell you in the middle. But the more I got to know you, the more I wanted to get you to the door before telling you how much of slimy piece of trash you are. You’re still the stuttering little colt that got wet over a magic show. You’re a pathetic wolf and you couldn’t pick up a drunk mare with a crane.” She whispered brutally.

“I’m glad you told me who you were, I wouldn’t even joke about banging you.” He retorted. “You’d probably get pregnant with half-demon ponies, they’d all run off and live in the forest like you, and we don’t need more crazy, jobless ponies.” He hissed. Out of options and soundly defeated, Snips walked back to the bar and sat down. He turned to an uninvolved patron. “Seriously, can you believe that bitch? She’s fucking crazy.” Rarity snorted to herself, he had given up and retreated, it was over.

She walked to the door, Applejack and Snails were staring at her. AJ was too drunk to explain things to, she’d tell her everything in the morning. She motioned for them to leave. She heard Snips still talking to his unwilling listener. “Heh, kids’d probably grow up and blow up shit of their own.” She stopped dead in her tracks. A wiser Rarity would have already been outside.

“Take that back.” She said in a voice of stone. Snips whirled around.

“Just get the fuck out of here.” He growled. She stood motionless.

“Take it back right now.” She repeated. He laughed into her face.

“I’m sorry, did you add a threat to that? I think you might have forgotten.”

“Take it back or I’ll kick the shit out of you.” Her words were deathly monotonous. He chuckled for a moment.

“Heh, I’m sorry I said anything about your demon spawn kids blowing things up. Ok?” He gave her a pacifying smile that reeked with insincerity. Without a word, Rarity shook her head and again made for the door. As she turned, Rarity felt a hard slap across her rump.

“That’s how you gotta talk to them.” Snips was in the midst of his explanation as her hoof collided with the back of his skull. She slammed his face into the surface of the bar.

“Alright cocksucker, that’s really fucking it.” She snarled into his ear. In an instant, the ponies around her evicted their chairs and crowded away from the pair. He threw her off of his back and rose. Blood ran from his probably broken nose. He looked beyond pissed.

“Oh now you’ve done it. You’re going to make me hit a girl.” He said in an enraged whisper. He rushed at her and tackled her into a table. The thick wood struck her back, yet she felt next to nothing. As the pair fell to the floor, Rarity threw a hoof into Snips’ throat. Choking momentarily, he took hold of her arms. Using her horn, she cracked a stein across his face. He kicked her off of him and rose. “You’re fucking crazy.” He said, wiping blood from his cheek.

“Take it back, and I’ll let you go.” Rarity panted as thee both stood to face each other. He flashed a still-intact grin to this.

“Uh-uh, you got yourself into this, you better have a way out.” He rushed at her. Rarity lowered her head and dove into her oncoming attacker. The pair slammed into each other. Even in her inebriated and enraged state, Rarity felt a sharp pain shoot through her chest. She was thrown to the ground, and Snips took a step back from the force of the collision. Yet he recovered in a moment and soon threw a kick into her exposed belly. His hoof sank deeply into her body, and the steel horseshoe lashed her white skin. It felt as if her innards were squished like toothpaste, and Rarity teetered on the edge of vomiting. “How’s it feel to get hit when you can’t fight back?” He said between breaths. Another kick struck her chest, sending stinging spears of fire through her lungs. She coughed, a splatter of blood fountained onto her face. He struck her again, and the lights around her began to bloom and swirl.

A bottle upset by the exodus of ponies lay on the floor beside her. Taking ahold of it with her horn, she whipped the glass container into the side of Snips’ head with all of her might. It shattered, showering her with fragmented glass.

“Ah fuck! FUCK! You got my eyes!” He howled as he clutched his face. The stallion stumbled back, blood beginning to trickle down his hooves. Rarity fought to rise, her chest felt like it would cave in if she moved. The foul taste of liquor mixed with the blood in her mouth and the world reeled around her. She stood, painfully and unsteadily. Snips was hunched over the bar, he was whimpering as he shakily pulled bloody glass shards from his bruised head. She stumbled up to him, and pinned his arms behind his back.

“Take it back.” She spat from bloodstained lips. He said nothing. “Take it fucking back.” She growled. He was still silent. She released his arms and struck him across his gashed face. Blood and bits of glass stuck to her hoof.

“Agh!!!” He pushed her away. “Alright, I’m fucking sorry ok? I take it back, ok? I take it back!” He capitulated bitterly. Rarity coughed again, blood and mucus filling her mouth.

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” She clopped two hundred bit bills down on the bar “Here’s my tab.”

Ponyville had the tiniest jail in existence, in fact, it wasn’t even a jail. It was just a supply closet that had the carpet taken up. It was located in the town hall, right behind the mayor’s office. Rarity sat on a pile of carbon papers, she breathed in some mayoral dust, unleashing another wave of agonizing coughing. Her entire chest seemed inflamed and each cough thudded against her lungs and heart. Gritting her teeth, Rarity began to clean the dried blood from her bruised body. There was an ancient bag of wet napkins at her hooves. She delicately lifted one and began to wipe her wounds. The door suddenly swung open, the light from the office flooded the dimly lit room. Twilight looked sleepy.

“Let’s go.” She said tiredly. Rarity limped from the “jail”, past the sleepy police officer and followed Twilight. Outside, Maximus and Praetorian waited by Twilight’s chariot. It was probably one, maybe two “Get in.” Twilight motioned to the back seat. Rarity eased herself into the golden vehicle, leaving some bloodstains on the immaculate surface. Twilight waited for her to seat herself, then nodded her guards. The chariot lifted off the ground and they lurched forward.

Twilight said nothing and continued to gaze off ahead of them. Rarity was ashamed, aside from Pinkie Pie, Twilight was the last pony she wanted to bail her out after a drunken brawl. Fucking Applejack was probably still leading Snails on. Every other pony she knew was asleep, like Twilight should have been. Nevertheless, the cool night air felt good on her wounds, and Rarity watched the ground pass by underneath.

“Applejack called me. She said you’d been in a fight, she said you’d been taken to prison. She sounded pretty drunk.” Twilight said as they drifted through the air.

“Yeah, we were at Hennessy’s, we were messing around with some guys. One of them said something to me, I told him to take it back, and he didn’t. I guess I just wouldn’t let it go.” Rarity answered dumbly.

“Yeah? Maybe that was because you were messing with them?” Twilight said flatly. Rarity didn’t say anything. It would have been bad enough without Twilight being the Queen of Equestria. She knew Rarity had been struggling and tonight only solidified that knowledge. Twilight sighed, a weary, strained sigh. “You know Rarity, maybe you should be more aware of what you’re doing when you drink. I’m just say-”

“He made a joke about the Blast, about how I was a part of it.” Rarity interrupted angrily. There was a pause, then Twilight sighed again. They passed over some trees, which whistled in the breeze.

“I’m sorry, he shouldn’t have said that. But you need to know that if you go to a bar, get a stallion drunk, then mess with him, he’s probably going to say something that he thinks is going to hurt you.” Twilight explained.

“Fucking shithead, I fucked him up. Nopony is going to say that to me, nopony.” Rarity muttered bitterly.

“Look, Rarity-”

“I can take the whispers and handouts, and I don’t have a problem with working at a bakery.” Her eyes began to burn. “But when somepony says I had something to do with that explosion, that’s where I draw the fucking line.” She struggled against the impending tears. Twilight turned and sat next to her.

“I know you didn’t, the courts knew you didn’t, Spike knew you didn’t, Applejack and your friends, they knew you had nothing to do with that explosion.” She put an arm around her beaten friend. Rarity took a painful and jagged breath.

“Ponyville doesn’t.”

All in all, Rarity suffered three cracked ribs, moderate bruising of her intestines and stomach and a concussion, along with the extraneous cuts and bruises that accompany a drunken brawl. Two days after the fight, she returned to work.

“Come in Rarity. Are you collected?” Mr. Salukas asked as she stepped inside the bakery.

“Yeah, thanks for the time off. I won’t be getting in any more trouble for a while, I can promise you that.” She still hurt like shit, but she would get back to speed as soon as physically possible. The bakery didn’t pay a lot and she didn’t have much in the way of savings.

Mr. Salukas nodded.

“I know you are sufficiently injured, but I can see you are committed to working here. I’m putting you on dough for two weeks. Applecrisp and I will manage the rest of the work.” Rarity loved Mr. Salukas, he was probably the only boss in Equestria who would allow an employee as beat up as her to work just two days after engaging in a vicious barfight. She looked into the oven room, she and it were going to get very acquainted over the next two weeks. Tossing her satchel, which contained painkillers and hangover remedies, on the hook by the door, Rarity walked carefully into the oven room. Applecrisp was cracking eggs into a large steel bowl. She nodded an acknowledgement of Rarity’s presence.

“Hey.” Rarity picked up an egg. “Gonna put you outta dough work for a few weeks here.”

“Is’ fahn.” Applecrisp looked her over. “Damn gurl, y’got yer ass whomped.” Rarity chuckled.

“You should see the other guy.”

“Her’ Appl’jack jus’ stood there whahl ya’ll were getting’ y’ass kicked.” First day back and already off to a good start.

“No, she was pretty drunk, and I’m pretty sure she had already gone out the door. Fight didn’t even last that long anyway.” Rarity explained, trying to make it sound like Applejack hadn’t played a part in developing the fight. Applecrisp wore a smug shadow of a smile.

“Ah’m shure she did.”

The Apple cousins were always the closest of friends, except in the case of Applejack and Applecrisp. In typical family feud fashion, the two refused any kind of interaction. Rarity had the unpleasant privilege of knowing them both, and more specifically, having them know she knew them both. The two mares continually asked about each other, how they were getting along, how they were spending their time. Both Apples assured Rarity that they weren’t interested in one another’s affairs in the least. But it was a cold day in wherever Celestia had sent Discord when either pony missed a chance to point out a failing of the other.

“So, uh, how was your weekend?” Rarity steered for a more stable topic.

“Fahn, ah got a letter from mah fam’ly.” Applecrisp brought the bowl over to the buns for glazing.

“How are they? How’s the swamp?”

“Pretty sure the swamp is still around.” Applecrisp said curtly as she glazed a sweet bun. Applecrisp didn’t have conversations, she made statements and stopped talking when she wanted to. The bakers finished the buns in a few minutes and Applecrisp tossed her brush into the sink.

“Welp, ya’ll got the rest.” The deep blue pony left to help Mr. Salukas with whatever work the injured Rarity was incapable of. Applecrisp was not a dotingly compassionate pony.

The hours passed bearably. Rarity made a batch of tea cakes, then zucchini bread, then started on the task of rye loaves. The work was light, although her ribs began to ache deeply as time went on. She avoided the painkillers as much as possible, an injured and high baker was the physical manifestation of the perfect safety liability. Eventually though, she began to breathe less, so as to avoid the pain of expanding her lungs. She started to feel light headed from the lack of air and her hooves began to shake. She popped open the bottle of blue oval-shaped pills. Washing just one down with a sip of water from the sink, Rarity returned to the rye. In a few minutes, her lungs stopped aching, and she breathed normally. She was washing the last of the muddy black dough from her hooves when Applecrisp thrust her head in the door.

“Hey, boss wants y’t’see if the muffins are done through.” Rarity nodded to her.

“Be right out.” She answered.

Outside, Mr. Salukas and Applecrisp were inspecting a tray of muffins.

“Ah Rarity, where is your fork?” The brown stallion asked. Rarity blinked for a moment, why hadn’t she brought out the fork? She moved as fast as pain permitted and got the baking fork from the oven room. She returned to the front counter with the silver cutlery. Leaning in close, Rarity saw that they were potato muffins, the most commonly miscooked item in the kitchen.

A more wasteful bakery would have cracked one open to check, but this was the Lone Star Bakery, and they would not waste a single muffin. Only Rarity had the precise coordination required for inserting the slender fork into the muffin without leaving any visible marks. Steadying her horn, she slowly pressed the sliver prongs into the muffin. It gave in a moment and she carefully pushed it a few millimeters deeper. She took a breath, then slid it back out.

“I got, yeah, egg residue. These are undercooked.” She gave the fork to Mr. Salukas, who studied it. He nodded and dropped the fork onto the counter.

“Chort, an entire tray of worthless muffins.” He fumed. “What now?” Rarity saw a chance to redeem herself a little.

“I’ll buy ‘em, half price.” She offered. Salukas raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t worry about parasites?” She shrugged.

“Naw.”

“I knew you were a strong mare.” He slapped her across the back, shooting flames throughout her torso. She coughed and gripped the counter. “Apologies Rarity, I forgot about your injury.” He in joking bashfulness. She forced a smile, then returned to her home of the oven room.

Her back seemed to channel the pain into her chest and she struggled to catch her breath. Popping the foal-proof cap off of the bottle, she downed another painkiller. The strained baker took a few minutes to breathe and waited for the painkiller to kick in. After a short time, she rose feeling refreshed. She checked the list of breadstuffs for the day. She’d covered everything, might as well clean up.

Arranging all of her implements and ingredients on the counter, she pondered how to start putting things away. She started for the hoof tools, no, those should go last, she needed to wash them. What about the ingredients? No, Applecrisp would get those. She stood for a few minutes, trying to find a place to begin. She frowned at the mess. It wasn’t hard putting things away, why hadn’t she started? Finally, she placed the hoof tools in the sink.

“That’s a good start.” She said aloud. She started to wash them, then remembered that washing came last. She put the bowls and containers away, then returned to the sink. Did washing come after the food ingredients were put away by Applecrisp? What the hell was wrong with her? She shook her head and began to scrub the tools. Presently, Applecrisp shuffled into the room and hauled off the foodstuffs. Rarity was just starting to replace the tools.

“Runnin’ late?” Applecrisp asked on her next trip into the room.

“Haha, yeah, just going slow I guess.” The unicorn replied. Applecrisp had already finished by the time she put everything away, but Rarity was just glad to finish the cleaning and depart for home.

“Rarity, do you want your muffins?” Mr. Salukas called as she saddled her pack.

“Oh, yeah, almost forgot.” She walked to the counter. He handed her a brown flour bag filled with the undercooked muffins.

“That’s going to come to 22.50.” She handed him a two tens and a one. “Ah, I need more than that.” She dug in her pack and handed him a twenty and a five. He gave her a peculiar look, but said nothing.

“And here’s your change.” He held out a few bits.

“Keep it, it’s fine.” She just wanted to get home now.

“Oh, well, ok, thank you Rarity!” He said gladly as she departed. “Get well soon.”

Outside, the sun was turning to an orange-yellow orb. The warmth of the day was thankfully fading. It was early evening, 6ish probably. Her stomach felt as if she had swallowed something rotten. Her heart beat fast and she began to sweat. Rarity walked down the street, brushing by ponies and obstacles. She was looping pretty badly, she had to get home. On her way, she misjudged a step and stumbled a few feet. She sank to her knees in the road and for a moment, forgot where she was. Standing, she wiped some sweat from her brow. A few ponies looked at her quizzically.

“Man, I am fucked up.” Rarity dizzily noted.

Back at her crates, Rarity made her business short. She dumped the bag of muffins into the wooden container, then sprawled out on top. Mercifully, she was supremely drowsy and she fell asleep immediately.

It was probably around 7 the next morning when she awoke. The sun was just starting to rise through the trees, and the dew of the morning still hung low to the ground. She felt better, her head didn’t feel as if it were immersed underwater. Digging the pill bottle out of her pack, she read the label.

“Refined, non-doping poppy extract.” Fucking shit, this stuff was going to mess her up good. Maybe she could go without.

She stood and looked around, she never rose this early. The sun was just peeking out from behind the trees. It cast a yellow light over the gently swaying grass. The air was cool and the grass wet beneath her hooves; it was a beautiful morning. Rarity rummaged around in the crate for a muffin. She nosed one out of the bag and hopped onto the crate for her breakfast. She took a bite of the potato pastry, it was stale. She chewed the dry pastry, tasting the fried potato and the bland sensation it brought. She needed to be at work around 9, maybe 10, dough work wasn’t the most pressing of matters. She took another bite and looked around. It was a gorgeous morning, she might as well take a walk.

She started for the forest, unsure of her course. She took another bite of salty muffin, how was she going to make two weeks of dough duty while tripping on opiates? She could just work slower under the guise of her injuries. That was a terrible idea; it was bad enough hiding her impairment from her coworkers without slacking off as well. Goddamn it, why had she gotten into that fight? Why did she play with Snips? She passed under the leafy canopy of Everfree forest. She could tough it out, her injuries would heal pretty quickly. She groaned aloud as she thought of the misery she had been in yesterday, how was she going to make two weeks of that? She finished the last of the crumbling muffin and wiped her face. She walked through a patch of pines; the sunlight was slanting through the needles, casting a golden pattern on the forest floor. The air was scented with the perfume of a hundred different plants. She wondered what had happened to Applejack, a part of her worried that her drunken friend had been taken advantage of. No, Applejack knew what she was doing, she’d never make a mistake like that. Rarity stopped for a moment, she had been ahead when the fight had started, Applejack owed her the tab. All the more reason to see if she had made it home safely.

Rarity walked deeper into the woods and the undergrowth began to ensnare her hooves. It was a mystery to her, how she had run effortlessly through here with her friends years ago. Now, she had to wade through the forest, simply trying not to trip on buckthorn and garlic mustard. Looking to her left, she saw the edge of a clearing, she turned and headed for the break in the trees. The forest was still and she tried to walk softly to preserve the peace. She stepped on a branch and heard a rotting snap. Looking down, she saw a multitude of black beetles skittering around the broken wood. One crawled dangerously close to her hoof. She yelped and sprinted frantically away from the horrid little vermin. She thrashed plants and leaves in her wild escape and probably crushed a dozen wildflowers. It didn’t matter, there were those things that Rarity was never going to be fine with, and insects were one of those things. She shot out of the forest, her lungs were already howling with agony and she bent forward to relieve the rising pressure. For a few moments, she coughed and hacked while she caught her breath.

“That’s why I don’t take walks in the forest.” She said aloud as she quickly scanned for any attached beetles. She had lost her bearings and she walked forward to find her position. To her left lay the stream that ran along the edge of Ponyville, which meant...

Fluttershy’s cottage stood like a tombstone and Rarity felt her heart beat against her swollen chest. She stood maybe fifty meters from the abandoned building. It looked, well, it looked pretty normal. The windows were shuttered, the doors were closed and probably locked. Rarity continued to stare at the house. Like many reminders of the past, the cottage was something Rarity avoided at all costs. Something about the house, maybe the green unkempt bushes, maybe the mossy walls, upset Rarity on a deep fiber. Without its shy caretaker, the house would slowly sink into disarray and finally disintegration. Rarity swallowed and walked briskly away from the house, she would not watch as the house eventually fell to ruin. She would not.

The sun was up more now, she could go to the bakery and get an early start on the dough. She’d probably have to if she wanted to avoid using painkillers. Starting over the bridge, Rarity spotted something out of place in the village, a light blue Pegasus. Rainbow Dash was sitting on a bench across from the Lone Star. On her lap was a small drawing pad and a few pencils.

“Hey, what are you doing here so early? I shoulda told you we open at 9.” Rarity said jokingly. Dash looked up and smiled back.

“Hey Rarity, just figured I’d drop by and take a look at the place.” She explained. Rarity motioned to the pad.

“That for the model?”

“Yeah, I’ve got nothing to do today, so I figured I’d do some sketching as well.” She paused as she looked her friend over. “Did something happen?” She asked inquisitively. Rarity started to laugh.

“Heh, I went to.” She looked into Dash’s unassuming eyes. “To the bar, and I, got into a fight with Applejack over something stupid, and yeah.” The hell was up with that lie? It was almost as bad as the truth. Dash had the peculiar ability to render Rarity incapable of normal deception. It was probably those damn eyes.

“Oh my gosh, is she ok?” The Pegasus asked in concern.

“Ah, yeah.” Rarity remembered that her friend had left with Snails and hadn’t been seen since. “I mean, I hope so.” She bit her lip. “Yeah I’m pretty sure she’s fine.”

“What were you fighting over?” Rarity looked toward the Lone Star. Mr. Salukas hadn’t opened yet.

“Ahhh, something stupid. Don’t even remember, I was pretty out of it then.” Dash looked down at her pad.

“Oh, ok.” A few ponies walked by on their way to work.

“Say, if you want to come in when we open, you can try some pretty cool stuff.” Rarity offered. “There’s a lot of breads you’ve never seen before.” She hesitated, was Dash afraid of the bakery? Was that why she had never visited? She really had no idea why or why not Rainbow Dash did things anymore.

“Yeah, that’d be cool, maybe I’ll come in later.” Dash offered in return.

“Well, I oughta get to work, hope your drawing goes well.” Rarity started for the Lone Star.

“Thanks!” Called the little Pegasus. Rainbow Dash was difficult to talk to, Rarity wished the best for her, but she was one awkward pony. Rarity couldn’t fathom anything about her and wasn’t about to try.

The door was predictably locked, she looked up and down the street. A small number of ponies were walking to work, but Mr. Salukas was nowhere in sight. She sighed and sat down next to the wall. Rainbow Dash was thankfully engrossed in her sketch. Five, maybe ten minutes later, Rarity spotted Mr. Salukas walking slowly down the street toward her. She rose and went to greet him.

“Rarity, first you fast on a workday, then you buy a full batch of muffins, now you show up to work early.” He chuckled and gently placed a hoof on her shoulder. “What’s the matter? Do you not enjoy a normal work experience?” She laughed.

“Naw, I just woke up early, so I got here a little early is all.”

“Well, come in, we’re low on a lot of products. You’ll need all the time possible if you want to finish by 6.” He unlocked the door and they entered the bakery.

Rarity’s shoulders sank, while the actual breadstuffs were locked away in the large safe, the cards left in the display showed how few were actually remaining. She slunk to the oven room, then remembered that virtually all of the ingredients were locked away as well. She sighed and took a seat by the cold ovens. Her chest was already beginning to feel tight, actual pain wouldn’t be long. Rarity waited as Mr. Salukas depoisted bags of flour and sugar and eggs onto the counter over the course of the next few minutes. Finally, she could begin work.

For Rarity, baking was routine work and she could drift away from her actions and think on pointless things to run out the clock. Yet now, her chest seemed to anchor her to her every task. She cracked eggs, measured vanilla, and as the long day wore on, her chest began to ache. It was like a vise was slowly closing on her, and she worked as fast as she could before it got too tight. She refused to accept the pain, but eventually, she began to slow. The orders were endless, every time she finished some croissants (buttery rolls that flaked like dandruff), Applecrisp would slap another paper request to the crossbar above the sink. Rarity’s breathing was shallow and fast, the flour got in her lungs and she fought against a rising cough. It got the better of her and she coughed. It ripped through her chest and she stepped back against the sink. Her chest burned like a fire, and her breaths were raw and strained. She was on the verge of tears, but she pressed on. The hours crawled by, and Rarity stopped work more than a few times to clear her head. Finally, Applecrisp ran out of orders and Rarity hurried (relatively) to put everything away. She tossed the implements into the cabinets and extinguished the ovens. Nodding to Applecrisp and Mr. Salukas, she started for home.

Fuck, what a day! The cooler air made her breathing a little easier and she stopped by the stream for a sip of water. She drank a few mouthfuls, then made her way home. Upon arrival, Rarity promptly popped three painkillers and ate two muffins. It was one of the worst dinners she could remember. Then she simply laid down and waited for the drugs to kick in.

Morning came and Rarity walked to work again. Dash had come back to that same bench and Rarity waved to her. Today saw less orders, but the pain returned as soon as before. It plateaued earlier this time, but she was still debilitated. She fought through the hours and into the evening. At last, it was time to clock out, and Rarity quickly cleaned her workstation. Three more painkillers, and two more muffins along with some grass. She soon fell into an opium induced sleep.

The next day, Dash was standing outside of the Lone Star.

“Window shopping?” Rarity asked playfully. Dash pointed to her paper, which was now a pretty impressive depiction of the bakery.

“Nope, just getting the rough details of the front window. Can’t paint too well since I don’t have a horn, so I just do the main aspects.” Rarity nodded in approval of its accuracy and walked into the bakery. Inside, Applecrisp and Mr. Salukas were hauling plastic crates of refrigerated goods to the back room. Mr. Salukas ticked his head to Rarity.

“Rarity, the refrigerator has broken. I need you to mind the store for most of the afternoon while we haul the perishables to the secondary refrigerator.” Rarity didn’t know where the secondary refrigerator was, but it sounded far away. She gave Salukas a tight-lipped smile and walked behind the counter as the two trekked out the back door. She couldn’t shake the feeling that today was going to hurt.

At first it wasn’t too bad. She checked on the baking goods and served a few ponies that came for their breakfast pastries. It was cooler in the front end, and she could lean on the counter to relieve some of the pressure on her lungs. At around 12, there was an influx of customers. Having worked in stocking or baking, Rarity had little experience with front end matters. She was of course, caught off her hooves and began to panic.

“Yes, yes of course. No powdered sugar.”

“No, nothing here is or will ever be gluten free.”

“I’m sorry, we don’t take alfalfa as payment.”

Every customer seemed to have a maddeningly time-consuming request or comment and the line began to grow. Rarity’s chest was sore simply from the talking and rushing to and fro only inflamed it more. By the time she had completed the first few orders, Rarity heard Applecrisp and Salukas returning.

“Things look a little chaotic.” Was all Mr. Salukas said. He gestured for Applecrisp to continue loading the carts and stepped up to assist Rarity.

With the stallion’s help, the line shrank and eventually dissipated. After they had finished, Mr. Salukas turned to Rarity.

“I need to return to my work with Applecrisp. I will check on you later.” He didn’t sound particularly irritated, but definitely stressed. Either way, Rarity was in too much pain to care. She now slowed her breathing to avoid straining her lungs. The next few hours passed easily, Rarity merely rested on the counter and sold to the occasional customer. 6 came and so did a rush. The line formed again, and grew steadily longer. Rarity was fighting dizziness and the impatience of her patrons. The line now extended out of the door and into the street. She heard the back door close, help had arrived. This time Salukas said nothing and merely began serving customers.

They finally stabilized the flow at around 7. Rarity was holding her shit together with pure will as they dropped the display trays into the soapy water of the sink. Salukas wiped his brow.

“Thank you for minding the shop today. Turn off the ovens and you can go home.” Rarity nodded and walked to the oven room. Something in her stomach turned. She opened the door and caught a breath of burned turnover. Fuck…it…all. The smoke had long settled and she could tell the turnovers had died hours ago. She hadn’t checked them once. She no longer felt the pain in her chest, it fluttered away as if in anticipation of the terrible fate that lie ahead for her. Instead of beginning to explain, or perhaps bolting for the door, Rarity simply stood and waited for the smell to reach her employer.

“What is…?” Salukas began, she heard him run up behind her. She waited as he surveyed the loss, she heard him breathe a curse. “Rarity.” His voice wavered, and the white pony actually wished Pinkie Pie would come bounding in the door to divert Salukas’ attention. “Firstly, you are going to pay for all of this. Secondly, I need you to do the job I give you. If you cannot, then take as many days off as you need until you are able.” Rarity felt sweat encasing her as she shrank from the furious stallion. Mr. Salukas’ anger was something she avoided incurring at all costs.

“Yes sir, I’m sorry.” She whimpered.

“Go home, I will take care of this.” He said quietly. Rarity felt numb as she walked outside. The humidity was soaring and she sweat even more. The past few weeks had been fucking terrible, and things had just gotten fucking worse. Her chest pain returned, seemingly unsatisfied with her current level of unhappiness, and she silently cursed the getting into that fight with Snips. As she topped the bridge, Rarity bumped into Rainbow Dash.

“Sorry, didn’t look where I was going.” Rarity said briskly.

“Oh, uh, no problem.” Replied the surprised Pegasus. The two passed one another and went on their ways.

Back at her home, Rarity gulped down some pills and collapsed onto her bed crate. What the fuck was she going to do? Without the pills she couldn’t make two weeks of any sort of work, but with them she risked seriously fucking something up in a loopy daze. In either case she only had half her ability, what was she going to do? She wasn’t going to take time off, even if she could afford to. She didn’t want to work in any of the other shops in stupid Ponyville. But she couldn’t do it all herself. She needed help, she needed help. Rarity sat up, that was it. She jumped off of the crate began to run as fast as she could toward the town. It was a random and probably frivolous plan, but it gave her hope anyway.

Who better to help her than Rainbow Dash? She could look the inside of the Lone Star over for her model. Rarity wasn’t sure Dash’s model had an inside, but she refused to let go of her hope. She crossed the bridge and looked frantically for the blue pony. She must be farther ahead, Rarity took off along the road that stopped at the prairie leading to Dash’s home. She flew through the town and into the grassy field. She spotted a multicolored tail amidst the palmettos and tore towards it. In a few moments she had caught Rainbow Dash. The Pegasus turned as Rarity bore down on her.

“Hey Rarity…what, um, what are you doing?” Asked Rainbow Dash. For a couple seconds Rarity merely coughed and gasped as she fought to recover her breath. The painkillers hadn’t taken effect and Rarity almost suffocated from the clutches of the swelling. Dash took a step forward, confused and uncertain about her friend’s fit of choking. Finally, her chest released a bit and Rarity looked up.

“Dash, I.” Rarity had no idea what to say. “I, er, was wondering. I mean, it’s kinda weird.” Fuck it, she had run too far to talk tactfully. “Ok, so, I cracked some ribs, just lightly I mean. Anyway, I need help doing my job, I’m just working the dough, you know, like baking and stuff. Anyway, I was wondering if you could give me a hoof at the bakery for like a week, maybe two?” Rarity trailed off. The Pegasus processed this for a second.

“Well, um, do I get paid?” Rainbow Dash asked hesitantly.

Rarity hadn’t thought of that.

“Yeah, I’d give you ha-three quarters of my pay.” Rarity offered. Three quarters of her pay wasn’t a particularly competitive offer and she knew it. Dash seemed lost.

“So, I’d be baking stuff?” She asked in confusion.

“Yeah, like kneading and mixing dough, then just shoving it in the oven. I’ve been doing it by myself for a while, with two of us it’ll be really easy.” Rarity explained.

“But you can’t do it because?”

“I have some cracked ribs, they get really tight as the day goes on, that makes it hard to do everything.”

“Did that happen from your fight?” Dash’s eyes widened.

“Yes, no, it’s a long story, I can explain another time.” Rarity stumbled. “Please Dash, I need your help.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her hooves. Rarity held her breath, hoping she would say yes.

“What time would I have to come in?” Asked the Pegasus.

“Nine, then you can leave at like six or seven, maybe earlier if you have to be somewhere.” Rarity answered quickly.

Rainbow Dash gazed at the prairie. A wind blew through the grass, making an airy hiss. Rarity held her breath and felt her lungs expand with a sting.

Dash spoke carefully.

“Eeyeah, I think I can do that. Nine you said?” Rarity’s heart fell with relief and she let out her breath.

“Yup, nine A.M. Thanks so much, I couldn’t do this without you!” She gave the rainbow Pegasus a hug that threatened to cave in her damaged chest.

“Aw, it’s no problem.” Rainbow Dash replied kindly. Rarity released her.

“Ok! So, see you tomorrow!”

Rainbow Dash smiled and the pair separated. Rainbow Dash was still awfully unsure of what she’d even be doing, but she’d also never seen Rarity so desperate before. She felt good about being able to help her friend.

Rarity was ecstatic, she wouldn’t have to take days off. She could still work and still get paid! Her heart sank, she’d also be paying Dash three-quarters of her wages. Living on quarter wages wasn’t much better than none at all. She shrugged, she was used to unfair stuff, she lived in Ponyville after all.

Chapter 4

Chapter IV

That night, Rarity slept soundly. Her restful sleep was in part due to the powerful narcotics flowing through her blood, but more that she wouldn’t have to face a day like the previous one again. She might be poor, but she could at least relax at work.

The next morning, Rarity awoke without a grimace. Pulling her sheets across her crate, she shook her mane and readied for the day. There was of course, the matter of the pills. She decided to compromise and take one; that would reduce the pain and still allow her to train Rainbow Dash. She wolfed down a stale muffin and walked to work. Her new co-worker was waiting outside the Lone Star.

“Ready?” Rarity asked excitedly. Dash nodded and gave her an unsure smile.

“Yeah I guess so.”

The pair entered the building. Mr. Salukas was nowhere to be seen. Applecrisp was dropping éclairs onto doilies behind the counter.

“Hey where’s Salukas?” Rarity asked the blue pony.

“Dunno.” Came Applecrisp’s flat reply. Rarity thought for a moment. She might as well tell Applecrisp. She motioned to Dash.

“Hey, so, this is Rainbow Dash. She’s going to be working with me while I recover. I’m paying her don’t worry.” She laughed nervously. “She, uh, we go far back me and her.” Applecrisp looked up and surveyed the shy Pegasus. She shrugged and continued to lay the breakfast pastries on the display.

“Y’tell the boss ya’ll were hirin’?” Applecrisp asked. Rarity clopped her hooves together anxiously.

“No, uh, that was kinda why I was looking for him.”

“He oughta be back in a minute.” Rarity was perfectly terrified. Up till this point she had forgotten that Mr. Salukas still oversaw her work activities. She turned to Rainbow Dash, who was looking around the bakery.

“Ok, so, your, er, our boss is named Sonny. Just call him Mr. Salukas. He’s not from around here. He’s nice, just don’t piss him off.” Rarity sincerely hoped Dash’s mere presence as a worker would not piss off Mr. Salukas. She brought Dash into the oven room. “So here is basically where we’ll be working.” She motioned to the counter. “Just, you know, kneading and mixing dough mostly.” Dash nodded. They walked back out to the front end. Mr. Salukas still hadn’t returned from wherever he had gone. Rarity looked around anxiously and Applecrisp kept fixing the éclairs without a word.

“Are you an Apple? Like Applejack?” Dash asked unexpectedly. Applecrisp looked up at the Pegasus.

“We share a’ name, the rest is between her an’ Gawd.” She said darkly. Dash nodded and looked away, a red blush standing out on her blue face. The room seemed to become quieter. Rarity was sweating, where the hell was Sonny? Almost as an answer, the brown stallion came striding through the back door carrying a bag of flour.

“Applecrisp, be sure to check up on-” He spotted Rarity. “Oh, you’re here, I’ve put the list of orders on the refrigerator.” He looked to Rainbow Dash. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how you got in here, but we’re closed.” Rarity swallowed in a vain attempt to refresh her throat which had just now gone dry.

“Actually, this is Rainbow Dash.” Mr. Salukas hefted the great bag onto the floor and directed his attention to Rarity. “She’s, I mean, I’m going to hire her.” Mr. Salukas interrupted here.

“I will not pay her.”

“Haha, yeah, I was going to say, I’m paying her. Out of my salary, just for a few weeks while I get back into shape.” She watched him tensely. Mr. Salukas studied the blue pony for moment. Rainbow Dash shrank back instinctively. Sonny’s jaw ground together and his usual frown seemed to grow longer.

“Rarity, may I see you in my office for a moment?” He asked, not taking his gaze off of the blushing Rainbow Dash.

“Anything you want.” Rarity followed him into his office.

The room was not designed to be an office, it was actually meant to be another storage area. It held an oaken desk, one rusted file cabinet holding the few records the Lone Star had, and a water cooler. Mr. Salukas didn’t sit, but instead closed the door and faced Rarity directly.

“You are testing me.” He began in a voice that sounded like it would rather be shouting. “I realize you want to continue working during your injury. I am entirely happy to accommodate that.” He took a deep breath. “But I cannot allow you to lower your work quality, or burn things.” He pointed out the door. “That pony, I do not know her at all. To work here, she would have to be entrusted with many things that both you and Applecrisp earned over time. Tell me, what about her deserves the immediate trust that you took several months to acquire?” Rarity was unable to respond. Sonny Salukas was the definition of formidable and she had no answer for his question. Incapable of meeting his gaze, she watched the water cooler produce a few bubbles. “Well?” He asked presently.

“I, I, I don’t know. I just, she’s a friend.” Rarity looked at him and knew instantly she was defeated. “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.” She tried to step past Sonny and open the door. He blocked her exit for a moment, then stepped aside. She opened the door a little and looked out at Rainbow Dash, who was sitting on one of the café chairs by the door. Rarity sighed, another awkward explanation. Thankfully Applecrisp had gone off on another chore and wouldn’t be around to witness the stumbling apology. Rarity walked out and tapped her friend on the shoulder.

“Hey.” Dash turned and Rarity caught a full dose of innocence from Dash’s expression. Those Goddamn eyes could make anypony feel guilty.

“Yeah?” Asked the little Pegasus. Fucking hell, things just never turned out did they?

“Listen, I know I-” Rarity began.

“She will be in charge of cleaning the implements. You missed that yesterday.” Called Mr. Salukas from the doorway of his office. For a second time that day, Rarity was at a loss for words.

The first few days of Rainbow Dash’s employment at the Lone Star were under a forced smoothness. Substantial impairment from her medication would not keep Rarity from running a tight ship. Rainbow Dash was going to wow Mr. Salukas, that was the only possible outcome. Rarity made certain her cohort knew all of the tricks and rules of operation of the bakery.

“Can’t use too little vanilla.”

“Keep your batter below 40 degrees.”

“Stop, that egg is half hatched.” Rarity pulled the monstrous egg from her subordinate’s hooves and tossed it into the garbage. Rainbow Dash looked at the garbage can in horror. “Yeah, I know, stupid farmer lets the rooster get into the hens’ cage half the time and we get those.” Rarity cracked a fresh and fortunately unfertilized egg into the waffle mix. Rainbow Dash took a few seconds to compose herself.

“Should I just stir this while you get the iron ready?” Dash asked as Rarity pulled the heavy griddle from the lower shelves.

“Yeah, just keep it fresh while this heats up.” Rarity set the massive griddle on the cleared counter and plugged it in. She loathed the iron deeply. Not only was it hernia-enducingly heavy, but it generated enough heat to sweat the life out of anypony around it. The coils below the metal surface began to glow cherry red and Rarity sipped a cup of water. “Here, get some water, I’ll take that.” She said after consuming the entirety of the container. The Pegasus downed her own hydration.

“How long are we going to be at this?” She asked. Rarity laughed.

“A while, we don’t make waffles often, so Salukas makes us make a shit ton.” Soon the iron was sufficiently hot and Rarity began to ladle the sloppy batter into the grenade like grooves. The air was already warming and Dash wiped her brow.

“Is it going to get hotter?” Rarity chuckled and gave Dash a nod the implied that this was nothing. Rarity had to give it to her though; never once had Dash complained or hesitated during her employment. She wasn’t particularly coordinated; some things hadn’t been altered by the Blast. But Rainbow Dash always did as she was told and never sent any chores back to Rarity. She was definitely going to make Sonny proud.

The two formed a system of Rarity ladling batter and Dash slapping the finished and steaming hot waffles onto the large ceramic platter. They were at it for twenty or so minutes, as the platter was institutionally sized.

“Ok, should I go out and drop these off?” Dash asked as she lifted the full platter.

“Yeah, that’s good.” Rarity answered. Dash walked through the open door and into the front end. “Don’t let any of the guys tip you!” Rarity called to the little Pegasus. Most firefighting ponies had noble intentions, but every now and then one would try and slip their server something that had nothing to do with waffles.

At least the bi-annual firefighters waffle breakfast would bring in a good deal of money for the bakery. It was held in Mane Street and of course the Lone Star provided the waffles. As a former firefighter, Mr. Salukas made it a point to give the event a 23% discount. This year Sugarcube Corner was providing the syrup and Rarity made certain that Dash was the one up front, when Pinkie would no doubt pop by. In a few minutes the rainbow mare returned with the empty platter.

“Geez, those guys take like three each. They have the biggest appetites of any stallions I’ve ever seen.” She said in astonishment.

“Eyep, it’s usually a few straight hours of serving.” Rarity heaped another blanket of waffles onto the platter and sent Dash off again.

Things were looking good, Rarity would make extra today, allowing her to pay her personal employee and still make ends meet. From the hours of eleven to one, the duo managed to serve the entire waffle breakfast with no problems besides the sweltering heat. Then came the hitch. Rarity had started on her 23rd batch of waffle batter when Applecrisp poked her head in the door.

“Salukas wants ya’ll t’get some moar syrup from Sugarcube Corner.” Applecrisp held out a hoof-full of bills.

“Can’t you do it?” Rarity asked instinctively.

“Nope, gotta help him with the store.” Applecrisp dropped the money on the counter and disappeared. Rarity reluctantly picked up the money, she could do this.

She walked out of the store and into the street, which was filled with picnic tables. Pushing her way through the crowd, Rarity caught sight of Rainbow Dash. The wide-eyed pony was listening to a firefighter relate some story of his undoubtedly “heroic” deeds. Rarity hoped Dash would be careful, while some fires didn’t involve matches, but they did leave raw skin.

She passed through the thick of the crowd and walked up Mane Street. Maybe Pinkie would be at the festivities, after all, she was party pony. Rarity rounded the corner and stood in front of the confectionary. She could do this, she could easily do this. With a deep breath, Rarity shoved the doors open.

It smelled like sugar, powdered sugar, cane sugar, toasted sugar, probably pancreatic sugar if that had a smell. Rarity looked about her, the place was still…Sugarcube Corner. The walls were red and striped like candy canes and the general feel of childish joy still hung in the air. There were all the sorts of things she remembered, punch, cookies, ice cream, and of course, cupcakes.

“Just a miiiiiiiiiiiiinute! I’ll be right with you!” Came a helium laced voice from the kitchen. Rarity closed her eyes and imagined for a moment that she was simply tripping on pills. There came a springing noise and Rarity looked before her. Pinkie Pie hadn’t changed, Pinkie Pie never changed. Her mane stood like an untrimmed shrub, a shrub reeking of cotton candy, and she wore the kind of smile that threatened to permanently erase Rarity’s appetite. “What can I do for you? Oh, it’s Rarity!!!” Pinkie Pie popped out from behind the counter like some kind of pony filled zit and slammed into Rarity like a cottony semi. “I haven’t seen you in FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRR!” She said happily.

“Haha, yeeeaaaah.” Rarity felt the soft embrace of party pony and she hated it.

“Oh my gosh, you don’t even know! We stocked, I mean, we made some stocks, I mean, we stocked the kitchen, well no, well yes. And even after stocking the kitchen, we could still make some stocks!” Pinkie Pie jumped up and down in excitement. “Can you believe it?”

Rarity forced a smile.

“That’s great Pinkie! Say, I need to buy some syrup-”

“Syrup? WE HAVE ALL KINDS OF SYRUP!” She shot back into the kitchen. In under a second she was back with a fourteen colors of syrup. “We have cherry, lemon, boysenberry, pancake, cold, black liquo-”

“PANCAKE!” Rarity interjected. Trying to get a word in with Pinkie was like trying to play the prize spinner at birthday party, one needed to know when to strike at the right time.

“Ok! How much do you need?” Rarity held out the forty bits.

“Oh my gosh! That’s a lot of syrup! Let me get us a hoof to help. I mean, a help to hoof, no, I was right.” Pinkie flew back into the kitchen and in less time than it took to Rarity to comprehend Pinkie’s word salad, she was back. Beside her stood Sugarcube, both were carrying containers of dark syrup.

“Hi Rarity!” The yellow pony giggled. Oh hell, there were two of them.

“OKAY! We have the syrup! Where do you want it ma’am?” Pinkie stood at mock attention.

“Uhh, just, uh, bring it with me. I mean, follow me.” Rarity started for the door.

“WAIT JUST A SECOND!” Pinkie stopped dead in her tracks. “I forgot to give you a receipt!” She flounced behind the counter and rang up the sale. Sugarcube turned to Rarity.

“Pinkie’s my cousin, well I’m the Cakes’ niece, so that makes us kinda related. Anyway, I’m spending the whooooole summer with Pinkie!” Just great, now the chances of an unpleasant run-in were doubled.

“That’s great! Are you two going to take any trips this summer? Any out of town ones?” Rarity asked eagerly.

Pinkie Pie appeared between them and slapped the receipt into Rarity’s hoof.

“NOPE! We’re spending the whole summer right here at Sugarcube Corner! Maybe we can all do something together, like swing dancing, or paintball or skydiving!”

“Oh yeah totally!” Rarity would of course slash her throat before doing any of that. She stepped toward the door in an attempt to escape the madness.

“WAIT!” It was Sugarcube’s turn to delay the trip. “Are we taking these to the firefighter’s breakfast?” she asked suspiciously.

Rarity’s eyes began to water and she bit her lip.

“Y-yes, and we need to go deliver them right away.” She held an even tone as she twisted a tooth into her lip. Sugarcube thought for a few moments, she seemed poised to throw another unrelated question at Rarity. She squinted her eyes and rubbed her chin meditatively.

“Ok!” And she pranced out the door. A drop of blood rolled down Rarity’s mouth and hung at her chin, they seriously did shit like that just to piss her off.

Outside it was humid as shit and Rarity lead the two fillies through the dense crowd of Ponyvillians. She only needed to get them to the bakery, then they could flutter out into the air and away from her. She led them towards the commotion. Rarity stopped suddenly, they weren’t behind her anymore. She whirled around.

Pinkie Pie and Sugarcube had apparently included delivery…to every table. The neon ponies were shooting around the tables like pinballs, pouring syrup on each plate. Rarity lifted a hoof to run after them, then stopped. It was perfect, they’d deliver the syrup, and she could go back inside without having to deal with their horrible antics. Slipping quietly to the door of the bakery, Rarity made her escape. The unicorn smiled to herself, even in her annoying little way, Pinkie was good for something.

Rarity closed the door and took a deep breath, that hadn’t been so bad.

“Hey, Sonny wants us to make some pancakes now.” Dash had already started the griddle and the forged iron platform was radiating heat. Rarity nodded tiredly and began another batch of batter. She knew she was wearing out her painkiller ahead of schedule.

Pancakes were painful when done correctly. When done incorrectly, they were downright tormenting. Preparing them was easy, the hard part was flipping and serving them. In a few minutes, the two had polka-dotted the griddle with batter circles. Rainbow Dash eased a spatula beneath a pancake, her hoof came near the surface of the griddle.

“OW!” The spatula fell with a clatter as Rainbow Dash recoiled from her burn. Rarity picked up the spatula and deftly flipped the pancake.

“Pancakes suck, you gotta learn how to flip ‘em fast.” She explained.

“How do you not get burned?” Rainbow Dash asked incredulously.

“Heh, I do, but only lightly.” Rarity poked the finished pancake. “These things aren’t meant to be made with hooves.” Dash narrowed her eyes and made another try for a pancake. She slid the spatula under the next gooey circle. Her blue hoof kissed the griddle and she yelped again. The pancake splattered across the floor.

“Ah, sorry, that’s hard.” She apologized. Rarity shrugged and threw her a towel.

“Takes a while to learn.” She slid another pancake off the hot griddle and tossed it onto the platter. She motioned to a singed portion of her hoof. “See, that’s the only part that you need to touch the metal with. Of course, I’d use my horn, but the damn things are too tricky to use magic on.” Dash looked up from the floor where she was wiping the doughy mess.

“Pancakes suck.” Rarity laughed.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash fought through the next hour as a team. Together they managed to make enough pancakes to satisfy the remaining breakfasters. Rainbow Dash never quit, she could splatter a hundred pancakes across the floor, yet she would always wipe each one up and begin again. Rarity was glad to see that Dash hadn’t lost her drive. She seemed to have lost a lot of things in the Blast.

Rarity’s chest was stiff and stinging and Dash’s hooves were blackened and almost hairless; but at long last they were finished. Sonny came in and informed them that they could begin to clean up.

“Hey, you want to catch something to eat?” Rarity asked as she shoved the accursed griddle back into its corner.

“Sure!” Dash replied while dusting flour from her body.

The pair left the bakery with the thanks of Mr. Salukas and an extra two hundred bits each. It was around two in the afternoon and the two bakers pondered where to go.

“Any suggestions?” Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash. The Pegasus shook her head.

“Not really, I thought you’d know all the good new places.” Rarity laughed cynically.

“Now there’s a contradiction in terms.” She thought for a moment. “I guess we can head to the Café, that place is still pretty good.”

The café was still good. Rarity ordered a baked oat soufflé and was pleasantly surprised by the dish.

“This is good.” She took another bite of the spicy casserole. “I like this, need to come back here.” Dash chuckled as she ate some greens.

“There isn’t a lot you like, is there Rarity?” Rarity snorted.

“Nope.” Dash chewed her hay.

“You like baking though.” Rarity shrugged.

“Ah, not really. It’s ok money and it’s probably the best job for me. Pretty basic stuff mostly.” Dash looked at her plate.

“You, uh, you didn’t go for a job in fashion or anything?” She asked softly. Rarity chuckled, Rainbow Dash still went places most ponies wouldn’t dare, it must be in her blood.

“Nah, kinda got put off my fashion streak after everything went into the can.”

“Oh, I see.” Replied the blue pony.

“How ‘bout you?” Rarity picked her teeth with her fork. “What’s up with the barber job?” Rainbow Dash swallowed a mouthful of hay.

“Oh, you know, didn’t want to hang around Ponyville. After, you know, stuff.” Her voice trailed off and the sounds of the Café engulfed them. “I actually enjoy being a barber, not as much work, but I make as much as I need.” She looked up at Rarity. “I’ve been trying to cultivate some new interests I would say.” Rarity laughed roughly.

“Never heard you say ‘cultivate’ before.” Dash gave her an embarrassed smile.

“You’ve said a lot of words I’ve never heard before either.” Rarity grinned.

“Hehe yeah, I get some strange looks. Ponies around here still don’t think it’s me when they see me.” The image of Snips’ disbelieving countenance floated through her mind. “But I can always convince them.” She added. Rainbow Dash finished the last bite of her food and dropped money for the meal on the table. Rarity tossed it back into her lap.

“Just because I’m foul-mouthed and bitchy mare doesn’t mean you have to pay for me.” Rarity placed her money on the table.

“Please, I can cover myself.” Dash placed a ten tentatively on the wooden table. Rarity blew it into her lap. The Pegasus persisted and laid just a five down.

“Dash, you are approaching the wrong side of Rarity, please take the exit now.” Rarity cautioned. Rainbow Dash bowed her head in submission and pocketed her money. They rose and made their way out of the forest of tables.

Rarity burped in satisfaction.

“That was the best meal I’ve had in ages. Money well spent.” She declared.

“So you don’t like the new places to eat?” Dash asked as they strolled out into the street. Rarity shrugged.

“Well, I went to this place called the Straw Purchase.” She began to chuckle. “Basically, it’s this 40s themed place, and there was this old guy.” She looked over, those innocent eyes sat waiting for the rest of the partially risque story. “Ah, he had a great accent for the time, really realistic you know.”

They toured Ponyville. Up and down the short streets they walked, Rainbow Dash pointed out places that were new to her and Rarity spoke on what she knew. The Blast had made Ponyville’s economy into a sort of Rubik’s Cube of shifting businesses and services. With the influx of new and soon closing businesses, along with her general disinterest with the town, Rarity had trouble identifying the ages of the stores.

“I’m pretty sure that was always there.” Dash said as they gazed at a black and white sign. Rarity squinted at the board. The swirling cursive letters didn’t jog any memories.

“Really? I don’t think I remember this.” Neither was certain about the age of the candle shop by the soap store, so they investigated further. The interior of the store looked unfamiliar so they decided it was new. The two mares perused the little shop for anything interesting. Rainbow Dash held up a purple cylinder of wax.

“This one says it’s magic scented.” She said, lobbing the heavy candle to Rarity. Rarity took a whiff.

“That’s patchouli, pretty sure Twilight would agree that doesn’t smell like magic.”

“But I wanted my home to smell like magic!” Dash giggled. Rarity pulled another candle off the shelf and tossed it to her companion.

“Try this, your house’ll smell like fresh linen.” Rainbow Dash took a breath of the odorless white wax.

“I guess this linen was washed without fragrance.” She said in amusement. The store owner inserted herself in between the two. She was wax white with a candelabra Cutie Mark.

“Is there anything I can help you two ladies with today?” She asked politely. Dash smiled and shook her head.

“No thank you, we’re just browsing.” Rarity had an idea.

“Actually, do you have a hyper-allergenic section?” The attendant nodded and showed them to a small rack of short candles. “Excellent.” Rarity took one from the rack and popped the lid off. “Holy crap, that has some kick.” She blinked from the rampant fumes. “Ever wanted to know what Luna’s perfume smells like?” She handed the offensive candle to Rainbow Dash, who sniffed it tentatively.

“Gak! Who would want something like this?” The Pegasus asked, clutching her nose. Rarity laughed.

“It’s called ‘Midnight Fantasy’, more like ‘Nightmare fantasy’.”

“Oo, try this one.” Dash gave her a rich red candle. With just a whiff, Rarity’s nose burned from what smelled like festive pepper spray.

“What in the hell is that?” She whispered in disbelief. The Pegasus snickered and pointed to the label. “The hell? That doesn’t smell anything like Passion.” Rarity nudged her friend. “Passion smells like cheap liquor and a pinball machine.” She said in more than a whisper. A few other shoppers looked up at this and Rainbow Dash blushed a little. The attendant again appeared between the two.

“Is there anything you’re looking for?” She asked crossly.

“Oh, no, sorry for disturbing.” Rainbow Dash apologized. The store owner eyed them with disdain, then stepped back to the counter, temporarily pacified. Rarity poked Rainbow Dash.

“You’re good at that. I need you with me more.” Dash smiled hesitantly, unsure if she had been complemented.

Rainbow Dash ended up buying the linen candle, even if it didn’t smell like anything. Rarity suspected it was a silent apology to the store owner, but said nothing. They visited a few more shops, Rarity bought a blanket, and a French press, Rainbow Dash had her candle and a few books on painting. They had had a pretty enjoyable afternoon actually, with Rarity even breaking into a few smiles.

They walked down the street, bags in tow. It was early evening, and the sun was at their backs.

“I haven’t been shopping with somepony in a long time. I still get that girly rush from buying crap.” Rarity confessed with a sheepish laugh.

“Me too, I wish I’d gone shopping more.”

“I forgot that as an underpaid mare, it’s my solemn duty to blow money on things I don’t really want.” Rarity chuckled.

“Ha, right.” Dash agreed.

As they walked down the final stretch of street before ending their loop of Ponyville, Rarity spotted the Apples’ apple stand.

“Speaking of impulse buying, you up for a caramel apple?” She asked her companion. Dash nodded.

“That sounds really good.” Approaching the wooden stand, Rarity saw that Applebloom was manning the family business.

“Well now, I see your sister passed the buck and left you to mind shop on your time off!” She said jestingly. Applebloom had gotten glasses since she left for higher education and her mane was shorter. She looked up in surprise at the two ponies before her. For a moment, she seemed to consider how the two strange ponies knew her.

“Rarity? Rainbow Dash? Is that ya’ll?” She blinked. “Wai it is yew! Comere! Gimme a hug!” She rushed around the cart and struck the two gleefully. “Ah haven’t seen yew two in forever!” She looked Rarity over. “This some kahnda funky new makeover?” Rarity had forgotten that Applebloom had left before her business had closed.

The next few minutes were spent in relating the past few months of each pony’s life. Applebloom listened intently to the older ponies explain their current positions and in turn the baker and barber learned that Applebloom was majoring in construction management. She had been hired as a part time manager in the Sunspot nightclub in Cantorlot.

“Ah can commute to work an’ school!” The student beamed. Dash hugged the filly.

“You’re still the Cutie Mark Crusader I remember!” She said affectionately.

“Well, can’t say as we Crusaders see much of each other these days. Sweetie Belle is still at the conservatory studyin’ like mad. And Scoot is off in Las Pegasus doin’ who knows whut.” Applebloom shrugged.

Rarity hadn’t seen her sister since her business had closed and had not told the filly what had happened. Like always, the sisters kept their lives to themselves. In any case, Rarity was glad that Sweetie Belle was learning; somepony from their family ought to have a good career.

“You know, we really came by for a couple of caramel apples.” Dash said, releasing smaller pony.

“Ah course, how’d ah ferget to ask ya’ll?!”

“Probably too busy studyin’.” Applejack was leaving the building directly behind the stand. “That or seein-” She caught sight of Rarity and Rainbow Dash. “Mah Lord, Rarity! Are ya’ll ok?” She galloped over to the unicorn. “Ah called to Twahlight, but that liquor musta done a number on me cause ah blacked out raght after. Ah’da come to see ya’ll sooner but Taco fell sick and there ain’t been nopony looking over the west fields.” She looked Rarity over. “He didn’t violate y’none did he?” She asked gravely.

“What?!!” Came the simultaneous question from Rainbow Dash and Applebloom. Rarity swallowed nervously.

“Uh, nope.” Applejack seemed relieved.

“Good.” She cracked a coy smile. “Heard y’kicked the shit outta him. Almost wished ah coulda seen it mahself.”

“Who’s she talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked Rarity in confusion. Rarity watched as her lie unfolded.

“Snips, bout a week ago me an’ Rarity were at Hennessy’s.” Applejack explained proudly. “Now ah take my share a’ the blame here, anyway, we were messin’ with him an’ his buddy. An’ ah left a little before Rarity, but then ah saw her stahp and say sumthin’ t’her stallion.” She motioned for Rarity to finish the violent story. Rarity swallowed again.

“Well, um, he said something kind of offensive. And he wouldn’t apologize.” She looked up. Applebloom wore an expression of pure wonder, Rainbow Dash looked confused and AJ was grinning ear to ear. “And I kicked him in the head.” Applebloom’s mouth slowly fell open. “He, well we just fought pretty hard I guess.”

“Broke a couple ribs ah heard.” Applejack said good-naturedly. Rarity nodded in shame, she knew what Rainbow Dash must be thinking.

“Rarity, ah never knew you to do any’thin’ like that.” Breathed Applebloom.

“Well I had had a few drinks at that point.” Rarity explained as logically as possible.

“Ah’m just glad yer fine. Oh hay Rainbow Dash, ain’t seen ya’ll in awhahl!” The older Apple said kindly. Applejack clopped Applebloom on the shoulder. “Need ya’ll insahd, y’gotta point out them non-essential supports.” She turned to the now estranged bakers. “Sorry, we’re thinking a’ buyin’ that there office building for expansion and ah’m getting the layout fahnalized.” She nodded to Dash. “Good seein’ ya Dash, be careful around this gal here, she might kick the shit outta ya’ll!” She said jokingly.

And with that, Applejack strolled back into the building. Rarity stood staring at the door, in a matter of minutes her relationship with Dash had gone to shit, how nice of life to make things short.

“Good seein’ y’guys!” Applebloom called from the door. Rarity waved in dismay. She turned, Rainbow Dash was looking down the street.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I honestly shouldn’t have lied to you, it’s just that the real story was pretty heavy you know?” That was a shitty explanation and Rarity knew it. Dash glanced up at her.

“Oh no, I understand, that’s something a lot of ponies shouldn’t hear.” She said consciously. “I do need to get home though, I might have left the front door unlocked. Thanks for showing me around.” She said with a tiny smile.

Rarity’s heart was already simmering in self-loathing and the Pegasus inadvertently cranked up the heat by trotting up to the white unicorn and hugging her. A despondent Rarity watched her friend stroll down the street.

Why the fuck? Just why the fuck did things have to play out like that? It wasn’t her fault that Rainbow Dash couldn’t handle the knowledge that she had beaten the shit out of a random stallion over a drunken insult. She sighed. But it was her fault for kicking the shit out of that stallion, for getting drunk and picking on a horny loser for fun. It was her fault for not giving a shit anymore.

She walked aimlessly through the town as the sun fell toward the horizon, there was nothing back home, and she had nothing to do in Ponyville. Rarity stopped dead in her tracks, she really needed to get out of this fucking town.

The next day was Sunday and Rarity spent her day off in the best way she knew, with Applejack.

“Gawd, ah’m sorry. Ah shoulda guessed ya’ll couldn’t tell Dashie, that filly ain’t been raght since the Blast.” Applejack threw Rarity a paint can. Catching it, Rarity set the aluminum container by her wall.

“No, it was my fault. I should have left with you and Snails.” She ripped the lid from the can. “But I had to stay and hear him talk shit.” Applejack ran a brush down the puce wall, leaving a frosty white trail.

“Whut’d he even say? Y’aren’t the type to get riled up over bar insults.” AJ asked curiously. Rarity shook her head.

“Just stupid shit, but then he said something about me and the Blast as I was leaving.” Applejack whistled. She chuckled to herself as she dipped her paintbrush again.

“Ah pity the fool.” She said with a touch of humorous sadism.

“Yeah.” Rarity listlessly slapped the wall with her paintbrush.

“Y’don’t blame yerself for whut happened?” AJ asked suddenly.

“What? No! I fucking wish everypony would stop thinking that!” Rarity snapped.

“Sorry sorry! Ah just can’t help but think y’might blame yerself fer what happened. You did a lotta changin’, hell, we all did. Just wanted to make sure y’weren’t stewin’ over somethin’ that ain’t true.”

“Naw.” Rarity sighed and dropped her paintbrush in the can. “I’m just pissed at myself ‘cause I lied to Dash. I didn’t want her to know what happened, she’s, you know.” AJ nodded.

“Lahk ah said. That pony is hurt insahd, she’s-”

“Soft.” They said in unison. Rarity picked up her paintbrush and began again on recoloring the walls of the room.

Sweet Apple Acres had purchased the space and was building it into a studio for Applebloom, the new (and first) head of marketing. It was a spacious studio, with a few brick support beams and those warehouse style windows that actually cost a lot more than regular ones. Strange as it was, Sweet Apple Acres was becoming an enterprise.

“Applejack.” Rarity said after a time. “How do you go on?” The orange pony took a deep breath and laid her paintbrush down on the tarp at her hooves.

“Ah knew this wasn’t a workin’ day.” She said, pulling up a paint can as a seat. “Guess we really haven’t done a lotta talkin’ about whut’s become of ourselves.” She popped her hat from her head and turned it in her hooves. “Nao Rarity ya’ll know ah’m not a philosophy gal, but ah’ll give y’my thoughts.” She thought for a second. “We ain’t who we were.” Rarity snorted, that was the most understated fact she had heard. “That Blast, losin’ somepony like Fluttershy, ain’t nuthin’ natural in that. Now y’look at this town, y’can see how we all hurt different. Mahself, ah still can’t go out to her little cottage.” Rarity nodded in agreement. “Now mah sister, she hasn’t gone to the palace or any of the memorials for the Princess out in Cantorlot. Whut ah’m sayin’ is, we’re all hurt in different places. Damned if ah know whut ah’m supposed to do to make things better.” She shrugged and set her hat atop her heat. “Guess to answer yer question, ah keep goin’ bah just gittin’ outta bed every mornin’. Wai? Cause ah gotta family depends on me, ah don’t have a better reason, but ah don’t need one.”

“But how do you get out of bed knowing about how shitty this town is and how screwed up the recession makes things, and how do you stand all the ponies in denial?” Rarity asked. AJ chuckled.

“Not sure alla those are problems fer me. Look, Rarity, nopony knows better’n ah do whut yer’ goin through. Ya’ll gotta lot of good reasons to hate this town. And getting’ a job as a baker and losin’ yer accent, and takin’ up swearin’ and drinkin’, alla that makes sense to me. Damned if it ain’t strange at tahms, but ah understand where yer’ comin’ from.”

“Applejack, I haven’t really explained why I fell from grace, if you will-” Rarity interjected.

“It’s cuz yer’ depressed.” Applejack said precisely. Rarity stopped. “Y’lost yer’ life, all those years of doin’ fashion, gone to hell. Don’t know many ponies who take well to that.” She looked up at Rarity. “Whut ah’m sayin’ is, y’need somethin’ new. Y’need somethin’ that the new Rarity wants to do. Maybe that thing is bakin’, maybe that thing is motherin’ Dash, Lord knows she needs another pony to lean on. Whutever that thing is, it’s gotta be somethin’ ya’ll want. Y’know ah don’t make it a habit a’sayin somethin’s gotta be a certain way, but yew changed, and ya’ll need t’fahnd out whut it is the new yew wants t’do. If y’don’t, yer gonna keep goin’ back to Hennessy’s and kickin’ the shit outta Snips cause y’aint got nuthin’ y’lahk t’do.” Rarity was silent.

Applejack was a farm pony, one who didn’t know the quadratic formula, or what kind of dress looked good in deep moonlight. Applejack didn’t know how to seduce, or how to calculate the time based on the position of the sun. She was neither a ladylike mare, or learned scholar. Rarity sniffed, Applejack was a fucking genius. Tears beginning to roll down her cheeks and she leaned in and clutched the uneducated genius tightly.

“Thanks.” She whispered. Applejack patted Rarity’s mane.

“Nao nao, ya’ll knew alla that ‘fore ah said it.” Rarity released her and wiped her eyes.

“Yeah, but I never realized that I needed to find something I liked as much as dressmaking. I just figured that that was it for my life, once design was gone, I’d just settle for the best life I could find.” Applejack smiled and picked up her brush.

“There’s a lot more Rarity under there than the frou-frou one who made them beautiful dresses.” She said, poking Rarity’s ribs with the wooden handle.

But what did Rarity want? Nothing seemed to appeal to her. She thought about it for a few hours as they eventually painted the entire studio. She had spent so much time not giving a shit about anything that she had lost interest everything it seemed. Rarity wondered if there was something she could love anymore.

“Here’s sumthin’ fer yer’ troubles.” Applejack tossed her some folded bills as they gathered up the tarps. Rarity remembered the matter of the bar tab, but said nothing. “So whut are y’up to nao?” Asked the paint splattered Applejack. Rarity shrugged.

“I really don’t know, I basically just waste time until I work next.” She admitted.

“Whut ya’ll need is a hobby.” Applejack surmised.

What kind of hobby could she take up?

Rarity walked out into the street, it was overcast and another storm was coming. Well, at least she could waste the remainder of the day packing up her camp in preparation for the rain.

The rain came, it drenched everything and forced Rarity into her crate for the night. She awoke compressed and cramped, her chest felt as if it would break again if she straightened her back. She slid out of the crate and into the damp grass. Her chest shouted in pain as she arched her back. Yet she was healing well, the pills were lasting longer and the tightness didn’t choke her quite so much. She popped muffin into her mouth and headed for work. Only one more week of quarter pay.

She thought about a hobby as she trekked to the bakery; what could interest her? As she mantled the stone fence separating her fields from the town, it came to her. She could take care of Rainbow Dash. She was the most likeable of any of her old friends and Rarity felt more than a bit of pity for the nervous Pegasus already. She would take care of Dash and be her friend; that idea actually sounded likeable.

She had already formulated a plan of earning back the Pegasus’ trust by the time she reached the little brick building. Rarity eased the door to the oven room open, Rainbow Dash was hunched over the hood of the oven. She acknowledged Rarity respectfully.

“Hello there.” Rarity had more than just apologizing to do, she had to pull a hermit out of her shell. But she was going to try and make it up to Dash. New Rarity wanted to be Dash’s friend.

“Hey Dash.” Apologize first. “I’m sorry about lying to you, that was pretty shitty of me. I really didn’t want to scare you by telling you I got into a fight with a random guy.” Dash smiled forgivingly.

“Oh that’s alright, I get it.” Was she serious? Rarity paused with uncertainty.

“So, um, you want to hang out after work? Maybe we could look at that model of yours?” She advanced.

“Sure!” There was submission to her response; the hermit wasn’t coming out easily. Applecrisp entered.

“Y’all gotta take a load a’ crates to the farm, we got full up.” Perfect, that would give Rarity the chance to pry out the reclusive Pegasus. They soon splintered the crates and saddled up. On the way, Rarity thought for a way to recover Dash’s graces. She tried acting like nothing had happened.

“So, Applejack bought this huge studio for Applebloom, that filly is going to be head of her marketing. I can’t get over how surreal that is.” Rarity related.

“That’s pretty weird alright.” Dash said half-heatedly. Rarity went another route. Maybe confronting the lie and getting it out there would be good.

“So yeah, this guy, it was Snips, don’t know if you remember him. Anyway, I tackled him, that’s what broke my ribs.” She tossed her head triumphantly. “Still beat the crap out of him.” She looked at Dash, who was looking down the road.

“Wow, that’s pretty intense.” She didn’t even try for enthusiasm.

“So, did you hear, I’ve been doing some side work for Twilight. Helping her read these ledgers, they were written by this old guy, the director of Pegasi-” Rarity stopped, this was a one pony interaction. “Yeah, anyway, he’s pretty funny.” She shortly concluded. Dash looked at her.

“Oh yeah? How so?” Asked the Pegasus, sensing Rarity’s frustration. Fuck you Rainbow Dash, fuck you. Rarity shrugged.

“Just gotta know him.” They walked down the road for a time, Rainbow Dash watching the trees pass by and Rarity silently fuming at her co-worker’s refusal to engage in simple conversation. Eventually they neared the gate. Rarity threw a hoof into the intercom, which cut her, again.

“Helllllllo?” It sounded like Applebloom.

“Applebloom, this is Rarity. We have some wood to drop off, let us in.” Between her Dash’s bullshit and her bleeding hoof, Rarity struggled to remain calm.

“Wai shure!” The staticy box replied. In a moment, the wrought iron gate creaked open and they walked inside. The front yard was full of those strange ponies. The shaggy animals shuffled back and forth soundlessly across the dusty yard. Most carried baskets or crates of apples and a few shuttled farm tools.

“Who are they?” Dash whispered. Oh, so fucking immigrant workers are apparently something she found interesting? Rarity wasn’t about to get all fun and chatty if Rainbow Dash only talked when she felt like it.

“Just the ponies that work at Sweet Apple Acres.” Rarity’s voice was indifferent, just like Dash’s had been. She looked for Applebloom. The filly emerged from the crowd of workers and smiled sunnily at the two.

“Wai, to whut do ah owe this visit?”

“We just have some wood to drop off, it’s part of a deal with the bakery. If you don’t believe me-” Rarity said defensively.

“Course ah believe ya.” Applebloom replied cheerily. “Where do ya’ll need t’get to?”

“The main barn, do you have the code?” Rarity asked impatiently.

“Aw, sorry, sis keeps it in her office. Why don’t ya’ll come insahd and take a load off?” Applebloom invited.

“Ok!” Dash trotted naively into the house alongside Applebloom. Rarity groaned inwardly and followed them.

Dark, dank and creepier than a farmhouse should ever be, the building set Rarity on edge. Even after countless visits to the building, Rarity still couldn’t shake the feeling of fear that accompanied the structure. As they stepped inside, Rarity caught a glimpse of Dash’s apprehensive countenance, she was definitely scared. That was a little gratifying for the vindictive unicorn.

“Ah know whut yer’ thinkin’.” Applebloom waved to the extremely dim bulbs. “But it’s the only way granny can bear the light.” She was eager to follow avoid further explanation. “Lemme show ya’ll the basement, tha’s become the new office.” The basement? Oh that’s right, better put the most successful pony for hundreds of miles in the basement and her decrepit grandmother in the upper level. Rarity had trouble understanding the Apples’ assessment of priorities. They passed through the kitchen and came to an awkwardly placed door that sat behind the dinner table. Applebloom led Rarity and the lightly spooked Rainbow Dash down a flight of ancient wooden stairs. The stairs creaked and were of course dusty and spotted with spider webs. The only light came from the doorway behind them and as they began to sink into the blackness, Rarity herself began to spook a little. Applebloom vanished into darkness completely for a moment and Rarity heard her fumble for the light switch. The lights in the basement were full power, and Rarity blinked for several seconds as she tried to adjust to the light.

Applejack’s office, Rarity scarcely believed this room was a part of the house. Rich green carpet, crisp white walls, a massive black desk, the room was the only part of the house that reflected the family income. Applebloom proudly displayed the spacious workplace with a grand sweep of her hoof.

“This is where sis makes the magic happen!” Rarity was in awe, Applejack was a professional businesspony, a living and breathing businesspony. She had known it before, but standing her office, Rarity saw just how successful her friend was.

The unicorn surveyed the desk, papers and pens were scattered amidst a sea of sticky notes, it struck her as she looked over all of the responsibilities Applejack now held: She had traded places with Applejack, now she was the blue collar workhorse, and Applejack was the bigshot expert of her field.

That took her back, back to when Applejack was the absolutely unkempt farmer girl who tracked mud into her workroom. Rarity lifted a hoof, a little blood from her cut had stained the carpet. Just six months ago she was creating sleek designs for the elite and Applejack was kicking apple trees. Six months ago she had her life. What happened?

“Wow.” Came Dash’s quiet voice.

Rarity looked back. Rainbow Dash was surveying the room in pure wonder, her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly agape. The blue Pegasus was the perfect image of innocent wonder. A sort of happiness crept over the white pony and disintegrated the frustration from being spurned. There was a lot more for Rarity than just making clothes. She had a friend to take care of.

“Got it!” Applebloom had pushed a few probably important papers off of the table as she lifted an orange sticky note from the leather desk. She noticed the admiration on the faces of her friends. “Yeah, nahce isn’t it?”

“I never thought Applejack would have an office like this.” Rainbow Dash breathed in awe.

“Oh yeah, reminds me.” Applebloom dug in a drawer and tossed Rarity some rubber banded bills. “AJ said this’d cover her part, she said sumthin’ bout ya’ll cheatin’ on yer third point.” Rarity chuckled.

“Tell her thanks and that I won fairly.” Applebloom nodded, unsure of either cryptic message.

The barn smelled horrible, it was, after all, packed with sweaty workhorses. Rarity saw Macintosh directing workers around the steaming still. He flicked his head in recognition and continued to order the chaos. If Applejack were around, then there’d be something to see Rarity thought in amusement as she watched Macintosh sling a 30lb bag of apples into the still. Rarity mindlessly shuffled her load of broken crates onto the floor of the barn. She had done the work countless times before and gave no thought to the wood.

“Ouch!” Cried Rainbow Dash. She picked a splinter out of her hoof with her teeth. “Why doesn’t Applecrisp ever help you with this?” She asked angrily. There it was, the thing that they could talk about. Rarity had found the first step in their relationship.

“Lemme tell you on the way back.” Rarity’s voice oozed with anticipation. An expression of curiosity and of course, interest, crossed Dash’s face.

“Well, basically it’s like this. Applecrisp and Applejack hate each other.” Rarity began once they had sufficiently distanced themselves from the gates of the farm.

“What?! Why? Applejack loves everypony in her family!” Dash said disbelievingly.

“Yeah! I know, but for some weird reason, she can’t stand Applecrisp. Back when she moved to Ponyville, I remember Applejack running into her into the street. I was just getting groceries, so couldn’t get any closer. I just remember them standing in the middle of the street like something from Appleossa.” Rarity leaned over to her friend. “I don’t know what their problem is, but they badmouth each other all the time.”

“You think something is wrong with Applecrisp?” Rainbow Dash offered. “I mean, Applejack usually has a good reason when she hates something.”

“Yeah, I got no idea. I mean, like, Applecrisp is pretty cool around the bakery. She doesn’t talk much and does good work.”

“Does she get mad at all?”

“No, honestly, she’s pretty chill. I haven’t seen her get pissed or anything.”

“That’s crazy, does anypony else see it?” Dash asked. Rarity thought for a moment.

“No, I mean, Salukas doesn’t really give a shit. And Applecrisp pretty much stays away from everypony else.” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

“Where does she live?” She asked cautiously. Rarity realized that she had no idea where the mare she had worked with even lived.

“I…have no idea.” Rarity responded slowly. Silence, as the two ponies looked at one another.

It had been a long time since Rarity had had a gossipy and speculative discussion about another pony and she enjoyed it immensely. The pair postulated for the rest of the trip. Maybe Applecrisp was a distant cousin, born into a family feud and now she had come to Ponyville and Applejack and she held an unsteady truce. Maybe the feud was generations old, maybe nopony even knew what it was about. Maybe Applecrisp was from Appleoosa and maybe she still felt bitter about Applejack settling with the compromise with the buffalo. Dash suggested the perhaps Applecrisp was jealous of her cousin’s newfound wealth and she had tried to nose into Applejack’s affairs and Applejack had snubbed her, causing the fallout. Their armchair analysis continued all throughout their trip back to the Lone Star.

“And maybe, she’s planning on-” The back door of the bakery swung open and Rainbow Dash stopped short.

“And here she is! Your little prodigal!” Ana’s voice rang with triumphant sarcasm as she called back into the interior of the building. Rarity had forgotten how, “built” Mrs. Salukas was. The workmare towered over the two ponies and looked fiercely at Rarity. “Finish your errand?” She asked with unabashed hostility. The horse glanced at Rainbow Dash. “Oh, I see you brought a friend, that must have been what kept you. Go, work to recoup our lost time.” Rarity balked, then started into the bakery. Rainbow Dash began to follow, but Ana dropped an oversize hoof in her path. “Anypony who doesn’t work here has no place near the flour. The mites in this rotten building steal enough on their own.” Rainbow Dash cowered and stood mute before Ana.

“But, she.” Rarity swallowed unexpectedly. “Does work here.” Ana turned her fervor onto Rarity.

“No, she does not. I know who works here.” She frowned, past her default frown. “You made a mistake lying to me Rarity.” She said contemptuously.

“I, pay her to help me.” Rarity paused. “She’s just working here for the rest of the week.” Ana was livid.

“You brought this Pegasus into the bakery?!! Without my husband’s consent?!!” She demanded in outrage.

“No no! He was fine with it!” Rarity knew she had just thrown Mr. Salukas to the dogs, but the words tumbled out despite. Ana was breathing heavily and Rarity watched as her nostrils flared in what could best be described as unholy fury. Ana’s gaze snapped back into the bakery and without another word, she brushed by Rarity and sought out poor Sonny. Rarity looked to Rainbow Dash, who still stood frozen in a mixture of disbelief and terror.

“Hey, sorry about that.” Rarity held out a hoof. “That’s Ana, Mr. Salukas wife, she’s pretty.” Rarity laughed nervously. “Pretty overbearing.” Rainbow Dash unfroze a little and gulped down some air.

“I honestly thought that was him.” Dash related shakily. “I nearly said sorry sir.” Rarity descended into uncontrolled cachinnation, it was really good to be back with RD.

Chapter 5

Chapter V

Rarity licked her lips, the glow from her horn shone too much.

“Get me a towel.” She said from beneath the haze of her focus.

“What? Why? You’re not sweaty.”

“I need to darken the glow from my horn, it’ll mess up my strokes.” The brush was one hair, Rarity didn’t even know they made brushes that small. However, it was the only size small enough to paint individual letters on a sign less than an inch in size.

Rainbow Dash dropped a worn blue dishrag beside Rarity.

“There you go.”

“Ok listen, you need to CAREFULLY cover my horn with that towel. Don’t get it in my eyes.” Rarity instructed. “Or my mane.” She added. She wasn’t going to have a newly trimmed mane infused with whatever had been mopped up last in Rainbow Dash’s kitchen.

“What?!” RD asked in disbelief.

“I’m on A here, I can’t break my concentration, we’re in too deep!” Rarity shouted.

“Well, alright, if you say so.” Rainbow Dash answered skeptically, lifting the towel tentatively. In a second the cloth touched her mane and judging by the odor, Rarity guessed that Rainbow Dash had been cooking with garlic when she utilized this particular dishrag.

“Get it off, get it off!” She protested.

“Quit twitching!” Rainbow Dash replied through clenched teeth, which held the offending cloth. Rarity sucked her breath in and made herself a statue. She felt the dishrag settle onto her horn, the glare dimmed and she exhaled fully. With the same precision that had scored the letters: L O N E S and T, she crossed the center line in A and dipped the single-haired brush in the miniscule paint dish by her nose.

“Ok.” She licked her lips again. “One more.” Dash watched in apprehension as Rarity slid the hair down the grey sign. The base line stood strong Rarity noted. Now for the tricky part, she curved the P-like portion of the letter R. With a decisive swipe, she finished the R and pulled back quickly so as not to mar the perfection she had just authored. “THERE WE GO!” Rarity declared as she tossed the brush triumphantly across the kitchen.

“Let me see!” Rainbow Dash craned her neck to inspect the minute lettering. She whistled. “You’re good Rarity.” Dash said with the upmost respect. Well of course she was good, anypony who looked closely at her work could see she made a habit of the highest quality.

“Well, I try.” Rarity smiled with overestimated modesty. Rainbow Dash carefully lifted the paint dish and set it in the sink.

“That’s the end of that.” She stated proudly. “I think my next area will be the clock tower.” Rarity looked at the rough wooden rectangle which indicated the large clock tower in the center of Ponyville.

“You’re going to need the dimensions.” She noted.

“Yeah, I haven’t gotten that far.” Dash picked up the paintbrush, which had left a threadlike trail of paint on the floor from its impromptu flight.

“You’ll have lots of time after tomorrow.” Rarity pointed out.

“Ha, yeah, you’re right.” Her friend didn’t sound overly excited, Rarity couldn’t blame her. They had gotten pretty close over the past week, and actually managed to make the work fun.

“I’ll probably have to take like, three trips each time I come over to detail the buildings.” Rarity reminded optimistically.

The two weeks had gone fast and Rarity’s chest felt a world better. She had stopped the pills and was pretty much able to carry out business as usual. Tomorrow Rainbow Dash left the bakery and neither pony was enjoying that prospect. Rarity stood and yawned. They had been painting the model for two hours.

“You got anything to drink? I’m thirsty as heck.” Rainbow Dash gestured to the refrigerator.

“Yeah, help yourself.” Rarity hunted around in the cold chamber and managed to recover a container of milk. Pouring herself a glass, she quaffed the creamy liquid and smacked her lips.

“There we go.” She said in satisfaction. “I would have really preferred something stronger though.” She said with a grin. Rainbow Dash giggled in embarrassment.

“Sorry, I don’t have any of that.” She said apologetically.

“Yeah I know I know.” Rarity pointed a hoof at her. “But I’m going to win you over, you’ll see. I’ll make you fill your fridge with the hardest cider Sweet Apple Acres has. You’ll see, all it’ll take is one Friday night at Hennessy’s with me and Applejack.” Rarity predicted. The Pegasus looked at her model.

“Yeah.” Her voice was subdued. “We’ll see.”

It had been two weeks and Rarity had gotten to know the new Rainbow Dash, well, better than she had before at least. While she was quiet as fuck, RD still had that snarky sense of humor that Rarity recalled fondly. They had spent some truly fun hours in the oven room together, talking about everything from stallions to the state of Equestria. Activities were pretty much hit or miss, as Rainbow Dash politely refused many ideas for no better reason than simply “No, thank you, I don’t feel like it.” The model had at least proven to be a connecting point and Rarity had made it a point to aid her in painting the rapidly materializing work.

“So, do you want me to pay you in ones or something? Make you feel rich?” Rarity asked in an entirely random thought. Dash giggled, this time in actual humor.

“No, I was actually thinking you could just keep helping me with the detail painting and we could call it even.” Rarity shook her head.

“Not gonna happen. You’re getting three fourths of my pay for two weeks and I’m helping you for free.”

“I can’t just take service from you that you would have charged for.” The light blue mare said in quiet indignation.

“Ha, that’s advantage of being the only player in the market, you get to set the price however you like.” Rarity laughed. Dash said nothing, but looked back at her model.

There was still that shitty streak of charity that everypony had, it always fucked things up.

“Well, uh, I better get going. Don’t want to be late for work.” Rarity forced a smile and walked to the door. Rainbow Dash followed her.

“Thanks for coming by and helping with my project.” The Pegasus said gratefully as she stepped into the cool night.

“Yeah, no problem. I’ll stop by again soon and help you with the tower.” Rarity said with a smile.

“It’s fine, I can do it myself. I don’t want to make things awkward by continually offering you money.” Rainbow Dash said as she gave Rarity a light hug. Rarity couldn’t think of a reply, what the hell could she say to that? She simply departed with a nod. Things hadn’t ended on a high note tonight.

The air was perfect and Rarity walked through the fields of grass at a comfortable pace. The heat of the day had cooled and the grasses gently swayed around the unicorn.

Ah Rainbow Dash, you don’t make things easy do you? They were friends, well, most of the time, Rarity thought. But there were times, like tonight, when the blue mare would have some bizarre or stupidly inconvenient idiosyncrasy that made things unbelievably difficult. Rarity took a deep breath and let it out slowly, she was still going to be Rainbow Dash’s friend. It was still pure joy hanging around the Pegasus, she was still quick on the draw, not full of shit and a smart pony. In a strange and probably twisted way, Rarity kind of enjoyed the shy new Pegasus. In a messed up way, Dash was sweetly adorable and unassuming, which made Rarity feel morally rewarded every time she hung out with her. As far as something that “the new Rarity wanted”, spending time with Dash was pretty fun. But there were still occasions when the forcefully introverted Rainbow Dash retreated back into her shell of submission with seemingly no provocation and left Rarity awkwardly searching for a means to gain her back. Rarity would still take the brash old Dash back in a heartbeat. But it was now clear that she had died in the Blast. New Rainbow Dash was quiet and shy and there wasn’t a thing Rarity could do to change that.

At any rate it was a start, a start on the path of finding the new Rarity. A Rarity that cared for her emotionally scarred friend. The unicorn had decided that the new Rarity was going to just start with caring, then see where she could go from there. It was a good plan and Rarity was sure she was on the right track to finding something that she would truly enjoy as her life purpose. Seven months after the Blast and she was starting over.

The next morning came with a sprinkle of rain. Just great, now her sheets were wet. Rarity slung the damp sheets over a tree branch and picked the mold from her breakfast muffin. Given that seventy five percent of her pay was going to Rainbow Dash and that she had spent twenty bits on the molding muffins, Rarity didn’t have a lot of breakfast options available. Predictably, the muffin tasted like snail scum and she quickly downed the foul breadstuff. On her way to work, she happened across Spike, who was carrying a satchel full of books. He spotted her and jogged over.

“Hey Rarity! Twilight says we’re going to take that trip in like three weeks! Can you make it?” He asked in excitement. She had forgotten about the trip. Another great surprise for new Rarity.

“Heh, yeah, I think I can clear off my schedule.” She replied with a grin.

“Hey, did you get in a fight or something?” He asked in curiosity. “I remember a few weeks back and Twilight said she had to get you out of a fight or something, I was asleep I think.” She laughed and slapped him on the back.

“Yeah, it was no big deal, I’ll tell you later. I gotta get to work now.” She started again toward the Lone Star, leaving him in the street. There was no way she was going to risk telling Spike about her altercation. He was too innocent for that.

“Oh, ok then, I’ll just update you on the trip status some time.” He called to her. She entered the Lone Star. Applecrisp was in the oven room with Rainbow Dash. They were mixing an inordinate amount of dough.

“Ah’m here to help with pretzels, retirement home ordered 500 by the day’s end.” Applecrisp said blankly. Dash smiled to Rarity.

“Looks like Sonny is going to get one more full day of work from me.”

“Ha, yeah. He knows he’s not paying you, better get as much out of you as he can.” Rarity joked.

“Y’call him Sonny?” Asked Applecrisp abruptly.

“Yeah, sometimes. Kinda depends.” Rarity answered. Applecrisp shrugged.

“Ah’m gonna get the salt.” She said with disinterest. Rainbow Dash and Rarity exchanged surprised glances as she left. Applecrisp had asked a question, which technically counted as engaging in a conversation. The mute blue mare that they worked with had proven to be an inexhaustible source of conversation for the pair.

“Found out where she lives?” Dash whispered.

“Not yet.” Rarity replied.

For seven tiring hours they made dough, folded dough, and salted dough. Rarity’s horn became weak and sluggish and at about hour five she went to her hooves. Rainbow Dash kept licking her lips, which were chapped from the salt dust that saturated the air. And even stoic Applecrisp wiped some sweat from her knit brow, a sure sign of a heavy workload. The last of the pretzels were browning in the oven and the three bakers were slumped tiredly over the counter when Mr. Salukas popped his head in the door.

“Ah, girls, the three of you need to get those pretzels over to the retirement village now. Ana and I will manage the shop. Saddle up and get them there before they are cooled.” He said with urgency.

Fuck, why didn’t anypony ever pick their order up? Oh that was right, no Ponyville pony wanted to pick up something that will be delivered for free. Rarity knew that pennypinching was the only counter that Ponyville took to the recession. She really hated Ponyville.

They packed their saddlebags with the still-hot pretzels and exited the oven room. Ana halted the procession by the door.

“Hold on.” She pointed to Dash. “Your last day will no doubt be the day you steal something.” Rarity looked on in horror as Ana literally reached down and picked up the little Pegasus and looked over her entire body. She held the blue pony up and looked over her underbelly, giving anypony walking by outside a view of Dash that other businesses would have charged for. A sickly embarrassing pause descended as they waited awkwardly for Ana to finish her inspection. Dash’s cheeks turned bright red and Rarity frowned, as if to say that she held no power in the situation. Sonny was in the back, he probably didn’t want to be around for the shameful inspection. Rarity glanced over at Applecrisp, there was the slightest indication of a smirk on her face. Rarity blinked, was that a smirk?

“There isn’t enough of you to hide something.” Ana said with a chuckle as she set Rainbow Dash back down. She slapped the “clean” worker across the back. “I’m pleased Rarity chose such a good worker. But in any case I hope to not see you again in my kitchen.” Rainbow Dash looked about ready to cry. “Go, this is your last work here.” She pointed to the door and the all three beat a hasty exit.

“I’m really sorry.” Rarity put a hoof around her humiliated friend. “She’s fucking crazy, she did that to me when I started.” Applecrisp spat some hay she was chewing onto the gravel road.

“Ah don’t remember that.” She said flatly.

“It’s ok, it’s fine.” Rainbow Dash sniffed. She wiped her eyes and straightened herself. “So, is your chest all better?” Rarity proudly thumped a hoof into her side.

“Like ninety percent better.” She grimaced. “Doing that still hurt and I’m now regretting it, but you get my point.” Rainbow Dash laughed and the new Rarity felt wonderful for cheering her friend up. Applecrisp yawned.

“Hey, did you ever buy that stock from Sugarcube Corner?” Rarity asked. The confectionary seemed to bother Rarity less when she was with Dash.

“Something lahk that.” Came the curt reply.

“Did, did uh, it turn out to be a good investment?” Rarity asked.

Applecrisp was indifferent, even more so than usual. She didn’t even reply to this.

“Maybe you should get some, might help you afford expensive help like me.” Dash teased.

“Oh no, I have too much money actually. That’s why I work at the bakery, it’ll reduce my excess.” Rarity responded sarcastically. Applecrisp walked a little faster.

“Heh, you should try cutting manes, that’ll probably reduce your extra cash even faster.” Their banter continued. Something about her gait gave Rarity the impression that Applecrisp was pissed about something. But, per norm, the deep blue mare said nothing and kept pace as usual.

They came to the retirement home. Rarity had never been inside of the institution before. The walls were white vinyl and there was a musty and shitty odor to the place. It was sort of like meatloaf and some industrial soap or something. Rarity approached the check-in desk or whatever it was.

“Hey, um, got some pretzels.” The attendant looked down, she was a plain grey mare wearing a white overcoat. “We, er, we’re from the Lone Star bakery?” The attendant waited a second after Rarity finished, making Rarity feel like she had misspoken.

“Yes, I’ll escort you to the kitchen, this way please.” The grey mare said primly. The attendant, clearly not a social pony, led them down the ghastly halls with no further explanation. Rarity hated retirement homes, they had absolutely sickening decoration and the residents were all old and nasty. Applecrisp didn’t seem to care, that surprised Rarity as much as it ever did. Dash however, seemed on edge and kept looking into rooms as they passed them. Most were empty, apparently a lot of ponies had died this week. A few rooms held bed-ridden horses and ponies, they looked like multicolored prunes staring out of white bed wrappers. Rarity was glad when they finally reached the aluminum doors of the kitchen.

“Place them in the bin marked specialty breadstuffs please.” The attendant said tartly as she unlocked the door. An industrial kitchen, Rarity looked about her, everything was geared for generating mass meals. All around her sat giant mixing bowls, massive metal refrigerators and of course, palates of pudding cups. A milky white bin with the label “Specialty breadstuffs” scrawled in sharpie sat next to an oven. It reeked of old bread and probably mold. Rarity began to pour her saddlebag into the bin.

“This place is awful.” Dash said dolefully as she handed Rarity her pack.

“I know, let’s just get this done and get out of here.” Rarity agreed urgently. They emptied both of their packs and turned to Applecrisp. The blue pony was leaned against a metal table and chewing a drinking straw she had evidently picked up. Without a word, she dumped her saddlebags into the almost full bin. With a deft flick of her head, she tossed the straw into the bin amidst the pretzels.

“Hey, why’d you do that?” Dash asked in surprise. Applecrisp shrugged.

“Wai not?”

“Because ponies are going to eat those pretzels!’ Dash protested meekly.

“Thatta fact.” Applecrisp turned to leave. She was definitely pissed about something and Rarity knew that the rich blue mare was waiting for Dash to cross the line. Rarity tossed her head in the direction of the door to signal the proper course of action for the dismayed Pegasus. Yet Rainbow Dash still looked to Rarity, her violet eyes were unsure and pleading. Rarity dropped the lid firmly, nope RD, not going to happen. Rarity refused to piss of her co-worker over moderately unsanitary conduct. Applecrisp opened the door and Rarity followed her. From behind them there came the squeak of a plastic lid and Dash returned to Rarity’s side in a moment. Rarity looked up, Applecrisp continued walking down the hall at her regular pace. Had she heard? Rarity had no idea what Applecrisp was like when she was mad and she really hoped she wouldn’t find out, at least, not in a retirement home with a vulnerable Pegasus beside her.

They shuffled past the desk and to the doors. In a second they were outside and walking back down the road. Rarity still worried about Applecrisp and her unknown temperament. Yet for the entire return trip Applecrisp was silent and kept perfect pace with other two bakers. Her anger seemed gone and it was as if she had never been mad.

In a few minutes they reached the bakery and Applecrisp took the empty saddlebags inside. It was that time.

“Well hey, thanks so much for helping me out.” Rarity said to the discharged Pegasus. Dash nodded and smiled back.

“It was really fun. Thanks for asking me.” They stood for a moment.

“Well, uh, I gotta get back inside. I’ll get your money in like a day, you said you wanted all ones?” Rarity poked. Dash laughed a little.

“Yeah, that’s right.” She turned and started home. Rarity watched her for a moment, then entered the bakery. New Rarity was missing Dash even before she got to the oven room.

Applecrisp wasn’t mad, or if she was, it didn’t matter. She did her job as she always had and communicated properly with Rarity. Things got back to normal after Rainbow Dash left, with Rarity working anywhere she was needed. With her firefighter’s breakfast bonus and a few weeks of normal pay, Rarity purchased actual groceries. Things were still pretty much the same in shitty Ponyville, but Rarity’s life was slowly getting more bearable.

Spike dropped by her crates one night. He trotted up to her as she sat juicing an orange for an herbal cleanse.

“Knock knock!” He said playfully. She looked up, the purple dragon pushed his way through the grass that was nearly as tall as he was.

“Hey hey! Look who it is! Twilight finally let you off the chain?” She laughed. He rubbed his neck.

“Eh, yeah. Anyway, I just dropped by to see if you were ready, you know, for the trip.” She nodded.

“Yep, got all next week off!” She hopped off of her crate and put an arm around him. “So tell me, how are things going in the royal office?” She asked amiably.

“All right nothing really big. Just plugging along I guess. We’re done with ledgers now, thank God. Just, I dunno, trying to figure out how to run a country.” He looked up at her. “Twilight’s really getting burned out, I want this trip to be something special for her, you know?” She pursed her lips knowledgeably.

“I know what you mean. Yeah, we’ll make it special for her, we’ll take her to dinner or something. Maybe the Crystal Café, it’s really good.”

“Mmhm, we’ll do that.” He paused as if trying to decide on something. “I, uh, what I wanted to know is, could you?” He stopped to think. “Could you, just, be careful? I mean, it’s great having you come along and we really want you, just, please be careful.” Rarity was confused by the dragon’s obfuscated request.

“What?” She asked. He looked off into the forest with the expression of someone looking to avoid hurting feelings.

“Just, don’t get in any trouble. I know you don’t go looking for trouble, but, I dunno, just be careful.” She pulled her arm off of him.

“What are you saying?” She asked quietly. He swallowed and scratched his arm.

“Just, I dunno, please-”

“You think I’m going to get into trouble.” She was incredulous. “You think I’m going to embarrass you and Twilight, don’t you?”

“It’s just-” Her voice got louder.

“You didn’t worry about me acting differently back before Twilight was queen.” Spike avoided her gaze.

“A barfight isn’t silly.” He said softly. He had found out. Goddamn it he had found out. Rarity knew she would never hear the end of it.

“Sure isn’t, but I don’t make it a habit of getting into barfights, that was one fucking time.”

“Hey I know, I know! I just wanted-”

“You wanted to be extra careful that I didn’t embarrass you or God forbid Twilight. I guess whatever bad behavior you suspect me of isn’t as big of a problem if you and she aren’t involved.” She interrupted angrily.

“No! No! I just mean that Twilight has been under a lot of stress, and I didn’t-”

“Didn’t want her to have to worry about me getting into mischief.” She finished. “Don’t worry Spike, you won’t have to worry about that. You can take her to Cloudsdale and have a nice vacation all by yourself, I’ve got mischief to get into.” She spat the words with all the gall she could summon. He stepped back. His eyes were full of tears.

“Ok Rarity, ok, you don’t have to come.” His words were choked and he started to run after saying them. She watched him flee, he still ran like a baby dragon, with that cartoonish hop. In a few moments he had vanished into the tall grass.

Goddamn it, he really liked to feel good about that royalty thing didn’t he? She kicked the orange off of her crate, splattering sticky juice everywhere. He had actually come here to ask her to behave, he had. She was Rarity and he was Spike, she had spent four years in the Goddamn Academy of Advanced Arts taking classes on how to behave sociably. He was a fucking dragon, one known for his uncleanliness and bluntness no less. With a sudden onset of rage, she punched the side of her crate. The blow sent shards of agony up her arm and she recoiled back from the pain. Her eyes began to tear, this wasn’t a problem seven months ago. Seven months ago nopony would have worried about Rarity the unicorn acting badly. What happened?

Warm and humid, warm and humid, warm and fucking humid. Ponyville had one kind of summer weather. Actually, stormy as shit was in there too, so there were two kinds of weather in summer for Ponyville. Today was warm and fucking humid and of course, today was Thursday. Rarity was carrying a light load of crates, but it still weighed her down and made the trip substantially worse. Her mane dipped into her eyes and she swatted it angrily. Why the hell did manes grow so fast?

It was two days before the trip and she didn’t give a rat’s ass. After Spike’s little inquiry about her manners, he could go and have the shittiest trip ever. She would have no part in a trip with such an intolerant jackass. She trotted along in her usual misery and came to the gate. Bent on avoiding all manner of cuts, she gently prodded the button of the intercom with her hoof.

“Heyit’sRaritywiththewood.” She recited.

“Hay there Rarity with the wood. Lemme jus’ buzz y’in.” Applejack replied perkily. Rarity walked into the courtyard, Applejack emerged from her house. “Light load?” She asked. The white mare nodded tiredly and made for the barn. She dumped the wood and started back toward the exit without a word to AJ. “Hold on nao.” Applejack put a hoof in her shoulder. “Sumthin’s up, innit?” Rarity sighed and slumped her shoulders gloomily. “Alraght, ah got a new cider in the mah office ah need ya’ll t’try out. Ya’ll come in and tell me whut’s goin’ on.”

“No, I gotta get back to work.” Rarity answered emptily. AJ stood in her way, Rarity was too tired to want to fight the adamant farm pony. She nodded complacently and unhitched herself from the cart.

“Malt cider, ain’t never been done befo’. Should be a game changa. We’re gonna open up a whole new market.” Applejack declared proudly as she handed Rarity a snifter. Applejack collapsed into her leather chair. “Nao what’s eatin’ ya?” Rarity set the glass on a cork coaster atop the stylish leather coffee table and took a seat.

“Just, well, I was going to go on this trip with Spike and Twilight to Cloudsdale. I wanted to get out of Ponyville for a while you know.” AJ nodded. Rarity tossed her mane out of her eyes. “Well, last night, Spike drops by my place.” Her blood began to heat. “He actually asked me to behave on the trip. Like, ‘don’t get into any mischief Rarity’.” She bit her lip in resentment. “Shithead has the balls to tell me-”

“Rarity.” Interrupted Applejack. “Y’can’t fault him. Nao hear me out!” Rarity held her protest by a thread. “Nao, ya’ll gotta realize, yer’ getting’ rough around the edges. First it was yer accent, then it was yer swearing, hell, with that mane y’aint nuthin’ lahk y’were. Getting’ into barfights, hell, even goin’ to a bar; those ain’t things most ponies take to. Nao personally ah don’t mind atal, and if somepony looks down on y’fer fighting or drinkin’, then that reflects on them as much as it does ya’ll. It shure as hell don’t matter t’me how rough of a pony y’get t’be.” She shrugged. “But for Spike, and Twah, they gotta be moar civil ‘bout things, Lord knows they must not lahk always bein’ s’proper, but the system says they gotta be all snooty cause that’s how it works.” Rarity was unconvinced.

“But I KNOW Spike had to feel pretty good about getting to talk down to me. He must have fuckin’ loved getting to tell me to behave. This whole damn town loves being able to look down on me.” Rarity spoke with certainty. She knew that everpony in Ponyville relished her undignified end and of course went to great lengths to condescend her for it.

“Aw, nao, ya’ll know that’s not true. Hell, the boy’s had that crush on ya’ll for the longest time. An’ ah know royalty does funny things to a body and ah bet he’s gotten his fair share a’ power trips, but y’don’t really think he’d enjoy saying that to ya’ll do ya? Ah mean, did he look like he was having fun?” Rarity recalled the events of the prior night and realized just what had happened: he had been crying, she had made him cry. Spike hadn’t enjoyed any of it.

Rarity sighed again.

“I just, I, I’m pissed cause they don’t think I can handle myself when I should. When we go out together, you and me, we kinda accept that something stupid might happen you know? But come on, I know better than to get drunk and act out if I’m with the High Queen of Equestria. I mean, maybe I do screw things up.” The image of her poorly received transcription joke entered her mind. “But I do my best to be as proper as I should with them. I figured they knew that so it hurts to have them remind me.” She said in dissatisfaction. Applejack nodded knowingly.

“Ah know that and ya’ll know that. Y’gotta show the brass that. Wai not use this trip as a way to show how responsible y’are? If they’re worried, y’can use this trip to show them yer class. Make em’ remember ya’ll still know how to behave!” Applejack suggested. Rarity twisted her mouth.

“Kinda told Spike to go fuck himself.” She looked at Applejack. “I don’t think I can just walk back up to him and ask to come along again.”

Applejack laughed.

“Rarity, this is the boy who offered to give y’his kidney in advance, should yers ever fail.” She put her hooves behind her head and leaned back in her office chair. “He’s pretty much the definition of unconditional positive regard. Ah bet if y’let him lick yer hooves and touch himself he’d forgive ya’ll.” Rarity chuckled.

“That is both disgusting and probably true.” She smiled. “God, you should go into psychology or something, you’d be awesome at it.”

“Heh, sweetheart, ah’m just remindin’ y’of things half the time.” Applejack said with a grin. Rarity stood, encouraged and ready to show Twilight and Spike her good side.

“Guess I have some apologizing to do.” She said simply. Rarity turned to leave.

“Wait! Y’ain’t tried my cider!” AJ protested.

“Heh, forgot about that.” Rarity turned back to the coffee table, lifted the amber glass and downed the contents. She coughed and struck her chest. “Ack, what the fuck is this?! It’s like rotten wheat pancakes!” Applejack threw up her hooves in defeat.

“Well, if ahron stomach Rarity won’t drink it, then nopony will.” She said with a grin.

“Just stick to apple cider ok?” Rarity advised jokingly.

“And ya’ll stick to behavin’ like a civil pony ok?” AJ pointed back.

Rarity would, she was new Rarity now, one who cared for her friends and who acted courteously and in a dignified manner. Life was going to get better for her. New Rarity was going to be MUCH more mature, when she needed to be.

Rarity raced back to the bakery in a dead sprint. She had wasted a long time at AJ’s and she knew Mr. Salukas would be pissed if she were late. On the way, she thought about talking to Spike. Poor little dragon, she’d gotten to him more than she had thought. She would lay out a complete and sincere apology for her wanton unkindness. It wouldn’t be easy, but the new Rarity was going to be less of a bitch. She would go to Cloudsdale with Queen Twilight, absolutely awe her with a top floor seat at the Crystal Cafe. She would fucking kill anypony in a battle of manners no question.

She was already practicing her cultured voice when she entered the building.

“Oh, that’s simply the darnedest thing.” She said as she opened the door and beheld an imagined dress. No, not darnedest. What did one say to a good dress again? Mr. Salukas looked up as she walked to the oven room.

“Ah, Rarity, I will need you to cover for Applecrisp up front, she has called in sick.” Sonny tossed her an apron.

Well shit, the one day Applecrisp called in sick was the day she needed to be back in the oven room practicing her manners. Rarity donned the apron and positioned herself behind the register.

“Yeah ok, that’s fine.” She conceded.

“I am going to get Ana, we need all hooves on deck. Keep an eye out.” The brown horse gave her a look of solemn confidence and departed. She heard the back door close and waited for a few seconds. The only noise came from the clock ticking and the crackle of the oven fires.

“Why hello, I am Rarity, I simply adore your shoes.” She spoke to the empty shop. No, complement the clothing. She knocked a hoof against her head, how could she forget so much in five months?

For the next ten minutes, Rarity attempted to practice her culture.

“Why hello, I simply adore your dress, by the way, I am Rarity.” That wasn’t it, name first, then complement. “Why hello, I am Rarity, I simply love your dress!”

“Uhhhhhhh, thanks? I, uh, just, uh, just wanted to see if you guys had any protein breads.” She looked up.

From across the counter, a fire red Pegasus stared at her in confusion. Her mouth went dry.

“I, uh, am glad you like my dress.” He laughed nervously. “I’m Audacity, I just moved here, I was looking for a place to buy protein bread, I work out a lot and thought maybe this place would have some good after workout recovery bread.” Rarity blinked.

Audacity was sleek and smooth, his wings were preened and glossy. He was muscular, but not so much that he looked like one of those veiny workhorses. His Cutie Mark was a spark of red-blue flame that sat on a deliciously firm flank. He sported an unbearably wispy mane that drove Rarity mad for a reason that escaped her. His mane was like Dash’s, except his started red at the base and grew to an orange hue near the end. His eyes were liquid and a pair of deep blue irises sat like two ice cubes floating amidst a flaming complexion of total masculinity. Rarity stared at him with a feeling that would only classify as pure lust. Audacity was cloppable without imagination.

He looked at her in uncertainty.

“Hello? Um, is this place a bakery?” He asked.

“What? Oh yes, sorry!” She laughed loudly.

“Not a problem.” He smiled congenially, barring perfect teeth of course. “It’s probably been slow here.” He surveyed the bread offerings. “Do you carry any high protein breads?” He asked again.

“Ahhh, no idea.” She laughed again. A sort of daze had fallen over her. He knelt and pointed to a generic birdseed style bread.

“That one looks good, can I have a sample?” She nodded vigorously and hacked off a generous slice. Rarity made sure to brush his hoof as he took the sample. He chewed it thoughtfully.

“That’s pretty good.” He said in satisfaction.

“Let me know if you want anything else.” Her voice was breathy and pleading.

“Haha ok!” He took another bite and strolled about the shop. Rarity swallowed, something, no, everything about this stallion was irresistible. She had to know more about him.

“So, uh, you just moved here?” He turned.

“Oh yeah, from west Fillydelphia, born and raised.” She cocked her head, Fillydelphia?

“Yeah, hanging out on the tarmack is how I spent most of my days.” Tarmack? This stallion was a professional flight pony?

“You know, I did a lot of races and got some offers for various things.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “None of ‘em really appealed to me. I really wanted to find a nice place to settle down more than anything.” Wait, he flew races for a living? Rarity felt the ground start to give way beneath her, he was too good to be true. He continued, seemingly uninterested in his story. “Anyway, I had a few runs that went over Ponyville.” He chuckled. “It looks awfully nice from a hundred yards above. So I decided to move here.” He concluded.

“Wow, so, you fly races for a living?” She asked in wonder. He shrugged again and gave her a disinterested frown.

“Yeah, when there’s one that interests me. I do some flight tutoring for some private clients and every now and then I’ll do a bit at a flight show or something.”

“Excuse me? Did you pay for that?” Rarity nearly had a heart attack, Ana was in the doorway. Was everypony sneaking today? Ana approached the Pegasus. “I do not know what my employee may have told you about samples-” She began, preparing to decimate the attractive stallion.

“Oh no, it’s my fault! I just bought that loaf of bread and I wanted a slice before she wrapped it for me. I’m sorry if that’s against the rules.” He said innocently. Ana halted her advance.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry.” She bowed her head apologetically. “I did not know you had purchased your bread.” Rarity stared at Audacity. No way, no pony anywhere could play off Ana the terrible.

Mr. Salukas entered the room carrying a large crate of apples.

“And who is this?” He said cheerfully as he set the heavy crate behind the counter. “Somepony who likes Kachapuri?” Audacity nodded.

“You bet, it’s got enough protein to last an entire day right?”

“Of course! It’s the bread the working pony eats!” Mr. Salukas declared.

“Haha excellent! I burn up a lot of calories in a day and I need to keep going on less food. More hearty stuff!” Rarity watched as Mr. Salukas fell in love with this mysterious pony.

“You are athlete, you have the look of a strong flyer. Wonderbolt, no?” Audacity shrugged.

“Well I fly some, but I’m not into professional stuff. I told them it’s a great program, but it’s just not for me.” HE HAD TURNED DOWN THE WONDERBOLTS? WHO WAS THIS PONY? If Rarity was near to passing out before, she was on the cusp of swooning now. Audacity checked the clock above the menu.

“Well, hey, it was good meeting you guys. Sorry I have to run, I have a tutoring session in fifteen minutes. I’ll be sure and drop by again for some more, Kacha, er, protein bread.” He dropped some money on the counter. He was smart, sexy and could make anypony love him. Audacity was perfect.

“Rarity! Serve your customer!” Ana chastised. Rarity was still staring at the fantasy pony before her. She awoke from her lustful haze and quickly wrapped the loaf in waxed paper and handed it to him.

“Please come again.” She begged the red Pegasus.

“Haha, sure will!” He waved and walked out of the door, taking both a loaf of “protein bread” and Rarity’s heart with him.

The rest of the day was shit and Rarity didn’t care.

She walked out of the bakery carrying some Bobka, the fiery stallion still toying with her mind. The heat of true summer hung thickly in the air. She walked through the sweaty town, considering the burning stallion that had breezed into the bakery.

He was a snake, he couldn’t be anything but a snake. Rarity knew he was a snake, nopony in Equestria could be that smooth and not be a snake. And there was nopony anywhere who turned down the Wonderbolts. Maybe he flew well, but nopony could be good enough and dumb enough to decline an offer from the Wonderbolts.

She shook her head. Of course he was a snake.

Yet delicious Audacity still held with her. She reached her crates, his sleek body still prancing through her mind. She tried to get a hold of herself; he had just been a pony she had met for like five minutes. She splashed some water over her face at the stream. The sun was beginning to set and she watched the firey ball of gas descend into the hill before her.

She had never heard of anypony who turned down the Wonderbolts and certainly not any pony who would want to move to Ponyville based on a view from one hundred yards. He was definitely a snake. She laughed to herself. Audacity, if that was his name, was just blowing through town and was just looking to score some fun for an evening. He had searched for a bit, looking for an attractive mare to “spend some time with”. She smirked to herself, he had tried to go for her. She was just as attractive as the day she stopped spending 300 bits a month on grooming. She returned to her crates and started juicing an orange for another herbal cleanse. She’d see if Mr. Audacity dropped by again tomorrow.

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT! Rarity sat up in bed, she had forgotten to talk to Spike! Stupid Audacity the snake had made her forget about her plans. It was seven in the morning and she had to be at work in an hour. She wolfed down an apple and raced to Twilight’s tree.

Shit shit shit, they were leaving today and she still hadn’t apologized. She flew through the waking town, dodging benches and light posts in her mad dash toward the queen’s home. She needed a miracle. Hitting the door at about fifty miles an hour, Rarity clopped furiously against the bullet-proofed metal. She continued to beat her hoof into the solid surface for some time. Eventually, the door swung open, revealing one of Twilight’s guards. He wasn’t wearing his armor and looked as if he had just been awakened.

“Miss I am going to have to ask you to stop that. Queen Twilight needs her rest.” He said tiredly.

“You don’t understand, I need to talk to her secretary! It’s important!” He looked down at her. Something in his expression suggested that he didn’t trust an unkempt and breathless unicorn demanding an audience with the secretary of the queen at 7:07 A.M.

She awaited a response but instead the door simply drifted closed.

“Let me in dammit!” She shouted as she again pounded against the door. It flew open, revealing a much more pissed off guard.

“Miss I am going to have to ask you to leave now before you cause a problem.” He said severely. “And besides, the secretary to the queen is in Cantorlot, he won’t be back until four this afternoon.”

Her heart dropped, gone till four? Rarity realized she was beaten. She nodded miserably and walked away in dejection. Spike was getting back when she was on shift, they were probably leaving right as he got home. They wouldn’t even know she wanted to go with them and make up for her mistake. She wasn’t going to Cloudsdale, she was stuck in fucking Ponyville.

Rarity kicked a rock across the street in helpless rage. Why did she have to fuck everything up? Why couldn’t she have foresight? She didn’t used to do stupid stuff like this. The projected rock skittered across the cobblestone ahead of her, but in a moment it shot back past her head. Rarity looked up in surprise.

“Now it’s your turn!” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down. “Betcha can’t beat me!” There was no earthly reason for party pony to be at that exact street corner at that exact time. Rarity glowered at the pink mare. She was in no mood for her former friend’s bullshit.

“I’m not playing.” She growled as she started for her work.

“Oh ok!” Pinkie skipped alongside her. “Watcha doin’ today?” She asked perkily. Rarity wanted nothing more than for Pinkie Pie to fuck off altogether.

“Nothing, just working.” Rarity answered.

“Oooh, that sounds fun! Are you going to make any sweets today?” Pinkie asked excitedly.

“No idea.”

“I bet you are!” Pinkie’s voice drifted into a horrid impression of Mr. Salukas. “I bet you are making some beeg harty sveets.” Rarity ground her teeth together, that Goddamn pony was a walking pet peeve.

“Hey Pinkie! What are you doing up so early? Shouldn’t you be back at Sugarcube Corner?” Rarity asked in false interest. Party pony bounced into the air again.

“Nope! Mr. Cake is meeting with some investors today. He said Sugarcube and I could have the day off! Do you want to hang out with us?!! We can-”

“No.”

Pinkie stopped. Her usual smile was suddenly shaky.

“Oh, ok.” She smiled to Rarity. “See you around.” Rarity didn’t reply but kept walking, she was glad Pinkie had finally fucked off. She didn’t even look back to see the disconsolate pink pony standing alone in the middle of the street. She was just happy that Pinkie had fucked off.

She reached the in Lone Star in a few minutes. Mr. Salukas was just opening the door and he held it open politely.

“Rarity, coming in early before your vacation?” He asked good-naturedly. She shook her head.

“No, my plans changed.” Rarity said softly. He cocked his head in confusion.

“Will you be working this week then?” She sighed.

“Eyeah, no, I don’t know. I’ll get back to you.” What was she going to do about her vacation time? She was too miserable to think about it now. The two entered the darkened bakery. Rarity was getting sick of the odor of flour, it just smelled like shit. Mr. Salukas tossed his keys onto the counter.

“We have a few minutes. Tell me how you are. It’s been an eventful past few weeks.” He said, propping himself up on a chair. Rarity sighed again and took a seat.

“Ah, it’s been ok. Just had some hangups in my plans, had my trip fall through.” Mr. Salukas rubbed his jaw thoughtfully.

“Sorry to hear that. What are you going to do instead?” He asked. She shook her head and picked at the gum under the table.

“I dunno, probably just organize my crates again.” she said listlessly. Sonny sat for a moment.

“You are not a happy pony Rarity.” The statement came from nowhere. She looked up in surprise.

“Uh, why do you say that?” She asked. He chuckled a little.

“You wear it like a coat.” Rarity was confused, was he chastising her?

“Uh, yeah, I dunno. I guess maybe.” She said cautiously. Sonny’s usual expression of stern authority was now reserved and thoughtful. He titled his head and dragged his hoof across the suface of the table.

“You are a good worker, you and Applecrisp are the finest bakers I have ever employed.” He sounded like he was reciting something. He looked up at her. “But you are unhappy.” She paused, unsure of his meaning. “You have no purpose.” A small chill went through her, there was an unsettling sobriety to his words. “You are not a baker at heart Rarity.” She began to worry about where this was leading. “You work to survive, not to live.”

“Uh, it’s really not a problem working here.” She began. “I just ran into some bad luck I guess, I’m probably just depressed or something. I just need to move on I think. I’m sorry for being a little moody.” He shook his head.

“You are always stormy. This is not the life you are meant to live.” She swallowed, was she getting fired?

“Hey, look, you’re a great boss. And baking isn’t a problem for me, I really don’t mind. It pays the bills and I can still hang out with my friends.” She offered. Sonny looked out the front window where a few ponies were starting to walk up and down Mane Street.

“Do not worry, I will continue to employ you as long as you wish.” He said reassuringly. Rarity breathed a silent sigh of relief. “But I know that your days here are numbered.” He added ominously. A quiet fell in the dark shop, Rarity was exceedingly uncomfortable and still not sure what Sonny was saying. They sat in the silent shop and Rarity wished she hadn’t come in so early.

“Where were you going on that trip?” He asked presently.

“Uh, to Cloudsdale, with some friends.” She answered. He thought for a few moments while Rarity waited uneasily.

“Have you been to Cloudsdale?” He asked distantly.

“Yeah, a few times, I went to school there.” She replied.

“How is it?” It took her a moment to process a response, the conversation was so disjointed that she had no idea what to say.

“Uh, it’s really nice. Very pretty, they make the weather and the rainbows.” The burly baker chewed the inside of his cheek.

“Why are you not going?” Rarity paused, how should she answer this?

“Ah, well, I kinda said something mean to the friend I was going with. Basically told him I didn’t want to go because of something he said. I wanted to go and apologize to him today before work, but he’s busy until four and I’m pretty sure he’ll have left before I can talk to him.” She said carefully. Sonny nodded and rose from his chair.

“Go, it is your day off.” He walked behind the counter and unlocked the register. Rarity’s heart missed a beat. But she knew that this was just pity and she did not partake of pity. There was no day off for her.

“It’s fine, I’m scheduled today and it was my fault for getting mad at my friend.” She rose from her chair and started for the oven room. Sonny was counting bills.

“Rarity, it is my business, I assign schedules. I’m giving you today off. You will have one less sick day later this year.” He stated.

“No, I didn’t ask for today off. I don’t have the right to leave.” She refused. He looked up sharply.

“You work for me, I determine your rights in this workplace. Now, today is your day off, you can spend it here working, but you will not be paid. You will have one less sick day this year regardless of where you are today.” He went back to counting money.

Rarity was baffled by Mr. Salukas, he would not allow a batch of muffins to go to waste, he locked all the foodstuffs in a safe to prevent thieves from stealing raw materials, he mashed all the extra dough from each workday into a frankenloaf and sold it as “Mesanina”…and he was giving her an unscheduled day off. Why was he suddenly concerned with her interaction with friends?

Rarity wanted to protest, she wanted to protest more than anything in the world. No doubt he thought her a manipulative little slacker and so would Applecrisp when she came in for work. Ana already thought that and doubtless this would solidify her belief. And to top it all off, Spike might not even want her to come along anyway. The only certainty in the situation was the downside. But Sonny Salukas had made a statement about his business and nothing would contradict him. She would have to partake of pity.

Rarity retreated from the bakery after a second of reckoning, there was no reason to exacerbate matters by hanging around. The sun was up and the business day had just began for Ponyville. She looked about her, what now? She had to get away before Applecrisp showed up and saw her. But Spike wasn’t going to be home before four, where should she go? She needed to get her mane cut, regardless of her potential trip. A walk out to her favorite barber would kill some time.

It did. She walked slowly, enjoying the fresh air and the warm Equestrian summer. The grass drifted by at a leisurely pace and she stopped every now and then to smell a wildflower. By the time she had passed the malevolent wheel barrow, the prairie was already becoming uncomfortably warm from the risen sun. She reached the little house and rapped gently on the front door. There was no response. Rainbow Dash had better not be sleeping in. She knocked properly. A wind passed through the meadow, rustling the grass. Rarity clopped her hoof against the door. The hollow knocking went apparently unheard. The white mare stepped back to survey her options. Maybe Dash was in the backyard. She walked around behind the little building.

It wasn’t really a backyard per say. It was a little dirt clearing spanning maybe thirty feet. A little shed sat at the edge of the dirt, some firewood was stacked neatly against the house and an axe leaned on the wood. Rarity went to the back door and clomped her hoof against the unfinished wood. Nothing, just great.

She sat on the stoop and thought for a moment.

She’d have to go home and come back later, but home was such a walk. And she would have to come back and then go back home again, no way in hell she was doing that. It was settled and Rarity let her breath out slowly; she would wait the Pegasus out. And wait she did. Rainbow Dash took her fucking time too. It had to have been like an hour and Rarity was drawing stick figures in the dirt when she heard stirring inside the house. She jumped up and knocked furiously against the back door. She heard a small yelp from inside and then it was quiet.

“Hello?” Came an awfully nervous voice. Rainbow Dash sounded even more timid than usual and Rarity hoped she hadn’t seriously startled the little pony.

“Hey Dash! It’s Rarity, heh, sorry for coming so early. But I had nothing to do and I need a cut for a trip.” She said as casually as possible.

“Oh, ok.” Dash paused. “Just give me a minute.”

After a few minutes, the door slid cautiously open and a not so bright eyed and bushy tailed Rainbow Dash peeked out.

“Hey Rarity.” She said sleepily. “Come on in.” Rarity entered the house. It was dark and cool and that indescribable feeling of sleep still hung in the air. Rainbow Dash yawned and tossed her bed-head mane out of her face. “Sorry, I just got up.” She cracked her neck. “You’re here for a cut? Why so early? Don’t you work now?” She asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Rarity chuckled.

“Let me get in the chair. There is a lot of explanation to this.”

“Uh, sure, ok.” The rainbow pony replied. Dash fetched her scissors and apron as Rarity pulled up a kitchen chair.

“So, uh, what are we thinking today?” Asked her barber, positioning herself behind Rarity. Rarity paused. In all likelihood she was not going to Cloudsdale and a garish and beautiful mane would be the epitome of fashion faux pas for a blue collar baker. A shorter cut was far more practical.

“Let’s go.” She stopped, the old Rarity would go with the Ponyville solution, the new Rarity was going to look ahead. “With the best damned impression of my classic fashionista look you got!” The new Rarity finished triumphantly. Dash hesitated.

“Uhhhhh, yeah, ok. I am not the best at complex cuts.” She admitted.

“Oh who cares?” New Rarity said optimistically. “Practice is the best teacher around.”

“Well, all right then.” Dash began to snip doubtfully and Rarity squeed with inward delight. She was going to look marvelous and she was definitely going to take that trip!

“So, you said you had some long explanation for why you’re here at eleven in the morning looking for a professional mane cut?” Dash asked after a few minutes.

“Haha yes, so, well, I guess it all started like two nights ago.” Rarity proceeded to bring her stylist up to speed on the events of the past few days. “So, yeah, pretty much going to just walk up to him and tell him flat out that I’m really sorry. That’s my plan.” She concluded.

“Do you think he’s going to say yes?” Dash asked softly. Rarity shrugged, dropping purple mane onto the slick wood floor.

“Yeah, I mean, probably. Like Applejack said, he’s really good about not getting mad over stuff.” Dash nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, that’s right. But he sounded really hurt, do you think he still wants to hang out with you?”

Rarity sighed sadly.

“There isn’t a rational pony around who would want to hang out with somepony who says and does stuff like I do.” She thrust her nose into the air, much to the chagrin of the barber pony who was attempting a difficult cut. “But the new Rarity is going to be fun and not be such a bitch. I’m going to be the most polite and distinguished pony in all of Cloudsdale, I’m going to show Twilight and Spike just how refined new Rarity is. And all of that starts with a gorgeous and refined mane!” She finished triumphantly.

“Well, uh, have a look then, I’m pretty much finished.” The Pegasus said nervously. Rarity lifted the small mirror on the table and brought it before her face.

Oh dear. It wasn’t bad, Rarity would never consider any cut by Rainbow Dash to be bad, she wouldn’t allow it. She surveyed the “extent” of the work around her head. It was certainly…extensive. Her barber certainly gave her clients their money’s worth of effort, a noble business practice to be sure. Dash swallowed anxiously.

“How did I do?” She asked.

“It’s quite pretty.” Rarity treaded carefully. “Very complete.” She struggled to make an opinion. It wasn’t ragged or anything, more like the start of something that could turn out wonderfully. She turned to face Rainbow Dash. “Thanks so much, I know it was a pretty sudden request.” Dash smiled.

“No problem, I’m glad you like it. I was a little worried you’d think it wasn’t very good.” She admitted.

“Oh no, it’s really all I need. I was a little afraid you’d go over the top and make it something that would stand out in a crowd. What I wanted was something like what I had. You really got that I think.” She mustered as much appreciation as she could. Rainbow Dash put back her scissors and brushed the purple hair from Rarity’s shoulders.

“Well, I hope it helps you in Cloudsdale.” Rarity rose and hugged Dash.

“It’s exactly what I need. Something to make me look good, but not so much that ponies only notice my style and not my courtesy.” She lied. Not that there was anything wrong with Rainbow Dash’s work, Rarity would never have any problems with her work.

“I’m paying you fifty bits.” She raised a hoof to block her stylist’s refusal. “No, don’t say a word.” She slapped the bill onto the mane strewn table. “It’s what I paid my last stylist. Of course I know you think your work is worth hundreds, but I am a working pony, I can’t pay top dollar for your art. I’m sorry.” She said with a smirk. Dash sighed, a crushed sort of sigh, and took the money.

“I hope everything goes well with Spike and Twilight.” She offered. Rarity grinned proudly.

“You know how the new Rarity is!” She paused. “Actually you don’t. No pony does, that’s the magic of her. She’s polite and refined and somepony you want to get to know!”

“Haha great!” Dash affirmed. Rarity, the new one, strolled out the back door and into the sunlight. She had packing to do.

What to do about her mane? It had potential to be sure, Rainbow Dash had NOT done a bad job. But even still, Rarity didn’t have time to make an appointment with a professional stylist, or rather, a trained professional stylist. She stopped at the stream and looked herself over. Ehhhhhhhhhhhh, there was a LOT of “potential” to her mane. She looked up, maybe she could patch, er, finish it herself.

She walked through town. Giggles and whispers emanated from an alley behind her, she ignored them and continued. Rarity passed the Café, she heard some conversations switch to hushed tones. The “styled” mare pressed on. Passing Sugarcube Corner, Rarity was relieved to see Mr. Cake standing alone at the register. Pinkie was no doubt having an adventure filled with parties and giggles somewhere with her yellow cousin and was thankfully not around to make a comedic simile.

Rarity approached the bridge. Fisher ponies were usually the type who were always laughing at some obscene joke anyway and she paid them no mind. Rarity neared the bridge, yeah, they were laughing at her. Their bellows and guffaws emanated from beneath the cobblestone bridge. The new Rarity held her head high, she was not going down there to tell them to fuck off.

“HAW! Like the bleedin’ Cantorlot ‘edge maze!”

New Rarity stopped herself a foot from side of the bridge. She kept herself from poking her head down and making a comment about their ignorant immigrant circle jerk through sheer will. She pulled herself back and ignored the uproar beneath her. Continuing on her way, the unicorn let out a tired sigh. It was hard being new Rarity.

She twisted the phone cord in her hooves.

“No, it has to be a window seat. No, not the 12th floor, the top one. Yes I am serious.” Rarity was speechless. The owner of the Crystal Café had known her for years and had always made it a point to cater to her every whim. “Yeah, three seats. No, just three. No, no fillies or colts. A deposit, are you serious?” She wasn’t dropping five hundred bits for a window seat, hell, she probably wasn’t even going to be picking up the tab for the meal. “Look, Trance, it’s me, Rarity.” Her voice became honey. “What would Rarity have to do to avoid that deposit?” The answer came in a moment. “Yeah no. Yeah no. Yeah not going to happen Trance. Trance, you know I won’t do that. Tran-” She gave up. “Fine, you know what? We’ll compromise, it’s thirty seconds and over the phone. Yeah, fine whatever.” She held the phone away from her face. “Mmmhmm, oh yeah, me too. So hot, just.” She bit her tongue. “So hot. You’re such an animal Trance. What? YES I AM TOUCHING MYSELF!” She said angrily into the phone. “All right, there, thirty seconds. Now make the damn reservations.” Her voice became soft again. “And Trance, those reservations better be there on Friday, if you pull out on me, I’ll never forgive you.”

He wasn’t going to drop her from the list, not after that. She hung up the now filthy phone and took a deep breath.

Trance was an interesting pony, owned the Crystal Café, most of the clubs in Cloudsdale, and was homosexual. Back in her heyday, Rarity had dined at the Crystal Café many times while courting high level contracts. Trance had taken a liking to her, as she was a cultured pony and a fashionista like him. Yet as time had gone on, she had noticed that Trance ALWAYS took great care to see that she was properly waited on. Refills were free and dessert expected. One day he had waived a thousand bit meal, and suggested they take a walk through the clouds. It was on this walk that he confessed his burning passion for just one bout of “normal breeding”. Nothing like cheating mind you, Alexander was the perfect partner and he would never seek to destroy their union. But there lingered in Trance the heartfelt desire to just once “get it on like nature intended.” Rarity was the only mare that he could ever imagine doing it with and he offered her as many free meals as she liked if she would afford him this one indulgence. It was about this time that Rarity ceased her working lunches and dinners at the Crystal Café and began meeting clients at the Boutique.

She exited the phone booth and returned to her crates to start packing.

“Alright, now we have the reservations. Let’s see, clothes for the trip.” She surveyed her options, nothing over the top, but definitely some outfits to show class. A nice formal dress for their dinner at the Café, perhaps something black for any sort of dance they should participate in. Oh! She lifted the dress she had made so long ago for her friends’ fashion show, it would go perfectly should they have any sort of meetings with any passing governors or senators. It was all there, clothes, toothbrush, and towel for the pool. The new Rarity closed her suitcase and rose to her hooves.

“Ok, that should be about it, Café, luggage.” She patted her mane. “Style.” She had fixed her mane as best she could, though there was little she could do to correct the “work”. It was perfectly presentable however and that was all she needed. Glancing at her alarm clock, she realized Spike was going to get home in just a few minutes. It was time for the new Rarity to ask for forgiveness for the actions of her older counterpart.

Starting for the town, Rarity began to plan her conversation. What should she say? Start with the apology, make things clear. She was very sorry for her callous words and wanted forgiveness. Then transition into how she still wanted to go with them. Even with her newfound persona and the knowledge that Spike would probably forgive her, the white unicorn was still terribly nervous. Rarity walked to the library and sat across the street on a bench, waiting for the arrival of the dragon. She clopped her hooves restlessly.

A few clouds drifted by overhead and she mistook them for a chariot. She rose and started for the tree. Looking up, she saw her mistake.

“Easy girl.” Rarity whispered to herself as she resumed her position on the bench. Where was Spike? A couple minutes passed by, maybe he was in the tree already. Rarity stood partially, knocking would compromise her position and she would look like an idiot if she asked for him again and he wasn’t there. Rarity took her seat again determined to wait for him.

Of course, he could be packing. Walking briskly over to the door, Rarity cleared her throat and tried to shake her anxiety. She lightly knocked on the door. Probably one of the guards would answer, or maybe they wouldn’t answer and wait for her to leave. Rarity knocked again. The door opened and Spike stood before her.

“Hey Spike.” She began waveringly. “Look, I’m really sorry. I won’t say what I said was anything short of tremendously mean.” She took a breath. “And probably, no definitely, for the past few weeks I’ve been a total pain in the ass.” She paused to gather herself, the dragon listening wordlessly. “And I am very sorry, please forgive me.” He said nothing and she remembered the last part of her speech. “I uh, I am, or rather, I would like to know if I can still come with you on to Cloudsdale. I know you might not want me to come and I understand that. But I really want to come and hang out with you guys.” She added. Spike was still silent. Rarity thought for something to conclude with. “I’m really sorry, I promise I won’t be such an ass if you ever hang out with me again. I’m trying to-” Her voice trailed off, she was rambling now. A stillness stood in the air. Rarity searched Spike’s face for any signs of emotion. The purple dragon studied her, his countenance suggesting nothing.

The dragon waited a moment, then took a deep breath.

“Well Rarity, I guess I can’t really say no.” He said softly. Her heart jumped inside her chest and she wanted to hug him tightly. But her voice was firm.

“No, you can. I only want to come along if you want me and you think it would be a good thing for you and Twilight.” A small smile spread over his face.

“Aw Rarity, we always want you.” He said warmly. “Even if you don’t always behave.” He added jokingly. “To be honest, I was really hoping you would reconsider, it’s really not that fun taking a trip with just Twilight, since she’s always working. We sorta need somepony to make things fun.” He conceded. Rarity was ecstatic and she hugged the adolescent dragon tightly.

“Oh Spike you’re so awesome! You don’t even know, I’m going to be the best behaved pony in all of Cloudsdale. I’m going to be full of manners and so cultured. You won’t be embarrassed at all by me, I’ll be the best royal guest ever!” She said excitedly.

“Hey that’s great! Just,” He paused and whispered into her ear. “This trip is still really about Twilight, I want to make her laugh and help her let off some steam.”

“Oh sure!” She whispered back. “I’ll make sure she has a good time.” She released him. “What time are we leaving?” She asked in ardent anticipation.

“Well like right now, are you packed?” She nodded vigorously.

“I’ll go grab my stuff!” She sped off toward her home.

Reaching her crates, she quickly lifted her suitcase and sprinted back toward the tree. Upon her return, Rarity saw that Twilight was loading some suitcases into the golden chariot, which had since landed before the large tree. The Alicorn heard Rarity’s flight and looked up.

“Oh hey Rarity. What are you doing here? Spike said you didn’t want to come.” Twilight said in confusion.

“Well, I reconsidered.” Rarity said breathlessly. “And more importantly, I apologized to Spike for treating him badly. I’m going to come along to show you and him that I can act properly.” Twilight cocked her head.

“Is he ok with this?” She asked suspiciously.

“Yep, sure am!” Spike emerged from the front door carrying a large case of papers. He grunted and tossed the case into the back of the gilded vehicle. Twilight looked back to Rarity.

“Well, ok…if you’re fine with it.” She said slowly.

“Just drop your stuff in the back Rarity, we have a lot of stuff we’re bringing.” Spike called to her. Rarity shoved her bag beneath some banker’s boxes.

“Where should I sit?” She asked. Twilight looked over the overfilled chariot.

“It’s not really made for three people.” She turned to Rarity. “Are you alright with sitting in the back on some boxes?” Rarity hopped onto a case of transportation bylaws. She was totally alright with that. “Ahhhhhhh, let me just move that. Those are kinda important.” Twilight quickly pulled the boxes from beneath Rarity and set them elsewhere in the cart.

“Hehe, sorry.” Apologized new Rarity. Spike forced the storage compartment of the chariot closed, probably crushing something important in the process and jumped into the passenger’s seat.

“Are we good to go?” He asked eagerly. Twilight surveyed the pile beneath Rarity.

“Yeaaaaaaahhhhh, oh wait!” And she dashed back inside. Spike gave Rarity a thumbs up and she put her hoof aside her nose knowingly. They were going to make this a great trip for the young queen. Twilight returned in a minute, carrying the crown. She blushed heavily when she saw Rarity looking it over. “Yeah, there’s some functions that require me to wear this.” The Alicorn said in embarrassment. Twilight searched for a place to put the awkward and bulky crown.

“I can hold it.” Rarity offered. She saw Twilight bite her lip.

“Uh, I think Spike’s got it.” She dropped the heavy ornament into her unsuspecting secretary’s lap. Rarity kicked herself, she shouldn’t just offer to carry the queen’s crown, what the fuck had she been thinking? “Praetorian, Maximus, we’re ready to leave.” Twilight called into the house. The two guards marched solemnly out of the house and took their positions before the chariot.

“The secondary security detail is in place.” The stallion who was probably Maximus stated. Twilight nodded.

“Good to hear, let’s get going.” The queen commanded. The guards lifted into the air and the chariot rose after them. Rarity looked down, she loved the sight of the little town growing smaller and then fading away as they ascended into the sky. She was leaving Ponyville!

Chapter 6

Chapter VI

Cloudsdale was beautiful, that was a given. But as they approached the puffy white metropolis, Rarity realized just how beautiful the city amongst the clouds was. It was midday, and the sun cracked through the clouds, sending dusty rays of light through the city. The buildings were smooth and white and far above them, Rarity saw the massive storehouses laden with snow.

The chariot touched down on top of a snowy white hotel. They were at least twenty stories from the ground; of course they were staying at a five star hotel. A staunch white Pegasus stood waiting by the landing pad. Twilight stepped from the chariot and the Pegasus bowed.

“Good to see you your majesty.” His voice had an intonation that indicated authority. “Your trip was agreeable?” Twilight nodded.

“Absolutely. Tell me, what have we set up for today?” He paused, evidently caught off guard by the immediate shift to business matters.

“Well, there is a meeting with the board of directors over the expansion of weather reserves in an hour.” He smiled proudly. “Then I have arranged for dinner with the Wonderbolts, they’re staying here for a show in the morning.” Twilight didn’t seem to hear him.

“Anything thing else?” She asked, flipping through her calendar.

“Oh, no your majesty, the majority of the meetings and et cetera will take place tomorrow and the rest of the week. I apologize if I didn’t make that clear.” He bowed his head.

“It’s all right, I just wanted to see what we had tonight.” Twilight said agreeably. He returned to his first state of amiable explanation.

“Of course, well.” He held up a key “Here is the key to your room, I thought you might appreciate the penthouse suite.” He said with a proud smile.

“Oh thank you Cirrus.” Twilight looked back to Rarity. “You don’t happen to have two do you?” Cirrus had evidently not been informed about a third guest. The stallion bit his lip.

“Er, well, you see.” He started.

“Oh it’s fine.” Rarity hopped off of the luggage. “I can take the couch.” She froze, they probably wanted a separate room because she wasn’t supposed to be in the queen’s suite. “I mean, I can do whatever.” She added quickly.

“Are you sure Rarity?” Twilight asked.

“Oh yeah, I can do whatever.” Twilight shrugged and took the key from the Cirrus.

“Guess we just need one room.” Rarity was shocked, Queen Twilight didn’t mind sharing a room with her!

“Ah, excellent, this way!” Cirrus lead them down a flight of stairs and into the building.

It was a five star hotel, Rarity knew that by the attire of the bellhops, well, that, and the rainbow river running down the spiral staircase. The penthouse suite was magnificent, even in all her years of design, Rarity had never even gotten close to staying at the penthouse suite of anywhere. Two rooms large enough to hold twenty ponies each formed a sort of Y, the center of which was a kitchen and living room. After Cirrus departed, Twilight fell onto the couch in the main room. The Alicorn closed her eyes and heaved a great sigh.

“Ok, so I’m going to get cleaned up then go meet the advisors.” She opened her eyes. “You two handle the bags, and I’ll be back in like two hours for dinner.” She stood. “Ohhhhh, I don’t want to have to go to that meeting right now.” She sounded like a weary old pony and Rarity felt sorry for the stressed queen.

“Right, you got it.” Spike affirmed. “Rarity, want to help me with the bags?”

“Yeah, sure.” The two reached the door. Rarity turned, Twilight was splashing water over her face at the sink. “Hope everything goes well.” She called to her friend.

“Yeah, me too.” Twilight said emptily.

Back at the chariot, a small horde of bellhops had descended to recover the luggage. Spike fought his way through them.

“Watch it, out of the way, hey, move!” Maximus and Praetorian had apparently left for their next engagement of bodyguarding the queen, leaving Rarity and Spike to control the mass of diligent stallions. Spike rose on top of the chariot.

“Ok! Nopony take anything anywhere but to the penthouse suite. If you mess it up, I’ll tell Queen Twilight.” He finished menacingly. Rarity chuckled, he was a sight, the little secretary to the queen, attempting to hardball stallions twice his size.

The bellhops worked silently, like a stream of ants, disintegrating the pile of bags and papers and shuffling it noiselessly to the room. When the procession was finally completed, one bellhop, evidently the spokepony for the group, walked forward.

“Pardon my interruption, but we’ve finished your task.” The stallion stated blankly. Rarity and Spike exchanged glances.

“Uhh, yes, well, thank you my good man.” Spike dropped an unsure claw onto the pony’s back. “You’ve done me a great service.” The bellhop stood motionless before them. It occurred to Rarity. She lifted his left fore hoof and slapped a five into it.

“There you go, have an agreeable evening.” She smiled to him and motioned to the door.

“Pardon the interruption ma’am, but that comes out to be less than fifty cents for each of us.” She looked over his shoulder. The rest of the bellhops were right outside the door with the same blank expression.

“Mm, well, I’m sorry, but I can’t afford both a room and a payroll of bellhops. Now please be on your way.” The new Rarity would deal with a problem the right way, with simple logic and wit. Yet the spokespony did not move. The new Rarity could wait as long as he could. In a moment, Spike caught on.

“Oh, I’ve got some money, how many of you are there?” He piped up.

“Spike.” Rarity began.

“Thirteen.” Answered the bellhop over her. The secretary dug through his wallet.

“Will fifty cover it?” Rarity had to keep herself from slapping the money out of his claws.

“Fifty three would make it even.”

“Oh, sorry, all I have is a five.” Spike paused. “Oh well, consider the rest a tip.” He handed the unsightly amount of money to the bellhop, who bowed to the two and strolled from the room. Even the new Rarity really wanted to kick the shit out of that smarmy bellhop.

“You know Spike, that might not have been such a great idea.” She said as the door closed. He shrugged.

“Well, what was I supposed to do?”

“He does that to every patron, and he still makes a salary on top of that. You could have let him leave.” He pursed his lips.

“Well.” He rubbed his head. “He was nice about it, and I’m not in any problem with money.” She started to say that there were thirteen bellhops with that same quality now, but caught herself. The new Rarity was going to let this go, no matter how much she wanted to say. Rarity looked about the elegant room.

“So I’ll take the couch?” She asked.

“Hey, I can go on the couch, I’m a lot smaller.” He offered.

“Oh no, I’m not putting the queen’s secretary on the couch in the room I’m sharing with her, no thank you.” She said, beginning to laugh. He agreed, and for a time, the two went about unpacking.

Rarity had set up her travel makeup kit on the lamp table and was starting to make her fold-out bed. Tomorrow was Thursday, they would tour Cloudsdale. Friday was the day she was taking them to the Crystal Cafe, maybe they could go flying or something during the day. Saturday would be whatever Twilight wanted and Sunday, well, Spike could suggest something. The new Rarity went to work formulating a strategy on demonstrating her maturity to the queen.

“WHERE’S THE CROWN?!!” Spike hollered from his room. Rarity rushed into the bedroom. The dragon had ransacked all of the bags and boxes, and belongings were strewn about.

“I have no idea! Isn’t it with the other stuff?” Rarity asked, her blood beginning to chill.

“N-no, I checked three times.” He took a gulp. “It’s not there.” Rarity’s mouth went dry.

“Where did you see it last?” She asked, terror beginning to creep over her. He threw his arms into the air.

“I had in on my lap in the chariot! I musta set it back with the other stuff…” His voice dropped off. They looked at one another and Rarity punched the bellhop call button by the bed.

“Alright, I’m going to talk to him.” Spike said angrily as they waited for the Pegasus. In a minute’s time, there was a knock and the same light grey stallion stood outside their door.

“What can I help you with?” He asked congenially.

“You!” Spike shouted. “Where did you put the crown?!” The bellhop looked at them in puzzlement.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Spike was livid.

“Yes you do! You unpacked all our stuff! You and thirteen other guys brought down our bags and Queen Twilight’s crown. Now where is it?!!” The bellhop was genuinely confused.

“Sir, I can assure you that we’ve never met before.” He said calmly. “Now if you would like to file a missing property-”

“NO I WANT YOU TO GET US THE CROWN!” Spike yelled. The Pegasus continued to act as if they had never met.

“Sir, I am going to have to ask you to keep your voice down, now if you want to file a report over some alleged missing property, I will be more than happy to help you. Otherwise, I have other matters to attend to.” Spike became an unhealthy shade of purple and he stared in outraged disbelief at the Pegasus. “If there’s anything else I can help you with, don’t hesitate to ask.” There was a slight pause, then the grey pony bowed and departed. The dragon stood staring out the empty door.

“Rarity.” His voice was quivering. “This is not good.” He turned to her, his pupils were contracted and his breathing was shaky. “We just lost Celestia’s crown, which is now Twilight’s crown.” The fullness of the problem washed over Rarity and she dropped to a chair. “I literally don’t know what I’m going to say to her.” He looked out the door, as if he were imagining the horrid fate that await him.

“S-she didn’t take it with her?” Rarity asked in a cracking voice. He turned angrily on her.

“NO!!! The last person to touch it was either that guy or one of his friends.” He cried. “And now they’re just going to deny we ever met. Twilight’s coming back and when she gets here she’s going to see that we lost her crown in less than ten minutes.” He collapsed on the bed beside her, tears were forming in his eyes. “This was supposed to be fun for her.” The new Rarity watched helplessly as he closed his eyes and began to cry noiselessly. “I thought that if I made some appointments in Cloudsdale then she would want to go on a trip.” He sobbed. “She’s only here because I rearranged her schedule.” Tears streamed down the dragon’s face and soaked into the white linen. Rarity rose and walked out the open door. “Where are you going?!” Called the heartbroken dragon.

“Out.” Replied old Rarity.

Rarity was jostled and knocked about as she approached the front desk.The lobby was filled with bellhops. A gawky looking stallion wearing an absolutely ridiculous round hat sat behind the gold desk.

“May I help you?” He asked courteously.

“Yes, I was looking for a grey stallion, he was my bellhop you see, and well, I need his personal touch on a matter.” She said primly.

“Shure, what did he look like?” Asked the attendant.

“Well he was a grey stallion, with I think a bell for a Cutie Mark.” She looked around, there were countless ponies who matched that description.

“Uh, you’re going to need to be more specific, we have a lot of those.” Said the hospitality worker.

“Line up all the grey bellhops.” She said directly. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Excuse me?”

She leaned across the desk and tucked a twenty into his suit jacket.

“Here’s the deal, you can take that money and do what I say. Or we can go less pleasant means and then you can do what I say.” She advised. He stared at her for a few seconds, then turned to a small microphone on his desk.

“Uhhh, can I get all the grey bellhops up front in a line? Grey bellhops, line at check-in please.” He looked at her uneasily. “They should be here in a sec.”

In a few minutes time, a small line of about twenty grey and off grey Pegasi gathered in front of the desk. Murmurs ran up and down the line and they looked around in confusion. Rarity scanned the offerings, her pick was at the far end, standing near the elevators. She marched up to him.

“Please escort me to the pool good sir.” She commanded politely. He cocked his head in bewilderment.

“What?” She clamped a hoof onto his shoulder.

“Take me to the pool please.” She hugged the stallion close and dragged him to the elevator. The other ponies watched them in bemusement. She punched the up button.

“Uhhhhhh, is that all you need miss?” Came the perplexed voice of the front desk attendant. The gold doors slid open.

“Yeah, I got what I need.” Rarity replied as she stepped into the elevator. The doors slid closed and the two lurched upward. The grey stallion turned to her.

“Hey, look, I understand you are upset over possibly losing some property, I can assist you in-” She pressed the halt button and the room jerked to a stop. “What are you doing?!” He asked in surprise. She turned to him.

“Last normal question: Where is the crown?”

“Look, like I told your friend-” Rarity slammed the stallion against the wall of the elevator and held her arm across his throat.

“Listen to me shithead.” She hissed. “You can fool a lot of ponies with your bullshit, but I ain’t no tourist, and we both know it was you up there.” His eyes went wide with terror.

“Ma’am, please, I don’t know what bellhop allegedly took you-”Gripping his mane tightly, she threw him face first into the doors of the elevator.

“Stop it with that.” She growled. He held his hooves up in pleading defense.

“Please don’t ma’am! I don’t know-” Rarity squatted down beside the Pegasus.

“You stole something that’s worth more than my life, I’m not in any position to cut my losses. I’m here to show how polite and cultured I can be to my friend.” She pressed a button and the doors slid open, revealing a mildewed brick wall. “Now I’m gonna scrape your face off and we’ll see if you can recall what didn’t happen ok?” She struck another button and the wall began to slide by. He jumped up in sheer horror, but old Rarity pinned his arms and held him against the floor. “This is gonna hurt, I can promise you that.” Rarity said as she stared meanicingly into face of the petrified pony.

He broke in a few seconds.

“Ok ok! I was there, but I don’t know which guy took the crown.” She shoved his prone form inches from the scraping wall. “SHIT! ALRIGHT! I CAN GET THE CROWN! JUST DON’T KILL ME!” He shrieked.

“We’re going to get it.” Rarity whispered into his ear. “You’re taking me to it.”

As it turned out, it was in the basement. Rarity held the roughed bellhop by his ear as they ventured into the dank underbelly of the building. The room was massive, dark, and humid. It smelled of industrial detergent and starched clothing. Steam rose in clouds and puffs from tent-like clothes draped over clotheslines. What better place to hide a stolen crown than in the hotel’s laundry? The bellhop brought her through the misty maze of drying sheets and towels to a wooden door that was rotting from the moisture. He stopped and Rarity shook him.

“Open it.” She ordered.

The bellhop shakily opened the door. Inside was a small room filled with ironing boards and a few ponies were pressing shirts. Her captive led her over to a wheeled bin draped with sheets. He began to rifle through the large container. A yellowish Pegasus, with a square cut mane and build of a freight train noticed the pair.

“Allen, what are you doing?” He asked in a testosterone laced voice. “Allen” looked up anxiously.

“We, uh” He looked to Rarity, who was still holding his ear. “May have accidentally taken something of hers, she just wanted to see if it might have somehow gotten into here.” The yellow pony looked over the white mare.

“I’m pretty sure whatever she’s looking for isn’t there.” He said dubiously. Rarity tightened her grip on Allen’s ear.

“Hehe, she seems pretty convinced.” He laughed nervously. The bulky pony walked toward the two.

“Allen, it isn’t in there.” He pointed to Rarity. “You should get back to your room.” Allen, apparently perceiving the yellow Pegasus to hold a worse fate, turned to Rarity.

“Look, he runs the laundry, he would have seen it.” He pleaded. “It’s best for everypony if you just go back to your room.”

That yellow pony could, and would, turn her into mincemeat if she persisted in searching. Rarity knew Twilight would understand, Spike had honest intentions and Rarity was just an unrelated guest. The crown had been stolen when no one was looking, and been scurried away before she and Spike had noticed. Twilight probably wouldn’t blame new Rarity.

She loosened her grip on the sweating thief.

“You are right, if you” She motioned to the yellow pony. “Didn’t see it, then I guess it isn’t here.” Allen took a deep breath and pulled himself from the bin. The yellow pony continued to watch her with suspicion.

With a flick of her horn, Rarity snatched the iron from the hooves of a nearby worker and brought it beside the face of her hostage. Allen struggled in newfound panic and Rarity squeezed the small pony to her.

“Yet I still have a hunch we’re going to find it, despite what you think.” She said in a low voice. The yellow pony lunged towards her. She held the steaming black surface of the iron dangerously close to Allen’s face. “BRING IT!” She bellowed in terror. “YOU’LL TAKE ME BUT HE’S GONNA GET REAL UGLY!” her voice rang with fear, but Rarity held her ground. The yellow pony halted a foot from her.

“Maurin, she’s crazy, let her have it!” The squirming bellhop implored. Maurin considered the struggling pair.

“You are far from where the police will find you.” His eyes locked with hers. He said in an equally low voice. “Nopony here will notice if you go missing.” He said darkly.

“Yeah? They gonna notice if half his face is fried?” She whispered back. “You’re gonna kill me, I don’t doubt you there.” She craned her neck toward the laundry pony. “But you and he are gonna hurt for it.” She steadied her grip on the rusty iron. “Come on, I’m ready when you are.”

Maurin gazed at her, his eyes burned into hers. Old Rarity awaited her fate, she had nothing to lose. In a second, Maurin kicked the bin over, stained cloth and fabric tumbled across the floor. The unmistakable glint of a royal crown shone from beneath a cream stained napkin. Releasing Allen, Rarity scooped the heavy ornament up in her arms. The grey bellhop stumbled toward Maurin, who was studying the white pony.

“You are out of your mind.” Maurin snickered. “You are far from home and still thinking you can boss anypony around.” Rarity threw the iron to the ground.

“Well, I got what I needed.” She replied.

“But you have nothing to stop me from taking it back.”

Rarity had already reached the door before he finished speaking. The decayed wood splintered apart as she struck it at full speed. Maurin was moments behind her. She ran blindly forward, where the hell was the elevator? The maze of uniform sheets and clothing rose up all around her. Rarity sprinted ahead, she heard the massive laundry pony galloping up behind her.

Swerving around a corner, she struck the side of a washtub and stumbled headlong into drying bedspread. The soaking blanket engulfed her and dropped her to the ground. She fought against the waterlogged weight, but it seemed anchored to the floor. Maurin ran around the corner and screeched to a standstill. Rarity watched from a small opening in the blanket as he scanned for her. She held her breath as he looked for her, his eyes ran across her fallen form which was obscured by the formless blanket.

“You can run little lady” He said between breaths. “But you can’t hide.” He started toward her. Rarity held her breath. Maurin stepped forward onto the squishy bedspread. His hoof dug into her belly and Rarity fought back a scream. He looked around, each glance twisting his heavy weight into her insides. Rarity started to feel dizzy from the pressure. The yellow pony took a few agonizing moments to survey his surrondings. In a moment, Maurin stepped down and dried his soaking hooves on a nearby towel. Satisfied with his search, her pursuer walked back the way he had come. The room became quiet

Rarity’s blood had begun to throb in her ears and she released her pent-up breath in a loud burst. Her stomach hurt horribly and the world seemed to tilt around her. She waited a few minutes, the cooling blanket sucking the warmth from her body.

Finally she decided that her pursuer had given up and she struggled out of her wet prison. The bedspread made the loudest of slapping and sucking noises as she heaved it upward. Rarity wordlessly cursed the noisy fabric and rose to her hooves. She clutched the bulky crown and started creeping for what she hoped was the way out.

It wasn’t. And for the next twenty minutes, a horrified and nauseous Rarity sneaked around the laundry looking for the wall with her escape. Her stomach was tight and bruised, the steam made her lightheaded and Rarity hoped she wouldn’t lose consciousness in the nightmarish maze. She saw the red lettered sign for EXIT glowing on a nearby wall. She slipped toward her escape, in her haste she overlooked a black rubber cord hanging from an ironing board that stood before her. Catching the cord, her leg jerked the resting iron to life and the metal tool hopped from the table. It struck her flank, just below her Cutie Mark. The live iron seared into her white flesh and she screamed in agony. Both the iron and the crown fell to the concrete floor with a metallic clatter as she stumbled to the ground.

Pulling herself to her hooves, Rarity recovered the fallen crown and limped desperately toward the elevator. She heard galloping. It started over near the door she had broken and sounded as if it were moving directly toward her. She pounded against the closed doors of the elevator as Maurin closed in. He was probably fifteen feet away when the doors opened and she rushed inside. Rarity dashed inside of the elevator. She turned, he was literally within arm’s reach. Her arms rose in fright and the rim of the crown slammed into her face. It knocked her to the back of the elevator and fell to the carpeted floor.

Head spinning from the impact, flank burning, stomach knotted and her stamina drained by terror and exertion, Rarity lay sprawled helplessly across the floor. Exhausted and strained, the unicorn was trapped in a tiny elevator with a monstrous stallion, she would go no further.

“P-please just kill me quickly.” She whimpered.

She knew it was over. Poor Twilight and Spike would never know what became of her. The crown would disappear along with her. This was the last of her.

Her eyes were closed, she knew Maurin was hovering over her, his cold breath chilled her sweating skin. Rarity heard nothing, he was waiting to scare her again when she opened her eyes. A few seconds of silence passed between the two. She opened her eyes to just a slit, from the dim darkness of her vision, she made out the ceiling of the elevator, Maurin wasn’t above her. An air vent breathed cold AC onto her. Trembling and moments from fainting from fear, Rarity pulled herself up.

She was in an empty elevator. The doors were closed and the crown lay on the floor. The jagged spike at the top was coated with blood, which had splattered over the entirety of the crown. She frantically surveyed her body. Burned, bruised, beaten, but not bloody. A thought came over her, he had hit the crown. Rarity dropped again to the floor, the nausea gripped her and this time she couldn’t stave it off. Feverish and reeling from dizziness and breathless overexertion, Rarity vomited onto the tasteful floral patterned carpet.

Spike had been crying, crying for a while it appeared. His eyes were red and he hadn’t moved from the bed. He leapt up as she entered.

“Oh my God Rarity!” The battered pony staggered into the suite carrying the crown. She held a hoof to his mouth to indicate the need for silence.

“This it?” She asked, her triumphant smile reeked of vomit and Rarity knew Spike was more concerned about her.

“RARITY! What happened?! Are you all right? Oh my God, your flank!” She again put up a hoof to silence him.

“I got the crown and I’m fairly sure nopony is dead, please.” She became lightheaded again. “Clean this off.” She handed the crown to the dumbfounded dragon. “I need to take a shower, Twilight can’t see me like this.”

“But, but, but what happened? Rarity! You’re hurt bad!” she shook her head.

“It looks worse than it is.” Although she believed the opposite to be true. “Listen, Spike, it’s an unpleasant story, but it’s done. I’m fine, clean off the crown and put it where it should go.” He stood aghast at the injured mare. She didn’t have time to get him going, she needed to make sure the queen didn’t see her like this.

Drawing a bath, Rarity grabbed a container of Epsom salts and shook it into the tub. The warm water ran over her body as Rarity sunk shakily into the bathtub. Upon reaching her burn, the mellow aquatic therapy transformed into molten hell and she ground her teeth together to avoid crying out in pain.

Forcing herself into the white ceramic bowl, Rarity triaged her wounds. A red and horseshoe shaped bruise had raised on her belly. She delicately tested the injury. The skin was taught and warm, that was probably a good thing, right? Nothing had broken or burst right? She reclined in the tub, the 95% of her body not burning from salt rather enjoyed the soothing water. She wiped the blood from the cut the crown had caused her, which was thankfully minor. She felt her head, a small lump had formed under the cut and she had a mild headache. Her vision was fine, she could think clearly, it was probably just a knock. Next was the burn, Rarity twisted her neck to avoid turning her leg. Ah shit, that was a serious burn. A large patch of blackened and swollen skin shaped like a spade stood out on her thigh. She brushed her hoof along the area, it flaked away, leaving a raw red patch. It also hurt like hell. Rarity closed her eyes and bit her lip as the howling fury of a third degree burn sang on her hip. In a few seconds the pain receded and she thought about what to. Makeup for the cut, any dress would cover the bruise, the burn would ensure that it was a long dress. She only had one and that was supposed to be for the Crystal Café. Old Rarity didn’t plan her injuries well did she? Well, maybe the bruise would go down and the burn avoid infection if she stayed in the water for a little bit.

Rarity took a full breath, the first she had taken since she had left on her ill-fated mission. Her mind released from the flight or fight drive and she began to comprehend what had happened. Holy shit, she had almost been killed. Her wounds stung a little more as her heart raced with that thought.

Allen was probably never going to venture past the 12th floor again. What about that Maurin? Rarity shuddered with dread as she recalled how close he had come to her. Was he dead? He hadn’t yelled in pain. A sickening thought crossed her mind that he had impaled himself on the crown and his mutilated corpse was now being found by the other workers of the laundry. Would they figure out what kind of weapon had been used? Could they trace it back to her? She shook her head, there had to be more than just a stolen crown down there, nopony was going to call the authorities. God damn, Rarity heaved a heavy sigh, she was still shaking from her standoff. Just, God damn, what the hell had she been thinking? Old Rarity was more than a drunk, apparently old Rarity also had problems backing down from a fight. Seven months ago this would not have been an issue. What happened?

She sank up to her chin in the saline water, it didn’t matter, she just needed to focus on becoming presentable now.

The water felt a little cooler when she opened her eyes again, how long had it been? She heard a door close. Somepony walked into Twilight’s room.

“Hello? Spike? Rarity? Where are you guys? We’re eating dinner in like thirty minutes!” Twilight called.

“Just a minute!” Rarity replied. “Just, uh, getting fixed up for dinner! She rose out of the water and the cold air bit into her burn. “Shit!” She whispered loudly.

“Is uh, everything ok in there?” Twilight asked through the door.

“Yeah, just, be a dear please and get me my makeup bag. I seem to have forgotten it.” New Rarity politely requested. In a few moments Twilight again knocked at the door. Rarity opened it a crack and took the small case. “Ah yes, thank you so much.”

“Yeah, uh, where’s Spike? His room is locked and he should be getting ready.” Oh hell where was Spike?

“IIIIIIIIIIIIIII’m sure he’s somewhere.” Rarity said as she dusted her cut.

“Well, he better be getting ready.” Twilight said in irritation. “I’m not going to miss a dinner because he forgot his suit.”

After ten minutes of makeup, the new Rarity emerged wearing a towel.

“Just getting my dress.” She said as she casually walked by the changing Twilight. Rarity rooted through her suitcase, and dug out the dress. It still fit well and the stitching held, she was still proud of her work. Rarity looked herself over in the mirror, perfect. With her spotless dress, stellar makeup application and normal gait, one would never assume she had been on a violent search for a stolen crown recently. She turned and saw the queen.

Twilight was wearing a breathtaking dress, rich dark swirls of violet crisscrossed across onyx fabric. The dress fell to Twilight’s hooves and morphed about as she walked. Dark and mysterious, the dress was obviously inspired by Luna.

“That’s marvelous.” Rarity breathed. “You look dazzling.” Twilight blushed.

“Aw, thank you. Yeah it’s from an old chest back at Canterlot.” Spike peeked out of his room.

“You aren’t going to need your crown right?” He asked. Twilight giggled.

“There you are! No of course I’m not going to need it, this is just a little dinner. Now come on, we’re almost late.” Spike exited his room and joined the two. He wore the cutest little blazer Rarity had ever seen. Yet she remained respectful of the secretary.

“A grand outfit for a distinguished secretary.” New Rarity said sober appreciation. Twilight giggled.

“See Spike? It’s not silly.”

“Yeah well, I think it itches.” He said in annoyance.

“Well just think about how cool it will be to meet the Wonderbolts!” Twilight reminded him as they exited their suite.

That took Rarity back, she thought of Rainbow Dash, who was probably sitting reading a book or working on her model or engaged in some other activity that was completely backward to her interests. She should have smashed into their room once Cirrus mentioned the Wonderbolts were in town. She should have pleaded with Queen Twilight to please please please let her eat with them. She should have wanted to tour the reactors with them. Now she lived alone and cut manes. Now she didn’t even fly. What happened?

There was a “Closed for cleaning” sign on one of the elevators and Rarity shuffled them toward the stairs.

“Why don’t we take the healthy route?” She suggested quickly.

Dinner was served in a classic marble dining hall on the third floor of the hotel. Before they were even seated, Rarity was formulating her strategy. Small complements, nothing formal, just keep it casual. The new Rarity analyzed her targets. Cirrus was talking with some waiters, he was just the head of the hotel, but she made sure to treat him as an equal. Always use “your majesty” with Twilight and don’t say anything cute about Spike. Now the Wonderbolts…where were they? No matter, they were probably just fashionably late, and thus, temporarily irrelevant. Rarity took her seat, and sipped her water in moderation. Let the dinner commence.

Fifteen minutes passed, and her water was nearly gone. A waiter soon refilled her glass. Cirrus and Twilight were talking on some boring laws or something and Spike was still itching. The doors swung open and two ponies strolled in. Soarin’ and Captain Spitfire wore their light blue flight suits, evidently they had not intended to be fashionably late.

“Apologies for our lateness, we were held at tomorrow’s course.” Spitfire said as she approached the table. Soarin’ swaggered up to the table and took a seat next to Rarity.

“Hey there, I’m Soarin’.” He talked like Rarity thought he would, like somepony who assumed too much of himself. She held out a hoof politely.

“I am Rarity, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He grabbed it and shook it roughly, giving no thought to the proper action (a light, one point five second kiss on the top followed by a complement to her perfume).

“Great meetin’ ya.” He said brusquely. “You look great.”

Rarity doubled her resolve, even if he didn’t know proper etiquette, she did and the new Rarity wasn’t going to get tripped up by a prideful Pegasus. Spitfire took a more dignified approach and pulled out a chair next to Cirrus.

“Hello Queen Twilight. It’s good to see you.” The captain said with proper respect. Cirrus clopped his hooves and dinner began.

Four courses, Rarity made sure to use each one to demonstrate proper manners. The new Rarity was in her element and she deftly navigated the minefield of possible dining blunders. She ate for her size, used her napkin, and made certain to refuse any dishes that might stain if spilled. Despite her best efforts though, Rarity found it hard to keep the food down. The bruise pounded sickeningly with every swallow of hay and oats she took, but the new Rarity forced down the food and made not so much a grimace to indicate her suffering.

The conversation sat on Twilight and her new queenship.

“So how is it being queen?” Asked Spitfire between bites of wild oats. Twilight considered this for a moment.

“Well, not really something I envisioned doing.” She began. “It’s been tough obviously, the recession has made things very slow in terms of finances since banks don’t loan so much.”

“You got a lead on the bomber?” The room fell silent. The new Rarity nearly dropped her fork. Soarin’ had gone where nopony had dared. He had asked about the Blast. Twilight thought for a moment.

“Well, most of that is classified. But there are some leads, there is a civil war going on beneath the Rail Mountains. The diamond dog nation of Mohs is currently engaged in a domestic war, the president is pointing fingers at the rebel faction as possibly having a motive.” She spoke a LOT more casually than the new Rarity would have assumed. The Blast was heavily taboo as far as Rarity was concerned and she had not expected anypony else to think differently.

“I would imagine the death of our great Celestia has affected the bureaucratic process quite a bit.” Cirrus mused as he took a sip of water. Twilight nodded.

“Yes, she had a way with things that I can only try and mimic. The workings of the government are not used to another Alicorn.” Rarity could scarcely believe that they were talking about the Blast so casually. Was every pony this relaxed about it? Soarin’ continued to push the envelope.

“I’d like to find the guy, I’d show him justice.” He muttered. Spitfire shot him an expression that said to shut up. The room fell silent. Cirrus pushed at his salad.

“Has Princess Luna ever been by?” He asked. Twilight shook her head.

“No, she.” Twilight sighed here and set her fork down. “Went missing the day of the explosion, last reported sighting of her was about 4:37 in the cafeteria below the castle.” The room became deadly quiet as all of the ponies thought about the dark princess and the unspeakable possibility of her involvement with the murder of her sister.

“You know, we’re really just here to see the rainbow reactors.” Spike said abruptly. Cirrus smiled at the dragon.

“They are truly magnificent, a wonder to behold. They pump out more rainbows than the sixteen obsolete plants we ran before.” He gave a grateful nod to Twilight. “Your decision to allow their construction was very generous. As promised, they are more efficient and safer than the outdated plants.” Twilight nodded.

“Good to hear, you made a convincing case for new technology and I look forward to touring the facilities.” The queen said kindly

“Well rainbows are good, but they don’t scream across the sky shooting lightning. Some things you just can’t outsource.” Spitfire said proudly.

“Pardon my interruption but where are the rest of the Wonderbolts?” Rarity jumped in at a safe point, to avoid appearing silent and thus impolite. Spitfire laughed.

“Getting ready for the show. We’re terribly committed to practice and it takes quite a while to take just a few runs.” She answered. Soarin’ nodded.

“Yeah, we just came ‘cause we’ve been doing this the longest.” His mouth was full of greens and each word puffed out leaves like a confetti machine. Rarity was in safe waters and she pressed her polite conversation.

“I imagine it must be very cold up there, do your uniforms insulate you against the wind?” She asked, taking a perfectly timed bite of salad. Spitfire considered this for a moment.

“Well yes and no. During a performance or race you really don’t feel the cold, but the uniforms don’t really provide much in terms of warmth.”

“Ah, that would make sense. How many of you are there?” Rarity asked, wiping some excess water from her lips.

“Wonderbolts you mean? Hmm, I’m trying to remember, thirty six I believe. Yes, thirty six.” Spitfire answered.

“How often do you train?”

“You mean for events or just in general?”

“In general I suppose.”

“Every day, we have a minimum of 2 hours of flight each day.”

“Do you-” Rarity noticed she was the only pony asking any questions. “Oh, forgot what I was going to say.” She said quietly. A silence fell over the group, and Rarity squirmed under the awkwardness of the moment. Stupid move trying to force a conversation, what had she been thinking? New Rarity hoped she hadn’t looked too foolish.

They were served a dessert of alfalfa ice cream and it was Cirrus who broke the stillness.

“I know Twilight and myself are both going to be attending to some state affairs in the morning.” He gestured to Spike and Rarity. “But would either of you like to see the show? I can arrange for front row seats if you’d like.” He offered.

“Oh yeah, the Wonderbolts are sweet!” Spike said excitedly. Soarin’ grinned to this and a small smile slid across Spitfire’s face.

“Hey, you wanna go backstage little man?” Soarin’ asked Spike. “You can kick it with the whole crew!” Rarity guessed Spike didn’t like being called little man, but the dragon didn’t seem to mind.

“Yeah that’d be awesome!” He said eagerly. “I can’t believe I’m going to meet the whole team of Wonderbolts!”

The two Pegasi and the dragon spent the rest of dessert engaged in a conversation regarding the air show and what sort of aerial acrobatics would take place.

Rarity found herself smiling at Spike’s enthusiasm. He spent half his time running inane errands for Twilight and the rest of his time trying to make her and everyone he could happy. She was glad he was genuinely enjoying something. Spike deserved to be happy.

As they stood to leave, Rarity felt the sharp stab of her bruise against her food swollen stomach. God, how had she eaten so much? Evidently Soarin’ and Spitfire needed to get back to their flight crew, as the two rose and bowed to Twilight.

“Good to see you Queen Twilight. I am glad Equestria is in your hooves.” Spitfire said formally. Soarin’ poked Spike’s shoulder.

“See ya tomorrow little man.” He winked to the secretary and the two Pegasi departed.

In a few minutes, the three prepared to depart as well. Cirrus began to talk to Twilight about some boring state thing or whatever as they walked to the door and Spike pulled Rarity aside.

“I need to talk to you about the owncray.” He whispered. Rarity thought frantically, what could have happened?

Back at their room, Twilight changed from her dress and got ready for bed. In a minute she poked her head out of her room.

“I’m really tired, I’m going to get some sleep, can you two keep it down?” She asked in exhaustion.

“Yeah, sure, no problem, hope you sleep well.” Rarity said with a smile.

“Night Twilight.” Spike said softly. She didn’t reply and simply closed the door.

Spike brought Rarity into his room. Producing the crown from beneath his bedsheets, he motioned for her to look closely. It was cleaned, it looked fine, and oh hell there was a dent. Rarity swallowed, the very tip of the gold spike was pushed inward a little bit. No pony in existence would ever notice such a small blemish, yet they both knew Twilight would spot the damage instantly.

“Rarity, what happened with the crown?” Spike asked gravely. “How did it get dented?” New Rarity didn’t have a particularly good explanation for the actions of her older counterpart.

“Look, I was getting it back from the guy who stole it. And he somehow impaled himself on it.” She admitted.

“What?!!” He whispered loudly. “Is he dead?! Is this a murder weapon?!”

“No no no, he’s probably not dead. And it was a complete accident, more his fault than mine. Look Spike, nopony is going to have a problem with this, he’s not going to say anything ‘cause it’s Twilight’s crown and we’re not gonna say anything.” An idea came to her and she continued. “We’ll find a goldsmith tomorrow and get it fixed. I’m going to say that I burned my leg ironing my dress and I got the bruise from falling onto the end table after I burned myself.” She pulled the plan together. It was actually possible that they could pull it all off without Twilight finding out. “I think if we-”

“Rarity, this is what I was talking about, that whole trouble thing.” Spike said unhappily. Rarity stopped short. He was right, he was absolutely right. She hadn’t shown any maturity.

The reality dropped onto her and her imagined progress fell apart. She couldn’t stop being old Rarity, no matter how many dinners she went to or how many times she avoided protesting bullshit, she was still old Rarity. She fucked things up, couldn’t keep herself from fighting and wasn’t the kind of pony to take on a royal vacation. Everything she had done was just a pathetic attempt at proving something that wasn’t true. She was still the angry and foul-mouthed unicorn embittered over the loss of her business.

“I’m, sorry Spike.” She said quietly. “I’m not good at this, I guess I need to accept that. Sorry for making things worse.” She couldn’t look him in the eye and she dug the soft carpet with her hooves.

“What? That’s not what I care about. I’m saying that this is something that could really hurt Twilight if she found out.” Spike said in confusion. He knelt down and looked into her face. “Wait, what do you mean?” She sniffed back a tear.

“I’m nothing like who I should be, I’m a rude and undignified pony who never makes things better. I just fuck everything up without thinking.” She cried softly.

“What? No you’re not! Rarity, I love you, I mean, like, you’re really fun to be around.” He cleared his throat. “Don’t mean I love you, you know.” He took her face in his claws. “Why do you think you’re such a bad pony?” She wiped away some tears, which began to run her makeup.

“I swear and I can’t behave and I’m selfish. I screwed up at dinner.” She said miserably.

“No you didn’t, and you’re not undignified. You handle yourself fine.” He looked her in the eye. “You’re really fun, more fun than anypony I know. Yeah, you misbehave and get angry and I won’t stop you from trying to improve on that, but you aren’t a bad pony. If anything, I like you more now.” He smiled. “Look, this afternoon, you went and got that crown back, you risked your life for something that would have been a huge shame for the Queen of Equestria, that’s pretty noble. I bet that you would have been too scared to do that before the Blast!”

“You said I make trouble, I look for it and that’s why I shouldn’t come with you.” She pointed to the dented crown. “Trouble!”

“Rarity, I said that because I was worried you might get into a fight or something. But for the few hours we’ve been here you’ve done nothing but be a help to me and Twi. You obviously want to act more mature, and so far you have, what gives you the idea you’re on any path but the right one?” Rarity found herself without a response.

“I, just feel like I’m not as ladylike as I was.” She said quietly.

“Aw, Rarity, you’re still very well-behaved when you want to be. Tonight was good, you didn’t seem out of place, really, I didn’t see anything from you but proper etiquette. You’re still a beautiful lady, even without your accent.” A faint smile crossed her face.

“Thanks Spike.” She whispered.

He looked to the crown.

“I’m really worried that Twilight is going to figure out some part of what happened this afternoon. That’s what I meant by that trouble thing.” He explained. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Well, we have excuses for my injuries, they’ll heal a bit overnight, I guess, hopefully. We can find a jeweler to work on the crown tomorrow, I know of a few who won’t ask a lot of questions.” He nodded.

“All right, if you think you can get the work done quickly. I guess that we might be able to keep her from finding out about it.”

They sat on his bed for a time. Rarity felt exhausted and it felt good to just sit with the dragon.

“Didn’t know you liked the Wonderbolts so much.” She said after a bit. Spike rolled his eyes.

“Yeah I don’t, that Soarin’ guy is an idiot and I don’t really care about meeting the rest of them. But Twilight is worried that I don’t have any interests and I don’t want her to have to worry about me.” Rarity giggled.

“I never really saw you as the Wonderbolt type.” Her giggles faded and they sat again in silence. “You really care about her.” She mused.

Spike had been born to Twilight, he was her number one assistant. He had almost lost his mind when an owl had taken his place serving Twilight. He thought of little except what would help or benefit her.

“What about you?” She asked. “What are you gonna do when she isn’t going to need so much help?” His answer came quickly.

“It’ll be awhile before that happens.”

Rarity lay in bed, her bruise had long ceased to hurt and she gazed into the blackness. The crown was dented and she needed to make sure the jeweler she took it to didn’t try and steal it, or ask any questions. She wasn’t sure if such a jeweler existed and she was definitely not sure if Twilight would buy her thin explanations of her wounds. The plan was haphazard and more than implausible.

Yet despite all of the misfortune and likely trouble ahead, Rarity was happy. Her life was improving, she was becoming more like former and respected self. She was staying with the Queen of Equestria in a penthouse suite of a five star hotel after all.

Spike was really right, she could still be courteous and proper. New Rarity wasn’t a lie in the least. She rolled over on her side and the bruise and burn simmered with her movement. No matter what, she was improving.

It was already 8 in the morning when Rarity awoke. Spike was eating some oatmeal and reading the morning paper in the kitchenette.

“Mmmph, Twilight still here?” The unicorn asked sleepily. He shook his head.

“Nope, she left for some sit downs with Cirrus. You better get cleaned up, you have to get the crown to the jeweler and then meet me at the stadium for the air show.” He said, hopping from his chair and tossing his bowl into the sink. Another great day of running errands for shitty old Rarity. BUT, she caught herself, another day of improving.

She sauntered into the bathroom to freshen up. A nasty green film had formed over her burn. That had to go. Rarity grit her teeth and scraped the membrane away. She nearly screamed in pain at the vicious sting. For a few moments she caught her breath then turned to her bruise. Ugly, red and defined, it would remain largely unseen if she remained on four hooves, a feat that new Rarity could manage with ease. She downed a slice of toast and a banana as she and Spike made their way to the lobby.

“Alright.” Spike handed her four hundred bits and a saddlebag containing the dented crown. “Get it fixed, no questions asked, no trouble.” He said on the steps of the building. She nodded.

“Got it, no trouble this time. See you at the air show.” She confidently relayed.

Cloudsdale was full of jewelers, it was full of designer clothing stores, it was full of imported furniture emporiums. Rarity walked along the clean white streets and took in the city, Cloudsdale was rich. She passed Pegasi schools, glancing into the windows, Rarity saw the fillies and colts gliding through halls and shunning the floor entirely. Things were different up here, that was certain. She had lived in Cloudsdale for a long time, but every time she visited the levitating city, it never failed to dazzle her. The old adage was entirely correct, there was something about Cloudsdale.

His name was Brilliance, and he could fix the crown. Brilliance was a small pony, smaller than her even. He was entirely white and his eyes were such a clear aqua that there was hardly any contrast to his form. He had fixed tens of broken brooches and necklaces for Rarity over the course of their business partnership. He wouldn’t ask any questions, their past assured that.

During her years at the Academy of Advanced Arts, Rarity had opened a little jewelry to help support herself along with Brilliance, another student. After her four years of school, she moved back to Ponyville and opened the Carisol Boutique, but Brilliance had found his life in the colorful and glittering rocks. They had fallen out of touch, but of course they were still good friends.

The store sat on a small cloud all by itself and Rarity walked the familiar bridge to the entrance. Still the same old cheap brick building the stallion had taken a liking to. She rapped on the glass door. No doorbell, he liked the quiet. It was a young purple stallion who answered the door.

“Can I help you?” He asked in a teenage slur. Rarity stood for a second, unsure of her destination.

“Um, yes, I’m looking for Brilliance, is this the right place?” She asked in bewilderment. The stallion looked back into the shop.

“Daaaaaaaad, there’s a customer for you!” He hollered. “Eyaah, come on in.” The colt invited unenthusiastically. Entering the building proved that it was in fact, the same shop. Bracelets and necklaces and rings and all manner of gem encrusted accoutrements were on display in clear glass counters. Beauty in the form of jewlery, that was Brilliance’s passion. The jeweler walked out of the back room. He wore his grease stained work apron.

“Thank you Adam.” He saw her. “Oh my stars, is that you Rarity?” He rushed to her. “My goodness, it is you!” The petite white pony hugged her. “How have you been? It’s been so long!” He looked to “Adam”, who was picking his nose. “Hold my calls and no disturbances.” The jewler commanded.

Brilliance took her to the back room, his workspace. It hadn’t changed a bit, tools were scattered about the wooden bench and a few watches and chains sat in various states of repair.

“My goodness! Rarity! You look so different!” He said excitedly. She blushed a little, it still sounded weird when everypony said that.

“Yeah, just had a little something that needed fixing and I thought I’d drop by.” She said with a smile.

“Tell me how you’ve been!” He said eagerly. “Last I heard you were working with HT on some collab, did it sell?” She hadn’t told him. There were lots of ponies who had no idea what had happened to her, but she really thought she’d told him.

“Yeah, I just sorta went in another direction with that whole plan.” She explained tenuously.

“Well how is the Boutique? Haven’t seen any mind blowers lately, are you planning something big?” She rubbed her neck.

“A little, it’s been pretty hectic down in Ponyville.” He nodded.

“Absolutely, I’ve heard they’ve been having a bit of a time with the economy.”

“Yes, it’s been quite rough, but I was coming up here on a visit with a friend.” She chewed her tongue Tell him this was the real crown or pretend it was a knock off. “And she seems to have dented her crown, I was wondering if you could do a patch up? Something in an hour?” The stallion cocked his head.

“A crown? Let me take a look. Don’t see a lot of those, are you making them come back in style?” he asked good-naturedly.

“Haha something like that!” She laughed as she slid the crown from her saddlebag and stood it nervously on the bench before him. He went white, or at least, a whiter shade of white.

“My God.” His voice was breathless and reverent. “This is the Celestia’s royal crown, four hundred years old.” He licked his lips and looked to her in pure disbelief. “How did you get this?”

“Well, my friend is Twilight Sparkle, she’s here on some business and she wanted a little dent taken care of.” Rarity tried her best to make it sound less absurd.

“Queen Twilight Sparkle?” He started to tremble.

“That’s her.” He stepped away from the gold headdress as if it were an accursed idol.

“S-s-s-she wants it fixed by me?” He stammered in fright. Rarity shrugged as if it were a small matter.

“Yeah, she asked me to take care of it, she just wants it done before this afternoon, she has a little reception she has to make.” He fell to a chair, overcome with disbelief.

“You recommended me?” He looked up at her with a mixture of betrayed trust and astonished flattery. Rarity smiled appreciatively.

“I needed somepony who knew what they were doing, and who wouldn’t ask any embarrassing questions. And somepony who I trust not to steal it.” She added jokingly. He sat for a few moments, alternating his gaze between her and the crown.

“What is the problem?” He asked finally. Rarity showed him the dent on the tip.

“Right here, she said it fell out of the case awhile back. Can you pound it out or whatever in under an hour?”

He squinted at the blemish.

“It should be a relatively simple process.” He said slowly. “But this thing is archaic, how much does she know about current gold finishing techniques compared to four hundred years ago?” Rarity thought for a moment, that sounded like some pretty esoteric knowledge…what else did Twilight possess?

“Ahhh, I’m sure it’ll be impossible to tell!” She said optimistically. Brilliance looked at her in fear.

“Is she going to have me executed if she can tell?” Rarity laughed.

“Of course not! And I have full confidence in you!” It wouldn’t be his life if she found anyway.

“Oh..kay.” He said slowly.

Brilliance was an artist, like her. For the four years she had worked with him, she had seen a wunderkind develop. As his head took that familiar rightward tilt, Rarity saw the white stallion enter his reserved little world of cabochons and karat grading.

The process was looked anything but simple, his tool chest was soon emptied across the small bench and Rarity watched in fascination as the jeweler carefully worked on the priceless treasure. Brilliance knew exactly what he was doing.

She smiled to herself, this was the Brilliance she had almost married during their years of work together. She had readied herself to propose to him, even borrowed a diamond engagement necklace of his in preparation. But something in her stopped short, something in her had told her to look to the future. To pursue her pipe dream of opening a fashion store in the hick town of Ponyville. She had shied away from marriage, of course Brilliance never found out about her feelings, proper Rarity had never let anything slip. They had gone their separate ways as good friends. The two had accomplished their dreams, each had run the business they loved. Except only the jewler was still in business.

“Alright, this is what I can do.” Brilliance said waveringly. He held up the crown and Rarity peered closely at the tip. Smooth and slick, the point was perfect.

“That’s amazing, just like new, er, I mean, exactly four hundred years old.” She said appreciatively.

“There’s striation in an upward curve, honestly, there’s not a thing I can do, I’m sorry.” He said gloomily. The point was flawless, absolutely and completely flawless. Rarity hugged the master jeweler tightly.

“Oh Brilliance, that’s just how I remember you. Always apologizing for perfection.” She unbanded the bills. “What is perfection running for these days?” He refused the money.

“No, not at all. I nearly tanked this business only to have your savvy mind save it, I couldn’t charge you for stealing. And for Queen Twilight’s crown.” He looked back at the finished crown. “Please, if you do anything, tell her I was happy to help.” Rarity smiled, he hadn’t changed even a little.

“Just doing it for fun.”

“That’s why I work here.” He said happily. She motioned to the door.

“Speaking of which, ‘Adam’?” She asked sarcastically. He laughed.

“My son, his name is Adamite, after the mineral. You should meet the mare, she’s got her hooves full with us. Oh, are you free for dinner?” She shook her head quickly.

“Sorry, I have to get back to the queen.” She paused. “Well, uh, thanks for the fix, I’ll be sure and recommend you again if she needs any more help.” He smiled.

“Please, avoid any jobs that will raise my blood pressure, the doctor has enough of a chip on his shoulder these days.” She giggled and he walked her out.

“It was good seeing you Rarity. You are still as beautiful as the day you strolled out of my life.” Brilliance said as they reached the bridge. She blushed to this, a little bit of her crush returning.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do to repay you?” She asked wistfully.

“Actually, there is one thing, can you make a dress for my mare?” Her blood ran cold. “Nothing flashy” He chuckeld. “But just a little something to let her know I care.” She thought frantically for an excuse.

“Well, you see, I’m pretty swamped, there’s a lot going on.” She stammered. He nodded.

“Of course, I know you’ve got a lot on your plate running such a professional operation. Your visit is enough, I appreciate you dropping by.” He said understandingly.

“It’s just that, things are so busy you see.” She guiltily attempted to explain her refusal. “And I wouldn’t want to commit to something that I might forget or take years to complete.” He nodded again.

“It’s entirely fine, keep up the good work.” Brilliance gave her a hug before starting back to his little shop. “Good seeing you Rarity, please come by again!” He called.

Rarity watched him enter the little store. Seven months ago she could have said yes without a second thought. Seven months ago making a single dress would have been effortless. What happened?

The stadium was packed, where the hell was Spike? Rarity looked to and fro, the colorful waves of ponies sitting around the bottomless arena shimmered with movement. In a front row seat far below her, she saw the disinterested dragon picking at his arm scales. Hacking her way through the pandemonium, Rarity kept close guard on the bundled crown, its misadventures were over. A tremendous roar thundered through the stadium and the white pony watched the trail of black smoke and thunderbolts dissipate into the air, she couldn’t even see the damn Wonderbolts when they performed. Spike was engrossed in his arm scales and she slipped into the seat beside him.

“So what’d I miss?” She asked casually.

“Whoa, when did you get here?” He asked in astonishment.

“Ah, you know me always sneaking around.” She said with a toss of her mane. “Although you were too spellbound by the performance to notice.” He sighed and tossed a scale over the edge of the stadium.

“I mean, they’re cool and all, but how do people get this obsessed over such a one-sided and pretty unspectacular thing?” He asked. She shrugged.

“Because everybody else is? Cause it’s made out to be something great? Fans of this kinda thing usually go for the fandom and the fun of it, not the actual thing itself.” She pondered. He sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“I’d like it a lot more if it weren’t so overblown.” He said tiredly. She laughed.

“Then they wouldn’t be the Wonderbolts would they?” He sat up suddenly.

“You got the crown right?” She smiled breezily.

“Nothing to it, looks perfect, guy didn’t even charge.” He let his breath out and sat back down in his chair.

“Ok, good, it looks fine right?” she nodded. “Ok good, Twi has a tour of the warehouses tonight and she needs it then. We just need to get back in place by five.” Rarity grinned.

“We get to enjoy the show!” Spike groaned and leaned back in his chair again.

The show wasn’t actually that bad, Rarity like a lot of it. The Wonderbolts were talented and they screamed through the air and looped and spiraled like some kind of magic spell. But as she slowly deafened from the screaming crowd and watched the same mindless tricks performed over and over again, she began to wonder if there was anypony who felt like she did. That overappreication of a work makes it much less appealing.

The performance lasted a few hours and Spike and Rarity began to count the number of times he could scrape a scale before it fell off. By the time they left the stadium, Spike’s arm had several patches of bare pink skin interspersed among the rich purple scales.

“Well that was great.” Spike said sarcastically as they climbed the steep and painfully long stairs out of the stadium. The stadium was virtually empty, as the rest of the spectators had been afforded an easier exit via their elevated seating.

“Heh, you shoulda asked what everypony else thought of it, I’m sure they’d love to tell you.” Rarity laughed as they hiked up the severely inclined stairs. A brilliant flash of blue exploded before them and knocked Rarity back down the stairs. She tumbled backward down the incline and caught a glimpse of the yawning gap of the bottomless stadium below her. She screamed and grabbed wildly at a seat to stop herself from tumbling down the stairs and over the guard rail. Catching herself, she held on for dear life.

“Little man! You ready to go backstage?” Soarin’ was number one on Rarity’s newly written kill list. Rising unsteadily, Rarity climbed the several feet back to Spike. Her flank stung from the fall and her heart pounded in her chest.

The dragon was prying himself from the railing, evidently he had not expected the Pegasus’ surprise entrance either. Soarin’ was waiting patiently at the top of the stairs. He did not seem to notice the near death experience he had just authored via his ballistic arrival.

“Hey! You want to come too?” The dangerously inconsiderate Pegasus asked upon seeing Rarity approach.

“Fu-”

“Haha of course! Rarity here loves you guys! She was just telling me how much she wanted a group autograph!” Spike said loudly. Rarity didn’t even have to look at him to know he was grinning. Evidently he wanted her to share in his suffering.

“Well all right then! Which one of you wants to ride with me and which one wants to walk?” Rarity was already at the top of the stairs by the time Soarin’ was done speaking. “Ok then!” He laughed as Spike climbed onto his back. “Just go to the end of the walkway and somepony will get the door.” He called to her as he and Spike breezed by. Rarity looked down the long concrete walkway ahead of her, there was a little door on the far wall. She started towards it.

The distance was about a fifth of a mile, and it felt like it. Her burn sizzled in agony and each step pumped more blood to the already seething injury. Finally, after what felt like a marathon, she reached the far wall. Smooth white marble with a simple grey door, it did not appear to be a “backstage” of anywhere. She was sore and her flank burned with exertion as she clopped a hoof on the blank metal door; Soarin’ would die a horrible death if this was a joke or a mistake. A couple seconds passed and she knocked with all her might. Nothing happened. Rarity stood for a few moments, her flank hurt and she really wanted to go back to the hotel. After five or so minutes she knew nopony was coming.

That was it, she was leaving, Spike could meet her at the hotel and Soarin’ was going missing in the morning. She gave the door a vicious buck as she turned.

“Hello? Somebody knock?” The voice came from behind her. She looked back. An orange mare poked her head out of the door. Rarity ran back toward the pony.

“Yes! Do you know where the Wonderbolts are?” She asked in irritation. The orange pony flicked her head in amusement.

“Yeah, right in here.”

Incredible as it seemed, backstage with the Wonderbolts was actually kind of cool. The orange pony, Gale, introduced her to the group. The crew were lounging around and refueling after their performance. They were more laid back than Rarity would have thought. Standing and talking with the uniformless Pegasi in a normal manner, Rarity found herself succumbing to the dumb awe that surrounded celebrities.

She soon found Spike and Soarin’ amidst the athletes.

“Heyhey! Rarity, you made it! You didn’t have any trouble finding the place didja?” The Pegasus asked as she reached the pair.

“Well.” New Rarity decided not to hold the lengthy trek against him. “Not really.”

“Did that autographed flight suit make it to you?” Spike asked.

“What?” She had forgotten about the autograph.

“Oh yeah.” Soarin’ dashed off and returned in a second with a grey flight suit. “This isn’t a uniform, Spit doesn’t let us give those out. But it is a windsuit from the same brand, so it’s pretty much the same thing! Hope you like it!” The grey garment was covered with the signatures of the team and Soarin’ offered it to Rarity. He uncapped a pen.

“All that’s left to do is make it out, I just need to grab Spit, she still hasn’t signed it.” Soarin’ said, waving to the lead coach. “You want your name right?” He asked Rarity.

“All right, we need to get back to the hotel. Finish up the meet and greet and let’s shove off.” Spitfire said briskly as she reached the pair. Soarin’ gave the pen to the instructor.

“She wants it signed.” He looked to Rarity. “Just your name?”

Rarity thought for a moment.

“N-no, can you say ‘To RD’? No wait, make that ‘To Rainbow Dash’.” She blurted out. Spitfire shrugged and scribbled her name on the garment along with the inscription. She handed the suit to Rarity.

“Ok, good seeing you two, sorry to leave but we have to get back to the hotel. Soarin’ show you the way out?” The stallion nodded.

“Yep, just take the way you came. Good seeing ya little man!” He said, giving Spike another pat on the shoulder.

The group of Pegasi lined up at a door leading into the sky and began to shuffle out. In a matter of moments, the entire Wonderbolt armada dove out the portal and into the blue beyond. The room was littered with paper cups half filled with electrolyte drinks and protein chews. Spike looked to Rarity.

“Well, that was abrupt.” He said. Rarity looked at the flightsuit, it had been signed by all of the Wonderbolts and inscribed by Spitfire. Maybe Soarin’ wasn’t so bad.

Rarity sprawled onto the couch. Her legs were shot, it had been a LONG walk back to their room.

“Fuuuuu-” Her flank burned along with her belly and the word slowly slid from her mouth. She noticed Spike. “Uuuun meeting those guys. Just wish the walk back didn’t kill so much.” He chuckled.

“You had them make it out to Rainbow Dash.”

“You were drinking a sports drink and you haven’t run more than half a mile in your life.” She retorted. He began to laugh.

Twilight entered the suite, she looked tired.

“Hey Rarity, hey Spike. What’s-” She looked back to Rarity in shock. “What happened?!! Did something happen at the air show?” Rarity jumped up, she had forgotten that Twilight hadn’t seen her injuries.

“No no no, nothing like that. I was just ironing my dress yesterday and I caught my leg on the stupid cable and then I fell forward and my hoof sorta caught on the table.” Rarity made an outrageously implausible motion depicting her grievous accident. Twilight stared at her.

“Are you ok? That burn could get infected. Did you have it looked at?” Rarity nodded.

“Yep, dropped some rubbing alcohol on it.” Rarity said casually. “It’s just skin, I mean a skin injury, like not deep.” The Alicorn watched Rarity.

“If…you’re sure.” Twilight said slowly. Spike inserted himself as a diversion.

“Hey, got your crown for tonight! Can we come?” He asked cheerfully.

“No, it’s a closed door meeting…talking about legal issues for Cloudsdale.” Twilight was still looking at the burn. “Rarity-”

“Oh don’t worry at all, we’ll be fine, we’ll order a pizza or something. Tomorrow I have a surprise for you! You better not have evening plans.” Rarity grinned. “It’s something fit for a queen.” Twilight narrowed her eyes, she was the very essence of suspicious.

“You…didn’t get into a fight?” She asked bluntly. Rarity shook her head.

“Ha, this is the new Rarity, I’m making it a point to avoid violence.” Rarity said confidently. Twilight nodded slowly.

“Alright, if you say so.” She took the crown from Spike. “I’m going to be late, you don’t need to wait up for me.” Thankfully she didn’t seem to notice anything unusual about the headdress as she placed it atop her head. “Be back later, don’t stay up too late Spike.” She called from the door. It wasn’t a joke, but the secretary made it one.

“Haha! I’ll try, but you never know with Rarity!” He called jovially as the door slid closed.

“Shit, I don’t know if she bought it.” Rarity said anxiously. “I mean, what do you think she thinks?” She looked back at the dragon. Spike was crestfallen.

“We’ve been here two days already and we’ve done nothing. Twilight’s always working. We can’t make it a good time for her if she’s always gone.” He said unhappily. Rarity put her arm around the discouraged dragon.

“Look, I think we should take her to the Crystal Café tomorrow. We can talk about fun stuff, eat some really good food and with two of us she’ll have to liven up. Let’s order some room service and make plans for what we want to do tomorrow.”

They made plans, they were going out for breakfast in the morning, there was a little Cloudsdale tour service that they’d take to see the sights. They would stop for lunch, something light, salad probably, they needed to save room for dinner. They’d have their tour guide drop them off at the Crystal Café, at which point they would surprise Twilight with a top floor table that overlooked the whole land. It took them two orders of pizza and gemstones to perfect the plot. But eventually, Spike conceded that they could brighten Twilight’s trip.

“So, you think we can keep her from doing work for an entire day?” Spike asked as they sat reviewing.

“No doubt, we’re going to keep her busy and she has to have gotten all the important stuff out of the way already.” Rarity proudly thumped her chest. “With you and the new Rarity, she can’t avoid having a great time.” Her bruise began to hurt a little. All new Rarity had to do was not fuck anything up.

Chapter 7

Chapter VII

The sun was just peeking over the clouds when Rarity and Spike quietly sneaked to Twilight’s door.

“Ready?” Spike whispered. Rarity nodded and the two burst into the room.

“Wakey wakey!” Rarity sang. Twilight turned over sleepily beneath her covers. They halted for second, unsure of what to do. They hadn’t assumed the queen would be sleeping heavily. “Hey Twiiiiiiilight! It’s time to get up!” Rarity said a little louder. The Alicorn mumbled something in her sleep and redistributed the blanket around her. Rarity walked to the side of the bed gently rocked the sleeping mare. “It’s your mornin-”

“God, stop it.” Twilight said grumpily. Rarity stepped back in embarrasment.

Rising groggily, Twilight opened her sleep crusted eyes.

“What time is it? What are you two doing?” She asked tiredly.

“We’re kidnapping you! We’re gonna spend the day hanging out and you aren’t going to do a thing! It’s your day off!” Spike declared confidently. Twilight smiled warmly at the earnest dragon.

“Oh Spike, thanks so much for planning this. But a queen-dom doesn’t stop for-” She stopped as she saw the light fade from his eyes. “But you know what? That meeting about cloud redistribution can go on without me!” She finished as the smile came back to his face. She turned to Rarity. “What do you have planned for this kidnapping?” She asked playfully.

“First is breakfast down at Fat Nat’s eggs. The rest you’ll find out as we go along!” Rarity informed her friend. Twilight brushed her sleep matted mane from her eyes.

“Well ok then! Surprises are great!” The queen picked up the phone by the bed. “Just a sec.” She dialed a number and waited for a moment. “Hello, Praetorian? Yes, I am calling to inform you that I am being kidna-er, I am taking a day of rest. You are relieved of duty for the day!” She hung up the phone decisively. “Let’s get going!”

Fat Nat’s eggs was crowded, but the crowd parted like a sea upon the arrival of the trio. Rarity had often visited the little breakfast diner during her college years. It was cheap, but had enough cuteness to it that she didn’t feel stingy taking the Queen of Equestria to the little diner. Fat Nat’s was the perfect place to start a kidnapping.

“I’ll take a spinach omelet, please don’t burn the toast, oh and I would like fresh orange juice, nothing from a bottle.” Rarity informed their server.

“Yeah, I’ll have a plate of your best breakfast gems.” Spike added. The burly waiter wrote the impossible order down and turned nervously to the queen.

“Just coffee thank you.” Twilight smiled.

“Y-y-yes your majesty!” He quavered as he hurried back the kitchen.

“Getting hooked on coffee eh?” Rarity joked. “Yeah, back when I was in school I started cheating sleep and just using coffee to get things done.” She laughed. “Finally collapsed from caffeine poisoning, had to spend two weeks in dialysis. Still though, graduated fourth in the class and managed to run a respectable jewelry at the same time.” Spike’s eyes widened, evidently her college years had escaped his knowledge.

“Whoa, you almost died, did it hurt really bad on dialysis?” Rarity nodded vigorously.

“Oh yeah, it was terrible, my parents came to see me, they thought I was dying.” Twilight cocked her head.

“You ran a jewelry? Is it still open? That sounds like something I’d like to see. If we have time, we should drop by, I want to see what kind of a store you ran.”

“Haha, pretty sure it’s closed or something.” New Rarity assured her.

“So anyway Twilight, after breakfast, we’re taking you on a tour of Cloudsdale. We’re gonna see the skyline and everything!” Spike said happily.

“Sorry, tight schedule, we’ve got a plan going.” Rarity agreed.

“Sounds like fun!” Twilight smiled.

Fun was a generous description of the tour. Admittedly, it was beautiful, the city was snow white and elegantly crafted, and the three marveled at the grandeur of the buildings as they lazily floated past the hotels and nightclubs of Cloudsdale. But after about a hundred different historical lessons on the various places and events of the city amongst the clouds, the only one of the three paying any attention to the tour guide was Twilight. Slipping quietly to the observation deck of the large dirigible, Rarity slumped over the railing in boredom. Spike joined her.

“Geez that tour guy knows every little thing about every little grocery store.” He said, rolling his eyes.

“Well, Twilight is having the time of her life learning about the paleo-pony age of Cloudsdale or whatever, that’s good.” Rarity offered.

“You think she’s having a good time?” Spike asked nervously.

“Psh, of course, it’s what she loves!” Rarity assured him. Twilight loved anything brainy and boring, and she probably hadn’t even noticed they had gone. Almost on cue, the young queen joined the two on the observation deck.

“Hey! Where’d you two go? I’m all alone up in a crowd of Pegasi up there.” She said with a laugh.

“Oh yeah, sorry.” Rarity looked at Spike. “We were starting to overflow with knowledge I guess. And I sorta thought you were enjoying yourself up there.” Twilight shrugged.

“Well, not really, I know most of that stuff and at any rate he got the date on the construction of the God Ray Bridge wrong.” She hunched over the railing beside Rarity. “You lived here for a few years. Why don’t you give us a drive-by tour? Show us the city from Rarity’s view.” The Alicorn suggested.

This was it, Rarity was now the center of attention. It was up to her to entertain and she was going to make them laugh and cry and not swear once.

“Well,” Began the new and improving Rarity. “The Academy is deeper in the city, you can’t really see it through all these buildings. I spent a lot of time there, I lived on campus. But I did go to a lot of dances in some of the ballrooms across the metro area. You can see a couple of them from here.”

Rarity walked them through her college life. As they passed clouds and rainbows, the white unicorn told the story of her education. The stories were boring and trite to say the least. Yet new Rarity could make any story fun it seemed. The hours passed by, and both listeners were fixed on her stories of cramming for studies, having her heart broken, and her battles with her nemesis, the dean of advisory.

“Oh, then he comes back, I’ve been awake for two days already, so I’m about to pass out. He sits down, and says ‘We really need to talk about what you want to be for the rest of your life’, and I’m honestly just trying to keep awake.” Rarity related in animation. She pretended to slip from a chair. “I’m seriously trying everything I can to not lose consciousness and he’s just laying into me about my future. So I feel under the chair, there’s this sharp metal edge thing on the bottom.” Spike’s mouth opened a little.

“No, you didn’t.” He said in preemptive awe.

“Yup.” She pantomimed slicing her hoof on the edge. “I jump up and scream that I need to clean this off in my room, but he ends up calling 911 and I go to the hospital for three stitches.” Spike yelped with pain.

“Owwwww, did he find out about the pool table?” He asked hurriedly. Rarity nodded sadly.

“Yeah, woulda made a great graduation prank. But, still graduated fourth in my class and things were pretty good past then, so I guess all that talk about my future came to naught.” She said in satisfaction.

“Pretty wild college life is kind of the general theme I’m getting.” Twilight said teasingly. Rarity shrugged.

“Yeah, it took me a lot of years in design to find my rhythm. But I got it, and frankly I loved my work, it was right for me. I loved the fancy details and the pure creativity. It was a maturity to develop culture and refinement, but it really came naturally.” She smiled to herself. “It was just the most fun I’ve ever had.” Her sentence ended awkwardly, as all three recalled what had become of her after that perfect life had ended. She couldn’t act like old Rarity didn’t exist. She needed to be honest.

“Yeah.” She said a little softer. “It was really hard on me losing all that, especially in the way I did.” She looked to Twilight. “I really want to show you on this trip, and every day after, that I’m going to get that maturity back. That I’m going to stop fighting and getting mad over stupid stuff. I guess I’m kinda saying I’m sorry for all of the immature and stupid things I do.” She said quietly. Twilight nodded appreciatively.

“Spike has been saying that. I want to say that I’m really proud of what you’ve been doing on this trip, I like what I see. I know it was really hard on you when you lost your business and I understand why you might be pretty mad at Ponyville.” The purple Alicorn thought momentarily. “I guess, great job is what I’m trying to say.” She said proudly. Rarity bit her lip, Twilight said that to her, Twilight had. She sniffed.

“Thanks for putting up with me, I know it hasn’t been easy.” Rarity knew she was going to cry now.

“Well, anypony can make mistakes.” Twilight hugged the tearing unicorn. “And it hasn’t been the easiest past few months for anypony.” Spike also put his arms around the emotional pony. It was a hug that Rarity hadn’t felt for a long time, it was a hug among friends.

They finished the tour and arrived at the Crystal Café.

The Crystal Café sat on the top floor of a 13 story apartment high rise. The restaurant sat fifty ponies and had no lines since reservations were required. It was the perfect place to take a queen for an outing Rarity thought triumphantly as they approached the ivory carved doors. A vibrant blue and green pony stood waiting for them. Apparently Trance was maître de’ tonight. Spike approached the stallion.

“Hello good sir, I believe we have reservations for the top floor.” He said in a poor attempt at fancy talk. Trance bowed low to the dragon.

“But of course, allow me to escort you to your table personally.” He saw Rarity and that shine came to his eyes. She didn’t even know him, not with her friends around.

“All I had to do was mention that Twilight was going to be with us and he gave us the best table in the house!” Spike related as they followed Trance to their seats. They passed the table Rarity had reserved. It sat waiting for a party that wasn’t going to come. She didn’t say anything, it was better that way.

Their table sat before a massive picture window. It looked out above the clouds and over the land of Equestria. Vast green acres stretched for miles and mountains and hills rose up in the distance. The distant coast of Yanhooyer was visible over the thick forests. Pressing her nose to the glass, Rarity could just make out the brilliant cliffs of the Crystal Kingdom far in the distance. All three gazed spellbound out of the window for a few moments.

“It’s beautiful all right. On clear days you can see the side of Cantorlot on the mountain.” Trance explained.

Dinner was five stars, the Crystal Café never changed. Even Twilight, who had eaten nothing but excellence since she came to power, admitted that there was nothing like the Neihagaran salad they were served. Rarity ordered her usual hemp and clover salad and approved of the dressing. And of course there was something for Spike, the cooks had sent away for Tanzanite fragments and the dragon relished the superheated gems.

“I propose a toast.” Rarity stood with her water glass. “To Queen Twilight, may her reign be the best Equestria has ever known.”

“Here here!” Spike clinked his glass to hers. Twilight blushed and smiled. Rarity nodded to her queen.

“You were a great pony, and an even better Alicorn Twilight. I-” Twilight put up a hoof.

“It’s ok Rarity, I know you think well of me. But being an improved you doesn’t mean you have to sound like the ponies I spend my time with.” She giggled. “Can the new you still be fun?” Rarity sat down.

“Of course she can.” She replied happily. They finished with dessert (free) and sat for a time, watching the sun set over Equestria. The golden orb slowly fell toward the ground and darkness crept over the land. Spike leaned back in his chair and folded his arms behind his back. He smacked his lips thoughtfully.

“Don’t even think about burping.” Twilight warned good-naturedly. Spike’s mouth opened wide as he heaved a deep yawn. Rarity gave the adolescent dragon a caring pat on the arm.

“Aw, Spike here is probably tired.” She said sweetly.

“I am not!” He protested. “Well, I mean, yeah I could go to bed now if that’s what you’re wondering.” Twilight stood and stretched her back.

“You’ve had a long day, probably time to call it a night.” Twilight left a generous tip and they walked to the exit. Rarity saw Trance standing by the door to the kitchen.

“You guys go on ahead, I’ll be right behind you.” She shooed them out the door and walked to the Pegasus. “Hey, thanks for the reservations, even if I didn’t use them. I really appreciate it.” She said awkwardly to Trance. He smiled and tossed his hoof.

“Never an issue.” He said breezily. Rarity pawed the ground. He was still smiling.

“I just didn’t want to be a user, so I wanted to make sure I thanked you properly.” She said with a nod. He chuckled.

“Rarity, you could never use me.”

“It was great having you make those reservations, it was last minute and-”

“Rarity, it’s fine, and I want you to know, I-” Rarity started for the door, she had said what she needed to say and wasn’t going to listen to any lustful pleading. “Rarity.” Trance called from behind her, she slowed to a halt. “You know what I would like, and I know you don’t want to give it to me. What is it you want? To the best of my ability I will give it to you, I want this to be an equitable exchange.”

Rarity laughed, a genuine laugh. She laughed because she was being completely honest and not even trying to hurt the lusting stallion.

“I have everything I could want.” Rarity started for the door, and for her friends.

The reactors were massive buildings. The pair of stadium sized bulbs were each independently supported by their clouds. Entirely concrete and surrounded by guards, the reactors were strangely quiet. Their hoofsteps echoed through the cavernous hallway and the clop of horseshoes mingled with the scrape of dragon claws upon the glassy concrete. Cirrus (Rarity had discovered that he was the mayor of Cloudsdale and not a hotel clerk) led them toward the core of the reactor.

“Thirty six thousand gallons of color go into a rainbow, well, the standard size one.” He explained. “Reactor 1 fuses rainbows for Equestria. This one is still being set up, but in about a month or so, we’ll be exporting rainbows to the neighboring countries.” A drop of violet landed on Rarity’s nose, it was icy cold and dripped onto the grey concrete. Wiping the liquid from her snout, she looked up to spot the origin of the leak. Tens of pipes ran above them, each pipe was color coded and the entire rainbow was represented on the ceiling. It reminded the unicorn of the streak of rainbow that Rainbow Dash left as she blazed through the sky. Rarity wondered what Dash would think of the reactors. Probably say they were big, and complicated and absolutely respect them, in that very un-Rainbow Dash way.

Twilight was listening intently to Cirrus’ explanation of the fusion process.

“You say it’s cold fusion? That’s a novel idea.” Twilight said thoughtfully. Cirrus nodded.

“Oh yes, something that seemed to work out perfectly. In fact, when we enter the observation ridge, we’ll have to change into protective gear on account of the temperature.” They had been touring the liquid plants and refineries and were just now getting to the actual reactor core. The entire tour had been under the thick web of militaristic security. Guards seemed to stand at every conceivable location, almost to the point of redundancy.

After a few minutes of walking they reached a door that resembled that of an elevator, only this looked like it would withstand a lot of force. Cirrus pushed a hoof into what looked like an oversized power outlet and the door hissed open.

“Hoofpad identification is the best lock, very difficult to crack.” He explained. “And diamond dogs don’t even have hooves to begin with.” He said, nudging the queen. Twilight seemed to ignore the more or less racist comment and followed the Pegasus into the locker room before them. Surrounding them were walls of lockers, a table piled with white body suits that looked horribly uncomfortable to Rarity sat in the middle of the room. A miniscule black and yellow door waited ominously at the opposite side of the room. The door hissed closed behind them, which spooked Rarity more than it should have.

“So here is where we’ll need to change into cryogenic gear, please don any of these suits.” Cirrus pointed to the table. “Master Spike, we had a suit tailored for your body type.” Cirrus lifted a dragon shaped suit. “We had to generalize a bit on the dimensions, but dragons don’t vary much in size.” He finished with a friendly chuckle.

The suit was fucking uncomfortable Rarity thought as she pulled the insulating fabric up body. The back rode up like an absolute nightmare, the legs were about four inches too long and flopped like flaccid tube socks. Rarity struggled to orient the facemask in a manner that didn’t suffocate her, which appeared to be a fictional proposition. It took some doing just to stand in the damn thing. Twilight looked like a ghost in her suit, with just her purple face peering out of the milky visor. Spike resembled a plump marshmallow, one with a short, stem-like tail.

“Alright! Now through this door is the observation deck, temperatures will freeze skin in half a second, do NOT take off any part of your gear.” Cirrus sounded like he was talking through a cinderblock which spooked Rarity that much more. They crowded around the tiny door, Cirrus flicked his head to the three and hit the glossy red button next to the door. A gust of wind rushed around Rarity and even through the fabric, she felt the soulless cold seep into her body. Her heart began to pound as they crowded through the doorway.

The center of the reactor stretched out for about a hundred yards in every direction and formed a giant concrete dome around them. They walked out onto a metal deck of sorts and peered over the edge.

It was a disappointment, an absolute disappointment. Instead of a brilliant light blazing from a giant caldron of rainbow liquid, the only thing Rarity could make out was a plain concrete bulb with rainbow pipes leading into it sitting about fifty feet below them. The room was literally motionless, it was the epitome of a letdown and Rarity felt cheated out of some well-earned terror. Craning her neck in the uncomfortable outfit, Rarity looked to gauge the queen’s reaction to the disappointment. From under the haze of the grey visor, Rarity saw Twilight staring at the bulb in pure amazement.

“Amazing, all those reactions, no noise. Just, silent.” She breathed. Spike too was studying the plain bump with fascination.

“How does it not just burn out of there?” He asked in wonder. It occurred to Rarity that this might be more impressive to a pony with a better knowledge of science. She tried to appreciate the massive understatement, but nowhere in her heart could she find awe for a stupid bump of concrete.

“It’s pretty cool alright. Very cold.” She offered. Cirrus looked to her with a smile.

“Think about this Rarity, in a matter of thirty seconds, that bulb can produce a rainbow that would take two and half hours with a team of techs.” That was kind of interesting. “If you want to know what’s going on down there, just think of all of those colors getting pushed together at extreme pressures. Sort of like pressed sand art.” Sort of cool, but not really anything worth taking a picture of.

“God it’s cold in here!” The marshmallow resembling Spike was rubbing his arms.

“Most cold fusion was supposed to take place at room temperature.” Twilight didn’t take her eyes off of the bump. “But this reaction is endothermic.” She trailed off, that bulb mesmerized her. She tilted her head and Rarity saw that look of fascination glaze over the Alicorn’s face. Cirrus pointed to a crane sitting on the floor.

“It’s much colder on the floor, in fact, we need to use that for any maintenance we perform on the Hub itself, that’s what we call the reactor core.” Spike peered upward at the thick concrete walls surrounding them.

“How stable is it. I mean, could this blow up?” He asked as he inspected the reinforced walls.

“Thirty percent more stable than a rainbow factory, and less susceptible to rainbow corrosion on account of the nonmetal construction.” Twilight recited. She nodded to Cirrus. “This is a good demonstration of the modernized future of Equestria, thank you for taking the initiative.” Cirrus bowed respectfully.

“Thank you for your generous approval. Most ponies only think about R-bombs when they hear Rainbow Fusion.” Rarity’s heart stopped and her gaze slid back to the bump. Now she was terrified.

They left the wintery observation deck after a few minutes and returned the way they had come. Twilight and Cirrus chatted about the feasibility of a third reactor and Spike was checking all the security measures they passed, but now, Rarity couldn’t get the image of the Hub out of her mind.

R-bombs were literally the most fantastic weapons imaginable, so fantastic that they weren’t even real. Yet their awesome reputation had immortalized them and made them as real as swords and fighting spells. R-bombs were only mentioned by Princess Celestia once, during a speech to Best Young Flyer competition many years ago. Rarity had read the speech after ponies started to ask about the strange bomb. In describing the talent and dedication of the Pegasi, Celestia had said. “Farther than the reaches of the broadest rainbow and stronger than the R-bomb.” And of course everypony had wanted to know just what an R-bomb was. The following day, a panel of Cloudsdale rainbow researchers informed the nation that through an impossible reaction known as cold fusion, there was about a fifty percent chance that there could be a way to generate a massive rainbow reaction. Massive on an apocalyptic scale; such a reaction could theoretically be utilized as an endgame weapon of massive destruction. But cold fusion was impossible, and there had been no war in Equestria for a hundred years. Rarity thought anxiously of the warring diamond dogs, they could try and steal the formula or whatever.

“So uh, is this the same fusion as the R-bomb kind?” She asked Cirrus during a pause in the conversation. He looked back at her.

“Ohhh, yes, we should have explained that. Twilight can probably tell you, but I’m used to ponies asking so I can make this concise.” He began to walk backward as he explained the science to her. “Yes this is the same cold fusion, no you cannot turn the Hub into an R-bomb. The reaction of an R-bomb requires a certain chemical makeup of each color, such color makeups are very rare and need heavy refining. Should those isotopes be mixed into the Hub, then there would still be the problem of dropping the temperature of the mixture to about 2 Kelvin, which is nearly impossible in and of itself. Then the whole thing has to be violently detonated by a rainbomb, which loses volatility at 253 Kelvin. So no, it’s impossible to make an R-bomb out of the Hub. And there are two ponies in existence who even know the makeup of a cold fusion reaction, so it’s not like you can just build another Hub anyway, and if you did you would still have the same problems. Does that make you feel better?” Rarity was still terrified of the reactor, but she felt somewhat assuaged.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“You could actually detonate about five to ten rainbombs on top of the Hub without even cracking it, and even if you did, all that would happen is a rainbow would shoot out and burn the inside of the dome a little. We have round the clock security and multiple hoof identification airlocks; this is the safest place in all of Equestria.” He bowed his head to Twilight. “Besides your castle of course.”

It was seven when they left the reactor. Cirrus stayed behind to check the progress of Reactor 2. They boarded the royal chariot and rose into the air. The reactors were situated below the city, not so far that the police couldn’t come to assist in the highly unlikely event of a security breach, but distant enough to sooth the irrational fears of the populace.

“Gosh, those things were scary.” Spike piped up. “I guess they’re really safe, but they still scare the heck out of me.” Twilight nudged him.

“Anything a little ice cream wouldn’t cure?”

“Oh, I’m sure that would make me feel better!” Spike agreed vigorously. Rarity laughed.

“Ice cream and rainbow reactors, this is why I hang out with you guys.”

They stopped at a whitewashed little corner parlor called The Big Lick. The owner leaned over the counter and tipped his head to them as they entered.

“Hey how you doin’?” He asked pleasantly. Twilight seemed surprised that he didn’t treat her with utter awe for being Queen of Equestria.

“Oh, great, just dropping by for some cones.” She answered politely.

“What can I get for you tonight?” He treated her like a customer, the Alicorn seemed to like that.

They took their cones outside and sat down on a bench. The sun was just setting, sending rays of golden light across the clouds. Rarity had forgotten how beautiful it was just to sit on the clouds and watch them change colors in the setting sun.

“It’s been fun, I love spending time with you guys, I feel like I haven’t had any time to spend with my friends since I became queen.” Twilight said in sudden thoughtfulness. “I really just wish ponies would treat me like that guy at the counter did, like a normal pony. Like how you guys treat me.” She tousled Spike’s head strip. “You’re a great secretary, and I want you to know that you haven’t made any mistakes thus far in your transcriptions, so technically speaking, you’re everything I could want from an assistant.” The dragon blushed deeply, that was the best compliment he could receive. Twilight turned to Rarity. “I know I said it before, but, well, I just want you to know that you’re pretty much my closest friend. I know you’re always worrying about your maturity, and it’s fine if you want to act your age.” She grinned. “But Rarity, don’t ever stop being fun. I am around ponies who can’t take jokes and who think everything has to be proper all the time. Strange as it sounds, I like the new you, the one who doesn’t care about getting her mane wet, or working in a blue collar job.” She sighed. “I still miss Fluttershy and Celestia and not seeing anypony from Ponyville anymore.” Twilight wiped a tear from her face. “But with friends like you two, I know we’ll all be fine.” Rarity couldn’t taste her hay flavored ice cream, she was too busy basking in the warmth of Twilight’s friendship.

“We figured you deserved a break, we figured we’d get you out here and really help you relax. You’re a great Alicorn, you deserve to have some time off.” Rarity said, putting an arm around her friend. Twilight heaved a contented sigh and leaned back.

“It’s been just that and we still have all of tomorrow free from meetings and work to hang out and enjoy the city.” For a time, they sat in silence, watching the final rays of the sunset drop from the sky. The air was warm, and no one wanted to get up to leave, even as darkness fell around them. The mares heard soft snoring, Spike was slumped forward on the bench, soundly asleep.

“Help me carry him back to the chariot.” Twilight whispered. They gently lifted the sleeping dragon and set him into the chariot. The flight back to the hotel was peaceful, Rarity looked down at the quiet streets below them. Cloudsdale sat in a thick peace, with hardly a pony outside. The moon had risen and streets were illuminated by the pale white light. A breeze rustled through the chariot. Rarity missed the peace that accompanied living so far above the ground.

In a few minutes they landed atop the hotel and made another careful trip down the stairs whilst carrying the dozing dragon.

“Just set him on his bed.” Twilight said softly, Rarity nodded and carried her half of the secretary into his room. Spike was light, probably weighed about as much as she did. After months of lifting bags of flour and sacks of spices, Rarity wasn’t even fatigued by the weight of the adolescent dragon. She laid Spike’s legs down gently on the bed. Twilight dropped his arms gracelessly and the corpselike form of the dragon thumped onto his bed. Twilight took a moment to catch her breath, evidently queenship didn’t require much manual labor. She flicked her head to inform Rarity that they should exit the room to avoid waking him.

Twilight dropped exhaustedly onto the couch.

“I am going to be glad when he’s an adult and doesn’t sleep so much.” Twilight said in exhaustion. Rarity chuckled.

“Come on, don’t you like the sporadic narcolepsy?” Twilight laughed cynically.

“Yeah, and the lack of clothing knowledge is good too. I have to ask Maximus what to wear to formal dinners.” Rarity shrugged.

“Guess you have to concede something when you employ dragons.” She looked to the door to Spike’s room. “Although there aren’t many creatures that are so loyal.” Twilight stretched her legs out.

“Yeah. Hey Rarity?” Rarity looked back to her. “Do you know if anything happened to the crown? There are some burrs near the tip.” Rarity’s blood turned to ice.

“N-no, did something happen?” She asked, trying not to blush in sudden fear. Twilight shrugged.

“I don’t know, I just noticed it last night.” Rarity bit her lip to simulate thinking.

“That’s weird, last night you say? Did you set it down somewhere?” She asked curiously. Holding her arms at length, Twilight stretched her back out.

“No, I don’t believe I did.”

“Weird, you might want to see if the humidity did something to it, my jeweler friend-”

“Brilliance.” Twilight interrupted. Rarity’s heart missed a couple of beats. “Yeah, I looked him up and took it over to him last night, I assumed he might he able to tell me something.” Twilight related. The room seemed to shake beneath Rarity’s hooves and she felt dizzy from fright. “He said that it’s normal for gilded ornaments to gain burrs from humidity, he said if I’d brought it over sooner he could have smoothed it out.” She sighed. “You should have told me about him sooner, he seemed like a knowledgeable jeweler. Now I have a crown with burrs.” What should she say? Was Twilight calling her out? Rarity decided to wait and see.

“Yeah, s-sorry, I shoulda thought of that.” Rarity said with uncertainty. Twilight shook her head.

“It wasn’t your fault, you had no reason to assume that the humidity would pose any problem to my crown.” She stated casually. Rarity blinked, what was going on? Twilight stood and walked to the door to her room. She opened it partially, then paused. “Sorry for acting all suspicious, it’s just that I was really surprised over damage to Celestia’s crown, wasn’t something I was expecting.” Rarity swallowed, how could Twilight not connect the dots?

“Yeah, I would be too. Sorry I didn’t tell you about him, it’s just sort of awkward with me and him on account of my leaving the business, I didn’t want have things get weird around you and Spike. I’m sorry.” She explained. Twilight frowned thoughtfully.

“He seemed to remember you fondly, maybe you should pay him a visit.” Twilight still stood in the doorway.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll give him a call.” Rarity said uneasily. “Maybe we could drop by-” Twilight whirled around.

“When are you going to stop? How long before you can’t lie anymore?” She asked in sudden anger.

“I, I, please Twilight. Let me explain.” Rarity stammered. Twilight jerked Rarity’s jaw closed with her horn. Feeling the powerful grip of magic, Rarity was suddenly seriously afraid of the Alicorn.

“Come into my room, I won’t let you wake up Spike.” The queen hissed. Rarity bowed her head in petrified submission and shuffled quickly into the doorway. Releasing Rarity’s mouth, Twilight quietly closed the door behind her. She stared at Rarity in disgust.

“How long Rarity?” She asked fiercely. “How long would you have kept it all up? Just making things up as you go?” Rarity looked to her hooves.

“I-I just wanted to spend some time with you guys, and-”

“Stop it Rarity, stop it. I am sick of you saying that, you make Spike feel terrible, do you know how long he cried after you told him off that night he asked you to behave?” She asked angrily. “No, you could only think about you. You could only think of Rarity. This whole time I listen to you talk about reinventing yourself, and yet, you still don’t own up to what happened to the crown. You don’t give a damn about reinventing yourself.” She finished contemptuously. Rarity looked up.

Twilight snorted. “Yeah, surprise surprise, it wasn’t the humidity that got blood on the rim. And there isn’t an iron in this entire suite, and you still never explained that cut on your forehead. All of those happenstance lies you just put together to avoid explaining what?”

“I, the crown got lost, stolen. I went to get it back, and I-”

“Got into a fight or an accident. Without even telling Spike what happened.” Twilight finished. “And Rarity, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but then you had to lie to us.” She pointed to the crown, which sat on the bed. “I could get angry that you don’t respect the queen enough to tell her the truth about her property, but really, it’s clear you don’t even respect your friends.” Her eyes began to shine with tears and the Alicorn swallowed. “I sat there tonight thinking of how you were really somepony I liked. That after everything, all of your fights and cruelty and your bitterness, you were really going to change. I was going to make it fairly obvious that I knew about the lies, so you’d just come out and apologize, so we could move on. Because after all, you’re my best friend.” She stopped for a single, bitter laugh. “Guess not! Guess you really would have been fine with deceiving me and then moving on! It really hurts me to think I was being honest tonight, that I really thought you were putting effort into bettering yourself.”

Rarity was crying, the tears were running down her face and she made no effort to wipe them away. Without a word to Twilight, she threw open the door and galloped out of the room.

“Give me another doughnut, something that tastes like a firework.” The baker pony looked up from his dishes. Rarity glared at him and he handed her the tissue wrapped pastry. It was 1 A.M., she had stopped crying a long time ago. She took a bite of the doughnut and chewed it thoughtlessly.

Half an hour of aimless walking had brought her to the only all-night doughnut shop in all of Cloudsdale. A fan circled lazily above her and she sat alone on a stool before the counter. The attendant, obviously not used to customers at this hour, tried to start a conversation.

“You, just visiting?” He asked in a friendly tone. Rarity didn’t reply at first. She took a few more bites of the tasteless pastry.

“Something like that.” The unicorn muttered.

“Any special occasion?”

“Nope, just trying to block some stuff out of my memory.” She answered. The Pegasus played with the dishcloth in his hooves, then turned back to the sink. Rarity finished the doughnut, it tasted like shit, just like the last three. She crumpled the paper up and threw it at the trash can, it bounced off of the rim and lay with the other three wads on the floor.

She had stopped thinking, that was the only way she could carry on. She thought about catching a flight back to Ponyville and just avoid seeing Twilight altogether. She would have to go back to their room later tonight for her bag, Twilight would be waiting for her no doubt.

“Hey, I want another one.” She called to the attendant. He turned again.

“You’ve had four, should you-” Rarity narrowed her eyes.

“Get me the damn doughnut.” He wisely gave her the Bismarck.

She didn’t think, she wasn’t going to think, thinking would be about the worst thing for her. Twilight had actually meant what she said on that bench, but now she regretted it. Rarity had made Twilight Sparkle regret honesty, honesty about her friendship. Rarity had lied and lied and lied and Twilight had been trying to get her to own up to it all along, just so they could be friends again. The tears were coming back and Rarity squished the cream filled pasty in her hooves. Fuck Twilight, just fuck it all.

She was cleaning the mess from herself when the bell above the door jingled and she heard somepony enter. Rarity looked back, two rough looking stallions wearing hardhats strolled up to the counter and took seats.

“Hey, Jersey Wonder, can we get some service?” One called jokingly to the attendant, who was washing dishes a few feet away. He looked up and chuckled.

“What can I get you boys? Something rainbow colored?” He asked with a hint of mirth. The first pony, a green Pegasus squinted at the board.

“Hmmmmm, how ‘bout some long johns? And coffee, fuckin’ nightshifts kill me.” He related. The second pony, a purple Pegasus, nudged his partner and cocked his head toward Rarity. The green pony stood in embarrassment.

“Sorry ma’am, pardon the language, didn’t see you there.” The first stallion apologized.

“Not a problem.” Rarity replied, staring forward and keeping the tears back with sheer will. The green pony, evidently interested in finding out what kind of unicorn frequented doughnut shops in the early morning hours, took a seat closer to her.

“So, come here often?” He asked humorously.

“No, just out tonight.” She replied flatly. He shrugged and walked back to his friend.

“So Jersey, we were at the locker tonight, then Lightning tells that same joke you did. I’m like, ‘bout two months too late on that one!” The purple Pegasus said to the baker. Jersey Wonder slid them a pair of steaming cups of coffee.

“Ha, should guessed it would be Lightning to pull something like that. He still running the south side security?” The green pony took a sip of his coffee and nodded.

“Yep, for a geeky little guy he at least runs a tight ship.”

“Hey, you want to get me another Bismarck?” Rarity called to the attendant. He gave her a new one and returned to the pair of workers. Rarity downed the sugary breadstuff in two bites, that stupid sugar high was apparently a myth. She threw the paper at the trash, missed again, and sat in silence.

The three stallions talked for a time. The two worker ponies were on a nightshift at the reactor. Their conversation hinged on inside jokes and boisterous laughter. Rarity didn’t give a shit and focused on her misery.

“Hey, watch things for me, k? I gotta piss.” The attendant took off his apron and disappeared into the kitchen. The room was silent except for the squeak of the fan above them. Rarity sat looking ahead to the coffee maker. The green Pegasus looked over to her.

“Something wrong?” He asked.

“That a question for me? Or just a general statement with shit grammar?” She answered, not taking her eyes off of the coffee maker. He thought for a moment.

“Can be whatever you want it to be. You just seem sorta upset, I wanted to make sure you were ok.”

“Glad I can rely on the benevolence of strangers in a doughnut shop at one in the morning.” She said coldly. He laughed to this and walked over to her.

“You’re funny. I’m Catcall and that’s my buddy Bronx, we work down at the reactor. We work nightshifts mostly, so we drop by Jersey’s place a lot for coffee on our breaks.”

“Congrats, that was informative.” He chuckled and looked back to Bronx.

“You’re a funny pony, what are you doing here at one in the morning?”

“Just trying to avoid thinking, seems like you got that down.” She replied, still watching the coffee maker gurgle. The insult amused him more than it angered him.

“Heh, doughnuts really aren’t the best way to forget.”

“Couldn’t find a bar, guess that makes me lazy.” Catcall sat down beside her, he smelled like sweat and rust.

“You drink?” He asked, apparently impressed. Rarity sighed.

“Yes I would.” She turned to him. “Is there anything outside of fucking me that you’re here for?” She asked tiredly. Both he and Bronx laughed roughly to this.

“God, who are you? I like you.” Catcall asked with a grin.

“Somepony ought to.” She muttered. Catcall paused for a second.

“You ever try yellow? That seems like something you’d be interested in.” Jersey returned and started to wash some dishes. Catcall turned to him.

“This mare says she wants to not think, I’m saying yellow is her best bet.” Jersey shook his head.

“Not going to advocate that, it’s bad enough with you two.” He said, taking their empty cups and dropping them into the sink. He looked at Rarity. “Look miss, with all due respect, you need to get going.” He pointed at the two reactor workers. “These two clowns are pretty harmless, but that don’t mean they aren’t looking for trouble a lot of the time. It’s a bad idea to listen to them during a card game.” The three stallions shared a laugh here. “But when yellow starts getting tossed around is about when I draw the line.”

“But Jersey, she’s funny, promise we won’t do nothin’.” Bronx whined. “She’ll be as safe as we always are.”

“What’s yellow?” Rarity asked. Jersey cut off Catcall.

“Nothing a pony without a deathwish has a need for.” He said seriously.

“Ain’t nopony died from it if I remember right. I also remember it being labeled food-grade.” Catcall said in indignation. “Just ‘cause you don’t like the stuff doesn’t mean you can go around badmouthing it. You don’t see me makin’ fun of your apple fritters.” Jersey tossed his dishrag into the sink.

“No, Cat.” He said firmly.

“It’s her choice.” Pressed the worker pony.

“God, what is yellow?” Rarity asked in exasperation.

“It’s sorta like booze, if you’ve ever been kinda sorta drunk than that’s just like yellow.” Bronx explained. Rarity looked at the pile of crumpled tissue paper.

“Like booze?” She asked. Jersey Wonder leaned over the counter.

“Listen lady. It isn’t beer.” It almost sounded like he was pleading. “That stuff was the cause of three guys beatin’ the crap out of one another, I don’t know what’s on your mind, but I can guarantee you that it isn’t gonna get any better on yellow.” Catcall slid off of his chair.

“Come on Bronx, we best leave.” He tossed a twenty onto the counter. “Keep the change, JW, good coffee this time.”

“Were we going-?”

“Come on Bronx.” Catcall scolded. Rarity watched them leave. The attendant turned back to his dishes.

“Smart move. Yellow is for troublemakers, not civilized ponies.” He muttered. He shook his head and picked up a saucer. Rarity looked down at the pile of wrappers again.

“Hey, how much is it?” Catcall and Bronx were already fifty feet into the air when the question came. They turned in midflight. Rarity stood in the empty street looking up at them. “I got twenty bits on me, that’s it.” Catcall dropped down beside her.

“That’s the great part about it, it’s free. Actually, let me rephrase that, the city pays for it, we get it for free.” He explained. Rarity cocked her head.

“What? Where is it served?” She asked in confusion. Catcall grinned dubiously.

“The reactor.”

Chapter 8

Chapter VIII

The night air was warm, a few Pegasi towing storm clouds passed by them. There was going to be a storm tonight somewhere in Equestria. Reactor 1 looked as it had six hours ago when Rarity had left it. There were spotlights and stallions on guard, but it was just as silent and eerie as before. They landed at a chain link gate behind the reactor, a yellow stallion with an uncanny resemblance to Maurin approached them from the other side.

“Well well well, whut did the Cat bring home?” His voice sounded like he had a third testicle. Catcall sidled up to the fence and shrugged.

“Just here for a little yellow, she wants to not think.” He said casually. The yellow pony looked her over.

“All right then, you can come in.” He nodded to an unseen guard in the tower and the gate creaked open. They passed by the yellow brute. “You better not be a cop looking for infractions, I’d have to kill Cat here if that were the case.” He joked sardonically. Cat laughed.

“No, she’s funny.” The guard returned to his position by the fence.

“Everypony’s funny on yellow.” He muttered to himself.

Catcall and Bronx led her into a service entrance. All around them sat colorful barrels of what was probably rainbow liquid.

“Yellow.” Bronx pointed to a stack of yellow barrels. Catcall shook his head.

“We ain’t openin’ a barrel, that’s the best way for somepony to find out.” He led them through another door and they stood on a ledge overlooking a river of color. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo and violet poured from various pipes into the rushing river. The river led into a grated pipe at the end of the room and disappeared from sight. Catcall turned and faced Rarity.

“So you know all these colors are just liquid. But you probably didn’t know you can drink them.” He began. Rarity remembered Pinkie Pie’s unpleasant taste of the rainbow.

“Yeah, they taste like shit and don’t do anything.” She replied. His eyes shone with excitement.

“All of them but yellow.” He pointed to the yellow pipe. “Yellow is different, don’t ask how, I’m not a scientist. What Bronx and I and pretty much every pony who works here know is that yellow is fucking awesome.” He looked around. “Now where is…ah there we go.” He reached down and picked up a blue ceramic mug that had been sitting next to the mouth of the yellow pipe. Filling the cup from the rushing yellow liquid, he held it out to Rarity. “This stuff will make you not think, guarantee it. Give it a try.” He offered.

“Yeah? So what is it like?” She asked skeptically.

“Ok, so, have you ever been drunk?” Bronx apparently thought he had a better explanation.

“Yes.”

“Ok, so, it’s kiiiinda like that, but different. Basically, you are like drunk, but you’re also like happy, more than drunk.”

“You get really confidant, like stupid confidant, like, don’t realize what you’re doing, you don’t think so good, and yeah, you’re happy. Takes about six hours to sober up.” Catcall summarized. Rarity looked at the opaque liquid before her, it essentially turned anypony into her save for the happy part.

“You go first, then him, then if you aren’t dead, I’ll try some.” She said flatly. Catcall laughed.

“God you’re funny!” He looked at the cup. “Tomorrow’s my day off, might as well.” He took a gulp, yellow ran down his green face and dribbled from his chin. “Theeeeeere we go!” He said in satisfaction. He passed it to Bronx, who took a large swallow.

“Shit, that’s smooth.” Bronx agreed. The mug was still about half full when they offered it to her. Rarity took it and looked at the two stallions before her, she hesitated.

“GET OUT!” Rarity threw Bronx back into the river and then stood unsteadily on the indigo pipe. “Queen of the fucking hill bitches!” Catcall guffawed as Bronx splashed about in the current.

“Goddamn, that is one badass bitch!” He slapped the rainbow covered Bronx on the shoulder. “We shoulda known she’d win!” Bronx pulled himself out of the rushing rainbow.

“You didn’t win, Imma get up there and fuck you.” His voice was slurred and his eyes were dilated, yellow was no respecter of size.

“Haha fuck you!” Rarity called from her perch. “You hold your shit like a broken toilet!” Catcall fell down amidst chortles.

“Shiiiit, why haven’t we met you before? You’re like the funniest pony ever!” He tittered. Bronx was trying (unsuccessfully) to climb the metal grate that led up to the pipe.

“Cause I been tryin’ to be a gud gurl’!” Rarity laughed. “Too bad that didn’t work out so hot!” She snorted. “Silly me, if I had known about this shit I would applied for reactor work on day one!” Bronx gripped the top of the pipe unsteadily. With a mocking laugh, Rarity eased his hoof off of the lip and he fell again into the river. Catcall laughed that much harder.

“Dude, she’s gonna beat you every time! Like I said, she’s one badass bitch!”

“Oh yeah, I wasted a guy back in Ponyville when he called me a name.” She recalled. “Fuckin’ clown fucked with the wrong pony that’s for sure!” The emphasis of her words caused her to lose her balance. Flailing about for a second or so, Rarity dropped from the pipe. She hit the surface of the river on her side. The icy cold rainbow liquid shocked her, but she was numb to any kind of pain. She sputtered and coughed for a second. “Shit, that is some great color. I can’t think for shit!” She said groggily, pulling herself to her hooves.

“You bet your ass it is, best damn color in the whole rainbow.” Catcall agreed.

“Why’d you wanna stop thinkin’ so bad?” Bronx asked, sitting up in the rushing liquid. Rarity snorted.

“Cause I was a baaaaad gurl, I fucked up everything in my friendship with my friends.” She said with a carefree laugh. “Sucks to suck!” Catcall frowned, but there was not a sad thought between the three of them.

“Aw, that sucks, I don’t see why anypony wouldn’t like you.” He reached out and gave her a soaking hug. “You’re such an awesome pony, you’re funny and awesome and cool.” Rarity hugged him back.

“You’re a great pony too Catty, I’m glad you helped me forget my troubles, I’m so indebtified to you.” She said amongst giggles.

“Aw, I’m just glad to be of servitude.” He said in a caring voice. Rarity noticed an odd sensation from her rump, she looked back. Bronx was in the process of lifting her tail with his hoof.

“The fuck are you doing?” She asked in indignation. He was stepped back in coltish shame.

“Nothin’.” He said in guiltily. Catcall laughed at the two. He slapped Rarity on the shoulder.

“Bronx here is just eager to see the playing field is all.” He explained. She stepped away from him.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” She asked in drugged haze. Catcall was still laughing.

“Haha, come on Rarity! This is fun! You want the yellow, we want the yellow! You know you want us, and we sure as hell know we want you!” He said with a grin.

“What? What the hell are you talking about? You said this was free.” She said. Rarity felt lightheaded and sick suddenly. Catcall shrugged.

“It was free, we just thought maybe you could repay the favor.” He said casually. She took another step back, she felt like she might vomit. Catcall took a step toward her. “Look Rarity, you might be kinda nervous, but it’s been fun right? Trust us, we know how to keep the fun going.” She felt the wall against her back. “Promise you’ll like what comes next.” Catcall was within a foot of her now. Seriously inhibited and weak from the yellow, Rarity watched helplessly as Catcall brushed away her mane. She felt his soft kiss on her forehead. Rarity knew she didn’t have the strength to fight both stallions. She felt something shake her, Catcall jerked back, he was gasping for breath, something shook her again. Her right hoof felt number than her left, Catcall was grabbing at his throat.

She was dreaming, the world was soft and fictional and she watched from a noiseless void. Catcall stumbled back, he was holding his throat and Rarity noticed she was moving toward him. She bumped into him and they fell into the river, she saw her knee drive into his belly, she saw herself vomit into the rushing liquid. This was a dream about fighting, why was she having a dream like that? The world spun, she must be waking up. No, she was still dreaming, somepony had picked her up. Bronx was holding her, tightly it would seem since she wasn’t fighting anymore. She was spread-eagled against his body, Catcall was getting to his hooves, he looked pissed; she would wake up soon. She watched him wipe some blood from his mouth and start towards her.

It looked like a comet, whatever it was that hit his face. Recognizing the ceramic shards floating downstream, Rarity realized she had picked up the mug with her horn and thrown it into his face. The green Pegasus fell again into the river. She felt a sharp twist and even in the dream, her neck hurt as Bronx wrenched her head. She felt another shake to her body and she fell to the freezing liquid. The dream began to move faster now. Bronx was holding his groin and she rose to her hooves. She was sprinting over to the green pipe. She stopped in front of it and turned back. Now she was rushing at Bronx, who was galloping toward her. A rusty grey pipe flew through the air and struck the side of his head. The muscular stallion stumbled and fell face first into the river, leaving a trail of red in the blue strip. She was running now, toward the ladder out. Something caught her and she tumbled under the cold surface of the rainbow. She couldn’t breathe, even in the dream she gasped and fought to rise from beneath the river. Catcall had her, he was pulling her out of the river, she threw a kick into something that gave. He released her and she turned on him. He was cradling his belly as she took ahold of his mane and threw him into the metal ladder. A jagged cut opened across his face. She repeated her action, worsening the wound and staining her white arms crimson. Blood mixed with the foaming yellow and the rainbow became a little darker. He flailed at her, but dream Rarity dodged his blows and kicked the wounded stallion downstream. She raced up the ladder. Reaching the top, Rarity sprinted out the door which she had entered from.

Outside, the scene was chaotic as ponies rushed to and fro unloading a massive flatbed freighter laden with barrels. Rarity stumbled drunkenly out of the door of the reactor. The freighter sat perhaps fifty feet from her. A row of crates hid her from sight and she ran for the vehicle. Reaching the side, she climbed the ladder of the vehicle and jumped aboard. The deck was nearly empty and she searched frantically for a place to hide. Spotting a metal footlocker sitting by the cab of the freighter, Rarity hid from anypony who checked over the deck.

The footlocker was cramped and pitch black. She listened, for a few minutes all she could hear were the sounds of the workers as they unloaded the cargo. Somepony walked by her.

“All right, that’s about good.” Came the voice of the pilot. In a few seconds, there came a lurch and she felt the freighter rise into the air. The stuffy footlocker was running out of air and she peeked her head out. The deck was clear and they were rising to Cloudsdale. Popping out of the coffin-like crate, Rarity teetered on the edge of the deck and waited for her chance to escape.

In a few minutes the freighter broke through the cloud that the city was built upon and the unicorn leaped from the deck before they rose any farther. It was a soft landing and Rarity picked herself out of the cottony folds of the cloud and looked about her.

The city of Cloudsdale sat probably half a mile away. Nothing but empty cloud for quite a ways. Rarity realized she could hear again and things were moving normally. She had awoken from her drugged dream. Her burn was humming with dull soreness and her bruise pounded painlessly with blood. The yellow was still with her. She started walking toward the city.

What a night! First fucking Twilight Sparkle shit on her dreams, then she almost got raped. A laugh burst forth from Rarity, it had been one fucking hilarious evening of hijinks. The haze of yellow gave her a sort of careless nonchalance to the entire night and everthing seemed to hold a measure of black humor.

“Twilight.” She said raising her right hoof. “I salute you. High mighty Queen of Equestria, only you can be that big of a cunt!” She proclaimed to the empty sky. “And you mister Catcall and whoever the hell that other guy was. Thank you so much for letting me have some yellow, it’s going into the highlight column of this trip.” She swaggered about. “But when you say you’re going to fuck me, that’s when I draw the line.” She recalled the dream and began to snicker. “Hehehehe, you fucked with the wrooooooong mare. But anyway boys, thanks for the yeller!” Her drunken ramble continued for the ten minutes it took her to enter the city.

She had no fucking clue what time it was and she didn’t particularly care. It was still dark and there was nopony about. She skipped down the streets looking for her hotel. She felt great, better than great actually. Rarity felt fucking ecstatic and she didn’t even mind spending half an hour wandering the streets in search of her destination.

“God, what kind of a crap city is it where there aren’t signs pointing to places?” She wondered as she peered down an alleyway.

“Is there something I can help you with madam?” She turned. A doorman for a hotel stood watching her quizzically from the other side of the street. She snorted.

“Yeah, put up a fucking sign, can’t find this place for shit.” She said as she pushed by him. She entered her hotel.

Rarity returned in a minute.

“This isn’t my hotel. What is wrong with you?” She asked in annoyance. He stepped away from her.

“Um, I don’t understand you.” He said uneasily. She frowned.

“The other fancy hotel.” He stared at her for a few moments.

“Could you mean the Stable of the Skies?”

“Yeah, that one.” He pointed down the street.

“Down the road, about a quarter mile.” She searched for some money to give him. She must have lost it in the river. The unicorn gave him whatever she held, which turned out to be the bloody metal pipe; she thought she had dropped that.

“Here, this should suffice.” She said kindly, handing him the improvised weapon. At this, he dashed inside the hotel in terror. Rarity shrugged and threw the pipe into the street and made her way toward the correct hotel.

She was hungry, did they have a minibar in their room? They fucking better if it were the penthouse suite. Having come by an unfamiliar route, she reached the rear entrance to the hotel. Rarity found her way to the main entrance after a few minutes of wandering the first floor. The entire lobby was empty. She looked around, it was literally deserted. Not even an attendant at the front desk. Some shitty service this place had. The lights were on and the elevators worked thankfully. God, there had better be something of substance in the minibar. Would she have to pay for it? The elevator deposited her on her correct floor and Rarity strolled into the suite.

“Any more info on how this happened?” Twilight looked up from the dinner table, which was covered in papers. She was surrounded by about five Pegasi, including Cirrus. Spike was standing amidst the ponies, all were wearing the same expression of sober concern. Rarity stopped and looked blankly at them.

“God, Twilight, is this an intervention?”

“Who is this? Is she cleared to be here?” Asked a black stallion. Twilight rose and walked toward Rarity.

“Yes, it’s fine.” She looked at Rarity in an expression of deathly seriousness. “Rarity, now is not the time.” A police officer burst into the door behind them.

“Need to move, more confirmed.” He related. The group erupted into commotion at this. The strange ponies grabbed maps and papers from the table and began to bustle out the door past Rarity.

“Twilight, what in the hell is going on? Are you trying to-” Twilight shook her head.

“Please Rarity, just take your bag and follow me.” Her suitcase was already packed and sitting on her bed. The ponies were filing quickly out of the room. Rarity looked at the refrigerator, if this intervention took long she would need food. Spike took hold of her leg as she tried to make for the white appliance.

“Rarity, we need to leave ASAP.” He said urgently.

“Oh what fucking ever.” She said in disgust and heaved her bag onto her back, she would make them stop on the way to the rehab clinic. They took the stairs instead of the elevator, which annoyed Rarity even more, she had excercised enough tonight. As they sped down the stairs, the unicorn turned to Spike, who was carrying Twilight’s bags.

“What the hell is going on? I’m really hungry Spike, I don’t know what we’re doing, but we need to get food at some point.” She declared.

“Rarity!” He whispered angrily. “This is serious, there’s a terrorist in the apartment beside us. He’s wired the place with explosives. We’re trying to get ahold of the situation.” That sounded like, no, that WAS the most bullshit excuse imaginable. Did he seriously expect her to buy that shitty story?

“Yeah, that’s what going on.” She scoffed. Honestly, if they were going to institutionalize her, they ought to at least give her a dignified lie. It took them forever to reach the lobby and Rarity was out of breath and hungry as they approached the several police officers who had congregated by the front desk.

“Officers, what’s the situation?” Twilight asked an officer.

“Your majesty, he’s barricaded himself into a single room apartment and is demanding an audience with a higher power. We’re making plans to send in a negotiator.”

“Any word on the extent of the explosives?” She asked. The mustached stallion shook his head.

“No, we only confirmed charges on the apartment itself, but destroying it could break a hole in the cloud and drop the whole block.” Rarity was munching the mints from the bowl atop the desk.

“Did you bring doughnuts?” She asked the officer.

“What? Who are you? Are you clear-”

“Yeah I’m cleared asshole, now, doughnut situation.” Twilight shoved a hoof over Rarity’s mouth.

“How about you take Spike to a place to eat?” She spoke quickly. She handed Rarity fifty bits. “How about you get going now?” Rarity shrugged and took the money. Might as well if Twilight was paying for her meal.

Outside it was a mess of police officers and unrelated Pegasi milling about in front of the offending apartment building next door. Rarity pushed through the ponies.

“Why don’t we go to this one all-night doughnut shop? It’s pretty good.” She suggested. Spike glanced back. The dragon looked worried and not at all like he cared about where they would eat.

“Yeah, you can go Rarity, ok?” He started back. Apparently everypony was more concerned about a stupid terrorist than her.

“Oh come on Spike!” She yelled. He was already jogging back to Twilight, because nobody gave a shit about immature old Rarity. She ran after him, if nothing else, she was going to teach that smart ass dragon something about politely declining an invitation.

There were wood barriers in the street before the building, Rarity carelessly ducked them and pursued the dragon. Twilight was among the crowd of police officers at the front door of the apartment complex. Spike sped up to her and faithfully took his place beside Queen Twilight.

“Going to need to make sure this doesn’t get out of hoof, if anything goes wrong.” Some police officer was droning on about something stupid as Rarity stealthily approached the group.

“I’m going in. I’m the highest authority and I can facilitate a good dialogue.” Twilight announced. Anything Rarity was going to tell Spike about his supreme shitheadedness was lost in the cries of protest arising from every pony in the group. Twilight shook her head. “If we aren’t honest and straightforward with him, how can we ask him to do the same?” Twilight maintained. The first police officer started to talk about the volatile nature of a cornered terrorist but Twilight shook her head. “I command it.” She noticed Spike. “Spike, oh good, you’re here, I want you to come in with me, we may need you to take some notes.” Praetorian took his place beside Twilight.

“I’m going to accompany you your majesty.” He said firmly. “It is my duty to protect you.” Slipping quietly into the group, Rarity waited for her chance to accost Spike. Unlocking the door, the Alicorn and her companions entered the darkened building.

“Men, spread out and tell the crowd to disperse, we need to make this as safe as possible. If they won’t go, at least keep them back from the building.” Twilight commanded from inside.

“Roger that.” Agreed the mustached stallion. “All right, you heard the lady, get to it.” He said to his men. The group of police officers dispersed around Rarity. They were apparently too busy to care about an unrelated white unicorn standing with them. The door was just swinging closed when Rarity ducked inside.

The first floor hallway was dark, the power had been apparently been cut to gain a tactical advantage. Rarity crept up behind the three, who were making their way down the narrow hallway toward the stairs. Rarity got within smacking distance of Spike’s head.

“Hey, you gonna just leave me out there?” She asked loudly. Spike was so startled that he actually jumped a little. Praetorian whirled around and tackled Rarity. The pair landed on the shitty tile floor. The guard was inches from crushing her into the floor.

“Friend or foe?” He demanded, the heat from his breath radiated onto her.

“The hell kind of question is that?” She asked, twisting her head to avoid his breath. “Friend.”

“Rarity? What are you doing here? I told you to go get something to eat!” Twilight almost sounded desperate.

“Yeah well, Spike was an asshole to me, so I wanted to let him know.” Rarity explained as the muscled stallion let her up.

“Ok?” Twilight sounded like she didn’t care how much of a dick Spike had been. “Listen, Rarity, you have to leave, this is serious. Just, please, listen to me.”

“Oh fine, just rip me apart when I do something wrong, but Spike can be the biggest dick ever and you don’t care.” Rarity said bitterly. “Fuck you Twilight.” She turned for the door.

“Rarity.” Called Twilight suddenly. The high unicorn stopped. Twilight heaved the biggest sigh Rarity had ever heard from the young queen. “Don’t go.” Rarity started to say something about accepting her apology. “The ponies out there are going to get really spooked if somepony they don’t know comes out of that door. Right now we just need to keep everypony calm so we can get things in hoof. Please just stay with us until the situation is resolved.” Rarity nearly kicked the door down out of spite from Twilight’s shitty apology. But still, it was better than nothing. Reluctantly, she returned to the three.

“Ok, let’s get this shit over with so I can get away from you assholes.” She said in irritation. Twilight just shook her head and muttered something.

The terrorist was holed up on the sixth floor. It was a shitty move cutting the power, now they had to walk six flights of stairs. Rarity was sick of Twilight’s bullshit and really just wanted to go home, the yellow was making her tired.

Apartment E621. They crowded around the door.

"Your majesty, I strongly advise against this, I cannot guarantee your safety if you go through that door." Praetorian warned.

"I understand. But I have to make sure that nopony gets hurt. That's my responsibility." Came Twilight's firm response. Spike swallowed uneasily and Rarity picked at her nose.

The door was unlocked, a trashy kitchen/bedroom sat empty, save for one sweaty and very nervous looking diamond dog cowering at the far end of the room. Twilight stepped toward him.

"I am Twili-"

“Don't come near me! Get that guard out of here!" He screamed. Twilight flicked her head to inform Praetorian he was no longer an asset. The guard hesitated, then backed out of the room.

"Ahem, I am Twilight Sparkle. I want to open a dialogue with you. I have extensive resources to comply with your demands, I would like to converse with you." Oh for fuck's sake, this was shaping up to be a long conversation.

“What do you want asshole?" Rarity called to the dog.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU IS THE NEGOTIATOR?!!" Demanded the terrorist. Rarity put a hoof over Twilight’s mouth.

"That would be me!”

"Rarity-" Twilight was mortified.

"Sorry, this is my partner. She's trying to get some experience." Rarity yelled to the dog.

"Alright, just keep the fuck away, I'm warning you!" The furry terrorist shouted. Rarity feigned uncertainty.

"Wait, have you established a threat? That's something I'm going to need to proceed." She said with a laugh.

"YEAH!" he motioned to his paw, which was a taped mess. "WE WIRED THE FUCKING HOTEL! ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME THE WHOLE PLACE GOES UP!"

"Ha! You can't do that!" Rarity laughed. "He can't do that right?" She asked Twilight.

"Rarity!" The queen whispered fiercely. "We have to consider all threats as valid!"

"Oh, ok, alright." Rarity conceded. "What do you want?" The petrified bomber thought for a moment.

"Gimme a hostage!" He demanded.

"Done." Rarity clopped her hooves. "Spike, help him out."

"WHAT? ME?" He asked in terror.

"Rarity, you can't do that!" Twilight hissed.

“HEY! I call the shots here, get over here little man!” Commanded the distraught bomber. The dragon walked forward unsteadily.

"Don't keep the man waiting." Rarity scolded. Spike reached the dog in an awkward jog. "Ok then, you got your hostage. Anything else?" Rarity called. The diamond dog, who was now clutching the frightened little dragon, put his paw to his head and thought.

"Ok, yeah, both of you take ten steps back. AND KEEP YOUR FRONT HOOVES IN THE AIR!" He made what Rarity assumed was a threatening motion to the dragon's throat.

"What are we? Fucking circus ponies? Just gonna keep my hooves on the ground and walk like a normal horse thank you." Rarity said as she and her apprentice negotiator complied. "Ok then, anything else?"

"YEAH, no funny business when I walk by you!" He ordered.

"Lucky you didn't get the party pony negotiator." Rarity muttered.

"OK." He started forward, dragging his hostage. "I'm gonna walk right outta here and you're not going to do anything."

"We're a mile off of the ground, you got a parachute shoved up your ass?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah..." He considered this for a minute. “I need one of those winged ponies."

“Pegasai?”

"Yeah, I need one of those!"

"Which kind sweetie? This is Cloudsdale, we got a lot of pegasi."

"Just one that flies."

"Cocky? Humble? Zippy? Derpy? You need to be more specific."

"JUST A FUCKING PEGASUS!" He shouted in frustration.

"Ok." Rarity said tiredly. "You got about all you can handle apparently." She motioned for Twilight. "Get me a Pegasus, any will do."

"Rarity, this is getting worse every second. You can't give him another hostage!" Twilight whispered pleadingly.

"Hey Twilight?" Rarity turned to the queen in deep sarcasm. "I'm kinda trying to do something here? You want to give me a hoof and get a Pegasus for this guy? Or do we need to go home and take a time out?" Twilight was speechless. The yellow had erased whatever inhibition Rarity held about condescending the Queen of Equestria and she actually rather enjoyed talking down to her bitch of a former friend.

"GET MY FUCKING PEGASUS NOW!" Hollered the terrorist. Twilight first looked to Rarity, who shooed her and then to her terrified secretary. She went for the Pegasus. The door closed and the three were alone.

"Sorry 'bout that, it's her first week." Rarity looked at the sweaty dog. He carried nothing but his captive and the horridly taped switch. They stood in silence for a few minutes, Rarity was too high to explain anymore. Yet the moment became awkward and finally she asked.

"You got a plan after this? Cause the moment your switch gets out of range, you're going to have a million pissed off Pegasi looking to rip your balls off." He started to pant, this possibility had not occurred to him.

"Fuck, you need to order all the winged ponies to fly west for five, TEN minutes."

“Oh my God why can’t you plan things?! Stop making me do all the fucking work.” She said in frustration.

“Listen pony!” He screamed. “This isn’t about you or me!” She rolled her eyes.

“God, buddy, I just want to go home, make this short ok?”

“This is about letting Equestria know something! This is about telling you ponies that you don’t own us! You think our war is just some distant fantasy that doesn’t matter, because you live on the surface!”

Twilight re-entered, with her was Soarin’. He looked tired, probably getting his beauty sleep. The dog eyed the new Pegasus with mistrust. “You!” He pointed Soarin’. “Over here now! There isn’t a minute to lose!” Twilight raised her hooves to show non-aggression.

“Soarin’ here is the fastest Pegasus we have. He will take you wherever you want, you can give Spike-”

“No you can’t, Soarin’ is just gonna dump you off once you get out of sight. You need a hostage to make sure he doesn’t drop you.” Rarity interrupted.

“What the fuck are you trying to do?!” The suspicious dog looked to Twilight with an expression of betrayal, who in turn looked to Rarity with more or less the same emotion. “Get over here Pegasus. We need to leave.” Shouted the dog.

“Yeah, ok, anything you say buddy.” Soarin’ walked over to the diamond dog.

“Ok good, you are free to go, I have instructed that no pony follow you. Once you reach your destination, you can set both Spike and Soarin’ free.” Twilight said slowly.

“Hey, look, if you want to kill Soarin’ to send a message, I can tell you that that would definitely make us understand.” Rarity offered. Rarity heard Twilight and Soarin’ gasp a little to this. But the terrorist shook his head.

“No, he is but one pretentious fool. The lot of you must learn.” He said ominously. Twilight spoke over Rarity, who was about to say that Soarin’ was too much of a dumbass to learn anything.

“Well we are very willing to listen to you. We can talk about what you want. I know the war must be very horrible for your people. I want you to know that the nation of Equestria is ready to investigate any war crimes or atrocities that you observe.” The terrorist shook his head hopelessly. He was trembling and Rarity figured he’d pissed himself by this point.

“You can’t pretend like you don’t know, you can’t pretend like you want to learn.” There was a sudden lifelessness to his eyes.

“This is the only way!” He shouted suddenly. His free arm twisted backward. There was a sickening thud of metal and he screamed in pain and terror. The bomber dropped Spike and looked up to his left arm. A kitchen knife stuck awkwardly out of his wrist, which was pinned to the wall. Blood ran down his brown fur and he gazed at the wound in shock.

“Soarin’! Break his arm completely!” Rarity shouted to the Pegasus. Frozen by the gruesome sight, Soarin’ stood blankly beside the injured dog. “Oh my fucking God you are so fucking worthless!” Rarity shouted angrily as she rushed forward. The diamond dog was trembling and still staring at the glinting silver blade protruding from his arm when she took hold of him. In an instant, Rarity grabbed his arm and snapped the wrist completely. He screamed and writhed in agony and tried to push her away. Pinning his neck to the wall, Rarity yelled back to Twilight.

“You want to call the cops now?”

Chapter 9

Chapter IX

They didn’t stay over Sunday. The early morning air was still cool and crisp from the night, the yellow had since left Rarity and she sat quietly in the back seat of the chariot. Surrounding them were about twenty Pegasi and royal guards, they were headed to Cantorlot. Twilight was going to stay at the castle, Rarity and Spike were to go home to Ponyville.

Unlike her typical alcohol-induced stupidity, the irrational lunacy from the yellow sat perfectly clear in Rarity’s mind. The chariot was silent, as any and all conversations would lead back what had happened. Rarity leaned over the side of the chariot, she had literally no idea what Twilight was thinking. The Alicorn had just called in the police, who had hauled off the would-be bomber. The royal guards had shuttled Rarity and Spike off to their hotel room as soon as they left the apartment. Twilight had spent the night with the police. They passed into a cloud, the fog engulfed them and Rarity wished she could be hidden from view for the remainder of the trip.

“Rarity.” They passed through the cloud, Twilight was looking toward Cantorlot.

“Eyeah?” She asked quietly.

“There are going to be thousands of questions about how that diamond dog got into Cloudsdale, into his claims about the civil war, into the origin of the bombs. He called in his threat to the police at about twelve, we secured the perimeter and started to ask what he wanted. His only demands were to speak to a higher power. We were viewing our options when we had to leave the hotel because of the potency of the explosives. There were a total of nineteen explosive devices attached to both the apartment and the hotel. The police tell me that their detonation would have collapsed three blocks of city. There were over 300 ponies in that area at the time.” Twilight explained scientifically. She looked back at Rarity. The white unicorn cowered from her gaze. “Were you drunk last night?”

“Yes.” She whimpered.

“Did you consider the safety of any of those ponies, or the safety of either myself, Soarin’, or Spike, during your unauthorized negotiations?” Rarity swallowed.

“No.”

“What made the outcome of last night a mixed success as opposed to a national tragedy?”

“Uh, I’m not sure what you mean.” Rarity said after a moment.

“What happened last night that prevented any of those explosives from going off?”

“Well, I guess it was because I threw a kitchen knife into his arm, which made it hard for him to release the switch. Then I broke his arm to make sure.” Rarity explained nervously.

“Were you aware of a dead man’s hand? Or of the possibility of a second switch? Of the possibility of Spike being harmed in your unplanned assault?”

“No.” Twilight paused.

“Did you have any idea as to what you were doing?” She asked bluntly.

“No.” Rarity said shamefully.

For a few minutes, they flew in silence. Spike was looking out into the distance and trying to avoid attention.

“Well Rarity.” Twilight said suddenly. “I have no clue what I’m going to do with you.” She said frankly. She sounded like a parent almost. Her voice was honest and for once in her life, Twilight didn’t sound like she had put prior thought into her words. “There are probably a hundred ponies in varying degrees of power that will demand nothing less than your immediate imprisonment or banishment.” Rarity’s blood went cold with terror, was she going to get thrown into prison? Was this the horrible conclusion of Rarity? The once cultured fashion consultant turned criminal was going to meet her final destination. How horrible for her parents! How horrible for Sweetie Belle! Rarity would kill herself in prison before they came to see her, their shame would be a fate worse than death. Thoughts of the terrible fate that lay ahead filled her mind.

“I have no clue Rarity.” Twilight continued. “As far as anypony knows, it was just me, Spike, and Soarin’ up there. I imagine that nobody saw you in the crowd of police that accompanied us back to the hotel.” She pulled the crown off of her head and matched gaze with Rarity. There was a hopelessness in her eyes, Twilight Sparkle was defeated. “I’m going to let everypony know that Soarin’ made a mistake, that he tried to be a hero. That he interrupted negotiations and attempted to disarm the terrorist. That you were in the hotel room all night.” Rarity rose.

“No Twilight, you have to tell them it was me!” Twilight shook her head.

“If the people find out that a drunken bakerpony stabbed the hostage taker, risking the lives of over 300 ponies, they would want her thrown out of the country. Soarin’ has a career, he has things that protect him. You don’t. I’ve spoken with him and he’s going to make a statement later this afternoon saying he was afraid for my safety. There’s a good chance he won’t be charged with anything.”

“No, please Twilight, kill me, banish me, just don’t make him take the fall. I was the one who fucked up!” Rarity cried. Twilight shook her head again.

“I can’t, Soarin’ said he understood, it’s his choice.”

Rarity was broken and she contemplated throwing herself from the chariot. She had reached the lowest possible point to which a pony could sink. Lying, getting wasted on yellow and now letting a pony she had treated like shit take a fall for her. She was a terrible pony, evil really.

“Rarity, you were my friend. I want you to know, that no matter what, I will still value the things we had. I know we aren’t going to see a lot of each other anymore, but I wanted you to know that there is some good in you. You saved a lot of ponies from Discord with me and the girls. You stopped Nightmare Moon with us. I don’t know if you even care what life has for you, or if you care about aspiring anymore. But I know that no matter what, you can be anything you want.” Twilight said quietly. Rarity started to cry.

“Please Twilight. I’m so sorry. I really want to be a good pony, I know I never show it, but I try, I do.”

“I know Rarity, but you need to show improvement. There are a hundred different ponies out there who say they are trying to act more mature, but only the ones who strive to improve get any better.” They began to descend toward the ground. “Maybe this is the best thing for you, maybe after today you’ll really understand how serious your actions get. Maybe if you get into trouble down the road and you can’t just get bailed out of your consequences, it will make sense. I know you’re a smart pony, but sometimes we all need conditioning.” They landed in a field of grass, Rarity saw her crates sitting a few yards away. Dropping her bag to the ground, Rarity looked up to Twilight.

“I’m sorry.” She said, her voice choked with tears. She saw the queen brush at her eyes.

“You can be anything you want Rarity. Don’t forget that.” The chariot rose into the air and Rarity watched it disappear into the horizon.

She threw her bag beside the wooden containers that held the past. Then Rarity fell to the ground and wept. She was supposed to show that after losing her business to the bigoted whims of Ponyville, after losing her friend Fluttershy to an explosion, after abandoning all that she cared about and dropping her civility, that she could still be a good pony if she tried. She was supposed to show that despite her newfound bitterness and cynicism, she could still hold to a sense of right and wrong if she tried.She was supposed to show her maturity on the trip. Rarity sobbed harder, she had done just that.

Monday came and Rarity took a sick day. She had nothing, there was nothing that mattered to her. Not her fucking job at the stupid bakery, not the stupid and fictional concept of new Rarity. Not anything.

She rolled off of her crate and looked out over the prairie. She felt numb, hollow and worthless. How could she be such a terrible pony? How could she be such an awful friend? She dropped into the grass and lay prostrate. The only thing left was death, after all, she had just spent an entire trip proving her incapability with life.

Somepony came rustling through the grass ahead of her. Rarity ignored it and thought about her impending suicide. How should she kill herself? The rustling grew closer. A blue hoof broke through the grass and stepped on her. She didn’t even notice; the white unicorn was too engaged in her thoughts of self-loathing. Whoever it was noticed and they yelped in surprise.

“Rarity?” Rainbow Dash poked her head timidly through the grass. “What are you doing?” Rarity didn’t respond. A second passed and Rainbow Dash gasped. Rarity felt the Pegasus shake her.

“Rarity! Are you ok?” She asked urgently.

“Yes.” The unicorn answered, her voice muffled by the grass.

“What are you doing?” Asked the puzzled Pegasus. Rarity picked herself up. The blue pony was sitting beside her.

“Nothing, what are you doing here?” She replied quickly. Rainbow Dash looked at her hooves.

“I was coming out to drop off your money for the model. I forgot about it till yesterday and I thought you’d be at work.” She picked at a weed. Rarity sighed.

“Thanks.”

“I’m sorry, I know you said you didn’t want it.” Dash pulled the weed up. “But it didn’t feel right.” Rarity shrugged.

“Doesn’t really matter one way or another.” She said coarsely. The blue pony dropped the weed back onto the earth.

“How was your trip?” She asked softly.

“Fucking terrible. I want to fucking die.” Rarity said darkly. Rainbow Dash pushed the weed under a patch of grass.

“Why?” She asked innocently.

“Because I’m a fucking bitch, that’s why!” Rarity shouted despairingly. The little Pegasus flinched at her outburst. Rarity shook her head. “God, I’m sorry, thanks for the money. I’ll accept it.” She stood up and walked back to her crate and slumped over the side. She looked out to the forest. To where Fluttershy’s cottage lay.

“Did you mess up in front of a dinner or something?” Rainbow Dash asked. Rarity dropped her face to the oaken boards.

“No, I just fucked up. I fucked everything up. Twilight isn’t going to be my friend anymore, I think Spike’s about done with me too.” She said hopelessly. She turned to Rainbow Dash. The sky blue mare was seated docilely in the grass. “Guess the point of it all was that I can’t change myself.” Rarity looked up to the clouds. “That I can’t do anything good, that I no matter how hard I force myself, that I can’t stop being a bitch.”

“Why’s that?” Dash asked.

“Maybe because the Blast fucked me up? Maybe because I can’t move on? I don’t know, if I knew, maybe I could fix it.”

“I mean, what did you mess up at?” Asked the Pegasus. Rarity hesitated, she didn’t want to tell anypony what had happened, but at the same time she did. Rainbow Dash waited patiently. What the hell, it didn’t matter who knew.

Rarity recounted the entire trip for the seated Pegasus. Rainbow Dash sat through all of it, she cocked her head and listened to each mishap as it was relayed. When the account of the trip was finished, Rarity sighed heavily.

“Well, there you go.” She said with a resigned shrug. Rainbow Dash was silent in thought for a time.

“But what did you mess up at?” She asked innocently.

“The crown! I lied to Twilight and I kept lying the whole time! The way I treated Soarin’ was terrible, and now his life is ruined because of me! I got high at the reactor and beat up two guys! I told off Spike and Twilight then went in to the apartment and almost got a lot of ponies killed! There isn’t a thing I didn’t fuck up!” Rainbow Dash nodded slightly.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” She said quietly. “But I guess it doesn’t seem to me like you messed up anything because you’re a bad pony.” She looked up at Rarity. “I mean, the crown seems like something Twilight would get mad at either way and it seems like a pretty good thing to not tell her that Spike knew. And it didn’t sound like you treated Soarin’ badly, I thought you said you just thought badly of him.” She frowned. “Going to the reactor was probably a bad thing, but, well, I don’t think it was so bad, I mean, I understand why you did it. That whole thing with the bombs, I guess, well, I guess it wasn’t a good idea. But I thought you said nopony got hurt, isn’t that a really good thing?” She asked in confusion.

“I barged in and took over for Twilight, I got really close to letting that crazy terrorist walk out of there with Spike and Soarin’. I really only helped at the very end, which was a huge risk that I shouldn’t have taken.” Rainbow Dash thought for a minute.

“What about the good?”

“What good?”

“Well, you took them out to dinner, it sounded like it cost you a lot to get those reservations. You tried your best to make Twilight relax and it sounded like she did. You got the crown back, and repaired, and nopony found out. I don’t know, it sounded really cool how nice you were to Spike the whole time.” She paused in search of the best way to phrase herself. “I guess, well, it just sounded like you were trying the whole time, isn’t that what makes you a good pony, the fact that you try?”

Rarity shook her head.

“No, I honestly thought that for a while. But the fact is, I made everything worse, the crown has burrs, Soarin’ is probably going to lose his career and maybe get banished and Twilight and Spike and like 300 other ponies were in danger because of my stupidity. The fact is, there’s a difference between trying for something and actually doing something. I told myself that things didn’t have to be perfect, that I was improving. But it isn’t improvement if everything you are involved with is worse for your involvement.” She concluded.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Dash said quietly. Rarity sat down next to the Pegasus. It felt good at least to spout off her problems, even if she was still a horrible pony.

“Thanks for listening, and giving a fuck.” Rarity rubbed her face. “I’m not sure I want to go on with my life in all honesty.” She said frankly. Rainbow Dash looked over to her in fear.

“Please stay, for me, I don’t know what I’d do without you. Your being a bad pony doesn’t matter to me.” She pleaded. Rarity picked at some grass.

“Well, there’s at least one pony who I can call my friend, guess I’m not at rock bottom just yet.” She said with a little laugh. Rainbow Dash smiled.

“As long as my friendship is enough to keep you out of rock bottom, then you can be certain of never getting that low.”

Rarity didn’t kill herself, but as she rose the next morning, ate an apple, and started for work, the sluggish feeling of depression hit her. She was right back where she had started, seven months after the Blast, hating her life, herself, and of course, Ponyville. She walked slowly up to the door of the bakery and stood outside for a moment. God she hated baking.

The bakery was cool, it felt odd without a dry heat squeezing the life out of her. She looked about for Mr. Salukas. He wasn’t in the oven room, or the back room, or storage. She approached his office, the thick walnut door blocked any noise from inside. Rarity pushed it open a crack.

“Gain control of her or fire her, you must make a decision Sonny. Don’t think you can push it off any longer.” Ana was pissed over something, which Rarity knew had to be her.

“I will talk to her today.” Mr. Salukas said pacifyingly. “I will address our concerns and see what she makes of them, hurasho?”

“It’s time you stopped coddling them Sonny.” Ana said in irritation. She left abruptly, smacking Rarity’s snout with the door.

“And the other one, the unicorn, where is she on this fine morning?” Ana asked as Mr. Salukas followed her out. “No doubt off playing in a field with that filly from the Sugarcube.”

“No, she will come, Rarity is a good worker.” Sonny said confidently.

“Hey, well, here I am!” Rarity said awkwardly as she pushed the officer door closed. They looked back at her.

“Spying were you?” Ana demanded suspiciously.

“No, just, um, wondering where everypony was.” Rarity said.

“We could have asked you the same question yesterday.” Ana shot back. Sonny stepped between them.

“Rarity, did your trip run late?” He asked.

“No, I just got sick.” Rarity said. “I’m sorry if you or Applecrisp or Ana had to stay late, I’ll work today for free if that makes up for it.” Ana snorted.

“You were with that Apple pony all day.” She said in contempt.

“We didn’t open yesterday Rarity. Applecrisp didn’t come in either. She hasn’t shown up today.” Mr. Salukas explained. He looked to Ana, who was glaring at Rarity. “Well, why don’t you get back to the oven room Rarity? Halve the list and bake that, we won’t worry about running a full inventory right away.” He suggested.

“Ok, I can do that.” Rarity walked by him and entered the oven room. She heard Ana sigh.

They hadn’t opened yesterday, that was actually a pretty serious thought. She pulled the paper list from above the mouth of the oven. She had never really realized it, but she and Applecrisp were literally the workforce of the Lone Star.

Mostly breads today, nothing that would burn easily. She started gather ingredients for rye. Applecrisp hadn’t come in yesterday? That was two sick days in a week. Besides these two times, Applecrisp had never missed a day of work in the time Rarity had known her. Two unexplained sick days in a week, that was something the she wasn’t going to tell Applejack.

Rarity spent about two hours mixing up the various dough batches and recipes for the inventory. Shoving the last loaf into the oven, she walked out into the front end. Sonny was cleaning off the grout on the floor tile. Ana had thankfully gone. Rarity knelt down beside Mr. Salukas.

“Bread’s baking. Need a hoof?” She asked. He grunted and pointed to a filthy sponge. She started to scrub at the moldy tile.

“Was your trip enjoyable?” The stallion asked presently.

“Ah, had some rough luck. My friends, well.” She squeezed the sponge, the brownish water trickled through her hooves. “I kinda alienated them.” She shook her head and dipped the sponge in the bucket. “It’s fine, not anything huge.” Sonny nodded and for a while the pair scoured the mold in silence.

“Are you close to Applecrisp?” Sonny asked randomly. Rarity shrugged.

“Not really, why?”

“She is half of my workforce.” Sonny wiped away a jelly stain from beneath the display case. “She has missed two days of work this week. I want somepony to tell me why. I thought you might be able to ask her.” There came the noise of the door opening and Mr. Salukas rose to attend to a customer. Rarity wiped the tile, she didn’t even know where Applecrisp lived.

“Aha! Mr. Katchapuri! Good to see you!” Sonny said jokingly to the unseen customer.

“Hey, glad to see you too! You didn’t sell out of it did you?” Laughed a familiar voice. Looking beneath the display case, Rarity caught sight of four fire-red hooves on the other side of the counter. No way. She threw her sponge into the bucket and stood up. It was impossible, Audacity was still around.

“There she is!” The Pegasus grinned. “I wondered if you’d be in today! Thought maybe Queen Twilight Sparkle might be giving you a medal or something!” He laughed. She cocked her head, the hell was he talking about? Did he know about her trip? Was he making fun of her? Sonny seemed confused as well.

“What on earth are you talking about? Rarity and Twilight Sparkle?” Audacity was equally baffled.

“You know, Cloudsdale, the diamond dog.” Rarity’s heart stopped. How did he know? The Pegasus looked to Sonny. “You didn’t read about it?”

“No.” Mr. Salukas turned to Rarity. “Do you know what he’s talking about?” Rarity’s mouth was dry and she had a lump in her throat.

“Kinda, I, er, what did the paper say?” She asked apprehensively. Audacity laughed.

“Not the type for the spotlight, that’s really cool. Well, I read that you were with Twilight during the negotiation with the terrorist.” Audacity spoke with an excitement that disturbed Rarity. “Soarin’, the Wonderbolt, he was going to take the guy where he wanted to go. But then he got scared and rushed at the dog with a knife, who tried to detonate the bomb, but then YOU took out his arm and freed Twilight’s secretary, who was also a hostage.” He related. “The queen made a speech yesterday saying that Soarin’ freaked out ‘cause he thought that the terrorist was going to hurt her, and that’s why he botched things with the knife. Then Soarin’ himself made a statement saying pretty much the same thing, kinda weird that neither of them mentioned you.”

Rarity was utterly confused.

“So, then, how did anypony know I was with Twilight then?” She asked carefully.

“They heard you yell of course! Ponies on the street say they heard you slam him against the wall and break his arm!” Audacity flicked his head to her. “Would not have expected a pony like you to be such a beast!” He said in coltish appreciation. Sonny looked at Rarity in complete amazement.

“Rarity, is this true?”

“Yeah, Rarity, tell us the whole thing, I feel like the papers didn’t get it right!” Audacity leaned forward while Sonny turned to face her. Rarity remembered the lies, the things she had said to cover up her actions. She remembered what had happened when they were discovered.

“Twilight invited me on that trip, I was with her to vacation. I shouldn’t have gotten into the negotiations, I was upset with her over something and I didn’t realize where I was going. We, I, um, well we got into the room with the terrorist, and well, we started negotiating.” She stuttered.

“Who did?” Sonny asked.

“Sh-she did, and then, the guy asked for a Pegasus. Annnnnd then Soarin’ came in. And-” She paused, how could she make this sound like something it wasn’t, without actually lying? “Well, he was getting ready to leave and I guess he forgot that he was supposed to set off the bomb, so, then he got stabbed. But I saw that he could still move his arm.” She swallowed. “So I, you know, grabbed his arm and broke it.” She shifted her weight uncomfortably. “Didn’t know I yelled that loud.”

“Oh yeah, I heard the ponies outside couldn’t hear a thing, then they heard you scream about how worthless Soain’ was!” Audacity was grinning with pure admiration. “You must really not like the spotlight, ‘cause there were only a couple pictures of you leaving the apartment with Twilight!”

“I was, upset, I-” He held up a hoof.

“I totally get it, sometime when you’re doing something intense, you can’t really think about how you appear. I get that during races.” He handed a few bits to Sonny. “I oughta get going, I also know what it’s like to have a thousand ponies ask you for the same awesome story, it gets really annoying. Anyway, I just dropped by for my Katchapuri.” He nodded to Sonny. “I still haven’t found any bread with more protein!”

Mr. Salukas handed the athlete a loaf of bread.

“It was good seeing you!” The workhorse turned to Rarity. “Maybe he should drop by more, then I can learn of more those good deeds you don’t mention!” He said jovially. Audacity laughed and departed. Rarity watched him stroll off down the street. She stood motionless, dreading what Mr. Salukas might say.

Mr. Salukas didn’t say anything at first. He let out his breath in a long, almost exaggerated sigh.

“You are full of surprises Rarity.” He pondered. She nodded stiffly. “I know the story is going to change a hundred times over the next few weeks, and likely nopony but those who were there will know the truth.” He put a hoof on her shoulder. “All I want to know is why you did what you did, there are a thousand reasons for risking your life and doing something heroic. What was yours?” She had been high, angry, and focused on herself that night.

“I have no idea.” She stated honestly. He chuckled and patted her on the back.

“That’s what I had hoped.”

The bread finished baking and Rarity helped Sonny clean up the building. He sent her home with a box of muffins and the admonition that she should be certain to tell him next time she did something that warranted a front page article. Rarity was midway through the town when the first few ponies recognized her. She tried to pay them no mind, but eventually, their incessant pleas for autographs and accounts of the story became too great of an annoyance. She scribbled her name onto napkins, books, paper plates and even money. She hashed and rehashed the story of the negotiation, paying careful mind to never say who threw the knife, who did most of the talking, who gave both hostages to the bomber, or who told the bomber it would be a good idea to even have two hostages. She would be a hero only as long as ponies were misinformed of the nature of the events.

“They say he’s still ranting about the war in his cell!” Said one eager fan. “Was that all he was talking about?”

“Um, yeah, pretty much.”

“Did he try and bite you when you rushed him?” Rarity remembered how terrified and helpless the dog had been.

“I was moving pretty fast, so I don’t think he had time to react.”

“Did he say anything about building a fashion design workshop?” Rarity looked up. Snips was standing in the road in front of her. The paste green unicorn wore a smile that oozed with malice. Apparently word had reached the Cutting Room. Rarity shrugged.

“Don’t recall, I basically got sick of his crap and beat him up.” She said with a teasing smile. His eyes narrowed in hate at this barb, but he said nothing. She tried to walk around him, but he stepped in front of her. The young stallion held up a sheet of white paper.

“Would you be so kind as to give me your autograph miss Rarity?” Snips asked in mocking humility. She heard the phlegm destined for the paper rattling in his throat. Daintily picking up the pen, Rarity carefully looped the words “Fuck You” in the most elaborate cursive she knew. She hadn’t finished the U when the glob of spit landed on the surface of the paper. Crumpling up the page, Snips snorted and pushed by her. The ponies around her were silent for a few seconds and a few snorted in disgust.

Then somepony asked her to reenact the arm breaking and the Q and A session continued. Everypony wanted to know just how the attack had happened.

The couch was like a bed, a good bed at that. She sank deeply into the soft leather cushions and Rarity stared at the ceiling of the office; it was painted a beautiful and unsurprising shade of apple red. Applejack’s voice came from across her massive desk.

“Nao, what happened, gimme the whole story.” Rarity heard the farm pony begin to pour herself a glass of cider.

“Well, I guess it starts when Spike said yes to let me come on the trip.” Rarity began after a minute. She sadly recounted the events of the trip, the past few days had made her forget temporarily about her woeful actions in Cloudsdale. She had simply gone to work every day and faced the scores of ponies who wanted to know everything about what had happened. Today she had finally escaped to AJ’s for some decompression. As she informed Applejack of each stupid mistake and lie, she found the depression creeping back into her.

“I don’t even know what Spike thinks, he was totally silent on the trip back.” She brushed away some tears. “Twilight hates me, and even worse, she’s ashamed of me. She said she’s not going to be there to bail me out, she said that might make me learn.” Rarity turned over on the black couch. “She’s right, she’s fucking right, I can’t do anything right, I’m just a horrible evil pony.” There was quiet and Rarity looked back at Applejack. The orange pony was choking with silent laughter. Applejack shook with mirth and a poorly concealed grin was smeared across her face.

“What’s so funny?!” Demanded the white unicorn. Applejack slammed a hoof onto the table and roared.

“Y’told him to kill Soarin’!” She pounded another hoof onto the table and a few papers drifted onto the green carpet. “Ahahahahaha! Gawd, what ah woulda given to see whut he looked lahk when you said that!” She whooped. “He musta pissed that blue jumpsuit a’his.”

“Applejack! I told a terrorist to kill a hostage! How funny would it have been if he actually had?” Rarity asked angrily. Applejack quieted a little.

“Ok, nao, ah will admit that given the circumstances, that mahghta been unsafe.” She started to laugh again, then saw Rarity’s apprehension. “Alls well that ends well raght?”

“What?! No! I lied to Twilight! I broke probably a thousand laws going to the reactor and getting high on yellow.” Rarity started to cry. “I’m worse off now than I was before I went on that trip. I proved that I can’t behave well anymore.” Applejack walked over and put her arm around the disconsolate unicorn.

“Nao, whut gives ya’ll that idea?” She asked tenderly. Rarity shoved her friend away and stood up.

“God dammit Applejack! Why does everypony ask me that? I just fucking explained why! I fucked everything up! I was supposed show that I could be a good pony! But every Goddamn thing got worse!” She shouted. Applejack sighed and motioned for Rarity to sit back down.

“Alraght, listen.” Rarity continued to stand and Applejack motioned again for her to sit down. Rarity didn’t and the Apple pony shrugged and continued.

“Y’didn’t do so bad. Ah know y’made mistakes, but you didn’t make ‘em cause you were bein’ a bad pony. Y’made ‘em cause you were a good pony. Take the crown thing, y’went to get the crown for Twahlight, you nearly got yerself killed to git that crown back.” Rarity started to protest, but Applejack simply talked over her. “Nao, y’dented it in whut can only be described as an expected outcome. Y’got it fixed and kept Spike out of it. Nao ah know yer gonna say that lyin’ about it and trying to keep it from Twah was probably a bad thing.” She frowned thoughtfully. “Maybe it was, but you were just doing it to avoid from makin’ her upset. Nao, you tried yer damnedest to make that trip fun.”

She took a long, protracted breath.

“Nao, the reactor.” Applejack considered this for a moment. “That was probably a pretty unsafe thing t’do.” A smile crossed her face. “But damned if y’don’t have some lick in ya t’whoop two stallions.” She shook her head in disbelieving admiration. “Anyway, it seems like y’got discouraged cause y’took what Twahlight said t’heart. That ya’ll ain’t no good anymoar. Nao, ah wouldn’t speak badly of Twah, you know that, but the fact is, ah don’t think she understands what y’been goin’ through. Fact is, she’s been around them governmental ponies s’long that she pro’bly fergot whut y’been goin’ through. Don’t get me wrong, she’s got a damn hard job, and Lord knows how hard it must be f’her. But the fact is, she doesn’t get it. All she saw was ya’ll lyin’ and she made up her mind that ya’ll were a bad pony.”

“But that wasn’t even the worst part!” Rarity cried. “I probably could have gone home and just chalked it up to a bad trip. But my God, Applejack, I almost got a lot of ponies killed! Do you know just how messed up that is?” She struggled to convey her disbelief at herself. “I made so many mistakes! God, I don’t even know where to begin!”

“Did ya?” Applejack asked thoughtfully. “Seems to me that ya got everypony out of there safely, if ah read the papers raght.”

“Yeah, by the most unlikely pileup of coincidences and dumb fucking luck!”

“Well, ah dunno, ah wasn’t there, and ah shure as hell won’t tell you what went on. But it seems to me that that drunken white unicorn stopped those bombs from goin’ off.”

“I gave him a fucking hostage! I have no idea what I was thinking, but if I were to guess.” Rarity paused, she had no idea what she had been thinking and she threw up her arms in exasperation. “I have no fucking clue what I was thinking!” Applejack stood.

“Yer gonna analyze that lahk y’do everything else. Listen to me Rarity, y’did the right thing up there. From what y’told me, you sounded like the only pony in the room actually tryin’ to get this guy. Ah don’t know if Twah is really so good at handling stuff lahk that, from her words an’ yours, she was jus’ tryin’ t’throw booksmarts at a baseball bat problem. Spike was probably scared shitless.” She chuckled here. “And ah wouldn’t put money on Soarin’.” AJ thumped Rarity on the back. “Y’got the job done, danger or not, y’got it done. Nao, ah wouldn’t make it a habit and Lord knows we need to figure out what this guy’s deal was, so things lahk this never happen. But ah think if Twahlight knew it warn’t going to be a habit with ya’ll goin’ in to harm’s way and makin’ a fool a’yerself, she might not have gotten so mad.”

“But it is a habit! I continually make those bad choices-”

“Stop it Rarity. Yer’ a good pony, just not Twahlight’s kahnda good pony. Y’kept everybody safe up there and y’tried yer best to be a friend. Now y’can’t tell me that ain’t the mark of a good pony.”

Rarity was silent for a time. It made sense. She had tried her best, even if it had all gone to shit.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” She conceded. “Rainbow Dash told me pretty much the same thing but I guess it only makes sense coming from you.” Applejack laughed and nudged her.

“Ah keep tellin’ ya, ya’ll know all this stuff, y’just need somepony to tell ya. Most of yer’ problems are just discouragement.”

“I guess so.”

Applejack chewed her lip.

“Dahmond dogs in Cloudsdale?” She asked Rarity. “That’s the real story here, bombs and terrorists?” She shook her head. “That don’t make no sense. Did it even make sense whut he was sayin’?” Rarity thought for a second.

“Eh, basically he was pissed about how Equestria thinks it rules their nation or something. Twilight said they were having a civil war or something, and he mentioned about how we didn’t understand. I really didn’t get much from it.” AJ knit her brow.

“Guess we don’t have the full story."

Chapter 10

Chapter X

Applecrisp was back to work after a period of three days absence. She looked tired when she entered the door. Ana, who had since taken her place, heard her entrance and immediately went to confront her.

“YOU! Little pony, where have you been? My husband pays you to work!” Rarity was arranging the breads in the display and had a perfect view of the scene. She knew Ana had been waiting for this moment and Rarity felt the fury in the air.

“I” she motioned pointlessly to herself. “Have taken your place, and I do not work here. I” She motioned again. “Have worked in your stead. I did not know you would be leaving, nor did Sonny. Tell me, what could possibly have kept you?” Applecrisp looked up at the fuming horse.

“Took four sick days, or vacation if y’prefer. Ah ain’t got no plans to take anymore, ah’m well nao.” She replied flatly. The Apple pony flicked her head to Rarity. “She took time off, so did ah. Ah’m here to work, y’can go back to yer house nao.” There was a dejectedness to her voice.

Ana shook her head.

“That is not good enough, you will give me an explanation little pony. You cannot leave unannounced for such a time.” Ana ordered. The apparent tiredness left Applecrisp and she met the mare’s gaze directly. There was something in her eyes, a fire that sat far back in her countenance, almost invisible in her blank expression. Her voice was still the same slow drawl, but Rarity heard a trickle of rancor amidst the words.

“Ah said, ah took four sick days. Y’kin fire me, or y’kin let me work. That’s all you can do.” She stated quietly. Ana seemed surprised that Applecrisp had not given her what she demanded and she glared down on the little pony, trying to break her resolve. Applecrisp stared back, saying nothing.

The room grew quiet.

Rarity felt the flesh on her neck crawl, it was a silent yet massive battle before her. Ana steamrolled anypony in her path, she got what she wanted, nopony would keep anything from her if she asked hard enough. Yet as Rarity watched the blue pony before her, she saw a blackness in Applecrisp that she had never seen in anypony. Applecrisp didn’t blink, she didn’t frown, she didn’t even glare, she just stared emotionlessly into the chestnut colored horse.

The two stood motionless. A horrid awkwardness descended on the room. Rarity slid the metal sheet of Challah into the smudged glass enclosure and backed toward the oven room. As she reached the door, Rarity heard the tinkle of the door behind her. She cursed silently and walked back to serve the customer.

“Excuse me, I would like a sample of your Katachapuri please.” Octavia asked politely. Rarity picked up the bread knife.

“No samples.” Ana didn’t take her eyes off of Applecrisp as she stated the rule. Rarity stopped and looked to Octavia awkwardly. Octavia glanced back at the two opposed mares behind her.

“Um, ok.” She said crossly. “I’ll just take a loaf then.”

“Four bits.” Rarity said uncomfortably. Octavia gave her the money and Rarity handed her the bread.

“Thank you, please come again.”

“Yeahhhhhh, sure.” Octavia was still looking at Ana and Applecrisp, who had not moved in some time. The door closed and the awkwardness returned.

Rarity tried to separate the two.

“Hey, uh, can I get a hoof lifting these bags of flour in here?” She asked nopony in particular.

“Be raght in.” Came Applecrisp’s response. She walked past Mrs. Salukas and into the oven room. Ana still stood in the front end. She didn’t even look back.

Rarity pointed to a half empty bag of flour in the corner of the oven room.

“Heh, kinda just wanted to get you outta there, you know?” She tried to be casual. Applecrisp nodded and picked up the list.

“Whut d’we need for today?” She asked as if nothing had happened. Rarity was glad they were just going to leave the past few minutes behind them.

Things got back to normal, with work dominating their interactions. Applecrisp and Rarity started on restocking the bakery. They baked for hours, neither said a word and that suited Rarity fine.

It was about seven when they finally extinguished the last of the ovens. Rarity’s neck hurt and she tasted flour with every breath. She and Applecrisp walked out of the oven room. Sonny and Mr. Salukas were seated at a table. Rarity’s stomach tightened with apprehension.

“Applecrisp, please come here.” Sonny said formally. The blue pony dropped her backpack and walked over to the pair. She stood complacently before the table. “Please tell us where you were for the past three days.” The stallion said politely. Rarity didn’t like where this was headed. Applecrisp looked to Mrs. Salukas.

“Lahk ah told yer wife, ah was sick, ah didn’t plan on it. Ah got well today, so ah came in to work. Ah still got sick days and ah worked today.” Sonny cleared his throat.

“I understand that Applecrisp. But we were not even informed of your absence.”

“Tha’s the nature of sickness ah reckon, comes on fast, didn’t gimme a lot a time to go tellin’ a lotta ponies. Ah spent mah time just workin’ t’get well.” Sonny nodded, Rarity knew he was trying to arbitrate between the two mares.

“I am sorry, you are well now?” He asked kindly. Mrs. Salukas noticed her husband’s attempt to steer away from the conflict.

“What sickened you?” She asked suspiciously. Applecrisp looked over to her.

“Sickness.” She answered, this time, the enmity in her voice was noticeable. Mrs. Salukas snorted and Sonny tried again.

“Ana and I were just taken by surprise. We.” he nodded to Ana. “Were not able to open on Monday because of this.”

“Sorry t’hear that. Ah don’t make it a habit of getting’ sick.” Sonny bit his lip and nodded slowly.

“I understand, thank you for explaining to us. You may go now.” Rarity heard Ana suck in her breath, she knew Sonny had sacrificed himself for Applecrisp.

The two ponies left the bakery. Applecrisp turned left on Mane Street and Rarity watched her for a couple seconds. Applecrisp didn’t look around, she just walked down the street looking directly ahead. What was with her? There was no way of knowing with the stone-faced mare. Rarity shook her head and started for home.

As Rarity turned, she nearly collided with Pinkie Pie, who was standing literally a foot from her. For an obnoxious and seemingly airheaded pony, Pinkie could be deadly quiet at times.

“God! Pinkie!” Rarity yelped in fright.

Pinkie was smiling, Pinkie Pie always smiled, maybe that was one of the reasons Rarity hated her so much.

“Hay Rarity! I heard you protected Twilight and Spike up in Cloudsdale! That’s really brave!” She said excitedly. Rarity tried to settle herself.

“Yeah, I guess so.” She said, taking a few steps back.

“Do you know what bravery calls for?” Pinkie Pie asked, her voice dripping with coy excitement. God no. Sugarcube exploded out of a barrel behind Rarity, which nearly put her into another conniption.

“A PARTY!” They cried simultaneously. Rarity almost bolted.

“N-no, s-sorry, I have to go home now, I’m very tired.” She said hurriedly. Pinkie giggled and slapped her across the back.

“No silly filly! Not tonight, tomorrow night! We’ll have cake, and balloons and party games.” Rarity thought frantically for an excuse. “And all your friends will be there! Even Twilight and Spike! They said they wouldn’t miss it!” Spike and Twilight? Rarity anxiously wondered what they thought of her newfound and unplanned reputation. Twilight had been under the assumption that Equestria would hate her if they found out. Now that it was clear that nopony hated her, was Twilight going to apologize for covering it up? Or was Rarity still in deep shit for nearly killing everypony?

“And applebobbing! And hay rides!” The two headaches were still babbling on about the party.

“What time?” Rarity interrupted.

“Seven! At Sweet Apple Acres! Totally informal!” Pinkie related. She had no excuse, especially not if Twilight and Spike were coming.

“Guess, I, will, be there.” Rarity had to push the words out. Sugarcube slapped her across the back.

“Great! See ya then!”

Rarity started for home, the helium voices of the two ponies ringing in her ears. She didn’t want to go to a Pinkie Pie party. She really didn’t want to go to a Pinkie Pie party with an Alicorn who in all likelihood resented her having a party at all. Rarity hopped the fence to her field. Another perfect day in Ponyville.

The next day was overcast, Rarity awoke facing toward the forest and her apple had a worm in it. On her way to the bakery, Rarity saw Pinkie and Sugarcube shuttling party implements to Sweet Apple Acres, she sighed and tried not to think about the impending party.

Applecrisp was already cracking eggs for a batch of muffins when Rarity joined her.

“Banana nut? When do we make those?” Rarity couldn’t remember the last time they had made muffins that Ponyville ponies liked eating.

“That party a’yers, Sonny is makin’ ya’ll a batch.” Applecrisp replied in her typical apathy. Rarity blushed a little, it was sweet of Sonny and uncharacteristically generous too. Clearly Ana knew nothing of this.

They worked for a time, Rarity closely studying her co-worker. Applecrisp didn’t seem any different and Rarity was glad that the matter of the sick days was buried.

“So this stock in Sugarcube Corner, how’d that go?” Rarity asked as they sat waiting for the muffins to bake. Applecrisp was playing with a bread knife that sat on the counter beside them.

“Didn’t buy none.” She said shortly. Rarity chuckled.

“Business too shitty?” Applecrisp accidently dropped the knife.

“Sumthin’ like that.” She said as she knelt to pick it up.

Rarity wondered why Applecrisp had passed on the investment. She was here in Ponyville to make a life right? She probably didn’t want to spend her life baking foreigners’ bread no doubt. Glad as she was to see somepony actually avoid Sugarcube Corner, Rarity wondered what had made the country pony change her mind. However she knew better than to ask any more questions on a subject Applecrisp was clearly finished with. Instead she tried to change to a more agreeable topic.

“So, how’s the swamp?”

“Fahn.” Applecrisp picked up the knife and tossed it into the sink.

Applecrisp didn’t want to talk; everything seemed normal. Satisfied with her coworker’s emotional state, Rarity waited in silence for the muffins. Her mind turned to Twilight, was she angry? What was the Alicorn’s regard for her? She pondered this as she went about her work.

Twilight had assumed that ponies would hate her for almost killing their queen, but then, Soarin’ had taken the blame for that. Had he? Was there blame to take? Audacity and most of her short-lived fans had emphasized Soarin’s fear with comedic effect and nopony seemed really mad at anypony. Rarity was a hero, Soarin’ was a bit of a coward, that seemed to be it. She hoped that was it.

Rarity ate her lunch outside, she sat on a bench and watched the ponies going about the day. Applejack was right, it had been a few days and nopony cared about her.

“Hey you!” Sugarcube popped up in front of her. Nopony but the ones she hated. “Watcha doin’?” She asked sunnily.

“Just having my lunch.” Rarity said uncomfortably. Sugarcube nodded vigorously.

“That’s great! Say! What kind of frosting do you like? Pinkie said you like purple and I thought grey! We’re making a big cupcake for your party!” Rarity shrugged.

“White’s fine.” Sugarcube bobbed her head. She comprehended the response, had completed her task and yet she still stood stupidly before Rarity. The yellow pony seemed poised to ask another stupid question with an easily guessed answer and Rarity began to wolf down her sandwich.

“Say Rarity, do you know who Fluttershy is?” Rarity stopped chewing.

“What?”

Sugarcube frowned and pawed at the ground in thought.

“Yeah, I was going over the list of names in the Cakes’ address book for the party invitations and I found her name, but there wasn’t an address. Mister and Misses Cake said to never mind about her.” She looked at Rarity in confusion. “Is she that pony in the statue?”

Sugarcube had taken her back. That smarmy little imp had taken her farther back than she had ever wanted to go. Rarity had forgotten, or blocked, the memory of the statue that stood by the entrance to Everfree forest. Rarity instinctively slept facing away from the cottage, she hadn’t gone to the funeral, she didn’t talk about Fluttershy. To her, it was like Fluttershy hadn’t existed. Over the past few months, the wound had scabbed over as the rest of her life had fallen apart and she had forgotten mostly about the dead Pegasus.

Sugarcube’s question brought back the memory of the shy yellow animal lover and the memory of her life before the Blast. This time, the going back was strong and Rarity felt the rage and grief tied to the memory rising up out of her mind. She rose and walked by the wondering Sugarcube.

“Yeah that’s her.” She said quietly.

Applecrisp was inside already, Rarity couldn’t remember if she had actually seen Applecrisp take a lunch break outside of the bakery. They got to work, but the thought of Fluttershy still hung in Rarity’s mind.

Rarity had read the paper, “Celestia and one Pegasus dead from explosion.” She had realized that she would never see Fluttershy again. She realized that Fluttershy’s Element would hang unused in the castle for the rest of time. She remembered the Blast very well.

For Rarity, Fluttershy’s death was like she had been erased from time. Opal had gone to a new vet, the forest animals apparently took care of themselves and everypony purchased herbs elsewhere. The fact was, Rarity probably took Fluttershy’s death better than most of her friends. Maybe it was because she had never been that close to her, maybe it was because her business’s failing had taking precedence during her time of grief.

Yet the feelings of sorrow and lifeless sadness that arose with just the sight of her house told Rarity otherwise. She had buried Fluttershy, stuffed the memory into a recess of her mind and built a wall around it. Rarity stirred a bowl of batter vigorously. It was wrong, so wrong, Fluttershy was the incarnation of innocence, she was demure beyond demure and she had been ripped apart by a bomb planted to kill the Princess. Rarity felt the shock building up in her, Goddamn it, why did Sugarcube have to bring her up? Fluttershy had been killed by a bomb, the same Fluttershy that had taken a thorn out of Opal’s paw. The same Fluttershy that foalsat Sweetie Belle. The same Fluttershy that couldn’t even scream, for fear of making too much noise. She had been murdered, Fluttershy had.

Her Boutique was gone. She spoke without an accent. Her career was finished. Her friends had drifted apart and she hated Ponyville with all of her heart. Rarity slapped at a tear on her face. What the fuck had happened?

“Ya’ll ok?” Applecrisp asked. Rarity looked down, the batter had splattered over her and the floor from her stirring.

“Yeah, just.” Rarity shook her head and ripped off a paper towel from the roll. “Thinking on something.”

Rain started to fall outside, Rarity knew the room was going to become a sauna in a few minutes. Looking at the clock, she realized there were still four hours left on her shift. Flicking her head to Applecrisp, she propped the back door open to let in some air. The breeze cooled the room and let in the pleasantly moist air. The rainfall splashed and pattered peacefully onto the cobblestone alley and thatched rooftop.

She cleaned up the minor mess and restarted the mixture. Rarity pushed a tray of doughnuts into the oven, the wound of Fluttershy was slowly losing its shock. She could get over Fluttershy in time, all she needed to do was give it time. Time healed everything.

For Rarity, the change was the most dramatic. Her mane, vulgarity, and overall coldness indicated her adaption to the Blast and its effects. Conversly, Applejack seemed to function fine, along with Pinkie Pie, who Rarity hadn’t even seen cry once since the Blast. Even Twilight, who had not only lost a friend but also a mentor, seemed to be moving forward with her new life as queen. Rarity was the only pony that had gotten truly fucked up over the Blast, well, besides Dash. Of course, none of her friends had been scapegoated and boycotted because of an irrational grudge held by a shitty town. Rarity shook her head, everypony had lost something in the Blast, but only she had lost everything. She had every right to be bitter.

She looked out the window, the rain was falling harder now and the roads were going to be muddy as hell. The bakers finished their shift and cleaned up the oven room. Rarity packed up her muffins, thanked Sonny, and prepared to go the unpleasant party.

Applecrisp walked by her and out into the downpour. Ensuring the muffins were covered, Rarity ventured outside after her. The gentle thrash of the rain swam around her and Rarity started toward Sweet Apple Acres. She walked out into the street, Applecrisp was a couple yards away walking in the opposite direction. Her mane was already soaked and clung to her back, yet her gait was her usual slow clop. She didn’t even seem to notice the storm around her.

“Hey!” Applecrisp turned. “You want to come to my party?” Rarity invited. She might as well.

“Applejack gunna be there?”

“Yeah.” Rarity answered.

Applecrisp turned and continued down the road without another word. Rarity shook her head and started toward the farm.

The gate was open and Rarity walked through the front yard. Sweet Apple Acres looked deserted. She rang the doorbell of the farmhouse and looked around. Through the blurry haze of the rain, Rarity made out some ponies in the orchards. Work didn’t stop even for a party on Sweet Apple Acres. The door opened and a very hopped up Pinkie Pie greeted her.

“Oh hi Rarity! Come on in!” She giggled. Rarity shook some of the water from her mane and stepped inside. The farmhouse was fully lit and festooned with streamers and balloons. The front room and kitchen were packed with cheerful partygoers. It was the most inviting the building had been in a long time. “Come on! You need some punch!” Pinkie pulled her over to the refreshment table. Rarity placed the muffins alongside the other sweets and accepted a glass. “I’m so glad you could make it! We’ve got so much planned for you!” Rarity tossed down the cherry flavored liquid, to her chagrin, it was not spiked.

“Yeah, I’ll bet. You know where Applejack is?” She asked.

“Down in her room.” Rarity made for the basement entrance. “We’ll call for you when it’s time for games!” Party pony called.

Rarity hoped Applejack had alcohol, her sanity rested on that premise. The faint twang of fermented apples permeated the basement air promisingly as she descended into the office.

“Haw, y’got to be kiddin’!” Applejack noticed Rarity on the stairs. She threw a hoof into the air. “There she is!” Applejack was leaned against her desk with one of her worker ponies and what looked like one of her many cousins. “Good seein’ ya, we were takin’ bets on what kinda excuse y’d come up with for not showin’.”

“Hehe, why would I want to skip out on something like this?” Rarity asked as she gave her friend a hug.

“That’s whut Fritter said.” Applejack said, pointing to her cousin. Fritter nodded.

“S’ a good party, can’t see wai ya’ll wouldn’t want to come.” She said softly. Applejack nudged her.

“Let her explain wai.” She pointed the worker pony. “Nao Paco here made the guess y’d burn yerself on the oven, sumthin’ serious.”

“All I said was that she’d do something that nopony could argue with. From all your stories about her, I guessed she would try something serious.” Paco said sheepishly. Rarity had never heard one of Applejack’s worker ponies speak before. His accent was interesting, it reminded her of cinnamon. His mane was long and a bit stringy and he smelled of pepper. He didn’t have Cutie Mark.

Rarity noticed a few bottles on the desk, picking one up, she inspected the label.

“Hell, you getting cider bottled now?” She asked in surprise. Applejack nodded proudly.

“Tha’s wai Paco here is in here and not out in the rain.” She picked up a bottle and flipped it into the air. “He had some connections back where he’s from and got us a bottlin’ facil’ty set up.” Paco flashed a coy grin.

“Didn’t take long to see a business expansion.” He said modestly. Applejack set the bottle back down on the table.

“Go ‘head, try some.” She offered. Rarity opened the bottle and took a gulp. The sour liquid was exactly what she needed to survive the party.

“That’s good, lot better than that malt crap you gave me awhile back.” She said with a grin. AJ laughed.

“Some ponies thought it was good. Lahk this one.” She looked around for Apple Fritter, who was standing behind her. “What are ya’ll hidin’ fer?” She asked as she pulled the filly into the little circle. “Apple Fritter is mah cousin, up from Appleoosa for awhahl, folks needed t’send her somewhere it don’t cost to eat.” Apple Fritter had a long mane that fell into her eyes, she looked shy and Rarity wondered if she liked being around ponies who drank and swore. “Nao, ah put her up in exchange fer givin’ input on the new cider.” She laughed. “Maybe ah oughta put her t’use on housecleanin’.” Apple Fritter swallowed and smiled in embarrassment.

“It was a plausible idea, it failed because there isn’t pasteurization-”

“Lahk a little Twahlight this one.” Applejack said proudly. “Half the time ah don’t know whut’s she’s sayin’.” Apple Fritter blushed at this. “Sorry Macintosh ain’t here t’wish ya well, he’s off with Applebloom in Cantorlot, that leg a his is gettin’ good as new.” Applejack explained.

“Found a good doctor?” Rarity asked as she took another sip of cider. AJ nodded.

“Name’s Rahimi, Lord knows ah had mah reservations ‘bout sendin’ him to a doctor whose country ah can’t find on a map. But Applebloom said he works miracles with legs.” She chuckled and motioned to Paco. “And ahve had pretty good luck with foreigners.” Paco smiled at this and looked at his hooves.

“I just saw a business expansion is all. I want this farm to make money as much as you do.” He said bashfully.

“Well yer’ doin’ just that.” Applejack agreed.

The conversation turned to what kind of excuse Rarity would have actually come up with had she actually skipped the party. At first Rarity was careful to not divulge any of her more irresponsible acts. But it soon became clear that the lightly intoxicated Applejack had already shared most of them with the two.

Apple Fritter didn’t talk much, she nodded and listened to the others. Applejack was right, the shy little pony did resemble Twilight. Conversely, Paco was very talkative and seemed greatly interested in Rarity’s exploits. Like Applejack, he was genuinely impressed that Rarity had beaten up two stallions in Cloudsdale.

“You ever think of doing that for a living? Like street fighting?” He asked, setting an empty bottle down on the desk. Even after two bottles of cider and more than enough compliments, Rarity knew she would never repeat that or any similar experience.

“No, once is enough for me.” She said shortly.

“It’s a brutal sport I’ll say that, but I think you’d be pretty good.” He said appreciatively.

“Oh how’s the bakery? Making anythin’ edible?” Applejack asked with a chuckle. That comment about her being a good street fighter had made Rarity uncomfortable. Paco seemed like he knew something about this awful-sounding “sport” and it was unsettling that he thought she would do well in it.

“Oh pretty good, Applecrisp took a few days off ‘cause she was apparently sick.” Rarity said absentmindedly. She wasn’t really a good fighter even, she had just fought unfairly.

Applejack guffawed.

“Ah coulda told ya that.” Rarity realized she had told Applejack about the sick days.

“Oh well, I mean-”

“Rarity! Gaaaaaaaaaaame time!” Called Sugarcube from the top of the stairs.

“Guess we better go be social.” Rarity said, glad that they had a reason not to talk about Applecrisp.

“Hehe, yeah, better see whut Pinkie’s got planned fer us!” AJ agreed.

Bobbing for apples was the first game, which Rarity realized wasn’t the kind of game that one played as a group but as a sort of solo activity. Unfortunately, as the guest of honor, she found herself having to actually play the game.

Mane soaked and mouth full of cold apple, Rarity was glad for those two bottles of cider, there would have been no way she could have stomached playing pin the tail on the pony otherwise. The rest of the games were just as embarrassing and unpleasant. Rarity was a little surprised actually, for everything else, Pinkie could at least pick decent party games most of the time, but these were shitty foals’ games.

The evening progressed and the games grew more and more demeaning and trite. As it turned out, Rarity found herself walking carefully through the kitchen whilst grasping in her mouth a spoon carrying an egg. She couldn’t see through the blindfold and with each step she became more and more afraid of some sort of stumbling block in front of her. She hadn’t even heard of blindfolded egg races, so it was probable that there wasn’t a rule that prevented tripping contestants.

“C’mon Rarity! Hurry up!” Applejack cheered. Rarity extended a tentative hoof, so far so good. She must be near the table right?

“Everypony!” Rarity jumped at the noise. The weight left the spoon and in a moment she felt the egg crack across her face. “Queen Twilight Sparkle!” Sugarcube announced. Rarity ripped off the blindfold and hurriedly wiped the egg from her face.

Twilight was standing in the doorway, she looked as embarrassed as she always did when she wore the crown.

“Good evening to you all, I hope I’m not too late.” She said to the bowing ponies. Pinkie Pie rushed over to her.

“Oh no you’re not! In fact-” One of the guards stepped forward to move Pinkie back to a more appropriate distance.

“It’s ok, I know her.” Twilight said as she waved the guard off. She smiled and turned to Pinkie. “So what kind of party food is there?” She asked. Rarity was still wiping off the slick mess from her face when Pinkie led Twilight over to the table.

“And muffins and cupcakes and ice cream!” Pinkie listed.

“Hey Rarity.” Twilight said courteously. Rarity bowed nervously.

“Hey Twilight, how are you?” Rarity asked apprehensively. Pinkie dashed off suddenly to save Sugarcube from slipping into the applebobbing basin and Twilight watched party pony’s antics with a smile.

“Good, good, I’m glad I could make it.” She said, serving herself a slice of cake. Rarity itched at her face, which was masked with albumen.

“Yeah, um, sorry about the whole thing. I didn’t tell anypony what happened, I guess somepony just got a picture of me or something. I really didn’t want to come to this.” The unicorn anxiously explained. Twilight looked over the crowd of partygoers.

“No no, I think it worked out fine.” Twilight said, taking a bite of cake.

“I’m really sorry, you know, I mean-”

“Wai howdy Miss Sparkle!” Applejack inserted herself between the two. “Nao how is the high Queen of Equestria on this fahn day?” She asked jovially. Twilight hugged Applejack.

“Oh good to see you Applejack! I’m fine, a little tired, but fine. I’m glad I could make it to this.” Applejack put an arm around Rarity.

“Well, ya’ll got this little filly to thank fer everything.” She gave Rarity an affirming shake. “Nao, after we heard whut she did up in Cloudsdale, we couldn’t let the moment pass without throwin’ her a party.” Rarity began to sweat, was AJ trying to incite bad blood? Twilight nodded.

“We certainly do. She was very brave.” She said warmly. Pinkie returned, carrying a soaked Sugarcube.

“This is my cousin Sugarcube, well kinda, she’s the Cakes’ niece. She’s spending the summer with me and I wanted her to meet you!” Pinkie presented the sopping yellow pony before Twilight. Sugarcube was cowed by the Alicorn.

“Hi there.” She squeaked. Twilight smiled and gave the quaking yellow earth pony a hug.

“So you’re Pinkie’s cousin huh? Well, are you as good at applebobbing as she is? Cause Pinkie Pie is the only pony good enough to beat me.” The queen said playfully. Sugarcube perked up to this friendliness.

“YEAH! I can beat her any day! Wanna see?” Sugarcube and Pinkie accompanied Twilight to the applebobbing basin. They started to laugh over something.

Rarity picked up a napkin and started to wipe her face, which still itched.

“God, Applejack, can you not talk about Cloudsdale? I’m scared she’s really pissed about it.” Rarity implored. Applejack sipped some punch.

“Awh nao, she don’t seem mad. ‘Sahdes she comes to this party then she kin stand to talk about ya’ll for nine seconds.” Rarity went back to watching Twilight. The purple Alicorn was laughing and splashing about with the two mares. Rarity felt a little better, Twilight couldn’t be sinister enough to play with a few of her subjects and then turn and condemn another. Could she?

“S’nao, where’s Spike?” Applejack scanned the partygoers. “Ain’t no way he’d pass up a party for his favorite pony. Hey Twah, where’s yer dragon on this fahn evening?” She called to Twilight, who was in the process of eating a freshly-won apple. The queen shook her mane and walked back to the pair.

“Off in Cantorlot, he’s working overtime. He said he’s sorry he can’t make it.” She replied. Applejack pondered this with disinterest for a second.

“So Twahlight, y’gotta tell me. Whut’s all this ‘bout the dahmond dog terrorist? Ah mean, whut was he doin’ up in Cloudsdale? How’d he get there?” Fucking Applejack, what was wrong with her? Couldn’t she just stay on the safe subjects? Rarity thought frantically for a safer topic.

Twilight seemed unfazed, as if the whole thing had never even bothered her. She took a crunching bite of the apple.

“There isn’t a lot to say really. He alleges that Equestria has taken a hooves off approach to the civil war, while also having an awareness of war crimes being committed. We’re investigating how he got up Cloudsdale.” She said plainly. Applejack seemed momentarily satisfied with this knowledge.

“How bout them war crimes? Y’gunna look into those?” Pinkie Pie bounded up to Twilight and grabbed her arm.

“C’mon, it’s your turn for pin the tail on the pony!” She said excitedly.

“Haha ok, just don’t pull my arm off!” Twilight laughed as Pinkie tugged her toward the poster. The queen looked back to the two. “We’ve been doing that from the start.” She answered.

The party wore on and Rarity countlessly recounted her negotiation to the other guests. For the entire evening she watched Twilight for any signs of anger or malice. Yet the queen seemed completely caught up in party games and chatter. It was utterly impossible, but Rarity began to realize that Twilight wasn’t outraged with her anymore.

Rarity was engaged in another tiresome description of the negotiation with an eager blue Pegasus when somepony tapped her shoulder. Audacity had somehow made himself more attractive by conditioning his already gorgeous mane. The flowing fiery hair held a near perfect balance of shine and luster. His wings were folded neatly with not a feather out of place. Rarity fought it, but the lust returned. Even for a filthy liar, Audacity was still delicious. He smiled pleasantly.

“Was hoping I could find you in this crowd.” He looked around. “Lot of ponies here, you’ve got quite the following.” She giggled anxiously, it was absurd how he could just waltz up and make a moron of her.

“Yeah, you know.” She sounded like such an idiot. The stallion chuckled.

“Pretty impressive for a mare.” He said. “I mean, not that mares can’t do stuff like that.” He added hastily. She laughed nervously.

“Oh it’s ok!”

He sighed and chewed his lip meditatively.

“You know, I really don’t have a great way of leading into this so I should just get it out there you know? I’m new here and I need somepony to show me around, you know? I, heh, sorta wanted to know if you could show me the lay of the land.” Rarity stared at him for a second, she had never heard of a snake doing something like this. She studied the Pegasus for an instant.

He might have stuck around in Ponyville for some minimum wage job instead of drifting away and the prospect of trying to score with her was of course still attractive. But to actually come up to her and make what could be construed as a heavily disguised sexual innuendo during a party in her honor was beyond bold. She had never seen anypony like Audacity, he reeked of cunning snake, and yet she had seen no snake behave as he did. His cheeks became a little redder, was he blushing?

“You know, it probably sounds kinda weird.” His laugh sounded anxious. “I, just don’t know a lot of ponies and you seem pretty knowledgeable.” He was out of his mind if he was actually trying to get with her. He noticed her hesitation. “Y’know, it’s kinda creepy of me to just walk up out of the blue and ask you to show me around town.” He pawed the wooden floor. “Did not see how creepy that sounds. Really sorry for making you uncomfortable.” He apologized. The snake started to depart.

“Hey Rarity? Can you finish the story?” Asked her listener, pulling at her arm. She turned.

“Yeah, um.” She looked back at Audacity, who was walking to the door. “Can you meet me at the Café on Saturday at like noon? I could show you some of the shops.” He looked back and his smile returned, exposing his snowy white teeth.

“Really?! Yeah! See you then! Thanks!”

“Now where was I?” Rarity asked her audience excitedly.

The party wound down within a few hours, Twilight bade Rarity a kind farewell. Pinkie needed to get Sugarcube home by ten and most of the rest of the guests were filing out of the front gate as Rarity leaned against the railing of the porch.

The rain had stopped and the night air felt cool and wet. The moon was bright and full and the muddy front yard was bathed in the pale light. Applejack leaned against the white railing beside her.

“Have a good time?” She asked.

“I don’t know, I’m scared of what Twilight thinks, she was really upset, now she seems fine. I don’t know, maybe she was just worried that everypony would hate me it they found out.” Rarity shrugged. “I still can’t stand fucking party games. Oh and I agreed to show that Audacity guy around town, probably ‘cause he’s hot, but I’m pretty sure he’s just a lowlife looking for some action.” She thought for a minute. “Aaaaand the rest was just me telling random ponies the same stupid story over and over again.” Applejack chuckled.

“Sounds lahk a productive evenin’. Shure is a shame if Twah came all the way out here to hold a grudge. She’s queen for heavin’s sake, if she acts that childish then the whole nation’s in poor shape.” She frowned. “Nao that Audacity fella certainly is a looker, ah kinda wondered the same thing ‘bout him bein’ no good. Ya’ll gotta tell me ev’rythin’ ‘bout yer tour, ‘specially if he tries to get with ya’ll.” She continued after a momentary recollection of the activities. “Those sure were some interestin’ games, ah’ll say that, not shure what Pinkie had in mind.” The farmer shrugged. “But all in all, ah’d call the evenin’ a success.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t so bad for a Pinkie Pie party and it was sort of nice having everypony interested in me, even if it was just temporary. I guess I’d call the night a success too.” Rarity agreed. They stood in silence for a few minutes. “Applejack?” Applejack looked over at Rarity. “I’m still improving right?” Rarity asked quietly. Applejack chuckled.

“Course ya’re sweetheart.” The two leaned on the railing for a bit.

Rarity was glad for Applejack, she kept her grounded, even if she did like asking awkward questions. For all of their former spats, Rarity could at least rely on Applejack to give her hope for the future.

After a time, Rarity realized she still had long walk home. Dropping her hooves from the railing, she began to thank Applejack for her hospitality. The screen door creaked open and Apple Fritter peeked her head out like a little mouse.

“Appl’jack, Granny says she wants t’see Rarity.” Applejack dropped her hooves from the railing.

“Nao did she say she wanted to see Rarity, in her words?” She asked carefully. Apple Fritter nodded.

“She said she wanted to see the pony who the party was for.” Rarity looked at Applejack, she was terrified of the notion of even seeing Granny Smith. She hoped that the farmer pony would think the encounter unwise.

“Well alraght, if she’s up for it.” The farmer said in uncertainty. Rarity’s heart fell, she was going to see Granny Smith.

The climb to the upstairs was steep, maybe it seemed steeper because Rarity was deathly afraid of what sat upstairs. She followed Applejack up the worn wooden steps.

“Jus’ talk quietly, no loud enunciation.” The orange pony advised. They came to the top of the stairs, Rarity saw a few cardboard boxes containing medical supplies scattered around the floor. “Thought I tol’ Fritter to git these.” Applejack said in mild annoyance as she shoved them aside.

They neared the door to Granny’s room, Rarity was a bit afraid that mist or some sort of eerie light would be seeping from beneath the applewood door. But the wooden panel looked normal and Applejack smiled a little as she reached it.

“’Member, no loud noises.” She whispered. The door slid open noiselessly, it had to be the only door in the house without a rusty creak. A single dim bulb hung from the ceiling, casting a pale yellow glow over the room. Giant blue boxes made of what looked like plastic flanked a small bed. Each box was bedazzled with an array of shimmering LED lights and small touch screens. There were tubes and wires extending to the bed from each of the devices, Rarity traced the length of the tubes from the box to the bed with growing apprehension.

Rarity hadn’t seen Granny Smith since before the Blast and she couldn’t remember how bad she had been. Her eyes reached the end of the tubes, Rarity inhaled sharply and her heart missed a beat. A skeletal face, bony and masklike peeked forth out of the soft folds of the bedspread. Granny’s eyes had never been visible, but now the empty sockets in her skull yawned like deserted foxholes. Her mane was gone, not even a scraggly hair that older ponies usually cultivate. Her mouth was a gap, a puckered abyss which held not a single tooth. The rest of her body was hidden under the blankets. Rarity gazed in sickly fear at the decrepit pony before her. Granny Smith was dead.

Applejack cleared her throat softly.

“Granny, is’ Applejack an’ Rarity.” She said gently. There was silence, Rarity heard the mechanical whir of the machines and she desperately wanted to flee the disturbing scene before her. Applejack stood patiently waiting a response. There came from the bed a wheeze, it sounded like a horrible pair of bellows being slowly squeezed.

“Where is she?” The rasping voice seemed to come more from Granny’s chest than her mouth. Applejack nudged Rarity forward.

“Rahght here. Bah the bed.” Rarity swallowed and her stomach knotted in fear. There was a pause, the whirring was louder by the bed and the unicorn tried to calm her racing heart.

“Rarity.” The voice sounded nothing like Granny Smith, it was soulless and dead. “You kept Twilight Sparkle safe.” Rarity wasn’t certain if that was a question or a statement.

“Y-yes.” Rarity said, her tongue stucking in her mouth. The skull sat motionless. Then it slowly rotated to face her. Rarity stared into the empty gaps where eyes should have sat.

“SHAME!” Hissed Granny Smith. Rarity spooked and bolted out of the room. Applejack caught her by the stairs.

“Nao hold on!” She said, anchoring the bucking unicorn.

“Fuck no, Applejack.” Rarity’s heart pounded in her chest and she pulled away from her friend. “What the hell was that?” Applejack sighed.

“Look, she gets a little loopy on the meds, ah’m sorry she scared ya.” Rarity looked toward the darkened room.

“God, Applejack, wh-”

“Nao ah know whut yer gonna say, but save it. Granny jus’ gets upset at tahms, there ain’t no reason to it.” Applejack said firmly.

Rarity galloped home that night, the petrifying image of Granny Smith’s fossilized head hovering in her mind. Applejack loved her family, but that was a love gone wrong. Applejack might give good life advice, but Rarity couldn’t help but feel disturbed at the denial of her friend. Anypony who saw Granny Smith knew she should be allowed to die, everypony but Applejack.

The field was peaceful, but her fright made Rarity beware of the quietly rusting grass. She climbed atop one of her crates and fell into a light sleep. She didn’t care if she faced Fluttershy’s cottage.

Chapter 11

Chapter XI

The clock said noon and the Café was bustling with patrons and waiters. Audacity stood by the entrance, he looked around, she wasn’t actually late yet, yet he still searched for her. Rarity watched him from a distance, there was nothing that suggested anything more than a simple stallion looking to gain some knowledge of his new hometown. She watched him glance into the crowd of diners, he looked confused. He hadn’t clearly shown himself to be a snake in her preliminary reconnaissance so she decided to procede with the meeting. With a deep breath, Rarity started toward the beautiful and mysterious Pegasus. He spotted her and walked to meet her.

“Hey there! Thought maybe I was late, or I had the wrong café or something.”

“Nope, you were right! Right time, right place.” She said with a casual toss of her mane.

“Good, so, what did you have in mind?”

“Whatever you feel like, we can just take a walk through town and I can show you stuff.” She said nonchalantly.

“Well, that sounds good. Thanks again for showing me around, I really appreciate it.” She laughed and pushed aside her seductively styled mane.

“Don’t mind at all.” They began the tour, and Rarity immediately went to work uncovering his plan. They walked down Mane Street and she pointed out the basic amenities and such. In a polite, friendly, and entirely inconspicuous manner, their conversation drifted to him.

He told her again that he was a bit of a flight pony, he taught private clients for a living and flew a few races for fun. He in turn asked her about her life and she of course informed him that she was a baker, nothing fancy. That she liked reading, sunsets, and good music. Rarity searched for signs of arousal, yet Audacity seemed to care more about the town than her blatant sexiness. But many snakes show no interest before popping a casual question of dinner and she knew better than to rely on early conclusions. If anything, he knew she was baiting him and would wait until later to spring his trap.

They strolled through the town square.

“You know Rarity.” He turned to her. “I really like this town.” Here it came, the inevitable question of dinner and possibly something to drink. “Thanks so much for showing me around. I get a lot of ponies who get so caught up in my reputation that they don’t even see me as a pony. I’m glad you could just give me a straightforward tour.” She knew the start of his plan was unfolding and Rarity decided to push him into a corner.

“So tell me Audacity, how did you earn your Cutie Mark? The one everypony sees on the first place flyer?” She asked playfully. He grinned and tossed up his hooves.

“C’mon, I thought this was just a tour between friends. No need to bring reputation into this.” She knew she had him cornered.

“No, no, I just wanted to know.” She said, her words oozing with preemptive scorn for the obvious liar and snake. “How did the famous Audacity get his Cutie Mark? What’s his special talent? I want to see that famous Audacity the Pegasus that I’ve heard so much about.”

His shoulders dropped, his smile faded and he sighed heavily. The snake knew he was beaten.

“You got a lighter?” He asked. She shook her head, it was going to be funny seeing him try and weasel his way out of this after boasting so much about his “amazing flight career”. He looked around and dashed into a store, Rarity wondered if he was even going to return. He did, carrying a little bottle of kerosene. She became a little worried about what he was going to do.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to show me.” She uneasily to the possibly pyromaniac. He shook his head.

“You wanted a show, guess I owe you that.” He said unhappily. The Pegasus rocketed into the air suddenly. He curved up and began to speed across the sky. Rarity watched him streak through the air, he was a reddish lightning bolt against the blue backdrop of the sky. Audacity was still trying to act like a bigshot Pegasus, how pathetic. The red pony flew straight and fast, with no indication of even beating his wings. He could fly decently, she had to give him that.

Suddenly the bolt of red exploded into flame and Rarity’s heart jumped. Ponies around her looked up at the burning comet that now thundered through the air. The flying inferno left a trail of bright reddish yellow flame. It dipped suddenly and ponies began to flee in terror, Rarity realized the burning Pegasus was falling toward them. She screamed and started to run as the flaming missile shot toward earth. She had almost reached the safety of a shop door when a blast of heat threw her to the ground. Picking herself from the curb, she looked back in horror. The thick black smoke of kerosene was billowing about the crash. A red hoof stepped from the smoke and a blackened but unscathed Audacity walked toward her. His mane was a little singed, but there was not a scratch on him.

Rarity was aghast, he was real. He wasn’t a snake, he was everything he had implied and probably a lot more. He wore an expression of embarrassment and brushed some soot from his wings.

In a few seconds, ponies realized that they had just witnessed a performance instead of a suicide and began to swarm about the Pegasus. Rarity ran toward him as well, but was beaten back by the eager masses. She caught sight of him, he was grinning to the crowd, but Rarity saw a sadness in his eyes, he didn’t want to show off. Rarity realized she had probably cost him the only privacy he would ever have in Ponyville. He looked up and their eyes met, the sadness left and Rarity thought she saw a shine come to his deep blue eyes. Did he like her? Their view lasted but a moment and he was immediately pulled into the crowd, but the damage had been done. From that day forward, Rarity was in love with Audacity the Pegasus.

The first four rows of the outskirts of the town were the roughest patches; the interior of Ponyville was almost entirely finished. Sugarcube Corner, with its menagerie of peppermint stripes was the only building near the town center still unpainted. The signs were all to scale and properly marked. Rarity surveyed the model with complete amazement; Rainbow Dash had done a superb job. She inspected the accurate coloring of the windmill.

“Wow, that’s, well, that’s really good.” She said frankly. Rainbow Dash blushed.

“I spent a lot of time on it.” She pointed to the windmill. “The colors were hard to match, since I’ve never done anything like that before. I missed your help when you were in Cloudsdale.”

“This is excellent, you actually did about as well as I would have.” Rarity admitted. “Oh! That reminds me, I brought you back something.” She teased. Dash looked to her saddlebag.

“Oooh, what?” She asked eagerly. Rarity giggled.

“You have to guess.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes were bright with anticipation.

“Come on, just show it to me!” She demanded in playful indignation.

“Nope, you have to guess.” Dash thought for a second.

“A cup of rainbow? A book on models? Maybe-” Rarity laughed and produced the grey garment.

“This.” The Pegasus eyes were wide as she took hold of the garment. “I, well, ended up meeting the Wonderbolts, I had them all sign it in your name.” Rarity watched Rainbow Dash, who was staring at the outfit. “I know it isn’t actually the same thing as the uniform, but they don’t give those out.” Rarity explained. “Do, you like it?” Dash turned to her.

“Thank you so much Rarity.” The Pegasus hugged her. “It means a lot to me, thank you so much for thinking of me.” She said gratefully. “I’m really sorry your trip didn’t go well, I wish I could change it.” Dash added softly. Rarity released her.

“Well, I’m feeling a little better, Pinkie had a party for me and Twilight came, she didn’t seem pissed so I guess that’s good.” Dash nodded. “I, well, still feel a little bad about upsetting her, but it seems like most ponies see me as a hero instead of an idiot. I don’t really know where I stand with the whole new me thing.” She admitted. “Part of me listens to you and Applejack and I think I really am making progress. But then I just feel like I don’t ever go anywhere.”

“Well, maybe you need to give it some time? Maybe the next step for you is just around the corner, you just don’t see it yet.” Rainbow Dash said thoughtfully. Rarity considered this.

“Do you think I’m improving?”

“You’re making an effort to be something you think is more mature and you are making progress toward that, you tell me what that is.” The Pegasus pointed out. Rarity nodded.

“That’s right. Sorry for always complaining and acting so dramatic, I promise I’ll get better at that too.” Dash hugged her again.

“Aw, you’re perfect when you’re around me. Don’t be so quick to judge yourself.”

“OH! I forgot to mention! I met somepony!” Rarity said suddenly. Dash pulled away.

“Is he hot?” She asked cautiously. Rarity grinned.

“He redefines hot.” The two mares spent the better part of Sunday afternoon discussing the possible reasons for that smile Rarity thought she had seen on Audacity as he was swarmed by fans. Dash made a good point in that he had asked for her to give him a tour and thus probably had at least some sort of interest in her. That deduction pleased Rarity greatly and she accepted it as fact.

That Sunday afternoon, Rarity forgot all about her old self and the anger she felt toward pretty much everything. She forgot about the recession, the Blast and the glum reality of working five days a week at a bakery. She even forgot about the stupid fuckfest that was Ponyville. That afternoon, Rarity was a happy little unicorn, talking with another mare about a stallion with which she was consumed. That afternoon, Rarity was just Rarity.

Monday came and so did the usual depression. Applecrisp and Rarity worked in silence, Mr. Salukas barked a few short changes to the day’s orders, the day passed normally. The next day passed much like before, and so did the day after that.

It was a Thursday night, Rarity left the bakery at around seven, she needed to pick up some groceries, nothing much, just a few lemons and a packet of tea. She strolled to the small grocery a block or so away, the air was comfortably cool. The sun sent golden rays into the street and a quiet wind tickled her ears. Save for some birds overhead, it was a quiet night, everypony must have been eating dinner. As she made her way down the street, Rarity became distinctly aware of somepony following her. She turned and looked around. The street was empty, save for a few fillies playing on a playground nearby. She shrugged and kept going, yet the feeling that somepony was close behind her persisted and Rarity reached the grocery in a hurried walk.

It was cooler inside the little store and Rarity poked through the stack of oval lemons in search of a ripe fruit. The store keeper, an overweight stallion, sat fanning himself by the register; the shop was empty save for them. Finding a second good lemon, Rarity dropped a packet of green tea into her basket and walked to the checkout.

“Got everything you need?” Asked the stallion. She nodded and looked out the smudged window, there was nopony in the street.

“Here ya go.” The stallion handed her a paper bag. Thanking him, Rarity opened the door and stepped out into the street. She had goosebumps, something had her on edge.

“Excuse me.” Rarity jumped, one of the lemons popped out of the bag and bounced into the street. A black stallion rose from a bench next to the entrance to the grocery.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He said quickly and knelt to recover her fallen citrus. She dropped her groceries and faced him.

“Who the hell are you? Were you following me?” She demanded in fright. The stallion held out the lemon, his mane was formally groomed and slicked and his coat was equally pristine. He looked terribly embarrassed.

“Yes, I’m sorry, I, well, I was trying to figure out if you were Rarity the fashion consultant.” He said apologetically. He produced up a photo of her, in which she sported her signature mane. It had evidently been taken before the Blast.

“I, thought it was you, but I wasn’t sure.” He swallowed. “I’m terribly sorry, I should explain. My name is Posh, I run the Straw Purchase with my father, you came into my restaurant a while back. I would have chosen a better means of communication, but I’ve had some trouble finding you.” He held out a business card. “Fact is, I only really knew about you from that recent article about you in the paper.” She continued to eye him with misgiving.

“What do you want?”

“I, well, I wanted to know if you could do some consulting for us. You see, we aren’t entirely certain of the historical accuracy of our décor and we wanted to hire you to help us with the accuracy and general layout of the establishment.” He asked tenuously.

“You decided on a fashion consultant for historical consulting?” She asked suspiciously.

Posh cleared his throat.

“Well, your reputation preceded you; a few of my friends are restaurant owners who you consulted for a few years ago. I realize it seems rather random, and I know you have never actually done historical oriented consulting per say-”

“And you know I don’t do ANY consulting anymore on account of Ponyville boycotting my business and ruining my career.” She finished. He swallowed.

“I was aware of that-”

“So why not a more qualified pony who is still in business?” Rarity demanded.

He sighed.

“Because there isn’t a single pony in a hundred miles with those credentials. We may have just opened a few months back, but we know of Rarity.” He hesitated. “We realize that a lot happened here in Ponyville before our arrival. And please don’t take my forwardness as a sort of jest, but we need Rarity. Career-less or not, the Rarity we’ve been told about could help us.” He saw her mistrust. “Look, we’re not rich, the recession has slowed an already slow stream of customers who want a niche dining experience. My father and I run the business as a testament to the past, we want to make it real. When you came into the Straw Purchase a while ago, I saw that you knew about the 40s, that you knew history. Then I made the connection that you were Rarity, the famed fashion designer who had occasionally done interior work. I don’t know any ponies that are more qualified than you are. Please, we can pay whatever your regular rate was, please let us hire you as a décor slash layout consultant. Your title can be whatever you want, we just want that Rarity touch.” Posh finished awkwardly.

They stood in the street for a couple seconds and Rarity sized up the small, well groomed restaurateur. He had followed her down the street in the hopes of employing her in a field mostly unrelated to her dead career. He wanted to hire Rarity, because of her reputation and not her current position. A smile slid across her face.

“I can never refuse businesspony who strives for excellence.”

“Wonderful! Thank you so much! You don’t know what it means to us that you would accept this job!” He said gladly.

Rarity went home and dumped her lemons and tea atop a crate. She stood for a moment, then squeed with joy. She was doing decorating!

Their first meeting was Monday, they were to meet at the Straw Purchase and draw up a contract. Throughout the bakery workday, Rarity repeatedly started to muse about her new work.

“I don’t suppose they will want me to make new outfits for their waiters.” She said to Applecrisp. “No, that seems a bit far, although, they ARE focused on accuracy. I hope I can remember everything I studied, of course I will, I hope. Do you think it will come back to me?” Applecrisp was carefully folding a pie crust.

“Don’t know, could be either ah suppose.” She said unenthusiastically. Rarity was so excited she nearly forgot to add sugar to the cherry filling.

“Oh! And I met this stallion, his name is Audacity, he’s gorgeous. I don’t know if he likes me, but I’m certainly going to try and see him more.” She babbled on about Audacity and the Straw Purchase. A sort of giddy joy had descended on Rarity and she couldn’t contain herself. Applecrisp nodded and grunted in response. Finally, the clock said six and the order sheet was finished. Rarity tossed her apron behind the counter.

“See you tomorrow Mr. Salukas!” She called to the stallion, who was washing some dishes. He looked up.

“You sound excited, anything special?” He asked congenially. She laughed.

“I got a consulting job!” She replied happily as she exited. Sonny smiled and watched her depart. With a shake of his head, the workhorse returned to his work.

The Straw Purchase was closed for the day and Rarity followed Posh through the darkened building to the office. This to be a formal and very businesslike meeting. Rarity could hardly contain her happiness.

“We’ll set up some preliminary contract, but a lot of your work will dictate how we work things, a day by day basis if you will.” He explained as they passed along the bar. They entered the little office, an old grey stallion was sitting behind the desk waiting for them. Rarity realized he was the same stallion that she had flirted with during her first visit. She felt a spike of embarrassment as he recognized her.

“Why hello miss Rarity! Good to see you again! My name is Pish by the way.” He said warmly. Posh and Rarity seated themselves. “I want to thank you for affording us this time.”

“No problem, sir, I hear you have a position for me?” She replied formally. He nodded.

“Indeed, I am not sure what my son has told you, but I’ll give you the facts.” He laid his front hooves on the desk. “This business means a great deal to my son and I. When you came in a while back, I could tell that you were a pony that knew something about history.” He chuckled and Rarity realized he was talking about their bizarre role-play. “Much more than the average Ponyville citizen.” Rarity liked her employer already. “The fact is, we need somepony to make this place into something that even the burliest fisherpony would eagerly eat from.” He pushed a few papers toward her. “Also there is the matter of historical accuracy, specifically, our need for an attractive yet period correct motif. In short, we need you to make the Straw Purchase attractive to younger and even irrelevant audiences, and still remain true to history. I realize you have been inactive in any sort of consulting for some time, but is this something you could pull off?” Rarity grinned.

“I can make this place happen.” She answered confidently. Pish smiled.

“Excellent! Now, the matter of your payment and hours, is there any sort of schedule you must adhere to?”

“I have prior engagements from nine to six each day. On certain weekends, especially near festive holidays, I may not be available. Pay will be arranged on a task by task basis, creating a historical design that is both appealing and correct will take some time. Plus the actual remodeling expenses, I will charge a separate fee for each specific area of the building I work on. These fees will be made known to you as they come, you may refuse any and all services I provide.” She stated calmly. Pish whistled, he looked to his son.

“She’s a true professional.” He looked to Rarity. “I can admire that.” Rarity blushed a little.

“Absolutely.” She replied.

“Allow me to show you the general trouble spots that we want you to focus on.” Posh said rising from his chair.

“Yes, it’s only fair if we let you get a view of what you’re getting into.” Pish agreed humorously. They exited the office, the darkened room was impossible to view until Posh flipped a switch, illuminating the broad room.

“Essentially, anything we’ve placed a sticky note on is something we’d like re-done.” Rarity surveyed the room. Tables, chairs, the bar, a few decorative plants and a piano, all were covered in yellow sticky notes. It was going to be a massive project. Posh noticed her reservation at the magnitude of the task.

“We, realize that this is of course unorthodox. Is the size of the project going to be a problem?” He asked anxiously. Rarity shook her head.

“Only on your wallet.” She replied breezily.

That night, Rarity sat atop her crate, a flashlight clutched in her mouth illuminated her papers. How was she going to do this? A knot formed in her stomach, it had been nearly a year since she had even taken a job for restaurant layout.

The chairs were probably the first issue, they needed to match the flow of the room and also remain accurate to 40s Equestria. She remembered a few dealers in such furniture, all were acquaintances gained from years of business, would they still sell to her now that she was technically out of business? Most of the tables matched, but they would need refinishing, and a few were still incorrectly dated. The woodshop in Ponyville she typically deferred to had closed a few months into the recession, her best option was Cloudsdale, but that would hike the price quite a bit, and her clients were on a budget. She’d have to check if Appleoosa had any reputable woodshops. And then there was the matter of the lighting, she’d have to decide if they were going subdued or more traditional, it would be an ambiguous decision that had large ramifications.

The unicorn dropped her flashlight. It rolled off the crate and into the grass. A smile had broken across Rarity’s face. She made no effort to conceal it and simply sat gazing across the fields of grass. She was up to her neck in demands and conditions for an impossible request by a low budget employer who wanted nothing less than beautiful perfection. She was right back where she had been before the Blast.

First things first, the baking of bread took precedence over everything else. Rarity was going to work her days at the Lone Star and spend her nights at the Straw Purchase.

The rain poured down in torrents, and Rarity was glad for the warmth of the bakery. She and Applecrisp were passively working on their typical orders when Sonny entered the oven room. Rarity saw that he was carrying the small ceramic urn, her stomach became queasy from the mere sight of the sourdough container.

“Here, there are no customers in this downpour, I would like you to make ten loaves.” Sonny gave them their assignment like any other. He never formally acknowledged that there was any difference between sourdough and any other type of bread. He flicked his head toward the door.

“If you open that make certain one of you is inside at all times.” It was a rare reprieve, even Sonny Salukas became a little nicer when sourdough came around. “I am going to check on dam with some others, if you hear the door, answer it, but there won’t be anypony in this weather.” He left them alone with the toxic yeast. Rarity knew that this would be a horrible experience despite everypony’s best efforts. She picked up the urn and tested the weight. Unfortunately they had not run out of the powdery poison.

Sourdough bread was popular in Ponyville, it had that delightful sour twang that caught the palate and as a bonus it was foreign and thus, very novel. Unfortunately, as Rarity and Applecrisp had learned, sourdough bread gained its unique sourness from a strain of very unpleasant yeast. The concentrated culture which they measured out had the curious quality of absolutely nauseating anypony exposed to it. It was a harmless sickness and only the raw yeast caused the malady, leaving bakes loaves entirely and deliciously inert. Sourdough bread was a treat to consume, and a pain the ass to produce.

Applecrisp shoved a metal bowl filled with flour to Rarity.

“Git it started, ah’ll start on the ovens.” Like plunging into an ice cold river, the opening of the urn was something Rarity had to quickly force herself to do. She hurriedly scooped the clumped cyan powder into the bowl and began mixing the dough quickly. Her stomach tightened and she knew the bacteria were already affecting her. She feverishly cracked an egg into the mix, she just had to keep moving. Applecrisp dropped a pan beside her.

“How we doin’?” Rarity nodded, less talk meant less nausea.

In a few minutes, they were carefully shaping the dough onto the pan. Rarity was biting her lip and fighting the rising dyspepsia as they slapped the wet dough into the pan. Applecrisp frowned, the rare indication of emotion told Rarity that the tough blue mare was feeling the yeast. They finished three loaves and Rarity forcefully shoved the tray into the oven. Her stomach gurgled and she gripped the warm stone tightly. It took Rarity a moment to recover herself and Applecrisp started on a new batch of dough. Rarity returned to preparing the horrendous mixture, they had a long way to go and the warm kitchen seemed to exacerbate the potency of the yeast.

As she shoved the next batch of bread into the oven, Rarity again felt the sickly wash of nausea grip her. A warm pool of saliva filled her mouth. Turning quickly, Rarity kicked the door down and knelt in the raining alleyway. She felt the sickness rushing up inside her, in a second she dry heaved, and then again. She vomited into the alleyway, the noisy patter of the raindrops hiding her retching. Her stomach tight and her vision reeling, the unicorn gasped for breath amidst the tumultuous rain. Applecrisp was suddenly beside her, head to the ground as well, choking on vomit. For a time, both simply coughed and gasped as they regurgitated onto the wet cobblestone. Eventually, Rarity’s stomach quieted and she stood shakily. Applecrisp pulled herself up as well. The soaking ponies took a moment to steady themselves.

“Goddamn, that’s fuckin’ poison.” Rarity said breathlessly. Applecrisp wiped some vomit from her mouth and nodded in agreement.

They got back to work, both shaking and weak. At least the sickness gave them a temporary reprieve from the tortuous nausea and the bakers fought to capitalize on their short-term immunity.

They had finished the tenth loaf when Rarity coughed from the dust in the air and became violently ill. She sprinted for the door, apparently Applecrisp had reached the same point of nausea, because the two caught in the small doorway. Rarity’s hoof hooked on the door and she tumbled down the steps. The world spun and she thought she felt herself vomiting again. She slapped on her side into a wet puddle. The fall knocked the wind from her and the unicorn simply lay in the rain, recovering her senses. She was looking up at the grey rainy sky, her mouth tasted rancid and sour. After a few seconds of dizzy sickness, Rarity picked herself up. She saw Applecrisp at the foot of the steps. The earth pony had fallen face first into the patch of vomit. She was rising to her hooves and wiping the slick, sticky liquid from her mane. An ugly red scrape, apparently from the fall, had risen on her blue face.

“Hey, you ok?” Rarity asked, wiping some vomit from her mouth.

“Ah’m fahn.” Applecrisp said quietly, her voice wavered with bridled rage as she wiped some regurgitation from her forehead. “Let’s just finish them damn loaves.”

Rarity’s stomach gurgled and growled and she fought the returning stomachache. Yet she knew Applecrisp fared worse. The earth pony didn’t show it, but she was siliently fuming with their agonizing work. They just needed to finish the last few loaves, then they could go home.

Rarity was checking the older breads for doneness and Applecrisp was kneading the last loaf of the accursed sourdough, when through the peaceful roar of the rain, they heard the tinkle of the front door. Who the hell was out on a day like today? Applecrisp slapped the mushy white blob angrily and walked out to assist the customer. Rarity followed her to see who their customer was. A soaked and cold looking Apple Fritter was standing just inside the door.

“Can ah help you?” Applecrisp asked impatiently. Apple Fritter obviously didn’t like being the center of attention. She swallowed and trembled for a second as water ran down her shivering legs.

“Beg pardon miss, but ah was just out and got caught in the downpour. Is it ok if ah stay here for a bit?” She asked timidly.

“Shure, fahn.” Applecrisp replied. She started back for the kitchen. She had almost reached the door when Apple Fritter began again.

“Beg pardon miss.” Applecrisp halted in front of the door. Rarity heard her suck in her breath through clenched teeth.

“Whut do ya’ll need nao?” Asked the elder Apple in irritation. Apple Fritter paused.

“Well, nuthin’ ah reckon, but well, y’don’t happen to be Applecrisp do ya?” Applecrisp turned.

“What if ah am?” Apple Fritter looked at her hooves.

“Well, ah figure us to be cousins then, mah name’s Apple Fritter, up for the summer from Appleoosa.”

“How y’know who ah was?” Asked Applecrisp, suddenly wary of the young pony.

“Well, Applejack tole me there was another Apple pony in Ponyville, an’ your voice sounded about raght t’be an Apple.” Applecrisp walked toward the dripping filly.

“Whut she say ‘bout me?” She asked suspiciously. Apple Fritter saw the rising hate in Applecrisp and cowered.

“N-nuthin, she, she.” Apple Fritter stammered. “She don’t say nothing’ bout ya’ll mostly.” The blue mare halted a foot from Apple Fritter. Her voice was low and held that same black quality that Rarity had heard when she had spoken to Ana.

“Ah know whut she tells ya. Just ‘member this lil’ filly, that mare don’t got any more heart than Nightmare Moon; she’s a cold hearted whore whose grave ain’t fit for a swamp.” An eerie deadness came over Applecrisp. “Y’tell her ah’d love to see them apple trees burn, and her with ‘em.” A chill settled on Rarity, she had never seen Applecrisp like this. Apple Fritter was trembling with fright at the sight of the incensed baker that towered over her.

“Ah’m callin’ in sick t’day. Y’kin keep mah pay Rarity.” Applecrisp said, not looking back to her co-worker.

Without another word, the swamp pony kicked the door open and vanished into the grey downpour outside. Both filly and unicorn stood for a few moments. The rain had picked up and Rarity heard the howl of the winds whipping down the empty street. Applecrisp didn’t return.

Eventually, Rarity invited the scared little pony over to the fire to dry herself. Rarity finished the sourdough and placed the finished loaves in the display. She then sat with Apple Fritter for a few hours as the rain blasted the building. It took some coercion, but Apple Fritter eventually began to relax and tell Rarity about herself.

Rarity stopped listening immediately and thought of Applecrisp. It was unsettling seeing her talk so viciously when she rarely talked at all. She had just walked out into the storm as if she didn’t even know it was there. Rarity had never see a pony like brooding Applecrisp. What was her problem with Applejack? Rarity considered asking one of them, probably AJ since she seemed less intimidating. Rarity looked out the window at the storm outside; there was something between those two that held a lot of hate, but what?

The rains slacked off at around seven and Rarity knew she had to walk Apple Fritter home. Leaving a note for Sonny, Rarity accompanied the little filly back to the farm. It was around eight or so when she finally got back to her crates. They had sunk into the muddy field and Rarity feared that water had seeped into containers. There was no way of checking since the openings were halfway buried in the mud. She helplessly climbed atop one of the boxes and went to bed.

Applecrisp was sick the next day. Mr. Salukas didn’t mind since she had given notice the day before and there weren’t many customers anyway.

Thankfully, the storm hadn’t broken the dam. However quite a few businesses and homes had been damaged by the winds and rains. After work, Rarity saw many ponies trotting to and fro carrying various repair materials and tools. She felt a little sorry for the ponies whose homes had been seriously damaged in the storm, fall was coming and so was the cold. Yet there was no serious pity in the heart of the white unicorn; Ponyville hadn’t cared about her in her time of need. Actually, Ponyville had instigated her time of need.

Posh pointed to a few buckets sitting around the dining area.

“A few leaks, but the structure held fine. My dad is up checking the rafters for cracks.” He chuckled. “Surprisingly limber for such an old guy, don’t tell him I said that though.” Rarity laughed. Posh was a pleasant employer, a far cry from most of her fashion contracts. “So, what do you have in mind for today?” Asked the waiter. Rarity pointed to the tables.

“Going to check their dates, then count the ones that are more than a decade off, I’m going to see if I can dig up some more from some dealers I know.” Posh nodded.

“Impressive, already liking your plan. Well, looks like you’ve hit the ground galloping, so I’ll get out of your mane. Holler to me in the back if you need something.” He returned to his office, leaving her alone in the dining room.

It was finally time to start. She looked about her, the spacious room was quiet and motionless, her various tasks sat waiting for her. It was strange as hell to be doing something other than baking bread or some other grunt work. She wasn’t used to thinking, she had just gone on autopilot for the past few months. Rarity began checking the inscription on each table. She worked stiffly; it felt like years since she had actually done any kind of remotely academic work. It took her a few minutes to check all of the tables, the copper inscriptions were smudged and hard to read. Finally she had dated each of the ten tables.

Fuck, she had forgotten to write them down. Searching in vain for a piece of paper, Rarity berated herself for not coming prepared. This was a professional job. Now she would look so unprofessional asking for basic tools. She nervously poked her head into the office. Posh was aligning a bucket with a drip from the ceiling.

“Hey, um, I need a pen and paper.” She asked in embarrassment.

“Legal pad on the top, pen’s in the first drawer on the right.” He didn’t look up from the bucket. Rarity took a slick black pen and the pad of yellow paper and slipped out as quietly as she could. She got the dates down, only three out of the ten tables were out of date. She paused, what now? She couldn’t call her dealer, the numbers were back in her crate. Shit, should she have brought those? Posh appeared in the door of the office.

“How’s it going?”

“Good! Just transcribing the menu!” She replied hurriedly. He smiled.

“I’ve got the whole thing printed up back here if you want. Are you thinking we need a new format for the menu? I was a little worried ponies wouldn’t get the idea of the boards.” Rarity hadn’t been thinking of reformatting the board.

“Um, no, just thinking we need to change the font of the lettering.” The font was fine and she struggled to find a plausible reason for the change. “It, should, be something a little less pop and more in line with the flow of the counter as a whole.” Posh looked up at the board, he studied the words for a few seconds and his brow knit together.

“I…had never actually thought of that. That is a great point.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Man, I can’t believe how much you see. Definitely glad we hired you.” He returned to his office. Rarity looked up at the long wooden board, her thoughtless excuse had just made her commit to re-painting the entire menu in a new font (one that didn’t have so much pop, whatever that meant). But extra work was better than looking unprofessional. She would NOT lose her contract because of unprofessional conduct. She was going to show Pish and Posh that she could conduct her work properly.

She decided on the chairs next, those would take some time. She had successfully flipped each chair in the room to determine their manufacturer when both Pish and Posh entered the room from the kitchen.

“Well then!” Said Pish, observing the upturned chairs.

“Oh! Goodness, I’m terribly sorry, I should have righted these as I went. Let me get to that.” Rarity apologized, hurrying to reset the chairs. Posh laughed warmly.

“It’s your workspace! Do what you like with it.” He assured her.

“Oh, thank you. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure I’ll get them back before I leave.” Posh shrugged.

“Why?”

“Well I can’t let the ponies opening up tomorrow do that! It’s my mess.”

Pish laughed.

“We aren’t opening tomorrow.” Posh nodded in agreement.

“You’re working, we wouldn’t dare open and make you work around that. That’s why we came out to check on you. I realize this is sort of early on and you might not have it all hashed out. But what sort of ETA do you have for us getting back up and running?” Rarity realized just how much they thought of her. They had closed their restaurant indefinitely for her. Just how much of her reputation did they believe?

“Well.” She looked around, never in her life had she even attempted a job like this and thus the prospect of giving an ETA was alien to her. “Twooooo” The words twisted out of her mouth. “W-m-three weeks?” She offered uneasily. Pish and Posh looked at one another.

“That.” Posh turned to her, the estimate clearly surprised him. “Is very generous. That’s what, the twenty first? That’s awfully soon. I don’t want you to feel rushed, honestly, you can take more time than that.” She shook her head.

“Haha, not at all, I understand the importance of getting back on your hooves after restructuring.” She said knowingly. Pish grinned.

“I like you, you are definitely somepony I want in my address book.” Rarity smiled back anxiously. “At any rate, in honor of your first day as a contractor, we wanted to give you a meal on the house. What can I make for you?” He asked kindly.

“Er, well, that vegemite hay was very good.” She answered, in her nervousness she didn’t even think to politely refuse this generosity. Pish flicked his head.

“Coming right up!” They went to prepare her meal, leaving her surrounded by the overwhelming workload.

Rarity fell to the chair, overcome by the situation. She had given them an apparently “fast” estimate for a project she had never attempted. They were preparing a meal for her as a sign of their pure indebtedness that Rarity the unicorn would actually work for them. She felt a lump in her throat, in two days they had come to believe in her more than she herself did. They believed that even after losing everything, she was still capable. Rarity the unicorn was going to make the Straw Purchase the best fucking restaurant in Ponyville in twenty one days, or she was going to kill herself on the twenty second.

Chapter 12

Chapter XII

Her first few days were awful. Rarity spent most of her time gathering her list of to-dos. In order, she had to: Refinish five tables, and purchase three similar ones, find a new chair set (the current set did not match the tables), repaint the whole board in the font of Comic Sans (she dreaded this), find suppressed secant boat-tailed lights with a candela rating of less than five thousand, replace the chandeliers with something less garish, and lastly, take up the carpet.

Pish and Posh didn’t help either. For her entire career, Rarity had only known two kinds of employers, those who demanded perfection out of cramped deadlines and those who actually tried to force her to fail. In both cases, Rarity found that her greatest strength came from the unfriendly demands placed on her, from heat of the pressure. If she failed, she didn’t even feel bad since she hated most of her employers anyway. But the two stallions of the Straw Purchase were worse than even the cocky bastard Hoity-Toity; they were kind, accommodating, and worst of all, forgiving. They were at her disposal, and never made so much as a rude comment about her progress.

Rarity could only work at night and she was usually tired from her day at the Lone Star, Posh noticed this and started making her tea and coffee to help her stay focused. Never had she seen such kindness from a stallion that wasn’t trying to bed her or gain a discount on her clothing. It was bizarre. They were accepting of her and had complete trust in her ability. She had never known bosses like Pish and Posh.

It was Monday, and Rarity tried to pry her crates open. But no amount of force was going open the sunken doors. It was soon time to go to work and Rarity still hadn’t thought of a way to get at her address book. As she neared the Lone Star, she saw that it was unusually busy, a small line of ponies extended out the door. As she pushed her way inside, she saw Mr. Salukas busily serving customers.

“Rarity, get into the oven room and help Applecrisp, priority is sweets.” He called to her. Great, now there was no chance of getting any planning done. Applecrisp was bustling to and fro, mixing various doughs and batters.

“Hey, need ya’ll on cinnamon rolls.” Was all Applecrisp said. It was probably the busiest the Lone Star had ever been and it was of course the one time that Rarity needed some quiet to think. The desire for sweets was apparently infectious, because the crowd didn’t slack off even around lunch. Caramel pretzels, sweet buns, even raisin Bobka emptied from the shelves. Rarity and Applecrisp churned out scores of any and all breadstuffs with a remotely sweet taste. Rarity grew sweaty and tired, the accumulated sugar caked her body and she continually brushed the crusty substance off of herself. Applecrisp and she had actually managed to deplete the sugar reserves to just a few small bags. Finally, Mr. Salukas closed the shop. He greeted the two as they exited the oven room.

“Well.” He said in astonishment. “I guess we have become popular.” The front end was a mess of hoofprints and scuffs from the crowd.

“Yeah, no kiddin’.” Applecrisp replied in irritation.

“Haha, well, it is past quitting time.” Sonny said. Rarity looked up at the clock. Shit, it was 8:12, she should have been at the Straw Purchase an hour ago. “But if either of you would like to stay and help replenish the inventory, I will pay you overtime.” He offered.

“Sorry, I have to be somewhere.” Rarity called as she bolted out the door.

Fuck, just fuck, she was late and she couldn’t be, not on the deadline she was facing. Rarity raced down the street. The sun was setting behind her, which made her more aware of the lateness of the hour. Why couldn’t Sonny close at the right time? Well, actually, it wasn’t his fault, it would have been unreasonable to up and close at normal time, that wouldn’t have been a good business move. Really, it was Ponyville that deserved the blame, why the hell had everypony suddenly decided to swarm the Lone Star?

Rarity reached the Straw Purchase, it was closed. She peeked inside, the lights were off, Pish and Posh must have gone home. She struck the glass angrily. It wasn’t fair, she couldn’t afford to miss a day of work. She was already behind, why did they have to be closed? She walked back down the street, fucking Ponyville was still screwing her over. It was like the stupid town was out to get her. She went home, cut herself in a nail trying to open her crates and fell into an enraged sleep.

Tomorrow was a little less shitty. The crowds had died down some and they were able to close on time. Grabbing her bag, Rarity dashed over to the Lone Star.

Tonight she was going to scrape a third of the dishes off of the menu, jot down the serial numbers of the tables, then start on reorganizing the menu. She dropped her saddlebags by the door, it was around seven and the sun was setting. Pish was on a ladder, sealing a crack on the ceiling. She greeted him.

“Getting the ceiling finished?” He nodded and pointed to the caulking.

“We were blessed to only get a few cracks and torn shingles, a lot of other businesses got hit pretty badly.” He said sadly.

She started on the wooden boards, the paint was thick and she struggled to scrape the white lettering away. After a period of silence, Pish started a conversation.

“So Rarity, what are you up to most days?” He asked casually.

“Well, I work, for most of the day, then I come here.” She answered, scraping at a stubborn “A”. Pish chuckled.

“Ok, I’ll make that a better question, how about where do you work?” What should she say? No way would she lie to them, but how could she tell them she spent her days at a job usually done by uneducated stallions?

“I, work, down at the Lone Star, by the town square.” She said with reservation.

“What do you do?” He climbed down from the ladder and shifted it to another crack.

“Well, I, bake bread, also I help with some administration (she sometimes counted money), and work the front end as a manager.” Pish nodded and climbed up the ladder, Rarity desperately hoped he wouldn’t ask any more questions. He was quiet for a bit and they went back to listening to the scrape of her chisel.

“Do you like it?” He asked.

“Yes, it’s rewarding, and I get quite a bit of mental stimulation.” She answered quickly. Pish nodded as he inspected a fissure in the drywall.

“I’m very glad to hear that, it’s good to hear you’re still doing something you like.” Rarity turned back to her work.

“Yeah, a lot of ponies have trouble with that.” She muttered.

She went home that night with a cough from the paint. Her hooves were sore from steadying herself on the counter and her eyes hurt from staring at the words for so long. The paint had gotten into her cut and it throbbed with every movement. She still needed to get those furniture contacts. As she neared her camp, she remembered that the chair catalogues were in the crate with the address book. With a sigh, she dumped her bags down beside the wooden boxes and popped up onto her bed. Tomorrow would be better.

It wasn’t. She removed the bulbs from the light fixtures, the lighting store in town thankfully had bulbs that would work. She had finished the next third of the menu when Posh stepped out of his office to survey her progress.

“So, are you planning on getting to the chandeliers last?” He asked. Rarity had forgotten entirely about the chandeliers. Discouragement washed over her as she looked up at the two giant glass willows above them.

“You know, it might be a good idea to do those before you do the carpet. That way if either breaks and gets into the carpet, you won’t have to worry since it’s getting replaced.” Rarity nearly collapsed upon hearing of the carpet, which had been left out of her plan entirely. “Gosh, I better stop disturbing you. Sorry ‘bout that, looks good at any rate.”

“Yeah.” She answered quietly. “I’ll figure something out.” She stood alone in the dining room. The chandeliers weighed probably a hundred pounds each, there sat before her 1600 square feet of carpet needing to be pulled up and then replaced. She fell to a chair, the impossibility of the task setting in.

Rarity found some tables that would work in the worn furniture catalogue she had thankfully borrowed from the mayoral library. As long as these tables were in stock, she would not even need those contacts, which would be good since she still hadn’t found a way inside her sealed crates.

It was about nine, the room had become extremely dark, on account of her removing the lights. She studied the menu layout by the light of the moon, which had placed a patch of grey light where she sat. She heard the kitchen door open.

“Whoa.” Said Pish as he surveyed the darkness. “Rarity? Are you still around?”

“Yes, just, um, heh, took out the lights and I guess I forgot how dark it would get.” He chuckled.

“Let me get you a flashlight.” He brought her a tiny LED keychain light. “Sorry about not having anything larger. I should have asked you when you were going to take out the lights, I woulda come prepared. Do you have like some industrial floodlights that you typically use?” Rarity had never used an industrial light in her life.

“Y-yes, I should have remembered to bring those.” The office door opened.

“Hey dad, do you-” Posh began. There came a metallic thunk. “Ouch!” Cried the well styled waiter. Rarity shined the flashlight back to the office, the black stallion had tripped over one of the upturned chairs.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” Rarity rushed over to him. “I’m so sorry!” Posh picked himself up.

“It’s ok.” He said graciously. “But, well, if I could ask you to move these out of here sooner than later, I’d really appreciate it. Or at least get some lights, what’s your plan for those?”

“On it tomorrow!” She had no plan whatsoever. “I’ll get them installed and we’ll have light tomorrow night.” He rubbed at a bruise.

“Great great! I’m glad to see you’re on this. Say, I don’t know if dad told you, but we’re going with new paint, from the 16th on we’ll have some guys in here on working on the walls. Would it be possible for you to get the carpet and if possible the chandeliers, done before that?” Rarity just said yes, that was all she could say.

“Great great! You know, I think we should call it a night.” Posh said, looking around at the darkened diner. “Let’s come back tomorrow when it’s lighter.”

She was on the edge of tears, she had no plan whatsoever, her job was impossible, and she was missing another night of work. She studied the catalogues for chairs as she walked home, there were some that might work, they 40’s-esque at least. She struggled against the hopelessness creeping up on her. She was Rarity, this was her element, she could do this. Eight months after the Blast and she could still finish a job.

It wasn’t until she reached her camp that she saw that her copy of the catalogue was four years out of date. She threw the worn magazine into the mud, ground it in with her hoof and cried herself to sleep.

Work at the Straw Purchase was a fight. There was too much work and not enough time. Rarity discovered she could effectively double her work hours if she came in early to the Straw Purchase. For the next week, she arose at five and worked until eight, then returned eight hours later. With more time, she began to make progress. The lights had actually fit, Rarity expected them to be too large, or maybe to explode out of spite upon installation. But the curved glass bulbs fit perfectly into the fixtures and the warm light splashed perfectly across the room.

The designer surveyed the room, with the soft cream glow of the new lights, the room had the beginnings of a good 40s setup. The tables and chairs were stacked neatly in a corner, with only a bar to the side, the room was perfectly bare. She had procured a few swatches of carpet from the Carpet Bagger, Ponyville’s finest and only carpet store. She compared each to the current pattern. Her memory of proper carpeting was foggy at best, thread count was unimportant if she remembered right, but what did Berber mean? Posh tapped her shoulder.

“Coffee is here on the counter.” He related to her. She nodded and continued to peruse her options. “Say, these lights look good, really like the atmosphere they give. Are you going to go with those for the chandeliers?” Rarity still didn’t have a plan for those.

“Yeah, I’m going to review what we can do with those tonight.” She replied, comparing two off grey samples.

“You know, I’m really impressed with how you’re handling this whole project, I was a little afraid it was going to be too much, but you really got going fast.” Posh said appreciatively. Rarity couldn’t help but smile a little at this, maybe the insurmountable task was doable after all.

It took her all morning to decide on a carpet and she double checked at the Carpet Bagger to make sure 1600 feet of it was in stock. She exited the shop and walked down Mane Street toward the Lone Star.

She yawned, the lack of sleep was getting to her and she hoped there wouldn’t be another big line for sweets today. It had been an entire week of on and off frenzies for sweets and she had no idea why. She approached the Lone Star, Sonny and Applecrisp, along with Ana, were standing outside of the red brick building. They caught sight of her and wordlessly watched her approach. She started to run a little, what were they all doing?

“Rarity, come along, we need you to carry the nails.” Sonny called cryptically to Rarity.

“Um, where are we going?” She asked.

“To Sugarcube Corner.”

Fuck.

They walked down the street toward the accursed little bakeshop. It all made sense, the storm had damaged the cliché little confectionary and all of the sweet toothed ponies had gone to the Lone Star for their sugar fixes.

They neared Sugarcube Corner. Spending a workday of hard labor with Pinkie Pie was a lot worse than banging out doughnuts and pastries for a lot of impatient ponies and Rarity wished she could be back in the humid oven room with silent and bitter Applecrisp. A crowd of ponies were already swarming around the eyesore of a candy shop. Sonny led them toward Mr. Cake, who was attempting to direct the benevolent citizens milling outside his damaged store.

“Mr. Cake, I run the Lone Star. I am sorry I did not associate our newfound popularity with any kind of misfortune on your part!” Mr. Salukas laughed as he strode up to the stressed little stallion. Mr. Cake looked up and beheld the muscular horse. His eyes widened and he took a few steps back, Rarity smirked a little, her boss could beat up Pinkie’s boss.

“Oh geez, no problem! I’m just glad somepony could get them served!” He saw the rest of the Lone Star staff. “Oh geez, you brought the whole crew! Thanks a million Mr…?”

“Salukas, call me Sonny if you prefer.”

“Sunny, there’s an offbeat name, did you get that from-.” Mr. Cake realized he was on a tangent. “Oh geez, what am I doing? Well Sunny, if you could, I need some stallions to help with the front end. Most of the damage happened when the main support beam collapsed. We’ve gotten most of the debris cleared, but we’ve still got a few more days before we have the windows up.” Sonny grinned.

“We’ll see if we can’t speed that up.” Mr. Cake grinned back, though Rarity could tell he was still a little scared of the massive workhorse. The confectioner turned to Ana.

“Well, um, Mrs. Salukas, if you are indeed Mrs. Salukas. If not I’m truly sorry-”

“Da, I am.” She said coldly. Rarity saw that Ana did not like helping the Cakes either. Maybe Ana wasn’t so bad after all.

“Hehe, well, um the Mrs. and the other mares are working on sorting out the wood that’s been donated.” He trailed off, obviously intimidated by her stone-faced silence. “But…it’s…up…to you where you would want to go…” She walked past him.

“I will sort wood.” She stated emotionlessly. He laughed nervously as she passed him.

“Haha great, thanks so much.” He turned to Rarity and Applecrisp. “Well girls, Pinkie Pie is up in her room, why don’t you give her a hoof with cleaning up? I’m sure she’d love to see you two!” He offered.

“Ah’ll go with Sonny.” Applecrisp stated coldly.

“H-, ok, that’s ok.” Mr. Cake looked to the unicorn. “Rarity, do you know where Pinkie’s room is?” She forced a smile.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Haha great! Well, if you two want to follow me.” He gestured for “Sunny” and Applecrisp to follow him inside toward where the thick wooden support beam had crashed through the front window and wall. Rarity looked over to the stairs, why the fuck did they have to come here? She started up the steps, she was pissed with Sonny, the Cakes were his competitors, he should have been happy that they were out of the action for a bit. He shouldn’t have brought his entire workforce to aid the enemy.

As she climbed the cherry red stairs, Rarity realized that Pinkie’s loft would have been directly in the path of the falling beam. Given the size of the beam, it had probably annihilated the pink mare’s bedroom. She felt a little sorry for party pony. Yet her pity vanished as she heard Pinkie’s helium voice wafting through the door.

“No! You can’t use the hammer, just.” Pinkie sighed. “Put Gummy over in his bucket.” Rarity chuckled, it sounded like Derpy was the only pony who wanted to help Pinkie Pie clean her room up. Rarity pushed the door open. Pinkie and her yellow clone were standing in the midst of probably the greatest mess Rarity had ever seen. Bed sheets, candy wrappers, an assortment of party tools and a schizophrenic mishmash of Pinkie-esque items were scattered all about. Pinkie’s eyes lit up when she saw Rarity. “RARITY! OHMIGOSH!” She ran into Rarity and hugged her tightly. “Thanks so much! I thought I was going to have to clean this mess up myself!”

“Hey, what about me?” Sugarcube said in indignation. Pinkie rolled her eyes and laughed.

“Ok, I thought I was going to have to clean this mess up and have to look after you.” She turned to Rarity. “But now that you’re here! It’ll be a real-”

Rarity knew what came next, but at least this party wouldn’t have shitty games.

Pinkie Pie’s room was an explosion of candy, splintered wood, and of course, party implements. The beam had torn a good sized chunk out of the wall, which left a precarious ledge overlooking the street. Somepony (Pinkie) had taped up some streamers as a sort of warning tape signifying the drop. Rarity began to gather some of the fallen banners and lollipops.

“Say Pinkie, how come you haven’t made a lot of progress on cleaning your room in the week since the storm?” Rarity was annoyed at the apparently laziness of her former friend.

“Oh! Well, we were out mailing letters for most of the week, then we came riiiiiiiiiiiight back here and got back to work!” Sugarcube piped up.

“Hey Rarity! How was Cloudsdale?” Pinkie Pie asked suddenly. Rarity hated their duality of conversation.

“Uh, it was fine, thanks for the party by the way.” She answered, shoveling wood chips into a wastebasket.

“Noooooo problem, we spent a lot of time on that big cupcake.” Sugarcube boasted.

“We sure did! It was the biggest cake we’ve made in a long time!” Pinkie added.

“Yeah it was nice.” Rarity replied in disinterest. She just needed to clean up the room, that was it.

Gummy had slipped out of his temporary bucket home and had slithered silently up to the white unicorn. She dropped an armful of debris into the trashcan and turned around just in time to watch as Gummy’s mouth closed tightly around her foreleg. She instinctively screamed and leaped away, the little green reptile detached itself and immediately crawled into a corner. Pinkie dropped her bedspread which she was folding and rushed over to the shocked unicorn.

“Rarity! Are you ok?!!” Asked party pony. Rarity’s heart was pounding in her chest.

“Y-yeah I think so.” She said, gasping for breath. She looked at her leg amidst trembles, the white skin was spotless. Pinkie laughed and slapped her on the back.

“Oh you’re funny, you thought he had teeth!” Pinkie giggled. No shit she thought an alligator had teeth.

“Here he is Pinkie!” Sugarcube held up the baby alligator, which sat limply in the yellow pony’s arms.

“He’s not scary, wanna hold him?” Pinkie offered kindly. Rarity glowered at the blank-eyed lizard, she really wanted to wring its malevolent neck for scaring her.

“No.” She went back to picking up wood chips, her heart still racing within her chest.

The three of them cleaned up Pinkie’s room quickly. Well, Rarity did at least. She shoveled all of the trash into the grey can in the middle of the room and placed all of the edible candy in a neat pile on a shelf. She dropped the last piece of gum onto the pile and turned to the pair.

“Well, looks like we’re about-”

“Oh good you’re done! Can you help us get something from the ledge?” Pinkie asked in a tone that suggested she had been waiting for Rarity to finish. Rarity sighed and walked over to the pair, who were craning their necks forward from the precipice. Of course there was a dangerous task involved, why hadn’t she guessed that?

“It’s that box of alligator food, we can’t reach it.” A blue box of leaking alligator food was sitting on a board jutting from the side of the building. It was standing perfectly upright and Rarity honestly suspected they had put it there. She looked at Pinkie Pie; party pony could not expect her to do this. Pinkie’s countenance was completely earnest; she actually expected Rarity to risk her life over a box of pet food.

“Pleeeease Rarity? Your horn could grab it really easily!” Pinkie’s voice became exponentially more grating when she whined.

“Yeah, sure, see what I can do.” Rarity said with a sigh. The unicorn grabbed at the food with her horn, but the cardboard box was solidly out of reach.

“You gotta lean waaaaaaaaaaay out!” Sugarcube unsafely advised. Rarity tested the board with a tentative hoof and the wooden plank wobbled ominously. Fucking hell, if she slipped, both of those fillies would hit the ground before her. Rarity knelt down and edged out on the board a little. The box was still out of reach. She looked down and saw ponies bustling to and fro on the street corner two stories below her. That was cobblestone below her, rock solid cobblestone. She swallowed and inched out further, the board wobbling a bit more. She caught the edge of the box, just a little further. The box slowly entered the grip of her horn and she tossed it back to Pinkie.

“Oh thanks Rarity!” She said cheerfully. Rarity edged back a little bit, the board creaked. She edged back a little further, the board disliked this and creaked louder in response. Just a little farther. The board bent downward suddenly and she slipped forward a bit. She needed to get off right now. Rarity felt the side of the building against her rear hoof as the board started to crack. In one swift movement she turned and leaped toward the building. For a terrifying instant, the white unicorn sailed through the air and into the room. She landed safely inside and took a deep breath, never fucking again. She let her breath out slowly and wiped some sweat from her brow. Pinkie clapped for her.

“Yay! You made it! I was a little afraid for a second since my Pinkie sense went crazy while you were out there!”

“Yeah, great. I’m not getting anything else just so you know.” Rarity walked for the door, she was done with Pinkie Pie for the day.

What happened next was more her fault than anypony’s. Rarity knew that Pinkie sense was never wrong about something falling and a smarter Rarity would have thrown one of the two idiots around her off of the ledge to appease the almighty twitchy tail. But really, a smarter Rarity wouldn’t have been there at all, a smarter Rarity would be in jail before she was with Pinkie Pie.

The gap on the floor, apparently in line with the malicious board, caved outward suddenly. Rarity stumbled back and the floor left her hooves. The room spun and she felt herself falling. She flailed out wildly and caught a 2x4 sticking out of the floor, the interior of the bakery lay thirty feet below her. She saw the countertop below her, boards and nails were scattered across the granite surface. The blood throbbed in her ears and her vision dimmed from pure terror as she dangled from the board. Pinkie was reaching for her.

“RARITY! GRAB MY HOOF!” She screamed. Rarity looked down, she was going to fall. She felt Pinkie reaching out toward her. Her blood turned to ice, she stopped thinking and stared blankly at the drop below her. Her grip slowly expired as the sweat from her hooves slicked the wood.

“RARITY! HANG ON!” Pinkie leaned further toward her. The next second she was falling, Rarity saw the next floor flash by. She turned in the air and fell headfirst toward the ground. The stone countertop rushed upward toward her. She closed her eyes and it hit her. It slammed into her with the force of a missile and her upper body bent up swiftly. Yet strangely, the impact didn’t feel like a counter, it felt soft and warm. It felt like air was rushing past her. She peeked her eyes open, a rich red chest was pressed directly against her snout. She looked up, the adrenaline in her blood made Audacity’s eyes even bluer.

He smiled.

“Hey there! Glad you could drop in!” He said audaciously. She realized he was holding her in his arms. Rarity looked around, there were clouds around them, Audacity was treading air a few hundred feet above the ground. “Heh, sorry, guess flying up this far was overkill.” The stallion said bashfully. He started to descend. She stared at him, what had just happened?

“Are you ok? I saw you falling and I figured I owed you one for the tour.” He joked. The world felt dreamlike and Rarity wasn’t even sure that she wasn’t dead. She reached a lucid hoof up and felt his chest, Audacity was warm and muscular. “Hehe, um, so that’s my chest. Are you ok?” He asked awkwardly. She didn’t reply. She had nearly fallen to her death when Audacity the Pegasus had heroically leaped into flight and saved her at the last possible instant; Rarity fainted like a proper mare.

When she awoke, it was about sunset. Sonny and Ana were sitting at one of the tables in the front of the Lone Star, Rarity herself lay on a brown cot before the counter.

“Ah Rarity, how are you?” Mr. Salukas asked, noticing her consciousness. She rubbed her eyes.

“Uhh, good.” She looked around. “What happened?” Ana snorted.

“You had a fall, no doubt playing with that mischievous pink pony.” Sonny laughed.

“Audacity, he is a good athlete, he heard you falling before any of us and he caught you. From there you swooned and we brought you back here. Are you feeling alright? No broken bones or double vision?” Rarity shook her head, it all seemed like a dream. She recalled getting the box of food, then slipping, then falling. Audacity! He had caught her!

“Did he leave already?” Rarity asked quickly. Ana snorted again.

“Of course he did, it is past closing time, you have kept us here late.” Mr. Salukas rose and walked over to her.

“Miss Pie did leave this.” Sonny held out a sheet of bubblegum-pink stationary.

“Dear Rarity, I am soooooooooooooooo-” She didn’t read the rest.

“Do you have a pen?” She asked Sonny. He produced one and Rarity turned the page over.

“Dear Pinkie Pie,

Fuck You.

Rarity.”

“Thanks for staying late.” She hopped off of the cot and stood unsteadily. “Are we going to be at Sugarcube Corner tomorrow?” She asked in apprehension. Ana shook her head.

“We have helped them enough.”

“And they have gotten most of the work done today.” Mr. Salukas explained.

“Ok good. Thanks for staying here for me.” Rarity said wearily as she exited the bakery.

“Have a good night Rarity.” Sonny called.

Rarity went back to Sugarcube Corner. She dropped the letter into the newly repaired mailbox. The entire building was nearly finished, they must have gotten a lot done while she was unconscious. She turned and walked back toward her crates. Life was neither boring nor safe with Pinkie Pie around.

Audacity. The very thought of his arms around her made her ALMOST glad to have nearly fallen to her demise. She tried to picture his pose, had he been holding her like a damsel in distress? Or a meaty package that he was just saving from death? He had made a joke. He had made a joke! Of course he liked her! He had loved holding her, it had been a pleasure to rescue her. He didn’t even care that she had spoiled his anonymity. She remembered touching his chest, a smile slid across her face, she liked how he had felt. Today had been redeemed by being held by Audacity.

It wasn’t until the next morning that she remembered the Straw Purchase. She was behind, well, more behind. Posh was just opening as she galloped up to the store, evidently he had not learned of her near death the day prior. Rarity didn’t want to spend any time on anything that wasn’t work and so she did not disclose her incredible rescue. He smiled as she reached him.

“Good morning.” She nodded tiredly.

“Morning.”

“What’s the plan for today?” Rarity’s thinking was sleepy and disoriented.

“Uh, probably the chandeliers.” She said without thinking.

“Haha alright then!” Posh opened the door and they entered the restaurant. “I’ll go get you some coffee, you probably want to be alert for taking those huge things down.” Rarity grasped that she actually had to take them down today. She looked up at the massive glass fixtures, she had literally no idea how to take them down.

With two hooves on a rusted stepladder, Rarity felt a level of fear rising in her as she reached out to unscrew the first bolt. The bolt was unsurprisingly stuck, she balanced herself on the scintillating glass and shoved at the lodged little octagon. It creaked a little and she pushed harder, the chandelier began to sway.

“You know.” Pish said softly, in an attempt to not startle her. She looked down, the older pony was steadying the ladder. “It might be a good idea to turn off the power before messing with those things.”

“Uh, yeah. Can you show me where the power switch is?” She asked.

As it turned out, the power to buildings was not controlled by a giant switch as Rarity had imagined. Instead, the power was controlled by a series of tiny tubes and levers housed in a cabinet on the side of the building. Pish pointed to it.

“Main breaker gets finicky, sometimes you have to swap it a bit.” He advised. She reached an unsure hoof out, which one was the “main breaker”? She poked one of the tubes, were those the breakers? “Have you ever seen a fusebox before?” He asked.

“Er, well, no.”

He chuckled.

“Let me show you the basics.” Pish explained the details of the circuitry to her. Rarity hoped he didn’t think less of her for her ignorance. She was a fashion designer by trade, they couldn’t possibly expect her to know such complicated mechanisms as fuseboxes could they?

Back inside the lights were out, Rarity assumed the fusebox was responsible. She climbed back up the stepladder and returned to the bolt. Pish steadied her ladder. He watched as she unscrewed each bolt supporting the fixture. “Only have four left.” He said presently. “What’s your POA for getting it down?”

“Um, well, I was thinking we could just let it drop you know?” We’re taking up the carpet, and you’d said-”

“Hey, it’s your plan, I’m not about to question it. However you think is best is best. I just didn’t know if you wanted to get it down safely and then sell it.” No way in hell was she going to complicate matters by trying to sell anything.

It was soon time to go to work and she still had two bolts left. As she walked to work, she realized that the only merchant of chandeliers she knew of was based out of Cloudsdale. The depression was crushing her as she entered the bakery, at least the line for sweets was gone. She rested and pondered her options as she baked.

At lunchtime, Sonny informed her that she had a visitor. Rarity walked out into the front end. Pinkie Pie carried a basket and she ran over to Rarity.

“Oh Rarity! I’m so sorry!” She hugged the unicorn.

“Yeah, I got your note. It’s really no big deal for me, I don’t know why you think I would be upset.” Rarity said sarcastically. The barb seemed to bounce off of party pony and Pinkie smiled sweetly.

“Awh thanks, I’m glad you understand.” She produced the letter Rarity had written. “Say Rarity, what’s fuck mean?”

“It’s another word for thank.” The white unicorn said sardonically.

“Awww, you didn’t have to thank me. I was just really glad you didn’t get hurt is all! I wanted to thank you for being such a trooper!” Rarity shrugged.

“No problem, any time is a good time to risk my life for alligator food.”

Applecrisp looked out of the door to the oven room and Pinkie dashed over to her.

“Oooh! Applecrisp! Fucks so much for helping us saw those boards up yesterday! Here’s a little fuck you!” She produced a small cupcake from her basket and gave it to the confused Applecrisp. The obscene party pony gave one to Rarity.

“Hehe, thank you Pinkie.” Rarity said over stifled laughter.

“No no Rarity. Fuck you!” Pinkie Pie rushed over and gave one to Mr. Salukas, who was just exiting the store room. “You helped us so much Mister Sonny, we couldn’t have done it without you. I want to fuck you so much!” She bubbled. The stallion received his cupcake with bewilderment. Sugarcube poked her head in the door.

“Come oooooooooooooon Pinkie! We have like thirty more thank yous to deliver.” Pinkie dashed to the door.

“Shoot, wish I could stay, but duty calls! Fuck you all!” She called cheerfully. Sonny placed his cupcake on the counter and scratched his head.

“I do not understand that little pony.” He said in befuddlement.

Rarity and Applecrisp returned to the oven room. Rarity had started back on her work when Applecrisp threw down her egg beater and started to laugh uncontrollably. It was the first time Rarity had ever heard Applecrisp laugh. The expressionless blue mare was seized with cackling, and for a few stunned seconds, Rarity stared at her.

“Gawd, how’d y’get her t’say that?” Applecrisp asked, wiping a tear from her eye. Applecrisp was laughing, it was impossible. A smile had opened across Applecrisp’s stone cold face, she was really laughing. Rarity started to laugh as well.

“It’s not too hard, trust me.” She said with a grin.

Applecrisp soon controlled her laughter and returned to her typical quiet, yet the image stuck with Rarity. Maybe Applecrisp wasn’t so different from her after all.

It was a good day, Rarity and Applecrisp finished a light load of work, Sonny paid them, and everypony was in a good mood. It wasn’t until Rarity reached halfway to the Straw Purchase that the weight of her work set in on her. She still had the menu to get to tonight. And she needed her address book and the catalogues; she had to get inside her crates somehow.

Rarity knew instantly that something was wrong as she pushed open the door to the diner. Her gaze drifted upward, there was a gaping hole in the ceiling and a few wires dangled down like spider legs from the yawning hole. The chandelier she had been working to remove lay smashed into millions of glass shards which were splashed across the carpet. Pish and Posh heard her and walked out of the office. She ran toward them. The usually relaxed stallions looked grave and reserved.

“I am so sorry! I’m sorry-”

“Rarity! Stop!” Posh yelled. She halted instantly, her mouth was dry and her heart pounded in her chest. Posh wasn’t smiling. “Put on a pair of boots.” He motioned to a pair of rubber rain boots on the counter. “There’s glass everywhere.” She pulled on the boots and ran over to them.

“What happened?” She asked in horror.

“It looks like the weight of the chandelier sheared off the last two bolts and then tore out the mount.” Pish explained. She had left it hanging with just those two bolts, because she had to get to work. She was responsible.

“I am sorry, I am so sorry. I will pay for all of it.” She said quickly. Posh twisted his mouth.

“That would probably be best. We can just pay for the other one to be professionally uninstalled.”

“I am so sorry, it won’t happen again, believe me.” They could easily fire her right now and she couldn’t blame them. Rarity desperately searched for some explanation or admonition of guilt and full assumption of responsibility. “I know it was stupid, I’m really sorry!” She ran out of things to say.

“We were blessed that nopony was hurt.” Pish observed. Posh nodded in agreement. The younger stallion turned to her.

“So what’s the plan for tonight?” He asked casually. Rarity’s mind went blank, what had he just said?

“Y-you want me to still work tonight?” She asked in disbelief. He nodded.

“I wouldn’t imagine why not, do you have somewhere you need to be?”

“N-mo, it’s just that.” She studied them, they were either pissed to the point of flat affect, or if it were actually possible, not pissed at all. “I, guess I’ll clean this up?” She said slowly. Posh smiled.

“Great!”

“Just be careful of the glass!” Warned Pish. She nodded stiffly.

Over the course of the next few hours, Rarity cleaned up the obliterated remnants of the chandelier. Posh joined her halfway through and she quickly began to think of apologies.

“Look, it was very irresponsible of me. I won’t make any excuses.” She said feverishly. “It won’t delay the deadline. I will still get it done on time, I’m going to make sure.”

“Haha, Rarity.” Posh’s voice was relaxed and calm. “You don’t need to sell me. I get it, you made an honest mistake. I’m very impressed that you agreed to pay for it. Don’t beat yourself up, just make sure that you get professional help if you need it. I don’t want anypony getting hurt, it’s just a business after all.”

“Well, it was very irresponsible of me, I want you to know that I know that.” She explained.

“I realize that.” Posh saw her fear. “Hey, accidents happen, I’m glad nopony was hurt, that’s it. You’re still our consultant right?” Rarity nodded vigorously. “Haha great, I’m really looking forward to seeing what you do with the place!”

In all of her years, Rarity had never known a boss like Posh.

It had been a week and a half, Rarity had burned through half of her time, but she had made some progress on the Straw Purchase. The carpet was laid, the menu was about ten percent done. The plants and piano she had simply discarded, they were cliché and more importantly, more time consumption. It was incredible, despite everything, she was making progress.

It was midafternoon on a Wednesday. She and Applecrisp were folding a batch of dinner rolls.

“Y’ever been t’Manehatten?” Applecrisp asked unexpectedly.

“Uh, yeah, a few times.” Was Applecrisp starting a conversation? “Why?”

“Nuthin’.” Applecrisp brushed the pasty white dough with melted butter. The quiet returned. “D’they have thee’ters out there?” Asked Applecrisp after a minute.

“Uh, yeah, they do.” Rarity replied. Applecrisp considered this.

“Does it cost much, to see them shows?”

“Uh, not really, usually just a few bits.” Applecrisp scooped another roll onto the papered tray.

“Good entertainment?” Rarity was unsure of how to answer this.

“Um, yeah usually. I mean, depends on what you’re looking for, there’s a lot of good thespian troupes that have some great seasonal productions.” Applecrisp nodded and walked a tray to the oven.

“S’pposing, a pony wanted t’go to onea them thespian productions. There have t’be some sorta ID or maybe dress code?” Applecrisp asked. Rarity chuckled.

“Not really.”

Applecrisp asked more questions about Manehatten and about thee’ters. She only asked a few questions and stopped talking when she wanted to. But she had started a conversation, and that was surprising enough.

Lunchtime came and Rarity took her meal outside. She was sitting on the stoop of the bakery, lost in thought about the chandeliers. How in the hell would she get some by the 21st? Maybe if she called Trance, but would he still do her a favor? She could see if Brilliance knew, or perhaps- someone tapped her shoulder. Her concentration broke and she turned angrily.

“What?” She asked in annoyance. Spike had a book bag slung over his shoulder, he looked like he hadn’t slept in a while. Rarity rose to her hooves immediately. “Oh, God, sorry!” She apologized.

“No problem. Sorry I didn’t make it to your party, I haven’t been in Ponyville for a while.” He said with a shy smile. “The business with the diamond dog, it’s now a pretty big government production, what with the interrogations and recordings.” He explained.

A pause ensued and the night of her negotiation returned to her.

“I, look, Spike, I’m really sorry for what I did up there.” Rarity began. “I want you to know I didn’t have anything to do with getting into the paper, or being a hero or anything. I know what I did was wrong, and I’m really sorry for nearly-” She stopped. It was horrible to think of what might have happened. Spike shifted his book bag.

“How was the party?” He asked.

“Pretty good, didn’t like having Pinkie there haha.” She replied in a forced carefreeness. The dragon nodded.

“Good, good, Twilight said she had a good time...” He trailed off.

“Spike, I’m really sorry, please, don’t be upset.”

“Rarity I-” He started. He looked up at her, then down at the ground. The dragon frowned and cracked his knuckles thoughtfully. He looked up at her again.

“I was about to come up here and tell you how I had forgiven you for what you did.” He frowned again. “But I can’t even convince myself that there’s anything to forgive.” He shook his head. “You, well, God, you make it hard to talk.” He halted momentarily.

“I love you Rarity.” He blushed deeply with this, the red standing out vividly against his purple scales. “I have always and will always; probably some sexual deviance, but I love you more than anything. I keep trying to get mad at you, but all I can see is the good in you. How you never told Twilight that I knew about the crown, I mean, how you fixed the crown and got it back in the first place for goodness sake.” He shook his head. “That night, you were so out of it, and I should be so mad at you for just handing me over to that guy.” He struggled against himself. “But…I can’t be mad at you. I can only think of how it all came out perfectly and how sorry you were and are for putting me in harm’s way. You just stood up right then, you were so sorry for snapping at me. You felt so bad about it, that’s what gets me. When I see you do stuff like that, stuff where you get so ashamed for acting badly, I just lose it, I can’t even think. I forget why I’m mad and I fall even more in love with you.” He paused. “Twilight says I have an enabling habit with you, that I keep letting you do stuff and encouraging it, cause I’m so infatuated with you.” He smiled hopelessly at her. “Well if it’s a habit then I can’t break it. I love you Rarity, and no number of drunken rampages will ever change that.” He looked up to her for a few moments, his clear dragon eyes peering wonderingly at her. In a second he looked back down at the ground and cleared his throat.

“Sorry I have had sixteen hours of sleep in the past five days and am not making the best of choices. Did not even know I was going to say that.” He said with a little laugh. “Guess I shouldn’t have repressed it for so long.” Rarity embraced him.

“Spike, I, don’t even know what to say.” He held her back, she could feel his heart pound against her skin.

“Heh, me neither, this was kinda unexpected. I shoulda figured you do that to me though.”

“You are so mature for a dragon, for a pony even. I want you to know that you are a really awesome dragon, for so many reasons.”

“You’re an awesome pony, for a lot more reasons.” He whispered.

“I hope we can always be friends.” It slipped out and the second it did, Rarity wanted more than anything to take it back. She had been so used to simply shrugging off his affections, thinking he was just a baby dragon. Before the Blast it would have just been another joke between them. But Spike was grown now, he was an adult and his feelings had become relevant. Rarity hadn’t realized that this had been an impromptu ultimatum. She hadn’t been ready for this, and he paid for that.

She felt him swallow.

“Hehe, me too Rarity, me too.” He released her. He was still smiling, but even an airhead like Pinkie could tell how hollow he had become. “I am really glad you had a good party, drop by and see me sometime at the Library.” He started down the street.

“Spike, I am glad I know you! You’ve been really kind to me!” She called in attempt to soften his pain. Rarity bit her tongue, she was just making this worse. He laughed, a forced laugh.

“Yeah.” His adolescent voice cracked. “I’m glad to know you too!” He turned and walked toward home.

Rarity stood and watched him. Eight months ago he had been a baby dragon obsessed with a fashion designer who doted on him and played with him. Now he was a heartbroken secretary to the queen, spurned by a unicorn who was trying to get her life together. What happened?

That night, the Straw Purchase was quiet, Rarity was painting the dessert section of the menu. She was exhausted and discouraged and the paint fumes tired her more. Pish and Posh were in the kitchen working on something she didn’t care about.

She thought of the poor little dragon sitting alone in the giant library, she felt herself tear up. Dammit Spike, why couldn’t he plan his shit out? She brushed a tear away from her face and clutched the brush tightly. It wasn’t her fault, it wasn’t, she couldn’t lie to him. She would have to have told him at some point, he couldn’t go on living the lie that she loved him back. She brushed another tear away, why did it have to hurt so bad hurting someone like Spike? Why couldn’t it be easy like hurting Snips? Why did he have to love her so much? Why did he have to be so fucking sensitive?

“Rarity?” She looked down. Posh was standing next to the counter. “Is everything all right?” She swallowed and brushed at a tear.

“Yeah.” The lump in her throat stifled the words. She cleared her throat. “Yeah, everything’s cool.” Posh nodded slowly.

“Well, I’m here if you feel like talking.” He started back toward the office.

She heard the door open.

“Posh?” He stopped. Rarity swallowed. “Is it ok if I take a break to talk to you?” He chuckled.

“It’s fine, it’s your work.” He walked back over to her. “What’s on your heart?” She climbed down from the counter.

“My friend, well, he, told me he loved me today.” She started. “I” She sniffed. “Hurt him bad by telling him that I don’t love him. And now I feel awful about it.”

“Oh.” The short black stallion lowered his gaze.

“Yeah.” She said sadly. Posh thought for a moment.

“I’m thankful you told him the truth. That’s really what he was asking for, and you respected him by telling him that.”

“I know that, but it was horrible seeing him hurt like that. He is so nice to me, and I wish more than anything that I could tell him I love him, just so I wouldn’t have to hurt him. He doesn’t deserve to be hurt like that.”

“Sometimes.” Posh thought for a second. “Sometimes things just have to hurt. You can’t control what happens and the best you can do is let everything play out. Hurt happens, and the only thing we can do is move on.”

“I don’t know if he can take the hurt from this.” She sniffed.

“If he was strong enough to tell you he loved you, then he is strong enough to hear that you don’t love him.”

But was Spike strong enough? He was a young dragon, he was still vulnerable, how could he possibly be that strong? He had loved for as long as he had known her, in a manner that bordered on a mental disorder. Rarity swallowed and stood ruminating for a second. She became aware that she was crying about a personal problem during work hours.

“I’m sorry, this was terribly unprofessional of me.” She said quickly, drying her eyes and returning to the counter. Posh chuckled.

“Look Rarity, this is your job. It’s always been your job and of course you’re probably used to being very formal. And if that’s the best way for you to operate then by all means go for it.” He smiled sheepishly. “But life happens, and I want you to know that if you’ve ever got something troubling you, you can come to me or my dad. I am really hoping that this job has a positive effect on your life, we’ve been praying for you since the beginning.”

Rarity stared at the stallion beneath her, Posh was different, really different.

Chapter 14

Chapter XIV

The next few days went by like a blur. Rarity went to work, chatted with Applecrisp a bit, then returned to the Straw purchase. Even with only mornings and nights, she finished the menu and organized the tables and chairs. Rarity then spent a hectic few days trying to scrounge up a pair of chandeliers.

With the apparently “grand” reopening only a three days away, Rarity was exhausted and discouraged and ready to collapse from stress.

Despite her dismal work projections, she walked briskly toward Sweet Apple Acres, Audacity was after all waiting for her. Remembering her date had been like finding a few bits in her saddlebag. It had been a rough few weeks with Spike and the Straw Purchase and that whole rape scare with Applecrisp hadn’t helped at all. She really needed to relax and what better way to relax than picking apples with a stallion whose mere existence was justification for sexual gratification?

The cool breeze that hinted at fall felt wonderful against her body. The sun was beginning to descend toward the horizon and beams of sunlight filtered through the trees and onto the path. Rarity passed the familiar signs describing the farm’s various naturalistic practices. She nosed the intercom button.

“H’lo?” Came an unsure voice, it sounded like Apple Fritter.

“Hey there!” Rarity said cheerfully. “It’s Rarity. Could you let me in?”

“Uh, hang on a minute.” Rarity heard a bit of a scuffle.

“Gawd, ah give ya one assignment.” Applejack said in frustration. “H’lo?”

“Heyhey! Applejack, it’s Rarity. Mind letting me in?”

“Well wai the hell didn’t ya’ll tell me it was Rarity?” Applejack demanded. “Course y’kin come in.” The gate buzzed and Rarity walked into the yard. In a few seconds, Applejack exited the house and walked down to her.

“Hey there miss Rarity! Whut do ah owe this visit to?”

“A bit of a love quest. That stallion, he’s here, well I hope he’ll be here anyway. He wants to go on a date with me!” She said gleefully. “Can you believe it?” Applejack grinned and thumped her on the back.

“Course ah can! Rarity, ah said from the start, yer no different than before. Y’kin get any stallion y’want. He’s pro’bly just as excited to meet ya’ll as ya’ll are t’meet him.” Rarity blushed.

“Oh well I don’t know, I act pretty stupid around him sometimes. Oh! I almost forgot! Is it ok if we take a walk in the orchard? Maybe pick some apples? I know you don’t let ponies do that, but-”

“Is’ fahn, y’pick all the apples y’want.” Applejack said kindly.

“Oh thank you Applejack!” Rarity gave her a grateful hug. The orange farmer chuckled.

“Any tahm, any tahm.” She adjusted her hat. “’Sides most of the workers are off helpin’ put t’gether the bottlin’ facility.”

“Every time I see you your business is getting bigger and bigger.” The unicorn looked at the giant barn beside the house. “Seems like not that long ago that you were just selling a couple bottles”. AJ grinned self-consciously.

“Well, there’s a market for the cider, so ah figure, wha not? Ain’t no sense in not makin’ money. But hey, this ain’t a social call, this is business, when’s that colt s’pposed to arrive?”

“I don’t know.” Rarity said, looking about her. Applejack looked to the gate.

“Ah better go tell Apple Fritter she kin let him in.”

A streak of red shot into the middle of the yard, causing a massive puff of brown farm dust to rise from the ground. Audacity walked out of the cloud and shook his mane. He strode toward Rarity, dusting his wings a little. He gave her that irresistible smile. Less than five seconds in and Rarity knew she was already blushing.

“Phew! Y’know how t’make an entrance!” Applejack called appreciatively to the stallion. “We got a gate that works y’know!” She joked. He hopped up onto the porch and bowed a bit.

“Thanks! I would have knocked, but I just came from a workout and I figured this was faster.” He flicked his head to Applejack. “I’m Audacity by the way.”

“Applejack, ah own this here farm.” She said with a tip of her hat. “Heard ya’ll were wantin’ to pick some apples.”

“Haha yes!” He looked out over the orchards. “Impressive farm you have here.” Applejack shot Rarity a glace that showed she approved greatly of Audacity.

“Well, yer best bet is them honeycrisp trees raght over there.” She motioned to a row of trees off in the distance.

“Great!” Audacity looked to Rarity. “You want to head out there?” She giggled.

“Sure!” He looked off toward their destination.

“It looks like a pretty long walk, what if I carried you and we flew out there? We could probably get more ti-”

“Yes!”

The night was off to a perfect start, better than perfect actually. Already she was embracing him and they hadn’t taken a romantic walk. She hopped onto his back and they were off.

“Have a good time y’two!” Called Applejack from the porch.

Rarity hadn’t been flying in a long time and the experience of rushing through the sunset sky, coupled with her tight embrace on muscular Audacity made it an almost euphoric experience. They whipped through the air and over the long rows of apple trees. In a few moments they reached their destination and Audacity set her gently down in the soft grass.

“Thanks for the ride.” She breathed. Audacity laughed.

“Any time.” He looked around at the rows of apple trees surrounding them. “You hungry?” She nodded and he shot up into a tree and returned with a pair of apples. The red stallion crunched his apple and chewed it for a few moments. Wiping some juice from his mouth, he turned to her. “You know Rarity, I’ve seen a lot of you, but I feel like I don’t know you.”

“Oh?” She asked innocently.

“I see you going to that one restaurant a lot. You seem really focused whenever you’re walking there, so I haven’t said hi or anything.”

“Oh well, you see, I’m doing a bit of consulting for the owners, I’m sorry if I look too driven, you could talk to me if you wanted to.” She explained hastily.

“I think it’s great. I like seeing a mare with drive.” He looked down the long rows of apple trees. “You mind if we walk a bit?”

“Oh no of course!”

The pair walked through the orchard, the coming fall breeze rustled the trees and the golden sun dappled the grass beneath them. Rarity couldn’t have asked for a more romantic scene.

“I love Ponyville.” Audacity said as he beheld the scene. “I’m glad I moved here.” He spoke a little softer. “You know it was pretty hard on me, back when I was a bigshot in Fillydelphia. I wanted a bit of a new beginning here.” He looked around. “This has really been a good place to start again. I’m glad I met you, it’s been hard finding ponies who aren’t completely interested in my career. Ponies who just want to go out and pick apples.”

“I like you a lot too Audacity.” Rarity whispered.

“I want to get to know you more Rarity.” He said quietly. Her heart fluttered inside her chest. “Tell me about yourself.” Shit, she had no idea what to say. What about her life wouldn’t offend or disappoint him?

“W-well, I work at the bakery. And I’m doing that design consulting for the Straw Purchase, that’s that restaurant I’m always walking to. It’s been a lot of historical analysis and such. And.” She realized she had run out of things to say. “I like you.” He smiled.

“What about your Cutie Mark?” He nodded to her diamond emblazoned flank. “It’s pretty, I really like it.”

“Well, that’s from when I discovered that I have a bit of a knack for finding gems.” She was not going to mention her bizarre and lightly erotic encounter with an oversize boulder which she had misidentified as a diamond.

“Wow! So you could like find some gems right here, right now?” He asked in amazement. She blushed.

“I suppose I could.” She said self-consciously. She began to search the path around them; of course she had to give a demonstration. She felt the twinge of sapphire a ways away. “This way.” She started to walk. “I’m sorry, I just don’t feel any right around here.” She apologized.

“No no! This is cool! Like a treasure hunt!” Audacity said excitedly. She started to jog. “Bet I’ll find ‘em first!” He said playfully as he galloped ahead.

“Hey! Wait up!” She laughed as she chased after him. He was beside the tall barbed wire fence, digging a hole when she caught up with him. “It’s over here!” She called from beneath a tree. He dashed over to her.

“Let’s see it!” He said excitedly. It wasn’t buried very deeply; a few short paws at the ground revealed a brilliant blue cache of worthless sapphires. “Wow!” He marveled. Audacity lifted one of the stones out of the ground, the sunlight made the little sapphire into a deep blue kaleidoscope. “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” He said, eyeing the rock in awe. “How can you do that?” She blushed.

“Well, it sort of tires out after each cache, so it takes me a while to find a lot of them. And it’s not really a pinpoint sense either.” She said modestly.

“That’s still awesome.” He said in admiration. “You’re really cool Rarity. Did you know that?”

“Uh, thank you!” She replied, her cheeks reddening all the more.

“Hey can I keep these?” He asked, motioning to the semi exposed sapphires.

“Oh sure!” Rarity said. They spent the next few minutes uncovering the rest of the rocks. There were only three of them in total, but Audacity held each one as if it were a priceless treasure.

The sun had already sunk deeply into the forested horizon as they walked back down the path. They each ate another apple, and Audacity talked a bit about his career years. He had been accepted into the Wonderbolt academy, dropped out after learning that Wonderbolts spent their entire lives on the team. He had been moving around Equestria for the past year, trying to find his niche.

“And so I was doing the Tempest Run and I saw Ponyville. I saw the windmill and the little houses and I just thought to myself that it looked like the perfect little town.” He sighed. “Everypony here is so polite, all the store owners and even ponies on the street smile to you, they’re all so nice.” Rarity decided not to inform him of her less than favorable view of the “nice” ponies of the town. No sense in disagreeing on something so unimportant. “I’m still in the process of finding my whole identity here, but I think I’m starting to find the ponies I like to be around.” He said as he gave her a little nudge. Her heart started to beat faster.

“I like being around you a lot Audacity.” She whispered.

“I like being around you too Rarity.” He said in a louder voice than she would have expected. “Octavia was a bit nervous about me coming here tonight, but I knew it would be great.”

“Ocatavia?!” Rarity stopped. “Octavia from the music shop?!”

“Yeah, she’s my girlfriend.” Her heart melted and drained into her stomach. It was wrong, he had misspoken.

“W-what?” She stammered. He nodded innocently.

“We’ve been dating for about two weeks now, she offered to take me into her shop to get away from the crowds the day that you wanted to know my Cutie Mark. She told me she liked Katchapuri and that’s sort of how we met. ” It was impossible, it couldn’t be true, tonight was a date between her and Audacity the Pegasus.

“You.” She took a deep breath. “You’re dating her?” He seemed surprised.

“Yeah, didn’t I tell you that?” He saw her devastation. “Oh God, did you think this was a date? Rarity I am so sorry! I thought you knew about us.”

She held strong. No stallion, no matter how perfect, would ever make her cry.

“I thought you liked me.” She said quietly.

“I do! You’re a great friend, I want to know you more.” He consoled. “Can we be friends?” She wanted to get away from him, to forget all about Audacity.

“Yeah, yeah we can.” She started toward the farmhouse. “I have to speak with Applejack, thanks for coming out here with me tonight.” She said briskly, her throat starting to swell. “I appreciate the gesture.” Audacity sighed.

“I’m sorry Rarity, if this hurt you. I wish I could have told you that I just wanted to be your friend.” She shook her head.

“It’s fine, I’m glad I can know you.” She reached the door of the farmhouse and walked inside, there wasn’t even a goodnight. She sniffled, no, she was not crying. There was a moment of stillness outside, then the thump of a Pegasus taking flight. She wiped away a tear, Goddammit, she had fallen for him, only to be heartbroken by him. She shook her head, she was pathetic, falling for a pony because of his beauty. It hit her, this was just how Spike felt. How very fucking ironic.

Rarity became aware that she was standing in the front room of the house. She looked up, Applejack and Apple Fritter and Big Macintosh were seated around the dinner table. They stared at her.

“Uh, y’want sumthin’ t’eat Rarity?” Asked Applejack slowly. The unicorn shook her head.

“No, thank you, sorry for interrupting. Applejack, if you could just come out and meet me on the porch once you have a chance.” Applejack understood her meaning.

“Yea, be raght out.” She replied with a nod.

Rarity took a seat on the porch, the sun had almost completely set. The last rays of the golden light were receding into the trees and darkness was coming. She waited for about five minutes, then the screen door banged shut and Applejack sat down next to her.

“Where’s Audacity?” Asked the farmer.

“Gone.” Rarity said bitterly. “He’s dating Octavia, he said he thought I knew that tonight was just a friends activity.”

“Hell of a friendly get together, whut with ya’ll ridin’ him.” Applejack snorted. Rarity looked out at the sunset.

“Octavia is a bitch. He said they started talking after she said she liked the same bread as he did. She hadn’t fucking tried it in her life. She’s such a bitch.” Rarity spat.

“Bread?” Applejack asked in confusion.

“Never mind.” Rarity sniffed. “Tonight was so romantic, I thought-”

“Y’thought he thought that too. Well, guess he didn’t, guess he was fahn with playin’ around with ya, ‘as friends.’ That ain’t the mark of a gentl’man, tha’s for sure. Nao sure, he was grade A steak, but ah’ll be honest, he probably isn’t all that hot.” She paused, they both knew that was a lie. “And if he is, then who the hell cares? Y’deserve somepony who’ll appreciate you, somepony who’ll love ya and treat ya right. Mister Audacity seems like the kahnda pony who’s fulla himself and thinks the world runs for him. Y’deserve better.” Applejack consoled. “Y’deserve someone who loves Rarity.”

The image of Spike walking home alone came into Rarity’s mind. Fucking hell, WHY COULDN’T SHE LOVE HIM? It was so right, he was kind, a gentleman, caring, everything she could ever want. It made so much sense.

“Y’did the honorable thing Rarity, not getting’ all tore up ‘bout this.” Applejack commended.

“I don’t fucking care. Love is so fucking screwed up, it takes five minutes for an asshole like Audacity to win me over, but fucking Spike can be my slave for years and I don’t care about him.” Rarity said bitterly.

“Whoa nao, yer’ in dangerous waters there. Don’t go thinkin’ that cause someone loves ya that ya’ll gotta love ‘em back. Yer nice t’Spike, y’put up with his dotin’ for years when mosta the rest of us woulda told him to piss off. Y’were his friend, y’showed him love, the rahght kind, the kahnd ya felt. Jus’ cause y’got the hots fer some asshole Pegasus don’t mean ya gotta marry a dragon y’don’t love, ain’t no logic in that.” Rarity sighed. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the steps.

“You’re right.” She said tiredly. “You’re always right.” Applejack patted her shoulder.

“Nao ah don’t tell ya nuthin’ y’don’t already know.” Rarity let out a long breath.

“God, I was so taken with him. Besides that stupid prince back at Cantorlot, I’ve never gotten so caught up over a stallion.” Applejack chuckled.

“Nao, ah will say that there was sumthin’ t’get hot over. Goodness, he’s got a body. Whatd’y’think he’s lahk in the hay?” Rarity laughed aloud.

“Don’t know, although if everything had gone to plan tonight, I could have told you.” Applejack snorted.

“Nao ah know whut y’look for in a stallion.” She said as she gave Rarity a playful thump on the shoulder.

“Well what do you look for in a stallion?” Rarity asked jokingly. Applejack whistled.

“Gawd, ah dunno, it’s been s’long since ah looked fer mister rahght. The farm jus’ gets busier and busier. First it was the apples, then it was the workers, then it was the cider.” She took a deep breath. “Nao it’s the bottlin’ and then it’ll be distribution. It ain’t easy running Sweet Apple Acres no moar, it’s a rahght business nao.” She pondered.

“Hey, you’re amazing with this farm. You kept it going, hell, you made it into an enterprise. Are you even sure you need a stallion?” Rarity asked the farmer.

Applejack snorted.

“Well it’d be nice to have some help with everythin’. Macintosh jus’ got his surg’ry an’ half mah tahm is spent jus’ chasin’ him ‘round makin’ sure he don’t pop a stitch. Then ah got Apple Fritter on the phone and gate mos’ days.” She frowned. “Nao she’s a good pony, and bless her little heart if she don’t trah. But Rarity, that filly is more squeeze than juice. She’s more of a hoof-full than Applebloom was. An’ Paco wants me t’get on them pint containers.” Applejack rubbed her eyes. “Lord if ah don’t need a break. How ‘bout ya’ll an’ me hit Hennessy’s some tahm?” She suggested. Rarity chuckled.

“I’m about done with social drinking. Don’t know if I just look like a good target, but I got drugged last time I was there.”

“Whoa! Ya’ll serious? Whut happened?” Applejack asked in astonishment. Rarity shrugged.

“Nothing, just passed out in the bathroom. I was with Applecrisp, I got really worried about her since she left with the guy who drugged me.” Rarity chuckled. “But she came out fine, not sure how. It was really awkward though, she was just starting to open up and then that happened.” Rarity realized she had just spoken about Applecrisp.

“Oh, tha’s too bad. Ah’m glad nopony got hurt.” Applejack said casually. Fucking hell, enough was enough.

“Applejack?” Rarity had to know. “Why don’t you like Applecrisp? Why doesn’t she like you? It’s really fucking weird, I can’t ever bring either of you up when I’m talking with one of you. Can you just tell me what the hell is up with you guys?” Applejack scraped at the worn steps under her hooves. She seemed to weigh her options.

“Well, s’ppose ya’ll deserve a good explanation.” She kicked at a little nail that stuck up in the boards. “Best ah can give, most ah’ll give, is that her family and our family don’t much care for one another. We settled on apple orchards, they didn’t, there’s a lotta judgement goin’ round.” She scraped off a bit of yellowed paint. “S’ppose lot of that’s mine, ah know ah should let it go, but hell if she don’t piss me off sometimes…”

“She’s a good pony Applejack.” Rarity said softly. Applejack looked up.

“Y’don’t know her well enough then.” She said gravely.

The two sat in silence as the darkness settled in around them. Finally, Apple Fritter informed Applejack that Granny was asking for her and Rarity bade her friend goodnight.

As she walked home, Rarity felt the wind pass through her body, a few leaves rustled underhoof. She was tired, it would feel good to go to bed.

She was over Audacity, she knew she would forget about him in a few days. That was how it was with crushes, they hurt like hell but died off quickly. He hadn’t really stolen her heart in the first place, it had just been infatuation.

The next morning was the first morning that Rarity realized that she needed to move. Her body felt stiff and cold. She rolled off of the crate and the grass crackled a bit as she landed. An early frost, not severe by any means, but enough to chill her. She swung her saddlebag over her back and trotted robotically to work. The fields around her were greyed with the crystalized dew. Were there any houses for sale? She pondered her options as she strolled through the icy town.

She reached the Straw Purchase. Posh was reclining on a table, reading from a leather-bound and thinly paged book.

“Hey there Rarity, bit of a cold snap we had last night.” He said pleasantly.

“Yeah.” She tossed her bag in her usual corner.

“So, what do you have besides the chandeliers?” Rarity realized she didn’t have anything besides the chandeliers. She remembered the grand opening. Her heart began to race with the thought of her incomplete work. This was it though, the final hurdle. She was going to finish, she was going to get her life back on track.

“They’re all I have left, I’m finishing them up.” She said decisively.

Rarity didn’t finish them, at least, not that morning. She called Brilliance again and came up with nothing. None of her other contacts could help her; she had exhausted all of her options and had no ideas.

Rarity left the Straw Purchase and went to the Lone Star. Applecrisp looked up when she entered the oven room.

“Kahnda cold out there innit?” She said in a friendly manner.

“Yeah.” Rarity replied.

“Ah was thinkin’ maybe y’kin come over t’mah place. Whut days work fer ya’ll?”

“I don’t know, Sunday.” Applecrisp noticed Rarity’s reservation.

“Oh.” She said softly. “Y’don’t have t’come if y’don’t feel like it.”

“God, no, it’s just that I’m really getting fucked over by my other job, come Wednesday morning I’m screwed. I’m sorry, we can hang out whenever you want.” Applecrisp dropped her concern immediately.

“Mmkay, how ‘bout Sunday?” Rarity nodded.

“Yeah, that’s great.” Rarity baked bread, answered Applecrisp during their conversation and left at six. She went back to the Straw Purchase, she really wasn’t sure why. As she reentered the little restaurant, Pish and Posh walked out of the office to greet her. She knew instantly that they were going to ask about the chandeliers. She began to regret having returned.

“Hey Rarity, dad and I were just wondering exactly when you were planning on installing the chandeliers.” Posh spoke politely, though Rarity knew he was pissed.

“It’s only that it’s getting a bit close to the deadline, we realize that you might be used to taking things down to the wire.” Pish said graciously. “You have to forgive us if we come off as impatient.” Rarity said nothing, she wanted to run away, she wanted to do anything but talk. She could only say what shouldn’t be said, what she didn’t want to believe but was true anyway. She had to tell them that she wasn’t capable.

“I am sorry, for everything. I tried to work like I used to.” She bit her lip. “And I got this far, and, and-” Her throat closed. Rarity stood, her mouth trembling, trying to force herself to admit her ineptitude.

“Rarity, I’m sorry.” Posh said unexpectedly. “This was very wrong of me. I can see that you’re nervous about everything.” He shook his head. “It was very selfish and discouraging for me to doubt you. I shouldn’t have asked you so many times about how you were going to do things, even then I could tell that that was making it hard for you.” He looked around at the diner. “You’ve turned this place into something that we couldn’t, I look around this place and I see what I dreamed it would be. This whole time I haven’t had any faith in you and that’s not fair at all. So please forgive me for my lack of faith, I know you’re going to get it done.” He concluded.

“I, I.” she squeaked. “I don’t know that I can get it done. P-please, you don’t have to be sorry.” Pish shook his head.

“No, it was a generous deadline you gave and after that it isn’t right to worry over your process. Everything else is done and it follows that you’ll be done when you said you would. My son and I know how difficult it has been for you, we hope that we’ve bolstered your confidence during this time.”

“Please, I have to tell you, I don’t know that I can do it.” She pleaded.

“No Rarity, we know you will.” Pish disagreed.

“Don’t listen to me Rarity, I didn’t mean to doubt your abilities, I was just nervous for my business, I wasn’t nervous about you, you’ve been perfect in everything you’ve done.” Posh said apologetically.

“I don’t know that I can get the chandeliers by the deadline, there’s just nothing I can do, I just don’t have enough time.” Pish reached into the pocket of his coat and tossed her ring of keys.

“Here, now you can get into the Straw Purchase whenever, to get done what you need.”

“No, I mean that I don’t even have the chandeliers.” She said loudly. Rarity blurted it out, she couldn’t take any more of their tolerance.

“Rarity, it’s ok.” Pish said calmly. “Go home, there’s nothing for you to do tonight, take it off.” The stallions didn’t seem to hear her. Posh nodded in agreement.

“Go home Rarity, come back tomorrow, you’ll feel better after a good night’s sleep.”

“But please, I don’t want to let you down, you have to listen, I don’t know that I can do it.” She implored.

“You will.” Said the stallions simultaneously.

Pish and Posh were insane. Any other boss, even a reasonably personable one would have flipped shit over being lied to. Was this all just a ploy to get her to feel better about herself? She reached her crates in a few minutes. If it was, it sure wasn’t working.

She looked out at the dark sky. The air was still and a few stars appeared overhead. She couldn’t do it, no matter what they told her. But no, she was Rarity, she had to remember that. She had done great things before and pressure was her element. The sadness fell on her, but she hadn’t done anything like this, and she had lost her touch after spending so long without practice. Sure she was still Rarity, she still had her reputation, the only thing she didn’t have was her ability. She held back an angry sob, it was certain she would never make her deadline, and she would go back to baking bread and getting drunk. It was certain that she had lost her ability to design entirely after so many months of neglect. She looked back at Ponyville, that fucking town had ruined her career and her life. Suddenly the hate came rushing forth, they had broken her. They had fucked her over without a second thought. Rarity started to cry, she hadn’t even done anything wrong.

She didn’t sleep that night; Rarity just looked out at the sky and waited for dawn.

Morning came and she was tired and sick. She walked to the bakery early and sat outside the door. Her sadness had resided some and she regretted staying up all night. With nothing else to do, the unicorn simply lay outside the door and watched the sun rise. Sonny was along in an hour, he strolled up to the bakery and noticed her by the door.

“Is something wrong Rarity?” He asked as he looked over the disheveled unicorn.

“No sir.” Replied the miserable pony. He shrugged and opened the door. She walked into the bakery, it was quiet and still; the smell of flour passed into her nose. Her resolve broke and she slumped to her knees and began to cry uncontrollably. Sonny nearly jumped at her first sudden sob.

“Rarity! What is the matter?!” He asked incredulously. She didn’t reply, but merely continued to wail helplessly. The stallion, completely unsure of the proper course of action, waited awkwardly for her to finish. In a few minutes, Rarity had reduced herself to sniffles and Sonny sat down next to her. “Can you speak?” He asked cautiously. She sniffed and nodded. “Well, what is the matter?” A fresh stream of tears ran down her face and she wiped them away.

“I hate my fucking life.” She cried. “I hate living, I just want to die.” The bulky stallion processed this for a few moments.

“Why?”

“Because I can’t do anything right!”

“Why is that?”

“Because this Goddamn town ruined my life. Because this fucking cruel town ruined everything I had! And I can’t even work like I used to, I can’t do it! ALL BECAUSE OF THESE FUCKING PONIES IN THIS FUCKING TOWN!!!” She screamed. Her voice was raw and jagged and the hate burned inside her. She hated them, she hated all of them for what they had done to her. She wanted them to pay, to rot in hell for fucking her over. Sonny didn’t reply immediately, and the pair sat listening to Rarity pant for breath.

“I do not know the history of your town, tell me what they have done to you.” He said slowly. She swallowed. She had never told Sonny her story.

“A month before the Blast, a royal guard came to me to make him a uniform. He had an ID, he was a real royal guard, I had no reason to suspect him at all.” She swallowed again. “He went.” She started to cry. “He was the one who planted the bomb that killed the Princess.” She sobbed. “And my friend Fluttershy.” Sonny put an arm around her and she clutched his thick wooly hoof. “I, I didn’t know, I never knew, I had no reason to know. I just did my job.” She pleaded helplessly. The salty tears ran into her mouth. “But nopony understood that, they all stopped buying from me and I lost everything I had. I lost everything cause nopony wanted my business.” She cried. “Because they thought I had a part in the Blast.”

Sonny took a deep breath and released it slowly.

“I am sorry. I know that ponies often follow their emotions before they follow reason.” Rarity sniffed and gripped his hoof tightly. “I am sorry that you were branded a traitor.”

“I got a job, after all of that, after taking this shitty job, I got a real job from some nice ponies who believe in me, who respect my reputation. They.” She started to sob again. “Want me to help their business.” She looked up into Mr. Salukas’ green eyes. “I can’t even do that! I can’t even do anything I like anymore! I’m broken I guess. I made an impossible deadline, I thought I could do it, but I can’t, I can’t, I just can’t do it!” She cried.

Sonny looked to the oven room. For a minute or so they simply sat on the floor. The only sound was the whimpering of the unicorn and the tick of the clock.

“I am proud of you Rarity.” She sniffed and looked up at him in confusion. Sonny smiled at her. “The day you came into my bakery I knew you were special. You have experienced something that almost no pony ever has. Neschast’ya, that means adversity. This adversity did not destroy you, it did not kill you. It made you stronger. Even though you feel weak now, you are a strong pony. For the few months I have known you, I have seen the strongest pony in all of Ponyville come to work every day in a job she did not want. The difference between you and the other ponies in this town is a matter of strength. Fate held that you would survive the loss of everything, because you are strong. Knowing that, I am not worried that you will have any trouble finding work that you like to do.”

“I…was really happy about doing this other job, I really thought I was getting back to what I loved, like what I had before. But there’s no way I can make it happen.” She explained softly. “I can’t do it and it hurts to know I can’t.”

“Why can you not make it work?” He asked gently.

“The deadline is tomorrow and I have to find and install some chandeliers today.”

“You saved the queen from a terrorist, are you sure you cannot make this happen?” He asked with a little laugh.

“There’s nothing I can do. I don’t have any contacts or leads or anything. I have no idea where to find two chandeliers in less than a day. There’s nothing I can do.” She said hopelessly.

“Rarity.” Sonny’s voice was calm and reassuring. “Your expertise is still within you, all you need do is dust it off. You are feeling stress from a job, you are not feeling the lack of knowledge; we both know a dumber and weaker pony would have broken beneath your struggles. Tell me, do you really think you cannot complete your work?”

“I just don’t know what to do. It seems so impossible.” She answered dismally.

“So would have living without your career, but you managed that. So would have protecting your Queen from a dangerous dog. You did both of those things without hesitating from the opposition, do that now. You will doubt yourself if you think of how hard it will be.”

She sat silently for a time.

“You believe in me, they believe in me, I guess I’m the only pony holding out.” She ruminated. Sonny chuckled.

“We are often the first to doubt ourselves, it usually takes a few friends to give us a shove back to truth.” The two sat for a couple minutes and the sun rose behind them.

“Thank you Sonny.” She said softly. “I didn’t mean to call this job shitty, I’m sorry for that. You’ve been the best boss I have ever had. I don’t like baking, but I do like you.” She gave the workhorse a hug. Sonny swallowed and his thick jaw trembled a little. He stood up and cleared his throat.

“Thank you.” He said formally. “I am glad I could help you.” Rarity stood up and instinctively started for the oven room. “No, Applecrisp has called in sick, take today off to finish your other work.” Mr. Salukas stated.

“Are you sure?” Rarity asked. The workhorse nodded.

“Yes, I will clean the building up today. Go, finish your work.”

“Thank you so much Sonny, I really appreciate it.” She sniffled. He waved her out briskly.

“Go, your work awaits.” Rarity left the bakery in a gallop.

Sonny watched her depart; he was glad she had not seen the tears in his eyes.

Rarity sat on a bench for about an hour, the sun warmed her back and the cool air breezed through her mane. Where the hell were some chandeliers? She had a tour map from City Hall and had leafed through it about a hundred times in search of any Ponyville business that had the expensive lights. She tossed it into the street. Where the fuck could she find them? No, not Sweet Apple Acres. Octavia’s music shop might have one, but probably not for sale. Not Bonbon’s chair store. Rarity picked up the map again, were there any businesses that she had missed? She unfolded the map and began to look it over again. A head shaped shadow stood out from the other side of the paper. Rarity knew who it was even before she heard Pinkie’s squeaky voice.

“Hay Rarity! Are you gonna keep looking through that map? Don’t you already know everything about Ponyville?” Rarity crumpled the glossy paper up and lobbed it into a nearby trashcan.

“Haha of course not Pinkie Pie! I was just out here on this fine day and I wanted to read and reread something a lot, that map was the first thing that I found.” Rarity said with a derisive laugh. Pinkie giggled.

“My turn!” She dashed over to the trashcan and recovered the map. The pink pony took a seat next to Rarity and began reading over the page.

“Is there anything in particular you want from me?” Rarity asked in dismay. Pinkie looked up from her reading.

“Huh? Oh yeah, she wanted to ask you a question!” Pinkie replied. She turned back to the map. There was nopony else near them.

“Who?!” Rarity demanded angrily. Pinkie looked around.

“Oh shoot! Where did she go?” Pinkie dropped the map and searched around for (presumably) Sugarcube. “Hang on, she wants to ask you a question.” Pinkie said, sprinting off in search of her cousin. Rarity watched Pinkie zip off. The pink pony flew down the street and out of sight.

“Mmmmyeah.” Rarity rose to her hooves and started away from the park bench. Where the fuck could she look? She looked over the town, she had covered all the usual places. She shouldn’t have fucking destroyed the old chandeliers, she could have at least used them for the grand opening. She walked mindlessly past shops, hoping one would give her an idea. None of them elicited any plans.

“Rarity?” Called Pinkie’s voice. She looked back, Pinkie and Sugarcube were looking for her by the park bench. She quickly darted between the nearest two buildings and hid. It felt a little absurd hiding like this but she couldn’t deal with Pinkie now. She had too much on her mind to put up with Pinkie Pie and Sugarcube. Nevertheless, the alley smelled horribly of shit, and she poked her head out of the rank chasm to gasp for air. She glanced to the bench, the two had apparently gotten bored and left. She started back into the street. Where could she go to find chandeliers? Suddenly somepony grabbed her and pulled her back into the alleyway. She tried to scream, but they clamped a hoof over her mouth. Rarity clawed at the ground as they pulled her back into the gap between the buildings. Her captor pulled a burlap sack over her head and yanked it tight. She frantically fought to escape, but whoever it was secured her solidly and the unicorn was dragged backward into the darkness. She heard a door open, whoever they were threw Rarity roughly onto a wooden floor. Rarity’s heart raced with terror, what was happening?

“I only have one question.” Asked her squeaky voiced kidnapper. Rarity tore the bag off of her head.

“Pinkie?!! What the fuck?!!” Pinkie Pie was pretending to be some tough thug, she wore an exaggerated frown and gave Rarity the stink eye.

“You gunna answer my question Rarity?!” Pinkie giggled a bit as she spoke. Tough characters weren’t her strong suit; no characters were her strong suit really.

“Why the hell did you drag me in here?!” Demanded Rarity in outrage.

“We saw you sneaking away, we thought we’d play along. If you’d just answer our question then you could be on your way!” Pinkie giggled.

“WHAT QUE-” Rarity was interrupted by somepony breaking a chair across her back. The force of the blow threw her to the floor again. “AGH! FUCK!” She cried in pain.

“Don’t play dumb!!!” Shouted Sugarcube, who had been hiding in the shadows. The yellow pony brandished a blackjack and hovered over the fallen unicorn.

“Sugarcube!!! Don’t do that! That’s not fun!” Pinkie cried as she rushed over to Rarity.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought we were playing rough up.” Apologized Sugarcube. Rarity got to her hooves, the wood had been rotten and weak, but she had still been hit by a chair.

“You want to play rough you little fuck?” She asked, getting ready to choke the yellow filly to death.

“Rarity I’m sorry! This was a joke, please, she didn’t know what she was doing!” Pinkie pleaded quickly.

“Yeah I did, I hit her with a chair.” Sugarcube said stupidly.

“Sugarcube! It’s not fun to hit ponies with chairs!”

Rarity had had enough of them.

“Whatever, I’m leaving, go to hell both of you.” She threw open the door and walked out into the alley.

“Rarity wait!” Pinkie and Sugarcube shot out in front of her. “I need to know. Where did you used to work?” Sugarcube asked breathlessly.

“Are you fucking serious? That’s your Goddamn question?” She looked from one to another. They were actually serious. “Carisol Boutique, don’t know why the hell Pinkie didn’t tell you that.” She said in irritation.

“Ooooh! That sounds fun!” Sugarcube said eagerly.

“Yeah, a real blast, now get lost.” The yellow pony hopped in front of her again and Rarity nearly kicked her chipper little face in.

“What didja do?” Rarity sighed.

“Clothing, fashion design. Now please, go to hell.” Pinkie Pie giggled nervously.

“Hehe, well, I think that about answers your question Sugar.” She shuffled Sugarcube out of Rarity’s path. “Sorry about hitting you with a chair.” She apologized. Pinkie Pie pulled Sugarcube down the alleyway behind Rarity. She heard party pony begin to explain to the Sugarcube why it wasn’t nice to hit ponies with chairs.

Rarity shook her head and started for the street. Her back hurt from her assault but she paid it no mind, she had too much to worry about. Those chandeliers were going to kill her.

“Rarity?” GOD. FUCKING. DAMMIT. Rarity whirled around, that fucking yellow pony was right behind her. “Is baking more fun than fashion design?” Sugarcube asked innocently. Rarity stood for a second.

Words, lots of them, but which ones to use?

“No. It is not more fun than fashion design. The idea of leaving a beautiful profession in a beautiful workshop where I make beautiful clothes for rich beautiful people, to go to work in a field so brainless that even Pinkie Pie finds it appealing is not fun.” Rarity began. It was shaping up to be a long speech, filled with explecatives and pontification.

That’s when it happened. It sort of flashed into Rarity’s mind during the part about beauty. She stopped speaking and simply stared forward, over Sugarcube who was waiting for the rest of her lambasting and over Pinkie, who was running back up the alley to retrieve Sugarcube. What had she been thinking? Rarity turned, she didn’t give a fuck about Sugarcube or Pinkie anymore. She began to sprint out of the alleyway. She knew where she was going and Rarity bolted down the street, leaping over obstacles in a perfectly straight course that led through the town that had screwed her life over.

Somehow, probably through repression, she had forgotten it. As implausible as it was, it had taken a pony as dumb as Sugarcube to make her remember. She felt herself panting for breath as she flew over the stone fence and into the field. Even as her stamina flagged, Rarity kept running. Toward the Carisol Boutique and the pair of Yanhooyer chandeliers that hung in her kitchen and workshop.

She hadn’t been to the Carisol since she had finally locked the doors and given the bank the key. The round building looked lonely. She stopped before the rotund building and caught her breath. The windows were all intact, there was no graffiti or litter. Apparently the place was too frilly for the partying youngsters.

Rarity reached the door and tugged at the lock, she had forgotten that she had no way inside. That giant oak tree extended a branch that hung over her balcony of fret. She shimmied up the tree (making sure not to focus on the bugs that were of course covering the bark) and climbed carefully out on the branch. It swayed a little and she jumped quickly. Her hooves landed safely on the white wood of the deck. She knew she hadn’t locked the door of the balcony, she had left it open as some symbolic gesture, perhaps about the freedom of the soul or something. She didn’t remember, she had gotten a lot less symbolic as of late.

Rarity pushed the door open, the bedroom was exactly as she had left it. She stepped into the dark building. The entire room was empty and tomblike, there was no dust, no accumulated stains. Rarity walked quietly through the room, her hoof caught on something that scraped loudly. She jumped back in fright, Opal’s litter box lay upset and some of the sand had spilled out. She sighed and righted it.

“Opal.” She muttered to herself. She stepped over the litter box and crossed the empty room. The unicorn opened the door and walked down the stairs to her workroom. The house was dead and nothing beyond her hoofsteps uttered a sound. Rarity reached the bottom of the stairs. The shades were drawn and the room was overcast. It looked so different now. Now everything was gone it was just an empty building. She walked to the kitchen, the giant chandelier hung above counter. Rarity knew it wasn’t perfect, but it would work. She entered her workroom. The chandelier still hung in the center of the ceiling. It too looked adequate; she had what she needed for the Straw Purchase. Rarity then realized she would have to get both chandeliers safely uninstalled and lowered to the ground.

Many words describe Rarity that morning and afternoon, but the best is tenacious. For eight long hours, Rarity shuttled tools and a stepladder in and out of her old business. She worked tirelessly, what Sonny had said was true, she was strong. Rarity fell off of the stepladder many times, yet she rose as quickly as she fell. She was strong, stronger than anypony in fucking Ponyville. She was strong and she had a job she was going to complete.

After an hour of unbolting the fixture, Rarity lowered the first chandelier with her horn. The drywall cracked and tore a bit, but she lowered it safely to the floor. The unicorn stood catching her breath for a few seconds.

“Yeah.” She looked over the crystal glass laying before her. “That’s fuckin’ right. I’m doing my job.” A cancerous grin grew over her face. She hadn’t lost any ability in the Blast.

The next chandelier went faster, Rarity unbolted the struts, (she had named all of the various parts of the mount) with the wrench of medieval design, and released the thingy plate. She reached back and tossed the wrench to the ground. As she did, the stepladder tilted backward and she reached out for the chandelier to catch herself. Her hoof missed the candleholder and she fell suddenly. Turning once in the air, Rarity slammed face first into the hard wooden floor. The impact stunned her, and she lay motionless for a moment. She rolled over, her nose bled and she felt dizzy. Above her, the chandelier swung wildly. She heard the ceiling crack and knew it was going to fall. Leaping to her hooves, she took hold of the giant glass fixture with her horn. In a moment, the final bolt tore loose and the full weight of the chandelier fell onto her horn. It nearly broke through her grip, but Rarity supported it with all of her might. It was not going to fall, it was not. The massive glass fixture crushed her and she became lightheaded from the exertion. Rarity gently lowered the chandelier downward, it was about three inches from the boards of the floor when she collapsed. It landed with a concerning tinkle, but nothing shattered outright. Rarity lay on the floor beside the heavy chandelier. Her head pounded and the blood from her nose choked her, but she had done it.

“That’s right.” She whispered to the fallen decoration. “You can’t stop me.”

Once her headache had subsided and nose had stopped bleeding, Rarity rose and walked to the door. She threw it open, it was about six, and the wind blew through the doorway around her.

“Now to install you.” She said aloud. She realized that the Straw Purchase was across town, and she couldn’t carry the chandeliers to their destination. Her mouth went dry, she couldn’t move them. She threw a punch into the door frame, sending spears of pain through her arm, she couldn’t move them! “No no no!” She ran back and tried to lift one. It was anchored to the floor. “Fuck, no, please.” She pulled with all of her might. “Come on.” Her grip slipped and she stumbled backward. “God damn it!” She cried. Rarity felt the depression returning. No, there had to be a way. She thought frantically, how did anypony move these damned things? She recalled the conversation Pish and Posh had had about the same subject. A giant vehicle of course! But there was no such vehicle in all of Ponyville. She slumped to the floor, once again, Ponyville had screwed her over. Of course the stupid town wouldn’t have any such vehicle, that might make it easy for her.

The idea was bad, bad in every sense of the word, but it was an idea. This was a desperate idea and ill-advised to the furthest degree, however Rarity was far beyond the stage of desperation and no amount of fear could keep her from attempting it. She walked out of the door, then started to run. She had a long way to go and time was slipping by. The chariot was royal property, and owned by an Alicorn who might or might not hate her, yet Rarity kept running. It was a bad idea and Rarity knew it, but it she wasn’t going to stop until something stopped her.

Rarity reached the tree, even in desperation, she realized the magnitude of her request and the audacity of it given her ambiguous standing with Twilight. She knew she would cower away if she waited too long. Before catching her breath, Rarity knocked loudly on the door. She waited for a couple seconds, steadying her heart. The door opened and one of the royal guards frowned down at her.

“Business?” He asked sternly.

“Yes, well, um, I’m looking for Twilight Sparkle. I’m a friend and I needed to ask a favor.” That was about the most euphemistic statement she had ever made.

“You can’t see her.” He answered.

“Please, let me just talk to her. If I could explain-” He shut the door. Rarity knocked again. The door opened instantly.

“Listen pony, you are leaving. Right now.” He said imposingly.

“Please, I only need a minute with her. She knows me.”

“Yeah, you and every other bum who comes by looking for a handout.” He growled as he started to shut the door.

“Wait!” She cried.

“Brutus, who is it?” Rarity heard Spike ask from inside.

“Some unicorn, says she wants to see Twilight.” Spike sighed.

“Let me talk to her.” In a moment the door reopened. “Oh.” Spike seemed startled. “Hello Rarity.”

“Hi Spike. Is Twilight here?” She asked anxiously. He shook his head.

“She’s back in Cantorlot.”

“Oh.” She didn’t know what to say and stood wordlessly before the dragon.

“Well, why don’t you come in?” He invited after a moment.

“Sure, thank you.” Rarity stepped inside. The little tree looked normal once again, the papers were gone and the room was tidy. “It looks like you’ve gotten all of your filing done.” She observed politely.

“Rarity.” Spike sounded tired. “What are you here for?” She swallowed.

“Well, I, er, needed to ask a favor of Twilight.”

“What?”

Rarity played with her hooves.

“Well you see, I, have some things I need moving. And her chariot.” She paused, it really sounded like a demanding and unreasonable favor. “Is the only thing that I know that can carry them.” Spike stared at her for a moment and she became intensely self-conscious. “I’m sorry Spike. This didn’t sound so bad in my head, it’s just that I am pretty much at the end of my chain of ideas. I wouldn’t have come here if I knew there was any other way.” She admitted.

“Twilight’s in Cantorlot.” He repeated. Rarity realized that if Twilight were in Cantorlot, then her chariot was as well. Her last ditch effort to save her job died in that moment. She nodded, she had known that it had been an impossible idea.

“Ok.” She said quietly and walked out of the tree.

A part of her wondered if he’d chase after her, with some odd idea to help her out. Rarity wondered if he would rush out and say he could make it work, if only because he loved her. She passed out of the door and into the street. No, those days were gone. She knew by his voice that he had finally realized that she would never love him. He couldn’t and wouldn’t help her.

It was starting to get dark and Rarity was tired now. She had run out of ideas and couldn’t conjure any more. Sore from her fall and exhausted from dismantling the grounded chandeliers, a resigned Rarity returned to her crates. She climbed atop her bed and looked up at the evening sky. She knew she had failed. She took in a deep breath and held it.

In a way it was relaxing, she had been worrying and rushing around for so long that it would feel good to be done. She knew it would be worse in the morning. She let her breath out.

Pish and Posh would be so disappointed. She avoided thinking on that, there was plenty of time for that tomorrow. At least Applecrisp wouldn’t care at all, the Lone Star would be business as usual after her failure. She remembered Sonny. She remembered the speech about strength. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, she hadn’t been strong enough. She had tried as hard as she could, but she still wasn’t strong enough. Rarity began to whimper, it wasn’t her fault, she just couldn’t get it done. She had tried and tried and tried, but she just couldn’t do it. She began to cry softly, her nose began to bleed again, and she didn’t even bother to wipe the bloody mucus that ran down her face. She sat on her crate, the world around her swimming under the lens of tears. She was done with it all, she wouldn’t go back to the Lone Star, not to face Sonny and tell him that she wasn’t strong enough. She wouldn’t go tomorrow and tell Pish and Posh that she had failed her deadline. She was leaving. Just leaving.

Rarity slid off of her crate. She didn’t take anything with her, she just walked out into the prairie. The sun was starting to set, she knew it would be dark soon. The grass rustled under her hooves, and she stared straight out into the distance. She had no plan, no idea as to where she was going. She just knew she was leaving.

“Rarity?!” Called Spike. She looked back, the purple dragon was at her crates, he was searching for her. She swallowed some accumulated mucus.

“Yeah?” She called back. He looked up.

“I was looking for you.” He jogged up to her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, you can go home.” She replied.

“You’re bleeding you know.” He said sarcastically. She wiped the blood from her nose and face.

“I’m fine Spike, you don’t need to come out here to cheer me up.” She said. He shrugged and looked out over the prairie.

“I wasn’t. I just came out here to see if I could help you with whatever you need moved.” She snorted, which stung her injured snout sharply.

“You can’t, Twilight’s chariot is the only thing that can lift what I need moved.”

“Yeah? Do you want me to get that?” He asked casually.

“You’re walking to Cantorlot?” She asked cynically.

“No, it’s still here. After we left Cloudsdale, Twilight dropped herself off at Cantorlot and I came back here in the chariot. She hasn’t used it since.”

“Wait, you’ve been alone in that tree since we got back?” He nodded. Rarity suddenly felt terribly sorry for Spike. Her depression receded and she looked at her hooves. “Oh, I’m sorry about that.” She said softly.

“Rarity, what’s wrong?” He asked. She shook her head.

“Nothing. I shouldn’t have come to you to ask for a favor.”

“Why not?”

“Because I broke your heart. How am I supposed to casually tell you I don’t love you, then ask for a huge fucking favor?! That’s terrible.” Spike sighed.

“Look, Rarity. You said what needed to be said. Now, yeah, I did spend a few nights pretty torn up over that. But it’s not your fault, it was my issue to work over.”

“You’re not mad?” Asked the unicorn. Spike laughed.

“Mad? At you? Didn’t we go over that? Rarity I have a problem with you, with letting you get away with anything. No, I’m not mad. I was hurt, but while I can’t make my feelings go away, I can be more mature about them.” He frowned. “I’m really sorry for saying what I did.”

“Spike, don’t be sorry, you were following your heart. That’s something I wish I’d see you do more often.” Rarity said, putting a hoof on his shoulder.

“I basically said ‘love me or break my heart’, you weren’t going to say anything productive to that.” He replied.

“Don’t think I say many productive things anyway.” She muttered.

“Rarity, what’s wrong? Come on, I walked out here to see if I could help.” She sighed.

“Some chandeliers, I need them moved, I’m doing a job for this business and I’m out of time. I’ve got nopony to turn to.”

“Well, I can fly the chariot pretty well. Do you think you could hang them from the bottom maybe?”

“I don’t know, yeah, probably could do that. Look Spike-” The dragon shook his head.

“Rarity, the answer is yes, I always want to help you. I’m not going to stop wanting to help you and I’m just glad you don’t need my help in a bank robbery or something. And before you ask, yes, Twilight would probably get mad about this. So if you don’t want my help, then just say so, but don’t think I won’t help you or that I don’t want to.” Rarity didn’t want Spike to help, if Twilight found out, he could get in a shit ton of trouble. Yet at the same time, it was the only way to finish her job.

“Ok. But if Twilight finds out, I stole the chariot and you were asleep the whole time.” She said after a moment of deliberation.

The two walked back to the library. The golden vehicle sat behind the tree, inside the giant concrete enclosure that now surrounded the backyard. Spike hopped aboard.

“How do you turn this on?” Rarity asked. Spike knelt and perused the ancient symbols embossed in the metal.

“There’s a spell.” He found the one he wanted and gave it a tap. The symbol, which looked like an arrow of sorts, glowed lightly. “There we go.” He took ahold of the reins that draped off the front of the chariot. “It’s weird, it doesn’t use Pegasi to fly, it’s magic.” He explained as the giant golden vehicle rose off of the ground noiselessly. He turned to her. “Where to?”

“Carisol Boutique.” Spike knit his brow and gave the reins a testing shake. They lurched forward.

“I haven’t done a lot of driving with this thing, so just bear with me.” He admitted. Rarity laughed.

“If we crash and die, I’m blaming it all on you.” Spike chuckled.

“I was planning on jumping out, so it looks like a murder/suicide.” He replied. Rarity slapped him on the back.

“I’ve been a bad influence on you.”

They reached the Boutique in a few minutes. They entered the building and Rarity gave the fallen chandeliers a testing shake.

“Shit, I don’t know how we’re going to get those out of here and hooked onto the-”

“Hang on.” Spike took a small backpack from the chariot and emptied it by the chandelier in the workroom. He arranged a few dried leaves and what looked like gnarled piece of jerky around the chandelier. He lit each small item on fire with a lighter. In a second, the great glass willow rose into the air and he carefully guided it outside. Rarity quickly helped him hang it from the axel of the chariot. Once it was secure, they stepped back and surveyed the installation.

“When did you learn magic?” Rarity asked in astonishment. He shrugged.

“There were some books in Celestia’s study that Twilight let me read, most of the stuff is pretty basic like this. Anything complex needs an Alicorn or at least a unicorn.” Rarity looked at the suspended chandelier.

“That’s still pretty impressive Spike.” He shrugged.

“I guess so, although you should see what Twilight can do, it’s incredible what she’s learned from Celestia’s study.” Rarity laughed.

“I’m going to just try and finish this job before I go see Twilight again. If I get this done, maybe I’ll have something to show her.” Spike nodded.

“That reminds me, do you own these?” Rarity hadn’t realized that since the chandeliers were on the property, they weren’t actually hers anymore.

“Well, not technically.” She said with a frown. Spike shook his head.

“There’s that enabling habit again.”

It took the two a few minutes to get into the levitating chariot. Eventually they climbed out onto the tree branch and into the vehicle. They started to fly carefully toward the Straw Purchase with the first fixture.

“So, how have you been Rarity? How is the new you?” Spike asked after a bit.

“Well, I don’t know. The new me is on hold I guess, maybe I’m just one pony trying to be different things.” She answered honestly.

“Well, taking this job sounds very mature.” He affirmed.

The two reached the Straw Purchase. Rarity unlocked the door, and Spike helped her guide the levitating chandelier into the dining area.

“How long will the spell last?” Rarity asked as she hurriedly mounted the step ladder and began to bolt the fixture into the mount.

“About half an hour.” Spike replied.

“Geez, you really know some good spells.” Rarity said appreciatively. Spike laughed as he steadied the ladder.

“You really need to see what Twilight can do.”

“Yeah, maybe when I have an example of how I’m getting better to show her.” She said, tightening the first bolt.

It took Rarity about twenty minutes to affix the chandelier. When it was done, she stepped back and looked it over.

“Yeah, that looks good.” She said approvingly.

The flight back to the Boutique was quiet. The sun had set and night was upon them. A peaceful breeze ran over the chariot and the lights in the sleeping town were shutting off one by one. A few stars started to pop out in the darkness of the sky. Spike yawned.

“How are you doing Spike?” Rarity asked after a bit. The dragon didn’t answer immediately.

“All right I guess.” He said tiredly. Rarity put her arm around him.

“Thanks so much for doing this, it really means a lot to me. I’m sorry to drag you out here.”

“It’s not that.” He let his breath out. “I’ve just been kinda lonely. Twilight’s never around, that diamond dog thing made it worse. After you told me you didn’t love me, I, well I confronted how alone I really am.” He gave the reigns a shake. “I don’t mean to be all sad over myself, it’s just that Brutus never wants to talk about anything, so it’s like living alone. And, as much sense as it makes, I’m still really hurt over you not loving me. It’s not your fault, it just hurts to see that you don’t feel the same way as I do.” Rarity thought of Audacity.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I started to like this guy, he was this hot stallion.” She laughed. “Probably to me as I am to you. But he didn’t love me, he’s got the hots for Octavia.” Spike giggled, that baby dragon giggle.

“He’s dating Octavia? He’s definitely crazier than you.”

“Not sure that’s true, I’m breaking into my old business to steal some chandeliers for a new business so I can somehow make myself feel like I’m not a failure at life.” She pointed out.

“And I’m enabling you.” Spike said humorously. Rarity laughed.

Silence fell. For a few minutes, she gazed out of the chariot at the vast fields below them.

“You know, we’d make a pretty good couple.” She mused.

“Yeah.” Spike said quietly.

They returned to the Boutique. The interior was pitch black and Spike lit a torch from the storage compartment of the chariot. He arranged another set of spell constituents around the second chandelier and set them ablaze. They floated the glass fixture out to the waiting chariot and set off on the final leg of their work. It took them longer on this trip, as Spike had to maneuver over and around the buildings in the darkness. The chariot moved slowly and the adolescent dragon scanned their surroundings meticulously. The air was growing cold and after a few minutes Rarity noticed that Spike was shivering.

“Can’t you blow some fire? Warm us up?” She asked with a smile.

“Nope, that’s something bigger dragons do. All I can do is file and shorthand.” He answered.

“And magic.” She giggled as she put an arm around him.

“Yeah, that too.” He said with a little laugh.

They reached the Straw Purchase. Spike steadied the ladder beneath Rarity as she bolted the final piece of her work to the ceiling. One by one she tightened the bolts and attached the wires. Rarity was supremely tired and her horn was sore as she jumped from the stepladder.

She looked up at the chandelier. It looked perfect.

She was done. She looked around the room at the tables and chairs. Above them was the board, on it all forty dishes and desserts. It was all finished. On time.

“Spike, I, I did it.” She said in disbelief. “I, actually did it.” He smiled.

“Of course you did Rarity.” She turned and hugged the purple dragon.

“I DID IT SPIKE!” She cried.

“Of course! You could always do it!” She squeezed him.

“I don’t know if this is old Rarity or new Rarity or whatever but I DID IT! God, I never thought I could!” She said in rapt amazement.

“It looks wonderful Rarity!” The dragon said appreciatively.

“I couldn’t have done it without you.” She said quietly. “I mean, really Spike. All of this, all of your encouragement. Back in Cloudsdale, you, kept me going. I got down a lot, but you, what you said, it kept me going. And helping me now…” Her voice trailed off.

“What are friends for?” He asked with a warm smile.

“Friends.” She repeated.

It happened in an instant. Honestly, Rarity hadn’t meant for it to happen. But as she opened her eyes and looked into Spike’s, she knew she had meant it. He was speechless, a blood red blush stood out on his face like a bruise. His eyes were wide and his breath was shallow.

“You.” He said blankly. She stared back at him. “Don’t know how long I’ve waited for that.” He finished. He kissed her back. The dragon clutched her tightly. Rarity felt his heart pounding against her skin. What he lacked in experience, Spike made up for in passion. Rarity had never actually kissed anyone before, but she knew the moment was definitely on the passionate side. The purple dragon pressed his lips to hers and gripped her white body. The restaurant was silent save for Spike’s heavy dragon breath. In a couple of seconds he released her. Both were blushing deeply.

“I should go.” He said mechanically. He started stiffly toward the door.

“T-thank you Spike.” Rarity called softly after him.

“Any time.” He answered.

Rarity stood for a few minutes. She had kissed Spike, why? It had been unplanned, but she had sort of known it was coming. Did she love him? She blushed, he kissed like a lover. Maybe she was just high on the accomplishment. Maybe she did love him, maybe it had taken her a long time to realize that. Rarity didn’t know why they had kissed, all she knew is that she had kissed him first.

She basked in the wonderful glow of the chandeliers for some time. The unicorn reveled in her achievement and simply stood amidst her finished masterpiece. Everything from the new carpet to the antique tables flowed in a perfect 40s theme. She had done her job well.

Presently, the room became uncomfortably warm from the light of the massive chandeliers and she knew she ought to get home to sleep. Rarity flipped the lights off and started for the door. She turned back and surveyed the dining room. It looked wonderful. She smiled and gave the room an approving flick of her head. She noticed that the tables still had to be set, that was technically outside of her work criteria. Oh what the hell, Pish and Posh had done so much for her and she could at least give them something back.

Rarity awoke, somepony was gently shaking her. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and looked up.

“Rarity.” Pish was standing over her. She was propped up against the bar. Her neck was stiff and sore; she must have fallen asleep after setting the tables. Rarity groaned and rubbed her aching back. Pish grinned. “Last overnight push?” She nodded and rose painfully to her hooves.

“Eyeah.” She said sleepily.

“It looks superb.” The stallion said. Posh exited the kitchen behind them. Rarity saw that he was wearing his waiter’s outfit, the entirety of the suit had been starched and pressed. He was also ecstatic.

“This looks amazing! I’ve never seen anything like these chandeliers, where in the world did you find them?” He asked in astonishment.

“A lady never tells!” She replied playfully. He hopped the bar and stood beside the two.

“And you set the tables. Geez, you really took this home.”

“Just doing my job.” She said bashfully.

“That was what we were meaning to talk to you about actually.” Pish said. Oh no, what had she done? Rarity’s heart started to pound.

“Rarity, back when we first brought you on, we were just going on your reputation.” Posh explained. She began to sweat, what had they found out about her? “But then we asked a couple people. We found out you’d been going through some troubles. And dad and I talked.”

“We’re paying you double.” Pish said abruptly.

“What?!” She asked in disbelief. Posh smiled.

“Rarity, we’re really thankful we got to meet you. You’re a really special pony. Every time you came in to work, you were a blessing. After we you told us that you lived out in the fields, we talked it over and decided to help you get a place in town, somewhere you can spend the winter.” Pish nodded.

“And don’t try to refuse, you have no idea how stubborn we get.” Added the elder stallion with a chuckle. Rarity was at a loss for words.

“Thank you!” She squeaked as the emotion closed her throat. She embraced Posh. “You guys are the best employers ever, I couldn’t have done it without you. I don’t know how you kept so patient with me!” She cried.

“There’s a lot to say, a lot we want to tell you someday.” Posh said kindly. “But hey, we have a grand reopening! Would you stay for a bit, so we can show you off?” The waiter asked.

“Oh, I couldn’t, I forgot my dress, my mane is all out of place, I look terrible.” She said quickly.

“Well it’s up to you, but I think the ponies out there really want to see the decorator.” Pish said, pointing to the shuttered windows. Rarity made out the silhouettes of a small crowd of ponies. “After all, most of them RSVP’d once they heard you were in charge of the renovations.” She looked toward the tiny crowd. There were about ten or so ponies milling outside of the door.

“They, came for me?” She asked in disbelief.

“Yep. More’ll be along in a bit, we’ve still got a few minutes.” Posh said. It was impossible, Ponyville hated her, why would they come to see her success? Rarity was dumbfounded. “I know you think this town doesn’t like you, but I hope that today they can prove you wrong.” Posh said warmly.

“Well, hey, I have to get into my getup. My speech is in four minutes.” Pish said checking the clock.

“Whoa, you’re right, I gotta fire up the ovens!” Posh said, vaulting the bar once again. Posh entered the kitchen and Pish went to change in the back office, leaving Rarity standing in the giant room alone.

She felt numb, she had done it. She was Rarity, not new Rarity, not old Rarity, just Rarity. She flicked the lights on. She was Rarity the unicorn, design consultant, fashion consultant, back after a summer hiatus. She was in business once more.

The sharp white light, scattered by the crystals, shot across the room. She adjusted the dimmer of the wall lights. All around her, the warm creamy glow of the soft wall lights softened and eased the features of the tables and chairs. Posh poked his head out of the kitchen.

“Dad, you better be ready, you’ve got sixty seconds! Punctuality-”

“Is the key to any successful business.” Pish finished as he strode from the office. He wore a slate grey suit, one that a 40s manager would have worn and Rarity realized that it was vintage. He was furiously buttoning up the remainder of his jacket. Posh was laughing and arranging mugs for cocoa behind the counter. Rarity glanced upwards to the menu board to see how much a mug of cocoa was.

Of all of the classes Rarity had taken while at the academy of Advanced Arts in Cloudsdale, only two had dealt with interior design. She had slept through both. They were, after all, just required credits graded on a pass fail basis. She was going to be going into fashion, so of course she hadn’t cared to retain anything. And most of the interior decorating jobs she had accepted had only required basic applications of simple decorating knowledge. She hadn’t used anything she had learned in those classes. Yet as she stared at the menu board, a single five word rule appeared in her mind.

“Never use cream with crystal.” She had learned the rule in her class “Gross misdemeanors of decorating” taught by Kitsch the Pegasus. But she had forgotten about it. Until today.

The menu board, painted in a delicate shade of earth green and bathed in both cream and crystal light, was now a horrid neon explosion of pastel, vomit-like green. She had forgotten all about the rule, she hadn’t even known why not to mix those two particular lighting forms, until now. The words of the menu, written in a tasteful off-blue, were now brilliantly contrasted eyesores, robed in the monstrosity of Comic Sans. She had forgotten that rule. She had mixed cream with crystal. Her mind didn’t process this realization and she almost thought she was just imagining the unbelievable error.

“Fifteen seconds, pop. Are you ready?”

“Yep! Wait, my bowtie, is it straight?” Rarity looked down at the two restraunters, who were fumbling with Pish’s tie. They hadn’t seen the sign.

“Ok there! You’re good, get out there and let ‘em know we mean business!” Posh said as he gave the tie a final tweak. Rarity watched Pish moving toward the door. Those ponies out there were there for her, they were waiting to see her work. Work that had just barely been completed on time. Work that showed that she still knew what she was doing.

“STOP!” She shouted.

“Rarity?! What is it?!” Posh asked in surprise. She swallowed.

“The, the board, it’s not, it’s not.” She stammered. Both looked up at the sign. Pish whistled and Posh gasped.

“Rarity! What happened?! You didn’t paint it like that!” Posh said in shock.

“No, I forgot that crystal lighting can’t be used with any kind of cream lighting. I, didn’t see what happened until just now.” She said numbly.

Posh kept staring at the leprous board. Voices of the eager crowd waiting outside became audible in the silence.

“What can you do?” Pish asked after a moment.

“I, I don’t know, I can repaint the board, but that takes at least twelve hours.” She had failed, there was no way they were opening today. Posh looked over at her.

“Twelve hours?” He asked gravely. “You can’t do it any faster?”

“No!” She cried despondently. “I can’t! I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry!”

“What are we going to do?” Posh asked his father.

“Open later. Tomorrow.” Pish replied calmly. “Will that work Rarity?”

“Y-yes, I can do that.” She said, the tears beginning to run down her face.

“All right, I’ll go tell them.” The grey stallion walked to the door. “Folks I’m sorry but-”

Rarity couldn’t bear to hear him, she galloped into the office and clamped her hooves over her ears.

The walk home was the worst walk Rarity had ever known. Posh had let her out the back door and she had walked the perimeter of the town to avoid seeing the dispersing crowd before the Straw Purchase. She didn’t cry, she was done crying. Her body felt charged and tense. Her failure had finally reached an ultimatum. The deadline had been missed, she had failed her task. She was incapable. She was finishing the board tonight, then leaving Ponyville forever. Rarity wasn’t sad, she was confirmed. The Blast had won, Ponyville had won, and she was done. She reached her crates and lay there for the rest of the day.

At around eight she realized she still had to redo the menu board, Rarity rose and started back to the town. She didn’t have a plan for where she was going after she finished. Probably out straight into the forest. She wasn’t coming back, that was certain. Rarity crossed the bridge, a true fall wind, cold and unexpected, whipped around her. Ahead, she saw Apple Fritter and Applejack at their stand, they were selling hot cider. She took a detour to avoid them and ducked down a side street. Applejack would probably have some nice words to make her feel better, but she wasn’t goint to listen. She had put everything on this job and she wasn’t rationalizing her failure. She passed between two buildings and started out onto the street. Somepony collided with her.

“Oof! Sorry about that!” Rainbow Dash was wearing a brown cloak and she was almost lost in the dark fabric.

“No problem.” Rarity replied and kept on her way.

“Hey! Rarity!” Dash noticed it was her and followed her. “What are you doing?”

“I’m finishing up my job at the Straw Purchase.” Replied the unicorn.

“Oh! How did that go?”

“Fine.” Rainbow Dash smiled.

“See? I knew you could do it.” She said warmly. Rarity sighed.

“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash kept following her.

“What do you have to do tonight?”

“Just the finishing touches on a menu board.”

“Paint?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I help?” Rarity turned.

“What?” The Pegasus looked at her hooves.

“Well, I’ve been painting my model and I’ve gotten pretty good. Can I give you a hoof?” Rarity thought for a moment, she didn’t want to be around Dash, or anypony for that matter. But then, six hours of work was better than twelve. She nodded reluctantly.

“Sure, grab your stuff and meet me at the Straw Purchase.”

“Ok!” Rainbow Dash galloped off. Rarity sighed and continued to the restaurant.

Pish and Posh weren’t around, she was glad for that, very glad. Rarity unlocked the door and walked inside. The room hadn’t been changed since morning, the tables were all still set, and the glasses behind the bar were flipped up in anticipation of customers. She dropped her saddlebag on the counter and got to work. She had scraped off the first half of the beverages when Rainbow Dash arrived. The little Pegasus surveyed the room in awe.

“Wow! You did all of this?” She asked. Rarity nodded. “That’s awesome.” The light blue pony climbed up beside Rarity. “Why are you redoing this part?” She asked innocently. Since the only the wall lights were on, the board looked normal.

“The color is off when both the chandeliers and wall lights are on. You can start scraping off the other side and we’ll meet in the middle.” Rarity answered shortly. Dash nodded and started on the other side of the board.

“I’m glad you did so well. I know this is just one job, but it’s a start.” Dash said kindly. Rarity didn’t answer, but focused on her work. “What are your plans after this? Have you gotten any referrals?”

“I don’t know and no.”

“Oh.” Dash said softly. There was a pause. “Did it all go ok?”

“Yes. Fine.” Rarity replied shortly. Another pause. Things were getting awkward.

“Is something wrong Rarity?” Fucking hell, it was no use. Rarity dropped her chisel and leaned against the paint flecked board.

“Yeah, there is Dash. I fucked this job up, we only figured out that the board needed to be changed this morning. That meant we had to delay the grand opening, which I set the date for. That means I failed my deadline, and that also means I’m a failure. I tried as hard as I could on this job, and if I can’t succeed at this, then I guess I’ll just keep baking bread forever. Now I know there’s a lot you want to tell me about how I should cheer up and how I really can do it, but I don’t want to hear it ok? I fuckin’ failed, so don’t tell me I didn’t.” Rarity began to scrape at the board.

Dash didn’t say anything. After a bit, she hopped down from the counter and picked up her saddlebag.

“Make sure you close the door.” Rarity called to her.

“I’m not leaving, I’m just getting a drink.” Dash nosed a water bottle out of the bag and took a few sips. She returned to her place in a second. “How long do you think this’ll take?” She asked, starting to scrape again. Rarity laughed.

“With two ponies, six hours. You can leave whenever you want.”

“I can do six hours.” Rainbow Dash said. “So, uh, what did your bosses say?” She asked after a minute.

“Dash, I don’t want to fucking talk about it ok?”

“Ok.” The Pegasus answered softly.

“They were pissed ok? The whole Goddamn job all they did was act nice and help me out.” Rarity stabbed the menu with her chisel. “They kept telling me how I could do it, and well, Goddamn it if I didn’t believe them.” She shook her head. “But it was all a bunch of bullshit.” Rainbow Dash said nothing. “I’m leaving. I chickened out before, but I mean it this time; there’s really nothing for me here. Just fucking bad memories and reminders. I’m going to finish this damn job and just leave Ponyville. Don’t know where I’m going, but I’m just going.”

“Can I come with you?” Dash asked. Rarity stopped.

“What? No! I mean, I don’t know. Why do you want to leave Ponyville?” She asked in perplexion. Dash shrugged.

“Well, there’s nothing for me here, just like you. I can cut manes somewhere else.” The Pegasus explained. Rarity had no idea what to say.

“Well, fuck, sure, fine I guess.” She said simply.

“Promise you’ll tell me when you leave?” Asked the blue pony. Rarity nodded. “Promise?” Dash pressed.

“God, yes, yes I promise to tell you when I leave Ponyville ok?” Rarity said in exhasparation. Dash seemed satisfied.

“Ok then.” She agreed. Rarity shook her head, Rainbow Dash never made any sense. Thankfully, there were no more questions, and the two worked in perfect peace. After they finished scraping off the old paint, Rarity informed Dash of the font, size, and new hue, a neutral white that wouldn’t appear quite so lurid.

Rainbow Dash worked with surprising tenacity and quality. At first Rarity was afraid that the Pegasus words would be crude or misshapen, but the winged pony’s work actually rivaled that of her own. For another hour or so, they gradually added the dishes and entrees. Eventually, Rarity’s eyes became tired, and she decided to take a break. She hopped down from the counter and poured herself some water from the sink and took a seat at a table. Rainbow Dash was still painting.

“Hey, you can take a break if you want.” Rarity said to her.

“Oh, sure.” The Pegasus joined her at the table.

Rarity looked at the clock, it was midnight.

“Hey, you can leave now, it’s going to go late and it’ll get to be a huge strain on your eyes.”

“I’m fine.”

“It’ll be like three when we finish.” Rarity informed her. Rainbow Dash nodded.

“That’s fine.” Rarity shrugged. They finished their break and got back to work.

As the next hour wore on, Rarity became extremely tired. She hadn’t slept much the night before and the words became blurry and she felt her brush weighing heavily on her horn. Twice she caught herself writing a letter backward, on the third instance she set her brush down.

“I’m going to go make some coffee.” She said drowsily to Rainbow Dash. The Pegasus nodded and Rarity entered the kitchen. The coffee maker was old and she waited for the red light to indicate the brewed beverage. The white unicorn had a seat on the white tile and stretched out her legs. She yawned, Rainbow Dash was crazy to stay up this late with her. And why the hell was Dash so worried about her leaving town? Was she just trying to make her stay? Rarity closed her eyes and thought about it for a moment.

“Rarity. Rarity wake up.” Pish was standing above her. She blinked some sleep from her eyes and a sense of déjà vu came over her. She was laying on the tile, a large dishrag had been folded up and placed beneath her head. She rose quickly.

“I must have fallen asleep!” She said in surprise. Pish chuckled.

“You must have, is this going to be a regular thing?” He asked humorously.

“No sir.” She remembered the menu. Rarity dashed out of the kitchen and looked up at the board. It was completely finished. She studied the characters, flawless Comic Sans; it was incredible, Rainbow Dash had done it all on her own.

“I know, it looks good.” Pish said as he exited the kitchen. “And it blends well with both lights. You really did a great job on it.”

“Well I, had some help.” She quietly clarified. He nodded.

“Well tell them thanks from the Straw Purchase. When we open again, bring them by for a meal on the house.”

“Yeah, sure.” She replied softly. Pish looked up at the board again.

“Rarity-” He began.

“Sir, I’m not taking the money, I don’t care what you say. This isn’t about you, I took the job, I chose the deadline and I failed that deadline. It might not matter to you, but it does to me. I want to thank you very much for the opportunity and all of the time you invested in this.” Rarity said formally.

“Rarity, I wanted to thank you. It’s your choice to be paid, so do with your check as you like. I don’t normally say this, but, there is something you lack in your life, and you have no idea what it is.”

“What?”

“Grace. You lack grace. Part of the speech you don’t want to hear talks about how recovery, part of recovery, is grace. You have a problem with not giving yourself grace. I didn’t want to say this during your work hours, but there is an all or nothing idea you seem to have regarding yourself. That unless you perform perfectly, you are incapable of performing at all. It’s terribly presumptuous to say this, Posh wouldn’t be furious if he found out I had said this to you, but it’s nonetheless true. Rarity, this restaurant means nothing to either of us. Seeing you become a whole person, that matters to us. We would have sold the Straw Purchase if it would have helped you to become who you want to be.”

“What’s wrong with you?” She asked abruptly. The grey stallion chuckled.

“A good deal of things, but I think what you find strange about me, or rather, Posh and me, is how we see life. Of all of the things we believe, there is one rule we try, try mind you, to uphold: That we should love others as family. Rarity, for the three weeks we’ve known you, we’ve spent every minute trying to love you. Most of that love came in the form of giving you all the grace possible. We were hoping that you would gain some confidence in your abilities. That you would realize that you can do anything you want. But you seem bound and determined to push yourself to perfection. As a stallion who spent twenty years doing the same thing, I feel obliged to tell you that you can’t push yourself to perfection. You need grace, you need to allow yourself mistakes.” She shook her head.

“I’ve been doing that for a long time. This was supposed to be my test of ability, I thought, I hoped, I had confidence. I didn’t get the job done.” She started for the door. “Thank you Pish, I get that you’re trying to help me, but you can’t. There was only one result I could accept.”

“You should probably take the money, travel will get costly.” She stopped.

“How did you-”? He continued.

“You will need a new profession, something you’ve never done before; also something easy, something you can win at.” She turned around.

“Excuse me?” She asked in rising anger.

“Head north, when you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can head west and make a circle around Equestria. If you’re on the road and it storms, you can make a shelter out of cardboard and newspaper. Always try to stay near cities, about half of restaurants give free meals, or you can at least dine and dash. Don’t turn to prostitution, hunger beats shame.” She started toward him, rage coursing through her veins.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” She demanded. Pish wore an expression of distant apathy.

“I’m giving you advice for the future you’re taking, I know you’re planning on leaving Ponyville. You don’t have a plan, but given your drive, you’ll search for a new purpose, in a new place, and find a new reason to hate yourself.” He said calmly.

“What the fuck are you saying?!” She shouted furiously.

“Something nopony else will!” He shouted back. His sudden ferocity startled her and she stopped short. “You keep alternating between happy and depressed, you probably sit at your crates wondering why you can’t do anything right. Well Rarity, you can’t.” She was stunned, never had anypony spoken to her like this. “Not the way you define right. You want to have a future doing what you used to do? Then you get a job, you do the work, you look for some resources. And you did, but you keep getting stuck, you keep failing and you don’t know why.” He paused. “You need grace dammit! Tell me, does it sound reasonable to consider a three thousand bit job that runs a day past due anything but a success? Notice I didn’t say perfect success, you aren’t perfect, and somepony needs to tell you that. You are successful, as an employer I can say that, all of your work has been more than satisfactory. You can’t be perfect, you are successful, but you don’t know it, since you think you have to be both to be either.” He took a breath. The old grey stallion’s voice was quieter and gentler now. “Rarity you can walk out that door and go on a journey that will cost you the rest of your life, and the only thing you’ll learn is that you can’t be perfect and you make a lot of mistakes. Or you can accept grace, and understand that you aren’t perfect, and you don’t need to be. I don’t know what happened to you after the Blast, but I can see you think you aren’t the pony you were. And you need to realize-” The door behind them tinkled and Posh entered.

“Hey! The board looks great!” He thumped Rarity on the back. “Guess that makes us all done then!” The younger stallion looked from one to another. “Did I interrupt something?” He asked after a pause.

“We were just talking about yesterday.” Pish answered.

“Oh, yeah.” Posh said in a low voice. He turned to Rarity. “Rarity, will you forgive me, for getting upset yesterday? That was unbelievably selfish. I know you did everything in your power to get done on time, and I feel terrible for losing it over a silly board. Please forgive me.”

“That’s fine. Please forgive me for not finishing on time.” She replied quietly.

“Well, actually, since we didn’t let you in on Sundays and we had the painters in here for a while, I’m thinking we could call it even, you know, for the overtime we technically owe you.”

“Overtime?” He nodded.

“Yep overtime, the total might be a bit low, but we’d still be doubling the original sum, is that ok?”

“Y-yeah, that’s fine.” He smiled.

“Great, let me cut you the check!” He drew a leather checkbook from his pocket and laid it on the counter. “Let’s see, three thousand, minus the chandelier installation and ceiling repairs, plus the incidentals and labor fees, makes…thirty three hundred and sixty two.” He scribbled on the check for a few seconds. Rarity watched him, she knew Pish was still looking at her. “Aaaaand, done!” Posh tore the check from the pad and held it out to her. Rarity looked at Pish, then at Posh, she took the check unsteadily. “Well, that makes us all paid up!” Posh concluded.

“I guess it does.” She said quietly, looking at the check.

“You wouldn’t mind coming to the real grand opening would you? It’s tomorrow, we’d love to show you off along with the place.”

“Y-yes, I suppose I could do that.”

“Awesome!” He nodded to her. “Well, thank you Rarity! Your work was fantastic, I really hope you gained some confidance from this. And, um, we’ll let you know if we need any more help.” He turned to Pish. “You want to add something dad?” Pish shook his head.

“I think we’ve covered everything.” Rarity nodded.

“Thank you both, I really appreciate all of your support.” She said mechanically.

“Glad to help!” Posh called she walked outside. “You were a real blessing.”

Rarity stepped outside. The morning sun was rising and ponies were beginning to walk to work. A wind passed around her and threatened to pull the check from her grip. She looked down at the little piece of paper. Three thousand three hundred and sixty two bits paid to the order of Rarity the unicorn, for interior design and consulting. The little check flapped in the breeze and she held it tighter. Rarity accepted grace.

Chapter 15

Chapter XV

Rarity didn’t want Pinkie Pie to help her move in, but Applejack had insisted that they include her and there was no stopping an insistent Apple. As the four of them lugged Rarity’s belongings up the stairs, they heard a crash. Rarity set her box of bath salts on the steps and rushed down to see what had happened. Dash was laying under the mannequin she had been carrying. She smiled as Rarity helped her to her hooves.

“Sorry Rarity, these stairs are really steep.” Said the Pegasus sheepishly.

“Hey no problem Dash!” Rarity said with a smile. Pinkie Pie hung her head down from the next floor.

“Hey Rarity! Why didja move into the clock tower? That’s a funny place to live!”

“Because Pinkie, the clock tower is the cheapest place to live. If you don’t like moving-”

“Are you kidding?! I love helping my friends move!” Pinkie screeched.

“Nao Rarity. Y’want these dresses in the tool room, er, closet?” Applejack called down.

“Hang on! Let me check!” Rarity shouted up the stairwell. As nice as the clock tower was, it kind of sucked to have to move everything four flights of stairs. She sprinted up the stairs and into her room.

It was not a big room, just enough for a desk, a small bed and a table for one. The afternoon light shone through the glass clock face which comprised one of the walls. AJ poked her head out of the closet.

“Where should ah set them dresses?”

Rarity entered her “closet”. It used to house the obsolete tools used to repair the giant clock mechanism. There was a rusted steel bar that stretched across the tiny room, she had hung most of her dresses from that. The rest of the room was filled with a few rolls of fabric and a sweatshop sized sewing kit.

“Yeah, just set the rest of those with the others on the rung.” Rarity said as she looked at the two dresses laying across the filthy footlocker that sat inconveniently at the floor of the room. It was the only thing that they couldn’t remove from the claustrophobic room; the lock had rusted impossibly shut, and the worn black container seemed bolted to the floor.

“Well alraght then.” Applejack said as she hung the dresses. “This is lookin’ nice, ya’ll got a cozy little place here miss Rarity.” Rarity smiled.

“Well, it’s a bit cramped, but it’ll do.” Dash bumbled into the now crowded closet, she was carrying the one mannequin that Rarity could afford to store in the tower. Nearly tripping over Rarity, the blue Pegasus tried to maneuver the mannequin into a suitable resting place.

“Whoa now! Lemme help ya with that!” Applejack said as she steadied the Pegasus’ hold on the bulky white figure.

“I got it, just, here, let me get under it.” Rainbow Dash and Applejack fumbled with the mannequin, trying to find a place to set it.

“Nao hang on, rahght beside the locker, tha’s where we’re droppin’ it.” Pinkie Pie poked her head into the room.

“Hay guys! Is this a closet party?!” She asked excitedly. She entered the now overcrowded closet.

“No Pinkie, it’s not. It’s pretty crowded in here, why don’t you go triple check the cart to make sure we’ve unloaded everything.” Rarity said in annoyance. Applejack laughed.

“’Sides, ah’m pretty sure the only closet party in town is gunna be hosted by Snails.” Pinkie hopped up in the air.

“Yay! Closet party at Snails’! What are you guys bringing?” Rarity sighed, there was no cure for Pinkie Pie.

“Wai don’t ya’ll?” Applejack grunted as she and Rainbow Dash lowered the mannequin to the floor. “Take us bah Sugarcube Corner for some after-movin’ treats? We’re all done here, an’ ah’m cravin’ some sweets.” She asked with a grin. Rainbow Dash smiled too, which (momentarily) made up for Pinkie Pie.

“Yeah! I haven’t been by Sugarcube Corner in a long time!” The blue Pegasus agreed. Pinkie clopped her hooves together.

“Ha! Yeah…just, let me run there now, I’ll get everything set up, we can make cupcakes ‘k?” Rarity nodded.

“Perfect, wonderful! Get everything ready!” She said, motioning to the door.

Pinkie Pie shot out of the room. Applejack laughed.

“Glad t’see that filly is keepin’ good.” They exited the closet. “Y’two should drop by the farmhouse some tahm, we got hot spiced cider, love it when ya try it.” She suggested.

“Is it hard cider?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Hell yeah! Hardest cider in all of Equestria!” Applejack touted.

Rarity walked over to the clock face and gazed at the frosted glass; she had a home.

They had been moving her belongings for two days but the giddy feeling of owning a home again hadn’t left her. She was happy and she didn’t feel guilty or bitter about anything. That was what grace did.

“Rarity! You ready?” Applejack called to her. Rarity turned. She didn’t hide her smiles any more.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

It felt strange locking the clock tower, almost as if she were the janitor or something. But as Rarity turned the key in the ancient lock, she felt another rush of joy; she was locking up her home. She had a home again.

“Nao don’t tell me y’fergot where Sugarcube Corner is.” Applejack ribbed at Rainbow Dash. The Pegasus smiled.

“Nope!” Rarity gave AJ a nudge.

“In fact, Dash has a giant model of Ponyville she’s been working on all summer. It’s incredible, you should see it.” Applejack eyed Rainbow Dash.

“Thatta fact? Well, maybe ah’ll just drop by that cloud a’yers sometime and check it out.”

“Well, I don’t live on the cloud anymore. I live out in the prairie.” Rainbow Dash explained.

“Oh, didn’t know that.” Applejack said in embarrassment. “Whut didja do with the cloud?”

“Sold it to a Pegasus that just moved here.” Rainbow Dash replied.

They walked toward Sugarcube Corner. Rarity looked around at the business and shops that flanked them.

Rarity didn’t hate Ponyville anymore. She had forgiven them. Grace was like that, grace let go of hate. The grand re-opening of the Straw Purchase had been attended by twenty two ponies. She had received numerous compliments on the authenticity and style of her work. She didn’t hate them anymore; Rarity could scarcely believe it.

The leaves on the trees were brilliant swatches of red, orange, and yellow and they crunched like pretzels underhoof. Fall was here.

“So Applejack, have cider sales picked up? I mean, it’s fall and all, do ponies buy more during this season?” Rarity asked the farmer. Applejack cocked her head.

“Can’t say really, this is our first year doin’ anythin’ distilled. It’s picked up a lot from Las Pegasus. Not shure whut the hell they’re doin’ out there, but ah guess it involves booze and lots of it.”

“Scootaloo is out there.” Rainbow Dash added.

“Well wai don’t ya’ll go out and visit her some time? That filly sure as hell loved ya Dash. Maybe a nice weekend out in Las Pegasus would be a good way to get out.” Applejack suggested.

“Oh, I could never do that.” Rainbow Dash said quietly.

“Besides, I still have to find a way to repay you for all of that painting you did.” Rarity said with a grin.

Rainbow Dash smiled.

“Oh that’s ok Rarity, I was just glad I could help.”

“Well, I’m going to find a way to pay you back, just you wait.” Rarity said as they reached Sugarcube Corner.

They walked inside, the front end was empty.

“Pinkie?” Applejack called. Pinkie poked her head out of the kitchen.

“Hi guys! Come on in!” She called cheerfully. The three ponies shuffled into the kitchen. Pinkie Pie had gotten out all of the various ingredients and tools necessary to make cupcakes. “I think we can each make one.” She said carefully.

“Heh, getting money savvy are ya?” Applejack joked as she poured some flour into the bowl.

“Hehe yeah. Getting money savvy.” Pinkie agreed. Rarity didn’t care, she really just wanted to get back to her new home, there was still much unpacking to do.

For about twenty minutes, the four ponies scooped and measured a miniscule amount of batter into the silver bowl and then ladled it into four small cupcake shaped containers. Pinkie Pie shoved the tray into the oven and shut it.

“Y’don’t make cupcakes at yer’ bakery do ya Rarity?” Applejack asked as she scraped her teeth with a toothpick.

“Nope, just Northern stuff. Nothing edible, sometimes I have trouble believing we’re still in business.” Rarity chuckled.

“Are you doing anything else besides the bakery? Any new jobs?” Rainbow Dash asked. Rarity shook her head.

“Nope, just baking bread.”

“With Applecrisp!” Sugarcube stood in the doorway of the kitchen. Nopony had even heard her approach.

“Sugarcube!” Pinkie Pie said in surprise. “W-what are-” The pink pony swallowed, she had evidently not been expecting her cousin. “You doing here? You went home last week!” The yellow pony skipped into the room.

“My parents said I could stay with you for another month! Isn’t that great?!” Pinkie Pie embraced her.

“Of course it is! But, I thought your parents wanted you-”

“NOPE!” Sugarcube released Pinkie Pie. “We get to hang out for whole nother month!” She turned to the group. “Say! Have I met all of you ponies?” She asked the mares. She pretended to not recognize Rarity. “Hmmmm, I think I’ve met you before.” She said in mock uncertainty to the unicorn.

“You hit me with a chair.” Rarity replied flatly. Sugarcube giggled.

“Oh yeah, that was you!” She looked Rainbow Dash over. “I don’t ever think I’ve met you, my name is Sugarcube!" Rainbow Dash smiled.

“I’m Rainbow Dash, nice to-” Sugarcube turned to Applejack.

“And you!” Applejack flicked her hat and grinned.

“Ah’m Applejack, ah run-”

“Of course I know who you are! Applecrisp says to say hi!” Applejack snorted.

“Nao when did ya’ll see her?”

“We were just at the Alone Star, Mr. Cake-” Pinkie twisted the dial of the oven and it dinged.

“Cupcake time!” She cried. It was always a schizophrenic conversation with those two, Rarity thought in irritation.

“Oh fun!” Sugarcube said, flouncing over to the oven. “I love cupcakes!”

There were only four cupcakes, Rainbow Dash offered hers to Sugarcube, on the admission that she “Did not like Cupcakes.”

They iced the cupcakes, Rainbow Dash and Rarity attempted to draw Ponyville on their cupcake. Applejack cursed her poor art skills and made a basic apple atop her cupcake. Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out of her mouth and tried to include eveypony’s Cutie Mark on her cupcake. Sugarcube just slathered white frosting on hers and called it done. A ding from the front door punctuated their work.

“Oooh! A customer! Pinkie, do you want me to tell them to leave?” Sugarcube piped up.

“Oh no no! I’ll go take care of them!” Pinkie said quickly as she sped out of the kitchen. Applejack chuckled.

“Tha’s party pony for ya, kin’ never sit still.” She remarked.

“You got that right.” Rarity said as she mindlessly shaped city hall out of pink frosting.

“So miss Sugarcube, whut did Applecrisp say about me?” Applejack asked the yellow pony with a casual and unconcerned air. Of course Applejack had to know.

Sugarcube put a frosting coated hoof to her chin.

“Hmmmm, well, she said you have no heart, which is funny ‘cause you can’t live without a heart. And you should go somewhere I’ve never heard of.” Applejack snorted.

“Tha’s about raght.” She said, taking a bite of cupcake. “Nothin’ new ah see.” She said, a few crumbs trickling out of her mouth.

“Oh! She also said she’s pretty sure you text Braeburn, I dunno what text means though, I didn’t ask her, Mr. Cake said we had to go.” Applejack stopped short at this.

“Whut?” She asked in a low voice. Sugarcube frowned and rubbed the frosting into her chin.

“It was something like text, maybe fax, or sex or something, it didn’t make a lotta sense.” Sugarcube took a bite of her cupcake. “Whatever it is she says you do it a lot.”

Applejack crushed the cupcake she held. Frosting squirted out of her hooves and splattered the countertop. The farmer pony glowered at the stupid yellow pony as if she were Applecrisp.

“She’s one t’talk.” AJ said in a voice so low it was almost a growl.

“So, uh, Applejack, you’ll never believe this but Rainbow Dash, she painted that whole menu at the Straw Purchase. It was incredible, I fell asleep-” Rarity tried to change the subject as Pinkie burst back into the room.

“Ok! I’m back!” She said gleefully. Applejack wiped her hooves.

“Thanks fer havin’ me Pinkie, much obliged. Ah gotta be getting’ back to the farm nao.” She adjusted her hat. “Rarity, lemme know if ya need any more help on the house, ah’ll be around the rest a’ this week, then ah’m headin’ up to Cantorlot t’see Applebloom.” She cleared her throat and looked around awkwardly. Nopony said a word. “Welp, ah be seein’ ya’ll.” Applejack walked out, leaving a gap in the group.

“Bye!” Pinkie called to her, she turned back to Rarity and Rainbow Dash. “Well, what do you guys want to do?” Rainbow Dash smiled and gave Pinkie Pie a hug.

“Thanks so much for having us Pinkie, I have got to go home, it’s getting late and I need to be in bed soon.”

“Oh…ok.” Pinkie said a little quieter. Rarity didn’t hug Pinkie, but sort of shuffled off with Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, I gotta walk Dash home, she’s um, it gets dark fast.” She explained.

“Ok.” Pinkie said softly. Rarity forced a smile.

“Thanks for the cupcakes, and helping me move. I can pay you if-”

“You’re my friend Rarity.” Pinkie said hopefully. Rarity sighed and forced another smile.

“Yeah, I guess that’s right.” Rarity and Rainbow Dash left the sweets shop. As the door closed Rarity heard Pinkie Pie asking Sugarcube how much longer she was staying. She was glad to be out of Sugarcube Corner.

“God, thanks for getting me out of that.” Rarity said with a laugh as they walked down the street. Dash looked over at her.

“What do you mean?” Asked the Pegasus.

“That excuse, having to go to bed. I couldn’t have thought of something like that.” Rarity said with a grin.

“I really have to go to bed.” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Oh.” It was about eight, Rarity had no idea why Dash would be going to bed at this early hour. “Well, do you want me to walk you home still?” The unicorn asked. Rainbow Dash smiled.

“I’ll be ok.” The shy Pegasus walked down the street. Rarity watched her for a moment, then turned down her street. Nine months after the Blast and Dash still didn’t make any sense.

Rarity made her way home. She was happy, even if things were still different. She unlocked the door to her tower and climbed the lengthy staircase. She was happy, grace did that to her. Going back still happened, but it was less pronounced now and more often than not she felt sorry for Rainbow Dash or the other ponies who had been hurt as opposed to just thinking about herself. Rarity entered her room.

“Well, I guess I’m home.” She declared to the empty room. The white unicorn sat down at her desk and stared at the milky white glass before her. She had come a long way, she had money, her depression was starting to lift, and she had friends. The Blast hadn’t won.

Someone knocked at the door and the noise echoed through the brick tower. She grunted and made another journey down the stairs.

“Hey! Just wanted to make sure you had directions!” He said with a flirty smile.

“Yes of course!” Rarity answered. He blushed, which made him that much cuter.

“Well, ok then, see you on Wednesday!”

“Yes Wednesday!” She agreed. The dragon bowed and trotted off. Rarity sighed and closed the door. She was also in love.

Chapter 17

Chapter XVII

The next morning, as Rarity and Applecrisp were warming the ovens, Mr. Salukas entered the oven room. He stepped fully into the room and cleared his throat. They stopped working and Rarity became intensely nervous. What was going on with him and all of his secret trips?

“I am sorry if the past few days have been cold. I, or rather, my wife and I, were contemplating hiring a new worker.” He cleared his throat again. “But she does not think it a good idea, and you two are producing finely.”

“Ok.” Applecrisp said slowly. “Whut does that have t’do with us?”

“Since you are apparently doing the work that I thought three ponies should, you will each receive a twenty percent raise in your pay.” Sonny answered.

“Well thank yew!” Applecris said appreciatively. Mr. Salukas didn’t seem particularly happy about not hiring a new worker.

“Yeah, thanks Sonny.” Rarity said kindly. “You’re an awesome boss.” He nodded.

“You are awesome workers, both of you. I am sorry for the confusion of the past few days. There will be no more confusion, we’ve made our decision regarding any new hires.” The brown stallion stood for a moment, as if he wanted to say something else, then shook his head and exited the room.

“W’hell, ain’t that a bit a’ fahn news? Tell ya whut, next time we get t’gether, ah buy the drinks, just not at Hennessy’s.” Applecrisp joked. Rarity answered with a taunt about how she really couldn’t handle her liquor and the two soon fell to a conversation about alcohol their respective tolerances for liquor. But in the back of her mind, Rarity still felt uneasy about all of the secrecy. Who had Sonny intended to hire? Why did Ana veto his decision? She spent the rest of the afternoon wondering about the whole thing, and of course, how grace could have helped.

That night, Pish was at city hall applying for a license to place candles on all of the tables. Rarity and Posh sat in the center of the dining room. Rarity asked the younger stallion what he thought she should do for her friend Applecrisp.

In the few weeks that she had known Posh, Rarity had noticed a trend in his advice. Posh usually advocated for a more gentle approach with things. He maintained that a large part of grace was simply giving a helping hoof to ponies and letting them come around on their own time. For the surly and bitter Applecrisp, he advised that Rarity be her friend as she had been doing and Applecrisp would, on her own terms, begin to restore her relationship with her cousin. Rarity felt a little proud that she had already been doing the right thing on her own.

“And my friend Rainbow Dash, well, she’s.” Rarity didn’t really know how to describe her. “She used to be this crazy daredevil Pegasus, but, she got hit pretty hard by the Blast. She’s, well, she has trouble doing things now, and I want to help her. She’s a great friend, and she’s a lot like me in that she wants to make something out of herself. She talked about donating her wings to some sick kid.” Rarity sighed. “I dunno, I’m all for acts of kindness, but, it just doesn’t sit well with me.” Posh nodded.

“You have great questions Rarity. Let me first just say that I’m really proud of how you’re looking to help your friends. As far as Rainbow Dash is concerned, look at what you did and do with Applecrisp. It sounds like she doesn’t like anypony, but she does like you. Why do you think that is?” Rarity thought for a moment. She honestly couldn’t understand why anypony liked her. Applecrisp probably liked her because she drank and swore and wasn’t a normal Ponyville pony. Dash probably liked her because she was the only pony that came to see her in her seclusion.

“Because you accept her.” Posh finished. “If you think about it, most your problems with this town stem from not being accepted. After the Blast, you weren’t the pony that Ponyville thought you were, so they shunned you and your business.” Rarity had never thought of it like that. “So, when your friend Rainbow Dash tells you that she wants to make something out of her life, accept her. I realize it’s hard, the Blast changed her, just like it changed you.” He smiled. “But what makes a happy and well-adjusted life is accepting that change. Extending grace and accepting that things are different now. It took you a few months to finally accept yourself and become happy with who you are, Rainbow Dash is just doing the same thing.”

“Is it ok to feel uncomfortable about it” She asked guiltily.

“Absolutely, you probably felt uncomfortable first understanding who you are now. It’s the same with seeing who Rainbow Dash is.”

“But, who am I?” Asked the white unicorn. Posh laughed.

“That’s a bad question to ask other ponies, the best pony to ask that is yourself.” He thought for a second. “You’re Rarity, creative, organized, focused, and driven. You have tremendous ability for design in fashion.” He swept his hoof over the room. “And in interior layout. You love challenges and are very adaptable.” He finished proudly.

“But what do I do?” Rarity asked in uncertainty. The stallion considered this.

“Well, this is where dad and I disagree.” He said carefully. “For me, it’s not important, you’re going to get where you should no matter what. All that you need to do is be who you’re supposed to be, and the rest will fall into place. Don’t ask what you do so much as who you are. Do you believe you’re all of those things that I just described?” Rarity nodded. “Well then great! The rest will fall into place!”

Rarity wasn’t sure if she believed that. It seemed strange, lazy almost, to simply be who she was and assume the rest was going to work itself out. She left the Straw Purchase that night feeling confused. Could she really just wait for life to get her somewhere she wanted to be? Was it really that simple? As she laid down to sleep that night, she hoped it would be.

The next day passed by slowly, she and Applecrisp spent their lunch break seeing who could spit sunflower seeds farther. Sonny paid them, and at six, Rarity walked home. The leaves crunched deliciously underhoof and Rarity inconspicuously altered her gait to crush more. She set her paycheck down on her desk and checked the various containers of potpourri she had place around her room; the clock tower held a distasteful rust odor that she wanted gone. A knock sounded down at her door. Rarity made the long trek down to the door.

Spike blushed the instant he saw her.

“Hi Rarity!” He said with a contagious happiness.

“Why hello Spike! To what do I owe this visit?” She asked with a grin.

“Well, I wanted to schedule a second date.” He said formally. She giggled.

“How professional! Just where would we be going on this second date?” He swallowed, he still hadn’t come to terms with actually dating the unicorn of his dreams.

“Flying, on Twilight’s chariot.” A bold move, Rarity was surprised he had the audacity to steal Twilight’s chariot a second time.

“Sounds dangerous, what would the queen say if she found out?” She asked playfully.

“N-no, she’s fine with it. I talked to her, she’s happy that I’m getting out.” Rarity should have guessed that Spike would ask permission. Still though, it was awfully romantic to go flying in a golden chariot.

“When?” She asked.

“I was thinking Friday? We could watch the sunset.” Rarity blushed, that sounded unbelievably romantic.

“Ooooh, that sounds wonderful. Friday you say? Well, I suppose I’ll have to pack something warm to wear.” She paused. “Or maybe someone warm to hold.” Spike got that dazed, love-stricken look.

“That sounds awesome.” He said dreamily. “I mean, yes, I will see you then.” He quickly corrected.

“Right.” Rarity couldn’t help but smile at his adorable boyishness. “Friday.”

“Friday.” He agreed. She watched him skip off down the street. It was wonderful to be in love. She closed the door and had gotten three quarters of the way to her room when another knock sounded at the door. She walked back down, Spike was still blushing.

“I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you, you should still pack something warm, it gets pretty cold on top of clouds.” He said apologetically. She kissed his cheek.

“Well, I’ll pack a scarf, and the rest of me you can keep warm.” She felt his heart racing.

“Yeah.” He whispered in a stupor of preemptive passion. She again closed the door and shook her head. Spike was a darling dragon, she couldn’t have asked for a better mate. This time she only reached the second flight of stairs when the knock came. No amount of giddy love changed the number of stairs she again had to descend and by the time she reached the bottom floor, her heart was racing from exertion rather than affection.

“I’m really sorry.” Spike apologized. “But I didn’t give you a time. Is seven thirty ok?”

“Great, perfect.” She said shortly. She again shut the door. Rarity waited at the foot of the stairs for about ten minutes, she knew he had one more thing to ask her. After a bit, she figured he was gone and walked back up to her room.

A flight up to the clouds and a sunset! She broke out into a grin, she was going to kiss him. Not like a normal sloppy kiss, no, this would be a passionate, in your face, “sit down and let me teach you” kind of kiss. Spike was the kind of mate that she would enjoy spoiling. If they married, she would make him the happiest dragon that ever lived. She picked up the bowl of mixed flowers she was blending for an air freshener. A knock bounced off the brick walls and echoed into her room. Fucking hell, what could he have forgotten? She wearily trotted back down the length of stairs. She was out of breath and a bit red in the face as she answered the door.

“If you come back again, I’m going to pack a parka and keep myself warm!” She barked.

“Pardon me?!!” Hoity-Toity recoiled. Rarity nearly fainted. The In stallion lowered his obscenely fashionable sunglasses and looked her over. “My word! I seem to be mistaken! I was told this was the home of Rarity the unicorn! Not her deranged cousin!” He said in total surprise.

“No no! This is she!” She stammered. He squinted at her for a couple seconds. It took him a moment to realize that it really was her.

“Rarity?!! Good God! What has happened to you?” He asked in fright.

“Er.” She was speechless. Hoity-Toity’s presence destroyed any possibility for a good explanation of her current appearance and her mind was blank.

“Never mind, it’s obvious that you, have, had a bit of a breakdown. At any rate, I was just in the area, I stopped at that restaurant in town, that one with the waiter with the cross for a Cutie Mark. I was simply afflicted by the décor and he told me that a unicorn named Rarity had done it all herself. Now of course, I said that wasn’t true, since the Rarity the unicorn that I know went insane and is working for the gryphons. But I found your address, and.” He stopped, obviously trying to come to grips with her appearance. “Did you do the interior work for that restaurant?” She nodded. Hoity-Toity leaned in toward her. “You don’t smell, your eyes are focused. Are you insane?”

“No?” She said in uncertainty.

“Well what are you doing now?”

“I work at a bakery.” He gasped, then caught himself. The short stallion looked about him, then leaned in toward her and whispered.

“Your rates, they are, inflated? You’ve no doubt been following this cancerous infection of dresses from Manehatten and of course you adjusted accordingly.” she shook her head.

“I’ve been out of the game for a pretty long time.” He frowned.

“I’d heard you’d run into some business trouble a while back. That must have been what drove you mad. Tell me, what’s your output these days?”

“Um, nothing. My business closed, I’m no longer working in design.” She stated.

“But you could be!” He said quickly. “Rarity, listen to me, this whole Manehatten crisis has my workshop scrambling. I don’t have nearly enough time to match those curs in Manehatten, and the dresses they’re putting out.” He threw his hooves up. “Garish! Simply horrendous hodgepodges of cloth that only catch the eye in most pornographic manner. I need somepony to throw some garishness back at them. I need you.” Rarity nearly fainted. Hoity-Toity was the bastard fashionista known for his vicious critical regard of all other designers. He was impatient, demanding, impossible to satisfy, and above all else, picky. And he was asking for her.

“Me?” She asked in astonishment. “But I haven’t done a piece in months. I’m behind on the trend, I have no materials!”

“Shut up.” Said the stallion. “I have in my entourage four dresses, I have in my possession twelve thousand bits, take the dresses. Buy what you must.” His eyes narrowed from behind his opaque glasses. “And make me something to shoot back with.”

“Y-y-you-” It was too much and Rarity passed out. When she awoke, Rarity found that she was still laying at the foot of the stairs. A strange dream involving an old business acquaintance hung in her mind. She dizzily climbed the stairs to her room. She pushed open the door. Stretched across her bed were four silk dresses, red, orange, blue and green. On her desk sat a stack of hundred bit bills. It had really happened.

She fainted again.

When she awoke, Rarity saw that it was morning. She picked herself stiffly off of the dusty floor and walked to her bed. The dresses were still laying on the blanket. She touched one, it was a rich lapis lazuli blue and woven finely into ephemeral fabric was thin gold thread. She knew these dresses cost more than her tower, more than her entire job at the Straw Purchase. On her dask sat a stack of bits. She counted the bills, twelve thousand bits exactly. It was real. She stood a few minutes, staring at the scene before her. Was this a joke? It was just like Hoity-Toity to drop an assignment without waiting for a yes. No, it was way too fast, and even in the most desperate of times, he would never hire somepony who had been out of work for as long as her. She shook her head, he would have to pick up his props after she finished work.

Sonny manned the front end, Rarity and Applecrisp did as they always did and baked bread. It was Thursday, and Rarity walked a load of crates to Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was still off in Cantorlot with her sister and it was Apple Fritter who let her in. Rarity dumped the wood and walked out of the cavernous barn. She caught sight of a few of the odd ponies that Applejack employed, they were milling around the side of the farmhouse and appeared to be planning something. The white unicorn paid them no mind and went on her way.

She finished up at the Lone Star and was just leaving the building when she ran into the designer.

“Rarity! How are my beauties coming?” Hoity-Toity had his entourage with him. She flushed with embarrassment at the sight of him and his servants all waiting before the door of the bakery. Was this still a joke?

“I just finished at work.” She involuntarily explained.

“At work?!!” He demanded. “You have your work from me! That’s all I’ll have you doing! I’ll go see if I can’t free your schedule!” He declared.

“Oh no, that’s fine!” Rarity said quickly. Hoity-Toity marched past her and into the Lone Star, leaving his entourage behind him. She chased after him. Joke or not, she was not having him piss off Mr. Salukas.

“Pardon me good sir, but I am going to requisition one of your employees.” The gaudy fashionista stated to Sonny, who was sweeping behind the counter. “A one, Rarity the unicorn. I will pay you for her time, or give you one of my personal eunuchs to recompense.” Sonny looked down at the frilly pony standing on the other side of the counter.

“Excuse me? Who are you?” He asked.

“Well! Seems my reputation extends everywhere but.” Hoity-Toity looked about for a sign indicating the name of the bakery. “The Lone Star.” He read from the menu. “I am Hoity-Toity, of HTE, I lead the premier fashion design workshop in all of Equestria-”

“Da, I know who you are, what is your business?” Hoity-Toity wasn’t used to being interrupted and stood agape for a moment.

“Well! I am temporarily borrowing one of your employees as I have contracted her for some design work. She will be returned to you once she completes my assignment.” Sonny looked down at the short pony before him. He looked up at Rarity, who was mortified from embarrassment. He took a deep breath.

“Rarity, please see me in my office.” He said in a low voice.

“Yes sir.” She whimpered.

She should have beaten up Hoity-Toity, or killed him, anything that would have prevented the impending outrage from Sonny. She followed the horse into the little office. He shut the door and turned to her.

“That disgusting stallion, do you know him?” Mr. Salukas asked, pointing to the door.

“I did, you see, back when I was in-”

“Is his business reputable? As he says?” Sonny asked.

“Y-yeah, he’s, it’s one of the two largest in the nation.” Sonny nodded.

“What does he want you to do?”

“Some dresses, he wants me to add some gems and things to them.” She explained. “He just sort of appeared at my place yesterday and told me to work for him.”

“Do you want to do that?” Mr. Salukas asked calmly. Rarity realized she hadn’t actually made a decision about the job, she had assumed that it was just no by default. She worked at the Lone Star, and she wasn’t even sure if Hoity-Toity meant to hire her.

“I don’t know. You, I mean, I work for you.”

“He said he would pay me for your time.”

“And he, I think he’s joking.” She added.

“He doesn’t seem like he’s joking. Rarity, I remember that you worked in this kind of business before you worked for me. Excuse me for overstepping my bounds, but isn’t this what you would like to do?”

“It is, of course it is! But, I work for you, and Ana-”

“Forget Ana, I am willing to let you go to work for this pony if it is what you would like.”

“Oh no no! I don’t even think he’s serious!” Rarity began. Sonny threw open the door, Hoity-Toity was squinting at the menu.

“You.” Sonny pointed at the diminutive stallion. “Are you serious in your offer to my employee?” Hoity-Toity rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t think my day would involve convincing immigrants of the seriousness of my work. Yes, of course I am serious!” Sonny closed the door.

“It seems you have a valid offer Rarity.” It was happening too fast for her, she couldn’t just up and leave the Lone Star overnight.

“Mr. Salukas, thank you, I know you-”

“Nyet.” He knelt down beside her. “Rarity, as I have told you before, your days at this bakery are numbered. I know you are not destined to be a baker.”

“I don’t want to leave you hanging, you need somepony to take my place.” She said desperately.

He smiled.

“Rarity, what do you want to do?” He asked quietly. She thought for a moment.

“Well, I.” She stopped. This was exactly what she wanted to do. This was what she had done before. Of course she wanted to do this. She wanted more than anything to be back in fashion. “Want to take his offer.” She finished with certainty. He nodded, there was a bit of a pause, then Rarity reached out and took hold of the tall brown stallion. She hugged him tightly.

“Do your work as you have done it here, and there is no doubt you will succeed.” He whispered to her.

“Thank you Sonny.” She was crying, Rarity wasn’t really sure why, but the tears were there. “Thank you for everything.” She looked up, his green eyes were shining, he was crying too.

“You are a good pony Rarity. You will do great things, I have known that since I first met you.”

“Thank you for believing in me.” She sniffed. “I’ll come back, it’ll just be this job.”

“Nyet, give him every reason to keep employing you.” His deep accent mixed with emotion and his voice grew hoarse. They held each other for a moment, then he released her.

Mr. Salukas cleared his throat.

“Go, that is an impatient stallion.” He pointed at the door. Rarity looked to the door, then hugged him again.

“I love you Sonny.” She whispered. She felt the warm tears running down his cheeks.

“I love you too Rarity.”

Hoity-Toity was waiting outside. He looked pissed. As she stepped out into the front end, he rose off of a chair.

“Well it’s about time! Now, can you please get to work?” She nodded.

“Yeah, I can.”

Chapter 18

Chapter XVIII

It was the beginning of the end for old Rarity. Although, Rarity really didn’t think there ever was an old Rarity. From what Pish and Posh had told her, she had just lacked grace to accept herself; old Rarity was just an angry and purposeless Rarity that was bitter about her loss. She learned about grace, she accepted herself, and most importantly, Rarity was happy. The first of the four dresses had at first intimidated her, but to her eternal delight and surprise, the ideas and flow of her work had returned seamlessly. Sonny had been right, she hadn’t lost her ability in the Blast.

She dated Spike (the sunset chariot ride lived up to its expectations) and as the days went by, the final pieces of her life were knitted together. Ana was working at the Lone Star, she would not allow anypony who wasn’t a white unicorn or a draconian earth mare to assist Applecrisp (which annoyed Applecrisp and flattered Rarity). After four weeks of intense design and sewing, the final blue dress was the only remaining portion of her project. She was nearly done.

Rarity wore a light green cloak, nothing showy, after all, she was just buying some figs. The walk to the grocer was calm and pleasant, leaves swirled around her, and she drank in the crisp fall air. She passed by a few ponies, Rarity smiled and nodded to them. She had returned to her pre-Blast mane and now looked like a proper designer.

A few figs cost her twenty bits, but what did she care? She had made seven thousand bits already from her design work and the final dress would no doubt be the most expensive. Who knew, maybe old Hoity-Toity would even throw in a tip, he had certainly liked her latest work. She wasn’t really back in business, no of course not, this was just a temporary job. But no amount of rationality could keep Rarity from the idea that she was almost at pre-Blast status. She passed Applebloom’s “office”, the lights were on. She wouldn’t have peeked in, but, Applebloom was off at college and Rarity had nothing better to do. She pressed her nose to the glass.

Applejack sat at Applebloom’s desk reading a leather-bound book, her hat lay upturned on the floor beside her. Her freckled face was tight with concentration and the only movement came from her eyes scanning the pages before her. Rarity knocked on the window, Applejack seemed to break out of a dream. The orange farmer smiled and rose to let Rarity in.

“Wai howdy miss Rarity! Ain’t seen ya’ll in awhahl!” She greeted. Rarity stepped into the warm office.

“I saw you in here pouring over whatever you’re reading, and that surprised me.” She pointed to the book. “Unless that’s smut.” Applejack laughed.

“Nawp, jus’ my ledgers, tryin’ t’see where ah stand.” She stretched her neck. “Been at it all day.”

“Financial troubles?” Rarity asked tentatively.

“Oh hell no! Farm’s doin’ better than ten a’ the old ones. We’ve made eight hundred thousand this year!” Applejack said quickly. She sighed and pointed to the book. “Jus’ had some troubles with the books, things ain’t addin’ up.” The door opened behind them. That worker Rarity had met at her party, Paco, that was his name, entered. He nodded to Applejack.

“I could not find the first volume, it had clearly been taken.” He said to her. Applejack sighed and ran a hoof through her hair.

“Gawddamn.” She muttered. She looked up at Rarity. “Sorry, Paco and ah are on an investigation a’ sorts. With eight hundred thousand bits a’ revenue, there seems to be an’ underlyin’ belief that a few thousand are gonna go unnoticed from the books.”

“Thieves?” Rarity asked in apprehension. Applejack nodded.

“Only these thieves work on the farm.” Paco explained. “With security such that Applejack has, there can’t be any other way that we are being robbed.”

“Ah ain’t pointin’ hooves!” Applejack added defensively. “But yeah, Paco an’ ah are pretty sure it’s comin’ from insahd the fence.” Rarity had never thought to suspect the workers of anything, they seemed like a given. “Sorry ‘bout all this Rarity, how are y’doin’?” Applejack asked, flipping the book closed. She flicked her head to the stallion. “Paco, wai don’t y’go get back t’the farm, we’ll pick this up t’morrow.”

“Aye, see you tomorrow Applejack.” He said with a nod. The stallion exited and Applejack took a seat at the desk.

“He seems nice, you think you can trust him?” Rarity asked.

“Whut, who? Paco? Oh yeah, ah’m pretty sure ah can trust him, he’s gotta good head, an’ had a lotta chances t’steal sumthin’, an’ he’s the one who tipped me off to the whole pro’blem in the first place.” She motioned to another chair. “Nao tell me about yerself, whut’s new with Rarity?” Rarity pulled up a chair.

“Not much, well I got a job doing fashion design.” She said, a smile breaking over her face. Applejack thwacked Rarity on the shoulder.

“Atta girl! Nao if ah remember rahght, ya’ll thought ya’ll were all done with that kahnda thing.”

“Well, it’s just a temporary job, nothing permant you know.” Rarity said modestly. Applejack grinned.

“Nao, you think this is all it’ll be?” Rarity had often thought about what the next step after the dresses would be. It really depended on what Hoity-Toity said, and nopony could predict that.

“I don’t know, I have to wait and see what my boss says about the dresses I’m doing for him.”

“Aw, nao ya’ll know as well as ah do that Rarity the unicorn knows how t’make a good frilly dress. Wouldn’t surprise me if he made y’a partner.” Rarity shrugged.

“Well I don’t know about that, maybe just a subsidiary.” Applejack guffawed and leaned back.

“Seems t’me we’re all fahnally movin’ on.” She concluded.

“I guess so.” Rarity looked at her hooves. “It’s been a ride hasn’t it? I mean, I thought I was done with fashion, and here I am with a second chance. Sweet Apple Acres is successful enough that even its own workers want to rip it off. Twilight’s running the whole country. Rainbow Dash is, well.”

“Yeah, how is that filly? Ah ain’t seen her since we moved y’in.”

Rarity spoke softly.

“She wants to, or is rather, getting her wings removed and donated to a sick kid in Cantorlot.” Applejack was silent a moment. Evidently, her feelings matched Rarity’s.

“She, wants t’do that?” The farmer asked quietly. Rarity nodded.

“She’s, like me I think. You know, looking for a new life. I think she wants to live less selfishly.” Applejack nodded.

“Tha’s mahghty serious, ‘specially fer’ Dashie.” She picked her hat up. “But then, so’s barfaghtin’, takin’ down terrorists, an’ pretty much everythin’ ya’ll an’ ah do. Guess tha’s just how she heals, sure is nahce a’ her ah guess.” Neither spoke for a time, they both were trying to rationalize Rainbow Dash’s decision.

“Y’know, outta alla the ponies ah’da thought would take the Blast hard, Pinkie Pie sure is doin’ mahghty fahn.” Rarity snorted. “Nao ah mean it, sure maybe her games are a bit annoyin’ and it’s been mora blessin’ than a curse that she ain’t had a party inna whahl. But still, she didn’t get fucked up or nothin’, gotta wonder whut her secret is.”

“Yeah, I don’t know, maybe denial. Actually, Applecrisp was saying that Sugarcube Corner was going out of business, so there’s another sorta secret.” Rarity realized her mistake. “Oh shit, sorry didn’t mean to bring her up.” She said quickly. Applejack waved her off.

“Naw, it’s no problem, ah’m gettin’ over her. Maybe ah’ll invite her out some time, show there’s no hard feelin’s. Course she is still lyin’ if she’s tellin’ ya’ll that Sugarcube Corner is goin’ anywhere but up. Ah saw Pinkie Pie an’ that yellow one mailing a shit ton a’ letters th’ other day, not sure wai, but y’don’t waste that much paper if yer goin’ outta business.” That made Rarity feel a little better.

“She asked me if I was her friend this one night.” Rarity confessed. “I kinda felt sorry for her, like she’s just now figuring out that I don’t like her anymore and she doesn’t know why.” Rarity frowned. “I really don’t know why, I mean, maybe it’s cause I’m jealous that her business didn’t close like mine did or something. Maybe I’m just mad that she didn’t get as fucked up as I did after the Blast. I don’t know, maybe once my life gets back on track I’ll warm up to her.” Applejack grinned.

“That sounds sooner than y’think, ah’d be careful whut y’say!” Rarity shook her head.

“Just a temporary job.”

The next afternoon she spent perusing the magazines she had ordered. One of the great joys that she had forgotten about fashion work magazine shopping. She glossed over the Manehatten dresses; Hoity-Toity was right, they were obscene. She chuckled, those poor Manehatten designers, trying to set a lasting trend, they didn’t know fashion repeated itself every forty years.

At around two, she moseyed out to the Café for a bite of lunch. She had a light salad, her stomach had been spurning anything heavy for the past few days and she was trying to get back to her Full Circle diet. She munched her food and watched Ponyville going about its day. From amidst the bustle of streets, she caught sight of a brilliant flash of fire red. Audacity and Octavia were out for a walk and were strolling down the street toward her. She desperately hoped they wouldn’t see her.

They did.

“Rarity! Hey Rarity!” Audacity called. Oh fuck it, she had a perfectly wonderful life and relationship, she had nothing to be insecure about.

“Yes?” She asked as if she had just noticed the pair. Audacity leaned over the railing.

“We were just out walking before my race! Oh, I should introduce you!” He pointed to his mare. “Rarity, this is Octavia, she’s the one who likes that protein bread! Octavia, this is Rarity, she showed-”

“We’ve met before.” Octavia said with a sticky grin.

She was a bitch, Octavia was a bitch.

Audacity laughed, typical stallion, he had missed the beginning of the catfight.

“So anyway, Rarity, I haven’t seen you around the bakery in a while!” The Pegasus said. Rarity smiled sweetly.

“No, I’ve actually been working on a request from Hoity-Toity.” She turned to Octavia. “I don’t know if you know who he is. Maybe you’ve heard of him.” She said in condescension. Her enemy put an arm around Audacity.

“Babe.” Shit, she called him babe, which probably meant they had done it, which gave her the upper hoof. “Why don’t you invite Rarity here to your race, I’m sure she’d love to see you in action.” Octavia said without the slightest hint of ill will.

“Hey yeah! Rarity, you want to come to the race? The Wonderbolts will be there, I could have you meet them if you’d like!” He suggested.

“Oh no sorry, I have to get back to work. It’s a thirty thousand bit contract, and well, it’s a competitive business.” She rose from her seat. Taking a fifty bit bill from her bag, Rarity dropped her tab carelessly on the half-full plate.

“Wow! You must be making some serious money!” Audacity said. Rarity was about to say something about it “not being that much” when Octavia pulled him back toward the street.

“Better massage those wings babe!” She advised.

“Oh shoot! That’s right!” he said, dismounting the railing. “Guess you’ll have to save the roughness for later.” He said, kissing Octavia’s cheek.

The bitch giggled at this.

“Hope your dress or whatever goes well Rarity!” She called as the pair started off. Octavia looked back, she wore a sugar-encrusted smirk that would have sickened even Pinkie Pie. With a light flick of her tail, she motioned to the fiery Cutie Mark on Audacity’s flank. They had totally done it.

Rarity took the rest of the walk home to calm down. She had Spike, of course she had Spike! Maybe he wasn’t some passionate moan of ecstasy kind of lover like Audacity had to be, but he did have a wonderful sense of humor, and he was a gentleman. This notion helped her in rationalizing her defeat to Octavia.

Once at her tower, Rarity opened her closet and gazed upon the dress. She also had an opportunity to work for one of the premier fashion designers in all of Equestria. All Octavia had was a dust-filled store full of music shit nopony wanted; hell, she had probably sold more torture instruments than musical instruments. Rarity shook off the feelings of entirely illogical jealousy and got to work. She worked the rest of the day on a preliminary sketch of the requested “garishness”. At six, she set down her pencil, rubbed her eyes, and walked down the several flights of stairs to her door. Per norm, Spike was waiting with a plate of hay.

“Hey there milady! Thought you could use some victuals!” He said with a bow.

“Well of course! Come on in!” She replied coaxingly.

Spike came most nights, he would bring something to eat for her and give her massages. Out of all of the many wonderful attributes that Spike held, none tickled Rarity more than his insatiable desire to please her. Maybe it was how he was made, to serve anypony he liked or was born to. In any case, Rarity always made it worth it for the little dragon. She set the plate of hay down upon her bed and he cuddled up with her.

“So how’s the dress? Where did you get to today?” He asked, laying his head against her chest. She pointed to her desk.

“Just did some sketching, nothing permanent.”

“Twilight says that half of the time spent on most great works of art is sketching.” He kissed her chin. “I bet that’s true for you.” She giggled.

“So how was your day mister Spike?” He sighed.

“Boring, as usual. I did all of the regular chores, then read some, then just sat around. That new guy, Brutus, he talks even less than Praetorian and Maximus, and it’s an awfully quiet house.”

“Aww.” She kissed the top of his head. “Maybe I should come by some night, we could make some noise.” She feel his heart beating faster at this.

“Well, maybe in a few months.” He answered softly.

She loved Spike. She loved how cute he was about everything. He would gladly sell his soul for a chance to cuddle with her, yet when it came to the ultimate form of cuddling, he declined. Sex, like Rarity herself, was something he wanted to enjoy properly. Just like how he always tried to treat her with respect and affection, Spike also made an intentional effort to reserve their bedroom for their wedding night. He was the cutest little dragon she had ever heard of.

And of course there was going to be a wedding, Rarity knew that from the moment she had started dating the purple dragon, maybe from the moment she had met him. He was kind, sensitive, and a gentleman, what more could she reasonably ask?

The pair snuggled and talked about date things for a time. Spike might not have known how to make love well, but he did know how to win her heart with words. They traded tidbits of conversation and kisses for a time, but finally, the growing dragon fell asleep. Rarity smiled, no matter how big Spike may have had gotten, he was still a young dragon and still fell asleep at the cutest of moments. She usually carried him home whenever he fell asleep, but tonight she was tired herself and decided to simply steal the blankets from around him.

Rarity was about done with her final sketch when he awoke.

“Ah! Rarity!” He recoiled in surprise. “What happened?” She giggled.

“You were quite the man dragon last night, honestly, I don’t think it would be fair to compare you to a puny stallion.” He blushed heavily and rose out of the bed.

“You, we, I mean.” He stuttered. She giggled.

“No, we didn’t, you just fell asleep.”

He heaved a sigh of relief. For a moment, he seemed to catch his breath.

“I really should go.” He said after an awkward pause.

“Well ok mister stud, if you have to!” She said playfully. He blushed again and Rarity walked him to the door.

“Anyway, thanks for dinner. I’ll have to return the favor!” She said, as she hugged her dragon.

“Oh you don’t have to!” He said self-consciously.

“I’m going to be your mare! That’s my job!” She said with a shy smile. He swallowed.

“Yeah, yeah that’s right.” He said, almost as if he himself were not sure of their future together.

She worked for the rest of the day gathering the materials she needed. She dug up a few batches of sapphires. She mailed an order for some dumb fabric, this was just a garish order after all. And finally, Rarity checked her sewing kit for the needed materials.

It was Tuesday, and after her work was done, she made her way over to the Straw Purchase. Pish was clearing the dishes from a table when she entered.

“Oh hello Rarity. Good to see you.” He said pleasantly as she entered.

“Great to see you, how’s the place going?” She asked. He smiled and pointed to the messy tables.

“We’re blessed to have a good flow of diners, you’ll think it’s something else, but I can guarantee that it was your renovations that made the difference.” She shook her head.

“Nope! I’m doing great! If everypony tells me that I’m good at something, then I’ll take their word!” He set the dishes on the counter and sat down on the table.

“Good good, I’m happy to hear progress. How are your friends?”

Pish was more direct than Posh. He didn’t use the word “accept” so much and the rules of the pair’s God seemed to come up more in his advice. Rarity liked him, after all, he had been the only pony who had been able to bring the concept of grace into her life. The grey stallion took the direct means of dispensing advice to her and he never seemed to take much time to deliberate over her inquiries.

“Good, they’re good. Where’s the waiter?” She asked. He smiled.

“In the office, you’ll have to excuse him. God put something on his heart, he’s been praying all day.”

“Oh, I see.” She had never seen either of them pray before and wondered if she had committed a faux pas by asking. “Well, things are good. I don’t know why I came over here really. My boyfriend is good, I’m good, Rainbow Dash is good, honestly, things are coming together.” Pish nodded.

“You’re happy then?”

“Yep! Definitely! There are still some things I’m not sure on, if I’ll get another offer from my boss after this order, one of my friends is having a bit of a conflict at her farm.” She stopped. “But those are things that I’ll just have to wait and see for.”

“Well, I’m not sure how much more you need to learn from either of us. Your anger seems about gone, you’re happy, is there anything you’re still concerned or unsure about?” Pish said with a shrug. Rainbow Dash came to mind.

“Well, my Pegasus friend, Dash, I’m accepting her and all, but I can’t shake how uncomfortable I feel about her donating her wings.” Pish sighed.

“Accepting, yes.” He picked up a fork and toyed with it. “Do you think it’s right?”

That was the other difference between Pish and Posh. It didn’t happen often, but on occasion, Pish almost sounded like he questioned his son’s advice. Virtually all of their teaching of grace they agreed on; in fact, the only time that Pish and Posh seemed to disagree was over Rainbow Dash and her impending grounding. Rarity herself had always taken Posh’s advice of acceptance and tolerance, and usually the less vocal Pish said nothing.

“I don’t know. It seems like it’s wrong, but it can’t be, but I still don’t like it.” She frowned. “It’s not my place to judge her though, I know the right thing to do is accept her.” Pish started to ask another question when Posh exited from the office.

“Hello! Any words?” Pish called. Posh looked troubled and he didn’t even seem to notice Rarity.

“I feel like there’s somepony really in need of intercession tonight. Dad, do you have a few minutes to pray with me?” He asked.

Pish slid off of the table.

“Been looking for those few minutes my whole life.” He said with a chuckle. The younger stallion noticed her.

“I’m sorry Rarity, I don’t mean to shut you out. It’s only that-”

“Oh no no no!” She said quickly, she was eager to avoid another faux pas. “I’m really doing well, I’ll come by next week!”

“On your problem Rarity, do what your heart says.” Pish called as he entered the office.

“Oh, ok.” Rarity said awkwardly. In a moment, the dining room was empty, as the two stallions met together for prayer and Rarity left for home.

It was a little after seven, the sun was almost set and the air was chilly against her skin. Do what her heart said? What the hell did that mean? Rarity felt one way about Rainbow Dash, but she also had to accept her. Wasn’t doing what her heart said against the nature of grace and acceptance? Of course their prayers had interrupted the explanation. She felt a mixture of annoyance and understanding at taking second place to godly rituals.

"Rarity, please." Pinkie's voice sounded really messed up and Rarity jumped in surprise. The unicorn whirled around, Pinkie Pie was standing in the middle of the street. She was crying. "Please, help me. I don't have anyone." The pink mare begged.

“Uh.” Rarity was taken completely off guard by the out-of-character party pony and stood staring at Pinkie.

"I-I-I." Pinkie started to sob. The perpetually chipper Pinkie Pie was crying uncontrollably the middle of the street at 7:33 PM. She looked toward Rarity. There was a desperation in her bright blue eyes. "P-p-please Rarity” She stammered.”I don't have anypony else to ask for help. I need you to come somewhere with me.”

"What about Sugarcube?” Rarity began in uncertainty.

"I HATE HER! SHE RUINS MY PARTIES AND SHE’S NOT FUN!!! SHE WAS ONLY HERE BECAUSE NONE OF MY OTHER FRIENDS WANT TO SPEND TIME WITH ME ANYMORE!!!" Pinkie's helium voice was wrenched with a sudden ferocity and Rarity took a step back in surprise. In a moment, the unexpected rage dissipated from the earth pony and she seemed drained of life. Pinkie Pie collapsed into street and for the first time since the Blast, Rarity felt something besides dislike for her. The sight of the defeated little cupcake baker sitting by herself in a dark street pulled at Rarity.

Rarity walked over to the weeping pony. She sat down beside her in the middle of the cobblestone road. She had no idea what to do.

"What, uh, what do you need me for?" Rarity asked. Pinkie looked up at her. Goddamn it, she looked a shit ton like Dash when she did that. Pinkie Pie’s soft eyes were wide and pleading and tears streamed down her pink snout.

"I need somepony to help me take Gummy to the vet." She said amidst sobs. Rarity sighed, another bullshit errand that Pinkie got emotional over.

"Yeah, whatever, I can walk you there." The unicorn said, beginning to rise.

“He's not coming back.” Pinkie cried. “There’s a law in Ponyville that says alligators over the age of four have to be put down for safety purposes.” Party pony began sob harder now. “His birthday was yesterday.” Rarity stopped.

“What?”

“I have to put him down!” Cried Pinkie.

And then Rarity held her, stupid fucking Pinkie Pie, the pony she had treated like shit for an entire summer, the pony she had hated for being such a giggly little headache. She held Pinkie because there wasn't any pony who could. Rarity held the despondent party pony, she remembered Opal, and her throat tightened and her eyes stung.

"Yeah." She sniffed. "Yeah." Her voice grew rough. "I can walk with you."

The doctor's office was a starched white. The lights were bright and the little crying she had done made Rarity's eyes burn. Pinkie held Gummy, the green alligator looked around the room curiously. The door opened.

"Miss Pinkamina?" Asked the nurse. There wasn't anypony besides them in the room. Pinkie stood.

"Yes, that's me." She said softly.

The nurse smiled.

"We're ready for you." Rarity didn't know if the nurse was actually trying to make her feel worse, or if she didn't know what their appointment was for. They shuffled into the operating room.

The doctor entered

"Good evening Miss Pinkamina." The stallion said formally. He looked to Gummy. "Will we be needing to restrain him?" Pinkie shook her head.

"No." She swallowed. "He trusts me."

The doctor, anxious to avoid emotions, cleared his throat. "Well, then, I will need to prepare the compound." He pointed awkwardly to the table. "If you would like to place Gummy on the table, you may." He bit his lip. "Say goodbye."

He backed into another room and Pinkie laid the little reptile down on the cold metal. Gummy cocked his head and looked around him in curiosity. Pinkie was trembling.

"Now, Gummy, I." She stopped. Rarity looked on as Pinkie started to unfold. A tear landed on the metal and shone brightly under the lights. Pinkie fought back her sob. "I love you very much." Another tear fell and she swallowed. "There are some things that you must trust me on. You are a wonderful alligator and I don't even mind that you ate my gum." She struggled to speak. "Mommy wants you to know that she never wanted this to happen and she didn’t know that this would-" Gummy crawled up and bit her harmlessly on the nose, almost as if he understood her sorrow. The doctor returned, he waited until the alligator released his grip.

"Well, then." He said quietly. Rarity saw Pinkie summon what strength she had to keep from crying out as the stallion took hold of her alligator. Gummy was still looking intently toward Pinkie Pie when the needle broke his scaly skin.

"Mommy loves you Gummy." Pinkie said in a faint whisper. It was the loudest whisper Rarity ever heard.

Chapter 19

Chapter XIX

Pinkie Pie stayed with Rarity that night. Rarity offered her the bed and laid a blanket down on the floor for herself. As she laid down on the floor, Rarity felt Pinkie Pie beside her. The unicorn rolled over.

“Please hold me.” Was all Pinkie said.

Rarity held Pinkie Pie.

The next morning, Pinkie Pie was sitting at Rarity’s desk. The white unicorn picked herself off the dusty floor and walked over to her. She put a hoof on the little pony’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry Pinkie.” Rarity said gently. Pinkie had been crying, a little puddle of tears had collected on the varnished surface of the desk. She didn’t move and simply stared at the white glass of the clock face.

“They said he was too big, that he was going to get teeth soon, and that I had to put him-” She wept softly. Rarity felt party pony shake with grief. “He wasn’t mean.” She said in tortured confusion. Rarity swallowed. “But there was nothing I could do.”

“I’m sorry Pinkie, do you want me to walk you home?” She asked.

“I don’t have a home!” Pinkie cried. “There aren’t enough sales in the recession and we lost a lot of money in the repairs. The rent came due yesterday, Sugarcube Corner is out of money!” The cottony mare laid her face down on the desk and sobbed. “I don’t have anything. Sugarcube is stupid and none of my old friends like me anymore! I don’t understand why everything is so terrible now!” The guilt thundered down upon Rarity. She had treated Pinkie horribly, all while her life was coming down around her.

She had never even thought to consider that the little confectionary might actually close, it seemed so well-liked. She had never thought that Pinkie might not even like spending time with her cousin, they seemed so similar. And Rarity had never considered that Pinkie might have gotten fucked up by the Blast, she had seemed so happy.

“I’m so sorry Pinkie. I treated you terribly, I.” Rarity felt the tears in her eyes. “Didn’t know what was happening to you. I was so focused on myself this summer that I never thought you were doing badly.”

Pinkie cried aloud.

“I, I thought things would stay the same after the Blast! But you, and Rainbow Dash and everypony, they changed! I told myself to be brave after Fluttershy died because I had my friends.” She looked up at Rarity, Pinkie’s face was a mirror image of Dash’s. That same wondering expression, those Goddamn eyes. “I thought I had you.” She whimpered. “And then business got slow, and we sent out all of those letters to our friends asking for money.” She shook with sobs. “Nopony cares anymore.”

“I’m so sorry Pinkie, God fucking damn it I’m sorry.” Rarity whispered as she clutched her friend. “I swear to God I’m going to help you in any way I can, I’m not going to hurt you anymore.”

“P-please don’t leave me, that’s all I want.” Pinkie cried. For the rest of the morning, Rarity just held Pinkie Pie.

At around two, Pinkie seemed to run out of tears. She was still seated in Rarity’s desk chair and the unicorn still knelt beside her.

“Do you want me to take you home? Mr. and Mrs. Cake might be worried about you.” Rarity asked. Pinkie stood up weakly and steadied herself against the chair.

“I don’t feel good.” She said softly. “Would it be alright if I laid down?”

“Yeah.” Rarity said as she helped the pink mare over to her bed. Pinkie crawled into Rarity’s little bed. She pulled the covers around herself and closed her eyes.

Rarity watched her for a few minutes. She felt horrible inside. All through the summer she had simply thought that Pinkie Pie had just moved on after the Blast. She had assumed that Pinkie Pie and Sugarcube got along. She has assumed that Sugarcube Corner was fine. She had just gone on with her life like Pinkie Pie didn’t exist. She hadn’t given a fuck, she had been too focused on herself and how annoying Pinkie had been. She felt the tears in her eyes as she watched the sad little pony lying asleep in her bed. She hadn’t even considered giving grace to Pinkie.

For the rest of the day, Rarity stayed inside the tower with the sleeping Pinkie Pie. Rarity worked on a backup design for her dress and every few minutes, she would look over at the unconscious party pony.

The giant hands of the clock both rested on the eight when Pinkie Pie awoke.

“Hey, how are you doing?” Rarity asked gently. Pinkie Pie rubbed her reddened eyes.

“I’m a little hungry, do you have anything to eat?” She asked timidly. Rarity opened her cupboard.

“There’s some hay in here, and a few flowers.” She awkwardly scooped some onto a plate and gave it to Pinkie.

“I’m sorry Rarity.” Pinkie said as she ate her meal. “This is a big imposition, I should go.”

“No no! It’s no big deal, I’m waiting for some materials for a dress to come in, so there’s nothing I have to do.”

“I thought you worked at the Lone Star.” Pinkie said softly.

“I’m doing a job for an old business acquaintance, then I’ll go back to the Lone Star.”

“Mr. Cake was trying to get me hired there.” Pinkie said.

“Wait, that was you?” Rarity realized that Mr. Cake would probably try to find a new job for Pinkie if Sugarcube Corner closed. She recalled the fighting that Mr. and Mrs. Salukas had had about this mystery hire.

“Mr. Cake told me that you weren’t hiring.” Pinkie Pie said, setting the plate down.

“I could probably get you a job there.” Rarity offered. “I can put in a good word for you.” Pinkie shook her head.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m moving today.” She said quietly.

“What? Where?”

“To Yanhooyer, with Sugarcube’s family, they want to take care of me.” Pinkie swallowed. “I, wanted to say goodbye to you last night, but then I found out about Gummy, and I couldn’t do it alone…” Her voice trailed off. Pinkie Pie sniffed back some tears. “Well, goodbye.” Party pony said with a sad smile.

Rarity’s throat closed.

“I’ll be right back.” Rarity said quickly.

She dashed down the stairs of the tower. In her haste she tripped on a stair. She only fell two flights, but a bent nail caught her leg and opened an inch long cut. She ignored the pain and galloped out of the tower.

Rarity sprinted through the town, she struck ponies who were in her way and knocked them over in her mad dash. She struck the doors of Sugarcube Corner at full tilt, nearly shattering the glass.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were hauling suitcases down the stairs.

“Rarity! What’s wrong?!” Mrs. Cake asked in surprise.

“Nothing, I, just.” Rarity gasped. “Needed.” Two outrageously yellow ponies walked out of the kitchen and all four stared at the panting unicorn. Rarity looked at Mr. Cake. “I need to tell you something about Pinkie Pie.”

“Oh my, where is she?” Asked Mrs. Cake in concern.

“She didn’t come home last night, she had to put her pet alligator down. She’s moving today and I think she wanted to say goodbye to you.” Explained Mr. Cake.

“Is Pinkie Pie all right?” Asked the yellow stallion. Rarity took a second to catch her breath.

“Pinkie Pie is staying with me.” Rarity declared. Both couples looked at one another.

“What?!” They asked in shock.

“Why, no she isn’t, Pinkie Pie is coming with us!” Said the yellow mare indignantly.

“Rarity, what are you talking about?” Asked Mrs. Cake in confusion.

“Pinkie Pie is living with me now.” Rarity said factually.

“No she isn’t.” Said the yellow stallion in anger. “She’s coming to Yanhooyer with Sugarcube. The two got very close over the summer.”

“The Lone Star gave her a job doing half of the baking. She’s living with me.” Rarity explained to the Cakes.

“Stop saying that!” Shouted the yellow stallion. “She is not staying with you!”

“You want to bet?!!” Rarity shouted back. Mr. Cake stepped in between the two, who were starting to approach one another.

“Stop!” He looked at Rarity. “Rarity, these are the Squares, they’ve been very generous and have offered to take Pinkie in. I’m sorry but it’s not up to you to decide where she goes.”

“Listen miss Rarity, we’ve come a long way, and Sugarcube loves Pinkie, don’t think you can just-” The yellow stallion began.

“Walt, stop it.” Mr. Cake said over the other stallion. He looked back at Rarity. “Please, Pinkie Pie is going to live with them, can you tell us where she is?” Rarity looked at the yellow stallion and realized that the decision had already been made a long time ago.

“The clock tower, she’s at the clock tower.” She said in helpless rage. Mrs. Cake sighed.

“Alrighty then, let’s walk over there and get her.”

The five ponies walked to the clock tower. Mr. Cake advised that Rarity have a doctor look at the cut on her leg. Rarity didn’t give a fuck about her leg. She thought desperately for some plan or idea, but nothing came to her.

“We’ll just pick her up and be on our way, you don’t need to come with us.” The yellow stallion said curtly.

“Walt, she’s a friend of Pinkie’s.” Mr. Cake chastised. He turned to the bleeding unicorn. “Rarity, it’s very generous of you to want to help Pinkie, but the plans have already been made.”

“You can come and visit her sometime if you would like.” The yellow mare said gently. “Walt” muttered something about not on his watch.

They reached the tower, Pinkie Pie was making Rarity’s bed as the group entered.

“Hi Pinkie Pie!” The yellow mare said kindly. “It’s time to go home!”

“Yes, get your things and let’s go.” Walt said in irritation. Mrs. Cake walked forward and put her hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder.

“Are you ready dear?” She asked gently. Pinkie Pie looked at the two yellow ponies.

“I-I think so.” She said softly. She looked at Rarity. “Thank you Rarity.” She hugged her. “I’m gonna miss you.” She whispered. Rarity’s heart broke apart as the pink pony squeezed her one last time.

“I’m going to miss you too Pinkie.” She whispered back, the tears already returning.

“Can we go please? The reservation at the hotel closes at eight.” Walt said impatiently. Pinkie Pie released Rarity. Rarity saw that Pinkie was crying too.

“Ok.” Pinkie said shakily. “I’m ready.”

“Thank you Rarity.” Mr. Cake said. Walt and his mare each put an arm around the small pink pony and the five departed. Pinkie looked back one last time before the door closed. Their eyes met. Then the door closed, and Rarity was alone.

Atticus Finch, the architect who designed Ponyville’s clock tower, placed the glass clock face exactly twenty feet and three quarter inches above the ground. The thinking behind the placement reflected Finch’s desire to expose the beautiful frosted glass to anypony walking through the town. Rarity never knew Atticus, but as she hurtled toward the pavement, she reflected upon killing him for putting the clock face so damn high. She struck the ground hard and rolled forwards over countless glass shards that had landed a moment earlier. She cried out in agony as the frosted caltrops slashed her face and body. Rarity feared that she had fractured her legs from the fall, and blood ran down numerous lacerations across her body, but she staggered toward the door to the tower. Walt was the first one out, he was talking about getting a bite to eat. Rarity shoved him aside. Pinkie Pie was beside the yellow mare.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity shouted, even though the two were only a few feet apart. “I treated you badly, I fuckin’ treated you like shit!” She paid no mind to the petrified screams of the mares and the angry shouts of both Walt and Mr. Cake. “I want you to come and live with me so I can make it up to you and show you that I’m still your friend!” Pinkie Pie’s eyes were wide as she beheld the bloody unicorn.

“Are, are you serious?” She asked in shock.

“Oh my God! Rarity! What’s going on?!!” Asked Mrs. Cake in horror.

“Get away from her!” Shouted Walt as he moved between Pinkie and Rarity. “You stay away from her you hear? You need help.” He said severely to Rarity.

“Fuck you. I treated that pony like shit, and I’m gonna make it up to her.” Rarity spat. He shook his head.

“No. You’re clearly insane. You need to be committed.” Rarity was about tackle him when Pinkie cried out amidst the chaos.

“I want to live with Rarity!” Everypony looked back at her.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake rushed over to Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie, listen to us.” Mr. Cake began. Pinkie kept her eyes on Rarity.

“No, she is my friend, I want to live with my friend.” Pinkie said firmly.

“She’s crazy!” Walt shouted. “Sugarcube is at home, she’s dying to see you Pinkie! How is Rarity more of your friend than her?”

“I want to stay with my friend.” Pinkie Pie repeated.

“Pinkie, dear, please, listen to us.” Mrs. Cake pleaded. Pinkie Pie shook her head.

“I want to live with my friend Rarity.”

Walt threw up his hooves.

“Well! That’s it I guess! You travel a hundred miles to pick up an ungrateful brat who wants to live with a deranged unicorn! Well, that’s it!” He shook his head and started away. Mr. Cake chased after him.

“Pinkie, dear, what’s gotten into you?!!” Asked Mrs. Cake. Pinkie walked over to where Rarity stood.

“You jumped out that window to ask me to live with you?” She asked the injured unicorn. Rarity nodded. The two stared at one another for a moment, then Pinkie Pie hugged her tightly.

“You’re my friend Rarity.” Pinkie Pie whispered in her ear.

“I’m going to try.” Rarity whispered tearfully. “I’m gonna fucking try.”

“Pinkie, please, if Rarity can’t support you, you’ll have nowhere to go. The Squares are the only family who offered to take you in.” Mrs. Cake pleaded.

“My friends are my family too.” Pinkie said softly.

For a second nopony talked, then Mrs. Cake let out a long breath. The mare looked out toward the road where Mr. Cake and Walt and his mare were arguing. She looked back toward Pinkie Pie and Rarity.

“Walt’s never coming back, I know that much.” She said with a sigh. “And we’re leaving for Cantorlot to seek a tax refund later today.” She closed her eyes and sighed again. The middle aged bakerpony looked at the lacerated unicorn that stood beside her stepdaughter. “Rarity, please, take care of Pinkie Pie, she’s in your hooves now.” Rarity gulped down some blood.

“I’m going to do my best.” She answered.

Chapter 20

Chapter XX

Pinkie Pie as a roommate. As usual, Rarity had made a decision affecting her long term future in just a matter of minutes; and just as typically, the process for this decision had involved her risking grievous injury in a thoughtless and probably pointless act of emotion. Pinkie Pie as a roommate; the two had a lot to learn about one another. Pinkie Pie brushed her teeth with frosting, Rarity did not allow non-organic vegetables within a hundred yards of her sleeping area. Their first week was an unmitigated fuckfest of lost tempers and unwittingly crossed borders.

Yet Rarity never considered sending Pinkie to live with Applejack or even Rainbow Dash; Pinkie Pie was her roommate, and she was going to live with her even if it killed her. She was going to make up the summer to Pinkie Pie. She was going to show her grace.

As far as her final dress was concerned, Rarity all but halted work as she spent most of her time making rules and agreements with her pink partner. As she awoke on a futon that smelled of formaldehyde, (she had given Pinkie the bed in return for banning caffeine after nine P.M.) Rarity realized she still needed to find her friend a job. She grabbed an apple from the newly purchased refrigerator (Pinkie needed to keep a few of her party implements below 40 degrees or “bad things would happen”). Party pony herself was still asleep and Rarity eased open the door so as not to wake her.

The fall had been relatively kind to her; her cuts had not required many stitches, and she had merely sprained three ankles. Nevertheless, she had spent the last week limping to and fro and hoping that nopony would slap her on the back. She really needed to find a way to express her thoughts in a way that did not involve serious injuries.

The Lone Star was already open and Sonny was at his usual position up front. His face lit up as she entered.

“Ah Rarity! Good to see you! How is your job?” He asked excitedly.

“Great, it’s great, I’m down to my last dress. Shouldn’t be too long now!”

He smiled.

“That is good to hear! So what can I get for you?” She clopped her hooves together nervously. How was she going to get Pinkie hired when they had already turned her down?

“I was wondering, could you maybe give my roommate a job? In the kitchen?” She inquired casually. He frowned.

“Ana does not wish to hire anypony but you. What is her name?”

“Pinkie Pie.” Rarity laughed nervously. “I think you might have met her.” Sonny sighed.

“Yes, I did. I was trying to hire her back when I heard that her work was going under.” He shook his head. “Ana does not wish me to employ her. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah but you run the store.” Rarity reminded. He grew a little upset to this.

“And Ana is my wife.” He replied sternly.

“I’m sorry, I just, well, she’s my roommate. Her life’s kind of on the downturn and I’m trying to find a place for her to work. It would really mean a lot to me if you could find a place for her.”

His resolve weakened and he rubbed his neck.

“I will see what I can do.” He said reluctantly.

“Thanks Sonny. How are things here?” The unicorn asked with a smile. He shrugged.

“Not as they should be. We are getting busy now that Sugarcube Corner is gone. Ana is not the baker she was and Applecrisp cannot fill all of the orders by herself.” Rarity realized that things would now be perpetually busy without the little confectionary. They needed her at the Lone Star.

“I’m sorry, I’ll get my work done sooner.” She promised.

“Nyet, do your work well. Give him no reason to avoid employing you. We will manage here.”

“Thank you.” She looked to the oven room. “Is it ok if I go see Applecrisp?” He nodded and she entered the warm room. Applecrisp was mixing up what looked like pretzel dough.

“Hey.” Rarity said with a grin.

“Thought we were hangin’ out on Friday.” Shit, she had forgotten about that.

“Oh shit, sorry, something came up. I jumped out of a window, I’ll explain later. How about tonight we get some beers and hang out at your place?” Applecrisp shrugged.

“Shure.” She turned back to her work. Rarity waited a moment, then realized that Applecrisp was done speaking to her. Even as a friend, Applecrisp wasn’t one for words.

Leaving the Lone Star, Rarity walked to the post office to check to see if her materials had arrived. They had not. It was a strange feeling, not having anything to do, like how things had been at the start of summer. Only now she had to find a job for Pinkie Pie. She started toward Sweet Apple Acres, maybe Applejack could help her.

The walk was pleasant, and Rarity cheerfully requested entrance from Apple Fritter via the intercom. The main yard was devoid of any ponies, they must all be at the brewery, or some amazing new expansion of the family business.

She started toward the barn. As Rarity approached the giant doors, Applejack herself came marching out of the building toward Rarity. She did not look happy. The farmer noticed her.

“Wai hi Rarity!” She said with a stressed smile. “Nahce a ya t’drop bah.”

“Good to see you too Applejack, I just dropped by to talk, if you’re not busy.” Applejack laughed.

“Ain’t been a day since this farm was planted that ah ain’t been busy. Well, ah got a few minutes ‘fore ah gotta head out and check Miguel on the west rows.”

The two went to her subterranean office. “S’whut’s new with Rarity?” Applejack asked as she sank into her black leather chair. Rarity sighed.

“A lot. Pinkie Pie is my new roommate, the long and short of it is that I’m her caretaker since the Cakes lost Sugarcube Corner.” Applejack raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Nao whut made ya’ll suddenly want help the filly?” Rarity shrugged.

“I realized I had treated her fucking badly over the summer, her life fell apart and there wasn’t anypony there to help her. I realized that it’s awful for me to treat her like shit, even if she does get on my fucking nerves a lot. I’m trying to get her back on her hooves and help her like I do with Dash.”

“That’s a mahghty fahn thing fer ya’ll t’do. But ah guess that about makes ya square with alla yer friends!”

Rarity frowned.

“Well there’s Twilight, I’m still not sure what she thinks of me, I haven’t seen her since the party.” Applejack grinned.

“Maybe ona them fancy new dresses yer in the line of mahght sweeten things up.”

“Hey hey hey! Those are Hoity-Toity’s property, I’m just adding some flair.” Rarity said with a laugh.

“Oh yeah right, cause that’s all he’s gunna ask of ya’ll. Rarity, ah’m not a fashionista like ya’ll in any way. But ah am a business pony, and when somepony like ya’ll makes a profit for somepony like him.” She shrugged. “Well there ain’t no way he ain’t gunna capitalize on that.” Rarity nodded. The unicorn leaned back in her seat and thought for a moment.

“You know, it’s almost like things are better now.” She said thoughtfully. “I mean, yeah, I wish the Blast never happened, but, I don’t know, everything seems like it’s finally smoothing out. Twilight’s queen, you’re getting rich and your family is doing well. I’m, well, I’m going to get married to Spike, maybe settle down, and maybe be a housemare. I’ll probably do some design, just a hobby if Hoity-Toity doesn’t want to use me full time. Pinkie Pie, well, I’m going to help her out in any way that I can. And Rainbow Dash.” Rarity paused. “Well, she’s finding herself, and I’m sure I’ll get used to her without wings. She’s making some really noble decisions, and that’s great. I think that nine months after the Blast, we’re all getting past what happened.”

Applejack nodded in agreement. But they both knew the last two ponies Rarity had named weren’t doing better than before in any sense of the word.

The alarm clock on Applejack’s desk beeped.

“’Scuse me fer a sec.” Applejack said, rising from her chair. “Apple Fritter, ya’ll get granny her meds?!!” She hollered to the ceiling. There was a pause and then the scuffle of hooves on applewood floor.

“Uh, no. Ah was workin’ on them records like ya’ll asked!” Replied a nervous ceiling.

“Mah Gawd.” Applejack muttered. “Yew think a few books’re more important than Granny Smith’s well bein’?!!” She shouted to the ceiling.

“No no! Ah apologize, ah’m getting’ to it right away!” The ceiling said quickly. Applejack shook her head.

“That filly needs more lookin’ out for than a box a’ rattlesnakes.” She looked down at the clock. “Shit, speakin’ a lookin’ out after, ah gotta go see if Miguel is stealin’ mah apples.” She started up the stairs.

“Still having those problems?” Rarity asked. Applejack sighed and nodded.

“Paco’s the only onea them ah trust. As far as the rest a’ them are concerned, ah’ll kick their damned asses and send ‘em back to the sandbox if ah see ‘em steal so much as a straw from the cafeteria.” She said angrily. “Gawd damn if ah don’t try an’ give ‘em all ah can.” They parted at the steps of the farmhouse.

“We should hang out, drop by the tower some time, either me or Pinkie’ll be there!” Rarity called to the orange mare. AJ didn’t reply, she was too focused on her job and the problems that came with it.

Things were definitely not better since the Blast, but, they were going to get there. Rarity knew they would. With grace and a great new job on her side, she had nowhere to go but forward.

Her materials arrived the next day and Rarity got the same giddy rush at the delivery that she had when she was at the Carisol. Pinkie Pie became equally excited when she saw Rarity unpacking the boxes.

“Oh my gosh! Are those real?” She asked, poking her head over Rarity’s shoulder. Rarity giggled and held up the pearls.

“They are indeed.” She laid them next to the gold lace and dumb fabric. “Now, I’m going to add these to the dress.” She said happily. “And make Hoity-Toity have a heart attack from beauty exposure.”

“I’d go with a high trans-fat diet and a sharp blow to the chest!” Pinkie said cheerfully.

Rarity carefully slipped the dress over mannequin. She knew something was wrong as the dress quickly became taught against the white figure.

“Shoot, it’s not going.” Rarity said to herself.

“Hang on! I got it!” In a moment of innocent helpfulness, Pinkie performed one of the eight acts of high blasphemy in the fashion industry: she forced a tight dress. The earsplitting noise of expensive fabric tearing rang out like the screams of an infant dying of colic and Rarity virtually teleported to the exact place of the damage.

“Oops, I think I mighta torn it.” Pinkie said bashfully. A rip, measuring forty-three millimeters, placed at the right lower breast portion of the dress stood out like a black hole. She needed to fix it, NOW. Rarity flew to her wallet. She wrenched out everything it contained.

“Forty six, no, fifty bits. Out for the rest of the afternoon.” She presented Pinkie with the money. Bribery had been found to be the most effective means of mediation for the two.

Pinkie jumped up into the air.

“Yay! Although I really only need a quarter, the doctor’s office put in a gumball machine!” Party pony took the bundle of bills and dashed out the door. Rarity waited for the slam of the second door before she returned to her work.

The rip was below the threshold of overtness by five millimeters; she could technically repair it with a needle and thread. It was always a chore to go to a needle and thread and it had been almost a year since she had last attempted anything with the two basic tools of her trade.

After roughly twenty minutes of eye straining work, Rarity had managed to thread the needle.

“How the fuck did I ever do this before?” She muttered to herself. Presently, she heard a knock at the door. Eager to avoid her work, she abandoned the needle and went to see who it was.

Spike didn’t blush so much these days. He was still in a rapt cocoon of love, but he was more functional now.

“I’m getting better, I have a list.” He giggled, holding up a piece of paper. “Ok, in order: Blankets, picnic basket, annnnd, Rarity.” She giggled and gave him a kiss.

“That sounds lovely, where to?”

“The Falls.” He said with a triumphant blush.

That was his move, Spike was making his move. The Falls was where a relationship either lived or died. The little waterfall just outside of the town had been present to a good many proposals, as well as a fair share of teary confessions and subsequent death threats. As far as romance was concerned, it was pretty much the last stop on the train.

Rarity knew he was going to ask her to marry him. She was going to say yes; Pinkie would of course be an issue, along with the Lone Star and whatever Hoity-Toity might offer. But Rarity was going to marry Spike the dragon. She loved him and loved seeing him happy. The idea of the proposal was an unspoken agreement between the two and Rarity acted as if this were just another date.

“I’m looking forward to it!” She said excitedly. She remembered the sewing she had to do. “You don’t want to come in for some tea do you?”

“Would that be an imposition?”

“Oh no no no! I have a little bit to do on my last dress, but I can put that off to spend time with my little Spike.” He shook his head.

“Nope, you finish your work. That comes first, you’re still a professional pony.”

“Come on! It’d be fun!” She cajoled. Spike was adamant.

“Nope, you do your work Rarity.” She sighed.

“Well ok. But I expect you to spoil me when I’m a housemare!” She said, giving him another kiss.

“Hehe, yeah.” He giggled, blushing again. “I’m gonna spoil you so much.”

The rest of the sewing went faster, and Rarity was starting to place the first of the pearls when Pinkie Pie returned. She had been carousing and Rarity knew that the fifty bits were long gone.

“Ohmigosh! What an afternoon! Two parties, Snips sends his regards by the way, and a race through the trees! How is your dress?” Pinkie said breathlessly.

“Well, it’s good, but the mannequin’s too small, I need a model to work on.”

“Me me!” Pinkie cried. The pink mare was visible shaking from sugar intake and Rarity knew she would probably go insane from sitting still that long.

“Ohhhhhh, well, I actually just asked Rainbow Dash, sorry.” Pinkie frowned and looked at her hooves. Rarity hated seeing her frown.

“What am I gonna do now?” Pinkie asked. “I don’t have anything to do anymore.”

“Hey, cheer up, I might have gotten you a job at my bakery! Let’s go by there tomorrow and see if we can get you working again!” Rarity consoled.

“Do you think your boss will like me?” Pinkie asked nervously. Rarity nodded.

“Oh yeah, he loves ponies like you.”

She did not mention her boss’s wife, who did not like ponies like her.

It was as if Ana knew they were coming. She was standing stalwart behind the plate glass window, scanning for any threats to the little business. Rarity took a deep breath and strolled inside, Pinkie Pie trailing behind her.

“Hello Mrs. Salukas.” The unicorn said as politely and formally as possible.

“That filly is not working here.” Ana stated coldly. Sonny exited the oven room behind her.

“Oh, Rarity, I did not expect you!” He said in surprise. “What do you need?” She swallowed.

“This is Pinkie Pie, I think you know her. She, she wanted, or I wanted, well, to give her, well you to give her a job.” She stammered.

“She is not working here.” Ana repeated.

“Just let me explain!” Rarity pleaded. She realized Pinkie hadn’t said a word and the white unicorn looked back toward her friend. The little pink pony was looking around the bakery, her eyes were wide and she seemed to be studying everything. For a moment, Rarity feared that she would begin to cry. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie leaped up onto the counter. Rarity’s blood went cold.

“Thiiiiiiis place is full of food. And you might think me rude. But where’re the customers Sonny? I doubt you think it’s funny. No one buys or looks. Stuff that you guys cook. Your shelves are full of bread, big and hearty bread. Yet your business, well it’s dead. I think that I might know, just what you can show. To pull those ponies in, to make ‘em buy and grin.” Ana’s mouth dropped and Rarity felt faint from horror. Not a musical number. Pinkie leaned down and picked up a loaf of bread. “That thing you need is sweets. The kind that ponies eat. Sure it’s good and fine, to have some.” She squinted at the label below the bread. “Mesanine. But what they really want, all those ponies want. Is chocolate filled croissants. Doughnuts, tarts, lots of sugar, not this solid block of rebar.” She sang as she tossed the dark loaf into the air. Rarity prayed for it to stop, the music and bad rhymes were terrible enough for her, but Sonny and Ana had never experienced a song by Pinkie Pie before. Party pony jumped off of the counter and landed on Mr. Salukas’ back. She wrapped her pink arms around his neck and hugged him. “Now I know you like your bread, and the color red. But please oh Sonny listen. I can make this glisten.” She gestured to the Lone Star. “With a healthy coat of sweet. And that’s what ponies eat.”

Then it was quiet. Ana was breathing heavily and Rarity dared not move for fear of being scorched by molten outrage. Pinkie still clutched Mr. Salukas’ thick neck.

Applecrisp poked her head out of the oven room.

“Whut the fuck did ah just listen to?” She asked in utter obfusication.

Sonny took a deep breath, he closed his eyes and drew a long, slow breath. Rarity braced for what she knew would be the most violent excoriating ever known. Sonny opened his eyes and stood statue still for a second. Then he began to chuckle. Sonny lowered his head and a thickly accented laugh rose out of his throat. The brown workhorse pulled Pinkie off of his back and set her down before Applecrisp.

“That was your co-worker. Miss Pinkamina Pie, she starts immediately.”

And so it was that Pinkie Pie, former employee of Sugarcube Corner LLC, came to work for the Lone Star bakery. Sonny fell in love with Pinkie Pie, her infectious excitement and spontaneity seemed to strike a chord in the muscular horse’s heart and he put her to work on “sweets”. Precisely what Ana thought of the little pink pony was uncertain. She said nothing after Sonny’s proclamation of her hire and Rarity wondered if she was planning on murdering the giggly little mare when nopony was looking. At any rate, Pinkie was hired.

The next day, after a lengthy and extensive lesson on what to do and not do around the others at the bakery from her roommate, Pinkie Pie set out for her first day on the job. Rarity watched the cheery pony skipping down the street and smiled, she could get back to work now.

She still needed a model and there was no pony more still and quiet than Rainbow Dash. The leaves blew and circled around her like a flock of birds. Rarity walked the familiar route to the small cottage. She wondered if Rainbow Dash would be warm over the winter, she would have thought to invite the blue Pegasus to live with her if she weren’t getting married soon. She wondered what Dash would do after the operation, maybe she could find a soup kitchen to volunteer at or something.

Rarity knocked on the door. There was no reply. She waited a few minutes and knocked louder. Ten minutes passed, where the hell was Rainbow Dash? Rarity clopped harder. The door cracked open. A freshly awoken Rainbow Dash looked out.

“Hello?” She asked groggily.

“Dash, my mannequin’s too small, I need you to fit into a dress while I work on it. I’ll throw in twenty bits and whatever’s in my fridge.” Rarity relayed. The Pegasus rubbed her eyes and tossed her unkempt mane out of her eyes.

“Uhhhhh.” She seemed dazed. “Yeah hang on, just let me get myself together.” She said sleepily. She closed the door and Rarity leaned against the doorframe.

What time was it? Ten? Why was Rainbow Dash asleep at this hour? What was she up late doing? It was about two minutes before Rainbow Dash returned. She had fixed her mane and was more awake.

“So, a new dress huh?” She asked as they began the trek back to the town.

“I’m doing a request from Hoity-Toity! Can you believe that?” Rarity said excitedly. “Dash, I think I’m gonna be a designer again!” Rainbow Dash smiled.

“That’s great Rarity! That’s really great! Look at how far you’ve come!” She said appreciatively.

“Well, I couldn’t have done it without you. You kept me going.” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“You had it figured out, I’m just happy to have been with you.”

“So what are you doing up so late?” Rarity asked. “I hope you weren’t out at Hennessy’s alone.” She said with a laugh. “I really hope you weren’t.” She added more seriously. Rainbow Dash smiled.

“No, I can’t sleep too well most nights. Most of my clients are on and off in the afternoon, so it doesn’t really matter when I get up.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for that.” Rarity said unhappily. Insomnia, Rainbow Dash had too many problems. “Well, anyway, this dress is gorgeous and it’s the very last one of the order.” She proclaimed. “I’ve had a hell of a week, Pinkie Pie just moved in and it’s been one big shitstorm of reorganizing.”

“Wait, what?” Rarity realized that Rainbow Dash really didn’t know what went on in Ponyville anymore. Rarity spent the rest of the walk filling Rainbow Dash in on the events of the past few weeks.

“So, are you going to do this after you marry Spike then?” The Pegasus asked as Rarity sewed pearls onto the dress.

“I really don’t know, he’s, well, he’s Spike and always so shy and nervous around me.” She sighed happily. “He’s so cute though, I guess that’s why I love him. I don’t know what our plans are, but I don’t think I’ll mind being a housemare.”

“He’s a loyal little dragon.” Dash agreed. They discussed weddings, stallions in general, and if Rainbow Dash would ever marry. Finally as she looked for possible tear sites, Rarity got around to asking her about the operation. Rainbow Dash seemed much more open about it.

“Well, it’s nothing big. The doctors here in town can do it easily, even though it’s an experiment. They’ll put me to sleep, remove my wings and ship them on ice to the hospital in Cantorlot. I hear the little colt they’re going to is yellow, I think they’ll look good on him.” Rarity’s stomach churned with the description. However, she was determined to accept Dash.

“That sounds wonderful! What, er, what are you planning on doing after the operation?”

Rainbow Dash sighed.

“I don’t know, maybe I’ll do another model. I’ve thought about donating my mane to cancer patients. I really don’t know.”

“Well, you’re waaaaay more noble than me, I’ll say that. It’s really selfless of how you are doing all of this donating.” Rarity said acceptingly.

“Well, I just feel like-” The door swung open.

“Honey, I’m home!” Pinkie called. Party pony mock staggered into the room, wearing a brown hat and carrying a black attaché case. She collapsed on the bed. “Whew! I’m bushed!”

“Why hello Pinkie!” Rarity said with a giggle. “How was your first day?” Pinkie rolled her eyes.

“HARD! That Sonny, he works us like horses! And I don’t understand Applecrisp, she keeps telling me to fuck myself. I don’t know what thanking myself has to do with anything!” Rarity chuckled.

“Just keep at it, and Applecrisp just means she likes peace and quiet.”

Pinkie’s eyes suddenly went wide with terror.

“Ohmigosh! Rainbow Dash!” She screamed. Rarity almost stabbed Rainbow Dash with the needle as she jumped up in fright.

“What?!” Asked the terrified Pegasus. Pinkie stared at her for a second, then let out a big sigh.

“Oh, nothing. I just saw you in that dress and I thought you had been stuffed.” She said in fear. “That really scared me!” Rarity took a deep breath and tried to steady her shaking hooves.

“Hey, Pinkie, why don’t you go and um.” Rarity looked for an excuse to remove her roommate while she worked with sharp objects.

“I gotta go do our taxes dear.” Pinkie said as she pulled an orange juice container out of the refrigerator. She was wearing a white undershirt and she had an untied tie around her neck; Rarity wondered where the hell she got her props. “See ya at nine, keep my dinner warm!” Pinkie called as she left again. The unicorn and Pegasus looked at one another, then both burst out laughing. For the first time since the Blast, Rarity laughed at a joke of Pinkie Pie’s.

“I love Pinkie.” Dash said.

“Yeah, me too.” Rarity agreed. Things were getting back to normal.

The deadline was next week, of course Rarity was not done. She had carefully planned and replanned her method of finishing the dresses to include time to spare. Today was comparison day, she was going to check all of the current magazines to make sure that her design was fresh. Tomorrow was finishing touch day, the day after that was final touch day. Then the day after that was OCD day.

Rarity was not done with her dress and Pinkie was off pissing off Applecrisp at the Lone Star. So when the knock at the door came, the white unicorn was rather unsure of just who it was that was calling on her. A Pegasus with an offensive purple and white mane that stood up like a watering can frowned down at her.

“The dress.” Was all he said.

Rarity stepped back against the stairs. No, no not now! The deadline was next week! Even for Hoity-Toity, this was an unreasonable change in plans.

“I’m sorry, it’s, well.” She sputtered. “I have till next week!” She unhappily protested.

“The dress.” The stallion repeated. Rarity flew back up to her room.

It was ok, it was fine! She gave the garment a quick looking over. Oh fucking shit fuck! There was a chip in one of the pearls and the collar had a stage two clash with the topaz!!!

“Just a moment while I box it!” She cried. Rarity hurriedly replaced the topaz with some extra sapphire, which altered the flow, which was already set and she didn’t have time to modify. What about the pearl? She had no idea how to fix a pearl. Yet the gouge was much too large and she knew it would be noticed. She looked frantically for a solution. A bottle of cream frosting lay strewn across the bed amongst Pinkie’s other affects.

She presented the unboxed article to the stallion (hiding the tube of frosting behind her back). Without a word, he took it and rose into the air. As he flew off, Rarity saw that one of the buttons on the back was missing. She screamed for him to stop, but he was out of earshot.

(In reality he heard her, but Sparx the fashion apprentice was sick of delivering fucking dresses for his asshole faggot of a boss and was quitting that night. He had had more than enough of fucking fashion.)

Rarity sank to her knees, Hoity-Toity would no doubt be disgusted with the flawed work and likely request a refund of his payment. She wouldn’t get her job back, she wouldn’t move on with her life. Rarity knew she was becoming irrational and she quickly galloped towards Applejack’s. She needed reassurance.

Apple Fritter let her in and Rarity frantically scanned the dusty yard for Applejack.

“Whao nao! Whut’s up with ya’ll?” Applejack called to her from the barn. The orange mare was crouched beside a small still just inside the barn. Rarity sprinted into the cavernous structure. Applejack had her usual straw dangling out of her mouth and she seemed to be in a good mood.

“Can I talk to you?” Rarity asked as she caught her breath.

“Shure, ya’ll wanna go t’mah office, or talk a walk?”

“I don’t care.” Rarity said unhappily. They started for the north orchard.

“S’whut’s troublin’ ya?” Applejack asked as they walked through the trees.

“The dress! The damn dress, Hoity-Toity sent somepony to get it today! It wasn’t done! I had till next week!” Rarity began to cry. “It’s not fair, I was doing so great, and then he fuckin’ pulled the rug out from under me!”

“There nao, y’don’t know he ain’t gonna like it.” Rarity shoved her off.

“You don’t know how many flaws there were. A Goddamn stage two clash! A button was missing! A whole button! You don’t even know Applejack-” The farmer turned suddenly and blocked her path.

“Yer rahght, ah don’t, ah don’t know a damned thing ‘bout fashion.” Her eyes narrowed. “Ah know Rarity, an’ ah know that y’ain’t bein’ fair t’yerself. Y’do good work, an’ y’get yerself down a lot. Ah want y’stahp that right nao. Y’don’t know any moar than ah do about whut he’s gunna say. There’s two possibilities about whut he’s gunna say, an’ y’might as well choose the better one. Worryin’ an’ frettin’ didn’t get ya nowhere in the summer, an’ it shure as hell ain’t getting’ y’nowhere nao.”

Rarity sniffed.

“You’re right, you’re absolutely right. Grace, grace for me, I should give myself some slack. And I can’t just worry and think that’ll change anything.” She wiped her eyes. Applejack always knew just what to say. “Thanks Applejack.” She said as she hugged the orange pony. Applejack laughed.

“Not a problem. Yer’ getting’ better all the time, y’turned that around rahght quick, that’s a world of improvement.” Rarity smiled.

“Well, you helped, and Dash, and those two stallions from my work, they taught me about grace.”

“There ya go! Things are really lookin’ up, y’got good friends and a good shot at getting’ t’do what y’want!” Rarity smiled.

“I guess I am.” She wiped her eyes. “How are you? Have you made any progress on those thieves?”

“Well, yeah and no. Paco had an idea, basically ah told ‘em that the eight thousand and five hundred that’s missin’ was a warnin’. Told ‘em ah was gunna fire the lot of ‘em if they went past the warnin’. They ain’t takin’ s’much as an extra breath a’ air since.” Rarity was happy that the possible crisis was averted; she wanted Sweet Apple Acres to go smoothly for her friend. “Oh, nearly fergot! Can ya’ll, y’know, invite Applecrisp over fer me?” Applejack asked quietly.

The Apples were going to make up their differences; Rarity was filled with joy at the prospect of no more fighting between the two.

“Absolutely.” Rarity said proudly.

“Nao it ain’t gunna be a weddin’ or nuthin, ah don’t even know if she’s gunna wanna come bah here. But ah thought maybe she’d like t’see the place this Saturday.”

“Oh she will, I know she will.” Rarity said excitedly. Applejack gave a cynical snort. “You keep telling me that I’m getting better, well now I’m telling you the same thing.” Rarity said with a grin.

The orange pony chuckled.

“Ah gotta be careful whut ah tell ya’ll.”

It was Friday. Rarity had not gotten any word from Hoity-Toity, but she didn’t care. She gave grace to herself and was at ease with whatever might come. Pinkie left for the Lone Star with a single musical number about how she was going to “Thaw that Ana’s heart, by selling bread as a start.” Pinkie Pie seemed pinker and happier now that she lived with Rarity. She made jokes, threw spontaneous parties and played practical jokes. The white unicorn felt a twinge of satisfaction whenever party pony grew excited and hyperactive, even if it was still slightly annoying.

After burying Gummy, Pinkie Pie had tearfully forgiven Rarity for her actions over the summer. Pinkie then threw Rarity a re-friending party, with better games and a more willing guest of honor. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were getting better, even if they still didn’t get along as much as they used to. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were going to be friends and the Blast wasn’t going to do a thing about it.

The day of the Falls and of course the proposition demanded nothing less than a stellar dress and Rarity rose early to go hunt for one. Of the three formal clothing stores in Ponyville, two were so far behind the times that Rarity wondered why the proprietors had simply not changed their professions to antique dealers. The final shop, a small green shop called Esoteria, held a few dresses, but nothing ideal. As Rarity nosed through the racks of formalwear and casuals, the teenage attendant approached her.

“Pardon me, is there anything I can help you with?” She asked sweetly.

“There is indeed, I need something that will wow a man, make him feel like he’s the luckiest fellow on earth.” Rarity related. The attendant smiled and showed her a row of dresses.

“These are sure to make an impression! I’m personally fond of anything with ruffles, do you know your size?”

“Dear, this is an atrocity.” Rarity said bluntly. She took two of the dresses. “These aren’t even Devotion dresses, these are both Trasks (for the lone mare who seeks to break hearts).” She hung them in their proper location. “And this!” She said carefully taking down a black silken dress. “If you were going with the basic classification of Devotion dresses, you could at least categorize them under indoor and outdoor.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Said the attendant, obviously not used to critiques of her business. “I like to keep things simple around here.”

“Evidently.” Rarity said in disapproval. She would not have cared so much, however, Esoteria was the only clothing store in Ponyville with any class, and Rarity wanted it to hold to the same high standard that she had.

“Well, what do you have that would work for outdoors.” Asked the unicorn. The filly pointed to a few racks scattered across the room.

“Anything with a grey label is suitable for indoors and outdoors. If it’s not an immediate need, I have some works by an excellent designer named Vanity coming in later that I’m sure you’d love.” Rarity stopped, Vanity was the only designer more influential than Hoity-Toity. The very existence of Vanity was esoteric knowledge that only the most well-informed fashionistas were privy to. Vanity was out of public eye and their rarely traded dresses quiet often fetched sums of millions of bits. Nothing, not even gender, was known about them. How did a very inexperienced retailer in Ponyville know anything about this shadowy figure of the fashion world?

“Excuse me.” Rarity said, tilting her head to hear more clearly. “Did you say Vanity?” The attendant nodded.

“Yes, he sends me a few pieces every now and then.” She was lying, the little imp had to be lying in an attempt to impress a customer that knew more about clothing than most ponies. Rarity pretended to be impressed.

“Oh interesting, say, do you know happen to know Vanity’s most famous work?”

“Little Black Dress.” She knew a common fact.

“Average price of a suit.”

“Four hundred thirty six thousand nineteen bits.” She knew basic statistics.

“Oh, so you would carry one of her works alongside these.” Rarity lifted a cheap sweater. “Chicom rugs?” She asked with a sarcastic laugh.

“Excuse me miss, but Vanity is a he, not a she.” The attendant reached behind the counter and brought forth a picture frame. She held it out to Rarity.

The unicorn stared at the picture, the attendant herself, a white unicorn with a pink mane, was standing beside a tall black stallion with a jet black mane in what appeared to be a workshop. Rarity’s mouth fell open, behind the two figures hung an unfinished Little Black Dress on a coat hanger.

Rarity dropped the picture frame.

“W-who are you?” She asked the young attendant.

“I’m Angora, Vanity is my uncle. I just graduated from the School of Advanced Arts with a major in preliminary fashion design. I opened my workshop slash retail outlet month ago.” Rarity was speechless for a second. The filly really did know Vanity.

“I, I’m so sorry for my suspicion. You must forgive me, I’m Rarity, I ran the Carisol Boutique outside of town until recently. I.” she picked up the picture and stared at the stallion. “Never thought Vanity was a he.” The attendant smiled and nodded.

“Nobody does. He’s really nice though, he paid for my tuition and got me this place. He sends me stuff from time to time. He wants me to just put it out along with the pieces that I make.”

“I used to make.” Rarity said softly. The pony nodded.

“Oh yeah! I’ve seen some of your works, they’re lovely! Would you like to take a look at my workshop?”

Of course she did. A small room, no larger than an oversize closet, but stuffed full of half made dresses sat behind the front end of the little store. Rarity inspected the pieces; Angora had talent, she needed refining, but she had talent.

“This is my first work.” The younger unicorn presented Rarity with a monstrously eclectic scarf. Rarity grinned.

“The Release.” Angora seemed surprised at her recognition of the hideous work. Rarity chuckled. “I had Mr. Molenda as my professor too. He told us that the Release scarf was supposed to take all of the evil clichés out of our minds.” She explained. “I burned mine.” She whispered.

“You attended the academy?” Rarity nodded.

“My degree was prelim fashion too. But, I haven’t made in a long time.” She added with a sigh. Angora laid the disgusting scarf down.

“What do you think of this?” She asked, holding up a half-finished dress. Red satin, oddly placed bow, effective hem. Rarity knew Angora had spent time on this piece.

“Why do you ask, I’m way behind on the trends?”

“Once a designer always a designer.” Angora said with a kind smile. “From what I’ve seen of your work, you’re vastly underrated. I wish you were still in business so we could do a Ponyville colab.” Rarity’s throat tightened from the kindhearted filly’s approval.

“It’s beautiful.” She said, pointing to Angora’s work. “Just keep the bow away from the neck, it’ll look like a noose if you move it up too far.” Angora looked at her dress, Rarity saw the spark of creativity in her eyes as she picked out a new place for the tied strip of fabric. Rarity looked around at the dresses and suits; Angora would go far, she could tell.

“Would this work for your Devotion?” Angora asked. Rarity looked back. Her heart stopped. There in Angora’s hooves, was Little Black Dress itself.

She had only seen pictures of the dress and it had been awe at first glimpse; Photo Finish had allegedly wept for hours at the first news of its existence. Valued at thirteen point five million bits, LBD had never been sold and every maker and designer from Hoity-Toity to the now imprisoned Greenwich had wondered what had happened to the groundbreaking work.

Angora held it out to her. With trembling hooves, Rarity took hold of the obsidian colored dress. The soft cloth electrified her arms and she felt faint.

“Yeah, I thought the same thing when I first held it.” Angora said quietly. “Vanity never liked it, he gave it to me and said I could never sell it, that I had to use it like something I owned.” Rarity was almost in tears as she held the garment. “Go ahead, that should impress your man.” The younger unicorn said.

“T-thank you.” Rarity cried. “Why are you letting me use this?” Angora shrugged.

“It’s just a dress. Maybe in return you can give me some pointers on some of my stuff sometime?” She suggested. Rarity sniffed.

“Absolutely.” She gave the white unicorn a hug. “Thank you so much!”

Rarity left Esoteria with more than Little Black Dress, she left with a friend. Rarity was going to pour out all of her knowledge and secrets for the little designer. She would give Angora all of the wisdom and foresight that had taken her a decade to amass. She was going to give Angora grace.

Buttoning up Little Black Dress was no easy task and Rarity stopped four times to simply weep at the sheer perfection of the work. As she felt the dark folds of ephemeral fabric against her skin, the unicorn grew lightheaded with awe. It was truly a masterpiece.

Pinkie Pie shoved open the door to their room. She had her brown fedora on again.

“Hay Rarity! Oh, cute dress! Can I try it on?” There weren’t enough No’s in the entire book of book of Leviticus to demonstrate Rarity’s refusal to this request. Seemingly undaunted, Pinkie Pie spun around in a circle and dropped onto her bed.

“Sheesh, you’d think that Ana is a Soviet or something with the way she runs the kitchen! ‘Dun do thees, dun do that, peehnk pohnee y u no maek sense’?” She said in imitation of the badly tempered mare. Rarity ignored her as she applied a light base of makeup. She made absolutely sure none of it could stain, just in case Spike’s proposal made her cry, which she hoped it would.

It was six o’ clock when the knock came. Rarity was just putting the finishing touches on her blush and Pinkie was cleaning her party cannon.

“I’ll get it!” Pinkie cried, dropping her Hoppes solvent and screeching down the stairs. Rarity hurriedly added the last of the pink to her cheeks and ran down to greet her fiancé. Spike looked marvelous. He wore a magnificently black suit complete with bowtie and bowed deeply as she descended the steps.

“Hello Rarity.” He said politely. “I’ve come to collect you.” She giggled.

“Well, collect away!” Pinkie looked at the two, evidently unaware of the occasion.

“Are you guys going to a funeral?” She asked curiously.

Rarity made a slashing motion to her throat indicating the consequences of the break in the moment. Spike laughed.

“More of the opposite Pinkie!” He said jovially. Pinkie Pie took a moment to process this.

“Would that mean-”

Rarity cleared her throat.

“Well.” The dragon said turning to his date. “Your chariot awaits!” They left the bewildered party pony and strolled out into the evening.

Spike led her out to the golden vehicle, it had been washed and waxed and looked like it did when Celestia had ridden it. He gave her a helping claw up into seat, then climbed into the driver’s position.

“Bye you two! Bring me back some potato salad or whatever they have at the buffet!” Pinkie called as they rose into the air.

The night was cool and crisp and the sun was starting to set. Birds fluttered past the side of the chariot, and Rarity peered down at the passing town. She was getting married, well, engaged at least. It seemed almost surreal that that baby dragon she had met so many years ago was going to be her husband. She smiled to herself, he had grown even cuter since then.

The Falls were thankfully devoid of other lovers, and the two sat atop the small ridge overlooking the falls and chasm-like pool below. The little stream feeding the falls emptied into a deep, well-like basin that sat about twenty five feet beneath the ground. As usual, Spike had cooked an excellent meal of steamed hay and flowers for her and for himself he had brought a dozen flawless rubies. Neither spoke during the meal and Rarity politely waited for Spike to pull the ring out of the basket, or pretend to fall to his death in the pool below, only to resurface carrying a “ring he had found.”

They finished dinner, and Rarity cuddled up next to him. She felt his heart pounding through his thick scales, he was of course, nervous. The sun fell a bit further.

“Is there anything you want to ask me?” She asked after a time. He thought for a second.

“Nope, I just thought we could enjoy the silence.” He said in satisfaction. This deflated her a bit. He was going to propose right?

The two snuggled for an hour, with Rarity growing more and more unsure with each noticeable change in the sun’s position. The sun finally set and darkness began to fall around them; Spike looked out toward the great expanse of forests, he didn’t even seem to notice Rarity.

It grew cold, a wind whipped around them, and Rarity snuggled against the dragon more for warmth than romance now.

“Oh, could you grab the blanket from the back?” He asked presently.

“Sure.” She replied unhappily.

“Make sure you grab the big one, my feet get kinda cold.” He added.

Was he breaking up with her? She rummaged through the back of the chariot. The blanket was buried beneath what looked like a strip of brass needles folded into a olive green metal can. Taking the blanket, she turned to bring it back to her selfish date. Spike was directly behind her, on one knee and holding a golden ring up to her. Rarity predictably screamed.

“No no it’s ok! I didn’t mean to surprise you, I’m sorry!” He said quickly, then saw that it had been a happy scream a not a terrified one.

He took a deep breath.

“Ok, um.” He looked up into her eyes. His dragon eyes went wide with fright. “Rarity, can you, or I mean, w-would you, d-do me, the um.” He cleared his throat.

She leaned down and kissed his purple nose.

“Yes.” She whispered.

He closed his eyes and embraced her. Spike lifted her off of the ground and pressed his lips against hers. Rarity wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back.

It had been a fairly perfect proposal. But a sudden burst of cold wind caused the two to remember their surroundings.

“Well, uh. I guess I should give this to you.” Spike said with an intoxicated sort of happiness. He held out the little circle of gold. Rarity reached for it, but as she did, the malevolent wind took hold of the symbol of pure love and cast it down into the watery chasm below them.

Both ran to the edge of the falls, just in time to see the ring swallowed up into the rushing water.

“No no!” Spike cried helplessly as he peered down to the pool. “I can’t see anyway we can get to it!” He said dismally. Rarity had already unbuttoned Little Black Dress. She was NOT having her engagement night remembered as the failure of a basic exchange of an object.

“Here, hold this.” She said, presenting her future husband with the folded garment.

“Rarity! Wait!” She dove from the ledge. As she hurtled toward the pool, Rarity really really hoped that it wasn’t a particularly shallow pool. The water slapped her and it seemed that every injury she had sustained over the summer, from the barfight to the very recent leap from the tower, rose again to attack her. Wounds across her body sang in outrage to the sudden impact. The icy cold water engulfed her and she struggled to see in the murky depths. She saw a flash of gold amidst the swimming blackness of the mud. She reached down, took hold of ring and kicked for the surface. The unicorn broke the water with a pained gasp. The frigid pool seemed to pull her back down and her strokes grew slower and slower. The water of the falls roared around her, and she lost her bearings.

“Rarity hang on! I’ll grab a stick!” Spike yelled from above her.

Rarity grabbed at the sheer rock around her. Slick from algae and years of erosion, the rock rejected her attempts to save herself. In a moment, Rarity felt the black water pulling her down. She fought, but the icy water soon overpowered her. Her strength sapped by the cold, the unicorn sank weakly back beneath the surface of the pool.

“Rarity! Hang on!” Spike cried.

Something orange appeared in the darkness above her. The glow of orange illuminated the water as whatever it was grew larger. In a few seconds, a missile-like object struck the water like a depth charge. The water surged from the impact and the pool became pitch black again. Rarity was almost unconscious as she felt something take hold of her.

Rarity awoke in a clean hospital bed, there were no nurses around and the room was empty save for her bed. Her head swam and she looked groggily around the room. Moonlight filtered through the curtained window aside her bed. How long had she been unconscious? She heard shouting.

“Let me see her! She’s my fiancé!” Spike yelled angrily as he swatted back the bunhaired nurse that attempted to cordon her room off. “Rarity!” Spike rushed over to her. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry! Are you ok?!!”

“Yeah, what the fuck happened?” She asked dreamily.

“You jumped into the pool and I was looking for a stick and then this Pegasus just hit the water like a comet!” He related. “Oh my God, Rarity, I’m so so sorry! I followed the Pegasus all the way here and I’ve been trying to see you for like an hour!” Spike said, starting to cry. “This was a terrible proposal!”

“Spike, Spike, it’s fine.” She said weakly. She put a hoof on his shoulder. “Can I still marry you?” He wiped a few tears away.

“Y-you, still want to marry me?”

“Of course! Why else would I dive into that deathtrap to recover a ring that is going to marry us?” She asked with a smile. He began to breathe heavily and she feared he might pass out.

“Here.” She rose out of the bed. “Sit down, it’s fine, I’m fine.” He took a trembling seat on the bed.

“God, what a night! I didn’t plan it this way I swear!” He said, wiping some sweat from his brow. She giggled and kissed him.

“Well, it’s all fine now. Although I really wonder who that Pegasus was.” She realized she didn’t have the ring. Rarity looked around. At the foot of the bed lay a mud covered, but still very gold and still very romantic ring. She squeed with glee and picked it up. Her rescuer was supremely thoughtful.

They left the little clinic, despite the protests of the doctors and nurse who warned her of pneumonia. It was late, probably about nine, and Spike helped her back into the chariot. He wrapped her in three blankets and drove slowly. They reached her tower and Spike helped her to the ground.

“You’re sure you’re ok?!!” He asked in concern. “I can take you back to the clinic, maybe I should.” She giggled.

“I am fine Spike!” She gave him a hug. “I’m more than fine, I’m engaged to you.” He blushed and began to sway dizzily and she feared he might collapse. “Go home, you’re all wound up.” She advised. “We got done what we needed to get done tonight. I’m engaged to you and we’re both alive.”

He nodded.

“Ok ok, I should get some rest.” He breathlessly agreed. She blew him a kiss as he climbed up into the chariot.

“I’ll be by soon to plan the wedding!” She called to the overwhelmed dragon.

Rarity shoved open the door to her tower. Pinkie Pie was carefully curling a noisemaker on her bed.

“I’m back. I almost drowned, got saved by a glowing Pegasus, Spike proposed to me and they only had egg salad.” Rarity laid the dark dress down beside her futon and went immediately to sleep.

Pinkie Pie sat up for a while that night, trying to make sense of the bruised, wet, happy and apparently sleepy unicorn that had burst through the door.

Chapter 21

Chapter XXI

Rarity was sick the next day. It had to have been that cold water. As she lay in bed, a foul nausea sitting at the bottom of her stomach, Rarity realized that she had nothing to do. She eventually got up. Pinkie Pie was off at the Lone Star and the tower was quiet.

The ring lay beside her bed. Rarity picked up the little golden ornament and gazed lovingly at it. The inscription read “To my beautiful Rarity, a stronger mare none can find.” She recognized Brilliance’s hoofwriting. She blushed, Spike had gone to Brilliance! She loved Spike.

Rarity carefully set the ring atop her desk and looked around her room.

Little Black Dress! The magnificent dress still lay exactly where she had placed it the night before. Carefully lifting it from the floor, Rarity inspected it for any damage. It appeared unscathed, she had better get it back to Angora before anything Pinkie-related happened. She bundled up in a brown cloak and kept the masterpiece close to her as she walked to the shop.

Angora was with a customer, Rarity politely took a seat and watched the young dressmaker attempt to sell Mayor Mare’s son a suit. Unfortunately she lost him with the accidental usage of the phrase “a pony of your size” and he left the shop in disgust. Rarity smiled as she set LBD down on the counter.

“It’s ok, fat ponies always end up busting a seam and returning what they bought anyway.” Rarity informed her. Angora giggled.

“I’ll have to remember that. Oh! How did it go with your man? Is he devoted now?” Rarity nodded.

“Sure is!” She gave the dress a pat. “Thanks so much, I made sure it was safe.”

“Oh no problem, I’m glad it helped.” Angora thought for a second. “Say, can you help me with a cross-stitch?” The young designer asked.

Of course she could! After they finished the complex stitch, Angora and she perused Esoteria’s latest offerings.

The works from Vanity were in and of course Rarity had to see them as well. They were gorgeous and Rarity ran a reverent hoof over the slick fabric of each dress and scarf.

“Vanity is a genius.” She breathed. “You must love having him as an uncle.” Angora nodded.

“Yeah, he’s, well, I wish you could meet him. He says he just does fashion for fun, and when it isn’t fun, he won’t do it anymore. He always told me to do what I thought was fun and not care about being paid for it.”

“Sound advice.” Rarity agreed.

“So what’s fun for you Rarity?” The sickness of the morning gurgled unexpectedly in her stomach and it took Rarity a moment to respond.

“Well, fashion of course. I’m, thinking of getting back in the game, I’ll have to see of course. And, well, of course my man. If nothing else, I think it’ll be wonderful to be a spoiled housemare and not have to do anything but look pretty.” She giggled.

“Sounds like you have a lot going for you either way.”

“Took me a long time to get where I am, but I think I do too.” Rarity agreed. There was a moment of silence and Rarity noticed that it was already midafternoon. “Oh, well, I should go, I’m sure you have things to do.” She said.

“Oh yes, I suppose I do.” Angora said wistfully. She walked Rarity to the door. “Please stop by again, even if you just want to talk fashion.”

“I will.” Rarity said with a smile.

She walked down Mane Street, her cloak billowing in the wind. What a lovely day! Aside from the light bout of sickness, Rarity couldn’t imagine anything more perfect in the world. She passed the Lone Star, Applecrisp was hunched over on the stoop, eating her lunch. Rarity walked up to her and gave her a gentle kick.

“Sorry.” Applecrisp mumbled as she stood up.

“Hay! Applecrisp!” Rarity gave her a hug. “I haven’t seen you in forever!” The blue mare saw that it was her.

“Yeah, y’been gone awhahl. Ah hope t’Gawd y’come back soon. That pink pony, she ain’t, well, ah ain’t gunna be liable fer whut happens t’her next time she launches onea them songs.” Applecrisp admitted. Rarity laughed.

“Yeah, Pinkie’s, she’s different.” She remembered Applejack’s invitation. “Oh! Applejack invites you over on Saturday! She sounds like she wants to move on!” Applecrisp looked up. Her green eyes were fierce. “Come on.” Rarity said before the Apple refused. “She wants to move on, now if you want to too, you should work with her.” Applecrisp spoke quietly and Rarity watched as she fought within herself.

“Ah don’t want to.” She said stubbornly.

“Hey, you gave me a chance, give her one. I’ll go with you tomorrow and we can work it all out.” Rarity wheedled. Applecrisp shook her head and cleared her throat.

“Naw, I gotta, gotta. Y’know.” She sighed. “Gawd dammit, it ain’t rahght a’me t’go on hatin’ mah own kin.” She dropped her shoulders in defeat. “Yeah, ah’ll go with y’tomorrow. Whut tahm do ah gotta be at yer place?”

“Oh well, you can drop by in the morning and we can walk over to Sweet Apple Acres together.” Applecrisp sucked in her breath upon hearing that the meeting would take place at the farm. “It’ll be ok, everypony wants to work it out.” Rarity affirmed.

“Yeah, whutever y’say.” Applecrisp said, turning and entering the shop.

The Apple cousins were on their way to an understanding; today was looking good. Rarity’s stomach seemed to ease and she strolled casually down Mane Street. The retirement home was out for their monthly walk. The long grey line of elderly ponies and horses clopped wearily through the street. Rarity remembered delivering pretzels to them. It seemed so long ago. Applecrisp was now on her way to setting things straight with Applejack. She herself was getting married. Rainbow Dash was-a wave of sudden nausea enveloped her. Rarity shook her head, she shouldn’t think about sad things while sick. Dash would have the operation soon and they could move on. She continued through the town. The white unicorn passed town hall. She paid it no mind until she heard the doors burst open.

“Well I can read a map, which is more than I can say for you!” She looked back. Hoity-Toity and some other stallion she had never met were arguing as they descended the steps.

“Can you? We’ve been at this an hour! And we haven’t seen so much as a wall clock!” The other stallion shot back. Rarity wasn’t sure if she should approach them or hide. Were they here to demand a refund from her? It didn’t matter anyway, because Hoity-Toity caught sight of her. He dropped the map and raced toward her, his Victorian pompadour flapping in the wind.

“Rarity! Halt!” He cried. She started to sweat and her stomach again turned as he reached her.

“Yes?” She tried to sound professional and not at all aware of the sloppiness of her work. For a moment, the short stallion merely hacked and gasped, as he was not accustomed to running any sort of distance.

“You, your work.” He began breathlessly.

“I still had a few days! I could have made it better!” She started to explain.

“It was one dress!” He shouted unexpectedly. “How could you?!”

She wanted to cry. It wasn’t her fault he had changed the deadline. She had done her best.

“I’m sorry ok?! I did my best!” She sniffled. “Don’t ask for anything more from me!”

He ripped off his glasses.

“What?!!” He demanded in outrage. “I’ll ask you for a hundred more of those dresses!” He screamed furiously. “Don’t think that just because you’re endowed with talent that you can just balk out of your duty to me!” Rarity looked up.

“W-what?” She asked, wiping some tears from her eyes.

“Damn it Rarity. You’re a sly mare.” He said in frustration. “Fine then.” He pulled out his pocketbook. “Name your price.” He said flatly.

“What?” She asked in confusion. He threw his hooves up.

“My God, is this some kind of act? Rarity, those dresses, where have you been hiding all these months?”

“You.” She paused. “Like them?” His mouth fell agape.

“Like them? Rarity, I asked for some garishness to fight those bastards out of Manehatten with. You gave me WMDs, everypony on the scene is thinking I’ve hired some fresh new face. Rarity, I need you with me, you’ve started a trend, and there isn’t a thing those Manehatten pirates can do about it.”

“A trend?” She asked in disbelief.

“Look.” He pulled out a copy of the Cantorlot Short-Sheet, the premier Equestrian fashion magazine. The four dresses were on the cover.

“Flashy Floods of color floor fashion. Faceless designer from the workshop of Hoity-Toity surges past competition, counter-offers expected.” Hoity-Toity covered up the last part.

“Now Rarity, I know you think this is just a game, but there’s loyalty here. I want you to repeat after me, you will not consider any other offers.” He said sternly.

She struggled to comprehend it all. She had started a trend? With four dresses?

“I didn’t think they were that good.” She explained. “They seemed, well, mediocre.” Hoity-Toity laughed.

“That mediocrity just made me eighty two thousand.” He guffawed. “In fact, oh where is he?” Hoity-Toity looked around. The stallion accompanying him had since joined the two. “Oh there you are!” Hoity-Toity said in surprise to the mystery stallion. “Rarity, this is Polk, he is president of Greenwich’s affairs during his incarceration.” Polk flicked his head to her. Hoity-Toity gave him a thump on the shoulder.

“This stallion here is going to get us all rich. You see, I know you can’t put out as many dresses as we’re going to need. Polk here has agreed to lend forty of his apprentices to you. And along with my financial backing, we’re going to set up a workshop for you.”

Never in her dreams had Rarity considered running a workshop; it was an honor bestowed upon only the greatest and most frivolous of designers. Her stomach churned and she began to hyperventilate. It was unbelievable.

“You got a problem lady?” Polk asked as he watched the overwhelmed unicorn begin to slip into a faint. She looked up, a sort of daze had come over her.

“N-no, but, where is this workshop going to be based.” She asked dreamily. Hoity-Toity snickered.

“Don’t think you’ve earned a place in Cantorlot.” He pulled some keys out of his plush pocket. “Your old Boutique will do just fine.”

The rest of the day was a blurry memory for Rarity. She remembered walking to the Boutique along with the two stallions. She remembered unlocking the doors. She remembered Polk complaining that the place smelled of cats and Hoity-Toity asking about the empty chandelier sockets in the ceiling. And Rarity remembered crying. It had taken a terrible summer, a lot of lessons learned and many mistakes, but she was truly back and better than ever. Posh had been right. All she needed to do was be herself.

“Now the whole thing is still in the works. Nopony owns this land.” Polk related as they started back for the town. “But the papers’ll go through in a couple days and I’ll have the place. I’ll call you to arrange delivery of the apprentices.”

“One hundred dresses Rarity, that’s our goal this quarter.” Hoity-Toity added. The In stallion ran a hoof through his 500 bit hair. “Ah what a plan. Those Manehatten scumbags will be crying uncle once we’re done.” He chuckled. “You know, I had a lot of trouble convincing my secretary to draw up the contract. She kept asking if it was the same Rarity that was involved in that terrible explosion from a year ago. I told her. “Whatever that mare did this past year, she’s still the same mare I want working for me.” He laughed. “That shut her up.”

Rarity forgot everything else about that day.

Rarity was still sick the next morning, but she didn’t feel it, she didn’t feel anything but joy. She was going to run a workshop! Pinkie Pie made her a medicinal milkshake, and Rarity was gulping down the pepperminty concoction when Applecrisp clomped up the stairs.

“Hey, ah’m ready t’go.” She said gruffly.

“Oh, goodness! I forgot all about you!” Rarity said, tossing the glass into the industrial sink. Applecrisp sighed.

“Yeah, wish ah coulda done the same.” She said miserably.

Rarity tried to get her to cheer up on the way over to the farm.

“It’s a beautiful farm! And there’s so many kinds of apples! Applejack makes some great cider.” Applecrisp noticed her radiant happiness.

“Whut’s gotten into ya’ll?” Rarity giggled.

“Oh I just got another job is all!”

“Great.” Applecrisp said unenthusiastically. They reached the gates and Rarity poked the intercom button.

“It’s Rarity! And Applecrisp!” She said perkily. “May we be allowed entrance?”

“Wai shure!” Applejack sunnily replied. Applecrisp took a deep breath as the gates swung open. Rarity put a hoof around her, today was going to be great!

Applejack walked down the stairs of the farmhouse, she had braided her mane and her hat had been cleaned. She walked past Rarity and stuck a hoof out to her cousin.

“Howdy, ah thought it was tahm ah had my cousin t’the fam’ly farm!” She said with a friendly grin. Applecrisp looked at her, then shook the farmer’s hoof cautiously. “Nao, if ya’ll head over here! Ah can show you just whut makes Sweet Apple Acres such a dandy enterprahs!” Applejack said proudly, leading them toward the main barn.

Inside it was the same sweet, sweaty cavern that it always was. The worker ponies swarmed to and fro around seven giant stills placed around the interior.

“Nao ah hear yer a champion with yer liquor.” Applejack said, grabbing an armful of mugs from a shelf. “We’ll just see if ya’ll can hold the family brew!” She filled each one directly out of a stack of jugs sitting atop a palate and held them out to her guests. Applecrisp took the mug, she looked down into the dark liquid. “Still a bit warm.” Applejack said as she took a sip. The blue pony tossed her beverage down in a single gulp. She cleared her throat.

“S’okay.” She said shortly. Rarity took a sip of hers and coughed sharply.

“Damn AJ, you keep making it harder and harder!” The unicorn protested. Applejack laughed.

“Tha’s whut the customers are wantin’. In fact, ah was talkin’ with Fritter ‘bout that the other day. Speakin’ a which.” She looked around. “Where’s that lil’ filly? Oh yeah, she’s inside designin’ us a new bottle!” She lead the two back toward the farmhouse. “She’s a darlin’ at whut she does well. An’ all ah gotta do is make shure she don’t do nuthin’ else!” Applejack said with a laugh.

Applecrisp tensed up as she entered the deathly farmhouse. Rarity knew she should have explained about Granny Smith before they entered the crypt of a home.

“Fritter! Get yer rump down here! We got visitors!” Applejack hollered up the stairwell. She turned to the two. “Darlin’ little filly.” Applecrisp was silent and Rarity hoped she didn’t still hate Fritter. In a few seconds the young pony bounded down the stairs.

“Who’s here?” She asked, then saw Applecrisp. Remembering their first encounter, the filly took a few steps back from the silent swamp pony.

“Wai go on!” Applejack said, giving her a push. “Tha’s yer cousin Applecrisp! Don’t be scared a’yer own fam’ly!” Apple Fritter started forward nervously. She looked up at her cousin.

“N-nice to meet ya’ll.” She said fearfully.

“Yeah, same t’ya’ll.” Applecrisp mumbled. Applejack seemed pleased that the two were getting along.

“Fritter, wai don’t ya’ll show us whut y’been workin’ on?” She suggested.

“Well, it ain’t gonna be done for another week ah reckon.” The filly’s face brightened. “But ah can at least show ya’ll whut ah got!” Apple Fritter led the party down to Applejack’s office. Rarity saw the awe rising on Applecrisp’s hardened expression as they entered the sanctum of her cousin’s wealth and success.

Atop the desk were about seven or so different bottles. Fritter bounded up to them. “These ar’ the fahnal contestants!” She displayed each with a sweep of her arm. “Onea these is gonna be the new cider container!”

Applecrisp picked one up, she studied it for a moment, but said nothing. Apple Fritter watched anxiously as she set the bottle down and picked up another. She set the second bottle down and picked up another. Rarity heard a chuckle. Applecrisp turned, bottle in hoof.

“Y’spelled Apple with one P, y’think ponies are gunna pick up on that?” She asked. AJ laughed.

“Forgot ya’ll were related to them Aples. Yeah, ah don’t think ponies are gonna understand that, but ah felt like it was only fair to give a little tribute to ‘em.”

“What are you two talking about?” Rarity asked.

“Aple family was the first a’ the eventual Apple familes to make alcohol.” AJ explained.

“Moonshine down in Hayseed.” Applecrisp said, setting the bottle down. She was smiling now. “Course it ain’t this cider nonsense, this stuff’s a little harder.”

“Yeah well, can’t sell more than one bottle to somepony if they got a hole burned in their gut now can ah?” AJ said with a grin. Applecrisp laughed. A sort of calmness settled over the room, as if they were old friends returning after a long hiatus.

“So whut, ya’ll still shinin’ down in the swamp?” Applejack asked. Applecrisp nodded.

“’Bout once a month, or whenever we git a good-size gator.” Apple Fritter’s eyes widened.

“Gator? Lahk, alligator?”

“Eyup, Thomas an’ ah hunt ‘em. Sell the hahd an’ make candles outta the rest.” Applecrisp related.

Apple Fritter was spellbound.

“How do ya’ll hunt them?” She asked in wonder.

“Harpoon and knives.” Applecrisp said with a shrug. “Mosta the time they don’t take much.” The filly was both terrified and in utter awe of her cousin with this revelation.

“Hehe, ya’ll got a strong cousin Fritter!” Applejack said appreciatively. “Ya’ll couldn’t get me anywhere near onea those things, ‘cept maybe that baby one a’ Pinkie’s.”

Applecrisp smiled in embarrassment.

“Aw there ain’t but nuthin’ to it. This whole farm is more complicated than the likes a me could understand. All them apples and machines and whutnot.” It was AJ’s turn to blush in good-natured self-consciousness.

“Oh nao course ya’ll think that, give ya’ll twenty minutes and y’could do it no problem.”

They were becoming friends, Rarity knew they would. The two cousins talked of their livelihoods for a while, then Rarity suggested they go see the orchards.

Applecrisp was amazed at the length of the rows of trees that ran alongside the path.

“Nao how in Gawd’s name d’ya pick all them apples?” She asked in wonder.

“Used t’be me an’ Mac buckin’ the damn things down. Then we got word a ‘some ponies just leavin’ the Badlands lookin’ for work an’ a place t’stay. Nao all ah do is run the show.” Applejack said with a shrug. Applecrisp looked back toward the barn.

“Ah wouldn’t trust anypony like that with a toothpick.” The swamp pony said, shaking her head. AJ chuckled.

“Yeah, ah gotta keep an eye on ‘em mosta the time, that’s fer shure.” She cleared her throat. “So, uh, how’s everythin’ down in the swamp goin’?” Applecrisp shrugged.

“Been better. Thomas says we’re havin’ a bit of a tahm with the huntin’, ‘parently them gators ain’t been around much.” Applejack processed this for a moment.

“So, it’s kahnda lahk if my trees were havin’ an off year then?” She said slowly.

“Yeah, tha’s ‘bout it.”

AJ thought about this for a second.

“Guess we ain’t too different after all. Ah mean, we both depend on nature ah guess.”

“That’s ‘bout rahght ah suppose.” Applecrisp agreed. They walked in silence for a few minutes. They stopped at the edge of the fence, near where Rarity had uncovered those gems for Audacity.

“Applecrisp, ah know we ain’t really been on the best a’terms.” AJ said as they looked off at the forest. “Ah dunno, things’ve been pretty crazy since Celestia, well, ya’ll know.”

Applecrisp nodded.

“Ah didn’t know a damned thing ‘bout whut happened, news don’t get far in Hayseed.” She sighed. “But ah heard from Rarity that ya’ll lost a friend, ah can understand how that might make things complicated.” There was silence.

“Look ah’m sorry.” Both said simultaneously. The Apples blushed.

“Uh, well, ah am sorry, probably wasn’t right a’me t’be s’cold t’ya’ll.” Applecrisp said softly. “Ah hope ya’ll can forgive me.”

“If ya’ll can forgive me.” Applejack said, taking off her hat. Applecrisp lifted her hoof, spat into it, and held it out to her cousin. Applejack grinned, spat into her own, and slapped her hoof against Applecrisp’s. It was straight out of storybook and Rarity felt warm and happy inside at the sight of the two reconciled Apples.

“Oh shit, we got lunch at the farm, c’mon, Fritter’s dishin’ it up nao!” Applejack said suddenly. They galloped back to the farmhouse. Macintosh was just pulling the screen door open when they arrived.

“Seems ahve got a promenade of mares!” He said jokingly as he held the door for them.

“Say hello to yer’ cousin!” Applejack said, putting an arm around Applecrisp.

“Applecrisp, eyup, ah remember you. Ya’ll live down in Hayseed Swamps don’t ya?”

Applecrisp laughed.

“Ah did, but then ah moved here.” She put an arm around Applejack. “Somepony’s gotta check up on this filly!”

The muscular stallion chuckled.

“Gonna take more than ya’ll t’keep her outta trouble.”

The table was laden with all foods apple. Apple tarts, apple strudel, an apple with an arrow stabbed through it, and of course, chilled cider. Applejack offered Applecrisp a seat beside her and Rarity sat next to Macintosh. Apple Fritter was just starting down the stairs to the basement when they entered.

“It’s all ready, jus’ make sure the apple stew don’t run over!” She advised as she shut the door.

“Where’s she off to?” Applecrisp asked.

“Labels, ah told ya’ll, that filly’s committed. She’s gonna have us a new label by the end of the month. An’ Applebloom’s settin’ up the distribution center out in Cantorlot. If all goes well, there’ll be Sweet Apple Acres cider on the shelves of every grocery in Cantorlot before snowfall.”

“Damn.” Applecrisp said, serving herself some apple pie. “Yer really movin’ on this here farm.”

“Yeah.” Applejack said with a sigh as she poured herself some cider. “It’s been a helluva long haul, but ah think we’re on the upswing nao.” Rarity chewed a bite of apple crisp.

“I think it’s the same for me. I got an offer yesterday to reopen the Boutique, and run a workshop for Hoity-Toity.” She said.

Applejack spat out her cider.

“Are ya’ll serious? Rarity! Tha’s incredible! Wai, ya’ll are back t’whut y’wanted t’do rahght?” The unicorn nodded. Applejack laughed. “I’da thought ya’ll’d be havin’ conniptions over that.” Rarity giggled.

“Oh I’m excited, don’t worry about that. I just don’t really feel like conniptions is all.” Applecrisp sighed.

“So ya’ll won’t be comin’ back t’the Lone Star?” She asked quietly. Rarity hadn’t considered that. She thought for a way to explain herself when Applejack interrupted.

“Wai ya’ll can come an’ work fer me at the farm!” Applejack offered to her cousin. Applecrisp looked up and the room became quiet.

“Ah mean, if y’want a change a’pace.” The orange pony cleared her throat. “Uh, y’know, we, we got some positions that need fillin’. We need a foreman for the crews in the distillery. Ain’t that rahght Mac?”

Applecrisp said nothing and Applejack worried she had offended her.

“Ah didn’t mean nuthin’ by it, y’don’t hafta work for me. Ah just thought, y’know if ya’ll didn’t lahk whutever ya’ll were doin’ nao.” Her voice trailed off. The dining room was silent. Rarity thought for something to break the awkward silence.

“So, uh, AJ, Dash is going in for her operation.” The unicorn offered.

“Heh, yeah?” Applejack asked in relief.

“Ah dunno, maybe.” Applecrisp interrupted. “Ah’d just hafta see.” They looked back at her. The blue mare frowned and pushed at her plate. “Gawd dammit, ah came t’this town t’make sumthin’ outta myself an’ bakin’ shure ain’t it.” She looked up at Applejack. “Ah’ll take the job.” Applecrisp said decisively.

Applejack blinked for a few moments; she was not familiar with her cousin’s thought process.

“Well, uh, come on bah t’morrow an’ we’ll get ya’ll set up!” She said in surprise. It was stunning, a few hours earlier, the two cousins were enemies, now they were co-workers. Rarity wasn’t sure if it was the almighty hand of Pish and Posh’s God at work, but in any case, it was nothing short of a miracle.

“Y’got a lot t’learn.” Big Macintosh said as he took his plate to the sink.

“Well ah reckon if she’s our kin she’ll do just fine!” Applejack said confidently. Applecrisp’s cheeks turned a slight twinge of pink to this and Rarity squeed inwardly with delight at the scene. AJ spat again into her hoof and presented it to her cousin.

Just as Applecrisp extended her hoof to seal the agreement, a sharp beeping noise punctured the moment.

“Aw shit hang on.” Applejack said, hopping up from the table. She searched the wooden counter for a second, then located the source of the noise, an egg timer. She gave it a slap and the noise stopped. “Apple Fritter!” She shouted. “Y’gonna tell me ya’ll’ve gotten Granny her meds?”

The room was quiet.

“Aw, eh, yeah! Just, uh, it’s Saturday rahght?” Called the filly from the basement. Applejack sighed.

“Tha’s right.” Apple Fritter burst out of the door to the basement.

“Yeah, uh, jus’ forgot the Tranquorol is all!” She said as she raced upstairs to her bed-ridden matriarch. Applejack shook her head and resumed her seat at the table.

“Sorry ‘bout all that. Fritter’s good, but she ain’t got the best mem’ry, an’ there’s things that ah can’t have her fergettin’.” She took a deep breath and turned to her cousin. “So where were we? Foreman position? Well ah can tell ya-”

“Granny?” Applecrisp asked. “Granny Smith?”

Applejack nodded.

“Yeah, tha’s her. Nao, it ain’t a backbreakin’ job strictly speakin’-”

“Are, are ya’ll serious?” Applecrisp asked a little louder. Applejack nodded slowly.

“Yeah, Granny Smith Apple, mah granny? Sumthin’ wrong?”

“Mah Gawd, how.” Applecrisp stopped to calculate for a few moments. “How old is she?”

Applejack shrugged.

“We’re estimatin’ round hundred and fahve. But she’s a spirited old buzzard ah tell ya’ll that!” She finished with a good-natured laugh.

Applecrisp stared at her.

“She ain’t dead?” She asked bluntly. Applejack became a little indignant at this.

“No, she ain’t. Nao, like ah was sayin-”

“How ain’t she dead Applejack? Ah ain’t never heard a pony that age!” Applecrisp demanded.

“We got a hundred years a’ medical science up there keepin’ her strong.” AJ said angrily. “Nao, like ah was sayin!”

“Are ya’ll fuckin’ serious?” Applecrisp stood up. “Y’got black magic or somethin’ keepin’ that mare alahve when she’s rahghtly dead?” Rarity stood up to ask Applecrisp to please stop, but it was too late.

“Rahghtly dead?!!” Applejack shouted furiously. “You thinkin’ yer’ Gawd nao?”

“Not in the least, but ah know there ain’t nuthin’ natural in whut ya’ll are doin’ with yer’ granny.” Applecrisp shot back.

“Ya’ll better shut the fuck up! That mare ain’t no problem t’nopony! She’s alahve and tha’s all there is to it!” Applejack shouted.

“Girls, please, let’s-” Rarity was cut off by Applecrisp, who was enraged with her cousin.

“Gawd all fuckin’ mahghty Applejack!!! Yer’ goin’ against nature keepin’ her livin’! She’s past her years, let her die!”

“Who the fuck are ya’ll t’tell me who lives an’ who dies?” Applejack demanded.

“Ah know whut’s not natural Applejack, an’ keepin’-”

“Natural?!! Ya’ll are one t’talk! Yer’ a Gawddamned monstrosity! Ah suppose you ain’t told Rarity ‘bout yer’ parents!” The orange farmer said, pointing to the white unicorn.

“This ain’t got nuthin’ t’do with mah folks, it’s ya’lls-”

“Siblin’s.” Applejack spat. “Yer’ a Gawddamned inbred swamp stinkin’ gator-huntin’ judgmental piece a shit who thinks she can lecture her cousin on lahf. How’s that for natural?”

Nopony spoke. Rarity sat frozen at the table. She knew a line had just been crossed.

“Fuck yew, fuck yew yew arrogant, apple-buckin’ piece a trash. Ya’ll are nuthin’ but a self-raghteous whore who thinks she’s above the rules a’lahf.” Snarled Applecrisp. She gave the table a sharp kick, upsetting it. Food and apples tumbled to the floor. “Ah’ll see ya’ll in hell.” She said in a low voice. The blue mare walked out of the room and in a moment there came the loud slam of the screen door. Rarity still sat frozen at the bench.

“Fuckin’ piece a’ shit.” Applejack muttered as she reached down and righted the table. Rarity stood up and mechanically assisted her, she was still in shock from the nearly instantaneous about-face. Applejack picked up dishes and bottles and slammed each down angrily onto the table.

“Fuckin’ piece a swamp shit thinks she can speak for granny.” She muttered.

“You guys were getting along!” Rarity said, dumbfounded at the scene.

“Well we ain’t nao!” Applejack shouted. “That hyp’critical piece a’ shit ain’t welcome round here no moar!” She sighed. “Thanks fer’ tryin’ t’make it work Rarity, ah’m much obliged.” She picked up a couple of Zapp apples and set them back in their bowl. “But Applecrisp’s dead t’me nao. Ah ain’t forgivin’ her no moar.”

“But you two-”

“But nuthin’ Rarity. Y’kin stahp tryin’ t’make her look good. Ah think we’ve seen just whut kahnda pony she is.” Applejack said, wiping the spit from her hoof.

Rarity left the farmhouse feeling awful. Awful that she had witnessed the destruction of the last of the good feelings between the two ponies and awful that she knew Applecrisp’s secret of birth. Her sickness returned and she spent the rest of the icy trip home holding back the nausea.

Pinkie was inside, blowing a giant bubble of gum. It burst as Rarity entered and party pony was momentarily encased in the floppy film.

“Hi Rarity! How’s it goin’?” Rarity took a seat on her bed.

“Fuckin’ horrible ok?” Pinkie wrestled out of the gum.

“What does thanking have to do with-?”

“God damn it Pinkie! Fuck is a curse word ok?!” Rarity snapped.

Pinkie was quiet.

“Oh.” The pink mare said softly. Rarity sighed.

“I’m sorry Pinkie, I shouldn’t have gotten mad. It’s not you, I didn’t mean it.” Pinkie sat down on the bed, a little bit of gum still clung to her body and it stuck to Rarity.

“Can I help?” Asked the cottony pony. Rarity shook her head.

“No, it’s.” Rarity sighed. “It’s complicated.”

“Oh.” Pinkie said. She turned to Rarity. “Why is everything complicated now?”

“I don’t know Pinkie, I really don’t know.”

Pinkie thought for a moment.

“I wish things were like they are with you and me.” Rarity sighed.

“Me too.”

She decided to go to Spike’s, he could cheer her up. As the two cuddled up on the couch, Rarity related the events of the morning (excluding the portion regarding Applecrisp’s parents). She hadn’t planned on crying, but something about the two cousins’ hate for one another made her sad inside and she cried as she spoke of their enmity. Spike listened to the entire thing and when she finally finished, he held her a little closer.

“Wow, that’s awful. I’m so sorry for you.” He said tenderly.

“It’s not me, it’s them. I wish they could get along, they’re really similar to each other and they should have gotten along today.” She said tearfully. He nodded.

“But you can’t blame yourself. It’s their problem, you need to let them deal with it.” She sniffed.

“I guess so, but it’s just so sad to see.” He kissed the top of her head.

“Well, there’s plenty of things to be happy about too. You got the boutique back! You made up with Pinkie Pie! You’ve got a great future!”

She squeezed his claw.

“And a great dragon to spend it with.” She whispered. He chuckled and squeezed her hoof back.

“That’s true too.”

They snuggled on the couch for a time.

“It’s five o’ clock master Spike.” Came the deep voice of Brutus; Rarity nearly fell off of the couch at the unexpected presence of the royal guard standing behind them. How did those giant stallions move so quietly?

“Oh geez, I thought it was earlier!” Spike said in surprise. “Rarity, Rainbow Dash is coming over. She has some legal papers to sign before her operation.”

Her stomach tightened, she had forgotten about Dash’s operation.

There was a jingle of keys outside the door and in a second, the armored door swung open. Rarity didn’t have time to stand up and bow.

“Twilight!” She said in shock. The queen smiled to the couple.

“Well you two look cozy!” Spike jumped up and rushed over to her.

“Twilight! What are you doing here?” Asked the dragon in astonishment. The purple mare gave Spike a hug.

“Can’t a queen come see her number one assistant?”

“Yeah sure! I mean, absolutely! But what are you doing here?” Twilight walked over to the table and laid her bags down. Her two guards followed behind.

“Well, I heard you were administering some release of consent forms for Dash. I wanted to see what she was up to.” She slapped him on the back. “And Brutus told me you proposed to Rarity.” She said with a grin. Spike blushed.

“Uh, uh yeah. I was going to write you a letter, you know, to see if it was ok.”

“Oh Spike, you don’t have to ask for my permission to get married!” She giggled and turned to Rarity. “So Rarity, you’re going to marry this little guy?”

“Yes!” Rarity said quickly. “I’m doing very well by the way!” Twilight nodded.

“I was reading in the papers about some dresses from Ponyville shaking things up, I knew it had to be you.” Rarity blushed.

“Well, I wouldn’t say shaking things up, well, maybe a little bit.”

“Rarity’s getting the Carisol Boutique back!” Spike said excitedly. “She’s going to have a workshop!”

“Well.” Twilight said. “That’s actually one of the reasons I came back, Rarity, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” Oh no, she was still angry about Cloudsdale. Rarity began to frantically think up another heartfelt apology.

“Uh, hello? Spike, is this the right time?” Everypony looked back. Rainbow Dash peered into the doorway. Twilight galloped over to her.

“Dash! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you! How are you?” She asked as she hugged the little Pegasus.

“Pretty good.” Replied the blue pony. “I haven’t been to Ponyville that much.”

“Spike said you were going to sign some release of consent forms, what’s that all about?” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“I’m donating my wings, to a sick kid.” Twilight took the news much better than Rarity had.

“Oh! Great!” She her surprise was only momentary. “That’s wonderful! Let’s get you those forms!” They walked over to the table. “Spike, have you gotten them made up yet?”

“Not yet Twi.” Spike said as he gathered two parchments. “It’ll be just a sec.” Rarity had a seat at the table next to Rainbow Dash.

“Hi Rarity.” Dash said with a smile. “Were you and Spike planning your wedding?”

Rarity giggled.

“Something like that yeah.”

“Well, I hope I’m invited is all.” Twilight joked. “My little helper better get me a good seat too!”

“Of course!” Rarity said instantly. “You’ll be right beside my parents. You too Dash, you can sit with Twilight.”

“Well, it’ll be about a month before I’ll go anywhere, the recovery from the surgery is apparently pretty long.” The nausea jumped in Rarity’s stomach but she muscled it down. She wasn’t going to get sick in front of Twilight.

“And here you go!” Spike said, laying the freshly-written papers before the rainbow pony. “I underlined the places you need to sign.” He gave her a pen.

“So Dash, what made you decide to donate your wings?” Twilight asked as the Pegasus started to write her name on the first line.

“Well, Rarity and I had some talks about life and how to move on after everything. I decided after a while that I wanted to be a better pony and donating my wings is a good start.”

Twilight nodded.

“It sounds like you and Rarity had some good talks then. And by the look of things, you both made some progress.” Twilight said kindly.

“So, Twilight, how is Cantorlot?” Rarity asked.

“Good. The banks are starting to open up again, we’re getting money moving.” Rarity had hoped that she would let her know about the terrorist. “The budget is mostly ironed out.” She continued. “We trimmed a bit off, mostly magic research.”

“Done.” Dash set the pen down on the countertop.

“Ok, great!” Spike looked the pages over. “So we’ll keep this copy.” He gave the other paper to her. “And you give this to your doctor.”

“Thanks Spike! I appreciate all of your help!” Rainbow Dash dismounted the chair. “Well I gotta get home. The surgery is on Tuesday morning and I’m supposed to get lots of rest over the weekend. Bye guys!”

“Good seeing you Dash!” Rarity said, ignoring the illness in her stomach.

“I hope the surgery goes well!” Twilight called as the Pegasus exited.

As the door closed, Twilight turned to her number one assistant.

“Spike, why don’t you go grab me the readouts from the radar?” She asked politely. “All of them please, I want to see if there’s anything out of the ordinary in Ponyville.” The dragon nodded.

“Yes ma’am!” He said as he dashed down to the basement to collect the results. Twilight watched him slam the door.

“I just wanted to get rid of him.” The Alicorn explained. She looked over at Rarity. “There’s a lot I wanted to talk to you about Rarity.” Rarity’s heart began to race with preemptive fear and shame.

“Nightmare Moon too?” Spike called from the stairwell.

“Yes! Yes!” Twilight shouted back. “Just, er, all of it!” She turned back to Rarity. “He’s a great little helper, though I suppose he’s not so little anymore.” She sighed and pushed at the pen that sat atop the marble table. “Rarity, I, well, I wanted to say that I’m proud of you. Ever since you lost your business, when you stopped acting like a lady and started getting into fights, I basically thought you weren’t going anywhere. I thought that you’d just given up after the Blast. When I heard that you were engaged to Spike, I was pretty upset, I thought you were taking advantage of his feelings. But then I heard you were back on your hooves.” She stopped. The queen looked at the unicorn who was now engaged to her number one assistant. “Rarity, I’m sorry. For not helping you as much as I could or should have. It wasn’t very friend-like of me to just tell you off in Cloudsdale, or to be so passive aggressive at your party. I know you hurt just as much as I did when Fluttershy died and it wasn’t easy losing your business. I can see now that all of your past mistakes are behind you and that you’re moving on. That makes me both very proud to call you my friend, and very sorry to admit I didn’t treat you like one.”

Rarity sniffed. She had not expected this.

“I’m sorry too. I never should have done what I did, and I’m very sorry. I want you to know that I’ll take good care of Spike! No matter what happens!” She promised. “I’m going to be the best mare I can for him! I’m going to have a new life and not be such a terrible pony.”

Twilight smiled.

“I know you will.” She said kindly. The dragon burst out of the basement door with an armful of papers.

“Got ‘em all! Where should we start?” Twilight giggled.

“Oh Spike, let’s take a break for tonight ok?” He scratched his head.

“Uh, yeah, ok.”

Rarity realized she was interrupting their reunion.

“I should go, I have to make sure Pinkie hasn’t filled the tower with whipped cream or something.” She said hastily as she made for the door.

“Oh, uh, ok!” Spike ran to open the door for her. “It was great seeing you!” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“You too dear!” He blushed and Rarity thought she caught an “aw” from Twilight.

“Oh, there was one other thing I was going to ask you for!” Twilight said, unseating herself and running past Rarity.

She rummaged through her chariot until she found a tiny chest no bigger than herself. The Alicorn set it before Rarity. The lock of the chest was magic and it cast out a few misty beams as the queen opened it. Rarity gasped. A rich black dress lay folded inside. Twilight lifted it out carefully. Robe-like and billowing, the shadowy dress seemed to still the air around them.

“It was Luna’s. I found it in her wardrobe and I really like it.” Rarity touched the cloth and it seemed to flow like liquid around her hoof. It was unlike any fabric she had ever seen. Twilight turned to Rarity. “Can I commission you to add some colors and a little something to it?” Rarity stared back at her.

“Me?” She looked back at the majestic garment. “I don’t know, I’ve never done anything like this before. I mean-” Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder.

“I trust you.” Rarity felt the tears beginning to pop in her eyes. Twilight trusted her. Brushing away the tears, the unicorn took hold of the dress.

“What do you want done?”

Twilight looked back up at the dark garment.

“Well, I think some purple would look nice. And I want this around the neck.” She held out a gold necklace; Rarity recognized it instantly, it was her Element of Harmony. “Can you do all that?” Rarity looked up at the dress, then back at Twilight.

“Give me a few days dear.” She said with a grin.

As she carried the royal dress home, Rarity began making mental notes for what she would do for Twilight’s commission. Of course it would be bold, something that really burned the eyes. And her Element would be the main focal point.

It was about seven, and the wind had picked up. She pulled her cloak tightly to keep from freezing in the icy wind. Her stomach still hurt, but she was too happy to care.

“Hehe, where’s little Rarity going on a night like tonight?” Asked a jeering voice from behind her. She stopped, though a smarter Rarity would have ignored him.

“Oh just on my way back to my home after talking with the queen about her commission.” She said casually.

Snips was instantly beside her.

“Oh, a little bit of reconnaissance before you blow her up too?” He asked darkly. She began to walk again.

“No, just some questions for my new client.”

He laughed, a forced, mocking laugh.

“You’re so full of shit Rarity, I could kick you and get my hoof dirty. Don’t try and convince me you’re anything but a whore who thinks she’s a bigshot.” Rarity smiled to the disgusting stallion.

“A whore who wouldn’t even fuck you, how sad is it that even whores don’t want to be around you?”

“You’re so smart Rarity. You really think you’re something don’t you?” He hissed. “Well I can tell you one thing, you’re pathetic. Only thing more pathetic than the whore Rarity is her lonely little friend Rainbow Dash.” She stopped. He knew this had struck a nerve and pressed harder. “Hehe yeah. I was out at that yellow Pegasus’ house one night havin’ a good time with some fillies from Las Pegasus and that sad little pony came around.” He chuckled. “I offered her the ride of a lifetime but she just ran off crying.” He cocked his head. “Maybe you oughta ask the doctors to put her down when she goes in to get those wings clipped. Probably be best for the poor thing.” Rarity took a deep breath. The blood pounded in her temples and she clutched the chest so tightly that she feared it might break.

“Have a good time jerking off with that retard Snails. I’m sure you can find a pinup that cares.” She said nonchalantly as she continued on her way.

“You’re still a whore Rarity, and you’ve got a brain-damaged Pegasus for a friend. Only thing that loves you is a fag of a dragon.” He called after her.

She didn’t care, Snips was just a pathetic loser that didn’t even annoy her. She had a business and a life ahead of her; she wasn’t angered at all by his insults. With the grace to accept herself, she wasn’t even ruffled by Snips.

As she unlocked the door to her tower, the sickness exploded within her and she dropped the chest. Retching violently, she fell to her knees in the doorway. She coughed, then gasped for air, the violent discord ravaging her stomach. She knelt for a few minutes, dry heaving onto the first stair. Finally, the sickness seemed to tire of her and left her trembling and sweating. Picking herself up off the ground, Rarity caught her breath and wiped some spit from herself. She should probably get checked for pneumonia; best head in tomorrow. She picked up the commission and entered her home.

Chapter 22

Chapter XXII

“You’re healthy as a horse miss Rarity.” Doctor Pelton announced as he entered the examination room. “All of the tests came back fine. What seems to be the issue?” The white unicorn felt a little dismayed that he had not found the cause of her gastrointestinal unrest.

“I’ve been rather nauseous for the past few days.” She explained. The grey-maned doctor smiled.

“Well I can tell you that you’re fine. Only thing I can think of is if maybe you’ve had something very stressful in your life in the past few days, the death of a family member or some such.” She laughed politely.

“Well, it must be something else, my life’s been wonderful for the past few days.” She took off the examination dress she wore and folded it neatly on the paper-covered table. “Thank you for your time doctor. I will let you know if anything changes.” She headed back to her tower to get an early start on Twilight’s commission. She would just get over whatever it was in time.

The fabric was bizarre, almost otherworldly; she dared not make the slightest incision until she knew just what it was made of. She was perusing through her books of smart fabric (she knew no royal dress would be made from dumb or even sufficient fabric), when somepony knocked at her door. She sighed and set her work down. She opened the door. In the bright sunlight stood Audacity. He seemed anxious.

“Hello Audacity, what can I do for you?” She asked politely. He smiled.

“Uh, hi Rarity. I, uh.” He scratched his neck. “Wanted to see if you were doing ok after your fall into The Falls.” She remembered the Pegasus who had saved her.

“Oh! That was you! Thank you so much for saving me, again!” She laughed as she gave him a hug. “Yes yes I’m fine! How did you know I was in trouble?”

“I was, you know, I was out doing a bit of a show for the pony school; they were out looking at constellations. Then I heard that dragon screaming for you and.” He laughed nervously. “You know, went and got you.” She blushed a bit, Audacity was still a terrific stallion, even if he did have terrible taste in mares.

“Well thank you for saving my life again!” She said with a giggle. “Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have jumped into that water, but my fiancé accidently dropped my ring and I wasn’t going to make him buy another.”

“Oh! You’re getting married! Congratulations!” The stallion said in surprise.

“Oh well of course I’ll invite you!” she said quickly. “Maybe you can do a show!”

He nodded.

“Yeah, yeah.” Audacity cleared his throat. “Well, uh, I gotta get going. Glad you’re ok.” He said abruptly.

“Well good seeing you!” She said as he rocketed into the air. She watched the red streak speed off into the blue sky; Audacity was still a great stallion.

She had narrowed the fabric type of the dress down to just two possibilities: Turinistic Shrouding, or Transient-based polyester, by the time Pinkie got home.

“Hey there Pinkamina, what adventures did you have today?” Rarity asked as the pink pony dropped her bags by the door. Pinkie looked over at her, she looked exhausted and didn’t smile.

“Fuck baking.” She declared. Rarity had never heard Pinkie swear intentionally before and the curse sounded peculiar, laced in Pinkie’s squeaky voice. “I spent the whole day going from muffins to the front end, we had a lot of customers coming in to try out pumpkin cupcakes.” She sat down beside Rarity. “Applecrisp called in sick today. So I had to spend the whole fucking day getting yelled at by Mrs. Salukas because I couldn’t do both jobs.” She sighed. “I thought baking was fun, but you guys don’t sing or make cupcakes for the school kids.” She said sadly. “I wish I were back at Sugarcube Corner.”

“I’m sorry Pinkie, I really am. The Lone Star is a nice place, but it’s not anything like Sugarcube Corner. Applecrisp gets sick sometimes, I probably should have told you that.” Rarity explained.

“Why isn’t anything fun anymore?!” Pinkie asked unhappily. “Ever since that stupid Blast everything’s been so stupid and sad!” Rarity sighed.

“I’ll tell you what I tell Dash: we’re all just going through a time of change and we’re just starting to fit into those changes.”

“I don’t want things to change! I liked things the way they were!” Pinkie said, starting to cry. “I want to make fun things to eat, I want to go on an adventure.” She whimpered. “I miss Fluttershy.”

Rarity put an arm around her friend.

“I’m sorry Pinkie.” She said quietly. “I know none of us really talk about her anymore. I think it’s just easiest to handle it that way.”

“I miss her so much!” Pinkie cried. Rarity began to cry as well.

“I do too.”

It was good to cry; the pair wept and sobbed for a time. Pinkie clutched Rarity, and Rarity didn’t mind. She held the pink mare and let her own sorrow out with her. Eventually the tears ran dry and the two sat for a time, resting from the release. Rarity had forgotten how much crying helped things.

“Things have been really fucked up since the Blast.” Rarity said softly. “But I think they’re getting back to normal.”

“I hope so.” Pinkie said, wiping her eyes. “I really hope so.”

Monday came and Rarity got to work on Twilight’s dress. Well, she started on it. For four hours she started on it. She had figured out that it was made of darkweave, an expensive fabric from the Badlands. With this knowledge she knew how to cut and sew it properly. Yet Rarity did nothing. The inspiration didn’t come, and the dress sat before her like a corpse stretched across the wooden autopsy table that was her desk. Finally, she had enough of the stuffy tower and decided to take a walk. The sickness lingered in her stomach and she made a few miserable laps around the town. She remembered Angora and headed over to her little store.

The white pony was at the register, knitting a scarf.

“So what is this, work or style?” Rarity asked, motioning to the scarf. Angora, who had been enraptured in her work, looked up. She wore glasses for her close up work, just like Rarity herself.

“Oh, I’m doing a cotton blended work one for my stallion, he’s in the Pegasus reserves.” Rarity peered in at the stitching. It was obvious Angora had been knitting from a young age. There were no wasted stitches and the entire work was tightly woven.

“Oh, beautiful! Your colt better love this!” Rarity said appreciatively. Angora giggled.

“He does, he loves everything I send him. He said once his rotation is up he’s going to move to Ponyville and help me with the business.”

“Aw, he sounds great.” Rarity loved seeing couples that worked together.

Angora set the scarf down on the counter.

“Can you help me with something?” She asked with a frown.

“Sure! What do you need?” Rarity asked cheerfully.

Angora led her back to her workroom.

“This.” She said, holding up a plain brown cloak. “It’s impossible. Vanity sent me this, he wants me to make it warm and flow with pink shoes. How is that possible?” She asked, giving the garment to Rarity.

“Ohhhh.” Rarity took the cloak and spread it out on the work table. It was impossible, there was no way in hell any thick brown cloak would go with any sort of pink shoes. She looked at it for a moment. An idea came to her.

“Stuffing.” She said, frowning down at the puzzle. “We can run some stuffing down the interior, nothing much, just a nine mil.”

Angora stared at the cloak.

“How will…” Her voice trailed off as she attempted to comprehend Rarity’s plan. “Light stuffing, two tone pastel.” She said as it suddenly dawned on her. Rarity grinned.

“Pop off the zipper, size eight buttons.”

“How are we going to match the buttons?” Rarity put her hoof aside her nose.

“You’ll see.”

The pair got to work on the paradoxical request. They worked for an hour on the cloak, eventually coming to the seemingly impossible buttons. Angora didn’t know that one could bleach buttons with lemon juice.

“No way!” She exclaimed as Rarity sewed the citrusy buttons onto the blue and red cloak. Rarity laughed.

“Yeah, I had a commission from Sotheby’s and the night before I ran out of white buttons and all I had was two lemons.” She chuckled as she sewed the last button in place. “Kept a five hundred bit contract with three bits worth of fruit.” She pulled the last stitch closed and held up the completed cloak. “So, do you think this goes with pink shoes?” She asked sarcastically.

“Yeaaah but…” The younger designer pointed to the red area. “Couldn’t we make that lighter and bring attention to the drawstrings?” Rarity hadn’t noticed that. She looked over the other designer’s idea; it actually made more sense than her own.

“Wow, I, yeah that works really well actually!” The elder unicorn said, impressed by Angora’s insight. They lightened the color and now the cloak was absolutely gorgeous, especially with pink shoes. They had completed Vanity’s impossible task.

It had been fun helping Angora, really fun actually and Rarity felt refreshed by working alongside the young designer.

“So where do you want the dumb fabric?” She asked lifting the heavy and uncompliant roll.

She felt a hoof on her shoulder.

“Here, this is for you.” Angora held out a little sheet of patterns.

There are three things a designer can’t go without. One is a copy of “The Official Compendium of all things In”, the second is any kind of sewing kit, and thirdly, a sheet of their patterns. Patterns, little two by two squares of cloth colored by the designer and used for smart and dumb fabric orders, are what make their personal style. Designers never shared their patterns with one another, lest they be forged and their idea stolen. Rarity remembered her first set of patterns, she had made over three hundred dresses with those four color schemes. There was no reason for Angora to share her patterns with her.

“What?” Rarity asked in surprise. Angora smiled.

“We’re gonna be friends I think. I want you to keep these, so whenever I need to make a custom, I can come to you for ideas.” Rarity bit her lip, Angora trusted her more than Hoity-Toity ever would. She took the little card.

“Thank you, I’ll keep these safe. Let me know if you ever need any help.” Angora gave her a hug.

“I will Rarity.”

Rarity left Esoteria happy and touched; she was ready to tackle Twilight’s commission. Back home, she set the card with her other valuables and then had a seat at her desk.

She picked up a pencil and a clean sheet of drafting paper and prepared to start her design. She turned on the light atop her desk. She turned the light to a better brightness. She opened a window for some air. She sharpened the pencil and again seated herself before the desk. She adjusted the window to her liking. She returned to her seat. She stared at the paper. She threw the pencil across the room and slumped down in the chair.

“Fuck, come on.” She said, putting a hoof to her head. “Make a damn cloak work with shoes but not a simple dress?” A fly buzzed around the room and she watched it for a few minutes. The black comma lazily looped around the gears of the clock and disappeared into the rafters. She looked back at the paper. She needed a break.

It was around five or so when she took her next sabbatical. The wind was pleasantly cool and she watched the leaves bounce across the cobblestone. She could go to the Straw Purchase, there had to be a part of grace that dealt with lack of inspiration! She galloped to the diner. There were no diners inside, thankfully. The young black stallion was behind the counter cleaning a coffee cup out when she slid up to the bar.

“Been awhile!” She said with a grin. Posh looked up.

“Rarity! Good to see you!” He exclaimed. He poked his head back into the kitchen. “Dad! It’s Rarity!” He shouted.

In a moment the elder stallion joined them; he wore a stained “God is my Sous chef” apron.

“Rarity! It’s been some time! How’s it going?” Pish asked, leaning on the bar.

She smiled.

“Engaged, got my old Boutique back, and already have a commission.”

“Sounds wonderful, how did it all work out?” Pish asked. She explained the full story of how it had all worked out, making sure to draw attention to any times that she had given grace.

“And I don’t know when I’m getting married, but I just know it’s going to be great!” She said happily. Posh was grinning broadly.

“Praise God. I know you’ll think it’s just a coincidence, but I hope you can see how just doing your part and letting Him do the rest is really all it takes.”

She shrugged.

“I dunno about God and all, but, well, it’s sure going in the pros section of my thoughts about Him.”

“So, do you need any more grace, or is this purely a social call?” Pish asked jokingly.

“Well, I suppose I need some help with my commission. It’s technically my first one in my new position, and I want it to be perfect.” She frowned. “But for some reason, I can’t seem to get it to work.”

“Go easy on yourself Rarity.” Posh said. “You’re just settling in to where you should be.”

“Well, I’m afraid I’ll screw it up.” She admitted. He shook his head.

“No, you won’t, you’re where you need to be and you’ll get back into the swing of things in your own time. Isn’t that right dad?” Pish seemed to be thinking on something else and it took the elder stallion a moment to notice.

“What? Oh yes. Rarity, you sound like you’re where you need to be. Posh is right, when you’re where you need to be, the ability will come.”

“You’re sure?”

“Completely.” The two said in unison.

She walked home feeling like she had when she had left Angora’s. She could do it, they were right, the ability would come. She was where she needed to be. But what could she add to the dress that would work well? The designer’s block was already creeping back to her and she wasn’t even home yet.

“Rarity! Hey Rarity!” Spike called.

“Future mare of my assistant!” Twilight yelled. Rarity looked back, Spike and Twilight were walking down the street along with the three guards and a small sprig of rainbow tail poking out of the procession.

The unicorn jogged over to the small crowd. Spike ran out and gave her a kiss.

“Sorry about that, Twi’s being annoying.” He said with a roll of his eyes. Twilight giggled.

“I am not! I was trying to get her attention!”

“What are you all doing out?” Rarity asked.

“They’re walking me to the doctor’s.” Dash said from behind her.

Rarity looked back. Dash’s rainbow mane had been cut short and the wispy colors shone with wetness; Rainbow Dash was immaculately clean and bathed in preparation for the surgery. She smiled at Rarity. Something about her smile and the way her violet eyes shone made Rarity utterly sick to her stomach.

The white unicorn coughed, then hacked, then gasped for breath. Crumpling forward, Rarity retched and kicked the ground in nauseated discomfort as she dry heaved. The group halted.

“Rarity, are you ok?!!” Spike asked, kneeing beside her. She nodded and took a deep breath.

“Yeah, just a little something I musta caught when I took that swim.”

“Are you sure? Do you want to see a doctor?” Spike asked in concern. She shook her head.

“Gimme some time, I’ll fight it off.”

They started walking again and Rarity fought to keep her rebellious stomach in line.

“I’m glad I could see you before the operation.” Dash said to Rarity. “I was so busy today with the pre-op stuff that I forgot to stop by!”

Rarity felt as if she might vomit.

“Hey, I’m glad I could see you off, I mean, see you in.” Rarity said, trying to keep herself steady.

“The procedure should take about six hours.” Twilight explained. “Little Antwerp is already looking forward to his new wings.”

“I hope he likes them.” Dash said cheerfully. As they walked down the street, Rarity felt herself beginning to sweat. Her nausea threatened to drop her again and she frantically thought for an excuse to bow out.

“Well, this is us!” Spike said as they reached the little brick office. The procession halted and Rainbow Dash walked to the door.

“Well, uh, I guess this is a see ya later then.” She said in uncertainty.

Twilight smiled and gave the Pegasus a hug.

“I’m proud of you Dash, you’re going to be fine.”

Rainbow Dash looked to Rarity. Those Goddamn eyes. Rarity’s throat closed tightly and she simply nodded. The Pegasus walked back to the unicorn and hugged her tightly.

“Thanks for being my friend.” She whispered. “You’ve helped me come so far.” Rarity felt the tears sting her tightly-shut eyes and she desperately clung to Rainbow Dash. She didn’t want Dash to lose her wings, she didn’t want to let the little Pegasus go.

In a moment, Rainbow Dash released her. She gave her friends one final nod.

“Well, see you on the other side!” She said simply, then opened the door to the clinic.

“Why you must be Rainbow Dash!” Rarity heard the nurse say. The door closed, and it was quiet. They waited for a second, then started back down the street.

“Hey, Rarity, do you want to get some ice cream?” Spike asked playfully. “Twilight brought some back from Cantorlot. It’s really good!”

“All the best marriage and family books say to establish a favorite flavor before the children!” Twilight said jokingly. Rarity didn’t look back for fear they might see the tears.

“N-no.” She stammered. “I have some things I need to get done tonight.” She walked briskly home, the nameless sickness knotting her stomach.

Back in her tower, she felt sick and depressed all at once. She tried to put Rainbow Dash out of her mind. Taking a pencil, she started to scrawl out a wild and senseless design for Twilight’s commission. Rainbow Dash was going to get de-winged, she was going to have her wings cut off. Rarity stabbed the pencil into the desk and swept the paper off in a blind fury. She stood up, she had to do something to take her mind off of the horrible thought of the anesthetized Pegasus. She looked around for a distraction.

“Fuck work, just fuck it!” Pinkie shouted as she threw open the door. Pinkie Pie: The world’s greatest distraction! The pink pony ripped open the fridge, yanked out a bottle of root beer and tore the cap off. She gulped down the frothy soda, spilling some onto herself. “Fuck that stupid fuck Ana!” She cried in frustration.

“What happened?” Rarity asked. “Did she think you stole something?” Pinkie nodded.

“She thought I was going to steal the cookie cutters!” Pinkie threw her hooves into the air in exasperation. “I brought those from Sugarcube Corner!”

“It’s fine Pinkie, she’s a bitch a lot of the time. Just let her-”

“And stupid fucking Applecrisp is still sick! Sonny said he’s gonna fire her cause she’s all outta sick days! Well that doesn’t help me!” Pinkie took another swig of the non-alcoholic soft drink.

“Hang on what?!” Rarity asked in surprise. “Applecrisp’s still out sick?” Pinkie nodded and continued to down her beverage.

“She didn’t even call this morning. Sonny said they had an agreement to no more sick days. Well how am I supposed to run a whole bakery by myself?” Rarity was already donning her coat.

“Yeah I don’t know Pinkie. Listen, I need to go see her, she’s called in sick a lot this past summer and I don’t know why. I’m gonna go see her.”

“Tell her to get her fucking rump back in the fucking kitchen!” Pinkie shouted furiously as Rarity raced down the steps.

The night air was growing icy and Rarity galloped toward the dam. Why the fuck was Applecrisp taking so many sick days? She was sulking no doubt; and while Rarity couldn’t blame Applecrisp for that, it still wasn’t fair for her to skip out of her work. She was going to set Applecrisp straight.

Her anger seemed to temporarily cure the sickness and she forgot all about Rainbow Dash. In a few minutes she reached the dam. Climbing the ladder to the steel box, Rarity clopped her hoof against the grey door. There was no reply. She clopped harder. The rushing of the icy water below was the only response.

“Applecrisp! It’s Rarity!” She shouted at the door. “Can I come in?” A wind blew against her, slicing through her cloak and chilling her to the core. She banged against the door. Applecrisp had better be home. Her arm was growing sore from the repeated striking and she shivered from the icy breeze. The door opened suddenly and Rarity nearly fell into the open doorway.

“The fuck do ya’ll want?” Applecrisp asked in a low voice.

“Can I come in, please, it’s cold out here.” Rarity asked. Applecrisp said nothing, but moved out of the way. Rarity scampered into the room. It was pitch black inside and it took the unicorn a few moments to adjust to the darkness. The acrid smell of alcohol permeated the air. Rarity coughed.

“Applecrisp, what’s going on? Pinkie said you-” Her hoof knocked something over. Rarity heard the tinkle of glass against metal and felt a wetness at her hooves. She looked down and her heart missed a beat. All along the floor stood about twenty or so cider bottles, a rag protruded from each. She looked up. “Applecrisp?” She asked in fear. “What’s going on?” The Apple pony was emotionless, with a slight frown, giving her the look of a cadaver.

“Gonna burn that whore’s orchard t’the ground then burn her too.” Her words sounded like a recital of a suicide note and Rarity held back a scream at the horrible plan before her. “Ah’m done Rarity. Ah’d advahs ya’ll go back home and make that ya’ll were asleep.”

“Applecrisp! You can’t burn Applejack’s orchard down!” Rarity cried.

“Wai the fuck not?!!!” screamed Applecrisp. “Ah ain’t got but a shitty job at a fuckin’ bak’ry. No future, no plans. Applejack was rahght, ah ain’t nuthin’ but swamp trash.” She ground her teeth together and slammed her arm against the control panel, setting off a fireworks display of lights. “Well this trash is gunna take that prideful mare down with her.” She finished blackly.

“Applecrisp no!” Rarity said in terror. “You can’t do that!”

Applecrisp shook her head.

“Ah got nuthin’ Rarity. An’ ah ain’t never gunna have nuthin’.”

“Yes Applecrisp you do!” Rarity walked over to her. “You have me and Thomas and-” Applecrisp threw her back. Rarity stumbled and fell onto a bottle. The flammable liquid spilled out and slicked the floor.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP RARITY!!!” Applecrisp thundered. “YA’LL DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT ME!!!” Applecrisp took a few breaths, then slapped at the stream of tears that had begun to run down her face. “Y’don’t know shit about me. My parents are siblin’s, they died when ah was young. All they tole me and Thomas was that nuthin’ good comes outta sin like theirs. Ah spent my whole life huntin’ an’ killin’ an’ thinkin’ ah could be somepony. That ah could be sumthin’ other than sin. Well it ain’t true, ah’m an unnatural nopony who ain’t got nuthin’ t’show for herself. Applejack knows it, an’ my parents knew it. Ah ain’t goin’ back t’Hayseed, ah ain’t goin’ nowhere, ah’m just goin’ out.” She swallowed and wiped at the tears. “Ya’ll best go home ‘fore things get ugly.”

Rarity stood up.

“Listen, Applecrisp, I know how you feel-” Applecrisp snorted.

“No ya don’t Rarity, yer’ life is perfect. Ya’ll ain’t got shit to complain about” Rarity shook her head.

“No it really isn’t. I have a lot of bad days.” Applecrisp laughed cynically.

“Yeah, ah know, whole Gawd damn world knows when Rarity the unicorn is mad or sad or just feelin’ blue. Rarity yer’ whole life is fuckin’ perfect, an’ yer jest a miserable little pony lookin’ fer’ somethin’ to make herself feel bad.”

Rarity took offense to this.

“Hey what the fuck do you know about me?” She asked in outrage. “Don’t tell me-”

“Yer a miserable pony Rarity, yer’ always lookin’ fer some problem t’feel bad over. Ah ain’t once seen ya’ll sad over somthin’ ya’ll didn’t make yerself sad over.” Applecrisp spat.

“I’m so fucking sorry I lost my friends and my life got ruined. I’m sorry I made myself sad over not knowing my purpose and making mistakes like you. I’m really fucking sorry that I can’t be always happy in my ‘perfect little life’. It really shouldn’t have taken me so long to find my purpose, I’ll do better next time.” She retorted.

“Fuck yew Rarity. Yer’ lahf took a coupla months t’heal, ah ain’t got none.” Applecrisp shot back. “Y’got everythin’ y’want an’ y’think cause y’had a bad summer that y’kin lecture me on life. Fuck yew.”

“Hey, my life is far from perfect. I don’t want to be a fashionista or get married or do any of that! I have no fucking clue if I’m even going through with any of it!” She stopped. What had she just said? Did she mean that?

Applecrisp rolled her eyes.

“Oh mah Gawd here we go agin. Here’s sum great advice Rarity: Y’ain’t a fashionista, y’ain’t a housemare, yer four hooves. Four hooves that gotta stahp listinin’ t’whut everypony else says an’ jus’ make a decision about whut y’want. Four hooves that gotta stahp bein’ so fuckin’ conflicted. Ah have no ahdea whut the fuck yer problem is but y’do nuthin’ but question yerself and tell yerself whut y’think is best.”

In that moment, Rarity felt the sickness leave her. Her stomach unknotted and an unexpected sigh rushed from her lungs as the sickness of the past few days suddenly vanished. Applecrisp saw this and shook her head.

“Yer a fucked up pony Rarity. But you kin do a lotta things. Don’t sell yerself short an’ tell yerself whut y’should do. Just do whut y’want.”

Rarity slumped down the floor.

Was that what she had been doing? She wanted to be a fashionista, she had to! It was her gift, her talent! She looked at her flank, four diamonds had nothing to do with fashion. She wanted to run a workshop, she had to! It didn’t make any sense for her not to! She had come so far and things were going so well! This was her new life and she didn’t want it? Wasn’t this moving on from the Blast?

She was slipping back into insanity. Rarity felt lightheaded and reached over and took one of the bottles of cider. Discarding the rag, she took a draught of the fermented liquid.

“God, what the fuck is wrong with me?” She asked lucidly. “I must be insane.” Applecrisp sighed and sat down beside her. Plucking the rag from a bottle, Applecrisp took a sip of cider. “I spend half my time fucking things up and now I’m finally back where I want to be…and I don’t want it? Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with me?” Rarity asked her.

Applecrisp shrugged.

“Ah’m pretty good at tellin’ fucked up ponies, bein’ one myself. Ah’d say y’spend too much time thinkin’ on things.” She surmised.

Rarity pondered this. It was a lie, it was not true. She had spent the whole summer learning to move on, learning to stop being a bad pony. She had finished her recovery and gotten everything back. Why would she feel relieved to admit she didn’t want to go back?

The two sat in silence for a time, surrounded by the improvised incendiary grenades. They both consumed a few bottles of cider, which seemed to calm the moment. Applecrisp spat onto the metal floor and wiped her face.

“Ah dunno, maybe ah oughta go back t’Hayseed. Ponyville ain’t right fer’ me. Yer’ all too hard t’figure.” Applecrisp said staring at her empty cider bottle.

“Yeah, I know.” Rarity said. “This place fucks with me. Maybe I should move to Hayseed with you. Maybe I’ll understand myself there.”

“Aw nao yer’ jus’ talkin’ nonsense cause yer’ overthinkin’ things agin.” Applecrisp looked over at her. “Right nao: Whut d’y’want t’do? Whut does Rarity the four hooves want t’do? Don’t think on the Blast or’ yer’ business or nuthin’. Just do whut y’wanna do.”

Rarity thought for a moment. What did she really want to do?

“Grab your bags, fill them with those.” She said, gesturing to the bottles. Rarity knew exactly what she wanted to do. Applecrisp looked at her in confusion.

“Y’come in here, tahr me out so ah don’t wanna kill my cousin…nao ya’ll want me t’go an’ do it after all?” Rarity shook her head.

“We’ve got a long night ahead.” She said. “And you’re not going to hurt your cousin.”

The two left the control room. The brisk fall air was quickly becoming frigid and the mares walked quickly through the sleepy town. It was about eight when they arrived at Hennessy’s.

“Wait here.” Rarity instructed Applecrisp. She entered the bar, the tart smell of cocktails and beers stung her nose as she strolled into the dim building.

“Rarity, me lucky lass! Y’been gone awhael!” Quinn said cheerfully. She ignored him.

“Rarity?” She looked over at the bar. Audacity stood up from a stool. “I uh, didn’t expect to see you here!” He said in embarrassment. His breath reeked of a lengthy tab and he had obviously not expected her. She pushed him aside as she scanned the room.

Snips sat in the back booth. Rarity saw a couple of Cutie Mark-less fillies on his outstretched arms. She strode over to them.

“He’s been in jail twice for raping colts. He has ED and doesn’t know how to pronounce the word ‘aluminum’. He’s never been out of Ponyville and got his Cutie Mark during his circumcision.” She said to the two young fillies. All three looked up in total surprise. She flicked her head to the mares. “Go.”

“Excuse me?!” Snips demanded. The fillies looked at him.

“I thought you said you got your Cutie Mark killing a fascist.” One said softly. Rarity pointed over to Audacity.

“Go ask that Pegasus over there, he’s Snips’ parole officer.”

“Listen lady, you’re obviously crazy. I fought in two wars.” Snips was a soldier now it seemed. However, Rarity’s attack had worked (or the fillies doubted Snips’ story from the beginning), and the two spooked mares slipped out of their seats to go verify Rarity’s story with the parole officer. “Hey! Angel, Sunbeam!” The green unicorn called ineffectually. The fillies began to ask the uninvolved parole officer about their date’s past. Snips turned to Rarity.

“What is your deal?” He asked her furiously. “Just fuck off!”

“Take back what you said about my friend Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh my God what is with you and wanting to make me take back stuff?!!” He asked in exasperation. “You’re like a school-filly.”

“Take it back, she’s not brain damaged.” She repeated. He snorted.

“I take it back. All of it. I don’t know what I was thinking when I called a Pegasus who lives by herself and doesn’t do anything brain damaged.” A smile slid over his face. “Course you really can’t call her a Pegasus anymore can you? After tonight she’s gonna be-” Rarity kicked the table, forcing the wooden edge into the green stomach of the reclining unicorn. The impact of the blow knocked the wind out of him and he gasped for air. Rarity leaned across the tilted table.

“Say it.” She whispered, pushing the table farther his body. “And I’ll squish you like the cockroach you are. I’ll go to jail for a hundred years to shut your fuckin’ mouth.”

He choked and clawed at the table.

“You’re a psychopath.” He said hoarsely. She released the table and Snips fell onto his side, panting for air.

“Rainbow Dash isn’t brain damaged.” She said to the crumpled unicorn. “She’s a better pony than you will ever be.” Rarity turned and started out of the bar.

Audacity, having assured the two fillies that he was not in any way involved in police work, again got out of his seat and approached Rarity.

“Hey, um, this is kinda weird, I know.” He began. She shoved him back and made for the exit.

“Fuck off.” She said, not taking her eyes off of the exit.

She stopped at the door and looked back. The red Pegasus had turned and ordered another drink. He was reaching for his stein when she took hold of him. Rarity jerked his head toward hers and kissed him. The kiss lasted a moment, with a very surprised Audacity flailing his arms about during the momentary assault. Rarity released him and he fell to the floor in a drunken daze. Without a word, the white unicorn departed.

Applecrisp was standing outside.

“Y’done in there?” She asked quizzically. Rarity nodded, wiping the taste of Audacity from her lips.

“We’re going back to my place, I need you to help me move some things.”

Pinkie Pie was in bed, but as Rarity entered the darkened room, party pony switched a light on.

“Oh hi Rarity! Didja talk to-”

“Go back to bed Pinkie.” Rarity said authoritatively. The slightly spooked pony wordlessly nodded and complacently pulled the covers over her head.

As she emptied her desk, Rarity saw the tiny card of patterns Angora had given her. Without another thought she dropped it into her gigantic volume of accrued patterns and tossed it into a bag. Rarity packed everything up in several duffel bags and hauled it all down to Applecrisp. The blue Apple pony was completely lost at this point.

“Gawd, Rarity, whut the fuck are ya’ll plannin’ on doin’?” She asked in bemusement. Rarity slung two of the bags over her shoulders.

“I’ll let you know when we get there.”

They walked through the quiet town. A few lights were on, but most ponies went to bed early in the fall and nopony was around to witness the two mares shuttling fashion design accoutrements to the little store.

They dumped the bags down in front of the building. Applecrisp looked up at the sign.

“Rarity, ah dunno whut yer’ tryin’ t’teach me here, but ah got it ok? Ah ain’t gunna burn down nuthin’, alrahght?”

Rarity shook her head.

“Oh yes you are.” She scribbled a note onto a sheet of her personal stationary and secured it to the heap of bags. She stepped back and surveyed the pile. Seemingly satisfied with herself, she led Applecrisp to the final destination on their escapade.

It was a long walk and Applecrisp was becoming more and more concerned with the behavior of her friend.

“Look, Rarity, ah’m sorry ok? Ah git mad at Applejack, but mosta the time ah don’t mean t’hurt her. It was wrong a’ me t’threaten t’burn her orchard down. Ah git it dammit!’”

“This isn’t about you or her.” Rarity said, focused on the darkened path before them. Applecrisp was silent as she tried to understand the actions of her friend. “Oh and you were right, Applejack is completely wrong for keeping Granny Smith alive.” Rarity added.

In a few moments they reached their destination. Applecrisp stood behind Rarity.

“Uh, whut are we doin’?” She asked apprehensively. Rarity turned to her.

“Give me a bottle.”

“Whut?!!” Applecrisp asked in shock. “Ah ain’t-” Rarity ripped the bag from her and opened it. “Rarity!!! Gawd almighty, ah said ah was sorry! Y’were right, ah shouldn’ta-”

“Shut up Applecrisp.” Rarity said, lifting one of the bottles from the bag. She pulled a small box of matches from a side pouch and struck match against the cardboard edge. The little wooden stick popped and an orange-yellow flame danced at the tip. “This isn’t about you, it was never about you. You just made sense of the past summer and pretty much the rest of my life. You made me realize there’s a difference between moving on and moving back.” The short match burned down and she held it to the alcohol soaked rag draped from the mouth of the bottle. “I’m done telling myself who I am.” The flame climbed the rag and cast a blue glow over Rarity.

“Rarity, whu-”

“Either help me or run home and make that you were asleep.” Rarity said, looking back at the spooked pony. Applecrisp stared at Rarity. She looked over at the building, then back at Rarity. In the flickering light of the burning rag, Rarity saw a smile come to the face of swamp pony.

“Yer’ done tellin’ yerself whut y’are.” She repeated. Rarity chuckled.

“Now you’re getting it.” Applecrisp pulled a bottle from the bag and ignited the rag.

“Y’sure this is what y’want?” She asked. Rarity shook her head.

“This is just the opposite.”

The first bottle summersaulted in the air, making a brief, flaming O before shattering through the window. There was a whoosh of burning cider and a dull red orange glow radiated through the window. The second bottle, flying straight and steady, followed the path of the first.

“Y’gotta learn to throw ‘em rahght!” Applecrisp laughed. “Takes some practice!” Rarity lit another and lobbed it into the second story window. Applecrisp targeted the balcony. Both bottles shattered on target and the flames began to dance inside the round structure. The glow of the flames illuminated the landscape around them like a giant torch and by the time they had tossed the last bottle, the structure was a blazing, hellish inferno. Applecrisp stared at the scene, the bright yellow and red flames danced against her clear green eyes. Rarity tossed her the empty satchel.

“Come on, we have one more stop.” She said, starting back toward the town.

It was probably around ten when they got back. The post office wouldn’t open for another twelve hours. Rarity folded her dress carefully as she set it in the cardboard box. It was the dress she had made for herself, back when she had put the fashion show on with her friends so very long ago. Applecrisp watched intently as she addressed the package. The white unicorn taped up the box, then dropped it into the mail chute.

“Who’s Brilliance?” Applecrisp asked as they walked away from the post office.

“Somepony I owe a dress to.” Rarity replied.

They were finished. Rarity took a deep breath. The night was frigid, but she didn’t feel it. Her blood raced through her veins and she felt almost feverish. Rarity looked around at the town, she thought about all of the years she had spent in Ponyville.

Applecrisp was shivering and Rarity put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Go home Applecrisp. You’ve done enough.” She said. Applecrisp looked over at her.

“Rarity, did, did ya’ll mean t’do all this when y’came over t’nahght?” Rarity shook her head.

“No, I didn’t. This summer I learned about grace, how to treat my friends, and how to move on from losing everything. Somewhere in there I got the idea that moving on meant living like I used to. It took two jobs, a stomache ache and a speech from an inbred Apple pony to mean to realize; to stop telling myself who I was.” Applecrisp thought for a moment.

“So, whut are y’then?” Rarity looked out at the sleeping town. She smiled.

“I’m just four hooves.”

An earthshaking rumble rattled ground beneath them and they saw fragments of ash and wood drifting into the sky; the fire must have blown the gas main. Rarity knew the police would be along soon.

“Go, now.” She said to Applecrisp.

“Whut about ya’ll?” Applecrisp asked.

“I’m going to go tell them who did it.” Rarity answered.

“Whut?!!”

“Rarity the unicorn burned the Carisol Boutique to the ground because she is not a fashion designer anymore.”

Chapter 23

Chapter XXIII

Rarity spent the night in “jail”. The mustached officer informed her that she would not receive any visitors until Mayor Mare decided what to charge her with. Rarity didn’t care, she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to get any visitors anyway. The cramped supply closet smelled of lye solvent now and she struggled to make a comfortable bed. By the time morning came, she had arranged the wet napkin packets into five neat piles based on their year of expiry and cleaned the linoleum floor. The door swung open suddenly and the bright fall sun blinded her for a moment.

“Get up. Somepony posted bail for you.” The police officer growled. She blinked for a few moments, who would post bail for her? As she walked tiredly out of the back office, she caught sight of a large crowd of ponies outside of the door. “Yeah, everypony wants to see who blew up the Parisol Boutique.” The guard said as he cast her outside.

The crowd shouted and yelled questions to her, then she heard Mr. Salukas’ bellowing voice.

“Out of my way!” He shouted as he cut through the crowd. The crowd became silent as he waded through them. The workhorse walked up the steps to the town hall. Sonny stopped a few steps short of her. “Are you ready to go?” He asked. She simply stared at him. He had posted her bail. She hadn’t even thought about what Mr. Salukas might do when he found out what she had done. The crowd began to murmur and he smiled. “Have you had anything to eat?” He asked. She shook her head stiffly. “Well come on then, we have some underdone muffins at the Lone Star.” He said with a chuckle. She followed him down the steps. The ponies parted as she walked by them; they were terrified by the pyromaniac unicorn.

The two walked to the Lone Star in silence. Rarity couldn’t fathom why Sonny would post her bail. Why would he waste money on her? She didn’t even work for him anymore. They reached the bakery, it was empty and Rarity took a seat at one of the tables.

Mr. Salukas brought her a cup of water and a plate with a few underdone chocolate muffins. She ate them quietly. Sonny sat with her, he looked out the front window and crossed his legs.

“Are you alright?” He asked presently. She nodded. “I was worried when I heard that you were involved in a fire. But then I was told that they had found broken bottles at the scene.” He grinned. “Did you have help, or did I let slip the recipe to the most famous cocktail in my country?”

“I was alone.” She said softly. Sonny nodded.

“You are angry?” Rarity thought for a moment.

“Just tired.”

“What did you hope to do last night?” She took a sip of water.

“I destroyed my whole future last night, because I thought I was lying to myself about what I wanted to do.” She stated. “I get angry sometimes and I do stupid and dangerous things. Guess that makes me crazy.”

Sonny said nothing for a minute.

“I have not shown you Karina.” He said, standing and walking to the register. He opened the drawer and looked through the bills. He returned to her in a moment, carrying a folded paper. The horse held it out to her. Rarity took the small page, the paper felt velvety with wear and she carefully opened it. It was a portrait of smiling filly, about Sweetie Belle’s age, flanked by a much younger looking Mr. and Mrs. Salukas. They stood in what looked like a field of tilled mud and the blurry outline of a brick town stood in the background. The filly was a chestnut brown, the same as Ana and Sonny, she had no Cutie Mark. “Karina was my daughter.” Sonny said. “She was seven years old, and did not have a Cutie Mark. She came to me one day, she said ‘poppa, the other girls tease me because I do not have a Cutie Mark. I want to have a Cutie Mark like yours and theirs, please let me go to the unions.’” He sighed. “In my country, there are many ponies with this Cutie Mark.” He motioned to the pair of tools on his flank. “My country cherishes work and we have founded labor unions to produce uniform Cutie Marks. It was our pride to stand together and this Cutie Mark showed our love for fraternity.” He looked out the window. “But I told Karina no, her Cutie Mark was something that she had to discover. I told her that she could not go to the unions and look how I did. She hated me for it, because her friends had a union Cutie Mark, and I had a union Cutie Mark.” He sighed. The brown horse ran a hoof through his mane and gazed out the window. “I was a mistaken man, I was young and full of pride for my home and the things I was told made sense to me.” He shook his head. “But I knew enough to stop Karina from earning the same Cutie Mark as I and the others.” Sonny looked back to her. “You are not so different from Karina. You had everypony, even I, telling you to take the path that made the most sense. Rarity, I am proud of you for burning that building to the ground, for realizing that was not who you were anymore. I am glad you did not settle for what you knew you did not want. You are not a baker and you are not whatever that Hoity fellow thought you to be, and you showed that you know that. For this I am proud of you.”

“Why did you bail me out?” She asked softly. “I’m just a drunken, angry pony with no purpose.”

“Nyet Rarity, you are much more than that. You are strong.” Rarity saw tears shining in his eyes. “Like Karina was strong.” He sobbed, a wracking shuddering sob. Tears ran down the face of the burly baker and he looked down at the folded photo in Rarity’s hooves. “When we came to this country I did not believe there were any good ponies. We had been lied to so many times.” He said, his voice growing hoarse. Sonny swallowed. “But you Rarity, you are good. You try to help your friends and you follow your instinct. You are like Karina and I want you to be happy, so very much. And every time you do something like this, I see you getting closer to what will make you that way.”

“Why do you care about me?” She asked. Sonny wiped the tears from his eyes and sat for a moment.

“Because I can no longer care for Karina.” He said in a voice so quiet Rarity wondered if he had meant for her to hear him. He looked up at her.

“Rarity, I do not know what your future holds, but as I have said before, your strength will take you where you need to go. No matter what happens.” He swallowed again and a tear rolled down his brown face. “I am proud of you.”

“Thank you Sonny. For everything.” She whispered.

The two sat for a time. The sun slowly rose farther toward its azimuth and the warm rays of sunlight slanted through the window. Somepony knocked at the door, it was a police officer. Sonny let him in. The police officer, a young sergeant, almost a colt, approached Rarity.

“Ma’am, I’m here to, to place you in custody.” He said tentatively. “Your trial starts in fifteen minutes, and I’ve been asked to collect you.”

“Of course, I’ll follow you.” She said complacently.

The officer, apparently misinformed about her violent nature, hesitated then started for the door.

“Rarity, I will come with you.” Sonny said starting after her. She shook her head.

“No, open the bakery.”

“Rarity-”

“Applecrisp and Pinkie will be here soon.”

The burly workhorse bowed his head. He understood her.

“We will wait for you.” He said gently.

Rarity followed the nervous officer down the street toward the town hall. Ponies formed small clumps and whispered to one another as they passed. Rarity wondered how many years she might get for blowing up the Carisol Boutique. They didn’t have any other crimes to charge her with so she might get relatively lucky. She turned to her captor.

“So, what am I officially charged with?” She inquired.

“Uh, I’m not sure of the full list. But, destruction of property, endangerment of others, and possibly treason.”

“Treason?!!” She asked in shock. He nodded anxiously, fearing a violent attack.

“Y-yes, Mayor Mare treats any explosions near the queen as possible assassination attempts.” He fearfully explained.

Rarity closed her eyes. Things were not going to go well for her.

The courtroom held exactly five ponies. Her, Mayor Mare (who also happened to be the presiding judge), that mustached asshole of a cop that had arrested her the night before, a reporter for the newspaper, and the town’s only attorney, Mr. Brief.

The trial was more of a statement of facts than anything else. Rarity simply sat in the uncomfortable wooden chair and nodded as Mr. Brief laid out all of the evidence against her. When he was finished, the balding stallion shrugged and said.

“That’s all I got.” Mayor Mare smiled formally.

“Thank you prosecution. Does the defense have anything to say for herself?”

“Um, well, I was sort of having a midlife crisis last night and I had been drinking a little. I guess, I really just wanted to get rid of the Boutique because, well, I was sick of the thought of working there again I guess.”

Mayor Mare was unimpressed.

“Ms. Rarity, exactly what necessitated the destruction of the building? You were under no obligation to work there as I see it.”

“Um, see, this was more of a symbolic gesture.”

“One involving alcoholic grenades.” The judge surmised flatly. The old mayor sighed and removed her glasses. “Ms. Rarity, this is not the first incident you’ve had in the past few year.” Rarity nodded in embarrassment. “And while I am more than happy to overlook a drunken brawl, blowing up a building near the Queen of Equestria for no discernable purpose is simply criminal. Your past actions indicate no sort of remorse and given the increasing severity in your actions, you leave me no choice bu-” The door to the courtroom opened and four white guards filed into the room and with them Twilight. Rarity shrank down in her seat. “Your majesty!” Mayor Mare said in total surprise. “I was not expecting you!”

“I’m sorry to interrupt your honor.” Twilight said formally. “I had some business to attend to last night. I’m here to collect Rarity, I’m going to waive the charges against her, invoking section 822(r) paragraph 3 of page three hundred and six of the Ponyville Charter, specifying rights to the acting Queen.”

“Oh yes yes!” Mayor Mare said hastily. “By all means! She is yours!” Rarity shot a glance at Twilight. The purple Alicorn was focused on the mayor.

“Thank you. Rarity, please come with me.” She said, not taking her eyes off of the mayor. Rarity escaped her chair and walked over to Twilight. The guards formed a box around them and Rarity walked out of the courtroom alongside Twilight.

“To the westward side of the building please.” Twilight said to her guards. They walked around the side of the building and stopped in the shade. Rarity felt trapped inside the circle of guards and waited in apprehension for Twilight to speak. The Alicorn waited for a moment, then turned to face Rarity.

“Rarity, you burned down the Carisol Boutique.” Twilight began in a low voice.

“Yes, I, was a bit angry and wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“No no no.” Twilight interrupted in the same low voice. “You were thinking very clearly.” Rarity wondered if she could ram through the wall of muscular stallions surrounding them. “Rarity, you burned the Carisol Boutique down, not because you were angry, not because you were in a drunken rage, but because you wanted to.”

“Twilight-” The Alicorn turned on her.

“I don’t care what you do with your damn life!” She shouted. “I don’t care!” Rarity pressed against the flank of the guard as the Alicorn bore down on her. “I don’t care how many fights you get into or how many insults you don’t let go!” Twilight glowered down at Rarity. “I care about Spike. I care about him being happy. When he said he was engaged to you, I was so happy for him, for you.” She turned away. “I was going to pay for your whole wedding, get you two a house if you needed one.” She said quietly.

“Twilight, please-” The Alicorn turned again.

“But you don’t care!” She shouted. “You don’t care about a damn thing! What you showed me last night was that nothing in the whole world matters anything to you anymore.” She brushed back some tears. “Spike, he loves you, more than you can ever understand. He is obsessed with you, when he finally talked with me about marrying you, he was happier than I’d ever seen him. I thought you had finally decided to be a fashionista housemare or whatever, and I was happy for you. I thought you’d moved on from the Blast and you were trying to live a better life.” She shook her head. “You’re heartless Rarity, you would have gone to jail without once thinking of the person you’re engaged to.”

“Twilight-” Rarity pleaded.

“NO, Rarity!” Twilight shouted. “Spike devoted so much of himself to you, and through all of your spurning, he kept after you. Now you-”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have raised such a fucked up little dragon then, Twilight!” Rarity shouted back. “Maybe you should have taken it upon yourself to teach him how to move on, instead of nagging after ponies to marry him! Maybe in all of those years of studying spells for yourself and having him fetch books, you could have maybe set him up, or helped him find friends! I might not love him, but I care about him, a lot fuckin’ more than you do, and that’s why I wanted to help him by marrying him.”

Twilight stared at her for a second.

“You don’t even love him.” The young queen repeated. Rarity realized what she had just said.

Twilight shook her head.

“You’re dead to me Rarity. I’m going back to Cantorlot now, I don’t ever want to see you again.” She said, her voice quivering with anger. The group of guards began to follow Twilight as she started for the front of the building.

“Where’s Spike?” Rarity demanded, stepping in front of the Alicorn.

“I sent him off last night, he’s working at the Magic Academy. He doesn’t know what you did, I’m going to tell him later that he’s not engaged anymore.” Twilight said, pushing past her.

Rarity ran after her.

“No! I need to talk to him!” Twilight whirled around. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at Rarity.

“No, you won’t, this is goodbye Rarity. If I ever see you in Cantorlot, I’m going to prosecute you for every crime you’ve ever committed and make sure you never get out of jail. You’re going to stay here in Ponyville, or run off to somewhere, I don’t care. But no matter what, you are never going to have anything to do with me or Spike again. Goodbye Rarity.” She and the rest of her guards took flight. Rarity watched them as they flew into the blue sky.

She sat down in the dust of the road. She began to cry, then stopped. Rarity got to her hooves. Twilight was done with her and she was done with Twilight. Rarity shook her head, she was done lying to herself; if Twilight only wanted a Rarity that she liked, then fuck her. Rarity started back toward the Lone Star, she was going to be who she was.

Pinkie and Applecrisp were in the kitchen, Rarity entered and picked up a measuring cup. It was back to baking for her.

“Oh hi Rarity!” Pinkie cried. “Are you coming back to work with us?!” Rarity nodded.

“Yeah.” She picked up a bag of flour and began to measure out the white powder. Pinkie leaped into the air.

“YAY!!! It’ll be a real party! Say, what were you doing last night? I heard this biiiiiiig rumble like an explosion! And I thought-”

“Pinkie, wai don’t ya’ll shut yer’ mouth so ah don’t hawg-stick ya?” Applecrisp asked. Pinkie returned to the ground.

“Oh ok!” She said cheerfully. She whispered to Rarity. “That’s code for please be quiet.”

The trio worked for most of the morning, then Sonny informed Rarity that she had a visitor. Angora was out front.

“Hey, uh, I heard some stories about you.” The younger unicorn said with an unsure smile.

“They were probably true. Nopony got hurt in the explosion.” Rarity explained. “I’m sorry about-”

“That’s not why I came over.” Angora said. She looked to her hooves. “I got your note and I saw your bags.” Angora looked up at her in uncertainty. “You, want me to succeed?”

“I was a bit drunk, sorry it was corny.” Rarity said with a shrug. Angora shook her head.

“Your patterns, your designs. There’s probably a few thousand hours of work in there.”

“Yeah, it’s yours now, you’ve got real talent and I want you to kick ass in the fashion world.”

“What about you?” Rarity shook her head.

“Well, I just blew up my workshop and Hoity-Toity is going to burst a vein when he hears about it, so I’m pretty much finished as a designer.”

“I thought, I thought you liked designing.” Angora said softly.

Rarity shrugged.

“So did I.” She smiled. “Angora, you’ve got talent, and I’m going help you with anything you need me to help you with. But last night I realized that I really don’t want to do fashion any more. I guess I only thought I did since it made so much sense to go back. I used to love fashion, and well, maybe I still do, but not like before. I realized that I don’t want to spend the rest of my life doing what I did before the Blast.” She let out a long breath. “I have no idea what I want now, but it’s not fashion.” Rarity looked back at the mare before her. “I want you to have the best chance you can.” The younger designer stared at her and Rarity saw tears behind her glasses. She embraced Rarity.

Rarity clutched Angora. They were going to be friends. She was still going to advise the next Ponyville designer, even if she herself wasn’t going to stitch another seam.

“Oh, what about that black dress? The one made out of darkweave.” Asked the younger pony. Rarity laughed.

“Your first commission. Make it good, it’s going to Queen Twilight Sparkle.” Angora looked as if she might faint, but Rarity knew Twilight would like what the young designer would come up with.

Rarity watched the pink and white unicorn that would take her place leave the shop. Rarity actually felt a small swell of pride to know the next designer for the little town. Maybe this was what it felt like to be at peace.

After they finished for the day, Applecrisp and Rarity waited for Pinkie to leave, then Applecrisp turned to Rarity.

“So whut happened? Whut didja get charged with?” She asked anxiously. Rarity sighed.

“Nothing, my friend Twilight bailed me out.” Applecrisp whistled.

“W’alraght, tha’s the way t’do it!”

Rarity shook her head.

“She’s done with me and I’m pretty sure this broke my engagement. Just like it destroyed my future in design.” She frowned and kicked at a pile of flour dust on the floor. “Did I make a huge fucking mistake last night Applecrisp?” The Apple pony thought for a moment.

“Ah know mosta yer problems come from ponies tellin’ y’whut yer doin’ is wrong er raght.” She grinned. “But ah could tell that was all Rarity last naght.”

Rarity believed that. As she walked home, she felt a calmness cover her. The sickness had washed away and she felt almost invigorated. Maybe her life was fucked up, but she wasn’t lying any more. She took a deep breath of the crisp fall air, it was time to find out who she was.

“Rarity?” Rainbow Dash’s voice was nearly lost in the wind. The unicorn looked back. Rainbow Dash stood in the middle of the road, she looked shyer than ever. Rarity hadn’t expected her to be done with surgery so soon. Her stomach tightened as she looked to the Pegasus’ back. A ghostly white bandage, with a cherry red bloodstain was wrapped around her midsection. She had done it. Rainbow Dash saw her summating the bandage and blushed.

“They were just making the first incision when the explosion hit.” She seemed on the verge of tears. “Rarity, what happened?” She asked desperately. Rarity’s mouth went dry. Those Goddamn eyes had their way and there wasn’t a damned thing she could think to say.

“Dash, I’m so sorry. I just realized that I don’t want a workshop. I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy, but I’m not a fashion designer, not anymore. I don’t know what I am, but I’m not a fashion designer.”

“I thought, I thought you were where you needed to be, I thought…” Dash stopped. Rarity approached her.

“Dash listen-”

Rainbow Dash backed away.

“I, I need some time alone.” She said, her voice beginning to break. Rarity watched the Pegasus; the Pegasus she had helped ground forever. Rarity watched Rainbow Dash run to her secluded home in the prairie. What happened?

Of all of the things Applejack could have said, Rarity did not expect “hell yeah” to be a possibility. Rarity wasn’t sure if it was her triumph of personal honesty…or the notion of a massive fiery explosion sending flaming shards of debris rocketing into the sky that prompted Applejack’s approval.

“Gawd, ah was in bed! But as soon’s ah heard it ah knew it had something t’do with Rarity!” Applejack said with a grin. Rarity blushed and took a sip of cider.

“I’m not sure that’s a good thing.” She said self-consciously. Applejack laughed.

“So whut made ya’ll decide t’blow up the place anyway?” Rarity shook her head.

“I just, realized that I didn’t want to actually be a fashion designer. I guess I thought that with all of the moving on I’ve been doing over the summer, doing what I used to do again was what I wanted.”

“Hell, if ya’ll say y’aren’t a fashion designer, then y’arent one. Ah ain’t gunna hold y’to it. Y’shure as hell know how t’make a statement, tha’s fer shure! An’ y’got nuthin’ but support from me.” Applejack said proudly.

“I fucked up my relationship with Twilight. She never wants to see me again.” Rarity said quietly.

Applejack nodded and sighed.

“Yeah.” She leaned back in her chair. “Twah wouldn’t take kahndly t’that sorta thing ah imagine.”

“She was angry because she thought I broke my engagement with Spike, she sent him away and won’t let me see him.” Rarity explained unhappily.

“Aw hell no, she ain’t got no raght t’do that. Nao no matter whut, she ain’t got the raght t’send away yer’ fiancé cause she don’t see yew as lovin’ him.” Applejack said indignantly.

The unicorn frowned and played with her hooves.

“Yeah, I don’t though.”

“Oh.” Applejack said softly. “Ah see.”

It was true. Rarity had realized that as she lay in bed the night after burning down the Boutique. Somehow the idea of a perfect life as a fashion designer had come to encompass a marriage to Spike. She realized that after wanting to love him for so long, she had finally decided to become attracted to him. Like everthing else in her life, it had been a nice sounding lie to convince herself that she was where she wanted to be.

“So, whut kahnda man are y’lookin’ for?” Applejack asked after a second.

Rarity hadn’t expected this.

“Uh, I have no idea. I…kissed Audacity, he was in the bar when I went after Snips. But that was really just ‘cause I was angry that Octavia is dating him.” Applejack nodded knowingly.

“Justa sample, ah feel ya. Well, tha’s fahn, y’don’t gotta know jus’ yet.”

“I feel horrible about doing this to Spike.” Rarity confessed. “He’s going to be beyond crushed, I hope he doesn’t do anything unsafe.”

“Nao hold on! Whut he does is strictly his doin’. Y’ain’t been datin’ long, an’ he bettera seen the relationship warnt no good or he really is blahnd. Ah always’s kahnda saw ya’ll as bein’ the stallion anyway. Y’better not go beatin’ yerself up. When y’do see him agin, y’kin properly apol’gize an’ make it raght. Meantahm y’kin move on an’ see whut y’do lahk.”

“You’re a lot like your cousin you know that?” Rarity said with a chuckle. “Telling me what I did was the right thing.”

Applejack rolled her eyes.

“Ah maght wanna re-think mah advahce then.”

“Seems like the summer was a huge fucking waste. I’m no closer to finding my place than when I lived out in the fields.” Rarity said miserably.

Applejack was starting to say something when Paco entered the office. He bowed his head when he saw the two conversing.

“Sorry to interrupt.” He said politely.

“Hey hey! Paco! Ya’ll know Rarity!” Applejack said, pointing to the unicorn. “Whut did ya think about her? Lahk, whut do y’think she’d be good at?”

The brown stallion rubbed his chin.

“Weren’t you that mare that beat up those two guys?” She nodded in embarrassment. “Well, you sound tough, like a street fighter. Any mare that can beat up two Pegasi can most definitely take on another mare in the ring. You sound like a good street fighter!” He said excitedly. Rarity shrank down in her seat at this grim prophesy. She did not like being reminded of how well she fought.

Applejack grinned.

“Y’all heard ‘em, an’ Paco here’s got an uncle who’s a big street fahghter. Maybe you oughta look into that!”

“That sounds a little too gruesome for me.” Rarity said nervously.

“Well, I’m just here to drop off these reports for this month.” Paco said, laying a short stack of papers on AJ’s desk. “Profits are up fifty two percent this month.” He related.

The orange pony clapped her hooves.

“Whew! Tha’s whut ah lahk hearin’! Good job Paco, take an extra smoke break on me t’morrow.”

“Thank you Applejack! I’ll let you know if anything changes!” He said, starting back up the stairs. The Apple pony smiled to herself.

“Sorry ‘bout the interruption, things’ve been goin’ great. Fritter got back home with her fam’ly, ah got Paco doin’ the administrative shit. An’ Big Macintosh’s havin’ the tahm of his lahf directin’ the distill’ry. Apple fam’ly ain’t been richer or happier.”

“Glad to hear somepony is doing well.” Rarity said gloomily.

“Y’er a lot farther then y’were Rarity. Y’know whut not t’do.” Applejack pointed out.

Rarity shrugged and stood.

“Well we’ll see where that gets me.” She said, starting for the stairs.

“Hey hey! Keep Paco’s idea in mahnd!” AJ said with a grin.

“Yeah, and you keep your cousin in mind too.” Rarity replied.

“Haw, good one!” AJ called as Rarity climbed the steps out of the basement.

Hoity-Toity’s reaction was concerning. As Rarity read the floral-scented letter, she began to hope the little fashionista hadn’t had a stroke while composing the message. The calligraphic words morphed into a scrawling and deranged pattern that dribbled off of the edge of the elegant stationary.

She set the letter down on her desk; she couldn’t blame him for being angry. Being entitled to everything, he had of course made many arrangements for a contract that wasn’t even finalized. Of course Hoity-Toity was richer than devil’s food cake, so his feelings weren’t particularly relevant.

She looked at the ring beside the paper. Even with a royal salary, it must have cost Spike several months of paychecks to purchase the beautiful gift. Rarity reread the inscription and felt the sadness creeping back up. She laid it carefully back down before she became seriously depressed.

Rarity had made the decision to speak with her dragon logically and sincerely. If nothing else she could at least end their relationship with some sort of civility.

“Ready to go to work Rarity?” Pinkie asked.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Rarity said, shutting the ring into a drawer.

The two bakers departed for the Lone Star.

All in all, nothing really major had happened after the explosion. Twilight hated her, Spike would hate her soon; and Rarity had no idea what life held for her. It was back to normal for Rarity the unicorn. Regardless of how many lies she had culled from her life, she was still stuck in a job she did not want.

The icy cold wind whipped around the pair, sending a few broken leaves whirling into the air.

“Brrr! It’s cold!” Pinkie said, pulling her pink cloak around her. “I hope Sonny makes us hot chocolate.” Sonny had gotten soft. He checked up on the girls more, and after an explanation from Rarity, agreed to keep Applecrisp with the Lone Star despite her overage of sick days. With an extra pair of hooves, the work became light, and the three mares ran an efficient kitchen. Ana appeared every few days, but she found nothing to complain about, and merely gave the four a gaze of general apathy. All in all, things were becoming pretty boring at the Lone Star.

As Rarity and Pinkie left work that night, Rarity caught sight of a grey stallion out for a walk. Rarity told Pinkie to go on without her and walked over to the stallion.

“Hey, how’s it going?”

Pish looked up.

“Oh hello Rarity! How have you been?”

“I take it you’ve read the papers.” She said sheepishly.

He smiled.

“The papers didn’t say how you were doing. How are you?”

She sighed.

“Pretty certain that I blew every bit of grace you taught me about, I’m sorry.” The stallion laughed.

“Don’t think you can blow grace. Seems like that’s the point of it.”

“Well you’re probably pretty ashamed that I trashed my future.”

The grey stallion looked at her in puzzlement.

“Why?”

“Because I messed up! I did what I was supposed to do, things turned out, then I messed it all up right?”

“No.” Pish replied bluntly.

“But your God can’t possibly like what I did!” The unicorn protested.

Pish thought for a moment.

“As much as I hate speaking for my God, I don’t think He’s said anything about blowing things up.”

“But, the grace, you and Posh told me that I did what I was supposed to do and now it was all working out. You said it was all working out!”

The grey stallion put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Rarity, my son is a wonderful stallion, but he’s wrong.” Pish chuckled. “It’s not so much theology so much as it is life experience. Now listening to God is the most important aspect of our relationship with Him and He alone makes our paths straight.” The old stallion shrugged. “But Rarity, in the end, you’ll still have to figure out yourself, prayer alone won’t tell you who you are or what you’re supposed to do. Just because things all seem to work out doesn’t mean that it’s God’s will for you.”

“But, what about all of that stuff that you told me?” She asked in confusion. He shrugged.

“All of it was true, at least to my knowledge. Although grace has nothing to do with a perception of self. If there’s one problem I see with my son’s ideas, it’s the notion that we can simply pray and assume that whatever happens is what’s supposed to happen. Sometimes you need to take matters into your own hooves, and that’s exactly what you did.”

“But-”

“You did good Rarity, you decided against something you felt was not your calling, even though everypony seemed to be telling you the opposite.” He chuckled. “I don’t know how necessary burning down a building was, but God doesn’t love buildings, He loves you.” Rarity was silent a moment.

“Your God sounds different than how I imagined Him.” Rarity said in puzzlement.

Pish smiled.

“I have a Book by Him if you’d like to know more.”

“Now I didn’t say I was buying into it or anything.” She said with a chuckle.

“Well, at any rate. I think both He and I are happy that you aren’t going to be lukewarm.” The stallion said proudly. Rarity smiled, for a preachy and oftentimes idiosyncratic old stallion, Pish made her feel pretty good about herself.

“Thanks Pish. I don’t know about God, but you’re awesome.” She said as she gave him a hug. He laughed and held her back.

“Fight the good fight Rarity.”

As she started for home, she remembered something.

“What did you mean that one night?” She asked suddenly. He turned. “About my friend, you said to follow my heart.”

“Oh, yes, well, it sounded like you and she are close. I don’t know anything about what was going on, but if you ever get stuck on what to do, just go with your gut feeling. That’s usually the most insightful of intuitions.”

“It’s too late for that.” She said sadly.

Pish smiled.

“There is no too late with God.”

Chapter 24

Chapter XXIV

Pinkie Pie dragged Rarity out the doorway.

“C’mon! It’s gunna start in like five minutes!”

Rarity laughed.

“Pinkie, I hate Pegasus shows.” The pink mare stubbornly tugged her out the doorway.

“Well it doesn’t matter, you’re coming with me!” She said persistently.

The weekend upon them, Pinkie and Rarity were headed to an airshow taking place out in the fields (which Rarity still owned). Rarity didn’t like airshows, but Pinkie did, and Rarity was her friend, and she was going to make Pinkie happy.

Bonbon skipped up to the two as they walked down the street.

“Hay guys! Are you going to the show too?” She asked.

“YEAH!” Pinkie cried. “Wanna sit with us?”

Rarity was fine with Pinkie, really she was, but as the two hyperactive ponies surrounding her exploded with excitement, Rarity began to hope that alcohol would be served at the demonstration.

The small bandstands set up amidst the fields soon filled, and the three squished in on the top row. Rarity watched as the flight crews dashed back and forth in preparation for the start of the event.

“Say, did you hear who’s gonna be here?” Bonbon said excitedly. Pinkie shook her head. Rarity suspected Pinkie attended events just for the sake of getting excited over something. “AUDACITY!” Bonbon cried. “And Soarin’ the Wonderbolt!!!”

Rarity sighed, today was going to be a long day.

“Oh hay! There’s room up here!” Pinkie called to the ground. Rarity looked down, Octavia stood at the bottom of the stands. She was looking around for a seat.

“Sorry, there’s no room-” Rarity said loudly. Octavia clawed through the crowd and reached them.

“Why thank you Pinkie Pie.” She caught sight of Rarity and thus it began.

“You can sit right there, by Rarity!” Pinkie said kindly. Rarity and Octavia stared one another down. “Um, guys, it’s gunna start in a minute.” Pinkie said to the fixated ponies. Rarity grudgingly made room and Octavia took her seat.

Mayor Mare strolled to the center of the field and gave a speech about the many great Pegasi born to the town while Rarity and Octavia prepared their opening salvos. It was shaping up to be a hell of a show.

The first few demonstrations were of amateur Pegasi attempting to show off their prowess to the academy scouts they assumed were amidst the crowd. Yet Pinkie and Bonbon still oohed and ahhed at every mediocre performance. As the more experienced flyers began to loop and roll through the air, Ocatavia shifted her mane back carelessly.

“You know, Audacity said he trains five hours every day. I imagine that’s what makes him the best. Of course, it might be his talent, he could have been a Wonderbolt you know.” She said with a convivial laugh. Rarity smiled breezily.

“Oh yes, he’s quite the athlete. Tell me, how does he like music? You know, I hear it’s rather hard to find a stallion willing to spend any amount of time in, say, a dusty music store.” Octavia smiled dubiously.

“I know one instrument my stallion’s good with.”

“Oh wow! He’s musical too!” Bonbon said. “He sounds like the perfect stallion.” Octavia giggled and pushed at her mane.

“Oh he is, I really don’t know what he saw in little old me.”

“Yeah, me either.” Rarity said in irritation. Octavia giggled again.

“It was the funniest thing, he said he actually had a bit of a crush on you when he moved here.” She smiled and stretched her legs out. “Oh well, he must have outgrown it.” It wasn’t jealousy so much as it was just her intense dislike for Octavia that made Rarity consider slapping the music pony.

“Oh look! There’s Audacity now!” Pinkie pointed up to a bolt of red shooting through the clouds. Rarity didn’t want to hear any more poorly-hidden remarks about the obviously passionate liaisons between Audacity and Octavia. She rose out of her seat and muttered something about popcorn.

It was a little quieter under the bandstands and Rarity leaned against the support beam in an attempt to relax. She closed her eyes, she was doing this for Pinkie she reminded herself.

The past few weeks had been filled with grace for Pinkie. Rarity realized that Pinkie needed friends about as much as she needed air and the unicorn had attended nine parties and one bat mitzvah to demonstrate her friendship. She had hoped that her frustration with party pony and her mischief with give way to her previous enjoyment of Pinkie’s shenanigans, but unfortunately, that was not the case. Rarity still got upset with her roommate on occasion and on days like today, had to force herself to cooperate. She sighed and listened to the roar of the crowd. She heard Bonbon and Pinkie excitedly observing the performance.

“I wonder why Rarity went to get popcorn right when we were talking about Audacity!” Bonbon mused.

“Oh I’m sure it’s just the cob she’s looking for.” Octavia laughed. Rarity started to walk away from the grandstands, she was done for the day.

“Well I wish she were here.” Pinkie said wistfully. “It’s not as fun without Rarity.” Rarity smiled to herself. Despite all of the frustration, Rarity was still very glad that she had jumped out of the clock tower.

Rarity walked home and took a nap. In about a half an hour she heard Pinkie bounding up the steps.

“Oh Rarity! You missed it! After the show, we got to meet Audacity!” She cried. Rarity forced a smile.

“Fun!”

“Yeah, and he really wanted to see you. He thought he saw you sitting with us.”

“Heh, well, that’s a terrible shame.” Rarity said with a chuckle. Pinkie clopped her hooves.

“Yeah…” The door creaked open behind them and a bit of fire-red mane poked in the door.

“Uh, Pinkie, is it ok if I come in?” Audacity asked.

“Sure!” Pinkie said. Before Rarity had time to again leap out the window, Audacity entered the room. There were char marks on his mane and wings and he looked sweaty. He smiled when he saw Rarity.

“Hey, uh, I saw you in the stands and I wanted to talk to you after the show. But you disappeared.” He said hesitantly.

“Hehe, yeah…I went to go get some popcorn.” She said awkwardly. Rarity looked over at her roommate. “Pinkie, can you go make sure the wood grain is going the right way on the thirty-second step of the stairs?” Rarity asked.

Pinkie was gone in an instant.

“So, um, about that night at the bar.” Audacity began.

She sighed.

“I was having a bit of a time of introspection. I’m sorry, tell Octavia-”

“I broke up with her.” He interrupted. “It was stupid of me, I wasn’t even thinking when I said yes to her.” He sighed and put a hoof to his head. “I love this place, I love the little shops, I love the cute cobblestone streets and your little bakery. And I love you Rarity.” He cleared his throat. “Since I met you, you’ve been in my thoughts. You’re the most beautiful mare I’ve ever met. I don’t even care what you did the night you kissed me, because all that matters is that you kissed me.” He said to frankly. “I want to know if you would please forgive me and maybe go out on a date?”

“I am engaged.” She said slowly. The stallion’s shoulders sank and he nodded.

“I know, I know. But, I dunno, I just felt like I had to tell you.”

“You’re a wonderful stallion Audacity, and while I’m glad you aren’t with Octavia, I still can’t date you.” Rarity said to the heartbroken stallion.

He nodded sadly.

“You’re a really cool mare Rarity, I hope he makes you happy.” There was a pause as the Pegasus realized there was nothing more to say. “Well, I oughta get going.”

She smiled.

“Thank you for stopping by.” Pinkie burst into the room.

“Five degrees off!” She relayed. “I have a sander we can use!” Rarity giggled.

“It’s fine Pinkie.”

Audacity tossed party pony a card.

“There ya go Pinkie, hope you can read my writing. It was fun meeting you.” He nodded to Rarity, then departed.

“Bye!!!” Pinkie called. She looked down at the card, Rarity saw that it was an autographed trading card. Pinkie gazed at it lovingly. “I like him.” The pink mare said to herself. “He’s fun. I hope he doesn’t think I have a crush on him ‘cause I do.”

Audacity came by the bakery a few more times. He made sure to tip her and ask how her day was going whenever he purchased Katchapuri. Audacity was sweet, but Rarity wasn’t going to date him. No, she was still technically engaged to Spike, well, assuming Twilight hadn’t told him about her incident. No matter how much of a lie it was, she was going to respect her commitment to Spike.

It was a bitterly cold autumn day, Rarity and Pinkie Pie trotted side by side toward Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie Pie was doing well, she had even planned a party for Applecrisp’s birthday, which was in a week. As the pair neared the farm, Pinkie began relating all of the party favors she was going to include in the goodie bags.

Rarity nosed the intercom before the gate.

“H’lo?” Asked a young voice.

“Applebloom! It’s Rarity and Pinkie Pie, we’re here delivering some wood.”

“Oh kay!” They walked into the yard, which was filled with supply-laden worker ponies clopping to and fro. Applebloom emerged from the house and ran over to meet them. “Rarity! Pinkie! Y’got some wood?”

“Yup! We sure do!” Pinkie said cheerfully.

“Back for the weekend?” Rarity asked the college student. Applebloom nodded.

“Yeah, got some laundry t’do an’ a bit a’ studyin’.”

“Where’s AJ?” Rarity asked. Applebloom pointed toward town.

“Pickin’ up some supplies fer granny ah think. Lemme bring ya’ll t’the barn.”

Applebloom led them to the barn, explaining her courses and professors and pretty much everything about academia. She was the first Apple to even go to college and Rarity could tell the farming family was exceptionally proud of that fact.

“An’ they got them libr’l arts degrees too!” She snorted. “Ah ain’t gunna have no art from a libr’l in any building ah design lemme tell ya that!”

“Oooh! They have degrees! How hot does it get there?” Pinkie asked excitedly.

“Whut? Aw shucks Pinkie, y’never make a lick a’sense.” Applebloom said with a giggle as they reached the already opened barn. A long row of stills gurgled and hissed as dozens of worker ponies shuttled apples and jugs back and forth. The barn reeked of apples and fermenting cider. Rarity and Pinkie Pie dumped their wood fragments and started out of the barn.

Big Macintosh made his way from the midst of the organized chaos.

“Thanks fer the wood.” He said shortly as he directed a few workers to collect the pile. Macintosh never talked much, but Rarity could tell that he was enjoying his work.

“Hey, no problem. Tell AJ we said hi.” Rarity said to the muscular pony.

“Eeyup.”

“Don’tcha go hurtin’ yerself again.” Applebloom called to her brother. He shrugged and returned to the crowd. “He’s always up ev’ry mornin’ at dawn tellin’ everypony where t’go. Applejack is always frettin’ he’ll reinjure himself.” She explained. Rarity looked back at the stallion that was directing the placement of yet another still. He would keep working until the earth stopped giving apples. It was good to see the Apple family back to normal again. “Well, it was good seein’ ya’ll!” Applebloom said as they reached the gate. “But ah gotta get back t’studyin’!”

“Bye!” Pinkie said, giving the filly a hug. “Have fun with your books!”

Rarity and Pinkie Pie were walking back to the Lone Star when Pinkie stopped in the middle of the road. “Oh shoot!” She said in annoyance. “I forgot to invite her to the party!”

“Um, yeah, I think she’ll be busy.” Rarity said quickly. Pinkie frowned.

“Really? I thought that-” From above, there came the unmistakable tinkle of magical aeronautics. Rarity looked up as the royal chariot sped over them and toward the town. “Hey! That’s Twilight!” Pinkie said in surprise.

“Yeah…” Rarity had no idea why Twilight would return to Ponyville and she started to run after the chariot. Pinkie trailed close behind her. Rarity reached the town; the golden vehicle was just touching down at the library. Unhitching herself from the cart, Rarity galloped toward the tree.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Pinkie called after her. Rarity didn’t answer and continued to bolt toward the tree. She reached the library just as Twilight and her guards were disembarking from the chariot. Twilight was dismounting the vehicle when she caught sight of Rarity. She sighed and a tiredness came over her.

“Rarity, listen-” She began as the white unicorn approached her.

“Spike, where is Spike?” Rarity demanded. “I have a right to see my fiancé.”

“Guards, please go inside and look for the book.” Twilight said coldly as the tiredness left her. The three giant stallions did as they were told and the two mares stared one another down.

Twilight waited until the door to the library closed.

“Don’t you dare bring up rights Rarity.” She whispered fiercely. “This has nothing to do with rights. Spike is back in Cantorlot. He has every right to be protected from you.”

“Protected from me?!!” Rarity shouted in indignation. “How dare you-”

“How many ponies have your hurt since I left?”

“NONE!” Rarity shouted.

“Oh, sorry if I don’t believe that.” Twilight retorted. Rarity began to speak, but Twilight shook her head. “Stop Rarity. You aren’t going to see him until I have a chance to explain what you did.”

“He’s my fucking fiancé!” Rarity cried in outrage.

“Rarity you lost the right to talk to him when you burned the Boutique and your future down. A pony like you, one who constantly picks fights and can’t manage herself, has no place in society. So for the last time, leave us alone!” She said in exasperation.

Rarity said nothing. The rabid indignation coursed through her veins and she didn’t trust herself to safely express her feelings to the Alicorn. She simply turned and started back toward the Lone Star. Twilight watched her, then shook her head and entered the library.

“Hay Rarity! What didja talk to Twilight about?” Pinkie asked perkily as the unicorn entered the oven room. Rarity didn’t say a word and got back to her work without acknowledging her co-worker. Pinkie had since learned that silence usually preceded death threats in a conversation and party pony quietly started to mix some muffins. Applecrisp did not start a conversation and the three spent a mute afternoon in the warm workroom.

Rarity had a place in society, she did. She might not know where it was, but she did. Stupid Twilight and her pride couldn’t see it but she did. Rarity grew more and more furious as she thought about it. She didn’t love her dragon, but she didn’t want to hurt him any more than she had to. Spike deserved to know the truth, he deserved to know the truth! Twilight was in essence lying to him by not telling him what had happened. Rarity didn’t love Spike, and she would never marry him, but she was honest, or would be honest once she told him of their breakup.

By the time they were done for the day, Rarity was entirely vindicated. As they left, Sonny paid them, which brightened her spirits and temporarily pacified the unicorn. Pinkie Pie raced home to deposit her bits into her piggy bank and Applecrisp and Rarity stepped out into the bitter night. Applecrisp cursed at the bite of the cold air.

“Gawd, ah ain’t never felt cold lahk this down in Hayseed.” The blue mare said, rubbing her chest.

“Yeah, it gets pretty fucking cold up here.” Rarity miserably agreed.

“S’whut’s been eatin’ ya?” Applecrisp asked as they walked through the darkened town.

“Ah just some bullshit with my friend, or ex-friend.” Rarity said with a sigh. “My fiancé doesn’t know I fucked up my life again and I have to tell him the wedding is off.” Rarity shook her head. “But my friend won’t let me tell him, she’s pissed ‘cause she thinks I’m a menace to society or some shit.” Rarity said in frustration. Applecrisp snorted.

“Ya’ll don’t know shit about menaces t’society, come down t’Hayseed, we got all the freaks and psychos y’could want.” She spat onto the cobblestone. “But as fer yer friend, ah don’t see wai y’don’t go and stand up t’her. Ah mean, tell her flat out she’s playin’ Gawd and decidin’ how things work out. If nuthin’ else, it’ll show her how wrong she is.”

Rarity chuckled.

“I feel like that wouldn’t go well, and I’m cautious of taking your advice now.” She shrugged. “I’ll figure something out I guess.” She looked over at the swamp pony. “How have you been?”

“Fahn, still hate mah lahf, but ever since ya’ll stopped mopin’ things’ve been better. Ah’m gonna go see Thomas for mah birthday, come back Monday.”

“Oh, Pinkie Pie was going to throw you a party.” Rarity said softly.

“Heh, well ain’t that a bitch?” Applecrisp said with a chuckle. They walked for a bit, then Applecrisp kicked a rock. “Whut tahm?” She asked a little softer.

“Seven, on Saturday, she’s planned out all of the games, I made sure they’re not bullshit.” Rarity answered. Applecrisp spat again.

“Well, ain’t no sense in lettin’ good party favors go t’waste is there? Y’kin tell her t’throw it on Monday ah guess.”

“Ha, great, I’ll let her know.” Rarity said thankfully.

“Ah can’t stand t’think of her cryin’ an’ bein’ all upset is all.” Applecrisp explained.

“Somepony’s growing a heart.” Rarity said with a grin.

“Yeah, whutever, ah’ll see ya later.” Applecrisp said unenthusiastically as she turned down her street.

“Make sure you wear party clothes!” Rarity said with a laugh.

“Yeah yeah!” Called the reluctant guest of honor.

Back at the tower, Pinkie was propped up in bed, reading a book.

“Well now, isn’t this a change?” Rarity said as she dropped her money on the desk.

“Hey, I have other interests besides parties and games.” Pinkie said indignantly. Rarity raised her eyebrows.

“Oh really?” She took the book out of Pinkie’s hooves. “Everything You Need to Know About Blitz Chess.” She blinked as if she had misread. “Chess? Really?” Pinkie nodded.

“Hey, party pony can be a smart pony too.”

Rarity chuckled and tossed her the book.

“I guess she can.”

“How are you Rarity? You seemed pretty mad this afternoon.” Pinkie asked gently.

Rarity sighed and sat down on the bed.

“Yeah, Twilight’s not letting me see Spike. I’m really pissed about that.”

“Why?” Pinkie asked innocently.

“Because I’m a violent and foulmouthed pony! Because I’m not a proper pony like her!” Rarity shook her head. “That’s why she won’t let me see the dragon I’m engaged to.” Rarity muttered, her fury starting to rise again.

“Well, he is her dragon.” Pinkie offered.

“Yeah except he’s not, she kept telling me that she wanted him to have his own life. She actually wanted him to marry me just so he could have a new life.” Rarity stood up. “That fucking bitch! She’s all for letting him have a life, so long as she approves of what happens in it!” Rarity started for the door. “Well heartbreak is a part of a normal life!” She threw the door open. “Well fuck you you hypocritical piece of manipulative shit!” She shouted in outrage.

“Rarity! I didn’t mean it like that!” Pinkie called ineffectually after her.

Rarity ran out into the icy night air, her blood boiled. She might be a heartbreaking mare with no conscience, but Twilight was a two-faced hypocrite. That fucking Alicorn wanted everybody to play by her rules. She wanted Spike to have his own life only so long as she approved of how it was lived. She was going to tell that self-righteous bitch just how much of a liar she was.

Rarity reached the tree, her outrage surging at Twilight’s blatant hypocrisy. She pounded against the bulletproofed door; she was going to tell that arrogant queen off. The door drifted open with the sudden battering. Rarity stood on the threshold for a moment, nopony had answered. She strode into the interior of the tree.

“Twilight!” She shouted. “It’s Rarity, we have to talk!” There was no reply. The white unicorn looked around. Where the fuck was everypony? She walked past the couch and to the table. A thick brown book lay upset on the oaken tabletop.

She entered the kitchen. Rarity stopped. A scream rose from her mouth. One of Twilight’s guards lay face down on the wooden floor, a pool of blood had collected around the armored stallion. Instantly, Rarity raced up the stairs to Twilight’s room, the bed was neatly folded, and the room looked untouched. She looked out the window, the chariot still sat outside. Rarity raced back down the stairs and nearly screamed again at the sight of the dead guard. Where was Twilight? The basement door stood slightly ajar.

Rarity crept down the concrete stairs, her flesh crawling with terror. A single blue light illuminated the bunker. Twilight lay bound and beaten, propped up against one of the box-like radars that stood against the wall. Her face had been punched repeatedly and her purple body was marked with bruises. Blood was splattered on the dials and surfaces of the sleek metal machines. Rarity bolted down to her.

The Alicorn was barely conscious.

“Rarity…” Twilight said weakly.

“Twilight, just a sec, I’ll untie you.” Rarity said hurriedly as she fumbled with the ropes.

“Rarity…” Twilight whispered again.

“Just a sec-” Rarity gasped as she felt a knife thrust into her side. Somepony picked her up and threw her across the room. She slammed against the hard metal of a mass spectrometer and sank to the ground. Blood trickled down her body and a golden dagger stuck from the left side of her abdomen. A royal guard knelt over Twilight. Rarity tried to say something, but her mouth had gone dry. The room blurred as the blood ran from her wound.

She saw the white stallion pick Twilight up and the glint of another knife shone in the air. Twilight kicked at him and he lost his grip on her. Rarity struggled to move, but the knife had paralyzed her and the deathly blackness closed in around her vision. Twilight stumbled up a few stairs but the guard caught her leg and dragged her back. Pinning the mare against the last few steps, he stabbed her violently. The silver blade of the knife lifted blood into the air, where it twisted about before splattering the grey steps. By the third strike, Rarity knew Twilight was dead.

The guard rose, blood running down his golden armor. Rarity watched as he walked toward her with the bloodied knife. She was going to die, and Twilight had died hating her. Twilight had died wishing they had never been friends.

The guard lifted the unicorn’s head and looked into her eyes to check if she was still alive. In a blind eruption of anger, she tore the knife from herself and thrust it into his throat. She ripped the other knife from his hooves and stabbed it alongside the other one. He slammed her head into the machine and the room spun about. Rarity grabbed him by the shoulders and rolled over on top of him. She lifted a weak hoof to strike at him when he punched her across the face and all went black.

When she awoke, she was staring at the icy blue orb of the light bulb. She felt numb, her body was soaked with blood and sweat. She shakily picked herself up. Her wound still oozed through a mushy film of drying blood and her vision was edged with black. The guard lay on his back, both daggers still stuck into his torn throat. He stared lifelessly at the ceiling. Rarity sank to her knees and realized she was kneeling in a pool of her own blood. She fell face down into the dark liquid and passed into unconsciousness.

When she awoke again, her nose was filled with congealed blood and she coughed and choked as she tried to dislodge the suffocating scab. Nothing had changed. She looked back, blood from Twilight’s body had run down the concrete steps and collected in a pool at the foot of the stairs. The Alicorn was slumped face down across several stairs. Rarity staggered over to her, nearly collapsing with each step. She reached the fallen queen and Rarity clutched the corpse. The wounded unicorn shook, no tears came. The sorrow sapped the last bit of strength she held and Rarity felt herself falling into the yawning darkness. Then she felt it, a slow and impossible heartbeat faintly pulsing through Twilight’s bloodstained chest. She was alive. She had to get Twilight help.

Rarity took hold of the Alicorn and summoned her final strength. Blood beginning to run anew from her freshly opened wound, Rarity sluggishly dragged Twilight up the stairs. The world blurred so much she could barely make out each step, and she panted for breath in the stuffy air. Her muscles slackened, though she urged them on; Rarity knew she was dying. With a final strain, she pulled Twilight over the threshold of the stairs and dropped her onto the wooden floor of the kitchen. Rarity swayed on lifeless hooves for a moment, then toppled headlong into darkness.

Chapter 25

Chapter XXV

When she awoke, Rarity was greeted by those Goddamn eyes. Rainbow Dash gazed at her for a couple moments, then she smiled as she saw the unicorn waking.

“Rarity!” The Pegasus cried. Rarity’s tongue seemed dead in her mouth and she simply stared back at Rainbow Dash. “You’ve been in a coma for a week.” Rainbow Dash related. “Pinkie found you.” The blue pony was quiet for a moment. “Twilight got taken to Cantorlot, I think she’s going to be ok.” She said softly. Even if she could have spoken, Rarity still would have been speechless. Both she and Twilight were alive. She felt the blood rush to her head and a monitor by her bed began to chirp. A nurse entered.

“Oh my.” The nurse looked at Rainbow Dash. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave while we check miss Rarity.” The grey nurse waved to an unseen doctor in the hall.

“Bye Rarity, I’ll be back soon.” Rainbow Dash said, quietly shuffling past the doctor who flew into the room. He was a brown stallion with a caterpillarish mustache. He was also uncharacteristically excited for a doctor observing a grievously injured patient.

“Well hello! I’m doctor Estrogen, and I have to say, I’ve never seen a mare like you before!” He checked the monitors near the bed, then clucked his tongue in disbelief. “You’re fine.” He shook his head. “God, I would have settled for a crippled shell of a creature.” He rechecked the monitor then tossed his hooves in the air. “But no, you’re fine.” He looked back at the nurse, then back to the bed-ridden unicorn. “You were past the threshold of bleeding out by about ten percent, then you apparently dragged the queen up twenty stairs.” He paused. “You realized there’s no pony in Equestria that I’ve seen do that right?”

“I don’t think she wants to hear about how close to death she was.” The nurse said crossly.

“Yes, I suppose so.” Dr. Estrogen said with a nod. “Anyway, like I said, you’re fine. Most of your injuries were related to blood loss, a pink earth pony and that blue Pegasus, they gave a lot of blood for your transfusions, I hope you send them each a card or something. Anyway, besides obscenely gratuitous blood loss.” He shook his head here to indicate his lingering misdoubt over her impossible survival. “You sustained a minor concussion, which appears to be your second in the past year.” He pointed to her side. “The uh, puncture wound needed some sewing, but nothing tore too much, another miracle it would seem.” Rarity’s tongue unstuck. She swallowed and tried to speak, but her mouth seemed to be full of cotton. “Yes, your brain needs some time to unstick, you’ve been in a medically induced coma for a week. I’m told the queen is still unconscious and her condition is guarded. But if you had not brought her out of the basement, we might not have found her in time.” His smiled faded and he ran a hoof through his touch of grey hair. “That guard, Brutus, it seems he, well, I shouldn’t speculate. At any rate he was the one who killed the other guard, and who would have killed Twilight had you not intervened.” He cleared his throat. “You saved the Queen of Equestria, so I’m just going to give you some painkillers, discharge you in a week or so, and forget about the bill for this.”

“Thank you.” Rarity croaked. He chuckled.

“Thank you, although I imagine Queen Sparkle will say it with a bit more eloquence.”

Rarity spent the next week and a half in the hospital bed. She replayed the scene over and over in her mind as she slowly recovered. She had saved Twilight, she had killed a royal guard, and saved Twilight. She had beaten Snips in a fight. She had taken down two stallions while heavily intoxicated. She had been crushed, beaten, and stabbed and survived it all. Ten months ago she was afraid to touch paint because it felt gooey. What had happened to her? Was this the new Rarity?

Pinkie Pie helped walk Rarity home when she was finally discharged. As they walked carefully down Mane Street, ponies began to notice the white unicorn and clapped for her.

“Awh, that’s nice, you’re a hero Rarity.” Pinkie said warmly.

“Yeah, I don’t really feel like it. I feel like somepony who’s had the shit kicked out of her one too many times.” Rarity said tiredly. Pinkie giggled.

“Well, I made up your bed at home, and Sonny said to take off as much time as you need, so you can get that shit back inside you in no time!”

Rarity was glad for Pinkie Pie, very glad.

Rarity laid carefully on the bed. Her side stung beneath the familiar haze of painkillers. She didn’t want to tear the sutures and carefully positioned herself under the covers. Pinkie Pie knelt by the bed.

“So what do ya need?” Asked Pinkie. Rarity smiled and gave Pinkie’s mane a pat.

“Nothing, I’m good.” She cleared her throat. “I heard you gave blood for me.”

“Yeah, me and Rainbow Dash. We were really scared for you, and Twilight.” Pinkie said quietly. Rarity nodded.

“Yeah, I don’t know what happened. One of her guards wanted to kill her.” Pinkie frowned and sat down on the floor.

“I wish everypony could be nice.” She said unhappily. Rarity coughed and her side stung.

“Yeah, that’d be nice.” They sat for a second.

“Rarity, you fight really well.” Pinkie said softly. Rarity coughed.

“I know.” They sat in silence for a time.

In a few minutes, somepony knocked at the door and Pinkie ran down to get it. Audacity blushed when he entered, his fire red cheeks growing somehow redder.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re ok.” He said to the supine unicorn. “I, uh, was really really worried about you when I heard what had happened.” Rarity smiled.

“Thank you for your concern.” He smiled back, the blush not fading from his face.

“You’re not, permanently injured or anything?” He asked in concern.

“No, the doctors say I’m fine.”

“Good.” He said with an affirming nod.

“Yeah.” Audacity pawed the floor.

“Well hey, I should let you get some rest. I’m really glad you’re doing ok, let me know if you need anything.”

“Sure will.” Rarity said politely. As he departed, Pinkie poked her head out the door and watched the departing Pegasus. “Got a crush?” Rarity asked humorously.

“Yeah, he’s so cute.” Pinkie pulled her head back inside. “You have no idea, he’s been coming to the tower every day to see if you were home.” Rarity sighed.

“Great.”

Later that day, Applecrisp visited Rarity. The blue pony took a seat on the bed and gave the injured unicorn a playful knock on the shoulder.

“Heh, ya’ll got a knack for gettin’ into crazy shit. Whut the fuck were ya’ll thinkin’?”

“I was going to tell Twilight off, like you said.” Rarity laughed painfully. “And just like last time, your advice went a lot farther than I thought it would.” Applecrisp snorted.

“Y’got problems with yer’ timin’. Cops said he was settin’ up a camera to photograph her body. Means this was a paid assassination.” A chill ran through Rarity. “Yeah, they’ve got her locked up tahght no doubt.” Applecrisp surmised.

“I hope they’ve got better guards.” Rarity said nervously. Applecrisp nodded.

“They do. It was jus’ somepony getting’ greedy an’ not mahndin’ sellin’ Equestria downriver is all. Course, if they ever have any more problems, they can just call ya’ll.” She said with a grin. “Ah mean DAYM! Yer’ unstoppable Rarity! Yew always been this vicious?” Asked the swamp pony in admiration.

“You shoulda seen me back when I made dresses, you wouldn’t have recognized me.” Rarity said with a weak smile. Applecrisp tossed her head.

“Ah saw that a bit, but ah lahk the killer bitch moar.” Rarity laughed.

“Hey, how was your party?”

“Oh it was great!” Pinkie said excitedly as she leaped between the two. “We played tip the cow and recite the Constitution, Applecrisp has some great games!” Applecrisp shrugged sheepishly.

“Jus’ sum kids’ stuff from home is all.” Rarity felt a smile spread across her face as she saw the two getting along. Pinkie Pie and Applecrisp were unlikely friends, but then, Rarity was coming to expect the unlikely these days.

“And she told me all about how the government was-” A knock sounded on the door and Pinkie Pie clopped her hooves. “Oooh! You’re popular Rarity!” She flung open the door.

“Wai howdy ya’ll!” Applejack said jovially. “Hope y’didn’t mahnd me lettin’ mahself in through the first door, but it’s cold out there! Nao Rarity, ah know y’just got outta the hospital, but-” She saw Applecrisp on the bed. “Oh.” She said abruptly. The swamp Apple stood up.

“Ah gotta go, hope ya’ll get better soon.” Applecrisp said briskly. She pushed by her cousin and Rarity heard her clomping hoofsteps in the stairwell.

“Well anyway!” Applejack said, slamming the door. “Ah heard y’ain’t feelin’ up t’snuff!” Rarity grinned.

“No, I’ve got a touch of throat sickness, just sort of came on me.” Applejack set a jug of cider down on the floor.

“This oughta clear it up.” She squinted at the stitching on Rarity’s side. “Gawd, y’really got hurt bad.” She said in a sudden seriousness. “Twah’s gunna be ok ah heard.” She said quietly. She shook her head and sat down beside Rarity. “Ah ain’t never heard a’ Celestia’s guards turnin’ on her.”

“Yeah, me either. It took me by surprise too.” Applejack patted her bed.

“Nao ya’ll jus’ rest up an’ get back t’health. If there’s anythin’ ya’ll need, don’t be no stranger.” Applejack said gently. Rarity smiled.

“I won’t, and thanks for stopping by, it means a lot.”

“Any tahm sugar.” Her smile faded. “Ah was really scared fer’ ya’ll when ah heard y’d been in a faght with a royal guard.” She clicked her tongue. “But he wasn’t gunna stahp Rarity was he?”

“Heh, I guess not.”

Rarity began to wonder just what could stop her.

Pinkie Pie and Rarity sat up for a while. The painkillers that Rarity downed apparently had a very different mechanism of action than her previous brand, as she found herself wide awake as time went on. As the hours passed, Pinkie Pie described her various opening strategies as black and white, and her counters and advances with knights. She had already read seven books on chess and was thinking about maybe taking up whittling. Finally, Rarity asked.

“Why’s party pony so interested in having new interests?”

“Well, I just thought it made sense.” Pinkie said softly.

“What do you mean? You’re all about nonsense and fun!” Rarity said in confusion. Pinkie played with her hooves.

“Well, no, not any more. Ever since Gummy died, I’ve felt a lot like you. You know, I’m trying to move on from the past. Maybe I can be more than just party pony.”

“Hey, moving on doesn’t always mean changing. Plus I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want to follow anything that I set an example in.” Rarity said, giving Pinkie’s arm a pat.

Pinkie smiled.

“You make things easier Rarity. I see how strong you are, and it makes me want to be brave whenever I get scared or sad when I think of Fluttershy.”

“Geez, I thought I was pretty much the most uninspiring pony ever.” Rarity chuckled. Pinkie giggled.

“Nope.”

A soft knock emanated from the door.

“The hell? Is everypony going to drop by?” Rarity said in puzzlement as Pinkie went to open the door.

“Oh hi!” Pinkie said cheerfully. Rainbow Dash wore a thick brown cloak.

“Good, thanks for asking Pinkie.” The blue pony looked down at Rarity. “How are you doing Rarity?”

“Good, great! How about you Dash?” Rarity asked. The Pegasus took off her cloak and Rarity gasped. “Your wings, you’ve, they’ve!” Rainbow Dash blushed and nodded.

“The explosion interrupted the procedure, the doctors had just made the first incision. They had to stop since I woke up.” She explained. Rarity swallowed.

“Sorry…”

“I didn’t schedule another appointment.” Rainbow Dash said, looking at her hooves.

“Oh.” Rarity bit her lip. “Pinkie, why don’t you go-”

“No, it’s fine, she can stay.” Dash said. “I, came by to see how you were doing.” The Pegasus said in a louder voice.

“I’m good, I should be walking in a few days.” Rarity related. Rainbow Dash nodded.

“That’s good.”

“Dash, look, I’m sorry. I know I’m a bad example, but you’re still making good choices. I’m sorry if everything I’ve done in the past few weeks has-”

“No, you’re a wonderful pony Rarity. You saved Twilight, twice! You’re a hero! Don’t be sorry for anything.”

“I felt like I really hurt you by being such a hypocrite, all that talk about being a designer again, about getting married and having normal life…then I went and burned down the Boutique. I feel like you were pretty ashamed of me.” Rarity said in embarrassment. Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“No, you’re totally fine. I really understand that you can’t just force yourself to be something you’re not.” She was silent for a second. “I’m really glad you’re ok Rarity.” She said with a little smile.

“Thanks for donating blood to me…I owe you.” Rarity said softly.

“No you don’t, I’m happy to help. I’m also happy you’re being honest about who you are.” Rainbow Dash said with a weak smile. “But most of all I’m happy that you’re safe.”

The next couple days went by slowly, with Pinkie going to work every morning and returning every night with stories of the bakery. Audacity arrived every day at nine, bearing some sort of gift and an awkward conversation. Rarity found him a little cute (and still very hot), but regardless, she wasn’t going to cheat on Spike.

Finally, on a freezing Thursday morning, Rarity walked with Pinkie to the Lone Star. The bakery smelled wonderful after so many days of sitting in the musty tower, and Rarity was almost glad for Ana’s scowling countenance as she passed the register. Sonny made sure she was comfortable at her workstation.

“We have only a few things to be made today, are you sure you do not want to stay at home?” He asked cautiously.

“Nope, I’m good here.” She smiled and took a bag of flour down from the cupboard to demonstrate her capability. “I’m fine, really.” He waited a moment for her to wince, then reluctantly accepted her recovery.

“All right, if you say so. I will be in the front if you need anything.” He reminded her. Rarity smiled to herself at Sonny’s concern. She returned to work and the day passed quickly.

“S’Rarity, y’wanna drop bah mah place, get sumthin’ t’drink after work?” Applecrisp asked midway through their shift.

“Hell yeah, that sounds good.” Rarity agreed. She looked over at Pinkie PIe, who was frosting some cupcakes. “Is it cool if Pinkie comes?”

“Heh, s’long as she promises to show me where she’s stashed her props on mah property.” Applecrisp said with a laugh. Pinkie giggled.

“Welllllll, maybe I can give you a hint.” The two started to joke about Pinkie’s prop collection and the legitimacy of many of Pinkie’s “improvised jokes”. They were really friends.

Back at Applecrisp’s control room home, they continued their conversation about parties and even alligators. Absurd as it was, Rarity felt like an outsider with the two, who laughed and joked without reservation. Pinkie and Applecrisp were friends now; Rarity wondered how long she had been in her coma.

The next day, Rarity took the empty cider jug back to Applejack’s. The day was warm and it felt good to get some air after being under blankets for so long. She slung the container over her back and strolled past the familiar signs advertising Sweet Apple Acres. The gate was open and Paco was leaned against the side of one of the doors. He seemed surprised when she approached him.

“Oh, hello miss Rarity! I’m sorry but Applejack is not here right now. She is in town getting something for her grandmother.” He said in his strange accent.

“Oh that’s fine, I can wait, I just have this jug to deliver.” She said cheerfully, leaning up against the gate beside him.

“Oh, that’s fine too.” He said nervously. She shifted her weight, and he caught sight of her scar. “Is that where you were stabbed?!” He asked in amazement. She nodded.

“Yeah, I didn’t really feel it, must have been the shock.”

“I heard you killed a guard.” He said seriously. She blushed.

“I didn’t really mean to, you know, I wasn’t thinking about killing him.” She said self-consciously. Paco tossed his black mane out of his eyes.

“If you are interested, there is a fight between two of my cousins down in Las Pegasus this Sunday. You could take either of them. I can get you the address if you would like.” He offered eagerly.

“Oh no no! I’m alright thank you!” She said quickly. An awkward silence fell until Applejack finally came up the road. Rarity picked up the jug and ran out to meet her.

“Hold on nao! Y’can’t be runnin’ with yer guts stitched up!” Applejack said, galloping to close the gap between them. “Lord, doncha know the first thing about recov’ry? Or do ah gotta treat ya lahk Big Macintosh?”

“I’m fine Applejack, you don’t need to mother me. I brought you back your jug.” Rarity chuckled as she held out the glass container.

“Heh, we got a lotta those, ya’ll coulda kept it.” AJ said, waving her off. Paco joined the two.

“Miguel is inside.” He informed Applejack.

“Ah, thanks!” She turned to Rarity. “Got another boatload ah burros comin’ t’the farm. We’re lookin’ to open a second distil’ry.”

“Damn, that’s impressive, this place is really getting big!” Rarity said in awe. Applejack shrugged.

“Well, we’re still Sweet Apple Acres, ain’t nuthin’ gonna change that. Anyway, thanks fer’ stoppin’ bah. Don’t go injurin’ yerself y’hear?”

Rarity laughed.

“You know me, I can’t promise that.”

Audacity dropped by, again, at nine P.M. this time. Rarity was practicing openings with Pinkie and she did not like getting up to answer the door.

“Hello?” She asked in irritation, her side stinging under the blanket of painkillers. The red Pegasus swallowed.

“Hey, I, uh brought you.” He held out a letter. “This, uh, I flew to Cantorlot and picked this up from Queen Twilight. She’s still recovering.” He cleared his throat. “But she said I could take this back to you.” Rarity took the letter. He had actually flown all the way to Cantorlot. Impossible as it was for her to love Audacity, she began to feel some warmth toward the obsessed Pegasus.

“Thank you, I, God, you didn’t have to do that.” She said in disbelief at this gesture. He flashed an enamored smile.

“Hey, no, it was fine. I just did it as my long flight for the week. She seemed glad that she could send you a letter, she wasn’t sure what had happened to you.” Rarity gave the muscled Pegasus a hug.

“Thank you Audacity, no matter what, you’re a really kind pony.”

“I love you Rarity.” He said as he held her. The Pegasus didn’t seem to want to let go and she had to pull away a little bit. Rarity sighed.

“I know Audacity.”

He left, dejected as usual. No matter what, she would not cheat on Spike.

The unicorn sat down at her desk and carefully opened the letter. It was scribbled on a sheet of paper towel in what Rarity hoped was just red pen; apparently the royal bodyguards didn’t want the queen sending any messages that might compromise her location. Rarity took a deep breath, then looked down at the page.

“Dear Rarity,

You many things. I realized that when I woke up in a hospital bed with three puncture wounds and three missing bodyguards. I heard that you were stabbed by Brutus, who has since been identified as having taken a million bit assassination contract on me. I also heard that you fought him off and pulled me up the stairs, keeping me alive, despite your injuries, which were reported to be very severe.

As I said, you are many things. Until I woke up in this bed, I didn’t know what any of those things were. I thought you were a disloyal, selfish, uncaring, and purposeless pony. I thought the Blast turned you into a self-centered and using unicorn who refused to move on with her life. I have never been more wrong about anything in my life. You are the most loyal subject I have ever known; you saved my life, twice, both times you risked your life without hesitation and rose against overwhelming odds. There is nothing more I can ask from a subject, or even a bodyguard.

Moreover you are selfless. If anything, the Blast and your troubles since have made your element of generosity stronger than ever. From my two degrees in psychology, I deduce your engagement to Spike to be one of pity and kindness. He told me of your courtship and proposal and it seemed more like an arranged marriage than anything else. You love Spike, and you want him to be happy, and after six years of constant pleading and seemingly perfectly romantic scenarios, I think you wanted to make him as happy as possible. The correct term is displacement, but I think of it as the ultimate form of generosity: being willing to deny yourself your actual feelings and even convince yourself to marry someone you don’t love, just so they won’t be sad any more.

And that brings me to the last thing that I realize you are: a pony with a purpose. After moving away, Rainbow Dash entered Ponyville a total of four times after the Blast, (I stole the surveillance tapes from the mayor’s office) until she started talking with you. Rarity, of all of the things that hurt me about the Blast, besides losing Fluttershy and Celestia, seeing Rainbow Dash so quiet and lifeless was the worst. But she got louder around you.

Rarity, you might think of yourself any number of ways, but know this, there are a lot of ponies who look up to you. Right now, Mr. and Mrs. Cake are in Cantorlot, negotiating form 4473 of bankruptcy for their business. They told me that you jumped out of a two story window to keep Pinkie Pie in Ponyville. I know there’s nothing in the world sadder than a deflated Pinkamina Pie and that it takes a lot to keep her full of life, but you don’t seem to have any trouble keeping her happy.

Out of everything I learned about you when I woke up, I think the knowledge that you have a purpose is what I like the most. Burning down the Boutique, giving my dress to Angora (it’s beautiful by the way, tell her thank you), I wonder if you don’t think you have a purpose, or you don’t know it yet. Rarity, if you spent the rest of your life doing what you’ve done this summer, doing what you do for your friends, then you can live under the knowledge that you have a very special purpose indeed. We haven’t really gotten along since the Blast and I think that’s everypony’s fault. But you were the one who brought the five of us back together. If the old adage is correct, and friendship really is magic, then you can take pride in knowing that you are a master magician.

You are many things Rarity, and whatever you make of the rest of your life will be something wonderful, I have complete faith in that. I’m so very sorry it took me this long to look past my prim interests to see that. You are my friend, and I hope that I can be yours.

Sincerely,

Twilight Sparkle.

P.S. Spike heard about everything and he sort of guessed you weren’t going to really marry him. He still loves you, but, I think it was good for him to understand that sometimes you just have to let love go. I shouldn’t speak for him, I know I’ve done that too much in the past, so I’ll just let him write the rest.” Beneath Twilight’s looping cursive sat Spike’s familiar jaunty script.

“Rarity, thank you. When I first started dating you, I thought my wish had come true. That Rarity the unicorn was going to marry me and we were going to have a wonderful life in a nice little house just like I had always imagined. But I was wrong. I don’t know the first thing about love. And I would have had no idea what to bring to a marriage, all I knew was that I loved you and that I wanted to marry you. That’s not love, that’s a selfish dream. I wanted you to be happy with me, and I wasn’t willing to see that that wouldn’t happen. It took two rejections for me to realize this, but I think I’m starting to see just what love is. It took the mare I loved most, telling me no, to teach me what love is. Thank you Rarity, for teaching me a lesson that nopony else could.”

Rarity laid the towel down on the desk. She was smiling. What happened?

Chapter 26

Chapter XXVI

“Understand me Rarity, it is not that I think you incapable.” Sonny said defensively. She followed him behind the counter. “You are undoubtedly the strongest mare I have ever seen, besides my wife of course.” He squatted down and reached under the display case. He pulled a dusty suitcase out from under the counter and set it down atop the display.

“Then what?” Rarity asked with a grin. “Do you really think that Las Pegasus is that dangerous of a place?” He unsnapped the case and it squeaked open in a puff of ancient dust. A smile slid across the stallion’s face as he held up what looked like a metal L. It dripped with oil and Sonny carefully retracted back the topmost portion of the L. He squinted at it, then, seemingly satisfied, set it back in the case.

“All right, follow me.” He said, taking the case and walking past her. “We must go to my home.”

“Are you going to tell me what this is for?” Rarity asked. He nodded.

“Da, right now you have a bear, we must get the claws.” Sonny said cryptically. She followed him out of the Lone Star and down the street toward his home.

Never had Sonny been so focused or determined about something; all she had done was inform him that she would miss a few days of work for a trip to Las Pegasus. He had then insisted that she take something with her. They walked for some time and Rarity realized she had never been to Mr. Salukas’ home. They were at the outskirts of the little town when Sonny stopped at a modest thatched roof house. He unlocked the door and she followed him into the dark abode.

Sonny’s house was just like it should have been: Proper, tidy, without excess. It was a sturdy one-story structure with only a few rooms. Ana was chopping vegetables for soup and she looked up when the pair entered.

“And just where are you going on your day off?” She asked her husband suspiciously.

“Taking Rarity shooting.” He said with an excited grin. The workmare clucked her tongue and hacked an eggplant in two.

“Do not tell her to compensate, I remember you doing that with Dimitri.” She chided. He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Never, I will instill in her the finest marksmanship that I can.” Ana snorted and continued to cleave vegetables for the soup. Sonny went off to find whatever it was he was looking for and Rarity stood for a moment, watching the brown mare shovel carrots into a kettle.

“How have you been Mrs. Salukas?” Asked the unicorn. Ana didn’t answer immediately.

“My husband employs a pink pony obsessed with parties, at a bakery nopony appreciates, and is taking his first day off in two decades. I don’t see what I have to complain about.” She said in flat sarcasm. Rarity decided not to attempt to bring the conversation any further.

In a second, Sonny returned.

“Ah, I should be back in few hours.” The horse said, kissing his mare on the cheek. He carried the case, along with a brown metal box that rattled. Ana said nothing and started to measure out the spices.

Rarity and Sonny walked to the edge of Everfree Forest. It was a chilly day, and Rarity was glad for her thick cloak as the wind whipped through the grass. Sonny set up a dead log, then motioned for her to come near.

“This.” He said as he opened the case and pulled out the metal L. “Is a Chekerov hoofgun.” He again retracted the top and peered inside. “It is a lifeless piece of metal. You alone direct what it does. Remember that.”

“Uh, what does it do?” Rarity asked. He pulled a clip-like object from the case, then opened the other container, which was filled with rounded copper nubs. He pressed a few of these into the clip, which he then inserted into the hoofgun.

From the next ten minutes, Rarity learned literally everything she should NOT do with a hoofgun. Always be aware of where it was pointed, and if a filled magazine (it was NOT a clip, Sonny made that VERY clear) was inserted, she should double her awareness.

“And do not point it an anything you do not intend to destroy.” Sonny concluded.

“But, what does it do?” She asked, still uncertain of the purpose of the hoofgun.

“Align your sights on that stump, then pull the trigger.” He ordered. Rarity complied and lifted the weighty L. She squinted and aligned the three parkerized squares on the center of the stump. The trigger ground like sand against her horn as she squeezed the tiny lever. The trigger moved slightly, nothing happened. Then suddenly, with a loud pop, sparks shot out of the gun and it snapped back sharply. Rarity screamed and dropped the weapon. Sonny chuckled and picked up the hoofgun.

“Let us see how you did.” He said with a smile. Heart racing and entirely spooked, Rarity followed Mr. Salukas to the stump. A small hole, placed dead center of the rotted cylinder of wood greeted them. “Ha! You are a born for the Chekerov!” Sonny said excitedly.

“What did I do?” Rarity asked, still shaking a bit. Sonny knelt and picked up the stump. He pointed to the hole.

“That.” She inspected the hole, it ran through the thick wood and she could now look through the stump. “Had this been a pony, you would have killed them.” Sonny said morbidly.

“Why?” Rarity looked at the hoofgun. “Why would anypony want something like that?” She asked in amazement.

Sonny stood.

“The ability to kill others has existed since others have existed.” He lifted the hoofgun. “This is the great equalizer. No longer will the strongest and toughest win every fight they pick.” He put his hooves on her shoulders. “Rarity, you are a strong pony, but you cannot win every fight. And I want you to know you can defend yourself.” She felt a shiver run down her spine. “I know you fear such a weapon, but your protection is your responsibility and I do not want you thinking anything but that.”

“You, don’t think something will happen on my trip do you?” She asked hesitantly. He shook his head.

“I don’t, I never do. That’s why I want you to have the knowledge that you can defend yourself.”

“It’s loud, and scary.” She said quietly.

“And I hope that doesn’t make you judge it differently.” Sonny said with a laugh. “Come on, you will find that it is not so scary after some practice.”

And practice they did. Rarity learned everything about the Chekerov and her terror gradually faded (along with her hearing) as she fired into the stump. Sonny taught her proper stance, and grip, and not to ever ever hold it sideways.

In two hours’ time, Rarity could place all eight shots in the MAGAZINE on the stump. Her hooves were sore and her ears rang, but Rarity didn’t fear the gun anymore. As Sonny packed up the hoofgun, a piece of paper slipped out of the case. As she picked it up, Rarity saw that it had a few more pictures of what looked like other kinds of guns.

“Oh my.” She said fearfully. “This one looks terrible!” She said, pointing to a long rifle. “It has the shoulder thing that goes up!” Sonny chuckled.

“Yes, the Molot, many ponies think that about it. I don’t know why, it’s not any more dangerous than the Chekerov.” Rarity again looked at the menacing rifle.

“It just, doesn’t sit right with me I guess. I can’t ever imagine needing something like that.” Sonny shrugged.

“I hope you don’t rely on your imagination for most of your decisions.” He mused.

The two returned to Ponyville. Before they parted ways, Sonny gave her the both cases. “Here, load both magazines before you leave. Keep one in the chamber, and remember that red is dead.” He reminded. Taking the weapon and ammo, Rarity struggled to balance the heavy containers and he helped her adjust the weight. “You will do fine Rarity, I do not believe you will ever need the Chekerov. But if you do, I want you to use it fearlessly.” He said comfortingly.

“I will.” She gave him a hug. “Thank you Sonny, I’ll be back soon.” The horse held Rarity.

“Do not worry about time, find yourself.” He whispered.

“I’m going to do my best.” She said quietly.

Rarity tottered home with the heavy load and dumped it on the floor of her room. Pinkie Pie was out collecting signatures for her signature collection and wouldn’t be home till late. Rarity stretched her back; what was left for today? She needed to check with Applecrisp to make sure she could stay with Pinkie. Rarity walked to the Apple pony’s abode; the blue mare was sitting cross-legged by the dam’s main control valve, writing a letter.

“Hey.” She said as Rarity entered.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Rarity asked. Applecrisp shrugged and set her pen down on the control panel beside her.

“Jus’ writin’ Thomas. Whut ya’ll need?”

“Just wanted to make sure you could still stay with Pinkie for the week.

“Heh, yeah, she’s been rarin’ to play me in chess an’ ah bet there’s gonna be more than one swamp-themed party.” Applecrisp said with a smile.

“Great, glad to hear you’re looking forward to it.” Rarity paused. “How have you been? I feel like we never really talked about what you were going through that one night.” Applecrisp laid her letter down beside the pen.

“Yeah, ah dunno. Ah kahnda realized ah was bein’ too wussy, shure ah ain’t got a great job, but it’s a job. After y’blew up the Boutique, ah decided t’do whut ya’ll do an’ jus’ see whut turns. After all, if Rarity kin do it, so can ah.”

“I feel like I have to tell everypony to be careful about using me as an example.” Rarity said with a chuckle. Applecrisp snorted.

“Aw hell no, y’got fight in ya, an’ tha’s sumthin’ ah admire. If y’do go to that fahght, ya’ll better kick them immigrants’ asses.”

“Ha, well, this is just a trial run of sorts, see if I like what I see.” Applecrisp nodded.

“Well ah hope ya’ll like whut y’see.”

“Thanks Applecrisp, for taking care of Pinkie, for being my friend, hell, for helping me get out of this rut.” Rarity said.

“Ain’t no prob’lm, ah’m glad t’call ya’ll mah friend. Y’helped me outta rut too, so ah guess that makes us even.”

They didn’t hug, Applecrisp would never hug anypony; but Rarity knew the blue mare had meant everything she had said.

As she left Applecrisp’s, Rarity felt like she had received the blessing of everypony she knew and it felt liberating to even contemplate going to Las Pegasus. Everypony seemed to urge her to take the trip without reservation. She dismounted the ladder and Rarity realized she had run out of procrastination and her smile faded a bit.

She started toward the town, she still had to tell Rainbow Dash. She had been dreading this, probably because Rainbow Dash was going to be coming with her. She thought about all of the different angles and arguments she could use to convince the Pegasus to join her as she walked out to the little cottage. As expected, all of her ideas disintegrated as the quiet blue pony answered the door.

“Oh, hello Rarity. Come in.” Rainbow Dash said politely. Rarity stepped inside, the small house was still brilliantly clean and the awe-inspiring model sat on the table in the center of the room. “How are you? How’s your side?” Dash asked kindly.

“Good, very good thank you. Got the stitches out yesterday, the doctors say I’ll be back up to snuff in a couple days.”

“That’s wonderful!” Rainbow Dash said happily.

“Yeah, isn’t it?” Rarity bit her tongue and stared at the model for a moment. There was no good way to lead into her proposal. “So I was thinking of taking this trip, to Las Pegasus, maybe to see a street fight. I, y’know, I want to see what that’s all about.” Rainbow Dash nodded. Rarity cleared her throat. “You, wouldn’t like to come with me would you?”

Rainbow Dash smiled.

“Oh Rarity, thank you so much. No, I couldn’t, I’m sorry.” Her Goddamn eyes weren’t going to stop Rarity that easily.

“Well, I was thinking we could see Scootaloo, you know, see how she makes so much money.” Rarity clopped her hooves anxiously. “I thought that would be nice.”

“Oh well you can still see her, I’m sure she’d love to see you.” The Pegasus offered gently.

“I bet she’d love to see you more.” Rainbow Dash’s smiled faded a bit.

“Rarity, thank you. It means a lot to me that you want me to come with you, but I’m just not comfortable doing that. I’m sorry.”

“Dash, look, I.” Rarity decided to play her hand. “Think you should come with me. I think that you would really enjoy getting out of this house, out of Ponyville, and somewhere fun. Scootaloo would really love to see you, and I think that seeing her might give you some confidence.” She paused. “I, think that you would really benefit from this.” Rainbow Dash wasn’t smiling any more. The quiet shyness hung over her face like a curtain and she looked at her hooves.

“I don’t think so Rarity.” She said softly.

“Dash look, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you have to-”

“No.” Rainbow Dash had never interrupted her before and Rarity stopped short. Rainbow Dash’s eyes shone with tears as she gazed back at Rarity. “It’s great that you’re not sad anymore Rarity. I’m so glad that you’re aren’t feeling lonely and purposeless.” She swallowed and a tear broke from her eyes. “But we aren’t the same. I’m not the same pony I was, and I really wish you could help me with that.” Rainbow Dash sat down on her couch and wiped at her tears. “Maybe it was being there when Fluttershy and Celestia died, but.” She sniffed. “Things are different now; I want to make my life meaningful, and I don’t really know how. I can’t go see Scootaloo, I just can’t. Please, can you respect that?” Rarity said nothing, her throat closed at the sight of the Pegasus pleading to be alone. She had known Rainbow Dash would resist, but some part of her had believed that under all of the meekness and fear, there lay the same bold Pegasus that yearned for adventure. It had been an unlikely idea, and Rarity knew nothing could change Rainbow Dash’s mind. Rainbow Dash stood up. “Thank you Rarity, I know you want the best for me. I hope that someday I can come as far as you have.”

“I’m…sorry.” Rarity said quietly. Rainbow Dash smiled a bit.

“I started another model…it’s of Fluttershy’s cottage, I want to always be able to remember it.” Rarity blinked back tears.

“That’s great Dash. I bet it’ll be great.”

Dusk had already fallen and the cold autumn wind danced through the dead grass around Rarity. She walked slowly away from the tiny house, hoping to hear the door open and a reconsideration from Rainbow Dash. Yet she knew in her heart that Rainbow Dash would not come with her. Rainbow Dash didn’t want to go anywhere. Rarity walked through the town toward her tower.

“Hey Rarity.” She sighed. Audacity’s affection for her had reached stalker-like heights; he was undoubtedly in love with her. She turned, the fire red Pegasus now blushed every time she looked at him.

“Yes?” She asked tiredly.

“What’s wrong?” He asked. She sighed again.

“Nothing, I’m fine thank you.”

“Oh, ok.”

“It’s just that my friend, she was going to take a trip to Las Pegasus with me, but then she dropped out and I’m going alone now.” Rarity didn’t really feel like telling Audacity about her problems. But she didn’t really care if he knew and it felt good to spout off her unhappiness. The Pegasus thought for a moment.

“Would you like me-”

“No, I wouldn’t.” She finished. “Look, I’m sorry, I really did like you when I first met you. But I was engaged for a while, then that fell apart. I just don’t feel like dating so soon. It has nothing to do with you, you’re great, any mare would love to be with you.”

“But I want to be with you Rarity, not any mare.” He insisted. She blushed to this; no amount of love-shyness could make him any less attractive.

“Well thanks, I still really like you. Maybe we can date later, I don’t know.” She offered.

“How much later?” He asked. She giggled.

“A little bit ok?” He smiled sadly.

“Well ok then, I’ll hold you to that.”

She felt a bit sorry for the dejected Pegasus. Of course she was still prime dating material, but she really didn’t feel like dating any more. Her wanton engagement to Spike made her wary of simply jumping into relationships; she needed some space for now. Rarity climbed the steps to the tower, Pinkie was already in bed.

“Oh hi Rarity! Didja talk to Rainbow Dash?” The pink pony asked cheerfully. Rarity pulled a bottle of cider from their refrigerator and twisted the cap off.

“Yeah, she’s not coming, she doesn’t want to see Scootaloo.” She drank some cider. “And Audacity the Pegasus is in love with me, only I don’t want to start dating again.” She took another sip of the cider.

“Oh.” Pinkie said. “Well, are you still going to Las Pegasus?”

“Eyup, even if I have to go alone.” Rarity sighed. “I really wish Dash would come.” She finished the bottle with a third and final gulp. “Whatever, I can’t do a damn thing about it, I’m just gonna go to bed.” She climbed into her futon. “Oh, Applecrisp’s going to come home with you tomorrow after work and stay with you while I’m gone.”

“Yay! She’s gonna teach me how to skin a bullfrog!” Pinkie cried happily. Something about the indefatigable pink pony made Rarity smile. Rarity tossed the bottle into the recycling bin.

“Heh, that sounds fun.” She said, getting under the covers of her bed. Rarity switched out the light and the two lay in darkness.

“Don’t ever change Pinkie.” Rarity said quietly to her roommate.

The next morning she bade Pinkie farewell, who sent her off with a small basket of pumpkin cupcakes and a chipper song involving bandit-infested roads and lost directions. Rarity stopped by Angora’s shop, she advised that the young designer stay away from any fabrics originating from places she could not pronounce. The shopkeeper hugged her and told her to be sure and visit the zipper and crocheting expo while she was in Las Pegasus. Rarity promised to bring her back any worthwhile hardware. She dropped in at The Straw Purchase and both Pish and Posh prayed for travel mercies. And while the younger black stallion had little to say about her recent actions, Rarity did catch an approving smile from Pish.

Finally, with two saddlebags in tow, the white unicorn started for Las Pegasus. As she reached the train station, Rarity thought of Rainbow Dash, who was probably sitting alone in her house. Shaking the feeling off, Rarity took a seat before the tracks and laid her bags down. She munched down a cupcake but the image of the solitary little Pegasus persisted. Rarity stretched her hooves out, Rainbow Dash was probably trying to remember how Fluttershy’s cottage looked for her next model.

“Well shit.” Rarity slung the bags over her back and started back through the town. She wasn’t going to get Dash out of her head, that would not happen. She had no idea what she was going to say or even do when she got to Dash, all she knew was that she was going to follow her heart.

Rarity galloped through the grass, she still had an hour before her train departed, but she had no idea what was going to happen, or how long it might take. In a few minutes she reached the cottage and dropped her bags. The unicorn knocked on the door and it drifted open with a squeak. An eerie sense of déjà vu crept over Rarity as she stepped into the house. Her gaze went immediately to the table.

In the center of the table lay the model, or really, what was left of it. The wooden buildings were smashed and splintered. The edges of the baseboard had been broken off and used as weapons against the mock town. Wood chips and nails were scattered across the room. The model had been completely decimated. Rarity felt her heart start to pound in her chest. She crept to the kitchen. The chaos was worse in there, dishes and pots were strewn about the room. Shards of ceramic and glass lay across the floor like shrapnel. The room looked as if it had been ransacked.

Rarity felt terror welling up inside of her and she walked forward cautiously. Her hoof stepped on something soft and she looked down. Rainbow Dash was curled into a ball on the floor, her wings stuck out awkwardly from her back and blood was smeared on the floorboards around her.

Rarity screamed.

“Rainbow Dash! Are you ok?!!” She shouted, shaking the motionless Pegasus. Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened. They were bloodshot and her face was reddened from crying.

“Rarity?” She asked sleepily. Rarity breathed a sigh of relief.

“God, Dash! What happened?” Rainbow Dash sniffed back some mucus.

“What are you doing here?”

“What?! I was just dropping by! God, Dash, what happened?!!” Rainbow Dash stared up at her.

“I couldn’t do it anymore Rarity.” She said dreamily. Rarity peered into her Dash’s violet eyes as she tried to comprehend the little Pegasus’ words.

Without warning, Rainbow Dash lunged forward and struck the counter in front of her. Her hoof slammed into the thick wooden panel and Rainbow Dash recoiled and cried out in pain.

“I just can’t do it!!!” She screamed. Rarity took hold of her.

“What?!! What?!!” She asked the panting Pegasus. Rainbow Dash seemed feverish and it took her a few moments to collect herself. After a few ragged breaths, she started to cry.

“All of it, the sleeplessness, the guilt.” She closed her eyes tightly and Rarity felt her writhe in her arms. “Why me? I can’t take it anymore! I don’t know what to do!”

“What?!! Do what?!!” Rarity asked frantically.

“Everything!” Rainbow Dash screamed. “I hate models! I hate cutting manes! I hate walking everywhere!” She began to sob. “And I hate living. I don’t know what to do with my life and Fluttershy did.” She shook with weeping. “And she was the one who died.” Rarity clutched her friend.

“Dash, listen to me. You have a purpose-”

“STOP IT!!” Rainbow Dash cried. “I’m crazy! You and Pinkie and Twilight and Applejack moved on with your lives! I can’t! I’m just lonely and crazy and I don’t know what to do about it!” She wept and pressed her face into Rarity’s shoulder. “I wish I could be a better pony, I want to be worth the life I have. I tried the whole summer to do that, but I just can’t. I can’t do anything!” Rainbow Dash began to sob and Rarity held her distraught friend tightly.

“Come with me.” She whispered. “Come with me to Las Pegasus, there’s a filly out there who thinks you’re the greatest Pegasus to come out of Cloudsdale and you need to remember that.”

Rainbow Dash looked up at her. Far behind the redness and tears, sat a miniscule spark, nearly buried under the sorrow. It was almost lost behind the grief and despair, yet Rarity instantly recognized that spark. Rainbow Dash wiped away some tears with a bloodied and battered hoof.

“Yeah, let’s go.” She whispered.

The train ride was bumpy and Rarity regretted opting for Economy Discomfort class-seating. The cramped car rattled like an angina-ridden aorta and Rarity tried in vain to settle her bags beneath her. The adjacent car held a colicky infant and after an hour and half of uninterrupted screaming, Rarity was prepared to pay for a vasectomy for the parents.

Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to notice any of it. The Pegasus just stared out the window at the passing landscape. Her hooves were bandaged and her eyes were still red, but Rainbow Dash was with her.

“What are we doing when we get there?” The blue pony asked presently.

“Check into the hotel, I’ll send a letter to Scoot and hopefully she’ll tell us when to meet her.”

“Why don’t we just go to where she works?” Dash asked. Rarity grinned.

“Are you kidding? I want to give her time to think up some big welcome for you. She deserves a little time to plan something for her favorite Pegasus.”

Rainbow Dash blushed.

“Do you think she’ll still look up to me? Even though I don’t fly anymore?”

“Dash, she loved you, still loves you. You made a huge impact on her life and I know that she will never forget that.” Rainbow Dash smiled.

“You don’t give up on me, do you Rarity?” Rarity chuckled.

“Nope.”

The rest of the trip was silent, save for the irritated infant and shaking train. The sun was beginning to set, sending a warm orange light through the window of the car as the train finally squealed to a halt. Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep and Rarity gave the Pegasus a gentle shake.

“We’re here.” Rainbow Dash yawned.

“You know where we’re going?” She asked.

Rarity didn’t. She knew that the town would be different than how she remembered it, but as Rarity disembarked the train and looked out toward the neon lit buildings, she realized just how much Las Pegasus had changed since she had last visited. The air was hot and dry and miniature dust devils danced around the pair’s hooves as they walked to the town. Rarity stared at the town before her.

Las Pegasus had never been a big town, it had mostly been inhabited by prospector ponies and a few Apple clan. Now tall apartments and stables stuck out oddly from the reddish landscape. They passed a few run down shacks, Rarity realized that the dilapidated buildings were relatively new houses, run down by a steamroller of rapid urban development. Her sense of astonishment grew as they entered the actual town. Bright signs advertising gambling and liquor and practically every vice known to ponies blinked from nearly every building. She felt uneasy as they passed nightclubs with stern looking bouncers standing watch; Las Pegasus seemed like the last place to appreciate a good nightlife.

Even the streets had changed. Once dusty cobblestone, now they were long stretches of pitch black asphalt. Everything seemed modernized and more elaborate.

Ponies and burros roamed the streets, none wearing the cowboy hats that had once defined the desert town.

Rainbow Dash surmised Rarity’s feelings perfectly.

“I don’t remember it like this.”

It took them half an hour to find their hotel. The sun set quickly and Rarity was glad when they finally spotted the sign for hotel that didn’t rent rooms by the hour. As she set her bags down on the bed, Rarity heard Rainbow Dash crying softly. She turned. Rainbow Dash was curled up on her bed.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Rarity asked, putting an arm around the Pegasus.

“This place is so different, what if Scootaloo’s different? What if she doesn’t like me? What if she laughs at me?” Rainbow Dash asked tearfully.

“Oh come on, she loves you! Just because this town is trying to be another Cloudsdale doesn’t mean that she’s any different.” Rainbow Dash sniffed and looked up with those Goddamn eyes.

“But you’re different now.” She whimpered.

Rarity sighed.

“I’m just checking out one fight, I’m definitely not going to enter. This is just a trial run.” She smiled and pointed to her scar. “It’s gonna be a while before I get into another fight.”

“You really think Scootaloo hasn’t changed?” Rainbow Dash asked timidly.

“Yep! In fact.” Rarity rummaged through her bags until she found some parchment. “I’ll tell her you’re with me.” She scribbled a few lines onto the page. “And Rainbow Dash is with me.” She said, giving the pen to Rainbow Dash. “Why don’t you sign it so she doesn’t think I’m joking when I say I got her favorite Pegasus to come all the way out to Las Pegasus to see her?” Rainbow Dash hesitated, then that same spark come to her eyes and she added her signature “RD” to the bottom of the letter.

“Send it.” She said confidently. Rarity dropped the letter into the chute.

“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m gonna see Scootaloo.”

The fight started at two the following day. Rarity wasn’t certain of the punctuality of street fights, so she left early to avoid offending the hosts. Before leaving, Rarity tucked the Chekerov safely inside her saddlebag; she still wasn’t sure just what she was going to see.

The fight took place in an abandoned reservoir laying unsettlingly far away from the town. A little crowd of burros and ponies had gathered around the indentation in the ground. The unicorn felt a little fear rise in her stomach as she saw that literally all of the group were stallions; street fighting was not a mare’s sport it seemed. As she neared the lip of the reservoir, one of the burros standing around the bowl noticed her.

“Beat it.” He growled. She shrank back from the scarred and tattooed stallion.

“I’m terribly sorry. My name is Rarity, I know Paco from Ponyville. He said-” The stallion whistled.

“You.” He said in surprise. “You’re Rarity?” He flicked his head to another stallion. “Cena, this is Rarity, from Ponyville.” Another stallion, somehow bigger than the first strutted over to the two. His Cutie Mark was a C with a circle slash around it. Cena looked her over. “I know, I thought the same thing.” The first stallion said in amusement. Cena frowned down at her, he was either unimpressed or unconvinced.

“Where’s Paco work?” He asked in a growling voice. She swallowed.

“Um, Sweet Apple Acres.” He said nothing, but continued to stare at her. “I can bring you some identification if that’s necessary.” She squeaked. Cena cocked his head and looked at her side. He laughed unexpectedly and Rarity almost fled at the sound of his hoarse guffaw.

“That’s the stab I heard about.” He said with an approving nod. “You’re welcome here.” He flicked his head toward the reservoir. “C’mon, fight’s gonna start in a couple minutes.” She followed Cena and the other stallion down the sloping concrete bowl.

Ten or so ponies and burros were gathered around the drain in the center of the bowl. Cena led them into the crowd.

“I heard a lot about the infamous white mare of Ponyville.” Cena related. “But I thought she’d be a lot bigger and more butch.” Rarity blushed, she did seem tiny compared to the tough stallions milling around her. “But then, size doesn’t matter. Kofi is proof of that.” Cena continued. They stopped at a couple of concrete blocks that sat about ten or so feet from the mouth of the slotted drain that sat in the middle of the reservoir. Cena pointed to her seat and Rarity submissively sat beside him. The other stallion sat on the dusty concrete beside her.

“So, ever done an actual fight?” The apparent beta stallion asked. She shook her head.

“No it’s all been heat of the moment kinds of things. Paco said this would be a good sample of the profession in general.” She replied. Cena snorted.

“You’re a funny mare Rarity. You’d be in trouble if Paco didn’t swear you were a killer.” Cena said ominously. Rarity’s anxiety rose as the other stallion poked her.

“You ever kill anypony?” He asked with a grin.

“No, I.” She remembered Brutus. “One, just one, and I didn’t mean to.” She stammered. “And I was acquitted!” She added hastily. The beta stallion nodded knowingly.

“’Self-defense, that’s the best way to do it.”

“Rock, shut up.” Cena said bluntly. “Shit’s starting.” Rarity looked back toward the drain.

Two burros, one decidedly smaller than the other, were hopping anxiously around the mouth of the drain. Cena nudged Rarity.

“Tiny’s name is Kofi, he’s small but he’s fuckin’ quick.” He squinted at the other burro. “I dunno who this asshole is, but he’s probably gonna get smoked. Kinda sucks for you since neither are ponies.” He chuckled. “But fighting is just fighting.”

After the first blow, Rarity knew that fighting was NOT fighting. She had never given much thought to her blows or strikes and had relied mainly on instinct to guide her. As the two burros danced and sparred around the grate of the drain, Rarity realized just how experienced ponies could get at violence. The two slashed and struck at one another as if they were playing Egyptian Rats. Blood began to collect around on the dusty concrete, and with each slash and blow, Rarity felt her stomach turn.

Finally, Kofi tackled the unknown competitor and the two dropped to the concrete. The spectating stallions shouted in approval. The rest of the fight was an experience that Rarity soon realized she would not involve herself with. She might enjoy boxing or something, but not this. The two fighters wrestled and rolled about over the drain. As the fight wound down, Rarity began to look away; she knew she wouldn’t be a street fighter.

The outcome was apparently an upset, with Kofi losing to the mystery entrant. Cena and his beta companion seemed to forget about Rarity as they ran in to lambast the defeated burro. Rarity quietly slipped away from the group and climbed out of the reservoir, it had been an utter waste of time. The sun shone down on her and she began to regret coming to the fight on account of its remoteness. Well, it was back to the drawing board for her life plans.

“Wait up!” She turned. The mystery competitor, bloodied and lacerated, chased after her. She stopped, feeling her apprehension grow as the fighter closed the gap between them. “You’re Rarity right?” The burro asked.

“Yeah.” He smiled.

“I’m Juan, good to meet you.” He held out a hoof to shake. She hesitated, nopony even knew to shake hooves outside of the cultured elite of the fashion world. She gave his bloody hoof an unsure shake. “May I walk with you?” He asked politely.

“Uhhhh, yeah.” She said, noiselessly taking the safety off of the Chekerov inside her bag. The two walked through the desolate landscape for a time. Juan was bleeding, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“I had heard that some mare had taken a diamond dog in Cloudsdale, and then a royal guard in Ponyville.” Juan explained. “I have never heard of such a mare!”

“Haha, that’s me!” She laughed nervously.

“You are a fighter?” He asked.

“No…I, don’t really think it’s for me. I think you’re a tremendous athlete though.” She said carefully.

“You are untrained?” She nodded.

“Yeah, I really only get into fights when I’m mad and I must just get lucky.” The burro nodded and they returned to walking in silence. Juan seemed more tired than aggressive and Rarity’s fear subsided a little.

“I was going to be a musician.” He said suddenly. The bloody and bruised stallion looked down at her. “I came to Equestria looking for a job as a violinist, but the Conservatory doesn’t accept applications from burros. Then I found that when I get angry at somepony, I can usually beat them in a fight.” He tossed his matted mane out of his eyes. He stopped and faced her. “Can you give something to Queen Twilight for me?” The blue eyed burro asked her bluntly.

“Uh, what do you want me to give her?” She asked nervously. He produced a worn parchment.

“I do not want to fight like an animal. I want to fight for something I want to fight for.” He explained. He held out the page to her. “This is my list of skills and education, résumé I think. I want to be a soldier, or a guard, something worth fighting for. Please give this to the queen, I know you know her.” Rarity took the hoofwritten page from him.

“Have you mailed her?” She asked. Juan shook his head.

“Nopony listens to burros.” He said sadly. “There is more in this country than I have ever known, but still nopony listens to us. Please, I want to serve your country in a way that I can feel proud of. Will you give this to her?”

“Um, yeah, sure.” She said as she deposited the page into her pack. He smiled, the whiteness of his teeth contrasting the rich brown and blood red of his body.

“Thank you.” They continued walking. “You are such a sweet pony Rarity, why do you think you are a street fighter?” He asked.

“I’m good at fighting, at least when I’m angry.” She said with a shrug. Juan sighed.

“You sound like me.” He tossed his long mane out of his eyes. “And I hate what I do. I want to fight only when I’m protecting something or somepony that I care about.”

“Yeah, me too.” Rarity agreed.

They parted ways at the outskirts of the town, Juan again thanked her for delivering his letter to Twilight. She watched the burro walking off into the sunset; she hoped he would be able to fight for something he wanted to fight for. She would make sure she gave him a good recommendation to Twilight.

Rainbow Dash was sleeping noiselessly on the bed and Rarity gave her a gentle shake.

“Hey, wake up sleepyhead.” She said with a giggle. Rainbow Dash yawned and looked about her.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t sleep well last night.” She thought for a moment. “Oh, how was the fight?” Rarity rolled onto the bed.

“Well I’m not a street fighter, I know that. There were waaaay too many creepy stallions and the fighting was terrible. Guess it’s back to the drawing board.”

“Oh.” Rainbow Dash said softly.

“Hey, this doesn’t mean anything!” Rarity said before the Pegasus could start crying. “I found something that doesn’t fit me and that’s just fine.”

“So…you’re going back to Ponyville and things will be the same again?” Rainbow Dash asked quietly.

“NO! Yes, no, not really!” Rarity paused. It sort of meant that.

“So things are going to be the way they were at the start of the summer…the same as when Fluttershy died?” Dash asked, her voice starting to break.

“NO!” Rarity shouted. Rainbow Dash started to cry and Rarity stood up. “Things are better, fuck it, things are great!” Rarity said exasperatedly. Rainbow Dash looked up. “Yeah! I’ve already crossed off like five things that I don’t want to be! I’m not mad at Pinkie Pie any more, and Applecrisp is doing great, and I’m not so mad at myself.” She produced the letter Juan had given her. “And this guy, a street fighter, he seemed really nice and he wanted me to give this letter to Twilight because he wants to have a better life.” Rarity smiled. “And I wouldn’t be able help him if I weren’t friends with Twilight, which I wasn’t for pretty much all of the summer. Maybe what I learned this whole summer was that I’m not who I used to be, and that’s ok! I still have my friends, and that’s all I care about!”

The little Pegasus sniffed back some tears.

“What about me?”

“What about you? You’re awesome! You were donated blood, were ready to give your wings to some sick kid. Hell, you’re the most kindhearted pony I’ve ever seen. You’re out in Las Pegasus with me.” She knelt down by the bed. “And any minute, there’s going to be a letter from a little filly who thinks you’re the most awesome Pegasus ever and she’s going to want to see you because you mean so much to her.”

“But what if-” There was a poof of magic and Rarity found herself thanking whatever God Pish and Posh served for His absolutely perfect timing.

A letter, smelling of lavish perfume and wrapped in delicate lace had appeared on the nightstand.

“Well let’s just see!” Rarity said triumphantly. She picked up the letter and unwrapped it. “To Rainbow Dash and Rarity.” She held up the parchement to Rainbow Dash. “Let’s just see what Scootaloo thinks of you.” She said confidently. Despite her complete confidence that the young Pegasus still worshipped Rainbow Dash, Rarity felt her stomach grow tight as she opened the message and recited the first line.

“What the hell?” Rarity bit her lip and she heard Rainbow Dash whimper; that was not a first line that instilled much confidence. “Why the hell didn’t you two tell me you were coming to visit?” Rainbow Dash began to cry. “I should have expected Dash to pull something crazy like this.” Rarity felt her own eyes growing moist. “But I’m pretty sure I can beat both of you at your own game. Come to the Hoof and Halter, that’s where I work most nights. You two better be there tonight at ten, I want to blow your minds. Plus it wouldn’t be fair for my favorite Pegasus to pull an awesome surprise like this and not let me hit back haha!” Rarity began to smile. “Here are two passes to get you in, you two had better not chicken out.” Rarity set the letter on the table, a pair of passes granting entrance to the Hoof and Halter were nestled in the envelope. Rainbow Dash was looking up at her. Neither spoke.

“That sounds like Scootaloo.” Rainbow Dash said softly.

“Are you going to let her down?” Rarity asked. Rainbow Dash smiled and the spark in her eyes burned through the sadness and sorrow cloaking her.

“No way.”

Rarity waited outside of the hotel room; ironically she was waiting on Dash, who was cleaning herself up to meet Scootaloo. She now realized the frustration her friends had endured many times as they waited for her to finish her normal routine of makeup and mane brushing. She paced up and down the narrow hallway, then moseyed to the ice machine. Audacity was scooping ice chunks into a bag, but he noticed her the instant she stepped into the alcove. Before she had a chance to say anything, he was kneeling before her.

“Rarity listen, I’m sorry for following you down here. I don’t want to be such a creeper.” The stallion blushed. “But I made a huge mistake when I first met you; I didn’t take you when I could. You’re beautiful and wonderful and I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from dating Octavia. That dragon guy, he was awesome and I know that if not even he is good enough for you, then I’m not.” the Pegasus sighed. “But I’m really impulsive you know, and I can’t stop thinking about you. So I flew down here to try to find you.” She smiled and gave his shoulder a pat.

“Audacity, thank you for your kindness, really, it means a lot. But you really should get back to teaching your clients, and doing races and all of that, I’m sure you’re missing-”

“Rarity, I quit all that.” She stopped short. “I don’t care about clients or winning races or any of that, I wanted to come down here on a million to one longshot to ask you to please give me a chance to show you my non-selfish side. You mean something to me; and I’m not gonna go win a hundred races while the mare of dreams is down in Las Pegasus by herself and I haven’t gotten a definite no from her.”

Rarity knew she was blushing, but really, how could she not? She had long known that Audacity had her heart from day one. And the sight of the talented and pretty much perfect stallion kneeling before her willing to do anything to prove his affection melted her heart.

“I-I, you quit your work for me?” She stammered. He nodded.

“It’s just work.”

“Well, thank you.” She tried to think of something to say. “Maybe, maybe it’s been long enough; I could probably go into another relationship.” She heard the door to her room open. “I need to go, what’s your room number?”

“E926.” He answered, already beginning to smile. “I’ll be there until you come back and we can talk.”

“I’ll be there.” She said decisively. “I, really like you Audacity.” He smiled, God how white his teeth were.

“I like you a lot more.” He said lovingly.

Rainbow Dash had trimmed her mane, washed the tearstains from her face, and even preened her feathers. She saw Rarity blushing.

“What’s wrong?” Asked the Pegasus. Rarity felt giddy and excited.

“Oh nothing at all! I’m wonderful in fact!” Rainbow Dash hesitated.

“You didn’t kill anypony did you?” Rarity laughed.

“Of course not silly! Now let’s go see Scoot!”

The attendant at the front desk knew of the Hoof and Halter. With a cryptic grin, he told them it was just down the block.

“Excuse me, but what is the Hoof and Halter?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

“Oh don’t tell her, I want this to be a surprise!” Rarity interrupted. The attendant looked at the Pegasus, then the white unicorn. He flicked the toothpick out of his yellowed teeth and guffawed.

“She’s a first timer ain’t she?” He said, looking at Dash with an eerie smile. “But I can tell you know what you like.” He spoke to Rarity as if they belonged to some fraternal order. “Keep her close.” He advised as he pointed to the innocent Pegasus. The two mares looked at one another. “Well go on! Good times don’t have themselves!” He urged.

The desert town had cooled off greatly and the neon circus of lights was in full show on the buildings around them. Rarity had trouble making out the words on the blooming signs, but the presence of drunk ponies and burros told her that most of the signs involved liquor.

“What do you think he meant?” Dash asked anxiously.

“Oh it has to be a fancy restaurant. Scoot’s probably a waiter and she gets huge tips from oil barons. I knew a few guys at the academy who wanted to start some restaurants around here.” Rarity explained. Rainbow Dash walked close to Rarity.

“This place isn’t anything like Ponyville.” She said softly. Rarity, who was still high on the image of the lovestruck Audacity, would allow nothing to dampen their spirits.

“Of course it’s not! It probably got hit hard by the recession, but if it’s able to support a fancy restaurant then it can’t be too bad.” She said optimistically.

The building was a plain brick cube with a single door. It sat between a supermarket and free urgent care clinic. The words “Hoof and Halter” hummed in cursive purple neon above the entryway. A long line of ponies extended out the door, which was flanked by two black shirted bouncers; this was the first indication that the Hoof and Halter was not a restaurant. The two mares took their place at the back of the line and waited their turn. Thankfully the line moved quickly and they were soon at the door.

“Gonna need to see some invitations girls, this isn’t an open night.” Growled one of the two stallions that stood before the door.

“Here you are good sir.” Rarity said politely, giving him their passes. Shining a blacklight onto the paper slips, the bouncer grunted his approval. They proceeded toward the door.

“Whoa hey!” He said. “These are from Scootaloo!” He stopped them. “Give these to the guy by the door inside and he’ll get you a seat at one of the closer tables.” The bouncer advised with a grin.

“Er, thank you sir!” Rarity said.

“Haha no problem. Tell Scoot I said hi!” He called as they entered the building.

It was not a restaurant, Rarity knew that. The interior of the building was a haze of fog and lasers and the mares stood for a few moments adjusting to the sfumato scene. The interior of the room was filled with small tables and the walls were lined with curtained booths. Thumping EDM threatened to give the two mares stress fractures and Rarity saw Rainbow Dash cowering back a little.

“Well hey, it’s not a restaurant.” The unicorn looked about her. “I don’t know what this is, but whatever this is, we have good seats!” Rarity said cheerfully.

The “guy by the door” was difficult to identify, as there were about forty or so stallions in the area of the entrance. Rarity spotted a stern looking stallion wearing a basic suit and earpiece and deduced he was their objective. She approached him.

“Pardon me sir, but I believe these entitle us to a front row seat.” She showed him their tickets. He nodded.

“Come with me.” He led them through the field of tables and to a curved, bench-like counter sitting before an elevated stage. He turned to the pair. “Ok, rules are, nothing goes past the brass.” He thumped the brass railing running along the stage. “Besides bills. And no coins.” He turned to Rainbow Dash. The gruff stallion narrowed her eyes at her. “And if I see a hoof going where it shouldn’t, I’m gonna have you thrown out, ok?” The intimidated Pegasus nodded to show that she comprehended. “All right then, enjoy the show.” He proclaimed, leaving them to their seats.

“Well then, this is an interesting place!” Rarity said, surveying their surroundings. It was obviously a cabaret of sorts, what with all of the tables arranged toward the stage. Yet it seemed much more modern and theatrical, like a nightclub. Perhaps a modern blend of the two.

“Rarity, this place scares me.” Rainbow Dash said, her quavering voice almost lost in the rhythmic throbbing of EDM. Rarity looked around, a LOT of stallions had turned out for the show.

“Well, it’s just an- OH! There’s Vinylscratch!” Rarity said in surprise. The DJ pony was sporting her usual sunglasses and was seated in a corner behind a mixtable. Rainbow Dash perked up at bit at the sight of another Ponyville pony.

“Do you think she works here?” The Pegasus asked.

“Well yeah!” Rarity said excitedly. “She’s the best DJ in Equestria! This place is pretty classy I’ll say that! Now I wonder if they have a bar!” The unicorn said eagerly.

They did. And as Rarity returned to her seat with a glass of something called a Mint Julep, the show began. The lights dimmed, well, dimmed even more, and the EDM seemed to intensify. A few shouts came from the crowd, who had mostly seated themselves for the impending performance. Rarity nudged Dash.

“This is gonna be awesome!” She said excitedly. “Though I bet that stupid pole in the middle of the stage is gonna screw up our view.” She pointed to an awkwardly placed pole that stood directly in the center of the stage. “Wonder why the architects didn’t just remove it.”

She heard shouts for Scootaloo to come forth.

“Ha! Yeah! I know her! Let’s see some Scootaloo!” Rarity shouted proudly. A puff of fog obscured the stage suddenly. Rarity saw the silhouette of a Pegasus strutting forth from beneath the velvet curtain.

Scootaloo was older, yet somehow she appeared MUCH younger. Rarity saw she still lacked a Cutie Mark. The Pegasus wore a smirking smile and the crowd went into an uproar at the sight of her. Rarity felt a swell of pride to personally know such a popular performer. Scootaloo took hold of the oddly placed pole (Rarity gave her props for integrating such a hindrance into her routine). And that’s when the show began.

Scootaloo was obviously a gymnast. She curled herself around the pole like a snake and turned once. Rarity caught a flash of her underside, that had obviously been unplanned. Scootaloo gripped the pole with her legs and leaned back, another flash of her underside.

The show continued like this, yet it made no sense to Rarity. Nothing was particularly talented or impressive about Scootaloo’s routine, yet the crowd was absolutely enthralled. Rarity kept catching glances of Scootaloo’s underside as she maneuvered the pole. She wondered if the choreographer had taken the angle of stage into account, as nearly every movement the young pony made exposed her body in a manner that was unintentionally lewd. As time went on, the crowd grew more and more enraptured with the Pegasus onstage. Finally, in a sort of grand finale, Scootaloo hung herself upside down from the pole by her legs. Her feathery wings outstretched from her back and her flowing mane fell around her. Her underside was in full view and Rarity’s blood suddenly turned cold. She looked around at the group of mostly stallions watching the filly and nearly screamed out loud. She realized exactly what the Hoof and Halter was. Rarity turned back to the stage in sheer horror, the reality of the scene howling around her. There was money on the stage, lots of money. Rarity’s mouth went dry, and she looked up at the inverted mare. Their eyes met and Scootaloo’s smiled widened as she recognized Rarity. The young, Cutie Mark-less Pegasus that Rarity had known since her birth gave Rarity a nubile lick of her lips as the cascade of lustful compensation rained down around her. Rarity fell back in her chair; what happened?

Chapter 27

Chapter XXVII

Rainbow Dash said nothing as they left the Hoof and Halter. She stared straight ahead and walked to the exit, not paying any attention to the whistles coming from the stallions around her. Rarity felt sick at the sight of Scootaloo and she couldn’t even imagine what Rainbow Dash felt. Rainbow Dash opened the door to the club and stepped out in the desert air, that was as far as she got. The rainbow Pegasus sank to her knees in the sand and began to sob. Rarity took hold of her.

“Dash, let’s go back to the hotel, we can talk about it there.” She said lifting the distraught Pegasus. The blue pony tore herself from Rarity’s arms and fell again into the dust.

“What does it matter?!” Rainbow Dash shouted desperately. “You saw what that was, you saw what she was!” Rarity sniffed back some tears.

“God, I’m so fucking sorry Dash, I had no clue that’s what she was doing. God, I’m so sorry!”

“That’s Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash cried, putting her hooves to her head. “That’s Scootaloo in there!” She began to weep and Rarity knelt down beside her.

“God, Dash, I’m so sorry.” She whispered, her eyes beginning to sting. Rarity held Rainbow Dash for a few minutes, both lamenting the degraded fate of the filly. The desert air had grown cold and the bright lights of Las Pegasus illuminated the landscape around them like an artificial sunrise.

Presently, Rarity stood and wiped the tears from her eyes. Rainbow Dash still knelt in the red dust, overcome by grief.

“We should-” Rarity began.

“Hey! What’s with walking out on me?” Scootaloo stood in the doorway. She was smiling broadly. Her orange body was awash in glitter and a garter across her thigh was stuffed full of bits. The young filly walked out and greeted the two. “Come on! I worked my ass off to get you those seats! Least you could have done is stayed till the end, I was going to give you two a shout out!” She playfully scolded. The dancer noticed the despondent Rainbow Dash. “Whoa, what’s up Dash?” She asked, stepping out into the night.

“Nothing, she’s just had a really stressful day is all.” Rarity answered. Scootaloo grinned.

“Well you two are gonna crash at my place then! Come on! Don’t even get your things!” She flicked her head toward the town.

“N-no, it’s fine.” Rarity replied, kneeling to help her friend. Scootaloo shook her head.

“Nope, it’s the least you two can do since you didn’t stay till the end!” She declared happily. There was no way to decline without causing a terrible scene and the two ponies unhappily complied with her.

Scootaloo was excited. She walked alongside them, talking about how much she loved their visit. Rainbow Dash had stopped crying, but still said nothing and Rarity politely attempted to hold a conversation with the wayward Pegasus.

“So, um, where do you live?” The unicorn asked. Scootaloo giggled.

“Cantera Oasis.” Rarity wasn’t sure if that was another sexual entendre, so she thought for another question.

“Well how is the climate here?” Rarity asked stupidly.

“Pretty hot, not sure how you didn’t pick up on that.” Scootaloo laughed. She looked over at the soundless rainbow pony. “Geez, Dash, what’s wrong? You haven’t said anything yet, I thought you’d be exploding by now!”

“She’s just had a rough day is all.” Rarity explained.

“Well I have some scotch at my place, let’s see if we can’t loosen Dash up!” Scootaloo laughed.

They were in the middle of the town, surrounded by drugstores and nightclubs when Scootaloo stopped at a tall granite building.

“Well, here’s my place.” She said proudly. Rarity looked up, above the polished granite were engraved the words “Cantera Oasis”. Her jaw fell a little bit; Cantera Oasis was a luxury highrise. Scootaloo led them inside, a mustached stallion dressed like a bellhop sat snoring at a desk. Scootaloo giggled and pointed to him.

“Max never wants to help me with the groceries, unless I’m in my club wear, then he’s all over me.” She led them to a wall of elevators. “I moved in a few weeks after I came here. It’s a really nice place, but the pool doesn’t hold the temperature very well.” They stepped into the elevator and Scootaloo pressed the button for the top floor. A penthouse condo; bought with money earned from exposing herself, Rarity felt her nausea growing.

Scootaloo’s suite was so big it seemed empty. A large front room, complete with kitchen and wet bar opened before them. Scootaloo tossed her keys onto the marble countertop and fell back into one of the suede couches arranged around the fireplace.

“Oh God that feels good.” She said with a rapt sigh. “I think I pulled my leg on that last twirl.” She looked up at the speechless mares. “God, what’s wrong with you two? Seriously, stop it, say something.” Rarity was about to say something about how it was all very grand.

“Why Scootaloo? Why?” Rainbow Dash’s voice was confused and pitiful and Rarity didn’t have a chance to speak before Scootaloo rose off of the couch.

“Why what Dash?” She asked innocently. “Why did I decorate this way?” Rarity swore she saw a smirk behind Scootaloo’s innocuous look of surprise. Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof.

“NO! Why a whore?” Whatever sort of humor Scootaloo felt about Dash’s self-consciousness instantly vanished.

“Oh! A whore!” She laughed icily. “Well I’m certainly glad I invited you up here!” Scootaloo acted confidant, but Rarity could see she was seething. “Maybe I should call up any of the other six dance clubs in Las Pegasus and tell them I want to do a performance with them! They keep offering me ten thousand bits for a single show, maybe I could make it fifteen! Or maybe I could ask you just what about exotic dancing makes me a whore!”

“Hey girls, stop ok? We can talk about this like ponies, not animals!” Rarity knew her intervention was going to be more damage control than actual mediation.

“Yeah, listen to Rarity! She’s got a good head.” Scootaloo agreed. She gave Rarity’s rump a slap. “You know how to twerk?”

“Scootaloo, stop it!!!” Rainbow Dash cried. “You aren’t like this, you don’t do things like this! You don’t do this to yourself!”

“Oh really Dash? What the hell AM I doing to myself?” Asked the defiant filly. “Do I look abused to you? Of course not, I can show what I am and walk home safe every night in this town because stallions respect me, because they know that if they try anything, Sugar is going to rip their balls off.”

“Sugar?!!” Rainbow Dash looked like she might faint.

“Who do you think runs the club dumbass?” Scootaloo asked, rolling her eyes. Rainbow Dash started to cry and the orange Pegasus threw a hoof over her face. “Oh my God, I really thought you’d have a more open mind RD, you’re kinda letting me down here.” Scootaloo said in disappointment.

“I THOUGHT YOU VALUED YOURSELF!” Rainbow Dash screamed in anguish.

“Oh you wanna say shit like that?” Scootaloo shot back as her temper tipped. “How about I ask how you’ve been doing the past few months? How many races have you won Dash? Make any more rainbooms or is that mark on your ass yet another mistake in your identity?”

“Hey, watch your mouth you arrogant piece of shit!” Rarity stepped in front of Scootaloo; she had reached her limit. “You have no right to say anything about her, ESPECIALLY-” Scootaloo laughed and shoved Rarity back.

“Oh, you brought your bulldyke with you! It makes so much sense!” She turned to Rarity. “At least I respect you, you have the killer bitch thing going, I can respect that.”

“You shut your Goddamn mouth.” Rarity said in poorly restrained outrage. Scootaloo shrugged.

“Guess it’s not all bad, even if it is weird that you grew a pair. Wish Dash could grow up like you.”

“What do you mean?!!” Rainbow Dash sobbed. Scootaloo rolled her eyes again.

“Oh my God, how do you get so screwed up by something and not see it?” Scootaloo sighed. “The Blast Dashie, that’s what.” She turned to Rarity. “Rarity here got that crazy killer thing, I got a high paying dance career, Vinyl got a record deal.” She frowned thoughtfully. “All you did was give up on life, how does that work?” Rarity grabbed the orange Pegasus by the shoulders.

“If something that ignorant and insolent ever comes out of your mouth again, I’ll throw you out the window. Got that?” She said, her voice quivering with rage. Scootaloo slapped her across the face and Rarity recoiled and dropped the filly.

“Get the fuck out of my apartment!” The exotic dancer shouted furiously. “You two are a bunch of self-righteous bitches who are too closed minded to accept my life.” Rarity was about to ask her who the fuck she thought she was when she felt Rainbow Dash’s hoof on her shoulder.

“Please, Rarity, let’s go.” She pleaded tearfully “I can’t do this anymore.” The unicorn paused, then gave Scootaloo the X, to which the filly laughed. As the door closed behind the two, Rarity heard Scootaloo ask quietly.

“Besides, what’s so awful about losing boring old Fluttershy?” Rarity kicked the door open, her blood pounding in her ears.

“Because she was our friend you arrogant slut!” The unicorn thundered. “Because she was a good pony, and it’s too bad you’re too immature to understand just how much it hurt when she died. We’re so fucked up because we cared about her, which is something you are never going to understand because you’re too busy making money however you can. Rainbow Dash can’t fly, can’t do half the shit you can, and you know what? She’s got a heart a million times bigger than whatever black piece of shit replaced yours! Go fuck yourself you ignorant cunt!” And with that, Rarity turned and slammed the door on the flippant Pegasus.

Outrage and anger fueled Rarity, but no such respite existed for Rainbow Dash. The rainbow pony kept herself together until they reached the hotel. But their room was as far as she could go. Rarity quickly closed the door and turned to attend to her broken friend. The Pegasus was already curled up on the bed; she made no noise.

“Hey, Dash.” Rarity laid down beside her. “I’m really fucking sorry.” She let out a breath. “This was all my fault, it has nothing to do with you, please understand that.”

“She’s a slut Rarity.” Rainbow Dash said quietly. Rarity sighed and put her hoof on the shoulder of the motionless Pegasus.

“Yeah, I know.”

“She wasn’t a slut when I knew her, what happened?” Rainbow Dash asked sadly.

“I.” Rarity thought for a moment. “Think she took it really hard when Celestia died. She always wants to prove herself, you know, be good at something. Maybe while you were in the hospital, she thought she’d lost everypony she could show off to and so she went to something worse. She’s really the same pony at heart I bet, just really warped version of herself.”

“I loved her Rarity, Scootaloo was.” Rainbow Dash started to whimper again. “She was like my little pony. She wanted to be a Wonderbolt like me, I don’t understand why she would do this.”

“It’s ok Dash, you aren’t responsible for her.”

“I want to be responsible for her.” Rainbow Dash said tearfully.

Rarity had forgotten all about Audacity. As she yawned and stretched her back, the image of the enamored stallion returned to her. She looked at the clock by her bed, it was mid-morning; it had been over twelve hours since she told him to wait for her. She still had to go see him! Rainbow Dash was sound asleep, and Rarity carefully sneaked out of their room to keep her that way.

Rarity found the room and knocked lightly, she hoped desperately he hadn’t left. The door opened in a moment and there was Audacity, perfect as ever. Rarity blushed a little at the mere sight of him.

“Hi there Rarity! I’m sorry, I thought you were coming by last night.” He said in lovesick confusion.

“Oh yes, I wanted to, but you see, something came up. I wanted to, believe me!” Audacity didn’t mind, Rarity saw that he didn’t mind and she loved it.

The two sat together on the soft white bed.

“I, really like you Rarity.” Audacity said sheepishly. “Guess you can kinda see that.”

“Oh well, I think it’s cute! I mean, a manly cute, you know, you’re still manly of course.” She giggled. Audacity laughed.

“Thanks, I get that a lot. Ponies don’t think a guy like me can be sensitive.” He put his arm around her and she burned inwardly with his touch. “You know Rarity, you’re a strange mare.” He said a little softer. “But I like it. A lot.” She blushed heavily. “I don’t even want to talk about how stupid I was for dating Octavia. I knew in my heart that there was somepony in Ponyville that I was meant to love, and I know it’s you.” He cleared his throat. “I think I was with Octavia because she reminded me of you.” He said guiltily.

“Oh, Audacity.” She whispered. “That’s beautiful.”

“Yeah.” He said softly. “I thought, I thought you were too strong and independent to need a stallion, I guess I was afraid to really let down my guard and tell you how I feel.” She laid her head on his shoulder.

“I really like you Audacity.” He smiled and held her a little closer.

“I like you a lot too Rarity.”

They made plans, nothing too fast of course. Both wanted to pursue a meaningful relationship without rushing too quickly. But Rarity knew that Audacity the Pegasus was going to be incorporated into whatever future plans she made.

As Rarity left his hotel room, the red pony caught her by the arm and swung her around. She felt the muscular stallion hold her close to him. He kissed her, in a way that seemed to transcend the very essence of kissing itself. As Rarity felt the Pegasus’ warm chest press against her body, she slipped into a sort of blissful catatonia. His blue eyes gazed deeply into hers.

“Sorry.” He whispered. “I was afraid you might go off and meet a better stallion and I wanted to know that I had at least kissed you once.”

“Audacity, I don’t there is a better stallion than you.” She breathed. Audacity had her heart, that much she knew.

Rainbow Dash seemed more awake than Rarity. The little Pegasus was seated on her bed, looking over her saddlebag when she saw the dazed unicorn float into the room.

“Are you alright Rarity?” She asked. The euphoric Rarity nodded.

“Oh I’m wonderful Dash.” She said dreamily. Rainbow Dash gave her a peculiar look, then turned back to her luggage. “Whatever are you looking for?” Rarity asked.

“My gift for Scootaloo.” Rainbow Dash quietly replied. Rarity sobered a little and walked over to the bed. Rainbow Dash pulled a small outfit out of her belongings. Rarity recognized it as the costume she had made for Nightmare Moon night a long time ago. “I thought she might like it.” Rainbow Dash said despairingly. “She always wanted one of her own.” Rarity feared she might cry again. But the Pegasus shook off the sadness and wiped her eyes. “Is there anything you have going on today?” Dash asked.

“There’s a fashion expo going on, I was going to drop by.” Rarity answered.

“Can I come with you?” Asked her mourning friend. “I haven’t gone anywhere besides last night.” Rarity shrugged.

“Sure.”

The expo was adequate. Rarity strolled from booth to booth in the convention center, looking for something that Angora might find useful. Most of the stuff only looked good to amateurs, Rarity knew most of the crocheting tools were just knockoffs of existing hardware. She scanned the offerings for base patterns that Angora might like. Rainbow Dash followed her around wordlessly and Rarity felt a bit guilty for not being able to explain most of the terminology or even purpose of the expo to her uneducated friend. But Dash seemed happy just to get out, and luscious Audacity was still prancing through Rarity’s mind, taking her mind off of the task before her. She perused the booths for a few hours and bought the Consistent Crimp zipper device for Angora, which seemed original enough.

Rarity looked around for Rainbow Dash. She was standing in front of one of the booths. The Pegasus had a bag full of yarn and needles.

“I thought I might pick up knitting.” She explained. “Since I don’t really like models.” Dash seemed like her Blast scarred self again; Rarity prayed she wouldn’t relapse. She didn’t want that spark of the former Dash to burn out.

“Well, uh, ok then!” Rarity said supportively. “Let’s go back to the hotel and I’ll show you how!”

Rarity and Rainbow Dash had only just covered the basics of the old mare’s activity when Rainbow Dash threw down her needles.

“I hate this!” She shouted. “I hate doing things like this!” Rainbow Dash kicked the ball of white yarn, sending it bouncing across the room. “I hate not liking anything anymore!” She said angrily. Rarity set her knitting down.

“Hey, Dash, come on, give it some time. Let’s go home, we’ll figure out something from there.” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“No, I don’t want to.” Rarity hesitated.

“Then, what do you want to do?” Rainbow Dash thought for a second.

“I want to go see Scootaloo again.”

Rarity followed the resolute Pegasus. She knew it was a bad idea, she knew nothing good could come out of another confrontation. But Rainbow Dash wanted to do something and Rarity wasn’t going to get in the way. The blue Pegasus stuffed the little costume into her saddlebag and marched out the door and into the warm evening. Rarity followed her, a random thought popped into her head and she returned to the room. Packing the Chekerov into her saddlebag, Rarity ran to catch up with Dash. The unicorn bumped into Audacity on the way out of the lobby.

“Oh! Hey!” He said in surprise. “Where are you headed?”

“To a club, my friend is having a really tough time.” Rarity related. Audacity followed her.

“Anything I can help with?” He asked tenderly.

“No, sorry, she’s just going through some stuff with a friend.”

“Well hey, I can at least be there to help you out.” Audacity said lovingly. As concerned for Dash as she was, Rarity secretly hoped she could catch a few drinks with her stallion. And at any rate, Scootlaoo probably wouldn’t even be around tonight anyway.

“Ok, sounds good.” She agreed after an instant of deliberation. The unicorn and Pegasus walked together to the Hoof and Halter.

Rainbow Dash was already inside. Rarity and Audacity looked around for the colorful pony. Rarity saw her sitting at a table near the stage and she dashed over to Dash.

“Hey, are you ok? Where’s Scoot?” Rarity asked. Rainbow Dash held strong, Rarity could see she was fighting back the tears.

“Her manager told me she’s in a private dance. I’m gonna wait till she comes back out on the floor.” The little Pegasus said decisively.

“Do you want me to wait with you?” Rarity asked cautiously. Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“She’s not your responsibility.” She said firmly. “I’m gonna do this on my own.” Rarity paused, should she try and support her friend, or respect her wish for solidarity? Audacity was waiting back at the bar; solidarity it was.

“Ok, well, let me know if you need anything.” Rarity said as she ran back to Audacity. Rainbow Dash didn’t reply and simply sat waiting for the deviant Pegasus.

Her first date with Audacity! Rarity was ecstatic to actually be dating the beautiful Pegasus and made certain to avoid saying anything creepy or dumb. She ordered them a couple of cosmos and planted herself across from him at their table.

“SO! Audacity! Tell me, what about me is so attractive to you?” She asked playfully. The fiery Pegasus tossed his mane back and grinned.

“What isn’t?” He said with an infatuated smile. “Rarity, you’re just, well, you’re strong, and you really have a good heart. Like, helping out your friend or whatever, that’s really cool.” Rarity blushed. “And like, all those times you nearly died protecting the queen, that’s crazy, in a good way!”

“Well, you’re like the most awesome Pegasus ever, so I feel kinda lucky to actually date you.” She admitted. Audacity laughed.

“Hey, I’m just a regular old pony like you. Just cause I’ve won 203 races this year doesn’t make me any better than anypony else.” She giggled.

“You’re a pretty sweet flyer.” He tossed his mane out of his eyes again.

“Yeah, ponies seem to think that.” He took a sip of cosmo. “So miss Rarity, let me turn the question back on you: What about me attracts you.” It was her turn to laugh.

“Are you kidding me? You’re gorgeous! You’re like, the most attractive Pegasus I’ve ever met. And you’re fun and sensitive and Octavia said you’re pretty good in the sack.” No matter how hard she fought it, the Pegasus across from her cast a spell of stupidity over her. Rarity coughed and shrank down in her seat after this accidental admission. Audacity didn’t seem fazed, in fact, he seemed to enjoy this faux pas.

“Haha, not sure how she would know that. We never really got that far.” He said carelessly.

“Really?!” Rarity said in surprise. “But she said-”

“Yeah, I’d rather not talk about her. I’ve dated a lot of mares, looking for the right one to share myself with. She was just another burned ex telling lies.” He explained. “It’s been a long time, and that’s part of the reason I moved to Ponyville, to really find the right pony.” He smiled and put his hoof over hers. “I guess you’re part of the reason I moved to Ponyville.” She blushed; Audacity was too good to be true.

By the time they had finished a pair of Sex on the Beach’s, Rarity knew everything about Audacity, from his favorite color of red, to his secret fear of snakes. The music around them changed to a slower, dirtier track and Rarity became aware that she was still in the club. She looked back to Rainbow Dash. The rainbow mare was still sitting alone at her table. She frowned sorrowfully and clutched her saddlebag. Rarity glanced around the club; Scootaloo was trotting from table to table advertising herself. Rarity sighed and walked over to Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, Scootaloo is over there. Do you want me to get her?” She asked gently. Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“No, I want her to come to me.” Said the resolute Pegasus. Rarity was pretty sure Scootaloo was going to ignore her until closing. But the stubborn rainbow pony declined any and all assistance in handling her responsibility. Rarity returned to Audacity. The red Pegasus leaned back in his chair and watched her approach.

“Hey, sorry for running back and forth.” She laughed. “Just a little bit of trouble with my friend, she’s being stubborn as a mule!” She resumed her seat and gazed into his face. “So! Where were we?” He smiled.

“What’s her name?” He asked, looking over Rarity.

“Who? Oh, her.” Rarity glanced back at the seated Pegasus. “Rainbow Dash.” Audacity watched the rainbow pony a few meters from him. His smile went away and he stared blankly at her. “Hello!” Rarity giggled. “Are you here?” She waved a hoof in front of his face.

“OH! Yeah!” He sounded like he had just awoken from a coma. “Sorry, I was just.” He took a sip of his Harvey Wallbanger. “Her name’s Rainbow Dash you said? Sounds like she likes to fly.” Rarity nodded.

“Yep, she used to do a lot of flying.” Rarity sighed. “Then she got hurt really bad in the Blast and it’s been tough for her to adjust.” Audacity looked as if he had been stabbed.

“The Blast? Oh God, that’s horrible!” He said unhappily. “She looks like she would have been a great flyer.” Rarity nodded.

“Oh yeah, the best. So anyway-”

“Why is she in here?” He asked, not moving his gaze from the little Pegasus. “She doesn’t seem happy.”

“Yeah, one of the dancers here was a really close friend and Dash is taking it really hard. Dash loved her like a daughter and now she’s really torn up over seeing her selling herself.” Rarity explained. “She’s waiting for her to come over, but Scootaloo isn’t going to even pretend to notice her. But then, Dash has always been stubborn.” Rarity notice her glass was empty. “Hey, do you want-”

“Which dancer?” Audacity asked. Rarity blinked. Why was Audacity so interested in Rainbow Dash?

“Uh, that one.” She pointed to the young orange Pegasus. Audacity got up and started for Rainbow Dash.

“Get me whatever.” He called to her. What on earth was he doing? Rarity ordered two whatevers and ran over to the Pegasi.

Audacity was just introducing himself.

“Hey there!” He said in a friendly tone as he took a seat beside the blue pony.

“Um, hello?” Rainbow Dash said in uncertainty to the athlete. Rarity inserted herself between the two.

“Sorry for bugging you Dash. We can leave.” She took Audacity’s arm.

“Oh hang on!” Audacity said, pulling his arm away.

He pulled out a wad of hundred bit bills and unbanded them. The handsome Pegasus lobbed the bundle in the air, causing a wealthy rain around them. Instantly, four mares and two stallion dancers surrounded the table. Audacity flicked his head to them.

“Sorry team, I’m looking for a filly named Scootaloo.”

“Aw come on!” Complained a white mare. “I can put some makeup over my Cutie Mark, I look just as young as she does!”

“Yeah bro.” Added a brown stallion. “You wanna burn the candle at both ends? I’m your man!” Audacity smiled.

“No no, I would like Scootaloo please.” They sighed and shuffled off to other patrons.

In a few seconds, Scootaloo reached their table. She pretended not to notice Rarity and Dash.

“Why hello stranger.” Her voice sounded like honey and she gazed with counterfeit lust at Audacity. “You look hungry.” She leaned across the table and took hold of the stallion. “You wanna go?”

“No but I will pay you to have a chat with my friend here.” He put his arm around Rainbow Dash. “A thousand bits to talk as long as she wants.” Scootaloo giggled.

“Sorry sweetie, I dance or I fly off. A thousand bits isn’t anything to me.” She turned to leave.

“Ok then!” Audacity said boldly. “Get on! You can talk and dance at the same time!” Rarity nearly fell out of her chair at this compromise. Scootaloo turned, she wore a smile that should never appear on the face of such a young pony.

“Okie dokie!” Rarity nearly struck the filly as she climbed across the table and essentially mounted the reclining Audacity. “Mmm, you’re a big colt aren’tcha?” She whispered into the stallion’s ear as she seated herself on his lap.

“Nope, you talk to her.” He said as he sat back in his chair. “Pretend I’m not here.”

Rainbow Dash, who had watched the scene unfold in complete astonishment, stared blankly at Scootaloo.

“Hey stupid, got something to say?” Asked the filly as she ground against the red Pegasus. Rarity had to stop herself from yanking Scootaloo down from her date and beating some respect into her.

“Scootaloo, please, stop this!” Rainbow Dash pleaded after processing the debauchery before her. “You don’t need to do this to yourself!” Scootaloo giggled.

“I know, that’s what I have him for.” She said, rubbing up against Audacity. Rainbow Dash looked like she might start bawling, then she glowered at the unrepentant filly.

“I’ll tell the Crusaders on you.” She threatened.

“Haha why don’t you Dash? I’d love to have Sweetie Belle out here, maybe get a threeway going with-”

“STOP IT!” Cried Rainbow Dash. “WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU SCOOTALOO?!!” Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

“Chill out Dashie, you’ll pop something being this uptight.” Rainbow Dash produced the little outfit.

“Don’t you remember this Scootaloo? You begged to wear this for a month straight! Please, don’t you remember?” Rainbow Dash pleaded. Scootaloo looked down at the black and grey flightsuit.

“Mmm, you want me to wear that?” She asked Audacity. “You probably have a Wonderbolt fantasy with those big wings of yours.” Audacity shrugged.

“Never really cared for the Wonderbolts, you know I turned them down actually.” He said apathetically. Rarity was about to slap some sense into both Scootaloo and Audacity when somepony sat down beside her.

“HAY GANG!” Shouted Vinylscratch with unnecessary volume. “WE GOT A PONYVILLE PARTY GOING ON HERE?!!”

“Mmm, that’ll cost ya extra Scratch.” Scootaloo said coaxingly. “Pay to play.”

“So Dash, tell me, did you ever do any racing?” Asked Audacity. “Rarity was just telling me that you were quite the flyer in your hayday!”

“Scootaloo, please, you can’t-” Rainbow Dash implored.

“Shut up Dash.” Scootaloo said roughly.

“OH YEAH, SCOOT’S-”

Vinylscratch was interrupted by a loud slam. Rarity leaped up, Rainbow Dash cowered back and Scootaloo gripped Audacity. A rapid series of gunshots rang out through the rumble of dance music, followed by screams and a stampede of panicked ponies and burros.

Four diamond dogs bolted past their table. They vaulted the brass rail and leaped onstage. They were carrying Molots and one of them fired a burst into the ceiling, creating a shower of drywall. Chaos erupted as ponies and burros began to flee for the door.

“DON’T FUCKING MOVE!!!” Screamed the brown dog from a commandeered microphone. “WE’LL SHOOT ANYPONY WHO RUNS FOR IT!!!” As if to prove his point, he aimed and fired a round into Vinylscratch, who toppled from her seat. The blood from the DJ splattered the ponies at her table and the entire club heard the screams of the fallen pony. “YOU SEE THAT?!!” Barked the dog. “WE MEAN FUCKING BUSINESS!!!” The room instantly became silent, save for the pained cries of Vinylscratch.

For a few seconds, no one moved as the dogs caught their breath and the terrified crowd awaited their fate. Rarity heard Vinylscratch gasping for breath. She raised her hooves and moved out of her seat to attend to the DJ, who was crying and clutching her chest on the carpeted floor.

“Just giving some aid!” Rarity called neutrally. “Not going to try anything.” The first dog nodded frantically.

“ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT!!!” He put a paw to his head. “FUCK!” He turned to his companions, who were sweeping the room with their rifles. “WHAT DO WE DO?!!” He shouted at them. Rarity knelt down over Vinylscratch. She was trembling from shock and she took hold of Rarity.

“P-please, d-don’t let me die.” She whispered in terror. Rarity nodded and pressed against the wound, it had struck her at her collarbone and Rarity saw fragments of bone amidst the torn flesh. Rarity knew she was seriously hurt; Sonny was right about the power of guns.

“ALL RIGHT!!! IT’S ABOUT TIME THIS WHOLE THING CAME TO LIGHT!!!” Shouted another dog. Rainbow Dash was beside Rarity now.

“What can I do?” She whispered.

“Take, get some cloth, I need to tie this off.” Rarity said clumsily. Rainbow Dash ripped the arm from her costume and gave it to Rarity. Vinylscratch was crying softly, Rainbow Dash cradled her head and whispered comfort to the fallen unicorn.

“YOU ALL ARE LIVING A LIE!!!” Continued the dog. Rarity tied off the wound.

“What now?” Dash whispered. Rarity took the safety off of the Chekerov.

“Keep Scootaloo safe.” Rarity answered, slipping the hoofgun out of her bag. “I’m going to take these fucks.” Rainbow Dash saw the tiny pistol.

“Rarity, you won’t win, there’s four of them.” Rarity felt her heart pounding in her chest; she knew she would not win.

“Doesn’t matter.” She said shakily. She looked over at Dash. “Don’t let Scootaloo go Dash.” Rainbow Dash took hold of Rarity. As she gazed into the Pegasus’ violet eyes, Rarity saw the spark jump.

“Rarity, use me as a shield.”

“No.” Rarity prepared to leap up and fight her last battle but Rainbow Dash put her hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. She gripped the unicorn.

“Rarity, I’m going to stand up and you had better kill them all, because I don’t want Scootaloo to get hurt.” Rainbow Dash said, her voice trembling with fright. Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash. The spark was now a flame. Without another word, Rarity swallowed and gave her a light nod. Rainbow Dash stood up and Rarity put her arm around Rainbow Dash. She extended her other arm and drew a bead on the first dog.

“Please stop.” Was all that the little Pegasus could say before they began to fire. Rarity felt as if somepony were punching her in the stomach as the rounds striking her friend’s body dumped their energy. Rainbow Dash’s light frame shook with each gunshot and Rarity felt the warm cascade of blood rush down the arm that embraced her friend. The first dog clutched his neck as the bullet shattered his throat and he dropped the ground. Rarity let go of the lifeless form of Rainbow Dash and gripped the pistol with both hooves.

“COME ON!!!” She screamed in fear. “KILL ME TOO!!”

The next dog aimed at her, but caught two bullets in the chest, he dropped his weapon and stumbled to the floor. The third dog got a shot off at Rarity, but in his panic, missed and then took a round to the head. The final dog had time to aim, and Rarity felt a sharp slap hit her arm. Her grip twisted off of the gun. But with her other hoof, Rarity managed to land a round in his abdomen. The brown dog howled in agony and staggered backward. Blood ran from his mouth and he sank to his haunches. But the dog fired again, this time hitting her other arm. Rarity almost collapsed and the pistol flew from her grip. Slumped up against the pole in the center of the stage, the dog raised his rifle again. He grinned and the injured canine took aim at her head. He fired, missing, as unicorn mantled the stage and charged him. The next bullet hit her arm again, sending her tumbling on top of him. But it didn’t matter. Rarity took hold of the dog’s head and twisted it. He screamed and lashed her with his claws. He sank his dark nails deeply into her body and tore her flesh but Rarity kept twisting. She heard a sickening pop and instantly his grip slackened. She kicked the dog off of her and rose to her hooves. Rarity looked out over the crowd. The stage was awash in blood and corpses. Rarity saw Rainbow Dash, her light blue underbelly was torn and bloodied and Rarity saw the entrails of her friend laying in a mangled wash atop her body. Blood from the fallen Pegasus was pooling around the writhing Vinylscratch.

“CALL AN AMBULANCE!!!” Rarity screamed to the frozen crowd. “PLEASE!!!”

The nurse wiped the claw marks on her body and prepared an antiseptic for the gunshot wounds on her arms, but Rarity shoved her away. The unicorn staggered toward the second ambulance, two paramedics were loading a stretcher into the back, a bit of rainbow tail hung from under the sheet. Rarity limped toward the vehicle, but stumbled and fell into the dust. She cried out as the ambulance pulled away. Rarity saw the cloud of dust behind the vehicle fade off into the warm twilight night. Then she wept.

It was five in the morning when Rarity reached the hospital. She bolted to the desk.

“Please, where is Rainbow Dash?” She desperately asked the nurse. The black mare frowned compassionately at her.

“Oh honey, you mean that poor little Pegasus that came in earlier tonight?” She asked pityingly. Rarity felt the world drop away from her hooves. She felt sick and wanted to run and close her ears to what she knew came next. The black mare smacked her lips sadly. “I’m sorry, there wasn’t really anything we could do in surgery.” Rarity fell to her knees. “She had been shot six times.” Rarity began to sob. “All you can do is pray to whatever God took Celesita away from us that he keeps this little one with us.” Rarity stood up.

“What?” She asked, shaking violently. The black mare nodded.

“She’s in the optimism ward, room 342. But she’s only got a heartbeat, there’s nothing else living about her. If she wakes up, then it’ll be a miracle, but please dear, don’t get your hopes up. She’s much too-” Rarity galloped down the hallway.

She reached room 342, Rainbow Dash lay buried under the snowy white folds of industrial blankets. Her face was the only visible part of her body. Her eyes were closed and her last expression of frightened sorrow was still molded into her face. Rarity saw a doctor coming out of the break room further down the hall.

“Please!” She cried. “What can you do for my friend?!!” She beseeched the stallion. The doctor, seeing which room she was observing, sighed and walked over to her.

“Are you her guardian?” He asked quietly.

“I’m her friend. Please doctor, what can you do for her?” He sighed again and ran a hoof through his grey mane.

“Nothing.” She took hold of him.

“PLEASE!!! You can’t let her die!” She begged. He frowned and looked at his hooves.

“Your friend was shot six times, she’s not a big mare.” He cleared his throat. “Surgery couldn’t fix anything.” Rarity let go of him and looked into the room at her friend. The blue Pegasus was almost entirely buried beneath the cloudlike sheets. Tears rolled down Rarity’s cheeks, Rainbow Dash couldn’t die. She couldn’t. “I’m sorry but, um.” The doctor halted midsentence.

“There must be something!” She cried as she turned to face the doctor. “Rainbow Dash-” Words left Rarity.

“Hello Rarity.” Luna said with a smile.

Chapter 1

Four Hooves

To Mason, for being my friend

Chapter I

The spring peepers were in full chorus; it seemed to Rarity that even if Rainbow Dash were to burst through the clouds at this very instant, she would still be drowned out by the croaking of the marshmallow amphibians. Rarity smiled to herself, the thought of Rainbow Dash bursting through the clouds at this hour of the night was so implausible it was laughable. Maybe it was that comical notion, or the 3 shots of tequila still burning in her gut that made her begin to giggle uncontrollably. Squealing and seizing, her giggling sounded like somepony choking on a cupcake, and that made her laugh harder.

God, what a night to be out, the stars were gorgeous, the stores and shops all along the street were darkened, leaving her to her memory to identify all of them.

“That’d be that new Candy Shoppe. You really think that adding another P and E are going to make people want to eat your crap?” She jeered to the darkened building.

“It’s like, the more you try to make people think that you’re some old confectioner, the more you believe it yourself.” She shook her head at the stupidity of the proprietors; some ponies obviously had no idea how to run a business. They just made stupid choices and screwed themselves over in the long run. The white unicorn stopped suddenly and fought back an angry sob. Gritting her teeth and bowing her head to the ground, Rarity grimaced in sorrow.

She rose undaunted, and continued down the street. Ahead stood the library, Twilight must be asleep Rarity thought to herself. Twilight was good, not full of shit like everypony else. Twilight knew stuff, for the few days she had spent at Twilight’s, Rarity had realized that Twilight wasn’t the stuck up bitch that she seemed like.

Yeah, if Twilight needed any help on the books, she had Rarity to call. The inebriated pony passed the tree, a burst of cold wind suddenly gusted down the street and chilled her to the bone. Storm season was coming, and Rainbow Dash would love that, something in that pony loved the chaos of a good storm.

Dash never really came through Ponyville anymore, and she rarely spoke to anypony when she did. She was entirely irrelevant to Rarity. If anything was to be said about Rainbow Dash, it was that she never lived up to being a Wonderbolt. How sad for Dash to lose that. Rarity stopped, a hot tear rolled down her face. It waited for a moment, tickling her chin, before dropping to the ground. What a fucking town, what a fucking town.

Rarity continued along Mane Street, all of these stores, every last one of them had the same shitty pink or blue color of paint. It wasn’t that the owners lacked creativity (which they did), nope, it was because it cost at least 50 bits to repaint a building in Ponyville. Besides bigotry, Ponyville businesses also held the quality of shortsighted pennypinching.

Everypony blamed the recession, the recession wasn’t the problem, the problem was that one had to spend money to make money. But then, that required thinking beyond the level of most business owners of Ponyville. Hilarious, what if every last one of these stores closed, and then more businesses failed in the same building on account of the same brainless business model, how long could the cycle go on?

Reaching the stone wall at the end of the street, Rarity coughed sharply. Tequila was off her list, too sharp and too expensive. She hopped over the fence. All around her, the soft grassy fields stretched for acres. Past them lay the forest, she didn’t look at the forest, instead she devoted her attention to the wide fields. How quiet they were, it startled Rarity, that just six months ago she had bought these fields for expansion of a now defunct business. The moon showed the brown rows of grain, they looked like barbed wire. Had somepony properly tilled and farmed them, they would have been golden and ripe, oh what fucking ever. They were hers and she could do with them as she pleased.

Rarity reached the pile of blankets, still scrunched up from the morning. She plopped down on the soft folds; she was surprised at her own exhaustion. Not caring to brush her teeth, she lay down in the darkness. It dawned on her, she was facing the forest. Without a conscious thought she turned over.

Rarity yawned, a foul taste, reminiscent of lime, hung in her mouth. Tequila was definitely off her list. It was late morning, the sun had been up for a while and the dew had already dried from her mane. She shot a glance at her alarm clock (more clock than alarm these days), 10:04. She needed to get to work soon.

Standing gave her a pounding headache, not the worst she’d had, but still enough to make her dizzy. She spat distastefully and began her trek to the stream. Though it was cool and comfortable now, Rarity knew by the mugginess that it was going to be an unpleasantly warm day. Up ahead, the stream lay just within the shadows of the tree line. Quietly bubbling and gushing, the stream was Rarity’s current make-up kit. Bowing her head for a drink, the unicorn caught a glimpse of herself in the rippling mirror. Long and unkempt, her mane looked more like Dash’s than her own. The rest of her, well, that really didn’t stand out. The cold water smoothed out any mussed up areas and her Cutie Mark was still clearly visible. That was enough preening. She continued to sip the icy water in a vain attempt to remove the taste of the stale alcohol. She looked up for a moment. All around her, the trees were gaining leaves. With the sun shining through the speckled canopy of, it looked as if the whole forest were a kaleidoscope. Six months ago this would have been a morning that found her on a walk through the woods.

Rising out of the water, Rarity shook herself. She felt the wet slap of her mane against her neck, even for her, it was too long. She ought to stop by Dash’s for a trim. She walked from the water; she still had to eat before work. Rooting around in her crates, she found a not-too-dusty apple. She popped the fruit in her mouth and started for the town.

What was today, Thursday? That meant breaking crates down to size, then hauling them off to the farm. The apple crunched, slightly sour. It reminded Rarity of her life: shitty, and just enough to get by.

By the time she reached the bakery, the air had already grown considerably warmer. The sun heated the cobblestone beneath her hooves and her damp mane felt clammy against her neck. Inside, the multiple ovens made the room even hotter than outside, and she was glad she didn’t have to spend the day shoveling dough into the brick chambers.

Applecrisp had already started snapping the crates into pieces when she entered the store room. Applecrisp was a rich shade of blue, she was an earth pony, talked little and worked hard. Her Cutie Mark resembled a tree sticking out of a patch of blue and green wash; Rarity had no idea what it meant, and she honestly didn’t care.

Applecrisp gave her a nod.

“Hey.” Rarity lifted a palate and tore a piece of wood off. This was her work; it kept her fed, occasionally imbibed, and busy. The first few hours passed as they should, neither pony spoke, and the pile of crates shrank considerably. After some time, it was Rarity who spoke first.

“So you see Hennessey’s got an air hockey table?”

“Naw, ah been savin’, so ah sure enough ain’t been round there. Sugarcube Corner is selling some stock, so ah reckoned ah’d go for that.” Applecrisp tossed a broken egg crate onto the pile.

Rarity nodded and reshaped the pile of fragments. A part of her felt some resentment about this. Applecrisp wasn’t really a friend, and it didn’t matter at all, but something about her investment in the store made Rarity a little mad.

“So, did you actually try tequila?” Applecrisp asked.

“Eeyup, absolute crap. Rather drink sewer water.” Rarity replied. Applecrisp nodded.

“Y’know, ah gave that honey ale a try, not too bad.” The conversation turned to bar talk.

Hennessey’s was the only bar in Ponyville, its opening had stirred up quite a storm of controversy. Many said it would turn the colts and fillies of the town into drunks and fighters. Celestia herself, others proclaimed, would denounce the establishment as utterly evil. But since there had been many changes to the town over the past few months and Celestia was gone now; the bar squeaked by on a close vote by the city council. In reality, Hennessy’s didn’t live up to anypony’s expectations; it did not produce delinquents and drunkards. Nor did it garner rave reviews by local newspapers and usher in a new era of alcoholic tolerance. A few ponies came and went, mostly buying fruit punch and eating the peanuts. Rarity herself was one of only a few ponies to actually partake of “liquefied Discord.”

Rarity took her lunch over to the library, Spike would undoubtedly enjoy the company. She approached the thick tree and knocked on the door. The door was so out of place, it was comical. Three inches of sheet steel and Lexan glass separated Rarity from the interior of the tree; Twilight hadn’t had any say in its installation. It was Spike who answered the door.

“Oh hay Rarity! I was just about to eat! Come on in!” Little Spike, he was still that baby dragon she had adored so long ago; though he wasn’t so little now. The potion he taken just after Twilight’s coronation was supposed to grow him by more than a decade. Yet besides his size, there was still very little grown about the dragon. “One more shipment of legers and we’re set through August of last year!” Something about his boyish optimism still made her smile a little bit.

“Twilight here?” She inquired.

“No, she had to run the castle to sign some stuff.” The two reached a table, stained with ink and covered in papers.

“Lemme just clear this off.” He pushed the piles to the floor. “Copies.” He gestured to the papers “Would you believe that all official documents need three separate copies for posterity? Except those pertaining to regular nomenclature of temporal nature.” He sighed and rubbed his scaled head. Rarity shook her head and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“Spike, you are one awesome secretary.” He smiled a little at this.

“Well, Twilight thinks so too, and we’re almost up to date on the governmental spending manifests. It’s been a stressful past few weeks, but I think we’re almost in the clear.” He tossed a few stones from a bag on the kitchen counter onto a plate and sat next to her. “How about you, how have things been going?”

Rarity took a bite of her greens.

“Pretty good, bakery’s fine, nights are warm, can’t ask for much more than that. Applecrisp says she’s going to invest in Sugarcube Corner.” Rarity wasn’t quite sure why she added that part about Applecrisp. Maybe it was because she still felt a little miffed about it, and because Spike was one of the few people she still held a real relationship with.

He crunched a rock and cocked his head at her.

“Are you thinking of joining her?” He asked curiously.

“Me? Oh hell no!” She was instantly sorry she had said that. Spike didn’t like swearing, and even though he didn’t show it, Rarity knew he disapproved. “I mean, I don’t think a cupcake store is something I want to get behind.” She politely clarified.

Spike knew what she really meant.

“Is this because Pinkie Pie works there?” He asked in a soft voice. She pushed at her greens.

“It’s not that, I mean, yeah I guess.” She mumbled.

He looked back at his plate. Neither spoke for a time.

“Twilight says she’d like some help with the ledgers. There are a couple of bits of handwriting we can’t make out.” He offered.

“Yeah, what time?”

“Um, probably sometime on Friday, that’s when she gets back.”

“That’d be good.”

The dragon popped the last rock into his mouth and tossed the plate into the sink.

“See Rainbow Dash lately?” He asked.

“No, I’ll be dropping by her place later.” She shook her mane. “This old thing is getting to be a safety hazard.”

He giggled, still a baby dragon.

“Unless it directly impedes movement to a fire escape, then I won’t note it.” She glanced at the oven clock.

“I oughta head back, I have to deliver some wood.”

He walked her to the door.

“There’s a position for maintenance in the clock tower that we need filled.” He suggested. “Pay’s probably better than bread, and, yeah, it’s pretty remedial stuff. If you’re interested, just, you know, give me a call.”

“Yeah, I’ll see.” She strolled out the door and into the warm spring air.

She wouldn’t. It had been four months since her life had gone to hell, yet everyone, Spike included, still had that irritating charitable condescension. She had left them all, gone to work at the bakery in a demeaning position and she did not give a shit what anypony cared. They’d fucked her life, closed her Boutique, and now they expected her to eat out of their hooves. She snorted aloud, they’d never have the satisfaction of supporting her. She still owned half of the farmland outside of Ponyville, and the population would starve before she sold it to anypony.

Really, she wasn’t really out for revenge, that was three months ago, when she had contemplated firebombing Mane street. Now she was just tired, tired of her job, tired of watching stupid ponies go about their lives and tired of Ponyville. She reached the bakery a few minutes early and Mr. Salukas nodded to her as she entered.

“Ah Rarity, can you stay late tonight? I need help with a rush order.”

“Yeah sure.” She had nowhere else to be tonight.

She actually liked Mr. Salukas, he was a tall horse with a thick brown coat that ended in tufts at his hooves. He spoke in a rich accent that Twilight herself couldn’t identify. He was strong, farm horse strong. Many times he alone had hoisted the 50 pound bags of flour and thrown them into the safe and Rarity could not fathom how he had the delicate touch required for baking. It was no surprise to anypony that his Cutie Mark was a pair of tools crossed over each other.

Four months after the Blast, he came to Ponyville and built a bakery. It was a niche bakery to be sure, as it sold many oddities that the colorful ponies had never seen before. Lines of inquisitive earth ponies piled into the store to taste things like Bobka and Monkey bread. The only normal bread they carried was dark rye; none of that flimsy white stuff that goes through you Mr. Salukas explained. Rarity liked him because he gave, and took, absolutely no shit. Mrs. Salukas, an uncomfortably strong mare, was about the only pony in the world that told Mr. Salukas what to do.

She headed back into the storage room. Applecrisp was reclining on the pile of debris. She stood when Rarity entered.

“Y’all want to load this on the cart an’ see what we got for room?”

“Yeah let’s do that, I got a feeling that this is gonna be three loads.”

The pair labored to load the cart with the broken wood. After twenty minutes of splinters and exertion, the cart was full.

“Y’sure ya’ll gonna be able to pull that?” Applecrisp pulled off some pieces.

“I’m fine, just finish before I get back.”

“Sure will.”

Rarity smiled a little, it was cute how guilty the usually brisk Applecrisp felt for always making her pull the cart. It worked out well for both of them actually, Rarity got out of the stuffy bakery for a while and Applecrisp didn’t have to go to Sweet Apple acres.

The bakery had a deal with Sweet Apple acres. Every Thursday, the farm bought the wood pallets and crates the bakery had no need for. It was Mr. Salukas’ idea, all part of his “nothing wasted” mentality. Never in her life had Rarity seen anypony so bent on efficiency and saving. It was all practical to be sure, but still, even in a recession, Ponyville supported the bakery well enough. It was one of Mr. Salukas’ idiosyncrasies, one of many. Yet he paid well, didn’t give a shit what Rarity did with her life, and pretty much went about his business; Rarity would abide by most quirks given those qualifiers.

She pulled the cart through the town, the tickling brush of her mane against her neck was maddening. Rainbow Dash had better be able to fit her in. Through the town, over the stream, the route was all memory. She looked up, a few clouds were blowing in. There’d be a storm tonight, and that meant another night in the box. She sighed, and today was going so well.

She passed the first sign for Sweet Apple acres, “Absolutely NO credit accepted.” It was a good statement to make, the farm had been hit by about four thousand bits worth of bad checks a few months after the Blast and had closed for a period of three weeks. Rarity remembered seeing AJ around at Hennessey’s a lot those three weeks. But something in that pony had refused to give up, and even if it meant that Applebloom wasn’t going to college or Macintosh waited another year to remove that piece of brick from his leg, that farm was not going to die. And return they had, Sweet Apple acres was even the champion of economic recovery now. It sported a new line of hard cider (Granny Smith denounced this addition to the product offering but Rarity didn’t recall her bitching about a new hip either), and the creation of thirty new jobs. Rarity passed the next sign “Sweet Apple acres, watch ‘em picked!”, she felt a drop of rain, Goddamn it. Quickening her pace, she breezed by the next three signs talking about homegrown goodness and reached the gate. She slammed a hoof into the intercom

“It’s Rarity, here with the wood.” She said breathlessly.

“Come again?” Came the crackly response.

“RARITY! HERE WITH THE WOOD!” She struck the intercom, harder than she intended. The metal edge stung and she almost cried out as she watched a trickle of blood run down her hoof.

“Oh hay! Wasn’t expectin’ ya’ll. Ah’ll buzz ya in.” The gate clicked and Rarity limped inside.

Inside, the farm was strangely quiet. There were tracks everywhere, but not a pony to be seen. Rarity held her cut hoof off of the ground and waited for AJ. Presently, the door of the farmhouse opened and Applejack strolled down the steps.

“An’ whut brings ya’ll out here?” Applejack called to her.

“Heard you were needing some firewood.” Rarity answered. Applejack slapped her on the back.

“Aw nao, isn’t that the sweetest thing of ya’ll to do? Ah’ll help y’drop it off.”

Applejack led her around to the main barn.

“So, did your workers up and leave?” Rarity asked jokingly as the reached the giant structure.

“Ha, no, fer some reason, this is when they lahk t’eat lunch. Weirdest thing, but it don’t hurt production none.” Applejack replied.

Rarity shrugged. These new ponies were pretty odd. They were short and grey and their manes black and shaggy. Rarity often saw then in town buying food, they didn’t talk and thus Rarity gave little mind as to when they ate lunch.

AJ flipped open a keypad on the giant door and punched in a few digits.

“Normal key locks get picked real easily. Can ya’ll believe that?” Applejack asked incredulously.

“You got forty thousand bits of food products in that barn, so I’m not surprised that someone would pick a lock to get in.” Rarity replied cynically. With Rarity’s help, Applejack swung the wide doors open.

“This never woulda been a problem if Celestia were here.” Applejack grumbled.

“That’s true about a lot of things.” Rarity agreed softly.

Warm, stuffy and sweet smelling, the inside of the barn held row upon row of apple crates, all neatly stacked.

“Set ‘em over here.” Applejack motioned to a boxy machine about their height that looked Seusical in origin.

“What the hell is that?” Rarity couldn’t help but laugh at the bizarre contraption before her.

“Somethin’ called a still. Them new ponies showed me how t’make one. Gave ‘em two weeks paid vacation for it. That thing pumps out hard cider at ‘round 10 gallons a day. Three times faster whut it took me an’ Applebloom t’do it by hoof.” AJ replied proudly. Rarity snorted. These new ponies were bizarre to say the least.

“Ah dropped three quarters of mah scone line to free up ‘nuff apples to keep this thing running.” AJ said, tossing some boards to the straw strewn ground. “Mosta’ the sales come from Canterlot, but Hennesy’s does supply from us.”

Lowering an armful of wood to the ground, Rarity felt a spike of pain shoot through her hoof. She swore loudly and Applejack whirled around.

“Ya’ll ok?” Asked the farmer in concern.

“Just cut my hoof. Do you have a band-aid?” Rarity tried to hide the cut.

“Oh sugar, ah got more’n a band-aid. Come on inside and ah’ll clean that up.” AJ said in her mothering tone. That was exactly what Rarity didn’t want. Reluctantly, she followed Applejack out of the barn and into the big house.

It took Rarity a moment to adjust to the darkness of the house. The rooms were the same as they had always been, decorated modestly, furnished properly. Applejack sat her down at one of the chairs surrounding the worn dinner table. She searched the applewood cabinets for her first aid kit.

Rarity hated AJ’s house almost as much as she hated Sugarcube Corner. Applejack was the richest pony in Ponyville and her house was still the same rickety pile of wood it had always been. In fact, the house had actually gotten less inviting after the farm’s success. The windows were shuttered and the lights were all soft yellows, which gave the house the impression of being either a mortuary or a birthing room. Rarity knew AJ hated it, but if it helped Granny Smith, then it had to be done.

“Got it!” The farm pony brought a blue plastic box over to the table. “Nao gimme that hoof.” Rarity sighed and held out her hoof. She felt the sharp sting of the rubbing alcohol, but said nothing. “This is pretty long, how’d ya’ll manage this?” AJ asked curiously.

“Stepped on a rock.” Rarity replied mindlessly as she gazed at the pockmarked surface of the table.

Applejack started on how the road in was full of rocks. She seemed to take forever with the gauze, rewrapping it twice, and Rarity was already at the door by the time the orange mare had put the kit away.

It had begun to sprinkle rain outside and Rarity sighed, considering her two more trips. By the time the pair had finished putting away the load of wood, it was starting to rain consistently.

“Ah can’t let ya’ll pull two more trips. Ah’ll come along and take a cart mahself.” Applejack saddled up a cart of her own. Rarity didn’t bother to begin to protest, there were battles she wouldn’t even enter.

The two clopped along at a steady pace, despite Rarity’s injured hoof.

“When is Big Mac’s surgery?” Rarity asked as they walked over the bridge leading into the town.

“Ain’t found the right doctor. We’re getting the best, ah want him to favor that leg after the surgery.” Applejack said firmly. Rarity chuckled and the two continued in silence. As they approached Ponyville, they passed a few of AJ’s workers, evidently on their way back from lunch. Applejack nodded to one.

“Taco, can y’get the north field done by tomorrow? Take some from the other groups if ya need to, we got forty more cases of cider needs pressin’.” The shaggy pony gave literally no indication that he heard her as he passed by them. Yet AJ kept walking.

“They ain’t much fer talkin’, but they sure get the job done. It’s like them piano savants, weird as hell, yet they’re the best at whut they do.” AJ observed.

“Had any trouble with ‘em?” Rarity was curious if Applejack actually liked these new ponies. Sweet Apple Acres had never employed anypony outside of the Apples and now they housed around thirty or so of these odd ponies. Applejack shrugged.

“Yeah, in the beginnin’ had some things disappear from the barn. Figured it wasn’t spooks, but at that point we were about done as a company. Took me about a month of firing and rump-kicking to git em to work with me. Nao the only problems are that they clock out early evry once an’ awhile.” She finished with a triumphant grin.

Applejack was proud of herself, and she had every right to be. She had saved her farm, sent Applebloom to the best architectural school in all of Cantorlot, kept Granny smith alive via all of the dark blasphemies of medical science and was now searching for the best doctor to operate on her brother. Rarity liked AJ’s fighting spirit.

“Ya’ll wanna stay at mah place t’nigh? It’ll be dark as pitch when we’re through.” Rarity did not like her southern hospitality however.

“Nah, I gotta get my mane cut at Dash’s.” Rarity dodged.

“She’ll be closed when y’get there.”

“We’ll be done sooner than that.”

“Nao ah can’t let-”

“You aren’t making this easy for me.” Rarity interrupted coarsely.

“Oh, ah see.” Applejack said softly.

Rarity sighed, there wasn’t any way to win with a charitable pony. Thankfully the remainder of the now silent trip lasted only a few minutes. There was no sign of Applecrisp, she must have seen the pair coming and retreated inside.

“S’how’s Applecrisp working out?” AJ asked casually as she stacked more of the wood.

“Pretty good.” Rarity replied as neutrally as she could. Applejack laughed an unbecomingly cold laugh.

“That a fact.” Rarity didn’t reply, she hoped that was all that AJ was going to say. Mercifully, Applejack didn’t care to speak about her cousin and the two soon loaded the carts. The return trip took place in the midst of a standard rain storm, substantial rain and lightning interspersed. AJ looked about ready to launch into another attempt at forcing Rarity to stay the night as she and Rarity journeyed up the road to the farm. Rarity decided to head her off.

“So AJ, what say you and me hit Hennessey’s on Monday night? You can buy the first round.” She proposed.

“Ha, nao y’know, ah do need to drop by an’ see if mah booze is being sold at MSRP.” Applejack grinned playfully. “And ah know that a certain pony will be there, pro’bly assuming that she can outshoot me at pool.” Rarity chuckled.

“Don’t suppose your ego needs a little checking?”

“Hell no it don’t, it’ll be a shock if you pocket anything other than some stallion’s keys.” At this Rarity snorted disgustedly.

“I’m a bitch, not a whore.”

AJ tossed back her head with a rough laugh.

“Can’t imagine why the Cantorlot conservatory didn’t accept ya’ll as a resource.”

“I was too controversial for their tastes, I have this undying belief in the natural and necessary progression of musical compositions.” Rarity replied sarcastically. AJ cackled to this.

They were friends. Rarity had marveled at their bond, the once polar opposites were now the only two of the five remaining friends to stay close after the Blast. Rarity imagined their closeness stemmed from their common experiences of being fucked over by circumstance. AJ made up for whatever frustration her insuppressible generosity caused by not condescending Rarity like everypony else. The handouts were a pain, the whispers and looks were unbearable, and Rarity had enough reasons to hate Ponyville without their patronizing pity. Beyond Granny Smith and Applecrisp, Rarity admired everything about Applejack. And those areas were pretty insignificant in the long run.

They reached the gate and the farm pony nosed in a few digits onto a keypad above the intercom. The wind was blowing a bit now and they trotted quickly to the barn. The apple-filled structure was refreshingly warm and the sharp smell of alcohol permeated the air.

“Whut in the hell?” Applejack muttered in confusion.

The “still” was steaming and gurgling, Big Macintosh leaned on a stack of crates beside it.

“Big Macintosh! Whut in tarnation do ya’ll think ya’ll’re doin’? Git offa there nao!” AJ hollered. Big Macintosh looked up with his usual tired expression and said flatly.

“Gotta forty more gallons a’ cider need t’be made by tomorrow. Ya’ll ferget the order from Cantorlot that came in few days ago?”

“Shit.” Applejack said almost in a whisper. She quickly snapped back to her position of control. “Ya’ll still get offa there! Doctor said no lifting over twenty pounds and we shure as hell don’t carry apple sacks weighing less than 30!”

“Now Apple-” Was as far as Macintosh got before AJ interrupted him.

“Don’t ya’ll protest me mister. If y’wanna help, then go call Applebloom and see if she can get her hahnd end down here by Saturday so she can do that consulting that was supp’sed to be done last Saturday!”

Macintosh sighed and hoisted himself onto his crutches.

“Y’can’t do all this yourself Applejack. Get Miguel to help y’with it.” He said tiredly.

“Shure will, shure will, nao ah’m walking you insahd.” AJ fell in line with his slow pace.

“Applejack! Ah can get inside!” Macintosh’s usual monotone grew louder. “Alraght.” AJ spoke softly, evidently embarrassed. “Jus’ make sure an’ close the screen doar.”

“Shure will.” Came Macintosh’s flat reply. Applejack sighed and turned to Rarity.

“Sorry ‘bout that. He gits these notions.” She shook her head. “Can’t keep him from settin’ out to injure himself moar.”

“Yeah, he looks like he really wants to get back out working.” Rarity said wistfully, starting to unload her cart.

“Ah said from the start, y’go horsing around cause it don’t hurt and it’ll add up to more months of physical ther’py tha’s what ah said.” AJ glanced at the running still. “Heavin’ above if we don’t need another big order…” She sighed. “Jus’ set the crates right here.” She motioned to a general area near the still, while starting to stoke the flames of the machine. “Ah’ll send Taco or somepony back with the carts tomorrow. Sorry ah can’t chat, ah gotta make four days’ worth of cider in a day and a half.” Rarity finished unloading both carts and then walked out into the rain.

The storm was just starting now. The wind shot through the trees and the rain was pounding the ground at a 45° angle. The spring sky had turned grey and white bursts of lightning lit the sky.

“Fuck it all.” Rarity said aloud as she dashed out into the chaos. It was off to Rainbow Dash’s house now.

Any other day, Rarity would have simply gone home and waited till later for a mane cut. But there was something maddening about a long, unruly mane that spurred her to gallop through the downpour. Her hoof started to hurt again, she looked down and saw that the bandages had already washed off in the sloppy mud. She pressed on, there was nothing she could do.

Why did Dash have to live so far from everything? Rarity herself lived on the outskirts of the town, but Dash had settled so far away from the town that she was almost a denizen of the Great Plains separating Ponyville from Las Pegasus. In fact, Dash’s home was so far from the town that there was no actual road that led to there. It was a pain in the ass to travel to and from her house and seldom did the Pegasus venture into the town.

Rarity had often pondered what sort of toll the Blast had taken on the young Pegasus. Rainbow Dash had been the closest surviving pony to the actual explosion, even taking a razor sharp fragment of metal to the flank. Yet nopony disputed the awesome protection that Dash had apparently been under in that instant, as she had not been killed outright or even maimed horribly by the violent explosion that occurred literally right beside her.

And yet it was perfectly clear that she had been blown to pieces, anypony who knew Rainbow Dash before and after the Blast could tell that. Now she was soft spoken, didn’t bother anypony, cut manes and actually apologized for things. There were whispers of a latent psychological break in the former daredevil, perhaps her mind had fused into a sort of postmortem projection of Fluttershy. That didn’t seem likely to Rarity, as Dash didn’t seem particularly batshit crazy. Still, more than a few times had the white unicorn worried about being hacked to pieces and baked into a cupcake while having her mane cut by RD. At any rate, Dash was a surprisingly good barber who charged fairly and typically said little; she was the best in the business as far as Rarity was concerned.

The rain slacked off a bit and Rarity could make out a large boulder over her left shoulder. That was good, she was on course. It was stupid the point of being funny that anypony wishing to get their mane cut by Dash had to rely on landmarks to find their way. Most days it wasn’t a problem, but should it get rainy, well, she was just fucked wasn’t she? The rain quickly returned to its former strength and Rarity sprinted ahead. The rain blurred the landscape and she struggled to make out anything beyond the dancing grass. A broken down wheelbarrow should be ahead if she remembered right. Her hoof caught on something wedged into the ground and she slammed face first into the mud. For a moment she spat and gasped as she wiped the mud from her face, her momentary stun turned to anger when she saw what had tripped her. A mossy wooden wheelbarrow handle protruded from the soaked grass.

“Fuck this shit, fuck it all.” Rarity was too exhausted to become enraged. She tiredly picked herself up and continued to run to where she assumed Dash’s house would be. Five minutes of running and she was starting to worry. What if she missed the house entirely? Almost as an answer, the soft glow of a lantern came into focus as she crested a hill. The small single story house looked like heaven in the downpour. Rarity was wary of sprinting towards it, as there might be more malignant garden implements imbedded in the ground ahead. Despite her nominal pace, she reached the door soon and clopped furiously against the thick wooden surface. A minute went by without reply. If Dash didn’t answer quickly, Rarity was going to hurl a rock through the front window. Another minute went by, and Rarity began to search for a rock. The door creaked open.

“Hello?” Came a timorous voice.

Chapter 2

Chapter II

The warmth of the fire was deliciously soothing. Rarity pulled the towel tightly around her body and inched closer to the hearth.

“I’m sorry you got caught in the downpour. It just came outta nowhere.” Dash said as she peered out of the window.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Rarity said bitterly.

“You didn’t have any trouble finding the place did you?” Dash asked. Rarity looked up, about to spit some obscenity about the fucking remoteness of Rainbow Dash’s home. She made the mistake of glancing at Rainbow Dash. The Pegasus was peering intently out the window at the storm. Her nose was pressed against the glass and she wore an expression of innocent joy. She loved storms, and the smile across her face disintegrated whatever anger Rarity could muster.

“No, not at all.” Rarity mumbled. Dash looked toward Rarity.

“I can guess why you’re here.” She giggled, motioning to Rarity’s soaked and tangled mane.

“Yeah, can you get it back to normal length?” Rarity still hated anypony laughing at her mane, but she forced a smile.

“Absolutely, let me just get my stuff.” Dash dashed off into the kitchen.

Rarity sighed, Rainbow Dash was the only pony in Ponyville, or anywhere for that matter, that she would voluntarily take shit from. Applejack could say some nasty things when she was drunk and it wasn’t a rare occasion for AJ and Rarity to engage in inebriated exchanges of “opinion”. But the two always walked away friends. Applecrisp didn’t say much at all, and when she did, it was usually about Hennessy’s or Applejack. Everypony else just whispered their crap to one another when they thought Rarity wasn’t around. On the sole occasion a few fillies on a school outing had dared to recite a crude limerick about her current career situation, Rarity had shot back a volatile response regarding their respective futures as prostitutes and glue. That brought a chuckle from the white pony, she remembered how even their teacher had blushed at her freestyle vulgarity. Yet the former dressmaker couldn’t bring herself to correct Dash on even the littlest thing. The unassuming little Pegasus was befuddlingly invincible to her wrath.

Dash returned, carrying scissors and canvas. Draping the canvas around Rarity’s already blanketed form, she took position behind the soaked pony.

“Now you gotta help me, what normal is the one you want? Over in Las Pegasus, I hear they’re wearing it longer. But in Fillydelphia, it’s been kept short mostly this season.”

“Just, I dunno, take off a few inches and let me see.” Rarity said in disinterest.

Rainbow Dash began to snip away at Rarity’s wild mane. After everything she had gone through, Rarity still found pleasure in looking more presentable. She closed her eyes and listened to the rain pound against the windows. Five minutes passed, maybe it was ten, she didn’t care.

“How does this look?” Rarity opened her eyes. She was surprisingly sleepy for such an early hour. Her mane was considerably shorter and more orderly.

“Can you pull it off of my ears a little more?” Mane covered ears were simply uncomfortable.

“Yeah let me get that.” Dash replied.

Once more, Rarity closed her eyes and listened to the rhythmic splash of the rain. She looked up, the rain was still coming down, but she didn’t hear or feel Rainbow Dash behind her. She craned her neck, the colorful pony sat cross legged on a coach by the window, reading a book. She looked up.

“Oh hey, you’re awake!” Rarity didn’t recall falling asleep.

“What time is it?” She asked in confusion. Rainbow Dash leaned back to look into the kitchen.

“Uhhhh, quarter till nine.”

“Crap.” Rarity stood up. “I really should get going. How much do I owe you?”

“Just ten.” Dash tossed the book onto the table and rose to show her guest to the door. Rarity handed her a twenty.

“You deserve it. You do a professional job.” Rarity opened the door, the light from the house extended a few feet, forming a sort of precipice into the rainy darkness. Rarity hesitated and Dash spoke up.

“Stay here tonight, it’s nasty out there.” She invited.

This was one of the rare moments when Rarity didn’t spurn charity.

“Ok.” She replied as she shut the wooden door. “You’re stuck with me for the night.”

“Yay!” Dash clopped her hooves together. Rarity giggled.

“Been awhile since we’ve had a sleepover hasn’t it?”

“Sure has.” Dash laughed a little. The room fell silent.

Going back was hard, it never happened when Rarity expected it. Sometimes she would be on the street and see somepony walk by wearing an outfit she had made. Or other times she would start to walk toward Sugarcube Corner to get a treat for Opal. Once or twice in the first few days after the Blast, she had even dropped by Twilight’s tree uninvited for a cup of tea. There were days when she’d look out the window of the bakery at the blue sky and think.

“What happened?”

“Come on, I’ve got something to show you!” Dash tugged at her arm.

The pair walked into the kitchen, it was modest, a table, counter and two chairs. On the table sat a large sheet of plywood. On the sheet stood what looked like the game pieces of an extremely mundane board game. As Rarity walked closer she recognized the shapes, they were buildings. They were arranged in a sort of lopsided circle. They seemed familiar. Rarity realized it was a model of Ponyville.

“What do ya think?” Dash was beaming at her.

“Fascinating.” Rarity said, peering in at the tiny wooden streets. It was a rough model, nothing was painted and there were large gaps of town missing. Rainbow Dash answered her question before Rarity opened her mouth.

“Three weeks and no it’s not done yet. I’m still tracing proportions, it’s all memory.” She laughed. “All that flying over the town gave me a pretty good clue about the layout.”

Rarity smiled appropriately. She really didn’t know how Dash saw herself now that she had given up flight. Rainbow Dash answered her next question.

“Just felt like it, I had a lot of old two by fours laying around. Gives me something to do.” Rarity nodded appreciatively.

“Impressive.” She motioned to an empty lot. “I see you left off my bakery, have something against foreign businesses?” Dash laughed.

“No, it’s just that I haven’t seen much of the new stuff in town, that’s all.”

“You should drop by sometime, get a feel for the place.”

“I ought to, how’s it been over there?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

“Same old same old.” Rarity was unsure of how long it had been since Dash had visited the town. “Ah, AJ is making some cider, you know, the hard kind.” Dash looked on inquisitively. “And uh, Twilight is always busy, she and Spike spend a lot of time at Cantorlot.”

“Oh yeah, how is she doing?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Pretty good, pretty good. Got those wings and everything. She’s a little taller now, but it’s not like Celestia or Luna or anything. She said she’d have to be older to get to be their size.”

“Has she made any new laws or anything like that?” Dash was understandably interested in the young queen.

“Uh, not that I can think of. I think she passed some sanitation law to eliminate redundancy.” The pair shared a laugh over Twilight’s fanatical obsession with all things uninteresting. Rarity continued. “So yeah, she’s still way too smart and boring for anypony to want to get rid of her. Although she didn’t outlaw liquor, so you can imagine some ponies didn’t like that.”

“Really?!” Dash’s eyes widened. “Was there a riot?”

“Oh no, nothing like that, I’m pretty sure Ponyvillians wouldn’t riot during the apocalypse. But there were some grumblings.”

“Yeah, that’s how I remember it.” Rainbow Dash reminisced.

And so the night went on, with Rainbow Dash asking about how everypony was doing. Rarity found herself unsure on a good number of the current events in the town. There was apparently an ignorance that accompanied not giving a shit. Of course, Dash didn’t mind, she seemed to eat up the news and asked about how everypony was doing.

Rarity found herself wondering exactly why Dash had moved away if she was still interested in the Ponyville. Was she terrified of being in another accident? Could she not bear to be reminded of the new reality of post-Blast Equestria? Did she have an epiphany regarding the hermit lifestyle? Was she actually insane? Rarity had wondered before, but sitting now with the colorful pony, who seemed strangely interested in happenings of Ponyville, she became intensely curious. She decided to play it casual.

“So what’s new with you?” She asked nonchalantly. Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Not a lot. Been doing a little reading, just light stuff.” She motioned to the model. “That too and obviously cutting manes. Had to fix the old shack up a little bit as well.” She flashed her signature “nothing too difficult smile.” Rarity sighed a little inside. She had been hoping for something a little more dramatic. Unfortunately, Dash seemed fine. The Pegasus turned the question on Rarity.

“And how ‘bout you? How is Rarity?”

It took her a minute to come up with a sufficient answer.

“Well, pretty much same as usual. I bake bread, slice bread, and deliver bread. AJ and I hang out every now and then. I might take a trip out to Cloudsdale some time, depends on my work schedule.”

“Oh Cloudsdale, that’d be fun.” Dash said quietly. The conversation abated and the two sat silently. Unlike so many other ponies, Rarity didn’t find it difficult to leave a dead conversation.

“I’m probably gonna turn in tonight. I’ll just use the blankets by the fire.” She rose from the table and started for the front room.

“Oh, ok…goodnight then.” Came Rainbow Dash’s soft response.

Rarity collapsed onto the couch, she was asleep in a minute.

She awoke from the sun burning into her eyelids. Rarity rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. The sun had already risen and she had the sinking sensation that it was late in the morning. Venturing into the kitchen, she shot an apprehensive glance at the clock. 9:43. Damn, she needed to be at work soon. The door to Dash’s room creaked open and a very unkempt and tired looking Dash crept out.

“Hey.” Dash’s tone showed that she wasn’t a morning pony either. “You want something to eat?”

“No, I.” Rarity stopped here to yawn. “I need to head to work.”

It was too early in the day for Dash to attempt to force her guest to take something to eat on the way. And the two simply walked to the door.

“Well thanks for the cut and the stay.” Rarity said as she stepped into the sunlight.

“Yeah, thanks for the company!” Rainbow Dash leaned out of the doorway. “Come by any time!”

Rarity started for Ponyville. Her stomach rumbled, she’d buy something at the bakery. The grassy fields were pockmarked with warm puddles and before long Rarity was splattered with mud. She’d have to hose off before going into the bakery.

The baking heat of the sun was already heating the soaked ground, it wouldn’t be long before the water evaporated and Ponyville was blanketed in the thick invisible humidity of spring. Oh the joys of Equestria. She ran the rest of the way to the town, she needed to arrive early to hose off and then get something to eat. She was thoroughly exhausted upon reaching the bakery and her stomach tightened out of hunger. She breathlessly washed off the caked mud from her legs and flanks. The icy water disintegrated the last of the fog of sleepiness, it was time to work. She entered the bakery. It was quiet, and her wet hoofsteps clacked on the tile. Something gave her the feeling of apprehension, like she was about to step on a mine.

“Rarity.” Mr. Salukas voice came from behind the counter. His tone sounded like the click of the mine. She walked around the counter.

“Yeah?” She tried to sound as upbeat and innocent as possible. He was kneading some dough into a more malleable blob on the table.

“Where were you last night?” He asked without looking up. Her mouth went dry. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK! How had she forgotten?

“I just, forgot. I got done with delivering the crates to AJ, and.” She stopped. “I guess I forgot.”

He tossed the dough into a pile of flour, making a puff of white dust shoot into the air.

“It is fine. Applecrisp took your place.” He said passively.

“I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have forgotten. It won’t happen again.” She hated letting Mr. Salukas down. He actually seemed to like her and it maddened her when she fucked something up. She felt that he quietly assumed all Ponyvillians were airheaded morons and she loathed making herself look that one of them.

“Give Applecrisp a hoof with the pretzels, she is looking weak.” He said, kneading the dough. Oh no, poor Applecrisp had no doubt worked late into the night along with Mr. Salukas. Rarity began to sweat out of sheer shame, why the fuck had she forgotten about staying late? She entered the oven room of the bakery. It was hot as hell and the flour dust covering the floor swirled about as she walked inside. Applecrisp was sitting at the counter, knotting pretzels.

“Hey, sorry I ditched you guys last night.” Rarity did her best to act normally. The Apple pony looked up. She grunted and Rarity knew how fatigued she was. She took a seat next to the blue pony and began the frustrating process of pretzel knotting.

“What, uh, what were you guys doing last night?” Rarity hoped to God it wasn’t sourdough bread.

“Somepony jus’ had t’have four hundred hot cross buns made by this mornin’.” Applecrisp wiped some accumulated flour from her mouth.

“Damn, who the hell wants four hundred hot cross buns in the morning?” Rarity was pissed that some pony was inconsiderate enough to place a massive order that needed to be filled by daybreak. She wouldn’t have really minded, except she hated the thought of her coworkers slaving away at such an order when she had been sleeping. And it felt good to drop her embarrassment in favor of anger.

“Seriously, what shithead placed an order like that?” Applecrisp shrugged and placed another pretzel on the tray.

She turned to her work, tedious pretzels. Few things beyond sourdough and pancakes were as annoying as pretzels. They were unimaginably slow to produce, as hooves were not particularly suited to the task of minute folding. Rarity herself used her horn, but the lack of sewing seemed to have dulled her precision. It took a skilled earth pony thirty seconds to fold a pretzel correctly, Rarity averaged about twenty seconds. She looked up at the container of dough strings sitting in front of her, with a little math, she had an hour of work ahead of her. She sighed and looked over at Applecrisp.

“Go home, I can finish these. Get some sleep and come back tomorrow.” Applecrisp tossed her last pretzel onto the tray and rose. The Apple pony put up no refusal and Rarity now knew that she was seriously exhausted. The door shut softly behind her and Rarity was alone.

It was actually rather peaceful in the oven room, if uncomfortably hot. The soft glow of the oven cast a yellowish sheet over the room. The soft crackle of the fire and the occasional collapse of coals were the only noises easily audible. As a whole, the room made Rarity feel as if she were outside of time. It was a cozy sort of feeling, and despite the heat, she typically enjoyed working in the oven room. The minutes passed quickly, and she had almost finished the tying of the pretzels when Mr. Salukas broke her peace. He called through the door.

“Rarity, lend me a hoof with this order!” Rarity tossed an unfinished pretzel onto the table and stood up. A sharp pain in her stomach reminded her that she had not eaten today. She’d get something after she finished the order.

Mr. Salukas stood outside, with him was an eyesearingly yellow pony.

“Rarity, this is Sugarcube, she’ll tell you where to load the buns.” She was about Pinkie’s size and had a predictable sugar cube Cutie Mark. Mr. Salukas seemed content with their introduction and returned to the counter to serve another customer.

“OK SO! I just need you to help me with allllllll these buns!” Sugarcube wore an oversized smiled and bounced a little when she talked; she was one of those ponies. Rarity said nothing and looked for the stack of crates.

“They’re riiiiiiiiiiiiight over there!” Sugarcube motioned to the corner. Rarity had never seen four hundred hot cross buns worth of crates, it was enough to make her drop her shoulders a few inches.

“If we start now, we can be done in no time!” The yellow mare bubbled. Sugarcube was making the painful process of heavy lifting on an empty stomach into something beyond agonizing. Wordlessly, Rarity shouldered a crate and trudged outside. Sure fucking enough, it was humid as shit outside and the unfed and dehydrated unicorn was not surprised. A broad cart sat empty, and Rarity guessed that was where the crates were headed.

“Just push it waaaaaaaaaaay to the back! That way, we can get closer to the front as we go!” Sugarcube tossed her a crate, and then ventured back inside for another. If there was a worse fate than loading a shit ton of crates while starving, it was doing so with an insufferably chipper pony who created a system of loading that forced one to stand outside in the hotbox of humidity for the duration of the job. The bouncy yellow pony shot back out with another crate.

“Here ya go!” She lobbed the clumsy wooden cube to Rarity. “Wait right here while I get another one!”

At this rate, no, fuck it, no calculations, that would only make things worse. Sugarcube sped back and forth, shuttling the order to Rarity. If she kept her pace up, this might not be such a horrid job.

But of fucking course, the little gnat had to snag on something. The something turned out to be Spike. He ventured inside the bakery for some breadstuffs no doubt and ended up being caught by Sugarcube, who thought he was the most adorable royal dragon she’d ever seen. She began asking him questions about life as a royal cleric, if there was a royal harem, and if he had ever been poisoned by assassins. Rarity peered through the grimy window into the shop, Spike was smiling and nodding a lot, he evidently hadn’t seen her outside. She collapsed on one of the three loaded crates and stared hopelessly at the sky.

Six months ago, she wouldn’t have been sitting here breaking her back for a mindless idiot like the one now delaying her work. Nope, Rarity would have most certainly been tossing together a wondrous display of beauty and refinement in the guise of a dress. It would be gorgeous no doubt, not too grand like those shitty ones from Cloudsdale that everypony assumed were beautiful. Of course, Rarity had never really done it for the money, her prices had betrayed that fact. She ran a hoof over her face, she was doing the mental ramble again. She looked up, Spike was still inside chatting away with Sugarcube. Rarity looked for a pebble to throw at the window to alert the dragon to her sweating presence. Thankfully, he happened to glance up and see her. A momentary flash of surprise in his usually laid back countenance assured Rarity that he would do everything in his power to leave as soon as possible.

Only he didn’t, and for the next five minutes, Rarity heated and sweated as Spike shifted his satchel of bread back and forth during his conversation with Sugarcube. The sun shined down on the storm soaked ground and the steam rose in faint clouds. The humidity was agonizing, every breath seemed to come wrapped in invisible cotton. Rarity felt an extremely uncomfortable bead of sweat roll down her neck, she slapped at it. She stood motionless in the cart, growing more and more frustrated with each passing second. Some ponies stopped to watch the motionless and fuming Rarity with a mixture of caution and uncertainty. Finally, Spike seemed to have enough of Sugarcube and sauntered outside.

“Hey Rarity!” He approached the cart with a casual smile.

“Hey Spike, sorry, I can’t talk. I have to load some crates here. Sorta got held up for awhile there.” Her words were frozen in the only ice in Ponyville. Sugarcube bounced outside with another crate. She tossed it to Rarity. The white unicorn dropped it in the cart and did not take her eyes off of Spike.

“Yeah, uh, just, uh, wanted to make sure you were still coming tonight.” He said uneasily at her stony demeanor.

“Yep.”

“Ok, so, good. I’ll see you then.” He stepped back and gave her an unsure smile. She turned to Sugarcube.

“Anything else besides the buns?” Rarity asked politely. Spike waited for an instant, then turned and strolled away. The only downside to ignoring Spike was that Rarity had to listen to the yellow pony’s dumbass response.

“Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm, nope! I think these are enough!” She shot back inside and soon lobbed Rarity another crate.

It took the pair twenty minutes to finish the job, even at Sugarcube’s arrhythmia inducing pace. By the time they had finished, Rarity looked like a true workhorse. Sweat streaked down her body, and her tongue dangled from her mouth like an executed criminal. Sugarcube was elated, which made her job that much less rewarding.

“Oh thank you! I couldn’t have done this without you!” She pressed a few bits into Rarity’s hoof. “Here ya go!” Rarity nodded and started for the entrance to the bakery. Sugarcube jumped behind the halter of the cart and wheeled it down the street. Rarity felt terrible, yet oddly, she didn’t seem to be out of breath. Her muscles were weak, and she was thirsty as hell. The air seemed quieter now, like she was underwater. She reached the door and pulled it open, a puff of hot dusty air greeted her. Rarity walked around the counter toward the sink, Mr. Salukas looked up and grunted to her.

“I” She started to ask about buying something to eat. Then the room seemed to drift away from her, and the noise of the crackling fire faded into the distance. She swallowed, her legs deadened and she looked toward Mr. Salukas.

She was looking upward. She was looking upward toward Mr. Salukas. He was cradling her head and repeating her name.

“Eyeah, what’s.” She swallowed hard. She felt sick and her body was covered in cold sweat. “What’s going on?”

He peered intently into her eyes.

“You had a little fall. Is the heat working you?” It took her a moment to fight off the nausea that had descended on her.

“Eyeah.” She smacked her lips, they were thick and dry. “I haven’t eaten anything or had anything to drink today either.”

He laughed at this, which would have probably annoyed Rarity had she not been so nauseous.

“Well, let me get you some water.” He said between chuckles. He set her, not particularly gently, back on the floor and stood to get some water.

“Now why would little Rarity go on a fast on today of all days?” He mused with more than a touch of mirth as he poured a glass of water for her.

“I dunno.” She didn’t care to explain, the room was still partially distant and she was dizzy even as she lay on the cold tile floor. She looked to her left, beneath the counter, dust bunnies and cobwebs had collected under the rusty metal shelf. There was a suitcase somepony had shoved under there years ago and a few flour mites skittered about beneath the cover of darkness. She wanted up. Rarity leaned carefully forward, then felt another rush of blood to her head and fell back down. Mr. Salukas knelt and held a cup of water to her mouth.

“Drink.” He said calmly. There was a mismatch of rate of pouring and rate of swallowing, and she coughed, splashing water over both herself and the stallion.

“Ah fuck.” She said weakly. He laughed and apologized.

“I am sorry Rarity. I am no doctor.” He stood and tossed the cup into the sink. “But I do know that it is unwise to fast on workday.” She didn’t reply, but instead focused on collecting herself to rise. He looked down at her. “Just give yourself some time, you will come around.” He returned to glazing doughnuts. It was bizarre, laying collapsed on the floor while her boss went about his business. That was Mr. Salukas though, only concerned with immediate and serious danger. Rarity took a few deep breaths, then pressed herself upward. The blood returned to her head, and she struggled to remain upright. The room seemed to tilt and sway beneath her. She waited for a few minutes in this position, then slowly rose to her hooves. She was still very dizzy, and she gripped the counter tightly. Sonny placed a tray of doughnuts in the oven and started a new batch.

“I think I should get something to eat.” She said shakily. Mr. Salukas nodded and handed her a tin cup filled with soggy rye bread.

“Drink this. If you eat anything, you’ll vomit.” He went back to his work.

For a baker, Mr. Salukas had a surprisingly vast knowledge of hunger related fainting; Rarity wondered if this was a common occurance in his country. She lifted the glass with her horn, the light from the window shone into the mixture, illuminating the waterlogged particles of bread. The beverage fit the description of disgusting. She took a deep breath and sipped it. The soaking bread slipped down her throat and she choked a little.

“Keep drinking, it will give you some strength.” He said evenly. She fought the disgusting food/drink hybrid down. Surprisingly, it sat well with her, even calming her nausea a little. She was unsure of what to do next. She felt better, but there was still a slight tilt to the room. Mr. Salukas shoved the tray of doughnuts into the display and looked at her.

“Did you finish the pretzels?” He asked.

“Uh, almost, I can get those done in a minute.” She walked cautiously to the oven room and sat down. The warm air seemed to balance the cold clammy feeling the faint had brought on. She was trembling ever so lightly, which drew out the process of folding the last few pretzels. Finally, she was done, and she gave the tray a good shove into the oven. She returned to her boss, who was now munching on some grain over his lunch break.

“Here you go.” She paused, that didn’t sound right. “I mean, I got it done.” She was paranoid of passing out again and was not thinking clearly. He looked at her, the bump of his tongue sliding around his cheek. For a few seconds, the workhorse summed up his sole employee.

“Go home Rarity, take the day off. Ana can cover for you.” He said after a minute. Her heart beat a little faster and she felt dizzy again. She would NOT take a sick day.

“Oh no, just give me a few minutes that’s all.”

Ana, or Mrs. Salukas, was not on the best of terms with Rarity. Her general attitude toward Rarity was that of reserved disapproval. She was wary of the white pony’s alone time in the grain room and she made note of every badly shaped pastry that came from Rarity’s hooves. It was no secret, she was a complete bitch. Rarity rued every instance she came into the shop, which was thankfully rare. Most of the time Ana remained at home doing who knows what. Maybe baking fillies into pies or something, no, it would be cheaper to do that at the bakery.

The only pony cheaper than Mr. Salukas was his wife, and dear God was she cheap. No discarded pie crusts, no egg yolks thrown away, no used Kleenex not thrown into the furnace. Rarity hated the micromanaging, penny-pinching, untrusting hag that was Mrs. Salukas, and now, that hag would have to cover for her.

“No, there is no sense in keeping you around to fall again and crack a bone. Come back tomorrow morning, but eat something first.” Sonny said, standing and returning to work. That last part was probably a joke, but Rarity feared he wasn’t actually sure she’d remember to eat on her own. She thought to protest further, then decided against it, she’d fucked up enough things today.

Outside it was somehow even more humid than before. She felt the instant clutches of the lifedraining heat as the door shut behind her. The time was 12:37 and Rarity had nowhere to go. She stood in front of the bakery for a moment, trying to think of a plan to escape the heat. Unfortunately, there was nothing to do in Ponyville. It would be a few hours before she could drop by Twilight’s. She surveyed her surroundings. Across the street sat the Straw Purchase, a quaint diner frequented by older ponies. She had never been there, but it sounded fine enough. She walked across the street and entered the building.

Inside, it was menagerie of dim lights and old stuff. The Straw Purchase was just a giant open dining area filled with tables. A small bar ran along one wall and the door to the kitchen hid behind the counter. The walls were plastered with posters hailing bygone eras of Equestria. There were those old shitty desks that she always saw in pictures of 1920s Manehatten, they had been repurposed into tables. Hanging from the ceiling were gaudy (as a former fashion consultant, Rarity knew gaudy) chandeliers. From her limited knowledge of 40s Equestria, Rarity concluded that the decorative lights weren’t even popular in their day. She snickered to herself, but if they were cheap and from that time period then they were just fine for a cheap Ponyville restaurant. She took a seat at the saloon-like bar and awaited service. Sitting next to her was an old grey stallion, he was leisurely perusing the afternoon paper. In a moment, a black stallion emerged from the kitchen. He wore an older and not overly formal suit.

“May I serve you?” Rarity was a little impressed, he had definitely practiced his fancy accent (few ponies were even aware of such an accent).

“Yeah, get me a water and a menu.” She replied flatly. He laughed, a convivial laugh, then gestured upward.

“If the madam would care to look upward, we have displayed our entire menu on the boards above.” Sure enough, in 30s or maybe 40s fashion, the entire menu was displayed on ornate wooden boards above the bar.

Rarity scanned the offerings. Jello, marshmallow casserole, a hell of a lot of Kool-Aid drinks, grilled cheese on what Rarity knew would be the whitest bread in existence and something called Blockade Mutton. She had to give it to the owners; they certainly strove for a realistic experience. If nothing else this place was fun, and fun didn’t come by Rarity very often. In a minute, the waiter returned with her water.

“Has the madam reached a decision?” He asked formally.

She decided to play along.

“Yes, although I haven’t quite decided between the pineapple Spam fry or the fried oats TV dinner. Could you recommend me?” He seemed to enjoy her period correct response.

“Certainly! The Spam fry is of course a wonderful dish, but more suited to a dinner gala. Now the TV dinner is a favorite of mine. You have crisp fried oats, sugar snap peas, mashed potatoes and a brownie all on your table in less than ninety seconds.” He spoke with a new flourish that suggested he had yearned for a customer that wanted more than typical sugary fare or dry straw. Rarity took a moment to ponder her options. The stallion, who had since noticed the two and their game, leaned over and motioned to the far board.

“If I can advise the lady, the Vegemite glaze over baked hay is a swell meal. Our boys overseas ask for it in care packages.”

Rarity paused to weigh this new player, either he had descended into dementia and actually supposed this to be 1940, or he too wanted to join their antics. What the hell, in either case, Rarity got to play up a little more. She cocked her head like some fickle city pony and sat silently for a moment.

“Yes, give me the Vegemite hay, and bring me a tonic as well.” She turned to the stallion. “This heat has me exhausted.” He smiled.

“Humidity is something fierce isn’t it?”

“Why of course! I can’t go down the street without losing my mane’s luster. Simply disgraceful.” She tossed her mane.

“You look as if you just walked out of Sears salon.” She blushed naturally.

“Well, as if I didn’t have enough to worry about, my salon, the ABC, has raised their prices again. As if paying ninety cents for dandelions wasn’t enough.” He shrugged.

“War’s on. Gotta pay for it somehow.”

“That still doesn’t give our businesses the right to extort us. I said to my friend Dash, I said ‘I’ll go without many things to win this war, but a basic grooming isn’t one of them.’”

He laughed here.

“I’ve heard tales of farm ponies cutting their manes off entirely.” He offered. She shook her head.

“Not from this mare. I sell cosmetics, from Garnder’s off of third, and I wouldn’t blame a single customer for not buying anything from a maneless salespony.”

“Oh Gardner’s, you must know Myra, the daytime manager?”

“Well I did, but she got pink-slipped a week ago. It was discovered she was a communist.”

The waiter returned with her food. He slid the steaming plate of Vegemite covered hay before her. She had no idea if the black syrupy substance covering her hay was even edible, but she stayed in character.

“Anything else I can get the madam?” He asked.

“Not in the least, thank you.” She replied courteously. The waiter bowed and returned to the kitchen.

Rarity took a bite of the hay, it tasted salty and bitter. Not disgusting per say, but strange as hell. After five or so bites she decided not to send it back for a more palatable dish.

The two diners continued to chat. The stallion’s name was Ralph, he worked in a shell factory, he was 4F for enlisting on account of his asthma, but he had an older brother with the 51st Pegasus division. He followed the First Equestrian War closely and made sure to listen to all the Cantorlot broadcasts. The conversation shifted to fascism, and the threat it posed to the country. He informed her that suffrage was fascism under another name. Rarity replied that mares and fillies had existed for hundreds of years in their natural roles and that the idea of living like a stallion didn’t appeal to her. They connected on many issues, the problem with the government. He argued about the government’s over-involvement in the restructuring of Yanhooyer, she said the government was too big. He brought up the issue of what to do after the eventual defeat of the fascists; Rarity thought that they should rebuild the country. Ralph made the point that excessive taxes on the rich were counter-productive to a stagnant economy, and Rarity asserted that ponies should work to earn their way. In a matter of minutes, the two had traveled back to 1944 Equestria, complete with their proper phrases and thinking.

“You’re a smart dame Rarity.” Ralph said after a few minutes of talking. Rarity knew she had talked too much, and she looked away in embarrassment.

“I suppose you think me a little chipmunk.” She said quietly.

“No, no, you really have a great head.” He said adamantly.

“I know you’re just saying that. My mother tells me that I talk far too much for a silly little mare.”

“Well, I would never consider contradicting your mother, bless her heart. But I think you’re a smart little filly in any case.” She blushed and looked at her empty plate. The two sat in silence for a time. The restaurant was empty save for them. It was a near perfect picture of a passing romance.

“That’s sweet of you. But I must get back home, my mother will worry.” Tossing a few coins onto the bar, she abruptly slid off of the seat and started for the door. Rarity paused and looked off into the forested distance.

“It was nice meeting you Ralph.” She tossed her tail at this. Then, with no more care than a rich city mare could hold, Rarity strolled out the door. Behind her, she made out Ralph telling the waiter.

“That was a real dame.”

It was still hot as ever outside, but Rarity felt much better after her meal. She was a little shaky after her jaunt with the old stallion. What a bizarre little performance! She would have never done something like that six months ago, she probably would have run from the diner in terror once she realized she was being hit on by an older stallion. But Rarity had gotten a lot less squeamish as of late and there weren’t a lot of borders she cared about crossing. Fun was too rare a commodity to restrict with boundaries.

She looked up at the looming clock tower, 1:30. She still had the afternoon to pass. For Rarity, it was a struggle to kill time. After so many years of nine hour workdays, she was at a loss for extended recreation. She visited a few stores, bought a few things she didn’t need, and then walked home.

Her bed, and everything around it, was soaked with rain. She sighed and lay her sheets across the two oversize crates beside her bed. Those ten foot by five foot containers held everything she owned, the rest she had sold as her business bled out. She unlocked one and peered inside, everything was in order. The few dresses she had kept, some mannequins, along with her little collection of exotic bath salts, sat dry and unharmed by the rain. She slammed the crate shut and continued to wring out her blankets. That took her all of five minutes and again she sat idle. How did those other ponies maintain that infuriating lackadaisical quality so naturally? She could go back to the bakery, tell Mr. Salukas she felt better. No, Ana was there and she’d get trampled no doubt.

What did mindless, chore-less ponies do with their free time? Well, she’d seen Pinkie Pie stare at clouds. Rarity climbed onto a crate and looked up at the sky. White, puffy, and literally formless, the clouds she saw drifted past at a maddeningly slow pace.

“Well, I guess that one looks like, well, an egg of sorts. I don’t know. Oh, that one looks like a train.” How was this fun? “Uh, that one looks like a chair. That one, a rock maybe? Actually, I guess that’s not fair because rocks can be any shape technically.” It was a stupid game, and she gave up and just stared at the sky. Some Pegasi breezed by, on their way to deliver weather. Rarity hopped to the ground and began rummaging through her crates for something to do. The best she got was a musty book of dye fade periods, but it was enough. For several hours, Rarity studied the various effects of 20% humidity and directly sunlight on indigo. Finally, it was six o clock, and she made her way toward Twilight’s home.

The heat of the day had cooled, and staying in the shade was no longer imperative. Rarity passed a few ponies walking home from work, she didn’t return their polite smiles. Ponyville didn’t deserve a smile from her. She made sure to walk an inefficient path that lead in a pointless circle around a block of buildings. The trip was a few minutes longer, but she stayed away from Sugarcube Corner.

Reaching the great tree, Rarity made sure her mane was in order before approaching the dwelling. She paused in front of the door; one didn’t just pop by Alicorn Twilight Sparkle’s house for a little visit. Collecting herself, she knocked firmly on the door, and waited, and waited. The thick metal had probably obscured the noise. She pounded against the door. She hoped Twilight knew she was coming. Had she not properly identified herself? She knocked a bit softer this time.

“Hey! I’ll be right there!” Twilight’s laughing voice came from behind her. Rarity turned, Twilight dismounted her chariot, beside her stood two royal guards. It had been awhile since Rarity had seen Twilight. She had forgotten how large those wings looked. Atop Twilight’s head was the crown. Gold, jagged and probably heavy, it stood more like a dunce cap than anything. The queen stepped from her chariot and Rarity bowed to the Alicorn.

“Oh hey, no, please don’t. It makes me feel uncomfortable.” Twilight gave her an embarrassed smile. Twilight Sparkle, she was a young magic student, irrepressibly self-conscious, and now leading a nation of ponies and horses. She was the queen, not the princess, not the minister, she was the queen. The title was fought by many, including Twilight. But the citizens of Equestria had long been irked by serving a princess instead of a rightful queen, so young Twilight Sparkle earned the title of High Queen of Equestria.

She approached Rarity, flanked by her guards. Twilight was blushing, a lot.

“Heh, so, this is Maximus.” She motioned to one. “And this is Praetorian. They pretty much follow me around most places.” Rarity looked up at the stern faced soldiers. They looked like two white mountains, hiding a miniscule patch of purple grass between them. It must be unbearably uncomfortable for Twilight to be between those silent stallions all the time.

“Come in come in! I hope you brought your glasses because we’ve got some tough reading to do!” Twilight hid her self-consciousness as best she could and tried to be a good hostess. She flipped out a key and unlocked the door.

“I’m so sorry Spike didn’t let you in, he’s probably drowned in papers somewhere.” Rarity laughed at this, he probably was drowned in papers. Inside was the same mess of papers it was before, but Rarity could see a few organized piles and stacks developing in corners and on the table. Twilight’s guards dispersed, apparently the likelihood of assassination decreased significantly when the queen was in her home. The Alicorn flopped down on a couch in the most undignified manner possible. She sighed heavily and set her crown down on the credenza.

“I spent three hours just trying to get the head of security to understand that descendants of fascist sympathizers aren’t necessarily flight risks. Then I had to attend a meeting with the heads of the various utility Unions in Cantorlot. Then I had lunch with the city manager, who told me that we have an issue with unaccounted spending in virtually all departments. I got halfway here, then remembered I had to bring the papers for tonight.” The frazzled Alicorn took a deep breath and looked at Rarity. “If somepony ever offers you the job of queen, don’t take it.”

“Ha, I’m pretty sure that when somepony offers me the position of queen, we’ve pretty much exhausted all other options.” Rarity said with a laugh. Twilight giggled.

“Oh come on! You would make a good queen! I think your age would help you make some of those ambiguous decisions!”

“First thing a queen ought to know is never make a comment about a pony’s age.” Rarity said with a chuckle.

“Guess I have a lot to learn then. In fact do you-?” Twilight was interrupted by Maximus, or maybe it was Praetorian.

“Sorry your majesty, but your secretary is passed out in your room. I thought you might like to know.” The soldier relayed. Something in his entirely flat delivery was irrepressibly hilarious and Rarity couldn’t contain herself. She snickered for a moment, and then broke out into full laughter. It was horrendously embarrassing, but the scene of a royal guard advising Queen Twilight on her unconscious secretary was unbelievably comical. Rarity sank to her knees and attempted to control herself. She looked up at the guard, who was still standing next to the couch with the expression of solemn authority. Rarity doubled over again, it was too funny.

“God, do they talk like that all of the time?” She asked as she suppressed her giggles as best she could. Twilight nodded.

“That’s the way of the royal guards, all business I guess.” She laughed uneasily and looked up at the stallion, who didn’t seem to notice. Rarity caught her breath.

“Heh, well, I like it.” After a moment, Praetorian, or what’s-his-face shuffled off to the kitchen. Twilight rose and started for her room.

“Why don’t we go see what brought down the little bookkeeper?” She suggested. The two walked the flight of stairs to her loft. Upon swinging wide the door to the room, Rarity and Twilight were introduced to hundreds of papers splashed across the floor of the bedroom. Spike was slumped across the desk, his face partially obscured by a file folder. The pair walked across the sheet-strewn floor to the desk where the dragon sat softly snoring.

“I think we should draw something on him, maybe a mustache or something.” Rarity whispered. Twilight gave Rarity a sly grin.

“Who needs to draw anything?” There was a quiet puff of magic and a snowy white mustache was bestowed upon Spike’s scaled face. The sleeping dragon, apparently roused by the hairy sensation, yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“What? What’s going on?” He asked in a sleepy daze. The two ponies held back their mirth. Spike yawned again and felt his face.

“What?” He walked over to the mirror by the bed and gazed at himself. “Oh come on!”

The girls doubled over in a fit of giggles.

“You know, I’m sure your constituents would love to see what their newly elected queen does for fun.” He said, attempting to act annoyed.

“Rarity made me do it. It’s your fault for falling asleep when she’s around.” Twilight said between giggles. “Besides, what in the world were you doing up here anyway?”

“Well.” Spike rubbed his mustache. “I knew that annual report on the Nightmare Moon variables was giving you a headache. So I thought I’d finish it myself and have it neatly on your desk when you got back from Cantorlot.” He looked around at the mess. “Surprise!”

“Aw, thank you Spike, I’m sure we can get it done in an hour or two!” Twilight said optimistically.

“Hey hey! Better yet, you could show me those illegible ledgers and save the cleric work for yourselves.” Rarity chimed in.

“Oh yeah, I left those in the chariot.” Twilight turned and started for the door.

“Let me come with, I want to see the inside of that thing.” Rarity said eagerly.

The chariot was grand, grand on a scale that Rarity seldom beheld in the hick town of Ponyville. The sides were of course gold, but there was a breathtaking inlay of symbols and gems along the inside that she had never seen before. Rune-like words trickled through the interior of the vehicle and even onto the floor. She ran a hoof over the beautiful surface.

“What are all of those words?” She asked Twilight.

“Oh, mostly arcane magic. A few are some awesome spells, but most are just poems and stuff.” Rarity gazed at the exotic symbols. She had never realized how much magic Celestia had known.

“Incredible.” She breathed.

“Ha, well, spend a few hundred trips in it and it’ll probably get old for you.” Twilight lifted an armful of papers out of the front seat. “Here’s what I brought. Hope you like coffee, this could be a long night.”

Rarity surveyed the ledgers, it wouldn’t be so bad if it took a while, after all, Twilight and Spike were fun. She stared at the stack, that was still fuckton of papers.

“Ah, all of those?” She asked in uncertainty.

“Yep.” Replied Twilight with a grin. “Isn’t royal business fun?” Rarity rose out of the chariot.

“Yes, well, why don’t we start on them then?” She said apprehensively. They returned to the kitchen table. Spike was laying out some stationary.

Twilight dumped the ledgers down on the table, the stack made an unsettlingly loud thump.

“Ok, so, most of these were written by the Director of Pegasi affairs. He’s old and, honestly, I think he likes messing with me with his terrible cursive.” Twilight shoved a sheet of figures to Rarity. “Go.” Rarity studied the paper. The words were twisted like barbed wire.

“Fourteen thousand, in the column of medical expenses. Forty five thousand in the column of training expenses.” She looked up. Both Twilight and Spike had copied the information down on separate papers. “Didn’t know you could write that fast Twi.” Rarity said, impressed by the young queen.

“Yeah, shorthoof is a prereq for queenship.” Twilight replied with a smile. Rarity laughed and continued.

“Ok, so, thirty thousand for travel expenses. And the final note is that he intends to request additional funding for what looks like.” She squinted at the painfully illegible words. “Additional expenses.” She said slowly. Spike and Twilight compared papers while Rarity took a sip of coffee. Things had better not be this slow the whole time. She lifted another paper. Another column of expenses, again the same shitty writing.

“Ninety five thousand for legal aid. One hundred fifty two thousand for court settlements.” She read the list, lifted another, read that one, than picked up another. It was actually more boring than she had pictured in her mind. She had hoped that Twilight and Spike would chat with her during their work; but the two were surprisingly focused on copying the information. After three more pages without conversation, Rarity decided to take matters into her own hooves. “Forty two thousand for sexual harassment settlements, twenty five thousand for sexual training programs, four hundred bits for prostitute fees.” Spike looked up.

“Wait, what?”

“Rarity, did he actually write that?” Twilight held an amusing expression of perfect amazement. Rarity began to laugh.

“Of course not! Did you think he would itemize prostitutes?” She tittered. “I’m pretty sure that would go under the ‘additional expenses’ column.” She looked at the pair. Neither was laughing. Twilight looked seriously frustrated and Spike looked away.

“We’re gonna need to re-do this page now.” Twilight said in irritation.

“Exactly where did your joke begin? Were sexual training expenses legitimate?” Spike asked innocently. Rarity could hardly believe it, what the hell had changed in them? They were Spike and Twilight, she had known them for years. Yet now they were all business? Couldn’t they have some fun? A chill settled on Rarity, they were royalty, they had royal business, and she had just made fun of that. She had just made a joke to the Queen of Equestria.

“Haha, yeah, all of that was just a joke. ‘Cept for the sexual harassment part.” She cleared her throat and started on another page. Uncomfortable, sorely embarrassed, and trying to act more professional, Rarity spoke in her clearest monotone.

“One million bits, this is an optimistic projection. The risk of additional security or medical expenses is ever-present. The director would like to remind the queen of the historical significance the Pegasi Flight Awareness Program has held.” She recited. “This, um, this looks like the last page of this ledger.” She gently lay the paper down on the stack and squared the edges. Both Spike and Twilight completed their stacks and dropped them into a cardboard box by the table. Rarity took another sip of the bitter coffee. “What would you like to start on now?” She inquired softly. The Alicorn took a moment to decide between two ledgers.

“Let’s do expense projections for waste management for the fiscal year, and then do the Gradation Report.”

“Ok then!” Rarity started dictating anew.

Unfortunately, the shock of her poorly received joke soon wore off, and she was again lost in the doldrums of legal transcription. It was rote work, the writing wasn’t the worst she’d seen, and she struggled to find an outlet for the 90% of her mind not occupied in reading.

Could she look about the room and guess their decorator? No, she still had to read. What about the table? She couldn’t look that over, but she could feel its underside. Her hooves slid along the cold marble surface. It was slick and free of burrs, she silently rapped her hooves against it to see if it was hollow. It was not, a feature very uncommon for marble tables. How much had this cost she wondered? She made a guesstimate, which seemed a little high for a table.

“Hang on, are you sure?” Spike was now comparing his paper to Twilight’s. “Twelve thousand bits seems awfully low for two years of water.” Oh no, had that guesstimate been aloud? She pretended to study the ledger.

“Oh, no, my apologies. That is one hundred and fifty thousand.” She swallowed unexpectedly. “I’m sorry, I mistook a few letters, er, numbers.” She said nervously. Twilight just sighed and told her to start over. Rarity sweat a little bit now, she’d screwed up twice, and she didn’t want to look like she was too immature to work on official business. She double-checked the rest of the pages as she went. “Finally, the notion that these figures are in any way concrete statistics is incorrect. The reality is, there are multiple variables that cannot be anticipated. For this reason, an additional three million bits for unknown costs is strongly advised to avoid any potential closings of the Waste Management department.” She placed her hooves in her lap. Rarity started to say she was ready for the next ledger, but Twilight cut her off.

“Well, at least they’ll come out and say it.” The Alicorn ran a hoof over her face. “You ever try to finance a country Rarity?” She asked tiredly. “It’ll make you lose trust in everypony.” She looked over the scattered reports and ledgers and her mouth fell into a frown. “Every program needs money; at least, that’s what they say.” Her voice was a sigh. “Let’s take a break. I need to ask Maximus something.” She pushed her chair away from the table and walked off to find the guard.

Spike hopped down from his chair and sat on the table next to Rarity.

“Sorry about, it’s just that we’re always trying to get stuff done.” He said gently.

“Yeah, I guess I missed that.” She was stupid for not realizing how childish it was to make a joke during national business.

“Hey, uh, what happened this afternoon?” He asked after a moment. She had forgotten about that.

“Ah, yeah, just got a little hot you know? I mean, Sugarcube was talking to you, and I got sick of waiting I guess. Sorry about that, you know how I hate those kinds of ponies.” She explained in embarrassment.

“Oh.” There was a silence. Rarity chewed her lip. Spike looked around the soundless room. “I love it when it gets this quiet.” He said. “Sometimes I just sit and try and hear stuff outside.”

“Yeah, it gets pretty quiet out in the field a lot of nights. Sometimes I wish I could sit in night like that forever.” She agreed. He smiled and played with his claws.

“That would be awesome.” He said in almost a whisper. Rarity gazed at him. Spike might have gotten bigger, but in many ways he still seemed awfully young to be secretary to the queen.

“Spike, how is being secretary? I mean, seriously, what is it like?” She asked. He twisted his mouth around and sat in thought for a few seconds.

“I dunno, I mean, ok. I’ve done 9/10ths of this stuff before, back when Twilight and I were sending letters to Celestia. It’s a ton more work, and I don’t see my friends as much anymore.” He looked at her. The dragon had an uncrushable smile. “But a good portion of the stress is just catching up. Once that’s done, things’ll get a lot easier. Twilight said we’ll even take a trip to Cloudsdale once we get settled.”

“Oh Cloudsdale, I’m thinking of taking a trip there.” Rarity said. “They built a reactor which fuses the rainbows, it’s supposed to be pretty breathtaking.”

“We should go together.” He suggested.

“We should.” She agreed. The room returned to silence and the two waited for Twilight’s return. In a few minutes, the purple Alicorn returned from downstairs.

“Geez it’s quiet up here. What are you two doing?” She asked.

“Oh nothing, we were just listening to the outside.” Spike replied.

“Ha, with Rarity I never know. I was a little worried you two had run off to do some mischief.” She teased. Twilight wasn’t still mad. Rarity felt relieved, which loosened her up.

“Haha no, I was thinking about clearing out your fridge however.” She joked.

“Psh, go for it.” Twilight said, pouring herself more coffee. “See if you can find any yogurt.”

“And diamonds, check for those.” Spike called as Rarity pulled open the stainless steel doors. Already beginning to laugh, Rarity called back.

“Pretty sure those wouldn’t-” They were.

About fifteen or so brilliant cut diamonds sat in a gold (leaf or solid Rarity didn’t know) crisper beneath the pony food. Carefully sliding one out of its gilded enclosure, Rarity studied one of the diamonds in the light. The light danced off of the rare jewel as she turned it over. “Magnificent.” She breathed. The diamond was icy, beautiful, and probably delicious. “Spike, you eat like a prince.” She said in awe.

“Hear that Spike? A prince, they clean up after dinner.” Twilight poked.

“Oh sorry, I can’t do that, I have to finish the Nightmare Moon report.” He shot back. Tossing a few diamonds onto a plate, which promptly chipped, Rarity continued to search for suitable food.

“Twilight, you eat healthy, good for you.” She commended while trying to find something she could stomach. Plain yogurt, some organic grass, a little sprig of greens, milk, it was better than nothing. She carefully brought over everyone’s food. Spike took a splintering bite of a diamond and slipped into carbon induced bliss. The girls giggled and Rarity chewed on some hay.

“It’s good to see you Rarity. Haven’t seen you around much. Of course, I haven’t been around much either.” Twilight said as she slurped some yogurt.

“Yeah, I’ve been working at the bakery. Not much going on there, just me and Applecrisp.” Rarity said with a shrug.

“Don’t think I know her. She’s an Apple I take it?”

“Yeah, Applejack’s cousin, one of them at least. She left Hayseed Swamps and moved here about a month ago. She lives over near the windmill I think.” Twilight was confused.

“She…doesn’t live with Applejack?” Rarity frowned, she needed to answer Twilight without sounding like a gossip.

“Nope.” Rarity said casually. Of course curious Twilight Sparkle needed to know more.

“Why not? The Applejack I know won’t let any relatives within a hundred miles sleep anywhere but at her house.”

“Yeah, she, she uh, had a falling out with Applecrisp. They don’t spend a lot time together.” Rarity understated. Thankfully the young queen understood that asking more questions would be entering into uncomfortable territory. She instead turned to her secretary.

“Spike.” The dragon was still in a dream-like trance “Spiiiiiiike, are you going to finish those?” She cajoled. Instantly, he snapped back to consciousness.

“Of course! Wait, what do you mean? Since when do you eat diamonds?” Twilight laughed.

“Are you ready to get back to work?”

Spike gobbled up the last two gems on his plate.

“Ready!”

“Ok, so let’s hit the Gradation Report.” Twilight said as she and Spike readied themselves with fresh papers.

“A report concerning the tactical gradation of cities. Assignments and findings collected by the director of Pegasi affairs.” Rarity read.

It was true, whoever the director of Pegasi affairs was, he certainly seemed to enjoy awful handwriting. There were points where Rarity had to stop and infer the meaning of the report out of the sheer illegibility of the words. Over time she found that the director enjoyed overusing his title, and that he would invariably insert it at most opportune moments.

“Who is this guy?” She finally asked after a dozen or so pages.

“You wouldn’t like meeting him. He’s old, tenured, and has some silly notions about mares.” Twilight rolled her eyes at this last part. Rarity giggled.

“Don’t tell me, he doesn’t hold doors for you.”

“Nope, he also thinks I shouldn’t be running Equestria. Never mind that I have an entire magic education from Princess Celestia, never mind that I am the only qualified Alicorn known to exist. Nope, I’m a mare and that restricts me to foal-bearing and menial labor.” Twilight clearly wished for another mare to share her frustration with.

“Sounds like a winner, can you fire him?” Rarity asked.

“Well, no. He’s been around forever, and he’s good at what he does, plus he’s actually pretty popular.” Twilight sighed and adjusted the papers on the table. “You can’t really fire anyone in government.” Rarity snorted.

“You’re the queen, that should mean something.”

“It does, but it doesn’t mean that I can run the show. Equestria is still a democracy.” Twilight answered properly. Rarity shrugged and kept reading.

“These reports corroborate intelligence suggesting a weakness in the northern territories. A suggestion is made to investigate further options for this territory. A proposed budget of four million will allow research to be-”

“Yeah, I know, more necessities.” Twilight interrupted. The Alicorn scribbled the last sentence onto the paper and tossed it into the box. She continued to stare at the half-full cardboard container. Rarity set her page down and waited for Twilight. The three sat for a moment, while Twilight continued to stare at the box.

“Hey Rarity, when were you thinking of taking that trip?” Spike asked quickly.

“Oh, uh, I dunno, sometime in the fall maybe?” Twilight looked up.

“What trip?”

“Rarity’s going to Cloudsdale with us!” Spike said excitedly.

“Wait, we don’t know when we’re going. Rarity, you want to come to Cloudsdale with us?”

“Ah, yeah, Spike invited me, I wanted to see that new rainbow reactor.” Answered the unicorn. Twilight perked up at the idea of Rarity joining their excursion.

“Well, you’ll have to be with me if you want to get through reactor security. What’s your schedule for the summer?”

“Heh, that’s the good part of being a part time baker, there aren’t a lot of pressing matters that crop up. I’m pretty much free any week you want.”

“Great! We have to get settled first, but I’m thinking in a month or less.” Seeing Twilight cheer up comforted Rarity. Twilight was a queen Alicorn and she oversaw an entire country, but Twilight wanted to take a trip with her. She might be a burned-out and unladylike baker, but Rarity was still somepony worth taking a trip with. Some things hadn’t changed with the Blast.

Spike started on how advanced the reactor was and how much it had cost. Twilight of course explained the technical challenges and ramifications of such a reactor. The three soon drifted away from the world of ledgers and sexism, and into a conversation about Cloudsdale. They went back, Twilight telling both about the “fascinating” science and magic behind rainbow production. Spike of course recalling the story of Rarity’s prideful incident at the Best Young Flyer competition. Rarity offered her defense and view of the comedic situation.

“Now, it was my first time with wings, you can’t blame me for wanting to look spectacular. Why, I was simply gorgeous and you do have to admit, Dash had something to be jealous of.” Rarity said amongst giggles. Twilight started on about how that wasn’t the exact scenario when Maximus or whoever appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

“The queen requested an early bedtime reminder in regards to her inspection of Ponyville’s water facilities. This is her reminder.” He said in a monotone that bordered on a drawl. Almost simultaneously, the three shot glances at the oven clock. 9:14 blinked rhythmically in blue digital type. Twilight looked down at the uncopied ledgers.

“Shoot, well, we’ll have to finish these tomorrow, or sometime.” She rose and saw Rarity to the door. “Thanks so much, we really saved a lot of time with your help. I’ll send Spike over when I have a free night.” She gave Rarity a pair of hundred bit bills. “It’s standard wage for royal translators, you can’t legally refuse.” She said with a grin. In her good mood, Rarity didn’t even consider refusing the inflated payment.

“Guess I’ll just have to accept and be on my way.” Rarity conceded with a smile. She opened the bulletproofed door and walked out into the spring night.

“Nice seeing you Rarity, I’ll be in touch about our plans.” Twilight said from the door.

“Bye Rarity!” Spike called loudly. Rarity laughed and called goodbye to the adolescent dragon.

She walked through Mane Street, all the shops had closed and only the houses were lit. She passed Sugarcube Corner, dark and harmless in the peaceful night. Rarity rounded the corner and made her way toward the prairie, which lay past the cobblestone fence.

She was tired, a good tired, it had been a long day. But looking back, it had been a good one. Her hoof was healing fine, she’d made a pass at an older stallion and had some fun at Twilight’s. Today was a rare day for Rarity, a happy one. She even broke into a fiercely stifled smile. The unicorn hopped the fence and strolled through the greening grass. The air was beginning to lose its muggy quality and Rarity knew that the dog days of summer were just around the bend.

Back at her camp, she shunned covers and opted to instead sleep on top of one of the blanketed crates. Her lower hooves draped over the edge and she lay comfortably on the soft blanket. Up above, the stars were an explosion of white freckles against the blackness of space.

Where was Luna tonight? The question rolled casually into her head. Rarity yawned, maybe mourning, maybe plotting, she had no idea where the black Alicorn might be. Rarity turned exhaustedly over, away from the forest, and soon fell fast asleep.

Chapter 13

Chapter XIII

Rainbow Dash and her unstoppably innocent eyes didn’t seem to have their limits. Rarity carried the heavy bag of tools and the light blue Pegasus hauled the bundle of wood. Rarity didn’t want to go, she would gladly lean out of the side of Sugarcube Corner again if it meant turning and going back to Ponyville. But Rainbow Dash didn’t turn or back off, she lead Rarity through the tall grass and toward Fluttershy’s cottage. The little white building came into view and Rarity’s heart quickened. She didn’t want to see the little structure collapse with time. The bag of tools thumped against her side, she didn’t make her want to repair the house either. Rarity saw the early stages of ruin creeping up on the property. Rainbow Dash stopped in the middle of the yard and surveyed the damage.

“So, where do you want to start? Should we do the chicken coops?” She asked. Rarity looked at the broken coops, the chickens were long gone and repairing the tiny wooden enclosures would soak up a lot of time. Time that would not be spent working on something that really reminded her of Fluttershy.

“Yeah, let’s do those.” They dropped their baggage. Each picked up a tiny house and started to pull off the snapped boards.

“So what’s new with you?” Dash asked as they started their repairs.

“Well, I got a job, at this place called the Straw Purchase.” Rarity answered. A smile opened over her “I’m doing some design consulting.”

Dash began to smile as well.

“That’s great!” Rarity nodded.

“Only thing is, it’s really hard, I’m swamped and I’m having a lot of trouble getting it all done before the deadline.” She looked up at the evening sky. “I’d be there right now, but they won’t let me work on Sundays, no clue why.” Dash picked through the nails.

“So are you enjoying it?” Rarity thought for a moment. Did she like it?

“Well, yes and no. It’s like, I’m so happy to be doing something that’s not baking. But then, it’s really hard and I don’t want to disappoint my bosses.” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“You won’t.” She said reassuringly. “Give yourself some time, it’ll come to you.”

“The other day Spike told me he loved me.” Rarity said after a second of deliberation. Rainbow Dash giggled.

“So what else is new?” Rarity ripped off a board and threw it out into the yard.

“No. This time he was being really serious, like, almost a proposal serious.”

“Oh.” Dash’s voice was quiet.

“And I told him that I always wanted to be his friend.” Rarity said in rising frustration. The Pegasus winced.

“Oh, that must not have gone well.” Rarity ripped off another board and lobbed it angrily into the yard.

“Yeah, it really fucking didn’t.” She sighed and dropped her work. “I don’t know Dash, what was I supposed to say?”

“The truth I guess.”

“The truth hurt him, really bad. It’s not my fault I know, but I feel bad that he’s hurt. He gives so much, Dash, I want so much for him to be happy with something.” The tears burned in her eyes. “I was that something, and I couldn’t give it to him. It’s not my fault, but it was still me, I had to do it.” Rainbow Dash was silent for a few moments.

“Maybe it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Maybe it was just that he fell in love with somepony who didn’t love him back. Back when he was younger, we used to joke it off.” Rainbow Dash played with the nails. “But, well, now that he’s older, it’s really a problem.” Rarity swallowed, the lump still hung in her throat.

“I just want him to be happy.” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“Well, if he’s mature enough to actually love you, then he should move on right?” Rarity had no clue what Spike felt. Part of her believed, or hoped, that he was mature enough to understand the hurt of love. But most of her worried that he had broken upon learning that the only pony he had ever loved just wanted to be friends.

They finished the coops, Rarity wasn’t really sure why, the little chicken homes held no real meaning to her. They set the wooden houses back in their rightful place and Rainbow Dash looked toward the house.

The storm had dealt the fragile house a lot of damage. The windows were broken, the shutters had been ripped off and the thatched roof was wildly unkempt. Rarity watched Rainbow Dash survey the sky, it was getting dark. She hoped that Dash would decide to go home. The innocent Pegasus looked to the door.

“We should check the inside.” She said quietly.

“Why?” Rainbow Dash turned and Rarity took a deep breath. “Look, Dash, I know you want to keep the place up.” Rarity bit her lip; she might as well be honest. “But going in there might be a bad idea, we both have memories of Fluttershy. And I’ll be honest, mine’s not going to like seeing all of those things that remind me of her. I just think it might stir up some hurt.”

“I understand Rarity. But I want to keep it up, for her. It might hurt, but I have to make an effort. It would mean a lot if you could come in with me.” Rarity sighed, there was no resisting Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash pulled a little brass key from her saddlebag and placed it into the lock. As she started to turn the key, the door drifted open.

“Uh-oh.” Rarity said softly.

They stepped into the small house, the interior was dark, and Rarity lit a small lamp sitting on the table by the door. The yellow light flickered over the walls. Rainbow Dash gasped quietly and Rarity drew in a sharp breath. They should never have returned to the cottage

All around them, words and figures written in black marker crisscrossed the walls. Holes gaped in the masonry and the shattered glass of the windows was strewn across the floor. The herbs and medicines collected by the dead apothecary were piled in a heap by the fireplace, a few of the fagots were burned slightly. The entire front room was trashed and stained with alcohol and cheap spray paint. Rarity knew it would be worse in the bedroom. Rainbow Dash turned to her in disbelief.

“Rarity? What is this? Who did this?” Her violet eyes were wide and searching. Rarity read some of the words, she knew every name. Most were fillies and colts, a few were ponies, all were from Ponyville.

“Dash.” Rarity began. “This.” Her eyes followed a trail of broken bottles to the kitchen. “We should go. This isn’t good to look at.”

“But what is this?!” Rainbow Dash pleaded.

“What the fuck does it look like?!!!” Rarity snapped. “It’s a hangout spot, kids come here to fuck around and have parties.” She kicked an empty bottle against a wall, sending glass fragments across the room. “Kids look for abandoned houses to fuck in and drink in and do whatever in. All they need is an empty building.” She saw the cage that had housed Celestia’s phoenix, it was gnarled and broken. “Guess it doesn’t matter who lived here before.” She said angrily. Rainbow Dash had tears in her eyes.

“But why? Rarity why?” She asked in pitiful confusion.

“Because they don’t give a fuck! Because this whole Goddamn town doesn’t give a fuck!” Rarity shouted. “Because the shitbrained bastards in this shithole of a town don’t give a fuck past five minutes of memory!!!” She threw another bottle against the wall, it shattered and Rainbow Dash cowered back a little bit. “Should have fucking guessed they’d do this, it’s probably the best memorial to have sex in.” Rarity said bitterly. Rainbow Dash trembled and tears hung from her chin.

“W-we should clean it up. For Fluttershy.” Rarity turned on her.

“For what? The kids’ll come back, they’re gonna do it again. Dash, you aren’t going to keep this place from them!”

“But-”

“But nothing Dash.” Rarity felt the tears in her eyes. “Fluttershy’s death means nothing to them. And there isn’t a fucking thing you can do to make them care.” She swallowed. “They just don’t care.” Rarity turned and walked out of the desecrated cottage. Rarity picked up her bag, she was going home.

“Rarity.” Dash’s voice was despairing and the unicorn stopped. “Do you care about her death?”

“Yeah, I do Dash, I do a lot.” Rarity’s mouth trembled and she scratched at the tears running down her face. Rainbow Dash began to sob.

“Why doesn’t anypony else care?” Rarity swallowed, the hot tears blurred the hill before her. She choked and it took her a moment to speak.

“I don’t know Dash. I really don’t know. Things are different and I don’t know anything about Ponyville anymore. Maybe Fluttershy’s death doesn’t mean as much as Celestia’s death, maybe they only care about the recession. Maybe we just hurt more than them because we knew her.” Rainbow Dash’s voice was quiet, nearly silent against the backdrop of the rustling grass.

“Rarity, what happened?” Rarity hung her head, she closed her eyes and felt the grass tickle her face.

“I don’t know. Nothing makes any sense anymore. My life getting fucking ruined, Twilight being queen, Applejack becoming a businesspony, Pinkie Pie being so fucking annoying, Spike proposing to me, and you.” Rarity sighed and turned to face the sad little pony. “Dash, I have no fucking idea what happened to you. Up in Cantorlot, or afterward.”

“I don’t either.” The Pegasus sniffed and wiped at her face. She sat down in the dirt. “I was with Fluttershy in Cantorlot to see if I could meet the Wonderbolts. Soarin’ sent me a letter saying that they were going to be in town and he wanted to see me.” She began to sniffle and Rarity walked back and put an arm around her. “I, well, Fluttershy was up there to buy some medicine I think. That night, she left our room, she said she had to ask the Princess about something. I was in bed, and it was like eight I think. I got up to get a drink, then I remembered that I needed a pass from the Princess to get to the stadium.” Rainbow Dash started to weep. Deep sobs wracked the little Pegasus. “I was outside the door, I heard Fluttershy.” Her violet eyes closed and Rainbow Dash shook with silent sorrow. “The last thing I heard her say was my name.” Her voice broke. “And then it felt like the door opened, but it was the Blast. I hit the wall on the opposite side of the hallway.” She swallowed. “And I just laid there. All I could hear was flame, nopony was talking. It was so quiet.” She trembled. “I think I passed out. When I woke up, the doctors told me that the Princess had been killed. They said it was impossible that I was alive, that the door should have splintered and killed me, or the pressure wave should have crushed me.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. “I am lucky Rarity. I know that. But on my way back to Ponyville, I realized something.” She looked at Rarity. Her Goddamn eyes shone with tears. “That ponies were only going to remember Rainbow Dash for wanting to be a Wonderbolt. I spent most of my life thinking that that was who I was, or who I was going to be.” She shook her head. “After the Blast, I didn’t want be a Wonderbolt anymore, it doesn’t appeal to me, I don’t know why.” She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, I can’t be a Wonderbolt anyway.”

“Why?” Rarity asked.

“Because I can’t fly.” Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings gently. “I just can’t, or won’t maybe.” She shook her head. “I don’t know, it’s not that huge of a deal. In fact, it’s helped me put my life back together.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “I feel like you a lot. Like I have no idea who I am anymore. Like the me before the Blast died and I have to figure out who the me after the Blast is.” She smiled faintly. “I’m trying to be somepony that isn’t obsessed over one thing. I’m trying to live a better life.” She pulled at her wings a bit. “Maybe I can donate these to a sick kid or something.” She sat for a second. “I know it’s weird hanging out with me because I drop out of stuff a lot.”

“Dash, it’s fine.”

“I want you to know that I really like hanging out with you Rarity. You’re pretty much the only pony that I see anymore. I’m sorry if I can’t do things, sometimes I just need to be alone.”

“Hey it’s fine.” Rarity gave Rainbow Dash an affirming pat on the back. “You’ve got every reason to have trouble doing stuff. It’s still really fun being with you and I’m glad you stuck around in Ponyville.”

“I couldn’t really go anywhere else, this town is my home, it just draws me back.”

“I know what you mean. There’s no earthly reason for me staying here.”

They walked home. The moon had crept into the sky and the grass rustled under their hooves. Rarity’s face felt puffy from the crying, but it had been good to get it out. Dash looked out over the prairie.

“Where are you going to live over the winter?” She asked. Rarity shrugged.

“I don’t know, I’ll figure something out. Right now all I care about is that job, it’s pretty much my life. It’s really stressful and I constantly doubt myself.” Rarity admitted. Rainbow Dash smiled.

“You got it Rarity. I know you do.”

“It’ll be the same for you Dash. The new you is going to be just as happy and fun as the old one.” Rainbow Dash looked up into the sky.

“I hope so, I don’t want to go my whole life with no purpose or meaning.” Rarity nudged the Pegasus.

“As long as you’re my friend that won’t happen.”

The two mares hugged each other.

The Blast had altered many things, but the friendship between Rarity and Rainbow Dash was not one of those things. Dash had lived up to her Element, even if she couldn’t fly. Rainbow Dash and Rarity still had one another.

The grief of the memory of Fluttershy hung with her for a few days. Rarity visited Dash a few more times and they talked more about their friend. They never went back to the little cottage. And Rarity realized that she had not been the only one fucked up by the Blast. She realized that there was a new Dash just like there was a new Rarity.

After all of the talking and release, it still hurt her inside to look out at the dilapidating house in the fields. Rarity wasn’t sure if she would ever stop hurting when she thought of Fluttershy. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to.

But all in all, Rarity felt optimistic when her work went well, and discouraged when it didn’t. It was as if finishing her consulting symbolized her future and would prove that she could still have a good life even without her Boutique. The Straw Purchase idealized moving onward from the past.

The carpet looked great, a smile crossed Rarity’s face, it looked really great. It was the 16th, she had less than a week left but she had managed to find the tables and chairs after axing apart her crates and mining the catalogues out of her belongings. Purchased and waiting in a warehouse on cloud 89, the dining sets were matched and period-correct. The giant sockets yawned questioningly, she still didn’t know where to find the chandeliers.

The usually quiet dining area was filled with painters and the quiet slap slap of rollers against the wall. Rarity was making calls to some friends in Cloudsdale. She was attempting to arrange delivery for the furniture when Posh poked his head into the office.

“When you have a moment, could you show the painters how to take the bulbs out of the lights?” He whispered. Rarity nodded.

After ten minutes, a nasal sounding mare answered her call, only to tell her that she needed a valid delivery license to obtain any sort of inter-town delivery. Upon a request about obtaining such a permit, the pony informed her that two forms (available at city hall) were needed to process a request for delivery permits. Rarity heard the breaking of glass and rushed out into the dining room. One of the bulbs that she had so carefully selected lay broken across the new carpet. A paint splattered stallion held his white cap in his hooves. He couldn’t meet her gaze and stared at the carpet.

“Really?! Couldn’t you have waited for five minutes?! Are you incapable of-”

“What happened?” Posh appeared from the kitchen.

“Broke the light sir, really sorry.” Said the culprit shamefully. Posh smiled, as if it didn’t even matter to him.

“Well it’s not a big deal. Just vacuum it up, my consultant here can get the rest of the lights for you.” He turned to Rarity. “You can pick up another bulb right?”

“Absolutely. I’ll get right on it.” She answered without hesitation.

“Great! Just make sure you uninstall the rest before you go so they can get back to work!” Posh called as he returned to the kitchen.

“Yeah, sure.” Rarity muttered. She grabbed the guilty stallion by the coat and pulled him down to her level. “You better take A LOT off our bill.” She growled.

“Yes ma’am.” He said frightfully. She turned to the other three painters.

“This room is going to be painted perfectly, understand me? If I find a bubble or a chip or so much as a misaligned stroke, you’re doing it all over.” She said menacingly. “You got that?” The four nodded, they understood her. She wasn’t letting ANYTHING fuck this job up, not even incompetent employees…or lenient employers. Rarity the unicorn was going to make the Straw Purchase work, no matter what happened.

The lighting shop had the bulb, but it happened to be the display model, which was not for sale. Both the manager and nervous clerk attempted to explain to the unicorn that there was nothing they could do. After a heated discussion involving threats of potentially lethal retaliation, Rarity walked out with the bulb. She only had time to reinstall the bulb before work, the calls would have to wait for tomorrow.

She started toward the Lone Star. A cool breeze blew through her mane, fall was coming. What about those chandeliers? Brilliance might know, although it seemed a bit out of his league. Rarity looked around, were there any stores in Ponyville that might carry a chandelier? There was that dumb pen and sofa store that had gone out of business awhile back, a doctor’s office, and a few grocers. She was entirely focused on her work until she took another glance at the row of shops beside her. Her heart missed a beat, Audacity was just leaving the candle store. She galloped over to him.

“Hey there!” He saw it was her.

“Oh hey! Good to see you!” The stallion said cheerfully. Rarity giggled.

“Just, um, wanted to say thanks for saving me.” He smiled airily.

“Not a problem, glad I could be of some help.” She giggled again.

“So uh, are you all settled in?” He nodded and pointed to his bags.

“Yup, just getting some candles, I like to keep my house fresh.” He looked around. “Been a bit of a time shopping here, seems I can’t go down the street without somepony noticing me and wanting an autograph. Makes it a bit hard to do much.” She blushed and looked at her hooves.

“Sorry ‘bout that. I, well, never mind.” He laughed a little.

“No problem, I kinda felt like you thought I was coming on to you. It’s cool, I get that a lot. It was really just a matter of time before somepony recognized me anyway.” He tossed his mane out of his eyes and they stood awkwardly for a second. “Well, uh, I better get going.” He said with a nod.

“Me too.”

They parted.

“Good seeing you Rarity. Don’t go hanging out any more windows!” He called jovially.

“Haha of course not!” She watched him start down the street.

“Audacity?” He turned.

“Yeah?”

“You.” Rarity stopped and Audacity stood patiently waiting for her response. She mustered her resolve, it was now or never. “Wouldn’t like to hang out some time would you?” She finished. He smiled, a relieved sort of smile.

“Sure would Rarity.” She was high off of that smile alone.

“How about we go somewhere on Sunday night?” She suggested. He thought for a second.

“I’ve kinda wanted to go to that apple farm and pick some apples, do you think they’re open on Sunday nights?” Rarity nodded vigorously.

“They are!” Audacity grinned.

“Alright then! See you then!”

It was a date, Rarity was going on a date with Audacity! She practically skipped to work. She passed by Sugarcube Corner and it was as if the disgusting confectionary didn’t even exist. At the Lone Star, Sonny gave her the assignment of cleaning the ovens. Even the thought of crawling inside the dank and claustrophobic enclosures didn’t flag Rarity’s spirit. She gathered her caustic cleaners and rags and arranged them by the mouth of the oven.

“Y’goin’ up in them ovens?” Applecrisp asked as Rarity shoved the cleaning supplies into the opening.

“Yup.” Rarity replied as she climbed in. Applecrisp set her rolling pin onto the counter and wiped her hooves.

“Ah’ll come in with ya, there ain’t much fer me t’do.”

“Oh, thanks.” Rarity slid into the oven completely. It was odd for Applecrisp to offer to help her. Not only did they typically work on their own assignments and leave when they were finished, but the job of cleaning the ovens wasn’t particularly enviable.

The black soot clung to Rarity’s nose and she coughed. The only light came from the chimney and the opening. She felt for the bottle of cleanser and squirted some onto the wall and scrubbed at it. She always worked quickly in the oven; there were of course spiders that hid in the fringes of darkness, spiders that no amount of flame could ever kill. In a few minutes, the opening darkened for a second as Applecrisp slid into the enclosure.

“Ah got this side.” Applecrisp said, beginning to scrub the stone surface.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Rarity said as she cleaned. For a little while, each scraped at their portion of the stone.

“S’Rarity, whut are you doin’ these days?” Applecrisp asked.

“Pretty much just work here and I work at another place before and after work.” There was a moment of silence.

“Y’ever want to grab a beer with me?” Rarity smiled in the darkness. It had been many on and off conversations, but Applecrisp was finally being social. She had gotten to know Applecrisp a little during the past week. The swamp pony seemed more lonely than anything and Rarity relished being Applecrisp’s first friend in the town.

“Sure, what time?”

“Dunno, pretty much any day.” Rarity thought for a second. She had the Straw Purchase every day and night.

“How ‘bout next Sunday night?” She heard Applecrisp sigh. Rarity realized how douchy it sounded to make a plan for beer two weeks in advance. But there wasn’t any other time she had available.

“Yeah, tha’s fahn.” Fucking hell, just when Applecrisp came out of her shell, Rarity had to lose all of her free time.

“Hey, actually.” She could afford to spend one night off. “I’ve just got like one thing at my other job, if you want to hang out tonight we could do that.”

“Y’sure?”

“Eyeah, I’ve just got to go over there and make one call, you can tag along and then we can walk to Hennessey’s.” Rarity said hesitantly.

“Alraght, ah can do that.” Rarity had just sacrificed precious work time to hang out with Applecrisp. She needed to make that time up. The rest of the day she formulated a plan. She would call Trance tonight, he theoretically could ship the tables and chairs out to her. If he said no, she could drop by city hall on their way to the bar and pick up an application to ship them herself. The chandeliers she would ask both him and Brilliance about, maybe they could go in the same shipment. She wouldn’t be that far behind her original schedule if all went to plan.

The two bakers left the bakery at seven and walked to the Straw Purchase.

“So, yeah, um, you can wait outside, or come in.” Rarity said outside the door. “I’ll just be like five minutes.” Applecrisp waited outside. Rarity walked to the back office, Pish and Posh were playing cards on the desk. They stood and greeted her.

“So what’s on the menu for tonight?” Posh asked.

“Well, I’m actually going out with a friend tonight, but I needed to make one call. Do you mind?” Pish shook his head.

“Go right ahead, just be careful of our game.” The pair left the room and Rarity dialed Trance’s number. As she waited for the dial tone, Rarity realized how awkward it would be to talk to him. She had sort of capped it back on the trip and he had probably realized that she would never sleep with him. The tone buzzed a few times. He was probably out clubbing with Alexander, or at the Crystal Room. She started to hang up.

“Hello?” Came the staticy voice.

“Uh, Trance? It’s Rarity.” She said nervously. There was a pause. She heard Trance take a deep breath. Her hooves started to sweat.

“What do you want Rarity?” He asked with what sounded like a forced calmness.

“Well, I am working for a restaurant here in Ponyville, and well, I needed some help getting something delivered. I thought…you…might be able to help me.” There was no response and she thought he had hung up.

“Why should I?” He said finally.

“Well-” She began. He cut her off.

“You spurn me Rarity. I give and I give because there’s nothing else, no other rational response around you but to give all that I have in hopes that I may be with you.”

“Trance-”

“No, you listen to me Rarity. I own half the city’s nightclubs, I spend my days building an empire. And my nights with indulging in my excess. Any mare in the city would pay an unsightly sum to be afforded the chance to consummate me. ” Trance was poetic, which meant he was either drunk, or upset, or both. “I am rich, powerful, and queer. Only the strongest and most caring stallion is my partner.” He preached.

“Trance look, you don’t have to help me. I’m sorry for using you. We can be done with each other.”

“It was him, I know it was. You’re afraid to cheat on him.” Trance said sadly.

“What?”

“You are with that dragon, the one with the queen. You’re going to lie and deny it, that’s a mare’s nature. But only a fool could miss how much he watched you, how much you brought out of him. As a stallion who has walked the world of love, I recognize a smitten man, and a mare doing the smiting. Your beauty attracts more than ponies it would seem.” He sighed gloomily. “I know that you could never be my sexual partner. You have insatiably high tastes, only a royal dragon and of course a virgin will enjoy you.”

“Trance, listen, it’s not about him, I just don’t want to sleep with you.” He sighed again.

“Of course Rarity.” The line was silent for a moment. “What is it you need delivered?”

“Well, just some tables and chairs, they’re on cloud 89. It’s-”

“I know where it is, where shall I send them?”

“To the Straw Purchase in Ponyville.” He was helping her, again. After everything she had said to him, he was helping her. “Trance, thank you. I don’t know what to say, it means a lot to me. You’re a good pony, I want you to know that I respect you for that.” She said guiltily. He chuckled.

“Stop it Rarity, I repulse you. You know my lusts toward you. This should be the last time we speak, it would be best for both of us. Goodbye Rarity, I hope that dragon loves you correctly.” She hung up. Rarity stood in the office for a couple minutes.

It wasn’t Trance, he was just an inconveniently bisexual club owner. No, it really did make a lot of sense for her to love Spike. He was smart and caring and pretty much the perfect mate. He cared for her and was willing to do anything to prove it. She sighed, she didn’t love him, she had known him for years and never thought to love him. Audacity had breezed into her life and she had immediately fallen for him without hesitation, all while Spike sat alone in a library and lived to serve Twilight. There was a knock.

“Rarity? Ya’ll ready?” Applecrisp asked through the door.

“Uh yeah.” Rarity answered. “Just tying up some loose ends.”

Applecrisp and Rarity sat at the bar, they waited for Quinn to return with their drinks. The bar was mostly empty tonight, a few ponies sat at booths around the room. Rarity felt a little better now that she was with Applecrisp. Hopefully some drinks would get Spike out of her head.

“So this stuff gunna mess me up?” Applecrisp asked. Rarity grinned.

“It’ll fuck you up really fast if you aren’t ready for it.” The blue mare shrugged.

“Ya’ll better not disappoint.” The mint green bartender presented them with a pair of shot glasses.

“An’ thar’s me lucky laedies!” He pointed to Applecrisp. “Ain’t seen you in awhael!”

“Yeah, finally getting some air with my friend here.” She answered. Rarity smiled, Applecrisp was finally coming out of her shell, and she was responsible. Quinn pointed to the shot glasses.

“Waell! Bottoms up!” He said gleefully. Rarity threw her liquor down. The bite of the sharp alcohol slashed at her throat and she coughed once. Shots always killed her.

“That stuff’s got some bite. You-” She looked at Applecrisp, who didn’t appear to have consumed her shot. “Did you?” The glass was empty. Applecrisp nodded.

“Yeah, did ah not do it raght?” Rarity looked at the empty glass. “Ah drank it fast. That how yer supposed t’do it?” Applecrisp asked naively. Rarity was baffled.

“Yeah.” She squinted at the glass. “That’s just really weird.” She clopped for Quinn. “Hey.” She pointed to Applecrisp. “Think you must have given my friend here some defective booze, how ‘bout you bump it up a few proof?” Quinn winked.

“Lemme faend m’Trottingham scotch.” Applecrisp looked around the room.

“S’you play pool?” She asked, pointing to the table. Rarity laughed.

“Sure, but I suck.” The two began a game of pool, halfway through Quinn brought them shots of amber scotch. Rarity lifted hers.

“Alright, now this will kick your ass, never seen it do anything but.” Applecrisp tossed the liquid down. She frowned thoughtfully and cleared her thoat.

“That’s got some bite alraght.” Rarity was dumbfounded, Applecrisp was a virgin drinker, and she put down scotch. After three more shots it became apparent that Applecrisp could hold her alcohol better than her cousin. Yet after an extremely short game of pool, it was evident that she could still play pool like a full blooded Apple. As the glossy black eight ball was swallowed by the pocket, Applecrisp set her cue down on the table and smiled shyly.

“Guess that means ah win.” Rarity shrugged in defeat.

“I’m glad I don’t put money on this.” Applecrisp laughed.

“Well, lemme buy a couple drinks for us, see if that makes y’feel better.” The two resumed the positions at the bar and ordered some beers. Rarity figured she should start a conversation; she was after all missing a night of work for this.

“So Applecrisp, this is gonna sound weird, but I have no idea what your Cutie Mark is.” Rarity said, motioning to Applecrisp’s flank. Applecrisp cracked a peanut and popped the brown nut into her mouth.

“S’ a bayou.” The nut crunched loudly. “Lahk a swamp, but there’s forest.” Rarity nodded.

“So what-”

“Divin’, into the swamp. That’s a main part of our livelihood down in Hayseed.” Swamp diving? How was that a talent? Rarity took a sip of her beer.

“So, you-”

“Dive into the bayou, pretty much whut it sounds like.” Applecrisp said briskly, she evidently didn’t like talking about home. Rarity wasn’t going to push the subject, not on their first outing. She tried to think of another question.

“S’tell me Rarity, how ‘bout yer Cutie Mark? Would imagine it pertains to gems or maybe treasure or something.” Applecrisp asked as she popped another nut into her mouth. Rarity shrugged.

“Yeah, finding gemstones at least.” Applecrisp chuckled.

“So why aren’t ya’ll out doin’ that? Seems like it might pay better than Sonny.” Rarity hesitated, she didn’t tell her story to most ponies; but then, Applecrisp didn’t really seem like the judgmental type and it would be a good way to show honesty.

“Well, I used to run a fashion design studio here in Ponyville.” She explained Ponyville’s boycotting of her business and her subsequent loss of work. The blue pony listened to this with an expression of puzzlement and interest. “So, yeah, basically I work at the Lone Star ‘cause I don’t really have anything else to do.” Rarity decided not to mention her hopes for the Straw Purchase, since she still wasn’t sure how that would end up. Applecrisp finished her beer.

“Hell, y’must hate this town. Wai’d ya’ll even stay here?” Rarity shrugged and ate a peanut.

“I dunno, there’s not a lot of places I’d really want to move to. Plus I have some friends here.” Applecrisp laughed coldly.

“Friends who’d watch yer life go to hell?”

“Well, there wasn’t a lot they could do. They-” Rarity stopped. What friends did she have? She hated and avoided Pinkie Pie for being an annoying little filly, Fluttershy was gone, she wasn’t really sure where she stood with Twilight and she had just broken Spike’s heart. That left Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Applecrisp hated Applejack and Rarity was fairly certain she wasn’t keen on RD. “Well, they couldn’t do much to help me, it’s the town as a whole.” She said carefully. She smashed a peanut and picked out the nut. Applecrisp licked a little foam from the top of her stein.

“Yeah, don’t really know much about this town. Haven’t really cared much, just tryin’ to make ends meet.” Rarity nodded.

“Hey, why’d you back out of the stock deal with Sugarcube Corner?” She asked curiously. Applecrisp laughed.

“They stopped offerin’ it. Talked with that Cake guy, he kahnda made it sound like they weren’t gonna stay afloat much longer.” Sugarcube Corner wasn’t going to stay afloat?

“Wait, he said they were going out of business?” Rarity asked in confusion. Applecrisp shrugged.

“Dunno, he said sumthin’ ‘bout financial viability, then ah just upped and asked him if they had any-” Quinn cleared his throat.

“’Scues me laedies, but the gentl’man over there would like to treat you two to these.” He presented them with a pair of boilermakers. Rarity looked back, a black Pegasus sitting at a booth flicked his head to them and flashed a brilliantly white smile. Applecrisp looked down at the massive foaming drinks before them.

“Well, alraght then, can’t refuse a kindness.” She took a sip of hers. It clearly dealt her a blow and she coughed. “Got some kick this one.” She said with satisfaction. The Pegasus saw Applecrisp take a drink and he rose and started toward them. Rarity didn’t like the way he looked. She turned to Applecrisp.

“Hey, um, it might be a good idea to be careful around this guy.” She warned. Applecrisp looked at her strangely.

“Whut do y-”

“Hey there, I’m Karma.” He was beside them now. The dark stallion smelled like that awful passion candle. “What are your names?” He asked casually.

“Rarity.” Rarity said coldly.

“Ah’m Applecrisp, to whut do we owe this gift?” He instantly focused on Applecrisp.

“Well, I saw that you had a bayou Cutie Mark, I haven’t seen one for a while. I’m from Dodge Junction, so it’s always really nice to see something from home.” Apparently gullibility ran in the Apple line, because Applecrisp seemed to perk up to this.

“That a fact? Never woulda figured anypony from Dodge would want to move out here.” She said inquisitively. The stallion brushed back his mane, a tribal tattoo flashed across his neck and instantly Rarity knew he was a snake. “So whut d’y’do?”

“Yeah? What is your work?” Rarity asked aggressively. He acted like Rarity didn’t exist and kept working on Applecrisp.

“I’m a musician by trade, I travel a lot, I was asked to play at the queen’s inauguration. It’s not a well-paying job, but-”

“Y’love whut y’do.” Applecrisp finished. His face lit up like they had made a connection.

“Right!” Applecrisp smiled a little, Rarity saw a bit of a blush coming on to her face. She was starting to like this guy, Rarity looked for an opening.

“Ah know whut that’s lahk.” Applecrisp said with a shy smile.

He smiled back.

“It’s the best thing to love what you do-”

“Hey.” Rarity interrupted. She shoved her boilermaker toward him. “This is a bit much for me, can you drink half?” That would keep her sober and also sabotage his cool. The stallion flicked his head.

“Sure thing!” He downed all but a third in a single gulp. He turned back to Applecrisp and chuckled. “You know I probably should have ordered something a little less serious for you. I overheard that you’re new to drinking.” He motioned to her foaming stein. “And that’s a little much for you.” Applecrisp grinned.

“Ah could drink it no pro’blem.” He raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Are you sure? That’s a pretty stiff drink.” Fucking hell, Rarity had to act. She knocked her glass, spilling some of the alcohol. The liquid splashed over the counter and onto Karma, but Applecrisp had already started to down the intoxicating mixture. Karma recoiled, but said nothing and kept his attention on Applecrisp.

“Oh God, sorry!” Rarity said loudly. “Why don’t you go see if Quinn has any paper towels?” She suggested. Applecrisp thumped her glass down on the counter triumphantly. How she was already done?

“Done!” She proclaimed. Karma clapped for her as he wiped the spilled liquor from his black body. “Whoa nao, that’s some powerful bev’rage.” Applecrisp said, swaying a bit. Rarity searched frantically for a reason to leave.

“I’m impressed.” Said Karma. “You’re definitely a strong mare.”

“Hey, Applecrisp, we should probably get going.” Both turned to her.

“Wai’s that Rarity?” Applecrisp asked.

“Yeah, come on, we’re just having fun! Why don’t you have some of yours? Might loosen you up.” Karma advised. Applecrisp poked him.

“Or ah could drink it!” She suggested. Rarity threw down the remainder of her glass. It scorched her throat and stomach, she had forgotten just how strong boilermakers were. The world spun for a moment, then righted itself.

“No, I’m good.” She said, swallowing back a cough. Karma wiped himself off with a few napkins and Applecrisp started to help him.

“Oh Gawd, did ah do that while ah was drinkin’?” She asked in lightly drunken embarrassment. He smiled nonchalantly.

“No you’re fine, just a little accident is all.” Rarity watched as his smile turned into a grin as Applecrisp ran an innocent hoof over his torso as she dried him off. Rarity started to say something but a hot burp rose up and stifled her, what the hell was in a boilermaker?

“Applecrisp, I’m not feeling too good. Can you walk me home?” She asked desperately. Applecrisp looked up from her unwitting fondling of Karma.

“Uhh, shure.” Karma looked up at Rarity, his dark violet eyes shone with guile.

“Oh you don’t look so bad.” He began. Applecrisp tugged another napkin out of the dispenser.

“Rarity, why don’t ya’ll go splash some water over yer face in the bathroom, ah pay us up and get Karma dried off and we kin leave.” Karma didn’t stop smiling for an instant, but Rarity knew he must be pissed. Thank God, Applecrisp needed to learn about these things and NOT the hard way.

“Yeah.” Rarity stifled another burp. “I’ll just go get some water, be back in a sec.” She walked to the bathroom, she actually didn’t feel good. Her stomach churned and she felt sweaty all of a sudden.

The interior of the bathroom was lit with a moldy yellow bulb above the sink. Rarity splashed some water over her face, she was never going to have another boilermaker. Her head pounded and the rusted mirror showed her eyes as vividly bloodshot. She froze, there was no noise coming from the rushing faucet. She focused on the rushing water. Her hooves felt like they were wrapped in cotton and the coldness of the water faded from her perception. Her heart started to race, he had drugged her, that fucking snake had drugged her. Rarity turned for the door, her vision crossed and she lost her balance. She stumbled into the side of a urinal and blacked out.

She awoke, her head pounded furiously and she lay prostrate across the filthy tile. The rhythmic rattle of the fan and the soft glow of the light made her drowsy and threatened to pull her back into unconsciousness. Pulling herself to her hooves, Rarity dizzily tried to piece together where she was. She was at Hennessy’s, with Applecrisp, oh shit she was still out there with Karma. Rarity opened the door and rushed outside. Sunlight was shafting through the single window in the door. The bar was quiet, Rarity realized it was morning. She looked around, no Quinn, no Applecrisp. A sense of horror descended onto her, Applecrisp had probably left with that stallion. She made her way across the empty bar, unlocked the door and walked outside. The sunlight burned her eyes, it was about time to go to work. Her headache precluded her from anything but a slow walk and she started toward the Lone Star.

Along her walk, she passed ponies on their way to work, a few stopped to stare at the unkempt unicorn that smelled of urinal cake. She paid them no mind; she was too worried about Applecrisp. Fucking hell, she had probably been raped. There, she had said it. Her newest friend, an antisocial country girl had probably been sexually assaulted by a tattooed Pegasus that smelled like cheap cologne. And it was her fault. Rarity began to fear for Applecrisp’s life, what if she had tried to fight back? As she reached the bakery, Rarity saw Sonny and Ana arguing behind the counter. Rarity bolted into the building.

“Did Applecrisp come in today?” She asked quickly. Ana snorted.

“Of course not, little pony called in sick an hour ago.” She pointed to Rarity. “You learn from this, when one slacks, all suffer. You will fulfill all of the demands of the day without her.”

“Just do your job for now Rarity, we promise we will work this sick day business out.” Sonny said calmly. Rarity just nodded and went into the oven room. She didn’t care about work, she didn’t care about the random sick days, she was afraid of what had befallen poor Applecrisp. Throughout the entire day Rarity wondered and fretted over what could have happened to the tipsy and unassuming Apple pony. She almost didn’t go to the Straw Purchase. But she had no way of finding Applecrisp and she was desperately behind on her work.

Pish and Posh were touching up some spots on the freshly painted wall.

“Hey there Rarity!” Pish said cheerfully. She flicked her head in recognition and went into the office.

She had to draw up the floor plan tonight. She sat down with the yellow legal pad and ballpoint pen. Seven tables, forty two chairs, a 40sesque layout, go. She drew a few X’s, those were tables. Applecrisp probably wouldn’t have known it was going to go bad until the very end. She scribbled some L’s, those were chairs she supposed. She would have followed him so trustingly, he had built his rapport in just a few minutes. She thought he was from her hometown; that had made him trustworthy. She swiped the pen across the page, ripped it off, and threw it into the trash. She started again. Applecrisp was just starting to trust ponies it seemed, she was almost like a filly in that way. Rarity angrily tore the next page off of the pad and threw it into the trash. Applecrisp had gone to that bar because of her. She threw the pen against the wall and hurled the pad after it. She sat for a few seconds, her breath was fast and she bit her lip. Goddamn it, why couldn’t she have protected Applecrisp? Why did she have to be so vulnerable?

Posh stuck his head in.

“Sorry to interrupt you!” He whispered. “Just need to get some paper.” He saw the torn pages and the fluffed pad laying on the floor. He looked at her. “Rarity, what’s wrong?” She frowned from an oncoming sob.

“Nothing.” Posh picked up the pad and laid it on the table.

“You’re going to stick with that story?” He asked quietly. She looked at the wall, he could easily see the tears in her eyes.

“I, think I may have gotten one of my friends hurt. We were at a bar, and I, she was there because she was starting to come out of her shell.” Rarity related the previous’ night’s events. Posh listened to the entirety of the tale. Finally when it was finished, he said softly.

“I’m really sorry for that Rarity, I hope she’s all right. I hope that more than anything.” Rarity was crying softly. The tears ran down her face and she didn’t care if Posh saw. She was too worried for Applecrisp.

“Hope’s not going to heal her from what happened to her.” Rarity said bitterly. Posh nodded in recognition.

“That’s true, but hope asserts that maybe she wasn’t hurt. I am hoping that she was protected from this stallion.”

“Goddamn it! I was supposed to protect her! You can’t just hope that I did something that I didn’t! It happened because I failed her.” She cried angrily.

“Maybe it was out of your hooves. Maybe it wasn’t your burden of protection.” He offered. Rarity stood up, she had to go home, she wasn’t going to fall to pieces in front of her boss.

“I think I should go home now.” She said, trying to sound calm. She pushed by him and walked out of the office. He followed her.

“Rarity, I’m sorry, I know you wanted somepony to listen. Forgive me for preaching to you.” She turned as she exited.

“I don’t want somepony to talk to, I want somepony to tell me my friend is ok.” She said dismally.

Rarity didn’t sleep at all that night, she kept worrying over Applecrisp. What had happened to her? Rarity had failed her, she was supposed to be a friend, but all she did was make things worse. That seemed to be a recurring theme in her life.

The next morning she galloped to work. Sonny informed her that Applecrisp had not called in sick, in fact, she hadn’t called in at all. Rarity waited for Applecrisp in the oven room. The first few hours passed with no sign of the blue mare. Rarity started to worry more with each passing second. God, had she taken her life? Rarity began to consider the possibility of her friend’s suicide. What if Applecrisp had been so traumatized that she couldn’t go on? The door creaked open and Applecrisp shuffled into the oven room. The swamp pony seemed tired and tried to avoid making any noise as she pulled a tray from the cupboard. Rarity rushed over to her.

“Applecrisp! Are you all right?! What happened to you?!”

“Ah’m fahn Rarity. Ah’m sorry ‘bout ignorin’ ya’ll back at Hennessy’s. That warn’t a respectable action, and I hope y’kin forgive me.” Applecrisp said softly. Rarity was discombobulated.

“But, you, what happened to you Applecrisp?” She questioned in bewilderment. The Apple pony sighed and rubbed her head in shame.

“Pretty much whut could be expected. Kahnda saw ya’ll tryin’ t’get away from that fella.” She cleared her throat. “Ah shoulda trusted y’er gut, but ah really liked him, he seemed like he cared.” She shook her head. “Ah kin never tell when ah’m bein’ takin fer the ride. Anyway, guess it was mah fault for drivin’ y’off.”

“Applecrisp, he drugged me! I passed up back in the bathroom that’s why I didn’t come out!” Rarity explained in shock. Applecrisp snorted.

“Makes sense, he warn’t no gentleman ‘bout anythin’. We left after a bit, he said he really liked me.” She shook her head again. “Can’t imagine how dumb ah was bein’ about it all. He started to get really touchy. Ah ditched him and walked back t’mah place. Ah didn’t want t’go t’work yesterday t’face ya’ll.”

“Did he hurt you? I mean, did he-” Applecrisp shrugged.

“Not really, he took a few punches to settle down, but he warn’t no gator ‘bout it.” She shook her head. “Rarity, listen, ah’m sorry, it was mah mistake. Ah’m new here, but ah shoulda trusted yer gut. Ah can’t blame ya if y’don’t want to go out with me no moar.” Rarity was speechless.

“I was so scared for you Applecrisp! I felt like I had left you defenseless out there! If anything, it’s my fault what happened!” Rarity said in amazement.

“Ah’m a big girl Rarity, ah can take care of mahself. Ain’t yer place t’take care of me.”

“But still-”

“It’s mah responsibily t’protect mah self. Not yers.” She said decisively. “Now, kin y’forgive me fer bein such a bull ‘bout it all?”

“If you’ll forgive me for abandoning you.” Applecrisp snorted.

“Not a chance, ah don’t forgive wrongs that don’t happen.”

“Well neither do I, so I think we’re both out of luck.” Rarity said with a grin. Applecrisp smiled a little.

“Kin we call it a mistake? Jus’ move on?”

“Yeah. That sounds great.”

It worked out. Somehow, in the horrible crapshoot of possible scenarios, it had worked out. Applecrisp was safe, a miracle in and of itself. And the Apple pony even felt equally sorry for the events at the bar. They were still friends. Rarity and she talked a little bit over the course of the day. Applecrisp suggested that maybe they meet at one of their homes, instead of Hennessy’s, which suited Rarity just fine. Applecrisp was still her friend, she hadn’t made things worse. Rarity inwardly squeed with joy to this truth.

She reviewed her notes in the way to the Straw Purchase. There was the matter of the board, and of course the chandeliers. Oh what would she do about the chandeliers?

Posh greeted her.

“These came while you were out.” He said, motioning to a stack of crates that lay in the center of the bare room. The tables and chairs had come and Rarity couldn’t help but smile; Trance was an awesome pony. There were ten crates in all, sitting in a neat five by two pattern. Rarity picked up the crowbar that lay atop the first crate and wedged it between the boards. She cracked open the container and peered inside. The rich scent of antique leather emanated from the interior. A pair of beautiful antique chairs were packed in hay before her. She pulled them out and stood them up. They were classic 40s Equestria, dark cherry wood, tightly stretched leather, and stuffed to the degree of exploding if torn.

“Say, those look really good.” Posh said as he inspected the other boxes. “Are the tables from the same set?” Rarity nodded. He opened another box and peered inside. “They look superb!” He turned to her and asked a little softer. “How is your friend? We were really hoping that she was ok.”

“She’s fine, nothing happened to her.” Rarity said quietly. Posh smiled.

“I’m very glad, my dad and I were praying she would be safe.”

“Thank you for understanding. I was really worried was all.” Rarity frowned. “I’m sorry for always coming to work upset or angry. I don’t really mean to, there’s just been a lot going on in my life. Promise I won’t let it happen again.” The stallion smiled.

“Rarity, it’s fine. Your work has been wonderful, and my dad and I are always here for you.” The door to the kitchen opened and the grey stallion joined the pair.

“Wow! These are perfect!” Pish said, inspecting one of the chairs.

“Just like how you remember them?” Posh asked with a laugh.

“Hey now! I’m not that old!” Pish said with a grin. “I can still match you in Hearts.” He gave the stack of crates a testing kick. “I know it’s your job Rarity, but these look pretty heavy. Would it be ok if we gave you a hoof with unpacking them? We could probably get it done tonight if we worked at it.”

“Well.” She said with reservation. “If it wouldn’t be a great inconvenience.”

“Of course not, we have nothing else to do.” Posh said, already starting to move the first empty crate.

As they unpacked the crates, Rarity found herself amidst friends. Pish and Posh were vastly different from any bosses, or even any ponies that she had ever known. The pair joked, poked fun at one another, and never seemed to work at anything. To them it seemed that life wasn’t something to worry over.

“You know Rarity, I’m impressed with how this is coming along.” Pish said as they arranged the chairs. “I’m thinking that we could do some sort of classical grand reopening, like it’s the 40s.”

Posh aligned a row of chairs.

“Yeah, we’d give the speech, but it would be as if we were really opening the Straw Purchase.” He explained. “You’d still be introduced as the design consultant, but it wouldn’t be stated like you were redoing something, but creating a whole new dining experience. Does that make sense?” Rarity didn’t even think there was going to be a grand reopening.

“Um, you’re having a grand reopening?” She asked anxiously. “Like, you would be giving a speech?” Pish nodded.

“Of course! It’s not every day that one hires a professional designer to make over their restaurant. We want this to be an occasion to celebrate. Posh has drawn up some posters and we’ll see if we can’t drum up some support for the new place.” Rarity’s heart began to race. The deadline was now a true deadline. She thought of the missing chandeliers. And the unfinished menu board.

“A-and you are planning on the 21st still?” She asked nervously.

“Yep, if that’s still when you’ll be ready. Are you thinking you’re still going to get it done then?” Posh asked. Rarity couldn’t, but she had to. Come hell or high water, she was going to be ready then.

“Yes, that will be when I’m done.” She affirmed.

They arranged the furniture and broke down the crates. They packed the dumpster full of the fragmented crates and returned to the restaurant. It was about nine and Pish treated them to a plate of Hydrox cookies.

“So Rarity, where are you living these days?” Posh asked as he took a bite of the soggy cookie.

“Um, the fields out behind my old business.” The unicorn replied. He raised his eyebrows.

“Do, you have a house out there?” The cookie stuck in her throat.

“Um, no.” She answered.

“Where do you live?” She swallowed, but the chocolate particles remained.

“Well, I have some crates I sleep on.” She admitted.

“What are you going to do when winter comes?” Pish asked. Rarity tried to think of an answer. “If you want, you can sleep here.” He suggested.

“Dad! We have a guest room!” Posh interrupted. “I’m sorry, Rarity, we should have offered you a place with us. If you’d like, we’d love to have you stay with us.”

“No no!” She refused. “I’m happy where I am.”

“But what about winter?” Asked Posh. “You’ll need somewhere to go.”

“I’m going to be staying with a friend.” Rarity could probably stay with Rainbow Dash.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” Pish said. “I wasn’t about to let our key designer sleep out in the snow. But of course you have a plan.” He surveyed the room appreciatively. “You have a plan for everything it looks like.”

“Speaking of which, what’s the idea for the chandeliers?” Posh asked. “You should probably have them delivered within the week so we can schedule them for installation.”

“Um, yes, of course, I’ll make sure they get here soon.” She said emptily.

“Say, what do they look like? I’m eager to see what you dug up.” Posh asked. Her web of lies came dangerously close to collapsing.

“It, well I don’t know. I have this catalogue, and it has a good selection. I’m going to place the order tomorrow, and see when I can get them in.” She explained carefully.

“I just hope you can get a fast delivery, I would imagine they must be very hard to transport.” Pish noted.

“I think they must use like some giant chariots or something.” Posh offered. Pish agreed and the two started discussing delivery methods for the oversize lights. Rarity felt her resolve weakening; she had no chandeliers, no transportation for them, and less than a week to find both.

She left the Straw Purchase that night with the tumor of doubt growing in her mind. She knew she wasn’t going to make it, but she had to. She had no means of accomplishing her task, yet she had no room to fail. It was an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force.

Chapter 16

Chapter XVI

“I would like to lend a hoof, this is a good country.” Ana cut Mr. Salukas off.

“NEYT! You are a sucker to them Sonny, they grow their eyes and you offer them your livelihood!” Rarity was glad she and Applecrisp were sheltered from the tempest in the front end.

“Ana, listen to me-”

“NEYT! You cannot excuse idiocy with emotions. It will not happen, stop pushing this on us.”

“What do you think they’re arguing about?” Rarity asked as she stirred the thick rye dough.

“’Been doin’ this on and off both days ya’ll were gone. I think Sonny’s thinkin’ ‘bout hirin’ some new pony.” Applecrisp conjunctured.

“Who?” Applecrisp shrugged.

“Beats me, though ah’m pretty sure it ain’t gonna happen.” Ana shouted again and Rarity chuckled.

“Yeah, seems pretty unlikely.” Applecrisp took a box of baking soda from the shelf.

“So y’still free t’come bah on Friday?” Rarity nodded.

“Yup, you want me to bring anything?”

“Just a case of somethin’ that’ll impress my sobriety.” Rarity laughed.

“Got it.” Sonny poked his head in the door. His brown face was flushed a little bit.

“I am going to the hardware store.” He shouted back to Ana. “Yes, I am going to the hardware store!” He turned back to them. “Rarity, can you watch the front end while I am gone?” She nodded and gave the dough one last stir.

“Ah gotcha.” Applecrisp said, taking the bowl. Rarity walked out to the front end. Ana was seated at one of the tables, she looked pissed. Rarity quietly took her place behind the register, she was careful not to so much as scrape the tile or bump the counter. Even still, Ana looked up as she took her position. The chestnut brown mare looked tired and frustrated, she gave Rarity her usual look of general disapproval.

“If any giddy ponies come in here asking for a job, tell them we are not interested.” She said to Rarity. Rarity didn’t answer, she wasn’t sure if she should. Ana sighed and looked out the window. Per norm, the bakery was silent. Rarity looked around for something to do. There was a mop and bucket in the corner.

“I do not understand this town.” Ana said, still looking out the window. “All big eyes and bright colors, no brains or muscles. At least we had muscles in the North.” Ana looked back at Rarity. “You are the root of the problem Rarity. You were the first pony that my husband met in this town, he thinks all ponies are like you. He thinks he must lavish on them the love he shows you.” She shook her head. “Trotsky is gone, but my husband is still a fool.” She said with a distant remorse. Rarity was unsure of what to say, was she being insulted? The door tinkled and Rarity looked up. Bonbon approached the counter.

“Hi there! Can I get a doughnut?”

“Yeah, there’s cranberry, crabapple and pumpernickel walnut.” Bonbon peered into the case.

“What?! What kind of flavors are those?” She asked with a laugh. Rarity heard Ana suck in her breath.

“They’re really good if you try them.” The baker offered. Bonbon was still giggling.

“I’ll have the pumpernickel.” She said, handing a bit to Rarity. Rarity exchanged it for a doughnut. Bonbon took a bite. She rolled her eyes in thought.

“No way!” she studied the doughnut as if it were some sort of phenomena. “It’s actually pumpernickel!” she took another bite. “This is awesome! I’m gonna bring my friends by, they aren’t gonna believe there’s a place that sells pumpernickel doughnuts!” She exited the shop. Ana got up and started for the back room.

“I hate ponies like that.” She said darkly as she passed Rarity.

Rarity left the bakery at six, darkness had been coming sooner and sooner for the past week, and the time was nearing where she would have to wear a coat going out. She was feeling good, grace was awesome. These days, her work was just a conversation between her and Applecrisp, and even on days like today when Ana was around, it was just a minor inconvenience. Grace made everything more bearable.

The Straw Purchase was just closing up. She walked into the warm restaurant and took a seat at the bar. She rang the silver bell that summoned Posh.

“I’m sorry, we’re closed!” Called the waiter from the kitchen.

“Aw, I wanted some vegemite!” She called back. He came out of the kitchen.

“Haha, sorry, thought you were a customer. Just let me get some stuff put away back here and I’ll be right out. Dad’s just dropping the trash off out back, he’ll be in in a minute.”

“Hey no rush, I’ve got nothing else this evening.” She said casually. Posh reentered the kitchen and Rarity looked over the tables. Stains and spills were present on most of the tablecloths; the Straw Purchase was doing well. The older stallion entered through the front door.

“Brr, getting to be fall out there! Oh, hello there Rarity!” Pish said amiably. “How was your week?”

“Good.” She replied. Posh exited the kitchen. He jumped the counter and took a seat next to her.

“Yeah! How has it been going?” Asked the younger stallion.

“Well, I finally got moved in.” she began.

Meeting with Pish and Posh was the high point of most weeks. At the grand re-opening Posh had suggested that they talk to discuss her life. She had taken them up on the offer; the two stallions held a curious view of life that drew her back. They had taught her about grace, about what it was and wasn’t. It hadn’t taken long for her to realize that they were proselytizing her, but she didn’t mind.

The only thing harder to grasp than a conversation with Pinkie Pie was what Pish and Posh actually worshipped. It was apparently a Love of sorts, Love and grace seemed to be the only two attributes of this Deity that the two stallions agreed on. Rarity wasn’t sure if this was a sign of weakness or a sign of strength in their faith.

Religion was something Rarity had never really thought about. Indeed, religion wasn’t something anypony really thought about. Most Ponyvillians had no concept of God, or they just thought Celestia was God. Like most ponies in Equestria, they thought things would get sorted out after death. Rarity herself wasn’t sure where she stood with this strange and faceless God, but it didn’t really matter. She came to Pish and Posh to learn about grace, maybe someday she would understand more about where it supposedly came from.

Grace was what kept bringing Rarity back to the Straw Purchase. She had learned that accepting and not forcing herself, was the first step to enjoying life again. She had taken a while to accept the notion that she could and even should show forgiveness and love to the ponies of Ponyville. The idea of altruistic acceptance and kindness had caused a complete departure from her previous lifestyle of cynical apathy and she struggled to keep temper in check. Yet with grace, the odd leniency that now permeated her life, Rarity was actually starting to see some hope for a new life after the Blast.

“I have a date with my friend, the one who I thought I didn’t love.” She added after she had finished relating her week.

“Do you?” Pish asked. She nodded.

“Yep, took me a lot of years, but I think the feelings have actually started to blossom. I kept telling myself I didn’t love him, but then it just sorta happened and I can completely understand. He’s been a great friend, and he loves me, and he is such a gentleman. I can honestly imagine spending the rest of my life with him.” Posh smiled.

“Good! I won’t lecture you on being intentional with him or anything like that, you probably already know what to do and not do with men.”

“But do be careful Rarity.” Pish advised. “Not that I think he’s unsafe. I only mean watch how you make decisions with him, especially when you are under heavy emotions.”

“Dad, I think she knows what to do.” Posh chastised.

“Oh no no, thank you Pish, and you too Posh. I know you’re worried, and you probably should be, I’ve never really dated anyone, just flirted and such. But I want to know where everything’s going with him, you know, have plan.” Rarity agreed. Posh nodded.

“Good good, sounds like you really have it down. Any problems this week?”

“I just got moved in, so it’ll be a bit before I look for anything new for work. I’m still working on finding places to give ponies more grace, but I think you’d be proud, I haven’t gotten mad as much as I usually do.”

“Don’t forget to give yourself some grace, that’s what will help you persevere.” Pish advised.

“I know, I get discouraged some times. It’s been three weeks since the opening and I haven’t gotten any contracts or offers. I know it’s wrong, but that bothers me every now and then. The bakery is nice, but I do want to be doing something more fun.”

“Give it time, you spend a lot of time thinking on your life and what you want to happen, sometimes you need to sit back and let things happen as they will.” Posh said comfortingly.

“And try and see other ways you can help yourself and others, not just in work. Grace is about more than just being easy on yourself, it’s about being willing to accept new ways to live. Grace postulates that you don’t have to be doing paid work to have meaning, there’s a million ways to have relevance and meaning in everyday life.” Pish added. Rarity nodded.

“That makes sense, I’ll try that this week and tell you what I find.”

She saw it was late and rose to leave.

“Any time, I’m really happy to see you feeling like you have control of your life.” Posh said as he walked her to the door.

“Well I wouldn’t be where I am without you, so, thank you.” She said as she gave each a hug.

“Any time Rarity, you’re family to us.” Posh said as he hugged the unicorn.

Rarity had never known ponies like Pish and Posh. But she liked them.

The night was crisp and cool, and the wind made her walk quickly for home. New ways to show ponies grace, like being a friend to Applecrisp? She was already doing that though. She could do more, she could ask about Applecrisp’s problems and try and help out, that would be good. What other areas of her life could she find meaning in? Rarity had planned out a few ideas by the time she had gotten home. Grace was awesome.

Rarity walked carefully to the library, trying to avoid tripping on her prim blue dress. She hadn’t remembered her formal/flirty dress as being quite this long. Tonight was the first warm night of the week and she was glad for the lightness of the fabric, even if it did drag a little. Reaching the library, Rarity made certain she had not stepped in anything and that her dress hadn’t stained. Upon confirmation of cleanliness, she rang the doorbell and waited anxiously for her date to begin.

She hadn’t realized she would be this nervous. It was ironic, for all of her knowledge of men and seduction, Rarity had next to no real world experience with actually dating. Should she act like a friend? Maybe add some flirting, or some innuendos? Was Twilight home? Would she be dining with them? Rarity realized she was underdressed for dinner with the queen and began to panic; she looked back toward home, maybe she had time to change. The door opened, that new guard, Brute or whatever his name was frowned down at her.

“Rarity?” He asked shortly.

“That’s me.” She said with nervous confidance. He said nothing, but simply stepped aside. She cautiously walked past him. “Thank you.” She related to the tall Pegasus. He closed the door and shuffled off without another word. She felt unnaturally small in the giant library. A few tense seconds passed as she stood alone in the giant room. Had she gotten the wrong day? The door to the basement opened and stressed Spike appeared. He caught sight of her.

“Oh! Rarity! You, you’re here!” He shot a glance at the clock. “Oh shoot! I didn’t even notice it was six!” He had some grease on his claws, which he hastily wiped on his scales. “I’ll just be a minute, let me.” He leaped up onto the spiral staircase that ran along the wall. “Get cleaned up.” Rarity watched as he sprinted up the stairs and into Twilight’s room. In a few seconds, he called down. “I’m really sorry, I’ve never done this before, what should I wear to first date?” She laughed.

“Anything you want.” She heard him ransacking the cabinets and drawers. In a minute, he dashed back down the stairs. He was wearing an adorable black suit. Stopping before her, he made an elegant bow and took hold of one of her hooves. Kissing it politely, he motioned to the dining room. Rarity giggled, Spike was everything a gentleman should be. He seated her at the marble table.

“What would my lady like for dinner?” He asked graciously.

“Hmm, Neigharan salad sounds fine.” She giggled. He opened the refrigerator.

“Well, I’m afraid I don’t have that. But I could get you some fresh hay, or oats, or I could go to the market, see what they have there.” He offered. Rarity smiled.

“I don’t care what you have, just throw it on a plate and sit down beside me.”

“Of course my lady.” He said quickly.

Her nervousness faded somewhat, Spike was clearly as inexperienced at this as she was. It was a relief not to have to worry about impressing him. Rarity fervently hoped Twilight wouldn’t appear out of somewhere and complicate matters by adding royalty to the mixture. The dragon set a plate of hay and wildflowers before her.

“Is this ok?” He asked. “If not I can make something else.”

“Spike, it’s fine.” She said soothingly. He nodded and took a seat himself. He had a few diamonds on a small saucer.

“I’m sorry Rarity, I’ve never dated before, there’s probably a million things I need to know.” He said, wiping his brow.

“I feel the same way.” He looked at her in surprise.

“Really?” She chuckled.

“Yeah, I know, I never really dated anyone before today. All I know is basic stuff, like seduction and forcing marriages. I really don’t know the first thing about just having a date.”

“That makes me feel better.” He sighed and adjusted his collar. “Can we, maybe just try to act like friends, and that can be a date?” The dragon asked hopefully. She smiled and put her hoof into his claw.

“That’d be perfect.” She whispered. They ate for a few minutes.

“Is Twilight here?” Rarity asked as she ate the last of her hay. Spike shook his head.

“No, still off in Cantorlot. It’s just been me and Brutus.”

“What do you do all day?”

“Some bookwork, there’s always more filing to be done. Other times I read, or organize. Earlier I was working on some of Twilight’s machines.”

“Machines? What kind of machines?” Asked the unicorn curiously. Spike swallowed the last of his diamonds.

“I’ll show you if you’d like.”

The basement was lit by a single blue bulb that cast an icy glow over the bunker-like room. There were no cobwebs, and there was a slight hum in the air. Rarity followed Spike down the solid concrete steps. She had forgotten that there was a basement to the library.

“Most are unusable without Twilight’s crown, I can sorta work a few.” Spike explained. They reached the bottom of the stairs. They stood in a bare concrete room, about forty feet by forty feet. Arranged in a circular fashion, sat four or five metal cabinets. Spike led her to one. The front was a maze of dials and switches. A round black portal sat in the center of the machine.

“This one’s pretty boring, it only turned on for a second when we put it together. It’s like a radar or something, but Twilight’s never used it. Now this one.” He brought her over what appeared to be a basic printer. “This is something to write home about. Watch this.” Spike dialed in a number on the keypad atop the printer and in a moment, the machine predictably spat out a page covered in numbers. Rarity giggled.

“I’ve seen a printer before Spike.” He turned to her.

“One that can detect Princess Luna?”

“What?! How is that possible?” She asked in astonishment. He grinned.

“Well you see, the Princess gives off an energy signature, this machine picks up energy from all around. These numbers indicate what kind of energy.” He pointed to the page dangling from the mouth of the machine. “No threes.” He pretended to be serious. “If there were a three on this page, we’d both be in serious trouble.” She giggled.

“What’s so scary about Princess Luna? I mean, besides everything?” He became a bit more somber.

“Well, since she’s disappeared, the Senate voted to arrest her upon return to Equestria. It’s just a suspicion arrest, but it’s still scary.” Rarity felt her skin crawl, she hadn’t realized how serious it was that Luna had vanished after the Blast.

“What about all the other villains out there?” She asked, her fear now whetted. Spike pointed to the other machines.

“Well those two over there pick up Discord, but he’s in an underground statue garden right now. Chrysalis is undetectable, but Twilight says we don’t need to worry about her. That one picks up anything crystal related, but I can definitely say you don’t need to worry about Sombra ever again. Aaand the rest of these machines get readouts every now and then for Twilight on other stuff. They’re coded, and I’m just saving them for her when she gets back. That’s pretty much the long and short of it.” The giant metal boxes now scared Rarity, the thought of Luna and Chrysalis and Discord terrified her. She was surrounded by the possibility of tyranny.

“It must be scary thinking about those evil people all of the time.” She said softly. Spike shrugged.

“Not really. All of this looks really cool, but nothing ever happens, I wish I could tell you a story about how these machines went crazy one day, but it’s never happened.” He started back up the stairs. “Celestia did a good job, she got rid of most of the bad guys out there.” He paused. “Except for maybe her sister.” He said softly.

“Do you think she had a part in the Blast?” Rarity asked. Spike sighed.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it makes a lot of sense for her to disappear like she did.” Rarity nodded in agreement. Luna had always been a mysterious and somewhat sinister character to Equestria. “Hey! This is a date!” He said with a laugh. “What’s with all of this heavy stuff?” Rarity giggled.

“What do you have in mind mister Spike?” He thought for a second.

“Ice cream!”

It a bit of an awkward first date, first the momentary pondering of unspeakable evil and eternal enslavement, then a bowl of striped Neapolitan. But Rarity had fun. For about an hour, the two joked and talked like they always had. The pair were at ease with one another and the date, as it were, seemed to flow perfectly. Only at the door did things get a little awkward, Spike didn’t make any attempt to kiss her and only gave her a chaste hug.

“Well, thanks for coming Rarity.” He said giving her a proper embrace.

“I had a great time, thank you for inviting me.” She replied formally. A stillness settled, she had to remind him that this had been a date. Rarity lunged out and caught Spike around the neck. For a brief second they locked lips and she could feel the blood surging to his face. She released him and opened the door. The dragon swayed in blindsided affection.

“Give me a call some time.” She casually offered.

“Y-yeah, I will.” He dizzily replied.

The next day, her life officially returned to normal. She didn’t have any dates planned, she was all moved in, and there was no restaurant to fix up. Rarity was glazing some poppyseed muffins in the oven room, she felt alright. Life was still looking up, but she did feel a little stagnant. Applecrisp topped off her glaze bowl.

“So, Applecrisp, how’s it been going?” She asked her co-worker. She had remembered grace, life was about more than work. The Apple shrugged.

“Fahn, ain’t used t’the cold though.” Rarity nodded.

“Does it ever snow in Hayseed?” Applecrisp shook her head.

“’S always muggy.” Rarity wondered what perpetual mugginess would be like.

“So, how is your family? How often do they send you letters?” Rarity saw Applecrisp halt. She had asked the wrong question. “I’m sorry, I’m just asking random questions, I don’t mean to pry.” She added.

“Naw, yer good. They.” Applecrisp paused. “They ain’t sent me one inna whahl, ah’m not worried though, it’s gator season, an’ they pro’bly got their hooves full up.”

“How big is your family?”

“Just one, mah brother Thomas.” Rarity wondered what Applecrisp’s brother must be like. Sonny opened the door and looked in on them. He didn’t say anything, just looked them over.

“Y’need sumthin’ boss?” Applecrisp asked. He continued to study them.

“No, I, am going out.” He said, he looked like he was thinking about something else. “Rarity, please watch the shop. If Ana comes by.” He thought for a moment. “Tell her that I am at the hardware store, you do not know which one.” He added cryptically.

“Um, yeah, ok.” Rarity said.

“Good.” He nodded to them. “You are both good workers, continue your excellence.” He said in a peculiar appreciation. In a second he left.

Rarity turned to Applecrisp.

“The hell was that?” She asked. Applecrisp chuckled.

“Sonny’s gettin’ screwed from both sahds. That bitch a’his ain’t gonna let him hire nopony, but he’s gonna have a helluva time tellin’ that Cake guy t’fuck off.”

“What? What does Mr. Cake have to do with this?” Rarity asked in confusion. Applecrisp shrugged.

“He’s been pokin’ ‘round here, all those days you were gone at yer other job, he was in here having coffee with Sonny, think he was tryin’ t’get a job.”

“Ok yeah, that’s bullshit.” Rarity scoffed. “Ponyville would go to hell before it let Sugarcube Corner close.” She laughed and opened the door. “He’s probably trying to get Sonny to carry his cupcakes, maybe hire out Pinkie as a salespony.”

She shook her head in disbelief as she took her position at the register. Sugarcube Corner was not closing. For the rest of the day, she tried to guess the real reason for Mr. Cakes’ apparent business negotiations with Mr. Salukas. He was here to sell cupcakes, he was here to try and buy out the Lone Star, he was here to try and unload Pinkie Pie; that last one was the most logical.

Sonny didn’t return until the end of her shift. He thanked her for watching the front and said nothing else. Rarity was intensely curious about the negotiations as she left that night. Sugarcube Corner and the Lone Star weren’t fierce competitors, both were doing fine financially, so why would Mr. Cake want to talk to Sonny? Pinkie Pie was probably the source of the problem, either her or Sugarcube. She walked toward her tower, her head swimming with possibilities.

“Rarity?” Rarity considered the possibility that thinking about Pinkie too much made her appear. She sighed and turned around.

“Yeah?” Pinkie Pie stood in the street behind her. She wasn’t smiling and her blue eyes were wide and wondering; Rarity was afraid that maybe she had walked in on the Cakes doing the nasty. Wait, where the hell was that yellow one that had hit her with the chair?

“Sugarcube is in bed.” Pinkie said, as if she knew Rarity’s next question. “I know you don’t like her that much.” Rarity blinked, what did Pinkie want?

“Uh, yeah, what’s up?” Pinkie Pie continued to stare at her without saying anything. Rarity became intensely uncomfortable standing with the solemn pink mare. “Do you need something Pinkie?” Party pony stared at her for another moment.

“You’re my friend, right?” She asked quietly.

“Yeah, we’re, friends.” Friends had a lot of meanings, Rarity was sure that wasn’t a complete lie.

“Do you mean that?” Pinkie asked softly. Rarity sighed.

“Yeah, I do Pinkie.”

“You’ve been avoiding me all summer.” Pinkie said innocently. Fucking shit, she had known that Pinkie would eventually notice.

Rarity herself wasn’t sure as to why Pinkie had suddenly become annoying. After she had heard of the news of Celestia and Fluttershy’s death, Pinkie had suddenly become the most maddening pony in all of Ponyville. Her jokes and parties were now enraging and grating and Rarity wanted nothing to do with her. Rarity held nothing personal against Pinkie Pie, she was just fucking annoying.

“I’m sorry Pinkie, I’ve just been under a lot of stress you know? My business closed and I lost everything, it’s been rather tough to get back on my hooves.” Rarity attempted to explain.

“But you’re my friend?” Pinkie asked with the same wavering voice. Rarity sighed.

“Yes Pinkie Pie, I am your friend.” Pinkie Pie nodded.

“Ok.” She looked into Rarity’s eyes and for a split second, Rarity felt as if it were Rainbow Dash standing before her. Pinkie’s clear blue eyes mirrored Dash’s, for an instant, Rarity felt a disturbing sense of familiarity.

“That’s all I wanted to hear.” The pink mare turned and started back down the street. Rarity watched her for a few seconds, she shook her head and made for home.

The rest of the week was pretty boring, Mr. Salukas continued to take more trips to the “hardware store” and Rarity watched up front. It was Friday afternoon, Rarity was thinking about what she should bring to Applecrisp’s as she watched the front end. A few customers came through the store and Applecrisp was in the back baking some sweet rolls. It was a sleepy fall day, brisk and cold outside, but warm and cozy in the brick bakery. Rarity was slumped over the counter when the back door slammed. She quickly pulled herself to attention as Mrs. Salukas strode into the bakery.

“Where is my husband?” The foreboding mare demanded.

“The hardware store.” Rarity promptly responded. Ana glowered at her, as if she were trying to spot deception. She walked carefully over to the counter.

“Which hardware store?” The brown mare asked suspiciously.

“I don’t know, he just said he was going to the hardware store.” Rarity offered. Ana watched her for another second.

“Go. And tell the other one.” Ana said. “We are closed, come back tomorrow.”

“What?”

“Go. We are closed today.” Ana said crossly. “Am I not speaking clearly?” It took Rarity a moment to see that she was serious. The unicorn stepped away from the counter. Ana waited for her. Rarity stuck her head into the oven room.

“Um, Applecrisp? We’re closed today. You.” She looked back, Ana was watching her. She actually meant to close the bakery. “Want grab some beers and head to your place?” Applecrisp looked up from her work.

“Uh, yeah, lemme finish this.”

“Leave, now.” Ana called to her. Applecrisp emerged from the oven room, her hooves were white with flour. “Do not return until tomorrow. Do not tell my husband I have closed the store.” Ana advised as she led them outside. She slammed the door behind them.

Applecrisp looked at Rarity.

“The fuck was that?” She asked.

“I have no idea.” Rarity said in uncertainty. “But we should not be here when Sonny gets back from the hardware store or wherever he is.”

“Ya’ll want to head over to my place early?” Applecrisp suggested.

“Sure!” They left the bakery, a sense of impending doom stained the air as Rarity took another look at the building. She had no idea what was going on with the Salukas’, if it had something to do with Mr. Cake, or if it had anything to do with Pinkie. All Rarity knew was that she did not want to be at the bakery when Sonny returned.

“S’you moved into the clock tower?” Applecrisp asked as they walked down Mane Street.

“Yup.” Rarity laughed. “Cheapest place I could find.”

“Ain’t nuthin’ wrong with that. When ah first moved here, ah got mah ass kicked by the rent. Didn’t know Ponyville was prime land.”

Rarity snorted.

“Yeah, they jacked up the property taxes to pay for the remodeling to the train station. That was one of the things that killed my business.”

“Ain’t nuthin’ more offensive than an overreachin’ government.” Applecrisp surmised. They walked through the town. They crossed the bridge that lead out to the expanse of fields. Rarity looked around, there weren’t any houses out here that she could see. Where did Applecrisp live?

“This way.” Applecrisp lead her along the bank of the stream. “Yeah, ah got pretty fed up with normal housin’ like ya’ll.” She stopped and pointed upward. “Guess great minds think alahk.” They had stopped at the dam.

Atop the hydroelectric dam that powered the town sat a control room; being a control room and not a proper home, it had always been vacant. Applecrisp pointed to a ladder that led up the side of the dam. She did not live in the dam’s control room, that was absurd. Rarity followed her up the ladder. At the top sat a grey metal door emblazoned with a crimson warning skull advising fillies and colts to avoid the electrical hazard. Applecrisp produced a key and unlocked the door. Rarity followed her into the control room. It was a tiny room, maybe twenty feet by ten feet. Of course it was tiny, it was a control room, not a living space. True to description, there were two rows of control panels that ran through the room. A few knobs and levels stood out on the panels and about twenty LED lights blinked rhythmically. Applecrisp could not live here.

“Make yerself at home.” Applecrisp said as she tossed her keys onto a chair. Rarity saw a small card table on the other side of the room, a plate and fork, along with a mug sat atop the table. There was a butane stove and another chair, some bread and hay sat under the chair. Rarity saw a blanket and a small blue pillow lumped up on the floor. Applecrisp really did live here.

“Yup.” Applecrisp said, watching Rarity look her home over. “Not a fahv star hotel, but it does.” She reached under the control panel. “Here, this makes it look better.” She tossed Rarity a bottle of cider.

“Heh, never thought to check the price of this place.” Rarity said as she twisted the cap off of the brown bottle. Applecrisp took a swig and nodded.

“Yeah, it set me back ‘bout three grand, but ah don’t have t’worry about roaches, just an asshole once a month who comes and checks the dials and screws mah bed up.” Rarity chuckled.

“So, does the noise of the dam keep you up a night?”

“It did, back home there ain’t no noise at nahght ‘cept the peepers. But ah got used to it, ah got used to a lotta things since ah came here.” Applecrisp took a sip of cider.

“So why’d you move here?” Rarity asked. Applecrisp took another draught of her cider.

“Tha’s a long story.” Applecrisp said with a sigh. “Git me drunk an’ ya’ll might hear it.”

“Haha ok, I get you.” Rarity said casually; she knew better than to press Applecrisp on a subject she did not freely speak of. “Anyway, what do you think of us closing today?” Rarity asked lightly.

“Whut the fuck, ah can’t just piss everypony off.” Applecrisp said lobbing the bottle out the open door. She dropped her hooves into her lap and looked up at the unicorn. “Rarity, ah’m gonna be honest with ya’ll. Ah trah an’ not, but seen’s how ya’ll been betterin’ yerself’ an’ bein’ all honest with me, seems like ah can do the same.” She picked up the cap to her bottle and flipped it into the air. “Ah came here t’make sumthin’ outta mahself, y’probly know that.” She chuckled. “Y’kin probly tell ah ain’t the most sociable pony out there. Pro’bly make mah lahf better if ah made some friends.” She mused. “Anyway, ah came t’Ponyville t’make sumthin’ outta mahself.” She tossed the cap in the air. “Ah.” Her shoulders dropped and she thought for a second. “Ah ain’t got much in the way of fam’ly. My parents died when ah was a filly, alls ah got’s mah brother Thomas. Anyway, we did what everypony in Hayseed does, hunt gators.” She sighed. “But Thomas, well he thought ah’d be better off goin’ an’ makin’ sumthin’ outta mahself, somethin’ more refahned. Ah picked Ponyville cause ah could get a round trip if things didn’t work out.” She explained.

“Ok.” Rarity said softly. “I get you.”

“Yeah just ya’ll at that.” Applecrisp said bitterly. “Ah don’t really hate anypony, but ah don’t like none neither. Everypony ‘round here is either a moron or fuckin’ big eyed. That rainbow pony y’hired, Gawd ahlmahty if ah didn’t want t’smack her fer’ bein sucha little miss perfect hooves.” She shook her head. “Ah dunno, ah just can’t understand anypony. Yer the first pony that ah really git, or ah think ah git.” She sighed again and took out another bottle.

“Yeah, I get what you mean about Ponyville. The ponies here are sometimes really hard to get and I haven’t been too good about getting along with them either.” Rarity offered.

“Saw ya getting’ friendly with that red Pegasus.” Applecrisp said with a rough laugh.

“Heh, well, he turned out to be a bit of a douche, so yeah.” Rarity paused. “I do have a few friends, Rainbow Dash, I get why you don’t like her, she’s different, she had some stuff happen to her and that makes her a bit hard to understand some times. As far as the rest of my friends go, it’s really just you and Applejack.” Applecrisp drank some cider.

“Fuckin’ Applejack.” The blue mare said darkly. Rarity hesitated, she decided to ask Applecrisp.

“Look, what’s your problem with her?” Rarity asked bluntly. Applecrisp took another draught of liquor.

“She’s a spineless soulless cunt, tha’s about it. She thinks she’s above me.” Applecrisp threw her bottle across the room, it shattered loudly against the metal wall. The brownish liquid splattered across the grey surface and trickled down the wall. “Ah’m a loser an’ ah work at a bakery, but ah ain’t beneath her. Not after the things her clan’s done.” The blue mare said, her voice wavering with animosity.

“What do you mean?” Rarity asked.

“She looks down on Thomas an’ me, our whole fam’ly. Her clan of apple-growin’ famers think they’re better ponies ‘cause they don’t hunt gators. Bunch a pretentious shitbags, alla them.” Applecrisp said hatefully.

“Applejack really doesn’t say anything about your life, she just badmouths you like you do with her.” Rarity said quietly. Applecrisp snorted.

“Jus’ ask her ‘bout gators, she’ll become a rahght animal lover. Jus’ ask her ‘bout mah Cutie Mark an’ hers. An’ nao that her farm’s taken off, she’s more fulla herself than ever.” Applecrisp kicked the chair over. It struck the control panel opposite the room and fell with a clatter. “Well it ain’t mah fault nopony gives awards for killin’ gators.” The Apple pony muttered. They sat in the control room for a couple of minutes, listening to the soft roar of the water beneath them.

“I’m sorry about everything.” Rarity said gently. “But I’m glad you’re here, you’re a good friend. You’re a smart pony, what’s your plan for the future?” Applecrisp shrugged.

“Dunno, was sorta figurin’ on makin’ some money, maybe bringin’ Thomas up here. Ah gotta fahnd another investment opportunity.” She looked toward the mess on the wall. “Ah’m sorry, ah’m not a very social pony, ah ain’t never had a friend past a teddy bear and Thomas.” She knelt over the broken bottle and started picking up the shattered pieces. Rarity walked over and helped her.

“Hey, you’re my friend, you’re a good friend. You and I, we have a lot in common, you know?” She said to the swamp pony.

“Ain’t nopony payin’ me t’fix up a restaurant.” Applecrisp remarked sarcastically.

“Look, you’ll make it work, you’re a smart pony, just give it some time.” Rarity said reassuringly. Applecrisp shrugged.

“Maybe ah will.”

Rarity helped Applecrisp clean up the mess. She walked home afterward. The wind was cold now, fall was fully arrived and Rarity was glad for her warm tower.

She thought about Applecrisp as she walked home. She felt sorry for the lonely blue mare; Rarity wished she could help her more. She passed the Straw Purchase. Grace, she had forgotten grace. Rarity sighed, how had she forgotten grace? It had been a perfect opportunity to give her friend some helpful advice. What had she said? She had tried to instill confidence in Applecrisp, and let her know she had a friend. Rarity smiled, that was probably grace; she had given grace and not even known it. She spent the rest of the walk home and all of her time until bed pondering other times she might have given grace without knowing it.

Rarity knew she had to pay Rainbow Dash back for her painting, she packed her saddlebag full of cookies along with some of her bath salts and headed out for the little Pegasus’ home after work. Sonny had watched the front today and Ana had not been around. Rarity and Applecrisp hadn’t asked any questions and Sonny hadn’t given any indication that anything had happened. It was weird, the Lone Star was the most drama-devoid place Rarity could imagine, and now it was full of apparent secrecy and hidden strife. That was another thing to talk to Dash about; Rarity had decided that her display of grace to Dash would come in form of supporting her and just being her friend.

She knocked on the door of the little cottage and took a deep breath of the fall air. Per norm, it took Rainbow Dash a few minutes to answer and Rarity waited outside savoring the beautiful fall night.

The door creaked open.

“Rarity! Good to see you! What are you here for?” Asked the blue Pegasus cheerfully.

“I wanted to hang out and you know I don’t like making plans.” Rarity joked.

“Well come in!” Rarity stepped inside. The entire room was clean. Sterile was a better descriptor actually. The walls were spotless, the white paint was unblemished like snow, the grey fabric of the sofa was pressed and unstained; even the dirt floor was packed down and impossibly swept.

“Whoa, going OCD?” Rarity asked with a laugh. Rainbow Dash smiled.

“Just a little bored, I never kept my cloud clean.” She looked around. “I guess I went a bit overboard.” Rarity ran a hoof over the mantle, it returned to her covered in a light layer of wood oil.

“You can never go overboard with cleaning and I wish Applejack could understand that.” Rainbow Dash giggled and hopped onto the sofa.

“So what’s up?” Rarity tossed her the saddlebag.

“All yours. I know you didn’t want to be paid for that menu painting and I don’t mind not giving out money.” Dash opened the bag and peered inside. “There’s some bath salts in there, drop those in a bath and your body will feel like it will on your wedding night.” Rarity said with a grin. “Just don’t eat ‘em or they’ll turn you into a zombie.” She added. Rainbow Dash stood and hugged her.

“Oh Rarity! Thank you, but you didn’t have to pay me! It was great helping you out, and I got some painting practice!” Rarity laughed.

“Practice or not, that was a shit ton of painting, how the hell did you even stay up that late?” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“I stay up a lot.”

“Well shit, you must be really good at painting by now. I mean, your work on the sign was better than mine for God’s sake. How is the model?”

“You want to see it?” Rainbow Dash asked eagerly.

“Absolutely!” Rainbow Dash led her into the kitchen, she had clearly been waiting to show her work off. It was great to see her excited over something. A smile from Rainbow Dash was worth a lot to Rarity.

A white canvas covered the model, and Rainbow Dash’s violet eyes shone with excitement as she took hold of a corner of the cloth.

“Go for it.” Rarity prompted. The cloth cascaded down the wooden buildings. Rarity gasped. Rainbow Dash blushed and stepped back in self-consciousness.

“I still have some parts to smooth out.” She quickly explained.

The model was, in a word, perfect. Ponyville, an exact likeness of it anyway, sat in miniaturized form before Rarity. Every single building, Rarity made a quick count, at least thirty, was on the ten foot board. The streets were painted in the correct mixture of cobblestone and gravel. The alleyways were detailed and complete with the accurate trash cans and graffiti. Her own tower, Rarity realized, held details that she herself had not noticed. The entirety of the work was breathtaking, to the point of being encyclopedic on the details of Ponyville.

“Do you like it?” Dash asked anxiously.

“Rainbow Dash, this, I don’t even, I mean.” Rarity looked at her in disbelief. “How in the hell did you ever find out what Ponyville looks like? I mean.” She pointed to a random sidestreet. “This, how did you find out what this little street between the doctor’s and this apartment looked like?”

“I surveyed it.” The Pegasus said in embarrassment.

“All of it, all of Ponyville.” Rarity said in disbelief. Rainbow Dash blushed.

“I have a lot of free time now.” Rarity shook her head and took another look at the model.

“God, Dash, you have a LOT of talent with painting. And model building, and whatever else it takes to make a scale model of something. This is amazing.”

“Well, there isn’t a lot for me to do, so it’s good to find something to occupy my time.” Rarity couldn’t believe the magnitude of the model, or that Rainbow Dash had actually put the time in to make it. As proud of her as she was, Rarity still had trouble comprehending how the little Pegasus had created the work.

“Oh! I forgot to tell you the best part!” Rainbow Dash said suddenly. “I got a letter from Scootaloo!”

“Really! What did she say? How is she doing?” Rarity asked excitedly. Rainbow Dash pulled a parchment from the cupboard above her.

“Well, it says that she’s doing great in Las Pegasus, she says she’s found work at the Hoof and Halter. She doesn’t have her Cutie Mark yet. But she is making a few thousand bits a week and she loves what she does.”

“A few thousand bits a week?! Without a Cutie Mark?! How is that possible?!” Rarity demanded. Rainbow Dash gave the letter to Rarity. She read the entire document.

Dash had been serious, Scootaloo the filly was making a few thousand bits a week. There was also a line that Rainbow Dash hadn’t mentioned.

“She wants to see you.” Rarity said. Rainbow Dash looked away.

“Yeah, I read that part.” The Pegasus said softly. Rarity set the letter down on the counter.

“Do you want to see her?” Asked the unicorn.

“Yeah, of course I do.” Rainbow Dash answered.

“Do you want to go to Las Pegasus?” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“No, I can’t go.” The room grew still. “Oh! I found a place to donate my wings. Well, kinda, there was a Pegasus born without wings in Cantorlot. They say they can take my wings and attach them to him. The doctors are still working out the operation, but if it works out, I can have the operation here in town by the end of the month.” The unicorn’s stomach turned, Rainbow Dash donating her wings, that did not sit right with her.

“Uh, are you sure?” The white pony asked carefully. Rainbow Dash nodded.

“Yep, it took me a while to come around to the idea.” She gave her wings a flutter. “But these are weak and gathering dust with me. If I keep them they’re just going to skeletonize without use and I’ll lose them anyway. You helped me make with the decision actually.” Rarity felt her nausea surge, she didn’t want to be responsible for Rainbow Dash having her wings removed, not matter how happy the Pegasus was about it.

“How, er, what do you mean?” She asked uneasily.

“You’re getting on with your life.” Dash smiled. “Rarity, you’re doing design work, even if it’s not what you used to do, you’re doing something you’re good at. When I got home after we tried to clean up Fluttershy’s cottage, I took a long look at myself in the mirror. I realized that even though you’re happy with who you are, it’s not who you were before the Blast. Well, it’s the same with me. I’m not the daredevil Pegasus Wonderbolt wannabe I was. I.” she frowned. “I’m Rainbow Dash. Just like how you aren’t old Rarity or new Rarity, you’re just Rarity. I’m finding that there’s a lot I like to do now, and a lot I don’t like to do. But one of the most important things is that I do some good. I lived my life very selfishly, and I want to be a good pony. Giving my wings away is something that I hope can mean something.” She sighed and gave her wings another flutter. “The Blast changed me a lot, in a way, it was a good thing that I lost my desire to fly, it made me stop obsessing over myself.” She looked at her model. “I don’t know what I want to do with my life, but I want it to be good. This model, I think what I like most about it is that it’s not me, I could never have done something like this before the Blast. I would have been too busy trying to learn a new trick to impress Spitfire or Soarin’.” She sighed. “I really feel bad about not being able to see Scoot, but, well, it’s more important that I do some good with my life, and that’s something that I can do.”

What to say? Rarity had no idea what to say. What could grace do, what could grace change for the better? As she looked at the shy little Pegasus, Rarity realized what grace could do: it could accept Rainbow Dash for who she was.

“You’re a great pony Dash.” Rarity hugged the blue pony. “I don’t know what to say, I really didn’t think that I could inspire anypony. I’m proud of you, you’re, well, you’re really morally minded, which is a damn sight better than me. The model, helping me out, being my friend, keeping me from fucking my life up, Dash, you’re already doing a lot of good things. I don’t really feel comfortable with you donating your wings, but I accept it. I want you to know that I accept you, whoever you turn out to be.” Rainbow Dash clutched Rarity. She sniffed and Rarity felt the warmth of tears against her.

“Thank you Rarity. You keep me here a lot. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” The two hugged for a few moments. The light outside was fading and the early fall night descended.

“Hey, did I tell you I’m dating Spike?” Rarity asked after a bit.

“Really?” Rainbow Dash asked in confusion. “But I thought you said you didn’t love him.” Rarity smiled sheepishly.

“Well, I finally came around. After we finished the work at the Straw Purchase, I kissed him.” She started to blush with the memory. “I know I can be happy with him.”

“Good for you!” Rainbow Dash said happily. “I’m so happy for you, he’s a great guy! Do you think you’ll get married?” Rarity shrugged.

“Well, it has crossed my mind. After we kissed, I finally realized how much he really means to me. We’ve only been on like one date, but I really really like him, it makes so much sense you know? He’s such a gentleman. But I suppose I should wait and see. It’s been a crazy past few months.”

“Yeah.” Dash said softly. Neither spoke for a few minutes and Rarity realized it was growing late.

“I oughta go.” She said. Dash nodded. The Pegasus walked her friend to the door.

“Thank you for coming by!” she called as Rarity embarked out into the darkness.

“Any time Dash.”

Rarity walked home under the stars that were beginning to appear in the black sky. She had inspired Rainbow Dash. How had that been possible? She pondered this; it seemed impossible that she was anything more than a self-obsessed friend to Dash. Yet somehow, she had inspired the Pegasus to live a better life. Somehow Dash had learned something from her. Yet Rarity still felt a twinge of sickness when she thought of Dash without wings. She ought to remember to bring that up with Pish and Posh.