Rarity slowly opened her eyes in delight. There was no alarm clock, there was no eager customer banging on her door and no foals running around the Carousel Boutique. Oh, how she missed all of this.
It must have been at least a year since she was able to sleep in. Usually she was woken up in the middle of the night just to be asked for a glass of water or way too early just to be invited to a game of hide and seek. But not today. Today, tranquility ruled the house. She was all alone. She wanted this. She needed this. She deserved this.
She shifted in her bed, curling into a ball in attempt to get even more sleep. This was her day, after all.
No luck.
Rarity groaned. All this time she desired to sleep in, now that she had every opportunity to do so, she couldn’t. Instead, she looked around the room. There was something wrong and she couldn’t put her hoof on it.
Everything was perfectly cleaned and in order. The floor had been washed sparkly clean, the windows were completely spotless and even the stack of clothes were neatly arranged by the color spectrum. Even the drapes, which were scratched by Opal just a day before, were replaced.
Everything was perfect. But that didn’t put Rarity’s mind at ease. She was still anxious. Even with all the effort that she and Applejack put into cleaning everything, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was still something wrong. Something missing. Something out of place.
She caught herself thinking about Applejack, and she couldn’t help herself but smile.
Applejack. One of the least likely ponies that Rarity thought she could fell in love with. And yet, she was her close friend. True; they both had their squabbles here and there, but they helped each other when there was need. And slowly but surely, their friendship deepened and they’ve both let it grew into something more.
The aftermath of the gala was responsible for all. A little bit of drink and a little bit of tease ended up with a kiss. Their first kiss. Rarity’s face was now glowing in red tint, just like it did back then. She’d never forget it.
There was no use of trying to get back to sleep. Her mind tricked her into thinking that there was a pair of orange hooves wrapped around her chest and a soft muzzle breathing warm air onto her neck.
If this had been real, Rarity would have gently opened her lover’s hooves and sneak away into the kitchen and back with a tray of warm goodies, before Applejack woke up. She would nuzzle back into warm hooves and latch to the orange chest, nudging and nuzzling its owner to leave her dream land.
Instead, Rarity sighed. There were no orange hooves that she would awake to. It was nothing more than a white sheet wrapped around her. Even the color didn’t match.
Disappointed, Rarity yawned and slowly headed to the kitchen.
Even the kitchen was perfect. Counters and dishes were absolutely spotless. The floor had been polished, the windows has been washed meticulously and even Opal had been thoroughly cleaned.
It just couldn’t be better.
And yet, there was something wrong. She felt it in here as well... Just like in her bedroom, there was a feeling of something being out of place. The kitchen was usually filled with giggles and screams from one of the fillies. Either Sweetie Belle or one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, or, more recently, the ones from her own foal.
Her foal. No. Their foal. Sonya.
Rarity mused. Sonya Apple. Such a strange name for an earth pony with navy blue mane and darker shade of orange coat than Applejack. Strange, but fitting. Especially the way she came around.
Just one night. Nothing more than a slip. An experiment. An unintended burst of magic and a few of her cells was all it took to conceive a new life.
She wished she could see Twilight having a field day, jumping around Applejack and asking all sorts of awkward questions of how this happened. But she was so engulfed in her career, that she missed it all.
And yet, she wouldn’t trade her moments she spent with her foal for anything. All the little squabbles, all the little teases, all the childish endeavours; it brought nothing but a smile on her lips.
Rarity shook her head to snap out of her reverie. A steaming mug of coffee on the kitchen counter already waited in front of her, ready to be devoured.
“Now work, Rarity,” she tried to convince herself. “You asked for this day alone for a reason. Now that everypony is away for the day, this will be a sinch.”
She took a sip of the bitter-sweet liquid just before entering her creative room.
It looked like a mixture of earthquake and hurricane struck it at the same time. Pieces of colorful fabric were lying around the floor along with discarded pieces of paper, featuring failed scribbles of her designs. Some ponyquines were slanted or lying on the floor, covered with even more fabric. The walls were practically invisible since they were all covered with more pictures of her own designs and those from fashion magazines.
This room was hers as much as it was her. Calm and neat on the outside and chaotic and creative on the inside.
Rarity took another swig from her mug, #1 mom scribbled on it with slanted letters. Mouth writing of her five year old daughter.
She took another look around the Discord room as it was dubbed by Applejack, quickly skimming the scribbles on the walls. And even if this was her room and her room alone, more and more scribbles from the filly started to appear on the walls. From simple color blobs to stick-figures of the family, started to get more and more common.
Taking another sip, Rarity took another step forward and looked one of her daughter’s pictures. It depicted Rarity, Applejack and Sonya in a group hug while Opal and Winona were fighting on the side.
She laughed.
Her mug floated on the nearby table, again completely filled with more fabric and scribbles of failed designs.
“Now work,” she muttered to herself. “You’re already behind your schedule.”
She closed her eyes and let her own creative juices flowing. For somepony of her statue, this would be nothing. A walk in the park. It’s just another line. One of many she had already created.
Nothing.
“Oh, come on!” she growled.
She looked to the wall again, now desperate for the spark of inspiration she needed, but still nothing ignited in her mind. No color flow, no patterns, nothing.
“I’m sure I'll think of something good,” she muttered to herself, while her magic floated random threads and colored fabric from the shelves.
~*~*~
Rarity fell asleep behind the work table. Her head was resting on a set of colorful fabric, a sewing machine just inches from her muzzle. She could have sworn that somepony was tapping her nose just to wake her up.
She slowly opened her eyes, just to see a muddy filly still trying to wake her up and get her attention.
“Hi, mom!” the filly chirped.
“Sonya, how many times do I have to tell you that—”
Rarity jumped onto her hooves. “Idea!” she sang.
Her horn glowed in magic as well as a set of matching color fabric which now floated in the air. Another branch of her magic now also engulfed her previous design, consisting of toxic green and random orange spots. It could be one of the worst designs she ever made in her long career. It could be even worse than the fiasco with her friend’s gala dresses.
No. It was probably worse.
She quickly turned her head to the running and screaming filly, that wanted to do nothing more than run away from the still-wiggling monstrosity of mismatched colors.
It was definitely worse. Much, much worse.
Moments after the filly fled the room, an orange mare slowly and quietly approached Rarity, that was now engulfed in her work.
“Good morning, Sugarcube,” Applejack spoke sweetly and softly. “Ah thought ya were going to be done yesterday with this.”
“I thought so too,” Rarity murmured in response. “But no matter how much I tried, everything came out horribly.” Her magic engulfed her discarded design from the bin, wiggling it in the air. “Like that.”
Applejack tilted her head in disbelief. Even she knew that this color combination is really horrible. She shook her head and giggled. “Now Ah know, why Sonya ran away.”
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Rarity grunted. “I just couldn’t think straight. And if you think that this is bad... I tried to put my coffee mug in the fireplace and I neatly folded my best dress into the trash bin.” She paused for a moment, spending all that time looking directly into Applejack’s eyes. “But the moment I saw Sonya, I knew what I wanted to make. Inspiration struck me.”
“...”
“It’s simple, Applejack. She inspires me. You inspire me... You always did. Ever since that night. You two were inspirations for my greatest and most successful designs.” Rarity hung her head. “I guess I just needed a day alone to realize that.”
"Ah could told ya that myself," Applejack mused. "Ah'm just gonna leave ya so ya can work."
Rarity turned towards Applejack, stealing a short and soft kiss from her. "I think that work can wait for a minute or two, Applejack.” She closed her eyes and leaned her muzzle on Applejack’s, speaking softly, “My inspiration. My muse. "
