Regret

"U-um, e-excuse me,miss...?" A soft voice asked

Rarity looked up from her sewing machine and saw a very pretty young lady in a pale yellow dress."Yes?" She smiled.

"Could..uh....I need a new dress.." She said quietly.

"Ah, you've come to the right place." Rarity stood up and walked over to the pink-haired girl."I'm Rarity, you?" She said, leading her to the back to take measurements.

"F-Fluttershy..."

"Excuse me?"

"I-I'm Fluttershy." She said, hiding half of her face behind her long hair.

"That's a pretty name. Do you have any preferences for the dress? Color style,anything?" Rarity asked.

"Not really.." She said.

"Are you sure?"

"Well,I like pale greens and yellows...." She said, looking at the ground.

Rarity smiled."What do you need the dress for, exactly?"

Fluttershy looked up, her hair covering half of her face."W-Well, it's,um...It's for a-a party...uh..It's my birthday tomorrow."

"Well,happy early birthday."

<<>>

After Rarity had the measurements, she began to make the dress, telling Fluttershy it would be ready in 3 hours-6:00pm.

Normally, she'd have a customer pick up the requested clothing a day or two later, but Fluttershy needed it now.Besides,she knew how important it was to look good at a party.She had to go to one the next day,too, actually. A girl named Pinkie Pie had invited her. They weren't very close friends, but they talked occasionally.

She was sewing the dress when a crash from the living room broke her train of thought.'Must be Opal, or Sweetie Belle....' She thought.

A hiss came from the living room, followed by a panicked "Rarity!"

She sighed.'Or both.'

She got up and walked towards the living room.It had a fluffy white couch,a black recliner, and several paintings from numerous artists, some of which were on the floor.

"Oh,my...Whatever happened, Sweetie Belle?" She looked at the small 11 year old who was smiling sheepishly.

"I might have made Opal mad..and he just might have chased me around the room.Oh and I might have tripped.A lot."

Rarity sighed."Okay...Well, I'm busy right now, so..ugh,clean this up,please."

"Okay." She agreed.

Rarity forced a smile, and went to return to her work.

She began to hum while she worked,thinking about Fluttershy.'Hmm...what would look best on her?Certainly something made for a narrow body frame.....pale greens and yellows.Perhaps....yes,a flower right here...a bit of ribbon here...ah,that looks perfect!' She was smiling,working happily,completely focused on her work.So focused,in fact,that she didn't notice the phone next to her ringing.Or Opal batting her paw at it from a shelf,either,so imagine her surprise when an irritated Opal leaped onto the dress,leaving huge tears all across the hips.

"Opal!" Rarity shouted,angry and surprised at the same time. She picked up the phone.

"Rarity?" It was her mother.

"Yes,mom?" She asked, keeping the worry out of her voice.

"We're coming to pick up Sweetie Belle, tell her to get packed."

Rarity held on a sigh."Yes, mother." After a few minutes of talking, she said bye and hung up.

"SWEETIE BELLE, PACK UP!" She called.

"OKAY!" Sweetie said, her voice cracking. Rarity looked at the time.

It was 5:55. Five minutes to fix the dress.Maybe less."Ugh...." She began to quickly sew it back,occasionally using glue.

She knew that using glue certainly wasn't the smartest decision,but that crossed her mind a bit too late.As she finished,the bell hanging from the door rung,telling Rarity a customer had arrived.More specifically,Fluttershy. Rarity stepped back to look at the finished dress,a pale green short-sleeved dress made of delicate fabric that shimmered in the light,with a black belt that had a small pink butterfly stitched onto it.

Rarity gulped.Only an expert could see where the rips were,but anything could happen.'Oh,Rarity,stop..you're being paranoid...' She chuckled and grabbed the dress gently,hanging it on a hanger and covering it with a large,clear plastic bag.

"Hello, darling!" Rarity smiled, greeting Fluttershy.

The latter smiled back slightly at her as Opal strolled into the room. "You have a cat!" Fluttershy said in a loud tone-at least, it was loud compared to how quiet she normally was.

"No, dear, don't-!" She tried warning Fluttershy about the cat's habit of scratching at strangers, but oddly, Opal just purred and rubbed against Fluttershy while she was petting Opal.

"What?" Fluttershy smiled.

"It's just...Well, Opal normally doesn't take kindly to people she hasn't met, or anyone, really."

Fluttershy giggled. "Her? But she's so sweet!"

Rarity swore she saw Opal grin like the Chesire Cat. "Yeah..yeah, okay. Anyways," She said, grabbing the dress. "Here's the dress."

"Oh, and, um, how much is it?" Fluttershy asked.

Rarity dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "Free! Take it as a birthday gift. It's fine, really."