Sunday.
Rarity collapsed onto the couch, exhausted. All afternoon, she and the Rainbooms had been busy working on their song for the school's musical showcase. Her fingers were still aching from playing keytar for so long, but it was worth it for her friends. After all, who better to share such a gift with.
Of course, her effort was currently divided between them and the Ponytones. Named off of a variation of the school mascot, they had been working on a few a cappella pieces since the summer and were excited to finally be able to perform for the school. They had a lot of last minute work, but she figured it'd work out in the end.
Her mind wandered away from music as she grabbed the remote. The TV flickered on, tuning to one of her favorite shows. She kicked her feet up, covered herself in a blanket and waited for her parents to get home.
The tranquility lasted for about an hour before it was disturbed by Sweetie Belle and her friends rushing through the living room. They were dressed in those gaudy costumes that Sweetie had made for them; skintight leather jumpsuits with tacky colors. Rarity had offered to make them costumes, but they had declined. Their loss.
As she drowsily rose from the couch, she was startled awake by the off-key wailings and ridiculously loud instruments of their band. They had decided to join in on the showcase, much to the dismay of Rarity's ears. She made another mental note to smash their guitars.
The Crusaders, as they called themselves, weren't going to stop anytime soon, so Rarity decided to make the best of this time by trying to come up with some show costumes for the Rainbooms. All week she had been trying to figure out the best look for them, but nothing seemed to be working for her. It didn't help that she couldn't think of anything to go with pony ears. She grabbed her sketchbook and got to work.
Monday.
Rarity woke up to Sweetie Belle screeching out some noise that vaguely resembled singing. Irritated by the interruption of her beauty sleep, she shouted, "Would you please go back to bed, Sweetie? Some of us need our beauty sleep!"
The singing stopped. Realizing that she wouldn't be falling back to sleep, she drowsily looked over at her alarm clock to realize that the bus would be there in twenty minutes. Her eyes shot open. Twenty minutes was significantly less than the normal hour she allotted to her beautification.
She scrambled out of bed and grabbed her clothes before heading into the bathroom, only to see that her hair was a mess. She wouldn't have time to shampoo and condition it, but she at least had enough time to style it and apply some basic makeup before she left. She made quick time of the task, and ten minutes later, she appeared from the bathroom, looking at least recognizable.
She rushed into the kitchen where her parents and sister were waiting with a plate of blueberry waffles. Seeing that she had another five minutes before she needed to be out the door, she managed to slow down enough to have a quick conversation with her mom.
"Morning mom, morning dad. Thanks for the waffles." She cut off a piece of her waffle and shoved it in her mouth.
"No problem, dear. So how's your songs for the showcase coming along?"
She finished swallowing another bite before answering. "It's all coming along pretty well, but I can't stop until the actual showcase."
Her mom rolled her eyes. "Ah, yes. As you always say,"-and Rarity joined in gleefully-"A true artist never stops!"
She downed another few bites before she realized she had to leave for school. She got up from the table and grabbed her music folder and backpack. She definitely didn't want to leave that behind, especially considering that the Ponytones were running a final dress rehearsal that afternoon. As soon as Sweetie Belle was ready, she headed out the door to wait for the bus.
The rest of the school day managed to go by uneventfully. Everybody was pitching in around the school, helping to get things set up for the showcase. Even Sunset Shimmer was trying to pitch in, though most people still were a bit uneasy around her.
As the final bell rang, Rarity headed to her locker to grab her folder. As she twisted the lock, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around to see Sunset Shimmer standing behind her.
Sunset Shimmer spoke up. "Rarity, do you mind if I talk to you for a minute? I know you need to go run your dress rehearsal with the Ponytones, but this is important."
Rarity nodded in response. "I suppose I can spare a few minutes; after all, what are friends for?"
Sunset gave a sigh of relief. "Well... I'm not currently in a group that's performing for the showcase, and I was wondering... if maybe I could... you know, maybe sing with you and the Ponytones?"
Rarity placed her hand on Sunset's shoulder and gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm terribly sorry dear, but this is terribly last minute, and we just simply don't have the time to recompose the music, plus we'd have to make you a matching outfit, and-"
"Yeah, yeah, I get the point." She dejectedly shrugged her hand off. "I don't suppose you mind me sitting in on your rehearsal?"
Rarity smiled back at her. "Certainly. Just follow me to the choir room."
Rarity finished getting her stuff out her locker. As they walked down the hall, she couldn't help but notice the glares Sunset was getting from the other students. Desperate to get her somewhere less bitter, she picked up pace as they approached the choir room.
Once they were inside, she saw that the rest of the Ponytones were ready and waiting on her. When they saw Sunset, they gave an irritated scowl, making Sunset a bit reluctant to enter the room.
"Don't worry guys, she's with me. She just wanted to see us perform. This means we have an audience, so let's make this extra good!" She joined the group up front as Sunset took a seat on the risers. She took out a pitch pipe and played the starting note.
The rehearsal ran surprisingly smoothly. As they were bopping along to whatever piece they were performing, she often would look over to Sunset to see her tapping her foot along to the music. It was good to finally see her smile, an especially rare occasion ever since the events of the fall formal.
As the rehearsal drew to a close, Rarity stayed behind with Sunset as the others left. Once the room was clear, she spoke to Sunset, curious as to her opinion of their performance.
"So dear, how did you enjoy our performance?"
"It was good, I guess." Sunset's head hung dejectedly, causing Rarity to worry.
"What's wrong, dear? You don't have to hide anything from me; after all, what are friends for?"
Sunset looked up and gave her a half-hearted smile. "Thanks. It's just... I'm tired of everyone thinking that I'm the same old person I was before the fall formal. I'm trying to change, I really am! So what am I doing wrong?"
Comforting her, Rarity pulled her into a hug. "It's not you, darling. They just are a bit... stubborn. They'll warm up to you eventually. I promise."
Sunset was visibly holding back tears at this point. "You really think so?"
"Don't worry, they will." She let go of Sunset and waved goodbye before walking out of the room, quite honestly not knowing whether or not she believed her own words.
Tuesday.
Today, trigonometry seemed to last longer than expected. All morning, her conversation with Sunset was racing through her mind. She was so caught up with it that she almost missed Mr. Doodle calling on her.
"Rarity, can you please answer the question?"
She snapped back to reality. Looking on the board, she saw the question and quickly worked out an answer to avoid making a fool of herself. His glare was enough to keep her at least half-focused for the rest of class.
The moment the bell rang, she gathered up her books and headed to her locker to get her keytar. The Rainbooms had managed to secure the band room for some last minute practice, a blessing considering that they still had a lot of work that needed done.
As she entered her combination, Sunset came up and greeted her. "Hey, Rarity! Do you mind if I listen in on the Rainbooms during next block? I have gym class, and I personally would prefer to stay away from dodgeballs right now."
Rarity couldn't help but let out a chuckle as she grabbed her keytar out of the locker. "Of course, darling. With how close we're cutting it, we can use all the help we can get. Plus, it might help to make Rainbow's ego a bit more tolerable."
Sunset shot her a look. "Never mind. It's nothing, really. I'm just glad that we can have an audience for our last dress rehearsal."
Tuesday Afternoon.
Rarity made a mental note to herself to get singing banned in the lunchroom. Students seemed to be too easily influenced during lunch. This was the second time this year that the opinion of the whole school was changed by a small group singing at lunch, even if the first time she had helped.
Now the whole school was pitted against each other in a Battle of the Bands. Even the principals were supporting the idea, despite the fact that it was tearing the whole school apart again. All of the Rainbooms and Sunset Shimmer agreed that it had to be dark magic.
Thankfully, Sunset Shimmer had a way to contact the one person who might be able to help them out of this fiasco. Apparently, she had a book at the bottom of her locker that allowed her to contact Princess Celestia, probably the principal's equine counterpart. Now all they had to do was hope that she'd arrive in time.
"You sure this'll work?" Rainbow Dash still seemed a little skeptical about the concept.
"Look, I'm not one hundred percent sure the message got through, but unless any of you have better ideas, this might be our only shot at stopping them." Sunset looked at them with a grim determination. "While we're waiting, we might as well head out to the statue. We don't want to be elsewhere when Twilight arrives."
Rarity had different plans. "Excuse me, but I need to see the principal again. There's something on my mind that I need to talk to her about." Sunset gave a confused nod as she picked up her backpack and headed toward the office.
As she neared her destination, she noticed Sweetie Belle and her friends talking on the other side of the hall. "Yoo-hoo, Sweetie Belle!"
She was thrown off when Sweetie shot her a glare. Trying to figure out what went wrong, she walked over to the trio. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"
Sweetie Belle turned up her nose and looked away. Rarity's heart sank as Applebloom provided her answer. "She don't need ya anymore! She doesn't need some pesky older sister to win the Battle of the Bands!"
Each word struck Rarity with increasing intensity. Sweetie Belle had always looked up to her as a role model, but now she apparently didn't want anything to do with her. She hung her head low as she walked over to the office.
The office wasn't particularly different from when they last left it. Principal Celestia was busy filling out some paperwork when Rarity spoke up. "Hello?"
Principal Celestia looked up from her paperwork. "If this is about the Musical Showcase again, I already told you that we're not changing it back."
"Well, this is about the showcase, but it's a different question. As you know, I am currently in two groups that are performing for the showcase: the Ponytones and the Rainbooms."
The principal looked at her inquisitively. "And?"
"Am I still allowed to perform with both groups? I don't want to let anybody down." Rarity clasped her hands together nervously, hoping she would say yes.
"I am dreadfully sorry, Rarity, but we simply can't allow that, since you might have to compete with yourself. You're going to have to choose one way or another." As she finished speaking, Rarity noticed that Celestia's eyes flashed the same color green as earlier. She nodded defeatedly and walked out the door, tears streaking down her eyes.
She only managed to make it ten feet down the hall before she collapsed to the floor, crying. How could she be forced to choose between her friends? If only the Dazzlings hadn't decided to choose now to show up. She promised that she would make them pay for this.
She sat crying until Big Mac passed by. Seeing a friend in need, he sat down next to her and put his arm around her. Finally having someone to talk to, she tried to get syllables out, only to be choked by her own tears.
Big Mac sat there silently, taking this all in. When Rarity was finally calm enough to speak, she explained her situation to him, barely holding back tears.
"I just don't know what to do! With this whole Battle of the Bands business going on, the principals are forcing me to choose between you guys and the Rainbooms, but I don't want to choose! I'm ruined, Big Mac, ruined! If I choose you guys, the Dazzlings might get away with this! But if I choose the Rainbooms, Toe-Tapper and Torch Song might never speak to me again! What do I do?" She barely made out the last words before breaking down again. Big Mac, however let go of her and stood up.
"You better choose us. Who cares about the Rainbooms! They're just another band in our way. Not that they'd be able to beat us anyway." He gave her a menacing glare, then stormed off. Rarity stopped crying as she wondered what got into him. Normally he was very reserved, but now he was being cocky and mean. She came to the conclusion that the Dazzlings must have gotten to him. Just another problem to worry about.
She dusted herself off and headed to the statue. When she arrived, she noticed that everyone was waiting around impatiently. "Hey, Rarity! Where've you been? It's been almost an hour!"
Rarity gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I just... it's nothing. I'll tell you guys later."
Sunset sighed. "Well, at least we're all here before Twilight shows up. Come on, you can paint my fingernails if you want to."
Rarity gave an excited squeal. "Ooh! I've had some ideas to what to do with your nails for a while. Maybe incorporate a little magenta, some burnt orange...," she dug into her purse as she continued to explain her plans for Sunset's fingernails.
"Pipe down, will ya?," an irritated Rainbow Dash chimed in. "I know you love fashion and all, but it's making me nauseous just listening to this."
"I don't mind. In fact, Rarity, do you think could do my nails, too?" Fluttershy walked over to Rarity with a grin on her face.
"Certainly, dear. Just let me finish Sunset's nails." Rarity took out a vial of orange nail polish and walked over to Sunset. "Can you put your hand out, dear? It'll be awfully hard to do your nails without it."
Sunset put her her hand out as Rarity opened the vial. "Now hold still, dear. I might mess up if you jerk around." She dipped the brush into the vial and got to work on Sunset's nails.
As Rarity finished putting the first color on, Sunset spoke up. "Is everything alright? You really dodged the issue of what took you so long."
"As I said, it's nothing." Rarity looked away as she put the cap on the nail polish.
"Look, I know something's bothering you. You don't have to hide it from me."
Rarity clenched her teeth as she dug another bottle of nail polish out of her purse. "I said, it's nothing. Can't we just drop the subject, dearie? I'm starting to get a little frustrated."
Sunset gave a frustrated sigh. "Fine. You know what, why don't you do Fluttershy's nails while you decide whether or not to keep hiding your feelings from us." She walked over to the statue and sat down, letting her head fall into her lap. Rarity gave a disappointed sigh.
Fluttershy looked over at Rarity when she saw Sunset. "So is it my turn?"
"I suppose it is." Rarity put the bottle she had gotten out away. An excited grin spread over Fluttershy's face as she pranced over to her.
Rarity grabbed another bottle of nail polish out of her purse. As she twisted the cap off, Fluttershy gingerly put out her hand. A small smile spread across her face as she brushed the color onto Fluttershy's nails.
"I'm starting to think she's not coming." Rainbow Dash was still impatiently bouncing her soccer ball. Her ball was coming down as a flash of purple flew out of the statue.
Simultaneously, everyone seemed to realize what happened. "Twilight!"
Sunset rushed over to Twilight as she got to her knees. "I'm back...," she groaned as she wearily accepted Sunset's hand.
Sunset had barely backed off before the rest of the group enveloped her in a massive hug. As the rest of the group greeted her with warm smiles, she pushed them away and sternly said, "and I've got bad news about those new girls."
