What if the mirror is lying?
"Snip by snip, cut by cut, you gotta always do your best." Rarity's silky voice echoed through the big halls in the Carousel Boutique.
She was once again finishing up a big order, and the clock slowly ticked towards morning.
Her table was loaded up both with finished dresses, ready to be packed up and sent to Manehattan, and half done first-drafts of dresses that didn't reach her perfectionist standards.
If a pony had walked in right then, they wouldn't recognize her easily. Her normally on fleek mane was now messy and dirty. She hadn't taken a shower in the last three days, because she’d worked so hard on this project.
The small table beside her was full of dirty coffee mugs and empty packets of energy pills. She knew it was unhealthy, but so what? This order was really important for her career, and sleep was for the weak anyway.
Rarity looked up. It was already 3 am. She looked down again. Maybe a small break wouldn't hurt. This was the last one: a midnight blue gown made with turquoise and burgundy sequins.
"When did my life turn into being a slave to my own dreams?" she suddenly asked herself.
In the beginning she’d been so happy just to have something to do, because it meant she was on the right path to fulfilling her dream. But at moments like these she felt like nothing really mattered.
"I'm starting going crazy like Pinkie Pie," she muttered to herself again, but something was bothering her. She walked over to her big mirror. It was perfectly clean as usual, and showed her tired reflection. But something caught her eye.
The sparkle was gone. She felt a slight panic build up slowly in her chest.
Who was this pony staring back at her? She touched the mirror with her hoof.
It wasn't that the mare didn't look like her. She really did, though perhaps more tired than usual, but it definitely looked like her.
So why did it feel like looking into the eyes of a stranger? Why couldn't she find herself in the galaxy inside her own eyes?
Had the road towards her dream really changed her that much?
Tears started streaming down her face. This was so messed up and unfair. It felt as if she weren't the one fulfilling the dream.
Yes, she was successful: her name was well-known all over Equestria. They wrote about her in magazines, and she was best friends with a princess. Living the dream…
But it felt like so long since she’d started living the dream. Like the original filly who dreamt about the high-class life had been lost on the way here.
But how could she fix that? How could she become herself again? How could she find that lost filly?
Who was she really? Why now — why had she only just realized all this, while at the peak of her career?
She would have to start back at square one — the main values in her life. Rarity touched the cold surface of the mirror. That was easy. She had amazing friends that reminded her every single day of what was most important to her.
Honesty, and how much good could be done when one was telling the truth. How good it felt when others trusted you and you could trust them.
Loyalty, the foundation for every friendship. It was a feeling deep inside — an unwritten rule that some possessed and others didn’t. But they could also choose to ignore what their soul told them.
Then they also had laughter. Seemed like such an unimportant part, but without laughter, life wasn’t worth living.
Kindness. Something so easy to show, with nearly no effort, but it could move mountains.
And then it all came down to the spark of magic. Being a unicorn, Rarity knew how important the first spark of magic was. That’s what started the amazing fire of every friendship: the spark of magic.
Rarity got up onto her legs. She looked back into the mirror while she dried the tears from her midnight-blue eyes.
She had to show her friends, and at the same time prove to herself that she hadn't changed into something bad. And now she knew how.
"Did Rarity tell any of you guys why she wanted us to come today?" Twilight asked the other four mares when they met outside Rarity's boutique.
"No, Pinkie Pie told me Rarity invited us. Ah haven't seen her myself in ages."
"None of us have. We didn't want to disturb her while she was working on her newest collection for that enormous fashion show." Twilight's voice was infused with worry. What if Rarity thought they didn't care about her?
"What are we waiiiiting for then?!" Pinkie Pie screeched in dramatic way, like a cat who had had too much catnip for dinner, bouncing up and down, as usual. "And what if she thinks we don't like her anymore, and don't want to be her friends but really we do and then she'll be sad and never laugh and then I'll be sad and if I'm sad then my hair will be flat and I won't be able to bake cupcakes with my hair, and then the ponies who usually buy cupcakes will be sad and then the whole of Ponyville will be sad, and it will all be our fault because we have been bad friends, but really we weren't, and the cookies in the oven will burn... " A hoof muted Pinkie's stream of words.
"Calm down, sugarcane, it'll all be okay," Applejack laughed. "She just invited us. Let's simply say we know we haven't been the best friends by not checking up on her, and then all will be good as golden delicious' in a honey pie."
Rainbow Dash suddenly giggled. "Everything is always about food for you, AJ."
"Well, Ah do work in the agricultural business, Rainbow," Applejack smiled.
A delicious smell of freshly baked goods met their noses when the door in front of them suddenly opened. Rarity was standing in the middle, her turquoise lace scarf making her fresh blue eyes shine even more brightly than usual.
A big wholehearted smile lit up her face. Rarity cleared her throat. "Welcome, my dear friends, to an evening where I’ll show how much your friendship means to me!" Her voice was full of excitement.
"Umm, what?" Twilight asked, unsure. She looked from left to right at her other friends. They seemed to be just as confused. Rarity closed her eyes and smiled once again.
"Don't worry, darling. I will explain everything soon." She paused and looked at each of them for a few seconds. "I hope you will all enjoy this evening as much as I will. But first, do come in!"
The five ponies walked in together, and stood in a half circle around Rarity.
"Let's sit down before I explain!" Rarity's voice was full of joy.
They walked through the long hall that started under the stairs. None of them had been in this part of the Carousel Boutique before. In fact, they hadn’t even known there were any stairs that led downward. But obviously there were, because they were walking down them now.
"Where are we going, Rarity? I didn't even know your boutique was so enormous!" Pinkie exclaimed as she snacked on a muffin she had found in her bright pink cotton-candy-styled hair.
"I don't exactly use this part often, but I thought today was the perfect opportunity!" she smirked mysteriously. She closed her eyes the last few steps down, and the others soon understood the reason.
As an opposite to the elegant staircase which was lit up with white LED lights, the basement was waiting for them in total darkness.
Rarity quickly walked over to the light switch, and suddenly the room was aglow. The five ponies waited for their eyes to get used to the light. Meanwhile, they registered the surroundings.
The room was enormous, softly lit by delicate porcelain lamps and candles, but still light enough to see everything clearly. The candles spread a pleasant smell of fresh lavender and lemongrass.
Twilight inhaled the wonderful scent, while she gazed up at the high ceiling. It was decorated with thousands of small gems, with subtle lights behind them. In the middle of the room, a big crystal chandelier illuminated the big table, which was covered with the most delightful and colorful snacks and sweets.
Rainbow Dash gasped when she noticed a smaller table beside it, that had six bottles of fresh apple cider.
The walls that laid in shadows were colored in a gentle magenta pink, and the room was partitioned into five open sections by red satin curtains that gently stretched from the floor, reaching all the way to the top.
A gigantic screen was hanging on the farthest wall, with six comfortable looking armchairs in front of it, almost like at the movies.
Right of the big screen, lit by pink candles, a makeup table was set up. It wasn’t possible to see what was hiding behind the other silky curtains, but the five ponies finally understood.
Rarity walked graciously over to another light switch, and the ceiling turned into an enchanting sapphire sky. Or at least, it looked like the beautiful night sky. In reality, it was the hundreds of gems that reflected the blue light, giving the illusion of something only Luna could have made.
Twilight smiled to the others. So this was why they hadn’t seen Rarity in days. Of course she was too generous to spend time working only on her career. Instead she spent a lot of time and effort to show her friendship.
No words were needed. Rarity walked back to them, and the six friends pulled into a big group hug.
“Now I really hope you remembered caramel sauce for the popcorn, Rarity, or else the evening can’t be perfect,” Pinkie’s said with a suspicious voice.
“Of course, darling!” Rarity chuckled. The ponies all laughed together. Pinkie would always be Pinkie, and Rarity would always be an amazing friend. That’s just how Equestria worked.
Author's Note
So this is it, my dear reader. Not the most action-packed story, but life isn't always exciting.
Showing our friends how much we love them from time to time is extremely important, cause life is meaningless without them 
When we look at statistics, most people think generosity is the least important factor to friendship. But would we really live in a world with so much hurt if that was true? I don't know, but it's time we try harder.
Generosity isn't about using all your money on expensive gifts. It's about thinking about others, and their needs.
Maybe we're just way too materialistic these days, always asking "but what will I get for that?"
Not everything valuable is material. Once you start showing generosity to others, even in the simplest ways like spending a bit of your time with them, you will know how wonderful it feels and that will be payment enough. 
Also, this story was mostly an exercise at describing.
