It was a rather lovely summer day- blue sky, few clouds, many birds. Celestia was getting ready to hang the sun up especially nicely in honor of the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. Conversation littered the streets as Ponyville's residents got ready for the big event. After many years, it was finally to be held again in their town.
Now, an event of this magnitude of course needed great preparation. There was a banquet to be set up, and with this year's potluck theme, almost every pony in Ponyville was baking and poaching and frying something. This took a lot of work out of the Apples' hooves, and while Granny Smith was thankful for the rest, Applejack was worried how things would turn out.
But that wan't all to be done. There were events to be organized, activities to be put together, and of course, decorations to be finished. And Rarity was always in charge of decorations.
Rarity rather enjoyed setting up decorations for such things, as it was a task that required the careful eye she prided herself on having. Pinkie Pie had a talent for it as well, she admitted, but her stylings better served parties for foals, or family celebrations. The job of decorating the town hall was out of her area of expertise, and so Rarity was the one to dutifully decorate it at every event.
There was more for her to do as well, of course. Thankfully, with the help of other ponies, decorating didn't take all day, leaving her with plenty of time to finish orders addressed to her boutique. Every stallion wanted a suit, every mare wanted a dress, and everypony with enough bits to spend on such things went to Rarity to get it. This left her with a lot of work the weeks before the Summer Sun Celebration. Luckily, few ponies were true nightmare customers, and most trusted her with artistic control, knowing she'd make something perfect for them. Rarity cringed remembering her experiences in Canterlot, where the attitudes of the ponies differed greatly. Ponyville was certainly the place to be.
Opening the door to her workroom, she sighed gladly seeing the first bits of fabric all neatly clinging to the mannequins, near messy (or rather, creatively organized) blueprints and spools of thread. "Alright Rarity, time to get back to work," she said to herself. Sweetie Belle was out with her friends, giving Rarity a sizable window of time to finish her work, uninterrupted.
She began with the suits. They were a little more uniform to make, meaning it didn't take as long, but also that they weren't as enjoyable to make as the dresses. Still, the act of threading together softly-colored patches of fabric in a repetitive way could be calming at times. That said, every so often, after a few hours of sewing and layering and adjusting lapels, Rarity did have to take a break. She'd generally make herself some tea, maybe take out a tuft of hay, and watch the day go by. Something especially captivated her about watching other ponies do their jobs, and she was lucky enough to have a decent view outside her window of the town square. She wondered what it would be like to arrange flowers for a living like Roseluck, or spend her weekdays cooking up fresh confections like Bon-Bon. But of course, she thought, nothing could satisfy me like running a boutique. Making dresses is practically my destiny.
By the end of the day, she had finished almost every suit, and with sunset around the corner it was time to pick up Sweetie Belle. Rarity put away some of her supplies and shut the door behind her, knowing if something in there caught Sweetie's eye when she came home, the energetic filly may run in without thinking. Then, she left the house and began trotting over to Applejack's.
"Hey, Rarity! Are we going home now?" asked Sweetie Belle as Rarity approached the barn. She and Apple Bloom were playing in the front garden.
"Indeed we are, Sweetie Belle," Rarity responded, before turning to Applejack, who had walked up to the others upon noticing Rarity's arrival. "My apologies for coming so late, Applejack, I had a lot of work to finish today."
"Don't sweat it, sugarcube," Applejack replied. "We've all been busy, what with the Summer Sun Celebration bein' the day after tomorrow."
"That is true, I suppose," said Rarity. "Well, we best be getting home now, unfortunately there is no time to chat." The two friends exchanged a hug, and Rarity set back home with her sister in tow.
"Did you have fun today?" Rarity asked her sister as they walked home together.
"I did!" Sweetie Belle excitedly replied. "Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and I all hung out with the Cake twins today, helping them figure out their special talents!"
"That sounds lovely, Sweetie Belle," said Rarity. "Make sure to keep it down when we arrive home though, I've had a long day and I'm in desperate need of some beauty sleep."
"Sure thing, sis!" was the chipper reply, which the mildly frazzled elder unicorn hoped would be truthful this time.
The next morning arrived sharply, yet not unpleasantly, in Rarity's perception. She had a long day of dressmaking ahead of her, but after all, dressmaking is what she loved to do. She came downstairs and saw that Sweetie Belle had cooked her some breakfast before leaving for school. It was not burnt at all this time- in fact, it looked quite delectable. A fried egg on a bed of hay, with some sauce on it, and a cup of tea. She must've remembered I'm to have a busy day, thought Rarity. I'll have to thank her later. She took a fork from the drawer with her magic and began to nibble away at her breakfast. When she was finished, she put her dishes in the sink and went back into her workroom.
The first few dresses flew by. Some had a single large gem on the chest, some had hundreds of fragments scattered across the cloth, shimmering softly. Each one was beautiful, made to complement the tastes and appearance of each mare (and the singular stallion) who had ordered them. Rarity had put her heart and soul into their creation. After all, making dresses is practically my destiny.
After a couple of hours, she stopped briefly to use the filly's room and drink some water. Then, she resumed work similar fervor from earlier. Most dresses had colors that were bright and bold, as was general Equestrian fashion, but one had muted tones, and an overall softer look. Rarity remembered the soft, eloquent, and slightly eccentric mare who had commissioned it. It was particularly interesting to make.
All of a sudden, the world stopped turning. The air was silent, the light was stagnant. Or at least, that's what it felt like to Rarity as she fell into a sitting position and began to stare blankly out of her window. Questions began to sprout in her head from seeds she had kept dormant. She loved her job, didn't she? She loved to make dresses, to make a living on this craft. Or maybe she just thought so.
She sighed, which was the first movement she had made in the past two minutes. This happened to her every so often. She'd do what she'd always do- wallow for a few minutes more and then go back to making dresses. It wasn't a big deal, she was pretty good at hiding how out of place she felt to herself most of the time. But at the end of the day, she thought, what else would I do? Making dresses is practically my destiny. And she'd keep repeating that to herself until she could almost believe it.
Author's Note
Criticism welcome.