The sun beamed on the roads and houses of Ponyville, as Celestia rose it to begin another Saturday morning. As ponies far and wide woke up to begin a new day, one specific pony in town was up early, hastily preparing for a trip. It was none other than Rarity, the owner of the town’s most renowned boutique, and a popular name in the fashion design circuit all across Equestria. Known not only for her dazzling designs but her connections with Ponyville’s Princess of Friendship, Rarity was going to spend a few days in Canterlot to soothe her aches, while her trusted friends kept management on her business.

“I must say, Twilight,” Rarity began, “I don’t exactly know if I’m going to get the proper relaxation when I leave for Canterlot! I’ll probably be up all night worrying about dress ideas and the boutique while I’m gone! Not that I don’t trust you, of course.”

Twilight giggled. “I know you trust us. I mean, this is your life’s work, and you figured that Fluttershy and I would be excellent choices to help run the boutique while you’re gone.”

“I figured you two would be fit for the job,” Rarity said. “After all, your affinity for books and organization will help you keep track of all the orders that I will be able to fill out when I get back, and Fluttershy being into her ‘extreme knitting’ means that she has some sort of creative fashion sense.”

“Not to mention Opalesence,” the yellow pegasus chimed in, “She’s always happy to see me around.”

Rarity scoffed. “Well Opal’s always been the choosy one. Sometimes she favors the attention of others rather than her own mother.” She nervously chuckled as the cat shot a glare at her. “Mommy loves you,” she said with a wink and an uneasy hoof wave.

“By the way, Rarity, you never told us exactly where you’re going in Canterlot. Anything special going on there?” Twilight asked.

Rarity reached into her bag and pulled out a flyer. She handed it off to Twilight so she could look into it.

“Griff ‘n Groom?”

“I heard about it from Flax Seed when he and Wheat Grass took a trip to Canterlot; he said it was very… “far out,” whatever that means. They’ve been open for about seven years now, and I guess only now they got popular. I would go to the Day Spa but apparently Aloe and Lotus are doing some renovations, so they’ll be closed for about a week.”

“Well if there’s anything I’ve learned about griffons, well…” Twilight handed Rarity a bag of about fifty bits and squinted. “You’re gonna need this.”

Fluttershy put her hand to her hoof quizzically and said, “I wonder what griffons are doing running a grooming business in Canterlot. It seems awfully strange. Maybe they’re drifters from their homeland?”

“With what Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie told me about Griffonstone, I would not be surprised,” Twilight answered. “I wonder if these three ran away from Griffonstone when their idol was lost.”

“Either way,” Rarity said, “Flax told me to definitely request a massage while I’m there, but perhaps I’ll go for the full package just to see how it is. Anyway, I’m off! I will be back Monday afternoon, so keep the place running while I’m gone. I may close on Sundays but I at least continue my work when the boutique is closed! Also remember that Opal needs to be bathed twice a day or else her coat will get dirty, and make sure you’ve learned that gem location spell well, Twilight, and-“

Twilight stuck her hoof in Rarity’s face as if to say, “We understand.” Rarity nodded, and saddled up her bags as she was ready to leave, but not before a small voice graced her presence.

“Can I help out Fluttershy while you’re gone?”

It was Sweetie Belle, her loving little sister, who had always wanted to help Rarity with her work, no matter how many times she told her no. The two had their quarrels, even to the point where Sweetie Belle ran away to spend time with the Apple family a few years back. But through all their hardships, their sisterhood was only strengthened by each, not weakened.

“Sweetie Belle, you want to help?” Rarity asked. The little white unicorn excitedly nodded.

“I’ve sort of watched you behind the scenes and worked a bit on my fashion sense,” she said, levitating a crayon drawing sporting a rather minimalistic dress design with her unicorn magic. Rarity took a look at the drawing, and while it was not perfect, she felt that she could make it work. She put it in her bag.

“I’ll see what I can do on Monday when I get back,” Rarity said, exciting the little unicorn. “For now though, why don’t you help Twilight organize the clothing orders?”

Sweetie Belle jumped up and down with a smile crossing from ear to ear. Even if she wasn’t going to be making clothing like her big sister, she was going to help her while she was gone. She thought to herself, “Maybe I’ll get a Cutie Mark in being a super-duper organizer!”

And with a friendly wave to her sister and her friends, Rarity had left for the next train to Canterlot. Twilight asked her to say hello to the royal sisters while she was there.

Author's Note

As I may have explained before, Chapter 1 is sort of written as a prologue chapter, and since this story was originally conceived to be written like an episode script, this is the kind of stuff that would happen before the opening sequence. Fluttershy and Twilight were planned for this scene, but the bits with Sweetie Belle almost got cut from the final draft, only because I thought that it would be a bit out of character for her to start acting more mature. However, when I threw in the whole “CMC Super Organizer” thing, I was like “yep, keep it in.” I wanted a little adorable sister moment between her and Rarity.

Also this chapter makes a few call-backs to the comic series (which I still need to catch up on), specifically the old micro-series issues 3 and 4. 3 is the Rarity one, which is referenced when Rarity brings up Wheat Grass and Flax Seed, two ponies she met at a retreat. In fact, I feel like the plot for HoH was very similar to this, albeit without griffons and zebras. As for the Fluttershy microseries, that’s referenced when I brought up the “Extreme Knitting” thing. Apparently it’s a secret hobby of hers. Shhh.