The alarm clock sitting by Rarity’s head went off, its loud shrill forcing her out of her beauty sleep. Immediately, she knew catching such an early train was a mistake; she should’ve expected that Pinkie Pie would throw a surprise party the previous night, and as Pinkie Pie would always assert, there’s no party like a Pinkie Party. While partying late into the night was always fun, it was much less so when followed by an early morning.
To make matters worse, all of her things had been moved out, and Rarity was subjected to a sleeping bag on the hard, cold floor. Definitely not how a lady slept. If she even could sleep, anyways. The mixture of emotions, both happy and sad, had coursed throughout her body overnight, leaving her almost restless.
But there was little time for dwelling on such things; after all, today was an important day. Rolling up the sleeping bag, she levitated it and her alarm clock, the only two things in her once-crowded bedroom, towards the door. Looking out on the empty bedroom, Rarity felt a similar emptiness inside of her; what had once been a warm and inviting bedroom and work studio was now just like any other room in the world: big, cold, and empty.
With a sigh, she picked the sleeping bag and alarm clock back up and walked downstairs to her similarly-empty kitchen. Placing down the bag and clock, she walked to the pantry and opened it to her breakfast, which she had laid out the previous day: a blueberry muffin, not even freshly-made.
Reluctantly, she took the muffin and ate it. The muffin itself was not the issue, but it was the experience: normally, Rarity would wake up and come downstairs to make herself a full breakfast, nice and warm, to start her day, and eat it at the table while Opalescence quietly purred while napping on the table. A day-old muffin eaten over the sink was not a suitable comparison.
Just as she finished, a few loud knocks came from the front door. “Yoo hoo!” she heard her father’s voice call out. “Rarity!” She smiled, taking one last good look at her home. It could be hardly called a home anymore, however. No, now it was just a house.
“Rarity? You there, pumpkin?”
“Just a moment, father!” she called back. Picking up her clock and sleeping bag, she walked to the door and opened it.
“You excited?” her father asked eagerly.
“Yes,” she replied with a little bit of nervousness in her voice. “Thank you for letting me borrow these, by the way,” she said, putting the bag and clock in her father’s worn-out old saddlebags he refused to let her replace.
“Oh, it’s no problem!” he said with a wave of his hoof. “Why, you should’ve stayed with us! You know we’ve left your old room just the way you left it when you started Carousel Boutique. And your sister sure would’ve been happy having you live with her again!”
“I wanted to hold onto here as long as I could. There are just so many good memories in here, I didn’t want to just lose them all like that.”
“Have you done a walkthrough yet?”
“A...what?”
Her father chuckled. “A walkthrough. You know, walk through the house one last time and think of all the good memories you had in here.”
Thoughts of all the happy memories she and her friends had shared in Carousel Boutique came flooding back to her. “I...I don’t know…” While the knowledge of having to leave all her memories behind twisted her stomach, the real pain came from having to relive them.
“Come on,” he laughed, putting a hoof around her. “Let’s go through it one last time.” Leading her, the two walked into the kitchen.
“I remember when Sweetie Belle stayed with me for a week,” Rarity said, smiling through a few tears. “She made that horribly burnt breakfast, and I made a new one but didn’t even let her help.”
“‘Horribly burnt’?” her father echoed. “Oh come on now, it wasn’t that burnt. Still a good try for a beginner, if I say so myself.”
Rarity laughed. “Father, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you turn down food in all my life.”
“It’s all good!” he proclaimed. “And trust me, your sister’s gotten a lot better. Her orange juice is only slightly singed now. It’s fantastic! Takes after your mother, she does.”
After smiling and shaking her head, she walked upstairs with her father into her bedroom, which was still just as empty as she left it.
“I can only imagine everything that was designed here,” her father said nostalgically. “When you were a filly, I always knew you would become a big-name fashionista someday. Though I was your first model, and it’s a wonder you never sacked me any sooner. I probably impeded your progress by a few years.”
Classic father, Rarity thought to herself. Though he was right; her best work was designed right there. The Grand Galloping Gala dresses for her and her friends, dresses for Twilight’s coronation, her line for Fashion Week in Manehattan, and even outfits for Sapphire Shores. At times, even she had a hard time believing everything she had done.
“That’s about it,” Rarity said. “Not much left in the house.”
“We’ll exit out the front,” her father said, leading her back downstairs. When they walked into the main area of Carousel Boutique, a wave of nostalgia swept over her. The other rooms had been hers, but the main area was not hers; it belonged to her friends. And all her customers. This was the area that let her have all her other memories in the house; all her money came from the Boutique, which let her be able to have a place of her own.
“Remember what this area looked like when I first moved in?” she asked her father. “The floors were in atrocious shape, and that disgusting yellow paint on the walls was peeling?”
“‘Vomit Yellow’, I think I heard you call it when you first saw it,” he laughed. “But you saw right through all that and saw what you were going to turn it into, something a lot of ponies can’t do.” He hugged her tight. “I’m proud of you, Rarity.”
“Thank you,” she replied, returning the hug and stifling a few tears. The two hugged in silence for a few moments.
“We should probably be going,” he said, breaking off the hug. “Your train leaves soon, and we don’t want to keep everypony waiting at the station for us to show up. You’ll want some time to say your goodbyes, I imagine.” Rarity nodded quietly in response; she hated goodbyes, but they were better than no goodbyes.
The two walked out of the Boutique, locking it as they did so. They started towards the Ponyville Train Station, making the journey in silence. Rarity took note of everything happening in Ponyville around her. For the rest of a town, it was a normal day, with everypony just going about their business as regular, as though nothing was changing. Deep down, she envied them.
When they got to the train station platform, Rarity could see her friends and family eagerly awaiting her arrival.
“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle cried out, rushing up to hug her sister.
“Oh, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said sadly, hugging her back, “I’ll miss you so much!”
“I’ll be sure to come and visit you as soon as you get settled in!”
“I’d like that,” she replied, starting to choke up.
“Be sure to write us every day,” their mother added, joining in on the hug. Without a word, their father joined the hug as well.
“I don’t want to be left out!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she jumped into the hug.
“Aw, c’mere, y’all. Group hug!”
“I’ll...I’ll miss you, Rarity…”
“Okay fine, group hug. But only this once!”
“We’ll all miss you, Rarity. You’ve changed all our lives so much, and I’m sure we’ll all stay in touch with you.”
“Thank you...all of you,” Rarity said weakly, under the massive group hug of all her friends and family.
“All aboard’s comin’ aboard the Ponyville to Manehattan train!” the conductor yelled from the train.
“I guess that’s me.” One by one, the members of the hug peeled off her until they were surrounding her in a circle.
“I wish you didn’t have to go,” Twilight said sadly.
Turning to her, Rarity shot her a faint smile. “I know, but I’ll be working for one of the largest fashion companies in all of Equestria! I really hate to let all of you go, but…”
“It’s fine,” Twilight smiled back. “We shouldn’t expect you to hold yourself back just because of us. What you have is a fantastic opportunity, and it’s something I know you’ve worked really hard for. We’re all proud of you. Now go get on that train and make yourself even greater!”
Slowly, Rarity walked to the door to the train, looked back at all the ponies smiling at her, and got on. As she sat down, the train started moving away from Ponyville.
“Goodbye, Ponyville,” she whispered to herself, choking back tears.
“Goodbye.”
