The Rarity of Starrs

by Sachiel

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rarity, Other, Slice of Life
Length: 5889

After helping a customer find the perfect dress, Rarity takes a chance and learns a great deal about what really matters in life and what makes you who you are

After helping a customer find the perfect dress, Rarity takes a chance and learns a great deal about what really matters in life and how important what's on the inside can be

A short fic I wrote after being inspired by 'Canterlot Boutique' and the new background pony seen right at the end, Bright Starr

Published 2015-11-05 06:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-11-05 06:30:02 UTC

Chapter 1

“Oh my gosh a sale!” Rarity and Sassy's heads whipped around to see the pony standing in the doorway “do you have the princess dress?” the mare asked excitedly as she trotted inside, Rarity and her employee replied “No” in unison, the pony shrugged and started browsing anyway, then Rarity got a good look at her

She certainly had an...unusual frame, much bigger than any other pony she'd ever seen, come to think of it she'd never really thought much about unusual body shapes. She was so used to doing custom jobs for a select clientèle that she focused on making the dress fit the pony, never thinking other way around, with a much bigger client base in Canterlot, that was something she'd need to consider. Idly she wondered if it might be an idea to market some plus sized dresses or add fitting as a free extra at Canterlot Carousel, she might bring in some more business. She decided to bring the idea up to Sassy Saddles then put it and the mare aside and fell back into her work routine, slowly wandering around and watching the dresses fly off the racks as fast as she could put new ones out

An hour passed, then two, no ponies were coming into Canterlot Carousel anymore and more were starting to trickle out as closing time neared. With less customers in the store Rarity was taking the time to drift round to each mare still left and trying to help in any way she could

Then she noticed the large mare again

She was standing in front of a rack near the back, and was by now the last customer left in the store, she seemed to be focused on two dresses and lifting part of one up, or the hanger off the rack to get a better look, studying it for a minute, then putting it back and doing the same for the other. She couldn't decide and she was being careful. Rarity could tell the difference between a pony who was shopping on impulse and buying whatever took their fancy, and one who knew what they wanted taking time to make sure what was on offer measured up to what they had in mind before they parted with their bits. She also noticed her cutie mark, her own face inside a big star with a quintet of smaller ones surrounding it, her mark was as unusual as the rest of her

Rarity sidled up to her

“Can I help with anything darling?” the mare looked around
“Yea I can't decide between these two and I've got something big tomorrow evening, you're the fashionista, what do you think?” she held both dresses up with her magic and Rarity got to work. The one on the left was slate grey lined with dark green, she'd been inspired to make it by the moss growing on the rocks in the stream near Fluttershy's cottage. On the left was a dark purple dress also lined with green stripes (though these were brighter in hue) and a layered scale-like pattern with a cluster of red gems on the breast in the shape of a heart, her favourite little dragon had given her the inspiration for it. Then she took a look at the mare herself, her coat was a pale, sky blue and her mane was a greenish yellow, her eyes more of a molten gold, neither dress fit, 'Beauty in Moss' was much too dark and the 'Dragon Gown' clashed with her mane and eyes

“I don't think either really suits you dear, they're too dark and hide your natural colour” before the mare could say anything in response she quickly added “but I may have something in the back that could work, you said you wanted the princess dress before right?”
“You do have one?” she asked excitedly
“I'm afraid not miss...I'm so sorry, I forgot to ask your name?”
“Bright Starr, two r's” she replied, she seemed to lively and full of energy and enthusiasm, the idea that Pinkie Pie had other relatives she'd never talked about crossed Raritys mind for a moment
“...Bright Starr, but it's heavily inspired by it”
“OK I'll take a look, I trust you” feeling rather touched Rarity headed off into the back

When she was in the back room she went towards the rack where the dress she had in mind was waiting. Earlier she'd given it up as a failed manifestation of inspiration, but after standing up to Sassy and going back to her way of doing things, she'd fished it out of the cuttings bin and put it where it belonged. Bright Starr was still in the same place she'd left her when she came back outside levitating the dress with her horn, chatting to Sassy Saddles

“Here we go, it's an earlier attempt to modify the princess dress, the colour accentuates the slightly darker shade of your coat wonderfully, I can take off the wings and flare it out at the back to give it some more presence and with the rainbow gems I can guarantee you'll be the biggest star of any party you attend” she suddenly realized how the last part could be taken, but Bright Starr smiled warmly and the happy, optimistic tone in her voice didn't diminish
“It's just what I wanted, I'll take it”
“I'll need to make some alterations and take it out a bit first” OK, she really needed to think before she spoke and not let whatever came to her mind just roll off her tongue. She was not Pinkie Pie
“No problem hon, I'll wait” she started towards the couch in the corner
“I'm sorry but we're closing soon, you said you wanted it tomorrow evening right?”
“Yes please”
“Then I'll have it ready by noon tomorrow, if you want to come by it will be right here waiting for you” Bright Starr smiled
“Thank you so much, I can't wait” she turned and left, stopping at the dress mirror near the door to fix her mane before she went out and closing the door softly behind her. With the second day of Canterlot Carousel now officially over Rarity went into the back, summoned the couch over to her with her magic and sank down onto it letting out a long sigh of relief

“What a day” she was looking forward to having a long soak in her hotel room
“You handled it fine” Sassy said, having come in from locking up “magnolia and magenta Rarity I've had bosses who crashed and burned before the first day, you shone like a star, it's a shame you've got an outstanding order though” she said, motioning to the one time princess dress with a flick of her head
“Oh no I consider it a challenge, you know what they say Sassy, do what you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life”
“I hear that” Sassy replied, levitating two bottles of cider from the small fridge over and passing one to Rarity
“To Canterlot Carousel, may its doors keep revolving for many years to come” Rarity proclaimed holding her bottle up
“Here here” and the bottles clinked together, Rarity took a long pull enjoying the cold, crisp taste wash over her tongue

“Sassy darling, I have an idea I'd like to run by you”
“Shoot” her employee replied
“You met Bright Starr”
“How could I miss her?” seemingly falling into the same faux pas trap as her employer she quickly added “I was talking to her before you came back out, the girl's got a big personality”
“You're from Canterlot right?”
“Foaled and raised”
“I was wondering, how many ponies, big and small do you see that wouldn't fit into the standard dress sizes we have at the boutique?”
“I've seen a few, Canterlot's a big place and we get tons of ponies who come here from all over Equestria, I've seen just about every size of pony you could imagine”
“I was thinking, what if we did some plus sized dresses or offered free fitting, do you think it could bring in more business?” Sassy thought for minute, switching back from friend to business pony
“It couldn't hurt, plenty of ponies will want what you make no matter the size, if you're willing to put in the extra time making the alterations it could boost our sales and appeal to a wider potential market”
“I'd like it if we could do it” she looked down at her bottle of cider, clasped in both her hooves “I'd feel just awful if somepony felt they couldn't buy a dress she adored just because she didn't think it could fit her”
“You never had that problem before?” Rarity sighed

“Ponyville's a small town, everypony knows each other and I do most of my work for ponies I know or for clients, all custom made, I make the dress fit the pony from the moment I start designing it” she looked up “the idea of a pony fitting a dress, it just never really came to mind” she said said, her voice tinged with a hint of regret
“No-one in Ponyville's Bright Starr's size?”
“Not really, it's a small place, not much variety, I should have thought about this before now...” Sassy raised a hoof
“Saffron and sun glow Rarity don't beat yourself up about it, everypony has things they don't think of until it's starting them in the face”
“I'll try, I mean it's such a small place compared to Canterlot, the biggest pony in Ponyville I've had to make something for is Big Mac, well, him or Discord”
“I bet the Spirit of Chaos is a tough fit”
“You have no idea” both ponies laughed at the thought

The next day Rarity was at Canterlot Carousel bright and early, leaving Sassy to handle the floor she grabbed a cup of coffee and headed into the back to get to work. First up was the one-time Princess Dress, Rarity pulled the dress onto a nearby mannequin and fished a set of preliminary sketches out of a drawer at her desk, she already had a good idea of what she wanted to do but she wanted to give it that extra touch. She took her dishes of gems and set them on the windowsill to catch the light, adjusting them every so often, everything ready Rarity tried to picture Bright Starr in her minds eye, glancing back and forth from the gems on the windowsill to the dress. Soon inspiration hit and she pulled the dress over, plucked some gems from the dishes and used her horn to lift up a pair of scissors and a needle and thread. It was time for the artiste to begin her craft

At noon Bright Starr came back, exactly noon, as soon as the minute hand joined the hour the door swung open and the large mare came in, trotting straight up to Rarity, she was punctual, the fashionista liked that in a pony

“Welcome back Miss Starr”
“No need to be so formal hon, I'm looking forward to seeing what you've got, I stayed up most of last night I was so excited”
“Well I certainty hope I don't disappoint you, I'll just be a moment” she disappeared into the back and re-emerged with the dress Bright Star had sat up most of the night thinking about. The princess dress was still there, or part of it was, the dress was still pale cyan but treated to lighten the colour ever so slightly. The wings had been removed, the gaps at the side filled in and the dress given more of a flared look at the back instead of being bunched up, the most striking changes were the gems. On the original dress it had pale pearls criss-crossing the panels, her attempted revised variant had the pearls replaced with small random rainbow gem shards. On this new version the shards had been cut down even smaller and formed into clusters, each individual shard comparable in size to a grain of rice and grouped by colour, arranged to form little stars

“I call it 'Starry Skies'” Rarity announced proudly, Bright Starr leaned in to get a better look from one angle after another, keeping the critical eye she'd had the day before as she scoured the clothing, then finally let out a whoop of delight
“It's exactly what I wanted, thank you so much Rarity it's amazing” she gushed, continuing to view the dress from different angles, each time the smile on her face growing bigger
“So I take it you'll take it?”
“Are you crazy? Of course I'll take it, it'll make me look so good on stage tonight”
“You're an actress?” Rarity asked as she rang her up at the register
“I'm at the Canterlot Convention Centre tonight” Bright Starr replied “so what do I owe you? List price right?” Rarity looked shocked and shook her head
“Oh no no no, it was on sale yesterday when you wanted it so it shall be the same price today”
“No it's fine, I don't' want to take advantage” Rarity held up a hoof firmly
“It's entirely my fault Bright Starr, so it's the sale price, I insist”
“OK, I'm not gonna turn down a good deal when it's offered” she fished out her purse from her saddle bags with her magic “but I insist you take this” she floated a ticket over to her

“What's it for?”
“My seminar at Canterlot Convention Centre, I'm a motivational speaker, it's called Making Your Star Shine”
“I'm not sure, I mean I've got Canterlot Carousel to think of and it's only been open a few days and...”
“Aww come on, you never know you might learn something” Bright Starr said, Rarity still didn't look convinced “please?” she asked more softly, something in her eyes was asking Rarity to go, not pleading, but asking earnestly, with real conviction
“I suppose I could get Sassy to lock up tonight” Rarity replied, taking the ticket from the air
“Great stuff, I'll see you there hon, thanks again” she put the bits down, draped the dress over her back and turned to go, beaming as she left the store

“Are you going to go?” Sassy asked as Rarity looked down at the ticket in her hooves
“I don't know, I don't want to leave the store so soon and Bright Starr seems nice but..”
“That was Bright Starr?” a soft voice said with a gasp, Rarity and Sassy looked over to see Fluttershy standing there
“Fluttershy darling how long were you there?”
“Umm...awhile, I kind of blend into the background sometimes” she said even more quietly
“Why ever are you here? The others went back to Ponyville yesterday”
“The Princess invited me to take another look around the Castle Gardens so I stayed the night at the palace, I wanted to see how business was doing today and if you wanted to go for lunch”
“Why didn't you speak up?” she cast her head down slightly
“I didn't want to butt in” she mumbled softly

A few minutes later they were sitting outside at a nearby cafe

“So you know Bright Starr?” Rarity asked
“How could I not? I've been to a lot of her seminars this year, Rising Star of Self-Esteem, Shooting Comet of Courage, Resplendence in Confidence...” Rarity decided to head her off before she started listing each one by name
“You...go to her seminars?”
“Oh yes, they've really helped me” she said, smiling
“But after Iron Will...”
“I don't go all the time, just if I feel like I need some positive reinforcement, I heard about her at the Spa”
“Aloe and Lotus Blossom?”
“No, Bulk Biceps” that almost made Rarity do a spit take, she managed to stop before spraying Fluttershy with tea
“He needs motivation?” she asked, shocked
“No he's her coltfreind, we go together sometimes if he's going to see her after her show in Canterlot or he's picking up a shift at the Rainbow Factory in Cloudsdale and it's on the way” now him knowing so much about clashing colours and design when she measured him for his Ponyville Equestrian Games uniform made a lot more sense

“I...see”
“I saw her give you a ticket, are you going to go?” Rarity pulled it out of her purse
“I'm not sure”
“You'll like it, I had to order my ticket really early”
“You like it?”
“Oh yes, you will too, it's really worth the bits” well, if Fluttershy said it was good after Iron Will...
“I guess I can get Sassy Saddles to watch the boutique tonight”
“Great, you won't regret it Rarity” Fluttershy dug into her sandwich as Rarity looked down at the ticket in her hoods, she still wasn't sure but she'd give Bright Starr a chance

That evening Rarity was waiting in the foyer inside Canterlot Convention Centre, decked out in one of her favourite dark purple evening gowns when she saw Fluttershy making her way towards her with another, bigger, burlier stallion in tow

“It's certainly busy” Rarity said, the crowd was much bigger than she'd been expecting, far bigger than the crowd who'd come to Ponyville to see Iron Will, ponies of all ages, almost as big as the crowds the Canterlot Opera drew, Fluttershy looked around
“She's very popular”
“Yeah” Bulk added, the normally boisterous, energetic pony was usually loud enough to give Pinkie Pie a run for her money and here he was acting more reserved than Big Mac, if she told anypony in Ponyville, no-pony would believe her, not even Applejack. A chime sounded and the doors to the main auditorium opened

“Oh it's starting” Fluttershy said excitedly, already heading towards the doors, Bulk stayed where he was
“You're not coming?”
“I'll be at the back, don't wanna distract her” he replied stoiclly, she caught up to Fluttershy and found a seat next to her a few rows back from the stage as the final few ponies trickled in with a few stage hands milling around at the edges in the dim light, not stalking up and down like Iron Wills goats. Rarity looked up at the stage, the only things on it were a small table with a glass of water and a few large full length dress mirrors for some reason. Then the lights lit up, the curtain at the back of the stage parted and Bright Starr stepped out. Rarity had worked her magic again, the dress fit perfectly, the flared back spread out to the sides giving her a more relaxed look instead of hugging her body and the gemstone stars patterns glittered in the stage-lights, it made her the big star, the centre of attention

“Hey everypony, how are we all doing tonight?” her voice rang out, using a loudspeaker spell to make sure it carried right to the back of the auditorium as the stamping of hoofs showed the audience was very happy to be there
“I'm Bright Starr and welcome to Making Your Star Shine” the lights dimmed and her horn glowed, blobs of sickly yellow light appeared at either side of her, rising and morphing into ugly caricatures of ponies who began snarling insults

“Ugly”

“Fat”

“Dork”

“Featherbrain”

“Mud Pony”

“Bonehead”

With a flash of her magic Bright Starr sent the apparitions away

“Fact, the world isn't a big ball of sugar and spice, friendship is magic but not all ponies see it that way, some ponies can be jerks, some ponies can be mean, some ponies can be bullies, they can bring you down, bring you down so low you don't even like yourself, let alone any other pony, they brought me down” she said sadly, a lot of the happiness and warmth Rarity had seen gone from the face that wore a sombre expression “but I learned how to deal with those kinds of ponies, I found a way to be comfortable with myself and who I am and now, I'm gonna show you how you can too” she took a confident step forwards “can I have a volunteer from the audience?” a few hands shot up, Bright Starr ignored them and kept scanning the font rows, Rarity noticed none of the stage-hands had an earpieces on, this was all Bright Starr, finally she pointed at an earth pony mare in front of her, Rarity recognized her from Canterlot Carousel, remembering the frizzy orange mane, the purple coat, the braces and the red rimmed glasses

“Could you join me up here on stage please hon?”
“I...I don't know” the other mare mumbled,shifting in her seat, her eyes cast down at the floor
“Please hon? I might be big but I don't bite” she said sweetly, the mare looked up and Bright Starr smiled and made an 'after you' sweep of her foreleg, the mare slowly stood and trotted up onto the stage

“OK, first things first, what's your name hon?”
“...Ginger Snaps”
“Nice to meet you hon, now I gotta ask, why'd you come here today?”
“I...I wanted to feel better about myself”
“We all do dear, now why don't you tell us a little about yourself if you're feeling up to it, no rush” she gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze
“I work at the Royal Canterlot Library, I have a few friends in the city, a few from back home, I have my own place, a pet cockatoo, I'm single but I'm looking for my special somepony and I sometimes visit my parents and kid sister back home in Manehatten”
“Sounds like a good life”
“I also...I...I don't” she took a deep breath “...I don't always have good days, I wasn't the most popular pony in school, sometimes I get called names if somepony's not happy I fined them for bringing something back late, tell them to be quiet or sometimes for no reason at all, stick pony, mop mane, buck teeth, it hurts, it hurts a lot”
“I know it does hon, I know, but I can help you if you'll let me”
“Sure, what do I have to do?” Bright Starr moved one of the dress mirrors so it was facing Ginger Snaps and the earth pony looked into it

“What do you see?”
“...me, just me”
“No, what do you see?”
“...A pony who doesn't look good, a pony who doesn't always feel like she's any good, somepony no-pony should know” Bright Starr shook her head firmly
“That's not what I see hon, I see a mare with a lot of potential, a great personality and lot of inner beauty”
“I wish I could see that” Ginger Snaps said sadly
“What if you could? What if you could see who you are on the inside? See the good, kind, sweet mare I've just met?”

“You can do that?” Bright Starr smiled
“I can, if you want”
“Please, please show me”
“Can do” she pulled the other dress mirrors over to Ginger Snaps and arranged them to form a horseshoe in front of her covering her from all angles, then she closed her eyes and her horn began to glow with magic, molten gold in colour and almost complete blotting it out, her eyes popped open and they were glowing pools of molten gold and Ginger Snaps gasped, looking into the mirrors

“That...that's me?” she asked, holding her hoof out to check it really was her reflection
“That's you hon, it's who you are on the inside, everypony who matters can see it, now you can too”
“How can I be sure, how do I know this isn't some cheap parlour trick?” she asked doubtfully
“A very good question, what you see is what you see, I can't see you in those mirrors, nopony else can, only you, this is you, the real you, the good, kind, polite, decent mare, the magic is only making you see what everyone else already could”

Rarity sat up in her seat and leaned forwards to get a better look, it was true, she couldn't see Ginger Snaps reflection in the mirrors, or anything else, she wasn't Twilight but she knew a thing or two about magic and Twilight had taught her a thing or two more. She couldn't sense any of the malevolence or negativity that dark magic usually radiated when it was used, Ginger Snaps eyes weren't glowing and she didn't have any other signs that she was being mind controlled or manipulated. Rarity knew what those signs were and thanks to Discord when he first escaped, she knew what it felt like when mind control or manipulation was done to her, she couldn't feel it here. The only physical change wasn't to Ginger Snaps but the mirrors, their surfaces were now a pale gold and shimmered like the surface of a pond, she felt out with her magic, trying to feel anything in the air the magic might be giving off. She could see out of the corner of her eye other unicorns in the audience were doing the same but she didn't sense that anything was amiss, the only things she felt were warmth, kindness and compassion. Bright Starr's glowing eyes met hers and the big pony smiled ever so slightly, Rarity wasn't sure if she could see her or sense what she was doing, but she thought the big pony knew

“I can't believe it, this is really me” Ginger Snaps reached out and rested a hoof on the front mirror and the spell ended
“That's you hon, sometimes we get a little down, sometimes we lose ourselves or other ponies make us lose ourselves, sometimes we need reminding to be who we are and seeing what we have the potential to be, you just needed a little reminder is all” she turned her around to face the audience
“This isn't something that's easy, learning to deal with and overcome negativity and meanness isn't something that can be broken down into buzz words and done in an afternoon. This is is hard, it might be hardest thing all of you ever do, but if you stick at it, if you work hard and remember to be true to yourself, you too can make your star shine” the audience broke into another round of hoof stamps and Rarity was glad she'd decided to come

Two hours later, after more ponies had come up to take a look in the mirrors and Bright Starr had said her last part, the seminar was over, the big pony gave one final wave and ducked behind the curtains as the stage lights dimmed down again to the thundering of hoof stamps

After the audience had filed out Rarity and Fluttershy caught up with Bright Starr outside in the foyer, chatting to a few of the other ponies as they were preparing to leave, as soon as she saw them she lit up with a big smile

“Hey ladies, glad you could make it”
“I wouldn't miss it for the world Bright Starr” Fluttershy said warmly
“How about you Rarity? Glad you came?”
“How did you do that magic?” Rarity asked, Bright Star was going to reply when Bulk appeared, holding out a bouquet of flowers

“For the brightest star” she took them and leaned down to get a nosefull
“Aww Bulk you're so good to me” she said, leaning to give him a big hug and a kiss
“Say Bulk and I were gonna get some coffee after the show, do you two wanna come along? My treat”
“We'd love to” Fluttershy chimed in, oh well, Sassy would have to lock up without her

A few minutes later Rarity was sitting at a fashionable cafe a few streets down from the Convention Centre, holding a cup of coffee in her hands
“You feeling OK hon?” Bright Star asked
“Yes the coffee's fine but I wanted to ask, how did you come up with that magic?” Bright Starr glanced at Bulk who nodded
“Fluttershy would you gimme a hand, I wanna pick out some muffins” the yellow pegasus got up and followed Bulk to the counter at the far end of the cafe

“I'm not exactly easy to miss am I?” Bright Starr asked
“I suppose not” Bright Starr looked down
“I wasn't so much Bright Starr as big starr when I was a filly, I was always big for my age, some kind of glandular problem, I dieted, I worked out like crazy, nothing helped, I didn't get any slimmer. Not that any of the foals in my class believed that when I told them and being the last blank flank in my class didn't help either, they teased me pretty bad. The teachers tried to stop it but that didn't always work, I had friends but they couldn't be with me all the time, the mean fillies would get to me sooner or later. School wasn't fun, I tried to stay home if I could when it got bad, pretended I was sick, I must have come down with everything under the Princesses's sun” she laughed sadly “my parents saw through it so most days, I still got my book bags and went in anyway, I didn't tell them, didn't want them to worry. Somepony made up a song about me, I was big star, big star, see her wobble from afar”
“That's terrible” Rarity knew some of the fillies in Sweetie Belle's class could be mean but nothing like that
“Eventually it got too much, I locked myself in my room and wouldn't come out, my parents begged me, my friends tried to coax me out, my teachers even sent my homework to my house, nothing, I wasn't leaving that room, I covered up my mirror, I didn't even want to look at myself. I figured if I were away from everypony nopony could hurt me, if nopony could see me, nopony would be mean to me” she looked up

“But then one day I was going to open the curtains to see the sun come up and I tripped, I pulled the blanket down and the sunlight came streaming in and I saw myself in the mirror for the first time in weeks. I looked like a total mess, I looked as bad as I felt and I felt pretty rotten” Bright Starr glanced down at her coffee, seeing her reflection in the cup
“And then something hit me, why was I feeling so bad? Why was I hiding? Because of them and what they thought about me? And why did that matter so much, I didn't know them, I didn't like them and I barely saw them, why was what they thought more important than what I thought? I knew I was a good filly, I helped my brothers with their homework and my parents with the chores, I walked the dog, I was good to my friends and they knew I was a good friend to them, they cared about me, my family cared, if I were really no good, why would they care? Then I knew, then and there, that I was a good pony, that my outside might not be what they thought was beautiful but my inner beauty, that was second to none, I might not be beautiful in their way but in my own way I was incredible”

“So I closed my eyes and I wished really, really hard to be able to see what kind of pony I really was on the inside, my magic responded to my wish and I turned my mirror into one that could show me”
“The spell” Rarity whispered
“I call it the Mirror of Truth, it sees your inner magic, sees what you really are and it changes the mirror so it can show you who you really are on the inside. Show you your inner beauty, show you what you could be, it didn't magically make me look thin, it didn't fix my hair or my pallor, it...I can't really explain it but it showed me what I needed to see, it showed me what I'd forgotten, it showed me what I was and what I could be”
“That's amazing”
“My parents must have thought something was wrong and my dad nearly broke the door off its hinges trying to get into my room to check if I was OK, I was, for the first time in a long time I was OK, I was good with myself, or I'd started to be. And I also saw I'd gotten this” she looked down at her cutie mark
“It's certainly an unusual one”
“It's my talent, that's why my face is on it, I could see what I'd forgotten, I could see what kind of pony I was, I could raise myself up, I could make my star shine. And I could do it for others, I just knew that I could use my talent to help other ponies, ponies like me who were struggling with seeing their inner beauty and what they really were, that they were beautiful and special in their own way”

“So I went back to school and slowly, things got better, I was able to shrug off what the mean fillies said more and more with each day I went back, I got back to who I really was, it wasn't easy but I did it. And after school I packed my saddlebags and hit the road, I went all over Equestria trying to help anypony who'd listen to me and I helped a lot of ponies see who they really were and how to be comfortable with themselves. Eventually I came back here and started to do my talks on a regular basis, I made new friends, kept in touch with my old pals, I met Bulk and here I am. Bright Starr, the motivational speaker, the pony who raises others up when they're feeling down in the dumps and reminds them of who they really are” she looked over at Bulk on his way back, and Fluttershy next to him and smiled warmly “and I wouldn't trade it for anything” Rarity smiled too

“I don't doubt it one bit darling, not one bit”

A few days later, as soon as she got back to Ponyville Rarity made a stop at Twilight's castle on her way back to Carousel Boutique. And once inside, sitting down on her couch she opened the Friendship Journal to its first blank page and began to write:

Dear Journal, I learned a lot in Canterlot, I learned what it means to be happy and secure in yourself, to know who you are and what sort of pony you can become, how ponies can lose sigh of it and how they can remember again. What's on the outside doesn't matter, what's on the inside is what counts, that's where the true magic lies, that what helps make you who you are. As long as you know who you are and what kind of pony you are, you can achieve anything, the ponies who matter will know and for those ponies, your friendship is the most powerful magic there is