"Money, if it does not bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort."
-- Helen Gurley Brown
She awoke covered in a sheen of sweat and she panted beneath her covers with the heat that gripped her body. She clutched her blanket closer, shivering despite the waves of figurative fire that washed over her skin. Tears slowly leaked out of her eyes as the force of the dream struck her like a swinging hoof. She shuddered violently beneath the sweltering blankets as the painful dream was replayed in her mind. It was always the same one. Every single night she was tortured with the same dream.
Images of pony faces filled with disaproval and anger flashed across her image, making her recoil with every new face that was added to the group. Fancy Pants was already there, shouting at her with anger, though she could hear none of his words. Her parents were there next, shaking their heads with sad disaproval painting their faces. She wanted to call out to them, to say she was sorry, but the words would not come. She watched with tears flowing freely as she watched her 5 best friends join the group looking at her with disgust. She tried to speak to them as well, but the words died in her throat as the accusing glares peirced her eyes. Then another face joined those already present. Her own visage was glaring at her with a hate stronger than any of the others.
Rarity clenched her eyes shut, and swept her blanket through the faces that surrounded her. As she swung with wild abandon, she felt the tears flow harder, and drip onto her flailing body, mixing with her sweat. She heard different pieces of china tinkle and smash when they hit the floor, but she didn't care. She wanted the faces to be out of her life. She tired quickly of swinging the heavy blanket about, and fell to her bed sobbing with her hooves over her head. Raising her head to shout at the ceiling, she screamed out, "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?"
She was answered only with silence, surrounded by darkness. Her head fell slowly back down to her bed, wet and sticky from her sweating and crying. She was exhausted, her strength sapped by her efforts of fending off her past. She fought the grip of unconsciousness , but it soon rose up like a wave and crashed into her, pulling her under its black waves.
The sudden slap made her cry out in pain, her head jerking to the side with the force of the blow. Another slap from a cyan hoof made her head jerk the other direction with tears growing in her eyes. An orange hoof kicked into her side with a sharp jab, creating more cracks her already fractured ribs. Her tail was pulled by another pony with pink hair, each hair slowly parting from her skin with a prick of pain as each of the purple strands were pulled away. She felt a normally meek touch jabbing at her wherever they could, sending sharp stabs of pain through her body wherever they touched. The crushing purple sheet of magic that held her down made it hard to breathe, and restricted her every movement. She didn't fight against it though. She deserved every sharp pain they delivered upon her body. She saw shimmering spots of blackness swim in her vision everytime another slap struck her cheeks. These black spots increased in number, growing and growing until she could see nothing but blackness.
She felt the sun shining through the window to cast its warm rays on her face. The warmth barely reached her as she shook with the cold pain that lingered from her dream. Every time she slept, that dream haunted her without fail. Shaking her head swiftly, she opened her eyes to look at her room. Everything was in disarray, as if a pony had gone through the room and shoved everything to the ground. Rarity shook her head again, and rose from the uncomfortable position she had slept in.
She sent a blast of her blue magic through the room, righting tables and piecing together broken shards of china. Her bed made itself, the wetness being siphoned from the sheets and deposited in the sink. She lifted her comb with a flash of her magic, running it through her mane, counting out loud with every stroke. "Thirty. Thirty-one. Thirty-two." After the morning ritual of brushing, she set the comb down on the table and looked into the mirror.
Rarity screamed with fright at the reflection. Sweeping up all of her make-up supplies, she set about rectifying the monster that looked back at her from the mirror. The various noises that hissed and poofed from all of her fashion implements made a small musical that calmed and soothed her. Once the particles of make-up dissapated, she looked back into the mirror, smiling at the now beautiful unicorn that smiled back at her. "You look fabulous as always my dear!" the reflection mimicked her mouth, but said no words in return. Rarity had to fight back the small tears that came from a sudden rememberance of Fancy Pants' face. Those had been his words to her every morning.
Scooping up some cold water with magic, she drank from the levetating sphere of liquid. Splashing a little in her eyes, she banished her past from her mind and walked out of her bedroom. She descended down the spiral staircase of her home, enjoying the luxurious feel of the imported carpets and shine of the jewel-encrusted chandeliers and walls. She walked into a world of imported fabrics and rare gems, smiling all the time at the simply divine sparkles that they shined with. She magicked on a simple cape made of Neighponese silk. She laughed outright at the feel of the imported silks on her coat. She slipped her hooves into the specially designed shoes, which had small fire-rubies inserted on the front of each shoe. She looked into the mirror again. Absolutely smashing Rarity!
Taking a deep breath, she opened her door with magic and walked outside into the city of Canterlot. As expected, she was mobbed by the crowd of ponies that were outside her house so often, she thought that they must have slept outside her home. She put on her usual wide-mouthed smile for the cameras as they unleashed their flurry of clicking and blight flashes of light. Her eyes watered from trying to stay open against the onslaught of flickering bulbs, but she gritted her teeth and kept them open. The press wanted nothing but her best, and she gave it to them every day. She started to walk down the street her house resided on, one of the more upper class neighborhoods in Canterlot. The mob of the press moved with her, never pressing closer than 5 feet. Of course, they would have if it wasn't for her magical shield keeping them back. She tossed her head and flashed another smile, still walking towards her destination.
She cringed internally at the dirt poofing up from the street she now walked on. The buildings around her had turned from beautiful to dilapidated, some of them actually falling apart. Her crowd of followers dissapated as the conditions grew worse. The poor ponies on the road stared at her, as did some of the ponies in the alleys, their eyes flashing with envy. She shuddered as a few ponies actually started to walk towards her with pleading looks in their eyes. She quickened her pace, and her destination filled her vision as she trotted up to it. She pushed the door open, and slammed it shut behind her with magic. The ponies inside stared at her with confusion, but she ignored their looks and made her way upstairs. She found the door she was looking for, and she knocked hesitantly. An angry "Go away Rarity!" answered her.
"Sweetie Bell! Come now and let your sister in!" She heard a smashing noise coupled with the door vibrating as if it was stuck by something. "Please Sweetie! I came all the way here to talk!" Her sister's anger-filled face peeked out from a crack in the door.
"No Rarity! I'm not gonna talk to the person who let her own family starve to fuel her own interests!" and then Sweetie Bell slammed the door shut again. A slightly pink aura surrounded the door, and Rarity knew that her sister wouldn't hear anymore of what she had to say. Sighing, Rarity turned and walked back down the staircase and out of the door. She didn't even notice the dirt anymore as she trotted slowly away from the building.
She made her way back up the winding roads, back through the crowds of the peasants. They all stared with a wanting, and a number of them crowded around the edges of her shield. She continued to walk, oblivious to the looks that the beggars threw her way. Suddendly there was a unicorn inside her shield, holding onto her shoulders with his hooves with a wild expression on his face. His hot breath washed over her face as he said "Please! You must help me! I need something to eat. Pleeease!"
Screaming, she cast him away from her with a blast of magic. The hole he had created in her shield slowly expanded, and eventually her shield shattered. The ponies who had gathered around her started crowding in close, grasping at her with hooves. She kicked her own hooves out, trying to send them away, but more replaced them. She finally broke free of the group with a flash of her blue magic, and she galloped all the way home, tears falling to the stones beneath her as she ran.
Arriving at her home, she shoved through the reporters and shot through her door. She leaned back against her door, panting hard. She felt her bottom hit the floor as she lost feeling in her legs. Exhaustion gripped her, and she felt the grip of sleep close around her once more. This time, a new dream awaited her.
It started as it always had, the sheet of purple magic crashing against her. The looks in the eyes of the five ponies were filled with hatred. The ponies that were once her friends moved closer and closer to her. Rarity braced herself for the blows that she knew would come from them, but they never came. She opened her eyes to look into the room, searching for her former friends. Instead there were ponies of every shape and size, but they all shared the same characteristic: poverty. She couldn't make a noise as they began to rip at her clothing, pulling the gems and golden threads from her. Forcing the magic gag away, she screamed, but nopony heard her.
She shot up from where she had fallen asleep, screaming and flailing with her hooves. The scream ripped at her throat, but she couldn't stop it any more than she could stop kicking out at the unseen hooves gripping her. Her scream died away after what seemed an age, and she stopped her wild kicking. Magical light sparkled from her horn as she cast light from it, and she looked around in the dim room. There was noponynelse there, but she still felt the rough hooves on her coat, pulling away everything she loved.
She stood on shakey hooves, still shuddering violently with the feeling of those hooves. She looked herself over in the mirror, fully expecting her body to be covered with dirt in the shape of hooves. When she was satisfied there was nothing, she looked out of her front window. For once, not a single pony was outside her door. Struck with a sudden urge, she cast off the ripped cape and kicked off her shoes. Looking through her closet, she plodded straight to the back. The sparkling dresses held no more of her interest as she dug out an old leather cloak, a gift of Applejack's. Throwing the cloak over herself, she walked over to her chest of riches. She levitated every last gem she had in placed them into a magical stasis cell. A stasis cell of that size would have normally drained her, but she kept fighting against the fatigue and walked towards her door.. She looked around at her home one last time before walking out into the empty, cold street. A gust of icy wind cut through her cloak, but she gritted her teeth as she turned towards the poor district again, steeling herself for what was to come.
She slowed as the buildings around her changed from their normal pristine state into dirt-smeared white washed walls. It was time for her job to start. She reached into her magical container, and pulled from it a large gem. With her magic, she sent the gem through the open window. Moving down towards the next house, she repeated the action. She continued until she came upon an alley. Looking inside it, she saw a family gathered together under a frayed blanket. Tears welled up as they looked at her with dead eyes. She reached again into the cache of gems, pulling out two large stones and levitating them to the colt and mare. They glanced up from staring at the gems on the ground, questioning looks in their eyes. Without a word, Rarity turned away to continue her work. The night went on as she moved through the empty streets, the moon and stars illuminating her path.
She stood by the gate that was the exit of the city of Canterlot. She had always appreciated the grandour of the gate, the beauty of it, but now it seemed cold and dark. She looked around once more at the beautiful buildings and walls of the city before turning away from it for the last time. She set off at a trot to the town of her upbringing, Ponyville.
Rarity arrived in the once lovely town panting from the pace she had set. She looked around in horror as she took in the falling-apart buildings with patchy coats of paint that had begun to peel away. Tears came again as she looked at her hometown, despair gripping at her heart. She trotted through the desolation towards the place she knew the pony she sought would be. She came to the tree that was near the center of Ponyville, and she pushed open the door that was hanging on its hinges. She saw no books anywhere, the shelves that had once housed them were coated with dust. Lighting her horn, she walked towards the mare's room, afraid at what she would find.
Walking through the doorway, she came into a room that was in terrible disary, quite unlike the mare that lived there. She pulled the covers from over the purple mare, and Twilight raised her head to glare at her. "What do you want Rarity?" the anger in the whispy voice madeit plain that the mare would have been slapping her if she had the strength. Rarity answered her by pulling the rest of the gems from the cell and placing them down by Twilight. Twilight turned away from the gems, "If you think that this solves everything, then you're wrong Rarity, they don't."
Fighting the tears that fought to make themselves known, Rarity turned towards the door again. "I know they don't make it right for what I did. Nothing ever could make it right. Before I leave, I just wanted to see Ponyville in its former glory, or at least know that it would be restored to it. I know that you of all ponies would make it so. I just... Wanted another chance to say goodbye." The tears started to fall from her eyes and land on the boards below. "So goodbye, Twilight." She walked out of the doorway and slowly made her way down the stairs and out into the dark, abandoned city.
"If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master. The covetous pony cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess her."
Epilogue: 1 Year Later...
Epilogue: 1 Year Later...
A year had passed since Twilight had last seen Rarity. She walked through the newly rebuilt Ponyville with a smile on her face. Once the town had been rebuilt, everypony who had left it had come back. Every single building had a new coat of paint and a family residing in it once more. No longer were the streets empty at night. No longer were the buildings closed and dark. No longer did everypony wallow in misery and poverty. At least, every building in town but one. Twilight trotted past the former Carousel Boutique with a frown on her face as she looked at its broken windows and sagging support beams. Using her magic to grip the beams, she cast a spell to ensure she would be safe as she entered the building.
Once inside, she looked at the stained rolls of fabric and broken sewing machines that were tossed into a corner. She looked into a closet and saw a number of moth-eaten dresses that twinkled in the light cast by her horn. Dust floated thick in the air as she searched through the numerous dresses out of a small curiosity. Finding nothing of interest, she turned away from the closet and shut the door to the world of dresses.
She turned to leave the building, but a spot of white attracted her attention, and she walked over to it. Lying beneath a leather cloak was her former friend, staring unseeing without moving. Twilight felt sick, but she fought the sudden nausea down and looked over Rarity's lifeless body. She noticed a small square of plastic paper lying near the corpse's hoof, and she picked it up with her magic. On the back, it read My Most Fabulous Friends. Twilight turned it over to see an image that she herself had stowed away in a photo album. All six of them were gathered and posing for the photographer, each of them in a different dress that they had worn to the Grand Galloping Gala. Twilight had to blink away the sudden tears that had come, but her efforts were to no avail. Her tears slid down to join Rarity's own that were soaked into the picture.
Her head dropped to the floor as she fell with sudden grief gripping her. She sobbed into her old friend's white coat. She had apologized, and come back after all she had done, yet all Twilight had done was turn her away. Her tears eventually dried, and she pulled herself up. She trotted slowly back towards the door, wiping away the wetness that was on her face. She turned for the last time and looked over the empty shop.
"I forgive you Rarity, for everything."
"We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends."
-- Sir Francis Bacon
Hi there! This is Chaotic Harmony here! I hope you all enjoyed reading this, because it was absolute HELL for me to type out on an iPad, and no, I don't have a keyboard. Also, props to p0nies for his story 7 Minutes which gave me the idea to use famous quotes for the starter.
