Enoughby MuddyHikokuChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 1“Meooooow~” Opalescence yawned as the morning sun filtered through the windows, the cat using this time to stretch her limbs and clean her snow-white fur. The ruckus by her cat caused Rarity to wake up as well, letting the sunlight flood her sparkling eyes. As Rarity blinked her grogginess away and began to stretch her hooves out, she remembered the importance of this particular day. “Oh my goodness Opal, today is the start of Fashion Week!” Rarity shot up out of her bed, causing Opalescence to fly into the air and crash into the wall. “Oh sorry darling” Rarity giggled, walking over to peel her cat off the wall. “I’m just excited, this is going to be such a wonderful week! Big name designers often come around and request the most fabulous of dresses from me! Why, last year I made the most beautiful of suits for Fancypants! This will be such a wonderful week!” Opalescence slid down the wall, pooling at the bottom with a moan. Rarity picked her up and took her to the kitchen for breakfast. “Ooh, I do hope I can make an impact this week Opal” Rarity confided to her now floppy cat. “This week is my one chance to prove to everypony that I’m a worthy fashion designer and I don’t want to fail. I already have so many orders from some local residents to do though, trying to squeeze in time for a Fashion Week showcase if I’m asked is going to be quite the challenge...Oh, look at me talking such dreary things! I’m sure it’ll be fine” Once the mare and her cat reached the kitchen, Rarity plopped Opalescense near her food dish. The cat stretched out and sat up, meowing loudly and pointing at her food tray. “Yes darling, I’m quite hungry too. Let me eat something first darling and I’ll make sure to get you the cat food straight after!” Rarity chirped, opening up her drawers in search of something to cook or eat for her breakfast. Unfortunately for her, all she seemed to find was either dust or tiny scraps of corn. Her pantry was rather lacking since Twilight had been using her house to eat as of late, the lack of a kitchen in Twilight's library meant she often ate with friends during the breakfast hours, and with Rarity stressing out over Fashion Week she had completely forgotten to stock up on groceries. “Now lets see…” Rarity pondered to herself whilst rifling through her drawers and cupboards. “Don’t have any cherries, out of pancake mix, leftover cake appears to be gone….” She kept searching, her growling stomach aiding in her impatience to find food. After much scrounging, she ripped open a cupboard to find a bottle of Applejack’s finest cider. “Oh hello there you!” Rarity remarked. “What are you doing here?” Rarity had received this bottle of cider as a gift from Applejack, a “thank you” present of sorts after Rarity created her dress for the Grand Galloping Gala. Applejack had mentioned to Rarity that this particular brand of cider contained alcohol in it, stating “It’s the finest cider ol’ Apple Acres has! It’ll help you relax a little!” Rarity was quite grateful that Applejack was willing to give her such a fine drink, but never really intended to drink it. She didn’t drink alcohol, it messed with her ability to create beautiful dresses and she needed all the focus she could get. As a result, she had always saved it as a momento her friendship with Applejack but never touched it. “I thought you were upstairs in my room, how did you get down here?” Rarity questioned, picking up the bottle with her magic. “Sweetie Belle must have moved it, trying to be helpful I suppose.” She sighed, taking the bottle back upstairs. “Thank goodness Sweetie Belle is with Applebloom and Scootaloo for some camping thing this week, her “helpfulness” can be so disruptive at times. Oh, but she does try so hard, I should give her more slack…” Upon placing the bottle back on her dresser, her stomach growled again. It was clear that there was nothing but dust in her pantry no matter how hard she looked. Rarity sighed. “Right then, I guess I’ll give Pinkie Pie a visit then. She always has the most delicious of cakes. I’ll probably have to go grocery shopping as well to prevent this from happening again...” She grabbed her sewing kit, wanting to do some work during her little food run, and started her trot towards her friend, leaving behind a hungry and annoyed Opalescence at her doorstep. Chapter 2Rarity trotted towards the Sugarcube Corner, quickly sowing the fabrics together to create some basic patterns on the way. Pinkie Pie, already wide awake, saw her through the window and squealed in excitement. She ran out the door to meet Rarity at a speed that could challenge Rainbow Dash. “RARITY, I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE COMING! Oh oh, you don’t come around here often, it’s like a special event! gasp We should throw a party for you coming here!” Pinkie squealed, jumping around a now startled Rarity. “Oh no no, you-you really don’t have to do that darling!” Rarity stammered, putting her needle and fabrics back in her sewing bag. “I’m simply here because I completely forgot to stock up my pantry! Oh it was such a foolish mistake, I was being simply silly! So, I need somewhere to eat breakfast and I can’t think of anyone more qualified for a lovely breakfast cake than you darling” Pinkie stopped bouncing and stared straight into Rarity’s eyes. “You..You think my cakes are that good?” Pinkie stammered. “Why of course darling!” Rarity reassured. “Everyone in Ponyville knows that Sugarcube Corner creates the most lovely of pastry delights!” Pinkie stood still for a few seconds, before beginning to violently shake on the spot and a huge smile beginning to form on her face. Suddenly, she jumped in the air and started jumping around Rarity even faster than before. “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!” Shrieked a rather joyful Pinkie. “It’s so nice to hear that from you Rarity, why it makes my heart melt! You’re one of the best friends a pony could ever have!” Rarity blushed at the rather abrupt compliment “Why thank you Pinkie, a fine pastry chef such as yourself deserves only the finest of compliments” Pinkie kept jumping around, high on the excitement Rarity had brought to her already lovely morning “Ooh ooh, you came here for breakfast though right? I gotta make you a cake! A huge, sweet, icing filled cake! Maybe a chocolate cake? Or a strawberry cake? gasp How about a chocolate strawberry cake? Ooh ohh, maybe a banana cake! No, obviously I should make an apple cake! I can get the apples from Applejack! Or maybe…” Rarity, taken aback from the the sudden selection offered to her, cut into Pinkie’s cake rant. “Actually Pinkie dear, I think a simple chocolate icing cupcake will suffice. I’m in a bit of a rush with Fashion Week so I’m eating light” Rarity interjected. “Oh right, right. It’s Fashion Week for you! Gosh, it must be so exciting!” Pinkie exclaimed, her rapid jumping beginning to slow down. “Oh most definitely darling, just a bit stressful is all. Do you mind if we go in?” Pinkie nodded her head in agreement and quickly pranced back inside, a still-blushing Rarity following suit. The bakery appeared to be in full swing despite it being so early in the morning, the smell of fresh bread and sugary toppings intoxicating Rarity in its simple delights. “A chocolate icing cupcake right? Coming riiiiiiiiiight up Rarity!” squealed a rather excited Pinkie. “Thank you darling, how much do I owe you?” “Owe me? Oh no no no no no no no no no Rarity! This is a super special cupcake just for you! You don’t have to pay me anything! Although…” Pinkie stopped her manic searching and stared straight at Rarity. “... is it ok if you can fix the dress you made for me?” Pinkie asked. Rarity, who was idly staring at the walls in search of a new design, snapped back into focus when Pinkie made her request. “Fix it darling?” Rarity questioned. “What happened to the dress?” “Weeeeeeeell….” a suddenly very nervous Pinkie ushered Rarity to follow her. “You may want to have a look” Rarity, now rather concerned, began to follow. “I had a teeny weensy little accident with my dress” said Pinkie “Well, I’m sure it’s just a few tears here and there, nothing that I can’t fi- OH MY STARS WHAT IS THAT ABOMINATION” The “dress”, if Rarity could even call it that” hung at the back of the shop in almost complete tatters. It was almost completely covered in hardened chocolate fudge and parts of the dress were completely torn off, the tatters that remained simply flapping from the breeze from the open door. Rarity felt like she was going to faint. Pinkie, noticing Rarity has suddenly turned a much whiter shade than her usual self, spoke up. “Weellll, see, I wanted to wash it to make sure it was nice and clean for this fancy smancy party I have tomorrow right? Well, I went to go wash it, but there was this really exciting thing that came by my window! I can’t really remember what it was, but it was really exciting! Anyways, I wasn’t really paying attention and I maaaaaaaay have put your dress in our chocolate fudge machine instead. I tried to take it out, but then it kinda ripped into pieces when I pulled a liiiiittle too hard and….well…. that kinda happened. Is it possible that you could fix it?” Rarity, entering a state of shock upon seeing the dress, once again snapped out of it after hearing Pinkie’s story. “Fix it? But Pinkie darling, I have to attend to fashion week as well as requests from almost everyone in Ponyville! I don’t think I would have the time to fix something like this, it would take a day at least!” Pinkie looked down trodden, her smile fading. “But I really wanted to look nice for this party tomorrow… oh well. Guess I’ll just have to miss it. Thanks anyways!” Rarity saw her friends downtrodden look and began to panic. “She just praised me as being one of the best friends a friend could have, I can’t deny her request, what sort of horrific pony would that make me?” “A-actually, I’ll be able to fix your dress for tomorrow!” Rarity stuttered out. “Can you come by in around 10 hours?” Pinkie started shaking again upon hearing this, a giant smile beginning to form across her face. “THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! RARITY!” she squealed. “Ooooohhh you’re so generous Rarity, I can’t thank you enough!” Rarity blushed. “Oh it’s really no big deal darling, I just like helping a friend in need.” Pinkie hugged Rarity “Thank you Rarity, I don’t know what to sa- THE CUPCAKES ARE IN THE SECOND FRIDGE, THAT’S RIGHT” She quickly dashed back into the kitchen, a worrisome Rarity following suit. “Annnnd...there! Those should be the final touches” Rarity sighed, finally letting herself relax after a day of stitches and weaves. Pinkie’s dress was by far the hardest to complete, but she managed to complete within the time frame she gave herself. It was just as beautiful as the day she first created it, sparkles and all. “Perhaps I should showcase this for fashion week." Rarity pondered. "Would be quite daring, but I think the frills here could be quite-” “Excuse me?” Rarity focused back to the present and turned around to see a young mare standing in her doorway. “Hello there darling, what can I do for you?” Rarity asked. “I’m here to pickup my order, I requested a dress yesterday and you said it would be done today?” “Oh of course darling, let me see if I can go find it” Rarity began looking in her wardrobe, trying to find this customers dress. “What does this dress look like darling?” Rarity asked “It should be a blue dress with purple ribbons, I’m wearing it to my cousins wedding! It’ll be so exciting and I’m sure the dress you made for me will look wonderful!” Rarity kept searching, but couldn’t find any custom made blue dresses. “I uh, can’t seem to find it darling” “Huh? What do you mean? I need to have that dress today, the wedding is in two days!” “Of course darling, I just need to a bit more searching!” Rarity began to panic. Where was this dress? She would never lose something as important as a dress, especially if it was to be worn to a wedding. Maybe she never started it? No, that wouldn’t make sense. She planned everything out so that she would have enough time to complete every dress. The only thing that would prevent her from completing a dress is if something was added to her schedu- Pinkie’s dress. Rarity started panicking even harder. She hadn’t accounted for the time it would take to complete Pinkie’s dress. She was so focused on helping her friend she completely forgot to re-allocate her time. This mares dress simply did not exist. Rarity’s customer began to tap her hoof in impatience. “Rarity, where is my dress?” She demanded. “Well, uh, darling, you see, I may, um, have, uh, forgotten to start it?” Rarity stuttered out, her face bright red. The mare did not take this well. “What do you mean it’s not finished! I need that dress for tomorrow!” “I know, I know darling! It just completely slipped my mind, I am ever so busy! I’ll start right away, I can get it to you by tomorrow morning!” Rarity pleaded. “I can’t do that Rarity. The wedding is in Manehattan, it’s gonna take me at least a day to get there and the train leaves in the morning.” “Well, I’m sure I can get it to you in at least 2 hours then! Just give me some time-” “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got some dresses you made for my last year anyways, I’ll use one of those.” The mare sighed. “Just a shame I can’t bring a new dress this year is all” Before Rarity could even say anything, her customer walked out, disappointment plastered all over her face. Rarity watched her go through her window, her feelings of panic turning into feelings of guilt. “I haven’t missed an order like that in months, how could I have missed an order like that? Oh I’m being so stupid, I can’t even do my work properly!” Rarity yelled to herself. Rarity continued to scold herself, fueling her self-punishment with her ever growing feelings of guilt. She trotted around her shop, a confused Opalescense looking on as Rarity kept her self-hatred going. “Oh I’m being so stupid, how could you let something like this happen Rarity? This is how it starts, how your work gets sloppy! This is how your entire life falls apart, all because you messed up one simple order! How could you be so foolish!” “Uh, Rarity? Are you ok?” Pinkie had walked through the door with the intent of picking her dress up, only to be met with what appeared to be Rarity talking to herself. “Oh, hello darling!” Rarity quickly composed herself and faced Pinkie. “Sorry darling, I was just having a bit of a moment. You know how I am with the dramatics and all that! Your dress is just over here.” Rarity trotted to her wardrobe, pulling out Pinkie’s dress. “Rarity, are you sure you’re ok? It doesn’t seem like you were ok, and I would know this because I see you a lot when you’re ok” Pinkie questioned. “Really, it’s alright darling. I just missed an order and am a little bit annoyed. I’ll get over myself eventually. Here is your dress, just as good as the day you first got it” Pinkie still looked concerned but took the dress from Rarity. “Thank you Rarity, I really appreciate you doing this. If you need help or anything please ask, I’ll be more than happy to!” Rarity was taken rather aback. Pinkie was rarely ever this serious, for her to be serious means she thought something was wrong. “I’ll be sure to let you know Pinkie” Rarity remarked. “I’ll see you tomorrow darling” Pinkie’s smile returned to her face, her more serious tone fading away. “Alrighty then! Ooooh, did you add extra glitter to the dress? It seems to look extra shiny. Oh oh, these frills! They look so...frilly! And what about…” As Pinkie’s voice faded away as she left the Boutique, Rarity closed her door and let go a hefty sigh. “Now you got Pinkie worried for you as well, you fool” Rarity sighed to herself. “What kind of friend are you?” She started walking to her bedroom, it was late and she needed to be up early to start her next set of orders. As she turned to the corner of her room, she noticed the bottle of cider standing alone on her dresser, the moonlight reflecting off the glass and giving the drink a shine of sorts. Rarity stared at it for a while, contemplating drinking it to help her relax. “No Rarity” She eventually remarked. “Now is not a time to be weak. You have to keep your focus up.” She shook her head and went to go take a bath, wanting to be clean before she entered her bed. The cider continued to stand on her dresser, it’s shine fading as a cloud moved in front of the watchful moon Chapter 3“Uh, Rarity, I’d like to return this suit” It had been 3 days since the incident with the Mare’s wedding dress, and it was clear that Rarity was only starting to feel worse. The quality of her work was beginning to slide, evident by the gentlecolt standing in her doorway holding a suit. “What do you mean darling? Is something wrong with your suit?” Rarity asked. She was starting to look worse for wear, her unkempt mane and the bags under her eyes indicating she hadn’t slept properly in days. “You completely forgot the inner lining of the suit. It’s practically unwearable, the material you used is so itchy on my skin!” “Oh I’m sorry darling, I’ll fix it up right away. Come back in around 2 hours and I’ll make it simply marvelous!” The gentlecolt said his thanks and left the suit with a very fatigued Rarity. Soon as he left the door, Rarity simply collapsed onto the floor. Opalescense walked up to her, snuggling next to her body. “Oh Opalescense, what is wrong with me?” She asked her cat, half-hoping to get an answer. The cat simply continued to snuggle next to her, seemingly ignoring her troubles. Rarity sighed, it was clear trying to vent to her cat wasn’t going to do anything. She picked herself up and began to work on the suit as per her customers request. “Alright, an inner lining? Should be pretty easy, just need some wool…” Rarity muttered to herself, searching her drawers for any wool she could use. She soon found out however that not only was she out of wool, but most of her materials as well. The constant stream of work had not left her with a lot of time to do anything, one of which being shopping. “Well, I guess this calls for a quick trot to the marketplace to grab some new materials.” Rarity sighed to herself. She did not have time for this, but it had to be done. She grabbed some money and galloped towards the market, not even closing the door behind her. Rarity made it to the market, panting after her mad dash to get there. It was bustling as usual, with the smell of fresh products complementing the cacophony of voices asking for cheaper prices and different products. Rarity was in no mood to enjoy the markets atmosphere however and quickly tried to find her usual material stand. As she pushed through the crowds to try and find her usual little corner of the market, she noticed she was attracting more attention than usual. Ponies all around her were staring at her, whispering to each other as they watched. Rarity suddenly slowed down, starting to feel self-conscious. “Why are they staring at me? Is it my mane? Is there mud on my hooves?” As Rarity began rapidly trying to fix her mane, she overheard 2 ladies behind her. One of them was a customer for Rarity only a few days prior. “She forgot to add laces to my dress when I requested them, I swear she’s losing her edge!” Rarity stopped completely, the comment hitting her hard. More comments began to drift towards Rarity, the noise of the marketplace seeming to grow quieter. “Did you know she used a completely different colour for my dress yesterday? That mare needs to get herself together.” “When I gave her my shirt to repair, she somehow made another tear! Why’d I even bother going to her?” As the comments began to grow, Rarity began to panic. She realised it now, all the ponies staring at her were customers from the past few days. All of them staring at her with disappointment and frustration. Hyperventilating, she began galloping home. She couldn’t bear it, the overwhelming sense of failure. She needed to go, needed to hide. She kept running, trying to get home and hide away for as long as she needed. She saw her boutique in sight and started making a mad dash towards her door. Then she saw him. She stopped right in her tracks, staring in complete disbelief at the pony currently waiting in her house. Hoity Toity was standing in her house, presumably looking around for the fashion designer that lived there. Under normal circumstances, Rarity would have been ecstatic to have such a high profile pony visit her humble abode. At that particular moment however, Rarity felt nothing but fear. Her chest began to squeeze as she began to breathe rather erratically. She couldn’t handle this right now, she didn’t want to. “Ah, there you are Rarity!” Hoity Toity had noticed her presence and started trotting towards her at an even pace. Rarity, realising it was too late to back out now, took a deep breath and tried to keep herself together. “Oh my goodness, Hoity Toity! What are you doing here?” Rarity exclaimed, trying her best to have a look of surprise on her face. “Why my fair Rarity, with fashion week coming to a close soon, I need to get my clothes line finished and ready to dazzle the world! However, the designer I hired has caught the flu and is unable to finish off my last batch of dresses, so I turn to you my dear! Your reputation does precede you after all.” Rarity forced a smile and said her thanks. “So how many orders need to be complete darling?” She questioned. “I was thinking 25 dresses from you my dear, I’ll need them by tomorrow.” Rarity froze up. She was overworked with customer requests already, she didn’t have the time to do an extra 25 dresses! Especially in such a short time frame. Rarity began to silently panic, somehow managing to keep her outward polite appearance intact. “So will you do the order Rarity?” Hoity asked. “Surely a mare with talents such as yourself will be able to complete this request easily!” In a state of panic, Rarity just said what came to her mind. “Of course, I can get those orders done!” She blurted out, a feeling of regret and panic as soon as she finished her sentence. “Excellent! I will see you tomorrow then, best of luck!” As Hoity began to trot away, Rarity politely waved and said her goodbye’s. As soon as he left eyesight, Rarity dashed into her home. The feelings of panic were beginning to become too much. “Oh, what have I done?” Rarity wailed. “I can’t do this, I don’t have the talent to do this! There’s so much to do and I don’t have the time to do it, and I keep failing everything!” Rarity ran up to her room, the feelings of panic making way for feelings of despair. She burst into the room, the bottle of cider entering her view. She stared at it, a sense of calm suddenly overtaking her. “I”ll just have a drink, Applejack said it’s good for calming people down, it’ll be good for me!” Rarity exclaimed to herself. She walked up to the bottle, opening the bottle up with her magic. It looked as delicious as ever, the sunlight filtering through the window giving the bottle an orange glow. She sat on the floor, staring at the levitating open bottle. She moved bottle towards her, closing her eyes as the rim of the bottle began to meet her lips… “NO!” Rarity screamed, throwing the bottle away. It smashed onto a wall, spraying cider and broken glass all over the floor. “I can’t be weak! I gotta stay strong! I have to, I have to…” Rarity burst into tears, curling up on the floor. It was all becoming too much and she didn’t know what to do. “Rarity?” Rarity looked up, making out Pinkie through her watery eyes. “Oh, hello darling. I’m sorry you have to see me in such a deplorable state.” Rarity sat up, trying to get herself somewhat back together. Pinkie beckoned behind her and suddenly the rest of Rarity’s friends walked into the room with her. Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow Dash. All of them were here with Pinkie. Rarity was rather taken aback by her friend's sudden entrance. Twilight stepped forward. “Rarity, Pinkie told us how you were feeling and we figured the comments that were being made around town probably were making you feel worse. We all agreed to meet you, so we came to your house. The door was open and we heard a smash upstairs, so we let ourselves in” she remarked. Applejack was the next to speak “Sugarcube, we know you’re not holdin’ up well. What’s wrong?” Rarity began to panic again. She didn’t want this to happen. She loved her friends dearly, the last thing she wanted was them to worry about her. Trying to think of an excuse, Pinkie spoke up and cut her train of thought. “It’s ok to tell us Rarity, we’re here for you” Pinkie stated, a look of calm on her face. Seeing Pinkie in such a state, Rarity finally broke down. “Oh I’m so sorry!” Rarity wailed. “I didn’t want to make you worry about me! I just can’t handle this, there is so much going on and I keep making mistakes! I keep failing everyone, and there is so much I have to do and Hoity Toity came and gave me 25 dresses to do by tomorrow and I still have to repair all those clothes and a bunch more requests and I keep messing it all up and...and…” Rarity burst into tears, falling to the floor once again. Fluttershy walked up to her, sitting next to her and placing a wing on her body. “Rarity, it’s ok to make mistakes! Nobody can be perfect and you simply just got a bigger workload than you thought you could handle” Fluttershy remarked. “You aren’t a failure, you just need some help with your work” Rainbow Dash cut in “That’s why all of us are going to help you get your work done! We’re going to work real hard and make it soooo awesome!” Rarity sat up again, Fluttershy’s wing still wrapped around her body. “I can’t ask for you girls to do that for me, you’re all so busy with your own work!” Applejack chirped up “Sugarcube, we all care fo’ you very much and just want you to be happy! We’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you get back on track.” Everyone nodded in agreement. “So where do you need us Rarity! Oh oh oh, can I do decorations? I loooove decorations” Pinkie chirped. Rarity, touched that her friends would go to such lengths for her, took a deep breath and stood back up. “Alright girls, we got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it, so let's get started!” It took them all night and all day to do it, but the girls were finally finished. All the customer requests had been complete, both new and re-do’s, and Hoity’s twenty five dresses were complete and collected, he himself remarking at how beautiful they were. Even though the girls weren’t trained tailors and a couple of incidents occurred (including Pinkie getting a dress stuck on the ceiling), they managed to produce the best dresses Rarity had ever designed. With all the work finally complete, the girls heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much girls, I don’t think I could have done it without you” said Rarity. “No problem Rarity, we’re just glad to help” Twilight remarked. “At least you’re feeling better now, right?” Rarity opened her mouth to speak. She wanted to say yes, that she felt a lot better. She wanted to say that now that the work was over, she could get back to her usual self. She wanted to say that it was all ok now. But it wasn’t ok. She still felt terrible. The work being finished didn’t change the fact she still failed to do the customers requests properly to begin with. It didn’t change the fact she had a complete mental breakdown and destroyed one of her friends memorabilias practically right in front of her friend. It didn’t change the fact she was so hopeless her friends needed to bail her out, sacrificing their own time just to fix her mistakes. Her friends had tried so hard to make her feel better and all it did was just make her feel hopeless. She couldn’t tell them though. She couldn’t crush their hopes after all the hard work they put in. It would be cruel of her. So what left her mouth was “yes, thank you girls!” The girls cheered at the remark, taking pride in their apparent victory. Rarity played along, if only for the sake of her friends. As they all got up and began leaving, Pinkie turned to Rarity. “We should do this again sometime, I’ll bring cake!” She exclaimed. “Sure Pinkie, anytime” Rarity sighed. As her friends finally left her home, Rarity shut the door and slid down onto the floor. She began to silently cry, not even upset or distressed anymore. She just hurt, there was no other way to describe it. She had failed, made mistakes that she felt had cost her so much. She felt hopeless, angry and alone. As the sun set and the moon began to rise, Rarity continued to cry, letting her sounds of anguish echo throughout the quiet night.
Chapter 1“Meooooow~” Opalescence yawned as the morning sun filtered through the windows, the cat using this time to stretch her limbs and clean her snow-white fur. The ruckus by her cat caused Rarity to wake up as well, letting the sunlight flood her sparkling eyes. As Rarity blinked her grogginess away and began to stretch her hooves out, she remembered the importance of this particular day. “Oh my goodness Opal, today is the start of Fashion Week!” Rarity shot up out of her bed, causing Opalescence to fly into the air and crash into the wall. “Oh sorry darling” Rarity giggled, walking over to peel her cat off the wall. “I’m just excited, this is going to be such a wonderful week! Big name designers often come around and request the most fabulous of dresses from me! Why, last year I made the most beautiful of suits for Fancypants! This will be such a wonderful week!” Opalescence slid down the wall, pooling at the bottom with a moan. Rarity picked her up and took her to the kitchen for breakfast. “Ooh, I do hope I can make an impact this week Opal” Rarity confided to her now floppy cat. “This week is my one chance to prove to everypony that I’m a worthy fashion designer and I don’t want to fail. I already have so many orders from some local residents to do though, trying to squeeze in time for a Fashion Week showcase if I’m asked is going to be quite the challenge...Oh, look at me talking such dreary things! I’m sure it’ll be fine” Once the mare and her cat reached the kitchen, Rarity plopped Opalescense near her food dish. The cat stretched out and sat up, meowing loudly and pointing at her food tray. “Yes darling, I’m quite hungry too. Let me eat something first darling and I’ll make sure to get you the cat food straight after!” Rarity chirped, opening up her drawers in search of something to cook or eat for her breakfast. Unfortunately for her, all she seemed to find was either dust or tiny scraps of corn. Her pantry was rather lacking since Twilight had been using her house to eat as of late, the lack of a kitchen in Twilight's library meant she often ate with friends during the breakfast hours, and with Rarity stressing out over Fashion Week she had completely forgotten to stock up on groceries. “Now lets see…” Rarity pondered to herself whilst rifling through her drawers and cupboards. “Don’t have any cherries, out of pancake mix, leftover cake appears to be gone….” She kept searching, her growling stomach aiding in her impatience to find food. After much scrounging, she ripped open a cupboard to find a bottle of Applejack’s finest cider. “Oh hello there you!” Rarity remarked. “What are you doing here?” Rarity had received this bottle of cider as a gift from Applejack, a “thank you” present of sorts after Rarity created her dress for the Grand Galloping Gala. Applejack had mentioned to Rarity that this particular brand of cider contained alcohol in it, stating “It’s the finest cider ol’ Apple Acres has! It’ll help you relax a little!” Rarity was quite grateful that Applejack was willing to give her such a fine drink, but never really intended to drink it. She didn’t drink alcohol, it messed with her ability to create beautiful dresses and she needed all the focus she could get. As a result, she had always saved it as a momento her friendship with Applejack but never touched it. “I thought you were upstairs in my room, how did you get down here?” Rarity questioned, picking up the bottle with her magic. “Sweetie Belle must have moved it, trying to be helpful I suppose.” She sighed, taking the bottle back upstairs. “Thank goodness Sweetie Belle is with Applebloom and Scootaloo for some camping thing this week, her “helpfulness” can be so disruptive at times. Oh, but she does try so hard, I should give her more slack…” Upon placing the bottle back on her dresser, her stomach growled again. It was clear that there was nothing but dust in her pantry no matter how hard she looked. Rarity sighed. “Right then, I guess I’ll give Pinkie Pie a visit then. She always has the most delicious of cakes. I’ll probably have to go grocery shopping as well to prevent this from happening again...” She grabbed her sewing kit, wanting to do some work during her little food run, and started her trot towards her friend, leaving behind a hungry and annoyed Opalescence at her doorstep.
Chapter 2Rarity trotted towards the Sugarcube Corner, quickly sowing the fabrics together to create some basic patterns on the way. Pinkie Pie, already wide awake, saw her through the window and squealed in excitement. She ran out the door to meet Rarity at a speed that could challenge Rainbow Dash. “RARITY, I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE COMING! Oh oh, you don’t come around here often, it’s like a special event! gasp We should throw a party for you coming here!” Pinkie squealed, jumping around a now startled Rarity. “Oh no no, you-you really don’t have to do that darling!” Rarity stammered, putting her needle and fabrics back in her sewing bag. “I’m simply here because I completely forgot to stock up my pantry! Oh it was such a foolish mistake, I was being simply silly! So, I need somewhere to eat breakfast and I can’t think of anyone more qualified for a lovely breakfast cake than you darling” Pinkie stopped bouncing and stared straight into Rarity’s eyes. “You..You think my cakes are that good?” Pinkie stammered. “Why of course darling!” Rarity reassured. “Everyone in Ponyville knows that Sugarcube Corner creates the most lovely of pastry delights!” Pinkie stood still for a few seconds, before beginning to violently shake on the spot and a huge smile beginning to form on her face. Suddenly, she jumped in the air and started jumping around Rarity even faster than before. “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!” Shrieked a rather joyful Pinkie. “It’s so nice to hear that from you Rarity, why it makes my heart melt! You’re one of the best friends a pony could ever have!” Rarity blushed at the rather abrupt compliment “Why thank you Pinkie, a fine pastry chef such as yourself deserves only the finest of compliments” Pinkie kept jumping around, high on the excitement Rarity had brought to her already lovely morning “Ooh ooh, you came here for breakfast though right? I gotta make you a cake! A huge, sweet, icing filled cake! Maybe a chocolate cake? Or a strawberry cake? gasp How about a chocolate strawberry cake? Ooh ohh, maybe a banana cake! No, obviously I should make an apple cake! I can get the apples from Applejack! Or maybe…” Rarity, taken aback from the the sudden selection offered to her, cut into Pinkie’s cake rant. “Actually Pinkie dear, I think a simple chocolate icing cupcake will suffice. I’m in a bit of a rush with Fashion Week so I’m eating light” Rarity interjected. “Oh right, right. It’s Fashion Week for you! Gosh, it must be so exciting!” Pinkie exclaimed, her rapid jumping beginning to slow down. “Oh most definitely darling, just a bit stressful is all. Do you mind if we go in?” Pinkie nodded her head in agreement and quickly pranced back inside, a still-blushing Rarity following suit. The bakery appeared to be in full swing despite it being so early in the morning, the smell of fresh bread and sugary toppings intoxicating Rarity in its simple delights. “A chocolate icing cupcake right? Coming riiiiiiiiiight up Rarity!” squealed a rather excited Pinkie. “Thank you darling, how much do I owe you?” “Owe me? Oh no no no no no no no no no Rarity! This is a super special cupcake just for you! You don’t have to pay me anything! Although…” Pinkie stopped her manic searching and stared straight at Rarity. “... is it ok if you can fix the dress you made for me?” Pinkie asked. Rarity, who was idly staring at the walls in search of a new design, snapped back into focus when Pinkie made her request. “Fix it darling?” Rarity questioned. “What happened to the dress?” “Weeeeeeeell….” a suddenly very nervous Pinkie ushered Rarity to follow her. “You may want to have a look” Rarity, now rather concerned, began to follow. “I had a teeny weensy little accident with my dress” said Pinkie “Well, I’m sure it’s just a few tears here and there, nothing that I can’t fi- OH MY STARS WHAT IS THAT ABOMINATION” The “dress”, if Rarity could even call it that” hung at the back of the shop in almost complete tatters. It was almost completely covered in hardened chocolate fudge and parts of the dress were completely torn off, the tatters that remained simply flapping from the breeze from the open door. Rarity felt like she was going to faint. Pinkie, noticing Rarity has suddenly turned a much whiter shade than her usual self, spoke up. “Weellll, see, I wanted to wash it to make sure it was nice and clean for this fancy smancy party I have tomorrow right? Well, I went to go wash it, but there was this really exciting thing that came by my window! I can’t really remember what it was, but it was really exciting! Anyways, I wasn’t really paying attention and I maaaaaaaay have put your dress in our chocolate fudge machine instead. I tried to take it out, but then it kinda ripped into pieces when I pulled a liiiiittle too hard and….well…. that kinda happened. Is it possible that you could fix it?” Rarity, entering a state of shock upon seeing the dress, once again snapped out of it after hearing Pinkie’s story. “Fix it? But Pinkie darling, I have to attend to fashion week as well as requests from almost everyone in Ponyville! I don’t think I would have the time to fix something like this, it would take a day at least!” Pinkie looked down trodden, her smile fading. “But I really wanted to look nice for this party tomorrow… oh well. Guess I’ll just have to miss it. Thanks anyways!” Rarity saw her friends downtrodden look and began to panic. “She just praised me as being one of the best friends a friend could have, I can’t deny her request, what sort of horrific pony would that make me?” “A-actually, I’ll be able to fix your dress for tomorrow!” Rarity stuttered out. “Can you come by in around 10 hours?” Pinkie started shaking again upon hearing this, a giant smile beginning to form across her face. “THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! RARITY!” she squealed. “Ooooohhh you’re so generous Rarity, I can’t thank you enough!” Rarity blushed. “Oh it’s really no big deal darling, I just like helping a friend in need.” Pinkie hugged Rarity “Thank you Rarity, I don’t know what to sa- THE CUPCAKES ARE IN THE SECOND FRIDGE, THAT’S RIGHT” She quickly dashed back into the kitchen, a worrisome Rarity following suit. “Annnnd...there! Those should be the final touches” Rarity sighed, finally letting herself relax after a day of stitches and weaves. Pinkie’s dress was by far the hardest to complete, but she managed to complete within the time frame she gave herself. It was just as beautiful as the day she first created it, sparkles and all. “Perhaps I should showcase this for fashion week." Rarity pondered. "Would be quite daring, but I think the frills here could be quite-” “Excuse me?” Rarity focused back to the present and turned around to see a young mare standing in her doorway. “Hello there darling, what can I do for you?” Rarity asked. “I’m here to pickup my order, I requested a dress yesterday and you said it would be done today?” “Oh of course darling, let me see if I can go find it” Rarity began looking in her wardrobe, trying to find this customers dress. “What does this dress look like darling?” Rarity asked “It should be a blue dress with purple ribbons, I’m wearing it to my cousins wedding! It’ll be so exciting and I’m sure the dress you made for me will look wonderful!” Rarity kept searching, but couldn’t find any custom made blue dresses. “I uh, can’t seem to find it darling” “Huh? What do you mean? I need to have that dress today, the wedding is in two days!” “Of course darling, I just need to a bit more searching!” Rarity began to panic. Where was this dress? She would never lose something as important as a dress, especially if it was to be worn to a wedding. Maybe she never started it? No, that wouldn’t make sense. She planned everything out so that she would have enough time to complete every dress. The only thing that would prevent her from completing a dress is if something was added to her schedu- Pinkie’s dress. Rarity started panicking even harder. She hadn’t accounted for the time it would take to complete Pinkie’s dress. She was so focused on helping her friend she completely forgot to re-allocate her time. This mares dress simply did not exist. Rarity’s customer began to tap her hoof in impatience. “Rarity, where is my dress?” She demanded. “Well, uh, darling, you see, I may, um, have, uh, forgotten to start it?” Rarity stuttered out, her face bright red. The mare did not take this well. “What do you mean it’s not finished! I need that dress for tomorrow!” “I know, I know darling! It just completely slipped my mind, I am ever so busy! I’ll start right away, I can get it to you by tomorrow morning!” Rarity pleaded. “I can’t do that Rarity. The wedding is in Manehattan, it’s gonna take me at least a day to get there and the train leaves in the morning.” “Well, I’m sure I can get it to you in at least 2 hours then! Just give me some time-” “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got some dresses you made for my last year anyways, I’ll use one of those.” The mare sighed. “Just a shame I can’t bring a new dress this year is all” Before Rarity could even say anything, her customer walked out, disappointment plastered all over her face. Rarity watched her go through her window, her feelings of panic turning into feelings of guilt. “I haven’t missed an order like that in months, how could I have missed an order like that? Oh I’m being so stupid, I can’t even do my work properly!” Rarity yelled to herself. Rarity continued to scold herself, fueling her self-punishment with her ever growing feelings of guilt. She trotted around her shop, a confused Opalescense looking on as Rarity kept her self-hatred going. “Oh I’m being so stupid, how could you let something like this happen Rarity? This is how it starts, how your work gets sloppy! This is how your entire life falls apart, all because you messed up one simple order! How could you be so foolish!” “Uh, Rarity? Are you ok?” Pinkie had walked through the door with the intent of picking her dress up, only to be met with what appeared to be Rarity talking to herself. “Oh, hello darling!” Rarity quickly composed herself and faced Pinkie. “Sorry darling, I was just having a bit of a moment. You know how I am with the dramatics and all that! Your dress is just over here.” Rarity trotted to her wardrobe, pulling out Pinkie’s dress. “Rarity, are you sure you’re ok? It doesn’t seem like you were ok, and I would know this because I see you a lot when you’re ok” Pinkie questioned. “Really, it’s alright darling. I just missed an order and am a little bit annoyed. I’ll get over myself eventually. Here is your dress, just as good as the day you first got it” Pinkie still looked concerned but took the dress from Rarity. “Thank you Rarity, I really appreciate you doing this. If you need help or anything please ask, I’ll be more than happy to!” Rarity was taken rather aback. Pinkie was rarely ever this serious, for her to be serious means she thought something was wrong. “I’ll be sure to let you know Pinkie” Rarity remarked. “I’ll see you tomorrow darling” Pinkie’s smile returned to her face, her more serious tone fading away. “Alrighty then! Ooooh, did you add extra glitter to the dress? It seems to look extra shiny. Oh oh, these frills! They look so...frilly! And what about…” As Pinkie’s voice faded away as she left the Boutique, Rarity closed her door and let go a hefty sigh. “Now you got Pinkie worried for you as well, you fool” Rarity sighed to herself. “What kind of friend are you?” She started walking to her bedroom, it was late and she needed to be up early to start her next set of orders. As she turned to the corner of her room, she noticed the bottle of cider standing alone on her dresser, the moonlight reflecting off the glass and giving the drink a shine of sorts. Rarity stared at it for a while, contemplating drinking it to help her relax. “No Rarity” She eventually remarked. “Now is not a time to be weak. You have to keep your focus up.” She shook her head and went to go take a bath, wanting to be clean before she entered her bed. The cider continued to stand on her dresser, it’s shine fading as a cloud moved in front of the watchful moon
Chapter 3“Uh, Rarity, I’d like to return this suit” It had been 3 days since the incident with the Mare’s wedding dress, and it was clear that Rarity was only starting to feel worse. The quality of her work was beginning to slide, evident by the gentlecolt standing in her doorway holding a suit. “What do you mean darling? Is something wrong with your suit?” Rarity asked. She was starting to look worse for wear, her unkempt mane and the bags under her eyes indicating she hadn’t slept properly in days. “You completely forgot the inner lining of the suit. It’s practically unwearable, the material you used is so itchy on my skin!” “Oh I’m sorry darling, I’ll fix it up right away. Come back in around 2 hours and I’ll make it simply marvelous!” The gentlecolt said his thanks and left the suit with a very fatigued Rarity. Soon as he left the door, Rarity simply collapsed onto the floor. Opalescense walked up to her, snuggling next to her body. “Oh Opalescense, what is wrong with me?” She asked her cat, half-hoping to get an answer. The cat simply continued to snuggle next to her, seemingly ignoring her troubles. Rarity sighed, it was clear trying to vent to her cat wasn’t going to do anything. She picked herself up and began to work on the suit as per her customers request. “Alright, an inner lining? Should be pretty easy, just need some wool…” Rarity muttered to herself, searching her drawers for any wool she could use. She soon found out however that not only was she out of wool, but most of her materials as well. The constant stream of work had not left her with a lot of time to do anything, one of which being shopping. “Well, I guess this calls for a quick trot to the marketplace to grab some new materials.” Rarity sighed to herself. She did not have time for this, but it had to be done. She grabbed some money and galloped towards the market, not even closing the door behind her. Rarity made it to the market, panting after her mad dash to get there. It was bustling as usual, with the smell of fresh products complementing the cacophony of voices asking for cheaper prices and different products. Rarity was in no mood to enjoy the markets atmosphere however and quickly tried to find her usual material stand. As she pushed through the crowds to try and find her usual little corner of the market, she noticed she was attracting more attention than usual. Ponies all around her were staring at her, whispering to each other as they watched. Rarity suddenly slowed down, starting to feel self-conscious. “Why are they staring at me? Is it my mane? Is there mud on my hooves?” As Rarity began rapidly trying to fix her mane, she overheard 2 ladies behind her. One of them was a customer for Rarity only a few days prior. “She forgot to add laces to my dress when I requested them, I swear she’s losing her edge!” Rarity stopped completely, the comment hitting her hard. More comments began to drift towards Rarity, the noise of the marketplace seeming to grow quieter. “Did you know she used a completely different colour for my dress yesterday? That mare needs to get herself together.” “When I gave her my shirt to repair, she somehow made another tear! Why’d I even bother going to her?” As the comments began to grow, Rarity began to panic. She realised it now, all the ponies staring at her were customers from the past few days. All of them staring at her with disappointment and frustration. Hyperventilating, she began galloping home. She couldn’t bear it, the overwhelming sense of failure. She needed to go, needed to hide. She kept running, trying to get home and hide away for as long as she needed. She saw her boutique in sight and started making a mad dash towards her door. Then she saw him. She stopped right in her tracks, staring in complete disbelief at the pony currently waiting in her house. Hoity Toity was standing in her house, presumably looking around for the fashion designer that lived there. Under normal circumstances, Rarity would have been ecstatic to have such a high profile pony visit her humble abode. At that particular moment however, Rarity felt nothing but fear. Her chest began to squeeze as she began to breathe rather erratically. She couldn’t handle this right now, she didn’t want to. “Ah, there you are Rarity!” Hoity Toity had noticed her presence and started trotting towards her at an even pace. Rarity, realising it was too late to back out now, took a deep breath and tried to keep herself together. “Oh my goodness, Hoity Toity! What are you doing here?” Rarity exclaimed, trying her best to have a look of surprise on her face. “Why my fair Rarity, with fashion week coming to a close soon, I need to get my clothes line finished and ready to dazzle the world! However, the designer I hired has caught the flu and is unable to finish off my last batch of dresses, so I turn to you my dear! Your reputation does precede you after all.” Rarity forced a smile and said her thanks. “So how many orders need to be complete darling?” She questioned. “I was thinking 25 dresses from you my dear, I’ll need them by tomorrow.” Rarity froze up. She was overworked with customer requests already, she didn’t have the time to do an extra 25 dresses! Especially in such a short time frame. Rarity began to silently panic, somehow managing to keep her outward polite appearance intact. “So will you do the order Rarity?” Hoity asked. “Surely a mare with talents such as yourself will be able to complete this request easily!” In a state of panic, Rarity just said what came to her mind. “Of course, I can get those orders done!” She blurted out, a feeling of regret and panic as soon as she finished her sentence. “Excellent! I will see you tomorrow then, best of luck!” As Hoity began to trot away, Rarity politely waved and said her goodbye’s. As soon as he left eyesight, Rarity dashed into her home. The feelings of panic were beginning to become too much. “Oh, what have I done?” Rarity wailed. “I can’t do this, I don’t have the talent to do this! There’s so much to do and I don’t have the time to do it, and I keep failing everything!” Rarity ran up to her room, the feelings of panic making way for feelings of despair. She burst into the room, the bottle of cider entering her view. She stared at it, a sense of calm suddenly overtaking her. “I”ll just have a drink, Applejack said it’s good for calming people down, it’ll be good for me!” Rarity exclaimed to herself. She walked up to the bottle, opening the bottle up with her magic. It looked as delicious as ever, the sunlight filtering through the window giving the bottle an orange glow. She sat on the floor, staring at the levitating open bottle. She moved bottle towards her, closing her eyes as the rim of the bottle began to meet her lips… “NO!” Rarity screamed, throwing the bottle away. It smashed onto a wall, spraying cider and broken glass all over the floor. “I can’t be weak! I gotta stay strong! I have to, I have to…” Rarity burst into tears, curling up on the floor. It was all becoming too much and she didn’t know what to do. “Rarity?” Rarity looked up, making out Pinkie through her watery eyes. “Oh, hello darling. I’m sorry you have to see me in such a deplorable state.” Rarity sat up, trying to get herself somewhat back together. Pinkie beckoned behind her and suddenly the rest of Rarity’s friends walked into the room with her. Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow Dash. All of them were here with Pinkie. Rarity was rather taken aback by her friend's sudden entrance. Twilight stepped forward. “Rarity, Pinkie told us how you were feeling and we figured the comments that were being made around town probably were making you feel worse. We all agreed to meet you, so we came to your house. The door was open and we heard a smash upstairs, so we let ourselves in” she remarked. Applejack was the next to speak “Sugarcube, we know you’re not holdin’ up well. What’s wrong?” Rarity began to panic again. She didn’t want this to happen. She loved her friends dearly, the last thing she wanted was them to worry about her. Trying to think of an excuse, Pinkie spoke up and cut her train of thought. “It’s ok to tell us Rarity, we’re here for you” Pinkie stated, a look of calm on her face. Seeing Pinkie in such a state, Rarity finally broke down. “Oh I’m so sorry!” Rarity wailed. “I didn’t want to make you worry about me! I just can’t handle this, there is so much going on and I keep making mistakes! I keep failing everyone, and there is so much I have to do and Hoity Toity came and gave me 25 dresses to do by tomorrow and I still have to repair all those clothes and a bunch more requests and I keep messing it all up and...and…” Rarity burst into tears, falling to the floor once again. Fluttershy walked up to her, sitting next to her and placing a wing on her body. “Rarity, it’s ok to make mistakes! Nobody can be perfect and you simply just got a bigger workload than you thought you could handle” Fluttershy remarked. “You aren’t a failure, you just need some help with your work” Rainbow Dash cut in “That’s why all of us are going to help you get your work done! We’re going to work real hard and make it soooo awesome!” Rarity sat up again, Fluttershy’s wing still wrapped around her body. “I can’t ask for you girls to do that for me, you’re all so busy with your own work!” Applejack chirped up “Sugarcube, we all care fo’ you very much and just want you to be happy! We’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you get back on track.” Everyone nodded in agreement. “So where do you need us Rarity! Oh oh oh, can I do decorations? I loooove decorations” Pinkie chirped. Rarity, touched that her friends would go to such lengths for her, took a deep breath and stood back up. “Alright girls, we got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it, so let's get started!” It took them all night and all day to do it, but the girls were finally finished. All the customer requests had been complete, both new and re-do’s, and Hoity’s twenty five dresses were complete and collected, he himself remarking at how beautiful they were. Even though the girls weren’t trained tailors and a couple of incidents occurred (including Pinkie getting a dress stuck on the ceiling), they managed to produce the best dresses Rarity had ever designed. With all the work finally complete, the girls heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much girls, I don’t think I could have done it without you” said Rarity. “No problem Rarity, we’re just glad to help” Twilight remarked. “At least you’re feeling better now, right?” Rarity opened her mouth to speak. She wanted to say yes, that she felt a lot better. She wanted to say that now that the work was over, she could get back to her usual self. She wanted to say that it was all ok now. But it wasn’t ok. She still felt terrible. The work being finished didn’t change the fact she still failed to do the customers requests properly to begin with. It didn’t change the fact she had a complete mental breakdown and destroyed one of her friends memorabilias practically right in front of her friend. It didn’t change the fact she was so hopeless her friends needed to bail her out, sacrificing their own time just to fix her mistakes. Her friends had tried so hard to make her feel better and all it did was just make her feel hopeless. She couldn’t tell them though. She couldn’t crush their hopes after all the hard work they put in. It would be cruel of her. So what left her mouth was “yes, thank you girls!” The girls cheered at the remark, taking pride in their apparent victory. Rarity played along, if only for the sake of her friends. As they all got up and began leaving, Pinkie turned to Rarity. “We should do this again sometime, I’ll bring cake!” She exclaimed. “Sure Pinkie, anytime” Rarity sighed. As her friends finally left her home, Rarity shut the door and slid down onto the floor. She began to silently cry, not even upset or distressed anymore. She just hurt, there was no other way to describe it. She had failed, made mistakes that she felt had cost her so much. She felt hopeless, angry and alone. As the sun set and the moon began to rise, Rarity continued to cry, letting her sounds of anguish echo throughout the quiet night.
