Nothing more, nothing less
“Are you sure?” Rarity said as she levitated a bundle of needles in mid-air. Her voice faltered, but she kept her composure enough for the pony in front of her to not hear it.
After a slight pause. “Yeah, I'm here aren't I?” Rainbow said, and bristled her feathers at the same time.
Rarity smiled and pushed a few more needles into the clothing that Rainbow was wearing. She didn't really want to inquire why her friend needed a dress done, but it did strike her as odd when Rainbow was the one that asked her.
She struggled with putting in the needles as Rainbow fidgeted. She may have wanted a dress, but she still didn't like to stand still and get the work that was needed to make it look presentable. Rarity on the other hoof was patient with her, stopping every few minutes to let Rainbow take a break, drink something, or even read. As long as it didn't ruin the dress itself, Rarity was fine with it.
“So...” Rarity said, a little unsure if she really wanted an answer to the question she was about to ask, but she asked it anyway, “what do you need the dress for?” she continued, still putting needles in the dress around the edges.
Rarity didn't even have to look at her to know that Rainbow didn't want to answer her question. “Can't I just want a dress?” Rainbow replied, and confirmed Rarity's suspicion.
“Nothings wrong with that, it's just that...” Rarity trailed off as she took a step back to admire her work. The dress was still barely a dress: It was made of burgundy silk, the edges were lined with red rubies, the backside that draped over her tail was coloured sky blue to match her coat, or that was at least how it was supposed to look, at the moment it looked like a mess, but Rarity could see the dress taking shape in her mind.
“Just what?” Rainbow questioned her back, and Rarity looked up from the clothing into her friend's eyes.
“N-nothing,” Rarity said with an awkward smile on her face as she quickly got back to putting needles into the dress, more so she had something to do than actually needing to. “Costume party perhaps?” she added.
Rainbow groaned. “No, you'll never catch me at one of those. Too little speed, and too much talk,” she said with a snicker at the end. She kept fidgeting as Rarity kept fixing her dress, trying to get it right, though that seemed impossible.
“Will you stop?” Rarity lost her concentration, and almost her glasses.
“But it itches!” Rainbow replied in an almost whining tone of voice.
Rarity frowned. Never before had she had a customer who went to her willingly to get a dress fitted, and complained as much as her friend did. “Stop it or I'll colour your mane a new colour!”
Immediately Rainbow shut up, and looked at Rarity with a scrutinizing look bordering on a glare.
Rarity snickered in return, and winked at Rainbow. “Don't make me do it,” she said, still snickering lightly.
“You wouldn't...” Rainbow trailed off as Rarity just nodded to her.
“Keep moving, and find out, Dash,” Rarity said, snickering as Rainbow piped down. She muttered something under her breath, but Rarity couldn't make it out.
Hours passed as Rarity kept fitting the dress to Rainbow, sometimes removing and then instantly adding fabric again. Her friend on the other hoof, was bored out of her mind, and just wanted to be out of the dress.
“Can I go now?” Rainbow asked her own reflection, since Rarity had vanished into the back-room of the boutique to get some things for the dress.
Rarity came back out with some blue silk, levitating it in the air. “Not yet, I want to know what you need it for,” she said to Rainbow, giving her a scrutinizing look; much like the one she herself had received earlier.
“Why do you care?” Rainbow shot back at Rarity, not moving her head to look at her friend.
“Of course I care, darling. You are acting very strangely, and I want to know why,” Rarity said back with a slight frown on her face.
“No, I'm not!” she retorted back to her unicorn friend, catching herself a little too late. Rarity had already noticed how defensive Rainbow got, so she knew that something was up.
“Tell me?”
“No.”
“Tell me?” Rarity almost pleaded to Rainbow, and slowly inched her way closer.
“I said no.”
Rainbow's answer's were short and to the point, so it made Rarity nervous. She began to ponder what to do next, and did the most logical thing. “Tell me?” she said with stupid smile on her face.
“Stop it,” Rainbow said, and looked at her friend with a serious look on her face.
Rarity bit her lower lip, not really knowing if she wanted to push forward. If she did, Rainbow might get mad and run away, but if she didn't she wouldn't find out whatever it was that was wrong with her. “Tell me?”
“That's it!” Rainbow yelled to her friend, and bucked the dress off of her body, making it flutter to the ground in a pile of needles and fabric. “I'll go to somepony else,” she said as she descended from the small stage she had been standing on.
As she made her way out of the shop, she cast a glare back at Rarity that caused a shiver to travel down her friend's back.
“That was kind of odd,” Rarity added as she lifted the pile of fabric onto a mannequin, and got the dress back into its intended shape. She cast a look towards the half-open door. “I must get to the bottom of this!” She giggled triumphantly.
***
The sun shined down on a peaceful Ponyville, but in the shadows a pony lurked. Rarity had followed Rainbow the entire time, watching her going into shop after shop. Sometimes she had left with bags and was at this point riddled with them, her rainbow-mane occasionally peeking forth behind the bags.
Rarity followed Rainbow to her house, but lost track of her when she went inside. Determined, she stayed there, waiting for her to come back out.
What is she doing in there? she thought to herself as she sat and watched Rainbow's house from the bushes. Several hours had passed, and the sun was about to set as she could hear a faint clicking noise, and Rainbow fluttered down to the ground in front of her.
Rarity burst out from the bushes she had been hiding in, and over to Rainbow who just looked at her confused. “Oh hi, Rarity... where did you come from exactly?” she said as she looked around, trying to pinpoint which direction Rarity had come from.
Rarity forced a smile. “I... um... I.... What are you up to, Dash?” she retorted back, awkwardly trailing her hoof in circles in the dirt.
“What?” Rainbow said, focusing her eyes onto Rarity.
“I was just wondering, you see...” Rarity trailed off into a squeak as she felt as if Rainbow's eyes would burn holes in her head. “I hid in that bush over there!” she yelled back at the pegasus whilst pointing a hoof towards a green bush huddled amongst some trees.
Rainbow looked between the bush and Rarity, a confused look on her face. Rarity was busy with cleaning the dust from her hoof as it dawned on Rainbow. “Were you spying on me?”
“What? Oh nononono... ” Rarity quickly said, her eyes shifting awkwardly back and forth between Rainbow and the road, “maybe” she added.
Rainbow glared at Rarity, and approached her ominously. “I didn't want to tell you, and now you're following me around? What's wrong with you?”
“I... I...” Rarity was at a loss for words as she slowly backed away from Rainbow. In her head she tried to come up with various excuses: Bird watching? No, she would never believe me. Magic training? Heavens no, I would be with Twilight for that. Dress research? Yes!
Rarity composed herself, and stopped backing away from Rainbow. “I was merely observing the flora here for a new line of dresses I'm making, darling,” she said, forcing another smile.
Rainbow cast a glance around herself, and at the trees and bushes she could see before turning her eyes back at Rarity. “There's no flowers here... you're lying!”
“Honestly, Dash I'm not...”
“You are!” Rainbow looked away from Rarity for a moment, and flapped her wings then looked back at her. “Go! I don't want to see you around here any-more!”
“B-but Dash?” Rarity said back with a look of regret on her eyes. Rainbow glared back and took off from the ground. She yelled something back at her, but Rarity didn't hear what she said and simply sat down on her haunches.
Oh dear...
***
Dozens of customers had filtered through Rarity's boutique all day, keeping her busy with requests of all kinds of things: Dresses, suits, flowers(what?) Even the odd request for a tiger striped shirt, but now it was the low end of the day. Rarity was bored out of her mind, so she focused her eyes on the wall.
The door-bell clanged as a mare walked through the door, snapping Rarity out of her daze. “Welcome to Rarity's boutique where every garment is chick and unique!” she said, almost giggling.
“Yeah, whatever!” a cyan earth pony mare with a golden mane retorted back at her, and punctuated her sentence with a snap of her chewing gum. “Do you like sell bows, and stuff?” she added.
Rarity looked back at her confused. There was something familiar about this mare that she couldn't quite put her hoof on. “Yes, I do. What kind do you want?” she said, eyeing the mare up and down.
The mare rolled her eyes in such a fashion that even the most oblivious pony would notice. Rarity frowned in return as the mare put a red tail-bow down on the counter, one of the latches holding it together had been torn. “Like this, but blue. Can you do it?”
She looked it over, and lifted it into the air with her magic. “Yes. Give me a few minutes, okay?” she said to the mare with a smile on her face. The mare shrugged in return, and popped her gum as Rarity headed for the back-room.
Rarity peaked out at the mare from behind the door leading into the back-room of the boutique. Hm... I know I've seen her before, but where?
“You finished back there? I've got like, places to be you know,” the mare shot back to Rarity, clearly not even looking in her direction.
Rarity snapped away from the doorway, picking up a spare blue silk tail-bow from a collection in the room, and headed back out to the mare. “Here you are,” she said, and levitated the bow down on the counter. “That'll be ten bits,” she added.
“Yeah,” the mare said back as she slid ten bits over the counter, and made her way out of the store. Rarity just looked back at her as she left, still not sure if she really recognized this mare or if it was simply her imagination. The rest of the day was un-eventful to say the least, a rude customer now and then, but at this point Rarity was used to that.
As she went to close up the shop she noticed two figures outside. Normally she wouldn't even care, but she recognized a voice. “Why hello, Dash...” she said as she opened the door, and saw that Rainbow was alone.
Rainbow glared back at her. “What is it, Rarity?” she said bluntly.
Rarity stepped outside, and the door closed behind her with the clanging of the door-bell. “I just wanted to apologize for my behaviour last night, I shouldn't have been spying on you.”
Rainbow looked back at her, and her frown turned into a smile. “It's okay. Nothing to worry about. So what's up with you?”
“I was just about to close, but other than that I'm fine, darling,” Rarity said with a smile on her face.
Thank Celestia
Rainbow chuckled and grinned at her friend. “Coming to the show tomorrow?”
“What show? You got your own show, Dash? That's magnificent!” she said back, smiling as if she had just gotten a gift.
“I wish. No, the costume show tomorrow. The Wonderbolts will be there, I mean Everypony will.”
Oh heavens... I completely forgot, Rarity thought to herself. “Yes, I'll be there,” she said quickly.
Rainbow smiled back and flared her wings. “See you then,” she said as she took off from the ground, gusting up some wind and dust.
***
It was night-time. For some reason the event organizers for this costume party had decided to have it at night, but Rarity couldn't understand why.
“Sweetie Belle! We need to go! Now!” Rarity yelled up the stairs at her sister. She herself was already packed and ready to go, but Sweetie Belle seemed to want to bring with her just about everything she could find.
“Just a minute!” Sweetie Belle's voice shot out from the stairs as Rarity stood and waited at the bottom.
Minutes later, Sweetie Belle came down the stairs. Her saddlebag was strapped around her side, brimming with all kinds of toys. Rarity just rolled her eyes, and exited the boutique with her little sister at her side.
The streets outside were oddly empty, probably since most of Ponyville was busy attending, or helping out with the show. “ 'Wanna hear what Scootaloo told me last night?” Sweetie Belle chirped out at Rarity, her voice sounding giddy with joy.
Rarity just nodded in response as Sweetie Belle started to talk, though most of what she said, Rarity didn't pick up. Rarity's mind was elsewhere at the moment.
“Are you even listening?” Rarity looked at Sweetie Belle with a look of confusion on her face.
“Yes, of course I am, Darling.” She smiled as she responded to Sweetie Belle, already thinking of what to say.
Sweetie Belle glared at her. “What did Scootaloo tell me yesterday then?” she said with a slight snicker in her tone of voice.
“Um... there's a colt that likes her?” Rarity said back, and hoped that she had guessed right.
Sweetie Belle frowned, and glared at Rarity. “Lucky guess,” she retorted back.
Both of them kept quiet until they reached the show grounds. It was set up in middle of Ponyville, with a large stage out in front of the mayor's house. The seating area was packed with ponies, leaving almost no room to manoeuvre. Sweetie Belle galloped off to talk with her friends, whilst Rarity made her way towards the front.
“Over here!” a voice penetrated the noise, and Rarity turned to see a purple hoof coming from the front of the crowd. It didn't take her long to realize that it was Twilight's hoof.
It took some manoeuvring, but eventually Rarity caught up with Twilight, and found herself right in front of the stage.
“Oh, thank Celestia.” Rarity huffed and panted as she sat herself down next to Twilight, on a free hay ball.
“You okay?” Twilight asked, looking over her friend.
“Just fine, darling, but...” Rarity started to look around the crowd frantically to see if she spotted her, but couldn't and turned back to Twilight. “Have you seen Rainbow by any chance?”
Twilight shook her head. “Why? Isn't she busy with training?”
Rarity was about to say something as the lights around the stage shut down, and the noise died down as well. There was a flash of light, and two ponies appeared on stage: One of them was the exact same one that had come and visited Rarity the day before, but her friend didn't spark any sort of recognition sensors with Rarity.
The show itself was pretty plain, and went on for too long. Many great costumes were presented, some even rivalling Rarity's own designs. She missed half of it as her eyes kept drifting back at the crowd instead.
When the show ended, the two mares that had introduced the show stepped back onto the podium. Rarity focused her eyes, and could see a faint mane sticking out from under the golden mane(wig) of one of the ponies. It was coloured red, but lined with blue. I knew it! Rarity thought to herself as she stepped away from Twilight, and the crowd.
***
The back area of the stage was buzzing with life as most of the ponies there were getting out of their costumes, but Rarity wasn't there for that. The mare with the golden mane was standing next to a locker in a secluded part of the changing area. She never saw Rarity coming as she leapt to her, and tore of her the wig.
“I got you now, Rainbow Dash!”
The mare shrieked, and looked at Rarity as her rainbow-mane slumped down over her eyes. “What the hay do you think you're doing?” a familiar voice erupted from behind Rarity. She turned, and saw Rainbow standing in front of her.
She looked between the mare lying next to the locker, and Rainbow standing in front of her. She nearly fainted. “What.... You two? The same? Huh?” Her voice faltered as a look of confusion descended on her.
Rainbow chuckled and helped the other mare up from the ground, giving her a slight noogie before turning her eyes back at Rarity. “I should probably introduce you two. Rarity, meet my sister: Tropical Sunset. Sis, meet my friend: Rarity,” she said with a chuckle as she gestured between them.
Tropical Sunset let out a giggle as she hoof-shook with Rarity. “Pleased to meet you, Rarity,” Rarity shook her hoof, but still couldn't wrap her mind around it.
“Rainbow?” was all that Rarity managed to say as she looked between the two rainbow-coloured mares in front of her.
“I know. I should probably explain,” Rainbow said with a smile. “She's just here in town for a week, so I've wanted to spend as much time as I could with her, and I've also helped out with the crew here at the show. I got front row tickets to the next Wonderbolt show as payment!” she said, giggling.
“So the dress?”
“For her. We have the same size, and I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“But why didn't you tell me?” Rarity said, her eyes almost brimming with tears.
“She's only here for a week, and besides, it's my business,” Rainbow said, putting one of her hooves around Tropical Sunset's neck.
“Well... Now you can participate in the sisterhooves social next year, Dash,” Rarity said, wiping her eyes.
Oh no, what have I done, Rainbow thought to herself, chuckling slightly to lighten the tone and feel of the atmosphere as the three of them walked out.
"So why is Tropical an earth pony, while you are a pegasus?" Rarity inquired Rainbow, who just looked at her, and sighed.
"This is gonna take a while..." Rainbow's voice defeaned in the noise of the crowd as they passed between ponies.
***
“Don't judge a book by its cover”
~ Edwin Rolfe, and Lester Fuller (Murder in the Glass Room)
