What a rough week it had been. The fashion show was more than successful and had brought more attention to Rarity's dresses, perhaps even to a more global scale, but she didn't want to overcompensate its success. The train ride home was peaceful enough to soothe her mind. She really needed a rest, perhaps even a trip to the spa. However, these plans were shut off when she walked out of the train and saw Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Spike, all of which had worried looks on their faces. Spike wasn't even being all lubby-dubby like he'd usually be around Rarity.

"I wasn't expecting you to miss me this much", Rarity said.

"Well it turns out Twilight does", Rainbow Dash responded.

"Where is she?", Rarity asked.

"We'll explain on the way", Spike replied. They then started walking off and Rarity followed suit. She didn't care where exactly they were going, she really wanted to know what was going on with Twilight, and possible Applejack. Fluttershy explained how Twilight had been coming up to them over the past few days with ridiculous looks and an upset demeanour. The way Fluttershy worded it only made Rarity feel even more bad for Twilight. Just then, Applejack ran up to them looking anxious.

"It's Friday, isn't it?", Applejack asked them.

The ponies looked at each other confused, as all of them knew it was Saturday. Pinkie Pie breathed in a bit so she could reply to Applejack, but Applejack kept talking.

"Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh have told me that it's Saturday, but I don't recall there bein' a Friday. At first it seemed like they were just teasin' me so Apple Bloom could get off school, but they seemed serious 'bout it. I mean, I'll give you three good guesses as to what Big Macintosh said to me"

"Uh, if it's Friday", Pinkie Pie contradicted, "then why else would Rairty be here?"

Applejack only just took in that Rarity had been with them.

"This is scary", Applejack said worried, "it's like a whole day just disappeared from my life"

"I'm sure there's a valid explanation", Fluttershy said, putting her hoof on Applejack's shoulder to comfort her.

"Yeah, like aliens abducting you and scanning you, conducting tests on you, then erasing your memory and putting you back in Equestria", Rainbow Dash thought up on the spot. All her friends stared at her as Rainbow Dash hung her head embarrassed. She felt as though she'd been reading too many science fiction novels.

"Well whatever the reasoning is, I've just missed out on a whole day of my life!"

"Oh I'm sure it's better than missing out on a week", Pinkie Pie said, nodding her head towards Rarity, who took great offense.

"I'll have you know that I-", Rarity began to snap at Pinkie Pie.

"I was just kidding", Pinkie Pie replied in self-defense, though Rarity was still offended.

All of a sudden, they heard hoofsteps coming their way, and before long, they were greeted by Filly Billy and her gang. Rarity instantly recognised them, but Applejack, like the other ponies and Spike, didn't.

"Well well well, if it isn't Rarity Rarityson", Sal said.

"Oh yes, it is me, in the fur", Rarity answered.

"You know these ponies", Applejack asked Rarity, a question which Filly Billy shrugged to.

"Do I know these ponies? How could I forget them?", Rarity asked back, then told her friends how she came to know them.

"Back around October of 2000 ET*, before I got my cutie mark, I came across these three strange-looking thugs. We talked together, it was fine and all, I ignored my mother's advice not to talk to strangers, because they were around my age range, but that only made it worse. I had little taste in fashion at the time, so they made me do horrible things to convince me that I was "in style""

"What kind of things?", Spike asked.

"Eat mud, wear a jug around my head, break diamonds, all these horribe things!", Rarity began to cry. It wasn't unlike her to break into tears at the thought of valuables breaking.

"And then what did you do?", Rarity turned her attention to Filly Billy.

"Rarity, those days are-"

"You ditched me! Just like that!", Rarity angrily screamed at her, "You are one of the most despicable unicorns I've ever met in my life!"

Unicorns. Wait, Applejack knew she was a unicorn! How did she know that? Almost instantly, Applejack's mind burst with new information. The forgotten day. The 24 hours in which she noticed Twilight's hoofwear, made new horseshoes for her, accidentally discovered Filly Billy and her secret identity and fell victim to one of her spells, particularly a memory-erasing one.

"By apples!", Applejack shouted, remembering everything.

"Oh I already do that for yo-", Pinkie Pie said.

"You mind controlled Twilight and made her into a wreck!", Applejack snapped at Filly Billy, who appeared embarrassed. She had been trying to change her mindset and these constant reminders of her mind manipulation weren't helping.

Rarity gasped. "Twilight is getting bullied by them now!?"

"Was!", Lee tried to tell her.

"I think she's still at the library", Spike pointed out.

"Well come on then, come on!", Applejack called out to all of the ponies there and headed off, and the Mane 6 followed suit. "That includes you rascals, too!", Applejack called back to Billy's gang, and they had no choice but to run after them.

Author's Note

*by 2000 ET, I mean a parallel to the real-word year, 2000 AD. Let me break it down like this. If this were set around 2012, near the end of the Season 2, and going by my headcanon that the Mane 6 are most 20 (save for either Fluttershy being 21 or Pinkie Pie being 19), that would mean that Rarity would've been an 8 year old filly during these events if the series uses a floating timeline ala The Simpsons, and Rarity's year of birth was moved from 1990 to 1992.