The ride back from Camp Everfree was much quieter than the one to it. After assorted wilderness activities, surviving yet another brush with Equestrian magic run amok, and rebuilding the same dock eight times, the students of Canterlot High were justifiably exhausted. Sunset Shimmer was content to watch the scenery pass by with droopy eyes. Twilight Sparkle leaned against her, fast asleep with no sign of Midnight tormenting her dreams.
"Simply precious."
Sunset sighed as she turned to see Rarity smiling at her from the next seat up, chin resting on her lily-white hands as she leaned on the seat back. "Twilight's been through more than any of us," Sunset said softly. "I'm just being a friendly bit of furniture for her."
Rarity smirked, which did nothing to lessen the twinkle in her eye. "Of course. Just like Lyra and Bonbon." Both girls looked across the bus to see Canterlot High's most notorious pair of "best friends" leaning against one another as they dozed, their fingers intertwined.
Sunset felt herself flush. "That proves nothing."
Rarity leaned back and spread her hands conciliatorily. "If you say so."
"I do. I wish Twilight and Timber the best."
"There we have it, then."
Sunset nodded. "Yes."
"Good."
"Great."
"I give them a month."
"Less." Sunset gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth.
Rarity tittered. Sunset hadn't heard tittering of Rarity's caliber since her days in Celestia's court. "I honestly can't tell which of you is more fun to tease about this."
Sunset scowled. "You aren't bulletproof yourself, you know."
"Oh?" Rarity gave a coy little grin that also would've fit in just fine among the Canterlot courtiers.
"How about that fashion show you were obsessed with for the whole camping trip?"
Rarity's composure crumbled as she sank back behind the seat. A muffled "Ah. Yes. That," came from the other side.
"Rarity?" Unease sent a chill down Sunset's spine. "Rarity, I'm sorry, that was the old me coming out, you know I—"
"It's fine, Sunset." Rarity came back up, her expression now one of genuine contrition, which Sunset had never seen in the throne room beyond Princess Celestia herself. "I can hardly ask you not to defend yourself, and I admit, I was a touch overzealous."
Sunset didn't need her new powers to sense the lingering tension between them. "There's more to it than that, isn't there?"
"Yes, but I'd rather not discuss it in such a public venue." Rarity swept a hand about the bus.
"An' some of us're tryin' to sleep," Applejack grunted from next to her.
Rarity flushed and gave an awkward laugh. "Yes, well."
Sunset scowled and leaned forward. "Oh, so we can discuss feelings I may or may not have, but—" She cut herself off as Twilight frowned and shifted in her sleep. "Yeah," Sunset said more softly, resettling herself as Twilight's body pillow, "we'll discuss this later."
Rarity only nodded as she sat back down, though Sunset didn't miss how the twinkle had returned to her eye.
Sunset looked around the Carousel Boutique as she came in. "I still can't believe you manage this place yourself."
Rarity gave the store a once-over herself, eliciting a proud smile. "Well, I have a fair amount of help from my parents with the nitty-gritty, as they say, but I do manage to get by. I'm actually pursuing a promising deal with Hemline Designs that should reduce my overall workload considerably."
"What, are you getting an intern?" Sunset said with a smirk.
"No, a summer job." Rarity gave one more look around, with no small amount of regret. "A summer job and a buyout."
Sunset felt her jaw drop. "What?"
"A regrettable necessity. Much as I love this place, it's enough of a struggle to balance it and high school. I can't imagine how I'd manage to do so in college, especially since most of the best design schools aren't even in this part of the country."
"But... Why didn't you say something?"
Rarity looked away. "It's an embarrassingly generous buyout. Not only is it enough for a full four years at any school I could name, I doubt Sweetie Belle will have much in the way of student debts either."
"But this place is... is..." Sunset struggled for words.
"Believe me, Sunset, I know. But nothing lasts forever."
Sunset thought of her less than stellar accommodations. The savings she'd nearly depleted before Princess Twilight started giving her a discreet allowance. The vaguest rudiments of anything she could call a plan for the future in this world. "Yeah. I guess it doesn't."
"Indeed." Rarity put on a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "But enough gloom for now. I believe someone owes me a little modeling." Her expression grew more genuine as she produced the outfit she'd made for Sunset at Camp Everfree: black shorts, a red sleeveless top, and a red-fringed khaki shawl.
Sunset bit her lip as she took the outfit. "If it's any help, the only place that's gotten back to me about a job is that sushi place in the mall," she said as she went into one of the dressing rooms. "At least you won't be working with raw fish all day while trying to balance on wooden sandals."
"Geta, dear. And rest assured, this is only setting the stage for bigger and better things. Prim Hemline herself was impressed by what I've done here. She's told me so herself!"
Sunset smiled as she adjusted the outfit, but it faltered when she came out. "So... about the fashion show at Camp Everfree," she said as she stood on the measuring dais.
Rarity gave a hum as she donned a pair of red-rimmed glasses and checked the outfit's fit, one a bit louder than her usual sounds of concentration. "In my defense, I did express some interest in the 'crystal magic' development."
"Yeah, for about an hour. So, was it all because you're losing the Boutique?" Sunset winced. "Sorry, could've phrased that better."
"As I said, darling, bigger and better," Rarity said in a flat tone that spoke of her focus being mostly elsewhere. "And in the end, does it really matter?"
"I just want to know what was through your head. You were kind of... well, obsessed."
Rarity looked up from where she was examining the shawl's fringe and gave Sunset a flat look. "You’re not going to just touch me and find out?"
"I didn't even bring my geode," said Sunset. "I may not have paid much attention in Ethics of Magic, but I understand the issues with my abilities. If it's not some life-or-death situation, I’m going to ask permission first. Besides, I want to hear it from you."
Rarity said nothing as she got a notepad and jotted a few things down. Just before Sunset asked again, she said, "Having one last chance to exercise my creativity solely on my terms was one reason for my focus on the fashion show, yes. For the rest... Well, to put it simply, Sunset, I detest camping."
Sunset blinked. "What?"
"I am an urbane, sophisticated young woman," Rarity said as she began sliding pins in about the outfit. "When others say 'the great outdoors,' I hear 'stains waiting to happen.' When they say 'wilderness retreat,' I hear 'abandoning civilization so we can squat in hovels for a week.' I had to combat a ludicrous amount of sweat exuding from my body with nothing more than a shower tent and whatever scraps of my toilette that I could fit in a handbasket."
"Rarity, you brought half a dozen suitcases."
"Most of their contents were fabric and other supplies," Rarity said with more than a bit of bite. "You'll have to pardon me if I chose to focus on something that brought me joy for that time, especially one of the last times I get the chance to do it properly for who knows how long."
"But if you hate it so much," said Sunset, "why did you come in the first place?"
Rarity scoffed. Her scoff was almost as good as her titter. "I would be a very poor fashionista indeed if I couldn't recognize patterns. A long-awaited major school event? We were practically asking for some manner of magical brouhaha." She ticked off other incidents on her fingers. "The Fall Formal, the Musical Showcase, the Friendship Games, the Spring Fling—"
"The Spring Fling was normal."
"Sunset, Mr. Discord flooded the gymnasium with ankle-deep green slime."
Sunset nodded. "Yeah, that's normal for him."
Rarity rolled her eyes. "My point is that based on past experience, you'd all be facing something magical at Camp Everfree. And if I didn't go and my absence meant there wasn't enough friendship magic to counteract whatever you faced, if you all..." She shuddered. "If that were the last time I saw all of you, I'd never be able to forgive myself."
"Rarity..."
"So, while I was there, I drowned out the filth and the anxiety and the horrible awareness that these might be my final moments by focusing on the one scrap of pleasure the camp had to offer me!" The words came running faster and faster. Rarity huffed and puffed once she was finished.
Sunset was horribly aware of the pincushion full of sharp objects on the other girl's wrist and tried her best to keep still. "I'm sorry."
Rarity cleared her throat and smoothed out what few hairs had gone out of line during her outburst. "As am I. That was most unbecoming. But whatever are you sorry for?"
"What do you mean? I'm the one who brought all of this craziness into this world."
"Pish-tosh." Rarity waved off the idea. "We discussed this at the Friendship Games. Just because you made a few poor choices doesn't mean you have to feel responsible for every bit of misused magic in this world."
Sunset shuddered. "It feels like it sometimes, but yeah. Actually being responsible for all the magic in the world is... Definitely glad that's not the case."
Rarity took her hand and guided her off the dais. "Sunset, I assure you, if I didn't want to be a heroine, I'd let you know. Just because I'm aware of the risks doesn't mean I don't appreciate the rewards, whether that means reconnecting with friends I had thought lost, making friends I never would've imagined, or magical crystal powers. And if this doesn't settle down by the time we graduate, if I have to choose between standing by my friends against madness or disappointing Prim Hemline, I will be by your side every time and glad that I am.
"That being said, I concede that you had a point about my being a touch... obsessed back at camp. I'll do my best to tone things down in the future."
"And I'll try to think more before I say something," said Sunset.
"Nonsense. What's a sunset without a little fire?"
Sunset blushed. "I thought you were shipping me with Sci-Twi."
"Shamelessly. That doesn't mean I can't make you feel better about yourself. Preferably both at once. For example." Rarity held out a hand.
A dress floated towards them from one of the racks, supported by a vertically aligned crystal such that Rarity's construct looked like it was wearing it. The outfit was definitely pinker than Sunset's usual attire, strapless with a knee-length carnation skirt that opened in the front to reveal white ruffles that went down to midthigh.
It took Sunset a moment to recognize it; she'd only ever seen it while wearing it. "Is that—?"
"Applejack would've probably told me I was a 'plum fool' for taking a picture of you while you were confronting our Twilight at the Friendship Games. Still, the look on your face is more than worth it." The dress drifted closer, Rarity getting her crystal to twirl and even curtsy somehow. "Try it on, dear, try it on! Don't leave me in suspense!"
Sunset took the dress gingerly, half-expecting it to dissolve into unfocused magic as the crystal supporting it vanished. "Do... do you think she'll like it? I don't want to remind her of Midnight or anything."
"Do you really want to make up this little disagreement to me, Sunset?"
"I thought I didn't need to."
"And as far as I'm concerned, you don't. But I've come to learn how you think, and that won't be good enough for you. If you really must atone for making me endure Camp Everfree, wear that dress, show Twilight Sparkle—either Twilight Sparkle, mind you—"
Sunset jumped back, feeling her face erupt in a burning blush. "Rarity!"
"Hush, darling, you haven't exactly been subtle. And don't bunch up the fabric like that, it'll wrinkle. As I was saying, once we've given it a proper fitting, wear the dress, show it to a Twilight, and tell me everything that happens afterwards. Do that and we'll call it square."
Sunset licked her lips, unable to take her eyes off the dress. "Deal."
Author's Note
One of the latest EqG music videos, "Good Vibes," seems to show Rarity working at the mall, which is especially odd when one considers "Life is a Runway." Still, time marches on, and if a high schooler operating her own business seems odd, then a college student who'd probably have to sew some of her homework would be even stranger.
This compounds my original concept for the prompt. It seems that the best way to make Rarity not garbage is to take one of her more garbage performances, where her personality was largely reduced to "10 PRINT DRESSES 20 GOTO 10," and find a reason for it. That reason largely revolves around her equine equivalent's attitude towards roughing it circa "Sleepless in Ponyville."
Oh, and Sunlight, because I'm utterly shameless and I'm mopping up after Legend of Everfree anyway. 
