Polishing

by Alphacat

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rarity
Length: 4503

Rarity takes on a new intern, but the experience isn't what the intern expects.

RIBBONTAIL'S DIARY

KEEP OUT OR WEBSTER WILL EAT YOU

Okay diary, can you keep a secret?

Next year Miss Cheerilee is going to let us start interning with the ponies of Ponyville, and I know just who I want to intern with. She's cool, she's stylish, refined, graceful, witty, and she was even in Clothes Horse magazine!

She's the bestest most stupendous and amazingly awesome designer in all of Equestria. She's never taken on an intern before, but I'm hoping I'll be the first.

Look out Rarity, here I come!

Written for the Make Rarity Not Garbage contest hosted by the Barcast.

Published 2017-10-01 01:10:12 UTC
Last updated 2017-10-01 01:10:12 UTC

Polishing

Ribbontail's Diary

Tuesday, September 5th
1st day of school!

Guess what? Miss Cheerilee announced today that we could start participating in internships today! If there's a pony around that's suited to our talents, that is.

I totally know who I want to intern with, but I don't know if she'll agree. But she's cool, and elegant, and sophisticated, and the best designer in all of Equestria!

Or at least in Ponyville. But she's got three stores now, so I bet she'll be the best designer in all of Equestria really soon.

But we got homework on the very first day of class. I can't believe it! We have to do a report about what we did on our summer break. I made some dolls I'm especially proud of, so I'm going to show them off for my report. Making stuff and showing it off usually gets you a pretty good grade.

Miss Cheerilee said she would talk to the ponies we want to intern with tonight, so I really hope she says yes.

Wednesday, September 6
O M C

She said YES!

You'll never guess what happened! Okay, you'll probably guess because I've told you constantly how I want to learn from her, but I still can't believe she actually said yes!

I mean, there's still some paperwork and other boring stuff that Miss Cheerilee and Rarity need to do, I guess, but next Monday I'll be spending two hours working in the Carousel Boutique!

I can't believe it!

I should do something to make a good first impression. Maybe a Rarity doll and a replica of one of her best dresses? Really show off what I can do.

Okay, now that I've written that down it sounds a little creepy. Like, stalker-creepy. I think Webster is right. I should probably think of something else.

But what do you get for the most amazing, spectacular, and dazzling pony in all of Equestria?

Monday, September 11
1st day of my brand-new internship with Rarity, the coolest and most awesome pony alive

It felt really weird leaving school early, even if Miss Cheerilee had to remind us all that our internships would be graded for school credit, and to make sure to do our best.

My cutie mark is for making dresses! How could I not do my best? At least, that's what I was thinking as I ran over to Rarity's shop.

When I got to the store Rarity greeted me with a smile, and she actually had a present for me! First, she gave me a sketchbook. She told me I should be sketching something every day, whether it be dress ideas, or different things that I see. It's almost like having a second diary. But don't worry, you're still my favorite though.

The second gift she gave me was a set of fashion and sewing magazines! I've never even seen some of these, and some of them were in foreign languages. She said it was important to have a broad perspective of what was going on with fashion, even in places outside of Equestria.

With such an amazing gift I didn't know how my doll would hold up, but Rarity loved it. She kept gushing over all of the tiny details in the dress, so I think she was impressed. I'm glad I decided to make it after all. Webster was right though. Making a doll of Rarity would've been weird, so I left it as a blank, regular doll, which I think worked better. It emphasized the dress more, rather than the doll.

After that she showed me around the shop. The showroom obviously looks as great as ever, but the back rooms were so cool! She's got a workroom, with a sewing machine and all sorts of other tools. She's got all of these different kinds of fabric, ribbons, lace, and everything else you could ever want to make a dress with. And she's got a lot of gems! I wonder how she got so many? She has an office, which I'm not allowed to go into unless given permission, and then I didn't realize she had a kitchen downstairs, too. Her and Sweetie Belle's bedrooms are upstairs, but I probably won't be going up there either.

After the grand tour, she gave me my first assignment: Make a dress. She even let me use almost anything in the store to do it!

I was feeling pretty good when I whipped up a fancy ball gown and presented it to Rarity.

And then she told me that she meant it to be at pony size, not at doll size. I should've known that's what she meant. I'm sure she noticed me blushing, and I just wanted to stick my head in a box of fabric scraps and die. But Rarity wasn't mean or anything, and she let me try again.

The second time took me a lot longer. I'm so used to making dresses for dolls that I couldn't judge the size right, and some of the garment pieces came out a little lopsided. I should've measured it out better, but I didn't want to keep Rarity waiting too long.

Rarity was still super nice about it though, even while she was looking over it and spotting all the mistakes. But in the end she just gave me a that dazzling smile of hers and told me she'd see me tomorrow.

I can't wait!

P.S.: I tried to call Rarity Miss Rarity, but she insisted on me just calling her Rarity. She really is a really awesome pony.

Tuesday, September 12
Day 2 of my Internship

Today wasn't what I was expecting at all. When I got to the store, Princess Twilight Sparkle was there. And what's more, Rarity asked her to give me a lesson in pony anatomy. I got lessons from a Princess! How cool is that?

Okay, so Twilight really prefers not to be called a Princess most of the time, unless she's doing Princessly things, and I guess lessons on pony anatomy aren't really very princess-like, but I thought I should at least write it out as Princess Twilight Sparkle the first time, just to be respectful.

Twilight went into a lot of detail about pony anatomy. Way more than Miss Cheerilee ever went into, but I guess this is super advanced dressmaker knowledge? I'm not sure though, because Twilight just stuck to the anatomy stuff, and I didn't get to any dress-related work with Rarity at all.

The lesson was pretty cool, though. Twilight had this little model skeleton that moved around so you could see how everything worked. (She swears it was all done through pony telekinesis, but I'm not sure… Rarity trusts her though, so I guess it's okay.) At the end she gave me a pop quiz, which I passed, but then gave me a stack of flashcards to study. I asked her how long it took for her to make them and she said 'not long', but they've got illustrations, notes, and color on them. Does Twilight have some sort of fancy 'Make Flashcards' spell? Do you think she learned it before or after becoming a Princess?

Do Princesses even need flash cards? I've never seen Princess Celestia with any.

Rarity said I should study the flashcards but didn't have me do anything else in the shop that day.

Webster's helping me study them. He's hanging up all the cards I'm having trouble with so I can go over them more often.

Wednesday, September 13th
Day 3 of my Internship

I was really hoping that I'd get to do some work with Rarity in the shop today, but instead she had me taking art lessons from some pony named Split Splat. I think Rarity said he was from Canterlot? Anyway, he was teaching me in figure drawing. She said I'd be taking lessons from him for the next three days.

Three whole days without doing any actual work with Rarity in her shop. How am I ever going to learn anything from her?

We went outside, which was kind of nice. It was warm, but there was a cool breeze, so it wasn't too bad. Split Splat started teaching me how to draw ponies starting from lines and circles, which kinda looked like the pony skeletons Twilight showed me yesterday. But we spent most of today just going over some basic drawings of a pony from the front and side. He said tomorrow we'd do more interesting stuff, so I guess there's that to look forward to?

Oh, and Rarity said that after I was done taking lessons from Split Splat that I should try to do at least a sketch a day in my new sketchbook of a pony that I see somewhere in Ponyville, but to try and get them in different poses.

So far my internship feels like more schoolwork.

Thursday, September 14th
I asked Sweetie Belle at school today if it was normal for Rarity to make her assistants go through all this stuff before they got to do actual assisting.

She said she didn't know, because Rarity never let her help anymore because of something involving a fire that happened a long time ago.

Rarity said the fire was last week.

Monday, September 18th

I got to do some real work today! Rarity had me help sort out a shipment that came in, so I got to learn more about some of the different types of fabric and materials that Rarity keeps in the store. I never thought I'd be excited about organizing things (Rarity said I should get to know Twilight better when I said that) but maybe all of the stuff with the lessons and practice was just to get me excited or something?

She checked my sketchbook today, too. She encouraged me to try and take more active sketches, but didn't say what the point was.

Tuesday, September 19th

I got to talk to a customer today! I didn't get to talk a lot but that was okay, it was still a step forward for my internship!

Rarity showed me today how she wanted measurements taken for clients, and then had me do measurements for the next client that came in. It's a small thing, but maybe it means Rarity is finally ready to trust me with more stuff in the store. Aside from some of the busy work of the store I got to shadow Rarity a little bit and see her in action, too, which was super cool.

Oh! And we had a show and tell at school today. I decided to bring Webster to class to show everyone, but some ponies kind of got a little freaked out. I don't know why, he's super friendly.

Okay, I probably didn't need to let him out of his terrarium so he could get some exercise, but he wasn't going to hurt anyone! Diamond Tiara complained that she thought Webster was going to bite her, but that's silly. Webster would never hurt a pony. He's sitting on my head right now as I write this and he's the friendliest little critter ever.

Thursday, September 21st

Rarity finally started teaching me something today! We started going over different types of dresses, how their patterns are put together, and some of the common variations and twists you can put on them. It was really cool, and Rarity had lots of examples to show me from actual dresses that she's designed!

Rarity is still the coolest and most awesome designer. She was really quick with a pencil to show me different sketches of dresses, and they all came out looking perfect in the first try, which I can't even do yet. It usually takes me a few tries to get it looking right, so maybe I need to practice the drawing stuff more.

And she also knew about the histories of the different styles of dresses and how they've changed over time, which was kind of neat. And a lot of it had practical reasons I never realized were there. When I asked her how come she knew all of this stuff she said "Those who do not understand fashion are doomed to repeat it."

Monday, September 25th

I've been getting to do measurements a bunch for Rarity lately, but I still can't do them as fast as she can. I guess it's easier to measure a doll since it doesn't move unless you make it.

Rarity's given me a research project to do. She wants me to research modern and traditional Gryphon clothing. Based on the types of things she's been teaching me so far, I think I have an idea of what she's looking for, but I have the whole week to get my report ready and give it to her.

She suggested I start at the library. Princ Twilight got super excited when I told her what I was looking for and stuffed my saddlebags full of books and gave me an extra stack besides. Thank Celestia for horns to carry stuff with. She even made me promise to share my report with her when I was finished with it.

It's actually pretty interesting so far. Their culture works a lot different than ours, and that shows up even in how they make their clothes. But I feel like I could study these books for a month and still keep finding new things (if Twilight let us keep books out that long, that is.)

The one thing that keeps bugging me is that gryphon bodies are pretty different from pony bodies. I tried sketching some of the designs I saw but it's pretty hard to visualize it correctly when I can't picture the Gryphon body properly. I think tomorrow I'll see if Twilight has any books about gryphon anatomy.

I hope at the end of all of this we get to make a gryphon dress. That could be really cool.

Friday, September 29th

Rarity loved my report! And she gushed over all of the little details I put in, and the gryphon dolls I made (getting the legs right was the tricky bit, even with that anatomy guide I found) with some of the garments I found for my report. Twilight showed up while I was showing it to Rarity and she really loved it too.

But even after all of that she didn't say whether or not we'd be making our own copies of them.

Monday, October 2nd
1st day of real interning work, finally

I finally got to do some real dressmaking work today! Well, 'real', since we were just working in muslin. Rarity had me start with a pattern, check the measurements, and then I finally got to make it. But she had me sew everything together by hoof (and horn), without a machine, and it took forever.

She said I'd probably be working on that same dress for the rest of the week, but not to rush or else I'd have to start over.

Wednesday, October 4th
3rd day of horn sewing

I think I sprained a muscle in my horn. I know horns don't have muscles but somehow one got in there and now it's sprained.

Friday, October 6th
5th day of horn sewing Tartarus

I finally finished that dress. Rarity pointed out a couple of mistakes but didn't make me redo the whole thing, so I guess it was good enough.

Rarity has this amazing way of not making you feel bad even when she's criticizing your work. I don't know how she does it, but she does.

But no real dresses next week. She said I'd be working on a different pattern with some different stitches in it. And still by hoof.

Monday, October 16th
Week 3 of way too much muslin

Still working with muslin dresses, but this time I get to use the sewing machine, so at least it'll be faster.

Monday, October 30th

Rarity finally let me help her on a real dress today. I didn't really do much, just watched as she explained her process, but I did get to hand her stuff and hold up some fabric pieces, so that's something, I guess.

I was hoping we'd get to make costumes or something for Nightmare Night, but Rarity said she finished all the orders already.

Tuesday, November 7th

Rarity has me helping out more in the shop, but it's just stuff like talking to clients, taking measurements, and sometimes assisting her. She did have me help make alterations to a dress she sold, which is something I never had to worry about with the dolls.

It feels like I haven't gotten to do any real dressmaking since the first day, and I did so badly with that one I don't know how I'm going to get any better without any practice.

Webster thinks I need to be patient, and I'm really trying to be, but I dunno. I'm thinking of talking to Miss Cheerilee and seeing if there's something else I could do.

Rarity wanted me to leave my sketchbook with her tomorrow so she could look over it. I've been trying to keep up with it, so maybe if she sees I'm doing a good job with that I'll get some real work after that.

Horseapples!

I ran through the streets of Ponyville as fast as my hooves would carry me. Why did the day Rarity wanted to see my sketchbook have to be the day I accidentally put my diary in my saddlebags instead? What would Rarity think if she saw what I'd been writing about her? Would she end my internship? Would she tell Miss Cheerilee?

Oh horseapples.

Please little hooves get me back there as fast as you can!

I got back to the Carousel Boutique but the lights were already out, and I couldn't see any sign of her. What if she left already? Or worse, she was already on her way to tell Miss Cheerilee?

Double horseapples!

Okay, I know where Miss Cheerilee lives. Maybe I could run over there, and try to find Rarity first before she got there. But if she didn't go there, then I'd be in trouble and I'd lose too much time. I could check the spa… When's her weekly trip with Fluttershy?

Tomorrow. It’s tomorrow. Shoot.

Maybe Twilight could cast a spell to find her? But then I'd have to explain why, and I couldn't really explain why truthfully without making it seem like an invasion of Rarity's privacy for a very trivial reason, which I guess it really was.

A very trivial reason that could just about end my life forever.

I slumped forward, resting my head against the door. "Oh Celestia. What am I going to do?"

"Ribbontail?"

I about leapt right out of my skin and turned around to see Rarity's concerned face looking down at me.

"Rarity! I was just looking for you!"

"I rather suspected you might be, darling. Would you like to come inside?"

I moved out of the way so that Rarity could unlock the door and we stepped inside. Rarity lifted my diary from her saddlebags and gave it to me. I snatched it with my forehooves and held it tight to my chest. "Oh thank goodness." I reached into my saddlebags and gave Rarity my sketchbook. "You, uh… you didn't open it or anything, did you?"

Rarity put the sketchbook on the table. "I'm afraid I must admit I did, but once I realized what it was I stopped reading."

"Oh, good." Okay. Crisis averted. We're all good. Everything's fine. If I think that enough maybe my heart will get the message and stop pounding so much.

"… But not before I got the sense of a certain frustration you have with your internship." Rarity was facing away from me, so I couldn't read the expression on her face.

Suddenly the room felt very warm. Was it warm? It felt warm. Maybe Rarity left a fire going in the fireplace. We should check on that. Fireplace safety. Serious business.

What could I say to that? I looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry. You've been teaching me lots of cool stuff, and I guess I should just be patient, but it's really hard."

"No need to apologize, dear. I must admit, perhaps I should have been more perceptive in noticing your frustrations. So, if you have time, why don't you try making a dress?" She flashed me that dazzling smile of hers. "A real dress, this time. Use any materials in the store you like. Try for a ball gown."

Did she just say what I think she said? "For a pony, right?"

She chuckled. "Indeed. In fact…" she scribbled something down on a sheet of paper and gave it to me. "Use these measurements."

I stashed my diary and saddlebags and ran to the back, looking over all the materials and fabrics. There was a lot to choose from, but I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. Little bit of this, little bit of that… grab a pattern to work from.

I made a new pattern with the measurements Rarity gave me, and then put the ball gown together. Add some flourishes and detail work… There! That came together a lot easier than I remember last time.

Rarity scrutinized my dress when I presented it to her, making little 'mhmm' and 'aha' noises as she worked it over. The suspense was killing me.

"Well?"

She smiled and lifted a sheet off of a mannequin, revealing… the dress I made on the first day working here. She stood it next to my new dress and stepped away. "Why don't you tell me for yourself? I still have some notes, but we can save those for tomorrow."

Okay, I knew my first dress was bad, but I was seeing things now that I wasn't even aware of before, and next to the newer one… it was almost a little embarrassing. Okay, it was a lot embarrassing. "I can't believe you saved that."

"Of course, darling. I had to have some way of judging your progress, after all."

I looked between the two again. "But how did I get so much better without making any real dresses? Don't you have to practice at stuff like that?"

Rarity chuckled softly. "And what do you think I've been having you do all this time?"

"Well, I guess I'm more used to sewing with a machine now, and doing all those measurements helped me get a better idea of how ponies look, oh, and the drawing practice and the fashion research…" It suddenly felt very warm again. "Oh, I think I see how it all works now. But why did you make me go through all of that? I was starting to think…"

"That I didn't think you were talented? Dear heavens, no." Rarity gently laid a hoof on my shoulder. "I am dreadfully sorry if I gave you that impression. The last thing I ever wanted to do was make you doubt yourself. I'm new to this mentoring business, and I'll be doing my best to strike a better balance in the future. But to address your question…"

She straightened up and gestured for me to follow her to the back. We went into her workroom, where she uncovered a machine I hadn't seen before.

"There is a tendency, I've noticed, among some creative ponies to think that because they have a cutie mark for doing a particular skill, that they will always be good at it, no matter what. Cutie marks being what they are, this is largely true. But many of them are good without ever really understanding why they're good. Rather like this emerald." She held up a raw emerald that looked like she could have just dug it up out of the field. "Without any work, it certainly looks beautiful, does it not? But it would be hard to set it into a dress or a piece of jewelry as it is."

She turned on the machine and started working with the emerald. I tried to watch what she was doing but it was too high for me to see clearly.

"But if we take this beautiful yet humble gem, and take care to shape it… remove the imperfections… and bring it to a bright polish…." She lifted it out of the machine and lowered it for me to see.

The gem sparkled now, and there were brilliant flashes when the light bounced off of its inner surfaces as Rarity turned it around. I stared at it, transfixed, and almost didn't hear Rarity finish the thought.

"Being good, if that's all you want, is perfectly fine. But if you want to be great, that takes time, patience, and study. It takes understanding the why of what you do rather than just knowing how to do it, and the ability to critically analyze your own performance. But with a firm grasp on the fundamentals, there is no limit to how brilliantly you can shine."

Wow. Rarity is so cool.

"You are so cool."

Rarity chuckled softly, "Well thank you, dear." She turned off the machine. "Now let me walk you home, it's getting rather late. I'll see you tomorrow, I hope? Unless you're set on talking to Cheerilee about your internship."

"I'll be here! And I promise I'll be more patient."

"I'm so relieved to hear you say that. And I promise I'll be looking at more opportunities to give you more hooves-on experience going forward."

"Okay!"

Friday, February 9th

You are not going to believe what happened today! Rarity got a very unusual commission.

You have to promise not to tell anybody though, because it's all hush-hush top secret. I told Webster, but he promised not to tell anyone either.

Rarity is doing a design for Sapphire Shores! The Sapphire Shores. Like, the actual Sapphire Shores!

But that's not all. I get to help too! They're doing a promotional stunt where a magically powered doll will be dancing on stage with her, so they need two dresses. Rarity is going to design the dress that they'll both wear, but she said she'd be asking me for advice on making sure it looks good at the smaller size, since I have more experience with that.

Rarity, the super awesome most coolest amazing designer in all of Equestria is going to be asking me for advice!

I'm really glad I stuck with the internship.

Oh, and the best part is I get to make the small version of the dress too! My handiwork is going to be on stage with Sapphire Shores!

Rarity said I should remain cool and collected, like a lady, but I can tell she was super excited too. She even let out a giddy squeal once Sapphire Shore's manager left the boutique.

This is going to be the best internship ever!