Hollow Shades, the mere name of the village sent shivers through Rarity's body. She was walking on the only road that led to the village. It was a decent road with a nice and even stone structure that was comfortable for her hooves to walk on, but it didn't make up for the fact that the road went through a dark and foul-smelling forest. It wasn't as bad as the Everfree Forest, but bad enough to make her want to get out of there as quickly as possible. So far she hadn't run into any animals of any kind, but she could feel their eyes creeping up on her, watching her every move.
Alongside the stony road, the remains of train tracks led to the village. They were overgrown with plants and were broken in multiple places; no trains could have passed through for a very long time. The road fared better, but the edges of it had started to be overgrown as well, so she kept herself around the middle of it.
With her she had two large saddlebags that she was carrying. They contained various cosmetics but also three dresses that she had made. Two of the dresses were for her customer, some of the most beautiful dresses she had ever made in her opinion. She hoped they would be able to light up a place like Hollow Shades. Her customer had implied that he good contacts within the Canterlot fashion elite, but the further she went on the road the more she doubted it. She did hope that it would surprise her and turn to out to be a sophisticated village.
The third dress was for her. Along with the order, she had been invited to a party as thanks for her efforts. If she could make a good impression on her customer, then maybe she would receive more than a good word to help her career. The cosmetics had been requested as well, but some of it was for her own use.
After a few more minutes of walking she finally reached a clearing and could see the first house on her journey since she had entered the forest. It was just the station, and it was in no good condition. The wooden roof and the platform had fallen in, and all the windows were broken. Even one of the walls had collapsed. The train tracks didn't even make it all the way to the broken platform; they had an abrupt stop a few metres from the station with a fallen tree. No signs of the tracks ever going all the way to the station existed. She sighed at the sight and continued on with the hopes of the fashion elite drifting further away.
It didn't take much longer until she could see the outskirts of the village. It had the same dark aura as the forest, but since it was surrounded by the forest it didn't surprise her. Here the buildings were in a much better shape than the station had been. Very few things made the houses different from each other; they were all built with wood and had the same wooden roofs. The shapes of the houses were similar as well; two long sides and two short sides. The roofs were of the gable type and it made her wonder a little about how much it rained in the village. The differences were mostly in the size and colours of the houses, red being the most popular. A few of them had more windows, but most of them were covered by curtains of different colours, and she found herself having a hard time seeing anything through the ones lacking curtains. The stone road connected to all the doors, and all houses had either a small or large farmland. Some Earth Ponies worked on the fields; they had sweat all over them and were pulling up vegetables from the ground. Cats ran around freely through the road and the farmlands.
As she went by all the work seemed to stop, mothers pushed their fillies and colts back into the house and then stared at her with creepy eyes, and the ponies working on the fields stopped and stared at her the same way. She shrug it off by telling herself that they rarely got visitors. The children were just being pushed back in to avoid being a nuisance for her. She only half believed her lie, but from what she could see there were only Earth Ponies in the village, Unicorns and Pegasi shone with their disappearance. The village seemed to be only farms so it didn’t surprise her, but it didn't stop her from wondering who it was that fixed the weather.
One house in particular stood out from the rest. It was a round house that was larger than the previous houses she had seen. Like most others, it was red as well. She had been told to deliver the dresses to a round house, and she couldn't see any other in the village. I can always check if it's the right one, she thought as she climbed up the stairs leading to the door. Just like almost everything else in the village it was made out of wood, blue painted wood.
She used her magic to open it up and entered. The first room was quite dark. Three candles emitted light to the room from the walls. A red carpet with patterns lied on the wood as a welcome; the patterns had a close resemblance to vegetables. A picture hung on one of the walls in between the candle lights; it featured a yellow Earth Pony with a house for a cutie mark standing in front of a construction site. Must have been somepony special, she thought.
Further up the hall two wooden doors stood closed. There was one on the right side of the hall and the second on the left side. There was no sign or anything similar to indicate where the doors might lead. With the intention of checking through both doors if necessary, she opened up the right one that led her into a large dining area. A green Earth Pony with a yellow mane and tail stood in front of a large wooden table that seemed to be capable of holding close to a hundred guests. The room was massive and better lit up than the hall had been. Candle lights stood both on the table and hung on the walls. A few of them had been burnt out, but most of them looked new. Together they gave the room a quite lively feeling. Paintings similar to the one in the hall covered the room's walls; all of them featured an Earth Pony that stood in front of something that was closely related to their cutie marks.
"Please excuse me," Rarity said to the stallion standing in the room with her. She tried to sound as seductive as possible while trying to remember the name of the pony she was to meet. "You wouldn't happen to know where Aplite is?"
The stallion turned around to meet her, and she noticed his cutie mark. It was three rocks formed in a formation as a triangle. "You must be Rarity," he said with a voice of dominance. "I am Aplite, the mayor of Hollow Shades. We have been expecting you for a few days. I hope your journey here was pleasant."
"Very pleasant," Rarity lied. She didn't want to hurt the mayor's feelings by saying how incredibly disappointed she was with the village but also the journey through the woods. If he had the contacts he claimed he had, she needed to make sure she was on his good side. "Who is the lucky mare to receive some of my dresses?"
"None other than my own daughter, Rain," Aplite responded with a smile. "You'll have to deliver them to her yourself, and if necessary help her dress; she could use some advice regarding fashion from somepony like you. I would do it myself, but we expected you earlier so the party is tonight. You’ll find her in the blue house to the west of here. It’s impossible to miss it as it’s the only one. Be safe, Princess."
"It will be my pleasure to teach a young mare about fashion," she answered. “But I’m no princess. I would very much prefer if you don’t call me that. I don’t want ponies to get the wrong impression of me.” She remembered the stares she received from the townsponies when she entered the village. It made her wonder if the mayor had already introduced her as such, or if it was because they never got any visitors.
“Forgive me, Rarity,” Aplite said with a smile. “I’ll keep it in mind. You just strike me as one.”
“But I’m not part of the royalty,” she replied. “So if you please can stop making such remarks.” She quickly exited the house where she had entered leaving the Earth Pony thinking. Thoughts were running wild inside of her; she couldn't believe what she had just been called. Princess? It was a dream come true for most mares, and she was no different in that regard. Still, it bugged her that she had been called so out of the blue. She told herself that she would set it straight the next time she would meet him if he insisted to keep calling her that.
She kept her head low and did her best with avoiding anypony that might notice her. It was easy for her to find the blue house that stood out from the rest with its colour. With the exception of the round house, it was the only one she had noticed that didn't have any farmland associated with it. The windows lacked curtains but only darkness could be seen through them. The door glowed with a light cerise colour that seemed like it wanted one to enter. She knocked three times on the door and waited. It took some time until the door opened which gave her a small opportunity to think about what had happened. When the door opened she was greeted by a yellow Earth Pony with a cerise mane and tail. For a cutie mark she had three raindrops in a falling formation. Her hooves were covered in dirt, but attempts to rid her of it could be seen in the form of small scars on her legs. Her mane stood up in all directions in a hideous way, and her face was full of dark rings.
"And you are?" the Earth Pony asked arrogantly. "I have no desire to mingle with creatures like you. Just look at you, a strap-on horn? Truly original…”
Keep it together, Rarity thought. You can't let this opportunity pass by. She showed her teeth slightly out of anger, but she did her best to try and make it look like a grin. "Please, forgive my intrusion," she said with the nicest tone she could force herself to muster. "My name is Rarity, and I bring with me the dresses your father had ordered for you. I think you'll look fabulous in them."
"Took you long enough," the Earth Pony responded. "My father has talked about you. Come on in.” She went back inside the house, and Rarity followed and closed the door behind her with a light kick. "I'm Rain, the most important pony you'll ever meet. I bring this town its rain and make sure the harvest is good. Without me this town would have crumbled. Although, the way you look, I doubt you're even capable of dressing yourself. Even less make a dress. But my father has put in some good words for you, so show me what it is you got." She sat herself down on the floor in front of a large mirror hanging on the wall.
"I think you'll look lovely in these," Rarity answered while baring some of her teeth and pulled out the two dresses from her saddlebags with her magic. A small part of her wanted to slap the Earth Pony hard with the dresses to teach her some manners. Rain didn't make any motion to indicate that she cared about the use of magic. One of the dresses was long with red edges and translucent black fabric covering the rest of it. Stars were formed in such a way that they looked like beautiful glitter all over it. A large dark flower sat on top of the dress.
The other dress had a blue fabric that composed of most of the dress. The edges were black and small red flowers covered the edges. Small gemstones of all colours were spread around the blue dress. With the dress came a pair of blue heel shoes.
"Dress me in the black one," Rain said while barely taking the time to look at the dresses.
Reluctantly Rarity left the blue dress on a nearby table and with her magic helped the Earth Pony get dressed in the other. She doesn't even care, she thought angrily. While she was helping with the dressing she managed to make the time to fully check over the room. It was a large one. Altogether there were three tables standing close to the walls. On two of them dirty clothing and weather instruments lied. The mirror Rain was sitting in front was the only one, but the walls were filled with paintings of her from different angles. She wore ugly dresses on all of them, dirty and broken down. They were the furthest one could get from fashion. A large bed with dirty white sheets and a gigantic madras that looked comfortable stood under two paintings. The floor was littered with items. Most of them broken boxes that looked like they used to have contained make up.
"You look wonderful," Rarity said as Rain slipped into the dress. No longer were the ugly scars and the dirty body visible, but her mane and face still left much to be desired. "I know just the style to go with your dress for your mane. We can't have you look like that during the party." She levitated a brush and some of her cosmetics from her saddlebag and started fixing the Earth Pony.
"I look perfect like this," Rain objected and pushed Rarity away before going towards the door. "A thank you is in order; it's not every day one gets to work on somepony special like me. And fix yourself will you? That horn really needs to go."
"You're a crime against fashion," Rarity whispered angrily as Rain trotted out of the house. She kicked away some of the items that lied on the floor so hard they crashed into the walls. On some parts small cracks could be seen from the impact. Behave like a lady, Rarity, she thought and brought her own dress up to calm herself. It was a completely red dress with a yellow flower on each side where her hind legs would be. In the middle a glittering red knot was tied. Along with the dress she had four pair of red heel shoes that went up to her knees. Two white necklaces and a small tiara made out of silver. With it all she had lots of different kinds of makeup that she applied to her face. Everything to look as good as possible for the party and show the ponies what real fashion is like.
When she left the house all dressed up and prepared for the party she saw ponies from all around the village headed in the same directions as she was, towards the large round house. As she passed by most of them took their time to stare at her. Their dresses and suits were dirty and even broken on some of them. A common pattern within the village she noticed. Not fit at all for a party like this, she thought. No pony tried to do anything to stop her, yet she still kept her eyes open towards all directions and walked as quickly as she could with sweat drops running down her forehead.
At the blue door, Aplite stood and welcomed all the guests. He was wearing a black suit with a white tie. The suit had a few holes and some of the buttons were missing. "I'm so glad to see you here," he said when he welcomed Rarity. "My daughter looks just like a princess in her new dress. A princess, just like you."
“I kindly asked you to not call me that,” Rarity replied annoyed. She imagined how he would look like if she just turned around and walked away, but she kept herself from making it a reality. “It’s not proper etiquette of you to spread lies like that. You should behave better for your daughter’s sake. She gets her rude manners from you.” She turned around and smiled like everything was fine to the few ponies that were still waiting to get inside. They had a strange look on their faces, but she didn’t wait for anypony to reply; instead she hurried inside hoping it would leave him with something to think for a while. The mayor’s voice called out for her, but she couldn’t make out the words.
Not anything at all like a princess, she thought as she saw Rain walking into the dining room in all her dirtiness. The sight made her wonder how much influence Aplite had on the young mare. She thought back to how the mare had introduced herself. Her father sure like lies. Poor girl, she must have believed it. But it doesn’t excuse her harsh words.
In the dining room she was met by a mare dressed in dirty black and white clothes. A small sign that said, Waitress, hung by her neck area. Without a word she slowly led Rarity to a red sitting pillow on the far end of the table.
"Thank you," Rarity said to the waitress who left without a word. Most of the table was already full of ponies in dirty clothing sitting and chatting with each other. Aplite seated himself on the direct opposite of her, and Rain was sitting right next to him. On the table silverwares lied beside a napkin on a blue tablecloth with red patterns. Candle lights stood all over the table and were the only source of light the room got. The waitresses were handing out glasses to everypony that contained a translucent fluid. Some ponies started sweating with their tongues hanging out from looking at the glass.
"Welcome everypony!" Aplite said standing up with a loud voice as Rarity received her glass as the last pony to get it. At closer inspection the fluid looked like water, and she couldn’t understand why some ponies looked so eager to drink it. "Today I welcome you to another wonderfully successful harvest. With us here we have a special guest, Princess Rarity. Her help with my daughter, Rain, has been of great importance.”
The ponies attending first looked at Rain before directing their attention towards Rarity who tried her best to make her as small as possible. If only I could sink under the earth, Rarity thought. Her cheeks were turning redder for every second. The glass, even if it was only water, looked incredibly tempting to her. She had forgotten to ask what it contained, but she didn't care much anymore. She levitated it up and poured everything into her with one sweep. Acting like a lady seemed far off on her agenda. The fluid’s poor taste made her tongue and mouth to start burning. Nowhere close to her were there any plants or curtains where she could spit it out and doing so under the table would be impossible to do without them all noticing. The fluid was by no means water, and was one of the most disgusting ones she had ever tasted.
The guests kept on staring at her and some had started clapping slowly, but she still forced herself to swallow what remained of the drink. The disgusting taste was still stuck on her tongue, and she wanted nothing more than to spit to get rid of it, yet she had to draw the line somewhere of how far she could go with brute commons. In front of her a red napkin lied, and she got an idea from it that would make sure she could remain her act. She levitated it to her mouth and used it to cover her mouth so that it looked like she was cleaning her mouth. In reality she was licking it to get rid of the taste. It tasted like cloth, but it was better than the drink. More ponies had joined in with the clapping and soon most of the table were clapping at her.
Did they see? she asked herself and licked the napkin a few more times. The taste still stuck on her tongue, and she started feeling that something was starting to come up her throat. She did her best on keeping it down without making too much of a weird face.
"Amazing!" a stallion declared and stood up. With him ponies all around the table stopped clapping and raised themselves up to praise her.
"For years we’ve had the Hollow drink served during the start of every party," Aplite said, raising himself up with the others. Only Rain was still seated, and she had a glare in her eyes that wasn't showing disappointment, but eagerness. "No pony has ever managed to drink it up before the food started rolling in. You truly are a princess." He bowed himself down deeply.
"Princess Rarity!" the guests declared and bowed as well. Unlike the others, Rain ran out of the door with an incredible speed. Yet Rarity could only bring herself to sit still watching and licking the napkin. She was forcing down vomit that did nothing to help her taste.
"There's no need," she blurted out from beneath the napkin. "I appreciate it very much, but I'm not a princess."
"Just wait until the children hear this," a mare said ignoring Rarity's words.
"We have to tell them now," another one said.
"This tale can't be put on hold," a third said. "The celebration has to wait, let’s go." As one big horde the guests fled out of the room fighting their way through the doorway in a massive noise. Only Rarity remained in the once crowded room. Not even the waitresses were to be seen. Pillows had been kicked all over the room. Glasses and silverware had been thrown down and made the floor close to the table a wet mess. Since she was sure that she was alone, she slowly stood up from the pillow while making sure that she wasn’t doing any quick moments that might cause an accident. She couldn’t remember seeing any toilets nearby, but she was sure there would be some close by.
Don’t let it out, she thought as she passed by the wet disgusting puddles of the fluid. The mere sight of it made her want to throw up.
"Don’t worry," she could hear Aplite say as he entered the room again. She instantly covered her mouth with her hooves and kept it all in, at a great discomfort for her tongue. "Nopony noticed your behaviour. In fact, they loved you. Your glass only contained water. Although it did have a certain ingredient to it that made sure it looked similar to the Hollow. I’m sorry it tasted bad, Princess. There’s a glass of pure water at the exit."
"I am no princess," Rarity answered while looking coldly at the stallion. A whole village thinks I'm something I'm not, something I don’t deserve.
"Apologies," Aplite replied. "I pushed the notion on, even after your objections, because I want to make my daughter a true lady. She isn't made for the life out here, but out here we know nothing of the elite. Her ego is so big that the only pony she would listen to is a princess. No pony remembers when Princess Celestia last was here. Princess Luna hasn't been here since her banishment, and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza has never been here. Not even the weather team comes here. The Pegasi just bring the clouds, but they never visit us. The only thing I could do was to pretend that somepony else was a princess, and it had to be somepony from the outside."
"And you chose me," Rarity filled in and stepped away from the puddles. It might have been a different drink, but the sight reminded her too much of the taste. "Your lies are what are preventing Rain from becoming a true lady, not this village, however uncouth it may be. You couldn’t even be honest with her now, and you dragged me into it.”
"They won't care about you for long," Aplite said and met up with the Unicorn. "You haven't done any farm work yet. Without it they will soon forget about you. But my daughter, she's not like the others, she will remember. I know it’s a lot to ask, but will you please help her?"
"I assume you don't know anypony in the fashion elite," Rarity continued with disapproval in her voice. "It was just another lie to make me come here."
"I know Hayseed," Aplite hastily threw out to defend himself.
"I’m afraid that’s far from the fashion elite," she declared and moved towards the exit remembering the Earth Pony that had bumped into her in Canterlot at a very bad time. The room filled her with memories of lies and betrayal. But it also reminded her that she wasn’t the only one who had been lied to. A pony with raindrops as a cutie mark had suffered much worse than her because of the lies. “I will help your help your daughter. I do believe the fault isn’t entirely hers. She is lost because of what you’ve done. If she’s to find herself, you need to be the one to guide her. I can only help mend her rude behaviour.”
“I will do my best, thank you,” Aplite replied and looked away slightly.
“Meet me at your daughter’s house in a few minutes,” she suggested. “Everything will be ready and your daughter will look fabulous.” She levitated the glass of water that lied next to the exit on her way out and drank it up. She rolled the water on her tongue for as long as she could before swallowing it. It wasn’t cold, but it helped the taste a little bit.
"Thank you!" he called out again, but it was only barely that Rarity could hear it. The night made the village look a lot darker and the woods surrounding the village looked all the more terrifying. She had to summon forth a small guiding light to be able to see where she was going. Without worrying if anypony would see her, she made her way to the house where she first met Rain while keeping her head held high. The taste of the vomit was still on her tongue, yet it seemed like a distant concern for her now.
Rain opened the door anxiously to the blue house when Rarity arrived. The Earth Pony had traded the dress she had received for a brown dirty dress with markings of vegetables all over it. "Princess, you came here?" she asked with a tone of both happiness and fear. "How do I look? Please say I look good. I so want to be on my best for you, Princess."
"Darling, we’ll fix you up," Rarity said and smiled slightly. “You can’t be wearing that crime against fashion. Let’s get you into something much more appropriate for a lady like you."
"Yes please, Princess." Rain replied.
With the help of her magic, Rarity dressed the Earth Pony in the blue dressed she had brought with her. This time Rain didn't object to the cosmetics, but simply sat still and allowed the Unicorn to do as she pleased. "This will make you look marvellous," Rarity said and applied some false eyelashes to the Earth Pony. One little belief had changed the Earth Pony’s attitude completely, but she felt guilty for keeping up the lie. She had already thought of a plan that would make it seem like Aplite did the work instead of her. Something she figured he wouldn’t like all too much, but she wanted to minimize her presence. If she was going to keep a lie so big, she didn’t want it to harm them.
“I’m sorry I acted like I did towards you at first,” Rain said and interrupted the silence. “How was I supposed to know that you are a princess? I work so hard on keeping the harvest alive, but they never thank me. They respect me because I’m the Mayor’s daughter, but they don’t like me. I think they’re jealous that they rely so much on me. But you like me? Don’t you, Princess?”
“Perhaps you should treat them more kindly,” Rarity suggested as she applied mascara to the Earth Pony. She looked at the raindrops that served as Rain’s cutie mark, and she recalled what Aplite had said about the weather team. “If you are to become a lady, you must learn how to treat other ponies with kindness.”
“I can do that,” Rain sighed. “But only because you say so. And they’ll still have to thank me for what I do for them. Do you ever lose control?”
“I must say that…” Rarity started, but she was interrupted before she could finish.
"This looks amazing," Aplite said as he entered the house and bowed in front of Rarity. "What will you have me do?"
"Tell your daughter everything that you’ve kept hidden from her," Rarity whispered in his ear. "I do say that she looks like a lady now, but she has a lot to learn. But first you need to be honest and comfort her. This is between you two, so I’ll head back to Ponyville to not risk escalating the situation you have put me in. I’ll send you letters on what you need to teach her." She gave a subtle evil eye to the stallion.
“As you command, Princess,” Aplite said so that Rain could hear and bowed.
“You mustn’t call me that again,” Rarity repeated annoyed. She levitated her saddlebag to her back and took one look at Rain. The young mare looked vastly different from when they first met. The dirt from her hooves was gone and the scars covered so that it looked like no wounds had ever existed there. The dark rings were gone and instead her face almost glowed yellow. Her cerise mane covered a small part of her left eye it went straight down. Rarity withdrew her look from the mare after a few seconds and waved goodbye to the two Earth Ponies as she left the house.
As she passed by the houses of the village she could hear ponies talking about exaggerated stories about her. She couldn’t help but smile at it. Even though she knew they were lies. Lights were lit in the windows, and she could see in for the first time. Fillies and colts were sitting on the floor around their parents listening excitedly to the story. Things hadn't gone the way she had planned, but stories had been created and a young mare started her journey to become a real lady.
I'll never return here, she thought and put the village behind her as she ventured into the dark forest with a light guiding her way. It didn’t look so frightening any longer.
