The mood in the room was jovial.

Seven ponies were gathered, all dressed up and waiting excitedly for the fashion show that was starting in half an hour. They chatted and fantasised about the crowd outside being stopped in their tracks by how beautiful and stunning they looked. Not all of them were friends when they entered the room, but it was sure that they'd be leaving like friends.

One could have described the scene as beautiful.

One could not describe most of the dresses they wore with similar language.

Bon Bon had taken Rarity's offer of participating in the show because she had felt sympathy for her plight... and also because of the offer for free dresses but that was a 'small' secondary factor. However, she did appreciate not having to pay the three thousand bits it cost for the two outfits.

Her outfit was simple and not overly flashy, much like her. She wore a plain white shirt, a light green suit coat, and a matching light green skirt. The coat had golden accents and buttons, while the skirt had golden floral patterned embroidery at its edges. It might have been unconventional but Lyra loved it and that was quite enough for Bon Bon.

Next to her, Lyra sat, almost shaking in excitement and chatting joyfully. She had taken up Rarity's offer right after Bon Bon was done explaining it to her. She didn't care about the free dresses as much as she cared about getting to be in a fashion show — it was a dream she had since she was a little filly. In fact, all the mares in the room had dreamt about being models, even Bon Bon. Hence all the excitement.

Lyra wore a much less simpler dress than Bon Bon. It was a gown but that was light yellow and white and it looked quite fancy with its golden embroidery that looked reminiscent of musical notes. She wore a little golden tiara and yellow shoes as well.

Together, they were currently the only mares in the room with dresses that could be described as beautiful.

In front of them were the five other mares in the room, sitting on two sofas in an arc facing them. The leftmost of the five from Bon Bon's view was Fluttershy. She had actually talked quite a bit despite her introversion and propensity for staying silent, and it was nice to hear her.

Her dress wasn't particularly bad to look at, but it wasn't good to look at either. It was definitely the closest to normal looking of the five. Her gown was green with a really out of place floral polka dot pattern on it. Then, there was the flower shaped necklace thing she was wearing that seemed like something a clown might wear, and her shoes that looked like they were made of grass. That was all okay-ish but what really ruined it was the fake nest she wore as a hat. Why she had that idea, no-one could fathom.

Next to Fluttershy was Twilight, and her dress made it absolutely clear that despite all her knowledge, she could be dumb.

Her dress was more of a cloak that was more like a representation of the night sky, especially with all the accurate constellations on the dark purple cloth. It looked like something a nerdy kid might use as a blanket, or a dress that a teacher might use to teach their students about the constellations. The 'tiara' that Twilight wore looked downright hilarious with all the stars on springs it had. The only redeeming feature of the 'dress' was that the bows looked pretty, but there were only two of them.

Rainbow, who sat next to Twilight, boating about her looks, had a dress that was just as bad but in a different manner.

If someone had told Bon Bon that a neighpoleonic era soldier — a hussar probably — had dressed like that, she would have believed it. Her dress literally had a helmet as part of it, and her gown was just a big red piece of cloth with her cutie mark embroidered on it as if it was a regiment flag, and her shoes were closer to the things that the royal guard wore than something that would be acceptable for the gala. All of it was either gold or rainbow-coloured, of course, because one cannot have too many rainbows when they're Rainbow Dash.

Then, there was Applejack, guffawing at Rainbow's boasting before boasting herself, completely ignoring the fact that she wore the worst outfit of the five.

Bon Bon couldn't decide what she disliked the most about it. Maybe it was the goofy looking yellow all-race galoshes, maybe it was the 'gown' that looked like something a stereotypical hillbilly would wear, or maybe the tacky hat that looked like it came out of a western comedy. Maybe it was the combination of the three that did it. Whatever it was, it was going to be unpopular on stage, and it made it abundantly clear why Rarity wanted more ponies in the show.

Lastly, there was Pinkie, eating a bar of chocolate she pulled from her mane. Her dress seemed alright but that was probably because of it being juxtaposed next to the other bad dresses. It would have looked decent — even though the gown looked like sending between a paper fan and a tutu, and the boots had comically oversized bows — but Pinkie had ruined it by having actual balloons tied to her tail and a cupcake hat on her head.

If it weren't for her continuous spying and snooping, Bon Bon would've thought that the five were trying to sabotage Rarity. At least, her and Lyra being there in proper dresses would make the fashion show go better for the fashionista.

Speaking of her, where was she?

"Hey, guys, do you know what Rarity is up to? The show is going to start in thirty minutes," Bon Bon said to the group, pausing all the conversation that was going on.

"I dunno, probably making some final checks. You know how she gets with the details," Rainbow answered with a shrug. It was a plausible explanation — Rarity had to make sure that the stage outside the boutique was set up and that the music and lighting was done as well.

"Ooo, what if she's getting another pony for the show!" Pinkie exclaimed all of a sudden, somehow eating her bar of chocolate in less that a second. That was also a plausible explanation — Rarity wouldn't want to let her fashion show be a disaster after all. Though, who would it be?

"Oh come on, we seven are good enough! She won't need more ponies, especially when I'm around," Rainbow boasted. Bon Bon glanced towards Lyra to see if she had pursed lips like her. Lyra didn't, but Bon Bon could tell that she was also questioning Rainbow's confidence like her, only that she did it in her head.

"Ah wouldn't be so sure 'bout that, 'specially when Ah'm 'round," Applejack responded to Rainbow's claim. The irony could have materialised as actual iron.

"Nah, I'm sure, AJ. My dress rocks and you're just jealous."

"Not much ta be jealous o' when ye look like ye jumped out a lil' filly's colouring book."

There was much laughter at that, and even Bon Bon giggled a bit. Rainbow fumed for a moment before joining in as well. Even though their dresses were bad and that the mixed response to the show was inevitable, they could still enjoy themselves.

The door opened and in came Rarity, looking quite pleased about something.

"Hey Rarity, where have you been?" Twilight asked her.

"Oh, I was just finalising a few things, who knew that hosting a fashion show is hard even at such a small scale," she answered with a hoof wave. Then, she turned her head to face someone on the other side of the door. "Come on in, dear, there's no need to be nervous — you look quite stunning in that outfit."

Everyone in the room had heard that. Bon Bon raised an eyebrow. Who was Rarity talkin– The answer came before she could even ask herself the question — there had only been one other pony that Rarity had invited into the show.

Lyra was the only other pony who had an idea about who Rarity was talking to, thanks to Bon Bon telling her earlier. Everyone but the two of them were curious about who was coming in. Bon Bon was curious about what compelled Anya to take up Rarity's offer, and to a lesser extent, what Rarity had come up with for Anya's dress; her colour palette was not exactly a good one.

Rarity moved out of the doorway, letting in the eighth and last pony in the show.

Anya walked in, her ears pinned against her head and her gait unconfident. Her eyes stayed looking at the ground to avoid eye contact and her cheeks were red under her fur. She wore a navy blue gown with long sleeves and golden embroidery along its edges. On top of that, she wore a white vest with a red bow. A similar red bow was there at the end of her braided mane. She didn't have her glasses on.

'Not the worst thing I've done,' she kept thinking to herself as she walked into the room. The silence only made it worse since she perceived it as the silence of a crowd right before they burst into mocking laughter, and of course, without her glasses she couldn't tell what their expressions were, which only made her more nervous.

"Take a seat dear, there's still about half an hour till the show," Rarity prompted her as she took a seat next to Fluttershy. Anya nodded and made a beeline for the only other seat in the room, which was next to Bon Bon. The entire time, the room remained silent. Then, to add to her embarrassment, she accidentally bumped into the low table in between the sofas. She quickly and quietly settled into the empty seat, feeling the eyes of everyone on her even though she could barely make them out in her blurry vision. She already regretted listening to Rarity's suggestion of leaving the glasses off for the show, but she had already committed to it and couldn't turn back now.

Some moments of painfully awkward silence passed.

"Shouldn't you be in hospital?" Rainbow asked insensitively.

"Rainbow!" Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight shouted.

"What? You can see that she has a limp," Rainbow pointed out in her defence, which only made Anya more self-conscious. It might not have been the hardest thing she had done but she already regretted getting into the show. Getting sandpaper and carving gems seemed easier in her head (it wasn't easier in actuality).

"Besides, the show already has enough ponies," Rainbow added. She was wrong and biased in that claim, and even though Anya knew that, she couldn't help but feel a bit bad. She didn't express it with anything but a sight frown.

"Rainbow, you apologise to Anya this instant! I offered her this spot and she graciously accepted," Rarity scolded her, to which Rainbow grumbled. In return, she got a glare from Rarity.

"Sorry," she forced out, not wanting to invoke Rarity's wrath.

"Okay," Anya replied, knowing that the apology wasn't genuine — she didn't want to ruin the mood further by making a huge problem out of it. She looked away from the blue blur that was Rainbow and chose to focus on the table in front of her.

She sighed. The whole thing had been a lot less 'fun' than what she had imagined, and it didn't seem like it would get better. She kept a neutral face as she coped by reminding herself the one truth she knew about life: that it was going to be mostly disappointing for her.

Bon Bon noticed that Anya was not having a great time. While she did approve of Rainbow's words, she found Anya's response unexpected. A dark mage would have, at the very least, started an argument — it was in their nature to do so. While it made some questions in her head, it also gave her an opportunity.

She put a hoof on Anya's shoulder, making her turn to face her. She smiled and gave a small nod, appearing to be reassuring even when she wasn't. Anya, as she had expected, believed that Bon Bon was just being nice to her and it improved her mood somewhat. At least she wasn't intruding.

It was weird for Bon Bon. Three weeks ago, they had almost killed each other but here she was, being nice to her– no, she was pretending to be nice, and there should be no doubt that Anya was doing the same.

There was a small amount of doubt in Bon Bon's mind.

"Hey, Anya, want some chocolate?" Pinkie called out, making Anya face her. It was easy since it was hard to miss the pink blur waving at her.

"Uh, sure," Anya replied.

"Alrighty, catch!"

Anya only had a moment's warning before Pinkie tossed a small bar of chocolate towards her. Where she got it from, nobody knew, but where it was going was clearly Anya's face. It took her a moment to make out the blur rapidly approaching her face, and in the next moment, she had her hooves up. She caught it just in front of her face.

"Nice catch!"

"Pinkie, ya shouldn' be throwin' stuff around," Applejack said to her, to which Pinkie stuck out her tongue at her.

Anya brought the chocolate close to her face to properly inspect it. Even at ten centimetres, she couldn't make out anything but the name of the bar — 'Coltbury'. She didn't open it immediately though since she felt like everyone was staring at her.

"Even though it's unexpected, it's nice seeing you here, Anya," Twilight said. "And you look very pretty in that dress."

Anya looked down bashfully and whispered, "Thanks."

She looked back up and seemed to inspect Twilight. "I... I can't really see you very well but I think you look... good as well."

Anya knew that Twilight didn't look good since Rarity had been kind enough to spend at least a quarter of an hour talking about it while she was making her dress. Of course, she didn't mention that since Rarity had told her not to.

"Anya, did you also get a ticket to the gala?" Lyra asked, her ears raised in excitement.

"No."

"Oh," all the excitement had disappeared from her voice. Then, it came back as she said, "Well, you're definitely going to be the star of the show tonight."

"Nah, that's gonna be me," Rainbow butted in with a raised hoof.

"Okay," Anya responded. She was happy with not being in the spotlight, which was kinda stupid since she's going in a fashion show of all thing. She noted that she should plan things out more often instead of just making up plans as she goes.

"What if you did get a ticket? Would you like to go to the gala?" Lyra continued, ignoring Rainbow.

"No."

"Why? It's the greatest party in the entire country– no, the entire world!"

"Source?"

"What?"

Anya seemed to stare off into space for a second while looking slightly troubled, which Bon Bon noted for its weirdness.

"I mean, you might find it pleasant, but I doubt I can say that for myself," Anya said, not elaborating on her earlier one word question that only she knew the meaning of. Bon Bon might have pressed her to know what exactly she meant by that but didn't since Twilight started talking.

"Say, have you been doing any magic, or anything interesting?" Twilight asked after a lull in the conversation.

"No, not much. Just chilling."

"So, doing witchcraft?" Rainbow butted in.

Nobody had a chance to tell her to keep quiet or send a glare her way since Anya was quick to answer very dryly, "No, I do not know how to do that."

There was a pause.

"Yet."

Bon Bon snorted, while the others either giggled or rolled their eyes; Anya sure had a sense of humour.

Rainbow, meanwhile, did not like that answer very much. She crossed her arms and said, "Oh, so what do you know how to do, huh?"

"Biomancy, fireball, horn light, and your mother, to name a few things," Anya listed, counting on her hoof while doing her hardest to maintain a disinterested voice, especially around the last part.

Lyra burst out laughing at that. And so did Applejack, followed by Pinkie and even Twilight. Fluttershy giggled and so did Rarity. Even Bon Bon had to admit that that response was funny even though it was the staple of a pre-teen's humour. Rainbow, meanwhile, was fuming as she did not find the joke to be funny.

"Can't you make an actually funny joke; 'your mother' jokes are so old and overused," Rainbow stated, thinking that it'll make the joke not funny.

"Just like yo mama," Anya added without even thinking before she began snickering. Everyone else, even Bon Bon, laughed some more, and Rainbow was flabbergasted before she decided not to make a fool out of herself again and opted to return to fuming silently.

Eventually, the laughter died down and the mood was jovial once again.

"Heh, y'er pretty fun," Applejack noted. "Nice dress too, Rarity ya really did do good on that."

"Oh, thank you Applejack, but Anya also played an important role in making the dress," Rarity said, half-deflecting the compliment.

"Not really, you did all the work," Anya replied, deflecting the compliment entirely.

"But I wouldn't have recieved inspiration if you didn't tell me about your favourite outfit."

"Ooo, you have a favourite outfit?" Pinkie said immediately, making Anya turn to face her. "You have to tell me about it!"

"Uh," Anya thought about it for a bit. It certainly wouldn't do her any harm to tell them, but did she really want to? Eventually, she figured that she could tell them.

"Okay, so," Anya took a breath as she figured out what to say. "My favourite outfit was sort of simple. A blue greatcoat with a colour like my dress right now, a long-sleeve white shirt, some thick grey pants, a set of socks and boots, and a winter cap, the kind that has flaps. That was about it."

"Ooo, that's pretty interesting," Pinkie said, her voice as if she had listened to the most interesting thing in the world.

"Where would even wear that?" Rainbow asked. She was going to answer her question with 'homeless camp' but Anya answered quick.

"Work," she said. Only Bon Bon has a clue about what that was.

"Work? Like, a uniform?" Rarity asked, having only heard what the outfit was and not the history behind it.

"Well, the shirt was the only piece of my uniform," Anya answered, remembering one of her previous job in the pony world and how it was similar to the job she had in the human world last.

"Well, what did you do?" Lyra asked.

Anya once again considered if she should elaborate or lie. She decided to go with elaborate since there was time to kill, and the thing was something that they might have found cool.

"My job was hauling–” she began, only to be interrupted almost immediately by none other than Rainbow Dash.

"You? Hauling? Do pigs fly as well?" Rainbow said, chuckling at the very idea of Anya doing that kind of hard work.

"Well, I've seen you fly so it's clear that they definitely can," Anya clapped back. Then, she continued as Rainbow processed what she said, "As I was saying, I had a job in hauling and I needed to have that outfit on due to the conditions I'd be pulling carts in."

"How hard was it?" Lyra asked.

"Pretty hard since the company would assign me the jobs that were out in rula– rurar– rural areas in the Macintosh or Colt mountains or some other place where the infrastructure was garbage, and they'd usually put me on solo jobs."

"Can't they just use the trains for that work?" Rarity asked, shuddering at the thought of doing that kind of hard work by herself.

"As I said, infrastructure was terrible in those areas. Forget about railways, you'd need to be on hallucinogenics just to see a paved road. Plus, there's gonna be basically nobody but you for the entire round trip, unless you count the things hiding in the woods and stalking you," Anya explained, not embellishing even a single bit. The dark muddy roads through mountainous areas were still clear as daylight in her mind. Hauling carts and driving trucks across the countryside was pretty similar, only that driving was a lot faster and the greatest danger was falling asleep at the wheel. Hauling kept you awake since you were pulling carts while going through dark, winding roads while watching out for danger, instead of driving down the straight highway with nothing of interest.

"Sounds mighty bad, but it can't be that bad," Applejack said, not really believing anything Anya said.

"Okay, imagine this: you're pulling two carts of goods to some remote mining town in the Macintosh mountains. The roads are all mud, you're all alone, it's night and the only light is the lamp on your first cart. The town is still two hours away, your only defence is a cheap spell-slinger and a hatchet, and something in the forest is stalking you, waiting for you to lower your guard for just one minute so that it can drag you off into the darkness. Imagine that you're doing that, and then tell me if that's still 'not that hard'." She made sure to do air quotes for the last part.

Applejack snorted at that. "Y'er just makin' up tall tales. Ain't no way that the monster part's true, i's jus' ghost stories to scare young'uns."

Bon Bon almost corrected Applejack — a lot of monster stories had their roots in reality. If only she knew of the things that hid in the dark corners of the countryside. Bon Bon almost felt bad for Anya having to go through that.

"Look, those mountains are ancient, they definitely have creepy stuff hiding in them, and even if you don't belive all that, there's still the terrain and the weather working against you," Anya continued, ignoring Applejack's disbelief.

"Or maybe, you weren't up for that work," Rainbow interjected, partly to get back at Anya and partly to help out Applejack.

Anya switched between looking at the two, deciding how she'd counter them. Issuing a threat was a okay-ish option, but a story was a good option. She dug through her pony memories of the job and found one that was interesting and also proof that she was cut out for her work.

"K, I'll tell you los– guys about one of my jobs," Anya said. Most of the ponies had their interests piqued and were eager to hear a story with how she had described her work so far. Rainbow merely raised an eyebrow.

Anya began, "Okay, so, this was in January this year so it's winter. I'm in Macintosh province, coming back from a trip to a coal mining town to deliver some equipment. It's about six and the sun has started to set and there's a storm coming and I'm still an hour away from the closest town.

So, going back involved crossing this one river, Flower River, I think, and the only way to get across is a wooden bridge, or alternatively, a five hour long alternate route. Naturally, I take the bridge, like anyone else would. So, I come across a whole bunch of other haulers going to the bridge together and I join them. They were a cool bunch of guys.

Anyway, we reach the bridge just as it's beginning to snow, and wouldn't you know it, it's broken."

"Broken? Shouldn' bridges be maintained better since they're important?" Applejack asked, not convinced of the story so far, having heard plenty of similar tales of improbable situations from quite a few people — who also happened to be liars.

"They should, but the lord or duke or whatever loser whose in charge of the province was a useless piece of shit who probably diverted funding for road maintenance to their own pockets. Seriously, the only decent road in the province is in the provincial capital and it's probably designated as a protected area or a tourist site for everyone to see."

More than a few faces grimaced at Anya's scathing language, while a few faces smiled at the hyperbole.

"So, as I was saying, the bridge is broken, like, the entire middle section has been washed away. We can't ford the river since it's too deep and the flow is strong and it's freezing as well, nor can we fly over since none of us have wings. If we turned around, the closest town would be four hours away but we'd be in the middle of the snowstorm for a lot of time if we went that way.

Anyway, there's one other cart full of logs and planks at the bridge already and there's two guys with it. They're the repairmen who came to check out the damage and see if they could fix it but they didn't know how bad it was when they had left town. We ask them about what we can do, and guess what one of them says."

Anya looked around at the ponies who were captivated by the story so far. They leaned in, expecting her to reveal what the repairman said.

"Ooo, ooo, did she tell you guys that you'll have to help fix the bridge?" Pinkie guessed excitedly and suddenly, making everyone flinch a bit.

"Correct!" Anya said, getting back into the story. "One of the repairmen, he told us that it was our only option unless we wanted to risk freezing to death, and everyone decided that it was the better option. We get to work and we have a problem immediately. Someone has to go down into the river to hold the support logs and hammer them in–"

"And you were one of the ponies to go in?" Rainbow asked, knowing that the answer would most likely be a yes, as it would be for such 'real and completely true' stories.

"Yep. The repairman told us where to put the supports. I and a zebra guy went down into the river first and we got like three of the supports hammered in before we had to get out. Three guys did the other five, and the rest of them worked on putting the top of the bridge back together–"

"And there were zombies attacking you guys the whole time?*" Rainbow's sarcasm would have dripped from every orifice on her body if it was a liquid. Anya noticed said sarcasm but decided not to react to it and continued the story. She was coming close to the end anyway.

"No, but the storm kept getting worse the whole time. My greatcoat kept me warm in the two hours it took to fix the bridge enough for us to get across, and once it was fixed, we all got to town in an hour, all safe and sound. I couldn't walk the way since I could barely feel my legs but it turned out fine in the end since I only got a cold. Pretty sure we made the news, the bunch of us. The end."

"Wooh, that sounds intense," Lyra was the first to say. Bon Bon nodded, knowing from the information she had that the story was true. She didn't want to admit it but it was impressive of Anya to do that kind of work. Anya would've been nice to be actually friends with if she wasn't a dark mage.

"And it also sounds like a really, really tall tale," Applejack said. Rainbow nodded in agreement wih her arms folded with an unimpressed expression. To them, there was simply no way that a pony like Anya was even remotely capable of being a hauler, let alone do such a task as help fix a bridge, in a blizzard.

"It was fun to hear!" Was Pinkie's takeaway. True and simple.

"But it's still fake–”

"Actually, Anya, was this in the western part of the province?" Twilight interrupted Rainbow.

"Yes," Anya answered.

"And was it near the town of Ironhill?"

"Yep, that's the one."

"Then the story is real."

"What?!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash exclaimed together at Twilight's declaration.

Twilight took that as an opportunity to elaborate, "You see, sometime in January, I witnessed Princess Celestia give a... a 'stern' talking to Lord High Winds about his province's poor infrastructure and how everyday ponies had to deal with it. During that, she mentioned an incident where haulers had to fix a bridge in western Macintosh."

The two mares' mouths hung open in shock, while Anya smiled gleefully.

"That kind of job must pay a lot, right?" Lyra interjected, curious about that kind of lifestyle.

"Nah."

Lyra blinked and stared at Anya with disbelief.

"You're telling me that that job, which made you go through all sorts of bad places while pulling carts of stuff, did not pay well?"

"Yeah."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No. Each trip paid you about just enough to cover the expenses you incurred while on it."

"What does that mean?"

"It means we had to pay for our food and other supplies out of our own pocket, and that would eat up most of what you earned. If you decided to spend a night in an inn or something, you'd pay for that and those things are kinda expensive. I'd just sleep in my cart with my coat as a blanket unless it was going to snow."

"That's horrible!" Lyra exclaimed, distressed that things like that happened in Equestria. Beside her, Bon Bon agreed with Lyra, but she only frowned. Not all monsters lived in the forests or a madpony's basement, some lived in mansions and offices. She, begrudgingly, felt a little bit of sympathy for Anya.

"Yeah, but it was 'my fault' and I 'should've read the fine print' before I took the job. Last time I ever skipped those forms," Anya said bitterly, making air quotes with her hooves. She did not mention how she also wanted to kill her ex-boss, or rather, the guy who decided that company's could do something like that.

"Hey, Anya, do you think you could tell us more stories?" Pinkie asked, steering the conversation away from the bad stuff since she wanted to preserve the good mood.

"Yeah, sure. Let me think of one..."

Anya noted that the whole thing had gone well so far, and maybe, things wouldn't go as bad as she had thought.

Things had gone alright.

The nine mares were currently in the backstage area of the stage that has been set up right next to the boutique. The light in the sky was fading and there was a crowd gathering outside, waiting for the show to start.

Rarity was the most nervous of all. She kept checking and rechecking everything. From the music to the lights and to the dresses, which were the things she was most nervous about. Anya, Bon Bon, and Lyra's dresses might never been good but they had to make up for her friends' dresses. Or maybe, she was just worrying too much — if her friends were confident with their dresses then the crowd would be fine with them, right?

Of course, that though didn't stop her from triple-checking the dresses though.

"Rarity, I think you're overdoing the whole checking thing," Rainbow said to her as Rarity inspected Rainbow's helmet for any defects with a magnifying glass.

"Dear, there absolutely is no such thing as 'overdoing' checking. After all, it's better to be safe than to be sorry," Rarity responded as she continued her inspection.

Beside them, Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack were predicting the reactions to their dresses.

"I bet they're gonna love my dress and maybe even feel a bit hungry!" Pinkie proclaimed with a giggle at the thought of drooling ponies.

"Ah doubt that them ponies are gonna be hungry after seein' ya," Applejack said with a shake of her head.

"Oh, then they'll be peckish!"

"Pinkie, ponies don't get hungry when they see a pony wearing a confectionary-themed dress." Twilight face-hoofed. Pinkie buwomp-ed in response.

Bon Bon and Lyra stood nearby, discussing how they'd look during the gala and also how pretty they looked.

"Come on Bonnie, admit it, all the people at the gala will either be jealous of your dress or of me because I'm with you!"

Bon Bon just rolled her eyes with a smile.

And finally, standing in a corner, all by herself, was Anya. She still had her positive mood but she was growing nervous again. It wasn't because she felt weird in her dress or because she thought that her dress looked bad on her, but because she thought that she was going to fumble on the catwalk — probably by tripping, or walking weird– actually, walking weird was a guarantee for her with her limp. That realisation made her more self-conscious suddenly.

Finally, it was time for the show to start.

Rarity finished her checks just as the stage lights dimmed. On the other side of the curtain, Spike started giving the opening speech to the audience. Rarity immediately started thinking about the order in which she'd send the mares onto stage. They should have rehearsed instead of chatting.

While her friends' dresses were okay (they were not), she didn't want to send them out for the beginning or the end, meaning they'd be in the middle. Lyra and Bon Bon going out first would definitely be a good start, but that'd leave Anya all by herself, and just by glancing at her, she could tell that Anya was extremely nervous. Sending her out alone at the finale would be bad since being alone might just make her crack under stage fright. She could counter that by making either Pinkie or Fluttershy go with Anya at the end, but that would take from the middle display.

"Lyra, Bon Bon, you two are up first. Walk side by side," she instructed the pair as she walked past them. They nodded and walked to the curtains excitedly, but not before Lyra took the opportunity to kiss Bon Bon on the cheek quickly.

Anya straightened as Rarity came near, and she maintained her slightly crooked smile.

"Dear, you might have to go alone at the end, after everypony. Do you think you could manage that?"

"Uh yeah, I should," Anya said, her ears drooped to reflect her confidence, which was not a lot.

"Alright, though I do have to tell you something else first," Rarity said, seeing that clearly.

"What is it?"

"When you go out there on stage, the ponies will be talking about you. It might be good, it might be bad, and you'll definitely hear some of it. You have to ignore it all and focus on yourself, especially since we haven't had the time to rehearse, but I'll tell you this, nopony, absolutely nopony, will focus much on your faults for long. You look positively stunning and they'll see that as well."

Anya calmed a little from the pep talk and Rarity was happy with that.

Spike's speech ended, and the curtains opened, letting Lyra and Bon Bon go out. Rarity turned and dashed to the side of the curtain to see how it was going. She peeked around the corner and saw that the crowd was recieving the two mares very well. Seeing that killed a lot of her stress.

Then, after they were done, the pair started walking back and Rarity remembered that her friends were up next. Almost immediately, the stress came back, and she tried her hardest to convince herself that they'd be fine when she know they wouldn't be fine.

The curtain closed behind the two mares as they re-entered the backstage.

"Darlings, you're up!" she said to her friends, making them all line up in front of the stage. Fluttershy was the only one among them who looked slightly nervous. "Good luck!"

The curtains opened and the five went on stage and the crowd outside was stunned silent. Rarity quietly watched, hoping it was because of how pretty they were.

The crowd started whispering and exchanging awkward looks.

It was like she had expected, nopony seemed to like the dresses. Rarity kicked herself mentally for letting her friends decide their dresses and not telling them how they looked. She could have at least has a test audience. She shouted at herself mentally for making such a poorly planned show.

The five stood at the end of the catwalk. At first, that thought that it was going good, but when the whispers and quiet jeering started, they quickly realised that they might have overdone their dresses a little bit.

Meanwhile, Anya's nervousness had only grown and she hadn't even gone on stage yet. She couldn't turn back now, and she didn't have any other options right now, besides questioning her life choices and vowing to herself to not do stupid things like this again.

The five onstage were quick to come back behind the curtains once someine in the crowd started laughing at them. However, Spike came into the backstage before they did and he looked panicked and excited.

"Rarity!" He almost shouted as he stopped in front of her.

"Oh, what is it, dear?"

Spike took a moment to catch his breath before answering rapidly, "You know Hoity Toity, right?"

Of course, she did. Who wouldn't? He was only one of the leading fashion designer in the country.

Rarity nodded, a void forming in her stomach at the implication.

"He's here! He's in the crowd!"

Rarity's ears fell to the side of her head, her tail twitched before going completely still, her heart started pounding, and she donned a thousand yard stare.

One of the most important and influential ponies in fashion was here, watching her show.

Time slowed down for her. Behind her, her friends were telling about how bad the show had gone for them, and Anya was walking up to the curtain for the finale, doing her best to maintain a calm look.

Hoity Toity had seen her friends in those dresses. That was her first impression on him, and maybe, the last as well.

It was a disaster.

She rued the moment she decided to do a fashion show; she rued the moment she decided to let her friends decide how their dresses were going to be; she rued all the moments she had told herself that the dresses were fine when she knew they weren't.

And for a moment, just a moment, she hated her friends. They had put her career on the line.

Then, she remembered that she could have stopped them at any moment. Really, it was her fault the show had gone bad. She should have known that he friends didn't have the expertise she had, and she should have stopped them from going out, looking like that. She had made an embarrassment of herself and her friends.

She could fix it.

It wasn't over till it was over.

She calmly walked up to Anya and instructed her calmly, "Dear, could you go a bit slow. I have something that needs to be done."

Anya nodded as she took a deep breath to calm herself. She had signed up for the show and she was going to get through it.

Rarity stepped back to her friends. They were going to say something but she cut them off, dropping her accent, "Alright, all of you, we have to be quick. You're going to wear the dress I had made for you all originally and going on stage. None of you are going to say no or complain. Understood?"

They nodded, if not because they agreed with her already, then because they didn't want to find out what happened to those that disagreed with Rarity.

Anya stood at the curtain, waiting nervously for it to open. Her ears kept trying to go down and her tail kept twitching and she had to consciously stop them from doing so, making her feel self-conscious to a degree she hadn't been ever before.

"Hey, Anya."

Anya turned to see that Lyra and Bon Bon had come up to her.

"You're gonna rock."

"Yup, what Lyra said."

Anya turned back to face the curtain as the two left. She didn't feel any better, especially since she could just FEEL that something was wrong, but she kept her calm face on. She could do this.

The curtains opened.

She paused for a moment, feeling the eyes of dozens of people on her. She couldn't see them, and the crowd blended into a mishmash of colours and the occasional camera flash. She steeled herself and started walking down the catwalk.

It took a lot of effort to keep her ears straight and her face in a smile while she focused on making her limp as invisible as possible and also making sure she stayed centred on the catwalk.

And of course, like Rarity had said, she could hear whispers. Some bad, some good.

"Her dress looks great."

"Is she limping?"

"I'm not sure."

"What was Rarity thinking with those other dresses? This one looks great."

"I wish I had that outift."

"Is that mud on her face?"

"That's her fur colour, dummy."

"Isn't she the pony who went to the hospital a month ago?"

"I think, look at the scar on her face. Hideous."

"Yeah, her face looks weird."

Anya's heart was racing. Breathing was becoming hard for her. She felt nauseous as well. She kept her entire focus on getting to the end of the catwalk while looking decent and going back the same way as quick– she had to be slow, Rarity had told her to be slow.

She adjust her pace, slowing down — even though she wanted to be over with the whole thing quick — until she reached the end of the catwalk. There, she simply stood like Rarity had told her to. It was a simple task but she was literally overthinking how she was standing, and how she looked, and how she smiled, and–

A camera flash pulled her out of her overthinking, and she glanced around her. All the faces in the crowd were blurry and she couldn't tell how they looked at her.

It was terrifying being in the spotlight, and her heart beat like it was going to explode.

But she kept herself looking outwardly calm to not make a fool of herself, if she hadn't done that already.

Some more camera flashes, and some cheers came from the crowd. She stayed smiling. No one was talking ill of her as far as she could tell, and it made her feel somewhat better. The anxiety of messing up didn't go away though.

She turned around and started walking back, slowly. It felt like eternity as it happened — she fully expcted to mess up in the final part. Every step, she felt like she'd trip and make a complete fool of herself, and by extension, Rarity. She had the power to, in her mind, ruin Rarity's show, and it was scary to have that power.

She didn't do any such thing. It went perfectly, or as good as it could.

The curtain closed behind her, and she was immediately met by Rarity.

"You did great, dear!"

Anya nodded, not really registering Rarity. She walked back to the corner where she had been standing earlier and sat down on the hard wood floor. She started taking quick breaths as her hooves shook a lot more now that she didn't have the pressure of having to looking good. Her ears folded down and she stared at the ground as a thought came to her. What if she didn't do good enough?

Similar thoughts started popping up, and she couldn't remind herself that the show was over and behind her and that she had a mostly positive reception. The voice of that one mare calling her hideous kept coming back.

She looked back up as she heard hoofsteps approaching. It was Bon Bon, holding something in her hoof.

"Here," she said to Anya as she offered the thing she was holding to her: Anya's glasses. Anya took them and put them on quickly.

"You alright?" Bon Bon asked, looking down at Anya. For a dark mage, she sure was pretty awkward and shy, and she felt a tiny bit bad for Anya seeing that she was literally shaking out of nervousness.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," Anya whispered an answer as she shook her head and steadied her breathing. "Just... nervous."

"Nervous? What for, dear? Everypony out there was impressed by you."

Rarity had come up to them, looking tired. Anya nodded in acknowledgement but not in agreement. She got up, stumbling a bit.

"So, it's done?" she asked Rarity.

"Well, no, not yet," Rarity said with a glance to the curtains. "I had my friends put on a second set of dresses and go out there again."

"Okay," Anya said, becoming aware of the cheers coming from outside. She didn't care much about all that, and she just wanted to go home. "Can we get out of here? I feel like I'm gonna throw up."

The mood in the room was not exactly jovial, but it was still happy, just with a bunch of tiredness mixed in.

Anya sat on a sofa all to herself, still in her dress, only that she had her glasses now. She had told Rarity that she only came into the show for the gems but Rarity had none of that nonsense and gave the dress to her. She doubted that she'd ever wear it, but it was nice to have it regardless. Rarity had held them back for some reason. Probably for a picture.

Opposite to her, Lyra and Bon Bon sat on their own sofa, still in their dresses as well. They were speculating about why Rarity had held them back. Anya didn't pay them any mind; she was too tired to. She wanted to go home and just curl up in her bed and be done with the day. She'd never do anything similar to what she did today, not unless her life depended on it — but if her life did come to a situation like that she'd probably just choose to die.

The door opened, and in came Rarity and her friends — all wearing the dresses Rarity had made for them originally.

Along with them was a mare, clearly upper-class. The mare was light cyan with white-grey mane and tail. She wore large pink goggles that hid her eyes, and a black and white patterned dress, and she carried a suitcase as well.

"Here they are," Rarity said to the two, gesturing to the three mares. The mare approached Bon Bon and Lyra first.

"Yes yes, very good," the mare mumbled as she inspected the two mares, completely ignorant of the concept of personal space as she did.

Before Bon Bon could tell her off, the mare moved on to Anya, inspecting her in a similar fashion. Anya was torn between enforcing her personal space and letting the mare do her thing.

"Rugged, simple," she mumbled as she tapped her chin with a hoof. "Scarred. Hmm, vat is your name?"

"Uh, Anya."

She didn't reply and left Anya and went to the empty side of the room, where she put down her suitcase and pressed a button on its side. The suitcase popped open, transforming into a camera in a second.

"Rarity, we can take ze pictures," she declared with a flourish.

"Alright," Rarity acknowledged. She turned to address the fashion show participants. "Girls, that is miss Photo Finish. She wants to take some pictures of you all for the Canterlot Fashion Magazine. You can go up there if you want to be in the picture."

Rarity's friends were quick to line up for their pictures. Bon Bon and Lyra also joined them since Lyra thought it would be great. Anya didn't join them. Anya joined as well due to imagined peer pressure.

The cameramare started taking pictures of all the mares one at a time, making sure to get as many angles as she could, despite it being rather intrusive at times. Bon Bon was a bit uncomfortable about it but beared it since Lyra was excited.

Anya, on the other hand, was more annoyed than anything since the mare was taking her time clicking the pictures. After she was done with the solo pictures, she took a group picture of them all.

Once the photoshoot was over, Anya was ready to leave for her home, and leave for her home she did. She had her dress put in a bag and she left, the only thing on her mind being the gems she had to collect in Thursday and how her bed would feel.

Author's Note

15t Au ~2000

Somehow the 11 dislikes take up more space in my mind than the 77 likes. (Figures as of 2024 July 6 23:59)

Somehow, I wrote this chapter faster than the previous one.

Crazy world, right?

* "He reeked of guts and blackpowder" - unknown French sapper describing his officer at Berezina

1. Are the dress descriptions good?
2. What are some cool and obscure folk horror creatures that live in Eastern US American forests? (For uh uhmm... reasons, yes, reasons, totally benign ones, for example, not this story and not to torment Anya)
3. Do you think it's smooth sailing for Anya from now on?
4. Unrelated to story: I'm cooking on another story, does anyone want to pre-read it?