Unfamiliar Languages

Sunset was unsure how Pinkie decided that she was the right person to drag to Rarity’s place, while she quickly deduced Rainbow and Applejack weren’t better options she figured Fluttershy would be better at least. But now Sunset was stuck dealing with clothes that were far outside her personal sense of style, subjected to various pieces she would never have thought to wear herself.

Her politeness battery was starting to run dry as their fake compliments made her persistently uncomfortable. She was used to brushing them aside, but they were kind of a lot at such a frequent rate. If she were counting the number would have probably been a couple dozen by this point, and she was getting quite sick of it.

She started to undress again from probably the twelfth outfit, she lost track after five. Unimpeded by the curtain, she spoke, “Could we try something more in my style?”

Rarity responded pretty quickly, “I was wondering when you would feel done with what I wanted.”

Sunset blinked a few times at that, peeking out of the sheet, failing to hide a glare under a curious eyebrow, “Was this a test of some sort?”

Sapphire eyes looked at her in a lightly bashful expression, “No, I simply got a little carried away, darling. Sorry about that.”

Retreating back behind the curtain, she sighed, “It’s fine, I should have said something sooner.” Sunset felt a bit like a fool, Rarity would have known her style quite clearly.

Rarity then asked, “So, not a fan of lighter or cooler colors?”

Sunset easily responded, “Basically, I’m too many warm colors to really be comfortable with that almost ever - my only real shot with cooler colors is hue-matching my eyes. Warm colors that trend toward mediums, darks or brights, plus some blacks work out far better. Or I should say it's easier to get together, at least.” Sunset mentally skimmed over the outfits they went through before questioning, “Were you even trying to color match my palette?”

The fashionista chuckled, “I was experimenting since you have a more limiting bright palette, so somewhat, I believe you’re right about the hues at least. You were just very compliant so I figured it was a good time to check myself.”

Another set of clothes hung over the pole as the prior set disappeared. The moment she saw some black she was a little more sold than all the prior ones. Getting a little of her energy back, she soon realized there wasn’t all that much black that would be showing, but at least her typical magenta and orange were draped all over it. Taking yet another deep breath to prepare herself for whatever nonsense they said, she made her way out from behind the curtain and back toward Rarity’s mirror walls.

Collar button-up shirt in black under a magenta long sleeve v-neck sweater, orange skirt with a black underlayer, magenta mary jane platform shoes. She definitely approved of the color far more, but as she looked she couldn’t help but think, “this is quite a bit more preppy than my type of clothes.”

Rarity then questioned, “Have you no appreciation for the cuteness of preppy outfits?”

Sunset smirked, “Being intellectual should be a skill, not some hoity-toity aesthetic.” She adjusted the sleeves and collar a bit to try and make it more smooth, it really changed nothing, “For me at least, there’s no power in this attire’s impression, money maybe, but I’ve never cared to look money.”

Rarity then corrected, “Maybe in Equestria it’d be pretentious, but here it’s pretty typical attire. I even tried to darken it for you a little, the button-up was going to be white.”

Pinkie came back from upstairs, now holding her own cup refilled with cocoa. She looked over Sunset, smile widening, “Ooo, I like this one too. Sunset, this one’s really cute on you - especially with how your hair swoops.”

Rarity moved a hand to gesture to her pink friend’s words. Sunset however rolled her eyes, half not even understanding the party girl outside of it being some sort of compliment. “Still wouldn’t wear it outside of this context, makes me feel like I have to sit in on a meeting about whatever unintelligible issue the high class came up with to try and skim more government money - really not my crowd,” she stopped herself from whispering gratitude to a particular monarch that never made her wear this sort of thing outside of dresses for designated events.

A moment too late to prevent her expression from dropping a little at the thought, Rarity gently dismissed her back into the dressing room, “Alright, I’ll go get something that’s more just another version of your typical attire. Go ahead and get out of that.”

Sunset felt out of place for a moment, trying to ignore it as she undressed for the whatever-teenth time. The next outfit came pretty quickly, once again similar but this time more visibly black, and one aspect much to her enjoyment. It didn’t take her long to exit the dressing room again, less worried about compliments, she actually wanted to look in the mirror this time.

Fitted magenta shirt, studded black leather jacket with a more angular lapel than her old tattered one, orange skirt with a magenta and yellow streak across the side that curved toward the front, and black knee-high boots with magenta over the shoe portion that flowed up with a border akin to a fleur-de-lis icon’s head.

She stroked her own fingers through the waves of her hair to remove the slight frizz given by changing. She awed at how close it was to her typical attire, yet with pieces just different enough to draw her in. Sunset smirked to try and cover a smile, half-failing to do so as she was slightly checking herself out, “Rarity, you are not going to be able to top this, I assure you.”

Sunset looked at her, expecting the fashionista to look challenged by that, but instead found something more smug that shifted into a sort of grateful awe. Realizing she accidentally complimented her skills, she flushed a little before looking away, only to be caught by mirrors that definitely made the action pointless.

She unwillingly watched Rarity’s expression become happier behind her, “No need to fluster so fast, darling. I was saving the best for last after all.”

Sunset took a second to settle, enjoying the outfit for the moment while it lasted. After a moment of settling, she relinquished her excitement, knowing she couldn’t dare to afford the outfit on her current budget.

After a while of socializing, mostly listening to Pinkie and Rarity while her mind wandered. She eventually decided she had to leave, being around others was still a bit much and she’d already basically been drained by all the outfits after the excitement-high died from that last one.

She was about to leave the room, only for Rarity to quickly walk toward her, Pinkie following. Sunset paused as Rarity was holding a couple boxes toward her. She was confused, “What’s this?”

Rarity gave a short nod to the boxes before answering, “Some gifts, you get to keep these.”

Sunset quickly found herself glaring at the boxes, stepping away from the fashionista, hands up in surrender to act as a wall, “Nuh-uh, those are yours. I’m not paying for those.”

An eyebrow raised in response, “You know gifts are free, right?”

The fiery-haired girl sighed, trying to ignore the minor shaking in her hands, tone roughening as she tried to maintain her breath, “Look, I don’t know what you want from me, I’m not taking them.”

Pinkie then asked, looking at Rarity in confusion, “Did we want something from her?”

Rarity clarified, “No, this was mostly off the cuff, like normal.”

Pinkie spoke again, now looking toward Sunset in concern, “Does getting gifts feel like frostbite, too?”

Sunset flushed, remembering the vulnerability of that analogy. Anger still present, her words came before her mind could catch up, “What?! No, of course not, it-.” As she spoke, Pinkie’s question felt fairly reasonable.

Rarity then gently offered, “Why don’t you sit down a moment, darling, so we can figure this out.” Sunset complied, unsure what else to do, while the fashionista turned toward Pinkie, “Frostbite?”

Pinkie then clarified, “About her-,” Sunset glared at her to avoid the fear of it being spilled in detail, so the girl corrected her course, “a private situation, she said that certain nice things feel like being warmed too quickly while having frostbite. Kinda seemed like that while we complimented her too.”

Sunset was relieved by Pinkie’s vagueness but somewhat bothered since she didn’t feel like she’d reached such a point of progress with Rarity, that now she was obligated to be a bit more honest than she wanted to be. She looked less than amused toward both of them.

Rarity spoke gently, “Thanks for letting me know, Pinkie,” she glanced at Sunset, “Maybe ask Sunset next time if she can share that sort of thing.”

Pinkie quickly spoke, head tilted up with her eyes closed, deeply avoiding Sunset’s gaze, “Sorry, I know you probably would have told me not to but we stopped the frostbite once and I’m hoping you can again.”

Rarity put a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder before gently asking, “Go ahead and sit as well, we’ll talk through it.” Pinkie went ahead and sat at a bit of a distance, the other side of the bench. Rarity then continued, “Alright, let's move this into a hypothetical. Sunset, if I offer you a gift, something I know you would value, what’s your first thought?”

Sunset scoffed, failing to hide her irritation as she really hadn’t wanted to confront this, “I already told you, I want to know what you want from me.”

That only made the fashionista return to her confusion, “What makes you think I want something from you? Gifts aren’t supposed to be from self-benefit, Sunset.”

The fiery-haired girl knew what she was hearing, but it still felt incorrect, “That’s usually how this sort of thing goes. You’re sure you don’t want anything? Tutoring, me to do your schoolwork, to abuse my manipulation skills, maybe to embarrass me later with something I don’t know about them?” She looked up at the ceiling in thought as an avenue had changed, “It can’t be about reputation anymore, at least.”

Pinkie quickly answered, “We just want to take care of you because we want you to be happy, not that we expect you to be, but if it even possibly gets you just an eensy weensy bit closer then that’s enough.”

Rarity nodded, giving a two-part hum in agreement, “The value isn’t in what I could get from you, the most value an item can ever have in a moment is to be gifted freely without expectation or debt or catch. That’s all we want - in this case all I want is you to be happy to look in the mirror, just as you were earlier. That outfit was always meant for you, darling, I put it together with you in mind.”

Sunset took a moment to rest her elbows on her knees before pressing her face against one hand as she pinched just below her eyebrows. Thinking that maybe with how genuine the statements and sentiments seemed to be, this was just one of those things that differed between her experience and the friendship she was supposed to be learning about.

Pinkie’s side comment stuck with her. Sunset then spoke, “Okay, I’ll accept them, I expect you to keep your word. But what about the compliments, or just positive statements about me in general?”

Rarity questioned, “What about them, are you not used to them? We could tone them down for you if they make you uncomfortable.”

Sunset’s shoulders tensed as she lifted her head again, “I mean do you actually mean them?”

Pinkie quickly answered, “Of course we do, you’ve been a lot cuter recently since you’ve been less grumpy.”

Rarity giggled, an ineffective hand-wall short of basically side-barring with Pinkie, “Very true, although I think the gap between grumpy or withdrawn and excited or embarrassed really brings that cuteness out.” Pinkie frantically agreed, Sunset looked away again shortly just to make sure she wasn’t giving that same flushed response at this moment.

The fashionista refocused, “But aside from that, yes. We do mean it, Sunset. Have you ever been complimented before?”

Sunset composed herself as she tried to recall things from her past, going through a long list of figures in her mind. She found answers, a younger relative, and her old mentor, “Only a couple ponies, I think. But- well, usually when I earned it. There’s been more, but the lot of it wasn’t genuine.”

Pinkie chimed in just before sipping her cocoa, “Don’t forget Flash, he meant it too.”

Sunset blinked a few times before cringing, suddenly flowing half-sarcasm, “Thanks, Pinkie. Totally didn’t catch that.”

Rarity questioned, “Didn’t catch it?”

Dreading the explanation, she moved her hand to follow her own words with gestures, “Kinda, I knew he meant some of it. I assumed most of it was just a dating courtesy he’d give anyone.”

Rarity then quickly answered, “Well if you didn’t realize he meant all of it, there’s many chances there was more you read wrong from others. Whatever environment reinforced that mindset doesn’t have to be held anymore, false compliments aren’t commonplace at Canterlot High outside of a few choice social circles. Ours isn’t artificial.”

Sunset got quiet as she processed that information, knowing that at this rate Rarity was likely right, especially since many now had the moral fodder to lean toward others doing the opposite of complimenting her. She wasn’t even sure how to respond, there were so many moments long past that she either had to ignore or sort through with this new lens. She couldn’t help wondering when and where the mindset might have surpassed its stay.

Rarity caught her attention by kneeling in front of her, “Feel free to stay here for a bit if you’re tired, I know you’d like to go.” She got the boxes again and set them next to Sunset, “But these are yours, because I decided they were meant to be. You’ll likely think about this a fair bit. Just remember we want a different type of relationship with you than we had before the formal, and unlike whatever happened in your time prior to our first meeting.” She patted the boxes lightly, “Take your time, let me know if you need anything. And let me know if that frostbite eases, so that I know I can compliment you more frequently - I’m not sorry to say that you aren’t going to stop me from giving you things.”

Sunset watched Rarity walk away, Pinkie following her with a small wave that was hesitantly reciprocated. She felt warm all over again, from this new idea she was struggling to keep from slipping through her fingers in the face of all the past experiences. She slowly moved the boxes onto her lap to try and keep it there, before slowly looking into each box at the familiar articles draped in her favorite clothing palette.