Bejeweled

Canterlot, the train station. A place that was usually extremely busy in the middle of the day, and almost empty at night. Luckily for Rarity and her sister, she got to arrive somewhere in between the two. The sun was on its way down, but far from the typical romantic sunset seen in brochures and movies. A sudden gust of cold wind hit her off-white coat, sending a visible chill down the spine of the unicorn. She never could get used to the climate after hopping off the warm train, no matter how many times it happened.

"Tell me again, why are we have?" her little sister asked, dumbfounded. The price of not listening on the train, just staring out her skull instead. Rarity even gave back that irritated look that matched the obvious question.

"Did you even listen to me on the way here?" she asked. It was a rhetoric question of course, no need for an answer. "I told you I've entered a co-operative design contest a week ago."

Sweetie knew it now that she have been reminded, but in all honesty, after minutes upon minutes of hearing Rarity rambling about the possibility of maybe getting a real 'Prince Charming' to work with, she stopped caring. That reminded her why she tagged along the first place.

"Oh yeah, the lottery!" Sweetie shouted in excitement "We'll find out who're you going to get as a pair."

Rarity hummed and nodded as a response, taking her beautiful, white luggage off the train, and grabbing its handle with a touch of her turquoise magic. They were better get going, the lottery was to begin soon and it was held in a quite fancy theatre, followed by a bit of hanging out in a nearby restaurant for a couple bites. The whole thing was to take for some time, at least that's what Rarity was told, however they planned to spend the night over here in Canterlot anyway. She just hoped it's going to be okay if she brought her sister along to the event, after all, she couldn't leave her alone.

"Stay right by me, Sweetie Belle! Don't get lost out here." she ordered with strict words as she lead the way through the crowd. She often checked back to see her by her hind legs, but that didn't make her stop worrying. Sweetie was a good filly, of course, she'd never go wander around without a reason... hopefully. Still, the unicorn decided to keep talking with her as a sort of reminder.

"Who do you think I'll get as a teammate?" she asked, as the two left the train station and made their way deeper into the city.

"Ugh, I don't know." sounded the reply.

"Well, you do have to have some idea. Tell me what do you think he or she'd look like." Rarity responded, not giving up just yet. She had a nasty trait of being a bit of forgetful when it came to details, her thoughts often focusing too much on a single topic, leaving out the rest. A thing she probably picked up during of her job as a seamstress.

Sweetie Belle hummed, tapping her lips as she tried coming up with something she thought she'd like. After a couple seconds, and turn into a rather small alley, a something began to form out of the nothing.

"Maybe he's going to be a cool guy," she explained "with badass shades, and a cool mohawk."

Rarity raised an eyebrow at that. "Really? I do hope that won't be the case." Where did that idea came from, she didn't know, but she didn't like it. In fact, some horrid punk was the last thing she'd want on her back to deal with. Was it this dark backstreet that gave her sister such terrible ideas, or did she pick this up from one of her classmates? Whatever it wa she hoped she grows out of it as soon as possible, it was not fitting for her sweet little sister.

One alley lead into another, this one being what looked like an endless climb of stairs. Good thing there was a solid, flat track by its side she could drag her luggage up on. Rarity sighed as she took the first step of the bunch, if there was something she didn't like about Canterlot was the height differences that can make it a real pain to get around. Not to mention this shortcut she planned seemed rather eerie with absolutely no light coming in between the small gap of the houses. It was just like in those movies where a strange hoof emerges from the shadows, silencing and dragging in its victim. She's never going to take these routes again, that's for sure.

After what felt like forever, the backstreet reunited with one of the main ones again. If Rarity's plans were correct they were exactly by the corner of the very theatre they were going to go to.

"Rarity..." a moan broke her determination from behind. Sweetie Belle didn't seem like her legs could handle another step forwards, she huffed in exhaustion, her face all red and her hooves trembling. Rarity didn't know how much time they had, but she let her sister catch her breath before continuing. She didn't spoil her though, she knew that the filly could spend hours trying to do it.

"Just a little more Sweetie, come on." Rarity replied after what seemed like forever to her, turning around and going on. That forced the filly to get going, despite the clear disdain on her face. They were there, the yellow wall was a clear sign that it was the place they were looking for. Rarity shifted up a gear in the finish line, but refrained from running, she didn't want to leave Sweetie Belle behind. The gigantic and well-decorated door, and mostly, the two masks on them signing that it's a theatre just amplified Rarity's relief. She pressed the old doorbell button by the side, and a second later, the door opened with a small click.

"Oh, Miss Rarity." a pink unicorn with a smooth, lavender mane greeted her "Greetings."

"Good afternoon..." Rarity replied, trying to put the name afterwards, but having difficulties finding it. She knew this mare, she's been with her Celestia knows how long ago, and could recall her face clearly. The name. What was her name?!

"Royal Ribbon." she finished it, a small chuckle "It has been a long time indeed."

The two shook hooves, and the memories slowly started flooding back into the unicorn. Oh yes, Royal Ribbon, the mare she met about a year ago, they were introduced to one another by Fancy Pants on a... Wonderbolt derby, perhaps?

"Yes, maybe a bit too long, indeed." Rarity replied. Keeping up connections, especially ones within the Canterlot elite was ever so important to her, she was not to waste this opportunity. Ribbon however, had other plans in her mind apparently.

"Come, let's get you two inside. The others are already here." she explained, showing the two the way. From the small hall that had a floor similar to a chessboard, they were led through a simple wooden door on the right marked as 'Staff Only'. Behind the door lied a rather less pretty sight, a gray and dull stairway, and yet another door on the left, which Royal Ribbon took her way towards. Rarity could already hear plenty of ponies conversing about something through it.

On the other side was a smaller meeting hall, one most often seen in movies. The only difference was the more traditional atmosphere provided by the wooden furniture and old carpet, and that the table was a lot smaller than in those movies. Nobody really used that though, it was put aside completely to allow some space for the little lottery machine up front: a glass orb full of folded papers, standing on steel supports.

The room was almost full with the contestants, plus one pony that Rarity instantly recognized from her... unique face structure. Prim Hemline. That Prim Hemline, Manehatten's most well-known, and possibly most merciless fashion critic.

"Good afternoon everyone." Rarity greeted them, her tail drawing her quiet little sister even closer to her hind legs.

"Rarity, I presume." the old gray mare replied "Good, then everyone arrived early, I like that."

"Then, if there are no objections we could begin our little drawing earlier." Royal Ribbon suggested, getting a good number of hums and nods from the ones around her. She stepped up by the lottery machine, next to Miss Hemline, while the others did their best to form a half-circle around them. Royal Ribbon took a second to clear her throat, which caused everyone to quiet down.

"Greetings everyone, and welcome to the Second Co-operative Fashion Contest hosted by yours truly once more. While the rules and regulations have been in the letter I've sent previously, let's make a quick review of them. As the name suggests, this is a contest with groups of two we're to assign randomly just now. Each group is going to have two weeks to create one piece of work to showcase in the upcoming show. Teammates cannot be swapped, switched around or replaced. Any questions?"

Silence.

"Good, then if everything is clear, may I ask Miss Hemline to spin the wheel."

The critic just nodded, taking the handle on the side of the machine and rotating it slowly. After a couple seconds and two or three spins, she aligned the tiny hatch on the side so it could face towards her partner and stopped there. Royal Ribbon took the first paper falling into her hooves and took it out.

"Collar Reef." she read it out loud, putting the paper down on the tiny table by her side, then closing the hatch again. In the meanwhile, Rarity took the moment to look around. Nobody seemed to be all that anxious about this, they kept a perfectly still face. Understandable, it wasn't until it was your name when things started to get interesting. Besides, from the looks of it, nopony knew nopony in here... except that one on the very left side. She was white, much like Rarity, having a long blonde mane. She was standing on the very edge of the row, and her face was covered by her mane. A description that fit someone notorious enough that-

"Pop Couture."

Yes. It was 'her'. Rarity sighed in the inside, but remained completely still outside. Unlike said mare who let out a subtle, phlegmatic huff as she saw the piece of paper with her name being put next to the previous one. The next round began.

"Patchway."

"Oh good heavens." a tan stallion with a slender build and a brown mane and a pink scarf replied, fluttering his hooves as he started breaking down in anxiety. The lottery machine kept spinning on, however. He kept shifting his gaze between that and the others, looking for the possibilities.

"De'Sine." Royal Ribbon announced.

"Me." the slightly chubby spoke up just next to him, with an oddly similar color combination, sans the pink scarf, and a slightly darker shade of a mane.

"Really? What a coincidence." he spoke up, both ending up in a smaller laughing fit. The two sure got warmed up to one another previously, at least that's what Rarity wrote down from their behavior. Rarity felt something pressing against her hind leg on the left. Upon looking, it turned out that was but an excessively bored Sweetie Belle who couldn't stand the standing any longer. How typical, what was a wonderful opportunity for her career, meant absolutely nothing to her.

"Sweetie Belle!" she whispered in anger.

"Rarity."

She froze solid for a second. A sudden wave of vapors washed over her, a slight hint of her nervousness along with her quicker heartbeat. Who she's going to get? The two stallions were already taken, so it will be a mare. At least not Pop Couture, luckily.

"Agate."

Agate? Agate, Agate, no, the name told her nothing. She didn't know anyone such from before. From the right end of the row, a hoof was waving at her, pale yellow. Was that Agate? She had a slightly messy, purple mane, two-toned and short, split apart by her unicorn horn. She had a gentle smile on her face, but her amethyst eyes were giving off different emotions. Disinterest, and a bit of anger as well. Now that she thought about it, she was the one standing by the side of the room as well, all alone. Strange.

After a couple spins, with only four contestants left to sort out, Royal Ribbon took another paper. Two papers, in fact, one of them somehow ending up in the fold of the other and refusing to let go.

"Well, look at that." she exclaimed with a slightly awkward face as the stealthy little paper popped out during the unfold, falling on the floor "Sew-n-So and... La-la Loopie." she exclaimed, picking up the other one and opening that as well.

A loud neigh was heard as the white, pink-maned mare reared up in joy, squealing like a fangirl and clapping. It didn't take her two seconds to come to her senses and slip out a small apology. Rarity was interested in that other mare though, she had an orange coat, with a long mane similar to Agate's in terms of color. Two pretty, blue ribbons tied her mane into locks on either side, with a much larger one just by her tail. So that was Sew-n-So? Rarity have heard of her before but never seen her.

"I suppose we all know the two that was left."

The lottery was over, everyone was given a small reminder of the meeting in the next hour, but Rarity had something to get done beforehand. She couldn't just bring Sweetie Belle into a hi-class party like that, as much as she was afraid of it, she had to leave her somewhere. A hotel was her best bet, now only if she'd have known which one. Luckily, she overheard something the way outside that was to come in real handy soon.

Now if they could just catch up to that Agate girl the way out. The unicorn sure was in a rush, leaving the pack behind on the way outside. The fact that they also had luggage to pick up made it even worse, as she had no such things with herself. Yes, she was most definitely living here in Canterlot.

"Sweetie, go after her while I take up the luggage." she whispered to her sister, who took a glance at the mustard colored mare shutting the door behind her. Then, with a nod, she rushed after her.

"Mine is the white one, with the diamonds." Rarity turned to the waitress who've been keeping an eye out on the things the visitors bought. She nodded, and took that one, dragging in out from behind her with her mouth. Good thing they've arrived last, otherwise she'd have needed to get her things dug out from the back of the mess. Without any hesitation or thanks, she picked it up with her magic and rushed after her sister.

Sweetie didn't get too far, and she was clever enough not to get out of Rarity's sight but stay in the corner Agate turned at. Good girl.

"She went this way." she pointed at the street on the corner, opposing the direction they came from. Rarity took no chances, she hurried to catch up to the mare as fast as she could.

"Miss Agate?" she called out once she got to her, receiving a curious hum as a response. "I'm Rarity, we were chosen to be a team just before, nice to meet you. Oh, and this is my sister, Sweetie Belle." she introduced themselves, her words still running fast away from her mouth from the previous adrenaline rush.

"Yeah, same, I'm Agate." the other one replied, still not really interested in the situation apparently. Moreover, Rarity could spot a bit of melancholy in that voice, how odd. The two quickly shook hooves, which was more or less just Agate gripping into Rarity's limb for a second and then letting go, continuing on her way.

"By chance I've noticed you're not carrying anything with you, I suspect you live here in the city?" she asked, trying to be as polite as possible.

"Yeah." Agate replied, her voice taking a much more angered approach than previously. That was, up until she suddenly stopped dead on her tracks and gazed back at the unicorn. It was freaking Rarity out for a moment, for that look in her eyes was as if she'd have realized an old enemy was with her. And for a second, it very much felt like so.

"Wait! I know you!" Agate told her, almost shouting "You're Rarity from Ponyville, aren't you?"

"I am, indeed." said unicorn responded, a little bit of pride hidden behind her uncomfortable smile.

"I've heard about you from Fleur, word has been spreading about you lately." Agate explained, getting a satisfied hum from the seamstress as a reward. Strange how she turned so much friendly in a moment's notice, but what struck her even more was that she knew Fleur. Unless she was not talking about the star model Fleur-Dis-Lee, but some other Fleur.

"Say, living here, I'm sure you know a little bit around town, and as much as I'd hate to, I have to leave my sister in good hands." the ivory one confessed, doing her best to keep the pace with Agate as they took a left turn into a tiny sidestreet "Do you know any good hotels around here?"

"Your best bet is leaving her at my forge if you're going somewhere. Don't worry, I'll take care of her." she offered "Good or bad hotel, all are expensive."

"Oh, that's very kind of you but I can't accept it." Rarity replied. This mare sure was special, being so repulsive about everything and yet offering to take in a complete stranger for a couple hours. That, and...

"Did you just say 'forge', by the way?"

Her answer? A coy smile from the unicorn. Rarity didn't understand, some unknown mare with a forge and in a dress competition just didn't add up in any way, shape or form in her head. Maybe the forge was not hers, or someone else was using it, she didn't know. This was all just too confusing to her. Didn't took a lot for the backstreet to reach a pretty street angle downwards, and after a while, Rarity could see it flow right into the main street she knew all too well by now.

"What about you? You want to stay with me while your sis takes care of business?" she turned to Sweetie Belle, who have been a tad too quiet all the while. Rarity made sure it stays that way this time.

"No, thank you." she interrupted, slight anger coming through her voice this time.

"Alright, alright I get it. Hotel. Truth be told, I have no clue, I've never been to too many." Agate replied, holding her hooves in front of her to tell her partner to calm down.

"That is no problem for us, which one were you staying at?" the seamstress inquired.

"This one up ahead."

It was a four horseshoe hotel about a hundred meters ahead, on the other side of the street. Tall building, very similar to the other ones of the city, except for the gigantic logo of a clover put up on the front. Good enough, if she's going to pay for a night she might as well sleep in and go home tomorrow, it wasn't everyday she was going to the big city after all, especially with her sister. Something struck her as very odd though. She's noticed it before, but only now, with a whole lot more ponies around did she notice it. The angered, hostile gazes of ponies around all directed at them. A stallion and a mare, both covered in accessories went past by them, both taking a second to throw a spiteful look and a frown at them, before turning their heads away and moving on. Other, smaller groups started to lean closer and whisper as they all directed their look at them. It was uncomfortable at least, if not outright awkward. It only started since they've been around Agate, though, could she have been the cause of this? Rarity didn't know, but after a couple seconds, she was glad her partner picked a place so close by.

"It will only take a couple minutes, I promise, or we could meet at the party if you wish." Rarity said, delighted now that things were back on track for the time being, even with some bumps and some fog up ahead, so to say.

"Nah, I'm not going." Agate replied, just oozing disgust from her mouth again "I've got better guys to hang out with than a bunch of snobs."

"Pardon?" Rarity replied, her mind blanking out for a second as she tried to put the words together.

"The Royal Guard is having a night out just down the tavern by my workshop, we always go out together." Agate replied "Hope you understand."

"Umm, yes, sure." Rarity responded awkwardly.

"Cool, you change your mind, I'm living just by the next corner on the right, small sidestreet." Agate responded after a delightful gasp "Thank you."

Such a sincere thanks and such a happy expression, like a filly who was allowed to go home earlier at school. Rarity almost felt delighted that she could bring such joy to her partner, if not the complete and utter confusion she was going through right now. This mare was apparently working with steel and not fabric, and on top of that, despised the Canterlot Elite - and from the looks of it, vice versa - yet still was friends with Fleur, plus the Royal Guards? How did she even possibly enter into this contest to begin with? No, this was just too off, something was most definitely going on, and Rarity set out to find this out, if needed the hard way.

She decided not to resort to that for the first time though, she had time aplenty and she was to pay her newfound partner a little visit before setting out to the meeting. First thing first though, she needed to take her sister to somewhere.