Bejeweled

Agate was lying in Rarity's bed for hours. The ivory one didn't mind that as much as one would think though. Agate enveloped herself in the sheets entirely, shivering yet sweating like a maniac, hoping the medicine Rarity gave her will take its effect. Rarity kept gazing through the windows, watching the skies getting darker and darker as the blizzard started to let go bit by bit. Inside however, she tried to put herself together.

She knew well that if she would have been the one who look out for help this morning the same thing might have happened to her, rendering her unable to finish the work. Whether Agate knew this all along was a mystery, but that didn't change anything about the gratitude Rarity felt.

Yet, on the other end, it seemed as if they were cursed. It all seemed lost for the contest was held within two days and they had to go to Canterlot tomorrow. All she could do right now is aid her sick friend, and hope, and pray she is going to get better by tomorrow.

"Rarity." a weak voice called her, a broken moan from the ebony mistress.

"Yes, Aggy?" her worried partner replied, ready to lend help in almost any way she could.

"I've got a plan." Agate told her "If I don't get better by tomorrow, take Roseluck and my ink gems with you."

"Don't say that, dear. You will get better." Rarity replied, and even though Agate's plan did sound quite clever, she did not, at all, want to go by it. This was too much for her to handle, the stress ate her nerves like rust, and she couldn't do anything, but wait.

The door opened quietly. "Is Agate any better?" the voice of Sweetie Belle asked.

"Not yet." Rarity shook her head, turning back to the unicorn in question "Look, I'll let you rest, here, I'll even draw the curtains together for you." she said, doing exactly that, then heading to the exit as the sick pony thanked her, rolling around to her other side.

Agate didn't really know how to feel. She needed to rest but she couldn't, her mind just didn't let her, she wanted to get healthy and get up, but sadly that wasn't possible, all she could do was to rest. All she could do was... nothing.

Rarity couldn't decide on what to do either, she didn't want the wine right now, so instead, she walked down to the kitchen and took a book from one of the shelves. She strolled over to one of the seats in the kitchen and began reading it. "Black Heads" was written on its cover, a dark, psycholigical book uncovering the darker corners of one's mind, a topic that fascinated the seamstress for some odd reason. Yet her mind didn't let go of reality, and she just couldn't immerse herself in it. Few paragraphs later she put it down on the table with a heavy sigh, and leaned down on the furniture itself. She was too anxious to do anything.

Time seemed to stop there, she stood up to see Sweetie Belle in her room. She opened the door, but her sister wasn't doing anything either, just gazing out the window.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle." Rarity said, approaching her sister. She had not a clue what she wanted to do or say, though, she just wanted to talk.

"Ahh... so bored..." the filly sighed, turning away from the glass and falling down on the floor.

"Would you like to do something together?" Rarity suggested with a smile, even though she was clueless.

"Like what?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Like..." Rarity replied, but she had no idea. Whatever happened to her creativity was unknown, and she had no choice but resent with the thought with a deep sigh "I don't know, dear. This weather is just so distressing."

She decided to take a look around, maybe she could find some toys to play with, though, there weren't too many things in there, simply because she used to go outside with her friends almost all the time.

"Would Sir Saddlot need to rescue the princess again?" Rarity asked as she noticed two little dolls on the shelf, one of them being a knight in a silver colored armor and a beautiful golden saddle, the other one being one of Princess Celestia herself. Though their sizes were quite off for Celestia was as small as the Saddlot, this wasn't too much of a bother.

"I think she can save herself this time." Sweetie moaned back, suffering on the floor. She had a valid point, after all, who needed a knight for an entity that had the power of ten unicorns? Clearly, Sweetie was too under the weather to do anything, so Rarity let her crawl into her bed and do what Agate was doing.

"Okay, I think I'll have a bath then." Rarity replied with a sigh, as she turned around and left, targeting the bathroom. Soon as she put her right limb on the door the sound of a knob twisting hit her ears that perked all up with a twitch. It came from her left, downstairs, not from in front. Strange, she absolutely recalled locking the door after her. She walked that way slowly, almost snuck until she had a clear vision of the showroom.

Two figures entered, wearing gigantic yellow raincoats with hoods large enough to cover most their faces even. They closed the door behind themselves.

"Excuse me." Rarity said, trotting down the stairs "I don't know how did you enter but-" but she couldn't finish her sentence as the two hoods were folded back, and what they hid made it irrelevant.

Behind the covers were a a purple pony with blue mane and a huge grin as well as a white stallion with a mustache.

"Mother? Father?" Rarity asked in absolute shock. She did not except her very parents returning, especially without a letter, or any kind of message indicating the time. All she got from them was a "soon", yet, for some reason she did not except the "soon" to be actually right that moment out of all.

"Rarity sweetie, we missed you so much." the unicorn charged at her and embracing her daughter thigh... very thigh.

"Yes, I missed you too Mother." the seamstress replied, still confused about what was going on. It all happened so fast, her mind just could not keep up. All she noticed was that her mother suddenly let go of her and was dropping her cover, hanging them up without even looking.

"Oh, where is my little Sweetie Belle?" she added, gazing towards the stairs and then climbing them.

Her father approached her now "Sorry if we startled you getting home in all of a sudden."

"It's fine." Rarity replied "Though what's with these coats?" she asked. They were bright yellow with black lines here and there, long enough to almost be dragged on the ground. They were just outright hideous.

"Oh, these're raincoats, best not to go without one into a rainforest." the unicorn stallion pointed out the obvious, which didn't even surprise the seamstress too much anymore.

"Sweetie Belle!! There you are, I've been so worried about you."

"Oh. Uh. Hi Mom, I missed you too- Hnnngg!"

Hearing the conversation going on upstairs both of them decided its the best if they join them in the big, yet sort of unexpected family reunion... short after Rarity pointed out to take off that dirty coat.

Sweetie and their mom was in the corridors, and the latter still couldn't let go of that smile. Rarity's father was to made an announcement.

"Well, now that we are all together, I say we should-"

He was interrupted by the door just in front of her opening, the door of Rarity's room with the help of a yellow hoof.

"Hey Rares, is something wrong going on?" a weak voice came as another, fifth unicorn revealed herself, one completely unknown to the parents. Rarity knew its best to take care of this before any of them could think of anything, thus she took the opportunity to take control over the situation while she could.

"Mother, father, I think we should talk a bit..." she spoke up softly.

"...that's the story." Rarity sighed up, leaning back on the seat and away from the kitchen table.

"Aw, poor thing." her mother turned towards the sick Agate who was sitting further away on Rarity's sofa, covered up in Rarity's blankets, sipping some hot green tea from a fitting green cup "Let me just make you a nice hot soup for a dinner." she added, standing up and starting to look at the shelves, looking for a recipe in a book she could use.

"Thank you Miss Crumbles." Agate replied. Seemed like Rarity inherited her generous heart from her mother. Though the medicine the ivory mistress gave her already made her feel better than before she couldn't take risks now, so she accepted the offer.

"Should take a cold bath in the meantime." the stallion - whose name turned out to be Hondo Flanks in the meanwhile - added. Rarity seemed to approve of the idea too as her gentle nods signaled towards the sick one.

"Yeah, good idea." Agate replied, putting down the cup and heading back upstairs to do just that, dragging the blankets along the floor. Rarity could tolerate it, of course, but her mind was crying in terror inside. Her bed, her sofa, her blankets, they all had to go to the laundry after such torture.

"Rarity, my dear!" her mother shouted, as she prepared the ingredients for her dinner. "Could you go tell Sweetie Belle to pack up while I'm busy?" she asked.

"Pack up? You mean you're taking her home?" Rarity responded, frozen solid from the shock. Truth was that unlike many mistook it, Rarity's family did not live in the boutique, but instead a small house just by the river a couple streets away.

"Well, you can't sleep with Agate like that." her mother replied, taking a step closer and whispering the rest "She'll give you all her disgusting germs and bacteria."

"That's true." resigned Rarity. In a situation like this, she could not afford getting sick as well, and she couldn't sleep on the sofa either for it was also infected, plus it was too uncomfortable for her to get any real rest, something much needed if they were going tomorrow afternoon.

"I'll go tell her, then, I'm sure she'll understand." she added heading back upstairs slowly, where the sound of water flowing filled the narrow corridor. Agate was having her cold bath, just as planned, but Rarity had other things to do. She returned to Sweetie Belle's room once more.

"Sweetie Belle, mom says you'll need to go home with them tonight, Agate needs to sleep alone." she explained as soon as she opened the door. The filly was lying in her bed, tucked in, having nothing better to do than listening to the gentle rain outside.

"Okay." she moaned. That was all she said. It quite took Rarity by surprise though, she was expecting something different, something with more emotion, like her jumping up and say 'What' in disbelief.

"Well, I guess that's all." she responded awkwardly, backing away and leaving. That 'Okay' was so... soulless. Did her sister not like her? Maybe she was expecting this to come? Nopony knew.

"Ah God, it's s-so cold." a voice mumbled from behind the door in front of her, with the noises of teeth clattering afterwards. Agate was not taking her time, but who would have when basically freezing inside her whole body. She opened the door few seconds later, rushing back to the bedroom to warm up between the soft sheets... something that was not to happen. Rarity was more and more worried about her, but she knew that these measurements are for their own good.

She had nothing left to do here, it was time to return to her mother to the kitchen, maybe she could learn a thing or two about cooking from her.

Agate kept resting in the bed, shivering from the fever for who knows how long. It was driving her crazy, no matter how much she covered herself, it just didn't seem to be enough. She wanted to get over this as fast as she could, even if she couldn't get fully healthy, she just wanted the fever to go away. She grabbed another tissue quickly from the shelf just next to her on her right, and sneezed right into it, blowing her nose afterwards to get rid of the bacteria. Then, with a small fling she threw it into the trashcan on top of the others.

She lied back with a sigh, she could do nothing but lay there helplessly. The thoughts of taking another pill was circling in her head, but only the seamstress knew where the medicine were kept. The door opened however, with two friendly faces coming in, Rarity and her mother, latter carrying a bowl with her magic as they approached.

"Aggy, how do you feel?" Rarity asked, her face full of worry.

"Cold..." Agate sat up, resting her back against the bed-head to have a better view on them.

"I cooked some home-made medicine for you, my dear, hopefully this will help." Crumbles handled over the green bowl, the smith taking it with her hooves and taking a look at its contents. It was filled with all kinds of vegetables, carrots, leeks, potatoes, beans, peas, and what one can imagine, all in a red base of tomato soup. It was a real nutrient bomb in her hooves. There was one thing missing, though.

"Uh, is there a spoon to it?" she asked, her voice slightly distorted by her full nose.

"Oh, oh, yes, silly me, I forgot the spoon, haha, just a moment." Miss Crumbles apologized as she rushed out from the room to get something Agate could eat with, closing the door behind her.

It was just the two friends there from now on, Agate put the bowl on the shelf for its steam started to get irritating, as well as the hot bowl set her hooves on fire (all while the rest of her body felt ice cold).

Rarity finally had the opportunity to tell the smith something that was on her tongue for a while.

"I suppose I owe you a thanks for what you did in the morning, darling." she confessed as she laid down next to the bed, talking face to face with her now.

She let a sigh escape her throat once more as she shut off eyes, turning a bit away too "I don't even know where we'd be now if you don't insist going instead of me... possibly nowhere still." she added.

"That was the least I could do." Agate responded "What matters now is that it is f-finished, and that I just need to c-come over this last challenge." the smith replied. Though her body was cold, her soul was fiery. It just warmed Rarity's heart to see her friend like that, even though she knew well that this not Agate's biggest obstacle she needs to come across. No, there was one last thing awaiting her, but the seamstress mustn't tell.

"I'm back!" a motherly voice shouted as the door opened behind them. Rarity's mom with the spoon has arrived, just in time, while the soup was still hot. She gave it the sick pony who levitated it up along with the bowl, and after putting everything in place, she used only her limbs to eat.

She took a spoonful of the red medicine, a piece of carrot in it, blowing it once, twice, then tasting it. A few seconds in but she already started humming. The soup was simply delicious, the vegetables soft and the heat numbing her throat and freeing her airways. Cookie already began chuckling in herself, she knew a satisfied face when she saw one.

"It's very good." Agate complimented, then took another spoon of the meal.

"I'm glad." Cookie laughed "I'll be packing up, then. My job is done here." she added, leaving the room. A loud call to Sweetie Belle was heard from behind the wooden door afterwards.

"I should see them off as well. They don't live here, you know." Rarity explained, going after them, though with a more gentle pace. It was just Agate and her soup now, and the smith decided to live for the moment, taking another spoon full of the soft deliciousness, the beans, peas and some potatoes soaked in the warm juice. Wonderful.

With every bite she felt its warmth spreading across her body, she could already feel better just because of it. Rarity's mom sure knew how to cook, it was quite strange how Rarity had not inherited her skills.

Later on the seamstress returned, and Agate already finished her dinner, putting the empty bowl aside. Rarity was levitating a little thing, a thermometer to be exact.

"Let's check your temperature, darling." she told her. Agate needed no instructions, she opened her mouth and let the tailor put in the device.

"I guess it's just you and me here from now, I'll be sleeping in Sweetie Belle's bedroom tonight then." she said. Then everything went silent. Rarity ran out things she could talk about.

She gazed over to their masterpiece that stood on a mannequin in front of the window. Though the curtains were drawn together, the emptiness behind them clearly told the sun was nowhere to be found on the sky anymore. Then she focused back on the dress again, the anxiety just growing in her further and further. She was yet to find a way on how to deliver it without the chance of it being damaged, even now. Unlike a normal dress, it was much heavier and it couldn't be folded then ironed out because of the steel armor under it.

It was time to see Agate's condition. The seamstress turned back to her, and with the help of her blue magic she took hold of it, hoping for the bests. Agate also was quite nervous about it.

Rarity's mouth however curled upwards, and soon she read off the numbers a relieved sigh left her mouth.

"38.9, thank Celestia." Rarity said, letting out another deep exhale. It was still above the normal but not all that much, and if Aggy was to take some more medication for the night she would most likely get up on her fours tomorrow morning.

"It's best to take another pill for the night, dear, let me bring you one." the now happy seamstress added, trotting out to the bathroom, then returning a couple seconds later with a pill and some water.

The smith reached for it with her magic, and soon Rarity felt it taking hold over her magic she let go of them. Agate quickly swallowed the medicine and put the empty glass aside on the nightstand couple of meters away. Rarity chuckled some behind her muzzle, Agate was to be all fine and dandy soon. All she needs now is rest, rest and more rest... in fact, those were things even the seamstress was longing for a little by now.

"Okay then, good night, Aggy." Rarity said, turning away, as Agate also replied with a swift "Night, Rares.", falling back onto the sheets once more. The ivory one shut the lights, and let her counterpart be, heading towards her new, temporary bedroom.

She laid down, feeling the textile against her coat, so... different. The bed somewhat harder, the pillow smaller, but it wasn't uncomfortable, just different. However the strangest out of all was the lack of something... or somepony. So long she hasn't sleep all by herself she couldn't tell if the lack of the smith's presence was good or bad. The more she thought about her the more she began to miss her. There was still quite some light in this room, thus she turned around to look for the curtains she could draw together, however what she saw changed her mind.

The Moon, almost making up a complete round shape. Like them, it was ever so close to fulfill its destiny, it was just a matter of time. Gazing out the window a bitter melancholy rushed through her. And... what would happen after that, when the curtains come together and the show is over? The answer was obvious, but it was painful to the heart. No matter how stupid it seemed to her mind, deep in her heart she just didn't want to part ways with her other.

Of course, they could keep being in touch with each other by letters, and maybe visit one another from time to time, it wasn't anything far-fetched... yet, why did she feel so terrible still?

The whole thing was a mystery, even to her. The Moon was hid behind the dark curtains, as the seamstress shut her eyes, and with a last sigh, she attempted to take something she have earned more than well.