Bejeweled

The clock didn't need to wake from its rest the next day morning, as Rarity's eyes popped open by themselves. She monitored the field around her, seeing a faint yellow from her right, laying with her back towards the ivory one. Agate was still asleep. Rarity's other eye opened up as well, as she tried to withhold a gentle giggle behind her muzzle. Ever so slowly did she descended from her bed, despite she knew Agate doesn't wake up on every change around her. She snuck past her mirror to her shelf when an odd sight caught her attention, the black mane of her reflection. Although she knew about it, she was yet to get used to it. As she adored her dark beauty for a brief moment was she reminded of her little mission, making let out a small giggle once again. Rarity was not that kind of pony, but a small, harmless prank once in a while was acceptable for her. She opened her shelf looking left and right, taking out a small box of blue and white. After she found what she was looking for she pushed the container back to its original position with her tush. But a small moan was heard. Was Agate waking up? No, the mustard coated just turned around for a more comfortable position.

Without any more time to waste Rarity left the room, and entered the bathroom to put on her loot, a pair of contacts she never used before. She carefully placed one on her right hoof and with a disgusted groan she attempted to put it on. However, her right eye just refused to co-operate. It just didn't want that thing, always closing as the mare's hoof approached closer and closer. The ivory coated let out an angry noise after each fail but after time, she managed to get both of the lenses on. She reached for the cupboard, where she hid two pieces of plastic last night. Her light blue aura of her horn charged up, taking a few cosmetic tools from the shelves. In no time, she put the black eyeliner in good use. Her dark eyelashes were looking more vicious than ever with her eyes being surrounded by her new mascara. Then, she placed the soft, harmless pieces of plastic in her mouth where they belonged. Oh, what a terrifying, mystical creature she became, yet still, she had an odd charm to her. A charm she happened to like a lot, actually. She took a good look from all sides, then gazed out the window for a second. The Sun was slowly rising up in a distance, making the unicorn hiss in disgust, with a cute giggle afterwards. After all done, she proceeded to the next step.

Rarity peeked out the door, no souls near or far, everypony asleep. Wonderful. She made big, but slow moves forwards, until she reached the stairs that led down. With small and careful steps she traveled down on it. There was nothing to worry about from that point. She trotted to the fridge without any attempts of hiding, opening it and rubbing her front right hoof to the icy cold surface on the side. Few seconds later her limb began to feel a bit numb from the bitter cold. She took it out and closed the door, silently singing a little song she was reminded of.

"She is cold as ice..." she sang, watching her hoof letting off a bit of an icy steam as it began to warm up. Not for long, for she had no time for that. Turning around and making her way upstairs, she got to the final chapter in her plan. This was a critical moment, if she would have been too slow, her hoof would have warmed up, if she would have been too fast, however, Sweetie Belle or even Agate could have woke up. It was all about finding the perfect balance between speed and execution, and the seamstress did magnificently.

She entered the room Agate was still sleeping in, all the curtains drawn together. No seeking eyes, just the predator, and her prey. She snuck up to the other mare, rubbing her right hoof at her neck that was cold as a corpse. It was but a slow, gentle touch. The goosebumps just appeared like an infestation on Agate's body, as a visible shiver went down her spine. Her eyes crawled up to blurry splatters of white and black that took a form of a black-maned unicorn with frightening scarlet eyes wrapped in black fog. Two enormous fangs were sticking out as she whispered the following words like menacing wind just before the storm.

"Give me your blood!"

Agate's eyes popped open in an instant. She seemed as would have been just launched from a cannon. With a loud scream she sprung backwards, falling off the other side of the bed, bringing the blanket with her. Rarity couldn't hold back her feelings. She burst out in chuckles as the other mare got up to look over the bed once again, the blanket laying on her head in an odd angle.

"Rarity!" Agate shouted at the giggling mare.

"Good morning, Agate." the vampony laughed in a reserved, cute way after she got rid of the annoying fangs in her mouth.

"Seriously, I thought I'm going to get a heart attack." the armorsmith told her in an irritated manner as she took the blanket off her head.

"I'm sorry, darling, I truly am, but I just couldn't let the opportunity slip away." Rarity replied as her chuckles began to fade away.

"You'll get back this one, just lettin' you know." Agate replied "Pretty eyes by the way, contacts?"

"Thank you, and yes. I originally wanted to work with them but its too gross for me, I'm having hard time putting them on." Rarity admitted with a small sigh. "Plus they came in red which looks downright atrocious next to the purple, anyway, shall we get to the shopping today?"

"I thought Octavia was the plan for today." Agate replied, that got the other mare thinking. Getting all the exquisite fabric, threads, steel and jewelry would take at least a whole day. However Agate needed her lessons, and time was counting back without any signs of stopping.

"You know, let's have a breakfast first and we can discuss it meanwhile." Rarity suggested.

"Well, since I wouldn't be able to sleep back anyway..." Agate responded with a gentle shrug. "I won't skimp the ketchup this time." she chuckled opening the door to the lady.

Rarity rolled her eyes and shrugged the terrible joke off like it was nothing as she passed by the mare "Oh, please..."

"Why? You'll see, those sandwiches are something you can really sink your teeth into."

"Okay, that's enough..."

"Aw sucks! I just started to get the fang of it."

"Agate!"

The two mares took a seat in front of the desks once again. As Rarity reached for the knives with her magical aura of turquoise, Agate took a look into the fridge with her amethyst one. Even though the sun just barely took off the horizon, the two was already fresh and ready to take on the day... except for Agate, who was yet to set her messy mane.

"I was thinking, Agate." Rarity said, as she let one of the buttered knives slide back and forth along the bread. "If we can't go shopping for supplies, maybe we should split up for today."

"What do you mean?" Agate replied with full mouth, something that irked Rarity, but she knew it will happen.

"While you're at Octavia in the afternoon, I might go find some jewels for the dress in the ridge nearby, the usual place of mine." she explained. "Until then, we might as well write the list together."

"Good thinking, we can get some time with that." the mustard coated replied, as she finished off her breakfast. "Mind you showing me where to put the knives?" she asked.

Rarity also finished with her breakfast and hearing the unusual words she felt like giving a compliment as she joined her partner in cleaning the dishes.

"My, my, Agate, this was so refined." she told her. Such use of words from a girl like the her was something she felt even an oracle couldn't have seen coming. It gave her hope, much of it.

Agate let out a heavy sigh as response however, a sound that filled the seamstress with worry.

"You know... mother always wanted me to be just like her, so she always spoke to me and Belle Garde like she spoke to the ponies on the street." she explained.

"Belle Garde?" Rarity asked, as the name was entirely new to her. Yet, she liked it, it sounded so nice, elegant and classy. Belle Garde, just saying it was a pleasure.

"Our housemaid, she was generally caring about me but just because mother told her so." the mustard coated confessed as her purple irises became hidden under her eyelids, only for a bit of a pause. "Doesn't matter, I live there no more." she added in a cold manner as she put back the dishes to their place.

There was more to this - the ivory coated thought - it wasn't only a loss of reputation around her living space but inside it too. It seemed as if Agate was in bad terms with her family as well. That would explain why she was living alone with her closest friends being her own tools. For now, though, the unicorn decided to let this mystery unpacked, especially if her partner had a skeleton in the closet and would lash back out on her for discovering it. There was something that was bugging her still, for Agate always took a bath and washed her teeth ever since she moved in. She was causing much less headaches to her than she expected. It could have been her simply trying to get her favor, or something else.

The two unicorns, after their breakfast, returned to their bedroom to write final list containing the ingredients for glory or death. Though, Rarity stopped by her sister's room to wake the filly from her deep slumber, it was time to school. After that being done, they returned to Rarity's room at once. The drawing of their final decision lit up with a gentle blue aura as it was levitiated over to them, while a magenta aura brought pencils and papers over there.

The dress looked amazing. At the skirt part, layers of steel studded together to make it less firm and give space to the moving hind legs, while a pattern of transparent silk organza would lay on its top of purple and red, with white lines giving hold to the pattern and black streaks hiding the less fashionable parts. It looked just like the beautiful windows of the canterlotian palace. Bells made of silver and a three rings of steel with a round, shield-like steel plate on the bottom adorned with gems and beautiful, jet black and maroon saddle on the top connected the steel with the fabric. The chestpiece of dark pink and red fabric was gifted with a similar pattern in the middle, running up from the shield part to the wonderful collar adorned by bells and yellow motives. Two puffs similar to the upper part were found on the sides, hiding a part of the legs, their motives cut by the collar. From that point, only the cold monster of steel that lurked behind the beauty was shown, making it's way upwards, up, even engulfing the neck completely. Unlike the Guardian's Bride, the fabric and the steel embraced one another in a glorious masterpiece, the Cherry Orchard Dress.

The named bugged Rarity a little bit, since she saw no sign of cherry in it, at least until Agate pointed out the bells and the overall red color. Still, Rarity preferred the "Rose Window" name, or something related to rose windows.

After all preparations the ivory coated began the listing "Okay, we're going to need silk..."

The list seemed all ready in an hour, and it turned out pretty long. So many things were needed, yet time looked so short.

Rarity felt as she made a good decision with the plan of splitting up. Yet she felt like taking some time with Octavia and Agate, just a little push to get the machine rolling.

Her instincts told her something will not be alright all the way down the street. She kept wondering just how bad the two of her friend's relationship could be, and why. She was making plans the way there, preparing for all scenarios that her mind could come up with. She knocked on the door, with the gray coated mare opening it.

"Greetings Miss Rarity." she said with a warm smile, that turned into a disgusted frown as she turned her eyes to Agate.

"Thief?"

"Prick?"

The two words came and go as lightning, yet Rarity heard them both, and it shook her body to the bone, filling up with madness. Two shots they kept withdrawn in front the ivory mistress, yet they fired them on sight of one another. This was already bad, but she decided not to let the situation descend any deeper, at any price.

"Okay, now I had enough!" she stomped in her boiling anger "What on Equestria is wrong with you two?!"

Octavia frowned a little bit more, then invited the ivory one "Come in." She already prepared a bottle of wine for the arrival, however she was not calm enough for a glass, nor were the others.

The others took seat on the red sofa by the side, while Octavia prepared the drink on the table by the side, then joined them on a smaller pillow, sighing up.

"So what's all the fuss between you?" Rarity asked again, still furious but not shouting like before. The two completely turned inside out just by looking at each other, yet the reason was unknown yet. She wanted answers, now!

Octavia let out another heavy sigh "It was back in Canterlot High School, where I started my music career..."

"There was this musical competition something which I beat her in quite good." Agate cut in, getting straight to the point. Rarity was sort of grateful for this action but didn't make this any noticable. The less time these two spend arguing the less time is thrown out the window.

"That place was mine!" Tavia shouted "Hammers and saws are not instruments. You didn't deserve anything but disqualification."

"Oh, they can be in my opinion, and as I recall, in the judges' opinion as well. Don't worry, your lost bets found good owners, I'm sure." Agate replied with a smug grin.

"You humiliated me in front of the entire school." the bassist screamed in her fury.

"And you deserved it!" shouted back the other one.

"What bets, may I ask?" Rarity inquired as she only observed and listened for now. Though under the calm surface she was deeply irritated by the things going headfirst against her plans.

Agate replied sooner "Octavia was so sure in her victory that her pumped-up ego let her make bids since flaunting around was not enough anymore."

"Don't listen to her, she is lying!" Tavia recoiled back, hearing the words from her foe's mouth.

"So when I entered the contest and beat her with Hammy and Sissy she got a lethal blow to her self-esteem."

"Because you bribed the judge and cheated." Octavia raised her volume once again.

"What?!"

"Agate knew she needed the good reputation of the contest to get out of her mother's basement and start her own business, and since her mom was in good terms with Royal Ribbon, she brought the price for pocket money for her little, helpless daughter." the bassist continued with a condescending tone, forcing down Agate's pill on her own throat.

"Hey, shut up! That's not true." Agate shouted up once again.

"Enough from both of you!" Rarity stomped once more in frustration "Whatever happened was years ago, both of you changed since. You should forget what happened, and learn to work together."

"Why exactly? So she can win something she would not deserve... again?"

"Why wouldn't I deserve winning? Because you're too blind and vindictive because of your failure? Or do you think smithing takes no talent either?"

"Stop! Both of you!" Rarity shouted even louder, but the answer she received was unexpected.

"Make us!" sounded back from both sides, neither of them even looking towards the way of the white one.

At this point, Rarity felt so mad, so disappointed, she felt that the world around her was to collapse. Her head was hurting, and she felt nauseous. She could explode, smash the wall a new hole with a precise punch even, but on the outside, rarely any of this was seen.

"Alright, then don't stop. Keep up this childish war-game for all I care, I give up."

She stood up and bailed out, heading to the exit without any sign of her fury that could have made all Equestria burn down to the ground if let loose. Both mares fell into cold silence as the unicorn left, closing the door behind as if she was just a breeze.

Rarity decided to walk somewhere, anywhere but that place was fine to her. Yet she couldn't handle the frustration inside her that was about to erupt in a loud groan a second later, turning into a painful sigh afterwards. The steam left, and her head felt much lighter. Much better.

'Alright. Even if Octavia can't teach her something I can still try to teach her to walk and pose properly, along with Fleur maybe, yes. In worst case Twilight may have a transformation spell and I could just take the stage twice. It would have its risk but-

"Rarity! Wait!" a voice cut interrupted her from behind again, a voice that brought back the frustration she just eradicated from her body. Yet deep inside she hoped they want good, and she didn't let anger turn the situation to one even worse.

"Yes?" she turned back, her fluttering eyes clearly showing what she felt inside.

"We'd like to apologize for what we said." Octavia told her in a regretful melody "Truly this competition means a lot to you, and if it means you need my aid in winning, I give my best to help."

"Yeah, we were too much into this fight stuff, sorry Rares. We couldn't think properly." Agate added. Both looked sad and regretful because of their own actions, it was seen in their eyes too.

Rarity, for the surprise of both of them began giggling under her muzzle though.

"Very well then, I'm glad you two learned to live in peace at last, I have no reason to be upset anymore." she said "However I need to get to the mines soon as I can, I'm still not sure if I can get home before sundown even."

"Sure thing Rares! We can handle this from now on." replied Agate with a wink full of trust and confidence that curled up the lips of the ivory one even more. A gentle nod, and she strolled off with a small wave of her hooves. She had her doubts, naturally, but she wished for the bests and didn't let the negative thoughts engulf her mind once again.

"Alright" Octavia whispered as she closed the door of her home "Vinyl isn't home so its just you and me. Let's get this over with."

She took a careful look around to see if there is anything helpful they can start with. The bookshelf caught her attention, she rushed there and took down a good handful of its contents.

"Okay, first lesson is the posture. Every lady has to have an elegant look and impression. Here try to balance these on the top of your head." she told the smith walking back to the baffled, mustard coated unicorn. "Just try three first, then we will add more and more with time."

Agate, smiling at the ease of the task took the first three from the top with the help of her magic and placed them atop her head. However, as soon as the faint purple aura dissipated around the stack they began to lean to the left. That made the armorsmith tilt her head a bit to the left as well for correction, but without success. The books hit the ground in no less than a second. Agate became a bit of confused, she was sure she put them on the right place.

"Wait, wait, let me try again." she said, as the books were once again engulfed in the purple mist. Yet this time, they decided to bend to the other way, falling off on the right side.

"Hey, what the-"

Octavia counted this in, though the situation was worse than she expected. However, Agate's need to get down this obstacle could be used to speed up the process.

"It's just the matter of practice. Let me help." she told her, putting her left hoof on the forehead of the other mare. "Head lifted, neck a bit back, legs together." she added, as she set Agate to the preferred position like a model. She took another three books from the stack and put it atop the mare, then - after a bit of careful balancing - let them go. Agate stood completely still, and for her surprise, the papers on her head as well.

After a rough five seconds Octavia spoke up "Okay, now try to walk towards me, slowly." she instructed her, taking a few steps back. Agate raised her right limb, inch by inch, took a careful step forwards...

... and the books hit the ground again.

"Gah." groaned the mustard one as she tried once again. Just three books, yet with Octavia's advice she managed to keep the book on her head tiny bit longer with each try. The improvement was raw gold, very little yet tangible, and with a lot of value. She wanted to prove Rarity her abilities, that was driving her.

Speaking of her, the seamstress returned to her home with a little sadness on her face.

"Aww, too bad my Spikey had to go to Canterlot on this day of all." she thought, trotting towards her closet and with a small charge of her horn opening it.

"Good thing I have prepared for such rough times as well." the unicorn continued as a mysterious click sounded. The back of the furniture moved away, revealing a secret area where Rarity hold one of her many skeletons.

With a delightful melody she shouted up upon finding what she was looking for as the item flew out from the closet. "Haha!".

It was a shovel. No, actually, it was not just a shovel. It was a beautiful, shining one with a flawless steel spade, a wooden handle made of the finest oak around, and on the top of all, a beautiful diamond in the centre of the handle. It was Rarity's custom shovel, she paid a lot for it, but it looked so charming she never had the heart to get it dirty... let alone to get herself dirty. There was no other choice this time, and somehow the presence of somepony who works with steel convinced her that any smaller damage could be repaired on it. She put it in her saddlebag, only to have its T-shaped wooden end with the diamond shown. She pulled out her little cart from under her table and with a small farewell to her little sister she hurried out to the field. One last look back at the clock that just passed half past three and she closed the door behind her.

"Well done." clapped Octavia as she watched Agate, somewhat slowly but steadily cantering across the room with the books on her head. It was a magnificent sight for her, and she believed Rarity would be glad to see it as well. Deep inside, the bassist was also glad she made this decision. The feeling of teaching somepony with success gave her a warm feeling she never felt before.

'It's in her blood, it seems. She just didn't know about it.' she thought in herself, scratching her jaw back and forth. "Alright, this will be enough for today."

"Meet ya tomorrow then?" the armorsmith asked, joyful from her own victory as well. She couldn't wait to show Rarity how much she improved.

"Vinyl will get back tomorrow from her tour, but I hope she'll let us be. If not we can still always practice in the library." the bass playing mare giggled, opening the door to her friend. "Take care!"

"Catch'a later!" Agate bid farewell and took her leave. The sun was setting already, however some shops were still open outside. She just hoped the one she saw yesterday would be open.

"Alright, now which street was it, actually?" she said to herself as she trotted down towards the town hall in a distance. The highest chance to find a town map seemed to be there. Few streets later did she notice the darker building from the corner of her eye. When she turned her full focus there she noticed a small part of the tie and the heart logo hanging from its side. Yes it was exactly what she was looking for, making her increase her pace as she got around the building, a strange, dark purple hut with bats, spiderwebs and pumpkins. The sign said: "Gothica's Spooky Shop" and "Costumes and Accessories" in smaller letters. It was still open, so missing the chance was no option.

She ambled up the door and opened it, seeing nothing but darkness inside at first. But as she stepped in, cautious and quite scared, she saw that a few candles made it able to see the visible surroundings. Then out of nowhere, a pack of dolls with long black manes, white eyes and an unnerving grin dropped into her field of view, making her gasp for air out of shock.

A wicked evil laugh was echoing across the room as the dolls ascended, with a dark character walking out from behind the purple curtain. However, the closer she came the friendlier she looked.

Her skin was of a similar ivory color than that of Rarity's, but with a slight shade of pink. Her mane of pink and purple, even though was set with great care, still looked strange and messy from the horizontal pattern of the different colors, as it formed gigantic orbs, three on each side, smaller and smaller ones the closer they were to the ground. Eyes made of plastic were scattered all inside it, peaking out and into the void. Her eyes of hot pink just seared from joy, kindness and life. One particular scarlet red eye however was adorning her charcoal black bowtie, much on the like the logo of the shop, which turned out to be her cutie mark.

She took a long stick of chalk into her mouth a drew another line on the table to her right. Right into the first column, named "Scared", while the second one had the text "Not scared" above it, with mere one line, while the first one had five, ten, twenty... too many to count.

"Welcome, welcome, how may I help you?" the mare asked in a casual, high-pitched tone. She was filled with energy and not only looked but also sounded the kind of childish yet very outgoing mare. It had a calming effect in this old-looking, dark and scary little building.

Agate's heart still couldn't get over the prank, yet with a calm tone replied "I'm looking for a specific costume, Gothica."

"Well, you're a few months late for Nightmare Night" the strange shopkeeper giggled, "but that doesn't mean I don't have anything in store for you. Come take a look... if you dare." she added with long and menacing words. She rushed behind the curtain on her right, dragging a whole lot of clothes on a long rack out.

Agate's eyes caught the one she just needed in an instant. Fur, two red eyes and creepy fangs on the headdress, a chestpiece made of gray fabric, along with fur paws with plastic claws. It was.... not exactly what she hoped for. While its pieces were not making up a full fur suit, Agate wasn't disappointed by this one too much either. It might just have worked if she set the stage up well.

However, there was that other thing on the shelf of her left side that also interested her. A pair of horns, beautiful and curvy, similar to a ram's, namely, succubus horns.

Succubi were Agate's favorite mythical creature for some reason, they were attracting her, seducing her. Now that she thought about it, vamponies and succubi had a lot in common, but while one brought pain, the other brought pleasure. Maybe that one was a better idea for a surprise? Though the plans seemed promising, she still managed to snap out of the antlers' hypnosis.

"I'd like that werepony one." she told the shopkeeper, pointing at the fur.

"One day, three days, a week?" the shopkeeper asked, tilting her head left and right.

"Just for tonight."

"That'll be six bits."

Agate placed the payment on the counter, then returned her attention to the horns. She wanted them... and they wanted her. She couldn't resist, they were just too pretty. She took the ones that curled backwards, around her ears from behind.

"I'd also like these cuties." she chuckled, putting the accessories on the counter as well.

"Eleven bits, then." Gothica added with a giggle, while Agate gave in some more of her money. The earth pony took down the werepony costume, folded it and packed it into a larger bag, along with the horns.

"Thank you dear, and have a freaky good night." she advised with the last words again being long and spooky, after counting up the gold real quick.

"You too, Gothy." Agate chuckled as her horn charged and she lifted up her bag with the purple aura of her magic. The doorknob also received an aura of the same color as the wooden and old door opened once again.

Eventually, the stars and the full moon occupied the sky once more. A hard day's work, but Rarity had her little cart full of the most beautiful jewels she could find.

"Ponyville, finally." she said, with a yawn leaving her throat. "I can't wait to get into my warm, beautiful bed."

She was so close, yet still, it seemed so far. A howl was heard in a distance from behind the plains on her right. It came from the forest, most likely, nothing new. Though this night, they seemed to be pretty active, who knows, maybe because it was spring. Rarity was reminded of the creatures again and again. It didn't bother her much, until she heard something from the bushes from behind, on the left.

She looked there in an instant, but not a soul was seen, only the houses and the vegetation. She looked to her right, but only some of the empty field and the forest in the background was seen. Then the noise was heard again, from much closer this time.

"Somepony there?!" she said as her entire body turned back as a reaction. But she was more clever than that, and with a deep huff and frown she spoke up loud.

"Agate, I'd hate to burst your bubble but if you're trying to scare me it's not going to work." she shouted. No answer, but another rustling from a bush from just behind, with steps heard even. They didn't sound like hoofsteps however, and that slightly unnerved the unicorn.

"I know you're there, Agate, get out from that bush." she continued, but since she received no answer in seconds, she began strolling to the bush next to the small house. She leaned closer, and closer, then with a swift move she swept away the leaves to look inside, but nothing. But then, somepony... something touched her from behind.

It was not a pony's hoof for sure, too furry and strange, with something pointy picking against her coat on her shoulder. It was more like... a paw. Yet even before her mind could possibly process what creature the limb might have belonged to, the gentle touch turned into a powerful grab, taking away the seamstress and forcing her with face upwards on the ground.

Her throat let out a final scream from the top of her lungs, before hell broke loose.

"No! Please! No!" she yelled, trembling from fear as she covered her face from the monster she couldn't look at. Her heart was working overtime, and every bit of oxygen in her lungs was used up in her screams. It took a whole few seconds until she noticed the gentle, muffled giggles in the background. Only then she dared to lower her cover, peeking out from between her hooves.

"Agate!" she shouted, smashing her hooves to the ground by the side in fury. "This was a terrible move, even from you."

"Well I told you you'll get it back." the armorsmith chuckled.

"Yes I know, your plan was see-through like a new window," Rarity lashed back at her with a frown, that slowly turned into a small smile "but it was effective nonetheless."

The two mares were just laughing at the events, until Agate noticed the windows opening from her right, making Rarity turn there as well. They were being watched by six pairs of eyes, and one was someone whose Agate also recognized, Rose's. However, as soon as the two mares returned the eye contact, the flower ponies backed away as Rose closed the window with a pretty disturbed face.

Didn't took much for the two unicorns to realize they were in the same awkward position as yesterday, but with the tables turned of course. Agate hopped away real quick, and Rarity stood up on her fours in record time as well to prevent more witnesses.

They didn't dare to look in one another's eye for a few seconds until everything was fine and dandy.

"We should try end up in this position less often." Rarity advised with quick and quiet words, Agate nodding and signing to get moving.

"Gothica's Nightmare Night costume, hmm?" Rarity chuckled in he signature, soft way, as her eyes stared up from the costume towards the beautiful moon danced around the countless stars. "You know, it has some truth in its symbolism, I mean this whole vampony and werepony business."

"Yeah, I also noticed, we seem very different, yet we both come from the same core. We both work in the same environment, and we both can't stand each other either." Agate laughed.

"Okay, let's make something clear." Rarity stopped in a sudden, breaking to joyful mood with her cold tone. "I might not agree with most of actions you do, nor decisions you make, but that, by far doesn't mean I hate you like a vampony hates a werepony." she added, as her cold voice turned warm and soothing in a sudden.

"Believe or not, it is quite enjoyable working with you Aggy, it gives some color to these gray days." she told her with a lovely smile.

"Yeah, you know, I also think you're a really kind and wonderful pony inside, regardless that you enjoy doing the fancy stuff like those canterlotians." Agate said with her never sounding so sincere and grateful before.

"Being with you is much like being with Fleur, Rares. I feel like someone is caring about me, and listens to me, it feels so nice." she added.

Seconds have passed, yet the two ponies stood still, smiling at each other, until suddenly - and for their own surprise - both mares let the exact same sentence out from the cage of their mouths: "Thank you."

"By the way, 'Aggy'?" the smith asked afterwards with a questioning look on her face, as she once again moved towards home.

"Why, I think it sounds charming." Rarity answered, returning the friendly smile. She let out a gasp when something she wanted to ask long before came up in her mind afterwards "Oh, by the way, how can one remove this dye?"

"Well, there has to be a way."

"Wait! You mean you don't know?!"