Bejeweled

The steam-driven machine cut through the dark night like a knife through butter, a pair of azure eyes staring out into the void from one of its many windows. The moon gave just enough light to show the scenery around, without too much colors. Little dots of light were seen in the desert far, far away. Rarity should have been asleep by now, but the facts that it was a train's bed under her, plus that the train arrived to Canterlot in the middle of the night didn't let her. She dug inside her bag once again, taking out a purple jewel and a key then staring at it for long seconds...

It was not just a key, it was Agate's sign of trust... or maybe her sign of recklessness?

'Maybe she just...' the unicorn thought, but rather sighed up instead of finishing. It was so hard to decide in this situation.

'No, Rarity! Agate trusts you with her home, you should trust her equally.' she replied, as in her mind, a tiny breezie Rarity with beautiful transparent wings and a bright halo appeared.

'Or... She was just plain stupid, that's all. She didn't think forehoof and just slapped her keys at you despite only knowing each other for a week.' another Rarity appeared with vicious devil horns and bat-like black and red wings.

'Because she trusts you with no hesitation, she believes in you.'

'No, she's just an idiot and you know it.'

"Oh shut up." the unicorn groaned in herself as she put the key back and smashed her head against the pillow. She was going to sleep, now, whether she wanted or not.

However, this time the sound of the train irritated her, no matter how much she twisted and turned. Eventually, she gave up. The unicorn laid down the pillow back to its original position and rolled away the curtains by her side to take a walk in the middle of the darkness. What she heard, though, came as a completely unexpected surprise.

"Hi Rares!" a voice greeted from behind, echoing through the narrow corridor. Rarity turned back in slow-motion, but her eyes did not deceive her.

"Agate! What are you doing here?" Rarity asked. Complete and utter confusion filled her mind. When did the other unicorn even sneak up the first place?

"Ah, nothing, just checking up on you to see if you're alright and stuff." the other one replied with her signature uncaring manner.

"Shouldn't you be getting the materials?" Rarity asked in confusion.

"Umm, what materials again?" Agate asked back, with an awkward, silly grin on her face.

Rarity couldn't believe it, there was no way somepony could be this narrow-minded. "The dress. The dress! We even made a list for it remember?!" she said, placing her hooves on her partner's shoulders in a worried manner, that Agate immediately knocked off a second later.

"Oh yeah, I get it now!" Agate replied, Rarity nodding with an awkward grin at her. "I gotta get back to it, then." she turned around trotting down the narrow corridor towards the exit cabin of gray cold steel.

"See you later." she added, as she opened the heavy steel door of the machine.

"Wait! Not while the-" but Rarity was too late, as Agate jumped out the moving train and disappeared. The unicorn looked out to see if her friend is alright, but Agate was nowhere to be found on the endless cobweb of rails, no matter how long she looked for her. She kept looking left, and right, under the rails, but nothing, absolutely nothing. She shut the door and gave in, Agate was gone. She returned to her cabin, it's red walls and curtains still completely dark, climbing into her bed at a snail's pace, and collapsing on it's soft sheets. Yet, she couldn't shed a tear, they simply didn't came for some reason. She took a final peak out the window, but she saw her nowhere still, the only thing she saw were rails and headlights. Bizarre.

The train was slowing down, more and more rapidly, as Rarity started to believe something is very, very wrong here. When the train stopped, from atop the headlights in a distance, huge clouds of steam erupted. At that moment, Rarity was taken over by panic. She got the curtains of the other, empty bed next to her out of her way, just to see exactly the same thing. Every second rail, another train was coming at her. She rushed to the exit, suffering to open it, but it didn't move. She began to beat the steel with all her might and power, but no use. She hurried back to her bed to see if she can get away through the window, but the glass refused to break as well no matter how hard she punched it. There was no way out from here, the teeth of a gigantic mechanical shark approached at a rapid speed, ready to crush the train into pieces. They came closer, and closer, and Rarity could do nothing, but stare out the window, her hooves pushing against its surface. As the headlight of the trains lit up the entire wagon the machines let a collective whistle of massacre out, making the seamstress attempt to scream as loud as she could, but only some hot air came out from her little throat.

Then, the trains began to glow with a light blue aura, as they literally jumped up in a sudden like dolphins, over the one their victim trapped in, creating an enormous ark with their centipede bodies. Rarity just stared at the marvelous dance of the steel for long seconds, until the arks dissolved and the trains torn away with the speed they came. Rarity had no idea what happened, all she knew that she survived. In a sudden, a blue face came into her vision from the right side of the window, a face of a friend's, winking and smiling beneath the flowing mane full of stars.

"Princess Luna!" she shouted in surprise and relief.

"Greetings, Rarity!" the alicorn replied "I heard your cries and hurried to interfere, luckily I was just in time."

"Is Agate alright?". Immediately afterwards she thought of herself as a complete idiot for asking it. Even though Rarity knew it was a dream, for some unknown reason she asked a question that she otherwise wouldn't.

"Yes, she is perfectly safe. However, something else about her is not." Luna told her. Rarity knew exactly what the princess was talking about, and she became ashamed for it a little.

"Your fear of the unknown and worries about your situation is completely understandable, but your trust is just a half-built house of cards." Luna explained, speaking through the glass that separated them. Her voice deep and her thoughts wise, no wonder she was a princess.

"Unfortunately this is something I cannot help you with, for you are a prisoner of your own mind." she added, shutting her deep blue eyes away from the unicorn. Rarity started to understand her now. The train was her mind, and the other ones were the stress ready to rip it apart. The doubts rampaging in her mind left her unable to escape.

"I see now..." she whispered, hiding her azure rims beneath her eyelids, taking a deep breath. "Everything will be fine. Agate counts on me and I count on her. She can do it... She will do it, I know." she said aloud, as her eyes opened up once again with a gentle smile forming on her face. Luna was smiling back at her, the seamstress did well overcoming her current doubts. She carefully placed her hooves on the window once more, applying a little pressure as the glass just fell out, bouncing a bit on the ground but not breaking still. She didn't waste any time and hopped out from the cabin.

"Your dream must end here, Rarity, your train arrives to Canterlot in mere minutes." The princess of the night told in a strict voice, putting her manners aside for a little.

A wave of panic washed over the unicorn out of the blue "Oh dear, but... how do I wake up?"

"Close your eyes, I'm going to count back and open them immediately at zero." Luna answered, a trick of hers that worked most of the time during lucid dreaming. Rarity forced her eyes shut faster than lightning, taking large inhales to calm herself.

"Three... Two... One..."

Rarity's eyes popped open. Darkness. She tilted her head to the left, seeing many little wisps of light outside, with the beautiful moon gazing over her face. She was so relieved, she felt as if she could just lie there for a couple of more minutes, until her body finally finds peace. But in a sudden the fireflies and the moon disappeared behind huge buildings and street lamps. There was no time to lose, Rarity got up on her fours, when an awful feeling struck her hooves, like if she was walking on needles. Her limbs were numb from the sleep paralysis, but in no way she let such thing stop her. She took the reticule and hung it around her neck and right front hoof, then headed to the exit next to her. It was so close, but in this awful condition, it seemed like eternity. One ant-covered step after another, and over time she made her way to the door. She didn't bother to make things worse by opening it with a hoof, so she used the magic lying in her horn to do so. The train already began to slow down, and Rarity knew well that the more she uses her leg, the faster the blood will begin to circulate there and sooner she can get to bed. So while waiting, she made a couple of steps and other movements in all directions, raising and lowering her hooves to awaken them once again.

The train was going really slow now, and was traveling its last few meters, when the door opened in a sudden, revealing a gray mare with a jet black mane and soul-piercing red eyes. Even though she was wearing her mane in a bobcut this time, her grumpy look, despite the wrinkles, told her who she was, the girl who Agate referred to as Fury Nancy. It seems she was too tired to wreck any more havoc, though, and simply opened the door to Rarity.

Canterlot was a different place at night altogether. Looking at her right, she saw that only three more mares were traveling on the train. How odd, the station that was usually crowded was almost completely empty now. This was a fresh but oddly exciting experience for the seamstress, but she had little time to discover it in a whole. The huge clock above her just hit quarter past one, and seeing that just made her sleepiness come out from its hideout in yawns.

As she left the facility she found herself on the streets she recognized, but they all looked so much different at night. She knew exactly where to go now, and for some reason, she looked forwards to seeing what the road looks like under the lights of the lamps.

Though the air and concrete was considerably colder than what she was used to, thus the unicorn further increased her pacing, until a shield-shaped sign with a hammer, an anvil and a gem blinked up, its golden frame reflecting the light of the lamps on the main street. Rarity unzipped her bag and dug deep into it to find the key, which she immediately dropped as it slip out from her hoof, right on a cover of a man-hole. Rarity's heart began pounding as the heavy jewel bounced closer and closer to the small hole in the middle of the steel. She charged up her horn as her mouth let a gasp, or more of a scream escape, as the unicorn grabbed the key within the last moment, before it could have slid and fall into oblivion.

An exhale of relief, and Rarity put the object where it belonged, twisted it and entered the workshop. The darkness however, made it pretty hard to locate anything, so the first thing she did was trying to find was a switch to the light. She started to blindly grope for some bump in the wall, and in few seconds she found it already. A click, and the room lit up. Wooden furniture, shelves, tables, wardrobes, a mirror and a neat little rug was found inside the dirty-white room, in a very similar layout that Fluttershy's cottage has, everthing on the side, and only a rug in the middle. There was no mess of any shorts Agate talked about, so the unicorn locked the door and looked for it upstairs, without any findings in Agate's bedroom either, aside the bed which's sheets and pillows were all over the furniture. The room itself was quite small and basic, stripped from all fancy decorations that were the default in Canterlot. Despite that, they fit well with the dark green color on the walls. It had its own atmosphere. But going to sleep without taking a bath? After those dirty, public sheets on the train Celestia knows who used? No way.

She put down her bag and headed out the bedroom and looked for a bathroom, but since there was nothing else to see upstairs, she strolled down to the hall again. The door in front lead her outside again, the door to her left was the kitchen for sure, as the glass was completely see-through, so the only possibilities were the doors behind her, leading into most likely small rooms as they were under the staircase. One had a jittery glass making it hard to tell exactly what exactly it contained, while the other had no glass at all, just the white wood. Going with her natural instincts, the unicorn entered the first one.

This room had blue as it's main color as the shiny tiles covered its inside as a whole. It was, a small and simple shower, as well as the mirrors, cupboards and all necessities on the other side, as well as a door to an even smaller toilet room.

Rarity's eyes twitched a little, for the entire thing had more of an old dormitory feeling to it, than one of a sweet home's. That, and she always preferred baths than showers. For this one night, she endured it, mainly because she wanted to go to sleep so bad already. She stepped in, pulled the curtain and opened the shower for a rapid cleaning. Rapid for it didn't take two minutes but the seamstress already grabbed the towel as the noise of the water came to halt. She dried herself, hung the towel back on its place, walked up and without any more messing around she jumped into the bed and shut the lights to finally get some more sleep.

Soon afterwards, the black of her sight became an irritating orange, accompanied with a burning feeling. Rarity couldn't help but force her eyes open. It was morning.

"No. Please." Rarity groaned in a misable manner, as she took the pillow and used it as a shield. But now, she could not breathe properly. In her frustration she let out an audible groan as the unicorn threw away the pillow that rolled down the other side. Times like these, Celestia just seemed so cruel for doing her duties. Her horn charged up with her signature blue aura while suffering down from the bed, putting the sheets and the pillow back to their places. Just finishing Agate's job.

She yawned once more, and took a close look at the old cuckoo clock in front of her, only to have herself reminded by its odd numbers, that it stopped. She looked left and right until she found the smaller, working clock she saw last night somewhere around. It was just there on the shelf from almost behind her, telling it was nine 'o clock.

"Nine already?" Rarity screamed in panic. She overslept... a lot. No time to lose now, she wanted to get into the shops without actual waiting, but this most likely wasn't possible anymore.

Rarity took her belongings, rushed down into the bathroom again, and brushed her teeth while saving time by brushing her mane as well. She was fine with the imperfect curls this time, as it was still better than the birds' nest her mane was before. After all that was done she hurried out to have all those minutes being wasted away by the strong wind.

"Great, now this too." she mumbled, as she made her way towards her first stop, a textile shop located in the southern part of the capital.

The unicorn kept on making wild calculations in her head, always revising them again and again. The anxiety get the best out of her once more, as she tried to make up time any way she could possibly can. Her despair were clear in her eyes. With time, she arrived to the brocade shop, and by sheer luck, there were not many costumers. Before entering however, Rarity noticed two numbers in the little white plastic filled the opening and closing times for each day. Since it was the weekend, the shop was only open for mere four hours, instead of the usual eight. This was just oil on the fire, but she'd rather not be nervous about that, it'd affect her decision making abilities negatively.

"Good morning." she stepped inside with a cheerful greeting. The shop looked like an average house in Canterlot would do, clear, marble floor, beautiful red, orange and pink silk adornments arching over the room, with shelves full of beautifully ordered textile in various shapes and colors.

"Morning madam, how may I help you?" a pony replied from behind the counter. Her royal blue mane was smooth as silk, her off-white face adorned by a few freckles under her eyes. A small measure tape curled itself around the neck of her model body. She looked gorgeous, but Rarity fast terminated any thoughts of envy and got straight to the point as she took her papers.

"Let's see, I'd like some smooth red fabric I'll need for a dress I make." she explained, her mouth moving quicker than ever. She actually knew the mare a little bit, for she always, always bought her materials from here.

The other unicorn hummed a little, scratching her jaw a little as she peeked back to the storage room behind. "Smooth... a second madam, I might have a few more in the back. Darker or lighter kind of red?"

"Scarlet red would be best, thank you." her costumer responded, waiting and trying to be patient until the job was done. But still, Rarity just couldn't help but clop her hooves at the ground. She knew the process well enough, for she was here quite a few times by now. They gathered every fabric made from all kinds of fibers in question and compared then next to each other. Suddenly, the voice of the salesmare was heard from afar.

"We have red from velveteen fibers."

"That's nice."

"We have some sylvia."

"Yes please."

"Satin."

"Hmm... too fragile, no."

"Tiora."

"No."

"Carbon."

"Oh, dear, no."

"We have floque de lux but it's more of a shade of ruby."

"Ruby is fine too."

A little pause later the unicorn reappeared, carrying the three rolls of red fabric, all of them looking almost identical. But Rarity knew the differences were huge in most aspects, for her at least. She gave all rolls a good touch with her hooves, a careful, close look with her eyes, over and over, looking for strengths and weaknesses. All of them seemed suitable of the job, but only one of them could win.

"I'll take the sylvia." the seamstress said the final verdict. "The whole roll, please." she added, noticing the amount of material on the roll. The shopkeeper nodded and with the help of her magic she sealed it with a blue ribbon.

"Mind if I ask if all shops are closing earlier today?" Rarity asked meanwhile, her voice having the aftertaste of a bit of worry.

"Yes, madam, shops usually work half-time today."

At that moment, the lightning of panic hit Rarity, burning through her veins top to bottom. This meant that she had less then mere three hours left to get everything. Yet nothing was seen about this in the outside

"Here is the sylvia, it'll be seventeen bits, madam." the other mare told her, laying down the clothes on the side. Rarity paid up with no sign of horror, she even let a little smile grew on her face while leaving... but she was longing for the sensation of her soft, red couch inside.

The weather wasn't in the favor of the ivory mistress either, so the best thing she could do right now is to head back to Agate's workshop, and use it as warehouse until the time comes. She laid down the fabric on the sofa with her magical powers, and turned around for the duration of a few steps and closed the door, locking it with the key she didn't let go of ever since opening and coming back again.

"Alright, fabric down, now the fur." she told to herself, her mind already drawing the little map as its eye projected the transparent image in front of the seamstress. She put the key away and followed her instincts.

A familiar voice from behind interfered with her focus, however, deep and warm. It was no doubt her again.

"Miss Rarity." Fleur called her, taking her beautiful pink scarf out of her way, and jumping into the bottom with no hesitation "If you are here I fear the worst have happened."

Great, that was the only thing Rarity wanted to hear now. Yet deep in her mind she challenged the model to try her, if she can top all the bad events happened today. Outside, on the other hand, she remained silent, her ears set for any information coming.

"I sent you a letter this morning, but it seems I have to inform you personally." she continued. Rarity could not wait anymore, she was on the edge to ask her to get to the point.

"It's about Fancy Pants. The judge of Canterlot drew back from his position due to a disease, and apparently Fancy took her place." Fleur explained. "I'm having an awful feeling about this."

Rarity got the point of the beautiful mare, yet something seemed... off. Fancy Pants would never sabotate the contests just for pure hatred, especially if a friend like her would have been a victim as well... or would he? After all, Fleur knew him much better, and if she was feeling wrong about this it sure was for a reason. That thought made the parasite that was fear make a nest in her mind, regardless of all logic.

"Thank you, Miss Fleur." Rarity replied, as the wind blew ruthlessly once again, taking the accessory of the unicorn diva with itself. She grabbed it before it could have gone too far with a shot of her magic, giving it back to its owner, who wrapped it around her neck once more.

"Thank you very much Miss Rarity, I should go back before my mane gets even messier." Fleur told her in a voice as if her life would have depend on her mane. "Farewell."

"Goodbye." Rarity replied, watching the mare hurry to a safe spot where the wind did not blow. Now that this was out of her way she could get back to shopping.

Arriving at the Fur and Wool, a store lot smaller than the other one she noticed how others start to visit the shops too. In the worst case, they could get flooded, slowing down Rarity a ton. The store had a strange but unique setup, from left hoof were all the fur, from the right, all the wool products.

"Oh look it's Rarity." a voice told her from behind. A voice she always recognized. One that was so different, so unique it was impossible to mistake. One that belonged to someone even worse than Trixie. "Making a new dress for the Circus?"

"Pop Couture, what a pleasant surprise." Rarity greeted her in a seemingly happy tone that was dripping from sarcasm. Her coat being similar off-white, with a blonde mane she wore in a bob cut, adorned with a very long white tie. Pop Couture was the single most annoying pony she ever met in her life. She is famous for designing costumes seen in comics, plays, video games, and such. Sadly though, her speciality turned into her bane, as she became too pompous of her work, looking down on every other "casual" dress-maker. That would have been forgivable, but the fact that she non-stop made references to famous works just made her downright irritating. However, if you wanted your favorite hero's costume become a reality, Pop Couture was the first and best choice.

"You won't believe it but I made it into a fashion contest, it's supposed to be co-op but you know me, I prefer playing solo." she explained, laughing as she watched the mare sorting up the materials on the shelf.

"Oh did you now?" Rarity asked back, in hope of the nightmare disappearing soon. She seriously was unable to care less, and she didn't hide this fact in the least.

"Get in, make a well-known dress and milk the gold, guess who WILL be a millionaire?" she added, poking Rarity's legs with hers. De Ja Wu, Agate also said the same in the very beginning, however, she actually learned her lesson. The seamstress despised this kind of attitude mostly because of Couture.

"You do realize that the judges will be grown-up, experienced professionals and not comic-addict foals, rights?" Rarity asked in a teasing manner, still refusing to look at Couture.

Thus the mare forced her to, grabbing her shoulder and turning the seamstress into her direction.

"If you think you can scare me, if you think you can beat me..." she told her, leaning even closer, her exhales felt on the muzzle of the ivory one "Forget it, it's Chinatown."

With that finished, she let go of the seamstress and backed off, then left the shop with an irritated face. A smug smile spread across Rarity's face, for she managed to leave a long-lasting and bitter after-taste in the mouth of her competitor. Served her right. Then she returned to her job like nothing happened.

Done with buying the fur as well, Rarity pleasantly trotted down the streets later, as if she forgot she had more things to buy in little time. A familiar character caught her attention, a tall, handsome stallion with white coat and royal blue mane. She knew who he was, but she let her eyes wonder along his attribute for a little... and a bit more... just one more second.

'Oh, this is so wrong' Rarity thought, after all, it was a brother of one of her best friends, and he was married too, but she couldn't help it. A little bit later, like lightning did Shining Armor turn back to the feeling he is being watched.

"Rarity! So good to see you." he greated her with a pleasant smile, as he turned back not minding or noticing anything the mare has done.

Rarity felt utmost uncomfortable, but she answered anyway pretending she hasn't noticed stallion at all "Oh hi, Armor. How is your day?"

"Fine, thank you. Agate told me she got you as a teammate for the contest. I hope she is not giving you a hell of a time." told her the guard as they kept strolling down the streets. Shining Armor was always outgoing towards Twilight's friends ever since the wedding.

"Not at all, actually she has shown really good manners so far, she even put down drinking ever since we began working together." Rarity explained, but when her friend began to stretch his lips in a nervous and awkward way, she had to ask "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, not at all." Shining laughed in a nervous way "It's just I bet my fellow fifty bits she won't survive without alcohol for a week and I'm getting really close to losing it."

"Well, you still have two days left so hope for the bests." Rarity giggled back, though inside her mind she was irritated quiet a bit for the guard betting on her misfortune. "I should really get back to shopping if you don't mind." she added, stopping by the store she planned to buy the organza.

"Oh! One last thing" Armor shouted up before parting ways with the seamstress "Did Agate get a bit more... curvy, nowadays?" he asked.

"No, I haven't noticed." Rarity replied as she raised her left eyebrow. Though curious, she didn't intend to spend more time listening to an explanation, thus she didn't ask questions but bid farewell and let themselves be on their ways.

The day passed by faster than it ever did before, but at last, Rarity had all things needed. She took out her checklist once more and gave it a last, swift glance . One thing was still a mystery to her, how could she possibly take the roll of fabric and the plates of steel back to Ponyville? She wasn't sure she can take them onto the train, but then she got reminded by the enormous cake they had to escort months ago. The problem was that the whole plan sounded pretty shaky, for Agate would need to work here with proper equipment for the best result, but that would take far too much time and money taking it back and forth. So, they took whatever they could move to Ponyville. Yet a furnace and an anvil was still needed.

Despite that, Rarity had her trust laid in her partner, she charged up her horn which's signature blue aura engulfed the paper bag, the sylvia and the steel. She opened the door, and after a little trouble with the sheets of steel, she left, locked the building and went to catch up for the train home.