A Real Heartbreaker

Chapter 1

A wreck, both emotionally and physically. Why did she feel this way? Was it because of the ensemble she had just finished? Even with its simplicity, it had truly been one of her better works, one she could take great pride in, yet, for some reason as the thought of it remained in her. It was truly a magnificent white dress, hoof stitched. It was so simple, yet, so elegant. Why did she feel like this though? Why was she filled with such frustration, such sadness? Normally, this wouldn't bother her, but the dress itself seemed to stir something from within. Was it because it was a wedding dress that it made her feel like this? No, that couldn't be it, could it? She had designed many wedding dresses, especially in the last year, none of which made her feel this way. This one however just seemed, different. She couldn't quite place her hoof on it, but, it just felt different than the other dresses she had designed.

The marshmallow colored unicorn mare finally let go a sigh of defeat as she turned away from the dress, not wanting to think about it further. Instead, she trotted off, making a bee-line for the washroom. As she flicked on the lights, she saw something she wished she hadn't, something she hadn't even realized. It was in utter shambles, her once glorious indigo colored mane, was a complete train wreck. On top of that, she took notice of the dark circles beneath her eyes, this wasn't the surprising part though, what really caught her off guard was the fact that, her eyes were fairly puffy and bloodshot, indicating that she had been crying. When had she though? How was it she hadn't noticed her own tears? Then again, she had been up half the night finishing the dress and with her focus solely on the dress, she probably wouldn't of noticed.

This wasn't of vital importance however, as she simply wanted to get some rest. With a damp washcloth in hoof, she began to wipe off her face, letting the lower temperature soothe a bit of her weariness, at least a little bit, before she set it aside. This seemed to help as a bit of the puffiness vanished from beneath her eyes. Yet, she knew it wouldn't cure her of her bloodshot eyes, that would be something she'd need a bit of rest for, as not only was it caused by her crying, but it was also caused from her lack of sleep and overtaxation of her vision.

With her final task done for the time being and after cleaning her face, she trotted from the washroom. It was at this time where her exhaustion finally began to catch up with her, which resulted in a soft yawn coming from her as she proceeded into the other room, her bedroom. The hallway felt unusually long today, but she could attribute it to just simple exhaustion. Once she had finally reached her room, it became sweet relief, not even bothering with anything else, she quietly climbed onto her bed and collapsed face first into a pillow. The sheets themselves were very cool from not having been touched in around a day and it felt simply blissful for her.

Before long though, she found herself now facing upward at the canopy of the bed, which in itself was a soft shade of pink, the shade itself seemed to stir something within her as she felt even more tears beginning to well up. What only seemed to make it worse was the simple fact that her blankets were a dark red color. This resulted in her mind being flooded with questions, the first and most important of which, why was she crying? Why did she have this pain in her chest? One that seemed to travel to every inch of her being? It was only when she turned her head, to take notice of the date circled on the calendar. February Fourteenth.

It was only then did she realize why she felt like this. Hearts and Hooves day was just a week away and she had nopony to spend it with! How could she have been so careless? Then again, she hadn't done it intentionally, it was more of the fact that she had been busy the entire time to really take note of the date, or even how it effected her, at least though, she was now beginning to understand why these tears had begun to fall. With another sigh, she slowly closed her eyes to think. Why, of all ponies was she still alone? Was it the fact that she was too picky? Or was it something else? Compared to the rest of her friends, she was the only one that seemed to be without anypony special. Then again, there was always Pinkie Pie, but when she recalled the conversation with her on the subject, the white mare only frowned in her own displeasure.

'Pinkie said she's not interested in relationships.' she thought, which came before another sigh. What about her other friends though? Fluttershy had that mysterious stallion that she had been caring for, for about a month so far. Although the sad part was, the poor stallion couldn't even remember his own name, in fact, she was sure he still didn't recall it. Then again, she hadn't asked about him.

Next came Applejack and Rainbow Dash, they had found something a bit deeper than they previously had, mostly through one of their competitions, ones the mare often found silly. What had they seen in each other anyhow? That was the wonder for her. Not that she minded, she had in fact been happy for them when they finally revealed their relationship to the town.

Finally, came Twilight. Not more than a year ago she had become a princess, which had been a major life change, but upon that life change, she had also found a new teacher. The new teacher had been quite the handsome stallion too. With his very deep blue coat, one she struggled with finding the right word to describe and his luxurious silver mane. One that she found herself envious of on countless occasions. On countless occasions she had indeed tried flirting with the stallion, but it was to no avail. Eventually she learned why, he and Twilight had started seeing each other as well! This proved to be a bit heartbreaking for her, even though she was happy for her friend. Especially for bagging quite the stallion.

The more she thought about it, the worse she felt, with each passing second the emptiness in her heart grew. Then she was reminded of possibly one of the biggest upsets of her life, something she probably wouldn't of seen coming. The one who had held out for her for so long, had moved on! The precious young dragon that had such a large crush on her, had found somepony else! Not only that, but it was somepony she was actually close to as well! It wasn't a surprise though, considering the significant age difference between her and the dragon. Perhaps it had been for the best that he had fallen for her little sister instead? No matter how heartbreaking it felt. Why had she though? Why had she rejected his feelings? Even after he had given her such an extravagant gift. One she cherished to this day. As all of these thoughts continued to race through her mind and heart however, it became increasingly obvious as to what her problem was. This only upset her further, to the point where the tears began to flow and she began to sob uncontrollably into her pillow. This ended abruptly however, as she heard the bell on the door ring, one she put in place to alert her to a customer.

Downstairs, a certain deep blue alicorn had trotted inside. His silvery-golden orbs shifting across the room. Already he could see that she had indeed been busy, having made several suits and dresses. Most of which he figured were for Hearts and Hooves day. He flicked aside his silvery mane, which seemed to glisten as the light hit it, and before long he could hear the hoof steps of his friend. They seemed panicked however, as he listened closely to each and every movement she made, he was even sure she stumbled over something before finally being able to trot down the stairs. What his eyes saw about her though was absolutely appalling, in the time he had known the unicorn, he had never seen her in such a dreadful state.

'What's happening to you, Rarity?' he asked himself, as he gazed over her entire form. The first thing he took notice of, was the fact her mane was a bit unkempt, messy. Which was unusual for her, she was usually very careful as to keep it tidy and while her coat was still overall fine, what seemed to strike him as even more unusual was, her eyes were just a bit on the puffy side. On top of that, she had very dark circles beneath them, which indicated to him, a distinct lack of sleep. Had she been overworking herself? Not only that, had she been crying? Why? Thankfully though, he quickly picked up on it as she entered the room as he took notice of a dress in particular before turning his attention back to her. 'Is she...really that lonely?'

“Good morning, Silver!” Rarity greeted, hiding her real emotions behind a clearly obvious fake smile. It broke the stallion's heart to see her in such a state. Not only was she overworking herself, but the reason she was doing it only seemed to make it worse. With a sigh, he brought himself back to focus, instead of observing.

“Morning Rarity...I came to pick up my tuxedo...have you finished it?” His voice was calm, but behind that and because of an empathy spell he had been put under, courtesy of his student, on top of his abilities as an alicorn, he couldn't help but feel everything the mare was feeling at this time. Every. Single. Detail. It was almost as if he could read her mind right now, but instead, he found himself reading her very heart. Which was only working to break his own. Never in his life had he felt such anguish and loneliness, which only seemed to frustrate him a tiny bit, making him shift uncomfortably as he faced her. Thankfully it didn't take her more than a few minutes to find the tuxedo he had been asked about.

While she had been searching though, an idea came to mind. As the tuxedo levitated over to him, a grin appeared on his face. This grin was one of his signature expressions too, often signifying something. It was one Rarity had seen quite often around him, usually it meant something devious, yet very helpful. What he said however, caught her completely off guard. “You should take a vacation.” he simply said, which caught her completely off guard. Almost immediately she wanted to object to it, raising her hoof to speak, but she was quickly cut off. “You look like you need it...so don't argue...and don't worry, I'm sure Twilight and I can keep an eye on everything here, to make sure everything goes where it needs to go.”

“But...where would I take a vacation to?” she asked, not arguing against the idea of actually taking one now. This was a good sign for Silver too, as he tapped his chin in thought. Where indeed could she take a vacation? Manehatten? No, that was out of the question. Phillydelpia? Possible, but the more he thought about it, the less likely it would be, given a previous experience in that city for him. His last thought involved Canterlot, just then, inspiration hit home with him and the gears began to turn full blast in his mind. Thus resulting in the second smirk.

“Canterlot.” Silver finally replied, after nearly a minute of silence. This seemed to perk the mare right up, the idea of going to Canterlot again would be incredible, especially for a vacation. Then she was reminded of the fact that it was nearing Hearts and Hooves day, which seemed to dampen her spirits a bit.

“I'd hate to burst your bubble, dear, but...Canterlot is going to be packed this week...there won't be a place for me to stay.” Even with this news, his smirk never seemed to vanish, in fact it only seemed to grow with the words.

“Don't you worry...I'll handle all of the arrangements, you just worry about packing.” Rarity's hope had been renewed with this, her ears perking up and a smile beginning to spread across her face. “But...you better pack quickly...because, you'll be on the first train out tomorrow.”

Here is where she laughed nervously....

One day. One single day was all she had. Well, actually less than a day, but that was irrelevant. How could she pack everything she felt like she needed to bring in such a short time? Why hadn't she smacked him when he said this? She had the perfect opportunity to do as such, which came right after he had dropped the news that she had better be prepared by morning. This left her frustrated beyond belief, groaning as she climbed back up the stairs to pack a few things. As she vanished up the stairs, she sent the alicorn stallion one final glare, which didn't even seem to phase him in the least.

It wasn't impossible for her to pack what she needed and wanted to bring in such a short timeframe. She had pulled off more startling things before, such as getting a dozen of each of her friends' gala dresses done in less than a week for Hoity Toity. Thankfully at the time she had quite a bit of help from her friends otherwise she may not of gotten it finished. So to the white mare, it wasn't really too great of an issue, even though she still had to decide what she should pack and what she shouldn't.

Rarity's first step was to pack the essentials first, most of which consisted of basic toiletries and a few beauty products, ones she often swore by. All of which she packed into a smaller carrying bag, which she placed into the first suitcase. After packing that neatly, she opened one of the drawers on her dresser. Here is where things became interesting, as she began to search through her various outfits to find the right ones to take with her. As she was, she began to ask herself one question. What exactly was she going to do in Canterlot for the next week? While she thought this, the mare took note of one of her older dresses, one she hadn't worn in quite a while. It was a formal red dress, very elegant, even shimmering when held up to the light. When she saw it, hope was renewed in her heart and she knew right then what she was going to do.

The vacation, which she so desperately needed, could serve more than one purpose. Not only did she need some rest, but given that Hearts and Hooves day was just a few short days away, she could use it to potentially find herself a stallion. Once this idea set in, she began to scour through the rest of the room searching for other outfits she could possibly wear on a date, or to attract the attention of a stallion. Some were more along the lines of sweet and tender, while others, others she had intended on being a surprise for the lucky stallion. Least, she hoped so anyhow.

It didn't take Rarity very much longer to actually pack up all that she wanted to bring with her. She had even scared herself how fast she had packed up everything and unlike before, she found herself only donning a single suitcase. As she gazed upon it, she could only smile, with the hopes that, come tomorrow, her deepest desire may finally be answered. With that in mind, she found herself unable to actually fall asleep that evening, excitement actually beaming in her.

It showed that following morning as she met Silver at the train station. He said little, he simply just offered her the ticket she needed, saying that all the arrangements had been made. He hadn't even gone into detail where she'd be staying. However, the one clue that provided a bit of help was, when he said that somepony would be waiting for her when she arrived. The alicorn didn't say who though, just that she'd find him relatively easily, especially considering the station shouldn't be too packed this early in the morning as it was the first train of the day. Onto the train she went too, with a look of displeasure in the direction of the stallion who had arranged the whole vacation for her. Even though it was just a week long.

Within a couple of hours, the mare had found herself clamoring off of the train, with a yawn, she set aside her suitcase to stretch her legs as she set foot upon the platform. It had been like Silver said, the platform was rather empty in the mornings, although she did see the occasional pony climbing off along with her. Not only that, but it seemed the train itself was rather empty even with Hearts and Hooves day coming up. She would've at least expected to see a few more, but she didn't mind. In this case she was rather happy to not have to deal with rather large crowds. After taking a moment to collect herself, her eyes began to wander, shifting around the platform for the pony she was supposed to meet, even though she had absolutely no idea who that was supposed to be. It wasn't until she felt a hoof on her shoulder that she jumped, virtually spiraling around to meet the gaze of the pony that had just made contact.

“Good Morning, Miss Rarity.” A deep, yet very polite voice called out before she actually met this pony's gaze. As her azure eyes met the pony though, her jaw simply dropped. The first thing she took notice of was the semi-unruly dark brown mane. Normally this would bother her, but, she didn't see a single tangle in the mane itself, it seemed virtually flawless and finely combed, just naturally unruly. Next, her eyes were met with his and it was enough to almost make her melt where she stood. The combination of the green and brown suited him exceptionally. It wasn't until her eyes trailed further down his form did she truly take notice. His luscious forest green coat, the shade was simply exquisite, ideas began to flow as they were met with it, but that was just the tip of the iceberg for Rarity as she took one final note of him. His muscles. Compared to most stallions, his muscles were even more finely toned, he could easily pass for a royal guard if she didn't already know better. She could make out very fine details in them, he was a stallion and a half. Was this the pony Silver had intended on meeting her? Because, not in a single moment had she actually expected to meet him. A real prince. At least in her eyes.

“P-Prince E-Emerald?!”