A Rarity to Behold

by goldenmoonpony

And Screams Rang Out

Brrring Brrring

A shrill telephone's cry rang out in the inky blackness.

Brrring Brrring

Rarity laid a foreleg over her eyes, willing her mind to block out the annoying noise.

Brrring Brrring

A hoof-stitched Manehatten pillow was pulled over a set of white ears, a ploy to block out the never-ending tone.

Brrring Brrring

Finally accepting it wasn't going to end, she pushed herself off her luxurious four-poster bed, sauntered across the room, and to the telephone.

Brring Brr-

A manicured hoof picked up the antique phone, lifting it to an ear. "Hello?" You could clearly tell she was sleeping before. The usually refined tone was now wavering, which was almost unnoticeable, and the word was slightly slurred. All in all, the cultured pony sounded almost drunk.

Muffled whispers of a deep-voiced mare reached her ears. "Hello, Rarity. Listen to me, watch your back!" The pony's voice rose hysterically, on the verge of breaking. "Some... somepony's after you. You're in terrible danger. Leave, and take into hiding. I promise you won't regret it!"

This instantly sobered Rarity right up. "Who is this?! Tell me, is this some kind of prank?!" Her blue magick gripped the phone tighter, and a note of panic crept in her voice.

"No! You- you don't understand! You're life's in serious danger! Listen- Stay away from-" On the other line, a door slammed open. "Why you little- Give me that!" The new voice was a stallion's. "St- stop it!" Screams erupted.

Through the phone line, Rarity heard a clatter. The phone must have dropped out of the other mare's hoof. More screams. A rattling of chains. Panicked shrieks, and loud, angry yells. Strange gasping. A door slamming. Silence.

"Miss? Miss, are you alright?" No answer. "Miss, Miss?!"

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

The last few weeks had been rough on Rarity, complete with more sightings of a black shadow, and more phone calls.

"Please, you don't understand! You're in serious trouble! If you want to continue being Sweetie Belle's sister, go into hiding!" More rustling from the other line. "Help! Help!"

"This is you're last chance! If you need too, go stay with your parents! Just... just anywhere but Ponyville or Canterlot! Wait- what are you doing?! No- no, stop! Help! HELP!"

It was making her lose sleep, and hard to maintain her appearance, but she was still sewing.

Working on her newest, half-finished, sewing masterpiece, she ran out of ideas. Her, a pony usually overflowing with idea! Bubbling over, almost. Sitting down, the unicorn stared, tilting her head every which way. In her mind's eye, she placed a little ribbon on the shoulder... no... Maybe some lace around the waistline... No... Augh. She had no ideas.

"Well, maybe a book on old Victorian fashion would jog my creative thinking... Yes, I believe I'll pay Twilight a visit."

Giving her mane and coat a once over, and re-applying some makeup, she headed out. Looking around, she noticed the looks the ponies were giving her. Ones of shock. What? Did she look bad today? Purple curls bounced around a white face as a head was shaken. No, no that wasn't it. They just must have been amazed at her beauty. Why, of course! She was Rarity the Unicorn after all.

Continuing her trot to the Library, she stopped to sniff a tantalizing flower. Mhmm, it smelled delicious. Leaning in to take a nibble of a pink petal, a line of black entered her line of sight. Raising her head rather quickly, a blue tail was disappearing around a corner. Standing stock-still, eyes frozen in fear, she tried to ignore it. It must have just been Blues, that jazz pony who played in front of Sugarcube Corner! Or... or it was Shining Armor, visiting his sister. Yes, that must be it. Why, the Library was so close, he must have been just leaving. Controlling her breathing, she slowly calmed down. Shutting her eyes, and taking one last deep breath, she continued her journey.

______________________________________________________________________________________

]I love the fear I'm inducing on her. The first few sights were mistakes, but when I saw how they rattled her, I had to continue. This sense of power... It's lovely. She's perfect, bringing me pleasure in all of her moods. Money in her productive mood, power in her fear, love when she's happy.

I knew she was the one for me.

The only one fit to tend to my needs.

The only one to stand by my side.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Soon after her hallowing sight, she arrived at the door to the Library. Rarity lifted up the brass knocker and let it bang loudly against the wooden door. Hearing hoofsteps on the other side, she straightened her posture and smoothed her hair with a hoof. The door opened and Twilight's smiling face was on the other side.

"Rarity! It-" Her smile faltered for a moment, put she picked it back up. "It's so nice to see you!"

Twilight wasn't sure what to make of her friend.

Her indigo eyes were dull, with the mascara and eyeshadow messily applied. Black and baby blue streaks surrounded her eyes. Underneath them were dark purple bags. Her coat didn't have it's healthy sheen, and had dulled to a pale gray. Rarity's coiffure had hairs sticking up every where, and her curls had loosened into a straight, purple mess. In her entirety, she looked a little like a zombie, without all the bloody wounds.

This couldn't be Rarity.

"Why thank you, darling. May I come inside? I need a book. My creative juices have... quite run out." A shy smile was present.

Well, it seemed to be her. She spoke like her, and acted like Rarity would... This gave the purple unicorn enough proof that the pony before her wasn't a Changeling.

Even so, the librarian was little uncomfortable around this shell of her friend. A little hesitant, she asked, "Rarity, are you sure you're all right?"

"Oh, of course, Darling!" She tittered nervously. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"R-really... no reason. It-it's just you don't seem very much like yourself." Twilight smiled warmly, offering reassurance.

Rarity's eyes widened in panic. How did Twilight notice? She didn't think her lack of sleep was that obvious! She ran over her reflection this morning in her mind, and had to admit she didn't look very well. Very beautiful. Her head sagged, and so did her back.

"You're right, darling. I haven't been feeling... very well." A single crystalline tear was shed. "I've been losing sleep."

"Why, whatever for?" Twilight's voice was quavering, for she knew that Rarity never wasted her beauty sleep.

"Oh. I-Ive been... Never mind. It's too silly. You won't believe me."

"Oh, Rarity." She nuzzled her friend's cheek. "I'll always believe you."

"I-I've been seeing things. A pony's shadow, everywhere I go."

"A carrot would sound good around now."

Going out to the market place, she immediately made a beeline to Carrot Top's booth. Rustle rustle. Her eyes shifted to look at the bushes, the tip of a horn poking out. She swiftly cantered by, seeking the refuge of Carrot Top's presence all of a sudden.

"I need more ribbon."

Starting out to the accessory store, Rarity swore she saw part of a hoof and leg sticking out from behind her trashcans. A feeling of not wanting to be out in the open overtook her, and she rushed back inside.

"E-even on my way here!" Unshed tears rushed into her eyes, making her vision blurry.

Before she got hysterical, Rarity had one more thing to ask of Twilight. "T-twilight, i-is you're brother visiting? An-and happened to leave moments before I came?" Her lip was quivering, making her speech almost intelligible.

Purple eyes popped open in surprise. "Why, no! Rarity, what would give you an idea? Was he here?! And he didn't come to visit?!" Loud hyperventilating was heard from both ponies: one in anger, the other in fear.

That tail. It wasn't Blues the jazz pony. It was the wrong shade. The dress-maker might have not known as many ponies as Pinkie, but thinking back, none of the ponies in Ponyville matched the tail's color. Who's was it?

The white unicorn caved under the stress. Diving in the general direction of Twilight, the fashionista sobbed into her friend's furry purple chest. Twilight's hoof rubbed comforting circles on a white back as she spoke. "It's alright Rarity. I'll find out what's going on." Her gaze shifted down onto her crying friend's form. "I will, for you."

______________________________________________________________________________________

Returning home with her book, and nerves less frayed then before, she noticed her mailbox. The flag was up, signaling she had mail. Depositing her book on the table inside, she came back out and opened the tiny door.

Inside wasn't what you might think. There were no dead animal parts... Just a small, black, velvet box. Slowly slipping it out, she noticed the tag on it. To the perfect pony.

Slightly unnerved, the dress-maker carried it inside, trying her best not to touch it with her hooves. To accomplish this, she levitated it a little in front of her face. Setting it down on the nearest flat surface, which happened to be her coffee table, a horn's magick was used to open the box cautiously. Diving behind the couch as she did so, a loud thump resulted. Slightly opening one of her blue eyes, Rarity noticed it hadn't exploded. In fact, whatever was inside, was currently shimmering in the light. Trotting over, a gasp escaped white lips, a matching hoof raised against a fuzzy chest..

It was a diamond wedding ring.

A note was wrapped around it. Marry me? Slipping it around her horn, Rarity found it was the perfect size.

She threw it across the room, scared to even touch it. Judging by how large the main diamond was, and all the tiny matching cut ones littering the gold, it was worth a fortune. In fact, she remembered eyeing this exact ring when she went to pick up the brooch for Big Macintosh... after she saw the shadow.

Shivering, she realized what was happening, and started bawling. Not wanting to be alone with... with who ever was doing this, she ran. Not to Twilight and the Library, though.

To Sweet Apple Acres and Big Mac.

Arriving at her destination, she didn't bother to open the door, and instead rushed inside. It was five o'clock, and she knew he would be resting temporarily before going back to bucking.

Finding him at the table, eating a slice of apple coffee cake, Rarity threw herself into his arms. Applejack soon came running downstairs. She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but Big Mac shook his head 'No'. Shutting her mouth quickly, she set her Stetson hat down on the kitchen table, and nuzzled Rarity's cheek, giving her a large hug. they remained like this for a while.

Soon, she ran out of tears, and fell asleep in Big Mac's arms. Applejack had left long before, to finish Big Mac's work, so he could spend his time with Rarity.

Carrying her up the stairs, Big Mac laid her down on his bed, and nuzzled her good night. "Maybe when you wake up, you'll tell us just what happened."

______________________________________________________________________________________

How dare she treat my gift like that?!

I spent time deciding what ring would compliment her best, and she goes and throws it across a room?! She even goes and runs to that dumb farm pony, Big Macintosh. Ick.

When she's finally here, in my house with me, wearing that beautiful ring around her horn, she'll know not to cross me.

Rarity will be the most beautiful wife, the only one lovely enough to be mine.

Comments

[ihaveofficiallyretired]

[pinkstar]

That give away ruined the story mostly I suggest removing the last sentence

[SightlessOne]

520607
Not necessarily, there's a clue hidden earlier in the story about her.... "admirer".

[Fabulous]

Oh my

HIM?

[pinkstar]

520909 yeah but there is a difference between small clues and dead giveaways

[SightlessOne]

523405
It's all in how you look at it, my friend. To be fair, however, I'm not sure if goldenmoonpony meant to hide the "admirer's" identity and this was a purposeful reveal.

[goldenmoonpony]

At first, I wanted it to be the reader knew who it was, and then Rarity realizes it at a funeral... But I decided this was better.

[toafan]

I still suspect the same person. I haven't met them on the show yet, so I'm not completely certain, but all the pieces appear to fit. Rarity still hasn't figured out who her stalker is, though.

> Rarity threw herself into his arms.
Arms got through again. Actually, in this case I think it works better -- forcing a 'pony' term feels, well, forced. I'd say leave it... except you use forelegs in the next paragraph. An edit of some sort appears to be in order.

[goldenmoonpony]

I was getting worried without your regularly scheduled criticism.

Hehe... yeah... arms...

[NightmareLuna27]

Seriously, if you don't update this soon I will end up like this
On a brighter note I absolutely love this story! Very well written and the plot is fantastic!
Can't wait for more

[goldenmoonpony]

547159
Have no fear! After my prereader checks it, you'll have a chapter that's over 2,000 words long!