10 Days, 3 Adventures - Part 2 - "Manehattan Crime Story"

by TP Night

Chapter 1 - The Day Before The Journey - Raritys Day

Raritys alarm clock started beeping. She woke up and gently rubbed her eyes,
while using her magic to throw the alarm-clock out through the open window.
She mumbled something about getting a new one - again - and got up from her bed.
She had been awoken in the middle of a pleasant dream, involving herself and
a prestigious fashion award. And she was also known for having a bad morning temper.
Usually it only lasted a few minutes though. She went into her bathroom and splashed
her face with nearly-ice-cold water to wake up properly. After that, she went over to
her mirror and sat down. She started with the mane, and then proceeded with the usual
make-up - some barely noticeable blush, the light blue eye-shadow, some eye-liner,
and finally some mascara to get her eyelashes large and black.
Once she was satisfied, she left her room. She walked past Sweeties door and knocked
gently on it to wake her sister up.

“Sweetie, it’s time to get up. I have a lot of work today, and you have your friends.
You promised to stay out of the house today, remember?”

From inside Sweeties room, she heard some incoherent mumbling and grunts.
Sweetie had the same morning temper as Rarity.

“I expect you to be downstairs within five minutes, Sweetie. I’m going down to
start breakfast now. Five minutes.”

After five minutes, Sweetie walked into the kitchen, finding Rarity making porridge,
toast and tea. She looked over her shoulder when Sweetie entered the room.

“Be a dear and go see if the newspaper has arrived, would you? I’m almost done here.”

Sweetie yawned and turned around. “Okay, be right back...”

Another couple of minutes passed, and Sweetie returned with the newspaper and a letter.

“What’s that?” Rarity asked when she saw the letter.

“Commercials as usual.” Sweetie mumbled with the paper in her mouth.

“Ah, just toss it then, and put the newspaper on the table.”

Sweetie did as she was asked, and they both sat down to enjoy their breakfast.

Rarity opened the newspaper and skimmed through it.

“Some robbery attempt in manehattan.. Somepony made an attempt at a bank.
blahblahblaaaaah...
hmm...
blah, blah...
Some upgrades being made in Cloudsdale Weather Factory within the next few days...
blah blah, blah...politics... blah...”

Sweetie buttered some toast and looked at her sister. “Can I have the Funny Pages
when you’re done? I wanna read the comic strips and the daily riddle.”

“Hm? Oh, sure. I’m almost done. Finish your breakfast while I finish reading.
You can have it when we’re both done.”

“Okay.” Sweetie smiled and kept eating. After she was done, Rarity gave her the
newspaper so she could read the comics. While she did, Rarity cleaned off the table
and took care of the dishes.

“Now, while I’m gone you’re gonna spend a few days at the farm with the Apple
family, and a few days here at home with a sitter. I spoke to the neighbor,
Rose Luck. She will stay here at the boutique with you. And I will be back
in one and a half week - ten days. If you need something, you can always ask
Applejack, Big Mac, Granny Smith, Twilight, or Rose Luck for help.”

“What about Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy?”

“They are going away too, some school reunion or something like that,
in Cloudsdale.”

“Oh, right, Scootaloo mentioned that Rainbow was going to some Academy thing.
Must have been that.”

“I guess so, yes. Anyway, get going now, I need peace and quiet so I can finish up
my work before I leave tomorrow... I’ll see you later, at dinner time.”

Sweetie Belle was just about to leave, when Rarity spoke again.

“Oh, wait, one last thing. What do you want to eat tonight? I was thinking I
can cook something nice since it’s our last night together for some time.”

“Can we order pizza?”

“How about a compromise? I can make home-baked pizza.”

“Deal, but on one condition!”

“And that condition is...?”

“No garlic this time.”

“Fine, no garlic this time, I promise.” Rarity smiled. “How about... tomato slices,
chopped broccoli, some leek, maybe olives?”

Sweetie considered it for a moment, and responded. “Black olives, NOT green.”

Rarity couldn’t help but giggle a little at their negotiations.

“Deal. Tomato, broccoli, leek, black olives.”

“Deal.” Sweetie Belle agreed, and then left the house. Rarity went back into the
kitchen and made some coffee, and then proceeded into the work room,
where she was almost done with a few different designs for the upcoming
autumn collection. She usually worked one season ahead.
In spring, she made the summer collection. In summer, she made the Autumn collection,
and so on. That way she was recent enough in her fashions, but still early enough
to have a collection made just in time for each season without rushing too much.

“Now let’s see... when I get home, I must remember to buy more of these wind-resistant
fabrics for the jackets...”

* * *

The day passed mostly without problems, except a minor hiccup with the
sewing machine. Then again, it was a few years old... Maybe it was time to
have it replaced. She could probably get one at a decent price from that inventor,
the blue pegasus.. whatever his name was. Something with Clever or Closure,
or Clearance... Something that started with “Cl” anyway.

At mid-day she decided it was time for a short break, and she might as well
get the shopping done. She left the house and looked up at the sky.
Almost cloudless, but a few small drifting ones could be seen further away.
She made her way to the grocery store, run by an old mare.

“Good day, Miss Rarity.” the old mare welcomed her when she entered the shop.

“Oh, good day to you too, missus Weave.”

“What can I get you today?”

“Let’s see.. I already have the tomatoes... so I’ll need some broccoli, some leek,
and a jar of black olives. I’m making a pizza today. Oh, and I’ll also need flour
and salt, for the dough.”

“Pizza you say? how fancy. Special occasion perhaps?” The old mare smiled.

“Sort of. I’m leaving for ten days tomorrow. Fashion show in Manehattan.
So since it’s mine and Sweeties last night together for a while, we decided
to have something extra good for dinner.”

“I see, I see.. So she will be alone for so long?”

“Oh, of course not, I’ve arranged for her to stay at the Apple orchard for a few days,
and a few days home with a sitter.”

“Good, good. Oh, tell you what... I’ll throw in this pack of candy for her,
as a small gift from me. If that’s okay of course.” The old mare held up a pack
of rock candy.

“Hm, I suppose it couldn’t hurt.” Rarity said, and took the pack with a smile.
“I better get going now, much left to do.” She said after paying, and left the store.
She went straight home after that, and continued sewing and drawing the autumn
line-up of clothes. A few more hours passed, and she went into the kitchen to start
the pizza baking. A little while later she heard the door open.

“Sweetie Belle, is that you?” She said in a slightly raised voice to make sure
she was heard out to the hallway.

“Yeah, it’s me. Do we have any band-aids? I pricked my leg on a rose thorn.”

“Oh my.. Nothing serious I hope?” Rarity asked, sounding a bit worried.

“No, nothing worse than usual.” Sweetie smiled sheepishly and showed Rarity
the small wound. It was barely even bleeding, but a band-aid for a few hours was
probably a good idea anyway, just in case. Rarity got a small bottle of cleaning
alcohol and a cotton pad. “This will probably sting a bit, but I need to make sure the
wound is clean, no matter how small it is.”

“I know, we’ve been through this countless times... Just get it over with..”

Rarity patted the wound with the alcohol drenched cotton pad, and Sweetie Belle
flinched a little but said nothing. She was used to the sting after the countless other
times she mentioned. Afterwards, Rarity applied the band-aid.
“We’ll let it sit overnight and take it off after breakfast tomorrow, the wound should
not even be visible anymore by then.”

“Is the food done soon? It’s starting to smell good here.” Sweetie said while sniffing
in the air.

“I’d say around five more minutes, so it’s almost done. Oh, and before I forget...
Quill Weave gave you a small bag of rock candy, orange flavored.
You can have ONE now as an appetizer, and the rest of it tomorrow.”

“wohoo, candy!” Sweetie Belle bounced like Pinkie Pie.

“After dinner, We should get to bed early. Although the train leaves at 10, we’ll
need to be up and ready long before that, so I’m going to set my alarm an hour
earlier. Speaking of which, I need to borrow your alarm clock. Mine.. uhm...”

“...was lying outside in the flower garden, I took it in. Still works.”

Rarity blushed. “Thanks.”

When the pizza was done, they both sat down and ate, and after dinner they went to bed.