There are a thousand reasons for not making a purchase at the Carousel Boutique. Some of them are legitimate. Many are excuses. The majority are lies. Falsehoods which Rarity has been listening to for years now, without the slightest touch of variety in the performances. Lies which, during the first week of Ponyville's summer tourist season. have escalated to the point where it feels like they're the only words being said at all.

So if nopony is going to buy anything no matter what Rarity does -- why not call them out on a few? Surely that couldn't do any harm, at least not more than what's already been done?

Surely...

(A stand-alone, no prior-reading-necessary part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page (with new Recap section) and FIMFiction group: new members and trope edits are welcome. )

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

When Coco Pommel is summoned to Ponyville, she encounters the last thing she thought she'd ever see: a Rarity who has completely lost the passion for her profession.

Moved by Rarity's plight, Coco will do everything she can to bring the sparkle back to her friend. But will she, an almost complete outsider to Rarity's life, be enough?

Editing duties courtesy of nanashi_jones.

Rainbow Dash is trapped in a room, and she can't get out until she writes a letter.

Russian translation by Repitter.

Russian audio reading, also by Repitter.

Proofread by MrNumbers and Octavia Harmony.

In the aftermath of her battle against Tirek, Twilight Sparkle is unwell. She wants more. She needs more. And she is afraid of what others might think of her.

But even in the midst of her growing despair that she has betrayed everything she stood for, she learns something about friendship and what it means to be an alicorn.

She is as beautiful and graceful as the moon, and just as hard to reach. He is a young artist with much to learn about the world. When he accepts her challenge to create an artistic masterpiece, will he win her heart, or learn a terrible lesson in the nature of beauty and love?