//------------------------------// // Rarity // Story: The World Beyond Her Dreams // by Foals Errand //------------------------------// “Look Sassy, I know that Upper Crust can be fairly uppity about all of this, but do remind him that this is the fifth time that he has tried to charge us more for putting dresses into his stores, and that if he really wants to, then I suppose we’ll need a one hundred percent discount and our stock back.” ”You mean like last time?” Rarity winced at the thought, before rubbing her temples. She had been hoping for nothing overly stressful today, but of course something like this had to happen. It was non-stop really, if she were honest. Some old jerk trying to cheat the new mogul. “You know what, it isn’t worth it. We’ll put him on a six month probation, and when the fall line comes, he’ll have a chance to start stocking us again.” ”Alright, Miss Rarity. I will inform him of his status change then. Now, you go enjoy yourself. I know you were looking forward to today.” “Yeah. Well, goodluck, bye, and kisses!” She smiled as she heard the click of the call and slipped the bluetooth in her ear out. She was done taking calls, especially since she knew that she should be getting to the hospital pretty soon. “Sorry about that, Coco. Just some business to take care of.” The small woman next to her smiled slightly, which was her form of a full blown grin. Rarity had learned a while ago though that her assistant and girlfriend was not always the most… expressive when her nerves got to her. “Like always?” Rarity let herself grin at Coco as she slipped off her sunglasses. The sun was plenty strong enough today to justify them, but she had just thought of what Twilight, or Rainbow for that matter, would say about how she looked. “Touche. Now if only I had remembered to dress lightly like you.” Coco shook her head, knowing that, even if Rarity claimed to have remembered her friend’s tastes, she wouldn’t have. The fashionista had spent too many days in her long dresses, and elegant suits. They were simply what she wore now. Besides, Coco thought the blue and purple dress was quite fitting for this outing anyways. It was inspired by who they were off to see anyways. Unlike her yellow sundress at least. Coco made the final turn to face the hospital. It was a large building, almost imposing even, but the main part wasn’t where they were heading. No, they needed to take about another two turns to the small wing in the back of the hospital for those not expected to leave the hospital. The Cha-rity ward, as it was called after a ‘certain’ wealthy business woman donated for it to be made. Coco slid into their reserved parking spot, the style of their Porsche being almost as effective as any parking pass. While she slid out of the car, Rarity didn’t. Instead she leaned back, almost as if trying to force herself into the upholstery as her fingers intertwined with one another. For a few moments, the two were silent, just looking at each other, before Rarity glanced back to Coco and then shook her head. “S-sorry, I’m just being silly, aren’t I?” Coco shook her head as she walked towards the trunk. “Not at all, Rarity. It has been a while, and I know you never felt right about leaving, despite making sure she was safe and set here.” “Yeah…” Rarity forced her legs to move, getting out of the car one foot at a time, instead of her normal, casual swing. She tried to blame the twelve hour flight before now, instead of the thoughts swimming in her head. “I-I’ll take a suitcase.” Coco huffed a little bit as her arms swung back, her body swaying with a practiced timing to counterbalance the overly stuffed packages. “Come on, Rarity. You don’t have anything to, mph, make up to me. Besides, I bet you’d just drop it.” A scowl crossed Rarity’s lips before she straightened her back and huffed. “You do know I once had no one to help me carry such things around before, correct? Honestly, I’ve never been so insulted in my life!” She then turned on her heel, not wanting Coco to see the smile that her assistant probably knew she had on anyways. Such things did come from being overly dramatic after all. The two strode through the halls as if they were two celebrities, guest passes bouncing from their necks. As donors to the ward, they were entitled to come and go as they pleased, a privilege that Rarity wished she had used before. They still had to state where they were going, in case a patient wasn’t in any condition for them, but otherwise, they didn’t even have to sign in. Not that Rarity took advantage of that today as she walked towards the nurse’s station. Cadance was behind the desk today and leapt at the sight of Rarity, which was rather peculiar to her. She had never seen this nurse, and didn’t know that the hospital had stressed how important it was to treat this woman with respect, even having gone so far as to imprint Rarity’s face in Cadance’s mind. If Rarity had known this, she might know why the woman was panicking so much to write in the fact that they were here. Instead, she frowned slightly more before clasping her hands behind herself “My name is Rarity, and I was hoping to see Nurse Celestia here. Is she not in today?” Cadance stopped for a moment as she tried to fix her panicked scribbles and took a second look at Rarity. The mare had an air of heaviness around her, as if something unseen had been on her shoulders for far longer than it should have, despite her seemingly calm attitude. It was something Cadance had seen a few times over the past two weeks. “Are… Are you one of Twilight’s friends?” A smile broke over Rarity’s face as she answered, her voice not allowing for her to hear Coco’s sigh, as the smaller woman could see the fists behind her employer’s back. “Yes, I am. Is Twilight or/and Celestia available?” Cadance swallowed hard as she walked around the desk. “Twilight is, but Celestia has unfortunately been awake for the past fourteen hours, and Luna and I finally got her to go to sleep in the break room only about fifteen minutes ago. Trust me though, I understand how important Twilight is to all of you, and I should be able to make a fine substitute for Celestia.” Rarity was silent for a few moments, just letting an uncomfortable stillness come between the two. She didn’t know this nurse. She barely knew Luna for that matter, due to the hours she worked, and hardly trusted her either. Still, she did know that a nurse at least had to see her to the room, so… “Alright, lead the way then.” Cadance nodded, trying to act like she didn’t notice the long pause, but still couldn’t help but look at Coco, who simply shook her head, as if to tell her not to question it. Which, was exactly what she did, like so many other times when it came to this patient. And, before Rarity was truly ready, they were at Twilight’s room. Looking in, they all could see the frail woman in the bed, sound asleep. No murmurs or movements, but just the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Rarity looked back to Coco, before snapping her fingers. “Blanket.” Coco nodded, working wordlessly as she opened one of the suitcases and pulling out a large quilt. It blended to each square better than ordinary quilts, because Rarity couldn’t ever do something like this as normal. In each square, surrounded by the girl’s color, was their ‘cutie mark’ as Twilight had described them to Celestia. It was a work of beauty, but Coco honestly hated it, wishing that her beloved hadn’t ever had to hurt so much to make it. She was still able to hide those feelings from Rarity though, especially as she handed it to her. Rarity nodded, feeling the heavy weight of it in her hand as she walked into the room. It was so plain and drab still, just as she had left it, something Rarity now scolded herself. She’d had a few days, so why hadn’t she spent a little bit more time on personalizing Twilight’s room? Well, now she would make up that mistake at least. She threw the large blanket over the bed, letting it fall gracefully onto her friend. It would be more than enough to keep her warm and comfortable. Still, it was only part of her sleeping arrangements, so… “Pillow.” This one was a spectrum of every color in the rainbow that surrounded ‘Celestia’s cutie mark’. Not only was it made from the softest materials that money could buy, but she hoped that it would make her think of the two that loved her most. The two that cared about her, unlike a… She spun around, surprising Coco as held the second suitcase open. Rarity’s hand shot into the bags of materials within, expertly plucking out what she wanted before she pointed to a chair back at the nurse’s station. “Bring that in, and then put the case on it.” Coco sighed at the request, but Rarity was too far gone at the point. “Cadance, can you grab it? If I leave with her supplies, she’ll start panicking.” Cadance blinked, confused as to what was going on, before walking back to the station. There, she saw Luna sitting at her station, resting her head on a hand as she looked towards Twilight’s room. “Do you know what is going on?” Luna’s eyes flicked to Cadance, as if taking her in for the first time. “Oh, um, just… Celestia winning another bet I guess. I wouldn’t worry about it too much though.” “Okay…” Cadance grabbed the chair that had been requested, before walking back to the room. Already, Rarity had put up a half dozen, highly detailed, lightning bolts on the walls. Now she had what looked like crystal apples that she was applying to the next segment of empty space. “What…” Coco laid her suitcase down onto the chair and then stepped out of the room. “Celestia asked us to only use two suitcases, or else we would have had a half dozen for all of this.” Cadance shook her head as she followed Coco back to the station. “That… That’s not what I meant. I mean, what is she doing?” Luna yawned, having stayed up for far too long herself. “She is trying to make the room about Twilight’s friends, rather than anything else.” Coco leaned back, her eyes on the brewing coffee pot with a touch of dismay. “All because…” Rarity stopped, gently lifting the last decoration from its place at the bottom of the suitcase. She then stepped over to Twilight, her body shaking as she held the ornament. “I… I don’t know if this one’s accurate, but… but she did always like these colors, and talked about studying it… I don’t know. I’m sorry. I just hope you like it.” She placed the small, paper craft on Twilight’s chest, tears coming to her eyes as she ran out of gifts. They were supposed to fix this. Fix the hole in her chest. Fix the debt that she owed her friend, because she couldn’t help her. She lowered her head, tears beginning to fall as she whispered, “I’m sorry. I just… I want to help you, but I’m not a doctor. All… All I have is stupid fabric and money, and that can’t do anything. Not… Not for my friend, so what good are they?” And, the only reply to her was silence, and the small breeze that went through the room as Rarity left to walk into Coco’s arms. The breeze ran through the room, shaking the butterflies that hung from the ceiling. It ran over Rarity’s own gems, brushed Twilight’s hair as it came past her head, and then ran over the quilt. It ran and ran, until it picked up the dual colored sun, orange and yellow, that laid on Twilight’s chest, and let it shine in the sunlight that filtered into the room for just a moment. “Sunset…”