Little Stars

by Holy


Laced Dresses

"Sonata, for pete's sake just work with me here," you say as your hands fumble around the straps of her carseat. She's trying to get out herself around you, squirming around the straps and pushing your hands around so you can't even get to the buckles without getting trapped in her wriggling.

"I can do it, daddy! Just let me--" Sonata says as she manages to lift her arms out of a hole that should be nowhere near big enough for her torso to fit through.

Adagio and Aria are giggling on the sidewalk behind you, obviously enjoying the show as Sonata contorts her body into shapes you didn't think possible.

"If you would just hold still I could have already had you out of there, honey. Please just..." You try to hold her in place but it's a futile effort. She's already gotten herself tangled sideways in the straps and getting her out now would be like untangling Christmas lights.

"Ow!" Sonata cries out for a moment as she pinches herself in the straps tied even tighter around her body. Her eyes instantly well with tears and she finally sits still for half a second.

"See, honey? Just let me help you and this wouldn't have happened." Now that she's finally still you can finally unclip the buckle and pull her out with ease, albeit a little worse for wear. You lift her up and set her on the concrete, a little red mark on her hand where the mean straps bit her instantly going up to her mouth to try to make better.

She lets out a little whine and instantly throws herself onto Adagio for a hug. Aria just rolls her eyes and whispers "crybaby" under her breath while Adagio rubs her sisters head and tells her it's going to be alright.

"Now, let's not keep Rarity waiting. She worked really hard to make dresses for you so be nice to her, alright?"

They all nod to you as you walk them up the path to the door. Aria has an excited little smirk on her face she's trying to hide from her sisters, but Adagio is too busy nursing Sonata along to notice.

"Rarity? We're here," you say as you usher the girls into the shop. The smell of expensive perfume hits your nose like a quick slap, almost prompting you to cough. You never could get used to the smell of this place, despite coming in and out since high school.

"Right here, darling!" Rarity says, peaking her head around a corner. "I just finished up one of the dresses and I'm just putting the finishing touches on the last two."

"Great, are you--"

"Can we try them on?!" Aria immediately spits out.

Rarity walks around the corner and gives her a little giggle. "Yours is actually the one that's done, dear," Aria's face brightens up with a smile until she looks over and sees Adagio smirking at her. Aria shoots her sister the stink eye before crossing her arms. "Just give me about ten minutes and we'll be all ready. I just need to get some more quick measurements for Sonata and Adagio."

Aria rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

Rarity looks down at Sonata and sees tears streaming down her face and instantly kneels down to her and holds her. "Sonata, darling, what's wrong?"

"The seatbelt attacked me," she said in her most pitiful voice.

"Huh?" Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow.

You let out a sigh. This happens at least every other time you get her out of her carseat. "She tried to squirm out of the straps on her car seat. I didn't know it was humanly possibly to get tangled up in them like she does."

"Oh, Sonata, it's going to be okay. Don't you want to see your new dress? It's going to have pink on it." And in an instant Sonata immediately forgot she was in any pain in the first place.

"Pink!? What does it look like?" She says, her face brightening up with the brightest smile you've seen on her since you took the girls into a candy shop.

"Follow me, darling, I'll let you try it on to get the final measurements."

Rarity stands up and puts her hand on Sonata's back to lead her to the back room. Adagio follows them closely with an excited little smile on her face as well.

You follow them in with Aria at your side through the side door to Rarity's little workshop. You can't remember the last time you've actrually been in here; must've been at least five years ago. It's definitely a lot messier than you last remembered: little bits of string and strips of cloth are thrown around as if a scissor tornado blew through. Pincushions and rolls of measuring tape cluttered her desk on top of the thick stacks of drawing paper that had her designs and doodles all over them. You forgot how talented Rarity actually is being apart for so long. The drawings on her table looked effortlessly lifelike, at least as much as monochrome and pencil could.

The platforms were really the only neat thing in the room that you noticed. Rarity led the girls back to a dressing room and gave them all their respective outfits. All three of them excitedly rush in with bright smiles on their faces, even Aria who doesn't seem to mind Adagio's occasional amused grin at this point.

"Nothing too revealing this time I hope," you say with an accusatory tone.

"Oh, darling, please. It was only a little midriff. Besides, these are for a wedding; anything too revealing would be garish. When they come out I promise you you'll absolutely adore them."

"Let's just wait a few years before you try to turn my girls into super models, deal?"

Rarity lifts her hand over her mouth for a quick giggle. "Oh, I suppose I can wait. If we're being honest though, Sonata would absolutely live for the runway."

"Easy now," you say with a stern look towards her. The two of you share a quick laugh before settling on the dressing room curtain, listening to the girls' little grunts and bickering as they tried to put on their dresses.

"So, how are you doing?" Rarity asks, looking over at you with a hint of concern.

You shrug. "I'm making it through. Not much has changed in the last couple years so I don't have anything particularly interesting to tell you."

"That's kind of what I was afraid of. Don't you ever get out anymore? Have a night out on the town or spend time with friends?"

The thought of your date with Cheerilee sprang to mind. You're kind of glad, considering how that one went down. "I don't think that's a thing adults really do."

"Oh, nonsense, darling," Rarity says with a wave of her hand. "I still go out all the time to meet with friends. Or, mostly acquantainces and business contacts. Still, the occasional dinner party never hurt anyone. I think it might be good for you do something exciting in your life, don't you? It would leave you less time to dwell on things"

"With the girls though? I've yet to find a consistent babysitter that can handle Aria, and who would I go with? Not many of our I'old friends still live around here."

"Well... I've been dying to try out this new french restaurant that opened on the other side of town if you'd be so kind as to accompany me."

You look over at her with a sly smile. "That's one way to ask someone out."

Rarity rolls her eyes and nudges you with her elbow, a light blush forming on her face. "Darling, please. I'm only trying to spend some time with a friend. Besides, it'd be nice to finally be around someone who isn't so..."

"Stuck-up? Spoiled? Prissy?"

That got a laugh out of her. "Well, I wouldn't have put it like that, but yes. Someone a little more down to earth. We always had fun together in high school and college, didn't we?"

"I was always surprised you were hanging out with losers like Applejack and I."

Rarity waves you off. "You and Applejack are not losers. I've been very good friends with her since we met, and even to this day since she still lives around. And I don't know how I would avoid being around you. Sunset brought you to just about every single thing we would do together. I think I would've had to pry you away from her with a crowbar if I wanted some alone time with her."

You let out a bittersweet sigh. "Well, you were her best friend. You two spent plenty of time together without me."

"Well I'm not saying I didn't enjoy your company. You were a joy to be around. It's just a shame that all those rumors kept everyone else away from you; you would've made so many great friends otherwise."

You let out a quick chuckle. "If there was one thing Sunset was good at before we got together, it was ruining someone's reputation."

"I think she more than made up for it, don't you?"

Before you can answer, Adagio walks out from behind the curtain sporting her new dress. It was a pristine white with artistic lace going down the sides. The fabric clung gently to her figure and flowed outwards around her knees. The simple, laced design might not have been the most complex thing in the world, but it still made your little girl look radiant.

"She definitely did."

"How do I look, Dad?" Adagio says with a bright smile. She looks between you and her dress, lifting and turning it to see how it would flow as she turned her body.

"It looks great, honey. A lot better than Rarity's last outfit to be sure."

Rarity rolls her eyes again. "Ugh, you are never going to let that go, are you?"

Aria and Sonata follow out close behind. Aria's dress is a lot like Adagio's but the streaks of light purple and red added some character to it that suited her personality really well. Sonata's dress on the other hand mostly abandoned the traditional white for a more light pink color, with a lot more lace and a bow that wrapped around her waist. It looks more appropriate for her age, strangely, and went well with her blue ponytail, though the only real problem is that she was missing an arm. Her head was stuck through an arm hole and her left arm was sticking through the head hole. Her right arm was stuffed up against her side and her left side had a little more poof to it with that extra sleeve.

"Rarity? I think it's kinda tight," Sonata says, trying to squirm to get her other arm through and tugging the sleeve around her neck.

You and Rarity both leap on her to try to pull her head out of the sleeve before she chokes. Both Adagio and Aria take a step back at the sudden movement.

After overcoming a quick heart attack and pulling Sonata through the right sleeves, you breathe a sigh of relief and can properly get a look at all of them.

Rarity picks up Sonata and rests her on one of the platforms. "Now, dear, if it doesn't feel like your head is going through the hole, try a different one, okay?"

Sonata nods her head. "It's better now. It's also super pretty when I'm not choking!" she says as she looks down at it.

Rarity gives her a quick laugh. "I imagine most things are, darling."

Rarity looks back over to the other two girls. "Aria, could you walk around for me and tell me if everything fits right?" Aria nods with her own beaming smile and struts out of the room, looking down at her new clothes all the while. "Adagio, would you mind getting up on the other platform for me? I just need to take some more measurements and see if everything fits right.

"Yes, ma'am."

Rarity goes over to her bench and stretches out a length of measuring tape. "Now, Adagio, lift up your arms for me." She goes on to make a few more measurements before speaking up again. "So, would you like to accompany me on Friday then?" she asks you.

"Oh, this Friday? I'm not sure. I'll have to try to find a babysitter, and at this point that's no easy feat," you say, looking down and rubbing your neck.

"Hmm, well, don't you think Adagio is old enough to look after the house herself? She is 13 now after all, and quite mature for her age."

"W-what?" Adagio asks after blinking a few times at her.

"Oh, I guess you're right, but I'm not really sure. You think you're ready for that Adagio?" you ask, still unsure if Adagio could handle that level of responsibility with the two other monsters running around your house. To be fair though she did take up pretty much all the chores with only one hiccup, so she's probably ready for it.

"I... I'm not sure. Being in charge of the whole house?" Adagio thinks it over for a moment, but a smile quickly forms on her face. Whatever she was smiling about probably wasn't good, but this had to happen eventually. "Yeah, I think I can do it."

"Wonderful! Friday night it is, then."

Adagio looks down at Rarity quizzically. "What are you two doing?"

"Oh, I'm just going to be taking your father out to eat. It'll only be for a few hours, dear."

"Aren't boys supposed to take girls out, though? Does that make daddy the girlfriend?" Sonata chimes in.

"That's... That's not how it works, honey," you try to say through the giggles of Rarity and Adagio.

"Would that mean you have to wear a dress too?" Sonata asks.

"Sonata, no... I'm not going to be wearing a dress..."

Both Adagio and Rarity have to bite their lips to avoid bursting out laughing. "I could make you a wonderful dress for the occasion, darling. Don't knock it until you've tried it, I always say."

Adagio couldn't hold it back any longer. "Hahaha, I would love to see you try to wear a dress, dad. I mean if someone like Aria loves it so much you might like it too."

"Hey!" Aria yells from the other room, only eliciting further laughter.

"Okay, that's enough. No more talk about men in dresses."

"We'll keep his dress private for now," Rarity says with a wink towards Adagio. Adagio lets out a quick giggle.

"So, no dress?" Sonata asks.

"No dress. Make sure to tell Rarity about yours instead. Is it still too tight?" you say, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, it's not that bad anymore..."

Rarity works through some more measurements with both of the girls for a while, marking things down on her clipboard every now and again. Adagio keeps trying to start up conversation with her, but Rarity isn't the most talkative person when she's focused, but still tries to be polite at least. Once the boredom reaches critical levels, you decide you should probably just leave her to it.

Just as you're about to get into the main room you hear a loud crash that makes everyone jump. Considering where you were and who was in the main showroom, you already know what it is.

"I, uh, the wind... is really strong in here," Aria tries to say as you walk through into the room. She looks down at the slumped over mannequin nervously, slowly slinking away from it like it might bite her.

"Honey, that excuse didn't work when you were six and it's not going to work now," you say with an amused smile as you pick the rather fabulous mannequin in the red dress up and put it back into the window.

"I'm sorry..." she says under her breath.

"It's okay, sweetheart. Just don't tug on them so hard, okay?"

"Okay..." she says solemnly, like she's still about to get in trouble.

You kneel down to her. "Do you like your dress? It looks good on you."

A smile returns to her face with that compliment. She looks down at her dress and swings it as she shifts her weight. "Do you think? I really like it. It's, uh, pretty," she says as if the word felt uncomfortable on her tongue. It's not something you usually hear her say, that's for sure. "Can I wear it after the wedding?"

"Of course, if you want to. You can wear it whenever you want." You take a deep breath, knowing your next words might cause a little friction. "I think we should talk about your fight with Sugarcoat, sweetie." And in an instant her smile fades away.

"I don't want to," she says, folding her arms across her chest and looking away.

"I know you don't, honey, but we really need to get the fighting under control. I talked to the principle and they said if you don't stop fighting they're going to have to expel you. Do you want that?"

"I don't care."

You put a hand on her shoulder. "Honey, I know those girls are mean, but you have to think about your sisters. If you get expelled we might have to move to keep you in school."

"I just won't go to school then."

"You can't do that, Aria."

"Why? I hate going to school anyway. It's so boring and everyone there is mean."

"You'll understand when you're older, but you can't just go without an education, sweetheart. And if we have to move to put you in another school that means your sisters will have to give up all their friends too, and if we get a different house you might have to share a room with them."

"W-what?" she asks, her hard expression immediately turning into horror.

"And, if that school expels you to you're going to have to be homeschooled by Adagio. That means eight hours a day of her telling you what to do."

"Th-that's not true, right?"

"I don't know what else we could do," you say, feigning as much seriousness as possible. "And if you're really bad after that, Santa won't be able to bring you anything at all for Christmas."

"No... not Santa..." she says with the most adorable pout you've ever seen. It almost makes you feel bad.

"Look, honey, I know those girls are mean and I'll talk to your teacher about it, but you have to stop this, okay?"

Her expression softens and she looks down again. "But how, Dad? They're so mean and I don't know how to get them to stop. I just wish they'd leave me alone or be nice or something."

"You have other friends in your class, don't you? What about Lyra and Bon Bon, I remember they came to your last birthday party and you really liked them."

"Yeah, they're really nice. But they're like best friends and mostly just hang out with each other," she says with a defeated sigh.

"Just try to talk to them, sweetie, I'm sure they'll hang out with you more if you put some effort in to try."

"Okay, but how does that stop the other girls from being mean?" she says, looking up to you genuinely just wanting an answer.

"It doesn't unfortunately. But let me show you a trick. Whenever they're being mean and you want to fight, just close your eyes and think about something you really like instead. It might be hard but if they see you're not going to respond to them they'll lose interest."

"Okay, I guess. But what am I supposed to think about? I don't think anything could distract me from them..."

"I'll tell you what. If you can go without fighting until your birthday, I'll take you out to do whatever you want, just you and me. You can have a couple of gifts of whatever you want, within reason."

"A guitar?!" she asks, with a sudden, wide smile.

That might not be the best idea, but at this point you really just want her to try to do her best and stop acting out so much. "Sure. A guitar and maybe even those clothes you showed me in that magazine, if they actually make them in your size anyway."

"A real leather jacket with spikes and boots and torn up jeans? Really?"

As much as you don't want your daughter walking around looking like a biker, you figure it isn't that big of a deal, as long as you make sure she doesn't go to school wearing it. "Really. But you have to behave, okay? No more fighting."

Aria nods her head. "Okay, I'll try."

"Great. I know you can do it, Aria. Just remember not to say anything back and think about good things instead, okay?"

"Got it."

Rarity walks back into the room with Adagio and Sonata in their normal clothes behind her. "Aria, sweetheart, does your dress fit you properly?"

"Yeah, it feels fine, Miss Rarity."

"Wonderful! You can take it off now and I'll get them ready for the wedding."

"Oh... okay," Aria says, a bit defeated.

While Aria walks off to the dressing room, Rarity walks over to you with your other daughters close behind. "Well, I have everything I need now, darling. I think everything is ready for the wedding."

"Great. Adagio, would you mind helping Sonata into her carseat?"

Adagio lets out a breath and looks down for a moment. "I'll do my best."

"Thanks, sweetie," you say as you hand her the carkeys.

"I think she'll do just fine on Friday."

You watch them go down the sidewalk to the car. "I really hope so," you say as the sound of fire engine sirens, distant explosions, and neighborhood anarchy ring through your head.

"She is quite mature for her age, I think. I don't remember being that well-mannered or polite when I was that age. I think you should start trusting her with some more responsibility."

You let out a sigh. "Yeah, you're probably right. Seems like only yesterday Sunset and I were taking shifts going to classes and taking care of her."

"College was a long time ago, but that time really does fly, doesn't it?"

"Way too fast..." you say, your heart sinking as you wish you could be back there with Sunset again.

"Well at any rate, we can make some of that time a bit more enjoyable on Friday, don't you think?" Rarity says with a quick nudge.

"Yeah, it would be nice to finally get out of the house for once."

"It definitely would. All this time cooped up in that messy little room would drive a lady absolutely mad, and I'm sure you wouldn't fare much better. It will be fun, I promise," she says with a wink.

Aria comes out of the dressing room in her normal clothes, looking a little more disappointed than when she went in.

"You ready, Aria?"

"Yeah," she lets out under her breath.

"Alright, well I guess I'll see you on Friday then."

"I'll be sure to wear something nice. Put on that suit I made for you, would you?"

You smile and lean in to give her a quick hug. "I sure will. Have a good night, Rarity."

"To you as well!" she says as you walk out the door.

Adagio wipes the sweat off her forehead as she steps down from Sonata's seat. No doubt that task tired her out. You walk around and get in the car with Aria, thinking about what just happened.

Rarity really did just ask you out on a date, didn't she? That was a weird feeling. You don't think you've ever actually been asked out by a girl since Sunset did it all those years ago. It felt nice, actually. You've gone so long only associating with people at work and your girls that you forgot what it felt like to really enjoy another adult's company like that. You found yourself really excited all of the sudden for Friday, even if it did mean risking the apocalypse popping off at the house while you were gone.