A kind gift
Discord pushed the table aside and got right to her, checking her pulse with a stethoscope. Her pulse was weak, but still there – making his own heart skip a beat in relive.
She had to get some rest – who knew how long she had been up?
Using his powers, he fixed the wreckage which used to be her bed and put it on it carefully.
Now when she was laying right in front of him, he thought she kinda looked skinnier than usual.
"Shesh, this sure would take a while" Discord though to himself, but he could not leave her alone in this state.
Hours passed by and Rarity still was laying in her queen sized bed- at first she even had panted in her sleep, but after a while she got quite – at some point she even had a slight smile on her face, probably having a good dream. The draconequus sat besides her on his chair and had dozed off, snoring.
The afternoon set in when Rarity slowly woke up. Her body felt so weak and her vision was blurry - still the slumber has given back some of her strength.
It dawned to her she was sitting in her bed, which was odd - she had smashed it to pieces days ago, but it was good as new and she felt the soft satin below her to proof her wrong.
There was something else new in this room, a pleasant scent of tea was hanging in the air, she enjoyed the note, taking a deep breath in order to figure out the flavor, it must been mare-gray.
A cup or two would be nice right now as she felt quite thirsty, but was unable to make out the source of the sweet cent as the snoring caught her ears.
She looked to the side of her bed, there was some kind of chair and somepony sitting in it, but it kinda looked strange. Must been her eyes playing tricks on her, rubbing them with her hooves to get her vision on focus again.
As her sight came back, blinking a few more times, it still took a bunch more seconds to understand what she was seeing: something was sitting there - a wild mess out of animal parts added into one creature, like a patch of unfinished stitch-work. It looked so absolute wrong, she rubbed her eyes again, feeling her heartbeat to raise up from a crawl - right into a rush.
Rarity's first reaction was to get distance, but instead of jumping out of the bed and running for the door, the unicorn landed dowdy on the floor - waking it up.
"Wooooah..." the draconequus yawned, noticing right away Rarity was gone "Oh come on! Not again!" he shouted, jumping up from his chair, turning his head all over.
The pony was even more scared now, what ever it was – it sure was angry, might it wanted to eat her alive!? She had so many problems already, why it keep getting worse only for her? Under the bed was enough space, usual taken by boxes of horseshoes – she could hide below it, might he would give up?
As she started crawling slowly below it, two big yellow marbles landed on the other side on the ground, but those marbles looked at her! Making her shriek as loud her body could effort.
"There you are!" the monster cheered, as a lion paw snatched the eyes of the ground, trading places with the monsters face starring at her.
"Help, Heeelp!" she panicked, as she was pulled out from under the bed and levitated from the ground.
Discord had to girn "Stop it" snapping his fingers to make her mouth shot with a big patch, which she couldn't remove no matter how hard she tried.
Some kind of magic sat her down on the bed again "There... now don't move!" he said, waving his claw finger, like a parent would on his child "Whats gotten into you? Its me Discord!" showing off himself.
Rarity didn't dare to move, she had not a clue what was going on "whmmo?" she mumbled.
Rolling his eyes he snapped away the patch, just to receive another shriek – making her mouth shut once more "Cut it out already! Whats the matter with you?" he sighed.
It occurred to her he might didn't want to eat her after all... still, he sure looked frightening.
"One more try ... and if you shriek again, i will turn you into a fancy lamp" he said overly nice, holding up a miniature of himself – presenting a shining light-bulb in it´s paw.
The patch vanished once more into thin air, but this time the unicorn didn't dare to move.
"Finally ... and now would you tell me whats going on?" laying his hands together tip on tip – waiting for an all explaining answer.
"Wha... wh-o... are you?" she asked, pointing her hoof in his general direction.
This gave him a feeling crawling up his spine: by the time he had figured out whats going on, he would be insane - making him crack a smile, even if he didn't want to.
"My dear, we are friends" he started "so please tell me what happened to you and everypony else" once again with a overly nice tone to it, waiting for a response.
A deep grumble came from her stomach, making her blush little "Oh, pardon" she said a little embarrassed.
"Well, it might was better to get her something and ask afterwards, just to make sure she would not collapse again" he thought to him self, making a breakfast tablet appeared on her lap with a flash – on top of it some tea, a soup and even a slice of apple pie. Everything just looked and smelled terrific she had to admit.
"Why don't you have some? I'm a fantastic cook" he bragged.
She gave the food another glance, not sure about what to do, which he noticed.
"Its not poisoned..." giving her a observing look "...and you don't quite look like you would last long anyway" he pointed out.
He was right, having something in front of her she now just realized how hungry she really was, so she gave the soup the first try, still carefully... zipping on the spoon.
"Did it taste like poison?" she thought to herself. "Well, how did poison taste anyway?" It tasted more like a sweet chestnuts creme, soft on the tongue and full of taste: if that was what poison did taste like, she should had tried it sooner!
After this she found it difficult to hold her self back – holding to her manners and not gulp down the howl bowl ...same for the cake and tea. It was heaven. Heaven on a plate.
Discord was even kind enough to give her one more round, which she also ate in a haste.
"This, was magnificent!" she said full of glee, giving him a kind smile "...thank you".
He waved it off a little embarrassed. Till to this moment he never had cooked to anypony else than Fluttershy, which might had hold back her critic in order to spare his feelings, but now he knew for sure. Rarity was way to picky to be this sensitive - especially when its about him.
With a snap of his fingers the meal was gone.
The unicorn felt a little guilty, not just she had judged him on his guise, she didn't even had introduced another formerly "My name is Rarity, pleased to meet you" holding out a hoof.
"I know! ... and where are the others?" skipping his introduction.
She lifted an eyebrow "Excuse me, i don't quite understand, what you mean by others?"
"I mean your friends, where is Fluttershy? Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack... " still getting an odd glance "... Rainbow Dash? Your friiiiends...." making it sound a little more cynical he wanted to.
It was more than obvious he had mistaken her for somepony else, but she knew at least one of them.
"Well, um..." spinning her hoof a bit in his direction.
"Discord" he gave the hint.
"Right. Discord. I´m sorry darling, but i do know only one of them. In my kind of business there ain't much time to make friends" she frowned.
Well one was better than nothing he figured, he might could solve this mess after all.
"Then spit it out already" he grumbled - once again getting impatient.
"Oh my, no reason to get grouchy..." she said "... anyway, the pony i was talking about is Applejack. She owns "Big Apple Acres... well, i mean she don't lives her anymore" the white mare tapped her self on the cheek "...but i guess somepony there knows where she went" making her sigh deep "she sure has become the pony everypony knows" envy was filling her voice.
The draconequus frowned a little "Well, not quite the pony i had hoped for, but i guess she will do".
This made Rarity raising again her eyebrow "You ain't going to hurt her, do you?".
"What you thinking? Do i look like a monster!?"
Before she even could take a breath he zipped her mouth shut.
"I will visit her later" than pointing his lion thumb on the mess what was once called a room "... but you mind to explain this first?".
The white unicorn was ashamed to admit "i... wanted get rid of it" avoiding eye contact.
"Isn't that fancy stuff kinda your thing?" Discord pointed out.
"Yes, it was" she paused "but not anymore... i gave up on it ... "
"Moment" he interrupted her, sat down on his comfortable chair and got him self some popcorn in a flash, giving her a wave with his paw "-...please, continue".
"Well, umm... " laying her head back, browsing her memory's "i used to be somepony special...", she said, stroking her ruined mane "most pony's used to be jealous on me, but i also had a lot of fans – as it comes with fame, you know... and for my boutique, it was famous all over Equestria" reaching her hooves up like she could touch the sky "i had the most exclusive customers from all over Equestria and everpony loved my designs!" thinking of all the magazines who had wrote articles about her.
"Of course, as the requests got more and more, i had to work harder to make it in time" The unicorn bit her lip "but it still wasn't enough, those pony's acted at times like some fashion sucking vampires. The more i gave the more they demanded... i just could not hold up the paste anymore, so i had to work night shifts...".
"Why didn't you hire somepony?" he asked between bites.
"I was about to get there..." clearing her throat "...as i said, i had more requests than my hooves could handle, problem being i could not hire any ordinary pony to help me! I mean i had plenty offers, but most of them just didn't had the raw talent i was looking for" as passion sparked up for a moment in her voice" - also a fashionista like me" putting her hoof on her chest" could not trust anypony coming along... i got my secrets to keep and some competitors already had tried to steal my fabulous designs!"
As he noticed she had got lost in her toughs again he snipped a single popcorn at her.
"Um where was i?" taking a moment "Ah, right... as i said. I could not just trust any come along pony..." this said she gave her best shot to get up of bed and it worked this time, she had gathered enough strength to stand on her own. Not quite as confident as she used to, but it sure was a good start - making the way over to a broken shelf, searching the ground... poking her hoof between the broken planks and fabrics moving them aside till there was a soft sound of breaking glass to be heard.
"...i just had to push trough... somehow. I could not give up ony my dream that easy!"
Willing to hold her balance she grabbed between the glass pieces, picking up a small frame.
It had scratches around the golden edges and some dust on it, but non the less it was obvious it must had been quite expensive.
The heart formed frame showed an old picture of Rarity and her little sister – Sweetie Belle, both smiling in the camera, showing of how much fun they must had on this day. Right below the picture was a small gravure "For my best big sister ever, Sweetie Belle".
This time she tried to hold back her feelings.
"My dear sister was so generous and tried to help me out" cracking a small smile "it was worth a try i figured, ...what choice do i had?" but sighed.
"It... didn't work out, she wasn't any good at anything. I tried to teach her stitching and fabric cuts, but she ruined them, costing me customer after customer" holding in for a moment "i was so angry with her, she just not didn't do what i ask her for!" she pushed down this mislead anger, once again tears starting to run down her face "the one pony who tried to help me honestly... and i told her she was useless, ...i could not need her being around... want her getting in my way".
Discord didn't knew what to say. This was not quite his profession, so he just said nothing, but stopped chewing... the popcorn somehow didn't quite taste as good anymore.
"W-we had a big fight over it" she said, stroking the frame softly "wasn't our first... " she admitted.
"She left" letting hang down her shoulders as well as her head "as she left the boutique and got back to Manehatten".
She put down the picture on the edge of the bed and walked to one of the windows, taking a look outside trough one of the gaps between the planks.
"At first i thought she would come back... so i didn't bother - i had still a lot of work to do, but..... now i know..... she wont".
"So? You could not need her anyway" bending his fingers in quotes.
"I was wrong!" she shouted, giving one of the remaining harlequins a surprisingly horse kick – smashing it against a wall to pieces.
"I tried going on! Doing my work! But i could not do it! My designs, they all was flawed! Flawed!" she sat down and hold up her hooves "The more i tried to put it right, the worse it got! Even the customers started yelling at me- they said my designs would be ugly and uninspired, that i was an amateur ... that...my career was over..." as she started sobbing again "they all turned their back on me..., as soon as i could not deliver anymore" tearing up once more.
Silence was hanging in the room as Discord made a fundamental suggestion "Uh, apologize?".
"I cant. I mean... i have not spoken to her in months" she sulked "i don't think she would forgive me anyway. I treated her horrible" wiping away hear tears.
Discord scratched his head "Well i'm not an expert on this territory, but my wife said: its never to late to do something kind".
She rose an eyebrow "You got a wife?"
He slid in front of her, knocking on her head a few times "Did you even listen!?"
"Ouch" she said, waving his hooves to stop him "don't you think i tried already!?" about to get grumpy "she wont answer to me".
"Than just try again!"
"You don't have to tell me anything! Besides... you got any idea what a ticket to Manehatten costs!?"
"So whats your point? Buy one!"
The unicorn mumbled something he could not understand.
"Come again?" as leaned forward a bit.
It was really embarrassing to her "I´m... broke" trying to avoid his glance "i haven't sold anything in a while...".
She sure had no idea who was right in front of her, or she would had not said a thing.
"Hello, my name is Discord, Spirit of Chaos – all mighty being, pleased to meet you" repeating his introduction, but also packing it full of sarcasm.
"Almighty? Pah... i admit that little trick of yours was nice, but don't think i'm that naive – i know whats a fraud looks like" pointing hooves "and you.. well..." then she didn't quite know what to say. She never really seen anything like him before, so she just let it go.
"Fraud? Fraud!?" that he took personal! He was called a lot of things over the years, but a fraud? That was a new one! - so he snapped his fingers, making one of the harlequins jump up immediately and rode around in the room like a wild stallion, causing even more chaos as it smashed the last unbroken remains, as well some of the window planks flooding the room with some more light.
Rarity freaked out "Ah! Make it stop!" yelling for her life as the fake stallion run at her and performed a jump barely over her head.
The draconequus just snapped one more time - making a pair of sugar cubes appear in his paw which he hold up "come here boy" luring the puppet. The harlequin stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking at him without eyes and seemed to notice what he hold up. It didn't bother to destroy the place anymore and trot to this offered treat, starting to eat out of his masters paw.
Her eyes could not else to stare in disbelieve on this scenario.
This was one of the puppets she had worked on countless hours. She felt somehow attached to them, since they always been around, never failing to be patient and make them self useful.
Holding unfinished dressed or presenting the most exquisite fashion without asking anything in return – which was natural to them, since they are just made out of ordinary, painted wood.
Somehow she could not else than to feel bad for the one she had destroyed before... wondering what they might say about her, if they could.
As he was done feeding the puppet, he did pet it a bit which made it neigh in joy "at least somepony in this room got some manners" giving her a disgraceful glance.
"Would you please make it stop?".
Discord gave in - the puppet trotted back into the corner of the room, got in its former pose by raising one of his front hooves and froze in motion.
Rarity could not help to get over to the harlequin - poking it a few times carefully, making sure it was just a puppet. This sure had not been an ordinary trick.
"I would love to stay... but i got a tight schedule"
She swung around, making a few fast steps in his direction "Wait! Please!" she tried to stop him.
"What?" he nagged, holding a pocket-watch in his claw, despite having no pockets to put it in.
"I´m sorry" she said – and she meant it honest.
"Don't tell me" he said, swallowing the pocket-clock and chain in a single bite, to vanish in a flash of light.
"You cant leave me like this...!" she yelled trotting up and down in the room "Come back!" she repeated a few more times, but he didn't.
At first she just sat there thinking about it for a while. He might been some kind of monster and rude, but he really did care for her, like a true friend would ...at least to the point when she scared him away.
"Great job Rarity, you done it again!" she scolded her self "you just could not hold your mouth shut, couldn't you!" she got up and wandered around in the room, still nagging to herself, till she came by the bed – as her head slammed against the bed post, but it wasn't an accident, she did it again and again and again in order to punish her self. The pony's head started to hurt really bad, but she continued until she didn't see any point in going on and sat down.
Still leaning her forehead against the partial broken post, starring at nothing in particular "this might been the last straw" was going trough her mind, as her sight caught up something shimmering in a sunbeam next to her, making it shift a bit to the side. It was the golden frame, laying where she had put it before.
It caught her attention, making her head turn a little, just starring at it for a while.
There wasn't a single scratch on it anymore, also the howl appearance had changed. It had become smaller and featured a cap now, protecting the image inside, as well a necklace attached to it - making it able to carry it around.
She got up and took a few steps to get a closer look, touching it carefully with her hoof like it could break again apart.
The unicorn took it up between her hooves.
When she opened the cap, she found the picture of her sister remained untouched – giving her a smile like she had done so often in the past, despite rarely getting one in return. This was something she always wanted to keep close to her, so she hung the chain around her neck to find some sort of card below, which she had not noticed before.
It must had been hidden below the amulet, making her even more confused.
"Whats that?" holding up the card in order to read it.
~ Ponyville Express ~
#Class: First
#Passengers: 1
#Kind of ride: One way
#Service: All inclusive
#Issued to: _Mrs._Rarity_
Ponyville Express? It occurred to her all of a sudden. She knew what to do!
She hold on tight to the ticket and ran off as fast her hooves could carry, hurrying downstairs – not even bother to open the door wither her magic, instead smashing right trough it like a battering ram – throwing it out of her door hinges.
Nothing was able to stop her. The fire of passion was burning hot inside – even hotter than a creative rush, giving her strength to finish the task ahead.
The peasants of Ponyville jumped aside when she stomped by, the expression on her face made clear she would run right through anypony, who dared to get in her way, as she run along main road she could not help to notice the time on a big clock, hanging outside of a store.
It was alarming late – since Ponyville was just a minor town, the express train just came once a week and the regular train was to crowded on a daily basis to find a place, unless you had an special work pass to get in one of the additional compartments.
She had to make this one, who knows if she could take another week with the guilt, not to speak if Discord had came by, who knows what would had happened to her.
Rarity came way to fast around the corner, sliding on her hooves a few meters in the wrong direction- crashing into a market cart which happened to stand there, but at least the salespony wasn't around...
It took a moment for her to recover from this, her flank was hurt, but not bad enough to make her give up. She clenched her teeth and got up, trying to find her pace again.
sweat run down all over her body and she had put up a fight in order to keep running, she never was good at running – it wasn't quite ladylike to get into physical competitions, which now started to backfire on her.
She tried to ignore it, but with every step the burning in her muscles got worse to the point she forgot about her flank, since her howl body was now in the same amount of pain – having a hard time to keep her breath, gasping for air.
"Just a little bit longer" trying to hold on to this tough. She might not been a sportspony, but she also never was a push over.
Than the rail station came in sigh - making her give a final sprint across the street towards the entrance.
It was not unusual to see a pony running for a train... this happened on daily basis, but seeing a mare, with smudged make up – running and gasping like she had fought for her life, that was new!
Some pony's in the crowed even had recognized her despite the condition and appearance she was in and started mumbling as she got closer.
"She looks awful" "What had happened to her?" "Oh my, somepony help her!" was some of the shouts she caught up, many more to follow.
There was no time to bother, as she still gave everything she got to get onto the train in time, hearing him already pulling into the station, barely minutes left she assumed.
An instant later she noticed a filly had stepped accidentally in her path, it was white with a pink mane "Sweetie Belle!?" she gasped, trying to break down the rush – as her legs collapsed below the pony, making it crashing once again onto the ground – head over heels, sliding over the ground to stop right in front of the young one, which just had noticed in shock what had happened.
The world went dark for a moment, as she managed to open her eyes again, looking up to the filly.
The filly's mother had rushed towards her in order to pull the foal away "Summer, don't touch her!" the mare said, taking her daughter with her.
Her body declined to work. Still, she could not help to feel relieved, it might not been her sister, but she had not run over the poor filly. There was nothing more she could do. She had giving it her best shot. Once more the world around her went black as pony's gathered around her.