Amethyst Star stood stock still as Sensation guided her needles through the thin material on Amethyst Star’s body, the thread running through it being used to sew up the hem of a dress that Sensation was making. It was a new design that the fashion designer/tailor had just made and Amethyst Star was standing in as her model and ponyquin at the same time. It was fairly boring “work” since most of it was just spent standing up on a pedestal surrounded by mirrors while Sensation looked her over and slowly pieced the dress together. Occasionally the mare would stop and just stare intently at Amethyst Star for a while before frowning and removing some cloth while muttering something under her breath and looking for something else to replace it. Amethyst Star didn’t know fashion well, or at all, but she knew that Sensation was clearly struggling with her dress design.
Sensation lifted up one of Amethyst Star’s hooves so she could thread the needle around it and sew up one of the sleeves of her dress. There was so much white, pink, and red it looked like something that was supposed to be really romantic. Right now though it still seemed like it was all over the place even as it came closer and closer to being finished. Amethyst Star didn’t know if there was something else that would tie it all together or some important finishing touches but she sure hoped there was. Not like it mattered to her though, it wasn’t her shop or fashion line. She was just called in to help model and stand around basically.
After another second of examining her dress, Sensation grunted in annoyance and temporarily left the room, looking for something else. Sensation was a unicorn mare of an emerald green complexion with a wavy red mane and tail that she wore long. Despite her being a fashion designer as well she only wore golden hoof bracelets. Amethyst Star figured she’d want to wear more of her own designs to show them off. Maybe she wasn’t confident enough in them or her? All the alterations and changes to the dress she was making right now seemed to suggest that Sensation wasn’t especially confident or at the very least had a bad habit of second-guessing herself.
“I’m so sorry this is taking so long,” Sensation said as she clamored back into the room, the long, fake, eyelashes she wore fluttering gently. The mare was carrying a box full of ribbons that were halfway falling out.
“I don’t mind, I’m just here to do whatever you needed me to,” Amethyst Star replied. Not shrugging since it might mess up the dress.
Sensation pulled a ribbon of white silk from her box and put it around Amethyst Star’s neck, first checking the length and then trying out different ways to tie it and seeing how it meshed with the rest of the dress. Sensation stuck out her tongue and bit it, trying to figure out a way to get her dress to work with this latest burst of inspiration she had. But even after a few minutes of working the ribbon and trying to find a spot or style for it she wasn’t satisfied.
“Ugh, no! This doesn’t work either!” She yanked the ribbon off and tossed it on the ground. “It’s all wrong, everything is wrong!”
The fashion pony didn’t just stop with the ribbon, she took more and more pieces of the dress off Amethyst Star with her amber magic, even tearing the stitching as she destroyed her own creation. Her frantic pulling jostled Amethyst Star and almost threatened to pull her off the pedestal she was standing on a few times.
“Whoa, hey! Be careful!” Amethyst Star called out to her as she felt the seam of the dress split along her back, throwing straight pins across the floor while freeing her from the binding of the dress. Amethyst Star took the opportunity to hop out of the last little bit and jumped down to the floor, frowning at Sensation for her sudden madness.
“I-I’m sorry. I’m just very frustrated right now,” Sensation told her as she held up the ruined remains of her dress with her magic. She sadly frowned as she realized most of the tatters were an utter mess and unsalvageable. “Oh dear, this is just going to make things worse.”
Amethyst Star was about to admonish the mare when she saw the growing look of despair on her face. Sensation’s lips were quivering and her eyes started to tear up, short and ragged hiccups came from her throat as the mare started crying without reservation. Not even caring about the other pony here that was now super embarrassed to be seeing this. Sensation fell back onto her haunches and cried into her hooves, the crying only growing stronger with her body being racked by sobs and uncomfortable moans making their way out of her throat.
The entire time she was crying, Amethyst Star was just standing by the pedestal awkwardly. Trying to look anywhere but at the mare.
“This is hopeless! I’m going to be absolutely ruined!” Sensation collapsed to the ground, covering her head with her hooves as she continued to whine. “I was supposed to have a new design by tonight but nothing is working! Why can’t I think of anything?!”
Amethyst Star thought of laying a comforting hoof on her shoulder or patting her head when the fashion designer started wailing again.
“Wahhhh! Am I just out of ideas or something? Am I really just not creative at all?” She cried even harder than before. “Everyone’s going to laugh at me tonight and I’m going to get run out of business! My dream is over!”
Are all fashion designers as dramatic as this? Amethyst Star wondered as she cringed in second-hoof embarrassment.
“Um, there, there?” Amethyst Star said as she gently patted the crying mare on the back.
Sensation continued to hiccup and sob lightly but she overall began to quiet down. It took another minute or two but she finally was able to look up at Amethyst Star through her puffy and bloodshot eyes. “T-Thank you. I’m really so very sorry about all of this.”
“It’s okay...” Amethyst Star attempted to smile at her but it likely came off as very forced and uneven.
“I just don’t know what I’m going to do,” she blew her nose on a piece of red velvet and stood up, wiping her eyes. “I have an exhibition scheduled for tonight but now I don’t have anything to show at all.”
“This dress was supposed to be for a fashion show you were going to?” Amethyst Star asked as she looked around at the destroyed remains of the dress on the ground.
Sensation shook her head, “No, it was for my show.” Sensation slowly started gathering up all the cloth and the ribbons haphazardly strewn about in their box. “I haven’t been doing too well the past few months. My new designs have all failed and business has been steadily falling. So I decided to make my own exhibition to show off my latest piece tonight, trying to drum up some interest and make a comeback.” She sniffled. “But I couldn’t come up with anything! Even as the day got closer and closer I still couldn’t think of a new dress that would really wow everyone and now I’m left with nothing. I’m just going to have to close up early and tell everyone who comes that the exhibition is canceled. My name will be dragged through the mud but it’s the only thing I can do at this point.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
She was. Sensation was… nice, if not a bit melodramatic and straining to work with.
“I just wish I hadn’t wasted all of your time too. This day has been nothing but a disaster and that ugly dress I tried to make on you was going to be terrible no matter what!” Sensation stomped one of her back hooves. “Where has all my creativity gone? I used to be a household name in the fashion world in this city...”
Sensation sighed and leaned up against the wall for a second. “Maybe I need a change of scenery? Or-” Her eyes opened wide. “Or perhaps a new perspective?” The fashion designer’s head swung to look at Amethyst Star.
The pink and purple unicorn wasn’t sure what that look meant but it didn’t seem like anything good. She took a hesitant step back. “Err...”
Sensation quickly ran up to her and grasped her front hooves in her own. “Oh please, it’s the only thing I can think of that may save my show for tonight! I’m out of ideas but the fashion world is always changing and evolving and looking for the next big thing! Do you think you can come up with a magnificent dress or at the very least some sort of idea or theme that would wow all the critics and designers I’ve invited?”
“Uhhh...” Amethyst Star had done many things (and said she could do many things she couldn’t) but could she make a fancy new dress? “You know even if I come up with something can we make it in time? And what if you don’t like it?”
“We can definitely make it in time,” Sensation reassured her. “And forget about me liking it or not. Everything I thought would go over well here in the past few months has failed.”
Amethyst Star mulled the idea over. She was here to try new things and even if she didn’t know about fashion how hard could it be to make a great dress? Fashion never really made sense to her and plenty of the stuff she had seen “hip” and “fashionable” ponies wear just looked weird or silly to her. She bet she could design something better than the average nobody at least. And she was way more than average, she was Amethyst Star! The pony capable of anything.
The temp worker smiled and looked into Sensation’s pleading blue eyes. “Yeah, alright, let’s do it! I bet we can make a dress together that’ll make the jaws of everybody coming tonight drop!”
Coming up with a dress and making it was still something that took a lot of work and the two unicorns really didn’t have a lot of time either. Not to mention that Amethyst Star had no idea about the technical details that went into dressmaking so a lot of the stuff she came up with was just plain unfeasible at the time or just outright impossible. Sensation was completely dead-eyed throughout the entire planning process as well, not giving any help or input into the design of the dress except when pointing out whenever something was undoable. Like when Amethyst Star asked if they could affix real roses across the spine and down to the tail in order of diminishing size.
However with their hard work and determination they were able to pull everything together and create a dress for Sensation to show off at her in-store exhibition. Which was beginning in just a few short minutes since they ended up really cutting things close. They had both decided that Amethyst Star should be the one wearing the dress while Sensation presented it, since while it was Amethyst’s design she did it for the sake of Sensation’s store and reputation. Amethyst Star was just going to model it and not take any credit. Fine by her. She and Sensation would both know the truth and if it helped a pony then that was the important part. Amethyst Star also just plain didn’t know the right terms or who she was even going to be meeting and speaking to, so Sensation handling all of the talking parts was probably just much smarter in general.
Already fashion designers, clothes makers, critics, and other icons of the fashion scene in the City of Opportunity were filling up chairs in the front of Sensation’s store. The store was closed to the general public for the special event and her esteemed guests had been steadily trickling in for the past hour. Sensation and Amethyst Star now stood behind a curtain, the only thing separating them from the others, with an impromptu runway built in front of it that Amethyst Star would soon walk out on.
Amethyst Star took a quick peek at the crowd out from behind the curtain. Most of them were either in idle conversation with each other or looking bored. It didn’t seem like they really expected anything from Sensation’s newest design.
“So I guess now is the big moment?” Amethyst Star said as she pulled away from the curtain, looking back at Sensation.
“Yes, yes it is. Oh dear,” the fashion unicorn was short of breath, clearly very nervous she sat down and held a hoof to her chest while fanning her face with the other.
“Hey, it’ll be fine!” Amethyst Star went to lay a comforting around her shoulders. “Like you said, what’s cool in the fashion world is always changing. This is going to be the next big thing. I mean you know yourself that no one has made a dress like this before in the city, have they?”
Sensation looked at the ponyquin that currently held their new dress. “No. No, certainly no one else has made a dress like this before...”
“And that’s a good thing for fashion, right?” Amethyst Star very optimistically asked.
“Originality is certainly important,” Sensation agreed. Although she still had a kind of dead look in her eyes.
“Well are you ready to help me put it on and show it to everybody? Seems like they’re all here by now and don’t want to be kept waiting anymore,” Amethyst Star said.
Sensation nodded. “Y-Yes. Let’s get you ready.”
The fashion pony had to use a handkerchief to dab the sweat from her brow but she still helped Amethyst Star get into her dress and into position. The voices from the other side of the curtain were louder and all of Sensation’s guests would need to be appeased soon. Lest their patience run out completely and the mood sour even worse before they even saw the dress. Sensation looked over Amethyst Star to make sure everything was in order and nothing was unbuttoned or needed a last minute adjustment. Biting her lip she realized that the dress looked exactly how it was supposed to.
“Time for the show,” Sensation gulped. She stood right next to Amethyst Star in the middle of the curtain, facing the audience, and pulled on the ropes to open it with her magic.
The curtain was drawn and the two partners stood before the gathered critics and other art-world dwellers. Sensation and Amethyst Star perfectly centered on the rows of chairs that were mostly filled up, allowing everyone who actually bothered to take up the invitation to see the new dress and the two ponies presenting it.
And what a dress it was.
A puffy, cactus-green, monstrosity covered Amethyst Star. The wide bottom was held in place by a wire-frame undercarriage and pleated with several shades of green underskirts from lime to chartreuse to mint. The top half of the dress was made of cotton and perhaps for some stylistic reason that only Amethyst Star could explain, lacy green threads hung from all across the dress, ending in dandelion like balls of yellow-green cotton. Adding to the strangeness were the large leather shoulder pauldrons that seemed to be stuck on for… no real reason in particular. But fashion had meaningless, superfluous accessories like that all the time. So that was no big deal. Maybe. The collar of the dress also rose up behind Amethyst Star’s head, almost creating a backdrop like effect while the edges frayed until it looked like emerald flames were being emitted from behind Amethyst Star’s head. The sleeves of the dress hung low, dragging on the ground even as they got increasingly wider the further down they traveled until two or three ponies could comfortably fit their hooves in the end. The large cuffs of the sleeves were also made of puffed up dark-green piping to make them more eye-catching. In that they succeeded.
In fact the entire dress succeeded at that.
It also definitely succeeded at making everyone’s jaws drop, just like how Amethyst Star said it would.
Amethyst Star proudly wore it with her head held high, standing straight while Sensation stood beside her with her forelegs spread to show everyone the dress they should be looking at. The two ponies waited for someone else to say something first. Or at the least for them to regain their senses instead of just continuing to stare in befuddlement at what they were seeing.
Well in a second they did start to get another, true, reaction.
Laughter. Lots and lots of outrageous and raucous laughter.
The critics and other designers couldn’t believe they were looking at something so dumb, so terrible, so weird, that it could’ve actually been made by a thinking pony. And one who called herself a professional fashion-designer no less! Some of them had even fallen out of their chairs or were crying and holding their bellies from laughing so hard. It was such an unreal sight. Every single one of them were just amazed by what Sensation had made and the fact that she was actually showing it off as if she thought it was good.
“S-Sensation! Sensation, please!” A short and bespectacled dragon tried to say as he rolled about the floor. “T-This can’t be real, can it?”
“No, no, it has to be a practical joke or something!” A fancy looking red pegasus wearing a large hat said between her own guffaws.
“But she’s been acting so serious! This thing must be what she’s been working on since she started talking about her show!” The one speaking now as he caught his breath after laughing so much was a tuxedo and monocle wearing griffon. He glanced over at Amethyst Star and her dress once more and snorted in amusement. “Let’s just go everyone, this is far too embarrassing for my tastes.”
“Agreed. I almost feel bad,” the dragon said, still giggling as he picked himself off the floor.
Slowly all of the guests started to trickle out of the store, some of them laughing all the way, some taking some last looks at the ugly dress that had just been unveiled, most talking with each other about how Sensation had completely lost it. None had anything positive to say and none of them wanted to stick around any longer. It was pretty clear what the outcome would be now for Sensation in the City of Opportunity's fashion world.
Both Amethyst Star and Sensation had taken this horrible outcome in stride. Amethyst Star used to things like this, if not still annoyed when they happened, while Sensation had pretty much gone lights out in the head when the laughter started and retreated into her happy place until the show was over. Any plans they had to explain or actually show off the dress had been completely thrown out by the amazingly bad and universal reaction to the ensemble. Now the two were just left to stand there while the door to the store closed shut after the last guest left.
Amethyst Star coughed, looking down at her dress and then to the mare who she had made it with. “Can you help me out of this thing now? Sorry everyone hated it.”
Sensation blinked, coming back to reality but still staring off into space and not looking at the terrible thing she had just made. “Alright.”