To Put on a Show
By iAmSiNnEr
Snowflakes fell from the sky, spinning and twirling through the air even as Rarity lifted her mug up to her lips and sipped her coffee from it. She stared out of the window, watching the snowflakes attach themselves to the glass, then smiled.
She let out a breath, then pulled over a notebook from the side after setting down her mug. Opening it, she saw decades old sketches, all of Hearth’s Warming dresses for her highschool friends. Hearth’s Warming. It was about to be that time of year soon, wasn’t it?
Her fingers curled around her phone, but she hesitated. Applejack had her family now. Rainbow Dash was busy touring the world, and Twilight and Sunset were off at the Scientific Minds Convention in Trottingham. Pinkie Pie was busy making the less fortunate smile for Hearth’s Warming while Fluttershy was visiting her family.
She was alone this year, especially since Sweetie Belle was off at some ski resort with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. A sigh even as she set down her phone. Just as she was about to let go of it, there was a buzz from the mobile device.
She lifted it up to eye level and read the notification.
“Rarity, urgent order,” she read. It was a text from her assistant. “A performer is about to do magic tricks at the Canterlot orphanage for Hearth’s Warming, but she lost her costume at the very last minute and needs your magic. Here’s her measurements, are you able to get it done in nine hours?”
A small smile formed on her face as she put down her phone and looked around the boutique. Was she able to get it done in nine hours? Why, they should have asked if she could make it fabulous in nine hours. Now, here was something she could do.
White hair, blue skin. She knew the very colors that could work well with what she was provided. Perhaps not flashy, since the performer would be working with children, but perhaps she could try for a simple melding of colors that complemented each other.
Her fingers picked up a pencil and she opened up the decades old notebook. For this, she would leave it with her teenage drawings. It was time to go old-school. Her eyes ran over her old designs, and she began to sketch out the costume she was going to sew.
Her fingers moved quickly across the page, and the dress began to take shape as the pencil ran up and down the page she was using. The paper was a little brittle from age, but that was okay. She had made do with worse before.
A smile crept up her face as she sketched, and within ten minutes, she had a preliminary sketch ready. It was time. She stood up from her seat, had one final sip of coffee, before looking back at the sketch.
She giggled.
It had been a long time since she had done a Hearth’s Warming dress at short notice, and it brought back all those memories of her friends in her house, laughing together as she drew designs of dresses for them.
She rolled up her sleeves. Time to get to work.
Her fingers ached.
But the job was done. Now all that was left for her was to bundle the costume into a box, and drive it to the orphanage within the next hour or so. Not a hard task to do.
She had decided on telling the commissioner to not pay the fee this time. No matter the time they had requested it, they needed it for a good cause. Besides, they had given Rarity something to do to occupy her time.
She neatly packed up her work into a box and took one final sip of her coffee, then stood up from her seat. Wrapping the box with a red ribbon, she was ready to leave for her destination.
One final thing. She snagged her purse and car keys with a laugh at her forgetfulness, then stepped out of the boutique with a scarf wrapped around her neck. It wasn’t that cold, really. Not when she had a scarf that Pinkie Pie gifted her as protection from the elements.
Although, she let out a sigh of satisfaction as she slipped into her car and turned on the heating. As well and good sentimentality was, it didn’t beat the simple comfort of a warm car on a cold winter day.
The drive was mostly uneventful, the only thing happening was the biker running the red light. Luckily for the biker, almost no one was on the streets at this time, so he got away scot-free. Rarity didn’t really care about reporting others, even if she did memorize the plate number as a precaution.
She stepped out of her car and gave an involuntary shiver as the cold set into her bones. She quickly retrieved the box, before shutting and locking the car door behind her. Walking up to the building in front of her, she gave two knocks.
The door opened and the matron of the orphanage greeted her with a warm smile - she knew Rarity from all her visits with free clothes for the children. The matron guided her to the room in which the performer was getting ready, and left her at the door.
Rarity knocked on the door.
Trixie was a white-haired woman with fair-blue skin.
Trixie was getting ready for a show for the children at the orphanage.
Trixie had lost her outfit somehow. It totally wasn’t Trixie’s fault that she had brought it along when she went shopping for magician tools.
It was, however, Trixie’s duty to put on a proper show for those she was wanting to give a better Hearth’s Warming. So thus she made a few calls, checked in with the people she knew to call a designer or two.
One had answered her request, and promised to bring it along. Trixie didn’t bother getting the name, as she was on a time crunch, but she reminded herself to thank the designer when they brought the costume along.
She brushed up her hair, even as she frowned at the wrinkles on her forehead that formed when she scrunched up her face. She wasn’t that old for wrinkles yet, was she?
There was a knock on the door.
Trixie put on her best smile, then stood up to go over and open the door.
When she pulled the door back, Trixie let out a gasp.
“Rarity!”
The designer stepped back in surprise, her eyes showing evident shock. “Trixie! It’s been…so long!”
“Trixie knows that!” Trixie blurted out. “What are you doing here, Rarity?”
“Still with the third person, huh?” Rarity stepped in slowly. “I came with your costume. You’re the performer, I assume.”
“Trixie is no mere performer,” she huffed. “She is the Great and Powerful Trixie, and she will wow the children with amazing magic tricks!”
Rarity smiled. “That’s nice of you, Trixie. The girls will be delighted to hear someone’s cheering them up, especially Pinkie. It’s really been a long time, hasn’t it? You’ve changed a lot, but you’re still…Trixie.”
Trixie smirked. “Trixie wouldn’t be Trixie if she weren’t Trixie. Now, the show begins in half an hour. Would Rarity care to help Trixie get into her costume, and if there were any mistakes, to alter it?”
“Of course,” Rarity’s fingers ran across the box. “You’re going to look positively fabulous on that stage, darling. It’s time to get dressed~!”
Rarity laughed and clapped along with the children as Trixie took a bow, then she straightened up and took off her hat. “One final trick from the Great and Powerful Trixie!” She twirled around in her cloak, and in a flash, Trixie had vanished.
Rarity clapped even harder, even as her attention to detail noticed the lights shining on the stage along with the green screen that had dropped as Trixie twirled. Trixie was still there, just mostly camouflaged as she snuck off the stage.
Rarity got up from her seat, then walked over to the room Trixie had gotten dressed in earlier, knowing the performer would be along soon. She gazed at the belongings Trixie had left behind. A purse, a bag, and a book left open.
She heard footsteps behind her and she turned around to see Trixie beaming at her. “That was a good show, was it not, Rarity?”
Rarity smiled. “Of course it was. You’ve definitely improved since Canterlot High.”
A soft laugh. “Of course. Trixie learnt from the very best after she left high school. What would be the point of trying to be the best performer if she didn’t learn from the best before her?”
Rarity giggled. “Well, it was nice catching up with you, Trixie. What are you gonna do tonight for Hearth’s Warming?”
“Well, Trixie was thinking she could stop by the local Target store and grab a turkey to eat. Alone.” She shrugged. “What about you, Rarity?”
“I’m alone in this Hearth’s Warming too,” Rarity paused for a moment. “The girls are all doing their own things, and my sister’s having fun at a ski resort with her friends.”
Trixie hesitated. “Would you…would you like to join me?”
Rarity looked at her. “Trixie…you used me.”
“And so I did,” Trixie grinned. “So what’s it going to be, Rarity? Do you want to join me to eat turkey for Hearth’s Warming, or stay alone at home?”
“Honestly?” Rarity threw her hair back. “I’d love to join you, Trixie.”
“Then it’s settled,” Trixie put on her hat. “Get ready for a night of wonderment, courtesy of the Great and Powerful Trixie! Trixie will now vanish and re-appear at your vehicle, since she doesn’t have one herself!”
Rarity laughed as Trixie twirled around in the cloak, then laughed even more as she watched the performer sneak out doing what looked like the crab walk.
She looked in the mirror.
Her cheeks were flushed.
Must’ve been the cold.
But her smile remained as she walked out of the room to follow Trixie, and the smile grew even wider as she watched Trixie do small tricks for every child she passed by.
High school was long gone.
Trixie was still Trixie, but she had definitely matured.
Hearth’s Warming miracles really existed.
Trixie turned back to give Rarity a flirtatious wink, then hopped off to the car.
Rarity smiled again.