//------------------------------// // Night Two. // Story: Insomniac // by Phoenix Quill //------------------------------// Last night I slept rather terribly, I'm not quite sure why, perhaps it's because when I was ill I had slept too much? I suppose that it is no true matter, I found that after some tea I still failed to fall asleep, but I don't feel too terrible having lie down without any actual sleep. Rarity paused her writing to yawn deeply. She looked around in the dimly lit room with a pair of bleary eyes before pushing her glasses up her muzzle. I had taken down the black ribbon this morning, and opened the shop, there was a serious lack of customers, but I suppose that it'll take some time before they start coming back into Carrousel Boutique. The good news is that I had received word from Manehatten and Canterlot. Business is well over there as the elite and trendy seek out accessories to show that they've made it through the latest disaster. Mostly ribbons, broaches and pins in purple for our flag, and a black stripe for the plague. Fortunately these are cheap and easy to make in good quality and quantity. Rarity put down her quill to rub at her eyes and yawned once more. She looked over at the soft ticking clock over the fireplace mantle and thought that she saw something unusual about it, but decided to ignore it for now. I almost lost myself there. Anyway, I spent most of today deep in the accounting books, and writing correspondence letters to Sassy Saddles and Coco Pommel, not to mention sketching new ideas for the coming spring season. Rarity paused to look around at the dummy she was already pinning fabric onto with a sketch pinned to the wall above it. She gave off yet another yawn before looking at the clock again. Rarity smiled to see that the time had indeed moved since she last looked at the time, it had been about fifteen minutes. She then levitated the quill and continued, I didn't have that strong of an apatite for anything today. All day I'd been followed by some strange scent of unknown origin. It smells like over ripe cheese, or something fermenting in the sun. I showered twice and brushed my teeth and hair several times, and tried perfumes and incense but... all these things smell bad too. I'm not sure if my friends noticed it today when I went out to see them at Twilight's, but I did manage to pull through the event rather well in my opinion. Although, at one point I was informed that I was snoring. Naturally, I denied it, for a lady doesn't snore, but alas, I think that I pulled that off rather well today. I plan on staying up until nine, well into the evening with hopes that I'll be fully exhausted enough to sleep through the night. Rarity looked out over the room she was in, and looked again at the clock, it was half past seven. She turned to the dummy and levitated a few pieces of fabric to hang in a slightly different angle, letting the hem of the skirt cock at a different angle that brought a smile to her face. Rarity then exited the room and turned off the light before heading down stairs, and made notice that with every step of her left rear hoof, she could faintly hear the click, click, click, sound coming from her left flank. "It's probably nothing, after all, I walked quite a bit today and didn't feel anything." She turned into her showroom and did a quick scan to make sure that nopony had snuck inside while she was working upstairs. Normally, she'd be alerted from the bell above her door, but with how drowsy she'd felt all day, Rarity felt worried that she might be missing something. Her intuition proved right. Lyra was sitting upright in her unusual fashion on one of the couches. "Hey Rarity," she said in the casual way somepony would discuss the weather. "I was wondering when you'd come down, I need help with a nice warm saddle blanket for the upcoming blizzard that's scheduled." Rarity blinked and smiled at the customer in a dizzy sense of confusion. "Ahh, yes. I can certainly help," she said as she trotted over to the corner where winter gear was on display. "We have a great variety of saddles, blankets, dresses, and hats for the season. Oh, and of course alterations to taste as needed." Lyra looked over the saddle blankets a few moments, letting an awkward silence sit between them. Rarity tried to stifle a yawn off to the side before smiling at Lyra. "Excuse me, but how long have you been waiting for customer service today?" Lyra paused for a moment, then answered, "about, twenty minutes, why?" Rarity didn't respond, but was internally upset that she'd let a customer sit for that long before helping them. Suddenly, Lyra grabbed a blanket at seemingly random. An olive colored blanket with a faux fur fringe. "This one, I think looks warm enough," she said with a smile before grabbing her bit bag. "How much?" Rarity motioned for Lyra to follow her and walked to the register. "It's fifteen bits for the blanket," she started. "We also ask if you would like to donate anything to the Equestrian Plague Fund for victims of the disease that's been plaguing us these last few months?" Lyra tilted her head at the little jar by the register as she fished out fifteen coins. "Yeah, I'm not donating today, I gave earlier," she said absentmindedly. She then lay the coins down on the counter, and started to head out with her blanket. Rarity watched as the mare left, not quite sure what to say or do now that the interaction was over. Finally, she rushed to the door and called out, "Have a good evening, take care!" Before she shut the door, locked it, and flipped the sign to closed. Rarity gave off a sigh as she thought again about how she'd let down a customer. But then a more disturbing thought crossed her mind, and she shuddered. "Now, let's keep it together Rarity," she said to herself. "No need to get into a panic." Rarity could not sleep at all. Despite the lateness of the hour, and how little she slept the night before, Rarity was in full paranoia mode as she jumped at the sound of every little squeak, every gust of wind, and every rattle of trees. She was sitting upright in the same unusual way that Lyra was in her shop earlier, one hoof in a fuzzy slipper, the other absently pawing the floor next to the matching slipper. Rarity wore her glasses on her face, which had a blank paranoid expression as she blinked, one eye offset from the other. Her mane was frazzled in loose curls and frizzles, and her right front hoof was stroking her tail as Opalescence watched in mild interest. Suddenly Rarity fell forward and shuffled her way to the desk, and reopened her diary. Her quill levitated and missed the inkwell and she cursed a word that was not quite lady like before trying again. This time with success. The snow is not yet falling but I feel a chill in the air. Is somepony in my house? I checked every room before laying down, including the one I'm lying in now. I keep hearing things, but it's likely the cat every time. I don't think I can sleep here, what should I do? Rarity blinked as she suddenly realized that she was crying. She wasn't sure why, and it confused her. She was so confused about the fact that she was crying that she closed her book without thinking to grab a scrap from her sewing to use as a handkerchief. She wiped her eyes a few times before she started pacing the room. And pacing. And crying. And mumbling. And circling. And crying. And pacing. She looked to her right and saw the sunlight crest over the hill and into the window, and it was as if she were pulled out of a trance. She looked at the floor in her room in surprise to find empty snack wrappers, several soiled rags used as handkerchiefs, and clear signs of tread patterns on the floor from her pacing back and forth in circles. The strange part to her was that she didn't remember doing any of this, at least not long enough to cause this level of damage. Rarity's horn lit up and she started to levitate objects to put them away, or throw them out when she noticed her diary on the floor. There, in her own hornwriting she saw five words. I need to see Twilight.