Monday, August 23. The next day. “The Show Stoppers”.
The school talent show was scheduled for that night, and Rarity’s sister Sweetie Belle was one of the performers, along with her two other friends. The trio had already established a reputation for trouble.
Rarity had been specifically instructed not to have anything to do with the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ act in any way, shape or form. It was five whole years since Sweetie Belle’s fifth birthday party, and yet…Rarity understood completely. It didn’t help making her feel a little depressed, however.
Rarity’s late-afternoon musings were interrupted by a knock on the door. Opening it revealed Derpy Hooves, the local mailmare, still wearing her work clothes. “Good morning!” she exclaimed. “I was wondering if you were done with my Dinky’s costume. The dress-up show was last week!” She closed one eye and thought. “Next week. Whew! I thought I messed that up.”
“Derpy, it’s good to see you!” Rarity exclaimed, opening the door to let her in.
Derpy walked into the doorframe, bounced back and then walked into the room as if nothing had happened.
Rarity said nothing as she carefully closed the door. “It’s right over here,” she said, turning and stretching out a hoof to point out the filly-sized ponykin. Posted on the wall above the ponykin was a flier advertising “Junior Fan Day” at the upcoming Mystery Writers of Equestria Convention in Manehattan. The illustration showed a colt and a filly dressed up as their favorite fictional detectives: Sherclop Pones and Miss Maple.
Derpy instead stopped at a full-sized ponykin with Applejack’s “first draft” Gala dress. “Oh no!” she exclaimed. “You made it too big!”
“Why didn’t I burn that?” Rarity asked herself under her breath. “Oh right, the smell of burning rubber galoshes. Dinky’s costume is over here, Derpy!” she exclaimed, gently guiding the gray pegasus to the correct spot. “So, what do you think?” she asked, with a polite but attentive smile.
Derpy rubbed her chin with a hoof as she looked at the costume: a burgundy trench coat with pink belt and ascot, and a dark gray mare’s fedora with its own pink band. “Hmm…” she said, as her eyes slowly circled around, changing which derped eye was focusing on the hat every four seconds or so.
Rarity nearly fell over at this, but by supreme effort of will managed to remain professional, because the eye that wasn’t looking at the costume was usually looking at her. The smile did become somewhat stiff after a while, though. It’s unfortunate that her iris color is so striking against the white of her eyes and the gray fur, Rarity thought to herself. Otherwise, it might be possible to have a conversation with her and not be constantly thinking of the derp.
“Who is…” Derpy began as her eyes startled settling down. “No wait, I remember! Shovel Dark! That’s who that is!”
“Shadow Spade,” Rarity gently corrected.
“Same thing,” Derpy playfully countered.
Rarity thought for a moment. “That it is, I suppose,” she finally admitted.
The filly ponykin was already gray, so it was easily to imagine Dinky wearing the costume. “Yup, that will work! How much do I owe you?”
“Oh, you already paid at the fitting,” Rarity said, as she floated each piece of the costume off and into a bag held aloft with Rarity’s magic. The coat was perfectly folded in mid-air before it reached its final destination.
“Wow!” Derpy quietly exclaimed. “You’re so elegant with your magic.”
“Why thank you,” Rarity said with a warm smile. “I believe there is a style to everything, and that includes a unicorn’s magic.”
“Yeah,” Derpy said with a smile. “My flying was like that.” She lifted up her wings one at a time to look at them, but frowned at what her mixed-up eyes weren’t showing her. “Probably still does, if I could see the way I used to.” The smile faded. She looked at Rarity with both eyes focused. Or at least she tried, but the left eye eventually drifted off to do its own thing. She sighed. “Dinky wants me to go to the convention with her instead of Carrot. Is there any chance you can throw together something for me? One of Shadow’s informants, or something like that. So…not fancy.”
Now it was Rarity’s turn to hum and rub her chin. “Sorry, but I just don’t see you as a Piter Lore type,” she quipped. “How about Shadow’s loyal secretary, Effigy Peregrine?”
There was a spot adjacent to her workspace where the bored children/siblings/filly friends of her clients could occupy themselves. Along with a few soft toys guaranteed not to break anything was a low bookcase containing some of Rarity’s favorite books from her own fillyhood. One of these was the inspiration book for Dinky’s costume: the illustrated version of Shadow Spade and the Murgese Falcon. Rarity floated the book over to the table the costume bag was resting on and opened it to a page showing Shadow trading quips with Effigy.
Derpy walked over and looked down at the book. She tilted her head, first one way and then the other, to try in vain to get at least one eye to focus on the illustration. Finally, she had to take to the air for a few moments to see it. Rarity had to covertly use her magic as Derpy came back down to prevent her from knocking anything over. “That’s a griffon! I couldn’t play her. Unless I wore a mask…” This caused her to perk up. “Oh, can I wear a mask? Nopony will ask about my eyes if they can’t see them.”
Rarity fully understood where Derpy was coming from, but she also knew that trying to restrict Derpy’s vision in any way was just a recipe for disaster. “No, I don’t think we need to do anything with your face. I envision a simple lady’s suit, in black. Which I think would look very good on you. And we can style your mane in curls. It’s already the same color as Effigy’s.” From her costume box, Rarity floated over an oversized black suit jacket with prominent shoulder pads and draped it over Derpy’s form. She buttoned the jacket up, but only so far, leaving her throat and the top of her chest still visible.
“Yes, but…my eyes…” Derpy gave off the slightest hint of a whine.
Rarity looked at Derpy in contemplation for a moment, until both her cutie mark and eyes lit up briefly, giving her a vision. Inspired, Rarity rummaged through a deep drawer full of accessories and came up with exactly what she was looking for: a white clip-on tie, the same height as a bow tie but three times as wide. “I think this will work quite nicely,” she declared. She attached the tie to a white ribbon and quickly tied it around Derpy’s neck. She gestured towards a mirror.
Derpy’s eyes both focused on the striking tie. As she looked, Rarity’s magic gathered Derpy’s golden mane into a tight halo around her face. To Derpy, something amazing happened to her reflection even as her right eye drifted to the side: the halo somehow canceled out the hypnotic effect of her misaligned eyes, leaving the tie as the most-visible part of Derpy’s appearance.
Derpy smiled, and then gasped. “I…I’m beautiful!” she exclaimed.
Rarity smiled with satisfaction. “There it is,” she said, as much to herself as to her client. “Your inner beauty.”
“You found a way to keep ponies from looking at my eyes all the time!” Derpy declared, overjoyed. “I would love to go to the convention wearing this. You should change my mailmare suit to do the same thing. You…you don’t think this will steal attention from Dinky at the show, will you?”
“Oh no, of course not!” Rarity exclaimed. “Junior Fan Day is focused exclusively on the younger ponies, with the exception of the mare and stallion fashion show. And besides, Effie is Spade’s right-hoofed mare! She would never steal the spotlight from her boss.” She gestured over to the Shadow Spade costume, adding, “Seriously. Monotones simply cannot compete with that shade of burgundy.”
“Still, being able to walk in public without everypony seeing only the eyes…” Derpy mused.
“It would be the Perfect Moment,” Rarity said gently, referencing one of her catchphrases: Rarity’s Boutique: Clothes for the Perfect Moment. It tended to work better with the ponies that didn’t respond well to “chic, unique and magnifique.” And there was something about the very words “perfect moment” that resonated deep within Rarity's psyche.
“Yes…” Derpy replied with a blissful smile. “You should come along! And I can pay—we already bought a ticket for Carrot, but she has to deal with the Spots this weekend, and the tickets can’t go back, and…” She reeled. “That was a lot of words! Anyway, you’ll be able to see my Perfect Moment!”
Rarity reeled herself, but for an entirely different reason. “Oh no, I’m afraid I can’t,” she said quickly, making rapid alterations in the jacket so it would fit Derpy and making the tie into a more durable accessory at the same time. “I have a simply enormous order for Hoity Toity that I have to finish by Monday morning, and then I’ll be wrecked for the rest of the day.” She put on a little smile in response to Derpy’s look of disappointment. “There, there,” she said, hoofing over the bag that now contained two costumes instead of one. “You can both tell me all about it Monday afternoon after work. Go ahead and knock, even if you see a sign telling everypony else not to. I would be delighted to hear how it goes.”
“Well, alright,” Derpy said, picking up the bag and peering inside. “I definitely owe you now. How much?”
“Nothing,” Rarity said with a wave of her hoof. “I never charge for my visions.”
“That eye glow thing?” Derpy asked. “I didn’t want to say anything in case you were cursed or something.”
“Oh, that’s funny,” Rarity said lightly, opening the door of the boutique and ushering Derpy outside. “Good luck, to the both of you!”
“Thanks!” Derpy exclaimed, walking out with the bag’s handle held up by a forehoof. She tripped on her hooves, did a complete tumble, and ended up standing in the same pose as she started.
Rarity floated the dropped bag over so Derpy could grab it with her teeth. She stood there watching as Derpy launched into the sky, flying lazily around in a chaotic pattern until she went around a building corner and out of sight.
She sighed, thinking over what Derpy had said about her other special talent, the one that didn’t involve mining. She reached up a hoof to rub gently at the patch of forehead above her head. “Or something indeed,” she mused sadly to herself.
Then she turned around, walked back into the boutique, and trashed the stal fatale costume she was going to wear to the Mystery Writer’s fashion show and ripped up her ticket.
She wasn’t going to dare go to the convention now that she had set up a Perfect Moment. To be there, to witness it, even by accident, which would cause the darker side of her vision power to kick in… Rarity shuddered as she remembered the look on her sister’s face the last time that had happened. With a rueful look back at her cutie mark, she closed up shop for the night.