The end of the year has always been a busy time for Rarity. Work always increases due to the influx of holiday sales and commissions, which means that she never has time for anything outside of her work during this season. To cope with the workload, she's grown accustomed to daydreaming while sewing to keep herself sane; however, these fantasies have progressively gotten more and more specific as of late. A consistent one she's been having lately has been about Rainbow Dash, of all ponies.
Rarity scoffs at the mere thought of this unabashedly headstrong tomboy, trying to ignore how that same pony also makes her feel so many complicated things at once. It's a subtle, but unwavering sensation that comes over Rarity whenever that rainbow-maned pegasus is mentioned. Rarity tries to shake off the feeling, and continues focusing on hemming a navy blue dress for a customer in Fillydelphia. After she has finished this menial task and is satisfied with her work, she decides to take a quick tea break and heads down to her kitchen. As she helps herself to her afternoon tea, she hears the jingling of the bell at her front door.
"Oh, I do apologize, but I can't take any more orders until next Tuesday. I'm very behind on my commissions-" Rarity starts to say while still facing the kitchen counter, before she turns around to see Fluttershy standing awkwardly in the entryway. "Why hello there, darling! Please do come in."
Fluttershy shuffles inside, gently shutting the door behind her and taking off her winter coat to place on the coat rack. "I hope you don't mind my interruption, I was just wanting to check in on you." She smiles bashfully.
"Why is that?" Rarity asks plainly. "I'm doing perfectly fine, no need to worry on my behalf." The unicorn looks over to her kettle. "Would you like some tea?"
Her softspoken friend nods. "Yes, please.. Well, I know you've been preoccupied with your business, and nopony has seen much of you for a while, but I just can't let you isolate yourself like this until the end of the year. It isn't fair to you," Fluttershy pleas, "Why can't you put off some of your orders until later so that you can enjoy a well-deserved break?"
Rarity passes the teacup over to Fluttershy. "Darling, if I wanted a break, I would've quit a long time ago." Rarity takes another sip. "The fact is, I really do love my work, it's very freeing for me to be able to sew beautiful creations in a solitary environment - save for my dear Opal, as well as Sweetie Belle, but she's at our parents' house until the new year." She uses her magic to remove the lid from the container holding sugarcubes. "But anyways, I can't possibly imagine myself doing anything else for the rest of my life.. one lump or two?"
"Just one, thank you." Fluttershy watches as Rarity levitates a singular sugarcube into her tea. "I'm not trying to suggest you quit, I know this is your life's work! You're very passionate about it, and I respect that, but could you just consider taking all of Hearth's Warming Eve and Hearth's Warming Day off, to spend time with the ponies who really care about you? We'd love to have you join us on Hearth's Warming Eve for our holiday party.." She looks up at Rarity, pleading with her puppy eyes.
Rarity caves into the pressure. "Okay, fine, I'll do it!" she surrenders. "But I'm going to have to finish all of the last-minute dresses that ponies ordered as gifts for Hearth's Warming.. oh dear, that's coming up, isn't it? What day is today?"
Fluttershy scrunches her nose in thought while she takes a long sip from her teacup. "Well, it's a Monday, and Hearth's Warming Eve is Sunday, so you ideally have five or six days to finish all of the gift orders. Do you think you can handle that?"
"I only have a couple more ensembles, so it won't be any trouble; I finished a majority of the gift orders in advance since most placed their orders as early as October. But there's always a few last minute orders that come in," Rarity lightly giggles. "What I really have to worry about are all of the regular December orders that aren't for Hearth's Warming that I've been procrastinating on to focus on the holiday orders. The December orders are making up a majority of the workload I have left, but my clients are already well-aware that their orders won't go out until mid-late January due to the heavy priority on my Hearth's Warming commissions."
"Ohh, I see.." Fluttershy nods in complete agreement. "And that's a good thing?"
"Yes, yes, it's very good, Fluttershy.." Rarity trails off, noticing the clouds outside. Her mind starts to drift off again to peculiar thoughts of a particular rainbow pegasus, and how magnificent she would look in a not-too-frou-frou magenta gown that would perfectly compliment her sparkling ruby eyes-
"Rarity? Is everything okay?" Fluttershy asks with genuine concern. Rarity is quickly snapped out of her fantasy and awkwardly giggles.
"Oh, I'm fine, darling," the blushing unicorn says, forcing out any intrusive thoughts about that annoyingly brash yet incredibly endearing pegasus. "Just thinking.. about things."
Fluttershy looks at her quizzically. "Would you like to talk about it?" she pries gently. "I'll listen."
"While I do appreciate the offer, I'm not too keen on speaking my mind on this matter," Rarity quickly responds. Fluttershy continues to sip her tea.
"And I'll respect that," Fluttershy says with a patient smile. "But if you ever need to talk to anypony, I'll be here for you." After another sip, she realizes she's already out of tea. "Oh, I suppose I should be on my way; I need to finish up my holiday shopping. Sorry for the imposition, I'll let you get back to your work."
Rarity shakes her head politely. "It was no bother at all, my dear! Your visits always make my day, no matter how busy I am." She takes both empty teacups and sets them in the sink. As she escorts Fluttershy to the front door, she helps her get back into her coat. "I really do appreciate you checking in on me."
"Of course, Rarity!" Fluttershy gives another sweet smile. "I'll see you on Sunday, then?"
"Indubitably," the unicorn replies with an equally sweet smile and waves as her friend goes on her way. "Be safe, darling!"
Fluttershy turns back and calls out, "I will!"
Rarity continues to wave for a few more moments, before retreating back into the welcoming warmth of her own home. She shivers slightly and makes her way upstairs to wrap herself in her bed robe. As she sits on her mattress, she ponders about the implications of her increasingly confusing feelings for Rainbow Dash. Could she possibly..? She shudders to think of the possibility that she could actually like somepony that is so rude, so callous, so.. dashing. Rarity hugs herself and falls back onto her bed, too distracted to focus on her work. She shouldn't feel this way towards her polar opposite.. but she does anyway. She scrambles to make sense of the mess that is her mind, but every conclusion keeps pointing to the fact that she likes Rainbow, and that she can't deny it any longer.
"I'm going to tell her, on Hearth's Warming Eve." And so, with a newfound motivation to finish her orders before Hearth's Warming, Rarity jumps out of bed and continues working.
After days of pacing herself, Rarity has finally completed every Hearth's Warming order, just in time for Hearth's Warming Eve. She managed to sneak away from her work to make some quick purchases for gifts for each of her friends, and she couldn't be more anxious about the party, even while just waiting in line to deliver her packages. Rarity takes a moment to exhale and clear out any negative thoughts before Derpy greets her.
"Hi there, Rarity! You're coming in and out of here every day, huh? Are you here to ship some more packages?" Derpy says rhetorically as she carefully counts up each parcel to tally up the shipping fees.
Rarity nods. "Yes, and that'll be all for quite a while."
"Well that's good! Because we're closed tomorrow, so you better not come by," Derpy snorts and giggles, and Rarity politely chuckles.
"How much will it be?" Rarity unclasps her coin purse, ready to retrieve bits as needed.
"Twenty bits!" Derpy says matter-of-factly in response.
Rarity's eyes widen in surprise, but she pays in full. "There it is, then. Please make sure you read all of the labels thoroughly this time, we don't need another address mix-up like last year.."
The klutzy pegasus rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. "Oh, yeah.. it won't happen again! Leave it to me."
"Much appreciated. Happy Hearth's Warming, Derpy!" Rarity calls out as she quickly leaves to get home to get ready for tonight's party. It's a very informal occasion, considering it's only their immediate friends in attendance.
Rarity enters her room and gathers a multitude of different wrapping papers, ribbons with bows, gift tags, and the unique gifts for each of her dearly loved friends. Each one has been meticulously curated based on their interests: Twilight gets a collector's edition of Shadow Spade that was very hard to come by; Spike gets a generous assortment of freshly cut gems; Pinkie Pie gets a new pack of confetti that includes the messy glitter that she loves so much; Applejack gets apple-shaped mane clips to keep her mane out of her face; Fluttershy gets a stuffed plush version of Angel to keep her company during the winter; and Rainbow Dash... what will she get? Out of all the ponies in their friend group, they've interacted the least out of everypony and know each other the least. And yet, that's what makes her so appealing to Rarity: the mystery. Every interaction between them leads to new information discovered, and Rarity gets to unravel the nuances of this seemingly simple pony's mind. There's so much behind that egotistical facade, and Rarity is sure that there's more to Rainbow than what she appears to be, that she has interests outside of flying.
It is at this very moment that Rarity receives the most brilliant idea ever. Hopefully Rainbow will like it.
Rarity arrives at Twilight's castle by sunset, with all six wrapped gifts carefully placed in her saddlebags. The falling snow tickles her eyelashes, and she tries to blink so as to not mess up her iconic blue eyeshadow; the shade of which has been a constant reminder of a very certain somepony lately..
The unicorn briskly clears her throat and knocks on the entrance to the castle. She hears the pitter-patter of footsteps and jingling bells from who she assumes to be Spike, and ends up being correct as she is greeted by him (wearing festive reindeer horns with jingle bells, of course) when he opens the door.
"Rarity! Good to see you," Spike shouts over the Hearth's Warming tunes loudly echoing throughout the castle. "We were starting to worry you wouldn't show up!"
She giggles in spite of herself. "Oh, I would never miss out on our Hearth's Warming celebration," Rarity reassures him. She enters the castle and gently closes the door behind her. "Is everypony already in the library?"
"Yep! You didn't miss out on much, though; Pinkie just attempted reciting the traditional Hearth's Warming Hymn backwards." The jingle bells on Spike's headband jingle as he laughs. "It was awful!" The music gets increasingly louder as Spike continues to lead the way towards the holiday festivities.
As soon as Rarity steps hoof into the library, she immediately sees everypony wearing ridiculous festive attire, varying from Pinkie Pie's gingerbread sweater with actual gingerbread ponies (some with bites already taken out of them) attached to it, to Fluttershy simply putting mistletoe in her mane and calling it a day.
"Hello, everypony! I'm fashionably late, per usual," Rarity announces. "But I made sure to get something for you all!" She levitates each of her gifts under the Hearth's Warming tree set up at the back of the library, along with the gifts everypony else had already placed under there.
"Oh, Rarity, we know how busy you are," the Hearth's Warming tree-inspired Twilight with a fire of friendship headband sympathizes, "We aren't expecting you to go out of your way to get things for us!"
Rarity shakes her head. "I insist on it." Pinkie Pie pops up and places a top hat on Rarity's head and gives her a snowman-themed sweater with diamonds as the buttons rather than coal. "Oh- thank you, Pinkie. This is very lovely."
"I'm glad you like it!" Pinkie gives Rarity a quick squeeze-hug. "Now you're matching with everypony else!"
"Yes, I can see that," Rarity agrees, humoring Pinkie's antics. Satisfied, Pinkie returns to her spot on the couch next to Applejack, who is currently trying to make paper snowflakes to tape onto her hat (Rarity's pretty sure that she ran out of ideas).
"These scissors ain't built for bulky hooves," Applejack notes as she struggles to grip the scissors. "Does anypony have garden shears I can use?"
"Pffft, garden shears?" Rainbow Dash jeers from her position on the other couch. Rarity watches this interaction in amusement, while also noting that Rainbow is completely wrapped in festive lights from head to hoof. "What are you cutting, a bush or a snowflake?"
Applejack lets out a sigh of frustration, still focused on applying force to the tiny scissors in order to cut the paper. "Oh, shut up, you."
Rainbow chuckles playfully in response, and it's at that moment she notices Rarity and switches gears. "Oh, Rarity! What's up? Have you tried the eggnog?"
"No, not yet, but I do intend to," Rarity manages, attempting to keep her composure. "How have you been?" She feels all of her unexpressed emotions weighing down on her, and she has the urge to just let it all out, but she knows it isn't the right moment.
Rainbow just shrugs, maintaining her nonchalant attitude. "Uhh, nothing much. Just swamped with Wonderbolts practice and I haven't been able to really do anything. I'm sure you know what that feels like, though, since you're always doing sewing.. stuff."
Rarity can't help but smile at such a response. "Yes, I completely understand how you feel. Is it going well for you?"
"Yeah, no, it's going great for me. How about you?" Rainbow asks with genuine interest.
"It can be a tad overwhelming and isolating at times, but it is a very rewarding process. There's just something about getting to create something beautiful for somepony else that makes it so special to me.. does that make sense?" Rarity starts to question.
"I totally get it!" Rainbow says, nodding but trying not to unravel the lights wrapped around her. "Flying is super rewarding for me, too."
Suddenly, Pinkie is heard shouting over the festive music, "Does anypony want to help me string popcorn for our tree?"
"I'll make some more popcorn!" Spike offers enthusiastically before leaving with Twilight to go to the kitchen.
Rainbow Dash springs up from the couch. "Don't start without me, Pinkie!" she exclaims. Looking over at Rarity, she quickly asks, "You wanna join us?"
"I'm fine with just watching, thank you," Rarity declines with a friendly smile and watches as Rainbow goes on her way. The lovesick unicorn can't help but stare at Rainbow as she and Pinkie make a huge mess, throwing popcorn at each other rather than actually stringing the thread.
Fluttershy giggles and shakes her head at the sight. "Oh, those two, always acting like fillies.." She takes a sip of her eggnog and steals Rainbow's spot on the couch. It's at that moment that Fluttershy sees Rarity's expression of longing. "Is something on your mind again?"
"Yes, actually," Rarity confesses. "All the time. You see, I have something I must admit.."
"Mhm?" Fluttershy patiently encourages, while not being pushy.
Rarity leans over to whisper in her friend's ear, "I may or may not have the teensiest tiniest crush on somepony.." She looks over at Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy follows her gaze.
Fluttershy gives a small gasp. Recovering from the brief shock, she quietly mumbles, "For how long?"
"Oh, who knows at this point. Could have been for years, could have been recent, I can't tell. All I know is that she has been consuming my thoughts day and night.." Rarity laments, burying her head in her hooves. "I'm desperate to tell her how I feel, but unfortunately I don't have enough courage."
The yellow pegasus gives her a gentle pat on the back. "No, no, Rarity, you are very brave. If you feel like you're ready to tell her, then you should go for it. And besides, even if she doesn't feel the same way, wouldn't it be nice to know that you were able to at least get it off your chest instead of burying it inside? And if she does feel the same, then that's good."
"How do you know so much about things like this? I'm the 'colt crazy' one here." Rarity knows exactly how ironic that statement is.
"Oh, um.. let's just say I've experienced something similar to your situation." Fluttershy awkwardly shuffles in place, not wanting to relive past memories. "Anyways, I think you should probably tell her when you're both alone."
"Thank you so much, Fluttershy," Rarity reaches over to give her a hug. "You always know just what to say."
"Aww, gee," says Fluttershy bashfully. "I'm happy I could help." The two ponies get up from the couch and head towards the tree, where everypony else is just about finished stringing the popcorn.
Applejack grabs one end of the string and ties a lasso, flinging the string around their festive tree. She somehow manages to fully wrap the string around the entire tree without a hassle.
"That was amazing!" Twilight commends her, to which Applejack just nods her snowflake-decorated head.
"No problem." Applejack tips her hat back slightly. "So, uh, not to rush anything, but when are we gonna open these here presents?" She gestures to the base of the tree, where dozens of presents lay out in the open.
Pinkie pops into existence. "I'm so glad you asked, Applejack! You see, the plan is that each of us will take a turn passing out their gifts to all of us." She cranes her neck to gaze up at Twilight, who is actually only a few inches taller than her so she doesn't have to look too far up. "Twiliiiiight? Can I start?"
Twilight sighs in defeat, but is smiling despite herself. "Yes, Pinkie, you may."
Pinkie squeals in delight. "Okay, everypony, I'm gonna start passing out my presents to you guys! Three, two, one, go!" The excitable pink pony begins by tossing a green wrapped box to Applejack, and then a teal one with a pretty bow to Fluttershy. After that, a small, sparkly rectangle box is tossed to Twilight, and then a multicolor box goes to Rainbow; a magenta box gets hurled at Rarity full-force, and a red one is caught by Spike. "Now open them!" Pinkie cheers.
Applejack receives a box of Filly Scout cookies and Fluttershy opens her box to find a pack of butterfly-shaped sprinkles. Twilight receives a cookbook (spoiler alert: everypony got her a book). Meanwhile, Rainbow unboxes some cool decals, Rarity finds a bracelet-making kit, and Spike excitedly unboxes a pack of action figures.
After everyone finishes expressing their gratitude towards Pinkie, they now have to decide who passes around presents next. Twilight offers to go, and then after her is Applejack; Rainbow, Spike, and Fluttershy follow suit. Soon enough, it's come down to Rarity to pass out her individual gifts.
"I hope you all like what I got for you," Rarity comments as she uses her magic to levitate the presents to their recipients. She watches with bated breath as Pinkie opens hers first and squeals in excitement at the glitter confetti. Applejack is already attempting to put the apple clips in her mane, and Fluttershy gasps at the sight of the Angel plush and immediately hugs it. Twilight makes a light-hearted comment under her breath when she realizes everypony got her books, and Spike grins knowingly while eyeing his bowl of gems. Everyone except Rainbow has opened their last gift, and now all eyes are focused intently on her as she struggles to rip off the wrapping paper with her teeth.
"I got it, I got it," she grits, finally tearing the wrapping paper off. There's a small package inside, and she opens it and quickly shuts the box upon seeing her gift. "Wow, cool gift! Thanks."
"What did you get, Dashie?" Pinkie asks with genuine curiosity.
Rainbow tries to play it off. "Uhh, something."
"Well can we see it?" Twilight questions with a raised eyebrow.
"Nope! I'm good. Thank you, Rarity, for my amazing gift," the pegasus thanks her with a twinge of embarrassment and nervousness in her voice.
"I'm glad you like it," Rarity says knowingly, but also with some guilt. She didn't intend to embarrass Rainbow with her gift, she just thought it would be appreciated.
"Weird," Pinkie mumbles in a sing-song tone before she is interrupted by a vibrating sensation in her mane. She fishes out a ringing baking timer. "Ooh! The next gingerbread batch is done!"
Everypony leaves the library and follows Pinkie Pie to the kitchen, where they each decorate their own gingerbread ponies. Applejack accidentally applies too much force onto the icing piper, and causes a minor explosion of icing that gets on her face. In response to this, Pinkie takes some excess frosting and paints a mustache on herself, and Rarity joins in and gives herself an icing beard. Twilight is completely in the zone as she attempts to make the perfect gingerbread-Celestia; meanwhile, Rainbow and Spike are messily putting giant globs of frosting onto theirs and eating the cookies without any hesitation. Fluttershy claims the leftover misshapen gingerbread cookie and decides to transform it into Discord, with some creative liberties taken (she's covering it with the butterfly-shaped sprinkles Pinkie had gotten her).
After everypony has participated in a multitude of festive activities, it's finally gotten to the point where everypony must return home for the night.
"Happy Hearth's Warming! Get home safe!" Twilight calls out after everypony as they leave.
"Have a g'night, y'all!" Applejack shouts, adjusting her saddlebags filled with her gifts. Fluttershy starts leaving as well, followed by Pinkie Pie. Rarity follows as well, but stays further behind to gather her thoughts.
After a while, Fluttershy and Pinkie are completely out of view, leaving Rarity by herself on the snowy path. She takes this opportunity to reflect on today's events and sits down on a park bench. Just then, something completely unexpected happens: Rainbow Dash comes out of nowhere and approaches her.
"Hey, Rarity, you got a minute?" Rainbow asks with some urgency.
Rarity's face flushes in surprise. "Um, sure. What is it?"
Rainbow grabs the small box Rarity wrapped for her and opens it, revealing a spa coupon. "What the heck is this about? Is this supposed to be a joke or something?"
"No, no, of course not!" Rarity tries to explain, "I wasn't going out of my way to embarrass you or put you on the spot, I just thought you might like it, since you go there for massages."
Rainbow's defensiveness halters and she starts to feel guilty for being so confrontational. "Oh. Sorry, I didn't think you knew about that.." she admits, looking at the coupon. "This is actually really thoughtful of you. Thanks."
Rarity's face brightens at the fact that Rainbow actually appreciates the gift. "It was no trouble at all." She catches a glimpse of Rainbow in her most genuine form. She has her guard down, and she isn't putting on some massive bravado to impress anyone. This side of her is the kind of Rainbow that appeals to Rarity.
"You know, you're way cooler than I thought you were, like originally," Rainbow says out of nowhere. "Before I got to know you, I thought you were soo superficial, but you're really nothing like that at all."
Rarity is caught off-guard by this. "Really? Well, when I met you, I thought you were just a narcissistic egomaniac, but now I see you as.." Rarity starts to hesitate, breaking eye contact with Rainbow.
"As a what? Don't leave me hanging here," Rainbow Dash jokes with her.
Rarity inhales, exhales. This is the only chance she'll get. She looks back up at Rainbow.
"As.. somepony I care about deeply. A friend, or.. more than that," Rarity's throat closes up. The expression on Rainbow's face is that of complete shock.
"What do you mean?" Rainbow mumbles in disbelief.
"You know exactly what I mean, Rainbow Dash. I've felt this way about you for so long, haven't you at least noticed?" Rarity begs her, trying to not well up with tears. "I'm in love with you."
Rainbow's face transforms into guilt. She looks at Rarity painfully, not knowing what to say. "I.. I'm sorry.. I don't feel the same way. I've been so focused on my career, I don't have time to think about possible relationships.. I'm sorry, Rarity."
The rejection hits Rarity hard. It feels like she's been stabbed twenty times, an overwhelming pain striking her heart. She is overcome with every emotion all at once, and she has to force herself to keep her composure and not break down sobbing at that very moment.
"I see," is all she can bring herself to say as rolling tears begin to streak her face. "Well, have a Happy Hearth's Warming, then, Rainbow. I have to get home." She retreats from the bench and begins her journey home. The guilt-ridden and speechless Rainbow Dash can only watch as her secret admirer's heart continues to break with each step she takes down the snow-covered road.
Later on that night, Rarity locked herself in her room and sobbed until she was so exhausted that she fell asleep.