Rarity stood encircled by her friends in Princess Celestia’s throne room. The large, vaulted windows caught the crepuscular light and refracted it into dozens of tiny sunbeams, illuminating the entire area in a dim glow. How did I get here? Before she could speak up, all five of the others took a step toward her, chanting one word.
“Deceit.”
Confused, Rarity turned to see that all of them wore different permutations of the same expression, with Twilight’s being the most pained. “Wait, what’s—”
Another step rang out in the vast room. “Treachery.”
In a strange coup d’état, the dawn breaking outside shifted into something blacker than night. The room itself seemed to shine of its own right, bearing down an exceedingly hot and bright spotlight down onto Rarity. She vainly lifted a hoof to try and shield her eyes from the light, but she couldn’t cast a shadow at all. When she attempted to look out into the impenetrable blackness outside, Rarity suddenly became colder than ice and her breath left her completely, leaving her practically frozen to the spot as the edge of her vision started to blur. With a gasp and a huge amount of effort, she looked back into the normal room and blinding light, the sudden heat searing her coat. However, her breath had returned.
If the next step didn’t deafen Rarity, it came close. “Subterfuge.”
She collapsed to the floor, clamping her hooves over her ears in an attempt to shut out the pointed voices. It seemed that her physical body could do nothing to shield her from light and sound, and Rarity let out an ear-piercing shriek when the resonance amplified the impossibly loud echoes. As the dull thudding in her head came to a stop, her eyes slid open and she let her hooves fall back to the strangely cold floor, hitting the unyielding surface with a light clop.
The last step came as barely more than a breath of wind, and all of her friends knelt down next to her and whispered. “Judgement.”
The other ponies became black wisps of torment and faded away into nothingness as Celestia herself paced slowly toward Rarity. When she looked up into the princess’ eyes, she could feel the contemptuous gaze rending her soul bare before an empty court. With a flash of the royal horn, an unbelievable pain racked Rarity’s skull. Even if someone had taken the fires of the sun itself, infused them into a pointed hammer, and driven it with a sledge into her head, it would pale in comparison to the pure essence of torture working it now. She clutched her head in raw agony, trying to hold it together as an unimaginable torment threatened to split it apart. In a moment of blissful relief, her horn split down the middle and shattered into dozens of pieces, causing Rarity to nearly lose consciousness as the gaping maw of the floor opened up under her. At this point, she could no longer feel the absolute cold or care about her inability to draw breath. While she tumbled deeper and deeper into already impermeable darkness, Rarity waited, hoping that everything would simply end.
Finally, she blacked out.
Rarity gasped deeply for breath, shooting straight up in her bed, drenched in sweat. With a shaky sigh, she reached up and, upon finding her horn intact, turned over into the pillow and sobbed. “Just a dream, just a dream, nothing more...” As she began to calm down a bit and the tears turned into red eyes and a wet face, Rarity slowly picked her head up from the bed, making a mental note to change the pillows when she felt up to it. She steadily slipped out of the bed, her matted coat occasionally sticking to the bed sheets and dragging them part of the way off with her. When she finally got all of her hooves on the ground, Rarity purposefully took step after step across her room, each hooffall serving to carry her back to reality and normalcy.
Rarity then found herself in the shower, streams of water gloriously tumbling down and soaking her to the skin as she used her magic and a small cloth to scrub away all traces of the recent episode. As the warm water continued to bleed out the terror, she scrubbed harder and harder until she simply plopped down into the thin layer of water, her tail uncurling and swirling around in the water as she stuck her head in her hooves. I seriously need something to take my mind away from all of this mess, especially considering what I’m going to do at Town Hall in a week or so. She imagined the various ways she could spend a day without the stresses of work or projects and gave a small, genuine smile. With a few rays of light shining through her otherwise dismally cloudy day, Rarity switched off the water, stepped out of the shower, and began to towel herself dry.
When she finally trudged down the stairs, her coat and mane once again in the usual manner, her eyes still reflected the previous night. She slowly plodded into the kitchen, taking a moment to rub her eyes. Her horn began to glow softly as she ground up a hoofful of coffee beans and wrapped them into a small sack, all the while filling a teapot with water and setting it on the flame. Rarity managed to take a seat at the kitchen table, sighing deeply and tracing circles in the table with her hoof. Images from the dream consistently surfaced in her mind, trying to bombard her consciousness into submission. She nearly jumped out of her chair when the kettle began its shrill alarm. I normally don’t prepare coffee, but this morning needs it. After setting the coffee to steep, Rarity perused her cabinets for the cookie jar. It took a fair amount of effort to hide it from Sweetie Belle, who had started coming into her magical ability not too long ago. Soon enough, no place would be safe unless by virtue of the filly’s manners. When Rarity found the jar again, she took a single chocolate chip cookie and began to nibble on it absentmindedly.
No short amount of time later, the smooth, black drink finally sat ready on the counter for a stiff shock to the brain. Rarity prepared herself a warm mug, carefully meting out a proper amount of cream and sugar to soften the bitter elixir. She moved out into what served as her living room, easing into her chair with a small sip of coffee. This month’s edition of Pony Magazine floated over, and Rarity flicked open the issue to a small bookmark stuck into where she had last left off. After reading a rather stirring article about Sapphire Shores’ rise to fame, she set down the magazine and went to take another sip of coffee. Just before the cup made it to her mouth, Sweetie Belle and her two friends came bursting into the boutique. Oh Celestia, I forgot. She took a glance down at the mug and proceeded to gulp down the rest of the drink.
After finally managing to get the Crusaders to settle down enough to sit down and eat breakfast, Rarity sighed relief as they scampered off outside to do whatever it was they spent their time doing. As she donned a sunhat to venture out herself, she caught herself. “Oh my! I nearly forgot Rainbow Dash’s goggles.” Whisking them up into her magical grasp, Rarity trotted out the door to pay an early visit to the brash pegasus.
Rainbow Dash scrunched her nose up as something feathery brushed up against it. After a few seconds of the tickling and tingling, she finally lifted a hoof and gave a swat at whatever had dared to invade her nap. Instead of coming into contact with some mischievous bird, she hit nothing but air and clouds. Brushing it off as some bit of cloud pestering her, she cleared out the area around her head and laid it back down to continue napping. Lo and behold, the sensation returned. With an irritated sigh, Rainbow stood up and opened her eyes, looking around for the source of the nuisance. A gaudy feather hovered just out of her reach, held aloft by an icy blue magic. Looking down, she noticed Rarity on the ground below, smirking and twirling what looked like a completely brand-new set of flight goggles. In a flash, Rainbow swooped down to the ground.
“Enjoy your nap, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity queried with a sly grin.
The pegasus simply glared, rubbing her eyes a bit and blinking herself awake. “Well, I was. But I see you got those goggles done. Thanks!”
A small smile graced Rarity’s lips as the flight gear exchanged hooves, leaving the rainbow-maned speed demon devouring the simple design changes with her magenta eyes. “Rarity, these are great! You didn’t go overboard or anything! They’re just... awesome.” For a brief moment, the pair simply stood there, somewhat awkwardly. Then, Rainbow Dash tentatively pulled Rarity into a brief hug. “Thanks again.”
The fashionable unicorn nodded her acknowledgement. “I take it you’ll go back to your nap, then?”
“As if! I gotta take these babies for a spin.” With that, Rainbow strapped on the goggles and took off, shouting back as she tore through the sky. “See you, Rarity!”
“Okay, now that that’s taken care of, it’s time for a treat!” Rarity hummed quietly to herself as she trotted contentedly in the direction of the spa.
Steam wafted about Rarity, breathing its hot and heavy warmth into every inch of her body. She let loose a shaky sigh as the heat seeped its way into her mind, turning to mist the crazy stresses of life and all of her tension. The towel around her hair sat comfortably on her head, giving a gentle pressure that kept Rarity from sinking too deeply into the seat of relaxation. As the ethereal tendrils of water softened her demeanor, she allowed her thoughts to wander and drift to and fro with the sauna’s fumes. Initially, the images came and went serenely. Thoughts of magic swirled around the room, eventually settling on tomorrow’s lesson with Twilight. I’ve already learned so much just from one lesson... I truly wonder what the next topic could be. With her mind dreaming up grandiose images of magical ability, Rarity barely noticed her eyelids growing heavy.
“Rarity?” The soft voice somehow managed to rouse her from an unplanned nap. White eyelids flickered open, bringing into view a softly yellow pegasus.
Rarity mumbled a little before sitting up. “Oh... Fluttershy.” She yawned emphatically. “Such a pleasure to see you, darling.” She hopped down onto the floor and gave her head a tiny shake. “I guess I just got a wee bit too relaxed.”
Fluttershy joined Rarity in a brief giggle fit. “I was just coming by for our usual spa day, and the girls told me you were already in here.”
For a brief moment, the ivory mare screwed her face up in concentration, and after a short while, gave a start. “Today is Wednesday? Oh my, I had completely forgotten. I guess I just got so wrapped up so much in yesterday that it felt like so much time had passed. Here I was, thinking I may have missed it! Anyway, how are you, Fluttershy?”
“Oh, well, um, today some of the mice had cute little babies. They’re so cute! Have you ever seen a baby mouse? They’re just so adorable.” The talk about animals spilled out of Fluttershy, and for a moment Rarity wondered if the mare was really quite as shy as she appeared to be or if she just never had much to say in normal conversation. The thought passed as smoothly and quickly as it had came, and Rarity smiled.
“So, seeing as we’re already here, let’s make a day of it! I didn’t really plan to on account of my forgetfulness, but why should it matter?” She trotted out of the sauna, Fluttershy in tow. “The usual, ladies!” At this, the two mares running the spa perked up, grins beaming across their faces.
When the pair eventually stepped out of the spa, their bodies moved along with a newfound lithe progression that could only come from an amazing bout of relaxation. With the sun slowly dipping down lower and lower toward the horizon, Rarity had a thought. “You know what, Fluttershy? Why don’t we pick up Applejack and go out for dinner? We don’t get out nearly enough together.”
Even though she didn’t fully agree with the idea, Fluttershy nodded her agreement anyway, and they set off toward Sweet Apple Acres.
By the time they had actually made it back into town and to the restaurant they planned to eat at, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash had all managed to catch eye of the group and join in on the impromptu gathering. Rarity took the lead as they entered Haystack, a very quaint little eatery agreed upon by everypony. Even she couldn’t say no to the amazing food and service.
“One table for six, please.” Rarity beamed at the soft tan hostess.
Bright Words picked up six menus and trotted into the main room. “I’ve got just the place if y’all follow me.”
As the group took their seats at a cozy table near the back, a grinning unicorn stallion trotted up to the table. “Hey, everypony! My name’s Second Helping and I’m gonna be your waiter this evening. Now, what can I get you beautiful mares to drink?” A small giggle went around the table.
Pinkie Pie took the reins. “Sarsaparilla all around, Mr. Helping! I bet that’s a great name to have when you’re a waiter, huh? It really fits, since you’re serving us food and all, but you’re also helping us have a great dinner and--” The muffled squeaks of a cyan hoof into a pink mouth cut short what could easily be another five minutes of ranting.
“Sounds like us, guy! Sarsaparilla.” Rainbow Dash waited until the waiter was a safe distance away before removing her hoof. “Okay, it’s all good.”
Applejack simply chuckled. “So, how’s things with y’all? I know I had a very busy week up until about yesterday. I had quite a bit of corn to harvest, but at least Applebuck Season ended a couple of weeks back. I’m definitely itchin’ for the harvest festival.”
“Oh, yes. I am most definitely ready as well. The Mayor even asked me to make her some special wear for the occasion!” Rarity sighed blissfully, comfortably melting into her friends.
“Ooh, there’s also going to be a blue moon this month!” Twilight giggled, “And I bet Luna will come visit again. I can’t wait!” She squealed quietly in sheer excitement.
Pinkie Pie put her front hooves on the table and stood. “How could you be forgetting the best part? Who goes to a harvest festival for anything other than the festival!? There’s gonna be so many different kinds of treats, like apple cupcakes, apple pies, caramel corn, carrot cake, and best of all, the Cakes are making an Apple Trifecta!” Pinkie looked around as some of the nearby tables stared at her. After sitting down, she smiled. “Don’t ask what it is, though! It’s a secret.” The entire table bust out in laughter as Second Helping came back with their drinks and ready to take the orders.
Rarity flopped down in her bed after finally making it back home. What had started as a dinner had quickly turned into a full night out, and to say that Rarity could hardly stand up now that all the excitement was over would not be far from the truth. She eased into the heavenly comfort of her pillows and blankets, slowly drifting off into a dreamless sleep.