~Rarity~
I looked at the mirror, the bags under my eyes were absolutely dreadful. Even my makeup could not hide it. I had bags under my eyes, and there was a noticeable shade of dark blue. I did not care much about it while I had been working, but now it just seemed wrong.
I knew that it had been worth it, though.
My eyes drifted to the thirty dresses, all of which I had made that day.. If I played my cards right, this work would bring me even more business. That would continue the never-ending cycle, with each happy customer being somepony who brought me another customer to make happy. There was something that popped into my mind, though, as I looked away from the dresses.
I had not seen my friends at all today.
The biggest shock was that Spike had been absent all day. It usually seemed as though he knew when I needed help. I knew that it was likely because I usually told my friends, much as I had today, and they told him.That was what made it even more surprising. I actually missed having him around. Of course, the more I thought about it the worse it became. I knew that I should have remembered when he last showed up, but I just couldn’t.
It had to be at least a few weeks, but there had to be a better way to remember. The only thing that I thought might help was if I looked at my planner. I was nowhere near as bad as others, but a planned day was always a good idea. It helped with days like this, and it helped to make sure that I did not overwork myself. A look at my planner told me that it had been the last big dress order, which I remembered was almost three weeks prior to this.
I wondered if it was the sign that I had put up. That idea was quickly removed when I thought about what the closed sign did for my friends, or more accurately how their absence today likely had little to do with whether or not the sign had been outside. Rainbow, at the very least, seemed likely to show up regardless. There was Applejack, she also showed up whenever she needed something. All of them showed up on occasion, especially when I shut myself in like I did today.
Even Fluttershy did it on occasion. Actually, I was most surprised when I thought about the fact that I had not seen her all day, she had more reason than any of the others to show up. And that was when another fact hit me, much to my own dislike. I had not seen Fluttershy all day.
I was turning out to be the worst marefriend ever. Of all the worst things that I could have done, this was the worst possible thing. I should have invited her over, maybe she could have helped me out with the dresses. If I wanted to try to force this relationship to work, it was going to be with hard work and sacrifice. Also, I would have to get used to the idea of being in a relationship with her in general.
I hoped that I still had time. If I headed over there as soon as I woke up, then it would be possible to fix it.
I thought briefly about making a dress, but that did not seem like a good idea in the slightest. I had been doing it all day, I needed a break.
Tomorrow, that was when everything would come together. I would invite Fluttershy over, and then … I was not sure what would happen then. If I thought about it like it was just us spending time together, but that it was us spending really special time together, maybe I could do it. I still thought that Fluttershy deserved at least that much, if not infinitely more than I could do.
It would have been good if I could get advice on this, but I remembered when I had last spoken to somepony about it. I had left without much more knowledge that when I had gone into it.
I could feel that the day was drawing to a close. Part of me wanted to just go to bed, to forget anything else that needed to be done, but I could not do that. A day without a bath before I went to bed? It was more likely that Applejack would stop applebucking than it was that something like that would happen. Not only would it make sure I was clean, but it would also help me to relax after such a long day. The only thing that was better than that was a massage.
I imagined a combination of the two, and that was the greatest thing I could have imagined.
When the hot water was done filling the bath, I slowly submerged most of my body. I didn’t even notice that it was hot, at least I did not notice it for long. Soon enough, the cares of the day had started to melt into the recesses of my mind. I actually started to relax even more than I thought I would, my eyes started to close on their own as time continued. I would have to wrap this up, I needed to go to bed.
It would not be right if somepony found me asleep in the bath, they might assume something. I would feel absolutely dreadful if that happened. There was also a part of me that knew I would awaken with such a stiff neck if I did not sleep in my bed. My pillow had just the perfect support, it was magnificent.
I had to finish washing up first, though.
By the time that I was finished rinsing my mane, it was becoming unbearable. There was no chance for my skin to prune up, thankfully, but that was never my only concern. I needed to get to my room, and I needed to get there quickly. If I didn’t go soon, I would definitely not be able to leave this bath..
Either way, this time it only took twenty minutes. Maybe I had rushed it a little, I was getting more tired as time went on. It was almost as if my bed was calling to me, as soon as I entered the room. My blankets were perfectly flat, they only moved when I started to wiggle under them. Oh, I still remembered the sleepover at Twilight’s. As I got right where I needed to be, I wondered if that lesson was doing any good right now.
The next morning
Out of everything that could awaken me, I did not expect a knock on a door to be one of them. There were a couple of reasons for that. One of them was that the front door was actually far enough away to where I barely heard it from my room. Another reason was that the ponies who normally showed up this early just walked in. This would not have been the first time somepony got anxious for me to open, but it was the first time they knocked.
Actually, no. As my mind started to function more, I realized that it was far too loud to be the front door. This was my bedroom door, which lowered the number of ponies it could have been significantly. That meant it was probably important. A lady did not yawn, and neither did I, as I shook myself awake. If this was important, I needed to make sure that they stayed.
“Cooooooming.”
I quickly peeked out of the door, to see that it was one of the few ponies that always found a way to make a morning interesting. Out of anypony that awoke me, I was actually glad that this was the way she was doing it today. The only thing that could have made me happier was if she didn’t seem to take the open invitation to my house as meaning that she should show up early. I put a smile on my face, though, I knew that it was the right thing to do. After all, she was just here because she loved me.
And I loved her.
The fact that I actually looked out should have been a clear enough sign of that. I did not have any of my makeup on, my eyelashes were still waiting to be applied. In essence, I looked like I had just awoken. This was probably because I just had been awoken by the knocking. “Oh, good morning Sweetie Belle.” If there was not anything else good about this, the fact that she seemed to be happy was something that made me a little happy. Part of me was afraid of that smile, I knew all of the things that it could mean. Yet today, perhaps against my better judgment, I felt like this could only lead to good things.
“We get to spend all day together Rarity. School is out for Celestia’s Birthday.”
Was it? I tried to think about whether or not this was a lie. I could not remember that being much of holiday, and I could not even remember when exactly it was that Celestia celebrated her birthday. It probably was today, actually. I knew Sweetie to be the type to do a lot of things, but I still did not think she would just skip school. Even if that was true, though, I did not think I could spend the whole day with my sister. One of us would go insane, and I knew that it would probably be me.
Excuse! I had to have an excuse.
“My apologies, Sweetie.” That was always something that robbed her of her smile, but this was an emergency. “I was going to deliver the dresse-”
“Already done, big sister. I knew where they had to go, and I got them. Nothing is too hard for my big sister.”
I gulped, that had been the main part of it. I had not considered the fact that everypony who got a dress from me was either in Ponyville or had to have it shipped. Wait, no, that was not the main part. I had an idea. “And then I was planning on getting ready to spend the day with my special somepony.” I felt horrible about using that, really. Fluttershy’s relationship with me should not have been used like some club. At the same time, though, I had thought about spending the day with her.
I had thought that it was likely that Sweetie Belle would be upset by this, and that a frown was going to quickly show up on that adorable face of hers. It turned out that, despite hearing ‘awwww’, I was completely wrong.
The ‘aww’ that I had heard did not accompany a sad face, but a smile. It was weird, but she was soon giving me a big hug. “I understand, Rarity. You go out there and get ready, I’m gonna head over to Sweet Apple Acres and see if Applebloom knows anything we can do. Good luck, Rarity, I hope to meet him someday.”
Oh dear, I had not told her yet. “Actually, it’s Fluttershy.” Perhaps I should have given her time to react to this, but I soon closed the door. I had a lot of things I needed to do. The art of putting on my makeup, and my eyelashes, was one that took awhile to figure out. It was a science, really, as much as it was an art. That was something that I was not going to tell Twilight, she would have tried to make it more efficient. .
Everypony seemed to like the way I looked, changing the process would not be good in the slightest. Besides, I knew that I was getting faster with it. This time, I was sure that it would only take around an hour.
Four hours later...
I was done.
I might have taken a little longer than I thought I would, but it was worth it. Everything was going perfectly. My clients had their dresses by now, I was completely done with my makeup, and now I had to go down there and do what I told Sweetie I was going to do. Part of me still felt weird about all of this. I still didn’t know what to think of the idea of being somepony’s marefriend, and being Fluttershy’s was even more bizarre. As I had told Twilight, though, this was something that I was willing to do until it started to feel natural.
Oh, this date was going to be amazing. At least. I was going to try to make it that way. Fluttershy deserved it, for putting up with a busy mare like myself. Besides, a great date would make everything better. If I had fun with her, it would help wipe away the doubt and unease.
The only question was what I was going to do.
I still had no idea what it was I was going to do, yet I was walking over to her cottage. I had to take a few minutes, and I could probably put something together that was not awkward in the slightest. Perhaps I could start by inviting her to lunch, that would be simply divine. After that I could say that we should spend some time with her animals, she would love that. Next could come a spa date, which we needed to do today anyway. Finally, it could end with a dinner. If I looked at my romance novels, all of that was romantic. At the same time, though, none of those things were completely awkward.
I often invited her over, usually after a spa date, to taste some of my cooking. It helped me learn what ponies liked, and it was a way to make sure that the day ended on a nice note for the two of us.
Today, though, I was going to have to think of it as a date.
That was not going to be hard, I just had to keep doing what I had been doing. Up until now, faking it had been something that just happened. I had a role to play. This was just like another play, though hopefully not like the only one I remembered playing a role in. I still had my costume for Juliet, it was in my closet. This likely would not end like that, I was sure.
Oh, while I had been focusing on what today was going to bring I had actually gotten to her cottage. I knocked on the door a few times, it would simply not be ladylike to just walk in while she was not around. There was also her guard, Angel-bunny, who probably would not like it much either. I knew he would likely answer the door, he usually did. Today did not turn out to be an exception, though I was shocked to see that he actually seemed happy to see me.
“I was wondering if Fluttershy was available. I was hoping that I might take her out today. It’s been a few days, far too long to be sure, since I’ve seen my marefriend.” That last word probably would not feel right for a while. Oh Celestia, I would do anything if that word started to feel right sooner rather than later. I wanted to make Fluttershy happy, that would have made her happy.
Either way, it was not going to happen today.
An enthusiastic nod from the bunny was all that I needed, but I was soon being led to Fluttershy’s room. It was almost noon, though, there was no reason for her to be there. Well, I knocked again on her door and hoped for the best. “Fluttershy, darling, it’s me, I was hoping we might spend today together.”
~Fluttershy~
There was a knock on the front door, but I knew Angel-bunny would get it. He had been so supportive these past few days, even more than I could remember him being in the past. I was so lucky to have a friend like him.
Wait, was that Rarity’s voice? Her voice had a certain sound to it, almost song-like really. I could listen to it all day, and I would not have wasted it. It was likely just my imagination, though, I had probably just wanted Rarity to be here so bad that I heard somepony that was not here.
Oh, but if she was... I needed to spend time with my marefriend eventually.
The knock on my door was soon followed with Rarity’s voice again. I had heard it the first time. This was even better than I could have hoped for, she was asking me out on an all-day date. She must have gotten her orders done already, and they were delivered. Oh, today was just going to be one of the best days that I could remember.
I proudly walked over to the door and opened it. That word, opened, did not describe the force that I used or how quickly it opened. I could not help myself, I soon pounced my love and gave her the biggest kiss I could. There was something about Rarity that brought this out in me. It did not even matter that she had a shocked expression, that there seemed to be a few moments of hesitation.
She probably was not used to this side of me, I knew I was not.
“Oh, Rarity.” I said as I pulled my lips off hers. “I would love to spend the day with you.” Nothing could have made this moment any better, nothing at all. “So, where are we going for today, love?” I was so happy, I could barely contain it. Part of me wanted to just spend the day here with her, it would have been a lot better than going out there with anypony else.
Then again, she probably had a lot planned.
“I’d like that to remain a surprise, darling.” She winked at me, and I felt my face get a little warmer. The only way I could respond was with another kiss. Oh, I wished that my confession had come earlier, this could have been happening already. At least I was going to be spending the rest of today with her.
This day was going to be perfect.