The sound of nimble hooves running fabric through a sewing machine echoes throughout the room.
One ivory hoof stops briefly, and seems to consider the material lightly, then returns to the task at hand. Skillfully finishing the stitch, it swiftly lays down another sheet of fabric. Using yellow measuring tape wrapped around the opposite hoof, it quickly measures out some lengths, makes a few markings here and there, then shuffles the fabric carefully into place.
It stops before producing a thin, silver, apparatus: A needle.
A glow lights up around the current thread. The sheen brings it up to the needle. After a brief moment, it’s shifted through the eye of the needle and pulled through with practiced precision.
The sewing continues. The unfinished piece moves back and forth through the sewing machine. The sound of fabric becomes a predictable pattern, the one distinct noise in the large, round, room. After a spell, the delicate white hoof takes what can now be made out as a simple dress, places it on a mannequin, and carefully references it with a sketch.
A shimmer of faint teal brings the sketch to a nearby work table. The hoof quickly arranges several pieces of fabric in a seemingly chaotic fashion. That same teal glow brings scissors to the fabric as the hoof holds it down – softly, but firmly. Efficiently, several pieces of fabric are cut and stitched together. The piece isn’t quite done – yet, the hoof stops.
Moving up, it removes a pair of red glasses from the bridge of a white nose. Another shimmer of light blue, originating from a pearly-white horn glowing similarly, manipulates and twists the glasses around. This horn conceals the base of a great coiffed purple mane. And a very well styled one, at that. Just below the horn, great blue eyes with prim lashes contemplate the glasses concernedly.
Something outside seemingly catches the chic unicorn’s attention, and she sets the glasses down carefully.
“My, my, Rarity, you do know how to work. You’ve been at it all morning! But look at the marvelous weather outside! You haven’t had an excursion in so very long, perhaps you ought to treat yourself? All work and no play does make a dull pony, after all.”
Leaving her “organized chaos” as it were, she turned off the lights, but then glanced back at the room. The late morning light cast soft shadows throughout the room. Even with the lights off, the room seemed to give off a hospitable feel. Perhaps that was peculiar for a work room, but the unicorn liked it. Once again engrossed by the late morning light peeking in, Rarity began her preparations for a day on the town.
It all lay near the entrance of the boutique. A Saddlebag. Quiver. Arrows.
But something was missing, and she couldn’t quite put her hoof on it.
She paused for a moment. Then inspiration struck her. She quickly ran into her room and put her hoof to chin, before opening a closet, revealing a sturdy wine rack amongst more fabrics and other supplies. She looked about. Scanning the various wines, she pulled out one bottle before her. Looking at the year, she slowly put it back, and drew out another one instead, farther down, one with an fading label. Satisfied, she shut the door.
On her way out of the boutique, she made sure to post a note on her storefront. She briefly considered what to write. Then, she took pen to paper, writing quickly, efficiently, and perhaps most importantly, elegantly, her neat cursive gracing the paper. She finished her note with a flourished “Ta Ta for now, Darlings!”. And so, she set off.
The path leading from her house winded around a few circus tents. Walking upon it, she could see the pony statues that adorned the upper levels of her home. They evenly lined the circular second floor, with the same number of statues facing each other. The effect was to direct attention towards the middle of the building, where the sign for her store was located. Which was exactly what Rarity had intended.
The sign, seemingly from a carnival, reminded her that the entire building, and the surrounding tents, had been given to the town by a traveling circus that had been based there. The owner of the circus really should have tried turning a profit on the building, but insisted that he had earned more than enough doing his circus gig, and was ready to retire, so had generously sold the building to the town at a very modest price.
Naturally, the building caught Rarity’s eye, and she knew she had to purchase it the moment she saw it. The décor was too… refined, too renaissance-like. Naturally, it had needed some repainting here and there, and could use some complementary adornment… but the whole design of the building was too perfect to show off new designs! It had been perfect!
She realized she had never really thought about how lucky she was to actually come to own the building. This thought crossed her mind as she crossed a bridge leading to Ponyville proper, water babbling below the white mare.
Ponyville shined brightly in the morning sun, as it always did. Ponies moved to and fro, most running some errand or another. A blue jay’s “be boo” call sounds off in the distance. And somewhere a mocking bird performs its songs freely.
In front of the ponyville spa, ponies gather about, many either chatting contentedly after a good treatment, or just arriving to refresh themselves. A newcomer arrives, a distinguished white unicorn.
“Hello, Rarity!” one says.
“Good day, Magdalena! It’s been too long, how are you?”
“I’ve just been peachy lately, actually!” she says, while they share a quick hug.
“Good to hear! I’m just dropping by to treat myself this weekend. I do love my work, but all work does not build character, now does it, hmm? Oh! Your mane is coming undone! I’ll just tie that hair braid back together for you! There, all better.”
They walk together to the main spa door before Rarity pushes the door open a crack with a jingle from within. “We must catch up some time, darling. Right now I want to see if I can’t get the usual done before I tend to some other activities I’d like to attend to. We’ll talk soon!” she says, before slipping inside.
“Ooooh, my, I’d almost forgotten how divine this was!” Rarity said amidst the last motions of a back massage.
“Oh yes, sweetheart, and don’t you forget it this time. We’ve missed your patronage!” says a blue mare with sparkly pink
mane, finishing. “Do you want anything else done while you’re here?”
The fasionista lets out a contented sigh before sitting up. “Well… yes. I’d like my mane done up the way it usually is while I’m here. But this time… do it up, and have it set that way. I want it to stay that way for awhile. Would that be possible?”
“Why, my pleasure! It’ll be done right quick!” she says, helping Rarity to her hooves. “If you’ll just follow me to the main spa…”
Rarity left the spa relaxed, cleansed, and most importantly, fashionably. Getting her mane done was the easy part. Making it stay that way, was a bit of work. It was nothing heavy amounts of hair gel, pins, and clever braiding couldn’t solve, but it took a little longer than usual.
She probably could have made it go faster by helping do it up with her magic, but when at the spa, Rarity made it a point to leave everything up to the spa ponies. She had worked herself hard enough as it was, so here she wanted to make sure she could give herself some time to unwind.
So, as often was the case, she let her mind wander, thinking about nothing in particular.