//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Hard Pressed to Impress 
// by Calm Wind 
//------------------------------//

(Timeline position: Two months after the events of Head in the Clouds)

(For timeline info, please visit my homepage)

“Where is it, where is it, WHERE IS IT?!” Rolls of fabric and ribbon were tossed every which way as others were pulled away by a blue magical auras. “No.” One tossed aside. “No.” Another tossed aside. “UGH! Definitely NOT!” One thrown into the waste basket on the opposite side of the room. A special roll of yellow fabric was nestled between many others that heavily clashed with it. The rest were suddenly surrounded by blue magic and all thrown aside. “YESSSSSSS!!!” Rarity stood over it with gleaming eyes behind her red framed glasses. “MINE!” She hoisted it up and sprinted back into the other room.

She zipped up to half a dress she had going on one of her poninequins and eagerly held the color against it. She frowned, moving the dress towards the light and trying again. 

“AAAAAUGH!!!!” The roll did a full turn and was flung against the wall. Rarity flopped on floor with a heavy sigh, feeling like she had bit off much more than she could chew. Her workshop in the Carousel Boutique was a mess. Materials were strewn everywhere and nearly every drawer and cabinet lay open. A pile of a week’s worth of mail was becoming a tower next to her door. Sweetie Belle had brought it in every morning, and each day she had to get more stools to reach the top.

Rarity removed her hooves from her head and glanced up at a huge to do list that extended from the middle of the wall, to the floor, and sprawled a few feet out from it. It was titled, “Canterlot Fashion Contest Submission list.” She ran her eyes down from the top and stopped at the third one on the list where the check marks in the “finished” boxes stopped. She groaned again and laid her face against the floor. 

As the list suggested, Rarity had received an ad a week prior about a Fashion show being held in Canterlot a month from the day. Entries from designers had to be both sponsored by a well known name in the industry and submitted a week prior to the contest to be considered for entry. Through her recent time in Ponyville she had both met and gained a little bit of recognition from a few famous names, but she had to do some more convincing. 

That was the problem at hand. She wanted at least seven or eight dresses to show the ponies she knew, but the pressure to make things perfect was forcing her to go great lengths before determining a project done. A week had already gone by, with only three weeks left before submissions due she had barely made a dent in her goal.

She was already exhausted as well. She hadn’t eaten much and was sacrificing sleep. Her mane had become a nightmare of a mess but she was so groggy that even her appearance eluded her. Twilight tried to come in once to see if Rarity was okay. She had been out of site for days after all. Twilight was subjected to a nervous freak out before being scooted right back out.

The discarded roll of fabric suddenly plopped down beside her. Upon glancing at it, Rarity also saw it beside two pairs of small white hooves. 

“Hey, weren’t you looking for this Rarity? It was rolling around right behind you!” Sweetie Belle smiled brightly, under the impression she was helping and ignoring her older sister’s previous scolding. Rarity was just about to lose it completely.

“RRRGH!!!! SWEETIE BELLE, GET OUT!” She rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Sweetie looked very distraught.

“What? But…”

“OUT!!!!!!!!” Rarity screamed. Sweetie frowned, squeaking a few tears out before scampering away. 

Immediately after, Rarity felt awful for treating her sister in such a way. She was under pressure, bogged down, and completely caught in her work. To make things even better, nothing was going right. Taking out her anger on Sweetie was the indication that broke her from it all. She would never get this all done if she was emotionally compromised. 

She sat up and took a few breaths, making a mental note to apologize to her sister later and possibly make up for it. It was in her best interest to take a break and collect her thoughts. She learned well in the past from Applejack that overworking yourself to the breaking point can be hazardous to oneself and those around you. 

She glanced about for anything that could shift her thought process. Her eyes landed on the tower of mail by the door. It would have to do. She was sure most of it was just bills, commissions, or payments. It would be best for her to go through it incase anything important was among them.

Rising from the floor, she slowly walked over to the pile, using her magic to remove the first envelope from the top. However, it brushed against the one below it, causing the whole tower to tip. The floor was quickly plastered with envelopes, extending from the door to Rarity’s hooves. Her eye twitched, but she quickly remembered she was trying to calm down. She opened the one she had in her magic. It was just a bill for a couple of fabric orders. She quickly cast it aside into a folder of bills to pay before returning her focus to the sea of letters before her. She readied to randomly pick another, but as her choice floated up, something caught her eye beneath it. It was an envelope with a special seal on it. “FP” in a logo format she recognized. Her pupils shrank and she quickly dropped the letter she had. 

She frantically cast aside all the mail in the way and picked up the letter in question. There was no doubt about it, she knew the seal. The return address also included the name “Fancy Pants”. The envelope was open before she even finished reading his name, a sudden wave of nervousness flowing through her as readily as the magic holding the open letter.

Dear Rarity,

In a week from today I will be visiting Ponyville to meet with some business partners in the evening. Last time I was in town it was strictly for business and there was quite an incident at hand so I had little time to look around. I’ve been eager to learn about your small town since I first met you in Canterlot. I’m arriving in the morning around nine o’clock so I have time to see the town to its fullest and was hoping you could show me around. 

Respectfully yours,

Fancy Pants


Rarity stared at the letter briefly. Her mind emptied and felt completely blank as she scanned the words again. Then in an extreme panic she frantically turned the envelope back over to check the date. It was dated exactly one week ago. Her jaw dropped. She looked up at her clock on the wall. It read 9:08am. 

A gentle knocking came from the front door. The envelope fell from her hold and she slowly turned her head towards the window. She could see the tail ends of a black suit draped over the flank of a large white stallion. She screamed, but quickly threw her hooves over her mouth to muffle it. 

Without missing a beat, she darted into the kitchen, glasses and measuring tape flying off of her. She used her magic to pull a full cup of cold forgotten coffee made earlier towards her, chugged it down, and sprinted up the stairs. The knocking came again as she reached the top, Sweetie Belle was peeking out from her room, eyes slightly wet from recent tears.

“Rarity someone’s at the…”

“I KNOW!!!!!!” Rarity bolted right past her into the bathroom and nearly fainted when she saw how her face and mane looked. She quickly opened up her makeup powder and splashed all of its contents against her face while her magic worked a powder brush, lipstick, and eyelash brush all at the same time.

“Aren’t you gonna answer the door?” Sweetie asked, peeking in from the hallway. Rarity gave no answer and continued to frantically try and make a usually long process take thirty seconds. As soon as the brush went to her mane Sweetie narrowed her eyes and sighed. “I’ll get the door I guess.” Rarity ignored her again as she tried to make her mane agree with her by applying spray and brushing at the same time. She froze. Realizing what Sweetie was about to do.
“WAAAAAAAAAIT!!!!!!!!” She galloped from the bathroom, looking like a cosmetic experiment gone horribly wrong. She tripped on the bottom stair and tumbled to the floor, looking up in time to see Sweetie turn the door knob. Rarity was up and halfway to the door, but it was too late. The door was open and in the doorway stood Fancy Pants himself. He noticed Sweetie Belle first.

“Why hello there little one, you must be Rarity’s little sister.” He politely greeted. Sweetie just stared up at him wide-eyed. Not quite sure what to make of this fancy dressed stranger in the door who seemed to know who she was. His eyes moved past her and caught the disgruntled Rarity, frozen in place. 

That was it, she was ruined. She was in a horrific state and appearance was everything around a pony of his importance. If only she hadn’t neglected the mail, if only she didn’t sign up for that stupid contest, if only her damn little sister just minded her own business instead of opening the door for—

“Well, dear me!” Fancy Pants smirked and let out a hearty chuckle, “looks like you fell a little behind schedule getting ready.” Rarity was waiting for his smile to turn into a scowl, but it never did. She thanked her lucky stars that he found it amusing rather than disgusting. She stuttered momentarily, but quickly found her composure.

“Uh heh heh, yes you see I had a slight mishap with the mail and read your letter about, oh, a minute ago.” She ended with a smile so forced it almost hurt. Fancy adjusted his monocle and smiled warmly.

“It’s no trouble my dear, I have the whole day before I’m needed anywhere. Please do take your time,” He turned.

“Wanna wait inside?” Sweetie’s question made Rarity flinch and stiffen again. The boutique was a disaster at the moment.

“Oh what a polite little darling you are. Thank you, but I’d rather not intrude so readily, I’ll just take a short walk around the area, oh say, ten minutes?” He looked back to Rarity who quickly registered his question.

“I’d say—, fifteen to be safe.” 

“Very well, fifteen it is.” Fancy checked his pocket watch and walked back down the path.

Sweetie Belle closed the door and went back towards the stairs, ignoring the fuming Rarity that was glaring directly at her. She was lucky Fancy Pants was a bit less stiff than most of the Canterlot ponies she knew, any other and that would have ruined everything for her. She was trying to remember she owed Sweetie an apology, but at the same time she was trying to avoid strangling her.

“Fourteen minutes!” Sweetie belle called in a slightly sarcastic manner from the top of the stairs. Rarity shrieked and sprinted back up to the bathroom.





MLP: FIM
Hard Pressed to Impress
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 1:





Finally ready and wearing the best “modest” hat she could find (large white rim with red feathers), Rarity approached the door exactly fifteen minutes after Fancy Pants had left. He was standing right there as he said, on the dot. She was beyond nervous and still completely caught off guard, but she put on her best smile and stepped out. He turned and acknowledged her as she stepped out, quickly replacing his pocket watch.

“Ah Rarity, as punctual as you stated.”

“I apologize for the hassle. My work has had me around the throat lately.” She waved a hoof to her side in shame. He merely bowed.

“Rubbish, my dear. One’s work can only bring pride. I will never doubt a pony for putting effort into their trade.” He turned towards the town, waiting for Rarity to catch up beside him. “Now then, where shall we go first?” 

“Hm—,” Rarity contemplated. Fancy had already met all of her friends, but they were all brief introductions. She wanted to keep image and avoid conflict. Fancy clearly held her in high regard for how important her friends were to her, so she had to keep that going. But at the same time, some of her friends in their element were quite a handful. “Well, Ponyville is quite small, since you’re the guest I’ll let you decide as we go.”

“How courteous, a fine idea!” they made it into town and Rarity’s fears were instantly confirmed, “That seems good to start, it looks like a popular gathering place.” Fancy pointed a hoof towards Sugar Cube Corner. Rarity screamed internally. She was well aware of how Pinkie Pie treated newcomers to Ponyville. She began mentally writing her will as they approached.





Fancy Pants pushed the doors open with Rarity peaking from behind him. She scanned past him and was beyond relieved when Pinkie didn’t seem to be in the front. Ponies were about at the tables and in line at the counter, a few stole looks at Fancy as he strolled in. Some seemed to recognize him but nopony acted on it. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were out front helping customers, so if luck was on their side, Pinkie was busy in the back, and would be until they left.

“What a charming little bakery,” Fancy strolled around, examining the counters and cabinets, “it reminds me of the one my father used to take me to when I was a colt.” Rarity followed close behind as he reminisced. She was ready to cart him out if need be at the first sign of—

“HEYYYYY!!!! YOU’RE A NEW FACE!” Pinkie Pie.

Rarity watched with horror as Pinkie crouched on a table beside Fancy and was nearly face to face with him. Everyone else paid no mind. It was a regular occurrence after all. Fancy Pants was startled briefly, but his composure did not waver and he chuckled.

“Not quite, I believe two of you hid under my hat last time we met.” He smiled and Pinkie flinched.

“Oh, heheh, you were here during THAT.” She smiled hesitantly. Rarity had pulled her hat over her ears. This wasn’t going to end well. She could almost smell it mixing in with the aromas of the bakery.

“But I barely had time to do much, so I’m practically a newcomer.” Fancy continued in a way Rarity was hoping he wouldn’t. 

“GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!” Pinkie hopped down and stood awkwardly close to him. Rarity knew what was coming next, Pinkie’s bombardment of questions. Rarity ran over to one of the tables and grabbed the cushion.

“Was that a muffled scream?” Fancy began to turn, but Pinkie forced herself into his attention.

“So where do you live?”

“Belle Maire, Canterlot.”

“Why do you always wear a suit?”

“Appearance is important.”

“Why only half glasses?”

“It’s a monocle, and a look I prefer.”

“How did you get rich?”

“Inheriting a company and improving on it.”

Rarity gasped for air and turned to view the train wreck unfolding. But something was different. Fancy Pants was smiling? Better yet, he wasn’t backing away, didn’t look confused, and didn’t seem to be looking for an escape route. Was he meeting the storm head on? Eyes began to focus on them as the rest of the ponies in the shop realized what was happening. The questions continued for ten minutes and Pinkie began to wear down. Fancy Pants, on the other hand, continued to answer each question instantly, never missing a beat. 

After five more minutes the unthinkable happened.

“Okay… that’s all… I wanted… to know…” Pinkie was sprawled out on the floor, sweating and gasping for air. 

“Jolly! It was nice to meet you Pinkie Pie.” Everything in the shop had halted as everypony, the Cakes included, stared, mouths agape. Pinkie had just been beaten at her own game. “What a fun pony, that one!” Fancy smiled as he and Rarity exited. Rarity was still trying to register the event.

“I must say Fancy that was incredible!” She complimented. He turned and looked at her confused.

“What was?” 

“You withstood Pinkie Pie!” She belted out inadvertently. She cleared her throat and calmed herself. “I mean, no one has ever withstood her so calmly.” She was certainly in awe.

“Oh! Well, I have a good friend and business partner in Cloudsdale who has a daughter just like her. Her name is Surprise, she’s a Wonderbolt. Believe me those two are like a mirror image. All you have to do is hold your ground and they wear out sooner or later.”

Rarity was speechless for two reasons. His knowledgeable experience in matters proved to extend beyond business, but that was just the minor half. She had trouble imagining Pinkie Pie as a pegasus. Who in their right mind would give her wings? The terror would know no end. And a Wonderbolt no less? It seemed that they had Rapidfire repellant in their ranks as well.

Much to her relief, Fancy Pants was still smiling. He was enjoying himself. Fancy was a Canterlot pony, but as she already knew, he was incredibly less stiff than the majority. Where most cringed and backed away, he would stand tall with interest. He didn’t even blink when all of her friends crashed the garden party in Canterlot. Everypony else there looked like they were having heart attacks.

Rarity had already gained his trust back then. If she were to gain his favor it would lift half her burden from—. Rarity had an epiphany. She was trying to gain sponsorship for the fashion show, and quite possibly the most important name was walking right beside her. When she first bumped into Fancy, literally, he was strolling with Fleur-de-lis, Equestia’s reigning top model of the past four years and counting. This was more of an opportunity than she first believed. It was a pity she was taken by surprise. Had she known, the planning would have been immense and she’d be able to show him some of her work. From this angle she was forced to do everything on the fly, and with the discombobulated state of her workshop she had to come up with another way to impress him. For now she would just keep up her manners, she was sure something would come up. Perhaps the one of her other four friends would offer her a chance.

“Ah, I say, is that a library?” Fancy broke her from her inner deliberations. They had walked farther than she thought, and she suddenly was worried that she had missed anything he may have asked or said. “I’m quite interested in scripture and fiction, do you mind if I take a look?” 

“Oh by all means,” Rarity motioned to the library, “My friend Twilight actually owns the place, feel free.”

“Even better then!” They moved towards the library. Rarity sighed to herself. Maybe the other THREE friends would help. The library was Twilight’s fortress of knowledge, there was nothing Rarity could work with there.





From inside the library, spike looked around a stack of books he was carrying as knocking sounded from the door.

“Hold on Twilight, I gotta get the door.” He set the books down.

“Uh-huh.” Twilight replied, not even hearing what he said, her nose stuffed in a different book every few seconds. Spike jogged up to the door and opened it. He peeked around as it slowly opened, spotting Rarity first. His eyes immediately lit up.

“Rarity!” He excitedly pushed the door all the way open. “What can I do… for…” His eyes widened and his voice trailed off when he spotted Fancy Pants.

“Hello Spike it’s so nice to see you. This is Fancy Pants, a good friend of mine and a very important pony from Canterlot.” She motioned towards him.

“Oh you flatter me.” Fancy chuckled.

“I’m showing him around Ponyville, do you think Twilight would mind if he took a look around the library?” She waited for Spike to respond, but he kept staring at Fancy Pants. “Spike?” He shook his head and narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Uh, yeah, sure, it’s not like she’ll even know you’re here,” pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at Twilight, who was at a desk covered in books and marking something with a quill.

“Oh my, I’m afraid we won’t be getting much conversation from her. When she’s in her studies nothing breaks her out.” She joked with Fancy.

“To be expected from the owner of a library, knowledge is golden in a place like this. Nice to meet you Sir Spike,” Fancy gave him a bow before entering. Spike eyed him carefully. 

“Yeah, sure.” 

Fancy began looking around, being careful not to remove anything unless it caught his attention, and making sure to put back everything where he found it. Rarity moved to Twilight.

“Twilight?” she received no response, “Twilight, honestly, you have guests.” 

“Oh Rarity? Hi, sorry, really trying to figure something out.” She remained completely focused.

“Twilight I brought a visitor, at least say hello.”

“Hi Rarity.” Again without looking. Rarity growled while looking over her desk. It was covered in books that all seemed to be about astronomy. Underneath them all were multiple star maps. On a separate table was a map that looked recently drawn and mostly incomplete. Rarity was ready to protest again, but—

“Mind if I ask what has you so intrigued?” Fancy Pants walked forward and glanced over Twilight’s work. Everything else was being blocked out, but his interest in her studies broke her focus.

“Oh! Well, I was taking a look at the stars the other day and I decided to look at Equestria star maps that have been collecting dust. I noticed that most of them are based on data over a century old or more. I decided to study the night sky and make a new more accurate astral map to submit to the Canterlot library. But… I’ve hit a snag, and no matter how hard I look I can’t get over it.” She rubbed her hoof on her chin and went back to looking in the books.

“Hm…” Fancy Pants approached her map and gave it a good look over, “what info is off?” Twilight closed her book with a sigh and walked up beside him.

“I studied the star maps that are based on old data and comprised an equation that shows the rate of star shifting Princess Luna conjures in conjunction with Princess Celestia’s sun and the shifting of the seasons.” She paused and used her magic to pull over a black board. It was covered in one large mathematical mess. Rarity’s pupils shrank as she looked over all the numbers and other symbols that made absolutely no sense to her. “It all fits in perfectly, but after studying the position and shifts of today,” she pointed to her map and put her hoof a few inches over from where she marked the recent stars. “According to the equation they should be over here by now, but they are way behind,” she began walking in a circle, “I can’t submit my data to the library if it isn’t 100% accurate! I’ve been going through every book I have on astronomy to try and find anything about anomalies, but even after five hours of hard research I’ve found absolutely nothing!” She finished gasping for breath. 

Rarity was holding back calling Twilight a complete nerd, but she looked towards Fancy and he seemed to be contemplating something. He looked over her equation and nodded. He moved to the star maps, looked at each of them, and then the one she was drawing. 

“Ah! I see.” He chimed in. Twilight and Rarity both froze and stared. “There’s a little known fact that’s missing from the data,” he approached the blackboard, grabbing a piece of chalk with his magic, “Your equation is perfect, that is if the pattern was constant to date, however,” he erased a small part of the equation, “There was a brief pause in the motion of the stars a millennium ago when Princess Celestia was forced to exile Princess Luna to the moon. There was a one year period where Celestia was figuring out how effectively control both the day and the night without draining herself daily. Because of that—,” he replaced the erased parts of the equations with numbers of smaller values and added a separate equation to shift the rate. “—there was a whole year where the stars stood completely still,” he set the chalk down and trotted over to the map, “With that change, you should find it to all line up perfectly.”

Rarity stood mouth agape while Twilight instantly zipped up to the board and looked it over. After thoroughly analyzing it, she went back to the maps and used a protractor to realign the drawings. She lined up the spot and made a mark with her quill, dropping it when it landed right where she saw the stars last night.

“It… it… WORKS!!!!” Twilight jumped up into the air and clapped her hooves together giddily. “Thank you so much! I have some data to write!” She zipped up the stairs. Fancy Pants nodded and adjusted his monocle.

“Glad I could assist, come Rarity, let’s move on.” He went for the door, Rarity and Spike just stared as he casually exited. “Rarity?” She snapped out of her daze.

“Who did you say he was again?” Spike asked with a slightly jealous tone. 

“Someone very important I’m trying to gain the support of, but it’s looking like a tough job so I need to go now bye.” Rarity answered frantically and ran out. 

She rejoined him outside, and they continued on their way.

“Fancy Pants, that was, I mean, how did you know all of that information? I’ve never seen anyone outsmart Twilight.” She was met by a slight wave and a shake of the head.

“Oh that wasn’t much. Not many ponies know about the effect of Luna’s brief absence in Equestrian history. It’s generally not considered in scientific related data, it was something I read in a book not too long ago. I had to fix her equation, but beyond that it was her work.” 

Rarity left it at that and considered Fancy’s personality a little more. He didn’t take any credit for helping Twilights work. Such a successful business stallion, especially of his success, would generally look for personal gain. Fancy was surprisingly selfless. But beyond that he once again displayed impressive knowledge, this time on more of an intellectual level than a social level. She had to figure something quick, it was beginning to seem like she would have a hell of a time trying to impress such an impressive individual. 


--- To Be Continued ---