Rarity slowly opened her eyes as she heard the familiar noise of her alarm clock ringing into her ears. As she gently turned her head, still resting on the fluffy pillow, she noticed that the clock read six o'clock, and she had to hurry for a fashion show at Ponyville Theater, which started in an hour. Rarity loudly yawned and turned off her alarm clock as she crawled out of her luxurious bed. Rarity was trembling around her bedroom, drowsier than she had ever been in her life, and opened up her closet, desperately searching for an outfit that would be acceptable. She rubbed her eyes as she stared into the closet, and as Rarity trotted towards the closet, thinking she had found the perfect outfit, she tripped due to fatigue and the closet door closed behind her. All Rarity could see when she looked around was a pitch black and the feeling of fabric all over her face.
"Urgh. What a bother," muttered Rarity as she slowly stood up. She moved her hooves around as she tried to find her outfit, even though it would have been easier for her to just step back out and get a good look at the outfits. As Rarity brushed her hoof along one of her outfits, she thought that she had found the one she was looking for and somehow, through sheer luck, managed to put it on in the dark.
Rarity opened up the closet, squinting at the change from pure darkness to ample lighting, and gracefully trotted downstairs, completely unaware of the outfit she had ultimately chosen. Waiting for Rarity at the dining table was her dear sister, Sweetie Belle, who waved enthusiastically at her.
"Morning Rarity," yelled Sweetie Belle. "That's an amazing outfit you've got there."
"Why thank you Sweetie Belle," said Rarity, smiling at receiving the approval of her sister, who was known to be picky about her dresses. "I've got to hurry to the fashion show, so I can't stay very long. Applejack promised to take you to school with Apple Bloom, so she should be here in about an hour. Goodbye, dear sister." Rarity quickly grabbed a piece of bread and stuffed it into her mouth as she approached the front door. It wasn't glamorous, but nobody she knew would see her like this.
"Goodbye, Rarity." Sweetie Belle's voice squeaked and Rarity, who had swallowed her tiny breakfast, giggled cutely.
Rarity trotted out of her home with grace and calculated the route to Ponyville Theater from Carousel Boutique. As she trotted along the dirt roads of Ponyville, she noticed that everybody was looking at her strangely. She knew that these looks were not those of disgust, but of awe, which made her feel more energetic inside. Rarity wondered if she really was that pretty in her dress, and she thought about wearing whatever she had on more often. She then noticed the fillies and colts of Ponyville trotting along the road were stunned by Rarity as she continued on her way, which tipped her off that something was wrong. As she continued along her path, she noticed a figure flapping at her wildly, trying to get her attention.
"Hey there," the panicked pony yelled. "Could you help me with something?"
"I don't see why not," replied Rarity. She trotted over towards the owner of the voice, a mint colored unicorn named Lyra, who was under a tall tree by her house in the shade. "What's the problem?"
"My discus got stuck in the tree we're under. Can you see it?"
Rarity raised her head and could make out a grey, elliptical object wedged between two branches. Rarity took a deep breath and focused her magic on the discus. She glared at the object she wanted to move and it proceeded to budge and pop out of the branches it was stuck in, and Rarity gently levitated it towards Lyra, who jumped with joy upon getting back her precious discus.
"Thank you so very much," cried an excited Lyra. "I'm so glad you could help."
"It was nothing," replied Rarity. It felt great to her helping a fellow resident of Ponyville, even if she was already recognized as the Element of Generosity. As she let the positive feelings rush through her body, a sudden thought had reached the tip of her mind. "I'm sorry to ask, but how come you weren't able to do it yourself?"
"Come on, you should know that," said Lyra with an amusing grin.
"Never mind. Goodbye, and have a good day."
Rarity thought about Lyra's parting words. How should she know why she was dragged by Lyra into helping her get her discus? Lyra never had any magic disabilities as far as she knew. Was Ponyville all in on some prank that she was the subject of? Rarity shook her head as she tried to let go of the thoughts racing in her mind and focus on the main goal of getting to the fashion show in one piece. As Rarity continued on her journey, ponies still staring at her as she went by, she could see Ponyville Theater within sight, its gold decorations shining brightly as the sun's light reflected off of them and the two impressive statues that flanked the front door. Rarity breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the theater, hoping that would be the end of the weird occurrences going on around her, but as she reached the theater, opened the large red door, and trotted into the theater, the weirdness level broke the scale. Rarity had walked into a robbery in progress.
"Nobody move," yelled the robber at the top of his lungs. "Give me all the money you got there and put it in this sack."
The cashier dumped hundreds of bits into the sack as quickly as he could. The robber adjusted the beanie on his head and turned around to see Rarity standing in front of him, completely shocked as to what was going on. The robber dropped his sack of bits in surprise and laughed as hard as he could. Rarity raised one of her eyebrows and gave the robber a confused look, unsure of what the joke was.
"Well what do we have here," cackled the robber. "Someone wants to play hero."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," replied an offended Rarity, "but if you insist, I would gladly play along."
Rarity smirked and as the robber charged towards her like a bull, she knelt down and grabbed him by the legs. The robber tried to break free from Rarity's grasp, but try as he might, there was no escape. Rarity lifted the robber as high as she could and suplexed him into the comfortable and luxurious red capret beneath them, the force of the impact knocking the robber out cold. Rarity turned towards the robber and glared at him angrily.
"That's what you get for laughing at my marvelous beauty."
Six royal guards notified of the crime rushed into the theater and cuffed the robber. The three ponies in the lobby that were saved all approached Rarity and gleefully applauded her for her heroic actions. As Rarity was taking in the applause, one of the royal guards approached her with a huge smile on his face.
"Well done, Radiance," said the guard. "You stopped that burglar like it was nothing. Ponyville can rest easy another day thanks to you."
"Radiance? I think you mean Rarity," she replied. Rarity vaguely remembered the name Radiance, and as she trotted over to a conveniently placed mirror off to the side of the theater, she was shocked to see what she had been wearing the whole time.
Rarity was trotting around Ponyville in her Power Ponies costume, complete with the mask, which was given to her by Spike as a joke present. Rarity could feel her legs getting light and the whole world felt like it was spiraling out of control, and when she realized that the fashion show was scheduled to start in only half an hour, she gasped and lost consciousness, plopping onto the carpet.
When Rarity came to, she was resting in one of the theater's suites and saw Sapphire Shores and Photo Finish staring at her, looking relieved that she was okay. Rarity slowly got up and rubbed her head as she regained her composure.
"Don't worry, I'm alive," said Rarity weakly. "Did I at least get to change into a more appropriate costume?"
"Nope," said a grinning Sapphire Shores. "You're stuck with what you're wearing for the rest of the day, but don't worry about it, we all have days where everything is wacky."
"Drat. I hope that the costume looks good in photographs at the very least."