//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Longer than Diamonds 
// by SPark 
//------------------------------//

Longer than Diamonds.
By SPark

Rarity hummed to herself as she worked, occasionally singing a word or two. "Hm dum dum, snip by snip, dum de dum..." Her needle was flying as she put the final, delicate details on an incredible gown, horn glowing with the magic that guided her stitches. Moments later it was finished. She stood slowly, biting back a groan. She wasn't that old, really she wasn't, but she thought sometimes that all the wild adventuring with Twilight Sparkle and the others in her youth had given her a bad back, and it grew horribly stiff when she sat and sewed for long. Still she smiled as she looked at the dummy, its blank equine form taller and more graceful than any she'd used before. This gown was unlike any gown she had ever created, and she felt a shiver thrill through her. It was perfect. The drape, the colors, everything, completely perfect. And tomorrow... tomorrow her finest hour would be at hand.

Faintly she heard the bell on her shop door ring, and the sound of Glory, her shop assistant, greeting a customer. A moment later there was a knock on her workroom door. She opened it to see Glory standing nervously with one of the palace guard, dwarfing the unicorn mare, standing behind her.

"Rarity?"

"Yes Glory, dear?"

"They're here to pick up the dress. Is it done?"

Rarity smiled again. "Oh yes indeed. Here."

She gestured at the dress, expecting gasps of awe from assistant and guard both, but the guard merely said, "Box it up please."

Rarity bit back a sigh. Of course a palace guard was unlikely to appreciate the artistry of such a thing. And Glory had seen it at every step of construction, so of course the awe would have worn off for her. Tomorrow everypony would see the full glory of her creation, and then there would be gasps. She wished she could be there. But she was too old to be racing overnight to Canterlot. No, she must wait a whole day, intolerable thought, to discover how her finest creation was received.

Still, it would be worth it. She knew it would. The artistry of this dress could not be denied, and Celestia would look truly a princess at the Midwinter Celebration.





It was all she could do to keep from dancing to the door the next morning. The newspaper sat on the doorstep as it should. "Thank heavens," she murmured to herself. She thought she would have gone insane with anticipation if the paperpony had been late. She unfolded the paper... and there it was. On the front page, above the fold even! The headline read "Princess Presides over Marvelous Midwinter" and the photo, though grainy, was in full color and showed Princess Celestia in her gown.

She nearly swooned with delight. Her gown! On the princess! On the front page of the paper! Truly, her finest hour! She quickly scanned the story below. "Good time had by all, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, surely they mention the gown in the story somewhere..." She flipped to the next page. "Ah, here it is. 'Though the wonderful celebration was much like those in years past, Celestia shocked the fashion world by wearing a dress. The Princess, who is notorious for eschewing clothing and decorations of any sort, wore a gown by well-known fashion designer Rarity.' Yes, yes, YES!" Rarity did a little dance in place. They had mentioned her by name! And called her well-known! "I have arrived at last!" said Rarity in glee.

A chime from the clock reminded her that it would be time to open the boutique soon. She trotted happily around, preparing for the day to come. No doubt she would be showered in compliments for the gown. It was right there on the front page of the paper, all of Equestria must have seen it!

She looked up when the door chimed. It was Glory, showing up for work. "Glory, darling!" she greeted her assistant. Then she was unable to hold back any longer. "Did you see the paper? Did you see the dress?!"

Glory giggled. "Yes! The Princess looked beautiful, Rarity. Just beautiful. And I saw they put your name in and everything! Though I wish they'd mentioned the boutique, and that you were from Ponyville. Most ponies reading it won't know where to find you."

"Anypony with the fashion sense to want one of my designs will surely be able to track me down, my dear," said Rarity with a smile. "Now, we have much to do today. We need to start making this year's Winter Wrap-up uniforms, for one thing. And Bowtie will be coming in to pick up her gown this evening, it still needs some work."

Glory nodded, and went to get the uniform patterns. Rarity smiled and went about her sewing in a happy daze. Why, with the extra income that surely would roll in now she might be able to get that brand-new serger she'd been eying for months. Her old one was annoyingly quirky, you had to use it just so or it would tangle the threads hopelessly. She chuckled a bit at her own eagerness. "You know you were destined to sew, Rarity darling, when you find yourself dreaming about new sewing machines."

Then the door chimed again. Rarity greeted Bonbon, a very frequent customer, who had come to order a new dress. Normally she let Glory manage the boutique, unless a customer wanted to talk to her about a custom design, or something else the assistant couldn't handle. But today she wanted to talk to everyone! Rarity sighed just a little when Bonbon only wanted one of her standard designs, and not something custom. But most ponies only wanted the standard designs. Custom work took so much more time, she had to charge extra for it. "Are you sure you wouldn't like an original dress?" she asked, trying to keep the plaintive note out of her voice. "Custom work is my specialty, after all."

"Oh no," said Bonbon. "Your custom work is lovely, but I like this dress. And one must be frugal during winter, you know. The price of apples doubles when there's snow on the ground!"

Rarity bit back another sigh and nodded.

It wasn't until Bonbon had left that Rarity realized she had said nothing about the newspaper, or the Midwinter Celebration, or the princess in Rarity's gown.


The next customer didn't mention it either. Nor the next. Rarity's bubbling enthusiasm started to wane a bit. Had nopony noticed? Had nopony seen her dress in the paper? Surely they couldn't have failed to notice! But why hadn't somepony said something?

As she was taking measurements from her next customer she decided to be proactive. "So, darling, have you seen the paper this morning?"

"Oh, I don't read the paper," said her customer dismissively.

"Ah," said Rarity, trying not to visibly droop.

She tried again as the next customer was looking through her pattern book. "Have you seen the paper this morning?"

"Well of course! Though I only read the comics."

"You didn't see the front page?"

"I guess I did. Something about the princess, wasn't it?"

Rarity sighed. "Yes, something about the princess."

The day was nearly over when Diamond Tiara came into the boutique.

Rarity took a deep breath. The wealthy mare was sometimes a trial, but she did at least have a modicum of fashion sense. Usually. "Diamond, darling! So good to see you. Are you here to order a new gown?"

"Yes I am. I shall be attending the Grand Galloping Gala this year," she said, with a note of triumph. Rarity tried not to snicker. She knew that the Gala was always awful. Though given Diamond's personality, she might actually enjoy it. Especially if it was one of the boring years, when Celestia didn't manage to spice it up with some sort of catastrophe. Sometimes the princess was almost as bad as Pinkie Pie for pulling strange pranks, hard as that was for most ponies to believe.

"The Gala!" said Rarity, managing to keep her amusement from showing. "How wonderful for you. You will, of course, want an original design for the Gala. It just would not do to turn up in the same gown as some other pony, after all."

"Of course! And I know exactly what I want."

Rarity's ears dropped a bit. Oh dear.

"Well, tell me about it so I can draw it out for you then," she said, with some lack of enthusiasm. She was a designer! She wanted to design! Ponies who came in knowing exactly what they wanted were at least better than the terrible frustration she had with those who had no idea, just that they would "know it when I see it," or had vague, impossible ideas–she recalled Rainbow Dash's "twenty percent cooler" with a smile–but so many of her customers had their own designs already in mind it sometimes felt that she wasn't a designer at all, only some kind of... of machine, to crank out other people's ideas. And when she did manage something original and beautiful, then she ended up making endless copies of it! The popularity of some designs was flattering, certainly, but making copies was not her art. Any pony could copy!

"No need for that," said Diamond, pulling out a sheet of paper. Rarity shook off her frustrations and focused on her customer. "My cousin, she's attending art school in Manehattan you know, drew this for me." She floated the paper over to Rarity, who took it and examined it. It was better than some such designs she'd seen, but not exactly something she would be proud to attach her name to. Still, the customer must be satisfied. Perhaps she could work some minor tweaks into it...

"Lovely," she said, managing a little smile for Diamond Tiara. "Although perhaps I might adjust it just a little? I'm not sure about the exact shade of fabric here with your coat color, for example."

"What? Teal is my favorite color! I look gorgeous in teal!"

"Yes, teal does suit you, of course, but this teal has a rather bright green tone in it. I was thinking something a bit more muted, a dusty teal-blue perhaps. Here, let me show you."

She whisked a bolt of fabric from a shelf. It took nearly half an hour of convincing, but she finally argued Diamond Tiara into something that wouldn't be so loud, at least. "But the rest of it needs to be exactly like the drawing!" said the mare. "Exactly."   

"But of course," said Rarity, managing another smile. "Now, I'll need your measurements to fit it properly."

As her measuring tape flew she managed a casual tone, and asked, "Did you see this morning's paper?"

"Your gown, you mean? Quite a triumph for you, I'm sure," said Diamond Tiara.

Rarity smiled, the first genuine smile she'd had in hours. "Indeed. My finest hour, I think."

Diamond Tiara laughed, her usual superior, annoying giggle. "I guess that means there's nowhere to go but down now."





Rarity had no trouble restraining herself from dancing as she went to get the paper the next morning. She only glanced at the front page. It was some story about the new animal hospital. The pony pictured wasn't her friend Fluttershy, so she dropped the paper carelessly on a table and started her work day. Perhaps... perhaps today some of the ponies that had traveled to Canterlot for the celebration would come in? Perhaps somepony would have noticed her beautiful gown?

But the day unwound much as the previous day had. Nopony said anything. And none of the ponies who came to the shop had been to the celebration. She drooped a little more as each hour ticked by without anypony mentioning her triumph.

"My finest hour," she murmured softly to herself after the door closed behind yet another customer. Seeing Celestia, the princess herself, wearing her gown had seemed so wonderful! She remembered how she had felt only the morning before. Now she felt a gloomy despair gathering around her. Was Diamond Tiara right? Was there now nowhere to go but down?

At noon she dismissed Glory for her lunch break, and went to check the mail box. The latest issue of Fashion Filly Weekly had come, and she smiled to see it. She could distract herself from her woes for a while by browsing through what other designers had made. She liked looking at other people's work. She sometimes got wonderful ideas that way, and it was always good to know what was currently in fashion. She'd had her gowns featured many times, of course. Just last year they'd had a full article and a fold-out spread on her glamorous winter wear. The memory sent a little warm glow of pride through her.

She paged idly through the magazine, not reading much, mostly just looking at the pictures. There were some wonderfully innovative things being done this year. At the back she reached the "Fashion Faux Pas" section. She knew it was shallow of her, but she had often gotten a chuckle out of the horrible ensembles some of the rich and famous of Equestria had been caught wearing. There was one of the Wonderbolts, not Rainbow Dash thankfully, wearing a suit that clashed so horribly with his mane that she thought he must be literally color blind, else he wouldn't be able to look at himself in a mirror. "It's a good thing that's not Rainbow Dash!" she said to herself with a chuckle. "If anybody had dared make fun of her, even her nearly nonexistent fashion sense, I don't doubt that she would be pounding on the editor's door the next day, demanding they print an apology!"

The next photo made her nearly drop the magazine. It was one of her gowns. A stunning faux-ermine cloak and gown combo that had been featured in this very magazine the previous year! "Look who was caught wearing last year's dress again!" crowed the caption. Rarity recognized the mare wearing it, the very same customer who'd commissioned it the previous winter. "It is last year's fashion," she said, trying to make herself feel better. "It's just not done to wear an old dress like that." But she still felt as though she'd been kicked in the ribs. Her dress. There on the page. Being mocked as outdated.

Diamond Tiara's cutting joke ran through her head again, taking on a whole new meaning. "There's nowhere I can go but down," said Rarity with a sinking feeling of futility. "Everything I've ever made is outdated now. Everything." It had never bothered her that much before, but piled on top of her other frustrations, the thought suddenly felt as though it might break her. Everything she had done would vanish within a year. Her greatest triumph was mentioned in the paper once and would never be mentioned again by anypony. And that was just the fate of her best work. Her worst... She shuddered at the memory of the horrible things she'd made. The designs bearing her name that weren't hers at all. The horrible colors, the terrible decorations, the disasters of style. It seemed like more and more she was creating the designs of others, and not truly her own original work. Or re-creating the same things all season, only to have them too go out of fashion almost as fast as she made them. And her greatest creation seemed to have passed almost completely unnoticed by everyone.

She didn't know whether to cry or scream. What was she supposed to do about any of this? She couldn't make customers stop wanting the things they wanted! She couldn't change the whole fashion world to make her designs eternal! She couldn't go around forcing everyone to read yesterday's paper and shower her with praises for it! So what could she do? All she could do was just go on, going downhill into obscurity until nobody even remembered her name.

With a cry she flung the magazine across the room. It hit the wall with a crash just as the door chimed and Glory returned from her lunch. She stared at Rarity, then at the magazine. "Uhm..."

"Never mind," said Rarity, recovering herself. "Back to work. The Winter Wrap-up uniforms won't sew themselves."

"Yes ma'am," said Glory.

Rarity picked up the magazine and set it carefully on top of the newspaper. Then she retreated to her workroom. Glory could deal with any customers who came, that's what having an assistant was for.

For hours Rarity drew in a frenzy of frantic creation. Her horn glowed brightly and her pen flew over dozens of new designs , trying to make each better than the last. But none of them were good enough. She tore up design after design, before finally slumping in despair. It didn't matter. She could make something to top the gown she'd made for Celestia, and it would still be out of fashion within a season. The Princess of Equestria herself had worn Rarity's creation, and nobody had noticed.

"And she only wore it because she was trying to be nice," said Rarity in despair. "It wasn't my talent, it was all those letters that Twilight Sparkle wrote her about us. It was friendship." The word was almost a curse. What good was friendship? What good was anything when all her talent and hard work amounted to nothing? She stuffed the scraps of paper into a trash can and picked up a needle instead. She would work on the Winter Wrap-up uniforms. At least those would never go out of fashion, if only because they'd never gone into fashion in the first place.

"Outdated" and "Nowhere to go but down" kept running through her head as she sewed. It was not, quite, the worst day of her life, but it was certainly a miserable one, and she wished it would end faster, so she could go home, have dinner, and lose herself in the oblivion of sleep.

It was only a few minutes before closing when the door chime sounded again. Rarity heard voices, and presumed that Glory was telling whoever it was to come back tomorrow. But then the voices grew closer, and somebody knocked on the workroom door. Rarity set down the uniform she'd been sewing and reluctantly moved to answer it. She almost wanted to shout "Go away" and demand that they leave her alone in her misery. But no. It was no doubt some customer with an important order or Glory would have turned them away. Her business might be headed downhill, but there was no reason to push it off a cliff by shouting at customers.

She opened the door to find Twilight Sparkle there, hoof raised to knock again. Behind her stood Spike, who dwarfed her far more thoroughly than the guardpony had dwarfed Glory. Spike was still very small for a dragon, but nobody could call him a baby anymore. "Oh, it's you," said Rarity, then immediately put a hoof to her mouth. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, I just was expecting a customer."

Twilight smiled, as serene as always. Her youthful insecurity was long behind her. "That's all right, Rarity. We just got back from the Celebration, and we wanted to come by and congratulate you on your dress. It was beautiful. Celestia asked us to tell you that she loved it, and is considering wearing more of your creations in the future."

Rarity stared at them. She felt that she might tear up a little, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to shout for joy or scream. The princess loved the gown! But nobody else had noticed at all! What good was it if the princess loved it, when no one else cared? "Thank you," she managed. "I'm very glad she likes it. I... yes, thank you."

"Is something wrong?" asked Twilight, sensing her old friend's turmoil.

Rarity smiled. "It's nothing," she said. "Just an old mare's neuroses, that's all."

"Oh Rarity. You're not old yet. You've many, many years left. You're just coming into your prime!"

Rarity sighed. "No, I think my prime has just passed. I've had my finest hour, it's all downhill from here."

Twilight gave Rarity a look of incredulity. "Rarity! What makes you say such a thing?"

"I... Oh, this is ridiculous! Nopony noticed my name in the paper. Nopony congratulated me on the gown until you came. It shouldn't matter! My business is thriving, my creations keep improving every year, it shouldn't matter at all!"

"But it does matter, if it upsets you," said Twilight. "Ponies' feelings always matter. Especially when the pony is my friend. Tell me about it."

"There's nothing else to tell, really. I was so delighted to see my name in the paper, and the princess wearing my gown on the cover... but nopony here in Ponyville seems to care. None of them noticed my name. Most of them didn’t even noticed that Celestia was wearing a gown! The only ones who did notice were Glory, and of course she helped make it too, so she looked. And Diamond Tiara... I told her that the Celebration was my finest hour, and she said that that meant it was all downhill from there!"

Twilight shook her head and reached out to put a hoof on Rarity's shoulder. "Rarity, you should know better than to listen to Diamond Tiara. She's never grown out of that stage where she's happiest when somebody else feels bad, that's the only reason she said that. And it's not that the ponies in Ponyville don't care. You have many friends here who do care. But ponies get so caught up in their own lives sometimes."

"What do you mean? Surely if they really cared..."

"Rarity," Twilight interrupted, "did you get today's paper?"

"Yes..."

"So you've been down to Fluttershy's to congratulate her then?"

Rarity blinked. "No..."

"She was in the paper too, Rarity. Just this morning. I read it, but I'm a bit of a nerd, as we all know, so I read the whole paper every day." Twilight smiled. "The article about the new animal hospital had the story of how she started the first one, with her name in it half a dozen times. The picture on the front was of the new veterinarian, of course, but the bulk of the article was actually about Fluttershy."

Rarity felt a sudden surge of shame for doing the same thing to Fluttershy that had been done to her. "Oh! Oh dear! I'm so sorry!"

Twilight shook her head. "I didn't tell you that to make you feel guilty. Fluttershy is actually very embarrassed by the attention. I just wanted to point out that ponies can sometimes be so busy with their own lives that they just don't notice, even if they do care. Most of Ponyville didn't notice your gown because they were focused on their own lives. You were so busy fretting about the gown that you didn't notice Fluttershy's story, and it doesn't mean Flutteryshy isn't your friend any more! It's just part of life. It doesn't mean that you're going downhill. I imagine that if Celestia keeps wearing your gowns, you're about to reach peaks you've never reached before! No matter how busy a pony is, they usually notice things eventually." She smiled again. "You're going to be famous, probably the most famous pony in Ponyville. Which is wonderful, and amazing, and just what you deserve. So don't give up now!"

Rarity smiled, a real, genuine smile. There might have been a glimmer of a tear in her eye. "Thank you Twilight. You always know just what to say. I just wish..." she thought about the impermanence of her art. No matter how famous she got, the dresses would still go out of fashion every season. Then she shook her head.

"What?"

"Never mind, this time it really is nothing. Just part of life, as you said. Tell the princess that I am honored she approves of the gown, and I will be happy to make as many more as she wishes."

"I'll let her know," said Twilight with another smile.






Rarity slipped the last bolt of fabric into place with a sigh. She still felt a little bit gloomy. Twilight had helped her feel better, but it was hard not to dwell on her frustrations. Everypony had good reason to not shower her in praises, but that didn't keep her from wanting their praise anyhow, no matter how shallow that made her. She couldn't help it, it was part of who she was. She thrived on it. And the other part... she wanted to think that what she did was art, just as much as what hung in the museums of Canterlot. But perhaps it wasn't. Some of the treasured works there were a thousand years old. An infinity compared to the brief, one-season lifespan of her creations.

She shook off the gloom. She should start thinking of new design ideas for Celestia's next dress. Perhaps the princess might wear one of her creations for Winter Wrap-up? Making something elegant and yet practical, symbolizing the occasion but still suitable for helping if the princess wanted to pitch in, as was often her style.... Yes, there was a challenge to interest her.

She smiled, though it was still a little sad, as she left her workroom and went out into the main boutique. Her bed upstairs was calling her name, and so was her sketchpad... She suddenly blinked, realizing that she wasn't alone. Indeed it was only because of her extreme preoccupation that she had failed to notice the extremely obvious occupant of the room.

"Spike?"

"Hi Rarity." The dragon smiled down at her. He was three times the size of any pony now, and had a hard time fitting through narrow doors. And he had grown in other ways too. But he was still Rarity's friend, and his size didn't intimidate her.

"Why are you still here?" asked Rarity.

Spike shrugged. "I thought you might want to talk to somebody. I can tell you're still a little bit upset."

"It's nothing, really."

"It's something, or it wouldn't bother you still."

Rarity sighed. "Is it that obvious?"

Spike shook his head. "No, not at all. But I've known you since I was a baby. And, uh, I paid a lot of attention to you when I was young."

Rarity couldn't help it, she giggled. Spike blushed. "You had such a crush on me."

Spike coughed. "Well, yes... I mean, I've grown out of it, pretty much. And you're a pony, and I'm a dragon, and all. But I do still like you. You're one of my two best friends, you and Twilight. But anyway... I can tell when you're upset. And to me, at least, it's obvious something else is bothering you."

"It really isn't anything important...."

"If it matters to you, it matters to me too."

"It's just my art," said Rarity, heaving another sigh and sitting down in the middle of the room. She gestured at the dresses on display around her. "All this... I love making it. But it doesn't last. Nopony with any fashion sense at all wears a formal gown twice, even! They're worn once, then put away. I always said that it ensures I'll have plenty of business, but sometimes it bothers me. And it bothered me even more today, when everything seemed to be going wrong and it seemed like nopony cared. In a hundred years there will be no sign at all that I ever lived. None of my art will hang in a museum. Nothing I've done will last."

Spike was silent for a while, and Rarity said, "I'm sorry..."

"No," interrupted Spike, "don't be sorry. I'm just trying to think how to answer you without sounding like an idiot. Look, Rarity... you've heard it said that diamonds are forever, yes?"

"Yes," she said softly. "It was... I think that was part of why I have diamonds for my cutie mark, and not emeralds or sapphires or some other stone." She summoned a wan smile. "That and they match my coat better."

Spike smiled back warmly and settled to his haunches next to her. "It's not true though. At least it's not true of many diamonds. We dragons eat them, you know. They're considered a delicacy, one of the best and most subtly flavored of gems." He licked his lips appreciatively at the thought. He was still young enough to be a little obsessed with food, as young creatures usually are.  "We eat them and then they're gone. Not even diamonds are really forever. Nothing is. But... some things last longer than others. And I..." He stopped and shook his head. "I was trying to think how I could say this without it sounding wrong. I guess I'll just say it. I'll live a lot longer than most museums last, Rarity. And I'll remember you, and the beautiful things you made, always. You were my first crush. And more than that you're... you're special. I'll remember you longer than diamonds."

Sudden tears gathered in Rarity's eyes. "Oh Spike... thank you." Tentatively the dragon reached out and hugged Rarity. She hugged him back.

"You're special too," said Rarity. "And I feel privileged to have you as a friend."





Epilogue:


As Rarity prepared for bed, her eye was drawn to the sketchpad that sat on her nightstand. She kept it there so she could jot down design ideas if she woke with one in mind, or if she couldn't sleep. After the day she'd had she wasn't sure if sleep was going to be easy. And she had a sudden bit if inspiration. A way to say thank you to the pair who had cheered her up. Sewing a gift for Twilight would be easy, she knew the unicorn's taste very well by now. But Spike... Rarity's horn glowed as she picked up the pencil. Spike. She had never designed anything for a grown dragon. To her knowledge nobody ever had. She would be the very first.

As her pencil flew across the page, outlining the beginning of what was only the first of many ideas, she started humming to herself. Twilight was right, she wasn't headed downhill.  She was still climbing, and the best was yet to come.