Chapter 9
The Dresses
My shop had been received better than I had expected. Most ponies came for the association, if nothing else. Needless to say, I sold a good portion of the inventory, most of which to Cheerilee, the local school teacher. I soon found myself scrambling to replace it all. It had only been three days since the opening, but I was having a hard time grinding enough pigment to satisfy customers. My hoof-made paper was a hit, too. I turned the wood into a pulp myself, and set them out in the sun every day in the screens Rarity had made for me. I wished the sun could dry them faster.
“Acrylic!” Rarity burst into my shop just as I was pouring the next batch into the screens.
“Rarity?”
“Come out from there and hold still for me, won’t you?”
“Hold st- Whatever for? What are you doing?” Rarity had brought her trusty measuring tape around her neck, but now she was busy jotting down measurements.
“Twilight gave me a grand idea just this morning. She brought in this drab old dress in hopes that I could repair it for the gala, but it simply wasn’t salvageable, I tell you. I insisted on making her a new dress for the occasion. That’s when I decided to make all of you a new dress for the gala. But before that, we’re going to throw a fashion show, featuring us!”
“We are?” This was news to me.
“Of course we are. Now hold still, please. Just for another moment.”
“You’re making new dresses for seven ponies, on top of all your other orders?
“Those orders are nearly complete, dear. And besides; it will be such fun! Now tell me, what do you have in mind for your new gown?”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course I am. I’m thinking a blue hem to compliment your mane. What do you think?”
“Well, in that case, thank you, Rarity. As for the dress... that’s your area of expertise. Go wild. But... not too wild. You know my budget; it’s got to be something I can afford.”
“Of course. Of course. Hang on.” She eyed a parcel behind the counter and rushed over to it through the gates. “What’s this?”
“Oh, those are my new saddlebags. You saw what a state my old ones were in. With the extra cash my grand opening brought in, I could finally get some new ones. The solid white bags were on sale, but I thought they could do with a little extra flare. You like?” I’d fastened flaming paintbrush symbols to the straps that matched my cutie mark. Everypony else had customized their bags in such a manner, so now I could match. But the bags themselves had caught her eye. I’d tie dyed them in rainbow colored bursts, inspired by Rainbow’s sonic rainboom.
“Like them? I love them! This is perfect! I know exactly what your dress is going to look like!” She flipped to an empty page in her notebook and jotted down a few quick notes. When I tried to peek over at them, she snapped it shut. “Ah, ah! No peeking.”
“Oh, alright,” I laughed, resuming mixing the paper paste.
“There! Now I must be going. You were the last pony on my list for measurements. Now I can finally start on them! Oh, this is so exciting!” She performed a little dance on the spot just as Bon Bon and Lyra entered the shop. They gave her blank stares as she did one last twirl. “Oh, um, he-he. Goodbye now.” She ran off, leaving me to my customers.
* * *
“That’s it. Keep them closed. Don't look.” Rarity had brought all of us down to the Carousel Boutique for the unveiling of our new dresses. Eyes shut, she led everypony into the back. “Okay, you can look now! These are your new outfits. What do you think of your old duds now, Applejack? Pretty swanky, are they not? And Twilight! I made this dress for you and I designed each outfit theme to perfectly reflect each pony's unique personality. Oh, it took me forever to get the colors right on this one, Rainbow Dash, but I did it. Oh, and it turned out BEAUTIFUL, don't you think? Oooh, and I know you are going to love yours, Fluttershy. It just sings spring! Pinkie Pie, look! Pink! Your favorite! This is yours, Acrylic. Your new saddlebags inspired this one, with a blue hem, as promised! Aren't they all amazing?”
“Wow... They're...”
“Yeah, they're...”
“They’re beautiful,” I crooned.
“Do you think so?” Rarity beamed. I walked over to further examine the dress intended for me. The top half was white, and silky to the touch with short, dark blue sleeves to match my mane. The hem was covered in shiny blue ribbon, ruffled by her stitch strokes. The seam attaching the skirt to the top was covered by a thick blue ribbon belt tied to a perfect bow. The skirt was in two layers, the first overlaying the bottom half like a cape. Both were covered in the same tie dyed color bursts I’d put on my saddlebags. The dress came with delicate blue slippers, the ribbon frill tied off with small bows on each one. While I was planning to wear my purple plaid beret to the gala, there was a white headband resting on top with a feather arrangement off to the side, a paintbrush sticking from it. While it sounded funny, Rarity somehow made it work.
“It’s beautiful,” I said again.
“Oh, I’m so happy you think so! And the rest of you?”
“They sure are... somethin’.”
“Yes! Something.”
“I love something! Something is my favorite!”
“It's... nice.”
“But what's the matter? Don't you like them?”
“They're very nice...”
“And we're plum grateful 'cause you worked so hard on them.”
“Mine's just not as cool as I was imagining. What? She asked.”
“I guess what we're all saying is that they're just not what we had in mind.”
“Yeah,” the rest of them agreed.
“But that’s the whole point of having somepony else make a dress for you. You want their artistic touch on it. Otherwise, you might as well have made it yourself.”
“No, no. That's okay, Acrylic. Not a problem. There's plenty more where that came from. They were only a first pass. You're my friends and I want you to be 110% satisfied. Not to worry, I'll redo them.”
“Oh, Rarity. You don't have to do that. They're fine,” Fluttershy hummed.
“I want them to be better that just fine. I want you to think they're absolutely perfect.”
“Are you sure? I mean, we wouldn't wanna impose.”
“Oh, it's no imposition. Really, I insist.”
“Well, in that case... Thank you again, Rarity,” Twilight smiled, leaving behind the girls.
“Are you sure yours is exactly to your liking?” Rarity inquired, turning to me before I could follow the others out. “So long as I’m redoing everypony else’s, I’d be happy to do yours too.” I rolled my eyes.
“It’s like I said, Rarity. It’s beautiful. I don’t make expectations, because then it leaves no room for the artist to breathe. You did a fabulous job. On all of these, not just mine. The others see that, but they don’t think the same way artistic ponies like us do.”
“Oh, I’m so happy you like it! Now, I just have fix these.” She took a deep breath, looking around at the rejected gowns. “What have I gotten myself into?”
“I’d be more than happy to help,” I offered. “I have a little experience.”
“No, no, Acrylic, now you have your own shop to attend to. And from what I can tell, you’re incredibly busy as it is. No, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“Okay, but don’t hesitate to call me after hours.” I finally walked out of the shop, leaving my payment for the gorgeous gown on the counter.
Since I knew Rarity wasn’t going to come to me, I waited until after work, and I went to her. She kept denying that she needed help, but I could tell she was relieved to have the extra hooves. She’d already consulted with most of the ponies to find out exactly what changes they had in mind. Knowing my skill in the little details, she taught me a rather particular stitching method before setting me loose to fix Applejack’s outfit. Since she sewed with levitation magic, I found it rather difficult to mimic her example at times.
Rarity kept calling our friends back in to approve or decline their next dress, and after they all declined the second dress, just had them stay through its completion to show what she was doing wrong. I only half-listened in on Twilight giving Rarity an astronomy lesson, but realizing how particular Twilight was going to be with the constellations featured on the new gown, Rarity called me in. I had been grateful when Rarity noticed my difficulty with the needle after poking myself for the fiftieth time and moved me over to the machine, but this dress was going to take a lot of hoof embroidering, I could tell. Maybe I should just mark where Rarity needed to stitch... One look over at my frazzled friend told me that was out of the question.
When I was seen assisting in the creating of the dresses, almost every other pony offered to lend a hoof too. Rarity reasoned that it would spoil the surprise, working on their own dresses, but suggested that they instead began organizing the fashion show itself. Pinkie readily took to this, and zoomed off with Fluttershy in tow to arrange it.
In the end, I’d completed only one dress, leaving Rarity to redo four. It was still a big load off her shoulders, or so she told me. But as we looked around at our work, we both winced. These weren’t exactly the most glamorous of outfits...
“Well... the client is always right...” Rarity tried to convince herself. I cocked my head.
“Most of the time,” I corrected. Our friends weren’t exactly fashion designers, and I definitely wasn’t a seamstress. Twilight’s skirt hung flat and cockeyed, though the constellations were in perfect order. The rest of them were made properly, but they just didn’t look... right.
“Oh, let’s face it! These are the ugliest dresses I’ve ever made!” Rarity’s beloved pet cat, Opal, hissed agreement, batting at the streamers Pinkie demanded be added to hers.
“Should I call them all in?” I asked.
“These are what they asked for... yes, be a dear and fetch everypony.” With a nod, a galloped out to round up our ponies.
This was not a difficult task, as they had all been waiting around for this moment anyway. I had to pull Twilight from a book and Rainbow from a practice session, but they all came willingly. We didn’t bother with closing everypony’s eyes, as they more or less knew what theirs looked like anyway. Once they were all gathered around, Rarity opened the door to reveal the monstrosities within.
“Okay. I did exactly what each of you asked for. Now don't hold back. Let me know what you really think.” Delighted oohs and aahs ensued, and I hid behind a mannequin to shake my head. This was exactly why ponies came to Rarity for style advice and not Pinkie, Rainbow or Fluttershy and especially not Twilight or Applejack.
“Oh my!”
“It's... perfect!”
“It's so cool!”
“Why, they're the best duds I ever did see.”
“It's exactly what I asked for!” they all said in such perfect unison it had to have been practiced.
“Thank you, Rarity.”
“Are you as happy with them as we are? Huh? Huh? Huh?” She looked over at me, and I shook my head, swiping a hoof to and fro as a cut sign.
“Well, I'm... happy that all of you are happy. I'm just relieved to finally be done.” Spike suddenly burst into the shop, panting heavily.
“You are never gonna believe this! You've heard of Hoity Toity?”
“The bigwig fashion hotshot in Canterlot?”
“Uh-huh. He heard about your fashion show. Well, maybe I happened to mention it to him... He's coming here all the way from Canterlot to see your work, Rarity!”
“Whoa, Nelly! You could sell a ton o' dresses to this guy. Your business will be boomin'!”
“Wow!”
“That's so cool!”
“I don't believe it!”
“Hoity Toity? He's coming here? To see these dresses?” She shied away from them like they might bite her at any moment.
“Yep! Get ready for all of your dreams to come true.”
As soon as everypony else had left, Rarity practically fell down at my hooves.
“Acrylic! You’re my only hope! I need you to flaunt that dress like your life depends on it! Because mine does.”
“Well, I’m not the most glamorous model around, but I’ll do my best, Rarity,” I promised, looking over at the one remaining original gown sticking out like a sore hoof among the five other redone ones. Wait, one, two, three, four, five, six. Just six? I thought we were all being featured.”
“Aren’t you in the show too, Rarity?”
“What?”
“The show. I thought everypony was getting a new gown, but there’s only six here. We’re seven ponies.”
“Oh dear. I’ve just been so busy, uh... perfecting everypony else’s gowns that I haven’t had time for my own. Well, that’s all right. I still have time before the gala to do it. And as designer, I can simply host the show. You know. Make my appearance at the end to take credit for... these.” She sighed, collapsing on me for support. “Oh, what am I going to do? Hoity Toity is going to see these things! They’re so hideous! He’ll think I’m an amateur! Just a fashionista wannabe! My career will be ruined!”
“You don’t know that, Rarity. Maybe he’ll see the original you made for me and understand that the other dresses were... special orders.”
“Or, he’ll think the only good one in the batch was a fluke! I can’t go out there! I just can’t!” She proceeded to fall to the floor and weep at my feet, terrible wailing sounding from her mouth. I reached out a hoof and smoothed her wilting mane.
“Alright, it’s alright. You’ve got to go out there, Rarity. Everypony else is expecting you to. Just think how disappointed Pinkie will be if you decide to chicken out.” She sniffed, realizing that I was right. “Now, come on. You need to fix your hair before you make a grand appearance. Have you looked in the mirror lately?” I knew she hadn’t, so when she flew over to one of the many wall length mirrors around her shop, she almost shrieked.
By the time Rarity was fixed up, it was time to begin preparing for the show. We switched places at the sink so she could now do my mane. She removed the white ties from my thick head of hair and brushed out the waves where they’d been restrained for so long. The ties were decieving; though they kept my hair up at half the usual length, my hair almost reached the floor by now. The top even looked a little longer than the bottom. Rarity used this to her advantage as she gathered most of it into a thick bundle. Pulling a light blue ribbon from one of her drawers, she demonstrated what it would look like tied it off at the bottom almost like Applejack did. The rest of my mane now lined up more or less evenly, and it was allowed to cascade down the side as usual. Rarity wanted to get me in my dress before tying it for real.
I gingerly slid the silken slippers over my hooves while Rarity lovingly pried the dress off the mannequin. She levitated it overhead so I could slip into it, and adjusted the bow. That done, she could tie my hair for real, but covered the vanity mirror so I would be surprised. When I felt the headband fall into place between my ears, I scurried back and uncovered the mirror. I jumped. This wasn’t the same mare I knew looking back at me.
“Oh, you look wonderful, dear!” Rarity squealed in delight. And I did. I jokingly flitted my eyelashes at the mirror. “Splendid! Do that at the fashion show, and even Hoity Toity can’t deny the genius of it!”
“Seriously? You want me to bat my lashes at him?”
“Please? Do it for me?”
“Okay...” I reluctantly agreed. Was this really how models acted? I was suddenly very glad I hadn’t entered that field professionally
“Acrylic?!” The door squeaked open, revealing five stunned ponies currently gawking at the fancy getup I was in. I was going to start off with a simple ‘hi,’ but their ridiculous expressions were making me uncomfortable.
“What... what’re you staring at?”
“You look... AMAZING!” one by one, they all cast a glance at their own original dresses, wondering if the changes they requested were really necessary. I tried to encourage this behavior by fluttering my lashes as Rarity demanded.
“You think?”
“We know. This is sure to attract business for ya, Rarity!” Applejack whinnied.
“Let’s all get into our new dresses!” Pinkie squealed, making a mad dive for the hideous batch. I sighed. So much for that idea. I shrugged at Rarity as if to say, ‘I tried.’
“Everything’s set up, Rarity,” Twilight promised, pulling the droopy skirt over her head. “Pinkie borrowed a stage from the acting school, and we’ve got it set up in the plaza. Vinyl Scratch agreed to DJ for us, and Rainbow and Fluttershy passed out invitations to everypony in Ponyville! They’re all coming!”
“Everypony in Ponyville?” Rarity gulped.
“Yes ma’am.”
“Oh, um... that’s excellent!” she fibbed.
“Well, after you worked so hard on this, we just wanted it all to be perfect,” Fluttershy explained, pulling a bird’s nest themed hat over her ears.
“Alright, girls. Should we rehearse once before the real thing?”
“Sure!”
“Alright. Acrylic, do you want to go first?”
“NO!” Rarity screamed. We all stared at her. “Um, what I meant to say is... she just underwent such an extreme transformation from a simple artist to ballroom dancer that I think she should be our grand finale. I mean, the rest of you girls look splendid too, but I hardly recognized Acrylic after she put her dress on. What do you girls think?”
“Is that okay with you, Acrylic?”
“I guess so.”
“Alright then. I guess I’ll go first.”
“Wait!” Spike interrupted, running in late for the second time.
“Now what?” Rainbow groaned.
“I made up a speech to introduce you all to the stage. Whoa, is that you, Acrylic?”
“Yeah... let’s hear your speech, Spike,” I suggested, shuffling uncomfortably. If I couldn’t handle my friends going gaga over Rarity’s dress, how would I deal with all of Ponyville staring at me? A second glance in the mirror gave me the confidence boost I needed. Rarity had truly outdone herself with this.
“Ahem,” he coughed, holding up a script. “Since the beginning of time, the elite of Equestria have longed for pony fashions that truly expressed the essence of their very souls. Patiently waiting decades for the perfect pony gown. Today, at long last, Equestria, your wait is over! Let's hear it for the breathtaking designs of Ponyville's own Rarity!”
“That was great, Spike,” Twilight congratulated. “Well, I’m up.” She walked out, face dramatically blank, followed by AJ, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and finally, me.
“Great practice run, girls.”
“You know, it’s going to be jam packed as it is with all six of us out at once. Rarity gets the catwalk to herself, but I still don’t see how we’re going to fit everypony,” Rainbow noted.
“Should we pegasi fly overhead?” Fluttershy quietly suggested.
“Or, we could fit one more at the back.”
“But then she’d just be facing the stage. Nopony would see her face.”
“That’s not necessarily true. What if we could rotate the stage so everpony gets showed off to the audience?”
“That’s a great idea, but would it work?”
“I could probably hook it up.”
“Perfect!
“What time is the show due to start?” Rarity inquired.
“In just half an hour.”
“Alright, girls. I’ll go check and make sure everything’s in order. We all need to get out of our dresses so nopony sees them ahead of time. Can one of you help Rarity move them backstage?”
“I’ve been with her most of the day. Another few minutes won’t hurt,” I offered.
“Great. Rainbow, I heard that they need help with the lights. Can you cover that?”
“I’m on it.”
“I’ve got to finish the decorations,” Pinkie added.
“See you girls in half an hour, then?”
“See you!”
I hung around backstage until it was time without anything else to do. I probably could have run home and made another round of paints, but I didn’t want to risk getting messy for the show. Rarity was depending on me, so I did everything in my power not to appear rumpled or dirty. Sitting still seemed like the best option. I didn’t notice when all the other models arrived.
“Is everypony ready?”
“I am.”
“Me too.”
“I guess.”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.
“Let’s do this!”
“Alright! Let’s go out there and make Rarity proud!” I took a deep breath. Here goes.
“Since the beginning of time,” Spike started, cuing the start of the show, “the elite of Equestria have longed for pony fashions that truly expressed the essence of their very souls. Patiently waiting decades -- no, centuries -- for the perfect pony gown. Today, at long last, Equestria, your wait is over! Let's hear it for the breathtaking designs of Ponyville's own Rarity!” The curtains were pulled back, and the spotlight glared on us. Twilight took the lead down the catwalk, giving me time for another few steadying breaths before it was my turn.
I held back an extra second before strutting out into the open, eyelashes fluttering at Rarity’s request. I painfully noted the disgusted looks my friends were receiving, but then all eyes turned to me. Their faces lit up, and a hundred eyes locked onto my dress as though it was a relief from the ugly gowns ahead. My ears quivered, wanting to flatten, but I forced them even straighter. I turned around, taking my place on the stage, and braced myself as it started to rotate. Some arrogant pony, the infamous Hoity Toity Rarity was so concerned with pleasing wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. He downplayed Rarity’s hard work with every word, at least, until I was rotated into his view.
“Why’s everypony lookin’ at us like that?”
“Oh dear.” Twilight finally realized just how ugly their designs were.
“You think we overdid it?” Rainbow whispered from behind us.
“Nah,” Applejack denied. With a second glance down at the clunky galoshes, she blushed and amended, “Okay, maybe a little.
“Oh, those amateurish designs look like a piled-on mishmash of everything but a kitchen sink! It's a travesty, it's what it is. Those outfits are the ugliest things I've ever seen, oh for shame. Oh, goodness!” My bright tie dye rings caught his eye. “Surely somepony else designed this one. Tell me, my young model, who designed your gown?” I’d been careful to look ahead, but now that I was being addressed, I looked down at the overly groomed earth pony below.
“Rarity designed all of our dresses,” Twilight told him from beside of me.
“This Rarity, as you call her, must have lost her head when allowing these abominations to come into existence. Where is the mare responsible for subjecting our eyes to these horrors? Not to mention wasting my valuable time.”
“Come on out and take a bow, Rarity!” Spike called. The unicorn reluctantly shuffled out, mane beginning to wilt again under the stress. “Yeah, alright! Whoo! Go, Rarity!” Spike clapped. No pony else clapped, not even for mine. Instead, troubled murmurings swept through the crowd, and I felt my knees weaken. I still managed to make a proud retreat off the stage, still ‘flaunting’ the dress for Rarity.