//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: Tribulation is the Face of Fashion // by Hivemind //------------------------------// Oh, right! Now I remember...though I really wish I hadn’t now. I awoke sometime after my little tussle with the forces of nature. I couldn’t hear any angry duck calls or feel rays of sunshine smugly beaming down on my face, so I assumed that I wasn’t in the park anymore. What I could feel, on the other hoof, was the comfort of my own bed back home. I could tell because my pillow felt like a rock. Like I did every morning, I slowly rose with a groan, my eyes blurry and the sheets reeking of pure, boggy stank. My mane was just...uggh. I don’t even want to talk about it right now. Completely out of it, I wasn’t prepared in the slightest for the wake-up call so charitably provided by those who were in the room with me. “Shh, quiet! She’s waking up.” “She sleeps like a rock, y’know?” “Hardly. It’s just after what happened is all, though she could use a little something to—” “I got it, I got it.” RIIIP That sound, that oddly natural cry from a length of fabric in need, got me up faster than you could say ‘fashion’. I shot up from the bed, thinking that it was one of my own creations being vandalized. “Gah!” I gasped, my knees shaking as I landed on all fours atop the bed. My hooves rapidly pitter-pattered in place atop those filthy bed sheets as I looked around the room, frantically searching for any sign of the endangered cloth I had heard. Then, in a bittersweet moment of cognizance, I remembered that I hadn’t made anything even remotely related to clothing in the past few days. Vexation and countless social blunders were my only output from all that manic running around like a outfit-less model at a runway gig. “There we go! See, Snaz? She just needed a little kicker, that’s all.” The moment I heard my friend Lily’s voice and snapped my head around in her direction, my willies were in a little trouble. They didn’t know what to do next; either calm down knowing that it was just my friends who were there, or...react to what it was Lily was...h-holding... “THE DRESS!” I shrieked as loud as I could, every hair on my body snapping up like they were bathed in starch. Where do I even begin with this? It. Was. Awful. I hope you don’t mind if I leave it at that, plain and simple. I don’t think I could bear looking back on it today in detail trying to explain what all had happened to it...but I don’t want to leave you in the dark like that. Okay, I’ll go quickly, if anything just to get it over with. ...to be honest, I don’t know how else I could describe it without resorting to a poor summarization. Sorry to dissapoint you, but there was almost nothing there, literally! It wasn’t even a dress anymore. If it were a dress, then a barge was a billion bit luxury ocean liner. And no, I’m not over-exaggerating. You having to see it to believe is the best answer I can give you. Actually, scratch that. Thinking about it has made me angry all of a sudden. This thing wasn’t a dress anymore. It could have never resembled a dress in its current state. It was a rag, the dirtiest of them all. Imagine wearing the most tattered piece of brown-stained cloth imaginable, something that once used to be so beautiful, so pristine, and so expertly crafted that even the thought of its perfection being ruined in any way would give the most committed collector a seizure. And Lily Harmonium was holding a piece of it. “Dress?” Lily started, seeming confused as she glanced between the tapered fabric she held and the literal fashion disaster sitting in a wet pile on the floor. “This thing was a dress?” “Unhand that, you ruffian!” I nearly made Lily faceplant into the floor when I swiped the shredded fabric from her. My lips and eyes quivered, brimming on the edge of tears. Of all the things that could have insulted a designer’s work, jibes like that were among the worst, but I didn’t hold her to it. She hardly knew what was going on during the competition and likely couldn’t care less if a dress wasn’t one of my own, or looked like it. “Whoa! Chill out, Coco. I didn’t mean to do...whatever to it.” Lily did her best to apologize. Even though it wasn’t a real ‘sorry’, I didn’t mind. “We found that...dress laying next to you when we found you by the park pond. It was a mess, to say the least.” Snazzy spoke up, stepping closer with a damp rag laying on her back. My forehead did feel oddly wet when I woke up. Even if the feeling was momentary, it felt good knowing that they took care of me up until this point. It made whatever anger I felt towards them for handling the dress vanish completely. “You were soaked to the bone, and you smelled pretty bad too, no offense. What in Equestria were you doing out there anyway?” “Wasn’t that the dress you had when we ran into each other? It looks familiar.” Lily added, thinking back to the few seconds they had when they met each other in an unfortunately painful way during the street festivities. When I didn’t reply, Snazzy came up to me and laid a hoof on my shoulder. Yeah, I guess I should have taken a breather before popping off like that, but the dress...I just didn’t know what to do. That matter was far more urgent than they realized. “We’re sorry, Coco. Was it the dress you were planning on entering in the competition?” “No...but I would’ve if I could. It used to be a masterpiece, Snazzy. You should have seen it for yourself up close,” I sighed after having calmed down enough to make some decent sense with my words. I sniffled and rubbed the moisture from my eyes. “But that’s not the worst of it...this wasn’t even my dress.” “Really? You didn’t make it yourself?” asked Lily, wide-eyed. “I don’t think I’ve ever known you for wearing clothes that you didn’t make on your own.” “Whose was it then?” asked Snazzy. “It belonged to an old mare named Cross Stitch, but it was really her husband who made it.” I replied, breathing softly. “But there’s more to it than just that. She’s the greatest fashion designer I’ve ever known. She’s won dozens of awards, almost countless. She’s just incredible. You could give her a box of scrap fabric and she’ll turn it into something anypony would want to wear. It’s like she has her own magic touch, even though she isn’t a unicorn.” Snazzy and Lily exchanged nervous glances. “She was kind enough to let me borrow this great creation so I could examine some of its features to help my own design, and now it’s ruined, no prettier than some greasy garage rag.” “Coco, don’t feel so bad, girl,” Snazzy spoke up sweetly, laying a hoof on my back as I sulked. “If she was kind enough to let you borrow the dress, then she must be pretty understanding as well. Who else would entrust something of such value to someone who needed it the most? I envy you a little, really.” “Like, yeah. She must be a pretty cool gal pal. It makes me wish I had somepony like that to help me through my studies back when I didn’t...you know, drop out,” said Lily. “It can’t be that hard to tell her the truth about what happened. Any tailor, dressmaker, or seamstress worthy of the respect of their clients knows that a dress is still just a dress, no matter what it’s made from or even from who it was made by. Curly taught me that.” Cross Stitch may have been old and worn, but she was an old mare with a heart warm enough to coach a once downtrodden silly filly like me the moment I stepped into this city. She had seen her fair share of the fashion world evolving, forever changing through trends and technology. I felt confident knowing that she would understand, but I wouldn’t leave much to chance as I held on to a hope that she would accept my modest explanation at the absolute least. “You’re right, Snazzy,” I replied, allowing a rosy smile to arise. “Cross Stitch and I are too good of friends. Even I know she wouldn’t let this get to her. I value our friendship more than any dress in the world, and I know she does too.” Snazzy and Lily, in turn, smiled at that. “Besides,” I started, stepping away from them and exhaling a spirited breath. “I was taught better than to rely on just one source of inspiration. Everything is going to be okay. I’ve got this covered.” I skipped over to my dresser and removed several photographs from its drawers, showcasing them to my friends upon my return. “I took these pictures of the dress on the day she first let me borrow it, just in case something went wrong. Though it’s only a visual aid, I should be able to use these, maybe even recreate her dress myself. I have plenty of time, after all. How long was I out for? A few hours, maybe?” I guffawed with a hint of gaudy confidence on my voice. “This should be a snap.” I was really enthusiastic about getting back to work on the project that would change my life forever. Snazzy and Lily? Not so much. “Coco, I don’t know how else to tell you this, but you’ve been out for over a day.” said Snazzy. I felt my heart skip a beat. “As in it’s nighttime right now,” Lily spoke up, standing beside my window before parting the curtains. The city skies were their usual mixture of black with assorted hues of streetlight yellow and neon. Not the sort of sight I had hoped for. “We tried to wake you up after we found you, but you wouldn’t budge, so we, y’know, stayed here after we brought you back.” “But...that means the contest is in...” I started with a shaky mumble, then paused as reality came to my doorstep. “One day.” Snazzy gravely announced, glancing to the heap of tattered fabric on the floor. “Tomorrow.” One day. The words rang like the harrowing bells of a cathedral in my head. So early in my career, I had faced the truly impossible, an event that would have left me scarred if I didn’t have my friends by my side. I never felt so defeated before. Something that could have gone so well, win or lose, and I was made a ruin within days of taking up the challenge reserved only for the elite of the elite. It wasn’t a question of where I would go wrong, but when. But, as Snazzy embraced my somber and sulking form, I felt my inner self, that bundle of confidence and daring that brought me to leave my home in the Fillypines and settle here in Manehatten, lash out in protest, and it was right to do so. I worked so hard just to get my feet those few inches off the ground. It moulded me into the pony I am today, but there wasn’t a way in the world I could have done it all on my own. I had friends to aid me every step of the way. My mother, my father, and my little sister stood by me through every kind of pain life could throw at me until the moment I stepped aboard that cruise ship bound for Equestria. They wouldn’t want me to give up on anything, especially not after how far I would have traveled through the planes of trial and tribulation. The events of one day, maybe even less in my case, is a lot more weight a pony can have on their shoulders than one would think. Some things might seem like an impossibility, but nopony is there to say that it truly is, through and through. My family wouldn’t have wanted to see me as I was then, left a lowly needle jockey scraping by day after day in a cramped living space. Cross Stitch wouldn’t have wanted to see me like that either. And Rarity... I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere in life without her. If it weren’t for her and her friends, (meeting an actual princess was still pretty cool) I might have remained Suri’s assistant for many years to come, and when she would be finished with me, my usefulness spent as seen in her eyes, she would cast me aside just like all of her other “friends” turned towards unknowing, unwilling, indentured servitude. For once in my life, I was putting my hoof down. A puff of steam blew from my nostrils. Stoic, I pulled away from the hug and scooted Snazzy aside. “That’s all the time I need. I know I can do this.” “Time?!” exclaimed Lily, perturbed while she pointed out the time on my wall clock. “Morning’s in less than eight hours, Coco! Even I know that’s nowhere near enough time to make something impressive enough to be entered into that contest that high profile.” “Yeah, Coco! What are you thinking? You should really save your energy. There’s always next time, right?” Snazzy followed. “I know what I’m doing now, girls. It may be a long one, but I have a shot at winning this thing,” I replied, a smooth exhale from my nostrils calming me further as I bring up a smile. “All that I had done just wasn’t me. Besides, Lily, it’s like they always say. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Impressive or not, it’s up to the judges, and myself, to make what we see of things.” At first, Snazzy and Lily looked to each other as if they both thought I was out of my little pony mind, but the change in their expressions to suit a calmer mood told me that they were contemplating what I had said, determining its moral weight. Moments later, Snazzy let out a sigh and returned her attention to me. “All right, Coco. If you think you can do it, and do it well, I’m really in no position to slow you down, even to begin with.” “Yeah,” Lily started. “I’ve taken some risks that seemed pretty...dumb before, but yours ain’t nearly as bad as the ones I’ve tried. Hey, with your level of skill, maybe you’ve really got this.” “D’oh, girls!” I giggled before stepping forward and pulling them into a big hug. They shared a laugh right along with me and returned the hug with warming gusto. With friends like these, I could do just about anything. Except wait, of course. I had to get to work pronto! You’ll have to excuse me if I’m a little out of it when it comes to detail here. I don’t remember if I was tired or just pumped. Snazzy and Lily left a short time afterward, wishing me the best of luck along the way, and I wasn’t going to question whether or not I needed it this time, but I also wasn’t about to second-guess myself. An award-winning dress in under eight hours and a, hopefully, passable replacement for Frumpy’s dress; a tall order for sure, but a manageable one. I bolted down the stairs, paying no mind to the storefront knowing that it was well into the dead of night. The familiar stammer and hum of the workshop lights turning on set in the mood I needed to lift myself out of the rut I was in before. I moved to the tiny metal trash bin piled high with crumpled balls of paper and picked up one of the many, unfolding it. Most of what was written was gibberish born out of the frustration I endured during the first round of brainstorming. There were some notes here and there amidst all the cartoonish kitty drawings that came into being with the boredom that swiftly followed it. It wasn’t much, but it’s what I had to work with. I glanced over at the other wall clock I kept in the room. Only a few minutes had gone by, but each and every one of them that ticked away were precious to me. Talk about a gauntlet, and to think that Rarity went through this nearly every day, but I shooed the doubt away again and went straight to work. Things got tough right out of the starting gate. What details that I couldn’t make out with my pictures of Frumpy’s dress were certain to be found within that same pile. My hooves were already numb by the time I finished uncurling and unfolding each wad of paper just to read them for the few minor, but useful snippets, but I persisted. A deep desire to rush things found itself clawing at my head by the time I got through half the pile, and, to some extent, I complied. How could there have been so many papers in there anyway? I was sure of it that I didn’t remember being so determined yet so frustrated all those days ago to waste so many of them when it clearly wasn’t helping me. But my efforts paid off. I had scraped together all that I could in a half-hour’s time and practically dove for my supply closet before yanking everything I had off the shelves down to the last spool of thread. With a deep breath, and my hooves delicately placed upon the fabric, I started up my trusty sewing machine and had engaged with step one. The low hum of the device’s motor kept me calm and freed me of my sense of urgency. I knew time was at a premium, but, for a friend, my dress would have to wait for later. This was an art project, not a piece of homework. But after I put that thought in my head, I couldn’t help but look back on moments from the good old days of Home Ec.. Most of them involved my days at the university and how they were on Snazzy and Lily, myself included. The biggest assignments really hurt us. Tight deadlines, high expectations, and general fears of failure are what kept us up in our dorm rooms at four in the morning, but those same prerequisites gave us a rush like we’d never felt before. Headaches, eyestrain, and the chugging of countless Wonderbolt-brand energy drinks aside, we had a really fun time together. I used that same vigorous boost to push my skill to the limit. So much for not comparing this to homework, but it seemed to be just what I needed. Two, maybe three hours went by like a breeze and...I’d done it. I didn’t think it was possible, but I had actually managed to replicate one of the most finely crafted gowns in all of Manehatten using nothing but a few pictures and some piecemeal notes, including the universal fitting ‘mechanism’ that made it so remarkable. It looked almost exactly as I had remembered it given how attached I was to it when I first got my hooves on the original. I wanted to ogle at it some more, but time was still against me. I would perform final checks on the more minute of the details later. With a confident smile, I rose from my seat and stretched my legs as I went for my supply closet again, but stopped halfway once I remembered that I had already emptied it. I even double-checked before looking back at my work table with a nervous frown. I didn’t leave much left of what I had to work with for my own dress. Only a few spools of thread and two half-depleted bolts of garishly plain fabric, and not in the same colors I had imagined it to be in. I clenched my teeth at that, taking stock of this unforeseen situation. Stupid budget cuts shrunk what little surplus of fabric I had. But, just as I grew worried, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I was lucky enough to still be in this contest, and, at the very least, I had already finished reproducing one work of art. Nopony could fail to paint with just one color, so there wasn’t much I could complain about. I set everything up at my table and cracked my hooves in preparation for one heck of a brain teaser. Just then, I heard the soft jingle of the storefront door opening. I jolted and went into the hallway, realizing that I hadn’t locked the darn thing like I should have done hours ago. The wind must have blown it open again, and if that wasn’t the case I always kept a golf club behind the counter. It just might find some use here as something other than an unwanted Hearth’s Warming gift (no offense, Lily). I rounded the corner cautiously and flicked the lights on. To my relief, I found no deviants in the lobby. Not even the door was blown open like I had previously thought. My gaze moved around the room until something that had not been there before caught my eye. A large cardboard box was on the counter. I figured that somepony must have came in through the (foolishly) unlocked door and left it, but who? I looked around the room again before slowly approaching and opening it with a careful touch. The inside of the box could only be described as a treasure trove. There were fabrics, thread, tassels, and other paraphernalia of all shapes, sizes and colors jam-packed in there. It was the savior that I needed, but as I reached in with greedy hooves I suddenly remembered that this just wasn’t mine to take. I didn’t order nor pay for anything like this. Maybe the mailpony delivered it to the wrong address earlier that day and the bell above the door rang just by coincidence. It was while on that same thought that I came across a folded slip of paper tucked away in a corner of the box. Further intrigued, I removed and unfolded it, eager to potentially find out if it was addressed to anypony in particular. What I read from it next was quite the surprise. Coco- Snaz and I figured you might need these. Odds are you’re cooped up in your workshop, but you’ve got to come out sometime, so I hope you get this in time, but she just me made walk halfway across the city not even at the crack of dawn to bring them to you, so you had better be wide awake. Make this one count, girl! -Lily Slowly, my lips curled into a heartwarming smile. They had to have been Snazzy’s personal supplies, and a lot of them by the looks of it. It must have been hard to let it all go. Talk about friendship, right? Everything I needed for my dress and then some was in there. All I had to do was piece it together, stitch by stitch and thread by thread. Morning had come at last. The work after the first dress went just as fast, if not faster. I know it’s not that interesting, but I have to admit that the making of my own competing dress was easier than I first thought. I was gifted with the materials, endurance, a few mugs of cheap homemade coffee, and the memory to recall exactly what I wanted to make; something simple and plain, yet not all of it the same, THE key principle I was taught whilst studying the art of the dress at the university. Everything I had been through lead up to that day. When I left my workshop again I had my first enjoyable glimpse of sunshine in days. Feeling that kind of warmth on my coat prompted me to stand just outside my front door and bask in it until an odor reminiscent of sweat and general grime beneath my coat floated up to my nostrils and made my whole body clench. My finest hour would have to wait until I was clean and presentable, but then I realized that it would have to wait just a teensy bit longer. I had to get to Sabot Petite’s headquarters on the double! Donning a replacement collar and snatching up everything I needed onto my back, I sped out the door and made haste for the awakening city center.