//------------------------------// // Chapter 19 - A fashionable outcome! // Story: The normal life of Nitpick Bittersweet // by Ryusun //------------------------------// School was over for today, but I found myself in the side of a new dilemma in the ever-changing decor of youth. There has been a romantic misplaced setup on school and I wouldn't allow it to continue! My irreplaceable friends, Tweaking Lightbulb, Chocolate Dancer, Nitpick Bittersweet and I were on the school fields discussing our recent event. I stopped reading the school's newspaper that I brought with me and this gave a new perspective of the situation. “Uh, is he gonna be okay? He looks kinda stressed!” Applejack was concerned about a young, average man sitting in one of the benches. He looked… unfashionable. “Ow, I don't know, Applejack. I applied on him the temple massage that Dean Cadence taught me as best I could manage but he still is grumpy.” “My Bro will be fine so stop worrying for nothing.” Said Lightbulb with a care-free tone. “Yes, Twilight! Thank you so much for caring for him, but Beasty just needs a moment of rest and tomorrow he'll be back to normal." Said Dancer grateful "He sometimes can be a pain in the head so don’t worry for this.” “Are you sure? I mean, you two have been friends with him far longer than me but maybe a back massage or the lavender essence for aromatherapy I carry with me could do the trick.“ “I appreciate the gesture but I rather go home and sleep, Twilight.” Said the young man annoyed for his current state of affairs. “Why are we even here, exactly?” “As I told you a few moments ago, we are here to discuss how to solve the mystery behind this false news propagating the school.” “Rarity! What were you proposing in Informatics is crazy! Twilight and Nitpick just need to be honest when asked about it and the problem will be over faster than a hot knife cutting through butter! No need for that fancy drama of yours. Just be straightforward and be done with it is the right choice.” “Let's listen to Applejack! She speaks reason!” “Thanks pal. Glad to hear you don't want the outrageous approach!” “No! I have a new solution! I thought my idea was the best but given the nature of things, a bigger scandal will cause more troubles in this occasion.” “You are right! The bigger the scandal, the greater the events can be manipulated! …We have a master about the subject with us.” Said Dancer with unfriendly tone in the last sentence. So this is what still makes you pressured to be accepted, Sunset my dear? “Dancer, let’s focus on our friends, shall we? For now, we know the following; the videos were filmed from different angles but both of them aren't dating, have never kissed and all the incidents occurred during school hours. So the culprit is a classmate of ours from the literature classes!” “How do you know that?” Nitpick asked skeptically. “Because we were the only students who didn’t have classes in that hour and the rest of the teachers forbid the students to go out of classroom after school break unless it’s really important. Excluding all ten of us, we only have fourteen suspects to worry about, and if we count that my sister and her friends were Anon-A-Miss some time ago and won’t repeat the same mistake again, it leaves us with eleven people. Also, if we count the students who share Sports with Twilight, that leaves us with a total of five students to suspect.” “Anon-A-Miss?” “Long story, Bro. I'll tell it to you in another time.” “Nevertheless, Rarity, You really thought about this with great detail.” “My, thank you, darling.” The young man was impressed, no doubt about my sophisticated detective mind. “That still doesn’t explain how are we going to prove this news of Twilight and I being lovers is nothing more than a deceit when we don’t have proof of it! “ “With me! Detective Rarity is on the case, and we are going to get to the bottom of this faster than my costume change! As a matter of fact, with all we have already, I know who our perpetrator is and how to catch it!” “REALLY!?” Everyone said. “How?” Young Nitpick said with great lack of faith. “Both of you will do the act I told you before, BUT, the rest of us will be hiding nearby the spot I mentioned. When she approaches, she'll come to you and we will catch her.” “How do you know the culprit is a she?” “Woman's intuition, young Lightbulb. And if my guess is right, this will be… ‘Sigh’ quite anti-climactic in the end.” Quite silly might I add and such a waste of our efforts. I believe I don’t even need to gather more clues for the matter this time. I hoped for a little emotion on school but nevertheless, I will do it the plain way for Twilight's sake! “I rather have an anti-climactic ending than a pain in the ass gossip ruining my inner peace every day!” “Laaaaanguage!” As we came to an alliance to stop this event, I decided to help my new friend have the proper appearance if he wishes to serve the role of a fake lover decently. I told him to come with his best outfit to my boutique to make preparations. After some small-talking and unorthodox persuasion from Dancer, he reluctantly agreed and I could see his low faith in our endeavor. But once this is over, he will change his mind. As I prepared my new male mannequins to work with, I made a last check up in my raw cloth inventory. Everything was in order. I had two plans exclusively for my visitor; the first one was to help him look fabulous and teach him how to combine garments and such to himself. The second reason was because a friend of mine from Manehattan, Coco Pommel, told me during our last video chat that the new rage on Canterlot was matching the couple's dresses and suits. If my business was to keep succeeding in the latest trends, I must adapt to the new markets, I must experiment with it, I MUST CREATE! The bell from the door rang, he finally arrived. “Uh, hi.” You are incredible plain in the greeting department, my dear. Now, I must inspect your- “WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU WEARING?” “You told me to bring my best cloths and here they are!” Everything went pitch-black for me. The soothing darkness of my consciousness made me fall to a deep sleep. Perhaps it was a self-defense mechanism to protect me from the never-before seen horror I saw on the real world. ‘-rity’ Someone was calling me. It wanted me to see the horror again. ‘-arity’ The voice got stronger. He was calling me back to reality. ‘Rarity’ No! This was not the time to act weak. I must go back, back where I was needed. One of my friends needed me. I couldn't fail her like this. I must defeat this monster. NO! This is no monster. It’s a misguided, innocent man who lacks a sense of common fashion. In the name of my boutique, I will help this lost spirit find his way! “WAKE UP ALREADY, YOU OVERREACTING DRAMA BITCH!” “WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, YOU RUDISH SAVAGE?” And the monster was still there for the matter. Grayish-black, plain tactical shirt with a red undershirt? Dark blue jeans that looked like pants and black boots? This CRIME against fashion cannot be allowed to roam the world any longer. I must calm down. Relax. Start again, Rarity! “Ehem! Let's forget our recent incident and start again, shall we?” “Fine by me. Just don’t pass out again for whatever stupid reason you did for.” Stupid reason!? Why, you little-! “I'll pretend I didn't hear that so let’s get straight to work.” “I still don’t understand why we must go through this unnecessary odyssey! If you already know who she is, wouldn't it better to face her tomorrow in the morning?” “Darling, Nitpick, dear, how many times in real life have criminals been successfully captured with that kind of thinking you have?” “Well, according to the news last year, a thirty-seven percent probability at most.” “Oh! It's higher than I expected!” “How much is the rate of success your way of thinking has?” “Ninety-nine percent success rate!” “Seriously?” “Yes, darling. In the world of novels!” The adventures of Shadow Spade, my favorite mystery books series, are based on real world events, after all. “Okay, I'll call Twilight and tell her that Applejacks ways is the best path after all.” “No, Wait!” “What?!” “Trust me in this, I assure you that you'll have the lame ending you desire.” “I thought you wanted drama.” “But Twilight doesn't, so I must help my friend in whatever way I can. Besides, the culprit is just an innocent girl who just has a habit to make disasters.” “What do you mean?” “Let’s just say she is a walking, trouble making machine who just wants to do things right at heart. Anyway, let's start with your…” Oh dear “This grey shirt of yours is badly washed.” “WHAT DID YOU SAY!?” He grabbed my shoulders with great concern. “That’s impossible, I always use the Royal Glory brand of soaps and detergents to wash it, even I have a special box to preserve it in it.” “This is really important to you, isn't it?” He gave me a desperate nod. Many years of serving customers has given me the perception to notice how much an item means to them. Not only how they express themselves, how they cry or even how they act. Those eyes, the brands he uses to take care of it… he loved the shirt dearly. “The fabric is in great shape but this cloth was badly washed with a generic detergent on the first time. Look closely in these spots, this Tac-shirt of yours was originally straight grey. The detergent used in the first wash gave it this black-like tone.” “I knew my mother didn't wash it like the label said!” To say he was furious was an understatement. “Don’t worry; I have the product and tools to restore it to its former glory. If you grant me your trust.” He took his sweet time, but I must not pressure this. This kind of decisions is to be left to the customer. “Please, Rarity, fix it. This shirt means a lot to me” “I'll will give it to you tomorrow so you can use it with the rest of your new outfit. Ok?” We had a long road ahead of us, Nitpick Bittersweet and I. Well, not too long because we didn't have much time, but the point is... I was up for the challenge. Working for male outfits was unexpectedly a refreshing change of pace. The procedures to produce male clothing were identical to the ones I am used to, but who could imagine that a single change in measures could change everything in a design? Instead of shirts with soft edges and unperceivable accessories at first sight that gives the magic in an outfit of a woman, rough edges and simpler patterns were used to make the same work in a man. A little cleaning to the boots which are of good quality, an alteration to his jeans and belt to make it match to them and a little repainting to his watch's black patterns and- “PERFECT!” “Wow! This feels great! You are incredible! The cotton in this black shirt feels comfy and fresh, my jeans feel tighter but more durable and comforting, and so my boots, my clock, just, wow.” “Flattery is certainly welcomed!” It took us less time than I expected. He was surprisingly obedient when I told him to be still. I wish he could have talked a little because I felt he was a little tense in there. “How much is it?” “Consider it your welcoming gift. I didn’t gave you one, after all” “Sorry, but I stand with what Twilight said in this one. You may have convinced her about her clothes being a gift for her but I can´t stand this effort go completely free of charge. At least let me give you a percentage to it, it’s the least I can do if you are going to fix my shirt… I love that shirt, you know?” “Darling, I…” It’s futile to discuss it, isn't it? I can see you won’t accept a ‘No’ for an answer. I sighed with the power of such stubborn fellow. “Alright… it's twenty dollars for the boots cleaning and arrangements. Ten for the watch repainting since it didn’t need that much work to begin with. Thirty five for your jeans retrofitting, and two hundred and seventy five for your new pair of shirts. The baby blue one will be ready by tomorrow, given it a grand total of three hundred and forty dollars. The Tac-shirt cleaning and belt, just consider it as my welcoming gift.” I made you a twenty five percent discount since you were a first generation model in the first place. That and for making me charge you for a gift. This was meant to be a gift, you know? “Here you go!” “Wow, I am impressed. Most of the guys I know wouldn’t spend much money in cloths like you did just now.” There is hope for him if he immediately paid without hesitation. He went straight to the change room to put back his distasteful, plain red shirt. Darling, don’t. It’s ruining the look of the rest of your outfit. “To be honest, I actually received a call from my parents on how I was doing and when I mentioned that I would buy cloths today, they send me right away five hundred bucks to spend in it as long as I prove it. So, can you make a new red and black shirt with the money that is left and give me a receipt of the total? I mean, I want them to be simple unlike the baby blue you are going to do. And you are staring daggers to my common shirt right now so I don’t want more unnecessary eyes watching me for my ‘fashion crimes’!” “It will be my pleasure!” As soon as he left with the instructions on how to wash them, I started organizing my thoughts on his three shirts. But then, I heard noises upstairs, Sweetie Belle no doubt. That girl must be bored to tears since I grounded her after the disaster she made in my workshop. But… Like AJ said days ago, she is still a child. Thinking about it well, she just wanted to feel needed. Perhaps she could… “Sister, dear, are you busy?” “No, Rarity.” She said with a sad tone. “Do you need something?” “Come here, please!” She got out of her room and arrived to my workshop. “...Yes?” “Want to know how to make shirts and restore original colors in clothes properly?” “For Real!?” She said suddenly in happiness. “I mean, aren’t you still mad about a few days ago?” “Come here and let your sister teach you how to use properly the hand machinery and cloth fixing techniques.” “Ow thank you, Rarity! You are the best!” A hug full of energy and the power of sisterly love. Since I already memorized the measures and adjusted the mannequin, it didn’t take me more than four hours to do the shirts. I taught Sweetie Belle where the main sewing points were located and how much a proper or misguided sew could perfect or ruin a new clothing fabrication. She was a slow learner but she was trying her best. After that little lesson, the real problem came; this poor, mistreated Tac-shirt. What kind of detergent her mother used on it? Parts of the fabrics are extremely colored and some of the threads needed replacing. Since he loves it so much, I must make sure to leave it as how it was originally as possible. If it weren’t for his choice of products, this shirt would have been ruined long ago. “The cancer in this cloth is worse than I imagined at first, it will take us a while. Sweetie Belle, dear! Are you ready?” “Of course!” After a long moment of sisterly time in cleaning, washing, fixing and forging this Tac-shirt, both of us came to a conclusion: his shirt was reborn, better than ever. We celebrated with some homemade milkshakes and muffins, then we talked for a bit about the mess from school, her lack of activities with her friends after class, and finally went straight to sleep. Next day, first thing I did in the morning was giving Nitpick his new belongings. And as soon as he saw his Tac-shirt, the reaction was- “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY TAC-SHIRT? THIS KIND SORCERY OF YOURS… ” Did I do something wrong to it? Wait! He immediately wore it on. “The soft feeling of the fabric, the cool looking black bottoms, the adjusted sleeves, the no longer intrusive but adjusted neck, this pure grey color of the cloth. You!” I was suddenly hugged by him… this feels… “Thank you so much for this, Rarity...” He whispered in an extremely happy tone. Wonderful! Once again I made another job well done. We went straight to the monument so he could watch his reflection and admire his new, fabulous style. “I am glad you accepted my help in the end, you are good looking now and with the proper hair-style and a better shampoo, you could…uh” You aren't listening, are you? Hehehe, I understand. Just don’t become a Narcissus. “Hey, what’s going on there with him?” “Shh, Rainbow Dash. Let him have this.” The rest of the girls and his friends arrived, but no sign of Twilight yet. “WOW BEASTY! You have done it again, Rarity!” “Ohohoho Thank you very much” “Yes, perhaps I truly look good, after all.” “It's not a perhaps, Nitpick. You really look nice in that outfit.” “Uh, thanks, Sunset… that’s nice of you to say to him” Dancer, I can see your apathy behind that sweet face. This isn’t like you! Why do you hate Sunset so much still? She changed for the better! “Dancer, I-“ Sunset was interrupted by the sound of a roaring luxury, family car that suddenly parked in front of the school. Twilight has arrived. I believe that the driving lady is her mom. “Thanks for bringing me here, mom! Good luck in your work.” My friend ran straight to us. “Wow, Twilight! How nice of your mother to bring you here, mine makes me take the bus.” “Oh, my family is always like that, Dancer. She brings me when she can and they are happy that I am in this school. She said that I am changing, but I feel pretty much the same. Except that I have friends here.” It’s because of that that your family is happy for you, my dear. “Well, let’s get over this over and go back to a peaceful life, Twilight. I want to spend my high school years in peace” “Agreed, we must-“ You stopped talking as soon you as looked at him. Twilight, did he stole your breath like you did to him the second day of classes? “Twilight!” He snapped his fingers near her face, rude! “Concentrate! Rarity, what's the plan?” “Ah, yeah, the plan. Of course. Tell us, Rarity.” You know how to ruin a moment of admiration, Nitpick Bittersweet. I gave the full details of my improved and boring plan that I devised with my sister before sleeping, and we proceeded to chemistry class. The culprit was here as well. Poor girl. Without a doubt she misinterpreted her school activity. I quickly came to the conclusion that she was the culprit because the embarrassing news of the last week newspaper edition she made. When we catch her, we must help her in making a correction to those rumors and re-print the past newspaper with an improved style; those ‘gossips’ will surely redirect the commotion to other direction. Class was finally over and we proceeded to make our move. We were in the school library. Twilight and Nitpick were in position and the rest of us were hiding behind the stands or sitting nearby. Pinkie Pie was… never mind her. “No one is coming, Rarity” Fluttershy whispered. “She will come, dear Fluttershy. Have faith in me, don’t worry.” “Oh, It’s not your intuition that I am worried about.” She said this with concern this time while pointing with her finger what she meant. “Look. They are stressed.” “Just a few moments more and it will be over- There!” She finally approached to our V.I.P. with a reporter hat, a notebook, some pens and a video camera at her disposal. “It's her!” And in a blink of an eye, the criminal was captured. “What the hell are you doing, Rainbow Dash?” Said Nitpick with suspense. “Catching the culprit!” “She just came here to ask us about our opinion of the school after the Friendship Games!” Said Twilight with fright. “Uh, what?” “What is going on? Why did you tackle me, Rainbow?” “Derpy!?” Everyone said but Twilight, Nitpick and I. “Why Derpy!? I didn't know you were the kind of girl to do this kind of stuff.” “What are you talking about, Rainbow? What did I do?” “Don't try to play innocent with us, Derpy!” “B-But I don’t know, really!“ “Confess!” “Whatever is happening, I swear that I am-“ “Innocent.” I finally said. “Rainbow Dash, apologize, I didn’t tell you to tackle anyone!” Everyone looked at me with surprised faces. Rainbow gently helped Derpy get back on her feet and deeply apologized to her. “Could you explain to us what is happening, Rarity?” “Of course I can, Sunset. Let me explain from the beginning! As most of you know, Derpy Muffins is now the school editor for the newspaper. As her job demands, she must look for things of interest so she can print the newspaper weekly, and-” “Let me guess, a juicy gossip of Twilight and me could raise the sales of the newspaper!” “Not at all, the newspaper is free. No, what really happened is the following; Derpy was on her usual patrol to search for interesting news and she found something good on the sports classes last week so she decided to film it during her class on Saturday and in one of her filming moments were about Twilight and Nitpick.” “So she spread the video to build up momentum and make the next issue more popular” “Nitpick, Derpy is innocent. Let me finish.” “Alright…” “I am hungry, Bulby” “Me too, Choco.” “Isn't today Taco Tuesday?” “Yes it is, Nitpick. Not to sound rude, Rarity, but can we speed this up? Angel and my pets needs their food too!” “And Spike.” No one loves mystery explanations any longer. “Alright, I'll resume all what I need to say because we are hungry and we are getting grumpy. Derpy, dear, can you lend me the camera, please?” “Here you go” I tinkered with it until I found what I was looking for. “Look, this is the original video of the complete sports class of Saturday, with others that aren't related to it” “Then what does this mean?” “She shared the video by mistake to her sports classmates via the Wi-Fi function of the school camera, then one of them noticed both of them getting close in the bus stop and filmed it, and he or she spread this misguided gossip creating a chain reaction that grew stronger when people stalked you before classes started to know more about you. The last drop was the video from yesterday, but if you take notice in the video details, only the first one was captured with a proper video camera, the rest are cellphone quality.” “Now that you mention it, it’s true” Said Lightbulb thoughtfully while inspecting the video files on his cellphone. “I am so sorry, I didn’t know I made I mess again, I really didn´t mean to cause a problem, I swear” Derpy said with teary eyes. “Oh, no need to cry, sweetheart. Nobody is blaming you.” “Yes, I am not angry.” Twilight said tenderly “It was just a silly misunderstanding. Right, Nitpick?” “Yeah, Right.” “You can ignore him, he is just savage by nature.” “I agree. Beasty, stop being a savage brute.” “But you are the savage one all the- NO! Stop hitting me” “Anyway, dear, I have something in mind to help you clear their names while raising your views and get people who can help you in the school newspaper.” “Oh, thank you, Rarity. I don’t know what to say.” “No need for that. Girls, could you help me with this?” All of my friends agreed to help and my plan was put in motion after classes ended, not before taking a picture of Twilight and Nitpick with Twilight´s phone and the school camera. Next day arrived and the CHS newspaper had a new issue, it´s main article called ‘Canterlot High and Friendships in the raising’. The poster people were Twilight Sparkle and Nitpick Bittersweet, given a full page background to both of them before CHS and after they enrolled in our school. “They were just tweaked videos after all. They weren't really dating.” “It's hard to believe this distant relative of the Princess had such a harsh life in Crystal Prep.” “The guy is kinda cute.” “Is this really the men's bathroom current state?” “I didn't know that Soarin hurt his leg… again.” “Those middle school brats really know how to make school posters.” “Captain Planet and the rest of the eco kids made tree plantings in the park of the city.” “Have you seen the picture of Principal Celestia in page nine? She looks hilarious with the stains of cake in her mouth!” Now everyone was talking about something else, it seems that the Anon-A-Miss incident was just a memory of the distant past and nobody remembered how bad it was. At least this time the news were harmless. “Rarity! You were right! We've been accepted to the school's newspaper!” “I am glad to hear that, Sweetie Belle, but remember!” “No harmful gossips. I know! I'll make you proud.” “I know you will! Now go with your friends and find something juicy to share” Everything was in order, now to classes. “Rarity!” “Yes, Darling?” “You manipulative fashionista!” “What makes you said that?” He brought a school newspaper with him, pointing out a complete page about a lovely selection of clothing worn by him and Twilight. “Ahahaha, you were just talking of this. Both of you look fabulous! The two of you are wearing different colors, but at the same time they combine. I thought you were talking about something awful!” “This is the awful thing! You played us like a damn fiddle to promote your new fashion line. This is why you took pictures of us before going out to our home, yesterday. You took advantage of our gossip drama so you could convince me to be part of your plan in making new clothes for me and advertise them!” “But I presume you love them, I am right?” “So you don’t deny it?” “This was just a last minute thought! I didn’t plan this in the beginning, Promise! Besides, I am really happy with the results; Twilight and you are no longer persecuted, I made you new clothes for your personal use and fixed the one you love the most, I got for Derpy Muffins people who want to work with her and I spent quality time with my sister. I believe this is a good reward for me!” “Yes, but… forget it. I will only forgive you because your work was worth all the trouble in the end!” “I am glad we came to an understanding, Darling. Well, shall we to classes now?” UH! My business phone rang all of the sudden; messages with petitions for matching outfits like the one my friends were wearing are arriving faster than I expected. I must order more material to work with for my future customers immediately.