Freshening up went quickly, and she had soon made herself presentable. Rarity’s stomach grumbled, signaling her own hunger, so she grabbed a scone to nibble on. It wasn’t much, but it sated her need for the moment. Pulling on a blue wool sweater and wrapping a two-tone pink scarf around her neck, Rarity grabbed a small notepad from one of her desk drawers and exited her home at Carousel Boutique.
It wasn’t cold enough for snow, but there was certainly a chill in the air. Many other ponies were moving this way and that, and the entire town had been decorated in reds, pinks, and whites to celebrate the day festively. Through the use of her magic, Rarity took the notepad out and opened it. The contents were the names and pertinent information about all of her “stand-by” stallions for occasions such as this. It was not any sort of formal arrangement, but she always liked to keep a few options open for dating emergencies.
She hummed to herself as she flipped through the pages, “Well, it seems that many more of these have become attached in recent years than I had realized.” She continued looking through the little book. “There’s one…” She hummed to herself again in thought. “Not a favorite… but there’s no doubt about it, Thunderlane is the only unattached stallion in my notebook. He’ll do, but I shall have to update my information on available bachelors.”
Her new course set, Rarity replaced the little notebook into a pocket on her sweater and trotted briskly toward Thunderlane’s house. She confidently strolled up the walkway. Taking a moment to check her hair, she knocked on the door. For a moment, she thought she heard voices inside. The door opened, revealing the black pegasus stallion and his light blue mane.
“Oh, hi, Rarity,” he said.
She was just about to greet him when the door opened wider, and a blue pegasus mare was standing beside him. It was Rarity’s friend, Rainbow Dash.
“Hey, Rare,” she said nonchalantly.
A little flummoxed, Rarity quickly recovered, “Why, hello, darling! Fancy meeting you here!”
“Yeah, we’re about to go for a flight,” the rainbow-maned mare replied. “I just asked Thunderlane here to go with me to the Hearts and Hooves Social tonight.”
“Just as friends,” Thunderlane added with a smile.
“I see,” Rarity said, working her best facade in order to not sound disappointed.
“Yeah, I was going to go by myself, but then I thought how embarrassing it would be to not have a date to a Hearts and Hooves dance,” Rainbow Dash said, apparently oblivious to the potential insensitivity of her statement.
“I can only imagine how horrible that would be,” Rarity said, her facade growing thinner. “I certainly wouldn’t want to keep you from your flight, so I’ll be going then.”
“So, what did you need?” Thunderlane asked as Rarity was turning to walk away.
“I beg your pardon?” she replied, stalling for time as she thought of an excuse.
“You knocked on my door,” he sounded confused. “Did you need something?”
“Oh, yes,” Rarity fidgeted, “My friend Fluttershy didn’t have a date tonight, so I’m helping her try to find one. I knew you weren’t attached presently, so I was coming to see if you would be interested in going with her. However, I see that you have already made plans.”
“Yeah,” Thunderlane said as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry about that; I mean, I totally would have.”
“Think nothing of it, darling.”
“Come on, are we going to yap all day, or are we going to get some flying in before tonight?” Rainbow Dash said impatiently.
Rarity turned and walked away in defeat. Her notebook had never failed her before today, but now, she would have to improvise. ‘Not to worry,’ she thought to herself, ‘I’ve still got plenty of charm to make sure somepony turns up.’