The Princess and The Seamstress

by PortalJumper

Checking In

"Spike, I'm going out for groceries!" Twilight called out to the cavernous hallways of her home. "Don't wait up for me, and don't forget that the Chemistry section needs to be re-organized!"

"Can do," came back an echoing call from her ever-capable assistant. Twilight had placed magical bugs all throughout the halls and rooms so that way she and Spike could call back and forth like they did in the library without having to trek all the way through the castle.

Efficiency at its finest, Twilight mused to herself as the doors slammed shut behind her. With a quick inhale she sucked in the cool fall air, savoring the brisk scent of freshly fallen leaves before making her way into town.

The market was a flurry of activity as usual, with ponies beckoning to her to try out their wares or enticing her with discounts and special deals. On a day as nice as this she could afford to linger a little.

"Princess, Princess!" called Carrot Top from her stand. "Come here, we just got a fresh batch of carrots in and they've all got your name on them."

"Ooh, they look absolutely delicious," she said. The Carrots, as the name would imply, were some of the best carrot farmers in Equestria, although they also specialized in quite a few other types of produce.

"So, how about you pick up a few, and maybe I can throw in some juicy tomatoes at a discount, huh? Special Princess Pricing, just for you!"

"I have been running pretty low on produce, so why not?" Twilight answered as she levitated her bit purse out of her saddlebags. "How much?"

"Five bits for a bushel of carrots, and three for a a bushel of tomatoes."

"What a bargain!" Quickly she laid out her money as Carrot Top bagged up her produce. "Always happy to help out the local business pony, after all."

"Oh please, the pleasure is all mine! This is just between you, me, and the carrots, but your coming by here drums up more business in a day than I normally see all week. I'm not sure if you're aware, but you're pretty popular around here," she added with a glance and nod behind her. Twilight turned to see a massive queue of ponies lining up, most of whom were smiling and waving at her.

"You don't say?" Twilight answered with a knowing smile. With a giggle she trotted away to her next destination.

"Feel free to drop by any time, Twilight!" Carrot Top called after her.

Five years she'd been living in Ponyville, and yet she still loved going to the market as much as when she first moved in. They didn't have a big bustling market like this back in Canterlot; it was mostly specialized shops and boutiques meant to cater to higher society ponies with little regard for practical day-to-day use. Ponyville was much more pragmatic and functional, which was just one of the numerous things she enjoyed about it.

"Hey Twilight, over here!" called a very familiar twangy voice.

"Oh, hi Applejack!" she called back. "Fancy seeing you here."

"I don't see why you wouldn't, considerin' that I run the largest apple farm this side of the Everfree. Somepony's gotta push the produce, and what with Granny Smith bein' a bit long in the tooth for it nowadays, Apple Bloom still too young for ponies to take her seriously, and Big Mac havin' the conversational skills of a brick, the face side of things falls to me."

"Oh, right," Twilight said meekly. Sometimes she had to be reminded that her friends actually had lives outside of just being her friends. Also, Applejack was standing by her apple cart, which should have been a dead giveaway if Twilight had bothered to notice.

"So, are you just out and about, or do you have some errands that I'm keepin' you from?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, a little from column A, a little from column B. I do have a grocery list, but I can take my time. I spent all last night going through my friendship problem backlog and answering a question from Sunset Shimmer, so I decided to spend today getting away from it all."

"Well ain't that just delightful to hear. Wish I could get away from the work for a while myself, but if I don't work then Ponyville doesn't eat. That's the kind of weight on your shoulders that'll put some spring in your step, if ya catch my drift."

"Winter is just around the corner though, so at least you'll have the holidays off, right?" Twilight asked.

"Right you are, and this year it's up to Mac and Apple Bloom to do the holiday planning so that Granny Smith and I can take a year off."

"It must be great having family that can fill in for you. Back in Canterlot I was something of a feral child; Mom and Dad kind of let me do my own thing most of the time and Shining was only around to keep an eye on me until I was about nine when he went off to join the guard. It taught me that if I wanted something to get done I had to do it myself."

"I'll tell ya one pony who could do with a break is Rarity," Applejack cut in. "I haven't seen hide nor hoof of her for a few days. Normally she stops by to chat on her way to pick up some fancy fabrics or if she's hittin' up the train to Canterlot, but I don't think she's left Carousel Boutique since at least last week."

Twilight's brain sparked to attention at Applejack's interjection; a few days? Rarity wasn't antisocial in the slightest, so to hear that she was sequestering herself in her home was highly unusual.

"Are you sure about this?" Twilight asked, trying not to betray the worry in her heart. "Maybe you just keep missing each other."

"I'd be inclined to agree with ya, if it weren't for the fact that she makes a point to stop by and say hi. If I haven't seen her out and about, then she just hasn't been out or about."

Twilight couldn't help but chew on her lip a bit. Yes, Rarity was an adult and could make her own decisions, but this sort of behavior was weird for her. Normally she'd make some big announcement if she had a new project or was taking a trip, but for her to drop off the radar unannounced...

"Have you heard anything from Sweetie Belle about this?" Twilight asked, grasping at any thread she could.

"Well, now that you mention it, Apple Bloom told me that Sweetie said Rarity was doing some big project for her store up in Canterlot."

"Yeah, she mentioned that to me a while ago, something about a 'uni-racial fashion line' that she wanted to design. She even borrowed some books on Alicorn culture from me so she could draw inspiration from it."

"Yeah, that's it!" Applejack replied. "Although, the way Apple Bloom was tellin' the story, it sounded like Sweetie Belle wasn't being completely on the level with her."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, perplexed. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were best friends; what could she possibly want to keep hidden from her?

"I don't rightly know, for certain; A.B. said she just got a weird vibe from her. You can go ask her yourself if you want, the three of them are at the barn buildin' some sort of thingamajig for their new lives as Cutie Mark Crusader Talent Finders or some such."

"I think I just might do that. Thanks for the tip, Applejack," Twilight added as she walked off, a bit more purpose in her step than before.

The walk over to Sweet Apple Acres wasn't too long, and Twilight had long since gotten used to the winding path through the orchard to get to the farmhouse itself. As she rounded the last bend she spied Big Mac, back to her and hard at work preparing another cart of apples to be taken out to the market.

"Big Mac!" Twilight called as she cantered over to him. "Can I have a word?"

"Eeyup," he answered, as taciturn as ever. He finished loading up the last basket and turned to face Twilight.

"Thanks, I'll try not to keep you for long. You're a busy stallion after all, and I'm sure the last thing you need is me nattering away and keeping you from your cho—"

"Twilight, you're nattering," he interrupted with a wry smile.

"Oh, right sorry," she replied sheepishly. "Are Apple Bloom and her friends around?"

"Out at their clubhouse, last I saw of 'em," he answered. "Tell Apple Bloom that she needs to give me back my good spade."

"Can do! Thanks a lot Mac," Twilight said as she made her way deeper into the property. She'd been out to the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse a few times and could find her way to it well enough. As she walked out to the clearing of the clubhouse she could hear some mechanical contraption being set off.

"GANGWAY!!" yelled Scootaloo as she came careening through the sky. Twilight barely had time to throw up a magic shield, which Scootaloo splattered into with a sickening thud.

"Ooooohh..." Twilight muttered, sucking in air through her teeth as Scootaloo slid down the barrier to the ground. At least, Twilight noted with some relief, she was wearing a helmet.

"Scootaloo, you okay?" Apple Bloom called from over from their latest hodge-podged together quasi-death trap.

"Fine and dandy," Scootaloo answered blearily, holding a hoof in the air before letting it flop back into the dirt. "I'm just gonna... lay here for a while."

With a roll of the eyes Twilight lowered her shield, stepped over the near-comatose filly, and walked over to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as they feverishly re-calibrated their device.

"I thought you girls would be done with all of this sort of stuff? Didn't you already get your Cutie Marks?"

"Yeah, but this one isn't for us," Sweetie Belle answered. "There's a new colt in class who doesn't have his Cutie Mark yet, and since our talent is helping other ponies find theirs—"

"You're going to fling him across the sky at Mach 2?" Twilight interrupted.

"No, silly!" Apple Bloom cut in. "We're building a device that can assess a pony's physical attributes to help us narrow down what their potential talents could be! I figured it'd help take some of the legwork off of us, since we're gonna be doin' this for the rest of our lives."

"Oh," Twilight answered with a little impressed noise. While their craftsmanship could use a lot of work, judging by the mess of wood, springs, and wires that was sitting in front her, it was still a sound idea. She would have to look into that someday...

"Well, as interesting as that is," she continued, "I'm not here to have fillies hurled at me. If it's okay with you, I'd like to talk to Sweetie Belle in private."

"Oh, uh, sure," Sweetie replied. "We were about to go on break anyway."

"Thanks a lot. Also," Twilight called as Apple Bloom started walking off, "Apple Bloom, could you go take Scootaloo back up to the barn? I think she might be concussed."

"Rodger-Dodger!" she answered back with a quick salute before picking her friend off the ground, slinging her on her back, and walking into the orchard.

"And give Big Mac his good spade back!" Twilight called just as they went through the tree-line. Satisfied, she turned back to the filly she trekked all the way out here to see.

"So, what's up Twilight?" Sweetie asked as she cleaned up some of the detritus from the morning's activities.

"It's... Well, it's about Rarity. Applejack was saying that she hadn't seen your sister in a few days, and I'm a little worried for her. Do you know anything about how she's doing?" Twilight added, being careful to hide what Applejack had told her about Apple Bloom's conversation with her.

Not a moment after Twilight stopped talking did Sweetie Belle's back muscles tense up. She seemed to be a bit stiffer in her movements, like she was carrying something around that was weighing her down.

"Sweetie Belle, are you okay?"

"Fine and dandy!" she answered with just a hint of nervousness in her voice. "And you pretty much know what's going on with Rarity, right? She borrowed those books for her new fashion line from you, after all."

"Yes she did," Twilight answered back, "but this isn't like her to just shut herself up in her home like this. The last time this happened was when her first fashion show for Hoity Toity went pear-shaped, so it would have to be something very serious for her to be acting this way."

"It's not serious! She's just focused on her work, that's all, and she doesn't need ponies snooping around and asking questions! I need to go check on Scootaloo."

Before Twilight could even utter a response Sweetie darted off into the orchard.

This sort of defiance and demeanor was not at all like her, and Twilight's original concern was starting to fester and grow into the seeds of panic. If whatever Rarity was doing could affect Sweetie Belle this much, then it was almost certainly far more serious than she thought.

A renewed drive fueled by worry filling her chest, she made her way as quick as she could to Carousel Boutique. If she wanted answers, she'd have to go to the source.

Rarity jumped at the sound of a sharp rap on her front door. She had specifically set the "Closed For Business" sign on the front door so that ponies wouldn't come calling, but apparently some of them simply couldn't take the hint. With an irritated huff she set down her needle and thread and turned to answer the door."

"I'm terribly sorry, but we aren't open today, so if you could plea— oh!"

"Sorry to bug you Rarity," Twilight began while Rarity's brain cranked away, "but it's just that we haven't talked in a while and I wanted to see how you were doing. Applejack said she hadn't seen you in a few days so I hope you don't mind if I check in for a bit."

"Oh, um, sure, please come in darling!" Rarity sputtered as Twilight made her way over the threshold. Aside from this unexpected visit causing her heart to nearly explode from her chest, she hadn't been keeping up with the general tidiness as much as she'd like. The studio looked like a twister had hit it, in her estimation.

"So, what brings you out to my neck of the woods?" Rarity asked. "Looking for a specific something or is this a purely social call?"

"I'd say social," Twilight answered as she perused the store, "but I'm afraid it's a little more urgent than that."

"Urgent... how?" Rarity asked, trying her level best to mask the nervousness in her voice.

"Urgent as in 'nopony's seen hide nor hoof of you in nearly a fortnight and Sweetie Belle is clearly hiding something from us about what you're up to.' Rarity, are you alright? You are anything but anti-social, and the last time this happened we were all convinced that you were going to go hiding away in the mountains. Is there something you're not telling me?"

Try though she might, Rarity simply couldn't stop herself from shifting her weight side to side. It was an old nervous tic that she hadn't been able to quite get rid of, and now would be the perfect time for it to spring back up.

"You spoke with Sweetie Belle about me?" she asked, trying to deflect the conversation.

"Yeah, she was over at Sweet Apple Acres with her friends," Twilight answered, "and the minute I spoke to her about you she clammed up and ran off. Like I said, is there something you're not telling me?"

"No, not at all!" Rarity replied hastily. "It's just that this whole 'uni-racial fashion' idea has taken a lot longer to get off the ground than I anticipated, and you know how I get when things don't go my way. I promise this isn't that special."

"And what about Sweetie Belle? You being behind on your schedule doesn't sound like the sort of thing you swear a filly to secrecy over."

"Her? Oh, she's just a little overzealous!" Rarity replied. "You see, I told her not to tell anypony about my idea since she has rather loose lips regarding these sorts of things, and I guess she's just taking things rather too seriously. I'll let her know that you already know about it if it'll ease your mind."

"It would," Twilight said. She still seemed tense to Rarity, but it was a tension of worry and not of suspicion, which is what she wanted. "Just please try to stay in touch; we're your friends after all, and friends need to stick together and be there for each other."

"Absolutely they do!" Rarity answered as she slowly started to lead the conversation to the door. "I promise I'll get out some this week; it would do me some good to go and clear my head. Also, please be a dear and let Applejack know that I'll be around tomorrow for our daily chat."

"Sure thing Rarity," Twilight answered as she walked back out the door. "You take care, okay?"

"Don't you worry about a thing darling!"

With a wave goodbye Rarity closed the door to her home and promptly collapsed to the ground in a nervous heap. Her breathing was deep and irregular, and she could still feel her heart pounding against her ribs like they were a set of xylophones.

"Oh sweet Celestia, no!" Rarity exclaimed to nopony in particular. "This isn't good, this isn't good at all!"

Without a moment's hesitation she pulled out a quill and a sheet of parchment. She had to get a letter out to Princess Luna, and fast. Twilight was starting to catch on, which meant that they had to bump up their schedule.