Home is Where the Heart Lies

by The Princess Rarity

Quatre

~ Chapter Four ~

"Well, it's been a long time - glad to see your face,

I knew we'd meet again - another time another place!"

---

Rarity had spent that entire first day back home in her Boutique, slaving over her work like she always did. As expected, whenever she poured her heart and soul into a project, she had found herself waking up the next morning at her desk with endless papers scattered about and the entire design room looking like a bomb had hit it. Her 'organized chaos' method never seemed to change, no matter how savvy of a businessmare she became.

The early sunlight blinded her as she used her magic to close the curtains, and she shuffled downstairs to the kitchen in hopes to make herself breakfast, only before realizing that the Boutique had been empty for years. Nothing would be there for her, and if so, it would be rotten beyond belief and expired to the point of being poisonous.

Levitating over a brush, she began tending to her mane, but with so many frizzes and flyaways, she quickly gave up. Dropping the brush and fetching a few bobby pins from her bag, she clipped her mane back into a fashionable bun that hid what she couldn't tend to at the moment. Whatever sprays and gels she had were in one of the suitcases that made up the mountain in her living room. She would unpack all of them later when she found free time.

Work for her show and catching up with everypony seemed like a more important task to her.

Leaving the Boutique in its half ruined state but silently promising she'd clean it later, Rarity left just as she noticed the town getting active, and for a minute, she felt like it was five years ago. She was still struggling to make her career noticed, and she was but a small town mare.

Funny how half a decade could change everything.

With a small, content smile, she began her way down the road, planning her day in her mind step-by-step. The first thing she would do was grab a bite to eat, but afterwards, she figured finding one of her friends would be best.

However, she wasn't quite sure where to start.

Pinkie Pie would obviously be at SugarCube Corner, seeing how that was her job and place of residence, but Rarity would hate to bother her friend while she was working. She knew how that felt and respected the space of others when they were busy with their occupation.

Fluttershy might still be at that small cottage of hers, but that was the other side of town, and while Ponyville was a small place, it still would be a waste of time to travel all the way and no longer find her there.

Rainbow Dash had always lived up in the sky... so that was virtually impossible.

Applejack was forever loyal to her farm, which meant she would no doubt still be in this small town. As for where exactly, the options were far and wide, which would mean a lot of searching.

Lastly, Twilight was a Princess, so in all honesty, Rarity realized she probably would have had a better chance of seeing her friend in Canterlot than here. But then again, the Golden Oaks Library wasn't that far from the current point she was at. It wouldn't hurt to stop by, would it?

As she passed by a vendor right outside the market, Rarity bought herself a coffee from the stand to wake herself up and continued her way down the road, making her way around the bend and finding herself looking up at the very familiar tree that was the Library where it all began.

She smiled at the memory.

To think, she had gone on a wild adventure through the Everfree Forest to save the nation, made some friends for life and learned an extremely valuable lesson, all in one day.

Swinging open the door, Rarity levitated the coffee up to take a sip as she entered the library, looking all around. For the most part, it seemed at peace, like it had always been. A few foals were browsing among the selections, while a small hoard of teenagers gossiped between the halls of books, which was a step up from the usually small crowd the dressmaker was used to seeing a while back when she would visit regularly.

"Can I help you?" a voice asked.

Rarity looked over in the direction of the sound, and found herself face-to-face - or rather, face-to-book - with somepony who she had been hoping to run into.

Releasing a soft laugh, the unicorn couldn't help but playfully shake her head.

"Still keeping your muzzle stuck in between the pages, I see," she teased.

Her comment prompted the pony to look up, and slightly smile.

"Rarity! Wow, I... I didn't expect to see you," Twilight said cautiously.

The fashionista returned the grin, giving a small nonchalant shrug. "It would seem that my business has brought me back home," she replied breezily. "I figured that seeing you and the girls again would be a benefit to the trip."

She took note of her old friend's tone of voice, and tried not to frown at that realization. Then again, she didn't expect every one of her friends to immediately be happy. After all, she did leave for five years with no contact. If she was in that position, she would most likely be the same way, so she couldn't blame Twilight for being a bit distant.

"How've you been?" Rarity asked, hoping to see her friend's smile sparkle like her namesake.

"Relatively well, thank you for asking," Twilight responded, with a curt nod. "And yourself?"

The dressmaker waved a hoof, brushing that subject away as she took another sip of coffee to keep herself active. "I'm sure you know," she said carefully, trying not to rub in the fact she had gotten so successful. After all, she had always tried to be modest.

"True," the alicorn mused.

An odd moment of silence passed between the two old friends, only before a loud crack was heard, followed by a crash as a blur of color shot into the library at the speed of light. Books flew everywhere, and a groan was heard.

Now this was a scene Rarity knew she had seen before…

Twilight let out an annoyed sigh, rolling her eyes.

"Can't you just use the door like normal ponies?" she called.

"Sorry, Twi," another familiar voice yelled back.

The pony who had just been speaking now emerged from a hall in the library, freezing as she noticed who was standing in the Library's doorway. Rarity gave a hopeful smile as she looked to the brash pegasus, but what was said made her emotions slightly flip.

"What's she doing here?" Rainbow Dash inquired.

"Dash," Twilight hissed.

With a roll of her magenta eyes, the pegasus released a sigh, scanning her gaze over Rarity thoughtfully, only before she finally managed to mutter a quick hello, which made the fashionista feel awfully conflicted.

Clearing her throat nervously, Rarity spoke up, giving a hopeful half smile. "Hello there, Rainbow Dash," she piped up. "What a coincidence I managed to run into the both of you at the same time."

"Yeah," the pegasus said. "Been a while since you stopped in Ponyville."

"It has, hasn't it?" she mused. "Which is why I decided to stop by. Catch up with you all." Her eyes darted from Twilight to Rainbow, and eventually, her gaze fell downcast. "I... I take it you both have a bit of a grudge towards me."

"No, not at -"

"-yeah, pretty much."

Twilight glared at the fast flier, who just shrugged.

"What? I'm not gonna lie," Dash said breezily.

"Well, I don't," the Princess declared as she turned back to Rarity. "I'm just surprised to see you, that's all. I'm glad you're here, though, and it seems very sweet of you to come around to see us while you're on business."

The dressmaker gave a small half smile. "I'm here for the rest of the month," she retorted. "So I know we can catch up." She hesitated, eyeing the stiff Rainbow Dash for a moment, only before continuing. "I was even thinking about expanding my store line here anyhow. This would result in my visiting here more often."

"That's wonderful," Twilight responded, now genuinely grinning.

Rarity was glad to see her friend's expression lit up, but the fact that was Rainbow was in the background, slightly annoyed... it couldn't help but make the unicorn feel a little torn on the inside.

Still, she was going to accept other's opinions - or at least try to, anyway.

"I'll see you around," Rarity said to the both of them. "But as of the moment, I have some things to tend to. Hopefully, we can all arrange a time to catch up, yes?"

Twilight smiled and nodded, while Dash just gave a shrug, as if she could care less either way.

Right then.

So that was how it'd be.

With that said, she gave a weak smile and waved her hoof in a farewell as she walked out of the library, releasing a deep breath of many emotions.

Day One wasn't even over yet.

Author's Note:

What? Did you expect all of the Mane Six to welcome Rarity back with open arms? ...yeah. No. Sadly not all of them are Pinkie. But don't worry, this should progress into something more before ya know it! ;)

Comments

[Arctic]

I must say you're doing very well keeping the Cannon ponies in character. Keep up the work my Princess

Also first

[Playgan12]

Lolololololololololol dashie why you such a bitch

Seriously though, I like where it's going. Keep up the good work.

[Raistlin]

4061792

Bitch? She is the bearer of loyalty, of course she is the one who takes Rarity´s "abandonment" worse than the rest.

[Playgan12]

4061822 *sigh* do you understand the art of trollestia?
I was just kidding. I didn't mean for st to go down on me, I was just being a trollestia.
Jeez, okay, I'm sorry

[Cyanjames2819]

I am enjoying this quite well. They're still in character and I want to read more. MOAR! ... please...

[thisisabus]

i made an account just so i could track this story -- v. much looking forward to the rest!

[Dragon Master Spike]

You must bring out the next chapter, post haste.

Can't wait to see the reunion with AJ.

[Swashbucklist]

Lastly, Twilight was a Princess, so...

Lastly. Right. Guess this isn't canon Rarity. She would desire to see all six of her dearest Ponyville friends; then again, that really depends on whether the staff writer is writing her as a genuine, considerate character, or just dishing out a script to sell Hasbro's toy set and get the job over with.

[Silver-Tongue]

I would almost disappointed if they all acted like Pinkie Pie. It wouldn't necessarily make them all OOC, since they are Rarity's friends and would probably like to see their old compadre no matter what, but different responses to Rarity's return does give the story's main conflict more significance, and the characters more depth.