Running three boutiques across two cities and a town brings an unwelcome upsurge in dressmaking demands for Rarity, Ponyville's foremost fashionista and self-styled judge, jury, and executioner of artistic works and wonders. Then again, it is the Gala Season.
Of course, things would be that little bit less exasperating if a certain pegasus pony wasn't so irritatingly laid-back about the whole thing. And for a connoisseur of quality and merit, there's a crime even worse than sunbathing while others are sweating over stitches…
Written as part of Calming Moon's National Pony Writing Month 2017.
Chapters (2)
I like this story! Have a like!
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La ringrazio tanto!
Thank you very much (formal style)!
(I know the Italian language has little to do with the actual story, but I couldn't resist.)
La ringrazio tanto
I learn new things everyday!
Okay, honestly, i had the same problem about "a book I make is never going to be published and stuff" but look at me now, i have published a book about a hour ago and three people faved it!
Sure he doesn't have 13 jackets? (Or are you saying that Time Turner is the 10th doctor?)
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Well done. I hope it fares well, and that you have a good writing future ahead of you.
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Oh, it's just an extension of his "trying to get Rarity to fix his clothes" scene from "Slice of Life". I am of course making no other reference whatsoever. Nope. No siree.
To be fair, Peter Capaldi's Doctor hasn't finished his onscreen tenure yet, which leaves eleven completed past incarnations. These are the vintage jackets, after all.
8259776
Eleven incarnations? So you don't count War?
8260395
Whoops! I overlooked him for some reason. My mistake. Cheerfully corrected to twelve.
This is really, really good. A perfect little slice of life. Well done!
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What the frick. 280 views? This story deserves to have a whole lot more readers.
Why are there so many fantastic stories on this site with so few views?
This story is a treasure, my friend.
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Without sounding my own fanfare here, I've often wondered that when looking at the Seattle's Angels posts for underviewed fics. There's a lot of great stuff that slips through the cracks, and it is a mystery indeed why it keeps getting overlooked. Too many stories, maybe?
In any case, I'm gratified you consider this story among their number. Thank you for the comment.
Chapter 1
Rarity trying to keep her thoughts generous and forbearing, but constantly fighting the onslaught of anger and bitterness under an insurmountable workload was very well-written. You made it understandable how a torrent of ill thoughts could simply bombard her well-meaning mind, and you effectively conveyed her struggle to find the way out of that abysmal chasm and simply do what needed to be done.
In Rarity's place, I expect I would tell myself that if Rainbow had free time, it was the culmination of her choices, just as the extra workload was for Rarity. The best thing to do is get the work done, and come up with a plan to ease the situation in future - perhaps by hiring new help or making a set number of orders permitted per a month, and any new commissions get moved to the next time slot, so she doesn't get overwhelmed again.
Although Rainbow helping would be nice, she isn't technically under any obligation to assist Rarity in her sewing business, and as annoying as it is to be without assistance in the face of a herculean list of tasks, she could at least consider the lesson the situation teaches; perhaps she needs to work out a way that she can handle things more independently, and be less reliant on her friend's kindness or availability in emergencies that might otherwise be avoided.
And if it really proved to be too much for Rarity this time, she could always send out some letters on the less time sensitive orders saying "Due to an excessive workload some orders will be pushed back until I can give them the full attention they deserve. I am sorry for any inconvenience this causes."
Here, poor Rarity was just forcing herself to do too much all at once.
Chapter 2
Good to see Rarity getting to relax after all that, and the conversation between her and Scootaloo was nicely written. Here, we also get to see that Rainbow's life isn't exactly the bed of roses it appeared to be in the first chapter, but that she has to work hard and with passion at times too, all in order to reach her goal. Thank you for sharing!
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A large part of this was intended to be irrational psychology: to an extent, Rarity is resentful of Rainbow Dash less because of whatever Rainbow's doing (after all, Rarity could just ask) and more because it's always on her mind while she works. Rainbow's a good choice for that, considering she likes lazing around and is considered arguably the least considerate of the Main Six (maybe Pinkie qualifies, but I could imagine Pinkie at least taking an interest in cheering Rarity up while she's down).
The work thing, though, yeah. I agree with you there. Perhaps I could say that Rarity had only recently opened the Canterlot and Manehattan jobs, and a lot of this is just naive first-time blunders, namely letting herself get overwhelmed without using those strategies you mentioned.
And I'm glad you liked the last chapter. It had to be written as a reality check, because of course it's oversimplification to act like Rainbow's really got an easy lifestyle. Plus there needs to be more Scootaloo-Rarity interaction; I love depicting unusual character interactions like that, and I hope to write more someday.
D'awww, Rarity's looking forward to playing with her li'l sister.
Hmm, Rarity's mounting frustration was interesting to read. Her realization that she'd made a mistaken assumption is fascinating.
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I knew this fic was missing something. Mind you, I'd love to write more for them two anyway.
Sometimes, it's all in the mind, you know.
Thanks for commenting, and I'm glad to see you liked this one.
Interesting to see Rarity realize other Ponies also work hard. Nice pep talk to Scootaloo. Always fun to see Dash pushing herself.