My Voice Ain't Loud and My Mind's a Wreck, but My Friends Keep Me Sane

by Dead_Mares

Ch. 2; Ice and Threads

The wooden chair creaked slightly as Booker leaned all the way back in it and stretched his tired muscles. He'd spent most of the day hunched over a sewing machine, piecing together a fairly intricate dress Rarity had asked him to make. It had been a couple weeks since he'd started working for her, and she'd started challenging him quite a bit with a few complex designs. He'd managed to keep up fairly well so far, though he found he didn't quite like working for another pony. Trying to constantly worry about somepony else's standards felt pretty stressful at times.

"How's that dress coming along?" Rarity asked from across her workroom, where she was making minute adjustments to another dress she had on a mannequin. It was a fairly simple base made up of every color on the rainbow, along with a few showy additions that she had amended earlier that day to add some flair.

Booker reached up and slid his headphones off his ears so they sat around his neck. "It's hard, but I'm getting it. It's just about done." He glanced out the window, where the sun was already setting. It was surprising, how quickly time seemed to pass. His job as Rarity's apprentice definitely felt like work, but even so, it was enjoyable enough that most days ended before he'd even realized it.

Rarity nodded and smoothed out a wrinkle in her dress before stepping back to admire it. "That's good, but don't rush it. It's okay for you to take more time if it means one or two less errors in the finished product."

"I know." Booker neatly folded the scraps of cloth and placed them aside. "I'm gonna head home now."

"Is it that time of day already? Oh my, it is quite late," Rarity said after glancing at the clock on the wall. "Even after all these years, time still flies when I'm working. If anything, the days are passing faster than they did when I was a filly. I'll see you on Monday, then. Have a good weekend."

"You too." Booker stood up from his seat and rubbed his left shoulder. He really needed to remember to get up and walk around every once in a while to avoid getting so sore.

Just as Booker was pushing in his chair, the front door to the boutique swung open and an energetic pegasus trotted in. Her ice-blue coat and long crimson mane weren't out of the ordinary, but something about her face shape and rose eyes felt vaguely familiar to Booker. Also, he got a feeling of déjà vu when he looked at her cutie mark; a snowstorm with an electric blue lightning bolt in the middle. She looked about his age; had she moved here from his hometown as well? If she were an old classmate that would explain why he thought he'd recognized her, but for some reason he didn't think that was why. He frowned to himself and kept trying to remember her as she went casually across the room.

"Hey, Rarity!" the pegasus called in a fairly raspy voice. That added to Booker's feeling of familiarity, and a pony flashed through his mind, one who was definitely not that young. He shrugged to himself. He'd probably remember later that night in bed, or some other random time. He grabbed the unfinished dress he was making and went to put it in the wardrobe.

"Hailstorm, darling, just the pony I was about to go out looking for. I finished repairing your mother's dress for the Gala tomorrow. What do you think?" Rarity asked, motioning toward the dress she had finished a few minutes ago.

Hailstorm turned to face the dress and tilted her head at it. "It looks good, I guess, but is she really gonna wear something like that? Normally she doesn't like so many... frilly bits."

"Trust me, she'll love it. I've been making her Gala dresses for almost thirty years now, so I know what she will and won't wear. I just wish I could get her into something as fabulous as her wedding dress again. Only a dull pony could object to dressing up like that at every opportunity," Rarity said with a smile. "But don't tell her I said that. She doesn't like to be called boring."

Hailstorm giggled. "I won't, don't worry. Can I do anything for you while I'm here?"

Rarity shook her head as she levitated the dress off the mannequin and over to Hailstorm. "No, thank you. I'm done for the day, so there isn't much left to do."

The sound of Booker closing the wardrobe caught Rarity's attention, and she waved a hoof toward where he was standing. "Oh, you haven't met my new assistant yet, have you? He just moved in from Maresville about two weeks ago. Hailstorm, meet Booker."

Hailstorm smiled and waved to Booker before slinging the dress across her back. "Hello! Maresville is really close to Baltimare, isn't it?"

Booker waved back shyly with one wing and nodded. "Yeah. I went to school in Baltimare," he said, hoping she'd catch on if that was indeed where he remembered her from.

"Sweet. I went to Baltimare a couple of times with my mom when I was younger. It's kind of a stuffy place, isn't it?"

Booker nodded again. He could probably assume he saw Hailstorm once while she was on one of those trips, and that's why she looked familiar. "Yeah, that's why I left."

"I don't blame you." Hailstorm adjusted the dress so it was resting more evenly across her back and turned to Rarity. "I should head back before mom starts to wonder what's taking me so long. She left planning until the night before again. You know how she can be sometimes," she said. She nodded a farewell to Rarity and Booker, then trotted back out of the store before shutting the door behind her.

Rarity put the mannequin back in its spot and turned to Booker. "You'll probably see her around fairly often. Her mother is quite the busy pony, so she sends Hailstorm here as her errand pony whenever she doesn't have the time to come herself. Is everything alright?" she asked, noticing Booker's puzzled expression.

Booker shook his head. "Yeah, she just looked really familiar."

"I imagine she would. Hailstorm is the daughter of Rainbow Dash. I'm sure you know who she is?"

Booker raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really?"

Rarity nodded. "Yes. Most other ponies are shocked when they find out, too. They either think Rainbow isn't the type of pony who would want a foal, or they assume she's a lesbian, for some odd reason. I have nothing against that, of course, but it's an incorrect assumption. I think her mane colors and tomboyish nature throw ponies off. Her living with Applejack likely adds to their fantasies. Rainbow's house was completely destroyed during a mishap a while back."

"Huh." From what Booker had heard about Rainbow Dash, he'd never have thought she would want to be slowed down by a relationship, let alone by having a foal. Then again, he'd only really heard stories about her from her glory days, and those were ages ago.

Booker glanced at the door Hailstorm had disappeared through, feelin an odd tingle in his chest. Something told him he'd be seeing a lot more of her in the coming months, and not just in the way Rarity had suggested.