Loss

by Pwnyta

Chapter 1: Standoff

Chapter 1: Standoff

Tick, tick, tick, tick. The sound was magnified a hundredfold in the pure white unicorn’s head. She was pacing a hole into the wooden floor, her hooves clopping on the ground at the same pace as the annoyingly loud gears in the old-fashioned wooden clock hanging on the wall over the entrance. She flipped her curled, purple mane out of her face to give the clock another glance, as if repeatedly looking at it would turn the minute hand back to the time she had scheduled to meet her daredevil of a friend. The unicorn mumbled as she looked at the window, searching the skies for a certain pegasus who seemed to enjoy defying the purpose of setting up meeting times. She gave up with watching the clock and headed outside. Perhaps the warm morning air would help stall the flow of time.

The light blue-coated pegasus Rainbow Dash was happily flapping her wings, clearing any trace of a cloud out of the sky. The schedule in Ponyville called for clear skies all day, and while Rainbow Dash was late to creating the cloudless morning, she certainly wasn’t worried about getting punished by those who ran the Ponyville division of the weather factory. Her speed alone allowed her to make up the work in no time at all. She contently sighed as the wind blew through her multicolored mane, cooling her off as she bucked the last cloud into nonexistence. She smiled as she examined her work, and looked down at the large clock in the town square. It was almost nine-thirty in the morning. She was a tad late for her meeting at the Carousel Boutique.

Shrugging it off, she quickly flew towards the landmark building, well known in Ponyville for its complex patterns and defined carousel shape that clashed with the basic cookie-cutter style of the buildings and houses that made up a greater portion of the town. As Rainbow caught sight of the building and began flying down towards it, she noticed the white pony who owned the boutique pacing in the doorway, looking about as fussy as could be. She landed a few yards in front of the unicorn, whose coat was a flawless white and whose mane was a beautiful deep purple and styled absolutely perfectly, as was usual to expect from Rarity.

“Rainbow Dash! You are late AGAIN!” Rarity whined as the blue pegasus approached her. Rarity gave the tomboyish pony a scowl that would scare a filly, but Rainbow simply smirked and chuckled.

“Aww, calm down. I’m here aren’t I? Now let’s get this done so I can hurry up and get back in the sky! I have a lot of flying to do today,” Rainbow replied to her with a wink, a comment and action made only to make the unicorn even angrier, but Rarity brushed it off. The dressmaker led the still chuckling flier into the main room of the boutique, which was of an almost carnival-like style. Despite the theme, the room still had an air of high society in it, with dresses lining the wall.

“Now, Rainbow, I am making this dress for a very, very important client out of Canterlot. You and her are about the same size, give or take a few pounds,” Rarity explained, walking up to the dress and feeling the fabric in her hoof. Rainbow frowned at the last comment, probably a little prod from her friend for showing up late. “What I need for you to do is to put on this dress, CAREFULLY, so I can fit it appropriately. Oh, I really do appreciate your help, Rainbow,” Rarity finished. The pegasus did as she was told, slipping into the dress, making sure not to tear any of the material before standing up onto a raised platform surrounded by mirrors. The unicorn donned her bright red glasses and began her work, needles in her mouth and a measuring tape wrapped around her neck as she began to critically examine the dress as it draped over Rainbow’s body.

About an hour into the whole project, Rainbow’s impatience began to surface. Standing still was so hard for such an active mare. The pegasus began fidgeting quite a bit, despite Rarity’s constant objections. Just as the unicorn was about to stick a pin, Rainbow readjusted her position to get a better view out the window, causing the fabric in Rarity’s hoof to tear. The dressmaker’s eyes went wide and her stomach dropped almost as fast as her jaw.

“Rainbow! Look what you’ve done!” Rarity yelled, cradling the freshly frayed fabric in her hoof like it was a precious pet that had just passed on. Rainbow looked at the fabric with a look of non-concern, then shrugged and went back to looking out the window. Rarity’s eyes pierced the back of Rainbow Dash’s skull as she gave Rainbow the look of death. “Now I have to go and find a patch for this! Stay here, and don’t cause any more trouble! HMPH!” she yelled as she stomped out of the room. Rarity was fuming, almost red with anger. How could that dumb mare be so careless! She thought to herself as she opened up the door to her inspiration room.

However, all train of thought was lost as she looked into the room. Bolts of fabric lie half unraveled on the floor, string, ribbon, and jewels were scattered about the various tables, and crumpled papers of failed designs were overflowing in the trash can. Oh, my, this place could use a little tidying up. This shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. Rainbow can wait a bit. Besides, she deserves it for creating this horrible disaster! The unicorn decided to herself. She closed the door behind her and set to work.

Rainbow Dash, in the meantime, was starting to get extremely impatient and bored. She paced around the main room, trying to be careful not to drag the dress, but she stopped caring after a few minutes. Rarity was taking far too long to fetch a patch of fabric. In fact, she was more than sure that Rarity had sidetracked herself with another project and had completely forgotten about her. The bored pegasus looked outside at the day fading away before her eyes. She felt extremely restless standing indoors doing nothing. Ugh! I just want to go out and fly! What a waste of a day! Whatever, Rarity will get it done even without me, the pegasus thought to herself as she began to take off the dress as carefully as she could. She was sure she heard fabric tear a few times in the process, but after a quick, careless inspection, she approved of what she was leaving behind. She did, however, notice that the base of the dress seemed to be quite dirtied up from having been stepped on. I’m pretty sure Rarity cleans these off before she ships them anyways. The pegasus thought as she attempted to place the dress back onto the mannequin from which it came. After a couple of attempts, she just half folded it and tossed it onto the platform, then headed towards the main door of the boutique.

She opened the front door and stepped onto the landing outside. Rainbow gave a look back into the room as she reached for the door handle. A trace of concern crossed her mind. Is it really okay for me to just leave like this? Well...Rarity was the one who abandoned me halfway into this project, she thought as she made her decision and closed the door behind her, then took of into the clear blue sky, embracing the lukewarm air as it breezed past her face, causing her the whip side-to-side behind her. She quickly veered off towards the treetops of the Everfree forest, the second-thoughts of abandoning her friend.

Rarity finished the job as quick as she could. She wiped a little bit of sweat from her forehead and looked at the clock. Uh oh! I went a little overboard. I left Rainbow alone for half an hour. I really hope she didn’t destroy anything, the white unicorn thought to herself as she grabbed a patch of matching fabric from a shelf. She left her inspiration room and went out into the hall. “I’m extremely sorry for the wait Rainbow my dear, but I had a large mess in the previous room and I just had to cl-” she stopped the sentence short, losing her concentration on the levitation magic, causing the fabric patch to float to the floor. Her masterpiece laid there, balled up and ruined with Rainbow Dash nowhere to be found! She felt hot, angry tears well up in her eyes as she slowly walked towards the dress, picking it up carefully, noticing all the tears, dirt, and general ruin caused by that careless blue pegasus. She gritted her teeth as she replaced the dress on a mannequin and went back into her inspiration room for more supplies.

~`~`~`~`~

The lavender mare Twilight Sparkle flipped to the last page of her book with her magic. She read through it quickly and sighed before closing the book altogether and placing it back in the shelf from where it came. What a beautiful fairy tale, she thought to herself as she stretched out and got to her hooves. She looked at the clock by the front door. It was quarter to seven in the evening. She decided it was about time to head over to Pinkie’s party at Sugarcube Corner. She was already fifteen minutes late, but the bookworm just could not put down such an engaging tale.

Twilight went to check on Spike, opening the door to their shared bedroom. The baby dragon was fast asleep in his little bed, snoring every now and again and mumbling to his dream. With a little smile, she quietly closed the door and went back down into the main library, turning off the lights and heading out the door. The air had significantly cooled, while still being pleasantly warm that evening. The unicorn trotted slowly through the town, observing the various ponies as they went about their enjoyment for the night. Though she did not live far from Sugarcube Corner, she did enjoy walking at a slow pace, making the most of her time to enjoy the sights of the town. Despite having lived in the town for over a year, she still had her moments of enjoying the peace and quiet of small town life, as opposed to the robustly bustling hustle of Canterlot. As she arrived, she noticed the door to the little homely bakery was wide open, welcoming anypony who was curious enough to pop their head in as they passed by. Twilight took the open invitation and walked right in. Her friends were scattered about the room, and a lighthearted tune was playing. Twilight felt it right to go make her presence known to the host. She found the pink pony mingling by the punch bowl. “Hey Pinkie!” she said to the bright pink earth pony as she used her magic to fill a cup with punch and hover it over to herself. The party host turned to face her, grinning from ear to ear as usual.

“Heya Twilight! Guess what?! You’re not the last pony here for once!” Pinkie said. The statement confused Twilight. Did she seem to make a habit of being the last pony to every party without even knowing? “Yeah, Rarity isn’t here yet. That silly filly, she’s going to work herself to death if she keeps up the pace she has been at lately!” Pinkie finished with a slight giggle and a smile. Twilight shrugged. She wondered what Pinkie truly thought of her always showing up late, unintentionally or not, but the dominating thought in her head right now was what was taking Rarity so long. Her fellow unicorn always liked to be on time to everything. It was a mystery to the librarian, but she figured with how vocal Rarity is, she would find out the reasoning behind the tardiness when the dressmaker finally arrived. She joined Applejack and Rainbow Dash and began to mingle.

About twenty minutes later, a very ruffled Rarity walked in the door. Her hair was tussled, her coat was matted, and her brow was furrowed as she bared her teeth in rage. She spotted Rainbow Dash hovering a slight bit off the ground near Twilight. All Rarity saw from that point was red as she stomped up to the light blue pegasus, ignoring Pinkie’s welcome. Rainbow looked at her as she approached, and the stuntmare’s demeanor went from happy to concerned almost automatically. She brushed her hair with her hoof and swallowed air nervously. She knew what this was going to be about.

“You! How dare you! You are the most inconsiderate, rudest, worst pony I've ever met!” Rarity yelled into Rainbow’s face. The pegasus flinched a bit and the party went absolutely silent. “Because of you, I had to spend the better part of my day remaking that entire dress! It isn't even fitted! There's no way i'm going to make my deadline! All because of you!” she continued yelling. At the last comment, Rainbow’s face went from a look of worry to an angry frown.

“Hey! Now wait just a second! If it weren’t for you deciding to clean up and fix just about every little imperfect thing you see, then you would have come right back to where I was waiting! I waited thirty minutes while you were off probably making sure a table had an absolutely perfect amount of sunlight hitting it!” Rainbow retorted. The two ponies got into each other’s faces, practically growling at each other in frustration and anger. It took the strength of all the other four ponies combined to space them apart.

Twilight and Pinkie pushed Rarity back a little bit, while Fluttershy and Applejack pulled Rainbow Dash. “Now, everypony calm down. Regardless of what happened, we are all here to have fun and enjoy Pinkie’s party, not ruin it,” Twilight pleaded with the two angry mares.

Rarity shot Rainbow a look of poison before looking away. “I will gladly enjoy the party; however, I will not be speaking to this ruffian until she gives me a proper apology for ruining all of my hard work and my entire day!” Rarity said, angrily pointing her hoof at Rainbow, but refusing to look at her any further.

Rainbow returned the look, the only difference being she kept her eyes locked on Rarity. “Oh! Ruin your day?! You’re the one who decided to completely forget about me! I deserve the apology for having to be bored for so long!” Rainbow retorted. Applejack and Twilight both gave her a strange look about the point she was trying to make, but she ignored them and pressed on. “I will also be more than happy to have fun. So long as that OCD unicorn stays as far away from me as possible,” she finished before finally breaking off her stare and flying off to a corner of the room, joined only by an absolutely frightened looking Fluttershy.

The rest of the ponies looked to each other about how to deal with the suddenly tense situation. “Well now that that’s solved, let's party!” piped up Pinkie Pie, breaking the short bit of silence. Twilight rolled her eyes and Applejack frowned as the pink pony hopped over to a record player and put the needle on the disc. Upbeat party music began playing as the six ponies attempted to get everything back into a normal mood, despite the ominous, awkward air that now hung in the room.

However, the night ended rather early after the whole conflict. Despite Pinkie’s attempts to get everyone excited and riled up again, everypony felt rather awkward having to choose sides between Rainbow Dash and Rarity when it came to things as simple as conversation. After an hour or so of the awkward mingling, Fluttershy left, soon followed by Applejack. Rarity and Rainbow Dash tried to leave at the same time, starting another conflict and yelling match between the two. Once Pinkie Pie and Twilight broke up that fight, the two left quietly. Twilight apologized to Pinkie and went home herself.

As she tucked herself into bed, Twilight wondered what had gotten into those two. They usually cooperate quite well when Rainbow helps Rarity with her dressmaking. She is the first pony of all of us she calls when she needs a favor. Well, hopefully it will all be worked out soon, Twilight thought as sleep overtook her mind.

~`~`~`~`~

The next day, Twilight was sitting at a table outside of the local café. She had a small book with her, but she continuously kept looking up and about, anticipating somepony. She spotted Rarity walking up to her at a quickened pace and waved to her, putting the book back into her saddlebag. The perfectly white unicorn reached the table, again looking as immaculate as she always seems to, if not a bit brighter today. “I’m so sorry, dear. Fluttershy and I decided to spoil ourselves at the spa this morning and we ran a little over,” she explained, taking a seat opposite the lavender bookworm.

Twilight smiled “That’s quite alright, Rarity. With how… umm… stressed you looked last night, you definitely deserved it,” she said, giggling a little as she finished the sentence. Rarity giggled as well, remembering how rough of shape she was in last night. The smile quickly turned into a scowl, though, as she thought back to the reason as to why she was so stressed yesterday.

“That horrible, no-good excuse of a pegasus,” Rarity spat out, looking down at the table. The sudden mood change shocked Twilight. Rarity was not known for holding grudges even into the next day. “If I weren’t so skilled and dedicated at making the best dresses that I can create, that stupid mare would have just ruined my entire image across all of Canterlot! Can you imagine? Me having to tell my client ‘I’m sorry I can’t finish the dress you ordered for your concert tomorrow. My friend decided to go and ruin it!’ Hmph! Some friend Rainbow is, abandoning me when I asked for nothing but a simple favor. Lucky for her, I am the most skilled dressmaker in Ponyville. Having pulled an all night sewing marathon last night, I managed to finish the dress and get it shipped off to my client this morning right at the deadline. If I hadn’t, that brute of a pegasus would be looking for a new friend right about now,” Rarity ranted. Twilight tried her best to speak on the topic, but was struggling for the words.

“Can I take you order?” said the waiter as he approached the table. Twilight breathed a silent "thank you" to him for having absolute perfect timing. Both unicorns ordered a small hay sandwich and some tea. As the waiter nodded and left them to their privacy, Rarity looked at Twilight, expecting a response. The lavender unicorn processed her argument as quickly as she could.

“Now, Rarity, Rainbow was probably rather brash and unfair to you by causing you all that trouble, but what about you abandoning her?” Twilight asked. Rarity adjusted in her seat at this statement. “It was really nice of Rainbow to help you out and all, right? But then didn’t you leave her by herself in a rather uncomfortable getup while you went off and begun another project? How long exactly did you leave her?”

Rarity looked off to her side. She knew Twilight was right, and she knew the answer she was about to give would confirm it. “Uh, about thirty minutes,” Rarity replied. The look on Twilight’s face confirmed Rarity’s thoughts. “Oh well. I suppose I do owe her an apology,” she said, fidgeting with her hooves on the table. The waiter showed up then, dropping off their sandwiches and tea. “But I deserve an apology just as equally,” she finished, picking up her sandwich and taking a small nibble out of the middle.

Twilight swallowed the bite she had taken. “Yes, and you know that Rainbow is probably looking for you right now to apologize to you. She is the Element of Loyalty, after all,” Twilight said, “She realizes when she is wrong rather quickly and is good about fixing the situation or apologizing. By tonight, you two will be the best of friends again!”

“I certainly hope so, I certainly couldn’t imagine doing some of the work I do without Rainbow’s help,” Rarity said as she levitated the cup of tea to her lips with her magic. She took a sip of the delicious honey and chamomile mixture. She squealed as she swallowed the warm liquid. “Oh my, this tea is by far my favorite! Anyways, as I was saying, between our friends, it seems only Rainbow would be fit to do the kind of work I have her do, as impatient as she is. Twilight, you would be the next pony I ask, but honestly darling, you just do not have the body to support modeling like Rainbow does.” Rarity ranted on.

Twilight frowned about the criticisms. Looking down at her flank, she did notice it wasn’t quite as muscular or well defined as Rainbow Dash’s. Twilight started making mental notes about needing to be more active and work out more instead of just reading like she always did in her free time as she felt her cheeks begin to flush. She decided it best to ignore the criticisms and shook them from her head as she looked back at her friend who was wiping her brow with her hoof.

“Whew, it sure is blazing hot today, isn’t it?” Rarity said. She began to feel a little bit flustered, like she had run a marathon without breathing. It felt like even her fur was turning red.

Rarity’s comment confused Twilight for a second. “Not really, Rarity. It’s absolutely perfect out,” she replied, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

“I don’t know. It just seems so humid and hot. I’m sweating like we’re stuck in the middle of that heat wave from last summer again. On top of that, I just have this stupid lump in my throat. It’s hard to breathe. I must have tried to eat this delicious sandwich too fast,” she said. Rarity picked up the cup of tea with her magic, downing about half of it in order to try and clear out whatever was blocking her throat. She noticed Twilight was beginning to look worried.

“Oh, don’t worry about me, darling, perhaps it’s just... it’s just… just... ” Rarity could not complete the sentence. She clutched a hoof to her chest, feeling a great pressure. Her eyes went wide as she took heavy, labored breaths to try and get precious oxygen into her body. Twilight stood up and walked over to her, putting a worried hoof on her shoulder.

“Rarity, are you okay?” she asked. Rarity tried to nod, but couldn’t. All she could focus on was the pain. It was a pain she had never felt before. Her entire body had started going numb. She looked at the sandwich and cup sitting in front of her. Her vision was blackening around the edges, getting darker and darker by the second. Rarity reached her hoof out to support herself on the table, but felt the darkness overtake her body. She went limp and unwillingly let gravity take over.

“RARITY!” Twilight shouted as she attempted to catch her friend. Rarity’s outstretched hoof managed to spill her cup of tea as she fell out of her chair. The brown liquid spilled and stained her side and flank as Twilight supported her head, preventing it from hitting the ground. Twilight felt her jaw and stomach drop, absolutely confused and shocked. She had no clue what had just happened to her friend, but no matter what she did or said, Rarity was no longer responding to her.

“Somepony! Anypony! Help!” she cried out, as several bystanders looked on at the scene in worry.

Comments

[Super]

Hmm.

[Ariel Schnee]

Sounds like Rarity just had a heartattack, oh poor Rarity... that's a really sucky death.

[rar1ty]

More please! I am tracking and can't wait to see how this one turns out. Yes, Rainbow Dash is the most loyal jerk in all of Equestria.

[Inumaru12]

Awww, poor Rarity. :( That sucks, but I hope to read more soon.

[bucknorris]

where is the next part?

[Pwnyta]

91092

Soon to be posted. It's written and is being edited by my prereader. Hopefully he gets it back to me tonight so I can make the edits, clean up, and polish and have it up here by tomorrow. I want it to be of the highest quality so its an enjoyable and memorable read, so please understand if updates take a little longer than normal!

Why do you have to do that!
Heart-Breaking! Just when you thought everything was going to be good.

So this is after the famous *dun dun dun* cupcakes ?

I wonder what would cause a heart attack like that. Stress sucks.

Very well written approach to a sad fanfic.

“Yeah, Rarity isn’t here yet. That silly filly, she’s going to work herself to death if she keeps up the pace she has been at lately!” Pinkie finished with a slight giggle and a smile.
FORESHADOWING!!!
Personally, I think Rarity was the better choice, cause Rainbow was in the wrong, so she'll have to live with the guilt of what she did to poor Rarity on the second to last day of her life.
Also, nice research on the heart attack scene, at least, I asse that's how heart attacks have been described.

[Fury of the Tempest]

DUN DUN DUN

[Muggonny]

91170 Your name is buckin awesome.

[Lost_Marbles]

Rarity should have known better than to make Rainbow wait. They are still both in the wrong despite my scale heavily favoring Rarity. And now this happens.

I knew what I was getting myself into getting on this ride, but now that it started, part of me is screaming Let me off! I changed my mind! Whelp, too late for that!