The Great Purse Cleaning
It was honestly kind of weird seeing Rainbow Dash with a purse slung over her arm; Sunset Shimmer knew she was doing it for Rarity since she designed it for the athletics junkie, but that didn’t make it any less weird, especially since the purse itself was made of silvery holographic fabric that reflected rainbow colors in the light.
But that was currently the last thing on her mind at the moment; right now, the only thing annoying her about Rainbow’s purse was how it clattered around when she moved, especially as she got up from the table after the girls had been out to lunch today. “Okay seriously, what do you have in there; Meccano?” she asked in annoyance.
“I should hope not; I wouldn’t want some of my best work getting damaged.” Rarity assured.
“Relax Rarity, I swear if I break it, I’ll call you,” Rainbow assured. “And for your information Sunset, there’s nothing in my purse but, uh… Um…” She hesitated as she looked at her purse. “Huh. What do I have in here?”
“You can’t remember?” Twilight asked in surprise.
“If ya can’t remember, that’s a sure sign ya need to clean it out.” Applejack pointed out.
“That brings up a good question; when is the last time you cleaned out your purse?” asked Sunset.
“Uh, lemme see; Rarity gave it to me… last month, I think?” Rainbow remembered but abruptly stopped.
“And?” Sunset asked as if asking Rainbow to continue.
“Huh? Oh no, I- I think that’s it.” Rainbow shrugged.
“You haven’t cleaned out your purse since I gave it to you?!” Rarity asked, almost insulted.
“I’ve been busy, okay?” Rainbow argued. “Not a lot of time to myself to clean this thing.”
“Well, I’d say you should make time, darling.” Rarity ordered. “Saturday at 4; come to my house. I’ll put on some tea and we can clean out your purse.”
“Oh. Um, I’ve been kind of… meaning to clean mine out too.” Fluttershy said quietly.
“Me too; I don’t even remember all I’ve got in here,” Pinkie remarked as she jammed her head into her cupcake-shaped purse, further than it really should’ve fit.
Sunset smiled, with an idea fresh in her mind. “Why don’t we all make a day of it?” she suggested. “I feel like we all need to get it done sooner or later, so we might as well all do it together.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Applejack shrugged.
“Oh, lovely. Saturday at 4 works for everyone?” Rarity’s question was met with affirmative remarks from everyone. “Wonderful. Well, see you all Saturday then.” With that on their agendas, the girls all went their separate ways until Saturday.
When the afternoon in question came, the girls all arrived at Rarity’s house and found her preparing tea in the kitchen, some calm jazz playing over the stereo in the background. “Ah, right on time.” she smiled. “Let the purse cleaning commence.”
“So how do we do this?” Rainbow asked as they all sat at the table.
“Ah usually just dump it out on the table and pick out everything Ah know Ah wanna keep,” Applejack suggested.
“Good enough for me.” Twilight shrugged. With a plan in mind, the girls all gathered at the dining table while Sunset dragged a trashcan over to the side.
“So dump ‘em out on three?” asked Sunset.
“One, two, three!” the girls all said and dumped out their purses all at once into the center of the table… but they ended up all mixing their stuff in the middle.
“Oh whoops,” Fluttershy remarked. “Um, sorry.”
“It’s cool; we can just sort everything out as we go,” Rainbow assured.
“Let’s get a system for organization going; cosmetics first,” Twilight suggested.
“Well, that’s simple enough for me.” Rarity smiled as she retrieved a small makeup case that looked like it had her face on it.
“You totally had that custom-made,” Rainbow smirked in a call-out tone of voice.
“Am I really so obvious?” Rarity smiled, holding the makeup case up next to her face tauntingly before she slid it back into her peacock-style purse.
Sunset eyed around at the pile cautiously before she reached in and grabbed a small pack of face wipes, which she promptly slipped into her own green purse which was held with a black onyx clasp. “Were those heavy-duty?” Twilight remarked in surprise.
“I… have really oily skin.” Sunset shrugged. “If I don’t get a good rubdown at least twice a day, I break out and no one wants to see that.”
“Why Sunset, Ah didn’t expect ya to be so vain,” Applejack smirked as she tipped her hat up and took a sip of her tea.
“Hey, do you wanna see me with more blackheads than nose?” Sunset pointed out seriously. The lack of a response from the table gave her all the answers she needed. “That’s what I thought. Y’know, as long as I’m thinking about it…” She quickly fished the wipes back out of her purse and pulled one from the pack, rubbing her face down with it until the sheen that the oil had clearly just left was gone. “Ah, much better.”
“I gotta agree; I thought that was just makeup.” Rainbow shrugged as she reached into the pile and only grabbed a stick of strawberry lip balm and dropped it into her purse.
“Well, now ya know.” Sunset smiled… before she started rubbing her eyes. “Ah geez, this always happens.” Quickly she started palming around the table as if she was looking for something. “Uh… Uh, I can’t see really well right now; where are my eyedrops?”
“Here ya go!” Pinkie smiled jovially and placed a small bottle of eyedrops in her hand, which she quickly administered to her eyes.
“You have dry eye too?” Twilight asked in surprise.
“Eh, a little. Not bad or often enough to really worry about.” Sunset shrugged as she dropped the eyedrops in her purse.
“No, I totally understand,” Twilight assured, quickly grabbing a bottle of aspirin from the table. “I get stress headaches sometimes too, so I never travel without at least some aspirin.”
“So much for cosmetics first.” Rainbow shrugged.
“Eh, I’m pretty sure that’s everything for that category anyway.” Sunset shrugged. “Oh wait, hold that thought.” Quickly she spotted something and retrieved a small vial of nail polish and lip gloss each from the pile.
“You still haven’t used up that nail polish I got you, Sunset?” Rarity asked in surprise.
“Eh, I don’t really like doing my nails myself; you do it a lot better.” Sunset shrugged.
“And the gloss?” Rainbow asked.
Sunset just shrugged at that. “Eh, a little sparkle goes a long way for a girl.” she returned as she dropped both vials into her purse. “But yeah, now that’s all the cosmetics.”
“Not quite, darling.” Rarity countered. “Hair and skincare count as well, as do hygiene.” Naturally, this was followed swiftly by her retrieving two small bags from the pile: one purple case with a comb on it full of hair accouterments and one plastic bag full of personal hygiene equipment.
Rainbow promptly reached for a stick of sport deodorant and Pinkie noticed the scent on the label. “Ocean Breeze?” she asked with a smirk.
“Hey, I like it, okay?” Rainbow shrugged. “I mean, what’s wrong with smelling like the ocean?”
“Depends on what part of the ocean you want to smell like,” Twilight remarked with a smirk as she grabbed her hairbrush – which had a few hair ties wrapped around the handle – a stick of cherry lip balm, and a nail file.
This little grab-fest continued as Fluttershy grabbed a bottle of sanitizer for her butterfly-like purse and Applejack dropped a bottle of hand lotion into her own red leather purse. “Hey, what scent is that?” asked Rainbow.
“It ain’t.” Applejack shrugged. “Ah deal with enough heavy smells on the farm; Ah don’t wanna be the one givin’ em off.”
“Still, all that work must be a nightmare for your skin.” Rarity pointed out.
“Oh, you got no idea,” Applejack smirked as she grabbed a few extra red hairbands.
Everyone else fumbled to find the few hair clips, bands, and brushes mixed in with everything else until they got everything. “Alright, that’s that done. Phones next.” Twilight smiled.
“Hold on; we missed something,” Sunset remarked as she grabbed a small folding brush/comb combo… in a plastic bag. “Huh?”
“Oh, that’s mine.” Fluttershy smiled as she took it. “It’s for my animal friends.”
“So the bag is to reduce the risk of contamination?” Twilight presumed.
“Mmhm.” Fluttershy nodded.
“Smart.” Sunset smiled as she grabbed her own hairbrush, which was actually a brush/mirror compact.
Rainbow seemed surprised when she saw that. “Would it be offensive for me to say I thought you used a switch comb?”
“Oh please; I’m not that much of a rebel,” Sunset assured as she dropped a small box of cinnamon breath mints and easter-lily hand-lotion into her purse along with her compact. “I mean, not anymore.”
“So did you used to use a switch comb?” asked Twilight.
“Eh, once. But the teeth were too fine for my hair and I almost got arrested once when a cop thought it was an actual switchblade.” Sunset shrugged.
“Oof. Say no more.” Rainbow remarked; that was more than enough reason for her as to why Sunset would want to get rid of the thing.
With that clear, the girls all dug through the pile for their cell phones, retrieving them all as well as their earbuds and various chargers… which Twilight had an inordinate amount of. “Ya ever think you might have too many chargers, Twi?” asked Rainbow.
“Not when you use as much technology as I do; I never get caught off-guard with a low battery,” Twilight assured as she dropped her cables into her Spellbook-style purse.
“Fair enough. Alright, wallets and keys.” Rainbow smiled as she grabbed her own wallet… which had a familiar compass symbol on it.
“Is that a Daring Do wallet?” Twilight asked in surprise.
“Birthday present from my parents.” Rainbow shrugged as she dropped it in her purse. “I like it.”
“Is that really so bad?” Pinkie smiled as she grabbed her own wallet… which confused Sunset to no end.
“Is that…?” she asked, seeing the face of Pinkie’s Equestrian counterpart on the wallet. “I- I don’t- How…?” She sighed in irritation as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “No, don’t question it, Sunset; it’s not worth the headache.” She quickly took a sip of her tea to try and get it out of her mind as she grabbed her own red leather wallet and dropped it into her bag.
Rainbow’s eyes suddenly locked onto the brown leather wallet Applejack grabbed, mostly because it looked more like a man’s. “Whoa. Where’d you get that thing?”
Applejack looked up at her and sighed as she looked back at her wallet. “It’s my dad’s,” she said solemnly. “He left it to me when he passed, and… Ah’ve been doin’ what Ah can to keep it in good shape.”
Rainbow suddenly felt a pang of regret for seeming so shallow. “Oh man, sorry. Hey, whatever works, right?”
“Thanks, Dash.” Applejack smiled before she saw a little coin purse that looked like a puppy’s face. “Hey Fluttershy, heads up.” She quickly slid the coin purse across the table to Fluttershy, who quickly caught it and slipped it into her purse.
“Oh, thank you. I love using this thing.” Fluttershy smiled as she retrieved her own pink wallet with a butterfly clasp. “And it’s just so cute.”
Rarity and Twilight quickly grabbed their own wallets and the group moved on to getting their keys… which only Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie had. They were all easy to discern; Applejack’s keychain had a picture of her dog Winona and an antique key to her family’s house, Rainbow had a school keychain for CHS and the sports-equipment shed key at the school, and Pinkie simply had a hot-pink key to her motor-scooter with an open geode keychain from Maud.
“Alright, that’s just about everything.” Sunset smiled as she grabbed her magic journal, along with a pen and pencil. “Guess it’s down to personal effects now.”
“I suppose so.” Rarity smiled as she grabbed a small travel sewing kit and her designer’s glasses, as well as a jewelry case and notebook.
Twilight quickly grabbed her own notebook and a pencil case, as well as a book she was reading with a familiar bookmark in the pages. “You still have that?” Pinkie seemed very happy to see it.
“I think it’s cute, in an ironic way.” Twilight smiled as she opened the book, showing that the bookmark read ‘Books may be the only form of real magic in the world’.
Sunset chuckled as she rubbed her geode pendant. “Yeah, that is pretty funny.” she smiled… before she saw two small buttons on the table with what looked like Periodic elements on them. “Oh no way, I remember these.” Sunset had seen these buttons at a five and dime and gotten them for Twilight… mostly because they looked hilarious; ‘Um; the element of confusion’ and ‘Ah!; the element of surprise’.
“Yeah, that was awesome; thanks.” Twilight smiled as she took the buttons and put them in her purse.
Rarity suddenly stopped as she saw a bright blue scarf with a beautiful pattern of diamonds all over it and quickly wrapped it around her neck. “Ah, Sweetie Belle has her moments.” she smiled, remembering when her sister had gotten her this scarf and how good it looked on her. But if she was being honest with herself – or at least her own ego – Rarity made almost anything look good.
Rainbow rolled her eyes as she grabbed her headband and a power bar… which was over a picture she quickly slipped into her purse. “What was that?” asked Twilight.
“Nothing; just uh… another medal I won,” Rainbow assured, though no one really believed her.
Sunset smirked and quickly touched Rainbow’s hand, seeing her memory of the picture. “It’s the picture you got at the end of the Fall Formal.”
“Aw…” the girls all cooed; the Fall Formal was forever ago and Rainbow still kept that picture in her purse? It was really cute.
“C’mon guys, knock it off.” Rainbow groaned in annoyance as she grabbed her guitar pick and a pair of red sports sunglasses, dropping them in her purse as well.
“But it’s just really cute!” Pinkie squeaked as she dropped a pad of sticky notes and some markers into her purse.
“Says the girl whose purse has more candy in it than other stuff,” Twilight remarked as Pinkie shoveled candy from the table into her purse.
“What? I like snacking; there’s nothing wrong with that.” Pinkie assured as she dropped a bag of small gummies shaped like alligators in her purse.
“Really Pinkie, you must think about your figure.” Rarity pointed out.
“Have you seen how fast she moves? I think that amount of cardio covers her calorie intake.” Rainbow smirked, earning her some confused looks as she grabbed her water bottle. “Uh yeah, hi; captain of every sports team at Canterlot High, remember? I know how calories and all that junk works.”
“I didn’t say anything.” Sunset shrugged as Pinkie grabbed some markers and gel pens, dropping them in her purse as well.
“You were about to; I know it.” Rainbow countered as she grabbed a few small tickets… with dates long past. “Huh. Forgot I had these in there. Eh.” She dropped them in the trash can and stood up to stretch a bit.
Applejack smirked, knowing exactly what Sunset was planning on saying as she grabbed a few small bungee cords and some rubber bands, as well as a roll of duct tape. “Really, Applejack? You keep tape in your purse?” Rarity seemed almost insulted as if purses weren’t meant to carry stuff like that.
“Hey, ya never know when ya might need some duct tape,” Applejack assured as she dropped those items in her purse, along with some writing utensils, a Swiss army knife, a dog ball, a bag of dried apple slices, a box of band-aids, and a couple of cough drops.
Fluttershy smiled as she gathered up the last of her possessions as well; a few baggies of animal food, a small box of breath mints, a handful of interesting feathers, a pocket first-aid kit, a notebook, and pen, and her own water bottle. “That’s everything.” she smiled to her friends as she slipped one of the feathers behind her ear.
Rainbow smiled and scraped what remaining junk on the table off into the trash can before she put the can back and looked at her watch. “Huh, that was just an hour. Not bad,” she remarked.
Sunset chuckled as she slung her purse over her shoulder. “Hey, maybe next week, we should go around town and clean each other’s rooms,” she suggested jokingly.
“Ha! Well, you’d better bring shovels to my place; my room looks like a pipe bomb went off.” Rainbow assured.
“What else is new?” Applejack remarked, earning a laugh from the other girls.
This had been a good use of their afternoon, and whether or not they actually followed through with Sunset’s joke and cleaned each other’s rooms was another story, but hey; at least now Rainbow’s purse didn’t sound like it was full of junk… well, not as much junk as before, at any rate.
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NaminéSkirts.I didn't know Sunset's look good in this pic.
I've seen slice of life before, but I've never seen the life sliced quite this finely.
11483360
What a coincidence; I've never seen that sort of response before.
Where did you find this gorgeous cover? Sunset looks so beautiful, no matter what she wears.
You can learn something of a person by looking at the items they carry. You've shown that fact quite well in this tale.
By the by: this fun story also makes it clear the need for ladies' pants that have pockets! Rarity would tailor a smashing set of them.
Nice little tale, and I love the design of Sunset’s purse on the cover.
Oh, and congrats on being featured!
11483707
Same gallery that inspired the story in the first place. Link's in the main description.
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Naturellement.
This was such a nice, warm read. The conversation flowed so smoothly it made me wish I could dump MY backpack on the table with them! Good stuff, Speedster!
This reminds me of when I helped my sister clean out the purse she had in high school. She called it her big black bag of random junk.
Obviously apple flavoured.
Normally I'd assume having Pinkie clean her purse out would be like telling the Ghostbusters to turn off the containment unit: a bad idea that just unleashes eldrich horrors.
Rainbow Dash is the last person out of the seven of them I'd expect to see own a purse.
Way to go Dash.
Damn.
Lol
There's something I wish human RD said more often.
She has a point.
Nice short read. Personally, I don’t use a purse/bag.
It is interesting what you can learn from another person just by analyzing the contents of their purse.
It does tie into the theme of friendship and what you can learn from one another, so this could be a good EG short.
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Now if only that part of the franchise hadn't died when G4 ended.
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I agree. EG had so much potential but Hasbro wouldn’t give it a chance.
I'm the same, every morning I have to wipe my face with a wet rag, sometimes I have to do it twice a day.