Rarity and the Rock

by Fieldsofgold

This is the first chapter

Rarity was aggravated.

Oh sure, it was her fault in the first place for making that order and not checking it out when she was at the store, but at the time she had been so sure that it would have made the best. thing. ever. The box was closed and sealed shut again, and she strutted her work area, absentmindedly using her magic to pick the box up again and then put it down elsewhere in the room. No matter where she placed it, however, the thing inside the box was still the most hideous thing she had ever seen in her life.

"Oh, this will not do at all. I pride myself on being able to make any pony wondrous! Such a thing shouldn't bother me that much," she chided herself and took it out of the box, holding it to the light. Nope, it was still the ugliest thing she had ever seen. "Perhaps I need to take a break from it and make a beautiful dress."

She set the object back in the box and shut the lid again, then kicked it towards the back of her work area near some of her less used fabric. "The first pony that I see will be getting a fabulous dress from me, just to forget that tacky thing."

Rarity smiled and opened the door to her shop, where Bubblecup was standing, trying to open the door with her mouth and fell into the store unceremoniously. "Oh, Bubblecup, how nice to see you," Rarity said graciously and offered a hoof to the downed pegasus. Bubblecup smiled and took the hoof, her two eyes focusing on one thing for once.

"Rarity, you and Rainbow Dash are good friends right?" Bubblecup said and stood up on all four hooves, "I was wondering if you could have a talk with her about letting me back on the weather team. I really didn't see the building next to me when I was trying to get rid of that cloud."

Rarity hesitated. Perhaps she had been too hasty about the first pony she saw getting a dress. Bubblecup's left eye wandered to the ceiling while the other eye focused on her, eagerly waiting for an answer. She did pride herself on making any pony fabulous though. Even if they had shaggy blonde hair and a gray coat of fur.

"Rarity?" Bubblecup asked and then looked down sadly, "I understand. I'm different and you don't want me around."

"Oh no!" Rarity felt her pride get to her, even if the pony's coloration reminded her firmly of the object she was trying to forget, "I was just thinking about how to" a pause "approach Rainbow Dash about it. Would you like to stay here and help me out? I was really wanting to make a dress and you're coloration is" another polite pause "perfect for what I'm thinking about."

"Really Rarity! I would love to. All the other ponies think I'm a bother," Bubblecup smiled as Rarity shut the door with a tiny bit of magic and walked the two of them to her studio with her mirrors and supplies.

"Oh, you're not a bother at all Bubblecup, just a little," crash! One of the model ponies she used fell over as Bubblecup walked into it. Quickly, Rarity used her magic to pick up the model and dusted it off, "clumsy. I'm sure the others understand."

"They might understand, but that doesn't mean they accept," came the bitter words as Bubblecup sat down in the middle of the floor and cringed as a bolt of fabric flew through the air.

"Nonsense, Ponyville is about accepting ponies, and with Princess Celestia's bright eye watching over us, we should all be welcoming to one another," Rarity stared at the bolt of black fabric and held it close to Bubblecup's flank. Seven tiny white bubbles were her cutie mark, and lead to no inspiration for Rarity to work off of. Her coloration was so plain, and her cutie mark had none of the glamor that Rarity's had. Chewing on her lips, she pulled out another one of her more common bolts of fabric and draped it around her model, pulling here and there to try and have the form of the pegasus turned into something of beauty that even an alicorn might stop and look closely at, "Bubblecup, dear, please stand up tall for me. I simply can't get this right if you're sitting down."

As Bubblecup straightened out, Rarity went to the back and stared at the table full of her less common fabric. Not many ponies were born with such neutral colorations, and those that did were usually men. Of course, you didn't get to be a fabulous world renowned fashion designer if you weren't prepared. The box laid next to the table, and absentmindedly she lifted it up with her magic and opened the lid. Yes, the object was still inside, but now she could see that it wasn't that ugly. It just didn't shout the way her other orders had. Subtle, not loud.

Inspiration struck, and with a fury she didn't know she had, bolts and pins flew through the air and attacked the tiny pegasus pony in the middle of the fury of the storm. Colors circled in a blur, creating a rainbow of colors, and Rarity stood calmly through it all, her vision focused on one thing. "Stupendous!" she shouted and arranged everything the way she saw it all fall in her head.

Bubblecup stood tall in the storm, not wavering as scissors clipped closely to her body and ribbons fell into her hair. For a long time, Rarity stared at Bubblecup, moving things with ease and gracefully touching the fabric into place and pinning it, then sewing it so it was tight on Bubblecup's body. Of course, a few times her attention was caught by Bubblecup's wings, reminding her to be careful to not trap them, and so she would gently touch the wings to make them spring forward and fall back so they would be able to move to their full abilities.

Blushing, Bubblecup looked away to the ceiling as Rarity touched her wings yet again. Knowing that this was Rarity's job, Bubblecup couldn't help how her body felt about the attention and shifted uncomfortably away from Rarity's hooves.

"Darling," Rarity spoke with authority, "I've more than touched one male who couldn't control himself. I know how you pegasus feel about others touching your wings, but I simply must take care that you don't have to worry about your wings being caught. Don't worry, I'm not thinking any scandalous thoughts."

And then she was done. Everything stopped as Rarity took a step back and looked over the dress. Yes, she wasn't the brightest of ponies, but something about the yellow in her eyes brought out a brightness in the dress, and the dull gray made the dress pop against her skin. Rarity felt pleased that she had been able to once again prove that she could make any pony glamorous.

"You're beautiful," Rarity said and carefully lead the pegasus to the mirrors so she could have a better look at Bubblecup.

With a grace that the pegasus usually didn't have, she glided across the floor to the mirrors and carefully moved around so that Rarity could admire her work. Bubblecup gasped when she saw herself without the business of the storm, and felt herself swell up with pride. Everypony else she had ever seen was brightly colored and dazzled in the sun, while she had always felt like a stone that no one could see, but now, with this dress on, she felt pretty for the first time.

Rarity nudged her gently with a hoof, noticing that the gray mare was about to cry, "Why don't you go out and show off your new dress?"

"Are you sure Rarity?" the mare said and smiled when Rarity nodded yes, "Oh, thank you so much!"

Floating like a butterfly, she took off and left the shop, leaving Rarity alone.

Maybe, if Rainbow Dash said no to putting her back on the team, Rarity could borrow her. There was something about having a live model that just couldn't be replicated with mannequins. Rarity moved her supplies back to where they belonged, stopped at the back with the last roll of fabric, and picked up the object in the box with a tenderness that hadn't been there earlier that day.

The gray rock that had been what she thought was a bad mistake had proven to have a beauty of its own that she had overlooked. Gently, she pulled out her jewelry making supplies, and hummed to herself.

Comments

[Taranasauruso_o]

Next up in Rarity's fashion fiesta, Tom the rock!

Good fic, a solid 4/5 stars from me, keep it up!

[Fetch]

Bubblecup? OH! Derpy. :)

I'm of the opinion that Ditzy Doo (mentioned in Winter Wrap-Up) and Derpy (named in The Last Roundup) are similar looking ponies. Maybe even twins, down to having the same cutie mark.

[Mo-go]

So. blasted. CUTE! Great job!

Just a couple of grammatical mis-steps:
"world renown fashion designer" should be "world renowned fashion designer", if I'm not mistaken.
" Yes, she wasn't the most brightest of ponies". Either drop the "most" or change "brightest" to "bright".
" "Really Rarity!" Consider sticking a comma before Rarity.

Other than those, solid throughout. I particularly liked how you broke up some of the quotations with action in some parts.

I've heard Derpy called by quite a few names (still partial to Bright Eyes, myself), but Bubblecup is a new one. I have to say, I like it; fits the naming scheme well and acknowledges her often swept under the rug cutie mark. Whatever she's called, your version of her needs a giant hug.

Totally watching you now.

[Fieldsofgold]

183925

Oh thank you for the comments. I kind of wrote this in notepad and quickly tossed it into firefox just to check the spelling. That and I've been out of school for a decade now so a lot of those rules have slipped my head. I'll be sure to fix those errors soon!

[Kawa]

5/5 would read again. Even if I replaced every instance of "Bubblecup" with "Derpy" in my personal copy.