Chapter 1
It was almost dawn. Rarity always stayed up late with a project whenever she was aggravated or in an otherwise foul mood, but those words were for ponies who had been splashed by a passing carriage, stubbed their hoof one too many times or had their mane ruined by a bad haircut. Any one of those things would have cast a dark cloud over Rarity's average day, but what recently transpired in Canterlot had been the
worst POSSIBLE THING!
A high class fashion designer had been introduced to her through Hoity Toity during her recent stay in Canterlot. Hoity Toity had given Rarity his blessing and Rarity's new business associate had taken her under his wing, quite literally. Argyle Glaze was a pegasus pony, an oddity in the fashion world. He was very hoofy with a pencil and paper and had made absolutely gorgeous designs that were featured in magazines throughout Equestria. Rarity's previous endeavors in dressmaking had seemed to be that of a talented amateur in comparison. Hoity Toity assured Argyle that Rarity was a capable unicorn that could produce masterworks in the fashion world. Hoity Toity's word was enough for Argyle.
Argyle had commissioned Rarity to take some of his old designs and spruce them up. He had a catalog of literally thousands of dresses and suits to choose from. Rarity was to take ten of the designs, modify them, and return to Canterlot within one month and have Argyle appraise her work. Argyle would judge whether Rarity had a bright future in Canterlot or would just be a one trick pony that had made a small ripple in the fashion ocean of yesterday.
Rarity had worked tirelessly on modifying the designs. She had a fashion show her five closest friends, one baby dragon, and her sister. Yes. Her sister. Klutz that she was, Sweetie Belle was Rarity's sister. Helping her sister was all Sweetie Belle cared about, apart from getting her Cutie Mark, that is. There had been on incident on the first day of Rarity's monumental project and she had somehow convinced Sweetie Belle that ironing her fabric until it was smoking was not a good thing. A further shock, Sweetie Belle had actually listened when Rarity told her that she didn't need any help on this project. Rarity had hardly seen Sweetie Belle all month and found her work area to be quite refreshing without having to keep an eye out for her sister's foalish behavior.
Rarity had made her way to Canterlot, dresses and suits in tow, and met at her potential partner's fashion studio. Argyle Glaze was pleased with Rarity's punctuality. He had given her exactly one month to design and here she was, exactly one month later, with ten refurbished designs to show him. The disaster had started off well enough. Argyle had his assistants take out Rarity's outfits one by one, appraising each one. Upon seeing the first dress and accompanying original design, his wings flared up and his eyes sparkled. He praised Rarity's ingenuity with coming up with a brilliant color scheme to an otherwise bland but functional design. Rarity beamed.
Her smile soon turned into a frown when everypony let out an audible gasp. Rarity's eyes became saucers as she saw Argyle's disgusted look through a rounded triangular hole in the second dress. The edges were singed and Rarity knew at once recognized Sweetie Belle's handiwork. Argyle's unicorn assistants opened the remaining boxes of Rarity's dresses and raised out dresses and suits that were more charred than the last. Rarity hadn't noticed that she had backpedaled into the wall of the studio and that her hooves were still trying to push her further back. Without a word, Argyle Glaze had shaken his head at his assistants who promptly dropped the dresses and turned and left the room. He had a stern look on his face as he approached Rarity.
Surely this had been a nightmare. How could this be possible? She had packed her outfits the night before and they were in perfect condition...She then remembered finding Sweetie Belle asleep in Carousel Boutique that morning before she left but hadn't questioned why she was there. Her sister occasionally slept over but as she had marked earlier, Sweetie Belle had all but disappeared for the whole month. Sweetie Belle must have ironed her dresses the night before and had fallen asleep afterwards. Rarity hadn't heard what Argyle had said while she was processing Sweetie Belle's well meaning machinations.
"Beg pardon?" Rarity stammered.
Argyle Glaze sighed. "I rarely repeat myself so do pay attention this time. My dear, your first dress showed promise. I thought that I had finally found someone who shared my insight into the world of fashion. A mare who had that special something that knew what meant to walk with the elite of fashion designers. Hoity Toity seemed to think you had what it took to be the future of Canterlot's fashion scene, but obviously he was mistaken." He turned and began to walk away. Rarity managed a stammer. Argyle stopped and looked over his shoulder.
"My sister...she did this...she must have. When I first started, there was an incident with an iron, you see..." Argyle held up a hoof.
"My dear, you don't understand, do you? Your first dress was marvelous. It truly astounded me. I haven't been moved by a piece of art, dress or otherwise, in quite some time." Rarity flinched at the word art. "Regardless of who the fault lies with, these were your dresses. You had a deadline and you did not meet it. I'm most disappointed at this juncture..."
"PLEASE! I'll do anythi..."
"No. Rarity, if you can't meet deadlines in Canterlot than you will never make it here as a fashionista. Accidents happen but only to the common pony. That is why the elite are at the top, unscathed, and the poor and average citizens of Equestria never make anything of themselves: Accidents. Had you kept your sister in check this would have never happened and I could have seen what you were capable of. I don't think we will be seeing each other again."
Rarity bit her lip as the pegasus strutted out of the room. There were tears in her eyes. They rolled down her cheeks and into her mouth. Strangely, she tasted copper instead of salt, and she soon realized that she had bitten into her lip. She was crying not because she was sad but because she was furious. Sweetie Belle had done this to her. She had ruined her dream for the last time. Rarity left the remains of her charred hopes in Argyle's studio and ran back to the departure zone in Canterlot. The sooner she was home the better. Sweetie Belle was going to get the scolding of her life when Rarity got back. She would make sure her sister never interfered in her work again, whatever it took.
~ ~ ~
Cheek...cheek...Sweetie Belle's cheek had been so red after Rarity had struck it. It was purely an accident...Rarity had gotten in shortly after midnight and had went into frustrated creation mode. Sweetie Belle had finally woken up around 8 o'clock or so. She went into see Rarity and had begun to ask her how her trip was but Rarity silenced her.
"Quiet, Sweetie Belle. I'm still thinking of how best to deal with you." Her quiet tone betrayed nothing of her thoughts on how to discipline Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle kept silent and cocked her head in confusion. She approached Rarity and looked at her handiwork. This outfit wasn't nearly as beautiful as her last batch. Sweetie Belle began to wonder why her sister had to deal with her.
"Umm, Sis?"
"Hush, Sweetie Belle. Do not speak." Rarity was stitching a seam together at what appeared to be a deliberately slow pace. Sweetie Belle had hopped up onto a stool to get a better view of Rarity's work.
"Rarity?"
Rarity grated her teeth. "Sweetie Belle...please...be quiet."
"But..."
"I said BE QUIET!!!" Rarity swung her hoof in an exaggerated arc, meaning to knock fabric and spools of thread off of her work area in a dramatic display so as to frighten her sister. Instead, Rarity's hoof connected with the side of Sweetie Belle's face, knocking her off of her stool. Rarity gasped in shock. Sweetie Belle had bumped her head on the stool when she fell and a small trickle of blood spilled from a cut near her ear. Rarity approached her sister but restrained her emotions. She had wanted to get a point across to Sweetie Belle, and although she hadn't wanted to physically harm her sister, Rarity thought the pain Sweetie Belle had just suffered would hammer home her point even further.
"Sweetie Belle, you ruined my last batch of dresses. You burned holes through all but one of them! I have never been more embarrassed in my entire life then when that fashion pony compared me to common folk and that I would never be among Equestria's fashion elite! I don't ever want to see you in my work area or the selling floor proper again! Do you understand me?" There. That had surely gotten the point across. Rarity waited for her sister's response as she slowly lifted herself off the floor. Rarity didn't get the answer she wanted. In fact, she got no response at all.
Sweetie Belle's tears welled in her eyes and her bottom lip quivered. She let loose her emotion and ran out of Carousel Boutique. Rarity started to run after her sister, but stopped herself. She had to be stern. She couldn't run after Sweetie Belle and undo the discipline she had just dispensed. No, that would serve no purpose. She would have to apologize for striking her later, though. That had truly been unfortunate and unintentional. The shop doors closed and Rarity went back to her dress making, assuming she would see Sweetie Belle sometime later. The two sisters would have a good long sit down and discuss what had transpired and cooler heads would surely prevail.
Much to Rarity's shock and despair, the next time she would see her sister Sweetie Belle she was, quite literally, stone dead forever.