Chapter 1
Honey Rays gazed out of her bedroom window from her bedside. The clouds were up high in the sky, with the occasional wisp flying off that was soon corrected by an annoyed looking Rainbow Dash or Thunderlane. Celestia’s sun was also in the sky, raised earlier than usual because summer was nearing. The odd bird would flutter past, and its friends would soon follow. Each of them was a different colour of the rainbow- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet as well as pink.
She slowly stood up and stretched her wings out, hearing a few satisfying pops as she did so. She shook her head and strained her neck, her yellow and peach-coloured mane flaring around as she did so. With a few stretches of her legs and a swish of her tail, she was happy with her morning workout.
Her bedroom was fairly small and the walls were a light peach colour, like part of her mane. The floor had a dull, old, grey coloured carpet on it, which had been there for years. Her bed wasn’t too pretty either, it was a light wooden framed bed with a head and footboard- both of which had her cutie mark (two jagged lightning bolts) cut out of them. There was the odd piece of worn out furniture here and there, including a chest of drawers, a desk and chair, and a table with a lamp on it. The only bit of extra colour in her room was a vase of brightly coloured roses on another table next to the window.
Honey rolled her eyes as she saw Thunderlane trying to free himself from a cloudy mess, just as Rainbow Dash came over and kicked the cloud, causing him to fall, temporarily. She held in a laugh and released a small snort instead, before glancing in the mirror. Her mane was a mess.
“Urgh,” she groaned before lifting a manebrush in one hoof and pulling at her mane to get rid of the seemingly endless amount of tangles. She did what Rarity had told her, one stroke at a time near the ends of the mane, then slowly starting higher as the tangles got less. Unfortunately, Honey didn’t have as much patient as Rarity and she ended up yanking out a small clump of hair. “Darn it!” she whispered, bitterness evident in her voice.
She threw the manebrush on her bed without much care and went about finding some perfume to put on.
“Sunshine Showers, Apple Blossom, Orchard Cherry Perfection, Fruity Paradise, aha! Honey Bee,” she picked up said perfume and puffed a few droplets of it on her neck, hooves and around her mane. “Ahhh, that’s better,” she sighed contently as the smell of a bin had been replaced by that of honey.
“Honey! Breakfast is ready!” a voice called to her. It belonged to her sister, Sunny Rays.
“Coming! Just gimme a sec,” she shouted back and ran towards her en-suite bathroom, grabbing a flannel off her chest of drawers as she did so.
Honey ran the water into the sink until it was at a nice warm temperature. She put the flannel into the sink and swished it around until she was happy it was fully soaked. She then rubbed a bit of lavender scented soap onto it and washed all her face. After that, she rinsed her face with the flannel and grabbed a snow coloured towel off the bath, and dried he face thoroughly. No time for a bath today, she thought.
She ran downstairs to meet her sister, Sunny Rays.
“Thought you forgot about breakfast,” Sunny joked as she brought a plate of waffles and a drink over to Honey. “Here you are. They’re honey flavoured waffles, your favourite,” she smiled and took a seat across from Honey, at the dining room table, her violet mane flying through the air as she did so.
It was a small dining table in the corner of the spacious kitchen. It was a dark oak with matching chairs and patterns engraved into the wood. A light blue vase was in the corner nearest the wall, with a variety of blue and red flowers in it.
Honey quickly devoured her waffles, before taking a sip of her lemon flavoured juice. “Thanks, I needed that. These waffles are delicious by the way,” she complimented.
Sunny blushed lightly, “Aww, it was nothing. I just thought you could do with something to brighten your day a little.”
“Well, it did just that…” Honey gazed over her sister.
Sunny Rays could easily pass for a model without even trying. She had a medium length magenta coloured mane and tail, combed to perfection. Her fur was a bright yellow, like the sun. It could bring a smile to anypony’s face, just because of how nicely groomed and bright it was. Her body was slim and she was pretty much perfect. Her wings were elegant and graceful and were always preened. No feather was ever out of place. And her pink eyes could make a stallion- or mare- gawk without even trying. In other words, she was perfect.
“…I might grow my mane out,” Honey finally said, with a bit of envy.
“Really? I think it would suit you, just not too long, otherwise you’d look too much like Fluttershy. Not that there’s anything wrong with her.”
“Yes really…Say, how long does it take for a mane to grow to like here,” she pointed to just above her front legs.
“Hmmm,” Sunny brought a hoof up to her chin. “I’d say at least a few months.”
“Months!?” Honey exclaimed.
“Yes, months.”
“How much to hair extensions cost?” she asked.
“Hair extensions? Well, you could buy cheap ones for less than ten bits, but if you want better quality, it could be up to fifty, maybe even a hundred, bits,” Sunny stated.
“A hundred bits?!” Honey stared in disbelief before making up her mind.
“Yeah, why?” she asked with curiosity.
“Well, I might…buy some y’know? To make my mane look longer…”
Sunny narrowed her eyes and stopped smiling. “Honey, what have I told you before?”
“…That I’m fine the way I am and all that other stuff…”
“That’s because you are! I’m not joking, you don’t need hair extensions to look pretty, just be yourself! I’m fine with you wanting to grow your mane longer, but you don’t need fake strands of dyed vines to make you look better. Okay?” she placed her hoof down firmly on the table.
“Okay…” Honey answered reluctantly.
“Honey, promise me you won’t go spending all your money on hair extensions?”
“I won’t,” Honey replied, honestly. “But, I am going to the Carousel Boutique to get my tail trimmed.”
Sunny raised an eyebrow. “Okay then,” she answered suspiciously, “I think Skywishes said she’s going up there later with Bonbon. You might see them there.”
“Okay, bye,” Honey stood up from the table and trotted to the front door to go to the Carousel Boutique.