> Inside Wonders > by Flighter > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter I: The Wrong Side of Bed > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ooh.. yes! A unicorn. I love unicorns. Why is it falling? This is a bad dream. Why am I still not awake yet? Seriously, Rarity, probably because you're asking too many questions. I'm a unicorn. Why I love them, I don't know. Maybe because I am one? Rarity woke up after that strange short dream which you couldn't see, but you could imagine. All you could do was wonder if it was true or false and what it looked like in that dream. Was it in a beautiful savanna or mossy swamp? Was it in the clouds where only pegasi could walk or was it in Manehattan, Rarity's favorite place? It probably was in Manehattan or Rarity's home. Rarity found a strange pain on her side and grunted. It didn't hurt but it was annoying. Rarity pulled off her sleeping mask and rolled out of bed like a small filly. She walked to her desk and pulled out her favorite hair brush and she began to brush it because it really was all wonky and curly. She put some lotion on her skin and began to do her daily makeup routine. All she really put on herself was mascara and concealer and the normal stuff. Her beauty was mostly on her own, she was born with it. The white pony sighed and strutted out the door, mane and tail swooshing this way and that. She opened the door to her bedroom and walked into the hall. It was that same pain on her side again. She could tell it would disappear before noon, but it was still extremely annoying. She glanced around the hall and saw that no pony were in it. After confirming this she walked to the bathroom and locked the door. Even though it was normal for a pony to walk around with no clothes, it was embarrassing to see them shower or have somepony else see you shower. The mare hopped into the shower which made the pain in her side hurt a bit more than already. she turned it on and felt the warm water stream down her back and all around her body. She used a bit of magic to grab some body wash off of the shelf and squirted some on each hoof. She scrubbed it around her body and then paused to let it sink in. She used a bit more magic to grab shampoo off the shelf and squirt some in her hair. She rubbed it all around and then, covering her eyes with a face mask, she washed it off. She then washed her face off of any soap that had gotten in with a warm towel and she let the water go down the drain before getting out. Rarity took her fairy pink towel with green leaves around the edges and dried herself off. Fairy pink is a light pink that seems to be glittery. Her mane took forever to dry, but it was worth the while. After she was finished she looked in the mirror and saw her hair sparkling. This was he most beautiful she could ever recall her hair being. This gave her an extra piece of courage she didn't have before. The mare sighed as she admired herself before hanging up her towel and opening the door yet again. She walked out into the hallway and smiled as she trotted towards Sweetie Belle's room. Rarity held her breath before opening the door and gasped when she looked inside. Dirty clothes this way and that, a broken lava lamp on the floor. Books scattered around in corners and a lightbulb Rarity was about to step on. She noticed too late. "AUGH! Ow! Ow! Ow! SWEETIE BELLE!" Rarity was screaming now, her eyes infuriated and red. Rarity was not someone to be messy with. Sweetie Belle had pushed her buttons the last time. It had gone too far. "Rarity, why are you yelling at me? I haven't stolen any food for a whole week! I haven't robbed a bank in 3 days, I haven't even borrowed any of your beauty products since yesterday! So, please tell me, WHY ARE YOU ANNOYED AT ME FOR NOTHING?" Sweetie's voice began to rise, a battle of sisters was coming on. "I came to wake you up just like any other day, but then I stepped on a light bulb that was on the floor! I am fed up with your messiness. You are not allowed to step out of this house until your room is clean to MY STANDARDS! No shortcuts, no clothes lying on the ground, pick up these lightbulb bits, and clean up that broken lava lamp that's been here for a decade," Rarity made sure her message was clear and then turned towards the door. "Rarity, I broke it last year, not when I wa-" Sweetie Belle was cut off. "YOU GET MY POINT, SWEETIE BELLE, NOW GET. TO. WORK!" Rarity slammed the door behind herself. This was not the ideal morning of two loving sisters. Sweetie Belle sighed. Sure, her room was messy, but Rarity was overreacting. It wasn't fair. Sweetie Belle had about 4 by 2 meters in her room and Rarity had about 18 by 16 meters. She had a place to put everything while Sweetie Belle did not. Rarity made it seem so easy, and Rarity thought it was fair. It was super unfair as Sweetie Belle had an 8th of the stuff that Rarity had and had too little space to put them. Sweetie's room was a quarter of an old room before they redid the house. Rarity's was 2 normal rooms and the 3 quarters that should have been in Sweetie's room. No time to dilly dally. There was work to be done and it wasn't going to do itself. Sweetie began to shove bits of the lava lamp and lightbulb into her trash can sadly, hair drooping down. She wetted a towel and tried to get the stain of the lava lamp's remains out of the carpet, but that goo had sunk in. All she could do was make it a bit less bright. Instead of books toppling across the floor, she organized them into neat stacks by first letter, alphabetically. Now it was time for the biggest and most painful task of them all. The dirty clothes that were piled high. Most of them didn't even fit anymore. She didn't wear many dresses or anything very often. When she was done, all but 3 of the 50 or so dresses were still fitting. The ones that didn't fit were stacked in a pile outside to give away. Rarity would probably not permit Sweetie Belle to wear dirty clothes, so she walked to the cleaning room. Some of Rarity's beautiful fashion, dresses, art and accomplishments were hanging there. Sweetie Belle lay the sweater and the 2 dresses down on the floor. The floor was of course sparkling clean, or else Sweetie Belle would not put her clothes on it. Right now she couldn't even tell what color they were or what their designs were. She was going to have to do serious work. Sweetie Belle grabbed a soaked, soapy sponge and wiped it all around the clothes. Now she could see that one of the dresses was a pale blue, but it still needed more work. She pushed harder and then rinsed it off with some water. There it was in all of it's glory. It was a pale blue velvet dress with a black flower printed to the left of her heart, in the center of her chest. Now for the next one. Sweetie could tell it was a different material but it still needed the first round of soapy sponge, as she called it. Scrubbing was easy as there wasn't much that was needed, and she was done the first step in about 10 minutes. After that was the "super soaker". Basically, Sweetie dunked the dress in hot water for 15 minutes. The shirt wasn't as bad as the dresses. She could do that while she waited for the dress to stop soaking. All she really had to do was scrub the layer of grime off of it. She scrubbed hard, but it didn't take long. She had uncovered a beautiful navy blue silk dress with no decorations, but decorations weren't necessary. She pulled the second dress out of the hot water and found it was a bright green silk dress with golden leaves on it. Mission almost accomplished. Sweetie trotted back to her room and arranged the clothes in a neat stack in the last available corner. Now was time for the results. Did she do enough? It would all be in Rarity's mind. "Rarity! I'm ready, come look!" Sweetie Belle gulped and sighed before opening the door and awaiting her sister who soon arrived, much to Sweetie's relief. "Not bad, you're free-" Rarity was cut off by Sweetie's delighted screams "-but it'll take more than that to regain my true love and compassion." Sweetie Belle frowned as Rarity left the room. She would have to do something big... something that would blow Rarity's mind and impress her. She would have to find out what at breakfast. She sighed and opened the door again. Sweetie walked down the what seemed like endless hall and turned to the dinner table to find her meal. > Chapter II: Newsletter > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rarity turned out to be being pretty nice considering she had just stepped on a lightbulb. She had given Sweetie Belle one of her favorite breakfasts, oats with maple syrup. Rarity thought it was strange, but it didn't taste bad and Sweetie liked it. That was that and Rarity wouldn't mind obliging. The stylish mare sighed as she watched Sweetie Belle hard at work, Sweetie thinking up her own idea. Rarity admired and wished she had the ability Sweetie had. The ability that Sweetie Belle always had something to think about; always a problem to solve. Rarity wondered what she was thinking up right now. Other than her own room, there was only one place in the house that Sweetie Belle owned. It was a special room to her because Rarity wasn't allowed inside of it. Sweetie called it the "Board Room". It had a very large board in it and she could use whatever she needed to get through with it. Just being near it helped her think. Right now she needed to find something for Rarity to do and it wouldn't be a cakewalk, Rarity was an extremely picky mare. She liked sewing. If Sweetie could find anything with that in it, she might like it. Lessons for high amounts of money? More exciting for the students. Designing dresses for princesses and queens? How would Sweetie even accomplish that? She'd have to go on a walk and get some fresh air. But before she did that, she had to see a bit more about Rarity. Deep down in her, today. She hadn't done this for a few years as it was extremely tiring and hard. It would take some energy out of Sweetie Belle before she took a long walk, but she was determined. More determined than you could imagine. Sweetie began the questions with this simple question that Rarity answered differently every day, "What is your favorite color today, Rarity?" Rarity sighed and thought about it. Not a grey, black or brown. Maybe a pearly white or a pale yellow. Pearly white for sure, "A sparkly pearl white, I think," Rarity had no idea why Sweetie was asking this, but it was fun, so she answered truthfully. This alone was making her grudge soften a bit, "Still, why are you asking this, Sweetie?" "It's all up here," Sweetie put a hoof on her forehead, indicating that she meant her brain, "Next question, what is a hobby you like to do without me that's not sewing or dressmaking?" "I like photography, but I'm not extremely popular in that department..," Rarity remembered last time she went on Facehoof. A nightmare. The picture she posted got so much negative feedback she quit the site, never to return, "I guess there's more, but that's pretty much... all I can think of." "OK... favorite fruit, please? This will help me extremely this time around," normally, Sweetie asked one question that was actually understandable towards the motive. This one was not that, "Yes, I know it seems strange, but please?" "Pink pears, thank you for this... lovely interview, now I must be going. Sweetie, seriously, stop. I don't get where you get these ideas from, but they're nuts!" Rarity glared at Sweetie Belle for a second, not those harsh glares, but a glare none the less, and turned away towards her room. Sweetie was very insulted by the fact that Rarity shouted that her interviews were horrible, but she held it in. She ran to her room as quickly as she could and started to cry softly in bed. She was still going to find something for Rarity to make her trust Sweetie again. What that was? Sweetie didn't know, but it was going to be an unforgettable experience, Sweetie was sure of that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rarity sighed. She would give Sweetie Belle some time to relax and calm down. She needed some time off of being an older sister, too. She was being unfair. She would get a nice breakfast at a Ponyville Cafe down the road. She would have had maple syrup oats if she hadn't knew she was going to give herself a treat soon after Sweetie's breakfast. The white mare left a note on the kitchen table if she was still gone when Sweetie Belle came out: Dear Sweetie Belle, I am out at the cafe but I will be back shortly. This is perfect time for you to be alone and think about what you want and just let all of your feelings out. I will be at the nearest Ponyville Cafe. Love, Rarity Rarity put on her winter coat and walked outside. Some lazy ponies still had their Christmas decorations up. She smiled as she reached Twilight's castle. She made sure she was looking her best and her basic makeup wasn't hurting her appearance. She took a very deep breath and knocked on the large castle doors. "Hello, Twilight! I was going to a Ponyville Cafe to relax and clear my mind for a bit, if you could come I'd really appreciate the company!" Rarity smiled as she said this, knowing she looked her best. "Sure.. Ow!" there came a large and chaotic crashing noise from the room to her left, "Eek! Let me get this sorted out first, you can help to speed things up a bit if you'd like." Rarity looked around in the wonderful room she was currently in, it was a wonderful room. Purple, pink and navy blue. It was also extremely shiny and glittery. She took one last glance and head through the large doors, which, of course she opened by magic. Everywhere there were unorganized piles of stories and random books lying on the ground. It certainly needed a lot of work. As they hummed they sorted the books alphabetically by author. It was hard work, but Rarity liked it. Rarity was one of the few ponies who actually enjoyed cleaning. Twilight was another, but she was OCD, so she didn't really count. For some reason each different letter had it's own color, so all the author's whose names start with "A" were a lime green. It was strange as she thought normally they were all different colors. "OK, we can go now, Rarity. Don't get the french toast, please. It's really messy and could get on my fur," Twilight smiled at Rarity and Rarity smiled back. They both knew neither of them ever got the french toast and knowing this, they chuckled for a few moments. They walked out of the grand structure of the "Castle Tree" as Rarity called it. They walked down the path towards the most famous of the Ponyville Cafes, the Coffee Mouth. It was a wonderful place. There was a grand entrance with a small pathway leading up to the entrance. You could see a few ponies enjoying themselves outside. They both walked inside. Inside it was packed but the line wasn't long. They settled for outdoor seating even though it was cold. They wouldn't want to be in that mess inside. They were handed a menu by their waiter and began to skim through it. "Hm.. I think I'll get the creme and spice latte with a side of salad of the day, what about you?" Twilight nodded toward Rarity as she asked her. "A classic cappucinino and a chocolate cake donut would be wonderful, I think," Rarity responded. Now was their time to wait for the waiters, which would normally take 15 seconds. It took about 20, but that didn't bother either of them. "What may I get you ladies today? I must say our decaf is on the point!" this man might annoy Rainbow Dash. Actually, it was almost definite. A bit of her personality was what he had, but not a lot. That normally meant Rainbow wouldn't like them. "For me, the creme and spice latte and a salad of the day. For Rarity a classic cappuccino and chocolate cake donut, thanks!" Twilight responded in her best tone with her best face on. They waited for a while but didn't talk. They just thought. They thought more and more. Rarity was thinking about Sweetie Belle and her dressmaking. What if Sweetie Belle was planning her downfall? Probably wouldn't work. Most of the time Sweetie's plans didn't work. Hm. Not as many people were buying these days. Some were going to her other shop in Canterlot, but the majority was headed to larger businesses like Snappy Styles and whatnot. Sweetie wasn't planning anything bad, actually. She couldn't tell if it wouldn't affect herself or if it would help her, but Rarity wanted one of the two and thought they were true, because Sweetie wasn't normally like this when she was thinking of something bad. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile in the house of Rarity, Sweetie Belle was just finished moping and back on her mission. She wiped the tears out of her eyes and opened her bedroom door just a creek. When she saw that Rarity wasn't in the hallway, she walked outside and down to the kitchen to clean up her dishes from this morning. She picked them up, glad she was doing it now, because in a few more hours the syrup would stick to the bowl and Rarity would yell at her again. She strolled over to the sink and washed the dishes quickly with a soapy sponge and water, then she left them out to dry on the table. This was when Sweetie Belle found the note. She read it and smiled. Rarity was right, this would be the perfect time. The perfect time for her plan to reveal itself. Sweetie Belle took it and ran out of the door. All she had to do was prance around Ponyville happily and something would hit her. Sweetie Belle barely ever had to do the hard work. This was what she thought as she pranced out the door. She skipped towards Fluttershy's cottage and they gave each other smiles. She ran past Applejack's farm and got a hello. All around she went, until it hit her. Yes, literally. It hit her with a smack. A flier that had come off of it's tree. This is what it read: Want to be a Star? An Acting Star? It's simple! Show up at the entrance to Ponyville tomorrow and get a chance to be in our movie, Last Light! It's a comedy and adventure movie, if you're interested. Three people who audition the best will be chosen to help and act in this movie. You will be payed a total of 120,000 bits if you are in this movie and help us along with it. Join now! That was it! Rarity loved acting and helping backstage as well. Rarity was good, Sweetie Belle had to admit. Rarity had said she was at the Ponyville Cafe nearest to home, that one was the Coffee Mouth. Sweetie Belle ran as fast as she could towards that cafe. This would regain Rarity's trust if she got in to the movie! "Rarity! Look what I found! It hit me in the face and I knew it was right for you," Sweetie Belle grinned as she saw Rarity. Rarity glanced at it for a few moments. 120,000 bits was a lot of money and for each actor, that would be a ton. Rarity needed that money for dress materials and she loved acting. It was perfect. "Yes! I must get my sleep tonight or I will not be ready to try out. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am going to take it," you could tell Rarity was extremely excited about this, she payed the check and the two sisters left. As they were walking home, Rarity told Sweetie Belle something, "Thank you for this, Sweetie, If I get in I will find a way to repay you." "Thank you, sister," Sweetie Belle smiled as they walked back home in the late afternoon. They had taken a walk in the woods and it had thoroughly tired the sisters out.