Rarity's Absence
The TRUE, heart-wrecking story of why Rarity was not seen on Nightmare Night, in glorious Typo-Typing by Megawacky Max, the guy from South America
(in other words, please excuse my horrible grammar mistakes, okay? English is not my native language)
-o-
"All in all," Twilight Sparkle said, "it was one of my greatest Nightmare Nights of all my life."
Spike the dragon merely rolled his eyes. He felt sick, a clear reminder of previous Nightmare Nights back at Canterlot. And how wouldn't he? After so much candy and surprises now he was suffering what can only be described as a sugar hangover. He was half-buried in his own basket-bed, whimpering quietly every now and then.
"Aw, poor baby dragon," Twilight took pity on him. "Tell you what, we can take the day off. What with all the excitement last night and everything."
"Oooaaaahhhhgggggg…", was all that Spike could mutter.
"That settles it, then!", she clapped her hooves together, as if sealing a deal with herself. "Stay here and rest. I'll go visit my friends. Oh, and don't eat any more candy!", she added as she was about to leave the library.
The door slammed. Spike moaned. He looked sideways, to the small table next to his little bed. A large bowl of towering candy loomed right over his aching self.
"I am SO doomed…", he gave in and reached for a chocolate hoof.
The town of Ponyville was awakening from the events of the night before. Still many bits and pieces of decoration flooded the streets, but the efforts of a large group of volunteer ponies was slowly but steadily taking care of it all: plushie spiders, smashed pumpkins, apple cores galore, streamers, little flags, dozens of fake cobwebs, and, yes, thousands of littered candy wrappers. There was no school after Nightmare Night. Spike wasn't the only youngling with sugar hangover.
But still, what a night! Nightmare Nights back at Canterlot had never been that amazing. Twilight tried to remember why it was like that… then she slowly realized she hadn't been at that many Nightmare Night parties to begin with. Oh, as a filly she sure was in for the candy, but as she grew older and more responsible, even on a night of joy and candy she would sweeten her eyes with the sight of… books.
Books, books, parchments and old words.
She had to sigh a bit at the memories. Right, she wasn't the social kind, back then. She recalled invitations rejected by her, candy left to spoil next to her books, and the special, so very special feeling of being the only student in class the next day after the celebration.
Yes, back then there were also sugar hangovers.
She could hardly blame Princess Luna for the way she found it hard to fit in. Luckily Twilight was able to help her out with a little help from her friends, even if Fluttershy seemed quite… reluctant to help. Of course, she was probably scared of the whole celebration. But even then, Rainbow Dash was a—no, wait, she didn't help that much either, did she? In fact, she nearly spoiled everything by cracking that lightning bolt on the wrong time at the wrong place. But then you had Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, and Rarity—
Rarity…?
Come to think of it… where was she, last night? Twilight recalled seeing all her friends but Rarity. She didn't—
"Ooff!"
"Ah, careful, sugarcube. Twilight? Ya'kay?"
"Ow, who put that bucket in my hoof?", Twilight staggered to her hooves.
"Ya tripp'd yo'self, didn't ya? Walkin' while day-dreaming, I guess."
Applejack was watching her friend with half of an amused smile, the other half mixed with worry.
"I'm all right, Applejack. I guess I was day-dreaming after all. What's all this?", Twilight asked, looking around properly for the first time. The street was full of buckets and barrels, most of them empty, some containing… yes…
"Apples and apple cores!", said Applejack. "Th' fam'ly and I are gatherin' what was left of last night. Whoo-hee, wasn't that som'thin'?"
"It was. Speaking of last night… did Rarity participated as well? I don't seem to remember."
There was a visible change in Applejack's expression. Her ears flopped backwars and her smile went down.
"Ah. Rarity," she turned around and picked up a bucket from the floor, with her mouth. Twilight followed as she headed to a small pile of apple cores. "She doesn't celebrate Nightmare Night, Twilight."
"Really? Why not?"
Applejack began to fill the bucket with the apple cores, cleaning the street. "It's som'thin' that hap'ened before ya came aroun', see. I could tell ya, of course, but… Weeellll… it's som'thin' ya better hear from th' lady herself."
"Gosh, you make it sound as if it was a tragedy…"
"D'pends on th' one tellin' th' tale. I could tell it straight, but if ya wanna hear the prop'r version, you go see Rarity."
"Sounds like a plan. Thank you, Applejack, and good luck with the cleaning."
"Ma'h pleasure, sugarcube."
Twilight Sparkle trotted down the streets of Ponyville with no real hurry, keeping a slight feeling of awe at the many clusters of working ponies here and there. Truly Nightmare Night was a great celebration, but she had never really appreciated the work the day after. Not back at Canterlot, since she never had to worry of that as a filly, nor ever noticed it during her years of study and dedication. Of course the decorations wouldn't just go away with a puff of magic, but, really, she never bothered to think of all the work and dedication it took.
But there wasn't much time to think.
"Ah, here we are…"
Rarity's house and boutique was just a few feet away. Twilight approached to the door and attempted to open it.
Closed.
Huh. Closed? It was business time already, and even if school was closed it didn't mean the rest of Ponyville was. Twilight knocked on the door.
"Rarity?"
"Go away! We're closed! Come back tomorrow!", came the almost rageful cry from inside. It took Twilight off-guard and, when she came to realize it, she had backed away a few steps.
"Rarity? It's me, Twilight!"
"What—Oh, Twilight…!"
There was the sound of the locks unlocking, then the door opened up.
"My Goodness, I'm sorry, darling. I didn't think it would be you."
"What's with all that yelling?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing…", Rarity evaded the answer. "But pray join me for breakfast! The water is just about to come to a boil."
"That sounds about right, thank you," Twilight said, trotting in.
Her hair is a mess, she thought to herself. And there are slight circles under her eyes.
"So what brings you here in this beautiful morning?", Rarity asked as they were sitting face to face at the table. Between the two of them, on the wooden surface with very delicate and all-elegant tablecloth, Rarity's breakfast glistered in toast and jam. She was making a very expensive-looking porcelain teapot pour steaming tea in Twilight's cup, with magic.
Her voice is edgy, Twilight thought. Huh…
"Where's Sweetie Bell?", she asked, looking around. "Is she also in bed because all the candy she probably ate last ni-", she stopped and turned her attention to Rarity as she heard the teapot clink against her cup, knocking off some tea in the process.
"Oh dear, silly me," Rarity chuckled a nervous giggle. "I'm a bit sleepy-head, this morning."
"Rarity, are you feeling all right?", Twilight cautiously asked.
"Of course I am!", she replied, perhaps louder than needed. The way she grinned… she was nervous, Twilight considered. "I am perfectly fine, thank you very much. It's just a beautiful morning and I am feeling very, very, very well, yes. Uhm… uuhh… ah… Is it hot in here, or it's just me?"
"It's you," Twilight replied flatly. "You've over-flooded your cup already."
"Ack!", Rarity magically flung the teapot away in despair, sending it flying to the nearest wall, where it broke in a million pieces. "Oh, pity that, hahaha, it was an old thing and I didn't like it anyway and I am sure that I can purchase a new one that was very nice of you to drop by Twilight but I'mgonnaaskyoutoLEAVEPLEASE!"
"Rarity!", Twilight shouted. Her friend blinked.
"What?", she asked, innocently.
"I have the strange feeling your current attitude is related to Nightmare Ni—"
"Don't say that name!", she cried. "No, no, no, we don't talk of Ni—of that. No, we don't. Everypony wants to celebrate, that's very good, wish them luck and happiness and all that. But in here we don't mention Nig—THAT."
She noticed Twilight's severe look. Her friend was glaring at her over invisible glasses. Rarity sighed.
"I guess I do owe you an explanation…"
"I was wondering why I haven't seen you last night," Twilight slowly began. "Applejack said I'd better ask you."
"Oh, Applejack didn't tell you? That's loyal of her, really. It's nothing too important, Twilight… It's just that Nigh—THAT and I don't… really… get along… that well."
"Care to tell me? Sometimes a friend can be of help."
"Oh, of course, darling, but I had many friends that tried to be of help. I'm not saying I won't tell you anyways… I mean, we are friends and all… but whereas I am certainly looking paranoid this morning and absolutely not, I repeat, NOT in my best-looking self, it would do good to you to admit that the main reason you want to hear this little… story of mine… is all due to curiosity."
"I admit I am curious," agreed Twilight. There was no way around it.
Rarity sighed a great sigh. She began to spread some jam on a toast with a butter knife… and magic.
"Very well, then. But I must warn you: if you make fun of this, if you laugh at my despair, if I see your lips curving upwards ever so slightly, I will put our friendship in serious doubt. Not even Pinkie Pie laughed when she heard this story, such tragic my tale of woe is."
"I promise I will not laugh at you," Twilight solemnly vowed. To her insides she thought: Gosh!
"All right…", Rarity took a very deep breath, then narrated in a carefully-measured voice: "It all began back when I was a little filly. It was my very first Nigh—nnnggg… Of, fine," she caught Twilight's rolling eyes, "it was my very first Nightmare Night—aggh—and I was thrilling with anticipation. Back then I hardly knew any of my current best friends, but I had many other friends at school. We were all thrilled about the whole concept. Free candy? Designing costumes? Staying up all night? It was the dream of all younglings.
"So, during weeks I spent time designing my costume for the event. I was going to be a Princess!"
"Of course," Twilight sipper her tea. Rarity went on.
"On the eve of Nightmare Night my friends and I gathered together to visit every doorstep in Ponyville, asking for tricks or treats along the way, each of us holding empty bags that promised to get full of delicious treats by the end of the journey. I was simply spectacular in my princess outfit, though my friends said it didn't really match the spirit of the celebration. Why, they were wearing those ugly-looking cardboard masks and over-stitched rags and—"
"Please go on," said Twilight, stopping her friend before she went into fashion overdrive.
"Oh, right, right. Anyways, we departed to our very first door, and we knocked, and the door opened. 'Trick or Treats!', we yelled, and I must admit it was one of the joy-fullest moments of my young and beautiful life. So we each, my friends and I, got something in our bags. I remember Cyanmane got a hoof-full of licorice worms (eww), Hoverwings got several chocolate-covered sugar cubes, and Sapphire Gleam found a couple of jawbreakers in her bag."
Rarity made a purposeful pause for greater effect. She took a long sip from her cup. Twilight awaited, patient, and then…
"… I got a rock."
Another long sip. Rarity's eyes narrowed.
"You are not wanting to laugh, are you, Twilight Sparkle?", she asked.
"No…", her friend replied, a true battle in her soul to avoid making a mistake.
"Are you sure you don't want to giggle at what I just said? About me getting a rock as Nightmare Night treat?"
"Surely not…". Oh, sweet Celestia, be strong, Twilight!
"Why are your lips quivering like that?"
"Feeling pity of you for your heart-wrecking story?", she risked.
"And the quivering is definitely not, by any ways and means, an attempt of your lips to break into a joyful grin?"
"T-Totally not…! F-Friends d-don't d-do t-that…"
"Good. The next door we visited…"
Oh, sweet Celestia, is there more?, Twilight panicked.
"… was greeted with chocolate horse shoes, cotton candy mane, and marshmallow fillies for my friends."
There was a deliberate pause. Twilight risked the question.
"And… you got…"
"I got a rock." Pause. "You're going slightly purple, darling. More than usual, I mean. It probably is a bad idea to hold your breath like that, as if you were trying to… I don't know… avoid laughing?"
"Don't… be… rid-d-d-diculous…", Twilight breathed again.
Rarity kept an accusing glare on her friend for an uncomfortably long time.
"Very well… My little errand that night proved to be of a repeating luck, you see, for every door we knocked at, a new rock landed in my bag. While my friends gathered candy, I was gathering…"
"… r-r-rocks?", Twilight stuttered, a desperate attempt not to break into hysterical laugher.
"Rocks, indeed. As you can imagine, it wasn't quite the experience I was expecting from a night of joy and candy."
"Okay, okay…", Twilight breathed deeply. Oh, dear, that had been too close! "Still, even if that first Nightmare Night was not a success, it doesn't mean—"
"The NEXT year," interrupted Rarity, and Twilight knew things were going to turn ugly, somehow, "I was ready to give Nightmare Night a second chance. Look at the bright side, you know how it is. So I designed a brand-new disguise (I was the Queen of Hearts, that time) and gathered again with my friends for a quest of joy and candy. And we reached the very first door of the night, and my friend, all of them, got delicious candy."
Purposeful pause. Twilight was not really wanting to laugh anymore. There was something in Rarity's eyes…
"And… you got…"
"… a rock."
"I… see…"
"All that second Nightmare Night of my life, right behind every single door, awaited a brand new rock for me," she said. Her tone… there was a slight hissing on it. "And the same happened the following year… and the year after that... oh, and the year after that other year I just mentioned. Rocks. All of them. Rocks. You can look at me, Twilight."
She was avoiding Rarity's eyes, but had to take the risk to meet those piercing windows to her soul. There was a light deep into them, and it glowed the wrong way.
"Rarity… That story…"
"Yes?"
"I don't want to put in doubt your version of it, but… Wasn't it a bit of an exaggeration on your part?"
"An exaggeration," said Rarity, flatly. Her horn began to glow.
"Yes, you see, you couldn't have got so many—"
KA-KRUMBLE!
"—rocks."
Rarity's horn stopped glowing as the dissipating dust revealed that, where one was a breakfast table, now laid a considerably large heap of stones of various shapes and sizes. Twilight was looking at it, not knowing what to make out of it.
"Uhm. Rarity? What is… this?"
"Trick-Or-Treat, Twilight Sparkle!", Rarity growled through gritted teeth. The edge in her tone made Twilight back away in an ancient instinct to avoid predators. "Do you like it? It's my very own collection of disappoints past! All of them carefully catalogued by name, date and, most important, door!"
Twilight then noticed the scribbling on each stone. Oh, sweet Celestia, she's actually collected them!
"Well… I can… see your point," Twilight risked. "But still, that is not reason to hate Nightmare Moon and avoid the celebrations."
"Avoid the celebrations? Sweet Celestia, Twilight, I certainly do not avoid the celebrations!"
"But you weren't anywhere to be found!"
"Of course I was! I was. Right. Here! At home! Right next to the door! Waiting!"
"Waiting?"
"Yes!", Rarity chirped, an eyebrow flicked.
Oh dear, thought Twilight.
"Waiting for what?"
"For the children, of course!", Rarity grinned. There was that twitching again. "The joyful children wearing their little costumes and asking for tri-hee-hee-cks or tre-heh-heh-ats, coming a-knocking to my door, so I could give them… give them…"
"Y-Yes…?"
"Candy!", Rarity giggled. It wasn't a nice giggle. "Oh, don't look at me like that, darling. I am the essence of Generosity after all, even before I was officially proclaimed as such. So, every Nightmare Night, instead of going out and having fun, I stay home, by the door, waiting for the kids. And I give candy to all of them. Lots, lots of candy."
"Oh… Oooff… That's a relief—I mean, that's so kind of you! I though—"
"And I know," Rarity interrupted again, and this time Twilight could see she was talking more to herself than to her friend, "that, if I am patient… and if I wait long enough… one night… one of these Nightmare Nights… they will come a-knocking as well."
"They…?"
"The grandchildren of all those wonderful people who gave me these beautiful rocks, back when I was a filly myself!", Rarity claimed, the demented grin back to her face. "I don't forget, Twilight, dear. I don't want to think they gave me things for free when I was a kid. I give candy away because it's a tradition I want to keep as the proper one, so to speak. But when one of them come… when the grandchildren of one of those w-w-w-wond-d-d-derf-f-f-ful ponies who gave me a rock comes to my door… They. Will. Have. THEM. BACK! HAH! HAHAHA! HAAAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! More tea, darling?", she ended back with her normal voice.
Twilight was wide-eyed and tilted backwards as far as her gravity center would allow. For a moment there, when Rarity was laughing out loud, she seemed ready to bite. Now she was staring at her with her normal smile. Behind a pile of rocks with mementos written all over.
Twilight shook her head. Very slowly. And very carefully.
"Thank you for not laughing at my terrible story, Twilight. It's good to have friends like you."
Twilight just nodded, never leaving her state of shock.
Applejack smiled with the satisfaction of a job well done. The streets of Ponyville were litter-free and Big Macintosh had just departed back home with the last cart full of remaining apples from the celebration past. She was about to leave as well, when she spotted Twilight trotting along the street.
"Ah."
Twilight stopped in front of her friend. They shared a meaningful stare.
"You were right," Twilight slowly said. "If I wanted to hear the proper version, I had to go hear it from Rarity herself."
"Did ya find it dif'cult to hold yer laugher during the first bit?"
"Oh yes."
"Did she showed ya her… collection?"
"Every one of them."
"Bet she trash'd another table, huh. Does that ev'ry time."
"Yyyyyeah…"
"Nothing t'worry 'bout. In a day or two she'll be back to her usual self."
"Right. I was thinking…"
"Yes?"
"… I believe I got too much candy for the kids, yesterday. Perhaps… perhaps Rarity could want some."
"That sounds like a nice attitude, sugarcube. Take care."
"Take care, Applejack."
Twilight trotted back home, thinking on Rarity's mind break during the tale… and remembering her very own when she was late for that letter to Princess Celestia. Ah, well, she thought, I guess we all deserve our own moments of hysteria. Who I am to judge her? Next Nightmare Night I'll try to persuade her out.
For the time being, a bonbon or two can make all the difference.
THE END