For there were no more worlds to conquer
“I think being made Captain of the Wonderbolts was the worst moment of my life,” Dash admitted, and Rarity nodded.
“So why didn’t you come to me first?” Rarity sipped from her cup of tea. She understood how Dash was feeling, but she didn’t understand why she’d asked for something so strong just to put three sugars into it. She was even waiting for it to cool down a little first, just warming her hooves on it.
“I figured, if anybody had a chance of getting where I’m coming from, it’d be you,” Rainbow stared into her cup, “but I wasn’t sure.”
“Embarrassment, then?”
“I just don’t think I wanted to scare anyone.” A single hiccupped laugh, the kind of laugh you make when you’re trying to explain your feelings to someone else for the first time and so now’s your first chance at seeing how big and stupid the whole thing is. Rarity sipped her tea; It was best to show Dash she wasn’t going to speak, so she’d be more anxious just to fill the silence.
Otherwise she’d need a whole team of horses to drag it out of her, and she didn’t want to get the other Elements involved in this, not yet.
Dash continued like she was in confessional, “It just hit me harder than I was expecting, you know? I hear it, I hear Spitfire’s giving the team to me, and it was... it was the best. It was amazing. It felt like I got told I’d be getting a Pinkie party all to myself every day, forever. I did it. It was everything I’d dreamed of since I was a kid, you know?”
“I think I do, yes. I don’t think, say, Applejack ever could-”
“Ha!” Rainbow laughed so hard at that she dribbled tea all over her hooves, and Rarity just listened, “Applejack would call me a stupid crazy idiot! Or... I dunno, ‘A pig in mud that just started wishin’ it were clean’ or however she would say it.”
“Impressive likeness. If I closed my eyes, I’d think she were actually here.”
Rainbow smiled, putting her cup down so she could suckle the hot tea out of her fur. “Yeah, and she’s great and my best friend and all but...”
“She wouldn’t understand, no.”
“I don’t think she could. She’s my best friend and everything, but it’s just like... She’s got what she wants in life and she’s happy about it. And she’ll always be happy about it.” Rainbow said this as if it were the strangest thing in the world. To them, it might have been.
“And us?” Rarity smiled, but it was just like Rainbow’s laugh. Smiling because you knew you said something that was ridiculous that you knew the other was taking seriously. Because if they weren’t going to take it seriously, you wouldn’t be able to smile about it.
Rainbow smiled back the same way. “Yeah. Then there’s us. What was it like for you?”
“What was it like for me, or when did it happen for me?”
“Both, I guess.”
Rarity sipped her tea. Maybe some biscuits would help with this. She’d have to ask. “There was a designer I greatly admired. Top of the game, been on all the magazine covers. She and I met at a... function, of sorts, a few years ago. I can’t remember what it was actually called, and I’m sure you don’t particularly care, so I won’t bore you thinking further on it.”
“You’re stalling.”
“I am. It’s not a pleasant memory, you understand.” Rainbow nodded. It still seemed ridiculous to call such a proud memory unpleasant, but that was why they were both here. “So, they came up to me, they came to me and said... ‘Rarity’! In that breathy way fans do, that I remember so well. She goes ‘Rarity! I’m so honoured to finally meet you. I’ve admired your designs for so long! Tell me, what’s your secret these days?’”
Rainbow squirmed in her cushioned seat, “That was it? Someone asked you for advice?” She sounded guilty about questioning Rarity’s story, but she was obviously still trying to work out just how well Rarity ‘got it’. Some prodding was to be expected.
Rarity nodded, “That was it. Because you have to remember, Dash, this wasn’t just any other designer, no. This mare I had considered my only true rival at the time.”
“What was her name?”
“I don’t remember.”
The only sound for a few moments was that of a clock from the next room, counting the long seconds.
Rainbow sipped from her tea, now. Had cooled it off enough in her hooves, it seemed. Nodded to herself. “Yeah,” Dash said, “So that’s the when.”
“You’re curious about the what, then? I’m sure you already know what I’m going to say.”
“I don’t. I want to know how different it hit you. I mean... you know...”
“I know how bad it’s hit you, yes,” Rarity sighed, “and I really do wish you’d come to me first.”
Rainbow shrugged into herself defensively, slid deeper into the chair. “I wasn’t thinking.” Tone of a scolded filly.
Rarity sniffed. “Yes, well. I’m going to get some biscuits to go with the tea. Would you like anything in particular?”
“Ah... something with chocolate, I guess?”
“Chocolate it is.” Good choice, chocolate always did help.
Rarity made her way to the kitchen while she tried to put together what she was actually going to say. There was a bargain to be struck between how vulnerable she could make herself, and how truthful she could be. How much pain she was willing to put upon herself to let Dash know she was understood, that was the question.
Except there never really was a question, was there? She was just stalling again. She knew it as she grabbed the sealed jar of chocolate-dipped scotch biscuits and made her way back to the parlour, where Rainbow was still just staring into her tea. Looked up as Rarity came into the room, but then her head hung low again by the time Rarity had sat down.
Looked up long enough to grab a biscuit and dip it into the abomination she called tea.
“It was like I had been climbing a mountain. And it was long, and hard, and I never really saw the top. Then suddenly, as she said that, there I was. There was nowhere left to climb to. And I looked around and I realized... the only way left to go was down. Now I was still terrified of falling, but there was nothing to distract me from it anymore.”
Rainbow nodded, eyes still not tearing away from the tea. Just held it to her lips and thought into it. “Yeah.”
“I tried to self-sabotage, at first. Not consciously, but the creative block was terrible. Where previously I looked for inspiration, now was just... despair, I suppose, but of a quiet variety. At the back of my mind I thought; it would be so good to fall just a little, just a little bit, I think. Just so I can crawl my way back up again.”
“What happened?”
“The next line I did was a smashing success.” Rarity lamented. “I couldn’t fail if I tried. Oh, really, it was just variations of the same, tweaks of old formula, certainly... but nobody complained, because I was just giving them more of what they wanted. I was my only competition. Which was probably the worst part, I think, because every time I outdid myself, I was the one who lost.”
“Didn’t you win as well? I mean-”
“But the prize was always just stasis, yes. The feeling of not going anywhere. So winning felt like losing.” Rarity took a bite of biscuit, then a sip of tea, and enjoyed the feeling of the two dissolving together in her mouth. No, it would have been too sweet with sugar in both.
“Yeah. Yeah, I get that.”
This was the hard part, but the important part. It was a pity how often things worked out that way. “I don’t think I understood how depressed I was at the time, because I didn’t feel sad. Or at least, I wasn’t aware that I was. It was just this feeling of floating through the day, like nothing was quite real. Then, one night...” She took a sip, found her cup empty, and it hit the table again with a clatter. Rarity’s voice was steady, but her hooves weren’t, so Rainbow poured her another cup how she liked it. “Thank you, dear. One night I ran a bath.”
“Is that... unusual? I think Twilight does that when she has a bad day.”
“Mm. Twilight doesn’t take an entire bottle each of wine and sleeping pills in with her.”
“Oh.” Rainbow paused, then, “Oh!” She choked, and Rarity couldn’t see her face because it was her turn now to stare into her tea, unable to look up. “Rarity, you didn’t!”
She didn’t look up, but she did raise an eyebrow at that. “Oh, yes, I’m very much dead, as you can see by the waterlogged corpse before you. No, I didn’t. I didn’t even think about it. Didn’t even realize until I was neck deep in bubbles what I was doing. I had thought ‘A glass of wine sounds lovely’ and I had thought ‘And I have been so very stressed as well’. But I hadn’t poured a glass, and I hadn’t set aside a few tablets. I’d taken the whole of both in with me and thought nothing of it.”
She looked up, and Rainbow was grimacing hard, like someone trying not to swear after banging their head against the cabinet door. Finally managed to make eye contact. “I wasn’t depressed, and I wasn’t suicidal. I mean that sincerely. I just realized, at that moment, that I didn’t particularly care either. There was an apathy, there was a nothing where there should have been something.”
“Yeah.” Rainbow agreed, and that was the worrying part, now, wasn’t it?
“You know what I mean, don’t you?”
And Rainbow nodded, and pain shot through Rarity’s chest because there was so little hesitation. She really did. “It’s like I’ve been flying this whole time, and I just ran out of sky. And it’s not like I can fly back... I’ve always been going somewhere, and now that I got there, it never really existed anyway. And now I’m just... falling. I guess.”
Rarity grimaced. Not an attractive expression, but one she couldn’t help. “Freefalling, I take it?”
“Yeah.”
“I imagine it feels a bit like floating?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve watched you practice your stunts for years, Dash. Pulling out of a dive at the last minute, hardly any more dangerous than a buccaneer blitz.”
Dash gulped, screwed her eyes shut. Her cup hit the table with a clatter.
“That is, if you keep your eyes open while you do it.”
“It’s just practice.” Dash lied, “I know exactly how far to push it. Done it a million times, no sweat.”
“Just a variation on the same,” Rarity stirred her tea with a biscuit, “Just a twist on an old formula.”
“Yeah! Wait...”
The biscuit did help. Chocolate always did. “You always look scared.”
“I should. It’s dangerous.”
“That’s what worries me. You only look scared when you open your eyes again.” More chocolate, not enough chocolate in the world. “You hurt yourself doing it yet?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Not yet?”
“I mean- you phrased it like that!”
Not enough tea, either. “And you didn’t correct me.”
Rainbow looked like she was going to throw a punch. A hard one. Was still deciding on whether it was going to be at Rarity or just a cushion. It ended up being the cushion, of course, and not just one punch.
Rarity watched, but didn’t apologize. Didn’t ask her to stop either, though she did really like that cushion. Such things could be replaced though. “Are you done yet?”
Rainbow howled in frustration, and took to tearing at the pillow in her teeth. Apparently not. Maybe breakfast tea had been a bit too strong for this, and a peppermint would have been better.
“I hate this!” Rainbow shouted. The anger was fragile, Rarity knew, and would shatter soon enough. “I hate feeling like this! And it won’t stop, and it won’t go away! I thought if I just tried to, tried to be the best Captain that ever was or, or something, I’d still have something! But I can’t grab on to that. It doesn’t... It’s like…”
Or maybe wine? In veno veritas. “I always thought of it like trying to grab sand with your magic, but I don’t know how to phrase that in a Pegasus way.”
“When pegasus make hurricanes, there’s pockets in the middle where everypony’s pushed all the air out of it, and nothing’s allowed back into it. There’s no air at all, it’s just empty. It’s like when you get pushed into one of those pockets, and you keep flapping your wings as hard as you can. That’s what it feels like.”
“I could see that.”
The pillow lay in shreds at Rainbow’s feet. She refused to look guilty about it, but the rush of the anger was breaking against it. The anger was like fire; it gave so much energy, but it needed to be fed as well. Dash was burning out.
She kicked it like a hoofball, but it was more petulant than angry, trying to stoke the flames, not succeeding. “What did you do?”
“What do you mean?”
“How do you... how do you deal with it? What makes you get out of bed in the morning?”
“You find something else to care about.” Rarity’s gut twisted. The real answer was that nothing ever fixed it, but it was important to believe that it worked. Because the real solution was to keep trying. She couldn’t tell Dash that though; it doesn’t work if you’re just trying for its own sake. That just felt like treading water.
“I’m the best flyer in the whole world. Maybe even in history. I run the Wonderbolts. There isn’t...” Dash trailed off, sliding down her chair so miserably her eyes were barely over her chest.
“Not down that avenue, no,” Rarity said, “But aren’t you also in charge of the academy in off seasons?”
“Yeah. Most of them don’t even have any potential, though. Most of it’s paperwork and checklists, honestly, Twilight would be better at it than me. Why?”
“So only a few show potential then. What do you do with them?”
“What do you mean?”
“When you see a recruit with potential, what do you do with them?”
Rainbow thought about that. “I don’t know. Tell them good work, try to move them on to the more advanced courses.”
“You don’t take any special interest in any of them? Don’t push them to be their best?”
“I try to get them to want the best for themselves. Usually don’t have to do much pushing.”
“You’ve charted out your whole sky, Rainbow.” Rainbow winced when Rarity said it, but there was no helping it, “Maybe it might be time to start sharing your map.”
“You mean focus on being a good teacher? Rarity, I suck at teaching.”
“Good. It’s better if it doesn’t come easily. It’ll feel that much better when you start working at it.”
“But- It’s not- It’s not the same thing!” It was Dash; there was always an ember left to poke, but there was nothing much left to catch.
“No. It’s not. And nothing ever will be.” Had to be firm on this, like scolding a child. Cut through the petulance, the denial, the excuses. “This is the first step of the rest of your life. If you asked Applejack, she’d tell you to just find happiness with what you have. Do you think that’d work?”
“I mean, I got everything I ever wanted, don’t I?”
“Yes. Which is the problem, isn’t it?”
“... Yeah.”
“So the solution, it seems obvious to me, is to want something else. That’s not easy, mind you. You have to try for it, and it can feel like trying to dig a hole in water at first, but the alternative, Dash, is that one day, you won’t open your eyes. And if you did that, I would find whatever afterlife you ended up in, and I would murder you for doing that to us. Am I clear?”
“Y-yeah.” Dash gulped. “So... teaching, huh?”
“You always had a knack for it, especially with Scootaloo. Ponies do look up to you.”
Dash gulped, but the idea had caught in her head. It might be enough, it might not be. Only time would tell. Then she had to ask the question Rarity didn’t have an answer for; “What was it for you?”
And Rarity was silent.
Yes, wine would go well with this. A lot of red wines paired very well with chocolates actually.
“Rarity... what keeps you going?”
That question was easier. “I could never do something so selfish. You know that.”
Yes. Definitely just a glass of wine. She’d learned to leave the bottle in the kitchen.
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"What now?" can be one of the most terrifying questions in the English language. You've perfectly captured a facet of its horror here. Excellent character piece with much broader applications than just a bit of tea between friends. Thank you for it.
The curse of ambition, to never be content with what you have and always push yourself further. But then you push yourself as far as you can go, then what? You can't sit still but there is no more "further" to go to and going backwards is anathema, so all that's left to do is weep.
I'd like to praise this story, but as always FOME found it before me, got through it before me and put anything thoughtful I might be able to say into a single paragraph.
8089203
Really, as much as I love looking through the comments of a story I enjoyed to find yours, do try to leave some for us other readers.
Ah... ambition. Something that ties these two together and one of the biggest reasons I love seeing their friendship develop. And you've done a marvellous job of depicting its dark side. Thank you.
Those who are very driven can have a very hard time when they feel they have achieved their life goal and lose what gave their life meaning. AS characters these two seem the best choice for this story so good job. It would be interesting to see other characters dealing with their own demons since everybody has them in some way. What is Pinkie's life like for instance and what is she missing. Probably misses Dash and her other friends assuming they are out a lot (I would assume so).
I still wonder what Rarity's answer actually is.
The implication is that there isn't anything (Even if the event hints at she just might have found it, when she thinks about it)
8089267
I thought it was as clear as it could be that she hasn't found anything.
"I'm the Cosmare cover pony... I have the most successful shop in Canterlot... I've gotten everything I ever wanted... but I'm miserable!"
An amazing look at a type of problem that I think most people won't ever know could exist. It's not something you really think about, since you're generally too focused on actually achieving your dream to think about what comes after.
I count myself very lucky to have encountered and overcome this problem a couple years ago. I had just achieved one of my pie-in-the-sky dreams — you know, the one you that you liked to fantasize about but never thought would actually happen in a million years. I was over the moon, of course, for the first few weeks. And then the euphoria faded and the surrealism stayed with me, along with some nagging feeling that something was wrong. It wasn't until I watched Canterlot Boutique and the above quote popped up that I realized my problem; there was actually a chance that I would achieve my dreams, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life after that. Luckily, it was still likely a decade before I even have the chance of achieving my most lofty dreams, and I had time to think through the question of "what now?" and find an answer (writing would be my new passion if I lost my current one, and fortunately, I'll probably be never be good at it for as long as I live), but if it weren't for that one episode, things might have gone very differently.
To those of you who are ambitious and have dreams you wish to see fulfilled, just remember, planning for best-case scenarios is almost as important as planning for worst-case scenarios. You never want to find yourself with that bottle of wine.
And to Numbers: thank you so much for writing this, for giving those of us like this a voice to talk about our feelings with. For giving us a way to express our weakness when many of us would rather die before admitting it. It's one thing to know intellectually you're not alone (the chapter title itself references a man who went through the same struggles, apocryphally), but it's another to see it played out in such a raw form. Thank you.
8089267
8089301
The last few lines suggest that she has turned to drink, and doesn't want to admit to it.
This feels like it should also get the sad tag.
As a whole, it was pretty good, but I'm not sure if I want to fave it.
Those last two lines are painfully bleak. And ominous, when taken in context with the title of the piece.
A lovely piece of writing on an unusual subject though
So they're bemoaning that the climb is over, but what about the joy of standing on top of the mountain?
8089726 Dash mentions it in the story. It was there, and real, but that's long past at this point.
To quote a book I once read as a kid, "nobody ever expects you to live on the mountain."
8089502
Aye.. It was. As someone who has been there, and tried multiple times... I can feel how she feels in a way I cannot well describe
So very well written. A wonderful stand-alone piece with an honest portrayal of midlife crisis/depression and how to deal with the effects. The subtext really does a wonderful job of getting the bleak atmosphere across. Keep up the good work!
8089726
Things are lonely on the top of a mountain.
The dangers of such levels of success are many and yes it has driven many to depression.
This was a very good story.
You know...I have a personal rating scale. Usually it's meant to show my enjoyment of a story in some quantifiable way, but I've often argued with myself over what should and shouldn't earn my highest marks. I think this story has just shown me the answer.
When I read through this, I admit that I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. Nothing was as grand as other high-ranked stories, nor was it making me laugh like others still. However, each of those stories was important to me in some way, and this particular story may be the most important yet.
It's complex. It's mature. It's subtle. It's a story that demands your attention in the quietest way, like a friend who you know is being too lonesome too often. And with all of that put alongside the best use of subtext around...yes, I think important fits quite well.
My personal scale doesn't really mean much in the long run, but I always try to let an author know when they've done exceptionally well. This story earns a 10 from me, and it will remain a story that I come back to whenever I need an example of maturity done right.
8089386
I think it's worse than that actually. I don't think she has a drinking problem. I think she wants one, but isn't letting herself.
I've always found this kind of attitude fascinating, for all that I've never understood it. It's... I suppose I could say it's 'easy' for me to want things. I want to be a good cook, I want to be a good artist, I want to be a good writer, I want to keep learning, I want to be happy, fulfilled, and financially secured. I want, I want, I want, and it's never been hard to come by, and yet, at the same time I've never really felt any sort of need to be 'the best', I just want to be good, I want to get better, I want to be good enough to take pride and joy in what I am and what I do, and that's enough for me.
I'm not Applejack, but I'm certainly not Rarity either. If I ever found myself in her position I'd just move on to the next thing, maybe return a few years down the road. I've done something similar with old games I've played. I guess I've just always wondered, what drives these people? What is it that makes them crave success in their field of choice so dearly? It's obviously not fame, as Rainbow can attest, she tried doing it for the fame and it just felt hollow. It's obviously not for the money, or even social standing as Rarity once thought. So why push?
Hell... why even stop? If you're doing what you love, isn't that it's own reward? Even if you're your only competition, beating the you of yesterday can be almost as fulfilling as defeating a brilliant rival. You're breaking new ground! Going where no man or pony has gone before! Competing with, and perhaps even surpassing the legends of old! Is that not a heady feeling?
I think all that and I wonder, 'is it because they just can't see it?', but then I ask '...or is it me who just doesn't get it?', and I find that I honestly don't know the answer. Perhaps it's a little of column 'A' and a little of column 'B', I find that most things in life are like that. In any case, you certainly succeeded in telling an interesting story about a very particular type of personality.
8090370
Thats the mindset that I imagine Twilight having. It's probably a lot healthier.
Twilight and Pinkie are off in another story, making the decision to be happy for happinesses own sake. This is not a story about those ponies.
8089779
Well, you can always amuse yourself by rolling boulders downhill at those below you on the slopes.
(But neither RD or Rarity are big enough assholes to enjoy doing so).
Good story: I've always wondered what happens to Rainbow Dash gets to the top, and this seems pretty plausible for her. Not quite so sure about Rarity: she's always struck me at least as concerned with the creation of beautiful things for its own sake as she is with hitting the Big Time. And as the Element of Generosity and the most successful fashion designer in Equestria, she's in quite the position to become a Public Benefactor on a formidable scale.
Twilight's pretty well off in that the study of magic is both something she's interested in for its own sake and something open-ended: there's always something new to learn. And there is no such thing as "top friend."
Fluttershy, now, I really have no idea...
The satisfaction and thrill you get from working to overcome great difficulties and challenges is often greater than the satisfaction you get from overcoming them in the end.
even though I'm not yet at the top, this story still hits me.
a 'when' in life when you question the purpose of everything.
a good story for many people. thanks author.
Very well written! I enjoyed it, and I'd like to add that this may reach a different type of person than the "overachiever" or those that reach the mountaintop. This emotion, the deadened empty feeling is very much a central theme to nihilistic people as well, people who've "glanced ahead," or spent a lot of time thinking about the reasons behind existence and discovered there really is no answer. The message that Rarity tries to pass along, the need to find something, anything that you can put effort into speaks to me because it's the conclusion I came to a little while ago. Even if you're doing only to keep yourself from just walking away from life, the forward motion is necessary to feel, to experience and find something new in what is a very grey, diluted world.
Or perhaps I overthought it again and that was the type of person you were aiming for in the first place. Either way, definite favorite. Well done.
8090311
Yes, that is worse.
A good piece, in fact. I genuflect in your general direction.
"Where do you go from up?"
Fav'ed
Question:
Before I read this tonight after work... It's not a romance shipfic, is it?
I have not read the comments because spoilers.
8091945
It's not, but it's not more than really a fluff piece either.
It's a discussion between two friends about what happens after 'Happily Ever After'. Quite interesting if you're into that sort of thing.
8091995 Thanks!
I'll check it out!
Beautifully melancholic story. Thank you for this.
8089267
She hasn't found it. Her friends are her current life raft, but they're not rated for gale-force winds.
8090311
Spoken like a person after my own heart. Drink... but... carefully...
I'm glad I read this. It's very philosophical, but I think it's a good message to live by.
This story was a bit haunting... I can't quite say that I enjoyed it, but it sucked me in, especially reading it alone in a silent house at night, and I quite admire the use of these two in exploring drive and ambition.
Now I just need to go to bed without overly dwelling on my own life goals well into the night...
Well I now feel myself questioning my life and existence as I know it....
cheers.
8090370
In a way, that's the reward of mediocrity. (And I'm saying this as a mediocre writer etc. myself!) It's much easier to live a life where you're willing and able to settle for "good enough", instead of having that drive, passion, ambition pushing you to always giving it your all. This is true for many reasons, but the most relevant one is that you don't run into that "I have no worlds left to conquer!" problem.
8093971
Mediocrity is more Applejack's philosophy, this much and no more, this far, but no further. I personally prefer the idea of always growing, always learning, but at an unhurried, comfortable pace. In both success and failure I learn as I live, and I see no need to either stop, or push things to the point where other parts of my life suffer. It's like the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, I'm like the tortoise, ponies like Rainbow Dash and Rarity are hares, and ponies like Applejack are the bystanders that see no need to involve themselves in such foolishness.
Truthfully there is no one right way to live, you have to find what works for you through trial and error. That doesn't mean it isn't still worth the effort though.
8094307
, I screw up all the time. Sometimes I'll get passionate about an idea and throw all caution to the wind only to come to my senses hours, if not days later with either a deep sense of disappointment or satisfaction and a huge mess to clean up afterwards 
. And sometimes you don't really have any choice but to work yourself to the bone just to make ends meet 
. Life isn't perfect, but then again, neither are we.
I'm not saying I'm some kind of 'zen master'-type
As I see it, the problem that this story's Dash and Rarity are facing- that Alexander once faced- is that they are still too wrapped up in the regard of others rather than doing something for the inherent pleasure that it gives them. So long as they are primarily competing against others rather than themselves, there's next to no chance that they'll ever be satisfied. Not that a dedication to self-improvement will automatically prevent this kind of despair, but it at least lets one consider climbing other mountains after summiting the first.
8094925
Aragon wrote a line I adore;
Thank you for sharing this. You do a great job capturing that awkwardness about trying to explain one's own unhappiness in the face of seeming success in life.
Interesting title for a Rarity/Dash relationship fic. Interesting contents too.
8175924
Nobody's commented on the title until now! Marvelous.
It's actually a Shakespeare quote, which I think fits Rarity very well here;
8175942 Actually, it was the Alexander the Great quote, although I'm not a real fan of Plutarch, and probably recognized it from Die Hard or some other modern bit.
Although I can see Rarity after a particularly good fashion show, standing on the stage and looking out into the crowd who are all wearing one or two of her fabulous creations, and mourning that she has conquered the entirety of the Equestrian fashion universe, and left behind nothing but weeping and wailing of broken fashionistas in her wake, despairing of ever being able to recover from their crushing defeats.
"Look upon me, Oh Equestria, and despair. For all the lands have fallen to my powers, and none within fail to give me the respect which I desire, but yet I am dissatisfied with my conquest, and seek more in life. Perhaps... I shall design in feathers for a time. Oh, Rainbow. Could you come here for a moment?"
I'm a little upset with you MrNumbers, not with the fic which was excellent, as usual, but with Rarity's recommendations, or lack thereof.
Nothing in there said anything about talking to a doctor/therapist. Although I can understand not recommending it for someone who's just beginning to deal with depression (though I would still recommend it personally), there is no excuse for someone that has reached the point of suicidal ideation.
You can't force them to go, but one should still make the attempt and put the idea in their head.
8176008
As much as that's good advice, I don't think that's advice Rarity would give, and I definitely don't think it's advice she's considering giving to Rainbow Dash in this situation.
She's not getting it for herself because she's not actually depressed, and that would be admitting... more to herself than she's currently ready to. And to give it to Rainbow would be admitting yet more hypocrisy, or it'd ring hollow, or Rainbow would probably resent the advice. I think she would.
So yes. I think that's good advice, but I think it's advice someone else would have to give, if either of these two stopped performing their roles long enough to open up to anybody else.
EDIT:
To summarize it better; I don't see either Rarity or Rainbow, in the situation that they're in, finding any solace in the idea of finding a complete stranger, someone who doesn't know them and they don't deeply trust, and making themselves vulnerable to that person. I don't think it's in either of their characters to come to that conclusion on their own, not here.
I have to say something, but all I've got are scattered thoughts. A well-written piece.
♦ The satisfaction and safety in routine. Consistency. Reliability.
You don't need to think about what to do next, because what's next is what you were doing yesterday, now and last year.
They say that the only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth, but they forget about the trench and the bunker.
♦ Living in the moment.
You don't need to think about what to do next because dang it's a nice day. Why not go to the lake? Maybe you'll get to see some fish doing their thing while crossing the bridge.
♦ Apathy. Ignorance.
My dream? End goal? I don't understand what you're asking. I've got a place to live, food on the table and money in my saddlebag, what else is there? What do you mean, "What do I want to do with my life?" I don't know, live? What else is there?
This was a very captivating read. You manage to express a type of personality and thought process that I guess I never really thought actually existed? Or at least, not for people who actually end up getting as far as Rarity and Dash have in this story.
Like, I am very much like 8090370 in how I feel about this type if thing - surely the point of doing what you do is that you enjoy it. If you can't be satisfied with doing what you do and being as good as you are at what you do, then why did you go about doing it in the first place? I consider myself a good writer but the ability of others relative to mine has no bearing on me. I like learning to improve, and seeing the results of my efforts and people enjoy and engage with what I write.
But then, I'm not the best writer in the world. So maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about.
Lovely story. Adding it to my favourites.
Whew... damn, this was certainly an interesting read, very interesting indeed.
Guess once you get everything you've desired... what's left? A hollow feeling deep in your soul... perhaps...
Or maybe you're just hungry, eh.
Good work on this!
I don't think I have the right words to fully express how good this story is. There's a strange sort of comfort to be found between the lines here; knowledge that somewhere out there, there are people like you. People who understand perfectly, but don't offer words of criticism. It's what makes me come back to this story every so often. The world needs more writing like this.
This hit some notes for me. And it's funny, because I definitely don't have their problem, like... at all. If anything my problem is a massive lack of drive and focus, the exact opposite thing. Going in every direction and so never going anywhere at all. And yet so much of this resonated with me. There are things here that lie tangental to my experiences in interesting ways. I guess having nowhere to go because you've reached the peak feels a lot like having nowhere to go because you can't stop going in circles.