And Now Alone I Stand

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Rarity sighed as she put the last of her Hearth’s Warming decorations away. The holiday season always went by so quickly. The boutique looked so plain without all the decorations and the slight chaos that could occur as Rarity completed holiday orders. It was now about 8 PM, and Rarity was about to turn the lights off in the boutique section so she could go upstairs and wind down for the evening. But before she could, there was a knock at the door.

“Now, who could be here this time of night?” Rarity wondered.

To her surprise, she saw a young stallion with unmistakable green colored mane at her doorstep.

“Pistachio! What in Equestria are you doing here?”

“I… I…” Pistachio tried to say through sobs.

“Come,” Rarity said. “Get warm and you can tell me everything.”

Rarity got some blankets and some hot chocolate.

“Feel better?”

Pistachio’s eyes welled up again.

“N… no,” he said, again through muffled weeps.

“Whatever is the matter and why did you feel the need to come all the way here to see me of all ponies in the middle of winter?” Rarity asked.

“M… my pa…parents don’t want me to go to fashion week with you.”

Rarity made a confused face, thinking of how supportive Pistachio’s parents seemed when she had met them.

“Why not?” she asked the colt.

“I guess they thought my love of fashion was just a hobby. They don’t like that it’s becoming more,” Pistachio explained.

Rarity nodded.

“Do they know you’re here?”

“Yes, I left a note,” Pistachio assured.

Rarity nodded again.

“Then I’d like to tell you a story,” she said. “Or several, if I may.”

Pistachio nodded eagerly.

“Do you know much about the opening day of this boutique?” Rarity asked.

“I remember ponies saying that it was something Ponyville didn't know it needed,” Pistachio said.

“It was a wonderful day,” Rarity agreed. “But there’s something a lot of the general public doesn’t know…”

“Ponies thought I was crazy for wanting to turn an old carousel building into my first boutique. And looking back, maybe I was a little bit. But I was determined to have my first boutique in my hometown…”

“Alright Rarity. You can open your eyes!” Applejack said.

“Oh my Goodness, Applejack!!! It’s everything I imagined. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!”

“With your eye for detail and the staff’s knowledge of architecture, we do make a good team,” Applejack agreed.

“Ah, and now the interior designing can begin!!!” Rarity said, levitating her papers towards her. “Oh, how wonderful it will be to not only have my own business but have my own place.”

“So you really built up this place from scratch,” Pistachio said.

“Yes. And I was so excited to show my family. I was pacing the morning of the opening to help with the nerves when I received a note.”

Dear Rarity,

We’re so sorry we won’t be able to attend the opening of your boutique. Sweetie Belle had something important come up we can’t reschedule. Talk soon and we wish the best.

Mom and Dad

“That important thing was an unexpected chance to audition for a magic school in Canterlot,” Rarity told Pistachio. “Which, in case you were wondering, she got in, but after a year, both she and my parents thought she’d be better off in public school. And she was. She met Scootaloo and Apple Bloom there.”

“Oh my Celesita, you must have been devastated,” Pistachio said.

“I was. But maybe for not the reasons you expect. Sure, them not coming was just another reminder of how different I was from the rest of my family and how isolating that could be. But I don’t necessarily blame them. Sweetie Belle was still a filly and if she needed my parents’ help, she should get it. But if I couldn’t be mad at them, who could I be mad at?”

“So what happened then?”

“Well, a few years later, it was time for me to open my boutique in Canterlot…”

“It looks like everything is ready for the grand opening!” Sassy Saddles proclaimed.

“Yes, it does!” Rarity agreed, beaming. “Did my parents arrive while I was in the back?”

“No, no one has come quite yet.”

“I suppose it’s still early,” Rarity noted. “I’m just excited after they weren’t able to come to the opening of my Ponyville boutique. They told me they’d do their best to come.”

“I’m sure they’ll be here,” Sassy assured.

“As more ponies came, I got more and more worried they wouldn't show. Then, my friends left and I knew that was it.”

“Did you talk to your parents about it?” Pistachio asked.

“Oh did I…”

“Well hello, Rarity,” Rarity’s father greeted. “I heard you were back in Ponyville.”

“Why didn’t you show at Canterlot Carousel?” Rarity demanded, as she barged into her parents’ house.

“We had friends that wanted to meet,” Rarity’s mom responded.

“And so you missed my one opening I’d ever have for my Canterlot boutique for friends you’d be able to see any time.”

Rarity’s mother and father looked at each other.

“Canterlot is a long way to travel, Rarity,” Rarity’s dad said. “We didn’t give you a definite yes, if you recall.”

“If it was Sweetie Belle’s event, you would have been there.”

“Rarity, please, you’re not being fair,” Rarity’s mom said.

“How am I being unfair? It wasn’t just the opening, it’s whenever I try to tell you about my work, you always brush it off as if it’s nothing!!”

“If we had known it meant this much to you…” Rarity’s mom added.

“That’s just it! You should have known!!” Rarity shouted. “You knew how disappointing it was for me that you couldn’t come to the opening of the Carousel Boutique. You should have known how important it was for me to see you there!! This isn’t just some filly game anymore. This is my hard work. And it’s something I love.”

“And I want to appreciate that, but we just don’t feel the same way,” Rarity’s mom explained. “It would have been weird for us to be among all those Canterlot ponies.”

“I understand it was a lot to ask,” Rarity admitted. “But my friends were all there. And even if you don’t love fashion, you love me, don’t you? If you loved me, you would have known I’d been dreaming about opening a boutique in Canterlot since I was little. And if you can’t handle the fact my dream is way different than you imagined for your foals, then maybe you should never have been parents in the first place!!!”

Tears immediately welled up Rarity’s mom’s eyes.

“Rarity, apologize right now,” Rarity’s dad demanded.

Rarity shook her head.

“I’m a grown mare. I don’t need to apologize for anything regarding you two anymore.”

“And then the whole mess with the Princess Dress happened. It was one of the only times I wondered if my parents were right. Sitting at that machine making the same dress over and over like a factory worker with no one who’d understand what I was going through… I never felt so lonely. I could have easily chosen a profession where I’d be less alone. Why didn’t I just do that?”

Pistachio looked at his idol in awe. It was a bit jarring that Rarity would talk about this so openly to basically a stranger. But then again, it made perfect sense. Rarity saw a lot of herself in Pistachio. He now understood why she gave him the hat and why she gave him the opportunity to go to Manehatten so readily. When she was his age, she would have given anything for that kind of mentorship.

“You really told your parents they shouldn’t have had foals?” he asked.

“I can say pretty terrible things when I’m not in the right state of mind,” Rarity admitted. She winced a bit as the night she guilt-tripped her friends into working for her in Manehatten still haunted her.

“We all have those days where we wish we could go back and do things differently,” Rarity continued. “That was certainly one for me. And probably for my parents, too.”

“Everpony says things they don’t mean when they’re angry,” Pistachio assured. “Did your parents ever realize that and forgive you? And did you forgive them?”

Rarity looked to the side as she searched her memory.

“We still weren’t really speaking when Rarity For You opened. So they didn’t show at that opening, either. But a week or so later, I received a letter from them after the review of my boutique showed up in the newspaper. They said that they were amazed at how supportive my friends were. They didn’t want to miss out on any more good times because of pettiness and offered to take me to lunch and talk. I said yes and thankfully, things between us went up from there.”

“That’s good!” Pistachio said.

“Well, they still don’t understand my profession. They still don’t understand how fashion and my businesses could be such a huge part of who I am and why not showing up to those openings hurt me so badly. But they learned to at least respect it over time. And I’ve learned to be content with that.”

“So you’re saying that my parents will learn to respect my love of fashion too?” Pistachio wanted to know.

“Ponies often fear the unknown and what they don’t understand,” Rarity explained. “My parents hated that I chose a profession they knew nothing about, and therefore they couldn’t help me if I got into trouble.”

Then, as if on cue, there was another knock, making the two ponies jump. Rarity opened the door to find Pistachio’s parents.

“Oh, thank Celestia, you’re alright!” Pistachio’s mom said, embracing her son in a hug.

“I’m sorry to scare you. But Rarity’s been a good hostess,” Pistachio said, giving a smile to the white unicorn.

“Good enough to take you to Manehatten?” Pistachio’s dad asked.