The bell for lunch had rung some time ago, and as such, most of the students of Canterlot High were in the cafeteria, eating food while spending some time with each other. That left a lot of the rest of the school pretty empty, and it was in such an environment that Rarity now found herself. She was walking down one of the hallways, carrying a bag of fabrics with one hand, no doubt ready to use them for some new fashion project. As she walked, she was muttering to herself, looking as if she was thinking hard on something, most likely considering some particular dress design she could make. As smile appeared on her face soon afterwards, perhaps satisfied in her upcoming plans, and not too soon either, because she then happened upon the door that led to her usual workshop in the school.

Raising a hand, she turned the knob and entered. But, it wasn't long after that when she stopped, her smile fading and replaced instead with a look of surprise, for there, sitting next to her usual desk, was none other than Sonata. Raising an eyebrow, Rarity showed clear confusion at the presence of the youngest Siren sister here, and so she placed her bag of materials aside for the time being and began to walk up to the girl. For the moment, Sonata hadn't noticed her, and seemed quite occupied with something else. Craning her neck, Rarity found, to her shock, that Sonata was actually sewing there. But, she wasn't using the usual sewing machine, but rather her own fingers, carefully trying to get a thread through the eye of a needle in the other hand. Rarity kept silent as the blue girl attempted to do it, only to step back as, inevitably, Sonata's finger was pinched by the needle she held.

"Ouch!"

Putting on a small smile, Rarity decided that now was the time to reveal her presence.

"Having trouble?"

At that, Sonata immediately leapt out of her chair, frantically waving her arms in surprise at having been discovered, before composing herself as best she could, standing straight before Rarity and holding her hands behind her, while darting her eyes left and right. To Rarity, the image was not unlike a small child trying to look innocent after their parents had caught them with their hand in the cookie jar, and as such, found it rather amusing. As for Sonata, she soon began to look rather guilty at all of this.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Rarity, I just...I kinda wanted to...you know..."

Rarity, looking far more understanding than Sonata expected her to, gestured with one hand to the needle and thread behind her before speaking in a calm manner.

"You wanted to try your hand at clothes-making?"

Sonata looked around for a bit before finally giving a single nod. Rarity, still smiling, simply took a step forward and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"There's no need to worry, Nata. Though I am surprised you'd want to take this up as a hobby."

Seeing Rarity move past her and take her usual seat by the sewing machine, Sonata considered that for a few moments, gently poking the ends of her index fingers together before starting to explain herself.

"Well...it's just...Dagi was telling me about all these wonderful dresses you made, and so I thought I'd come over and have a look."

Rarity turned to look at her, eyebrow raised.

"Oh? May I ask what you think of them?"

Sonata broke out into a massive smile as she skipped over to a few of the dresses that had been placed on racks nearby.

"I think they're beautiful! Probably the prettiest clothes I've ever seen!"

At that, Rarity gained a look of pride as she brushed aside some of her purple hair.

"Well...one does not like to toot her own horn, but I do have a certain flair for these things."

Sonata looked to her and nodded enthusiastically at that.

"You do! And I got to thinking, well...maybe I could try doing something like that?"

Rarity considered that for a moment, before then putting on a smaller smile than before.

"I'm glad to see a love of fashion being taken up by more people."

Sonata nodded, but then, all of a sudden, started to frown as she pointed in an accusing manner at the needle that was still on the desk.

"But its super hard! I probably poked myself on that thing a dozen times before you got here!"

Doing her best to stifle a giggle at that, Rarity picked up the needle in her own hand before twirling it around on her fingers a bit, thinking things over before looking to Sonata with another smile.

"You know...how about I help you?"

At that, Sonata's face lit up.

""You...you mean that?"

Rarity nodded, placing a hand on her heart.

"I mean what I say, Miss Dusk. You and I shall, if you desire, work together here in my workshop. How does that sound?"

Sonata's smile was so wide now that it practically threatened to burst out of her face. On top of that, she was right on the verge of letting out a "squee" so loud it might have deafened Rarity. But, in the end, the blue Siren calmed herself, smiling and nodding in confirmation of Rarity's offer. Smiling back, Rarity turned, gesturing to another chair that was beside her own, and Sonata, getting the message, sat in it immediately, now watching with rapture as Rarity, with a delicate and expert hand, slotted the thread through the eye of the needle with ease, much to Sonata's amazement.

"Wow, Rarity! You're amazing at this sorta stuff!"

Yet again, Rarity looked quite pleased with herself.

"Why thank you, darling. I'm sure you can become just as good, given time."

Sonata considered that for a moment.

"Maybe. I was thinking of making something like what you usually make...but this clothes-making stuff is way harder than the last time."

Those words caused Rarity to pause for a moment, and instead, she turned to the other girl with curiosity upon her face.

"Last time? Pray tell, Sonata...have you tried making clothes before?"

Sonata nodded at that.

"Yep. When me and my sisters were making our way over to Canterlot for the first time, we decided to get some new clothes. Dagi and Ari got theirs, but I didn't really like the look of anything the stores had, so...I found a quiet place and...well...made this."

At that, Sonata then looked down to her own outfit, tugging at the hem of her jacket slightly. Rarity, now finding herself quite shocked, sat there with her mouth hanging open.

"Sonata, you...you made this?"

The blue girl looked up and nodded, blushing slightly at admitting to it. As for Rarity, she now paid closer attention to the outfit Sonata had so often taken to wearing at school. Now that it had been pointed out to her, it did look rather different form the clothes of either Aria or Adagio. While those two outfits did look good, and suited their wearers quite well, it was clear that they were probably designer creations, made to be sold in a store. Sonata's by contrast, had several noticeable differences, the most obvious of which was stitching. There were overt signs of the stitching that went into it, especially on the front of her pink skirt, a sure sign of having been home-made, rather than, say, factory produced. These were hand-crafted clothes, no question, but Sonata was now starting to look somewhat embarrassed.

"Are...are they okay?"

Rarity looked up at Sonata's face, and then back down to her clothes, and then back again before breaking out into a smile.

"Okay? Okay?! My dear Sonata, this is fabulous work! I never knew you had such talent!"

At that, a fierce blush emerged on Sonata's cheeks, and she looked away slightly.

"Well...it's not as good as your work, Rarity."

But Rarity simply waved a hand at that.

"Pish-posh, darling! Never under-sell what you've done here. There are a few signs of it being a first-time creation of course, and you may need some help in learning to hide the stitching a bit better, but this is nevertheless fine work you've done. You should be proud. You're clearly better at this than you thought!"

Turning back to her, Sonata broke out into a massive smile.

"You...you think so?"

Rarity folded her arms and nodded in a far more serious way than before.

"Indeed! And that, I think, absolutely settles the matter! Sonata, you are to join me as often as you can, here in my workshop, and together, we're going to help you nurture this budding talent of yours!"

At that, Sonata's smile reached critical levels yet again, only this time, she didn't bother to hold back the noises that came with it, as she let out that aforementioned ear-piercing "squee", causing Rarity to cover her ears briefly. After her enthusiasm had calmed down somewhat, the youngest Siren, instead coughed nervously, trying to look as dignified as Rarity.

"Rarity...I accept your offer."

Smiling at that, Rarity nodded back to her before turning back to her desk, after which she picked up the previously-offending needle and held it up in front of Sonata.

"In that case, my dear, lesson one. How to get a thread through a needle...without poking yourself with it."