Author's Notes:

Despite all of what's happened with the comments in the past chapter, I want you to know that I'm still determined. I'm going to keep on writing this story, I'm going to entertain as many of you as I can, and I'm just going to leave you with a cute little CMCs story that will hopefully keep you smiling for a long time.

It's going to take a lot more than a few negative comments to keep this bad boy down, I guarantee you that.

And with that, enjoy the chapter!

"Thanks again for helping us out with these outfits, Rarity." Sweetie Belle smiled as she handed her the phone with the picture of the Dazzlings' clothes on it. With some phone apps, she had edited it out so that the Dazzlings' heads and limbs had been covered with white paint.

"It's no problem at all, Sweetie Belle." Rarity looked at the clothes and pushed an icon on Sweetie Belle's phone. With some more taps on multiple different symbols after that, she sent it to a large tablet close to her sewing table. "Those threads. That elegant combination of colour palettes. It's all simply wonderful! Though... I can't help but get the feeling that I've seen these designs before." She scratched her chin with a single finger as she looked at the clothes on her tablet.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders bit their lips and shuddered at Rarity's concentration. They knew that it she could recognize the clothes as the Dazzlings' clothes, then their entire operation would have been in shambles.

"Oh well, never mind." Rarity pulled out a strip of purple fabric and fed it through the sewing machine on her workbench. "How could I ever pass up an opportunity to recreate something as truly dazzling as this?"

"I don't really think that's the best word to call it, Rarity..." Sweetie Belle weakly raised her finger. "Couldn't you call it divine or lovely instead?"

"Now now, Sweetie Belle." Rarity turned from her work and pinched her sister on the cheek. "I'm the fashion expert around here, not you. I can call it whatever I want, and this is truly dazzling, isn't it?" She went back to her work, humming herself a little tune as she pushed the fabric through the rapidly pounding needle.

"Sweetie Belle! She's gonna blow our cover!" Scootaloo whispered into Sweetie Belle's ears as lightly as she could.

"No, she's not!" Sweetie Belle whispered back. "I know Rarity, and once she's committed to making a dress, she has no time to ask about anything else." She pointed over to Rarity, who was still humming while working. "Something about her dressmaker's mindset thingy."

"Dressmaker's mindset?" Applebloom tilted her head to the side.

"It's just what Rarity calls her concentration." Sweetie Belle nodded and walked over to a nearby chest. "Now, while she's working, we have the time to find some accessories for the outfits." She pulled out an apple-shaped pin and came back to the other crusaders. "Here you go, Applebloom. This pin would look great on your outfit."

"We're also going to need to make something to go 'round our necks too." Applebloom took the pin and leaned in close to Sweetie Belle. "The Dazzlings wore something 'round their necks, so we should do the same, right?"

"Well, I had made these little things in shop class recently." Scootaloo reached into her backpack and pulled out three tiny shield-shaped blocks of wood with shades of red, pink, and purple. There was a symbol of an apple on one, a wing on another, and a star on the third. "I thought that we could wear these at class, but now that this whole idea of cosplaying as the Dazzlings on our minds, why not use them for the necklaces instead?"

"Wow, Scootaloo. Those are really impressive!" Sweetie Belle looked at the three shields and how much detail was on them. "How in the world did you make these?"

"A lot of time, devotion, and thoughts about you girls." Scootaloo took the one shaped like a wing and clutched it tightly in the palm of her hand. She then held out her other hand and gave the other ones to her friends. "Go ahead. Take 'em."

"Thanks, Scootaloo." Applebloom took the shield with the apple on it.

"Yeah, thanks!" Sweetie Belle took the other shield and held it close to her face. "The perfect necklace from a perfect friend. This'll go great with the rest of the cosplay."

While the Cutie Mark Crusaders found some more accessories in the chest that were close to that of the Dazzlings' accessories, Rarity continued to work on the dresses. She looked closely at each individual part of the outfit, checking the fronts and backs and editing the dress accordingly.

Despite her hard work, Rarity had a nagging thought in the back of her mind that she had seen the clothes before on someone. Even though she didn't know who exactly it was, she could still remember the clothes. She was about to think more about it, until she saw that the dress was about to be overfed to the machine. Breaking out of her train of thought, she went back to work.

"There! It's done!" Rarity pulled out the completed dresses and showed them off to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were very closely accurate to the ones that the Dazzlings had worn, with all of the colours perfect to what she had seen on the picture. "A rather marvellous recreation, wouldn't you say?"

"At least she didn't say dazzling this time." Scootaloo walked over to her Aria Blaze outfit and picked it up, while Sweetie Belle and Applebloom took their respective uniforms.

"Well go ahead, girls. Try them on." Rarity stretched her arm out to the nearby changing rooms. "I hope that you like them."

Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom all nodded as they took their dresses and walked over to the individual changing rooms and shut the doors behind them. Once inside, they quickly took their clothes off and slipped into their new outfits for the night of the formal. They also took the shield blocks that Scootaloo had made and stuck them onto a black necklace around each of their necks.

Once they all put their new clothes on, the Cutie Mark Crusaders all came out of the doors and posed for Rarity, giving her a few smiles as they did so. They tried to stretch their arms and be flamboyant, but they flopped and flung them around to the point where Rarity cringed slightly.

"Alright, girls. No need to strut your stuff just yet." Rarity walked over to the girls, blushing as she put their arms by their sides once again. "Save that for the Fall Formal."

"Still, you did a really great job on these, Rarity!" Applebloom felt her new outfit. There were no creases or wrinkles to be seen and the sleeves stretched as she did. "And it's snug too. Like I'm wearing one of Applejack's old farming gloves."

"Yeah! You've really outdone yourself this time, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle looked at herself in the mirror. She blushed at how perfectly Sonata's clothes fit over her. "I don't know how it's possible, but I feel even more cute than before!"

"Well, that's great and all, but I'm still not gonna get over these high heels..." Scootaloo wobbled slightly as she tried to regain her composure. She now had to stand on tip-toes and it ate into her foot muscles the more that she stood. "How those supermodels do this, I'll never know..."

"Don't worry, Scootaloo. You'll get used to them in time. All of us girls do." Rarity chuckled as she held onto Scootaloo's arm, helping her to regain her posture and balance. "You know, I've never said this before, but you actually look great in a sleeveless shirt. If Rainbow Dash were here, I can guarantee she would say that you look awesome, as she puts it."

"Thanks, Rarity!" Scootaloo's grin flared up into a widespread smile at Rarity's comments.

"No problem." Rarity nodded. "Nothing but the best for some new up-and-coming cosplay aficionados." She took one more glance at the girls, the suspicion from before feeling much stronger now. "Although, now that I look at you, I get the feeling that I really have seen someone wear this before. Back at the Battle of the Bands..."

The Crusaders' faces froze as Rarity examined them from head to toe, sweating as she got up close to them, looking at each different detail. They stayed incredibly still and didn't make a sound as Rarity looked at their shoes now. One wrong move or word, and they would be exposed as the Dazzlings, and everything would be ruined.

"I know these were worn at the Battle of the Bands, but I just can't remember who by." Rarity crossed her arms. "Aside from all of the conflict and petty drama, the rest is just a blur. I never even got to examine the other teams' dresses—even when all eyes were on us!" She rubbed her own head. "It's so strange..."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sweetie Belle tipped her hand. "We just found these clothes on some kind of internet video and thought that we'd just roll with it."

"Oh really? What kind of internet video?" Rarity squinted her eyes and jabbed a finger at the girls.

"Uhh..." Sweetie Belle struggled to find an excuse. She knew that her sister wasn't stupid and that the wrong words could jeopardise the CMCs' entire plan for winning the crown. "It's from... Uh, an anime!" She coughed.

"An anime?" Rarity cocked her head to the side. "Since when did anime have such interesting clothes? What was the name?"

"Um... Uh..." Sweetie Belle looked at the other crusaders, who both threw their arms down and swung them, gesturing her to hurry up and make a feasible lie. "It's from... Cold Blooded End: Princesses of Conflict!"

"Really?" Rarity gave a small smile. "I might just have to watch that some time if the characters dress that well."

"Yeah. It had three seasons, and now it's on the fourth." Sweetie Belle took a deep breath and walked forward. "We're dressed as three members of the Pentagon of Democracy. Li'han, Sun'da, and Min'gri."

The other Cutie Mark Crusaders looked thunderstruck as Sweetie Belle continued with the lie, watching as she gave it even more detail to make Rarity believe their ploy. They performed more hand gestures, telling her to stop before she gave away too much.

"Anyway, you did us a real solid by making us these clothes, Rarity." Sweetie Belle shook Rarity's hand and lead the other girls out the shop. "I guess we'll see you on the night of the Fall Formal. C'mon, girls."

Rarity waved the girls off as they walked out of the boutique, looking at how their arms were over each others' backs. Despite what Sweetie Belle had told her, she wasn't entirely convinced, and gave a light stare as she watched them walking down the streets.

"That was way too close of a call, Sweetie Belle." Scootaloo brushed the sweat off of her face once again as she and the others walked towards their next destination. "I thought we were going to get caught half of the time. I mean, she said dazzling and made you have to make up that lie to throw her off the scent."

"Don't worry, girls. Cold Blooded End doesn't even exist." Sweetie Belle smiled and rubbed her outfit. "I told you that I got this. I had to lie to Rarity about a lot of stuff when I was in pre-school. Who ruined her homework, made a mess in her bedroom, all kinds of things."

"Didn't you think you were gonna get caught?" Applebloom raised a brow and put her hand on Sweetie Belle's shoulders.

"Nope." Sweetie Belle beamed from ear to ear. "What Rarity doesn't know won't hurt her. And besides, you saw how much she was working on those dresses. It was like she poured her heart and soul into them!"

"Well, however good she did it, I just hope that it gets us some extra marks on the night of the Fall Formal, 'cause I'm not wearing these without winning." Scootaloo still wobbled while walking down the streets.

"Don't worry, Scootaloo. We've got most of the pieces now." Sweetie Belle opened the list on her phone again. "Acting? Done. Dresses? Done. Now all we need is to go to the hairdressers and get our hairs done up. You can't be the Dazzlings without their hairstyles, right?"

"Right." Scootaloo and Applebloom nodded.

"Trust me, girls. This is going to work out just fine." She felt the shield dangling gently from her necklace; the light glistening off of the finely-carved, polished, and painted wood. It bounced with every step she took and lightly banged against her chest, as did the ones worn by the other Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"I just hope that that anime lie you told was a strong one, Sweetie Belle." Applebloom looked up to the skies. "Ever since I watched that one about massive monsters killing and eating humans, Applejack banned me from ever watching anime ever again, let alone talking about it."

"Sometimes a lie is much less painful than the truth itself." Sweetie Belle looked over at Applebloom and gently rubbed the back of her head. "If we just up and told Rarity that we were going to cosplay as the Dazzlings, she would've immediately stopped making the dresses and would've thrown us out. You know how much she hates those three..."

"I still think it's pretty bad to lie to her face; and about something so ridiculous." Applebloom gazed into Sweetie Belle's eyes. "She's going to tell all of the other Rainbooms about it and as soon as Applejack hears that it was an anime lie, then they're all going to get suspicious."

"So, what do we do now?" Scootaloo shrugged. "We can't just give up on this now that we've come this far, right?"

"No. No we're not, Scootaloo." Sweetie Belle tightened her hands into fists as she passed by some people. "We're halfway to completing the Dazzlings cosplays. We can't stop now. Sure, the girls are probably going to have our heads, but we have to press on." She looked at some more cosplayers on her phone, browsing the photos that she had taken in the past. "The other part of cosplaying is to be as shameless as you possibly can. Don't be afraid to emulate which character you want to be—even if many other people hate you for it."

"I suppose that's true." Scootaloo looked around. "There's no need to hide who you are and what you want to be, right?"

"Yeah." Applebloom gave a sigh and flopped her head and hands back down. "Guess we're really stuck in the mud now, huh?"

"Hey, we're all in this together, Applebloom." Scootaloo came around Sweetie Belle and held on to Applebloom's hand. "If you get in trouble, then we all do; as friends."

"As friends." Sweetie Belle reached out for Scootaloo's hand and grabbed it.

Applebloom looked at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, stretched out both of her hands, and grabbed onto the girls' free hands, shaking them gently. "As friends..."