Chapter 53

It was 2:30am in the town of Canterlot.

The Carousel Boutique was dark and deserted looking from outside on the street. Inside however, as always, the owner, by the name of Rarity, was inside working through the night as she had done many times for the past six months.

She was hidden away inside her work room with the door shut, hiding her activities from the outside as she worked away at another customer’s fancy garment.

Rarity was sitting in her roller chair, leaning against the counter with her red magnifying glasses on, making some precise stitches along the sleeve of the dress; the kind that could only be done with the talented white hands of this particular seamstress. She appeared to be deeply engrossed in her work, but her mind was elsewhere…

She was feeling painfully alone that week. Her companions had gone. Her new girlfriend, her best friend, Fluttershy, had been taken by force by an Agent of the US government, and her boyfriend, Golden Arrow, had gone to find her. And he took her friend, Sunset Shimmer along with him to help, instead of Rarity.

This didn’t sit well with the Fashionista from the start. It bothered her fragile ego, even though she knew that Sunset’s skills made her a far more effective person for the type of rescue they were planning. Still, Rarity couldn’t help but feel rejected, and shut out from being able to help find her own lover, who she missed so bad that she now had a persistent twinge of pain in her chest, hammered in place by the weight of her emotion and worry for the shy girl. And to boot, her handsome warrior had left her behind when he left to rescue the captive lover, leaving the fashionista utterly alone.

In the back of her mind, she was also very aware of Sunset’s condition; an unconditional, uncontrollable sexual arousal directed solely at the same man that Rarity now loved with the same level of passion that the shy girl always did. The fashionista couldn’t help but think of Sunset alone with him for days on end…would she, or both of them succumb to the sexual tension between them?

Rarity shook her head at the thought. “NO Rarity! Do not be jealous! Sunset is a loyal friend who has put herself out there to help bring Fluttershy home…she is respectful, and will not indulge herself with him…not when her friend is alone and scared, locked up in god knows where.”

Rarity stopped her stitching for a moment to hold up the garment to inspect it. She scowled and huffed when she saw the edge had been stitched crooked, a direct result of her lost thoughts while she worked.

She threw the dress down on the countertop. “Rats!” she whispered to herself, taking off the red glasses and squeezing the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.

The indigo-haired girl finally sat back in her chair, letting her arms hang down over the armrests as she looked up at the lights, reminding herself of the night he came and fixed that very light. Then, she glanced over at the countertop, reminiscing about the fun they had over there after the light was fixed.

She closed her eyes and covered her face with both hands. “What am I doing here?” she thought to herself. “Who does he think he is, telling me I couldn’t come with them? I should be there…Fluttershy is my girlfriend too…I simply cannot believe I fell for his trick!”

Rarity sighed as she removed her hands from her face, folding them on her lap, fidgeting with her fingers. “Stay here and look after Canterlot??? Since when does Canterlot need looking after? It’s not a baby!”

She shifted her eyes to the ceiling again, shaking her head slowly. “My goodness, Rarity. You can be so naïve at times,” she said out loud to herself.

She took a deep breath, reminding herself that what’s done is done, and she would now have to wait for her friend and lovers to return. She felt so helpless. Worthless, even. Why wasn’t she allowed to come along for the rescue mission?

It was now the wee hours of Thursday morning. They had only been gone for three days, but it felt like an eternity to her. She missed her companions; she missed their voices, their scents, and the pleasure they brought each other. Who did Cody think he was, stealing that away from her? She was happy. They were all happ-

Rarity’s thoughts were suddenly shattered by the sound of…well, shattering.

Glass.

Out in the showroom.

She turned towards the door of her work room, listening intently, hearing the sounds of crunching glass under the soles of boots, followed by a male voice, talking quietly.

“What the hell?” she whispered, getting up from her chair and walking over to the door, putting her ear close to the door to listen.

“Just look behind the counter…if it’s not there, then we’ll check the back rooms,” the deep, scratchy voice murmured through the door. “There’s gotta be a cash box here somewhere, or a safe. We’ll just take the whole fuckin thing if we have to.”

“Someone’s robbing my boutique??” Rarity thought to herself, shocked at the realisation. She stepped back from the door for a moment, then scowled as the frustration built up inside her. She then took a deep breath, grabbed the doorknob and opened the door.

A beam of fluorescent light from the work room cut through the dark showroom as the door swung open, passing right between the two men. Surprised, they both looked towards the doorway to see the silhouette of a woman with well styled purple hair, a light, loose-fitting top and a purple skirt, rounded off by a pair of tall purple boots.

Both men were wearing black cargo pants with black hoodies with dark sunglasses, presumably in an attempt to hide their identities. They were both wearing gloves and work boots, and one of them was carrying a wooden baseball bat, which was likely what they used to break the front window.

Rarity walked casually from the doorway around the counter, stopping just in front of the display case beside the checkout. She closed her eyes, shaking her head as she stuck her nose up. “Boys, I am not in the mood,” she said in a high tone, like a mother to her misbehaving children.

The men looked at each other, then one pointed the bat at her. “Where’s the money?”

She shrugged. “What money?”

“The cash box!” he raised his voice, trying to frighten her into compliance.

She folded her arms and took a few steps forward, drawing in a slow breath. “I’m afraid I do not keep cash here, darling. My customers all pay by credit or debit. On the rare occasion that I do receive cash, I gets deposited at the bank by the end of the day.”

“Don’t lie to us, bitch!” the guy without the bat yelled.

Rarity gasped, unfolding her arms. “Did you just call me a bitch?" she scowled.

“Where’s the cash?” he demanded.

The fashionista rolled her eyes and walked right up to the man without the bat, who was standing next to the far end of the counter. She stopped in front of him, then reached up with her closed hand, gently knocking on his forehead like a door.

“Uh, hello?” she said in a deep, mocking voice. “Are you and imbecile? A simpleton? I just said there’s no cash here,” -- she clenched both fists at her sides, stamping her feet on the tile floor -- “NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY STORE!!!” she screamed, in a raspy voice.

The man stepped back in surprise, then placed his hand on her shoulder to push her away. “You’d better watch it, bitch; and you’d better give us what we want, or we’re gonna fuck you up, and your store.”

She pointed her finger at him. “I believe I have already given you a very generous offer, by allowing you the chance to walk out of here on your own two feet!”

The threat seemed to enrage the man. He stepped forward suddenly, reaching out with his right hand, grabbing a handful of silky indigo locks on the left side of her head before yanking it down, pulling her face to the side.

“You got anything else you wanna say?” he snarled as he leaned in close to her.

Rarity was leaned over to her left under his pull, teetering a bit as she caught her balance. Then, a dark scowl appeared on her pretty white face, scrunching her nose up as she hissed through her gritted teeth. “You just fucked with the wrong bitch, darling.”

As soon she finished speaking, she reached across herself with her right hand, grabbing his hand, which was still gripping her hair. Holding his hand in place, she thrusted her left palm upward into his elbow, snapping the joint, hyper-extending it upward. He screeched in pain as she then held her left fist up so he could see it.

There was a flash of light suddenly surrounding her hand, which quickly faded away, leaving behind a sparkling row of blue studs across her fist, much the same as a set of brass knuckles. She then swung her fist into the side of his ribcage under his broken arm, which she was still holding with her right hand, hammering three blows into his body, sending intense waves of sharp pain through him before she changed her stance, then drove her knee into his stomach. He bent down as the air left his lungs, and she let go of his snapped and useless arm with her right hand, flashing up a set of diamond knuckles on that fist as well to deliver a full-forced right hook to his temple, knocking him sideways to the ground in a crumpled up, unconscious heap.

She quickly turned and marched toward the man with the baseball bat, who was now staggering back in terror, shaking the bat in front of himself at her.

“Stay back!” he cried.

Rarity approached him, raising her open right hand into the air towards a bright flash that had appeared above her shoulder. As the light faded, there was a long blue blade in her hand, which she swung downwards from her right to the left, followed by another flash as the weapon disappeared again.

The robber stood there in shock, watching in disbelief as the top half of the baseball bat fell away, sliced through the middle like a deli sausage.

She stepped forward and quickly delivered a left jab to his nose with the hard blue knuckles, sending a loud crunch sound through his skull, followed by a blue-knuckled right hook across his cheekbone, splitting the skin open. He squeezed his eyes shut in pain as he staggered back, disoriented by the devastating attack delivered by the dainty looking lady.

She went after him, reaching out and grabbing his throat with her little white hand, digging her fingernails into the sides of his neck as she shoved him back towards the front of the store.

He struggled to breathe through her strong grip as she thrusted him backwards towards the broken window. He staggered back, catching his balance just in time to see her hopping towards him sideways, bringing her leg up to drive her purple boot into his chest. He was knocked off his feet and out through the opening in the window where he fell onto his back on the sidewalk outside. The man groaned, laying with his back on the cement, looking up at the fashionista standing in the opening at the front of the store. She was standing perfectly still, staring down at him with a frightening scowl as a slight breeze came up, causing her dark hair to flutter softly against her cheek.

She finally took a deep breath. “You boys should consider yourselves lucky that I don’t want blood all over my showroom.” she said in a low tone, turning suddenly to walk back into the store.

Rarity approached the unconscious man, stopping to look down at the floor when she felt the broken glass crunching under her feet. She scowled as she looked back at the body, then stomped over to him and stopped beside his feet.

“Why?” she hollered. “Why did it have to be like this? Why didn’t you listen to me?” she stomped her feet in frustration at the unmoving robber. “I told you there was no cash here…” she grunted as she bent down and picked up his foot, dragging him by the leg across the showroom carpet towards the door.

The fashionista turned and unlocked the door, then pushed it open so she could drag the man outside without having to lift him through the broken window. Once he was outside, she dropped his leg and turned to the other man, who was just starting to sit up on the sidewalk, nursing his beaten and bloody face.

“Get him out of here, please.” Rarity ordered, sticking her nose up.

He looked up at her, then over at his motionless partner, unsure of how he was going to do it.

She scowled at him when he didn’t move right away. “DON’T make me ask you again.” she threatened sharply, before stepping back inside the store and locking the door again.

Once inside, she went to the back room to get a broom, dustpan and a garbage pail to clean up the larger pieces of glass, then she would have to get the vacuum from the supplies closet to get the smaller shards. She picked up the two halves of the bat and threw them in the can, then started sweeping as she thought about the robbers. “Why didn’t they just listen to me?” she wondered to herself. “It would have been so much easier if-“

Rarity froze, holding the broom in mid sweep as she saw herself in the tall mirror by the wall that the customers use to look at themselves when they tried on the dresses.

What did she see in the mirror?

She saw beauty. Class. Intelligence. She saw a professional, mature, lovely, generous, well-kept, well-respected business owner.

What did she not see?

She did not see a threat. She did not see power. No commanding presence, no reason for someone like those robbers to take notice and listen when she told them to leave her alone.

“Perhaps I need a new look…” Rarity thought to herself. She propped the broom against her chest as she gathered her hair up with her hands, pulling it back behind her head. She turned herself to one side, then the other, cocking her eyebrows as she examined her form.

“Hm…” she mumbled, letting her hair go, then she continued to clean up the mess.