by G. M. Berrow
“Charity, you’ve done more than enough for now.” She adjusted her red work glasses. “You should go out and do something fun! Just run a few errands on this list, and then the afternoon is yours.” Rarity handed her a little scroll with some items written on it.
“Are you sure?” Charity asked. “I could always stay here and reorganize your fabrics again. The organzas and brocades are looking a little untidy.…”
“No, no, no! I will not hear another word about it—shoo!” Rarity pushed the pony out the door. Once she was gone, Rarity breathed a little, tiny sigh of relief. It was hard work being somepony’s role model.
Charity was having a busy afternoon. She’d stopped by Sweet Apple Acres for some apples, Sugarcube Corner for some Bluedazzle berry tarts, Fluttershy’s cottage for some kitty food, and the Golden Oak Library for some old book on traditional period costume design. The last stop had eaten up a lot of time because Twilight Sparkle tried to get Charity to take some extra books about Star Swirl the Bearded and an art book about seaponies for “fashion inspiration.” She’d finally just taken them to be polite. That Twilight Sparkle could be very persistent. For that matter, so could Spike, who’d offered to accompany Charity on the rest of her errands at least four times. She’d politely declined.
Now Charity was wandering around town, looking for somewhere to buy the last thing on her list—quills. When she found the sign for the Quills and Sofas shop, she trotted over. It seemed so odd. She peeked inside the window to see if they really sold only those two things. Sure enough, the shelves on the walls were lined with quills and the floor was packed with sofas of every shape and color.
“Interesting,” she marveled aloud to nopony. “The suburbs are such a mystery!” She was about to go inside, but as she leaned back from the window, she noticed her mane in the reflection. It looked awfully frizzy and unkempt. How dreadful, she thought. If she wanted to be more like Rarity, a messy mane was not the way to do it. Rarity would say, “An untidy mane equals a plain Jane.” Something had to be done, and fast.
“Excuse me, sir,” Charity said to a tall red stallion with a green apple cutie mark she saw passing by. “You wouldn’t happen to know where a mare can find a beauty salon around here, would you?”
“Eeyup,” replied Big Mac. He was hitched up to his applecart. He appeared to be in the middle of making a delivery to Mayor Mare at the Ponyville town hall. She could tell because the crates read MAYOR MARE, TOWN HALL.
“Oh awesome!” replied Charity. “I mean… how divine.” She batted her eyelashes like she’d seen Rarity do. “My mane is totally appalling, don’t you think?”
Big Mac wasn’t a stallion of many sayings. “Nope.” He shook his head.
Charity blushed, taking it as a compliment. “Thanks. So anyway, where is it?” He pointed his hoof down the lane to a building with a purple roof and tall gold-tipped spires. The green sign hanging out front had a picture of a mare with a beautiful, flowing gold mane and tail.
“Thank you ever so much!” She smiled gratefully and took off. “Au revoir!”
“Eeyup,” he said, and continued on his way.
Once inside, a pink pony with a slicked-back blue mane and a white headband greeted her. “Welcome to the Ponyville Day Spa,” said the pony.
A blue pony with a pink mane walked up to join them. “I’m Lotus Blossom,” she said. “What can we do for you today? We have mud masks, hooficures, wing massages, Canterlot mane relaxers, and even more!” Lotus Blossom did a grand sweeping gesture with her hoof to show off the gorgeous space. It was like heaven.
“That all sounds amazing.” Charity brightened. She wanted everything on the list but probably only had time for one beauty treatment. She had to make it count. “Definitely something for my mane.”
“How about a cut?” the first pony suggested, running her hooves through Charity’s beautiful mint locks.
“Or a perm?” Lotus Blossom offered, circling around her.
“I have an even better idea!” Charity smiled. Rarity was going to be so impressed when she saw. “Tell me, do you ponies do mane coloring here?”
CHAPTER 11
The Sweet Sounds of Success
“Voilà!” Rarity announced as she lifted up the final dress with her magic. It had turned out that peace and quiet was just what Rarity needed to finish. Charity was a great help to the boutique, but her attention could also be a little suffocating. It was a little bit like having Sweetie Belle around. But Rarity couldn’t help it if younger ponies looked up to her. It just came with the territory of being adored.
“Opal, aren’t they spectacular?” She made the dress rotate slowly, like it was sitting on a motorized display in a storefront, surrounded by the magic light. The sequined ribbon sparkled. Opalescence, who was napping, opened one eye and meowed her approval. Just like her pony, the kitty was the picture of sophistication. She even wore a tiny starched purple bow atop her head.
“So glad you agree, Opal. Not too showy, yet still utterly fabulous. Thank goodness I’m finished.” Rarity looked at the clock on the wall. “And with time to spare! The concert doesn’t start for hours. I have plenty of time to treat myself to a hooficure at the Day Spa before the dresses need to be delivered. I deserve it.” She took off her red work glasses and got out a little scroll to scribble a note for her absent apprentice.
Dearest Charity,
Beauty emergency!!
Will be back soon to bring the dresses to the concert.
Hope you had fun around town!
Xoxoxoxoxoxo, Rarity
Charity arrived at the Sweet Sounds of Summer concert with just an hour left until showtime. She was now completely out of breath, and her mane didn’t look quite as perfect as when she’d left the spa. Twenty choir dresses and fifteen bow ties were much heavier than she had guessed, even with the aid of Unicorn magic. But it was worth it. Rarity was going to be so proud that she’d taken it upon herself to bring them to the show for her. Plus, her newly dyed purple mane and tail looked amazing. Just like her idol: Rarity. She couldn’t wait to show her!
“I’m here! I’m here!” Charity shouted as she ran behind the curtain that had been set up as a backstage area. “I’ve got the dresses and bow ties.”
“Thank Celestia!” said Golden Harvest, an Earth pony whose cutie mark of a bunch of carrots matched her orange mane and tail. She turned to the rest of the group and shouted at the other choir members. “Rarity’s here, everypony! Time for a costume change!”
“Oh, I’m not Rar—” Charity said, but she was quickly interrupted by a flood of excited comments from the ensemble.
“Wow, Rarity! You’ve really outdone yourself this time.” Lyra Heartstrings took her dress and hugged it close to her body. “I want to wear it every day!”
“Such attention to detail!” added Twinkleshine, a pink-maned Unicorn. She held up the hem of the frock to admire the expert hoofiwork.
“Such pretty ribbon!” said a Pegasus. The sight of the green dress against her purple coat reminded Charity of Twilight’s dragon friend Spike.
“Such beautiful sparkles,” said Tippy Tappy. She put her ukulele down to examine the garment. “It’s a real showstopper!”
“I have to say, Miss Rarity”—Senior Mint, a tall green Pegasus, trotted over to Charity and held up his green bow tie—“I do like the color.” He winked, because it was the very same hue as his coat.
Charity knew it wasn’t right to let them believe she was totally responsible for the dresses, but it felt so wonderful to hear them singing her praises! All she’d ever wanted was to be like Rarity. And now here she was with ponies thinking that she was Rarity. It was too amazing to give up just yet.
“Oh, thank you so much, everypony.” Charity beamed. She tried to imagine what Rarity would say if she were here. “I just felt so… inspired by your gorgeous voices!”
“Well, they look stunning. They were worth the wait!” said Golden Harvest, reappearing in the gown. The emerald color looked v
ery pretty against her orange mane. She started to head toward the stage when she turned around and gave Charity a double take. “Say, Rarity, something’s different about you. I can’t quite put my hoof on it.”
Charity gave a nervous laugh. This had been a terrible idea, but there was no turning back now. She put on her best Rarity voice and replied, “Whatever do you mean, darling?” Charity fluffed her newly dyed purple mane, batted her eyelashes, and hoped for the best.
CHAPTER 12
The Ugly Truth
“My costumes for the concert have been stolen!” Rarity howled. She paced around the boutique anxiously. There were only forty-five minutes until she was supposed to deliver them to the Ponyville Choir members, and they had just vanished. “All that hard work down the drain. And my reputation—ruined!”
“Stolen?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure!” Rarity replied. “Vanished!”
“Maybe Sweetie Belle decided to tidy up again and just moved them?” suggested Fluttershy, even though she knew that scenario was unlikely. Sweetie Belle would surely never make the mistake of moving Rarity’s work things again after the response she got last time.
“No, they were pilfered, pinched… purloined!” Rarity yelped. She threw her hooves up in the air. “However you want to say it! All I know is it spells DOOMED. D-O-O-M-E-D.”
“Want me to do a quick scan of Ponyville from the sky?” said Rainbow Dash. “I can catch the thief!” Rainbow seemed excited at the prospect. She put her hooves up in a boxing position. “I’ll take ’em down!”
“No…” Rarity whimpered. Where was Charity when she needed a tissue? That girl had been gone a long time. “I must face this like a true professional.” Rarity’s face became grave. “I am going to go to the concert and tell Golden Harvest the truth. Even it is… ugly!”
“Ten minutes to showtime, everypony!” Rarity heard Golden Harvest call out to her choir members behind the curtain. Rarity had finally made her way to the backstage area after nudging through a massive crowd of townsponies who had come out to watch the show. Her heart was beating like crazy. She didn’t want to tell the ponies that there would be no beautiful dresses and no bold bow ties. They had counted on her. The only thing worse than a tragic outfit was letting ponies down.
Rarity smoothed down her mane, took a deep breath, and pushed back the red velvet curtain. This is it—the end of my career, she thought.
“I regret to inform you all that there will be no dresses! They have been stolen,” she announced with a grave tone. She kept her eyes closed. “Please accept my deepest apologies.” She expected the sounds of crying, but her words were met with giggles. When she looked up, half the choir was standing in front of her, wearing their costumes. The very ones she had sewn. But how? Rarity rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
“Rarity, you’re a hoot!” said Twinkleshine. She smoothed down the skirt on her green dress and trotted off to join a group that was singing warm-up scales. Senior Mint blew into a pitch pipe and they all began to sing. “Fill-ee-ee-ee! Fill-ee-ee-ee! Fill-ee-ee-ee!”
“But how did you? But I thought that they…!” Rarity stammered. “Where did you get these?” It was a fashion miracle!
“You brought them, of course.” Golden Harvest made a face.
“I did?” Rarity felt a bit faint. Was she losing her mind?
Tippy Tappy put a hoof on her shoulder. “Rarity, are you okay? You look a little green.”
“I’m perfectly fine now,” Rarity lied. “I guess I should let you get on with the show.… Break a leg!” She laughed nervously as she backed toward the curtain and exited. On her way out, she heard somepony call her name again. She popped her head back in again.
“Yes?” Rarity said, peeking through the folds of velvet.
“Yes?” said another pony nearby at the same time. It was a white pony with a dark purple mane and tail, just like her. “Did somepony need something from moi—Rarity?”
“I just wanted to know if you could redo my bow tie,” a brown stallion named Coconut said. He leaned down as the pony helped him. When she was finished, he said, “Thanks, Rarity! Never could figure those things out.”
The pony giggled. “Anytime, darling!”
Rarity’s eyes grew wide in shock. Somepony was impersonating her! The pony’s back was to her, so she couldn’t see the culprit’s face. She craned her neck to get a better view and accidentally leaned so far forward that she tumbled straight through the curtain!
“Rarity!” Charity said, running over to her. “Are you all right?”
All Rarity could see was purple. Same gorgeous purple mane. Same fabulous purple tail. Was she looking into a mirror? No, definitely not. She was looking at the imposter—and it was none other than Charity herself!
“Just WHAT do you think you’re doing, missy?!” Rarity screeched as she stood up and brushed herself off. “Is this some sort of joke? Take off those wigs this instant!”
“They aren’t wigs.” Charity looked down at the dirt. “I dyed my mane and tail at the Ponyville Day Spa. I thought you would think it looked fabulous.”
“Well, I do, yes. It does,” Rarity admitted, momentarily forgetting the argument and only thinking of how nice her hairstyle looked, even on another pony. “But only on me! And that doesn’t explain why you stole the costumes.”
“Five minutes until showtime!” Golden Harvest announced to the backstage area, reminding Rarity that they were in public.
Luckily, nopony had noticed the duo yet. They were all too busy getting ready to go onstage. Rarity glanced around, suddenly paranoid that she and Charity were going to become a spectacle. They did look almost identical with their white coats and matching hair—the only differences were the colors of their eyes and the shapes of their cutie marks. Rarity’s was three diamonds and Charity’s was three heart-shaped gems. Still, they were both light blue.
“I was only trying to help, I swear!” Charity explained. “I brought them over because you were running late. And I so understand the importance of a beauty emergency, so I was not about to interrupt that.” She looked up at Rarity like a puppy who’d been caught playing in the mud just after a bubble bath.
“I was just filling in until you got here,” Charity whimpered. “We—you worked so hard and I wanted to make sure your beautiful work arrived in time.”
“Thank you, dear.” Rarity softened a bit. “Just don’t take anything else without telling me again. Okay?”
“Okay.” Charity nodded as a pretty melody began to play. “The show is starting!”
“Shall we?” Rarity said, motioning to the velvet curtain. “Just stay in the back. I don’t want anypony to see us like this. Celestia knows what that would do for my reputation.”
Rarity and Charity crept out into the back of the crowd. The choir ponies looked magnificent in their costumes. The Ponyville Choir started singing their first song entitled “Breezy in the Wind.” Golden Harvest stepped forward to sing a solo: “And it seems to trees, you’ve spread your wings, like a Breezy in the wind…” She did a twirl, and the beautiful dress billowed out, the glittered green ribbon details catching the light. Everypony ooohed and aahed.
“My dresses are amazing!” Charity said, completely mesmerized. “I mean, our dresses,” she quickly corrected. Rarity raised an eyebrow at her apprentice. She began to wonder what sort of show Charity herself was putting on.
CHAPTER 13
The Similarity of Charity
“Thank you all for joining me here today,” Rarity said gravely. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle were all gathered around her in the main hall of the Castle of the Two Sisters. It was the only place that Rarity could think of where Charity wouldn’t find them. “I’m afraid there is a crisis.”
“What’s the matter?” Twilight Sparkle said. “Whatever it is, we’re here for you. True friends stick together.”
“Thank you, Twilight. That means so much.” Rarity
looked across at her best friends appreciatively. They were always there to help in a crisis, especially Spike. Who wasn’t here. “Hey, where is Spike?”
“He said he had a prior engagement.” Twilight shrugged. “Whoever knows what that little dragon is up to?”
“Go on, sugarcube.” Applejack turned back to Rarity. “What is it?”
“Is Opal sick again?” Fluttershy asked, eyes wide with worry. “She did seem a little sniffly at the picnic. This is all my fault!”
“Psht!” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Ten bits says it has something to do with that wannabe Charity.”
“I bet you eleven bits!” Pinkie Pie shouted like an old-timey auctioneer having a great time. “Eleven bits, ten bits! Twelve bits! Eleven bits! Going, going, gone… to Rainbow Dash for eleven bits!”
“That’s not really how that works.…” Rainbow Dash shook her head.
“Is that true?” Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, ignoring Pinkie. “Is something wrong with Charity?”
“Yes!” Rarity cried out. “I think she’s trying to STEAL. MY. LIFE!” She collapsed onto the floor in a heap but quickly jumped back up. “Ugh! That doesn’t work as well without a sofa nearby.”
“Well, I wasn’t gonna say anythin’, but since you bring it up,” Applejack said, “the other day, Charity came by Sweet Apple Acres for some apples. She wanted me to teach her how to buck a tree.”
“Scandalous!” Pinkie Pie said. “She’s stealing Applejack’s life, too.”