Thirty Minute Pony Stories

“Rarity, you really don’t have to do this.”

“Nonsense, dear! You should look your best, no matter the occasion! And I just so happen to know what the best looks like.”

Twilight Sparkle stood on Rarity’s dressing platform, attempting to stand completely straight and still while Rarity fussed with a new dress for her friend.

“Really, Rarity. I’ll just wear something I already have.”

“Oh, I think not!” Rarity stopped and looked at Twilight. “This is a special occasion, so you need a special outfit!” She jumped back to work, moving pins and making adjustments simultaneously. She moved in to get a closer look at a stitch and blinked her eyes a few times. The stitch was sound, and she smiled at her expertise.

“Alright, dear. Come down from there, and let’s see how you look.”

Twilight carefully lowered herself to the floor, making sure not to poke herself with the pins still jammed almost haphazardly into the clothes. Rarity lowered her work glasses and blinked several times.

“Oh, darling, you look absolutely stunning! It’s perfect, if I do say so myself,” Rarity said with a smile. “Now, if you could… just….” Rarity’s eyes came unfocused as she moved towards her subject. She blinked over and over, sometimes squeezing her eyes shut and opening them quickly.

“Is something wrong, Rarity?” Twilight covered the distance between her and her friend.

“No, dear, I’m just… feeling a bit light-headed, is all… I’m sure that… if I just… lay down for a moment…” She stumbled, lurching to the left a bit, then dropping back to all four hooves. “Let me just… get my… couch…” Her horn glowed weakly, then went out. Rarity crumpled to the floor, completely unconscious.

*******

Rarity awoke in a hospital bed. Her eyes still refused to focus on anything in particular, opting for a general blurry mess. She blinked constantly, trying for just a moment to see anything.

“Oh, you’re awake!” Twilight, or a purple blob Rarity assumed was Twilight, leaned over the edge of the bed. “When you fell down back at the shop, I got worried, so I brought to you the hospital. The doctor will be in soon with the results of a few tests, and then we can finish up that dress, okay?”

Rarity blinked at the blur. “That… that sounds fine, dear.”

The door swung open slowly, drawing the two unicorns’s attentions. A brown blur walked in, floating a smaller brown blur ahead of it.

“Miss Rarity?” it asked.

“Yes, I am Rarity,” she responded.

The blur sighed. Rarity knew that sigh; doctors made that noise when they had bad news. “The tests your friend ordered have come in, and, well…” the doctor-blur gulped. “There’s a tumor, deep in your brain. It’s pressing on both your vision center and your magical manipulation center, and unfortunately, it’s too deep to operate on.”

Twilight flopped back into her chair.

“Ah, I’m sorry, sir, but I am not quite so well versed as you in anatomy and medicines. Could you perhaps explain it in a bit more of a simpler manner?” Rarity inquired shakily. She already knew what he would say.

The doctor was silent. “Well, to, uh, put it simply…” The doctor fell silent again.

“You’re going to die,” Twilight whispered it listlessly from her seat.

The doctor coughed.

“Oh.” The entire room was silent save for the constant, and now slowly increasing noises from the heart monitor attached to Rarity. “How long do I have?”

“Without medication, four to six months,” replied the doctor in an even tone, nearly devoid of emotion. “But with medication—”

—-[Time]—-

“I will get, what, a few more months, bald and in pain in a bed? I think not.”

“But, Rarity—” Twilight tried to protest.

Rarity faced Twilight. “No, dear, I will not have it. If I am to die, then I will die as I lived, well dressed and beautiful. Bald does not work for me, you know.”

Twilight stared for a moment, then fell onto Rarity, wrapping her in her arms and crying.

The doctor sat, staring at the ground.

“Sir, what is your name?”

“Stable, ma’am.”

“Stable… hmm, didn’t I do the decorations at your wedding?”

“Yes, you did.”

“It was beautiful, wasn’t it?”

“It was. It really was…” a tear formed on the doctor’s cheek. “Rarity, if there’s anything I can do…”

“Make sure it doesn’t hurt.” she said with a smile. Twilight kept crying.

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Bookman’s comments

Your Rarity is so perfect. Facing her death with humor and dignity. The “Bald doesn’t work for me” line is just so her, and her bringing up the doctor’s wedding and making sure it was beautiful was very sweet. Nice work!