Faded Gem: A Story About Overcoming Anorexia

Chapter Six

   Later, the girls were entering the theater to see the musical they had purchased tickets to, 'The Phantom of the Opera'.

   "I'm so excited to see the show!" Pinkie Pie squealed as they walked through the aisles to reach their seats. "Aren't you, girls?!"

   "Yeah, I listened to the soundtrack before I came!" Twilight replied. "It has good music."

   Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Eh, the music was alright. I just came to be with all of you."

   Rarity giggled along with the rest of her friends at Rainbow's words.

   As soon as they all sat in their seats, Rarity looked down at the ground and noticed the voices were beginning to creep back into her mind.

   'I can't believe you ate,' they chided. 'You're probably gaining weight already. This is what you deserve for not listening to me. What have you done?'

   Rarity clenched her eyes shut to stop the tears from rushing down her face. She was wearing her mascara and didn't want to ruin it, but she also didn't want her friends to see how badly she was suffering. She wanted them to believe that she was having fun with them, but the mask appeared to be slipping and Rarity was struggling to keep it on.

   Rarity's efforts were futile and she felt the tears begin to pour down her face. However, she was able to keep her whimpers quiet and the lights were beginning to dim, making it harder to notice.

   Then she felt a hand overlap hers. Rarity looked over in surprise to see that Applejack had put her hand over Rarity's to comfort her. Applejack smiled at her. "Despite what your head might be tellin' ya, Rares, you're on the right track. Don't forget that."

   Rarity smiled as she realized that Applejack didn't take her hand off of hers. Rarity wanted Applejack to keep her hand there forever. It was warm and made her feel calmer. The negative thoughts began to subside.

   The opening to the show started and the beginning portrayed an auction in an old opera house. The auctioneer showed the participants a beautiful chandelier, but it was cracked and remnants of the glass were scattered all around it.

   The auctioneer proceeded to explain the backstory around the shattered chandelier to the participants. When he was finished, he switched it on. There was a bright flash and the overture began to play, causing the audience to cheer.

   The girls looked at each other in anticipation. The intense overture was stirring up their feelings of excitement and they just couldn't wait to see what happened next.

   Rarity continued to watch intently throughout the show's run. However, she couldn't help stealing a few glances at Applejack during certain scenes. Parts of the show seemed to remind her of them. During the scene where Christine, the main character of the story, escaped to the roof of the opera house with Raoul, her love interest, the comforting gestures Raoul gave to the frightened Christine reminded Rarity of Applejack's hand resting on top of hers.

   The ending of the show was a mysterious, yet perhaps not tragic. After the Phantom of the Opera had tormented Raoul and Christine in his refuge underneath the opera house, he regretted his actions and let them leave. Pining after Christine, saddened that his affections were unreturned, he huddled underneath his cloak atop his throne. When the angry search mob entered his lair, looking for Christine, her friend, Meg Giry, discovered the mask of the Phantom still lying on the throne. When the mob discovered that no one was there, Meg lifted the mask into her hands and gazed upon it in wonder as the lights began to dim.

   Rarity wondered what she would've done if she had affection for somebody that went unrequited. The thoughts of any affection towards her being unreturned seemed to make her negative thoughts return. Maybe she'd be pushed over the edge. But to what extent?

   "Rarity."

   Rarity was startled and quickly turned to look at her friends. They smiled at her.

   "Did ya like the show?" Applejack asked. "It was pretty good, wasn't it?"

   Rarity smiled and nodded. "Yes. I enjoyed it. It seemed like all of you did as well."

   "Oh, are you kidding? It was sooooooooo good!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

   Rainbow Dash nodded. "I agree. That was actually a pretty cool story."

   "And I loved Christine's voice," Fluttershy chimed in. "I'd like to be able to sing like that someday."

   "Oh, you can totally do that!" Pinkie Pie encouraged. "You've got an ah-mazing voice!"

   Fluttershy grinned at her. "Aw, thanks, Pinkie. That means a lot."

   As the girls continued to chat about the show, Applejack noticed that Rarity was deep in thought. She hoped that it wasn't about depriving herself of food. 

(A/N: You know those moments when you have the climax of the story planned out before the rest of it? Yeah, that's me rn. I know exactly what I want to happen during the climax and I even know what I want the ending of the story to be. But I'm... kinda struggling to reach the climax. I know it doesn't seem like it since I'm uploading a chapter a day, but I'm kinda using these scenes as filler and I feel like they're not adding to the plot. I hope I can come up with something! 

Oh! Also, I'm planning on making one of my stories an audio drama on YouTube when I get all of the right equipment and editing software for it. I have three stories that I currently have in mind and this is one of them. Is that something you guys would like to see? Please let me know!

In the meantime, please continue to enjoy this story! I'm so glad that I've gotten so much love and support for it. I never thought I'd even get this many comments and seeing notifications when I get on Wattpad always makes my day. I love you, guys! Mwah! <3)