Twilight’s words stayed with Rarity as she walked back to Carousel Boutique. She knew she was right, it was no good telling the ponies that the weapons were coming, when she knew it wasn’t true. She would have to think of some other way to get the rifles, but she didn’t know how. She felt it wasn’t proper to continue phoning GHQ for them, which was something she had been doing every time somepony asked about their whereabouts, because they would surely tell her to stop pestering them like a schoolfilly. She opened the door, walked up the stairs, climbed into her bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering how she could possibly boost her army’s morale, but the answer always came back to weapons and rifles, so she eventually gave up and rolled over onto her side and closed her eyes, praying that Princess Luna would enter her dreams and give her some suggestions.
Next morning, Rarity awoke with a buzz of excitement. She had decided that if they were unable to get the weapons, then they would just have to make their own. She then headed out to the market to get the appropriate equipment, asking stall after stall where she would be able to get items like pieces of fuse and matches. She was able to get several empty bottles from Berry Punch , the only items she needed now was this new liquid called petrol, which was not going to be easy to get since petrol was being produced by the Canterlot Defence Corps to power those strange new machines called ‘Tanks’, but she decided that there would only be one way to get the stuff.
“I don’t know, Rarity.” said Applejack when Rarity met her in her new store in Sweet Apple Acres, “That petrol stuff is very difficult to get a hold of if, however if we’re only using them tonight, I do happen to have three jerry cans of it available.”
“Do I want to know how exactly you required them?” asked Rarity.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got connections to a friend in the corps.” said Applejack, waving the accusation away, “Now normally, I would think to charge about five bits, but since these are hard to come by, and since you’re a friend, I’ll say about two bits for each can.”
“That’s still a bit steep, isn’t it?” said Rarity has she took out her purse.
“Yeah, like I said, they’re hard to come by.” said Applejack.
Later that day when she had put all her ‘shopping’ in the back room, Rarity was back to work adding elastic straps to uniforms. She had asked if it was possible if she could make the uniforms for her platoon; however GHQ had informed her that the LDV uniforms were being produced in Canterlot with the weapons, which made Rarity doubt even more that they were going to get anything at all. Just then the doorbell jingled, and Rarity looked up to see an unfamiliar stallion standing there in the doorway. He had a light brown mane that was flecked with grey, and his cheekbones were sunken into his face a little bit. His eyes were quite small, and they had a cold piercing feel to them. Rarity however did not flinch at the sight of him. To her, he was just another customer who needed service.
“Welcome to Carousel Boutique.” she said, giving her traditional polite tones, “How may I help you?”
The stallion didn’t answer straight away, he just pulled out a shirt and placed it on the desk in front of her, “Yes, repair that for me, will you please?” he said in a rather bored and rude tone.
“Certainly.” said Rarity, dropping her polite tones slightly. She held up and examined the shirt; one of the buttons that held the collar down was missing, and there was a small hole under one of the arms. She sniffed slightly and levitated some thread and a needle out of one drawer, and then a small plastic box of buttons out of another. As she was about to start work, she looked up at the stallion and said calmly, “So, you don’t live around Ponyville, do you?”
“Well, obviously.” said the stallion with a slight drone in his voice. He smirked slightly and continued, “You know I was passing that church just on the edge of this town, when I saw a sign outside saying, ‘LDV Headquarters’. Honestly I don’t know why you bother; they wouldn’t be able to stop a filly catching a cold than an invasion.”
Rarity lowered the needle and looked at the stallion squarely in the eyes, “You know I don’t entirely admire your tone sir.”
“Meaning?” said the stallion, an eyebrow raised.
“Well, as a believer of the phrase ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’, I must admit that I do find your choice of words in that statement quite suspicious. For example you said, ‘I don’t know why YOU bother’ as opposed to ‘I don’t know why WE bother’.” said Rarity suspiciously, “And I don’t entirely believe it is common to say something as serious as that where one could possibly give out important information.”
“What exactly do you mean?” asked the stallion dangerously.
“Well as I don’t know you, I have to be cautious about what to say if you are to say things about the Local Defence Volunteers, and we do have to be very careful about security. For all I know, you could be a Changeling spy.”
“What utter nonsense!” snapped the stallion.
“It is not nonsense, sir.” said Rarity, as calmly as she could but there was now a hint of venom in her voice, “You hear stories about how Changelings have been sneaking into Equestria, disguising themselves to get information out of anypony, and I’m afraid I don’t intend to take that risk.” and so she handed the shirt back to him, without having repaired it.
“Are you refusing to fix this?” demanded the stallion.
“I am afraid so.” said Rarity, “I have never turned down a customer before, but in sight of your behaviour and attitude you have unfortunately leave me no choice.”
The stallion glared at her seething slightly and put the shirt back into its bag, turned on his heel and marched out of the shop. Perhaps Rarity would have been more polite if she had known that the stallion had arrived in a private cart, with another stallion dressed in military uniform with three stripes on his forelegs.
“Everything alright, General?” asked the Sergeant as the stallion sat back down, breathing heavily.
“Damn seamstress.” was all the stallion said as the cart pulled away.
After seeing the stallion out, Rarity turned to look at the clock. It was nearly 5 o’clock, there was only half an hour before she would go out on parade. She went upstairs to her bedroom, put her armbands on and examined herself in the mirror, wishing that someday she would be able to see herself in proper uniform with three pips on her shoulder. She sighed and headed back downstairs just as the door rang again, she looked and saw Twilight and Spike entering, Spike carrying a newspaper.
“Have you seen the news Rarity?” asked Twilight, “The war news is not looking good.”
Spike handed Rarity the newspaper. Rarity scanned the front page, eyes widened the further she read. Somehow the Changelings had managed to advance fifty miles across the desert, and were now setting up camp somewhere in between Appleloosa and Dodge Junction undetected.
“Heavens!” Rarity breathed, “How ever did they manage to move so quickly?”
“Shining Armour reckons they were moving slowing alongside the canyons, he sent a letter telling me about it this morning.” said Twilight, “ He also told me that Princess Celestia has suggested on sending in more ponies to guard Appleloose and Dodge Junction as soon as possible.”
“Yes, providing they haven’t destroyed the tracks yet.” said Rarity, folding up the newspaper and putting it on the table, “We will need to be extra careful, now that we know how close the Changelings are. Come on, we better go down to Parade. Spike, would you be a darling and pick up the bags in my sitting room would you?”
“What exactly do you have planned?” Twilight asked when she saw Spike carrying two heavy bags, one sounding like it was full of metal.
“I have devised an interesting solution for our lack of weapons.” Rarity grinned as she walked out of Carousel Boutique and up the road towards the Church Hall.