//------------------------------// // Fashioning the Fashionista // Story: The Day Spike Lost His Marbles // by Dreams of Ponies //------------------------------// A strange silence permeated the library as Spike stared down at Twilight's surprising form. His eyes slowly widened as his brain made the eventual connection, after which he started to suppress a snicker. "Don't you dare say it, Spike!" Twilight yelled in a high squeaky voice. That broke Spike's resolve, however, as he soon found himself rolling around on the floor, clutching his chest as he bawled with laughter. "You're a book worm!" Spike howled as he failed to stifle the manic sounds escaping his mouth. "Mmmmm," Twilight growled in her new voice. Lighting her small horn, she levitated Spike into the air, bringing him eye level with her. "Sorry," Spike said, hanging his head in quiet shame. "You're going to need to run and find Discord, as quick as you can, Spike!" Twilight squeaked as she set Spike back onto his feet. "Why Discord?" Spike said as he steadied himself, still unable to keep a small grin from sneaking onto his face. "Because this is all his fault!" Twilight pipped, worming her way closer to Spike. "It's his orb and I just know he probably planned this!" "Oh, dear, sweet, Twilight," came an amused chuckle. "Discord! Where are you!" Twilight squeaked. The sound of something heavy rolling across a table was heard, followed by a thud against the floor. Spike looked over to see the boulder from his marble set rolling towards him and bent down to pick it up. "Thank you, Spike," came Discord's voice, the boulder pulsing with light. "Ahh!" Spike yelled, fumbling the boulder in his claws and then dropping it back to the floor. "That was uncalled for," Discord's voice grumbled. "Sorry..." Spike said, picking the large marble up again. "Discord, care to explain all of this, and why you're inside Spike's Hearth's Warming present," Twilight asked sternly. "Oh, this, well I'm off with Caycay for a little Hearth's Warming trip, but I just had to watch this for myself," the orb hummed and flashed as Discord chuckled aloud. "I knew that, eventually, something spectacular would happen. With you, Twilight, it's always inevitable." "Discord!" Twilight yelled in her high pitched voice. "Fix this right now or I'll..." "Or you'll what?" Discord cut her off, anticipating her response. "I'll tell Princess Celestia about this if you don't undo this magic right now." Twilight scowled, which was not very intimidating in her current form. "Who do you think gave me permission for this little test in the first place?" Discord's tone carried a certain weight that made Twilight glare at the glowing marble with a mixture of fear and bewilderment. "Princess Celestia...gave you permission...to test me?" Twilight said to herself as much as to Discord. Her eyes unfocused as she tried to compute such an insane fact through the logical part of her brain. "Of course," Discord's voice poked at her again. "It was her present to me for Hearth's Warming. She asked what lesson I thought you still needed to learn, and when I told her my idea, good ol' Sunbutt let me have the honors." "But...but," Twilight stammered, unable to come to grips with the decimation of her world view. Spike, who had been listening quietly as he held the talking boulder, finally spoke up, "So, what's the test?" "I'm glad you asked, Mr. Favorite Little Assistant," Discord said with a chuckle. "Because you're going to be a big part of it!" "What!?" yelled both Twilight and Spike, both surprised and worried. "Of course, Twilight, how else am I going to give you a friendship lesson in trust without your favorite little dragon." "I trust Spike completely, Discord, so I'm not sure what you're getting at," Twilight said confidently. "Then you'll have no problem staying here while Spike resolves this little dilemma, will you?" "I, um," Twilight said hesitantly. Twilight looked at Spike for a long moment. Then, after gathering a significant amount of inner strength, she nodded in agreement. "Fantastic!" Discord boomed with glee. "So you'll remain here in the library, and just to be sure you're not tempted..." The orb hummed with magic and then a moment later, hundreds of tiny pops sounded around them. "I've removed all the non-fiction books in the library until the test is over. So, all you have to read until Spike returns, is that of the non-educational variety," Discord said, the image of him smirking forced its way into Twilight's mind. "I'll get you back for this, Discord," Twilight squeaked. "No one checks out books in my library without following protocol!" "I'm so worried," Discord said exaggeratedly. "Can we just get on with this?" Spike said as he impatiently tapped his foot. "Absolutely, my dear, Spike," the marble answered. "Your job is to recover each piece of chaos that was dispersed when the princess of books over there messed with my beautiful orb of magic. Each piece of your little set of marbles now each contain a bit of chaos, and it's your job to retrieve them before Pinkie Pie's party tonight!" "Sounds easy enough, where are they?" Spike asked with confidence. "They spread across Ponyville after the explosion, so you'll need to find them. But don't worry, I'll help guide you in the right direction, you must simply collect them and bring them to the party tonight." "So, what's the catch?" Spike asked, raising an eyebrow. "Chaos has a tendency to be well, chaotic. So who really knows what you're going to find when we search for them," Discord chuckled knowingly. "Just stay on your toes and be ready for anything." "Alright then." Spike said, turning his head to face Twilight. "Will you be alright, Twilight?" "I'll be alright, Spike, just...do your best, alright?" Twilight said worriedly. Spike saluted smartly as he spoke proudly, "You can count on me, Twilight!" "Time for an adventure!" Discord called theatrically. "Onward to Ponyville, Spike the Brave and Glorious!" Spike rolled his eyes at Discord's tease, but smiled to himself after he had turned away from Twilight. "Don't worry, Twilight," Spike called out as he left the library, "I've got this!" --- Ponyville's residents were out and about as the sun neared the center of sky. The crisp cold air was barely staved off by the scarf and little boots Spike had put on before leaving. With the Discord-boulder held out in front of him, Spike roamed aimlessly, doing his best not to bump into anypony as his eyes explored the area around him. "Any idea where we should start, Discord?" Spike asked, frowning at the magical marble. "It's gonna be tough to find something so small in a big place like Ponyville, you know." "When we get near, I'll be drawn towards it, all you'll need to do is follow," Discord explained simply. "Well, I hope we find one soon, hopefully inside a building, it's freezing out!" Spike said as a shiver ran through his body. "And here I thought a creature that could breath fire wouldn't care about the cold," Discord quipped at him. "Oh, you want to see fire, eh?" Spike stopped to take in a deep breath, before blowing a steady stream of flame against the marble. "Hot...hot...hot!" Discord yelped, actually making the boulder roll around out of Spike's grip. The snow melted as the sphere carved a steaming path through it. Spike jumped over and plucked the piping hot ball of draconequus from the snow with a claw and then raised one eyebrow. "Alright, I get it," Discord grumbled. "Oh! I feel something. It's coming from over there!" With a tug against Spike's closed claws, Discord practically dragged Spike towards a very familiar building. Indeed, it seemed the first marble was inside one of Spike's favorite places in the world: Carousel Boutique. "Uh-oh..." Spike said, his eyes widening as he approached the building. The beautiful paint and elegant windows suddenly not a symbol of the owner's tastes, but now serving as an ominous sign of possibilities to come --- Pieces of different fabric lay strewn across Rarity's front work station, which was located at the rear of the front lobby. Normally, she preferred to work in her design room, but today had been especially busy, so she was doing her current work closer to the front. Rarity was currently sewing a lovely, sky blue dress for a particular mail mare, Miss Ditzy Doo. She looked around at the many dresses and dummy ponies amidst her show room, the drapes pulled down over the windows to allow her a more mellow lighting from the many candles inside. She looks down again at her current project, and finds herself speaking to herself, which she she does often. "The poor deary, she's probably never even worn such a formal dress," Rarity said aloud. Pinkie Pie had invited everypony in town to this year's Hearth's Warming party, and, surprisingly, asked for a formal setting. Apparently, this was a farewell party for this year, as well as a welcome party for next year, and everypony needed to make a good impression. Rarity magically grasped for a bolt of blue fabric as she looked out across the shop. Pony dolls adorned with colorful scarfs and warm boots presented themselves for the winter season. She had even strung decorations across her boutique, which was accented with a small, but elegant wreath on both sides of her front door. "Only Pinkie Pie would think we need to dress up to impress a new year, rather than a noble of some kind." Rarity shook her head, a good natured smile crossing her face. "I don't normally do same-day requests, but Ditzy was just so desperate, and I just couldn't say no to those adorable eyes of hers." The dress was turning into a beautiful work of art under Rarity's careful hooves and magic, a wonderfully soft fabric that would arc down over both shoulders, before being latched into place a bit below the neck. "You know," Rarity said as she held the dress up to eye level, "it's almost perfect, it just needs a little... something." Looking around the tabletop, Rarity spotted a glimmering, smooth stone that immediately struck her with an idea. Grabbing the small marble in her magic, she held a sewing needle carefully as she started to affix the shining orb onto the dress. "Oh, this little stone will bring out our dear Ditzy's eyes perfectly!" She looked it over appreciatively, taking great pride in her own work. "Actually now that I've finished it, this dress will look great on Ditzy Doo, but I think I'd look pretty good in it as well," Rarity mused. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash. Rarity gasped, dropping the needle in surprise, but then, as she looked around, Rarity was unable to locate the source of the sudden light. Blowing out a puff of air in exasperation, Rarity went back to work. She held the dress high to pick back up on the stitch, but stopped as something tugged against her hoof. Rarity looked down at her right hoof and then nearly screamed in panic. At the bottom of her hoof, the fabric seemed to blend into her body, changing from a light blue into a strange, blue-tinted silver. The horrifying part was that the dress seemed to crawl up Rarity's leg, slowly fusing into her coat. The sensation alone was enough to shock Rarity, as if searing liquid were being pouring onto her, but without burning anything. Breaking free of the panic that had frozen both her mind and body, Rarity shook her leg furiously in an attempt to remove the possessed fabric. She let out a panicked squeak as it crawled faster in response, as if it were encouraged by her resistance. Before Rarity had time to react, the dress gripped her other hoof, winding its way up toward her neck. In desperation, Rarity reached out with her magic, struggling to grasp a pair of scissors on the table in front of her. "Get off me, you ferocious fabric. I won't give up that easily!" Rarity flung the scissors toward the top half of the floating dress, which ducked out of the way just in time. As Rarity rotated her weapon to try again, the dress flung the rest of its unattached self at the seamstress, completely encasing her inside itself as the dressmaker became a literal representation of her work. With a final muffled scream, Rarity blacked out, seeing nothing, and now, feeling nothing. The doorbell to the Carousel Boutique chimed a moment later as a blonde pegasus mare with grey feathers stepped into the lobby. "Miss Rarity, I came to see if my dress was ready," Ditzy Doo said, her awkward eyes searching the area. "Miss Rarity?" she called out again, walking further into the boutique. "I guess she isn't here..." Ditzy said disappointedly as she started to leave. Then, out of the corner of her eye, Ditzy spotted a beautiful fabric lying atop Rarity's work desk. Rushing over, she looked down at the most gorgeous dress she'd ever seen: a stunning silver and blue fabric, with three small, blue diamonds along the neck line. It even had areas for winged ponies, which then brought Ditzy to make a connection. "This must be it!" Ditzy Doo squealed in delight, bouncing on her hooves with joy as she examined the beautiful dress. "At least, I hope it is..." Ditzy trailed off. "Well, I'll just borrow it for now, just in case, I'm sure Rarity won't mind." Draping the dress over her back, she turned to leave the store. Just before she reached it, the door was pushed open to reveal a small dragon carrying a strange, large sphere. "Oh, hiya, Spike!" Ditzy said cheerfully. "Rarity's not here right now, but I'm sure she'll be back soon. "She's not?" Spike asked, then breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew, well, I guess that makes this easier. Thanks, Ditzy, I'll see you at the party," Spike said with a smile and a wave. "Bye!" Ditzy said happily as she trotted off, the door closing behind her. "The marble is in here somewhere. Just follow the hum I give off until you find it," Discord said. Then he started to hum. No, not that the boulder was vibrating, but that he was actually humming. The tune wasn't one Spike recognized, but it was pretty catchy all the same. Discord got louder and louder until Spike finally spotted the little smooth stone behind Rarities work table. "Gotcha!" Spike said triumphantly. Picking it up and placing it back into the marble bag he had brought with him, Spike looked around thoughtfully. "I'm just glad I got this before Rarity got back, who knows what could have happened to her. "Right, so where to next?" Spike asked.