//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Patch Job // Story: Rise of Char // by Turtlehaus //------------------------------// Much of the ash that had once covered the Ashen Fields had been engulfed by the Void during the Mad King's second banishment. Sine then volcano's ash cloud, that had covered the fields in shadow, was cleared in the following month with the help of the pegasi from Cloudsdale; a large majority of it being funneled back into the basin of the mountain. Although, a thin layer of ash seemed to remain just under hoof, even though it was a dramatic change from how much there was before; Rarity was not too fond of stepping in it regardless. Rarity stood just outside the main entrance of Castle Char, having taken her leave of the others to make her way to the shopping district. Tiff Pitchstone had given Rarity directions on where to find said shopping district with minimal of effort; even though many of the stone huts looked identical to her. "I do hope that I remember these directions correctly, I would hate to be late on my first day." Rarity said to herself thinking back to what Tiff had told her. "Let me see here, if I'm not mistaken, Tiff said that I would need to go two roads over." Rarity said to herself looking at the ground around her. It wasn't much of a road anymore, but the discoloration of the paths that had once been roads was enough for Rarity to set off. "I am to take a left at the corner and count twelve stone huts before taking a right." Rarity said to herself taking the left. Rarity was greeted by passing Flame Ponies who were making renovations to several of the stone huts down that particular road. Some even took a moment to admire the vibrant colors of Rarity's mane and the style in which she kept it. It was all very humbling to Rarity and did her best not to let the attention go to her head, but she did strike a pose a few times to receive some claps from on looking Flame Colts. Rarity eventually arrived at a point where the path became an intersection where several Flame Ponies were hauling large pieces of stone down the dirt streets while other were rebuilding older stone shops. "Now it should be just three stone shops down from this corner." Rarity said to herself taking the right at the intersection. Rarity strolled down the old stone path, it was worn and cracked from years of use, but it remained dependable to keep ponies from walking on complete dirt. There were three Flame Ponies standing outside one of the stone shops, looking rather nervous at Rarity's approach. When Rarity had reached these three Flame Ponies, none seemed brave enough to look at her. "Is everything alright?" Rarity asked sounding concerned. "We're… the Flame Ponies…" The smallest of the three whispered. "I'm sorry I don't quite understand." Rarity replied apologetically. "We're the ponies who want to… make clothes." The smallest pony said again. "You are? Well then, it is a pleasure to meet all of you. I'm Rarity and I've been asked by Wingston to help train you all in the glorious art of fashion." Rarity said beaming with pride. None of the Flame Ponies seemed all that excited, in fact, they seemed rather insecure just being there. "Is it something I said?" Rarity asked curiously. "No…" Replied a different Flame Pony. "It seems that I have three Fluttershy's to deal with. Well… step inside this, I guess you can call this a shop, and we'll get every pony settled in." Rarity said looking at the shop's lack luster design. The three Flame Ponies followed Rarity into the shop, it was barren for the most part but there were some stone tables that had been recently installed, along with a new counter, and shelves. As per her request, several spools of Rarity's fire proof fabric had been moved to this location to ensure that she could get her students under way as soon as possible. "Alright, before we get started I would like to get to know each and every pony here so I can better understand your muses." Rarity said out right. The three Flame Ponies looked at one another, almost daring each other to speak first but none stepped up to answer her. One of the Flame Ponies tried to nudge the littlest one to go first, but she retreated quickly; her mane flaring from embarrassment. "I'm getting the feeling that none of you want to be here." Rarity said sounding disappointed. "No!" All three Flame Ponies shouted at once in a hurry. Unfortunately, all three Flame Ponies looked away embarrassed at their outburst and returned to being silent once more. "I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and say that you three are embarrassed about being here, aren't you?" Rarity asked curiously trying to determine their odd behavior. The smallest Flame Pony shook her head yes to Rarity's question. "Why ever would you feel embarrassed about that?" Rarity asked sounding surprised. "It makes us… look… weak." The smallest Flame Pony replied quietly. "Using your creativity to make beautiful garments that even a Princess would want to wear is anything but weakness. Just because you're not breaking some stupid boulder with your hooves doesn't mean you're not contributing." Rarity replied hotly feeling annoyed by such backwards thinking. None of the Flame Ponies responded, each pony seemed unconvinced by Rarity's words and this only annoyed her further. "I will have no more of this uncomfortable silence, you will all introduce yourselves or you can find another instructor." Rarity said decisively. The three Flame Ponies looked at one another in horror, having to swallow their pride, the Flame Ponies nodded to one another; facing the music. "My name is Cross Stitch; I wanted to be seamstress ever since I was a filly. My mom would tell me stories of normal ponies wearing lavish garments that were so colorful that it would make a rainbow jealous. Being a Flame Pony I never thought I'd ever wear or even touch clothing that wouldn't burst into flames but when we were told that an unmatched fashion designer replicated the fire proof material we had lost so many years ago… I couldn't let this chance slip away." Stitch, the smallest of the three Flame Ponies, spoke first. She was a soft grey, her flames a soft orange, her cutie mark bore a ripped seamed that had been repaired with stitching. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Stitch." Rarity said warmly to her. "I-I-I-I-I'm… C-C-Crow S-S-Shay… I d-d-d-design… things…" Stammered the second Flame Pony. Crow shook nervously, it appeared that it was taking a lot of courage for Crow to say what he did and couldn't summon the rest to go on. He was jet black, his flames were a deep red, he seemed rather fearsome, but his demeanor didn't really match up with him. "Crow has been picked on by some of the other Fire Colts for his interest in designing clothes. It's almost required for colts to be mining gems or smashing rocks around here. He may not look it but Crow is at least brave enough to embrace something he's passionate about without falling in line like the other rock heads around here." The third Flame Pony spoke up but she didn't seem too shy to speak. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your name." Rarity said looking to the Flame Pony that came to Crow's aid. "I'm Skull Candy." The Flame Pony replied with toughness in her voice. Rarity was not expecting such a peculiar name for female Flame Pony. "Her actual name is Rose Blush." Stitch mumbled quietly. "Stitch!" Rose barked in anger, her face turning a rosy red from her embarrassment. "I think it's a wonderful name." Rarity said quickly trying to defuse the situation. "It's a dumb name." Rose remarked with a huff. "Well Ro- I mean Skull Candy, what made you want to be a seamstress?" Rarity asked correcting herself quickly noticing Rose's icy stare. Rose was a smokey grey, her flames were the color of roses, and her cutie mark depicted a rose engulfed in flames. She seemed rather short tempered, very opinionated, but it all seemed to be a cover for a much gentler side of her she didn't like showing. "Every Flame Pony starts to look the same around here, shades of grey and variations of fire start to blend together after a while. I want to make a statement, let Flame Ponies express themselves so they could be who they wanted to be and not just be another face in the herd." Rose remarked looking almost angry with the Flame Ponies outside. "You seem rather… passionate about it." Rarity said looking for the right word to describe Roses' aggressive answer. "Got that right." Rose said flaring her mane. "It is very nice to meet all of you, Ms. Stitch, Mr. Shay, and…" Rarity trailed off unsure of what to call Rose Skull Fire Blush. "You can call me Skully." Rose replied promptly. "Ah, well… alright then, Skully it is." Rarity replied looking not too excited about her name. Rarity had to be honest with herself. These three Flame Ponies were far from anything she was expecting in terms of seamstresses. Normally Rarity was approached by ponies that were rather eager to learn and even more excited to get started. This atmosphere felt completely wrong for the environment Rarity was normally used to. There was a sense of tension in the air, as if what they were doing was illegal or perhaps looked down upon here in the Ashen Fields. Rarity was hoping to change all that with a more hooves on approach. "If all of you are ready, I'd like to get started in our first lesson." Rarity said with high spirits. The three Flame Ponies nodded in agreement, not returning the same energy that Rarity was trying to create. "Alright then, let's just start with the basics. Let's come up with a design and go from there." Rarity said heading over to stone chest. Within the stone chest Rarity found several smooth tablets of rock but no writing implements. Looking around further through the chest, there was very little else to be found other than some scrap iron, metal scissors, and charcoal. "I'm not sure if we have all the materials we need…" Rarity mumbled sounding unsure. "Can I take a look?" Stich asked walking up along-side Rarity. "As you can see there are only slabs of rock and a few scissors." Rarity mumbled still peering around the chest. "Here it is." Stich said picking up the pieces of charcoal. "Charcoal?" Rarity asked sounding surprised. "It's what we use to draw on the rocks, at least until the charcoal burns away." Rose explained taking two from Stitch and tossing one over to Crow. "I see." Rarity said slowly watching Stitch hand out the slabs of smoothed rock. The three Flame Ponies went to work drawing upon their stone slates, the silence was met with the scratching and scraping of the coal but the three of them seemed to be very focused on their work. Rarity thought it best to not stifle their creativity with her looming over their shoulders. "There is no need to rush now, take as much time as you need. I'll just make myself busy until you all are ready." Rarity said aloud watching the three Flame Ponies nod in reply. The shop itself was rather roomy. Rarity could picture several stands and shelves having filled the room at one point in time. It was very clear that the shop was gutted of everything it had to offer and left only the walls and ceiling; only been given the essentials with its recent renovation. Rarity decided to poke around for a bit to get familiar with the shop so that she can better address the look of the store later on. Rarity saw a door near the back of the shop and decided to take a gander for herself. The large stone door proved to be heavier then Rarity had anticipated but with all the grace and poise she could muster she opened it without much trouble. "Why do Flame Ponies insist on making everything out of the heaviest stone imaginable?" Rarity whined pressing her whole body against the door and felt it slowly sliding open. To Rarity's surprise it was rather well lit in the back room, several window frames void of glass offered natural lighting, but it also crossed Rarity's mind that the natural light from a Flame Pony's mane was enough. The room itself was nearly empty, save for a few stone chests that lined the back wall, but it did offer a lot of room for storage. Crossing the room Rarity opened the stone chests to see if anything was left in them, but to her dismay they were all empty. All the work she put in to opening the door, Rarity felt that the room owed her something worth-while but retreated back to front of the shop. On her way out of the back room Rarity saw yet another stone door, cleverly placed against the side wall behind the counter. Glancing over at her seamstresses in training, Rarity could see that they were still very much engrossed in their work and felt it best to continue her exploring. Rarity struggled against the stone door, pushing with all her might as it slowly slide open. Breathing heavy Rarity quickly fixed her mane of the few strands of hair out of place and saw that the door led to a wall. On further inspection, Rarity saw that to her immediate right was a staircase leading to the second level of the building. "Well this certainly is interesting." Rarity said to herself as she climbed that stairs. There was a hallway at the top of the stairs, offering three more stone doors to potentially three separate rooms. Curiosity was already brimming in Rarity so she didn't waste any time in trying the first door. Fortunately, the doors on the second level were much lighter than the stone doors at the bottom. Leading Rarity to believe that the reason for certain doors being heavy while others were not was merely a primitive security system that let the weight of the stone keep intruders out. The stone door slid open to reveal that the room had caved in on itself. Most of the large debris was being cleared by several Flame Ponies on the neighboring roof that took notice of Rarity at the door. Awkwardly the Flame Ponies waved to her as Rarity politely waved back. Rarity watched as they used metal chains and iron hooks to lift the large pieces of broken stone from the room. "I can see that this room will be under repair for quite some time. I'll just try another door." Rarity mumbled to herself slowly closing the stone door. The second stone door that Rarity tried happened to be the smallest of the rooms, practically a closet that was completely empty. There wasn't much room to maneuver within the closet, leading Rarity to believe it was simply a broom closet of sorts. Upon attempting to open the third stone door Rarity was surprised to find it locked. Unsure if more strength was needed to budge the door, or if this room had collapsed in on itself as well, Rarity pressed herself up against it and pushed as hard as she could. The stone door refused to budge leaving Rarity quite annoyed. Rubbing her hoof along the sides of the door frame, trying to determine if the door had another way of being opened, Rarity was becoming more and more curious to what was in this room. "Rarity?" Stich's voice came from the bottom of the staircase. "Oh! Stitch, I didn't see you there. Is everything alright?" Rarity asked from the top of the stairs. "We're finished… is everything alright with you?" Stitch replied looking at the stone door Rarity stood next to. "For the most part, I seem to be having trouble opening this particular door." Rarity confessed brushing her mane aside. "Is it locked?" Stitch asked curiously. "I haven't the faintest idea, but that can be dealt with later. I would very much like to see what the three of you have come up with." Rarity said with a smile descending the stairs. Rarity and Stitch reappeared from behind the counter where Rose and Crow were showing each other their finished designs. Stitch rushed back to her stone tablet, hugging it tightly to her chest and looking quite excited for what was to come next. "Alright every pony, if you are ready then we will move on to the next step." Rarity said aloud making her way towards the spools of fire resistant material. "Don't you want to see what we did?" Rose asked curiously. "I will, after you have measured, sewn and stitched you hooves to the bone trying to make your designs a reality." Rarity said magically removing several spools from the shelves. "Aren't you going to tell us whether they're any good or not?" Stitch asked nervously. "That is not the point of this exercise darling, this is a chance to express yourselves the way you want to. There will be plenty of time later on where you will be critiqued harshly by other ponies for your work or having to adhere to a certain pattern asked by a high end client, but not today. Today is for the three of you to explore your strengths and weaknesses while doing something you're passionate about." Rarity explained placing several spools of different colored material before them. "So you're just going to watch us then?" Rose asked looking confused. "Perish the thought, uh, Rose. I will be showing you some basic techniques that all seamstresses use while showing you how measuring twice and cutting once will save you a lot of headaches down the road." Rarity stated magically levitating the scissors and more charcoal from the chest. "Who are we going to measure?" Stitch asked curiously. "Yours truly, of course." Rarity said with a smile. There was a certain feeling Rarity got seeing three potential seamstresses just starting out, most of it was anxiety she felt for them but the rest of it was pride. Seeing as conventional tape measures were not going to work for the Flame Ponies, Rarity ended up cutting a long strip of fire resistant cloth and marking the inches and centimeters out herself. Crow and Rose seemed to have little to no difficulty taking Rarity's measurements, it took a little while longer seeing as they could not get too close to her but between the two of them they got near perfect matching measures. Stitch seemed to have great difficulty understanding the measuring aspect of the lesson, having taken several wrong measurements of Rarity several times before realizing that her small stature made it difficult to get accurate readings in one go. With the measurements finished, Rarity moved them on to the next step of drawing out the patterns necessary for their designs. This time it was Rose who found difficulty in this aspect. Stitch and Crow were naturally artistic and were able to draw not only their designs with great detail but also sketched out the patterns with little difficulty. Rose on the other hoof had little to no talent in drawing, her design was crude making the patterns almost impossible to determine and brought Rose immense frustration. Rarity eventually had to step in and offer her some assistance in gauging the patterns for her design while Crow and Stitch assisted in drawing out the rest of her patterns. Where every pony seemed to excel was the third portion of the lesson; sewing. Rarity brought three pony mannequins out for them to begin bringing their designs to life. From cutting out the patterns, to folding and sewing the pieces together, the three Flame Ponies seemed to be in business for themselves and only asked for personal input from Rarity every now and again. Rarity began to focus her attention towards Crow who seemed to have no difficulty what so ever so far in the lesson. His drawn design was almost a work of art in itself. His measurements were pin point accurate, his patterns cut to perfection and he was a natural at sewing. Rarity could not put her hoof on it but there was nervousness about Crow that bothered her. "Crow?" Rarity said aloud from behind him. Crow jumped out of his skin. Shaking nervously, Crow slowly turned his head over his shoulder to look at her. "Forgive me for interrupting but I was just wondering if everything is alright, you seem very tense?" Rarity asked. "I-I-I-I-I-I..." Crow stammered uncontrollably looking even more nervous than before. "Rarity! I have a question!" Rose called out to her. "Of course! Excuse me darling." Rarity said excusing herself. "Yes, uh, Skully?" Rarity asked walking up to her mock. "Crow can't speak to other ponies." Rose hissed under her breath to Rarity. "What?" Rarity whispered back sounding confused. "Crow has a bad stammer. It makes it difficult for him to talk." Stitch whispered joining their conversation. "I had no idea." Rarity whispered sympathetically. "It's best if you just ask him things he can nod or shake his head to." Rose mentioned quietly. "Hasn't any pony tried to help him with his speech impediment?" Rarity asked in a whisper. "You're kidding, right? There's no pony like that around here. He was bullied and teased relentlessly for it, on top of his liking of sewing and fashion already." Rose hissed her mane flaring just thinking about it. "That's horrible!" Rarity whispered looking appalled. The three of them turned to look at Crow who had his head resting upon the pony mannequin breathing deeply and still shaking. "Crow!" Rarity said aloud only to have him jump in surprise once more. "Rarity!" Rose hissed trying to get her to stop. Rarity strode up behind Crow, watching him slowly begin to turn around, still shaking while his eyes were glued to the ground. "Crow, look at me." Rarity said defiantly standing before him. Shakily Crow raised his head to her. He looked like he was going to be sick, the color had drained away from his face and he shook something fierce. Rarity whipped a long sheet of fire resistant cloth from the table with her magic and draped it over Crow. Rose and Stitch looked on his disbelief as Rarity proceeded to hug Crow through the cloth. Rose's mane flared wildly at the sight, her face turning a bright red while Stitch slowly scooted away from her. Rarity could feel Crow's shaking stop, all the tension seemed to leave his body and as Rarity pulled away from her hug she could see Crow staring wide eyed at her. "I want you to know that I am proud of you Mr. Crow Shay. Through adversity and discrimination you decided to rise above it all and pursue your dream." Rarity stated patting him on the shoulder through the cloth. "T-T-T-Thank you." Crow stammered quietly still in shock. "In time I would very much like to introduce you to a few acquaintances of mine, who have dealt with similar issues, who revolutionized the fashion world with their ideas and designs." Rarity continued removing the fire resistant cloth from Crow with her magic. "I-I-I-I…" Crow stammered once more unable to form the words in time. "Not another word, Mr. Shay. You will only speak when you feel comfortable doing so, I will do my best to refrain from asking you complicated question but I hope that you will feel more comfortable here now on." Rarity stated with a smile. Nodding hastily in agreement, Crow smiled back hoping to convey the gratitude for the kindness he was just shown. Turning to look at Stitch and Rose, Crow was almost jumped out of his skin again seeing how much Rose was fuming. Rose's mane flared wildly for a moment before settling as she occupied herself with her work once more. "Did I do something wrong?" Rarity whispered to Stitch who had retreated a safe distance away from Rose. "Rose secretly likes Crow." Stitch whispered back. "No!" Rarity hissed in disbelief. "It's true. She protects him from any pony who tries to make fun of him. She doesn't let any pony speak to him without going through her first." Stitch whispered. "I had no idea." Rarity whispered back; tickled at the idea of their being a blooming romance in this shop. "I'd be careful if I was you, Rose is a very jealous pony, and you just hugged her special some pony." Stitch hissed before making her way back to the pony mannequin. Rarity looked over at Rose who seemed rather flustered, throwing several swatches onto her mock without much care before glaring back at her. Wincing from the daggers being thrown her way, Rarity thought it best to hover around Stitch for a while and avoid Crow for a while. Princess Luna awoke with a start, she was in her Royal Chamber, having been connected to Smolder's dream, and having been severed from it by a third party. Leaping out of her bed, Luna made for the door only to have it slowly creak open with Princess Celestia's face peeking through. "Oh! Luna, I was coming to check on you." Princess Celestia said looking surprised to see her awake. "Smolder is in danger!" Princess Luna shouted urgently. Within the Royal Chamber, where Smolder slept soundly, Wingston watched two Royal Flame Pony guards struggle to lift the mirror from its spot. It was amusing for Wingston and Spike to watch the two guards struggling to move the mirror at first, but it quickly became clear that they were not just out of shape. "What's the problem?" Wingston asked aloud sounding annoyed. "Sorry, sir, but the mirror feels as if it's bolted to the floor." The first Royal Guard replied. "Impossible, it was brought in here just this morning." Wingston replied. "Well sir, perhaps who ever brought it in can take it back out." The second Royal Guard replied. Wingston narrowed his eyes at the two Royal Guard ponies, not amused with their snarky remarks causing the two Flame Ponies to rapt to attention but Wingston just sighed in defeat. "That will be all." Wingston said waving his hand half-heartedly to them. The two Royal Guards bowed their heads quickly to Wingston before seeing themselves out in a hurry. Wingston rubbed his temples with his long fingers, whispering to himself while Spike tapped his claws nervously. "Any word from Princess Celestia yet?" Wingston asked turning to Spike. "Nothing yet, but I'm sure she's speaking to Discord as we speak." Spike replied encouragingly. "I am curious to know if Discord had planned for this to happen or if he was unaware of this development as we are." Wingston mumbled glancing at the mirror. "How come those Flame Ponies couldn't lift it?" Spike asked curiously glancing at the mirror. "Whatever is on the other side of that mirror has probably something to do with it, keeping it from leaving this spot." Wingston stated. "Should we be worried that it can do something like that?" Spike asked stepping behind Wingston. "It might be best to simply move Smolder rather than the mirror from this room." Wingston said scratching his chin. "We're not supposed to wake him though, Princess Luna is trying to enter his dreams, remember?" Spike asked pointing towards Smolder. "We will do our best not to wake him but I will not have the mirror and Smolder in the same room. Be a lamb and fetch those guards again." Wingston requested pointing Spike towards the door. "A lamb?" Spike asked looking belittled. "A powerful, muscular dragon, capable of winning over the heart of the beautiful Rarity, goes to fetch the guards?" Wingston asked again. "Now that's more like it." Spike replied running to the door. The Royal Guards returned, being instructed by Wingston to take extra caution in lifting the King; to move him to the bedroom down the hall without waking him. The two Royal Guards carefully lifted Smolder onto a smaller piece of granite Flame Ponies used to transport injured ponies on and between the two of them carried Smolder out of the Royal Chamber. Wingston was the last one out, turning to have one last look at the mirror; he closed the door behind him and followed the guards. The bedroom down the hall had been Smolder's old room from when he was a foal. It was just as empty as the Royal Chamber but it was much smaller so it did not seem so. The Royal Guards carefully placed their King into his old granite slab before excusing themselves once more from the room. "What should we do now?" Spike asked turning to Wingston who stood at the door. "We need to find out more about that mirror, we'll have to go down into the dungeon where the mirror originally resided and see if there is anything still there that can give a clue." Wingston replied. "Will Smolder be alright by himself?" Spike asked looking back at the sleeping Smolder. "A lot safer away from that mirror anyways, come little dragon, I will need you by my side for when Princess Celestia responds to us." Wingston said ushering him to the door. "You got it." Spike said. Wingston and Spike quietly left the room closing the large stone door behind them. Smolder lay fast asleep on the granite while a sudden black flame erupted from the stone floor near the wall opposite him. The flames twisted violently, forming the shape of the broken mirror. With a sudden hiss, the fire died away revealing the twisted mirror standing idly by Smolder once more. A giggle came from the mirror.