//------------------------------//
// The Great Unknown 
// Story: Fairy Gothmother 
// by forbloodysummer 
//------------------------------//

“Punk, as an aesthetic, is about rejecting the ideals we hold as classically beautiful.” Rarity perched on her chair, legs tucked beneath her and one arm lightly supporting her chin, like she was just chatting offhand. What came out, though, had the weight of a prepared lecture. Apparently that was just something Rarity could do without advance notice. “So hair, for example, rather than being soft and flowing, is often gelled straight into spikes.”

Twilight noted how Rarity’s other hand drifted towards her hair protectively, but she said nothing.

“Singing is deliberately discordant,” Rarity continued, “rather than harmonious. Safety pins, usually used to discreetly hold together failing garments, are now proudly displayed. And boots are Doc Martens, because, well,” she wrinkled her nose, “however much your image screams ‘down with the system,’ no one wants their shoes falling apart.”

The pen scratched across the notebook as Twilight scribbled down all the information she could. Not for the first time, she wondered if it might have been worth the time investment of learning shorthand, but the familiar conclusion reasserted itself of that just not being worth it in the age of the computer keyboard.

Which was fine, whenever there was a keyboard to hand. But there wasn’t, and her hand ached, and keeping up was a struggle.

“Ok,” she said, finishing the paragraph and scanning through it once to check she’d copied everything down correctly. Hair, singing, pins, boots. Check. “But isn’t that just as true for the other two styles as well?”

By the time Twilight looked up, Rarity had pulled out a nail file from somewhere. She set about detailing each finger in turn with it as she answered.

“Oh, I’m sure there are some crossover elements here and there,” she said without looking up, “but they’re distinct aesthetics, coming from very different roots.”

So similarities might be down to one deliberately influencing the other, Twilight hypothesised, but could also be products of convergent evolution, if such a thing could be applied to fashion.

Rarity took a breath. “One contrast is that goth and gothic – and I’ll be the first to admit I’m not so sure about the distinction between the two – can often have a much more vintage influence. Quite ballroom, quite Victorian. Corsets are very ‘in’ in those scenes, for example.”

Try though she might, Twilight couldn’t stop the pen slowing down as she recalled that, yes, corsets had been associated with historical fashion, but that these days they were mostly seen in other contexts. Was that the kind of thing Aria or Limestone would wear for a trip down to the shops? The image made her pen slow considerably more.

“That seems quite a lot of effort to go to?” Twilight offered, remembering how the statement most frequently repeated regarding corsets was how uncomfortable, even unhealthy, they were to wear.

“Absolutely, Darling, but these things fall under the heading of Alternative Fashion, not Absence of Fashion. While goth’s main marker from a design perspective might be the dark pallette, that doesn’t mean it’s one-note, or doesn’t stand out in a crowd. You should see some of the gothic wedding dresses people have made.”

Compared to the time Rarity spent on her appearance, from styling her hair to exfoliating, perhaps putting on a corset each morning wasn’t as bad as it sounded. Twilight was just glad to have realised the difference between shampoo and shower gel, and hoped that no one – especially Rarity – would learn her hair washing routine before that point.

“Ok, sure, that’s goth and punk covered, then,” Twilight said, drawing a line under her latest paragraphs of notes. “What about rivethead?”

Rarity smiled and turned up her palms. “I’m afraid I honestly don’t know too much about that one. The other two are fashion influences which have stood the test of time long enough to become mainstream references. The same can’t be said for rivethead. I think it’s a little too subculture.”

That was a double blow, being the one that Limestone had specifically been identified as. Twilight’s eyes rested on her notes without really seeing them. They’d be a good start, but perhaps not enough even to make a better second impression. Maybe she could try the internet again.

“But,” Rarity added, “I’m eager to hear whatever you find out about it yourself.”

“Thanks, Rarity,” Twilight said, looking up from the table, “I’ll see what I can do.” The clock on the wall said they were almost due back to class anyway, so she said her goodbyes and cleared away her lunch paraphernalia, planning how to proceed on the way to her lesson.

For the next step of her experiment, she was on her own!





On an intellectual level, Twilight really didn’t grasp why such great value was placed on authenticity. If something delivered the right result, then did its origins or its sincerity really matter? Declaring that something had to be ‘authentic’ where material goods were concerned, at least, only served to add a great deal to the pricing.

So of course authenticity was the virtue the groups Twilight was trying to get closer to prized. Of course. The first two minutes of internet research on her phone had made that plain. ‘Wimps and posers, leave the hall’ was the line that stood out.

It left Twilight uncertain how to proceed.

Rarity had suggested she needed to do some research of her own, and demonstrate that she’d made some effort and attempted to achieve the desired results herself. All Twilight could think of doing to show that was looking up some pictures of goths, punks and rivetheads, and trying to purchase what she could find that would match. Then, through Pinkie and Limestone, Twilight could find Aria again, and be accepted as her student.

Except that wouldn’t happen.

Because looking up pictures of those people and trying to copy their appearance, Twilight was pretty sure, was exactly the kind of thing that would get her labelled a ‘poser’ in Aria’s eyes. And that would lead to the interaction going even worse than their last.

Would learning from a real person, face-to-face, be better? Rarity had mentioned her friend Inky Rose, who might have a kinder disposition than Aria and be more willing to help out.

Even then, though, that felt like it would be Twilight dressing up in a costume to get a specific reaction from someone, and that didn’t sound too authentic either.

That was how she found herself on the way to Pinkie’s house after school. Like her maths tutor had always taught her, if she couldn’t find the solution, she could at least explain the problem. So she’d lay it out for Aria, highlight where she was getting stuck, and try to ask Aria as openly and simply as possible what she’d do in that situation.





“Pinkie, your friend is here!” the grey girl managed to call back into the house loud enough to be heard whilst still retaining her usual monotone.

That was Maud, Twilight confirmed to herself as she stood sheepishly on the doorstep. A student in the year above, whose passions included rocks and poetry. The funny thing was that Maud was almost always the one to answer the door, but, in all Twilight’s visits to the house, had never been known to have any callers of her own.

Rapid thuds came through the walls, which experience told Twilight was Pinkie bounding down the stairs.

“Twilight!” Pinkie said, rounding the corner. Maud wordlessly stepped aside and disappeared into another room, and Pinkie took her place standing at the door. “I’m so glad we’ve reached the drop-by-uninvited level of friends, I was worried we’d never get to it. It took three years with Rarity! I’m still not there with Fluttershy, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.”

Even though Twilight knew Pinkie’s enthusiasm hadn’t literally knocked her glasses askew, the subconscious impression was strong enough that she ended up straightening them anyway. And that excitement made it really very awkward indeed that it wasn’t actually her that Twilight had called to see. She could at least try to soften the blow with conversation first? “Is there anyone who’s on that kind of basis with Fluttershy? We all know how she hates surprises.”

“Only Dashie,” Pinkie sighed, but did so with a smile. “They go way back. We’re never getting close to that level.” Then she cocked her head on one side, like Spike did from time to time. “But you’re not here to see me, are you?”

For the 79th time, Twilight reminded herself how easy it was to underestimate Pinkie, and what a mistake that could be. ”I’m, uh… not really?”

“You were hoping Limestone would be around, and that you could try asking her again?”

Twilight could only guiltily grin.

“Well, you’re in luck! Not only is Limestone upstairs, but Aria’s here at the moment too!”

Both of them?! Oh dear. Just one or the other had been difficult enough to face up to. With both, the best strategy might be to turn and run.

No, Twilight, that’s hyperbole, and you’re better than that. “...Great!” she said, straining that grin as far as she could.

“I’ll go grab them for you,” Pinkie said, disappearing before Twilight could give any hint that she perhaps wasn’t ready, but, thankfully, disappearing before Twilight could give any hint that she perhaps wasn’t ready.

Their imminent arrival left Twilight with far too few seconds to strategise what to do next. Which of the two would be better to focus on? Or should she split it between them equally? She found herself wanting to believe that Limestone would be the safer option, because she was Pinkie’s sister so she couldn’t be that bad. But then, Twilight had met Fluttershy’s brother, so that logic demonstrably wasn’t true.

So lost was Twilight in her thoughts and panic that she didn’t notice Maud standing in the doorway again, and jumped when spoken to.

“Would you like anything to drink?”

“Oh, uh,” Twilight pulled at her collar, “thank you, but I’m fine.”

That was when Twilight realised Pinkie had been gone quite a long time. She didn’t want to check her watch in front of Maud and appear rude, but it most likely wasn’t a good sign. Pinkie was probably having to talk Aria and Limestone into coming down to make an appearance and not just leaving her hanging.

Which, if she was honest – as any scientist had to be above all else – was perhaps the best response she could have hoped for, and anything better would have been unrealistic. Pinkie still being upstairs trying to talk them into it was good news, compared to outright, unwavering refusal straight away.

Time was passing, and Maud was still standing in the doorway, mostly motionless aside from blinking every once in a while. That meant Twilight had to make conversation, or seem impolite. Even if she got the feeling both of them would have been more comfortable with their silence.

“So, Maud… how are things with... rocks?”

Twilight wasn’t the best at reading people. In fact, she was probably the worst. Furthermore, of all the people she knew, Maud was by far the hardest to read. So, empirically, Twilight was certain Maud’s non-verbal response to the question gave no big clues as to how she was feeling. But all the same, Twilight’s impression was of Maud suddenly brightening up.

“Things with rocks are good, thank you.”

There was a long pause, and Twilight fretted over what to say next. Could she just ask the same question about poetry?

But Maud beat her to it. “Recently I’ve been spending a lot of time researching concrete. I dislike composite materials on principle, but knowing about them will be useful for our family business.”

Even with her standard flat voice, there was a hesitancy to Maud’s delivery, like she wasn’t sure whether volunteering such information was the right thing to do. Twilight wasn’t sure either, but it definitely made responding easier.

“Ooh, the transistor of the construction industry!” Not many of the things learned from her third-grade physics project had come up since, but she was suddenly very glad of her choice of material to study. “Did you know the largest unreinforced concrete dome in history was built 1,900 years ago?”

Maud blinked. Her reply was even more hesitant. Twilight suddenly realised Maud had probably never received that kind of enthusiastic response before, and might not know what to make of it. “The Pantheon, in Athens,” Maud said. “But the modern method of reinforcing with steel bars means much wider spans are now commonplace. The Seaddle Kingdome is four times larger.”

“Combining concrete’s versatility and low price with steel’s tensile strength!” Twilight beamed. Maybe she did need to spend a bit more time reading up on concrete? Just because not many people talked about it didn’t mean it wasn’t interesting!

Before Maud could answer, a thud came from inside the house. Another straight after, and another, another and so on. Maud turned for a moment to look back into the house, then back to Twilight. “It’s been nice talking to you. Perhaps we could discuss concrete further another time.”

Then Maud was gone, back inside the house and out of sight despite not having appeared to move quickly, before Twilight could even tell her how nice her offer sounded.

That was when Twilight realised those noises were footsteps descending the stairs, loud enough to leave no doubt they were caused by enormous boots.