After we left the bakery, we stood in front of the candy-coated building to observe the surprising progress on the town. Frame-work was already on some buildings, and others were completely repaired.
I was dumbfounded.
Rainbow saw my surprise and smiled. “Mayor Mare told you that we build fast.”
“I know what she said but I’ve never seen anyone, or anypony as the case may be, build that fast.” I said. SERIOUSLY! Last time I was at Whiterun they were still repairing walls and houses. And the war ended 3 YEARS AGO!
“Alright come on, Rarity’s boutique is over there.” Rainbow pointed to a tall white building that had been scorched over the doorway.
“You’re not coming?” Spike questioned.
“Of course not! We just got a HUGE unscheduled rain storm. The weather team has to be freaking out.”
Spike stared at her skeptically, crossing his arms. “You just wanna tell the story don’t you?”
“Ah, Spike, you know me so well. Well, see you guys later.” She took off so fast that the wind she created pulled on my robes.
“Well then, I see that she wasn’t lying about being fast. Let’s go Spike." We gladly started walking.
As we were walking, I noticed just how well the towns people, or well ponies, were getting over the dragon attack. Most were just carrying on with their day. Others were picking up and repairing their wrecked carts and stands with smiles on their faces.
“Near destruction must be regular in this world.”
“Well not completely regular, it’s just that after dealing with Pinkie for so many years, the ponies here just get used to strange stuff. What REALLY got everypony scared was Discord.”
“What is this “discord”?” I said with air quotes.
“Discord is a draconis that is capable of doing anything. And I mean ANYTHING. From making it rain chocolate milk to making the time of day change spontaneously. Seriously, he made Pinkie seem normal.” He said with a worried look.
“Sounds like another party animal I know. Is he still around?”
“No, Twilight and the girls beat him using the elements of harmony and turned him to stone.”
“Well I’m gonna have to see these weapons myself. Anything that can take out a madgod must be powerful.”
“When we get back to the library, I’ll have twilight look ‘em up for you, but I need to ask you something.”
“Go for it.”
“When…when you said you killed dragons…how many?”
I dreaded this conversation. I hate to talk about the killing of any creature. It always brings me guilt. As a leader and a teacher, guilt was something I couldn’t afford to show.
“I take no pleasure in saying this Spike but I’ve honestly lost count. In my world dragons attacked relentlessly and someone had to stop them from hurting innocent people, I couldn't hesitate.”
Spike’s worried expression never changed. “And when you say you earned their respect…what does that mean?”
“You see, the dragons of my world are very prideful. Although they are merciless, it is their nature. But when someone can beat them…they must honor that person’s strength. That is what it means to have a dragon’s respect.”
“Well I guess that’s cool. Here we are.” We approached the scorched door.
"I wonder how Rarity is taking the damage." Spike kicked at the ground.
We walked in and saw pure chaos. Cloth and various gems were swirling around the room, covered in a blue aura. In the middle of the mess was Rarity. Her horn was glowing in the same aura as the items.
"NO NO NO! This is all WRONG." She levitated more cloth and gems to a pony-shaped manikin. They began to arrange themselves into what I could guess was pony-fashion... if you can call an emerald covered mess fashion. 'This woman uses WAY too many gems'
"Excuse me, miss Rarity, do you need help?"
The cloth storm stopped and everything fell on the floor. Rarity turned around to be both surprised and embarrassed.
"Sorry for barging in miss Rarity, just wanted to see if you were busy."
Rarity calmed herself, wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead. "Heh, think nothing of it dear. I am just a bit stressed."
"What’s going on?" Spike asked Rarity while she was picking up gems off the floor with her magic and placing them into a chest.
"An order for Canterlot is supposed to go out tomorrow! But with Onsi's arrival and the dragon attack, I couldn't finish the designs because of...DESIGNERS BLOCK!!” She feinted on a couch that literally came out of nowhere.
I couldn't keep my eyes off the gems still scattered on the ground. The various gems on the ground were calling to the thief in me. I held it back and brought my attention back to Rarity.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Rarity, maybe these could give you some inspiration?" I reached into my robes, pulling out a set of Dunmer mage robes and showing them to her.The robes were long and red, embroidered with yellow cloth at the edges. Rarity jumped off the couch and ran to the robes, eyeing them like a general would to a battle map.
"Oh my, Mr. Onsi, these robes are absolutely fabulous! Where did you get them?"
"Don’t worry about that little detail. You can use these for your designs and hurry up on those orders. I'm going to need you to fill a BIG order soon and trust me, it will require your attention."
Rarity looked at me with uncertainty but then smiled. "Well darling with these robe designs I'll be done by tonight. But I would like to know what could possibly need all of my attention."
"One word my dear...ENCHANTMENT!" I yelled with excitement.
Rarity jumped back surprised but settled down and looked me curiously. "You mean you’re going to enchant clothes?"
"And armor. We're going to need armor for you girls and whoever else wants to fight. Rarity, we’re going to need a blacksmith."
Her face turned into a deep frown. "You mean working with dirt and fire and, egad, metal? Absolutely not, Mr. Onsi!" She turned her head.
"Alright then. You can be in charge of the enchantments, I'll see if Applejack wants the job.”
She settled and took the robes away from me using her magic. "Then it’s settled. I'll get started on the robes for Canterlot and we'll talk about this order later." With that said, she walked into a back room holding the robes, and A LOT of cloth and gems.
"Well that didn't go as planned" Spike sighed.
"Hardly anything does for me. Can you take me to Applejack?"
"Alright! Next stop, Sweet Apple Acres!"
We walked out of the boutique and began heading to the place called Sweet Apple Acres.