"Dammit, Pearl, this is crazy." Mrs. Umbrade continued to stare from the far end of the dining hall at the strange, mythical creature that was for some unfathomable reason, staying in her college at the guest wing. "Now look, I know that you consider yourself a far more lenient professor than I, which is fiiiine, but you need to consider the safety of the children, first! We don't know what that thing can do, what it's capable of, and we certainly don't even know what it is." She looked away from the odd horse and squared herself up against the taller woman standing beside her, doing her best to put on a show of intimidation.
Ms. Greenwood calmly regarded the younger woman who happened to be headmistress, and her superior. "I believe the children are quite perfectly safe, Mrs. Umbrade." She looked again at Rarity, who was currently surrounded by nearly every student that was still at the school despite the weekend holiday. "Mr. Abhorsen himself vouched for that, and I trust him; he is the foremost expert on things of this nature, after all. What a treat it would be to have him find the time to instruct around here... Besides, the dear is obviously, quite obviously in fact, not some threat, but a rather eloquent and well mannered creature that deserves not only our help, but our respect." Whirling around quickly her finger found its way to jab at Mrs. Umbrade herself. "Just because you fainted during your first encounter with her is no cause to hold a grudge."
Mrs. Umbrade scowled and hmphed indignantly. "That has nothing to— Dooh, fine, I still say we should call the military—"
"You will do no such thing." Ms. Greenwood waited a moment, frowning after forbidding what was essentially her boss from doing something. "Just trust me." She looked back at Rarity and the giggling gaggle of children she was entertaining with her peculiar version of magic. "Everything will be fine. I don't intend to let her out of my sight, after all."
"Alright!" Rarity's chiming, angelic voice and laughter continued to fill the air in the dining hall, mixing with the plethora of voices from the human fillies that were so taken by her. It wasn't quite the form of popularity she strove for and was used to, but it was simpler, and still very fun. "Who would like a turn next?"
Immediately, a couple dozen wiggling arms soared up above heads as girls at various seats and in the aisle all cheered and begged to be the next to get levitated over their friends.
Rarity smiled as she picked up a small, brown haired girl near the back of the pack, and raised her up gently above the shifting crowd.
"EEEEeee!" The girl grinned wildly and scrunched up her form as she hovered higher, her friends in the tall ceilinged room all cheering. Her shrill scream of excitement grew quieter and quieter, until she started laughing uncontrollably and opened her eyes to look down at the other girls below.
Rarity smiled up at the human filly and gave a couple of simple, run of the mill loops to her flight path. She felt a bead of sweat slick her forehead, something she was never alright with at all; except under these circumstances, she decided. The effort of entertaining the girls she was in the present company of was more than she usually dealt with while designing, but not beyond her skill. She was a bit above average for a unicorn's spell strength, a fair bit really, but she didn't usually practice to any degree at honing skill to accompany her power.
Not like Twilight... Rarity sighed, keeping a demure smile on her face for the children no matter what. She continued to trade glances with Sabriel, Sulyn and Ellimere, who all sat beside her merrily while they enjoyed their morning. If Twilight were here, she would have already teleported herself back home, of that I have no— Her thoughts caught as they realized just what they were thinking over, and her smile did waver.
The brown haired girl which Rarity floated about placidly had her soaring sojourn come to an end, and she was lowered back to the floor. She let out a disappointed aaw as her feet touched the ground again.
Twilight's been missing as long as I though, as well as everypony else! Rarity continued to think over things once again. After all, she hadn't really had a quiet moment since leaving her room. She had almost stayed in bed for the day, but the three impetuous girls flanking her had seen to giving her a royal welcome. That wasn't something she could very well just turn down... I imagine... if Twilight could have fixed all of this, she would have done so by now. The worrying thoughts still continued to plague her on through the welcoming party.
"Rarityyyy, hellooo." Sabriel waved a hand in front of the alabaster colored guest, who was seated demurely on the simple school bench beside her, and yet also staring out into empty space. "Are you still awake?"
"Hm? Oh, dear me, I apologize, Sabriel. I drifted away there." Rarity flashed a reassuring smile to her friend and refocused on the crowd of girls sitting around her who still chatted excitedly with one another while also trying to inconspicuously gain her attention again. "Did somepony have more questions?"
Sabriel nodded up and down in affirmation, and the girls all redoubled their efforts to be heard now that Rarity had again joined the world of the living.
The girls had drilled Rarity with questions of all kinds; what her favorite color was, where she was from, her favorite food. There were questions of a slightly more odd variety, but they weren't entirely unexpected by Rarity from a crowd of such young girls. The second variety of those questions asked of her a great deal more and were in far greater number; such questions included things like where she was born, 'what kind of a name is Rarity?', was her mother a 'rhinoceros' and her father a 'donkey'... Needless to say, she listened to and took the questions she answered with a grain of salt.
Over the cheering voices around her Rarity picked out one that caught her attention. I hope it isn't simply another request to pet me. The third variety of questions had all been exactly that to some degree, and she had only hesitantly allowed it...
The girl which the unicorn looked at repeated her question more loudly once eye contact was made. "Are you a princess!?" she cried out a second time.
Rarity's eyes widened, and her smiled did the same ever so slightly as she looked at the girl in question. All around the crowd began to quiet as if a switch had been thrown, detecting by some means that she was about to speak.
"Who might you be, darling?" Rarity tilted her head playfully with a joy filled smile at the human filly that had caught her attention.
Every eye amongst the girls encircling the lone unicorn turned to face the red headed girl. "Ah-uh-I-I-I'm, uhm, I'm Jacqueline." The girl tried to hide beneath her forest of hair and shrink from the scrutiny of all the attention she was getting.
"Jacqueline?" Rarity asked aloud, she found herself staring at the girl's freckles. Abruptly, she coughed and brought herself back from drifting away again. "That's a very pretty name. Well, to answer you, no, I am not a princess. Though I imagine it would be quite the thrill to be one."
Letting out a little, tiny sigh, Rarity broke her stare with the girl's familiar freckles and leaned one leg on the table to look dreamily up at the ceiling. "I used to want to be one during my entire fillyhood," she started, a tone of whimsy in her voice. "Why, the glamor, the parties, the cultured atmosphere and most of all, the adoration of millions of smiling subjects would simply be wonderful! If such a thing could happen, the first thing I would do would be to marry the most handsome stallion in the land and make him my prince!"
Rarity squealed at the mere thought of such things and hugged herself to contain the excitement that had built up from imagining the sight of a crowd of ponies in Canterlot, all cheering her name. She let out another contented sigh, then spotted the faces of the girls nearest her, and the sigh became nervous laughter. Their expressions ranged from complete bewilderment to enchanted looks that may very well have matched her own until a second ago.
"Ahem," Rarity cleared her throat and smiled all around calmly, then took a sip of her drink before continuing. "As I was saying, no I am not, but we do have princesses in Equestria. Would you all like to hear about them?" She cracked one of her calmly shut eyes to peer around at the explosion of excitement from the girls. "Very well, then I'll tell you all about the two sisters that share the rule of my home."
Rarity flashed a grin over at Sabriel, who leaned intently over the rough wooden table as surely as any of the other girls listening in.
It took some time before Rarity escaped the clutches of the gaggle of school girls, not that she had been in any particular hurry. What had started as a simple breakfast and a tour by Sabriel and Sulyn, had quickly turned into a series of stories and adventure sharing. It had been fortunate for her, that as an Element of Harmony she certainly had her fair number of troublesome adventures and fighting evil to share with the girls. What had turned out to be unfortunate for her, however, was that the human children were just as insatiable as pony children in wanting more and more stories.
Rarity took a break from trotting and leaned against a wall to rest a moment. "Those girls, honestly." She shook her head, mane swaying gently to her laughter. "They remind me so much of Sweetie Bell." The brief image of her younger sister flashed in front of her mind's eye, and the sound of her lovable, squeaky voice echoed in her furry ears.
"Everything okay, Miss Rarity? Did you say something?" Ellimere stopped and turned around to ask. She was currently Rarity's escort—aside from the ever present and silent Ms. Greenwood—and they were both heading to meet Sabriel in the library, where the raven haired girl had excitedly run to for some unspoken reason. While it was a bit odd to have the school teacher trailing them, she was at least sending away every stray school girl that tried to cling to Rarity and ask more questions.
"Oh yes Ellimere, everything is more than fine." Except for every single one of you cuties reminding me of ponies I've left behind, that is, Rarity's thoughts pointed out immediately. After which, guilt swam over her. Oh, hush up, you silly pony.
Rarity sighed. "Coooming," she sing-songed out, picking up her hooves and trotting up once again beside the young girl.
Once astride Sabriel's friend again, Rarity looked over and smiled up at the girl. Despite being a full grown mare—and the majority of the girls she had encountered being adolescent—they were all nearly a foot taller than her. "I'm just thinking of my friends, truthfully enough, Ellimere. I miss them all dearly." A little sigh escaped from sharing the truth. Sharing so many stories about herself, from battling that insufferable showmare Trixie to fighting off changelings, had reminded her terribly of just what was at stake if she couldn't get home. Luna being honest about lacking the ability to get her home, as well as Celestia, had not helped.
Ellimere's hand rose and gently smoothed Rarity's mane, catching the forlorn mare off guard. "You'll get home, Miss Rarity, you'll see. Sabriel's dad is pretty amazing; the fact that he's coming is as good as a promise that there must be a way." The girl smiled widely, breaking her usual somber expression.
Rarity returned the gesture, ignoring the fact that her mane was likely getting mussed from the attention. "Thank you, darling, thank you so much. I'm sure that man will be able to help just as you say."
A dark thought, like a slimy, unthinkable monstrosity from Tartarus threatening to filthy up her coat, hung in the back of Rarity's mind, however. Even if he can though, what of the others? The images of Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie all raced through her thoughts. While she was there, laughing happily with school children and promised a warm 'shower' with a bed, they could be out there in the wilderness alone. The humans had told her already a great deal of why they had been so suspicious of her, about the horrifying creatures that plagued their lands to the north.
Rarity refocused forward as Ellimere opened the door to the library. They're probably out there somewhere, and they need my help! The problem, was that she didn't know at all where to start. I need to speak with that Mr. Abhorsen again... but he won't be here for another three days.
"There could be more of you!?" Sulyn's eyes lit up with pure glee.
Rarity looked up sadly from where she had begun to stare at the library carpet after revealing the details of her dream the night before.
Sulyn blushed, and her blissful expression sobered up some. "Oh, that wouldn't be a good thing, huh..."
"Hm..." Sabriel held up her hands and rested her head on the palms, charter books of spells strewn across the surface of the table in front of her. "Well, that does complicate your situation, Rarity. I was thinking, and I think Dad was too, that after he comes here to take you to his house beyond the wall he'll get things sorted out there." She heaved a big sigh and stretched back, hands behind her head and a defeated look on her face. "If you need to go looking for other unicorns all over Ancelstierre..."
Rarity added in at the end offhoofedly, "Only one of them is a unicorn as well, actually." She sighed defeatedly, focusing on how exactly she would find her other friends that were no doubt scattered through the strange new world she found herself in. Meanwhile, she also tried to ignore the niggling voice telling her that they might not even be alive. Don't even think that, Rarity. After all, you were missing for several days, too. Pushing the defeatist thoughts back, she continued to address her new friends. "Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are an earth pony and pegasus respectively, Sabriel, but Twilight Sparkle is a unicorn like myself, and much more skilled with magic too. I've never been envious of that until now..."
The sound of Sulyn's voice quickly building into a higher and higher pitched squeal slightly detracted from the serious turn of the conversation.
"Sulyn, if you can't better control yourself I will politely ask you to excuse yourself, instead." Ms. Greenwood sighed and lowered another thick volume of study material onto the table. She looked through her round spectacles at Rarity. "I believe this is everything that might help you get a grasp of charter magic, Miss Rarity. You won't learn but a few basic mechanics of the art in only three days, of that I am certain, but you're welcome to take anything the librarian is willing to part with as you leave." The willowy teacher crossed her arms and looked thoughtfully at her strange guest.
"Of course," Rarity sighed and looked forlornly down at all the study material; study material that Twilight would no doubt trade her front hooves for. I cannot believe I'm considering this... She poked at one book absently while frowning. It's just like learning to use my horn's magic all over again. Truthfully, she had never attended a formal magic school, certainly nothing like Twilight's enrollment at Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns. Taking that into account though, made her earlier decision to help in finding her friends even more important.
Rarity looked up at the teacher of charter magic at the school with a serious look. "I can't just sit around and wait, Ms. Greenwood." She swallowed and opened the book closest to her. "I'm safe, and my friends are missing. If they are here somewhere in this world, I need to look into any means of finding them or getting us home that I can. Is there anyway I could look for them while I'm here, actually? They could have come through that... watery portal thing very near to where I did."
Sabriel tilted her head at hearing 'water portal', Rarity noted, but the girl didn't say anything.
The creak of the old wooden chair beside her caught Rarity a little off guard. Surprisingly, the standoffish magic instructor had taken a seat beside her.
"I'll have the groundskeeper look around in town. Also you're welcome to sit in on my class during the day, Rarity." Ms. Greenwood gave her a brief, very brief smile, before switching back to looking expressionless. "Truthfully it would be a great help if you did so. I must confess, I only managed to keep Mrs. Umbrade from... holding a grudge by promising I would keep a close eye on you."
Rarity nodded and flashed a grin. "That will do nicely, Ms. Greenwood, thank you. Also, I really am truly, ever so terribly sorry about scaring her... Did she accept my apology?" She bit her lip nervously as she asked about that, doing so first hoof had not seemed an appealing notion given the shouting that had been heard by everyone in the dining hall.
Ms. Greenwood tilted her head and frowned slightly. "Not... exactly, she didn't say she was notifying the militia nearby however, so we have that in our favor. I wouldn't hope for any more than that. So far the other staff are more entranced by the notion of you being around than worried, foolish lot all of them."
Two of the three girls sitting across the table giggled at Ms. Greenwood's remarks, to which the teacher reacted by tossing an icy look at them, promptly causing them to go rigid and quiet down.
"Perhaps if I made her a pot of tea and tried speaking to her mare to mare..." Rarity held a considering hoof up to her muzzle and stared at the table top, mulling over the idea. "Oh well, a matter for later. Sabriel, I'm sorry my dear. What were you saying a moment ago?"
The human filly picked her head up from where she had laid it forehead down onto the table. "Finally, I exist again." Sabriel pushed a thick book towards Rarity across the table. "Now, as I was saying—"
Rarity massaged her poor, aching brain with one hoof as she trudged beside Ms. Greenwood towards her room. Uggh, I will never understand what Twilight sees in studying so much, ever. Her mind hissed the scathing thought and her skull felt as thought it would burst. Sabriel's eccentric attempts at trying to teach her everything about 'charter magic', as it was called, in only ten minutes had been an unpleasant experience. Thankfully, Ms. Greenwood had returned from wherever it was she had gone to take over after a while.
The sound of Rarity's hooves clip-clopping through the hallway quietly was the only sound other than Ms. Greenwood walking beside her, until the older appearing human spoke up. "So, if you can't get home, what then?"
Rarity froze in her tracks, blinking from the suddenness of such a notion. "I— What?" She looked up with an expression caught between terrified and confused beyond belief.
"I'm sorry, that was rude of me to ask." The mare spread her hands apologetically, "I've always been rather pragmatic, forgive me. I suppose it is far too soon to be thinking such defeatist notions as that." She sighed and began walking again.
Rarity stared after her a moment, then trotted forward to catch up. "I suppose if it came to that, not to say there is no chance of being stuck here, that I would open a boutique somewhere." She smiled when the human looked down at her in surprise. "Miss Rarity is not one to stay down, Ms. Greenwood." The show of bravery she put on didn't exactly reflect on how she felt about the subject, but the unicorn didn't let that show.
"You are a designer?" Ms. Greenwood asked, intrigued.
"Oh, darling, you have no idea." Rarity beamed over at her escort. "If there is one thing I find fascinating about humans it's that you're always wearing clothing... I positively relish the thought of designing a few clothing choices for you. Why, if I could I would probably do so for some time exclusively. I already have a few ideas..." A calm, considering smile kept itself on her face while she thought of a few ball gown designs, which would have room for a considerably larger amount of intricate fabric patterns given the way humans stand...
The sound of giggling laughter and chattering from behind Rarity made her turn around.
"Oh dear," Rarity cringed a little, then faced forward again and picked up her pace.
Ms. Greenwood turned around as well, before looking after her equine companion and resuming her cool stride. "They won't bother you as long as I'm around, Rarity," she said, smiling after picking up on the pony's thoughts. "I imagine your head went numb this morning from all of that attention they were giving it."
Rarity slowed her trot again and glanced back. Sure enough, the dozens of girls hiding there were tracking her as surely as timberwolves may track a bow-meow. "Yes... something like that. My poor mane is all I worry about. Really though, they're darling girls, but my hair is in terrible condition as it is without my beauty paraphernalia. Why, nothing short of a full visit to the spa for several hours would return it to its former glory at this juncture."
Sure enough, Rarity's usually bouncing, curled mane was currently a sheening, flat sheet, brushed straight without any attempt made to give it the normal appearance it usually bore.
Rarity heaved a sigh, staring at it from the corner of her eye. "Oh well. Perhaps I'll adopt a braid or something until I'm able to fix it properly."
"That would look nice. You'll be on the road soon, and traveling through a fair amount of wilderness, as well. The wall is very close by and Abhorsen is one of the few people with permission to cross it. I have no doubt that he will take you to the Old Kingdom to seek answers for you." Ms. Greenwood paused, and glanced over at Rarity with a measuring look. "It's very dangerous there, Rarity. I would worry more about finding your friends and staying alive than hair-care."
"Is it really so dangerous?" Rarity grimaced, taken aback by the reputation this northern kingdom had. The girls and teachers spoke of it as though it were one, giant Everfree Forest. "Yes, I know," she went on, "finding my friends is all that matters, I'll cut my entire mane if I have to in order to stay distraction free." She couldn't help but shudder for several seconds at the merest notion of the thought.
Ms. Greenwood laughed, opening the door and stepping aside from Rarity's room so the mare could enter. "Well, let us hope it doesn't come to that..." The older mare held Rarity's gaze for a number of moments before speaking again. "I'll see you in the morning for my class then, Rarity. Sulyn or I will come and fetch you. I'm glad you have some interest in charter magic. I fear you staying under my watch wasn't really negotiable, but at least now you will learn something that may be of use as well."
Rarity nodded hesitantly in understanding. "Oh, I see. Still, thank you for helping me so much at all. I do appreciate the kindness you have all shown me, in ways I could never truly express to do it any justice." She curled a hoof up to her front and gave the human a grateful smile. "Even if you are suspicious of me..." Her nose wrinkled at the thought. "But I digress, good night Ms. Greenwood, until tomorrow."
The human tilted her head up slightly and gave Rarity the closest as she ever came to a smile in return. "Your welcome dear, and good night. I'll send word if anything of your friends is discovered in town."