The city shined, as if it was made of crystal.
Rarity looked around. Right next to her, there was a large and tall wall, made of some sort of crystal that she could not identify. The floor was made of the same material. On the distance, she could see several strange buildings, which also appeared to be made of crystal. And on the sky, there was nothing—not even the sun, even though she could tell by the light that it was daytime.
“Oh Rarity, what are you going to do? You have to finish that dress today! And you have no idea where you are! Alone, in this beautiful shiny city!”
Rarity started walking around.
“I do not know why, but I am sure this is Twilight's fault! I must find that pony and tell her to be more careful with her magic experiments. At least when other ponies have deadlines to meet! And, of course, I have to ask her to take me back to Ponyville.”
A few minutes passed. Rarity could see a few ponies flying around, but they were too far to see her. The place was deserted.
Rarity noticed a pegasus walking out of an opening on the wall, and quickened her pace to meet the pegasus before she flew away.
“Excuse me.”
Rarity noticed that the pegasus was wearing an interesting dress. It was a simple dress, but it was dyed in an elegant pattern with several shades of white and blue, matching the white coat and blue mane of its wearer. The dyes seemed to shift, as if by some sort of optical illusion.
The pegasus turned to face Rarity. Her deep black eyes gazed at Rarity, as if they were able to look into her soul.
“I am not from around here, and I think I am lost. I need to find a friend of mine, but I do not know where to look. Could you help me? By the way, that is an interesting dress you are wearing.”
The pegasus smiled lightly.
“Do you like this dress? I made it myself.”
“Why yes, such an elegant composition! I love the way it matches your colors. And the dyes you used, I have never seen anything like that. It is almost like the patterns are moving!”
“I can see you have a good eye for clothing.”
“I also design clothing. But one does not need to have a good eye for clothing to notice how pretty your dress is.”
“Thanks.”
“By the way, my name is Rarity.”
“Rarity. What an interesting name. My name is Sweet Light.”
“Interesting?”
“Oh, it is nothing. So you need help to find a friend of yours?”
“Well, yes. She is a lavender unicorn, with a star for a cutie mark. Have you seen her around here?”
“No, I haven't. But I know a pony who can help.”
She paused for a second.
“Do you want to see my studio? It is not far from here. I can call the pony who can help you from there.”
“Yes, please.”
“Follow me then.”
-*-*-*-
Sweet Light returned to the passage on the wall, followed by Rarity. After a few short corridors, they entered a small room. The far wall of the room was transparent, allowing Rarity to see the exterior.
Sweet Light touched the wall near the entrance of the room, and part of the wall slid sideways, closing the entrance. The entire room silently moved upwards, giving Rarity a better view of the scenery.
Sweet Light moved near Rarity, who fixated the sight of the city.
“Not used to this?”
Rarity could now better understand the scale of the place. She could see the few ponies who were outside as small moving dots. Next to them, the buildings were massive, and Rarity understood that they were inside one of these buildings.
After a few minutes, the moving room slowed down and stopped. The back wall opened again to reveal the exit to the room. Rarity could not be sure due to the complete lack of clouds, but they would now be above the highest of them. What she thought was the sky was instead a glowing dome of light.
They entered a large corridor. The pegasus was no longer walking; she was flying slowly, checking how the dress reacted to her movements. Rarity could glance her cutie mark, which was a pair of sewing needles, each tailed by a short segment of thread.
A short distance later, they arrived at Sweet Light's studio.
It was a large and very organized room. The far wall was transparent, like the wall on the moving room. One of the other walls had many shelves, stocked with all kinds of fabric, thread, and other sewing implements. The opposite wall had a couple of doors, leading to other rooms. Several cushions and an oval low desk were arranged on the partially carpeted floor.
“Make yourself at home. I will be back in a minute,” said Sweet Light, entering one of the side rooms.
She soon returned, carrying a few items.
“Unfortunately, I could not contact the Administrator. I am sorry.”
“If you forgive me, who is this 'Administrator'?”
Sweet Light gave Rarity an odd look.
“She is the one who made this whole city. She protects us, and we owe everything to her.”
“She sounds like a nice pony.”
“She is more than that. Everypony learns, since they are a small filly, that the Administrator has been watching over Equestria City for hundreds of years. She makes sure no harm will come to any of us. She works, tirelessly, for the peace that we have.”
Rarity noticed that she should not have asked about that. She quickly decided to change the subject.
“What it is that you brought here? What an odd piece of fabric.”
Rarity levitated the small piece of white fabric, no larger than a small headscarf.
Sweet Light smiled.
“Put it back on the desk and let me show you a trick.”
Rarity deposited the fabric back on the desk. Sweet Light touched it lightly with her forehoof. As if by magic, patterns of color formed and moved over the fabric. And at the same time, the patterns on the dress she was still wearing shifted and changed color.
“AMAZING!”
“You can try it too. Just touch it and think about the pattern you want. It does not need unicorn magic, you just have to know that it works.”
Rarity tried it. It took her no more than a few seconds to make complex patterns on the piece of fabric.
“This is fun!”
“You can keep it. It is a leftover from this dress which I made for a friend. I can get more later.”
“Many thanks! And what is this other thing that you brought here?”
It was a black retangular slab of metal, with rounded corners.
“This can be used for many things. One of these things is to view photos. Let me show you a picture of one of my ancestors.”
Sweet Light touched the bottom of the object. Symbols formed and moved over the object, finally being replaced by a single picture of a pony.
The picture showed Sweetie Belle.
-*-*-*-
Rarity's reaction had given her away. She managed to hide it, but not quickly enough, and she had noticed Sweet Light was very perceptive. It was obvious that she had chosen that picture on purpose.
During the uncomfortable moment of silence that followed, Rarity noticed a familiar multicolored streak on the sky.
“Oh, look! My friends are looking for me. It was such a pleasure to meet you, but I really really have to go now.”
Rarity walked towards the door. Then she remembered something and paused.
“By the way, how do you make that moving room work?”
“The same thing you did with the fabric.”
“Many thanks!”
Rarity quickly escaped the studio.