//------------------------------//
// The Crystalline Cloth pt. 4 
// Story: Wings of Friendship 
// by DemonBrightSpirit 
//------------------------------//

After working with Silky all through the night, Rarity helped to create a new, shimmering cloth. It was diamond-free with thinner strands than the original. The trade-off was that it was both more brittle and stiffer. Over the next two days Rarity worked with Silky trying different techniques and, on Rarity and Applejack's last day in the Crystal Empire, they did it. They created a cloth thinner, stronger, lighter, and more flexible than the original. Silky even had time to weave another one just like it utilizing a copious amount of diamond—just in case this new weave would be workable even with the unbreakable stone woven in.

These bolts, along with a few other weaves Silky had helped make, were placed into Applejack's carts along with all the other fabrics Rarity had picked up during their trip. "Here," Silky offered as she floated several spools of diamond thread into Rarity's fashionable saddlebags.

"Thank you so much, darling," Rarity graciously acknowledged. "With this, I'm certain to have a wing for Rainbow Dash in no time."

Silky nodded with a sincere smile. "No. I really should be the one thanking you. I...just be sure to mail me if you manage to make work of any of my crystalline fabrics. I can't wait to hear all about it."

"Oh, I will. And I have your measurements. I'll be sure to make you something absolutely fabulous!"

Applejack rolled her eyes. Three days of this was encroaching on torment. "If we're all done here, we got us a train to catch."

"Don't be ridiculous, Applejack. We still have a few hours before the train leaves," Rarity chided.

Applejack facehoofed. "Then why, pray tell, are we gettin' everythin' ready to go now?"

"Why, it's our last shopping day in the Crystal Empire, of course!"

"Didn't we go shoppin' yesterday? And the day before?" Applejack uselessly protested.

"Don't you worry, Applejack. Today will be special, I assure you," Rarity promised as she finally walked over and waved to Silky. "I'll be sure to send you a letter just as soon as I receive my tools from Canterlot."

Applejack and Rarity waved goodbye to Silky as Rarity led them away and towards the town's center. It didn't take them long to reach the locus of the Crystal Empire's shopping district. After arriving, Rarity didn't drag Applejack to any of the shops. Instead, she sat down on a bench underneath a crystalline tree. Its branches didn't provide shade so much as it scattered the light into muted, shimmering colors.

Once she got comfortable, she looked to Applejack and patted the space next to her. "Come, sit," she urged.

Applejack rolled her eyes before unstrapping herself. "What is it, now?" she grumbled as she climbed up on the bench.

"Applejack, I just… I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for coming with me all this way. I know the Crystal Empire and Canterlot may not be your idea of a splendid trip."

Adjusting her hat, Applejack felt just a bit ashamed for being sore at Rarity a moment ago. "Shucks, it ain't all bad, sugarcube. Ah managed to get a few orders here, though most of 'em ain't until cider season."

"Good, good," Rarity replied with an awkward smile. "I would have felt just awful if you came all this way for nothing."

"It ain't like I don't like spendin' time with yah, Rare." Applejack glanced back at her. "Though, even I gotta admit that three days is a bit much."

Rarity laughed just a bit at her own expense. "Too much of a good thing?" she joked with a wink.

Applejack chortled in turn. "Somethin' like that."

"I wanted to thank you for all you've done to help me," Rarity spoke up as the laughter ebbed away. She opened her saddlebag and retrieved a bulging sack. "It may not be the most glamorous or thoughtful of gifts, but you most certainly deserve it."

As the sack clinked down onto the bench, the opening widened to reveal its contents, and what Applejack saw made her eyes widen. "R-Rarity, Ah can't accept this," she stammered as she opened it even wider with a hoof and peered inside. It was an enormous bag of bits.

"Don't be ridiculous," Rarity insisted. "Those all came from the gemstones you helped me to get. You even carried them around for me."

Applejack looked to the sack of bits, to Rarity, and back. "But what about you, sugarcube?"

Rarity chuckled in turn. "Surely, you must be joking." She raised an eyebrow before motioning to the train of carts. "I didn't sell all the gems, and just look at all this fabric. I won't have to worry about supplies for months!"

"If yah really insist." Applejack carefully tied the bag shut. "Thank you, Rarity. I mean it."

"It's the least I could do," Rarity brushed off the compliment as she primped her mane. "I just wish I could do more for you, Applejack. I couldn't have possibly have done all of this on my own, you know." She hopped up off the bench and stretched just a bit, shaking off the stiffness. Why, in the wide, wide world of Equestria did anypony imagine designing benches like that would be comfortable?

"So," Rarity continued once she was comfortable again, "shall we go shopping? We still have plenty of time before the train leaves. We can go wherever you want."

Applejack sprung up with the sack in her teeth. After placing it in the front cart, she again hitched herself to the front. "Now how can I turn down an invitation like that?"





It was an uneventful trip back to Ponyville.  As soon as they arrived, Applejack and Rarity went their separate ways.  Applejack went back to the farm, and Rarity made a beeline for her boutique.

After Rarity got everything tucked away into her studio, she found her diamond scissors waiting for her in a small package in her mailbox. She wouldn't have to wait to start working on the crystalline cloth after all. Her aura made quick work of the packaging, and she pulled the shimmering scissors free. That gem smith did not disappoint. They meshed perfectly and were beyond razor-sharp.

Sifting through the multitude of fabrics, Rarity grabbed the crystalline cloths and set them up next to her work table. Grabbing the thinnest one, she unfurled it over her table and brought her scissors to the fabric. A firm press of her magic, and the blades closed on the fabric.

It didn't cut.

The fabric resisted the sharp blades, forcing them apart as it jammed up in the scissors. Rarity pried them open before realigning them. She tried again, but the fabric refused to yield. Moving in at a different angle, she met the same result. Quickly losing her patience, she unfurled fabric from a different bolt.

Bolt after bolt, hour after hour, Rarity persisted.

"No… NO!" Rarity grunted as she stood over the shimmering fabric. All of the bolts were stretched out over her table in a haphazard fashion. Several stray hairs had found their way out of her expertly coiffed mane. Instead of giving up and taking a break to collect herself, Rarity only pushed further. "Just cut already!" Giving up on cutting the fabric in her aura, she grabbed the scissors in her hooves. She used her table as leverage and put all of her weight on the diamond scissors.

A high-pitched sound preceded a chunk of the crystalline cloth finally coming free from the bolt. It was jagged, misshapen and the crystal threads were obviously broken, not cut. In short, it was ruined. "Worthless!" she raged as she threw the scissors, firmly embedding them in the wall on the other side of the room.

She then flopped face-down onto her design table in a most unladylike fashion. She'd been at it for hours and she wasn't making one bit of progress. None of the fabrics could be cut no matter how hard she tried.

Rarity had been so certain, so convinced, that if she just augmented the crystalline cloth that she could work it. All she had to do was to make the threads thinner and remove the diamond, right? Why couldn't she cut the threads!? When she'd arrived home, she was convinced Rainbow Dash's perfect wing was just an afternoon away. Now, it wasn't even on the horizon. 

She had failed.

Sure, she had a hundred other fabrics and weaves to try, but she felt it—she knew—that the crystalline cloth would be the only fabric worthy of Rainbow Dash. Anything less and there was no telling what could go wrong. Rarity cringed, still lying face down on her table, as the image of Cloudsdale rapidly retreating towards the sky flashed in her mind. She still found it hard to believe that Rainbow had survived that horror. Rarity would not let her go through it again because the wing she sewed was inadequate.

But what could she do? She had already tried to cut each of the different cloths. It was always the same. The fabric would twist under the diamond blades, turning and not yielding. Forcing it didn't work, trying to delicately cut it painstakingly strand by strand didn't work, and…that was it. For all her knowledge of both fabric and gemstone, she didn't know what else to try. She didn't just fail Rainbow Dash, she had humiliated herself by not having the skill or knowledge to move forward. She didn't just fail, she had proven herself to be a failure.

Just as Rarity was about to succumb to the emotion constricting her throat, the entry bell signaled a guest's arrival. "Uh, Rarity?" Spike's voice stirred Rarity from her troubled thoughts.

Rarity scrambled to reign in her emotions before turning to Spike with a fake smile. She cleared her throat, not quite trusting her voice to remain steady. "S-Spike, what brings you here?"

"You haven't been in town in half a week, and then when you got back you didn't even stop to say hi to anypony," Spike explained. "Twilight was worried and so she let me come see how you were doing. Are you going to be able to make Rainbow Dash a new wing?"

Absentmindedly picking up the torn scrap of the crystalline cloth with a hoof, she shook her head. "I just…" she sighed. "I can't…quite get it working."

"Oh wow!" Spike's eyes widened at the sight of the cloth. "That looks—" he licked his lips "—amazing!"

Rarity sighed again as she tossed the scrap over to Spike. "You can have it," she allowed. "It's ruined anyway."

"Really!? Thanks, Rarity!"

"The whole thing is ruin—" Rarity abruptly stopped as a high-pitched crunching sound reached her ears. She stood there frozen until the sound repeated itself. Whipping around, she found Spike biting into the crystalline cloth.

"Thish stuff is amahzing," Spike said, his cheeks puffed out as he chewed. Swallowing, he continued, "It's a little stringy, but it's got all the flavors mixed together."

"Let me see that!" Rarity ripped it from his claws with her aura. She brought it close to her face as she scrutinized it.

Spike looked aghast at Rarity. "I-I'm sorry! I thought you said I could have it?"

It was perfect. The strings weren't chipped or jagged. They were perfectly smooth and even—they had been cut. "Oh, Spike! I could kiss you!" she exclaimed as she swept Spike up into an affectionate hug, pressing her cheek up against Spike's scaly one. True to her word, as soon as she pulled back she planted several kisses on his cheek.

Once he was back on the ground, he nearly tumbled over. After swaying for a few steps, he managed to regain his balance. He reverently rubbed his cheek as he looked up at Rarity. "Wh-what?"

Mentally giggling at Spike's befuddlement, Rarity grabbed the bolt and held it out in front of the baby dragon. "This is the crystalline cloth," she explained, smiling. "It's the perfect material to make Rainbow Dash a new wing, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't cut it. No pun intended."

"Um, okay?" Spike muttered, still holding a claw to his cheek.

"I cannot cut it, even with diamond scissors," Rarity confessed. "But you, Spike, can cut it with your teeth! Can you help me?" She batted her eyelashes at Spike. "I need you to make all my cuts for me."

Eating delicious crystals for Rarity—this was a job!? "Of course! I'd do anything for you, Rarity!" he insisted as his heart and stomach battled for which thing was more alluring to him. His eyes danced back and forth between Rarity and the shimmering threads. "Anything!"

Pulling out a length of fabric, she grabbed a marker and drew careful lines along the fabric. "Do you think you can make this cut? Just try to nibble along the line and keep it as straight as you can. You can do that, right, Spikey-Wikey?"

"Uh-huh!"





"What was I thinking?" Twilight grumbled to herself as the Carousel Boutique came into view. Sending Spike to go check on Rarity would be like sending Pinkie to go check on a frosting factory. Still, Twilight was a little disappointed that after two hours he didn't have the presence of mind to come back and let her know what was going on. That was the entire reason she sent him there in the first place!

She just couldn't help herself. The moment she burst into the boutique she shouted Spike's name in a scolding tone. Her mood quickly changed when she found Spike standing on Rarity's work table with a sheet of fabric in his jaws and Rarity looking at her with an inquisitive look. "Uh, Spike? What are you doing?" she asked, completely forgetting her ire.

"Hello, Twilight!" Rarity greeted with an indelible smile. "So sorry, but I need to borrow Spike for just a few more minutes! Or, well, hours."

Twilight trotted over to find Rarity guiding Spike…where to bite her cloth. "This is the best job ever!" Spike said after swallowing a mouthful of the gemstone-crafted cloth.

Rarity giggled. "Just make sure you keep following the lines," she instructed as she held up the next part to be worked on near Spike's chubby cheeks. Rarity then turned back to Twilight. "No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't cut this wonderful cloth. But my widdle Spikey-Wikey here doesn't have a problem biting through it. His little teeth are just simply marvelous!"

Spike grinned wide, showing off his gem-slicing fangs. "I get to help Rarity and I get to eat all the gems I want! This cloth is so yummy!"

Twilight sighed. "Well, I can see you're busy, but at least now I know you're doing well with the wing. Better than I am, at least."

"Oh, darling, don't tell me you're still having trouble?" Rarity sent a glance towards Twilight before turning her attention back to the cloth. "Bite here."

"I think I know where I'm having trouble, but fixing it is just going to create more problems," Twilight admitted as she hung her head, her ears drooping down. "Let's just say, don't stuff the wing when you finish it, and I'm going to need several more wings you won't mind getting ruined. Can you come to the library tomorrow morning? I'm going to show everypony where I'm stuck, okay?"

"Of course, Twilight," Rarity looked back at her and nodded. "We should be done here in a few hours. After that I'll have plenty of time to make more wings for you." As she fed Spike more cloth, she added, "Do you still need somepony to…test them?"

"Yes, but that's not what I need tomorrow," Twilight nodded a bit before turning around and started trotting towards the exit.

"One moment, Spike," Rarity relinquished the cloth and stepped away from the table. "Twilight," she seriously said as she trotted next to the alicorn and put a leg over her withers, "you know that, whatever it is you need help with, you can count on me. All of us are here for you and Rainbow Dash."

Twilight smiled back at Rarity as her ears perked up a bit. "Thanks, Rarity. I know that, but, still… It's nice to hear it, too."

"We're going to get her better, one way or another," Rarity assured as she let Twilight go.

"I… I'll see you tomorrow," Twilight said as she got to the door.

"You take care of yourself, Twilight," Rarity replied as she trotted back over to her table. "We're all counting on you. We believe in you—don't forget that."

Twilight hesitated halfway out the door and looked back to see Rarity back at work with Spike and the cloth. "Thank you."