//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: A Stitch in Time // by GySgt Buck //------------------------------// Rarity was awoken by a series of knocks on her door. She noticed it was quite early for customers, only 7am. After her fight with Sweetie Belle, she had continued to make her dress well on into the evening. She went to bed just before sunset and was in a deep sleep when the banging began. Surely one of her regulars knew her store hours, and even if it wasn't a regular, there still wasn't any reason to be up this early just to commission her. Even if she had been awake, she wasn't interested in seeing any clients after the debacle in Canterlot. "Yes, yes, I'm coming..." The pounding continued. Someponies simply had no patience, she thought. As she entered the parlor proper she passed one of her cheval mirrors and noticed what a disaster her hair was. Horror suddenly gripped her. Her hair was in shambles. Surely, if this anonymous door banger was a new client, then they most likely would turn away at the site of her. She thought this over for a moment, her previous idea of not wanting new clients for the time being flashed through her head. She quickly dismissed this when the knocking began to shake the door on its hinges. She looked around frantically for a something to put on her head to cover up her bird's nest of a mane and finally settled on a small veiled hat; nothing else was available. Rarity opened the door and was immediately stricken with mild annoyance. It was a molehill compared to the mountain-sized headache Sweetie Belle had given her yesterday, but two-thirds of the Cutie Mark Crusaders was a bad way to start any day. Rarity sighed and rolled her eyes. "What is so important that you must do so at the crack of dawn?" The girls, Applebloom and Scootaloo, were panting and there was worry on their faces. Rarity also noticed their hooves were red and swollen. She guessed from all the beating they had been giving her door. Applebloom spoke first. "Rarity...please! You've got to help us!" She threw herself forward, grabbing Rarity by her hooves. Rarity winced and slowly lifted her hooves away from the young filly and took a step back. "What has Sweetie Belle done this time? I assume she's to blame for this current state of panic you're in." Rarity scoffed. "The three of you really need to be more careful when you go on adventures. What if you were to get lost or...hurt..." Rarity's eyes widened as the words came out of her mouth. Sweetie Belle hadn't come back to see her after their fight the previous day, and the Crusaders never went anywhere without a member, and if Sweetie Belle wasn't with them now... It was then Rarity noticed that Scootaloo was towing a small wagon behind her scooter. Rarity passed Applebloom and went to investigate. Scootaloo hopped off her scooter and went to Applebloom who's tears had started to flow freely. Scootaloo wrapped a hoof around her shoulder and rubbed it comfortingly, tearing up herself all the while. Rarity, intrigued by the two fillies' tears, looked down at the contents of the wagon. "Rocks..." She stammered. "These are a bunch of rocks." Rarity turned towards the two young fillies and noted that it was quite strange to be crying over rocks; their faces were drenched in tears. "Tell Sweetie Belle that I'll look at her rock collection later. I'm still upset with her so please inform her..." "Rarity! Those rocks ARE Sweetie Belle!" One of Rarity's eyes had developed a tick. "D-don't be silly, girls." Rarity laughed nervously as she turned back towards the wagon and began nudging the rocks with her hoof and examining pieces with her horn's magic. "How can these rocks be..." A floating rock stopped her mid sentence. She spun it around when she noticed a small spiraling protrusion. It was a horn of a unicorn. Half of Sweetie Belle's face was staring at her in the form of gray, lifeless stone. Her unicorn magic faded as her legs buckled and she began to push herself away from the wagon. Sweetie Belle's stone countenance fell but was caught by the lithe Scootaloo before it impacted the ground. Rarity's eyes were wide with terror and confusion. "Alright, girls. Joke's over..." She just managed to choke out. "Where's Sweetie Belle? Really? I'm not foaling around, anymore. If this is some elaborate prank to get me to worry about my sister, you have succeeded, so please tell me. Where is Sweetie Belle?!" She emphasized each word of her last sentence with a raised tone in her voice that indicated she was as serious as serious could be. Scootaloo, cradling Sweetie Belle's stone face, didn't meet Rarity's eye but spoke up first. "Well, we went on another adventure to find out Cutie Marks as usual. Sweetie Belle said that the two of you had had a big fight and that she wanted to stay out all day and night trying to discover our special talent because she wasn't going to come back home until we did..." Scootaloo had said this last rushed verbal exchange in under five seconds. Rarity could hear the panic in her voice and it added to her own growing fear that this was not, in fact, a prank. "We tried all sorts of things but eventually went into the Everfree Forest. It was the daytime so we figured we didn't have anything to worry about. We found a cave but Applebloom said we should go back for flashlights before we did any skunkpeeling..." "Spelunking..." Applebloom said halfheartedly, immediately crying a fresh wave of tears as she did so. "Sweetie Belle insisted that we go in anyway and that's when it happened..." Rarity's eyes widened as far as they could go. Her lower lip quivered and she made a big gulping noise. "When...what...happened?" Rarity was slowly losing her composure. "Well, I don't know what it was, but a big creature with a long body and a mane made of snakes came out of the cave. Me and Applebloom only saw it for a second and we ran but Sweetie Belle just stood their. I guess she was scared...That's when she started to turn to stone." Rarity had started to tear up. She was slowly shaking her head. "But then how did she end up like...like..." Rarity motioned to the wagon with her hoof. She had recalled Twilight had been turned to stone but she said that she was in one piece when Fluttershy found her. Applebloom spoke up this time. "Whatever that snake thing was swatted Sweetie Belle away with its tail. Sweetie Belle flew over our heads and hit a rock and she...she...just shattered!" Rarity had begun to hyperventilate. She had moved well past panic and headlong into hysteria. She pounced on the wagon and started trying to sort the pieces of Sweetie Belle. She didn't have a plan or rhyme or reason, she just knew that she had to put her sister back together again. "Is she all here?" She practically whispered. "What?" Applebloom sniffed. Rarity shrieked. "IS MY SISTER ALL HERE? IN THIS WAGON?! DID YOU PICK UP EVERY PIECE OF HER?!" Suddenly, Rarity turned to the two quivering fillies and let out an onslaught of accusations. "After that thing turned my sister to stone, what then? Why didn't the two of you turn to stone? You just ran and LEFT her there, didn't you? You abandoned your friend and saved yourselves, didn't you?! You left my SISTER! MY SISTER!!!" Rarity promptly collapsed after her exertion and Applebloom and Scootaloo, absolutely terrified by this white mare just seconds before, rushed to her side. She had had a fainting spell, and who could blame her? Rarity was still muttering in her unconscious state and the two remaining Cutie Mark Crusaders could just sit there with the rubble of their friend and her sister, crying in the early morning hours. Humming could be heard moments later, breaking the deafening silence after Rarity's slew of outbursts. Spike, the baby dragon and assistant to Twilight Sparkle, came strolling up the lane with a small picnic basket in his hand. He was wearing a big smile on his scaly face. It wasn't often he got to eat breakfast with his crush, Rarity. His cheeks became red when the thought of serving her breakfast in bed crossed his mind. He opened his eyes and saw his beloved lying on the ground in the street, two of the Cutie Mark Crusaders looking down at her, tears coating their faces. He threw the picnic basket away and ran to Rarity post haste. Eggs and jam jars could be heard breaking behind him as he arrived at the scene. "Rarity! What's wrong! Rarity!!!" He started to shake her in an attempt to wake her, but she remained motionless. Spike turned to the two fillies and demanded an explanation. "Its a long story, Spike. What we gotta do now is get both of em to see Twilight. She'll know what to do...Ah hope..." Spike regarded Applebloom. "Both of them? What do you mean?" Applebloom looked down at the ground, as if she was ashamed of what she had to say. She pointed at the wagon. "Those rocks? That's Sweetie Belle." Spike looked at the rocks in the wagon and soon saw a portion of Sweetie Belle's face. "But that...that she...and her..." The baby dragon looked back and forth between Rarity and the stone remains of her sister and then he, too, fainted. Scootaloo shook her head and showed remarkable composure considering the situation. "Ugh...I can't believe how bad this has gotten. Wait here, Applebloom. I'll go get Twilight. I'll bet she can fix this." She put on her helmet and unhooked her scooter from the wagon. Applebloom's face was still as sad as Scootaloo had ever seen it. "Cheer up," Scootaloo ventured. "Twilight's a genius. She can figure out anything. Everything will be okay..." She began to flap her small wings to give her momentum and she was off to Twilight's. When she was out of earshot, she muttered "I hope..."