Rarity was engulfed in her work; she worked furiously, tirelessly, for this was going to be her magnum opus! She could feel it in her bones! When this dress was finished, it would dazzle all who set their eyes on it. Everypony would want one, especially the important ponies, and she’d shoot to the top of the fashion ladder! So she could not stop. Would not stop! She needed this constant energy to flow, to build that picture of the perfect dress she envisioned in her head. If she stopped for even one instant, one fleeting second, one momentary… er, moment, it could be gone, replaced with a similar, surely fabulous dress. But it wouldn’t be that perfect dress.
Perhaps her obsession with that dress was what allowed her to brush so closely with death. Her attacker moved up slowly, surely, as she frantically murmured and stitched. It lifted its arm, aimed, and fired.
“Ooof!” Rarity shouted as she was pushed out of the way by a mysterious pony. She looked up to see who had done it and saw a stallion with large ears, a black leather jacket to go with his black fur and hair. And he had a Cutie Mark of a hourglass. “Who are you, and why did you ruin my dress!?”
“One, I’m the Doctor-”
“Doctor who?”
“Just the Doctor, and two, I just saved your life! A little appreciation would be nice!”
“Saved me from what?”
“That!” he pointed. She followed his hoof to see-
“My mannequin!? Is this a prank? Did Pinkie put you up to this! Well it’s not funny! This was a very important dress!”
“Ugh,” The Doctor uttered with disgust. “You ponies, all wrapped up in your friendship bollock to see that there are a lot of things beyond your happy go lucky, self centered utopia. And a lot of those things want you lot dead!”
The mannequin decided to stop faking, knowing its gig was up. It started moving towards them, and soon her other mannequins followed.
“Working in a dress store during an Auton invasion. Now that’s just bad luck,” The Doctor commented.
Rarity, meanwhile, was panicking. “Okay, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash. This was very, very funny! Please stop now!” she pleaded.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. “How many times do I have to tell you? It’s not a prank! Your mannequins really are aliens from outer space who are living plastic and decided to infiltrate your planet by meandering in your dress stores! What’s so hard to believe?” The Doctor paused for a moment, then shrugged. “Okay, so that is a little hard to believe. But that only makes it all the more exciting when it turns out to be the truth!” He flashed her a manic grin, which for some reason did not avail Rarity’s fears.
The mannequins were edging nearer, their hooves lifting up, then their forehooves lifting back to reveal their firing compartment.
“Then what do we do, Doctor?!”
“Well, I’ll tell you, miss- what’s your name again?”
“We’re in a bit of a situation here!” she hissed.
“Doesn’t mean all manners go flyin’ out the door! Here I thought you a lady! An annoying, screeching lady, but a lady nonetheless!”
“Fine! It’s Rarity!”
“There, was that so hard?”
“I hate you. I’ve only known you for a few minutes and I already hate you with every fiber of my being.”
“And right when I thought we were becoming mates! Alas!” The Doctor overdramatically shouted. “Anyway, I’ll tell ya what we’re going to do, Miss Rarity. First, we’re gonna... duck!” The Doctor and Rarity hit the deck as the Axon fired, hitting some of the others and taking them out of commission. The Doctor grabbed his Sonic Screwdriver out of his jacket and quickly used it to take out the rest. He heard Rarity moan.
“Not Reggie!” she wailed, overlooking one of her shot former mannequins. “He was my favorite!”
The Doctor shot her a look of disbelief as he put his screwdriver back in his jacket. “Now to get down to proper business!” He grabbed a square device out of his jacket. Rarity’s eye twitched.
“What is that?”
“It’s a bomb,” he said cheerfully.
“Where are you going to put it?” Rarity asked with a hitch in her voice.
“In your basement,” she said just as cheerfully, giving her another grin.
“What!?” she screeched.
“Gotta stop the invasion here. I’m guessing you have a lot more of those things in storage, am I right?”
“P-perhaps, but you can’t just-”
“Sorry, I can, I will, and I have to. This is where the second part of my plan comes in, Rarity. You probably won’t ever see me again, regardless of whether or not I get out of here alive. So keep this one, sage piece of advice with you at all times. Run.” He gave her the biggest grin of his so far as he sprinted off down the stairs. Once Rarity’s mind caught up, she quickly did the same, grabbing all the materials, dresses, dress plans, and surely harmless and deactivated mannequin pieces she could, before running and screaming like a madwoman out her door.
As she watched her life’s work, her home blown to smithereens, the flames touching the sky, Rarity made an oath. “I will find you, Doctor, and you are going to explain yourself!” she bellowed into the open sky. And in her arms, a mannequin leg ever so slightly twitched.