//------------------------------// // The Wave // Story: The More Things Change // by The Crane //------------------------------// In a world filled with Equestrians, a few strangers have appeared. Hailing from elsewhere, they have been found in different places by different residents. Already strange by their own standards, they exhibit unique abilities. Or a curse in one such case. One is invisible while another can cause quakes with her hooves. What others will appear? And why? ==-==-== "Ugh...." a female voice moans. "What happened...?" As she flutters open her eyes, the world viewed through them is blurred and overly bright. As she awakens, she quickly regrets it. As she comes to, she immediately wants to return to the darkness. "You okay?" a young voice asks. She turns her view towards the voice and sees a white form looking down on her curiously. "SUNDAE!!" she shouts as she quickly jolts up and wraps her arms around the smaller one to give her a warm hug. "Oooooohhhhh... I've missed you...." She uses a hoof to stroke her hair but her overwhelming conscious thought denies that anything is amiss. "RARITY!!!!" 'Sundae' screams. "HEELLLPP!!!" A more mature pony quickly dashes into the room. She's got a grayish almost white coat with blue eyes and an equally white horn. Her mane is a deep violet that is elaboartely styled. There is a very fine elegance about her, topped with three gems marked on her rear flanks. In addition, a measuring tape hangs around her neck and red rimmed glasses sit on the end of her muzzle. "Sweetie Belle?" she asks hurriedly. "What happened?" "I don't know!!" the younger one replies. She has the same grayish/white coat that the older one has as well as a similarly coifed mane, yet with lighter hues and a shorter horn peeking out. When the young one is not wincing from her hold, light green eyes plead for help. Unlike most around here, she has no special markings. "Sister!!" For a long moment, Rarity looks at the situation with a bit of amusement. She watches as their guest has her younger sister in an inescapable embrace. She herself has a blue coat with a short black mane and lighter blue waves as her marks. Like the other two in the room, she also has a blue horn coming out of her forehead. "Alright..." Rarity sighs. In her normal tones, she definitely has a sophisticated accent. "That's enough." A light blue aura surrounds Sweetie Belle that helps her to escape the stranger's clutches. As soon as she is freed from that, she quickly runs off. She slides after a moment and drifts behind Rarity. While still curious, she pokes her head around her sister. "I see you're awake. Are you alright?" While she waits for an answer, the same light blue glow surrounds her glasses and tape and removes them. The blue pony shakes her head to either side for a moment. "More or less," she replies while looking at her front hooves. She looks over to her caretakers and realizes they are no different than her at the moment. "Where am I?" She mentally tells herself not to make a scene about becoming a horse of some type. "This is Carousel Boutique. I live on the second floor. I'm Rarity, and this is my sister, Sweetie Belle. What's your name, Darling?" "Amanda," she replies quietly. "Sometimes En-Ja. Sometimes... not such nice names." "She's weird..." Sweetie Belle remarks. "SWEETIE BELLE!" Rarity huffs. "Where are your manners?" "No, it's alright." She uses a hoof to examine the horn on her head for a moment. "I am kinda weird I guess." Amanda cranes her head to the side and looks at Sweetie Belle with her own blue eyes. "I'm sorry. You remind me of my daughter. Her name's Sundae. She'd be about your age." "Daughter?" Rarity wonders with a dash of alarm. "Was she with you?" "No, no. I haven't seen her in a long time. It's a little complicated. Don't worry about her." "Alright..." Rarity says quietly. "Well, Amanda, I will let you stay here while you get yourself sorted out. If there's anything I can help with, just let me know." She turns about and nudges her little sister. "Come along, Sweetie Belle. Let's leave her alone for a bit." ==-==-== Some time later, Amanda had found her way downstairs and into Rarity's workshop. When she entered, she found the place a disaster. It was a complete antithesis to her clean and pleasant shop. Yet, Rarity was quick to point out that it's 'organized chaos.' "Ohh!!" Rarity says happily. Once again, her glasses fit snug on her face. "So you ADOPTED Sundae. Now I understand. You looked rather young to be a mother." "Yeah," Amanda continues with a smile. While Rarity wanders around her workshop, Amanda sits on a nearby sofa. "She was in a very bad spot when we met. She was an orphan and couldn't get home. We took care of her for awhile, and then formally adopted her when nobody came looking." Rarity continues and uses her horn's magic fluently to float materials throughout the room. "She must have family somewhere! Right?" One dress she works on has a few different pieces that come together. She raises a hoof to her chin as she debates its appearance. Amanda watches the spectacle, and notes that this might be everyday for her newfound friend. Part of her wonders if her own horn might be of similar use. "She doesn't know which plan---land she's from. We wouldn't know the first place to look for her family." "How did she get here?" "Oh, uh through magic, I guess you could say. She was launched from one place to another and couldn't retrace her steps. She needed a place to stay, and the rest is history." Sweetie Belle trots into the room and immediately spies Amanda looking at her. Her face gains a nervous twitch and she quickly gallops over to her sister's side. Amanda retains a motherly smile as she watches. Despite knowing the truth, Amanda still retains some strange connection to the little one. "This is a nice place you got here," Amanda remarks. "Carousel Boutique? But no actual carousel?" "Well," Rarity replies a little heavily. "I had originally imagined a carousel in the store. I could use the ponnequins to model some of my latest designs. Alas, that is one of my ideas that has never come to fruition. I put the idea on the back burner where it has collected dust ever since." "You could still do it," Amanda replies. "I could," she sighs. "I really could. But, in the meantime, my store has developed its own je ne sais quoi. I think adding it at this point would tarnish its image. It would be an insult to its history." She finishes her current idea and turns her head towards Amanda. A few gemstones float through the air between them. "Darling, might I asks where you're from? I don't believe I've seen you around here before." "Not here," Amanda notes. "I just have to find my yellow brick road home." There is a sudden clatter as everything that Rarity was holding up with her magic suddenly falls to the floor. A spindle of thread rolls across the floor to Amanda's hoof. She looks down at it curiously and then back to her host. The elegant pony suddenly turns a slightly lighter shade. She turns nervously towards Amanda "Wh-what makes you say that...?" "Something I saw one day. Are you alright?" Rarity suddenly turns a shade of desperate. "I wasn't in my right mind, OKAY?!" Amanda backs up a little on the furniture as something irritates Rarity. "Okay..." Amanda says quietly. "No idea what you're talking about." "Sis..." Sweetie Belle nudges. "Relax. It's okay." "Yes, yes, of course...." Rarity mumbles out. "I'm sorry. It was a bad day for me." "Don't worry," Amanda says. "As soon as I find my friends, I'll get out of your mane."