//------------------------------// // The Wraith's New Clothes // Story: Fear Me, for My Name is Twaith! // by Michael Hudson //------------------------------// Rarity sucked on her lips in concentration as she slowly finished the seam of this new dress, trying to avoid the regular pitfalls others may have that would have revealed the crease. Of course, this was almost second nature to her by now. The focus was needed simply because of how excited she was. How excited she was of Sunset’s plan. “A new type of outfit altogether. If Sunset’s theories work out, it will surely land me a place amongst the greats.” She paused for a moment with a hoof to her muzzle. “Of course, it could also do nothing. I mean, it’s not like many ponies exactly need to dress a spirit.” She followed the statement with a soft giggle, somehow only realizing how stupid this sounded. “Still, for a friend, this has been far more pleasant than other endeavors I’ve had to try.” Knock, knock. “Oh, that must be them.” Rarity stopped for a moment. “Now Rarity, you don’t want them to think you’re crazy, so hush up!” She let out a sigh as she trotted towards the door. It had been a bad habit she had gotten from hours of making dresses as a filly, and she had never quite broken it. Not that she would let it do anything more than annoy her. She was too controlled to let such a silly little thing get the better of her. Sunset smiled nervously as the door swung open. “Hi Rarity. Are you ready?” “But of course darling.” Rarity looked past Sunset at the purple mare that was watching a butterfly. “And is this your spirit friend?” Twilight jumped at the mention of her and looked at Rarity before smiling wide. “Hello. My name is Twilight, and I am a–” Sunset stepped in-between them with a large smile as she almost shouted, “Ghost.” Rarity furrowed her brow, but before she could question it, Twilight did. “Well, I suppose that is correct to some degree, though most use the term wraith, including yourself, normally.” The white unicorn paled at the mention of the creature, her mind flashing to a large, leather bound text that she had had to borrow from Sunset to study for this project. It also reminded her of just how dangerous the creatures could be, and how tasty they found souls. “Wh-what does she mean by... wraith?” Sunset bit into her cheek as she thought up of some excuse, but between the cold sweat she could notice on Rarity’s brow, and having to shove her hoof into Twilight’s mouth to stop her from speaking, she knew she couldn’t lie. She wrapped Twilight in her magic and brought the two close. “Mind sitting in that corner for a few moments?” Twilight pouted for a moment, but one glance at the terror in Rarity’s eyes, and she didn’t feel like arguing about something Sunset obviously knew more on. Slowly, she floated away as Sunset turned back to Rarity. “Now Rarity–” “You said she was going to be a common thing, like a ghast or ghost, not a wraith!” Sunset breathed in deeply before turning Rarity towards the figure in the corner. “I did, didn’t I? Well, first of all, I told you that because I wanted to avoid exactly this. Second, look at her. She has been my friend for almost three months now, and not once has she hurt me, or anypony, else, at least not on purpose. Could you even believe she could suck a soul out?” Rarity glanced at Sunset for a moment before turning her focus to Twilight. The wraith’s cloak was absolutely horrendous, with small pockets filling it, along with frayed seams and a ragged hood. However, looking at the face that was watching them eagerly and prompted them both to wave, she couldn’t see a reason to say yes. A long sigh filled the silence before Rarity stood tall. “Fine. Artists must take risks, and for a friend, I will take this one.” Sunset almost danced in place before wrapping her hooves around Rarity. “Thank you!” She then almost leapt off of the other mare and tried to regain her composure, hoping Twilight hadn’t seen that and gotten the wrong idea as she was called over. Twilight floated over and gave both of them a smile. “So, what was the plan... unless the plan is gone. Is it?” Rarity put a hoof down and tossed her head back. “I do declare that the plan is... on!” She laughed as Twilight did a circle in the air. Sunset only gave a roll of her eyes to the display. “So, what is it?” Sunset smirked at the almost sparkling eyes that eagerly stared at her. “Well, we had noticed that your cloak isn’t doing so well, so we thought we would try to fix it.” Twilight immediately frowned as her cloak fluttered in non-existent wind. “But my cloak is a part of me.” Rarity stood right next to the nervous wraith. “Don’t fret about that dear. You see, we’re going to try to mend it through you.” Sunset took her place on the other side of Twilight. “The theory is that if we use our magic to bring out our souls to massage and strengthen yours, we’ll fix your cloak, even if it ends up to be only bit by bit.” Rarity levitated a few sheets in front of the three. “I even have some designs for dresses and such that we could try someday, if you were interested.” Twilight blinked a few times, feeling something odd come to her eyes, or at least, odd for a dead mare. “You... you two would trust me like that?” Sunset’s eyes never broke contact with Twilight’s. “Of course I would.” “And I would trust Sunset like that. She’s pulled through for us before, so I want to manage to do at least this for her.” Twilight started to nod her head, trying her best not to break into tears of joy. “So, how do we begin?” Sunset and Rarity stepped away before the yellow unicorn’s horn started to glow. “Simply stand there and relax.” A golden aura came over Sunset’s entire body as the light on her horn grew brighter and brighter. With each passing moment, Twilight felt something pull her closer and closer to her friend, something that she… she didn’t know what the feeling in her was towards the energy, even as it started to peel away from Sunset. It slid through the air swiftly, stopping mere centimeter’s from Twilight’s cloak. Looking to her other side, a more transparent, white, and shaky essence was slowly making its way over, infrequently folding over itself before moving forward again. Once both were close to her, Twilight found her breathing becoming shallower as something deep within her said she should… do something. It was while Twilight was trying to shake off the feeling that a black cloud started to rise from her. Bolts of green ran through the main body of her essence, and slowly it started to move towards Rarity, threading along her strand of being. The cold and fear it emanated almost froze the mare. Almost. Twilight felt like the side of her head was smacked as the white soul ran back to its owner, long before it could have done to her… or her to it. Sunset only grit her teeth more as the black spirit turned to her. “Twilight, control yourself.” Twilight blinked a few times, not understanding as her head felt murky. Her vision swam as she turned to the noise, only to see a blazing sun. A delicious, blazing sun. “Twilight, I know you can control yourself! Don’t give in to it!” Twilight blinked, and for a moment saw that Sunset still was connected to her, despite the growing mass that rose above her, threatening to crush the yellow unicorn at any moment. She shut her eyes, and demanded her magic stop. Yellow, black, and green exploded off of the mass as it collapsed and was called back. Both of the living mares shuddered from the sudden, intense cold, but it vanished just as quickly as it had come. What hadn’t already vanished was the crying mare that sat in the middle of the lobby. Sunset galloped over, despite her body wanting to do anything but. She wrapped her hooves around Twilight and started to nuzzle her head. “Don’t worry Twilight, I’m okay. Nothing happened, the theory was just wrong. Celestia doesn’t even need to know about this.” The last statement caused a small howl to come from Twilight as she hugged her friend tighter. “I’m so sorry!” Sunset bit into her lip and looked at Rarity, who was simply staring back. Sunset mouthed, ‘Please don’t hate her.’ Rarity bit into her lower lip before sighing and nodding. She then mouthed, ‘Give me time,’ before trotting away to her room to process all that had happened, all while Sunset still held on to her scared friend. Unbeknownst to all of them though, was that a small bit of gold aura had stayed, and now slithered along the ground. Slowly, it climbed along Twilight’s cloak before stopping on the underbelly and glowing. The small hole that had been there previously was filled with the light, forming a radiant, golden sun, that was soon half covered with red. For only a brief moment, the sign existed, before Twilight’s essence consumed the new part, covering it in black thread like the rest of the cloak.