//------------------------------// // Ch. 11 - A Rare Sight // Story: Equestria World, Book 1: Surviving Canterlot High // by Gear Works //------------------------------// I’m driving my way to Rarity’s place with Chrysalis giving me the directions this Saturday. Rarity told us that she was in need of some volunteers to help in modeling some new designs that Chrysalis actually drew. Luna decided to pick up Applejack, because Big Mac was going to be using the truck this weekend, and then help Sunset in how to get to her place. The reason Luna is joining us is because she is our supervisor of the volunteer club, since we only have five members and is also a new club. We started to pull up to Rarity’s place, and I noticed that the sign looked similar to one I saw back in Manehattan. “Carousel Boutique?” I said. “That’s right,” Chrysalis replied. “Rarity both lives and works here.” I had a confused look on my face. “You’ll see.” We got out of my truck and a few cars that I recognized were parked there. When we walked up and opened the door, I heard the bell on the inside above the door ring. “Jack. Chrysalis. I was wondering when you would get here.” Rarity was able to greet us as we came in. When I walked in, it looked like a small fashion store with dresses hanging on racks all around. There was a classy mint lady working behind the counter. “Oh, where are my manners,” Rarity said. “This is Sassy Saddles, my associate manager of my fashion business.” “And minor fashion designer,” Sassy added. “It’s nice to meet you, Jack. This is a first time we had a male model for Rarity’s store.” “Unless you want to count Applejack with men’s clothing,” Rarity added. “I HEARD THAT!!!” Applejack said behind the black curtain in the shop. “I’m guessing the others are in the other room of the shop?” I asked, pointing to the black curtain. “Oh yes,” Rarity replied. “Sassy, will you escort Jack to the dressing area. I need to look over Chrysalis’ designs before we begin.” Sassy took me to the dressing area, where I saw Applejack, Sunset, Silver Spoon, and Diamond Tiara in black tights. Luna and Mr. Filthy Rich were also there to watch. “Mr. Rich, it’s been a while since I saw you before,” I said. “Hello, Jack,” Mr. Rich replied. “How has the pass few weeks been since you moved here?” “Crazy, but great. I think I’m going to like it here.” Sassy handed me some similar tights that the girls were wearing. “You can change in that small room there.” I went on in and begin getting my clothes changed. “Mr. Rich, has my father kept you up to date on the store progress?” “From what I heard, the store should be open in a few weeks. We already posted job openings for the store, and hope to have some future employees training in a week. By the way, any new houses being built in the new subdivision you live at?” I replied, “Just starting to see a few lots getting the foundation being built, so I know that someone has bought those to move in later on. If I was to take a guess, we might have several neighbors in a couple of years.” “I guess having neighbors is better than living by yourself,” Applejack replied. I can hear some people come walking into the dressing room. “Jack, if it feels too tight, let me know so I can give you the next size up,” Rarity said. “OK,” I replied. “Can I ask you a question?” “What is it, dear?” “Do you have another store in Manehattan?” “Why yes I do. I also have one in Fillydelphia. Have you gone by the Manehattan store when you lived there?” “With a friend of mine during my freshman year. She was amazed by what she saw there and has wanted to make dresses like that, just like her mother.” “Was she a former girlfriend?” “Rarity, he never had a girlfriend in his life,” Applejack interrupted. “That’s right,” I said. “We were more like brother and sister, being the fact that we were just ‘only child’.” “That’s nice,” Rarity said. “What was her name?” “Coco Pommel,” I said. “She moved during the summer last year on short notice. Didn’t know where she moved to, but she was a good friend to have around.” “Oh, I’m sure you’ll meet up with her someday,” she replied with a giggle. With the fact that I was behind a curtain, not being able to see anything, when she giggled, my senses started to go off. I knew that I was able to sense this kind of thing when it’s someone who I can’t see in front of me. Another part of my soul powers that I do know. Let’s just say the curtain makes it hard to see what someone is feeling in some way that I need to be known. And so far, Rarity is planning some kind of surprise for me, but what. So I decided to play along for now. I was almost finished changing when I heard the doorbell ring. “Sorry I’m late. My mother was holding me up.” “That can not be who I think it is?” I thought. No doubt, I recognized the voice of who just came in, and that Rarity must thought of this when I said her name before. “Is our male model around? I only see the female models who volunteered.” I decided to surprise her and see if she still remembers me. “I just about finished changing, Coco. Can you give me a moment?” “Wait a minute. Is that…?” I opened the curtain and said, “The Jack of Trades is here.” The whitish girl with the light blue hair saw me with her eyes wide open, surprised at what she saw. “JACK!!!” She came running to me and jumped at me with a big hug, knocking me to the floor with her. “Coco, you really need to control yourself when you decide to go in for a hug,” I said. “Sorry,” Coco replied. She got off of me and helped pull me off the floor. “When I heard you name on the first day, I thought it was you who came here.” “Yea,” I said as I rubbed the back of my head. “It’s kind of a long story. I just want to know why you’re here in Ponyville?” “That’s a long story too,” she said with a laugh. Rarity cleared her throat and said, “Well, the two of you can start catching up after we get your measurements for what we have to create.” The girls went to get our measurements, picked out the fabric, and started to work on the designs. We sat down and waited for the basic patterns to be ready and decided that Coco and me needed to do some catching up. “OK, Coco. I need to know why your parents moved here.” “It’s Rarity that played a role in this move, Jack.” “OK, OK. I did play a role in all this,” Rarity said. “I was opening our new downtown display location over a year ago to help sell more of the dresses that we have here. Sassy was looking over the other stores and learned that her mother wanted a job at our Manehattan location. So, she called her up and asked if she was willing to work at our new display store downtown. We knew it was on short notice, but Sassy was able to find place for them to move in that they can afford at this time.” Coco added, “We hope to find a nice house at a good price, but for now, we’re staying at a nice apartment with good rent. My father was able to find a job here as well, so we are doing fine and are in no hurry of moving.” “Well, maybe my father can help with moving into a house on our subdivision, if your parents are interested,” I said. “His boss owns the area.” “I’ll make sure they keep that in mind,” Coco replied. “Besides, Rarity convinced me on attending Canterlot High as well.” Rarity said, “When I met Coco, she was going to attend Crystal Prep. I stopped them right there and told them to look into Canterlot High. When they asked why, I told them that I was a student there. They were shocked to learn that the co-owner, at the time, was a student there. Plus, talent like hers doesn’t need to be used for Suri Polomare. All she cares about is taking all the credit to her own self. That is just a disgrace to the fashion world.” “I’m glad that I now did, or I wouldn’t have reunited with you, Jack,” Coco said. “Fate has a way of bring people together,” I said. I can see Sunset rolling her eyes, wanting to say something in response. “Sunny, don’t even say it.” She looked straight at me. “I can see that look of yours, so you just deal with it, OK? That goes double for you, Diamond Tiara.” “What? I didn’t say anything,” she replied. Luna and me glared straight at her, making her nervous. She looked at her father, hoping he can bail her out. “Don’t look at me,” he said. “Miss Luna already told me what I needed to know, and you need to learn from all of this.” She looked down, knowing that she wasn’t getting any help at all. “Looks like you still have that touch with dealing with bullies,” Coco said. “I’ve already heard the story about Sunset. But I’m wondering about the other girl.” “I guess it has a connection to my reason of being here,” I said. “Before you go there,” Rarity interrupted, “I need to get these fitted on you. Sunset Shimmer, Diamond Tiara, the two of you are up first.” Both Sunset and Diamond Tiara went up to the staging area to have the fabrics fitted and adjusted on them. “OK, if we continue?” I said. Rarity nodded. “Mr. Rich, do you want to tell the story about how my father helped out with the store location? You know it better in detail than me.” “Thank you, Jack,” he replied. “I was working with Mr. Fix-It on having his business brought to Ponyville. We found some land that we worked on purchasing, and got started on the foundation for the new store. In a month, we came across some problems with the ground and needed someone to double check the ground. He recommended Jack’s father, Mr. Spades, to look at it.” I continued. “My father just finished on the Manehattan project before Christmas, leaving the interior work to another department from the company. This gave us some time to work on the truck, since my 16th birthday was a month away. We got the engine work completed when Mr. Fix-It and Mr. Rich came to our place. When they explain the problems that was going on, my father thought something wasn’t right with the foundation info listed.” Mr. Rich continued. “He came with us, with some equipment that he needed to inspect the area. Turns out that the ground had unstable limestone under the soil. And there was no mention about it on the land details. It would be a month or two before a sinkhole could be formed. The sellers of that piece of land never did their research of the ground like they should do.” “Forgive me for asking,” said Silver Spoon, “but how does limestone have an effect on creating sinkholes? “I think I can answer that,” Applejack said. “I learned that limestone can break apart after enough rain water goes through the soil. And it was Mayor Mare that created the Foundation Research Act after some sinkholes showed up after that great rainstorm happened years ago. Somehow, those sellers tried to work around that bill to get away with making some profits.” “And we took them to court and got the payment back, with interest,” Mr. Rich said. “But we still needed a location to build the store. All of us looked over the locations and prices that were out there, and we found one that cost a bit more, but the location was the best option to go with. After all that went through, we figure that Mr. Spades would be useful working here, so we asked him to be the new manager at the new store.” “Wouldn’t that be a step down from what his previous title?” Rarity asked. “Maybe,” I answered, “but in this case, it’s a step up. He’s not just a manager, but he also oversees all building projects in Ponyville, including all homes in the subdivision that we live on. The only catch was that our new house was ready to move in with two weeks left before school starts. Twilight and her mother helped out in getting me enrolled in school.” “And let me take a guess,” Coco said. “You addressed that to Miss D.T. here, putting her in her place.” “Girl hit the nail right on the head,” Applejack said. She looked at Diamond Tiara. “And that’s what you get for messing with my little sis, missy.” Once Sunset and Diamond Tiara were done getting fitted, they wanted Silver Spoon and me to come up next. “Jack, how are the others doing back in Manehattan,” Coco asked. “Well, Party Favor and Sugar Belle are now dating.” “I figure they would make a great couple, even if they can be silly,” Coco said. “What about Double Diamond and Night Glider?” “Same as usual,” I replied. “Still competing as to who the better extreme athlete is?” “Yep. We even recorded both of them as they raced down one of the difficult mountain paths. D.D. on skis, and Nighty on snowboard. Still have a copy of the video on my computer.” “You didn’t ski again, did you?” I shook my head. “That’s good. The last time we went, it was an embarrassment for the both of us.” “This time, I stayed on the helicopter with Party Favor, doing the multi-recording so we could make a side-by-side video of it. Do not ask me who was better, because I have no clue from what I saw.” Luna asked, “So what was wrong with the both of you two skiing last time?” Both Coco and me answered, “We fell down.” “Basically, I fell first, and when she tried to help me up, she forgot that she had her skis on and fell on top of me, with her head in the snow,” I said. “We just knew it wasn’t for us.” “I just wanted to enjoy the view, since the snow white mountains looked nice from the bottom,” Coco said. “I think that should do it for both of you. You want me to start sewing while you get Applejack fitted?” “If you don’t mind,” Rarity replied. Coco and Sassy went to work on the sewing while Rarity and Chrysalis finished fitting Applejack before joining the others. After a couple of hours of work, the clothes were ready for us to display. I had a white dress shirt with a gold band around each arm, purple vest, and gray dress pants. I was able to get a purple tie and white gloves to go with the set. I had to stick with my dark shoes for now. When I walked out, some of the girls were in their outfits. Diamond Tiara wore a pink classic dress with white trimmings, while Silver Spoon wore a black classic dress with white trimmings and long, white sleeves. “Chrysalis,” Silver Spoon asked, “how do you put this small hat on?” Chrysalis grabbed some hairpins and attached them between her hair and the mini-hat. “That should do it. You look like a real Lolita girl.” “Lolitia? What is that?” Diamond Tiara asked. “A fashion style that’s popular overseas,” I said. “From what I remember, it’s based on the Victorian Era clothing. Popular with anime titles, which I can guess is where you got the idea from, right Chrysalis?” “As Rarity would say it, ‘Guilty as charged.’” Chrysalis said. “Silver Spoon, yours is gothic lolitia. Diamond Tiara, yours is sweet lolitia.” “Oh look, D.T. You’re sweet,” Silver Spoon said. “As if!” Diamond Tiara replied. “Sunset,” Rarity spoke, “are you ready? “I look silly in this. Do I have to come out?” “YES!!!” Sunset came out in a Lolita dress made of crimson and black frills and a crimson net bow on her head. “This is stupid,” she said. “I don’t know. If you have some old style pistols, you might look like a bad-ass,” I added. “Looks like you know which anime I got that idea from,” Chrysalis said. “At least I was able to find these.” She brought out a small, black box. In it were three prop knives. “Good thinking, Chrysalis,” I said. I took out the knives and placed each one between the fingers of my right hand. “What do you think?” “Is there a reason for those?” Luna asked. “Hundreds of years ago, there were butlers who also doubled as skilled bodyguards. Knives like these, which are props anyway, are used to take out thieves and intruders that threaten their masters. It’s one of the few weapons that they use. Another type of weapon can be just a single wire thread. If done just right, you can do harm to your enemies up close. But this kind of practice in the real world is long gone.” “Well, at least the business attire for women is growing.” Applejack walked out of her changing room, wearing a black blazer and matching dress pants, a white buttoned shirt, and a red cravat. “This must be what a business woman with a mean streak look like.” “Why it sure is, Miss Applejack,” I said with an accent. ‘Well then, I think we need to take some pictures of this,” Rarity said. “Then we can have some pizza for your reward.” So we followed Rarity’s lead for the pictures while Mr. Rich went to pick up some pizzas for us afterwards. She took several pictures of us in multiple group sets. After she was finished with the pictures, we got changed back into our regular clothes and handed them to Sassy for display. We looked at all the pictures on Rarity’s computer while waiting for the pizza to arrive. We all picked our favorites, and Silver Spoon and me picked the same picture from the set, which was the one where I used the prop knives for that picture. When the pizza arrived, we ate and talked a lot before we decided to leave. Coco decided to pull me aside to talk to me in private. “Jack, do you still use your…gift…around school?” I answered, “Yes, and I just learned more about it.” I gave a nod to Chrysalis and Luna to come over. “Applejack, Sunset, can you wait for me in the car?” Luna said. “I’ll be there shortly.” Both of them came on over to meet with us. “Luna,” I said, “Coco is one of my friends who helped keep my powers a secret. Can you give her a quick update on what you’ve told me? I need to take care of some unfinished business.” I looked over to where Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were. “I think I know what you plan on doing,” Luna said. “Will take care of Coco.” I went on over and asked Mr. Rich if I can talk to the two girls for a moment. “OK, you two. Since you are now in the same club as me, I expect that the two of you stop bullying anyone else, including Apple Bloom and her friends. If I catch you acting like that again, and I with come on to you like a hawk. Am I clear?” “Yes, sir!” Silver Spoon said. I looked at Diamond Tiara, wanting a response. “I guess,” she replied. I stared at her, wanted a better response. “I mean, yes sir!” “Good. Now get out of here and be thinking about what I have said.” Diamond Tiara went into the car, but Silver Spoon stayed and said, “I think it was nice what happened today. Just give her time, and I think she will understand like I did.” She soon went to car to join her friend. They pulled out of the driveway and went on their way. Luna also went into her car and made her way out back towards the school. Chrysalis and Coco went to join me. Coco said, “My mother still has a couple of hours before she has to close up. Think you can give me a ride downtown?” I replied, “Sure thing.” We all got in to my truck and made our way downtown. “Luna filled me in on the basic details,” Coco said. “I can’t believe it’s related to a person’s soul.” “If it wasn’t for his powers, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Chrysalis added. “Well, he does care about others a lot that he doesn’t stop helping,” Coco said. “Thanks for the support,” I added. “But seriously, you and the others did the right thing to keep things a secret.” “Are the four others that both of you brought up helped out?” Chrysalis asked. “Yes,” Coco replied. “And when it comes to Manehattan, no telling who would want to use powers like that for their own advantage. Do you think Professor Digger would know about this if we asked?” “I rather leave him out of it until we know more about what we are dealing with.” I said. “Besides, he did give me a parting gift before I left. And I think he had a reason for giving me those swords.” “Masamune and Muramasa.” Coco said. “You really liked those swords when he displayed them to us. He did say that those were the last swords that were created by their creator of the same name.” “And now that I know more about my powers, I wonder if the legend of those swords are true,” I said. “What is this legend that you are talking about?” Chrysalis asked. “Legend has it that when Masamune and Muramasa each created the last blade to battle each other, the battle lead into a stalemate, with the only proof was just the blades by themselves in the ground. There was no sign of their creators, and the two blades were kept together as a reminder of the two sword maker’s craft and to remember them with honor.” “After hearing that, you think that maybe a part of their soul would live on in the swords,” Chrysalis said. “I’m starting to think the same thing,” I added. “But so far, I haven’t felt anything from them. Could be because they are just a weapon and not a living human being. My powers don’t even work on animals.” “And what about Sunset?” Coco asked. “I was told that you sense something from her, but don’t know what it is. That’s a first for all of us.” “I know, and I hope as my powers grow, I can get my answer about what Sunset could be hiding,” I said. “Only time will tell,” Coco said. “Oh, here we are. Can you want a moment, I want to get my mom to come out and see you.” I pulled up to the side of the store so Coco could get out, run into the store, and bring her mother out. “There he is,” she said, pointing at me. “Well, I’ll be. I’m surprised that you become friends with my boss and a friend of Coco’s.” “It’s nice to see you too, Mrs. Pommel,” I replied. “So where are you living at?” Mrs. Pommel asked. “You know where the new subdivision is at. It’s the one that my dad’s boss owns.” She nodded. “That’s where we live. It’s the only house in the area at this time.” “Oh, we need to exchange contact info so we can keep in touch.” I shared my contact info with Coco, and she did the same for me. “Thanks, Jack.” “No problem,” I replied. “You should come by when you get a chance. I’ll let me parents know you’re here.” “Well, I’ll have to plan that out next time,” Mrs. Pommel replied. “Thanks for bring Coco by.” “Well, I’ll see you sometime Monday, Coco. Bye.” We started to drive our way home, seeing Coco and her mother waving their hands bye to us. “Well, I guess we have another ally with us,” Chrysalis said. “Think this is an improvement in getting our answers?” “We each have our own questions that need answering. And no doubt we will find the answers together, in time.”