Xenophilia: Shotglass Oneshots

by TheQuietMan

28: The Sisterhood of Stitches, Part 2 by FanOfMostEverything

The Sisterhood of Stitches, Part 2 by FanOfMostEverything

*****************************

Nearly two centuries of life allowed one to grow accustomed to any number of once-startling events. Magical catastrophe, global peril, a sudden rise in the price of wool, all ceased to concern when one had already encountered them a dozen times before. Thus, Rarity scarcely even blinked when one of the princesses of Equestria teleported into her studio unannounced.

"How can I help you, Twilight?" The heliotrope flash was a telltale identifier; Celestia's would've been white, Luna's midnight blue, Cadence's rose.

"We need to talk."

That got Rarity to look up. That was Twilight's "princess voice," the tone she usually reserved to end arguments with unreasonable foals and nobles. The Duchess of Whinnypeg's new gown could wait. "About what?"

"This, this..." Twilight spent a moment groping for a word. "This cult of yours."

Rarity briefly pondered this. "Do you mean the Sisterhood? That's hardly my responsibility anymore, Twilight. I may be honorary guildmistress, but Sock Puppet runs it."

"Sock Puppet is nothing but a..." Twilight snorted. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Rarity assured her, practically oozing innocence. "Besides, I'm simply too busy with other affairs to take a personal hoof in the Sisterhood anymore. With the charities, the commissions, the diplomatic work... Wasn't it you who said we'd never get half as far with the Diamond Dog nations without me?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Rarity, we only need you once a generation. Then we can just threaten to bring back the Unpleasable Demon-Pony of a Thousand Demands."

Rarity scowled. "You know how I hate that awful title. It makes me sound like some dreadful spoiled bully."

"Well how do you think I feel about Lero being reduced to a humannequin and a story about how much he bought from you!?"

Ah. There it was. Gently, Rarity said, "We all do our part to remember him, Twilight."

"Oh, sure." The princess began to pace. "Fluttershy goes to Zebrica to study his closest genetic relatives, Applejack names a new variety of apple after him, Pinkie spreads his recipes, Dash and I have our family and each other, and you make a guild of idol-worshipping tailors. Yeah, great contribution, Rarity. Real nice work."

"Darling, you're blowing this out of proportion. They don't worship those humannequins any more than you worshipped Celestia before you were crowned."

Twilight flopped down into a heap most unbecoming of a princess. Her tail lashed and her wings were flared out in aggravation. "Just... just tell me why, Rarity. Why all the ceremony and the secrecy and the 'He Who Must Not Be Nude' horseapples?"

Rarity sighed and sat far more elegantly at her friend's side. She looked nowhere in particular, her gaze fixed decades into the past. "What's it like, Twilight?"

"What, loving a human? I think you know enough about tha—" Twilight caught herself and hung her head. "I'm sorry. That was—"

"Entirely understandable." Rarity patted her on the withers. "Your emotions are running high and, even now, you're defending your stallion. In any case, I meant being the Element of Magic."

Twilight gave her friend a quizzical look. "Um, I... I'm not even sure how to answer the question. I don't really have any point of comparison."

"I see. Well then, let me tell you what it's like being the Element of Generosity. Imagine one of your best friends in the world, one of the ponies to whom you owe everything, has lost the stallion she loves, that he has succumbed at last to something she never will. Imagine something stirring in your heart, something far beyond the obligation to console that friend that anypony would feel. Imagine an overpowering urge, beyond reason or emotion, to give. To give something, anything to that friend that could take away her pain and sorrow, all while knowing that that there is nothing you have, nothing in the world, that can do it.

"Now imagine this is happening to two of your best friends at the same time.

"The last time I felt so compelled to do something that was so far beyond me, it was Star Swirl's unfinished spell and Rainbow Dash's cutie mark driving my actions. This time, it was my Element telling me, shouting at me, to find something, do something, that would help you."

Twilight thought back to a time she never wanted to revisit. "You, Pinkie, Fluttershy. I don't think any of you left us alone for two weeks."

"I didn't dare," Rarity replied. "Even without Generosity driving me to do it, I worried that you might do something drastic. Or, if not you, then Lyra. If you were to lose both of them, one after the other...

"I can imagine what the others were going through: Laughter telling Pinkie to cheer you up even when she knew you needed time to mourn, Kindness urging Fluttershy to care for you when even she couldn't tend to a wounded heart."

"And Applejack?" asked Twilight. "I barely saw her."

"Honesty is hardly welcome in a time of bereavement. What could she say?" Rarity adopted a passable Appleachian accent. "'Sorry, sugarcube, but he's gone an' he ain't comin' back.' Or would you rather she attempt one of her painfully awkward attempts at lying?"

Twilight slumped further, resting her head on the studio's carpet. "That still doesn't explain all this stuff with your guild."

"Well, after a while, you were on the mend. The three of you had your children and each other, and the three of us knew you would be alright. But it wasn't enough. I still needed to offer you something, some proper memorial. But what? I never knew Lero as well as I liked. We were never much more than clothier and customer, especially not after..." Rarity looked away, ashamed.

Twilight took her turn to give a pat on the withers. "It was never your fault."

Rarity smiled, but the melancholy was clearly still there. "Thank you, Twilight. Perhaps one day I'll be able to believe that.

"In any case, I had a simple choice before me. Either I could work with what I had, or my Element would drive me utterly crazy. So, I decided to make something that celebrated the Lero I knew, the eternally patient customer who forced me to rethink everything I thought I knew about clothing, for which I will be eternally grateful."

"But does it have to all be so, so..." Twilight trailed off, again unable to find a word.

"Cultish?" Rarity chuckled and shook her head. "Oh, Twilight, you dear thing."

"What?"

"You should've seen some of the secret societies I encountered back when I was so terribly desperate to make my mark on Canterlot society. The Lionesses' Club, the Starmasons, the Order of the Silver Crescent... Honestly, the inner circle of the Sisterhood of Stitches is incredibly tame by comparison. All they do is have each master of the craft make an outfit based on Lero's measurements. All the reverence and secrecy is there just so they stay interested. It's something to belong to, an exclusive club that lets them all feel important, as well they should. They've earned it."

Twilight digested this for a moment. "Huh."

"You know, it was Celestia who suggested all the pomp and ceremony when I proposed the idea."

"What!?"

Another heliotrope flash, and Rarity was alone once more. She hummed a half-formed tune as she returned to the gown. Hopefully, that would satisfy Twilight. If she ever saw some of the more risque outfits the Sisterhood had made over the years...

Rarity shivered. It didn't bear thinking about. Back to business, old girl, back to business.

Comments

[BenRG]

Poor Rarity; one night with Lero was enough and she never forgot, did she?

[Arlan753]

On one hand it's sad to hear about "He Who Must Not Be Nude" demise, on the other it's comforting to see how his firends managed the situation.
Nice story.

[TheQuietMan]

2745099
yes, and though it may have been just one night in that single night they loved a lifetime's worth...

...but then that night also meant she ended up having his baby which then turned out to be the future leader of the resistance when rogue Lerotech rose up and enslaved the whole of ponykind.

[Wild Zontars]

2745305

[Aru]

Wait, wait. I think I missed something. What Rarity and Lero done? Something emberassing I suppose but....wut. I'm confused!
Chapter nice, I like it. Lero is facepalming hard looking at those silly ponies from afterlife

[BenRG]

2745305
"On the 29th day of the Eighth month of the 7th year after the return of Princess Luna... the lives of thirty million ponies came to an end. The survivors of the Baelfire came to call the war 'Judgement Day'. They had survived only to face a new horror: The war with the Machines..."

See? I can do pop culture references too!

[Mike Teavee]

2745532

You're confused, you say? Then you'll want to read THIS.

Trust me; I think you'll enjoy it.

[Aru]

2745655 Oh for fucking crying out loud... another?!
Well, I think I should read it if there is the way to know what Rares and Lero have done. Naughty sentient being with a gift of free will, naughty!

Edit: Oooh...I understand now..

[Rikmach]

2745793

Well, so far, in the story, they've only kissed and caressed, life and circumstance has prevented anything beyond that. However, as you can see, we've certainly left enough implications for our readers to conclude it won't end there! If they actually will...? Well, stay tuned!

[Rikmach]

2745099
I can imagine her tell-all memoirs a few hundred years later.

"With the possible exception of my own dear Fancy, Luna rest his soul, I believe I can honestly say he was one of my most caring, adaptive and eager lovers. And bless their efforts, there's just some things a stallion can do with fingers that you can't quite emulate with hoof, mouth or even telekineses. Girls, if you ever have he chance to take a Minotaur lover, you owe it to yourself to try it at least once."

[FanOfMostEverything]

For the record, the Sisterhood of Stitches does accept stallions into its ranks. The name was simply chosen by a member of a matriarchal society who recognized the power of alliterative appeal.

2745305
Mr. Cooly ruled with an iron...
Probably best if I don't finish that sentence, actually.

[Banchoking]

I'd like to think that there are other groups like this.

Maybe a group of Tinkers got a hold of Twilight's notes on human tech and hail him as a great thinker.

Lyra taught some of his personal philosophy and a new branch of the Still Way was formed.

A group of Redneck ponies that worships him like they do Luna for making the only Moonshine to equal hers.

And some ponies telling stories of a two legged demon.

Oh, Twilight. You have your work cut out for you cleaning up this mess.

[VelvetHeart]

2745941
2745305

"Here they come." There was a finality to Starstruck's words as she levitated the barbed, flanged length of her mace before her. The sound of hundreds of unicorn horns blazing to life joined hers. Countless pegasi took to the skies in a cloud of feathers and armaments. Earth ponies, clad in their own weight in metal, stepped forth as living tanks, forming a protective line.

"Remember, fellow unicorns!" Prince Shining Armor roared, "We have to hold them here! Behind us lies Fillydelphia, and the ponies there trust us to protect them! Use your weapons, do not attempt to grab them with telekinesis or shields: they have evolved magical resistance. When you feel threatened, disengage and let one of the teleport conductors give you some breathing space. Our protections do not hold against them for long. Above all, fight together, fight effectively, and fight like a herd!"

Starstruck swallowed as the horizon blackened, a gigantic mass of countless thousands of bobbing, suggestive shapes. Nervously, she adjusted her chastity belt as the army of Coolly Clones rolled in.

How the hay did it figure out how to use the Mirror Pool?

[TheQuietMan]

2749547
I admit it... I LOL'd.

[Genesis1212]

aw its kinda sad to think that rarity and lero never grew closer as friends i mean ya sure it can get awekward given the circumstances of divided rainbow but still >< hope this isn't completely canon to divided rainbow

[Rikmach]

2759596

Well, the author of this is playing safe and assuming Mike goes with the "Everything returned to status quo except Twilight got wings" ending. Will that be how it ends? Well... Not even I know.

[Solid Punch]

Story 27-28 was interesting, it might be beginning of something bigger. It have potential to.

[Nataniel]

The three of you had your children and each other, and the three of us knew you would be alright.

Uhm, if Lyra by any chance is counted as non-canon waifu, then it's kinda okay on "three of you"- RD, Twilight and Lero. What's with "the three of us"? There are 6 elements - Twi and RD being in the herd with Loro Ssill leaves four others - AJ, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity.

[link4]

6467361 yes, but remember? AJ left twilight and the rest alone at the time. so, only 3 of the elements were actively consoling then,