A Monument to Fashion

by Llyander

Part 3

A Monument to Fashion
Part 3

The door to the library, Twilight decided, could do with repainting. The handles could also do with polishing. In fact, it might be worthwhile simply taking the entire door off and having it remade from scratch... Preferably with the rarest woods imaginable, necessitating a trip to somewhere far, far away. Somewhere so far away that she wouldn’t have to open the door at any point in the foreseeable future.


She let her head drop forward till her horn thudded against the door, her eyes closed. She could do this. She HAD to do this. She just had to open the door, go inside, and tell Spike that Rarity was missing, that’s all. Three little words. Rarity is missing. We think. Maybe. She might be de-. She cut that line of thought off firmly before it could go any further. NOT dead. Missing. Definitely not dead. They’d just mislaid her. Like a book. 


Not that she would ever lose a book; she knew where every one was (well Spike did, and that was pretty much the same as her knowing) apart from that copy of Tacked to Death, but that had gone missing before she’d even taken over the library so it wasn’t like it was her fault. She should order another copy, she supposed. It’d probably be easier. In fact, she was sure she knew of a bookshop in Canterlot that sold it, she could just turn around and get on the train and...


“Uh, Twilight?” A voice impinged on her musings.


“Hmmmmm?” She muttered, not really paying attention as thoughts of running away to Canterlot and the safety of her old room at the castle ran round and round in her head.


“Are you gonna come in? You’ve been standing out there for like ten minutes now, just staring at the door.”


“Oh, no. Not right now, I just need to try and figure out a way to tell Spike that Rarity has gone....” At this point the alarm bells screaming from the depths of her subconscious finally filtered through and she shut her mouth with an audible clack of teeth as she looked up to find Spike peering curiously down at her from an upstairs window. “Er...”


“Tell me Rarity’s gone where? Has she gone off to a fashion show? The spa? To start a successful career in cheese and wine?” Spike vanished inside and a few moments later the door to the library swung open. Damn you, door. She wouldn’t forget this betrayal. “She hasn’t been kidnapped by Diamond Dogs again? Marauding gryphons? You gotta give me something, I’m dying here, Twilight.”

“Dying? Who said anything about dying?” Twilight’s face twisted into the sort of rictus grin normally reserved for villains in Daring Do books. “I never said anything about dying. I certainly didn’t say anything about Rarity dying. Not a word.”

Spike blinked slowly, confusion giving way to concern. She was acting pretty weird, even for Twilight. “Twilight? H-Has something happened to Rarity? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”

Twilight blinked, her expression faltering as she heard his voice catch. “Oh Spike.” She whispered as she dropped down to wrap her forelegs around the baby dragon, hugging him tightly to her. “We don’t know. There’s… We just can’t seem to find her right now, and there’s something on the river that…” She trailed off. “She’s not dead.” She said firmly even as that traitorous little voice in the back of her mind taunted her. Who was she really trying to reassure here - Spike or herself? “We just don’t know where she is so we’re not assuming anything right now.”

Spike was stiff and unresponsive in her hug, his arms held tight by his side as he trembled a little against the unicorn’s embrace. “We’ll find her, I promise.” She pulled back a little so she could look into his eyes, seeing the worry there, worry for more than just one of his friends. She'd hoped for months he would grow out of this crush on his own, but he still clung stubbornly to even the slightest shred of hope; any hope was welcome right now, Twilight found herself thinking, gaze still locked with her number one assistant.

“I know you will, Twilight.” He replied with unwavering faith, “We’ve been through enough for me to know that we never give up on our friends, that you never give up.” He rubbed at his eyes, quickly hiding unshed tears. “If you don’t mind, though, I’m going to go wait for her at the Boutique. Just in case she needs any help when she gets back.”

Twilight hesitated. The boutique with its macabre new neighbour was probably the last place the little dragon should be right now, but one look at the set lines of his face convinced her that he wasn’t going to listen to any objections she might raise so she simply nodded. “Okay. Just… Don’t worry. We’ll find out what’s going on, I promise.” She loosened her hug at last to let him step back and then hurry off into town.

Well, at least she knew where he’d be if she needed to contact the Princess. Should she contact the Princess? This was pretty odd even by Ponyville standards but did it warrant bothering Princess Celestia before they even really knew what was going on for sure? She shook her head. Not yet. Not until they’d been able to confirm this wasn’t just some outlandish prank. Speaking of pranks, she wondered how Applejack and Pinkie were getting on with the Cutie Mark Crusaders…

**********

“Girls? Y’all in there?” Applejack called as she trotted up the ramp to knock on the door of the Crusader Clubhouse. “Applebloom? Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo? We gotta have a word with ya.”

“We have cake!” Pinkie Pie helpfully added. “It’s superduperscrummylicious but there’s so much we need help eating it!” She tilted her head to one side, straining to hear the stampede of tiny hooves such a pronouncement was likely to incite. “Well poopie. Nothing.” She gave a swish of her tail as she looked about, bouncing idly in place. “I wonder where they went? I bet they’re off having awesome fun adventures again!”

“Yeah, well, their last awesome fun adventures near’nough landed Applebloom in hospital last time.” Applejack muttered, “Cutie Mark Crusader Hang-Gliders. Lucky she landed on her durned thick head!”

Pinkie’s eyes were wide and gleaming. “HANG GLIDER CAKE DELIVERY!” She burst out, near vibrating with excitement at the thought. “We could drop them down chimneys and in open windows! Deliver cakes even when you’re not at home! We could revolutionize the industry!”

“Uh, Pinkie… I don’t think that sounds real safe t’me.” Applejack ventured. “Ah mean, did you miss the point where ah said Applebloom near broke her head?”

“Details!” The pink pony insisted, making a shushing noise as visions of squadrons of muffin loaded gliders filled her mind.

“Why not just ask a pegasus or two t’do it for you instead?” AJ persisted.

“Silly! They’ll be too busy towing the gliders!”

Applejack wisely decided to let the matter drop at that point, trying to ignore Pinkie’s excited muttering as she instead looked around the little clearing for any hint of where the Crusaders might have gone.

“Applejack?”

“Mmhmm. Whassup, Pinkie?”

“You don’t think something’s really happened to… I mean… She wouldn’t have done anything silly, right?” Pinkie whispered. “Twilight said, and I know she didn’t mean it, she was just trying to say we shouldn’t make any assumptions about anything but. I mean, she can’t be gone.”

Applejack blinked, pushing her Stetson a little higher atop her head as she frowned at Pinkie Pie. “Now don’t you go thinkin’ like that, sugarcube. We’ll find her and she’ll be just fine.” She brushed her hoof to Pinkie’s cheek which got a hint of a smile from the party pony. “Element of Honesty here. Wouldn’t say if ah didn’t believe it. She’s gonna be fine.”

“Do you promise?”

“Ah promise.”

“Do you PINKIE promise?”

Applejack hesitated, swallowing around a sudden tightness in her chest and a lump in her throat. She’d already had to deal with the fallout of breaking a Pinkie Promise (She didn’t break nothin’ she just worked around it!) once before.

“Applejack…” Pinkie persisted, her mane beginning that slow droop to full straightness as her mood fell. “Do you?”

AJ sighed as she tugged her hat down a bit more firmly over her eyes before she spoke, “Don’t make me promise that, sugarcube. Ah don’t wanna have to break a promise t’you.” She silently mouthed the word “again”.

“Oh. Well, I… Hi Girls!” And just like that, her mane poofed back up to its usual springiness as she waved excitedly over Applejack’s shoulders as the three fillies in question emerged from the woods on the back of Scootaloo’s scooter, the little pegasus’ wings buzzing frantically a moment more before they coasted to a gentle stop in front of the clubhouse.

“AJ?” The familiar voice of her sister was confused as Applebloom climbed off the scooter. “Whatcha all doin’ at the clubhouse? Ah don’t think you get to sign up for Crusadin’ AFTER you get your cutie mark.”

“Is that a rule? That should probably be a rule.” Scootaloo chimed in.

“But wouldn’t having the grownups helping us mean we’d stand a better chance of getting our cutie marks?” Sweetie Belle offered. “I mean they’ve got theirs, so that makes them qualified to help us figure out what ours might be in!”

“Cutie Mark Crusader Conference!” Applebloom declared and the three fillies had their heads together and were muttering away before Applejack or Pinkie could do more than exchange bemused glances.

A quick round of muttering, hoofwaving and nodding followed before the three broke apart and turned to face the two patiently waiting mares. “The Crusader Conference is over!” Applebloom declared, “And by a motion of two to one, we have decided that if you already have a Cutie Mark, you can’t be a Crusader. Sorry Sis.”

Sweetie Belle shrugged and gave the two a helpless little smile. “I tried, but they overruled me.”

Pinkie gasped, holding a hoof to her forehead as she swooned, “This is the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!” She declared, channelling Rarity to perfection though, unlike the white unicorn, no couch miraculously appeared to cushion her fall and instead she collapsed onto her back on the grass and lay there with all four hooves pointing skyward.

“Uh, Pinkie?” Applejack ventured.

“Yes Applejack?” She promptly replied, not moving an inch.

“Did y’all actually WANT t’be a Crusader?”

“Well... No. But that’s not the point! I would’ve been the greatest Crusader ever! I bet I could have even got my own Cutie Mark!”

Applejack opened her mouth to reply, thought better of it, and instead turned her attention to the girls. “Sweetie Belle, have you seen Rarity lately?”

The unicorn filly shook her head. “Well, our folks have been out of town on vacation again so I've been staying with her for like a week now but I hardly see her at all! She’s been really busy with something. You know what she’s like when she has a big project going? It’s been like that, only way worse. She’s been busy for days, working all hours of the night. I’ve even caught her wearing....” And she lowered her voice so that the others all had to lean in to hear her. “BLACK.” She whispered in a low urgent voice. “She’s been acting all weird-like ever since she got back with you guys from the Crystal Kingdom.”

“Weird? Weird how?” Scootaloo chipped in, leaning over the handlebars of her scooter. “Like Pinkie Pie weird? No offence, Pinkie.”

“None taken.” The pink pony replied easily, briefly pausing in her attempt to launch a paper aeroplane with a cupcake atop it to flash a bright, cheery smile at the pegasus. “Genius is never appreciated in its own lifetime!” She popped the cupcake, plane and all, into her mouth and chewed merrily away.

Scootaloo just grinned. “Aaaaaanyway. Go on, Sweetie. What’s Rarity been doing?”

“Well, uhm... There’s the black, and I heard her kinda, well, muttering to herself sometimes. She seemed a bit obsessed with something, and I don’t mean just dresses or someone from Canterlot. Sometimes I’d even catch her staring out the window with a funny little look on her face.” She paused, “Why are you asking about my sister? Has something happened to Rarity?”

Pinkie and Applejack exchanged glances. Applejack rolled her eyes towards the fillies, Pinkie rolled her eyes towards them as well. Applejack jerked her muzzle, Pinkie followed suit, a little frown creasing her brow. The two stared grumpily at each other, neither wanting to deliver the news and neither of them willing to back down.

“Well, Pinkie?” Applejack asked expectantly.

“Well what, Applejack?”

“Ain’t there somethin’ you need to be telling Sweetie Belle?”

“There is? Oh no, I’m not really one for telling tales. I think you should take care of this one, Applejack.”

“Wut? Tellin’ tales? You insinuatin’ something ‘bout me, Pinkie?”

“Of COURSE not!” The pink pony assured the increasingly annoyed looking Applejack. “I’d never do that. But if I was going to insinuate something that I’d mention that only ONE person here has ever made a Pinkie Promise and THEN BROKEN IT.” And for a moment her eyes flashed red. Despite herself, AJ actually felt a little twinge of fear and cleared her throat, memories of Pinkie’s frantic pursuit through the desert not entirely gone from her mind.

“That don’t make me no liar!” She shot back, trying to regain the offensive.

“I never said it did!”

“Ya did too!”

“Did not!”

“Did TOO!” Applejack advanced till she was near nose to nose with Pinkie, her nostrils flaring, while the Cutie Mark Crusaders stood watching, open mouthed, as the argument suddenly escalated before them.

“Did NOT!” The party pony didn’t budge an inch even as AJ invaded her personal space. “Wait, what didn’t I do again? I sort of lost track there of who was doing what with who and where. Was it Professor Prance in the Library with the riding crop or...?”

“Ya just called me a liar!” Applejack fumed, stamping a hoof on the ground.

“Oh yeah, that was it. Okie-dokie-lokie.” She cleared her throat before loudly declaring, “I did not!”

“Ya did!”

“Did I?” Pinkie tilted her head to one side and immediately looked contrite. “Oh. I’m sorry. All I meant to say was that you’re a lot better at explaining things than me, Applejack. You tell really great stories and you make things all simple-like and I get all sidetracked and... SQUIRREL!” Her head jerked to one side, staring intently at the base of a tree. “Oh wait, false alarm. Anyway, what were we fighting about again?”

“Ah...” Applejack blinked. “Ah’ll be damned if ah know.” She sighed, took another deep breath and turned back to the girls. “Sorry about that. Look, Sweetie Belle. There’s somethin’ weird going on in town and we’re a bit worried something might have happened t’Rarity cuz no-one can find her right now We just came by to make sure you girls haven’t been doing any pranks or anything Crusadin’ related down by the river lately, have you?

The three shook their heads in unison though Sweetie Belle now looked more than a little worried. “Not a thing, sis.” Applebloom assured her. “Not since we tried Cutie Mark Crusader lifeguards.”

“And fishermen.” Added Scootaloo.

“And water polo champions.” Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but add still more.

“An’boating experts, bridge builders, cutie mark crusader raft makers...” Applebloom went on. “But no, nothin’ recent. We all got tired of bein’ wet all the time so we went back to stuff on dry land.”

Applejack nodded. “Don’t worry, girls. We’ll figure out what’s going on. In the meantime, why don’t you two take Sweetie up to the farm? Granny Smith and Big Mac will fix you somethin’ to eat.”

They nodded, though Sweetie Belle only left following a great deal of coaxing and reassurance from her two friends. Applejack sighed as she watched the three disappearing over the hell towards Sweet Apple acres. “Here’s hopin’ Dash and Fluttershy are havin’ any more luck with that Trixie.”

“Do you really think she would have done something like this?” Pinkie sounded unconvinced. “I mean she’s a meanie-head who’s a little too full of herself, but to try and do something like this, to make us think something bad’s happened to a friend... Or to even have...” She broke off that thought, “That seems really extra special mean. Even for her.”

“Ah know, Pinkie. Ah just don’t much like to think about the alternatives if it weren’t her. C’mon now, we’d better head back to meet up with Twilight and wait for them to check in.”

Comments

[i_am_the_jam]

Why don't they ask Rarity's parents?

[Llyander]

2924475 A fair comment. It hardly ever seems to occur to anyone in the show to actually check with a pony's family when something goes wrong. In this particular instance I've now amended Sweetie Belle's dialogue to clarify that the folks are out of town and she's actually been staying with Rarity, which is how she's seen her acting kinda strange.