Doing Well by Doing Good

by Baal Bunny

Four

Again, nothing unusual pinged her horn as she ran past the houses and shops, but she gained a new appreciation for the fabric she'd used to construct the costume. She'd of course started with one of the lightweight, cotton/rubber blends all the professional sports teams used, but she'd also performed a bit of her own special magic on it during the sewing process so it would move and breathe more easily. Perhaps she should contact the suppliers who handled the Wonderbolts' equipment and see if—

"Pssst!" The hiss brought her up short, and Rarity blinked to see that she'd actually arrived at Ponyville Square. Rainbow, clinging to the side of the toy store just above Rarity and peering around the corner, motioned with a hoof, her grin brighter than the moon overhead. "Thieves, see? Didn't I tell you? At Time Turner's place!"

The suit suddenly felt too tight. Inching forward till she could see into the square, Rarity blinked and squinted. In the uncertain silver light, it indeed looked very much like a ladder was standing propped against the side of Dr. Turner's clock shop.

"Oooo!" Rainbow grabbed Rarity with one front hoof and pointed the other at the shop. "There's somepony walking around up on the roof! C'mon! Now's our chance!" And she took off across the square, a blue shadow whipping away only a couple hoof-widths above the close-cropped grass.

"Rainbow!" Rarity's eyes had gotten somewhat more used to the dark by then, and she'd gotten a good look at the silhouette of the pony atop the clock shop's flat roof. And one of the other matters about which Rarity was rarely mistaken involved identifying ponies based solely upon the silhouettes of their manecuts. "Wait!"

Not that Rainbow stopped or slowed, of course. Gritting her teeth, Rarity took off in the same direction, but she was barely halfway there when Rainbow swooped up the ladder and landed beside the figure with a thump Rarity could hear quite clearly. "All right, buddy!" Rainbow's voice rang out. "Where's the diamond?"

"I'm sorry?" a stallion's voice replied, quiet even in the post-midnight silence, and Rarity upped her pace.

"You heard me! I want that diamond?"

"I...that is, all my clocks here have jewel bearings, of course, but—"

"Your clocks?" Rainbow sounded confused, and Rarity, reaching the bottom of the ladder and starting to haul her panting self upward, hoped against hope that the pegasus would put two and two together and come up with— "The clocks you stole from Time Turner, you mean!"

"I beg your pardon, Ms. Dash, but I—"

"Don't gimme that double-talk! Now, are you gonna put these clocks back, or am I gonna hafta get rough?"

"Rainbow!" Rarity heaved herself over the roof's parapet and somehow managed not to sprawl like a rag doll onto the tar paper and gravel. "This...is...Time Turner!"

"Huh?" Rainbow turned her head and blinked, Time Turner standing in front of her, the whole roof around them covered with all manner of clocks and watches. Looking back, Rainbow squinted, then started as if she'd found herself staring at a bee. "Oh! Hey, Doc. New manecut?"

Dr. Turner ran a hoof through his hair. "Not as such, no..."

"Huh." Spreading her wings, Rainbow gestured to the clocks. "So what's up with this?"

"Moon crystals." Rarity had finally caught her breath. "They power most timepieces in Equestria, but they need recharging every few full moons." She pointed upward and nodded to Dr. Turner. "Pray, sir, forgive my friend her enthusiasm, but I'm afraid we must be on our way."

Glad that the mask hid her blushes, Rarity grabbed the top of the ladder, swung herself onto the top rung, and started down. "Sorry, Doc," she heard Rainbow say. "No hard feelings, huh?"

"Oh, no, Ms. Dash, none at all. But, ummm, who was that masked mare?"

Rarity groaned without making a sound and slid the rest of the way to the ground, the costume's dark blue wrapped boots handling the friction quite well, she couldn't help noticing. "Doc?" Rainbow said above her. "It's a long, weird story, and if you're lucky, you'll never hear it." A flash in the moonlight brought Rainbow to street level. "So!" she asked jauntily. "Where to next?"

"Oh, I don't know." Rarity glared at her grin. "Perhaps we could visit the glazier's shop so you could shatter some windows. Or the paint store so you could roll a dozen empty cans down the side of the building."

"Great!" Rainbow leaped into a hover. "Let's get started!"

Taking a breath through the now damp and sour-smelling mask, Rarity blew it out as loudly as she thought etiquette would allow. "I was speaking sarcastically."

"What?" Rainbow's eyes went wide, then narrowed. "And I'm not asking you what 'sarcastically' means. 'Cause that, I know. I'm asking you what part of 'crashing-through-town-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-having-a-fun-treasure-hunt' you don't understand."

Her stomach tight, it took some more effort for Rarity to keep her voice from becoming a growl. "Fun, Rainbow Dash, is the very last thing on my mind! I only donned this outlandish costume in the hopes that I could go about tonight's business without drawing undue attention to myself while I track down—" She stopped, not wanting to say the name aloud in case unworthy ears might be listening. "—the item in question," she finished in an urgent whisper.

"Uh-huh." Had Applejack been there to witness the arch of Rainbow's eyebrow, Rarity was sure that their friend would've been quietly proud. "The hat, the cape, and the bug eyes is how you do incognito?"

Sighing any more seemed rather pointless, but Rarity found that she couldn't stop herself. "Please, Rainbow. It's past midnight, and I want to have as much of the town scanned as possible before the sun comes up. So I would take it as a personal favor if you would help me toward that goal instead of hindering me."

"Fine." Still flapping in place, Rainbow dipped a bit and flicked the brim of Rarity's hat with a wing tip. "But you seriously need to adjust your albedo, lady."

Rarity couldn't stop her chin from dropping. "I beg your pardon?"

"Cloud wrangling term." Rainbow's grin had more teeth in it than any pony's should. "It means 'lighten up.' So if we see anything else that looks even a little bit suspicious, we're taking our cue from that suit you've got on and having us an adventure. Got it?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Rarity started up the street toward the site of the former library. "We shall leap in with all hooves blazing or however those dreadful comic books of Spike's always put it."

"Okay!" Several flaps brought Rainbow to Rarity's side. "Now you're talking!"

Comments

[Lurks-no-More]

Oh yeah, Spike... Now there's a potential suspect for this!

[Baal Bunny]

5951614

No, no:

This is all going on way past his bedtime.

Mike

[Walabio]

Jewel-bearings are a great invention of the 18th century. Without lubrication such as oil, the motion (the technical collective term for all of the moving parts) would grind to an halt. Lubrication would allow the parts to move, but oil plus dust equals gunk, which would cause the motion to grind to an halt. Corundum (aluminum oxide, in the form of rubies sapphires, and other forms of aluminum oxide) has an extremely low coefficient of friction. If one grinds corundum into the form of sockets for bearing and the pegs forthe bearings themselves, one can create lubricationless bearings which work.

[Baal Bunny]

5956300

When I was taking:

Physics in high school more than three decades ago, I always referred to it as the "the koi fish of friction" in my notes and then would draw a little smiling fish next to it. I'm thinking this might have something to do with my eventually becoming a Humanities major...

Mike

[horizon]

"Adjust your albedo" is a fantastic pegasus-ism.

[Baal Bunny]

5959012

Writing Dash here:

Made me really wanna get back to the next "Clandestine Corps" story. Ah, so much time, so little to do!

Wait. Reverse that. Thank you.

Mike

[nemryn]

5956300
Aah, the sweet scent of learning.

[Knight of the Raven]

I admit this chapter confused me; the narration mentions Rarity recognized Time Turner because of the silhouette of his manecut... but then Rainbow Dash asks if he's got a new manecut, implying Rarity couldn't do the former. I thought that maybe Rainbow roughed up his mane at some point... but I believe she didn't even touch him.

I loved reading Rarity refering to any ears that might hear the name of the Azdariz Diamond as "unworthy." Rainbow's "adjust your albedo" was quite good too, and I most certainly didn't misread it as "adjust your libido."

I liked these lines;

Rarity heaved herself over the roof's parapet and somehow managed not to sprawl like a rag doll onto the tar paper and gravel.

Taking a breath through the now damp and sour-smelling mask, Rarity blew it out as loudly as she thought etiquette would allow.

Had Applejack been there to witness the arch of Rainbow's eyebrow, Rarity was sure that their friend would've been quietly proud.

Rarity couldn't stop her chin from dropping.

Comments;

hoped against hope that the pegasus would put two and two together and come up with—

Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.

I know. I'm asking you what part of 'crashing-through-town-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-having-a-fun-treasure-hunt' you don't understand.

Fun only for you, sweetie.

"We shall leap in with all hooves blazing or however those dreadful comic books of Spike's always put it."

"Our fabulosity shall blot out the moon."

[Wild Stallion]

8557996

but then Rainbow Dash asks if he's got a new manecut, implying Rarity couldn't do the former.

Except Time Turner follows with:

"Not as such, no..."

Implying it's just Rainbow Dash being obvious.

[Wild Stallion]

8557996

but then Rainbow Dash asks if he's got a new manecut, implying Rarity couldn't do the former.

Except Dr.Turner then says:

"Not as such, no..."

Implying Rainbow Dash is just being obtuse.