Coarse Diamonds

by Darkonshadows

-70-

A smiling Coco finished making the last modification to another battery utility equipped impulse saddle. It may seem like boring work to others, but she thought it was exciting to work on improving an old design and her old design was still the staple of the EVA suit business. Now that she had finished building up their stock of impulse saddles, she found herself without something to do.

While Coco could have told Rarity she changed her mind, she didn’t and instead decided to stick with staying on the ship when they finally reached Streusel Station. She was going to try and spend some time with Greta and Saffron, she was a bit meek when it came to spending time with others and her hobby was actually doing more work. She felt like she had to earn the paycheck she was receiving and she hoped the others had just as good work effort, Rarity was putting a lot of money into Shining Jewel and the strange crew it currently had. Chrysalis was being a popular example bandied around when it comes to conversation topics on what was weird, but weird wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

“Opal, can you tell Saffron and Greta that I want to spend some time with them as soon as we reach the station?” Stretching her spine out, there was a quite an audible pop from her back. “Also I forgot her name, but can I get the masseuse to come too? I’m trying really hard to keep her in mind, she’s my friend and I don’t want to forget she exists.”

“Her name is Vera and yes I can arrange that, also you’re not the only one trying hard to keep her in mind. If it weren’t for the signs Rarity wrote telling you that she existed, I’m pretty sure we’d all forget she was there. The exception would be my wonderful and beautiful mother of course.” Things were calm throughout the ship and Rarity was currently discussing the trip to Streusel Station in the middle of the asteroid field owned by Pie Planetoid Plantations. “Any reason in particular why you didn’t want to get off the ship? I would like to state that I’m kind of surprised that you aren’t going to continue overworking… you finished them all didn’t you… how do you find the time to stock that many?”

“I make the time and I work tirelessly. My reasoning is that I don’t feel like having another random Rarity adventure quite so soon.” Coco turned towards the nearest image of the lithe white cat with pink hair. “Plus I was, as you have just noticed, out of things to do. I feel kind of awful about it… can I get a pay cut. I think I’m being paid too much for doing so little.”

“I think you really need a special some pony or at least someone more qualified than me to tell you to find something to do that isn’t work or trying to be helpful. You need to relax. Also you’re definitely being paid the correct amount and should be given a pay raise for that kind of work effort alone… you’re almost as bad as Rarity in that respect.” Opal wondered if it would kill Coco to do her job even a little bit slower. Nobody would know the answer as Opal saw that Coco had finished making hundreds of premade impulse saddle and the various utilities for them that could be added into each saddle at a moment’s notice. It was quite befuddling and Opal didn’t know what to say on the subject. “How about you start making clothing for other people to peruse? You know, stock clothing articles for anyone or anything. Maybe some things like a nice hat, socks or even some cute shirts with my image on them as I’m willing to work licensing deals for my appearance. We kind of have a problem when it comes to the premade market to show people what we can exactly do in Rarity’s chosen profession of pursuing the fashion industry, made to order isn’t always going to work you know. As for the best idea, make a really regal looking dress to show off our stuff.”

“As long as it’s not illegal, like selling trademarked images we don’t have the rights to, then I’ll get right on that dress until it’s time to have some fun.” If she thought hours of mind numbing work was fun, which included things such as orienting parts of a device the same way in the same manner of repeated monotony, then yes Coco’s life was very fun. Stamina and Endurance was never a problem for Coco, which had helped out quite a bit on Antilur Station. Even then Coco still felt like she hadn’t done nearly enough for what was one of her best friends. “I wonder what I, Saffron, Greta and Masseuse can do together? Oh and thanks for helping me with all this Babs.”

“No problem Ms. Pommel, I kind of needed this.” Fussing with her hair slightly Babs really couldn’t sit by and do nothing. Coco never asked for help and Babs had never seen such effort, she really needed something to do with her hooves anyway and decided to assist Coco to get her mind off of things. “Also I think the computer is right, at least I think it’s a computer. You really need to find something that isn’t work, can you make a hat for me…”

“For such a sweet filly like you, well of course I can honey!” Affectionately nuzzling the filly, Coco decided she had a commission for window shopping and a filly needing a hat. “What kind of hat though. If you don’t know types of hats, then you can give me a general idea of how you want it to look or you can trust me to make a hat befitting your adorable looks.”

-

“We’re dropping jump in ten minutes everyone, this is not a drill. If it were a drill, then Gilda would probably be using it for something far more interesting. No Chrysalis, I was not going to suggest something that vibrates and can be inserted in a particular place. Anyway, people disembarking for the Streusel Station should head to Caravel Boutique twenty minutes from now and if we’re going to make some sales, then Coco better start loading the its cargo room.” This announcement was met with several people preparing to head for Caravel Boutique and Opal continued to converse with the crew. “Yes, I’m quite serious… okay how can that have possibly upset or even trigger you Chrysalis? Anyway, I will confirm the station doesn’t have any viruses, killer monstrosities on the loose or anything else related to a really bad infestation before I will even think of letting the Caravel Boutique go. We do need to at least make some headway into the asteroid field before we reach the station. Yes, yes, Shields coming up, I’m not powering weapons unless we really need them. Now let’s hope we don’t have bad luck like the last few times we visited some place!”

-

The Shining Jewel came out of jump outside the asteroid field. Waiting five seconds for anything bad to happen and when nothing did, Opal decided to try contacting the station inside of the asteroid field. Sure some of the asteroids were humongous, but there wasn’t much danger at the moment and Opal was tense and ready for anything to happen. It was kind of a disappointment when nothing did, but the shields did get hit by a small asteroid or two.

“This is Shining Jewel, calling Streusel Station. Are you there?” Calling out to the void among the many floating rocks in space was a bit unnerving, especially if you didn’t get a response that Opal was currently hoping for.

“This is Streusel Station, we see you Shining Jewel. What is the nature of your visit?” The voice of a communications person caused a sigh of relief in the AI. “Be warned our station may be small, but there’s a reason space pirates won’t come within a spitting distance of this particular asteroid field.”

“We’re visiting for three things, the first is that we have a troupe as part as our crew manifesto and they want to do some small performances. The second thing is that we want to sell our wares and we specialize in clothing and unique EVA suits, access to our sales site will be available during our stay here. We will also give some advanced notice before we cut off our sales menu and we will be seeing to all purchases professionally before we leave. As for the last thing, we’re here for some relaxation. We just came from Antilur Station and it was hit with a nasty monstrosity that wiped out more than half the populace by the time we arrived. We‘ve dealt with the problem, but Antilur Station can use all the good cheer it can get.” There was a sad hum on the other end of the line and Opal lowered her eyes at that. “Before you ask Antilur Station is currently safe, it’s swarming with SNUGGLES members though and I can easily say the station sorely needs them right now. May we have permission to dock a small ship in your station and park ourselves around here?”

“Yes, docking here is free and we have plenty of available space at the moment. Park your larger ship where you want, just watch out for asteroids. What classification of ship will you be docking with us?” The communications person sounded like he had a good head on his shoulders. “Also can you send us the information of those who were lost in this Antilur Station crisis that you’re speaking of, I think we may have a few people who would like to know about it.”

“Light cargo transport, it would be a hopper specifically.” Things were going so well Opal couldn’t almost believe that exactly nothing had gone wrong thus far. “Again, we specialize in made to order clothing and unique EVA suits, we also have some premade clothes at ridiculously fair prices for those who wish to browse. Rarity’s Rarities welcomes any customer and we don’t judge by covers, except maybe one of our number. Medical bed incident, so you’d have to forgive her if she hates any male that walks within thirty feet of her. We don’t do skin based products like leather.”

“Right all the records we’re receiving look accurate and I’m having the stations AI Gummy look them over and he’ll contact the proper people, but be warned that one of the Pie sisters will have it in for you as soon as your people board the station.” That sounded rather ominous and the stations current communications worker was quiet for a time.

“Could you clarify that more for me please, it sounds like we should have ourselves armed and ready for a fight. After that debacle on Antilur I would prefer it if we had a quiet visit.” Opal stopped and considered Babs feelings as well. “We could really use a quiet time. One of the reasons why is that we currently have a filly that can’t exactly handle any excitement, especially not after she lost her parents on Antilur. She is currently our guest that we are taking to her cousins in the Applon System. We were already heading in that direction anyway and she needs some time off the ship to spread her legs. There is one thing I would like to ask, is Gummy still doing that epileptic tree thing?”

“The Pie sister is nothing too bad really, but it sounds like she’s about to go overboard again. To think our station has recovered from the last time and she literally threw it at us all. Also sorry to hear a filly lost her parents, I’m guessing she’s still in the grieving phases and it would not be a good idea for her to meet the Pie sister I’m talking about.” There was a bunch of grumbling and the communications person spoke up again. “It sounds like she’ll be doing a bunch of upsetting things if she manages to get her plans off the ground, I’ll try to keep her away from your group and the hanger I’m going to have them dock in. She’s a nuisance and easily excitable, but she’s kind of the sweetheart of Streusel Station even if she goes too far in trying to make people smile. I’m sorry about her if she does cause you some problems, but there is nothing I can do about it if she’s determined to cause trouble. Even her sisters can barely contain the pink one and the Cake and Pie families own the general region of space around here, so my talons are kind of tied on the issue. As for Gummy… yeah, he does it from time to time and since you know him I’m guessing you might know his creator? She’s the issue I’m talking about here. The epileptic tree thing is always disturbing.”

“I was afraid it was her and was hoping it was some other Pie you were talking about. Would it help if I said I had an idea of someone that could distract her? We have a bounty hunter here that wouldn’t mind some tender love and care. I can’t actually say that with a straight face.” If there was going to be a problem with the pink, then the giggling Opal could plan around it. “Anyway she’s our paying guest and she’s not part of the crew, so we could possibly distract this problem you’re talking about, if this is in fact who I think it is.”

“What’s the bounty hunters name? We could use her services, we’ve been having problems with a local rabble rouser in the station, he could use a beating and a lot of the station’s residents would welcome the problem being brought in.” The communications operator sounded more congenial. “Also if you’re thinking its Pinkie Pie, then yes. You’re about to find out that she is nothing if not determined to make sure everyone who ever comes to Streusel Station gets a party and she’s really quite bad about it.”

“Rarity, code Pinkie, I repeat code Pinkie! Sorry for that, I just had to warn my m… friend that we’re meeting ‘HER’ again. I was hoping that it was some other Pie sister that you were talking about, one that doesn’t scream panic because the laws of physics are being broken every five seconds.” Opal became slightly embarrassed, but she knew they were going to run into Pinkie. Pinkie was a Pie and the four Pie sisters were well known in this section of space. Speaking of space, they were going to purchase gems, jewels and crystals for various reasons, the biggest one being that things are cheaper at their source and you can’t get closer to the source than an asteroid field. “We- have a rather specific set of guidelines in case we ever ran into her again. As for the name of our bounty hunter passenger, her name is Ember Mcflame.”

“Flamethrower, well that’s definitely sounds like overkill for the problem we have. We’ll hire her anyway and I think she’ll be enough to keep Pinkie busy for a while as well. Well at least long enough for all of your people to scatter in the station.” The communications officer could be heard making clacking noises, apparently he was typing something. “Right I’ll send you the hangar coordinates when you arrive, names Stan Dard by the way. Welcome to Streusel Station and whatever you do, don’t group up or Pinkie will party you and I mean that literally. If she’s going to throw you a party, she’s going to want all of you in one place when she does.”

“We’ll keep that in mind Mr. Dard.” Cutting the connection to the station Opal turned her attention to where Ember was. “Oh Ember~… could you do a small favor for us? Apparently Streusel Station has a small rabble rouser problem they need you to take care of and we need you to go on ahead of us, for reasons that will become obvious to you later.”

-

“So has Ember docked yet?” Rarity didn’t dislike Pinkie Pie; it was just that Pinkie Pie was just too much to handle at times. They were waiting on the Pyrrhic Victory to attract Pinkie’s attention and then they’d dock with the station and get off scott free without having to deal with her immediately .

“Confirmed and Pinkie is in Ember’s hangar, going in now!” With that the Caravel Boutique quickly moved for the empty hangar under Opal’s guidance and landed. “Sorry Ember, but it was either you or Rarity and I’m biased like crazy. So Gummy, I can see you became a stations AI, how have things been and can you help me figure out how to set up a straight pony with an ambiguous dragon?”

The three groups were the Trapeze Troupe group, Chrysalis’s triple troubled group and Rarity and Gilda who were going to explore around and do some shopping.

As for what was going on with Ember.

-

“So welcome, welcome to Streusel Station and I hope you have a great time! I, Pinkie Pie, will make sure of it!” Pinkie Pie, the pink menace, was on top of Ember. Pinkie had bowled Ember over in her exuberance to greet the newcomers to the station. She was about to start up another tirade when she paused all of the sudden and a shudder traveled throughout her body. “There’s been a disturbance in the force… and I didn’t cause it! I wonder how I would look in black, I know for a fact that the dark side has cookies. Hopefully this story has a muffin button somewhere, it’s science fiction after all. Now why would my Pinkie Sense say that I’ve missed something?”

“Could you please get off of me now? You’re kind of making Mr. Spew angry and he’s deadly when he starts spewing everywhere.” Nobody would say that Ember wasn’t constantly aware of the danger Mr. Spew presented and he was currently raising his tentacles rather threateningly and clacking his beak loudly. “I’d rather he not drool all over my shirt with something caustic enough to eat through my scales.”

Mr. Spew was getting quite angry at the pony who messed with his favorite perch and the only reason he hadn’t attacked yet was mostly because Pinkie wasn’t being a real threat. Any intentional threat against his perch would be met with deadly bodily fluids.

“Oh, sorry, here are cupcakes for the both of you! This one is for the squid and this one is for you dragon person I’m going to rudely leave sitting here in a moment after I’m done figuring out what’s wrong here.” Unceremoniously Pinkie Pie, the completely pink mare or well at least completely pink in the sense of varying shades of it not accounting for her blue and yellow balloon cutie mark, dropped two wrapped cupcakes onto Ember’s chest. Pinkie stared at the cupcakes a bit and then an imaginary exclamation point only she could probably see appeared above her head. “Wait a minute… my Pinkie Sense specifically stated that someone who has enjoyed my baked goods before would be present! It’s a trap… no, is it someone got my goat friend? That still doesn’t seem right… oh wait, I know what it is, I’ve been tricked! I’ll come back and party you later.”

Mr. Spew hopped forward and took up the peace offering meant for him and held it above his head in two tentacles, he then hopped off to the side to not mess up Ember’s shirt and his beak went to work on the sugary treat. He was certainly very thoughtful for not getting any crumbs on his perch.

Ember looked at the cupcake and wondered just how exactly fast the pink mare was, considering she left behind a smiling afterimage. Ember thought that the mare was crazy and probably needed psychological help.

“I hope that’s not the rabble rouser. I’ll wait for you to finish your cupcake Mr. Spew; hopefully this job will be an easy one.” The sewer squid cooed at Ember’s statement and seemed to agree with that sentiment, turning to her own cupcake Ember bit into it and felt her teeth mowing something crunchy. Apparently she had gotten a cupcake filled with emerald chunks; it was decent. Ember wasn’t worried about being poisoned by the crazy mare, it smelled alright enough. “Not bad, but needs better quality emerald chunks and it could be a little bit dryer. I guess it’s time to go see what they are hiring me to deal with, it probably won’t be dangerous enough for me to even need my rifle.”

-

“We kind of threw Ember under the bus didn’t we?” Having heard that one of them was needed Gilda volunteered to come with Rarity on this excursion. The station was smaller than Antilur, but its populace wasn’t heavily devastated and the streets were calm filled with meandering people and Gilda thought she saw a familiar looking griffon among them carrying something. “So what did you need to talk to me about Boss Lady?”

“I’m sure Ember will be just fine and I would feel sorry for the bus, in any case Pinkie is not dangerous. You’re a very smart individual Gilda and so is Greta; we’ve been recently running into a lot of problems that require me to finally acquiesce to Opal’s requests for better protection. What I need will only be made available to our crew members.” Pausing Rarity saw the Gilda was looking at her sideways with a quirked eye. “I’m talking better defensive applications. I was wondering if we’d have to go with heavy plating for our EVA suits or if you can possibly create a portable force field generator.”

“Okay, I can see where this is going, but let me tell you that personal shield generators are really tricky to make. I don’t think I can make one small enough, not even to fit on an impulse saddle.” As an afterthought Gilda had to add. “Though I wouldn’t say armor plating is any better, too heavy, the current EVA suit design works quite well for what it is and I wouldn’t mess with that. What exactly are you asking of me here? This doesn’t sound to be in my area of expertise.”

“Well you two are the geniuses of the crew and I was thinking of something along the lines of say… powered armor?” With those two words Rarity had gained Gilda’s undivided interest. “I would of course have to help in the design; I would like powered armor that could work in space and be useful for more dangerous situations. It would be rather nice considering how many situations we’ve run into and you can mechanically engineer the suit with all the bells and whistles.”

“And you just gave me the best idea for the design of my dream fighter just like that…” Spoke Gilda blankly as her eyes were wide and there was a certain gleam to them. “Now, if we weren’t just improving the design on the EVA suits and we were actually building powered armor that could handle any situation, well that would be much more doable for me and Greta. In fact get me, you, Greta, Coco and maybe Sassy… heck, let’s make a think tank of it later. As for right now, weren’t we in the middle of doing something else?”

“Correct, it’s time to do some shopping! I have the list right here of the things we might want to procure.” Pulling out her trusty data pad Rarity showed it to Gilda who took it and started adding things to it. “What are you doing?”

“Adding to the list, we’re going to need more supplies if we’re going to make powered armor. How many did you think we would make?” Gilda thought Rarity was a prissy unicorn, but she had a good head on shoulders for clearly awesome things. As such she was behind this idea one hundred percent. “Most of the stuff we have right now is for building larger vehicles or making repairs to what we already have, we’re going to need smaller parts for what you have in mind. I already have a few ideas of how to make it work. While we could craft the parts from what we have, I’d prefer to buy more stuff. I’ll do it from my own wallet too; I really want to see this happen.”

“I was thinking of at least several suits, one for Sassy, one Mare Do Well flavored suit for Saffron, one for me and one for both you and Greta.” Rarity thought of Chrysalis and decided against it, the Changeling Queen was obscenely hard to kill as it was already. “We will of course only use them for emergencies and or training in the use of them for said emergencies.”

“Sure you will, emergencies, right... though I can honestly see why you’d want something more armored after Lightning took that crushing blow to the chest. You’ve survived through some of the craziest crap I’ve ever seen and you seem like a magnet for it…” That was something Gilda had to really think on, she of course couldn’t see anyone not abusing powered armor. Still powered armor was totally awesome and she was going to endeavor to make some for at least the Boss Lady and Saffron, mostly Saffron because she wanted to see what their resident vigilante could do with it. “Well technically Ewesen happened a while after you arrived, Equus was going to happen regardless of our presence and we were just whistle blowers and then there’s Antilur Station, but that was before we got there. There was Greta and me, probably can’t thank you enough for that and that was after you survived what could have been a fatal whiplash incident. The pirates were premeditated plan to capture you and steal your stuff, I guess none of it is your fault and you’ve been mostly reacting to the situations as best you can.”

“Thank you, I do try to keep living while retaining my generous nature. Mind you I find trouble more often than it finds me, but I would like to state for a fact that I am a lady and after all the trying things I’ve been through…” Rarity moved her face closer to Gilda’s. “Well it requires a lady to be more enduring than the toughest diamond. Speaking of, did you know that diamonds aren’t really worth that much and are incredibly common? That’s what I think of myself constantly, diamonds are only coveted because of marketing ploys and for tools. Do you think I’m common or a tool Gilda?”

“If you were a tool of impending danger, then maybe I would say yes and common you aren’t! You may not be a commando Rarity, but a commando would find walking a mile in your shoes quite difficult and you’re doing fine for the most part in leading our particularly merry band.” The sarcastic tone as she said the word, ‘merry’, didn’t do Gilda any favors. She put an arm around Rarity and brought her into a loose hug and gave her unicorn friend a smile. “Look at it this way; you’re the Boss Lady for a good reason. You’re a tough diamond that looks polished to perfection and can stand the pressure from all sides, plus you’re not afraid to get rough when you need to. We’re all coarse diamonds in comparison.”

“I believe I’m just as coarse as the rest of you are, but I believe we still shine despite our imperfections and it’s those imperfections that make us interesting. At the end of any day, I’m glad you’re all still my friends despite said imperfections. My suits were made to protect you in most environmental situations and not just space, function is the very idea behind them and I’m actually a mare of form. Well I think I should be a mare of form, but I think my idea of beautiful is becoming quite twisted by my crew.” Rarity wrapped a hoof around Gilda’s back in return. “I just happen to hold myself to a better standard than most Gilda; I strive to be beautiful and to present myself to the world as something worthy to be looked at, at least something a little better than shiny worthless diamonds.”

“Let me just say this, you are trying way too fucking hard Rarity, but I can appreciate that given Greta is doing the same thing and I’m certain the rest our friends do too. How about we try this shop right here for the stuff I need?” It looked like a junk shop and Gilda would choose such a place. Rarity gave the shop a slight grimace as she saw the dirty décor inside, Gilda just smirked at the mare. Rarity might not like filth or junk, but Gilda thrived in it with all the oil stains she gets covered in. “I’m kind of surprised we all get along as well as we do. I pegged us all for getting on each other’s nerves badly enough to start going at each other’s throats like rabid dogs weeks ago. I guess all that free space on Shining Jewel is good breathing room.”

“Gilda… I’m not giving up my routine of looking fabulous, you do know this right?” Rarity stopped at the door and held it open for the griffon.

“Wouldn’t have you any other way Boss Lady and thanks for being the sappy, if lovely, pony that signs my paychecks.” Going inside Gilda started looking about in delight for some stuff she could use, one of the few rare occasions Gilda ever looked happy.

“You know, if I were any other pony, I would have definitely docked your pay by now.” Sighing loudly and entering after the griffon, Rarity knew she wouldn’t dock any pay. Gilda did really good work and was a creative individual. In fact, now that Rarity thought of it, she has practically surrounded herself with a lot of rather creative individuals.

Author's Note:

Gilda and Rarity had a meaningful conversation... I think.

Comments

[Razzy]

The Pink menace...

I think Chryssie wouldn't like a power armour unless it has no plating, so that she could get hit too.

Nice talk at the end.

'modification of another' - to

'Now that she had finished building up their stock of impulse saddles, she now found herself without something to do.' - remove second now

'debarking' - disembarking

'she’s about to overboard again' - to go overboard

'get off without having to deal with her immediately scot free' - get off scott free without having to deal with her immediately