Continuity Disrupted

by Doug Graves

87 Chaotic Disposition, Part Two

Rarity’s rage builds in her chest like storm waters against a levee, a deep, long breath in as she stares at the ceiling, readying herself to unload all the stored frustration on whatever doomed souls lay in front of her. Rarity’s gaze finally drops, falling on the three fillies beaming up at her. Their expressions slowly go from cheery to worried to terrified as Rarity fumes, the mare doing her level best to not actually unleash her fury on the trio.

Apple Bloom nods, hesitantly offering, “It can be like when uncle Big Mac got hurt, right?”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo exclaims, a bit of the fear wearing off at her sister’s optimism. “We were a big help then! We can help now!”

Sweetie Belle offers a hopeful smile at Rarity’s continued glare, “I-is that a yes?”

“NO!” Rarity shouts as her anger gets the better of her, a sweeping hoof nearly knocking into Fluttershy. “It is not a yes! You three have been nothing but trouble all evening!” Rarity snorts, her eyes glaring daggers at each of the troublesome fillies in front of her. “I have half a mind to send each of you to bed this instant, and if I hear so much as a single peep out of any of you then you can kiss your Crusading days goodbye!”

The trio bursts into tears, despondently wailing at just the suggestion that they would need to give up their quest for their cutie marks. Rarity’s stern look does not abate, her eyes narrowing at the three cowering fillies. Their crying merely gets louder as Rarity clears her throat, a stomp of her hoof against the floor.

The three fillies sniffle, dropping down and whimpering up at Rarity with pleading eyes. “But, Rarity…” they chorus in a high pitched whine.

“That’s it! Bed! Now!”

Rarity jabs a hoof into the air, pointing directly at Sweetie Belle’s room.

Sweetie Belle runs a hoof along her hoof-made cloak, watery eyes staring at the floor. “I’m sorry, Mama. I just wanted you to be proud of me.” Her horn lights, undoing the knot in front of the cloak. “I thought of how beautiful the robes you were making, and I wanted something just like that. Something you’d make.” She turns the fabric inside out, the golden inner lining shining brightly. Her eyes quiver as she looks up at her dam, her hooves shaking as she offers the cloak.

Rarity’s breath catches in her throat, her eyes closing as she tries to take a deep breath. Her head slightly turns away as Fluttershy nuzzles her, the light touch of the pink mane rubbing against the unicorn’s cheek. “Oh, darling,” Rarity mumbles out, dropping down to rest her barrel on the carpeted floor. Her hooves beckon, a timid smile creeping across her muzzle.

Sweetie Belle rushes forward, tears streaming from her clenched shut eyes, the forgotten cloak dumped to the side. She reaches up, her small hooves wrapping as far as she can around her dam. Rarity returns the hug as strongly as she can, one hoof softly stroking the pink and purple curls.

Scootaloo takes two hesitant steps forward, untying her own cloak. “I-I’m sorry, Rarity.” She holds the cloak out, forcing a small smile. When Rarity doesn’t take the cloak immediately she lumps it into a rough ball, dropping it on the floor and backing up a step.

Apple Bloom whips her cloak off, roughly gripping the red cloth in her hooves while her teeth clench onto the gold silk. She pauses at Rarity’s upturned hoof, cocking her head to the side.

“Stop, dear,” Rarity says firmly. She sighs, her hoof slowly lowering. “That will merely ruin the silk. Besides, I think that the cloaks you all have made are very lovely, and I would hate for something terrible to happen to them.”

“Oh,” Apple Bloom says, the gold silk falling from her mouth and crumpling to the floor. “Does that mean we can’t wear them while we’re crusading? Because terrible stuff tends to happen to us while we’re crusading.”

Scootaloo cowers down a little bit, “So much tree sap…”

Sweetie Belle hugs tighter to Rarity, “But, what about your order?”

Rarity smiles, “While it will certainly make things a little more difficult for me, I will endure. And I would hate to deprive you of such a magnificent uniform. Besides, maybe we can fix them up a little, make them a little more durable. But that will have to wait.” Rarity shakes her head, “Oh, if only Applejack could see me now.” Her voice mimics a southern twang, “Bein’ all practical-like.”

Apple Bloom nods, “Daddy always says we should try to find the silver lining. That it won’t seem so bad, then!”

Sweetie Belle raises one eyebrow. “But, we need to find the gold lining.”

“Oh.” Apple Bloom squats down resting her head in her hooves. “Then Ah don’t know where to look.”

Rarity’s smile turns to a smirk, “It is an expression, dear. It means to find the portion of a bad situation that is good, or can be turned to a good use. Say, learning from an experience that might cause one to be covered in tree sap.”

Scootaloo tentatively asks, “Soo, does that mean that we still need to go to bed?”

Doug sticks his head through the doorway. He focuses on Rarity, his eyebrows waggling, a bit of jeering in his voice as he says, “Did somepony say bed?”

Rarity takes another deep breath as she shakes her head. “Oh, you.” She motions to the mostly finished robes, “I still have a lot of work to do here, and I will need to reshape a bit of gold to make more silk for the inner lining of this order. I still have to make a few more, and then add the finishing touches.”

Doug’s smile briefly fades as he looks to Fluttershy and the trio. “I guess I can help with that, sure.” He groans a little bit, “But it’ll be a late night. Applejack won’t be happy about that, if I’m too tired during the day.” He winks at Rarity, “I might need a little help getting to sleep.” Rarity smiles as she rolls her eyes. Spike pokes his head next to Doug’s leg, peering into the room. Doug continues, “‘Shy, you want to take the trio?” He glances down at the dragon. “Quartet?”

“Sure!” Fluttershy says with a grin, though Spike pouts a little at needing to be watched like a filly. He watches the library by himself all the time, or a bunch of the pets!

“Are you sure?” Rarity frowns just slightly. “Those three can be quite the hoofful.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve managed before with all eight of them.” Fluttershy turns to the trio. They are sitting in a quiet line in front of her, beaming smiles all around. “Besides, we’re going to have all sorts of fun, right?”

“Yup!” three voices cheer.

“See?” Fluttershy says, turning to fix Rarity with a wide smile of her own. “We’ll be just fine. No need to worry.”

“Yes, well.” Rarity sighs. “Their bedtime is soon, as you know. And I would like for there to be quiet while we are working.” She leads down the stairs, heading to her storeroom and cache of gold. “Doug, you remember how this goes, correct?”

“Yup,” he replies, following Rarity.

Fluttershy looks around Rarity’s workroom, the clutter and chaos reminding her of her own house, though with ribbons and ponnequinns instead of nests and critters. What to do to tire these four out, so they are ready for bed? They could help clean up, but Rarity really likes to do her own tidying up of her workroom. The downstairs showroom, though, she is a bit more familiar with. And if she can just get the trio sweeping, mopping, and wiping the windows down? That would be a good start, but it doesn’t really help Rarity with her current predicament. She could put her own sewing skills to use, but that wouldn’t help with the fillies and their quick backsliding when things get boring.

A knocking at the window interrupts Fluttershy’s train of thought. The pegasus smiles at the brown form outside. She opens the window, a bit of a breeze stirring some of the nearby outfits as Owlowiscious flies inside. The owl greets everypony with a low, “Hoo?” as Fluttershy shuts the window behind her.

“Hello to you, too, Owlowiscious!” Fluttershy says with a smile, the four youngsters joining in. “What brings you here? Does Twilight need help with something?”

“Hoo?”

Spike groans, “Twilight.”

“Hoo.”

“You know, the purple unicorn?” Spike groans as Fluttershy’s eyes go wide.

“Oh, no,” Fluttershy mutters.

“Hoo!”

Spike slaps his face with his claws, “She kinda lives in the library with you?”

“What do you mean?” asks Fluttershy, looking squarely at the owl.

“Hoo!” Owlowiscious swings his wings around, a bit of air blowing some of the scraps of fabric around.

“Not who, you!”

Fluttershy turns to Spike, asking, “Spike, do you know where Twilight could have gone? She didn’t return to the library, and Owlowiscious is worried.”

“She didn’t?” Spike asks, worry crossing his face. “She was right with us, too!”

“Hoo!”

“Not, ‘who’, too!” Spike grunts, “Up until we got to the outskirts of town, that is.”

“Then what happened?” Fluttershy asks, going to the southern window and looking out over the town. “Did she go to somewhere else? Sugarcube for a late drink or bite to eat?”

Spike mumbles, a bit of a half-hearted shrug. “Um, I’m not sure. She was looking out into the, um, forest, and Trixie and I just kinda went our separate ways after we got here.”

“Hoo!”

Spike rolls his eyes, “Yes, we got here too.”

“So we don’t know where Twilight is, and she might be in the Everfree Forest.” Fluttershy shudders a little bit, “Oh, dear.”

“Hey, maybe she’s just around town somewhere,” Apple Bloom offers, a shudder as she also stares out the window towards the south.

Sweetie Belle nods, “Yeah! And she forgot to check in with us or with Owlowiscious. She’s probably used to just checking in with Spike.”

“But she didn’t check in on Spike either, did she? We should go find her!” Scootaloo exclaims, raising a hoof.

The other two fillies join her, “Cutie Mark Crusader Pony Finders Go!”

A quiet sigh escapes Fluttershy as the trio run down the stairs. “Oh dear.”

“I’ll check Sweet Apple Acres!”

“Ah’ll get Sugarcube Corner!”

“I’ll try Quills and Sofas!”

The Apple Bloom and Scootaloo turn, wearied looks at Sweetie Belle.

“What? She might have run out of quills from earlier today!” Sweetie Belle nods knowingly. “She dug a bunch of gems up with Spike and Rarity.”

Scootaloo nods along, “Yeah, that does sound like her.”

Apple Bloom grins, “Meet back at Golden Oaks!”

The trio breaks apart, each racing to a different part of town. Scootaloo hops on her scooter, zooming away, her wings beating furiously.

“Wait!” Fluttershy yells after the retreating fillies as she bursts out of the side door. She sighs as they don’t turn around, or even acknowledge her. “Oh, no,” she says to Spike, the dragon looking towards the south.

“Well, we can’t go after all of them,” Spike says as they watch the fillies run off.

“And I don’t want to bother Rarity or Doug.” Fluttershy frowns, pawing at the ground. “But we should tell them anyway, that we’re going out.”

“Yeaah,” Spike drolls, “I think I’m going to head to the Everfree, see if she just stopped to look at the pretty trees. Or the stars, trying to get away from all the light around here.”

“Ooh, I know lots of quiet spots far from here that we could go stargazing!” Fluttershy grins, though it fades at Spike’s neutral stare. “But, I guess that can wait for later. After we find Twilight.” She tentatively offers, “Just don’t go exploring too far.”

Fluttershy dances back and forth on her hooves as Spike simply starts walking to the south, a short wave of his clawed hand the only acknowledgement. She doubles back to the Carousel Boutique. She finds Rarity inside the storeroom, the two hard at work creating more thread. “Um, Rarity?” The unicorn flicks her mane as she concentrates on the task at hoof. “I’m taking the fillies about town. We should be back… soon.”

Fluttershy waits for Rarity’s nod before slinking out of the Carousel Boutique, making her way to the Golden Oaks Library. She waits; patiently at first, but slowly growing more and more agitated as the fillies take their time walking through the fairly well lit streets. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle arrive first, both shaking their heads at the lack of Twilight. After another few tense minutes Scootaloo zooms over, panting as she rests on the handlebars of her scooter.

“No luck?” the purple maned filly asks, sighing at the head shakes. “So, what do we do now?’

Fluttershy quietly says, “Well, I guess we go to where we last saw her.”

“Ah don’t know,” Apple Bloom says, a hoof on her chin as she looks towards the Everfree Forest.

Fluttershy tries again, a little louder. “We can trace her steps backwards. That’s where Spike is.”

“I know!” Sweetie Belle exclaims. “We can go to where she was last seen, and then see if we can find a trail!”

“Cutie Mark Crusader Trail Finders go!” The trio races off back to the south end of town.

“Quiet you rascals!” yells a mare from a dimly lit house.

“Sorry!” Fluttershy whispers back. She hurries off after the three fillies, a worried look at the looming forest ahead of them as they leave Ponyville.

Comments

[badninja]

This was an interesting chapter to say the least. It does show that Rarity definitely needs help with being a dam. She is still growing but I hope we can see her grow more in the future as a parent. This will be interesting as the Siserhooves Social episodes happen in the future.

[Eclipse_Nova]

interesting way to transpose into the cockatrice episode

[DarkPhoenixx]

Omg it's the Master of...THE STARE *laughs evily*