Chapter 4: The Regal Couturier and the Reine Champion
"Mmmphhh..." Rarity was taking a nap in some of her silken ribbons. Smacking her lips together, she slowly came to.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" In typical Rarity fashion, the pony flailed all four of her hooves around in every direction, somehow untangling herself from the cyan ribbons as she did so.
Rarity gasped for air, trying to make head or tail of what just happened. She couldn't have fallen asleep on the job, could she have? She had about twelve cups of coffee before she started work on the order of twelve blue-purple gowns with a gem imbued sash! There was no way!
She looked around again, the blue streamers falling everywhere. Other than the fact there were now ribbons all over the floor, nothing was different. However, Rarity noticed that none of the twelve mannequins had any sort of fabric on it, meaning she had passed out before she even started! "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed again, checking the time as she did so. Still had the rest of today and likely the next two to complete them. Totally doable! Just need... MORE COFFEE!
Looking around for her measurements, she noticed a few things off. A few spools tipped over, a stool out of place, corkboard less cluttered. But that didn't matter now, all that did were MEASUREMENTS.
Ah! There they were! All...onetwothreefourfivetenTWELVE of them! Okay! Horn lighting up in its sky blue colors, Rarity quickly gathered all of the materials required for the gowns, checking each one off on a fancy clipboard.
"Okay! Sewing machine... check! Fabrics, Saddle Arabian Blue? ...Check! Blue ribbons... check! Mannequins, one through twelve... check! Good! Now all I need are the gemstones! Now where- Ah!"
She trotted over to a set of storage drawers and opened one of them, which had several "No Spike" signs on the front. What? A dragon's gotta eat something.
Oh, no! She checked again. Oh, NO! All of her ice blue diamonds had gone missing! At first she chalked it down to Spike again, but then she realized Spike had been at the Castle of Friendship for the past couple of days. That was ruled out with definate certainty. Starting to work herself into a panic again, she checked all of the other drawers. Rubies, emeralds, amethyst, demantoid garnet, opal, all there, but no diamonds!
She even checked her collection of less ordered rocks. Feldspar, unakite, coral, kunzite, uvarovite For the third time in seven minutes, Rarity screamed, this time adding in several of pony profanities in for good manners.
She sucked in about three liters of air. Ugh! "I need to cool off..." Ah! When there's something strange in your diamond drawer, who you gonna call? "Lotus and Aloe's Spa treatment! Yes!"
She cut the fabric needed for the sashes and dresses in record time, every stitch and thread looking FABULOUS as always. All she needed were the diamonds, but of course that could wait until AFTER her spa.
Rarity rummaged around in her closet, and found a cream-colored dress with a pink sash. She also picked up floral style hat from a hat stand nearby. With a few poofs of blush, Rarity stood in front of the door and loudly announced, "Ready or not, spa treatment, here I come!"
She opened her front door, where she was immediately hit by a blast of frigid air. She gasped at the feeling of the dry cold on her fur. Another gust of wind picked up, deftly knocking the unicorn back into the main room, knocking hat, makeup, and the wind from Rarity.
What?! It was the middle of the summer, for Twilight's sake! Didn't matter, she had to get to that spa! Yes, it was absolutely crucial!
Checking her closet again, she looked for something suitable to wear. Unfortunately, all of her clothes seemed... outdated. Ugh! Purple? What was she thinking then? She checked around a little more. An ugly yellow poncho, a frivolous navy jacket with FAR too many frills for what it was worth, a lackluster bleugh-brown parka, couldn't ANYTHING suit her tastes?
Wait! What was that? In the back of the closet was a blue hoodie, with a cute little poofy neck liner! Suitable, if not just SLIGHTLY bland. Easily fixable, but not for now, Spa-a-a-a ti-i-i-i-ime!
GAINED BLUE HOODIE! +2 Reference Points +100% Puns +137 Hotdogs Maybe it's the way you're dressed?
Donning the blue hoodie, Rarity confidently hoofed it out the door one more. Quite the unusual day, but nothing a hooficure at the spa couldn't fix! Her day finally starting to turn around, Rarity giddily skipped towards her usual massage givers, hardly noticing several landmarks in Ponyville had been replaced with much more...reindeerish varieties.
Velvet had noticed them. As soon as she walked out her door in the morning, she had noticed quite quickly that the perfect statue of herself in the center of Town Square had been removed and replaced by a statue of two pegasi, two unicorns, and two ponies. All of which looked inferior to her, of course, but that was beside the point.
Wait, ponies?
She looked around. All around her, she saw ponies. Sure, there were still reindeer, but the number of ponies there rivaled, no, basically equaled that of the superior ungulate's.
Ugh, these wretched horse want-to-be's, in Reine? What was the meaning of this? Velvet had never seen an influx of new immigrants like this!
Finding a yellow and orange pegasus sitting at a coffee table reading a newspaper, Velvet promptly elected herself as the first reindeer to make contact with one of these new inhabitants.
The pony glanced at her, then looked back at her newspaper again. "Any orders, reindeer? I've had at least three try to boss me around earlier today."
Okay, scratch "first reindeer." Velvet still got straight to the point. "Vat? No! I chust vant to know vy all zeze...ponies are in Reine now."
The yellow pony spat back at her. "Reine? Ha! In your dreams, missy! This 'ere's Ponyville! I got no idea where your head's been, rookie."
Somehow, Velvet managed to rein in her temper. Coolly, she clarified, "No, zis is definadely Reine." She coyly shifted her legs. "'As zomezing happened to your 'ead? Perhaps you did not eat. You're looking peckish."
The pegasus slammed down her newspaper with anger. "Oh, are you saying something about my eating habits?"
"Vy, yes, of course! I wouldn't like to zee ze pony I am guestioning zdarve to death, now vould I?" taunted Velvet.
"Questioning?" The pony stood up from where she was sitting. "You're gonna question me? Not without a fight you ain't, rookie!" The pony launched herself forwards at Velvet, who coolly sidestepped her.
With one final taunt, Velvet got ready. "Do I haffe to? I just shined mie floof! And I gave my sprites zhe week off..."
"Enough talking, are you going to fight, or not, pretty girl?"
"Oh, but uv course! I wuz just zaying. Chust one ACTUAL question."
"Ugh, what?"
"Vhat's a 'girl?'"
"Uh... I don't have any idea."
Ready?
Fight!
Spitfire launched herself at Velvet, hoof outstretched in a punch. Velvet shrugged it off with a simple block. Again, Spitfire came, throwing two hooks and a jab, all of which were also nullified.
"So, are you going to fight or just stay b-?"
A white circle appeared under Spitfire. It grew in size vertically, spinning itself into an icy tornado. Spitfire was completely consumed by it.
Velvet, on the other hand, was looking in all directions for an audience. Finding none awake in still-early day to show her glamour off to, she halted the battle and the tornado, leaving only her and a deep-frozen Spitfire in the street.
It’s over!
Velvet walked over to the Spitfire statue, and spat on it. "ZAT vill teach you NOT to fight a lady!"
Walking away contemptuously, Velvet noticed a few more odd things. More houses than usual, more pony statues, things... not in Reine. Strange. But, not all things were changed. For one, a very familiar voice was calling out to her from a small shop.
"Velvet! Hello!"
Velvet ambled over to her cousin. "Hello to you, as vell, Cashmere!"
"How's it going?"
Velvet shook one hoof to and fro. "Eh... could be better. A pony tried to fight me, but I took care of her."
"You fought an ungulate?" Cashmere seemed quite shocked; rightfully so, due to Velvet's status.
"Vat?" Velvet exclaimed, defensively. "She vanted to! She hit ME first."
"Well, alright, cousin. I'll believe you. Just uhhh... try not to fight any more ungulates, ponies or not, okay, deer?" Cashmere asked.
"Yes, uv course. Good day!"
Conversation abruptly over, Velvet continued on her way and thought about these strange occurrences more, while Cashmere pulled out some of her chests of hats to set up her shop for the day.
Yes, perhaps that pegasus was right. This was not the Reine she knew and loved. Several more houses that looked inferior, some ponies flying around and conversing, a few more statues that looked nothing like anything she had seen, let alone imagined. Even some of the Elite 7 seemed to be intrigued; Comet seemed to be striking up a conversation well with a pony with a... chelloh? Right, cello. Whatever.
Let's see... Now that her first witness was frozen solid, who else could she ask for information? She looked around for anyone else she could cajole into telling her what happened.
Ah! How about her? Yes, the white one. With the luxurious curly purple mane and stupi-looking sweater. Didn't she know about the cold?
"Ah! Hello! Could you help me wiz zomezing, deer?"
"Mmm? Moi?" The white and purple unicorn pointed a hoof at herself. Not seeing anything against her thought, she trotted over to the reindeer. "Do you need anything?"
"Yes, in fact I do! First, could you tell me your name?"
"I am Rarity, seamstress and Element of Generosity. Now, darling, I suppose you have more questions than that, no? Hm... Though that floof... quite charming indeed, but how do you manage to keep it clean?"
"Ah, my sprites do zat. Your mane looks razer nice as vell! I loffe zee curls."
"Thank you! I've spent simply hours on them! Hours!" She ran a hoof through them, tossing them into a more appropriate angle. "Quite fashionable, as compared to your, ahem, simply charming, floof."
Shouldn't have said that. Should NOT have said that.
Velvet dumped her nice façade quicker than she dumped her last buckfriend. "Du? Better then, ich? Ha! Vu look like ein bag of poofy marschmallovs tied togezer vith ein filthy purple ribbon!"
This 'Rarity' was taken completely aback, gasping loudly and shooting off a retort of her own. "Well, if that's the way you want to play it, Y-YOU look like the mop that misfit Rudolph uses after he cleans up after the others' reindeer games!"
That... broke down quickly.
"Inbecible! No one talks to ze ice queen like zat! You should watch your mouth in the presence of ME."
"Oh, really? Well your mouth should be washed out. No, wait, that's an understatement. It should be purged by Celestia's flames!"
At this point, several ponies and reindeer circled around the ladies as they continued their tirade of insults. At least this time, Velvet was bound by promise. They circled each other, getting up closer with each scarring mark.
"Your tail is az thin as a lutefisk's!"
"Your floof is as thin as your insults!"
"Your mane looks like a clump of a dragon's facial hair!"
"Obviously not, you were clearly blinded by the curls! Unlike your BORING antlers. You should get them filed down. To nothing; maybe then you'll look like a lady."
Quite too soon for part of the audience, the two females were standing muzzle to muzzle, both frothing at each other. Then they both took a deep breath, gathering their energy, before screaming as loudly as they could at each other.
With whatever they wanted to say done, they both walked away from each other, each in their own respective directions, heads high, neither turning to look back at the other.
"Aw, come on! No fight?!" The crowd glared at the small colt who yelled at the walking ungulates.
After a while, Rarity finally regained her senses. What was she thinking, insulting that reindeer like that? So much for “generosity,” if that even applied here. Did it apply? No matter, what she did was wrong, and nothing could change that.
This was the most sincere regret she had felt yet. For some reason or another, she felt some unnatural attachment to the fluffy reindeer, self-absorbed as she was. Those WERE some good insults.
A couple of minutes later, she found another reindeer. She looked shockingly similar to the one she just passed. She wore a pair of glasses, a small apron, a green silken scarf, and a cheerful demeanor. Not finding much else to do, and perhaps to find how to speak to these new inhabitants, Rarity decided to strike a conversation with her.
“Hello! Welcome to the Cap ‘n’ Cash! My name is Cashmere. Cap is out sick today, poor thing. How may I help you?”
Rarity nodded. “Yes, I need help with someone. I... sort of made them upset.”
Cashmere looked at Rarity strangely. “Hmmm... you seem familiar." She brought her voice down low, but a few scattered statements regarding hair, demeanor, and behavior were audible. Eventually, the reindeer asked, "Have you met my cousin?”
“Your cousin?”
“Yes. She’s regal, charming, and has a fine selection of hair, just like you do.” Cashmere said, opening up a chest with a tinfoil hat inside. “Velvet. Call this a long shot, but was she the one you angered?”
“Yes! That was her, I think.”
“Oh, Velvet’s really something else. She even told me she beat up a different pony earlier! Tell you what, I’ll help you apologize since you seem so nice.”
“Really?!” That was the last thing she was expecting this reindeer to say. “You mean it?”
“Of course, deer!” she said, slightly beaming. “I have a feeling you two would get along.“
A new friendship and a burden off her chest? Yes! “Absolutely! Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I’ll make it up to you. Right now!”
Cashmere looked skeptical. “How so, deer?”
“Like this!” Holding the tinfoil cap with her magic, she quickly folded it into a very stylish, shiny fedora. “Voila! A perfect hat! Mind you, it won't reflect alien beams as well, but it looks so much more fashionable, wouldn't you say?" Rarity turned to the other chests in front. "Would you like me to do more to the rest of your stock?”
Cashmere looked awestruck. Stammering out a reply, she finished, “No, that won’t be necessary. In fact, that was so good, I’ll let you keep that one. Consider it a gift.”
GAINED TINFEDORA!+10 Shiny +100 FABULOUS!!! Screams style, by yours truly!
“Right. Now to find Velvet.”
Velvet was thinking something similar. Quite the interesting...pony, for sure. The only one who dare match her in hair selection; the curls weren't out of season at all. Quite the repertoire of insults ready at the waiting as well. Hmmm...
“Velvet! Velvet!”
“Vat?!”
Rarity?! Didn’t she learn her lesson from earlier? "No touchy!" Velvet quickly conjured a few icicles in the air, pointing them threateningly at an alarmed Rarity.
The white unicorn held up both hooves. “Wait! I... wanted to apologize. For what happened earlier. I really shouldn’t have insulted you like that.”
Ugh, same old, same old- wait a second, was that Cashmere?
“Yes, I’m here!” her cousin announced. “I’m just staying here to make sure nothing goes wrong while you make up with each other.”
Wait, wha-
Cashmere: Hangout...begin!
Rarity: I’ve already said I’m sorry. There’s no need for me to say anything more!
Velvet: You should be. Vy inzult berfegtion?
Rarity: Yes, of course. Just one teensy question for you, darling. Why are there reindeer here in Ponyville? There weren’t before.
Velvet: Vy are there ponies in Reine? Zat’s ze question I vas going to ask you earlier.
Rarity: Oh, no. Something happened. This can’t be right. This can't have happened naturally, could it?
Velvet: Agreed! How could zis happen?
Cashmere: Well... if I remember correctly, Cap said something this morning about a seizure warning? At first I thought he was talking about one of my rainbow shirts, but he clearly said it was in the sky.
Rarity: That sounds... familiar. Quite familiar, actually!
Velvet: Zat sounds like ze reason... but how do we know for sure?
Rarity: Well, if there’s one person who should know what caused that, it’s definitely Twilight. She’s already probably figured it all out by now.
Velvet: Who?
Rarity: Twilight Sparkle. Ruler of Equestria, and best friend! All I have to do is find her.
Velvet: Very vell. I vill help you on your quest, especially with... ZEM on ze loose.
Cashmere: Good. Are we done here? Anything else you want to add?
R&V: Why, yes we're done. Of course.
Hangout...end!
With new ally in hoof, Velvet asked, "Vell? Vat shall ve do to break ze ice?"
For Rarity, that answer was obvious. “It’s spa time!”
Velvet had never had a full on spa before, so she gladly accepted the offer.
Curls to floof, the two ungulates headed towards where Rarity could only hope were Lotus and Aloe’s Ponyville Spa. Cashmere stayed behind and watched them leave before heading back to her shop.
“I’m sure they’ll get along fine.”
“...”
“I just jinxed it, didn’t I?”
Blocky: Well, now that we're in here, we should try to find things that could help us.
Eraser: Like that diagram of a unicorn?
Blocky: No, not like that diagram of a unicorn. Wait. Look at those books!
Pen: Well, don't just stand there, open one of them! Maybe they can help us!
Blocky: Eh, not much. Some sort of spellbook? Take a look at this one!
Pen: I'll bite! Here goes!
Eraser: Nowaitwaitwaitwait-
*poof*
Eraser: Ah! Where are we now?
Pen: Some sort of tailor shop?
Blocky: Hey! Look at those dresses!
Pen: And an order form. Twelve purple dresses with diamonds? Huh.
Eraser: Well, I think I know what to do.
Pen: I’ll try to find the diamonds. You two, do you know how to sow?
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oh you
REALLY good job on the exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up in all the right places here. Yeah, I DID really enjoy seeing Rarity and Velvet's reactions to some of the side effects of the dimensional merger (Rarity the difficulty in finding her gems and unseasonal snow, Velvet the appearance of certain landmarks and new neighbors). And, yeah, I could definitely see where they could get off on the wrong hoof (though at least they didn't take it past mutual insults), but I was glad to see Cashmere helping them both out.
Anyway, definitely looking forward to more of this.
10392308
Any suggestions on how I can improve?
Another couple of possible bits for later:
Pinkie: (after meeting Arizona) I don't know whether you remind me more of Applejack or of Twilight doing a VERY GOOD Applejack impression.
Arizona: What are you talking about?
Applejack: Don't mind her, Ari. That's just Pinkie being Pinkie. She means pretty well, though.
Arizona: Yeah. She reminds me quite a bit of Paprika, though quite a bit more talkative.
Applejack: I'll take your word for it.
Pinkie: You don't have to. Pap is right behind me.
***************
and
Twilight: (to Fred) You know, despite your role as Oleander's aide reminding me a little bit of Spike, your abilities and personality remind me EVEN MORE of Discord.
Fred: You KNOW Discord? He was an old friend of mine back in the day. We kind of lost track of each other when he and I discovered Equestria and Foenum respectively, but we used to have so much fun together.
Twilight: Why am I NOT surprised that you two already know each other?
Spike: Because we do have actual experience with other universes. Mainly Sunset Shimmer's adopted universe and those divergent time lines that we found during Starlight Glimmer's attempts to stop the first Sonic Rainboom, but it is still enough to serve as proof that the multiverse DOES exist. And given that we know the multiverse does exist and given the similarities in Discord and Fred in abilities and personalities -
Twilight: That was a rhetorical question, Spike. I wasn't actually looking for an answer.
Spike: Sorry, Twi.
Twilight: But thanks for answering anyway.
************
Sorry about that. I let my imagination run away with me. If you don't like the exchanges and/or already have other/better ideas, I will completely understand and profusely apologize for wasting your time.
10392856
Already got some planned, but that was REALLY similar to what I was thinking anyways. Except in this AJ+AZ meets up with R+V first.
10393625
Fair enough. Thanks for the response.
"Reindeer freezes agressive character with wings solid." You also just made a Undertale reference a few paragraphs ago.