Chapter 59: Rarity
Hermione’s visit at the Equestrian bank was… rather uneventful, actually. She’d withdrawn just two heavy, golden bars from her account. Hailey had withdrawn quite a few more than that- then used one of them to show Hermione how to break each bar up into the hundred solid gold bits it was actually, physically composed of, and how to reassemble it back into the bar. It was a very simple change, powered by how the bits were enchanted.
Then of course, Hailey started leading her down a few more streets.
When she’d asked Hailey if it was safe to be wandering the streets of Ponyville, Hailey had assured her both that they were still on the safe, main roads, and that she knew where she was going.
“Also, don’t forget,” Hailey had continued, even after her assurances. “Pinkie Transform to the Misty Step. That’ll get you back to Hogwarts if something happens.”
Hermione breathed deeply and kept that information in the front of her mind as she followed Hailey through the streets. Hailey wasn’t worried, Hailey knew where they were… and they both could teleport straight back to Hogwarts on a moment’s notice.
“Ahh, here we are,” Hailey finally announced, leading her up to a large, circular building. “The Carousel Boutique.” She glanced back at Hermione, and smiled. “If I remember correctly, Rarity is one of your Transfiguration instructors?”
“Yeah?” Hermione asked, tilting her head.
“Well,” Hailey smiled, before knocking on and opening the door. “She’s a designer.”
Hermione stepped up next to Hailey to look in… and felt her jaw drop.
Either this boutique was shared between several designers, or Rarity was practically a goddess of design. Half of the room was dominated by pony-shaped mannequins- Stallionequins? That didn’t sound right- that were decorated with dozens and dozens of dresses and suits of different kinds, each one stunning in its own respect.
The other half of the room was dominated by the more familiar mannequins, which bore all manner of human suits and dresses with their own stunning designs.
After a second, Hermione scanned the room a second time to confirm her first impression. Yes, there were a lot more dresses than suits, like the majority of the clientele were women and mares, not stallions or men.
Then, a pure white mare whose mane Hermione recognized as Rarity’s walked in. “Welcome to the Carousel-! Oh, Hailey! I was just getting ready for dinner tonight- but did you need something?” Her eyes tracked to Hermione. “Or miss… Hermione, is it?”
“Uh- Yeah,” Hermione muttered.
Hailey chuckled. “I was just showing Hermione around Ponyville,” she explained. “Thought it might be a good time for you to get her measurements, if it’s convenient?”
“Oh of course,” Rarity told her. “We still have a couple hours before dinner. What did you have in mind?”
Hailey shrugged- and Hermione noticed she used her wings to do that, rather than her withers. The motion was visible through her cloak, even though it normally hid- no, disguised- her wings.
“Her Royal Gown, of course.”
Rarity blinked. “Huh? Oh, right, she ascended too, didn’t she?”
Hailey nodded. “She did. You can just bill the Crown for it, Celestia has already approved it.”
Rarity rolled her eyes. “I don’t need paying to make something for a friend,” she told her.
Hailey sighed. “You know what Celestia thinks about unpaid work.”
Rarity stopped. “... Oh, alright, I’ll bill the crown.”
Finally, Hermione’s brain caught up, and she looked at Hailey. “My royal gown?” she asked. “What royal gown?”
Hailey shrugged again. “By Equestrian law, all Alicorns are automatically Princesses. That means Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight- then, Pinkie after the Goddess of Reports, you that summer, and me when we healed Amelia.” She tapped her chin with a hoof. “Bonbon tells me there’s another one coming, but even she can’t tell who. Anyways.” She turned back to Rarity. “I was also thinking that, with the Yule Ball coming up-!”
“There’s a ball coming up?” Rarity asked excitedly.
Hermione smiled; Rarity had always seemed to be excited whenever a celebration was approaching, then disappointed whenever it actually came around.
Hailey chuckled. “There is; it’s part of the Triwizard Tournament. December twenty fifth, Christmas Day- from eight to midnight, as I recall. They’ll be announcing it next month, after the first task. Anyways, I was wondering if I could get you to make me something, ahh, suitable for such an occasion- I’ll be there as one of the Judges.”
Rarity looked delighted. “Will your alter ego need anything?”
She shook her head. “Harry is going to be one of the champions, but we’re deliberately making him into a laughing stock. That said, Silver is also going to be a Champion- shall I see about getting her in here at some point?”
“That would be wonderful,” Rarity opined. “Preferably before it’s announced, I’m going to be busy after that.” She chuckled.
Right at that second, a sudden explosion of flames appeared on the side of Hailey that Hermione wasn’t on. Hermione let out a small shriek of surprise and leaped away- but Rarity’s shriek was far louder, and her jump far longer.
There was a thump on the floorboards while Hermione regained her footing- hoofing? Whatever. “Ow! Uh… What in the world…?”
She looked. It was a golden-furred pegasus mare with hair like a bonfire- not unlike Morning Sun, who had headed back for the portal as they approached the bank. She seemed to have fallen on the ground, and was rising slowly to her hooves, looking down at herself.
Hailey smiled. “Angelina?” she asked.
The mare looked up. “Huh?” She then looked up even higher, and reached a hoof up as well to find her ears.
Hermione blinked. That had to be Angelina Johnson- one of the Gryffindor chasers… who had very dark, almost-black skin. The bright gold of her Equestrian form was an almost startling difference.
Hailey giggled. “Welcome to Equestria,” she told her.
“Eques-!?” Angelina began, then blinked. “Oh.” She put her hoof down. “Oh, that explains it. Um, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” She looked around.
“Not really,” Hailey told her.
“Anyways,” Angelina began. “Hailey?”
“Mm?”
“I just put my name in the Goblet a couple hours ago, and my parents want to be at Hogwarts to watch the selection- is that going to be possible?”
Hailey chuckled. “Don’t you think it’s going to be a little unfair if you get chosen?” she asked. “I mean, you’re a phoenix.”
Angelina shrugged. “Just because I can doesn’t mean I have to,” she said. “But it does mean the Tournament isn’t as dangerous for me as anyone else, doesn’t it?
Hailey shrugged too. “Ahh. Well, I expect there won’t be any problem, but I’d have to ask Dumbledore to be sure. You want to take care of that?”
“Sure!” Angelina began.
“Wait a minute,” Rarity announced suddenly.
All three of them looked at her.
“You’re a phoenix-born pegasus?” she asked.
Angelina blinked, looked back at the brilliant red and gold plumage on her wings, reached a hoof up to her forehead, and set it back down. “Uh, I seem to be,” she muttered. “The world looks a bit funny, but that’s probably just Equestria being different.”
“It’s not,” Hailey supplied. “That’s your pegasus eyesight. You’re seeing more of the spectrum than you’re used to- ultraviolet, specifically.”
“... Huh,” Angelina muttered.
Rarity, meanwhile, seemed to be sizing her up. “... Huh. Sunset said all the phoenix-born she’d ever heard of were unicorns.” She tilted her head. “You don’t happen to know her, do you?”
Angelina blushed. “As a matter of fact, I do,” she told her. “I don’t think she knows about my wings yet, though.”
Rarity scowled. “Hmm.” She rubbed her chin. “Do you think…” She paused, then sighed. “Would you mind terribly much if I made you a gown or two?”
She blinked. “... What?”
She started pacing back and forth across the top of the room. Hermione recognized the telltale sign that she was thinking hard about something- usually how to say something to a British student without sounding rude. She seemed to be the most aware of the cultural difference, out of all the Equestrians, and Hermione was fairly sure she was overdoing it- had been overdoing it, in fact, for years.
And of course, situations like this didn’t exactly help with that, either.
“Well,” Rarity muttered, still pacing. Had she been human, Hermione knew, her arms would have been folded with one hand resting on her chin as she paced.
“Just say yes,” Hailey whispered sideways, to Angelina.
Angelina looked at her. “Yes to-? But…” She paused, glancing around the room. “I don’t have any money.”
“Oh, no, I could never ask you to pay for it,” Rarity announced suddenly, turning to face her. “You Phoenix-born have such splendid coloration that it’s every designer’s dream to make something for one. So… The opportunity is payment enough for me.”
Amelia scowled. “How…?”
“Roll with it,” Hailey told her. “She’s asking for permission to make you a gift… or twelve, knowing her.”
“Well… okay,” Angelina agreed slowly. “But what would I use it for? I don’t really come to Equestria, so…”
Hailey shrugged. “Phoenix-born are immortal,” she told her. “And besides, it’s already happened once. Maybe next time you can stun Sunset with your dress- or even get married.”
She blinked. “But isn’t polygamy illegal?”
“Only in Britain,” Hailey and Rarity answered instantly, in perfect sync.
“It’s the norm in Equestria,” Hailey smiled.
She sighed. “Oh, alright, I’ll have to look into it, then.”
Rarity pulled a series of measuring tapes from a nearby desk with her magic. “Do you mind if I get some measurements, please? Then…” She paused. “I understand you British students can transform at will?”
“Uh… I guess?” Angelina muttered. “I mean, I know I can go between original-me and phoenix-me at will, but…”
“Do you think I can get some measurements for your human form as well? I’m still experimenting with that shape, as you can probably tell.” She gestured towards the side of the room filled with mannequins. “And of course, you Phoenix-born still have your amazing coloration in your human forms.”
She sighed. “Okay, if you really want to. I do need to get back to my parents soon, though- I told them I’d be back.”
“No worries, this won’t take a minute,” Rarity promised.
What followed was, in Hermione’s opinion, an insane display of how quickly a unicorn could manipulate twelve measuring tapes at once- and, exactly as Rarity had said, she had both of Angelina’s forms- human and pony- measured in seconds.
Rarity then trotted back to her sewing table. “Oh, it’s so exciting!” she giggled. “I get to make clothes for a phoenix-born! Wooho!” She giggled again, then looked up at Angelina. “You just wait, I’ll have you a whole new wardrobe before long!” She looked back down, stowing the measurements, and pulling out an enormous notebook.
Hailey raised her eyebrow. “I didn’t know you used two-Twilight notebooks,” she observed.
“It’s a binder,” Rarity answered absently. “A phoenix-born!” She took a deep breath, and let it out. “And I don’t, actually.” She looked up, and smiled. “That’s just how many designs I have just waiting for a suitable phoenix-born to try them on. Plenty of them are from my foal days, so, ahh… A little less polished, but quite a few are more recent, and Sunset wouldn’t let me try any of them.”
Hermione scowled. “Is… Is it just me, or is it weird for someone- somepony, sorry- to be so willing to just give it away? This stuff’s got to be worth a lot.”
Hailey smiled. “Yes. This stuff is worth quite a bit.” She sighed. “I didn’t know about the ‘designer’s dream’ thing, but I did know she’s the Element Bearer of Generosity… so in the end, it’s really not all that surprising- even though she has a reputation as the finest designer in Equestria.”
Rarity glanced up from the opened binder, and the pages spilling out of it in her magic like they were fleeing from it. “It’s a labor of love, dear,” she commented, before returning to her inspection of the drawings.
Hailey raised an eyebrow. “That… That’s a good point.” She looked at Angelina. “Do you happen to know what Sunset’s dress robes look like?”
She nodded. “She got the standard dress robes. Bright green, because that’s what they had in stock.” She sighed. “She doesn’t seem to care all that much about her clothes.”
“Green?” Rarity asked, looking up again. “That’d look horrible. Just imagine the clash!” She shuddered visibly.
Hailey grinned. “I happen to know somepony else that works a labor of love, and possibly a little more literally at that,” she said. “She might be able to help with that.”
“Oh?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow. “Who?”
She nodded. “Morning Sun.”
“How would she be able to help…?” She paused. “She’s the Head Student Instructor for Transfiguration, right? And a Phoenix-born too, isn’t she?” Hermione could see the sparkle in her eyes.
Hailey chuckled. “She’s a changeling.”
Rarity blinked, momentarily confused… then burst into laughter. It took her a while to stifle her guffaws. “Yes, that would be delightful,” she decided cheerfully.
Angelina looked, startled, between Rarity and Hailey. “What’s a changeling?”
“Shapeshifter,” Hailey told her simply. “Don’t tell anyone, most ponies still think changelings are evil.”
“They’re not?” Rarity asked. “Er, most of them, not just your friend?”
Hailey nodded. “They’re not. I haven’t yet sat down to have a good chat with any of the rest, though, so that’s all I know- my future self didn’t have much time to tell me about it.”
Rarity blinked. “Y-You’re crossing your own timestream?” she asked, sounding half-horrified. “Isn’t that really dangerous?”
Hailey shrugged. “If you do it right, it’s perfectly safe. The most important part is for any direct, meaningful contact between past and future selves to be planned far enough ahead that the past self is expecting it. Then of course, don’t worry about trying to recreate exactly what you remembered your future self doing, because the timeline will stabilize itself.” She shrugged. “But yes, if you stick around too long or do the wrong thing, the energy required to do that might get large enough that it simply erases you to be done with it.”
“That still sounds stupidly dangerous,” Hermione scowled.
Hailey shrugged. “Whenever I’m crossing my own timestreams, I’m constantly watching that stabilization cost. Especially with as powerful as I am, the tolerance for paradoxes is a lot higher, since I can supplement the timeline with my own power before it even considers erasing me. Even so, it’s not something to take lightly.”
“You’ve been taking everything lightly,” Hermione accused.
“Not really,” she sighed. “I’ve been taking care of what needs taking care of… then allowing myself to have fun with everything else. Because at the end of the day?” She looked at Hermione. “According to Harmonia, you and I are to Earth as the Elements of Harmony are to Equestria.”
“What.”
Hermione wasn’t the only one to utter that word. Both Angelina and Rarity had joined in, all staring at Hailey, and all in the same flat tone.
Hailey nodded. “Yeah. Means it’s pretty hard to mess up too badly, but there is a saying: With great power comes great responsibility.” She grinned. “And the number one thing Princess Celestia told me in Princess Lessons: Never forget how to play. She has, and so struggles to remain as the benevolent ruler that she is.” She sighed. “There’s a lot of pain behind that formal mask she wears so much. For one thing, her mother sacrificed herself so that she could guide the nation right… and she feels like she’s failing her mother.”
Rarity tilted her head. “Her mother’s sacrifice…?” She shuddered. “That’s horrible.”
Hailey nodded sadly. “Selene was a Goddess. Her sacrifice turned Celestia, and her best friend Luna, into alicorns, and gave them the power to start bringing ponies together. Selene was successful; it wasn’t too long after that when they got Harmonia’s attention. Harmonia can’t affect much on the surface- but her main power is that of information. She was able to guide the Sisters in the creation of Equestria, and basically guarantee their success… so long as they didn’t second-guess themselves too badly.” She sighed. “There are still two gods and two goddesses living in Britain. If I decide to do something, they won’t be able to stop me by force. So, if I don’t want any of them to have to sacrifice themselves for that purpose, I need to be at least as successful as Celestia.
“And that… That means never forgetting how to play, staying in touch with the people around me… and never, ever, becoming the unapproachable ruler that Celestia has become.” She sighed. “It’s going to be…” She paused. “Something of an experiment, kinda. And a learning experience, as we try and create that firm-but-kind-yet-still-playful ruler.”
“Why ruler?” Hermione asked, her head tilting.
Hailey looked at her. “I am completely invulnerable, Hermione. That already makes me an extremely powerful political figure, say nothing of my strength or other powers. I am far scarier than Lord Voldemort, but nobody knows it yet. Because of that, and especially considering that we’re immortal…” She sighed. “Eventually, we’ll end up at the top, guaranteed. And probably sooner than later, too- I’ve already been rising in authority every year.”
“You have?” Angelina asked.
She nodded. “Three years ago. My first year. I became the Head Student Instructor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. They were still developing the position, though, and didn’t have HSIs for most subjects like we do now, so that really just amounted to monitoring the instruction on the subject and ensuring it was up to par, including coming up with my own. I have my father to thank for much of that.
“In my second year, my position technically didn’t change- but they fully defined the HSI position, which gave me broad authority over the subject. Add Lockhart, and I was basically the highest authority on the subject in the school. I had the authority to unilaterally change the curriculum- an authority I still have, and have exercised this year, though not last.
“Third year. Lupin was a great Professor, but that year I became the Student Instructor Program Management Team Lead as well, not just an HSI. With that, I gained the authority to punish, reward, remove, and hire Student Instructors as I saw fit. I even restructured the management team once, so the meetings wouldn’t take so long.” She chuckled softly. “Anyways.
“Then comes this year. Professor Dumbledore has seen fit to grant the Management Team Lead- read, me- the authority to punish and reward his Professors, and the entire management team- including myself- gained point and detention authority as well.” She sighed. “As I’m sure you’ve seen already, I’ve already been handing out punishments. Only to Moody, though, nobody else has needed any, but…” She sighed. “From the noises I’ve been hearing, even as early as we are in the year, I wouldn’t be surprised if the School Board convinces Dumbledore to let me start hiring and firing Professors for him next year.”
Hermione scowled. “Wouldn’t that make you the next best thing to the Headmaster?”
Hailey nodded. “It would, in that way.” She sighed. “Though in that vein, I fully expect them to encourage him to hire me as the DADA professor as soon as he possibly can… and if they can get away with it, whenever he eventually kicks the bucket, they might just try to conscript me to his position.”
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Given Art Of the Dress, I wonder if this Rarity knows Diamond Storm or Thousand Needles?
Or after talking with certain sources on patterns, Sierpinski Cloak?
Trying to remember where I saw an article on Time Crystals, which only exist between two temporal points and oscilate between them, but means a physical item would have to be of this extremely exotic material to be able to exist, as otherwise...
Any standard material object caught in a non reformed assisted temporal loop, through simple wear and tear, would not? Every turn round the loop, atoms get worn away, unless some information and power form keeps it maintained? Information in a temporal loop is esentially in stasis, as it cant change, otherwise its not the same information?
Wonder if Ive already postulated the Mirror Pool did a Banana Toffee transform on Pinkie?
11168504
Well, but that’s why it takes energy to stabilize. As long as it’s not noticeably different, the timeline will force it to be the same.
I don't know whether or not it is an extremely clever or a completely inefficient scheme. I mean, even you change a hundred bits into a single bar, it is still weight the same as a hundred bits. In this instance, bank note is way more convenient to carry around.
Correction. Twilight doesn't use notebook. She actually use blank encyclopedia. Trust me, I know. I used to carry it for her. That thing was damn heavy.
11168663
Yup. The "one-Twilight notebook": A blank encyclopedia.
As for the money, it's a gimmick that introduces bars and the ability to break them apart without going to the bank... while keeping the amount of gold constant, so somepony couldn't forge multiple bars out of fewer bars worth of bits, or vice versa (with a bar's worth of bits from less than a full bar). So... How about both? Clever, but still inefficient?
Pffft-the Twilight measurement. I'mma try that out in my next Physics class.
11168663
I think it's less about weight and more about storage. A solid bar is going to take up a lot less space than a pile of coins, even if it's the same total volume of metal.
Equinequines!
11168726
People actually used to do that very thing with coins. A gold coin would be cut into eight slices, which is where the term "pieces of eight" comes from.
The concept here is a stack of gold bars stuck together to form a larger gold bar.
11169295
How about 'Marequines'?
just comes out easier to thepronounciation, aside from Ponies being a Mareocracy ..
Ponnequins?
11272799
The popular term seems to be "equinequines", but yes, very possibly.
11272918
this just feels as if it is repeating the word "Equine here.
isn't "man" short for "Hum,an" in context, and as such not gender specific?
unless you have them for a specific gender and feel the need/urge to specify this in the expression..
though I thought the most common expression/word was "Ponequine"