My Little Warcraft - New Friends

by Shin Guyviroth

Chapter 15 - Not Enough Dresses

The skies began to become much clearer now as the clouds retreated and dispersed into the four winds. Thin veils of cotton were all that remained in the open air though that only made more room for the golden sun to shine upon Ponyville. There wasn't much of a breeze, either, like there was earlier in the day. The air felt still and stagnant though there was still a feel of coolness in it, although it was contrasted by the warmth of the sun upon the horizon.

Gai'vahros began to feel a bit dizzy, going back and forth from place to place as though he was just running around in circles. At this point it wasn't exactly far from the truth. Himself, Twilight and Rainbow Dash had made their way back over the southern-most bridge towards the Carousel Boutique-- Rarity's home and workplace-- in order to try and get Rarity to join them on their camping trip.

"Come on, Twilight," Rainbow Dash called out to her friend, who was walking a few feet in front of her, as she tagged along from behind, floating a few feet off the ground. "you honestly think that Rarity, of all ponies, will wanna come camping? You know what she's like."

"Well, there's no harm in trying, right?" Twilight replied in a manner of defence for Rarity, "Besides, it's not like I can just leave Rarity out of this. She'll be more upset if I didn't ask her than suggesting the idea to her."

"Oh? Why won't she want to join us?" Gai'vahros opened the question for one of the two ponies to answer. He wasn't well versed in Rarity's preferences, so he couldn't understand why she wouldn't want to come.

"Because little miss prissy-pants doesn't like getting her hooves dirty," Rainbow Dash replied in a somewhat callous tone, though it was more of a joke than an insult. "she'd much rather relax in her room with all of her clothes and perfumes where everything is all clean and tidy and stuff."

"I'm sure she'll come with us," Twilight spoke up in positivity as the three of them made their way over the bridge, "with the rest of us going I think she'll be more inclined to join us."

It didn't take too long before the trio made their way to the front of Carousel Boutique. For a moment they all stopped to try and notice any sign of life coming from the building, to make sure that Rarity was in, before knocking. Some sounds could be heard coming from the ground floor though the most prevalent of these was a sewing machine, something that Gai'vahros began to mistake for an engineer's working station.

Twilight walked up to the front door and, strongly, knocked a few times upon its hard wooden surface. "Rarity, are you home?" Twilight called out, though it was pretty obvious to the lot of them that she was inside. The sound of machinery came to a halt after a moment.

"Oh, Twilight," A glamorous and joyful voice called out, although it was muffled what with a door being between them. "I'll be with you in just a moment, dear!" Rarity quickly hopped off the stool she was on and trotted to the front door, opening it to see the faces of Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Gai'vahros. "Good morning! I see you brought your little friend as well. Oh, and Rainbow Dash."

"H-hey, what's that supposed to mean!?" exclaimed Rainbow Dash with an agitated look upon her face as she looked down at Rarity.

"Why, nothing at all, Rainbow Dash, dear." Rarity replied, with a smile on her face, in satirical humour at the pegasus' response. Turning back to her machine she trotted across the room before taking a seat on the stool. "So what brings you all here so early?"

"We came to ask if you wanted to come camping with us, Rarity," Twilight answered in a calm tone, as though she was expecting to say "yes". "Everyone's gonna be there."

"C-c-camping? You must be joking," Rarity spoke in a shrill voice, "I absolutely can NOT risk to get my hooves dirty. Do you know what kind of bacteria thrive in the wild!?"

"Hey, did someone say "camping"?" A little, tiny voice came from the stairway. A small filly, the same size as Apple Bloom, came down the stairs as soon as the word 'camping' was mentioned. She had a snow white coat and pale green eyes, with a thick, curly mane of lavender and rose pink. She looked towards the ground, taking a keen notice of Gai'vahros in particular. "Hi, Twilight. Hi, Rainbow Dash. Uh, hi… hedgehog."

"Sweetie Belle, don't be so rude," Rarity scolded her little sister for referring to Gai'vahros in such an uncouth manner. "this here is Gai'vahros. He's the one who gave me inspiration to make this dress design."

"Ah, so it WAS you who made that red and purple dress I saw earlier today?" Gai'vahros spoke up; it was the reason he wanted to speak to Rarity, after all.

"You mean, someone has already bought my dress!?" Rarity exclaimed as she pressed her fore-hooves into her cheeks. "Well, this is ab-so-lute-ly WONDERFUL! I have to keep working so I can keep up with demands! Oh, I'm so sorry, where are my manners? Gai'vahros, this is Sweetie Belle-- my little sister."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, little Sweetie Bell," Gai'vahros said with a smile on his face, offering the filly a small bow. "I wasn't aware Lady Rarity had a little sister. I never got the chance to meet you yesterday."

"Heehee, that's because I was at the clubhouse with Scootaloo all day yesterday," Sweetie Belle replied with a cheerful look on her face, though it quickly turned into an expression of confusion. "but I didn't see Apple Bloom all day, either. Is she sick?"

"Oh, no, no, nothing like that," Gai'vahros assured the little filly that Apple Bloom was okay. "she was with me and Twilight for most of the day, but she got grounded for being outside of the village without supervision."

"O-oh… that's my fault," Sweetie Belle mumbled her words although they were still audible to everyone in the room. "me and Scootaloo were trying to make jewellery and, well, we asked Apple Bloom to look for some gems while we were getting the metalwork done. I'm sorry we caused so much trouble…"

"Hey, it's okay," Gai'vahros walked over to Sweetie Belle and knelt down, comforting her by petting her head with a silk hand. "it's not like you put your friend in danger or anything. You couldn't have known she'd get in trouble, right?"

"Yeah… you're right, I guess…"

"Good. Anyway, Lady Applejack and little Apple Bloom will be coming with us as well, so you can talk to her then. Oh, that's right, Lady Rarity, why don't you come with us? I'm sure your adoring fans can wait a few days before getting their dresses. Exactly how many have you made already?"

"Oh, not a lot, dear," Rarity replied, "only a hundred and fifty seven. No, eight, a hundred and fifty eight."

"… a hundred… and fifty eight…? I-I'm quite sure that will be enough to tide your customers over for a few days while we're out."

"Well, yes, but I refuse to go camping! It's all dirty, and wet, and filled with itsy, bitsy, squishy creepy-crawlies out there! Gosh, it's mortifying even thinking about setting one hoof in the forest!"

"Awwwww, but Rarity, I wanna go camping," Sweetie Belle looked up to Rarity with a sad expression on her face. "and we can spend lots of sisterly time together!"

"Absolutely not, Sweetie Belle!"

"Pleaaaaase?" the little filly moved her head closer, her eyes swelling up like a little puppy dog's. The notion began to make Rarity more inclined, soothing her displeasure at such a trip.

"Oh… oh, alright," Rarity accepted the offer, albeit still rather reluctantly, putting a foreleg around her little sister and holding her close. The two of them gave a little smile at one another before Rarity turned her attention to her guests. "I guess I can take a little break, what with working on new designs all week."

"Awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, pumping her hoof into the air. "Hey, if Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are coming along, we'd better bring Scootaloo with us, too."

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle responded, rushing to the front door. "I'll go tell Scootaloo right away! Cutie Mark Crusader's camping trip!" the filly rushed out the front door as she yelled a powerful cry.

"Uh… "Cutie Mark Crusaders"?" Gai'vahros opened the floor for any response to his question.

"Uh, we'll let them explain when we go camping," Twilight responded, "but that's everyone, right? Me, Gai'vahros, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo…"

"I'm pretty sure that's everyone, Twi," Rainbow Dash assured her friend that the entire roster was accounted for, "so shall we head back to yours and get everything packed?"

"Oh! Oh!" Sweetie Belle rushed back through the front door, yelling as though she had just remembered something or had a good idea. "That reminds me, I found something outside the clubhouse! Be right back-- I'll go get it!"

"Oh, Sweetie Belle," Rarity had a rather disappointed tone in her voice, rolling her eyes as her little sister ran back up the stairs. "I told her to take that thing to the guards so they can handle it."

"Handle what, Rarity?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, Sweetie Bell found some crummy, dirty, battered old rucksack outside her clubhouse. She thought she'd bring it back here just in case it belonged to anyone. It kind of reminds me of Applejack's hat, actually. Well, minus the crummy, dirty, battered part."

"Here it is," Sweetie Belle cried after galloping down the stairs with the top handle of the backpack held in her mouth. The filly placed it down on the ground where it stood upright almost without any sag as though it was held up by a large amount of densely packed objects. "so, uh, does this belong to anyone?"

"Wait, hold on," Gai'vahros exclaimed in a surprised manner, his eyes lighting up upon seeing the old tan rucksack. Swiftly he moved from the doorway to where Sweetie Belle was and knelt down. He placed his hands over it, feeling the rough and frayed linen upon his fingers. "this is my rucksack! Oh, thank you so much, little Sweetie Belle!" Sweetie Belle giggled and blushed cherry as the blood elf looked up with the biggest smile on his face. Quickly, he unclipped the buckle on the front and lifted the flap. Everything that he had missing was in here-- his hearthstone, jeweller's kit, pickaxe-- everything that he had brought with him was all here, including a few change of clothes.

"Oh, I'm so relieved, Gai'vahros," Twilight exclaimed in a sigh of relief, heading over to him. "is that everything?"

"I'm afraid not," Gai'vahros replied as he placed his hand down near the bottom of the rucksack, pulling out a large hand-sized stone of pearl white with a single engraved rune. "my hearthstone seems to be out of power. I was hoping to use it to return back home, but I guess the magic infused into it doesn't work here."

"Oh… I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, my Lady Twilight. Don't be absurd. I wouldn't return home yet, anyway; I'm still missing my arms."

"But, they're right there." Sweetie Belle said as she placed her hooves on his forearms, oblivious to the fact that he wasn't referring to that kind of 'arms'.

"Haha, no, not those kind of arms," Gai'vahros chuckled as he took the filly's forelegs into his hands and placed them back on the ground. "I'm talking about my weapons. They weren't in my backpack, so I'm thinking they were probably scattered elsewhere."

"Hey, you never know, Gai," Rainbow Dash tried to cheer up the otherwise visibly disappointed blood elf, flying over to him and placing a hoof on his shoulder. "we might find them when we go camping. How about we go south to near where you fell-- one of them is bound to turn up near there, right?"

"You make a good point, my Lady Rainbow Dash, but I doubt it's as easy as that. Still, that's the best idea we've got so far. So, camping to the south it is?"

"Sounds great," Twilight nodded in agreement as Gai'vahros stood back up, slinging his backpack over his shoulders. "we've still got plenty of time. So, how about we set off at four o'clock?"

"Sounds fabulous," Rarity agreed cheerfully though her joy was directed to her pattern cutting rather than the trip. "that'll give me enough time to reach two hundred dresses in total."

"Perfect. Well, see you all in a few hours time, then!" Twilight gave her goodbyes, as did Rainbow Dash and Gai'vahros in their own way, before making their way out of the door. "Gai'vahros, you seem to keep playing with that little box in your hand. Is it something important?"

"Oh, this?" Gai'vahros replied, holding his hand still so he could show the two ponies as he began to explain. "No, it's not overly important. This is a jeweller's kit. This has all the tools I need in order to cut gemstones and "empower" them, so to speak."

"Huh? To "empower" them?" Rainbow Dash was confused as she flew a little closer to inspect the intricate box. "You can infuse magic into gems?"

"In a sense. Allow me to explain," Gai'vahros held the box in front of both ponies so they could see better. The box was as large as the blood elf's open palm and a few inches high, made of solid wood that wasn't like anything found on Equestria. The box was a dark mahogany colour though there was hints of a lighter shade similar to birch wood. Metal trimmings and livery lined the edges and corners of the box in bright gold that shined with great clarity in the sun. Gai'vahros placed his index finger on a small clasp on the front of the lid, which slowly sprung open on two circular hinges on the sides, revealing a small mirror on the underside of the lid and various tools inside the box' main body, including a set of small side cutters, various different pliers, a small hammer, a felt cloth, a small whetstone, and a straight edge blade. "jewelcrafters have a kit that contains all the essential tools for cutting gems. They can be cut to any shape or size-- it doesn't affect our ability to empower gems. Once the gem is cut we can use our knowledge as jewelcrafters to give the gem a certain quality that affects the wearer or holder."

"You mean, you can make jewellery and give them a certain power?" Twilight asked, trying to hold back her enthusiasm. She began to think back to another set of jewellery that had certain kinds of powers.

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Gai'vahros replied, closing the jewellery kit with his thumb. "we can bestow certain enhancements to certain gems depending on their colour. For example, jewelcrafters can empower rubies and other red gems to grant their holder extra strength or agility, or empower blue gems with the power to give the holder increased stamina. Gems that have the colour of two gems can benefit from both powers but at a smaller rate. An example would be that we can empower a purple gem-- a colour comprised of red and blue-- with both strength and stamina, but not as much as a gem that is a prime colour."

"That's… amazing, Gai'vahros," Twilight was astonished that something like that could exist outside of the Elements of Harmony. "Is that why you asked Rarity for a gem? So you could cut it for her and empower it for her?"

"Yeah, that's right." Gai'vahros blushed a little with a smile on his face.

"I just hope that Spike hasn't… uh… oh no…"

"Spike hasn't… No. Nooooooooo!" Gai'vahros yelled out as he clutched the jewellery kit in his hand, sprinting off over the bridge as Twilight and Rainbow Dash followed close by. "If that dragon's eaten it, I'll gut him like a murloc!"

Comments

[Zepher2]

lol spike eating gems

[The Thinker]

How isn't he suffering from an arcane withdrawl. Aren't blood elves addicted to arcane magic?

[insania exitium]