Chapter 33 Promo · 1:12am Sep 1st, 2016
Rarity nudged the door to her boutique open and gracefully kicked off her booties and studded poncho, glad she always packed both of them in her saddlebag as it started drizzling outside on her way back from the orchards. After the night terrors and incident last night, the mare had been resolute in canceling her planned opting out of joining the others in Canterlot. That left the Crusaders to tend to. Flash Sentry was a gentlecolt for escorting them to her; but after the first two boredom-born demolition derbies, she knew she couldn’t leave the Crusaders to host themselves at the boutique. So she’d walked them to Sweet Apple Acres to see if Big Mac or Granny Smith could keep an eye on them while she was going. Fortunately with the Zap Apples harvested, that turned out to be the case and the Crusaders were more than eager to join in on making the jam and having another sleepover.
Which left her with one other problem, mounted upon a set of mannequins. Rodan and Rainbow Dash’s flight uniforms were looking back at her, and in light of the days available to work on them Rarity couldn’t help but cringe at her current progress. Neither uniform was past the very plain chest and head pieces of the body suit, both of which were still unpainted and unaccented; and far from the respectful look a team hosted by the Princesses themselves and comprised of an Element of Harmony and allied kaiju demanded. Usually at this point she’d have had far more done.
Then again, usually she wasn’t having constant nightmares that resulted in restless sleep and untold amounts of stress during the day that destroyed her focus. While she managed to mentally beat them back for the first time last night, doing so left her feeling like she’d run a marathon through Whitetail Woods twice in a row; any sense of accomplishment marred by worry of just what these night terrors meant. And after what happened last night with a psychological plague in some corner of her subconscious? The possibilities only added up with her time-consuming pondering and left her only a fat chance at progress.
-You’re not staying silent Juliet Rarity Belle. You’re going to Canterlot and getting either Princess Luna or Twilight to see why you’re being treated to a horror movie when your eyes close before you go batty!-
A frown crossed her muzzled as the unicorn looked upon her unfinished work.
-Still, these need to be finished and leaving for a day would only set you back further!... Hmmm…-
A lightbulb lit up in her mind and Rarity trotted over to her antiques cabinet. Pulling out tea sets and setting statuettes aside, her blue magical aurora wrapped itself around a cushioned lock box. Despite the elaborate number lock and pristine black wood casing, what she pulled out of the velvet cushioned interior was of dissonance to what one would expect. It was a seemingly mundane conch shell. While large, about the size of one of her father’s hoofballs, there was nothing remarkable about the item or anything seemingly out of the ordinary save for the odd coloring on the prongs, each one unique, coming off the pinkish pearl shell body. To the knowing or trained eye however, this was probably the rarest item in her storage. A mermare shell caller, one she knew how to work.
Taking in a breath, Rarity let her magic pour into the conch shell’s opening while she gently recited a simple, pleasant sounding melody. After a few seconds of singing to it, the conch shell buzzed with vibration and she stopped. Holding it in her magic, Rarity gently pushed down on the colored prongs in a specific order; each tap uttering a half muted bleep from the inside of the shell. After ten taps and bleeps, she put it to her ear and hummed idly while the dialing tone buzzed into her ear. A buzz signalled a connection and Rarity cast a smile upon hearing a familiar voice on the other end.
“Yes hello your ladyship! Oh thank you, I do try to mind my manners- Oh this is Juliet Belle-.. Um, Rarity? You know, “Your little diamond student”?”
She was barely able to get that last title out before a booming voice belted out of the shell and nearly blew her ear out when she heard-
“DAHLIIIIING! IT’S BEEN SO LONG!”
-come blasting out. The startled unicorn jumped a good meter in the air and had to juggle to keep hold of the shell. Awkwardly snickering, she swiped her mane out of her face and put the shell back up to, but now a few inches away from, her ear.
“Uh, yes yes yes! Lovely to hear from you again teacher!... The occasion? Well I figured you’d be near Ponyville after Rainbow told me she mailed you an invitation to her show and I was needing to take a brief reprieve from designing her flight team’s uniforms for the spectacle. You know me, worrywort; so I wanted these done and fitted soon as possible but I need to head over to the capital on Element Bearer business. Since I learned everything from you, I wanted to know if you’d mind jogging over to the boutique until we’re all back from Canterlot to give it your two bits? I hate to ask work from you but-”
“SEE YOU IN A MOMENT DEARY!”
The chipper tone yelled through the shell before there was a knocking on Rarity’s front door. The tone on the shell clicked off and hummed idly for a few seconds before turning off entirely. Rarity stood still, glancing back and forth between the door and then the shell a few times.
-She’s here already?... Huh, so that’s where Rainbow got her speed from.-
Rarity put the shellcaster back up in its case and trotted over to the doorway. After a quick peak into the eyehole, the white unicorn flashed a relieved smile and pulled the door open. To call the earth pony mare on the other side of the door “Fashionably decked out” would be a gross understatement. The enormous sun hat, bejeweled red glasses identical to the pair of sewing spectacles Rarity got as a hoof-me-down, and glimmering, iridescent gemstones studding her saddlebags in the manner of her namesake shown well in even the cloudy sky. The mare herself was shorter than average, having a cyan-turquoise body coat with a unique pink-magenta-green-orange striped mane and tail that hung down with a curl at the ends. She was the mentor to one Element of Harmony’s seamstry and mother to another, Rainbow “Radiance” Dash Senior.
And she was throwing her hooves in the air while squealing before putting said hooves around Rarity in a bear hug.
“Ah dahling! You’ve grown so big since I last saw you! And stunning as ever! Mix that mane and those cute eyes with one of those evening gowns I showed you how to make and you’ll be beating back stallions with a stick!”
She yelped with a grin, releasing the hug and walking inside soon as Rarity stepped out of her way. While she passed however, the retired track runner and now senior fashionista reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a thick, iron wood cane with so many metallic studs it might as well have been a mace. She nonchalantly passed it to her former student.
“Here’s a stick by the way deary should you find yourself in such an endeavor.”
Oh god it's Edna. The single being that can command gods among men without even trying.
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Someone asked "How am I going to input G3 Rainbow Dash as a fashionista and not make her too much like Rarity" seeing as G4 Rares is based off her. This how
...cue the hype.
Wow, Rainbow Sr.'s personality really does resemble Edna. Hope the chapter comes soon so we can see how she acts after the little scene.
She's been having that nightmare every night? Poor thing. Yes, seeing Luna ASAP sounds like a plan.
Rainbow's mom is awesome.
Apparently there's an "Edna Mode" in all corners of the omniverse.
Thus, I must be prone to ask: What is Rainbow Sr.'s Policy on......CAPES!?
We've got Edna as a pony lol
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... why am I even now picturing the lecture Rarity is in for over the "Mare-Do-Well" costumes.
Oh, right.
Let's just hope Rainbow Dash Sr. never finds out.
You sir have made an Incredibles reference....my sides hurt from laughing XD
hahaha!!!
I love her already! At first I was happy to see some more Rarity, (oh Rarity, what you do to me...) then it took a really weird turn with the conch shell phone call, and started to get kinda worried, then all was forgotten and forgiven when I realized who was coming into the picture! Can't wait to meet her in earnest.
Heheheh! Absolutely wonderful references. But then again, we all know words are useless! GOBBLEGOBBLEGOBBLEGOBBLEGOBBLEGOBBLEGOBBLE! Too much of them, i say, too much! That is why you must SHOW us your work! That is why we are HERE!;)
Well we see Nightmare Rarity? That would be a great plot for the story!
Nice introduction to Rainbow's mother. When the last chapter teased what was coming for this upcoming one, I was expecting that the promo would feature mainly Jr.
Wait...so Rarity can call a mermare using a conch shell.
And it has a dial tone, and requires a specialised input.
It's...
a....
Shellphone....
Why was my first thought "Oh god, she's calling upon the seaponies"?
I am now pleasantly surprised.