Rarity and the Regatta

Rarity was a successful businessmare.  She had to be.  You don’t dive headlong into a clothing industry when most of your town is nude most of the time and not have at least some idea of what you’re doing.  In terms of gross income, she still trailed behind revenue giants like Filthy Rich and the Apple family (they never live like they are, but the Apples are one of the richest families in Equestria), but she made enough profit that most Ponyville denizens would call her “well-to-do.”

As such, this white unicorn enjoyed many of the finer pleasures of life: going to the spa as often as she saw fit, staying up-to-date on the latest fashions—by making many of them—and partaking in the more posh events of Equestria when she had the time.

She liked to try new things, too, which is why she was particularly intrigued one early morning when a certain flyer arrived in the mail.

“The Manehattan Regatta,” she read aloud, “This annual race pits the finest sailors and the finest vessels in Equestria in a competition that expertly blends excitement and class.  Oh, I do like the sound of that!  Registration is now open for amateurs and veterans alike.  One sailor per vessel.”  Rarity pondered for a moment.  She certainly did want to give this race a try.  It had been a while since she had appeared at a high-class event, and even longer since she had voluntarily entered any sort of competition that wasn’t fashion-centered.  And she had never entered a race before, much less won one.  She didn’t have a boat, but she did have enough disposable income to purchase a modest vessel.  Even if she didn’t win the race she could still use the boat for outings with her family and friends.  After all, a lady must treat herself from time to time, and if that means getting herself a ship, then so be it!

“That decides it, then!” Rarity proclaimed to herself. “I shall buy a sailboat at the port of Manehattan and enter the regatta!”  She trotted inside to begin preparations for her trip.

As she tossed clothing, accessories, and other supplies about with her magic, Rarity was making quite the racket.  This noise awoke her occasional housemate and little sister.

“Rarity, what in the world are you do—mmph!” a giant hat muffled the rest of Sweetie Belle’s words.  The older white unicorn perked up,

“Oh!  Sweetie Belle!  I nearly forgot you were here this weekend, so sorry for waking you!”  The filly tossed Rarity’s attack-hat aside.

“Yeah, thanks.  So, like I was saying: what in the world are you doing?” Sweetie squeaked.

“Well, I received the most delightful flyer in the mail this morning and after some contemplation I decided that I just had to enter!” Rarity floated the flyer in her sister’s face for her to read.

“A regatta?” Sweetie Belle tilted her head, “But you don’t even have a boat.”

“I will soon!  I have earned quite a bit from my most recent line of dresses and tunics, so I’m using the extra profit to buy myself a sailing ship!” Rarity beamed.

“Do you even know anything about sailing?” Sweetie Belle asked.  Rarity scoffed as if deeply insulted,

“Why of course I do!” she enunciated each word, “The spring and summer issues of my favorite magazines always have articles on sailing.  Besides, it’s just the wind.  I’m sure it can’t be that hard.”

“Just don’t come crying to me when your boat capsizes right out of the starting gate.” Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes.  She glanced at the flyer again,

“Wait, it says here that this race is in a week.  If you’re going now, who’s going to take care of me while you’re gone?  Mom and Dad won’t be back from Neighpon for another month!”

“I’m sure the Apples would love to have you for a bit.  Little Apple Bloom is one of your Crusaders, isn’t she?”

“Aww, but I always end up doing chores with the Apples!” Sweetie whined.

“Well, Scootaloo lives alone and I can’t risk you getting into any unsupervised trouble, and Fluttershy is busy helping various animals, er, make babies, so it’s going to have to be the Apples.”

“Ugh, fine,” Sweetie Belle groaned, “At least it’s not applebucking season.  I don’t think my legs could take that for more than a few days.”

Sweetie Belle seemed to completely forget the prospect of chores as she chatted happily with Apple Bloom at the Ponyville train station with Applejack and Rarity, waiting for the train to arrive.

“You’re sure you don’t want me or Twi to come with you, sugarcube?  We could be pretty useful on a boat,” Applejack said.  Rarity waved a hoof dismissively,

“Oh, I’ll be fine, dear.  Besides, I’m fairly certain the rules say only one sailor per craft.  But don’t you worry, Applejack.  I’ll be back with a blue ribbon before you know it!” As she said this the train to Manehattan rolled into the station.  The engineer pony called out for passengers to board and Rarity said her goodbyes to her sister and the Apples.  She pulled her cart full of luggage behind her with her magic onto the train and she was off.

After about six hours of travel the Ponyville train arrived at Grand Manehattan Central, the largest train hub in Equestria.  By comparison, the humble locomotive that had brought Rarity here looked like it belonged in a foal’s toybox next to the gargantuan engines that crossed the entire country daily.  Though she had been to Manehattan before, the sheer size of the train station alone still astounded Rarity.

“My, I’ll never get tired of this,” she said with a delighted sigh.  She had paid to have her luggage delivered right to her hotel room, so she was free to head straight to the port of Manehattan, where registration for the Regatta was.  As she neared the port, decorations advertising the Regatta increased in frequency and extravagance.  It must be quite the event, Rarity thought.  Dressed up in a maritime themed outfit, complete with an admiral’s cap, the white unicorn felt increasingly giddy as she stood in line behind other fancy looking entrants to the boat race.

“Oh, I can smell the salt on the air already!  You are so going to win this, Rarity!” she whispered to herself.  Finally it was her turn to sign up.

“Your name, please?” The receptionist mare asked.

“Rarity,” Rarity proclaimed proudly.  The pony at the desk looked up and her eyes widened,

“You’re Rarity?” She began fanning herself with a hoof, “Oh my Celestia I’m wearing one of your scarves right now!” Her Manehattan accent was very evident.  She showed Rarity the tag on her scarf that bore Carousel Boutique’s logo.  “If your clothes are this great I can’t wait to see what kind of marvelous boat you have.  What’s the name of the vessel?”  Rarity shook her head,

“Oh, I haven’t bought it yet.  I’m sure the marina has a wonderful selection of—”

“Bought?  You can’t enter a purchased craft into the Regatta,” the receptionist pony said.

“What?  It doesn’t say anything like that on the flyer.” Rarity raised an eyebrow.  The receptionist pony shrugged,

“That’s because it’s usually common knowledge to the ponies who enter that you have to build your own ship.  There’s no way any normal marina is going to have the kinds of boats that sail in the Manehattan Regatta.”

“Well what kinds of boats do sail in the Regatta?”

“Let me put it this way: if you’re going to build a ship for this race, I’d invest in steel armor plating and the best cannons you can find,” the receptionist pony said.  Rarity’s eyes widened.  “To be honest, though, most racers take months to build their ships.  I don’t know what you can throw together in a week.  Are you sure you still want to enter?  No use spending the entrance fee if you’re going to get sunk right out of the starting gate.”

Steel armor?  Cannons?  What sort of regatta is run with warships? Rarity wondered.  It couldn’t be that dangerous, though.  Deaths in an annual boat race would have made stories in newspapers across Equestria, and she had never read anything like that before.  Besides, this event was high-class.  Even the most eccentric of the elite wouldn’t needlessly risk their lives.

With that in mind, the gears in Rarity’s brain began turning, and the vague outline of a vessel was being drawn on her subconscious.  It was just like with her inspiration for clothing, only with more guns.  She only had a week to make a sturdy, speedy, and powerful seaworthy vessel, but she’s made tighter deadlines.

“Yes, sign me up,” Rarity said after thinking.  The receptionist pony scribbled Rarity’s name on the roster, and wrote “TBA” under the column for the ship’s name.

“’To be announced,’” she said before Rarity could ask.  She pointed to a few other names that had the same thing under their ships.  “You’d be surprised at how many ponies wait until the day of the race to unveil their ships.  It’s for a more dramatic entrance.  I just wrote that down for you since you don’t have a boat yet.”

“A dramatic entrance, eh?” Rarity smiled, “Well, I am somewhat of a diva.  That suits me well.”

“In any case, you’re going to want to head to the Manehattan Dry Dock to see what materials are available.  Armament is either built by hoof, or ordered from the surplus at Manehattan Naval Base.  Here’s a list of things your boat can and can’t have.  Good luck, Rarity!” the receptionist pony slid over the list, which Rarity picked up with her magic.  She nodded her goodbye while scanning the paper, and headed off to the docks.

“Hm, I’m losing daylight quickly.  Perhaps I should just survey what the dry dock has today and get building tomorrow morning,” Rarity said as she tucked the ship regulations list into her saddlebag.

Whatever a dry dock normally looked like, Rarity was fairly certain what she was seeing wasn’t it.  Manehattan Dry Dock had been transformed into a massive open-air market specifically for shipbuilding materials, complete with huge stands for different components.  As it was nearing evening, though, very few ponies were around, and some stands had already closed down.  I should at least get the things I need for the frame, Rarity thought.

She used her eye for detail to spot a stand selling aluminum that would be perfect for a sturdy but lightweight skeleton for her ship.  Selection was sparse, but it hadn’t been totally picked clean by other racers who had been fortunate enough to be there days and weeks before she had.  The shipwright selling the metal was knowledgeable and informed Rarity on the different types of aluminum, of course insisting that his was the best.  Rarity purchased enough to make a 40 foot vessel, and sent the material off to the private warehouse she had been assigned.  Her thoughts drifted to the bath she was going to take when she got back to her hotel.  She needed to relax.  After all, it was just that morning that she received the flyer in Ponyville informing her of the regatta.  It was a whirlwind of a day travelling to Manehattan, signing up for the race, and shopping at the dry dock, the last of which she still had more to do, but was simply too tired to waste the time of any more shipwrights.  As she left the stand, Rarity couldn’t help but notice the arrival of a large, muscular, and handsome yet old and salty looking stallion coming to chat with the aluminum seller.  They glanced at each other for a split second but continued about their business.  Little did Rarity know, they were going to become better acquainted in the coming week.