The Rise of Passion

"And once again, make sure your bobbins are the same colour as your spool, or you'll end up clashing."

The bell rang out, signalling the end of class, and the students began to put away their dresses and file out of the room.

"Don't forget, darlings, there's a practical examination in two weeks, so make sure you know your stitches!"

Yona was intentionally moving slowly. She was in charge of Rarity and Pinkie, and Sandbar was supposed to help her, but they weren't exactly sure how to proceed.

When the room was empty, save for the two of them, Yona approached. "Miss Rarity?"

Rarity turned and smiled. "Yes, miss Yona? How are you today?"

"Good, good," she fidgeted. "So, ummm... I was wondering, well, we all were, I guess, how you and the others made it to Aquestria and met the seaponies?"

Rarity waved her hoof. "Oh, it wasn't so difficult. We had Princess Twilight's magic to help us turn into seaponies ourselves, temporarily. It gave us a charming little tail, too. Why do you ask?"

"Well, Silverstream was telling us about where she used to live, and wanted to know if we could visit, so I figured, why not ask somepony who's been there if they could help us out?"

"Oh, a splendid idea," grinned Rarity. "After all, there's no way better to learn about somepony important to you than to accept an invitation into their home. You will, of course, have to wait for the next big break, so you can spend any amount of time down there. It's a bit of a long trip, not the kind of place you can just go overnight."

"So, do you think Twilight could turn me into a seapony if I asked?"

The smile faded from Rarity's face. "Well, um..." She took a deep breath. "I think she'd be happy to if she had the time, but she's a little bit overworked right now. I mean, we all are, really. What with Starlight unable to return to teaching, Sunburst teaching from a distance, and Rainbow and Fluttershy missing, we're all stretched a little bit too thin." She gently caressed Yona's cheek. "I'm sorry, sweetie."

Yona nodded. "I understand. It's a lot to ask, and I'd never be able to make it down there under normal circumstances. They don't even make diving suits for yaks."

Rarity pulled her head back, her face contorting into a series of different pouts as her eyes darted around the room. After rubbing her chin, she grinned. "I have an idea, deary. Wait here for just a moment."

She rushed over to her desk and pulled out a sketch pad and charcoal. "Turn toward the blackboard and hold that position?"

Yona did exactly as Rarity asked, having modeled for her before. Rarity, being particularly good with a charcoal pencil, managed to quickly put together her idea and then rip the page out of the pad. "It may be a bit of a hefty venture, but I think we can organize something that can allow you to dive down there. What do you think?"

It was just a black and white pencil drawing sketched out in less than a minute, but Rarity's approximation was absolutely beautiful. "What is it?"

"This," beamed Rarity, "Is a truly spectacular idea. It's a rubberized dive suit meant specifically for yaks. It keeps your expertly coiffed hair bundled up close to you for warmth, as it's very cold when you're that far down, and provides you with flippers and an air helmet to be able to move and breathe down there. You could probably even put together outfits for the rest of your friends, too. I have faith in you, Yona."

Yona blushed. "But I don't know how to sew with rubber. What if I mess it up?"

Rarity chuckled. "I'll admit, it's quite an advanced technique. After all, if you poke a hole in linen nopony will notice, but if you poke a hole in this, it'll pull right apart. I'm going to help you through this with some after-class special lessons. How's that sound?"

Yona lunged forward and wrapped her hooves around Rarity's shoulders. "Thank you so much, miss Rarity!"

Rarity grunted, being hugged too tightly, but gently rubbed Yona's shoulders, regardless. "It's not a big deal, darling. I'd do it for anypony."

"But I'm a yak!"

"Anycreature, sorry. I'm still having some issues with that..."

"So when should I stop by?" asked Yona excitedly.

"I'll have to order in the materials, first. When they arrive, I'll let you know, and we can start then. It's a good thing we have a lot of time before your next break, so there's plenty of time to learn from your mistakes."

The bell rang again, and Rarity looked up at the clock.

"Oh, my. I'm so dreadfully sorry, Yona. I've gone and made you late for your next class. Come, now, dear. I'll escort you to your next lesson and tell your instructor that I bear a fair amount of the blame. Who's your next instructor today?"

Yona shuffled her hooves. "...Miss Fluttershy."

Rarity grunted uncomfortably. "Well... I take it that your class with her has gone to independent study?"

Yona nodded. "Unless Twilight found a new teacher to fill in."

"Well, let's go find out, shall we?"

Rarity followed Yona to her next class, chatting about how the disappearance of the teacher had changed the direction the class was going. When they arrived, while a small portion of the class was as studious and loyal as Yona described, many of the students had adopted the mindset of "if there is no teacher, then we need not do the work."

Yona immediately rushed over to her table to see how her group was faring. They were growing yarrow in their plot, with other groups doing borage and eelgrass. The other five groups had abandoned their projects without direction.

Not having a class during this time, Rarity had planned to catch up on her own personal work, but seeing how hard some of the students were working, she opted to let it fall away in favour of teaching Fluttershy's class. After all, when she came back, she didn't want Fluttershy to be too terribly disappointed.

"Settle down, please!" she called out. "If all of you could settle down now, we can begin with a quick introduction. Everyone?"

A few of the students, Yona's group and the borage group next to them, turned to face the front of the room. The eelgrass group was focused on their assignment, and could be forgiven for ignoring Rarity, but the rest of them were still chatting, and not about botany.

Furrowing her brow, Rarity grabbed a cultivator and scratched it against the chalkboard. The ear-splitting noise was enough to draw everyone's attention. "If you could find your seats, we can begin."