Twilight rolled up the scroll once she was sure that everypony present had finished reading. Rarity sat separately, sipping a cup of tea on her favorite fainting couch. They had all assembled at the Boutique at the seamstress' request and had been given a rather long roll of parchment to absorb.
"Well, if ah didn't know y'all any better, ah'd say you had a knack fer fiction, Rares..." Applejack said, tilting her hat a little more to the left. It wasn't hard to tell that Rarity had been telling the truth in her letter, and had only written it so she couldn't lose her nerve halfway through the telling.
"So, have you been lying to us your entire life then? To everypony you know?" Rainbow Dash, looking a little put out that one of her best friends, despite anything else the pegasus said, was something other than what she knew.
"Of course not, darling, and as I said, I am no Changeling. The spell Twilight cast on me halfway through her reading confirmed that. Until Discord came, I was only Rarity. Now I'm Rarity and Tamara."
The seamstress being a Changeling had become a genuine concern when they had started to read the letter and Twilight had taken it upon herself to cast the detection spell she'd developed with her brother shortly after the wedding, in case any of the creatures chose to return, or had not been evicted by the spell he and Cadence had cast.
"Do you know why you can suddenly remember any of this?" Twilight asked, honestly curious.
Rarity nodded, "I think it was the memory spell you cast on all of us to bring us back to who we really were. It broke the seal Celestia had put on my former life. Every time I see you perform a spell, I'm reminded why the Princess chose you."
"So, you never really went into it, but, do you know what happened to Tamara?"
The seamstress nodded and took a shaky breath, "It... hurts to remember, but yes, I do. I remember everything as if I hadn't lived for twenty years between then and now..."
The massive machines clanked, whined, and hissed as they wove fibers into strings and strings into sheets of fabric. A small woman, by any sense of the term, sat on an uncomfortable stool watching the string fly by inches from her face. It was her job, one of several she did daily in the factory, to make sure that the string did not fray or snap as it passed on its way to the looms. This particular task was her "break" for the day, halfway through her fourteen hour shift. The war had started less than three months ago and already her husband and son had gone far afield to fight the good fight. Johnathon was a strong man, and an excellent pilot, and his letters told his stories of fighting against the aces of the Luftwaffe. Her son Theodore was somewhere on the high seas of the Pacific, hunting for the ships of the Japanese Navy.
Tamara had taken the job in the factory to keep herself from worrying too much about her family and to make sure they and others like them had clothes to wear and tents to sleep in. She spent her long days here, and her nights exhausted in bed, too tired to worry. Her only solace came in the camaraderie of the other war wives who worked along with her. Seated behind her was one such woman, by the name of Claire, who had thrown herself into her work more furiously as the weeks went by with no word on her own husband. They had been a young couple, freshly married when the war came.
"... so then I told the officer that if they couldn't find him, I was going to be on the next ship over there and find him myself."
"Honestly, Claire, I'm sure your husband is fine! The new recruits are probably still filtering through the system over there." She said with a soft smile, not voicing her concern that her husband had most likely been killed or captured already. The only reason she still held hope was the regular letters from her own.
"I know, I know, but I can't help but worry... I-" she was interrupted by the shriek of metal from somewhere above, "Oh, please don't tell me the boiler is overheating again! You'd think they would have fixed that problem by now."
"Oh, you know those managers, can't spare a penny to save a dollar. I swear I could just..." Tamara felt something rumble through the floor and then something in her chest. She looked around and saw that all the machinery had stopped, "Well, looks like they broke it this time..." she said as she began to feel tired, "Well, maybe they'll let us cut out early today!"
"T-tamara... Your..." Claire stuttered, pointing at the other woman's chest, a look of total horror making the pale woman's face turn ever paler.
"My what?" She looked down and saw a ragged piece of metal, covered in something red, sticking out between her breasts. Only now did her brain register the pain signals associated with the puncture wound as something far away exploded, "Oh my..." was the only thing she could think to say as she fell forward. She could hear Claire's screaming fade away as the darkness slowly took over.
When she came to, she was standing in a white void, looking at a very regal woman standing in front of her in white robes. Her hair was flowing in some unseen wind and brought to mind the colors of a beautiful sunset. The figure smiled sadly, "Hello Tamara... I am sorry for what has happened..."
"I... I'm dead?"
"Yes, you are."
Tamara processed the information briefly, "Are you... God?"
The woman shook her head, "No, I am not. He and I aren't necessarily on speaking terms right now, given his treatment of your world. No, my name is Celestia, and I am here to offer you a great opportunity."
"A-an opportunity?"
"Yes, dear. I can turn back time and change on small gust of wind, or surge of power, and you will not die."
"That's great!"
"Unfortunately, this means that your friend Claire will be killed instead of you. Her husband will receive the news and kill himself in Germany."
"Oh, my no, that won't do. That won't do at all. I... I'll accept my death. Just... tell me, will... will my family be happy, eventually?"
Celestia nodded, "Your husband and son will mourn you, for the rest of their days, but your husband will hold true and move on as you wanted. Your son will marry a lovely young lady from France, whom he will meet in the next few weeks. They have many children of their own and name their first daughter after you.
Tamara sniffled, trying to hold back the tears, "That's good then, I'm glad for them. I... I guess I'm ready."
"For what?"
"To... to move on to wherever you're taking me."
The solar goddess smiled a little, "And that, my dear, is a truly wondrous place. I am the ruler of a land called Equestria. It is peaceful, there hasn't been a war in a millenium. However, there is something coming, and I am missing a piece of the puzzle. You are the most generous soul I have seen in many long years, and it would be my honor to have you come to my world... and help save it."
"I... I can't be that generous. All I do is what I should be doing for my husband and son and the rest of the men out there fighting for our freedom."
"You turned down being with your family for another seventy years to save a woman you've barely known for a month. That... is pretty generous. There are other reasons, but to list them all would take more time than we have. So, Tamara, would you like to come to my world?"
"Y-yes! It sounds so gorgeous. I'm sure I'll miss my family though..."
"That, sadly, won't be a problem. Because of everything you could bring with you from your world to mine, I'm afraid I'm going to have to seal your memories. You won't remember any of this..."
"But, how will I still be me!?"
She smiled again, "You will, don't worry about it. Now, come, your new life awaits!" the woman said as the world became blinding and she could no longer see.
Rarity took a deep breath, "My next memory is accidentally setting my mother's mane on fire when I tried to lift my first pencil," she blushed.
The other girls giggled a little at that.
"So," Rarity said, straightening in her seat, "What do you say, girls?"
Applejack was the first to speak up, "Well, y'all are still the Rarity we all know, so, ah ain't got no problem."
Rainbow Dash nodded, "A.J.'s right. You're still my friend, and I stick by my friends!"
Pinkie Pie just bounced over and gave Rarity a hug and a cupcake before humming a few bars of a song that Rarity had never heard, but Tamara knew intimately. She gave the party pony a sideways glance before innocently shrugging it off as Pinkie being Pinkie. It was weird, having the two separate memories flowing through her head. However, she could get used to it, "Twilight, Fluttershy?"
"Oh, um, I'm fine... You're still... Rarity..." the shy pegasus whispered.
"This is all so much to process but, I'm okay with it. I just, I wonder how many other ponies used to be, what did you call them? Humans?"
Rarity shrugged, "We may never find out unless Celestia herself wants to tell us. Are you going to tell her that I remember?"
"I think I have to. Though I won't if you don't want me to, I can keep the secret."
"I believe the worst she'll do is seal the memories away again. She is rather nice, after all. I believe you should tell her, and let her know that I am fine with having two sets of memories now, though Rarity is who I am now, and I don't plan to change!"
"I'll make sure to let her know. Hopefully she won't do anything rash!"
"Oh, she won't, darling. She doesn't seem the type."
"As long as she doesn't banish you to the moon!" Pinkie said with a grin.
"I'm sure Princess Luna would come visit."
Everypony giggled at that and the night passed on, the girls gradually heading off in their own directions, thinking of Rarity and Tamara and the entire situation.
Rarity made herself another cup of tea and began to sing.
I don't know why
But I'm feelin' so sad
I long to try
Somethin' I've never had
Never had no kissin'
Oh, what I've been missin'
Lover man
Oh, where can you be
The night is cold
And I'm so all alone
I'd give my soul
Just to call you my own
Got the moon above me
But no one to love me
Lover man
Oh, where can you be
