Rarity gestured to her odd-looking house. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique! I'd normally take this moment to emphasize the uniqueness of what I create, but the greatest challenge for that is right in front of me." Rarity looked Cherry up and down. "Tell me darling, do sea ponies wear things, for special occasions and the like?"

Cherry thought back quickly. "I saw mom wearing some very pretty clothes once, for a festival she didn't let me go to. She said it was for adults only." Cherry waved it off with a snort. "I'd go now. I'm an adult now." She hiked a hoof towards her concealed flank. "I have my cutie mark and I'm living on my own."

"Hmm, yes..." Rarity tapped at her chin. "Come inside dear, and I have no doubt to your maturity. To come all this way is quite the challenge. Twilight tells me you basically made those fascinating metal hooves on your own?" The door opened with her magic and she stepped inside. "Why don't you come inside and tell me all about it while I get your basic measurements?"

Despite her invitation, Rarity was barely paying attention to the story of those metal hooves. Taking measurements of her guest was far more important, as well as taking in just how a sea pony was made and moved, in a walking metal contraption or not. "Could you be a dear and show me how you swim?"

Cherry blinked at that question in the middle of her story. "Um, sure... I'd love to, but there's no water around here to swim in."

She heard hoof-steps descending from above and another white unicorn with different colored mane came bouncing down. She was also a horny pony, a unicorn. "Oh! Hello!" She dipped her front while keeping her eyes locked on Cherry. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique... What are you?"

"Sweetie!" Rarity gave her a harsh glare. "Don't mind her, she's my sister. Sweetie Belle, meet Chéri, a sea pony. Chéri, this is Sweetie Belle, my sister."

Cherry tilted her head faintly. "Nice to meet you, Sweetie. You can call me Cherry."

"Sherry, or Chéri?" Sweetie grinned a little. "That's a nice name either way. Did you jus--Oh! You're that sea pony that that whole fuss wa--"

Rarity popped a hoof into Sweetie's flapping snout. "Ah ha, that's quite enough of that, dear. Chéri doesn't need to relive that particular little accident."

Sweetie ducked away from the hoof, dancing back out of range of an easy second strike. "You really do look similar to a siren. The resemblance is striking."

Cherry decided to challenge the filly. "Name two things that are different. I bet you can do it if you try."

Sweetie suddenly frowned, focused on Cherry intently. "You don't have a funny jewel right here." She put a hoof to her own chest.

"That's one," announced Cherry with a wide smile. "One to go."

Sweetie stuck out her tongue a little with obviously intense concentration. "You look... like a porpoise, instead of a fish."

Cherry swayed her powerful tail as she squirmed free of her belt. "That's because I'm a sea pony, not a siren, but that's two, so you win!"

Magic wrapped around her and lifted her into the air, Rarity's horn glowing the same color. "I don't mean to presume, but if I hold you up like this, perhaps you could show me how you swim?"

Sweetie blew a raspberry at Rarity. "Show off." She scampered off towards the door. "I'll be back for dinner! Have fun!" And she was gone with a parting wave from Rarity.

Held in the air, Cherry tried to swim through it, but there was no water to push against, just Rarity's magic, which hardly behaved like an ocean or even a pool might to her motions. "It's not the same." Despite that, she gave it a real effort, undulating her streamlined form and holding her hooves close as if cutting an agile path through the water that wasn't there.

Rarity clopped her hooves with joy. "You must be quite the sight to see, darling. I simply must see you in your natural environment one day." She carefully set Cherry back on the ground. "I think I've seen enough to get started. That tail of yours is far too active to have anything at the end of it, but something nice and clingy to go along the trunk from the front..." She tapped at her chin, gears spinning behind her eyes with thought. "Yes, I think I could work with this. You'll take the breath away from anypony that sees you."

Cherry gasped at the idea. "Don't dry ponies need to breathe? I don't want to take their breath away!"

Rarity tittered softly as she waved a hoof at Cherry. "Perish the thought, darling. It's just a turn of phrase. You aren't going to harm a single pony, this I promise. They'll just be so amazed at you that they might forget to breathe a moment. Don't worry, they'll remember long before anything bad happens." She turned towards her ponyquins. "Now I'll have to get to work. Thank you for lending your measurements for me. I'll let you know when I'm done."

Cherry blinked. She'd never had clothes made for her before, so that was a new experience. "Really? That's it?"

"That's it." Rarity smiled at her. "The next part is some good old-fashioned work on my part. That's no fun to watch, I promise. I'll come by Twilight's and find you when it's ready, promise."

Cherry slipped back into her belt and carefully inserted her fins into the internal controls, regaining mobility as she turned to the door heading out. "Alright. Thanks, by the way. It was really fun visiting the spa."

Rarity moved over and patted Cherry on the back. "We simply must do that again, but for now, I should return to work. These dresses won't make themselves. I'd be out of a job if they did so it's just as well, dear. Now go on, I'm sure Twilight is wondering where you've gone about now. It's time for supper if I know her schedule well enough, or a late lunch depending on the day... Either way, off with you, my lovely sea model."

Cherry stepped out and looked up to see the sun was a good way past its halfway point through the ocean of the sky. She could also see some pegasi using their sky flippers to dart around. She noticed some were moving the, uh, sky ocean glaciers around and were slowly blocking away the sun. Why were they doing that?

One of them noticed her watching them and waved enthusiastically. It was Muffins and she came soaring in. "Hi there!" She glanced side at the Boutique they were beside. "Did you just come from Rarity's? Oh wow! Is she going to make a dress for you? I bet it'll be super pretty. Besides that one time, she always makes the prettiest dresses."

"One time?" Cherry tilted her head a little. "Hello there... Muffins was it? Nice to meet you again."

Muffins bobbed her head. "Hiya! That's me, and you're Cherry the sea pony." She pointed up. "I volunteered to help with weather patrol today and we have to make it rain."

Rain wasn't a foreign concept to Cherry. She'd seen it rain over the waters before, but it was still odd. "You make it rain?"

Muffins looked confused. "How else would we get rain when we need it?"

Cherry tilted her head. "It just rains sometimes over the ocean without us asking for it to or not to."

Muffins waved it off. "That's silly. You're..." She trailed off as the thought hit her. "Oh... Um..."

"What?"

"Well, you live in the water. I guess you ponies don't care when it rains, so you don't need to worry about it."

The logic couldn't be argued with by Cherry, who nodded. "So you ponies with the sky flippers decide when it should rain? That sounds like an important job to me. The Dry needs all the water it can get."

"Exactly!" Muffins beamed widely. "You should go home before it starts raining on you though."

Cherry glanced up towards the sky glaciers that promised to pour on her. "What if I want to be rained on?" She smiled. "That sounds like the wettest time The Dry will ever know."

Muffins tilted her head left and right. "Huh, guess you're right! You have fun then, okay? If you need help, you just call for me and I'll come flying." She made a loud whooshing sound. "We're friends, right?"

Cherry smiled at Muffins' enthusiasm. "We are, and if anything happens, I'll be sure to call you. Hey, what do you do when you're not brainwashed or pushing the sky glaciers around?"

Muffins smiled brightly. "I usually deliver things and help at the post office, but if you mean in my time off, I usually prefer t--"

"Hey, Derpy!" Far above, Rainbow Dash waved at the two of them. "Quit clowning around! We don't have forever, ya know."

Muffins gave a sharp and wall-eyed glare upwards before she heaved a sigh. "She's right, I'm on duty. So, if you need me, shout. Take care, alright?" She lifted into the air easily with her sky flippers. "We'll talk later!" And off she went, scooting back up towards the sky glaciers and the work therein.

Cherry bid farewell with a wave of a hoof and frowned for just a moment. Responsibilities sucked sometimes, but if The Dry needed water, that sounded very important. Even dry ponies needed some water, she'd seen them drinking, and they didn't get too confused when she asked for water. She began walking towards the large purple tower in the sky when the first drop struck her on the nose and she squeaked.

It was like she had just been splashed by somepony playing around, but who? She glanced around before another got her right in the eye, but her eyes were used to water and protected. She shook out, and that's when the wetness came. All the sky glaciers began pouring out the rain and Cherry couldn't help herself.

She laughed.

She laughed and waddled around and even rolled on the ground, despite it growing muddier by the moment. The Dry was wet. It wasn't as wet as the ocean, of course, but it was wet! She laughed and caught some of the rain in her mouth as it came down.

Everything about the rain was perfectly delightful and refreshing. She may have gotten some of her perfectly primped fur dirty, but most of it came clean in the torrential downpouring as she made her way back to Twilight's castle.

She would have quite the story to share with her host that evening.

End Story 2

Author's Notes:

The episodic adventure of Cherry finishes. She had a grand time baking, got the royal treatment at the local spa, and was measured up for a fancy dress, but how will that turn out and when will she wear it?

And what will the next adventure be in The Dry for her? Perhaps it's time to get more serious about her mechanics, especially now that she knows she has to get trotting down.

Hopefully she will avoid typos there.