"And thus, having proven the conjectures of his teacher, Goldenrod Clay's work kick-started the third age of modern Golemancy. This concludes chapter twelve. Now, if you will all take out your quills, there will be a short practice test on the next page of your books to check your retention of the material."

"Uggggh... Twilight for like, the millionth time: I don't have a quill, I'm not taking any quiz, and for Celestia's sake we're not in freaking school!"

Rainbow Dash's outburst snapped Twilight out of her lecturing trance. She grinned awkwardly as she scratched a hoof on the back of her head. "Hehehe... Sorry. Again. I just get so caught up in my recitation that I forget what parts aren't quite as relevant now as they were when I first heard it."

"We know Twilight, we know." Applejack assured, before adding under her breath, "You've recited the same apology the last five times you done it."

"Thanks for being so understanding," Twilight beamed, ignorant of Applejack's latter statement. "I'll skip ahead to the beginning of the next chapter then. Ahem..."

A soft groan came from somewhere in the line, it's exact origin impossible to place.

The group had been making their way homeward for hours now. Nopony knew exactly how long, as the ever present canopy of leaves muted all light, both sun and moon, to the same dull greenish glow. And without physical bodies that required food and rest, there was no way to judge time or distance based on fatigue. The group had been going nonstop since they left the site of the Plague King's temple, after its unexpected renovation to a much more open space floor plan.

How long had they been travelling? Hours? Days? The only indicator of the passage of time was Twilight's unending speech about the history of Golemancy, recited word-for-word without the need to even break for breathing.

Rarity sighed from her position at the back of the line. Spike, who was just in front of her, noticed and slowed his floating so he ended up right besides her. "What's wrong Rarity?"

"It's just..." she started, "I know Twilight means well, and I am of course grateful for her... thorough overview of the subject, but..." she paused again, unsure how to vocalize her thoughts, "Well, you were in the class with her as well, correct? Do you know how much more history she's going to go through before getting to any practical theory relevant to our situation?"

Spike pulled at face as he concentrated, grasping at threads of memories. "Well, she mentioned a little in the foreword, and also the opening chapters about the first golems."

Rarity grimaced. "Yes, I remember. Though I don't much like the sound of all that Styxian mud. And what she described sounded a lot more involved and frankly, ritualistic, than how she described it earlier."

"Oh yeah, totally." Spike agreed. "They really simplified it once they started using runes in the sixth century. But I think we're still six or seven chapters away from that." He tapped his chin in thought. "Come to think of it though, a lot of it isn't even going to be all that important or necessary in our case."

Fluttershy, who had been unintentionally listening in, slowed her pace to continue on Spike's other side. "Oh? Why?"

"Well, you see a big thing about golems is choosing the right materials. You want to use something that's either magically inert or at least passive, otherwise you can get weird problems."

"What kind of problems?" Rainbow Dash joined in from above.

"Okay, this is gonna take a bit of magic theory." Spike explained. "So everything, every thing that exists has a bunch of magical energy in it just from being in the world. Over time it gets formed into patterns. Then if you try to put a spell on something, you're telling that magic to do something else. That's okay with most spells because they're meant to be temporary, they'll wear off and the magic will go back to the original pattern. The trouble with golems is that you're trying to force the magic to go in a really complex way for a really long time, and it doesn't like doing that. So sometimes the original pattern resists."

"I think I understand that." Applejack said with a nod. "Like if somethin' falls on a plant and makes it go sideways, after a spell it'll just start growing up again."

"Exactly. So, like, imagine you made a golem out of rock. After a while it's going to stop moving because the magic in it says rocks aren't supposed to move. That's why they used to use Styxian mud for golems because it's magically passive and doesn't have a pattern of it's own."

"Neato!" Pinkie added while bouncing beneath them, every bounce making her head crest from the ground like a swimmer. "It's like a fresh chalkboard without all the smudges of stuff that was written before."

"That's... yeah, that's actually a pretty good way of putting it Pinkie. Anyway, I don't think we'll have to even worry about that problem for two pretty big reasons. First is because we only need a week before Twilight makes us new bodies, which is nothing compared to golems that were built to work fields continuously for months or even years. And also because we're not even really putting a spell into the golems. Really we're just going to be puppetting them around like weird clunky costumes."

"When ya put things like that, it all makes sense." Applejack said. "Now why can't Twilight just get to the point like that?"

"Oh she would never." Spike immediately shook his head. "I just summarized like twelve chapters in one go, but she'd say that I skipped over all sorts of details and warnings and famous cases and historically relevant breakthroughs."

"Anyway, so the long and short of it is that the material shouldn't matter much. Just find or make something pony shaped to use for a few days. If you can, maybe use something that you've spent a lot of time with or have a strong emotional connection to. That should help it bond better with your thaumic forms."

"Hey! Is anypony even still listening to me? Also, why have you all stopped?"

The group turned their attention to Twilight, standing alone a surprising distance ahead with a mildly disgruntled expression. Sheepishly, five spectral ponies left the clump they had formed around Spike and retook their places in line. And so the march continued.

"Well girls, this is it! We finally made it back home."

"And not a second too soon," Rainbow Dash muttered, who had been the most dismayed when the previous three chapters of Twilight's lecture had turned out to be high-level magical theory and formulae.

Ahead of them lay the town of Ponyville. It was dark still, but morning was no more than an hour or two away. Only a few lights were on to illuminate the town, around the guard station and town hall mostly. It was quiet too, quieter than the bustling village ever was during the day. It was like a ghost town; appropriately enough for the returning ghosts.

Twilight rounded on her floating companions. "Now, does everypony know what to do?"

"We all go our separate ways back to our respective homes," Rarity began.

"Find some junk to make golems out of," Rainbow Dash added.

"Then we... um... blend our essence in to take control." Fluttershy supplied.

"An' then try to keep a low profile till you can finish growin' us new bodies." Applejack finished.

"Oh, oh! And try not to scare anypony!" Pinkie supplemented.

"Perfect!" Twilight smiled, "Now remember, like I mentioned in chapter twenty-two, make sure to choose materials with an Akashic value of at least thirty Vis or less. We wouldn't want any inversely applied constructs, now would we?"

They all laughed along with her, despite none of them having any idea what she was talking about. Instead, they all remembered Spike's abridged version, with various degrees of accuracy.

"Anyway," Twilight continued, "I have all your genetic profiles on file in the library, as well as all the necessary materials in storage, so it shouldn't take more than a week to grow back your bodies. Ah- I'd recommend not dropping by the library until they're done. Seeing yourself as a partially formed biological construct can be... damaging to the psyche. Just trust me on that."

And with a quick round of goodbyes (and a few promises to meet up for lunch to compare bodies), the group dispersed across the township.

Rarity was the first to make it back home, it being the closest to where they had exited the forest.

In the pre-dawn hours, the Carousel Boutique had a nightly elegance to it. After all, Rarity would not have stood for it any other way. All the lights were out as Sweetie Belle would have gone to bed hours prior. She sighed contentedly as she finished the last few paces to the front door, relishing in the feeling of being home after a long trip. Instinctively, she reached for the false rock where the spare key was kept hidden, only to have her hoof pass through it.

"Ah. Right. That is going to take some getting used to." She murmured to herself. Rarity glanced between the sturdy door and her own incorporeal hoof. "Well if that's the only way in, then I suppose it would be better to get it over with." Closing her eyes, she lifted her head and stepped forward, fighting instincts that screamed at her to stop before she gave herself a bloody nose. A moment of odd denseness passed, and she opened her eyes to the interior of her shop.

"There. That wasn't so bad I suppose. A little unpleasant at worst." She smiled, glad to be back in familiar surroundings.

Rarity began to float about the room as she considered her options. "Now then, time for a body. This shouldn't be too difficult. It's just like making a dress. And then being the dress for a week." She paused just as she passed into her workroom. "Then again, do I have anything already which I could use?" Her glowing blue eyes scanned the room as she contemplated. There were certainly plenty of currently unused ponnequins around. They already had the necessary shape. But then again, while their exterior looked realistic, it was really only a thin sheet of fabric stretched over a heavy wire frame. She could easily picture it breaking and revealing an iron skeleton to a frightened customer mid-sale. It just wouldn't do. In addition, she didn't much care for the idea of the large iron pole running through her abdomen.

A thump from upstairs startled Rarity out of her thoughts, reminding her that she was not alone in the house. Concerned, she decided to check in on her little sister before continuing work on her temporary body.

She floated up the stairs without a sound, one of the benefits of ghostliness she supposed. The door to Sweetie Belle's room was shut, but that posed no trouble to Rarity. With little effort, she popped through to the other side.

The sound from earlier had apparently been caused by Sweetie Belle rolling out of bed. She laid on the floor, half tangled in blankets, yet still somehow sound asleep. Rarity smiled at the sight. If only she had a camera, the scene before her would have made for an adorable Hearthwarming card. The innocence of the scene was ruined, however, by Sweetie rolling onto her back and letting rip a very unladylike snore. Rarity sighed at the lost moment, but let it be.

As she was about to leave, she noticed something clutched under Sweetie Belle's foreleg, previously hidden by the blanket. It was a doll, one of many that Sweetie Belle had collected over the years, but this one Rarity had not seen in quite some time.

It was a very simple doll shaped like a pony, with a white coat made from cheap fabric, a royal purple chiffon mane, and two blue buttons for eyes. It was a miniature Rarity. She remembered this doll, it was from several years ago. She and Sweetie Belle had made it together when the younger of the pair had been pursuing a dollcrafting cutie mark. Though no cutie mark had emerged from the project, the doll still remained. It was... crude, to say the least. The limbs were improportional and not quite the same length. The mane was a bit too short and slightly the wrong color. The stitching was marvelous, except where the tail had been amateurishly reattached with cream thread instead of white. Sweetie Belle had been embarrassed at the time and hidden it away. In fact, Rarity had assumed it'd been thrown out.

Yet here it was. Cuddled close in Sweetie Belle's grasp while the real big sister was away travelling.

There was also a strange glow about the doll. It was subtle, so subtle that Rarity hadn't even noticed it until she had been staring for several minutes, but it was undeniable. It was a soft, calm light, and strangely... inviting. Rarity found herself drifting closer without even realizing. Her mind was consumed with emotion. Memories of her and Sweetie Belle sewing the doll together. The teachable moments when she was able to impart the wisdom of her craft. The laugh she'd had to stifle when Sweetie accidentally started sewing the horn in a place it certainly did not belong. The shared laughter and sisterly camaraderie as they had debated fabrics, shapes, and even gossiped a little during the tedious sections. The glow seemed to be growing brighter, not that Rarity noticed. It was so bright, the doll seemed to occupy all of Rarity's vision.

Hang on... was the doll actually that big, or was she just so very clo-

*VWORP!*

With a sudden spiraling force, Rarity found herself feeling disoriented and suddenly much more solid.

She blinked, surprised at her newfound ability to do so. Her vision was a little blurred in the center. If she focused, she could just about make out a the shape of small cross. She turned to try and contrast it with a lighter background, only to suddenly find herself face to face with her little sister's enormous head! With a start, she realized the nature of the cross-like distortion on her vision. It was the stitching holding the doll's, no, her button eyes in place.

By complete accident, Rarity had possessed Sweetie Belle's doll.

She lifted one fabric foreleg. She could twist and turn it as easily as if it were her own, even without proper muscles and joints. Her sense of touch seemed... muted though. She could feel pressure, and maybe just a hint of texture, but that was all.

"Well," Rarity said to herself as she continued flexing a hoof experimentally, "Not what I had in mind, but at least I know it works now. But this won't do long term. I'd better go back downstairs and see if I can slip into something a little more my size."

Carefully, she began to twist her body, wriggling side to side as she slowly escaped the sleeping filly's clutches. With a final twist, her hindquarters popped free and Sweetie's head settled down onto her foreleg. Rarity nodded satisfactorily at her successful escape, and turned away to begin the task of learning how to walk without bones.

If only it were that simple.

RI-I-I-I-I-PPP!

Rarity turned around in horror. Her tail, so poorly stitched on, was still caught between Sweetie Belle's head and foreleg. The unexpected force had not only ripped the tail off, but managed to rip it in two as well. In addition, Sweetie Belle, who could sleep through falling off her bed, apparently just couldn't sleep through the sound of fabric ripping inches from her ear. The filly was wide awake now, and staring gobsmacked at her ambulatory toy.

"Rarimini?" she squeaked in shocked curiosity.

"Ah-" Rarity froze as she tried to think of something to say. Some sort of explanation or excuse or... or... or anything! "Good evening Sweetie. Lovely night for, um, a walk... isn't it?"

A pregnant silence settled between them. Rarity mentally kicked herself for such a strange and lackluster response, while Sweetie Belle's mind finished running an error diagnostic and was initializing a reboot sequence. After a few seconds, her higher functioning finally kicked back in.

"Rarimini! You're alive!"

With a whirling sweep faster than Rarity could process, Sweetie Belle yanked her off the floor and into a crushing hug. If she had air in her lungs, or lungs at all for that matter, it would have been gone in an instant. Unaware of her captive's plight, Sweetie Belle spun about the room in glee.

"Oh I knew wishing on leaf swirls was a real thing! I knew it, I knew it! Applebloom said I was crazy, but who's laughing now?" She struck a dramatic pose, Rarity clutched under one foreleg while the other pointed to the sky. "Me! I'm the one laughing! Hahaha HahaHahaha!"

"Um, excuse me. Very squished here." Rarity managed so squeeze out.

Sweetie Belle's attention was instantly redirected. She immediately lessened her grip and set Rarity down on her bedspread. "Oh! I'm so sorry Rarimini. I forgot you can probably feel things now." She rubbed her mane sheepishly.

"It's alright dear," Rarity assured as she readjusted some of her filling, "Just a good deal of pressure that's all."

"Wow," Sweetie Belle mused as her eyes sparkled, "You're not just alive, but you talk just like Rarity does too. Wishing magic is amaaazing..."

Rarity coughed politely, not so much to clear her throat as to give herself a moment to prepare. "Actually, I should probably clear this up before we progress down this road any further. I actually am Rarity."

Sweetie Belle gave her a perplexed look before realization dawned. "Oh, I see. Wait just a second." She scrunched up her face as a green glow formed around her horn. A moment later and a framed picture from Sweetie's bedside floated over. It was a photograph of her and Rarity celebrating something. "This," she gestured to the photo, "is Rarity. I made you to look like her, but you're not her. She's my big sister you see, and you're a doll I made to try and get a cutie mark."

"Er- no." Rarity disagreed softly. "Sweetie, I know this may be a bit hard to understand, but I am Rarity. There was a little... trouble, on our latest friendship mission and I just needed to... borrow a body for a while. At least until Twilight can fix things."

Sweetie Belle raised a skeptical eyebrow, still not fully convinced. "Hmmm. You might be Rarity," Rarity's sighed in relief, "Or, you could just be Rarimini and be really really convinced that you're actually Rarity." Rarity tried to roll her eyes in exasperation, but just ended up rolling her whole head.

"Alright, fine. How can I prove that I'm the real Rarity?"

"Easy," Sweetie Belle replied immediately, "Just tell me something only Rarity would know. Something from before I made you. That's how they prove this kind of thing in books."

"That, I can do." Rarity walked over to the picture still on the bed. Rather, she hobbled over. Despite her fluid control over her new body, it was designed to be soft and huggable, not to be able to support it's own weight while standing. She gestured to herself in the photo once she finally reached it.

"We took this picture during the grand opening of my boutique. It was about three years ago, just after you and Mother and Father followed my move to Ponyville. They called in a favor with an old friend to have the opening featured in the local gazette, which is why we had a professional camerapony available. You offered to make hors d'oeuvres, but you ended up burning them so badly that we used them to patch a hole in the wall left by the previous owner. They're still there you know, under the paint. And that bit of wall is the only section that Rainbow Dash has never been able to crash through. Anyway, it was a Tuesday and the theme was - "

"Okay okay, I get it. You're Rarity." Sweetie Belle interrupted before muttering to herself, "So much for wishing on leaf swirls." She raised her head again. "So, why are you in my doll then?"

"I didn't mean to." Rarity explained. "I heard you fall out of bed and came to check on you. I was about to leave too when I saw your doll and there was this light... and a warm glow... and suddenly I was inside." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "I think Twilight may have said something about objects with a high emotional something-or-other, and that we'd be able to control them more easily."

"Sooo... You're in my doll, because you really like it?" Sweetie ventured, her expression still confused.

"No, I don't think that's it. I remember thinking about how we made this together, and how much fun we had doing it." Rarity attempted to sit up in a more lady-like position, only to struggle with her legs refusing to bend the right way. "Mind you, while it is a pleasure to be solid again, I should get about finding a more lasting solution."

"Why?" Sweetie Belle asked, her expression suddenly hurt. "Is my doll not good enough for you?"

"No! No no no no no no no!" Rarity rapidly assured. "It's just not practical! I can't close the shop just because I don't have a body, and imagine what customers would say if I tried greeting them like this! You have lovely craftsmareship Sweetie and I know you put your all into this-"

She was cut off by Sweetie Belle no longer being able to hide her snickers behind her hooves. "It's okay Rarity, I know it's pretty badly made. I was just joking. So if you're not going to use my doll, what are you going to do?"

Rarity sighed and flopped. "That's exactly what I was trying to figure out when I heard you fall out of bed. Twilight did helpfully give us an extremely in-depth guide to the history and practices of golemancy, but I'm afraid I tuned most of it out. Even then, most of her relevant advice relied on one having physical hooves to work with in the first place. I can influence things a little through my, what did she call it? Ah, yes, my morphogenic field, but it's not exactly efficient. At that rate it would take days for me to make even a simple substitute"

"Well," Sweetie Belle said slowly, "What if I made you a new body?"

The question caught Rarity off guard. "Pardon?"

Sweetie Belle continued, nodding along as she agreed with her own plan even as she came up with it. "Well, you said that my doll was easy to control because we made it together, right? So, couldn't I make another one, just bigger? Like, actual pony sized?"

Rarity remained silent as the possibilities ran themselves through her mind. True, Sweetie Belle was nowhere near the seamstress that she was, but she was very receptive to instruction. She had helped around the shop enough to at least be generally familiar with the various tools of the trade. Yes, it could work. It just might work!

"That is... briiiilant~!" Rarity trilled.

Sweetie Belle beamed at her sister's praise. With a quick swish of her horn, she placed the miniaturized Rarity on her back and turned for the door. "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's do it! Cutie Mark Crusader Golemancy Solo Mission: Go!"

And with that, the two headed downstairs to Rarity's private studio that she reserved for personal projects and experimental ideas. Sweetie Belle placed Rarity onto a swivel stool in the center of the room, so she could see and direct from any angle while Sweetie Belle would act as her hooves and horn. Finding the old doll pattern was easy enough, as was extrapolating the measurements for a much larger size. Then it came down to material.

"What do you want for your body Rarity?" Sweetie called from deep within the labyrinthine fabrics closet. "You've got a lot of options in white, pearl, and very soft cream."

"Oh," Rarity fussed from her perch, "Something with a good texture. Is there any velvet?"

"Uh... maybe for a leg, but not enough for the whole thing."

"Hm. How about fleece then? It's not as classy but-"

"Nope. Not unless you want to be to be Rainbow Dash colored."

"Oh, well then. Actually that might open some interesting- No, wait. Put a pin in that and set it aside for later. Priorities Rarity." She sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, this seems like a good time to take a page from Applejack's book and choose function over form. Bring out... the cotton knit."

Sweetie Belle gasped as she popped her head out from the closet's depths. "No! Not the-"

"I know!" Rarity interrupted with a dramatic feint. "It's not glamorous, not is it chic. But I need something that will last a week of constant tension, stressing, and wear. It may not be high fashion, but I am Rarity! And I will Make! It! Work!"

Sweetie Belle gulped. "Alright, cotton knit it is."

And so construction continued. Rarity guided Sweetie Belle as she pinned the parchment guides to the fabric and carefully cut out the forms. She hovered at her side as Sweetie Belle tackled sewing the complex angles and folds. A few mistakes were easily fixed, with Rarity spotting them before they could become troublesome. When the body was nearly done, they sacrificed Rarity's old chaise lounge for suitable stuffing. Because if that wasn't imbued with emotional energies, then what would be? They continued for hours, ignoring the sun coming over the horizon. Finally, with a steady aura, Sweetie Belle horn stitched the last seams closed and the main body was completed.

For a first attempt, it was a remarkable piece of work. It stood as tall as the real Rarity, though the proportions were more generic by design. For eyes it had a pair of giant blue buttons, each easily as big as Sweetie Belle's hoof, since neither of them could decide on a suitable substitute. It lacked a cutie mark, mane, and tail, but beyond that looked surprisingly like the real Rarity.

Rarity gave her little sister a sloppy hug around the neck. "Splendidly done, Sweetie! It looks just like me!"

"Er, it's still kinda missing some bits."

"Oh posh, don't mind that. We'll settle those details soon enough. Now, " Rarity turned her gaze to the fabric golem before her. "I think it's about time I tried it on for size."

She closed her eyes, or at least began ignoring her vision as she concentrated. Though she lacked instructions, she concluded that if possessing the doll was as easy as it had been, then exorcising herself should be just as straightforward. She focused, concentrating her mind on the concept of leaving. The feel of when she was a ghost. The sensation of entering the doll the very first time. She felt a twinge, and latched onto it with her mind. The feeling grew as she focused, and the world seemed to grow colder. Then with a twist and a pop! she was out!

She opened her eyes to the three figures around her. The doll, lifeless as it had been the previous day. The golem, ready to receive it's host. And Sweetie Belle, mouth once more agape as she stared at her ghostly sister.

"Wooow... Rarity you're so... so..."

"Diaphanous? Mystical? Wispy?" she offered.

"Grey. You've very grey."

Rarity ineffectually blew an irritating lock away from her vision. "Yes. Thank you for that frank first impression." Turning, she faced her and Sweetie Belle's creation. Summoning the feeling from before, she leaned into it's shape. Foreleg aligned with foreleg, neck with neck, head with-

*VWORP!*

And with that increasingly familiar lurching sensation, in she went.

She blinked. The crosses were still in her vision, but she'd made sure that Sweetie Belle used a very fine thread, so they were minimal. She felt the pressure of a slight tapping on her leg.

"Rarity? Are you okay? Did you get in alright?"

She craned her neck, and gave a smile as best as she could. "Everything went perfectly. No problems yet."

Sweeetie Belle squeed with joy. "I did it. No, we did it! It's alive. It's aliiiiive!"

Rarity took a tentative step, feeling out her range of motion. "As much as you can call this alive, yes, I am. Ah, it seems there's a stray stitch in the left hock pulling it tight. Could you be a dear and pass me my seam rippers and a needle?"

"Uh... Rarity, you still don't have magic. Or, you know, a horn. Shouldn't I fix it for you?"

"Actually," Rarity tittered, "While you were sewing, I've been practicing moving light objects with this 'morphogenic field' I seem to have. Something as light as a needle should pose no issue."

True to her word, Rarity was able to life both seam ripper and needle with no difficulty. Visually, it was little different from basic unicorn levitation, though without the tell-tale aura.

"Now then, since the fit seems alight, it's time we add on the fine details. Sweetie, I want you to go to the very back of my fabric closet to the sealed airtight chest. The combination for the lock is 6-4-7-3."

"What's in there?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"My most expensive materials," Rarity replied, "I've been saving them for a special occasion, and I can't think of any better than this. You'll know which piece I want when you see it."

Sweetie Belle nodded, and dutifully trotted back into the closet while Rarity continued inspecting her body and fixing small errors. It was not long before Sweetie Belle returned, a swatch of cloth both draped over her back and held in her magic for double safety security. It was a rich, royal purple which shined and glimmered as the light caught it. The edges flowed like silk, as small ripples caught eddies in Sweetie Belle's wake.

Rarity lifted it delicately from her back, her cotton hooves barely able to grip the liquid-like fabric. "Crystal silk," she murmured as she let it flow from hoof to hoof. "Hoof spun from crystal silkworms in the frozen north. As light as air," she gave it a sudden sharp tug, "But as strong as canvas."

With a smooth slice of her scissors, a large banner separated itself from the rest. With a steady grip, Rarity floated it over to her maneless head, and began stitching it directly to her scalp. Sweetie Belle cringed in response with each pass of the needle.

"Oww... Doesn't that hurt?"

"Not at all actually. Well, there's a little pressure, but only just enough that I can feel where I'm working." Rarity continued sewing without hesitation. "Now Sweetie, this next part is something only you can do, but it is difficult, so listen very closely please."

Sweetie Belle sat down and gave Rarity her full attention, though she tried to ignore the ever weaving needle.

"I'll need you to head down into the basement. There's a bin down there where I keep all the gems which are too big for practical use but which I save anyways for Spike. Pick out three good sized diamonds of about the same size, clarity, and color. Then, you'll need to use my oil saw."

"Oil saw?" Sweetie Belle asked in confusion, having never heard of such a thing. Frankly, she hadn't known the basement was anything other than storage at all!

"Yes, an oil saw." Rarity confirmed. "I use it when I need gems cut more precisely than my magic can handle. It's very useful, but also equally messy, and I'm not exactly stain-proof at the moment."

"Okay, so how do I use it?"

"Just place the gems inside the vise, all facing the same way of course, and spin the handle on the side until the marker reaches position five." Rarity continued. "Then just close the lid and let it run. When it's done, take out the gem slices, flip over the larger gem pieces and let it run again."

"Uh huh, what's this for again?" Sweetie Belle questioned.

"Why, for my cutie mark of course!" Rarity exclaimed, "If I'm going so far with this project as to use crystal silk, then there's no sense in holding anything back! Why stitch on diamond patterns when I can use the real thing? Embossed cutie marks... I don't think anypony's ever tried pulling that off before!"

"Okay!" Sweetie Belle cheered with a little salute. She rushed off to the basement, kicking up little clouds behind her with each step.

Rarity sighed in appreciation as she continued sewing on her mane, humming a little tune as she did. It was a slow process, as hoofstitching always was, but having to work through touch alone made her cautiously slow down even more. It wasn't too long before Rarity heard the familiar whirring hum of the machines in the basement coming to life. It's a good thing they were underground or else the whole neighborhood would have heard. With the last section of her mane attached, Rarity cinched off the end of the thread and clipped it.

"There, now that wasn't too difficult." She gave an experimental toss of her head. Her mane fluttered over and settled across her head, automatically curling into her preferred style as it was saturated with the essence of her ghostly mane. She glanced at it in the mirror. "And a perfect curl as well." He glance shifted to her still purple-less rump. "Now there's just the tedious bit left."

With a bit of magic and a lot of concentration, Rarity began unraveling the remaining fabric. Each silken strand she attached individually, lightly running each across the still hot sewing machine so that the heat would make it twist and curl more naturally. Strand by strand, hair by hair, her tail grew thicker and longer. She was just about finished when Sweetie Belle returned from the basement. As expected, there were numerous yellow oil stains on her coat (and enough on her tail to leave a trail of drips) but the gems in her magic were clean and sparkling.

"I finished Rarity!" she called as she presented her offering. Six perfect replicas of a diamond, cut from the side. "I put some gem polish on them too, so they're nice and shiny. Oh! And while I was looking around in your gem box, I found this." It was another gem, long and conical. A cerulean blue with filament thin white and gold striations. "I realized you still needed a horn, and I thought 'Hey, this gem matches her buttons, er- eyes.' So I brought it up too. Is it, okay?"

Rarity smiled (having loosened the stitching around her mouth to make it easier). "It's wonderful, Sweetie." She took the gem. "Such a beautiful piece of lapis lazuli." She placed it on her forehead, loosely where a horn would be. "I don't often get to use lapis in my work, you know. Once you include it, then you really have the model the whole dress around- oh. Oh! Oh!"

Rarity suddenly cut herself off mid-sentence. Sweetie Belle rushed to her side, worried over what strange magical side effects could be causing her to moan so. "Rarity! Rarity, are you okay?!"

"Oh... I'm- I'm fine, I'm fine." She placed an unsteady hoof to her forehead. "It's just... my magic. I just felt my magic reconnect."

With a few stuttering sparks, Rarity's new horn flared to life with a rich glowing corona. Rarity shuddered involuntarily. "Oh, yes! It feels good to have my magic back. And to think Twilight said it would be impossible to use magic while in a golem. Guess her textbook memory didn't know everything after all."

With a flash of magic, the diamond cuttings disappeared from Sweetie Belle's aura and reappeared on Rarity's flanks, perfectly positioned and attached. Rarity took a step back and struck a pose. "Tell me Sweetie, honestly, how do I look?"

"You're beautiful..." Sweetie Belle half-whispered through glistening eyes.

It was true. She looked every bit the same as her original body, but with the flaws corrected. No matter how she stood, there were no bones or joints to protrude at unflattering angles; only soft, smooth curves all around. Every hair in her mane was perfectly the same length and exactly aligned. The diamonds on her flank caught the light as she moved, casting miniature rainbows all around with every shift in posture. If one were to look closely, they could still make out the seams. The places where the fabric had to crease or fold. Her eyes, of course, were the most obvious clue to her artificial nature, but even they seemed to almost glow with an inner light that felt simply natural and right. In short: she was stunning.

"Thank you, Sweetie. And might I say, you've done some excellent work on these seams. I didn't know your skills had improved this far. I should let you help out in the boutique more often."

Sweetie Belle's eyes lit up in response, only to suddenly close as she let out a yawn. Rarity glanced outside, where the sun had long since risen and was making decent progress on it's journey across the sky. "Hm, I suppose I did wake you up rather early."

Sweetie Belle yawned again. "Yeah, plus I may have stayed up just a teensy bit past my bedtime. Me and the other Crusaders were up late working on pottery cutie marks."

Rarity nodded as she began guiding her little sister out the door and back upstairs. "It wasn't a school night, so I'll let it slide this time. Go ahead and enjoy another hour or two of rest if you like, you've certainly earned it. Meanwhile, I have a few appointments to take care of, as well as a lunch date with the girls."

"Appointments?" Sweetie Belle mumbled as she struggled to fight the fatigue that was rapidly subsuming her. "But what about your... you know... everything?"

Rarity smiled coyly. "Oh I'm sure it'll be alright. Besides, I think it's well and about time I take these new legs out for a test drive. Let's see what Ponyville thinks of Rarity mark two."

Author's Notes:

Don't worry, the other construction sequences won't be nearly as complicated or involved. Well, some of them won't at least. Rarity's just a perfectionist.

By the way, I know there's already a canon image of a Rarity doll, but here's one I like better for this:
Just imagine the button eyes.

Also, points to those who can name references. Some are subtler than others. (Or at least more fanbase specific)