Once the last of Fluttershy's stock of tomato soup had been slathered over Twilight they repaired to the cool stream to scrub off with copious portions from the pegasus mare's stock of homemade soap. After they'd rinsed off and dried off, Fluttershy applied a soothing balm to Twilight's bee stings and expertly dressed her various cuts and scrapes with bandages and sticking plasters from her first aid kit.
By the time they'd finished, the sun had crept further west and it was nearly past lunchtime.
Fluttershy turned to Twilight with a wry smile and beckoned her toward her cottage after loading the unicorn mare's heavy bags into her little sky cart. "Well, we'd better have a bite to eat before we set out. It's going to take us a little longer to get there on hoof, too long to wait to get lunch there."
The lavender mare dug her hoof in the dirt of the path. "I hate to disrupt your schedule any more than I already have, Fluttershy. You should go ahead and take off. I can find my way back to the trading post by myself."
She sniffed at her foreleg and wrinkled her nose at the acrid stench that still faintly clung to her coat. "I don't know if anypony would want to be around me for very long anyway."
The pale yellow pegasus gave her a cheerful smile as they set off toward her modest little homestead. "I don't mind, honestly Twilight. Now lets go see if I've got anything good and quick in the cupboard."
Twilight gave a rueful chuckle. "Well, as long as it's not tomato soup I'll take whatever you'd be kind enough to offer."
Fluttershy giggled. "Don't worry. I'm fresh out."
The lavender unicorn sighed in response. "You've really been more than generous to a total stranger. I..."
Her companion ruffled her wings and cut her off. "Lets say 'friend' instead, okay?"
Twilight nodded with a broad smile and glistening eyes. "Yeah, "friend" is good. As I was saying, you've been more than generous, and I want to make it up to you some..."
She trailed off as a ululating shriek sounded from down the path. Both mares turned as it got closer and louder. "WHA HA HAAAAAAAAGH! ONE SIDE! COMING THROUGH! LOOK OUT!"
A unicorn pony was sliding rapidly up the path with a cloud of dust trailing from her stiffly braced hooves. Her horn was gleaming with shimmering, pale blue magic and pulling her headlong with her mane and tail trailing behind her like a muddy comet tail.
She whizzed past in a dun colored, dirt covered blur as she crossed the little hoof bridge over the stream, tore two furrows in Fluttershy's front yard as the little birds and chipmunks scattered, hooked a tight right curve around the cottage, and disappeared behind the tumbledown structure shortly before a final panicked wail, a splintering crash, and a cacophony of frenzied clucking filled the air along with a burst of high floating feathers.
Fluttershy and Twilight shared a brief, alarmed glance and then galloped around the back of the pegasus' little cottage. They skidded to a stop at the chicken coop, their jaws dropped in shock. The chickens were fluttering and hopping all over, expecting the sky to fall at any minute.
The formerly speeding unicorn's horn was embedded up to the root in the little structure's wall, and she hung limply with her legs splayed and her muzzle shoved against the clapboard, a feeble groan rising from her as the dumfounded ponies approached her.
She was wearing drab canvas coveralls and heavy hiking boots that were almost worn through to her hooves, and laden with a backpack and a tool belt from which a small pick and a rock hammer depended. A bandanna was tied over her muzzle, and a pair of cracked goggles covered her eyes. It was hard to tell what color her coat, mane, or tail were, due to the thick layer of dust that covered her from head to hoof.
Fluttershy gently nudged the prostrate pony. "Um... Are you okay?"
The unicorn stirred and started muttering invective under her breath as she scrabbled to her hooves and began struggling to extricate herself from the chicken coop wall.
Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged a glance and then grabbed hold of her and helped her pull free with a sharp crack of splintering wood. She tottered backwards a few steps and landed hard on her tail, eliciting another yelp and a few more undertone curses.
When the newcomer realized they were staring at her, she shoved her goggles up against her horn, revealing a pair of sapphire blue eyes set in grimy, off white eyesockets. She pulled the bandanna down to reveal a grateful smile, the dun colored dirt coating her face from her cheeks to her hairline making it look as if she were wearing a domino mask. "Th-thank you, darlings. I do apologize for making such a spectacle of myself."
Twilight cocked her head as they approached her. "Wow... that... that was the most powerful detection spell I've ever seen."
The stranger winced as she reached up and rubbed her forehead at the base of her horn. "Tell me about it. Honestly I haven't been dragged along by my horn like that since I was a filly."
She gave a start, then hastily unlaced and removed the boots on her fore hooves and stepped forward, proffering a pale, slightly grubby hoof. "But where are my manners? I'm Rarity."
The butter yellow pegasus warily took it, wondering if today of all days was going to be nothing but a procession of strange unicorns dropping in unannounced. "Fluttershy."
Her companion shook the newcomer's hoof as well. "Twilight Sparkle."
The dirt streaked unicorn gave them a warm smile. "Charmed. I'm sorry you have to see me in such a deplorable state." She bobbed her horn at the hole she'd punched in the chicken coop. "I'm afraid circumstances were quite beyond my control."
Fluttershy cocked an eyebrow. "Yeeah... About that... Could somepony please explain to me what just happened here?"
Rarity opened her mouth to respond but was cut off as Twilight Sparkle interjected. "She's a dowser! Some unicorns have a natural talent for detecting things. It works like a magnet, a subtle pull toward the thing they're trying to find. If there's a large or pure enough concentration of it, sometimes the dowser can be physically drawn to it by their horn."
The grimy unicorn flicked an ear in mild irritation at being interrupted, but continued on with a note of pride in her voice. "Quite so. In my case I specialize in detecting gemstones."
She drew herself up further. "I'm a jeweler by trade, one of the finest in Manehattan, if I may say so myself. The secret of my stunning success, if I may be so bold as to say, are the rich pickings in Rambling Rock Ridge."
Fluttershy blinked. "R-rambling Rock Ridge? That's... that's miles away."
Rarity nodded, looking ruefully down at the holes worn in the boots on her hind legs. "Indeed it is. A horn-lock like this has only happened to me once before, when I was a young filly of tender years. It was how I discovered my talent for prospecting and manifested my cutie mark."
She gave a nod toward the chicken coop. "To be drawn here so strongly tells me that whichever of you owns this charming little henhouse is sitting on a veritable mother lode of gemstones."
An earnest look brightened the unicorn's face, reminding Fluttershy somewhat of a raccoon trying to chitter her out of the peanut butter in her fridge. "Shall we see what's down there? I imagine there's more than enough to make restitution for any damage incurred and cover the costs of excavation, and perhaps a bit of a finder's fee for yours truly. I assure you that my firm pays top bit for choice examples of potential lapidary."
With a swish of her grime caked tail she sashayed toward the hole she'd made, her dust darkened brow furrowing pensively. "Seems my horn is pulling a bit high today. The caches are usually inside rocks or underground. Now where are you hiding, my lovelies..?"
She narrowed her sapphire blue eyes and sparked her horn to life, causing the corner of the little shack to glimmer and become insubstantial, revealing a half dozen huge jewels, perfectly faceted with profound clarity and glowing with all the colors of a rainbow.
Rarity let out a gasp and dropped to her knees in the grass, her eyes wide and sparkling and her jaw hanging slack. "S-sweet Platinum's peruke! They're... they're flawless! I've never seen their like! You could... you could buy half of Manehattan and put the rest on layaway with these..."
Twilight's violet eyes narrowed pensively. "Why... Why am I thinking that I've seen them before?"
Fluttershy could only stare, ruffling her wings as she realized just what and where Rarity's spell was revealing. "Um..."
The lavender unicorn reared up and smacked one fore hoof on top of the other. "Of COURSE!"
With that she wheeled and galloped away, returning a couple minutes later with the same dusty tome she'd earlier shown to Fluttershy to support her claims about the ancient rulers of Equestria. She tossed it down in front of the revealed cache of amazing gemstones and laid on her belly beside Rarity, who still stared rapt at her spell's discovery.
Twilight sparked her horn and flipped the pages until she revealed an illumination depicting an arrangement of six jewels on a golden framework. She jabbed her hoof at the image. "There, see? The Elements of Harmony! These aren't just gemstones, they're ancient magical artifacts of immense power!"
Rarity blinked at her, and let her detection spell gutter and fade, leaving them facing only the weathered clapboard of Fluttershy's henhouse. She cocked an eyebrow, her puzzled expression accentuated by the pale circles around her eyes left by the dust on her face. "But... but what are they doing in a chicken coop in the middle of nowhere?"
The two unicorn mares traded a bemused glance, then turned their heads in unison to stare up at Fluttershy, who ruffled her wings and recoiled a couple of steps. "Um... they're not mine, really... a... a friend of mine put them there..."
Twilight rose to her hooves, her face awash in suspicion and excitement as she advanced on the nervously fidgeting pegasus. "A 'friend', huh? That raises a lot of very interesting questions, Fluttershy."
The soft yellow mare's aquamarine eyes flared as her brow furrowed, and she dug in her hooves and hiked her trailing pink tail behind her. "I can't answer them for you, Twilight. Most I don't know, and the rest just aren't any of your business."
The lavender mare took another step forward, swimming upstream against the force of the pegasus' gaze. "These are the Elements of Harmony, Fluttershy. They're the most powerful magic ever! This is big enough to be everypony's business!"
Fluttershy gave a shake of her head, advancing on the unicorn. "I'm not prepared to discuss this any further. Just drop it, okay?"
They stopped when they were forehead to forehead, glaring into each other's eyes and snorting puffs of steam out of their nostrils.
They both looked away with a start, Twilight's eyes twitching and tearing up at the corners with a shudder coursing down her spine, as Rarity politely cleared her throat and spoke up in a conciliatory voice. "Ahem... Ladies, please... Lets not fight over a silly pile of rocks."
She looked up at her horn and gave it a slight bob. "I'd feel absolutely dreadful if my nosey little gem detector and I were to cause a falling out between friends."
Twilight gave Fluttershy a sidelong glance. "Apparently she's only my friend up to a point."
The pegasus glared back. "We only just met this morning."
Rarity interposed herself between them with a genteel smile on her grimy face. "Tut tut, my dears. What say we discuss this in a civilized manner, hmm?"
She turned to Fluttershy with a gracious nod. "If I'm correct in presuming that you're the mistress of the house, I would be ever so grateful if you'd allow me to make use of your bathroom so I might freshen up a bit." She looked down at her coating of dirt and grime with a wry expression. "I promise when I'm finished I'll leave the place absolutely spotless."
Fluttershy pawed at the ground, glancing up at the sun as it made its inexorable progress across the sky, then looked back at the grubby unicorn with a strained smile. "Um... sure... That's... fine."
Rarity's eyes and smile glittered as she sashayed toward the pegasus' little cottage. "Thank you so much, darling. I'll be out of your lovely hair in a jiffy."
Fluttershy spoke up as she and her other uninvited guest fell into step behind her, exchanging seething glances. "I was just going to make some lunch for Twilight and myself. You're more than welcome to join us if you like."
Rarity's smile widened as she stopped at the door set to work removing the boots from her hind legs. "Oh, that would be lovely. I'm positively famished. I haven't eaten since yesterday."
She shrugged her pack off and began to root through it, producing an embroidered hoof bag marked with a cursive R and setting it aside, then bringing forth a small canvas sack. She unlaced its ties with her magic and levitated out a pair of large gemstones, an amethyst and an aquamarine, and floated them toward Twilight and Fluttershy. "Here, this should be adequate compensation. I think each one matches your respective eye colors quite nicely."
Both mares' eyes went wide as they took them. Twilight spoke first in a breathless tone of voice. "This... this is beautiful. You... you're really giving it to me?" The dirt caked unicorn only gave her a cheerful grin as she undid her tool belt.
Fluttershy rustled her wings. "I... I can't possibly accept this from you, Rarity."
The unicorn tossed her head as she unbuttoned her coveralls. "Pish posh, my dear. That should more than cover the damage to your chicken coop and my imposing on your hospitality like this. Besides, there's plenty more where that came from out on Rambling Rock Ridge."
The soft yellow pegasus' ear flicked at the second mention of that particular forsaken patch of scrubland. "You really dig for gems out there all by yourself? Aren't you worried about diamond dogs?"
Rarity chuckled as she slipped out of her canvas suit, revealing a sweat stained, off-white coat underneath with a large, light blue regency cut diamond cutie mark. "Not at all. The poor brutes give ponies a wide berth, especially ones of my particular coloration."
Rarity gave a shrug as she neatly folded and stacked her dirty gear in an orderly pile by the doorstep. "Some sort of superstition, I suppose. Oh they watch me from afar, but they burrow away like frightened moles if I approach. I feel sorry for the poor wretches, so I always make sure to spare a few gems whenever I dig up a cache. There's plenty out there to go around, and they do me the immense service of making other ponies think twice about going there."
Twilight had gone quietly pensive, stroking her chin with a hoof. "The... the diamond dogs must think you're the White Mare or something."
Fluttershy gave a mild start at this, pursing her lips and giving the inquisitive unicorn a sidelong glance. Rarity gave a breezy toss of her dirt encrusted mane as she picked up the monogrammed hoof bag in her teeth. "Well I don't know about the White Mare but I am a white mare, or shall be once I get cleaned up. Would you mind directing me to your bathroom, please?"
With a wary nod the pegasus led them inside.
***
Twilight and Fluttershy worked in silence in the kitchen as the dulcet tones of Rarity's singing wafted through the air, muffled by the soft patter of water running and the bathroom door. The pegasus mare's tea kettle was hissing quietly as it heated on her modest cook top next to a pot of leek and carrot soup.
Fluttershy sliced some fresh picked cucumbers on her mandoline while her unicorn companion levitated a knife and sliced a loaf of oat bread for sandwiches, stacking the slices on a plate with mathematical precision. A pretty little cuckoo clock above the spice rack ticked and tocked a steady rhythm, underpinning the tension in the air.
Fluttershy glanced at it frequently, watching the time and noting to herself that normally she would have concluded her errands at the trading post and been halfway back by now. She bit back her irritation harder with every slice of cucumber that fell to the countertop and every tick tock of the clock.
Her nerves coiled tightly and caused her wings to flare like the bristling hackles of an angry cat as her companion finally spoke up in an arch tone of voice. "So where do you keep your condiments? Or is that privileged information too?"
Fluttershy's whole body tensed as she crushed the rest of the cucumber into paste against the mandoline and rounded on Twilight with eyes and wings flaring. "There's ranch dressing and butter in the fridge! What more do you want from me, Twilight Sparkle!?"
The lavender unicorn pointed a slice of oat bread at her accusingly. "You haven't just seen the White Mare, you know her! You're twinkle picking friends with her!"
Fluttershy stomped a hoof. "So what if I am? Like I said it's none of your business!"
Twilight's eyes flared, her teeth ground, and before the indignant pegasus' unbelieving eyes her coat gleamed incandescent yellow-white and her mane and tail burst into sheets of flame, causing her to levitate a few hooves in the air on a sudden rush of convection currents. Just as suddenly the flames died out and an ash and soot stained mare slouched to her haunches on the floor with tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.
She let out a mournful sigh as she laid the slice of toast she was holding in her magic atop the stack of sandwich bread. "You're... you're right. It is none of my business, and that's why it just breaks my heart…"
She averted her gaze as she sniffled and let out a small sob. "I'm so jealous of you, Fluttershy. You're right here next to something wonderful. Something... something magical. You've got the best seat in the house, front row, center stage. I've been searching for years and haven't even found the ticket booth."
The pale yellow pegasus crossed the kitchen and pulled her to her feet by her fetlocks. "I just landed in the right place at the right time and Celestia was in the right mood to talk to somepony. There's nothing particularly special about me."
Twilight's eyes widened as she intoned breathlessly. "C-celestia?"
Fluttershy winced at her carelessness, then let out a sigh and nodded. "Yes. That's her name. She was actually 'Princess' Celestia in the old story in your book."
The lavender unicorn edged closer, her voice a hoarse whisper. "Did... did she ever talk to you about that old story? Did she ever tell you why she went away?"
Fluttershy leaned in close, speaking so softly that Twilight craned her neck and perked her ears to hear her. "She told me about it once, only once, and I cried for a week afterward. Sometimes knowing things is a burden, Twilight Sparkle. It's a sad story, one of the saddest I've ever heard."
A look of regret washed over her pale yellow face as she looked away with her mane draping over her eyes. "But it's not my story to tell you. I'm sorry, I just... can't. I've given away too much as it is, and it's not fair to her or to you. I feel just awful to be stringing you along like this."
Twilight bit back on the disappointment that welled in her eyes, and brought her chin up hopefully. "Do... do you think if you asked her nicely she'd be willing to let me talk to her someday?"
Fluttershy's heart went out to the inquisitive unicorn when she saw the yearning expression on her face, and she gave her a gentle smile. "It can't hurt to ask. Just... just don't get your hopes up too high, okay?"
The lavender mare swallowed hard and nodded. "All right. Th-thank you. I... I appreciate your honesty. You've been very kind to me, Fluttershy, more than I probably deserve. I'm sorry I've been such a horn in your side all day."
They stepped forward and hugged, and the soft yellow pegasus replied in a warm tone of voice. "Don't worry about it."
She glanced up at her clock as she rested her chin on Twilight's shoulder and bit her lip. If she was going to be ready for her visit tonight there was a lot she had to do and time was rapidly slipping away.
The two mares turned with a start at a silvery voice in the doorway. "Aww! Now that is exactly what I like to see! Two good friends getting along famously!"
Fluttershy and Twilight looked over to see Rarity standing in the doorway with her hair wrapped in clean towels and a fond smile on her face. Scrubbed clean of dirt, her coat was a cool, pristine white like polished marble, and some loose strands of her mane trickled out like rivulets of fine wine down her neck. She wore a pair of powder-blue rubber dishwashing booties on her forelegs.
She took a searching glance around the pegasus mare's rustic little kitchen. "I was wondering where you might keep your cleaning supplies, Miss Fluttershy. The ring I just left in your tub isn't the sort I'd want to put up for sale in Manehattan."
Her hostess pawed at the floor and nodded toward a small closet by the door. "It's all in there. But honestly, you don't need to worry. I can take care of it. Besides, lunch is just about ready, and we really should be quick about it if we want to get down to the Saddle Lake trading post before it gets dark."
Rarity gave a toss of her towel bound mane and floated every bottle, brush, and cleaning implement in the house from the place Fluttershy indicated, turning to march back to the fretting pegasus' bathroom with a flick of her glittering horn. "Nonsense! It's the longest day of the year, or just about. Plenty of time to leave everything spit spot. Just keep the soup on a low simmer and save me a couple sandwiches. I'll be out in a trice."
Fluttershy stared after her with a twitch animating her left eye, then winced in annoyance as the cuckoo clock sounded the mid-afternoon hour.
Twilight gave her a pat on the shoulder as she sparked her horn and levitated plates and silverware from a nearby cupboard. "I'll set the table."
The butter yellow pegasus let out a sigh, then crossed her kitchen and pulled open a drawer to get out a table cloth. Her ears laid flat and her teeth clenched on the fabric as a sharp rapping sounded from her front door.
She spat out the mouthful of checked gingham, unleashing something between a sigh and a growl. "What now?"