Rarity stirred awake, she was having a hard time sleeping. Applejack and Spike were in another world, and they didn't know how to bring them home. Steiner was snoring lightly, while standing up, in front of the doorway. The sight alone nearly dispelled her worry, at least momentarily, almost making her laugh.
They had taken shelter in one of the old bedrooms, and were sleeping on what remained of the bed and blankets, after Rarity had patched them up, of course. Vivi had the bed to himself, while she and her friends were clustered under the blankets.
She noticed that Twilight was standing near the window, looking out. She was bathed in the red moonlight, and Rarity didn't think it suited her colors. Rarity could make out the hints of the sunrise, and carefully got up and moved to Twilight's side.
“Trouble sleeping too?” She asked quietly, Twilight nodded as she looked down to the forest. From this vantage, the Everfree stretched out in all directions, the red light accenting the strangeness of the forest.
“I'm worried about Spike and Applejack,” she admitted, looking over her shoulder to look at her sleeping friends. “When the others wake up, I want to take another look at that crystal. I think magic from Gaia is poring in through it. And I think I may be able to make a spell similar to what sent Applejack over after looking at it.” She said, presenting the plan to her unicorn friend.
“You said that they swapped places,” Rarity affirmed, “Applejack and Steiner, but who was the spell specifically cast on? It couldn't have been both at the same time, right?” She asked. Teleportation magic was far removed from Rarity's skill set, but she knew that if any pony had the answer, it was Twilight.
“Applejack.” She replied, “I'm certain it was cast on her. Someone wanted her sent over to Gaia. I suppose whoever did it didn't want all of us to be together.” Rarity nodded, we're at our strongest when we're all together, does this person fear us? Twilight continued, “The person that sent her must have something to do with, well, everything going on right now.” She eyed Steiner and Vivi, then turned back to Rarity.
“We're worried they're gone, but I can only imagine how they feel. They're trapped in another world teeming with monsters, with no apparent way to return home.” Twilight said sadly as she looked back to the moon, “I really hope we can get them back, I can't bear the thought of never seeing them again. Spike's still a baby, I'm scared of what this separation will do to him. And I'm certain Applejack's worried about us and the farm.” She said, and Rarity hugged her worry ridden friend. They were both worried, but there was little they could do for them, and Rarity didn't like that, not one bit.
“Once we check out the crystal,” Twilight reaffirmed, a fire in her eyes, “I'll try and work a spell to send them back home.” Then, letting out a sigh, said, “If it doesn't work, we'll head to Canterlot and talk to Celestia and Luna.” She then frowned, “Having Spike around to send letters to the Princess never made me realize how out of touch with Celestia I'd be without him.”
“I really hope they're doing alright over there,” Rarity admitted sadly.
“I hope so too,” Twilight replied as they quietly waited for dawn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The watcher in the mist was disturbed. One of the seals was disabled. Just one, and already it could feel that something was different. More of Gaia's magic was now permeating the Equestrian air. He asked his friend if she knew who had found the seal. He wasn't surprised to learn it was those he had given the means to fight. Releasing the seal removes the mist, in the long run, it's better for Equestria, but the watcher in the mist hoped that not all were released. For it feared the monster that lay trapped within the seals being freed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a short scuffle with some wolves, they had returned to the cave at Twilight's suggestion. Dash kept an eye down the tunnel to make sure they weren't attacked while overlooking the crystal. Pinkie was looking better than ever now that she had gotten some proper rest, which made Rarity a little happy. Staring at the orange crystal, Twilight felt around with her magic, learning what she could from outside the crystal's barrier and looked towards Steiner and Vivi.
“Would you to mind telling me about the differences between Gaia and Equestria?” She asked of them. They shared a look, and Steiner brought his hand under his chin as he thought.
“Well, for one, the monsters are a little different. They don't change into gil or restorative items when defeated,” he admitted.
“Monsters turn into rewards when defeated?” Rarity asked with surprise, imagining implementing it into her boutique somehow. Hunting monsters that dropped rare cloth or gems came to mind. Oh, that would be so much better than buying- She started to think, then recalled that her magic was more support than offense.
“Yes, when they break into mist, some of the mist changes into money and items. The monsters are quite dangerous, as you know, so not many seek to make money from their destruction. That doesn't seem to happen here.” He said, a little disappointed, considering all the monsters they slew yesterday. “There's also a large lack of ponies, at least on the Mist Continent. Your friends will stand out.”
“Spike is a baby dragon,” Twilight corrected as she thought on his words.
“Oh! Sorry for the confusion, but still, he should stand out as well.” He admitted with a nod of his head.
“Any idea why Gaian magic trumps Equestrian magic?” Sunset asked. It is frustrating that all I can do against those beasts is heal my friends and run away, if I could at least lift them or something like that... Rarity thought as Vivi answered Sunset's question.
“Well, maybe Gaia's is older? Or maybe more dense. Um, there's plenty of magic in Equestria, but it feels thinner, as though it's not as heavy.” Rarity nodded with understanding, as did Sunset and Twilight. The unicorns, and former unicorn, understood the feeling, some places have more magic than others. Canterlot, for instance, is brimming with magic, while Appleloosa not so much. The others were only confused by Vivi's observation. Twilight was thinking on their input, trying to put something together. She then looked to the crystal again and nodded her head.
“Steiner,” Twilight began, “I'm going to try to send you back, please stay still,” he immediately stood rigid, making Rarity smile. A knight obediently obeying the princess, why couldn't Blue Blood have been more like Steiner, more like a noble knight.
“Before I depart,” Steiner interjected, turning to everyone, “I wanted to thank you for your aid, and hope we can work some means to converse again in the future.” He finished, bowing down to all of them. He turned and informed Vivi to seek him out in Alexandria. Seeing Vivi nod to Steiner's suggestion, Twilight tried her spell. I really wish I could have done something about that armor, Rarity thought with a sigh. Get some shine on that armor, and he would be just perfect~.
Twilight began casting her spell, and Steiner was encased in her magic, and started to float as Twilight's horn glowed brighter and brighter. Wait, Rarity thought, just noticing something, when we first met, Discord's magic didn't work on him, so shouldn't ours? Is it because we have weapons now? She thought as she watched the spell finish. With a pop, he was gone. Then with another pop, he was right were he began. Twilight slumped down, rubbing her horn. Oh dear, she must have pored everything she had into that.
“It appears it didn't work.” Steiner said, stating the obvious. Then he noticed Twilight's pained expression, and quickly added “But I thank you all the same, and apologize for the trouble,” trying to make her feel better.
“Oh, it's no trouble at all~!” Discord commented from above them, surprising the whole lot. “How is everypony?”
“Just fine Discord, our friends can fight the monsters now.” Fluttershy admitted as she pat her adorable pet. I just have to make sure to keep Opal away from Fanglesnuffs. Then briefly wondered how Angel would take the canine.
“I see that interesting mist is gone, funny thing, I learned a new trick when I dabbled around with it. Care to see?” he said with a large grin.
“Oh! Oh! I do! I do~!” Pinkie proclaimed, getting a happy cheer from Discord.
“Wait, what are you going to-” Twilight began to ask, but with a snap of his fingers, all of them were blinded by a flash of light, and when it cleared, they were inside the Canterlot Castle. Vivi and Steiner were confused by the change in scenery.
“What!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, “How'd we get here!?” She asked as she looked around, having been guarding the cavern when Discord did his 'trick', whom she just noticed. “Oh, Discord.” She finished, glaring at him. He gave her a 'who, me?' look as Twilight appraised him.
“You can use your magic on them now?” She asked, slightly annoyed for not telling them what he was going to do, and slightly happy they were in Canterlot. Her question made Discord grin all the more.
“Come now Twilight, you just used your magic on him, surely you noticed that.” Realization dawned on her face as she eyed the sword at her side. “That's right, although I don't need some pointy toy to pull it off, I'm just amazing like that. Now, don't you all have a date with the princesses? They're waiting for you~” He cackled as they started to move through the castle to the royal chamber.
“So this 'Canterlot',” Steiner began as he took in the surroundings, “is it a different kingdom from your own, Princess- erm, Twilight?”
“No, I don't really have a kingdom. In Equestria there are four Princesses,” Twilight then explained about each of them, including herself as they moved through the castle.
“I see, so you have no queen or king, just princesses? That's interesting.” Steiner admitted. They came upon the royal chamber, and the guards let them all in. “Mr. Discord, if you could magic us all here, why didn't you take us to this spot?”
“Well, where would be the fun in that, tin man?” He replied, getting a scowl from the rusty knight.
“No doubt, he just wanted to make us wait a few moments longer,” Luna replied with a smile, eyeing her company. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were all present in the room, prompting Steiner to bow, and Rarity decided to follow suit, to avoid making him be the only one to bow to them. Her actions prompted the rest to follow suit, which Celestia found amusing.
“Greetings,” Celestia began, “Steiner and Vivi, and welcome to Equestria. I am Princess Celestia, Twilight's former mentor. Maybe we can help return you two to your home.” She said, then noticed Sunset Shimmer, who was behind the group, trying not to draw attention to herself. Even as a human, Celestia recognized her, and gave her a soft, reassuring smile. Sunset responded with an awkward grin of her own. After everyone gave out their greetings, Twilight when straight to the chase.
“I tried a spell to return them, but my magic wasn't strong enough.” She admitted with disappointment, “Perhaps with your aid...” Twilight suggested, getting a nod from Celestia.
“If you have the means,” Celestia said, “then lead, and we shall assist.” She finished, giving Twilight a trusting smile, which only made her nervous.
“Well, okay. Steiner, let's give this another try.” Looking over her shoulder at the princesses, determination lit her eyes, and she tried her spell again. Steiner was again wrapped in her magic, and after a few moments, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence added their own. As he glowed brightly, it looked like it was going to work. Steiner disappeared with a pop, and for a moment it was quiet in the room. Discord then frowned and commented on the spell.
“Well, that's not good.” He said right before Steiner popped back, violently, sending him crashing into one of the stain-glass windows. Rarity looked on in horror as she realized which one he had hit. The window had held, but a large crack began growing across it, threatening to shatter it at any moment. She watched as it crossed the figures in it, breaking some of them in half, and causing rifts to appear between many of them. The last thing she saw before it finally shattered, was the faces on the glass. It was theirs. It was the Window of Harmony.
The magic of the spell carried through the royal chamber, bouncing off the walls. Dash and the others moved out of the spell's path as Twilight tried to control it, but with the added power of the four princesses, no one seemed to have the ability to stop it. Rarity saw it heading straight for Fluttershy and moved to save her from it. As did Pinkie Pie, but she was closer to her than Rarity was.
Pinkie tackled Fluttershy, knocking her out of the path of the spell. Rarity moved to save Pinkie, but she didn't reach her friend in time. The spell hit her friend, wrapping her in a glowing aura pulsating with the colors of the princesses' magic. She stared wide eyed at her friend, and Pinkie had the oddest expression of shocked confusion. Discord snapped his fingers in an effort to save Pinkie, but it seemed to have no effect. She disappeared with a pop, which was followed by a frightening silence.
Everyone looked on where the pink mare had been. Several moments passed, all of them hoping that she would return with a pop. And after several tense moments, there was indeed another pop, but it wasn't Pinkie that returned. It was some human like person with white skin, dressed as a chef with a matching hat, and a very long tongue. Out of the corner of her eye, Rarity noticed Discord appraising a missing finger. He quickly shook his hand and it reappeared, making him give a little frown.
“No... Pinkie!” Twilight shouted, and her cry was immediately followed by the others. “Pinkie...” she said again, sadly. She stood there for a moment, then turned to Steiner and Vivi. She looked like she wanted to say something, but all that came out was weak stuttering, guilt that her friend was gone evident on her face. Rarity moved to her side and hugged her, assuring her while Celestia took charge of the situation.
"Steiner, Vivi, I'm afraid that the two of you are stuck in Equestria, we have no known means of returning you, and for that, you have our most humble apologies." She then turned her attention to the outsider as the four friends moved together in a warm embrace. The four of them took solace in each other, they had lost a friend, and it happened right before their eyes.
“Where I be?” The strange creature asked. As Celestia began to address the stranger, Rarity moved from the group to help Steiner up, healing the wounds he got from the failed spell. He looked disappointed, and terribly worried about his fate, as it was now apparent he was going to be stuck in Equestria for some time. Vivi moved to his side to comfort him.
“Greetings outsider, I am afraid we have brought you to our world by accident, and I'm afraid we do not know how to send you back.”
“There good food here?” It asked, none too bothered by being in a different world.
“Uh, yes.” Celestia replied, getting a happy look from the thing.
“Very good. Me Quina, glad to meet you.” As Rarity appraised the creature, Twilight regained her composure, they had lost another friend, possibly for good. Rarity choked on that thought. For good? As that thought sunk in, Rarity suddenly found herself fighting tears. Twilight however, showed no emotion.
There was still the matter of what was going on with Equestria, so Rarity understood why. Twilight needed to be strong. She needed her to be strong. Though Rarity did not envy her friend for having to be so.
“Any idea what happened?” Twilight looked like she had an idea forming, but wanted to run it with them first.
“Looks like the spell outright refused Steiner, and settled for the next person it could send over,” Luna said somberly.
“Yes. Pinkie is now in the other world. I got a glimmer of what's going on when it happened, however.” Discord said, “Some sort of powerful ritual is at work. Unified Fantasy, its power is staggering, I suspect not even all the combined magic of Equestria would be enough to dispel it. From what I saw, the ritual is making the connection between Gaia and Equestria stronger. In fact, I'd say the only reason they're connected at all is because of it.”
"Unified Fantasy?" Cadence asked Discord, who simply shrugged at her.
“Unified Fantasy? So then we need to look into that!” Twilight proclaimed, having something to go with. They were now short three friends, and she intended to find a way to get them back.
“Well, that is certainly an ominous presence.” Discord said as he looked up to the sky, which was the ceiling. A pulse of light washed through the castle, making Rarity fall down in pain, her horn throbbing, as if she had walked straight into a door. Looking through the pain, she saw that the princesses were in a similar state. The others looked completely fine, and they all moved to help their downed friends. Then another wave of light washed through the castle, redoubling the pain as Rarity tried her best to stay conscious.
Discord looked up and frowned at the pain his friends were suffering, and snapped his fingers. There was no flash of light, which surprised the spirit of chaos. Another pulse washed over the castle, Rarity endured it a third time, but with it, Luna, Cadence, and Celestia vanished, and Discord became opaque. His eyes shot open in alarm as he looked to the others. Twilight was unconscious and starting to shimmer and become transparent, and seeing this, Discord blew into his other hand, making it as large as himself, and snapped it, turning the world a blinding white.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the light cleared away, Rainbow Dash took in her surroundings, off in the distance, she could make out Rainbow Falls, and in the opposite direction, she saw Canterlot Mountain. There was a storm cloud above it, and from the cloud white rings of light pulsed to the ground, wrapping the entire mountain within the rings. She was alone, in the air, and didn't know if Discord had gotten all of them out of there. In a state of confused panic, she flew with great haste to Canterlot, leaving a sonic rainboom behind her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fluttershy was in a forest, the odd creature Quina and Fanglesnuffs nearby. Both shared a confused look as she looked to the local fauna. Oh dear, we're all the way in White Tail! She looked to the east, but couldn't see Canterlot through the foliage. Telling Quina she would be right back, she flew up to get a better look to the city she had just been in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rarity heard the roaring of waves before her vision cleared. As her vision straightened, she noticed Steiner, Vivi, and Sunset were at her side. Getting up, she saw that they were near a particularly large waterfall. Neighagra Falls? Her eyes were drawn south, Canterlot mountain wasn't too far away. From the clouds over the mountain was what seemed to be a large red eye floating over Canterlot. It was pulsating the white waves that had hammered her horn, and made the princesses disappear. Of the four of them, her greatest worry was for Twilight. Far to the west, Rarity noticed a ring of rainbow light, a sonic rainboom.
Her attention was drawn back to Canterlot as the pulsating stopped. Then the eye shined, and the entire mountain was covered in a white cone of light, so bright that it hurt to look at. When the cone vanished, the mountain vanished with it. In the void, where the base of the mountain would have been, was mist. Beyond, with Canterlot no longer in the way, she could make out Ponyville. As she stared, the cloud, and the eye, seemed to shimmer and vanish.
It's... Gone. She stared at where Canterlot was, in complete shock, the concept slowing becoming accepted to her. The voices of her friends were lost on her as she stared. The castle. The Princesses. The high society. All my Canterlot friends. Twilight. Fluttershy. They're all... gone. As she looked on, something salty trailed into her open mouth, and realized she was crying. Truly, this is the worse possible thing. And this time, she knew she was right.
~~~~~
Rarity
~~~~~
Items Equipped:
Ore Rod: Cure,(mastered) Panacea
Lvl-5 HP 152/152 MP 62/68
AP 17/17
Abilities:
Glamour:
White Magic:
Cure 6 MP - Restores HP of single/multiple targets.
Panacea 4 MP - Removes Venom and Poison.