The air around the sentinel distorted as its body continued dancing in and out of existence. Silently it scanned the dry hills of the appleloosian desert, completely indifferent to the early morning chill in the air. Its gaze stopped on a large rock formation carved by centuries of wind and sand erosion. The natural wonder was highlighted by a yellow-green line visible only to the sentinel as lines of text began to appear before it.
"Analyzing:
-Remote location
-Indistinct characteristics
-Within range of ER Field
Area is suitable. Commencing placement of entropic reversal device."
The sentinel held out its hand, the air began to ripple with distortion as a large black quartz shaped object materialized in its hand. The silent being carefully placed the device at the base of the stone monolith. It ran its hands across the smooth glass surface causing the runes below the glass like surface to glow. As it moved its fingers, the runes would follow, one by one, it arranged the runes in a particular order.
That done, the sentinel backed away from the stone formation. "Device in place, beginning camouflage protocol." With its arms folded, it would've looked to an observer like it was merely staring at the rock. A moment past before several lines appeared out of thin air, forming a wire frame box around the rock pillar. Several more lines appeared on the surface of the box forming a grid of smaller squares then, one by one the squares appeared to vanish until finally the box and everything within disappeared completely.
It was then that the sentinel noticed that it wasn't alone. On the other side of the rock formation, a terran girl stood petrified at the sight before her. The sentinel quickly took in her appearance, analyzing her faster than any mortal mind could process. She was an adolescent, with reddish brown skin and dark hair. She wore hand woven clothing with dozens of strands on the arms and legs. On her head was a strap with two eagle feathers sticking out proudly. On the ground in front of her were several small logs, chopped in equal length and scattered as if dropped. The sentinel compiled the evidence and concluded that this was a member of the buffalo tribe of Appleloosian nomads.
The sentinel began to advance on the frightened young woman who took a few steps back in fear, only to trip over one of the dropped logs. She landed on her rear but that didn't stop her from trying to escape using her legs and hands to scoot back as much as possible. The creature caught up to her and grabbed her by her collar, lifting her up to what would be eye level if it had eyes.
The terrified terran struggled to free herself but could do nothing to pry apart the thing's cold grip. Unbeknownst to her, the sentinel was having a conversation in its mind. "Identified as <Minor Character XXI-A, Little Strongheart>. Containment protocols activated."
The young terran woman screamed in fear as her body began turning to static until it disappeared entirely along with the sentinel. As the sun rose above the horizon, its light greeted nothing but a few pieces of dried wood in lying in the middle of nowhere.
***
A few weeks of relative calm had passed since Dusk and the girls had befriended Zecora, her skills in alchemy and botany proved to be a great boon to the people of Ponyville. The citizens were somewhat less welcoming to Trixie. Shop keepers would treat her with indifference, as though she were just a stranger they'd never meet again, although they no longer overcharged or out right refused service so... progress?
Unfortunately, the one vendor in Ponyville who had the most cause to be angry with Trixie was the one she needed at the moment. She stood outside the Carousel Boutique in her purple dress and blue overcoat mentally prepping herself to deal with the djinn woman who dwelt within. Letting out a sigh, she opened the door and walked in.
A bell chimed as she entered the building. Inside were all manner of dresses and other outfits on display. "Just a moment," she heard from the back room. In walked Rarity, wearing an elegant purple dress and light blue shirt. On her head was a pair of red glass which she removed and placed on a shelf. "Welcome to the Carousel Boutique! Where everything is- Oh," she stopped herself when she noticed it was Trixie who had entered. "Hello, Miss Lulamoon, what may I do for you."
The way Rarity spoke was slightly dismissive, the way one would speak to a customer on a busy day when you just want to move them along. It wasn't that she disliked the terran mage, in fact both she and the rest of the bearers of harmony were trying to be friendly but Trixie's attitude made it difficult.
"Trixie was told you're the one to talk to about rare gemstones," Trixie said, speaking just as dismissively.
That piqued Rarity's interest, "why yes! Rare gems are my specialty. In fact they're my special talent, as you can see." She lifted the sleeve of her shirt to show the three diamond pattern. "Why I dare say my knowledge of precious gems is rivaled only by my keen sense of fashion."
Trixie made no effort to hide her eye roll, "Trixie needs malachite and it needs to be pure and uncut. Trixie will not have a faulty gemstone in her wands."
Rarity thought for a moment before answering, "I do have some malachite but they're already cut I'm afraid. I could show them to you if you'd like, perhaps one is cut closely enough to suit your needs." she gestured for Trixie to follow her into her work room.
"Doubtful but Trixie will check anyway," she replied as she followed Rarity. The room they entered was roughly half the size of the main room and filled with boxes and shelves on which several different fabrics had been placed for easy access. The floor was littered with cut scraps and crumpled pieces of paper that had missed the trash basket in the corner. In the center of the room, six manikins had been set out and draped with what looked to be unfinished outfits. One manikin had a broad shoulders, flat chest and was draped in royal purple while the remaining five had wider hips, bumps on the chest and were each draped with a variety of colors. One male, five females, gee, I wonder who those could be for, Trixie thought rhetorically.
"Pardon the mess, I'm currently designing outfits for Dusk, the girls and I for our trip to the Gala. Don't tell them though it's a surprise," Rarity winked and began opening a series of drawers.
"Gala? Trixie was not aware that Ponyville hosted such events," Trixie said idly as she inspected several of the tools laid out on the cutting table. Some where quite similar to the tools she used in wand making.
"We don't, at least none regal enough to be called a gala. Ah ha! found them," Rarity lifted a tray filled with several teal gemstones and carried it over to the table where Trixie was waiting. "Have a look, darling, see any that might work for... erm, what was it you needed one for again?"
"Wand making," Trixie answered as she reached into her pocket and removed a loupe* which she placed in her eye to inspect the gems.
"Oh, I see. I thought most wands just used thaumic quartz."
"Trixie's wands are different," she replied matter of factly. She turned each gem over in her hands, inspecting them closely placing them back on the tray and moving on. An uncomfortable silence fell between them which didn't bother Trixie in the slightest but caused Rarity to fidget a bit.
Finally, Trixie finished her inspection of the gems with a sigh. "Trixie will admit, these are high quality gems but as She suspected, none of them are cut how She needs them."
"Well, I suppose you'll just have to wait till this afternoon then," Rarity said as she took the tray of gems back to where she'd gotten them. "I was actually just about to leave to gather some to use as accents for the gala outfits. I'll be sure to pick up some malachite while I'm there."
"You? Mining gems?"
"That's right," Rarity said nonchalantly while grabbing a brown leather bag and slinging it over her shoulder.
"You? Miss 'prim and proper, takes a 15 minute detour just to avoid a muddy road' are going to get down and dirty looking for gems?"
Rarity turned to face Trixie with a look of slight indignation. "First of all, it was a 3 minute detour and I had to, those were brand new Prada heels. Secondly, I don't need to actually get 'down and dirty,' as you put it. My special talent allows me detect gems with my magic."
"And the djinn win again," Trixie mumbled to herself.
"What was that, dear? I couldn't quite hear you," Rarity asked earnestly.
"Trixie said... She would like to accompany you. Trixie needs to make sure the gems are of the correct quality, and..." she hesitated, "Iwanalearnthatspell..."
"What was that last part, darling?"
Trixie sighed, "I want to learn that spell! There, are you happy?"
Rarity grinned cheekily, "say 'please'."
Trixie's eye twitched. She took a quick look around to make double sure they were alone then, with a deep breath said, "p-please." Her smile was so forced it bordered on creepy.
"Very well," Rarity grinned happily. "We'll be leaving Ponyville so be sure to tell Mr. Kevin, I'll meet you over by the east bridge out of town."
***
On the other side of town, Dusk Shine was in a state of distress. He was under attack by an enemy that no amount of prep work or study could have prepared him for. Ancient horrors that possess princesses? That he could handle. Rampaging magical monsters and irate dragons? Easily dealt with. But this..?
"Cutie Mark Crusader Lab Assistants!"
...This just wasn't right.
"Girls, please!" Dusk pleaded, "you're making a mess."
Three tween girls, best friends and well meaning trouble makers were currently attempting to assist Dusk with his studies by doing everything they'd ever seen a scientist do in cartoons and comic books. Apple Bloom, Apple Jacks younger, red headed sister, was pouring random potions into beakers. Scootaloo, a tomboy seraphim with short purple hair and unusually short orange wings was pushing buttons on random devices asking what each was for as she did. Finally, Sweetie Belle, Rarity's sister, a djinn with flowing pink hair and matching pink dress was trying to use magic to lift one of the note pads on Dusk's desk.
The trio of insurance deductibles also known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders were always on the look out for some way to earn their very own cutie marks. Dusk made the disastrous miscalculation of offering to watch Sweetie Belle for Rarity while she was out gem hunting, not realizing until it was far too late that what he thought was a sweet, innocent little cherub was actually part of a tribunal of terror.
"Scootaloo, that's not a toy! Woah, Apple Bloom, don't point that rod of disintegration at me! What the..? Sweetie, you just summoned Hastur!" The girls ran about and laughed while a frazzled Dusk confiscated dangerous weapons and banished the eldritch deity. As he worked to contain the chaos, the three girls gathered in the center of the room.
"Anything yet girls?" Scootaloo asked as she and her two friends lifted the sleeves on their shirts to check their shoulders. They let out a groan of disappointment when they found all three of them remained blank.
"I guess we ain't cut out to be lab assistants after all," Apple Bloom said sadly.
"Hey Dusk," Sweetie Belle chimed, "you know any spells that will give us cutie marks?"
Dusk didn't answer at first, as he was preoccupied with forcing a yellow clad figure with a white mask down through a crack in reality. Once it was finally through, he clamped the spacial rift closed and, for good measure, pushed a heavy box over the area and sat on it. With a sigh of relief, he turned to address the inquiry.
"Sorry but no, there isn't any spell that can give a cutie mark," he said.
"Has anyone ever tried?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Yea! Maybe you could make one!" Scootaloo added with excitement.
Dusk shook his head, "no can do girls. A cutie mark is inherently tied with a person's inner magic. I highly doubt there's anyone out there that would be morally ambiguous enough to even try messing with cutie marks, much less succeed."
***
On the other side of Equestria, in an area miles from any form of civilization, a single cottage stood at the end of a long stretch of road. Inside a young djinn woman with long purple hair with light blue highlights and matching light blue shirt sat at a desk. In front of her was a large piece of draft paper that had a drawing of her house as well as drawing of several identical copies laid out so that they lined the road on either side. The woman smiled to herself as she looked at the paper, "it's all coming together," she said to herself. "All I need now are some like minded individuals and my plan will- ah-ACHOO!" She blinked and wiped her nose with a tissue, "huh, where'd that come from..."
***
"You're going to have to earn your marks like everyone else," Dusk finished. The girls let out a dejected sigh.
"But how?" Scootaloo asked, "we've tried everything."
"Hey Dusk," Sweetie Belle squeaked, "how'd you get your cutie mark?"
At that, the other two suddenly perked up. "Hey yea!" Apple Bloom said, "maybe if we hear how other people got their marks, it'll give us an idea of how to get ours."
Now the trio were excitedly crowding around the hapless djinn in eager anticipation. "Tell us, Dusk, tell us!" Scootaloo said with her tiny wings buzzing rapidly.
Dusk, taken aback by the sudden interest in his cutie mark story, decided that he had no other option. "Ok girls, if you really want, I'll tell you." He settled himself on his chair and cleared his throat.
"It was around 12 years ago, on the day of the entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Djinn. I'd studied for weeks prior and was about to take the practical portion of the test. Of course I'd already aced the written portion, my answer to the essay question was a stroke of genius if I do say so myself. It was about thaumiological inconsistencies on the atomic level and..."
"Dusk!" all three girls shouted at once.
Dusk blinked in slight embarrassment, "uh, right. Anyway, for the practical portion, we we're told to select from a list of tasks to perform that would demonstrate our magical abilities. Since the princess herself was watching, I wanted to do something that would really wow them all. So I picked the most difficult task on the list."
"What was it?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Manipulating time," Dusk answered proudly. "I was supposed to cast a spell on a dormant dragon egg in order to make it hatch. A dormant dragon egg can take decades, even centuries to hatch so I had to make time pass faster for the egg than for everyone else. Unfortunately, the spell turned out to be harder than I thought. Despite my best efforts, I just couldn't focus enough energy to trigger the event."
"So did'ya fail?" Scootaloo asked.
"It seemed like it at the time. I decided to give it one last try, I focused harder than I ever had before when something strange happened."
"What!?"
"There was a loud bang like thunder and I felt the flow of magic shift. I don't remember much, only that I never felt so powerful in my life. I lost control of my magic and began casting at random. My first spell hit my mom and dad, turned them into cacti but my second spell, it hit the egg and caused it to hatch. Unfortunately I didn't exactly have any control over the spell so it kept going, ageing the poor thing all the way to adult hood. Imagine a full grown dragon with the mind of a newborn."
"Whoa," the girls said in wonder.
"Wait a minute," Apple Bloom chimed in, "I remember ya saying you did something like that to Spike back when we first met."
"Wait so you mean..?" Sweetie asked.
"Yep, the dragon that hatched was actually Spike." Dusk answered.
"So then, you're like Spike's Dad?"
"Ye... No!"
"Hey girls, I got an idea!" Scootaloo said, the trio clearly no longer listening to Dusk. Lets go ask Rainbow Dash how she got her cutie mark, I bet it's a way more awesome story."
"Oh yea, and we can ask mine and Sweetie's sister too!" Apple Bloom added, "if we ask enough people, we might get some ideas for our own cutie marks." The three girls, now set in their tasks made a break for the stairs out of Dusk's basement leaving the bewildered bookworm before he could even get a word in.
When Dusk's mind caught up to what happened he jumped to his feet and followed after them. The logic part of his mind saying they were fine on their own but the OCD part demanding he continue to supervise them just in case.
***
To the east of Ponyville, across the Everfree river, sat the cavernous valley of Rambling Rock Ridge. A wide and dry plane sandwiched on either side by steep limestone cliffs. Most geologist believed the valley was most likely the remains of a prehistoric river, perhaps even the Everfree river itself had once flowed here but shifted course over the millennia. One thing was known for sure about the area, it was the largest deposit of gemstones in the world.
It was here that Trixie and Rarity found themselves. Rarity was dressed in what she referred to as her 'work clothes' which consisted of a long and narrow grey skirt and white dress shirt with short sleeves and a sunhat. Trixie was still in the same clothes from that morning.
"We're here," Rarity said as she stopped and removed a pair of red embroidered sunglasses.
"Finally," Trixie mumbled to herself. "So now what?"
"Now we start our search," Rarity raised her arms so that her hands were level with her eyes. She then positioned her fingers so that her thumb and index fingers were pointing up, her middle fingers were at an upward angle and finally, her pinky and ring fingers were at a downward angle. She then brought the tips of her middle and ring fingers together so that they touched, forming a diamond shape. The dark purple gem on her forehead began to glow as it drew in mana to charge the spell. "Rarity's Fabulous Gem Hunter!"
The space between Rarity's fingers turned a light, translucent blue and as she pulled her hands apart, the blue diamond expanded in scale. When the construct was about 3 feet wide, she closed her fingers in a scissor motion leaving it floating in mid air, free of her hands. Then, she turned to Trixie with a grin, "ta da! Now, any gem within 100 yards will glow bright white when seen through this."
Trixie stared for a moment before speaking, "that's it?"
Rarity lost her self satisfied smile instantly. "Whatever do you mean 'that's it?' I'll have you know I spent a great deal of time and effort writing this spell!"
"It's just a watered down version of Starswirl's Discern Location."
"Oh really? Well, can Starswirl's Discern Location do this?" Rarity maneuvered the construct until she spotted what she was looking for. Through the blue screen a jagged bright white object could be seen clearly about 20 yards away and buried in the dirt. Rarity then placed her hand on the construct and a light blue field of magic emerged from it's center heading straight for the discovered gem. The gem, a peridot as it turned out, was plucked from the earth and returned to Rarity's awaiting hand.
The fashionista's smug grin returned once more as she looked at Trixie who only seemed slightly more impressed. "So you modified the weave a bit to make it dig them up for you, big deal."
"It was FAR more than just a modification!" Rarity retorted. "I made this from the ground up. How many spells have YOU written?" she asked knowingly.
"None... How many record breaking wands have you crafted?" It wasn't the best come back but Trixie needed to say something.
"I don't need wands."
Trixie was triggered.
"You... you stuck up, self entitled... drama queen!"
"A pleasure to meet you Pot, my name's Kettle, are you aware that you're also black?" Rarity turned her back on Trixie with a huff and crossed arms.
"I don't have to take this from some over-privileged genie," Trixie spat.
All pretense of ladylike behavior from Rarity vanished as her jaw hung open and her eyes bulged. 'Genie' was probably the worst thing one could call a djinn. In the old days, it was the technical term for a djinn or any magic user that was bound in slavery. In more modern times, however, it became synonymous with the radical, (and widely unpopular) idea that djinn couldn't be trusted and should be subjugated and controlled. Suffice to say it wasn't a word used in polite conversation.
"I... in all my years I never... How dare you?!" Rarity screamed. "I'll not associate with one who uses such derogatorily words, good day Miss Lullamoon!"
As Rarity stormed off, Trixie turned on her heels and marched in the opposite direction. I shouldn't have called her that, Trixie thought to herself. Still, where does she get off? Flaunting her natural magic like that. She's no different than he was.
Before she could continue down that line of thought, there was a sharp pain on the back of her head causing the world to spin. She tumbled to the ground as everything shifted in and out of focus. The last thing she saw was an unconscious Rarity a few yards away being tied up by a stout creature with long shovel like claws on it's hands. Her vision was obscured by the silhouette of another creature of similar shape as it raised it's foot and brought it down on her head, then blackness.
***
Applejack was busy looking over a receipt as she walked down Ponyville’s market street. “Sour apples are down by 2 bits but red galas are up by 5,” she mumbled to herself. “Good thing we grow all kinds of apples.”
“This way, Dusk”
A voice pulled Applejack out of her train of thought, “was that bloom?” Sure enough, Apple Bloom along with her two friends and a clearly being dragged against his will Dusk where heading her way. The group of four ran right up to her so fast they nearly crashed into each other.
“Heya sis! Y’all got a minute?” Bloom asked excitedly.
“Apple Bloom, what in tarnation are y’all doing running all over the place?” She looked up at Dusk who was out of breath and mouthing ‘help me’.
“We wanted to ask how you got yer cutie mark,” the little apple sister said.
Applejack was a bit taken aback by the unexpected question. “Shucks, you mean I never told you that story?”
“Hey hold on!” Scootaloo interrupted, “I thought we were going to ask Rainbow Dash.”
“We will but come on, we need all the help we can get."
"Ugh, fine."
"So whatda say sis? Will you tell us?"
Applejack couldn't help but smile at her sister's enthusiasm. "Shoot I'd be happy to. Let's go find a seat, I think Dusk will appreciate a bit of a rest." They walked towards one of the nearby public benches, she began telling the story as they did.
"So when I was just a little lady, even littler than y'all, I didn't want to spend my life on a dusty old apple farm. I wanted to see all the amazing things the world had to offer. So when Ma, Pa, Big Mac and I when to Manehattan, I just knew I'd find out who I was meant to be."
Dusk's eyebrow rose for a moment. He didn't know exactly why but something about Applejack's story seemed... off. "Your whole family went?" he unintentionally voiced his thoughts.
"Uh, yea," Applejack answered, "we were all going down to the annual Farmers of Equestria showcase to look at all the fancy new equipment they'd come up with. All cept for Granny Smith o'course, she didn't want to bother with the big city. Anyhoo, when we first arrived, I was completely overwhelmed. I'd never seen such big buildings or so many people in one place. Not to mention the noise, it never stopped, even at night."
As Applejack told her story, Dusk couldn't help but focus on that one little detail about her parents. She never mentioned her parents going with her to Manehattean, he thought, last time I heard this story, she went to say with her aunt and uncle Orange... Wait a minute! What am I thinking 'last time I heard this story'? AJ's never told me where she got her mark. So why does it sound so familiar?
"Dusk?"
Could I have just had a weird dream and confused it with a memory?
"Dusk?"
It wouldn't be the first time...
"DUSK!" he snapped back to reality to find Applejack and the three girls giving him worried looks.
"You alright there, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked, "looked like you zoned out there for a moment."
Dusk shook his head and gave an apologetic laugh, "Yea sorry, I was thinking about something. I'm still listening though, what happened next?"
Applejack looked at him a moment longer but then shrugged it off and continued, "well, like I was sayin', I was looking through the hotel window trying to decide if I really wanted be a city girl or stay on the farm. That's when all of a sudden, there was this loud bang in the sky. I looked up and there was the brightest rainbow I'd ever seen, and it was leading me back to the farm. I knew it had to be a sign that I was meant to be a farmer and that's when my cutie mark appeared." For emphasis, she rolled up her sleeves to reveal three bright red apples on her shoulder.
"I've been happily workin' the farm ever since."
"Aw. That was such a sweet story!" Sweetie cooed.
"Sweet? Try sappy," Scootaloo mocked gagged, "Come on! We've got to find Rainbow Dash and hear the cool way to get a cutie mark." The little seraphim took off once more with her two friends following shortly after.
Applejack gave a hearty chuckle, "ha ha, those three sure are a hand full some times, ain't they Dusk?"
Dusk sighed, "it's my own fault for agreeing to watch them before I knowing what that meant." As he turned to follow, he stopped for a moment and looked back at Applejack. "Say AJ," he asked, "this might sound random but... do you have an aunt and uncle named 'Orange'?"
The farmer thought for a second before answering, "Noope, at least none that I can reckon." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "then again, Ma didn't hardly ever talk 'bout her side of the family much. All she'd ever say is that her daddy lived in Vanhoover and that she'd tell us the rest some day... Never mentioned any siblings though, why'da ask?"
"Oh, just idle curiosity," he lied. "I'd better go catch up with those girls. See you latter, Applejack." He closed his eyes and teleported.
Applejack was sure he wasn't being quite honest about his reasons for asking but decided to let it go for the time being.
***
Kevin sat back in his chair as he awaited the results from the computer. A requisition from S.M.I.L.E. and the most sophisticated machine available outside of the military. The most advanced hardware ever assembled combined with state of the art software, engineered by Equestria's finest. The perfect platform for hacking into the mysterious Auryn Cube, as he had taken to calling it.
After 6 grueling hours of analyzing, jury rigging and data crunching, the computer was finally ready to interface with the cube. A dialog box appeared on screen asking permission to proceed with the process. Kevin leaned in, this was it, the moment of truth. Soon he would have all the answers he'd been desperately searching for. With a grin, he clicked the button marked 'yes'.
"Error 227: requested information requires <level 3: admin user>. Access denied."
To this day, members of the S.M.I.L.E. I.T. department speak in hushed whispers about the agent who somehow managed to punch a holographic monitor.
***
Rarity groaned as she slowly regained consciousness, she felt cold, wet and her head ached fiercely. "Errwah, what happened?" she moaned as she set upright. She tried to rub her head but found that her hands seemed to be stuck behind her back. Confusion turned to fear as she realized she was tied to a chair in a strange room. She began to breath heavily as it became more apparent that this wasn't some weird dream. "Hello?" she cried, "can anyone hear me? Someone, please help!"
"Will you be quiet," came a familiar voice from behind her. "Trixie's head hurts enough without your shrill voice piercing it like a knife."
"T-Trixie, is that you Darling?" Rarity tried to turn around but couldn't quite manage due to the chair being tied to a column of some sort. She could only assume that Trixie was on the other side of the same column bound in a similar state. Realizing that moving was impossible, she spoke again to her fellow prisoner. "What in Harmony's name happened? Where are we?"
"We were attacked," Trixie said matter of factly, "by Dwarfs."
"Dwarfs?" Rarity asked, then it slowly started to come back to her. After arguing with Trixie, she'd been accosted by a filthy looking mole like creature that she know recalled as a Dwarf. She had made trade deals with the Dwarf Trade Guild for gems in the past but they had always been cordial. "I don't understand, why would the D. T. G. attack us?"
"They didn't," came a gruff voice from the darkness. Trixie and Rarity looked towards the sound to see a figure emerging from the darkness. The figure had grey skin and narrow eyes, he wore a dirty torn jeans and a torn red vest. Flanking him were two additional figures, one short even by dwarf standards with brown skin and a grey vest. The other look like a walking mass of muscle, a whole foot taller than his companions with teal skin and a very menacing look about him. All three wore dog collars with diamond studs.
"We are are the Diamond Dog Cartel," the one in red said, "and you two were stealing our gems."
"Stealing?" Rarity said indigently, "now see here, I don't know who you think you are-"
"Rarity!" Trixie tried to interrupt.
"-but prospecting laws clearly state that we were fully within our rights to look for gems in that region-"
"Rarity!!!"
"-and I'll have you know that I have contacts within the Guild and one call can have you all-"
*SMACK*
Rarity's tirade was cut off as the red clad dwarf delivered a sharp slap to her face. Rarity looked stunned as her aggressor simply grinned at her. "We are not with the guild, little genie," he laughed, "and your silly little laws don't mean shit to us." He motioned to his two henchmen one of which approached rarity and undid her bindings, the other untied Trixie. Rarity stood and with her hands free, rubbed the sore side of her face.
"Now, listen closely," the leader said, "the name's Rex and don't forget it. Normally when we catch someone stealing in our territory, we simply persuade them to look elsewhere." When he emphasized 'persuade', his cohorts let out low chuckles that sent shivers down Rarity's spine. "However, we noticed you seem to have an interesting ability, one that could be very useful to us." Rex crossed his arms, never taking his eyes off of Rarity. "So here's the deal, we'll overlook your transgressions if you agree to help us find red quartz."
Rarity's eyes widened. Red quartz was a rare and highly controlled magical mineral. Harmless in it's natural state but when refined into it's pure form it was very volatile. It had no real use other than being weaponized, or aiding in scientific studies. And these guys didn't look like scholars.
"And if I refuse?" Rarity asked with some trepidation.
All three dwarfs gathered around her staring quite menacingly. "Let's just say that we always get our due," Rex then looked up towards Rarity's forehead, "djinn mana gems go for quite a bit on the black market you know..."
"I... I see, well it seems I don't have a choice then."
"Good. Now then, you will find the gems and you," he turned to Trixie, "will dig for them. I think this will work out nicely." The three dwarfs laughed with Rarity and Trixie looked at each other with fear in their eyes.
***
Back in Ponyville, Dusk and the crusaders had run into Fluttershy while searching for Rainbow Dash and much to Scootaloo's dismay, her friends wanted to hear her cutie mark story as well.
"I remember I was about your age," Fluttershy started, "my mother was taking me and my brother on a trip through the forest." Once again, Dusk was listening more intently than he thought he would. Some of the details were not adding up in his mind.
"While we were walking, I saw a cute little bunny off the path and I wanted to get closer to it. But, before I knew it I got separated from Mom and Zephyr," Fluttershy looked a little abashed at that. "When I looked up and they weren't there, I was terrified. I curled up into a little ball and cried."
"The next moment I felt a little tickle on my leg, I looked up and saw the little bunny I'd been following. He wasn't alone either, there were some birds and butterflies and all sorts of critters all coming up to me. I picked up the bunny and held him close, it made me feel a lot better."
"What about the explosion?" Dusk asked without thinking. Everyone stopped to look at him.
"Um, how did you know about that?" Fluttershy asked.
"Wait, there really was an explosion?" Scootaloo asked, suddenly more invested in the story.
"I uh... I thought I remember you saying something about that once?" Dusk lied with a grin.
"Oh, well there was an explosion, or at least I think there was. I remember a loud bang that scared all the animals away. It startled me too, but when I saw how afraid the little animals were, I couldn't help but want to comfort them the same way they did me. So that's exactly what I did, I went to each of them slowly and gently and I told them there was nothing to be afraid of. They all came back to me looking to me for comfort and protection. I knew in that moment that I wanted to keep them safe forever, and that's when my cutie mark appeared."
Fluttershy showed her shoulder where three pink butterflies in a triangle arrangement stood out proudly against her smooth peach colored skin. "Mama and Zephyr found me a little while later, she was so proud of me for earning my cutie mark that she let me keep the bunny. He made me feel safe when I was scared so I called him my little guardian angel." At the sound of his name, Angel Bunny hopped on to Fluttershy's shoulder and nuzzled her cheek.
"Aww that's so sweet," Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle said at the same time. Scootaloo, once again, rolled her eyes.
"But, what about Rainbow Dash?" Dusk asked.
Fluttershy looked at him with confusion, "Dusk, I didn't meet Rainbow Dash until I went to flight school."
Dusk held a hand to his head, that's not right, I remember hearing this story. She fell off a cloud while Rainbow was racing.
"Dusk are you alright?"
Dusk snapped out of his thoughts, he saw Fluttershy and the girls looking at him with concern.
"Yes!" he said quickly, "yes I'm fine." Except I'm going crazy...
"Well now that, that's out of the way, can we PLEASE go find Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo insisted.
"Oh," Sweetie Belle piped up, "let's go ask my sister, I think she mentioned something about needing to see Rainbow today. She'll know where to find her."
The three girls hurried off with Dusk following close behind, though his mind buzzing. Twice now he could have sworn he'd heard his friend's cutie mark story and twice now he'd been wrong. Just what was going on in his head.
***
Kevin was busy setting up his replacement holographic monitor when he felt a tug in the back of his mind. It was the ward he'd placed on Trixie signaling that she was out of her allowed perimeter. He knew, of course that she was heading out with Rarity that morning to gather gems or something of that nature so he'd temporarily expanded the range. If it was going off now then she was well outside the boundaries of Ponyville.
Standing up, he drew a circle in the air with his right hand while making specific gestures with his left. A crude circular map appeared in the air with basic shapes representing landmarks and features. In the middle was a small caricature of his face surrounded by a few squares representing buildings and to the right, waaay past the red boundry line was a blinking, blue Trixie face complete with wizard cap and winking eye. Under the Trixie icon was a set of coordinates.
"What are you doing way over there?" Kevin asked himself as he punched the numbers into his Glass to get a more accurate map. When the map loaded, his eyes widened and his breath caught. The pointer was right in the middle of a big red square labeled 'DD territory'.
"Ah hell, this is going to be a long day..."