//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Preparations for the Inevitabile // Story: Legacy of Kain: Harmony's Rise // by Time Reaper //------------------------------// Ponyville, Carousel Boutique Sweetie Belle was having a very boring day as of now, she wanted to help Rarity but it looked like her sister wasn't so keen on having her help on the sewing machine, or making food, or anything in general. Now, Sweetie Bell was trying to think on something to do on her own or with her friends, maybe cutie mark crusading? She wasn't sure, but she wanted to do something and stop being bored. As she tried to think on the today and how to enjoy it, her mind started to think on the what haven't been tried yet and what of it didn't mean to enter into harm's way. In the end, while she couldn't come up with something new for her cutie mark, she resolved in going to see her friends, in the hopes of having a better day with them. "Rarity, can I go playing with Applebloom and Scootaloo?" For a moment, as the dress maker kept on making dresses, it looked like Rarity didn't pay any attention to her little sister but her answer disproved that theory, although she didn't stop looking at the dress she was making. "You sure you're going to play and not crusading? I don't want you doing anything dangerous or getting anywhere near the Everfree." As Sweetie Belle understood the why, she decided to simply accept her terms. "Yes Rarity, neither I or my friends, will go anywhere near the Everfree Forest." Having accepted her terms, Rarity decided to let her sister go to play with her friends, just in time as the Boutique's owner decided to pick her cat in trying out the dresses she was making. While the idea of helping Rarity with making dresses was out of the question, Sweetie Bell couldn't just ignore the idea of doing one herself, after all, it would be very nice if both she and her friends could have something to wear that showed they were the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Then, a new idea came to her mind, one that could help her with the one Cutie Mark that they haven't tried yet even though they already said they were going to achieve it. The idea was simple, both she and her friends promised that they would help Raziel to befriend the ponies of Ponyville, that means that all they had to do was helping Raziel to be closer to them and, what better way to befriend the ponies, than having a nice clothing covering him? All she had to do was convincing her friends on the idea, not realizing that she was already breaking her promise to Rarity regarding crusading. It was flawless. As Sweetie Bell passed through the Library, on her road to Applebloom's house, she found Twilight and Applejack having a discussion. Normally, Sweetie Bell wouldn't be minding about this types of conversations, but she needed to know if she could play with Applebloom, so she decided to get closer to the pair, hearing part of their conversation as a result. "Applejack, this isn't so simple! If we don't think this straight ahead, we may be causing problems." Said a very stern librarian, at which the determined farmer responded. "Look, Twilight, Ah' understand your concern, but m'ah family lives close to the Everfree and Ah' would like to sleep knowing that all we have to worry about are some Timberwolves and not a dangerous..." As Applejack noticed Sweetie Bell, both mares realized how a filly, which reunited with a pair of fillies that liked a lot getting into trouble, was about to hear information that she shouldn't be hearing, which lead to a very abrupt change of topic. "Hi Sweetie Bell!" - Saluted a very nervous Twilight. - "What brings you here? More books to get an idea about Cutie Marks? I hope so because I won't let you try again being a book organizer." As Sweetie Bell almost fall for the trap of changing topics, she decided to go for her main objective first. "What? No, I'm here to ask Applejack if I could play with Applebloom and Scootaloo, I promise that we'll behave." After hearing Sweetie Bell's question, Applejack saw no problem with it and decided to accept it under one condition. "Alright, you can play with her, but as long as you don't get close to the Everfree, it's been getting more dangerous lately and we don't want you going to harms way until we figure out what's going on in there." "So that's what you've been talking about? Do you know what's going on in there?" Sadly, for Sweetie, her question wasn't exactly what the two mares wanted to talk about and they also were awful at hiding their intentions. "What? Oh, no, that was just another thing we were discussing about, we were actually talking about... eh..." - As Twilight tried to find a new topic, she found a dress that had a problem with one of its buttons and immediately knew how to end the conversation. - "This dress" -. Sweetie Bell looked at Twilight with high intrigue at this, forcing Twilight to continue on her comment. - "My dress has a problem and I was originally talking to Applejack to go see Rarity and ask her to fix my dress, right Applejack?" As Applejack, albeit slowly, understood what she was talking about, she followed Twilight's logic and followed her towards Rarity's home to ask her for help on Twilight's dress. Sweetie Belle understood that they didn't want to talk about the Everfree for some reason but she also understood that it would be better if she let her sister and her friends take care of it. That way, all she had to do now was talking to both Scootaloo and Applebloom to make a new meeting at the Tree House. It didn't take too long before the tree fillies finally met up together and started to discuss what they would do today, mainly, to continue on the one cutie mark they decided to so a while ago without actually knowing how to achieve it: Making Raziel befriend Ponyville. "I say" -. Started the quick thinking pegasus. - "That we should begin with making Raziel saving Ponyville from a huge monster". This idea, luckily, didn't sit well on the other crusaders, starting with Applebloom. "But, how could Raziel save Ponyville from a monster when there hasn't been a monster in Ponyville? Besides, he already said that he wont to go to Ponyville" - With that first hole made, Sweetie Belle decided to add her own shots at the holes in that idea. - "Yeah, besides, even if Raziel managed to get into Ponyville without causing more havoc, Twilight and her friends would take care of the situation long before Raziel was actually needed." And, with that, the first idea was sank. Then came Sweetie Belle's idea to redeem that knight in a horrible armor. "I know, what if we make him a suit that covers him so he's more presentable to Ponyville?" While the idea had as much heart as the previous one, this also had some holes in it, the first one spotting it being also Applebloom. "But how would that make the ponies to like him more? Besides, who would make the clothes for him? For all Ah' know, neither of us can make a dress, Rarity doesn't even know him and we don't even have his measures to make the garments." In that moment, both Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo decided to look at Applebloom as if they were demanding her to make an idea of her own. "Sorry, Ah' don't have an idea either. It's not that Ah' don't want to help, but its just that he already helped me twice and saved our lives in that second time, if we're going to help him getting into Ponyville then we must find a way to do it on the right way, not by making some half made plan." As hurtful as her words were, the fillies knew she was right, any idea they had to make Raziel closer to the ponies required to get into the Everfree in some way or make their sisters or their friends to engage Raziel and that idea was almost as hard to do as trying to find their cutie marks. "I think I know what we could do" -. Replied a thoughtful Sweetie Bell. - "Since we're not allowed to get deep into the Everfree, we could try to find him around the Everfree and ask for his measures. Then we ask Rarity to make the clothe and say that it's either for a friend or to give her a challenge." And, before Scootaloo could deliver her idea gain, Sweetie left in place that the monster idea would be after finding a way for the ponies to see him saving them. With that said, the three fillies decided to spend the rest of their day trying other types of Cutie Marks, mainly, search cutie marks and catching bugs cutie marks. It was later, as the day was ending, that the Cutie Mark Crusaders decided to take a look into the Everfree Forest, so close to them, housing some of the most dangerous creatures they've ever known, with one of them being their friend. They wondered how they would manage to find Raziel when it was living inside the forest and they couldn't just enter without a reason, this caused a debate among the three fillies regarding how they should find him. One of them was saying that they should enter into the forest, the other was saying that they should be shouting his name but the debate was quenched when the third one felt a chill, a familiar chill, crossing down her spine moving around them long enough for the three fillies to feel it. As they were trying to figure out what the chill was, they felt a second chill, this one also having a creepy feeling, as if it wanted to do mean things, and the two chills started to move around the crusaders. They wondered what were those chills moving around them, Applebloom thought that it could be Raziel, Sweetie Bell thought that it must be something on the weather while Scootaloo theorized that they were ghost, theory that Sweetie Bell dismissed since "ghost aren't real" but, before they could have more time to analyze this moment, the second one disappeared just as quickly as it was felt while the first familiar one started to move into the Everfree Forest. All of that was felt in a matter of seconds for the three fillies, letting them wonder what just happened and, before they could even start to wonder what'd happened, the answer came in the sound of a great force coming out of the ground. The three fillies wondered what could that be, with the word 'ghost' starting to become very annoying, and cuddled up together in fear, hearing how whatever came out of the ground started to make the scariest sounds they've ever heard in their lives. Fear started to creep into them, paralyzing their legs and forbidding them from moving. As the sounds started to pause, the three fillies started to look into the Everfree Forest with a dreading sensation as the potential end of their lives was coming to them, in a very nice twist, what originally was complete fear was quickly replaced by happiness and safety as two dark blue eyes appeared in the forest, which made the three fillies scream with happiness the eyes owner's name. "Raziel!" The two pair of eyes quickly turned into their direction and opened wide once it found them, with that familiar and charming voice recognizing them. "Applebloom? Scootaloo? Sweetie Bell? What are you doing here so close to the forest and why do you scream so loud my name? Don't you realize that you could attract an undesirable creature that way?" The three fillies ignored his worries and decided to get as close to the Everfree as possible, all the while letting him know how happy they were for seeing him. "Raziel" -. Started Applebloom. - "We were talking about you on our Club House" -, she said while aiming her hoof at the mentioned house, right beside them. - "And how to make the ponies of Ponyville to accept you". The information shocked Raziel. "You did?" "Yes" -, continued Sweetie Bell. - "We were discussing a few ideas and we settled on making you look less dreadful by sewing some clothes." Raziel's voice only left open his skepticism. "Really?" - It was quite clear that he wasn't so open to the idea. - "And how do you plan on making my clothes to make me look less dreadful? You would need a full body garment to hide my tormenting figure." Sweetie Bell decided to argue back before Scootaloo could even try to pitch her idea. "Well, my sister Rarity is a dress maker and she knows quite a lot about sewing, all we need is your figures and ask her to make the dress, can we?" In that moment the three fillies decided to drop their biggest weapon: The cute little fillies look, bombing Raziel with three pairs of puppy eyes. No pony on earth has managed to defeat that weapon and they were hoping that Raziel would be no exception, which was looking like for how long he was taking to make a proper answer. This was a moment where the fillies thought that they were going to get a Cutie Mark for being rejected but, to their surprise and minutes of waiting, Raziel decided to give them an answer that seemed to satisfy them. "I like your proposal but I don't want some huge clothes that won't be of any use to me" -. The three fillies were about to scream in frustration, but Raziel went ahead of them and gave them the second part of his answer. - "Instead, I would like for you to make me an insignia". The three fillies went from anger to shock, after all, "just an insignia?" That wasn't something that any normal pony would ask for, although Applebloom and Sweetie Bell were already learning that this wasn't a pony to begin with. "Yes, an insignia. It could be a very long piece of cloth that could have a symbol that's very important to me. Not too big, just enough for me to wear it and that allows me to show it wherever I go." As he said this, he took out his claw from the shadows, scaring both Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell at its sight and leaving Applebloom slightly giggling at her friend's reaction while remembering her first experience with that claw; with said claw, Raziel started to carve on the ground the shape of his insignia. It was quite big, bigger than a filly when it came to length, but that wasn't what interested the fillies. What interested the fillies was the weird symbol he was drawing inside the picture. To them, it looked like a long snake with a draconian mouth waiting trying to eat something. "I would like the symbol to be white with the rest of it being colored red" -. Said a very stoic Raziel, not even bothering with the three fillies looks at the drawing. - "Do you think your sister could sew something like that? I'll pay her whatever's needed to make it." Sweetie Bell looked at Raziel and noticed how his eyes which, even though they had no pupils, looked as if they were hopeful to get this piece of cloth to be made. She took a better look at the symbol drawn on the floor and decided to think about its shape, perhaps it had some deep meaning to Raziel "Is this something very important to you?" - She looked at the eyes hidden in the shadows and how they nodded. That was all she needed to know. - "Alright, I'll try to make Rarity do this and, in the case she says no, I'll do it myself" -. She took a little bit more time to look at it and asked him. - "And what does that symbol means to you?" As she looked up, where Raziel was located, she saw how, even though the eyes were looking the same way into her direction, they gave a more cheerful expression, which was heard on Raziel's tone, peaceful, happy but, above all, grateful. "That symbol means more to me than you could ever know or understand, thank you" -. And, right before he decided to leave, he left them with a way to find him. - "If you ever need to talk to me again, next time leave a message in the Club House with the hour and place of the meeting and I'll be waiting for you there. See you soon, dear ladies." And just like that, he disappeared into the dark, leaving some shocked fillies wondering what have they just agreed to. Sweetie Bell looked at the insignia once again, copying it on her notebook with all the measurements that it should have and letting clear the colors for it, and decided to part from her friends, although not before Scootaloo reminded them to tell Raziel her idea next time they meet, much to the fillies chagrin. Later that day, as Sweetie Bell was finally getting home, she decided to tell Rarity of her request but, to her wonder, she got there hearing the sewing machine sounding nonstop. "Hi Rarity!" - She said, but she heard no response, just the sewing machines. - "Rarity?" - As Sweetie Bell was getting close to the sound, she found a working Rarity making six dresses at the same time. - "Rarity, what's this?" - It was in that moment that the sewing machines stopped moving and Rarity finally moved her body to see her little sister back. "Oh! Sweetie Bell, how long have you been there? I was making this dresses for my friends so we can all go together to the Grand Galloping Gala, don't you think they'll look nice?" Sweetie Bell looked at her sister's dresses on the draws, how each one of them looked like master pieces just waiting to be created and be showed into reality. She really wanted to show her sister how amazing she could be, to be at least a bit as great as her, and she was sure of how she could do it. "They look great Rarity, I cannot wait until you make them and see how awesome they are. I would really like to be just like you." The Seamstress looked at her faithful fan showing her love and admiration for her, giving her a little bit of motivation to continue. "Well" -, responded the big sister, - "if you want to be just like me, then I recommend you to start with something small, perhaps a piece of clothe?" Granted, while Rarity said that in a motivating way, she really didn't expected Sweetie Bell to have something to make so fast. "Great idea Rarity! I was planning to ask you to make this for me but I think I'll try it myself." As Sweetie Bell was taking out her drawing, Rarity quickly fetched it before her little sister could get more great ideas and took a look at it. Once Rarity saw the drawing, relief came to her by realizing that it wasn't anything big but kind of simple at the same time. "Well, I do think that you could do this Sweetie Bell, but I'm not sure if you could make this without my help, I still remember what happened when you tried to get a seamstress cutie mark all by yourself." Sweetie Bell's face started to deflate at this statement. "What!? But you're already making those dresses, I told a friend that I would make him this and I don't want to disappoint him." As Rarity heard that Sweetie promised this to a colt, ideas of her starting to date already started to brew on her mind even though she knew that it was impossible that this offer could be romantic in any way since she was aware of how little chances there were for her sister to indulge in a relationship, she was also aware of how weird it was for her to make a piece of clothe for another colt, specially with those huge measures. Rarity took a look at her sister and thought on how much her sister wanted to make something like this for a friend, she hoped it was just a friend, and, after thinking a bit, she decided that this was better than having her crusading or getting close to the Everfree. "Well, I guess I could help you out a little bit with this once I have some free time, after all, what could this piece of cloth do to any of us?" Sweetie Bell's happiness couldn't be better exemplified on her face, glad to have a good moment with her sister for a while as she was also fulfilling her promise to her terrifying friend. Days Later Time has passed and the work between the sisters proceeded, there were some pauses between Rarity redoing her work for her friends over and over again and now having to make an outstanding amount of dresses in a very short time but, thankfully, the cloth was being completed by this moment, giving Rarity some precious time to finish her new commission quickly. As the piece of cloth was being completed, Sweetie Bell started to feel sad over the idea of no longer being able to enjoy this moment with Rarity, its not as if she didn't want to finish her piece for Raziel, but she had very little times like this with her big sister and she really wanted to have spend more time with her. Rarity was also enjoying this moments, although she needed more free time to finish the encargo asked to her by Hoity Toity, there was nothing in the world more important to her than having this moments with Sweetie but, sadly, as much she wanted to keep this moment alive, she needed to work on those dresses. That way, as the final touches were being done and the piece was finally being completed, the two sisters enjoyed the moment, not knowing when they would have a similar moment in their lives. That way, when the red cloth with a weird symbol inside was done, instead of jumping into the air, Sweetie simply hugged her sister with happiness and savored the moment when two sisters that normally didn't share many moments could enjoy of that beautiful moment where those born of the same mother could only experience. After that hug was done, Sweetie looked at the dress and hoped that it was done the way it was supposed to. "Thank you Rarity, when my friend asked me to make this cloth for him, I thought that it would be impossible to do." Rarity looked at her sister, her excitement replaced with satisfaction at a job well done. She wondered, what kind of colt would ask Sweetie Bell to do something like this, as much as she loved this moment with her, Rarity knew that, without her, Sweetie would have destroyed the boutique. Did this friend ignored how dangerous was her little sister with tools of any kind? "I do have to ask, Sweetie Bell, what is the name of your friend that asked you this without knowing how dangerous you are?" Sweetie Bell looked at her sister with an annoyed look, ignored her giggles, and responded with the innocence common from those who ignore what the grown ups know. " His name is Raziel and he's one of the most charming gentle... colt? I think, that I've ever met. You should meet him too." And, just like that, Rarity felt like if a rainfall have just drowned her and destroyed any sense of security she had. "Sweetie Bell" -. Asked Rarity with a contained voice that hid her fears and anger at how her little sister was so close to danger. - "From where did you met somepony with a name like that?" Sweetie Bell looked at Rarity with a pained expression, typical of those little ones who have been caught disobeying their grown ups. "Well, it was... on the Everfree..." -. In that moment, Sweetie Bell felt the forces of nature working against her as she said the words that would ensure her a punishment, although it weren't the ones she thought were going to cause her problems. - "Wait, don't misunderstand me, that was before you ban me from going there, I was going with Applebloom and Scootaloo to see if we could find..." - And it was here that Sweetie Bell understood why Rarity was now looking at her as if she has just committed a heinous crime. "So" -. Said the big sister as her words started to erupt the preemptive sounds of a furious volcano. - "You went to the Everfree Forest, not to search for Fluttershy, but rather to search for a creature already confirmed to be the most dangerous thing that Ponyville could've ever met?" - The anger in Rarity's eyes only made Sweetie Bell scared at what was coming, understanding completely what was going to happen very soon and there was no defense she could make to stop it. The Everfree Beast, well known by this point as something more than a myth, conceived as dangerous and powerful. Capable of defeating timberwolves, chimeras or even ursas, how could Sweetie Bell explain that the Everfree Beast was actually a dashing knight when she have just said that she sought the one thing everypony is afraid of in Ponyville? All Sweetie Bell could do now was shutting down and waiting for Rarity to give her her piece of mind for misbehaving so much. In that moment the volcano erupted and spewed a rain of heated spears that went through Sweetie Bell and made her fear for her own being, never seeing Rarity so angry in her life. She wondered if it was deserved and, if so, why did it have to be so hurtful. Rarity's words couldn't have been more piercing and truthful at the same time, common of those who are so angry at their beloved ones but that shouts it, not out of hatred, but out of love and fear at the idea of losing those figures they love so much. Better represented through Rarity's tears, her words only sought the desire to have Sweetie Bell safe, although it only made her feel as if she was the worst pony on the planet. And, as common from any volcano, Rarity's anger calmed down and, aware of how much she needed to talk about this to someone else, she went outside to calm herself down, leaving her little sister drenched on despair common from those who have gone through a painful experience. As Rarity went through the streets of Ponyville, she thought on how did it come to this, how and why did she just realized that her little sister was so close to a creature so dangerous. Her mind was going at high speeds, she wanted to know what she could do to fix this and, just as she was ranting on her mind, her hooves inadvertently took her to Twilight's library. As she moved, Rarity's mind wanted to do many things, she wanted to strangle her sister for putting herself in such danger, she wanted to destroy the Everfree Beast for being the danger she loathed so much towards those she loved so much, she wanted to blame Applebloom for having mentioned the name on the first place, she wanted to blame Twilight for not doing anything against it on the first place, all of that and more, but Rarity knew best, a lady wasn't of such attitude and the best she could do was to ask Twilight for help. She trotted through the streets of Ponyville, ignoring if it was whether the night or the day, she did not care. All Rarity cared was to find a solution to this predicament that had finally touched her family before it could harm it and that was what she asked Twilight, perhaps a reunion before asking Celestia for help? Well, that was what she ended asking Twilight, her voice now calmed down. After all, a lady was supposed to talk with complete harmony and not letting anger to take her over as she explained Twilight how did the Everfree Beast have already talked to both her sister as well as Applebloom and her friend Scootaloo. Sadly, for Rarity, just asking Celestia for help wouldn't do. In fact, asking Celestia for help would be hard, Twilight doesn't want to intrude in her life, either because of how busy her schedule has become after the earth shaking or because Twilight wanted to prove herself to her mentor. There was also the situation with this Everfree Beast, all the clues aimed at the creature she met during her encounter with Nightmare Moon and Twilight wanted to be sure of it, she would not drag her friends on this and she knew her spells in case she couldn't handle this beast, just in case it wasn't the creature she previously met in that castle, but her decision was made and it was said with a fiery determination that very few individuals are capable of replicating. "Rarity, I'll go to the Everfree Forest and find this Everfree Beast. I'll see what it is and decide what to do with it once and for all."