“It’s incredible, isn’t it?” A warm hoof descended on my back, sharply contrasting the frigid breeze.
I didn’t flinch. I didn’t stir the slightest bit. My eyes had locked themselves shut, and my throat had gone numb from cries that had died along with the strength of my lungs. I had all but retreated into myself, and a few small tremors were all that might have shown that I was alive. Were it not for Crystal’s hoof at that moment, I just might have. I owe her my sanity, though in a way it is she who owes it to me. But I digress.
“Such raw power. Few ponies have ever seen it and lived.”
Crystal’s voice shattered the black tendrils that had begun to envelop my mind. Her voice was the only thought in my mind in that moment. Nothing else existed, nothing! And there was nothing else to think about except the sweet sound of her voice to distract me from the horrors I had yet to accept. The power I’d wielded, and still held inside of me.
Her hoof left my back, but I could still hear her hoofsteps in the snow. She trotted off a few steps, then stopped. I heard her breathe in deeply, then sigh. “I haven’t seen it put to full use in years, decades even. Oh, what a true gem you are, and how lucky we are to have met each other.”
My breath caught for a moment. I tried to relax, but she had noticed.
“Oh, yes. I know what you are, what you can do. I’ve seen it. Seen you use it to control others. Such skill, and at such a young age. Ponies like you are all but legend. I could live a thousand years and never find a gem so valuable as you, or one wielding such power.”
“I was never really going to sell you. I’ve known what you were from the moment I met you. I could see it in your eyes. No, a pony like you could never serve somepony else, never be reduced to something as pitiful as a slave. I pity the fool who believes he could tame you. Actually, I don’t. But then again, I made peace with my sanity a long time ago.”
“And you need to do the same, Rarity.” I stirred. While a moment ago her voice had been doting and contemptuous, now it felt, caring. I felt her hoof on my snout.
“Rarity, I need you to look at me.”
I shook, visibly I’m certain, but steeled myself and gathered my breath. Slowly, I cracked one eye open. I opened my hooves, and saw Crystal’s beautiful blue eyes in front of me.
“There we go,” she said with a smile.
They say the eyes are the window to one’s soul. I believe it. Her pupils were so vast and dark, as though they contained troves of knowledge I could never begin to delve through. And yet they held such beauty. This close, I could see every facet of them, the ripples and valleys set into her irises, kaleidoscoping over each other as her pupils dilated and constricted slowly. They were a pair of blue sapphires, and I wanted them for myself. I wished very much that this moment could last, that I could stare into those eyes forever.
My snout brushed hers, and I recoiled instantly, scrambling to my hooves and backpedaling quickly. But I stopped once proper distance had been made. I stared back at her, and she just smiled as she continued on.
“You have such incredible power, and you could do such incredible things if you weren’t so afraid to use it. You stopped a griffon in his tracks, you slew a dragon. It’s a lot for a filly your age, but you can’t lock away who you are.”
I took a step back, but I could not look away. There was blue fire in her eyes that danced like a snowflake on the wind.
“It was even fun, wasn’t it? Holding that much power inside you? Letting it flow, and guiding it along a path you chose? To control that power, it was exciting. Don’t lie. I saw it in your eyes. You enjoyed it. You loved the thrill of holding another pony’s life in your hands, and then crushing it.”
Tears froze on my cheeks. I wanted to turn, to run away, to be anywhere but near her. She was… insane. And yet, I stayed. I stared at the fire in her eyes, and cursed her because I could still see it in my own. She was right, I had enjoyed it. I had wanted to kill him. And not just to protect her. He was simply… nothing. And he became nothing.
Crystal’s smile twisted into a terrifying grin.
“You did like it, didn’t you? There it is again. You want to wield it again. You want to feel that same rush. I know.”
She turned away, facing the nearby yak village.
“I’ve felt it before as well.”
There was a sound like a bell, a flash of blue, and a vibration of such magnitude, I shook as I felt it pass through me. Then, all sound, wind, and motion, stopped. Snowflakes hung in the air, suspended by some unseen force. The yaks, who had been loud enough to hear nearly a mile away before, were now utterly silent, despite being only half that distance now.
Then, there was a low creaking and groaning, which grew in intensity, joined by a cacophony of cracks and snaps. My ears swiveled forward to find the source, and what I saw took my breath. The unmistakable clear blue of crystal ice was rising from the base of every structure in Yaktown. Splinters of ice rose from the ground like frozen claws, and with them, the boundary between life and death in Yaktown.
It happened quickly—under a minute. Before I could fully comprehend what was happening, it was already done. Before me, where there had once been a bustling town, there was now a dome of twisted, icy thorns, trapping inside an entire crystallized village. It was the most macabre work of art I’d ever seen.
Crystal looked back at me with a smile that spoke of joy and excitement, but also triumph, conquest and victory. Power, such power, it terrified me. And yet fascinated me.
I shook my head, blinking away the glamourie. “You’re a monster,” I spat at her, shoving the wonder from my face with as much anger as I could muster.
Crystal threw her head back and laughed—no, cackled, like a witch. She returned my gaze a moment later with the same terrifying smile that did not belong to any sane pony.
“True, but so are you.”
All the anger drained from my face. The strength left my hooves and I collapsed onto the ground. Rage tried to build behind my face, but there was nowhere to direct it. Its target was me. Blast her, she was right. I’d killed, enjoyed killing, and done it without need.
“Don’t look so down, Rarity. You should be proud of what you are. I said few ponies have ever seen us and lived. Few have. You and I have seen each other, and lived. None, save the alicorns, can match our might, and even they have few who can withstand us for long.”
“We are cursed. Cursed to wield such power. Cursed to carry it our entire lives, and sacrifice part of ourselves to do so, but oh just look at the benefits. We were made to rule over them. Even dragons fall before us. The only one greater than us is the one who gave us this power, the one who cursed us. You met him too, didn’t you? In that cave in the mountains?”
I blanched. She nodded.
“You did I see. Yes, I was there too, a long time ago.” She looked past me, far back the way we had come. Then her eyes widened, glinting blue, and she reached a hoof out toward me. “Come with me.”
I stared at her, completely uncertain of how to respond, or even what I wanted to say. I took a step back. She took a step forward. Her look became pleading.
“Rarity, I want you to come with me. I’ve never met another pony like me, I...need you. I know I seem hard and cold… And I am. But even I get lonely. Please, you’re the closest thing I’ll ever have to a friend.”
Her eyes looked sad then. Genuine sadness, like she was preparing to face a great loss. I could not believe it. She had a soft spot. For me. My mouth opened and closed rapidly, but no words came. I wanted to run, but I also wanted to stay. I hated her, yet I was in awe of her. I needed her and I couldn’t stand her. I stood still, caught between coming and going, as I weathered the feeling of my heart splitting in two.
“I can teach you things,” She continued. There was desperate hope in her eyes now, and she took another step toward me. “I’m young, I know, but I’ve seen so much. I can help you master this power of yours, teach you to use it properly, help make it less of a curse. I can give you the tools to take whatever you want from this world. Please just come with me, Rarity.”
She broke into a sob. I was completely dumbstruck. Here she was, completely vulnerable, having bared everything, and I held not her life, but her happiness in my hooves. I felt sick. I could feel tears reaching for my own eyes as reality overwhelmed me.
“Please.” She said, dropping to her knees. “Please.” Her voice was barely above a whisper now. She knelt at my hooves, and I still had no answer for her.
“Yes.”
She looked up at me with a gasp. My eyes widened. Had I said that? For the first time since I’d met her, I saw true happiness in Crystal’s eyes. She stood to her full height, and looked up at me with joy.
“Yes.” I said it again, and this time, I felt warmth spread through my chest as I said it. “Yes, I will come with you.” It was as though somepony else were speaking for me, but I was all too happy to let them. If it meant I could gaze into her beautiful eyes whenever I wished, I would follow Crystal anywhere. She rushed forward to hug me, and I embraced her in kind.
I still wonder how such a happy moment came from such a horrific experience, but life is complicated. In that moment, everything that had happened thus far was just a memory, and none of it mattered any more.
And thus my journey began.
~ ~ ~
We spent the next several weeks on the road. Our saddlebags were laden with gold and jewels, and at last I was comfortable. Despite the sheer weight of it all, I found that I could bear it, and being that close to so much gold acted as a sort of stress relief, so I didn’t notice the weight of it as much. I never saw Crystal cry again, though it was very apparent that she was kinder to me than to other ponies we met along the way. We didn’t see many of course, but those we did she would speak to just long enough to drive them off or to rob their purses.
It was quite entertaining to watch actually, and she even taught me to do it. Just a small tap into my colder magic, and ponies became like snow in my hooves. I could suggest anything to them, and they followed like it was the most sensible thing in the world. A gentle hint to leave their money in the snow and forget about it as they trotted off, and not to bother looking back because they had always remembered it and never forgot.
I grew to learn when her smile was genuine, and when it meant that she had nothing but ill will toward a pony. I rarely saw the former, except when she and I would cuddle together near a fire. We got to do quite a bit of that as we traveled south; it took nearly three weeks to leave the frozen north, and see more green grass than snow.
Let me tell you, the green south is vastly more welcoming than the tundras up north. Ponies aren’t meant for the cold, at least not unicorns. And there was more food available down south. Not just the small rodents I used to occasionally hunt, either. But green grass, flowers, and other small shrubs that taste simply scrumptious. The grass didn’t taste as good as the flowering plants, but it wasn’t as bad as the meat. Unless your name was Crystal.
Remember when I said that ponies could and often did eat meat? Well, Crystal had a far more ravenous appetite for meat than I had. I actually had to stop her from murdering a pony we’d had a bad run in with just so she could eat him. It was a bit frightening, and she even tried to convince me to let her, though I was ready for her this time. Gods above, did I really brush that aside so easily? Such a foal I was.
~ ~
“Oh, come on, he tried to kill you. Please?” Crystal begged in a childish fashion that was ironically very unlike her.
I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t actually think he would have succeeded, do you?”
“Well, no. That’s why I’m here of course. I’d rip his throat out if he ever got close enough. It would actually be fun too...” She stared off into space with a devilish grin that might have frightened me, if I had not seen it a dozen times before. “Please, just let me do this for you?” She blinked several times, trying to look innocent, but it only added to her unsettling appearance.
I rolled my eyes and gave her a hard stare. “No! I’m still not okay with what happened up north. That really upset me, you know.”
“Ugh, come on,” Crystal groaned. “I won’t even hurt him. I’ll just snap his neck really quick. He won’t feel a thing. Heck, I could probably even get him to do it himself. Come on it’ll be really fun.”
“Absolutely not!” I said, putting my hoof down. “I don’t want you killing ponies just because you enjoy it. I’m still not sure how I feel about you liking it at all.”
She stared at me blankly for a moment, then dropped into a sly smile I had seen far too many times before. Her eyes glinted blue as she spoke “Oh? Are you sure? After all, he did try to hurt you, and he needs to realize that we are not helpless little fillies to be taken advantage of. No, we are the two most dangerous beings in the world. The world should fear us, and who are we to moralize their deaths if they seek to harm us. You even almost killed him yourself. He deserves to die for trying to hurt you. You know you want to see him dead just as much as me. I’m just protecting you, Rarity. Don’t you want me to protect you?” Her head tilted just slightly to the side, and I felt myself follow it.
I nearly started to nod, but then blinked. “What? No. Hey, I know what you’re doing. Don’t you use your eyes on me like that. I’m not one of them!”
I was only half angry with her, but her eyes betrayed a glint of hurt. I thought we had established, if not trust, at least an understanding that we were above other ponies, and shouldn’t try to overpower each other. It really was insulting that she thought she could use her eyes on me. I decided to press my advantage.
“I can sleep away from the fire from now on. I’m as familiar with the cold as you are. I won’t freeze.” I gave her my best hardened stare, praying to whatever gods that I would not betray how painful the very thought of spending a night away from her was.
The corner of her lip turned up. Oh no, had she seen through it? She must have. She grew a smirk. Drat. I did my best to hold the stare, but I could tell it was useless. She knew the truth.
“You wouldn’t dare.” She took three steps toward me as she said it, pressing her face very close to mine, her eyes glinting even deeper. “Every night, you’re the one who comes up to me—don’t deny it.” She pressed further, and I found myself quite literally off balance as my hooves struggled to trot backward quickly enough. “You need me more than I need you.” She took a lunging step forward, and threw me onto the ground. My eyes shut instinctively, but before I could even raise my hooves in defense, she was on top of me, smothering me under her matching weight.
Something bumped into my snout gently. I opened my eyes, and saw it was her hoof. She was grinning playfully. My cheeks grew hot, and I realized I’d been beaten. I relaxed, letting the now growing heat between us warm my body. A smile crept across my face, and I tried not to laugh.
Her smile widened. “See? I win.” She reached in and nuzzled my snout, letting out a soft hum. “But you’re right, we shouldn’t cheat on each other.”
She got up, and I found myself craving her touch once again. But the moment was fleeting, and I quickly shook my head to clear it.
~ ~
That was the start of our relationship. She and I grew close over the next few months. I discovered during a night around the fire that her name wasn’t actually Crystal. When she heard me call her that she laughed.
“Wait, Crystal? Is that what you’ve been calling me?” she snickered.
I looked away and fussed about for something to occupy my hooves with. My face had grown hot. “I—well—yes,” I finally stammered. “Why is there something wrong with it?”
“What? No, no it’s just—” She stopped laughing and sat up, then placed a hoof on her chin and gazed upward. “Not bad, actually. Okay, Crystal it is.” She nodded and gave me a smile.
“I—do you not already have a name?” I asked incredulously. She laughed again.
“Oh, well, not really. I just go with whatever feels right at the time, but to my crew, I’ve always just been ‘Boss’, so I’ve never really needed a name.”
“But… didn’t your parents ever give you a name?”
Crystal’s smile vanished so quickly I wondered if it had ever been there at all, and met me with a stare that sent shivers down my spine. I flinched back and readied my horn for defense.
“If you really care about me, never ask me that again.”
Other than the dance and crackle of the fire, one might have believed time had stopped again. I opened and closed my mouth several times, but it took me several minutes to finally speak.
“A-alright.”
Her smile returned as quickly as it had appeared, and she reached over to kiss me on the cheek.
“Thank you.”
The rest of that night was mostly spent in silence, but we didn’t need to talk. I might not have believed it myself if I wasn’t there, but the pony who had not a few months earlier forced me to commit horrifying acts, and convinced me I’d enjoyed it, had become my closest friend somepony I cared deeply about.
~ ~
One of the moments where she really stole my heart, was nearly a month after entering the green south and a land Crystal said was called Equestria. I gasped!
“The Equestria? Ruled by Celestia the Great?”
“Oh, you’ve heard of her?” She seemed surprised. “I didn’t realize word of Celestia and Luna had reached that far north.”
A filly is allowed to swoon. It’s adorable. “Oh, I’ve heard stories. I hear their manes shine like the stars, and that ’their beauty is immeasurable’.” I couldn’t resist taking a line from the story my father had told me. “Is it true they move the sun and the moon? That doesn’t seem possible.”
Crystal rolled her eyes. “It’s not, technically.”
My mouth dropped open. I listened intently and kept walking. This was sure to be interesting.
“There’s this old legend about Luna being locked away in the moon or something, but even Celestia doesn’t have the power to affect something that far away. Don’t get me wrong, she’s worthy of her legend. I’ve never met a more powerful alicorn, but the stories oversell her way too much. She governs a small city on the side of a mountain, and oversees the surrounding country. You can actually see Canterlot Mountain from here.”
I had stopped listening, “You’ve met her?!” I had also stopped walking.
Crystal turned and gave me a big smirk. “Oh yeah, I’ve met her. Actually, you’ll probably meet her too. She may not be able to move the sun and the moon, but she can certainly sense when a threat to her citizens enters the country. Something as powerful as you and me? She probably already knows we’re here.”
The gaze she cast into the distance can only be described as devious. It was one of knowing, of forethought, of pride, amusement and superiority. I never doubted for one second that she had plans for us to meet Celestia, and not with friendly intentions.
I followed her gaze toward the horizon, where a lonely mountain stood tall in the wide plain. A solitary monolith, holding vigil over the vast land beneath it. “Is that… ?”
“Aye, that’s the royal high mountain city of Canterlot, home of Alicorn Princess Celestia, daughter of the sun.”
“She can’t be!”
“Oh it’s just a title,” she said, waving a hoof dismissively. Her gaze softened as it returned to me. “Come on, let’s get moving.”
We continued on for the better part of the day. Crystal moved forward with such blind focus I wondered at times if she remembered I was there. She stared sharply ahead, eyes never diverting to the left or the right.
It baffled me how she could simply ignore the grass, and the sun, and the bright blue sky. I had never seen so much green. The spring thaws had occasionally brought patches of grass to the surface, but to cover the entire ground for miles with such a rich verdant carpet, it was unthinkable! And trees! We’d had trees up north, but never in such vast forests.
I looked up at the sky, and noticed a small patch of clouds that looked like a full rainbow. A rainbow cloud. Was it possible?
“Um, Crystal? What in the world is that?”
Crystal followed my hoof.
“Hm? Oh, that’s just Cloudsdale, the floating city.”
“A floating city!” I could not stop my hoof from covering my mouth. The better to stop flies from entering anyway.
“Yeah, it’s really nothing special, just a bunch of clouds some pegasi pulled together one day.”
“Nothing special? But, just look at the way the rainbows flow like a waterfall. It’s absolutely beautiful.”
“Eh, it’s alright I guess. Clouds aren’t really my thing.” She gave me a sideways glance before continuing. “Besides, they’re pretty lacking in gems, which is what we’re here for anyway. Come on, I hear there’s a place south of Canterlot where gems are as abundant as trees.
I wheeled around until we were nose to nose. “You mean it?” I asked as I held her close and stared into her beautiful sapphire blue eyes.
She smiled. “Rubies and Sapphires galore. We find this place, we’ll never have to chase after other ponies and steal their loot, ever again. We can live like royalty right there.” Her voice softened. “And I won’t even have to hurt anypony.”
I gasped. She really meant it. No more killing. It was like a dream come true. I leaned against her and sighed. There was hope for her yet.
~ ~
I know, it seems strange. A filly like me, barely old enough to realize my magic, caught in the early throes of romance. Perhaps I project too much of what it became onto what it was, or perhaps true friendship and true love are so near to each other that one cannot be separated from the other. Perhaps I was simply lonely, and having someone like me whom I could tell anything to, whom I trusted with my life, felt comforting.
Whatever it was, it blossomed into a deep loyalty that kept both of us looking to the other at the end of every day, and made our journey that much quicker, that it seemed but a few days until we found ourselves deep in the hills on the northern end of the Everfree Forest.
“I still don’t understand why we couldn’t stop in Canterlot on the way.” I chided. “We passed so close to the mountain I could have frozen it solid.”
“Because, as much as ‘Celestia the Great’ probably already knows we're here, I really don't like drawing attention to myself until I want all the attention for myself. Make sense?”
I nodded, returning my gaze to the trail ahead. The trees broke open further uphill, revealing a rocky scar carved into the valley.
Gravel crunched beneath our hooves as we strode out onto the crag. I slowed a bit, letting Crystal take the lead. But she went not ten hoofsteps farther before turning back to me.
“We're here.” She gave me that same expectant look that she always did.
I blinked, looking around quizzically. “What, here?!”
She nodded.
“But there's nothing out here!” I balked.
She smirked and shook her head. “Come on, Rarity haven't you ever heard the expression ‘a diamond in the rough‘? Can't you feel what's out here? It's your special talent after all.” There it was again, that triumphant, expectant grin.
I looked around again. No, I stopped looking.
I closed my eyes—my physical eyes, anyway.
I brushed Snowflurry for just a moment, with my magic, feeling the familiar twinge of her gems.
Oh.
Crystal was right.
There were gems nearby. I could feel them, just the same as I always had.
I smiled. My horn lit up, and I walked forward. The tug directed itself further and further downward until I could walk no farther forward. The pull was straight down.
“Here.” I said, opening my eyes. “There are gems here.”
There was no response. I looked around. Crystal was nowhere to be seen.
“Hello. Crystal, dear, where did you go?”
I heard clamoring and a loud yelping behind me. I spun to see Crystal, eyes aglow, towing a pack of dogs, transfixed by her spell. They each wore collars emblazoned with various gems, and there was a ravenous hunger in their eyes, just like Crystal often had when she looked at somepony’s suffering. These were no ordinary dogs.
“Crystal, are those…”
She grinned wide. “You know they are. You didn’t think I was going to let you and me dig up these gems did you?”
“Well, I... yes, but…”
Crystal fixed me a glare that silenced all further protests.
I gasped. Why was she so short with me? Could she be losing interest in me? Was it my lack of bravado. Oh forgive me, how smitten I was. I had to win her back. I watched silently, chewing on the inside of my cheek, as the diamond dogs began digging. Was it my fierceness she’d admired, or the way I stood up for myself? Wasn’t she just lonely? Wasn’t I lonely? Was I only good for finding gems?
Thinking about it that much made me realize it didn’t matter, because I needed her for the same reasons; I needed those jewels. The dogs weren’t moving fast enough. I could dig more quickly on my own.
I glared at them, and almost as if they could hear my thoughts, they began to work faster, emitting yelps and whines as they did. Crystal looked up at me, momentary shock on her face. But she soon settled into a grin, nodded with approval, and looked down at the dogs.
“A stranger’s pain for your personal gain, in time is a price found not so nice.”
I jumped, then turned toward the sound. The dogs’ digging stopped. There was silence in the clearing, broken only by the soft hoofsteps of a strange, striped pony who had just emerged from the nearby forest. Just when I thought I’d seen everything... I didn’t think we were far enough south to find zebras.
“Oh shut up, you old windbag.” Crystal snapped at her, eyes glowing blue. “I don’t have time for your fancy rhymes. Unless you’d like to help us out, that is.” She smiled at the zebra, who glared straight back, unblinking.
I saw Crystal’s face turn sour, and beads of sweat formed on her forehead. The zebra frowned warningly at us. Perhaps I imagined it, but I could swear her eyes shone gold for the briefest of moments. What she said next never made sense to me until years later. In a voice that was her own, and somehow, not her own, like it was pulled back from the future to be said here, the zebra spoke.
“The gem of fools who is not her age
Fly swift from here. Make us not your stage.
Your puppet strings can never last
While you still run from your own past.”
The wind seemed to shift as she said it. I felt a shiver run down my spine as she finished. Crystal, however...
“Oh can it! Go write a spell!” Crystal shouted at her, shattering the glamourie, but otherwise not fazing the zebra.
Icicles formed on the trees near the zebra but stopped a few feet away. She held Crystal’s gaze for a few moments, as though challenging her. The icicles grew thicker, but made no progress toward the zebra. When it was obvious nothing was going to happen, she turned and trotted curtly away.
“Yeah good riddance,” Crystal called after her. She continued to glare into the trees, which froze in the zebra’s wake but left her completely untouched. When she was gone from sight, Crystal flashed her glare back to me.
“Well? What are you staring at? Keep those dogs working!”
I felt struck by her words, such ire she displayed that I had not yet witnessed. It took me but a moment to remember myself, and wonder who this strange zebra was who could enrage Crystal so.
I turned back to the diamond dogs and pushed them to dig until their claws bled. I gazed hungrily into the dirt that flew everywhere beneath their diligent paws. I could all but smell the gems. They were just a few feet further.
“What are you doing?”
I blinked. Crystal’s voice had sounded so far away. I turned, to find that she was back and above me, and I was standing in the pit with the dogs, churning dirt with my own hooves. I looked down at the stains already climbing up my legs, and paled.
“Did you forget?”
I winced.
“Yeah, we have dogs for that. Don’t worry, I won’t let them eat anything.”
I looked back down at the whimpering pack of diamond dogs, shoveling dirt with painful swiftness.
“Hey, if you want to get filthy that’s on you, but don’t expect me to lick you clean afterwards.”
I looked between her and the scant feet left of dirt that I knew stood between me and glittering amazement. I knew my choice. I steeled myself and marched back up toward her. I was met with a triumphant sneer, but no snide remark. She simply snorted and said:
“Come on, I hear the lost Castle of the Two Sisters is around here. Let’s go find it.”
She turned and trotted into the Everfree at that. Before I could decide whether to follow her or not, my hooves began marching right behind her. I chose not to resist their pull. We went in search of the castle.
~ ~
What we found was the very definition of haunted. Cracked, crumbling stone, overgrown with vegetation, flanked by trees that should have fallen long ago, on the far side of a black ravine, traversed by a rotting bridge with frayed rope.
Oh, that it was not yet twilight, perhaps with a full moon, the scene might have been picturesque. Regardless, I found myself in envy of wings as we trotted across the creaking planks of a poorly designed bridge. Perhaps the ponies who built it simply had no better building materials. But for a castle home to two [said to be] goddesses, I was... disappointed.
As we got inside, I was met with even further disappointment. Tapestries of profound inspiration decorated the entirety of the main foyer. Each one individually was a stunning masterpiece, but as a whole they obscured each other's beauty, the result a gaudy and garish conglomerate.
Did she seriously intend to stay here long term?
I found the throne room immediately beyond much more palatable. Simple, smooth stone walls, painted to match the twin tapestries adorning the far wall. The effect elegantly and efficiently highlighted the subtle beauty of the sun and moon's likeness, which in turn drew attention to the thrones which sat beneath them. The thrones themselves carved from stone, and each adorned near the top with a small carving of its respective celestial body.
No doubt this room was designed to accentuate the full beauty of the two sisters themselves, who would literally have been the crown jewels of this ensemble. My own coat would look quite nice beneath either of these two banners. Perhaps this is not a bad base of operations after all.
“Do you like it?”
Her voice broke my daze, and I turned toward it. She was ascending the right hoof side of the twin stairs flanking the two thrones, staring up hungrily at the overhead tapestries. She flung her gaze upon me when I didn’t respond, and her expression both frightened and excited me.
“I uh-um…” I stammered. Unable to form words under her gaze. My face grew hot. She laughed.
“I knew it. You love it. You really are royalty, aren’t you?”
My heart jumped. Was that… no, not possible. Not from her. She was far too cold. I put her baffling remark aside and strode up the left side stairs, forming my thoughts quickly, and with distinction.
“It’s really... nice.” I started, fumbling for the proper words. “A-amazing, really. Though it’s perhaps a bit lonely. Wouldn’t it be nicer if we had some company? And I don’t mean the dogs.” I gave her a flat look. Non-threatening, but neither timid. She narrowed her eyes at me, gears clearly turning behind her piercing gaze. Then she smiled wickedly.
“Oh, you sly thing. You mean that little pony village nearby, don’t you? I gotta say, Rarity, I didn’t think you could impress me twice, but you really are as rare as your name implies.”
I regret to say that I was far too flustered by her flattery to realize what she was saying. She strode to the center of the parapet, and looked out over the throne room, then back at me.
“Let’s do it.”
My heart stopped. “I—what?”
“It won’t really make a ton of money, but it’ll be way more entertaining than anything we’ve done lately. I’ll bet that idiot Celestia won’t even notice. Not that she could stop me if she did.”
She seemed to be speaking to nopony in particular, eyes staring at the floor as her hoof tapped her chin. She looked up at me.
“Rarity, you’re a genius.”
My mouth opened to answer her several times, but no words came. Instead, I smiled, hoping I had understood her correctly. She turned her terrifying grin at me, jerked her head toward the door, then began walking. I took a few looks around, then followed. If nothing else, this pony village would be refreshing to see after so many months of wilderness.
~ ~ ~
She led me on a long trek through the Everfree Forest. It was only an hour or so, which after much travel didn’t seem like much, but the trail wound through so much thick brush I wondered if she hadn’t gotten us lost. She stared down a massive manticore along the way. It had wandered onto our path, perhaps looking for an easy meal, but soon thought better of it. It was always baffling to watch the terror form in the eyes of anything Crystal stared at long enough. She could scare a dragon to stone.
After an hour, however, the forest cleared up, and the trail became a road, which led into the valley toward the town I would come to call home: Ponyville. Let me tell you, the simple beauty was breathtaking. Open meadows, clustered homes, a meandering stream, fluffy clouds overhead, a warm sun, and birds singing happily in the trees. I could see pegasi tending to the clouds, and ponies bustling about the streets.
We crossed a bridge and entered the town square. I stopped right there, and nearly cried. It was nothing like my old home. But it had ponies, and something inside me broke down. Crystal caught it, and stared daggers at me. My heart ached, but her gaze wouldn’t let me cry. She smiled, and I put on a weak smile. We turned and trotted forward, looking left and right among the townsponies.
In the center of the square was a big fountain, and next to it was a bright pink filly with balloons on her flank. Fitting, that she was tying balloons to the base of the fountain. Her mane was done in thick curls that almost seemed unruly, but I guess that’s just the way her mane liked to be. She had to sense us approaching, because she turned before we got close.
“Oh, hi. You must be new in town. That’s just perfect. I’m throwing a party this afternoon, you should come and meet everypony.”
She jumped up and ran to us so quickly I nearly jumped out of my skin. She stuffed a small invitation in my face.
“I’m Pinkie Pie, I’m new in town too, but that’s okay because I’m going to meet everypony at the party and make lots and lots of friends. You should come too so you can meet everypony and make friends too and then we won’t be new anymore. I’m getting all sorts of games and snacks and everything. It’s going to be the best party ever! Ooh, I gotta get more balloons. See you later.”
A moment later, she was gone, and I found myself wondering if she had ever been there at all. I looked over at Crystal, who pointed into her mouth and made a gagging motion. She turned around and trotted over to the stream nearby.
She didn’t say or do anything at first. I trotted up next to her and stared into the water with her. Neither of us said anything for several moments as we listened to the sounds of a bustling village square behind us. I took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh scent of flowers on the breeze. The stream before us trickled gently, helping me relax and breathe evenly. I could have cried. My hometown had never felt this beautiful.
“Do you like it?”
I looked up at her and nearly jumped back. She had a truly sincere expression on her face. It almost didn’t look real, but it was. I glanced back at the fountain, then back to her. Did she mean the village? I thought again back to my own hometown, then looked around the square. Everypony looked so happy. Was this another chance? Tears welled up in my eyes. It just couldn’t be real. I looked back at her and nodded.
“Yes. Yes, I like it very much.”
“Great. It’s yours.”
“What?!” My mouth couldn't decide if it wanted to be open or closed.
Crystal smiled mirthfully and rolled her eyes.
“This little hamlet doesn’t have any sort of ruling authority. I think they just run all the way to Canterlot if they need anything they can’t provide for themselves. You could run this town. We could run this town. We’re meant to rule over other ponies, not like those petty Princesses. This could be your first dominion. It’ll be a bit boring, but it’ll be good for you, and the land is rich with gems anyway. If you end up hating it, I’ll just freeze it and we’ll move back to that Castle back in the woods. What do you say, Rarity? Do you want to run this town with me?”
I’m not proud of what I said next. I’ll never know if it was fear for the townsponies’ lives if Crystal froze them because she thought I was bored, or just greed and power lust that gave me the words, but I was overcome with a strange calm. I swallowed the ice in my throat, ignored the cold in my gut, smiled warmly and simply said:
“Yes. Let’s do it.”
And so began the darkest age of Ponyville history. Oh, gods above, spare my soul.