//------------------------------// // A Strange Discovery // Story: Rarity and the Phylactery // by Nevermore777 //------------------------------// Rarity walked through the dark tunnels of the cavern, the only light coming from her mining helmet. "Oh gems? Where are you?" Rarity whispered, keeping her voice low so she didn't wake any bats. Her horn glowed, sending out pulses of light through the tunnels and into the earth. There didn't seem to be many gems in this section, unfortunately. She sighed, realizing as she walked through how much she wished Spike would've been able to attend this little mining excursion. However, he had to help Twilight with a presentation in Canterlot, and would be gone for a couple days. She sent out another pulse, wondering how she had managed to step into such a empty patch of the caverns. Grumbling as she once again found nothing, Rarity sent out a much stronger pulse, hoping to figure out she should be going to get back into the gen rich mines she was used to. However, to her suprise, her pulse hit something buried deeper in the wall. It bounced off and was sent flying back, and Rarity winched as searing pain erupted in horn from the backlash. "What sort of gem was that?" The magic backlash would suggest that it was possibly magical in nature, which of course drew Rarity's curiosity. She sent out another pulse, this one quite a bit softer, reducing the magic backlash to the point it only felt like a needle being stabbed into her horn's tip. It took a few moments, but Rarity quickly found the wall that hid the gem. After a bit of probing, she yelped as the entire wall in front of her collapsed, just barely dodging out of the way as the entire wall almost fell on top of her. "Not the most stable of places," Rarity said as she gasped from breath due to the shock of the near-death experience. She could hear the bats screeching and flying away from the collapse. Rarity looking into the area that was no exposed, and she was surprised at what she saw. It was a large natural cave that was honestly very beautiful looking, a true natural wonder. However, the real beauty came from a rough gemstone about the size of snowball that was embedded into a natural pedestal of hard stone that jutted out in the center of the cave. The gemstone was a deep purple color, but strangely, it had bloody light swirling around inside it like a whirlpool; casting a red glow across the entire cavern. Rarity slowly approached the strange, bewitchingly beautiful, gem. She considered it for several seconds, taking in its strangeness. It was definitely magic of some form, she could feel its power washing over her in waves that sank into her bones and chilled them. After a moment, she decided to try and levitate it, only to immediately regret that choice. As soon as her aura shrouded her horn and her magic touched the gem, it flared with light, releasing a pulse that sent Raidy flying backwards. She went shooting back almost as fast a Rainbow Dash would fly when doing her sonic rainboom, and crashed into the hard stone behind her with a sickening crack, agony erupting in her backside; then she slowly slide down as everything went black. She was floating in a void, and endless sea of melancholy. She was just... floating... In darkness... In cold... In Death!!! Rarity awoke with a start, gasping for breath. Her entire body was shaking as she struggled to stand, yet oddly enough, she didn't feel cold. She didn't feel warm either, rather, she didn't feel anything at all. Shaking her head to clear it, Rarity turned her gaze back to the gem. It had changed, much to her suprise and shock. Now, in addition to the red light, Rarity could see a bright blue light within it as well. She wondered what could have caused the rather considerable change? She pondered just leaving it. The magic of the gem was clearly volatile and dangerous, the fact that Rarity was unharmed was just a plain miracle. However, she felt a compulsion to take it with her. She didn't know why, but for some reason, the gem was important to her. As important as her own heart. Rarity slowly tried to levitate it once again, and to her suprise, it responded easily, maybe even a little eagerly. Rarity put it in a pouch carefully, wondering what she could do with such a gemstone as she left. It may make for a fantastic dress, but what if it exploded again? Maybe she should take it to Twilight and have her look at it? Such thoughts occupied her mind for the rest of mining trip, and she never once noticed... Never once noticed the crater she had left in the wall, or the thick blood that was slowly running down it.