It was hard for Rarity to sleep in a weird undergarment, and knowing, even if it was a small chance, that she might be lying in a cocoon of poison she'd sweated out. To say nothing of the bathroom experience being easily the worst of her life since foalhood. All the while, dull, throbbing pain gave her hoof and throat no respite. But they were all dwarfed by the terror of what she'd just lived through. She wasn't sure how long, if ever, until she could feel safe again.
But one thing made it all worth it: Her sister was there. And not only was she there, but she had slept right next to her. Above being lost, the injuries, the traumatic experiences, and what felt like solid rock under the mat and blankets, it was the one thing that calmed her enough to sleep despite everything, and the one thing that stood out clearly through the thick haze of confusion she sat in: She got to rest next to her living sister.
Then morning had come painfully soon, and Sweetie Belle, or “Snowglade” roused her from her sleep.
There was still no hint of sunlight through the tent walls, but she was eager to get outside and feel the warm sun again, sure it was just waiting outside. The dreary horror show of ice she'd seen before being rescued was sure to sparkle like crystal under the sun and bring some joy back to match the reunion with her sister. She couldn't wait for the bright reminder that the nightmare was over.
She awoke without any sweat, so Gratitude finally let her borrow some proper garments, and explained how they layered clothes so as to keep warm.
As a few bowls of soup were prepared for everypony, she finally began to recall where she came from. There was hardly room for them to move much, but all eyes were on her as she finally began to explain.
Her mind felt far more clear than last night, as the medic had promised, and even better, her throat felt supernaturally better. She couldn't help but love the fire ruby. Her throat went from slightly bleeding last night to little more than an ache by now, so she could finally speak.
“Well, it all started when we agreed to go to a recital together, Snowglade,” she respectfully used the name she'd asked to be called by. “That's why I'm so surprised you don't remember the song – Over the Rainbow. We practiced it together for months! I – I guess I really don't know exactly what that book did, but... Well, I was a terrible sister, I put my fashion design first and lost what was truly most important in my life.” She gave her sister a quick, little hug. “No, I didn't make it to that recital, so in the middle of the night you left my boutique in a fit of anger, and the next day we found...” her voice tapered off and her look went distant.
She looked at her sister again, who just looked confused, trying to digest what was said. Something in her mind just refused to step beyond that. It was like a mental brick wall, so she moved around it.
“You – we were sure you were dead, so I told Mom and Dad you were. Then – in my own fit of... Well, I was a bit upset, and I destroyed the machine that did that to you – I!” She gasped. “My goodness, I destroyed Besty – the sewing machine I've had since I was a foal. The one I earned my cutie mark with!” She put a hoof to her mouth and her eyes watered a little.
Gratitude gasped. “Wait – that was a cutie mark!?”
Rarity's shock of realization quickly died away as she noticed Sweetie Belle's concerned look. She ignored Gratitude's comment just for a moment. “But no matter, I got the one truly irreplacable part of my life back.” She put a hoof over Snowglade's shoulder and gave her a little hug before turning to answer the medic's question, “Of course it was. Uhm – why wouldn't it be? Come to think of it, I haven't seen the cutie marks of any pony here, what with all these thermal underwears you wear...”
“The heck's a cutie mark?” The sergeant asked.
Gratitude answered both of them, “actually these are sleep shorts. Anyways, didn't they teach you about cutie marks at school, sergeant? I learned a bit more about them, too, during my time at the abbey studying medicine. It's a mark you got on your flank directing you towards what you find most fulfilling and defining in your life, usually a great skill that you love and the world needed. They stopped happening in the third century. But if that's actually what that was, how did you get one? When did you get it!? Wait, no – first, what does it mean? There were three sapphires, right?” excitement sprouted in her voice.
“Uh – yes. Actually they're diamonds. They reflect beauty, and how I like to make ponies absolutely sparkle!” she held her hooves under her chin, her eyes glistening for a brief moment, before her expression was replaced with confusion. “But really, I must ask, none of you have one?”
“Nope. Nothin' on this butt,” the sergeant simply stated.
“Eh, thighs, more like,” the medic corrected.
“Close enough.”
“I just – I can't believe I actually got to see one, then!” Gratitude's eyes glistened with excitement.
“Okay, now you're just gettin' weird,” the seargent deadpanned.
“So, where have you been? Where did you get a cutie mark?” the little sister pressed.
Everypony was even more eager than ever to hear her next response.
“Equestria, of course.”
“What!?” all three replied with shock.
“What?” she asked, a bit of a whine in her voice as her grasp on the situation slipped away.
“The unified kingdom from before The Great Winters – are you a time traveler or something? Did you re-discover Starswirl's lost spells!? That – that'd explain everything!” The Nurse eagerly threw in.
“But – she's Grandeur, just...” Snowglade's voice weakly objected.
“Am I?” Rarity echoed. She thought back over what had led her to this point – Discord, and the book Twilight had gotten the day after that conversation on her alicorn longevity. “So, if you've heard of Equestria, then surely you've heard of Celestia? And Luna? What about Twilight Sparkle? The Elements of Harmony, perhaps?” she unabashedly added the last one, wondering if she'd somehow appear in their history books as Twilight had proclaimed they would.
“Celestia and Luna, yes. All the others, no. Something about a civil war and becoming suicidal after killing her sister,” the Sergeant recited. “Seems like Gratitude seems to know all about this, though.” He nodded towards her.
She expanded on what the sergeant had said, “Uh, yeah. Suicide is the leading theory. Murder or natural death is another. And more fringey, maybe even still alive somewhere, but that's unlikely. Some think the Abbess herself is Celestia! But that's also unlikely, considering Celestia let her kingdom fall apart after she had to banish her sister, it's unlikely she would've had the resolve to survive The Great Autumns. The world population shrank to less than a tenth of what it was before in just a few years...” She put a hoof over one of her forelegs, looking down. “I'm not sure if I pity the ponies who died or the survivors more.”
She looked back up. “So, you're from Equestria? That's how it ended. Does that sound familiar?”
A grim soberness overtook Rarity. Her voice was soft and horrified. “I – that sounds awful. I'm from Equestria – did it really end that way? How long ago? I can't...” she looked down, as puzzled as horrified.
I put my hoof on the page of a book to get here. Is that what it was? One of Starswirl's spells or something? Discord didn't say anything about that... Did he? And would he? She struggled to remember. After all that'd happened, it was mostly a blur.
“A thousand years,” the Sergeant said. “A very nasty thousand years, at that. Personally, I think going that far back, it's mostly just legend. Heavens' knows ponies aren't good at keeping the truth. But maybe you got some of the true story with you.”
Gratitude said something about Celestia banishing her sister?
“Wait -” Rarity faced the medic, “did Luna turn into Nightmare Moon again?”
“Again? That – that's the only time as far as I know.”
“Then something isn't adding up...” Rarity started, “I don't think the culprit of this case is time travel! Either ponies have forgotten history from before my time, or it's something else and this isn't actually the future. But I'm not quite sure what since you all seem to know Equestria – by name, at least. But Sweetie Belle is here and recognized me, that must figure into this, somehow...”
“With all due respect, miss,” The seargent began, “this isn't some murder mystery. Ancient history is of little concern to me. Maybe whatever magic brought you here is something great and rare, so I'll up the priority on your safety, but what I really want to know is how you wound up in that downwind.” He took a loud sip from his soup as a cue. The others remembered their meal and began eating quickly while listening.
She mentally brushed the mystery away. I'm in his camp, and he saved my life, so the least I owe him is making things go smoothly, especially since what I do will probably reflect on my sister... “Oh, yes, uhm – where was I? I destroyed my sewing machine, right. You see, it kept me from you, Snowglade, or so I thought. Really, of course, it was just myself...” her voice took on a dark tone in the passing mention.
Snowglade gave her a worried look.
“It was my fault you died, you see! I – I should've been there for you!” Rarity finally broke out.
“What – what do you mean!?” the younger sister replied, then threw herself into her chest in a hug. “You saved my life, Grandeur! Our entire town – you saved us! Don't you remember? The Vanguard was coming, and there was the radio contact with Bastion, and the transport airplanes...”
Rarity's eyes went wide and her tongue caught.
She knew she wasn't Grandeur.
Whatever Grandeur had done, she did not deserve the credit. Yet some part of her mind clung on to the hope that she could avoid breaking Snowglade's heart – perhaps it was merely a lost memory, or perhaps she would still feel this way even if she knew she wasn't Grandeur.
But she couldn't keep from asking, “What... ever do you mean?”
“You... you don't remember that, either?” Tears welled in the filly's shocked eyes. “It's one thing to forget my name, and the language we spoke, but... but that?”
The sight immediately snapped Rarity out of whatever she felt. Last night she thought I was Grandeur, and I was sure she was Sweetie Belle. She looks just like her, though – perhaps a good bit older than I recall, but... It's not her, though, is it? If I'm not Grandeur, then she's not Sweetie Belle.
And I'm definitely not Grandeur. I don't remember saving some town here.
So she must be Snowglade.
“Oh no...” The medic quietly muttered, then continued more loudly to both of them, her wings flexing a little, “Ahem, well, before you two rush to any conclusions – you both recognized each other, remember? Does that not count for anything?”
The sergeant's voice came in firmly, “I suggest you two just can this whole issue for now. You recognized each other. Remember last night. Work out your memory problems when we get back to Bastion, but that's all it is. Some memory issue. It's the only way you could recognize each other like that.”
Something in Snowglade's eyes changed. She was strengthened in some way – the tears that welled seemed to dissipate.
But Rarity's vision was still blurred by them.
No, without her knowing the song we sang together, it's not her.
It may look like her – she may recognize me, and I may recognize her, but this is only skin deep. I won't be satisfied with this.
Discord could have made a puppet for me if all I wanted was a lookalike. This can't be what he meant. So she's still out there, and I can still somehow “save” her, perhaps by doing something grand in this book.
But Snowglade is a pony, too, and I'm right in here with her, feeling the same thing she is.
“Let me finish my story,” Rarity continued, her voice hard as steel, “I almost killed myself, but then I remembered and knew Sweetie Belle wouldn't have been angry at me, that she just wanted to sing with me, not die and have me commit suicide. Then a very ancient and powerful wizard, a friend of a friend, reminded me about a book.
“Twilight Sparkle is an alicorn friend of mine who was given some terrible but powerful ancient book by Celestia and Luna, themselves. I used that book, and it took me to that dreadful city that I ran out of, and that's where you all found me. But I read it because that ancient and powerful wizard friend-of-a-friend promised it would give me the ability to save my sister, Sweetie Belle. Maybe you're not Sweetie Belle, but you are some form of her – I know that for sure! And you deserve to have an older sister just as badly as – as I want Sweetie Belle back.
“I refuse to believe that Dis – that that friend of mine would totally lie to me, and whatever magic is in that book – I know for a fact it was tied to the destiny of my friend who was an immortal alicorn, so it is very, very powerful magic, and I believe it's powerful enough to give me back what he promised. So we're going to stick together – to be there for each other, and we'll both get our sisters back, okay? That's my promise to you, Snowglade.”
She used the name “Snowglade”, not thinking of it as some alternative title for Sweetie Belle, but as a different name altogether. “And that's how I'm going to make up for what I owe Sweetie Belle, by giving her – or some form of her – her sister back. Not Rarity, but Grandeur.”
“M'am,” the sergeant began again before the younger mare could answer, “that's damn impressive that you escaped Delphi, but can you not promise to bring back a dead sister of one of my soldiers when you are that sister?”
Rarity snapped, “And don't you dare tell me what I can and cannot do for my sister!”
“Gotcha. You are her sister, just said so, yourself,” he calmly replied.
“But I'm not Grandeur!” Rarity objected.
“And why do you think that?” he asked.
“I don't have any of her memories!”
“You remember your sister, and she remembered you, so I'd say you do.”
She fumed, but he spoke up again before she could, “But you're right – you don't got all of them. And that's something you can work on when we're not hiding from a power that's hunting for our blood. Maybe you haven't met the locals yet – though your story and your injuries would suggest you got close enough to 'meet' them plenty – but they want to torture you and your sister to death horribly for entertainment, so I'd suggest putting priority number one as getting along with this team for now, and work on getting those memories back once you get to Bastion. As long as you agree to that, then we won't have an issue. Deal?” he offered.
“That's a damn good deal, sir,” Snowglade confirmed, then turned to her sister, “and I accept your promise, Rarity. Once you have your memories back, then I can call you Grandeur. We'll both get our sisters back.”
Rarity hesitated. That's not at all what I meant! But nonetheless, let's be diplomatic... She sighed.
The rifles still sat in the corner of the tent and her vision. Her hoof still throbbed. Her throat, mouth, and chest all still had a dull ache, and she wore the peytral with her fire ruby under her shirt, along with some powerful sapphire necklace that let her understand their language.
They were all constant reminders that she was in no position to force their hooves, and they had already been very generous to her. She'd rather forget suffocating in the smoke, or the mental image of herself caked in black soot, but she couldn't.
“Okay.” Yet part of her refused to agree without one extra assertion. “But I'm not totally convinced I even am Grandeur, but whatever is going on, let's work together to figure it out. And you all have – you saved my life, and I'm grateful for that, so I can continue my quest for Sweetie Belle. So I'll agree to your deal, Sergeant Courageous Fate. I'll do what you say until we get somewhere safe. Until then, lead on.”
The medic spoke, her voice soft and eager to help, “One more thing – you should go to the abbey when we take you back to Bastion. We'll help you there. There's great stores of magical knowledge with many experienced wizards who live to help.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Rarity answered.
“Whatever you do at Bastion is up to you,” the sergeant finalized. "But for now, as spectacular as wherever you came from or however incredible your journey here sounds, Grandeur, it won't matter any - whatever powerful magic you may know about will be lost if we're found and killed. So keeping us alive and achieving the tasks we've been assigned are priority number one to me. So just stick with us and do what we say when we say and absolutely nothing else, or you'll probably get injuries a lot worse than that hoof. And we say right now, we need to get dressed, pack up tent, and get underway. Snowglade, you're with me for another radio-check.” He started gathering some warm clothes that were spread around the sleeping bags.
Rarity looked to the medic. “What about my hoof? I'm... I'm still not feeling all too great. Do we really have to head out?”
“Absolutely,” she replied. “If you have difficulty walking with that hoof, I... Honestly I don't know what we'll do. We'll have to figure something out.”