The loose shale slipped and cracked beneath Rarity’s armored hooves as she continued her trek up the mountainside. The path, if you could call it that, was broken and irregular. It was so steep that in some places, she had to use her magic to ensure her safety. Every few 100 yards or so, she’d pause for but a moment, ears swiveling, searching for the slightest sound.
But whenever she stopped, it was eerily silent. No Diamond Dogs, no woodland creatures, no birds... not even the wind made a sound. The only disturbance was her heavy breathing of the stale chalky air that enveloped the mountain.
This, in small part, was a relief. She had run for what felt like hours, and all the while, her flank was nipped at by those awful Diamond Dogs. Silence, stale air, and a perilous climb up an unknown mountain in an unknown land was practically a day trip to the spa in comparison.
But the silence had its own set of teeth that raked against her psyche. Rarity was the centuries-old ruler of an empire. There was always some sound. Some pomp, or circumstance, or other… An artist in need of a patron. An affair of state needing pronouncement. Hay, a new storefront on Mane in need of a ribbon cut. There was always noise. There was always ponies.
With a single thought and a quiet click, her helmet split. More lines formed as the crystalline plates slowly folded back along her head until it disappeared into her mane. She gave a little sigh and took a deep breath before looking around with an unfiltered view of the silent world around her.
The most immediate observation was the thick fog blanketing the rising landscape. It clung and twisted around her, making it difficult to see more than a few paces in front of her. In fact, if it wasn’t for the steady incline of the path, she’d be certain she was walking in circles.
She nervously pawed at the ground, only able to clearly make out a few massive boulders. Others were blurry shadows within the fog, ensnared by the upturned remains of long-dead claw-like tree roots that seemed to reach out in her direction. She shivered despite herself and willed a few breaths to calm her already frayed nerves before continuing her ascent.
”Coffee would be good about now. one cream, double giddyup,” she thought to herself, as she walked beneath the grasping roots. “Or just the giddyup. Forget the coffee.”
A whine escaped her lips as she continued on up the winding, rocky path. And silently, she cursed her friend Twilight Sparkle with every utterance she could think of.
If the last two hundred years have taught her anything, it’s that if there’s trouble in her life, there had to be at least one alicorn to blame! In addition to being torn from her Empire—the mere thought of which caused her both deep heartache and great personal distress as the living host for the Crystal Heart—she felt confident in her stance of fully blaming Twilight for being cast upon this island, being embroiled in this silly game, and also for this terrible weather.
Grudgingly so, she could also credit Twilight for her narrow escape from those Diamond Dogs.
But there was still no coffee. Or alcohol. So that’s a dozen to one or so in favor of blaming Twilight, she thought with a nod. The math checks out.
Ever since stumbling into a disgusting Diamond Dog den after Twilight’s disastrous crash, and the silly mare dislocated one of her wings at the worst possible time they had been on the run all night.
She smiled to herself, as she walked, thinking of the hooffull of times that the two of them had outsmarted the dogs, and managed to huddle up for a few minutes of rest at a time, despite what felt like a tide of wild dogs had washed over the island, hunting and braying for them. Teleportation barely kept them ahead at times. Even in the rain, the dogs were somehow able to stalk the pair, chasing and ambushing them on a couple of occasions.
Rarity frowned at that last thought. Several scuffs and deep scratches in her armor held testament to the close encounters and harrowing escapes they had last night. The Diamond Dog clans that lived just beyond the Crystal Empire’s borders were smart, even crafty at times in their raids against the empire. She had to give them that at least. But even then, they held the faintest air of civility.
These island dogs were just brutal… savage.
Adorned as they were in scraps of clothing and bits of unkempt and long rusted armor. Shields made from whatever scrap they could find, wooden spears, and clubs, accompanied fangs and claws. There was acrazed sort of look to their eyes, an animalistic focus; a feral look. The two goddesses, while they were still in a pair, had attempted to fight back at times, but both magic and hoof didn't dissuade the growing packs of dogs for long. Words did nothing, and violence didn’t dissuade them. It would do no good killing the poor beasties.
Empress?
“Y-yes, darling?” Rarity stifled a yawn, her thoughts brought back to the present.
Magic reserves are starting to run low, replied the Crystal Heart, concern laced within its voice as it mentally scooted up next to her thinking mind.
Rarity sighed but nodded in acknowledgment. She could feel herself getting weaker, her steps heavier, more sluggish. About two or three ambushes ago, Twilight and herself had cast a spell to divert magic into their body to essentially stave off the effects of exhaustion and hunger. It couldn’t beat eight hours of sleep but it was keeping her on her toes. “How much do we have left?”
We’ll be out in a few hours.
Rarity nodded again but found herself frowning too. She was no magical prodigy, unlike the great Twilight Sparkle, who shortly after her ascension to alicorn, was able to maintain such a spell for the night without tiring. But as Empress, Rarity surely thought that she would have been able to match Twilight at that skill level. Indeed, she had even managed to face off against Celestia and hold her own, albeit for a short time. So… why was she so weak? Why was her energy so low?
“Darling?” she flinched, disturbed how even the mere whisper sounded like a shout in the silencing fog. She felt the Crystal Heart stir and approached the forefront of her mind.
My Empress?
“What’s going on?” she said, stumbling a little bit. “I should have enough magic for this.”
She could feel the Crystal Heart’s confusion. I’m sorry my Empress, I don’t know what the exact cause of this could be. Even with the Betrayer’s core being innate, it shouldn’t cause this sort of issue... I think...
Rarity carefully receded sections of her armor and saved some valuable magic. She’d be useless if she ran out of magic, and if she collapsed here in the fog and the Diamond Dogs found her… She suppressed a shudder. No way was she pulling a rusty old cart and harness again.
For a brief moment, she wished Sombra was still rattling around in her pretty little head. She could have at least used the magic from Sombra’s core to keep her going, but without him, the blasted thing was just a mental paperweight. She made another mental note to look for him after this supposed challenge of Kindness in Discord’s silly, stupid game.
But, as the Crystal Heart, and nearly tripping over a rock reminded her, those things could wait.
She glared at the fog. It had her on edge, unnaturally thick, and impossible to see far out of. She didn't dare lower too many armor plates for two reasons. One, while she hadn’t seen or heard anything from the Diamond Dogs since Twilight dropped the clouds on the valley, she dared not risk another ambush. She had foolishly thought that before and found herself up to her haunches in barking, yapping, dogs. The other, she didn’t want to turn into a block of ice.
Ever since a certain, magical disaster also caused by an infuriatingly attractive Goddess of the Night, Rarity had begun to ‘naturally’ generate a sheet of ice over her crystalline coat. Aside from the obvious issue of limited physical contact with others, the coat made her mostly immune to the general environmental temperature. In her currently frazzled and depleting state, she couldn’t tell if her surroundings were warm or cold. Her horn began to glow as she diverted some precious magic to the sensory spell, and a small blue drop hit the ground. Like before, her world was illuminated by the prismatic light of magic, but this time, a few wisps of purple, subtitle at first, then a bright fire echoed back.
Twilight Sparkle is up ahead. The Crystal Heart announced with a sigh of relief. Waiting, I think. We may want to consider a binding spell with her when we get the chance.
“We’ll be fine without it,” she said. “Twilight isn’t that far, and she’s a grown mare, darling. Able to take care of herself.”
I was thinking more for us…
Rarity said nothing as she checked her saddlebag strap, but a small whine escaped her lips as she saw the water and mud clinging to the bottom of her one-of-a-kind priceless bags. Frustration finally won out over common sense, and she stamped a hoof into the ground, again and again until it ached, and the small rocks beneath were little more than finely crushed gravel.
Empress?
“Let’s get a move on then, shall we darling?” replied Rarity, in a sing-song voice ignoring the concern from the Crystal Heart as she started off with a trot.
* * *
Twilight Sparkle let out another yawn as she used her magic to unscrew the lid to her canteen, and took a deep drink of the cool water. While she was no stranger to all-nighters, usually they involved the safer, far more pleasant activities of academic pursuit or simply reading a really good book. The growing knot in her back left leg reminded her that such things were usually less physically demanding as well.
She opened her notebook up and flipped to the last page, titled Twilight’s List of things to do when off of Discord’s Crazy Island and added:
Regular workout schedule with Cadance
“I hope you’re doing okay.” Twilight sighed and opened back up to her previous spot in the notebook and continued her sketching of the strange object in front of her.
It was an old, broken spear, stuck into the ground and secured with concentric rings of small stones. Towards the top, the separated bottom third of the spear was clearly r, fastened to it making a T-shape. Small ornaments hung from the crossbars; some bones, others were crude metal emblems, along with remnants of a red banner that once hung from it. Only brittle strips of cloth remained. Finally, an avian skull of some kind rested at the top near the rusty spearhead. But of what species she couldn't be sure, due to the damage that time and weather had done to it. Disturbing it to investigate further would surely destroy it.
But the source of her current frustration, other than that self-important mare behind her in the fog, was the piece of weather-worn wood that had a series of scratches and symbols scratched into it.
She couldn’t figure out what it was. Well, what it meant.
The object was clearly some sort of marker, Diamond dog, most likely. “Territory marker?” she openly voiced. Plausible, although the diamond dogs she knew in Equestria marked territory… a little differently, unless they were in constant contact with other races. Like the Blackrock Clan in Equestria, or the Gray Claws Tribe near Griffinstone. A frown crossed her face as she racked her head for more information, but... “Is that all?” She opened to the last page of her notebook and scribbled another note.
Investigate/build relations with Diamond Dogs in Equestria.
Twilight nodded with satisfaction and turned her attention once again to the sketching, this time carefully examining the carved symbols on the wood plank, and adding them next to the drawing.
“If only I had brushed up on some ancient kanine, then maybe this would make sense.”
Finished with her sketch, she looked around the sunny, peaceful vale with a smile on her face. It had been a wonderful surprise as soon as she broke out of the fog layer from the valley below. Birds merrily chirp as they flew by. Weary squirrels watched her from the safety of their lofty branch. But behind her…
Twilight walked back to the trailhead and looked back down into the valley she had just escaped from. She sighed as she saw the tips of some of the taller trees and the ominous, ghostly shadows of the branches underneath the fog. Her ears twitched, hearing what may have been the faint sound of a howl from down below.
Her plan had, almost regrettably, worked perfectly. By using her good wing as a sort of, magical lightning rod, and her alicorn powers as a focusing emitter, she had been able to snatch the storm from the sky and drop it into the valley, effectively losing the dog packs where running, fighting back, and teleportation had failed. And by effect, she had lost Rarity. Which she wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing. No doubt the vexatious empress would give her a—
“Stop it,” she muttered to herself and took another drink of water.
It wasn’t as cool this time around, somewhat stale, and her stomach gave a loud grumble as it was filled with unfulfilling water. Twilight took a deep breath and slowly let it out as a thought wandered into her mind. What would Celestia do about Rarity?
“Well, Discord had been turned into a statue, Sombra was imprisoned in ice, and Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon… Maybe not the best example.”
Twilight could almost imagine her teacher’s laughter. “Twilight, those are some rather extreme cases, all of them involved threats to my little ponies. I wouldn’t do that just because I’m not getting along with somepony.”
“I know, it’s… this is just so frustrating. I’m at a loss, and I don’t know what to do,” Twilight said with a sigh. “We had been good friends for so long, then suddenly it turned so…”
“Bitter?” suggested the apparition of the Sun Princess. “What are you going to do then?”
“I… I don’t know. I’ve offered peace so many times, and all of these solutions, an—”
“You’re not entirely blameless in this, my young princess,” came the stern, but warm voice. “Taking responsibility is the highest marks of great leaders. Can you confidently say that you’ve listened to Rarity? Have you really done all that you can?”
Twilight was silent for a moment as she took a sip of water. It wasn’t as refreshing as it was before. It was warm with a slightly salty taste and a hint of metal from the inside of her canteen. “Then how do I fix this?”
The shimmering form of Celestia looked at her with a smile, a chiding one that Celestia used when Twilight had missed something important, or became too engrossed on an unimportant detail, or stayed up throughout the night to read and missed most of her daily lessons. My dear Twilight, what would we ever learn if all of life’s answers were simple? Besides, I’m an apparition of your subconscious thoughts due to the side effects of using magic to manage your exhaustion and hunger. If you didn't already know, how would I?
Twilight sucked in a deep breath and swatted at the apparition until it faded away. She shook her head and trotted back down the trail, it’s hard packed dirt with nature slowly reclaiming it, stretched off towards a grove of willow trees, and then winding up the mountainside until it disappeared from sight.
Still, by her estimates, it would take at least another day to reach the summit where the Challenge of Kindness, waited for the pair.
If Rarity would ever get her little crystal plated as—!
The sudden crashing impact of crystal and rock jerked her out of her thoughts, and she spun around, her horn glowing with arcane might.
“Do it, I dare you,” glared Rarity from the ground. Twilight winced as she could almost feel the daggers going into her chest. “I’ve had it up to m—”
“Rarity!” Twilight’s magic immediately shut off as she rushed over to her. “Are you okay, what ha—”
“I’m fine, no thanks to you!” snapped Rarity as she angrily shoved Twilight’s hoof away from her. “You dropped an entire storm, Twilight, an entire hurricane, into that valley!”
“It wasn’t a hurricane, it was a category two tropical storm” berated Twilight, her good wing flaring out while the bandaged one simple pressed against the wrappings, causing her to wince. “Besides, I didn’t see you coming up with any ideas!”
“You didn’t ask!”
“I didn’t know we were taking turns on something like running for our lives!” shouted Twilight, as she trotted away from the struggling unicorn. She fought to gain control of herself and her words but she just couldn’t hold back. “Next time, I’ll ask them to stop so we can take turns!”
“A simple warning would have sufficed,” huffed Rarity as she pushed herself back onto her hooves and made a pitiful attempt to brush the dust off of her. “Maybe even a consideration that not all of us are alicorns with weather manipulation!”
“Well not all of us can be crystal unicorns who whine all the time!” snapped Twilight, spinning around and stomping towards the Empress. “Some of us have to get off of our high-horse and do things!”
“I am not whining!” snarled Rarity. “I am complaining! Do you want to hear whining?”
“No, I want to hear some solutions,” cried Twilight. “All you ever do is complain, and leave everything up to me to do!”
“Oh I know!” said Rarity, in a saccharine mocking tone. “Let’s ask Princess Celestia!”
Twilight’s heart skipped a beat as her eyes narrowed and her wing further tensed. “What.”
“I bet you asked yourself, not even five minutes ago ’What would Celestia do’!”
“I… how did you...”
“I’m crystal plated, not deaf, darling.”
“Well, I just, I—” Twilight sputtered before letting out a frustrated whine. “It’s a self-evaluation mechanism that puts you in a different point of view for better clarity and objectivity of a situation. You should try it sometime!”
“Oh, my Stars! Whatever would Luna do!” mocked Rarity, dramatically clapping her hooves to her face. “Yes, lots of help, Twilight. I can see now why Equestrian politics would employ such a strategy!”
“Well, maybe if I had some alcohol around, it would help!”
The words had slipped out of Twilight’s mouth before she realized what she had said. Time seemed to slow down, Rarity even seemed surprised by the outburst, but not for long if the twitching eye was any indication. Just as Twilight opened her mouth to say something, the Empress’ eyes shrunk to pinpricks as jagged shards of ice cracked beneath her hooves. “Excuse me?”
“Rarity, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean… I...”
“Didn’t mean what, Twilight?” seethed Rarity. “No, do go on, darling.”
“No, I-I just, it, ummm…”
“What,” growled the Empress through clenched teeth. “You think I drink too much, mhm? Are we also the Princess of Interventions now too!?!”
“Rarity, I spoke out of anger,” snapped Twilight. “But since we’re on the topic, yes! You drink too much!”
“How dare you!”
“How dare I! Me!?!” Twilight marched up to the Empress, ignoring the bitter cold and placing herself inches from the Empress’ face. “How dare you, miss prissy pants! Look at you! You’re a mess, a disgrace. Everything is somepony else’s fault and never your own. This, the Empire, your drinking, and I bet in some sort of twisted way, your own immortality is my fault too!”
“I, yo—”
“NO!!!” boomed Twilight, her one good wing wide open and horn surging with magic. “I can’t believe we were once friends! You and I of all ponies were more miles apart than Blueblood and Applejack, and of course, we’d be stuck together, on some freaking island, out in the middle of nowhere trapped against our wills!”
Twilight spun away and marched away from the unicorn, her hooves pounding imprints into the dirt. “I don’t know what Cadance was thinking when she made you Empress, maybe she was drunk too!”
“You think I asked for this!” snapped Rarity as she struggled to stand. “You think I wanted any of this?”
“Rarity, I don’t care what you think or want!” rounded Twilight as she put her saddlebags back on. “I’m trying to do what is best for my ponies. You seem to be the only one stuck in the past and so blinded by regret and self-pity, you can barely see past your Throne! ‘Woe is me’ you say. Well, guess what? It’s happened, Rarity. Get over it, and make the best of it.”
“Just like Celestia and Luna,” she fired back.
Something snapped in Twilight. Before she knew it, she was towering over the defiant Empress, arcane power surging from the two of them and clashing. The magical discharge from their combined might scorched the earth and burned the grass.
“They’re alicorns, Rarity. They’re not in the past,” Twilight said with such an eerie calmness that it nearly distracted herself. “They're here, in the present now. And for all I know they'll outlive the rest of us. I will find them. I'll do anything to find them.”
“Why? What good would that do?” grimaced Rarity as she pushed back against the power surge. “What have they done, Twilight? They’ve been gone for two hundred years, most of our lives now, and you’re clinging to a false little dream!”
“They deserve better, more, for everything that they have done!” Twilight pushed, forcing the Empress to step back. “I will not let them fade into memory!”
The unstable build up of energy between the two surged, pushing the two back as unchained power funneled between them. Rarity said something, Twilight didn’t care to listen. She’d had enough, but any further arguments ended in an ear-shattering thunderclap as the magic between them exploded, and tossed the immortals away like leaves in the wind.
Twilight felt the ground under her once before flipping up with her good wing and skidding to a stop on her hooves. She blinked a few times as the suddenness also blew her anger away, and she was left feeling tired and strangely hollow. “Rarity?”
The alicorn looked around. “Rarity!”
“H-h-here!” Twilight spotted a white hoof waving on the other side of the clearing. She half galloped, half glided to the Empress.
“Rarity, I’m sorry. I—”
The Empress held up a hoof and struggled to sit up, a fit of coughing nearly caused her to collapse again, but was saved by Twilight’s good wing, and supported into a sitting position. “I… I can’t take much more of this, darling,” Rarity muttered. “I’m… I’m too weak. I...”
Twilight tried to stammer out another apology, but Rarity raised a trembling hoof and another coughing fit took over. The Empress let it pass before running a hoof through her mane, and letting out a shaky breath. When she opened her eyes, well, Twilight found herself taking a step forward.
Rarity briefly looked over at Twilight and chuckled. “I must look like a mess.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be polite to say anything,” said Twilight, a slight grin on her face as Rarity laughed again. “Are you okay?”
“I’m exhausted, darling. Tired from… from so many things.” Rarity looked up at her, a faint smile on her lips as she saw Twilight’s ears fold back. “You can see it, can’t you? Is it the years or the stress?”
Trust her, Twilight.
Twilight hesitated, her mouth opened but no words came out. She shook her head and sat down next to the unicorn, her good wing wrapping around her friend. “Maybe a bit of both, Rarity.”
Closing her eyes, she gathered some of her own power together and cast a quick rejuvenation spell. By itself, the spell wouldn’t be enough to barely charge up a regular unicorn, let alone two immortals, but it would be enough to gain back a bit more strength. The alicorn opened her eyes, and gently released Rarity, making sure she wouldn’t collapse. Rarity let out a sigh, still looking exhausted but not as bad as before, before coughing and giving Twilight a short nod. “Well, yes... Thank you, darling.”
Twilight nodded, feeling a bit more worn herself, and looked back over to the unknown dog marker. Rarity, noticing it for the first time, walked over and asked the question that has been haunting Twilight since she got there. “Well, uhh… this certainly is… interesting. What is that?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure, a marker of sorts. Dog-made. I can’t read it.”
“Goodness me! Twilight Sparkle can’t read something? It's definitely a Tuesday, isn’t it?” said Rarity with a light-hearted chuckle. Although the tone was teasing, Twilight couldn't help but flinch a bit at the comment. She wanted to snap and found her mouth half-way open, clearly with the intent to do so, before shamefully closing her mouth. The action did not go unnoticed by Rarity, who hesitated herself and seemed to turn to say something, but stopped herself and cleared her throat. “Umm, yes I… I suppose the marker doesn’t matter too much. We’re to go this way, yes?”
Twilight let out a sigh. What else really was there to say right now? That yesterday was Tuesday and it’s actually Wednesday? Point out the obvious tension, their unresolved fight, or their clearly strained relationship? Now she was getting tired too. “Yes, I think so.” She took a few steps forward, putting herself next to Rarity and pulled out the map from her saddlebags.
“We’re about here now,” she said, pointing at a portion of the map as Rarity leaned over to look “A bit off course, but not as bad as I feared with those dogs.”
“The brutes,” remarked Rarity with a huff.
Twilight bit her lip and simply nodded. “Luckily we’re at the foot of the mountain and need to go up that,” she said as she gestured to the trail behind the marker. “If we start now and maintain a good pace, we could be to the mountain’s summit maybe at dusk, depending on any further obstacles. Thoughts?”
“I’m not sure how much further I’ll be able to go, darling,” said Rarity, as she studied the map. “My magic is nearly depleted from last night with those dogs.”
Twilight nodded and traced their location with a hoof to a small blue line. “I think if we keep going a bit more, maybe half a mile, there’s a safer place to rest. It’s not much based on the map, but it looks like a small stream. Possibly some trees too.”
“That sounds good to me, darling,” said Rarity, a look of remorse flashed across her face for a moment. “Look, Twilight, about what I said earlier…”
Twilight replied with a small smile, silently thanking Celestia. Maybe not all hope was lost. “We’re tired, things that shouldn’t have been said were said.”
“But they needed to be said, Twilight, we’ll need to talk later, and I suspect this is just the first of many arguments we’ll have here, and at the end...”
“It’ll be worth it,” Twilight said with a smile as the two began to walk along the path. “Besides, it’s not like things could get any worse.”