At the edge of the Everfree Forest, right next to the road that circled around the forest, the banished hunter Black Fall was leaning against a tree and enjoying the sun’s warm rays of light. She almost forgot what the heat of the sun felt like. It had been too long since she had felt this kind of warmth. She would have continued enjoying it for a long while, but her partner in crime quickly arrived. He was wearing his hood as he approached and spoke.
"Well, that was a satisfying meal. Shall we get going?"
"I'm glad you enjoyed your meal, although it'll be awhile before we find any more meat for you." She paused for a moment and thought about the mare that she killed. "Which reminds me, did you tear out her ‘you know what?’ And spread that curse over her?" She straightened up.
"Yes, I did. I think you mean her horn. It is right here." Her monstrous friend pulled out a white horn that seemed to have been broken off with a jagged edge. He looked her in the eyes. "But let's not forget that you promised me big time. If I didn't show you mercy then you would be dead."
Black Fall took the white horn and placed it in her saddlebags, saying, "Yes, but don't forget I'm a banished hunter. I know how to kill monsters like you, so how about we don't lose faith in each other's abilities and keep moving toward our ultimate goal."
"Fine. Now that we have everything we need from this town, it's time to depart. I found a wagon that is in good condition."
Black Fall gave him a curious look. "Okay, where is it?"
Black Fall gathered her supplies and the hunters’ first spear, thinking to herself 'Soon I will plunge this nation into chaos and the monsters will be free to kill anypony they like, for it is the circle of life, and the hunters will regret banishing me from Blood Moon.'
"Well, I didn't want anypony finding it so I left it at the edge of town."
As soon they had all of the supplies they needed for their journey in their saddlebags, Black Fall and her partner started to walk south toward the wagon.
Outside of Rarity’s boutique store, several ponies had gathered around wondering what the heck was going on inside. Several Solar guards kept the crowd away, only letting the wielders of the Elements of Harmony in. But one thing that everyone knew for sure was that Rarity’s younger sister Sweetie Belle ran out in a panicked state straight to Twilight’s house in Ponyville. And after that, Twilight sent a letter to Princess Celestia using Spike’s dragon fire. In short order, the Princess sent several of her Solar guards to the boutique to keep everypony out. Some of the ponies heard rumors that one of the Element Bearers got hurt, but they had it wrong. One of them had died.
When Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash landed, four of their friends were already there, inside the Solar guard barrier. Applejack looked like she was crying on the inside. Pinkie Pie’s mane was deflated and streams of tears kept escaping from her eyes. As for Twilight, she had a hurt look as she wiped her tears away with a handkerchief that Spike had given her. The dragon’s heart was also in great pain.
As Fluttershy saw how sad her friends were as she walked past them, she got worried about what they were going through, as well as the fact that Rarity wasn't with them. She started to fear the worst.
Upon opening the door to the boutique, Fluttershy saw several blood splashes on the walls and the floor and on the pony mannequins. As for the fabrics in the store, they were soaked in blood. She looked at the horror and didn't know if it could get worse. But then she saw Rainbow pointing her hoof to the ceiling. When Fluttershy looked up, her world shattered. Tacked up on the ceiling was Rarity, dead, iron stakes piercing each hoof. Her horn was broken off and missing, and carved onto her chest was an arrowhead. Fluttershy started to tear up, and then she ran outside with one burning question. Why!?
Night fell on Manhattan, Night Glider, and his hunters as they continued looking through the ruins of the Order of Time. As midnight approached, the hunters started to see the ghosts of ponies of the Order. They didn't do much, just floated around and tried to scare the hunters away; nothing else.
"Um, are you guys seeing this?" asked a nervous dark yellow hunter with an orange mane.
"For the love of Celestia, would you just ignore them, Eager Shot?" said the closest hunter.
"Hey, it's hard to do that when we’re going through their stuff! I mean, what if they have some unfinished business in our world and they can't find peace until they complete their business?"
"You know what? If you keep this up, then this will be your unfinished business!"
"You know what? I'm just going to ask them."
"Whatever."
Eager Shot walked up to a mare ghost to ask her about her unfinished business, but she gave him a scary face and he stumbled back and landed on the ruin floor.
A ghostly voice said, "You're wasting your time with that one."
Eager Shot jumped up. Then he heard the same voice again. "She lost her common sense a long time ago."
Eager Shot looked to where the voice of the ghost came from and hoped that this wasn't a prank the other hunters decided to pull on him, but it wasn't.
The ghost of a pony was sitting on some rubble nearby. He was a unicorn who looked as if he had a need for knowledge.
"Who are you?"
The ghost looked up and said, "Who am I? That is the question. I kind of know my last name is Lamoni, but my first name is lost to me."
"Well, Mr. Lamoni, I'm looking for something that has intel on legends. Do you know where I can find such information?"
"Let’s see. When the place was not in ruins, the most likely way to find information like that was through the mask of knowledge."
"Okay, thanks." He thought to himself 'Now that wasn't so hard. All you have to do is ask.' He started to look for the mask.
The ghost moved in front of him and stared at him hard. "Every item here has a downside when you use it. You’ll see. You have been warned." Then, like the breeze, he disappeared.
"Um, what’s the downside?"
Eager Shot continued to look around for what felt like hours. As the sunlight shone down on the ruin, he thought to himself, What did he mean, ‘you’ll see’? And what exactly is the downside he spoke of?
Before Eager Shot could ponder on it any further, he noticed something in the debris.
"Wait, what is this?" He walked over to the place where the ghost was standing. What he saw looked like an old wooden box with a hoof lock. As he placed his hoof on it and turned it, he heard a click and a wave of golden magic blew out. He removed his hoof and opened the box. Inside was a mask of an owl. As he lifted the mask, he saw a silver plaque that said The Mask of Knowledge - Please use it wisely.
Eager Shot picked up the mask and ran back to the others. "Hey, guys! I think I have something."
Shortly after Fluttershy ran out of the boutique, Twilight told the ponies of Ponyville that Rarity had been killed, and they would need to begin funeral preparations. .
A few weeks later, the funeral of Rarity was being held in the town hall. The coffin holding Rarity’s body was specially designed with gold and diamonds. It was painted white like her coat, and on the coffin’s door was a painting of Rarity’s cutie mark.
In the second row of seats sat several noble ponies who had come to pay their respects to the unicorn. Most of them had been customers of Rarity’s that would miss her fashion corrections.
But the rest of the seats were filled with the ponies of Ponyville who saw her as a friend. Princess Celestia and Luna sat among the Ponyville residents to show that they see every pony as equal.
As for Twilight and her friends, they were seated in the front row with Rarity’s parents and young sister.
A pony named Mayor Mare began the proceedings.
"Every pony that is here knew Rarity. She was a generous soul and was always willing to do whatever she could for her friends."
In the front row, Rarity’s mother started to cry. She kept a handkerchief up to her eyes to catch the tears that would not stop falling. Her husband went to comfort his wife.
“She always told her customers that she would do her best and she always did.”
Mayor Mare paused for a moment.
“And now, I believe Twilight Sparkle has prepared a speech."
Twilight walked up to the stage and began to talk from her heart.
"Sometimes, Rarity was too generous. Like that one time she made me and all of my friends dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala. She could surprise us every now and then too. Like the time we thought she would be imprisoned by the diamond dogs, but just by complaining and whining, she got them not only to free her, but they gave her all of the diamonds they dug up, and I think-"
Clunk!
Twilight didn't have time to move as the door of the coffin hit her hard and she was thrown across the town hall into the wall. As Twilight’s friends came over to help move the coffin door off of her, a monstrous roar came from inside the coffin. The gathered friends and all who were attending the funeral looked back at the coffin to see a horrifying monstrosity emerge that was half pony and half wolf. The creature crawled out on all fours and paused. Its coat color looked darker gray and its mane and tail were shaggier and rougher than Rarity’s had ever been. Her eyes were red and hunger was written all over her face as the Rarwolf charged straight at Twilight.