//------------------------------//
// The Play is Tonight 
// Story: My Destiny? [Teaser Only] 
// by Zhafran 
//------------------------------//

"Well done, Rarity. Your costumes are very nice." That was what the school teacher said about the dresses I made.

'Nice she says?'

No, ‘nice’ wasn't enough. I needed to prove myself that I was more than capable of just creating a lovely dress like any other. I needed them to be somewhat special or dare I say, spectacular. Being a soon-to-be a fashion designer myself, I could tell that my current ensembles were more or less like a standard dress which I believe every dressmaker has the capability and patience to design.

Sighing, I sat there in front of my sewing machine my mom rent for us for our time in Ponyville.

Yeah, rent. Well it's actually one of the unused items that was inside the defunct boutique where the Ponyville authority decided to rent to us for a while until we make our decision whether or not to settled for a more permanent resident. 

I have to say, it did the job well done, and it was more than enough for me to crafting my own outfit for the play that night, plus these dresses are going to give me a great first impression of what I can do before I even join the school. Smiling, I looked down at my current dresses once more and began to think about what should I do to enhance my current design.

I tried to add some accessories I could find from the materials the school provided and also some leftover from the boutique itself to matched upon. The school allowed us to use any form of materials not limited to what the school has provided for a reason.

To encourage creativity.

But I don't know why everything I added doesn't seem right. They have the look okay, some of them was making the dress look worse, and some doesn't even add any real value and instead, well... looking cheap. Yeah, that's the word.

Sighing, I stripped the dress off from the sewing machine and opted to place a plain orange fabric for some visual reference and comparison when my father decided to come into my room.

"Hey Rarity, you still got caught up on that little project of yours?" He asked with the usual smile on his lips. Every time for him is a happy moment to enjoy, but this time, his smile was more prominent than the usual.

Dad always love physical activities. He was the one who suggesting us to moved into Ponyville because of how peaceful the town was. It was also due to the fact that Ponyville has this convenience little boutique ready for my future self, and to pointing out the obvious, yes because there will be no angry neighborhood and more space for him to... let's say, do some sport related stuff if his word was to believe.

"No, it's just need a... little bit of touching." I replied, focusing my attention back to the fabric in front of me.

I heard his chuckle after I said that, probably because every time I said that, I took an hour or two to finish whatever I was doing.

'It had to be perfect you know.'

"Alright sweetie," He said. "I'll take a walk with the local ponies around here to do some talk about the house rent and if I'm in luck, probably a more permanent resident, okay? So please be a good filly and stays around the town because... well there were a report about some increased monster activity nearby. I'm sure you don't want to get hurt and upset your mother by doing that."

"Mhmm." I nodded, understanding about Mom's current mood today. She wasn't particularly too fond about the idea of us moving out from Manehattan to settled in Ponyville. It must because I was still in Mom's belly when they first visited the town, and despite the coziness the town has to offer, Mom was worried because of the close proximity to the infamous forest of Everfree. My present back then might've caused her protective instinct to ran on full swing, trying to keep me from any potential danger that she was afraid about being near the Everfree. And things get worse. Regardless of what happened during that time, It's turned out that I was born earlier than expected. So instead of having fun in the village, most of the vacation time were spent resting in the Ponyville General which further diminished her opinion of the town.

Sighing, I shook my head and I was back to the present. Looking back at my dresses and sure enough, they don't seem complete.

I tried every trick I could think of, but nothing seemed to work. The  costumes just weren't right, and the play opened that night.

'What is it that missing? Food themed outfit? Check. Organic and original design? Check. Comfortable to wear? Check. Yet why it seems incomplete...'

Maybe because I have an impossibly high standard that I can't quite achieve by myself. Or maybe because my imagination was just too wild to achieve in reality. Or maybe I'm not...

'No! Stop.'

As much as I'd like to say the otherwise, I still have this kind of feeling about the simple possibility that I'm simply wasn't meant to be a fashion designer. This was simply existed because of how many times I tried to come up with my own clothes design, and yet I still haven't earned my own cutie mark till this day. I don't know how to compare the feeling, but maybe... It's just awful.

"Maybe I'm not meant to be a fashionista after all..."

As if on cue, I suddenly felt a tingling sensation on the tip of my horn, and it was kept getting stronger and stronger until I found myself being dragged by my own horn.

"Aah! What's going on?!"

I had no idea where my horn was taking me. But unicorn magic doesn't happen without a reason. I knew this had to do with my love of fashion and maybe even my cutie mark! I knew that this was... My destiny!

The landscape was changing from right to left, passing like I was on a train ride but without the trademarked noisy ding I usually heard. It was a surreal experience and confusing as just of how my horn was pulling me over to... something. I'll be laughed if it's turned out to be anything but fashion related stuff or short of things.

'You better good at your destination horn.'

After a lengthy amount of time, following/dragged around the world, or what it seems to me. I finally arrived at...

"A rock?! That's my destiny?! What is your problem, horn? I followed you all the way out here for..."

'Wait hold on for a second, where was I? Oh, no.'

The moment I looked at my surrounding, I then realized that I was now is in an unfamiliar location with little to no creatures around and nopony around with. The area was a barren landscape with full of canyon if I recall, and I was obviously outside of Ponyville which mean...

'Oh no, I should go back. I need to go back before-'

But then it was too late. I heard a rock rumbling behind my back and a shadow was looming above me, blocking out the sunlight, and a cold feeling seeping into my spine as my body began to shake in shock about what was behind me.

A loud roar was heard afterward, It was a different kind of roar that I used to hear from a manticore in a circus show back in Manehattan.

I gulped in an air in reflect, turning my head around, what I saw behind me caused my heart to pump even further and I practically felt it beating against my chest.

There was a large creature with mole-like features standing in front of my eyes. It was big. So big that it's almost as big as the rock behind me. It had a massive arm with a pair of giant claws on its end. Its mouth which is big as a door seems ready to open up at anytime to devour a pony in a single bite. Its nose looks like a squid, and its orange eyes were staring at my own.

'Oh my goodness!!!'

"HELP!" I shouted in pure shock, backpedaling while the creature just growling, moving its head and take a step forwards towards me.

'No, nonono, this is not good.'

The creature raised its claw in the air while its body were now in half-crouch position before the massive claw planting itself on the ground. It lifted the other claw and slowly crawling even closer.

'No! But what about my destiny? Horn! What have you done to me!'

I could feel the creature's breath over my face now, the squid like nose were like a tentacle ready to grab me at any moment before squeezing me like a plushy toy. I was panicked and subconsciously backpedaling even further until I suddenly felt my backside were touching with a solid surface. Looking at my back, it was the big rock that was standing on the cliff, and in front of me was the mole-like creature approaching.

'Gosh no, I was trapped! What am I supposed to do?!'

My heartbeat increased each time in a panic, I was surrounded by a monster that most likely will kill me in an instant, my left and right was a certain death by gravity, and my back was a rock which prevent me from falling off the cliff.

'I need to intimidate it.'

Igniting my horn under the fear of being eaten alive by this creature, I quickly yelled. "Stay back!"

My voice that came out wasn't how I was expecting it. The creature stop for a moment with another noise I could not describe. Its just slightly tilting its head and blinking before narrowing its eyes again to me. The growling was getting louder in my ears, and it's breath...

'Oh no, I needed to yell louder!'

"No, I said stay back!"

It just breathed out on me, I felt my furs were standing over my coat when the creature sniffing me like a cat and its prey.

I ran out of options. I don't have any single idea about using a teleportation spell because at the time I haven't learned the spell yet. The only spells I know was a simple levitation spell, the most basic spell every unicorn in my age have known and which is also the spell I commonly use in everyday life, and a beam spell that I normally use when I try to shoo away a rat or something out of my room.

And so that's it. I just did what I could do for myself. Under my adrenaline fueled survival instinct, and practically no other way to leave, my fight or flight response settled on the former option, subconsciously casting the spell to throw something to it.

Behind the creature, I saw a chunk of rocks that was laying next to a hole which I haven't realized it was there before when I first arrived. Concentrating, I managed to lift a medium-sized rock nearest to us and pulled it with all power I had without much of thinking.

And it was painful.

My horn wasn't accustomed to lifting a heavy object, and it was simply painful. I never thought in my life that the pain from falling down horn first or any physical contact to it is nothing by comparison to simply pouring all of my mana drain to lifting an object as heavy as it is.

My forehead was throbbing dangerously, a stinging feeling felt throughout my entire body, which transferred through my entire backbones and spreading to my rib cage until it's reached my tail which felt like something was ejected from me. Collapsing, my body felt cold and my legs were unresponsive all of a sudden. A fluttery feeling was forming in my stomach and I had a very strong concussion I ever felt in life.

I think I just drain my entire mana reserve from the way I felt. I couldn't describe it more. Just plain horrible.

Under my dazed state, my eyes somehow was capable to regain some sense of focuses and what I saw was something that I can never forget.

At first I saw a blue gemstone rolling next to me, but then I saw that there was a fluid splattered on it. It was red. There was a crimson patches splattered across the ground, and I think some of them were splattered over my coat too. There was also the smell, a smell like something where it belongs to a construction site back in Manehattan but stronger... It's smelled just like a metal.

The creature was collapsing on its side which shook the ground of where we are. The creature roared so loud that my ears were ringing in pain. It slowly raised once more and from what I could tell, it had an enormous red patches on its right arm... Oh.

'O-oh, what have I done?'

The creature was still capable to rise despite the injury. It stood up and letting out an even louder roar where all I heard was just a ringing.

'Oh no, nonononono. I'm going to die. I'm going to die...'

'Mommy...'

The creature's left arm were grinding against the ground before finally lifted in the air with the claws spreading out like a giant knife. I closed my eyes shut. I was too scared to open my eyes at the sight of the creature. I can't think straight and all I did was repeatedly trying to cast a beam spell in my last desperate attempt to save myself from certain death, I kept trying to cast it despite my mana reserves was drained, but then... somehow, I can cast it.

There was a large of surge of energy flew across my entire body which was quickly absorbed in my horn when I tried to cast the spell. I'm honestly wasn't sure what was happened at that time, other than that I was desperately focusing all of my will power to cast a beam spell from my empty mana reserve, and with the foreign mana overflow ready to be absorbed, I guess you don't want to know what is going to happen next.

Maybe because I was so desperate in casting the beam spell with my empty mana reserve, the spell becoming more potent in trying to absorb mana from my drained body. But because there was this energy washed over me, the spell ended up absorbing mana way more drastically than it should. My body tensed, the throbbing was intensified, and an overwhelming heat replacing the cold feeling until gradually, I couldn't feel anything anymore. Numbness took over me and then slowly and steadily, everything felt... so peaceful...

It was a calming and soothing sensation that replaced my pains, and It was just as if I was asleep.

I slowly opened up my eyelids and all I could see was just a blur of different shades of color. There was a blue color background and a rainbows gradient moving from top to bottom and disappearing behind a brown color on my lower corner of my eyes, which some of them separated from one another. Some of the brown color increased in size and grow darker and seems moving closer and closer towards me until they moved to pass on either left or right of me and out from my eyesight.

That was the last thing I saw before the darkness forming at every corner of my vision until they finally encompass everything.