Rarity took another dip in the pond outside the potion shop, and then filled her now-empty bottle with water. The unicorn shook out her damp mane and tried her best to magically re-style it.
Finally she headed back towards the Swamp Tourist Center, which she assumed to be open now. As she headed down the dirt path, she stopped as she heard a rustling. Then, three monkeys fell from the trees above and landed in front of her, causing her to jump.
“OH! Don’t do that! It’s very rude to scare ponies,” she said with an annoyed flick of her ear.
The monkey in the middle she recognized as the one who’d lead her to the Pegasus.
“You unicorn,” he stated the obvious. “You have strange magical powers. You help us?”
“Help you?” Rarity already had a thousand things to do, why not add helping monkeys to the list!
“What do you need help with, dear?”
“Our brother!” he cried, “He was taken. He need help, zebra king take him! He get blame for disappearance of princess, princess need help! Brother need help!”
Rarity blinked, the ‘primitiveness’ of the speech giving her pause. “I, uh… I suppose…” she murmured. “If I end up near the zebras, I’ll help, but I have other things to do right now, so please let me pass.”
Both disappointed and hopeful, the monkey’s moved out of the way and ran off on all fours. Rarity watched them go, feeling a bit guilty, but she turned and continued down the dirt path, slapping away bugs with a hoof as she went.
It wasn’t long before she found her way back, the trees were pretty clumped together, so sticking to pathways was easy.
She saw the small building coming into view around the curves of the trees, and sped up.
She had to save as much time as possible!
She trotted up the steps and pushed on the door, and this time it actually did open.
She hesitantly walked in; the room was small, not as small as the potion shop, but still small. To her left was a desk, and a gruff looking pony sat behind it. Against the wall in front of her was a small box-like alcove with a little window, Rarity could see Koume inside. “Um, hey!” the unicorn called, trotting up to her. “You said something about discounted boat ride?”
“Oh, it’s you! Yeah, we let visitors take the boat around the swamp once, you interested?”
“Yes, actually, I was wondering if I could use your boat to get to a - uh, there’s a temple here right?”
“A temple? Yeah, you’re going to want to talk to the zebra king about that, it’s their temple.”
“Ah, okay than. How do I find him?”
“Take the boat. It’s the only way unless you were planning on swimming,”
“Swim? In that filthy water?! Heavens no! Now much will it cost?”
“For you it will be ten bits.”
“Is that the discount?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, it’s that boat underneath here, right?”
“Yeah, don’t forget to bring it back when you’re done.”
Rarity nodded. “I will. Now, how do I get to the zebra?”
“They have a palace deeper in the swamp, you can’t miss it.”
Rarity smiled and thanked her, than paid for the ride and headed back outside. The boat was ready and waiting, and she jumped in, freezing a bit when it rocked a little. She hoped it didn’t tip over…
She picked up the row with her magic. “Why do they leave this out like this? In this place I wouldn’t be surprised if it got stolen.”
With a shrug she made herself comfortable and begun to row the boat forward. If she ignored the filthy water, the surrounding forest was actually kind of pretty.
The trees were a little droopy, but the colors were bright.
Massive tree-like orange flowers stood taller than even Celestia, Rarity estimated. Heck, even the underbrush looked nice when it wasn’t squishing under her hooves.
The sky was bright and clear, although looking up the view was ruined when the repulsive, angry-looking moon entered her field of vision. She wondered what time it was. She silently cursed herself for stopping to bathe in that spring earlier, sure it didn’t take long but every second counted.
Three days. Three days! The more she thought about it, the more stressed she felt. It didn’t seem fair, usually it was her and the other five that dealt with big problems like these together. Now, she was alone in a world she didn’t recognize with ponies she’d never seen before.
She eyed the water. Say, it looked a lot more… purple! Purple water. That couldn’t be too healthy, she thought with a grimace.
She was jarred out of her trance when she rowed the boat into something hard, she jerked her head up. She’d run the stupid thing right into a little dock. Looking up, she noticed a massive wall. It almost looked like straw, held together by mud. And for all she knew, and considering what the rest of the places she’d seen were like, that could be exactly what it was.
She wasn’t too surprised. Not after being in hideouts held in sewers, a filthy, unclean hotel with a bathroom that she could have sworn there was a hoof in the toilet asking for paper.
She hopped off the boat, carefully tying it to the pole at the end of the dock and headed up towards the door. She cast one last glance at the moon hanging ominously low in the sky, before heading inside.
Whatever she hated about the outside, the inside took her breath away. There was no ceiling, just open sky. The whole wall spanned father on both sides behind her, then curving forward where she couldn’t see the ends. In front of her was more swamp water, but there was a long bridge spanning from where she stood to a hallway where two zebra guards stood still and expressionless, not unlike Celestia’s daytime guards.
The inside of the walls were brightly painted, reds and whites, colors that Rarity had never thought could look so good. And the trees hung over the walls from the outside, making it look wild in a rather nice way. Rarity wasn’t much for ‘tribal fashion’ but she was rather impressed.
Although the swamp water had to go.
She stepped onto the bridge, the sides painted white while the rest remained plain wood. She trotted over and greeted the guards.
“Why, hello there. My name is Rarity, and I request an audience with your leader.”
The two male zebra’s eyed each other. Rarity waited expectantly, she wondered if all zebra talked in rhyme like Zecora.
Actually, Zecora spoke a foreign language Rarity remembered – did these two understand a word she was saying?
She hoped so.
Finally, one spoke up – in her language, to her relief.
“No.”
“Thank- …No?” she echoed.
“No.” The other stated.
“No?” she repeated, furrowing her brow.
“No,” the other said. “You’re not of our tribe, and more importantly, a pony. No ponies aloud.”
“Well why ever not?” Rarity asked, feeling aggravated. She did not have time for this, all she needed was access to their temple!
“Kings orders,” he stated.
“Well,” Rarity sighed. “Couldn’t you… just make this one exception? I need to speak with him, if only for a second.”
The two exchanged glances. “Well… I suppose today is a special occasion,” one said. “Just go straight down that hall, don’t go to the left or right pathways, just straight. I’m sure the king is too busy right now to care about you, just behave yourself!”
Rarity frowned as the moved out of the way. They weren’t even going to escort her? Wouldn’t she have a better chance of gaining the kings attention if she had them with her?
She didn’t like their attitudes either, although they were just doing their job she supposed. And with that she went forward, straight towards the bigger door ignoring the doors on either side of her, as they’d told her too. It was kind of hilarious, she wasn't escorted and the excepted her - a stranger they'd never seen before in their life - to listen.
The king’s chamber was quite a sight to be seen. And very loud, she noticed. In front of her sat a large fire pit, the fire seeming to dance in front of her, tendrils of smoke rising into the air and blowing away in the gentle breeze. To her left, a massive cage the lined the whole wall. To her right, another wall. Several zebras stood around the fire, talking amongst themselves. She carefully moved around the fire, noticing a large platform against the back wall, a big chair in the middle and sitting in it, looking very angry was a male zebra she assumed to be the king. He wore a crown of leaves, and jewelry on his forelegs, very similar and yet not similar to Zecora’s. Next to him stood a rather slender zebra, his head bowed and in front of the platform were several guards.
Rarity couldn’t help but wonder if this was where Zecora came from. It seemed likely, after all Zecora seemed to know much about this land. But somehow it didn’t seem likely.
Swallowing, she took a few steps forward. “Excuse me?” she called. The king turned his attention towards her.
“What?! A pony!? In the palace? What nonsense is this!”
Yet the guards didn’t come after her, and he didn’t send them after her, so she continued. “Well, your highness, I was let through. Special occasion I guess? I was wondering if I could gain access to your temple, it is very important you see.”
He glared, “No, I don’t’ see.”
Rarity bit her lip. “Well… I hoped… I need to find somepony, or somezebra I assume…”
Rarity didn’t know what she was looking for, just that he – or she lived in the temple. Zecora had said each temple in each region held something, and she needed their help.
“What? That temple is sacred ground! Why should I open it to the likes of you!”
Despite this, she found save for the guards the other zebras in the room didn’t seem to care about what was going on. Not that it mattered, it just seemed like something everyone would turn their head to watch.
“Well, I…” she frowned, trying to think.
The king spoke, “Look pony, normally I’d have you thrown out in a second! But as you said, today is a special occasion – for we have captured the monkey that kidnapped my daughter!” he pointed a striped hoof towards the cage, where a monkey was tied to a large pole in the middle.
“That traitor refuses to give her back, he will be punished tonight if you wish to watch.”
“I see…” Rarity said thoughtfully. “Now off with you!” the king shouted, and Rarity quickly backed away so the king could return to speaking with the zebra next to him. Rarity headed towards the cage – the monkeys earlier had said they needed her help.
She hopped up and lightly tapped a hoof on one of the bars – the struggling monkey refused to look at her. “Hey – psst! Monkey!”
“Go away!” He shouted. “Are you here to mock me?!”
She noticed his speech was more advanced than that of his brothers. “I’ve heard it all before, ‘Give the princess back! Tell us where she is!’ but you’re all fools! If you don’t listen, she could fall prey to a horrible monster!”
“Shhh! Monkey, listen!” she called and this time he turned. “Huh?! A pony! But… do they know you’re here?”
“Yes, but listen. Your brothers sent me for you. I want to help…”
“From out there? That’s not going to do any good, you’ve got to get in here!”
“Why?”
“You’re going to attract attention if we talk like this…”
“How do I get in?”
“There’s an entrance down the hall you used to get in here, down the left. You can use it to sneak in here! Then we’ll talk!”
Rarity felt she ought not to, but… she had to. She didn’t know if the monkey was guilty, he very well could be, but he had said something about the princess falling prey to a monster hadn’t he?
Rarity shoved these thoughts into the back of her head, her first priority was to get in there and speak with him. But… it could just be a waste of time. Oh Celestia, her brain was starting to hurt.
She headed back out the way she came. The palace guards had their backs towards her. She hesitated, before she carefully slipped down the left doorway, and crouched low. She carefully went in, being careful not to be seen. In front of her seemed like a maze, and guards patrolled seemingly everywhere. Random walls were placed around, with seemingly no purpose. Tall pillars and odd columns were placed in no specific order, at least not to Rarity.
The slightly more dirty than usual unicorn saw lots of hiding places, and hesitated.
Was this a good idea? She didn’t like the idea of sneaking around in here and speaking to a possibly criminal monkey…
“I have to,” she whispered. She didn’t even know if it would help her get to the temple – ideally not, but…
Rarity quickly made her way to the right and slipped into a patch of… some sort of plant she didn’t recognize. She held her breath as a guard passed by, made sure it was clear and hurried down towards the other wall. Painted white, she noticed. All around were high white pillars, random walls and random patches of grass or flowers.
Was this a garden? She wondered to herself. What else could it be? Maybe that’s what the walls were for…
If she wasn’t trying to be stealthy, Rarity would have sighed. She didn’t even know where she was supposed to go from here!
She watched the guard pass and holding her breath made her way for the next wall, crouching down and waiting. Do all zebra have that manestyle? I thought it was unique to Zecora… I guess not. Sad, what a lack of variety.
Rarity found it easy to hide in tall patches of grass, or just hide behind walls until the guards passed and she could move forward only to hide behind another wall and wait for that guard to pass.
Alright, let’s do this. Rarity thought bitterly.
She did find herself in a tight spot a few times and almost got caught, but managed to keep hidden.
She did find herself tempted a few times to steal some of the vegetables she saw growing here and there, she was simply famished! And she did end up taking a tomato.
Or two. And a few carrots.
But hey! She was breaking and entering anyway, and they wouldn’t notice!
Oh Rarity, looks what’s become of you! She thought angrily. And in only such a short amount of time, too. It’s justified! She told herself, not really believing it. I’m trying to save the world! If I fail, everypony dies! And everyzebra. Everymonkey… Every… everybody dies! I deserve this!
Again, if she weren’t trying to be stealthy shed have punched herself. Wait… never mind. She was already messy enough as it is, she didn’t need a black eye. Repulsive.
“Hey! You, unicorn!”
Rarity froze in her tracks. She really needed to stop letting her train of thought run off.
“You’re not allowed in here!”
“Right…” she turned to the two guards. “I was just… taking my leave, then?”
~~~
Rarity had never felt so degraded in all her life. No, they couldn’t have just escorted her out like normal, civilized ponies – zebras, they had to dog-pile her, and then drag her out by her mane, and then throw, not shove but throw her out of the palace.
Never again, she thought furiously trying to re-style her mane, while simultaneously looking around for some other way in.
Whether or not she helped the monkey, she still needed to get to the temple, and evidently the only way to do that was with the zebra’s permission. She could just sneak in, she supposed, but she still didn’t know where it was. She was back on the bridge now, she eyed the purple water with complete disgust. In a rare fit of temper, she whirled around and harshly bucked a sign that she hadn’t even noticed was there.
It rattled, before breaking completely and falling into the hideous swamp water. “Cut that out, pony!” one of the guards called.
She was about to retort, but stopped herself. Mustn’t let yourself go, Rarity. You’re better than this. Then, a stupid yet ultimately hilarious idea came to her. She pulled out her ocarina, and getting close to the pole where the sign once was she played the song of healing, than watched as the sign floated up out of the water and repaired itself.
“HAHAHA OH MY GOODNESS IT WORKED!” the unicorn fell on her back laughing.
What? She might as well try to have some fun while on this adventure. She was starting to miss Pinkie… and her friends. And Sweetie Belle….
The two guards either didn’t notice, or were like Celestia’s guards in the sense that they could manage not to smile or laugh like a pair of statues.
Rarity quickly got to her hooves, and wiped a tear from her eye. Then, she quickly regained her composure, her snowy-white cheeks turning bright red. She cleared her throat. “My apologies,” she said to no one in particular.
With an uncomfortable pause, she scanned the area. I need to find some other way in, somewhere like… Aha!
The white unicorn spotted a hole in the wall to the far left of the building, it looked like pretty high but there was some sort of plant she could use to catapult herself up. And then there was the swamp water… how would she even get over there?
Giant lily pads! If she jumped fast enough she could leap over them without sinking or touching the disgusting filth!
Now, to distract the guards, who somehow didn’t even notice the way she was eying the hole.
She nonchalantly turned her head, pretending to be interested in some weird flower, and then focused her horn, hoping they wouldn’t notice. If they did, they didn’t seem to care at all.
Above the guards heads was a small shelf-like structure, with a broken-down fence. She carefully levitated it up and behind them, waited a second, and let it drop to the ground behind them.
They immediately turned around, “Who goes there!”
Rarity took her chance and leapt onto a lily pad, gracefully jumping from one to the next while they sank behind her, before finally landing on an ugly vine-like thing sticking out of the water. It fell back with her on it, then snapped forward launching her towards her target.
She landed in the hole, and nearly slipped for a moment, the wall was a lot thinner than she had anticipated and so there wasn’t much hoof-room. She looked around.
She could see the area she had previously snuck into, but from this vantage point she could see exactly where to go, and she could leap from wall to wall, pillar to pillar. Provided the guards didn’t look up.
This has to be a garden… she thought to herself. It would explain the random walls and pillars.
She held a hoof over her eyes; the sun was shining right into them. So, I’ll leap from these walls and pillars, and if I’m precise, and don’t slip or fall I’ll make it to the end, which should be right next to the kings chamber, and hopefully I can find a hold or loose piece of wood and slip into the monkey’s cage. I shouldn’t have to be too careful where I break into since the monkey’s cage stretches along the entire wall.
Satisfied, she made carefully lowered herself into a crouch, waiting for the guards to move into positions where they wouldn’t see her leap from the corner of their eyes. Once she was absolutely sure, she jumped onto a pillar, which had some sort of weird giant flower on it. The same kind that had broken her fall when she’d fallen down that horrendous pit when first entering the land, she noted. She carefully curled her tail around herself so it wouldn’t hang over the edge and continued her slow, precise leaps.
Mustn’t wait too long, Rarity. You’ve only got three days to get the four… whatever they are.
She gulped. “Well, this absolutely bites.”
Her stealth mission seemed to drag on for hours, waiting for the exact moment to jump and not get caught. And there were some bothersome birds that kept dive-bombing her, probably had nests hidden in or on the walls and pillars. Bother, bother.
“Oh, you ruffians!” she hissed through her teeth as one particularly angry bird dove down and pecked at her head with its beak, and tugged at her mane with its talons.
Finally! She’d made it to the very end. She scanned the wall for some sort of weakness or hole.
Finally, one caught her eye. “Ah! Excellent.”
She’d have to jump a little high for this one, but she was confident in her abilities.
“One… two… three… jump!” She arched back on her hooves on the thin wall she stood on and took a short running leap, landing less than gracefully, but nonetheless unhurt and undetected.
She quickly and quietly entered, right into the kings chamber, inside the cage. She landed on what appeared to be storage boxes, “Psst! Mister Monkey,” She slipped in front of him.
“Oh!” his eyes widened. “You actually showed up!” He said, just barely above a whisper.
“Yes, I did. But I don’t have much time, and I assume you don’t either.” The entire world doesn’t have much time.
“You said something about the zebra princess being in trouble, correct?”
“Yes!” he cried exasperatedly, then realizing he’d yelled he quieted and looked around. When he was sure no one heard him he turned back to Rarity. “Yes,” he said quietly, “The princess of the zebra was kidnapped by a monster! You see,” he explained. “The swamp hasn’t always been poisonous, and was a lot less dangerous until recently. The princess and I headed to Woodfall Temple to investigate, but she was kidnapped by the monster that took the entire temple over! The zebra found me there and the king accused me of kidnapping her, and now they plan to punish me if I don’t give her back! They just won’t listen to me!”
“Shh, calm down.” Rarity said softly. “Look, I actually need to get to the temple. Woodfall temple, I assume. I can rescue her, but first I need you to tell me where it is.”
The monkey smiled. “Oh, thank you! Now look,” he said, voice low. “The temple is really only accessible to the zebra, because there’s a song you need to play to get in. Do you have an instrument of some sort?”
“As a matter of fact I do,” she held up the ocarina proudly.
“Excellent! Excellent! There’s a secret passageway outside the palace, behind some bushes and flowers. It will lead you straight to woodfall, then there’s a platform with a symbol of a zebra on it. In order to awaken the temple, play this. Ready your instrument…”
Rarity did just that, levitating it to her lips and listening to the monkey as he begun to softly hum a tune.
Ooh, pretty, she thought and carefully mimicked the tune with her ocarina. Loudly.
What? It was easy to get carried away when playing beautiful tunes on such a lovely instrument, besides. This was Rarity.
“Guards!” Rarity froze in place when she heard the king’s shout. “That pony has been taught our secret tune! She’s broken into the cage! Out with her! I’ve had enough of this, let the monkeys punishment commence!”
“PUNISH THE MONKEY!” Several zebra called out together.
And before Rarity could fully grasp the situation several guards had knocked her to the ground.
“Oh! Why you - !”
She was beat over the head with a stick and blinked in shock as the guards dragged her away in a similar fashion as before.
“Hurry, Miss!” The monkey cried. “Forget me, rescue the princess!”