Twilight felt triumphant at her deductive skills. All of the carefully crafted lies, half-truths, and masks that this dragon before her had imagined, assembled, and refined over the past thousand years had created a vast and impressive web of deceit. The cover was nigh flawless, but she had broken past all of the obstacles within two days of meeting him. She had a huge smile on her face as she turned, and looked into Spike's eyes, intending to give him a giant hug. But before she did so, she was stopped short at the sight before her. Instead of the loving affection of the Spike that she knew from when he was a baby, he was not smiling back.
He was frowning.
It was a mixed frown. It was a frown of sadness, fear, anger, and disappointment. Twilight looked at Spike, “Spike, what's-”
“I am not Spike,” he spoke quickly, his voice quiet and emotionless.
“Oh don't be so down,” she reached towards his head, but he withdrew it before she got close. Twilight sighed, “Why do you insist on being this... Sarlaka creature? Its obvious to me who you really are, Spike.”
Spike sighed, “Magic, for one who knows so much, you know so very little about me, for which I am grateful for.” He looked towards her, and she cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Please describe Spike to me, Magic.”
Twilight, with pride in her voice, responded instantly, “Well YOU are the best and most wonderful assistant and friend a unicorn... no... a pony could ever have. With a sarcastic sense of humor, you would drive me crazy beyond belief, but nearly every time I would laugh. Yet, with all the quirkiness, the kindest heart resides in your chest, one that would give up your most valuable treasures for the ones that you love.” She smiled at her response.
Spike looked at Twilight with even more of a frown now, “Magic, I have another question for you, and I want you to be completely honest,” he said quietly. “If Spike were to come face to face with a serial killer, a pony full of evil and empty of remorse, and Spike had no choice but to kill him to save you, would he?”
Twilight thought for a second, “Well... if there was no choice, I guess you would.”
“I see. Now, lets say that instead of a serial killer, it was merely somepony trying to rob you. What then?”
“I... I don't think you... I mean you would. I mean... you might, but you would feel bad about it...”
“Lets say that he had to complete an important task for Celestia, and somepony was stopping him from completing that task, and the only way for him to complete it, was to kill that pony,” the volume in Spikes voice slowly rose, “Would he?”
Twilight's eyes widened, “Oh certainly not! You would never... do... that...”
“What if he did something wrong. Very, very wrong, to the point that he would be sentenced to the harshest of punishments if discovered, but if he killed but a single witness, his transgression would remain unknown forever,” he raised his voice to just below a roar, “Would he kill this pony?!”
“I... I mean...” she stammered.
“What if there was a pony, not an evil pony, but a normal, bucking pony, that was simply a minor inconvenience for him!? What if that pony was a good, bucking pony, and only was a little annoying at times!? What if that pony was a friend that he had known for a decade!?” the dragon yelled, his chest heaving with large breaths. Nearly ten seconds later, he lowered his voice to a whisper, “Would he be so evil as to kill this pony?”
Twilight hung her head, unable to come up with a response to this.
He turned his head, and gazed towards the valley below, “I have done terrible, awful things, Magic. Dreadful, unforgivable things. I have killed thousands. Yes, many of them were vile, cruel, and would hurt others just to get the time of day. However, so many more were kind, honest, and innocent ponies, who just... got in the way. Good and evil, I ended them all, because I believed that the goal I set out for myself is greater than any single pony's life. Or a dozen. Or a thousand.
“Spike was a good dragon. A very noble, kind, gentle, friendly dragon, that wouldn't hurt a pony no matter what the reason was. You say that he would kill to protect you from the death, but I am not sure that he could even bring himself to do that. Because of that, I refuse to allow that soul be corrupted by my evil. Therefore, Magic, he is dead, and Sarlaka killed him. If you love Spike as much as you do, you would not associate him with me ever again.”
Looking up at the dragon before her, Twilight saw he had that mixed frown on his face again. This time though, he refused to look at her. Twilight could feel the tears streaking down her face, but made no effort to wipe them away. She took a step towards him, but couldn't force herself to move any closer. She could only whisper a single reply.
“I'm sorry.”
He looked over at the unicorn for a brief second, sadness in his eyes, before he turned back towards the valley below. “Do not be sorry for me, young one. I do not seek, nor deserve forgiveness for my sins, and I will not accept any if given. Instead, be sorry for all the good ponies I stole from this world to get where we are today.” He laid there for nearly a minute in silence, gazing over the expanse before sighing, “Magic, you have a long journey ahead of you. You should probably go and pack your things.” Twilight paused, but then turned towards the cavern. Before she walked more than a few steps, she was stopped by a deep voice.
“And Magic? Could you... umm...” the dragon paused. Twilight turned towards him, and saw him looking down at his foreclaws, “... Could you... not tell Generosity who I am?”
She looked at him for another few seconds before nodding. She turned back towards the caverns and, with tears still streaking down her face, she passed back into the darkness. Twilight slowly walked down the passage and into the main hall, until she came face to face with Applejack. Twilight tried to give the orange mare a smile, but Applejack put a hoof to Twilight shoulder to stop her, apparently seeing straight through the facade.
“Twi...” Applejack softly spoke, “We all heard yellin' from that Sarlaka dragon. Yall ok?”
Twilight put on a sad smile, “Yeah... I think I will be...”
“Ah' didn' hear wha' he was sayin'. Wha' gotcha all worked up, sugarcube?”
“I just...” Twilight looked behind her, back towards the opening. From here, she could see the daylight streaking in, but she could no longer see... Sarlaka. Without looking back at Applejack, she sighed, “... lost something very important to me...”
For the most part, the day had gone pretty smoothly, though Rarity knew there was one dark spot. She heard from Applejack that the yelling earlier was from Twilight and Sarlaka talking in private, and that something was said between them to make Twilight upset enough to cry. However, every time Rarity had tried to coax it out of the unicorn, Twilight would insist that not only was it not Sarlaka's fault, but that it was nothing important. Rarity sighed. The curiosity of what happened was overwhelming to her, and with nearly any other pony, she would hound him or her until they spilled the beans. However, for Twilight, she'd let the unicorn keep her secrets.
As for right now, she was content to quietly eating dinner in the dining hall with her friends. Rarity looked fine on the outside, but on the inside, she was worked up over the journey they all would soon be taking. She looked over at Twilight, who was talking to Applejack about something, though from the smile on both of their faces, it was hopefully some happy memory. A good sign. Turning to her right, Rainbow and Fluttershy were sitting together, though neither were talking much to each other. Rarity wasn't surprised at the yellow mare's actions, or inaction in this case, but THE Rainbow Dash being quiet instead of boasting about some trick? Rarity knew that this was interesting turn of events. Still, weirder things have happened before. As for Pinkie, Rarity had not seen the pink ma-.
“HI RARITY!!!”
Rarity nearly spat her soup across the table as the big ball of pink dropped from the ceiling into the chair next to her, surprisingly not shattering the seat in the process. Looking up, Rarity saw that there wasn't anything that Pinkie could have possible dropped from to where she now sat.
“How did you... I mean... oh nevermind.” Rarity shook her head, and chalked it up to, as Twilight would say, 'Pinkie being Pinkie'.
“So Rarity,” Pinkie rested her head on a hoof as she leaned on the table, “Whatcha' thinkin' about? Wait wait wait, let me guess! Ummm... is it cupcakes? No... that'd be something I would think about. Lets see... maybe its about a dress! No... oh oh oh! Maybe its that one stallion that was on the cover of playma-”
Pinkie was hushed by a hoof to her mouth by a now very red-faced unicorn. “Pinkie Pie! That is NOT a proper dinner subject!” Rarity waited a second to gain her composure back, “First off, I refrain from looking at magazines with such a... crude subject...” Rarity turned her head for a second, blushing a little bit more. Gaining her composure again, she looked at her bowl, and continued, “Secondly, I was thinking about the trip we are all about to take. I'm not going lie, I am quite nervous about it.”
Rarity waited a few seconds, but noticed that Pinkie wasn't responding. Looking at her, Rarity saw that her friend was looking down at the table as well, her signature Pinkie Smile absent from her face. “Pinkie Pie... are you alright?”
“Yeah,” Pinkie solemnly spoke. Looking around, she continued in a much more hushed tone, “Rarity, can I tell you a secret?”
To say that she was a little shocked would be an understatement. Pinkie Pie, the most cheerful and happy pony Rarity had ever met, not only looked sad, but was asking Rarity, a pony notorious for her dealings with gossip, to keep what Pinkie was about to tell her a secret. She smiled at the trust, if potentially misplaced, Pinkie had in her.
“Pinkie, dear, I not only promise, I Pinkie Promise,” she said as she quickly and subtly went through the motions, making sure the others didn't see. When she put the imaginary cupcake in her eye though, she pushed a little too hard, eliciting an “ow”.
“Hehehe, oh Rarity,” Pinkie giggled a little. The frown returned shortly after though, “I'm scared Rarity. Not scared like Rainbow got at the 'Best Young Fliers Competition' or Fluttershy gets over... well... everything, but scared scared. And being scared is scary Rarity.”
“Pinkie Pie...” Rarity placed a hoof on the now shaking mare, “Its alright to be scared. Celestia knows I am. We are about to embark on a terrifyingly dreadful journey, and I can tell you that if anypony wasn't scared about something like this, I would hit that mare over the head with a curling iron.”
“Its not just that Rarity...” Pinkie was trembling more, a few tears escaping her eyes, “I... got a Pinkie Sense... a tail twitch tongue twist tummy growl Pinkie Sense... and... I don't know what it means... but... but... I think something very, very bad is going to happen...”
“Oh Pinkie,” Rarity pulled the distraught mare into a hug, comforting her. The shaking pink pony just sat there, accepting, but not returning, the hug. Rarity held her in silence until Pinkie was shaking less, “Pinkie Pie, you know that I believe your Pinkie Sense, but you said it yourself. You don't know what this one means. For all we know, it could mean that I'm going to have my mane shaved off, and I can tell you now that that would be very, very bad.” She held Pinkie at leg reach.
Pinkie giggled, “That'd be even scarier than the time Madame LeFlour tried to eat those mushrooms.” The party pony's giggling slowed to a stop, before she spoke again, “Do me a favor Rarity?”
“Hmm? Yes Pinkie?”
“Can you... keep Twilight safe? I know she's super duper powerful in magic, but look out after her? Ok? I don't want anything to happen to either of you two...”
“Oh but of course, Pinkie. And before you ask, I'll make sure to look out after myself as well.”
In an instant, the pink pony bounced a little, and smiled, “Thanks! You know, you should go into psychotherapy or something. First Twilight, then me, next we'll have big lizard boy crying his heart out over spilled milk!”
As if on cue, Sarlaka sauntered into the hall, walking past the mares as they looked on in silence. In one of his claws, he held a small bag, which was as large as the box that held the Element of Magic. Walking to the head of the table, he laid himself down, and smiled at the ponies. “Well don't stop on my behalf. Please, continue.” The six ponies stopped what they were doing anyways, and focused themselves more on the food in front of them than their previous conversations.
Rolling his eyes, he smiled, “Well, I tried. I guess that now that I have your attention, I'll cut to the chase. Because of the danger of your mission, I am giving you ponies some of the treasures I possess. Honesty,” he looked at Applejack, and beckoned her over. Nervously, she got up, and came closer. “To you, I give you two things,” he said as he pulled a coil of rope and a pair of claws from the bag. “The first, is a pair of climbing claws, some of the best that I've ever obtained in my travels, though I admit I can't test that claim myself. The second, is rope.”
From where Rarity sat, the rope looked very simple, a bright orange hue being the only distinguishing feature. The claws, however, bore the appearance of exquisite craftsmanship. The blades were connected to some sort of jet black leather, or hopefully non hide leather-like, material, which would strap over the forehooves, and which braces went halfway up her knees. As for the claws themselves, they appeared to be a simple steel, and were more of spikes than claws.
Applejack raised an eyebrow, “Ah rope an' claws?”
“Ah! But not just any rope! This rope is made from the hair of the legendary sea serpent's mustache. While I am sure you are aware that it can be cut, it is incredibly resilient, mere tension will never break it. The claws I had specially made for ponies, and should make any climbing of a mountain that much easier,” He leaned closer, “Plus I hear this particular rope makes a mean lasso.”
She smiled, “Well thank ya kindly.” Applejack picked the rope and claws up with her teeth, and trotted over to her seat at the table.
“Kindness?”
Fluttershy let out a slight “eep” as she was called, got up, and slowly trotted over. “To you, I give you this.”
Sarlaka pulled from the bag a feather that was around the same size a typical eagle's feather. It was a fiery red, and appeared to emanate a slight glow from itself. “This is the primary feather of the last living Phoenix. It is said that when this is in your possession, you may fly at speeds much greater than any pegasus could ever normally achieve. I admit that I don't know how much faster exactly, but I suspect you can give Loyalty a run for her money with this.” Fluttershy just looked at the feather, not moving from where she was planted. Sarlaka smiled again, “I promise that it was willingly given by its original owner, and he was not killed or clipped for this gift.”
With the assurance, she gave a small smile, “Oh, umm... thank you Mr. Sarlaka,” and she picked it up in her mouth, and trotted back over to her seat. Rainbow looked at it suspiciously, at Sarlaka, then the feather. Rarity swore she heard Rainbow mumble something about being the best young flier in Equestria, but wasn't certain.
“Laug-”
Pinkie was upon him before he could finish the word, “So whatcha got for me huh, huh, HUH!?”
Chuckling, he leaned over to the pink pony, and whispered something to her. A few seconds later, she opened her eyes so wide, they took up her entire upper face. Her toothy smile taking up the lower half from its matching enthusiasm. “Remember now,” Sarlaka grinned, “Its a secret.”
Pinkie Pie nodded as she jumped into the bag, then a few seconds later, jumped back out holding a small forest green bag in her mouth, and happily bounced over to where she was seated.
“Loyalty?” he turned to Rainbow, who's ears perked up, “I apologize, but I do not have anything for you.” Rainbow's ears flattened against her head in disappointment. “However! I do not know how I could improve on perfection, and I suspect I will be giving you a gift in the journey at some point, so do not worry yourself.” Rainbow still looked disappointed, but she smiled anyways at the complement and reassurance.
Sarlaka turned towards Twilight, “Magic? I must also apologize, for I cannot give you your gift just yet. The... moment is not right. However, when the time comes, I will give you the greatest gift I could ever give to you.” Twilight only nodded in response, her gaze never once lifting from the soup in front of her.
Finally, he turned to Rarity, who had watched this whole event unfold with anticipation. “Generosity?” The white unicorn's ears perked up, but otherwise, her demeanor did not change as she kept her emotions in check.
“Yes, Lord Sarlaka?”
“Come with me. Your gift is something I wish to discuss with you, and you alone,” he smiled as he got up, and started walking over towards the main hall. Rarity looked at the others with a slightly confused look. Four the the five friends shrugged their shoulders, showing their confusion as well. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie smiled wide, and was motioning with her hooves for the purple maned unicorn to go with him. Giving a final shrug, Rarity got up, and trotted over to the door, giving one last look at her friends before she passed through the doorway.
As she entered the main hall, she noticed that Sarlaka had gotten on top of his hoard, and was digging through the gemstones for something. Rarity debated for a fleeting second taking one of the gems on top, but decided that enraging another dragon through stealing from his hoard was not a wise decision. After several minutes of anticipated waiting, Sarlaka finally came back with a box. This box was made of some kind of wood, though Rarity couldn't begin to guess at what kind, and measured about four hooves long, one hoof wide, and half a hoof thick at most.
“Generosity, how adept are you at magic?”
“Well that is quite a personal question, but if you must know, I am a unicorn,” Rarity replied, a little annoyance showing through from the nature of the question, “so it is second nature, like a pegasus with flight.”
The dragon shook his head, “No no no, you misunderstand. What I mean is how powerful are the spells you can cast? How varied is your mastery of the different schools? How deep is your magical reserve?”
“Oh... umm...” Rarity shifted her weight, now a little embarrassed, “I... do admit that most of my magic is focused towards my career as a dressmaker, though manipulation of gems is second nature and doesn't tax me in the slightest. As for other spells... well... I'm mostly limited to simple object manipulation.”
“I see... that is what I expected,” Sarlaka smiled reassuringly, “You see, Generosity, when it comes to fighting, the greatest warriors always make sure to fight with their strengths. Magic's is obvious, she would use her natural talent of the arcane magics. Laughter is a little less obvious, but still a powerful strength: her unpredictability and Pinkie Sense. However, you are a little more... complex.
“For your strength lies in your master of dexterous manipulation of objects, created by years of sewing, and your limitless ability to manipulate gemstones. Therefore,” he opened the box, “I entrust you with this.”
Rarity looked at the object inside of the box, taking it in. Inside, there was a steel object, not unlike that of a typical sword, except that there didn't seem to be any sort of bit to hold onto it with. Instead, the bladed weapon was just that: a three hoof long piece of metal that was sharp from point to point. Other than that, and the obvious exquisite craftsmanship that went into the forging of such a device, it seemed like any ordinary tool of war. Accompanying the blade, was a very intricate and heavily designed scabbard, which was the same purple hue as her mane, but also had six gemstones in the shape of the Elements of Harmony to complement the color. Several straps came off of it, obviously designed to strap the entire thing to the owner's back.
“Uh... this is... interesting.” Rarity gave out a weak smile to try to convince the dragon before her that she liked what she saw, when in reality it was so much the opposite. While she admitted to herself it was a beautiful piece of artwork, the idea that this was meant to kill squashed any positive thoughts of its appearance.
Sarlaka shook his head, “Ah, but you haven't tried to use it yet. Come on! Try it.”
“Alright alright,” the unicorn responded. Finally enveloping the blade with her magic, she levitated it towards herself. Upon first glance, she found it was just like a typical piece of metal that she levitated every so often. However, she sensed something odd within the weapon itself, so pushed her magic deeper. Suddenly, the magic aura around the weapon was swallowed, and the blade became near effortless to hold onto. Pulling it towards herself, she felt as if the weapon was an extension of herself. While something as simple as holding an object was usually required at least some amount of effort, it felt like she wasn't even using magic at all to move the blade. A sudden realization came to her, and using a small amount of magic, she confirmed it.
“Is this thing made of diamonds!?”
“Not quite, but close. There is a very thin core of diamond on the inside, plus the metal itself is mixed with slight amount of diamond dust.
Rarity had started to move the weapon side to side, but not in a swinging motion. Instead, she merely was inspecting it, awed at the amount of work that must have went into this thing. “Sarlaka, how did you do this?”
Sarlaka's smile grew wider at the question, “Ten years to figure out how to make diamonds, twenty years to figure out how to put them in a sword, and thirty failed attempts is how. Oh!” He reached into the bag that he had held all the other gifts in before, “I almost forgot. When I finally finished, I had extra chunks of diamond that I didn't use, and I decided that I might as well give them to you for your journey. I'm not sure how you could use them other than currency, but who knows? You're creative, and I'm sure you'll think of something.”
Holding her blade to the side, she grasped the diamonds inside the bag that he held. Her eyes growing even wider than before, she realized that there must have been over two dozen diamonds in that bag, and many of them were bigger than her hooves. The amount that these diamonds alone were worth was... staggering.
Rarity shifted the blade for a few more minutes, before she placed the blade and scabbard back into the box, releasing both from her grasp. She closed her eyes in thought, “I have to ask you... you waited for us for so many centuries, yet after all that time, you gave Applejack climbing tools, Twilight an IOU, and Rainbow didn't get anything. Yet, you made me such a masterpiece, if a brutish one, and you are giving me what must be the largest collection of diamonds I, if not any, pony has ever seen.” Rarity opened her eyes to look at him, “Why are you doing this for me, and specifically me?”
“Simple, because, no offense, I know the others can handle themselves in a fight fairly well with their own skill. You are... well... more delicate,” Sarlaka said with a chuckle.
“Oh reeeaaaaaally?” She spoke, an unbelieving tone escaping from her throat, “So you think Fluttershy can handle herself in a fight then? Because when it comes to it, I don't think that feather is going to help her throw a kick.”
“Uhh... well...” Sarlaka started to shift his eyes. After a second he sighed, and looked at his feet, “There's... several reasons...”
“I'm listening.”
“Well... for starters, there's that first reason I said. But more importantly... well... I made a promise to protect you.”
“Yes yes yes,” Rarity waved her hoof in a circular fashion, “You promised to protect the Elements of Harmony from Discord or something. I get it, but why me?”
Sarlaka spoke in a quiet voice, “No, Generosity, I promised, specifically, to protect you.”
Rarity cocked her head, “You promised to who?”
Salraka sighed, “Look, I'll make you a deal. If you and Magic get back here in one piece, then I promise I'll tell you everything. But for now, just trust me that I have good reasons for not telling you. Think of it as some sort of welcome back gift,” he nervously chuckled.
Against every instinct and every fiber of her nature that told her to do otherwise, Rarity relented, “Fine. However, as soon as Twilight and I get back, we are going to have a long chat.” She grabbed the sword and bag in one swipe, and walked out of the room to back to the dining room where her friends were waiting.
“Generosity...”
Rarity did not stop. Instead, she continued to walk out of the room.
“Generosity.”
She needed to get out of that room. There was too much going on. She needed to have some time to think to herself.
“Generosity!”
Why her? Who would Sarlaka promise to to keep her safe? Celestia? No. Twilight would be a more likely choice. Luna? No. She hadn't seen Luna since they freed her from Nightmare Moon's corruption, and Rarity wasn't even sure if Luna even remembered-
“Rarity!”
Rarity stopped, and turned towards the source of the voice. Behind her, a very sad looking dragon looked at her. Stunned for a few seconds at the outburst, she listened to what he told her, “Please... please be careful. Promise me you'll be safe.”
Rarity broke out of her stupor, looked towards her newly acquired weapons, then looked down at her host, “I... can't promise that, and you know it.” She then turned back towards the dining hall with her gift in hoof, and passed out of sight of the dragon.