Chapter Six
~ the next day ~
Sound returned to her at long last, she had sat in this empty void with no sound or even light, things she sorely missed as she has no idea how long she has been here, she could hear a voice repeating the same thing over and over again just at the edge of her hearing sounding like an echo.
Then her vision returned to her albeit a bit blurry, she sees a white blob jumping around in the dark room, reaching out she tried to touch the blob, ‘why do I feel like having some marshmallows right about now?’ she mentally thought as in vain her forelegs were weaken from wherever they had been just now. ‘Why am I so weak?’ she thought sadly as she missed the feeling of being in motion.
She groans loudly as her foreleg falls to the ground in weariness. This had the added effect of causing the voice that was saying the same thing over and over to suddenly stop, silence was reintroduced to her and with horror she realized she sorely missed that voice. ‘Nu, please say something’ she said mentally rather wearily as her voice was to sore for her to say it aloud. ‘I miss hearing that voice already.’
And before she knew it, something landed on her giving her a rather impressive death grip as it wrapped around her preventing her from moving, this had the effect of causing her eyes to flare open clearing most of her vision but still couldn’t see too well in the dark. She still couldn’t move as whatever was holding her was preventing all movement ‘although it wasn’t like I could move in the first place.’ She mentally noted out as she could feel her breathing was strained.
“C-can’t breathe” she weakly protested against her assailant.
“Oh! Sorry!” A voice said dropping her onto the sleeping cot on the ground.
“Erg where am I?” I said, now feeling out of it more as the sudden lack of oxygen, followed by sudden vertigo followed by pain had really put a toll on my mind.
Looking at the white blob, I squinted my sore eyes to better see in the dark as my eyes focused; I see a dirty white filly unicorn, with a purple mane with stunning blue eyes staring back at me, with a rather large grin on her face.
“R-Rarity?” I said, now feeling more focused as my mind gets everything in order, “oh by the divines everything hurts,” I said aloud weakly causing Rarity to frown as concern replace her earlier glee.
“Oh... you’re still in pain? B-but I thought I followed the tome to the letter?” Rarity said, now feeling worried that she botched the spell and caused more damaged to her friend then giving her that potion would had done.
“Tome?” Charm said in confusion before realization donned on her causing her to bolt upright in her cot, ignoring all of her body’s protests at the action.
This action caused Rarity to jump back from Charm in mild fright and worry thinking she had done wrong. “d-did I do something wrong?” she asked hoping Charm won’t be to mad at her for trying to help.
“Wrong?” Charm looked at her with absolute seriousness, not a grin within sight on her face; this had the effect of causing Rarity to stutter out apologies nearing tearful levels of heart retching effectiveness.
“No... You didn’t do wrong,” Charm said. Rarity looked up in shock as charm gives a wide toothy grin at Rarity. “I didn’t know that somepony else could read these things outside where I got em, but then again I wasn’t originally from there either, so I guess other ponies could read them I guess.”
“s-so I’ am not in trouble for reading, and performing the spell inside it?” Rarity asked now feeling bashful for nearly crying over this.
Charm looked at Rarity then at herself then smiles shaking her head in the negative. “Nah, they were meant to be read, if you had the need to read it then you had a need to read it.”
And just like that everything was ok, sighing in relief Rarity looked around the cavern now forgetting why she was celebrating in the first place.
That was until Charm gasps audibly pointing weakly at her flanks in shock.
“Whoa! Since when had you had that there!?” Charm said loudly still pointing at her new achieved cutie mark.
Smiling a mile wide Rarity exclaims loudly with pride. “I got my cutie mark!” it was true her mark conceives the symbol of the school of Restoration; the mark was of the golden phoenix, but the color was a light shade of blue, while in the middle of the bird was a single darker shade blue gem.
“It is beautiful Rarity...” charm said feeling woozy, ‘heh an apprentice grade spell on her first try, she really has a talent for it, guess that is why her talent is healing.’ Charm lays down now feeling dizzy.
‘argh why am I so weak?’ looking at herself with her magical eye she could see some mild magical poisoning, effecting her body causing mild headaches, as her own mana reserves fights off the foreign spell. ‘Ah I see foreign spell craft was just preformed on me, no wonder why I’ am suffering some mild effects from it.’ Charm thought with a chuckle.
“Well my friend, it seems we are lost in this cave with no way out, and I’ am to weaken to be of any use,” Charm said feeling weary of the coming journey ahead.
Standing up with assistance from Rarity, the two of them sets off again, this time further into the cavern in search of an exit, but the both of them did not notice the faint sounds of rumbling coming from the caved in entrance.
~ Hours later ~
Two hours had passed by, already they had came upon several dead ends, but undeterred they kept going further and the deeper they seem to have gotten the darker it seemed to get, already Charm could tell they are far too deep underground that there is no possible way there is a exit, but holding onto what her friend Leona had told her, they kept moving forward regardless, ‘if what she said is true, then there is always two ways to enter but only one way out from the cave.’ unfortunately she had no idea what the heck that means.
‘Damn you Leona, why is it you are so hard to make sense of some times?’ Charm thought in annoyance as the empty cave lead to another dead end, so far the two of them hadn’t found any sort of exit.
Taking a break Charm follows the mild magical poisoning as it had lessened but it’ll take a day for it to be cured completely.
Rarity on the other hoof was determined on helping her stay up, assisting her in anyway by doing trivial matters, going so far as to offer her own food to Charm, because sometime during the fight with the monster she had lost her saddlebags leaving them less than a few days of food if they ration it right.
Charm although still weak walks further into the cave to explore a bit, coming out of the tunnel she found herself in a very large chamber stack with waterfalls, grass and with some sunlight coming from the ceiling at the top of the cavern, unfortunately the holes are too small for her to squeeze threw.
Rarity follows charm into the cavern and gasps at the underground oasis.
“well looks like we don’t have to worry about food and water for a long while, maybe when I am feeling better I could try widening the gaps up there, hopefully it won’t cause a cave in.” Charm said feeling more confident in their continued survival now.
Not far away the monster still alive recovers from the cave in pulling its head out of the rubble, shaking its head it looks down at the rubble thinking maybe it wasn’t worth it. But then the headache reminds him... that it was totally worth it.
So with savage determination it clawed, scratched, and pulled with all its might starting to dig itself to it’s pray.
~ Change of perspective ~
A hooded four legged equine travels the forest looking at the strange plants of all types picking up a few here and there, while doing so she hums a song that reminds her of home and happy times, with a smile she started to approach what looks like to be another clearing up ahead.
Walking in this forest reminds her of her homeland across the sea, the foreign plants and fauna makes her giggle childishly at the possibilities, “Oh the plants of this forest makes me giddy in glee, and the brew I could stew would surely be worth the journey across the sea.” She said aloud with an exotic voice.
The hooded pony walks out into the clearing to see a horrific sight of a monstrous beast clawing its way into the rocky cliff side, with weariness the hooded pony was about to flee in the other direction but paused when she saw two sets of small hoof prints near the beast... leading towards the cave where the monster is currently digging a hole.
Now realizing the situation the hooded pony couldn’t possibly leave two small ponies become prey to the monster, she was after all raised better by her mother.
So following the creature as it digs its way into the rocky cliff side she hangs back at a safe distance in case the monster sets its eyes upon her.
“Oh the foolish things that I put through, for the safety of younglings, but I was that age too.”
So with stealth, dexterous and balance that betrayed her equine nature, she stands on her hind legs, taking slow and deliberated steps to make sure she isn’t spotted or heard, near her she spots something looking down she sees a small saddlebag, further solidifying the claim that these are children the monster is after, upon closer inspection and much to her glee sees potions of unknown nature, taking the small saddlebags she places them with her own and continue on forward to the cave to follow the monster.
~ back to our heroines ~
Rarity and I had relaxed by the water; the both of us had taken a quick bath which made us feel at least a little bit normal.
Rarity was quite hesitant on taking the bath without me having to check to see if it was safe and that it wasn’t going to suddenly try eating us.
This is completely understandable really, I mean who could simply walk away from that and not feel afraid of such things?
After confirming that it was in fact just water she was quick to get in to wash off the dirt and grime, this made her coat shine pristine white again.
Smiling at the carefree attitude her friend could revel in she starts taking off her own robes to take a bath as well, she had some difficulty as her hooves aren’t really used for fine tuning such as this, after managing to take off the torn toga of her robes she sighs in relief, the feeling of fresh air touching her coat threw the tears and holes was soothing.
She then takes off the rest of the robes revelling in the feeling of being naked with not but the feeling of her fur in the cool temperature of the small underground oasis, it’s not that she hadn’t taken off her robes for necessity every once and awhile over the week she had been here. It’s just she isn’t used to the sensation of her own fur, sighing she smiles at her own reflection in the water, ‘Time to face the fact, I’ am a female pony now, best face that fact now, rather than ignoring it.’ She thought with a sad sigh.
She looked down at her amulet a gift from her friend Leona, the amulet wasn’t anything special just a silver amulet with a sapphire in the middle of the amulet, it is heavily enchanted by her friend, it was a beautiful piece of enchanting there is no way she could figure out what it does as she had tried already.
But it is a lovely gift and she wears it in pride.
So rather than taking the amulet off she wears as she gets ready to take a bath.
Turning back to her robes she frowned at the tattered form of her adapt robes before her, seeing how the forest had treated her cherished outfit on the ground.
Not many know this but when one becomes an adept mage of the college of Winterhold they need to enchant their own robes, it was a policy introduced at the college to give character and a sense of uniqueness to each student of the college.
Her robes were the symbol she wears to announce her pride in wielding magic successfully for the first time.
Feeling a great sense of lost at her tattered robes she turns around to the pool of water and enters it feeling the water wash away the dirt and grime of the week.
She looked at Rarity simply floating in the water, she then looked at her friend’s cutie mark, and the symbol of the school of restoration always gets a chuckle out of her now every time she looks at it. ‘Who would had thought Rarity has the will and attitude to perform such spells,’ Charm thoughts with a smile. ‘Heck it suits her nicely,’
It was true Restoration is one of the harder schools to learn, as to learn it one needs a lot amount of study, and experience, but after getting threw all that the spells are rewarding in their own right.
‘Something Rarity has a talent in,’ chuckling at the surreal image of a unicorn white mage popping into her head, with the white and red robes to match she nearly burst out laughing at the image, her amused chuckling had caught the unicorn in questions attention.
“What are you laughing about?” Rarity asks her friend.
“He heh he, ahem oh sorry, nothing really, ehe he, just picturing something rather humorous” Charm replied with a smile now coming out of her fit.
“Oh?” she asked now suspicious of her friend’s attitude all of a sudden.
Sensing her friends suspiciousness she came clean, “Alright so I know a group called white mage’s that use healing power and stuff, so I was picturing you in their uniforms casting heal and stuff I just found it a funny thought.” She said with a smile Rarity seeing her friend was opening up figured she could probe for some information.
“Oh, well since you are talking about it, feel like sharing some life stories with me?” she asked hoping Charm would open up a little.
Smiling at her friend she nods and asked. “What would you like to know?”
Cheering on the inside at her little victory she went out and asked the first thing to come to mind.
“So where are your parents at?” only after saying it Rarity felt like she had did a horrible thing, she went and clamped her hooves over her mouth in horror.
Not noticing her friends predicament Charm smiles wistfully while looking at the cavern oasis ceiling, “Don’t rightly know, I was taken from my home some few years ago, my mother must have been worried sick about me for the first few months and had given up hope of ever seeing me again by now, but knowing her she would be praying to the gods that I’ am doing alright.” She said frowning at the image of her mother crying over the whole affair. Wait… gods? Charm guessed that her time with the Dragonborn and all the trouble she got at first for trying to say there was only one god taught her to always say the G word in plural.
“My dad on the other hand is hard to read sometimes but I know inside he cares and would be just as devastated as my mother.” She continued already feeling tears welled up in her eyes.
“My parents weren’t always perfect, heck I loved them, but after everything settled down I was able to reflect on my time spend in… well in that magic school and on how much I missed them.” Charm feel reluctant to admit she was from another world, as like the gods issue, that had got her in trouble in the land of Skyrim. Not really noticing anything around her, Charm felt Rarity hugging her but still went on. “My mother loved me, my sister and little brother with all of her heart, used to give her grief about the whole thing at the time, when I was younger I wanted nothing to do with my parents, as I always wanted to be left alone as I wasn’t much of a social person.”
She didn’t know when it happened, but she was sobbing while trying to get words out most of what she was trying to say came out a garbled mess of tears and sobs
Rarity feels horrible for bringing up such a horrible topic as she hugged her friend to comfort her.
“I could never return home, sniff, he won’t let me said so himself, gasp, an-and although I tried to forget how much it hurts I try to do, sniff, the right thing to make them proud of me. But it still scares me that I’ll never get to see my mother or father again.” She said now starting to calm down enough from her emotional breakdown.
“I’ am so, so sorry Charm I-I didn’t want to make you cry, please forgive me.” Rarity said begging forgiveness for hurting her friend.
“I-I already did, I need to let loose sometimes or else it’ll build up over time an, and then I’ll forget them, I know it.” Charm said now her emotional state had fully solidified again.
Pulling away from Rarity she smiled a big smile, still tears rolled down her cheek from the crying fit from earlier. “Now it’s your turn to answer some questions.” Charm said already her mood improved.
Rarity couldn’t help but admire her friend’s strength, she had already begun smiling again after admitting of missing her parents and being afraid she will never see them again.
Smiling she nods. “Alright what would you like to know?”
“Hum...” Charm ponders for a short moment, “Alright, what is Ponyville like?” Charm asked after a moment
“Well it’s a quiet little town, barely anything worthwhile happens there, it’s funny I wanted to be a famous fashion designer and go to Canterlot and become somepony everypony must know, and my parents weren’t so sure I should go, and I was upset at them for refusing me like that, I thought it was because of their awful sense of fashion that they didn’t want me going, because this one time my dad made me to wear this horrible tacky shirt with clashing colors that didn’t went well with my mane at all, with words written on the chest saying daddy’s little treasure, oh dad always called me his little treasure.” She sniffed a little bit now feeling like she was going to cry.
“H-he always called me his little treasure and I hated him for that, and he always said how much he loved me. But I didn’t like being smothered in affection at the time.
“But now that I had been gone for so long... I want nothing, sniff, want nothing more than him to hug me and tell me he loves me more than anything in all of Equestria.” It was her turn to be comforted as Charm gives her a hug to calm her down as she was approaching her limits to even handle the story as the feeling of guilt made her feel horrible.
“A...And my mo-mom is always getting me tacky things l-like this one time she given me th-this h-horrible statuette of a-a s-striped pony s-standing on its hind legs, written in equestrian, ‘zebra power,’ i-it is a horrible item my m-mom has gotten from Manehattan.”
The next thing the both of them knew she was having a hard time speaking properly, Charm starts speaking soothing words to calm her down as she listens to Rarity’s plight with her own tears of her own.
“I-I m-miss them so mu-much an-and I’ll wear whatever tacky clothing item, t-they have to o-offer s-so I-I cou-could b-be with them an-and I’ll s-stay i-in p-ponyvillaaaaaahhhh!” she couldn’t finished any more as she started bawling loudly as she hugged Charm.
“Shh it is ok my friend, it’ll be ok we will make it to your home and you can show your parents how much you love them.” Charm said as Rarity has already started to calm down.
“Sniff, y-you were right letting loose of your feelings like this helps.” Rarity said now fully calmed and feeling loads better now that she had lifted her pent-up emotions.
“I know right?” Charm said with a smile to Rarity.
Then suddenly with an almighty roar the monster from before bursts into the cavern, its large bulk forced its way out of the tunnel causing the ground to shake.
“We were having a moment you colossal jerk!” Charm turned around quickly towards the monster as she started yelling some creative expletives directed at the monster as Rarity looked at her funny.
Not even trying she summoned her power to her wings and fired off a few shots of fire and lightning at the monster as it staggers from the sudden barrage of magic. The monster, before it could retaliate, was knocked back as a kick was sent onto its back head causing it to go down and hit the ground with an earth shattering boom. Standing on top of the monster stood a hooded striped pony with a Mohawk carrying a bamboo staff in her fore hooves as she stood on her hind legs in a combat stance.
“Come with me children and do not fear, the beast is out and we must make haste before its head becomes clear.” The Zebra said as she did a flip as she jumped down from the beasts head.
The two fillies looked at one another, shrugged then followed the Zebra as they made a run for it.
Charm although still weak managed to keep up as the rest and the bath had done loads to help her recover some strength, with great haste the three made their way out of the cave.
Charm turn around and fired several bolts of lightning and firebolts down the tunnel, causing the collapse of the whole cavern to prevent the monster from following.
“Pant, see, pant, you get out of that!” Charm said happy to be rid of the monster for good this time.
Turning to the mysterious Zebra Rarity smiles happily up to her, Charm meanwhile was busy laughing and was doing a victory dance. “Thank you so much for the help miss, could I get our saviours name?”
“Zecora is my name, traveling and potion making is my game.” Zecora Replied with a rhyme while smiling.
“GASP! Oh no!” Charm said with utter horror.
Rarity turned to her friend with sudden haste followed by the Zebra.
“What’s wrong charming?” Rarity asked fearing for the worst.
“I-I forgot my robes!!” Charm yelled in horror at this news.
"Darling, they were ruined, surely you can just replace them?" Rarity asked confused, Charm thought about for a moment and silently nodded, too tired to even talk, then the brown pegasus fainted.
End of Chapter...
In a peaceful setting as all things bad had cleared
Two stories of loved ones were shared, with many tears shed
A monster returns, only to be knocked down with great haste
A new friend appears, to assist the two fillies’ home.