//------------------------------//
// Chapter LXXVI 
// Story: Journey to the center of Equestria 
// by Rarity Belle 
//------------------------------//

A couple of days had gone by while the company travelled further down the path given to them. Twilight continued to lead them no matter where they went to. All of the mares had their confidence placed in the unicorn for good reason. The very fact that it was the soothsayer that would have brought them all to Manehatten, gave some sort of strange relief to the group.

But all for a lot of different reasons. Rarity never ceased her pondering on the matter of just how she would be departing the company. Whereas Rainbow Dash could only think about the fact that the griffons were still out there. They were somewhere hidden in plain sight. Hunting upon the group as they always had done. It terrified the major perhaps a whole lot more than it originally should have been. She was rather safe than sorry when it came down to them.

Because in the days that they had been walking, the company never seemed to have gotten in straight up contact with the creatures. Never did they even saw a shimmer from one of them. Yet it was felt by all of them as if they were being watched. That somewhere over the plains they were walking it lurked. Prying eyes that were constantly looking at them, eyes of a creature unknown.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t there to see their well-being okay. If anything, it would have loved to destroy their very well-being.

Time went on while the cursed woods of Everfree grew upon the horizon. At first it was just a little tiny dot. Though the closer they came, the bigger the woods seemed to have gotten. Not to forget the more trouble there would have been.

Questions arose in the mares like how long Twilight wanted to continue upon the path that headed to the dreaded woods. Perhaps an even more frightful question, was the one which asked how far the reach of Sunset Shimmer was. Death lurked in that forest and they all knew that fact. But how long the reach of certain death was, was the unknown factor of the matter.

After hours had Twilight then come to a standstill. She had come to the conclusion that they had walked more than enough while the sun was already setting again. The whole day had they walked once again just to get closer to their goal. They were finally at the part of Everfree where they would head back for the east coast of their land.

“That’s it for today. We set up our camp here and pray on the fact that nothing happens,” said Twilight just before she charged her horn. The mares all agreed on the matter. They all were too tired to bring in anything against the words of the unicorn.

The void storage was opened once more and the tent was brought out. With a couple of motions of Twilight’s hands was it set up like if it was nothing. Relief came to all of the mares when they finally could just crash in their beds and have the much needed sleep they required.

Applejack and Rainbow were the first two mares that got inside and mere seconds later were the sounds heard. The soothsayer couldn’t help herself but to give off a little chuckle. They must have been exhausted if they crashed down in their bunks like that.

But it also was the signal that her job wasn’t over yet. There were still one or two things that needed to be done by the unicorn. Twilight walked in the direction of the forest and glanced over it. The hands were placed behind her back as she just kept on standing there.

Twilight stood there in utter silence and without a motion. With her horn still tabbed in the arcane powers, neither Rarity nor Fluttershy knew what she was doing to be exact. Along the way to the campsite had they explained to Pinkie Pie just whom it was that resided inside of the forest and what the relation was with Twilight.

The lamia felt sorry for the unicorn as she felt the pain that the mare was going through. But she couldn’t compare it to any pain she had ever gotten in her life. It only added more in the respect that Twilight was a strong mare. A mare who kept on pushing even if all the light had faded away.

Pinkie had joined both Rarity and Fluttershy with a tilted head. The lamia wondered in silence what was going to happen or what was going on. Silence had taken over the grounds as they all kept on watching to Twilight. The silence had turned eerie for their feelings while the wind came from the woods themselves.

Every last bit of dark magic was carried with it like nothing. They felt as a massive shiver being sent down their spines. The mares couldn’t help themselves but to be mesmerized though. It almost seemed as if Twilight tried to conquer the very woods that she feared so much.

Yet what they didn’t knew was that the soothsayer made constant whispers through her mouth. She spoke of events long gone by in the tongue of the ancient unicorns. But she also performed a massive spell that hopefully would have been able to protect them all.

The longer they stood there, the more there seemed to be some kind of shield had come down around their camp. A shield that covered quite the large area from the campsite and went all the way around it. Rarity and Fluttershy watched it grow in amazement while Pinkie didn’t even dare to move a single muscle.

The silence that had taken them over was utterly unsettling. But with the shield being lowered even for a little bit, it did already felt like the very coldness of the forest decreased. Almost as if the very winds were blocked by the shield that was lowered down on them.

Twilight had to explain it at one point or the other though. But she still seemed to have been too busy with everything else. Naturally wouldn’t they have been the mares to disrupt her from doing so. So Rarity tapped Fluttershy on the shoulder and pointed to a small area under the dome.

The eyes of the pegasus followed the finger to the point and didn’t fully understood what the meaning of it was. “What do you mean with that little spot?” she asked in utter confusion.

Rarity could only give off a small chuckle before she shook her head. “I think that that is the most ideal place for a little fireplace, to keep those on the night watch warm,” the pirate captain replied. In an instant did the doctor knew what was meant with it and she nodded calmly.

Fluttershy was actually nodding to the idea and turned around to walk away from the scene. “Pinkie, you can do whatever you want. Just, just don’t disturb Twilight for the time being,” added Fluttershy to the lamia, before she and Rarity made their way over to the little place. Pinkie was left alone on the spot before she then silently slithered away.

She too had places to go and made her way inside of the tent. She would eventually just follow the example of both Rainbow and Applejack. Which was to crash down in the place that she called her bed.

Eventually did Twilight appeared to have been done with whatever she had been doing and the magical charge faded away from her horn. Her touch with the arcane powers were broken and she turned around with almost a sad expression upon her face. “She called it upon herself, and you know it, Twilight. That forest is now her home and she will kill you instantly…”

The soothsayer had to remind herself upon the fact that Sunset Shimmer had turned into a Dark Witch and that there just wasn’t anything left inside of her. Nothing that could turn her to the light again at least. A saddening fact with which Twilight had to live every waking minute since they were there. She feared for what horrid dreams the night would have brought to her.

The thought was quickly dispatched though. For she looked around and noticed how the night had fallen in. The moon was shining weakly as it had only just peeked around over the horizon. The night had fallen again in Equestria and Twilight felt like she had to hit the hay. Though not before she had given her attention to whatever Rarity and Fluttershy were doing.

For the two of them sat around a campfire and shared a couple of tales with one another. The mares erupted out in laughter ever so often before the stories continued. They seemed to be having a great time together and actually managed to get along. Which was a rare thing to see, especially since they meant it genuinely.

It was an unlikely friendship in the eyes of Twilight. But one she appreciated nonetheless. 

The soothsayer joined the two in silence. She allowed them to continue with their stories. They welcomed Twilight to the campfire before they went on again. The stories of fortune and mischief all did their turn around and about. Even Twilight couldn’t keep her laughing inside of her from time to time.

Minutes had gone by and Twilight kept on listening to the mares. She felt that a genuine warmth that was given off by the two of them. Which in return warmed her own heart. Which in yet another return made her forget about the worries of the night. Ideas were dropped before she then began to share her own adventures of events that had happened in the castle.

Events that –much to her own surprise– caused the other two mares to chuckle in delight. They found the adventures that the mare had funny and rather fitting by her personality. Not to mention the fact they were given a rather rare inside look of the always so formal looking castle. Turned out that the place was actually inhabited by buffoons from the sounds of it.

They had lost the track of time, but they knew it was late in the evening. The soothsayer had shared her tales with the other two anthronies and deemed it was time to make her departure. She and Fluttershy stood up to make way for the tent as the question was asked to Rarity.

"You want to keep watch on the first turn? I think I’ll take the second one and then wake Rainbow for hers,” said Twilight to the pirate captain. Rarity nodded to the plan and remained sitting where she had been. “Actually, I’m going for one last walk and then catch some shut eye for an hour or two. See you tomorrow, Fluttershy.”

“Goodnight you two,” added Fluttershy before she disappeared in the tent, after which she made her way to her bed in silence. Rarity’s eyes followed how the soothsayer left the campsite and even wandered out of the protective shield. She must have had a reason for it, Rarity thought to herself before she then stood up herself.

The position in which she sat was comfortable, but she didn’t happen to have some kind of back seating. Which was the little problem that annoyed her a great deal. When she talked to the other mares it wasn’t that much of a problem. But when she was alone it became a whole different story as time crawled by.

Sometime later would Rarity have crashed down against a tree that stood a little bit outside of the shield, far away from the forest itself. Her eyes glanced over the night skies and counted the stars. More and more would her eyes have adjusted themselves to the darkness. The lights in the skies only seemed to have gotten brighter. All of it together caused a smile to form upon her face.

The unicorn couldn’t help herself but to find herself just content with her life as it was shown to be. Everything that had been done up to that point seemed to have been worth it. With the exception of one little thing. One little thing that still needed to be done. One thing that caused the smile to disappear from her face the more she thought about it.

“I should do it, sometime soon actually. Before it’s too late,” the mare whispered to herself, “you have only one shot at it and you know that.” The mind than once again travelled away into places unknown and far away. But her watchful eyes never ceased to keep over the plains. Any sign of trouble, any signs of the griffons and she would have awoken the mares in the tent.

An hour had passed by in a slow manner. Time seemed to have crawled down to a pace where a snail in reverse seemed faster. The eyes of the unicorn remained open and they kept on scanning the whole area for anything. But the most striking factor had to be the fact that she hadn’t heard a single thing of Twilight since she left the shield.

The soothsayer had neither spoken a word since she had left the shield, nor had Rarity heard anything of her return. For all she knew did Twilight still wandered around and about out there, without a true aim. Or possibly even worse. Yet those were thoughts where she couldn’t think about in the moment. She had to focus upon the task that was given to her and she would be doing so.

Though when time continued to pass by, there seemed to have been a greater worry in the eyes of the unicorn. She just didn’t feel comfortable with the fact that Twilight had just gone or vanished. Wherever the other unicorn went to, it just didn’t feel good in Rarity’s eyes.

So with a slow motion did she rose her body up and groaned a little bit. The bones in her leg were stiff and cracked with every motion that was given to them. From her thighs down to her hooves, everything made a sound.

“And this is why, you don’t sit, sit down for such a long time,” she muttered to herself. One of her eyes was closed while the other giving off a troubled expression. Once Rarity finally stood fully erect, the back was straightened up and the last couple of knacks could be heard over the plain, followed by a content moan from the unicorn.

The legs then set themselves in front of the other, Rarity had begun to walk around the camp. Rarity did her best not to get much closer to the forest then she needed to. With her eyes adjusted to the darkness had she trouble to look at the fire. For every single time that she looked into its direction, it just burned in her eyes.

The feelings became a little bit annoying and she said to herself to just not look in the general direction. She had to look for Twilight and for all she knew could that mare have been on the other side of the plains by then. It worried her to near death that the unicorn was lost. Some kind of word about where she had gone off to would have been a whole lot better in her eyes. Then again, it was Twilight after all.

Rarity kept on walking around and about with her eyes peeled open for every- and anything. The trees of Everfree looked even more frightening at night then they did during the day. It wouldn’t have surprised her too much actually if they would have gotten legs and crawled up towards them. Almost as if the forest was ever expanding upon itself.

Rarity’s thoughts continued to surge around while the eyes were never given any form of rest or relaxation. Even her ears were perked and twitched at every rustle they heard. The wind was strong that night, stronger than she had expected and every blow just gave off this stone cold chill.

Time and time again could Rarity only look at the forest with a horrid expression. She wasn’t one that truly believed in all the darker arts of magic to begin with. But ever since she had seen the demoness and then that they were back near her domain, she began to become a little bit more believing.

“Luna give me strength if she entered that,” whispered Rarity to herself. The very and dreaded thought of Twilight having going inside of the forest occurred to her. The question was then opened, the question that she didn’t wanted to have an answer upon. The question about whether or not she would have been bold enough to follow Twilight, into the heart of darkness?

Rarity shook her head a couple of times before she set her eyes straight again. Twilight wouldn’t have been that stupid to barge into it. At least not according to the mind of Rarity. So the mare turned back around and perked her ears. She continued to walk a little bit further away from the tent and the shield.

She was completely exposed to the elements and thought to saw a green flash in the corner of her eyes. “What the..?” she spoke to herself after she turned around. The eyes once again scanned the whole area for the source of the green light. But there wasn’t anything to be seen. “Am, am I going crazy again?”

It wouldn’t have been the first time that Rarity thought about such a thing and definitely not being the last. But the unicorn couldn’t help herself. She knew what she had seen and she knew that trouble could be lying ahead once more.

“Must have been your imagination, Rarity,” she said to herself before the eyes made a turn up to the skies. “Perhaps a flash from up there? Aurora can do strange things this time of year.” Of course it was just a weak excuse from herself to blame the light on something else.

But while she turned around, there was a sound that was caught in her ears. The sounds of a sniffing something. Almost as if it laid somewhere in her neighboring area, crying. Rarity’s curiosity was sparked as she treated with care. Her steps were light as she followed the sounds of the sniffs.

Inch by inch did she came closer to a series of bushes where she thought that the sounds originated from. Her horn had been charged ever so slightly. Rarity was aware that there was anything that could have popped up out of them. Anything and everything could have gotten right in her way to find the unicorn.

She bit her lips a little bit when her hand reached out for branches of the bush. The tension could literally be cut at any given moment and she could stand right in the eye of the storm. Thousands of things went through her head while her fingers coiled up around a branch.
 
Rarity was literally one swoop away from figuring out just what caused the sniffing sounds. But she if she didn’t know any better, she could have sworn that the sounds were heard before. Yet she couldn’t place them back home. Thoughts of Twilight resting there in tears shot through her.

The scene had happened before of course, so the chance was naturally there that it could have happened again. But she needed to have confirmation. So with all of her guts she just yanked the branches aside and prepared herself for the things to come.

Her eyes were forcefully shut because Rarity had expected some kind of magical blast to come. Anticipation for something came to her, anticipation for the troubles that would come.

There was nothing. Even after a couple of seconds there was actually nothing that happened. The pirate captain opened one of her eyes as the sniffing sounds continued. Nothing in her mind made sense anymore and all she could do was to glance at what laid behind it.

And there she saw it. There she saw the origin of the sniffs and couldn’t believe what she saw. The unicorn looked straight at the other mare and gulped a little bit. Once again the scene got repeated. Twilight Sparkle just laid there in tears for whatever reason.

Rarity felt her body almost turning to stone as none of her muscles could be moved. The unicorn tried, but she was just stuck. The only part of her body that could have been moved was the mouth, which she used to speak the words to Twilight.

“Twilight,” she started in a whisper that meant the words well, “I don’t know why you’re crying, but know that we all just stand behind you. We may have joined for our own reasons, but we all heeded the call you gave to us in one way or the other. Perhaps, I don’t know, I stopped making sense of life since you called me.”

The sniffing of Twilight went silent the further Rarity spoke her words. But those very same words didn’t came in the right place for the soothsayer. She began to disgust the words that were spoken against her. There was only one wish that filled her, and that was the wish that Rarity would have shut up for a little while.

“Quiet, and leave me. Just, leave me okay? This is none of your business as you won’t be able to understand to begin with,” managed Twilight to say through her sobs. The other unicorn only could give a set of wide eyes before she let go of the branch.

The bush fell back in its natural state and Rarity finally could stand back up again. It was perhaps for the first time during their journey that Twilight had spoken against her like that. And the best thing that she could have done was to just heed the call again.

So with one motion had Rarity nodded and turned back around. A deep exhale was released through her nostrils as she found it was time to head to bed. She would be waking up the next mare for the watch as soon as she had gotten back to the camp. She didn’t had the desire to stay up any longer and with Twilight crying like a foal once more, it only added up to the tiredness she had.

Yet as she came back to the camp did her eyes caught something. Something that was deemed to have been utterly impossible to say the least. For her head turned into the general direction as to where the tree stood. Out of every other tree, she looked at the one against which she had leaned on earlier that night.

And there she saw the sight that confused the living night out of her. “But that can’t be,” she said to herself before she looked around her. “I’m not coated in some kind of arcane power, right?” The idea was far-fetched, but that what laid against the tree was even more far-fetched. “But if I may here, who is that..?”

Against the tree, with its hands behind the head it laid. Legs that went crosswise over each other and almost seemed to be just relaxing. Everything good and all, weren’t it for the fact that Rarity was staring at nopony else than Rarity.

The Rarity against the tree could only give off a smirk to the other one who did the same. It then eliminated the fact that she had gone back in time and saw herself. For the other version of her could actually see her. “Well, well, well,” the pirate captain said before she placed her hands in her sides. “What trick are we having here then?”

The mare against the tree kicked up with a rather swift motion and drew both of her swords with the grin unbroken. “Oh I think you know what’s going on, impostor,” she said to her other self. A stance of battle was assumed and Rarity was ready to enter the fight.

The other mare drew her own swords as well with a fluent motion and just held them idle for the moment. Something about the matter didn’t seemed to have been right and she wanted to solve it by herself. Because one imposter, one that even spoke and completely looked like her, could have been a great trouble for her. No, the matter had to be played a whole lot smarter and not that close to the campsite. “I propose something, my dear,” the standing Rarity said with a nasty grin.

“I’m listening, dear,” the Rarity who sat against the tree replied.

“In the tent over there, are four mares asleep. You think that us two battling it out in an honorable duel would wake them up? So I propose that we move a little bit backwards. To where we have the space to fight. What say you?” The pirate captain gave only a deeper grin towards her counterpart. She had hoped to gain some sort of advantage.

But the counterpart would have just nodded to the words spoken. “Yes, waking them up from their slumber while two ladies fight their duel, isn’t something we want to do with them. The stakes, you purpose?”

“A duel, to the death. Do you accept, or decline, darling?” Rarity spoke against her counterpart. Who nodded in silence towards her. The duel was a go and either she or the mysterious other Rarity would come out as the victor.
                     
The two moved away from the tent in silence and didn’t even dare to play tricks upon one another. There was no need for such a thing to begin with, not yet at least. No, the time of trickery and treason would be there once the battle would have emerged. But whether or not they could keep everything to themselves remained to be seen. Sounds at night usually travelled a whole lot further than in light of day.

Once the two Rarity’s found that their distance was great enough did they began to circle around one another. One sword was continuously dragged over the ground while the other took a rest upon the shoulder. Both Rarity’s did the same, both had the same glance in their eyes. They had to win, but for a series of different reasons.

The steps made by each of the mares were powerful ones. They both had that desire to end the life of the other as that way the duel could be stopped. The Rarity across her did look exactly like her down to the last flintlock, but did the counterpart also possess the skill and agility that she had? That was the thing that Rarity still needed to figure out about her counterpart. Perhaps a little talk before all hell would break loose, could be allowed.

“Who are you and why are you here?” Rarity demanded to know from her counterpart. Who at her own turn could only chuckle deep before a shake with the head was given. The answer that was about to come would not just shock, but also devastate the pirate captain.

“Do I even need an introduction to you, impostor? I’m nopony else then Rarity Brittenburg. I’m on a quest under the leading of Twilight Sparkle. I can better ask, who and what you are,” the counterpart said moments before it pointed a sword to the actual Rarity.

The eyes of the mare were narrowed as she was having enough of the riddles. There wouldn’t have been anything that could have separated her from the other. Not only did the counterpart look exactly like her, she talked and acted exactly the same as well.

“If you’re the real Brittenburg, then what makes me? A filthy impostor who lost a track of time and place? No, no, no, my dear. You’re the one that’s imposing me. You just forgot it because of the amount of memories I have. You like them? All those screams of anthronies dying?”

“They are like music to my ears,” the counterpart replied with a wicked grin. Once again it was a blow against Rarity, she didn’t knew what needed to be done anymore. There was of course one thing that could be done but that was the thing she least wanted.

She had to engage in the battle with her mysterious counterpart in order to figure out who it was that managed to portray her. The second reason behind it was that she had to know what the motivation behind everything was. The time had come for both Rarity’s to show how well they could fight against nopony else than themselves.

The swords would have clashed against one another to either block or attack. Seconds ago had the battle between life and death erupted between the two Rarity’s. Whom was whom couldn’t be determined anymore, for the jumps that were made and the flips done only threw in more confusion in the mix. Their skill was the thing that would have determined just whom of the two would have gotten out as the victor.

Time for just bald moves wasn’t there, as both of the mares just had so much at stake. One fought because she was the real one, the other because she wanted to get rid of the real one and take her place. The reasons after that were unknown but Rarity could fill in the blanks pretty well, both Rarity’s could do that fairly well.

Sword clash after sword clash echoed over the plains as the words of hatred were spewed out. The words that said they wanted to see the other nowhere else than six hooves down. But the sounds travelled a whole lot further than the two would have liked originally.

Within the canvas tent had the mares woken up one by one from it. It all began as small little ticks as if a nail was being tapped against a steel rod. The sounds didn’t seemed to have originated out of the tent though and the anthronies all looked at one another.

They then realized that both Rarity and Twilight were missing from their beds and weren’t sitting by the fires either. “Oh no,” was the only thing that Applejack said. She thought about the worst possible thing that happened between the two. “No, no, no, no, this ain’t happening!”

As quick as she could had Applejack managed to drag herself out of bed and rushed out into the cold night. It didn’t matter to her how cold it was, she had to be certain of just one thing. The rest of the mares couldn’t do much else than to just follow her. All of them got an extra coat from Fluttershy as she then brought one for the admiral as well.

Confusion was there among them all of course. Though they couldn’t speak a single word. None of them knew what was happening or what Applejack thought was going on. They only had speculations and the worst possible thoughts in their lives.

Applejack rushed over the plains to where the sounds came from. Her eyes had quickly managed to adjust themselves to the darkness and noticed a figure just standing there. The admiral couldn’t believe her eyes as she noticed how Twilight just stood there. Though at the same time there was a massive relief that went through her. At least it wasn’t a battle between Rarity and Twilight.

“If ya are here, who’s fightin’?” she asked before she followed just the hand of Twilight. The admiral followed it and then looked over the two fighting Rarity’s. “Oh this ain’t good… This ain’t good at all.”

Out of everything that she could have witnessed, it was the scene she least expected that happened to be the reality of the matter. One by one did the rest of the mares gathered up and watched the horror in silence. Fluttershy was the last of the mares to have gotten to the place and placed the extra coat over Applejack’s shoulder, only to then see the horror.

The horror of the two fighting Rarity’s. One was the real one, one was an impostor. None of them could determine who happened to be who. But they also didn’t wanted to intervene at the duel just yet. Stronger even, there was some kind of magic prevented them from doing so.

“Why can’t we..?!” Applejack growled up as her eyes went both up and down.

Twilight gently turned her head over to the admiral before she spoke the words as only she could have said them. “They agreed to a duel to the death. We can only approach when one of them has died. I pray it is our Rarity that survives. But as it looks like, I can’t tell anything about who is who…”