//------------------------------//
// A Visit from Rarity 
// Story: Clouds On The Horizon 
// by Xhadow 
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	There are certain things I never thought I'd have to deal with as a teacher in such a small town: Conventions, unions, and royalty just to name a few. But none of those things could even compare to an enraged seamstress and Element of Generosity. 

"I know you're up to something, one day Sweetie Belle doesn't have any assignments and the next she's staying after class. Are you punishing her, or rewarding her?" Rarity paused when she noticed the scattered notes covering my desk. 

"I'm sorry, she's helping me with a personal problem I've been trying to solve for a couple weeks." I thought about what I said for a second, before correcting: "I have a magical quandary, but lack the physiological capacity to solve it." 

"...I'm...sorry...to hear that?" 

"Sorry, it's just that when I get nervous I talk like I'm presenting to the board of professors." I sighed and turned to the blackboard, as if it would help me out of this metaphorical hole I'd dug myself into. "What I mean is that I need a unicorn's assistance to cast a couple of testing spells, nothing strenuous I assure you, just to 'light the way' as it were." 

"May I see these spells?" It wasn't a request, she was almost harsh. 

"Diagram or equation?" I stopped, banged my head against the wall, 'Stupid' "Of course. Notation format." 





"That's preposterous. Simply insanity," Rarity spared no expense or time laughing at my project. 

"I know. Ridiculous." I returned the chalk to its rightful place under the blackboard. "It's not balanced, doesn't rhyme, and on top of all that has nothing but influx energy." 

"Then, why has this evolved beyond a simple curiosity?" Rarity asked as she poured a generous portion of tea for herself, out of MY  thermos. 

"What terrifies me is the exponential notations beyond the third cycle. Now we're dealing with a...almost like a block of energy at this point; and not just any energy, this is volatile. Enough to level: mountains, towns, capitals, nations--" 

Rarity stopped pillaging my lunchbox, mid-bite. "What?" 

"This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down."

My sandwich slapped against the desk, Rarity stared at me, her brain practically leaking out of her ears. 

"This, this isn't just any volatile energy." I turned back to the blackboard, slashing the equation out of existence with a flick of my tail and started on an energy series graph. 

"That's...you really should stay away from poetry." 

"Didn't plan on entering the field," I sneezed, clearing the chalk dust from my lungs. 

"Might I ask the answer to the riddle?" 

This counter-balances this series over here. Yep, not dark magic. I threw open my "General Guide to Misspells" and sprinted through the pages, No, no...what?! definitely not that one. I... didn't want to know that was even a thing... 

I looked up from my book, "Time." 

Rarity blinked, shocked, almost as if she hadn't expected an answer at all. "Huh...well, I guess that makes sense when you think about it." 

"Yes. It...does." I  completed the equation and stepped back to view my work. 

"What...?" 

I wasn't sure which one of us expressed our shock, but we both knew that what had been discovered tonight could never be hidden again. 

"Until I find a counter-spell this doesn't leave this room." I looked over at Rarity, her eyes locking with mine. 

"Agreed." 

"Consider your sister indefinitely suspended from the project." I copied down the notes as fast as I could, and destroyed the original. "Before you go, down the hall, in the broom closet is a green glass bottle of cleaning solution, could you bring me that please?" 

"That's a little paranoid isn't it, professor?" 

"Sleuth, and no it isn't." I sighed, shaking the chalk dust from my coat, "I know ponies that would raze this town to the ground for one cycle of this spell. 

"The academic community's that competitive?" 

A broken memory flashed through my mind, blood dripping from my hooves as I held in somepony's insides. Only able to watch as one of my closest friends drowned in her own vital fluids. 


"I'm sorry were you saying something," Rarity placed the bottle on my desk, "I believe this is the right bottle?" 

"Yes," I blinked back the tears forming in my eyes, "That's great. Thank you, for everything. But I have to emphasize: Nopony, not even the princesses are to be told." 

"I understand." 

I turned to face her, "Promise me."

"I promise." 

I let out a sigh of relief, "...I've got some serious work to do...."

Rarity paused at the door, "Before I forget, do you have a moment to go over something in Sweetie Belle's report card?" 

I stumbled over to my filing cabinet and ripped the drawer open, I pulled my student file out and placed it on my desk. "What did you need?" 

"The fourth assignment last week, on astrological calculations why is the final grade so low?" Rarity asked, pulling her copy of the report card from her bag. 

I sighed, "In some things she excels, far beyond a filly her age should, but in others she needs a little help. I'm sorry to say but she failed the paper because her base calculations were far from anything structured, she never showed her work, and she didn't use any runic Equestrian like the assignment stated." 

"But is there any..."

"Yes," I cut Rarity off, "She can get her grade in the class back to an "A" if she does the shooting stars sheet I sent home with her-- in runic."

"Thank you," Rarity placed the paper back in her bag with a burst of magic, "but, I thought you weren't sending assignments home with her...?" 

I laughed, "She asked me the same thing you just did. I just gave her a chance."    

I turned to the blackboard and started scrubbing the traces of the spell out of existence forever. 'I can't let anypony know the terrible thing I discovered. Not even the Royal Guard can know.' 

Remembering there was somepony else in the room, I turned to ask if she needed anything else. 

I found an empty classroom. Dark, musty, and out-dated by at least a decade.

"Well, that's one thing solved," I picked up my bag; my remaining ungraded papers; and started off for home. 

I paused, locking the front door of the schoolhouse. I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. 

"Is anypony there?" I asked the empty night. 

Silence.

I returned the keys to my coat pocket, "Probably nothing. Just my mind playing tricks on me."

Heedless of my assurances, the hair stood up on the back of my neck and I had chills running up and down the length  of my spine. 'Someone's there, watching me. Out in the darkness.' 

Slowly I started down the road to Ponyville. It was less than a mile, but tonight the path stretched on for an eternity. 

I stopped every few steps to look over my shoulder. I knew something was there. Something had to be there. I wasn't crazy.  


'Do not fear, young one.'   

"Who are you, Identify yourself," I started scratching runes into the ground as fast as I could. A wendigo... it has to be nothing else fits... 

'I am here to help you. To keep you safe.' 

it's getting closer! I pricked my hoof with a quill and slammed it down on the runes. 'Protection and harmony. Let's see it break this.'

The last thing I saw was the, worn, red door of the schoolhouse blinking into existence before my head cracked off of the pavement leaving me in restless darkness.