• Published 20th Feb 2015
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Journey to the center of Equestria - Rarity Belle



Tremors of the earth itself plague the land of Equestria. Soothsayer Twilight hopes to stop them with some help. Together with five strangers, she must travel to a place where nopony has gone before. They must go to where it all began and stop it.

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Chapter XXXI

They had seen the plains after they had escaped the clutches of the wood of Everfree stetching before them. Now the company had been wandering over them. Their pace was set in a low gear. A thing done because the leg of Applejack still needed to be fixed. Running was something that they couldn’t be doing, let alone give a couple of sprints. Then again, it wasn’t really needed for any of the mares within the company to run away from something on those plains.

Neither the hills nor the plains were a thing that gave little to no danger. Yet not a single and actual road ever came in their sight. Pinpointing their position was another thing that was a lot easier said than done for each of them. All that they knew for certain was that they would stop when the darkness came in and that they would be heading north. How far into the frozen wastelands they would be traveling still remained a matter unknown.

Not even Twilight knew just how far they had to go into it if they wanted to reach Cadence and get some form of information about the whereabouts of the deepest caverns in Equestria. Yet her mind couldn’t stop pondering as the fear for an earthquake actually hitting them where they walked was something that was always present.

“At least we would be quicker to the possible source,” the soothsayer mumbled to herself before she gave another winch of pain. One of her eyes were shut with force while the shot of pain made her come to a standstill. Rarity was leading the company for the time being. In the corner of her eye she caught the events with Twilight.

Both Applejack and Fluttershy rushed themselves over towards the mare and asked whether or not it had gotten any worse. But the soothsayer just told them that she needed to take it easy. Her body had a lot of work for itself if it wanted to heal the stabbing wound. “Why don’t you heal the wounds with a spell?” the pirate then asked. She was wanting to continue the way forward. They just couldn’t do anything else then to follow the lead of the ivory anthrony.

The words of Rarity weren’t falling into the right places for the other three mares. Twilight released a small huff as she straightened her body again. The other two knew that it would be alright again and slowly formed the rear guard again. Applejack needed to know a couple of things about her leg before Fluttershy would be acting as the very mechanic of the thing once more.

Twilight on the other end made her way forward towards Rarity where they engaged themselves into an argument from unicorn to unicorn. “Because, missy know-it-all, I really don’t think magic would be the right instance to speed up the healing rate of my own body. Not after having fought a demoness of all creatures,” the soothsayer almost hissed through her teeth.

Only to get an almost stone and stone cold glare from Rarity as she returned the words in the manner she looked. “Well maybe you shouldn’t have darted off like you did? What did you wanted to achieve anyway? You knew that forest was hunted and harmful right? Yet you manage to just run away on your own. That’s asking for trouble, soothsayer.”

“Something you have experience with,” muttered Twilight under her breath before she returned the words of Rarity, “I thought, I hoped, that the sixth member of the company actually would have been Sunset Shimmer. That somehow she had seen the light as well and was wanting to work with us for a change. I do suppose that dreams, will be dreams”

The words that entered Rarity’s ears caused her to fall silent. She hadn’t thought about the two having a history together. At least that was the thing that she made out of it from the spoken words. Twilight hadn’t shared anything about the identity of just whom it was that attacked her for personal reasons. “It begins to make sense to me actually, albeit it being only a very little bit.”

The soothsayer could only nod to the words that were said to her. It was a bit of a complicated history that the pair of them had together. And one she rather would be forgetting then constantly remind herself from. Although that was a little fact that was a lot harder to accomplish. “Let’s just say that I was wrong and my punishment is to live with this pain for as long as it is needed. Though I have one little question about you,” said Twilight then.

Rarity’s sapphire blue rimmed eyes turned themselves back towards Twilight with a curious expression within them. There could be coming anything and everything out of the mouth of the mare from that point onwards. “Go ahead, as long as it isn’t too personal that is,” she said to her with an unusual kind tone. Perhaps she tried to remain on everypony’s good side on purpose. That, or there might have been bits and pieces left from the being that once stood proudly upon the deck of a naval ship. Nopony knew the real answer to that very question. Not even Applejack.

“What are you having strapped on your arm? There’s this weird bump that doesn’t seem natural to me in any way. It’s hidden right under it,” said Twilight. Her own eyes almost constantly shifted between the bump that she saw on the sleeve of the mare her blouse, as well as her eyes.

The question in and of itself was something that made Rarity chuckle a little bit as she shook her head calmly from side to side. “That my dear, is something I have been tinkering on ever since I left the navy,” replied Rarity quick and in a lower tone. None of the others needed to be knowing the thing she carried with her. She preferred to keep it a secrets for all of them.

“It’s a harpoon that’s strapped to my arm. Helpful to get other anthronies to you, but also to make some quick getaways. It’s a thing I rather keep hidden and still looking for a way to get it fully flush against my arm. That’s all you need to know about it,” revealed Rarity then to Twilight. A grin was given to the soothsayer and Rarity placed both of her arms behind her back.

Soaring through the skies, Rainbow had returned at almost lightning speed. Wearing no goggles had paid a heavy price on the eyes. She couldn’t fly at the speed she really wanted. Each of the company’s members knew what it meant when they saw that blue blob and the rainbow trail behind it. Only one anthrony was actually capable of doing so.

Rainbow Dash had returned from her reconnaissance flight with some good news for a change of things. The pegasus landed back on the solid ground just before she rushed up to Twilight. Of course had she seen how Applejack and Fluttershy were talking to one another, for they hadn’t even glanced up as the pegasus made her fly by.

“What are those two eggheads talking about?” the mare asked while she pointed to them in a concealed manner. Twilight didn’t even knew what was going on as she had of course her own conversation with Rarity. Though the moment she turned herself around it became rather obvious just what the subjects were.

A little smile came across the face of Twilight before she focused her attention once again upon Rainbow. “I think, that they are talking about her leg. It still needs to have the major repair that we can only do at a resting place. For which I hope that you be heaving good news for, do you?”

The pegasus then nodded quick to confirm the very thoughts that Twilight had. It was a massive relief for Twilight that there was at least some form of shelter in the vast emptiness of the plains. “A couple miles from here there are a couple of loose trees and bushes. Just a bit off from the northern direction. Should be a good place to set up camp for the night. Perhaps a mile or five away from now,” said Rainbow, remembering what she had seen.

“Thanks Rainbow,” said Twilight in response. Then her mind began to make the calculations that were required for the time of travel, as well as the amount of sunlight that they still had. “Meaning, we should be there within an hour or three.”

“If everything goes right, yeah, we should,” replied Rainbow while she laid her arms in her sides and gave her wings the final stretch before tucking them away.

~~~~

And indeed three hours later did they finally arrived upon the little spot that Rainbow had seen for them. With the pegasus who took over the lead from Rarity to guide them. She took the shortest route there was to get to the spot. But the mare didn’t lie about it. It really was a little slice of heaven among the grassy desert. Whether they had liked it or not but the sun had been hammering itself upon them for the longest of times already.

The couple of trees that stood in a circle formation would have been the perfect shelter for them. Their tent could be standing right in the middle of it all. Even though Twilight was having her doubts on the matter as a whole. Something just didn’t seem to be all too right about it.

She had to investigate the scene before they would be setting up their camp. Something that caused a lot of groans from the other team members. But it was either wait, or sleep in a circle of arcane magic that would be doing anything to get its intruders away in the dead of night.

The horn of the unicorn charged itself up in the raspberry colored aura. Twilight then walked around and around the place without aim. Fluttershy had asked for the staff and opened the void storage in order to take out the things that she needed to fix the leg of the admiral. Applejack laid herself on the ground while her arms were used as support for her upper body.

The Applejack’s eyes looked into those of Fluttershy as a deep exhale left through her nostrils. “Alright then, let’s do it. Fix mah leg again, doc.” The doctor herself allowed herself a little giggle before the procedure would have begun.

Both Rarity and Rainbow looked over the scene with a set of horrid glancing eyes before they quickly turned away again. For the legless Applejack wasn’t something they had desired to see. “Turn yar heads away! Never taught to y’all that it’s impolite to stare at an undressing lady?!” Applejack exclaimed as she was just as unhappy about the fact.

Quickly did the unicorn and the pegasus turn their bodies around as they hoped that Twilight would be done soon enough so they could set up their camp. “Can hardly call her a lady, though.”

Minutes had gone by before the all clear sign had been given. The facts were revealed that it was indeed an arcane circle. But the circle itself hadn’t been active for dozens of years. Almost as if the magic that was stored within it had just faded away from actual existence. Relief overflowed the mares as Twilight took her staff again and opened the portal to summon the tent.

The tent itself was set up within a mere minute thanks to all of the magic that it carried. Everything inside of it remained the way it was supposed to be and had been in their eyes. A couple of the branches from the trees were used to start a fire that would be kept burning through the night. Instead of an arcane one, they used an actual one as it didn’t gave off too much light.

The orange and reddish color of flames were a whole lot less visible over the plains then a bright and deep purple one. With the tent being set up didn’t Rarity and Rainbow knew just how fast they had to get inside of it to escape the reality of the sights.

Twilight on the other end had walked back up to the two anthronies and asked them if they would be needing anything. Not to mention what the actual problem happened to be. Fluttershy took her eyes off of her work for a second as the admiral pointed to her. “Ask her, she’s the brain behind the whole thing,” said Applejack to her.

The doctor released a little squee just before her more serious side surfaced again and did the words that needed to be said. “There’s a problem in both the gears and the hydraulics of the leg. I just need to replace a couple of them and see if I can get the liquids fixed. I never designed the leg to be going into forest terrain, so this was actually a first for it,” explained Fluttershy to the soothsayer. Who in return nodded that she understood it.

“I see, well, good luck with that Fluttershy,” replied Twilight before she left the two of them alone once more. It was her time to cook up dinner and plot a course for the next day. Though just before she wanted to walk away, that very fact was something that rushed to her mind. “Any of you know what the nearest town might be? We need to supply ourselves again and get some good beds for a change. Doubt we can make it to the Frozen North in just one go.”

“Ah ain’t sure ‘bout the nearest town, Twi, but if Ah have a general understanding of where exactly we are, Ah might be able to pinpoint it. Ah’ll be back with it tomorrow morning. Ya just prepare dinner and get some sleep.”

Said dinner was simple because of Twilight’s injury and the mares didn’t really have anything to complain about when it came down to her cooking skills. But the sun had already set itself as the land was covered within the darkness of the night. Applejack, with her leg fully fixed and working as it should had been offered to take the first watch.

When the other mares had gone to bed, she approached Twilight with a question. “Hey Twi, can, can ya get mah guitar out of that storage of yars?” she asked almost in an embarrassed tone.

The soothsayer herself could be found at the entrance of the tent. She gazed over the ever stretching plains of Equestria. Though as the words fell within her ears, she calmly turned herself around with a raised eyebrow. “Applejack, my staff is standing over there, I’m pretty sure you can do it yourself,” she replied.

“Well, ya see, that’s the problem, Ah don’t know how to do it,” the admiral replied in a genuine tone of uncertainty. Something that caused both of Twilight’s eyebrows to be raised up in surprise. She hadn’t actually expected those words to have gotten out of the mouth of the mare.

A couple of blinks were made before the soothsayer was finally back on earth. “Alright then, quick lesson. You take the staff in your hand and think about the item you need stored in the void storage. What should be happening next is that a small burst of magic actually is going to get it for you. All you then have to do is to reach inside the rip and take the item out, followed by closing it again of course,” exclaimed Twilight as bare boned as she could.

It was already far too much magical talk for the admiral to even follow one bit of it to begin with. Twilight actually saw that little fact and rolled her eyes. There also was a deep sigh that left from her nostrils as she knew exactly what time it was. “Anything else you might be needing out of it, before I’m off to bed?”

“Some maps would be nice too.”

So said, so done. Finally had Applejack left the tent for what it was with everything she needed and looked for a tree where she could dump her body against. With the fires raging on in their controlled status, their light was used to shine upon the charts. The eyes were constantly shifting between them as well as the stars that were standing. With her rusted navigation skills she tried to figure out their exact location.

Her fingers were used to locate the nearest town in the plains which happened to be a strange little place that gave her all too much memories of happiness. “Now Ah hope we are somewhere in the neighborhood of that,” she chuckled to herself. Her eyes went down once again.

So it went for a couple of minutes. The stars were identified quick and with the help of her brain, Applejack managed to almost pinpoint their location. At one point in time was one of her fingers circling around a little area on the map. “Meaning we’re here, the town lays over there, given that we walk at a certain speed constantly, Ah’d say we would be arriving early evening tomorrow.”

From the sounds of it had Applejack managed to find not only the nearest town, but also the quickest route to make it to the town. A little town that laid a bit further north of them. A town that also held a tremendous sentimental value for the admiral in person. With a smile that beamed off of her face she fold up the maps again as the route was almost drilled in inside of her actual skull.

She knew where to walk, how to walk and be on time. The question only was if the rest would have been able to keep up with her. It didn’t matter in which town they landed, as long as they landed in any form of town’s life. Then it was the guitar that was being taken from the ground and the strings were fine tuned.

After that she began to play a couple of melodies of old upon her trusty instrument. Calm and cheerful tunes were played not too loud to keep the rest of the beings asleep inside of the tent. Applejack was literally that close to start singing shanty’s from the high seas. But always managed to not do it just in time.

Even though there wasn’t a single word that was being sung from the mare, the tunes that left the guitar did still manage to pierce into the tent. Only one anthrony was awoken by them. The familiar tunes and ways the music came made her think of days gone by. Days that were long gone in fact. Days that reminded her of more prideful manners of living.

The sapphire blue rimmed eyes of Rarity opened themselves wide. Constantly had she heard the tunes and couldn’t sleep because of them. As annoying as it actually seemed to be, as much she loved them. With one quick motion of her body did she ended up standing next to her bed and began to dress herself again.

Soon afterwards did the mare appear into the outside world and her hoofsteps caused Applejack to stop playing for just a little moment. Her green rimmed eyes reflected the fires as they saw Rarity approaching. “Evening,” she said in a simple tone. The unicorn dropped herself against the same tree, but on the other side.

“Evening to you as well,” the pirate replied. The eyes were aimed upwards once more. “I, I have been wondering something, Applejack.” Then the attention of the admiral was suddenly shifted over to the pirate with a genuine interest. No harassment, no wise insults, just a plain old saying.

“Go right ahead, what’s on yar mind,” replied Applejack while as she once again tuned her guitar. In the meantime and unknown to the admiral had Rarity taken out a harmonica out of a pocket from her blouse.

“Every time I look at one of them, I can’t help but to see shady looks being returned to me. Almost as if they do not trust me, or don’t trust me yet. I know I’m not really the nicest mare to be hanging around it, but a bit of politeness can’t harm them, right?” she spoke while the harmonica was spun into every possible direction. The thing darted in front of her eyes, reflecting in the fires.

“Ah have seen the looks they give you when you walked up front today, they weren’t really ‘bout that. Yet they don’t have the courage to tell it right in your face. Fear, uncertainty? Who knows. Who knows what might be going through their minds. All Ah know is that some things are taken by the sea, never to be seen again,” the admiral said. Then she once again began to play a little tune.

"Perhaps I’m too hard on myself, they need to have more time to get to know me. My reputation, is only a shimmer of who I actually am yet dictates my life,” answered Rarity without emotion. Afterwards did she decide to give a quiet blow through the harmonica.

Immediately did Applejack’s ears perk themselves. It was a sound she hadn’t heard in literally years. That, and combined with her guitar they could change the subject of the conversation. But not before she had answered the last series of words. “Ah wonder how that’s possible, but ya can best give ‘em all the time to get to know ya a bit more. Flutters seemed to be interested in knowing ya actually. Rainbow, she’s just an airhead. Like all of them from Cloudsdale.”

“And what about Twilight, what is her play in all of this? Why did she went to the extent of getting the four of us?” Rarity then continued to question. It was actually becoming an annoyance for the earth anthrony but also something that showed her something else. He very fact that Rarity perhaps wasn’t as crazy or as much as a loose cannon as originally thought.

“Five, there’s supposed to be a sixth member of the band of misfits, but that hadn’t been found yet. Could be anyone for all Ah know. But Twilight’s play in this, is she’s the one leading the expedition and hopefully being able to get it to a good end. If not, ya heard it yarself. Equestria, will be gone,” returned Applejack. She tried to stay optimistic, but that faded quick as it came.

“A grim future indeed,” replied Rarity. Once more did she blew through her harmonica. Applejack on the other end remained silent as she thought about a couple of tunes that she could be playing. There was one song in her head that she knew Rarity would be knowing still. The earth anthrony began to play on her guitar and it took the unicorn a bit of thought before she finally caught on with the melody.

Yet the words of the lyrics that were supposed to be going with it, had managed to escape the mare for a tiny little moment. She tried to remember the song as it was being sung for the longest of times on the sea. A shanty that was recognized by any self-respecting sailor in fact. But aboard her own ship there were other shanties and songs sung whenever they were sailing.

So it was up to Applejack alone to make the memories come back to her. The first tunes of the shanty were repeated almost over and over and over as they were almost like a perfect loop. But when the harmonica of Rarity filled in the gaps, there was only one thing the earth anthrony could be doing. And that was to start singing without her southern accent in her voice.

“What do we with a drunken sailor, what do we do with a drunken sailor, what do we do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning?” she sung while the tunes progressed themselves to fit the lyrics.

Rarity’s mind was still digging itself to get the lyrics for it. But the words that were spoken and the constant repeat showed that Applejack was waiting for her to filled in the gaps. The more she blew the tunes through her harmonica, the more she realized just which shanty Applejack had begun to sing. Truth be told, it was one of her favorites.

Suddenly and out of nowhere did the text that went accompanied with it, return to her mind as if it had almost never actually left. Finally was she able to continue the shanty and just sing along. “Way-hay, up she rises. Way-hay, up she rises. Way-hay, up she rises, early in the morning!” Rarity then sung before Applejack continued almost instantly.

“Put him in the long boat ‘til he’s sober.”

“Pull out the bung and wet him over,” sung Rarity before she blew on her harmonica and Applejack took over again.

“Put him in the scuppers with the deck pump on him.”

“Heave him by the leg in a runnin’ bowling’,” sung Rarity a little bit faster before Applejack took over one last time.

“Tie him to the taffrail when she’s yard-arm under.”

And then the two of them sung together to finish up the little shanty. “That’s what we do with a drunken sailor, that’s what we do with a drunken sailor, that’s what we do with a drunken sailor early in the morning!”

For perhaps the first time in a lifetime could the two of them laugh with one another again. The shanty itself was just insanity but it were all little tricks and things that they actually had done to sailors in the past. The shanty spoke of truth perhaps in more than one ways. None the less were the instruments silenced as the laughing continued.

For the first time in a long time they were genuinely laughing as the memories resurfaced from times that they could still be working together. That, and every sailor knew that shanty and the dangers of being drunk on the ship he or she served on.

“Oh that was a lovely little song, now wasn’t it?” Rarity giggled before she shook her head from side to side with calm. More and more memories came back to her about her own navel time. Memories of which she thought to have forgotten them, but still was very fond of them. Memories that she wanted to cling on, for her dear life.

“Aye, it makes everything so much better when ya sing a shanty with two. Hehe, oh Ah remember him just so well. The whole crew just found it an amazing idea to do. Placed him in the long boat and dragged it after mah ship, when he finally woke up, no idea. Until we all began singing from the hind deck. Ya should’ve seen his face!”

Just for a moment had both of the anthronies forgotten their differences and treated the other actually as a literal equal to the other. No grudges, no debts from the past and above all, no feuds. Their treaty was held up high by both sides and even though they were having a lot of fun, they always kept that in the back of their heads. For anything could change almost instantly.

But for them it didn’t actually matter. For the admiral once again took her guitar and began to play a couple of tunes on which Rarity followed with her harmonica.

Though time wouldn’t have it, that the right words would be spoken. For at one moment deep into their nightshift was the unaskable question almost being asked. “Hey Rares, why did ya..?”

Much further than that wasn’t the admiral allowed to go as she was interrupted by the other mare. “Don’t ask it, please. I’m enjoying the night for what it is and I have no plans to have it being ruined. You know another shanty we can sing?”

“Heh, got enough of ‘em,” replied Applejack. The decision was made to just drop the subject altogether. Which might have actually been for the best for the pair of them. Mere seconds later did both the guitar and the harmonica release their sounds again. Only to be followed up by the lyrics that came out of either Rarity’s or Applejack’s mouth.

But back in the tent had another anthrony woken up because of them. The mulberry unicorn was awake, but never did she got out of her bed. Instead she just listened to the fun that the two seemed to be having. A smile went across her lips because of it. It was almost too wonderful to be true that two enemies could put their differences aside for so much and just could sing along.

It almost brought a tear to her eyes before a yawn broke up the harmony of the scene. Not that it mattered all too much for Twilight Sparkle though, she needed her sleep as the wound around her middle had to heal.

~~~~

The sun slowly made its way over the horizon. Both Applejack and Rarity still leaning against the tree and playing their tunes. During the whole of the night had they been singing shanty’s and brought up actual fun memories about their adventures at both sea and land. Nothing could have ever indicated that they were just about the most sworn enemies from each other, if anything, they were actually looking like friends that hadn’t seen one another for the longest of time.

Rainbow Dash was the first one to come out of the tent and start her morning flight when she noticed the two sitting against the tree. “You two, hadn’t taken any sleep last night?” she asked them with curiosity. Though a yawn escaped her lips. She couldn’t believe the thoughts her own mind had created. The two of them must have had some sleep, right?

Applejack and Rarity turned their attention over to the pegasus with a curious expression upon their faces. “Uhm, from the looks of it, not really,” the pirate captain replied. She laid the harmonica on one of her legs. “Really, has it been that long that we have been talking? Well, you learn something every day, that much is for certain.”

“From the looks of it, we indeed have,” chuckled Applejack before she laid her head against the bark of the tree. “Ya can say what ya want, but we have been having fun alright. That, and nothing even dared to be getting close to us. Ain’t no bigger threat than a drunken sailor.”

“Early in the morning.” Rarity quickly added. Rainbow Dash on the other end just shrugged it off as she had no clue what they were talking about. Only to then take off for her morning flight.

A couple of minutes later came Twilight out of the tent and Applejack noticed it in an instant. As quick as her steam powered leg allowed it she tried to stand up. Only to then make her way over to the unicorn with the maps. “Twi, Ah told ya Ah would be getting back at ya for it.”

“W-What?” the unicorn mumbled to her. She was surprised to actually see Applejack standing there in the first place. But then she realized just what the earth anthrony actually meant with it. “Oh, yes, uhm, did you figure it out?”

Applejack nodded before she unfolded the map. “Ah did. Look, we’re here right now, and the nearest most northern town is right here. Appleloosa. Family of mine lives there. The only problem is, it rests in lawless Equestria. Tis in the last frontier and anything can happen there, most likely will. So, ya wanna make the wager and just go for it?”

“Family you say?”

“Mah family pretty much build the town and mah cousin’s one of the head anthronies there,” confirmed Applejack. Twilight’s glance became more doubtful with the second. She needed just a little bit of time to think about whether or not they would be going to the place. But Appleloosa was the closest place to get provisions according to the map.

“Once again, you lot manage to set me at a difficult decision. I, I get back to it after I stretched my legs, alright?” And then had Twilight just taken off. Without waiting for a reply from the admiral had she just gone off to do her things.

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