Journey to the center of Equestria

by Rarity Belle

Chapter LIV

The room went into a complete disarray when the captain landed down on the ground. The two guards had turned themselves around to face the incoming threats. Even the eyes of the king himself turned over towards the back with a shocked expression clearly visible upon his face. He couldn’t have ever expected that something would have been that bold to invade his very own home. The only problem was: he didn’t knew Rarity at all.

With the unicorn still in her position, the beam crashed into the ground with the chandelier dropping itself behind her. A deafening sound was sent through the whole of the room and far outside of it. The metal crashing into the stone ground and the fires raging up for a moment caused a dramatic, but rather unnecessary effect behind the mare.

“Impossible!” the king managed to speak aloud. The guards had not a single clue of what they could be doing against the mare. But she was having a couple plans for them. They both glanced over the blades she carried as well as the visible holsters of the flintlocks. One thing became certain right away, the very fact that she was dangerous as all hell.

In the mind of the unicorn was time still slowed down as her head rose itself gently up. Gently for her, fast for them. The sapphire blue rims made their way past the guards and they looked straight into the confused eyes of the king. A king who gave the order, the order she didn’t wanted to hear at all. “Bring me her head!” he snarled towards the guards. Then he took a couple of slithers back for his own safety.

The last thing that the king wanted was that she came for him. To be more specific: his head. His eyes shifted with almost constant terror from right to left, as well as up. Where there might have been one, there always could have been more.

The unicorn got up from her stance and revealed herself as one of the anthronies that the guards had escorted away from the city’s gateway. “Hello boys, missed me?” said Rarity in a teasing and seducing tone. Her eyes closed themselves half way to add to the look. A sensual giggle was then left through her throat before she shook her head. “My head? What? No plate for it? Tsk, tsk, tsk, you have much to learn. But thanks for the stories.”

“What stories?!” the king growled up just as his eyes went wide. “No…” There wasn’t any other way in his mind. That mare must have heard all of the words that were spoken against the guards. That was the reason for the greatest alarms of all to be rung through the palace. “Get her!”

The guards both made jumps forward in the hope to get the anthrony. But Rarity just smirked to the pair of them while she admired their attempts. Attempts that she neglected with every step she took back. “I’m afraid that you will have to try, harder,” she taunted them. The mare held her hands by the hilts of her swords, ready to draw them when she needed.

The three lamia’s in the room almost knew just what time it would have been once they saw the hands resting on top of them. “Halt,” the king then shouted. He made a couple slithers back forward. He almost dared to actually come off of his throne just to speak with her. “You seem reasonable enough, how about we make a little deal, hm? Name your price and I can get it in gems. What’s it going to be, beautiful? Your weight in sapphires, an emerald statue of you? Tell me.”

Rarity rolled her eyes quick when she realized that the slug of a king was either falling in love with her, or tried to prevent a bloodbath from happening. She hoped so bad for the latter thing to be true. But when her eyes turned back towards the slug, a grin formed itself upon her face. “Make it your weight, and we might be having a deal,” answered Rarity with an even more devious grin upon her face. She had him right where she wanted.

Of course the king wouldn’t agree upon it for his weight would probably consume the whole treasure chest they had on sapphires. “I have to decline that offer,” he said to her and she knew more than enough. The time to make her departure was there and the unicorn would have taken it with love.

Her eyes had been shifting upwards to see whether or not there was another way she could be escaping. Of course the lamia would have been crawling the ceiling the moment she would set a hoof on the beams. Given the fact that they were quicker and more maneuverable upon it, it seemed like a losing battle. “Need to improvise here,” the mare mumbled to herself without a sound.

The eyes then turned over to the king to give her final answer. Then the sleeve was rolled up once more. The lamia were all granted a sight over the harpoon that she carried around her wrist and lower arm. Fear took over before all three creatures slithered back again. The weapons had been drawn from the anthrony’s side and they were seemingly powerless to do anything.

“You decline my offer? Well then I have to tell you that I decline your offer. Once again, thanks for the stories you shared with me and I hope I never see you again. Tata!” Rarity followed up her words with a small wave and a wink towards the sluggish king. Then she aimed her arm up and fired the harpoon into the rocks above the room.

The guards rushed forwards and tried to capture her, but the mare was already gone. The last thing the king and his men saw from her were the legs and the tail fading into the darkness above. It could have been a miracle that the lights of the chandeliers didn’t reach all too high as they created a couple of pretty good hiding spots.

The fury could be seen within the king’s eyes. He was not just angry at the mare, no, he was furious at her. Not only had she perhaps heard one of the greatest secrets involving a certain lamia, but she had also invaded his home and almost threatened to take his life. “Find her, rally up all of the guards and find the wench! Bring me her still bleeding head upon a plate…before I take yours!” he shouted towards the two guards.

Who on their own turn gulped deep before slithering towards the door. There were their eyes constantly peeked upwards in the hope to not see a white demon falling down upon them all. A constant fear that began to nestle itself within them. Their perfect little sphere of living in harmony and all was broken up by the pirate captain named Rarity. One more place where she caused trouble that could be written down.

~~~~

Back inside of the caverns had Twilight conjured up an arcane fire that would be keeping everypony warm inside of the freezing place. It was one little thing they didn’t really seem to be minding though. Yet it was quite the bit colder than they would have liked, but at least it wasn’t freezing as hard as in the Frozen North. The cold in the caverns could be walked off luckily.

Only when they would be sitting somewhere stationary, they would be relying on a fire. Which they actually were that time and for the time being. Twilight was just pounding her head on all kinds of different matters. Though Rainbow and Fluttershy both lied in the sleeping bags and were actually lightly asleep. The two needed their rest from all of the things that had happened.

Whether they liked it or not, they had lost their sense of time. The lack of sunlight messed up with their internal clocks much more than they wanted to admit. They didn’t even knew when it was morning, afternoon, evening or night. The caverns had only one mode that was always presented to them. And that mode was nothing else than an eternal night. So the mares were a bit more relying on the fact of just how far they could be pushing on with everything.

Pinkie Pie laid curled up upon her body while she watched over Applejack’s metal leg. The thing shone bright in the lights of the fire and its gold color was something that caused a little twinkle inside of the lamia’s eyes.

“Don’t even think ‘bout it, ‘kay?” Applejack asked to her before she granted the creature a little grin. For the first time since their introduction, there was a little bit of interaction between the two of them. “Ah don’t know if ya have an affection for precious stone and metal, but this here, is vital to me.”

Pinkie tilted her head a little bit as she didn’t seem to be understanding all of the words that were being said by the earth anthrony. Which resulted in a sigh given off from the admiral. “Basically put, you stay off, otherwise Ah can’t walk.”

“Oh!” Pinkie exclaimed before she giggled. “Oki Doki Loki!”

“Beg yar pardon?”

“Don’t even question it, Applejack,” the voice of Twilight filled the space after she did pick up the sounds that the two of them had been making. “Her mind is something unique. Capable of understanding us, but in a simpler version.”

The admiral listened to the words before she gave a nod towards them. It sounded reasonable enough to her. Though she really hoped that Pinkie would be staying off of it as the leg was indeed vital to her. “How long until Rarity’s gonna be back? Wanna place a wager, Twi?”

“No, I’m busy. I’m thinking about manner to ascend to the planes of the goddesses without too much of a hassle. Some things about me still worry me,” replied Twilight. She didn’t even look up or opened her eyes from anything. Yet whether she knew it or not, she had in fact spilled one of the secrets she wanted to keep away from Pinkie.

“Goddesses? What are you talking about, Twilight?” the lamia asked of her in a curious tone while she uncurled herself a little bit. “Do you have other believes up there as well?” Pinkie didn’t seem to be angry about or anything, she seemed to be curious. Just, curious.

“One day, I might tell you, Pinkie Pie. It’s too much to tell right now. With a friend stuck inside of those walls, if I begin that story I might not be done before it’s too late. Just, remind me on telling you eventually, okay?” the soothsayer replied with a calm tone to her voice. The lamia nodded before she dropped her body once more upon the rest of her snake like abdomen.

Applejack closed her own eyes for a minute as she was struggling with a valve she had always some troubles with. One way or the other it never seemed to be wanting to cooperate with her. Luckily for her was that very valve not one of the most important ones. Though it still didn’t took away it was highly annoying.

Minutes had gone by while the curiosity towards Rarity’s reappearance only became greater with each passing one. The entire company of beings remained silent though. They all had sunken into their thoughts or in some form of a deep sleep. Peaceful, that was the word that the situation could be described as.

A peaceful situation that only confirmed the saying that all of them were angels when they were asleep. The mares just laid there with their thought giving the free run while the ears of Twilight had always been listening to everything. She was on the lookout for anything to be heading their way. Whether it be the near silent walking of a giant spider or the slithering of another lamia.

Twilight would be making certain that she would be knowing everything that was needed. All while she thought about a thousand and one things. The hurricane of thoughts continued to rage through her mind as per usual.

But just when she thought to have solved the matter, the commotion inside of the city could be heard even through the walls. The eyes of the mare finally opened themselves up as they were glanced over into the direction of the gateway. “Well that sounds like our Rarity could have crashed that party pretty well,” she said to herself before she woke up the rest of the mares.

The other anthronies weren’t particularly happy with the fact that they were woken up from their slumber. Yet when they caught the sounds of the city in their ears, they knew it was time to pack up again. At any given moment could Rarity have come barging through that doorway together with a couple dozen guards up her tail.

The urge to do everything fast came to everypony as the bags were rolled up in a near instant as well as the fire being extinguished. Within two minutes would they have been more than ready to just hit the deck of they needed to. Everypony was ready for the possible battle that could be coming.

They also knew the little fact that Rarity herself was more than capable of saving her own skin. So even if she would have been captured would the pirate always have found a manner to escape the clutches of the lamia’s. Each of the anthronies knew that, only the lamia of the company was having trouble believing in the facts as they were presented.

Where the rest of them all readied themselves up did Pinkie Pie just coiled up further around herself as she was scared to death once more. She knew the damage that the city guard could be doing to a being if they got their hands upon them, so she could only pray on the fact that Rarity would come to them safely.

In the pocket of Applejack was something that began to vibrate slight. Something that vibrated against her leg, up to the point of it becoming an annoyance. She seemed to have forgotten what she had placed into it until she realized exactly what it was again. The eyes of her went wide after her hand reached inside of the pocket.

The rune was taken out and a bright light engulfed the company. Twilight turned herself around straight away and she looked at the rune. Her eyes would only have gone wider as she didn’t believe the sights presented before her. “But that’s impossible. That’s a rune of way finding. Where, where did you got it from Applejack?”

“A rune of whatta now?” the admiral said first before she shook her head. “Uhm, R-Rarity gave it to me, for safeguarding. She said her magic was connected to…”

“...It so she could be finding her way back to us,” the soothsayer finished before a bright smile came to her face. “Oh she never ceases to amaze me in both ways. Not a soothsayer but brilliant with magical powers. Perhaps that is how she always manages to stay away from naval ships. Or not, I do not know her full magical extent.”

“And can we keep it that way? Ya unicorns scare the living daylight out of the rest of ‘em sometimes,” responded Applejack as blunt as ever. She did have a point on the matter though and Twilight had to only agree upon the face.

“True, we are scary sometimes. But hold on to it, then she will be able to find her way back to us. I’m starting to think she might be needing it more than you realize.” Twilight replied before she turned around and once more faced the gateway. Her horn began to charge up calmly while she looked through her massive array of spells that hopefully could be of some use to her.

~~~~

Inside of the lamia palace had Rarity been hanging off of the rocks above the light line from the chandeliers. Her eyes watched quickly from her new vantage point and she saw something that caught her interest. A hole covered in cobwebs at the far end of the room. A hole that almost seemed to be right over the king’s very throne. “It’s that, or it’s nothing, Brittenburg, time to make your escape,” she said to herself.

Her body had to come in action again while the guards had already jumped on top of the beams themselves. In all of the rooms had the guards been on the lookout for Rarity and they wouldn’t be stopping at nothing before she would have been captured. So it perhaps was the only means of escape that she had.

She began to swing towards the beams of the throne room and eventually detached her harpoon from the rocks. The mare was flying through the air for a couple fractions of seconds before she finally landing upon the beam. A small thud caused the king to have some form of indication of where she would have been gone too.

His eyes looked upwards with a nasty growl which came from his throat. With no guards left in the room, he was on his own if the mare decided to drop down on him. But in his ears he caught the hooves walking over the beams as the harpoon was winched back.

The sleeve of Rarity’s blouse was placed back over the little device while she walked over the beams with haste and caution. One more jump and she would have been by the hole that she saw before. The only problem happened to be the cobwebs. It meant to her it was not only infested with spiders, but also that it wasn’t used in a long time.

She could only hope on the fact that it would have been leading her someplace better than inside of there. Anything to get her out of the palace was something she would be taking with love.

One last jump through the air before the silence returned into the room. The dreaded silence of nothing moving on top of his head and nothing happening anywhere else. The dreaded silence before the storm would be hitting. The lamia king gave his eyes the time to look around and see whether or not the unicorn could be spotted somewhere upon the beams.

He didn’t see anything that even remotely resembled the mare and a major feeling of relief came over him. He had escaped the clutches of the anthrony, while placing his own around her very neck. He wanted her head before him, no matter what. The fury could be witnessed clear in his eyes, he would end her life no matter what.

In the meantime had Rarity been crawling through the cobweb infested hole and growled deep to herself. Moment after moment had she to come to a stop and remove the webs from her face. Luckily she didn’t feel any spiders moving alongside her body or saw them in front of her. Though the only problem she carried was the fact that she was surrounded by eternal darkness.

A deep exhale was released through her nostrils as her horn began to coat itself in the sapphire blue aura. “Guide me back home,” she whispered just before the aura became more intense. It shone down the place she had to crawl as it sought contact with the rune. Which resulted in gentle tucks of her magic.

A smile came to her face as she knew the rune had been found. She was having a heading and the intense concentration of arcane magic caused the cobwebs to be burned out of existence wherever it touched.

Finally could the unicorn be making some speed and progress in her escape. She could be making haste and still end up on the one place she was required to be. A little something that caused a massive weight to have fallen right off of her shoulders.

Minutes later and with all of the guards in the city aware of the anthrony running through it, Rarity had gotten out of the palace and finally managed to break back into the city. She didn’t knew where she had landed though. All that she knew was that it was some sort of alleyway. But with the magic still tucking her into the right directions. The time to take a rest wasn’t there and she needed to keep moving quick.

With her body half covered up in remains of the cobwebs did the mare only removed those that went easily before she rushed out of the place. She had to get to higher ground and the spires formed the perfect place to do so. Her harpoon was having enough range to get her higher up with every jump so the game could begin.

She left the alleyway at a pace of running while the sleeve was rolled up again. The mysterious device was revealed to the public who were actually more shocked about the fact to see a being with legs. Yet everywhere she went and left shocked impression behind, the guards seemed to be knowing where they needed to go.

“Au revoir boys!” she said to them before her harpoon was aimed to one of the many spires and made a small salute to the guards that appeared right in front of her. The harpoon was fired off and found its way into the rocks highly above. Long before the guards could do anything had the unicorn been going up and to one of the spires.

Only to then drop herself again and look for the next best solution. Her eyes constantly looked around to see guards, civilians and grappling points she could swing to. All three things asked a lot of her mind, but it was something she was trained in. Every raid upon a ship was the same as she always looked out for those three points and possibly added a number four or even a five.

Swinging from spire to spire, all while her athletic body made backflips and flips over many and more lamia who didn’t even knew what was happening. Deep breaths from her body were released every so often while the streams of sweat travelled down her face. Her eyes were on the constant lookout while the magic kept on guiding her.

She wasn’t too hard to miss in fact. Given the fact that she was the only creature with legs in the whole of the city, while also carrying a massive flashlight on top of her head. No, the plan wasn’t as well executed as she originally thought that it was. But she was happy that it was at least some form of a plan that was going through her.

The unicorn always managed to be just one step ahead of the guards when the spires eventually ran out. Which resulted in her having to run over the streets of the city. The gateway she had to be taking, was close to her. The tugging of her magic became more intense as she noticed just where she needed to be.

Everything came back to her and the places were remembered. Rarity knew that she was close, but so was the guard. Not to mention it still left the problem of the gateway probably being shut by the creatures. A problem that she needed to solve on the spot.

Deep exhales were released by the unicorn as her magical powers increased themselves with every passing second. The door was in her field of view and it was tightly shut. Luck was on her side that there weren’t any guards lurking around so she could do what she wanted. Which was the kind of freedom that she preferred over every other.

A grin came to her face when she had one last look behind her. Her head turned back forward to see the way was clear. “Here goes nothing,” the unicorn said before she released a massive charge of magic. Like a massive bolt of lightning it was propelled forward, towards the door. A door that would be receiving some of the heaviest pounding it ever would have gotten.

The charge of Rarity wouldn’t be eating through the rock like some kind of acid though. Instead it would explode every millisecond. Meaning there were countless little explosions that all counted up into becoming one giant explosion of a second or two.

Nothing in the world could be holding it out against so much force being placed upon it at once. What then resulted of course in the door being shattered. The massive stone door had been destroyed by Rarity as if it was nothing. And with the dust clouds settling in did she jumped through the hole that was being created.

The unicorn was out of the city, but she wasn’t away from danger yet. In her eyes she caught how Twilight stood there with her horn charged up and how Applejack held the rune in her hand. An odd satisfaction was given off by the mare as she seemed to be glad that her arch nemesis had actually kept herself to her word.

Only one problem was left, the couple dozens of guards with their lances and swords that were hunting her. Rarity began to hope that Twilight was having some form of an idea on the matter as her magical reserves had been depleted from the massive spell she had cast.

Time was running out and something had to happen, anything.

~~~~

The mulberry soothsayer stood there while she had been collecting magic around her horn for a couple of minutes. The levels of arcane power she had collected could have been giving her one of the greatest shows in her life. But with Rarity still in the way could the levels of danger also have been raising through the caverns and all the way up into the skies.

The unicorn could hear the guards chasing Rarity. Though the pirate captain could only run as fast as she could towards them. It was then or never that she would initiate the plan she had cooked up. The rest of the company remained silent as they didn’t dare to disturb the concentration of the unicorn. Even Pinkie Pie dared to get out of her hiding spot in order to watch whatever would be happening next.

Even though the guards still hadn’t been going through the broken doorway, Rarity could feel their breath right in her neck. It was disturbing to her, uncomfortable even. Her eyes looked directly into those of Twilight as she closed in the distance to the group. “Anytime now, dear, I’m not the one who’s going to complain!” she shouted towards the other unicorn, hoping on something.

Twilight gave a strong nod in return before she gestured with her hands that Rarity had to get out of the way. Confused by the signal, there was only one direction where the pirate could have been going to. With the full speed she had from her running did she steered to her right side before coming to a standstill against the walls of the cavern.

Her sapphire blue rimmed eyes glanced over the incoming guards. That was just before a desperate glare was given off towards Twilight. “Whatever you have planned, now would be the right time to do it!” Rarity exclaimed while the first guards made their way over the broken door.

“There she is! And there they are!” one of the guards could be heard shouting before the rest followed up. They were hungry for blood, they were in the need to please their very king. And for their king they would be doing everything he asked from them.

Rarity released a gulp as the magical power of Twilight seemed to have gotten only more intense. Finally was the time there to release the stored magic and reveal just what she had been cooking up the whole time.

The raspberry aura of Twilight’s magic filled the whole cavern once more. The soothsayer herself released a deep and powerful sounding roar. A roar that turned deeper and deeper in tone the longer it went on. Zaps of arcane power jolted away like lightning bolts into every direction while the massive charge was pushed out at once.

Every last bit of stored arcane energy was pushed out of her horn and then one of the most unbelievable things happened. The unicorn levitated herself up a little bit as the forces began to form something around her.

A massive, scaled, almost clear and raspberry colored foot had set itself upon the ground not long before another one followed. Two massive hands with talons the size of an anthrony’s leg set themselves upon the walls before the whole thing showed itself.

All of them caught a massive creature that resembled a dragon of old in their eyes. A massive, raspberry colored and almost clear dragon that had set its eyes upon the guards. But Rarity could see its very heart. A heart that came much to her own surprise. A gulp was released by her before she shook her head a couple of times.

“No!” she exclaimed in utter disbelief. Her eyes must have been cheating on her, right? For where the heart of the creature laid, was something else to be seen. Something that she came to know pretty good over the course of their journey.

Instead of an actual heart, sat Twilight Sparkle there in a fetal position. All curled up and with her eyes closed while her horn continued to emit the powers of the arcane. As unbelievable as it seemed, that unbelievable the scene was. None of the lamia that stood in the hallway could believe what had just happened and to where they were staring at.

Another roar was given off by the dragon before it made its way over to the guards with a growling tone. The guards already retreated at the massive stomping the beast did with each step. Only a few of them were actually brave enough to remain standing.

Though their bravery would also have been turned into fear when the flames left through the mouth. Under a deafening roar were the flames released like a flamethrower. Twilight wasn’t taking it lightly. She wanted to get rid of the guards and she wanted to do it good at the first try.

Not that anypony could have actually blamed her for it though. More and more flames were being spewed out of the dragon’s mouth before they finally came to a stop. The doorway was covered up with a bunch of seemingly never ending flames. Flames that would burn everything that tried to get through them.

They were safe for the time being. The massive dragon began to fade away whereas Twilight lowered herself back to the ground. Her hand reached for her head as the magic faded away from her horn. Rarity removed herself from the side of the wall and looked with a worried expression in her eyes.

“I, I’m fine, Rarity. Go! All of you, hurry! Pinkie lead the way!” Twilight yelled before she changed her pace into a slow, running one. The desire to get away from the city had gotten to all of them. They didn’t even care if they had gotten the information they needed or not. All they wanted was to get out of there as soon as possible.

Pinkie heeded the call and began to slither in front of the company. All of the mares joined her one by one. Twilight was the last one to join and knew her magical reserves were low, just like Rarity’s. Both of the unicorns were almost out of magic, so they hoped they wouldn’t be encountering something that relied on magic anytime soon.

Rarity wanted to say a couple of words against Twilight about what happened. But the soothsayer just released a huff and a couple of unfriendly words. “Shut up, and run! Talking can be done later, alright?”

Comments

[emoshyplz]

I thought this would be something like Journey to the Center of the Earth...
can't say i'm disappointed, nonetheless

[Rarity Belle]

7330916 Is it better or worse than you had expected?

[Rarity Belle]

7331723 It's a strange, not-so-good working hybrid of the two, I'm afraid. I might go over it at one point once it's completed, but given its size, it might be better to leave the creature sleeping where it sits.

[emoshyplz]

7331260
Don't have to read it. Over 290,000 words? There's no way it ISN'T good.

[Rarity Belle]

7331804 Hmhmhmh, you do have a point there.

[Rarity Belle]

7333211 In Pinkie's case, all I'm going to say that you'll either love or hate what I did to her.

[Misty Spell]

7338886 Ah yes, 'Coolness' always one of Twilights biggest concerns.