The Enchanted Library: Amethyst Dreams

by makise-homura

A Vision Number Minus One

Rarity strolled slowly down the streets of Ponyville. Actually, she was heading to Fluttershy’s house, but she was not in hurry to get there. Instead, she was looking around and examining the surroundings for any sign of Discord’s magic. She did this like a skilled investigator from classic detective stories she read before she met Twilight. Every now and then she looked at the pendant in her saddlebag for a hint of a familiar green glow, but to no avail: it was desperately clear.

Yet something was clearly not right. Rarity walked through the marketplace and even stopped to assess the situation. At first glance, it was just as usual as any regular day in Ponyville may be. Here, Golden Harvest is waiting for customers at her stall. There, Derpy, with her perpetual goofy smile, is taking her daughter to the school. On the other side of the street, Amethyst Star is having a relaxing walk with her newborn foal in the carriage. Not so far away, Mrs. Cake is carrying some sacks of flour, sugar, and cinnamon, into Sugarcube Corner. All of this looked quite right, but at the same time something was terribly wrong. Rarity couldn’t tell why, but she felt it perfectly clear.

Well, Rarity let out a sigh and continued trotting towards Fluttershy’s cottage. Maybe she could shed some light on the issue.

It didn’t take long before she could see the familiar shack almost at the edge of Ponyville. Rarity trotted across the little bridge and finally reached her destination. She let out a sigh and knocked on the door.

“Eep! One second, please, I– you can come in now!” a voice came from inside the house.

Rarity pushed the door open and stepped inside with the tinkling of a door bell. She hadn’t bothered to warn the pegasus about the visit, so Fluttershy looked at her with a mixture of panic and embarrassment. Just as if Rarity had caught her doing something that the pegasus did not want to share with the outside world, despite she was just feeding her pet birds. Her guilty but confiding smile reminded Rarity of Twilight–and it took some effort for her to push the unexpected memories away. Rarity shook her head and turned to her friend.

“Good morning! I was walking around here and just thinking of visiting you, because why not. I hope it’s not a bad moment, is it, darling?”

“Oh Rarity, it’s you,” Fluttershy nodded at her. “I-I’m just a little busy, but that’s okay. Do you mind waiting a couple minutes?”

“Oh, no problem, darling. I won’t interrupt you,” Rarity went deeper into the house and settled on the couch, watching the pegasus meticulously spreading food between all of her pet birds.

“A-and, since I’m here,” Rarity said light-heartedly, when Fluttershy finished with the last bird and turned to her. “Would you be so kind to tell me what has happened since, uh, the last time I went to, you know?..”

Rarity’s careless smile disappeared, when she saw a noticeable change in Fluttershy’s mood: the pegasus didn’t say a single word, but her ears dropped, and corners of her lips slightly moved down. “What… What is it? Something bad, right? Was it Discord?” asked Rarity, leaning forward to the pegasus.

Fluttershy humbly closed her eyes. Rarity paused, and there was silence for a few moments.

“Yes,” she finally said and looked back at the unicorn. “I mean yes, bad things happened. But no, Discord has nothing to do with it.”

“Then what has caused this… wrongness? Was it Rift Shield? Denza? Who else could, darling?”

Fluttershy continued looking up at Rarity. The unicorn could hardly read a mixture of emotions in her gaze, completely unusual for such a timid pony. Sad, resentful, and… accusatory??

Fluttershy sighed and left the box of birdseed on a nearby table.

“You,” she answered shortly after a pause, and looked away again.

Rarity was speechless.

“I–uh, darling, what does that mean?” she wondered once she was able to speak again. “Why would I–”

“Let’s go,” Fluttershy interrupted, and headed for the exit, looking past her friend. “You should know about this.”

---

They walked through most of Ponyville in silence. Fluttershy didn’t say a word, and Rarity, following her, still couldn’t collect her thoughts after what the pegasus said to her. Nevermind the rest of Ponyville, even Fluttershy was acting too strange. Rarity had not seen her so silent, serious, sad, and even slightly rude, for a long time.

The farther they went, the more uncomfortable Rarity felt. Oh stars, she was already beginning to realize where they are going. And that guess was too terrifying to even think about it. No, in the name of Twilight, please no!

Now she began to understand what exactly was different in Ponyville from the way she had seen it before.

“You know, Rainbow went to Tall Tales after it happened,” Fluttershy remarked in the meantime, without even looking in Rarity’s direction. The pegasus was trotting a couple of steps ahead of her, as if not even interested if the unicorn was following her or not. “We still tell Pinkie that she shouldn’t come yet, though I don’t know if it still matters. You should’ve seen Sweetie, you should’ve seen Scootaloo; she’s fine now. In fact, it was her who ran for help, and that is why I, and you, too, are still in Ponyville, and not here–”

Rarity literally froze when she realized what the pegasus was getting at. They already went through the black wooden gate with an inscription, “Ponyville Cemetery”, and approached two fresh mounds Fluttershy led her to.

“–They were not that lucky,” she finished her sentence, pointing at signs above the two mounds.

Rarity realized she couldn’t breathe. She looked from one sign to another, and could not believe this was actually happening. “Applejack” and “Apple Bloom”. This must be a nightmare. Discord’s tricks. An evil and terrible joke. This simply cannot be true. Just not the same outcome. Just not because of her. Just not because of Rarity. Not because of her foolish and hopeless desire to find the princess…

“If it makes you feel better,” said Fluttershy, “I personally don't blame you. But I don’t think,” she finally turned to Rarity, “that everyone else thinks the same way. Like the Apple farm… Just think of Granny Smith, who had lost her son and daughter-in-law years before, and now fate took away almost all of her grandchildren. And I’ve heard Big Mac hasn’t taken the news well, either.”

She sighed and tried to smile, but with no success.

“However,” she continued, “perhaps you should know that they did everything in their power to ensure that we are safe, so their efforts were not in vain. They saved me, you, Rainbow, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle… Oh poor filly. Everything happened in front of her, she looked more dead than alive for a week or so. Luckily, at least she didn’t get physically hurt, but still, it’s not a good idea to remind her…”

Fluttershy kept talking, but Rarity wasn’t listening. Now, for her, the whole world was reduced to these two mounds and a single familiar thought, so terrifying, so cruel, so undeniable:

“This is all my fault.”

These words resonated with something deep, buried under layers of painful memories from the first time Rarity allowed Twilight to connect their minds. When her consciousness was overflowed not just with genuine interest and curiosity of a thousand-year-old alicorn princess, but a touch of ancient, unforgotten, unforgiven guilt.

She finally realized how exactly Twilight felt about this. And Rarity could not find a single argument against it. Even if there were nothing to blame Twilight for, in Rarity’s case arguing with reality would just be nonsense.