> The Legend of Rarity: Zecora's Mask
>  by LittleAngelStocking
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity groaned. She’d NEVER find the flower! She stepped carefully over a mossy log, and continued her search. Celestia’s sunlight barely seeped in through the thick canopy of leaves above. Rarity sighed in aggravation. She was looking for an extremely rare flower, known as Moonflowers. Rarity had only ever seen pictures of such flowers, but never actually seen one in person. The white unicorn sighed yet again. 

She probably shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up, but she was working on a dress for Princess Luna, the Moon Princess wanted to attend the Gala this year and the color scheme of the flowers would have gone perfectly. Plus, how many could honestly say they had seen one? Rarity told herself not to get excited, she knew it would probably lead to disappointment, but there was still no harm in trying. Rarity yawned; she’d been out here a few hours. Not that it really mattered; it was Saturday so the Boutique was closed. She looked around. Trees, strange plants, trees, vines, trees, mud, and trees. 

Bothersome. 

She sighed, she should have worn boots, to keep her hooves from getting dirty, but all her boots were fancy and she didn’t want them getting dirty. And she absolutely refused to wear those bulky work boots, the kind that Applejack would wear. She used her magic to open her saddlebags and pulled out a picture, she admired it. It was a drawing of a moonflower. It was a beautiful violet color, with a dark blue center. Its petals swirled out in kind of a pinwheel shape, she sighed. She rolled it up and stuffed it back in her bag. It was getting dark; she should probably be heading home soon. Rarity turned around – and was immediately greeted by the sight of two rather large eyes staring right at her. She let out a startled shriek, leaping backwards, she fell back, and hit her head on a rock, knocking her out. 

“Woah!” Scootaloo said, “Rarity, are you okay?” the filly ran next to the fashionista, and shook her gently. “Sorry! Rarity?”

“Don’t worry about her, she’s fine!” a high pitched voice behind her said.

“I don’t think she looks fine, Sweetie” said Apple Bloom appearing beside Scootaloo. 

“She’s fine, you guys!” Sweetie Belle said, trotting up to her unconscious sister. “She always overreacts.” 

“Are... are you sure?” Apple Bloom nudged Rarity’s side. She was on her back, her hooves in the air.

“I didn’t mean to knock her out,” Scootaloo said quietly. 

“You should’ve been more careful,” Apple Bloom said.

“How was I supposed to know she’d do that?!”

“You shouldn’t have done that,”

“Done what? Pranking her was your idea!”

“No it wasn’t, it was Sweetie Belle’s!”

“Both of you, quiet!” Sweetie Belle shouted, silencing them both. 

“Fine,” Apple Bloom said, “But Sweetie Belle, can you take that mask off? It’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.”

Sweetie Belle, looked at her, (If anypony could tell,) she wore a heart-shaped purple mask with strange designs, orange eyes and spikes on the sides and top. “What? No way! This mask is great!”

“I agree, I think it looks awesome!” Scootaloo said, momentarily forgetting the unconscious unicorn on the forest floor. Sweetie Belle went back to whatever it was she was doing – which happened to be rummaging around in Rarity’s saddlebags. “What’re ya doin’?” Apple Bloom asked, as Sweetie Belle pulled out a beautiful, shiny blue instrument. “I’ve never seen this before,” Sweetie stared at the instrument. How could she see through that mask?

“Hey, that’s a pretty instrument!” Apple Bloom pointed with a hoof.

“Hey, I just got an idea!” Scootaloo piped up, “Maybe our special talents are playing funny lookin’ instruments!”

“CUTE MARK CRUSADERS FUNNY LOOKING INSTRUMENT PLAYERS YAY!”

The three shouted together, and Scootaloo snatched the instrument from Sweetie Belle. She closed her lips around the mouthpiece, and tried to play.

As soon as she started, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom covered their ears, “Ow! Hey, cut it out!” Apple Bloom snatched it, “Lemme show how a real talented musician does it!” She tried to play, and spit it out. “I sound as bad as Scootaloo,” she sighed sadly. 

“I didn’t sound that bad,"

“Yes you did,” Apple Bloom laughed. Sweetie Belle took back the instrument. She lifted the mask a bit so she could get to the mouth-piece, and tried to play. “Ugh, it’s got holes! We can’t play it with hooves!”

“Maybe it was made by dragons,” Apple Bloom scratched her head with the tip of her hoof, “Doesn’t spike have fingers?”

“Wicked cool!” Scootaloo exclaimed, “We have an instrument crafted by dragons!”

“We don’t know that, you dodo,” Sweetie Belle laughed, not noticing a drowsy Rarity slowly standing up behind her. “Wha- wha…. What?” Rarity mumbled, 

Sweetie Belle whirled around, “WOAH!” She quickly stuffed the instrument into Scootaloo’s mouth, and looking at her sister innocently. (Not that anypony could tell, what with the mask)

Rarity blinked, “Oh Sweetie Belle! Where did you get that simply DREADFUL mask?!”

“It’s not dreadful!” Sweetie shouted, “It’s awesome!”

Rarity huffed, and noticed Scootaloo with her instrument. “Scootaloo! My ocarina! Were you looking through my saddlebags?”

“Mmph!” Scootaloo spat out the strange blue instrument, “Blegh! No! It was Sweetie Belle,” She pointed at the masked unicorn filly. Suddenly, without any warning, Sweetie snatched the ocarina off the ground, and leaped up onto Rarity’s back. “Cutie mark crusaders rider, yay!” 

Rarity reared back on two legs with a startled cry, and ran forward, not expecting this at all. “Wait for us!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shouted. “Sweetie!” Rarity shrieked, galloping as fast as her legs would carry her. She tripped over a branch, sending her flying forward onto her face. Sweetie Belle fell off of her sisters back, and still grasping the ocarina in her teeth she ran forward. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom ran past, “Sweetie Belle!” they called, “Wait up!”

Rarity lay there for a moment, dazed. Then she got to her hooves, and shaking the filth from her coat she galloped full speed ahead. “SWEETIE BELLE!”

Rarity galloped through the forest, leaping over logs and finding herself in an open space. A cave stood ahead, and Sweetie Belle rushed in followed by Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. Rarity almost froze with terror – that cave could belong to a manticore or pack of timber wolves for all they knew!

“GIRLS!” she shouted, and ran into the cave. It wasn’t as, well, ‘cavey’ as she had thought. The floor was grassy, moss and vines seemed to dance across the ceiling, a crack let a little bit of sunlight through… not that there was much sunlight; the sky had grown much darker. In front of her were several upright logs, the trees had been cut in such a way that it seemed to form steps. Rarity leaped gracefully up each step, and galloped into another entrance – only to skid to a halting stop. She shrieked as she almost fell into a black, seemingly bottomless pit. She teetered, trying to regain her balance. 

A bit of the ledge broke away, and she fell. 

Rarity screamed. And screamed, and screamed and screamed. Colorful shapes seemed to dance around her, but she couldn’t really make out the shapes. Finally, she hit the ground. The very soft ground, the wind was knocked out of her. She lay there; stunned. Slowly, she rose to her very shaky hooves.

She stood in a dark room, on a pink flower surrounded by a puddle of water. The ceiling was dark, and there was a hole above from where she had fallen. A hole in the ceiling let some light in, and lit up the center of the room like a spotlight. Strange, Rarity thought, she must be several hundred feet underground, how was sunlight getting in? 
And there in the middle of the room stood Sweetie Belle, still wearing that awful mask. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stood on either side of her, looking at Rarity with wide eyes. “Are you... okay?” Apple Bloom took a hesitant step forward, but Sweetie Belle held out a hoof stopping her. “Why, hello dear sister.” The filly cocked her head, Rarity could hear the grin in her voice. “Sweetie Belle! Oh, thank Celestia you’re safe!”

“I am.” Sweetie Belle said. “You should have seen the look on your face when you fell! Ha!”

Rarity frowned; “Sweetie! I could have… I could have died! And you three as well, I’m so glad you’re safe…” she sighed. Was it just her, or was Sweetie Belle acting strangely. “Sweetie belle, it’s hard to speak to you when you’re wearing that hideous thing. Please take it off? For your sister?”

“Pfft, no way!” Sweetie cried, “This thing is amazing! Zecora was so nice to just give it away like she did!”

Rarity arched an eyebrow, “Zecora gave you that? Well, I suppose that explains it’s… interesting look…” Rarity bit her lip. The mask was hideous!

“Actually,” Apple Bloom said, “Sweetie Belle took it when-“ She was interrupted by Sweetie’s marshmellow colored hoof stuffing itself in her mouth “Shh!!”

Rarity gasped dramatically; “You stole it?! Sweetie! Didn’t you three learn your lesson with the Cutie-Pox incident?!”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom lowered their heads. “We didn’t steal it;” Sweetie insisted. “Zecora gave to us as... a gift! She said that…. That… that we were so helpful, she’d give us a reward!”

Rarity glared.

Sweetie turned her head, adjusting the mask with a hoof. “The mask is mine! Anyway,”

She said, slowly turning back to face her older sister. “I’m bored, and I think you should play with us. Right, girls?”
She turned to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who just stared, unsure.

“Whatever,” again she turned to Rarity.

“Sweetie Belle, I’ve had enough of your nonsense! We’ll talk about this later. Right now we need to figure a way out of here.” She craned her neck, trying to see some form of escape. Wait a moment, there was a door on the other end of the room. 

“No!” Sweetie said, “You stay right where you are!”

Rarity sighed. “Sweetie Belle…”

“No! You’re not the boss of me!”

“Well, actually…” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo started at the same time, but Sweetie Belle interrupted them; “Rarity, play with me!”

“Sweetie Belle, maybe later, but right now we need to get out of here!”

“No we don’t. We have all the time in the world…” 

“C’mon, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said quietly,” The sun was sett’n when we got here… Applejack’s gonna be mighty worried…”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said, “We should go.”

“NO!” Sweetie’s voice cracked, “I’m not done yet! I haven’t started yet!”

Rarity wasn’t paying to Sweetie Belle’s nonsense attention anymore. She looked at the puddle surrounding the flower she stood on, wondering if she could get off without getting her hooves wet. “Stay right where you are,” Sweetie belle said. She focused her energy, and Rarity prepared to jump over the puddle. “I said stay!” Sweetie growled again, and suddenly something happened. The other two fillies gasped, and jumped back. Rarity felt something envelope her. “Sweetie BELLE!” She shouted, what was happening?

She felt herself changing. She wasn’t sure how, but she was. She was surrounded by a bright light. The colors seemed to swirl around her, pink, then green, then purple. She screamed, “SWEETIE BELLE!” 

Sweetie Belle’s laugh could be heard, although Rarity couldn’t tell if it was joyful or just plain maniacal. Maybe both?




Rarity was lying on her stomach. She groaned, she heard two fillies gasp. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, no doubt. But… what were they gasping about?
Rarity heard Sweetie Belle shout with glee; “Haha! That’s hilarious! That’s such a good look for you, sis! You can stay here lookin’ like that forever!” Sweetie Belle turned on her hooves and galloped towards the door. 

“Wait up!”

“Slow down!”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom cried, chasing after Sweetie Belle.

The massive door opened, then as the Cutie-Mark-Crusaders ran through it slammed shut with a force that made the whole room tremble.
Rarity groaned – and got to her hooves. Something didn’t feel right. Had everything gotten bigger? She frowned, and took a few steps forward. She looked down, peering at her reflection in the water.
Her eyes widened in shock, she gasped, moving backwards until her rump hit the wall, yet her front hooves still pawed at the flower trying to move back. 
She was a little filly.

“SWEEETIE BEEEEEEELLE!!”
	
> Chapter Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Why, that- that-“ 
Rarity was unsure what to do. What to say. She was confused, scared, and angry. Sweetie Belle was too young to do simple levitation spells, no less transforming a full grown mare into a filly! Those spells were only for high-level unicorns!
Rarity looked herself over, again looking at her reflection in the water. Wonderful.
She looked around the dark room, where was the light coming from? The sun had long since set. “I’m a filly again,” she said, looking at her tiny hooves. “Why, of all the worst things that could happen, this is the worst POSSIBLE THING!” Rarity wailed. 

“Oh, Sweetie Belle, when I get my hooves on you I’ll – I’ll…”
Rarity paused. She could think of ways to strangle her sister later, right now she needed to get out of this mess. She begun forward, and immediately fell on her face in the mud under the water. Such tiny legs! She yelped, jumping upwards. She frantically tried to wipe the mud off her face with her hooves. “Mud! On my face!” she yelped, finally she scooped up water in her hooves and splashed it onto her face – anything to get the filth off!

It worked somewhat, but her face still felt dirty. With a growl, she set forward. She crossed the room, eying the holes that the light was coming through. Where was it coming from? 

A mystery for another time, perhaps. She put a hoof on the door, how did this thing open? Magic? She focused the energy in her horn. She closed her eyes – clenching her teeth she channeled the magic through her horn.

It… wasn’t working. Her horn produced a few blue sparks, but that was it.
“GAH! Sweetie Belle, when I…” she bit her lip, trying to cool off. “Relax now, Rarity. A lady never loses her temper.” She pressed both hooves on the door and pushed upwards with all her might. She felt it lifting – yes! Once it was high enough, she quickly ran under it. It just barely missed her tail as she ran underneath. She found herself in a hallway made of… log? It was almost as if she was in the inside of a hollowed out tree. Not that she was too surprised, the library was inside of a tree after all, but this was different. It curved at the end, she could see. She trotted forward on her embarrassingly tiny legs, the ground was smooth and clean. At least a nice change from the dirt of the Everfree. She glared at her tiny little hooves. So pudgy, and little. In this body, she couldn’t be much older than the Cutie-Mark-Crusaders. “Oh, I’ll have to move back in with my parents!” she fretted, “No more spa days with Fluttershy, nopony will take me seriously anymore!”

She felt the tears welling up, and forced them back. She couldn’t cry, at least not yet. She needed to find Sweetie Belle and the other two and get this cursed removed. There was also the fact that she didn’t know how to get back home from here. She rounded the corner, How is that even possible? She thought, Isn’t this a tree? Trees can’t curve…

Well, unless there was magical influence involved, she figured but still, she'd never seen anything like it. She immediately noticed that this room was much like the room she had been transformed in. Grassy, dirty, mossy. Only the door was now on a ledge on the other side. She took a deep breath, backed away, and then took a running leap. She made it!

Well, almost.
Her hooves hit the edge, but her tiny body slid off. She shrieked as she begun to slide off. It wasn’t that far a fall, but how would she find her way back up?

Finally, she pulled herself up. She lay on her back, breathing heavily. She could have made that jump no problem if she were a grown mare. And if she had fallen she would have just been able to jump climb back up. She groaned and got to her hooves for what felt like the zillionth time that day. How had the three fillies made it? Rarity tried to use her magic to open the door, remembered she didn’t have any right now, growled in frustration, and used her hooves. This one was significantly smaller than the other and much easier to lift. She went through. Looked around. And almost fainted.

Across from the ledge she stood on were several pillars. Tall pillars. No, the tops were even with the ledge she stood on, but that’s not what bothered her. It was the fact that they stretched down, down, down into…. Well, nothing! 
Nothing at all. 
Just pure, blackness. 

Rarity moaned, she could see another ledge and an opening on the other side of the room.
She was going to have to jump across. “Why me!” she wailed.

Yet, there was another thought that disturbed her. What about Sweetie, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Had they made it? Rarity swallowed, what if they had fallen?
No. She refused to even think about it. She was going to find them! With new found energy, she took a running leap. 

Luckily, she landed on her hooves on the first pillar. Ugh, it was muddy! Uh oh, that couldn’t be good. If she tried to jump for the next one and slipped…. She looked up. Darkness above, too. How she could even see was a mystery to her, to her knowledge there wasn’t a source of light. 

Luckily for her she managed to leap across all the pillars without incident. She did slip a few times, but other than a few seconds of panic she was fine. Finally she made it to the other side. She sighed in relief. That was… a trying experience. She wiped the mud off herself to the best of her current ability, and proceeded through the… entrance? Exit? 
She didn’t know yet. She stepped through. 

Was she looking at… a painting? She put a hoof against it. It wasn’t solid. She was actually looking at this.
She wasn’t sure exactly what to do. Was it safe to go through?
In front of her was a hallway with a neon green carpet and stone walls. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Well, except for the fact that the whole thing actually twisted. The entire room curled halfway through, not just the floor, but the whole thing. The carpet, the walls. The door was actually on the corner of the ceiling. 

She stared in disbelief for a while, before regaining her composure. She pressed forward. She half expected to have to leap up and got through, but no; as she walked along the carpet she could feel herself twisting along with it. It was the strangest feeling…

When she reached the end she was dizzy. She stood there for a moment, her ears perked when she heard a heavy creaking noise behind her. She turned around just in time to see two heavy doors pull shut behind her. She jumped, startled. She didn’t even notice a door when she went through. She took a deep breathe; she could worry about it later. She still needed to figure out where the hay she was and where the Cutie-Mark-Crusaders were. Oh, and get her older self back.

She looked around, she appeared to be in a…. she wasn’t sure. She’d never seen anything like it; there were waterwheels spinning through a stream, and gears spinning on the walls. The ground she stood on was made of wood. From the looks of this place, it hadn’t had a good scrubbing in quite a while. And those gears needed to be oiled! She could see a wooden ramp ahead of her, she quickly trotted over to it. Wherever she was, it had to be near civilization!
She turned and walked upward. In front of her was a spinning pole, and beyond that were two doors. She hoped to Celestia it wasn’t another strange forested place. She bit her lip and trotted up to the door. She reached out with a pudgy foreleg about to open it, when a familiar, deep voice from behind said; “Element of generosity, you are undoubtedly the one and only Rarity?”

Rarity whirled around, and came face to face with Zecora. 

“Zecora!” the filly-turned-fashionista turned beet red, shrinking back. But then again, it wasn’t as embarrassing as it would have been if say, Rainbow Dash or Spike had seen her.

“Zecora, my how lovely to see you! Hehe…” she turned away.

Zecora arched an eyebrow; “Rarity, if my eyes do not betray me you take the form of a filly?”

“Yeeees!” Rarity let out a heartbreaking wail. “I don’t know how she did it- It was Sweetie Belle! She used- she used MAGIC! It was not normal, and and-!”

Zecora seemed calm. “Calm yourself, little pony. Speak calm, and tell me.”

And so Rarity did, explaining about being knocked out in the forest, to the stealing of her instrument and then the cave, the transformation and how she got to be here. Zecora listened intently. When Rarity was finished she frowned. 

“Sweetie stole a precious item from me; upon her face a mask did you see?”

“Yes,” Rarity said; “It was the ugliest thing I’ve ever-“ she quickly caught herself. “N-never mind! Yes, they said it was stolen…”

Zecora looked worried. “Why would they steal again? Did the Cutie-Pox incident not put that to an end?”

Rarity grimaced, “Apparently not.”

Zecora looked urgent, “Rarity, we must make haste, for if not this land will be made waste.”

“What?” Rarity stared, “Zecora, what’s wrong with Sweetie Belle? Why would she do this to me?”

Zecora shook her head. “Sweetie was not in control, we must hurry before the mask’s full powers take toll. Rarity, you must retrieve back my mask. Surely you are up to the task?”

Rarity was bewildered. “You mean… she’s possessed? By that dreadful mask?”
Zecora simply nodded.

“Why," she gasped; "of all the worst things that could happen, this is the worst POSSIBLE THING!”
Rarity collapsed dramatically. 

“Rarity, you must hurry and not let anything get in the way. We only have until the third day.”

Rarity arched an eyebrow, “I only have three days? Why? Why only three?”

Zecora looked as though she was going to answer, but said nothing.

Rarity sighed, “No matter. I can get that awful mask off my little sister. Piece of cake. You’ll be able to turn me back into my old self, right?”

Zecora nodded; “Get my mask back and your instrument as well, and I’ll get you back to your old self faster than you can tell.”

Rarity smiled, “Thank you! Now, I take it Sweetie Belle’s through here?” pointing at the door, “Excellent. I’ll have your mask back in no time!”

And without another word, she trotted towards the door, pushed it open and went through.
She was… well, surprised with what she found.
She stood outside a massive tower. The doors were brightly painted with blue red, and white. Not as elegant as Rarity would have liked, but it the colors were pretty. She was outside, the ground was dirt, but there were bricks in the ground here and there that formed patterns. She could hear the sound of construction, and ponies walking around. When had the sun come up? Last she checked, it was early evening. Strange.

Rarity took a deep breathe, it was time to find Sweetie Belle.
	
	
	
	
	
	
> Chapter Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Dawn of the First Day
-72 hours remain-





Rarity groaned in frustration. She’d searched the entire town, and found no signs of Sweetie Belle and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The town wasn’t that big, there were four areas surrounding the clock tower in the middle. She’d asked ponies if they’d seen anything, but no… 

She sighed, and plopped down on the grass. Quite unladylike, but there really wasn’t anywhere else to sit right now. She looked around; she was in the north side of town. Pretty much the whole thing was a sort of playground. She could see a young orange-coated colt wearing a red bandanna around his neck using some sort of tube to shoot darts at a large blue balloon. It didn’t pop, those must be some weak darts, Rarity figured. Why is he doing that anyway? 
Rarity sighed, and trotted up to him. “You know, you’re never going to pop it that way,” she said. He gave her a weird look, 

“Yes I can.”

“No, I’ve been watching you. You can’t do it.”

“I’ll show you,” he retorted and grabbed another dart, putting it in his mouth and then the shoot. He shot it, than when it failed again he growled in annoyance.

“I don’t have time for this,” Rarity sighed. “Look, have you seen a white-coated filly about my age, with a pink and purple mane and an ugly mask?”

“I might have,” he said. 

Rarity frowned. “Are you going to tell me?”

“I don’t know. Can you pop that balloon?”

Rarity turned at the big blue balloon floating above. She once again focused all her energy into her horn. Once again, a few sparks but nothing more. She sighed, and noticed the colt was staring at her. “You… you’re a unicorn…”

Rarity cocked her head, “Yes. Yes I am.”

He stared. “Wow… a real live unicorn! I thought they were extinct!” 

“Extinct? Why of course not,” Rarity huffed. Suddenly, he leaped towards her, with no time to react he shoved himself underneath her and jumped up, sending her flying up and hitting the balloon with her horn, popping it. She shrieked, and fell back down the short distance onto her back. She just laid there, eye twitching. “You popped the balloon,” the colt stated with a mischievous grin. Rarity got to her hooves, her face reddened in anger, but she swallowed it back. If this colt knew where Sweetie was, she needed to know. “So… you’ll tell me where they are?”

“Hey, I ain’t tellin’ you THAT easy.” He remarked, and reached under his bandanna pulling out a whistle. He blew hard; and four colts galloped over from different areas and took his side. “Listen unicorn, if you can find and tag all five of us before sundown, I’ll tell you.”

Rarity scoffed, she was in no mood for these childish games! But… what was she to expect?

“…Fine.”

“Excellent! The rules are no going inside of buildings, and no cheating with magic or something. Spread out!” he shouted, and he along with the other colts ran off.

Rarity didn’t like the way he called her unicorn. And why did he think they were extinct? Huh. With a sigh Rarity galloped off in search of them.



~~~



It didn’t take Rarity as long as she thought it would to find them; the town was small but still she expected to get lost. She found the leader behind the playground, and another nearby. The other two were in the east part of town, one of them was by the exit of the town; and the other was on the roof of an Inn.

Finally the last one was found in the west part of town; she’d caught him just as the guard was keeping him from leaving the town-limits. 

Finally they all assembled back by the playground. “I found you all; now tell me where my sister is!” Rarity said, she was tired and just wanted to find her sister. No more games!
“I dunno.” The ‘leader’ of the group shrugged.

Rarity’s eyelid twitched. “….What?”

“I said I don’t know,”

“You… you… you…” Rarity was shaking. “You said you knew!”

“Did I? I don’t remember, anyway. I know who you’re talking about, but I don’t know where she is now. I might know somepony who does, though.”

Rarity calmed down just a bit; “Okay then. Who? Tell me! No more games, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me!”

“Woah, chill out!” he exclaimed, “Listen, we have a hideout and there’s an old stallion who lives up there. C’mere, I’ll tell you the password, just calm down!”

He motioned for her to lean in close and she did, eager to finally get to somepony who could tell her where Sweetie Belle was. “Listen, the password is one, three, five, two, four. The entrance to the hideout is in east Clock Town.”

Clock town! Is that what this place is called? “Excellent! Thank you!” she said with a smile. What? A lady never holds a grudge.

Rarity galloped as fast as her little legs would carry her; before skidding to a stop. Surely enough there was another colt in front of the entrance, THIS one wearing an orange thing around his neck. He stood in front of a small gap in the buildings. Rarity stepped up to him and he stood up straight. “What’s the password,” he asked. He had a quiet voice that reminded Rarity of Fluttershy. “One, three, five, two and four.” Rarity said.
“Yeah, that’s correct,” he said and moved out of the way. “Are you a new member of the club? I’ve never seen you before.”

“No,” Rarity said. “I just need to find somepony. Then I’ll be out of your mane.”

“Okay.” He shrugged and Rarity galloped down a ramp into the darkness below. 


“Uh… hello?"

Rarity called. It was very dim down here. And smelled bad, too! The place was dimly lit by torches. She looked around; she could hear the sound of a clock, she took a few careful steps forward. The stone felt cold and damp under her hooves. 

Disgusting!

If she had to guess, she’d say she was in a sewer.

Ew! Rarity was disgusted. What kind of hideout was in a sewer? Ugh, colts!

She took a few steps forward, and quickly back away when her hoof stepped into not stone, but water. “Gross!” she shook out her hoof furiously, trying to get rid of any germs that were on it.

She could see a few platforms ahead, in the water just a leap away leading to a longer hallway. Okay… she backed away, and took what felt like the millionth running leap that day. If the time she was in that cave after being transformed counted as today, at least. Oh, gross! The platform was slightly underwater!
Ew ew ew ew EW! She leaped onto the other as fast as she could, and with one more jump she landed on the dry ground of the other side.
“Ewwww!” she wiped her hooves furiously on the ground, “Disgusting! Foul! Vile!”
How much longer before I find him? She thought irritably. She trotted down the hallway, as it got darker she instinctively tried to use her horn to light the way, when it failed she sighed miserably.
She wasn’t sure whether feel angry at Sweetie or not, if what Zecora said was true then the filly was possessed… but she DID steal the mask, so…
Rarity decided it was just the masks fault. Still, once this was all over Sweetie was going to be grounded for life!!

Rarity came to the end of this hall, and continued on the right. She went on, and found herself trotting down some steps, across a large, filthy square room with water dripping from the ceiling. There were more steps in front of her, and another balloon like the one that colt had used her horn to pop.
Rarity trotted up and shoved the balloon out of the way, finding more darkness and a little further in another room. This didn’t look like the rest, though… quite the opposite actually.


The floor was brightly colored, as were the walls and ceiling. There were boxes and jars everywhere, some holding plants. Sad yet pretty music played from a phonograph on one of the boxes. “Now this is more like a hideout,” Rarity mused out loud. She walked up the colorful, shiny steps on the right side of the room; they circled around the room once before coming to a stop at the top. 

Up there, she saw a telescope that would have made Twilight Sparkle jealous. An elderly blue stallion with a graying mane and tail was looking through it; and next to him was a little display case. When Rarity saw what was inside, her eyes grew big. Inside was the most beautiful gem Rarity had ever seen. It was large and tear-shaped, it shone a beautiful icy blue, and seemed to sparkle. 

“Can I help you, missy?” came a voice, snapping Rarity out of her trance. She regretfully turned to face the old buck, “Yes! I- I was told you knew where my sister was? You know, the white filly with the purple and pink mane? And she’s wearing the ugliest mask to ever disgrace the planet. And her friends are with her, the orange and yellow fillies?” 

He seemed thoughtful; “Why… yes, I did see the rascal not too long ago. She was in here, she wanted my moon’s tear” he pointed to the glass case with a wrinkly hoof. “She’s hanging around the clock tower now, who knows how she got up there. Would you like to take a look?”

“Yes!” Rarity exclaimed, and hopped up to look into the telescope. Her horn knocked it, and she grunted in frustration as she had to use her hoof to readjust it. She never realized how much she actually used her magic!


She closed an eye and looked through; the telescope was pointed at the top of the clock tower. From what she could tell she was looking at it from outside of town. Did the sewers really extend that far?
She carefully zoomed in to the top. She kept accidentally knocking it and zooming either too far in or too far out. Stupid lack of magic!
Finally she was able to get it in just the right position, and looked through. 

She was looking at the top of the clock tower; and there on top, was Sweetie Belle. She was lying on her back, sunbathing, and had a pair of sunglasses on OVER the mask. The filly had her front hooves crossed under her head, and one leg over the other, swinging up and down. Rarity was briefly reminded of Rainbow Dash.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were sitting together next to her, though their backs were turned so Rarity couldn’t see their faces.

Sweetie then stood on her hooves, stretched, and turned around. Rarity’s heart caught in her throat when the filly turned to look right at her. Could she see her?

No, of course not. But it was still an eerie feeling. Sweetie Belle’s masked face then turned to look up at the sky. Rarity slowly moved the telescope to follow where Sweetie was looking.

Rarity had never been so startled in her entire life. It was… the moon? During the day?
Rarity’s jaw dropped. It was a lot bigger, then she remembered too. It’s small craters could clearly be seen – it was a lot darker then Luna’s moon. And strangest of all, it had… carvings? Or were those naturally formed? 
It had a face. A face!

Rarity wasn’t sure whether to be scared or not, and she couldn’t help but wonder how she hadn’t even noticed this. Rarity saw something move – wait… something was falling from it!

It came down fast, Rarity tried to follow with the telescope, but it was too quick. It hit the ground outside, and the whole room trembled. Rarity was dazed – then regaining her senses she used the telescope to look down. There, sitting in a small crater, was another blue gem like the one in the display case. Rarity’s eyes got big.
She then turned to look back at the clock tower – Sweetie Belle waved at her. Rarity leaped backwards – Sweetie COULD see her!

Rarity blinked several times, she jumped when the old pony behind her said; “I think the moon just dropped a Moon’s tear. I’ve already got one, so feel free to take it. Are you done with the telescope?”

Slowly, Rarity nodded. “I... I need to get to the top of the clock tower!”

“Today?”

“Yes, today”

“That’s impossible, you have to wait till’ the day after tomorrow at midnight.”

“WHAT?! Why?”

“The clock tower door doesn’t open till’ then. Sorry.”

“Then how did…”

The stallion seemed at a loss as well. Rarity thanked him for letting her use his telescope, and was about to leave when she remembered the Moon’s tear. She quickly turned around – there was a door behind the telescope. She quickly galloped over and went out – it was sitting right outside. “YES!” she exclaimed, happily. Once she was done staring luridly at it, she looked around. She could see the walls of the town a little far off – she had come out of a large, blue, circular building. It had a large fence. Around it stars spun around, twinkling on the poles that held it. Realizing the gate had no door, and she had to go back through the sewers to get back to clock town, she gasped in horror. She picked up the moons tear and held it greedily as galloped back in and through the sewers as fast as she could.



~~~



Rarity was pretty tired. She hadn’t had a decent rest all day. She had been around the clock tower several times trying to find a way to the top, but there was no way in. The door to the top only opened at midnight on the third day. Rarity seriously hoped she’d have time.
She wandered by the inn, and wondered if she had enough to stay a night or two. She’d be here for another two days, and she had money with her. She pushed the door open and stepped in.
A desk stood in the corner, with an earth pony standing behind it. There was a fancy green couch, and some chairs to the right.

Rarity stepped up to the counter, the light blue earth pony with a dark red mane looked up; “Oh! Welcome to the Stock Pot Inn, what can I do for you?” she had to lean forward a bit to see Rarity over the edge of the desk.

“I’d like to rent a room, please.” Rarity said politely, 

“Of course! What’s your name?”

“Rarity.”

The inn-keeper looked up. “Rarity?”

“Yes.” Rarity confirmed. “Oh, you already have a reservation booked in your name. You’re a little late, though. No matter”
Rarity blinked. She hadn’t made any reservations… strange. Rarity decided not to question it for now. Besides, at least she’d get a free room.
The inn-keeper gave her the key and her room number, and Rarity headed up the steps. They were big! She had a bit of trouble, but finally she managed to get to the top and find her room down the hall.
She found her room and opened the door. She could hear music drifting in through the wall.
After finally managing to get up onto the bed she collapsed on her back in exhaustion. A nap couldn’t hurt, she still had two days left. She eyed the clock; it was 2 in the afternoon. Really? It felt like it should be much later then that… Ah well. 

With a yawn, the filly slipped under the covers and drifting off into sleep.




~~~




Rarity hopped gracefully down the steps; she felt much better. Beauty sleep could heal anything!
Well, except filthiness but this inn had no bathtubs.

She figured she’d go and poke through the shops; she’d slept all afternoon and there was till time. She had bits on her; the only question was whether or not the bits were valid here… wherever ‘here’ was. 
As she headed for the door she passed a griffon standing in front of the desk; a fretful look on her face. “But I made a reservation! My name is Rarity!”
	
> Chapter Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Dawn of the Final Day
-24 hours remain-



Rarity awoke with a yawn. She stretched her little forelegs up over her head, than neatly slid out of the covers, careful not to ruin them. She straightened the sheets and hopped off the bed, brushing a hoof through her mane. She’d taken a bath the previous night… although it didn’t feel as cleansing as it should have, but that’s what happens when you bathe in ponds. The past two days had been… interesting. One let-down was that she was only able to explore the town. The guards wouldn’t let her through the gates unless she had a responsible adult with her, so she had to stay within the walls of Clock Town. 

Being a filly was harder than she remembered. Not that she’d have to worry about it once she returned the mask to Zecora and got changed back. She trotted up to the small window and looked out - it was early, she’d have time to do more exploring before nightfall. 

But what to do? She’d already poked around all the shops, nothing had really been of interest, and she didn’t want to waste her bits. 
She sighed, she didn’t want to just sit around and wait…

First things first though; she was hungry. She decided to look for a restaurant in town, she’d tried the food here in the inn and it was terrible. Hopefully there was decent food somewhere in this town. She grabbed the cheap saddlebags she’d bought the day before to carry her things – the moons tear, her wallet, she made sure they were safely tucked inside, double checked, and then fastened them to her back.

Usually she bought the finest most expensive things, but she’d only be wearing them just this once. Besides, maybe she could give them to Sweetie Belle or her friends. “Alright, let’s see if there’s anything good to eat around here.”




~~~




“I can’t believe this place doesn’t have any decent food!” she cried, earning a few looks as she stomped down the town square, which wasn’t really much of a sight considering her tiny size. Despite her frustration, she still carefully stepped around a little puddle. It had rained the day before.

Well, at least she had food in her stomach. Food she couldn’t quite name, but it was food. 
She looked up at the big clock tower, trying to ignore the creepy moon. Say, had it gotten bigger? 

It was noon. She scowled, she didn’t want to just sit around and wait. Rarity was a patient lady, but being a filly, trapped in a town she’d never seen or heard of before in her life could wear on ones nerves. 

Now that she thought about it, there were some game shops… and she still had money. Deciding it was better than nothing, she trotted towards the steps that lead into the East part of town. Hmm… No! Not Honey & Darling’s shop! That crazy couple played with bombs. Bombs!

And Rarity had thought Pinkie could be outrageous at times. Not the Treasure Chest shop either. It was expensive and impossible. 
She finally turned to the shooting gallery. It… couldn’t be that bad. After all, it wasn’t bombs! Besides; maybe it would help her learn to use her hooves more like an earth pony. “It will have to do.” She said quietly. “I can only hope that they let fillies play.” 

She trotted up to the door, and let herself in. She shut the door behind her with a back hoof, and looked around. To the right was a counter; and behind it a dark colored earth pony stallion. The room was about average-sized – and had a pool against the far wall, which was painted to look like a beach. She stepped up to the counter. “Um, excuse me?” she asked. The stallion looked up. “What? Oh, would you like to play, little filly?”

Rarity tried to ignore that last comment. “Yes, I would, actually. It’s a bow and arrow game, right?”

“Yeah, you use the bow to try and hit the sea-ponies as they come up out of the water. If you hit a red one you get a point; if you hit a blue one you lose a point. Easy.”

Rarity had never heard of sea-ponies before in her entire life, but she nodded.

“That will be twenty bits.”

Rarity hesitated… “Well…. Couldn’t you drop the price – just this once?” she batted her eye-lashes.

“Nope. Sorry.”

Silently grumbling to herself, she placed her bits on the counter. He took them and reached under the counter for something – and pulled out a little bow that seemed almost to have been made for ponies her size. He handed it to her, and she was about to take it with her magic – but then remembered she didn’t have any right now, and took it in her mouth.

She hopped up into the letter step in front of the pool. A little box of arrows sat next to it.

“You have five minutes; if you can break the 50 point high score you’ll get a reward.”

Rarity nodded, she wrapped a hoof around the bow and held it in front of her – this was hard. She picked up and arrow in her teeth and pulled it against the string.
Her hoof shook – she was having trouble holding the bow steady. 

“Ready – set…. GO!” the stallion cried, Suddenly nine badly drawn sea-ponies popped out of the water – Rarity was startled and let the arrow go, it barely flew a foot before falling into the water – “Darnit!” Rarity cried. Then, they popped back under the water and nine more took their place – this time the colors were in a different order. 

“Oh, that’s foul play!” Rarity wasn’t even sure if she was now angry or amused. Both, really.

She snatched another arrow in her mouth and adjusted, just as she was going to let go the sea-ponies went back under, and more took their place, once again in a different color order. She hastily aimed for a red one, and let the arrow fly. Just as it was about to hit the pony went back under.

“This means war.” She grabbed another arrow.

Several misses later; the pony behind the counter blew a whistle. “Time’s up!”

“With the risk of sounding like Rainbow Dash…” she mumbled, then turned to the dark pony. “I want to go again!” She said, giving him twenty more bits. “Just once more!” she said, glad she’d happened to have brought most of her bits when she’d ended up in this town. (Not the money she used to buy food and other necessities at home; the money she had with her was the leftover)



~~~



Later that evening, Rarity left the shop, a triumphant look on her face. She’d broken no high scores, but she’d managed to hit several red sea-ponies, and on her final try she only missed seven times, and only hit the blue ones three times.

Needless to say, she was proud of herself.
She convinced herself that most of it was because she was able to get used to using her hooves and no magic quite easily. She couldn’t help but smile, it wasn’t like she’d ever be using a bow in the future. Still, the game was fun and it had helped her get used to using her hooves to hold things pretty quickly.

On the downside, she’d used up a good portion of her bits. Well, most of them. She only had three left.

She also had a bit of blood soaked into the white fur on the corner of her mouth; she’d accidentally stabbed herself when reaching down for another arrow. She licked it away, hoping nopony would notice. 
Oh wait, was it getting dark out already?
How long had she been in there?

She looked up at the darkening sky; there was something odd about it. The way the day seemed to fade to night, instead of the sun going down and the moon and stars coming up to take its place. Although that might just be because this moon… thing was out ALL the time.
It looked a lot bigger than before, too. Rarity wondered if Luna controlled it. She’d have to ask next time she saw her.


Rarity walked down towards south Clock Town, or in other words the main square, taking her time. From what she’d heard, the door to the top only opened on midnight, so she’d have to wait until 12:00 o’clock. 

As she moved, she couldn’t help but feel something wasn’t right. ..Where was everypony?

Where had they all gone? Even some of the shops that had been opened the two nights before had their doors locked and windows closed.

Normally it wouldn’t have bothered her; but wasn’t there a carnival tonight?
She could understand some of the shops being closed for that reason but… there was nopony around as far as she could tell. With a shrug she continued on.

It was 09:57, so she still had to wait a little more than two hours. She sighed in frustration. She was out of money; what else could she do to pass the time?
“I guess I’ll just sit and wait by the door.” She said, and then paused. “Or, I could take a nap, I am pretty tired…” she was just about to turn around, then stopped. “Oh, that’s right. I already signed out of the inn.” She groaned. She headed up to the clock tower, her head at her hooves.

She climbed up onto the little platform in front of the door, and shifted on her hooves. She could stand here for two hours; but there was no way she was going to sit down here, without a blanket or something. 

She traced patterns in the wood with her hoof; and looked at the sky.
She didn’t recognize any constellations. She couldn’t even see any constellations. She chewed her lip.

Honestly, she was really starting to think this might all be a dream or something. It just seemed so unreal. She looked up, craning her neck to check the time. 10:02.

She stood. 

And waited.

And waited. 

And waited.

She could stand here all night! Actually, her fore-legs were getting a little tired. They were still sore from her archery. She wiped the corner of her mouth, hoping the bloodstain had magically disappeared. 
She wondered if Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her friends were searching for them… Applejack would undoubtedly be worried about Apple Bloom.

She couldn’t wait to go home… 




~~~





Rarity was awoken by a loud, alarming boom. She didn’t even remember falling asleep.
The boom was followed by another one – and another. Rarity panicked and looked up. Fireworks!
She relaxed a bit – then perked up. It must be midnight! She turned around and rocked on her hooves impatiently – the clock tower was… moving? She looked up, the very top of the clock tower was rising.
She watched, was that supposed to happen? She watched it stop – and then fall backwards. She flinched – but it looked like it was supposed to do that…
Her attention was diverted back to the door when the wooden, brightly painted panel fell – and the one behind it fell, and the one behind that; it went on up forming steps.

Rarity wasn’t sure if she was more impressed or confused. Yet she wasted no time in galloping up the stairs. “I’m coming, girls!”





Rarity had tried not to notice the moon-thing earlier; but it was kind of impossible not to look at it now. It was huge! 
And very close. Rarity slowly lowered her eyes. The steps had lead her up the top of the tower – the floor was painted turquoise, with white patters painted on. 

And in the middle, was Sweetie Belle and her friends. “Girls!” Rarity called.

The three whirled around. Sweetie took on a defensive stance – Rarity’s ocarina held in a hoof.

The other two looked horrible. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked hungry, frightened, and filthy. 


“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity said firmly. “You take that mask off and hoof it over right this instant!”

The powdery white filly cocked her head. “You’re not seriously ordering me around, are you?”

“I am. Come with me, now.” There was a long silence. Then Sweetie Belle laughed. 
“I can’t believe you! You really think you can beat me? You’re barely bigger than I; and I now have power to rival the alicorns!”
Rarity narrowed her eyes at her little sister. “Very funny; Sweetie Belle…”

Rarity was confusing herself. Should she be addressing her sister or the mask?

Suddenly Apple Bloom rushed forward. “Rarity! The mountain, swamp, ocean and canyon! Sweetie says their important or somethin’!”

“No,” Scootaloo interrupted, “She said to stay away from there!”

“Shut up, both of you!” Sweetie hissed, bucking Scootaloo in the face with a back hoof.
“Scoots!” Apple Bloom rushed to her friend.

Rarity’s eyes widened. “Sweetie! How could you?!”
Remember, Rarity. It’s the mask, not your sister. Remain calm.

“Whatever;” Sweetie yawned absentmindedly tossing the instrument up and down in her hoof. “I know you can’t stop me. Nopony can.”
“I can stop you.” Rarity said confidently. 

“Rarity no!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo cried. 
Sweetie Belle laughed again. “Look above you! If you think it can be stopped, then just go ahead and try to stop it!”

Sweetie lowered her head, a pulse of lightly colored magic erupted at the tip of her horn, she then thrust her head up. The ball of light went up and hit the moon. Rarity felt the ground below her tremble – then, then moon begun to lower. Very quickly.

Rarity’s jaw dropped, her eyes went wide her pupils tiny.

The moon hadn’t been getting bigger, Sweetie was bringing it down!

Rarity panicked. “Oh nononononononono!” she cried, running around in helpless circles. 
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were hugging each other in terror.
Sweetie was still concentrating on the moon.
Rarity galloped for her sister. Forgive me Sweetie! She thought as she whirled around at the last minute and bucked her sister in the chest. Sweetie yelped and dropped Rarity’s ocarina.

“Hey!” Rarity cried. “That was a gift from Princess Luna!”

She snatched it up in her hoof. She felt a rush of nostalgia – she remembered when Princess Luna had presented this to her…


“Rarity;” Luna addressed, “I’ve called you here for… well, it isn’t really a personal matter, but… I fell something. Something about you is just….”

Rarity listened, was it her beautiful coat? Her gorgeous eyes? Or maybe her amazingly luscious mane. She smiled, absentmindedly flicking a stand of hair with a hoof.

“I sense something is going to happen.” Luna said finally. “And I want you to have this.” Using her unicorn magic, she levitated over a small instrument; a beautiful shiny blue. It had holes in it obviously meant for a being with fingers, like a dragon or griffon to play. Rarity blinked. “It’s beautiful. What is it?”

“It is called an ocarina. This one in particular, is a family heirloom. I’m surprised Celestia hadn’t already given it to Twilight.”

“You’re giving me an heirloom? Why? Surely it isn’t just out of generosity…”

“It isn’t. But I want you to have it, just in case. Playing it is easy, just focus your magic on the holes when you play.” Rarity nodded, picking it up in her own magic.

“Thank you so much; Luna. But I still don’t understand why…” 

Not that she didn’t want this gem-like instrument!

Luna shook her head. “Just… just take it. It will make me feel better…”

Rarity shrugged. “Well, if you insist, Princess.”

“Here,” Luna said. “I want to teach you this song… It’s not much, but it might come in handy.”

“A song? Come in handy?” Rarity wondered aloud. Luna chuckled. “Just give it here, let me show you… it’s called the song of time…”


Rarity snapped back into reality. The song! The song of time! That’s it!
Rarity put her lips on the mouth piece; “What are you doing!?” Scootaloo cried. “Playing music?! How is that gonna help?”

Trust me. 

Rarity had trouble playing with her hooves – she had no magic to put pressure on the holes when needed; but somehow she managed. 

She played. She hummed the melody in her own head as the song came through the ocarina. Hmm mmm mmm mmm mmm…. 

Rarity felt lightheaded. What was happening to her? She closed her eyes – she felt… odd. Suddenly, she was falling. She cried out. 

She remembered herself walking through the everfree forest, looking for the flower. 

She remembered herself being knocked to the ground as Sweetie made off with the ocarina. 

She remembered Zecora.

She remembered the three days spent here.


She opened her eyes. 



Dawn of the First Day
-72 hours remain-




Rarity was standing In front of the clock tower. It was daytime; she could see ponies walking around, going about their usual day. “Wha…?” she looked around. 
“What happened? Everything’s…” 

She stepped forward; and suddenly stopped. She turned around and looked up at the moon. It sat high in the daytime sky.
“Gone back?”

She looked around. Everything was exactly the same as it had been the first day she’d arrived.
She wasn’t as clean as she’s been after her bath. She no longer could taste blood in the corner of her mouth. She felt… exactly the way she had when she’d first arrived.

Her saddlebags were gone; but all her money was back. That was good!
Rarity turned towards the clock tower. Perhaps Zecora could enlighten her…

Hang on a minute. That meant the moons tear gem was gone.


Rarity's anguished scream could be heard for miles around.
> Chapter Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“That instrument brought you back in time you say? Ah, you were not able to get the mask away…” Zecora nodded slowly, watching as Rarity paced back and forth, breathing hard after retelling of the past three days in one big exhale.

“I-I’m sorry, Zecora. What is that mask? Sweetie nearly killed everyone!”

Zecora sighed, “Mask or no, I will change you back to your original size. Against the mask I should have done so immediately, I apologize.”


“Oh, thank you!” Rarity cried. “This body is simply awful! I can’t do anything, and my magic is gone! I…” Rarity paused. “Zecora, where did that mask come from in the first place? I’ve never seen anything like it and the powers it gave my sister…”

Zecora sighed. “That mask… it came from a dark place. A mask I never intended on anyone’s face.

“You made the mask?”

“I did not, little Rarity. I got that mask quite a while ago; you see. It’s an ancient mask, once used for dark deeds. I had hoped to keep it secret and safe, so nopony would wear it and listen to its evil needs.”

Rarity listened intently. “Did it come from the zebra kingdom?”

“No. I know not where it was crafted, but when I first laid my hooves upon it I could feel the evil that it wafted. It was created by a tribe for rituals, but it was sealed away as it brought nothing but evil visuals.”

Rarity nodded. “And this mask – it intends to destroy this land? Well, I know that but…”

Zecora nodded grimly. “No one knows where exactly the mask comes from. But if it is allowed to work a new day will not come.”

“It… it intends to end the world…” Rarity said quietly. “I… I must stop it! And save Sweetie!”

Zecora nodded. “You must set your sister free. And once again you only have until day three.”

“Wait,” Rarity interjected. “Apple Bloom and Scootaloo told me something. They said something about a… mountain, swamp ocean and canyon, I think… Do you happen to know anything about that?”

Zecora looked thoughtful; “Mountain, swamp ocean, canyon. Yes... I understand what must be done. Each area is a region, each supports a dungeon.” Before Rarity could say anything, Zecora continued; “In each region a being is at home, in the farthest reaches of each direction you must roam. I see now, you must go to each place. I am sure that the spirits there will help get the mask off Sweetie’s face.”

Rarity hesitated. This was all too much to take in. But first…

“Before I go you’re going to change me back to my glamorous, adult self, right?”
Zecora nodded. “Of this curse I know the remedy. It just so happens to come in the form of a melody…”

Rarity sighed in relief. “Oh; thank Celestia…” she pulled out her Ocarina.
“Ready your ears and hearing; for this the song of healing,” Zecora said; Rarity closed her eyes and listened as Zecora begun to hum.

Considering her rhyming, it’ a wonder she doesn’t sing, Rarity silently mused. Zecora stopped and looked at Rarity. “Now, use your ocarina and play. It is a magical instrument, as you say.” Rarity nodded, and with a bit of difficulty she played the song Zecora had hummed for her. At least now she had magic to put pressure on the different holes when needed now…

Oh my… she felt strange. It wasn’t at all like the feeling she’d felt when she’d been turned into a filly. No, this was… different. She felt as if she were floating; she was enveloped in a wispy cloud of white. She felt herself changing… it was a soothing feeling. Then, the bright whiteness faded, and Rarity was once again standing in front of Zecora, this time however she was eye-level with the zebra.

“Oh…. I can… I’m tall again! My mane is long again!” she cried joyfully. She concentrated on the ocarina held on her hoof; and with the tiniest bit of difficulty levitated it up in her blue aura of magic. “I can use my magic again!” she smiled widely. She couldn’t remember ever being so happy about something.

Zecora looked at the double-doors leading out into Clock Town. “I suggest you head for the south, I believe is abound. But do not forget to buy supplies from the shops around.”

“Supplies?” Rarity asked.

Zecora nodded. “Yes, I suggest a blade of steel. And perhaps some potions to help you heal.”

“A sword?!” Rarity stared in disbelief. “Why would I need a sword? Do you take me for some sort of ruffian?! I intend to save Sweetie Belle, not harm her!”

Zecora sighed. “This land is nothing like Equestria, Rarity. Very soon you will see.”

Rarity stared at the zebra, and then sighed. “You obviously know this place better than I, but, I won’t be using it!” she harrumphed and turned on her hooves, heading for the doors.



~~~



Rarity was glad she had all her money back, she wanted to buy a pair of saddlebags, and the sword Zecora had suggested. Rarity really didn’t want to, but she felt Zecora knew what she was talking about. So with a sigh, she bought the most inexpensive, littlest sword she could find.

Why did this town even have a weapon store? That alone seemed to prove Zecora’s point of this world being different from Equestria.

I guess that proves I’m not in Equestria any more… Rarity thought. Having made all her purchases, Rarity headed for the southern gate. She noticed one of the little colts from that club, he looked at her. She wondered if he would recognize here – than she realized she’d gone back to day one. Everything that had happened after leaving the clock tower on that first day didn’t happen. Completely erased.

Gone.

A shudder passed through her. She wasn’t sure why. She looked up at the ominous moon sitting high in the blue day-time sky, that eerie look on its face. She wondered if it was actually alive, perhaps it was a deity, like Celestia or Luna. She turned towards the armored pony standing between her and the outside of town. “Excuse me,” she caught his attention, “May I pass?”

He looked her over. “Are you armed?”

She swallowed. He actually asked if she was armed? What the HAY was out there?

“Yes, I have a sword right here;” she turned her flank, allowing him to see the sword sheathed onto her hip.

“Oh. Alright then; go on ahead. Be careful out there, miss.” She thanked him, and with a deep breath headed out. Zecora had said south, so that was exactly where she intended to go.

As Rarity stepped out of the city limits and into the wilderness, she looked around warily as if a horrible beast would come out and snatch her off the second she looked away. A field stretched before her, there were no animals as far as she could see save for a few birds. She recognized this… she’d seen this when she’d stepped outside of the astral observatory for the moons tear. She sighed… the air smelled cleaner than the air in that filthy town.

She was standing on a wooden platform, three large steps leading down to the grass in front of her. She begun forward, this gate lead straight to the south. That was where Zecora suggested first, so with a sigh, Rarity headed forward. She couldn’t help but wonder… the creatures Zecora had mentioned, the beings that could help stop the mask… How would she recognize them? Where would she find them?

Temples… Zecora said temples… Rarity pondered this. This was all so confusing… What was she to find? Where? Why?

This didn’t seem fair. Sure, she and her friends always ended up on crazy adventures, but this was different. This wasn’t eternal night, or a land of chaos, or a land of slavery to love-feeding parasites. This was world annihilation. By the moon, no less.

Granted, it wasn’t a moon Rarity recognized… or even heard of. As far as she knew there was only supposed to be one moon.

She felt tired. Perhaps it was the events leading up to this pressing on her mind, or maybe just the quick transition from filly to mare that was wearing on her limbs. She rubbed her head with a hoof.  This was going to be a long three days.

She levitated her little sword out of its sheath and examined it. She was sure she’d never have to use it, so she didn’t waste money on anything really expensive or sturdy. It was short; not dagger short, but short. The handle was a light blue, the same color as her cutie-mark. The pommel was the same color, only a slightly darker shade. The blade itself was shiny, the sunlight glinting off of it. Rarity admired her own reflection for a bit before slipping it back into the ugly, light brown sheath fastened around her flank.
Rarity could see a forest ahead. Oh Celestia I hope that isn’t the swamp.



~~~



It was the swamp. The foul odor gave it away first, and then the sight of the murky black water as she’d headed deeper into the woods. “Oh, why me!” she moaned; pressing a hoof against her nose. Disgusting!
It really wasn’t so bad, it was really just the smell that was getting to her. She sniffed the water.
Yuck!

She looked around. Where Rarity was the trees were tightly clumped together, leaving the pathway as the only way to really get through. Rarity noticed a long deck on the edge of the swampy water, and a boat at the end. Held above it by four thick wooden poles was what looked like a cabin. There were steps leading up to it, although they looked rather steep. Rarity hesitated – she was looking for a temple, could she ask for directions?

She trotted up the steps and read the sign, ‘Swamp Tourist Center’. She tried opening the door, but it didn’t budge. ‘Closed’, she read. With a sigh, she headed back down the steps and begun deeper into the woods, the damp underbrush making icky squishing noises beneath her hooves.

Not even the Everfree Forest could compare. What next, dirty canyons with walking skeletons?

Rarity couldn’t help but giggle at the thought. How ridiculous!

She jumped over a puddle of filthy black water – and landed in mud. She cried out in horror when it all splashed upwards, staining her beautiful snowy white coat.

“Disgusting! Gross! Vile! Filthy!” she repeated over and over; desperately trying to shake the mud off.  “When I get my hooves on Zecora, I’ll - I’ll - !”

She spotted a sign ahead, shaped like an arrow pointing towards a pathway, two large decorative jars stood in front of it. Momentarily forgetting her own filthiness she trotted up to it, reading aloud: “Magical Ponies Potion Shop…”

Rarity hoped to Celestia that they had a bath or something she could borrow. Actually, what kind of shop had a bath?

Okay, she hoped it was the same kind of shop she had, she lived and worked in it.

She headed down the pathway, she could see little insects buzzing around, and they seemed to be attracted to her filthy coat. They kept landing all over her. Grimacing, she rounded a corner – and saw a tree. A tree house, she noticed. Shaped like a giant red teapot.

Rarity wasn’t sure whether to admire the creativity, or criticize the ugly choice in colors.
But what she was more interested in was the whole thing was surrounded by a large pool of clean water. She wasted no time in hurrying in and washing herself to the best of her ability.
She didn’t want to mud to dry and stick to her fur!

She sighed, dipping her mane into the water, yet trying not to let it touch the sandy bottom.
If it was sand under there and not mud, she guessed the pond had been put here by ponies and not nature.

Which was better, she thought. Sand wasn’t as bothersome as mud. She decided to pay the little shop a visit. She didn’t have any potions, she’d forgotten to buy some while in Clock Town.

She headed up the steps, it was good to hear the sound of hooves on wood and not the squish of hooves on mud. She knocked on the door once, then opened it. “Hello?”

The room was tiny, cramped. Boxes were stacked to the ceiling on either side of her. The counter in front of her had a Pegasus pony, fast asleep behind it. She was the ugliest shade of green Rarity had ever seen on a pony, and wore a band around her head with a blue crystal on the forehead.

Rarity was a little surprised it wasn’t a unicorn, she knew there were magical plants that allowed anypony to make working potions, but it was sort of just one of those things you never really thought about.

She stepped up to the counter. “Um – excuse me, miss?” The Pegasus didn’t stir. Rarity cleared her throat, and said a little louder, “Miss, you’re sleeping on the job!”

Rarity would never allow herself to fall asleep on the job, the thought was ludicrous! How anypony could just go and fall asleep while working was beyond her.

“Miss! Wake up!”

Finally the ugly-colored pony blinked awake. She mumbled something, sat up, stretched and yawned, breathing into Rarity’s face a morning breath that would kill a litter of kittens. Rarity coughed, backing away and waving a hoof in her face in disgust.

Rarity would have gone on a verbal rage, but the Pegasus spoke first. “Wha? What is it?
Need something?”

Rarity glared. “Yes, I need something because this is a shop, and ponies buy things from shops. I would like to purchase some healing potions.”

Rarity usually tried not to be rude, even to rude ponies, but she’d been through a lot the past three days and few hours.

Or perhaps it only counted as a few hours. This was confusing.

“Hm? Oh yes! Ah have a large stock of potions… take a look,”

She pointed to the counter next to her, where three pots sat. One red, one green.

Large stock my flank, Rarity thought. “What does the green potion do?”

“The green one replenishes…. Er…. I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Nope. Buy it for only… uh… I don’t know.”

Rarity groaned. “How much does the red one cost? I’m guessing it’s healing potion, right?”

“Sure. Yeah. That’ll be ten bits.”

“I’ll take two.” She said.

“Hm… you got an empty bottle?”


“What?”

“Do you have an empty bottle with you?”

“I… no.”

“Well too bad, then.”

Rarity cocked her head, and blinked. Hopefully since she was no longer a filly she could pull this off. “You wouldn’t happen to have an extra bottle I could take, would you? Please?”

“No.”

“For the love of…“ Rarity mumbled, before turning on her hooves and leaving. “Why does this place work against me?”

Upon trotting down the steps Rarity couldn’t help but notice yet another dirt pathway, leading down deeper into the woods. She decided to head that way, she had no idea where to go from here.

Surely she would recognize a temple when she saw it.

She trotted through the pond and onto the grass, and dried her hooves a bit, and headed down the dirt pathway, but not before reading the wooden sign nailed to a tree.

‘Woods of Mystery’

“Rather… nice name?” she said quietly. Somehow she expected it to be like the Everfree forest.
Come to think of it, this entire land seemed like a sort of Everfree forest. She headed down the dirt path, as she headed further she noticed the trees were tightly clumped together in this area, almost seeming to form rooms. She stopped, finding herself in in a small clearing, the pathway continued onward, yet two more went down both right and left.

She stood there for a second, trying to decide which way to go.

Her entire frame grew ridged when a little hand nudged her leg, she whirled around. “Who goes…” she stopped. A little white monkey sat in front of her, she sighed, straightened, then chuckled. “Forgive me! You scared me, darling.”

The monkey cocked his head, “Follow me,” he said simply, then without waiting for an answer he took off down the left dirt path.

“What? Hey! Wait a second!” she galloped after him.

They ran through the forest, although it seemed more like a maze made out of trees, each path brought them to a clearing. He’d go left, then right, right again, forward, left…

Rarity had no idea what she was following him for, but in Equestria when random ponies came up to you and said ‘follow me’, you didn’t really need to worry about it being a trap.

It was really just a sort of ‘auto-pilot’ to follow this monkey. When a pony comes up to you and says ‘follow me’, they either have something for you, need help, or if it’s Pinkie Pie, it means there’s a party.

Rarity found herself wondering why she was even following him. What did he need?
As if he had read her mind, he headed into another clearing before stopping. Rarity noticed something, and then with a cry she forced her hooves to the ground, skidding to a stop, her hooves sending up dirt into the face of a collapsed pony.

She noticed immediately that it looked almost exactly like the pony that ran the potion shop – only the gem sitting on the headband was red, and not blue.

She was breathing hard, it sounded raspy. “Oh my!” Rarity took a step back, and then leaned down a bit. “Miss? Are you alright?”

The ugly green pony opened her eyes, cherry red ones. “Ah! I – that filly!”

Silence.

“What filly?” Rarity felt she already knew the answer.

“She… she was white! Ugh, she had a hideous mask on! She ambushed me while I was-“ the pony interrupted herself with a mild coughing fit, before continuing in a wheezy voice: “-picking mushrooms! I… you wouldn’t happen to have a- a potion on you?”

Rarity facehooved. “No. No, I don’t.”

“Sister… runs potion shop… in the woods. You can’t miss it!”

“I’ll be back,” Rarity stated, then turned on her hooves and galloped through the forest. She sort of remembered the pathway the monkey took her.

It was… that way?

She stopped. Again.

She looked around. “Hello? Sir Monkey? I could use your assistance!”

Nothing. “Blast it! I don’t have time for this!” she stomped forward, and hoped to come across something she recognized. “Oh! Why not just follow my hoofprints?” satisfied, she searched the dirt for her prints, but the ground was covered with so much… forest stuff, it was impossible.

With a frustrated grunt, she headed forward, and much to her surprise and relief found herself back at the potion shop. “Thank Celestia! That was easier than I ever could have expected!”
Rarity wasted no time in heading up the steps and into the shop, where the ugly green Pegasus had fallen asleep.

What is with these ponies?

Frustrated, Rarity turned around, and bucked the counter hard. THWAK!

“Ah!” the Pegasus jerked awake. “What the! Who do you think you are? I’m napping!”

“Yes, on the job I might add, and I need a potion, now!”

“I already said no.”

“I don’t think your sister will be very happy if she hears that…”

“What are you getting at?”

“Your sister,” Rarity twitched an ear. “She’s injured in the swamp, and needs healing.”
“What?! What happened?”

“No time, just give me a potion!” Rarity said irritably.

“Okay, okay – you better not be just trying to get one free,” she muttered dipping a jar into the red liquid and sealing the lid.

I thought you said you didn’t have an extra… Rarity thought as she took it and galloped out of the store.

The monkey was waiting for her in the woods of mystery, when he saw her coming he motioned for her to follow, leading her back to the Pegasus. Rarity trotted up to her and set the potion down in front of her. “Here you are, miss,” the Pegasus snatched it away and downed it in a second, and Rarity watched as she slowly got to her hooves stretched her wings and leapt into the air.
“Yes! I feel much better!”

“You’re welcome,” Rarity muttered. These ponies lack of manners was unbelievable.

“Of course, thank you! Hey, um.” The Pegasus turned to her. “My names Koume, I run the boat cruise at the Swamp Tourist center, you can have a discount!”

And with that she shot off into the air without another word. Rarity blinked.

“I suppose I’d take the boat, I can’t stand these woods for another second! I hope they’ll give me a ride to the temple…”
	
	
	

> Chapter Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity took another dip in the pond outside the potion shop, and then filled her now-empty bottle with water. The unicorn shook out her damp mane and tried her best to magically re-style it.

Finally she headed back towards the Swamp Tourist Center, which she assumed to be open now. As she headed down the dirt path, she stopped as she heard a rustling. Then, three monkeys fell from the trees above and landed in front of her, causing her to jump.

“OH! Don’t do that! It’s very rude to scare ponies,” she said with an annoyed flick of her ear.

The monkey in the middle she recognized as the one who’d lead her to the Pegasus.

“You unicorn,” he stated the obvious. “You have strange magical powers. You help us?”

“Help you?” Rarity already had a thousand things to do, why not add helping monkeys to the list!

“What do you need help with, dear?”

“Our brother!” he cried, “He was taken. He need help, zebra king take him! He get blame for disappearance of princess, princess need help! Brother need help!”

Rarity blinked, the ‘primitiveness’ of the speech giving her pause. “I, uh… I suppose…” she murmured. “If I end up near the zebras, I’ll help, but I have other things to do right now, so please let me pass.”

Both disappointed and hopeful, the monkey’s moved out of the way and ran off on all fours. Rarity watched them go, feeling a bit guilty, but she turned and continued down the dirt path, slapping away bugs with a hoof as she went.

It wasn’t long before she found her way back, the trees were pretty clumped together, so sticking to pathways was easy.

She saw the small building coming into view around the curves of the trees, and sped up.

She had to save as much time as possible!
She trotted up the steps and pushed on the door, and this time it actually did open.

She hesitantly walked in; the room was small, not as small as the potion shop, but still small. To her left was a desk, and a gruff looking pony sat behind it. Against the wall in front of her was a small box-like alcove with a little window, Rarity could see Koume inside. “Um, hey!” the unicorn called, trotting up to her. “You said something about discounted boat ride?”

“Oh, it’s you! Yeah, we let visitors take the boat around the swamp once, you interested?”

“Yes, actually, I was wondering if I could use your boat to get to a - uh, there’s a temple here right?”

“A temple? Yeah, you’re going to want to talk to the zebra king about that, it’s their temple.”

“Ah, okay than. How do I find him?”

“Take the boat. It’s the only way unless you were planning on swimming,”

“Swim? In that filthy water?! Heavens no! Now much will it cost?”

“For you it will be ten bits.”

“Is that the discount?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, it’s that boat underneath here, right?”

“Yeah, don’t forget to bring it back when you’re done.”

Rarity nodded. “I will. Now, how do I get to the zebra?”

“They have a palace deeper in the swamp, you can’t miss it.”

Rarity smiled and thanked her, than paid for the ride and headed back outside. The boat was ready and waiting, and she jumped in, freezing a bit when it rocked a little. She hoped it didn’t tip over…

She picked up the row with her magic. “Why do they leave this out like this? In this place I wouldn’t be surprised if it got stolen.”

With a shrug she made herself comfortable and begun to row the boat forward. If she ignored the filthy water, the surrounding forest was actually kind of pretty.

The trees were a little droopy, but the colors were bright.
Massive tree-like orange flowers stood taller than even Celestia, Rarity estimated. Heck, even the underbrush looked nice when it wasn’t squishing under her hooves.

The sky was bright and clear, although looking up the view was ruined when the repulsive, angry-looking moon entered her field of vision. She wondered what time it was. She silently cursed herself for stopping to bathe in that spring earlier, sure it didn’t take long but every second counted.

Three days. Three days! The more she thought about it, the more stressed she felt. It didn’t seem fair, usually it was her and the other five that dealt with big problems like these together. Now, she was alone in a world she didn’t recognize with ponies she’d never seen before.

She eyed the water.  Say, it looked a lot more… purple! Purple water. That couldn’t be too healthy, she thought with a grimace.

She was jarred out of her trance when she rowed the boat into something hard, she jerked her head up. She’d run the stupid thing right into a little dock. Looking up, she noticed a massive wall. It almost looked like straw, held together by mud. And for all she knew, and considering what the rest of the places she’d seen were like, that could be exactly what it was.

She wasn’t too surprised. Not after being in hideouts held in sewers, a filthy, unclean hotel with a bathroom that she could have sworn there was a hoof in the toilet asking for paper.

She hopped off the boat, carefully tying it to the pole at the end of the dock and headed up towards the door. She cast one last glance at the moon hanging ominously low in the sky, before heading inside.

Whatever she hated about the outside, the inside took her breath away. There was no ceiling, just open sky. The whole wall spanned father on both sides behind her, then curving forward where she couldn’t see the ends. In front of her was more swamp water, but there was a long bridge spanning from where she stood to a hallway where two zebra guards stood still and expressionless, not unlike Celestia’s daytime guards.

The inside of the walls were brightly painted, reds and whites, colors that Rarity had never thought could look so good. And the trees hung over the walls from the outside, making it look wild in a rather nice way. Rarity wasn’t much for ‘tribal fashion’ but she was rather impressed.

Although the swamp water had to go.

She stepped onto the bridge, the sides painted white while the rest remained plain wood. She trotted over and greeted the guards.

“Why, hello there. My name is Rarity, and I request an audience with your leader.”

The two male zebra’s eyed each other. Rarity waited expectantly, she wondered if all zebra talked in rhyme like Zecora.

Actually, Zecora spoke a foreign language Rarity remembered – did these two understand a word she was saying?

She hoped so.

Finally, one spoke up – in her language, to her relief.

“No.”

“Thank- …No?” she echoed.

“No.” The other stated.

“No?” she repeated, furrowing her brow.

“No,” the other said. “You’re not of our tribe, and more importantly, a pony. No ponies aloud.”

“Well why ever not?” Rarity asked, feeling aggravated. She did not have time for this, all she needed was access to their temple!

“Kings orders,” he stated.

“Well,” Rarity sighed. “Couldn’t you… just make this one exception? I need to speak with him, if only for a second.”

The two exchanged glances. “Well… I suppose today is a special occasion,” one said. “Just go straight down that hall, don’t go to the left or right pathways, just straight. I’m sure the king is too busy right now to care about you, just behave yourself!”

Rarity frowned as the moved out of the way. They weren’t even going to escort her? Wouldn’t she have a better chance of gaining the kings attention if she had them with her?

She didn’t like their attitudes either, although they were just doing their job she supposed. And with that she went forward, straight towards the bigger door ignoring the doors on either side of her, as they’d told her too. It was kind of hilarious, she wasn't escorted and the excepted her - a stranger they'd never seen before in their life - to listen.

The king’s chamber was quite a sight to be seen. And very loud, she noticed. In front of her sat a large fire pit, the fire seeming to dance in front of her, tendrils of smoke rising into the air and blowing away in the gentle breeze. To her left, a massive cage the lined the whole wall. To her right, another wall. Several zebras stood around the fire, talking amongst themselves. She carefully moved around the fire, noticing a large platform against the back wall, a big chair in the middle and sitting in it, looking very angry was a male zebra she assumed to be the king. He wore a crown of leaves, and jewelry on his forelegs, very similar and yet not similar to Zecora’s. Next to him stood a rather slender zebra, his head bowed and in front of the platform were several guards.

Rarity couldn’t help but wonder if this was where Zecora came from. It seemed likely, after all Zecora seemed to know much about this land. But somehow it didn’t seem likely.

Swallowing, she took a few steps forward. “Excuse me?” she called. The king turned his attention towards her.

“What?! A pony!? In the palace? What nonsense is this!”

Yet the guards didn’t come after her, and he didn’t send them after her, so she continued. “Well, your highness, I was let through. Special occasion I guess? I was wondering if I could gain access to your temple, it is very important you see.”

He glared, “No, I don’t’ see.”

Rarity bit her lip. “Well… I hoped… I need to find somepony, or somezebra I assume…”

Rarity didn’t know what she was looking for, just that he – or she lived in the temple. Zecora had said each temple in each region held something, and she needed their help.

“What? That temple is sacred ground! Why should I open it to the likes of you!”

Despite this, she found save for the guards the other zebras in the room didn’t seem to care about what was going on. Not that it mattered, it just seemed like something everyone would turn their head to watch.

“Well, I…” she frowned, trying to think.

The king spoke, “Look pony, normally I’d have you thrown out in a second! But as you said, today is a special occasion – for we have captured the monkey that kidnapped my daughter!” he pointed a striped hoof towards the cage, where a monkey was tied to a large pole in the middle.

“That traitor refuses to give her back, he will be punished tonight if you wish to watch.”

“I see…” Rarity said thoughtfully. “Now off with you!” the king shouted, and Rarity quickly backed away so the king could return to speaking with the zebra next to him. Rarity headed towards the cage – the monkeys earlier had said they needed her help.

She hopped up and lightly tapped a hoof on one of the bars – the struggling monkey refused to look at her. “Hey – psst! Monkey!”

“Go away!” He shouted. “Are you here to mock me?!”

She noticed his speech was more advanced than that of his brothers. “I’ve heard it all before, ‘Give the princess back! Tell us where she is!’ but you’re all fools! If you don’t listen, she could fall prey to a horrible monster!”

“Shhh! Monkey, listen!” she called and this time he turned. “Huh?! A pony! But… do they know you’re here?”

“Yes, but listen. Your brothers sent me for you. I want to help…”

“From out there? That’s not going to do any good, you’ve got to get in here!”

“Why?”

“You’re going to attract attention if we talk like this…”

“How do I get in?”

“There’s an entrance down the hall you used to get in here, down the left. You can use it to sneak in here! Then we’ll talk!”

Rarity felt she ought not to, but… she had to. She didn’t know if the monkey was guilty, he very well could be, but he had said something about the princess falling prey to a monster hadn’t he?

Rarity shoved these thoughts into the back of her head, her first priority was to get in there and speak with him. But… it could just be a waste of time. Oh Celestia, her brain was starting to hurt.

She headed back out the way she came. The palace guards had their backs towards her. She hesitated, before she carefully slipped down the left doorway, and crouched low. She carefully went in, being careful not to be seen. In front of her seemed like a maze, and guards patrolled seemingly everywhere. Random walls were placed around, with seemingly no purpose. Tall pillars and odd columns were placed in no specific order, at least not to Rarity.

The slightly more dirty than usual unicorn saw lots of hiding places, and hesitated.

Was this a good idea? She didn’t like the idea of sneaking around in here and speaking to a possibly criminal monkey…

“I have to,” she whispered. She didn’t even know if it would help her get to the temple – ideally not, but…

Rarity quickly made her way to the right and slipped into a patch of… some sort of plant she didn’t recognize. She held her breath as a guard passed by, made sure it was clear and hurried down towards the other wall. Painted white, she noticed. All around were high white pillars, random walls and random patches of grass or flowers.

Was this a garden? She wondered to herself. What else could it be? Maybe that’s what the walls were for…

If she wasn’t trying to be stealthy, Rarity would have sighed. She didn’t even know where she was supposed to go from here!

She watched the guard pass and holding her breath made her way for the next wall, crouching down and waiting. Do all zebra have that manestyle? I thought it was unique to Zecora… I guess not. Sad, what a lack of variety.

Rarity found it easy to hide in tall patches of grass, or just hide behind walls until the guards passed and she could move forward only to hide behind another wall and wait for that guard to pass.

Alright, let’s do this. Rarity thought bitterly.

She did find herself in a tight spot a few times and almost got caught, but managed to keep hidden.

She did find herself tempted a few times to steal some of the vegetables she saw growing here and there, she was simply famished! And she did end up taking a tomato.

Or two. And a few carrots.

But hey! She was breaking and entering anyway, and they wouldn’t notice!

Oh Rarity, looks what’s become of you! She thought angrily. And in only such a short amount of time, too. It’s justified! She told herself, not really believing it. I’m trying to save the world! If I fail, everypony dies! And everyzebra. Everymonkey… Every… everybody dies! I deserve this!

Again, if she weren’t trying to be stealthy shed have punched herself. Wait… never mind. She was already messy enough as it is, she didn’t need a black eye. Repulsive.
“Hey! You, unicorn!”

Rarity froze in her tracks. She really needed to stop letting her train of thought run off.

“You’re not allowed in here!”

“Right…” she turned to the two guards. “I was just… taking my leave, then?”


~~~


Rarity had never felt so degraded in all her life. No, they couldn’t have just escorted her out like normal, civilized ponies – zebras, they had to dog-pile her, and then drag her out by her mane, and then throw, not shove but throw her out of the palace.

Never again, she thought furiously trying to re-style her mane, while simultaneously looking around for some other way in.

Whether or not she helped the monkey, she still needed to get to the temple, and evidently the only way to do that was with the zebra’s permission. She could just sneak in, she supposed, but she still didn’t know where it was. She was back on the bridge now, she eyed the purple water with complete disgust. In a rare fit of temper, she whirled around and harshly bucked a sign that she hadn’t even noticed was there.

It rattled, before breaking completely and falling into the hideous swamp water. “Cut that out, pony!” one of the guards called.


She was about to retort, but stopped herself. Mustn’t let yourself go, Rarity. You’re better than this. Then, a stupid yet ultimately hilarious idea came to her. She pulled out her ocarina, and getting close to the pole where the sign once was she played the song of healing, than watched as the sign floated up out of the water and repaired itself.

“HAHAHA OH MY GOODNESS IT WORKED!” the unicorn fell on her back laughing.

What? She might as well try to have some fun while on this adventure. She was starting to miss Pinkie… and her friends. And Sweetie Belle….

The two guards either didn’t notice, or were like Celestia’s guards in the sense that they could manage not to smile or laugh like a pair of statues.

Rarity quickly got to her hooves, and wiped a tear from her eye. Then, she quickly regained her composure, her snowy-white cheeks turning bright red. She cleared her throat. “My apologies,” she said to no one in particular.
With an uncomfortable pause, she scanned the area. I need to find some other way in, somewhere like… Aha!
The white unicorn spotted a hole in the wall to the far left of the building, it looked like pretty high but there was some sort of plant she could use to catapult herself up. And then there was the swamp water… how would she even get over there?

Giant lily pads! If she jumped fast enough she could leap over them without sinking or touching the disgusting filth!

Now, to distract the guards, who somehow didn’t even notice the way she was eying the hole.

She nonchalantly turned her head, pretending to be interested in some weird flower, and then focused her horn, hoping they wouldn’t notice. If they did, they didn’t seem to care at all.

Above the guards heads was a small shelf-like structure, with a broken-down fence. She carefully levitated it up and behind them, waited a second, and let it drop to the ground behind them.

They immediately turned around, “Who goes there!”

Rarity took her chance and leapt onto a lily pad, gracefully jumping from one to the next while they sank behind her, before finally landing on an ugly vine-like thing sticking out of the water. It fell back with her on it, then snapped forward launching her towards her target.
She landed in the hole, and nearly slipped for a moment, the wall was a lot thinner than she had anticipated and so there wasn’t much hoof-room. She looked around.

She could see the area she had previously snuck into, but from this vantage point she could see exactly where to go, and she could leap from wall to wall, pillar to pillar. Provided the guards didn’t look up.

This has to be a garden… she thought to herself. It would explain the random walls and pillars.

She held a hoof over her eyes; the sun was shining right into them. So, I’ll leap from these walls and pillars, and if I’m precise, and don’t slip or fall I’ll make it to the end, which should be right next to the kings chamber, and hopefully I can find a hold or loose piece of wood and slip into the monkey’s cage. I shouldn’t have to be too careful where I break into since the monkey’s cage stretches along the entire wall.

Satisfied, she made carefully lowered herself into a crouch, waiting for the guards to move into positions where they wouldn’t see her leap from the corner of their eyes. Once she was absolutely sure, she jumped onto a pillar, which had some sort of weird giant flower on it. The same kind that had broken her fall when she’d fallen down that horrendous pit when first entering the land, she noted. She carefully curled her tail around herself so it wouldn’t hang over the edge and continued her slow, precise leaps.

Mustn’t wait too long, Rarity. You’ve only got three days to get the four… whatever they are.

She gulped. “Well, this absolutely bites.”

Her stealth mission seemed to drag on for hours, waiting for the exact moment to jump and not get caught. And there were some bothersome birds that kept dive-bombing her, probably had nests hidden in or on the walls and pillars. Bother, bother.

“Oh, you ruffians!” she hissed through her teeth as one particularly angry bird dove down and pecked at her head with its beak, and tugged at her mane with its talons.

Finally! She’d made it to the very end. She scanned the wall for some sort of weakness or hole.

Finally, one caught her eye. “Ah! Excellent.”

She’d have to jump a little high for this one, but she was confident in her abilities.

“One… two… three… jump!” She arched back on her hooves on the thin wall she stood on and took a short running leap, landing less than gracefully, but nonetheless unhurt and undetected.

She quickly and quietly entered, right into the kings chamber, inside the cage. She landed on what appeared to be storage boxes, “Psst! Mister Monkey,” She slipped in front of him.

“Oh!” his eyes widened. “You actually showed up!” He said, just barely above a whisper.

“Yes, I did. But I don’t have much time, and I assume you don’t either.” The entire world doesn’t have much time.

“You said something about the zebra princess being in trouble, correct?”

“Yes!” he cried exasperatedly, then realizing he’d yelled he quieted and looked around. When he was sure no one heard him he turned back to Rarity. “Yes,” he said quietly, “The princess of the zebra was kidnapped by a monster! You see,” he explained. “The swamp hasn’t always been poisonous, and was a lot less dangerous until recently. The princess and I headed to Woodfall Temple to investigate, but she was kidnapped by the monster that took the entire temple over! The zebra found me there and the king accused me of kidnapping her, and now they plan to punish me if I don’t give her back! They just won’t listen to me!”

“Shh, calm down.” Rarity said softly. “Look, I actually need to get to the temple. Woodfall temple, I assume. I can rescue her, but first I need you to tell me where it is.”

The monkey smiled. “Oh, thank you! Now look,” he said, voice low. “The temple is really only accessible to the zebra, because there’s a song you need to play to get in. Do you have an instrument of some sort?”

“As a matter of fact I do,” she held up the ocarina proudly.

“Excellent! Excellent! There’s a secret passageway outside the palace, behind some bushes and flowers. It will lead you straight to woodfall, then there’s a platform with a symbol of a zebra on it. In order to awaken the temple, play this. Ready your instrument…”

Rarity did just that, levitating it to her lips and listening to the monkey as he begun to softly hum a tune.

Ooh, pretty, she thought and carefully mimicked the tune with her ocarina. Loudly.

What? It was easy to get carried away when playing beautiful tunes on such a lovely instrument, besides. This was Rarity.

“Guards!” Rarity froze in place when she heard the king’s shout. “That pony has been taught our secret tune! She’s broken into the cage! Out with her! I’ve had enough of this, let the monkeys punishment commence!”

“PUNISH THE MONKEY!” Several zebra called out together.

And before Rarity could fully grasp the situation several guards had knocked her to the ground.

“Oh! Why you - !”

She was beat over the head with a stick and blinked in shock as the guards dragged her away in a similar fashion as before.

“Hurry, Miss!” The monkey cried. “Forget me, rescue the princess!”
	
	
	

> Chapter Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bottle filled with water? Check.

Saddlebags? Check.

Ocarina? Check.

Sword that’s never going to be used? Check.

“I guess I’d better get going…”

“I’m a-jumping across giant flowers…” Rarity sang aimlessly as she did just that, after having found the secret entrance the monkey told her about. She didn’t see where this was getting her, she saw no temple, but she just followed the giant orange flowers. “And I’m filthy, and covered in dirt… and really sleepy, but I must go on… the show must go on, or the world will end… which can’t happen… And I really want to go home and take a nice long bath and forget this mess… but I can’t let down Sweetie Belle…. Oooooh, Aaaaa…. My little pony, my little pony…. My little pony…. I used to wonder what friendship could be… but then the moon came crashing on me…”

Rarity was sweating. Whether it was from the stress, or the humid air of the swamp she didn’t know or care. She hated sweating.

She could see a ledge a few feet away with another entrance. Finally!

She picked up the pace and leapt gracefully over. “This swamp is nasty!” She hissed as her hoof landed in some mud. “Nature is disgusting sometimes!”

And those bugs she’d run into earlier. Nightmare fuel. They were like wasps, only the size of a whole filly! They were huge!

She hurried into the dark tunnel, trying not to breathe. It smelled positively awful in here, and it seemed to get worse as she continued. Finally bright sunlight greeted her vision and she blinked.

Oh. That’s where the smell is coming from. “More swamp water. And it’s blue. And white,” The swamp water looked a lot thicker than the purple stuff, and it was a pale blue with white swirling around in it like somepony was stirring it in.

Only one word could do this place justice. “Gross,” she moaned.

Luckily, rotten (ew,) logs were floating in the thick nasty mess, and there were short pillars sticking up out of the water, make-shift wooden bridges spanning between most of them. She spotted a tall, bigger one in the distance, but she saw no temple.

She went over to the edge, swatting away more bugs. Ugh, bugs this size should only belong in the Everfree!
She lightly pushed a log and waited till it floated between her and a small platform, then timing her jump perfectly she leaped onto it, then onto the platform. “No matter the circumstances, I am always fabulous!” she smiled, stroking a strand of hair with a hoof.

She stepped onto the catwalk, testing it for stability, then headed forward. Her ears perked when she heard the sound of buzzing wings. She lifted her head just in time to see a massive beetle-like bug, easily twice her size, and land on the ramp in front of her. Two gleaming yellow eyes peered emotionlessly at her from underneath a reddish-yellow carapace.

Rarity screamed. She backed away frantically; it clawed the ground with one spindly black leg and spread its wings, ready to charge.

“NO!” she cried, as it crashed into her, it charged – straight into the thick, warm water.

“GROSSSSSS, NO, NO, NO!” she screamed. As it was about to fall in she managed to crawl up onto its back and leap back onto the safe wood as it fell in, and sunk slowly into the water, struggling madly. Rarity breathed hard. Her back hooves and some of her tail had thick, nasty water dripping from them.

She whipped the bottle of clean water out of her bag and poured it over her tail and hooves. “Ew, ew, ewwww, oh gross!”

She quickly stopped herself before using all of it. The bottle was now only half-full. Blast it.

She galloped up the ramp onto the taller pillar and then ran across the next catwalk to the next, not wanting any more bugs block her way.

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!” She did a running leap onto the biggest ramp, which had a strange carving in the center of the floor. Wooden beams stood on each corner, more beams lying horizontally connecting the four, reminding Rarity of the formations of Lincolt Logs.

Song! She thought, pulling out her ocarina. She admired it for a moment before levitating up to her lips. What was the melody again… oh yeah!

She played the song.

And it was glorious.

Well, that is until the ground started shaking, Rarity watched in horror as the water begun to rise. Higher and higher, Rarity prayed it wouldn’t go over the ramp she stood on, she noticed there was a ‘central’ point where the water was highest a few feet in front of her, then something emerged. As it moved out over the water, it took a shape. That of a… a temple! She thought with joy, as it finally fully emerged, revealing a large black building, covered in moss and somehow completely dry. There was a small door in the front.

“…How do I get over there?”

After a moment, she levitated the ramp over and placed one end at her hooves, the other at the door to the temple. Taking a deep breathe, she started forward.


~~~


“Objectives: save the zebra Princess and find the being Zecora told me about. Easy, right? What could go- NO! Don’t jinx yourself…” she sighed.

Dark? Check.

Smells bad? Check.

Hideous? Check.

The material under her hooves felt like a weird combo between carpet and grass. Trees stuck up out of the ground, and she could have sworn she saw little orange eyes in the shadows and corners. How had this place not filled with swamp water while it was submerged? Weird. It made no sense at all. She decided not to question it and press forward. A door with a bunch of odd symbols was on the other side of the room, and she could see wasp nests hanging from the branches. How did those even get…

Don’t question it.

What caught her eye though, was a small wooden chest over to the side. “I really shouldn’t steal, but… just a peek won’t hurt,” she decided, eagerly making her way towards it.

She kicked it open with a fore hoof, and looked in.

…A tiny fairy pony thing? It was pink, and seemed to glow. It was about the size of her hoof, and other then the butterfly wings and little pink curled antenna’s that poked out from behind her mane she looked like a normal pony.

“Help!” it cried, “The great fairy has been shattered!” it cried in a tiny voice. “Please, return us all to our fountain!”

Rarity stared, open-mouthed. “…Pardon?”

“You must help! There are 15 of us in this temple, return us to our fountain and we promise you will be greatly rewarded!”

The little thing looked desperate.

“Right…” Rarity sighed. She supposed she shouldn’t even be surprised anymore. “Come along, then. I’ll find the rest of you…”

“Oh, thank you!” and with that the creepy-yet-cute creature.

She fluttered close to Rarity and disappeared. “…Where did it… never mind, I’m busy,” Rarity muttered.

Her throat was dry from screaming earlier… she hoped there was clean water in here. The lower half of her tail was no longer curled, and hung limply, a few strands dragging the ground to her disgust.

She looked up again, and stared at the corner. Okay, now she was sure something was watching her.

“Hello…?” she called, and perked her ears. She could hear rustling, coming from almost everywhere.

“Hello,” She called again, “Anypony there?”

“Strange…” she murmured.

“Right. Further into the foul-smelling temple. No problem. Right, let us go.”

Swallowing, she made her way towards the door. “Hello-hello?” it was meant to come out in a sing-song tone but quickly changed when the door opened and she was hit with the strongest stink she’d ever had the displeasure of inhaling. She’d thought outside was bad, but this wasn’t open air.

The room was rather big, and filled with swamp-water. Not the blue and white stuff outside the temple, no, just the smelly purple gunk. She was standing on a (organic? How did the architects do that?) platform, and on the left side of it was a curved (how!?) wooden ramp that went down to yet another platform just above the water, and a door. In the center of the room was a massive wooden structure, forming a weird triangle, faded red paint forming patterns Rarity came to recognize as zebra style. From what she could tell, there were two floors; on several walls were more grassy (again: how!?) floors, and she saw no way to get to them unless she could somehow get to the doors.

“Alright! I can do this!” she egged herself on, and started down the wooden ramp. “I will get through this awful place, I will save the princess! I can- oh, the doors locked,” She looked at the door, a neutral expression on her face.

Okay, this was the only other door she could get to without swimming. And it was locked. And she had no idea where the key could possibly be – most likely, the zebra had it.

Slowly she turned around, weighing her options. There was another door on the other side of the room, but the only way she could think to get there was swimming, which she refused to even consider. She turned back towards the door, she looked it over. The chains were held in place by a massive lock – she turned around again and bucked it as hard as she could. “Oh, I hope I didn’t chip a hoof! I’m going to need a hooficure if I get home. When I get home,” she corrected herself. She noticed a splinter of wood poking out of the wooden slide she had come down on, and she used her telekinesis to pluck it off and over to her.

“Perhaps…” she searched around for something bigger, before pulling her ever-dusty sword out of its sheath. She slid both the sword tip and the splinter into the lock and begun moving them around, having no clue how this was going to work. After a few seconds she stopped. “This is useless! I’m wasting my time, all because I don’t want to get dirty?! The fate of clock town – neigh, the entire world is in my hooves, and the well-being of my sister and her friends as well! I must swim across, I must!”

And without the slightest hesitation Rarity dove into the water.

It felt… like regular water, if not a little warmer. Then, she felt a slight burning all over, and resurfaced gasping. She quickly paddled towards the other side, going around the weird structure in the middle. The burning itch got worse, and within seconds she was gasping. Oh, it burned!

Hadn’t that monkey said something about the swamp water being poisonous? Shouldn’t be a problem if she didn’t swallow it… right?

Rarity went faster, vision going black – the pain was impossible to explain, it wasn’t like stabbing pain, but the burn increased to a more agonizing pain in mere seconds.

Could poison sink into the skin? Wasn’t that one of the differences between poison and venom?

Rarity hated herself right now. The one moment she doesn’t hesitate to get filthy, and it ends up poisoning her.

Rarity was going under; everything seemed to swirl upside down in her vision. Finally she hit the other side. She struggled to resurface, before finally coming up with a gasp and holding herself above water by the edge of the dirt. Or wood. She didn’t know anymore, this temple made no sense.

Weakly pulling herself up, she collapsed, gasping. Her whole body ached, and she furiously rubbed her itching eyes.

“Just… five minutes… five minutes, I need…” she levitated her only bottle of water out of her saddlebag and took a long sip. It was stained ever so slightly red from the potion earlier, and apparently some of the healing elixirs effects were still, if ever so slightly, held in the residual red. She felt slightly better quickly, she felt the fatigue wash away, and while she was still a little dizzy, it wasn’t as bad. She got to her hooves, still feeling mildly itchy but a lot better. She wanted to take another drink, but she needed to preserve what little water she had, and the healing residue might come in handy later.

She coughed several times, and rubbed her mouth with a foreleg. She was still covered in the sickly water, but the healing stuff must have long-lasting effects or something. Her mane hung around her face, and her tail dragged completely on the ground; but at this point her only complaint was that it made her heavier. She pushed the door open with a hoof, and walked in. Small room. Little platform in the middle, swamp water everywhere.

That was it. There was another door on the other side of the room, but that was just it. “I was expecting more of a challenge…” she mused. “Not that I want a challenge, but so far I feel I should expect nothing less.” She gracefully jumped onto the little middle square, and then to the other side. It was quite a bit higher than the others, so Rarity had to pull herself up with a bit of self-levitation (quite a bit harder than it sounds, actually) and then she was ready to enter the next room which she prayed would be easy.

“Oh, Celestia send me to the moon!” She hissed as the door closed behind her, she heard the click of a lock. She was in a small room, about the size of a common living room. A few trees grew out of the ground, curving up into the ceiling, (How the zebra managed to create a temple that looked like something only powerful unicorns could have constructed was beyond her,) the floor had puddles of water here and there, (regular, clean water,) but that’s not what had made her curse.

No, it was the two giant wasp-things buzzing steadily towards her, stingers pointed in her direction. She backed away, hindquarters pressing into the locked door, wracking her brain for a way out. Only a foot away, one of them buzzed, and soon an electrical change ran through the stinger.

“Oh, by the sun and moon!” Rarity retreated underneath the both of them, and whirled around as the other one electrified itself, and the other got worn off and stopped the charge of electricity and approached her. Rarity saw her chance and pounced on it. Its insect wings buzzed frantically but the white unicorn crushed it into the ground with a hoof, ugly vomit-green guts squishing out of it and covering her hoof.

She quickly retreated, splashing her icky hoof in the water as the other advanced. As soon as she saw her opportunity she knocked it to the ground and it quickly met the same fate as its companion.

“Ew, ew, ew, ew!” she growled, splashing water on her stained hoof. A noise quickly caught her attention and she turned around. A small chest had materialized on one side of the room. “Wait…” she hesitated. “The zebra intentionally put these bugs here, made it so that the door would lock behind anypony who walked in… so that when the bugs were squashed a chest would appear…?”

Rarity had never been more confused. She headed towards the chest and kicked it open with a foreleg. The lid fell back, and inside was a little silver key. “Delightful.” She said, not even sure how much of it was sarcasm and how much of it was actual enthusiasm. She heard the bars on the door lift behind her.

“Wait.” She stopped. “This must be the key for the door in the room I swam across. So the zebra must have put the key in here for… protection? Why not keep it with them? Why place it all the way over here? It makes no sense! And now I have to swim all the way back across poisonous water!” Rarity couldn’t even stress it: she currently hated her very existence.

She crossed the two rooms back into the main one. Six jars stood on either side of the square she was one, one of them had been knocked over when she dragged herself out of the water. How had she not noticed them? She picked one up in her levitation; looked at it, and then finding no way she could make use of it she tossed it behind her, where she heard it shatter.

Rarity had a silent panic attack when she heard the flapping of tiny wings, anticipating more bugs she whirled around – only to find…
One of the little fairy things. “Help us, we need-“

“I know what you need, I already have one of you with me, I think. Come along.”

“Thank you!” it cried, flapping over to her and disappearing.

Now, how to get back across.

She knew now she couldn’t swim across, and self-levitation would be too much. She’d pass out half-way across. She ran a hoof through her damp, wavy, uncurled mane trying to think. “Alright, think Rarity. It’s only the whole world counting on you. No pressure.”

She paused. “I got it!” she smiled, backed up, and took a running leap. She caught the massive wooden triangle with her fore-hooves, she’d barely made it; this thing was high.

Using her back legs and loosening her grip slightly, she worked her way around. Her forelegs didn’t even go all the way around, she could feel herself slipping. Finally, once she was right across from the square with the wooden ramp and the locked door she let go, jumped around, and slid down. When she reached the edge (Which didn’t even touch the water, it curved back down into an upside down triangle and went down into the water) she put all her admittedly limited strength into her back lags and jumped forward.

Her hooves hit the ground with a satisfying thump. She sighed in relief – she hadn’t been all sure she could make it. She magically pulled the key out of one of the little pockets on her saddlebags and used it on the lock. She watched the lock fall and the chains clatter to the ground, and she pushed open the door and trotted in.

Seriously. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Seriously. Another weird room with the trees and the water puddles, only instead of two creepy bugs were three massive ugly turtle things, about the same size as her.

“Seriously!” it didn’t take them long at all to notice her, and to her shock and annoyance they all retreated into their shells – started spinning, and raced towards her. She jumped up and over them as the simultaneously hit where she had just been standing, crashing into each other and were all knocked onto their backs. They all struggled, making weird honking noises. Rarity noticed the door had locked, trapping her in. I have to destroy them to leave, she thought, it was the same as the room with the bugs.

“Okay, okay, okay.” She jumped up and fell on the belly of one, crushing it under her weight. That didn’t seem to effect it at all.

It finally was able to flip over, sending her crashing to the floor. Instantly it had retreated into its shell and was spinning towards her. Instinctively, she crouched down into the puddle, knowing it wouldn’t do a thing to protect her.

Never had she been gladder to be wrong. Apparently right where she was the floor sunk down, the turtle passed right over her. Suddenly, an idea hit her. A sick idea, but an idea all the same. She held low. The other two turtles had gotten to their feet, and one was already spinning in her direction.

She timed herself, and then as it passed over her, at the exact moment she brought her head up, eyes clenched shut. Her horn impaled its throat. She could feel her horn pass through soft amphibian flesh. She wanted to throw up. This was sick. The creature squirmed and honked for about a second before going limp. Rarity brought her head down fast, causing the body to fly a few inches way, where it unceremoniously exploded in a cloud of purple smoke.

Wait. Maybe they weren’t real? The zebra had placed them here, like the bugs, to protect something? They were magically created? Maybe?

It didn’t seem likely, but it made her feel better.

The other two were spinning towards her at the exact same time, and head low she allowed them to crash above her, again being knocked on their backs. Dumb creatures, they were.

Rarity prepared her horn, but then felt her sword brush against her leg, and blinked. She brought it out with her magic, and refusing to look she slashed the other giant turtle-things into oblivion.

She heard them explode, and then the bars on the door lifted and she saw a chest materialize in front of her. Slowly, she levitated the sword in front of her. It wasn’t covered in blood. Come to think of it, neither was her horn.

They felt wet, and sticky, but not bloody. Rarity thanked Celestia for that, and trying to ignore the fact that she had just killed three creatures, she headed towards the chest.

This one didn’t open with just a kick, so using her fore-hooves she lifted the top. The inside seemed to glow, and she shoved the lid the rest of the way open. She held her hooves over the edge, and peered inside, eyes going big. She reached inside, and pulled out…


DA NA NA NAAAAAA


…A bow.


“Seriously?” 
	
	
	
	
> Chapter Eight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I cannot believe this.” Rarity looked at the bow. It was made of some darkish wood, and the ends were lines with gold. A small quiver of the same make had a bunch of arrows in it.

“This. This is unbelievable.” She paused, looking it over. It belonged to the zebra, but… it was awfully pretty. And surely they’d understand, maybe they’d even let her keep it once she rescued their princess.

She hated the idea of using it on something that wasn’t a silly little game, but… it was so pretty. “I’ll keep it for now, I shall return it once I have finished this silly temple.”

She turned around and headed back out the door. “Where to next,” she asked aloud, turning. There were more doors up on areas on the ‘second floor’ but she saw no way to get to them. She headed up the curved wooden ramp and looked around. She noticed one of those weird fairy-things fluttering around in a floating pink bubble. Levitating up the bow, she used her magic to ready an arrow, and then she let it fly, it popped the bubble and leaved the creature unharmed. It floated over to Rarity, and without question disappeared.

“This gets weirder and weirder,” she sighed, but silently thanked the many hours she’d spent in that bow and arrow game back in clock town. It was so much easier now that she had her magic, but her aim would have been awful had she not practiced in the game.

“Now,” she stated, “Maybe… maybe the bow is needed to progress forward…?” She looked around. On the far wall, above the door that lead into the room where she’d gotten the key, was another door. And above the door, was an eye. It was lined with gold, and after brief contemplation Rarity aimed the arrow, and let go. The arrow was about an inch off, and bounced harmlessly off the gold. But Rarity was a patient lady, and levitated the arrow back and tried again.

This time it hit it dead in the center. The eye shut, and two ladders magically appeared in either side of the wall. “Excellent!” Rarity smiled, and then stopped when she realized she had no way of getting over there.

She was not swimming, and she wasn’t going to jump onto the giant wooden triangle again. She headed back down the ramp, and thought. She needed to be clever, she needed to find a way, quickly. Than an idea hit her. She took one of the ladders in her levitation, it was a little heavy but she managed. She pulled it over, and placed it gently in the water. To her relief, it floated. She let go of the levitation on all but the very end, and stepped onto the ladder. When it started to sink, she quickly grabbed hold of the other end in her magic, and carefully pulled it towards the other side.

She was starting to sweat, this was hard. “Just a little further…” Rarity usually wasn’t one to talk to herself, but these were special circumstances.

Made it! Rarity galloped off of the ladder, but instead of letting it sink to the bottom she dragged it back onto the floor. She sighed in relief. She was surprised that had been so hard, she wasn’t as good as Twilight when it came to heavy magical lifting, but she could carry bags upon bags of – mostly clothing – without a problem.

Maybe it was because she had been riding it and hadn’t levitated herself, or made herself lighter. With a shrug, she turned towards the unused ladder, and briefly wondered just how she was going to climb it.

She placed both front hooves over one rung, and then her two back legs onto a lower one. Slowly, she raised one foreleg to a higher one, then a back leg, then her other front leg.

She made it to the top and collapsed. That hadn’t been as hard as she’d imagined, but… what kind of equine would create such a thing? That must be terrible for ones back.

Wiping sweat off of her forehead, she headed into the door.

More swamp water. Delightful. Around the entire room were wooden catwalks, luckily there were bars on the sides, so she had no chance of falling in. To her right, there were stairs leading down into the water. She couldn’t fathom why, than she guessed it was for somepony stupid enough to somehow manage to fall over the bars. She noticed a fairy in a bubble under the water and shot it with her arrows, to which it fluttered over without hesitation, and disappeared.

In front of her was a catwalk, but a large stone box blocked the way. Much to her disturbance, there was a black painting of none other than Zecora’s creepy mask on the stone. Honestly, even though it was more or less a silhouette it was very recognizable, considering its heart shape and six spikes on each side. On the far left side of the room was a door and stairs leading up in the opposite direction. She headed up to the stone block, and looked around. The bars prevented her from simply jumping to the other catwalks, she was in the center of the room now and she guessed there four in each direction. She pressed her shoulder into the cold stone and pushed.

She pressed her fore-hooves into it, and it finally budged. She pushed with all her might, and sighed in relief when she finally moved it out of the way.

The door had bars over it. Pleasant surprise.
An unlit torch sat next to it. Actually… how did the temple have light at all? It’s not like there were windows. An idea hit the fashionista – and she headed down the right catwalk, to the corner where another small platform was. It had a lit torch, and colorful moths were circling it. Rarity couldn’t help but take a step back in disgust, but magically pulled a long, loose piece of wood from the catwalk and held it over the fire, lighting the tip. She then galloped over to the unlit torch right next to the door, trying to ignore the fact that the moths were following her, and lit the torch. The bars lifted and she went in.

Much to her relief, it was simple and straightforward. Just a room with a wooden chest lined with gold, like the other chests in the temple. She trotted over to it and opened it.

Another fairy. That’s a letdown, she thought and turned back towards the door. She tensed, waiting for bars to come down, or some horrible monster to appear, but nothing happened to her relief. Avoiding the bug-ridden torch, she went up the steps, and noticed that there were three more platforms. One on the far wall in front of her was part of the wall – but the one between her and that one was floating. Rarity blinked, trying to see some sort of magic or sense a magical energy that would make it do this.

There was none. Rarity gritted her teeth, she knew she shouldn’t care but it made no sense! She jumped onto it, briefly freezing in fear that it might fall, but to her relief it stayed put. She saw a wasp nest hanging on the ceiling, directly over the swamp water, she noticed.

She pulled out the bow and shot it down. Several wasps that were flying around it went after the falling nest and not her, she thought thankfully. And to her surprise there was another fairy where the nest had been. How many did she have now? After thinking it over a moment, she confirmed that, this one included, she now had seven.

To her left was a massive opening, and she jumped over to it. Large steps went up a dark hall and disappeared behind a curve. Rarity headed up into it, a determined look on her face.

Dark. It was very, very dark. A torch cast flickering shadows on the wall, but she couldn’t see beyond a few feet. “Okay, I swear I see eyes in there.” She said to herself. They were the same eyes she saw in the first room – she was sure of it.

There were jars surrounding the torch, wooden sticks sticking out of the top. She shattered one with a hoof and lit a stick, and waved it around in front of her, making sure it would blow out, and then headed forward.
Something moved in the corner – she was absolutely sure of it. Shadows moved in the corner of her eyes, and she subconsciously held the handle of her little sword with a bit of magic.

She brought her stick forward. There was a small platform in the center of the room, surrounded by three unlit torches. She brought hers forward, and lit one.

Then she felt something brush her leg.

She dropped the stick, and the flame went out. She screamed as several pairs of orange eyes stared at her from the darkness, and moved towards her.
She waved her blade widely, and that sent them back a bit, but then they ignored it and continued for her.

“GETAWAYGETAWAYGETAWAYGETAWAY!” She cried, she felt her sword slash through something, followed by an animalistic squeal.
The others backed away, and she glared at them menacingly, lowering her horn. “Get away from me, you ugly beasts! Stay back, lest you join your friend!”

She was honestly quite a scary sight to the right ponies – her normally snow white coat was stained and gray; her hooves were scratched and filthy. Her mane was sticky and wavy, having uncurled and hung wildly around her face, lips twisted in a fierce snarl.

“Back, I say! BACK!”

One pounced onto her back, and she screamed, backing into the wall. Chaos followed. The shadowy black puffball-creatures all pounced on her at once, she flailed wildly, slashing her sword in all directions.

They felt fuzzy, but not like furry fuzzy, more like… well, scratchy. And cold.

Rarity managed to slash several on her back, but accidentally slashed a long cut down her back. “OWWWW!”

There weren’t many creatures left, and Rarity either slashed, scared, or crushed under her hoof the ones that were.
Finally, she was sure she’d gotten them all. She slowly stood up straight, stinging pain making her back throb.
Slowly, she sheathed the sword and picked up the discarded stick in her mouth, it was easy to find since she had lit a torch at the exact moment she’d dropped it.

She walked to the three other torches and lit them noting that there was a door near the second one, and her ears perked when she watched a treasure chest materialize on the center platform.

“Oh,” she gasped as she walked up to it. “It’s good to know my hard work has paid off-“

It was a pink fairy.

“…Of course.” Rarity ruefully sighed as the fairy approached her, then gasped when it disappeared. The pain slowly ebbed away, and she felt the open would on her back seal shut, she felt better, less exhausted.

“...On second thought, I love fairies!”


~~~



The door lead into a room that made Rarity want to jump off a cliff.

The room was massive, giant bugs buzzing around near the ceiling. Small squares were floating back and forth, crossing each others paths, and Rarity could see another door on the far side of the room.

“I’m going to have to jump over the floating blocks.” She said as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

But considering what the rest of this world was like, maybe it was the most natural thing.

And Rarity waited for the right moment, and jumped. The floor was quite a long way down, and there were holes in the floor, and she could see more of those black shadow creatures moving around below.
She crouched down and hoped the nasty icky disgusting horrifying nightmare fueling bugs above didn’t see her. Never had she actually been glad to be dirty; but a snow-white coat definitely wasn’t very subtle.

When another block passed she jumped onto it. She noticed each one had one of those pink flowers, although she now associated them as ‘the kind of flower that broke my fall when I first came to Clock Town’.

“When I was a little filly, and the sun was going down,” she sang quietly. “The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown. I’d hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw”

She jumped onto the next block. “But granny Pie said that wasn’t the way to deal with fears at all, she said Pinkie you’ve got to stand up tall,”

The last block,

“Got to face your fears, you’ll see that they can’t hurt you just laugh and make them disappear…”

She jumped onto the platform, and headed down the dark steps, lest the bugs finally notice her.
	
	
	
> Chapter Nine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The stairs lead down into the main room, but now she was on one of the platforms she couldn’t get to earlier. She headed towards one of the doors she’d noticed earlier and headed in.

It led into the room she’d been in earlier, the one before the one that had the two bugs. She hadn’t even noticed there was a second floor. She headed over towards the door on the far wall, and headed in with a sigh.

An empty room. Dim, but not really dark, pretty much like the rest of the temple.

“Hello?” she asked, figuring she’d regret it.

She did.

It fell from the ceiling – she hadn’t even seen it up there. It was orange, and walked on two legs. Its shape reminded her of Spike when he’d had that unnatural growth spurt. It had two daggers held in clawed hands, and had some sort of weird armor. It let out an odd shriek, and breathed fire threateningly.

“It is official. This land hates me.” She heard bars slide over the door behind her. “Only natural,” She said casually. Then jumped into the air, screaming hysterically. It shrieked as well, and charged at her. She dodged out of the way, and galloped to the other end of the room. “What to do, what to do, what to do,” she sighed, tapping her chin as it approached again. It slashed at her side, but she crouched at the last second and ran underneath it, knocking it off of its feet.

“Hmmmm,” she pulled out her sword, stroking the blade with a hoof.

Jumped back up and instead of running at her, this time it spewed a cone of fire from its mouth. Rarity backed away at the last second, feeling the heat against her face. She jumped back, and it stopped and jumped right over her, landing behind her. All sorts of alarms went off in Rarity’s brain and she whirled around, just in time to see one of its blades come down from the side. She held up her own sword, blocking it. This knocked the creature back, momentarily stunning it.

Rarity took the opportunity to leap at it, and slash its chest. It screeched in pain, and jumped over her again. She ran away, feeling its blade cut off a good portion of her lower tail. At least now it won’t drag upon the ground, she thought ruefully.

She felt more fire burn her backside. She put the handle of her sword into her mouth releasing it from her levitation, and then turned around. With a blast of her already limited magical energy she knocked it back, it hissed as the fire stopped abruptly, and she jumped towards it, pinning it to the ground. She reared her head back, aiming the sword, and prepared to impale it in the heart when it pressed a hind leg into her soft stomach, raked its claws down it, and then kicked her off.

She gasped in pain, doubling over. It jumped to its feet and pounced on her back, preparing to stab her in the flank. She reared back, knocking it off, and turned towards it. It got to its feet, and let out a low, menacing growl. Rarity bit down harder on the handle of the shamefully tiny sword, tensing up and preparing for whatever it planned to do next.

The beast placed a foot back, and anticipating it’s attack Rarity jumped back as a blast of fire engulfed the area she had just been standing it. She levitated her bow out and quickly shot it mid-breath. She had wanted to be quick and hadn’t really aimed, and it got hit square in the shoulder. It dropped one of its knives, roaring in what sounded like more rage than pain. It jumped over her, doing a flip midair and landed behind her. Rarity took her chance and bucked it right in the knees, knocking it back. She turned around, pinning it once again. She prepared to end it once and for all, when a blast of fire hit her.

Luckily, it hit her mane and not her face, but it was enough to send her jumping backwards. “MY MANE, OH NO! OH, IT HURTS IT BURNS!” she pulled out her only bottle of water and splashed it over her head, dowsing the flames.

Most of her mane was okay, but most of the lower parts had been burned right off, and the tips were now a charred black color. She felt a stinging on her cheek, and guessed she’d been mildly burned there.

It jumped on her again, this time landing so it was facing the back of her head. She reared back again, but it grasped her shoulder with its free hand and raised the dagger. Opening her mouth, the sword dropped to the ground and Rarity twisted her head and bit its fingers. It roared, jerking back but Rarity held tight. She felt warm blood fill her mouth, and quickly let go, spitting on the floor. She bucked back and forth, and knocked it over her head and onto its stomach on the floor.

Rarity jumped into its back, this time it had no way of knocking her off. It screeched and roared and struggled underneath her, and levitated up her sword, she placed it under its chin and slit its throat.



~~~


Rarity stood outside the door of the room, trembling all over. Maybe it was the agony. Maybe it was the fact that she’d killed someone. Something, she corrected herself, but in the back of her mind she knew it wasn’t true.

It was sentient, she could tell. It had weapons and armor. No stupid animal had that.

It attacked me first, she reasoned. But that still didn’t make the guilt and shame go away. A chest had appeared, after it died, but it was just another fairy.

The fairy had healed some of her wounds, but not by much, and it didn’t make her mane and tail grow back. Not much of her mane had been burned off at all, but she felt bald. It was only a few inches shorter now, and not even half of her tail had been removed, but…

“I’m just… happy to be alive,” she said, voice wavering. “It attacked me first. I’m justified!”

On the other side of the room was another platform, a door, and another one of those weird eyes. Rarity shot it with an arrow, and as with the one from earlier it closed, and the square sitting on the swamp water shook, and then floated upwards. It floated between Rarity and the other door for a few seconds before lowering.

By this point, Rarity didn’t even need to question it. But it was mostly because her mind was still on the murder.

It wasn’t a murder, it was self-defense! She thought angrily to herself. She noticed the platform had come back up and jumped onto it, then onto the one in front of the door.

With a regretful sigh, she headed in.

The door closed behind her, as did the bars.

The room was like the earlier rooms, puddles of water, big pink flowers, but at the end of the room was a cage built into the wall, and behind it a blue and yellow chest.
And, of course, there was a beast in front of her. The creature in front of her looked like a giant frog. Orange and black, with a white stomach, and vicious looking teeth.

“Oh, why?!” Rarity cried. She wanted to cry. She really did.

It leaped at her, and she held up her sword threateningly. “S-stay back! I’m warning you!”

It paid her warning no heed, and brought its claw back, preparing to slash her. She turned around and bucked it in its squishy amphibian chest. “I don’t want to resort to violence,” Rarity said. "So if you’d please let me-“ she was interrupted when it charged at her and scratched her already abused stomach.

“Ow!” she instinctively lashed out her sword and slashed it across the shoulder, down its chest. It backed up, clutching its bleeding shoulder. Then it cupped its claws around its mouth and let out a scream, Rarity flattened her ears and took a step back.

A massive turtle fell from the ceiling. It was like the ones from earlier, only about two sizes bigger.

The frog-thing jumped onto its back, and it retreated into its shell, preparing to spin into her. Rarity times herself, and as it raced towards her she turned around and bucked it. The turtle was knocked onto its back, and the frog jumped off onto the wall. It crawled up onto the ceiling, and aiming her bow Rarity shot it down.

It fell to the ground, stunned. Then it jumped up, flipped the turtle back to its feet and jumped back onto its shell.

It started spinning and again raced towards her. Mimicking her earlier technique, she knocked it on its back and once again the frog was crawling on the ceiling. Again it was shot down and again the technique repeated. Rarity whirled around, bucked it right in the shell. The turtle wasn’t knocked back this time though, it spun out of control and Rarity jumped this way and that as it knocked into walls and back. Finally, hitting one wall, the turtle shattered.

The frog jumped angrily towards Rarity, and she threatened it with her sword. “This doesn’t need to end violently,” she said, but was completely ignored. Regretfully, she pulled the bow out and jumped back as the frog tried to slash at her. She aimed, and let go.

The frog was hit right in the throat.

It screamed, struggled, bounced and raged, and then shrunk.

And shrunk, and shrunk, and then exploded in a puff of white, a little blue normal-looking frog in its place.

“Ribbet.”

It looked completely unharmed. Rarity walked hesitantly up to it, then sighed in relief. “Oh, thank goodness,” she whimpered softly. “You’re… okay. It… was a curse, wasn’t it?” She crouched down in front of it. Normally she thought such creatures to be ugly, disgusting.

But right now, this little thing was the cutest thing she’d seen since ending up in this crazy world.

There was a silver key at its webbed feet. Rarity picked it up in her levitation. “Oh, mister frog, thank you. I’m sorry for attacking you, but… the curse is broken now,”

And she had a pretty good idea as to who had started the curse in the first place.

She got back up, her every limb aching, and headed for the cage. She unlocked it and swung open the door. She pushed open the lid of the chest and looked in.

A key.

But not like any other keys she’d seen, this one was gold. The head of the key looked normal, but the other end had a beautiful ruby encrusted into it. It looked almost like a crimson eye, she thought.

“All right…” she sighed. Now to find the door where this went into.

She left the room and went back into the central room. She walked over to the edge of ledge she stood on and looked over. There was a lit torch directly in front of her, and an unlit torch in the center of the triangle.

Rarity stared at it for a bit, before raising her bow. Aiming it, she shot an arrow directly through the flames, the flaming arrow hit the other torch and lit it.

She watched as the triangle trembled, the whole room shook. Then, the triangle raised to her lever and opened, six arms spreading outwards and started spinning.

It looked like a giant flower, Rarity couldn’t help but smile. It was kind of pretty…

“The waters clean!” she exclaimed aloud. Looking down at the water, it had gone from that hideous purple to a clear, beautiful blue. It looked safe enough to swim in, even.

But Rarity had no time to swim. She jumped onto the spinning shrine-thing. There was another platform and a door she had yet to explore, and she jumped over to it.

She jumped onto it, braced herself and entered the door.

Hey… this wasn’t so bad. There was a bridge in front of her, leading up to a massive door, held shut by a giant golden lock.

“Oh… thank goodness. Now more beasts to fight,” she sighed, allowing herself to relax. On either side of the bridge were burning pillars, and in one of them was a bubble with a fairy in it. Mindlessly, Rarity shot it. She froze when she realized it was in the fire, but sighed in relief when it flew over to her as if nothing had happened.

There were three wasp nests, and remembering the one from earlier that had had a fairy in it, she shot all three down. Sure enough, one had a fairy. There were several alcoves in the far walls, three of which had fairies trapped in bubbles. She shot the bubbles and the fairies fluttered over to her and disappeared.

Rarity headed over to the big door, and turned around. She noticed a flash of pink under the bridge and looked over the edge. A fairy in a bubble. Smiling, she used a hoof to pop the bubble. There was more water under the bridge, clear and clean. She levitated her bottle all the way down and filled it to the brim.

She took a small sip, and put it into her beat-up saddlebags. The fairies helped to heal her a bit every time she got one, so by now the burn on her cheek was healed completely and the scratches on her stomach didn’t even leave scars.


She looked at the massive door in front of her. “Well, here goes nothing. I have a good feeling about this.” she smiled and pushed the key into the lock.


> Chapter Ten
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The room was massive. The biggest room in the temple, Rarity estimated. The room was a lot brighter than the other rooms, and there were no puddles, no trees, no chests or monsters of any kind.

There were several black, round plants around the room and a single big, yellow flower sat in the middle.

“Princess?” Rarity called. “…anypony?”

The room started shaking, and Rarity took a cautious step back. A massive shadow grew on the floor, and with a gulp Rarity looked up. A massive pony fell from the ceiling, his hooves hit the ground and Rarity was knocked to the floor. It didn’t have a pony face, the face was more like a mask – a giant sword was held in the grimacing mouth, and a shield was held on one of his forelegs.

It had no mane or tail from what she could tell, and it was… orange, and red… no, many tiny colorful stripes adorned its body, forming one giant mass of color. All Rarity could think of was how badly this pony needed a make-over. It was easily ten sizes bigger than she, and it slashed its blade through the air threateningly.

Rarity drew her own weapon; the blood seemed to freeze in her veins.

In all of her adventures, Equestria or no, never had she seen a creature as ultimately hideous as this one.

For once, she actually regretted getting such a tiny little sword. The beast-pony let out an odd war cry, and charged. Rarity galloped out of the way, and backing up she quickly shot an arrow at it. It deflected it with its shield, and attacked with its sword. Rarity dodged just in the nick of time, she felt the tip just barely scrape her just beneath her eye.

She knew by this point trying to reason would only be useless, so she didn’t bother.

She backed against the wall, and watched as it crouched down, and started spinning not unlike the turtle-things. She yelped and galloped in the opposite direction, then realizing the opportunity, she whirled around and shot it while it span, it stopped letting out a screech, and while it was stunned Rarity ran up to it and slashed at its hooves several times, unable to really get any higher.

It jumped up high, and Rarity spun around frantically trying to estimate where it would land. It hit the ground in front of her, the whole room shook and she was knocked down again. Something was falling from the ceiling – giant spiders!

Rarity leaped to her hooves – backing away in shock. She just about froze, they were about the size of her whole head!

Rarity jumped up, squashing several under her hooves. In a blind panic she ran at the giant, head low. As she got closer, it prepared to cut her down with its sword. As it did, Rarity came to her senses and jumped up as the sword slashed the air underneath her.

Seeing an opening, Rarity dove forward stabbing its belly.

It shrieked, and jumped up again. As it ascended Rarity shot at it with her remaining arrows, she had no idea if she hit it or not.

It came back down, and as it hit the ground Rarity jumped so that she wouldn't be knocked down, those spiders were still on the ground!

She attacked the things hooves again but it knocked her back with its shield, and stabbed its sword at her. She jumped back, she felt the tip break the skin on her chest, and gasped.

It wasn’t deep, but it was painful. Rarity galloped to the other side of the room, squashing a spider as she went, and turned back towards the pony-beast. It suddenly started doing an odd dance, chanting things Rarity couldn’t make out.

Rarity ran at it, sword in her mouth and jumped up, impaling its lower chest. It stopped its dance and bucked forth, knocking her off. Rarity soon realized why it had done the dance, when thousands of big moths fluttered down from the ceiling and towards her.

The white unicorn turned tail and fled, screaming. She ran around the room, but the pony-beast ambushed her, preparing to stab. As its sword stabbed towards her she ducked low, ran underneath it and stabbed its lowered chest. It backed away, and raised a hoof. Rarity prepared to flee, but as she started moving its hoof came down on her tail. She gasped and fell to the ground, furious. She used her levitation to use her sword to slash at its hoof, and it released her.

By this point its hooves were quite beat up, but Rarity didn’t have time to think about that, there were bugs chasing her!

She charged around the room, trying to figure out what to do. It was massive, an overlord of bugs, had several attacks she couldn’t seem to dodge, what could she do?!

It wasn’t able to ambush her this time, she kept jerking one direction then the next, but she was still cautious; the moths were literally right on her tail!

Rarity ran for the wall, then turned around to run in the other direction but skidded to a stop when a wall of flame blocked her path. She tried the other direction, but she was surrounded by a circle of flames.
Luckily, the moths and spiders were stupid enough to go through the flames and got burned to death.

The pony-beast slashed and stabbed at her through the flame, but Rarity dodged this way and that. Silently panicking, she picked up one of the black, circular plants that were placed in the corners of the room and threw it over the flames at it.

The plant exploded. Bombs? Wait – bombs! Rarity thought joyfully. Maybe she did have an advantage – sadly, the thing had blocked it with its shield, and Rarity backed away, anticipating its next move. It begun doing that weird dance of his again, and Rarity picked up another bomb-plant, (It was the same plant – these things grow impossibly fast!) and telekinetically threw it right at the monsters face.

It was knocked back, and other than the fact that the mask was now black and looked charred, it didn’t seem harmed. However, the flames died down allowing Rarity to charge.

It saw her coming and raised its shield but Rarity had anticipated this and as she hit it she pressed her hooves into it and propelled herself off, knocking the beast-pony back.

Rarity went for its legs, and slashed mindlessly, she wanted to simultaneously shoot it with arrows using levitation, but it would take too much effort and concentration.

Rarity was knocked back, this time by the side of its sword, she flew back several feet crashing into the wall, a massive slash running down from her shoulder all the way town to her flank. Dazed, she struggled to her feet as it charged, blade pointed at her.

She dropped onto her belly seconds before the sword impaled the wall behind her, she jumped up, still a little dizzy and used her telekinesis to ran a nasty cut down its chest with her tiny sword.

She levitated up all the bomb-plants her magic could find and reach, and brought them all charging through the air towards it. She ducked down as she heard the deafening explosions all around, she felt the heat on her back, and heard a scream.

She dared to look up, it was falling. Rarity jumped out of the way in the nick of time, as it crashed to the floor and once again she was knocked down. She turned her head as the beast was engulfed by blue flames, she slowly got to her hooves as it disappeared.

She could only stare at the ground in nervous anticipation – was this a trick? Would it come back? Was it safe to lower her guard? A noise behind her caused her ears to perk, and she turned around – the yellow flower in the center of the room had some sort of blue aura around it – Rarity took a cautious step forward.

She could see something floating inside it – it was… the mask the thing had on? Hesitantly she placed a hoof in the blue – it felt… good. Hard to describe, it felt sort of cold, but not unpleasantly so. She stepped into it, taking the mask in her levitation. She let out a startled whinny when she was lifted off the ground by an unseen force, and was surrounded by an ethereal blue crystal. It started spinning in place, with her spinning in the opposite direction – and then she was floating up into a blinding white light.



~~~



Rarity was standing on a massive platform of some sort. The air felt cool, and there were bluish-white waterfalls everywhere, hardly noticeable behind a pale mist. Big, clear bubbles floated around her. Rarity took a step forward – she could see something beyond the falls. A… giant, red, pony-like thing. Not like the beast she fought, no, this felt… different.

She could hardly make it out beyond the mist, but her ears perked when it let out a low, yet very loud sound. As it continued making the noise, Rarity realized it was a tune. Was it… trying to teach her something? Something tugged at the back of her mind... was she forgetting something? Faintly, she levitated her ocarina of to her lips and mimicked the song.

It felt… so sad, yet so hopeful to her. She felt amazing – like despite all she had done, what she had to do, despite the time limit and the circumstances… there was hope.

Rarity stopped the song, and lowered her head, eyes closed. The creature made another sound, and Rarity listened intently.


“Call…. Us….”



~~~



The first thing Rarity noticed was that she was standing on the unique floor of the temple, but this wasn’t the room where she’d fought the beast.

An opening was directly in front of her. She noticed she felt… better. Her wounds had healed completely, she realized. She no longer felt dizzy, in fact she felt quite refreshed. All of her cuts had closed, (Although sadly the blood on her coat hadn’t been washed away,) and she sighed.

“That was… pleasant. That weird realm, not the fight.” 

She wanted to cry. Not because she was sad, or hurt, but because she was hopeful. That experience… it was refreshing.

The fight had been dreadful, but she’d won. And she didn’t feel at all guilty, no – she’d felt it. The giant in that realm was the giant she’d fought – the mask had cursed it. She could feel it. There were no doubts in her mind that that creature was the being Zecora had told her about.

She turned her head when she heard a faint rustling, a giant wooden dome stood against the wall behind her, the small opening thick with vines. “Hello?” she called cautiously, surprised at how strong her voice sounded. It wasn’t gruff, just… stronger.

There was no reply, and Rarity used her sword to cut away the vines, and went inside.

It was dim, but well-lit enough that Rarity could see the nervous looking zebra in front of her. She was smaller than Rarity had expected – not filly-small, but pony-small, a size smaller than Zecora and most of the other zebra’s Rarity had seen.

She wore a headdress of leaves and flower petals, and a necklace of the same make. Her eyes were deep orange.

“Um… are you the princess of the zebra?” Rarity asked, already figuring the answer was yes.

The princess took a hesitant step forward. “Yes… you… did you defeat Odolwa?”

“…Odolwa… was that the big monster with the sword and shield in the big room?”

“Yes! Did you defeat it?”

Rarity nodded. She felt like she should be proud, but she only felt… empty. “Yes, I did. It was keeping you hostage, no?”

“It was!” The princess sighed in relief. “I’m so glad! But – you’re a pony. Father doesn’t like ponies, how did you learn the song to enter the temple?”

“Your monkey friend taught me,” Rarity informed.

“So he’s okay!” The princess’s face split into a wide smile. “That’s a relief! I was so worried my father would have had him captured, he knew I liked to spend time with him but he never trusted outsiders. But I’m glad to hear…” The princess noticed the deadpan look on Rarity’s face and gulped.

“He’s been imprisoned, hasn’t he.” More of a statement than a question. Rarity nodded, and the princess stomped her hoof. “I can’t believe this! Yet another hasty decision, father,” she hissed through her teeth.

“Q-quickly, we must hurry!” the princess rushed past Rarity, but stopped with a wince. “Your hoof is hurt,” Rarity exclaimed.

“It’s nothing, we need to hurry.”

“Absolutely not, dear. Here, allow me to carry you.” She crouched down next to the princess.

“Are you… sure?”

“Of course,”

Hesitantly but not reluctantly the princess climbed into Rarity’s back. “You’re covered in blood!” The princess exclaimed.

“Oh, it’s nothing, I’m fine now.”

“Are you-“

“Yes, I’m fine. We must hurry if we want to save your friend, here; have some water, being trapped in here this long, you must be parched!”

She princess took the now open-bottle of clean water out of Rarity’s levitation and took a small sip.

“Wait.” She said as they went out the opening, and, to Rarity’s delight there was a pathway leading directly down to the cave where she’d come to this part of the swamp in. Even better: all the water was clean.

“You’re a unicorn!”
Rarity didn’t stop walking. “Yes, I am.” Who knew?

“But I thought unicorns went extinct centuries ago…”

“Um… no? I don’t think so.” Maybe that explains the lack of unicorns in this world, Rarity thought to herself. She hadn’t really paid much notice, but now that she was thinking about it…

The rest of the walk was silent. As Rarity backtracked across the giant orange flower-tree things, the princess offered to get off several times, but Rarity refused.

“I’m fine, and you’re hurt.”

“But it’s not really that bad, I just can’t move very fast,”

“It is alright, darling, I think we’ll get there faster this way,”

“But aren’t I just weighing you down?”

“No, it’s quite alright… Ponies were built to be ridden! No, wait! That came out wrong!”

The conversation went on like this until they arrived at the palace, where the princess finally did jump off of Rarity’s back. The guards weren’t anywhere to be seen.

“Oh no! The princess cried, “That must mean they’re punishing the monkey! Quickly, we must hurry!”

The two galloped in without a moment to lose.

The sight in the main chamber caused them both to freeze. It was very crowded and very loud in here – where the big fire was in the middle, there was a massive pot of boiling water. Zebra all around were chanting ‘Punish the monkey! Punish the monkey! Punish the monkey!”

Held above the pot, and slowly being lowered in was the monkey, upside down and hanging by his feet, he was struggling wildly.

Rarity and the princess dashed around the pot, shoving chanting zebra’s aside and then, in front of the throne, the princess yelled “FATHER, STOP THIS AT ONCE!”

The room quieted, and the king looked at his daughter with wide eyes.

“My daughter-“

“Save it!” the princess yelled, and used her back hooves to launch herself up towards her father, she pinned him down and proceeded to jump on him several times.

(Had the situation not been so desperate, Rarity would have honestly laughed at the silly sight)

The zebra jerked her head around, glaring at the guards, who all cowered.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” she lashed, “Release the monkey at once!”

Without the slightest hesitation the guards scrambled to do just that.



~~~



Rarity, the Princess and the Monkey all stood together in the main chamber, all relieved and happy. The princess had practically tackled the monkey in a hug, Rarity found it quite frankly, adorable, for lack of a better word.

“Thank you so much, Miss Rarity,” the orange-eyed, striped princess smiled. “Yes,” the monkey agreed, “Thank you. Without you, the princess would’ve been toast!”

“Actually, you’d be toast,” the princess smirked. Rarity smiled, “It’s no trouble.”

That was a lie. It was a lot of trouble. “Please,” the princess begun, “I would like to reward you for your bravery,”

“Actually…” Rarity hated to say it. “I… don’t need a reward.”

“Please, I must insist!”

“No, no. It’s quite alright, and I do hate to cut this short, but I must now take my leave.” She saw a flash of disappointment in the princess’s eyes, and gave a short bow. She was a princess, after all. “Thank you though,”

“Thank you,” both the princess and the monkey said together. “I would like to say,” The princess said, “That you are always welcomed here. No matter what father thinks of outsiders.”

Rarity smiled, and turned to leave. “Thanks.”



~~~



It took Rarity quite a while to find the fairy’s fountain; it was behind Woodfall Temple to her annoyance. It was a large cave, and inside was a spring, white pillars surrounded it. As she walked closer, all fifteen fairies appeared in front of her and circled around her for a few seconds, before all flying towards the spring and disappearing, then, there was an ear-splitting laugh and a pony that Rarity could easily confirm as the weirdest she’s ever seen appeared over the water. She was like a much larger version of the smaller fairies, pink with butterfly wings, antenna, and glowing. Her eyes were caked with so much makeup they should be stuck shut.

“Thank you, adventurer-” she smiled. I’m no adventurer, Rarity thought irritably.

“-For returning my broken and shattered body back to normal. I am the great fairy of magic, and I will reward you for your kindness.”

“Yes, please do.” Rarity said, actually a little eager. The creature lowered her hornless head, and Rarity felt a strange power surge through her. She blinked as she was lifted into the air, she felt… powerful! Like she could do all the tricks Twilight could no sweat!

“I bless you with a stronger magical ability, from now on you can cast stronger spells and not wear out as easily.”

“Oh, um… thank you.” Rarity said.

“May light shine on your quest…” And with that, she disappeared.



~~~



Rarity sucked in the fresh air of the field, glad to be out of that dreaded swamp. Not so much a swamp now, the water was now clean and drinkable, but it was still a swamp.

It was about mid-evening, she saw. The sky was light purple, a bright orange on the horizon. And that moon ruined what would otherwise be a beautiful sight.

Her next destination was Snowhead – but first, she wanted to go to clock town to purchase a shield and a scarf (What? It was called snowhead,) and much to her annoyance and relief she didn’t feel at all sleepy. When that weird realm had healed her wounds, it had also refreshed her. So while she was feeling tired from her trek and carrying the princess; it wasn’t sleepy tired.


She headed towards the town, hoping to catch the shops before they closed. She noticed… things flying around the fields. Like, giant blue flames flying around but they were far enough away that Rarity couldn’t really make them out. With a shrug, and feeling more than a little nervous she quickened her pace.

Clock Town was quiet, and Rarity felt a sense of déjà vu. Oh wait.

She hoped to catch the general store before it was too late. She hurried to the left, through the opening and up the stairs. The general store was halfway up the stairs, across from the bank.

To her relief it was open. This was the same place she’d gotten her sword. She walked up to the counter, where the pony behind it was furiously scratching his back, as he’d been when she’d been here earlier.

Sadly, there was only one shield. It had tiny blue lines all over it, a few red ones scattered here and there forming a weird pattern. “I’ll take the shield,” She said.

“That will be thirty bits,”
Rarity pushed her bits over the counter and he gave her the shield. “Ugly, but it will have to do,” she said.

She left with a thank you headed out towards the clock tower. Which direction was Snowhead in again? To the north, that’s right. In the opposite direction of the swamp. Rarity headed in that direction, north Clock Town was the area with the playground.

She noticed a shady looking pony behind the slide, but shrugged it off. An elderly mare with a bag over her shoulder was entering the town. Rarity smiled and waved when she passed.

“Right,” she said to herself. “I think I’m ready to go-“

“Oh, no, help! My bag!” Rarity turned in time to see the shady pony had snatched the bag off of the old pony’s shoulder and was galloping for the exit, towards Rarity.

Rarity jumped out of the way as he passed, but turned around and bucked him in the side, he slid into the wall dropping the bag, but continued running beyond the city limits – right past the guard. “Guard!” Rarity yelled, “Stop that thief!”

“Huh what? Oh, he’s gone now.” The guard said with a shrug. “But… but…” Silently fuming, Rarity picked up the bag in her mouth and headed to the old mare. “Oh, thank you missy!” the pale blue mare swung the bag back over her shoulder. “That’d have been the third time my bombs were stolen, had you not come along!”

“…Bombs?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, I work the bomb shop with my son here in clock town. You should stop by, I’ll give you a special discount! Oh, and please, I must reward you.” She dug around in the bag and pulled out a mask. It was blue, with skull and crossbones on it.

“What is it?” Rarity asked picking it up in her levitation.

“A mask, a particularly useful mask. If you ever find yourself out of bombs, you can put this mask on and it will explode.”

Rarity looked it over for the longest time. “You’re telling me… that this mask explodes. On your face. Like, kaboom.”

“Eeyup!” she said proudly.

“Um… no, I think I’ll just have regular bombs.”

Several minutes later, with an apple in her stomach Rarity had an ice blue scarf around her neck, matching boots and was heading towards Snowhead to the “far” north. The entire area around the threshold between Snowhead and the field was snowy, and an icy breeze blew her abused mane around her face.

“Snow or no snow, at least it isn’t swamp.” She huffed as she headed forward. As she trotted, she briefly wondered how Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were. The poor things were up on the clock tower with Sweetie Belle, probably starving and being abused by the horrid mask. She knew they were alive and well, though. Technically speaking, that confrontation up on the clock tower happened the day after tomorrow, when she’d gone up there they’d been fine.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by an icy chill, and looked up at the snowy path ahead of her.

“Here goes nothing…”