Two Sides of One Lie

     Water gently trickled down onto Rarity's unmoving form. Her wet, matted mane laid heavily against her neck and face. She steadily opened her eyes to a distorted and blurry environment and shivered from the cool water she lay in. She carefully attempted to leave the water by moving her right foreleg under her belly and pushing herself up. She hooked her left leg over the edge of the stone and pulled letting her slide over the rock.

     She pressed onto the smooth yet bumpy floor and looked up to the light above her. The sun seemed to pierce through the dark and illuminate the cavern. She sighed and tried to stand. Shakily, she rose onto her hooves and held her balance waiting for the numbness in her legs to leave.

     She sat on her haunches and stared to the sun above her letting the warm rays dry her coat and mane. She felt... empty. Slowly, sensation had begun to return to her, and her clouded mind began to clear. With a deep breath she stood and looked around.

     She immediately noticed the absence of her soft, warm bed and clean white walls, and instead she found herself stuck in a small, natural cave room. Water continued to flow out of tiny crevices in the wall trickling down into a small stream. It led to an opening no bigger than a few feet across.

     Rarity looked back up to the sunlight and tried... tried to remember what'd happened. Why she was here. What here was. She couldn't find an answer for it. What little memory that remained was fragmented and vague.

'I... I was going somewhere... and something... something happened to me... I saw a bright light and somepony was screaming.'

     Distorted images filled her memory but helped little. She remembered Twilight coming to her house and telling her they had to go. That something had happened in the forest and they needed to leave. Yet she found herself at a loss when she tried to remember what happened in the forest.

     Knowing she wouldn't receive any answers by sitting around she looked to the hole in the cave's ceiling and sighed realizing there was no way for her to reach it. She was left with the small hole as her only option and looked to it.

     She approached the edge of the hole and poked her head inside squinting her eyes and attempting to see further in. Unfortunately, visibility became zero after about 30 feet past the entrance. She gulped and took a deep breath.

"Okay, Rarity. You can do this... Just think of Sweetie Belle. Oh I do hope she's alright... Wherever she is."

     There was a flash and a small, bright light seemed to emanate from the tip of her horn. She squatted down as low as her legs would allow and wormed her way through the opening squeezing through and popping out into the tunnel. The small hole became slightly larger past it's entrance allowing her a little more mobility than she'd expected be possible.

     Looking back over her shoulder one last time she sighed and continued to crawl forward down the small opening. She continued working her way through the cramp tunnel ignoring how dirty she might be getting or how badly her mane must've looked. She just prayed to Celestia that the small hole led her somewhere.

     She crawled for roughly half an hour. The tunnel would twist and split paths at some points but always maintained it's general downward direction. As Rarity neared another corner, she thought she could feel the surrounding air beginning to become cooler. She pressed on with a newfound sense of hope at the possibility that she might escape the claustrophobic tunnel. She squeezed herself around the edge and looked ahead. There was an opening. She could get out!

     She quickened her pace and pulled herself out of the opening, rolling out and smacking against the other side of the cave wall. She stood up and stretched, loosening her tired and cramped muscles. She sighed and shivered. The air in the newer cave was much cooler and the fact that she was still wet didn't help at all. She brightened the light on her horn and looked around.

     The cave appeared to branch off into three different paths each ran an indeterminate length before becoming too dark to see into. She looked up at the various stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stared in awe. Had it not been for the reality of her situation she would've spent more time gazing at the beautiful rock structures around the cave. She took her mind off the cave and looked back to the separate pathways, trying to choose which one to take.

     She bit her lip and looked around. Each one looked almost exactly the same, the only real difference being where they led.

     Rarity looked back to the running stream. She stared at it quietly and followed it's length with her eyes. Just about ten feet off of the wall it connected to another stream which came running from the left most passage. Suddenly she had an idea.

     Rarity remembered hearing Twilight ramble one time about how caves were formed from running water, and that the water slowly wore away the rock after a long period of time. If that was true then the water had to come from the surface. And the second stream had to lead to ground level!

     "Of course! Why hadn't I thought of it before?" Rarity beamed with joy and proceeded to follow the second stream to it's source. Her confidence drove her toward her goal with hope on reaching an exit.

     As she went along, Rarity gazed at the rocky formations and designs. Huge stalactites hung from the ceiling and shimmered in the light. The crystalized minerals on their surface gave each one a vague but unique swirl of different colors and caused them to sparkle in the light. And each had the same base tannish color of the limestone, but with other colors swirled in. Dark blue, purple, pink and dark green were among a few of the many different colors she saw. Rarity could've spent hours looking at the many different sights, but she knew she had no time to stop and take a break.

     Rarity continued to walk for nearly an hour before she finally wandered into a huge, circular chamber. The area of the room was massive. It was nearly as wide as a gymnasium. The stream split and flowed around both ends of the room, leaving what could be described as a 'platform' that sat in the center between each stream. At the other end, the cavern looped up and the stream fell off of a small rock face partially hidden by a large limestone coloumn the connected between the ground and the ceiling at the center of the chamber.

Goodness. I never knew something like a cave could ever be so... beautiful.

"Rarity!"

"Rarity!"

"Rarity!"

     The faint echo immediately drew her attention. "Hello, is somepony there!?"

     Rarity waited and listened. After a number of seconds had passed with no response she grew anxious. She cautiously approached the raised tunnel and walked around the side of the platform to avoid the column and tried to look in, finding she was too short to get a glimpse over it. She lowered down on her legs and, like a spring she jumped up and attempted to grasp the edge. She managed to maintain her grip for a few seconds, wriggling against the stone wall but her hooves slipped and she tumbled backward into the stone column, striking her head on it's side.

     Rarity yelped and laid still for a moment, as she attempted to let her new headache dissipate some. She tried to raise her left foreleg to rub her head, but was puzzled when she noticed she couldn't move it. She tugged harder and was met with no results. Instead it remained stuck.

     Frustration over took her and she pushed forward with as much strength as she could. She managed to pull herself into a sitting position where she could roll onto her hooves and partially stand up. She looked down and saw that she was covered in an unusual, sticky, slime-like substance that stuck onto her fur.

      "What is this?" Rarity kept pulling at the material, struggling to even keep her balance. The strength of the substance was surprising. She slowly attempted to bring a hoof forward to take a step, but instead, fell back onto her side, further entangling herself in the slime.

     No matter how hard she fought, the material seemed determined to keep her glued in place.

The mutant remained still in it's corner. Watching intently as it's prey struggled against it's trap. It sat still, for now. Yet it kept watching her fight. It waited for her to tire so she couldn't fight any more. It would make it all the easier to finish her off.

It sat and watched for a few more seconds before something else brought in it's attention. The cool, dusted air of the cave brought a new sense. Ever so faintly it could sense the smell of something else in the air. Something new. It was a smell it recognized before. One that was unmistakable.

It was the smell of competition.

Of course, it could never have a simple meal. *It** always showed up, always tried to steal it's food. It had to put up with it all the time. It had to. There was no choice. It was bigger, meaner, stronger. And it knew this all too well. The scars that adorned it's body told the tale.*

It sat and it waited. It no longer cared for it's meal. It was upset that it would have to go another day hungry. Like it always had.

Or was it always this way? It could not remember.

It just waited for *It** to take the prey and leave, so that it could build a new trap. And if it was lucky it would no longer be hungry and it could eat.*

When *it** finally came into view it watched quietly. It had no armour like it. Had no claws. But It was much stronger. It was much bigger. And there was nothing it could do about it.*

The prey had seen *it** to. She struggled violently against it's trap, but only made her situation worse. She screamed and screamed and screamed. All the while it just watched. Knowing that it would take it's meal again...*

...

...

...

...

This made it angry.

It'd had enough.

It was tired of losing to *it*. Tired of being weaker.

It would deal with *it** no longer.*

It would finish *it** once and for all.*

     Rarity trembled in fear as she stared at the creature before her. It was like nothing she had ever seen. It looked like a huge mass of muscle with a mouth lined with sharp and long teeth. It stood on four legs; the two front legs being larger and bent backwards. Its small, black eyes contrasted to its huge, pink body. It could have easily been over seven feet tall.

     All Rarity could do was sit and await her impending doom. She was done screaming. She just let the tears flow freely as she thought about her home. Her family. And her friends.

     The monster drew nearer. Slowly approaching her. Every step it took caused a small amount of gravel to fall loose from the ceiling, bringing terror to her on a level she had never felt before. It was the worst kind of fear anypony could experience. Knowing that you were going to die, and she was absolutely helpless to do anything about it.

     As the beast finally stopped infront of her she held her breath and time seemed to slow down. It raised one of its huge legs into the air, preparing to end her life in a single blow. Rarity prayed to Celestia in her mind, praying that her sister and friends were okay.

     As she held her eyes shut in terror, a miracle happened. The silence of the cavern was broken once more by a high-pitched, shrill chittering noise. The beast's attention was drawn from her as another creature emerged from the darkness. It flew by her and slammed into the huge pink monster, tackling it to the ground in a flurry of dust.

     Rarity stared in awe as she watched the creature skitter off the one it just tackled, raising half of it's body into the air. It looked like a huge centipede, with black, chitinous armor covering it's segmented body. It's entire being was divided into about ten different segments, including the head. Each segment had a pair of limbs, one on each side. The front two segments behind the head, had the longest legs, all ended in a huge blade-like tip that was long and thin, like a meat cleaver. It had a sleek, narrow head with a ridge atop the front, and two massive mandibles cornering it's small mouth.

     It made a shrill chittering noise like somepony running their hooves down the length of a series of combs. It's armor vibrated as it created the noise, Cascading down the length of it's back. The much larger pink creature stood up and grumbled, obviously angered for having it's soon to be meal interrupted.

     Both monsters stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity until the pink one made the first move. It swung it's massive front leg at the centipede, missing by a long shot. The other creature saw the attack well ahead of time and lowered out of the way, skittering to the side and raising back up. The pink creatures leg slammed into the stone wall with a loud meaty crack. The centipede-like creature aimed it's head at it's adversary and a short stream of an opaque, liquid towards the wall.

     The substance splashed over the mutant's leg and the wall around it, gluing it in place. It struggled to pull it's leg free, realizing it had been stuck to the wall by the material. The other creature took it's chance and leapt at it's enemy's back, digging it's razor feet into it's flesh.

     The larger monster began to shake violently, attempting to throw the other creature off. It roared loudly and ripped it's leg from the wall, throwing it's attacker over it's shoulder. The mutant continued to struggle with the sticky substance still coating it's leg, clumsily trying to maintain it's balance without it's use.

     The insect creature stood up again and watched it's adversary stumble around, contemplating it's next move. Realizing that it was best to attack while it was still confused, it leapt again.

     "Twilight!? Fluttershy...!?" Pinkie's call echoed into the cave and slowly faded. "Where is everypony...?" She sat down on her haunches and stared into the darkened tunnel ahead of her.

Don't worry Pinkie, you can do this. Just be strong and think about your friends.

     Pinkie let out a slow exhale and stood up marching forward into the cavern with renewed courage. She kept her eyes locked ahead of her and continued to call for her friends, hoping that she might receive an awnser.

     "Rarity...!"

"Rarity...!"

"Rarity...!"

     The sound reverberated through the cave before dissipating away into the blackness. Pinkie held a hoof next to her ear and listened closely for a response. The seconds seemed to draw to minutes as she anxiously awaited a reply. It continued to remain eerily quiet throughout the cave as Pinkie grew anxious. She was nearly ready to give up and go back to find another way out when a shrill cry she could only recognize as that of her friend Rarity shattered the cave's silence. Pinkie Pie fell onto her back in surprise.

    "Rarity...?" She said to herself in shock "Rarity!" She stood up and bolted down the cave. "Hang on Rarity I'm coming!"

    Pinkie galloped down the cave and skidded to a stop at the edge of a large circular cavern as her hooves kicked up dust. She coughed as her vision was assaulted with a bright light. She lifted her foreleg to cover her eyes and looked ahead to see through the dust. Rarity was laying on her back against the rock floor her eyes were wider than saucers and her mouth was agape. Oblivious to her friend's signs of fear, Pinkie Pie let her excitment get a hold of her.

    "Hey, Rarity, Over here!" Pinkie waved a hoof to her friend and smiled.

    Rarity looked to her friend in confusion before she returned to shock again. "Pinkie, look out!"

    Pinkie's smile faded and she looked left just in time to see a large black figure slam into her.

It righted it's self again before it's enemy could get the chance to attack, spinning over and onto it's legs. It looked back to the charging thing and dashed out of the way as it's foe slammed into the wall.

**It* was too powerful to fight on it's own. It needed to find a way to beat it. It's enemy may have been strong, but was rather clumsily and stupid.*

It looked around the cavern for something to use to it's advantage, but had it's search cut short by the charging thing. As before, it timely darted out of it's path and a good distance away.

As *it** slammed into the wall it noticed the stone. The pointy rocks of the ceiling began to crack and shake. If they fell, they could do alot of damage...*

Perhaps even enough to incapacitate it's competition.

With a new plan of attack formed, it looked to the ground below the pointy rocks and covered them in it's sticky substance, enough to hold it's powerful enemy for just a few moments. That was all it needed.  It looked back up to see *it** charging again, rage still driving it forward.*

It backed up slightly and held it's ground, unsure if the substance would be enough to stop *it. Just as the mutant passed over, **it stumbled and fell, now wrapped in the glue-like material. Realizing it had succeeded, it crawled up the side of the cave and onto the ceiling, positioning itself over it.*

With a swing of it's tail, the rock's cracks had begun to grow. It repetedely smacked the stone with it's tail, widening the fracture further until it finally gave weigh. With a loud crack the rock fell down unto it's enemy.

*CRASH*

    Rarity flinched as the stone made contact with the monster, letting loose a wave of dust that permeated the air. She looked up to see the creature smashed into the ground, now reduced to a mushy pink mass.  Rarity stared in awe as the armored insect crawled from the ceiling and stopped ontop of it's rival and raised itself into the air. It chittered as it vibrated it's armor, clearly displaying itself as the strongest of the two.

     Rarity realized that the thing was no longer distracted from her, and could kill her any minute. She froze as all thought ceased. She waited for it to take action, if she was lucky, it might have forgotten about her.

    She stared as it skittered off it's now dead enemy. It stopped by the body's side and lurched forward, digging it's mandibles into the flesh and tearing out a strip of the meat, swallowing it messily before going in to take another bite.

     Rarity gagged as she tried to keep herself from vomiting. Her eyes began to water as she could feel the burning liquid coming up her throat. She turned back to Pinkie who laid upon ground in a heap, bleeding badly.

     "Pinkie Pie...?" She whispered under her breath. "Pinkie please... c-can you hear me?"

    Her friend laid still on the floor only a few feet away from her. Blood soaked parts of her coat and her breathing was ragged and uneven. Rarity's mind was at a complete stand still. She didn't know what to think or do, the only thing prominent in her mind was fear. Gradually thought came back to her, and the reality of her situation hit her harder than she was prepared for.

Stuck   Alone   Lost   Hopeless.

    She began hyperventilating as she shook in terror. She looked back over to see the giant bug staring straight at her, standing just inches away. Her vision began to go black as the world started to spin and her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

The armored insect clipped it's mandibles again as it cut another strip of flesh from it's meal, swallowing it messily and rearing to take another bite. Before it leaned forward to bite, a sound registered in it's ears. It turned around to see it's former pray breathing heavily on the ground. It had no use for her, now that it had a much larger meal to eat. Perhaps it would keep her for later.

Gluing it's lunch to the ceiling to keep it from being found, it skittered up to the small white creature in it's trap. She turned to look at it and fainted immediaty. Delicately using it's front legs, it lifted her off the ground just barely so as it could cut the glue like material away from her. It gently tucked her under it's neck and held her against it's self with it's legs. It turned to the tunnel to it's den and skittered into it and away from the chamber.

As it emerged into it's nest it set her against the wall and glued her into place so she couldn't escape, should she awaken. It turned to leave and return to it's feast before another interruption came into play. It recognized the faint echoes of other creatures in the chamber not too far away. Deciding to investigate the noises, it crawled onto the ceiling and skittered forward so it could remain hidden.

Looking ahead it saw a bright, faintly purplish light emanating from the chamber. Surrounding the light were multiple other beings, similar to the one it had captured only minutes ago. Each of them seemed to be frantic about something, and it was obvious they were distressed. It remained completely still on the ceiling and observed as they argued amongst each other. The one causing the light seemed to shout at the others and turned to look at the entrance to it's den. The lighted one started to run for it as two others followed quickly behind. It retreated further back into it's den to wait for an opportunity to ambush the creatures and capture them for later meals.

     Twilight galloped into the tunnel with Applejack and Rainbow Dash following closely behind. A look of fury etched on each of their faces as they were determined to give their friend's assailant what for. Twilight skidded to a halt as the light from her horn spilled into the nesting chamber. Each mare immediately gagged.

     The air stunk of blood and urine, and bones piled upon one corner of the room. The walls were coated with a thick, glossy sheet of material that seemed to ooze down the wall in drips. A Number of rotting corpses hung upon the walls and ceiling, entangled in the mucus likes flies upon a spiderweb. Amongst the brown and red of death stood out a white unicorn who hung limp from the wall.

     "Rarity!" Twilight galloped to her friend and stopped before her, lighting her horn and attempting to pull her free of the slime, but only managing to wrap her up even further. Rainbow dash quickly joined in, grabbing her friend's leg and tugging with as much strength as she could.

     Rainbow's grip let loose as she sighed at her loss. "What the hay is this stuff?" She held her hooves in front of her face and glared at the offending substance.

     Twilight had given up trying to pull her free, it seemed hopeless. "It's no use. We'll have to find another way to get her down."

    "Could we cut 'er outta it?" Applejack suggested

    "I don't know, but we need to think fast. Whatever was here might come back." Twilight spoke anxiously.

    As though the words she'd spoken had summoned something forth, a shrill chittering not unlike a cicada's, echoed forth though the nest. Each mare turned back to look at the tunnel they'd come through. They held their breath in anticipation as they awaited something to approach from the darkness. They waited but it never came.

     Without taking her gaze from the tunnel, Twilight spoke "I think something's coming girls, we need to move and quick!" She immediately turned back around but flew backward in shock, landing on her haunches from the sudden surprise. A large black shape assaulted her vision as she felt hot liquid fall upon her face. She slowly brought her gaze up to meet something that could have only come straight from a nightmare.

    Applejack and Rainbow Dash both turned around to the same sight and froze in terror. A huge black centipede-like creature stood infront of them with it's upper body raised into the air. It could have easily been three times higher than any of them. Saliva dribbled down from it's mandibles and onto Twilight's face who was too shocked to do so much as scream. It's mandibles suddenly opened wide as it lurched back to tear apart the purple unicorn.

     "Back off you stupid bug!" A loud crack resonated as a cyan hoof connected with the underside of it's head, dazing it momentarily. Twilight felt herself being pulled back and shook, prompting Applejack to let go. Twilight  stood uneasily and looked back to Rainbow Dash, who circled around the beast in the air drawing it's attention away.

    "Hang on Rainbow!" Twilight lifted up a large, sharp bone from the ground and hurled it at the creature. The bone simply bounced off it's armored shell, barely even scratching the thick carapace.

     The insect immediately shifted it's attention to her, ignoring the now frantic insults from the winged horse. Twilight's eyes went wide as she rolled to the right, barely escaping the scissor-like jaws. She stood up and magically lifted a number of other sharpened bones. Just as the insect had risen in to the air again, she launched them all at the gigantic bug in a furious barrage of improvised harpoons.

     The thing jerked backward from shock and momentarily wobbled in it's daze. As before, most of the bones simply ricocheted off it's hardened exo-skeleton, only succeeding in causing a brief amount of trauma to it. Twilight looked closer and noticed a couple of bones sticking out of the small spaces between it's segmented body. The creature quickly tore the bones out with it's clawed legs, hissing in pain as yellowish blood began to flow from it's wounds.

     The gears in Twilight's head clicked as she realized the thing had a weakness. She only needed to find a way to easily exploit it. With another loud Thunk, Rainbow's hooves connected with the back side of it's head. Tearing it's focus from the lavender unicorn from before.

    Twilight's mind sped up as she thought of a plan to get rid of the thing. She scanned the room rapidly, looking for anything she could possibly use as a weapon against the creature. Most of the bones she'd thrown had been shattered and simple stones wouldn't be enough to damage the spaces between it's armor. Her eyes finally settled on the remains of a large animal in the corner of the cavern, it's huge ribs jutting into the air.

     "Applejack, I have a plan." She said. "Do you see that pile of bones in the corner?" She pointed at hoof to the mound of rotting remains

     "Yeah?"

     "Stand in front of that pile and throw a rock at that thing." She commanded.

     With a quick glance to the creature, Applejack immediately objected. "Twilight are y'all insane?!"

     "Just trust me on this, I have a plan." With that statement Applejack hesitantly galloped to the pile of bones. "Rainbow!" She shouted to the pegasus, dodging the angry insect.

     "Kinda busy here Twi!"

     "When I give the signal, kick that thing as hard as you can in the back. Got it?"

     "Sure thing Twilight!" She shouted back in approval.

     "Alright Applejack, go for it!" Twilight looked to her orange friend who nodded in response.

     "Hey you over-grown bug, over here!" Applejack yelled as she bucked a large stone out of the air, sending it colliding with the armored insect. It's focus shifted once more to the orange mare at the other end of the room. It swiftly skittered in front of her and raised it's self up again, opening it jaws wide preparing to strike down.

     "Now Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled.

     Rainbow sped up and spun around, letting her rear hooves collide with beast's back. It lurched forward and fell as Applejack jumped out of it's path. All three mares watched in awe as the insect toppled onto the huge bones, impaling it's self in the ribcage of one of it's former meals.

     It hissed loudly as it thrashed violently, throwing it's body left and right. The insect squirmed every which way, shaking as yellowish blood began to gush from it's wound. It's struggle eventually slowed as it finally laid motionless on the stone. Cautiously, Applejack began to approach it and hesitantly, jabbed it with her hoof. Much to her relief, it remained still.

     "Is... Is it dead?" Rainbow asked as she hovered over the creature's now still form.

     "Ah think so." Applejack spoke as she stood next to it.

     "Cmon girls we still have to help Rarity." With that, Twilight turned to look at her purple maned friend who still laid unconscious on the wall.

*Crack*  *Crack*  *Crack*

     "What in the hay was that?" Rainbow looked up surprised by the loud echo.

     "I don't know, but it sounded like it came from where Fluttershy and Pinkie are. Let's get Rarity and hurry."

     Twilight levitated one of the broke bone shards and gently began to cut Rarity away from the material. Taking care to be sure she didn't cut Rarity herself. As the final strands of the material were cut away, Twilight carefully levitated Rarity away from the the wall and held her in the air.

     "Let me carry 'er Twi. I'll handle it." Applejack spoke up as she turned around so she could carry Rarity.

     "Of course." Without hesitating, Twilight gingerly placed Rarity on Applejack's back. Positioning her so her head would rest on Applejack's neck.

     Rainbow groaned out of anxiety "Cmon I wanna see what Those sounds were."

     "Rainbow, why don't you go on ahead to check it out. Me and Applejack will catch up." Twilight said as she waved The blue Pegasus off with a hoof.

     "Sure thing, just be quick about it." Before another word could be uttered, Rainbow turned and sped off down the tunnel, churning up dust in her path.

     "Are you sure you've got her?" Twilight asked as she looked to her friend.

     "Yep, Ah'm fine," Applejack smiled as she shifted the weight on her back. "Let's get goin' before Rainbow blows a fuse."