Rarity and Spike vs Fantasy RPG Tropes: The Sabre of Omens

Chapters

Chapter 2: The Quest Begins
Chapter 3: The Tavern
Chapter 4: Finding the Plot
Chapter 5: Accepting the Call
Chapter 6: First Encounter
Chapter 8: Toward the Pinacle
Chapter 9: The Apex
Chapter 10: Epilogue
Chapter 1: The Chosen One
Chapter 7: Starting to Understand

Chapter 2: The Quest Begins

Days passed, forgettable in their normalcy, and Rarity tried to settle back into normal life. It was probably all nothing. Twilight hadn’t found any leads on the map in the past four days, and Rarity almost hoped she wouldn’t. Despite having a magical sword sitting on her workbench, life had more or less returned to its usual calm.

Struggling to keep her mind on task, Rarity had set to some basic design work, but always found her mind tracing back to the things Spike had been saying. She really didn’t want to believe in his nonsense about prophecy, but she couldn’t deny that the sword chose her. Setting down her pencil in a huff, she walked over to her workbench.

After her discussion with Twilight and Spike, the three of them had decided it would be best for Rarity to keep track of the sword, being the only one who could reasonably move it. She’d brought it home with her, getting countless odd stares in the process, and just left it there in her workroom. It unsettled her at first, just having an exposed blade there as she worked. The next morning, she decided she couldn’t handle it anymore, and begged Applejack to make a sheath for the thing.

Now, days later, it sat in its makeshift sheath, barely more than two boards of the right size and shape held together with tightly wound twine. She honestly hated to put such a work of art in such a shoddy frame, but it made her feel much better to not have the glint of its sharp edge reflected through the room. She simply looked down at the sabre, not entirely sure how she’d grown accustomed to it so quickly. Even if its being sheathed helped her forget, a sword was for… well nothing Rarity ever intended to do.

She cautiously lifted the blade, pulling the first few inches of it from the sheath. It had surprised her the first time how little noise it made. Every story, every movie, every radioplay had trained her to expect a metallic ‘shing’ as she pulled it open. Instead, it was just a dull sliding noise, barely different than sliding a coin across a wooden table. It sort of felt anticlimactic.

Rarity just stood there for a moment, looking at her warped reflection in the mirror-like sheen of the blade’s flat. There was something she hadn’t noticed about the sword yet, she could tell. It still had secrets. She resheathed the blade with a thump and flipped it around, looking at the map on the guard. The level of detail on the filigree was astonishing, the map drawn in the utmost precision. Idly putting on her reading glasses to get a better look, Rarity inspected further. At once, something stood out to her. One of the mountains seemed distinct, slightly taller, and with a sharper point at the top. It was subtle, but there. As an artist herself, Rarity could tell. Whoever made this shaped that mountain different on purpose.

“A notable peak?” Rarity mumbled to herself, gently tapping at the spot with her hoof.

A subtle play of the light drew her attention to the dark crimson gem of the pommel, a beautiful brilliant-cut set into the base of the sabre’s grip. The longer she stared, the more it intrigued her. In her many years dealing with gems, she hadn’t seen one of this quality in but a hoof-ful of times. For a gem this size to have so few inclusions was impossibly rare, but the few that were present intrigued her.

A knocking at her door pulled her attention from the gem. Setting the sword down on the workbench again, she turned her attention to see a small purple claw waving at the window. With a smile, she trotted over to open the door and let Spike in.

“Heya, Rarity,” Spike greeted with a smile, “Just thought I’d stop by and check in, Twilight’s all wrapped up in looking at maps and I got bored. How’s everything going?”

Rarity glanced back towards the sabre sitting on her table, “Going well, I suppose. Hardly getting any proper work done, though.”

Spike followed her gaze and grinned, “Exciting, right? The leadup to an adventure?”

“What?” Rarity replied in confusion before catching Spike’s train of thought, “No, not that, dear. I just keep getting distracted by how amazing the sabre looks. It’s so rare you see something of this quality, I find it utterly captivating.”

Spike seemed a bit confused by the response, asking, “Yeah, but like… what about the call to action? An ancient map landed directly at your hooves, intended for you personally. That doesn’t…”

“Well, I mean, yeah…” Rarity replied distantly, “I guess that’s interesting and all, but honestly I’m far more interested in who made such a masterpiece than I am in finding out where it leads.”

“I mean… you’ve still been trying to figure the map out, right?” Spike asked with a tone of confusion, quickly coming up with something that should get her attention, “I mean, who knows, maybe it leads to their workshop or something.”

Rarity thought about the idea for a moment before admitting, “Actually, I do want a second opinion about something.”

Spike sighed in relief, “So you have been looking at it. Good, good. What you need help with?”

Guiding him into the workroom, she lifted the sabre from the table and showed Spike the gem at its base, “Tell me, what does that look like to you?”

“A rub-” Spike paused as he said it, “Wait, no. What am I looking at?”

“I thought the same,” Rarity explained, “but the crystal structure described by the inclusions is wrong. I’m thinking a red spinel.”

Spike leaned towards it, giving the gem a lick and earning him a disgusted stare from Rarity, “Yeah… that seems right. Wow, I’ve never seen a spinel that nice.”

Doing her best to ignore Spike’s obvious look of hunger, Rarity replied, “I have a feeling this is a hint to where it came from. I was thinking of telling Twilight.”

Clearly agreeing, Spike motioned his thumb toward the door.

“...so I’d suggest looking for somewhere with a high mountain and surface deposits of either marble or limestone,” Rarity concluded her explanation.

Twilight seemed impressed, “You know, I often forget you’re so studied in gems.”

“Ponies often do,” Rarity dismissed, glancing down to her cutie mark, “Although I’m not exactly sure how.”

The entire castle library was a mess, dozens of maps and reference books scattered about the large work table in the center of the room. Casually levitating over a few more maps, Twilight added the new information to her search, adding more and more notes to her stack. Not really sure what they could add, Rarity and Spike simply watched her work.

As the moment grew long, Rarity grew bored, “So… what exactly have you been doing?”

Not looking up from her work, Twilight responded, “I’d made a shortlist of sites that had similar properties to the map. Now that I have it narrowed, I can just check for any sites that fit the new parameters.”

Realizing she’d be a bother if she kept asking Twilight questions, Rarity turned to Spike instead, “I must ask, you keep making assumptions about this whole affair with the utmost certainty. What… Well, why?”

Spike just shrugged, “I mean, that’s just how adventures go. Everything fits so far, and I haven’t been wrong yet, so…”

“You act as if adventures follow a script,” Rarity pointed out in confusion.

Spike just shrugged again, “I mean, they kinda do. Do you have a counter-example?”

Rarity raised a hoof, as if about to protest, but her thoughts filled with memories of all of her ‘adventures’ with her friends. They didn’t feel like they were scripted, at least. Still, something in her had the oddest feeling that Spike wasn’t wrong. Something about going out on a quest to get something done felt so different to everyday life. She shook her head, convinced it was just a strange feeling.

“I’ve got you down to three possibilities,” Twilight announced, “I’m honestly amazed with how well that lead narrowed it down.”

Twilight slid her map across the table, the three locations circled distinctly. Rarity lifted the hilt of the blade, looking at the locations next to the map. Any of them could easily have been this place, so she stood there, carefully comparing the details.

“Why’s that one’s mountain look different?” Spike pointed out, dropping a finger on one of the locations.

“Dormant volcano,” Twilight replied curtly.

Spike nodded firmly, “It’s that one.”

Twilight and Rarity both slowly turned to face him, looks of confusion on their faces. Spike just kept nodding, like it was obvious. The thing was, it fit. Compared to the other two options, the region with the volcano seemed to match the sword’s map far better.

Spike prodded, “Lemme guess. It looks right?”

Rarity wanted to object, but didn’t have the words to, instead replying, “Y- How did you know?”

“Perfect set piece for the final conflict,” Spike explained, tapping on the volcano’s mark once more.

“‘Final conflict,’” Rarity groaned, setting the sabre back on the table, “What in Equestria are you talking about, Spike?”

Spike waved her off, “You’ll see when we get there.”

“Wait, get there?” Twilight interjected, looking between Rarity and Spike, “You’re planning to actually go to the place on the map?”

Rarity thought it over for a moment, saying, “Well… I’m rather interested to find out who made it, honestly. I suspect whatever the map leads to would give me a clue.”

Spike shrugged, accepting the argument and nodding along.

Confused, Twilight studied Rarity’s expression to try and get some read on her, “Why are you so interested in this?”

“Could you imagine if I could get this level of craftsmanship…” Rarity tapped the ornate filigree on the hilt, “and use it to accessorize my pieces? Look at how gorgeous this is.”

Twilight pulled back in shock as Rarity practically shoved the handle into her face, “I… what? That’s why you want to go?”

There was a resounding smack as Spike dropped his face into his palm, “I really should have seen that coming. I knew she wasn’t in it for the adventure.”

Twilight pushed the sword out of her face, sparking Rarity to set it back on the table, before continuing, “Look, I really don’t think it’s responsible to run off chasing down the maker of a couple hundred year old blade like this. It just doesn’t make any sense, any record you might find is so out of date as to be useless.”

Spike rolled his eyes, lifting the blade to point at the map, “Twilight, an ancient map literally fell out of the sky at Rarity’s hooves and you’re tell-”

All three of them paused, staring at the sword in Spike’s claws. Holding it by the sheath, Spike waved it around in the air, confused and experimenting. He quietly set it back on the table, as if nervous.

Twilight reached across the table to poke the sheathed end of the sabre with her hoof, unable to budge it, “How’d you do that?”

His only response was to buzz his lips and exaggeratedly shrug.

“Well? No insane theory based on fantasy novels this time?” Rarity replied, her tone far more honest and curious than the wording suggested.

“I mean, I couldn’t move it before. It’s not like anything ch-” Spike stopped, staring at the makeshift boards serving as a sheath. An idea flashed in his mind and he reached forward, lifting the sword by its handle. Placing his other claw on the sheath, he strained to draw the blade. Nothing.

“What’s the point of it letting you hold it when sheathed?” Twilight mused, apparently slowly accepting the situation.

Before Spike could reply, Rarity blurted out, “A squire.”

They both looked to her.

“A squire,” she repeated, “He could go along with me and carry it, but it’s not for him to use.”

Spike grinned, “So you’re saying the sword chose me, too?”

Rarity smiled back, deciding to humor him, “I suppose you could say that, yes.”

Spike pumped his fist in success, silently smiling

“This is still ridiculous, there’s no reason to come to any of the conclusions you have,” Twilight complained.

“Twilight...” Spike nervously reached forward and dropped a claw on her shoulder, “This could be the fate of Equestria in our hooves. We might be the only ones who could stop… well, something. We can’t back down from this, there’s too much to lose.”

In Spike’s eyes was a level of sincerity and genuine worry that Twilight hadn’t seen from the dragon before. As ridiculous as this all sounded to her, he believed it. There was a little pang in her heart as she realized Spike wasn’t going to just get over this. There had to be some way to get him to realize he was being ridiculous without risking getting him hurt.

With a defeated sigh, Twilight stepped over to the map to look at it, “How would you even get there?”

Rarity dropped a hoof on the map, “Well, there’s a train station in Surlin, this town here, but…”

Spike perked back up, drifting over to compare the distance between town and destination to the map’s rule, “...but that’s three hundred miles on hoof.”

There was a single, simple fact that all three of them knew. Rarity was not walking that far. They each took a moment to struggle with that fact in their own ways. Spike deflated, realizing Rarity was sure to change her mind. Twilight seemed content that they wouldn’t go as well, but still wanted to find some way to calm spike down.

Hesitantly, Rarity suggested, “I mean, there’s no harm in just taking the train to the region and seeing what happens next.”

Spike lit up like a foal on Hearth’s Warming, “Really?”

Rarity nervously smiled over to Twilight, “Sure. We’ll see what it looks like when we get there. If there are no leads, we can just make a weekend of it and come back after.”

With a little smile of surprise, Twilight realized that it was a decent compromise, “Alright, fine. When you get there and find nothing, you come right back, okay? No point in wasting time out there if there’s nothing, right?”

“Oh man, I have so much to pack,” Spike announced, bounding off toward his room.

Once Spike was out of earshot, Twilight turned to Rarity with a look of concern, “Look… Spike is really worried about all this. Can you do what you can to make him realize the world’s not ending while you’re out there?”

Rarity nodded curtly, “Naturally, dear. I know he’s being ridiculous, but at least he’s having fun with it, no? I’ll just ask around Surlin for anything about local smithing tradition, maybe find some local attractions, and that’ll be the trip. We’ll be back before you know it.”

Twilight sighed deeply in relief and took the few steps closer to give Rarity a short hug, “Well, I hope you have a good trip. I know Spike will really appreciate this.”

Rarity’s breath caught for a moment, “You’re not coming?”

Twilight froze, “I mean, I’m busy. I have princess stuff to do. There’s an envoy fro-”

“Oh, don’t worry, dear. I understand completely,” Rarity interrupted the explanation, “You don’t have the time to run down every strange happening in Equestria.”

“Just take care of Spike for me,” Twilight replied with a concerned smile.

In the distance, there was a dull clatter like countless large, metal objects scattering to the floor, followed by an echoing shout from Spike, “Sorry! I’m fine!”

With a wince, Rarity replied, “I’ll… see what I can do.”

The station platform was busy as always, ponies moving about in a flurry as they boarded and left the train. Standing on the platform, staring at the engine with some hesitation in her heart, Rarity fidgeted with the sabre, holding it by her side with her magic. Beside her, Spike stood smiling, an overstuffed bookbag on his back.

Rarity reached behind her to pull their itinerary from one of her bags, “The only train that goes out to Surlin leaves from Canterlot, so we’ll be transferring there. Not much of a layover, so at least there’s that.”

“You’re really bringing all that?” Spike complained, gesturing back at Rarity’s bags.

Looking over her shoulder at the three large pieces of luggage behind her, “Well, yes. I only packed lightly, since I don’t expect to be gone for more than a few days.”

Spike gestured at the bags, “That’s lightly?”

With a shrug, Rarity waved over a porter to collect her bags and turned to trot off, “Come along, let’s not miss the train.”

Spike just wiped his face with a claw, “This… is going to be a long adventure.”

Chapter 3: The Tavern

The hills rolled by as the train barreled its way south, nothing in sight but dry grass and a few, sparse trees. Rarity laid on her bunk in the empty carriage, staring out the window as the scenery blew by, her hopes that Surlin could be a glamorous destination already fully melted out of her. The sound of the door between the carriages opening heralded Spike’s return.

“Yeah, we’re the last two. I checked all the cars, just staff,” he reported, sitting back down on the edge of the bed across from her.

With a sigh, Rarity properly admitted to herself that they were going to the middle of nowhere. She glared over at the sabre, resting on her bed beside her, angry that the mystery of it dragged her off like this. She could be in a spa right now, yet here she was, stuck on a sleeper train. She laid the side of her head against the pane of the window in frustrated acceptance of the situation, staring out at the scenery ahead of the train.

On the other side of the aisle, Spike was still excited, “Man, this is my first real adventure, can you believe it? Who knows what we’ll find when we get there, right?”

“Probably a small town that only exists because the train line has to end somewhere,” Rarity mumbled back pessimistically.

Apparently, Spike didn’t hear her, as he just continued, “You know, the traveling is the part I’m not really used to. Usually the story just skips over all the boring parts and you just get right into the action.”

For just a moment, Rarity wished she could live in Spike’s little fantasy land, but her thoughts were interrupted as she spotted something out the window. Up ahead of the train, like a low cliff, rose row after row of wheat. From the head of the train came the clattering of a change in the tracks, and within seconds they were on a stone bridge across a swollen, murky brown river that marked the edge of the farmed land.

Excited to finally see signs of civilization, Rarity turned to Spike with a smile, “I think we’re close, now. Oh, it’ll be so nice to finally get off this train and stretch.”

Spike, staring down into the waters from his own window, remarked, “Yeah, I kinda remember a major river on the map. Didn’t expect it to be quite this big, though.”

Rarity looked down at the river more carefully, noticing the edges of the water lapping up onto the flat plain of the farmland, “That’s… not right, is it?”

Almost instantly, Spike’s face turned to confidence, “Something’s wrong upstream. That’s where we start.”

Rarity rolled her eyes, watching the train roll off the bridge and the window’s view become entirely replaced by stalks of wheat, “I’m sure it’s nothing. Even if it is something, it’s probably just a coincidence.”

“We’ll see,” Spike chimed back with a smirk.

The town of Surlin was nothing like Rarity had expected at any point in the trip there. As she stepped onto the station platform, she looked out over a town nearly the size of Ponyville, currently in the bustle of a busy market weekend. The passing ponies paused to look at Rarity, fully distracted by this elegant mare with a sabre at her side. At first Rarity was her usual, prideful self at all the attention, but quickly noticed their eyes lingering longer on the sword than herself. She quickly tucked the blade to her side, trotting over to the station building to collect her things.

Shortly behind her followed Spike, slinging his bookbag over his shoulder as he rushed to catch up, “So, mid day, where do we start?”

Rarity only had one thing on her mind as she moved toward the station’s attendant, a stallion in a crisp company uniform, “Hello, yes, how long until the baggage is ready?”

“Well, it was just the two of you, so they should be wheeling it over now,” the stallion responded, gesturing behind her toward the train.

Rarity turned to see the cart approaching with… one bag. Just one. Rarity closed her eyes and shook her head as if to clear it. When she opened her eyes, there was still only one bag there. The pony carting it into the room just rolled it in front of her and left. She stood there, staring at her luggage for a moment, in denial.

“Where’s the rest?” she asked as she turned back to the attendant.

The stallion looked at the bag for a moment before asking, “You had more?”

Rarity just slowly nodded, her mind shifting from denial to anger.

“Terribly sorry, miss. Was this the first leg of your trip, or did you transfer in Canterlot?” the attendant asked with a passive, uncaring tone.

Heat growing in her voice, Rarity replied, “We started in Ponyville and transferred.”

The attendant nodded knowingly, explaining flatly, “Well, sometimes luggage isn’t transferred properly, perhaps if the transfer is a rushed one. It should arrive on the nex-”

Rarity’s eye twitched. In a flash, she dropped the sword and grabbed at the stallion’s collar with her magic, shouting, “Isn’t transferred properly? Are you telling me it got put on a train somewhere else?”

Far too in shock to really respond, the attendant simply stammered as he was grappled.

“Rarity…” Spike mumbled out in shock, patting her on her side to get her attention.

Realizing the scene she was making, Rarity quickly let go of the stallion’s collar and looked around the room to make sure nopony was staring. Growing self-conscious, she turned her attention to Spike, his claw still patting at her side. To her surprise, he wasn’t staring at the scene she’d just made, but at something slightly behind her.

Just there, floating a few feet above the ground where she had let go of it, was the sabre. Rarity and Spike both stared, their minds not quite processing what they were looking at. Spike cautiously reached a claw forward and plucked it out of the air, the sword behaving normally the instant he had his claw around the sheath. Quickly letting go, it just held the position it was resting before he released it.

“Huh,” Spike uttered calmly as he realized how it worked.

Rarity had a similar sentiment, but was still confused, “Huh?”

Spike grabbed onto the sheath again, hefting the sabre with a grin, addressing it, “You just keep getting more and more interesting, don’t you?”

The town square was a bustle, all of the townsponies milling around, going about their weekend errands. Rarity found herself looking over the crowd and the storefronts, trying to get a sense for the town. Spike, on the other hand, had clambered up onto the base of a statue and was clearly looking for something in particular.

“Spike,” Rarity called, forcing herself to emulate a frustrated mother, “get down from there before you fall.”

Ignoring her, Spike pointed off into the distance and reported, “There’s the inn.”

“An inn?” Rarity turned to look in the direction he’d pointed, “Darling, I’m sure we can find a more normal hotel if we ask around.”

Spike hopped down, dusting himself off and shaking his head, “Nah, not to stay at. It’s where we’ll find a lead.”

Lost, Rarity shook her head, “I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

“Look, it’s even got a tavern on the first floor. It’s perfect,” Spike replied, “Trust me on this one, we’ll find something there.”

Before Rarity could reply, Spike had already slung his bag over his shoulder and began walking. With a frustrated huff, Rarity grabbed her own luggage and rushed after him, unable to catch up before he was already nearly to the door.

“Spike,” Rarity complained, grabbing him by the shoulder, “you’re going to have to explain yourself if you expect me to let you run around like this.”

“Oh, sorry, I keep forgetting,” Spike chuckled, “Basically, every good adventure has an inn, bar, or tavern early on in the plot. It’s a melting pot of other folks passing by, other travelers, so it’s one of the best places to pick up some information.”

Rarity wanted to object, but that actually made enough sense to her. As the smell of food drifted out of the tavern, her stomach announced her defeat with a low grumble, which she echoed in her tone, “Fine, I suppose there’s no harm in it.”

The first thing to meet Rarity’s eyes as she opened the door was the sheer variety of ponies assembled around the tavern space. Ponies from all walks of life sat around the space, mostly sitting in groups of three to six at the tables around the main area, but more than a few sitting at the bar. The second thing Rarity spotted was that her sword wasn’t the only one in the tavern, with at least five others in plain view. Despite everything, seeing that sent a chill across Rarity’s body, suddenly questioning why so many ponies in this area would need weapons like that. As she stood there taking in the scene, Spike had made his way to hop up and sit at the bar, quickly waving down the bartender.

“Hey, there,” the bartender called as he walked up, “Welcome to the Twin Eagles, what can I get for you?”

Rarity graced her way over, still a bit nervous about the patrons of this establishment, and replied, “Ah, good day to you, too. Could I ge-”

“What do you know about the river flooding?” Spike interrupted, directly and seriously.

“-a menu… Spike, what are you doing?” Rarity snapped.

“Oh, the river?” the barkeep replied, apparently not really noticing Rarity’s complaints, “Yeah, there’s been a lot more melt on the mountaintops upstream than usual, it’s been driving people out of some of the smaller farms on the edge of the river.”

Spike spoke up again before Rarity could interject, “Any idea what’s causing the melt?”

Wiping a mug clean as he spoke, the bartender replied, “Hard to really say, but there’s rumors. There’s a group of unicorns that lives out that way, fancy themselves sages, live in this big old temple. Ponies don’t really trust them, so of course some think it’s their fault.”

Spike nodded seriously, turning to Rarity to see if she was drawing any of the same conclusions he was. Rarity just stared back at him, dumbfounded by the way the conversation proceeded and trying to interpret what the barkeep had just said. With a sigh, Spike turned to look back at the stallion.

“Anything else you two need?” he asked, setting down the now-clean mug.

“Fries for me,” Spike replied seriously, “And I think she said she wanted a menu.”

“Coming right up,” the bartender replied, stepping away from the pair.

Rarity leaned over to Spike, whispering in confusion, “What just happened?”

Thumb pointed toward the bartender, Spike replied, “I just got what sounds like a good lead. We should track down those sages, I bet they know something.”

“No, not that,” Rarity ejected, “What was that conversation? It felt so unnatural, it had no flow to it. What-”

“Tavern owners always know things like that,” Spike cut her off in answer, “I dunno, you just ask them stuff.”

Rarity stared over at the bartender, feeling more out of the loop than ever, as she overheard him having a similar conversation with one of the ponies at the far end of the bar, “This all just feels so wrong.”

Spike rested his elbow on the bar to support his head, “I dunno, that’s just kinda how adventures go. Go to tavern, get information, meet ponies, form a party, and head out.”

“A party?” Rarity asked quizzically, familiar with the term in this context, but not truly believing it applied to real life.

Sweeping across the room with a claw, Spike pointed out the groups of ponies collected at the tables around them, “Yeah, there’s plenty here already. I bet they’re each on some sort of adventure, doing their own thing. We could probably just pick from anyone who’s not already at a table with others.”

“I’m not sure how comfortable I’d be traveling with strangers,” Rarity replied, incredulous, before adding, “I’m not even sure I have a reason to be travelling.”

Spike slumped once more, “We’re this far already, and we finally have half of a lead on what’s up with the river. Ponies’ livelihoods are at stake here, we can’t just-”

“Spike,” Rarity interrupted, “I’m here looking for the history of a craftsman, not to solve this county’s problems. I’m a designer, not a hero. Whatever is going on, I’m sure any of these other adventurers could do it better than me. ”

Spike gestured wildly into the distance, raising his voice, “Rarity, everything is in place for this to be why we’re here. We can’t just do nothing.”

Rarity bit her tongue, reaching forward to set a comforting hoof on Spike’s shoulder, “It… just doesn’t seem practical, dear. Even if we could figure out where to go, what would we do if we got there? Poke the river with a sword?”

Spike deflated, “There’s gotta be something we can do, we just have to keep looking. We’re here for a reason...”

Hating to see Spike like that, Rarity unconsciously looked away and at the sabre’s hilt, “I… can’t help but agree with you there, honestly. Even though I don’t have the certainty you do… I can sort of tell as well.”

Some wind back in his sails, Spike followed Rarity’s eyeline and looked the map over as well. With a twitch, he noticed, “There’s a river that goes right by the star.”

Rarity to look at Spike once more, “I… yes?”

“What do you bet it’s the same one?” Spike gestured in the general direction of the swollen river, “Also, I’d bet you ten to one that the star is the sages’ temple.”

“Ten to one what?” Rarity retorted.

Spike waved it off, “Eh, we’ll deal with that when we split the loot. But seriously, when I find you proof that the river’s flooding because of something literally on your map, will you go with me?”

“If you find me proof…” Rarity thought it over, judging the odds. It felt unlikely to say the least. Then again, if it was true, fate was obviously drawing her there.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Spike’s snappy response, “No, I said ‘when’ on purpose.”

Sighed, rolling her eyes up to look at the ceiling, “Fine. We’ll keep looking around town as long as we’re here, but if there’s nothing by the end of the weekend, we head back. Deal?”

Spike smiled excitedly, grabbing Rarity’s hoof and shaking it, “Deal.”

Chapter 4: Finding the Plot

The next few days were surprisingly relaxing. The inn attached to the tavern had surprisingly nice rooms at very reasonable prices, and the two of them had decided to stay there for the weekend. After spending the first day asking all of the local smiths and metalworks if they recognized the craftsmanship of the sabre, Rarity was basically out of leads. Instead, she decided to take the chance to relax. Honestly, the town was far nicer than she had initially guessed it would be, and its rustic charms started to really grow on her. Her only real complaint was that the rest of her luggage had still not managed to show up.

Spike, on the other hand, had no time to waste. Despite Rarity’s urging for him to slow down, he had spent the weekend talking to every local he could find, looking for someone who he deemed ‘plot important.’ Between that and poring over the library, he spent the entirety of the two days in motion and study. Rarity truly wanted to object, but at the same time… he almost seemed to be having fun with it. She’d never seen this sort of excitement and urgency in his eyes, and it was kind of charming. Surely, he wasn’t harming anyone, so she let him be. It was his vacation to enjoy, after all.

Rarity was sitting at an outdoor restaurant table, sipping from a cup of tea, when Spike finally came back with pride, a stack of papers and notes in his claw. She was intrigued, seeing him acting so mature, and sat up. She honestly wanted to hear whatever it was he was about to go on about, there was just something to his air that made him seem like he knew exactly what he was doing.

Spike dropped his notes on the table and took one page out, sliding it across the table to Rarity, “That good enough for you?”

She looked down at the map she’d been provided, the very distinctly outlined trace along the center leading from Surlin to a temple in the north, “I… wait, really?”

Smug, Spike replied, “Told you, didn’t I? I’ve spent the past few days gathering information and studying, it looks like that’s the sages’ temple marked on your map. Same river. This isn’t a coincidence.”

Rarity was shocked, looking at the map still, “No… I would say it’s not.”

“I told you we found the plot,” Spike added.

“So,” Rarity looked over to Spike’s stack of notes, “What next? You’re the expert.”

Spike glowed at the statement, cracking his knuckles and shuffling through his pages, “I talked to some trade caravans that head to the area, we can hop one and get there within a few days.”

Everything was moving too fast. Rarity sipped her tea and stood, looking off to the north. The road ahead was not one she knew, she was no hero or adventurer, she was just a dressmaker. She felt so wildly out of place. Everything in her screamed that this wasn’t her business, that somepony else would take care of it.

She turned to Spike, “I need some time to think.”

Spike just nodded, “Take your time. The caravan leaves this afternoon.”

Rarity lifted the sabre from its place beside her on the ground and walked off into the town square. It really was a nice little town. It reminded her of Ponyville in many ways. The energy, the kindness of the ponies, the happiness.

She decided to check the train station for her luggage again, an act that had rapidly become her most common excuse to go for a walk. As she approached, she saw a train loading with ponies, nearly a dozen full families waiting in line for tickets or to board. It wouldn’t have seemed so out of place anywhere else. Her mind flashed back to the utterly empty train she had taken to get here. Something was wrong.

Rarity approached one of the families hesitantly, keeping her sword to her side and partially out of sight, “Um… excuse me.”

The mother turned away from her son to face Rarity, “Yes? Can I help you with something?”

Something in her tone felt… off. It sounded almost the same as the conversation Spike had with the bartender. Cautious, Rarity decided to try her luck.

“Why is everyone leaving town?”

The mare gestured toward the river, a tear in her eye, “All of the families with small farms along the river are getting their crops drowned out by the flooding. There’s… nothing left for us here. We’re going to Canterlot to try and find a new life.”

A little surprised that the blunt question just worked, Rarity continued, “What do you know about the cause of the flood?”

“Someone told me the snow caps were melting,” the lady shrugged, “I’m not really sure what would cause that, but it’s swollen the river too much.”

Something clicked in Rarity’s head, “Is is mostly just small farms on the river’s edge?”

The mare nodded, “The larger farms, like the Wheatfield family’s, can afford the irrigation needed to be farther from the river, so they bought up a lot of the land farther inland, but all of the old family farms along the river wouldn’t sell to them.”

Motive. Rarity turned to look into the distance, her eyes narrowing, “Thank you.”

The mare just smiled and said good bye as Rarity left without ceremony. The situation had changed. The tragedy had a face now. She was willing to shrug it all off when it was just a river, but seeing that many families displaced, and having good reason to believe that it was caused by greed… Rarity stamped her hoof. She had to do something. This was just wrong.

She exhaled sharply and looked down at the hilt of her sword, her eyes locking on the star at the center of the map. The sages’ temple. She knew ponies wanted to blame them, but… it didn’t feel right anymore, given what she’d just heard. Either way, they were involved in all of this somehow, and they almost certainly knew something about the sword. If she went, she’d both be able to get a lead on how to help all of these ponies and learn more about how and where this sabre was crafted.

“Are you an adventurer?”

Rarity started, turning to face the voice. Beside her was the colt who was with the mare she’d just talked to. He was standing there, staring wide-eyed at the sword and up at Rarity.

“Don’t you need to be with your family?” Rarity asked politely.

The colt took a deep breath and asked, “You’re some kind of adventurer, right? That’s why you have the sword and are asking stuff?”

Rarity’s words caught in her throat for a moment before she replied, “Perhaps I am. Why?”

“Nopony would listen to me, but I saw something,” he started to explain excitedly, “Somepony was going around in the night time, sticking big sticks in the ground and staring at them.”

“Where,” Rarity asked on reflex.

“In our farm, before the flooding,” he answered.

Rarity nodded, comforting the foal, “Thanks, I think that might help me.”

The colt lit up, “Wow, really? So you’re trying to fix the river?”

After a pause, Rarity smiled, “Yes. Yes I am.”

Spike spun around as Rarity opened the door to their room at the inn, nearly tossing his stack of notes from the table, “Oh, heya, you’re back.”

Rarity went to toss her sabre on the bed, instead leaving it casually in midair near the door, “What else did you find out about everything?”

Bolting upright, Spike spread out his notes on the table, “Here you go.”

Rarity looked over the rather thorough notes. Details on the differences in the river’s course, the particular snow caps that were melting the fastest, and other related subjects dominated the pile. Other than that, much of it was just possible plans to get north.

“Do you have anything about who got displaced?” Rarity asked.

Spike seemed a little confused, but stood up to shuffle through his notes and pull up a map he’d gotten of land ownership in the region, “I hadn’t really taken the time to compare them, I just kinda grabbed this on impulse because it was a map. I… woah.”

Rarity and Spike stared at the map of land beside the map of the flooding. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but damned if it wasn’t convincing. The river had rose and devoured the family farms, but in almost no places had it rose high enough to encroach on the major farms beyond them. Spike looked over to Rarity to confirm that they were both seeing the same thing, and she nodded.

“So… it’s not the fate of Equestria?” Spike commented, almost disappointed.

“Doesn’t seem that way,” Rarity replied, “but at least a hundred ponies will lose their land and livelihoods, for what, some rich prick to get a little more land for their mega-farm?”

Spike was shocked to hear Rarity talk like that, but liked the passion in her voice, “So. What do we do?”

“We figure out how they’re doing it,” Rarity spat, “and we stop them.”

Spike looked impressed, “You’re pretty fired up.”

Rarity immediately realized how she sounded and took a deep breath, trying to explain herself, “I can’t abide by this sort of thing. Ruining lives just because you want more money, more power…”

With a nod, Spike replied, “So. We find out how they’re doing it. That means go north, yeah?”

“I’ll write Twilight,” Rarity confirmed, “tell her we’ll be here for a while.”

Spike stretched and looked down at the notes, “I still feel like I’m missing something here.”

Rarity tilted her head, “Did you overhear anything about ponies sticking poles into the ground?”

With a look of confusion, Spike recalled, “I overheard one thing, I didn’t take it to be related. A mare said she’d spotted some ponies surveying the edge of her property a few months ago. They… You’re thinking they were trying to portion the land before they cleared it?”

Rarity sat up, the idea making sense, “If whoever’s doing this is doing it for the land…”

“Do we check it out, or go north?” Spike posed.

With a deep breath and a long moment to consider, Rarity replied, “North. All the evidence is under the water right now. If we poke around the big farms, I doubt it’ll get anywhere. They’d just deny everything.”

Spike nodded in agreement, “Well, the caravan’s in a few hours.”

“Then let’s pack up,” Rarity commanded.

Spike stacked all of his notes and shoved them in his bookbag, “Well… let the adventure begin, I guess.”

Rarity stared down at her single bag in frustration, slowly realizing that the other two wouldn’t make it to her in time, and grumbled, “I guess we’ll have to make due.”

“So do you go north often?” Rarity asked, striking up another oddly blunt conversation with the caravan leader.

“Yup,” she replied, “There’s a few little towns up north that we trade with. We make the rounds every few weeks.”

“So if you’re up north, have you seen anything out of place since the floods started?” Rarity pressed.

The mare stopped to think, “I’ve seen a few out of place looking carriages heading up toward the mountains, but I never really thought too hard about it.”

Spike leaned into the conversation and called out, “Tell me more about these carriages.”

“Normal type, drawn by two stallions, rather ornate,” the trader replied.

Spike nodded in satisfaction and went back to chatting with one of the other caravan members.

Rarity smiled at the mare beside her, “Well, thank you, if I come up with anything else to ask, I’ll bring it up.”

The caravan leader smiled and went on her way.

Spike stepped over, “Hey, I forgot to ask, did she offer you her name?”

Rarity seemed shocked for a moment, “Oh, dear me, I don’t think I asked.”

“Nah, that’s a good thing,” Spike replied, “if she doesn’t have a name, she’s not plot important.”

“Wha-” Rarity shook her head, “you’ve said that before. What in Equestria do you mean.”

Spike plopped one of his claws into the other, “If somepony walks up to you and gives their name, it’s because you’re expected to remember it.”

Rarity cocked her head, “Well, yes, of course they expect you to remember it.”

“No, no,” Spike shook his head, “It’s narratively important. Seriously, how many ponies have given you their name so far in this town?”

Rarity raised a hoof to gesticulate her answer, but found herself frozen, “Um… well there was… she… no, wait I… The bartender?”

“Nope,” Spike replied, “I was paying special attention for if he did.”

“What about the Wheatfields? They have a name,” Rarity explained.

“The who now?” Spike asked, sitting bolt upright.

“The Wheatfields. They own a big far-” Rarity froze, “Spike, we have exactly zero evidence that they’re the one’s we’re looking for.”

“Circumstantial evidence is still evidence,” Spike retorted.

“We don’t even have that,” Rarity shot back, “All we have is… literary analysis.”

Spike groaned in defeat, clambering up onto a wagon, “Yeah, I suppose. It’s still them, though.”

Rarity levitated her bag to join him, climbing the back of the wagon to sit among the boxes of trade goods, “Well, at least we don’t have to walk it.”

“Keep an eye out for those carriages. We should spot one on the way,” Spike noted, settling into his seat.

With a light sigh, Rarity halfheartedly replied, “Will do.”

The caravan leader called back to them from her place in the wagon’s harness, “You two ready? We’re about to head out.”

“Ready!” Spike yelled forward.

With a slight lurch, the pony pulling the wagon set them in motion, on the path out of town, headed north. Rarity sighed and relaxed, only barely feeling guilty for having another pony walking so she didn’t have to. She brushed the dust from her fetlocks and leaned against the wall of the wagon. She was still hesitant about all this, but she knew what she was here for now. She had a goal.

Finally, she had accepted her quest.

Chapter 5: Accepting the Call

Rarity snapped awake, a familiar scaly claw tapping at her shoulder. She rubbed her eyes, barely having the time to grumble in confusion before she noticed that Spike was pointing at something. As her eyes adjusted, she started to realize she must have nodded off during their ride north, and looked around to get her bearings. The scenery had clearly changed, once distant mountains now beginning to tower up from the horizon. As she finally took the moment to follow Spike’s stare, she saw a beautiful carriage, done up in a Victorian style, drawn by two bulky stallions.

It only took her a moment to remember, “What, do you think that’s the one she mentioned? I mean, it could be just any other carriage.”

“True,” Spike admitted, “but it’s a bit too much of a coincidence, no? Just… make sure you remember what it looks like. I think we’ll be seeing more of it.”

Rarity shook her head, contemplating laying back and trying to rest again, but realizing that she hadn’t intended to fall asleep in the first place, it still being the late afternoon. Instead, she moved her way to the front of the cart, leaning over the railing to look at their driver.

After a short pause, she decided to address the mare as normal instead of… whatever it was Spike did, “Miss, I’m not sure I ever got your name. I know it’s silly to realize that just now, but…”

The mare faltered in her stride, but kept going, seeming a bit confused by the statement, “I’m… Lilac. I just… you know, do trade… stuff.”

Something about that response felt out of place to Rarity, so she decided to continue, “Well, Miss Lilac, what got you into trading? I mean, not to promote roles or anything, but this isn’t exactly a job you commonly see mares filling.”

There was a bit of a pause like Lilac didn’t really have an answer, but she eventually said, “It’s just… a family thing. We’ve been doing it for generations. My dad always wanted me to take up the mantle.”

Rarity smiled, content in that answer, “Charming. A bit of a… traditional arrangement for my tastes, but if it makes you happy then who am I to judge, yes?”

With a light chuckle, Lilac nodded, “Yeah, I know taking up the family business isn’t exactly normal these days, but… well, old earth pony traditions die hard, as I’m sure you know.”

Rarity blinked. Somehow… she hadn’t yet noticed that the mare was an earth pony. I mean, it made sense. Still, she was rather surprised with herself that it hadn’t occurred to her to… look. Shaking off her moment’s confusion, she excused herself and shuffled back toward Spike.

“I mean…” Spike started, “I know you’re still seeing things differently than me, but I hope you realized you just made her a real character with a backstory.”

Rarity’s confusion returned, tilting her head at the small dragon beside her, “What… do you mean by that?”

“You’re invested in her now,” Spike explained, “She’s not just some passing caravan leader, she’s Lilac the earth pony, and she has a family tradition to uphold.”

“I mean, she was always that, I just didn’t know it yet,” Rarity retorted, a little lost.

Spike sighed and shrugged, sitting back into his seat, “Well… it shouldn’t do any harm. Just try to avoid it in the future, I say.”

Rarity exhaled frustratedly, “Look, Spike… just because we’re on an ‘adventure’ doesn’t mean we need to cast aside the basics of equine decency. She’s doing us a wonderful favor, I don’t want to treat her like some… background character.”

After a short pause to consider, Spike acknowledged, “Maybe that’ll work in our favor in the long run. I guess we’ll just have to see.”

Rarity just sighed. She could only hope that, by the end of this, she would have any idea what Spike was on about.

The wagon ground to a halt just outside a small, walled town. Rarity looked up at the palisades with curiosity and concern. If such a defence was necessary… no, she wouldn’t think about it. She shuffled her way up to the front to check on Lilac. As she got there, the mare was unhitching herself and trotting up to the front gate. Rarity just watched. A short exchange occurred, after which Lilac bowed and trotted back.

Smiling up at Rarity, she reported, “All’s well. They just need a moment to open the gate.”

“Wonderful,” Rarity replied, but after a moment she questioned, “...where are we?”

“Garriston,” Lilac replied, “Last town before the river. We should be pretty close to the place Spike said you two were heading.”

Rarity looked back up at the easily ten foot wooden walls, a pegasus staring back down at her from above the gate with a bow on her back. Rarity waved awkwardly. The mare acknowledged her existence. Well… that’s not a bad sign, at least.

“Hey,” Spike called out quietly, “Anyone else hear that?”

Rarity turned back to him with a confused look, focusing on her hearing for a moment, before replying, “Wind in the plains, the river in the distance, what?”

“Skittering,” Spike answered quietly.

A chill when up Rarity’s spine, “Sk-skittering?”

Spike turned to look back at her, “Oh, wait yeah, probably too high pitched for you to pick up. I’m guessing it’s a random encounter.”

“A what?” Rarity asked back in ever mounting confusion, “What does that even mean?”

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Spike continued, “There was no leadup or introduction… maybe that’s what this is. The leadup. So when the fight actually happens it doesn’t come out of nowhere.”

“Spike,” Rarity demanded clarity, “What the heavens are you talking about?”

“Just keep an eye out for… I’m gonna say giant insects,” he explained, “Maybe when we try to leave this town.”

A shudder went through Rarity, the idea of large bugs forcing her to hold back a retch. She really, really wanted to believe Spike was wrong on this one.

There was a loud thump from the gate, likely some sort of lock or bar being removed, but before anything further there was a call from atop the wall. The guard Rarity had spotted was pointing into the distance. Following the gesture, Rarity saw the carriage from before, heading north.

“Huh,” Rarity muttered, brain trying to legitimize that of course they’re still nearby. Then again, the carriage had been going the other way.

“They’re headed toward the river,” Spike announced, “Maybe somewhere beyond it?”

She wanted to just say it could be unrelated, but… Spike was slowly managing to convince her, “Which would you think, the old temple place or the river’s head?”

“We need to follow them,” Spike stated plainly, “Otherwise we’ll never know.”

Rarity hesitated, turning to see the doors to the city slowly opening, desperate for a return to civilization, “I mean… even if we wanted to, how would we? They’re going so much faster than we could on hoof. I’m not sure following them is really an option.”

“Following who?” Lilac chimed in, clearly having only picked up at that sentence of the conversation as she was getting ready to re-harness herself.

“That carriage,” Spike quickly replied, despite Rarity’s obvious embarrassment at being overheard.

Lilac looked over toward the spot moving in the distance, “Oh, yeah, I’ve seen that one around. I think it belongs to one of the wealthy landowners.”

Rarity picked up on the hint and turned slowly to Spike, who was already nodding confidently. Turning back to Lilac, Rarity decided to go with what seemed to be working so far, “What do you know about the Wheatfield family?”

Lilac tilted her head, caught a little off guard by the bluntness of the question, “They’re, um… a wealthy family, right? I think they own some of the land that the road we took passes through. Why?”

Spike gently tapped Rarity on the shoulder, explaining, “Yo, you made her a named character, you have to talk to her like normal now.”

“What?” Rarity hissed back, “How does that even make sense?”

“Just roll with it,” Spike answered, putting on a charming smile and turning back to speak to Lilac, “Yeah, we kind of wanted to speak to them about something, but I guess they’re not stopping here.”

Lilac stared back suspiciously, the strange flow of the conversation obvious to her, “Well… we should be able to head in now. Are you coming?”

Spike found Rarity staring at him pleadingly, so Spike replied with a smile, “Yeah, we’ll figure out what to do next after we get inside.”

Lilac looked them over, clearly growing curiouser by the second, but finished hitching herself to the wagon and carted the three of them inside.

Rarity slumped down onto the cafe table, staring at her cup of tea, trying to make excuses, “It probably wasn’t even them.”

“You know you don’t believe that,” Spike replied, sitting back with his hot chocolate.

Sitting up, levitating the teacup to her mouth, Rarity grumbled out, “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter now anyway.”

Spike shrugged back, “I mean, we could try scrying them.”

“What?” Rarity replied in confusion.

“It’s a specialized magic, but it’s around,” Spike explained.

Rarity was intrigued, but doubtful, “I… well I want to say that scrying is a myth, but… I have to admit I’d trust your knowledge of such things before mine, as I know Twilight is prone to rambling.”

“Heh, yeah, tell me about it. Well, we just have to find a seer-” Spike’s words stopped abruptly. Jumping upright, Spike spun around to face northward, “The sages? What do you bet…”

Rarity was hit with the same thought, “I believe they were described as unicorns, yes? That sounds like just the place.”

Spike turned back to her with a toothy grin, “Now we just need to find a ride there. I’d say Lilac, but… she’d take some convincing.”

“What makes you say that?” Rarity asked, “She was perfectly helpful on the way here.”

“She was coming here anyway,” Spike retorted, “And… to be honest, I think you kind of scared her off. Getting questioned like that hit her wrong.”

Rarity rolled her eyes, “First you tell me that’s how you talk to ponies, now you chide me for it.”

“It’s how you talk to NPCs,” Spike replied, sipping the last of his drink, “not named characters. You went and made her named.”

“I asked her name, Spike. It’s not like she didn’t have one previously,” Rarity shot back.

Spike waved off the difference, “Well, it’s not like it’ll do any harm to ask her. Come on.”

Rarity lifted her still partly full teacup, “After.”

“I’ll go find her then,” Spike offered, wandering off.

Sitting back, Rarity sipped her tea. What an odd turn of events this was winding up. As she sat and slowly drank, a memory came to her. Twilight’s voice, making her promise to take care of Spike. Spinning around to see where he’d gone, she nearly burnt her tongue trying to down the last of her tea and set a pile of bits on the table to pay before rushing off to find him.

“I just…” Lilac paused awkwardly looking over her shoulder to make sure her wagon was being unloaded properly, “I know there’s something you’re not telling me, and I don’t like it.”

Rarity and Spike stood in the storehouse of a major trade guild, ponies wandering around loading, unloading, and categorizing countless trade goods. Rarity looked to Spike concernedly, hoping that his string of ‘knowing what to do’ was still going.

“It’s uh…” Spike sputtered, “I mean, well… It’s complicated, I guess.”

Rarity sighed, took a moment to steady herself, and put on as charming an expression as she could manage, “Lilac, dear… We’re investigating something, let’s say, sensitive at the moment. I’d be willing to give you more detail, but perhaps not somewhere so… public?”

Spike nudged Rarity in complaint, but she refused to acknowledge it.

Lilac looked around the room, noting all of her fellow traders and laborers milling about, before looking back to Rarity suspiciously, “There’s… a meeting room. This way.”

Rarity turned to follow Lilac off, but was interrupted by Spike grabbing her by the hoof. His stare of disapproval was enough to get his point across. Rarity shook her head at him and turned to follow Lilac. Nothing would get anywhere with perfect secrecy.

The meeting room was a small one, barely larger than a normal office, a table in the center with two chairs on each side, and Lilac had just stopped on the far side to face them, “Well? What… what are you investigating?”

Rarity ushered a disappointed Spike inside before closing the door and looking seriously into Lilac’s eyes, “The flooding. We’re almost certain that it’s not natural, and we have leads on who may be responsible.”

Lilac staggered backwards, caught off guard by the weight of her words, “Wait, what? You… you asked me about the Wheatfields? Do you thin-”

“Possible, but not certain,” Rarity replied as tactfully as possible, “They have a plausible motive, is all. We’re pursuing as many avenues as possible, and they’re one of them. Right now… we’re trying to make our way to the Sages’ Temple. I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors that they’re involved somehow…”

“Yeah, I have,” Lilac nodded, clearly being drawn in, “You think they might be true?”

“It’s far too early to rule them out,” Rarity answered, “We’ll need to get there and see. Also, we have other business we might be able to get done there, so it just makes the most sense to check there next.”

Lilac touched her chin as she pondered, “Well… I’m sure there are carriages for rent here in town. I’m sure the guild has some contacts, I can see about getting you a name or something.”

“That would be much appreciated, dear,” Rarity replied with a smile, “I’m very sorry for how secretive we’re being, but… I hope you can understand that we don’t want to seem too… accusatory before we know more.”

Nodding along, Lilac agreed, “Yeah, I get it now. And yeah, I’ll see what I can do. It’d help out everypony to know what is going on there.”

Relieved, Rarity stepped forward and offered a polite hug to the mare, “Thank you, I’m not sure what we’d have been able to do without all of your help.”

“No problem,” Lilac replied with a chuckle and wide grin, “I mean, hey, it’s all business on my end, right?”

Rarity bowed her head lightly, “Well, we’ll be finding a place to stay the night here, will you be here at the guildhall in the morning?”

“Yeah,” Lilac curtly confirmed, patting the desk, “I’ve got all kinds of deals to work on while I’m here, but I’ll be sure to find out about a carriage for you tonight.”

Rarity smiled wide and opened the door, ushering Spike out, “Thank you again.”

As Spike stepped out, he turned back to Rarity, confronting her quietly as she closed the door, “W… how did you do that?”

Rarity chuckled back in her amusement, patting the little dragon on the head, “Darling, you might be better at talking to the… ‘npcs,’ but I’m nothing if not a master of formal conversation. Now come on, we should rest up. There’s much to do tomorrow.”

After a pause to process, Spike smiled back, “You’re getting into this, aren’t you?”

Rarity just shrugged, not particularly wanting to admit he was right.

Chapter 6: First Encounter

Rarity stepped from her carriage, the mountain wind blowing back her mane, and stared up at the tall stairs before her, winding and switching their way up the cliffs. She readjusted the light coat she had picked up in the last town, finding herself rather disappointed at how the wind cut through it, but such was the cost of having chosen something so fashionable, and that cost was well worth while. She turned back to look at the coaches who had brought her this far.

“So the sages’ temple is just up this way?” she asked with a smile.

The one nodded back at her, “Yeah, not too many ponies go up these steps, but that’s where you’ll find the place.”

Brushing her mane back into place, Rarity nodded and turned back to the path, “Well… we shouldn’t be up there too long. I’ll see if we can find a way to send word down of our plans.”

Spike, shuffling his bookbag onto his back and taking the sabre in his claw, stepped out of the cart as well, whispering, “I mean, they’re hirelings, they’ll stay.”

Despite forcing herself to pout at him, Rarity knew he was right. Leaving would ruin their reputation as coaches, after all. She simply nodded to the two ponies and turned back to face the path upwards.

“You think half way or nearly all the way up before the encounter?” Spike asked quietly.

Rarity slowly turned to him, “...encounter?”

Spike nodded, “Yeah, I’m honestly surprised we’ve been this long on the adventure with no proper encounter. Then again, we haven’t really left civilization yet. I suspect we’re bound to get one on the hike up.”

Rarity shook her head in confusion, “Spike, what ever do you mean?”

“Well… encounters can be pretty varied in their nature,” Spike explained, “but the general formula is you stumble across a source of conflict you hadn’t been expecting, and everything from lead up to end results is self contained. Only like half of them are plot important, most of them are just there for experience and character building.”

Rarity sighed, rather disappointed with herself for being able to follow what Spike was saying, “So you think there will be some conflict on the way up the mountain, then? Any guesses as to what?”

“Depends on if it’s plot important or not,” Spike pondered, “I’d say either we run into whoever was in the carriage or we figure out what that skittering sound earlier was.”

Nodding along absently, Rarity took the sabre from Spike, “Well… the stairs won’t climb themselves, as much as I wish they would. Come along.”

Spike hiked his bookbag and followed.

The trail up the mountain was a mix of steps carved into the raw stone and irregular surface pathways across ridges and flatter portions. The whole way, the wind swirled its way up the cliffsides, chilling Rarity despite the time of year. Ignoring the weather, the trek had proven quite scenic. The air carried a pleasant scent, as the mountainside flowers were in bloom, adding speckles of color to the otherwise barren mount.

Stopping for a moment to sit on a portion of exposed stone that seemed cleaner than the rest, Rarity took a deep breath. Maybe the altitude was getting to her, but she had a lingering feeling of unease as they’d been walking up the path. She took the moment to relax, settle down, and look out over the vast expanse visible from this high up. Down below, she could see the river winding away from the mountains, obvious even from this far that it was swollen and wrong. The expanse of hills and flats went on for what felt like forever. All at once she felt isolated. Alone.

“You alright?” Spike worriedly asked, resting his claw on her shoulder.

Rarity snapped back to reality to see the one she had apparently taken for granted, smiling softly to him, “Yeah, I was just… wondering how we got here.”

Spike perked up and looked around, “Well… Yeah, I kinda get what you mean. Like I said before, travel time all kinda blurs together. Only the stuff that seems important to the narrative ever really comes up.”

Rarity chuckled, shaking her head, “No, not like that. I mean… I’m a designer, I belong in high society, why am I…” She gestured around the mountainside she had assumed was empty, finding herself pointing at what looked to be a large building carved into the stone.

Spike blinked in surprise, looking up at the structure, “Woah.”

Rarity nodded in agreement, “That must be the temple, no? I… hadn’t realized we’d gotten so close.”

Spike turned back to her with a smirk, “Well hey, I guess you answered your own question, right? That’s why you’re here. To find this place.”

Rarity adjusted her sabre at her side, “I suppose. Let’s just get up there, figure out what’s going on, and see what we can do to fix it, yes?”

Spike was halfway through nodding in reply when he ducked down abruptly, trying to keep a low profile, “It’s back. I can hear it again.”

Eyes blown wide, Rarity ducked down as well, her mind racing for a moment before hitting on the subject, “The sk- the skittering sound?”

Spike just nodded, peering around for a moment before ushering Rarity behind a slight outcropping in the path. The moment lingered, the two of them hiding there awkwardly, and slowly Rarity started to be able to hear something as well. Not a skittering, per say, but a rustle. Something was moving towards them. Rarity took a deep breath and clutched the sabre to her side. She caught herself contemplating drawing the blade, her instincts screaming to have it out to defend herself with. She took a deep breath. Surely it was just her nerves. She’d been feeling nervous. She started to peek around the corner, sure she’d just see another passing travele-

Not fifteen feet away, a centipede the size of a pony scuttled forward, antennae to the ground along the path, tracking. Before she had even fully registered the sharp sheen of its mandibles, she’d drawn her sword, the metal shuffling against the wood of its sheath.

Spike looked up at her in shock, clearly not having expected such an act, and slowly leaned around her to see what had caused it. As his eyes locked on the insect, he ducked back behind the rocks, his voice a hush, “Not exactly durable or strong, but venomous. It’s probably tracking our scent. I’d… assume it’s hun- it’s hostile.”

“Think we could make a break for it?” Rarity whispered back.

“Doubt it,” Spike rejected, “It’s got us beat over uneven terrain with all those legs.”

Rarity sighed slowly, trying to exhale her panic. It wasn’t working. There was a legitimate monster barely a few body lengths away and it was hunting her. She had every right to be panicked right now. She looked back to Spike, seeing the fear in his eyes as well, but also an odd excitement. She couldn’t help but be slightly amused with his childishness. Still…

“I promised Twilight I’d take care of you,” Rarity announced, “Get to the temple, get their help, I’ll try to hold it off and catch up.”

Spike’s mouth was agape, “What do yo- Rarity, you have no idea how to fight things like this! You’ll get- you’ll…”

Rarity shook her head comfortingly, “I’ll be fine. I can just… keep it away from me, right? It can’t bite me if it can’t reach me.”

Spike looked at her nervously before turning to look at the structure on the mountainside, “A fight like this… will be over by the time I get back with help. Look… Rarity…”

A gentle kiss to the forehead was enough to shut Spike up. Rarity just stared at him intensely, the fear obvious in her eyes, but a layer of determination there was well. Spike bit down on his claw nervously for a moment before nodding in agreement.

With one last, deep breath, Rarity stepped out of cover, finding the insect had barely moved since it got there. A chill went through her as it turned to stare at her, glassy eyes betraying no emotion or thought. Not knowing exactly what she was doing, she raised the blade, doing her best to imitate a fencer. Spike hesitated just a moment before bolting off down the path behind her, his bag abandoned in the rocks.

Seeing Spike rush off, the beast barely took a moment to register him as prey, its body lowering as it moved with unnerving speed and ease toward them. Rarity clumsily slashed the air in front of it, leaving it to double backwards and turn again to face her, its serpentine form moving with an unfamiliar grace.

“You won’t have him,” Rarity proclaimed, mostly for herself, and took a few steps backwards, holding the sabre a good few body lengths away from her in her magical grasp.

It just stood there, sizing her up, a large portion of its attention locked on her blade. A part of Rarity understood. Magic, to a random monster, must seem impossible. She smirked, hoping that would be enough to be her edge.

Almost too fast for her to respond, the centipede rushed forward, this time aiming not to get past her, but directly for her. Another clumsy slash forced it to dodge, but failed to force it back, the creature just scuttling up the rocky walls of the path effortlessly, aiming to drop on her from above.

Pulling her blade closer to herself, she took another swipe at it, this time more directly aiming for the legs it was supporting its weight with. Sure enough, its attempt to avoid injury caused it to lose its balance and come tumbling down to the path again, writhing as it attempted to regain its footing. Rarity stepped backwards in a panic, trying to recover her distance.

It managed to squirm back upright and stared at her, empty and calculating. It doubled back on itself again, forming a bit of an s-curve, and waited. Rarity hesitated, heart pounding in her chest, not entirely sure what it was up to. Perhaps the fall had been enough to shake its will to attack? She stood there with it, staring it down, the blade heavy in her magical grasp. Maintaining a spell that far from her body was tiring, but… well she had to do it.

A short time passed, Rarity growing progressively more drained. Her blade started to sway and droop. This all felt… too purposeful. This beast wasn’t behaving like a large insect. There was some level of… agency to it.

Seizing on her moment of distraction, the centipede lunged forward, the bent back coil of body snapping straight in an instant and diving under her blade, half the distance between her and it evaporated in a single flash. Screaming, Rarity stumbled back, trying to pull her sword back into position. The creature lunged blindly, confident its strike would land and the fight would be over. Its face smashed into the flat of the sabre, pulled in the way without a second to spare. Still, the force of the impact hit Rarity hard, nearly knocking the sword from her grasp. She staggered again, giving the creature more than enough time to line up another strike.

Thinking quickly, Rarity moved the blade into the way again, parrying the strike. This time, the insect must have seen it coming, as it tried to bat the sabre clean of her grasp with a swipe of its head. It succeeded, the strength of the blow winding Rarity, her magic not nearly exercised enough for this.

There was a resounding boing.

Rarity looked up at the centipede through exhausted eyes. The Sabre was simply hovering in midair, and the creature was staggering with a huge dent in its carapace. It only took Rarity a moment to understand. She smirked and grabbed the blade out of the air, holding it up once more. She didn’t have the strength to block one of those blows again, but… she wasn’t going to need it.

Staggering backwards in confusion, the monster looked at her again, trying to judge the situation. The longer she fought it, the surer she was that it was intelligent somehow. Still, it was clearly attacking her. Perhaps, just perhaps…

“What do you want?” Rarity called out, just in case.

It pulled back in clear surprise, which could have been from recognizing the words or from simple reaction to loud noises. Still, it returned to sizing Rarity up and lining up its next strike.

Rarity was more than ready for it this time, having grown used to its attacks. She let go of the blade as it was about to strike it, and the sabre held position in space without effort, easily deflecting the strike. Her reach advantage was more than paying off, but still she knew her body could only take so much more of this. She’d have to… do… something.

The blade caught the sunlight, edge glimmering. If this thing wasn’t going to back off… what? She didn’t really have options. All she had was a sword. She… couldn’t, though. It was… it was clearly intelligent. The thought shook her.

That momentary lapse of guard was enough. It drove forward again, around her guard, using the cliffside once more to brace against and lunge at her. Rarity jumped backwards as fast as she could, but a sudden burning overtook her foreleg. She tumbled back, instincts kicking in, and pulled the blade to her side again. Her back hoof scraped off the edge of the cliff, causing her to stumble forward away from the edge.

In the time it took her to properly recover, it was upon her. The sword wouldn’t reach in time. She did the only thing that made any sense to her. Her hoof flew forward, smashing it in the injured portion of its head, the dent loudly snapping to become a proper break. The creature shrieked, the sound coming as if from its entire body, and swung around wildly, catching Rarity again with its mandibles, this time a shallower slash across her chest. Ignoring the pain, Rarity pressed the flat of her blade against its mouth and twisted, catching the mandibles and twisting the head aside.

“It’s you or me, love,” Rarity justified.

She torqued harder, flipping its upper body sideways and off the edge of the mountain, the remainder of its body rolling instinctively to follow the front’s motions, the whole mass tumbling down the short cliff face to the rocks below. Rarity stared down at it with the same curiosity that causes ponies to watch train crashes.

As it writhed on the rocks below, she felt ill. It… she’d just kil- She shook her head, stepping away from the cliff, trying to deny her thoughts. It was the only choice. It had… She touched a hoof to her injuries, a deep gash in her foreleg and a shallower one across her chest. Those looked… bad. She’d have to…

She felt woozy. The shock of it all? Possibly. She’d run much of her magic dry and needed to recover also, so perhaps it was that? But what was it that Spike had said?

She looked down at her wounds and remembered, “Venomous.”

Rarity stumbled, staggered, and swayed. Why was the path getting closer to her face? She felt a painful thump on her muzzle and went black.

Chapter 8: Toward the Pinacle

With a deep breath, Rarity looked up at the tall, volcanic peak, watching an eagle glide on the thermals above it. Spike put a claw on her shoulder to reassure her and she turned back to him with a smile and a nod. They both could sort of feel it. The conflict coming. Even without evidence, they knew this wouldn’t be simple. When they asked the sages to scry the location of the carriage they’d spotted, it led them here. Now, standing beside it, looking up at the snowless mountain peak that Rarity could unconsciously tell was the one she saw in her vision…

“Hey, look at this,” Spike called.

Rarity blinked back to awareness to find him climbing all over the mysterious carriage, going through its contents, “SPIKE! What in Equestria are you doing?”

Spike looked down at the bag he’d opened and back at Rarity, “Seeing what we can learn about them.”

Rarity’s expression hardened, “Spike, we don’t know they’ve done anything worth investigating, and even if we did, you’re going through somepony’s personal belongings.”

Spike wanted to argue, but he just sighed and nodded, closing the bag, “You’re right… sorry, I’m just so… wrapped up in the mindset.”

“Just get down from there,” Rarity replied with a sigh, shaking her head.

Setting the bag back down, Spike noticed something under it, “Hey… look at this.”

Rarity looked at what he was staring at, finding it had been sitting on an ornately decorated box, detailed in the same style of filigree and freework she’d been seeing around the region and on the sabre. She held the basket hilt up to it just to be sure.

“Well that,” Rarity explained, “was in plain view and we just happened to notice it.”

Spike grinned, “Actually, it was under the bag.”

“I can assure you it wasn’t,” Rarity said with a wink, “But that’s… odd. Perhaps it’s just a prolific artisan of old?”

There was a dull click and the case opened, Spike pulling his claw out of the keyhole. Rarity gaped at him, unable to form words.

“Ooops,” Spike faked concern as he opened the case.

“Come now, Spike,” she chided, “You need to stop it.”

“Looks like…” Spike sniffed the box, “Correction. Smells like magical components. Box is mostly empty, guessing they already took most of it up.”

Rarity furrowed her brow at Spike, waiting for him to close the box again and cover it, “I hope you understand I’ll be telling Twilight about this. How’d you even get that open?”

With an idle shrug, Spike dismounted the carriage, “Dunno, really. Must have been a cheap lock? Looked like they replaced it, like it wasn’t the original.”

Glancing at the detailed work of the filigree and hummed curiously, “Guess craftsmanship really is going downhill these days.”

Spike stared back up the pass to the top of the volcano, “So they’re… probably getting ready for some sort of ritual. Probably using the heat of the magma. Maybe the ice melt is incidental?”

Rarity huffed, “Negligence is not an excuse for what they’ve done.”

“Or they think it’s worth the cost,” Spike quietly pondered.

“Either way,” Rarity remarked, “We need to get up there.”

Spike groaned lightly, “This walk is gonna suuuuuck.”

After many hours and many breaks, Rarity and Spike found themselves much of the way to the summit. The path up had been… oddly well tread. They were certainly not the first to head to the top by this route. The whole affair left Rarity… on edge. She couldn’t come up with any good reason for there to be a well worn path up to the top of a volcano.

“Let’s take another break before we get there,” Spike decided, “We might need our energy.”

Rarity took the excuse to flop down on a larger rock, happy to get off her hooves, “Could I have another of those snack bars?”

Spike chuckled and rummaged through his bag to find one, setting it beside her, “No worries, I brought plenty.”

Rarity opened the little paper wrapper and started to munch on the granola. She gazed out over the mountaintops, just taking in the view while she let her hooves relax for a moment. All the slightly snowy caps were melting, but that was to be expected in the cool, but above freezing air they were in. It really stood out to her that the peak they were climbing had nearly no snow atop it, what little was left running down the side in rivulets. She pressed the back of her hoof to the ground, focusing, and eventually decided that the stone was warmer than the air, even in the shaded portions. Knowing that the mountain was a dormant volcano… this troubled her.

“Think that’s the cave?” Spike called out, pointing to a spot still quite far away.

Despite staring, Rarity just shook her head, “Spike, darling, you know you have better eyes than I.”

“Oh, heh,” Spike chuckled in embarrassment, “Sorry about that. But yeah, there’s a dark spot in the mountainside that looks about right nearish the peak. I think the trail ends there.”

Rarity closed her eyes and rubbed over them, trying to work out her exhaustion from the hike up. As she did so she felt… something. A sensation tugging at her magic. She focused and opened her eyes, trying to feel where the draw was coming from. It was strange, but she could certainly tell she was feeling connected to something, something up in the same direction Spike had gestured.

“We…” Rarity mumbled, “Are we sure… following the beckoning is a good idea?”

Spike turned to face her quickly, tilting his head, “What do you mean?”

“Somehow… this all feels too convenient,” she mused, “Like it was… laid out for us.”

“Fate, right?” Spike counterposed.

Rarity shook her head, “No… more like… bait.”

Spike blinked at her for a moment, but looked down and started to stroke his chin like a stallion with a beard, “But the sabre is leading you here, and it’s… not evil or anything, right?”

After a long pause, Rarity looked down at it, “Do we… know that?”

“I think it stands to reason?” Spike offered.

They both sat there for a moment, their sudden suspicions drawing their gaze to the blade in its makeshift sheath. All they knew about it, they’d been told by a party with an agenda. One that many suspected were truly at fault for the problems at hand. They shared a look between each other.

“Well,” Rarity continued quietly, “I think… the only answers we’re going to get are at the top of this mountain.”

Spike nodded seriously, “But I agree… we should assume it’s a trap.”

There was a long string of silence as the thoughts stewed in their minds, but Rarity finally saw fit to break the calm, “Spike… I think we should have a plan for what to do if it is and ambush.”

Spike sighed and nodded, “That’s… not a bad idea, I guess.”

“Well I was thinking about it,” Rarity started to explain, “considering we don’t know what we might run into up there, and we can’t plan around the terrain or anything like that, we’ll have to do something that we can guarantee will work regardless. That got me thi-”

Spike’s hand shot forward to cover her mouth, “Nope. Not while we’re sitting here.”

Rarity squeaked in surprise, but quickly used her magic to pull his claws away from her face, “What?”

“Not while we’re taking a break, let’s talk about it later when we’re doing something boring, like a bit after we start walking,” Spike explained.

With an awkward chuckle, Rarity asked, “You really that tired of the walk that you need a distraction?”

“Nah,” Spike waved his claw, “It’s a matter of not wanting to explain the plan during narrative time.”

Rarity just blinked at him.

Seeing her confusion, Spike elaborated, “A moment like this, downtime, a serious conversation… is exactly the moment you don’t want to go into details on your plan. Ever notice that a plan that gets explained on screen never works and a plan that’s formed off screen always does? It’s a matter of anticipation. If the viewer know what’s supposed to happen, it’s so that they understand what’s going wrong when it fails.”

Rarity’s stare grew yet more confused.

“Look, just…” Spike started to reply in an apologetic tone, “Would it hurt us in any way to talk about it in just a few moments?”

“N- no, I don’t suppose so,” Rarity mumbled in reply.

Spike chuckled and shrugged, “So can you… just roll with it? If you don’t think it’s worse and I think it’s better… let’s do it my way?”

With furrowed brow, Rarity muttered out a quiet, “Ooookayyy… so what do you want to talk about… now then?”

Spike stroked his chin as he pondered, “Something not very plot important, I guess. That or hypotheses about what might be about to go wrong. I mean… if we show we know it might happen, it likely won’t.”

“Or…” Rarity returned, “at the very least we have the thoughts in our head and are looking out for them, yes?”

“Sure, whatever,” Spike shrugged, “My biggest concern is that there’s more than the one carriage worth of them up there. This path looks-”

“Well travelled, yes,” Rarity agreed, “Either there are more of them up there, or it’s been used repeatedly for a long while.”

Spike nodded as he thought, “It could be that they’re doing something that takes a lot of long term planning and repeated action. That would account for them being seen going here over and over.”

With a sigh, Rarity admitted, “True… but we should be on the lookout either way.”

There was a pause for a moment as they pondered, trying to come up with things they hadn’t anticipated.

“Another centipede,” Rarity whispered with a shudder.

“Oh… y- yeah…” Spike replied, “If they had the magic to do it once… I mean, assuming we’re right and that was connected.”

“It had to have been,” Rarity nodded, “And… I’d hate to see more of it.”

“Probably not a centipede, though, since you showed you could down one,” Spike said plainly, before realizing.

Rarity shuddered, having pushed the memory out of her mind, and not relishing having it brought back, “Y- yes… if it comes down to it again… I can… barely.”

Spike stepped over to pat her on the shoulder, “But hey, it’ll probably not happen, right? They wouldn’t pull the same trick twice.”

Rarity shook one last time to get it out out of her system before looking up toward the peak again, watching that eagle from before circle. After a short pause, she sighed disappointedly, like she felt a fool for not already noticing it.

“They already know we’re coming,” she stated flatly, nodding up at the bird.

Spike turned to look, watching it as, the instant it was spotted, the eagle started to drift out of sight, “Shit.”

“Keep an eye out for it,” Rarity ordered, “Even if they know we’re coming, we don’t want them to have more information than that.”

With a nod, Spike adjusted his bag again, “Wait a little bit longer to throw off their timing info, then keep going?”

Rarity just quietly nodded, “I don’t think we can afford to turn back now…”

It was exactly as she’d seen. The cave entrance… was so familiar. The slightest hints of remaining snowcap were melting down, running off downhill, joining with every other drop of melt to swell the river far below. She stepped forth, sabre at her side, towards the circular volcanic tube, dark, extending off into the distance. Far away there was the dull glow of unicorn magic. It was all… just as she’d foreseen. She didn’t like it in the slightest.

“Look right?” Spike asked, reminding her that there was at least one thing different from her dream.

She smiled and patted him on the head, “Just like we planned, okay?”

Spike nodded, clutching the scrap of paper in his claws, “Yup.”

Rarity shot another quick glance skyward, trying to be certain the air was clear of that eagle from before. As best she could tell, it was long gone. Still, she could feel the strange draw of the other’s magic from within, and was more than a little concerned it didn’t only work one way.

With a deep breath each, they stepped into the cave, the warmth of the area hitting them quickly. Both of them knew without needing to confirm it with each other. This volcano wasn’t hardly as dormant as the maps suggested.

Rarity took point, with Spike carrying her blade behind her, not wanting to give away their position by the glow of her horn. As they neared the light in the distance, they could finally see what was ahead of them.

The daylight was shining down upon the caldera of the mountain, lighting up the scene. Two burly earth pony stallions were working with picks, carving something into the ground, like a massive arcane circle. More importantly than that, though, was the figure standing directly at the exit to the tunnel, her back turned to the two adventurers. A unicorn, horn aglow, overseeing them.

Rarity signalled for Spike to stop, glancing along the walls of the tunnel slowly. Perfectly smooth, volcanic stone, a dead lava tube, no chance of a pony hiding in the darkness. It looked like it was just these three. Despite the fact they were at a disadvantage in numbers, Rarity took solace in the fact that they were the only ones apparently armed. If her worst worries did come to pass, even those strong looking stallions would hesitate around a sword.

With a deep breath, Rarity tried to weigh her options, but was cut short. The unicorn before her turned around, a smug grin just barely visible on her face in the light scattering into the darkened tunnel. It wasn’t a face Rarity knew, oddly enough. There was a part of her surprised that the narrative had never introduced this pony. She blinked a bit as she realized what nonsense that thought was.

“‘Hero,’” came the mare’s cold voice, a layer of spite in her tone at saying the word, “I was expecting you. Thank you for bringing our sword.”

Chapter 9: The Apex

“What do you mean, ‘your swo-’” Spike started to spit back, but found himself cut off by Rarity, a hoof held in front of him.

There they stood, face to face with… somepony, her two coaches noticing the exchange in the distance and hurrying over with mining picks in their mouths. The caldera of the high peak was warm, heat rising from the stone itself. Rarity slowly let her gaze drift back to the unicorn mare in front of her, the one eyeing her sword with hardly hidden anger.

“The name is Rarity, my dear,” she replied with a tactful smile, years of pleasantries with annoying customers rushing to her in an instant, “And you?”

“Fortune Wheatfield,” she coldly replied, clearly having intended to give her name anyway, “and you’d have known that already if you weren’t just some random passing outsider.”

Spike quietly leaned in to ask Rarity in a hush, “What’s she got up her butt?”

Rarity tsked her tongue at him, replying just as softly, “Where are your manners, dear?”

“Dunno, I’ll look for them when we get back down the mountain,” he snarked.

Turning to the mare, Rarity held the pasted on grin, a cold fire in her stare, “Well, I can’t exactly deny that. Given how much of the region your family owns, I’m sure you have quite the notoriety. I must say, you all are truly lucky that the flooding hasn’t reached your lands yet, hm?”

“I think we both know luck has nothing to do with it,” Fortune replied, a dastardly grin on her cheeks as her tone shifted to one of self-admitting lies, “That’s what happens when you build off the floodplain, isn’t it? Why risk the weather when you can afford to irrigate.”

Spike gave Rarity a quick nudge, nodding to the two henchmen, who had both ceased their work and were returning slowly, heavy iron picks held in their mouths.

With a subtle acknowledging nod, Rarity returned her attention to the mare, “What say we both quit playing games and get to the point here, hm? Your family surely makes enough money that simply flooding out the competition isn’t your aim, so what is?”

Fortune’s laughter was filled with an ominous brightness, as if that line of thought was the best joke she’d heard in years, “I’ve already said that, didn’t I? You brought the sword. Now we can talk.”

The statement caught Rarity a little off guard, glancing back at the sabre in Spike’s arms, “Sorry, darling, afraid you’re going to have to be a little more specific than that.”

“Give it to me and I end this all,” Fortune replied gently.

Spike chuckled, muttering, “As if she could even do anything with it.”

Rarity… wasn’t so sure, “Depends. Why do you want it?”

“To destroy it,” came the answer, plain and serious as could be.

The sentence lingered in the air as the two stallions made it to their boss’ side, flanking her like bodyguards. Rarity stared them all down, trying to get a read for the mare. Something about her… it was like staring at an outfit with no accessories. It all fit together already, but there were still a few pieces missing.

A little unsure how to proceed, Rarity decided to just try to keep her talking, “So… the whole danger, the flooding… was just to get me here? To force the sabre to look for a hero?”

“The temple keeps it under lock and key until it decides to go save the region,” she elaborates, waving her hoof dismissively, “So I needed a way to get it to come out. Threatening the area was the most obvious approach.”

“And the displaced families are, what,” Spike practically spat out, gesturing at the mare with the sabre, “Acceptable losses for your scheme?”

Fortune turned and smiled at the little dragon, “More like a convenient side benefit. You were right, I’m not doing this for money, but I’m not going to turn down a little profit along the way. I believe you’ll find that all of those families have already been given handsome buyout offers on their land. It should prove very fertile when the waters recede.”

The phrase “Righteous Fury” was not one Rarity had ever really comprehended until now. Sure, certain things made her angry, so she completely understood the last half, but she always felt guilty for being so annoyed when all was said and done. This? Her coat bristled as she stared down the unicorn mare before her.

“Wait,” Spike pondered, recollecting the details of the conversation, “You called this your sword. For real, what’d you mean?”

“It was originally commissioned by my ancestors,” Fortune calmly explained, “Back when my great, great grandmother was the head of the sages. It is, by any reasonable definition, ours.”

Spike stared for a moment before raising a finger, “Ah! Fortune both means wealth and foretold future. Clever, clever. I was wondering why a unicorn family ran a farm.”

“After the… disagreement, we turned to using our skills for profit. You’d be surprised just how quickly you can amass wealth when you can augur your financial decisions,” Fortune snickered in amusement, “Buying land was just a matter of smart investment practices.”

A loud, angry huff drew all attention back to Rarity, “How could you possibl-”

Spike quickly jabbed her in the ribs, whispering, “Hey, I wanna smack ‘em around as much as you do, but hush up. She’s telling us like… everything. Let’s just let her have her evil monologue in peace, it doesn’t look like she’s stalling or anything.”

Rarity glared at Spike for a long moment, but sort of accepted what he was saying. Doesn’t mean she had to be happy about it.

It was Spike’s turn to put on a fake smile, “So, you mentioned a disagreement? What’s that all about.”

With a heavy, derisive snort, Fortune continued, “Times change, years pass, and my family could see that the Temple of Sages was a relic. Though it had its role when it was founded… we live in a new era now. When my family brought it up… we found no agreeing voices. In the end, Dowell and all of his compatriots wouldn’t even allow debate on the need for the Sabre. Damn puritans thinking their way would always be the way… How can we be so backwards as to follow the will of enchanted iron when we live in a century of reason, where the only deic powers we believe in are the ones who walk the land and run our nations? Can we truly compare this blade’s echoes of divination to the undeniable will of the Elements of Harmon-”

An awkward silence hung in the air. The longer it went on, the wider Rarity’s smug grin got. Fortune stood there for what felt like many minutes, gears grinding away, until she slowly looked into Rarity’s eyes. The two stallions, standing bodyguard, seemed all but completely lost.

“You said your name… Was Rarity?” the mare finally managed to ask.

With a light bow of the head, Rarity chimed back, “Rarity of Ponyville, yes.”

Fortune seemed quite tense as she formulated her next few words, “Well… can you say you disagree?”

Rarity managed to resist the urge to disagree purely from spite, but that didn’t stop the facial twitch. Still, when taking the time to think it over… “Why bother? You gain nothing but a chance to snub a group that kicked you out of their little clubhouse. They’re doing no harm to anypony. I see no good reason to erase and deny this region’s history like this.”

Closing her eyes, Fortune took a deep breath, and as she exhaled she was even more determined, “I was afraid you’d say that. That’s why I prepared for it.”

With a swish of her head to the side, the mare lit her horn, the arcane mark her goons had been carving beginning to glow the same color as her phosphorescence. A tremor shot through the ground, spurring an instinctive panic in Rarity. The stone beneath their hooves grew warmer.

“Are you insane?” Spike shouted, gripping the paper within his claws tightly.

Fortune just turned to him with a grin, “You don’t go up against fate without an insurance policy. I’m getting my revenge one way or another.”

“So what, you’ll destroy everything just to make a point?” Rarity shot, “How many innocent lives-”

“You can still stop this,” Fortune called back over the growing rumble, the sound of cracking stone, “Give me the sabre. I can reverse this all.”

Dug out pits in the carved runes cracked and fizzled, holes opening into the limestone caldera cap, heat radiating up from them. The air swirled, earth shaking, heat rising. The two stallions were far less adept than Rarity at holding in their panic, even if they knew they plan their instincts were screaming to flee. Fortune just stood there, head held high, madness in her eyes.

As thin tendrils of magma started to be drawn skyward by the swirling magics, Rarity turned to shout over the noise, “What is this?”

With a cackle, Fortune called back, “I only have one target. I intend to hit it.”

The twisted arcs of molten limestone traced their way slowly upwards to meet at the midpoint of the huge magic circle, coalescing into an orb of magma. Rarity pulled her eyes from it, “You’re crazy. How could you… You just don’t care about anyone else, do you?”

“How big a sphere do you think I’d need to destroy the temple?” Fortune mused, eyes wide with glee, “It’s made of stone, after all… I’ll probably need quite a bit.”

Rarity found herself drawing her blade, holding it just before her, “You disgust me.”

The two guards snapped enough to their senses to stand between the two mares, but they were clearly too intimidated by a furious unicorn with a sword to just go for Rarity. Spike snapped back to look at his travelling partner, just as shocked.

“Rare…” he shook, grabbing her shoulder, “What are you… doing?”

With a deep breath, Rarity sneered back, “Saving everyone in that temple.”

In a flash, Rarity drove the Sabre forward. The guards jumped in the way… but she just held it there, pommel facing Fortune, fury in her eyes. Shaking, she let go of it, leaving it suspended in the air between them.

“You win,” Rarity spat, “Take it.”

They all stood in shock, but none more than Spike, “W- WHAT?! You’re kidding!”

The sphere above them stopped growing, hot stone nearly the size of a house hanging in the air above them, the convection of it nearly baking the occupants of the caldera. As the shock of the act started to pass, Fortune let out a breathy laugh, disbelief in her eyes as she stared at the blade. Her blade. It… worked. The laughing continued, covering her face with a hoof as she held a low chortle, unsure how else to process her victory.

Turning slowly to Spike, Rarity’s face was stern, yet apologetic, “I know. But no artefact is worth dozens of lives.”

Spike wanted to rebut, yet… he turned back to stare up at the orb. Swallowing hard, he started, “We could still-”

“No need,” Rarity cut him off, turning back to glare at Fortune, “As loathe as I am to let her win… It’s over now.”

“You’re right,” Fortune flatly noted, “It’s over. The last remnant, the only remaining relic… The age of adventurers and heroes has ended.”

One of the guards reached forward to grab the sabre out of the air, tugging at the handle fruitlessly. Rarity found herself smirking again. The other tried. It didn’t budge.

“Oh, get out of my way, you idiots,” Fortune pushed them away, lighting her horn and grabbing the sabre by the grip, pulling it back towards herself.

“Wait, what?” Spike called in shock.

Fortune replied with mockery in her voice, “I did tell you this was my family’s sword, no?”

Well… there goes that fun. Rarity closed her eyes and sighed. Still, this was the right choice. Her eyes snapped open as she felt the ground rumble again. She turned to see the sabre floating towards one of the open magma holes, about to take its last bath.

“The spell?” Rarity called, “You’ve stopped it, right?”

“Hm?” Fortune turned back to her, a smug smile, “Oh, that? I changed my mind.”

Rarity locked up. How had she been so stupid.

“Well,” Fortune called to her minions, “Don’t just stand there like dunces, grab them.”

Before the stallions could process the order, Rarity’s horn was lit and her magic wrapped around the hilt of the sabre, grappling with Fortune’s. She tugged it back towards herself, hoping to catch the other mare off guard, but found her grip firm. Fortune was far closer to the sword, far more able to apply her strength. Still… Rarity wasn’t about to give up.

As the two stallions lunged for Rarity and Spike, the magma began to fill upwards into the sphere once more, Fortune’s distraction sending hot globs of stone slamming to the ground as the spell’s containment was tested. A fat slap of liquid limestone slammed to the ground between the two sides, stallions diving backwards to not be burnt alive. The momentary distraction and sudden kick of adrenaline was enough to give Rarity a second wind, giving the sabre a firm tug as she sought to wrest control of it.

Splitting her attention yet further, Fortune flicked her horn skyward again, flaming ropes of magma trailing down to the ground around the group. Just as Rarity thought she had the upper hoof, a loud cry came from the sky, an eagle diving towards her face, talons extended. Rarity dropped her magic in shock, stumbling just clear of the attack, a thin red line left from cheek to nose.

If there’s one thing any polite dragon will deny, it’s their predator instincts. Spike was in a fight for his life now. His pupils narrowed, senses heightened. With a sudden lunge, the chubby little dragon kicked off the ground with force, managing to get cover the distance in a flash and grab the eagle by the leg, taking it to the ground with him.

Rarity stood there in disbelief for a moment, turning back to see that apparently the sudden release of her grip had thrown off Fortune just as much. They only had moments. She was recovering and about to finish the job.

“Spike! Now!” Rarity cried out over the cacophonous rumbling, drawing everyone’s attention.

Dragged back out of instinct and to his senses, Spike turned to face her, confused for just a moment before remembering what he had been holding in his left hand. Shoving the eagle away, he took a deep breath in, feeling that ember deep within him welling, and belched out a gout of flame across the crumpled paper in his claws. Adrenaline rush still slamming his heart in his chest, he turned to Rarity and gave a big thumbs up.

Fortune only registered what Spike was doing after it was already done. She stormed closer to Rarity, dodging a patch of molten marble, bellowing in anger, “What was that, what have you done?”

“We’re ending this story,” Rarity stared back with fiery confidence, “A bit of a classical approach to narrative, but there’s something to be said for traditional methods.”

Fortune stared at her in bewildered rage, “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Deus Ex Machina, darling,” Rarity beamed.

With a resounding clap and crackle, a nova of purple electricity burst into a blinding white flash. Standing there among the drippings of the tremendous molten orb, fur and feathers still smoking from overextending her teleport range, a lavender alicorn scanned her surroundings with a cold, calculating fury. Just barely inclining her head to observe the object above her, Twilight Sparkle let out another bright discharge of magic and the whole caldera stood still, color draining from everything but the ponies and dragon within it as time stopped around them.

The Princess of Friendship only had one word to say, the syllables freezing as they cut the air, “Explain.”

Chapter 10: Epilogue

With a pained groan, Twilight collapsed to the bed, clutching her head. Spike trailed close behind, laying a hot towel across her forehead. It felt like years ago that Rarity and Spike had rented this inn room for the weekend, but it hadn’t even been used since they left.

Trailing after the two of them, Rarity closed the door behind herself, “You sure you’re going to be alright, Twilight?”

With a defeated groan, Twilight grumbled out, “I shouldn’t have wasted so much magic… I could have gotten that done with half as much…”

Chuckling, Rarity sat at her bedside, “Well, either way about it, it’s over.”

Cracking an eye open, Twilight peered with irritation, “How did you even let yourselves get in that situation? I thought I told you to keep Spike safe.”

Rarity and Spike slowly turned to face each other, each chuckling awkwardly. Things… had gotten away from either of them. This weekend trip to a small town, trying to find-

“Oh for f-” Rarity started, cutting herself off as she realized, “I never even figured out who made the sabre.”

Spike offered a shrug, “Fortune should know, she seemed to know her family history pretty well, we could always head to the jail and shake her until she tells us.”

Twilight whistled to grab both of their attention again, “Oh, no. You’re not dodging my question like that.’

Rarity turned back to look at her and chuckled nervously, “The more we found… darling, things just got out of hoof. We-”

“Out of hoof?” Twilight shouted, quickly regretting it as her migraine panged. With a groan, she persisted, “If that unicorn had slipped up with her magic, you two would both have died. What were you thinking?”

Guilt flooded Rarity. She… couldn’t deny a word of it, but…

“Twilight,” Spike interrupted her thoughts. He reached forward, resting his palm on the purple mare’s cheek, “If we hadn’t done it, no one would have. Everypony in that temple would be dead right now and that psycho would still be out there.”

Twilight pouted back at him, “You could have just… let the guard know. Anything. You didn’t have to do it yourselves… all alone…”

Taking a deep breath, Spike spoke with determination, “Sometimes… what you’re doing is more important than yourself.”

Both of the mares were more than shocked by the statement, but Rarity was the first to speak, “This wasn’t some dalliance that we did just for the fun of it. We saw something… that only we could do. I don’t think we could have waited for backup. Twi-”

Her words were cut short by Twilight lunging forward to hug the both of them, holding a head to each of her shoulders, “I was so worried about you two. When I got that letter that you were going north to investigate…”

With a deep sigh, Rarity returned the embrace, “I’m sorry for putting you through all of this.”

Twilight held the hug for a long while before loosening her grip, sitting back to look at them both again, “I’m just happy you two are safe now.”

“Anything you survive is a good learning experience,” Spike joked.

Twilight shot him a disapproving look before sighing and shaking her head, “I guess you’re not too wrong there… Just be more careful where you go learning from now on.”

“Says the mare who tried to solo Nightmare Moon,” Spike retorted.

Twilight sought a reply, but was just left holding a hoof up like she was about to say something. As the moment lingered, Rarity began to giggle, and soon after Twilight and Spike followed her lead. This time, it was Rarity’s turn to start the hug.

“I should have had more faith in you two, I guess,” Twilight admitted quietly, “It’s not like either of you are strangers to this sort of thing.”

“Whether or not we’d admit it,” Rarity added.

With a deep sigh, Twilight nodded, “Just let me rest for a bit, I’ll make sure to take care of the legal end of things when I wake up.”

With a quiet chuckle, Rarity took a step towards the door, “I’ll leave you be. Spike?”

“I’ll stay here and look after her,” he replied, giving a thumbs up.

With that, Rarity left her friends be. She… needed to take a walk.

Surlin was fairly quiet as the sun set. Sure, there were ponies milling about, going through their business after work hours, but the streets were empty by comparison to Ponyville at the same time of day. Perhaps because of all the families that had already left. Rarity moved without any conscious direction, wandering wherever her hooves took her.

She found herself on a bridge, staring down into the river’s waters. There… was a lot she wasn’t quite over. Life or death… she reached up to trace the narrow streak of torn skin across her cheek, held together by butterfly bandages. How many times had she almost…

She felt woozy. She… was no adventurer. This wasn’t her life. She just… wanted to go back to her studio. No prophecies, no swords, no…

A sound nearby hit her and she snapped to face it, ready for conflict. Nearby, slowly approaching, was the High Sage. He bowed his head lightly.

“Scroll,” Rarity acknowledged, “What brings you down from the temple?”

“When word reached us of what happened at the summit…” he tooks a deep breath, “I’m glad to have heard you made it out alright.”

Glancing down at the little trace of blood on her hoof, she laughed nervously, a slight twinge of pain in her cheek, “Well… not too worse for the wear.”

Scroll looked the injury over and smiled, “Would you like me to heal that up for you? I’d hate for it to scar badly.”

“Oh, thank-” Rarity started to accept. There was just a brief pause before she decided, “Thank you for the offer, but… it shouldn’t scar too badly.”

“Are you sure?” he asked calmly, “It wouldn’t be a bother for me.”

Reaching up to touch her cheek again, Rarity smiled, “This… is a part of me now. I might not be an adventurer… but I suppose I’m a hero, yes?”

The sage chuckled, a smile forming, “Fair enough. It’s a clean cut, you should heal well enough.”

Rarity bowed in thanks and turned back to watch the waters. She meant it. This adventure… was a part of her now. She didn’t want to deny that.

“Not to talk business while you’re still recovering,” Scroll quietly began, “But what of the Sword?”

Rarity turned back to look at him, “Hm? Oh, it’s fine. I was worried she’d dropped it into the magma, but then we just found it hovering in the tubes. I have it back in my room if you’re here to pick it up.”

Scroll paused, musing, “Usually it returns to the Temple when it is done. Peculiar.”

“You don’t think there’s more to do, do you?” Rarity asked nervously.

Taking a deep breath, Scroll replied, “Perhaps, but… I feel like it would make it known if there was more to be done. As it stands… perhaps it just wants to stay with you.”

Cocking an eyebrow, Rarity asked, “Are you… sure? I feel like it belongs here with you all, not with some dressmaker.”

Grinning softly, he explained, “We don’t decide where it goes. It does. If it has chosen to stay with you, that is its will. We’ll just have to apply our skills to something else in the meantime. After all, there’s quite a lot of cleanup here, and it’s in some ways our fault as well.”

Rarity turned back to the river, noticing the water level seemed lower than the dampness on the walls of the channel, “True enough. I guess the hero doesn’t usually stick around for the cleanup, hm?”

With a shrug, Scroll noted, “Adventurers usually wander on to their next quest, true.”

Turning to Scroll with a wide smile, Rarity nearly sang, “Well good thing I’m not an adventurer then. Where am I needed?”

Chapter 1: The Chosen One

It was a normal day like any other. Ponyville town square was in the full swing of a market day, ponies passing through the stands doing their shopping. Among them trotted Rarity, entirely absorbed in her shopping list. She slowly made her way through the stalls, trying to remember who sold the best dandelion leaves, when something caught her attention.

She heard a whistling. Now, Rarity was no stranger to the occasional whistle in her direction from a passing stallion, but this felt different. It was constant, steady, and above her. Rarity looked upward, noting that she was the only pony who seemed to have responded to the noise yet. There was a tiny glint in the air, as if something metallic was-

The clang was almost ear-splitting as the object slammed into the ground with force, sending a cloud of dust and chunks of shattered cobblestone into the air. Rarity panicked and jumped back from the noise, debris flying up from the ground and peppering her with tiny cuts. The shock of it all was too much for her. She felt light-headed. Everything went black.

“Rarity!”

As she blinked back to consciousness, Rarity found herself looking up into a pair of rosy pink eyes, “Wh... “

Dash stepped back, checking her friend over for wounds, “Rare, you alright? I flew over when I heard the noise, what…”

Rarity could see Rainbow had turned, her eyes locked on something behind her, “I’m fine, Rainbow. I was just startled, is all.”

“You had me worried. I mean, after that noise, seeing you on the ground…” Rainbow trailed off, not really wanting to say more, but her eyes stayed locked on whatever she’d been looking at.

Rarity shakily stood, “I just fainted, darling. You know how I can b-”

The words froze in her throat as she saw what Rainbow had been staring at. A few feet away, no more than a few inches from where Rarity had been standing when she’d heard the noise in the first place, a sword had punched into the cobble courtyard, stabbed through solid stone and wedged in place. Her mind filled with thoughts she’d wished it hadn’t. If she had been just one step forwards…

“You’re alright, that’s what matters,” Dash replied, gently patting Rarity on the back.

Rarity was stuck, staring at the blade in the middle of the road. As the flashes of dark imagination faded from her mind, she slowly accepted the blade in front of her as a real thing. It was an ornate straight sabre, the blade shining and clean, with a hilt clearly made to fit around the muzzle when held. Even to her untrained eye, Rarity could see that the sword was the work of a master, with an almost impossible amount of etched filigree on the silver hilt and a glimmering red gem on the pommel. For just the slightest of moments, she was so drawn in by the beauty of it that she forgot it had nearly killed her.

Rainbow quickly looked Rarity over, clearly bothered by the way she was acting, “Hey… Are you alright? C’mon, we should probably get Nurse Redheart to look you over, clean up those cuts.”

Snapping out of her thoughts, Rarity touched a hoof to her face, tiny lines of blood on her hoof when she drew it back. Nodding in silent agreement, she wordlessly followed Rainbow, her mind still caught on trying to figure out what had just happened.

With only a few small bandages on her face and a diagnosis of minor shock, Rarity was quickly released and stepped back out onto the streets of Ponyville. She wasn’t really sure what to do and where to go next, her thoughts still scattered by what had happened. Rarity reached for her bags to grab her shopping list, only to find both absent. Her thoughts flashing back to waking up shakily next to Rainbow, she realized she must have dropped her things when she fell.

Rarity felt a tremor go through her, a part of her unwilling to go to the place she’d just… Shaking the thought from her mind, she slowly made her way back to the town square. She’d just grab her bag and leave. She’d just try to ignore the sabre in the ground. She’d-

When the spot came into view, she saw Twilight and Spike standing near the sword, Twilight clearly taking notes and Spike nervously clutching Rarity’s bags. The poor little guy looked so worried about her. Her previous hesitations vanished at once, replaced with wanting to reassure her little Spikey. She put on as calm and collected an expression as she could manage and trotted up to the two of them.

“-way this could have fallen with this much force and not shattered,” Twilight narrated as she wrote her notes, “Look at the way it went straight through this paver, it must have fallen from at leas- Oh, hey, you’re okay.”

Rarity grinned as Twilight abruptly noticed her standing there, her smile growing even wider as the little dragon dropped her bags and rushed over to give Rarity a hug, “I’m fine, darling. Just a few cuts and bruises, nothing serious.”

Spike let go and looked up at Rarity, “Oh my gosh, I was so worried about you. We heard that noise from the castle, and when Rainbow said she found you unconsc-”

“I said I’m fine, Spike,” Rarity interrupted with a soft nuzzle to the side of his face, just barely wincing as one of the bandages on her face brushed against his scales.

Spike was immediately far too distracted by the display of affection to remember what he was just worrying about, instead reaching back for her bags and offering them to her with a blush, “I, uh… you dropped this.”

Rarity patted Spike on the head in thanks, lifting the bags in her magic and setting them on her back again, before turning back to Twilight with interest, “What was all that about how far it fell?”

Twilight looked back up from her notes, “Oh, just that it had to have fallen from quite a bit higher than anyone usually flies. Also, I’m starting to think it has to be enchanted to have survived that fall.”

Rarity looked the blade over, her eyes lingering on the artistry of the handle once more, a strange thought flitting into her mind, “So… since it nearly fell on me, do I get to keep it?”

“What?” Twilight asked, turning to her in surprise.

Rarity seemed like she hadn’t thought the idea through fully, but continued, “I just… it’s a rather beautiful piece, no? I think it might look nice on my wall, perhaps above the fireplace. I mean, look at the artistry of it. The style and elegance...”

Twilight shot Rarity a serious, disapproving stare as the thought trailed off, “Rarity, I’m sure you can tell this is a priceless historical artifact. It belongs in a museum, not up on a wall.”

With a weak sigh of regret, Rarity admitted, “Well, it was just a thought, anyway. I don’t exactly have much use for it.”

Nodding, Twilight rummaged through her notes again before announcing, “Well, I think I have everything I needed from the scene. I’ll just take it back to the my lab, compare it to some histori-”

As Twilight was speaking, she had grasped at the handle of the sword with her magic, trying to pull it from the ground. She stopped and looked at it seriously, her eyes narrowing as she tried to put a bit more force into the pull.

“Wow, that’s really in there,” Twilight noted to herself.

“Sword in the Stone,” Spike joked.

“Oh, ha ha,” Twilight deadpanned, putting more force into trying to extract the blade.

It wouldn’t budge.

Once Twilight had given up and receded into staring at her notes, Spike took a step forward and put his claw on the handle, “Do you think…”

With an agonizing grunt, Spike struggled in vain to pull the sword out as well, before stepping back with a grumble. Rarity just chuckled at the baby dragon, knowing full well what legend he had hoped this was.

“Well, I suppose I’ll leave you to that, then,” Rarity declared, turning to leave, “I have more errands to run.”

Twilight stopped her before she stepped off, “Actually, there’s something I want to try first, if you don’t mind.”

Stopping, Rarity looked at Twilight in puzzlement, “What is it, dearie?”

“Well, I think it’s probably the enchantment that’s holding the sword in place,” Twilight explained, “We might be able to overload it if we try more than one source of magic.”

The idea made enough sense to Rarity, so she figured Twilight knew what she was doing and reached for the handle with her magic, “Fair enough. Ready when you are.”

Rarity felt the odd tingle of Twilight’s magical grasp joining hers, not entirely unlike the feeling of accidentally being brushed by somepony’s tail, but there was also a strange feeling coming from the handle itself. She wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but she figured she’d ask Twilight after they were done. It felt… familiar. Not to say she recognized the feeling, it was more that the feeling itself was familiarity. Rarity wasn’t really sure how that made any sense.

“On three, then,” Twilight directed, “One. Two. Thr-”

Spike was curious. He wanted to see something. He’d deal with getting in trouble for it later. Before Twilight began to pull, he leaned over and flicked her horn. Twilight’s attention lapsed, her telekinetic grip failing just as she was about to pull. Just as she was about to turn to Spike and complain, they both froze at the sound of metal against stone.

Rarity stood there, the blade floating in the air in front of her, having drawn it with no resistance at all. It felt light in her grasp, balanced like it had been made for her. That’s not to say she had any idea how to use it. Fencing, though elegant, wasn’t exactly in Rarity’s repertoire. Still, something just felt right about her magic around the handle.

“I… What?” Twilight blurted out.

Spike just smiled, “Sword in the Stone.”

Rarity, Spike, and Twilight sat around a table in the Castle of Friendship, staring at the ornately decorated sword. Twilight was flipping through a stack of books on old blades, furiously taking notes, while Spike and Rarity just looked at the blade for each their own reasons.

“Look at the craftsmanship,” Rarity gesticulated, “And the condition, as well. This is a piece of art more than a weapon.”

Spike leaned across the table, carefully touching his claw to the blade’s edge, “Dunno, Rarity, seems like it’d do the job just fine.”

“Spike!” Rarity exclaimed with a start, “Be careful, you’re going to hurt yourself!”

Looking incredibly smug, Spike flipped his claw over and gestured at his scaled palm with the other, “I might still be a kid, but I’m a dragon. I’ll be fine.”

The sudden outburst must have shook Twilight from her thoughts, because she looked up and said, “So the design dates back to a few hundred years after Celestia took the throne, but of course this one doesn’t have to be that old. There should me a manufacturer’s mark somewhere on it, so that would help narrow things down.”

Twilight calmly reached forward to pick up the sword once more, only to stop and glare. Despite it obviously not being caught on anything, it wouldn’t move in the slightest.

“Hey, you aren’t the chosen one,” Spike teased, “Rarity’ll have to do it.”

Twilight shifted her frustrated stare to Spike, “This isn’t some epic fantasy, this is real life. There’s no such thing as a ‘chosen one.’”

Watching Rarity lift the sword and offer it to Twilight, Spike retorted, “You sure?”

Twilight reached forward to turn the sword around as it floated in Rarity’s magical grasp, finding it moved easily now, “There we go, found it.”

Rarity just watched as Twilight made a quick sketch of the marking, confusedly positing, “So what, does it only move when I’m touching it?”

Sighing dejectedly, Twilight admitted, “It… looks that way. I’m not sure why it only works for you, but it certainly seems to be the case. I’m guessing it was made for somepony in particular and your magical signature is just similar enough to theirs.”

Spike added, “Or, you know, she’s the cho-”

Twilight cut him off with a tsk of the tongue.

Something about the sword’s artistry intrigued Rarity, and she pulled it back with a simple flourish to get a better look at it, “I’m slightly inclined to agree with Spike, here. It did fall from the sky at my hooves, and now only I can use it? That’s no coincidence.”

“Well, I can agree with the last half of that,” Twilight admitted, scratching her head as she thought, “but I’m not sure I can get behind assuming there’s a prophecy or something.”

“The real question right now,” Spike explained, “is where the plot hook for the main quest is.”

Twilight looked at him like he was insane.

“Um… guys?” Rarity asked shakily, “Is it just me, or does this filigree look like a map?”

The levels of smugness in Spike’s posture were truly something to behold, gesturing idly at the sword as he leaned back in his seat. Twilight just stared at him in disbelief, half for being so blatantly correct and half because she thought she’d raised him better than to act like this.

All three of them leaned in to look at the engraving, a series of river-like lines and jagged mountainous ones. It was, almost certainly, a map of somewhere. The most interesting part of it all was a single star in the center attached to a straight line heading through the mountains.

“I’ll do a rubbing of the map, compare it to other maps I have around, see where this is,” Twilight offered, clearly intrigued.

“And then,” Spike announced, dropping the tip of his claw on the star, “the quest begins.”

Chapter 7: Starting to Understand

Everything was a haze. Rarity blinked to awareness, feeling lost and suspended in space. There was a distinct feeling of motion, but she couldn’t entirely place a source. She just felt limp, unaware. Something that sounded like voices came from what seemed like forever away. She tried to call out to them but no noise left her lips.

The world around her started to feel soft, comfortable, and warm, yet the surrounding space got far darker than it had been. She once again tried to call out for help and got no reply. Dark figures milled around above her… yes, that was above. She was laying down now. Everything was still a haze.

Unconsciousness dragged her back down into the blackness.

Rarity found herself on a mountaintop, overlooking the hills and plain below. She wasn’t entirely sure how she got there and found herself looking around, trying to get her bearings. She was standing beside a snowcap, the water melting off the edges and trickling down the rocks in small streams. It slowly occurred to her that she wasn’t cold.

Somewhere behind her was a cave, the snow all around it missing. Curious, she stepped forth to look at it, sabre at her side. It was dark, but for some reason there was a dull glow coming from inside. It had that monochrome hue unique to unicorn magic. She decided to step down the path.

She blinked and was at the far side, standing in what seemed to be a vast, open crater. Everything was warm, and the snow was all gone. A few ponies stood around, carefully doing… something to the base of the crater. She began to realize the warmth was coming from the stone itself.

Rarity abruptly woke up, attempting to jolt upright, but finding herself far too sore and exhausted to manage it. She instead simply groaned and flopped back to the… bed she seemed to be in. It was plush, comfortable, and quite welcoming. Not really sure how to process this all, she just lay there, staring up the stone ceiling.

Eventually she flopped her head to the side, spotting Spike in a chair beside her bed. He looked like he’d been camped out in the seat for a while, just sitting there, clutching the sabre to his chest. Rarity cracked a weak smile, sort of appreciating the sentiment.

Her mind slowly came to terms with how she’d gotten here. She remembered passing out, the feeling of being carried, and being set in the bed. She tried to remember more, but could only patch together small bits of the dream she’d just woke up from. Logically, Spike had gotten the attention of somepony at the old temple and they’d picked her up. The ceiling… looked temple-ish. Regardless, she knew she’d find out shortly.

There was a bleary grunt from Spike, followed by a sudden shout, “Rarity! You’re awake!”

The sudden loud noise brought it to Rarity’s attention that she had a horrid headache, the type that always came to her with magical overexertion. With a grumble, she forced a grin, “That I am, Spike.”

Spike dropped the sabre and dove toward the bed to hug her, finding himself getting caught on the sword as it hung in midair. With an awkward chuckle, he set it aside and more calmly stepped toward the bed, clutching Rarity around the shoulders, “When we found you passed out… I just…”

Rarity slid a hoof around behind Spike to return the hug, “I’m fine, Spikey. You got to me in time. I-”

The reality of the situation hit her all at once. She’d been bitten by a giant, poisonous bug, and nearly… Beyond just that… The memory of it dashed on the rocks hit her from the other side. She felt queasy. The only reason she’d ever set out from Ponyville was to meet an artisan. After all of this had happened-

“Rarity…” Spike whispered, “Are you okay? You’re shaking.”

Rarity gasped back to reality, turning to look Spike in the eye, her nerves shattered, “I- I’m fine, Spike. I’ll…”

She reached down to her chest, finding the wounds entirely missing. Surprised, she looked at her leg as well. Healed, with hardly a scar.

“The sages cured you,” Spike explained, “Pretty impressive healers, actually.”

Rarity sighed, having at least one reason to feel relieved, “I’ll be fine, then. I just have to… cope with what happened, is all.”

Spike could see through her forced mood, “Rarity…”

With a huff, Rarity lay back, her voice distant, “It’s… dead, no?”

Spike said nothing, instead just hugging her before sitting up on the edge of the bed.

“I figured,” Rarity continued.

There was a long silence. They both knew. As much as combat was a normal part of an ‘adventure,’ what had happened wouldn’t leave her soon. Staring up, out past the ceiling, into nothingness, Rarity struggled to come to terms. It was it or her. She had to do it.

The door opened, snapping them both out of their mood, to reveal a tall unicorn mare, “How is she- Oh, you awoke.”

Rarity blinked at her for a moment, eying her over, “Y-yes, and you are?”

“The high sage would see you,” she replied flatly, “When you are ready.”

Rarity slowly turned to Spike, who simply replied with a shrug.

“Well… okay then,” Rarity agreed, “I’ll be there once I can.”

The mare left the room, and Spike leaned to whisper, “They’ve all been weird like that.”

With yet another sigh, Rarity lay back and responded in a hush, “How long have I been here?”

“Uh… most of a day?” Spike explained, “You were out for like… eighteen or so hours.”

Rarity just nodded in reply, closing her eyes, “I hope you don’t mind if I add a few more to that.”

Spike chuckled, “No worries, you get your rest.”

Rarity yawned quietly and relaxed back against the mattress, needing just a bit more sleep before she was ready to deal with strange sages.

The great hall of the temple of the sages was startlingly huge and empty, even to one used to the halls of Canterlot. Perhaps it was the closedness, the space lacking the grand windows of the castle, instead lit by the dim glow of magic and the dark stone of the walls a far cry from white marble. Maybe the near silence, missing even the usual quiet presence of a guard or two at the door. The only thing filling the room was gentle smell of incense wafting through the air, a strong-scented type that only made the recovering mare feel more groggy. At the far end of it all, a unicorn in robes that Rarity would have forgiven herself for mistaking for the same one that opened her door earlier. The high sage.

Crossing the room, Rarity’s eyes couldn’t help but wander to the tapestries and reliefs decorating the walls, tracing out the familiar curves and forms. It was a short moment before she placed why the style was so familiar, but as she did, her mind only filled with more questions. Sure, it was in fabric and stone, but the markings were the unmistakable style that covered the guard of the sabre.

“You’ve come a long way, haven’t you?” an older male voice called, the stallion in robes turning to face her as he stroked his beard.

Rarity closed the gap, stepping up to him, “It’s… been a journey, yes.”

The stallion nodded idly and continued, “I have to admit, you’re not the hero I expected, but if the sword chose you, then you’re the one we need.”

The statement flooded Rarity’s mind with questions, so she picked the first one she could pin down, “What do you mean… the sword chose me?”

The stallion stopped stroking his beard and stood resolutely, “We, the Sages of the Temple of Destinies, have protected the Sword of Omens for generations. It has its own will, and when it took to the sky, we knew tragedy was about to befall the region, and to await its chosen hero.”

Rarity blinked at him, slowly taking in his words, trying to pull as much information from the statement as possible, “The… Temple of Destinies?”

Gesturing around the great hall, the sage spoke again, “We of the Temple have seen many heroes such as yourself pass through our halls, called to help the region in a way only they are capable.”

The term ‘hero’ was starting to wear on Rarity’s patience, but she simply smiled at him, “So you are the guardians of the sabre, I take it?”

The stallion simply nodded before continuing on his own, “I’m sure by now you know of the flooding in the south. We have agreed that it must be the reason you have been called here.”

Rarity was shocked as her question got ignored, but was curious where he intended to take the conversation, “It seems as if it’s an engineered flood, from what I’ve seen. I have my suspects. Are you saying the sword knew that I’d be able to figure this out?”

“It is your destiny,” the sage replied lowly, “You have been called to protect the region.”

The non-answer irritated Rarity, but she forced herself to maintain a calm expression, “So are you here to help me, or just to explain the situation?”

The stallion tilted his head a bit, like he couldn’t quite follow the question. Something was clearly wrong with the conversation, a sort of disconnect, and Rarity was concerned there wasn’t much more to gain from the high sage.

That’s when Rarity had an idea, “What’s your name?”

The stallion blinked at her, like he’d not expected the question at all, like none had ever asked it before. After an awkward silence, he lost a bit of his air of purposeful mystery and replied, “Scroll. Scroll Dowel.”

“Well mister Scroll,” Rarity smiled back at him, already knowing it had worked, “I think it would be the most useful if you explained to me a bit about how this place works.”

Spike was out of his seat before Rarity had even finished opening the door, “How’d it go?”

Rarity smiled at him proudly and quietly shut the door behind herself as she stepped into the small bedroom she’d woken up in, “It took a bit to get him talking to me and not at me, but I learned a good deal.”

“Spill,” Spike commanded cheerfully, hopping up on the edge of the bed, his feet dangling over the side.

With an altogether amused chuckle, Rarity explained, “Well, he said it in about ten times as many words, but what I managed to gather was the sabre has some sort of mystical power and can tell when the region is threatened. It seeks out and finds the ‘right pony for the job,’ as it were and draws them back to the region to solve the problem.”

Spike just mouthed two words teasingly: chosen one.

“Oh shut up,” Rarity retorted in jest, “Basically, he suspects that the things you and I have uncovered so far are likely steps toward the solution already. Some nonsense about the coincidences of fate, but to be honest I’m… more than slightly suspecting he’s right. Everything seems to fall into place so easily.”

After a moment of thought, Spike’s voice turned low and suspicious, “You’re right… this has been pretty straightforward.”

Rarity understood the tone, “You suspect something’s up?”

“What’s a story without a plot twist?” Spike replied with a knowing tone.

Rarity pouted at him disapprovingly, but the more she thought about it… “You’re right, it’s probably not for the best to assume this is the only possibility. It’s too easy to only focus on the facts that support our theory. Let’s step back a moment. If it’s not a petty land-grab, what other possibilities are there?”

Spike rested his chin on his claw as he thought, “Well… it could be a classic antagonist destroying a region for no good reason, but… that wouldn’t explain the surveyors.”

“You know, despite everything we’ve seen so far, I feel like that one’s still too… unrealistic,” Rarity agreed, “Perhaps… something magical? They need to follow the contours of the river perfectly, so they surveyed it?”

“Not bad,” Spike nodded, “It… mostly fits. For some reason I feel like we heard something that contradicts it, though…”

“We still have no explanation for the cent-” Rarity started before locking up, a chill running through her as the shattered insect’s body flashed into her mind again. She swallowed back the bile in her throat.

“Hey…” Spike consoled softly, reaching out to put his claw on her shoulder, “You… doing okay?”

“Yes,” Rarity lied, “The point stands, we still don’t know what was going on with it. It seemed… intelligent.”

“Giant bugs are mindless, though,” Spike mumbled, “If it was a shapeshifter, it would have reverted on death… maybe… it was being body-jacked?”

“The what now?” Rarity questioned.

“Uh…” Spike stumbled coming up with a way to explain, “Like… somepony took control of it. Took over its mind. I’ve heard of unicorns managing to pull that off with simple beings. If they were watching you through its eyes and controlling it, that could explain the apparent intellect.”

“Huh,” Rarity whispered, a part of her feeling better at the possibility, “Then that would imply we’re up against a mage of some kind?”

“Plausible,” Spike nodded, “Did the sages give you anything else to work with? Any clues?”

Rarity dropped down into the chair Spike had been using, “Well, after I actually got him talking, we mostly went over the history of this temple. Apparently it used to be much more well respected by the locals, but time and isolation took their toll. The way they’re so secretive about things seems to turn ponies off. I asked him why things were kept so occult, but he didn’t have a real answer for me, just that it’s ‘always how it’s been.’”

Spike chuckled, “Secret orders are like that.”

“Well, I suggested he just stop it,” Rarity continued with a shrug, “Who knows, he might even listen.”

Shaking his head, Spike dismissed, “Eh, you can’t knock the npcs out of their ways.”

A sly smile creeped onto Rarity’s face, “Who said I let him stay one?”

“Wh-” Spike turned to her in confusion before it clicked, “You asked his name. Rarity, come on, you know that’s risky.”

“It was how I got him to talk,” she explained seriously, “I know what I’m doing, Spike.”

With a deep sigh, Spike nodded, “Alright, fine. We’ll see how it works out. Again. But seriously, do we have any leads? Did he mention the volcano at all?”

“The volcano?” Rarity repeated in confusion, “What would that have to do wi-”

A short flash of her dream came back to her. The tunnel, the warm stone crater, the unicorns. She blinked a bit, at first about to discount it as coincidence, but…

“I had a strange dream while I was passed out,” she reported, “It… might have had something to do with it. I was standing outside a tunnel in the snow, and when I passed through it I was in… I suppose a caldera. There were some ponies there, but I can’t remember all the details.”

“Prophetic dreams?” Spike asked curiously, “I mean, it’s not out of the question, you are apparently bound to a magical sword that can tell the future or something.”

Rarity chuckled, a bit of the headache she woke up with seeping back into her mind as she thought about the dream. Magical hangover. She must have quite exhausted herself during the fight…

“I was unconscious for eighteen hours?” Rarity sought to confirm.

“About that, yeah,” Spike reported, curious where this was going.

Rarity scratched her chin, “If that’s the case… most of my magic should have recovered by the time I awoke. If I still felt like garbage…”

“...then maybe your dream wasn’t a dream,” Spike finished for her.

“Spike, I have a theory,” Rarity stated.

“Hypothesis,” Spike corrected.

“Whatever,” Rarity retorted, “If it was some unicorn controlling the beast, then perhaps our magic got entangled when I ki- When it fell. If that’s the case, then it wouldn’t be too surprising if I somehow had my mind drawn back to the caster while I was unconscious. I mean… I’m not saying it’s likely, but if it is the case…”

Spike hopped to his feet, a confident smile drawn across his face, “...then we need to find that tunnel.”