Cave of the Three Diamonds

Up in the Equestrian alps, along a narrow path, two ponies (a Unicorn and a Alicorn) trotted up the precarious path. They were covered from head to tail in warm clothing so that they wouldn’t succumb to any of the most severe dangers when trudging through a below 0° climate; Frostbite, Hypothermia and  Avalanches were the biggest worries, something the lavender Alicorn constantly reminded her leading companion of, despite the Unicorn’s constant groaning as a reply.

“Be careful of the path, Rarity, I’m sure that there are more than a few spots that could cause a major slip.” the Alicorn warned for the 16th time.

The Unicorn, Rarity, deliberately counted the times her friend, Twilight Sparkle, warned her of a specific danger while walking on the mountain path. She really only did it to humor herself… and also to prevent her from throwing the Alicorn off the cliff. Not that it would work, though (wings and all).

Heaving a deep sigh, the alabaster Unicorn pivoted her head around to face her friend. “Twilight, darling? Could you please stop reminding me about the dangers up here in the mountains? I think I got it after the 50th time you reminded me about them all.” The Unicorn glared over to the Alicorn’s saddlebags, where a large book was easily spotted through the strained bag flap. ”And I think that book is overkill.” Rarity pointed to the book.

Twilight turned her gaze toward it and pouted. “But ‘101 Ways to Die and Survive in the Snowy Mountains’ is related to our quest.”

“Darling, if the book has the word “die” written in blood red; It’s. Overkill.”

“No it’s not!”

“Yes, it is.”

“... Y-Yeah I guess it is.”

“Good, at least you acknowledge that.” Rarity took a deep sigh. “I just wish you were a little less worried about safety. I’m not saying that you need to completely forget it, just tone it down a notch. Just so I won’t have to hear you repeat something about being careful on the path or to not go near the edge. For the 17th time.”

Twilight drooped her head slightly. Rarity, smiling, slowly trotted over and lifted it back up by the chin “Don’t take it so hard, Twilight. I know you're just worried. But it is a touch…. vexatious.”

Twilight responded with a small but noticeable smile. Rarity, now back at full excited spirit, giddly moved forward up the mountain, Twilight followed close behind.

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1 ½ days earlier

*Knock*  *knock*

“Coming!” the lavender Alicorn called from within the Castle of Friendship, her hoof-falls echoing around the main hall, due to the crystal floors. Nearing the doors, the Alicorn activated her aura and with a mighty yank, she opened the doors to reveal one of her best friends, Rarity.

“Why, hello, fairest Rarity. To what do I owe this grand pleasure?” Twilight jokingly pretended to act in a Canterlotian snobbish way. Rarity, however, didn’t seem all too impressed by the impression.

The fabulous unicorn returned the joke greeting with a slight scowl. “Please tell me you’re not going to do that more often just to annoy me.”

Twilight stuck her tongue out “Yep. But you love it when I do.”

Rarity shook her head about with a smile, a blush barely visible on her snow white fur. “Anyway, I was wondering if you could help me find a book.”

Twilight scoffed “Rarity, “a book” just won’t do,  I have a copy of nearly every book available in Equestria. Now, that may seem like a massive exaggeration, but Celestia and Luna themselves approve of this claim.”

Rarity gave the bookworm pony an unamused look, one that she took notice of. “Ok, tell me what book you're after. I’m sure we will find it in my collection.”

Rarity tapped her chin with a hoof at the question, pacing about she tried to remember the book. Eventually her eyes lit up. “It was something about Princess Platinum. Mostly about the attire she wore throughout her rule.”

Twilight beamed. “Oh, I think I know what you’re talking about. I recall a number of books about her, but one in particular has nearly everything you want to know about Platinum: where she was born, where she lived, how old she was when she passed away and other things like her personality, attire, appearance and....” Twilight suddenly paused half way through her explanation.

Rarity did the simple thing and ask “Twilight, what’s wrong?”

Twilight in turn gave the Unicorn a once over, eliciting a blush from said Unicorn. Rubbing her chin deep in thought, Twilight responded to her friend. “Now that I think about it... your appearance is incredibly similar to hers.”

Rarity idly looked over herself, unsure of what Twilight was getting at. “Darling did you just say that I look like a princess from many, many years ago?” Twilight nodded. ”I’m flattered, really, but I just don’t get it.”

Twilight shrugged. “I’m just going off of what I saw in this book. Since you are gonna have a look at it, you might as well confirm the resemblance for yourself.” she replied, gesturing for the elegant pony to follow.

Rarity happily agreed to follow behind. For some reason, though, as the two ponies trotted to the library, Rarity’s mind started to project a mix of random images or… memories, that she wasn’t familiar with… or was she?

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Entering the library, Rarity stared in awe at the sheer size of the shelves, each one lined with row upon row of books of varying genres, colours and widths. There were several sections dedicated to fiction and several more for non fiction. Novels had their own entire shelf -and then some- and Rarity swore that half of a shelf was completely dedicated to Starswirl. The Unicorn had seen the library on several occasions, but she still felt taken away by the majesty of Twilight’s grand collection of worder paper stuck together with glue.

Twilight looked over at her snow white friend and giggled at her slack jaw. Trotting over and closing it with a hoof, Twilight regained Rarity’s attention. “I’ll go find the book and you can have a look around for anything else you may like to read.”

Rarity nodded. “Oh yes, of course, darling. I’m not in any rush, so take your time” Rarity replied.

Twilight swiftly turned around and bolted for the historical section, while Rarity browsed the romance novels. Twilight observed the route Rarity took and grinned mischievously “Still up to your old choices there, Rarara?”

The unicorn’s cheeks burned pink. A hesitant look on her face now showed her undeniable embarrassment... and it wasn’t from going over to the romance section.

Attempting a scowl, Rarity returned her worded response “I-I told you not to call me that.” Twilight grinned.

“But I love it when you blush like that. Besides… I have an entire section of “books”, that I keep out of a certain drake’s claws, which will easily make you redder than Big Mac.” Twilight said, her words “dripping” with a certain mood.

Rarity instead -though involuntarily- took the option to actually turn red right there and then. She stuttered an unfinished response “T-Twilight, I-I-I…”

“Nearly every book in Equestria, Rarity. Outside of family albums, if it has pages or at least “pictures”, I probably have it.” Twilight finished for her, quickly returning to finding the book.

Rarity was needlessly flushed with embarrassment. She was lost on what to say to the Alicorn and she wondered how long this silence would go on for. Thankfully, Twilight broke the quiet atmosphere with a cheer, revealing a large book that was adorned with an elegant motif.

“Ah, you found it!” Rarity cheered along with Twilight, levitating the book onto a nearby table,  Twilight opened it  to a random page, offering Rarity a look.

With unexpected enthusiasm, Rarity eagerly rushed over and read through the contents of the book. As Twilight said earlier, this book contained information like where Princess Platinum was born and how old she was at the beginning and end of her rule. It even showed several artworks of her appearance.

Shockingly enough, Rarity actually agreed with Twilight about the similar appearance. While Rarity’s mane was purple and curly, Platinum's was … well, platinum and wavy. But they had the exact same eyes, face and the immaculate white fur, tough the most bizarre and creepy thing was that Platinum had the exact same cutie mark. Granted it was pieces of Platinum shaped like Diamonds.

“Twilight, you weren’t wrong about the similarities… I look just like her.” Rarity spoke, her voice only slightly above Fluttershy’s typical  tone. Twilight, being used to such quiet talk from the Pegasus, was able to decipher the rare quiet words from the fashionista.

“I told you.” Twilight replied.

Rarity couldn’t believe it. Was she related to the princess? Or was it just a massive coincidence? These questions swirled around in her head, causing a slight headache. Flipping through more pages, Rarity stumbled upon her mark once more, this time on what looked like a cave wall.

Rarity read the anecdote next to the image ‘This image shows Platinum’s cutie mark shining brightly from within a cave up in the frozen Alps. They say that the Princess created this artwork of her mark to act as three enchanted mirrors that show a pony’s past, present and future.’

“Act as a mirrors to show somepony’s past present and future?” Rarity thought. “I wonder”

“Wonder what?” Twilight asked.

“These mirrors apparently show our past, present and future, darling.”

“That’s interesting, but you weren’t after that now..”

Rarity suddenly burst out “We must find these mirrors, Twilight. Now!”