The Shoshoniensis Boutique

After her attack, Rarity refused to see a doctor, insisting that she felt fine. This, in spite of evidence that she was still in some pain, and in spite of the appointments Twilight made for her.

In the mean time, the white unicorn moved out of her new boutique, and into the ruins, where Spike had released the odd, floating flame. And, while she did pay visits every now and then to her boutique, she spent less and less time there, and more and more time at the ruins. She employed zebra stallions from nearby towns, or she said that's what she was doing, and kept at least one around her at all times when she was outside the ruins.

During that time period, Twilight wrote to Fluttershy, telling her about the situation with the representative of magic. The yellow pegasa, receiving the news, decided to return to Shoshoniensis to see if she could do anything to help, maybe get information from the native creatures.

Spike, in the mean time, began to be worried about the changes in the white unicorn's behavior. Did that floating flame have something to do with it? If so, how was he going to fix the problem? He needed more information.

The purple dragon was at the stove one morning, preparing pancakes, while Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack were at the table.

As the five were talking, Rarity entered. Focusing on the young dragon, she asked, “Spike, weren't you supposed to be setting the clothing up in the main room?”

Turning to the white unicorn, he answered, “I'm just making sure everypony else is taken care of. I'll get to the clothes when I'm done.”

Indignantly, Rarity said, “Isn't that just like a dragon, always thinking of himself, and never about anypony else?”

Immediately Twilight rose from her spot at the table. Approaching the representative of generosity, she said, “Rarity, I think you owe Spike an apology.”

Pointing her nose in the air and huffing, the representative of generosity said, “Well, since your pet dragon is so useless without you to pull his strings, maybe you should help him, Twilight.”

At this point, Spike set the spatula he was using down next to the pan. Turning to face the white unicorn, he said, “Rarity, you know me. You know I'll do anything I can to help you. All you have to do is ask. You don't have to …”

Glaring back at the purple dragon, the representative of generosity growled, “Well, then, stop wasting your time here, and get to work on those dresses. They won't hang themselves up.” Turning away from the kitchen door, she concluded, “I shall be back in a few minutes, and those dresses had better be hanging in their places when I get back, or else.” And, she trotted backwards through the door.

Twilight started to follow Rarity, calling her name. That is, until the door, possessed by the white unicorn's magic, slammed closed in her face. Then, for a few seconds, she just stayed there, stunned. After taking some time to process what had just happened, she turned to her assistant and said, “I don't know what's gotten into Rarity. I haven't seen her like this since that fashion show in Manehattan. I'm worried about her.”

Spike sniffled and said, “S-so am I.” He then turned to take the step down from his place in front of the stove as he said, “Maybe I should go take care of those clothes like Rarity said.”

The representative of magic returned to her place at the table and replied, “No, you finish preparing breakfast first. When we're done, we'll all help you put up those clothes.”

The purple dragon turned back to the oven, sniffled again, then proceeded to pick up the spatula as he said, “Thanks, everypony.”

At this point, Twilight took the few steps to get to her assistant, then nuzzled him before returning to her place at the table. Sitting canine-style there, she said, “We've gotta do something to help Rarity. It's just not like her to behave that way.”

Breakfast around the table was filled with discussion and planning on what they could do to help the white unicorn, especially when Fluttershy arrived.

As promised, after breakfast, the other five element bearers helped Spike unpack the dresses and get them set up in the boutique's main room. With the six working together, the job was done in a matter of minutes.

In fact, it was done just a few seconds before Rarity entered through the front door. Looking around and seeing how the clothes were arranged, she snorted and said, “Perhaps you're not so useless after all, Spike.”

Peering from behind one display of dresses, the purple dragon said, “I can't take all the credit. All your friends helped, too.”

Starting to glare once again at Spike, the representative of generosity growled, “What? You mean to tell me you got everypony else to do your job for you?”

Spike shook his head before answering, “Everypony else just helped. I did my part to—“ He yelped in fear as he suddenly found himself hovering above the ground.

Magically moving the dragon until the two of them were nose-to-nose, the white unicorn growled, “I take back what I said. You are even more useless than I could've imagined!”

Revealing herself from behind another display, Twilight galloped toward the white unicorn. Taking her assistant in her own magic, she said, “You will release Spike this instant!” Then, when the purple dragon was free of Rarity's magic, the representative of magic set him down next to Fluttershy, then started stomping toward the representative of generosity, forcing her to take steps backward, and said, “You have no right to treat Spike that way. All you had to do was ask for his help, and he would've gladly given it.” Gesturing to the displays, she continued, “If you're not happy with how these clothes are set up, you can rearrange them yourself. But, whatever your frustrations are, as long as I'm around, you will not take them out on Spike, is that understood?”

Gasping dramatically, Rarity said, “How dare you speak to your queen that way.”

Surprised, Twilight repeated, “Queen?” Then, grasping the white unicorn in her magic, she said, “I don't know what's gotten into you. But, if I have to go to Shoshoniensis myself and convince one of the doctors there to make a house call, that's what I'll do, even if it means taking him to those ruins you suddenly seem to like so much.” And, with that, she released the representative of generosity from her magic.

Sensing her freedom, Rarity took a moment to stabilize herself before retorting, “Do what you think you must. And, in the mean time, you can stop spoiling your pet lizard, and get him working for a change.” And, with that, she turned and proceeded out the front door of her boutique.

Twilight watched Rarity disappear out the door, then turned to the inside of the main room and sighed, “I should've handled that better. I shouldn't've let her get to me like that.” Then, turning to her assistant, she said, “Spike, I have a new assignment for you. When I get back from Shoshoniensis, I want you to go with me to those ruins. While the doctor and I are attending to Rarity, I want you to go to that library and see how much information you can find about what happened there. Maybe there's some way we can help her.”

The purple dragon swallowed hard to keep his emotions in check. Then, he saluted and said, “Yes, ma'am.”

Satisfied, Twilight simply nodded in response. Then, she turned to the other four element bearers and asked, “Does anypony want to go with me?”

Rainbow Dash settled in front of the purple unicorn and answered, “I'll go with you. I've never been to a zebra village, and I wanna know if it's anything like Ponyville. I also wanna know what Flim and Flam are doing there, and why they sold Rarity this place.”

Pinkie looked down for a moment before saying, “I think I'll head over to those ruins.” Looking up again, she concluded, “I don't like what Rarity's turning into. I've gotta do something to snap her out of this.”

Applejack ambled up next to the pink earth mare and said, “Ah'm a-goin' with Pinkie. Ah don't like what's a-happenin' t' Rarity neither. Maybe Ah c'n learn more 'bout what's a-goin' on if'n Ah c'n git closer t' her somehows.”

Again Twilight nodded before saying, “In that case, you two go ahead to those ruins.” She then turned to the yellow pegasa and asked, “So, Fluttershy, what about you?”

The representative of kindness looked down and, starting to draw circles on the floor with a front hoof, said, “Well, I was thinking I could stay here. There are a lot of creatures that could use my help.”

Smiling, the representative of magic said, “That's just fine, Fluttershy.” Then, turning to the azure pegasa, she asked, “So, Rainbow Dash, shall we go?”

Presently, the representative of loyalty flew to the front door. Opening it, she turned to the purple unicorn and answered, “Yeah, let's go.”

Still smiling, Twilight trotted to the door, following the azure pegasa outside. She was then followed by Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy.

With the element bearers out of the building, Spike took the time to look around at the setup he and five of the ponies had joined forces to put together. Then, Rarity's words echoes in his head, stinging him like wasps. How could the pony he loved so much say such awful things to and about him? What had he done to deserve those words? And, what could he do to put things back the way they were, to get back the Rarity he knew and loved?

Distraught, the purple dragon made his way through the maze of clothing displays to the staircase, then up the stairs, and to the room that had once been intended for Rarity to do her work.

Spike didn't bother to close the door behind him, he just approached the white unicorn's bed. Then, settling down next to it, he closed his eyes and started to release his emotions.

But, it wasn't long before he noticed a glow under the bed, which snapped him out of his emotional release. Moving to get a closer look, he wondered aloud, “What's that?” Then, when he pushed the edge of the blanket out of the way, he saw what was emitting the glow: a book. Years of boredom and frustration at getting only a book for each of his birthdays and Hearth's Warmings melted away as he crawled the best he could under the bed to get the glowing, bound stack of papers. But, as it turned out, the book wasn't all that far out of his reach. He grabbed the volume and pulled it from its hiding place. Then, crawling back out from under the bed, he looked at the cover, and noticed that there seemed to be nothing written on it.

More puzzled than anything else, the purple dragon clawed the book open, only to find that he'd opened to a page titled “Mosiah 11.” Looking down at the page, he saw the title of the chapter. Aloud, he read, “And now it came to pass that Zeniff conferred the kingdom upon Noah, one of his sons; therefore Noah began to reign in his stead; and he did not walk in the ways of his father.” He paused for a moment to wonder aloud, “Who's Zeniff, and who's Noah?” He then shrugged as he continued to read, “For, behold, he did not keep the commandments of God, but he did walk after the desires of his own heart. And he had many wives and concubines. And he did cause his people to commit sin, and do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord. Yea, and they did commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness.

“And he laid a tax of one fifth part of all they possessed, a fifth part of their gold and of their silver, and a fifth part of their ziff, and of their copper, and of their brass and their iron, and a fifth part of their fatlings; and also a fifth part of all their grain.

“And all this did he take to support himself, and his wives and his concubines; and also his priests, and their wives and their concubines; thus he had changed the affairs of the kingdom.

“For he put down all the priests that had been consecrated by his father, and consecrated new ones in their stead, such as were lifted up in the pride of their hearts.”

Looking up, the purple dragon again thought aloud, “Rarity has had a lot of stallions around her lately. And, I seem to remember her telling them that there's no way her chain of boutiques could fail. And, I don't know about anything else, but she has kept those stallions around her all the time. I think I've even seen chains on some of them. Is this what's happening to her? Is she turning into this Noah character?” He then looked down and continued to read, “Yea, and thus they were supported in their laziness, and in their idolatry, and in their whoredoms, by the taxes which king Noah had put upon his people; thus did the people labor exceedingly to support iniquity.

“Yea, and they also became idolatrous, because they were deceived by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests; for they did speak flattering things unto them.

“And it came to pass that king Noah built many elegant and spacious buildings, and he ornamented them with fine work of wood, and of all manner of precious things, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of brass, and of ziff, and of copper;

“And he also built him a spacious palace, and a throne in the midst thereof, all of which was of fine wood and was ornamented with gold and silver and with precious things.

“And he also caused that his workmen should work all manner of fine work within the walls of the temple, of fine wood, and of copper, and of brass.”

Looking up from reading the book, Spike thought about how the buildings he'd seen had already been built, and had been abandoned for, well, who knows how long. But, after having moved that scroll and released that unusual fireball, it hadn't been until after finding out that Rarity had apparently been attacked that his favorite unicorn had started to change. She hadn't built those ruins, but she had moved there. Was it because whatever was possessing her felt most at home there?

The purple dragon decided to look back into the book and continue reading: “And the seats which were set apart for the high priests, which were above all the other seats, he did ornament with pure gold; and he caused a breastwork to be built before them, that they might rest their bodies and their arms upon while they should speak lying and vain words to his people.

“And it came to pass that he built a tower near the temple; yea, a very high tower, even so high that he could stand upon the top thereof and overlook the land of Shilom, and also the land of Shemlon, which was possessed by the Lamanites; and he could even look over all the land round about.

“And it came to pass that he caused many buildings to be built in the land of Shilom; and he caused a great tower to be built on the hill north of the land Shilom, which had been a resort for the children of Nephi at the time they fled out of the land; and thus he did do with the riches which he obtained by the taxation of his people.

“And it came to pass that he placed his heart upon his riches, and he spent his time in riotous living with his wives and his concubines; and so did also his priests spend their time with harlots.

“And it came to pass that he planted vineyards round about in the land; and he built wine-presses, and made wine in abundance; and therefore he became a wine-bibber, and also his people.”

Looking up again, Spike tried to remember if the white unicorn had had anything to do with vineyards or anything like that, and realized he couldn't. Looking at the last verse he'd read, he decided it'd be a good idea to keep an eye on the representative of generosity, in case she did start buying grape vineyards and making wine from those grapes and selling it, just in case she was turning into this Noah creature.

At this point, Spike decided to stand up again and close the book he'd been reading. Walking to his bed, he hid the book under his covers, hoping to read it again for further clues about the creature Rarity seemed to be turning into. Maybe he could stop the process before it could fully run its course. That was his thought as he left the room.

As the two earth mares entered the building, they noticed a few lines of stallions, pony and zebra, working to clean the room. Evident were the metal cuffs on the hind hooves of each of the stallions, with metal chains to connect them so that individuals couldn't leave, and the group would be detected before they could escape.

Seeing this, Applejack thought aloud, “What's Rarity a-thinkin'? This ain't no way to run, well, nothin'. Ain't nopony should be chained up like a-that.”

Pinkie Pie turned a worried look to her fellow element bearer and responded, “Zebras shouldn't be treated that way either.” Looking around again, she added, “I don't know what Rarity thinks she's doing, but we've gotta do something to stop her.” And, she galloped on ahead.

Applejack followed close behind her until they were in the main room of the palace, in front of Rarity, who was resting on her side, nuzzling with a zebra stallion. Resisting the urge to turn away, the orange earth mare said, “Rarity, Ah wanna work for y'all.”

Not expecting the voice, the representative of generosity started, quickly turning to her visitors. It took the stallion whispering to her to remind her what the representative of honesty had said, after which she replied, “Oh, really? Well, in that case, you can start by going into the yard behind the palace. You're good at gardening, are you not? I'm thinking that yard would be perfect for growing grape vines. You can come back in and let me know when they've started growing. I may have more for you to do then.”

The orange earth mare paused for a moment, wanting to tell her white unicorn friend that she'd been hoping for a job that would allow the two to work together. But, then she decided it was better to start with what Rarity had given her, hoping that success with that job would mean she could get a job that'd get her what she wanted.

Watching the representative of honesty amble out of the room, Rarity thought aloud, “Sometimes, you just have to let these filthy mud ponies know precisely what's expected of them.” She then turned her attention to the pink earth mare and asked, “And, what do you want?”

Pinkie positioned herself so that she resembled a begging dog, then answered, “I want you to leave this place with me.” Waving a forelimb to the walls in an attempt to direct the white unicorn's attention to the environment, she continued, “Look at this place. This isn't healthy for you. If you stay here, you could end up getting yourself killed, and everypony in here with you.”

The white unicorn turned to the zebra stallion and nuzzled him for a few more seconds. She then cackled, and the stallion joined her in her mirth. After a few seconds, she stopped and, turning back to the representative of laughter, said, “Oh, Pinkie Pie, you were always good at making me laugh.” Then, after a few more chuckles, she continued, “Why, I've never felt better in my life. I have nothing to worry about.” She then rose to all fours and, marching toward the pink earth mare, said, “Now, it isn't nice of you to come in here and scare everypony with such nonsense. I'm not going anywhere. You can leave right now, or I can throw you in jail for making up such stories.”

Feeling herself caught in the unicorn's magic, Pinkie stammered, “B-b-but, R-r-rarity, …”

The representative of generosity used her magic to levitate her fellow element bearer out of the room, then throw her out of the building, as she said, “Leave, now!”

Pinkie landed painfully, and just lay there, stunned and whimpering over how Rarity had treated her. She only decided to rise to all fours again and make her escape when she heard the white unicorn demand that her guards arrest "that pink mud horse" and throw her in prison.

The pink earth mare only slowed to an amble when she made it out of the gateway out of the ruins and realized that the guards weren't pursuing her beyond the walls of the structure. She looked back for a moment, then turned ahead of her again, looking down at the ground in front of her, but not really seeing it. After a few paces, she finally stopped and collapsed into a sphinx-style position, then set her head between her front hooves.

After a period of time, how long she couldn't tell, the representative of laughter heard a voice say, “Pinkie Pie, thy friend is in grave danger.”

Startled to alertness by the voice, the party pony quickly raised her head and looked around. Not seeing anyone, she asked, “Who's there?”

The voice answered, “I am a friend. My name is Abinadi.”

Looking down, Pinkie thought aloud, “Abinadi? I've never heard that name before.” Looking up again, she asked, “Are you a pony?”

Abinadi answered, “I am a human.”

Puzzled, the pink earth mare paused for a second in thought before saying, “Wait, there haven't been any humans for thousands of years now. How is there one now? And, how are we talking, and I can't see you?”

Abinadi answered, “I have been dead for many thousands of years now. I have been granted this time that I may help thee free thy friend from the spirit that possesses her.”

At this point, Pinkie started to rise to all fours. When she was in that position, she asked, “What can you tell me about that spirit?”

Abinadi answered, “His name is Noah, and he and I were friends before he became king in this land, which was once known as the land of Nephi.”

The representative of laughter opened her mouth to ask another question, but then saw the area around her change.

Suddenly, the vegetation changed around her. She looked behind her, and noticed the ground was prepared for growing plants that seemed oddly familiar to her. Not only that, but there were skinny creatures that walked on their hind legs. They'd walk around that way, pushing machines that broke up the ground, or carrying bags from which they'd take what she quickly realized were seeds and toss them randomly around.

This vision lasted for maybe a minute or two, and Pinkie Pie got the sense that this was a peaceful life for these creatures, what she realized were humans.

Then the scene changed, and these humans were chained by their forelimbs and hind limbs so that they could only move in groups, not unlike the way the stallions Pinkie had seen in the building were where she and Applejack had entered. But, there were other hands that'd attack the chained ones if there were any that stopped working for any reason.

After another minute or two, the vision ended; and the pink party pony wondered aloud to herself, “Did that king Noah cause that kind of change?”

Abinadi's voice answered, “He did, and thy friend Rarity could do the same thing unless she is freed from the spirit of king Noah.”

Again Pinkie looked down at the ground as she said, “I tried talking to her already, and she threw me out.” Quickly she looked up again and, gasping, said, “Applejack's working for her.”

Abinadi said, “Worry not for thy friend Applejack, for she is protected. She will be instrumental in freeing many of Rarity's prisoners.”

For a moment the pink earth mare paused. Only moving her mouth, she said, “Wait, king Noah is possessing Rarity? Does that mean …?”

Abinadi answered, “I will not possess thee. God has sent me to assist thee with thy friend. If she wishes to be free, we shall free her.”

At this point, the representative of laughter nodded before asking, “So, what do we do first?”

Abinadi answered, “Another friend of thine, Spike, has, in his possession, the record of my people, from their origin to their destruction. It hath been given him to know what he must that he may read and better understand what happeneth to thy friend Rarity. He shall also assist thee.”

Pinkie asked, “So, where is Spike?”

Unexpectedly, from behind her, she heard the little dragon's voice answer, “I'm right here.” And, she quickly turned around to see the purple dragon there, a worried look on his face.