Rarity’s Magic Scissors and the Trials of Hearth’s Warming Eve
It was a week before Hearth’s Warming Eve when Rarity was visited by a spirit. The spirit was kind, attractive, and friendly, and had Rarity been somepony else, it might have frightened her. Instead, she was mostly cross to have been stirred from her sleep in the dead of night by a being that had nothing to offer but riddles and interrupted dreams.
When she first awoke, it took her a few seconds to realize what she was looking at. The spirit appeared very much like a pony made of gossamer and fog, and there was a sort of eerie and horrible beauty to it that she associated with rained out ruins and graveyards under the full moon. Macabre images that did nothing to deter her from lying back down and attempting to return to sleep.
Once you’d seen one spirit, you’d really seen them all, and Rarity had seen her fair share. This thing neither impressed nor alarmed her, and at the moment, she couldn’t be bothered to deal with it.
“Shoo,” she said, voice muffled against her pillow as she waved with her hoof for the entity to leave or disperse or whatever it was that spirits did. “If you must haunt me, please come back in the morning when I’ve had my sleep and preferably some coffee and breakfast.”
But of course, that was not how spirits worked, and though this one was not malicious, it was not in the business of postponing ominous tidings and mysterious clues just because they might inconvenience the recipient.
“Uhm, excuse me…” the spirit said, carefully nudging Rarity who was already well on her way back to being comatose. “I’m so sorry to bother you, but I have to tell you something important.”
Rarity rolled over so her back was to the spirit and pulled her blankets up around her shoulders.
“Oh, ok then,” the spirit whispered, taking a step back and looking down at the floor. “I promise I don’t mean to be a nuisance, Rarity, but this is really quite important.”
Rarity groaned, then sighed, then finally sat up to stare sullenly and bleary eyed at the meek ghost awkwardly pawing the floorboards of her bedroom with an ephemeral and incredibly well manicured hoof.
“Yes, fine, what do you want? Is this some kind of Snowfall Frost situation? Am I going to be visited by increasingly more terrifying ghosts as the night goes on?”
The spirit looked taken aback and shook her head.
“Oh no, nothing like that,” she said, then seemed to realize what Rarity had said and smiled widely. “Wait, do you think I’m terrifying?”
Rarity rolled her eyes and waved her hoof dismissively.
“Dreadfully so, darling. Now what is it you need to tell me?”
The spirit giggled nervously then took a step back and straightened herself, looking much like a filly in school preparing to recite for the first time, but of course, this was a spirit, and not a little filly. Rarity felt the room grow colder, and several of her lamps flickered on and off a few times for good measure. A pale glow seemed to emanate from the spirit, and her eyes grew bright and sharp.
“One week of laughter, one week of sights, one week of warmth and of winter’s delights.” The spirit’s voice was loud and had taken on an echoing and distant quality. “Far in the north on a sea made of ice in the heart of a tree that has faced its demise, there you will find them, a deft tailor’s toy, a gold set of scissors, the key to your joy. One week is granted, one week to succeed, to go fetch this trinket, to find what you need. Do not ignore me nor turn from your task, for all of our sakes, you must do as I ask, and when in the morning, you set out to leave, you go forth to save all of Hearth’s Warming Eve.”
Rarity sighed and lay back down, staring up at the ceiling. She had last minute shopping to do this week, and two ensembles that needed finalizing for a local theatre production, and of course there were various parties and get-togethers she’d been invited to. But ignoring the warnings of a ghost seemed silly and childish, so plans would need to be set aside and Coco and Sassy would be put to work. Sweetie would have to go stay with her parents for a few days, but that shouldn’t be a problem.
The spirit walked up to the side of Rarity’s bed and looked down at her with a guilty look in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Rarity. I hope this isn’t too much of an inconvenience for you.”
“No, no, it’s quite alright,” Rarity said half-heartedly, trying to pat the spirit on the shoulder but finding that her hoof passed right through. “I’m sure it isn’t your fault. These things happen.”
She turned her face to look the spirit in the eyes, which turned out to be tricky as she was hiding her face behind a mess of ridiculously long hair.
“I don’t suppose you know why I have to fetch these scissors or why Hearth’s Warming Eve needs saving?”
The spirit shook her head, and Rarity sighed.
“Very well. You’d best leave me to my beauty sleep then, so I can get started as soon as possible. It wouldn’t do to miss the holidays because I wasted all my time on an inconvenient adventure.”
–
“It’s not fair!” Sweetie Belle cried, lying with her head toward the floor and her hindlegs in the air on Rarity’s favorite chaise lounge. Rarity was ignoring her sister’s tantrum while finishing packing her saddle bags and making sure the boots and jacket she was bringing didn’t have any weak seams, blemishes, or holes. She didn’t expect them to be anything less than pristine, of course, but quality was maintained through vigilance.
“Why do you always get to go on exciting adventures? And you leave me behind with mom and dad every time!”
Rarity was a seamstress and dressmaker extraordinaire, and this was something everypony knew, but she was just as famous for her many excursions and adventures into the wild. Excursions on which she would gather rare and expensive materials with which to make her ensembles.
“Sweetie, you’re a child still, and this isn’t just a normal trip into the woods.” She grinned and shot her sister a teasing glance. “But once you’re as fearless and debonair as I am, I’ll be glad to take you with me.” She struck a pose and tossed her mane, giggling at her sister’s frustrated frown.
“She’s right though, Rarity. It’s unusual for you to leave so close to the holiday, and it doesn’t seem like the spirit gave you much to go on here.” Trixie was a cantankerous and smug pony, but she was reliable and had watched Carousel Boutique for Rarity in the past. She’d agreed to do so again when Rarity called her after breakfast.
She bit her bottom lip and stared at her saddlebag. “There’s something about what she said. I can’t quite explain, but I know I have to do this. Since I woke up this morning, I can feel something tugging on my heart from the north. I have to find it.”
Trixie sighed and rolled her eyes, and Sweetie pouted, but neither of them said anything else to deter Rarity from leaving. She didn’t bother to tell them that there had been something else about the spirit that unnerved her, something incredibly familiar. Not for a single moment had she felt frightened, and sure, she was very brave and experienced with such things, but still, it had been almost like speaking to an old friend.
She knew instinctively how far she would need to go, so after packing and saying goodbye to Sweetie and Trixie, she hopped on a train for the north. It took her past everything she’d ever known to the edge of Equestria and the top of the world, and that’s where she began her journey.
-
Rarity was bundled up like a tightly wrapped present. Her boots were thick and lined with synthetic shearling, her jacket strong and filled with down, and her face was covered in a cashmere scarf and ski-goggles. She’d been unsure about the goggles at first, but the wind was strong, and the snow fell hard, and she was glad she’d brought them. All of this was to say that while the first day’s march was hardly pleasant, she’d prepared well, and things were not too terrible.
Night fell on her first day of travel as she arrived at a small and wooded glen. The trees stood as natural windbreakers, but the weather was calming on its own, and Rarity thought it seemed like a good place to set up camp. She found herself a snug and well protected patch of dead grass between a handful of ash trees that grew so close to each other that their branches intertwined to create a sort of makeshift roof.
Rarity began the process of setting up her tent, a large and tasteful thing she’d enchanted to fit in her bags but still contain all of life’s essentials. A proper bed and shower, a coffee pot, some lights, plants, and rugs for décor, those kinds of things. She always surprised herself with the powerful and clever spells she knew, but she never could quite remember where she’d learned them. She assumed she’d just picked them up along the way. When one was well travelled and well connected, it seemed only natural.
A dull crack like distant thunder rang out in the sky, and she turned to see the northern lights painting the heavens in hues of green and blue. A gorgeous sight that would have pleased her if not for the strange sound. All manner of spirits and creatures called these untamed and snowy wilds home, and it would do her no good to be too laissez-faire about her safety.
Above a stone a few paces away from her tent shimmered a creature. She was sure it was alive, though it was the strangest thing she’d ever seen. It had the vague shape of a pony but seemed to be made entirely of refracted light and the insubstantial mirror images on top of a rippling pond. It was never still, flickering this way and that above the stone while staring Rarity straight in the face, which would have been rude had Rarity not been staring right back.
“What’s up, Rarity,” it said with the familiar voice of a teenager who never quite managed to grow up.
“What is up, indeed,” Rarity responded, nodding her head graciously at the reflection. “You have me at a disadvantage, Miss…?”
“Don’t worry about that. You’ll find out soon enough, I think. Besides,” it said, suddenly hovering over the rock like a Pegasus about to take flight, “we’ve got more important things to do.” The lights in the sky suddenly shifted and cracked like a pane of glass accidentally stepped on before bleeding down to the ground and pooling around the spirit like wings on the snow.
Rarity frowned at it. “Well, that all seems unnecessarily cryptic and vague, but I appreciate the panache.”
The spirit chuckled, and it seemed to Rarity as if it was trying strike a dashing or heroic pose.
“I’m not gonna bore you with the details, but essentially, I have to challenge you to a test or trial, and you have to beat me, otherwise, I can’t let you go on.”
“That seems awfully inconvenient,” Rarity said, still studying the creature’s strange reflective form. It was both beautiful and unsettling, and she imagined whatever challenge it presented her would be difficult if not impossible. “Couldn’t you just let me pass? I’d be ever so grateful.” She batted her eyelids at the spirit and tried to make her eyes as large and innocent as she could. She had no idea if something like that might work on a magical entity made of reflections and light, but it was worth a shot.
The spirit snorted with laughter and shook its head. “No dice, Rarity. If you want to reach those scissors, you’re going to have to beat me in a race.” It flickered rapidly, then zapped about the glen in the form of a lightning bolt quicker than Rarity could follow before returning to the rock. “And no pony has ever beaten me in a race.”
Rarity felt her heart sink into her stomach. She had no chance. Even if she’d been more of the athletic type than she was, there was no way she could ever beat lightning in a race. She wasn’t even sure she could teleport that fast. Then she grinned as an idea formed in her mind. She tossed her mane back and placed a hoof against her forehead, closing her eyes and sighing dramatically.
“Oh, but I’ve walked all day, Miss Lightning Spirit, and I’m so tired. Wouldn’t it be a much fairer race if we waited until the morning? Why, I’m sure I’ll be rearing and ready to go at first light.”
Though it lacked a proper face, the being seemed to pause for thought.
“Hmm, yeah, I guess that’s fine. Wouldn’t want you to think I was cheating or taking advantage of you. If you promise you wont leave until morning, I’ll let you get some rest, but at first light, we race.”
Rarity nodded and said that she would indeed wait. If she understood how these things worked, and she suspected she did, then it wouldn’t matter if she tried to leave anyway. Whatever force was in charge would just lead her right back to this spot eternally until she raced. With a final warning to not leave, and a loud crackle and pop, the being disappeared, and the light that had pooled around it leapt up from the snow back into the sky.
Rarity walked slowly in a circle around the ash trees surrounding her tent to make sure that the spirit really had left, then she hurried into her tent and rummaged through her saddlebag until she found the item she was looking for. She really hoped this would work. If it didn’t, she suspected her journey would meet a quick and decisive end.
-
She stood in the glen a few minutes before sunrise, shifting her hooves nervously in the snow. Sleep had been fitful and not particularly restorative, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. She’d set up her simple and very risky plan before going to bed, being sure that the spirit wasn’t around, and had risen early to double check it was still in place. Now it was just a matter of waiting. Sure enough, she didn’t have to wait long before the spirit reappeared with a crackle of light and a poof of snow.
“Ready to eat my dust, Rarity?” The spirit flickered back and forth, restless, and clearly ready to go.
“Hmm,” Rarity said, trying to smile and look confident. “You seem awfully sure you’re about to win. You know what they say about pride, don’t you?”
The spirit blew a raspberry in the air and waved a dismissive appendage. “Whatever. You’re a tiny horse. I’m made of magic stuff. I’m obviously going to win.”
“Well, how about this then,” Rarity said, gesturing to a tree still obscured by the shadows of the night some thirty paces away from her tent. “As soon as the light hits that tree, the race will start. Whichever one of us reaches the tree first and turns around to look at the other wins.”
The spirit shrugged at her. “Sure, whatever you say.”
The two of them lined up next to each other, Rarity making certain the sun would rise from behind them over the hills of the glen. Then they waited. Ahead of them, the glen was slowly illuminated as the sun rose behind them, and Rarity held her breath as the light crept towards the tree. She really hoped this would work.
With a suddenness that startled her, the tree lit up, and so did the stand mirror she had placed up against it, momentarily blinding her. She placed a hoof over her eyes and heard the crackle of energy beside her as the spirit zoomed off, but not even a second later, she was rewarded with the sight of that same spirit standing slack jawed and confused halfway between Rarity and the other Rarity staring back at it from the mirror by the tree.
“Wait, what…. that’s not....” the spirit turned away from the reflection to look back at Rarity. “You cheated! That obviously doesn’t count!”
Rarity ignored the spirit’s continuing protestations. Instead of responding, she walked past it and up to the tree, then grabbed the mirror with her magic, shrinking it back down to fit in her bags.
“No,” she said, “perhaps not. But this does.” She turned so her back was against the tree and tried to look confident. The spirit didn’t have a proper face, but if Rarity had ever wondered what it might look like if a mass of light and reflections went apoplectic, this was it.
“Now, now,” she continued, seeing that her gambit had paid off and being unable to hide her satisfied smile, “you agreed to these terms, and I’m sure you’re bound to honor the results of our race. Spirit magic rules, or what have you.”
The spirit huffed and stomped and growled, but Rarity was right, and there was nothing it could do.
“Fine!” it finally said. “You’re free to go or whatever. This whole thing is stupid anyway.” And with that, it poofed away, leaving Rarity alone to pick up her camp and continue on her journey.
-
The third spirit met her at a crossroads beneath a waterfall that resisted freezing by virtue of pouring forth from a hot spring. It was early afternoon, but already the stars were out, shimmering like satin in the sky.
The spirit was standing against a roughhewn menhir, chewing on a piece of straw, and when she spoke, the roar of the waterfall quieted, and Rarity felt a warm breeze in her mane accompanied by the scent of barley and rapeseed.
“Howdy, traveler,” said the spirit, looking to Rarity very much like a young minotaur with flowers braided into her long blonde mane. “I see you bested Dash, and now you’ve come a-wanderin’ my way.”
“It seems that I have,” Rarity said. “Do you too intend to bar my way lest I gallantly defeat you?”
The minotaur laughed, and it was a deep and welcoming sound. “Defeat is a bit dramatic, but I’ve got a challenge for you all the same. See this big rock here behind me?”
Rarity held up a hoof to forestall the minotaur’s explanation. “I’ve been walking most of the day, and these bags are heavier than they look. Before you explain your challenge, do you mind if I put them down somewhere first and have a bite to eat? You’re of course welcome to join me.”
The minotaur looked a bit put out for a second, but then she grinned and nodded towards a small alcove along the path heading into the cave under the waterfall. Rarity placed her bags there and sat down on a surprisingly dry and moss-covered stone. It was better than the ground, but she wasn’t thrilled about the green stains it left on her coat.
She produced a pair of dried oatcakes from her bag and set to munching on one, levitating the other towards the minotaur. “It’s poor fare, I know,” she said, “but it’s better than nothing.”
“Mighty kind of you to offer, Miss Rarity, but I’m a fae creature conjured from the spirit stuff of the ether, so I can’t really eat.”
“Ah, well, that’s a shame then. Though I don’t suppose you’re missing out on much with these.”
The two of them sat there while Rarity ate, and she felt no rush to finish. The minotaur seemed perfectly happy to wait, and though they only exchanged a word or two, her company was not unpleasant. As with the lightning spirit and the ghost that had sent her on this quest in the first place, there was something familiar about the minotaur that teased at her thoughts for a moment before melting away.
“So,” Rarity said, standing up and dusting off her jacket. “What do you have in store for me? An impossible labyrinth or perhaps a knot that can’t be undone?”
The minotaur chuckled. “Nothing quite that fancy. It’s a test of strength. You just have to shatter this rock with a single hit.” She gestured to the menhir she’d been leaning against.
“Well now, I can certainly fend for myself if the need arises, but that seems to be a feat beyond just a simple pony. Don’t you think?”
“Be that as it may, it’s the only way I’m letting you pass. Break the stone, and your journey awaits. Fail to break it, and I’ll have to keep you locked up in this here cave until there’s nothing left of you but bones. I’d rather not do that, so I’ll be cheering you on.”
“How kind of you,” Rarity said, but if the minotaur heard the sarcasm in her voice, she feigned not to notice. “Can I use a tool?” she asked.
“Sure, so long as it’s something you already brought with you. And I guess I better have a look at it first in case you try to pull one over on me.”
“In that case, this will be simpler than a basting stitch,” she said, already rummaging through her saddle bag for her gem hunting kit. She never went anywhere without it. “Et voilà!” she exclaimed, pulling out an old but cared for loupe and a small sturdy geological hammer.
She handed both over to the minotaur who looked them over closely and even gave them a couple of sniffs, as if their scent might hide some trick.
“Yeah, alright. I’ll allow it.”
Rarity placed the loupe over her right eye, then cast a simple delving spell over the menhir. Like her gambit with the mirror, this wasn’t a sure thing. Perhaps the menhir was solid through and didn’t have any seams or impurities. If so, the hammer wouldn’t help her much, but she could hardly shatter a rock larger than herself with just her hooves.
“What is it?” the minotaur asked, pointing at the loupe.
“It’s a loupe,” Rarity said, focusing on the surface of the stone. The delving spell would flash softly if it found a crack or a streak that differed in mineral composition, but Rarity’s eyes weren’t quite what they once had been, so she needed to pay extra close attention. “Think of it as a much stronger monocle made for inspecting gems, minerals, fossils, et cetera.”
The minotaur grunted her understanding and left Rarity to her task. It took her longer than she would have liked, and by the time she finally found a weakness, she’d started sweating. Down near the base of the menhir on the left side there was a hairline fracture that spidered up and around the back of the stone. She looked at it closely and thought she caught a few glimmers here and there along its length. Internal mineral growth applying pressure to the encasing rock. Exactly what she needed.
She stood up straight, and with a very smug and satisfied look, she struck hard with her hammer against the center of the vein. The hammer vibrated, a sound like a bell being struck rang out under the waterfall, and the stone cracked as the vein spread and caused the menhir to shatter before her. She jumped back to avoid the falling stones and admired her handiwork. The base of the menhir sat like a cracked open egg, revealing a wealth of shimmering purple crystals within.
The minotaur smiled at her and clicked her teeth. “Well, shoot, sugar cube. I guess you went and beat me fair and square."
Rarity stepped away from the large geode and cast a quick cleaning spell on herself, forcing the dust and stone fragments onto the ground around her.
“You don’t seem too torn up about it, if I’m being honest.”
“Yeah, how about that? The world is full of surprises, isn’t it?” The minotaur winked at Rarity, clapped her hands together, and was suddenly gone, leaving Rarity standing not under the waterfall, but rather in a large empty field that seemed to stretch for miles. The field was covered in tall wilting grass and patches of half melted snow, but she couldn’t see a single tree, nor any hills or mountains in the distance. It was the flattest and most monotone landscape she had ever seen. Her bag lay beside her on the ground.
-
She walked for two whole days, and it quickly became clear to her that even if she reached the magic scissors before the allotted time, there was no way she would be able to return to Ponyville by Hearth’s Warming Eve, not unless she very suddenly developed supersonic flight. She grimaced at the prospect of celebrating the holiday by herself in these inhospitable and dreary wilds, but with each passing hour, the pull inside her to reach the scissors grew stronger, and there was nothing she could do except continue north.
At the end of that second day, she arrived at a dilapidated and clearly abandoned cottage. The wind blew through holes in the walls and through shattered shutters, but it still seemed like a better place to set up camp than just out in the open. Tent or no tent, the chill would be biting, and solid walls were better protection than cloth.
With a weary sigh, she pushed the rickety door open only to find that she’d stepped into a warm and brightly lit bakery. The air was filled with the scent of cinnamon rolls, hot chocolate, and gingerbread cookies, and when she looked back at the door behind her, it was in perfect condition. So were the walls and the windows, all of which were hung with holly, ribbons, and glowing candles.
A counter covered in the tastiest looking confections she’d ever seen separated her from a pink earth pony wearing a white witch’s hat that crumpled over to one side. The pony, no doubt the next spirit, had flour all over her nose and was singing to herself a Hearth’s Warming song while vigorously kneading a pile of bright yellow dough that had clearly been seasoned with saffron.
“Hiya, Rarity. I’m baking revel buns! Do you want some? I can’t eat them anyway.”
The spirit hadn’t bothered to look up when Rarity had entered, but as with the other spirits, it was no great surprise that she knew her name. They were spirits, and they were in cahoots. It seemed obvious they would know her name.
“Thank you, but I’ll have to decline.” Rarity wasn’t about to risk eating something prepared by a spirit in an ensorcelled cottage. That’s how you got yourself cursed. The baker sat back and frowned.
“What’s the point of always baking if you can’t even try what you’ve baked?” she said, tossing her hoofs in the air and scattering flour all over the counter.
“It does seem… unfortunate.” Rarity placed her bags on the floor by the door and walked up to the counter. “My sister would love this place,” she said to herself while looking at three large pinwheels that were spinning despite a lack of wind. As they spun, they scattered glittering sugar onto a tray of cupcakes shaped like little conifers who then promptly leapt from the tray into a bowl filled with translucent white frosting. The finished product was stunning.
“Well, Miss Baker, what manner of trial can I expect from you this evening?”
The baker turned to Rarity, scratching her chin deep in thought. “Hmm, why don’t we just play a game?” she said.
“A game?”
“Sure. Everypony loves a good game!”
Something about the idea made her nervous, but she nodded hesitantly. “I do like a good game,” she said, “but aren’t these things pre-determined? I assumed fate or your inherent nature or something like that decided what the trial would be.”
“Maybe it’s my inherent nature to want to play a game?”
That did seem to track, and Rarity could think of nothing to counter with. “Well then, what game do you want to play?” she asked.
“How about the shell game?” The baker produced three gorgeously filigreed teacups and flipped them upside down onto the counter in front of Rarity then grinned conspiratorially at her. “A little bit of thimblerig? A spot of trickery?”
Rarity stared at the cups with growing realization and horror. A nervous giggle escaped her lips.
“Surely, you don’t mean to suggest that the trial will be a game of guesswork and chance. That doesn’t seem fair in the slightest. With the lightning spirit and the minotaur, I at least got to use my wit and dazzling skills to try and win, but you just want me to hazard this entire journey on a guess?”
The baker laughed and shook her head. “Silly Rarity, of course it isn’t going to be a game of guesswork and chance. It’s a con. I’m going to cheat so you can’t win.”
“Pinkamena Diane Pie,” Rarity found herself hissing through gritted teeth, “this is serious. I need to get back, and I’m not going to let you stop me just because you want to play a stupid prank.”
“Hmm, I am being serious.” Pinkie frowned at Rarity for just a brief moment before her wide and inappropriate smile returned. “How did you know my name?” she asked. “And where do you need to get back to?”
“Oh… uhm…” Rarity realized what she’d just said and stared at the baker in confusion. “I don’t know.”
“Well, that doesn’t matter, because this isn’t a prank, and the game starts now!”
“Wait!” Rarity, still reeling from the exchange, held up a hoof to stop Pinkie before it was too late, but unfortunately for her, it was in fact too late.
Pinkie Pie quickly tossed something shiny under one of the teacups. Then, with a speed that defied all logic, she began to move the cups around until Rarity wasn’t even sure they were still the same cups. When she stopped, she winked at Rarity and gestured at the neat row before her. Rarity felt unmoored, annoyed, and like she’d suddenly lost all control of her life, which was a lot of things to feel because of a simple game and scam, but considering the circumstances, she thought it was warranted.
“I’m not going to pick one,” she told Pinkie. “You already told me you plan to cheat so I can’t win. If that’s the case, what’s the point in playing?”
“Aww, don’t be a spoil sport. I bet if you were smarter, faster, or stronger, you could figure out how to win.”
Something about the way Pinkie was speaking to her felt off to Rarity. Despite everything, she knew she didn’t know this spirit, but it still felt wrong to her that she was being so aggressive and mean.
“I don’t see how speed or brawn are in any way useful right now, and I don’t need to be smarter either. I already know you palmed whatever item it was you put under the cups while you were moving them around. No matter which one I choose, it’ll be the wrong one.”
“Not true,” Pinkie said, shaking her head and holding up two empty hooves. “I promise, the key is still under one of these cups.”
“You could be lying,” she said, wondering why the object was a key.
“I’m not.”
“If the key is still under a cup, then there’s no way for you to ensure that I can’t find it. Just by guessing, I have a one-in-three chance of finding it, so you must have been lying earlier when you said I can’t win.”
“Oh yeah, that makes sense. You can’t trust anything that past me says. She’s a real stinker.”
Rarity gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. She needed to be calm, cool, poised, and clever. Either Pinkie was lying about the game being rigged or she was lying about the key still being under one of the cups, or perhaps the game was rigged in some other way. Even if she hadn’t rigged the game, it put Rarity back where she started, risking the whole journey on a guess.
“How about this?” she said. “If I pick a cup, and the key isn’t under there, you have to lift the other two cups to show me which one the key is under, and if none of them are hiding a key, I get to continue on anyway since you lied to me.”
“That sounds fair,” Pinkie said, nodding.
“Do you agree?” Rarity asked. “I need you to say that you agree.”
Pinkie laughed but reached out a hoof to Rarity. “I agree. We can shake on it if it’ll make you feel better.”
They did, leaving Rarity to make her choice. Based on nothing at all, she steeled herself and lifted the left most cup. It revealed a tiny and elaborate key, seemingly made of gold and stylized in such a way that the head of the key resembled a large purple star.
“Aww,” Pinkie said, grinning, “you lose.” She lifted the other two cups to reveal two more keys, both silver and stamped with Rarity’s cutie mark.
“Wait, what…!” But before Rarity could say anything else, the cottage melted back to its old decrepit state, and Pinkie Pie turned into smoke and disappeared, leaving nothing but her laughter and a few spoiled cupcakes behind. The floor beneath her gave way, plunging Rarity screaming into a pitch-black hole.
She fell for some time. Long past the point she stopped screaming for fear that her voice would give out. When she eventually landed, she landed on something soft, but the force was still enough to knock her out. Before consciousness abandoned her, she heard something hiss and felt something shift beneath her.
-
“It’s time to wake up, Rarity.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m hungry, Rarity. It’s time to wake up. Otherwise, I’ll feel guilty.”
Rarity shifted in her sleep, then sat up, groaning as the aching in her body made itself known. She should have died from her fall, but who could really say what should and shouldn’t happen when spirits were involved. She was sitting on something hard and cold. Ice, maybe. When she opened her eyes to look, she almost screamed once more.
“Hi,” said the enormous creature that crouched before her. It had the body of a massive lion with lavender fur and a face a little bit like a hairless ape. Its hair was long and purple, streaked through with magenta, and it had gargantuan wings that shimmered like candlelight in the dark whenever she shifted them or ruffled her feathers. Rarity had to crane her neck far back to look her in the eyes.
“Twilight…” she whispered, too stunned to say much else.
“You know my name? How curious and exciting.”
As had been the case with Pinkie Pie, Rarity had no idea how she could possibly have known that, but she did.
“It’s good you’re awake now,” Twilight said, gesturing with a paw towards Rarity. “I’m supposed to eat you, and of course I plan to, but I would have felt really guilty about doing it while you were sleeping. I need to give you a chance to escape, after all.”
“Excuse me?!” Rarity stared at Twilight, her mouth hanging open. “Just like that? I’m going to eat you? I just fell all the way down through that hole after that terrible ghost baker tricked me and made me look like a fool, and you’re just going to say hi and then eat me!” She realized she was starting to sound a bit hysterical, but who could blame her? “I will not stand for this!” she said, stomping a hoof against the ice. “I will not!”
“What hole?” Twilight asked, looking genuinely confused.
Rarity sputtered and gestured wildly. “What hole?! That… hole…” She looked around, and for the first time since she woke up, she realized where they were. She had assumed she’d fallen into some sort of cave, but it seemed like the opposite was true. They were standing on a sheet of ice that stretched out of sight in every direction. Above them, the sky hung heavy with bright cold stars and the northern light, and behind Twilight, a tree stood alone and barren with a hollow in its trunk. Even at a distance, she saw something gold twinkle within.
“I made it?” she asked the air, a bit unsettled by her own surprise.
“Technically you haven’t yet.” Twilight pointed to herself and grinned at Rarity, displaying a row of dangerous looking teeth.
“If you make it past me, sure, you’ll get to take the scissors from the tree and cut your way out, but that’s not going to happen. As I’ve already made very clear, I plan on eating you.”
“Haha, yes, well, obviously I would indeed taste delicious, but my dearest, darlingest, uh, sphinx, I believe you mentioned there would be some method by which I might save myself?”
Twilight lay down on her stomach and crossed her legs under her chin. Her hair spilled out like pools of water on the snow around her and seemed to reflect back the stars in the sky.
“I’m supposed to provide you with a trial, and I plan on it, since I’m good like that. But technically, I don’t have to. You already failed Pinkie’s trial, so I could just dispense with formalities and kill you now.”
“That’s not fair. She never made the rules very clear, and she went out of her way to lie to me and trick me.”
“That’s true, but don’t fret. Like I said, I’ll be giving you a chance to escape.”
Rarity sighed and sat down on the ice, trying her best to ignore the cold and the wet. She wished she still had her saddlebag with all of her things, but alas, it was lost to Pinkie’s cottage.
“Very well then,” she said. “What must I do?”
“You can either fight me with this sword,” Twilight said, nodding at the ice by Rarity’s hooves where suddenly a fine and sharp dress sword appeared, “or you can solve a logic puzzle for me.”
“Can I ask what the puzzle is before I decide?”
Twilight pondered for a moment, then nodded her head. “Sure. But I will only tell it to you once, and it’s quite long, so listen well.”
Rarity said she would and sat down. She had been playing these games on the spirits’ terms because she had feared what might happen if she deviated from the rules. This sort of magic tended to be very strict about things being done properly. The point was always to outwit or trick your way to victory. But now the tree was right there, and she thought that even though she wasn’t the fastest pony in the world, perhaps she was quick enough and small enough to rush past Twilight and get to the tree… Except, what then?
“There are three dragons,” Twilight began, “called Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. One of them always speaks true, one always speaks falsely, and one will respond either truly or falsely at random. They can understand Equestrian, but they only respond…”
Rarity grabbed the sword with her magic and launched it like an arrow into one of Twilight’s eyes, not waiting to see if she struck her mark before bolting towards the tree. Twilight rose up on her hind legs, screeching and clawing at her bleeding face, furiously beating her wings so that Rarity was almost knocked off her hooves. Still, she was able to keep her balance and dashed past the sphinx towards the object of her journey, ducking to avoid her lashing tail.
Rarity cursed herself for her boldness and likely stupidity. She hoped desperately something would happen when she touched the scissors, because otherwise she’d be dead and would only have herself to blame. Well, Twilight had been planning to eat her anyway, and Pinkie Pie had tricked her, and that silly ghost had set her on this journey in the first place, so maybe it wasn’t entirely her own fault. But still, mauled to death by a giant cat creature on an ice sheet alone in the desolate north was not how she’d imagined dying.
She had always imagined herself going out as an old and slightly confused dowager with too much wealth and good fabric to know what to do with and a suite of young suitors out to get her money. Even in her panic, the thought made her giggle inside. Or maybe it was because of the panic. She was losing her grip.
She reached the tree and stuck her hoof into the hollow, pulling out the scissors. For a few brief seconds nothing happened, and Rarity felt like screaming. Twilight had pulled the sword from her eye, and though she was still pawing at her face, Rarity was sure she’d spot her and kill her in just a few moments.
And then the scissors began to glow, and Rarity remembered. She’d bought these scissors a few weeks ago. They were beautiful and intricate, but also practical. Perfect for cutting most fabrics. They’d struggled with the finer ones though, and she’d asked Twilight to cast a spell on them so they would always cut the pattern she needed perfectly, even if the fabric bunched up. A small spell, they’d thought.
But something had gone wrong, and when Rarity tried to use the scissors, they’d cut her out of her life, her home, and had shunted her into this other place. This strange reality where all her friends were spirits or monsters, and Pinkie was mean, and Twilight wanted to eat her.
She heard the thud of monster Twilight’s paws against the ice behind her. She didn’t turn to see how close she was, instead she grabbed the scissors with her magic and cut a large glowing hole in the air. She flung herself through the hole and felt the tips of monster Twilight’s claws brush against her tail, before landing face first on the floor of Carousel Boutique. Her Carousel Boutique. The real one.
All her friends and Sweetie Belle were sitting on the couches in her living room arguing with each other and looking dreadful. As soon as she crashed to the floor, they all stood up and came rushing over. Rainbow Dash started asking her what happened immediately, before Applejack told her to shush and helped Rarity to her feet. Sweetie and Fluttershy had tears in their eyes, and Pinkie stood bouncing nervously on her hooves. Twilight was paler than a ghost.
“Oh my gosh, Rarity, are you okay? I’m so so sorry! Are you hurt in any way? Where did you go? Do you need any medical attention? I can go get a first aid kit for you!” Without waiting for a response, Twilight teleported away before returning a second later with a large white box filled with bandages, gauze, and medicine.
Rarity chuckled at her friend’s earnest concern and shook her head. “No, darling. Thank you, but I should be fine.”
“What happened?” Fluttershy asked again.
“Let me get settled,” Rarity said, laughing and taking a deep breath, marveling at the presence of her friends, “then I’ll tell you the whole story.”
The End
