Prologue
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The day was new, Celestia’s sun rose over the eastern hills. Everypony was just awakening to find the clear skies and signs of a great day. Someponies had to prepare themselves for the coming day not everypony had the day off when they wanted. Rarity awoke to the smell of burning orange juice, again, the smell had become familiar to her through the constant awakenings from the dreaded smoke detector’s high pitched wail. As always it was Sweetie Belle trying to earn her cutie mark in something she clearly wasn’t any good at.
Rarity rushed downstairs to find the pallet of burn food waiting for her. The plate contained what might have once been eggs, hash browns and a half of orange, along side the plate stood a dark blackish liquid which Rarity could only assume was the deadly orange juice. Not only did the orange juice make Rarity’s stomach contort it also filled the house with the smell of rotting fruits. Rarity was met with these smells and sights; the usual in her morning routine. No matter how many glasses of burn orange juice she would drink it would never taste good.
“Good morning Rarity!” said the small, overexcited filly standing at the stove. She had to stand on a chair to reach the burners. “I made your breakfast!” Sweetie Belle did this every morning,and *amazingly* her cooking skills never improved. Every attempt to help teach Sweetie Belle how to cook was meet with Sweetie Belle raising her voice and refusing to listen.
“Sweetie, darling it really pains me to say this but have you ever considered attempting new recipes, ones that may be harder to*burn*. I mean this great and all but it could at least be edible.” Rarity knew how this conversation would end before she started it she was just hoping she wouldn’t have to eat the charred remains of food that was placed in front of her.
“Are you saying i can’t cook?” Sweetie Belle’s eyes had grown wide and began to shimmer from the fresh tears forming upon them. “I got up early just to make you breakfast and you don't like it?”
“Sweetie it’s not like I don’t like your cooking, it just has a lot of room for improvement.” Rarity had managed to get out before the water works. “Don’t get me wrong I’d hate to let the food just go to waste, but black goes with everything but my stomach." The last thing Rarity wanted to deal with this morning was Sweetie Belle’s Faust forsaken crying.
“I just want *sniff* to be a... a good... sister... and you won't *sniff* let me.” Sweetie Belle was on the verge of crying, tears at the ready and she knew Rarity would cave in.
“Sweetie don’t cry it’s not ladylike to cry at such a-” Rarity was cut off mid sentence *Oh this can’t be good.*
“But you cry all the time and all you worry about is being ladylike!” Sweetie had raised her voice above the normal indoor protocol enforced in Rarity’s home. “And I’m just trying to be sisterly and make you food! I don’t have to get up early and make you food but I do because you’re my sister.” Sweetie’s voice had cracked a number of times and she was ready to open the floodgates.
“Then don’t get up and cook in the morning! You might end up burning my house down!” Rarity blurted out, immediately catching herself.
“Is that all you’re worried about? Your house over your own?” Sweetie had at this point started crying “Why don’t you help me cook then?”
Rarity was dumbfounded every time she had offered to help Sweetie she had been yelled at but now she was asking for help? “I offer to help you learn to cook every time but you always get mad at me!” Rarity was not in the mood for this but the sooner she got it out of the way. Rarity had a dress requested that was in need of a few more gems than she had at the moment and would have to go out to get more.
“Ugh!” Sweetie Belle had gotten to the point of not really taking but just making noises “Nugh!” Sweetie Belle jump down from her chair, approaching Rarity.
“Sweetie Belle those sounds are just terrible.” Rarity had lost the tone in her voice and replaced it with her iconic lady voice. “You should really try to be more of a lady. I have somewhere to be and must go, when I get back you better have all of this cleaned up.” Rarity got up from the table she hadn’t touched the dish that was placed in front of her.
Sweetie left the room making sure she slammed the door on her way out. Sweetie had been trying to get her cutie mark in cooking for a few weeks now to no avail. To say the least for a filly Sweetie Belle was quite stressed making conversation with her fall flat on its face.
Rarity had to prepare to leave her home. She had to feed Opal, take a bath, brush her hair and put on some accessories. Rarity was always a fan of accessories and didn’t leave her home without some kind of accessory. Finally Rarity put on a overdone hat, what would anypony suspect from the fashionista?
“Maybe I should find somepony to go with me to collect gems. I think i might get something to eat first and if I see somepony I’ll ask them to go with me.” Rarity didn't have breakfast so a stop by a local restaurant to get a daisy sandwich. The waiter approached Rarity already knowing what she would order. Rarity came to Raspberry’s almost daily, they had some of the best berries in town.
“What could i get you Miss Rarity? The usual?” The waiter was a nicely dressed Stallion with tan fur and a orange mane. He stood tall above most ponies and was unconditionally kind to everypony he meet. He donned a black tuxedo with a red bow tie, the uniform for the higher class restaurant. The waiter already knew the answer, a daisy sandwich with some fresh strawberries on the side.
“Good morning Royal Cuisine I’d love to get a daisy sandwich with a side of you best strawberries.” Rarity did get the same thing every time she went here, she wasn’t much of the adventurous type. “Do you know if anypony would like to help a lady gather some gems?”
Royal Knew a lot about Rarity, she like to talk about everything and almost always needed somepony to listen to her. Most ponies found it hard to listen to Rarity for an extended period of time but Royal had never much payed it any attention. “I don’t believe I do Miss Rarity why don’t you ask one of your friends? I’ll have the daisy sandwich out as soon as i can.” Royal didn’t much care for most of the people he talked to he was just a good listener and for someponie’s that’s all they needed.
“That’s a grand idea maybe Fluttershy would like to go with me.” Royal Cuisine had trotted away off to place the order, leaving Rarity to herself. “I’d really love if somepony would go with me.” Rarity knew the field and caves like the back of her hoof but having somepony to talk to always made the hunt go a little faster.
Royal returned with a plate in magical grasp. Placing it in front of Rarity. “I hope you enjoy the meal Miss Rarity and I wish you the best of luck on your search.” Royal knew Rarity would find the gems she was looking for, she always did.
“Thank you Royal Cuisine, I might even find you a amber gem to match those eyes of yours.”
“That’s not necessary.” Squeaked a blush stricken Royal Cuisine. “I’m just doing my job no need to give me anything.” The heat slowly evaporated from his cheeks.
“No I, Rarity, must insist that I tip you in some way. I could even make it into a brooch or amulet.” Rarity was off on a tangent, she pondered ways she could make some form of a necklace for her favorite waiter. The many ways she could highlight the other features of the blushing stallion.
“No really Rarity it’s nothing, I have other customers to attend to so if you wouldn’t mind.” Royal sped off. He was never a fan of tips, it made him feel awkward.
“Well that was rather odd.” Rarity bit into her daisy sandwich letting the flavor pleasure her each and every taste bud “I wonder if anypony would like to go with me?”
Rarity set down the napkin her plate had one last strawberry resting upon it. She always loved coming to Raspberry's there sandwiches were just the right size for her. Royal saw that she had finished her meal and started to approach the table.
“How was the meal Miss Rarity?”
“It was grand, here is the five bits for the sandwich and the bit for the strawberries.” Rarity placed six bits on the table. She had done this many times in the past.
“Strawberries are on the house, don’t worry about it.” Royal Cuisine levitated five of the bits away from Rarity “Have a nice day.”
“Thank you very much Royal, I’ll see you later” Rarity got up and started to trot away from the table *Well that was very kind of him, I wonder what has gotten into him today?*
Rarity walked in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.
After a short and uneventful walk to Fluttershy’s, Rarity knocked on the soft spoken pegasi’s door. “Fluttershy are you home? I have something to ask you.” The sounds of rustling critters and hooves on wood approached the door.
The door opened with a creak and a yellow pegasus poked her head through. “Hello? Oh hello Rarity what do you need?” Fluttershy was Rarity’s closest friend and had been for a long time. “Is Opalescences hurt?” Concern entering Fluttershy's voice.
“No Opal is fine i just wanted to know if you would accompany me, I need to get some gems for a dress I’m making.” Rarity had a smile plastered on her face.
“In the... caves?...” Fluttershy’s voice shook “The... dark caves...”
“Well yes Fluttershy where else am i going to find gems?” Rarity could see the worry in Fluttershy’s eyes but knew she could convince Fluttershy would be ok.
“I... I have to take care of Angel... Yeah, Angel’s sick and I can’t go!” Fluttershy seamed eager to close the door and forget Rarity’s request. Angel looked at Fluttershy from his perch on the couch, clearly not sick.
“Fluttershy I can see Angel he’s right there.” Pointing a hoof at Angel “He doesn’t look sick.” Rarity knew Fluttershy didn’t want to go.
“No he’s very, very sick.” Fluttershy gave Angel a glance and he coughed as well as he could. “And that’s why I can’t go to the... spooky cave...”
“Fluttershy if you don’t want to go that’s okay.” She didn’t like to put her friend in this kind of situation, it made her feel too pushy.
“...Okay, well i have to take care of Angel... Bye now.” Fluttershy pushed the door close as fast as she could, making sure not to slam it.
“Well that could have gone better.” Rarity left Fluttershy’s cottage in search of somepony who may be interested in going with her. *It is too close to cider season for Applejack to have the time to go with her, Pinkie Pie is always planning a party for somepony and Twilight and Spike are both in Canterlot with the Princesses.* “I know.” * I could see if Rainbow Dash wants to go.* Rarity was off to the field she knew Rainbow Dash always practiced at. If she remembered correctly Rainbow had the day off today as well.
Upon entering the field she could see the speedy pegasus racing through the clouds at speed she could only imagine. “Rainbow could you come down here I have something to ask you!” Rarity had to shout, even though she didn’t like to.
Rainbow looked her direction and, after finishing her set, flew down to greet the white mare. “Hey Rars what’s up? What could be so important you had to come out here for?” Rainbow usually never had anypony interrupt her practice, if she wanted to become a Wonderbolt she would have to practice daily.
“Well I have to collect gems for a dress and I’d love somepony to accompany me. Everypony else is busy or scared of caves.”
“Fluttershy’s the one scarred of caves right? Sweet Celestia is that pony scared of everything!” Rainbow had only seen Fluttershy be courageous twice in her life both times to protect her friends. “And yeah I know I’m not working and all but I think I’ll pass on cave exploration, wait that gives me an idea why don’t you take Sweetie Belle and her friends?”
“Rainbow Dash that has to be the worst idea I’ve ever heard. First off do you think I want to watch three fillies in a cave with nearly nothing to do? Second I’m not too happy with Sweetie Belle at this very moment. Finally why can’t you go you aren't working.” Rarity wasn’t surprised Rainbow didn’t want to go the caves can be very boring.
‘’Rars I like you and all but the gem caverns don’t really have the highest ceilings and I like to use my days off to practice my flying, you know that.” Rainbow didn’t want to let her friend go to the caves alone but oh hell if she was forced to suffer through that excessively boring experience she might explode.
“Please Rainbow Dash just this once?” Rarity had put on her pleading face and had started to beg Rainbow.
“Oh would you look at the time. Guess I gotta go!” And just like that Rainbow was gone, it didn’t shock Rarity that Rainbow had bailed on her.
“Well i guess I have to go alone!” Rarity trotted towards the gem caverns she was disappointed nopony was able to go with her it would be very lonely alone in the gem caverns. She had done it before it just makes the whole fiasco feel a lot longer than it should.
It was about noon when Rarity got herself to the valley the entrance to the gem caverns was. Every time she went in she felt as though the cave got bigger as though they were still being mined by somepony. It had occurred to her that maybe they were still mined but nopony had ever told her to go away so it should be fine.
Rarity found the entrance she had always used she felt the cool breeze swell from within the cavern. Rarity took one last whiff of the fresh air outside and started her waltz through the cave. The cave was similar to a labyrinth but Rarity knew the basic route like the back of her hoof. She charged her horn and cast a spell that made gems shine through the earth. The cave light up like the starry night sky, this sight never ceased to put Rarity into a state of awe. One thing she had never done in this cave was remove all of the gems in one area so maybe some day a pony like her could see this sight as well, it also helped her find her was out, in fear she get lost.
She came to the place she had harvested gems on her last visit, it was a large vane of emeralds, just what she was looking for. “Well looks like I’m in luck today maybe this visit won't take as long as i feared.” Rarity started to take large gems from the wall.
Soft sounds of pebbles on the floor to the dripping of stalagmites filled the room with a deep melody of natural music. But the music was cut off by the sound of rumbling. “This can’t be good...” before Rarity could act the patch she had taken was cut of by a multitude of rocks and gems, nearly crushing the now dazed Rarity. She was stuck.
“I knew i should have gotten somepony to go with me to the Celestia damned cave!” Normally Rarity would never say such a thing but the situation called for it. Rarity looked back to where she was mining, she could see another path behind the wall. The wall was almost make shift to hide something, a secret. Rarity started to remove stone after stone revealing the passage way deeper into the cave system.
The cave she had found had exposed gems along the walls in patterns, as though somepony had placed them there as decoration. There was pictures made entirely out of assortments of gems, they depicted historical battle of this ancient civilisation.
“This had to be the most beautiful thing i have ever seen, too bad it may be the last.” Rarity took in everything she was seeing. The pictures showed what looked like diamond dogs and ponies fighting over some sort of large gem, but there was something wrong the leaders on the ponies side was indeed Celestia but the leader of the diamond dogs was also a pony.
The next showed less ponies than the last. The leader of the dogs had changed though, she had rubys spotted across her body as though that had become part of her. It was covering parts of her face like a natural armor. They closely resembled dragon scales or a changeling's exoskeleton. The diamond dogs looked like they were winning this battle.
The third picture held Celestia and her remaining warriors fleeing and the diamond dogs taking the large gem. “This looks like it could have been life changing, and I’ve never heard about it?” Rarity could see a large door at the end of the hall.
The next panel showed what looked like the gem valley, the diamond dogs and their leader started to mine out the valley. The leader was covered in rubies and shimmered a crimson red giving him or her a very powerful but strangely beautiful look.
The last picture showed a thrown room seating a large diamond dog wearing a cloak made of large scales of ruby. The pony was almost completely covered in ruby scales in a larger thrown. Many smaller diamond dogs were bowing to the clear leader. The large gem, prize from their war was in the center of the chamber all of the dogs seated around the monument. The walls of the thrown room was paneled in saphire and other bright gems.
“Why have i never heard of any battles like this?” It dumbfounded Rarity, if there was one class she liked in school it was equestrian history, but she had never heard of a battle like this.
“That’s because your dumb princess doesn't like to teach ponies about battles that they lost.” A voice behind her said. The voice sounded young but serious.
“What th-” Something hit her in the back of the head she fell to the ground with a thump. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was large paw being placed back onto the floor.
Author's Note
Got any ideas shoot them my way. Reuploaded this, I think i got most of the blatant problems.