THE MYSTERIOUS GEM

RARITY'S UNICORN MAGIC ILLUMINATED THE JEWELS UNDERNEATH THE ground. She had been looking for new gemstones for her new dress designs. She found emeralds, rubies, diamonds, crystals, sapphires, torquiose, and pearls, all the gems she'd used before. But she wanted something different, something new. Even if it was just a new configuration of the gems on the dresses, as long as it was something different.

As she walked, she thought about the events that had transpired just a couple of months ago. Those humans from another world, coming to Equestria, leading to a deadly battle against a giant dragon-a bahamut-and another human who wanted to destroy the universe to, as he put it, rid it of all the anger and hatred. But with the combined efforts of the humans, as well as the Elements of Harmony, he was defeated.

Sadly, they had to say goodbye to their human friends not long after the battle. Rarity had dreamed about visiting their world some time, though that seemed highly unlikely.

Rarity let out a sigh. She knew that there was no way to go to other worlds, so why dwell on something so farfetched. She put another batch of jewels into her saddlebag and kept walking.

Normally, Rarity would object to such outdoors work, but there were times when it was necessary, and this was one such time. There were many others, as well, though they were for different reasons-usually for the survival of Equestria. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, King Sombra; if it weren't for Rarity and her friends, as well as the Elements of Harmony, Equestria would have fallen into darkness long ago.

Rarity stopped walking and looked over the edge of the mountaintop she was walking on, looking out over Equestria. She saw Canterlot nestled on the side of the far-off mountain, about fifteen miles away; she saw her hometown of Ponyville, nestled in the valley, Sweet Apple Acres to the north and the Everfree Forest to the west; and though she couldn't see it, she knew that the Crystal Empire lay far to the north, under the benevolent rule of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance following the death of King Sombra.

She turned away from the edge of the cliff and got back to her search. A few more gems, and she would head home. Her saddlebag was beginning to get heavy, the weight of the gems growing by the second.

She dug up another batch of gems and used her magic to lift them into her saddlebag.

"There," she said, using her hoof to wipe sweat from her brow. "That should be enough gems for now. Guess I'll head back."

She turned to head back down the mountain trail she had used to come up her. As she turned, her back hooves slipped, throwing her off balance. She tried to get her bearings again, but the more she tried, the less balance she had, until she was falling.

She tumbled down the slope, rolling and bouncing the whole way down. Dirt went into her mouth, nose, and eyes as she fell. She bit her tongue as she came to rest at the bottom of the slope.

She just lay there for a moment, trying to catch her breath. Slowly, she stood up. Her legs were sore, not broken thankfully, and though she was dirty and bruised, the skin hadn't been broken.

"Oh! My gems! My hard earned gems!"

Every gem she'd gathered had been scattered around. They were all dirty, some were cracked, and a few were outright shattered. They were useless to her now. She could possibly salvage those that were just dirty simply by rinsing them off in water, but that would diminish their shine. All that hard work, wasted.

Rarity kicked at the ground with her hoof, frustrated. She'd spent the better part of the day gathering those gems, only to lose them thanks to a loss of balance.

All that hard work for nothing.

She was about to turn and leave when something caught her eye. Something blue. Something shiny. She turned towards the shine, her eyes growing wide with what she saw.

There were hundreds-no, thousands-of them, crystals, ranging from the size of pebbles to bigger than the Royal Palace of Canterlot. How she hadn't noticed them before she didn't know, considering the size of some of these things. They were light blue in color and giving off quite the shine. And though it was probably just her eyes playing tricks on her, they seemed to be covered in a light blue aura of flame.

Rarity walked between the columns of crystals, her eyes wide in wonder. She'd never seen anything so mysterious, so beautiful. It was like the crystals had her hypnotized. She couldn't take her eyes off of them, no matter how hard she tried.

Still, she couldn't help but wonder what they were, and how no one had ever seen them before. She'd never heard of any crystal like the ones she was looking at now, nor had she seen them before, and she knew of just about every sort of gemstone and precious jewel in all of Equestria.

Perhaps I can salvage my designs with a few of these beauties, she thought, using her magic to break off shards of a large crystal and put them into her saddlebag. Let's just see how this works, and if all goes well, I can always come back for more.

With her saddlebag full, Rarity turned to head for home.