"Oh, no..." Darla frowned.
"All our hard work is ruined!" Sweetie Belle cried.
"So not fair..." Darla frowned.
Both of the girls began to sulk.
"There, there, girls," Mo coaxed. "Not to worry."
"How?" Sweetie Belle pouted. "Our camp was so pretty, and this cave is so... Not."
"Not necessarily." Mo said.
"There's beauty in everything," Rarity soothed her little sister, showing her there was more to this cave than there appeared to be. "Even these blah rocks aren't really blah. If you look closely, you can see flecks of gold in them. And the way the firelight dances on the cave wall, shadow and light? Ooh, it's so gorgeous! Sweetie Belle, have I ever told you about my favorite legend?" she then asked with a smile.
"No. I didn't know you had one." Sweetie Belle replied.
"Her name was Mistmane." Rarity told her.
"Mistmane? Isn't she the old wrinkly sorceress with the flower?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yeeees, but did you know she used to be the most beautiful unicorn in all the land?" Rarity glanced to her before smiling to Sweetie Belle.
"No." Rainbow Dash said flatly.
"So what happened to her?!" Darla and the Cutie Mark Crusaders beamed.
"Well, Mistmane was a very promising young sorceress," Rarity began. "She was as talented as she was beautiful and kind. Everypony loved her and missed her when she was sent to the finest magic school."
"Which of course Atticus's dad helped her gain the confidence in enrolling herself into the school." Mo said.
"Oh, yes, can't forget about that." Rarity smiled.
Darla imagined Mistmane's family saying goodbye to her as it was an emotional day for all.
Mistmane waved to them as she went off to school, though one pony didn't seem as thrilled as the others for the sorceress unicorn, but no one seemed to notice her behavior. Mistmane was soon seen working in school until she received a scroll.
"While she was gone, she was delighted to find out that her best friend, Sable Spirit, was crowned empress. She couldn't wait to return home once she finished her studies," Rarity continued to narrate. "But once she arrived, she was devastated by what she saw."
And where Mistmane wasn't the one that had the same reaction from what she saw so was Patrick.
"Um... Welcome home?" Patrick said weakly to Mistmane.
It looked like the place had been destroyed and a few ponies were out, not looking so good.
"What happened here?" Mistmane asked a stallion.
"The Empress happened," The stallion glared, pointing with his hoof. "She makes everypony work day and night on her palace. We don't have time to take care of anything else."
"But that can't be true." Patrick frowned.
"I know her!" Mistmane added. "She would never do this."
"But there was no denying what was in front of them." Rarity narrated.
A young colt was soon seen running for his life with a flower in his possession. Unfortunately for him, another unicorn's magic took his flower away from him. The Empress was soon taken away once she had the flower. Patrick frowned for the poor young colt.
"Sable Spirit took everything that was beautiful away from anypony else!" Rarity continued. "And Mistmane was sure there had to be some explanation."
"I'm going out there." Mistmane narrowed her eyes as she trotted off with determination.
"I'm coming with you." Patrick told her as he joined her.
Mistmane looked to him and they soon went off together.
"I'd assume there was, too," Sweetie Belle agreed with her big sister's narration. "If somepony told me either one of you two'd gone evil..."
"Yeah, I'd never believe it." Scootaloo replied.
"Same here." Darla nodded.
"Ah dunno," Apple Bloom smirked to her two best friends. "Ah've seen the way you two get when you miss breakfast."
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both gave her a look.
"Just kiddin'," Apple Bloom chuckled nervously from that. "But Ah'd want answers too."
"And so did Mistmane and Atticus's father and so they went to confront her friend." Rarity said as she did a shadow puppet of Mistmane with Mo doing a shadow puppet of Patrick.
Mo chuckled a bit from the shadow puppets.
Mistmane and Patrick were soon coming up to the Empress's throne, and where they saw the Empress they were looking for.
"Sable? Is that you?" Mistmane asked.
"Don't tell me you don't recognize your old friend." Sable Spirit replied.
"I don't," Mistmane retorted. "My friend would never work our families and friends to the bone for something as silly as a palace."
"Silly? My palace is a beacon of beauty!" Sable Spirit hissed. "Anypony who passes will be in awe of its majesty!"
"What good is a pretty palace when it just hides the misery of its ponies?" Patrick glared at Sable Spirit.
"Beauty is everything," Sable Spirit replied. "Mistmane taught me that."
"What?!" Patrick and Mistmane yelped.
"You were always the pretty one," Sable Spirit told Mistmane. "You got to go to the best magic school. Everypony missed you. Everypony loved you! I admit I was jealous, so I tried to perform a spell that would make me beautiful. You can see how that went!" she then removed her veil to show a rather wrinkled up face.
"Ya!" Patrick yelped. "Well, it might have been a really advanced spell."
"You don't get it, do you?" Sable Spirit smirked. "I found if I couldn't have beauty, I would take it. I wasn't chosen to be empress, you know. I took it! Just like I'm going to take everything else."
"We can't let you do that!" Mistmane glared.
"Let me?!" Sable Spirit laughed before shooting her horn.
"Whoa!" Patrick yelped.
Mistmane was soon trapped in a cocoon.
"Hey! Let her out!" Patrick glared.
"Maybe you'd like to join her." Sable Spirit smirked.
Patrick glared before he saw Mistmane's magic getting herself free. Sable Spirit's eyes widened before she glared as her horn turned red. The guards soon ran away in a panic. Patrick knew exactly that this wouldn't be easy. Sable Spirit made a dragon image appear from her horn.
"What the...?" Patrick muttered to himself.
Mistmane did the same with her own horn which made the two dragons clash against each other. Patrick soon tried to do the same thing with his magic. Patrick's dragon came out between the two which was yellow, and where it joined Mistmane's dragon's side so they could fight Sable Spirit's dragon together. Sable Spirit glared as she fought with brute force while Mistmane showed patience and gentleness in comparison.
And as for Patrick he went with patience as well. Eventually, the blue and yellow dragons won against the red dragon. However, the red dragon came back, coiling up against the two other dragons. But just like any battle, good triumphed over the bad dragon. Sable Spirit was soon trapped in her own cocoon. The ponies began to cheer and celebrate, but Mistmane couldn't be happy for what she did to her friend.
"Everypony thought Sable Spirit was defeated, and that was that, but Mistmane knew there was more she could do to help." Rarity narrated.
"What now?" Patrick frowned at Mistmane.
Mistmane frowned back before seeing the flower and began to levitate it over. Patrick began to follow her to see what she would do with the flower.
"Beauty isn't everything," Rarity narrated as the unicorn mare took the flower away to put it to good use. "But Mistmane knew that it does have the power to make ponies smile."
"So, what're you gonna do with the flower?" Patrick asked Mistmane.
"I'm going to help it grow beautifully," Mistmane smiled. "I know just what to do." She soon placed the flower in the center of the village and began to use her magic to help the flow grow beautifully, but not just the flower.
Patrick gave a small smile to Mistmane's generous act, though it cost her her visual beauty, appearing to look a bit old and withered.
"She made a huge sacrifice to bring that smile back to her friends' and family's faces," Rarity continued to narrate as the village was very beautiful and gracious again. "Including Sable Spirit's."
Sable Spirit was soon set free by Mistmane's magic and Sable Spirit was soon back to her visual beauty.
"You did this for me?" The Empress gasped as she took a look around. "Even after I was so cruel?"
Mistmane didn't say anything and simply hugged her old friend.
"What're friends for?" Patrick said to the Empress.
Sable Spirit sniffled before getting back into the hug.
"Sable Spirit was so touched that she vowed to be more like her friend in the ways that mattered," Rarity continued to narrate as the village was beautiful and happy. "From then on, she ruled with kindness and compassion."
Sable Spirit soon gave the unicorn colt a flower crown. The villager ponies soon celebrated their Empress now that they could have fun again.
"Thank you, Patrick." Mistmane smiled to the stallion.
"Any time, Mistmane." Patrick smiled back.
A couple of villagers looked up to a dying tree which had a spoiled apple left behind.
"Even though she gave away her physical beauty, she dedicated her life to spreading beauty all over Equestria," Rarity continued to narrate until Mistmane used her magic to make a brand new and healthy apple tree as she walked off, seeming to leave a trail of flowers in her step. "Any time you go out of your way to brighten somepony's day by doing something like giving them flowers, you're following in the hoofsteps of Mistmane."
"Cool." Darla smiled.
"I think she's my favorite legend too." Sweetie Belle said to Rarity.
The two unicorn sisters smiled and nuzzled each other.
"Nothing could ruin this moment." Darla smiled.
A web was soon shot out onto their campfire.
"T-They're in here now?!" Darla frowned, seeing the flyders coming into the cave.
Scootaloo soon screamed, having a bit of a mental breakdown.
"What do they want now?!" Mo complained.
"Well, like it or not, we're food, too." Applejack frowned.
"And I've got the bites to prove it." Darla added, looking at her arm.
"What are we gonna do?!" Scootaloo panicked. "They're almost here!"
"Rainbow Dash, quick, do something!" Mo told her.
"Got it!" Rainbow Dash replied, flying up and soon kicked down some rocks.
The rocks crumbled down and blocked the cave door, keeping the flyders out. The others soon gave her a look.
"What?!" Rainbow Dash replied. "Now those bugs can't get in!"
"But we can't get out!" Darla told her.
And where this caused Scootaloo to start panicking.
