Even though Rarity had lost track of time as they fell, she was fairly certain she had broken her personal record for her longest scream. As she let her throat recover, she found she was getting accustomed to seemingly falling forever without apparently getting anywhere. Despite Moralin's insistence, not thinking of falling did not stop her plummeting. So instead, she focused on looking forward to her destination.

        'So, master, where we going?' Moralin asked, and Rarity appraised the axe, which had taken to orbiting around her in a very consistent pattern.

        “Well, if this works like you claimed, my boutique.”

        'You live on a boat? That sounds pretty neat!' Moralin declared excitedly. Rarity raised an eyebrow, wondering just how uncultured the axe was. She then mentally groaned, bringing her hoof to her face over the fact that she just wondered how cultured a woodcutting tool was.

        “No, dear, my house is a-”

        'Rock!!' Moralin cried out, making Rarity jump in surprise, in mid air, as Moralin whipped around her. The axe smashed right into a large boulder, twice as big as a pony, that Rarity was about to crash right into. The boulder disappeared in a flash of light, leaving a pair of small stars in its place, which Rarity quickly fell past.

        'You should really look where you're falling, master.'

        “I, I see!” Rarity said, suddenly finding herself very motivated to look down, and seeing nothing in her path besides small beads of light. “What did you do to it?”

        'I used my power as a weapon, and broke it into fragments. It was just a rock, so no harm done!' As Rarity took this in, she noticed that she was falling towards a star, and wondered if that was her home. As if catching sight of it had triggered something, the star started to grow. When it appeared to be the the size of her hoof, the glow it gave off dissipated, revealing a floating island.

        The floating mass quickly got bigger as Rarity descended towards it, and her eyes widened as she saw that it was a piece of Ponyville. Taking in the layout as she approached the ground with troubling speed, she made out that the island had her boutique, standing alone a small distance from the cluster of homes that made her neighbors.

        'Think of a soft landing!' Moralin advised as Rarity eyed the quickly approaching ground.

        Rarity suddenly pictured a very, very rough landing, and quickly shook her head of it. Closing her eyes, she pictured landing on a pile of soft, comfortable pillows that were also perfectly clean and-

        She felt her hooves casually make contact with the ground, and cautiously opened her eyes to take in the surroundings. She had landed on a stretch of road that connected the homes together, and far ahead of her, she could make out her boutique.

        The area was littered. There were small beads of light floating about, not dissimilar to the stars in the sky. There were so many beads that Rarity had to pay attention as she moved, to avoid them. Most of the beads were white, but there were a few that gave off either a red or green glow.

        There was also stuff. Everywhere. She looked to the things, and her brow furrowed as she started placing the names of things she's never seen before.

        In one building, an abandoned warp nacelle stuck out of it, looking to have fallen onto it, destroying the roof and causing the building to lean under the weight of the device. There were clusters of all kinds of rocks and scrap metal haphazardly strewn about. Scattered paper with inane things written upon them in a wide variety of tongues. A rusty basketball stand resting on a door step. A whole lot of random things, mixed and scattered about in a big mess.

        “Huh.” Rarity began as she took it all in, almost bemused. “It's strange to think that I've seen Ponyville look worse than this.” She admitted as Moralin spun around her, brimming with excitement.

        'Wow! Master! Are you like, super lucky? This place is a gold mine!' The axe heartily exclaimed as it flew around the area, touching and seemingly absorbing certain beads of light.

        “What, all this, this, junk!?” Rarity asked as she motioned to, well, just about everything.

        'You bet! It looks like no one's ever scavenged through it! It's like nobody's been here in an age! Oh! This thing right here,' the axe said as it indicated the warp nacelle, 'could be worth a bit to someone!' Moralin then flew in front of Rarity, and the axe summoned a stream of beads, lining them up in front of the mare. 'This place just has so many useful fragments!' It then absorb the beads back into itself as Rarity started moving towards her home.

        “You collect fragments?” The axe quickly nodded.

        'Only certain kinds. I'm a woodcutting axe, so I have a high affinity for wood fragments. It's a relatively common thing to find in untouched places like this! So I'm collecting all that's here, in case I'll need them later.' The axe then stopped in the air, as if considering something. 'Master, do you know what your affinity is?'

        “Affinity?” Rarity asked as she tilted her head in thought. “I'm guessing you mean something I'm good at working with?” The axe nodded, seeming happy that she understood. “Well, I'm not one to brag,” she admitted as she gave the axe a proud smile, “but I do fancy myself quite capable with fabric and gems!”

        'Oh, oh! In that case, master, do any of the fragments here give off a color?' Rarity nodded as she trotted up to the nearest one, giving off a green light. 'Well, try waking it!' Rarity gave the axe a confused look before looking back to the fragment. Considering using her hoof, she instead grabbed the fragment with her magic, and as her magical grip tightened around it, she suddenly understood what the fragment was.

        It was the shadow of an emerald statue of some creature with many limbs. The shadow had green lines of reflected light in it. And that's all the fragment was. A shadow.

        “It's, just a shadow?”

        'A shadow huh? Yea, that happens. Though, you should hold onto it! Even a shadow has value.' Rarity nodded as she looked to another fragment a couple paces from her. This one giving off a red light as she grasped it with-

        The fragment gave off a flash, and a large, a wolf-like creature made of red and black stone appeared in its place, a kraggon. It was three times the size of a pony, salivated what Rarity presumed to be lava, and was missing the back half of its body. Despite missing its back legs, it still stood tall, as if the legs were still there, only invisible.

        The kraggon stood there, confused, before looking to Rarity and the axe. Taking them in, the creature gave off a loud roar. Rarity stood there in a moment of confusion. She found the creature failing to be completely intimidating to her, which struck the mare as odd, considering how she's taken to timberwolves in the past.

        'Leave this to me, master!' Moralin cried out as it flew in front of the kraggon. 'A monster made of stone is no match against-' the axe was instantly caught by the monster, in its mouth, surprising the mare as the monster shook its head. 'H-hey! Lemme go!' the axe cried out indignantly.

        Something caught Rarity's eye, her brow furrowing as she quickly grasped it with her magic, turning towards the kraggon, which eyed her with indifferent eyes. That changed when Rarity pelted it on the nose with a old metal pipe. The kraggon glared at Rarity and growled. Rarity took a step forward, throwing her hoof down as she pelted the kraggon's nose again.

        “Drop it!” She ordered, and it growled at her again, and she pelted it again. The kraggon then let out a sad whine as it spat out the axe head, which fell unceremoniously to the ground. Rarity smiled, and gently pat the kraggon on the head, with the metal pipe. Considering it was drooling lava, Rarity had good reason to keep her distance.

        “Good boy~!” Rarity exclaimed with a proud smile as she looked to Moralin, who seemed to be fine, if covered in lava. “So, how do I turn him back?” Despite having the monster under her hoof, it's drool could cause an ... incident if she let it stay nearby. Moralin started hovering again, looking to Rarity.

        'Wow, master! Your affinity must be high!' The axe them seemed to notice that Rarity had asked a question. 'Oh, uh. Try telling it to go to sleep?' Rarity nodded and looked to her new pet, giving the kraggon a sweet smile.

        “Oh my, you simply look dreadful! Ah! I know! What you need, is some beauty rest~!” Rarity gave a stern nod, as if that would suffice. The kraggon nodded in turn and lay down, slowly closing its stony eyes as the kraggon faded back into a red floating fragment. Rarity dropped the metal pipe, which was quite heavy for her, and let out a sigh. She turned to the axe, which was busy trying to scrape cooling bits of lava off of itself.

        “So, I was kind of like that?” She asked as she brought the red fragment closer, gently this time, appraising it before her.

        'A big drooling rock monster?' Moralin asked, not missing a beat, 'You don't come across as being made of stone, master.'

        “I meant being asleep, Mr. Chew toy!”

        'That's Ms. Chew toy.' Moralin replied, sounding fairly insulted.

        “O-oh.” Rarity gave the axe a very sheepish smile, “Eh heh heh. My mistake, sorry.” The axe let out a sigh as it turned to the mare.

        'But yes, being a fragment is like being asleep, for the most part.'

        “Then, how did I wake up?” Moralin considered that for a moment before making a small bounce in the air, which Rarity presumed was the axe shrugging.

        'Hmm. Dunno! Maybe you woke yourself up, or maybe someone put you back together.' Being completely unsatisfied with that answer, Rarity let out a sigh as she appraised the red and green fragments in her possession. Eyeing a metal box laying in the pile she got the pipe from, she levitated it over and put the fragments in it. She smiled as she saw the fragments stay put inside the box.

        Who knows when half of a twelve foot tall rock wolf will come in handy~! Rarity thought, with her head held high, as she continued to her boutique.

        As she approached, she took note of, and gathered any other fragments giving off color, placing them in the small box levitating at her side. Hmm, I wonder if red is bad, and green is good. Rarity wondered, deciding not to look too deep into the fragments until she's appraised her livelihood. Seeing Moralin still flying around gathering fragments, Rarity noted that the ones the axe absorbed were all white, and assumed the colors were seen differently between the two of them.

        With Moralin occupied with gathering beads, Rarity's attention was drawn to how quiet it was. With all the junk and fragments floating around, it reaffirmed several things the axe said to her, the most prominent being that no one's been here for a long time. Thinking that, she found it odd that the buildings didn't show any sign of decay. There was some damage from things falling on the buildings, but the wood wasn't rotten, no loose shingles. It was as if time had forgotten to show its mark upon this chunk of Ponyville.

        “Why doesn't anything look ... old?”

        'Hmm?' The axe stopped, turning to Rarity, tilting its head in confusion for a moment. 'Oh! I almost forgot about that. Old. Master, ever since everything became fragmented, everything's stopped aging.' That axe nodded to itself as Rarity looked at it, wide-eyed. 'Yea ... let's see, what else was there before it all happened? It's been so long ... oh! You don't need to eat food anymore, and illness and disease aren't a thing now.'

        “Really? How is that possible?” Everything was so different, it was simply beyond belief. “Just what happened to cause all this!?”

        'Hmm ... I was once told that it was simply the universe coming to an end, it was just going to take a while. Like, thousands of years. Personally, I think that someone cast one spell to many, causing the universe to get fed up with making sense.' Moralin shrugged as it turned to her. 'I don't know for certain why. Sorry.'

        Rarity considered her words for several seconds before shaking her head, looking to her home. They had reached the boutique, and it looked exactly as she had left it. She let out a sigh of relief as she reached the door.

        'Wow! This is your home! It's so big!' Rarity gave the axe a grateful smile as she opened the door with her magic, walking inside-

        Right into a very big rock.

        Rarity stepped back, cradling her horn in pain as she looked through the open door. It appeared as though a large boulder had taken up residence inside her boutique. Before she could show her surprise, Moralin took notice of the stone, and the axe started to traverse around the building. A terrible thought came to Rarity, and she quickly followed the axe around her home.

        She didn't have to go far to see that the boulder had crushed half of the building, leaving nothing but the front half intact. The rock was almost as wide as the boutique, shimmered with an reflective obsidian shell, and was perfectly round.

        The boutique itself looked completely fine, as long as you were looking at it from the road.

        'Huh, that's a big rock.' The axe admitted as it flew closer. Rarity stood looking on in complete shock, and suddenly felt lightheaded as she fainted, crashing into the ground in graceful practice. However, she didn't stay out long, the axe saw to that.

        'Come on master! It's not that bad...' Rarity opened one eye, looking to the axe before getting on her hooves, marching towards the tool.

        “Not that bad? Not that bad!? My, my everything was here! My work, my inspiration room! My lovely, comfortable bed! My beauty supplies! And now. It's! All! Ruuiined!” She then started crying, in a very unlady-like fashion.

        'Ohhh, master, please, stop crying...' the axe pleaded, 'I mean, maybe you can live inside the rock, instead?' The suggestion made the mare's crying redouble, which only made the axe more worried for her. Indeed, Moralin was on the edge of panic. Her master was a crying mess, and the axe couldn't help but feel at fault. 'I, I can make this better!' And not wasting a second, the axe flew around to the front of the boutique, outside of Rarity's teary-eyed view.

        Several seconds later, with a startling crunch, the large boulder was sent rolling away from the boutique with amazing speed, rolling past Rarity to the trees and bushes behind her home. Rarity's tears were halted by looking to the axe in shock.

        'See! All better!' The axe declared proudly as it floated in the doorway.

        Then the rest of the boutique collapsed, right on the axe.

        Rarity let out some squeakish coughs as smoke from the rubble dusted her. After the dust settled, she looked to the rubble in worry, and started to approach when the rubble shifted, and the axe wriggled its way out of the mess. The axe turned and appraised the mess, then looked back to Rarity, who promptly fainted again.

        'Master, wake up, please...' Rarity heard as she stirred, really not wanting to open her eyes, knowing what she would see. Still, she opened them to see the axe floating a foot from her, looking quite down. 'Master! Don't faint! I. Can. Fix. This!' Rarity, avoiding looking at the rubble, gave Moralin a very skeptical look. 'I can! I just need you to let me, and trust me.' Rarity looked back to her pile of rubble, and took in a deep breath.

        “Fine. Show me what you can do, Mora-”

        'No!' the axe proclaimed in alarm, surprising Rarity. Moralin then eased up, and Rarity could swear that the axe was blushing. 'Master, please, save my name for emergencies only.' Moralin nodded to herself before moving close to Rarity, facing her blade away from the mare. 'Master, rest me on your head, and close your eyes.' Rarity hesitated for only a moment, and did such. 'Now, master, think of your home. The smell, the memories, the things within. Just ... think of it.'

        Well, that's easy enough, I suppose. Rarity thought as she started to recall all the supplies she had, which shifted to the project she had been working on before she left the boutique, which shifted to all the pieces she's completed. Before she realized it, she found herself walking through all the memories she'd made in her home.

        Though, something was off. A small voice that called her ------, they shared the same ----, same -------, and all she could grasp of that -----, was her voice. Grasping that voice, Rarity recalled the fights they had, the moments they shared. Even though her features, her name, her smile were beyond Rarity's grasp, she knew of her, and while reflecting on her home, Rarity found direction. She knew where she was going next. Who she was going to look for first.

        Her intentions affirmed, her memories continued to  past her. Countless memories, shared in a single building. The memories pouring over her, she felt as though some magic was at work, that a great power was at play in front of her.

        'Now, master, open your eyes!' Moralin ordered happily. And Rarity opened her eyes, taking in her majestic boutique. The place she had worked for, live in, cried, smiled, and made countless memories was before her. Still in rubble.

        Rarity started wailing again, much to Moralin's surprise.

        'Oh, uhm. Wait, master, I haven't finished yet!' The axe nodded, and moved in close to brush Rarity's tears, which surprised the mare. The axe felt warm. 'Now, let me show you what I can do, as a tool!'

        Moralin turned around, moving close to the large pile of broken wood. The axe's head started to glow as it got closer, bobbing as it moved closer to the ground. Rarity thought she could see the outline of someone holding the axe, grasping an invisible handle connected to the axe's head. The humanoid form's outline became more apparent as the axe stopped at the pile. The figure swung the axe into the rubble at it's feet, and the remains of the boutique was washed in light.

        Smashed glass, broken wood, scattered paint, cloths, clothes. everything that once made up the boutique and its possessions came to life, slowly levitating from the ground into the air.

        Smashed glass melded back together, floating in place where the windows had originally been, waiting patiently for the rest to catch up.

        Broken wood formed into solid pieces. As if reforming a giant puzzle, every piece returning to where it had originally been.

        Flecks of paint scattered from everything breaking gathered from the dust resting around the home, bringing color back to the boutique.

        All the possessions waited patiently for the structure to be reformed, before returning to their place within Rarity's home.

        Now, the boutique was whole again. And yet, it still glowed, as did Moralin. The vague humanoid form vanished as the axe rose in the air. The head of the axe shimmered blue, before giving off a flash, making Rarity blink. And she saw as her vision readjusted, that the axe now had a new handle.

        It was etched in stylistic markings, the wood being light blue and white, matching Rarity's coat and eyes. The wood of the handle extended over the axe's head, covering the three letters written on it, 'Lin'. The glow of magic then died down, and the axe wobbled in the air for a moment, before falling on the ground.

        The boutique was whole again, and Rarity took it in, mouth hanging open. Her boutique now looked even better then she remembered. It gave off a smell of fresh wood, and a sense of welcome. Her eyes not leaving her home, she strode forward to the axe's side, which was still resting on the ground.

        'How's that, master? Better then you remember, right?' She asked after a pause.

        “That, that was incredible Mora- erm, axe! Why didn't you do that first?”

        'There was a pebble in the way...' The axe replied weakly, getting Rarity's attention as she appraised the tool. She was momentarily distracted with how it looked with the new handle, as if the addition was made specifically to appeal to the mare.

        “You okay, dear?”

        'I, must have been asleep for a very long time. That isn't usually so taxing...' The axe fell silent, before standing up and hovering to the boutique, Rarity following after it. Reaching the front door, Moralin stopped and rested her head on the ground, leaning her handle on the side of the boutique, near the door.

        'Master. I'm, very sleepy... I'm gonna take a small nap. If ... you need me ... just give me ... a ... swing...' Rarity looked on in concern as the axe fell silent. Watching it for a moment, the handle started to slide, the axe aiming to fall over. Rarity caught it with her magic, and felt what she could only assume was snoring coming from the axe, making her smile.

        “Alright then, sleep well.” Rarity said with a sweet smile as she propped Moralin against her home. Looking to the door, she opened it again, and after affirming that there was no giant boulder inside, entered.

        Taking several steps in, she stopped. She felt as though she hadn't been home in a very, very long time, and yet, to her, she also felt as if she had just been here several hours ago. Feeling as if her boutique was welcoming her back, Rarity smiled, unexpected tears born from her happiness falling down her cheeks as she took it all in.

        “Well, I'm home!” She declared, to no one in particular. And it was probably just her imagination, but she could have sworn she heard someone say, 'Welcome home, we've missed you!'

        A smile on her face, she did what she considered the most important, most appropriate thing to do in this situation. She took a bath. A nice, long, hot, relaxing bath. Next Chapter: 3. Friend? S-Sure, Why Not? Estimated time remaining: 19 Minutes