'Twas the night before the opening of her new boutique and Rarity was as excited as ever. Snuggled up beneath her silk lined sheets, she dreamed. She was in a place she had never laid eyes on, a brilliant silver light illuminating a cavern of immense size. All around her were gemstones of every size, every color and even every shape any one pony could possibly imagine. Rubies and emeralds, amethysts and topaz. But they were all merely crystal trinkets compared to the very thing covering the place with its brilliant silver shine. It was a beautiful diamond, cut so neatly and expertly as if it was placed there by another. Rarity gazed deeply into its smooth surface, her eyes twinkling with awe.

"My word, it's the most beautiful diamond I think I've ever seen. And the best part is? This time it isn't an illusion!" She exclaimed, galloping towards the giant diamond.

The dream however was abrupt as a chill travelled all the way from the bottoms of her hooves, to the very tip of her nose. Rarity awoke with a start, shivering vigorously despite the midsummer night warmth. She opened her eyes to see the very edge of dawn, the sun peeking slightly over the horizon.

"What a wondrous dream, it felt as if the cave was as real as these sheets. Perhaps dear Twilight has heard of such a place. You don't think I'm just getting excited over nothing do you, Opal?" Rarity turned towards her pet cat, Opalescence.

With a rather grumpy sounding yawn she slowly opened one eye and turned it up towards her master. The glowering look she gave Rarity was clearly saying, 'Yes, now leave me alone to sleep some more!'

"I suppose you're right, what harm could asking around do? I know it's strange, but something about it calls to me." Opal simply turned her head and curled back into a ball.

With a deep breath, Rarity let out a sigh and placed her hooves upon the floor. She let out a slight gasp at the coolness of the floor. Luckily for her, the fluffy pink bunny slippers she had got from a secret admirer were just inches away. Happy to have her tootsies all warm and snug, she at last got out from beneath the covers. Rarity fumbled around for the light switch, clicking it on. Her room lit up with the bright orange glow. She glanced at the clock ticking away on her mantlepiece and giggled to herself.

"My, my, I honestly think this is the earliest I've ever woken up. No extra beauty sleep for me." Grabbing her pink dressing gown, Rarity made her way downstairs.  

A very puzzled Sweetie Belle sat at the kitchen table, absent-mindedly chewing on a piece of charcoal in the vague shape of a muffin. "Rarity? You're up early."

"I know, it's such a shock seeing your big sister awake in the morning. But do close your mouth, that muffin thing is disgusting to stare at."

Sweetie clamped her jaw down, swallowing a large lump of her breakfast. "I'm sorry I didn't make anything for you, sis."

Rarity hid her gagging face behind the door of the fridge, remembering the last time she ate her sisters cooking. "It's perfectly fine Sweetie, I'll just stick to something light, like muesli."

Her sister grinned and shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Rarity grabbed a bottle of milk in her mouth,  a large box full to the brim with cereal and carefully sliced up a banana for good measure. She threw it all in a bowl and sat down at the table directly opposite her sister. Sweetie Belle watched, with a rapidly ascending eyebrow, as her sister wolfed down an entire bowl of muesli as if she was about to go on a date. Rarity emptied the bowl entirely, cereal, banana and milk, every last bit. With a loud burp she fell back against her chair.

"What in the world?"

Rarity ignored her sister and dropped the bowl in the sink. "You'll be fine getting to school by yourself won't you, dear? I've got... some errands to, you know, catch up on."

"Are you feeling ok?"

"Alright, bye bye now. See you later Sweetie!" With those words Rarity threw her gown onto her coat rack, kicked off her slippers and pushed her sister out the door.

Sweetie was barely able to respond as her saddlebag was thrown directly into her face. By the time she'd pulled it away, her sister was well and truly gone. "My sister has officially gone crazy." And with that, she headed on her way to her school... three hours early.

Rarity was making her way, at a very brisk pace, towards the towering crystal palace that now occupied the center of Ponyville. The streets were pretty empty at such a wee hour, even the top room of Sugarcube Corner was still dark. To anyone who might've been watching, they probably wouldn't have recognized Rarity. Her mane was an unbrushed tangle of purple, her lips were devoid of any kind of lipstick and even her coat was nowhere near as shiny as usual.

Eventually she made it to the front door of the palace, which Twilight had apparently left unlocked for convenience. Rarity shoved the big double-doors open and headed inside. The beauty of her surroundings didn't excite her in one bit, which on a normal day she'd find awfully peculiar. But her mind was still filled almost completely, by the image of the humongous diamond from her dream. Luckily for Rarity, she could hear Twilight whistling from her library.

"No need to wake her up then, perfect!" Rarity trotted over to the right of the long palace hallway and made her way to the library. From behind her came the pitter-patter of tiny claws. She knew without needing to turn around that it was Spike, hot on the heels of his crush.

"Rarity! Hey! What brings you out here this early?" Spike looked up at his crush and tried not to laugh. "Well, uh, I love the new mane look, is it all naturale?"

Rarity simply ignored him and continued on her way towards Twilight. He stood still for a second looking dejected but quickly shook his head and ran after her. "It was just a joke, I-"

Rarity sighed. "It's fine Spike, but I'm here for something quite important."

"Oh right..." Spike thought it might be another friendship problem and headed back to his room. "Always the comic relief..."

Rarity entered the library and was completely unsurprised to find Twilight, with her nose inches from a book while several stacks surrounded her on each side. If there's one thing you could always count on, it's that Twilight will almost always be reading something. Rarity placed a single hoof on her shoulder, to which she let out a scared yelp and flew up into the ceiling.

"Relax, darling. It's just me, Rarity." She looked up at the still terrified Twilight.

"Wow, Rarity you just snuck in like a ghost. You gave me a miniature heart-attack. I was reading about some ghost pirate and then boom! Random hoof on my shoulder. I'm kinda jumpy, ehehehe..." Twilight fluttered back down to the floor, much more gracefully then the way she had got up.

"Oh I didn't mean to, but I was wondering something just this morning..."

"It's only dawn? I didn't even realize. Wait, why exactly are you up this early? It must be something really important to get you out of beauty sleep." Twilight stared at the sunrise, then at Rarity, then at the sunset again and then finally settled on Rarity's eyes, which were glittering slightly.

"I had a very vivid dream this morning." Rarity started sifting through the book piles.

"Uh, a dream? That's it? Must have been a good dream."

"I thought perhaps it would sound familiar to you... a cavern filled of every type of crystal I've ever used in my designs. But the best part? The absolutely huge and gorgeous diamond occupying the center. It's so devine that I simply must get my hooves on it!" Rarity grinned in a creepy way and rubbed her hooves together.

"I have actually, it's from a fairytale." Twilight was a little uneasy about the look on her friends face.

"Is it in here?" Rarity held up a large book. "Or maybe, this big one?" She said, rushing over to a black tome.

Twilight pulled out an old book from the very top of the shelf with her magic and layed it open on the table she'd been reading off. Rarity slammed both hooves on the table. She slowly started to read but soon gave up.

Twilight saw her friends frustration and pulled her away from the book. "Relax, it's just written in Ye Old Equestrian. Here, allow me."

Twilight cleared her throat and began reading. "Before the princesses, their were special types of unicorns called Crystal-shapers. These powerful sorcerers could bend and shape the earth around them, but were especially good at shaping all manner of gemstones. One especially good sorcerer forged in secret, far beneath the unicorn city, a giant diamond of unspeakable beauty, its mirror like facets shone like a hundred miniature stars. Unfortunately he soon met his end due to old age, but still the diamond remained, held in place by every other gem around it.

Ponies young and old have searched for this diamond but to no avail. Except one, a daring and dashing mare known as Silver Spade. With her mighy spade she dug to the very deepest part of Equestria and at last found the crystal. Right beneath the Equestrian Hinterlands this cavern lies and it was here she found the chamber. But what happened nex-"

Twilight was cut short by Rarity. "I know exactly where it's talking about! I'll go there right now, find that diamond and live like a queen!"

"Don't you mean a princess?" Twilight narrowed her eyes.

"Oh of course, dear! Thanks so, so much for telling me where to find it!" Rarity hugged Twilight so tightly she could scarcely breath. Eventually she broke off the embrace, kissed her cheek and once again ran off, leaving her friend absolutely dumbfounded.

Twilight looked down at the book. Her eyes widened at what she read in the very last paragraph. "Rarity! Wait!"

The palaces door slammed loudly, echoing up the hallway, Twilight skidded to a stop just outside the library door. Spike peered his head out from behind a pillar. "Aww man, I was gonna give her a present... "

"Spike! We've gotta do something! She's going to get herself in trouble!" Twilight grabbed a map sitting on a nearby table and placed it in her emergency saddlebag. "There's no time to lose!"

"Uhhh Twi?"

"What is it Spike?" Twilight asked.

"Your cutiemark!" Spike pointed at her flank.

Sure enough her cutiemark was glowing brightly, as was the map at the very end of the hall. She let out an exasperated whinny and headed into the map room. "I'm sure she can look after herself, I mean. What's the worst that could happen, right?"

Spike slapped his claw against his face and groaned. "You jinxed it..."

Next Chapter: Through the Cats-eye Estimated time remaining: 40 Minutes