Rarity had already begun her trek across the countryside. She had stopped by the boutique early to comb her untamed mane, grab the only map she had and leave a note for Sweetie. She packed herself some neatly cut cucumber sandwiches in case hunger became a problem. Just before leaving she shoved Opalescence into her saddlebag, much to the cats annoyance. She hissed and spat but soon gave up when she realized her master was completely oblivious. Without any more delays she tacked the note to her door and set off into the now risen sun.

Now here she was, all dressed up for an adventure across the green hills that rolled towards the mountains. It was one of those days you just loved to relax in the sun and drink lemonade. Far above, numerous pegasus flew back and forth, making sure all the pesky spring clouds weren't going to rain on anyponies parade. In the fields, the Earth ponies were planting their summer crops and enjoying the welcome sunlight. The unicorns, well, they were simply going about their lives and ignoring the uncouth farm ponies tilling away beneath their city.

Rarity took in a deep breath, taking in the smells of summer. She pulled the map out of her saddlebag and unfurled it. It was very old and held that faint allure of age that Twilight would love. On it was a crude drawing of Canterlot perched upon its mountaintop. Beneath it were the words, Equestrian Highlands scrawled in ink. Rarity drew a faint dotted circle with her red lipstick. She smacked a hoof against the map and held it up.

"That's where we're going, Opal!" Rarity looked a little closer. "What is this spot? Is it... a coffee stain?" She tilted the map away from the sun and the spot faded away. "Oh, it's invisible ink, guess they didn't want it to be easy."

Rarity shoved the map back into the bag, turning towards the land in the shadow of Canterlot. It was going to be an adventure of its own, without the train. But she didn't care what it took or how long, just that she'd finally put both hooves upon that glorious diamond.

Rarity was amazed at the sorts of things she had failed to see as the train had simply sped past the scenery, just a green blur. It was practically a mesa, luscious green hills rolling into the distance. Eagles soared through the blue sky, adding to this picturesque landscape.

She passed several small towns where she told of her many adventures before continuing on with tea and biscuits in her stomach. It seemed as if everything was going so smoothly, until she tripped over a rather familiar dirt mound jutting from the ground.

"Oh no..."

An ugly looking dog popped its head from the mound, he seemed to be looking for something. That's when he spotted Rarity standing there, poised for a fight. He stared at her, blinked once and suddenly grinned as a faint memory puffed into his tiny brain.

"YOU! The whiny pony!" He barked, pointing directly at her.

"I much prefer Miss Rarity, thank you very much." Rarity stood her ground, ready to start whining at any moment.

"You hurt us! And your pesky pony friends too!" He put both paws to his lips and whistled. Suddenly thirty or forty Diamond Dogs (as Rarity remembered they referred to themselves as.) exploded from their own mounds, closing in around their prey. "Grab her!" The leader howled.

Rarity smiled, calmly walked into the centre of them all and cleared her throat. "Why are you sooo mean to meee! There's too many of you smelly dooogs! I don't like iiit! Can't you pick on someone else? I just combed my maaaane, don't get it all messy!"

All of the dogs had stopped in their tracks, the sound of her whining was like nails on a chalkboard to them. All these big tough hounds in heavy armour completely overwhelmed by a single pony and her impeccable skill for whining. Without even attempting to silence her, they dove for their mounds and dug their way to silence. Soon the small battlefield was completely empty. Only the leader still remained, groveling at her hooves.

"Oh great white pony, Miss Rarity! What can I do to make it stop? Please make it stop!" He licked her hooves and whined loudly.

Rarity silenced her whining and pet his head. "When I return, you can help me push the diamond back to Ponyville."

"Diamond? Oooh such shiny! Much reward for mighty trinket, yes!" The dog started drooling in awe at the mere idea.

Rarity removed her hoof from his grasp and flicked the drool onto the ground, "But only if you be a good boy."

The Diamond Dog stood up, tail wagging excitedly. He saluted her with his right paw. "Maxie the Mutt, at your service, Miss Rarity!" He then took off down the biggest hole, disappearing into whatever dirty hovel they came from.

Rarity dusted herself off, let out a sigh of relief and continued on. Hopefully not into some other beasts, such as any cranky dragons. Opal had finally calmed herself down and was casually peering over the bags lip. She purred sweetly at her master, content enough she hadn't been taken out in the rain. It was less then a few miles before Rarity had to stop, her tender hooves aching from the hard sun-baked dirt. She quietly pulled out a picnic blanket, her collection of cucumber sandwiches and a bottle of sparkling wine.

She could see Opal staring. "Oh don't give me that look, it might be an adventure but a lady must have her... necessities." Rarity lay herself back and watched the clouds form fluffy shapes. She looked over at the map curled up in her little picnic basket and raised an eyebrow. Odd lettering seem to be forming on the seemingly blank side. She sat back up and yanked it out.

"What on earth?" She exclaimed, keeping the blank paper in the sunlight. Within a few seconds an entirely new map appeared but, something about it was different. "Is this, a map of the cave? Why all the secrecy?" A long poem was sprawled in the top left corner but Rarity could decipher none of it. She reclined back and wondered.

'I'm really hoping I haven't missed something important, but.. .' A shiver tickled her body, despite the summer warmth. Rarity relaxed for several hours and calmly watched the world move around her.

Eventually she was satisfied and put a cork in her wine bottle. Wiping the crumbs from her lips, she packed everything back into her saddlebags and at last continued her trek to her destination. The rest of it continued on with nary a hiccup, just easily taken care of matters that weren't very interesting or indeed difficult for a lady. At last when the sun had gone all the way to sunset, a tiny black dot appeared in the distance, vaguely obscured by vines and the jagged ruins of some ancient town.

Rarity smiled and began galloping towards her destination, eager to finish her trek as soon as she could. This was the most exercise she would likely ever get. She was galloping so fast that it was quite a shock when she collided with a wall that suddenly appeared in front of her. With a loud thud, Rarity smacked her nose against the hard surface, two droplets of blood flew from her now busted up snout.

"Ow! My beautiful face is ruined! Who would put a wall there!" Rarity bounded up and down, reeling from the broken nose in front of her face. She stepped back, trying to see the wall she had so violently met. Except there was literally nothing there, just two blood droplets sliding down... midair?

"What? I must be crazy..." Rarity wiped the blood away, her hoof smacking against something solid, invisible but still there. Her mane frizzed up as if whatever it was, had a slight charge. She had never before come across something as strange as a wall that could not be seen. "Twilight didn't mention a magical, invisible wall, how on earth do I find a way through?" She looked around and found a very long stick.

"Maybe if I...?" Rarity lugged the stick at the wall, where it bounced off, impaling itself just beside her. "Maybe not..."

She spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out the conundrum, she couldn't for the life of her work out if there was even a door. She had felt every bump, nook and cranny along the places she could reach, but still to no avail. Yet the mystery soon revealed itself in a rather unorthodox way. It seemed Opalescence had been doing some scouting of her own, Rarity heard the muffled meow and looked up. There she was, just casually sitting on a broken roof with her tail swishing to and fro.

"How? What? Opal, you're a lifesaver!" Rarity clapped her hooves together and hunkered down to the ground. like when one prepares for a limbo contest.

Opalescence merely stared, completely disinterested in her master. Rarity crawled across the ground as low as she possibly could. She felt the weird pulse of static electricity crawl down her back, but this time there was nothing blocking her way. She reached the end of it and popped through to the other side, where she could finally see the giant, pink dome floating just above the ground.

"I guess they really loved small animals. Fluttershy would get along fine here." Rarity swept back her mane, returning it to its familiar style.

The houses looked completely intact on this side, an illusion to give the appearance of a ruined town perhaps. Though they were very, very dusty and were clearly untouched for quite a long time. Eclipsing this ancient town was a massive cave entrance, fangs of stone giving it the appearance of a gaping mouth. "Very cheery..."

Rarity continued on past houses, shops and every other building a normal town has. It was very odd trotting through a ghost town, it was almost like it was a model village, devoid of any life. The cave reminded her of a story she had read as a filly, about the stallion who lived beneath the mountain, waiting for ponies to wander in so he could devour them. The vines hanging over it didn't help much, especially since they had the shape of tentacles. Could it be some monster pretending to be a cave, to catch foolish mares like herself?

She pushed the creepier thoughts to the back of her mind and made her way into the caves opening. It was so dark, like it was a tunnel leading into the deepest, darkest pits of Equestria. Which it most certainly did, she searched around in her saddlebags for a torch. She pulled out a tiny little candlelit torch and hung it around her neck. A small beam of light lit up the tunnel, which in the dim light resembled a mouth even more.

"Well, we made it Opal." Her cat circled around her back legs, making sure to avoid the shadows. "This diamond better be worth it, I hate caves, all icky, sticky and likely full of bugs. Well, here it goes!"

And with that she trotted off into the darkness...

Next Chapter: Cavern of the Crystallized Estimated time remaining: 32 Minutes