The mine led her into a labyrinth, filled with numerous unlit torces, broken carts, pickaxes and an overwhelming sense of dread and sadness. It appeared that whatever had happened within was swift, even their broken up crystals were piled high in every corner. It looked like a scene from a fairytale, Rarity half expected to run into a goblin. Rarity picked up one of the numerous pickaxes and placed it in her bag in case she so needed it. Continuing on, she couldn't help but try to piece together this mystery. Once again she thought something about all this was awfully familiar yet couldn't quite place it.

"I swear this mine, it keeps nagging at my thoughts, Opal." Rarity stopped every so often to investigate the walls, trying to find some marks or perhaps a message scrawled into the smooth stone. It was slightly warm to the touch, which struck her as a little strange.

Once again, that feeling of being watched crept its way up her back. The shuffling, squishy noises had also returned. She ignored her own nerves, trying to keep herself wandering in the same rough direction. It was such a claustrophobic feeling, being led down narrow, uneven corridors, held up by something as flimsy as wood. The random creaking added to her paranoia. Rarity wandered into another dead end and stopped. She placed both hooves against the strange stone and shifted it ever so slightly. It broke loose like a cork from a bottle, releasing a stream of jet black water.

Panicked, she shoved it as hard as she could back in the wall, plugging the leak. "That's a no on the shortcuts then."

Returning to the split she just took she saw a shadow creeping back down the tunnel she'd taken earlier. Rarity couldn't quite make out a proper shape, just that whatever it was, was huge. She called into the darkness but nothing but her own echoed voice replied. Standing there in deafening silence, she made out a sound. It was a draft, whistling down the right shaft. Rarity figured it meant an open air cave, or maybe even some kind of exit.

Putting the thoughts of her possible stalker aside, she followed the whistling as best she could. "Please be something good, I'm tired of wandering, lost in the dark."

The whistling grew louder, much to her relief. The sounds of before had stopped, making her wonder if the adventure was merely straining her thoughts. The tunnel started to thin out, barely enough space for a mare, let alone a stallion. Rarity herself knew this was probably not a part of the mine proper, but a draft is a draft. She continued on begrudgingly, holding her breath to squeeze her way through. Soon she reached the end and popped out into a completely new tunnel.

"Oh thank Celestia, any narrower and I'd look like Chrysalis herself!" Rarity rubbed her aching ribs. The draft was now howling in this new tunnel, much to her concern.

The new tunnel eventually ended on what looked like some sort of chamber, perfectly spherical and lit up by sunlight. The draft abruptly stopped when she stepped out into the room. Much to her surprise it seemed completely empty, the sunlight was filtering down through a tiny hole miles above her head.

"Where did the draft go?" Rarity wondered , walking backwards in to a strange, sharp-edged wall that was cool to the touch. It felt like something she'd felt before. Not stone, or crystal but... scales. She whirled around to face the wall that was now slowly opening. "Oh... that's where..." A great big red eye stared at her with a black slit for a pupil. A mighty roar echoed through the room, the sphere moved and shifted. It wasn't a chamber at all, but a curled up and very angry dragon.

It roared again and rose up to a mighty height, flaring its giant leathery wings, throwing wind around like sails. Clearly this dragon was very ancient, his scaly body covered in battle scars and old wounds hewn into his scales. "WHO DARES WANDER INTO MY CHAMBER?" he snarled looking around, he spied the tiny pony standing beneath him and roared a third time.

"PONY! BUUUURN!"

Rarity didn't have to be told a fourth time, she took off as fast as her hooves could carry her. She felt the heat of his fiery breath melt the stone beside her. With a scream she jumped out of the way, trying her best to reach the narrow tunnel. Three massive green claws tore through the stone like it was made of clay. Rarity reached the narrow part and held her breath. Mid way through her body got stuck.

"Are you serious? I know I'm not exactly thin, but I'm certainly not that fat!" Rarity pushed and strained, trying her best to pull herself free. The dragon was trying his best to pull her free too, if only to snap his jaws around the little pony.

Rarity sucked her gut in as far as she could and at last yanked herself free. The dragon smacked against the other side, his claws too big and meaty to reach. With an angry cry he took a deep breath. Rarity galloped as fast as her stubby pony legs could manage, narrowly avoiding the plume of fire that shot out towards her. She collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.

"Ok, maybe we go the other way now."

"Meow."

After her little bit of life-threatening terror, Rarity decided to instead try the left tunnel. The dragons roars of rage grew further and further away as the duo continued through the labyrinth. Much to her relief it seemed the extra tunnels had stopped breaking off. Just a long empty tube in the centre of the world. Another set of mine tracks appeared out of the dusty floor, they probably led to something new.

Rarity stepped out of the tunnel into a hollowed out room where a few buildings sat empty. Outside, were large crates full of gems and metal, stamped with the symbol of the princesses. She picked up a note stuck to the lid and began reading. "Last order, ship to princesses immediately, Ten ingots of solid gold, thirty pieces of shardrock, four gems of pure crystal and one very angry stone lizard." She shook the crate and heard a hiss. "Crystal Madness has affected several miners, shipment delayed. Update on Crystal Madness, our mining operation has been compromised and is shut down effective immediately."

"Well Opal that explains it." She said, petting the still shaking cat. "This must be another part of the mine where Twilight found out about Chrysalis's plan." Happy she finally discovered why the mine was so familiar, Rarity felt a momentary feeling of pride. She folded up the note, thinking that Twilight would likely find it fascinating. She stared around the room, trying to work out which way to go now.

"Maybe I should try left this time." She muttered, trotting towards the left tunnel. "Though I've had my fill of mines and caves!"

Rarity wandered down this new path, ending up in another, far smaller chamber. Hopefully this time not the home of a very angry dragon. The change of scenery was a pleasant change though. It was just like the place the cart had stopped, water on each side. The water had no light so it gave the image of a bottomless river. She looked up and noticed the ceiling was entirely covered in spider webs. Except this time it wasn't completely empty. Caught within it were hundreds of bats, moles, worms and practically every other cave-dwelling creature.

"Guess that explains why I haven't seen a single living thing. But where are the spiders? So many webs, yet noponies home." She didn't really like standing beneath so many poor, trapped creatures and hurried on into the next tunnel leading from it.

A few long minutes later, Rarity wandered into a new cave that nopony else would ever willingly take a step into. The ceiling and walls were covered in indigo obsidian and down below lava bellowed and roared. This area had just a single rickety stone bridge, precariously hanging over a lake of flaming death. She took one look at the cave and quietly left.

"No, no, a million times, no." She said, refusing to even consider walking over a lake of lava.

Rarity instead chose a completely new tunnel, walked through more spider web graveyards and found herself in a much better cave. No pools of lava, no warm, monster filled pools, just a normal average bridge. Finally satisfied, she continued on. It was the easiest part of her adventure by far and soon she was standing at a door with exit burned into the wood. She eagerly pulled it open and fell into a hole. But not just any hole, a giant worm hole.

"Oh, for goodness sake! I can't have just a moments break, can I?" Rarity stamped her hooves and started crying. Her loud sobs reverberated around her.

The ground shook, a giant round head popped out the ground and stared. It had three eyes and it was staring at her rather curiously.

"Well go on then!" She said through her sobbing. "Eat me! Everyone else has already tried!"

The head continued watching her, cocking itself to one side. Even though she was certain it was going to swallow her whole and spit her out, Rarity thought it looked kind of cute. It opened its mouth, she winced, but then it simply blew air in her face. It let out a strange cat-like purr and placed its head against the sand. She raised a leg, it followed with its head.

"You're... playing with me?" She asked.

It nodded in understanding and hunkered back down. "Do you know where the crystal is?" Another nod. "Where?" The worm vanished into the sand. A moment later it erupted back out, something familiar swinging from its toothless mouth. Rarity realized it was her saddlebag, how she couldn't even hope to explain. The worm spat it at her feet. It smiled, or at least something like that.

"I have no idea how you got this, but-" The worm pointed itself skyward. She followed its pointing to a teensy little hole far above. "-oh, guess that's a changeling garbage bin or something. Well thank you Mr Worm!"

It made another weird cat noise and extended itself from the sand, It bit onto the wall just below the fake exit and flexed. Rarity used the oddly friendly worms head as a fleshy bridge. She turned to thank him but the door was already sealed. She opened up her saddlebag and pulled out the map, covered in odd sticky spots.

"Well out of everything that's happened so far, that was certainly the strangest. At least I've got the-" She sniffed the parchment and scrunched up her nose "-very smelly map back.

With the map now back in her possession, she heated it up and turned it over. The invisible ink quickly turned brown, revealing the map of the entire cavern. The Emerald Hive was drawn in but not named, with a tiny little part leading to the mushroom forest. Beyond that, The Great Crystal Mine lead in many directions.

"Lava room, Do Not Enter! Very worldly advice right there." Rarity said with a smirk. The room with the giant worm was simply labelled, Not actually an exit. Luckily the map did show a third path, leading to something. "It's crossed out?" She angrily shook the map. "Why is it crossed out!"

With a huff she stormed her way back to the miners cabin. She followed the map to the letter, trotting down the tunnel she so happened not to have picked. Rarity looked once more at the crossed out picture in the corner. She hoped it wasn't something important, to come all this way to end up inside a basilisk stomach, would be an awful inconvenience.