The trail to Mudpuppy's home was a long, meandering one. Rarity found herself trailing after the gangly little alicorn as they walked an almost invisible maze of raised hillocks and clumps of grass that wound through the bog. All around, the bayou retained its mysterious air. Insects buzzed and seethed, frogs croaked and other things unseen and barely guessed at made their vocalizations. The air was heavy and sticky, and the canopy high above kept the swamp below in a twilight as dark as anything in the Everfree. Rare beauty bloomed here and there; exotic flowers, here a vividly colored lizard, over there a gauzy winged dragonfly with a glittering sheen. From time to time Rarity saw odd lights in the distance-- ones that she would have been sure were lanterns or lights in windows; her little guide expressly ignored them, following her own  path.

It was a quick trot around yet another mass of exposed tree roots, and the house they sought came into view. It was a tin roofed shack, Maybe one or two rooms, to judge by its size, its front porch standing on wooden posts sunk into the bayou waters, its back end resting on a short rise of solid ground. Rarity could see wood smoke wafting up from the stovepipe jutting out of the roof, and a hefty stack of split firewood leaning against the back wall. It had the usual oddments around it of busy folk with much to do and little room to spare: washtub and washboard hanging from nails on the outside; yard tools leaning against porch railings.... Clothes hung limply from a wash line out back, not stirring in the sweltering heat. Glass bottles of every color dangled on strings from the porch rafters. Rarity could see still more bottles, gourds, and vials, stacked on shelves right up the insides of the windows.

as they drew closer, Rarity could make out a figure sitting on a rocking chair on the porch; it was a blue-green earth pony mare, easily as wizened as Granny Smith if not more so. She wore a mottled do-rag and a a moth-eaten apron, and was puffing away at a corncob pipe with a stem as long as her foreleg. She turned and looked in their direction; Rarity couldn't even make out her eyes in the mass of wrinkles. "Mudpuppy! Who dat witchoo, chile?" Pipe or no, her lungs were healthy enough.

"Fancy city lady, Mammaw!" Mudpuppy bellowed back. "She needs some help-- she done had a lil accy-dent!" The latter was followed with high filly laughter.

Rarity once again became painfully aware of her dishevelled, or perhaps devastated, condition. She was a sodden mass of tattered cloth, hair, swamp weeds and mud. Her dress was in rags and her wings were literally caked to her sides. "Oh yes," she said in a pleading tone. "Please tell me you have some place where I can at least try to amend this! The mud is starting to dry..."

Mammaw's eyes went so wide they actually made an appearance. "Sakes alive, chile! Did summon drag ye here by yer horn?"

"Something like that," Rarity said dully.

"Cain't leave ye like that," Mammaw said. "Gwan, chile, take 'er roun' back. Yew know where the washin' up stuff is at..."

"C'mon, lady!" Mudpuppy said. She tugged on Rarity's foreleg, urging. "We'll git yew cleaned up aw reet, I ga ron tee!"

A few minutes later Rarity found herself standing out back, standing underneath a makeshift shower head as  ice-cold water sluiced down over the mud-clotted mare's back. It took some time and even a bit of scraping, but the worst of the mud finally melted off, leaving Rarity standing there, drenched and bedraggled,  shivering so violently her teeth rattled. She was still barely recognizable as a pony, but at least she didn't look like a Maori MudMare.

Meanwhile, Mudpuppy had put her ruined clothes, what were left of them, in a tub of water to soak. Rarity was fairly sure there wasn't a thing left worth saving,  but Mudpuppy had insisted. The very thought of simply throwing away "so much pretty cloth" had appalled the filly. Then a larger pony-sized tub had been dragged out and filled with water, along with a bundle of brushes and washcloths. Once Rarity had removed the first layer, Mudpuppy had addressed her to the tub. "Gowann an' hop on in thar," Mudpuppy said. "I'll go git some of Mammaw's bath soap." She trotted into the shanty.

Rarity regarded the tub with apprehension. Despite the muggy heat, she was already shivering... and cold water would be dreadful for getting the rest of the mud out of her mane-- "oh you silly thing," she murmured to herself. Her horn flared, and soon the tub was heated. She stepped in and sank in with a sigh and a squeal; yes, perfect, almost tepid, but not so warm as to be uncomfortable in this heat. The water browned like she was steeping tea.

Mudpuppy returned, bearing a large glass bottle filled with a rather thick looking liquid. "Taint much," she said humbly as Rarity's magic plucked the bottle from her mouth. "Jest some ol' homemade soft soap an' whatnot..."

"Oh this will do fine, darling," Rarity said charitably. She popped the cork and sniffed at the bottle. She gave a squeal of delight. "Ooh, what a lovely herbal fragrance!"

"Mammaw likes to add herbs and what not," Mudpuppy shrugged dismissively.

"Well she has good taste," Rarity said, pouring a liberal dose of the soap straight into the bath. Rarity's horn glowed and the tub swirled into a luxurious froth. Rarity sighed and sank down into the scented foam. She regarded the cleaning implements Mudpuppy had and grimaced; a few quite literal wash rags, and some scrubbing brushes that looked like they'd had a long hard life at grim labor.

"Easy enough to fix," she said aloud. A quick flick of magic and the rags and worn brushes were a proper grooming and bathing kit; grooming brush, curry brush, hoof brush, loofah, terrycloth towel...  she levitated them in her magic and set to cleaning and grooming herself with a will. She noticed Mudpuppy staring in open-mouthed amazement. "Is something the matter, dear?"

Mudpuppy blinked. "I just ain't never seen nopony use fancy magic like that," she said.

"Surely there are unicorns living out here as well?" Rarity said as she shampooed vigorously.

Mudpuppy shook her head. "Not particular like," she said, looking away idly.

"Well what about your own magic? Hasn't anypony taught you?"

Mudpuppy's head hung lower. She actually looked guilty at the mention of her magic. "Not particular like," she mumbled.

Rarity was astonished. "You mean you haven't learned any magic at all?" she exclaimed.

"Oh, I kin do a few things, an' whatnot," Mudpuppy said. Her horn lit up, leaking a few sparks. "Just... not all fancy stuff, like a lady like you can. Not very much at all." She looked downcast. "Not much fer it. Mammaw says it's cause I'm a pegacorn."

"A what?" Rarity blinked.

Ducking her head, acting almost ashamed, Mudpuppy lifted the side of her dress and stuck her wing out from underneath. "A pegacorn," she said. Her voice was almost a whisper. She tucked her wing back under her dress. "I got borned all wrong-- nuther a pegasus nor a unicorn-- so my magic don't work right. Cain't barely do magic, cain't fly a-tall. Ain't sposed to let anypony know. Mammaw says it ain't my fault, but.. some folk wouldn't unnerstand."  The filly looked away. "I'll go see 'bout scrubbin' out yore clothin' a bit..." and she trotted off.

Rarity was baffled. She'd never heard of such a thing. Could she have been wrong...? She cast the Alicorn detection spell on Mudpuppy as she walked away. No, there it was, the positive resonance ringing clear as a silver bell. This girl was an alicorn, Rarity would bet her hooves on it. She'd bet her entire spring line on it! But the child thought she was some sort of cripple? Something fishy was going on, here. "Methinks her Mammaw and I need to have a word," Rarity muttered. She emerged from the tub,wrapping a towel around herself.

Elsewhere in the swamp, the search for the rocket-propelled princess was proving slow going. The initial trail was easy enough to follow; it was a beeline several miles straight into the bayou, following furrowed mud, broken branches, and lost accessories. But said trail stopped quite suddenly at the edge of a rather large patch of open water. By that point they had found Rarity's hoofshoes, jewelry, and approximately one third of her ball gown, and most distressingly, her vanity purse with her magic compact. "Without this," Marigold said unhappily, "She has no way to contact us." she dropped the dripping bag in the front of the swamp boat.

There was bubbling from below and a sea pony surfaced. "No sign of her below," he said, tossing the water from his mane. "She's not in the pond, at any rate. She most likely swam to the nearest shore and went looking for help."

"I'll tell the pegasi to fly the perimeter of the pond, look for signs," Jade Blossom said.

"Tell 'em to take care. I saw signs of kappas down there." He pointed an admonishing hoof. "Remember-- get them to spill the water out of the bowls on their heads and they're helpless. A kick to the chin will do it."

Jade Blossom nodded as the sea pony dove back down. She looked over at Sweetiebelle. The princess' little sister had been adamant about coming along, dangerous swamp or no dangerous swamp. "Don't worry," she said. "Princess Rarity is an Alicorn; there are few things foolish enough to take her on, and none that could be a real threat. She'll be fine."

Sweetiebelle gnawed her lip. "I'm not worried about that," she confessed. "But she's gonna need therapy after we scrape all the mud off her." She leaned over the gunwale and shouted into the distance. "Hang on Rarity, We're coming!!"

The search party continued its sweep. What none of them could have known, and if they had, couldn't have taken into account, was that an alicorn that did not wish to be found, could not be found-- and Rarity was in the company of a young, confused and troubled little alicorn who most emphatically did not want to be found....

Next Chapter: Chapter 24 Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 25 Minutes