Dude In Distress

Even Bad Girls Have Mothers

As Star gets closer to the glow, she sees an equine-shaped head, topped by a horn, and she hears sobbing. She isn't as wary to approach as she knows she should be. Perhaps it's the sound of the mare crying.

Star is vaguely aware that the others follow her quietly.

The poor thing looks as if she's growing out of the side of the cave, quartz crystals encasing her entire body. Her limbs are immobilized by the crystals, and the only thing she can still move is her head. Her ice blue coat looks radiant against the glowing stone.

Near her encased hooves is a small glass vial filled with a clear liquid.

"He...hello," Fiona says.

The mare stops crying and looks at the adventurers. "Are you also victims of my daughter's wretchedness?"

Fiona nods. "She kidnapped my fiance!"

"I made the wrong choices when raising her. I tried to cloister her away since her magic was so strong. The isolation clearly unhinged her." A stray sob escapes her throat. "It's too late for me, but it may not be too late for your fiance. Please take the vial down there. It contains my tears, laced with the last of my own magic. If you fight her and get her weak enough, using these tears should render her powerless long enough for you to capture and bind her mouth, so she can't cast any other spells. Just please don't kill her--I don't want her life to end because of my bad decisions, even if it means eternal imprisonment. You'll know she's weak enough when she is normal size and has a foam of sweat on her chest."

Fiona snatches up the vial.

The crystal grows and covers the mare's neck. "But you have to remember one more thing." Her voice is strained. "After dousing her with the tears, you must call her by her real name to activate the spell." She gasps as the crystal covers her eyes, thankfully leaving her mouth free. "Rhea."

Once the name falls from her lips, the crystal finishes its job and covers the rest of the mare's head. Star realizes they never learned her name, but to her she will always be remembered as the Quartz Unicorn. The mare looks both sad and beautiful trapped inside the crystal.

"Don't lose that, Fiona," Star says. The gift is too kind, too precious to mishandle. "Go ahead and rest up and heal, everyone. I think we're near our goal." She can't help but stare at the glowing stone in between tending to the horses' wounds.

After healing as best as they can from the fight with the Rock-N-Roller, they head into the next cavern, to face Big Bad Girl and grant the Quartz Unicorn's last dying wish.