“Darling, do you happen to remember exactly where I was in my story?” Rarity fluttered her eyelashes in what somepony who didn’t know all the horrors she had committed would find innocent and naive.
“I’m not really sure, dear.” It was obvious that Rarity actually remembered. She was just testing Luna’s own feelings on what she’d done. Her captor wanted signs of anger and hatred, but Luna knew that would only fuel the mad mare’s delusions that what she was doing was necessary. Instead, the princess of the night radiated the same calm collectedness that her hostess was so fond of. If the ivory idol wanted to play games with Luna, it was only obligatory that the lunar maiden reply in kind. “I believe you had just let Rainbow Dash charge off to get in a fight with Applejack.”
“No, I believe we were past that. I told you about Twilight, and how she snapped from me unleashing the Cutie Mark Crusaders in her home I believe, but I can’t remember if I got much farther.”
“No, dear, I believe that’s where you were when you finished last. You also mentioned something about Pinkie Pie. What was it again?” It was difficult, but cool detachment was the only reward the ivory idol would get, and the look in Rarity’s eye told the princess of the night it was working. Her captor might realize it was nothing but a farce, but on some level she would question what it would mean if it wasn’t. It was part of the mad mare’s nature by now to consider every possibility. Somepony as manipulative as Rarity had to in order to bring about her machinations. The ivory idol would begin to doubt her plan, and that would make her doubt every horrible decision that was a part of that plan. The goodness inside her had paved the way to her corruption, and it was time the evil in her brought her back to the light. It was only fitting.
Rarity paused, waiting for some sign of the emotions she wanted, before continuing with a sigh. “Yes, darling, I believe that was it. I was off to Sugarcube Corner to observe the next step of my plan.” It seemed Luna had changed with all the things she was learning from this tale of darkness, and Rarity wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. The princess of the night was determined to fight every step of the way, but her methods were beyond anything the ivory idol expected. Rarity had been so sure that Luna’s tendency to let her emotions guide her actions would make her an asset. She had wanted righteous fury, yet the princess of the night matched Rarity’s games with more games of her own. Such cool detachment was more fitting of Celestia, and that was why she had chosen the sun princess to be the one to die. Celestia had cared, but she would detach herself from problems to figure out the best solution to them. Rarity had done that, and she had ended up corrupted because of it. Luna had been chosen because her emotions allowed her to affect others in a way Celestia never could.
Luna’s jealousy had unleashed Nightmare Moon, and led to a fear so unprecedented in history that only the fear that Discord had brought on could compare. When Luna had discovered fun and acceptance on Nightmare Night in Ponyville, her joy had spread infectiously to the others, and it had made that celebration legendary among all others. The righteous fury Rarity wanted, that she needed, was supposed to inspire a new age in the world. It would whip the common pony into a frenzy of idealism. Everypony would want to make the world the best it could be to avoid another disaster like the one Rarity had created, and they would realize that had to actively take part in it. Luna’s fury would empower the world with a zealotry to rival Rarity’s own twisted determination, except, untouched by evil, this passion would fuel the world to utopia.
Why was Luna fighting her very nature while resisting Rarity? Rarity hoped it wasn’t for the same reasons she had twisted hers all those years ago. It would be infuriating if her plan had done nothing but create an endless cycle of monsters like herself. As she began to continue her story, she couldn’t help but wonder about it. What was the lunar maiden doing? Why couldn’t she, of all ponies, tell what the princess was doing? It didn’t matter. Shrugging off her doubts, Rarity began to continue her story.
…..
Sugarcube Corner was a mess when I arrived. I had apparently missed the fight between Rainbow Dash and Pinkie as well, but I saw the after effects. The building was coated with a mixture of flour, jam, cinnamon, milk, and candy. The milk had begun to spoil in the harsh afternoon heat, and the jam and candy left the floor and walls so sticky that it took all the strength I had to tear my hoof from the floor with every step.
I hated entering this cesspool of sugary sweets and spoiling sustenance, but I had to make sure I knew what happened. This chaos could have been anything from Pinkie throwing a party to cheer Rainbow up, to Rainbow trashing the place as a confused Pinkie Pie tried to stop her, to a celebration being held as Pinkie confirmed the phony gift I gave Rainbow Dash that started it all. That hyperactive pink furball was just too unpredictable for me to know for sure what would happen.
What I did know was that, after the fight with Applejack, Rainbow would rush off to Sugarcube Corner to confront Pinkie about the gift I had given in her name. Rainbow would be hurt from the possibility of losing Applejack as a friend, and she would want answers as to why Pinkie had given that gift. I was relying on Rainbow’s temper to carry things through here. The fastest flyer in Equestria was also the quickest to anger, and I was going to use that against Pinkie Pie.
Our curly pink friend was an impenetrable fortress of unbridled joy and energy. Her random and cheery ways drew ponies to her like moths to a flame, and no pony could meet Pinkie without remembering her for the rest of their days. It was that very randomness that I took advantage of to ignite my plan, and it was that randomness that could diffuse it. I had to search the building for clues as to what had really happened. If the fight had resolved smoothly I’d have to resort to a couple of the various background plans I’d seeded to try and get things in motion again. You see, I always left back up plans that would ignite if any of my main plans happened to fail. Every pony I ever met has had a back up plan seeded on them at one point or another, but thankfully many of these back ups were never used. They were wild card plans at most, and were much less predictable than my master plan. But I’m off on a tangent, aren’t I?
I walked through the doors to the kitchen and saw the last thing I wanted to see.
You see, there were a couple ways I had envisioned the fight occurring.
First, there are a few events that were almost guaranteed to happen. Rainbow would barge into Sugarcube Corner and start yelling at Pinkie Pie about everything her gift had done. Pinkie would understandably be confused and ask what gift Rainbow was talking about. Rainbow would tell her about everything that happened, and then Pinkie would try to tell Rainbow that she hadn’t given her the gift she was talking about.
Here’s where I lost control of events. What I wanted was for Rainbow Dash’s anger to leave Pinkie confused and unable to intervene in my plan. Being cloudy headed from her fight with Applejack, I wanted Rainbow to feel rejected from Pinkie at hearing her deny that she had given the gift, and I wanted her to run out. I was hedging things on the fact that Rainbow would be too stressed from both the gift and the fight with Applejack to realize something was wrong. Pinkie would not be able to process Rainbow’s feelings, and, with the cyan blur leaving so suddenly, she would end up questioning what to do to fix things the entire day.
A less desirable route was that what Pinkie said would get through to Rainbow, and, upon the little bundle of joy cheering Rainbow up, they would realize something was wrong and that they were being manipulated. This chain of events was more likely than I thought, looking back, because it hinged on Rainbow’s loyalty towards her friends being stronger than any stress she was personally undergoing. Rainbow believed in her friends, even if what they were saying didn’t make sense at first, and that loyalty could have revealed my plan to the world.
The third route was not even a route I had considered, and it haunted me for a long time. What happened in that kitchen would forever teach me the importance of considering every option. You see, darling, I had forgotten that Pinkie has a couple insecurities. They were very rare, and almost never a problem, but Pinkie needed to be accepted by her friends. When she thought they were mad at her, or that she had done something to drive them away, she became a completely different pony. It could force such a shocking and traumatic change to her personality that it caused an actual physical transformation too. Her mane and tail would straighten and lose all of its volume, and she would almost radiate an air of depression. Sometimes it caused her to act unstable, but when I walked in on her in the kitchen she merely sat there with such a look of dejection that you could tell she was beyond even trying to care. There would be no bucket of turnips, or bag of flour. There would be no game of pretend to ease her shattered heart. She had just given up, and reverted to the sad little pony that had lived on a rock farm long ago.
Of all the things I’d regret doing that day, this was the worst. The only thing that compared was what I did to Fluttershy, but that was different. I didn’t destroy Fluttershy. She was incorruptible, the purest and most innocent pony one could find, and all I would do to her is send her to her doom. I’d destroyed Pinkie’s very being, and, unlike most, I knew what she had truly been like on that rock farm. I had carefully researched everypony I met, and I knew how horrible life had been for her before.
That was the moment I knew for sure there was no going back. There was no way the world could ever be the same after what had happened in that kitchen that day. Any spark of goodness I had died right then and there, for I had done what no other could do. I had committed the greatest monstrosity I would ever make.
Forget the endless deaths I would cause. Forget the corpses that would pile up, and forget the destruction I would rain on the world, for what I had done here was infinitely worse.
I had killed joy itself, and the world was going to suffer for it. I prayed to Celestia I wouldn’t kill hope, because it was the only thing the world had left now.
Author's Note: No ridiculously long rant today. Just you and your thoughts. Sometimes I forget that the best parts of a story can come from not what is written, but from the reader's own thoughts and interpretations. Enjoy.