//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Give and Take // by I Thought I Was Toast //------------------------------// “There has to be a way to change your mind.” Luna was being far more insistent on the whole ridiculous concept of curing Rarity than the ivory idol had thought she would be. “Surely, there must be a way to save you. Why don’t you care enough to try? You just found the very gift you’ve been so crazy about giving to the world. Why are you so insistent on losing it? You will die without having ever truly using it.” It was rather frustrating that it was only after the lunar maiden had shattered Rarity’s delusions that she decided to become the emotional mare Rarity wanted. “Darling, I told you to let it go. What is, is. What was, was. This is what has to happen. I am old and dying, and I refuse to draw my life out any farther with that technology born from the suffering of others. I do not have another life, or another plan, to right the wrongs I have made. I have given my soul to better the world, and now it is time I give my life.” Rarity levitated more tea to the princess. “Here, let this sooth your troubles away. All I want from you now is to hear the rest of my story.” “No! I refuse to believe we can’t change things. You came into this thinking sacrifices were necessary.” Luna smashed her hoof on the table. Rarity hoped the mistress of the night didn’t realize what that meant, but the pale lady’s fears were unfounded as the lunar maiden continued. “You sacrificed your friends, my sister, and all of Ponyville. You killed joy itself to further your plans, and you almost killed hope too. Don’t you see, Rarity, you are the world’s hope. The world has only held together because of you, and it is their belief in you that has given them any hope of a better future. You can’t do this. If you die like this, the world will lose hope in the goodness of others. They will lose hope, just as you lost hope when you began this path. I didn’t try to save you just so you could die before your second chance.” “Darling, you don’t understand. This is the only way I can atone. You think I should live, and that I should help others for real instead of as a means to an end, but that doesn’t excuse anything I’ve done.” Rarity pulled a chess board from the cart that held the tea pot. She didn’t just use this cart for drugging guests after all. Sometimes she really did entertain them. “You and Celestia could never understand the concept of sacrifice. You wanted everypony to win, and sometimes that’s not possible. Let’s play a game to decide if I’ll live. If you beat me, I’ll tell you the locations of the only herbs that might save me.” Rarity fluttered her eyelashes as innocently as possible. “I doubt you will find them in time, much less brew them properly, but I will give you a chance. However, if I win, you must spread the tales of my crimes to the kingdom.” The princess of the night mulled the offer over. Celestia had been a master of the game, and she had passed on her skill to Luna, but it was obvious Rarity was pulling some sort of trick. Still, it was the only way. “Agreed.” Luna picked up the bag of pieces and began laying them on the board. “Would you prefer white or black?” “Black, darling, I am a queen of darkness after all.” Rarity smiled. “I thought you said you were a pawn of the light?” said Luna, turning the board the appropriate direction. “Perhaps I am both, my dear, but I'll let you figure it out. Now, please be quiet so that I can finish my story.” Rarity didn’t even pay attention to the board as she began the rest of her tale. She didn’t need to, because it was all part of the plan. ….. There was only one last pony to take care of. Fluttershy had never been much of a problem to my plan. She was sweet, and innocent, and naive, and she was much too timid to actually interfere, even if she actually noticed what was going on. I had saved her for last, because I didn’t need to do anything to her, and I doubt I even could if I had wanted to. Fluttershy was incorruptible. That mare could talk with Discord, and she would come out completely untouched by his corruption. Her only weakness was in how she let the evils of the world push her around. She would sometimes push back, but I always found her timid acceptance more charming. It was born of an undying trust that her friends would always lead her right. She couldn’t comprehend somepony trying to manipulate another down a twisted path, and it just filled my heart with joy to see that. It allowed me to dream she could be right, and one day there would be an end to the machinations of society. I hoped to be that end. I knew, by the end of their wild chase, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Spike would end up at Fluttershy’s. The girls had been drawn to the shy mare ever since that incident with the cockatrice, and I knew those three would, in their enthusiasm, drag Spike along with them. I wondered if they had bound and gagged Spike to do it. It wouldn’t surprise me if they did it just to complete the experience. Oh, the imagination of foalhood was a marvelous thing. Fluttershy was busy caring for her animals as I approached. She looked up at me, and she smiled that adorable little naive smile. It killed me inside to think about what I had to do, but it had to be done. At least, I thought it had to be done at the time. I don’t really know what was necessary anymore. She was so isolated from town she probably hadn’t even noticed the chaos brewing in town, and she would be horrified if she did. I told her everything that was happening in town. Obviously I couldn’t tell her how I had made it all happen, but I doubt she would have believed me anyway. It was heartbreaking to see the look of absolute horror on her face from my story. I don’t know whether it was good or bad that my heart was almost incapable of feeling after seeing what had happened to Pinkie, but right now I’m glad I was able to still feel at least something. Fluttershy deserved at least some sorrow for what was going to happen. I wish I could have given more, but I had already given so much that day. Fluttershy was timid and shy, but, if there was one thing that brought her out of her shell, she would always find the courage to try and help her friends in the end. It might take time, but it would happen. I saw it blooming in her face. Her little pout turned into a grimace of determination, and her eyes scrunched up as she gathered her courage. It would have been adorable if I hadn’t known where it would lead her. Finally, she pulled herself up, and she asked if I’d come with her to help. I told her she didn’t need my help, and that if anypony could stop the madness it was her, and then I gave some pathetic excuse about looking after the girls to make sure they didn’t get into trouble. The last of my friends looked at me, and she smiled before giving me a hug. She told me she’d come back as soon as she could, and that we’d all go out to eat and laugh over how crazy the day had been afterwards. I almost broke and told her everything then, but Pinkie had been the point of no return. I think, if anypony would have truly understood, it would have been her. She wouldn’t understand how I’d manipulated and used everypony she loved, but she would understand how I was doing it for the future, and she would find it in her heart to forgive me. I don’t think anypony else would be capable of that, even you Luna. ….. Rarity looked at Luna smiling. The ivory idol may not have enjoyed that particular memory with the timid mare, but, as she told her tale, other happier times had come to the surface. Her cold logic had repressed all the happiness she had felt before. What good were memories of a world that no longer was? The pale lady hadn’t truly thought of her friends in ages, and she relished the joy they had brought her. “Luna, you speak of atonement and redemption. Fluttershy would have simply let bygones be bygones.” The game had been in deadlock for a while now. The mistress of the night was a master of defense, and she made sure none of her pieces would ever be taken without the loss of whoever took it, but Rarity was just as adept at making sure her pieces would never be taken. All it would take was one foolish move, and a cascade of death would lead to the victor. “Nopony else will ever truly have the heart to truly forgive what I’ve done. You say my death will kill the hope I’ve instilled in others, but I die so that hope might live on. My death shows that, in the end, even the greatest of evils will wither away. All you have to do is fight to survive. You say I am hope itself, but the funny thing about hope is that it never dies. It keeps on fighting until the end. Only when there is no one left to hope will hope truly die. I will die to pass on this lesson. I cannot force enlightenment on others. I can only hope they’ll see. I can see now that my true gift to the world is to make sure hope lives on, and for that to happen I must die.” Rarity moved a bishop to an empty square. “Check.” Luna took the bishop with her rook. “I don’t believe in that, my dear, and you just made the mistake that will decide this all.” The game flew into a series of moves so fast that they were almost impossible to catch. Piece after piece was taken until the board was almost bare. Rarity captured the last of Luna’s rooks with her queen, while leaving herself open to a pawn. “Another mistake, my dear, and it will be your last.” Luna knew she had the ivory idol now. There was no way she could come back from losing her queen. Rarity just smiled, and moved her last bishop. “Checkmate.” Luna had boxed her king in among her various pieces to protect it from Rarity, but moving that pawn had opened up a slit in her defenses and blocked the princess of the night’s only escape. Luna sat and gapped at the board. Rarity tossed her black queen behind her, and tapped the pawn proudly. “Like I said before, darling, I may seem a queen of darkness, but I am always a pawn of the light.” “No! I can’t believe it!” Luna smashed the board with her hoof, and the pieces scattered across the room from her fury. Stunned, the lunar maiden looked down and realized she could move. The fresh pot of tea hadn’t been drugged. The princess of the night looked at the mare who had been her captor, mind racing. She was free to find a cure, and the ivory idol could do nothing to stop her. There were spells she could use to help her. The mistress of the night might not be able to cure the poison with magic, but certain spells in the canterlot library could buy her the time she needed. Divination spells could tell her the herbs she would need, and how to brew them. Her wings were free to take her soaring to the most desolate places to find the cure, but something was stopping her. Rarity looked at the mare and waited. “I pass my hope on to you, Luna. Do with it what you will.” Author's Note: I think I'm going to end the story after Rarity finishes the next chapter of her story. As much as I find it interesting to consider her life after the initial murder, I can't help but feel the story is coming to a close. Flow is important in a story, and a good author knows his story writes itself as much as he does. A story evolves as it's written, and no matter how much you plan ahead things will change. I didn't expect Rarity to reach her epiphany until the end, but the natural rhythm of the story compelled me to write it much sooner that I intended. You may wonder why I bother telling you this, and it's because I believe life, like a good story, also has this flow. My philosophical rant for today is about how you shouldn't try to fight the flow of life. You can fight it to the bitter end, but sometimes it's best to go with it, or, even better, twist it to your advantage. Rarity fought the flow, and the world payed the price. If she had taken a more passive route things could have turned out remarkably different, but she choose a route of darkness and pain because she didn't believe in the current flow of things. These dark routes can be enlightening, like hers was, but they also can leave you twisted and scarred. Take them if you must, but be careful not to lose yourself along the way.