//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: Give and Take 
// by I Thought I Was Toast 
//------------------------------//

    The princess of the night was still.  She was still processing that she was no longer a captive audience.  Rarity waited for the lunar maiden to make her choice.  The plan had changed when the ivory idol had realized that Luna wasn’t going to furiously denounce her for her crimes, and it had changed even more when the mistress of the night actually succeeded in awakening that spark of goodness Rarity had long thought lost.  The pale lady refused to manipulate the princess anymore.  Instead, the hostess would give her a test.  The ivory idol would give the princess of the night a chance, and a choice, to decide the fate of the world.  It was what any good hostess would do, right?

The princess needed to see that Rarity’s death was necessary.  The lunar maiden had to wake up from her delusions that everything her captor had done could be washed away by some impossible form of atonement, and that required her to make a choice.  Should the princess of the night save Rarity, and do what, hopefully, she knew deep down was wrong, or should she grant the ivory idol her last request, and let the pale lady give her gift to the world?

It was rather exciting for Rarity to not rely on her machinations, but to rely on the choice of another.  Before her actions had created both the conflict and the answer.  The ivory idol had led her followers down a path she had chosen, not one of their own design.

Conflict was the nature of the world, and it was through conflict that enlightenment and growth was attained.  When a pony faces some sort of inner conflict, the very philosophies that guide them are brought into question.  Whether they know it or not, what that pony decides to do shapes them in an indescribable way.

This is what Rarity had missed before.  The conflicts the inhabitants of the peaceful land of Equestria faced were usually so small that they wouldn’t even realize they had changed for the better from them.  Rarity had mistaken this for ignorance.  She thought everypony was merely following the philosophies the princesses taught them without a second thought, but the truth was they did learn them on their own.  They learned them through the little conflicts of everyday life in a peaceful land, and Rarity had destroyed that peace to try and teach them something they already knew.  She had deprived the world and its inhabitants of a choice as she led them down the path she wanted, and deprived them of the growth she wanted.  In the end, all it had brought her was an end to her own inner conflict and her own enlightenment.  This was the ivory idol’s chance to make things right.

It was time to let the world make a choice, and to let it grow for itself.

Hopefully, it would heal from the destruction Rarity had unleashed upon it.

Luna, for her part, was struggling to move.  She knew she could move, and that she could save Rarity if she did, but something was stopping her.  Rarity didn’t want to be saved.  The pale lady wanted to die for what she thought was a noble cause, and the she didn’t believe there was any other way to solve things.  There had to be another way to right all the wrongs the ivory idol had done, so why couldn’t the princess of the night think of any?  The lunar maiden believed there was a way, yet she could not think of a way.  It was maddening.  It was infuriating.  It was sad.

The mistress of the night wanted her anger to fuel her.  She wanted it to inspire some crazy idea that would give Rarity the second chance she deserved, that everypony deserved, but she just couldn’t find one.  Her anger and wrath kept washing away amongst the waves of her sorrow, and finally there was none of it left.  That was when the princess of the night realized there was no other way.  No matter what miracles the ivory idol could perform before her time came, she would always be shadowed by the crimes of her past.  Her crimes had made the world what it was today, and there was no way to remove that taint.  It would be there until ages passed, and the pale lady was forgotten from the annals of history.

Slowly, Luna sat down.  She looked at Rarity, and gave a shaky smile.  Her voice was just as shaky.

“Sorry about that, my dear.  It seems you’ve won, so I suppose you better tell me the rest of your story before your time comes.”

Rarity smiled as the world finally set out on its path to heal.  There wasn’t much time left, but there really wasn’t anything more to tell.


…..


It’s odd how the end of this tale is the easiest part to tell.  It’s simple and predictable, and there is nothing to be gained from it.  All the heartache and pain of destroying my friends was nothing compared to the simple act of killing them.  They were already dead.

Spike and the Crusaders were still busy gallivanting about the house.  After Fluttershy had left, I told Spike to send a letter to Celestia telling her the town was in chaos.  He heartily agreed, and jotted a quick note before firing it off.  All I had to do now was wait for the sun to set.  It was then Celestia would come.

I watched as the sun slowly descended into the horizon from Fluttershy’s cottage.  It was calm and peaceful.  After that day I doubted there would be anyplace in the world like that again.  The world could fake the calm and poise of this peaceful little place, but it would never truly be at ease.  The only pony who would sit calmly and watch as the world burned was myself, for I had orchestrated it all.  At least, that’s what I thought at the time, but I can see now just how much it still managed to hurt me.

I would sit there and enjoy the tranquility, and when the sun set I would draw my weapon.  As a fashionista, my style was always drawn to the pristine beauty of gems.  They fascinated me, and I had learned as much as I could about them to make the best use of them for my creations.  It was only fitting that the gem to end all gems would be the start of my greatest creation.

You see, I had found that it was possible to store magic inside gems, and that doing so gave an almost hypnotic beauty and sparkle to the gems.  I also discovered on my own that overcharging a gem leads to explosive results.  You might remember a certain fire ruby Spike gave me from one of our letters to you.  That ruby would decorate the cloak of chaos I wove about the world.  It was the most generous gift I had ever been given, because it was given as Spike fought his own greed.  That was what made it so beautiful, not the fact that it was one of the greatest gems I had ever seen.  I had hidden that gem in town, and with a little spark of magic sent to its location it would ignite in a furious howl.  I thought it was only fitting that such a beautiful gift would complete today’s events.

There would be no bold challenge to declare what I believed in.  There would be no zealous murder before a crowd to show them the truth.  There would simply be death, and the world would follow the lies I told them.  Spike and the others would rush out at the sound of the explosion, and we would pick through the ruins together.  They looked for survivors, but I knew there would be none.  I planted evidence to mislead any investigation into what happened, and when my companions were done desperately searching the rubble we left for Canterlot to spread the news.  I made sure to tell you myself, so that I might see with my own eyes your reaction, and the rest, as they say, is history.


…..


Rarity gave an enormous shudder.  Finally, it was all done.

“Take good care of the world, Luna, and thank you for giving me one last lesson.”  The ivory idol smiled weakly, but it was there.  “Maybe I should write a letter on it...”

With that the pale lady slipped away.  Luna stared for what felt like hours, wishing it was nothing but a nap, and then she slowly rose to her feet.  That same somber gait she had carried as she entered into this tale of madness took her to the window.  The curtains parted to show one of the most beautiful nights Equestria had ever been graced with, but, as with all great things, it was time it came to an end.  The princess of the night gathered the magical energies of the universe, and she cast a spell she never thought she would have to use.  Slowly, the dawn came, and with it would come a new world.

Author's Note:  I guess I could give one more philisophical rant, but I would hope by now you've learned the lessons this story offers.

I really liked writing this story.  The roles I set Luna and Rarity in bounced perfectly off each other as the story evolved.  We've seen Luna is tempermental, but she also has wisdom gained from eons of life.  Her emotions shielded her from the cynicism that grew in Rarity as Rarity gained her own wisdom.  It was idealism versus cynicism, and each helped balance the other.  Rarity regained some of the hope she had lost, and Luna lost some of her delusions on what was right and what was wrong.  They brought balance to each other

So I guess this is it?  I never actually thought I'd complete a story I started writing.  Maybe someday I'll write the story of Rarity's path after that first day, but I don't know when that will be.  I just hope you enjoyed this story, and, even more important, I hope you learned something.

Oh, I almost forgot.  Thanks to the few people who bothered reading, and thanks in particular to Rarityshy who's comments are probably what allowed me to keep writing this.  I doubt I would have found the energy to even try to finish this for NaPoWriMo otherwise, so thanks.