//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: Dance Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Rarity // Story: Memories of the Stone // by WanderingPony //------------------------------// The darkness and noise of the battlefield parted briefly to allow another unicorn her moment in the spotlight. Dancing about on nervous hooves, Rarity tried to think happy thoughts as giant-sized edged weapons rained blow after blow in her direction, any of which would be more than enough to leave her on a radical new weight-loss plan. "It's just a little dance! Left two...", as an axe buried itself where she'd been standing a second before. "Back three..." One of Rarity's false eyelashes drifted into the air, trimmed by a curving scimitar of stone as she hopped backwards. "And BOW!" Ducking her head, Rarity felt her hair ruffle as a roundhouse swing passed inches above her lowered mane. Despite herself, a nervous giggle escaped the unicorn as she continued to trade space with grace. "And I thought Blueblood would be my worst dance partner ever!", she thought as frustrated Kindred tried to catch the prancing dandy-mare with claws, swords, and anything they could think of. In this waltz, Rarity was reigning supreme, her horn giving her a self-made spotlight to show off her moves (and see all too many attackers joining in). --- Twilight Sparkle flapped up a cloud of dust as Rarity's display of style provided a fabulous distraction, then glided along the mess of stones and corpses. Glimpsing the occasional cyclopean form lurking through the wreckage, going high or another teleport was asking for an ambush...wait a second! A yellow wingtip poked out from an oddly familiar hole, a few crumbling bits of grating still hanging on to the edges. Twilight grinned, lit her horn and played the glow across the gap to reveal where the last member of the Ponyville herd had found refuge. With a weak smile, Fluttershy stood blinking in the glare. Propped up against one wall was Orange Wedge, almost looking comfortable despite being nearly mummified in wrappings and a wing-splint, though still out cold. A unicorn dressed in a vendor's uniform lay sprawled beside him, the tattered remnants of a cart cover keeping the shivering, shocked creature in some level of warmth. Two earth ponies stood behind her, clearly not at all well...but a friendly caress from Fluttershy's wings stilled the shakes almost immediately. "Um...I found some more ponies that needed help when I got Mister Wedge in here, so I helped them. It's OK that I'm not out there with all the scary demons, right?". Fluttershy's knees knocking out a merry rhythm made it loud and clear how well THAT would have gone. "Is everyone else all right?". Twilight dimmed her horn and looked back. A rainbow colored streak was bouncing up and down in the darkness, sending cindered remnants in all directions as she swept a burning hoof in a broad circle. A patter of thunderclaps marked Applejack as she ground a path through the murky shadows. The strangely jackal-like laughter echoing from everywhere at once could only be Pinkie Pie, and Rarity could be seen in gleaming in mid-pirouette as a cluster of Kindred managed to maul each other trying to kill her. "I think so, Fluttershy. I really do think so. Do you know where this tunnel goes?" "Oh, no. It's really dark and scary back there and doesn't smell very good. Sort of like this pony's breath.". Solicitously, Fluttershy turned to Squeaky Clean, rubbed at his blackened teeth a bit with a rag and popped a mint in. "I've got to find a way around to Cadence and Shining, Fluttershy. Sombra's....Sombra's done something bad to them. Stay here, I've got to go and..." A squeak of panic was all the warning Twilight had before she found Fluttershy holding onto to both of her forehooves for dear life. "No no no no no please please please pretty please staaaaay?". Darn it, she was using the cute bunny eyes...must...resist! Twilight peeled Fluttershy's grasp away with a gentle application of her horn and set her back on her feet. "I can't, Fluttershy. And besides, it's Sombra..I, I- I have to find him before he hurts anyone else. Stay here, take care of these poor ponies and I'll be back with everyone as soon as it's safe to go outside.". Turning up the glow on her horn as she pointed it down the tunnel, she saw it followed the curve of the stadium....which meant... "Yes! I can get past everything else, with nopony knowing the wiser!" Leaving Fluttershy to stare anxiously at her tail, the alicorn trotted down the corridor in a pool of berry-colored light. A waft of sewer odor made the pegasus sneeze- and when she opened her eyes, Twilight's glow had faded around a corner and quickly vanished from sight. --- In the stadium, a single glowering eye narrowed as it tried to line up it's shot on the pony capering through the brawl, it's horn glimmering. The ahriman known as Seeker was unamused with the show, having narrowly avoided being squashed by the unicorn's deft use of the damaged stadium to mash most of his fellows into helplessness or a thin black paste. It's task had been to literally keep it's eye on Sombra's efforts for his master, but things were getting out of hand. Each of these creatures was more dangerous than fifty of the armored ones outside, and not one had a weapon or armor? Madness. It was time for the purple-maned sombrathing to burn. Raising itself on high to (mostly) clear it's shot, Seeker conjured a rolling wave of flame and watched it draw a white-hot line through the darkness. Seconds later, a bright flare marked the impact on a blue glowing spot and it's hated source. Rarity caught the flaming spell from the corner of one eye as she spun out of the way of a barehanded Kindred, it's claws screeching like chalk on a blackboard as the attack whiffed harmlessly- but not in time to avoid the full impact of the spell. Putting the Kindred's body between her and the point of impact, she leaped- and the gout of flame left a demon-shaped outline in the air as it ate through the creature and puffed outwards to consume the unicorn as well. Her mane smouldering and her cutie mark bearing an ugly scorch, Rarity landed from the jump. Giant two-legged torches rolled around on the ground, gouging themselves with their claws to try and extinguish the flames. In a few seconds, Rarity found herself in a blackened space with only crispy Kindred corpses for company, only a splash of glassy ground marking the center of the dead zone. She looked into the mirroring surface. Her mane had turned itself into a split-end, poofed-out nightmare that she hadn't seen since Sweetie Belle had tried to get her cutie mark in salon care. The purple diamond-shaped stone of her Element provided all the light she needed to see the horrid cigarette-sized black mark centered between the three diamonds on her flank, and her tail had actually developed KINKS from the heat treatment! The resulting scream from anypony else would have required pulling out their still beating heart and showing it to them- but Rarity had plenty of practice in dramatic overkill. It rose as the stone in her Element resonated with the outrage and (astonishingly minor) injury of it's bearer. "YOU....YOU BRUTES! YOU SHOT MY HAIR! I'LL....YOU SHALL ALL BE GIFTED WITH A PAINFUL DEMISE, THOU FOOLISH SERVANTS OF THE DARK, GREEDY FOR THE LIFE OF THE INNOCENT! I SHALL GRACE THEE WITH THE SWIFT ROAD TO OBLIVION!". Inside the unicorn's skull, a mixture of defiled vanity and the overwhelming feelings swirling from the Element caused Rarity to transform from a goddess of style to a goddess of old-fashioned-sweet-Celestia-she's-gonna-send-me-to-the-Moon fury. A thin line of lightning streaked down from the clear night skies, where Rarity's horn drew it in until the usual blue had changed to a storm-driven haze about her head. Her lips curled back and she screamed a banshee cry at Seeker from afar. One look at the madmare was enough to get the demon flapping for it's life past less observant minions- the demon knew when someone was ready to throw a real whammy, and Rarity was definitely IT. An azure pillar of crackling electrical force slammed down behind Seeker as he fled, bolts leaping from one body to another that were unfortunate enough to have found themselves near the point of impact. The victims spasmed in an obscene parody of Rarity's earlier ballroom moves, then collapsed as the last of the charge grounded itself. Perhaps one or two would actually live long enough to suffer from massive burns, which did fill the "painful demise" part, but dozens opted for the "swift road to oblivion" package and expired immediately from a severe case of electrocution. "WA-HA-HA-OHOHOHOHOHO!" echoed as a frenzied Rarity charged up to do it again, adding more lightning to the thunder and rain her fellow mares were bringing to the brawl. Rainbow Dash plowed another Kindred into the air to illuminate the chaos- by burning the creature to death between her forehooves. (If you're starting to feel sorry for the demons at this point, I can understand. The ponies are doing so much damage I'm running out of new ways to describe the utter carnage. The Author) --- Woefully unable to observe her friends going completely mad under the influence of their fashion accessories, Twilight Sparkle made her way around the inner wall of the stadium via the drainage tunnel, looking for the right spot to slip out... ...as Sombra viewed the increasing insanity with concern. Where on Equestria had Celestia found four juggernauts of equine destruction almost as potent as the Sisters themselves? Wait. They had only acted like ordinary mares before, when they battled the first time. It must be the new, fancy jewelry they wore. Items of mystical power to be used as some kind of weapon of last resort by the Sisters? Of course, what ruler wouldn't have pawns to use as weapons! ...and there were six of them, one of which was worn by that blasted alicorn. Why hadn't she used it to incinerate Sombra? Was there some flaw, some ritual that was needed before the power awoke? Where was the sixth one, the one worn by that feeble-looking pegasus? Perhaps if he took one for himself, he could unlock it's secrets and use it to control or kill the others before they brought the entire stadium down around his ears... Sombra's eyes lit as he looked for the sources of mystical power he knew must be close. Four nearly blinding ones mixed with the shadowy outlines of his thinning army, two dim ones near his feet from the usurpers he'd drained...and traces of alicorn spoor heading towards the tunnel he'd used to enter the stadium....with a glimmer of magic occasionally peeping out from behind the hole in the thick concrete. If he hadn't been searching this way, he'd never have seen the purple wench preparing her ambush! Blissfully unaware of Sombra's thoughts, Fluttershy ducked back from where she'd been peeking into the fight and went back to give Squeaky Clean another peppermint. The first six had gotten his halitosis down past wilting her feathers, he'd be MUCH better soon. Sombra snuck towards the opening, unaware that he was a tiger planning to surprise a kitten...