Nightmares Are Tragic

by Jordan179

Chapter 8: Bridging the Gaps

Pinkie Pie was leading the way, literally bounding along in her usual fashion. The six champions were all giggling as they broke through the final treeline, preparing to ford the river they could hear just ahead.

Oh, I can see how deeply I've disheartened them, the Moon Princess berated herself. Any more despondency and they'll throw a feast!

Suddenly, Pinkie saw the condition of the water, and stopped, gasping in dismay. The others stumbled into her, blinking as they adjusted to the moonlight.

The river had been churned into a white froth. Sloshing violently against its banks, it would be obvious suicide to attempt a crossing here.

Nightmare Moon flowed into a nearby tree and watched, curious to see how Celestia's champions would deal with the cause. River serpents were highly intelligent, so it seemed unlikely that the yellow beast-tamer's tricks would work on one. They were also gigantic, and she doubted that even those six would care to fight such a monster. The party could of course travel up or down stream to find calmer water, but that would impose on them a significant delay, giving her more time to prepare her defenses.

"How are we gonna cross this?" asked Pinkie Pie, succinctly stating the problem.

The river serpent wailed. His complaint came from a set of lungs larger than a house, so the fact that he was several hundred yards away from the six ponies, and with thick underbrush between them and his section of river, did little to dampen the noise.

Led by the lavender mage, the six champions bounded swiftly through the vegetation toward the noise. The Moon Princess followed easily, streaming between the boles and vines.

First they saw the tail. Their gaze followed the writhing serpentine form, clad in purple scales but articulated like a mammal, for what seemed an impossible distance until they saw the forward end of the body. That huge body was lashing wildly, thrashing the river into impassable white waves. It had a pair of arms which were pipestems compared to the tremendous thickness of his torso, but which each had to be thicker than those of any pony born, terminating in two huge hands, each hand the size of a pony. These limbs were currently displaying their strength by violently pounding the water, adding to the turbulence.

Its head was gigantic -- several times the length of a pony's whole body, and equipped with immense jaws, large enough to bite a full-grown great white shark in half, or swallow any lesser fish whole. The shape of that head was vaguely draconian, but with finlike ears and a great yellow mane and mustaches, which had obviously been carefully styled.

The right mustache had been roughly severed right near the root, giving the face a distinctly asymmetrical appearance.

The river serpent clutched at its -- his? -- head and emitted anguished cries, which to their surprise were in comprehensible Equestrian.

"What a world! What a world!"

The lavender unicorn stepped forward, taking the initiative.

"Excuse me, sir," she asked politely. "Why are you crying?"

The serpent turned his vast head toward them, reared up, and replied:

"Well, I don't know," he said, in a voice remarkably like some overly-refined nobleman. "I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke ..."

There's nothing "tacky" about my plasma, the Moon Princess thought with some annoyance. Some creatures simply don't grasp understatement ...

"... just whisked past me and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off," he bent his colossal head directly down to them and pointed, in case the ponies had failed to notice the absence of a member at least as long as their own bodies, "and now I look simply horrid.".

The serpent wailed and flung himself full-length into the river. A miniature tsunami sloshed over the sides, breaking on the steep bank and soaking Celestia's champions.

The six ponies seemed displeased at the impromptu bath.

"Oh, give me a break," groused Rainbow, scowling in disgust at the huge serpent's attitude.

Her expression struck the Moon Princess as terribly familiar.

"That's what all the fuss is about?" asked Applejack, slightly more sympathetic than her rainbow-maned friend, but obviously also not very highly impressed with the great creature's level of maturity.

The elegant white unicorn (whom the Princess noticed managed to look elegant even when soaking wet) leaped forward, indignation plain on her face. Her indignation was not directed at the river monster.

"Why of course it is!" she said to Rainbow. She turned her nose up and strutted gracefully forward. "How can you be so insensitive."

The Moon Princess saw with some surprise that the river serpent was watching her with utter fascination, despite the fact that he was not that similar to her in even the major details of his anatomy. Some mares can win any male hearts, I suppose, she thought. I wouldn't wonder if she could charm the scales off a dragon.

"Oh, just look at him," the white unicorn clucked, in a tone that one might address a particularly beloved cranky foal. She walked fearlessly right up to the monstrous head, which the serpent was resting on the shore, the better to gaze at the interesting little equine. "Such lovely luminescent scales," she commented, stroking the huge creature's chin.

The river serpent stopped sobbing, sniffled a little. "I know," he agreed.

"And your expertly coiffed mane," the unicorn said, looking at the growth under discussion.

"Oh, I know, I know," the serpent said, pulling his upper parts out of the water, bracing himself against the land with one deceptively-skinny arm and caressing his mane with the other.

"Your fabulous manicure," continued the white unicorn, a look of perhaps-unfeigned admiration in her lovely blue eyes.

The river serpent gasped. "It's so true!" he said, pinching his own cheeks in excitement.

He was hanging on her every word, clearly enthralled by his tiny confidante.

"And all ruined," the unicorn said, with a hint of sadness creeping into her tone, "without your beautiful mustache."

"It's true!" wailed the serpent, flinging his arms up to the sky as if beseeching heavenly powers. " I'm hideous!"

The white unicorn's eyes narrowed with a look of dangerous determination.

"I simply cannot let this crime against fabulosity go uncorrected," she declared.

Opening her mouth wide she struck, biting the serpent and tearing off one great purple scale, longer than her head.

Has she gone mad? the Moon Princess wondered. Attacking the river serpent is suicidal!

"Ooh ... ow!" cried the serpent, looking at her with an expression of hurt betrayal, a tear trickling down one cheek.. "What did you do that for?"

Tensing her neck, the white unicorn raised the scale like a longsword.

"Rarity," said the lavender mage, obviously alarmed. "What are you --?"

The Moon Princess felt a psychic pulse.

Rarity swung her scale-sword.

Her friends gasped, their eyes widened in horror.

The serpent wailed, his great upper body collasping to the shore.

The white unicorn had cut off the whole mass of deep purple hair that made up her own elegantly-styled tail.

Generosity, the Princess thought. My sister's Element.

Rarity regarded her severed adornment with some sadness. Then her horn glowed, and she levitated the long twist of hair to meet the stump of the serpent's severed mustache. One skillful twist of telekinesis expertly braided her hair to that remnant, balancing the other mustache in weight, if neither in precise shape nor color.

The serpent regarded the results with astonishment. Then he reared his foreparts up into the air, whooping with happiness. He chuckled triumphantly: "My mustache! How wonderful!" He posed in a manner which was absurdly-delicate, especially for a creature the length of an airship.

Rarity regarded him with sincere admiration. "You look smashing!"

She's almost fully attuned to the Element, the Moon Princess realized. Without even having to touch its manifestation. It's not my sister doing this, not directly. It's them. Her Champions, themselves.

The lavender mage had a pained expression as she regarded her friend. "Oh, Rarity," she said. "Your beautiful tail!"

The white unicorn had cropped it off close to her rump -- any closer, and she'd have severed flesh and bone, as well as hair. Only a ragged remnant of its original glory remained.

Rarity turned and smiled at the stargazer.

"Oh." she said, carefully not looking at the stump. "It's fine, my dear. Short tails are in this season. Besides --" She winced slightly, maintained a wry smile. "It'll grow back."

The lavender unicorn gazed at Rarity in deep admiration.

"So would the mustache," said Rainbow to the lavender one, in what was slightly too loud to count as a whisper.

Again, the Moon Princess felt a strong sense of familiarity.

Fortunately, the river serpent paid no attention.

Now that he was no longer churning the waters, they flowed smoothly, revealing a wide expanse of shallows. Here and there, water-worn square-cut blocks protruded, which the Princess recognized as the remnants of the Greenvale Bridge. Silt had piled up on their upstream side, spreading out and slowing the water, creating both the overgrown jungle behind them and an excellent ford.

The lavender unicorn gasped in delight. "We can cross now!" She began to trot carefully across what she thought was exceptionally shallow part, the water not even up to her knees.

She yelped in surprise as the serpent, part of whose length had formed that "bottom," surfaced underneath her, raising her high and dry.

"Allow me," invited the river serpent, forming an intermittent living bridge with his own sinuous purple body.

The six champions bounded across.

She turned the river serpent from obstacle to ally, thought the Moon Princess, with but a few well-chosen words and actions. Truly, she is a rarity -- a skilled fighter and an even more skilled diplomat.

I face a band of heroines from out of one of the old songs, she realized, Celestia has chosen well. To confront them openly, all together, would be to court defeat.

I must break their unity, the Princess decided, rising to streak southward. And quickly. In less than an hour they will have reached the castle.

I must learn why they seem so familiar. There is another of Celestia's snares here, beyond the obvious. I must discover who they are, and what special bond they have with me, or ...

I could lose, she thought. After a thousand years, I could lose.

Author's Note:

In the original episode, Nightmare Moon wasn't shown as being in this scene, because after mutilating Steven Magnet's mustache, she didn't really do anything else active to block the river. This makes some logical sense, given that there's little else she could have done here: the river serpent is fully-sapient and all she would have accomplished by further annoying him would have been to start a fight with a gigantic creature -- and what's more, she'd have been focusing his rage on HERSELF instead of on the Mane Six.

I finally decided that, given that she was capable of very rapid flight and that this encounter probably occurs within a few miles of the castle itself, there was no particular reason why she couldn't have chosen to watch events from nearby, the better to see how the Mane Six handled the situation. This would also be useful as it would let her immediately know which way the Mane Six went if they did choose to go around the blocked ford.

And plus, this means that I get to give Rarity Belle more screen time, and show her doing what she does best: namely, social manipulation. This is her big non-magical skill, just as athletics is Applejack's and speed is Rainbow Dash's, and while it's not as useful in a fight, it can be very useful in a situation where one really wants to AVOID a fight, as in the case of trying to pass a ford blocked by an angry river monster. In the long run, of course, it's creative rather than destructive, and hence more powerful.

I stand by Luna's observation that Rarity's charisma works on everyone. Like many famous manipulators, such as Cleopatra, Rarity's not actually that beautiful in sheer physical terms: she's pretty and graceful, yes, but just in terms of looks, Applejack and Fluttershy both outshine her (the fact that Fluttershy does was a major point in "Green Isn't Your Color").

What Rarity has is her sense of what to say, her skill at saying it, and beyond that her skill at presenting herself in such a manner that nobody can ignore her, either as a mare or as a pony in general. Attitude, class, style: Rarity has all of these to a high degree. What's more, these are backed up by great intelligence, a keen sense of humor, firm integrity and a warm heart -- it's obvious to those who speak to her that she's not some cute but mindless bimbo.

This works directly with her Element, because the essence of Generosity is that it is the social strategy of a long game: it might also be termed "choose co-operate on the first play" in terms of an indefinitely-iterated Prisoner's Dilemna. Rarity ultimately gives while being perfectly aware that doing so inclines others to give back in return. Yes, sometimes she will find others so short-sighted that they reject the opportunity for mutual benefit, but in the long run, she will make friends and connections which benefit her, and which will last because they also benefit her partners.

This is what a lot of people miss about her character when they point out that she is also selfish and greedy (greed, which is to say too great an eagerness for acquisition, is her main character flaw). It is because she is selfish (and intelligent) that she realizes that her greatest long-term gain comes not from the exploitation of but the co-operation with others; and the best way to gain such co-operation is through giving, to demonstrate her good will.

This seems obvious, but not everyone gets it, and of those who get it, not everyone has the skill and discernment to know how to do it. Rarity is truly a rarity: she's an exemplar of Enlightened and Ethical Selfishness in a medium and sub-genre where the Shadows Who Command mostly preach forcible redistribution of goods and practice extreme and often unethical Ignorant Selfishness. She would be right at home dealing with Howard Roark or Nicholas Van Rijn.

Generosity is not foolish. It is a wisdom superior to that of those who simply hoard their treasures, thus making them unproductive. Generosity is also Investment, and Trade -- the very qualities that make possible a large and prosperous civilization. Generosity helps strangers meeting for the first time to act in ways that let them become friendly and get along, thus smoothing the impersonal interactions inevitable in a society too big for every pony to know each other pony personally.

Generosity was also one of Celestia's elements, and Celly plays a long game.

Which is (really) how Equestria was made.

Comments

[BeneathTheShade]

Some more errors with the italicizing again in this chapter. Still a very interesting story though.

[Knight of Lycaeus]

Something is off about this sentence, "Your [ibeautiful ]tail!".

[Loeden]

The chapter was excellent, but the part that really blew my mind was your author note analysis of Rarity. I hadn't looked at it like that before, honestly! I think I like her a bit more as a character, now.

[Redric Carrun]

Pinkie Pie was leading the way, literally bounding along in her usual fashion. The six champions were all giggling as they broke through the final treeline, preparing to ford the river they could hear just ahead.

Oh, I can see how deeply I've disheartened them, the Moon Princess berated herself. Any more despondency and they'll throw a feast!

Suddenly she saw the condition of the water, and stopped, gasping in dismay.

*that last "she" refers to Pinkie Pie, from two paragraphs ago, with "the Moon Princess" in between. Hard to read.

The juxtaposition between how effortless and natural everything looked in the episodes and how meticulously planned out everything looks from Luna's perspective is hilarious.

[JAPH]

Rarity is truly a rarity: she's an exemplar of Enlightened and Ethical Selfishness in a medium and sub-genre where the Shadows Who Command mostly preach forcible redistribution of goods and practice extreme and often unethical Ignorant Selfishness. She would be right at home dealing with Howard Roark or Nicholas Van Rijn.

Now there's a thought--Rarity as Dominique in a ponified version of The Fountainhead.

[Magical Trevor]

Nice to see someone else who TRULY understands Miss Rarity.

[Cursed Quill]

"severed right near the route" root

[Twilight Connor]

6176577 I always found her as a fascinating character, with a few shallow moments, for example, the mention of the crystal ponies, but all of the ponies have shallow moments. I find Rarity Belle to be an expert social guru, as well as tactician, should she be required to. Rarity is mainly focused on , as her element would suggest, Generosity. However, she is quite frivolous, and can be rude, mostly to Applejack. Despite all her flaws, however, and do keep in mind that frivolity is no crime, that Rarity Belle is enjoyable, likeable, and deep.

[Maran]

Rarity is by far the best diplomat of the Mane Six. Pinkie may love to make ponies smile, but Rarity has the ability to discern what others truly need, on both an emotional or physical level.

[LucarioFan2066]

The white unicorn had cropped it off close to her rump -- any closer, and she'd have severed flesh and bone, as well as hair. Only a ragged remnant of its original glory remained.

...And her privates are now fully exposed. That is, if they were drawn on, which they're not because this is a show for young girls, not adults.

[Idkwhattobe]

Dude your character analysis is so awesome. I’ve never thought that deeply about Rarity before!

[SilverDiamond]

Well, Rarity doesn't ALWAYS succeeds. She kinda failed with the dragon, mainly because he wasn't interested, but still.